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172: Building a Strong Personal Brand with Guest Annie Margarita Yang · Imperfect Marketing

• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Imperfect Marketing.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, kendra Corman, and today our guest is Annie Margarita Yang.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: She is a game changer for millennials tired of running on a never-ending financial treadmill.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: She is not only a money saving guru with over a million YouTube views, but she's also written Amazon bestsellers like the five-day job search and 1,001 ways to save money.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Annie's not a Gen Xer like me, but she is a millennial who understands how crazy the job market is and how hard it is to keep a positive bank account status.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: So let's go ahead and welcome Annie to the show, welcome.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Kendra, thanks for having me on today, so some people might be like why do you have a financial and job search person on your show?
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Well, it's all about personal branding, right?
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: So when you're looking to change jobs and move around in the market, it comes down to your personal brand.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: So what does personal branding mean in today's marketplace?
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, you know, if you've, I'm sure your audience has read lots of marketing books and branding books as well.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: If you crack open any of those branding books, they always say you can't control your brand, because a brand is something that other people think of you.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: They place their judgments, their evaluations of you.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: So that applies to personal brand as well.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Even if you opt out of the internet and choose not to have any social media profiles online, what is that personal brand?
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: It's the I'm stuck in 2005 personal brand.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: And if you're on Facebook posting pictures of what you ate last night, it's a this is what I eat brand.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: And then if you're on online also peddling the latest MLM and way product, then it's the I'm perpetually part of an MLM pyramid scheme brand.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: So in these days, your personal brand is basically what do you post most often online?
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: How do people see you?
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Very insightful.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you because you do, and my husband uses my Facebook account and to scroll through the feed and things like that and we'll go to an event and he'll be like I know that person and I'm like, no, you don't.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: And then he's like, oh no, I know them from Facebook.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: This is the person that and he does, he feels connected to them just from their social posts, and I think we all have a tendency to do that.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like, even if you've never personally interacted with that person, you feel like you already know that person.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: And that's something that I actually discovered from doing my YouTube channel because, like all of these people who watched my YouTube videos, who then ended up adding me on LinkedIn but never said hello, just sent a connection request, I'm just like, okay, who's this?
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I'll accept.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: And then later, later on, when I actually wrote my book the five day job search I messaged each person one by one.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: So I messaged like 2000 people one by one, asking them if they could help me with the launch.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: And they were just like Of course, annie, we love your content, we would love to help you.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: And then I was like, I have no idea who this person is, but they know who I am.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I think it's great.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: So, when people are starting out, what are some missteps that they're making while creating their personal brand?
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: The biggest misstep is the lack of consistency.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: So one of the things that I realized early on is I actually went by Annie Yang back then, but then, when I typed that name into Google, nothing related to me was showing up.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: So I realized I have to actually use my full name, annie Margarita Yang, because there's only one of those in the world and then so I'm lucky in that regard not everyone has a middle name right, but.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: But then I realized you have to be really consistent with it, because the way search engines work, like bang and Google, the only way they can index all of this and make sure that the links that tie back to you are actually yours, ones that you created and curated online is by being consistent with your name, like if you, if you say, or me let's use me as an example if my LinkedIn name was Annie Margarita, why, period?
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: And my Facebook was just Annie Yang and then my Twitter was just Annie, why, like that lack of consistency with just my name and the username handle?
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: When you try to look stuff up about me online, you can't find anything about me, right?
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: That's something you actually have to do deliberately choosing the name you're going to use over and over again, along with the username handle.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: I really like that.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: I think that consistency is key in all marketing and the name of your brand clearly is important.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: You wouldn't say that Nike needs to add something to theirs.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: It's Nike, but they're consistent.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: They call themselves Nike everywhere they go on their stores, on their shoes, on their clothing.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: It's across all channels and all different types of merchandise.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: When people have this consistent brand name, which happens to be their name, how do they convey their unique value proposition?
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: How do they convey how they're different and stand out in this crowded industry of social media?
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: The bar is so low, kendra.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: The bar that you have to meet is really low, because the best final platform that will do well for you whether it's LinkedIn, tiktok, youtube but find something where you can post once a week showcasing your expertise.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Whether it's like hey, we had this problem, a customer had this problem and this is how we solved it.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: That way, when someone's looking to hire a service provider or an employee, if they come across you online, they're just like oh, actually we have a similar problem to this and I think this person can help me because they've had past experience.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: It's one thing to say we're the best in the industry because we've been in business for 100 years, or we're the largest one in the industry, or people trust our reputation.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: It's another to actually show it, like actually show what you know right, because we can say anything we want with marketing, but then to actually have content explaining your expertise.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: That's a different thing.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: You're not like actually trying to boast and brag like look how great I am.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: It's actually showing people like hey, you have this problem, your toilet's running, this is how you can fix it.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Well, that's the plumber I want to hire.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: That's someone who's just trying to make money off of me.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: No, and I think that that's really good because, yeah, some people they're not sure what they can share.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Maybe their company limits them, but there's ways that you can share frequently asked questions.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Most people I run into their biggest issue is they don't know what to post.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: What do I share?
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: What do I do?
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I don't like this, I don't like that.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: But share a question you were asked that week that you answered.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Share a resource that you used.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Share again, like those case studies of the problem that you solved and what you did to go about it.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: I think a lot of people think that they're giving away all their secrets.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: What do you say to them about that?
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: I have a totally different philosophy and mindset.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: I give away freely and I don't hold back.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: I have found that because I give freely, people, they somehow return things to me multi-fold.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: It's a little weird because people are like but you have to run a business, Don't?
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: You have to put food on the table and earn money.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: I have no problem earning money, I have no problem.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: For example, let me give you this as an example Starting last month, I actually started testing out different AI headshot generators because I had unemployed.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: People come up to me.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: They've been unemployed for months and they were like Annie, I haven't had a job and you're telling me I need to get a professional headshot from Wellington.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: I can't afford to pay $300 to $500 for a headshot.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: I don't have money.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: I was like okay, let me try to find if there's a solution for you by testing out 20 different services with my own money to find out the best one on the market.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: I'll just do an honest review, because I pay my own money.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: They cannot tell me what I can and cannot say at this point.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you which one is the best, the second best, the third best, so that you don't waste your money and you just go for the one that will give you a great looking headshot with AI.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: I actually am just about to wrap up the series, but I already finished writing the article on which one was the best AI headshot generator the people who found my YouTube videos online.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: As I'm posting these reviews, I have three more left to post.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: They've already gone to the website where I tell them here you can find this article online and they're already buying, Like they've already started like using my affiliate links to purchase, so I make money off of that right, but like that's me giving away free information.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: They trust what I have to say.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: They don't trust anyone else, because everyone else is trying to sell you something Like the other articles that you find online.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: How do they make it into these top 10 listicles?
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: They got paid to get there.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: It's not because someone like me actually use my own money to test.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Well, and I think one of the things that people don't realize is, again, the more that you share, the more appreciative people feel.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Most of the people that listen to this know that I went through a business finance course with Jamie Troll and one of the reasons that I did, and one of the reasons that my friend recommended that I go through the course, is because of how much value Jamie provided to business owners through the pandemic.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: So she was giving a ton of advice about PPP loans and everything else that went with it and, yes, you went off and did it yourself and it's like, if this is what she can do for free, how much can she help me if I pay her for it?
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: too.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: I have to say mindset.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: There's this live coach.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: I love to listen to her.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Her name is Brooke Castillo.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: She runs the Life Coach School podcast Very, very popular, and her free information is so good.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: I'm like, wow, I wonder what her paid content is like.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: And then, after you're exposed to her enough times and she's selling you her stuff and you're just like I'm on the fence, maybe.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: Finally, when she runs a discount, I'm like I'm in.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: She gave a discount, I'm in, but that's only because of so much she gave away to me for free.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: That actually already added value to my life.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: Right, and so I think, as you're thinking about posting on social media and creating your unique value proposition and showcasing what you can do, give it all away.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: The majority of people that are going to hire you to do something for them.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: They don't have the time and they want to see that you're an expert, so they're not going to go off and do it themselves, and if they do, they weren't going to hire you anyway, right?
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: So go ahead and give it to them.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Because people think, oh, the information that they know is so valuable.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: But that's not actually why someone hires you for something A client or a business owner.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: That's not why they hire you, because they want to buy back their time.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the only way to grow in business.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: It's, if you understand this, that that business owner only has like 24 hours in their day and as they're trying to grow their business, they realize that they've hit their cap.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: The only way for them to expand is by taking advantage of other people's time and their labor.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: So with the money that they make, they buy it back their time by paying someone else less than what they make.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: So I don't see it as like, oh, if I give away free information, then I must be losing something.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: In fact, it's simply that I will get more exposure and someone else who has the money they're willing to pay me for my expertise Exactly.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about it.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Let's change gears a little bit and talk about.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: So let's pretend somebody's been the.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: I post my food every day, right Of what I'm eating.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: All these pretty meals going on to eat what?
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: How often should someone change their personal brand?
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Should they change their personal brand and who should they be listening to as to whether or not they should change it?
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's not about how often you change your brand, because I think once you said it, that's it.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: Like I already decided what when I was 20 years old.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: I'm 28 now, so I've been at this for eight years deciding like what I'm going to do is I'm going to help people with their finances.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: I've been at it consistently for eight years.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: I never changed my mind, you know.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: So once you know what you want to do, you focus in on that.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: You know, like I've already decided my calling is to help people with their finances.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: So that's all I do.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: That's all people know me for these days.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: They don't know me for other stuff because I don't post anything else other than that.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Maybe occasionally I'll post something personal, but that doesn't make up the line.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Share what I talk about.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: But I think if you keep it only professional, it gets really bland and boring, like it's something that only chat GPT can write up.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: You know, like if you come up with only topics that chat GPT can write about, which is a YouTube script or a LinkedIn post, people cannot relate to that.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: People like that personality and authenticity.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: And you know I started off as the girl who spoke from her bed.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: You literally see from my first video I'm in my bedroom sitting on the bed talking about how to save money on a low income and people were relating to that aspect of me.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: They weren't relating to me Apparently.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: My employee complained to me three weeks ago.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: She's like Annie, I looked at your old videos.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: I like the old ones more Today.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: These days you have this blank white background behind you.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it looks really polished and professional, but can't relate to it.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: I was like, oh okay, so have some relatability with it, you know.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: And here I was lecturing my niece about how the fact she took a Zoom meeting from her bed that I was on, and I was like, oh my gosh, why aren't you at least at the kitchen table?
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: But yeah, no, I mean it's in a world of AI.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: It's going to be more and more important that we differentiate ourselves by being authentic, being who we are showcasing ourselves right and because, yeah, you can take AI content, but if you can add some of your voice and your expertise, your insights, your stories, that's what's going to differentiate you.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: The AI cannot write your life story for you.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: You know, like what?
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: I think?
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: What makes people so attracted to me is that I keep talking about how my parents grew up in China.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Mother never got beyond a sixth grade education, got her water from a well kind of thing, came to the United States with $400 in her pocket that kind of story and I think AI just cannot write that.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: No, no, that's pretty cool.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: So what challenges do you see people facing when building their personal brand?
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: How can they overcome them?
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: Even as I make these YouTube videos explaining the importance this applies for both jobs make snap judgments about whether they want to talk to you or not.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: I hate to say it, but based on your appearance, they do this in real life as well.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: You know, if a homeless beggar came up to you walking like, hey, can I have $100?
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: And it's different if, like a well-dressed man in a suit and tie, came up to you and asked, can I have $100?
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Can you invest $100 in my business?
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Right, like the appearance, the snap judgment that you make, it matters a lot.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: And all I'm asking for, I think, is reasonable, because I'm asking you for one picture.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: I'm not asking for 20 pictures, I'm just asking for one professional headshot to have across all of your social media profiles.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: And someone asked me but Annie, wouldn't it like be really boring if you use the same picture across all your profiles?
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: And I say this you have to think of the internet like it's a big, giant public square.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: It's like the 2D version of what happens in real life.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: If I lived in a small town, I will run into that same person at church, at the grocery store, on the street, walking my dog or something like that you run into that same person.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: You recognize them but only because you can see them from various angles from the front, from the left, from the right, from the back.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: So you recognize them right away.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: But on the internet it's all 2D.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: So if someone posted a picture also like, of themselves from five years ago on Facebook, but then on their Twitter it's a more recent photo, then on their LinkedIn it's a picture from the right side of their face, you won't be able to tell it's even the same person, and especially since the thumbnail is like literally the size of your thumb, you want to make it easy for people to recognize you and you do that with a professional headshot that you use consistently across all of your profiles.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Yes, 100%.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: It is totally worth it to get it professionally done.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Check out Annie Margarita Yang's suggestions on headshots and on her blog.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: We'll have a link for that in the show notes.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: But and be careful and make sure you're reading the terms and conditions, because a lot of them give them, give the company, permission to use your headshots.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: So don't.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Don't do the free ones, for sure.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: But it sounds like you've got a bunch of them that you recommend.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: So that's, that's good.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: And yeah, because it is important that one where, like you were dressed up and you've got your arm around someone and the arms have cut off.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: That is not a good professional look.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: No, and it's just.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: I have a ton of those that people sent me.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Oh my, gosh.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: It just conveys that they don't put any effort into their career.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: You know what annoys me?
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Let me tell you what is really really big peep of mine.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: People are willing to pay $200,000 to go to Boston University or like North East Eastern University.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: They're willing to spend that much money on an education that everyone just pressured them to convince them that this, this, will help you get ahead in your career.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: And here I am.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: All I'm asking is for $300.00.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: All right, or $99.00 if you use the AI version.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Right For your career, and people are resistant.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: I don't understand why no.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: And I get it because they just don't see the value to the level that it is.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: But those professional headshots are very, very valuable because, again, it is who you are as a brand.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: I know my husband was picking on me.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: This is a long, long time ago, we won't talk about years, but he was picking on me.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: He's like, oh, we're pulling up baby photos because I had this really nice professional headshot way back when I worked at Chrysler.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: And he's like, oh, so we can just pick our baby photos up there.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: And I'm like he's like, is this their high school graduation?
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: I'm like, no, but it's true, because people need to see the current version of you and like you know, if you cut your hair or it's longer or you have to have that shot there, because when they go to meet you for breakfast they don't recognize you.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: That's not a good sign.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: You sat down on the table to meet them for breakfast and they're just like who are you?
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Right, yeah, because, yeah, I'm back when I had my old old headshot on there.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: I think someone's like, oh my gosh, you grew your hair.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: And it's like, yeah, I guess I should update that, but it's so true.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: So where do you see the future of personal branding headed?
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I see it's all headed to TikTok.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: People are growing their personal brands on TikTok.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: I thought it was just a platform for teenagers who lip sync and dance, but actually people are actually buying services through TikTok.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: I actually found out from I was taking an acting class three months ago.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: It was a group acting class.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: I actually wanted to look for a private teacher.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: I was searching all over on Google for a private acting teacher in Boston that could teach like screen acting, because I needed to work on my facial expressions for the things that I do, and I couldn't find anyone.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: I'll be very honest, I did like extensive three-hour research just to find a professional.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: I couldn't find anyone that was offering these kind of services.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: And then when I was taking the group class because that's all I could find one of the students said oh yeah, I take private acting classes.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: I was like from who, how, how did you find your teacher?
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: She's like, oh, from TikTok, yeah.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: So apparently people are finding professionals via TikTok.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Yes, I find mostly jokes on TikTok.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: I do post on TikTok, so we'll have.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Hopefully you're checking out one of these clips on TikTok for this podcast episode Now, before I let you go, because this has been huge, I think a lot of what you said is extremely valuable and I think everybody needs to take note of it.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: You know, yes, it's your personal brand.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Use a consistent brand name.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: That is your name, right?
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: You know, have a professional packaging.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: It's your headshot, your 2D headshot on social media.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: That's going to be important and think what you're posting, right?
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: I think that those are some of the big takeaways from this.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: You can control who your brand is, and that's really, really important.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: But before I let you go, hopefully everybody's gotten a lot of value out of this, because I know I have enjoyed our conversation there's a question that I ask everybody, and that is this show is called Imperfect Marketing, because marketing is anything but a perfect science.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: What has been your biggest marketing lesson learned?
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: I've gotten censored and shadow banned by YouTube.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: I never put in the effort to build my email list, never bothered.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: I've got a resource for someone to download and announce it through my YouTube channel, such as here's an emergency checklist for your binder, for your finances, just in case you have to grab and go in case there's a war breakout or something like that.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: People have found that really valuable and I never put it behind one of those give me your email address, kind of paywalls, right.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: I always just like, oh, head over to the resource section of my site.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: You can just download it right there without giving me any of your information.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: And because I never bothered and I just grew my following on YouTube, I can't reach anybody.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: I can't reach my own following.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: I have 18,000 subscribers but I get only 100 views because I got shadow banned by YouTube now.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: And now I'm just like gee.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: Now I have to start from scratch on TikTok.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: So I've learned my lesson.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: I got to grow that email list because that's my own real estate.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you might be my favorite guest so far this year for sure because you said I need to grow my email list.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Yes, even though we're talking about TikTok and social media and YouTube and they are all great ways to connect people the best thing that you can do with those is funnel them into your email list, because I am an email crazy lady.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: So because, again, if something happens, you don't own your followers, you don't own your contacts in those platforms, but you own your email list and can take that wherever you want to go.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: So I love that you learned the lesson.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry you learned it that way.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: I feel so stupid, I'll be very honest.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: I think so many people you know I feel so stupid to have to.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: I feel so stupid even admitting this.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: It's a basic marketing lesson I know and I just ignored it for five years.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: But the thing is is that it's a pain.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: It's a pain to do it, to set it up.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: You know it takes extra work and things like that, and a lot of people don't want to grow their email list because they don't want to bother people, and so it's not stupid.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: You should not feel stupid, because tons of people do have those issues.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: I've just always been like an email crazy lady.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: But even me, when I started my business, I wasn't doing an email list and I love email.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: That's one of the best service offerings I do.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: I was doing it for everybody else and not for me.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: So I think that is a huge, an amazing lesson learned and it's great for people to hear it, not just from me that it's important, but from somebody else that it's important.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: So we'll have some links to Annie Margarita Yang's TikTok and her YouTube channel so you can check it all out.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: And if there's any links that she wants to share with the resources so that she can grow her email list, we'll have it available in the show notes for you to go ahead and click on and hopefully sign up and help her grow her list.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being on the show today.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: I appreciate all the information that you shared and the vulnerability of your lesson learned.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: That was just, I think, really helpful and a lot of people can learn from that in a huge way.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: So thank you so much.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: For those of you listening or watching wherever you're listening or watching, it would help me out if you would rate and subscribe wherever you're at.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: And again, thank you so much for tuning in for another episode of Imperfect Marketing.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: See you next time.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Have a great rest of your day.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Bye.