We all want to get results in our business fast, right! When something becomes fun, it becomes easy. When it becomes easy. You do it more. The more you do it, the faster you get your results. In today’s episode I chat with Brooke Vulinovich about the power of investing to grow your business and your social media
Links
Brooke Vulinovich Instagram
Social Club Community
Brooke Vulinovich Facebook
Hayley Osborne Instagram (Social Soul)
Hayley Osborne Facebook
Brooke Vulinovich’s bio
Today’s guest I proudly bring you, Brooke Vulinovich. She is a true inspiration, and today’s chat proves just that I absolutely admire what Brooke has built in her business and what she continues to build in her business. She does so with so much authentic enthusiasm, and I really admire how she keeps it real. From what I know about Brooke she’s always going the extra mile to do what she loves and genuinely cares about every business owner she helps along the way. Brooke is an Instagram specialist, international keynote speaker, creator of the Global Social Club membership and Academy and a regular guest on channel nine news Perth.
With a background in sales and marketing a love of customer service and her enthusiastic personality allowed her to quickly skyrocket through the digital marketing world to become one of Australia’s most influential Instagram speakers and trainers. Brooke works with brands like American Express, Dermalogica, Mazda, F45 and the city of Perth. She specialises in educating businesses on exactly how to leverage the power of social media to increase their brand awareness and boost their bottom line. I am so excited for you to hear this chat. So let’s just get into it.
Transcription
Hayley Osborne:
A very big warm welcome to the podcast Brooke Vulinovich Hello, Brooke. And I’m so excited to have you join me today.
Brooke Vulinovich:
hello, I’m so excited to be here. Thank you for having me!
Hayley Osborne:
I have just read out your cracking bio, and also described you as the absolute powerhouse gun go to person in the world of Instagram marketing. In your words, I would love you to do an introduction into who you are and what you do.
Brooke Vulinovich:
Right. So I’m an Instagram business coach and the founder of this social club community, I teach you how to grow and scale a business using Instagram, and have fun and be confident on the platform because I believe when something becomes fun, it becomes easy. When it becomes easy. You do it more. The more you do it, the faster you get your results.
Hayley Osborne:
Awesome. So Brooke today, I really wanted to get you onto the show to do a deep dive with you on the power of investing degree or social media. I know this is massive. It’s a massive, massive question that has so much V power part in the fun. You can use that. But obviously 2020 was a weed cracker of a year, we saw businesses go up and down in a crazy way. Now we’re on to 2021 at the time of recording this episode, we’re in January 28 February Oh my god 2021 those listeners in business please tell us why is Instagram such a powerful form of marketing?
Brooke Vulinovich:
Many reasons, I think from my own experience, so I have worked in small business for oh my god, fuck I’m so old, was just calculus. I have worked in small business this year, for 22 years. Shucks. Yeah, I know. I know. I look great for 18. Um, and I think there’s so many business owners that just don’t realise the value of having a marketing platform with this much power at your fingertips 24 hours a day, seven days a week for free.
The fact that we have this power for free. And there are business owners who are not deep diving into it. It blows my mind because previously in business, the amount that you would have to spend in advertising and marketing, to get a fraction of the audience that Instagram will give you again, every day for free, was enormous. So the power lies in the fact that you can save so much money by investing in the platform and reach so many more people globally than any other marketing channel available.
Hayley Osborne:
It’s a big question with a big answer, I guess. And so the next question, I think, is, well, why is it important for businesses to grow their social media? And in I guess, because, you know, you’re, running your business. So that is what you’re good at. And your social media, you know, is not something you know, we can’t be good at everything. But why is it so important for businesses to invest money to grow,
Brooke Vulinovich:
Because your customers are there in real time, and business is about customers, if you don’t have customers, you don’t have a business, you have a hobby, you want to be where your customers are, marketing is about developing a message for your brand and putting that message in front of the slice of the consumer pie who have a need or a want for what it is that you do. So the consumer is on social media, and you need to put your message on social media so that they can hear it. If your message isn’t on social media, it’s not been heard. It’s as simple as that.
Hayley Osborne:
And that’s 2021, right?
Brooke Vulinovich:
That’s 2021. There’s no longer an excuse for business owners to say, Oh, that’s really not going to work for my business, because it’s completely untrue. If you have not invested in learning these platforms, then start today, start now. Because the sooner you learn, the sooner you will be able to grow. It’s an ever evolving platform. And you need to be open to the fact that it does grow and evolve and change. But your customers there is the biggest number one reason why your customers are there and you need to be where they are. Because if you’re not there, your competitors are.
Hayley Osborne:
So as you I would say you are one of the best experts in the industry of Instagram marketing. And you and your you say you know, for businesses, your customers are there. You do you mean from businesses say if you are a gardener, to a beautician to a lawyer, across platform covers it all
Brooke Vulinovich:
One of the questions I get asked all the time, is what business is the social club community, which is my online training platform for Instagram? What kind of businesses are in there? And it’s such a difficult question to answer. Because there is literally everything, everything you just said we’ve got gardeners, we’ve got lawyers, we’ve got accountants, we’ve got dentists, we’ve got working from home moms, we’ve got big corporations, anyone who has a customer using Instagram needs to be on this platform if they have a product or service to sell.
Hayley Osborne:
Yeah, it’s times have changed so much. And if you are stuck in the, you know, I don’t need social media. I think it’s, you know, reality check time for 2021. Another massive takeaway I have from fangirling, you is really you really give the importance to the power of authenticity, you are so confident, authentic and transparent across your Instagram. What advice would you give business owners to take the first step of stepping outside their comfort zone and being more authentic, because this scares a lot of people.
Brooke Vulinovich:
It does scare a lot of people. And I would love to get into, you know, the real nitty gritty of why. But I think what it comes down to is being judged. That’s generally the biggest fear that holds people back is being judged by putting themselves out there. Now, the only people who are going to judge you are people who aren’t your customer. Because if you’re delivering valuable content that helps your customer that meets their needs that provides entertainment that provides inspiration, they’re going to gobble that shit up.
They’re not going to judge it at all. So I think it really comes down to identifying who your customer is so you can create content that you know that they are going to enjoy they’re going to engage with. And that engagement is what ultimately helps to build your confidence when you’re sharing content. And you’re getting comments and DMS saying, oh my god, this is so helpful, this is so valuable, thank you so much for sharing it. That’s what gives you the confidence boost to do it more and more and more. So sit down, identify your ideal client in as much detail as possible. That would be my first step when jumping on the platform, because it will make everything else on the platform so much easier.
Hayley Osborne:
And then I guess it’s the old saying, you know, you can’t wait until you’re confident to show up, you become confident from showing up and has this been something for you. Because your Instagram has obviously grown so much over the years. That that’s kind of the path, it just you just did it. And then now and that is the linear progression.
Brooke Vulinovich:
So a couple of things. For me, I grew up modelling. Now, that meant I was in front of the camera a lot. I also loved acting at school. So I suppose I had a bit of confidence to start. And this was before social media. So I had confidence on camera, before social media even existed. Then I got really into Snapchat before Instagram just personally. So I became familiar, I suppose with how the ways the platform worked. So it was a natural transition for me on to Instagram stories when they got introduced, because Instagram Stories pretty much just copied Snapchat. But what I will say is, Instagram Stories didn’t happen for a while after Instagram was introduced. And I actually started in the small business world as event planning and management. And as an anyone that works in events will know you are not the star of the show you are the behind the scenes of the show.
So it wasn’t a natural progression for me to put my face on my Instagram account. I never shared my face on my Instagram account before stories. And then I was asked to speak at an event and they asked for a headshot. And I didn’t have a headshot. And I thought oh, okay, shit, I better get a headshot. And then because I’ve had this headshot done for my business, and I was very proud of it, share that on Instagram and got crazy engagement from people who had been following me for almost a year but had no idea what I looked like, or sounded like because there was no stories then.
And I very quickly realised, well hang on a minute. People want to see who I am. And it’s like I said before, it’s when you share something and get that engagement and that feedback that gives you that constant that confidence boost to share more and more. And, you know, then I guess when you get to a point where I do the live TV segment now that was really scary. The first time I did it,
Hayley Osborne:
I cannot imagine.
Brooke Vulinovich:
Say that, you know, I had confidence from being on camera and all of that. But live TV on the news as well is a whole other area. It probably took me I think I counted it took me about five times doing that to not be like I could hear my heart beating out of my chest. I was so nervous. Now it’s fine because I’ve been doing it for years. But I get that nerves and trust me, Instagram Stories is nothing you can do it.
Just take that firstly, do that first story because anyone that you admire on the platform that you think is amazing on stories or is really confident or great at being themselves. They did their first story once upon a time to and it’s just takes practice. It’s doing it over and over and over and then eventually it just becomes so natural because just like you feel like you know if you were to FaceTime a friend, your community on Instagram begin to feel like your friends and that’s what that’s what it becomes like it becomes like you’re just Face Timing them or giving them a video call rather than go going on live TV. I can speak from experience it is not the same.
Hayley Osborne:
Yeah. And I always like to say to, you know, we say a lot you can’t compare yourself to others, but you can’t compare your one or two to someone else’s 20 Which is what you’ve just said, basically,
Brooke Vulinovich:
Don’t compare your beginning to somebody else’s five years, six years in.
Hayley Osborne:
Yeah, it takes a lot of work. But the I guess the message from here is just get started because it is the most powerful form of marketing, essentially
Brooke Vulinovich:
started and show up consistently. That’s the only way to get better.
Hayley Osborne:
So big one, from me, to you to our listeners, what is the one thing that you’d wish you’d done sooner? In your business?
Brooke Vulinovich:
Oh, my God, where do I begin? So probably the most Can I do one like personal that impacted my business? So personally, but in my business, I wish I’d set up a morning routine sooner. So I was a night owl was I say was a night owl. I never had a morning routine, I would work all through the night sleep into whatever time repeat the process. And it just wasn’t working for me. And I started listening to podcasts and reading books from successful entrepreneurs. And this reoccurring theme came up about having a morning routine. Now, I’ve never even heard of the concept of a morning routine before starting my business ever, which sounds so weird now. Um, and so I thought all right. Okay, if I want to be successful, I need a morning routine.
And then I thought, what is the morning routine? What does this mean? What do people do in the morning? Like, what difference does it make and I started researching certain successful people that I admire what they did in the morning. So simple things like even though you work from home, get up at the same time every day, go to bed at the same time every day, so that you can get up at the same time every day. Don’t spend the first couple of hours on your phone, do something for your mind, do something for your body, do something for your soul. So I like to get up and exercise. Then I write down my list for the day of what I’m doing. I have it right in front of me. Also on my list for the day, I have three things that I’m grateful for that day. And I also write down my meals. Because again, when you work from home, it can be so easy to just keep going to the kitchen and snacking so I actually plan out what I’m going to eat. So as soon as I feel hungry, I like look at my list. Does makes sense?
Hayley Osborne:
That is such a good idea. Thank you. It’s it is personal, but it does cascade onto into your day and yeah, wow.
Brooke Vulinovich:
So they would be my like, personal things I wish I did sooner. But that impact my business and then on a business sense. Oh my god, I have just been through the nightmare of adding GST to products so I became GST registered I suppose for anyone listening. Not in Australia. GST is a government sales tax. So once you hit 70,000 in revenue, I think it’s at 70.
Hayley Osborne:
I think it’s actually a little bit less, but
Brooke Vulinovich:
I bet about that you have to pay the government 10% of what you earn. Now I hit GST years ago. But the Social Club, which is my service, it’s a monthly subscription service. Because of the way the subscription was set up on the platform that I had chosen to host my payment plans. They didn’t have an option to add GST because the platform is American. So as I’m sure you can imagine, it was a head fuck to you know, I have over 900 members now just the whole thing was a head fuck. I wish I’d done it three years ago because I did not have 900 customers three years ago, and it would have been much less of a head fuck.
Hayley Osborne:
Yeah, and it’s those systems and processes, isn’t it like you think you don’t need them? And then a year’s time you grow and you’re like, Oh, I wish I had done that.
Brooke Vulinovich:
The business decision that you are putting off today will only get more difficult the more time you put it off, get it done. Even if you’re like, oh, that’s going to be really difficult. I’ll put it off, which is what I did for the last three years. It will only get more difficult, I promise you, as we from experience.
Hayley Osborne:
And come back and bite you in the office. But you’ve done it now, which is good.
Brooke Vulinovich:
Yeah, let’s do. Done. And all I wish from that situation is I had done it sooner.
Hayley Osborne:
Yeah. Yeah. So Oh, my goodness, sorry. So. Okay, 2021 and Spring boarding for business owners to achieve success. What’s your advice?
Brooke Vulinovich:
Oh, all righty. Um, get really, really clear on your goals for the year and be realistic. I think so many people set unrealistic goals, and then they’re disappointed, because especially in the world that we’re in at the moment with COVID and the pandemic. There’s a lot that’s out of our hands. So set, I like to set four goals for the year. And if I achieve one or two of them, then that’s a fantastic year, if I achieve all of them even better. But make sure you write them down, I wrote them down, I have them on a piece of paper on my desk every morning, before I open my laptop, I look at my goals. And it always subconsciously sets my intention for the day because I know what they are, I know exactly what it says but reading it every single morning, it then ultimately impacts every decision I make in my business during that day.
Because when your heart’s in your business, it can be really easy to get distracted and make decisions that actually aren’t leading you towards your goals. But if you’re constantly reminded of them, then I do believe that impacts, it impacts you achieving them. If they’re in front of your face every day, you’re going to reach those goals. If they’re not, you’ll get sidetracked.
Hayley Osborne:
It is a good idea to have them in front of you. I have a vision and a mission statement in front of me that I look at every day. And it does help you to stay focused, because everyone is kind of the bigger you get. And the more business that comes your way. People are. This is important. No, this is important. No, this is important. And then it’s your responsibility to pull that back and say actually, this is what’s important.
Brooke Vulinovich:
And it’s also human nature to compare yourself to others, as well and see what they’re doing and feel like you should be doing that. And then get distracted and go off your path or feel like you failed because your goals aren’t their goals. Especially social media, especially with social media. So set your goals for your business. If you’re not online, get your ass online ASAP. If you don’t know what you’re doing, there’s so like, obviously, I promote my own platform Social Club. But there’s so many businesses that will teach you what you don’t know in business. And it’s no longer an excuse to say I don’t have the time. Make the time.
Hayley Osborne:
Yeah, yep. So what’s in store for Brooke this fabulous year of 2021? Tell us tell me
Brooke Vulinovich:
so much. So I suppose the biggest two changes for me as part of the social club last year, when did I do it late last year, I introduced a six week bootcamp, essentially. So it’s called Social Club Plus, it’s where I work one on one with businesses over a six week period, to really, really scale and set the blueprint to scale their business fast. It’s where I teach them everything that went right for me to grow my business over the last almost six years and nothing that went wrong. So I’m just about to open applications for the next round of social club class because I can only take 10 businesses at a time because of the amount of one on one that it involves.
So that’s very exciting. Also social clubs spotlight. So over the course of my business, I’ve been involved in a lot of smaller events that allowed me to share my story and I feel in a position now to give that opportunity back to others. So I created the social clubs, spotlight events, where all of the members have a chance to come and meet to network in real life rather than on a screen and four of the members get spotlit because I think it can be hard as well in business, when you go to these, you know, seminars and networking events or you hear from business owners at the top of their game, it can be kind of intimidating and hard to relate to that if you’re just starting out on your journey. I wanted to give people who were either either starting out on their journey on their journey or not professional speakers, but are doing incredible things in their businesses, our platform to be able to share that so we just did the first Perth event. We had plans to go over East but now Perth is in lockdown.
Hayley Osborne:
And I was gonna ask you, is it just going to be in Perth because I know there would be. There’s so many people that will be listening in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as Adelaide. What about everybody else?
Brooke Vulinovich:
The plan was actually to launch these last year and launch them in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, then COVID happen, the world was shut down events were banned by the government, and really put a halt in my plans. So we were like, right, let’s just transfer that that exact timetable to 2021. And now it’s kind of happened again. So to answer your question, yes, the plan is to do them everywhere. Unfortunately, where you know, the plans and now sort of determined by what happens with this bloody pandemic, but it is happening, it will happen at some point
Hayley Osborne:
Exciting. And for the social club membership. tell our listeners a little bit about that. So that’s your baby,
Brooke Vulinovich:
Yeah, so the social club membership also evolved this year. So three years ago, when I launched the social club membership, it involved getting a weekly lesson, and about a five minute video over the years that has grown as the members have grown and the platform has grown. So now you still get the weekly lesson on how to market your business on Instagram, in now involves on half an hour live webinar awake. It also involves so many training videos and bonuses in the group on different part of the features within Instagram and how to use them. We do a new, monthly new member induction call, you get discounts to all kinds of events, both online and in person events.
And it’s just going gangbusters I had in the month of January. My phone’s on charge, we have the most members we have ever gotten in a month, we’ve got almost 200 members, that’s so good. Oh my god. It’s just incredible. And I just, I feel so proud because I teach what I did to grow my business. That’s what the social club is about teaching you everything that I have done to grow my business. And I feel so proud to be able to share that with so many people and watching their results, we have a post that goes up every Monday called weekly wins where the members get to share their wins for the week.
And honestly, reading the comments on this post every week just fills my soul with so much joy because business owners all over the world who are making sales who are reaching their targets, there was selling out who have weight lists for the products and services. It’s just incredible. And they say oh my god, before I joined the social club, like I had no idea of what was actually possible on this platform. So it makes me very proud to be able to share that knowledge with people and let them change their lives using Instagram. Like it changed mine.
Hayley Osborne:
Amazing. So, so good. So I just want to say a massive thank you for joining me on the podcast. And I’d love you to tell our listeners where they can connect with you online and learn more about what you do.
Brooke Vulinovich:
Well, thank you for having me. And thank you to everyone else who has listened. So you can connect with me in two places. I have my business account social club community, where I share tips to grow your Instagram I also share feedback from the members and results and what’s going on in the community. And then I also have my own personal brand Instagram, which Brooke Vulinovich to
which I share. So Instagram tips, but a lot more of my story and the media work that I do as well behind the scenes so you can follow me on both or you can follow me on either either way, you’ll see my mug.
Hayley Osborne:
Amazing. Thank you so much, Brooke
Brooke Vulinovich:
Oh, thank you for having me, I really appreciate it.
