Back in February, I recorded this wonderful conversation with Zoë Berry and Victoria McHugh, who are both professional organisers here in Edinburgh. I think it was before any of us had even heard about the coronavirus – it feels a little bit like a lifetime ago. I hope you’re all able to enjoy this conversation, knowing the context it was recorded in. Stay safe, and if you can, stay home!

We talked a lot about organising and what it was like when Zoë and Victoria came to my home and office. But we also talked about marketing, including the best times to post in Facebook groups, and the Instagram phenomenon of tap to tidy.

Today’s episode is sponsored by my Instagram MOT. This 20-point checklist will take you through all the most important things you need to get right in your Instagram marketing. Click the big yellow button to sign up for the free training and download the checklist. 

Zoë has been running Life Edit, a decluttering and home organisation business, for just over 2 years. Victoria launched The Secret Tidier in April 2019, she’s a professional organiser and declutterer. They met on a course for people who needed decluttering help. It was full of people looking terribly worried they were going to have to express their issues with clutter and confess their sins. Zoë looked across the room and saw an extremely organised looking young lady with all her pens, notepad and water bottle laid out nicely and thought, “yeah, you’re another professional.” They’ve been working together ever since.

What does a professional organiser do?

Marie Kondo has brought the world of decluttering and professional organising to the forefront of people’s knowledge recently, if you asked somebody about five years ago, what a declutterer did, they would scratch their head and look at you quizzically. Since Marie Kondo’s book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying*, and Netflix show people have started to understand what Zoë and Victoria do – in a nutshell they help people organise their homes.

Of course, having somebody in your house going through your belongings can feel slightly overwhelming and it can make people feel a bit exposed or vulnerable. So every job starts with a free consultation with the client before the actual declutter. It could be a cupboard, a room, the garage or the whole house that the client wants to tackle. They have a very flexible approach, listen to the client and work to whatever they want. They are happy to take the client’s timeframe and budget into account.

Building a good with relationship with their client is important. As Zoë puts it, “The tiding is great, and the finished product is lovely, but actually going through that together can be really quite emotional.” Possessions can trigger a memory or a feeling, and part of the reason they work really well together is one of them can carry on in the background while the other person is just letting the client have a moment or work out where they want to go next.

Since Zoë and Victoria’s visit to my house if I just need a five-minute 10 minute break from the work I’m doing or I’m feeling a bit anxious and stressed then I tidy my desk. It’s very satisfying and it’s made a difference in my ability to work consistently. Before I would have gone and made a cup of tea or been distracted with something like Instagram Stories. Now I tidy and then I go back to work. It’s been helpful and I have a nice space.

“We are friendly and we’re not judgy. I think that people can worry. ‘Oh, gosh, a professional organiser. They’re going to come along with white gloves tut at everything and tell me that I’ve been doing everything wrong. That’s absolutely not how we are.” – Zoë Berry

Instagram and Facebook groups

I know word of mouth has been great for Zoë and Victoria, but I was keen to find out what other kind of marketing works for them.

When Zoë first started out, she paid for an editorial in MADE (Mums and Dads Edinburgh) magazine. They’ve featured in a few other publications just because of knowing the right people, for example ION magazine. They were also in the Herald luxury magazine recently. Apart from paying for that first editorial, neither of them has ever paid for marketing.

They make a conscious effort to ensure their online presence is as approachable as possible, mainly use Instagram and Facebook,

As they have 2 different businesses and personalities, they have different approaches to marketing online. Zoë likes to concentrate on showing who she is and connecting with people by saying “Look, I’m a real person.” Victoria likes to showcase before and after pictures to highlight how passionate she is about decluttering.

I think Tap to Tidy Instagram Stories would be fantastic use of before and after pictures. On Instagram Stories you tap to say you’re done, and it takes you to the next picture. Write text on the first picture saying “Tap to Tidy” then when it takes you to the next picture it looks like you’ve magically tidied it. A great way to engage people on Instagram Stories.

They have also found Facebook groups useful for marketing (although Victoria admits she doesn’t use Facebook much). Edinburgh Gossip Girls (EGG) is a group for women, who are often running their own businesses, and are very keen to do word of mouth recommendations. It gives you a little bit of credibility if a client recommends you in the group. They use other Facebook groups like West Lothian Woman and East Lothian Ladies. Joining the groups has been incredibly helpful for them. You can usually do a specific post about your business every month, as well.

The best time to post in Facebook Groups 

They’ve discovered posting on a Sunday evening creates a huge amount of interest compared to doing it on say a Thursday morning. Having pictures also makes a huge difference. I think Sunday is such an opportune time for them to market because people are relaxing at home, maybe they’ve been meaning to declutter all weekend and haven’t got around to it.  Zoë and Victoria are then offering a great solution.

When you’re thinking about the best time to post content on social media. Think about your ideal customer and what does a week in the life of your customer look like? Physically where are they in the world but also where are they emotionally? Where are they feeling? What can you do to help them resolve and find solutions to their problems?

Tips for running a business

Lastly, I asked them both the thing they would most like to share about running a business.

Zoë’s top tip – “You never know where you’re going to going to meet your next client. Katie’s a really good example of that. We went to her Business Gateway course because we wanted to learn about Instagram and she ended up becoming one of our clients. From my point of view, you have to live and breathe your business. If you are self employed, you never know where that next client is going to come from, always be ready to talk about it your business”.

Victoria’s top tip – “Don’t wait for things to be perfect, just start. I started small, put a few things on Instagram, practiced on family and friends, went to courses. Then I met someone that I now work with (Zoë) which has opened loads of business opportunities for me. You’ve just got to start somewhere and trust your gut.”

Get connected

I could have chatted to Zoë and Victoria all day. If you want help with decluttering have a look at the Life Edit website and The Secret Tidier website, or conect with Zoë and Victoria on Instagram.

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Meet Jess Brown, founder of the global Japanese language community Nihongo Connection. Jess shared the story of how the conversation clubs began. We talked about how you can change and improve on your offerings while still serving your customers. Key to her success has been her focus on finding ways to help and teach her audience instead of constantly promoting paid for services. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Today’s episode is sponsored by the Instagram masterclass. It’s a full day workshop in Edinburgh for business owners and social media managers, it covers everything you need to know to run an effective Instagram account for your business. Tickets are on sale now, click the big yellow button below for all the details.

Jess has been running her Japanese conversation community online and offline since 2014. It became her business around the end of 2017. Her community was born when Jess came back from Japan and sought out Japanese lessons wherever she could find them. Frustrated that they were just teaching from textbooks and speaking English the rest of the time, she suggested to her fellow classmates they meet up in between classes and help each other learn. When a Japanese friend found out she wanted to come along to chat and help people practice. She invited another friend, six months down the line Jess had a Facebook group set up telling people about the conversation events and around 30 people were showing up, including native speakers.

It’s developed from there into two groups. One is a conversation group, for people that speak a little bit of Japanese, and want to develop. The second group is where people can come and actually learn Japanese.

Turning a community group into a business 

I was fascinated to learn how it transitioned from a community of people coming together to have a chat into a business. Jess won a session with a business coach who she thought was going to help her launch an entirely different kind of business. But during the call, the coach discovered Jess ran a language group in Edinburgh, 30 people a week were coming to events and the Facebook group had around 400 members, She suggested monetizing the group and growing it. Jess was reluctant at first because she wasn’t sure how to monetize a free group, especially a community group. The coach opened her eyes that group members could be online customers and she could help people from all over the world with their Japanese.

Now the group has around 800 people. Jess makes sure they are the right fit for the group. People that are encouraging to the rest of the community, take part and want to make progress. She runs online conversation clubs via Zoom, people from all over the world turn up to take part. There was increasing demand and she had to find a balance that met the needs of the online community. She started an online membership plan and gets to know her members really well. The idea is the same as the Edinburgh group, they only speak in Japanese when online.

As well as online and in-person conversation, Jess also runs Japanese Language boot camps in Edinburgh. Perfect for people that are studying Japanese because they want to work in Japan! Or, people that want to feel more comfortable when they travel to Japan. The boot camps are aimed at people taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). These too have developed over time in response to feedback. They used to be fully residential but now there are more flexible options. Additionally, they’ve grown to cover every level of the JLPT and a beginner boot camp. As your business grows over time, make sure you’re always paying attention to what your customers are asking for – it’s far easier to market something when you know there’s a demand.

“I decided okay, I think I want to go out on my own be self employed. You know, become an online business owner of some description, but I didn’t know what it was going to look like.”

Using social media platforms to provide value and resources

Jess uses Twitter as there’s a lot of Japanese language accounts where she shares vocabulary and tips to help her audience. She also has Pinterest and pins things in there. She has boards for her own blog posts and for other interesting blog post. She has images labelled with Japanese words. She recommends Pinterest if you want to learn vocabulary quickly because it’s fantastic for that.

She runs a Japanese conversation challenge on Instagram. Every month she invites people to come and chat in Japanese for a whole week. They complete a little 10 minute task every day. It helps people recognise where they can go for resources or for conversation and it also introduces the membership.

Each platform has it’s own unique features, and Jess has done a great job of finding the ones she can use to help and connect with her community. Think about how you could do the same in your business.

Marketing a language school

Jess told me that a lot of her customers find her, and she doesn’t feel the need to work hard at converting people into customers. So I asked how she decides what’s working and what to post on Instagram, for example. She concentrates on just trying to get people using Japanese. She does this by posting things that will make them ask questions or by encouraging them to answer questions. She uses her Instagram Stories to play games, people can continue the game by direct messaging her. She then shares it on her feed. It’s a really fun way of getting to know people and creating a loyal following, people end up playing against each other in the posts. It’s been effective for engagement, gets her community involved and encourages them to talk.

Jess also shared her best tip for marketing her business. “Don’t chase all the things.” She kept finding so many ways of doing things and tried to do them all, but just wore herself out. There are loads of Japanese language teachers on Instagram and Jess looked at the way that they were doing things “I looked at what worked, but then it needed to be done with my stamp on it.” She likes playing games and having fun. Incorporating this into her posts and marketing has worked for her.

“I’m just trying to get people using Japanese, you’ve got to use it or lose it”

Get connected

I loved talking to Jess and finding out more about Nihongo Connection. Improve or start learning Japanese by connecting with Jess on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Meet Kim Wilson, personal trainer and founder of the Athena Army. Kim and I talked about choosing not to use Twitter and TikTok, saving for your tax bill, and what it’s like to run a purpose driven business with a community that builds itself.

Today’s episode is sponsored by the All-in-Whin Marketing Method. I’ve been working hard at updating my signature course for 2020, and it’s now open for registration! Click the big yellow button below to get all the details.

Kim started Athena personal training in 2017. It’s grown exponentially over the past year. Especially when Kim started running her own competitions. Kim hosts “mock meets” so people can try out a powerlifting competition. Great for people who’ve never competed in powerlifting before because the atmosphere is a bit less pressured and more relaxed.

So far, they’ve been primarily female and that’s where the Athena Army concept started, although men are welcome. We joked about encouraging more men by bribing them with Mars bars, fitting because that’s the Roman God of war but then Kim would have to change the business name to Minerva, for the Roman Goddess of war in order to match.

“Lifting to me, is a physical representation of mentally overcoming myself.”

TikTok and small business marketing

Kim has two different Instagram accounts. One for her personal lifting journey and the other one is focused on the business, community and her lifters. Separating it is a good idea so Kim can talk about her own stuff without feeling like she’s overwhelming people who just care about the business and the community. When it comes to the business Kim doesn’t like talking about “me” and prefers to talk about “we”, because it’s not just about her it’s about her community.

She also uses Facebook but not as much as Instagram. The Facebook page is very business focused rather than personal. She feels the older generation and people in other countries still prefer to use Facebook.

We also chatted about the social media platforms Kim doesn’t use Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok. The latter is one of the newest platforms used primarily by high school and University students, but those users will grow up and stay on the platform. The first time Kim heard about TikTok Gary Vee was talking about it which made her think it must be relevant. Stay tuned for our upcoming episode on TikTok! Make sure you’re on the email list so you’ll be the first to know it’s available.

Never stress about your tax bill again

I asked Kim what the most useful thing she’s learned since starting her business. A friend advised that with everything that comes in, put 20% away in a savings account. It’s not yours, put it away, that’s your taxes. She’s done that every day ever since and it’s been the most useful thing when it comes to longevity.

Getting an accountant has also been useful, it’s saved her a lot of time and taken away a lot of stress.

Muscle Think Tank podcast

Kim also does a podcast called the Muscle Think Tank in collaboration with Steve from Bio Strong. They talk about everything gym related. Kim’s aware running a business can be quite a lonely place especially if you’re running it by yourself. It’s nice to have projects like a podcast where you can chat to someone in the same profession.

Get connected

I loved learning more about Kim and the Athena Army. You can find all Kim’s details on the Athena Personal Training website or connect with her on Instagram.