Leah of Girls with Gems on content that actually sells

Boa host0:00
I'm excited to be here with Leah. Hi guys. The amazing founder of Girls with Gems and Sneaky Link. So yeah, like I think let's just jump straight in. Cool. So Leah, you left law school to dive into your mom's business. We know this from your Supper Club.

Lia Georgantis0:16
Yep.

Boa host0:16
What made you take the risk and how did you know it was gonna be something worth building?

Lia Georgantis0:21
So when I was making the decision, it was really tough. Like I went through months of making the decision because I felt like I'd spent 6 years studying law and that's like 100% what I wanted to do and that was like, I was committed to doing law, but then I was given this opportunity because my mom decided to open a business in Greece. And she was like, I'm not doing this anymore, so I'm either gonna shut it down or you take over. And I knew that law would always be there, but a business wouldn't. And like, starting a business is so hard. And I had this business that was ready for me to take over. Also in the fashion industry, you have radiuses with brands. Like you can't just go and get any brand and open your own boutique.

Boa host0:58
And your mom's thing was a jewellery store originally, right?

Lia Georgantis1:00
It was jewellery way back, but it was clothes. Like when I took over, it was definitely clothes and we had really good brands and I didn't wanna lose the ability to have those brands in Double Bay. And so in my head, because I was 100% committed to doing law, I was like, I'm just gonna do this for a year. I'll do it for a year. I'll see how I go. But as soon as I started, I was like, I never ever want to go to law. Like I, I need to make this work because I'm not going back to law.

Boa host1:24
Uh, honestly be the worst. And I don't blame you. I think a lot of people are in the same kind of thing where they move away from corporate to start their own business. Yeah. Okay, so your content clearly works. What's the strategy behind making it connect and convert?

Lia Georgantis1:38
Authenticity, 100%. I think I saw a gap in the market because in the fashion industry everything was curated and you would see these beautiful campaigns that were shot in Morocco and they would take a team of 30 people and it was all so beautiful, but I couldn't connect to that as like an Aussie girl living in Sydney thinking of wearing my outfit to Icebergs or China Doll. I'm like, it doesn't translate for me. And there was a lack of authenticity in the fashion industry via content, and I kind of wanted to like break through all the noise and just like be authentic but also look really cool in the clothes and kind of like have a balance.

Boa host2:21
Yeah, one thing I must say, I do love the way that you show the same kind of dresses —on different body types. I think it's really refreshing. Thank you. Yeah. So what type of content actually drives sales for you?

Lia Georgantis2:35
The content that drives sales is literally when you see Renee and I, so a size 6 and a size 12, and we're wearing similar outfits and showing how they look great on both bodies. I feel like we've been doing this now for almost like 4 years. So before Renee, it was Ella who would do it with me. But we've, we've been doing this content consistently and it it is consistently what breaks through the noise.

Boa host3:00
Yeah, it's actually one of the first things that drew me to Girls with Gems. Yeah. So guys, a reminder as well, if you have any questions throughout the conversation, just to pop it in the chat. Okay, so do you feel you follow a set content plan or do you go with what feels right in the moment?

Lia Georgantis3:15
What is set is the amount of times that we post and like across our social channels every single day, but we only plan our content like 1 to 2 days before it goes live. Goes live. I'm really big on this because I think you've got to really like listen to your audience and know what's going on in the world. So like if it's pouring rain and we've decided we're launching Hunza G, we're not launching Hunza G. Like it's falling on deaf ears. So even like when political things happen, when things happen in the world, we like listen to that and adjust our content.

Boa host3:47
Yeah, so you pivot essentially. Yeah, so we're very reactive.

Lia Georgantis3:50
We, we are reactive in the exact like outfits that go out every day, but our plan is consistent and we know what message we're trying to send every day.

Boa host4:01
And would you say on the back of that that you have like a couple of plans kind of locked in? So if you did have to pivot, it's not a hard shift.

Lia Georgantis4:08
So like on a Monday we'll have a trade and creative meeting and we'll go through, okay, this is everything that's coming, let's like roughly put it in, but it's always subject to change and it always changes. So things will come and then we're like, mm, they really want this today, like everyone's dying for this to launch, or It's pouring rain, we can't do swims. Every Saturday we do Sexy Saturdays, which has been consistent for years where it's like your hot going out dresses. So we'll like save the hottest dresses for that day. Yeah, no, I love that.

Boa host4:34
Yeah. Okay, so you've built a strong loyal community. What's the key to making that happen?

Lia Georgantis4:40
I think it's like showing the inside. So I show my day a lot, like what I'm doing. I kind of show, when we went to China for Sneaky Link. Like, I show all the BTS. I think people love to know the story, and they probably prefer the raw back end of things more than they prefer the curated beautiful content. Um, so I think we've built a loyal community by like being so open. We also like— we have a broadcast channel on Instagram, and we have 5,000 people, which compared to other people, like, it's a lot of people in a broadcast channel. But we like really share a lot in there, and people get amongst it. So I think it's just being really raw with your clients.

Boa host5:23
Like-minded people that you're bringing together. I must admit, like the El Janna kind of things that you do behind the scenes.

Lia Georgantis5:28
Oh my God, yeah.

Boa host5:28
Yeah, we love that.

Lia Georgantis5:29
Eating, everyone loves watching us eat.

Boa host5:30
Yeah, people love that. I don't know what it is. So if you wanna create a community, just eat in front of them. Yeah. Okay, so how do you keep your audience engaged day to day and what platforms do you think have been the most valuable?

Renee5:43
Instagram, 100%.

Lia Georgantis5:45
TikTok as well, but I think Instagram really drives sales and TikTok is a brand awareness fun platform, at least for us. Wait, what was your question again?

Boa host5:57
So what do you think, how do you keep your audience engaged day to day and what do you think's the most successful platforms?

Lia Georgantis6:03
I mean, we keep engaged day to day by like consistently posting on social media. Yeah. And the platforms definitely Instagram and TikTok.

Boa host6:11
The most used. Yeah, so consistency is key, 100%. Um, and then different platforms have like their reasons for you.

Lia Georgantis6:18
I remember listening to a Mark Burrell's podcast like years ago, probably actually it was before I even took over. It might have been like 7 years ago. I was studying law at the time, and I— he was talking to someone and he's like, if you're not annoying people by 9 o'clock, you're doing something wrong. And like, that rings in my head every day. The other day I was on my phone on I think it might have been on Good Friday, it was like 7:00 AM, I was posting something and someone's like, "You're on it?" I'm like, "Yeah." I don't stop. I don't stop.

Boa host6:45
Okay, and how much of your personal storey do you bring into the brand and how do you decide what to share?

Lia Georgantis6:52
So I think just by being so open and like posting so consistently about what I'm doing for the business, that's kind of how I share my story. I don't really like get on the camera or do like an overlay on TikTok being like, this is my story, I quit my law job and all of that stuff. I think it's been so consistent for so many years now that I just show the progression of the business. And like when I'm, you know, when you see people and they're like, something, something exciting is coming, but I'll actually show what we're doing. Yeah. So I think it's been like a consistent storey where, and like so many people have obviously joined our community and we have so many more followers than we did at the start, but It's just being consistent with being open and sharing and that creates the community and people wanna be like a part of it and see what you're doing.

Boa host7:37
Yeah, they would like committed to your success almost.

Lia Georgantis7:40
Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. Yeah, I love that.

Boa host7:43
Okay, so what are the biggest mistakes you see people making when they're trying to sell on social? And on the flip side of that, what do you think actually works?

Lia Georgantis7:52
I think there's two mistakes. The first one is I hear so many people who like come to me for advice and like wanna talk about their business and they're like, I'm just like planning it out. Like, I'm in the process of like planning it out, how I'm going to do it, how I'm going to create the content. And like, I just need to get my plan. And it's like, just post. My biggest advice, just like, just, just post. Like, 4 days ago, I decided that I wanted to do something different on my socials, and I wanted to change the way I did things because I didn't feel like it was aligning anymore with where I— how I want to be perceived. And then I'm like, I'll just test it. So I just made a video and then put it online, and then it did well. So I'm like, so people must like this content. I think the biggest mistake is waiting to do something because you want to like plan out your like 6 to 12 months. It's like, just do it right now, just do it today and see if people even like it. That's the first mistake. The second mistake that I, I don't— it like we don't see is that people just don't post at all because they're too nervous or it's not perfect or they're just waiting for the perfect time. So it's just not posting at all, and then you're not showing up online, and people don't care about you if you're not going to show up. Like, they're just not going to remember that you or your brand exist.

Boa host8:57
Exactly. Yeah. And do you think— okay, so you, uh, were feeling like you wanted to change the way you appeared online— not appeared, but like who you were as a person. Yeah. Like, would you continue doing that if you didn't initially get like the reaction that you were looking for?

Lia Georgantis9:14
Yeah, I probably would. Yeah. Well, you got to try. If— yeah, yeah, you got to like keep going.

Boa host9:18
Yeah, really try and show your personality.

Lia Georgantis9:20
Like, what I mean is, like, you've got content pillars, obviously, and like, on my personal content, like, I was posting, um, a lot of like high-end stuff, and then I'm like, I don't really want to be attached to this, so I'm going to try different content. I'm not going to just do it once, and if it, like, if it doesn't do well, I'm not going to— yeah, like, just, just rip off the bandaid and just do it, and like, people might like it. Yeah, yeah.

Boa host9:41
And then just to add to that, I remember we had an event with Amy Castano, and one of the questions was like, what do you do on the days that you don't want to show up? Do you just get on anyway?

Lia Georgantis9:50
Yeah, we have a, um, we have a guy that does SEO for us and he lives in Perth and he came into our office to meet us and he's like, the thing about you guys is you just show up when you don't want to show up and that's what makes you so great. And we, every time we don't want to film, we're like, he said that we have to show up every day. I think you just have to do it. Yeah, I know that a lot of people go against that and be like, you need to have balance and you need to look after yourself and stuff, but like, if you want to be really successful you just have to do it. You have to, yeah. There's so many days where I don't wanna show up. Like I'll have a situation where like someone might, something might happen with a staff member and it's like really upset me. And then I've gotta film like 1 minute later and I'm just like, suck it up and just do it. 'Cause that's what you have to do if you wanna be successful. 100%. Yeah. It's so hard.

Boa host10:34
Yeah, it's really hard, but yeah. Okay, so for someone just starting out, what's one thing they should focus on to build trust and community fast? So if you are someone, you are like, literally just at your pre-launch of like a brand new shampoo or sunglasses product or whatever else, what would you say even in the lead up to like launching that product is the best way to create that community and everything around it?

Lia Georgantis10:57
I think the most important thing, which kind of doesn't have anything to do with socials, is make sure your product is 100%. Like, don't just bring a product to the market that's going to— like, you've got to be able to break through the noise with your product. So make sure your product that you're bringing is 100% great, and you back it and get people to start using it and get people to start speaking about it. Like, you really need to break through that noise at the moment when you're bringing a product to the market. So I think that's number one. And through that, if your product is like hole-proof, you're going to build loyalty because people are going to love your product so much. I guess with socials, it would be in that process of making your product amazing, start documenting. You can't start an Instagram page and just be like Something exciting is coming. No one cares. What are you doing? Show us. People want to get behind the founder story, build momentum, show the hard parts. People actually like that more than the great parts.

Boa host11:49
Yeah, because they're going through it themselves. Yeah, exactly. I love that. Now guys, just a reminder, we're shortly going to move to Q&A. So if you have any questions, just pop them in the chat. Okay. And for early stage founders trying to build both brand and community, where do you think they should focus their energy first? So for example, like we've got BOA, which is a community for people to obviously build their network and get their brand messaging out there. Do you think there's like another way to build community and brand?

Lia Georgantis12:20
I think aligning with people who are doing the same thing. So literally like BOA, like you meet like-minded people, connect, share what you're doing. You can gain so much and save yourself so much time when you connect with the right people. I would say like 5 years ago I would have been so shy to, to connect with people, but now I'll literally connect with people over Instagram and then we'll meet up and like go and have dinner or have a coffee. Or it, it really saves you so much time because you share storeys and no one— there is literally no manual or guidebook for running a business, and every single one is so different. Seriously, like, you'll have— you can have like thousands of e-com businesses and I bet you that none of them are run the same in terms of ops, marketing. Everyone just like figures out how to do things by speaking to people. So definitely speaking to people and bouncing off each other, being willing to change, being willing to pivot. But I guess you were asking more about like community, I think, on there.

Boa host13:18
Yeah, a bit of both. So like trying to build both brand and community. So where should they focus their energy first? Like for you, if—

Lia Georgantis13:25
I mean, well, it's connecting with the right people, but then on social media specifically, it's, it's creating, it's showing those behind the scenes so people can be part of your community. Like, part of— why do they want to buy? In the Australian fashion market, for example, there are lots of brands and everyone is— well, most people are trying to bring really great pieces to the market, great fabrications, all of those things. Why are they going to buy your blazer? Yeah, what makes you stand out? Yeah, yeah, exactly. So like really thinking about that, literally, like why are people going to invest in my journey and my story?

Boa host14:01
Yeah, I love that. And would you agree that collaboration also builds community? I know that you obviously have a good friendship with like Jessie Anita, a few of these others. Oh my God, it's the best. Incredible founders who support each other and each other's brands.

Lia Georgantis14:13
Yes, yes, yes. You feel like, like your friends don't want to hear it all the time if they're not business owners. Like they don't want to hear it, they don't want to hear it. And not sure they want to be there for you. I've, I have an amazing network of girlfriends who 100% stand by me and they, I will tell them what's going on in the business and they give great advice, but you're not going to like call them when you're having a staff mental breakdown or like— they're not going to understand. No, but I feel like at any point I can literally just pick up the phone to Jessie and be like, yo, this is what I'm dealing with. And she's like, I've dealt with this, this is what you need to do, XYZ. It is by far the best thing I've done is build my network and have amazing like people around me. I actually think— so I went to New York right after lockdown and, um, I went with John, my husband, and business partner, um, and we— like, I really saw that people were willing to connect with you and share so much of their wisdom. And we don't have that in Australia. Like, there's a major case of tall poppy syndrome. Like, if you try to network, people like, you're trying to, um, steal my ideas, you're trying to steal my ideas, or like you're trying to climb the ladder by like being friends with me. It's not that. You can actually like, you should be able to call on people who have experience and learn from them, and you then do that for other people who need help. Like, it doesn't always need to be exactly reciprocated, but I felt like that in New York so much, and I thought it was so cool. So when I came back, I'm like, I'm going to connect with people. Like, if I think someone's cool and we're in the same, like, business league kind of thing, like, I'm going to connect with them. I also will preface that, and I, I wrote about this on my Instagram storey recently. Like, if you're just starting your business, don't DM Mark Boris and be like, hey, can we hang out? I'm starting a business. Like, that doesn't work. You need to find people who are in this, like, similar stage of business as you, because there needs to be, like, mutual, like, want and growth. Yeah, exactly. Like, yeah, for example, with me right now, if I look at my calendar, like, my entire calendar for the whole week is full. I don't have time right now in my life to meet up with people who are just like starting to plan their idea. Like, I just don't. And one day I 100% will. I love being able to mentor people, but I'm not in that stage of my career. So if I'm meeting up with someone, there needs to be like some mutual like thing that we're going to get out of each other.

Boa host16:37
And honestly, I think a lot of people would agree with that because people that are like new to business as well or launching their product they have different challenges to you. Exactly. So I think it's important for them and things are always changing. The market's always changing. So those people need to be around people on a similar scale or journey. Yeah. So then they can share those challenges and help each other out.

Lia Georgantis16:55
100%.

Boa host16:56
Yeah. Okay guys, we're actually going to move to Q&A now. So the first question I have is from Giovanna. Now I know you're on the call. So did you want to ask Leah your question? Yeah. So hi, thank you for organizing.

Lia Georgantis17:08
And I attended one of the dinners, which is really great. I love your storey and journey. My question is, My question was based around like content and it's like, do you see a difference when you're posting like every single day, like multiple times a day versus like, you know, 1 to 2 times a week? Like, do you think, like, how do you not like spam people? Like, how do you plan that? And yeah. We post so consistently now, so I'm not sure what it would look like if we didn't post so consistently. I think the biggest advice is like, don't just post to like tick the box. You need to have, new, fresh, engaging content. And I think where the line draws between spamming and annoying people and then creating content people want to see is literally the content itself. So, uh, for example, you go and do a photo shoot— if you want that content to last you 6 months, like, that's not going to work, you posting it every day. You need to bring like fresh, good content every day. Yesterday we were actually talking about with our team, like, what makes you like an Instagram, or what makes you like a TikTok? And for example, like, on Instagram, I said When I see someone that makes like a really cool reel or like a sick photo, I'm like, you deserve a like. I know how much this is taking. I'll give it a like. Yeah. So it's, it's just creating fresh content. And if you have that fresh content, post it. But also you don't want to be posting to like no audience. You need to create your audience and do it. Like to do that, you need to be taking advantage of different pillars. So creating like founder content, creating curated beautiful content, create speaking content, all of those things. Yeah, true, true. Thank you.

Boa host18:42
And I just want to add to that, so Giovanna owns a recruitment agency. Cool. Um, like, what kind of content do you think people in those kind of— like, do you think sharing stories?

Lia Georgantis18:51
So like sharing success storeys of people who have gotten jobs? Yeah, maybe if they want to be anonymous, you can do it via— like, you can do it anonymously, you can do it by like literally writing their story, or you can overlay you speaking, like saying their success storey over cool clips. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that's a good idea. Thank you.

Boa host19:14
Cool. Um, now Rachel, are you on the call?

Lia Georgantis19:18
I am. Hi guys. Hi.

Boa host19:20
Um, my question was around showing that raw behind the scenes stuff.

Lia Georgantis19:24
Do you do that on your business account or more of your personal brand? Uh, both. I think our content is so real and raw every single day. Like the way we, like even on The Steps when we're talking about the clothes, you'll hear so much of our personal lives come into that and just us talking about day-to-day things. So I think both, probably on my own social channel, on my storeys especially, I'll just like share my everyday life and like what I'm doing and more of the challenges. Like I'm not really gonna post the challenges on Girls With Gems. At this point because we're so established, it doesn't really align. Yeah. Yeah. And then I guess following on from that and the whole point around just getting started and like wanting to be and showing up every day, but then being, if you're, if you're all sort of spread thinly and you're more of a solo entrepreneur, like how are there any tips for how you can like always be showing up but balancing everything and being authentic but not being like, I don't know. It's just social media is so important. And you just have to make time for it. Like you just have to put 15 minutes in your calendar every single day and just make a piece of content. Like if you don't, then how are people gonna know about you or how people are gonna remember you that day? It's just like the most important thing. And I know balancing is so hard. I literally cannot find balance and it's been years. But when something is really important, you just have to make time for it. Yeah, love it. Awesome. Thank you so much. Pleasure. I think also on that, like, You just, when you're running a business, like you just can't make excuses 'cause people that make excuses won't be successful. So you just have to be like, I have to do this. I have to do it.

Boa host21:03
Do you feel like you kind of, I mean, almost get used to it? Like it becomes a part of your day. Okay, I'm just gonna do this because this is what it is.

Lia Georgantis21:11
100%. Like you just have to do it. Yeah.

Boa host21:13
It becomes like a muscle almost. Yeah. Like you train it. Yeah. Yeah. I love that.

Lia Georgantis21:17
Almost too much 'cause then I can't ever relax. Like then I like, I say everything is content.

Boa host21:22
I love it.

Lia Georgantis21:24
Jackie, are you on the call? Great chat, Leah, and I'm lucky enough to live near the store, so I get to pop down, but I actually wanted to ask about the content that you guys create driving in-store traffic, physical in-store traffic versus your online channel, because not everyone is lucky to live near Girls with Gems. So is that two, you know, kind of different ways that you guys look at content for those that aren't in Sydney for your brand and business, Leah? What do you mean by that? Do you mean like when we create content in the store?

Boa host22:04
Yeah, when you're creating your content, is it different in terms of driving your online sales versus traffic, physical traffic in the store, or?

Lia Georgantis22:14
We don't really differentiate the two, so when we create content in store that is like for online. And we'll like, we put a lot of money behind those pieces of content for Meta. And I think it just like, when you create content, people like to see the same like backdrops. So our store has just become like a backdrop for Girls With Gems on the internet. Exactly. It definitely drives, it drives a lot of traffic. Like I always say, I hate when people say, oh, we were quiet today. Double Bay was quiet. No, I don't care if Double Bay is quiet. We need to be doing enough on social media for people to get in their car and drive down. And we have people, which is so awesome, of people that will fly to Sydney to come to our store because they want to be like part of that. But I guess our store is just literally used as a backdrop for our online social media, and we definitely don't differentiate and say, hey, this piece of content is to drive people to the store versus this piece of content is for our online customers in WA. It's literally just, this is the piece of content, it can drive people to come to the store to try it on, or they're just going to buy it online because they know that Girls With Gems sells out of a lot of things within 24 hours, so they just want to quickly buy it.

Boa host23:28
Yeah, one thing I do say, like, because you do have your store as a backdrop majority of the time, if you think about places like Lume in Melbourne, like, people go to Lume, they don't necessarily get the croissants, but it's about like being there, the location. So it's kind of like that with Girls Gems now because it's so prevalent in all of your content and everything else. Yeah. Yeah. Is that— did you have anything else to add, Jackie? No, that's all good. Thanks, guys. Awesome. So now I've got Alyssa.

Renee23:59
Hello. Hi, girls. Hi, everyone. Yeah, thank you. So my name is Alyssa, and I'm actually in the pre-launch phase and R&D stage of a new skincare brand that I, um, am launching. Uh, so it's called Kool-Aid, and Kool-Aid is like a clean ingredient skincare brand offering mess-free refillable hydration in form like no hands, no hassle. Um, I'm really working with, um, some chemists in Byron Bay to mix things that actually fits into your busy lifestyle, not the other way around. Planet-focused, health-focused, and just convenience. All around. So my question to you, Leah, because I am sort of trying to get in front of the camera and build this brand and really take people on the journey of, okay, like, it's my second sample, let's have a look, what do you think, you know, and kind of just all of the behind the scenes. But how do you balance storytelling like that with then sales-driven content without sounding too salesy? Because I feel like my call to actions are like 'Sign up to my email list, like, you're going to want this,' or, you know, pre-order or something like that, even though I don't have pre-orders, uh, a pre-order strategy just yet. Like, I don't want to sound too salesy, and I really want to show them behind the scenes, but I'm just kind of— I don't want to sound too repetitive, and I just want to— I want to find a better balance. And so that's my question to you: how do you balance storytelling with sales-driven content without sounding too salesy?

Lia Georgantis25:23
Uh, I think by creating your founder content and your story, people are naturally going to want to sign up. I know that in marketing and marketing textbooks everyone would go on about call to action. We don't do call to actions in any of our videos. We only recently like started doing it because we had a meeting with Meta and they said it. But like what, at the end of our video we go, you can shop online? Or I always do it and I kind of like, it always sounds like I'm joking because I'm like, you can shop at our Double Bay Boutique or online never sleeps. And it's like Is that really what's going to convert someone, or am I going to convert someone because I'm standing on the steps and I look, I look so hot in my outfit, you already want it? Exactly. People just want to be part of your story, and naturally, if they're invested in your story, when you go live, they're going to buy your product. So don't worry so much about like fitting your content into exact pillars, because by doing that, you're going to like stunt your growth because you're not going to post because you're going to be like, that didn't fit in the pillar. So I wouldn't like— keep posting your founder content. You don't have a product yet, so you don't need to worry. Once you're close to launch, that's when you start worrying about like, how am I going to actually get people to buy this? But you do that again, like, not by literally saying it, because no one's going to buy something just because you, you say buy this. They're going to do it because you've shown them your skin before or after, or someone has done a testimonial that is like so engaging. So worry more about those things. Yeah. Okay. And one other thing, I had a friend in a similar position.

Boa host26:59
She sent her product out to like 5 people and basically got them to do like a bit of a storey take of their journey with it. So before the product even went live, she already had those testimonials. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, on her Instagram. Yeah. Amazing.

Renee27:12
Yes, like utilising user-generated content. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, amazing. Thank you guys so So much, thank you, I appreciate it.

Lia Georgantis27:20
Pleasure. Thank you.

Boa host27:21
Um, now hopefully I pronounce this right, is it Jack? We can't hear you, Jackie. I might read your question out if that's okay. Yeah, um, so Jackie said, how did you find your target market?

Lia Georgantis27:34
Oh, that's loaded. We have a really wide target market. Yeah, um, because like my mom founded the business and then I was always doing it with her, so So often mom and daughter duos would come in and they would both shop and we want both of them to be able to shop. That makes it so fun. Like I love shopping with my mom. It is the best thing. And if we can both shop in the same shop, we're having so much fun. So our, and then also we were getting like 14-year-old girls who didn't wanna wear like kiddie clothes anymore that were coming in. So our target market is literally like here to here, 13 to like, 65. Yeah.

Boa host28:17
So maybe it's less about the age and more about women that want to feel good.

Lia Georgantis28:20
Yeah, exactly. Women that want to feel good. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Our target market was written for us. I didn't have to find it is unfortunately the answer.

Boa host28:31
Yeah. So Jackie, you own Hot Minute Hair, correct? What does it do? So it basically keeps your hair like clean after the gym. Love her. So I guess for you, like it would be, I wish we could hear you right now. Yeah. Like girls that go active, like not necessarily at the gym, maybe they're at the beach and they're trying to keep their hair.

Lia Georgantis28:51
So yeah, I guess hers isn't a very niche thing either. No, it's not. That's literally like your target. It's amazing that her target, your target market's massive. Like you can literally sell your product to millions of people because it's all women that want their hair to look good. Who doesn't want their hair to look good? A very, very minor part. Maybe if you don't have hair, but that's not me. Yeah, but like everyone wants their hair to look good.

Boa host29:15
100%, yeah. Jackie, if you do get your hair done.

Lia Georgantis29:18
That would've been really good for me today. So I actually got my hair done yesterday 'cause I was like, I'm gonna be on camera, I'm gonna get my hair done. Then I got a facial last night and she rubbed my hair with oil and I didn't have the heart to say, don't do that. So then this morning I had to wake up, wash my hair, go to the gym, come back, Dyson my hair. It was a whole ordeal.

Boa host29:36
Worth it though. Yeah. I might read Monica's question out. Monica said, any tips for how to best use UGC and also how to ask for reviews from people?

Lia Georgantis29:46
How to best use UGC is literally to like repost it. So get the raw content and then post it on your social media channels and like reuse it on stories. Don't overuse it though.

Boa host29:57
Like, you know, so if they're tagging your brand in the story, ask them to send you.

Lia Georgantis30:01
Yeah, just ask them to send you the video. They'll send it because also you have to remember like You're also going to post them. I'm sure you have followers.

Boa host30:08
They post them for a reason.

Lia Georgantis30:08
Yeah, and then you post them and then you tag them, they get more followers. Yeah. So getting the content and having the raw footage so that you can reuse it. And then what was the second part of the question?

Boa host30:16
And then the second part was, and also how to ask for reviews from people.

Lia Georgantis30:20
I can't answer that, unfortunately. I haven't done that yet. You'd have to give them a voucher or there's got to be an incentive to post a review.

Boa host30:28
Yeah. Or if you love the product, we'd love for you to like let us know most consumers are not going to review.

Lia Georgantis30:33
But you've got to give something to get the review or it's got to be cool to leave the review. Like there has to be a reason for people to take 3 minutes out of their time to write the review for you. Yeah, that's so true. So create your reason. Aaron, are you still on the line? Gosh. Hello. Yes, I'm here. How exciting. This has been very, very cool chat so far. Thanks. Awesome. Alright, so this is a bit of an odd one. I work in accounting, which is pretty boring stuff, but I've always been keen on social media. So I've thought— I've actually started doing a social media strategy around accounting, but it's more around advice for business owners around, you know, tax structuring and raising money and valuations and that stuff. I've done 5 posts. I was just wondering if you've got any tips of what I should do in the next 4 weeks. Okay, so yeah, like accounting is scary, and I don't know, I don't know if I would say it's boring. It's scary. So I would, I would like evoke that emotion to start in your content. Like I would be doing all talking, like people want to hear you talking, but capturing attention by— so say you made a video and you were talking about Um, can you give me like an accounting topic, something that would be scary, like maybe like paying your BAS or something like— and I would overlay, you know, some people out there want to raise capital, you know, they've got startups, you know, they might need some money to get going. So I would make a video on like a few quick wins to be able to do that, and I would overlay it with, want to raise $2 million? People are going to watch, they're like, $2 million what? I want $2 million.. So yeah, creating content and then just like a really captivating line that makes people watch your video. And don't— I think the biggest thing is like people don't want to give away too much because they're like, well, then it's free advice and they're not going to come to me. No, if you actually give really good advice, then people are going to come to you because they're like, wow, this guy's really smart.

Boa host32:40
Exactly. What more can he tell?

Lia Georgantis32:41
Yeah, what more can he tell me?

Boa host32:42
And they're going to follow your whole journey, all of your tips Even if it's not relating to their business, they'll still listen or they'll share it with someone else.

Lia Georgantis32:48
Yes, exactly. I want to come back to what you're saying, Erin, but the other thing is I hear so many people be like, I can't— I, I have an idea but I can't tell you what it is. Okay babe, I'm not copying your idea. I like, like no one is copying your idea. People can't even execute their own idea, let alone someone else's idea. Plus everyone's so busy in their own lives, so like always share your idea because it actually holds you accountable. Whenever I would want to do things, I remember saying to people I am creating my own brand. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I was like, I'm doing it. So if I tell everyone that I'm doing it, if I see them next time and I haven't done anything and they ask me, I'll be embarrassed. So I would just tell everyone I'm creating a brand, and then I worked out a great brand. But, um, Aaron, I would literally say I actually think accounting Instagrams could be so cool because everyone has to do accounting. Just get, capture like an emotion out of people, whether it's like anger, sadness, annoyance, capture that and then try to help them fix it because then people will come to you. Yeah.

Boa host33:47
I don't know if this is wrong or right and correct me if I am wrong, but because accounting is seen to be this boring industry, why don't you play into that a little bit? Yeah. On the flip side, you could add a bit of humour into it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And be like, oh, you know, a day in the life of a boring accountant. Yes, that would be so good.

Lia Georgantis34:03
Yeah. My boring accounting job. The first video I did was launching it saying, this is the most boring account on the internet. I love that. Right. Kind of plays up to a little bit. Um, but where I struggle is, 'cause I went in the idea of pretty much giving away everything away for free. So the, the content video I have, for example, there's one about how to structure your business. You know, you should have a company or you should have a trust. But people can't do it themselves. So you can give me that free advice. That's great. I can't do it. I'm busy running my business. You're still going to need to do it for me. So like just throw that idea in the bin that you are giving everything for free because you're not. No one can actually go and set up those businesses. It's too hard. Well, I'm completely fine with doing it. 100% agree. The problem is the videos are too long. Yeah, you got to edit. But I think maybe cut them up a little bit.

Boa host34:55
Use a social media person.

Lia Georgantis34:56
Yeah, to cut them up. You've got to cut up your videos. Yeah, they'll know the key.

Boa host35:00
Things that you're saying that need to be in that video, and they'll do it for you. They'll put it into like 7 seconds even. It's crazy. Exactly. Like how much they can shorten it.

Lia Georgantis35:07
Yeah.

Boa host35:09
Yeah, cool. Um, okay, so thank you so much.

Lia Georgantis35:13
That's very easy. Awesome.

Boa host35:15
Thanks, Aaron. Um, Stefani, are you on the line? Uh, yes, I am.

Lia Georgantis35:21
Sorry, I'm just trying to— my camera won't open. Sorry, I apologize. Um, but my question was to do, um, Obviously, when you start a business, you probably won't have the budget or funding to do sponsored posts with creators. So one of my strategies was to gift some of my product to some social media creators. So I guess my question is, how do we encourage these creators to post without pay? So what are like some incentive ideas that Girls with Gems have used to get their product on the internet through creators? So we're not big on using creators up until this point. We haven't been. Everything's just been like organic content from us and sponsored. I think people are going to post if they love the product. So, and I don't think that you can force, like you can't, you can't make someone post if you're giving it for free and not paying them. It's a really tough one. Yeah. You have to just like hope that they post it. And I guess your product just needs to be so refined and great that they feel the need to get online and to post it. Yeah. I think it's really, it's a tough one, especially like being on the other side where people send me things. It's like, I can't post everything because it looks like— It also needs to align with your brand. It needs to align with my brand. If I'm getting sent like 10 skincare things across 2 months, I can't post them all. It's so inauthentic. It doesn't align with who I am in being so authentic. I can't possibly be using all those things and seeing a difference in my skin. So the same with clothes, like people have to really love it to get online and talk about it. So it's, I don't know, that's not very helpful. Yeah. So then from a personal perspective, so you're sort of saying that you're almost a bit of an influencer as well yourself. Oh God. What makes, the PR that you get sent stand out? When it's a really, really good product and I feel that it makes my life easier or makes me look cooler or makes me feel more confident. Yeah, I would say like it, it also depends on the person, right? So for me, I'm— if I'm being sent clothes, there's no way I'm posting it. I will only ever post brands from Girls with Gems. I'm so big on that. I think it's I know that people have a different idea about that, but mine's like, why would I be wearing someone else's stuff when like I literally own a shop? So I'll never post anything that has to do with clothes. When people send me food, like, I love food, so if I love the food, I'm gonna post it. Um, skincare, obviously there's like a limitation because like I can't post so many things. Do you want to be able to use it? It's just, it's when I receive a product that I'm like, I love this, like, I love this product, this is so good. So picking your influencers Really carefully would be the biggest thing. Also, you don't need an influencer who has like 500,000 followers. They could have 10,000 followers and convert more. I actually find that they convert more when they're micro.

Boa host38:23
Yeah, once you've got 5,000 followers is a good market for you. Also, and Elisa put it in the chat, Taryn Williams has a company called #gifted, and it's basically a hub for you, and you can go in there, some of the influencers I wanna be featured.

Lia Georgantis38:36
Oh, there's influencers that wanna be featured.

Boa host38:37
Yeah, and they do contra kind of things, and they will post and reshare and all these things. As long as they're gifted with like clothes, for example, from your brand?

Lia Georgantis38:45
You just wanna make sure that whoever you're gifting and who you've decided to gift, that you like their content and that you align. If you go on and you see that they're like reviewing every single clothing brand and you're like, well, that doesn't, I don't really wanna be sitting along all these brands, then don't do it. It has to like feel right. But I would say at the start of your like founder journey and your business, I would just be focusing more on actually creating great content that stands out and don't worry about influencers. Like you, you yourself as a business have influence. So use that. Build trust. Build trust, like create your own content. People will value that more than an influencer being like, I love these pants. When the next day they also love another pair of pants. Yeah, exactly.

Boa host39:25
Now guys, we still have quite a few questions. So I'm just going to move through the ones that we haven't really touched on. Ash, did you want to jump on and ask your question? Yeah, that would be great.

Lia Georgantis39:36
It's been super, super valuable so far. Thank you so, so much, Leah. I run a diabetes subscription box business, similar to Aaron's super boring product, but the content we make makes it exciting. Wait, what is it? Sorry. Sorry? What is the business? It's a diabetes subscription box. Cool. So we ship medical products around Australia. Cool. So people don't run out of their supplies. Yep. But I'm doing everything myself. So making content is super important. We need to prioritise it., but are there any kind of tools or platforms that you swear by to help make that content creation process easier? Or are you using AI in your business at all to help make your processes more efficient? Uh, tell me about kind of the tools that you're using. Um, okay, I have a team of people that run our social media internally. Um, so we don't use AI. I think AI is a really good tool though. We don't use it, but I think if you go on and prompt it correctly and say, this is what I'm doing. I want to create 3, um, I want to start pushing out 3 pillars of content: founder content, um, UGC, and like curated content. And I want to evoke XYZ emotions. Give me a plan for the next 4 weeks. Like, it's going to give you some good ideas. Don't, don't follow it like Bible. Like, go through and be like, I, I like these pieces of content. Or chat to ChatGPT about certain ideas that you have to get it to help you like think outside the box. Also scrolling on TikTok and Instagram. I am on my phone from the— I'm actually not proud of this at all. I hate that I'm like this. The second I open my eyes until the second I close my eyes, I am scrolling on Instagram and TikTok. And I think it's what sets us apart. I do not miss a beat. We're always— we know what's happening in the market. I think that's so important. I know that you're also running every part of your business. So am I. You just have to find time to be scrolling during the day. Um, actually, one of our girls that started with us was like, the funniest thing that, um, happened to me in our first weeks of work is I went to the bathroom and Leah was in the bathroom and she was on her phone and like on the phone and watching TikTok. And I'm like, yeah, um, so like being on social media consistently so you can come up with ideas and like writing those ideas down I also think this is just like a random idea I had for you as soon as you said diabetes. Play on the Ozempic thing. Like, I know that that might not be great, like, align exactly, but it's going to get you attention, and it's a great way of getting attention. I would make some videos that play on Ozempic with diabetes or something like that, because you're going to get lots of views and lots of likes, and that's going to get eyes on your business. It doesn't always need to be positive. It just needs to get people buying your product. Yeah, I know. I love that. And being chronically online, it's considered research on what we do, right? So it's just, it's tax deductible time, I feel. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Honestly, did I answer everything that you asked? Yeah, yeah, that's great.

Boa host42:37
Thank you. Cool. So, all right, guys, we've probably got time for one more. So, Taryn, did you want to ask your question? Yes. Hey everyone, thank you so much for the clear— it's been really, really, um, insightful. Um, I just want to ask you, um, how do you show your samples to your community without giving away too much, but you want feedback from them and you still want to create that hype and that anticipation before you actually launch the collection? Karen, did you want to let, um, Leah know what your business is just for a bit of context? Okay, so I'm still up in the air, but it's a startup label, so very, very new, so I'm not even at the— I'm at the sample stage. Yeah. So I'm—

Lia Georgantis43:22
I haven't launched at all, um, but we're using natural fabrics only.

Boa host43:27
We're not using any synthetic fabrics. So I think that's what I really want to focus on, um, but I, I just want to— I want to get like feedback from the community before I go and launch it and show everything about the collection.

Lia Georgantis43:43
Okay, so I think I obviously have like gone through this process because we show our samples now, and at the start I was like, oh, what if I post it and like someone copies? Or actually, that's the main concern that most people have, like, what if I show this and someone copies? Because by the time I get this to market, it's quite a while. Yeah. Firstly, like I said before, people can barely execute their own ideas, let alone execute yours. So you have to remember that. And secondly, if they want to copy you, like, whatever, who cares? Like, it just, it doesn't matter. Yeah, because I, I outweigh like worrying about that and then versus having people's opinion on what you're creating. It's so important. They're the ones that are going to buy it. So we use our broadcast channel to like, we'll get samples. It's literally first sample. We're so far away from being able to launch. Yeah, I will, I like snap a photo of Renee wearing the sample that we're fitting and I'm like 'What are your thoughts?' And then like within 5 minutes, we know if we're bringing this product to market.

Boa host44:41
Yeah, Jenni Liu does the same thing with her photos.

Lia Georgantis44:43
You'll get so many likes or you'll get like so many thumbs down or people like, 'Oh my God, I'm obsessed.' 'Ugh, I hate this.' Like, or make it short, make it long. It is the like best feedback that you can get because these are the people that are actually going to buy your product. Yeah. I might give you like a real life example. We were bringing out robes., and we did a poll. So we were so far out from actually bringing them out, we hadn't started production, but we did a poll and we put up the 4 colours and we got people to vote, and we literally based our buy on the colours that our consumers wanted. It saves you so much money and so much time, and no one's going to copy you.

Boa host45:25
I know, that's the thing. It's like also the colorways. I just want to know like what, what, what someone's interested in.

Lia Georgantis45:32
Start asking. Yeah. I also used to ask my friends. Exactly.

Boa host45:36
Even if you're not doing it on socials, I know for Boa, we did a lot of market research by meeting with business owners, meeting with Boa users, like whatever that is for you. It doesn't have to be online. It can be completely offline. Just get meeting with people, talking to people, showing them.

Lia Georgantis45:49
I think in saying that though, like, don't ask too many, like, okay, we made a scarf recently and I'm so obsessed with this scarf and we kept trying to get feedback. So I'd send it to my friends and they're like, oh, change this, this, and this. And I'm like, no, that's not what I'm going for. Like, I just want to know if you like the scarf.

Boa host46:05
You don't have too many opinions.

Lia Georgantis46:06
Yeah. And then we like put a line and some people like, yes. And other people are like, fuck no. And then one person messaged me and they're like, this scarf is sick. It hasn't come to the market yet. Just do it. And sometimes you need to break through the noise because we don't want to just be creating like, like for like products that other people are creating. We want to cut through it and like actually make a sick product that does well in the market. And people typically will be like, no, I don't like that. I prefer like what everyone else is doing. 'Cause that's what they're seeing. But that's always gonna be like a 50/50. Yes. So sometimes cut through when you really believe in something and bring it to the market and push it. But you should also use your community to find out whether they like things. And if you are really at the start of your business, find 10 people who like fashion that you like, create a WhatsApp chat and start sending things. People will be engaged and invested.

Boa host46:53
And that's my next question is like, how do you create that community? Community is like, how do you even get those people to chat to?

Lia Georgantis47:01
Like, literally just— I would start with your friends.

Boa host47:03
Like a Zoom. So she like connects with her community on a Zoom on a monthly basis. You could also do a post on the Boer app and just say, hey guys, who likes fashion?

Lia Georgantis47:12
I want to add you to my WhatsApp chat. Yeah, remember, have you started your business, um, Instagram? No, no. Okay, so just use your, use your network. —Use your network, create a WhatsApp chat and just add people who like fashion. I literally used to have a group chat of like girls that I knew that really liked clothes and I would ask them questions.

Boa host47:33
Yeah. Okay. That's really helpful. Thank you. Thanks ladies. Pleasure. Oh, well that was amazing, Leah. Lots of little nuggets. But I'm sure we'll be seeing lots more of you.

Lia Georgantis47:43
I think— Look, someone said they love my scarf. Yes, I love the scarf. Thank you. All right guys.

Boa host47:49
Well, thank you for joining us today and we will see you all soon.

Lia Georgantis47:53
Bye everyone, thank you so much. Thank you.