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- [00:04]
Courtney Johnson
Welcome to Slay the Gatekeeper. I'm your host, Courtney Johnson, and I am here to un gatekeep the gatekept. Thank you so much for being here. Enjoy. Nancy. Your whole life is basically free.
- [00:20]
Nancy
I try to live that life and it's been really beneficial.
- [00:23]
Courtney Johnson
Brands are your sugar daddy, dirty little slut for brand gifting.
- [00:27]
Nancy
I feel like I'm giving the brands what they want in return, though, because I'm constantly posting and this is something I talk about all the time when it comes to, like, PR gifting and, you know, getting any type of free shit. It's like, don't just, like, post one story of it unless you don't like it, obviously. But if you like it at all or you're obsessed with it, post the fuck out of it.
- [00:52]
Courtney Johnson
How do you get over the fear of, like, annoying people?
- [00:54]
Nancy
If I'm posting something that I love, I want all my friends and followers to know about it. So they should be like, oh my God, this is amazing. I also want to try it. If they're not liking it, then you're following the wrong person, honey.
- [01:05]
Courtney Johnson
Sorry.
- [01:05]
Nancy
You can gladly unfollow me. I'm not going to be mad, but a lot of the stuff that I. And this is how I got into content, right? I'm realizing that I'm telling all my friends about my favorite chom chom roller for pet hair, my favorite vacuum, like, talking about it nonstop to the point where people were like, wait, maybe I should try that. And that's the same thing when it comes to, like, sending out affiliate links and whatever. It's like, I'm benefiting you because I'm giving you the direct links to find these amazing products. And then you're benefiting me because I'm making money off my affiliate links. And then brands are obviously benefiting because I'm selling their shit.
- [01:46]
Courtney Johnson
So it's a win, win, win.
- [01:47]
Nancy
It's very much a win, win, win.
- [01:49]
Courtney Johnson
Okay, we have cheat codes, Nancy. Your first cheat code is to link everything, even if you're not an influencer yet, because everything has an affiliate program. Like, tell me about how you figure that out and how anyone can make money off of affiliate.
- [02:01]
Nancy
Well, I was dming all the possible brands I could possibly work with, and a lot of times they're like, sorry, we don't have any campaigns going on, or, you know, just whatever. But a lot of times they'll be like, hey, just sign up for our ambassador program. Which some of the ambassador programs, they'll send you free product the moment you sign up, they make you do a couple of tasks like you know, sign their handbook and you know, follow them on Instagram and TikTok and they'll be like, hey, let's just send you some product. I'm like, okay, sounds good. And then you can make commission off these products from these specific links. And I think that's there's a reason why they do their own ambassador program instead of through LTK or Shop My is because they don't have to pay to like be part of those platforms. And sometimes the commission is a lot higher on these individuals ambassador programs. So they don't care how many followers you have because they're not really having to put money really into these programs, but they reward you. And that's the benefit of smaller creators is if you continuously post, you increase your points and your levels and tiers, whatever, and eventually at one point you're getting so much free stuff. For example, Abercrombie. I was shopping at Abercrombie for the last 10 plus years. I didn't know about the creator program until maybe six months ago. My friend referred me. I got accepted. I posted one story in one TikTok and I got a hundred dollar voucher to get these jeans. So I already had Abercrombie clothes from a long time ago. I posted about it, got $100 voucher. I actually got these jeans and something else because I got it during a sale. Posted more because there, there's different challenges I can use or you can apply to. And the next one I got $250. So this is just from a few posts. And do they really care about my followers? Not really. But if I'm posting about it and they can always like reuse or repost that content they're benefiting and for them $100 voucher is really not that big of a deal. But for me I'm like, okay, that's two pairs of jeans that I didn't want to pay for.
- [04:09]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah. How do you keep track of all these different affiliate programs? Is it like.
- [04:13]
Nancy
I actually have an Excel sheet, I have master brand Excel sheet with different tabs, beauty, fashion, home apps, pet, literally everything. And I'm just continuously adding to it. And it is free for people to just, just open it and apply to everything. Like it's literally there. Okay, so I will send it to you.
- [04:36]
Courtney Johnson
Okay. Yeah. One cheat code that I have is pretty early on in my content creation journey. Actually before it even started, I just happened to have like a few thousand Instagram followers because I have A past in reality tv and I hadn't posted in like three years, but I still applied for the Amazon affiliate program. And that was helpful because even if like I was like to my boyfriend, hey, I need you to buy this thing or like a friend wanted a link to a book, I could always just send that and I made like some good money off of Amazon shit. Or if Lucas is like, I'm going to buy a lawnmower, I'm like, no, you're not. Until I send you the link with the lawnmower on my, from my, my husband Taylor.
- [05:14]
Nancy
He knows damn well that you cannot buy shit without getting a link from me. And now he knows how to do himself. But like especially Amazon, even Home Depot, you better fucking not buy. 7% commission, dude. What I just bought United stands 7amount.
- [05:31]
Courtney Johnson
Of money we have spent Home Depot that I could have been getting 7 commission on.
- [05:35]
Nancy
I think it's a recent ad to Shop My, which you just signed up for. Shop My is like a direct competitor to LTK right now and they're definitely getting more and more companies. But like Home Depot, I don't think it's on LTK. That's huge because 7% had, I mean.
- [05:49]
Courtney Johnson
If you are a homeowner, you probably had some several like 500 drops at home Depot on Sunday.
- [05:55]
Nancy
Thousand dollars. But it's not even like up to 7%. This is like straight up 7% commission because you'll see that sometimes it's like, oh, you know, beauty, you only get 1%. Or you know, home, you get 3% for certain websites. But this is 7%. So yeah, Taylor knows if you're buying anything, you're using my affiliate links. Thank you. But Amazon though, Amazon, Amazon is the easiest passive money maker you could ever have. I was talking about this last night at my little cohort, but I had this one photo from one of my events. It's like a charcuterie cup situation that one of my vendors made. But I'm like, oh, you buy these little cups from Amazon. So I posted that and that is now one of the top trending charcuterie party photos. I'm seeing Amazon post this on Pinterest. I've seen my own photo on Pinterest through Amazon. They're selling my product. And by my product, I mean the product I linked. And so every month I'm making about 100 to $200 on this damn sure cutter cup. It's crazy. Are people like making sure you cups like all the time? I don't know, but they're Buying off my one photo. It's not even a video I just posted on my storefront and they're just pushing it out. If you go to the Inspire section, you'll probably see that somewhere.
- [07:18]
Courtney Johnson
Okay, so post photos on your Amazon storefront. Don't just curate them, but actually post photos.
- [07:23]
Nancy
I don't know what the qualifications are for Amazon Influencer program. Amazon Associates program. There's like two different ones. It just says that they want you to see, like, constantly posting. They'll look at follower count. But I've heard people that have a thousand followers get accepted. So the moment you get accepted, though, that is the gateway to free money, essentially, because everyone's buying stuff on Amazon. I probably have like 50 things in the last two weeks. But post one to two photos, sometimes even three to four. Just make sure it's like different backgrounds or you using it, you know, just something a little bit different. And then post two to three videos on it and just post on your storefront. I mean, this is so different than Instagram and TikTok. You just post it on there and people are shopping anyways and they just need to buy off your links and you can make a commission every single time. And like I said, the Maya Charcuterie one, that was from, I think, a year ago, and I'm still making money off of it. So you just need something to hit.
- [08:25]
Courtney Johnson
Okay.
- [08:26]
Nancy
And there's no embarrassment or anything around it because you're not really, like, posting on your socials. This is its own little platform that you can just post whatever the hell that you want and make money off of it.
- [08:39]
Courtney Johnson
Okay, I love that. I think that's such an easy first step too, because, like, everybody shops on.
- [08:44]
Nancy
Amazon and it doesn't have to be Amazon. Like, what if I bought this simple, modern water bottle from Target? Yeah, but it's linkable on Amazon. I'm gonna link it on Amazon. It doesn't matter. It's the project itself.
- [08:56]
Courtney Johnson
Okay, I love that. Okay, I have another cheat code from you, and that is every single time you post, tag any brand that could be associated with it. Tell me about that.
- [09:07]
Nancy
A perfect example is my little puppy. So I've been posting on his little social media Instagram page. And every time I post, I am tagging petsmart, petco, Pet supplies plus Chrysler's native pet, like, every possible one. And guess what? The other day, pet supplies plus message. And they're like, actually like, we are looking for dog models. And I'm like, well, isn't that peculiar that I have not one but two dogs available for modeling. Like, why not? If you don't have all these touch points, they'll never find you. Like that's just straight up. Unless you have a million followers. But I'm talking about the people that are just starting off or, you know, Even if you have 345000 followers, if you're not tagging those brands, if you're not interacting with their posts, if you're not DMing them, how are they gonna freaking find you?
- [09:59]
Courtney Johnson
Mm. Something that I learned from you is that like DMing a brand isn't annoying. It's actually being helpful to them.
- [10:04]
Nancy
It is because they are constantly looking for creators to promote their product. And sometimes it's just like a couple of girls working their social media. So if you're talking to them through LTK, through Shop My, through TikTok, through Instagram, it's most likely through the same people. So you're almost kind of developing a pen pal relationship with these people. A funny thing that happens to me a couple months ago was I was creating content through from the lobby. It's. It's usually more of a trade situation where they give you free product and you post a video or give them content. And I did it for In Beauty and I love their products so much. So I was really trying to create some good freaking content. Then I went to an event and the social media girls were there and so I'm just like going up there grabbing my free products from this event and they're like, are you Nancy from I'm so Nancy. I'm like, yes. They're like, we love your content. We're the ones that talk to you all the time and we handle all the social media. We'd love to send you more product. Like, you're amazing. Da da da. And I'm like, the fact that that was the what, the second touch point. And I would have never known that they're the same people that I'm doing these little partnerships with. So just message them. They're just like us. They're just like, who's the next creator that we want to work with? It could be you. But if you don't message them, how are they going to find you in this sea of content creators?
- [11:32]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, I love the idea of touch points because I also think it's a really good idea to add those people on LinkedIn. Like you can just literally Google or, or even. This is getting really sneaky with it. But you could, you could Google like influencer, Marketing manager, New Balance, find that on LinkedIn. Find them on LinkedIn. You find her name. It's Sarah Smith. She runs all of influencer marketing on New Balance. Now you can also follow Sarah Smith on Instagram and you're messaging them. So not only are you messing them through their brand account and they're seeing you, but you're also following her Instagram and you're also adding her on LinkedIn. So she's seeing you in multiple different ways too.
- [12:05]
Nancy
And they'll start recognizing you.
- [12:08]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [12:09]
Nancy
And you're not just some random girl, but you're in a Courtney Johnson that's been messaging me on these platforms. And it's fine because if you're putting out good content, I'm going to want to keep you in mind for our campaigns coming up.
- [12:23]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah. The number one thing that indicates decision making like this is proven in psychology. Whatever is repetition and familiarity. Like that is how someone's going to decide to buy something, partner with some someone, work on something, hire someone. Like the biggest human behavior indicator predictor is repetition and familiarity. So the more reps you get in, the more familiar they are with you and the more likely they are to want to work with you.
- [12:47]
Nancy
And that's why there's two different sets of people. There's the ones for brand awareness and ones for, you know, if you have a million followers, that you're definitely selling the product. But there's reasons why these brands like for south by Southwest are having pop ups. They're inviting smaller creators to come in because they just want to reach all the different population groups, so to speak. They just want people to see that brand, see that name, see that product. So the next time they're in store, they're gonna be like, oh, I do recognize that because I did see in that one video that I saw that one time. And that's enough for the next time they go to store. They're like, I didn't like the last product that used. I'm actually going to try this one because I keep on seeing on social media.
- [13:25]
Courtney Johnson
Mm. I think that's really, really important to like circle back on. Because the goal of working with a brand is not always for conversion. Like a lot of times it's for familiarity and brand awareness. So when that person comes to their buying decision, they are choosing that thing. But I think a lot of times people can be like, well, I don't know if I can convert. That's not always the goal. In fact, it's usually not.
- [13:49]
Nancy
It's usually not unless you are a mega influencer. And that's their role. And everyone plays their own role. And I'm totally fine. If I don't convert, it's okay. But if I'm reminding you of X, Y, Z constantly and it becomes ingrained in your mind later on, once you see that mega influencer, talk about it and you're like, yeah, I'm definitely sold. But it's because that's a gradual progress to be like, do I need this? Yes, I do.
- [14:19]
Courtney Johnson
And you do convert, Nancy. So I do convert.
- [14:21]
Nancy
Thanks.
- [14:22]
Courtney Johnson
Okay, next cheat code. This one is really good. And that is in your free time. Message brands, like, how do you. When do you. Message brands? How do you think about it?
- [14:30]
Nancy
When I am lazy as shit on the couch, I'm watching Bravo tv, I'm losing a, like, a few brain cells. Just a few. And I have my few, like, outreach templates in my notes section. And I'll just, you know, input brand name, input product. Sometimes if I'm really lazy, I'll just do a more generic one. But if you want to be more effective, obviously you try to cater it and personalize it to that brand. But that's when I do it, because I view this, like, Kohl's outreach as something fun and just like, let's just, you know, give it a shot. If you turn it into, like, a burden, something then you don't want to do anymore. So anytime I'm bored, I'll convince myself that instead of just, you know, staring at a screen, I can stare at two screens and also possibly make money. And that's when I also do my linking, because I don't want to set aside a few hours every day trying to link products. I want to enjoy myself watching my tv. But also like, hey, here are my links to my favorite products. And also while I'm linking these products, let me give this person a little message and be like, hey, do you have any campaigns going on? Like, I'd love to create XYZ for you, but, you know, there's a new product coming out. I'd love to give it a try. Yeah, what's the worst they can say?
- [15:51]
Courtney Johnson
Honestly, I think that's really smart because you're making it like a fun game rather than something that's so serious that you have to do, like, at your desk. Like, it's a whole thing. You're like, no, I'm like, watching my trash tv.
- [16:01]
Nancy
Don't do it at your desk, because that is just going to ruin it for you. Be comfortable.
- [16:05]
Courtney Johnson
Maybe. Maybe if you're like, kind of like laying out in the sun, you could.
- [16:10]
Nancy
Invite a friend over, you know, grab some water, message some brands, tell each other which brands you're messaging because there's plenty of money out there. Like, it really shouldn't be so competitive. Like I always share like information with, you know, my coworkers and be like, hey, you should reach out to this person because I know they're looking for people. But yeah, just make it more of a casual thing because once it becomes a chore, you don't want to do chores. And just for example, like I will send out on a good week, 30 to 50 messages and maybe half of them are like more custom. But you know, I might get a 1500-3000 deal from that. And it's like sometimes a completely random brand that I've truly never heard of, but sometimes I actually really love the brand. Afterwards, I'm like, wow, I'm actually gonna tell everyone about it.
- [17:04]
Courtney Johnson
So yeah, I mean if everybody message takes like a minute or two, that's spending 45 minutes to make, yeah, two, $3,000, that's definitely, definitely worth it.
- [17:16]
Nancy
And also like if you get gifted product instead of just posting that one story, for example, I loved this one Body Serum. I mean I still love it. I pretty much compare everything to it. And yeah, I posted probably six videos on it because it's rated so highly on Yucca. It's like a 99 out of 100, which is absolutely insane if you love clean products. It's uni, by the way. But after I posted a few and messaged them, they want to boost my first video that I ever made for them, which was obviously voluntarily made organic video and they paid me to boost it for three months. So that's just, you know, if you love something so much, freaking post about it. Because if you don't, no one's going to know that you love it.
- [18:00]
Courtney Johnson
Mm. I have another cheat code and that is tap into lesser known industries. So if you're really into like fishing or tennis or software or whatever the fuck it is, there are so many brands that like just. I feel like a lot of the, I feel like a lot of the brands outside of fashion and beauty and home just don't get a lot of love. So maybe it's like your gardening gloves or like the plant fertilizer, like whatever really niche thing you're into.
- [18:29]
Nancy
Flour, flour that you make sourdough bread from. One of my cohort girlies, she tagged the brand that she uses and they messaged her and she's like, yeah, I'm going to reach out to them. Like, yeah, you should. Because like no one's. I've never heard of this flower brand that's apparently really clean or whatever. I'm like, okay, but they have marketing money. Like every company has marketing budget.
- [18:52]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah.
- [18:52]
Nancy
They just have to figure out how they want to use that. And sometimes you have to pitch yourself and convince them that it's worth it to pay you instead of putting like money into Google Ads, which are you really targeting the right people? I don't know.
- [19:06]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah. Yeah. One thing that I did was I went through all of my tools that I use in my business, like all my software and I made a list of it, reached out to all the brands, negotiated some free months, free years, and I cut my business expenses quite a bit by doing that. So I would also recommend tools that you're using. For example, I'm working with my business bank. Like they're paying me to post about them and we're doing a partnership. It's because I shared the link so much like the referral link and so many people started using it. By the way, Novo, I. By the way, Novo, I love you.
- [19:38]
Nancy
Chase bank, where you at? Fuck you, Chase Bank.
- [19:43]
Courtney Johnson
Okay, Getting into some cheat codes around content creation. Impulsivity. You're so impulsive and it's so good. How do you be more? Because you know what problem I have with all my clients? What is that annoying? If you're one of my clients watching this, do you know who you are? Courtney? I have a notion spreadsheet with 500 content ideas and it's all planned out and I have three variations of each and blah blah, blah, blah, blah. And I have all of the script and I have 14 hook options, but they haven't posted one thing. They have like the most beautiful content calendar that's color coded and everything, but they haven't posted a thing. I.
- [20:19]
Nancy
That stresses me out so much actually. Like I'm like overwhelmed. That is now. The time is now. And the issue is that you can get backlogs so easily. And I've been in that hole before where I have like 20 something drafts that if I had posted then and there, it would be pertinent and it would be probably more likely to go viral. And that because I waited the two weeks now it's like the content's dead, you know, the trending audio is dead now. I just wasted that time editing it. For what? For literally what? It's just a draft that's taking up storage in my phone. Which reminds Me every single day that you're running out of storage. I fucking know. I, I get it. Like relax. Like I'm trying to like delete these without feeling terrible because I didn't post it when I wanted to post it. So my thing is the vi, the viral videos that have come about on my page, they're always the super impulsive ones and I'm like, damn, I just need another one of those, so why wait? Like, don't save to draft. Do not save to draft. Just freaking post it. It's okay if it's not perfectly edited unless you're going for the super aesthetic, you know, clean voiceover, whatever video. If it's not that, you don't need to perfect it. And usually the imperfect ones are the ones that do so. Well, I don't know what it is, but if you have a good idea, just freaking post it. Like right now.
- [21:44]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, I think if you ask literally any content creator, what are your top five posts you've ever posted, they're going to, for everyone, they're going to say, oh, it's just this idea that came to me and I just posted it right away. Like every single time I do not know one person that they're like, yeah, my top performing content was this super strategic, planned out script that I re edited four times.
- [22:06]
Nancy
So post. But also you have to have the right items for your content creation. Like you want to have the good lighting still, regardless of how impulsive you are. So have a ring light of some sort, the Alex Earl light. Have a tripod ready, an octo buddy so you can stick it to the mirror so you can create the content when you want to. Because those little things are going to level up your content. Because sometimes you can hold your phone, it'll be a little shaky, but it's better to just have it stuck on a wall or whatever. And at least you're putting yourself in a situation where the content quality is still there.
- [22:41]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, I do think you need a little quality. I, I like to tell people just have not bad lighting and not bad audio. You don't have to have perfect, beautiful, amazing lighting. You don't have to have like a 500 mic, just make it not bad.
- [22:53]
Nancy
My mic is $10 and it comes with two microphones. It's May Besta on Amazon. It's literally like 9.99 link that.
- [23:01]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, I upgraded to a road and it's no different than the $10 one. Honestly.
- [23:06]
Nancy
It does give you more of a presence though, because I immediately see that and I'm like, damn, that's obnoxious as it has a wire. So I'm like, okay, but I love it. It's. Now it's kind of part of your whole. Your whole thing.
- [23:19]
Courtney Johnson
It's a wire. Yeah. Literally wired. Oh, I have, like, the little box with the fluff fluffy thing you can talk into. But it takes so much time. It doesn't take. It takes, like, 30 seconds to set up, except to plug it in, open the Rode app, whatever. And I'm just not going to do that. That, like, ruins my impulsivity. I have to just, like, plug in. I'm like, all right.
- [23:35]
Nancy
Yeah, but having a mic, having a light, having an octobuddy, those things just make it so much better. But, yeah, you want good lighting. No one wants, like, a dim ass, like, dark video. No, no one wants that. I'm sorry, what would you tell to.
- [23:50]
Courtney Johnson
People that are dealing with, like, perfectionism so they're not even posting because they think it has to be perfect?
- [23:54]
Nancy
That's literally what I was previously in my past life.
- [23:58]
Courtney Johnson
How did you overcome that?
- [23:59]
Nancy
I told myself to get the fuck over it. Literally, I'm, like, editing, like, down to the second. And then I'm seeing some. My creator friends. They're just posting whatever, and I'm like, no one's going to notice that I cut this point.02 seconds out. And, like, no. And I'm not doing transitions and all that shit. I'm sorry. Like, is it mean to say, like, transitions kind of make me cringe, but they do. I. No, just know. Just literally. Okay. One thing that makes it a lot easier is if you are tripping over your words, which I do sometimes, especially when I'm tired. Instead of, like, having to restart it, just take a breath and then restart that sentence. It makes it a lot easier to have it to splice in between sentences. So start the sentence all over and just. Just go from there. I don't know if that makes any sense.
- [24:49]
Courtney Johnson
No, that's a really, really good tip. Like, you don't have to restart the whole video. Just restart the sentence. And you can go in and, like.
- [24:54]
Nancy
Edit it and whatever instead of, like, just one word. Yeah, I don't know. It makes sense when I do it.
- [25:00]
Courtney Johnson
Okay. Another cheat code you have is to go through, like, go back through your last 5 to 10 videos and tag every single brand in it. I know we talked a little bit about this in your example with your pups, but, like, when I did that, when I just went back and looked at my past videos and I'm like, oh, I'm wearing this shirt from this brand that isn't tagged. I'm using the road mic that isn't tagged. I have this in the background. That's not tagged. I'm drinking this tea that's not tagged. I'm like, what the heck? There's at least, at least like 10 brands in every video that you're probably missing.
- [25:31]
Nancy
It's not even just the brand. Where else can you buy the rode microphone? Can you buy from Best Buy?
- [25:37]
Courtney Johnson
I didn't even think about this.
- [25:38]
Nancy
Whoa. Yeah, Best Buy. Walmart. Walmart is pushing out creators like no other. Can you buy from Walmart? Can you buy. There's Target creators, there's Walmart creators too, where they have their own platform, so to speak. And you can make more commission too off that. There, there is a lot of different programs. That's why I'd like to stick to like Shop my and LTK and whatever. But sometimes Walmart, their commission's pretty freaking good. But those companies too are having campaigns. Their electronics, you know, especially during Black Friday. Tag those.
- [26:08]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah.
- [26:09]
Nancy
Not just road.
- [26:10]
Courtney Johnson
Another thing you told me that I'm like, mind blown is also. So you have a video about like cooking, whatever. Yeah, you're tagging the spatula and the spices and this or whatever. But could you also tag New York Times cooking app? Because that's actually the app that you're using everything. Can you also tag, you know, the.
- [26:26]
Nancy
Recipe, like, what is it? Half baked harvest or whatever? I don't know.
- [26:30]
Courtney Johnson
Is that a real.
- [26:31]
Nancy
Yeah, no, that literally is. But a lot of people follow.
- [26:34]
Courtney Johnson
That's a perfect, like Christian girl Autumn name.
- [26:37]
Nancy
Wait, you've never heard of that before? Dude, her recipes are so good. But like you would tag those books or hashtag those because then you're bringing in followers who are looking for those recipes. So it's not just. You're not just targeting the brands. Right. You're also trying to form some community. You're trying to like convince this part of your following, you know, because mainly yours is business related. But what if you do start diving into the cooking? Like you have to think about. Okay, I want to get those followers too, because those are the people they're going to be buying from. My links when this cooking company pays me.
- [27:15]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, when I, when I got my bank partnership, I think one of the reasons why they found me is because I was posting a video just about finances. I was even talking about my bank, but I just happened to tag them and then they were like, oh, hey.
- [27:26]
Nancy
What if you didn't tag them?
- [27:27]
Courtney Johnson
Right? Probably wouldn't have made, like, I can't say how much money it is, but made a really solid brand. Deal with a brand that I really love and support and, like, support their mission.
- [27:39]
Nancy
Yeah, exactly.
- [27:40]
Courtney Johnson
And I know Kelsey told me I can't share exact numbers anymore.
- [27:43]
Nancy
Yeah, I know.
- [27:45]
Courtney Johnson
Sorry, Kelsey.
- [27:46]
Nancy
Sorry, mom.
- [27:47]
Courtney Johnson
Sorry, Mom.
- [27:48]
Nancy
I give a range.
- [27:49]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's smart. Yeah, that's smart.
- [27:51]
Nancy
Even with my own salary from pharmaceuticals. You know, it's just. You're right, because, like, just give a range. Like you can Google those things, but you don't need to know my exact salary.
- [28:01]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, that's true. I learned my lesson. Sorry again. Kelsey. I love you.
- [28:05]
Nancy
Yeah, I'm trying to think of another cheat code is one thing like, living free. Living free how you cut costs by working with apps that you already use. I get free, obviously. Free clothes, free makeup, free skincare, whatever. But services. Mm, let's see. I get my couch steam cleaned every quarter and my dogs lay on all the time, so desperately needed. That's probably like $500 or so free house cleaning every month or so. I also still pay my cleaners because they're like a family cleaner, but I can always use another cleaning. That's another. Probably like 200. I eat for free. That is so clutch. Because I probably get 800 to a thousand dollars worth of food every month because I obviously want to try all the new restaurants, but I'm not going to pay for it. But I always tip. I always tip 20%. And, you know, just that alone, I think I'm getting 2 to $3,000 worth of stuff every month for free, which I don't. Some people don't care about free things. But think about that. If you're going to spend the money anyways, why not get it for free and create content for that? And that's also building your portfolio.
- [29:24]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah. Attention and your audience is a form of leverage. Like, money is a form of leverage. You can use it and trade it and get the things you want, but you can do that with attention too.
- [29:33]
Nancy
Exactly.
- [29:34]
Courtney Johnson
Dude. I used to do ghostwriting for this, like, very well known New York City fashion influencer. And she literally, like, furnished her entire house for free. She got every business service for free. Like, her tax people were free. Like, I was working with her for free. And at first I was like, this is bullshit. She's so entitled. Whatever. And then the minute she posted about me, like, oh, Courtney's been my ghostwriter. I probably made $15,000 from that one Instagram story. And I was like, oh, I get it. Like, yeah, that was better than her paying me $800 for, like, the ghostwriting project.
- [30:05]
Nancy
Exactly. You have to kind of, like, invest your time and your money. Not your money, I guess, but your time. And that ROI will come back to you in just. In different forms.
- [30:16]
Courtney Johnson
Mm.
- [30:17]
Nancy
And to me, you know, having a house cleaner come. That's saving me a couple hours. It's saving me from touching the toilet. It's giving me the freedom to work on other things while my house is getting clean, because that's a necessity. So that, to me, is so worth it. And even if you might be charging more per hour, you posting that one story or that one video is worth so much more. Cause you're, like, maintaining your sanity.
- [30:46]
Courtney Johnson
Mm. Yeah, I. You've really inspired me. Okay, I. I wanna talk about the craziest things you've seen people get for free, and I will start. One of my friends got her veneers for free. Whole teeth, whole mouth. Like, how many teeth do we have?
- [31:00]
Nancy
Like, I don't even know, you know.
- [31:02]
Courtney Johnson
How much money an entire set of veneers is?
- [31:04]
Nancy
Oh, one tooth is 7 to 10,000.
- [31:07]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, I. I got a deep discount on two veneers, and it was like, 14,000. It was supposed to be like, 25,000. So an entire mouth. 200. 300,000. She got the whole thing for free. She is not a mega influencer. When she. The time when she got it, she maybe had like, 10,000 on Instagram and, like, 5,000 on TikTok. Wasn't huge. Whole, whole ass mouth. I'm like, damn, that's impressive.
- [31:28]
Nancy
Damn.
- [31:29]
Courtney Johnson
Another one of my friends got a car. She didn't own the car, but she got three years of free leasing.
- [31:35]
Nancy
I'm trying to work on that right now.
- [31:37]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, I'm. Me too. Because I don't. Honestly, I don't really care about cars, but my car is kind of falling apart.
- [31:41]
Nancy
Mine is not falling apart, but it's a. It's going to very soon once it hits 100,000 miles. And I'm literally avidly trying to work that out right now.
- [31:49]
Courtney Johnson
I'm like, Austin, Covert, Jeep, Dodge.
- [31:55]
Nancy
But, hey, it's beneficial for them. What is one car? Literally. What is one car?
- [32:00]
Courtney Johnson
No, also, you're talking about it all the time. Like, anyway, so you're in your car all the time. Yeah.
- [32:05]
Nancy
You're filming in your car.
- [32:06]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, exactly. I also went and toured a. Fuck. There's, like, a new electronic vehicle called, like, Rivet River Rivet.
- [32:16]
Nancy
Rivian. I love cars.
- [32:18]
Courtney Johnson
So do you like them?
- [32:20]
Nancy
Yeah, they're like $98,000. Yeah, they are like base value.
- [32:24]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, but they're a new brand. And I was like, am I delusional that I'm like, they could give me a free car?
- [32:28]
Nancy
You know what your little flight thing. Oh, Blake, that's something I would love to get for free.
- [32:33]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, but we'll see. Yeah. I fucking love that helicopter. I feel like such a fancy bitch. I'm like, look at me, I'm in a helicopter. And then you go to the private jet terminal at jfk, which is so cool. So you see all these private jets and all these like, families getting off and I'm like, that's going to be me one day.
- [32:48]
Nancy
Uh huh. And your $900 jacket, period.
- [32:52]
Courtney Johnson
I've never spent more money on an item of clothing than this.
- [32:55]
Nancy
Really cute though.
- [32:56]
Courtney Johnson
It's really beautiful. Right? It's. And it's like a cashmere and wool. I just want to be a fancy bitch. What can I say?
- [33:03]
Nancy
Well, if you want to be a fancier bitch, you might as well start linking that shit.
- [33:06]
Courtney Johnson
I know my stylist doesn't. Doesn't link.
- [33:08]
Nancy
I was talking to her about that.
- [33:09]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, I know. She doesn't think anything. And she like, literally is sending tens of thousands of dollars worth of products to her clients every day. And she's not linking anything. We gotta, we gotta work on that.
- [33:19]
Nancy
We gotta make some money.
- [33:20]
Courtney Johnson
Okay. What's some crazy shit you've seen other people get for free?
- [33:23]
Nancy
Trying to think like the highest dollar amount.
- [33:25]
Courtney Johnson
You know, what everyone gets for free. And I had no idea. I thought people were just posting about this is moving. Everyone's getting moving for free.
- [33:31]
Nancy
Was it roadway movers? And that's like, that's a few thousand up to 10,000. Right.
- [33:37]
Courtney Johnson
Every time I've moved, it's like, yeah.
- [33:39]
Nancy
Moving across country is definitely like 10 to 20.
- [33:43]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah. Also like, you're spending so much money, you're. When you're moving because you have to do like a deposit or you're like buying a house or something. You're spending so much money and then moving on top of that. I've always moved by myself because I'm like, fudge this. And then I regret it. Yeah, but everyone's getting moving, moving for free.
- [33:57]
Nancy
I would say also med spa. Med spa stuff.
- [34:02]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, I paid because 800 for my.
- [34:04]
Nancy
Every time I go, I'm getting two to three thousand dollars worth of stuff done. Because this needs maintenance. I got 92 units of Botox the other day, 92. And then I usually do like microneedling of some sort with like sculpture or PRP and then restock on my skincare. So like that. I mean it's not a lot all at once, but throughout the year because I'm doing it every three months. So it's like two, three thousand times four.
- [34:34]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah. Oh yeah. I'm. I'm spending at least $10,000 a year on skincare and Botox. Maybe more. That's what it's that. Do you do your hair stuff for free too?
- [34:46]
Nancy
Oh, I'm so low maintenance. I get my hair cut like twice a year.
- [34:49]
Courtney Johnson
And you don't color your hair?
- [34:51]
Nancy
No, no, I should, but then I'm like my hair is always in a clip, so it doesn't really matter. And my haircut's like $60. Whatever.
- [35:00]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, but I spend like $500 on my hair.
- [35:03]
Nancy
You should get that shit for free. Honestly, anything that you spend money on and if there is a service available that they need social media, you should not spend money on it.
- [35:11]
Courtney Johnson
I know, but with hair I just feel weird because there's like everyone's like.
- [35:14]
Nancy
A hair bitch and everyone's a clothing bitch, Everyone's a makeup bitch. Like literally what is your nails? I actually do my nails. Well, don't like these are. I just like a really revlon random one. But I do all of in June they send me product. They have like a long lasting gel option. It lasts like two weeks. But I'm sure you can get your nails. I know actually a lot of creators that they have like a Google Drive. Every time they get their nails done there, they'll send it or they'll save it in their Google Drive and the nail salon will have access to it.
- [35:45]
Courtney Johnson
Wait, I actually did get my nails done for free once. It was like this place in Cedar Park. And you know what, by the way, I live in like super North Austin by Cedar park. And so all like the Cedar park people will reach out to me, which is really cool.
- [35:56]
Nancy
So I'm like, you could definitely also get into the restaurant stuff there because there's so many new restaurants there.
- [36:02]
Courtney Johnson
Cedar park is like really good restaurant. And there's like the barbecue place there. Just got a Michelin star. Interstellar.
- [36:08]
Nancy
Oh, I want to go there.
- [36:10]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, but that's where H Mart is.
- [36:11]
Nancy
But that's a good way for you to start doing food stuff because I'm. Every time you go out to eat, it's two to $300.
- [36:20]
Courtney Johnson
I mean that's making money off of this. Might as well be pouring myself out. What's your dream brand to work with or type of brand?
- [36:27]
Nancy
Castlery.
- [36:28]
Courtney Johnson
What?
- [36:29]
Nancy
Their furniture.
- [36:30]
Courtney Johnson
Did you already work with them?
- [36:31]
Nancy
No, but that's my for sure dream brand because I love every single piece of furniture there and I feel like you would also love them a lot.
- [36:39]
Courtney Johnson
Okay. Yeah. Castlerea. If you're listening to this, I've got an unfurnished house.
- [36:44]
Nancy
I have a furnished house. But I will gladly unfurnish for you.
- [36:47]
Courtney Johnson
It gets millions of views every time I post about it. Yeah. My dream brand. I know. I actually. I know what you're talking about. Casseria is really cool.
- [36:56]
Nancy
Yeah.
- [36:57]
Courtney Johnson
I really want to want people to send me fancy ass candles.
- [37:01]
Nancy
Big ass luxury candles.
- [37:03]
Courtney Johnson
Yes. And paint like. Like a Sherwin Williams. A bear, a backdrop.
- [37:10]
Nancy
I feel like a really nice piece of art.
- [37:13]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah. Or vintage furniture. Vintage furniture. Specifically the Renner project in Austin. Best.
- [37:21]
Nancy
But like, how would they make money?
- [37:24]
Courtney Johnson
That's harder.
- [37:24]
Nancy
That's harder because they're such unique pieces.
- [37:26]
Courtney Johnson
I would say like also textiles. Like Citizenry has really beautiful textiles. I worked with Brooklyn in this year, which is really cool.
- [37:33]
Nancy
That and like Parachute would love some nice sheets. Yeah.
- [37:36]
Courtney Johnson
That was actually like my most. I. That was probably my most exciting because I'm like, this brand is giving me house stuff and I do love.
- [37:44]
Nancy
But you can do so much house stuff. You just haven't tapped into it. And I saw your house. There's so much content to be made. I'm just going to come over, honestly, and we're just going to film like a shit ton of content.
- [37:54]
Courtney Johnson
Okay.
- [37:54]
Nancy
Like, like even like the windows, like.
- [37:57]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah. They're so.
- [37:58]
Nancy
Everything.
- [37:59]
Courtney Johnson
Okay. Yeah.
- [37:59]
Nancy
Like again, what is holding you back?
- [38:02]
Courtney Johnson
I want to paint my walls.
- [38:04]
Nancy
But that's the thing. You're trying to perfect it, you know, but like, do you have a set day for painting your walls?
- [38:09]
Courtney Johnson
No.
- [38:10]
Nancy
So that means you're just pushing this further and further. You can always move furniture aside to paint your walls. So you might as well start posting the content and be like, how can I improve this space? Oh, Tag Sherman Williams. Tag Home Depot.
- [38:25]
Courtney Johnson
Period, period.
- [38:26]
Nancy
I like, I can see you like carrying like 20 barrels, bales, whatever, pails. Pails of paint on your little.
- [38:36]
Courtney Johnson
Your little.
- [38:37]
Nancy
What's it called? Words are so hard on your tram. And like it's just a video of the. The paint just going up by itself.
- [38:45]
Courtney Johnson
That's so smart. Yeah. If I got like a Home Depot partnership, Lucas would like.
- [38:49]
Nancy
But Home Depot would not be able to find you because you ain't posting shit about your house.
- [38:54]
Courtney Johnson
I should post all my Home Depot. I like Home Depot is really an establishment in my world.
- [38:59]
Nancy
Shop my 7% commission.
- [39:01]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, I'm setting it up right now.
- [39:02]
Nancy
7% commission.
- [39:04]
Courtney Johnson
No more Home Depot runs until you.
- [39:06]
Nancy
Use my don't buy in store.
- [39:07]
Courtney Johnson
Just don't buy in store.
- [39:09]
Nancy
Curbside pickup.
- [39:10]
Courtney Johnson
I'm not letting him.
- [39:11]
Nancy
He's buy online. Buy online. Buy online. I'm sorry, I know like people want to like shop in person, whatever, maintain this. No, I'm not going to partake in that. I'm going to buy online. I'm going to pick up in the store or get it delivered to me by making that 7% commission and I'm going to buy myself something nice. So period.
- [39:28]
Courtney Johnson
Period. Nancy, okay. How can people learn more from you? You have some really awesome classes out right now.
- [39:36]
Nancy
Yes, I have.
- [39:37]
Courtney Johnson
That have been so fucking helpful by.
- [39:38]
Nancy
The way, like getting some good feedback.
- [39:41]
Courtney Johnson
It was, it's been really amazing.
- [39:42]
Nancy
Yeah, thank you.
- [39:43]
Courtney Johnson
So proud of you.
- [39:44]
Nancy
So it was originally supposed to be like a four lesson cohort, but I didn't want to wait to perfect it. I just want to like put the information out there because you pushed me. So that's why I told my cohort people. Cause I have like 20 people. I'm like, this is supposed to be like actually like one, one whole thing. But I did two lessons so far. I have two more going on and I'm just going to keep on repeating that. It's a good like foundation to learn about content creation. If you're starting from nothing or if you're a micro influencer, how to monetize it, learning about all the things, learning to edit your photos and videos and you know, adding hidden keywords in your videos. Just like shit like that that you honestly, you might not know. So I have the cohorts. I have free resources on my gumroad and content ideas. I have it for every single month. December is going to be really good.
- [40:33]
Courtney Johnson
Your digital products are really good. Like it's insane. They're really, really insane.
- [40:37]
Nancy
Yeah, I just like the value is wild. I created them a few weeks ago and let's see, I probably had like a hundred downloads or so, which is not bad for me. Like only posting like a couple videos on them.
- [40:49]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, email all of those people for your next class and you can figure out your conversion rates. May a 10% conversion rate, you know. You know every time you send an email you're gonna have a 10% conversion rate and it makes your revenue. Really predictable.
- [41:02]
Nancy
Yeah.
- [41:03]
Courtney Johnson
Okay. I can't. I'm not. Not me sharing. Nancy's like, behind the scenes strategy to publicly. But.
- [41:09]
Nancy
But I love it. And this is why it works. Because there's so much to learn, there's so much money to be made.
- [41:15]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah.
- [41:15]
Nancy
And that's why it needs to be, like, very collaborative. Like, some people are really competitive and like, that's. That's not gonna work out. Like, we need to, like, push ourselves and share the knowledge.
- [41:25]
Courtney Johnson
We need to slay the gatekeepers. Stop.
- [41:30]
Nancy
Drop the mic. Drop the mic.
- [41:32]
Courtney Johnson
Episode over. Thank you, Anansi. You're the best.
- [41:36]
Nancy
Love you, Cor. Thanks for having me.
- [41:39]
Courtney Johnson
Okay, y'all, if you like this episode, you would love, love my Patreon. Okay? You get exclusive access to me, exclusive content, tons of other resources, and a lot of juicy. Okay? So I hope to see you on my Patreon.