Erin Winters: Grow and Monetize Your Following With a Signature Series

No one wants to say no to a $50,000 brand deal, but as entrepreneurs, we sometimes have to. How do you balance the opportunities of content creation with the demands of running your business? In this episode, content creator Erin Winters joins Natalie to discuss her viral series, My Millionaire Year, where she documented her goal and path to become a millionaire within one year. She reveals the beginner-friendly equipment and editing processes she used to create viral content, how to create a signature series that establishes your digital brand, and how she navigates the contradicting demands of running a successful business and exploring the endless possibilities of content creation in the age of AI. In this episode, Natalie and Erin discuss: (00:47) My Quest to Make $1M in One Year (06:57) Creating Content That Converts With an iPhone (12:03) Figuring Out Your Style as a Content Creator (15:23) Balancing Your Business With Content Creation (19:18) This Triumphs Traditional Educational Content (25:40) Why Simple Content Still Wins (28:43) The Rules of the New Interest-Based Algorithm (31:20) Your Guide to Creating a Signature Series (37:53) The Results of My Millionaire Year (43:40) Re-Evaluating Your Goals After Massive Growth (48:58) The Small Decisions That Shape Your Online Identity Erin Winters is the founder of Erin On Demand, a business focused on helping entrepreneurs and content creators build stronger online brands through their Top 3 pillars: social media marketing, brand strategy, and productivity. She launched Erin On Demand and its YouTube channel in November 2018 after working in digital media and journalism, and her channel grew to nearly 100,000 subscribers during its first year. Sponsored By: FreshBooks - Get FreshBooks for less than $3 a month for your first four months at ⁠FreshBooks.com/podcast⁠. Faire - Sign up today and get 50% off your first wholesale order, up to $100 at ⁠faire.com/bossbabe⁠. AG1 - Save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at ⁠drinkAG1.com/bossbabe. ⁠Hostinger - Go to ⁠Hostinger.com/bossbabe⁠ and use code BOSSBABE for 10% off. Resources Mentioned: Episode 1 of My Millionaire Year Rode Wireless Go microphone eBrand Creator College Erin’s Substack The TOP 3 Notebook Connect with Erin: Website Instagram YouTube Facebook Connect with Natalie: Instagram LinkedIn Website YouTube Natalie’s Book, The Freedom-Based Business Method

• 0:00Speaker 00

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  subscription order at drinkag1.com/ bossbabe. Quince makes everyday essentials in premium materials. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com. Let's get into it.

• 0:56Speaker 01

  I'm certainly not turning down a $50,000 brand deal, you know, but I have this other thing, and once you get five, six, seven, eight brand deals, you're swamped.

• 1:06Speaker 00

  When you are focused on generating revenue in your business, and marketing, and being the product, and all of that, as well as growing an audience, and making sure you're putting out regular content, there's a real tension between the two.

• 1:19Speaker 01

  Whatever your business plans are, it's very easy for them to slip, once the content then becomes the focal point.

• 1:26Speaker 00

  I like to say all the time, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Every dollar costs you something, and that's really important to acknowledge as a business owner. So pivoting back to your goal, hitting a million, where did we land with that?

• 1:38Speaker 01

  We did get very close.

• 1:44Speaker 00

  Erin, welcome to the podcast. So I'm so excited that you're here. I found you when you were doing your series, which I really want to talk about, because, I mean, it completely blew up your social presence. So for anyone that is new to your work and didn't find your series, can you tell them what I'm talking about?

• 2:03Speaker 01

  Yes. Well, thank you for having me. My series was called My Millionaire Year. We're actually working on season two now, but it's all about how I wanted to build wealth. And it wasn't just me trying to become a financial influencer, or anything like that, but it was really me chronicling, like, why I have this high income, but I feel like I'm not wealthy yet. And kind of trying to fill the gap in between having a lot of money, or making a lot of money, and actually building wealth, and what that looks like. So the goal for the series was to make a million dollars in one calendar year. And that was revenue,

• 2:44Speaker 01

  and that was phase one of The Millionaire Year, on this journey to like, building a wealthy life. And I did the same hook in every video. Everything started the same way. And it was so funny, because over the year, I was meeting so many new subscribers. I mean, my socials really blew up. I think I gained almost 200,000 followers in the last, like, within maybe six or seven months, because it just took off. So many people resonated with the messaging. And people would see me out, and they'll be like, oh, my gosh, you're the millionaire girl. And I'm like, you know what? Yes, I'll take that.

• 3:22Speaker 00

  It was so well done. So can you take me behind the scenes? What did your setup of that look like? And I mean, from ideating, to did you script it out? What were you using to film, to edit? Were you doing them all in one sitting? What was the real process? Because I remember seeing it, and I immediately followed you after seeing the first episode, because you hooked me in so fast. You were so engaging on the camera. The editing was perfection. Everything was so incredibly well done. So I need to know the behind the scenes of this.

• 3:59Speaker 01

  Yes. So it's so funny, because when I first, I had been thinking of doing a series like this for a long time. And I just kind of felt like, you know what? Now is the time. I actually had concepted the second video before I even filmed the first video, which nobody actually knows. And the second video, this was the only sponsored video in the series, but it was the only way for me to get the nudge to actually start the series. So I had this brand that I had been working with, and they were like, you know, we want to do, you know, we want to work together. We want to do a reel. And I was like, okay, now is my time. So I pitched, I was like, I'm going to make a million dollars in a

• 4:42Speaker 01

  year to the brand. They loved it. And I filmed the second video first. So then, I filmed the intro video to the series after the second video, and the intro blew up. So the very first episode is the one that got the most views. And I was like, oh, shoot. So I went back to the brand. I'm like, okay, this blew up. So I need to tweak the second episode, so that it flows well with the first episode. And so you, if you go back, or if you watch the series, if you haven't seen it, and you watch episode one, and then you watch the second episode, you will notice that the second episode is the only episode with a

• 5:23Speaker 01

  different hook than all the other videos, because I filmed that one before. So once I test it, so this is how I create. I'll do, I'll recognize when something hits, and it just blows up disproportionately from my typical, like, analytics. And I'm like, okay, the hook was really strong. But I did the hook differently in the second video, and I realized that that one didn't perform as well. It still did really well, especially for sponsored content. But it didn't obviously go viral. So I went back to the original hook from the first video, and that became the hook of the entire series. Okay, so if you won't say it, I will. I want to be really, really wealthy. And that was the glue of

• 6:07Speaker 01

  the series. And I think me just going back and doing what worked, even maintaining the editing style, I just went in Canva and did like, a little My Millionaire Year logo to, you know, pop on all the thumbnails. I popped it in every single video. And it was just like, whenever you saw me sitting in this one spot, I knew I wanted to not be behind my desk, because I wanted it to feel very approachable, not overly casual, but also like, we're sitting down talking, okay? We're chatting about what's going on. And that's exactly what it was. Every video started with me, like, sitting down into my chair.

• 6:46Speaker 01

  It felt very, like, comfortable, but also like, let's get into some real business. So, yeah, so my thought process was really just, it kind of all fell into place. But I did look into that first episode and say, okay, what worked really well? A lot of the B-roll clips, me opening the door in my office. And like, each episode, I kind of got to show what I was wearing, and kind of layering in some of my other interests, like fashion, even though I'm not a fashion influencer, you know, I like to find ways to layer in some of those interests, even if it's for one second of a B-roll clip in a video. But

• 7:27Speaker 01

  it's like, those are things that people notice. And so, we kind of just used the first episode as the prototype to build out the entire series, and it was a huge success.

• 7:39Speaker 00

  Huge success. Even the things that you're mentioning, I want to get into all of that, because the way you were sitting down in your chair, all of these little things you know as a creator are just really important for getting people's attention. But for the women listening that are kind of new to the content world, probably don't even understand that. So I want to come into all of that. I want to ask, what did your equipment look like for filming? Did you have a full professional setup?

• 8:03Speaker 01

  No.

• 8:04Speaker 00

  How were you doing this?

• 8:05Speaker 01

  I literally filmed everything on my iPhone. Like, every single video, nothing was filmed on anything else. I used the phone tripod. I didn't have any light. I would sit right, I'm in my office now, but I sat at a different angle. So my window's right here. I just used natural light. Yeah, I didn't use anything. I'm very much so, the bells and whistles are in my personality, in my delivery. Of course, there are, you know, I like good lighting, a clear, you know, camera. But I don't get so over, I don't overdo it with the production itself, because I know that in post, we can make it fun, we can make

• 8:48Speaker 01

  it feel more exciting. Just with, and even in post, I don't do that much. Like, I had my signature opener, where I said the same line every, every time, and it became a template. So I would always say the same intro. And then even, I would have like, one line in between, where you would see me like, opening the door, and kind of setting up this specific episode. And you would see me turning my whiteboard, and you know, Putting the millionaire sticker on my vision board and all of these like little things. And we just copy and pasted it onto every episode, that same intro and like the same format. And then the rest of the video, I recorded it talking directly to camera.

• 9:32Speaker 01

  And then if there were any B-roll clips that I could have gotten, if it was a real about me. And choosing who you marry is a huge part in building wealth. Then I had a whole bunch of clips of like me and my husband working together, doing, you know what I mean? Like, so that was kind of the approach. It was like, it's easy enough for me to sit down, talk to the camera. I can grab the same intros from all the, you know, from the whole series. We could drag and drag and drop. And that's how we were able to do it and get quite a few, like quite a lot of content out over the last year with that series.

• 10:09Speaker 00

  So good. And I just want to really bring, I want to highlight something here. And it's the amount of intention that went into this. And I think that's going to be a theme I'll keep coming back to in this entire episode because everything you did was so intentional. And that is such a big distinction between content that lands and content that doesn't. You were already listening to the data from the first episode. It's just very intentional. What were you using or what do you use to edit your videos once they're done?

• 10:40Speaker 01

  I use Final Cut. I forgot to mention that this is the mic I used in all of the videos. It is the Rode Wireless Go. And I have them all over the place because I take them everywhere. They plug right into any USB C, so you can plug it right into your iPhone. And then, you know, you don't have to worry about Bluetooth connection and all of that. And then I also, like right now, it's plugged into my computer. I was like, I didn't even know you could plug these into your computer. So

• 11:09Speaker 00

  And it sounds amazing.

• 11:10Speaker 01

  Really, really simple setup and the audio always sounds very good and clear and crisp. So that is like, I'm way more of an audio stickler than a video stickler. Because if they can't hear you, they're definitely not going to watch. They will, they're more likely to stay if they can see you. I mean, if they can hear you and not see you that clearly versus seeing you very clearly in the audio sucks. Back to your last question.

• 11:34Speaker 00

  Um, I was asking your editing. So Final

• 11:36Speaker 01

  Oh, yes.

• 11:36Speaker 00

  You said?

• 11:38Speaker 01

  Yes, so I use Final Cut Pro. Sometimes I use edits, but because I have, which is Instagram's editing app, but because I have Final Cut Pro. I had all the episodes in Final Cut. It was very easy for me to just like drag and drop a lot of the assets that we use, like the sound effects, the logo, like all of the different sequences that were already kind of done from past videos that had been edited. It was just easier that way. But I mean, I, I always say like, don't get so caught up on the editing software. I think a lot of people look at really well edited content and think like, oh, what software are you using? And it's like, that is not the magic. The magic is who is using the software.

• 12:22Speaker 01

  And you really don't have to do a lot. If you have a couple of B-roll clips or if you just even cut out the dead space when you're doing talking head videos. Like if you take really long pauses or if you say, um, or like, or so, or these pet words very frequently. I always cut those out because it's going to make the video flow so much smoother. And it just helps your audience remain engaged, even if you have quite a few cuts in there.

• 12:53Speaker 00

  And how long would you say it takes you from ideaing an episode all the way to hitting publish?

• 13:00Speaker 01

  I actually kind of have a messy content system, so.

• 13:05Speaker 00

  Okay, that's actually great to hear for people that feel like, wait, I have to be the most organized person on the planet. I like to hear that.

• 13:11Speaker 01

  No, you really don't. I have a notepad where I plan all of my content and it gets very, very messy. I like to write things down a lot. I don't always love using Asana, Trello, Monday, all the things. Like I know there are a thousand different platforms that we can use to plan out content. I love them, I use them. However, when I need to get down to business, I need to write it down on a piece of paper. So I have actually through my planner company, we haven't launched it yet, but it's a content planning notepad. And it's just a very simple way to get your ideas out.

• 13:51Speaker 01

  So with each episode, I, I didn't really go through and say, okay, here are episodes one through 20. Like I want to make sure episode one is about this, two, three, four, five. Like it was not like that. It was kind of like in real time, like this is happening right now. Like maybe, you know, sometimes it was an update reel where I'm like doing a finance update. And I, or sometimes it was about like, oh my gosh, this feels a lot harder than I thought it would. Is the first million really the hardest to make? Or, you know, whatever, like they weren't all me teaching people or like updating my finances. A lot of them were realizations that I was having in real time. And I just was like, oh, this is bubbling up in my soul.

• 14:36Speaker 01

  Let me write this script and sit down and record it. And that's the beauty of having such a simple setup too. And like having such deep intention when you are a creator, because you kind of can see, you can see the end without knowing the entire process. You know, like I could see that this series would be incredible when I dropped episode one, even though I had no idea where I was going to take it. I had no idea the shots that I was going to put in it. I had no idea how it was going to shape up and how each episode would flow. And that's why I tell people like, even if you have a signature series or a series of any sort of your signature style in creating,

• 15:20Speaker 01

  you need to test it with organic content. Like have a field day, create a bunch of different stuff. Maybe you're not a yapper or a talking head type of person. Maybe your signature style is vlogging and like, or having, I don't know, green screens or whatever that looks like for you, but you don't know until you test it out and you can have the data to then go in and say, why did this one work? Like, why did this perform? Is it how I started the video? Is it the way that I had something pop up on the screen in the first couple of seconds? Is it the text I used was very catchy? Like what was it that actually hooked people in?

• 16:02Speaker 01

  And like let them stay and watch this, this content versus any of the others. And the only way you have that data is if you experiment and try things and don't over conceptualize before you actually press go.

• 16:15Speaker 00

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• 19:06Speaker 00

  as well as growing an audience and making sure you're putting out regular content, there's a real tension between the two. And one thing you said, which I just pulled up, is you were saying it actually can sometimes pull you away from the work when you are creating. Can you say a little bit about that and what you noticed?

• 19:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't want to say that the content isn't the work because the content is work. And that is a big part of our job, especially when you have, uh, when you're a creator entrepreneur. And I love what I do, but it's also like, you have to have a north star and you have to know like, okay. This series, a big thing that I talked about in one of my newsletters was like, this series blew up. But like, when the series blew up, that meant that I got way more brand deal offers. That means that I got, you know, pulled a lot more into events and speaking and this and that. And now I'm like, oh, shoot.

• 20:06Speaker 01

  The very thing that I was trying to do, which was generate revenue within my business offers with my products, I generated revenue, a lot of it. However, it didn't come in the way that I was intending for it with the series. And so that's kind of the catch 22 when you are a creator entrepreneur. It's like, well, I'm certainly not turning down a $50,000 brand deal, you know? But I have this other thing. And once you get five, six, seven, eight brand deals, you're swamped. And you don't have the energy or the capacity to shoot the campaign that you've been meaning

• 20:45Speaker 01

  to shoot for your own stuff or to, you know, plan out all of your social or to, you know, brainstorm whatever, new offers you're gonna come out with or whatever. Whatever your business plans are, it's very easy for them to slip once the content then becomes the focal point. So I think as creator entrepreneurs, you really have to be clear on what is the main thing, like what, what is my north star? Is my north star to be an influencer? If so, great, like brand deals, appearances, you know, whatever affiliate marketing, all of that stuff is going to be what you're focused on when it comes to the monetization. If you're a founder, you have to understand that there are certain things that you might

• 21:30Speaker 01

  have to leave on the table in order to push your business forward so that your feed is not inundated with brand deals while you're still trying to promote your own stuff. So it really is like a give and take. You have to figure out what you're willing to sacrifice, if that means sacrificing at all. If you have the capacity to do both, meaning you can up your organic content output because you have so many sponsorships and you're like, okay, um, they, these are ringing in, like, I'm not turning any of them down, which means I need to three X how much organic content I'm putting out because I want my community to still feel valued.

• 22:12Speaker 01

  I want them to still get this content that, you know, is organic, that's truly like meaningful and the, and the intentional stuff that I'm wanting to put out, which is why I was very, very particular, like I did not do any sponsorships in the Millionaire Year series. I'm like, no, we're keeping this to ourselves. Like this is my creator IP. I cannot be having it filled up with, you know, sponsorships from all these brands. So I think it's just a matter of you deciding which route is most valuable to you.

• 22:46Speaker 00

  And so coming back to the series and creating content, do you think that it popped off more because you were bringing people along on your journey versus just teaching? Do you think that's part of it? Did you have any hypothesis about a, a series that'll do really well, follows these certain things versus these ones?

• 23:09Speaker 01

  I think it's a combination of, I wasn't teaching necessarily. And that's a big thing that I don't wanna say I'm trying to get away from because I'm always gonna be a very knowledge-based creator at heart. But I really wanted to prove to myself even that like, people don't just care about me telling them how to do something. They actually do, they do, they are interested in more than that from me. And I know that there's more of, more things within me because I feel very multi-passionate, layered, you know, I'm a, I'm a woman that brings a lot to the table, okay? So I was like, we need to figure out how to package all of that.

• 23:49Speaker 01

  And I think a big reason why it was a success was not because I was chronicling my journey. It was because people saw themselves in me. People also were like, yes, I wanna be a millionaire too. Yes, I wanna be the first one in my family. Yes, I want my kids to be able to come on vacation with me and we fly first class. And yes, I don't, no, I don't want money to be a barrier between something that I want and me having it. And so as I was defining wealth for myself, people were like, yeah. Like there, there was this deep identifier that I was able to call out and people were able to see themselves within that identity.

• 24:31Speaker 01

  And I was describing myself, but I was also describing everyone else on the other side of the screen, which is why you were like, you hooked me right away. Because it's like, yeah, you care about me, but you care about you more and what that means in context to your own life. So I think that is a huge reason why the series did so well. And then once I wrapped in like a lot of the value and the insight that I got and like different things that I learned along the way, which was, you know, by default, teaching people, you know, a perspective that they might wanna shift or teaching them like a little lesson from a mistake that I had made.

• 25:12Speaker 01

  It felt a lot more personal and I think that's why people trusted me and were so excited to see whether or not I hit the milestone. So many people were like, I'm, I'm trying myself or people make their own, like I'm trying to save a hundred thousand for a house. Like I'm, you know, they would make it into their own, but it was just really cool to see how they identified themselves within my experience.

• 25:36Speaker 00

  So then say someone is gonna do a series on how to lose weight. Instead of how to lose weight, how would you frame that series in a way that the audience can see themselves and would actually wanna follow along on the journey?

• 25:50Speaker 01

  Well, the biggest thing is like, why do you want to lose weight? And I had to ask myself that question too. So when I did the second episode of the Millionaire Year first, I was like, wait, why the heck do I wanna make a million dollars this year? You know, like what is that gonna do for me? What is that proving to myself? Why is that a big deal? And so when it comes to you losing weight, don't underestimate your community and how your identities are similar, because that is where the power lies. And a lot of us, we get, we go into content and we're trying to tell people what to do or teach people how to be something.

• 26:31Speaker 01

  Or we are chronicling our experience, not like from a fully vulnerable position. And I think once you can define your why out loud, that is where you start to reach people. And it's like, why do you wanna lose weight? Like, are you, like, does diabetes run in your family? Or are you, have you always had emotional attachments to food? And every time something good happens or something bad happens or whatever, whatever that experience is to you, I think calling it out and then calling out why this transformation is going to change your life and how is where the power is.

• 27:16Speaker 01

  Because now it's giving people a reason to follow along because now there's like a reason, there is an emotion also attached to the result. So there's an emotion attached to you starting it and why it's important for you to start. And then there's an emotion attached to like, when I complete this, this is what my life will then look like. And this is the legacy that I can pass on to my children. Maybe you don't want your child to have, you know, weight, identity, you know, the same type of things that you've gone through. And so the, these are things that I think you have to as a creator, figure out on your own before you start the series.

• 27:57Speaker 01

  And for some people, it's really difficult for you to be that vulnerable online. And I would say to that person, it's like, you don't have to say everything. I always say, if you are going to create content, you don't have to build this personal brand to where you're giving all your personal information. You, you wanna build a personable brand to where people understand you and see themselves in you, but they don't know everything that's going on in your life. And so go narrow but deep in one aspect of your life. And if weight loss is your thing, then I, I would challenge you to try to find peace with sharing just in that lane. Um, you don't have to share everything else, so.

• 28:42Speaker 00

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• 30:55Speaker 00

  We can often forget to put the personable in personal brand because we want to. Appear polished. We want to appear like we've got our shit together. And we always see the people that really do well online are the ones that are just willing to be more open and more vocal and not try to place themselves in some kind of hierarchy. So, speaking of that and speaking of personal brands, I'd love to hear your take on where you think the creator economy is going, especially in this age of AI. What are your predictions?

• 31:27Speaker 01

  I think the simpler the content, honestly, the better.

• 31:30Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 31:32Speaker 01

  The more we can, well, it's kind of a, it's kind of, no thing is completely true. Okay, so I would say, for one, we're seeing micro dramas pop off. So we're seeing way more highly produced content that that feels like a show, but is in the form of content. And that's really cool. Like, I love the idea of bringing more cinematic, more bingeable content to social media. But I also love how casual things are trending to become even more than they are now. I think people with AI, they're like, I don't know if this singer who's singing this trending audio is real or not.

• 32:15Speaker 01

  I don't know if this person talking is actually wearing what she has on. I don't know if this is a real person. And I think the more, just, I don't know, bear, you can keep your content, which is why I think yapping and just talking head videos are just never gonna go away because the, the, the easier it is, like me sitting here like this, talking to the camera, is probably gonna start outperforming or is outperforming a lot of very highly produced content, just because it feels more human. And I think the more human, the more you can pour into your content, yourself, your own little isms.

• 32:56Speaker 01

  Um, I like to use, I'm actually doing a, I'm recording some content after this and I'm gonna talk about Tabitha Brown in one of my, um, reels, but I don't know if you're familiar with her, but she's a huge influencer. And she has all of these like Tabitha isms, like all of her stuff starts with hello there. Like she's like hello there. She's just a southern belle and she has this beautiful hair and she calls it Donna. And like when she styles it different, she'd be like Donna acting up today. And she just, so she, so she has a whole character of her hair. And now she has Donna's recipe, which is all of her haircare line. So she has a haircare line. It's in Ulta, it's sold in Target, it's sold everywhere.

• 33:39Speaker 01

  And it all started from her coining different things in her life. She named her cooking tools. She has cookware. She has a cookbook. She, you know, so there, there are so many ways that you can build your creator intellectual property. And I think now with signature series and people realizing how being a personal brand is not just being a person, it's a full commodity. You can be a global brand just by being who you are. It's about understanding how to package those things. So I think now people are,

• 34:19Speaker 01

  what I'm seeing, um, is people are starting to realize that more. Creators are starting to understand that it's not just about having three content pillars and like business, mom life, fashion, beauty, tech, lifestyle. Like, now you're segmenting your life and you're not giving yourself the opportunity to see how those three pillars intersect. Because that is where the magic is. Your ability to weave beauty, tech in mom life is where your brand's IP and where your unique perspective comes into place, which is the only way that you can

• 35:03Speaker 01

  outperform AI at this point. Like, you really have to pour your perspective and your thoughts and your views and all of these things that sound very scary because the internet is very judgmental, but even like the millionaire years, like I had to pour my personal self into that series. Um, so that people understood how real it meant and was to me. I think that is the only way that you penetrate through the noise and leave your mark and are able to really expand your brand beyond just social media.

• 35:42Speaker 00

  That is so interesting. The isms piece, I absolutely love. I think it's so powerful. I, when I was teaching Instagram back in the day, when we had blown a boss babe and a lot of people were asking me, okay, dissect it. I used to call them stickers, because I don't know if you remember, you could create stickers on Instagram and some creators would create their own stickers about their brand. And I would say, you have to think about what are your five, 10 stickers as a creator? Like, what do you want to be known for? Is it, you know, things like your dog, maybe what you call your husband. It's small things like this where you inject your personality in. And I love that this is all coming back now, because I think we did kind of lose ourselves in the content landscape a little bit. Everyone learned how to create content, which was so cool.

• 36:26Speaker 00

  But it was kind of, anything was working. It was all about the likes and the hooks and now it's kind of changed to more of an interest-based algorithm, which is so fascinating, what you're saying about not separating your content pillars so much, because you can trust now that even if you combine three pillars, the interest-based algorithm is gonna show the right people that content. People who are interested in beauty and mom life and business, whatever it is. So I think that's really fascinating. I would love your perspective on my brand. So for me, I've thought about the signature series thing quite a few times and I've just never done it. And listening, being on this conversation with you, I'm like, you know what, Natalie, get your shit together, just create one.

• 37:08Speaker 00

  And I think where I struggle and I would be so curious your perspective on this is I, my main thing is business. I teach business. I love business. And that intersects a lot with social media growth, online marketing. And then I share stuff in mom life. I don't share too much personal stuff online, but I bring in mom life, my relationship, little bits like that. But I often get stuck with the signature series because I don't want it to be teachy and preachy. So I don't want to be like, I've built this, let me show you how. That's interesting. So how would you give someone like me advice? Maybe we've got the expertise, but we want to package it in a way that doesn't feel preachy.

• 37:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's a good question. I was in that same boat, which is why I was like, I need to figure something out to break me out of this, like how to jail.

• 37:59Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 38:00Speaker 01

  Because it feels like that. And once you're in that, it's like, do people actually value me? Or do they just have this transactional relationship with my brand of like, oh, let me see what she says about this. Or let me, you know, get this information from her and that's just it. Um, I think, I would say, why are you still doing it? Like, what are your next, what is the next iteration of what you want to create?

• 38:26Speaker 00

  Oh, that's so good. I think it's a few different things. Freedom for me at its core. I want to continue building freedom in my life for myself, my kids. I wanna show other women what's possible and bring them on the journey with me. I love what I do. I'm so lit up by my work and what I create. I love to write, so I really enjoy it and I really love the freedom that comes with it. And I want to challenge myself to grow this as big as I can without sacrificing my boundaries and values.

• 39:00Speaker 01

  Hmm, okay.

• 39:01Speaker 00

  It's a lot of word vomit at you.

• 39:03Speaker 01

  I know. It's okay. I think a lot of us are here and it's what a lot of people are going through because it's like, when it's your life, it's hard to take a step out and be like, what in my life is interesting enough for me to talk about for like at least 10 episodes? You know what I'm saying? Like, it's kind of like, what would I even talk about or do or like focus this on? And to that, I would say, I personally, before I started the millionaire year, I was in a very deep experimental phase with my content. Like, I don't ever try to get out of that. I'm like, I'm gonna do something in the car. I'm gonna try some different styles. I'm gonna talk, like,

• 39:48Speaker 01

  this came to my heart, like, let me just say it and post it and see if it performs. And I think that helped me kind of break out of what was working at one point and try to understand like what could work in a new phase. And I, I think a lot of times when we are professional creators, like we, we don't want to compromise or jeopardize like the success that we've had. And it's like, oh, I don't want to see my numbers tank or, oh, I don't want to see like, you know, whatever, like whatever the little vanity metrics that we're measuring ourselves against all the time, you don't want to see them drop.

• 40:29Speaker 01

  But to me, I think there's freedom in giving yourself the space to create without worry, especially when you've built something up to this point. It, it does feel like a lot is at stake. And this is why to me, as a beginner, you have an advantage because you're so concerned about people watching. But the best thing is that no one's watching for real yet. So now you have all of this free rein to just do whatever the heck you want to do. Like, you can just, I feel like that's like the beginners, just, that's just like the beginners, I don't know, like spark that you can have

• 41:12Speaker 01

  when you don't have that many eyeballs on you. Now you, Natalie, you're like, shoot, I've built this brand. We've got millions of followers. We've, you know, like you have your personal brand and your business and it's just, it's a lot more at stake. I would. I would say I would try to see how your worlds intersect and like try to figure out what a goal is from that and then create your series based on that. So if if you have like some different pillars, I know you said like business and social and you know, it's kind of like, well, what makes the glue? Like, why are you still doing this today? And maybe it's not like a monetary thing, like how it was millionaire year for me, but it's like,

• 41:57Speaker 01

  maybe it's you trying to like, I don't know, even if it is a series about you chronicling breaking out of how to content. I don't know, I'm just throwing something out there, but it's like you trying to find the glue between these different aspects of your life and attaching some type of goal to it and then chronicling that. I just think everything needs kind of like a goal at the end. And some people make their signature series very like each episode is kind of something diff- like it's the same thing like, okay, we're doing a styling series for the fall and every week we're gonna style, you know, this one piece in seven different ways for the whole week or whatever.

• 42:40Speaker 01

  And so every week is like the same concept like that. I don't think you should do anything like that. I feel like you have a lot of data that you can pull from, from all the successful content that you have where you can kind of start to string together where people really resonated and like take some of that and try to figure out how you can deepen it and build something really cool around it.

• 43:05Speaker 00

  I think that's so powerful, what you said around having a goal. And what I'm taking from this is a really great signature series or great content that brings people on a journey. You set your goal, but they have to be able to see themselves in it. Whether it's the same goal or not, they have to be able to see themselves. And so that was, that's been really powerful for me, so thank you. So pivoting back to your goal, hitting a million, where did we land with that?

• 43:33Speaker 01

  Well, I actually posted it in my Substack, so I haven't actually shared the exact number outside of there. We did get very close, we got very close, we did not hit the goal. Although we could have, we had so many opportunities that came in. And there came a point where I was like, we need to back this thing up. Because like what I said earlier on, it got to a point where it was just, there was so much attention on the series and so many sponsors wanted to be a part of it. And there were so many speaking engagements and traveling and this and that. And I was just like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Not that I can't handle this, but this is not the exact way in which I envisioned

• 44:17Speaker 01

  making the money. And so a big next step that I have been in right now, since the millionaire year ended, is like, we need to figure out systems. We had a team, now it's just me, my husband and my mom. And like I, I was like, I don't need an assistant, I don't need a community manager, I don't need, I don't need any of that right now. I just need to figure out where I want to take everything. I need to figure out like my true north star right now. So that way, I'm not leading people and I don't know exactly where we're going yet. And the good thing is that the year brought in a great amount of revenue to give me the freedom to do that.

• 45:02Speaker 01

  And now I can set up this next phase in understanding like what we need to grow into. Like setting the systems up, getting a better feel for like my content and the pipeline that I want to have for that, my product business and like really putting a lot of my energy into that. And yeah, I think it was just, it was a big wake up call for me. And I, I'm so happy that it happened the way that it did because I think I grew so much from not hitting the million. Cause I was a lot more reflective on how did we get here? Why didn't I hit the goal?

• 45:43Speaker 01

  But also like, I almost hit the goal and had I kept doing what I was doing, like, would I, would I have even been able to see the small little missteps along the, the way that I probably could have avoided if I was a little bit more diligent? I think one of the mistakes that I talk about in my newsletter is how I, I wasn't good at like catching a signal and running with it. So even though my, my reel, like my very first reel performed really well. And then I had a lot of other reels in the series that like blew up, which is why my following shot up so fast.

• 46:26Speaker 01

  I didn't look at them and be like, how can I take this and create something valuable that people can buy into? I didn't do that and I think a lot of people appreciated that on one hand. They're like, thank God, like, we're not commenting, you know, wealthy or millionaire to like be sent somewhere else, to then be sent somewhere else. And so I think people appreciated that, but it also was like, there were so many people who were just like desperate to be in community with like-minded people who wanted to hit this goal as well. And I feel like I, I really missed the opportunity to cultivate that community.

• 47:08Speaker 01

  It was like a double edged sword, cause I didn't want people thinking that I was making the millionaire year to then try to capitalize on the millionaire year to make the million.

• 47:19Speaker 01

  If that makes sense. You feel what I'm saying? So it was like, but I could have done something. I could have led them into Substack and did more of my, more of my income breakdowns over there. And they could have, you know, been more in the know, just even from something that small. So I, I think for me, I learned a lot about how to be in tuned with what's happening instead of constantly being like, oh, this reel performed really well, let me make another one. Instead of being like, this reel performed so well, let me dig through the comments. Let me see what questions people are asking. Let me see what people are like interested in and building off of what was working versus like being so excited to like produce the next video.

• 48:03Speaker 01

  That I wasn't paying enough attention to the content that was actually telling me exactly what my community wanted.

• 48:11Speaker 00

  Yeah, I mean, it must have been really tempting to, at the end of it, pitch how to create your signature series mini product or something like that to just package up all of this, so I get that. I think what you've said around the choice to not hit the million is really powerful. And the choice to make your team smaller, I think that's really powerful. And I know that's something that a lot of women listening are gonna really resonate with. I like to say all the time, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Every dollar costs you something. And that's really important to acknowledge as a business owner. Every dollar you make will cost you something. And yes, there's a point where you get systems and that reduces. And it's still always a decision and a lot of time it's worth it. And sometimes it's not.

• 48:56Speaker 00

  And we have to know when good is good enough and we have to know when it's really great to leave some money sitting on the table. And so good on you for actually doing that, not just to hit the goal superficially to say, look, I did it at the end of the series, I did, I did hit it. But actually, no, I'm learning from it. So I'm curious for you, what, what does the next 12 months look like in terms of your content and business landscape? What are you excited about? What opportunities do you think are coming up in, in this economy? Yeah, what's lighting you up?

• 49:26Speaker 01

  Well, we have some exciting things under works. For one, we have some new products coming to my product business, which is called Simplement. Simple and Implement, so that's everything that I stand for is like, I just focus on three things a day and that has literally gotten me to this point in my life. And I'm like, I don't have the capacity to have a to do list that's like 17 things. I need three things that are going to help me push my life forward. And so I started doing the top three, I started chronicling it on my YouTube channel years ago when I started. And it turned into this planner and it went viral.

• 50:07Speaker 01

  We've sold so many of them and now we are releasing like new products, like a content creator planner, or like a content creator notepad, where you can plan your content very simply. We also have some other exciting products that we haven't talked about or like released yet. But we're just so excited to start.

• 50:28Speaker 01

  Building what's ours in a crazy way. Like just putting way more of our energy and effort into in-home stuff. Of course, I still love working with brands and traveling and speaking and doing all of those things. But now it's kind of like, okay, if we're doing that, then that money is going to this. Like, we're putting that toward investments. We're putting that toward, you know, uh, the products or the next inventory or the whatever. Like, we know exactly what the purpose of each thing we're doing is. So that way, we're not just out here just willy-nilly, you know, dangling in these streets, making money, but not really knowing what to do with it or where it's going.

• 51:10Speaker 01

  So that's a big part of the next twelve, twelve months is like figuring out the true North Star. You know, reevaluating the offers that I currently have. Are we keeping them? Are we not? Do they serve me? I feel like I kind of got into this spiral of, okay, this is what's been working. So like, we need to keep it. And it's like, well, if we want to go to the next level, we might not be able to keep all the offers that we've had. And so it's just a matter of really looking at everything with like a magnifying glass. And more importantly, like instead of the next twelve months, it's like, where do we want to be in ten years? Because the way this last ten years flew by, I mean, I've been a creator for almost eight years.

• 51:54Speaker 01

  And I'm like, the way that flew, like, where do we want to be when we turn forty? Because that's what we need to be acting on right now. We need to be very diligent with our time, with our resources. Because this attention, it does not last forever. So when you have it, you have to understand how to use it. And, you know, do be a good steward. Because if you're not, like, you just don't know how quickly it can come or go. So I'm really excited for this next phase. On my Instagram, we're going to be talking more about just the wealth building, me educating myself on like different types of investing, angel investing and investing in real estate.

• 52:38Speaker 01

  And like just different things that I didn't have access to growing up. I didn't know any of these things. My parents don't know any of these things. And so as somebody who has limited resources, that is a big part of building wealth. It's like, if you don't have someone in your direct sphere, like, helping you with these things, it's that much more challenging to understand them. Which is why this next phase is really focused on not just making a lot of money, but actually understanding like how this money is working for my future.

• 53:13Speaker 00

  So good. I cannot wait for the next series. I'm sure it's about to blow up as well. I'll be studying.

• 53:18Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 53:19Speaker 00

  What you do is incredible. I'm so happy that I discovered your content. I love following along.

• 53:24Speaker 01

  Oh, thank you.

• 53:26Speaker 00

  Yeah, for anyone that doesn't follow you currently, can you share your handles? And then also, can you share where they can grab a planner? Because that sounds incredible.

• 53:34Speaker 01

  Yes. My handle is Erin On Demand on everything, E R I N On Demand. You can grab a planner at simplementco.com, S I M P L E M E N T, um, co.com. And yeah, I mean, I'm super excited. You could also like subscribe to my Substack. That is where, you know, I talk a lot about these decisions. We post a lot of exclusive content over there that I don't really share on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube. So I would love to have you over there.

• 54:08Speaker 00

  I love that so much. Thank you so much for being here. I learned so much from this.

• 54:12Speaker 01

  Oh, thank you for having me. I'm so happy. Yeah, let me know if you, I can't wait to see what series you come out with. And even if it's not a series, I always tell people, because there is a lot of pressure for it to be this series and it's packaged up so perfectly and all the things. I think focusing on your signature style of content is way more valuable than an actual series. And it's like, what is the default style that you, that people, when they're scrolling, they're like, oh, that's a Natalie video, oh, that's Erin, oh, you know. So I think that that is even more important, like the editing style, the little things that you do, like the fonts you use or the, the way in which you talk.

• 54:54Speaker 01

  I always have little things in my videos of me like, ooh, child, or like, girl, or honey, like. And so those things become like such a big, they're small, but they become a big part of your style. So I would say for anybody who is like, ah, I'm, I'm like racking my brain trying to figure out a signature series idea. I'm like, focus on the style and the series might come as you're creating from this style, this point of view, this, with this like, you know, artistic edge, whatever way you want to bring the message to life.

• 55:27Speaker 00

  So good. Okay, I've got homework. I'm going to do it.

• 55:31Speaker 01

  I'll be watching.

• 55:33Speaker 00

  Thank you so much.

• 55:35Speaker 01

  I appreciate you for having me. Thank you.