Building Real Community on Threads with Laura Sinclair

Summary

The Mindful Marketing Podcast: Building Real Community on Threads with Laura Sinclair

Release Date: May 20, 2025 | Host: Andréa Jones

In this engaging episode of The Mindful Marketing Podcast, host Andréa Jones sits down with Laura Sinclair, founder of Mother Means Business, to explore the powerful role of Threads as a community-building tool for entrepreneurial moms. The conversation delves into Laura's journey, strategic use of Threads, authentic content creation, and balancing online presence with personal boundaries.

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1. Laura Sinclair’s Journey to Mother Means Business

[01:23] Laura Sinclair: "I'm a business mentor for entrepreneurial moms."

Laura shares her transition from a corporate marketing background and running a CrossFit gym to founding Mother Means Business. The pivot occurred in 2020 when the pandemic led to the closure of her gym while she was eight weeks pregnant with her second child. Faced with the need to support her growing family, Laura leveraged her expertise in social media and digital marketing to help other small business owners, eventually focusing on the unique challenges faced by entrepreneurial moms.

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2. Discovering Threads as a Community Platform

[04:28] Andrea Jones: "I love your post around the real, the rawness of motherhood in business."

Laura was initially a heavy Twitter user during her PR days but took a hiatus before rediscovering Threads in early 2024 while recovering from a broken leg. This unexpected downtime provided her the opportunity to experiment with Threads, where she began sharing candid, unfiltered thoughts that resonated deeply with her audience.

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3. Authenticity and Contrarian Content on Threads

[10:57] Laura Sinclair: "I don't like the word mompreneur. I don't relate to it."

Laura emphasizes the importance of authenticity on Threads. She frequently shares bold opinions, such as her disdain for the term "mompreneur," which she finds infantilizing. This contrarian content sparks genuine conversations and attracts like-minded individuals who appreciate her honesty, fostering a strong sense of community.

[13:32] Andrea Jones: "Mompreneur to me does not fit who I would describe myself as. It feels like a little pat on the head."

Andrea echoes Laura's sentiments, highlighting how authentic, unapologetic content like Laura's distinguishes Threads from more curated platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

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4. Strategic Use of Threads for Business Growth

[08:58] Laura Sinclair: "Continuously making invitations of folks to be a part of the things that I'm doing."

Laura outlines her strategy for using Threads to grow her business:

• Conversation-Focused Posts: Creating content that inspires dialogue and builds community.
• Invitations to Events: Hosting spa meetups and community connection calls to engage and expand her network.
• Repurposing Content: Using Threads as a testing ground for ideas that can be expanded into other formats like Instagram reels or podcast episodes.

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5. Managing Time and Engagement on Threads

[17:14] Andrea Jones: "Strategies for managing time on Threads to avoid doomscrolling."

Laura discusses her approach to balancing active engagement on Threads:

• Setting Minimum Standards: Committing to a baseline of daily posts and interactions to maintain a consistent presence.
• Limiting Time Spent: Restricting usage to 15-20 minutes a day to prevent excessive time investment while ensuring regular engagement.
• Engaging Authentically: Prioritizing meaningful interactions over quantity, such as replying to others' threads and participating in discussions.

[21:29] Laura Sinclair: "Most days I would say it's probably 15 minutes, 20 minutes, something in there."

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6. Measuring Success Beyond Metrics

[23:34] Laura Sinclair: "It's brought me the most incredible people."

Laura emphasizes that success on Threads is measured not just by follower counts but by the quality of connections and opportunities it generates. From being invited to over 80 podcasts to building a supportive community, Laura values the tangible relationships and business growth that stem from her authentic presence on Threads.

[24:59] Laura Sinclair: "For now it feels like for the 15, 20 minutes I put in a day, it feels well worth it."

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7. Setting Boundaries in Online Sharing

[27:31] Laura Sinclair: "I don't talk about my kids much. It's really just deciding what are the slices of my life that are relevant for my business."

Laura discusses the importance of maintaining personal boundaries online. She selectively shares aspects of her life that are pertinent to her audience and business, such as her passion for horses, while keeping her family life private. This approach ensures that her online presence remains professional and aligned with her business goals.

[29:22] Laura Sinclair: "Nobody needs to know. It's not required."

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8. Community Connection Calls: Building a Supportive Network

[31:50] Laura Sinclair: "Every other Tuesday at 10:00am Eastern Time, we host a community connection call."

Laura invites listeners to join her bi-weekly Community Connection Calls, a space for like-minded mom entrepreneurs to connect, share experiences, and support each other. These calls embody the community-centric approach that Threads has helped her cultivate, providing a safe environment for moms to navigate the complexities of entrepreneurship and motherhood together.

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Conclusion

Laura Sinclair's insightful conversation on Threads underscores the platform's potential for fostering genuine community and business growth through authentic engagement. By sharing her unfiltered thoughts, setting clear boundaries, and strategically using Threads to build connections, Laura exemplifies mindful marketing that prioritizes meaningful relationships over mere numbers.

Listeners are encouraged to join Laura's Community Connection Calls and explore her work at mothermeansbusiness.com, fostering their own entrepreneurial journeys with support and authenticity.

Transcript

[Andrea Jones]

Welcome to another episode of the Mindful Marketing Podcast. And this one feels near and dear to my heart because I met today's guests on Threads and yeah, we're talking all about Threads as a community building tool, and Laura Sinclair and I were connected through Threads. It feels a bit meta, pun intended. So in this episode, we're going to talk about how Laura uses Threads as a tool to grow her business. But first, a word from our sponsor. Riverside is the all in one podcast recording and editing tool that I use for this right here show. I use it to edit not only the audio in the video, it is like Chef's kiss, magical, making the entire process so, so easy. Plus, I love their magic AI clips. Their little AI robot in the background pulls out the most impactful moments of the episodes without me having to comb through into it myself. Resizes them for social media. So those vertical videos you see on TikTok and Reels, those all come from Magic AI inside of Riverside. It's literally one click. It spits out 10 clips. I pick the best one and away I go. Saves me so much time. If you want to get on the Riverside train, check it out today, the links in the show notes, and make sure to use my code DREA D R E A at checkout to get 15% off your membership. Okay, Laura, welcome to the show.

[Laura Sinclair]

Andrea. Thank you for having me.

[Andrea Jones]

I'm excited to pick your brain on all things threads and just your business in general, because I love what you do. Like, I feel connected to it now as a mom. So for those people who are tuning in, they don't know who you are, give us like the 30 second elevator pitch about who you are and what you do.

[Laura Sinclair]

Yeah. My name is Laura Sinclair. I'm the founder of this Mother Means Business. I'm a business mentor for entrepreneurial moms.

[Andrea Jones]

How did you get into it? Like, was there a catalyst moment?

[Laura Sinclair]

Oh, my goodness. Like, how much time do we have on this on the show, Andrea? Well, I have a corporate marketing background. I'm a marketer like you. I started my career in pr, I worked in corporate marketing and left the marketing world. Left corporate actually, in 2015. I ran a brick and mortar CrossFit gym for five years. And then when the world shut down for two weeks, had an abundance of caution. I was eight weeks pregnant with my second child and we ended up closing that gym at the end of 2020. Fast forward, I was like, okay, now I have a three month old and I have to figure out how to make money. And so I started My online business. I started doing what was easy for me at the time, which was teaching small business owners how to use social media better because I was running social media and digital marketing for big brands in my corporate world, my corporate life. And then I used that effectively to build my gym business, which the pandemic wasn't overly kind to, but I also had a small baby and just didn't want to. Didn't want to do it anymore. And so I started teaching people how to use social media. Not dissimilar to the work that you do, but it sort of snowballed away from that. I started having conversations with women about motherhood and some of the challenges that they were facing. And so many of the conversations I was seeing about motherhood and entrepreneurship were really fluffy, really kind of like cute side hustle. And there wasn't a lot of people standing up for these really ambitious women building big businesses with big passion, have so much heart for it that are also navigating motherhood. And it kind of just started by accident. It started with my podcast, and then it was a retreat, and it was another retreat, and then it was a community and an event and sort of really leaning into growing this platform. And so it kind of happened organically. But I'm glad that it did.

[Andrea Jones]

Yeah, I'm glad that it did too. And that's kind of why I connected with you as well. Because I feel like there's like, there's like two sides of being a mom in business. There's the one side where as soon as I was announcing my pregnancy, a bunch of people assumed that I would shut down my business. And I was like, oh, no, no, I'm not, I'm. I still am working. And then there was the other side of people who were like, assuming that nothing would change. Right. And to be honest, I'm somewhere in the middle. Like, I'm not shut down, but I'm definitely not running at the speed that I was pre babies, especially, you know, with three year old and a one year old. I just literally cannot. And so that's why I connected with your post. Because I'm like, oh, this is someone who's like, really gets it. Like, it's real. It's not like I, you know, I wake up and like we have like granola and then I, you know, run my business during naps and I'm like, that is not possible for a lot of people. So yeah, I love your post around the real, the rawness of motherhood in business.

[Laura Sinclair]

Yeah, you know what? I, I Just I'm too tired to tell anything but the truth. And so that's where it started on threads, truthfully is it was like, you know what, somebody, somebody's gotta be the person to talk about what this really looks like. And hey, if it's gonna be me, then so be it.

[Andrea Jones]

Yeah. So what initially drew you to Threads? Like, are you an early adapter kind of person?

[Laura Sinclair]

Yeah. So I was a big Twitter user in 2008. Huge Twitter user. I loved Twitter before. You know, this is when I was in PR school working in pr. We would do a lot of actually pitching media over Twitter. It was something that we did back then and I loved it and then kind of got away from it as I was no longer in pr. And so when threads first came out, I kind of jumped on it and was like, okay, this is cool. But then I took it a period of time where I was like, okay, I'm actually like too busy for another platform. I can't. I can't hack it right now. And so I think there was maybe like a six or eight month window. And then I actually broke my leg at the beginning of 2024 and I was like, okay, I'm bored, I'm bored. And I actually have this capacity for something else, right? I'm literally stuck in bed. I can't. I broke my leg in two places. It wasn't a good time. And so I found myself back on. All of a sudden I had this time and I found myself back on threads and I just started kind of it. Like I used Twitter and I would just think something and post it. And that was sort of how it went. And it was just this opportunity for me to share some of my unhinged thoughts that didn't really make sense in any other platform. And that's really how it started, was for me with a broken leg in bed, just posting my thoughts.

[Andrea Jones]

I love that. I feel like that's very much the vibe of threads though. It's. It's a less. It's less buttoned up, it's more casual, it's. It's more approachable. So do you think that makes it easier for especially moms to. To jump on the platform?

[Laura Sinclair]

I think so. It's so low lift, right. When you think about what's required on some of these other platforms, I mean, you and I are sitting here making long form content right now. Like, we don't. You don't have to do that on threads. You don't have to create a video. You don't have to Create a graphic if you don't want to. And so there's something about how low lift it is that I think is. Is really attractive to both me and a lot of my clients. And there's also something that I'm seeing, Andrea, that I'm wondering if you're seeing too, where for some reason the filter has come off on threads. Like, people are just so much more honest on this platform and it's like a fun place to try things and see what lands and see, hey, if I say this, does this offend people? Or if I say this, am I going to lose a bunch of followers? And not in a way to be offensive, but I think so many of us play it really safe with some of our opinions and the things that we believe. And so Threads, I think, has been like a bit of a testing ground for a lot of folks as well.

[Andrea Jones]

Yeah, 100, I feel like. So this has been something I've been thinking about a lot, which is this idea of the content calendar. I love it, don't get me wrong, especially as a business owner, it can be very helpful. But also I feels like sometimes it goes too far. Like my experience on Instagram and Facebook sometimes is like too curated, too, too thought out, too like, orchestrated. I'm like, waiting for them to sell me something. Whereas it feels like on threads, it's just a vibe. I'm like, I want to see what I see. Like what. What's going to make me like, hehehaha today, you know, I don't know.

[Laura Sinclair]

Yeah. And I will say that the really fun thing about threads is just how much community it feels like is there. The level of support feels really different. I mean, I'm engaging with folks on threads that would probably ignore me on Instagram. You know, it's like people that I would never get our DM response from on Instagram reply to my threads or I reply to theirs and there's a response there. So there's. There's sort of like almost like an evening of the playing field that's happened over on Threads, which has been really cool too.

[Andrea Jones]

Yeah, that's what I love about it too. You're. The community feels more equal instead of like a hierarchy of like, you know, oh, this person has a million followers. I only have 100.

[Laura Sinclair]

You know, when you can't even see it in the context of the. What threads gives you, Right? It's just like here, here's a person saying the thing. You either agree with the thing or you don't agree with the thing. But it does. It really has taken away some of that maybe hierarchy a little bit that might exist in other platforms.

[Andrea Jones]

Yeah, for sure. Well, I'm curious about, like, strategically how you look at it compared to other platforms. So you talked about how you kind of just post your thoughts as you think them, but how does that strategically play in your business, specifically compared to a platform like Instagram?

[Laura Sinclair]

Yeah, when I started on threads, it was very. There was no strategy. It was just like, I'm going to just say whatever because I'm bored with a broken leg in bed and I'm going to just share my thoughts. And my community did grow on threads really fast just because I was unhinged, saying the things that I think in my head that a lot of people be like, oh, wow, I really feel the same and like, good for you for saying that. But as we, you know, my legs no longer broken. I have to return to life as. As normal. I think for me, what's really changed is it's a lot about having more conversation. I think it's opening up posts that inspire conversation and also making invitations of others to be a part of my community. And that's a big piece of my strategy on threads is really anchoring in the notion that threads does inherently build community. My business is rooted in community. And so really just making continual invitations of folks to be a part of the things that I'm doing. And whether that's my spa days, I do these local meetup spa days that have actually turned into other women across Canada hosting their own spa days, own spa networking days, which I am obsessed with. That all just started on threads. And I get women that are coming and meeting me in real life at the spa or coming to my community connection call and really just rooting in, telling those stories and continually making those invitations. That's been a big part of my strategy as far as like moving people from threads into whatever else I have for them. Whatever email marketing or funnel that I have from them has really just been about continually making the invitation and then telling the stories and building up my personality and sharing what I do and who I am in between.

[Andrea Jones]

Oh, okay. So I want some examples of this just to give context. So when you're talking about. So let's start with like one of your. Your, like, here's what's in my brain post. Like, do you have one that stands out to you?

[Laura Sinclair]

Oh, gosh, that's a really great question.

[Andrea Jones]

I really put you on the spot too.

[Laura Sinclair]

Really. I'm like, go back to your thousands of threads and think about one that. No, I think, like, for me, okay, a great example of one is I really don't resonate with the word mompreneur. I find it infantilizing. And so I will post on threads often. Like, threads is not a platform where I just post it one time and never post it again. Like, I'm. I'm going to post it and I'm going to post it a different way a couple of weeks later at. A different way. A couple of weeks. Like, that is a big part of the platform. But really just leaning into my opinions, right? I don't like the word mompreneur. I don't relate to it. I don't like mama. I just find them to be infantilizing. And so I post on threads often about the fact that I don't relate to this word. This is something that stirs up the folks, right? People have big opinions on that. Another big one is talking about the fact that. I'm sure you've seen this, that I won't hire a business mentor that doesn't have kids. And I believe that it is essential for a mentor to understand what it is that a mentee goes through if they have children. I mean, you and I were just talking about the chaos of having a one and a three year old. This is another thing I love to talk about on threads. And it pokes the bear. They get angry. People get angry about this and it's okay because the people that get angry are not my people and the people that agree with it are my people. And then I start seeing the follows go up and the connections, and then that translates into my Instagram following actually has grown quite a bit since my threads following has grown and I'm making these new connections. And so I think a lot of it is just like, anchoring in. Like, these are the things that I believe this is a space for you. If you. If you believe the same. And if you don't, that's okay too.

[Andrea Jones]

Yeah. For those of you who can't see the video, I'm doing like a massive head nods over here because I'm like, yes, I think that this is so this is what I call contrarian content. Because contrarian content serves a very unique purpose in that, yes, it gets people heated, it gets people fired up, but it gets the other side of that too. Like, when you say mom newer, I'm like, yes. Like, mompreneur to me does not fit who I would describe my. Like, I think of. And there's no offense to this but to me, I think of like, like an Etsy account, like kind of business, like a little hobby, like on the side. Yeah. And I'm like, this is, I'm not, this is not a hobby to me. Like, this is my job, so I'm not gonna like, diminish that. And to me, mompreneur, it feels like it's like, oh, cute. Like a little pat on the head. Like, look at her, look at her go. And I'm like, no, it's very pink.

[Laura Sinclair]

That's what I used to. It feels very pink. And not, not because we don't like the color pink. It, like, it's just cute. And there's nothing really cute about what you and I are doing. We're here to create impact.

[Andrea Jones]

Right? It's an actual business. And so, yeah, that, that's the kind of stuff that I love to see on threads too, because I'm like, I found my people. And I think this, these signals that you're putting out there are calling out your people, which I love, so you're bringing them in. And then I want to also talk about these invitation style posts because I think this is where some people fumble on threads because it can, like coming into the platform, especially as a business owner, we instantly go like, how can I make money? Like that. We're all thinking it, right? We're all like, how can I make money? Like, how can I sell something? But you, there's a delicate way to approach this. And so I want to hear how you do it on threads. Like, what do you say to like, call people in to take the step, the, the next step of like joining you somewhere?

[Laura Sinclair]

I, I'm probably like, not the most professional about it, if I'm being honest. And some of that is my personality. I literally will say be like, hey, if you're a mom and you want to come hang out with other moms, like, bring your chaos. It'll be fun. We're having this connection call. You should come. Like, it's literally that. It's not. Are you a woman entrepreneur who is looking to connect with other women entrepreneurs, like minded and heart centered values? Join us for our community connection call. Like, I don't do that. I cannot do that. That's ridiculous. That just doesn't align for me. And so all of the invitations that I've made have, have. I mean, if you go back and search my threads, it's like, hi waving emo, you know, I'm hosting a spa meetup on this day. If you're in the Barrie area and you want to come hang out or hi, if you're a mom who wants to hang out with other moms who are like minded, like you, who want some business help and like, feel free to come in your pajamas, that's where we'll be. And so for me, there's like an authenticity behind the sell that matters. And I, I also have a podcast. I, I always promote my podcast episode on thread as threads as well. And it's usually the same thing. It's not like, on today's episode we are featuring guest Andrea Jones, who is an expert. Like, no, it's not that. It's just like, you know, I had the opportunity to talk with the incredible Andrea Jones. It was such a great episode. She shares this with us. If you're a mom who has, you know, a similar experience or you want to go behind the scenes of someone who's made an incredible pivot, check out the episode. Like, it's just really coming from a place that's conversational and honest and making an invitation. It's like, hey, I have this sweet, this cool thing. It's like having a delicious cookie. You want the cookie, you don't want to eat the cookie. That's cool. I'm not gonna try to convince you to eat the cookie.

[Andrea Jones]

Yeah, yeah. Do you think your marketing background has an impact on how you show up on threads?

[Laura Sinclair]

Yes. 100%. Absolutely. And I think this is the other, the other piece. And people often say to me, like, are you like, your content really helps people feel seen? I really feel seen your content. Do you do that on purpose? But, well, yes, you know, I have a, I have a marketing background. I have a PR background. So, yes, I have an added advantage over the average person that is, you know, learning to use it. But I think for someone that doesn't have a marketing background or doesn't have that doesn't come from that place, I think this is something that all business owners really need to tap into. It's like, who are you and how do you want to talk to people? And if you just lean into your humanness, the fact that you're a human being having a human experience and you want to bring other people into your human experience, that makes everything so much easier. So many times people say, I don't know what to say. It's like, well, what would you say if you were to meet this person on the street? If you're at an event and you were like, hey, I have this thing, do you want to come? It's no different on threats, just be a human, stop overthinking it. Tap into who it is that you are, the way that you want to communicate. And I promise, everything gets easier when you just take the I'm supposed to off.

[Andrea Jones]

Yeah, this is where I really struggle with the formulaic approaches. Because, you know, as marketers, we learn the formulas. Right. And if you're listening to this and you're like, andrea, you taught me a formula. Yeah, I teach the formulas. But in order for the formulas to work, you still have to bring you into that process. I do think this is why some people also have a problem with like large language models. ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude. Because they're not bringing them into the process. They're just copy pasting the formula. And the formulas are helpful. Don't get me wrong, they do help. They're, they, they're great. Like, Laura, you're talking about like the I feel seen type of content and I love that type of content because it's such a great, powerful connection and you know the formula of that and you're still doing it your way. And it's like marrying those two ideas, that's key. So I'm curious, like, when you think about threads and it's specifically like managing your time on the platform too, because it sounds like you, you, you kind of feel inspired and you go off your inspiration. But how do you make sure you're not like either A, doom scrolling on threads all day or B, it's like been two weeks and you never logged in.

[Laura Sinclair]

Yeah. So this is a great one because I have definitely gone through seasons where I'm like posting on threads 4 or 5 times a day because I have all the thoughts. And then I'm actually just coming out of a season right now where I haven't been as active on the platform because I ran my first event. I'm dealing with major health crisis in my family. Like, there's just so many things going on. I have still have two kids, I have a partner, a shift working partner, like all of the things. And so for me, there are sort of milestones and benchmarks that are required for me to show up on threads. So there's, there's sort of two threads of thought. Threads of thought. Wow. Pun not really intended, but like, let's go with it. Let's roll there. Good job, Laura. The first one is that it's my responsibility to show up for my business. Right. I have to. This is my job to show up and tell my people about the podcast episode, about the community connection call about the community, about like that's my job. And so there's that piece of it there that I'm able to like anchor in on. These are the things that are required, the things that I at a minimum have to talk about across platform. I'm already creating this content and it would be a real shame for me to not take the 10 seconds and turn it into a thread. So there's, there's that side of it. The other side of it is that I know that I can't show up on a platform and just talk about all my stuff. I can't just sell all the time. And so there's a piece of it that there's like a little bit of give and take required. It's like sending emails, right? I can't just send sales emails and hope that people are going to want to read my emails. It's not, it's not how it works. And so for me it's like establishing what that minimum is. And that's part of my strategy. Right. And so if the minimum is sometimes it might just be actually replying to other people's threads because I find sometimes my replies to posts do as well as my sort of native posts on my own page, my own site. So it's establishing for me, okay, at a minimum I'm going to post, I know I need to post once a day to talk about my things, my business things. And then I'm also going to try to engage in the platform as well. And then when I'm in the season where I feel inspired and I have a lot to say, then I'm gonna go with that. But for me it's sort of setting the standard for myself of this is what the bare minimum is. And I can commit to the bare minimum. And I think some of it is reps too. Right. Like I've been doing this, I've been an entrepreneur for 10 years. I've been in the online space for four and a half at this stage. And so yeah, you just, you make commitments and you stick to them.

[Andrea Jones]

Yeah, yeah, I think that. I love what you said about it. Like it is my responsibility as a business owner to do this to my business. And I think there's a lot of things that we do in our business where we, we are kind of wishy washy about it. And I think marketing your business is one of those non negotiables and threads is your thing. Like it is your responsibility to, to show up there. I love that you said that. I still am curious though, like how much time you're spending on the platform? Because when I first started on threads, I was spending hours and hours on it, and now I probably spend like 15, 20 minutes a day outside of like creating content and stuff. But I'm always curious, like, how much time other people are spending.

[Laura Sinclair]

I'm the same. I'm probably 15, 20 minutes a day. I used to be hours. You can go down the threads rabbit hole. Honestly, one of the things that's helped me a lot is I try to go on threads on my desktop and not my phone. I find if I'm on my phone, it's really easy to get caught up. Now, that said, my following is not growing as fast on threads as it was when I was spending hours a day on threads and responding to absolutely everything and, you know, stuck in bed with a broken leg. But that's okay. That's okay for me. It's like my. Not all of my eggs are in the threads basket. Right. Like, I have other, other things that help me grow my business and I'm in other places. But I would say 15 to 20 minutes a day is about what I spend on threads on a day where I'm like, really inspired and I maybe I'm in a threads argument with somebody or someone's disagreeing with me and I'm like gonna stand on my stand on my stuff. Maybe like half an hour, 45 minutes. But most days I would say it's probably 15 minutes, 20 minutes, something in there.

[Andrea Jones]

Okay, cool. And are you repurposing any of your threads content? You mentioned kind of testing ideas? Do you take those ideas into long form content? Like, what does that look like?

[Laura Sinclair]

Yeah. So I absolutely repurpose my long form content into threads. And one thing that I love to do on threads is if I test an opinion, if it goes well, I'll turn it into like an Instagram reel, or I'll make it into a podcast episode, things like that. I'm often inspired by some of the conversations, so I like to use it as a testing ground that will then inspire some other content. But also I will take my long form content and turn it into threads.

[Andrea Jones]

Yeah, okay. Yeah, that's how I do it too. Either most of the time what you see on threads is like, I probably set it in a podcast or in a live somewhere, like a live class. And then like, oh, that's a good one liner and I'll put it on threads. But I do test as well. I call this reverse content repurposing, where I'm like, I Don't know if I want this to be ideal. Let's see. And then if people respond to it, I'll turn it and expand it. Um, so. Okay, cool. And then how do you. How do you measure your own success on threads? So you mentioned follower numbers, you mentioned replies and things, but I'm curious if you have any more structure to measuring success or are you more so like, feeling your way around it?

[Laura Sinclair]

I. I would love to tell you that I have a really good structure, Andrea, but I don't. I think I'm still feeling. Just feeling into it. It's been. I have not given it enough time, I don't think, in my opinion, or really enough effort, like focus. This is my thread strategy that I' going to focus on for this launch, for example, that has felt like I really have enough data to even go on. I will say that it's brought me the most incredible people. And I think that's the metric of success that I really lean into in threads is there's so many connections and opportunities for me even, you know, being on podcasts. There was a. I posted last year that I got rejected for. I think my post was. And I was being a little sassy. It was to the effect of, you know, I just got rejected for a podcast to be on a podcast, I guess on a podcast you've never heard of because my social media following wasn't big enough. And I think at the time I maybe had like 3,000 followers on Instagram, but that wasn't large enough. And so that was the reason you don't. And I was like, wow, since when do we, you know, gauge a person's expertise or ability to be a decent guest on their social media following? Andrea, I was invited to be on 38 podcasts from that one thread post. One post, 38 people were like, come be on my show. Be on my show. Come on my show. And I did. I mean, I had a broken leg. So.

[Andrea Jones]

Perfect for podcast guesting.

[Laura Sinclair]

I was. I have. I was a guest on over 80 podcasts last year, and a lot of those came from being on threads, just connections on threads. And so I haven't looked at it like, in a. From as a marketer and that really, like, data point perspective yet. And I'm sure I'll get there. But for me, what it's done is it's just brought some really cool humans into my world. It's exposed me to new podcasts. I got to meet you, so that counts. But I think that for me has been like, the measure of success on threads. And yes, some of it has turned into clients and some of it, lots of people have come to my events and come to my connection calls and things like that. So for now it feels like for the 15, 20 minutes I put in a day, it feels well worth it.

[Andrea Jones]

Yeah, no, I'm so glad you said that because I lowkey love data, don't get me wrong. But. And also, I think we go too far. We go too far sometimes in the measuring of the metrics. And like, I do think it's good to like take a little pulse point check, see, but not to get obsessed with it because, you know, we're at a time in history where we've never had this much access to information before, this much access to data. You know, go back 20 years ago, if you're running a business, you couldn't put up a billboard and go, oh, I know exactly 3463 people saw this day. Like, you can't, you didn't do that. You would just go, well, I hope, I hope people saw it. I hope they, I hope they read it. I don't even know how long they looked at it. And so I feel like we have, we have too much information sometimes and we go too far with it where there is this like intangible metric of like, man, I met some really freaking cool people. And you can't really put that in a spreadsheet or in your airtable base, right? And so I love that, I love that. And like, like we're, we're proof. We're proof of it.

[Laura Sinclair]

Hello.

[Andrea Jones]

So I want to, I know I prove. I want to talk. My last question is about boundaries because I do think that especially as moms. So sorry to non moms out there, but I know a lot of people listening to this podcast. Even if you're not a mom, you have other things, right? You're, you're taking care of your aging parents, you have chronic illness, you are going back to school, you have a full time job. Like whatever it is, we struggle with, like the boundaries of it all. And we can take this beyond threads too. And I'm curious about how you place your own boundaries, specifically when it comes to sharing information online. How do you make sure that you're not just like, here's my breakfast, you know, like, how, how are you, how are you deciding what to share? I guess boundary wise.

[Laura Sinclair]

Yeah, that's a really good question. This is something that I've been really, I've played with over the last, you know, 10 years. Of entrepreneurship. Four and a half years of being online. For me, I only share the stuff that my audience needs to know. And so I mean I haven't even talked, I mentioned that I, you know, I had a family or an aging parent, my father had a medical emergency. I haven't even talked about that online because it doesn't, doesn't really matter. It doesn't. I mean it matters for me, but it doesn't matter to my audience. Right. Like, and I'm sure there'll be people that would love to be supportive of me in that season, but it doesn't matter for my business. It's not relevant. And so one of the things I've learned is just like my, if I think about my life as a big beautiful cake, there is only a slice of the cake that is really required to be online. In my business. I don't talk about my kids much. Right. If my daughter is going through something, I'm not going to go on my social media and be like my 7 year old daughter came home and had this issue. And that issue, like, it's just not, it's not required, it's not something that I desire. I'm actually quite a private person. I keep hold a lot of things to the chest and with my closed circles because that's how I prefer to be. You know, I don't show my kids faces online. For me it's just really figuring out, okay, what are the things that people need to know about me to know like, and trust. Right. We talk about that in marketing all the time. Me enough to know that I am the right person for them. And usually that has to do with my values, you know, the things that I do to take care of myself. I have a horse. I love to post about my horse. I post about my horse way more than I post about my kids. But it's really just deciding, you know, what are, what are the slices of my life that are relevant for my business. And yes, I'm building a personal brand, but there's a whole lot of me as a person that I get just for me.

[Andrea Jones]

Yeah. Yeah, I love that. That's beautiful. And I think the beautiful thing about it too is we get to decide. Right? Like I think the, in my opinion, the only way, one of the ways that you can figure out what a boundary is is sometimes it gets crossed. Right. And so for me, I posted briefly my kids online. I, when they were both born, I posted their pictures and I just something about it, I was like, I don't want to do. Like, I never want to post them online again. I just want to protect their little preciousness. So, no, I don't share their pictures. I don't. I don't share their full names. I'll talk about my girls. I'll talk about their ages, generally speaking. But for me, that is one of my boundaries, is my kids. And nobody online knows nothing about my family. Like, you'll. You won't know my extended family. I have. I have a family. You won't know them.

[Laura Sinclair]

So my husband hate social media, and I'll talk about it on the podcast a little bit, but he's not on my social media to the point where I'll get messages from people that I haven't seen in a while, and they're like, so, are you still married? Yes, I am. It's just my marriage doesn't matter for the context of my business. My clients and those. The people that are, you know, close to me know him, and they, you know, have that experience. But for my Instagram and my threads, like, nobody needs to. Nobody needs to know. Yeah, it's not required.

[Andrea Jones]

Yep, same. And you can always change your mind, too. Like, my husband and I filmed our honeymoon vacation. Like, oh, my God, that sounded bad.

[Laura Sinclair]

What did you do?

[Andrea Jones]

Wait, no, we did a road trip. And so we. We were vloggers. We, like, vlogged the road trip. Like, oh, we're in Montreal now. We're in Ottawa now. We're. You know what I mean? And now we would never. We would never do, like, we. He doesn't want to be online. He does the bare minimum for his business. I do mine for my business. And same people are like, you haven't posted about your husband in a while. I'm like, oh, yeah. I mean, we just don't. We don't create that kind of content anymore. Right. Like, we used to put our entire lives online, and now we're just very private people. And so you. You can change your mind, too. At any point. If you're like, I want to do this or I don't want to do this, go for it. I love it. I love it. Thank you for sharing, Laura. I think it's really important for everyone to get a sense of, like, what's really working, what's actually happening with real, like, businesses that are active, that are doing the dang thing on thread. So I appreciate you sharing that. And I know there are some people listening who are like, omg, I need more Laura in my life. What are these community calls? Tell us about them.

[Laura Sinclair]

Yeah, so Every other Tuesday at 10:00am Eastern Time, we host a community connection call. It's just an opportunity to come and hang out with other like minded moms. You want to come and complain about your kids, you go for it. Yeah. This is a safe place to do it. You're going through something, you want to just come and have a laugh. We always laugh. Some of the women that come call it the community hug, the bi weekly community hug. And it's just a place to connect with other women who are doing the thing and navigating this intersection of motherhood and entrepreneurship. And every other Tuesday at 10am Eastern, I think we have one today that this episode drops, which is exciting. But if you head to this mothermeans business.com you can learn more about those calls and I'll make sure I share a link with you, Andrea. So if anyone's listening that wants to come and hang out with a bunch of other mom entrepreneurs that are keeping it real, I would love to see you there.

[Andrea Jones]

Yay. Awesome. Yeah, I'm gonna put that link in the show notes. Y' all can find [e-mail] 358. That's 358. Laura, thank you so much for being on the podcast today.

[Laura Sinclair]

Thank you for having me. This has been awesome.

[Andrea Jones]

Yay. And thank you, dear listener, for tuning in to another episode of the Mindful Marketing Podcast. If you want more goodness, especially threads goodness, come on into the Mindful Marketing Lab. I have a course on threads. Actually, we talk about threads all the time. And also if you want to just dive into some of our resources. Coming up tomorrow after this episode, I'm doing a session all about AI. If you want to learn how to use AI ethically, mindfully, okay, come to this session in the lab and learn. I've also built a lot of AI resources, custom GPTs, and things that you can use in your business to be your shortcut, do this all. But it only works if you do the groundwork first. We're going to talk about that and more inside of the lab coming up next on the podcast, we're going to have the amazing Maggie Patterson on the show to talk about staying solo and launching her new book called Staying Solo as well. So stay tuned for that. I'll see you next week. Bye for now.