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You're listening to an episode of the Abigail Pugh Podcast with, you guessed it, Abigail Pugh. I'm an introverted mama who took my online business from zero to seven figures in 15 months, selling my own digital products on social media. And guess what? I did it all with my 3 year old daughter no less than 3ft away from me at all times. Now I'm bringing you everything I've learned about building a wildly profitable online business that supports your life while allowing you to truly live it. Get ready for raw, honest conversations with entrepreneurs making thousands per month selling their own digital products and people just like you who ditch self doubt to create the life they've always wanted. If you're ready to make more money, have more impact, and still have time for the things that matter most, you're in the right place. Grab your sneakers, head out on your hot girl walk and let's dive in. Hello and welcome back to my podcast. This week I am going to be doing a solo episode. I've mentioned it before, but these are a lot harder for me to do because if I mess up then my brain convinces me that I need to stop and start completely over. Whereas with a episode where I'm interviewing a guest, I can't really do that. So welcome back. I'm so excited you're here. Today we are going to be talking about content that converts into sales, specifically Instagram content. Now I did a question box for you guys over on Instagram and had you submit a bunch of questions around this. So that's what I'm going to be answering today. And little fun thing at the end of this episode I actually have a really fun update that I'm only sharing here on this podcast. So if you want to hear it, make sure you listen to the end. And yes, I know you could just skip through and listen to that, but I know that you're not going to do that because these questions are so good. So first question and I'm just going in order of how these questions were submitted. So do you follow a story schedule for selling or wing it day today? So in the beginning I was winging it essentially just to get into the. Get into like the consistency of posting a story every single day. I feel like that helped me a lot because I was able to get into this kind of rhythm and I was actually just talking about this with someone inside of my community today. And for me, stories is more about sharing my life through the eyes of my business. But I definitely take into consideration what's going on in other People's lives as well, right? So at the beginning of the week on Mondays, a lot of people are like, ugh, they're burnt out. So in the beginning of the week, a lot of people are kind of like, tired from the weekend and they want more, you know, conversational, funny, relatable content. So in my stories, I try not to sell super hard on Mondays, but I do share the behind the scenes of stuff that's happening in my business on Mondays because Monday is a big day for, for me and my community and we do a lot inside my community on Mondays, right? But I'm never like, hard selling on Mondays. But something I will also say inside of my community, it's called rich girl community. I give them prompts every single week for their stories so that you can get into your own rhythm and you know how to kind of how to sell and show up inside of your story. So if that's something you need help with, get your butt inside my community. It's my favorite place to be. Next question. Honestly, how does it convert if it's not always giving value? Okay, you guys, I know that gurus and, you know, social media experts for years have been saying, give value, give value, give value. And I don't really like saying that because at the end of the day, I think our brains think that value means we need to just be giving more information all the time. And it always needs to be this, like, huge win for them. But at the end of the day, value can also be making somebody laugh, inspiring someone, helping someone with like the smallest tip. So for me, I'm like, okay, yes, you do want to give value, but sometimes it's okay to sell. And sometimes the value that you are giving someone in your content can be like the smallest little win or something that they're going to remember. So I don't sit there and think, how can I give value in my content? I sit there and think, how can I serve my audience and what's a really fun way for me to sell my product when it is time to sell it, right? Because I want to get creative. I want to tell a story. I don't necessarily just want to be like, hey, buy my product? Like, that doesn't work very well on social media. And I didn't actually mean to bring this up two questions in a row. But something else that you get inside of my community is weekly prompts where you don't really have to think about what to post in order to grow and make sales. So again, if that's something you need help with get your butt in my community. Next question, how not to oversell or sell to the wrong people. So I feel like those are two separate questions. So first question, how to not oversell. I don't believe in overselling. Like, it's your job as a business owner to sell your products. Now, I do think that if you show up every single day and you are hard selling in your stories, where it's like, here's the problem, here's how I can help you solve it, and here's the person that this is for, right? Like, we all see those story sequences now and we kind of know they're selling. If that's all you're posting in your stories, that's too much. But I truly believe that we can show up and serve and sell every single day. But you can do it in different ways. So, for example, when I'm selling in an email one day, my social media content probably isn't selling. It's probably nurturing or connecting, right? And vice versa. So I really try to line things up to where I am selling every single day. And sometimes it's a hard sell and sometimes it's a soft sell. But I'm usually trying to do that kind of in one location. So either on my email list or in my stories or on my post, right? It's not something that I'm doing everywhere at the same exact time. Unless I'm in a launch, that's a completely different ballgame. So that's not what I'm referring to. But I don't. I don't believe in overselling. It gets your job to sell your offers and make people aware of your offers. You've got to find fun ways to do it because that's what marketing is, right? Essentially, it's. You're saying the same thing over and over and over again in different ways. Now, when it comes to selling to the wrong people, this is when having your messaging really dialed in, like, you know exactly who you are talking to and what problem you are solving for them so that you don't have that fear of selling to the wrong people. I never really worry about that because I know my specific person that I sell to so well. So I don't really worry about selling to the wrong person. And I turn people away all the time. Like, I get people asking me, like, hey, I sell physical products. Would this offer be good for me? And I tell them, no. I'm like, no, I created it for a specific person that sells digital products. And that's not what you do. So my offer probably isn't for you, and that's okay. You're not going to be for everyone. Like, I feel like I say this all the time, but if you speak to everyone, then you speak to no one. So it's okay to kind of not sell to everyone. Right? Essentially, you want to sell to your person. Next question. Sources of inspiration. So for me personally, I love following people in different niches. Because when you follow people in the same niche and you get inspiration from them, I'm not saying, like, never go to someone in your niece's page and kind of see what they're doing, but when you follow people in your niche and you see concepts and things being done, it's kind of hard to unsee that. So, honestly, a lot of my friends that I like, love, and they're so good at what they do with social media, I follow them, but they're muted because I don't constantly want to be seeing their information and having that in my brain and then feeling like I'm just regurgitating what they're doing. So I like to follow people in different niches and pull inspiration from that. So one niche that I really love following is people in fitness. I feel like it's really fun and I can get a lot of really fun ideas from that. And then another source of information is literally people who are in my niche and their comment section, because you will get so many good ideas from what your ideal audience is. Commenting in somebody else's comments and the questions they're asking and the conversations they're having. It's just, it's such a great way for you to gather research and see what people need and what questions they need answering. Another great place for that is threads. There's a lot of more, like, conversations happening in threads, which I love. So going to your, I don't wanna say competitor, going to someone who's in the same niche as you and maybe does something similar, looking at their threads and looking at the comments that people are leaving. If there's like, engagement happening, where it's kind of conversational engagement and using that to answer questions that they might have in your content. Next question. I have less than a hundred followers. Do I make a digital product now or wait to build more community? So this is a question that it's so nuanced. There's so many different approaches that you can take to this. I personally, for me, think that it's okay to serve for a little bit and then sell down the line once you kind of Know exactly what your audience needs. So maybe take a month or two or even three months to just nurture and connect with your ideal audience, see what they need help with, and then create a digital product that's essentially created based on a very specific need that your audience has. When I first started my account in, what was it, 2022, I think I had, like, I want to say like 11,000 followers just. Or maybe just under 12,000 followers on my TikTok. And I'd been growing that account for just over a month and serving, nurturing. And I was on there a lot. Like, I was very in tune with my community. I was posting two to three times per day. And so I was able to create a digital product that was exactly what they were asking me for. And I probably would have created something completely different if I hadn't kind of leaned into the questions they were asking, the conversations we were having before creating that digital product. Right. Because you do need to build that trust with people before selling to them. But it doesn't need to be this, like, huge number. At some point, you're going to get to a point where you're like, hey, I've built this audience. I need to start selling. And I think you should. There's no, like, ideal number that you should start selling something, but I do think that there is a time of nurturing and connecting and seeing what people need help with so that you can create, like, the perfect digital product for them. Next question. This one says story hunting. How do you choose which parts of your story to share? So this is actually something that we are going to be going over soon. I'm doing, like, a Black Friday deal where we're going to learn about storytelling and using your story to kind of sell and connect and nurture people. Something that I always like to kind of differentiate. So you're going to have kind of like your founder story or how you got started, how your business got started. And that's kind of like one story on its own. And then you're going to have tons of these, like, micro stories. And honestly, that's up to you with what you want to share. I personally don't share my daughter's face on social media, so I don't share a whole lot of, like, the motherhood side of my life, Although I do intertwine some, but none where I would, like, need to show her face necessarily. But for me, I'm just constantly looking for ways to say, okay, this happened to me today. Would somebody else relate with that? If so, I think I'm going to share it as long as it's not too much of my life. Right? Because I do want a boundary. I don't want to feel like I have to share my entire life. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I want to connect with people. I love sharing my story. There's so much community in sharing what's happening in my life and sharing what other people are going through in their life and saying, like, hey, I am not alone in this. But at the end of the day, you don't have to share everything on the Internet and it's not being inauthentic not to share everything. Like, you are entitled to your privacy. You are entitled to things happening in your life that you don't have to share with the Internet, but essentially with storytelling in your content, you're really able to just pull in bits and pieces of things that are happening in your life and turning that into content. But it doesn't have to be everything. So there's lots of of personal things that have happened in my life this year that I haven't shared on social media. And then there are some where I'm like, you know what? I feel alone in this and I am struggling, so I'm going to share this today. So, for example, when I was in Hawaii a few weeks ago with my, or maybe last month with my family, I had some like, weird medical freak, not an accident, like a very weird thing happen. And I shared it on the Internet because I was feeling so down and I was feeling so like, oh, my God, I can't believe this happened to me. And by sharing it, a lot of people, like, respond and we're like, oh, my God, XYZ happened to me when I took my first vacation in a year. I totally know what's happening, things like that. And we're really able to just connect. And I felt so much more at ease, like, okay, it's not just me. Like, I can stop my pity party and enjoy the rest of my vacation. So again, you get to choose what you decide. And like I said before, there's going to be micro parts of your story that you are sharing, you know, when they happen or a little bit after they happen. And then essentially there's your founder story, like, the reason you started what happened. And if you are new here, like, my founder story was my husband having two strokes. And I finally said, you know what? I'm going to do it. I've been wanting to be my own business owner for a long time. And for years I kind of self sabotaged and sat in the backseat and worked for other like amazing entrepreneurs who had these personal brands. And I like helped them reach their goals. But I always felt so scared and nervous to kind of go for my goals. And so those strokes happening to my husband really made it so I was like, I have no other option. Like, it's now or never. And I kind of gave myself this, not an ultimatum, but I kind of told myself, like, it's either now or never and you need to just go for it, right? So that's like part of my story. That's my founder story. That's not something I share all the time. And there's like bits and pieces of other parts of my story that I will share, kind of like in reels or an introduction email thing that aren't relevant to that. There's so much that goes into storytelling. So it's a lot of fun. I love it. It's a great way to share content because essentially, like, your story never ends. There's like constantly new things happening to you that you can share in your content. And it makes content creation so much easier because your content is literally just what's going on. So love that question. Next question. Do you follow any content calendar on when or what type of content to post? So I am definitely probably not like most people, I don't like having a very specific calendar. Like, I'll have a general outline of what I'm going to do, but my brain loves the creativity and the fun trends and trying new things. So I generally have an outline of what I will post each week. So for me, for example, Mondays, my stories are usually showing behind the scenes of what's going on in my community because we have a lot going on that day. Tuesdays, I will always try to post about my podcast because every Tuesday I launch a new podcast. Wednesdays, I will try to do something that's like a little bit more relatable. Thursdays, and by relatable, I mean a reel or something that people would like send to their friend, right? I want that shareability. Thursdays, I usually sell in my content, right? Depending on what I'm selling that month. Friday, I try to lean more into like funny or humorous content because at the end of the week, most people are kind of just like, hey, I'm done, I'm exhausted. Like, I just want to laugh. And then Saturdays, I don't know. I've tested a lot of content on Saturdays where it's selling and it's just being Funny. And I've actually had a lot of success with sales content on Saturdays. And I think that a lot of people, a lot of my audience is like, trying to get out of a 9 to 5 or they're working a job that they just don't really love, or, you know, they're using weekends to kind of get ahead. So maybe that's just unique to my audience, but kind of, like I said, have a general outline. Um, I also plan my entire year before it happens. This isn't something that I'm like, super rigid about because things always come up and I like to be able to kind of go with the flow with content. Um, I love to kind of plan out my entire year, the sales, when I'm launching things, what I want to do. And then of course, I have the flexibility to add things or remove them if they want. But it's actually something else we're doing inside of Rich Girl community. We are doing a planning session. It's happening in the beginning of December, and I'm so excited. We're going to basically plan our entire year. So just takes away a lot of stress. It allows you to kind of add in when you want, slower months going on so that you can enjoy. Enjoy this life you're building because of your business. So that is something I like to do. But, yeah, I'm not like, super specific with my content calendar because, like I said, I like the flexibility to do things, but essentially I plan out kind of by day what I will be posting that day. Somebody else asked, do you schedule your content? I do not. I feel like I love kind of posting not in the moment, but I like having the flexibility to change things up if I want. So I don't schedule things if you want to. I've heard a lot of my social media friends talk about Metricool and they seem to love it. So I know you can schedule inside of Instagram as well. So, yeah, love that people can schedule, but it's just not really my vibe. Next question, relevancy. You share your life so well, but still keep things relevant to your audience. How do you do that? So I said this a little bit earlier, but the main thing that I'm always thinking is how can I share my life through the eyes of my business? Now there's going to be times where my content literally has nothing to do with my business. And that's okay. It can't be all of your content. But, like, I'm obsessed with cucumber salads right now and I share about it and It's a fun time to talk about, and people ask me for the recipe, and it's a lot of fun. And that literally has nothing to do with my business. Right? But so many of the things that I'm sharing, I'm thinking, okay, how can I share something today and somewhat connect it to my business? So I want you to think about all the things that you're doing throughout your day because essentially, you kind of want to showcase to people like, this is the life I get to live because of xyz. Right. And this won't work for all niches, but you can still kind of get into a rhythm of sharing certain things that are related to your life and kind of going back and forth between each. So if you're going to sell something really hard that day, maybe start off with a relatable story first before you go into the selling. So you connect with people before you make a sale, Right? Because that's. That's something that I'm a huge fan of, is connecting first and making the sales second. And doing that in your stories is super helpful because you never really want someone to come on and just feel like you're only selling to them. Right? You want to make that connection with them first. Next question. How do you come up with good hooks? I love using storytelling for hooks. And the reason why I haven't come out with, like, a hooks list, which I'm working on it, because so many of them are just, like, so generic, and I don't like that. And I feel like the best hooks are the ones that come from you and you knowing your audience and you kind of seeing, okay, how can I make them intrigued to watch this video? So that's kind of what I'm always thinking, like, okay, what's the best way for me to kind of pique somebody's curiosity before I come up with the hook? Mine are, like, tried and true because I have tested them. So when I'm coming up with hooks, I'm really just trying to think, like, how can I pique somebody's curiosity? But I. I am working on a hooks list where you guys will kind of like, plug in, for your information, into the hook, because I think those work really well right now. But also, like, seeing what's working for other people. Like, go scroll your reels tab and see, like, what type of hook is working for other people. And this is where following people that are not in your niche is super helpful because you can see kind of an outline of a hook. You can take that and you can turn it into your own, using your information, using your business, and kind of like what you want to talk about. A great way to do that. Right now, I think Instagram has a new feature where I think most people have it now. You can go to your professional dashboard and you can. There's like a tab that says inspiration, and you can see reels that are doing really well and that are performing well. And you're able to see, okay, why did this hook work? Like, what piqued my curiosity? Why did I watch this entire video and then kind of put your own spin on it? So that's another great way to come up with hooks. And honestly, when you have one that works, use it in multiple ways. So I like to test my. Not my hooks necessarily, but, like, my content ideas on threads first and then pull it over to Instagram. And sometimes I'll do vice versa. Like, sometimes if something works really well on Instagram, like a hook that I use, I'll use it over on threads. And then also if a hook does really well, use it multiple times. I have a tried and true hook that I have used multiple times, and it performs really well for sales every single time I use it. So when you see something working, use it again in different ways. Like, use the same hook, but update the video. Use the same hook, and then update the caption. Like, you can always be kind of repurposing these hooks that you're using once you know that they work. Next question. How important is fancy editing? Text transitions, audio effects for conversions? I don't think that it's super important. Obviously, there are certain niches where fancier editing might be better for you, but honestly, for me, I think it's more about, like, the quality of the video. Like, people don't want to be watching super grainy videos. So if you can get, like, a little light or you can film by a window, I think that's super helpful. More so than worrying about, like, the transitions and the fancy text is making sure that they can read it. Like, that's super important. There are some texts that people use where I'm like, I cannot read this, and making sure that the content is actually good. Because fancy transitions or text or audio effects, all these things, they can't fix bad content, right? So first and foremost, I wouldn't worry about that. First, I would first worry about, is your content good? Is it relatable? Do people watch your reel and say, oh, my gosh, that's me? So I'd say that would be your first focus. Go look at my content. It is never super fancy. Like, I'll do some transition reels on the day that I get my hair done. That's about all I do, right? Because it's fun. I get my hair done, it's all curled and nice and I'll just take a quick video before find a transition spot. I usually do it in my car. Like I'll get in my car with my hair dirty and gross and then I'll set my camera somewhere that I know I can set it exactly there in the same spot again. I'll get out of the car and then I'll come back and sit down and my hair will be done right. So that's a fun one. But I'd say more so than like worrying about editing for conversions, worrying about your messaging and what you're saying for conversions. Next question. What focus on when talking about your product and your stories. When you are doing a wait list and you have no reviews yet. So just a quick reminder too, before we dive into this answer. Everybody out there who has reviews now started off without reviews. And I think the biggest thing in the beginning is connection by sharing your story and how you've done something. So that's kind of what I have always leaned into heavily, is kind of my journey with what I'm teaching and how I got from here point A to point B and things I learned along the way and sharing that and then really hyping up when you do get people signing up for it. That is one of the reasons that having a waitlist when it's your first product, I think it can work, but I prefer to do it as like my second and third product. When you already have some, you know, reviews in, you already have people saying how much they love working with you and those types of things. But a few things like I said, or that you can lean into when you are trying to sell something before you have reviews for it is your journey with it and really calling out your ideal audience and letting them see themselves in your story a little bit. So I think that's super important in the beginning because it is. It is harder to sell things when you don't have reviews. I'm not going to lie, it is harder. But just know that you only got to do that once, right? Because as soon as you start selling, you can start asking for reviews. You can start asking people how it's going and then you'll be able to get those kind of coming into you. Next question. Do you know which posts will bring in sales before you post them. If so, how? Okay, so technically there's no sure fire way to know if something is going to make sales. Usually I can tell when something is going to bring in sales. Right. Like there's certain pieces of content that I know are super kind of triggering in a good way to convert people. Right. And that has come with time. That has come with time, trial and error, seeing what my audience kind of know, what my audience connects with and what I know will work. So in the beginning you're probably not going to know exactly what is going to convert and that's, that's totally okay and normal. Like in the beginning you are learning, you are learning what works, you are learning what resonates with your audience and that's totally normal. So in the beginning I will say I didn't know, but now I have certain pieces of content where I know that if I present the problem that my ideal audience is having and then I present my digital product as the solution to that, I know I'm going to make sales from that. Right. So it comes with time and kind of learning your audience and trying things and seeing what works and what doesn't work. What's the tool you use to be able to put your phone on any surface to film? I can't find the name. It's called a flip stick and I will actually link that in the show notes for you guys. I have multiple other things as well. So I have a flip stick for when I'm filming, like on a window. I have a tripod from Amazon that's not super expensive. I love it. Super easy to use. I also have a loopy phone case that I love so much. It helps with like handheld videos where I'm like talking to the camera. So those are kind of the tools that I use. But yes, it's called a flip stick. How to sell Create content that sells if your offer is mid range, say 400 to 500. So honestly, it's the same way I would sell a low ticket digital product, but with higher ticket you kind of have a longer Runway. You need more time to nurture people. So if I was selling something a little higher, which I have totally sold these priced items doing the exact same thing that I do with low ticket. Right. But I would probably do a little bit more nurturing if I was selling something a little bit higher. Because you do kind of need to nurture and connect people a little bit more with higher ticket. But honestly it's, it's the exact same for me as if I was selling Something low ticket, right. I will say with higher tickets, sometimes you need a little bit more in between time to where you're sending them to a freebie and then the freebie puts them in an equal email sequence that sells the product. But I've also sold things that are that price range without doing that. I will say it's probably easier to sell that price range in stories than it is in real. So if you have your reels pointing to your freebie, that gets them on an email list that can then sell the product and then you sell a little bit more in your stories. For these higher ticket things where your, you know, your ride or dies are watching your stories, they most likely trust you more than people that just found you from a reel. So if you are selling something a little bit higher ticket, that's not a no brainer. Pricing, right? 400 to 500, that takes a little bit more thinking for people. I'd probably try and sell that more in my stories than in my reels. Okay, last question is, I don't even know where to start. And I feel like this is, this is a question that I had in the beginning as well. And for me it literally took just diving in headfirst and start posting. Like, you will learn so much more from posting and analyzing what you post and why it worked or why it didn't work than you will from buying another course or buying another resource or watching a YouTube video. All. Are all those things like super helpful sometimes and absolutely necessary at times? I think so, yes. But I think the best thing to do is to just start, start posting content about something that you love, that you think you could talk about and that you think you want to sell a digital product on. See what hits, what doesn't hit. Look at your analytics, see what people are, you know, connecting with or not connecting with. Right? Like you will learn so much more from just getting off the sidelines and doing something. You guys, when I first started, so I got my start on TikTok first and then I came over to Instagram and when I first started on TikTok, my very first video, I was so scared. I was so scared that I was too old to post on TikTok. I was scared that I didn't know what I was doing. I was scared I was going to look like an idiot. Like I was, I was terrified. So my first video, I had seen someone say on TikTok, like, hey, movement is really good in videos. And you want to know what I did? I literally held pencils. My daughter's coloring pencils in my hand and, like, moved them around in my hand for movement in the video. Like, it was such a bad idea. I didn't know what I was doing. But the pressure that, like, released when I just started posting and I was okay being bad at something before I was good at it. Like, it's. It will be so much more helpful than just sitting around and feeling stuck. Right? So, like I said, just start. Just start posting, See what works, see what doesn't work. Don't read too much into it in the beginning. Your analytics probably aren't going to be great. Mine weren't. Scroll back to the beginning of this Instagram. Like, my reels didn't do super great. I didn't know exactly who I was talking to. But the way I got to where I am now is by posting, is by trying things, is by trial and error and testing, seeing what works, what doesn't work. That. That's. That's how I got to where I am today. Right? So just start posting. Okay. I know I said at the beginning of this episode that I had something exciting to share. And first of all, I just want to say thank you. Because none of this could have happened without you. My incredible, amazing, loyal kind. Which is why I wanted to share this with you in the first place. Now, before I share this big milestone that my business hit, I want to remind you that my results are mine alone. I love sharing wins with you guys and hearing your wins in my DMs. And I think as business owners, it's important to share our wins and show people what's possible in ethical ways. That being said, last week, my business officially hit 2 million in lifetime revenue since starting in the summer of 2022. And it almost doesn't feel real because these past five months specifically have been extremely hard for me mentally. And hitting this milestone was the evidence that my brain needed to prove to myself that even when things get rough, I can do anything I set my mind to. And that's exactly what I want to leave with you today. If you are working towards a goal and it's taking you longer than you wanted to get there, because you are doing it ethically. And so prioritizing your mental health, your family, whatever is important to you, that's okay. And that's. That's honestly exactly how you build a sustainable business, that's going to last. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. If you learned anything from this episode, I would love it if you could share it over on your instagram stories and tag megalepugh. Until next time. Love you, mean it.