Latest / GEL & Tell / Ep 15 - How We Built a Six-Figure Business in 6 Months

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Ep 15 - How We Built a Six-Figure Business in 6 Months · GEL & Tell

• Nora: Ha ha ha. G: ⁓ Nora: We're back. Okay, that's enough, I think. Yeah. G: Welcome back to Gel and Tell. Nora: back people to episode fifteen G: Wow. Nora: I know, I know. It's been a while though. G: has it been? Has it been two weeks since our last one? We had a little bit of a break. Nora: It's been two Yes. So we've realized classic us by the way, working hard and just never like actually like thinking about our milestones in business. But ⁓ I think back in February, ⁓ we celebrated six months at Jell, didn't we? And we made a podcast episode. What we didn't realize ⁓ is when we hit milestone of becoming a six figure business ⁓ as gel. G: We did. Nora: Which is quite a cool thing to say, to be fair. ⁓ as both of us are now fully self employed through gel. And it's ⁓ yeah, just just really cool. I don't know how else to describe it. G: I was desperate to press the button as soon as she said we hit our milestone. six figures six months is fucking awesome. And I couldn't be prouder of us. ⁓ so what we to do today was we're gonna have a little bit of a catch-up. Nora: Yeah. G: ⁓ fill you in on some stuff that's been going on behind the scenes, what we've been up to, because we know you all would love to know. ⁓ but really talk through what worked, what didn't work, what went wrong, what we do differently, and how we scaled from zero across the board to six figures in six months. yeah, that's the episode. Nora: Yeah. Before we get into it, shall we give people a bit of a personal update? What we've been up to? G: What have you been up to, Nora? Nora: I mean, I was hoping that you'd start first because my life has been well, to be fair, I came back from Cyprus, which I've been there for. family wedding. since it's just been pretty much in prep mode, really, just getting back to routine. I am ⁓ twelve weeks from my first show, which is quite exciting. it's becoming real. ⁓ so I'm in the process of like and I need to send you options, by the way, because I need help to choose, but like choosing my bikini colours and all of that. and just just ⁓ choosing like what accessories am I gonna wear? Like looking at makeup options, all of that stuff, because obviously the posing, the the prepping, the training, the nutrition is one thing, but then it's actually the the show day. There's so much prep that goes into it, which I know we were having a chat about it the other day and you were like, Why do people go through all this? ⁓ G: ⁓ my god, it's mental though. Like I know like it's your sport and I respect it, but the amount of stuff that you have to do before you go on stage is I don't know, lee to me. Like the the one that shocked me most last week was when you said you have to get a spray tan naked in a room full of other people naked. And I was like, What? Like can't you just pay to just be like getting your own spray tan? Nora: Mm. Yeah. So I don't want to get traumatized before I actually like have to do it. But what I have heard Basically you get a base coat the the day before and then you get another tan like coat ⁓ on the day of the show. And like typically, I think you do have the option of doing it yourself. Some federations allow it, others don't, it's part of like the actual like package is that you do the tan the day before in the venue that the show is. So they set up a whole like tanning studio and you go and you get your your tan. Cause it's not like any ⁓ tan that you can get for like a holiday or anything like that. It's just like it's specific competition tan. So ⁓ yeah I I heard that it's in a room with other people, which I'm not particularly know, looking forward to. G: Mm. sounds great. I mean all these hard hard months of effort or years even to go and stand in a room being sprayed naked in front of all your competitors know when they like, ⁓ if you're nervous, imagine everyone naked. Well, just Compete in bodybuilding and you can actually don't even need to imagine because you've seen it all before. Nora: Imagine it. yeah, Gio competed for the first time two years ago and he came back from his first ⁓ tanning experience ⁓ and was like so traumatized. he was Can't believe I'm gonna have to do this for another two shows at least. but here he is competing again this year, so you know. G: He obviously liked it. you, Giovanni? Nora: it just part of the process, Like I think, yeah, it's ⁓ it's things that I'm figuring out as I get in closer to the shows. There's so many things that I'm not aware of because I don't really hang out with people that are into bodybuilding as much. Like all of my friends are not into bodybuilding. So it's very unfamiliar territory, like I'm finding out all these things. Like di you have to wear like accessories as well, which I'm not really like a huge like accessory person either. So like big earrings and like I need to buy new heels which have like more of like sp yeah, bling bling on. there's so many things that are so out of my comfort zone. But yeah, that's what I've been up to is just figuring all that stuff out and ⁓ just training and G: Yeah. Link. Nora: And eating really. having a bit of fun. I've got a couple of trips coming up as well. and ⁓ got few DJ events that I'm looking forward to as well over the summer. But yeah, that's that's me. What have you been up to? G: You're not DJing, are you? like going to DJ events. Yeah. I don't know, the way you said it, I was like, since when have you been a DJ? Nora: No. G: know you want well, you need to practice more. Nora: Hey, do not knock that dream. Well I d ⁓ I do. I've been busy building a six figure business, thank you very much. G: okay, don't spend more time DJing. You've got enough hobbies at the moment. ⁓ fine. ⁓ just going to Ibiza to just set Okay. ⁓ Nora: ⁓ yeah, I think the bodybuilding is enough for now whilst building the business. Yeah. P PRB how about you? Tell us what you've been up to, apart from rearranging your entire office today. G: So I did rearrange my office at 11 pm last night. I decided that I thought the desk would be better suited the other way around. ⁓ so far, I'm really enjoying it. I'm feeling like I've got more space, feeling claustrophobic and a bit more organized. I also went through my entire wardrobe yesterday ⁓ and things away and then created labels for different drawers and stuck them on for different colours of t-shirts and vests and long sleeve tops, which made me feel really, really organized, which is great. ⁓ and all of this that I told Nora was because I've lost a denim jacket. So I'm really fuming because I've lost this denim jacket that I'm obsessed with and I can't find it anywhere. So I was like, well, I need to go take everything out of the wardrobe and like rearrange my life and my office apparently to try and find it. Nora: You go into these moods like v not very often, but when you do, it needs to happen there and then. G: ⁓ it's like really extreme and I can't quite explain it. But like I had this sensation of like the desk must move. And like I wouldn't have been able to go to sleep unless I'd done it. Like and I had to it right then and there. And it's like late at night, but for some reason it's like this insatiable itch that needs to be scratched. I get it with a lot of stuff and I do it at work as well. And I I can see it happening, but I just can't like rest until I've completed that thing. And I need to like Nora: Yeah. G: If I'm doing something and I hyperfixate on it, it has to be done or I literally will like feel like I need to rip all my skin off, which is really extreme. And maybe I need to go and see someone to speak about. Nora: Ha ha ⁓ G: ⁓ But it like I actually get like it's really weird. But yeah, anyway, so I've reorganized reorganized my life. ⁓ I've been planning my wedding, which is so exciting because I remembered obviously we set our goals for Q2, which we will do an episode at the end of the quarter and recap and then set some more for Q3. But ⁓ I'm actually like planning my wedding. It's really exciting. Nora: Anyways. G: contract should be coming over today to sign to pay the twenty five perpend twenty five percent deposit. ⁓ so that's really positive and exciting. And life is good. Life has been busy. But I'm ⁓ I'm trying to be more organized and productive. So Nora: I think you've been very productive. G: Thank you. whilst building a six figure business, but cheers. ⁓ Nora: ⁓ how's training going? ⁓ you have any comps coming up? G: Ooh, I've got two book, no, three booked, August Affects. October, there's a battle for cancer, like charity workout event in London, which we're doing as a team, and then another in October that is booked, but subject to whether my partner's going away ⁓ or So we shall see. ⁓ but that's the kind of training focus ⁓ what else has been going on? Should we just jump into the business bit now? So let's start with. I'm gonna ask you if you're being really honest. Nora: Mm. G: Do you think that looking back on where we started this last year? So, you know, what's fun is it's probably we're not even a year away from even having the idea for gel. ⁓ if you'd have said to if I'd have said to you in September when we were just about to launch, in six months' time, this business will be making like twenty K months, would you have believed me? And do you think, did you think that that would have actually happened so quickly? Nora: think yes. think I would. ⁓ and this is not me being like beheaded or anything like that. It's just we never had any issue making money. We were doing that for many people across the years all the time. ⁓ like money making money was the easiest part of of it all. I think because we don't have as much attachment to money as other people do. And we always said impact over income and usually When you focus on the impact and making know, doing good work and changing people's lives, the income follows. so not shocked by where we are now. I'm very and appreciative of the journey along the way to be where we are now. I think there's more to come as well. Like I think we're barely scratching the surface with what we can do. ⁓ because I know both of our potential and And us working together, that's even more powerful. but yeah, I'm not shocked. I think I would have believed it if you told me. ⁓ so crazy, because like this time last year, well, in a in a few days, it's my wedding anniversary, one year, and you were in Cyprus visiting for wedding, right? And if what I wouldn't have believed would be a year from now, we'd be here. G: Yeah, that's so mad, isn't it? that's such a special memory being at your wedding and spending time with your family for the first time and like ⁓ being like immersed in Cypriot culture. But just a bit more of your life. It was so nice. It's so wild though, you're right, because this wasn't even a concept then. ⁓ but it but it was a question and we always come back to that. People saying, Why are you not building your own thing together? You're you two are really good, so why are you not just doing it yourselves? was a Nora: It wasn't, no. Yeah. G: constant question. And I don't know what the answer to that really is or was fear. Nora: Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I really don't know. I think we could have done it sooner. We could have. But everything happens for a reason and we are where we are now. But yeah, it's wild to think it wasn't a concept a year ago, you know. G: Yeah. It wasn't even like a thought bubble. It was more just that we were such good friends, enjoying our work together and had a job that was cool. and were making other people lots of money. Lo and behold. Fast forward twelve months. ⁓ owner six bigger business. ⁓ that. So Nora: Yeah. Yeah. Would you have believed i if I asked you the same thing? G: ⁓ the six figure bit or the twenty K month bit. Nora: I guess a twenty K month thing. Cause like the six figure thing is more it stucks up, but then doing that and hitting big months consistently. G: consistently. Yeah. I think if you'd have said in the six months you'd be earning your business and we're making twenty thousand a month, I might have said some I don't know. I don't know if I'd have been my answer is as ⁓ yeah. I'd have been like, it's possible, but I think it'll be really hard. And of course it's been challenging. I'm not trying to like, you know, underrate the amount of work that we've done, but some of the things have been easier than we were expecting them to be because we've done so much work over the years to learn certain things. Nora: Well I'm sorry. Mm. G: Some things have been lot harder than we were expecting as well. But yeah, I'm pleasantly surprised and I'm super proud and grateful as well. But I don't know that I would have been as confident in like, yeah, I was expecting it in six months. If you'd have said 12 months, yeah, absolutely. But six, I'd have been like, ooh, I wouldn't put money on it. But, you know. I lost the bet. Nora: Yeah. Yeah. I think there's been like significant growth ⁓ after the new year, because we made some very big changes, which led to that consistent twenty K months 'cause ⁓ be honest, even looking back at the start of the business, we were making some pretty good money very early on. Like, you know, we were hitting ten K months pretty much in first three ⁓ three or so months. ⁓ G: Yeah. Yeah. I I think by month three we were on a ten K month. Nora: Yeah. G: So I suppose then months in 10K, six months in 20K, it kind of makes sense, right? If you just keep scaling at that rate. And because of how we are operating and how we look at the numbers frequently, ⁓ we have scaled with different aspects which we can chat through, like how did we actually keep going upwards? ⁓ we've not done at any point is just maintained or stayed stagn stayed stagnated in our approach or in our methods or in what we're doing. Like we've not just gone like, cool, this is nice and working, like let's just keep it as it is. even when we felt at capacity, we would tweak something, add something, hire someone, ⁓ you know, invest in a program. Like we would be always thinking of what's the next thing, even though maybe right now in this moment, I don't think we can take on more clients as an example a few months ago, we were there. What did we do? We can't take on more clients right now. Let's invest in someone to help us. So we invested in an ads mentorship. We invested, you know, we've invested over 12,000 pounds in an ads mentorship essentially. Nora: Yeah. How? G: ⁓ it's a lot of money, but we were like, right, well, we can't necessarily scale if we don't look at how we can invest in getting some more support in the business. So if we expect people to invest in us, we invest in others. And we've invested every time we've got to that point. We invested a month or two into the business last year. Nora: Yeah. Yeah. We did invest in a a content expert, which we'll go into. and that was a few thousandths as well. And obviously we're ⁓ into mentorship now, because we to just ⁓ like learn a skill, which is in this case ads. and have someone to guide us as well when struggling or like ⁓ facing decisions that we don't know direction to go in and G: Yeah. Nora: We basically believe in our product, right? Because at the end of the day, we do coach and console people. And if we weren't willing to invest and get the advice of someone else who knows how to do something better than we do, it would almost be a bit like fraud, isn't it? It's like, ⁓ we don't believe in our own product. So like we are not willing to invest in something. I've always been a big believer of like coaches need coaches. ⁓ and obviously that was more from the fitness side of things, but then G: Yeah. Nora: I believe in business as well. Like you always need someone that's doing better than you. ⁓ yeah. G: Yeah, a few steps ahead so that you can learn from their mistakes and do things faster. You know, I think where at and what we needed was we needed an objective opinion. It's difficult when there's two people and you don't have the same opinion on something. And it's who's right? We ⁓ probably of us are right. So let's have someone objective that has got more reps and more experience and more skills in different areas to what we do. ⁓ Nora: Mm. G: To advise us and give us their perspective. Because typically when we ask him questions and who comes back with an answer, it might be completely different to what we both thought. And then we'll be like, ⁓ let's do that. Or like, ⁓ I'm not sure, let's tweak it slightly and bring in all of the elements. But without that external, sometimes validation, support, accountability, expertise, how can you expect to grow quickly in anything? ⁓ so I love that we both have that stance and like Nora: Yeah. Yeah. Hundred percent. G: It's always so exciting. And I loved that that day, I remember it vividly. I was walking with dog and ⁓ we were having a conversation about how we felt we couldn't at the moment take on more clients. but yet we were having our best month ever today at that point. Well, actually not today, because it kept going up. Ha ha. ⁓ we were like, right, we're at capacity. Nora: I think I think we doubled our revenue since since that time, what is Matt to say. 'Cause we're both like, ⁓ we can't we can't help more people right now, the way that we're operating. Like it's just not possible. G: That's mad. Yeah, mad. And obviously we found ways to do that, which we'll we'll chat through. But I said to you on the phone, I think we're ready to invest in something new. And you were, I've been thinking about this too. And then we got the opportunity to like have fun deciding what kind of program that we might want to do or the kind of support that we might need. And, you know, booking in consultation call and like having a chat with someone and making that decision together. Like it's a really fun and awesome thing that both of us are open to investing our collective money into. Nora: Yeah. G: new skills and new things for the business. I think a lot of people avoid that because they see it as a cost rather than an investment. And then they s they don't grow. And then they're like, why is it not working? Why is my business just plateauing or shrinking and not going upwards? But I'm not willing to actually spend anything on it. Spend money to make money, people. Spend money to make Nora: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And like and take the risk, right? 'Cause like it wasn't like we had that money like just there, you know, like as much as we worked hard and we were having some really good months, ⁓ it was a huge of money paid up front for us to, you know, invest in in a mentor. but wasn't unaffordable either. However, it was a risk. G: There. No. Yeah. And the truth is, it's not like we've made an R and ROI on it yet. Like it's not like the money that we've spent we've made back. Because technically we haven't. Yeah. Yeah, we're learning and it's nice to know that we've got the support there. ⁓ and like I do think it's great. Like I'm not degrading at all. But the point is a lot of people will go, well, yeah, I spent 10 grand on this. And then but the actual signups that came specifically from that was only Nora: No. Yeah. But it depends how you see it as well, 'cause we've learned so much. Yeah. G: Why? So I've not made any money on it. But then they're completely discounting all of the support they had, all of the ⁓ things that they learned that then amounted in clients in different ways, the changes that made their audience that grew, like all of these other things that actually are valuable, but they're not just necessarily direct sign-ups from that one thing. So I'm not saying that we haven't got a good return on investment in general, but from a financial perspective, a lot of people would say, ⁓ well, you've spent all that and you've not made anything. But I know and I'm confident that we will, and that Nora: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. G: know we're seeing some really good results from our ads at the moment, especially with like, you know, the way that it's bringing in some new followers and supporting our content. But also, you know, we booked five sales calls last week. So, you know, there's really positive signs there. I think that's one of the things that I'm really glad that we did do from the start is invest. and I know with confidence we'll continue to do so over the years as well. ⁓ which is exciting. Nora: Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. I think we're both very similar in that mindset that we would yeah, we're always keen to like learn more and because there's that hunger there, we'll always invest the business. G: Mm. Yeah. And being around and in rooms of people that are better than you, ⁓ and that know more than you, that have got more experience than you, that have better businesses than yours, like we love that. We're not intimidated or scared to be around people that know more than us. If anything, I want to be around those people because I want to be more like them. I don't want to be around like a bunch of losers. ⁓ sorry. be around winners, ⁓ And we become winners too. Nora: Hundred percent. Understand. Yeah. it. Now I I know you spoke a bit about ads and how they're working for us right now, booking calls. Shall we take it a bit at the start and talk a bit about our growth before ads, right? ⁓ because content was a big, big part of what we focused on for gel. ⁓ well we basically started from scratch, really. We had no audience, we had our individual accounts. G: ⁓ yeah. Nora: Which were more personal pages. Obviously, mine was more fitness based. Then you had like your personal page and then your other like business page that we couldn't really use at the start to G: Yeah, my work page through, which I so maybe for context, so we started the jail page with zero followers. Nora had about three, four thousand followers on her fitness account. My personal page didn't even have a thousand followers. My work page that was associated with the old company, which I had as a fitness page in lockdown and then turned into a work page, had maybe like fifteen hundred followers, but again couldn't use it because it was still working at the old company. You had another one of those, maybe like seven, like basically across the board. Nora: Yeah. G: A mix of like friends, family, some fitness-y kind of pages, but nothing like not like a meaningful audience size combined, really. It's not like we went in and we were like, we started from zero, but we actually had like 50,000 followers sat somewhere. Like it wasn't like that. It was very much like we knew we'd have some support from our network, but like we launched that page and maybe we got like 150 followers or something. ⁓ Nora: Yeah. Yeah. Hm. Yeah. G: ⁓ which at the time felt amazing, right? And we're so grateful to everyone that did support us and continues to from our networks. But like, it took Nora: It wasn't enough to to, you know, ⁓ yeah, to look like a brand, to get the right people in, sell to. As as we're so grateful for friends and family, it did really help getting that boost. It wasn't people that were gonna buy from us necessarily somewhere. And we got our first few clients through Friends and Family, which again we're super, super grateful for. It was through our network. But then we needed to find a way to ⁓ boost page, get it out there, tell people about it. G: To look like a brand. Hmm. Some dead. Mm. Nora: basically share what gel is, ⁓ who we are. Cause gel necessarily as a brand wouldn't really have worked because people don't as much buy from brands. But we need to get us as a duo our strengths, you know, who we are as people out there so people get to know who G and Nora are, ⁓ and how can they help me with their business. which where we started posting daily, didn't we? We ⁓ G: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Nora: We set the goal and it was something that both me and you were struggling with. G: Cause we started strong. I think, you know, the excitement of the launch and like we'd got done this photo shoot, like we got these like fancy ass photos from Daisy, which were amazing. Thanks, Daisy, if you're listening. ⁓ and we loved them and we had like a few cool things planned out. So we were like on it and we posted, you know, once or even twice a day for this launch week and we were like super consistent. And then because we'd created this aesthetic that was very like bougie and premium and professional with like blazers and heels and shit, like it was great. And I still really like the photos, but like Then we're just us at home, like this. And it's like Nora: I wear gym gear all the time and then, you know, G: I I don't do my hair. Like so so the the reality was it was like, ⁓ my god, catfish, like catfish, like you're a catfish, like ⁓ I was literally like, I can't post on this page because I don't look like that. I that's not real. Like it Nora: Yeah. We just couldn't sustain that image almost. It i 'cause it was an image, like realistically you'd never see me or you in hills with blazers on a day to day, right? G: Yeah. I mean I didn't wear heels for the shoot because I couldn't I refused. I you were like, wear them and I was like, I cannot. I don't want to. I mean, the you look great. Like the pictures are the pictures are cool and like we still use some of them, right? Like it's not it's not even about that. It's more about the fact of that prevented us from posting because we felt like we had to uphold an image that wasn't authentic because it was a staged photo shoot. And there's so much cool stuff in that and it works great for our website and like Nora: Yeah. I don't like the vibe. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. G: That imagery we use on carousels and stuff, but it wasn't maintainable for our page. And then it meant that we just froze and we stopped posting and everything that we stood for and we taught, we weren't doing ourselves because it was like, ⁓ well, it's not, it doesn't look good enough, it's not polished enough, like it won't make us look professional, like, ⁓ And actually, what is professional in this day and age of building an online business? Is it heals or is it actually being able to show up with conviction and value? Nora: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean looking at how like creators are now building their brands and like almost like there I think there's this new like thing on socials where it's like you're in I don't know what they call it. I've seen the word. I don't know if you've seen it, like a creator entrepreneur, like a creprene I I'm gonna get it wrong, but you get what I mean. you see more and more people starting businesses through creating a personal brand and and creating an like G: Yeah. Nora: gathering an audience and like building up their pages. and the way that they do it is by being themselves. And like, you know, yapping content is quite in style right now, like being fully your authentically yourself, like showing the unfiltered site because there's so much AI content out there now. There's so much like fake highlight content that people are just tired of it. I came into this page yesterday. G: Yeah. Nora: Apparently now there's like pages that are just AI characters. Have you seen them before? G: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's scary because you don't know that it's not actually a person. It's just like an AI creation. It's a bit fucked up to be honest. I'm really over it. And like it's making me less engaged with content in general. So when I do see someone just being raw, like funny things and like real human interactions, like I'm so much more engaged and like if something can make me laugh or make me feel something or shock me or like, you know, inspire me in some way, like I'm way more likely to buy from that brand than Nora: That's so yeah. Yeah. Yeah. G: Just like another chat GPT here's the thing caption. Nora: Hundred percent. So basically what we did, we stopped overthinking it, didn't we? We start being we started being ourselves and people loved it. Like 'cause I would say we're quite funny. You know, we G: What's what's the pivotal post moment where we started being ourselves that stands out for you when we were creating? Like, do you I have a specific post in mind and I wonder if it's the same as yours where this is the moment where we did something and I remember being so uncomfortable about it, but it was truly us, and we just went, This is the moment where we're gonna be ourselves in content. Nora: The one that I really remember was the one that we filmed when we're not together. It was on Riverside. Right? And it was Yeah. G: That was the moment that it all changed because if you've not seen this post, it's the this it's the wake in the morning and I step outside and I take a deep breath. You know that song. What's Going On by the Three Non Blondes, I think is the original song. And then it goes to ⁓ bitches ain't shit and ain't nothing. And we did like the turn and ⁓ yeah, it was just iconic to be honest. And I feel like it was a real moment for us at jail where we just were like, you know what, this is who we are. We're funny, we're silly, like we don't actually wanna show up like super polished and like I swear so much, I can't hide that from our audience. Like you like getting your biceps out, like why should we why should we censor ourselves to be posh posh like premium? Nora: Yeah. No. No. I think we're quite silly, you know, we're quite a bit unserious about things. And we posted that. It's funny how we both thought of that post because I think it just shows how much of a turning moment that was for us. should we hide who we are? Like, cause when we then reflected, and it was I think before that post of like, why do people like working with us? It's because of who we are. Like it comes down to that. Like we don't really have a magic pill that will fix your business and make you money, but we care a lot, we show up a lot with energy, we're by your side, we win together, we lose together, and we have fun along the And if we just showcase that social media, we showcase our friendship, which has been a big thing on our social media as well. I think people like, you know, seeing the dynamic. ⁓ where we're same but different in many ways and how we have fun building this business. been a lot of storytelling without us realizing by just being ourselves, really. G: Yeah, a hundred percent. And like those funny like little moments of like we see a trend and we'll do it ourselves and like just not having as much fear of like bit presenting as a certain image allowed us to be able to just show up as us, ⁓ which wasn't easy because I remember on that specific post me not wanting to share it on my personal page because I was embarrassed. And I don't know why, because anyone that knows me knows that I'm a lot weirder than that. Like, you know, like it's that was really quite tame. But for some reason, like the idea of like Nora: Yeah. Yeah. G: being vulnerable and like showing like that side of me online felt like embarrassing. And that's something that we talk to a lot of people about. But being able to push past that and show up every single day since then. not always like it's not always both of us on a day. Sometimes it's one of us and the other one. ⁓ but we always work together on the posts and obviously shoot together most of the time unless there's something just like off the cuff that we'll do separately. But it is typically, you know, we have a plan and we stick to it and it's a non-negotiable And I think in the last, what, nine months, we've missed maybe two or three days max. But then there have also been days where we've double posted or posted like 10 trial reels. So it will even out to daily posting in over nine months. But if we're being honest, we did miss a couple of days just because of life and not and we've always said, and it's the same in fitness, miss a day, get back on the horse, never miss two in a row. Nora: Yeah. Yeah, a hundred percent. I think when it comes to like the objective of us posting daily, it's twofold. The first thing is awareness. We needed awareness. We needed people that don't know who we are to get to know who we are, right? And the more we post, the more chances there are to get into, you know, people's ⁓ for you page, Reels page. The second thing was the habit. We were really, really struggling. When we said we would post three to four times consistently, we would get in our heads with the strategy, with getting the post to perfect. it just wouldn't work. And we said, right, all we're gonna do is just post daily and not overthink, right? And it's just a habit that we need to be doing. There's ⁓ a non-negotiable, we can't miss it. And that caused us to let go of the perfectionists because we're both in different ways, but we're both almost a bit of perfectionists in many ways. ⁓ in different ways, but like in different things at times, but we both have that element in our character where we're like, it needs to we have something in mind and it needs to be that or else G: Mm. Yeah. Yeah, it's not gonna work. And I think that it we just show up every single day, no matter what. we post it on Christmas, you know. And if we've not got something to post, we will make something to post. We will pull a trial reel out. We will I remember Easter Sunday. I was like, We haven't got a post. Shit, I know. I'm gonna ask Chat GPT to turn us into Easter bunnies and send it to you. And I was like, Can I post this? And you're like, Yeah, fine. ⁓ and it was funny and it got quite a lot of engagement, but it was just something silly because we show up. Nora: Yeah. G: And how can we expect other people to show up and be consistent if we are not doing that too? and it's given me so much more empathy for content creators, business owners that show up online because we do it as well. ⁓ and it's not easy. ⁓ Nora: Yeah. No. ⁓ there's so many posts that we well, either well, some of them I didn't want to post and some of them you didn't want to post. And we just came to a point where we're like, no matter if we have that feeling, it just needs to go out there unless of course it's something. Yeah. G: It's really shit. Yeah. Unless it's like not valuable and like there's something like terrible about it, like, you know, like your nipples out, don't post it kind of vibes. like if it is like tolerable and it's got enough value, then will just encourage each other to get over those feelings and just post it anyway. But it is yeah, we've got so much better at that. but it is because we've got the reps in, not because something dramatically changed. and a family friend the other day ⁓ mentioned to me. you know, how they've noticed like our content quality improving and how our message has evolved over time and how, you know, we've pivoted the business and you can tell and you're watching behind the scenes and seeing that. And I was like really touched by that because it's true. We have our quality of content's improved, the engagement's improved, our following's improved and gone up, our positioning's got clearer. All of these things have happened and obviously we see it because we're doing it and we're in the weeds every day. But to hear someone else observe on that because they've followed us since the beginning is and was really special. Nora: come a long way with our content. I think as our positioning and offer had evolved as well and we became more sure ⁓ on who we're to help and how ⁓ because we had a few pivots in business as well, didn't we, across the months. G: Yes, we did. ⁓ which is a good segue, I think, into that. maybe I'd love to ask you, where do you think we went ⁓ with our original offering? Nora: I think we were both a bit in denial of what our strengths were. I think there was at the time when we were starting the business, there was a lot of hype around AI, systems, tech. It was the future. And it's still like there's still a very big hype around it. Don't get me wrong, especially with Claude, Claude, co-work, all of that. There's a lot of people out there, you know, promising you the world ⁓ tech. And I think. G: Mm. Yeah. Nora: Because of it being quite new, having background in ⁓ as well. and I don't know, was it the excitement of us wanting to do something different? We started with selling systems. That was our core positioning. We then slowly realized that it wasn't enough to sell. People didn't want systems. but we weren't as good at systems as we are helping people grow their businesses and make them money, essentially. G: Yeah. I also think that at that point in time we were working for someone else. and we couldn't come out with a competitor product or service. So we had to have a different angle. So it didn't look like we were trying to do something that we weren't actually trying to do. The reality was we wanted to leave and set up our own business we wanted to ⁓ it in the right way. Nora: Mm. G: ⁓ so I think the intentions were good. I think we were in a bit in a bit of denial and we were trying to step carefully and kindly and be, you know, respectful of other people and and where we positioned ourselves. But the the truth of the matter was that couldn't hide from our strengths and people were still coming to us to help them grow their businesses through social media and lead generation and marketing. ⁓ even though our system supported with that, no one ⁓ Nora: Yeah. we still do systems. Yeah. G: Yeah, we still do them today. Like it's a massive part of our offering. And actually one of our USPs is that not only do we help you grow and build the strategy and give you the support, we'll our team will also build all the systems behind the scenes. So, you know, I literally spoke to a woman this morning who's like, I hate tech, I couldn't do any of that. And I was like, Don't worry, we'll build it for you. And she's like, ⁓ I don't have to build it. And I was like, Well, no, if you sign up, that's included. Like what a cool thing. So it is part of it, but it wasn't the leading message. Nora: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. G: the leading message had to be the outcome and transformation of what we give you, which is more leads, more growth, more scalable revenue. ⁓ and that we knew that really deep down because if we'd have ad advised or consulted someone else, we'd have said, don't sell the thing, sell the transformation. Nora: Yeah. Yeah. G: You know, we said that all the time. Nora: It's yeah, that was such a big realization. I think we realized like two months down the line or something. And was such a hard thing to navigate because you are right, like we were in a position ⁓ we're we weren't full time on the business. We were working for someone else. We wanted to navigate that situation as respectfully and like with good intentions as we possibly could. and that came, you know. G: Yeah. Nora: Yeah, that that almost like an intentional denial of like what are we actually good at? G: Yeah, we essentially sacrificed the message of our launch to try and appease other people's opinions and to shield ourselves from any negative, like, ⁓ you're trying to build a competitor. Which, you know, in hindsight, I don't know if I would change that because I think at the time it was the right thing to do. And I don't know if things would be the way they are now if we hadn't have done that. So, you know, it is what it is. But the pivot was important. Nora: Yeah. Yeah. G: And I think the point we realized we needed the pivot was when the audience maybe wasn't really growing on socials. We joined a content mastermind and no one got it. People were like, what is that? What systems? What do you mean? Like, what do you do? Like what what do I get? And like no one really understood what it was. were not inspired to create content. It was it was quite painful. We signed up with some clients, mind. Like we did bring in systems clients and we still work with them today and the projects and stuff have evolved, but it wasn't it wasn't lighting us up. Nora: No, it was not enjoyable. We were both really stuck like with G: Mm. Nora: I guess that's why also content felt a bit like just dry. It wasn't. G: wasn't flowing. And and you know, maybe that is also like a signal to anyone that's listening that is struggling and feeling like their creative juices aren't flowing for content. Is it when you boil it down the topic, is it the service that you're selling? Is it what you're trying to create content about? Isn't actually something you want to talk about? You don't care about it. You're not passionate about it. Because if that is the case, then what would you feel excited and lit up by? Because for us, we love sharing Nora: Yeah. Yeah. G: Funny moments of our friendship. We love sharing client wins because we're so proud of them. We love sharing tips about marketing and socials and lead generation because we're good at it and we know it works and we want to share it with more people. We love trying new formats because they're fun to try and experiment with. You know, all of these things that we're doing at the moment, we enjoy. and because we enjoy it and we enjoy creating it, people enjoy watching it. but when you don't enjoy the process, people don't enjoy the product. Nora: And that's when started realizing as well. I think it was after the pivot that we were also ⁓ undercharging a weren't we? Quite a lot. We have tripled our prices, maybe, since then. ⁓ G: A bit. If not more. I think if you think of yeah, at least tripled, if not quadrupled, since some of the starting price points. I think regardless of whatever our prices will be, because of the nature of who we are, we're always going to overdeliver, even when we try not to, because we care and we want people to win. And like I always say it in sales calls as well, like if our clients don't get results and win, we don't wanna work with them because it's not fun. Nora: Hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. I think there's definitely an element of like over delivering which comes with the like undercharging. I do think we lacked the confidence when we were starting out, not because we weren't good at what we do, because we'd never done it for our own business. G: Mm. Yeah, yeah. Nora: The reality is what we're doing now, we've been doing for five, six years, yeah. And great at it, but we've never done it for our own business. and it and like when we raised our prices, like going on that first sales call, like that confidence that you need to pitch a higher price point, it it needs to come in G: Six years. Nora: by just putting in the reps, right? And like testing things out and like feeling more comfortable. we just didn't have that at the start. And I think that's okay to admit. ⁓ there were conversations that we had to almost like hype each other up before going into a sales call, like being like, you just need to do it. Yeah. G: Yeah. It was scary. It was actually terrifying. And I think when you're starting a new business and you don't have the social proof or case studies for that business, we had them as individuals from previous, know, experience and stuff. We knew that we'd done the work and we could get the results. But ⁓ gel, gel ha like those first few, you know, do you go on a sales call and say, Yeah, we've got no clients? Heh, ⁓ ⁓ Nora: Ha ha ha. G: You can't. So you have to just back it. You don't make anything up. We never once said, like, ⁓ yeah, all of our clients we never lied. But like to build that self-belief and confidence to pitch at a price point when you ain't got any clients is difficult. And that's why I think that even did we start too cheap, maybe, but equally had we not started at that point to get those first few people in to build the reps, build the confidence, figure it out, realize we were going in the wrong direction with systems and we needed to pivot. Nora: Yeah. Yeah. G: Get some cash flow in to build confidence that we could leave our fucking jobs. Because if we hadn't got any cash coming in, we could have reversed out the entire business and gone, you know what, we just need to look for a new job. Nora: Mm. G: Do I think we s were too cheap? Yes. Do I think we overdelivered? Yes. Would I change it? No. Nora: Yeah, I I a hundred percent agree with that. I think we knew it back then as well. It wasn't a realization like even. It was I think we had another realization that we were too cheap in January or February. We've increased our prices since we started about three or four times. where we changed the offers and stuff as well. And I think that's very normal for any business. But starting out, we did say we are we'd rather G: Yeah. Yeah. Nora: undercharge, over deliver, get that social proof, get that case study content coming in, so that then ⁓ feel confident going out and backing ourselves and being like, you know what, we know what we're doing. We knew that already, but we just we are both not people that would claim previous successes as ours if it wasn't genuinely from our business. and like that about us. G: it made me laugh, 'cause you're so right, and we would never do that. And like we see a lot of people doing it where they're like claiming like successes that weren't their own. Nora: Yeah, I mean, you see that all the time on the internet, isn't it? Like just making something such a bigger thing that it actually is and like glorifying like successes that G: You didn't do Nora: Yeah. Yeah. Or extrapolating numbers or like forecasting and then making like so much out there that I'm like, what how are these if you put the same creative into actually doing things and getting people results like G: But we would never tea. ⁓ yeah. Nora: yeah, but ⁓ there's so much out there. and we weren't willing to do that, and I think that's very ethical of us. G: Yeah, exactly. And like we do have clients that know, work with us in our previous company that have come to Joe. and if you notice on our page, we do not like share those previous wins. But if they get a win through us now, we might talk about how we've worked with them for the last few years. ⁓ but we'll be sharing the more current wins because it feels more authentic and they're more timely as well. Cause what worked a few years ago don't work anymore, guys. So it's all well and good claiming some old successes. Nora: Yeah. G: But like try get those results in twenty twenty six because it is not as easy as it was post COVID. and that's where yeah, that's where we are sharing what goes on right now. So yeah, proud of us for that. else do you think that we've done over the last six months to get us to six figures that we've not spoken about? What do you think are some of the biggest needle movers that we've we've done? Nora: Yeah. A hundred percent. Well, you said earlier about, you know, if things hadn't worked out, we would have found like a, you know, another job or d done this on the side or probably given up. I think one thing that we've both attacked this business with was like a that's not an option. Like we've not given ourselves an option for this to be a side hustle or a business that doesn't grow because we've been very open to changing. G: Hm. Yeah. Nora: Which is reflected in all of the things that we said that we we've done over the last few months. we did change, we were very quick to act on that change and implement. ⁓ And we both willing to just work ridiculous hours for the first few months. there's some days that we do still work quite long hours. It's not as bad now. I think we've got a lot more G: Yeah. No dilly dally. Nora: flexibility and balance in our day to day now and we're both you know, allowing ourselves that and I think that's great because that's what you build your own business for as well at the end of the day. But ⁓ this the first six months were not like that. G: Yeah. I think one of the things that we've done really well and that I'm really proud of us and I would encourage to any other business owner as well is yeah, the business is making really good money and I'm so proud of that. But what we haven't done is we've not been taking loads of money out of the business. Like, yeah, you might be like, ⁓ they must be so rich now. Not really, Han. Like we, know, still under Nora: Mm. But G: Pretty much what we used to be earning in terms of takeaway cash. And and that's ⁓ intentional because we don't want to be greedy. We'd rather the business be cash rich, have really good margins, be able to reinvest into the business, invest in mentorships, programs, ads, team scaling, creating a really good service, having the right systems in place, software, like making sure the business is doing really well and it's really cash rich and healthy and profitable, And we will Get our just rewards and we will be rich motherfuckers. But right now, it's not about having money for us. It's about building something really scalable and sustainable that we're proud of. Because what would be the point in having a fantastic business that's got no cash in the bank, that's not profitable, so you can ⁓ go on a few fancy holidays? Like, it's not that's not what this is about for us. Nora: Yeah. Yeah. G: And we could take more money out for one or two and we'll get there. But we'll do it we're doing it gradually. We're not being greedy. And I think that that's something where we see go wrong. People often think that their business's money is their money. And we've never seen it like that. Nora: Yeah. A ten K month in a business is not your money. Like that's not how it goes when you're building a company. and when you have like big ambitions for that company as well, you need to invest back into the company. You can't just be taking all of the money out. ⁓ just not how it works. We've been very modest, I think is the word, ⁓ with how much money we take out. ⁓ thankfully we're in a position where we can't pay ourselves enough to live G: No. Nora: you know, a comfortable life. I think we're both very similar. Our money mindset is very similar. we're not driven by like taking a lot of money out the business ⁓ instantly. Like we are happy to wait for that to come at some point. we both know that we're benefiting equally from this for years to come. You know, our goal for this is for the business to allow us to have and support our families, you know, in the future as well. So the harder we work now and the more modest we are now, the more we'll ⁓ G: Yeah. Nora: later down the line. so yeah. G: And then Yeah, that's the thing. And I think that's where we really align with certain clients that we bring on board and work with is they have a similar mentality to b business in general, but also like there's no like positive for like get quick rich schemes. ⁓ And like all people you see like you know, spending all these money on flashy cars and stuff in Dubai, like that's amazing. And if that ⁓ inspires and motivates then I'm sure like there is someone out there that would be a great mentor. That can show you exactly how to dodge tax and get a supercar and like enjoy that. That is not us and that will never be us. Nora: No. Yeah. For sure. I think ⁓ been one of the main things why the business is in such a healthy position now. we have, you know, invested obviously in the mentorships that we mentioned, but we've also invested in a team recently as well. which was thing that I think we've been more open about. We were a bit more what's the word? Reserved, resistant to that, starting out. G: Resistance, resistance. Nora: But as we scaled to bigger months, we just needed the help. G: Yeah, we couldn't do everything all ourselves. And we did at the start. I mean, we spent the first four months doing everything, just the two of us. And it was really hard, to be honest, because we were both working full-time job, building a business, servicing all of our clients, growing the business, trying to post daily, build all the systems that we'd sold and do consulting and live a life. ⁓ and it did get to the point where it wasn't sustainable. So we did decide that we would hire, and now we have a fantastic team. And there are five of us. Nora: Yeah. G: at jail, which is amazing. and they are awesome and we're super grateful for them all. but the plan is not to have a massive team. ⁓ it's to stay lean, and a really trustworthy, hardworking, ⁓ talented of individuals that can think think outside the box, be self-starters, build, support clients, you know, ⁓ we'll be doing the consulting, the two of us. but from a systems perspective, operational, Nora: Okay. No. G: that kind of stuff, like we we have an amazing team that supports us to do that. Nora: Yeah. And allow us to sort allows us to have some time back to think bigger for the business. We've had a great month of having the time to sit down and see what scaling looks like further. ⁓ which we've got some exciting stuff coming up, which we can't wait to share in future episodes when it's more concrete than an actual project that we're working on. But ⁓ yeah, we've had that time back which allowed us to ⁓ G: Mm-hmm. Nora: think bigger and scale the company more. ⁓ without necessarily hiring more. I think with w with the people that we have now, we've got great people who care about the business, care about the clients. and way that we build the business doesn't necessarily need more people. G: Yeah, it doesn't. Because it's the model that we're going towards and who we've got in the team now and what we do where we're going. We scale, we could quadruple without needing any more headcount ⁓ because forecasted ahead thinking about the model that we're creating and we're not playing like catch up and reactive hiring, which is what I think a lot of businesses, and especially consultancies, get into is they have ⁓ one of revenue ⁓ and the only way to scale that is by adding more people to do the servicing. And I think that's something we're both really keen on is to not outsource the business coaching or consulting to anyone other than the two of us because that's what we love and that's what we're good at. ⁓ so it's not, you know, we're gel, like you're signing up to work with us. We don't really want to just pass you off to someone else. Sorry. Nora: Yeah. Yeah. and it's one thing that we we were aligned on from the and we kept to this day. It's one thing that we've not changed our opinion and I don't think we anytime soon. We've always said as well, we've mentioned it in a previous podcast where sat down and like aligned on what what do we want from this business individually. ⁓ and we had a conversation where we did say if we were to build something else. G: No, I don't Nora: was more of a product thing. we look into how we build that and whether that would be a separate business altogether ⁓ or gel is d is George and Nora. G: Yeah. love it. guess to wrap up then really, is there anything that you would do differently if we started again from scratch tomorrow? Nora: Think so. I ⁓ honestly, I think even the f Even the times where we failed on paper, me, they're more like learns. Like we've learned so much from them, which is why we are where we are now. And I think we've we're both that way where we don't necessarily think of things as failures. We're more like, okay, like this hasn't worked. What can we do to learn from it and adapt and show up better or like do something differently? And and that's how we've taken it. there been a lot of challenges together with the wins. We're in a very grateful Position to be where we are today, but it didn't come by chance. We worked really hard for like I said earlier as well, like I do think this is just a start. I think we're barely scratching the surface with what we can do. so yeah, I'm excited for building from six figures to seven figures. G: Yeah. Nora: So would you change anything if we were to go back and this again? ⁓ G: If we were to start from the beginning would a change anything. Honestly, it's really hard to say. I I don't think I think it's easy to be like, ⁓ we would have done stuff differently, but I really don't think that it would have got us to where we are. The only thing that I think we probably could have done more of at the start is maybe we should have like taken ourselves on a trip and just like locked ourselves in an Airbnb for a week and just like knocked in or something like that. Because I think we've had some amazing like in-person working sessions in time. So Nora: Yeah. G: But then we were also working full time. So it probably wasn't viable. But I think maybe just some more in person time at the beginning of the business might have been helpful. Could have been better for content. We could have got off the mark a bit quicker for content and stuff like that. But equally, had we been like on it with content from the start, would we be where we are now with it so consistent? We might have just been a four times a week kind of gals, whereas now we post every day with conviction. I'm of where we've started and proud of what we've done and where we are. Nora: Yeah. Yeah. G: And I think it's all part of part of the story, really. Nora: Yeah. I love what you just said about in-person stuff. Cause that's another thing that I think we focused on that has massively benefited our growth. And it not as much as in a direct way of like, ⁓ because we met ⁓ more, made more money, but because we had more time together, because we don't live close to each other. ⁓ well, many things have changed. I think we got closer. G: Hmm. Yeah. No. Nora: Which made us better, know, collaborating together in a work capacity. We were already quite good. But I think because we had to face so many challenging times during building the business, meeting up more often has allowed us to work through our communication and like how we showed up in business and for clients and yeah, all these things and allowed us more brainstorming time. ⁓ yeah. And we said that we will make it a thing, isn't it? Like G: Yeah. Yeah. Nora: prioritize in person work. G: Yeah. It's so special and it's it makes it all feel more worth it as well. Like even just the small things like being able to like you know, meet up with clients or like go and grab a coffee and like just ⁓ nice things like with each other because we can and that's what we're building this business for. in. But I think it's great. Nora: And we want more more in person stuff with clients, like you said, we discussed retreats, we discussed, you know, in person. ⁓ G: Yes. Yeah. Retreats gotta be on the cards. I really want to get some more like in person meetups. I think we should do a client photo shoot for our clients to get their like headshots and stuff for their socials. I think that'd be great. I'd love to do like an in-person workshop day, and like do some trainings and like get people together to brainstorm like mastermind and then like retreats down the line as well. Cause I think there's nothing better than Nora: Yeah. G: being in in real life with people and to get to know them but also just to like have a bit of fun. Take them we will definitely be taking all our clients to karaoke. we fucking love karaoke. So Yeah. Yeah. Why don't we do it this summer? Why don't we a gel get together? Nora: Yeah. Understand. Yeah, that would be iconic. I think we should start planning that like soon. Yeah. Love it. ⁓ wait. G: Why not? ⁓ Amazing, What's your biggest business or takeaway of the week? Nora: Yeah. I think like my biggest takeaway, like filming this episode, am very grateful for you and that we've done. I think it's really cool how far we've come and it it's because of both of us. It's not a one person thing. We've both worked really hard and yeah, we be proud. G: ⁓ I love you. I'm grateful for you too. And I'm really proud of both of us. I think it's fucking cool think how we've done this. And the coolest part really is that it is just the beginning. And we have so many ideas for how we're going to expand the brand, the business, support our clients better. You know, we're so fortunate to see like, well, not even fortunate because we're doing all the hard work, but like we're getting great results for our clients. but we know there's so much more we can offer and do. Nora: You can. Yeah. G: and I think that's what feels exciting is that we both have a growth mindset. We both are willing to do the work. we get to do this together. So yay, as here's to six more months of ⁓ world baby. thank you so much for tuning in. And if you got this far, we appreciate you. ⁓ if you have any questions on anything we discussed in the episode, drop us a DM. We would love to chat to you. ⁓ if you want to feature as a guest, also send us a message. We might have you on, we might not if you're boring. and we hope to see you soon for another episode of Jell and Tell. Nora: See you soon guys, hope you enjoyed this one and catch you on episode sixteen.