The Uneducated PT Podcast - 🎙️ Episode 104 – Unlocking Authenticity in Content Creation with Maria Moore

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

In this powerful episode of The Uneducated PT Podcast, we sit down with Maria Moore a dynamic content coach and brand strategist known for helping creators step into their voice, shed self-doubt, and craft content that truly connects. Whether you're a personal trainer, entrepreneur, or creative struggling to show up online, this episode is your wake-up call. Maria shares deep insights into the mindset shifts, storytelling techniques, and self-awareness practices that help creators move past perfectionism and into purpose. With a background rooted in marketing, coaching, and real-world brand experience, Maria brings the kind of wisdom that’s both soulful and strategic. We unpack the importance of knowing yourself before branding yourself, why authenticity outperforms aesthetics, and how to overcome the fear of being seen. From social media burnout to imposter syndrome to building community through content—nothing is off-limits in this raw and honest conversation. 🔑 In This Episode, You'll Learn:Why authenticity is your most valuable content strategyHow to shift from performance to presence in your online workTips for showing up consistently even when you're uncertainHow to embrace your unique story and use it as your brand foundationThe role of vulnerability, clarity, and confidence in content creation

It's not her aesthetics or the fact that she's got a DGI. It's not that she knows the most or is the smartest, funniest or fittest. It's that she makes you feel like you know her. Can you explain what you mean by this? Oh, we all go straight into it. Do you remember writing that? Yes. Okay, brilliant.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh my God, wow. Okay, let's get straight into it. So what I mean by that is that person that they make you feel seen. You feel like you actually know someone. You feel like someone's your friend. You feel like they're actually talking to you. They're not talking for an alternative motive or anything like that.

Because when you actually think about content, I know from my point of view, or the people that I love watching, it is never because of their like perfect lighting or, yes, that plays a part because I have people that I follow who I love their edits or I love like the pace of the video. I do think that comes into it, which is more like the creative process and like almost like, filmmaking or TV, like they know that the pace of a story that I do like think some people are better at that, but that's also a skill you can learn. But the people that I actually love following and just get and binge watch and like look forward to their stories are the people that I feel like I know, but I might not know them. Does that make it? That makes perfect sense.

They're like your little show that you watch on your phone. Yes. Yes. That's all our phones are, aren't they? They're little like TVs in our pockets. Yeah. How do you, How, and why do you think that's important? Because I think if you have, well, I think the two things to what, talk about it is if you're a coach, if you've got a business, like you're selling a service. Yeah. I think because people buy from people and they buy from people that they trust. And I also think you, like just put it bluntly, like no one is actually selling anything that original.

And that's not, that's not in a, what do you call it like a horrible way or like put down because the services are great. like yes, of course, people need help with their health and fitness, but you're not doing nothing new. Like it's the same. So the only thing that actually sets you apart, which makes you connect to people is you. It's all macros, calories and steps. Like, bore off. Do you know what I mean? I literally went with my coach because I love what she dresses like, her sense of, and I love the memes that she said, that she posted. I knew she'd get the job done, but like, it was her that I was like, I want to be friends with her. Like, I want to be friends with her. I want to be. be a bit more like her.

That makes sense. How do people get to that stage? Do you think people just naturally come across like that when they're on camera? Do you think other people try too hard? Like, how can you get to that stage where you're just naturally being yourself and you're naturally being relatable and people just enjoy watching you? Like what it's like, I'm like, well, nobody enjoys, nobody enjoys watching me or watching my life. I am, right.

I've actually been thinking about this loads call. because I've been trying to think, I actually, it's so weird, but I've been thinking about, like, why I do what I do and why I actually like it, and I do think it's changed lately, like sort of the reason why behind it.

I think everything starts with how you feel about yourself. Yeah. Not to deepen it, but you and me never do shallow chat chats anyway, so that's how it's how you feel about yourself. So it's not an easy thing, like it's not a script or it's not, yes, it is practice on camera, but you can practice on camera,

but if you're constantly practicing with bad, scripts that aren't you and you're practicing acting being something else because you feel so uncomfortable in yourself or like you need to be something else the practicing doesn't fucking matter does that mean it's the same stuff with like i cover this with i cover like ideal clients it is of course important but even if you do all the ideal client work like work in the world and you know your client inside out if you're uncomfortable and something in yourself and you don't there's a part of you that always feels like you need to be polished or you're not fully just you don't have to love yourself but just acceptance of who you are, you're not going to show up in a way that really connects us

because I feel like people can see that. So it's actually like, yes, it is practicing getting on camera. Yes, it's practicing speaking to people, but it's not even thinking about our people going to think if my life's interesting. That's not even a thought that should be there. That's, it's just you focusing on at first who you can help and you just getting more comfortable with being you around other people. Yeah, because even if even if you are really good at faking it being someone else or playing a character, well, firstly, it's it's going to feel like it's going to be much harder work than just being yourself because it doesn't take any effort to just be yourself anyway or to just naturally come across as yourself. But even if you're playing a character to sound interesting

to sell a service or a product and, you know, know you're talking about it like you're really passionate about it even if you're not like it's never even going to probably feel fulfilling even if you get the followers or sell the service or anything like that because they're not even buying into you they're buying into this version of yourself that you're pretending to be yeah and i think it will just always feel like a box you've got a tick yeah that i've got to do a post yeah make sense that kind of thing and i'm not saying that everyone is going to love content However, I do think a lot more people would love it if they let themselves relax because all it is is playing.

This is what art. It is playing. It's like when you're a kid and you act out a show, but I used to do that all the time or like make my own films or do fun stuff. And I feel like as you get older, you forget what it's like to play. So, and it's almost like got a weird like, I don't know if you've come up against this. Because I know you've obviously, you are a coach and you meet a lot of coaches. And I'm sure you speak, I know you speak a lot of people in the podcast.

but like this almost like, I don't do content or like, I just hate it. Yeah. Like, if you actually break it down, it's just play, like, you don't hate it. To me, that tells me you, you're not comfortable in yourself in some way or you're not whatever, because you're just playing. You're just putting your, so it's like this idea that content has to be this certain thing. And I really don't think it does. I don't think you need to have a certain amount of followers or anything like that to literally be creative.

I think most kids, when they're young, they're creative. like we are all creative in some way. And I think social media and stuff has got such a bad rep of like, yes, of course there are downsides to it. But we've now got this thing where we get to make our own videos. We get to be creative. Like when did we ever get to do that as an adult?

I find it like being like a kid again. Yeah, it's insane. The opportunities are insane. And also it's quite insane for people to be like, I'm an online coach, but I hate making content. That's like part of the, it's kind of sold in your type. as well but I completely I completely get your point because I think it's like people say I hate making content because for whatever reason they have these huge insecurities around that so

it's actually it's not that you hate the content it's that you have these insecurities that that you need to probably deal with or whatever it is um I also yeah sorry go ahead no I also think because it's like one of those things that is that but also not taken away from I do think there's so much information now but what content should or shouldn't be and like business people saying that your content should be this or this that like I feel like they hate that's what I'm saying they hate what they think it should be yes they're trying to they're trying to play this persona of what they're supposed to look like online yeah yeah yeah that makes that makes perfect sense um I forgot my I forgot my last point was going to be on that but it was

going to be a good one um okay quote number two then stop looking online for ideas instead get outside, walk and give yourself creative space to let your mind wander and see what comes up. Explain this one for me. Because I think, I love how you're doing this. I didn't know this is how we were going to do things. This is so much fun. So I think that people, that they just have looking for inspiration ideas all wrong. So many people will look online at other people for their ideas. And yes, none of us have an original idea. I get that. It comes from somewhere. But you are so much more likely to get out. I think, as an example, say if you love painting, really random, say if you love painting, and you're an online coach, painting, online coach, nothing to do

of each other, okay? But if you took half hour for yourself to do something that you loved and just let yourself flow and paint, you would probably have so many more ideas, not probably, I'm going to put out there, I think you would have so many more ideas about how you could connect to people, things that you're passionate about, rather than just sitting and scrolling and watching other people sitting on a bench in a gym talking about the same fucking shit. Do you know what I mean? Like, so I just, when I say that, I feel like we're looking for inspiration in the wrong things. Like, you need to find your own way to do things. And I also think it's like such a good way then to make sure you're always going to have, like, you're always going to have

similar ideas to other people in your industry. Because there's only so many things you can talk about, yeah. But I do think if you make a conscious effort to try and find your ideas outside, like just without music or walking around or doing things that you, like, Rather than online, you're less likely to be creating content like other people. And even if something does is similar to someone else's, you know and yourself, or that's just because it's a similar topic. I came up with that idea when I was out on my own. Do you know what I mean?

That makes perfect sense. I have a great quote for you. So Ernest Hemingway said, in order to write about life, first you must live it. And I think about this, when I watch some people's content online and they're really good storytelling. And it's like, because you're right, we might all be talking about like, in, in the context of an online coach, it might be like macros and calories and steps

and resistance training. But the ones that really stand out for me are the ones that have, you know, personal stories about their life. Like, I'll give you an example. I was, I follow a relationship coach. And she was talking about the other day, how she was on the tube. And she was, there was these two young,

good looking people standing on the tube. And she just glanced over. and looked at them they were both on their phone they were both like probably young single like looked like they'd be a great match for each other and she glanced at the phone and the both of them were scrolling on hinge and did their uh while they were outdoors and then she spoke about then basically through that experience of her watching that how kind of uh you know people are going for kind of online dating and and and realizing that there's probably people straight in front of their face if they kind of opened their eyes yeah so i was thinking like that's a really good story or a really good content a

really good piece of content that she created from being outside and going on the tube and then she took that idea and she brought her home and she created something really really good with that and I was like yeah like if you go out and experience things you'll probably have a lot to say in your content but if you're just at home on your phone looking at other people's content and then trying to replicate something similar you probably could quickly run out of ideas or it wouldn't be original to your life yeah exactly yeah um next one what would you post if all of your followers were in a group chat. Yeah.

Explain that. What do you mean by that? Because, mate, if you go back to some of my early content, it's wild. So I was nothing like me. Does that make sense? Explain that to the listeners. There was like two versions. And I think I would say a lot of people are either experiencing this now or have experienced it.

Yeah? Like especially as online coaches or people that work online where I had who I was as Maria in real life in the group chat saying the unhinged things, the inside voices, like, whatever. And then I had like Maria that was work mode, which, but it wasn't that I was, I'm not saying, of course there are some things you might not say to a client or at work, but it was like the whole thing switched, even things like what I thought that interest that I liked that I thought might be a bit too geek. I'm a buffy nerd, mate. I'm obsessed. Like, this is literally, I've got all this kind of stuff like around my office. Like everything is,

But I went for a phase of thinking like, that's like childish or like people won't take me seriously if like I need to be this set thing. And I feel like a lot of people put their scripts together or a show up online like almost like they're putting a seat like at how you would on a seat. And they're like, oh my God, you know when you're younger and they go write a covering letter for a fucking job. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're literally like what are your what are your weaknesses? Do you know what? I'm just such a perfectionist. I just want everything to be the best.

Like, you know this bullshit you clive when you're trying to get the job. But it's not where. I feel like people talk like that in their content, whereas, and then they'd go home in the group chat, be like, oh my God, that was fucking joke. I can't believe. And I feel like you need to speak to the people, your audience, how you would in a group chat,

because something else that I found when I was coaching, because I did used to coach in the beginning, before I started to the last year that I was coaching, I found my voice more. And I noticed when I found my voice more, I've had clients that were more like me because I was getting people coming in that I was coaching,

that had been attracted to this polished Maria, who didn't swear. I swear every other word, do you know what I mean? But I never used to swear. And then when they were then coming in and I was then on calls of them or whatever, I was never like fully myself around them and I felt like I had to have this front

when I was even coaching them. And it was how, whereas if you're yourself off the back talking like in a group chat, when you get someone on a call, they know what to expect. You're not like hiding away like part of it. I had this conversation with Rachel Henley and we were talking about how like,

okay, your content. is almost like the start of your coaching process because like the people who were coming into you will know exactly what they're coming into because they've already kind of bought into you and the message you say and how you say it as well. So basically what you're saying is say the unhinged thing. Yeah.

And I think that's true though because I do think they, I don't think anyone should be come right. You know this whole like selling what they want, give them what they need? I think like you're within reason, but no one should be actually coming into your, coaching service and getting surprised. Yeah.

They should know. So something that I've come up with people, I've worked with clients and we're working on, obviously, improving their content, helping them talk to ideal client is people are leaving sort of like after, say, eight weeks. But they're leaving and they don't, but they're leaving after eight weeks because on the front end, they're talking about an eight week challenge or get shredded or whatever. And then when they're in the business, the coach is like, but I want this to be like sustainable. And I'm like, but your messaging is all wrong.

Does that make sense? Like you can't expect they're coming in for one thing. it has to align. So that's another thing. I think your content, yes, of course, when you get into the business and your coaching,

you go much deeper and there's a lot, we know that it's more than food and training, of course. But at the front end, you might not talk about all the more in-depth stuff because the people at the beginning

of the journey don't really realize that. Once they're in and you'll coach them, it's your job to take them through that journey and depending on what stage they're at, open them up to new things to help them on their way. So yes, the front end, your content won't be all about that. but it should be the starting points that when they're working through it it's not like you just dropped a bombshell on him

yeah that makes perfect sense like I could say if I was thinking about my own business or I obviously you know a lot of my content now is around community and connection like when the people come in to work on the school of fitness program now they know that all we're going we're going all drinking together every once a month or we're going for a high care like every every every every quarter or whatever it is or we're going to run an event like they know that they're coming in and And then part of this is you have to kind of get involved in the community. Yes. Because it's in the messaging and then it follows up into the actual coaching. Yeah. I can't imagine anyone comes into your world call and is like, I'm not really, like, I don't really, I'm not social. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Or they don't want, or that they don't want to be social or they don't want to meet people. Yeah. Yeah. And that's another thing that I think people find. So you speak about community and you show your community. Another thing, just for like any coaches that are listening. Some of them have like one-to-one and they want to build this community,

but they've never spoke about it on the front end. And then they're getting frustrated that inside the business, they haven't got this thriving WhatsApp community or people aren't wanting to do meetups and stuff. Well, I mean, firstly, that takes a lot of work and effort. I feel like as a business, like, something I respect massively about you is that you've built this huge community because also it is very hard to do. I think people just think, I'm going to start a group chat and everyone's going to be. No, you have, like, it takes effort to build that community.

but you at least need to be feeding it in the beginning to sort of get people in does that make sense? Yeah, it makes perfect sense and that kind of follows on from your next quote which I really, really loved

which was followers don't build businesses, communities do. Is this a common mistake you see with creators that they're kind of too fixated on the numbers and not really on the service of their community, if that's what they are selling

and want to sell? Yes. If we're speaking just about coaches, like who I predominantly work with, But yeah, massively. I think we're tracking the wrong metrics. And like the numbers. And also we know that like, say, an engagement piece of content is going to,

or like a certain type of content is going to perform more engagement-wise than maybe like a selling or not even a strong sell, but like a connection piece of content. But so a prime example, sorry, can I just give an example of this? Yeah, yeah, please. Because I feel like people do this. Right. I have people that don't want to post their client wins or testimonials or whatever on their stories because their story views drop.

And I'm like, okay. That's interesting. But you're not just using your stories for like loads of views. What's the point in having 500 views on your stories if no one's buying? Because prime example, I do this. So every, I have a course and once a week I will do something on my story pushing people to the course. I know engagement is going to drop on that. But that sounds because the people that drop off aren't going to, but they're not actually the people I can really.

help once they're in anyway. So my story views dropped right. And again, I jumped like, I had 53, sorry, views on a story post, which was like purposely after a few posts about my course, yeah. Some people would be like, oh my God, 50 feet, free, why can I speak? Fifty three. You're going to make the Irish man say tree all the time, Maria. Three view. I made a sale on my course off the back of that. Does that make sense? Yeah. So I'm like, that's sound. And then I'll have a break and I'll do some more fun engagement stories just where I'm just trying just because I want to chat shit and that's sad. But people will be like that real fucking bond.

And I'm like, did you get like a one good conversation of it that that person's actually now, you actually could help that person with your coaching. So it's having like, I think it's knowing that different pieces of content serve a different purpose. And yes, you can absolutely have growth pieces of content in there if you want to push out 100%. But then you cannot judge all pieces of content on that same metric because you also should have social proof. You also should have like posts specifically for starting conversations and building connection with the people that eventually you can properly help one to one. So you need to know what

each post is for and not get caught up and just like this followers number. And something that the reason that stuck in me like stuck in me, whoa, but stuck to me like so much is because when I started I'm going to clip that and put that as the as the as the starting point of the podcast. Come on. Sorry. I came from this old belief, which I think loads of people do, and I'm going back to like, probably when I met you actually, like 2020 or 2020 or whatever, of like, okay, big following equals big successful online coaching business. And to have that, I need to do X, Y, and Z in my content and be like X, Y, and Z who are doing this. And then just how life went and my journey, I was coaching and I worked as a set up for a while inside of business mentorship.

Obviously, my husband now works with coaches. I know a lot of of coaches. I started to see sort of the behind the scenes of this like glittery, shiny social media front of someone's business. And I suddenly found like I had, was meeting people that had what people would deem successful on Instagram with these huge following, followings that had not a lot of clients, really struggling financially. And above all, weren't fucking happy. Do you know what I mean? And then I was meeting people that I may have potentially, hand on heart probably dismissed, because I bought into this lie. So I was people with maybe three or four, thousand followers that are an online coach and that voice i'm going to be honest because i feel like a lot

of people do think it still was like i've just got three four thousand followers like then i'm not kidding you 60 70 clients earning so much and i know it's not all about money but money gives you freedom and if you're doing something that you love they're having an impact on 60 70 people their attention's great they're loving their life they're loving their business they're going on these holidays and i was like what the fuck because it just went against everything we'd been told on social media do you know what i mean so it's so it's so her It's so hard to not fall into that trap though because we're so obsessed with numbers, aren't we? And it's such a visible, tangible thing to see.

That video did better than that video. So therefore, that video is better than that video. Even if, like, the other one can, it might be more meaningful to someone and might help someone. It might help your business. It might get your client, whatever it is. Yeah. And also, I just, I really have, like, I do keep coming back to this thing lately of like, even if some people might not think it, I truly believe content creation is an art.

It's like it's a form of like it's becoming like the new kind of filmmaking. Like there are extremely talented editors and storytellers that are now becoming content creators because they don't have to follow a script or get to know a producer or do whatever. They can put their own work and their own message out there, which is so amazing. And they're doing it. And like any form of art, it's like it's subjective. Like no one, you can't say this is good and this is bad. It's all personal opinion.

So it does not matter. Like you have to, this is when it then comes back to, like I said, everything comes back to are you being true to who you are. Because I honestly believe, yes, of course, the numbers can get in you. So I'm not saying that it won't be like if something didn't, you might be like, oh, I thought that was going to do better. But if you know that that was something you were passionate about and you were yourself in that and you put that out, even if it quote unquote flops, it never hurts as much. Like my account is very small. I haven't even got 4,000 followers. also I think because of the switch

I went from coaching to then doing what I do now my audience isn't all coaches so I've got like a lot of mixed people in there my reals I can do reels that literally get 500 views I can hand on heart say I'm never sad about that because I know in every piece of content I'm myself yes sometimes I'm like oh I thought that would have slapped a bit more

it doesn't whereas before when I potentially was getting more views being like a different kind of version of myself I would really take that to heart but I think when you're comfortable and your messaging and you know your mission and you're putting yourself out there like that. It's like, it's who I am. That's Sam.

You can let it go more like. And I like that reframe that you see online all the time where it's like a video and it's like, oh, your video and you got 100 views and then it goes to like 100 people in a room. And it's like, that's that's packed. But what I wanted to ask is if someone would probably come onto your page now,

let's say a content creator, someone who's aspiring to be a content creator and trying to build their page. And they'd be like, oh, Maria looks really confident on camera. Oh, she's just really natural at doing this. So my question probably is, how do people get to that stage of, like, really stiff and trying to be really polished to, like, for it, it will come across as you're just yourself naturally. How did you get to that stage?

I think conscious effort. I would record myself. and I still do it now. I'll still have like a rough outline of what I want to say and I'll say it and then afterwards I'll be like, shake it off, that was fucking weird. Like that isn't how I'd actually say it again.

So I'm not afraid to redo stuff. Yep. I have been doing it for a long time now. Yeah. So although I said practice isn't everything, but practice when you're practice and actually being yourself does help. So if someone's listened to this and actually want,

I do think it's good to have like practical steps. My first thing and I do this with clients is if you need to get on, stories, start talking on your stories. Yeah, like, practically speaking, like, actually film yourself in stories. It's gone in 24 hours. If you fuck up, you fuck up. You just get used to seeing your face.

You get used to speaking your opinions out there. And just like, almost like, if you've got, if you, you almost want to have that feeling in your stomach that you're like, oh, someone might not like this. And if you have that feeling, that's actually a good feeling because it means you're probably being honest about what you think. So practice putting it out on your stories. That's so true. Because when I say my most controversial opinions, I'm like, oh, I'm probably.

going to offend people that I actually really like, but actually really, I really believe what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. So I think like practicing that. Also, another thing is you really have to put the focus not on you, but on the other person. So I do think for coaches, again, there's a hundred ways to do content. I honestly think it all works. What you need to do is find the way that works for you. So if the way I do things helps a coach and that clicks of them, that's fucking sound. If what I'm saying, saying doesn't resonate with you, that's also sound find someone else. But what I think is is you need to find one way and sort of give it a go. At the minute there's so much information

people are trying stuff from everywhere. But I do personally, I have clients do it. I think you need to know who you help. So I do think it is useful, very useful to have a real clear idea of your ideal client. And two to three, almost like content themes, which are the main things that they struggle with. So take the basics, which are training and training and nutrition, yeah so when you are stuck rather than thinking what am i going to say what am i going to do put it on them like what are they struggling with what are they finding hard about training you're you're ruining my next quote of yours because you're going to say

i was going to say shift them from i centric content to wee centric content that's something that you said that i thought was really really good yeah which is massive and i so i actually and this is someone that everyone i think should follow because i think she's amazing there's a girl called julia broom her name is julia brum her name is do the room. And she's a content creator, but very educational. So she worked for like seven years behind the scenes for people like huge influences and celebrities running their accounts. Yeah. And then literally I think it was like last year she started to put herself on like TikTok and stuff and like share. So all of her stuff is just like like tips for actual advice,

tangible stuff. Everything she speaks about, I've learned quite a lot from her as around the community and making it more about people. And it was one of those things that I kind of knew. And then when she was talking about stuff, I was like, oh, that's, knowing you're doing something and it's working, and then you figure out, someone tells you why it's actually working. You're like, oh, I get that now,

but that's what I was doing. I just didn't realize that that was what it was about kind of thing. So she's the first one that, a person I learned from that, I was like, oh, that makes so much sense, icentric, re-centric. So basically it's making it not about you and I'm making it about the people who are helping, but like your community.

So like a really good example of this. I actually literally had this conversation with a client this morning that wanted to do like, she was talking about a carousel idea she had. She wanted to do like a week in the life. And I was like, okay, I love that concept. Don't do a week in the life. Like because you're making it about you. My week in my life.

Like change it. Just literally changing the front cover of that and it being like, let's get through a week together with one less many be. Like literally that, that one change making it about us. Like you're bringing them along with you. Instead of like, get ready with me for the gym, like, no, let's change. It's not get ready with you. It's like, let's pick an outfit together.

Literally that one change makes people feel like they're involved. It's like that FaceTime friends kind of. Yeah, well, it's like we just spoke about it. It's like you're watching your own show of the person that you know. Yes. And someone who does this so well, again, I didn't know that she did this, but I am a bit of a fan, not a bit, huge fan of Chrissy Chella. I don't know.

So she was like a fitness influencer PTO, whatever. She now has like honoractive, which is a clothing brand, which is massive. And she does this app as well, which is huge. But watching her and now learning about community and how people, people want to feel part of the journey. They don't want to see the finished product. They want to, for the people to connect, they want to feel on the journey with you.

And stuff like when she was building her, I don't know if she did this subconsciously, if she did this intentionally, but it followed the exact blueprint of basically building a perfect community and a great brand, whether she knew it or not. Rather than just dropping a clothing line, she spoke about it with her community from the beginning and she asked questions, like, what length leggings do you want? Like, I found you, what do you like this top or this top? I've got two colours. What colour would you prefer? I like this thing. And like the audience, as like a viewer, like I'm saying, I'm like, I bought Honoractive as soon as it fucking dropped. Did you know what I mean?

And I just because you felt so involved in process of like, and that's what the best, when you then think about that, when you then think about other, you'll probably watch other content creators now or like brands and stuff and you'll be like, oh my God, that brand does that. And I love that. I literally just taking of examples as you were talking about that. I was thinking about the lad who ran from like the bottom of Africa to the top of Africa. And he used to check in every single day running. And I felt like I was along on the journey with him because he did it daily. Yes. And then when he finished, I was like, yeah, go on, Russ. or whatever it was.

Exactly. And that, you can do that with anything. Does that make sense? And even, like, to put it back to coaching, just because I don't know if you do have, I'm guessing, I would imagine you have a lot of coaches listening. But like, say if something I see people make a mistake doing is they'll like, say, launch a new program.

But it comes out the fucking blue with some random, like, launch now, like, thing. And it's like, ah, no, you could even take. And this must be like a business. it's obviously a business concept. Like there's got to be stuff. But you could take it to it. Like ask your audience. Like I'm making some tweaks to my program.

Be open to it. Like what kind of stuff do you struggle with? Like do you think you'd prefer check-ins once a week or fit? I don't know. You play around of it. Do whatever you think. But just showing people inside what you're doing or like, like inside your process of what you're doing.

It just makes people buy into you. Once they're bought into you, like they'll keep buying. So like that Chrissy Chelloves and then drop this, mate. she's fucking everything she touches seems to turn to gold but she's not lucky if you look back

it's like she's really kept her community involved from the beginning and she gives back and yeah I don't have that that also shows the importance of like consistently showing up

because you're not gonna feel like you know someone and you're not gonna trust someone and you're not gonna buy someone if you're not consistently then showing up I think that's the important thing as well I think another good thing

that you even said like not making it all about you as well because if you're also not comfortable talking on camera yet like being like well if you're taking the onus away from you it's like all right well i'm not going to talk about myself then i'm going to talk about this idea and if this idea helps someone else then it's like you're not in your head about you anymore it's more about the idea which probably makes it a little bit more easier to talk about like i got i got i definitely noticed when i first started um showing up on camera that you know it was easier for me to

just talk about training and nutrition rather than just, you know, show up as myself and just like say any shit because and even if it was maybe a little bit robotic or a little bit polished or a little bit kind of like overly scripted. Like it was, it got me through that phase of being on camera to then to be comfortable on camera. But also, do you not think you doing that though, Carl was also you weren't talking about nutrition for you. You were talking about it because you were so passionate. It comes through everything. so passionate about the misinformation that other, you didn't want anyone else to suffer because of this. So even if you were scripted or even if it, you like the videos flow better now and this

was when you were smart now, you still weren't thinking, well, it doesn't come across like you were thinking, what am I, this video is for me. It was like you were passionate about, we're talking about calories because I don't want you to feel like you're a useless human being because you can't stick to these calories. They're too low. So again, still, your focus was on. Yeah, I found out an idea and I was like, oh my God, I need to share this with everyone because this is really interesting even if no one else sounded interesting which I'm still doing. Helpful tips for creators. So this one is an interesting one. So and I know you've talked about this anyway in terms of like building authority versus like being yourself. Like even if yourself

is like you know just whatever, silly goose, whatever it is. It's like how can people find that balance between all right. I want to I want to be known as an authority. want to like show up and like be respected but I also like I'm I'm not that I'm see I'm not that serious you know what I think I find I definitely find that I definitely find I still struggle to find the balance between like all right I'm a business owner I have employees like I need to present myself in a certain way and I'm definitely not them things you know what I'm not I'm not responsible like I'm not a boss I don't like telling people what to do. Like, I am quite reckless. Like, so it's kind of like finding that balance

between, you know, my personality and the characteristics of, you know, someone who wants to build something of significance, I think. Yeah. Does that make sense? Yes, it does. And I love this question because I've been like, so this is my take on this. I think authority, people are thinking about it wrong. I think authority is earned and it comes from your. actions, yeah? So to me, you are an authority, Carl, because what you preach is community, caring for others, moving your body because you can move your body, like looking after each other. You're, if I, even if none of the world saw you, one of the Instagram world saw you, I can trust you would move through your day to day life with those being your core values and

you would act in accordance to them. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah. You don't need to, that is the authority because you are, this is how I see it that that's what it is does that make sense yeah yeah tell anyone that i think and i think the same with coaches if you the only time this comes conflicted and i'm going to use me as an example because it's just easier to use to use myself as this is if you are not practicing what you preach now it doesn't mean that you have to be an online coacher and every other area of your life is fucking perfect no but you need to be practicing what you are telling your clients yeah so if you are a relationship with food coach, yeah, of course you don't need to be fucking shredded,

but you should naturally be waking up and moving your body for enjoyment and because you love it, because that is who you are. You should be naturally having a donut and then stopping and you're then maybe having a salad because it's more nutrient dense. Like you should be living that life. Yeah. So you acting that way and just being that is the authority. The issue comes when you're not in alignment with that. So like when I met you actually, when we met for the first in barley like 2021 i was coaching i was coaching more well it started off as fat loss and then i really fell into like relationship with food stuff and because of my own history with food and i was really passionate about that now in that time in my life in balaily and before going for a breakup life went

crazy i had all i'd suffered with bulimia for a lot of years now that came back with a vengeance when i was in Bali yeah so I was then preaching self-care self-love nourishing yourself and then behind closed doors binging and purging there was such a disconnect there that I couldn't show up does that make sense yeah that so that that is when there is an issue so if you are a coach balaumic coach I don't mean that but like if you are if you're not practicing what you preach and you're not in it and you've got your own issues that doesn't mean that you're a finished product because you could still be a relationship with food coach, just going with that example,

and being mindful that certain situations trigger you, but you're leading by example in the way that you know what those situations are and you take the steps you need because you're human, but you know how to navigate that. But if you're like not actually doing the things that you say you are, that needs to be addressed. And I personally don't think you should be helping people

if you haven't got that stuff sort. it goes back to what you even said at the very, very start was like that, you know, most of this comes down to, if you want to be a good content creator, you want to be good in business or whatever it is, it's like most of it comes down to knowing yourself or healing yourself or to feel comfortable in yourself. Yeah. And then when you're comfortable with yourself and you're sharing more of your stuff,

and people can see the actions that you're taking help build the authority. And then stuff like the evidence you've got from helping people, and actually how you'll talk about a topic will be able to. authoritative without you even trying to be authoritative. I remember I watched this. I love a vlog, yeah? And I've got a bit like a bit into it in a weird way, whereas now I'm like, a bit analysing stuff. As in like, when I like something, I'm like, wait, pause. I'll literally pause YouTube and be like, why do I like her? Like, what is it about her? Because you can learn a lot from stuff like this. And there was this one girl who, I can't remember her name, but basically

she's in New York. She's doing different bits. She went and played tennis. She was just showing her day-to-day life. Well, within her day-to-day life, she was just so active and, like, taking care of herself and so kind to herself, but without at any point saying, come with me to be an active girl in the weekend. She was just doing the things. I found myself just watching her play tennis, thinking, oh my God, I think I want to play tennis. But I would, but it was, it was just because I was watching her actually do the stuff. Yeah. But also then get some vloggers, and to me, this is the stuff that I don't like. Like, come with me. for a healthy thing. So I'm going to make my green juice. And when you're telling me, I'm like,

no, I want to watch visually this like had more respect or connected more of the, with the woman that was just doing it. Then just it's almost like you're, you're, even though they are recording themselves or they're being recorded, it feels like they're not. They're not even trying and you're, you're just watching them rather than them trying really hard to get you to watch them. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was, I think it was Gary, who had a really good quote and he was like don't don't create document and I thought that was really good as well but obviously you do have to create but as well but like I think it can be if if you're just documenting your life and you're not trying and people are invested in that like

that's nearly a win-win is it because it's like you're not even trying you're just living your life and people are just engaged in that yeah yeah it's interesting one another one I wanted to ask about, well, actually, I want to go into loads of different things. So, loads of different, like, just even the small tips that kind of will be helpful for people. So first one I was going to ask about is thumbnails. Are they important, especially for those just starting out, what exactly is a thumbnail for those listening who might be just starting out? Yeah, of course. So your thumbnail is basically like the front cover that you use for like your reels or your videos on your Instagram. So when someone comes to your page, they are what they see.

So I think, I do think they are important, but for a different reason, maybe to how we've been told, so to speak. So I, the actual video itself and the context of the video and like what you're putting out is the most important. Yeah. So I'd always focus on that first, yeah. I just think thumbnails are great because when someone does come onto your page, say if you've got a bunch of reels out and you've just posted them with no thumbnail, it's just paused at a random time. I always come back to this, we're not that special, yeah? People don't know us. They ain't just going to scroll and just randomly hope that they land on something, yeah? You literally need to spoon feed people, whereas if they land on your page and there's just a sentence or just basically just summarize the video in a sentence or a few words on the front and it's about an issue that they're having if you're a fitness coach and it is about like late night eating or something like that, they're more like they can then go on that and find the video that's for them.

That reason I think is important. Also, and this is just me because I'm just, I love just everything fun and colourful. I think fonts, thumbnails, colours, they're all ways that you can express yourself and get more of your personality out there. So I'm not saying get into a fucking hole and spend hours creating all these detailed thumbnails. However, like, I do think having, I like, I do put a bit of thought into mine because there's like, I like more cartoony fonts. I love pink. I love sort of naughty's 90s. like so all of that is that kind of vibe so straight away when you come to my page you can tell i'm not like

clean girl active health like do you know what i mean you get that straight away and i just love the opportunities to show little bits of yourself because i love that creative process and i do encourage people to do that so i feel like if you can have a play around but if you are not that sort of creative inclines like you're not as fuss about that that that's fine but i would always make sure that there is like a clear description of what that video or something is about so just to make it easier for the viewer to, if they come, they find a couple of reels of yours, they watch them, sick, their sound, oh, go to their page, oh, what else is it about? Because I just, I know personally, if I can't see, I'm like, I'm not going to scrap. Yeah, it makes sense. It's almost like the

analogy of, like, chapters in a book. If you want to go to a certain chapter, you need to know of how to find it, and there it is. Another one I wanted to ask you was, if an account seems dead, is it the content, or should they just delete the account to start again? Because I know I was talk to a few people who deleted their accounts recently to start again because they were like their their accounts dead. Is that like, is that a legit tactic or, or is it just that people need better content? I think, well, I know it is a legit tactic. I mean, because I'm very friendly and I worked with how I started getting into content was through Simon at Strong Media. And I know that he's had some clients where they have actually had like dead accounts and he's had them close

him down. And when they've restarted, it's still making the same type of content, but on a fresh account, it has got pushed like it's got pushed out and they've got more traction. I don't know the ins and outs of that. And I can only think of one person that comes to mind that that has happened to. That doesn't mean there's not more. That's just all I know of. I, the amount of people that say to me, I just think my account's dead. And I look at it and I'm like, oh, I don't actually think it is.

I think it's like you're not like they might say their account's dead. Yeah. Or they haven't posted a lot or another, again, because I get to see sort of inside some accounts, people running, again, it goes back to community that we spoke about before. People run in a lot of ads. There's nothing wrong with ads. Of course, they're apart. There can be a strategy that we use, but they run a lot of ads and they get a lot of eyes on their stuff.

But there's no community on the page. There's no interactions in the page. Naturally, people aren't commenting unless it's like comment for a resource. And maybe even then they're not really commenting because they're not used to. Like there's no like actual feeling of like community on the page. So that is when I would look at the content. And also it depends on what you're doing. Because so when I started doing this,

I thought I started a separate account because I was like, oh, should I start a separate account? Because people had said, again, like Simon said I could or I couldn't. It didn't matter, but he just told me each way. One, because I could start again

and basically with the idea being I'd build the audience of like coaches and creators rather than quite unquote regular people that are already in my audience. But it depends how you measure it. because I kept my current account and yeah probably 70% of them are none who I'd work with

but I'm helping people I have one to one clients off the back of that I'm doing like I'm doing everything I want still with that account that I'm happy with that because I'm not chasing hundreds of thousands of thousands of folks does that make sense?

Yeah it makes sense also you can think about it in a way of like all right maybe the 70% who aren't following you maybe they followed you from like a past life and such like that but you never know some of them might decide oh I'm going to I'm opening in a coffee shop business or a bakery business. Oh, who do I know who's, who can help me with advertising and marketing?

Oh, yeah, Maria works with loads of people in terms of that. Like, so I, yeah. I think, I think myself, obviously, there's probably no right or wrong answer. And like, you know, like things with social media change all the time. Like, you never really know for a certain. But if I was to guess, I would say that the more people who say that their account is dead, then not it's probably an issue that their content's dead. Or like an example.

So someone I spoke to the other day was like, I think there's something wrong with my account. Like I'm posting on stories and I'm getting like barely any views. Like I know what you post because I follow you. You only come up post on your stories when you want to sell something. That's not that it's dead. But try this. Try getting on there just about normal life and speaking because people switch off.

If you're only showing up on your stories twice a week to just go, I'm looking for five. One stop doing that. I absolutely fucking hate it. But too, no wonder people are like, oh. Can I ask you a question off the back of that? Because it was one of my questions. So is there a good ratio between like sharing your personal life and selling a

service or products? And I suppose there's also in between that I just give them value, isn't there? Yeah. So I have like a, I don't want to say sister. That sounds so wanky. But like how I do it with clients is I like the rule of sort of like 70% for them, 30% for you. So I like to have three posts a week.

that are specifically for the ideal client to help them in some way. And within those three posts, your call to action, so we'll use the standard. Say if it is like training, nutrition, mindset. So one post for training, one nutrition, one mindset every single week. Maybe you also have a lead magnet that is around relationship with food. And you could link that into the call to action of your food posts. You've got that going out. So I like to do those three of them.

I then also like to have what I call like personal brand storytelling post which is something for you which is sharing your life, your experience doesn't need to be anything about fitness I say to people all the time like if you fucking love reading start and you start sharing it

maybe have a post a week when you do what you're reading show your book club Lewis has a client Bex she's an amazing coach she's brilliant and she was just saying about how in her group chat she was talking about something and then she's now they've now started a book club just because which is nothing to do you know what I mean

but like if you like that or if you love going to gigs and you love a certain type of music, do it, do that for yourself. And then I always have like social proof on there. So they're kind of like the five posts that I say are like non-negotiable. You're three for that, your own story, something for you and then you're social proof. But then also I think there's no heart, there's then also no harm with showing more. As long as you're showing enough to help the clients, so you're doing what you can to tick, tick the boxes, so to speak, to move your business forward to have a bigger impact. If you want to share more stuff, share more. stuff. And I think some coaches should try doing that a bit more. Like, have, I did a post-satchel

in it. I said about, you know, how everyone has, like, filming days, which is sound, like, add in, like, experience days. So if you're someone that's like, oh, I just don't know what part of my life to share or I don't know, I don't, and you are just doing health fitness, health fitness, and you don't know where to start with, like, personal brand or whatever, just literally plan a fun day. That's fun to you, not for Instagram. Maybe it is like going for a walk, going for your favourite coffee shop and then whatever and just take your phone and just practice documenting it like how you said that

quote from just practice doing that and then put like a little reel together doesn't need to be fantastic doesn't need to be whatever but just have fun playing around and creating stuff that isn't all fitness and just see how you enjoy it and then that's you showing a little bit of you without it being like this huge

pressure thing yeah that's a great advice and that's what I was going to ask about that I was going to ask like is the room for flexibility in a content plan which obviously there is then. Yeah, so with mine, we have said the post that is, like personal brand storytelling is whatever you want that week.

So it might be that week you've gone to a gig. It might be that week you've gone for like the first date night with your husband without your baby. Like if you're about, do I mean, it could be whatever, but something that's fun. Maybe you have just watched like a sick film. Maybe you literally just jump on and you've watched like that new, what's it,

Happy Gilmore 2 and you're like, what the fuck is it? You just have a lie talk about. It could be whatever, but so there is flexibility in that. But like I said, to the structure I'm not that I'm not flexible with because I feel like that from working with quite a few coaches now. I've seen that that works to help you get conversations started, whatever. But within that, of course, yes, talk about different topics and different things. Do you think that's one of the mistakes that content creators make is that they don't have that kind of content plan in place that like they are just like deciding to wake up.

What am I going to post today or kind of just winging it? yeah and I don't think I don't think well actually no hang on let me think I'm going to say I don't think that's a bad thing but I yeah I do think it's a bad thing only because I I think people think that a plan is like restrictive yeah but I actually think a plan can help you be more creative and it's the same with like time management when you're like oh I used to be like this I used to like I'm go I'm go lucky I do whatever I want I'm just like whatever time come, but was always be rushed with no time and stressed. And the second that I actually gave myself a bit of a time, a plan, I was like,

oh my God, I'm like not as anxious as I thought I was. I say this to clients all the time in terms of like routine gives you flexibility. 100, yeah, 100%. So I do think having that plan in place. And I do think it's a hard one as well because I do think there's a, right, as an online coach, you are, you do become a content creator. like you can't, what you call it, argue that. You have to put content.

If you want to work online, you of course have to be online. It's stupid. If you genuinely do hate it and you're on them people that are like, I just hate content. I know it's harsh, but I would rethink what you're doing because you can't have both. So do you know what I mean? But with that, a content, like,

that isn't your first job. Your first job is an online coach, a coach helping people and using social media. media and your content creation for your marketing, which helps you get more clients. So I think rather than chasing, I think maybe people are taking advice from viral content creators or people that want to like have brand deals and collaborations, which is all amazing, but that's a completely different industry to an online coach trying to get business for their coaching.

So actually having that plan in place where you have like, you know what you're talking to for your ideal client, but then of course, if you do find that you also love content, you have those couple of posts a week where you can experiment and do for you, that's sound, but you're making sure you're ticking those boxes that move the business forward. But I think a lot of people miss that because they're suddenly like, I need to get loads of followers and be like really online famous. And it's like, yeah, you can do it, but you need, what do you want? Because they're two separate industries.

Yeah. I would say even probably the influencers who want brand deals, I would imagine they even have content plans. Like I would imagine they're like very rigid that I'm going to post this day, this day, to stay, this day, to stay. Yeah. And they were a job. So they'll have to show up every, like they literally have to show up every day.

Who is it that's the like huge YouTube like they has the most subscribers in the world. Mr. something. My fucking nephew. Who? Is it Beast? Yeah. Mr. Beast. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My nephew and niece always watch him on YouTube all the time. But like I remember he, I think he was talking on a podcast about the, like the level of like, the level of like depth that that they go into to make a video and the amount of money and stuff like that that they put behind that is quite literally insane but like obviously that's why like he is where he is it's just like an obsession yeah and that's kind of one of the questions that I wanted to ask about was like

okay obviously not a mr. beast level of investment but do you think like if you're going to you know create better content if you're going to take the serious like do you need to make sure that you invest in what you're doing and I mean that in terms of like you know should you go for a camera should you go for an iPhone should you pay for lighting should you invest in a good mic you know should you get a drone like what what give me give us all the kind of investment advice that you have for people starting off so I think a good phone if you have got a good phone like a good iPhone like the 16 or something with a good camera you don't need a camera however I do think sometimes it depends so person you are.

If having a camera means that you get in that mode to make content and it helps you be consistent with it, you of course can have a camera, but it's not a necessity. Does that make sense? DGIs are great. I know everyone has them. If you want one,

it is like they're great. But if you're like, oh, 600 quid for the creative combo and you don't need it. But again, it's just personal, what you think. I do think you should invest in a mic.

I think Mike's really a point. I think sound quality is really important. Do you have a gold standard that you could recommend for creators? Actually, I, all like, because I have a, when I film content, I have my actual camera where I have my, what brand is, I have my proper mics. Which I wouldn't probably recommend if you're just making for Instagram because they were very expensive and it's, I don't think it's necessary. But the DGI mics that you can actually just buy their mics and then link it to your phone are good. but so I've used that I have heard of others

but I haven't used them to know how good they are but I wouldn't I don't think you need to get gold like hundreds of pounds or whatever on a mic but I would spend a bit more than like the bottom level ones because you found you want it to be nice and then I do think

natural light and I always think is the best that's my favourite even when I film clients very rarely will use a ring light or anything because I like to do daytime filming however if you have a ring light for in your house or like something that clips onto your phone standard i think lighting does really help as well but sound lighting and then just the quality as long as you just wipe your camera down yeah that's a good that's a good tip that people would not think i had to say this to i had

i had a i have a client and she went over to um she went on a cruise for her 48 with her with her husband and her kids and uh she was like all these like pictures of napoli and stuff like that and i was like i was like ringer, like, if you're going to go on a cruise and you're going to get all these pictures of your family, go fucking wipe your camera because the dirt of it. The pictures were awful. It does make such a difference. It makes such a difference. So yeah, I think all of that, I think they're the main things, obviously. So yeah, mic sound, the light in and then obviously your camera like quality. But again, there's so many settings like your phone will do a decent amount. again though it is like the actual message in the content that is the most important and then

those little things I would actually say sorry if I'm jump ahead you might but more important than that is I would actually spend a bit of time getting better at your editing skills yeah doesn't mean you have to be a crazy weird like crazy and do loads of pop-ups or anything like that but just get used to the basic something that I've gone through with people recently clients and stuff that are now like sort of doing their own editing and just there's just a few little things like I say it all the time and sometimes especially someone like you and me that edit more often I think we sometimes forget what is normal to us 100% someone hasn't used capca or used they don't know but getting rid of the dead spaces between you speak so there's no ums and ours

like is a get can literally transform a video I had one client send me her video and I was like right I'm going to do two things on this I'm going to get rid of all your dead space in between I'm just going to speed the video up, just 1.1 on Capcut. Yeah, just slightly little quicker. And the whole pace of the video completely changed. And she was like, how did you do that? I was like literally like this, just those two things. And I said, and that was another thing.

She didn't have captions on it. It was a voiceover, but she hadn't got captions. I was like, so just those two things and they'll add captions. And straight away, the video is like, oh, because she's like, what's happening? Like, it's speedy is that kind of thing. So spending a bit of time on, I use Capcut. I know there's edits. I've used edits a bit.

but I just am a bit married to Capcut because I've got so used to it. But whatever you use, spending a bit of time, just learning a few things about that, just to visually make the video more interesting, would probably be of more benefit. Yeah, and I think as well, if you're, especially if you're new to content creation or you're new to getting your face on camera

and you are like quite, you know, stuttering a little bit and stuff like that, like it also builds a little bit of confidence that, or even if I stutter or even if I'm slowing what I'm saying, I'm just going to cut the dead space. And then on top of that then, I wanted to actually ask you about that like raw unedited videos, you know, people having a tangent in their car, you know, unedited versus heavily edited videos. What's your opinion on that? Do you think boatwork? Do you think that, you know, one works better than the other?

Do you think it's changing? What's your opinion? I love them both. And I think they both should be included to help you build your brand and your presence online. So I think, so again, so I'll have some of my clients. I have different things I do with clients. I say my clients I have that I do their filming and edit in for. So I will film them and we'll do like maybe one to two,

what I call high effort videos, yeah, where there is pop-ups. The colour on the screen is to them and their brand. I have purposely used fonts that reflect them, like memes are added in that are more to them, like that kind of stuff, which is brilliant. And I do think like, again, you don't think you need loads of them, maybe just one a week or one to two is great. But I still say to them, some of them do it, some of them don't, but I still encourage them.

You really should just film yourself on your phone completely natural now and then as well and get some videos out of you just talking your feelings because we don't want to see all Polish videos. I feel like the best like, I think I've referenced her in every single podcast that I've done because I'm so obsessive and I just love her. But Maya, you know Maya.

She to me has just, got it that perfectly. And I'm always wary when I say that because I don't want everyone then to be like, oh my God, I need to be like, Maya. No, the reason she's so good is because she is the most self-assured person I've met. She's only 25 and I'm like, I'm 35 and I want to be her when I grow up. I don't know how she's just so comfortable in herself that she'll, and she'll do such a mix that some days it's just her in her car. So it'll just be her in her car, the basic font. She's just talking something. Something's happened. She'll just be her talking. But then she'll do a couple of videos a week where she's clearly thought about it and it's about a topic that her

clients would care about and within that is edited memes that are so her like and what her people like like her vibe her tribe would get do you know what I mean like her ideal client and everything like that and she has that in and she has text and she has pop-ups but it's just such a nice mix and I think need that mix across do you think do you think like you said talking on your stories will obviously help making you comfortable to like record just you know raw on edited videos. And I also think sometimes set yourself a task. The task I've set clients before and I did this with myself.

And this came from Lewis, my husband. So we were literally in the car. And I was like, oh, I need to edit this thing. And you know how if you give yourself time to do it? It goes on for ages. And I was like, oh, I don't know if I've got enough footage for this. I need to whatever. It was just something for me.

And he was like, right, you've got 15 minutes. 15 minutes do we get home? Go. And I was like, right, go. So I literally created a reel out of what, like, what I had. And then from that, then came this thing where I do like to do it once a week where I'll be like, I'll just take my phone and be like, I'm going to do a voice over. I'm just going to create it in 15 minutes using whatever's already in my camera roll. And it would just be a task that I do. Or it might be like, I'm just going to film myself and post it in 15 minutes. And what it is, what is, is, is, like, I'm just going to edit it in 15 minutes and what it is. Like, I'm not going to overthink it. And practice getting out. Because I think too many people sit on it as well. And they'll, like, I had one client. She had like, she had three videos. One still hasn't been posted actually. This has reminded me. to follow up with her and be like, get it out. She'd had three videos that she'd edit that she then held off on posting. She wasn't sure about posting it. And I was like, I challenge you.

I think you need to just post that video. Like just post the reel up. And she was like, oh, I don't know. I just, I think I'll watch it one more time and see. And I said to I was like, look, if you watch that one more time, do you think that one more time is going to make you go, oh, yeah, actually, it's a brilliant video? Or do you think you're going to watch it one more time and be like, all those insecurities are already there that are telling you that you said that weird, that word wrong. And then your accent went funny there. and then that angle was that's all going to come in. So I said to her, my suggestion to her was give it to your boyfriend

because he's not going to let you post anything that's silly. He's not critical like you, how you are. Let him post it. Do you know what I mean? Because I think we're sitting on, you just have to fucking post it. And yeah, you might be embarrassed, but that's how you get better. Yeah, true. And it's like at the start as well, I used to hate listening to my own voice when I'd

even when I'd be editing in a video that I'm about the post, where now it doesn't bother me at all. I think that just comes from the repetition of Deona, doesn't it? Yeah, and you're used to hearing it. Everyone's voice, because you don't hear, also, have you noticed how in our heads we sound so different to what we do when we actually record? And if you're not, if up until now, you've been a PT, like,

basically up until now you've done a job that's nothing to do with online and you've never had to record yourself, not in TV, you're not dancing, not in film, not whatever. All you've ever heard is your voice in your own head. Like, you're not used to that. So, of course, when you hear it, it's going to be weird. And you're going to be like, why do I say? So it's just getting.

getting used to knowing like, no, that's my voice. That's okay. That's how I sounds. That's my action. That's all the us and us that I do. And I sound is a lot more intelligent than my head when I look back and listen to myself. Another thing I wanted to ask you, so do you think you need to show your face to build a social media presence and business? Like, I know you talked about carousels there and stuff like that. What about kind of written content? I do think you have to show your face. I think there will always be someone that, so you obviously don't have to. There'll always be a way to do it without, but I do think I personally wouldn't buy a service, if we're talking services, from someone without seeing their face. I can't build that trust.

If it's a product is a bit different, you don't need to have the founders face on there, but then you do need to have obviously proof that that product does what it says it does. So I would always encourage that, having your face out there. I think that's the best way for you to build trust and actually get your personality and your brand out there. However, if you're someone that loves writing, I think written content is brilliant and it serves a purpose. So I would 100% include it.

But also don't feel like you need to do it if it's not for you. I do think email is the best way to do that. I don't really think Instagram is the best way to get written content out of there. yes, you can do 20 carousel slides now. And I do think, like, if you've got, if you're passionate about something, there will be those people that stay to the end that also care about what you're talking about. But I think there are better platforms to do longer form written content on.

If it's, if it's longer form, like it's just no, nothing of long form really does that well on, on Instagram and Facebook and, and shorts and stuff like that, doesn't it not? But I think even them, them, them, I've noticed that them carousels of just putting a picture of yourself up and just a small bit of text. and that being like maybe eight, nine, ten slides. Some of them do really well. Some of them obviously not. But I thought there was like a bit of a comeback with them as well.

Yeah, carousels are performing really well. And I have like, so in my head how I do it is I have like, I see it as there's three different types of carousels. Okay. So in my head I have like storytelling carousels. And they to me do lean to more towards. So say if I was to give a client in a plan. a storytelling carousel. Obviously, I've tell them this before, so they know what that means.

But it will be like raw, normal pictures of you throughout the time, in the background, as many different pictures as possible, just to show different sides of you. No Canva, none of that, just write even in Instagram, just super simple, raw, authentic, what you're feeling about this story, this thing that happened to you in your life. They serve a great purpose for connection and people can learn more about you. I then also like carousels that are more like educational. and with them, I think I do more of, well, I know I do more of these. I like, I do love Canva. So it's a way of like having yourself in Canva, but you're using more like the Canva text.

You might have a few writing in there, some pop-ups. I love how carousels now have almost become like you can do mini videos on each slide. So you're showing a bit of personality, a bit of fun, but you're teaching like that kind of thing in there. And then you then have like what I'd call like your carousels that are like graphics. So there's no face on there. It's just text. It's just writing. which again would work it depends on you and your brand right there's people that that would fit

perfectly for maybe like a supplement brand or something explaining something in the science or a coach that is a lot more into the nitty grities of training or whatever that might so but say if you're a coach that just works with regular people that just want to know they want to be more entertained that might not work as well so there's kind of the three carousels I think of in my head and then depending on the topic that you want to write about they can kind of fall into one of them Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, the infographics are definitely like more like evidence base and the kind of science nerds will be following them. I follow some of them. And then I yeah, I can I can picture them in my head the different types now as well. What else did I want to ask? The last one was should beginners focus on any long form content or just stick strictly to to reels and shorts and getting better at that craft? I don't think there's any right or wrong with this. I think that's someone that loves creating,

like, because if we're just a regular person, doesn't matter what you do as whatever, I think I love YouTube. So I watch YouTube how I watch TV. Like the only TV I watch, I literally like my comfort shows that have been the same for 20 years. Yeah.

Yeah, Buffy. Yes, Buffy, Charmed, Gilmore Girls. That's like the only thing's in there. So I love YouTube. And I think it's, you can definitely show a lot more of yourself on YouTube. I think you can practice editing long. Edit in long form is completely different, I think to edit in like reels and stuff for Instagram.

I think the building community long term YouTube, I don't have a YouTube, but just from what I'm like learning and I'm seeing, like if you want to build like people that are, I mean people that watch you on your YouTube are your absolute fucking hide or dies. As you were saying that I was thinking yet, that makes sense because all I do is watch YouTube

and the people that I follow on YouTube, like I'm like I'm so invested in them. I can't. This might just be me, but Carl will just be me. There is a girl that I follow on YouTube. I found her on YouTube. I follow her on Instagram,

but I don't really decide. I don't really care about her Instagram. Her YouTube. My name's Mel. She lives in Florida. She's a martial artist, yeah, and I'm obsessed of her to the point where just in her, I have bought greens powders,

yeah, but the brand that she uses just because they're in the video. She's not promoting it. They're just video. know, and when I've gone to buy, because I do use greens powders, I'm like, oh, Mel had that bloom in her, oh, I'll try that. Because I just, does that make sense? If she does, she does actually tell me she uses a product? I'm like, maybe I could try that, because I do really trust her. Like, I do think those people on your YouTube are there, like, they're, like, they're, yeah.

So I also have to think, like, if you're watching them on YouTube, you're, like, compared to when you're scrolling on Instagram, like, that's the difference between you watching someone. for five minutes or 10 minutes or 15 minutes versus 30 seconds. Yeah. Some of the vlogs I've watched can be like 40 minutes. Yeah. When Mel drops a 40 minute blog on 14 day, how? Notification.

Notification comes up. I'm subscribed. I'm like, oh, that's just like my switch off time. And I'm like, she's got me. And there will be more people. So I do think if you're, I don't know what it is you're selling, what you're doing, but if you're actually thinking of building a brand or building a community, which with whatever it is, you're going to say,

sell you need community behind it to sell whatever that is in the long run anyway and you love creating youtube if you're someone that's like don't really have got the patience for it don't push yourself into it if you don't want to you don't need to do it um but i don't think there is this you have to be on this you have to be on that you have to i feel like you need to kind of in the beginning just do what you would enjoy more yeah every all the all the best answers are it depends and they're also the most boring answers You want to just, yeah, deal this, deal this, do this. The only thing I've all said, and I'm not on it, so I'm not on TikTok. Yeah.

Just because I'm not. I think I've got an account somewhere, but I've just never got into it. And then I just think I feel too old now and setting my ways. I can't get used to the app. But a lot of the people, again, I don't follow loads of content creators, but like that Julia Bloom, who I do really rate and a couple of others, I do think there is something about being on more than one platform. Yeah.

So maybe not one. I see it. So I have Instagram and then I do not have my email list. So I kind of see that as my two things. If I lost my Instagram, I'm kind of, I've got my email list building and I can connect with people like that. Yeah.

So I think maybe if you're not on YouTube, maybe Instagram and TikTok is a good, a good thing to have. But what I will say as well, which I'm learning now more about, which is so interesting. But all these apps work differently. So you know there was a time when everyone was like,

yeah, I made a real and I posted it to Facebook and to TikTok. It needs to be separate. and you know when you asked about like the high effort and like the lower effort it actually is like the algorithm on instagram does prefer the doesn't it doesn't not like the low effort but it does prefer the higher edited content yes TikTok just loves the natural face time that's what i've that's what i've noticed like it was obviously just um just my own personal experience i was wondering is is that true but i've definitely noticed anytime i'm on on ticot it's it's like raw, unedited, someone having a chat in their car, and Instagram was sometimes that, but not that as much. Yeah, I feel like TikTok has become what was Snapchat.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It feels more like Snapchat. So, like, just like if you have got a slightly unhinged sport, you could, like, develop it a little bit more on TikTok, like open it a bit more. So I feel like it depends, again, that, but then that depends on your personality. Maybe you're not that kind of person.

So YouTube and Instagram would be better for you because you want to curate stuff in a blog style and you want you more polished. It all depends on. I feel like I'd probably be better on TikTok because I could just be unhinged. But I just, I don't like it. Okay, so one more question I have for you then.

What do, for someone who might be, or they're listening to all this information, they're trying everything. They're just throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. And like, you know, they're motivated to make this work. But right now, it's just not working for them. They're getting frustrated.

Do you have any advice for them? Um, I think, hang on, wait, a coach or just... I think a content creator in general, someone who wants to make better content, so it gets pushed out there a little bit more, more engagement, more, you know, the things that they want to achieve. Yeah. Doesn't necessarily have to be a coach. So I would say then, the first thing, which is super boring, but get, take like half a day

or whatever and just sit down and write down why you're actually doing it and what your goals are for it. Because I think like with anything, I know, I deepen everything, but it does come down to that. So with no outside distraction, not thinking anything, why are you actually doing this and what do you want to achieve from it? Then I would get clear on maybe three to four content themes. Yeah. So maybe you're someone that loves fashion and you also love just fashion, you love beauty and you love, I don't know, a niche kind of film or whatever, yeah?

Pick like three or four content themes and do yourself a rough plan that each week you're going to do one piece of content for each of those themes. And then have a little, once you've got your themes, they've got your four themes, you know why you're doing it, you've got your four different themes that you want to do, take time once a week to have a brainstorm, what are you going to do for those types of content?

plan it out is it going to be a talking to camera is it going to be a vlog is it going to be a carousel whatever and plan it and create it and put it out there but do that i'm not joking for like three months yeah yeah like do that and try and get in the phone take the pressure off you don't have to post every single day you don't yeah yes you need to be present but you can be present on your stories more and actually if you got into enjoyment of it and we're posting just three four times a week but that love was coming back to it you're going to show up better anyway and you're going to enjoy it. Like, when it's going to kill it is if you stop enjoying it, you're going to post anything. Yeah. Well, that's the thing, isn't it? It's like if you're if you're doing it just if you're if

you're not enjoying it at all or not enjoying the creative process of it, it's you're probably not going to last long enough to see the fruits of your labor. Yeah. That's that's that's a big thing as well. Um, I know myself when I was when when when I did care about growing the account, it was like and I was posting every single day and like there was times where you could kind of notice that there was changes happening there was more engagement there was you know more people um even if even if the account wasn't grown there was more more engagement on on videos and it kind of gave me a little bit of uh uh feedback that oh i'm actually getting better at this or people more people are engaged in it um but like that was like five years of posting consistently and like i don't i think i think

most people forget the metric of like you're looking at the metric of like am i getting more engagement or am I getting more likes am I getting more comments am I getting more followers but no one kind of really focusing on the engagement or am I getting better at the skill of making the video or am I getting better at the skill of editing the video quicker or am I getting better at the skill of being more confident on the camera which like all I had to do then even when like I was still like at like 4,000 and I hadn't grown I was still able to look at like that video compared to the video four years ago and see such a change and how I was presenting myself on camera

actually using a mic actually using lighting actually invested in a in a good phone and like the difference between that that video and that so i kind of uh it's kind of like a client too is with you and like oh they haven't seen they feel like they haven't seen any movement on the scales or anything like that but then they look at a photo of themselves because they've been resistance training for the last three years and like oh my god my body shape is completely different yeah i think i think i think again it probably goes back to are we if you want to if you want to stay consistent doing what what you're doing without getting frustrated, like, can you look at other metrics other than have I grown my following account this week? Yeah. And also, I think it's so important that you say that they were called, because I think so many people as well, I very read, so often when someone says, or I hear of someone saying they're frustrated, that things aren't going, how they want to go, they're kind of like, do you know what I mean? It's just nothing works for me or that kind of thing. I mean, look at their account, they're not posting consistently. And I've just said you don't have to post every day. You don't have to post.

every day, but if your goal is to grow, like, that makes sense, you should be posting more often, but these people aren't posting every day. And then if you look at how many posts they've actually got, it'll be like 200 or whatever, and they're comparing themselves to someone with hundreds of thousands of followers, but with also four or five thousand posts. And I'm like, I think it's this idea. I don't, I actually always say this, and I've said this to Lewis before, because I think people have this idea that going viral is easy, because all they see is the one viral video. I don't know anyone, no one who has gone viral that didn't work fucking hard to go viral. But I also think there's this weird thing. I don't know if you've come up against it or

if you've noticed it. I have so much respect for you because you always talk about how you posted so much before and stuff. But there are also these people that have gone viral that then kind of forget what they did to get viral and kind of don't talk about that part anymore. And I'll be like, I know you were in group chats posting three times a day. analyzing all your videos. Like that makes sense. Like that's not an embarrassing thing. You worked really hard to go. But by not acknowledging that and talking about that after you've got these big followings is making people feel like it's easier than what it fucking is. And then when they've posted consistently every day for maybe two months and they've grown like 50 followers,

they're downhearted about it. I'm like, no, actually, if they're people that really align with you, like, yeah, you're going to be doing this like, I'll did this for fucking five years. But people don't see that. And I think that's really. important to know as well. Yeah. And also when I did on the back of that, when I did go viral, I was I was actually following a content plan at that time. Like I was like, my God, the content plan. Actually, actually had a create and structure works. And then I stopped doing that because I didn't want to do it anymore. But like and then I didn't grow anymore from that. Shock. Do you

a little bit. So like, yeah, I think I think obviously I don't think anyone, because nobody wants to talk about it. It's actually, it's actually a lot of. It's a lot of. It's a lot of. lot of work to be a content creator, but it is. It is a lot of work and it also is even more work to try and go viral. Yeah. And that's why I'm so happy that's not something that I want to do because I find it hard enough like I have, so I have clients. So to be honest, sorry, 80% of my time is coming up of ideas, creating film and edit and other people's content and I have like a smaller percent of time for my own. Yeah. So it is a bit like that is. That is. a little bit different, but like, it just, if you're doing it just for yours, like, it is,

it takes so much effort and so much time. And yeah, I just don't think people speak about it enough. And I think, and that's why I don't, there is this idea still, which is weird of like, oh, it's just content creation. Like, it's not just content creation. It is fucking hard work. And you should be proud of yourself if you're doing it. And you should cut yourself a bit of that because it is a real job. Like, just as Mr. Beast, he was one of the richest men in the world. Yeah. I think we've just. we're the first generation that it is a job. Does that make sense? So it is, we're probably still got, I know I have, like my parents' voices in my head like, it's not a real job or you're

hearing this. And then you've people been like, oh, they're just on Instagram. Like, we know, it is an actual serious job where you can make a living off of it and people do make good livens off it. And there's no seal into it. And it can allow you to have a coaching business or whatever. And it's free marketing essentially. My friends, my friends still are going to be sick, being like, oh yeah, get a real job. Like, and they can give me stick because like we're a good friend. So it's like, I can accept that. But it's like it's funny because like they'd be solicitors or working insurance and

they're like, get off your phone and get a real job and all. But like in a jokey way, not in a real like cruel, malicious way. But I think you're right. It's like people still have that perception that it's not actually a job. Well, I suppose that's obviously far less now as everyone kind of realizes the like the insane growth that you can make or how you can change your life by just literally posting the content that you feel embarrassed about. Embarrassed about, yeah. It is though, isn't it? I think like it's like, you know, yeah, you can feel you can feel like a little bit embarrassed about putting up a video of

you talking about a certain topic or you could put it up and, you know, it could be like the thing that changes your life and, you know, gets you paid online and, you know, opens all these opportunities for you to do whatever you want to do, whether that's moved to a different country or get your own house or get your own car like yeah you know and i think when you i think when you weigh it up that way it's like okay like is is the cost of feeling a little bit uh cringe or whatever versus me getting to open all these doors like when you when you wait up like you're like all right i'll just post a fucking video yeah yeah exactly um one more question for you so mistakes are clearly part of the process as we've obviously spoken about so what are some mistakes you've made that you're

glad that you made to get you where you're to get you into the position that you're in now. Oh my gosh. That's a really good question. What, just in life or in content? I think both. Well, I think, but I think probably your life decisions have probably led you up to this point where that you're in your, you are where you are. Like I, I, I presume that like five, 10 years ago, five years ago, five years ago, you didn't think you'd be in the job that you're in. No, no idea. Not even five years ago. Not even three years ago. Yeah. Yeah. I've been doing this now. only not even coming up maybe for a year and a half and like the first nine months was kind of in secret like filming other people's content while still coaching and keeping it do you know what

I mean that kind of thing oh I feel like that's such a good question and I'm not going to have a good enough answer for it because I'm trying to think on the spot the first thing that comes to mind is like practical things that I've really fucked up on is I've gone to shoots before and forgot my memory card Lewis had to drive to it to drive to Liverpool from Manchester to give me a memory card because I'd gone without a memory card I hadn't sinked up my mics because that's another thing. I had this, Simon let me his camera, which is like a Lumix, a proper camera. I'm not a videographer. Does that make sense? So I had this huge camera that I was then trying to navigate. So mistakes I made was like not knowing things like that.

And I think actually, do you know actually now you said it, do you know, I think the biggest mistake I made which I'm pleased I made now because I'm kind of out the other end is I was in because I started doing this later. Yeah? And it's probably like I feel like I've had so many different careers at this point because I was dancing and coaching and doing anything. I almost was embarrassed about that and I kept that quite like I don't know, I felt like people wouldn't take me seriously if I'd just got into it if that makes sense. Yeah. Like I needed to have more experience behind me. But actually from being more open and like, oh my God, I'm learning this too or I'm like even that kind of thing has actually made me so much better.

Yeah. That makes perfect sense. And also it's like you're talking. talked about was like bring people along the journey with you when you're doing this. Yeah. Yeah. Because that gets people engaged in what you're doing and what you're learning. And learning off you as a byproduct of you experience. Yeah. I'm trying to think of in that one more mistake that just comes to my mind as well. As I remember being told once not to give like, don't give too much out for free. This wasn't in this job. This was like in coaching and different things. Don't give out too much of it. Oh, too much stuff for free. that people won't take you seriously or they won't want to work with you or anything like that. I made the mistake of believing that. Well, with this job, like, since I've set up this business, I've given everything.

Like, I have sent people, people will message me and ask me how to edit and I'll send them screen recordings of exactly how to do it, cap cut of what I'm doing. Or like, I have a planner. If anyone wants to plan, I have a planner that is completely free. I give out my planner with a video. And you showed me how to do my daily vlog properly. Yeah. So I will actually now give,

give and I personally have found no downside with that because also that like one to one if someone wants to work for me, I'll give them even more. But me telling you how to edit a video is only going to make your video better now. And I don't, why would I gatekeep that? I feel like people gatekeep a lot and you need to stop that just help. Why do you think that would benefit your business by giving out things for free just for the people listening who might might think that they need the gatekeep a little bit? Well, I think it builds trust. Like I feel like being really, I feel like it builds trust. It builds that relationship. And if you're going to give stuff like that away for free,

just imagine what you're going to give away this page. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, and also people, I really do think this as well. I don't think they're not, I don't know if you found this. You could give out the best training in the world for free. And there might be one person out of 30 people

but actually watch that training and implement it and help them and that is so amazing. But they probably as well, still want more from you afterwards, but also the other people probably won't watch it or do anything with it, but they'll remember that you gave it to them. Yeah.

And that you're, that's your nature. Yeah. And you don't hold back or does that make sense? And also it's such a huge compliment as well. If someone's asking you for advice on something, they obviously deem you as an expert in that topic. So like it's just more feedback that you're doing all the right things.

Yeah. And I just think it helps. It just helped. I also think I'm a lot more passionate actually about this than what I was, potentially about coaching. and other stuff. So it kind of comes more naturally that I get excited

when someone asks me like, what would you do for this? I'm like, like this morning when this person was like, can I do a day in their life? And I was like, no, no, do it like this. And I had like three different ideas.

I was like, go come along with this or what. And then I'll get excited and be like, and do this with your carouset. Like I get more into that. Which then probably now thinking about it like subconscious, unconsciously or whatever, helps build the community. Yeah.

Without really me trying because I'm just naturally back and forth with people. Would you have been creative when you were younger as well do you think that's like naturally a part of your your personality and that's why this kind of is such a kind of easy fit for you yeah i think yeah i was i love it and i think that's like you know how i said to you at the beginning like i've been thinking a lot about why i do this because obviously i felt i didn't well i did like with everything in life i kind of fell into it simon's a good friend i did his course i was doing lewis's content

i loved it i liked it i fell into it that kind of thing but now i think it's more about and i you might I've noticed this even in my content, because I'm speaking about it a lot more. I've just got to this age where I'm like, I just want people to feel more comfortable being themselves. And I just want them to play more. Like I did used to make plays when I was a kid and film fake TV shows and films.

And I loved it. And I feel like you get as an adult and then you stop doing this creative stuff. And it's like, it's just this way to be yourself and express yourself and be comfortable with yourself. And I just, I really do think if everyone was more comfortable with themselves

and showing up as themselves online, their true self, like they'd be so much happier, they'd find it so much more fun, more fulfilling. And then as a byproduct, your business will do better because you are better, because you're feeling better because of what you're doing. So I feel like I still love making great videos and I love all that stuff.

But now I do feel like my mission's kind of changed a little bit where I'm like, I'm meeting all of these, obviously coaches, because the world I'm in, I'm meeting a lot of coaches, but I'm meeting so many fun, brilliant, coaches, Carl, that I'm like, you are so incredible. Why are you not putting this online? And it always comes down to the fact that there's some sort of mistrust in themselves, a bit self-conscious, they're holding back. And I'm like, I want to help you bring that because I know that's going to help

you have more fun and do everything. So I do feel like it's only literally been this sort of last month. I'm noticing this shift where I'm like, yeah, it's content, but it's not just content. It's a way that we can express ourselves and have fun. And life's too short. and we can just be ourselves. So I feel like if in a way I can kind of help people make videos that feel more like them, like, I don't know, that makes me feel good.

Do you know what I mean? Marie, this has been unbelievable, really, really helpful. Come here. If people wanted to follow up with the work you do, if they wanted to ask you any questions, if they wanted to get some advice, where can they find you?

So it's at Content with Maria underscore underscore, because content with Maria was taken, which is so annoying. underscore underscore. So yeah, literally, I just message me on there on Instagram is where I am. I'm always on Instagram. So if anyone has any questions.

If they do want the planner, message me, I'll send them that whatever. But yeah, any questions. And can they work with you online? Or are you just, are you doing only in person shoots or how does it work?

No, you can work me online. So I do have a do it yourself course, content clarity formula, where I literally go through everything that are, sort of similar to everything we've touched on today, but how to build out your own planner, how to get more comfortable in front of the camera,

figure out who you are, your own personal brand. So there's that. I then do have a one-to-one, which is I work with you basically for about three months, well, three months time and we work on your personal brand. I set you task with your content to help you get more confident on camera, help you with your editing. So you do all the filming yourself.

I sort of, I help you with the ideas. And then if you are in the North East, I then do a film and editing package if you are in this area. Okay. Amazing. Maria, a pleasure as always. Thank you for today. Thank you.