0:00

One just don't quit like I.

0:02

Promise if you're consistent like things will

0:04

com. I think sometimes people forget. I've

0:06

been on Instagram since the day it

0:08

came out and I was posting every

0:10

single day since then. so it's not

0:12

like one day I woke up and

0:14

I just had this you know bran

0:16

and do things like I've been doing

0:18

this for a lot of years and

0:20

I think maybe this might not be

0:23

or exact path like this isn't gonna

0:25

be your end goal but figure out

0:27

kind of think bigger and think what's

0:29

the your for bigger. Overall goal and

0:31

then you can start spreading across other

0:33

sort of maybe Instagram you tube there

0:35

so many other kind of art forms

0:38

out there and if you can kind

0:40

of the warehouse you can bring value

0:42

to those with in your same idea

0:45

like.you're fine. The Group: Welcome to the

0:47

Influencer Podcast. I'm your host Julie Solomon.

0:49

If you found yourself here it means

0:52

you are ready to unleash the powerful

0:54

visionary that lives inside you, turning you

0:56

into an authentic leader who creates influence,

0:59

impact and change. Let's get

1:01

started. Hello and welcome back to another

1:03

episode of The Influence of Podcast! Really

1:06

excited to share today's episode with you

1:08

because we have the one and only

1:10

Tessa on the podcast today. Now if

1:13

you don't know who tells it is,

1:15

let me introduce you quickly. She really

1:17

in my eyes is kind of an

1:19

Instagram icon. She is a photographer, a

1:22

musician, she's an author. She is the

1:24

founder of that has a app and

1:26

she is also the founder of Bite

1:29

has I. You may know

1:31

her from her collage kits or from

1:33

her over famous presets. She really is

1:35

the person who at least I remember

1:37

a few years ago, the kind of

1:39

set the stage and the scene for

1:42

presets and how content creators, bloggers and

1:44

influencers use photography presets on social media.

1:46

She really not only kind of blue

1:48

presets up and kind of put him

1:50

on the map, she was the first

1:53

one to really cure rate a look

1:55

and feel that is truly in uniquely

1:57

her own and if you know who

1:59

to. is, then you know what

2:01

I'm talking about. The way that

2:04

her photos look and the way

2:06

that her presets look, you can

2:08

notice them from like a mile

2:10

away. She also has a lot

2:12

to share about this industry, about

2:14

not only cultivating influence and growing

2:16

an audience and growing a community,

2:18

but really curating services and products

2:20

around your brand to actually make

2:22

a business and how she does

2:24

it all. So I am so

2:26

excited to bring her on today.

2:28

Let's welcome Tessa. Hi Tessa.

2:31

Hi, how are you? I am so

2:33

good. It is so great to have you here with us

2:35

today. Oh my gosh, thanks for having

2:38

me. I'm so excited. I am too because

2:40

you are one incredible

2:42

human being, an incredible entrepreneur

2:44

and creative and you are

2:47

one that so many of

2:49

our listeners have been really,

2:52

really eager to hear more from

2:54

on the show. So I'm really excited that

2:57

you're here and excited to dive into all

2:59

things. Well that's really sweet of you. Thank

3:01

you so much. I'm excited. Okay,

3:03

so right out the gate, I would love to

3:05

know what does influence mean to you? That's

3:07

such a good question. You know, I think

3:10

that it's so weird because I got into

3:12

this industry before even that word was being

3:15

used and so the word means meant

3:17

something else to me before, I guess, and

3:19

it does now. But you know something? I

3:21

think there's so much influence out there and

3:23

the word really kind of to me always

3:26

meant something that just like inspired and like

3:28

provoked something in me and kind of made

3:30

a change and I think that's like I

3:33

still really resonate with that. So share a little

3:35

bit about that journey that you just had mentioned

3:37

that you were kind of doing this

3:40

influencer thing before it was even a thing.

3:42

Can you kind of walk us through when

3:44

that was what really

3:47

kind of called you to step into

3:49

this type of new wave of entrepreneurship

3:52

and how that has evolved for you

3:54

as you've grown as a creative and

3:56

as a person and as

3:58

an influencer in all those things. Yeah,

4:00

I mean a little bit about my background.

4:03

I mean I grew up, you know in

4:05

a super creative home Both my

4:07

parents are entrepreneurs. So I guess that

4:09

concept wasn't very new to me Something

4:12

I just learned and watched which I

4:14

feel really lucky for it but you

4:16

know, I started my own photography business when

4:19

I was 16 and so that was really

4:21

my first job and I I never actually

4:24

Necessarily worked for anyone. I just learned how

4:26

to you know work with people and that I

4:28

think I learned so much right then and

4:30

there Being so young from there. I kind of

4:32

like, you know evolved I was always blogging

4:34

and I was doing music and all these things

4:37

and then you know Instagram came around And

4:39

and that was just like a fun channel to be

4:41

able to use All the things

4:43

I was doing and have kind of a platform to

4:45

tell people about it I think you know,

4:48

I kind of was even around back when

4:50

Facebook Launched and I think

4:52

I remember Starting a

4:54

business on Facebook before I even had a

4:56

website and I think that's so cool for

4:58

a young girl to be able to just

5:00

You know run a business but for even

5:02

knowing how to make her own website Like

5:05

I think that's amazing and I really always

5:08

Look to these social media platforms

5:10

with such like just

5:12

really grateful because for me It

5:14

taught me so much and allowed me to have

5:16

so much freedom and and all that

5:18

but it wasn't until I

5:21

moved to New York City, which was about three and

5:23

a half years ago that I started

5:25

kind of doing using that I

5:28

guess being an influencer as a part of my

5:30

business before it was just you know, a hobby

5:32

and I was Always

5:34

talking about fashion and photography and all these

5:36

things So really it's just kind

5:39

of all kind of started to mesh together

5:41

And that's that's really when it started to

5:43

change in what ways were you able to

5:45

kind of fuse? Your expertise

5:47

and your passion which was you

5:49

know, really photography visual design creative

5:51

design into actually making that a

5:54

monetizable Business because I think

5:56

that that's the biggest thing that a lot of

5:58

people struggle with is how do I take

6:00

this thing and actually make money with

6:02

it, like really be able to do what I

6:05

love? What if I told you

6:07

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6:09

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over to juliesolomon.net/live to save your free

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seat. I'll see you there. My

8:20

biggest thing I'm always looking for is like,

8:22

how am I providing somebody else with value?

8:24

So whether that's like, you know, you're an

8:26

expert in fashion and that's like what you

8:28

share great, but like where I found my

8:30

niche was I loved creating content

8:33

and telling stories and like just

8:35

the visual element was my

8:37

love and so many

8:40

brands wanted that. And so I, you

8:42

know, really just made that my

8:44

niche and focus like everything I did on that.

8:46

And that was how I was able to kind

8:48

of start working with brands. And I remember, you

8:50

know, I used to create my own campaigns before

8:52

brands wanted to pay me and I would try

8:54

and show them like, look, this is what I

8:57

would do for you. This is how I would

8:59

create something that you would like. And

9:01

that's honestly, that worked for me. That was something

9:03

that, you know, brands were like, oh, love it.

9:05

Like, let's talk more. I think sometimes people are

9:07

like waiting for somebody to come to

9:09

them, but really you have to kind of go after it

9:12

and tell people what you want or what you like or

9:14

what, how you're going to bring, you know, value to them.

9:17

Where do you think that that confidence, you

9:19

know, were you always kind of confident and

9:21

being able to say, look, this is kind

9:23

of my uniqueness, right? Like this, I have,

9:25

you know, I have this eye or this

9:27

unique take on how I'm going to step

9:30

into this influencer space. Was that

9:32

confidence something that you had always had, or was

9:34

it something that you just kind of like, I'm

9:36

going to give this a go and figure it

9:38

out as I go along and see what

9:41

works and what doesn't? You know what? I

9:43

still don't always have the confidence, right? Like

9:45

I think still, even to this day, even

9:47

though I'm in the industry and like working,

9:49

there are still so many things I want

9:51

and I am trying to go after that.

9:53

I get extremely nervous about, but my mom,

9:56

she's just an incredible business woman. And

9:58

she really like, she has. zero fear

10:00

of asking questions, which I'm like always

10:02

admired, but it is really hard for

10:04

me. But as kids, you know, I'd always say like feel

10:06

the fear and do it anyway. And that was something that

10:09

like, I literally tell myself every day because, you know, I

10:11

think in this industry, it's like, there

10:13

are people that just seem unreachable, but you know,

10:15

really like people are down to have conversations.

10:17

And I think that's so something I try and

10:19

always remember. So, you know, that's

10:21

something I'm still working on, but I do think

10:23

like, you know, confidence comes when like things

10:26

work and people see value in you. So just

10:28

like take your time, I

10:30

don't know, I think I'm still

10:32

working on that part. And

10:36

how do you think that your angle

10:39

and things, and I guess what

10:41

I mean by that is that a lot of times people

10:43

feel like when they get into this thing and they start

10:46

it, they kind of need to do what everybody else is

10:48

doing, or they just kind of look around to see like,

10:50

well, this seems to be working for this person.

10:52

So I'll give that a go. And they don't

10:55

really take time to figure out what

10:57

it is that really makes them unique and makes

10:59

them stand out. How do you think that you

11:01

were able to do that in

11:03

a way that was unique and was different? What kind

11:06

of inspired you to march to the beat of your

11:08

own drum and not kind of look to see what

11:10

everyone else was doing? I guess for

11:12

me, like, that's something that I've always,

11:15

this work for me is being the

11:17

odd one else. And I do remember

11:19

like when I moved to New York,

11:21

you know, I wanted to take these

11:23

photos that were extremely storytelling and very

11:25

different than like the everyday street style. And

11:28

it was kind of different and kind of weird,

11:30

but like it kind of felt good to be

11:32

different. That just was like, it worked for me,

11:34

you know? And I don't know that like, it's

11:36

so hard to say like would it work again

11:38

if I did it now, you know? I don't

11:40

know, but I think like I really strive to,

11:43

as a creator, I think the biggest

11:45

thing I've learned is like the more

11:47

you share about your creativity, like the

11:49

more you grow and the more you

11:51

can like evolve. So I've always been

11:53

super open with the way I've come

11:55

to get to where I am. I

11:58

wrote a book very early on. when

12:00

I got into this industry just about like what I

12:02

did and why it worked for me because I didn't

12:05

ever feel like it was like some special

12:07

sauce that like I only could do I

12:09

feel like other people could take that in

12:11

and do it on their own you know

12:13

and so I really think like that almost

12:15

became part of my brand right was like

12:17

sharing that encouraging other people to also share

12:19

and that kind of just opened like a

12:21

bubble of creativity that other people weren't thinking

12:23

about before. And I think one of the

12:25

other things that always I guess when I

12:27

first kind of really were kind of

12:30

noticing what you were doing is when you started to

12:32

create your own products and the

12:34

one that I remember the most was

12:36

your presets and I think

12:38

that that was really the

12:40

first time that I saw someone really

12:42

figure out how to monetize presets in

12:44

a way that was unique in a

12:46

way that really kind of hit the

12:48

masses and I remember at one point

12:51

being like this is a really really

12:53

smart idea because it's the one thing

12:55

that so many bloggers and influencers constantly

12:57

struggle with. Where did you get the

12:59

idea to do that? Because I'm

13:01

sure it was just something that you were naturally

13:04

doing all the time but what made you think

13:06

like hey I should create this as a service

13:08

for other people? I think like that's the one

13:10

cool part about being an influencer is you have

13:12

just access to like what people want you know

13:15

so people are constantly telling you what they think

13:17

what they want what they you know questions they

13:19

have and so that was just the number one

13:21

question I got like how do you edit your

13:23

photos and so it kind of just was like

13:26

well gosh I mean

13:28

I had of course worked years and years I

13:30

was a photographer and like had come up with

13:32

my my special sauce and it

13:34

was a lot to kind of you know

13:36

open that that door for me but I

13:38

just really I mean going back to what

13:40

I said I remember other photographers that helped

13:42

me along the way and taught me little

13:44

things that really just changed my

13:46

life and so I kind of wanted to open

13:49

that door so you know I did not think

13:51

that it would take on the life that it

13:53

did to be honest that taught me a lot

13:55

anyway but just I think a

13:57

lot of our products honestly have come from

13:59

just listening to what people want,

14:01

what questions they have. And that's really

14:03

such a cool space to

14:05

work in and build products off of.

14:08

Was it weird to kind of, or

14:10

at least from my perspective, I was

14:12

like, everyone's starting to look like Tessa

14:15

because all of their presets are the

14:17

same. How is that journey and kind

14:20

of seeing that and then growing the

14:22

product line? Definitely like a

14:24

challenge. I mean, I would say so

14:26

awesome on one hand, right? Like to

14:28

just see other people like thriving

14:30

and killing it, but then also kind of like,

14:32

well crap, now I look just

14:35

like everybody else and it's hard to

14:37

stand out. When it pushed me,

14:39

I don't know if I would have evolved to where

14:41

I am today. If I didn't do that, maybe I

14:43

would have just continued being

14:45

me and that would have been great. But I feel

14:48

like I've grown so much and really pushed myself even

14:51

just creatively to how

14:53

do I stand out just not from

14:55

editing, but just my style and the way

14:57

I take photos and things like that. So

14:59

I think it's definitely been part of

15:01

that process. But then also now being

15:03

able to, we have

15:06

launched an app which is the Tessa

15:08

app. And like that has been, I

15:10

think like the coolest thing we've ever

15:12

done because one, it

15:14

was combining, my husband's the developer of the

15:16

app and he was a computer science major.

15:18

And so being able to combine something with

15:20

him that we were both passionate about was

15:23

amazing. But then also, the

15:25

presets were super cool, but

15:27

at the time, you could only use

15:29

presets if you edited in Lightroom and

15:31

it was, for people that really,

15:33

really care. But there was this whole other pool

15:35

of people who just wanted to be able to

15:37

do it on their phone and really quickly. And

15:39

so we were like, how can we tap into

15:42

this other group of people? And so that really is how

15:44

the app was born. And I think that's of

15:46

course an evolution of the presets. So I think

15:49

that's then definitely the coolest part. And I wanna

15:51

touch more on the app in a minute, but

15:53

you had said something to me before we started

15:57

the conversation about a challenge that

15:59

you saw. when you were first launching

16:01

your collage kit and how it actually didn't

16:03

really sell well in the beginning. And I

16:06

would love for you to kind of share

16:08

that story because I think that it's very

16:10

relatable about how, you know,

16:12

a lot of us tend to, you know, we'll

16:15

launch something the first time and if it doesn't

16:17

go perfect, we're like, Oh, well, that was a

16:19

terrible idea onto the next thing without really giving

16:21

it the time to kind of nurture. So I

16:23

would love to kind of for you to share

16:25

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16:28

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16:30

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16:36

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16:38

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16:41

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16:43

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16:45

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16:47

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16:49

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16:51

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I am all about habits and routines and

18:19

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18:21

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18:23

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18:25

because I know that so many people are

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fall short because of a few things. One,

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it can be really time-consuming to cook fresh

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meals every day especially as a parent. Two,

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it can be time-consuming and difficult to prepare

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and go to the grocery store and just

18:41

have all the ingredients that we need for

18:43

the week. And so if you're anything like

18:45

me what tends to happen is that

18:48

we fall back on old habits of just

18:50

ordering out all of our meals or snacking

18:52

around meals or just grabbing whatever we find

18:54

in the and not really giving

18:56

our bodies the nourishment that we need. That's

18:59

A really simple solution that I have found

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so they know that I sent you. Yeah,

22:28

I mean I think the collage kit, so

22:30

you know that idea I knew

22:33

was like a great idea. Deep down it was

22:35

like something that I could see where this product

22:38

would be sold. I knew like

22:40

the customer, all these things, so it felt

22:42

great, you know, and the second we launched

22:44

it, it had insane reactions of just like,

22:46

wow, this is such a good idea. That

22:48

was like, I mean, overwhelming responses

22:50

about the idea and so we're like,

22:53

okay, but why? It just didn't like

22:55

fly off the shelves, you know? That's

22:57

our first hard product. When you're doing

22:59

like, you know, before it's presets, it's online,

23:01

there's no overhead, it's besides your website and

23:03

stuff like that, so it's easy, but this

23:05

was like one of the challenges in that

23:08

way, you know, we had inventory and all

23:10

this and so, you know, I really also

23:12

being like an influencer, you just kind of

23:14

learn so much about marketing and how many

23:16

times you have to actually see something before

23:19

somebody wants to buy it and how many times

23:21

you have to explain it and so you

23:23

know, when we first launched it, it's like, what?

23:25

You can't just talk about something for a week

23:27

and or for even like a

23:29

couple of days. It's like people have to see it

23:32

over and over again and you really have to like

23:34

tell somebody why they would want it or why it's

23:36

like fun or brings value to

23:38

them, you know, and so I think like it took

23:40

us a solid six months of really marketing it and

23:42

getting it out of people's hands and getting people to

23:44

use it and things like that and then that's when

23:46

all of a sudden we saw a big change, but

23:49

it was super discouraging in the

23:51

beginning. I think we were like, well,

23:53

I guess people just think it's a cool idea,

23:55

but they don't really want it, you know what

23:57

I mean? Oh man, yes, and it is. It's

23:59

like you do surveys, you get feedback, you talk

24:01

to people, everyone's like, this thing is exactly what

24:03

I want. And then you go and you make

24:06

it and then no one buys it. And you're

24:08

just like, what just happened? I know. And yeah,

24:10

I can totally relate to that. I would love

24:12

to know what were some of the specific pivots

24:14

and marketing things that you had to do during

24:16

that six month period to really get off and

24:18

going? Like you had mentioned, you know, there's a

24:20

certain amount of times that people have to, you

24:22

kind of have to like smack people over the

24:25

head with something before they're like, oh yeah, okay,

24:27

this is for me. What were some of the

24:29

things that you did that allowed you to

24:31

go from not selling as

24:33

many as you anticipated to actually getting

24:35

into a consistent flow of selling them?

24:37

So I think like one was just,

24:40

you know, it's like when you follow

24:42

a brand and they're posting like their

24:44

best coat every day, you're like, oh,

24:46

you know what, that is the best coat and I'm

24:48

going to get it. It's like, I think I just

24:50

didn't realize, you know, even if something's in a photo,

24:53

it's like you actually have to speak

24:55

to it and really talk about it a lot.

24:57

And also, you know, people just for some

24:59

reason to me, like things that seem obvious

25:01

to you aren't always to your audience. So

25:03

like people would think it was like a

25:05

wallpaper or, you know, they didn't understand how to

25:08

put it up or like all these things. So

25:10

really just constantly, you know, talking about that, talking

25:12

about each thing. And then also,

25:14

you know, who the customer

25:16

was. It's like, of course the customer,

25:18

I knew that my community wanted it

25:20

and they had talked about it and

25:23

we had like almost created it

25:25

together in a way, but it wasn't until they

25:27

started to get it and post about it and

25:29

put it into their lives that I really saw

25:31

something shift. And I remember somebody told me once

25:34

like, I'm going to get these numbers wrong right

25:36

now, but you used to have to see something

25:38

like, you know, three to seven times

25:40

before you would buy it. But now because we

25:42

see so much every day, I think you have

25:45

to see something like seven to 15 times, which

25:48

is crazy. It's crazy. And I love that

25:50

you mentioned that because I think a lot of times

25:52

people, you know, they have this product that they're launching

25:55

and they're like, well, you know, I don't want to

25:57

mention it on social media every day, or I don't

25:59

want to. email about it multiple times, because I

26:01

don't want to be spammy. I don't want to

26:04

annoy people. I don't want to bother people. And

26:06

it's like, no, they need you to bother them.

26:08

I mean, Nordstrom doesn't say that when

26:10

they're sending us 15 emails a day. It's

26:12

like the reason why these, right, it's like

26:14

the reason why these massive companies send you

26:17

15 emails a day is because they have

26:19

put in the time, the work, and hundreds

26:21

of thousands of dollars in research and marketing

26:23

to know that consumers need to see something

26:25

over and over and over and over again

26:28

before they buy it. So I love that

26:30

you mentioned that it took you six months to really

26:32

see something that you knew your ideal customer wanted and

26:34

to get her to actually buy it. And I would

26:36

love to talk a little bit more about, because

26:40

you've mentioned it a couple of times

26:42

now about your ideal customer. One of

26:44

the biggest challenges that I see for

26:46

a lot of creatives that listen to

26:48

this show is that they have really

26:50

good ideas, really good products, really good

26:52

services, but because they don't know who

26:54

they're talking to, who their ideal customer

26:56

is, it never takes off. And it

26:58

leads to so much frustration and burnout

27:00

and confusion, because they're like, I just don't understand,

27:02

I just don't understand. And I think a lot

27:04

of times people are like, well, I have this

27:06

beauty product, and it's for everyone who

27:09

is interested in beauty. And it's, you

27:11

know, no, it's not for everyone interested

27:13

in beauty, who's it really for? So

27:15

how were you able to figure out

27:17

exactly who your ideal customer was so

27:19

you could really show up and serve

27:21

her in a way that was sustainable

27:23

and profitable? Yeah, I think that's an

27:25

interesting point, because I think sometimes we

27:28

make a product because we love it,

27:30

and we think we want it, the

27:32

customer, to be somebody specific that

27:34

we think, but it might not be that person.

27:36

So sometimes you put your hopes in this basket,

27:38

but then it ends up being maybe

27:41

somebody else, if that makes sense. So I

27:43

think that's something to pay attention to, because

27:45

I've learned that with other products as well.

27:47

But I think for us, I learned that

27:49

my overall following is a little bit

27:52

older than the Collage Kid

27:54

customer. And they're definitely still a part

27:56

of my following. But once I

27:58

kind of got it into the- right hands.

28:00

Like I think we never really did gifting

28:02

or things like that, but like the whole

28:05

influencer marketing thing, but just we could start

28:07

to see like who was actually buying it

28:09

and you know where it was going. And

28:11

so for us it was definitely towards like

28:14

the dorm room girl, right? Somebody going to

28:16

college, somebody that like might already be in

28:18

college and they're making a little bit of

28:20

money but not you know have enough money

28:22

to go you know they're not trying to

28:24

decorate their apartment in New York City. So

28:26

I think kind of like narrowing it down

28:28

to even that specific person and then like

28:31

marketing exactly towards that person was really important.

28:33

And something we also learned a ton about

28:35

was like email marketing you know and how

28:37

doing newsletters and things like that for somebody

28:39

to like see it and like see it

28:42

in different spaces and all that kind of

28:44

started to kind of pick up for us

28:46

and that's when we really started to hone

28:48

in on our exact customer. Yeah and I

28:51

appreciate you bringing up the email list again

28:53

because that is something that I constantly constantly

28:55

talk about to people when I'm when they're

28:57

like I can't grow or you know my

29:00

product isn't selling and I'm like well how many

29:02

emails do you send out a week and they're like

29:04

none or one or I don't really have

29:06

an email list or I'm not focused on that or all of

29:08

my people are on Instagram so I don't need to worry about

29:10

an email list and it's like no no

29:12

no no no thank you. Yeah you

29:15

have the email. It's so

29:17

interesting about that because like I love

29:19

to shop obviously but like I

29:21

never really will buy something from Instagram. It's just

29:23

way too difficult and to stay in Instagram is

29:26

just like such an annoying thing by the time

29:28

I get to the checkout it's like I might

29:30

accidentally X out and then it's gone and blah

29:32

blah blah so like emailing

29:35

I think is the most important thing because that's like when

29:37

someone's sitting on their computer and they open it up and

29:39

they'll actually go to the exact website and

29:41

that's usually when you see like the purchase

29:43

go through I think and especially for me

29:45

as a consumer like that's when I actually

29:47

buy something so I think it's like almost

29:49

a platform in itself that people feel like

29:51

is outdated even though we're all on email

29:53

every day but like I think that's a

29:55

really important platform and there's so many targeting

29:57

like there's so many tools you can use

30:00

that I think are more specific than just like

30:03

running an ad on Instagram. Yes. I agree.

30:05

Well, and it's for your email list. I

30:07

mean, those are people who have organically, you

30:09

know, like they want to be on

30:11

your email list. They've signed up, they've raised their

30:13

hand and said... Or they've like purchased from you

30:15

before. Yeah. Right. Yeah. They're

30:17

going to be in a much

30:19

warmer audience. And your click rates,

30:21

your open rates, which is essentially

30:23

similar to what an engagement rate would be on social...

30:26

on Instagram is way higher. Yeah. 20,

30:28

30%, you know, versus three on Instagram. So

30:33

I would love to talk more

30:36

about the app. If for someone who's

30:38

never heard of the app or never

30:40

experienced it, what should they expect by

30:42

checking it out? So the app is

30:45

essentially, you know, my vision of the

30:47

best like photo and video editing presets

30:49

that make, you know, essentially being an

30:52

not even just an influencer, but somebody

30:54

who cares about editing and making things

30:57

beautiful, just as easy as possible on

30:59

the go. And really, like we

31:01

do focus on Instagram, right? Like, how

31:03

can you make your Instagram stories just all

31:06

branded, like your own thing that all looks

31:08

the same and be cohesive and beautiful. And

31:11

that's really kind of what the app is

31:13

about. And, you know, we have so many

31:15

plans for the app right now in really

31:19

focusing on, you know, the editing technique. But

31:21

I think the future of the app,

31:23

you know, everyone is such supportive of each

31:25

other. They use the app, if that makes

31:27

sense. So there's a Tessa app community

31:29

on Instagram that exists. And I think they

31:32

kind of like and share each

31:34

other's photos and ask each other what presets they're using,

31:36

you know. So there is like also a

31:38

community within it. I love that. And I

31:40

love how it's service based, but then it's

31:43

also community based. What is next for you

31:45

in terms of coming up? Is

31:47

there anything that you can share with us

31:49

that we can start to get excited about?

31:53

So many things. I'm trying to think of what

31:55

I'm allowed to talk about. One thing I think

31:58

that I'm really excited about is... I

32:00

have always been, and this is maybe

32:02

something I think is interesting because it's

32:04

something I'm learning, but when I

32:07

work on products, I really don't talk

32:09

about them much before. And

32:11

because I'm like nervous or still working through

32:13

the kinks or things like that,

32:15

but I've actually been learning that if you

32:17

kind of share your process and take people

32:20

along with you, you're gonna tip over so

32:22

many mistakes that you would have made if

32:24

you didn't. And so that's really something that

32:26

I'm trying to work on. And for the

32:29

app especially, we have a lot of

32:31

plans of just how

32:33

to open a creative circle

32:35

essentially. And everything we do

32:37

is about giving other people tools to

32:40

be creative, but also pass it on. I

32:42

think that's the reason we build the Clodge

32:45

Kit is to make your space a work

32:47

of art. And that's why we have the

32:49

app to help you curate your own style

32:51

and things like that. So everything we're doing

32:53

is really going towards that. And I have

32:55

so many ideas for the community of the

32:58

test app, but I'm really going to start

33:00

to involve everyone in helping me build

33:02

that within the site of the bow. And

33:04

we're also diving more into the fashion world,

33:06

but I don't know how much I'm allowed

33:09

to really talk about the app. A

33:11

little teaser. Yes. Awesome.

33:14

What has been your biggest

33:16

win and your biggest challenge

33:18

of the last year? Oh

33:21

gosh, that's a good question. I guess the

33:23

biggest challenge is when you start out in

33:25

this business, I think being an entrepreneur, if

33:27

you work with yourself, it's like so fun.

33:29

The little successes are so great because you

33:32

feel like, wow, I did that on my

33:34

own. This is so cool. But when you're

33:36

really trying to build a brand, like right

33:38

now, I'm trying to think of my five,

33:40

10 year plan, which is something I've never

33:42

really done. I've been kind of just like

33:45

on the go, like making things work, but

33:47

really trying to build a business and hire

33:49

people and make these big, big decisions that

33:51

are scary about is like something that I

33:53

feel like is my challenge every single day

33:56

right now, especially this year, just really trying

33:58

to make smart decisions. So

34:00

that's my challenge and any

34:02

advice is welcome. Um, successes

34:05

I think would just be, you know, the app.

34:07

I think we finally kind of hit a stride

34:09

where the app is something

34:12

that I see such a future for and

34:14

before it was really just for fun and

34:16

something I made for my community, but it's

34:18

expanded beyond that. And it's just something that,

34:21

you know, is actually, people

34:23

use the app that don't know who I am, which

34:25

I'm like, yes, this is so cool. I actually have

34:27

a product that's just like out in the world and

34:30

I think it was really exciting. That

34:32

is really exciting. And then what

34:34

would be the biggest piece of

34:37

inspiration and like really tactical

34:39

advice that you would give someone that's

34:41

listening who may just be starting out

34:43

or maybe they've been at this for

34:45

a while and they, they're just kind

34:47

of like hitting that, that plateau that

34:49

they feel stuck. What has helped you

34:51

in the past that potentially helped them?

34:53

Yeah, I think one just don't quit.

34:56

I promise if you're consistent, like things will

34:59

come. I think sometimes people

35:01

forget. I've been on Instagram since the

35:03

day it came out and I was

35:05

posting every single day since then. So

35:08

it's not like one day I woke up and I

35:10

just had this, you know, brand and these things. It's

35:12

like, I've been doing this for a lot of years

35:14

and I think maybe this might not

35:16

be your exact path. Like this isn't

35:18

going to be your end goal, but

35:20

figure out kind of think bigger and

35:23

think what's your bigger overall goal. And then

35:25

you can start spreading it across other sort

35:27

of maybe Instagram, YouTube. There are so many

35:29

other kinds of platforms out there. And if

35:31

you can kind of see where, how else

35:34

you can bring value to those within your

35:36

same idea like that, you'll find the group,

35:38

I think. And just really, you know, I

35:40

know this sounds cliche, but I

35:42

think being social in social media, I think sometimes

35:45

we just like exist on it, but we're not

35:47

actually working with other people or

35:49

talking to other people and actually using the

35:51

platform to be social. And I think that's

35:53

the biggest part. That's really where I found

35:56

a lot of success was when I just started, you

35:58

know, meeting talking to these people

36:01

and all sharing information, I think people

36:04

are much more willing to sit

36:06

down and talk with you than you would think.

36:08

I love that, thank you so much.

36:11

Okay, where can people find the app,

36:13

the collages, all the other

36:15

great stuff, and then find you

36:18

on Instagram, on all the socials?

36:20

Yes, so you can shop all

36:22

of our products on shopteza.com and

36:25

you can find the app in the

36:27

App Store, it's just called Teza. And

36:29

we're also releasing the Android app very,

36:31

very soon. I'm not gonna give an

36:33

exact date because you never know, but

36:35

literally before 2020, it's coming. That's

36:39

our number one asked question. Yeah,

36:42

and then just Teza on Instagram and

36:45

by Teza on Instagram is where all

36:47

of our products are. Awesome,

36:49

well guys, you know the drill. Teza

36:51

and I want to hear what you

36:53

loved most about this episode, we wanna

36:56

get your feedback, your aha moments, any

36:58

other questions that you wanna dive deeper

37:00

into. So you can find us on

37:02

Instagram, definitely screenshot this episode, tag

37:05

me, tag Teza, let us know what you

37:07

love the most. We love to share those

37:09

stories on our stories. So thank you so

37:11

much, Teza, it has been so fun to

37:14

have you on and to finally get to

37:16

dive deeper with you on all of the

37:18

incredible things that you've done and just

37:20

your really authentic journey through creating

37:23

a really unique online creative business.

37:25

Oh my gosh, you're so sweet, thank you

37:28

so much for having me on, I can't

37:30

wait to listen and I'm gonna go check

37:32

out all the rest of your episodes now.

37:35

Awesome, thank you. Thanks so much. All

37:37

right, my friends, I hope that you loved

37:39

that episode with Teza as much as I

37:41

did, if you did, of course, I would

37:43

love to hear about it. So all you

37:45

have to do is screenshot today's episode, tag

37:47

me in it, let me know what your

37:49

biggest takeaway was and if you're feeling a

37:51

little jazzy, you could also rate and review

37:53

the podcast. I love to review what you're

37:55

sharing about the podcast because it kind of

37:57

helps me navigate and direct on the. future

38:00

content that I create for you. And so

38:02

by leaving a review, letting me know what

38:04

you like, what you don't like, what you

38:06

want more of, it really does allow me

38:08

to bring the best content to you that

38:11

I possibly can. And with that, my friends,

38:13

it's not just what we're doing here on

38:15

the podcast, but what actually comes out of

38:17

this platform. Because it's one thing to listen

38:19

to podcasts every single week and absorb a

38:21

bunch of content, but it's another thing to

38:24

actually apply it. Which is why I am

38:26

doing a incredible free masterclass coming up soon

38:28

in about a week. All you have to

38:30

do is go to juliesolomon.net live to get

38:32

all of the details. But essentially, I am

38:34

hosting a free masterclass to help you build

38:36

your brand with ease and five simple steps.

38:39

Really this year to me, it is all

38:41

about simplicity. It is all about ease. And

38:43

most importantly, it is about sustainability. So I

38:45

have a brand new free live masterclass that

38:47

is all about brand sustainability and bringing that

38:49

to you in about a week. So I

38:52

don't want you to miss that. So head

38:54

on over to juliesolomon.net live to check it

38:56

out, see if it's for you and to

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And with that, my friends, I will see you

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