34. How Alice Grew Her Faceless Instagram to 300k followers in Less Than a Year w/ @smallstepstoddlers

Summary

Episode 34: How Alice Grew Her Faceless Instagram to 300k Followers in Less Than a Year

Podcast: The Abigail Peugh Podcast
Host: Abigail Peugh
Guest: Alice from @smallstepstoddlers
Release Date: December 3, 2024

---

Introduction

In Episode 34 of The Abigail Peugh Podcast, host Abigail Peugh welcomes Alice, the creative mind behind @smallstepstoddlers, a thriving Instagram account dedicated to providing minimal-effort activities for toddlers. What sets Alice apart is her remarkable achievement of growing her account to over 300,000 followers in less than a year—all without showing her face. This episode delves into Alice's journey, the strategies she employed, the challenges she faced, and the insights she gained along the way.

---

Alice’s Journey: From Idea to Instagram Success

Alice began her Instagram journey in January of the current year, inspired by her desire to reduce her toddlers' reliance on screen time. Her account, Small Steps Toddlers, focuses on creating low-cost, simple activities using everyday household items to engage toddlers.

Alice [06:10]: "It's parenting. It's helping toddler parents."

Unlike the common narrative that emphasizes showcasing one's face on social media, Alice opted for a faceless marketing approach. This decision was rooted in her preference for privacy and the practicalities of balancing content creation with motherhood.

She launched her account swiftly, committing to posting a reel every day for 30 days. The initial phase was slow, with only about 100 followers after two weeks, which Alice found encouraging. However, the true breakthrough came in weeks three and four when a single reel propelled her follower count by 5,000 overnight.

Alice [07:31]: "If I was in a room of 100 people, that's a lot of people. So I was like, okay, 100 people is okay."

---

Strategic Consistency and Content Creation

Alice's strategy centered around consistency and providing valuable content tailored to her niche. She maintained a daily posting schedule, primarily using reels to showcase activities. Her content mix included:

• Daily Activity Reels: Demonstrating activities that parents can easily replicate with minimal materials.
• Relatable Parenting Insights: Sharing the challenges and triumphs of toddler parenting to foster a connection with her audience.

Her approach highlighted the importance of consistent content delivery and knowing your audience. Alice also experimented with different content types, such as carousels, which unexpectedly led to higher engagement and conversions.

Alice [23:48]: "If I'm doing say two sales call to actions a week, definitely one of those is off the back of the carousel."

---

Overcoming Challenges: Plateau and Follower Loss

Despite rapid growth, Alice encountered periods where her follower count plateaued or even declined. She identified that excessive sales-oriented posts might have contributed to this stagnation. To counteract this, Alice adjusted her posting strategy by reducing sales calls to two per week, focusing more on nurturing her audience with valuable content.

Alice [16:06]: "The growth from my page is not normal. And I knew that, but it was also what I'd experienced."

This pivot not only stabilized her follower growth but also maintained consistent sales, demonstrating the delicate balance between promotion and value provision.

---

Innovative Engagement: The Junk Drawer Challenge

To foster community engagement and generate fresh content, Alice introduced the Junk Drawer Challenge:

1. Weekly Stories Prompt: Every Tuesday night, Alice invites her followers to share the first item they find in their junk drawer.
2. Content Creation: On Wednesday, she selects the top submissions to create new toddler activities.

This interactive approach not only kept her content dynamic but also built a sense of community among her followers.

Alice [25:38]: "It's really good to be able to use my followers and my audience to help generate that content with me."

---

Faceless Marketing: Balancing Privacy and Personality

Alice's decision to remain faceless posed unique challenges, particularly in forming a personal connection with her audience. However, she leveraged humor and relatable parenting anecdotes to infuse personality into her content without revealing her identity.

Alice [20:28]: "I share a little bit of my life and probably more so just relatable things about toddler parenting."

She experimented with voiceovers to add a personal touch, though she found it daunting and opted to keep them minimal.

Alice [22:30]: "It's still not something I enjoy doing, but I'm probably going to continue to do maybe once a month here on in."

---

Leveraging Community Resources

Alice found immense value in participating in Abigail's Rich Girl Community, a monthly subscription platform offering social media prompts, trending audios, and guest speaker content. Although she identified herself as a "silent lurker," she utilized key resources like social media prompts and trending audios to overcome creative blocks and enhance her content strategy.

Alice [31:07]: "I'm a silent lurker on your community. I feel like I'm always there, but I do only use probably a few parts of it and then the parts that bring the most value for me."

---

Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

When asked to provide advice to those starting from scratch, Alice emphasized the importance of:

• Choosing a Sustainable Niche: Select a niche aligned with your daily routine to ensure consistency.
• Ease of Content Creation: Opt for content types that are quick and effortless to produce to prevent burnout.
• Consistency Over Perfection: Focus on showing up regularly rather than perfecting each piece of content.

Alice [34:57]: "Have it be something that you are doing every day, something that comes really easily to you... something that you can stay consistent with."

---

Conclusion

Alice's journey with @smallstepstoddlers serves as an inspiring testament to the power of consistent, value-driven content and the potential of faceless marketing in the digital age. Her experience underscores the importance of adaptability, community engagement, and maintaining a sustainable content strategy. For moms seeking engaging activities for their toddlers or aspiring entrepreneurs looking to build a successful online presence, Alice's insights offer valuable guidance and motivation.

---

Connect with Alice:

• Instagram: @smallstepstoddlers
• Threads: @smallstepstoddlers
• TikTok: @smallstepstoddlers
• Digital Products: From Junk Drawer to Joy and Fine Play in the Everyday available on Stan Store.
• Upcoming Product: New product releasing in the new year.

---

Join the Discussion:

If you found Alice's story inspiring, consider joining Abigail's Rich Girl Community for more resources and support in building your online business. Links and details are available in the show notes.

---

Thank you for tuning into Episode 34 of The Abigail Peugh Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it on your Instagram stories and tag @Igalpugh. Until next time, keep building a business that supports your life!

Transcript

[A]

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. We are back with another student episode this week, but this one is different. Today's student has grown to over 3, 300,000 followers on Instagram, all without showing her face. And while I'm not normally a fan of faceless marketing or faceless Instagram accounts, Alice has done it in probably the only way that I would ever recommend. So Alice, welcome to the show.

[B]

Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here and yeah, super excited just to have a chat about, I guess, all things to do with my account and how I've been able to do it. Yeah, without showing my face.

[A]

Dude. I get so many questions about faceless marketing and I feel like what a lot of people see is the faceless marketing that's teaching people how to faceless market. Right. And I'm not a fan of those. Like, I love seeing people's faces, but I do understand that some people, they don't want to show their face or maybe they can't show their face. So I think your story is super unique because her niche has nothing to do with faceless marketing, like at all. So I would love to kind of hear a little bit about what it is that you do on your account and then how you got started with digital products and starting this account, I guess.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. So the account, small Steps Toddlers is essentially about minimum effort, minimal mess activities you can create for your toddlers using stuff that you've got at home. So everyday items, things that might be sitting in your junk drawer, things that might be sitting in your pantry. Just really low cost, simple items that you can use to create fun to entertain your toddlers. So this was something I guess I'd started doing towards the back end of last year and I didn't really think anything of it. So I was.

[A]

You started this Instagram account last year?

[B]

I started this Instagram account in January of this year.

[A]

Oh my gosh. That's crazy.

[B]

So it is wild and it's so wild to talk about because I still feel like I'm learning. All of this seems so completely new to me. I feel like I'm making mistakes every day. I feel like I'm second guessing myself every day because it is. Woo. Okay. It makes me feel better that that's so normal.

[A]

Oh, yeah. It never goes away.

[B]

It's just still so fresh. So I really feel like I'm still learning. But then probably most excitingly for me, everything I've achieved so far this year, I still feel like I'm only getting started. So I feel like the opportunity for growth and the opportunity to continue to do great things is like really exciting for me.

[A]

Oh my gosh. Absolutely. Okay, so you started dabbling in the actual activities last year?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Is that right? How old are your kids?

[B]

So my eldest daughter has just turned four and my youngest is one, so she's going to be two next year. So still pretty young. They are a handful. They keep me on my toes a lot. And that was pretty much the exact reason I started doing these activities with them, because we had become pretty dependent on screen time as I adjusted from one to two kids. And as a result of that, we got into some habits that I knew weren't long lasting. Like, I didn't want them to stick around forever. And I knew I had to do something to change those. So I was like, okay, what can we do to improve these habits? What can we do to gradually reduce screen time? I'm definitely not anti screen time. My girls still watch screens probably most days, to be honest, But I knew I wanted to reduce it specifically in the morning. So I started experimenting with these little activities. Things that took like literally a few minutes to set up something I could set up in the night before they could wake up to in the morning. And we had seen like huge success with that, so they had started to play better. I was getting more time in my day as a result, but I hadn't thought about it other than the fact that these activities were working really well for my family.

[A]

Yeah. So you didn't go into solving this problem thinking, how am I going to create a digital product out of this? You solved the problem and then thought, hmm, I should turn this into A digital product.

[B]

Yeah, well, exactly. And so I had started following your account last year, and I'd seen digital products and I'd seen your account, and it was something that I'd seen. And I was like, I can do this. I know that I can do this. But what is my product? What is my niche? What is the thing that I am doing? So I'd been returning to go back to work. So I'd taken a year off after the birth of my second daughter, and I was going to be returning back to work three days a week. So as a result of that, that was obviously going to come with a pretty big hit to the family budget and what we'd been used to earning. So I was like, what's a side hustle? I can do? What is something that I can do to generate a little bit more income without taking up a lot of my time? Because I guess the who purpose of going back to work three days was to be able to have more time with my girls. So this was kind of like another conversation that was going around, around in my head. And I was like, okay, I want a side hustle. I think I can do digital products. But I had literally no idea what that digital product, what the niche was going to be. And it wasn't until it was probably the start. I was mid January of this year and I was playing outside with my eldest daughter and we'd like frozen some toys the night before. I think it was actually like an Elsa doll that we'd frozen and we were playing outside, like releasing this doll. And I just had this moment and I was like, this is it. Oh, my gosh.

[A]

This.

[B]

This is it. It's the activities. It's parenting. It's helping toddler parents. And that same night I went home and I basically, within five minutes, I was like, small steps, toddlers. Things just started coming to me really easily and quickly. And it was as a result of that. I'm like, okay, this just feels right. So, yeah, so basically launched the account literally that night, that same day that I'd had the idea.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. You don't skip a beat. I love it. You don't waste a minute.

[B]

Because I know if I skip, if I, like, if I hesitated, if I started second guessing myself, I knew I was never going to do it. So I'm like, I just have to do this. And so I launched the account and I was like, let's just post a reel every single day for 30 days and see what happens. And I'm like, I'm just going to stick to this, and let's just see what happens. And so every single day, I was posting a reel. And for the first two weeks, it literally felt like I was posting to nobody. And I was like, hyping myself up. I'm like, okay, let's do this. Let's just stick at it. And I was like, I just have to stick at this. After two weeks, I think I had about 100 followers. And I was like, okay, Better than nothing. Like a hundred.

[A]

Yep. And anyone listening? Totally normal. Totally normal not to blow up in the first two weeks.

[B]

And that's it. And I think that's what I was like, 100 people is still 100 people, right? And if I was in a room of 100 people, that's a lot of people. If I was speaking in front of 100 people in person, I would be very, very nervous. Let's just say that. So I was like, okay, this is okay. 100 people is okay. Let's just stick out this and see what happens. And it wasn't until weeks three and four that things started really, really, really moving quickly. I think after week three or four, there was one night I woke up and I'd gotten 5,000 followers overnight off the back of one reel. And I was like, what?

[A]

It's scary to grow that fast. It's literally like, we want it. We're like, I want growth. I want growth. I want a video to go viral and take off, and then it does and I freeze. Like, when my videos. Even to this day, if something goes viral, like, I'm frozen and I'm like, what do I do? Like, it' kind of terrifying. And I feel like everybody wants it, but nobody knows how to handle it.

[B]

And I'm still the same. Even like last week, a post went really, really well. And you look at the comments and it gets to a point where I actually need to stop looking at the comments because obviously, the more it goes out, the more opinion you're going to get. And not all of that is going to agree with your opinion. So it gets to a point where once a post starts doing really well, I actually stop looking at the comments because my anxiety is like, yeah, I can't deal with that. And it's also probably a big part of why I wanted to be a faceless account as well, because this was something. When I was coming up with the idea of the account, not only did I want it to be something I could do in minimal time, something I could do from home, something that still gave me Time to be with my girls. But I didn't want to, like, I didn't want the idea to be something where I had to show up every day and be in front of the camera. I think inherently I'm. I wouldn't say shy, but I like my privacy. And I think that was a big part of sort of why I took a little while to even find an idea to begin with, because it was so specific that it had to be something where I didn't want to show my face either.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But. Yeah, so that's sort of where we're at.

[A]

Do you remember that first reel where you, like, woke up to 5,000 followers? Do you remember what that reel was about or anything about that reel?

[B]

I can't even remember what it was about, to be honest. I posted like a series of, like, it was activities every single day.

[A]

Okay. So the same type of post every single day. Right. So people knew what to expect.

[B]

That's right. And I think that's what I wanted to be really consistent. So I was just posting activities every single day and then sort of interchange with things about, I guess, wanting to free up time or something that would appeal to the toddler parent. So it was activities, but also posting about why you should be doing these activities. And then so stuck at that. After the first four weeks, I think I'd gotten to 20,000 followers.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. And anyone listening, that's not common. This is. This is not an average result at all. And I talk about this all the time. Like, this is an outlier, right? Like, this is not common. This didn't even happen for. Like, this didn't happen for me. This doesn't happen to. For a lot of my students. This is something that. This is a very much so a really cool thing when it happens. But if it's not happening for you, there's nothing wrong with you. Literally. This is very. This is like a wild story.

[B]

It's. And I still pinch myself every day. And it feels strange talking about it, to be honest. And I haven't even spoken in detail to many people about it. Even when starting the account. I only told my husband because I was like, if this doesn't work out, if nothing. Like, if nothing happens from it, I can just delete the account. Nobody needs to know. I can just slink away into oblivion and just kind of wallow in my failure. But it was like, no big deal. So it wasn't, I think, until after that first month where I started being like, hi, everyone. I've been working on this little thing, this has happened still. At that point, I hadn't even told my work, but it was sort of after that month or that full five week period that I realized, okay, this has sort of got the momentum where I think I could release my first digital product. So I worked really quickly to kind of get that guide together, which is called Fine Play in the Everyday. And it's a. I guess it's an activity guide with 40 minimum effort activities you can create for your toddlers. But I knew I wanted to get that ready in time for March because that's when I'd signed up for your Rich Girl Reels challenge. And I wanted to go really heavy on the marketing of that digital product. So I kind of scrambled to make sure I everything in time for that.

[A]

So how did, how did it go Rich Girl Reels with having a product? It's funny, a lot of people signed up for Rich Girl Reels before having a product. And I tell them too, like, it's much better if you have a product because it's so much easier to market and to create content when you have an end goal. And I feel like I say this all the time, but like, it's hard to grow and talk about something if you don't have somewhere to like send people to. Right? Like people want an end goal. And so having a digital product makes creating content so much easier, in my opinion.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. And it was just really nice to have that tangible item to be able to talk to and also just to learn as a learning process to be able to go really hard on that. It's the first time I was selling a digital product. I'm not a marketer, so selling is not something that necessarily comes that strongly to me. So it was a real learning curve, but it was the point and the transformation where I was like, okay, I can monetize this. This is a digital product that costs US$1199. It was so low ticket, super low ticket, super low ticket. And off the back of that, I think after the 30 day period, I had made enough that was not, it was not the same as the salary I was earning, but it was enough for me to be like, okay, we're in month three of me even thinking about this, I guess this page, this product since launching. And I was like, okay, this is something I've been able to do part time. This is something I've been able to do often. 1199 product. And I was like, if I can put the time and effort that I was putting into my work into this that I knew I could really get it to where I needed to be. So that was sort of the turning point in my mind. And sort of the wheel started churning. Like, I think I need to make the decision to leave my role, which was a huge decision, but it was something that I knew had to happen. I did sit on it for probably another couple of months and it wasn't until my husband that was like, you've just got to dive fully into this to really make something of it that I did make the decision to finish up and it was huge. So I was working in a corporate role. I was an account director for a creative agency. So very client facing a job I'd worked at for 13 years. So really rewarding, really fun. It was in a really fun industry with some amazing people, but it was also an industry that wasn't necessarily that family friendly. And sort of when I started the role versus where I was now in my life were just totally different places. Yeah. So it was sort of time to make that decision. So, yeah, finished up and kind of threw myself into this full time. Which sort of coincided with the release of my second digital product, which was another activity guide called From Junk Draw to Joy, which was a higher ticket item. Still low cost. Like, it's 2999, so still not huge.

[A]

Is that American?

[B]

That's American dollars. So that's 2999.

[A]

She knows my audience is American.

[B]

That's it. Well, it's American, but also my audience on Instagram, I think like 30% is American. So I thought it made sense to just sort of list the currency. Given it's a digital product online, it sort of made sense to list it where the majority was from.

[A]

True.

[B]

Yeah. Kind of. Here I am, full steam ahead, jumping all the way into it.

[A]

That's amazing.

[B]

It's been incredible. So, yeah, it's been a wild ride, but super excited to be where I.

[A]

That's amazing. It's just. It's crazy that 10 years ago something like this wasn't an option. And the fact that we can leave careers that even careers that we loved. Right. Like, my last job wasn't the best job, but I loved my actual career. And the fact that we have an option to do something at home with our kids, with something that you literally don't even have to show your face to do is just. It feels. It feels incredible. It feels like a dream come true. But I'd love to hear if you had something go wrong along the way. I know that a lot of the time from the outside, it looks like, wow. In, you know, less than a year, she built a 300k, like a 300k following on Instagram. She quit her job. But what are some bumps along the road? Because those happen, y'all.

[B]

Yeah, definitely. I think every week that goes by is a learning curve. I think I am still figuring out Instagram. I have also launched on TikTok and I'm on threads now as well, which I'm still. I don't know what I'm doing, but we're figuring it out along the way, but I think it's just evolving. So as you've called out, the growth from my page is not normal. And I knew that, but it was also what I'd experienced. I was like, okay, wow, great. So I can do this. I can grow really quickly. And then it got to a point where the account was sort of plateauing and I was doing everything the same that I was doing, but I was like not growing. There was actually probably two or three week period where I started losing followers quite significantly. And I didn't really know what I was doing wrong because in my head I was sort of doing the same thing that I had been doing and I was looking at all sorts of different things and knew I needed to change something, but didn't quite know exactly what it was. So I looked pretty extensively into my posts and what I had been doing and how things have been tracking. And I thought if I just sort of take a step back from the sales element and just focus on sort of nurturing that audience and just giving them value in the posts, which I think I do already, like, I do share a lot of free content on the account and a lot of activities, but just to take a step back from the sales of my guide a little bit. So rather than maybe four or five posts with a sales call to action every week, I pulled that back to about two and I started really having very fast growth again in the followers. And the funny thing was I didn't even notice a huge drop in sales. So sales kind of maintained consistently off the back of that, but followers continued to grow. But I think just things like that, it's just trial and error, I think, and just looking at sort of what's working, what's not working, what needs to change. And I think probably just having a mindset to know to not get complacent, to not get comfortable. I know that I'm very fortunate to have had the growth that I've had. I know that things are going to continue to Change. And it's just being able to pivot with that and learn with that and sort of see what I need to do to continue to fix and evolve and grow with that.

[A]

That's such a good point. There's like always things that change with your business. Like, there's never a point where you get to a place in your business that you can just sit and coast. Like, it just, it doesn't exist. And yes, there are easier times, right? There are definitely, like ebbs and flows and there's certain times that it feels really easy. But I kind of had the same thing earlier this year where I feel like I hit this plateau and then I started losing followers and I did the exact same thing. That's so funny. I started posting more, not even more. You know, I don't want to say value, it is valuable, but I started posting more humor and I noticed everything kind of staying the same. My sales staying the same, but my followers started going up again, right. And it was just changing my content up in a way where it wasn't even that big of a shift, but it was just like, okay, what if I add more of my personality in which I love to be funny, I love to joke. Like, it's very big part of my personality. And so I've started adding in like once a week, more humorous types of reels. And almost immediately I saw a change in my followers going up and I was still gaining the amount of the same amount of followers every day. But before I was like losing more than I was gaining, which is not fun. It's kind of terrifying, actually. You start panicking, like, what am I doing wrong? But I love that you kind of just switch things up because I do feel like the sales, really, the sales posts, like where you have a call to action with manychat or something like that, those really compound. And once you've built a bigger audience and you, you know, you're not growing as fast and maybe you're nurturing more. I do feel like you can sell a little bit less and still maintain those sales just because your content is compounding. Right. Like, you have so much backlog that people are still seeing now. So I think that goes along a long way. But I'd love to talk a little bit about your experience with being faceless. Kind of how much of your personality you show, how much you know, you share personal wise, like, what do you share? I'd love to kind of hear that. Yeah.

[B]

So definitely. I guess the backbone of my content is based around the activities, but I Do like to share those in a little bit of a humorous way. I think humor is really key, as you've called out, especially at a time now where people need a laugh, they need a little bit of light in their lives. And even just parenting in general, as, you know, like, it can be tough, it can be demanding, and I don't want to be telling people how they need to do things. I want to just sort of share what's worked for me in a fun, lightweight way that might help them. I hope it helps them, but if it doesn't, like, it's no big deal. So the content I share is definitely based around the activities I do share a little bit of my life and probably more so just relatable things about toddler parenting. They are full on. They are an absolute handful. And I think the feedback that I've gotten from other toddler parents is everyone's going through the same thing, so sort of leaning into that a little bit, sharing a little bit of that without showing my face. And it has been a challenge. And there's been moments every week, probably. I do think about it and I'm like, oh, like, would I be able to take this to the next level if I do show my face? Because I know that sort of relatability and people being able to identify with the person that they're consuming their content, I'm sure things would convert more. I'm sure things would sort of get to another level. But at the same time, I need to look at what my priorities are, the content that I'm delivering and how I can do that easily. And for me, it's really easy to not show my face. Like it's content I can churn out really quickly. I don't have to think about it too much. It's activities that I'm doing with my girls already. So in terms of planning content, it's really just taking a few seconds to take a quick shot of something I'm already doing with my girls and then using that in content moving forward. I only did my first voiceover a couple of months ago and it was, oh, my gosh, terrifying thing that I have ever done. And I can't listen back. I can't listen back to it because I just, like, it's so scary. I've done probably about five voiceovers so far in total. And it's been interesting seeing that because I think the feedback to those have been okay. I think they're not necessarily going to convert in the same way that other content might, but just getting Feedback and probably more connection with some of my followers off the back of that has been really valuable. It's still not something I enjoy doing, but I'm probably going to continue to do maybe once a month here on in. But even that conversation, like just talking about how scared I am doing voiceovers, it's like telling myself, I'm like, I'm not ready to show my face on this account yet. I'm just going to keep doing what we're doing.

[A]

Yeah. And I mean, you've proven that it works, so I don't feel like you have to. Right. I do feel like we always have this idea in our head that doing something differently means the grass is greener on the other side and it's just not true. So I think what you have going is amazing and it's just proof you already have the proof that it works. So something else I would love to ask is, do you have a style of content that usually converts the best for you? So a carousel, a certain type of reel, Is there one style that converts better for you?

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's. This has been a really interesting learning along the way because at the start when I said, I'm like, cool, I'm going to do 30 reels, I'm going to do a reel every day for 30 days, carousels didn't even cross my mind. In my head, carousels were kind of like old Instagram. I knew that everyone was all about reel. So that's all I thought about. And probably for the first three or four months even, I don't think I even I definitely didn't post a carousel. I don't think I even thought about a carousel. And then I started posting carousels and the conversion off the back of that, the response to those has been absolutely wild. And so that's now sort of what I've been using. If I'm doing say two sales call to actions a week, definitely one of those is off the back of the carousel. So that's been really interesting. But I think for the most part it's definitely just, yeah. Reels every day, mixing with probably one carousel a week. And then just stories. And even the stories I try to keep quite minimal. I do one. So I do a, I guess a challenge every week, which is called the junk drawer challenge. And so every Tuesday night I'll sort of do a story and ask people to open their junk drawer, tell me the first item that they see, and then the next day, today, Wednesday, this is what I'm doing this afternoon. With my daughters is I'll choose three of the top items that people have submitted in the questions, and then I'll use those items to create a minimum effort toddler activity. And that's been amazing because it's been able to, I guess, build some consistency in the content that I'm sharing. It's something for people to come back to every week. But it's also been really helpful for me to continue to think of new ideas and then use the content that I create off the back of the challenge, then gives me heaps of content to use for the following week.

[A]

It's literally genius.

[B]

It's been really good. And it's been really good to be able to, I guess, use my followers and my audience to help generate that content with me. So it's been fun. It's also been a good way to stick to a really consistent schedule and generate consistent content through stories.

[A]

That's amazing. What are your story views like for that day? I feel like that probably makes them insane.

[B]

It's really different. And I have noticed, and this is again, something I've been experimenting with and noticing because again, probably the same time that I started losing followers, I noticed, like, a massive drop in story views. And you're like, oh, people don't care anymore. I'm gonna have to think of something new, like what's happening. But then I thought, no, let's just again start experimenting, see what works. So I'd make sure that I'd always let my stories reset before posting the next sequence. And so I definitely now always do that before the junk draw challenge every week. And that's really helped pick things up again. So if I'm doing that, story views have been. It's really different every week.

[A]

Can you pull up an example?

[B]

Pick it up now and see, because that's live now. Yeah, well, we're live now on the story from yesterday, so let's have a look. So we're at 10,000 views from the story I posted last night, I think the week before. Okay, so this was a couple of weeks ago. So this, again, just shows the difference. Like, every week can be different. So the post, the story I posted yesterday for the junk draw challenge is at 10,000 views. And then the one I posted two weeks ago is just shy of 40,000. So it's a big jump. I definitely noticed. Sort of letting things reset has a big impact on that. And also I think just depends on what's going on in the world, what's happening? Like, it can really have a big, like, A big difference on the results.

[A]

Oh, absolutely. And I love what you said about what's going on in the world. I feel like people sometimes forget, like, what's happening in the world and how that affects users and things like that. But one thing I want to talk about is this idea of having a story series. And I actually just started doing it as well where like every Friday I'm going to break down one of my students reels and talk about like, why I think it went viral and just have something for people to look forward to. And eventually I'm going to let people submit them too, which I thought would be really fun to like pull from other people too. But just thinking of stories, it's. It's so smart, you guys, to think of something that you can do every week that people are like excited to come back for, because essentially with stories, you want them kind of thinking of you on that day. Like, hey, oh, are they. Is she doing the junk drawer challenge today? Right. And it's just an. An easy content idea to have something that you can literally repeat every single week. So I love that. That's so genius. And I'm like trying to come up with more ways to do series and things like that. But I would also love to hear a little bit about your favorite style of content to create. I know for me, I. I definitely have favorites. And right now, like you said, carousels are they. I feel like they've had a revival and especially now that carousels. So if your carousel has audio, it's also getting pushed out to the reels tab and like the reels feed, which is really fascinating to me. So essentially you're able to like push it out on two separate algorithms, I guess. I don't even know how to say that. Um, but right now I'm jamming on carousels with audio. I think that they are. It's so much fun to create them and to not have to create video content. But what is kind of your. I feel like we all have like a favorite, safe type of content that we like to create. What is yours?

[B]

I think definitely just by the nature of what I'm doing and the content I'm sharing, it's just being able to deliver reels that are really quick to edit. For me, I think having two kids and a real lack of time as a result of that, my favorite content is just the content that I can share without even needing to think so hard. So it's sort of taking a quick shot of perhaps the items that I'm using before I create the activities and then the end product, which is my kids playing with the activity. So that for me is kind of like my bread and butter. The stuff I know I can deliver really easily and quickly. But I think for me, there's also moments where I just. It's like, what's the hook? What's the thing that's going to capture people's attention? Because it's not just the activities, but it's the hook. It's the caption, it's everything that comes a part of that. That's where also being a part of your community online has been a huge help for me because there are days, there are weeks where I'm like, my brain just doesn't feel like it's working. I'm doing the activities, but what can I do to kind of, what's the hook? What's the call to action? There's just times where my brain cannot think of anything. So being able to refer back to the social media prompts and just have that guidance has been a huge, huge value for me.

[A]

Okay. Speaking of my community, which. Thank you for bringing that up. You're so sweet. I feel like I never ask people, like, what's your favorite part about being in the community? Which I feel like you maybe just gave your answer right there. I love my community. So it's called Rich Girl Community. It's a monthly subscription. Basically. I wanted to create a space for people that if their goal was to make daily digital product sales using Instagram, this was the place to be. So I'd kind of love to hear what you love about the community.

[B]

Yeah, I feel. Can I be so honest? I feel like a silent lurker on your community. I feel like I'm always there, but I. I feel like I do only use probably a few parts of it and then the parts that bring the most value for me. And definitely the social media prompts are by far really, really helpful for me. In addition, just like, to the additional weekly trending audio. So those are things where, again, where I'm having creative block. Sometimes I just look at an audio and hear a beat drop and I'm like, oh, yes, I can use it in that way. Like, that's sometimes just the reminder that I need or the prompt that I need to be able to churn out some content. And then also obviously having access to the guest speakers and the content that provide off the back of that, there's been some incredible templates. I haven't joined a live training. I haven't joined a live Q and A. I think the time zone works against me on that one. So there's a lot that I'm not utilizing. But even. Even saying that there's so much that I am that's giving me so much helpful resources off the back of it.

[A]

That makes me so happy, I feel like that's exactly what I intended it. So I didn't necessarily. The way I created my community is not for every single person to take advantage of every single thing. And there are plenty of people that do. There are people, especially people who are new to business, and they're trying to figure out what they're doing. They show up to every Q and A call. They're every single week, every Monday. They show up to every guest training live. They post on the feed every single day. They use all the social media prompts. But when I created it, and the price point that I created it at it is lower ticket every single month was with this in mind, like, I really wanted people that only needed one thing to feel like, okay, what I pay for this every month, that one thing is totally worth it. But to be able to take advantage of the other thing when they needed to, right? So, like, if you ever needed to, like, pop into a Q and A or ask a technical question, like, I'm there for you, but it's not necessarily what you need all the time. So hearing that feedback makes me so happy because this is something I. I kind of sat on for over a year because I knew I wanted to do it, but I wanted it to be perfect, which I know you should never wait for something to be perfect to get it out there into the world. But I didn't take it lightly. So if you guys heard all that and you want to join, I will drop the link to join Rich girl community down in the show. Notes, notes below. You can join us there today and come to the next Q and A on Mondays there every Monday at 12. I love him. And it's funny that you say that you're a lurker, because I didn't even know she was in the community because I never see her name. Like, I know people who are in my community because I see their names pop up, right? And I don't get notifications every month saying, like, who renewed in my email, so I can't see it. So when she dmed me the other day saying, like, I used one of your prompts and I woke up to 4,000 followers or something, and I was like, I didn't even know you were in the community. Because I never see you.

[B]

Because I'm just being a creep in the background and never saying anything.

[A]

Oh, my gosh, no. You're using it how it was intended to be used, which I love. That makes me so happy. And I just have so much fun creating them. Like, every week they get, what, five social media prompts, story prompts, and these are not like, like post something that you've been thinking. Like, these are very detailed and you just have to plug your information in. But I also give them additional trending audios. And I'm not gonna lie, I have so much fun sourcing those. You guys, I was put on this earth to find good trending audios, and I love it so much. My husband's always like, oh, my gosh, are you done getting, like, you only have to find six or seven per week. I'm like, but there's so much fun. And there's another one. And then I just found a new one. And, like, it's. My brain loves it. So the fact that you guys love it makes me so happy. But I digress. I'm getting off topic. I would love to kind of close this out with you letting us know. One piece of advice for someone who is maybe starting from scratch. They're starting that Instagram from scratch. They're starting selling a digital product from scratch. If you could give them one piece of advice, what would it be?

[B]

I think when coming up with an idea, coming up with an idea for a digital product or a page, I think my best piece of advice would be to have. Have it be something that you are doing every day, something that comes really easily to you, something that you know you can stay consistent with, something you know where content creation is going to be something you can do easily. I think if it's something you need to think about too hard, if it's something that you take two hours to create one reel, that's something you're going to burn out really quickly with. So to be able to come up with an idea that is something that's part of your routine, that's something you can just kind of shift slightly to be able to become content, to become a digital product, I definitely think that's my best piece of advice because that's something that has worked really well for me and it's something that has allowed me to stay really consistent, has allowed me to show up every single day online and something that I do see longevity with because it's something I'm enjoying doing.

[A]

Yeah. And I feel like that is not a Common piece of advice and it's such a good one. And I'm the same way. Like, I knew when I first started all this, I actually started, I think it was three different Instagram accounts with three different, like, ideas for what I wanted to create. And some of them, like, the content just took way longer. And I knew, like, as a mom, I don't have time to create reels that are going to take me two or three hours. Like, yes, in the beginning it might take you longer. Like, it's totally normal in the beginning for things to take a little bit longer, but if it does require a lot more from you and it's not part of your everyday life, it is a lot harder to sell that. Like, I get people coming to me sometimes where they're thinking of selling a digital product on something that they did 10 years ago and I'm like, I get it, you have the knowledge there. But what are you going to do for content every single day? Like, there has to be something tied into what you're doing to make it something that is sustainable. So I love that piece of advice. Now I would love to hear where everyone can find you. I will tag everything of hers in the show notes below. But where can they find you? And if they are a mom that needs activities for their kids, where's the best place for them to start?

[B]

Yeah, well, definitely, I would say start at Small Steps Toddlers. So I'm on Instagram, I'm on threads, I'm on TikTok. So my activity guides From Junk Draw to Joy and Fine Play in the Everyday. You can get them bundled through Stan Store. But I am working on a brand new product which I think I've decided is going to be released in the new year. I'm going to give some clear space after Christmas, so that's something I'm really excited about. So definitely stay tuned for more on that one. But until then, yeah, just head over to Small Steps Toddlers where you'll be able to find everything that you need.

[A]

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the show today. Alice and I will see you guys all next week.

[B]

Thanks so much.

[A]

Thank you so much for hanging out with me and my guests today. If you learned anything from our episode, I would love it if you could share it over on your Instagram stories and tag me Igalpugh until next time. Love you. Mean it.