Layers

In a lot of our discussions lately Brooke and I have been talking about the layers of walk in love.

Let me explain.

Our top layer, because of it's following, is Instagram with over 55k followers. We have the biggest following there so we put a lot of energy toward creating good, beautiful content for Instagram.

Our second layer is our MailChimp E-mail List with just over 17k subscribers.  This is an important sales layer because it contacts customers directly.  If you don't have an e-mail list start building one today! 

Our third layer is Pinterest because while we don't have as many followers, our pins get viewed by millions because they get passed around over and over again.

We'd like to make our 4th layer YouTube because of the viral and sharing nature of videos but haven't given it enough attention, although in the coming months we hope to change that.

Twitter, Facebook, Periscope and Tumblr are all lower layers as well.  We'd love to use Facebook as a more prominent layer but because you basically have to promote any post you want to be seen it's not worth it. We use twitter but because we don't have a huge following there we don't focus on it as much.

Brooke and I have been discussing the layers of walk in love. because we realize that as we grow we will need to utilize all those layers to get the biggest, best following possible.  When we use all layers effectively we can maximize how many potential new customers come in contact with us.  More eyes = more customers = more sales = more growth.

So, if you have a small business and you say things like "I don't think we really need Pinterest"...STOP!  You do.  Use those layers to maximize your growth in a way that works for you.    You may find that it's not quite right for you, which is okay.  But it might end up bringing in a few new customers just because you tried.

If you want an easy way to start using some layers check out If This Than That.  It allows you to set up your social posts to go from one to another.  It will let you set up a recipe to post your instagrams to Pinterest or Twitter, etc.  It makes it really easy to start using some layers you might not be.

Just think of layers like all the ingredients in your favorite burger.  Without the tomato or cheese or bacon the burger just won't be as good. It will still be a burger, but just not as good as it possibly can be.  It's the same way with your business.

 

Photo : The Mac Attack from the Boston Burger Company (Best burger I have ever eaten so far)

“Brands are like burgers. Layered + delicious. You can serve your customers a plain burger, but that’s boring. And it’s the same with your brand. You gotta layer it up with everything you’ve got!”

If you want to remember this post you can pin this graphic!

Hustle Efficiently

Recently, I had the insane pleasure of being a guest on the Hardwood Hustle Podcast.  The podcast is dedicated to talking about either Hardwood (basketball) or the hustle of life.  I am not great on a basketball court so my episode was centered around the hustle of growing walk in love.

You can listen to the entire episode here - Hardwood Hustle Episode 173

Leading up to the interview I started thinking about what I would specifically say about hustle.  I think hustle is an overused term in todays entrepreneur world.  You see the well designed quotes about hustling everyday all over Pinterest.  It's totally an awesome idea but defiantly think it's way overused.

So when thinking about the interview I knew that I wanted to talk about the idea of hustling, BUT doing it in a way that makes sense.  I want to hustle, but I want to do it efficiently.

Now here are two scenarios:

 1. I could spend all day at the studio "hustling" and do a thousand different things that don't matter just to say that I worked 10 hours today and was just hustling all day.  I could wear it like a badge of honor for all the people who follow me on social media.  

OR

2. I could make a list, figure out what needs to be done today, plan ahead and hustle for 8 hours and probably get more done.  This option also leads to what I really love to do, which is spend time with my amazing wife and beautiful daughter.  With this option I don't get to humble brag on social media because I only worked a normal workday.

I think the best part about efficient hustle is that it makes you better at everything.  You start to look at everything through efficiency goggles.  You refine your process to save you more time, more energy and in turn more money.  My team teases me about always talking about efficiency but the more efficient we can be the more we can get done in a shorter time which leads to more time with our families and doing the things that we really love.

An efficient team can leave early on Friday because of what they've accomplished!

Here are some examples of inefficient hustle:

1. You stop what you are doing at different points in the day to check/post on twitter and instagram

2. You talk about what you are going to do someday instead of focusing on growing your business today.

3. You think ONE thing is going to make all the difference and stop focusing on the hundred little things that actually will.

4. You are a photographer who is planning a elaborate shoot but still have clients waiting for their photos.

5. You are a social media manager that doesn't batch create content and schedule it out with buffer or hootsuite.

6. You never ask yourself if the way you do something is the fastest way to do it.

7. You LOOOOOOVE telling people how busy you are.

So stop the inefficient hustle and focus on how to do things the best and most efficient way possible.  Once you start you won't be able to stop and every time you walk into any place you will think "That would work better if it was over there..."

Hustling doesn't mean you are adding more to your plate.  It means that you are doing what you do well and efficiently.

Here are some tools we use to hustle efficiently:

Buffer - Schedule Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest Posts

Lattergrame - Schedule Instagram posts.

Things - Make lists to make your life easier.

Dropbox - Have access to your files from anywhere.

Also, if you want to see process efficiency in action you should check out the show The Profit on CNBC

10 Tips For Using Instagram for Business

Episode 3 of my podcast was to help you with simple tips and tricks for using Instagram to grow your business.  I am going to list the 10 tips below but make sure you actually listen to Episode 3 of the T.J. Mousetis Podcast to hear the explanation of each point!

  1. Have a mission statement specific to your brands Instagram
  2. Ask questions about your posts before you post them
  3. Have a schedule
  4. Post should be good but don't need to be perfect
  5. Batch create content ahead of time
  6. Don't overkill aspects of Instagram
  7. Rarely try to sell
  8. Interact with your followers
  9. Don't copy.  Be original
  10. Have Fun!

If you have any questions that you'd like me to answer on your podcast comment on this post or ask on one of my Instagram photos - @tjmousetis

Life is Awesome!

Every morning after I wake up I usually do a few things in no particular order.  I kiss my wife, read my bible, look at June on the monitor and check a few things on my phone.  One thing that I have been checking more regularly lately has been an app called Time Hop.  It's an app that shows you what you posted on social media last year, two years ago and so on.  Well, today when I checked the app I saw this photo from SEVEN YEARS AGO!

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Look at me!  I look like a little kid! I probably wasn't even shaving at that point in life.  There is something very special about this photo and as I looked at it I felt tears come to my eyes and "love waves" hit my heart.  This is one of the first photos that my wife ever took of me.  We had only been dating for about two months and this photo shoot was one of the reasons we started talking in the first place.  This is the beginning of what has become seven of the most amazing, spectacular years of my life.  Now, not everything has been sunshine and rainbows for us.  We've had some hard and difficult times, we've had heart ache, frustrations, mistakes and pain, but I can still look at this photo and scream, "LIFE IS AWESOME!"

Because life will always be awesome when you have love in your heart. I am not talking about superficial or attention grabbing love that you see all over our news media.  I am talking about a love that fills your soul with purpose, passion and life to the full!  While I would like to give credit to my beautiful wife Brooke for that love, I cannot.  That love that has filled the last seven years of my life with awesomeness comes from Jesus.  I can't make it any clearer than that.

Now there are two types of people in this world.  People who will read that and think, "that's awesome!" and people who will read it and think I just offended my wife by saying her love isn't as good as the love of Jesus.  Well, to the first type of people, "Thank You, It is awesome!" and to the second type let me explain.  Jesus filling my life with love has given me the ability to love and be loved by my wife in a way that's on a whole new level.  His love makes our love more valuable, richer and bigger than it could ever be on it's own. It's God's love that has made these 7 years so spectacular and His love that will carry us through the next seven and the next and the next!

Yesterday Brooke and I were running some errands and when we parked the car in front of our house it was pouring!  June was sleeping in her car seat so we just waited in the car while it rained.  After it stopped Brooke wanted to take a few photos of June and since she can't stand on her own that makes me her set of arms and legs while Brooke shoots.  I think when June is older she is going to wonder why I am holding her in so many photos.  Mom has the skill, dad has the arms...

So here is the most recent photo my wife Brooke has taken of me.  It happened yesterday.

So why am I telling you this story?  What is the point?  Well, first of all I just wanted people to see that old photo of me because it cracks me up.  More importantly, I wanted to tell this story because sometimes you just need to know that life is awesome.  That you could have just taken a photo or had a conversation that seven years from now will mean so much to you.  I had no idea when Brooke took this photo that it would be on the precipice of the best seven years of my life.

So if you feel like life is not great right now, keep pushing through.  Keep going at it with a positive attitude and passion.  If you feel like you don't even have that then open the Bible and read about Jesus, let His love push you to the place where life is awesome because it always is with Him.

Life is flying by and it's only when we look back do you really understand the value of a moment.  Try to enjoy those moments as they happen as much as you can. Take a second when something awesome is happening.  Turn off the TV, turn off the phone and enjoy that moment.  Remember it. Treasure it. Cherish it because...

LIFE IS AWESOME!