Sarah LouWho is a big time beauty influencer and blogger. She uses her impressive platform on Instagram to inspire, motivate, and educate her followers. Elizabeth and Sarah have a fun, super informational conversation on how Sarah grew her platform, and share some amazing tips on how to become a superpowered content creator.
2:14 – Sarah’s Story
Even from a young age, Sarah always liked public speaking. She never thought that what she does now could ever become a profession, but life had a way of surprising her and she has so much fun doing what she loves.
“I’m already doing what I love… if I can also pay my bills with it that’s just an added bonus.”
Sarah sometimes still suffers from imposter theory or feels guilty that she gets to get paid to do what she loves, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
5:00 – It all started with service
Sarah started making tutorials because she had just cut her hair, and wanted to help other women who had just cut their hair who didn’t know how to style it. People were asking her through DMs what to do, and she decided to make it easier for everyone and start filming videos.
Sarah went on to creating a new video every week to help short-haired babes learn how to style their hair and LOVE it.
6:59 – How Sarah used to (and still) paid her bills before social media
Sarah owns a telecommunications company, and her whole family works there. Now that a lot of her time is filled up with content creation, her family helps out a lot.
Sarah taught herself how to film and edit videos by using YouTube tutorials.
“You can do ANYTHING with the internet now…there’s no excuse to not learn if you want to learn something.”
8:55 – How Sarah manages it all
Waking up early
Sarah has always been an early bird, which she thinks has worked in her favor.
Meditation
Sarah says her brain is always moving really fast and it can be hard for her to finish and follow up on tasks.
Consistency
She records a tutorial every morning. Even if she doesn’t end up using it, she is getting ready for the day anyways – so in a way it is killing two birds with one stone.
12:59 – What a workday looks like for Sarah
When it comes to where Sarah works, she likes to switch it up. Between her NYC apartment, and office in Florida, she forms a routine based off of where she currently is. She likes to make the most of her time.
14:56 – It’s all about serving your audience
Sarah says it’s hard to not make a video tutorial when a follower reaches out for help on a style. Elizabeth and Sarah talk about how when you love what you do, it’s all about filling a need and serving your audience.
When it comes to reading comments and DMs, Sarah says that she reads everything people send in, because she wants to get feedback from her followers
16:47 – What scheduling content looks like
Sarah says that the only type of content she will schedule ahead of time are sponsored posts from companies or big events or holidays. Day to day, Sarah doesn’t plan anything. She said she tried to do the scheduling thing, but realized that not planning ahead and being flexible works best for her.
“Just do what works for you.”
Even when it comes to giving people advice to people about what their profile feed looks like, she says to do what feels right, but reminds people that posts with faces get 80% more engagement.
20:00 – What makes you happy?
Sarah believes that people overthink their Instagram feeds too much. All she does is listen to what her followers want to see more of, and post what makes her happy.
Once you decide to only post when you want to and what you want to, the Instagram game suddenly becomes so much easier.
Sarah says she has a hard time giving her job a “title” or following well-worn paths to success for content creators.
25:54 – Going forward
Sarah wants to focus on doing less, and make those few things more meaningful. She hopes to partner with some brands that she loves, and get more speaking opportunities.
She wants to help connect people to other hair and makeup artists. If you want to listen to our episode about how good leaders are matchmakers, you can do so here on iTunes.
28:32 – Sarah’s tips on getting noticed on Instagram
Get your bio in line – it amazes Sarah how many big names don’t have their bio polished up. For local salon business especially, she recommends you have you share your name and location on your bio, and use location-specific hashtags, and geotag your post. If there is an event happening near your salon, she recommends tagging those events or locations in your posts.
You get between 12 and 30% more engagement when you geotag your posts.
35:46 – What she learned from going to a class at Instagram
Sarah shares some information that she learned at a class she took at Instagram HQ. Fun fact: Shadowbanning is a myth. Another fun fact: if you’re using 30 hashtags your post performance will go down because Instagram’s system sees that as spammy.
38:31 – Last bits of advice
Sarah recommends that if you’re feeling stuck or like you haven’t improved, try scrolling back to a year and a half ago and see how the quality of your photos and captions has changed.
Make sure to budget an extra ten minutes during an appointment to get those before and after photos. Mix it up and try new things when it comes to taking photos of your clients. Try filming a short video of them. Even try giving your client take a dope selfie with your phone – they probably know their best angles better than you.
43:22 – Take time to do what you want to do
Sarah hears all the time from stylists about how they are going day to day and feel like they aren’t creatively stimulated. She recommends making time on your days off to get inspired and unleash your creativity, whether it’s on hair, or painting, or anything at all!
48:00 – It’s time for the HOT SEAT
Sarah’s most embarrassing moment was when she was a sophomore basketball player. Right before halftime, the puked center court in front of the entire student body.
Sarah says when it comes to dating, some of the people she’s dated have had a hard time understanding and accepting that she uses Instagram to pay the bills. She joked that she needs an Instagram husband.
Sarah said her biggest screw up/learning experience was when she had a travel-heavy job and almost worked herself to death. She says she had no clue what her worth was, and how to say “no” enough.
“Don’t do something that you know you don’t want to do because you think you should.”
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