30. How to Use Instagram Reels to Grow Your Business with Kristina Knapp
Limitless Podcast —Episode 30— Instagram Reel
Social media has been around for more than a few years now, yet it still continues to be an essential element for businesses to connect with their customers. In fact, one billion monthly active users on Instagram use Reels. Today, Jamie Ratermann talks with video content expert Kristina Knapp about how Instagram Reels and TikTok should play a crucial role in your business’s marketing strategy.
Episode’s Highlights:
Kristina’s journey from a corporate job to starting her own business, Elixir Media
How video content creates trending moments and encourages collaboration and engagement with a community of followers.
Why Authentic content is the key to engagement.
Practice makes “perfect”.
Reels are not about pushing your product or service on the viewers.
About Kristina Knapp
CONFIDENT. EXPERIENCED. BOLD. In her past life, Kristina could be found flipping underperforming stores into the TOP performing stores in the nation in just a 3-week time frame for high fashion retail companies. Feeling completely empty, she left her very high-paying job and went on a mission to do something to fill her soul, instead of just her pocketbook. Leaving the corporate world behind, she started her own business, Elixir Media Co., and set out to help women who have the same dream of living their WILDEST dreams. Determined to reach success in an unconventional way, Kristina has transformed the lives of hundreds of women in business, giving them the one thing they value most-CONFIDENCE. Now, pairing the yin + yang balance of new age selling with old-school networking, give her anything with AUTHENTICITY and finesse backed with metrics, and she will have you exploring a life of wealth and ease!
Resources:
Get to know Kristina: https://www.elixirmedia.co/linkinbio/
Are you looking to build a thriving business built on a strong brand message, money-making offers, and a resilient, growth mindset? Join the Marketing Mastery waitlist: https://www.jamieratermann.com/marketing-mastery
Launch with certainty and excitement with this new free training! This mini-course includes 15 minutes of coaching, my 7-point launch planning guide, and a workbook to start planning your next launch: https://jamieratermann.com/how-to-launch-a-new-offer-social-media
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Read transcript below
Jamie Ratermann 0:01
Being limitless is knowing your success and your growth are built on a radical belief in yourself. Limitless is honoring your purpose, your health and impact above all else. Limitless is never playing small because the more alive you feel in your life, the more growth and success you attract. Hi, my name is Jamie Ratterman. And I am a Holistic business coach, meaning I am just as invested in growing your health as I am and growing your wealth. With 11 plus years and brand social media marketing, I help rebellious entrepreneurs master marketing and body leadership and say fuck it to the hustle. This show is here to encourage you to become more radically aware of your self imposed limits to break free of your shoulds and to expand your brand into a movement led by you. Hello lovelies, welcome to episode 31 of the limitless podcast today I invited my Colombian fellow got us Christina Knapp to join us today. Today we talk a lot about video content, video marketing, and how important it is. And I know some of you are like oh, and some of you you're like, Oh, I love it. I can I can hear it already. I don't even have to ask about how you're feeling about real tic tock and everywhere in between. So this is the episode to help you embrace video content. This is the episode that we talk about what happens when we see our clients start to use it and what to think about. But also, of course, why it's so important, why it's so important for your business to prioritize this type of content. So I wanted to bring on Christina to give that whole new perspective. But of course, this is a part of my signature program Marketing Mastery. It's an entire module that we talked about how to not only create video content, get past some of the limiting blocks that we might feel, but also to be able to think about different video types that are going to perform best on different platforms. So video content is near and dear to my heart. And I really love for the fact that it builds not only an audience, but also your confidence and who you are. So if you are interested in video content is one of the many things you want to do as you start to build your brand as an entrepreneur. Marketing Mastery is for you. So if you are intrigued, we'll put it in the show notes. Take a look of what everything that's included with the program. But it is centered on three important things money, mindset and messaging. So we are going to make you a absolute badass and being able to clearly share what you're about. You're also going to make sure your offer suite builds into more and more money making. And then of course last but not least, there's a mindset to this growth, mindset resilience, all of the above to make sure that you get to be that resilient big leader within your business. So if you are interested in video content is a place you want to focus marketing mastery is for you check out the show notes. Now let's invite Christina to join us. Hello lovelies, welcome to episode 31 of the limitless Podcast. Today is a special day today we are going to bring in the gold the badass Christina nap of elixir media. I invited her on the podcast today because I've decided for me and all my clients and hopefully for you as a listener, that it is time for us to embrace video, it is time for us to frickin love it. Because it gets to be a really fun way to build your social media following. But I know that there's some hang ups along the way. I know that there's some like, I don't want to show my face or oh, I don't do it as nice as the next person. So why not have Christina join us today for the fact that she helps people build their short form content, she traveled all over the country to do that. And we can have a little bit of a discussion about where we we see things going. So officially welcome Christina, I need to let you know how I know her. So Christina and I met each other in Colombia during a retreat. So imagine like palm trees, this beautiful pool and all of the things and I'm waking up at like 7am Because I just I don't know. But when you're rested, it's like you wake up naturally, even when you're on vacation. And I sat across from this amazing woman. And we dove in deep to everything we see within business how expansive entrepreneurship is, of course, there were some F bombs dropped. Of course, there were some passionate conversations, and then go figure later on. I did a patterns app connection with her and we were supposed to be lifelong friends. So you are officially meeting somebody who is like my infinity loving friend, but also, you're going to find out that she's pretty badass along the way. Christina, thank you so much for taking time sharing your voice with me. And I welcome to the podcast.
Kristina Knapp 4:42
Thank you. I am so so so excited to be here.
Jamie Ratermann 4:46
I'm so excited to have you. So tell us a little bit about you. Tell us what you do. Tell us in general, give us a glimpse into your entrepreneurship story.
Kristina Knapp 4:57
Yeah, so do you want me to start From like the beginning how I got into it or just kind of give a brief overview of what we do now,
Jamie Ratermann 5:05
I want to hear your full story. Tell us tell us, tell us how we how Christina came to be.
Kristina Knapp 5:11
Okay. So I think my love for business really started when I was working for Michael Kors, actually, and at this point, now, this is like, God 1213 years ago, I was I was working as a part time, I started as a part time sales associate, right, just a Michael Kors store. And in less than two years very quickly, you know, worked my way up the corporate ladder, so to speak. And by the time I think I had just turned 21, you know, the company was flying me out across the East Coast to turn underperforming stores into top performing stores in the country. So essentially, they would send me out, I would have like three weeks hitting the ground, and I would take a store that was completely in the red, and I would flip it in less than 21 days. And yeah, and I was I was by far, you know, the youngest person at the table. Um, like I said, I started to fall in love with the, you know, like the backend stuff, the business stuff, what, what made businesses successful versus, you know, what are things that we think we need, that we don't really need all of that stuff, and then I ended up, you know, having this moment of realization, right, that that most of us, that I fondly referred to, as corporate dropouts have where we were, I was, I remember, I was like, in Atlanta, I was at the W, you know, really high up and I was sitting on my bed, and I was surrounded by all of these, like, you know, couture shopping bags, I had like Chanel and Louis, and they were all around me, and I just like burst into tears. And I had this overwhelming realization that, you know, I had already made it to the, you know, the version of success that I was fed, you know, my entire life, I, I had this jet setting career, I was making more money than I knew what to do with, you know, and I felt so empty inside, I felt so lonely and, and then after I felt that loneliness, I then realized, holy shit, I don't like the person that I've become. But I really let that, you know, very kind of shark. Like, that's all I remember thinking of it is, is they turned me kind of into a shark. And, and I ran with it, because I knew that's how I would do well. And yeah, I just really didn't like who I was. I didn't like, my impact on the world. And so I literally called up my boss from the W. And I was like, I'm putting in my two weeks, I realized this just isn't for me. And she was like, you know, like, What the fuck, you know? And I remember her saying, Is there anything I can convince you to change your mind? And I said, No. And I remember telling her No, and, you know, in my stoic, 21 year old voice was, like, you know, I've just realized, this isn't my purpose. And I want to find out what it is. And so I walked away from that career, and went back to school, I went back for you know, economics and business with a plan to change the world. And, um, you know, as like,
Jamie Ratermann 8:28
the fact that you wanted to change the world and you were willing to sit through an economics class is huge. The days of macro and micro economics, even though I remember my professor was very cute. I was always I was just a big old like, what is
Kristina Knapp 8:43
yeah, I, I joke that the biggest thing I learned from, you know, going to school for economics is that like, I cannot die from boredom. Like, that's, that's
Jamie Ratermann 8:52
it. I love it. I tested it again. Again, diamond Bordeaux. What I love about just the beginning of the story is what I'm going to I am a corporate drop out, I'm gonna put a badge. I have a corporate drop out. Like corporate drop outs are fantastic. But it's like the fact that you have you had a successful career already, before we even get into what she's about to share with us, which is a new version of her successful career in AI, is the fact that like you did the things that you were supposed to and I think it's what's interesting is that for me, the beginning of my like, in general career was I was going to be a fashion editor. That was like, I worked at interview mag. I did. I did some clauses. I tried to like, like, I was trying to get my end because I had started a fashion magazine college was like, I'm gonna spill right into it. And it was like i i early on in both for the record. I've also worked at Victoria's Secret for a month before I found some of these things just because like we're hearing like, all of these things relate to you in some way. But I just had found that like, this, this sucks. Like I was like, I don't like these. Like it doesn't feel like passionate within me but also But there is this identity that I think people have to put on themselves in certain corporate industries, and maybe not everywhere that like, like you were saying the shark. And I think like, I felt like I had to turn off my feelings I had to, like if I wanted to be heard amongst all of these really impressive creative people in like an interview and all these other places, like I had to put on airs about me so that I looked better than this other person. And it was like, toxic competition. So fashion, for me, the fashion industry is probably one of the worst and my may have changed since I've been there. But it is definitely like putting on that shark feeling. And then after a while, like your intuition is going we don't like this like like, this is you're gonna burn out or you're gonna hate yourself for doing this for this many years. So I love that your big part of the stories are your intuition was like, Who gives a fuck about this money? Like, yeah, like, this is not this is not you?
Kristina Knapp 11:00
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
Jamie Ratermann 11:03
I love that. So tell us how this going back to school, this turn into where you're at now?
Kristina Knapp 11:09
Yeah. So basically, right. When I got out of school, I was recruited by the botanical garden, in our area. And they basically reached out to me and they said, hey, you know, I heard what you used to do for Michael Kors. Can you come in flip the wedding department at the Botanical Garden, and I'm telling you, Jamie, like the first thing I saw was JLo. Okay, J Lo, and I was like, Oh, I can do weddings had, I didn't know anything about weddings, right? But I was like, Oh, I can do it. Right. If I could do it for them, I could do it here too. And so I took it, and I figured out, I would just take that, you know, as an intermediate, let me just have a break from all this very, you know, kind of intense work and do something fun. And yeah, and I was really successful there. We we flipped the wedding department. I mean, we increased revenue by 300%, in less than 12 months, which is a very big deal in the wedding industry. Because so much of you know, what you do is plan one to two years in advance. So to be able to do it that quickly. was great. And then my contract was up with them. And I thought, you know, I'm really tired of making other people millions and millions and millions of fucking dollars. Like, if I'm gonna work this fucking hard, like, I'm gonna try something for myself. And I had no idea what that is what that was, but I had a baker local baker reach out. And they were like, Hey, um, you do the Instagram for the Botanical Garden. Right? And I was like, the instinct like, yeah, like, Yeah, I do that, you know, and this coming from someone who just is not on social media, right? Like, like, never had an Instagram, looked at Facebook once a month type of shit. And they were like, Oh, well, can you help us with it? And I remember being like, just so confused, right? Like, like, What do you mean? Because six years ago, social media managers wasn't even they weren't even a prominent thing. Right. That's something that's very much.
Jamie Ratermann 13:05
Definitely wasn't lucrative. I can tell you that much. Okay, okay.
Kristina Knapp 13:10
And so yeah, anyways, I was like, Well, how much would how much? Would you pay me to do that, and I remember being them being like, $450 a month, and I was like, $450 a month to make some Instagram posts, like, yeah, no problem, I can fucking do that. Right. Again, just thinking this is going to be an intermediate thing until I figure out what the fuck I want to do. And, you know, and then I did it for the garden and had success and then and, you know, a couple other local companies found out about me and I got to a point where I was like, well, I should probably make this legal, you know, and, and start and that was really like the birth of Elixir. And so we started out as a full service, you know, agency, and really built that into a very successful agency. And didn't you know, move away from that management work until fall of last year when really, reels and reels took off so much that I mean, it became, you know, almost a full time gig for us.
Jamie Ratermann 14:13
Oh my god, I love this. I love this. I think the biggest things I like I just hear in your story is that you couldn't have a five year plan for it like you there's no way like they're like you you had the it was this is where like energy and passion within yourself really, really takes hold. Like maybe now you do because you love your business. You're like, oh, I would love it for it to look like this in a couple of years. But it's but I think there's a side of like, especially early on, like follow your passion be bold and loud about what you're loving. And then things can come to perfect example the Botanical Gardens was just something that turned into the next thing that turned into the next thing but it's there's a whole side of like being a brand that resonates that has to do with like, how fucking passionate are you about what you're doing or your belief defend yourself about what you're doing. So there's so for me like the the fact that elixir came through because you're like, oh, yeah, people need help with this, like, Oh, I love how this is turning out, and then you just kept doubling down on the thing that you love. So I think I find that to be absolutely exciting. So tell me about like, so when you went from social media to more video like like deciding like, okay, social media management, this is what we do, and decided, like, Well, I think it's time that we that this becomes a larger portion of my business like, what, what, how to kind of walk us through the growing pains of what that felt like, since it was like going from one thing to the next. I didn't maybe wasn't like, easy as someone who had already built a business off of just social media management.
Kristina Knapp 15:43
Yeah, it was, it was such a simple transition. And yet, I made it the hardest decision that it ever needed to be. Right, which I, you know, that's that's how we are. We're human beings, right? We like to make it complicated when, you know, hindsight, it's, it was always so simple and makes so much sense. And I think on the other side, it was like, God damn, why didn't we do that years, you know, earlier, but you, you know, you've got to be in the right mindset. And that's the most important thing like you were just saying those, those two things, right, doubling down on what you love and being passionate about it. And to me, those are perhaps the biggest the biggest strengths that you can have in business and in life. Yeah, totally. Totally. But, yeah, so we had, we were already offering like, what we call these media days, and, you know, pre reels and tick tock that looked like professional branding photoshoots and what we call like these UGC days for, you know, user generated content, where we would literally like take half a day, and just shoot a fuck ton of like, 62nd Tip videos, take a fuck ton of boomerangs, you know, like iPhone photos, because those always, you know, just give an element of authenticity and kind of like, in real time that professional photos don't quite quite give on. So when reels came out, you know, I really resisted it. I like to my core. I'm not a technology person. Like I'm just not, you know, but I really, I really, really love marketing and I love storytelling and I love creativity. And so, you know, when Tik Tok came out, I was probably one of the last fucking join. Right when reels, you know, we're we're first gaining traction, I was like, Oh, that should all fall off. I'm not like going to I'm not going to even make one. And it wasn't until I think they're around for six months. And I really came to terms like this shit isn't going anywhere. And we're talking, we're talking like, December 2020 2020. Yeah, that I was like, Okay, fine. Right. I'll do it. And, um, I think I immediately really fell in love with it. Well, after I got over the hump of resistance, right. And, and I just think it's so much fun. And there's, there's so much there's so many different possibilities, I think of how to approach it and kind of who what type of real creator you can be. And yeah, I so we, we started to offer them, you know, as done for you services, and they just started picking up I mean, you know, these days, it's pretty rare that we do a photo shoot, and that used to be our bread and butter. So being able to kind of focus in on this creative outlet. Just it just made so much sense.
Jamie Ratermann 18:36
I love it. I love it mostly for the fact that you're the kind of it's like the it's like the five stages of grief. You're like your your stages of accepting the thing that was going to happen well, why and I think there's a side of this is that, you know, a lot of especially Instagram throw things at the wall. So anyone remember brochures and like we're like, by all of these features, some take off, some don't. But then clearly reels was made, like a decision was made out of the fact that Tik Tok is winning currently, and continues to and then but also like they wanted to keep people on the platform. But it was like such a delineation of what the gram was about. It was about photos it was about it was about sharing, like, photo. It's like literally a photo sharing app. And like, at that time, any video that you put up would be like, Oh, I still remember. I posted like a video on the gram whenever I was working in corporate at TripAdvisor at the time. And they were like, we can't post any more video it gets. It's just not as good as the rest. And it was just like, well, like that's the big difference between when the platform is like yeah, here's a feature versus like, no, we want you to do this. So I think the things that are coming up for you are exactly the mindset that many people might be feeling still or like maybe they feel a little guilt because it's like okay, it's been around for a while. This is ridiculous. I can't keep holding on to this. You thing that's preventing me from doing what I know is what the platform is for or at this point, right? So the idea of like, oh, I don't want to switch over to that, that comes up for you with your coaching clients and even for your real and then like, the real shoots can be almost like there's a stepping stone into being able to like, okay, embrace that video is the thing. Now, video video is going to be continued to be the thing. So can you kind of walk us through because you had that experience? Like how you how how to real estate, go for a brand new client, who is somebody who's rarely puts video up on social?
Kristina Knapp 20:36
Yeah, I would say that 95% of our real clients don't have like, they haven't created a real before. If they have, it's, they usually do it after they book with us. And they're like, Well, shit, you know, I'm investing 1000s and 1000s of dollars, I might as well dip my toes. Um, but yeah, and I would say probably 50% of our, like, done for you real clients are, are ones who use it quarterly. And they're and they basically are, you know, they're usually like seven, eight figure clients who are just like, I know that this is what's moving the needle, I want to spend my time in my zone of genius. So you guys live on the app, you guys are the experts just write all my shit, you know, all my business goals, right? Just tell me what to do and where to show up. And, and that's probably 50%. And then the other 50% are actually made of a, you know, women entrepreneurs who who want to dip their toes but are completely fucking overwhelmed by it. Right. And they have, you know, of course, all of these blocks that are just like, oh, I want it to be perfect. And I want to do like the really good ones. And you know, I'm afraid of looking a little messy online. And so they're like, let me do this once with you, you know, use you guys to literally helped me dip my toe. And then they go on creating, like, a massive amount on their own. And we work as that that stepping stone. So did I answer your question? Sure.
Jamie Ratermann 22:10
So in general, you see, sometimes your real shoots almost as like that first courageous step into reels and like, like, and by doing that, not only the investment, but also like putting themselves in front of the camera with people who are supportive, can get them. And I think that's a big part of it. And I, I don't always own this as a part of my coaching. But a lot of part of my coaching is like helping people like, understand the reality of what it is to build a business online at the moment. Like, what what the what the reality is, is that we need to see the people behind the scenes, like how many times I talk to a CEO, they're like, Oh, my God, it's social media. And I'm like, Well, yeah, a couple years ago, maybe not. But now like, like my, our generation, the generation coming behind us, like we want to know who we're giving her money to. And like a lot of that has to do with being in the social content on a regular basis.
Kristina Knapp 23:03
And I think it really speaks as well to creating really like well rounded content, you know, like, like you were saying 10 years ago, you you didn't need to show your face, it wasn't like an absolute must for people who are in service based, right, like businesses and really are the face of their companies. But, you know, I say I get I blame and give credit to Etsy, right? They were the first ones to put that little like profile picture. When when people buy stuff, and it really shifted the consumer buying decision and the way that we do buy because previously, right 1015 years ago, it was all about like, you know, spending your good money on the best value, right? The basically the cheapest price for the most that you can get, and that's so far from how people buy these days, right? People want to know, like you said, who they're giving their money to, and and they care about it so much that they're willing to pay someone that they like someone that they love someone that they can relate to and see a little bit of themselves in who they are they're willing to pay them 10 times more. So in where I sit, it's like we're all in this thing, right? This isn't a little hobby. This isn't like a part time thing until we figure out what the fuck we're gonna do right at least not anymore right six years ago maybe but but today like we're all in this shit and and video showing up and putting your face out there. Like your business deserves it. Right? If we're here we might as well give this business like everything that it's got. And And nowadays, you can't really say that you're giving it everything that it deserves without showing up.
Jamie Ratermann 24:45
I freaking love it for anyone who gets to see this video I'm like yet yes. Like I could like like nothing so heavily here and I think that's a big side of this is that like, you know, like, like, I think purpose and passion behind your business is what's going to put it out is what's going to make things work. I think there's whatever any form of marketing when I'm like, Okay, what's the purpose? What's, why did you decide to do this? Like some clients are like so into it, they know exactly what they're gonna say other kinds of like, I'm gonna just do it because, you know, it makes me money and like, I can do it all day. And I'm like, Alright, let's keep digging and like, sometimes that turns into like big eureka moments, and they love it other times, it turns into a bit of a crying session because they've never thought about this and then never thought about how this kind of moves them. So whenever they like so the reason why I find this important is one we want to know your purpose. We want to know why you want us to buy from you are we that you decided to build this business? But the second thing is, is that just like you're saying, like showing up, we're putting more of ourselves out there we're not putting all of ourselves I want to be clear about this. But we're putting more of ourselves out on the internet. So of course whenever we have that block of like, Oh, my confident on camera, like oh my god look insane. I'm doing this and my like, can I really do this silly real or this lip sync or this thing? Like yeah, because if it tight if you tie it to your purpose, you're gonna be like of course I'm going to do this because one I get to have a little fun with it. I think the biggest thing about reels is that it's almost like I'm like you're attracting the kid in you again, like how many people want to bitch about the dance trends and all the things but yeah, you don't have to dance but some from time to time because it's like it's releasing this like I have to be an A blazer and a tie and like do work versus like I get to show the version of me that I like I can show you how excited I am to be here. I think I think when it comes down to talking about video aside from you know the strategies how important it all is, is that this is actually going to be a place that if you do it right, social media is going to feel good again. Like if you do video right for you, it's going to feel as if you are putting yourself out there and I think the biggest metric that is going to really benefit you is that if you're able to showcase who you are in real life through video, and I think that's why tick tock tick tock stood a little better than I think Instagram is at the moment but but the more people do this the more excited they are so for you when you're saying showing up and showing up for your business sometimes it's the first time people have to do that like how do you help people like what's what's some common blocks that you normally run into when when the camera gets turned on here when you're just starting to build reels for a client
Kristina Knapp 27:36
gosh, so many blocks I think one of the biggest that we've run into is this you know want and sometimes unfortunately need to show up perfectly and I always tell my clients this like perfect is dead
Jamie Ratermann 27:58
dead perfect is dead it's like rip perfect we all knew it was bullshit from the beginning the thing here perfect is dead got it all right keep going
Kristina Knapp 28:13
there's yeah like this very one dimensional version of us that you said you know suit it up in a fucking blazer never making any mistakes like just being 100% business like all of that is you're right it was bullshit from the beginning and it doesn't sell and it doesn't work. So why are we still trying to pretend that we're that we're back in corporate right like we've dropped out for a fucking reason and the people that we want to work with don't buy into that bullshit so literally like you know the the first thing we do is talk about that like let's let that go right and really what comes after that is is a fear of judgment. And and who could blame you who could blame you like we're no matter what we say even fucking Gary Vee sometimes is is you know a little intimidated and afraid of what people might think he might he I think he's got a probably a great rebound time. You know, like I'd love me some fucking Gary Vee
Jamie Ratermann 29:10
I've actually met him in person he is exactly exactly who he is online.
Kristina Knapp 29:15
I love it. And and so yeah, I think that's the second thing that we have to let go of is like okay, are we really going to let the fear of what our grandparents say some some people from fucking high school that have nothing to do with who we are now in what our business is about? Are we really going to let the fear of their judgments stand in the way of doing this thing fucking big? absolutely fucking not. Absolutely not.
Jamie Ratermann 29:42
Nah, nah. I love this one because it speaks directly to how I feel. This speaks directly to how I feel is that like, creating a business being an entrepreneur? Is this like huge and beautiful and bold and scary as fuck step to being like your actual Self. So like I said, the I mean, the podcast is called limitless for the fact that like part of doing all of this is that you're going to hit your limits. And we're going to break through them each and every step of the way and exactly what you're saying the worry of the relationship. So like, what will my high school boyfriend from freshman year think of this? What will like my friend who I haven't talked to all week? Or what will my snarky friend who always make jokes together think of this? And it's like, you decided to think about every step buddy outside of yourself instead of like, how the hell this make me feel. And I can tell you when I post a reel that feels edgy to me that first second of the post is like, the next second of the post like, oh, yeah, okay. Yeah. It's like, it's, there's all these little risk moments, you get to take about your personal identity, that gets to be expansive, and more and more, and I think the professionalism piece is huge. And while I Well, while we're saying is dead, we're over here, like, we're going to war against it, we're gonna make sure it stays dead. Because it's a part of, and I think it's a little heavier on women than it is on men, I'm sure mentally have a piece of this. But like, we were trained to have to look a certain way be a certain way. Like, I certainly know that like I, the more I've done this, the more I have more of a love for my body. But there was definitely moments when I was first starting that I absolutely awful, I can't do that, like, I can't, I can't be in it. And I know that there's different versions of that for everybody where they think like, some grammar is gonna mess somebody up with a post there that if they don't hit it as good as this trained, social media specialists been doing this for 10 years, that it's not good enough to post and there's just so many limiting beliefs internally that prevent us from doing the thing. Like, like I said, that makes you want to fucking dance when you press posts when you press Publish. So I love that. Yeah, perfectionism being number one. So how do you help someone, like in the moment, whenever they're like, worried about how they're looking during, during a, your real shoot? How do you help them kind of get out of their head when it comes to perfectionism?
Kristina Knapp 32:11
Well, I think when we're shooting them, we, you know, like me and my team here at elixir, we are the ultimate hype girls. So for us, like when we're in person, it really is just about, you know, transferring that energy that hype energy, that fucking Queen energy that like, fucking, I'm going to show up as I am, because I'm fucking powerful right now in this moment, you know, and, and that, to me, like, that's, that's the easy way, right? When when we're standing there in front of you, what's a little bit more challenging is, you know, we offer real services where we create the reels for you, and then they film it themselves, and then they send it back to us. And that has a lot more sticky points, right? Because because we're not there to tell them go and we're not there to say, hey, like, this, you know, might not be perfection in your eyes, but this is damn fucking good us, like, let's roll with it. And I think when when we're talking to those type of clients will one we always we always baby step them in it. So we rarely start off. Like with people who are hesitant, we really start off with the, you know, the like, bust down the doors with losing confidence in sexiness reels, we'll start with something easy, like the ones that you make in Canva, right, like we like literally, step number one, put your phone up, sit at your desk, take a time lapse of you working, and then throw up your to do list on top of it, you know, like in text, and that's your first real, like, it can really be that simple. And it can be that easy. Or, you know, even if even if the time lapse is like sometimes I get some resistance against a time lapse, I'll just tell them, Okay, well, fine, you go into walk and take a five second video of some beautiful scenery, whether it's the sky, the tree, you know, your your feet walking on the sidewalk, and we'll use that and create some kind of again, just be rule that allows us to kind of take the pressure off bit by bit by bit. And the beautiful thing you know, is there are so many different types of rules, often we get so focused on the ones that we hate, and that we don't want to do. And, and it, we allow it to stop us from showing up. But again, if we if we can kind of take a second, you know, zoom out a little bit and say, Oh, well, I don't have to start by showing my face. I can start by taking some B roll on a walk. I can start by you know by downloading, you know some of my stories where I share tips just talking to the camera and share it you know, just put that into real and post it there we go. You know, so I think again, it's it's bit by bit because if you try to start off with reels by doing it perfectly and by, you know, thinking about all of the different ways that you can, it can feel very overwhelming and You know, it's like my laundry role. I am the only person in my house who puts away laundry. Okay. And I I know. And but the thing is, is I can never just put a basket away. If I ever think about putting the whole basket away the laundry fucking sits there forever, right? Like literally weeks. But if I walk past it and I say okay, Christina, just put one fucking sock away, one sock, one sock, and then you're done. Right? I'll gladly be like, Yeah, fuck, yeah, let me grab the shit put it away. 15 minutes later, I put away the whole basket.
Jamie Ratermann 35:36
Good. Exactly.
Kristina Knapp 35:37
Yeah, I just had an amazing speaker come and talk to my team about, about how to tackle things that are overwhelming, right, and what that does to our nervous system, and you know, sympathetic versus parasympathetic. And what was really enlightening about this, as I was like, Oh, my God, this is how our real clients feel sometime, you know, they go into that, you know, fight flight or freeze mode. And a lot of times, they just get stuck, because they're so overwhelmed by the laundry basket. And so again, just by having you know, one thing at a time, you know, this week, make it a goal to post a quote that you really like, you know, and put it in Canva. And do it with some B roll of the fucking wall for all I care. Right? Just start by there. And then and then week two, you know, do a tip that you're talking to the camera, and let that be enough. Let let that one, you know, step towards showing up be a win on its own.
Jamie Ratermann 36:41
I love I absolutely love this. I like to call this little acts of rebellion against your limits. So it's like, so you're taking these little acts as like, oh, I can't do reels. And you're like, Whoa, are you sure you can do reels? What if we did it this way? And then we and then you do that one? And then like, oh, okay, I can't do rails and then I do the next. And then I ended I do decide to do one that's a little more difficult. And like, really pushing myself out there. I think I first started with people that like before wheels were taking off, I would do this, I would do the selfie video challenge. So it would be where in your stories you would talk for one minute, every day during the week just to get on camera just to do it. We can talk all about what happens because of it. But the idea was like get comfortable, get confident feel, feel into it. For the fact that like once you do that one thing you're like, Oh, that's not that bad. All right, I'll do this next thing like, Oh, that's not that bad. And I think what you're saying is really fun is the fact that like, yeah, there's no one way to create a real well, I can encourage you to have a human element in it. It doesn't mean that it doesn't mean every reel has to show your face, it doesn't mean that every reel has to be like you like showing your entire day. And I think that's a big part of it is that this is a new version of perfectionism where like, Oh, if I'm going to do a reel, it has to be the best way to do the reel. And it's like, like, that's just what I that's a new version of perfectionist, like I fall into it to like, my eyes are always like, I want to do that trend. I want to try that. I want to try that. And then I and then I get to a point where I'm like, Okay, I don't have time for any of that. To bring myself back. But I think for you, yeah, what's your little act of rebellion to be able to say like, oh, I can't do a real let me do his small way of doing it. And then the second thing I love what you're saying is that when we're trying to grow as humans or trying to grow as business leaders, it's really sometimes unkind to do it by yourself. Because you one we have some loud talking voices in our head, we have some loud, like critics of what it is, but sometimes we're doing something we've never done before. And having a hype crew having a coach having even just an accountability buddy that goes like Hey, since you're gonna do that I'm here for you. I remember my first lives and my first stories and so I would send it to a friend and be like, how awful is this? And they're like, it's great. Because it's absolutely great, but being able to take it outside of yourselves and having these people that want to see you thrive. I think that's that's why I love the coaching industry. Like what like we're invested in seeing people do well because we love the people like I have no problems like I love my clients because I actually want to see them thrive. But the second thing is is that like it's it behooves us to see you do well because we can say like what how we help this client. So I think that like the biggest thing here is like one I want to Christina hive crew, I would love that I've met some of Christina's team and they have frickin amazing so like, I want that, but to like let's take this one step at a time, just like anything else, like the little x that we can make. It's going to build it ourselves up,
Kristina Knapp 39:39
which I love so much. Yeah, absolutely. Gosh.
Jamie Ratermann 39:43
Well, we've talked about how to get started on video, but why the hell is it so important? And tell me a little bit about like kind of what you see right now when it comes to posting video why an entrepreneur should make it a priority.
Kristina Knapp 39:56
At this point, the ROI for video is undeniable. Pull. Like there's a lot about marketing that is very hard to prove, right? Like, we know that only 50% of marketing works. And we also know it's absolutely impossible to nail down where it comes from, because because even if you're asking people Oh, where did where did you find me? Right? They have so many different touch points with you. And they'll just give you the one that's easiest for them to say, right. So, you know, this was actually a huge thing that made it so easy for us, again, to make that transition from full service management to doing just reels. Because up to this point, we haven't seen anything, anything on, you know, the Instagram app that gives such concrete ROI. And I mean, we're talking at very minimum, five times the organic reach of a regular photo, like that, like to me, like there's just no arguing that right? And my thing is, is like, I love to maximize and optimize the effort that I put in. So if I'm going to put some energy into it, I'm going to make sure it's the thing that moves the needle the most, right, like strategically in business, it no longer makes sense to not be sharing video, that was like a double a double negative, but you know what I'm saying? Right? Like,
Jamie Ratermann 41:16
we got it, we got it.
Kristina Knapp 41:18
Um, yeah, it's just again, like, the increase in reach the increase in visibility, right, the increase of the people who were able to reach and get our messaging out there, there's just, there's no denying it anymore. It's simply this is I see, you know, going from photos to videos, just the same as you know, when when social media came up, there was a lot of people who were resistant to it, and thought, you know, I can keep doing things, the old, you know, the old traditional ways I can keep running ads in the paper, you know, I can keep, you know, doing these pamphlet type things and go, you know, very boots on grounds. And then everyone made that shift. And I feel like we're there with video. If you're if you're not doing video, you might as well be putting ads in the yellow pages, like I'm sorry to put it that way. But this is, this is a business decision at this point. Like, it's so easy to sit here and think, Oh, well, is this me, right? As a person? Oh, is? Am I someone as a person who would make these, you know, funny reels and tiktoks. But the question really, that we should be asking ourselves is, am I willing to do what it takes to get my message out there to help more people and to have an impact on their lives? And if that answer is yes, like, we do a video bill.
Jamie Ratermann 42:34
That is so perfect to say because like, in my mind, when people do like, I don't have time for this, or they'll say like, I don't have time for social media. Well, if that's true, and you really don't have the time, and if that whatever time you do have videos, period, whatever time you do have invested in video for the fact that it's going to be seen, it's more likely, especially if you keep in the 30 Minute 32nd to one minute, like there, you're going to people are going to watch it all the way through, and we're gonna see your energy as a creative, you decide to show your face like, all of this is going to work versus like, you know, photos as it is right now, people swipe past a little more often, like unless it's like a branded photo, and like really, really a showstopper in some way. So if you're looking to get more leads, video is where it's at. I think it's important to share in some ways that now, like you were saying, video has been around or this let's make what's called short form video has been around for almost two years at this point. And reach is still higher than photo posts, which is still higher than other places, but it's less. So it's for someone who's starting out brand new, who's starting to put out reels, and they're seeing like it's not taking off like it used to and did it all of these things like how would you help somebody who is starting now to like, like, Fine, I mean, I want to do the whole thing, and then they don't see what they hope to see when it comes to views when they get started.
Kristina Knapp 43:56
Yeah, I think well, one I would recommend taking the pressure off when you're getting started on anything. Right? Like don't I think one of one of the sure ways to burn yourself out and to you know, just be so fucking over it very quickly, is to only do it for the numbers, right for those KPIs. Because the truth is, is that, you know, social media might be an app and, and, and all of that stuff, but we're still human beings who are on there. So things are going to fluctuate, right? If you only show up when the numbers are good, right? Good. We're doing air quotes, like, you're you're gonna fall off. But if you can show up whenever my numbers are lower, you know what I think right? Because of course, right? I have low numbers. Sometimes I only reach a 10th of the people that I do that I do on average, and when that happens, I think God damn, those people who are looking at this shit are fucking convinced as hell Hell, right? Like, those are my diehard people. And I'm so willing to show up just for them. Right? And so I think one kind of getting out of the mindset already of like, okay, well, I need this certain amount of numbers to mean that this is that this is successful, like, let's just get rid of that. And then secondly, I would say, you know, we've got to work again, we're in this for the long run, right? So let's use these numbers as a baseline, and have fun figuring out how to build it from there.
Jamie Ratermann 45:33
I love that I love that it's like, it's a bit of a beginner's mindset, where if there's anything to learn from continuously using social media to grow your business, or even personally, it's being able to know that like, this is the this is how to adapt through life, embracing change is a big part of this. But again, if you're in it for the numbers, even if you are getting tons of the numbers, you're gonna burn out how many influencers do we know that like, like, had overnight? It's not overnight, because I know many of them are creating all the content, but the idea that they had something go viral, and they're so excited by it, but a month later, they gotta take a break. Because like, there's like, they were so focused on going viral instead of like, okay, why am I here? Or even the fact that like, Yeah, whatever I get like, was that instead of my normal, like, 1000 views on something, I'll be like, I'll get like, 100 I, my, my work was my way of working back. I 100. People saw me today 100 talking people, like, let's just be let's, let's zero in on what actually is true 100 people. And there's only a way that we get to build this skill, like, I, Christina knows this, but I'm putting myself through a 30 day real challenge for the fact that like, I just want to play with this, like I want like, I want this to be a skill of mine. And I absolutely know that like, I want to get low numbers some days, and I want us to share about that. But also, by the time I finished this, I want to I want to have learned a lot. And if I attached only to numbers, I would have given up but right it does get go because it's not immediately turning into all of these views.
Kristina Knapp 46:59
Yeah, I think that's such a great point. Like we really have to remember and I feel like I'm constantly reminding people, even in my audience who come to me and have these questions about low number reels is like, Oh, are we are we making reels for the views? Are we making it? Or like, are we influencers now? Like no, right? Like, to your point 100 People got your message today, if you did not show up on this platform, they wouldn't have heard it, they wouldn't have gotten it. So that's plus 100. People. Like when you I think when you're coming from that mindset, it's it feels so much more exciting, you know, and I'm a huge believer in whatever the fuck you are excited about. That's what you're going to do well, and that's what the fuck is gonna sell? So I think focusing, you know, and being intentional about how can I stay in that mindset and keep on this mindset is honestly essential to, to making it in this damn thing being business in general,
Jamie Ratermann 47:56
like resilience comes from your mindset first apps apps regularly. Christina, you've been so gracious to give us so much time. Well, one last questions before we kind of turn off for the day. What does being limitless mean to you?
Kristina Knapp 48:11
I have a philosophy about life. That, you know, there really are no rules to this thing. And that lesson just keeps coming up, you know, whether it's about you know, how I run my business, whether it's about who I choose to be on my team, how I choose who we work with, right? Who I am as a mother, as a wife, as a partner, as a friend, you know, how I how I make my fucking tea today, right? There really are no rules to this thing. And anytime I kind of remember that or relearn it, everything in my life explodes in the best way possible. And so to me, being limitless means being able to live my life and run my business and you know, do that knowing that I can do it any fucking way that I want to.
Jamie Ratermann 49:04
I friggin love it. Yes, we are. We all become an rebels. And Christina can show you the path of how she's out for herself. I love it. Christina, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, your story and like, you know, go vulnerable today and talking about how like, you know, it's it's real. We had to work through some limits ourselves. Thank you so much for sharing with us. How, in what way can someone work with you?
Kristina Knapp 49:26
Yeah, so if you want to check us out, we're on Instagram, of course at elixir media CO and you can always just shoot me a DM.
Jamie Ratermann 49:35
I love it. I love it. We'll put all the links that you need for her in the show notes. Christina, thank you so much for joining us.
Kristina Knapp 49:41
Thank you