GE 229: How Gretta van Riel Built 5 Multi-Million-Dollar Enterprises in 5 Years (podcast)

Hey everyone! In today’s episode, I share the mic with Gretta van Riel, a serial entrepreneur from Australia who built SkinnyMe Tea, The 5th, The Drop Bottle, and Hey Influencers from scratch.

Tune in to hear Gretta share how her entrepreneurial journey began with a love of tea, how she gained over 16M followers on her social media channels as an influencer marketing queen, how she grew SkinnyMe Tea’s revenue from zero to 600K/month in just six months, and opens up about her $1.3 million dollar mistake—a hefty loss that came with some valuable lessons.

Download podcast transcript [PDF] here: How Gretta van Riel Built 5 Multi-Million-Dollar Enterprises in 5 Years TRANSCRIPT

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:36 – Leave a review and rating and subscribe to the Growth Everywhere Podcast
• 01:08 – Eric welcomes Gretta van Riel
• 02:00 – Gretta started SkinnyMe Tea in 2012 while working at a print transitioning to digital agency
  • 02:29 – Gretta has always been addicted to tea; she created her own detox tea blends
  • 02:43 – People started asking Gretta about her tea
  • 03:18 – Gretta coined the term “teatox” which became a two-step detoxing program
  • 04:14 – On their first day of their website launch, they sold 4 packs of tea
  • 04:23 – Things really started going with Instagram
• 04:38 – SkinnyMe Tea’s social presence grew from zero to 600K followers/month in under 6 months
• 05:28 – The first year was not easy for Greta as she was fresh into entrepreneurship
• 06:23 – Back in 2012, Instagram was in the emerging stage—not too many brands were using the platform yet
  • 06:56 – Gretta built the audience for SkinnyMe around people’s interests rather than personal relationships
  • 07:30 – Gretta was consistent in her interactions with her following
  • 08:13 – Gretta was in charge of customer service for the first 6 months
• 08:40 – Her audience of 16M has taught Gretta that her following is more important than the product itself
  • 09:18 – The sheer size of her audience has helped Gretta establish additional brands
• 09:27 – The 5th grew faster than SkinnyMe Tea because SkinnyMe Tea’s audience was already so firmly established
  • 09:32 – They made $100K on day 1 of sales and hit $1M in their first year
• 10:53 – Gretta started teaching a course that broke down her ecommerce framework into six steps
• 11:40 – Gretta’s following is very diverse
  • 12:28 – Aside from SkinnyMe Tea, they have other supporting accounts in the same niche
  • 13:11 – Vertical accounts are much easier to grow
  • 13:15 – Gretta identifies the content that is going viral by checking the hashtags of the best performing content
• 14:07 – Gretta will soon release an engagement group or pod platform called Hey Engage
  • 14:31 – Pods are private groups of like-minded people who share and engage in each other’s content
  • 15:20 – Gretta just discovered a LinkedIn group that boosted her likes and comments
  • 16:30 – Gretta is trying to increase engagement in the pods
  • 18:38 – The platform will be niche and time sensitive
• 19:23 – Gretta has been successful leveraging her relationships through influencer marketing
• 20:00 – Gretta realized how powerful a thousand followers can be with influencer marketing
  • 20:48 – They were doing product gifting and it was 90% effective
  • 22:10 – The brand and the influencer need to match before proceeding to the negotiation stage
• 22:46 – “Relationship building is the KEY to influencer marketing”
• 22:59 – The difference between influencer marketing and performance marketing
• 24:07 – The master plan for Gretta
  • 24:15 – Hey Influencer and Hey Engage will work together
• 25:47 – Gretta is excited about Facebook
  • 26:05 – Facebook groups and messenger bots are huge opportunities for everyone
  • 26:19 – Gretta’s bot will be called 100 Days of Health
  • 26:28 – Facebook is a great way to diversify your database
  • 26:54 – Email rates are going down and down
• 27:33 – Gretta’s favorite Facebook group is Badass Marketers and Founders and she’s friends with Josh Fechter, the group founder
  • 28:28 – All Things Social Media and Charm Offensive are great groups as well
• 29:03 – Gretta shares her mistake that cost $1.3M
  • 29:40 – Gretta had a tea manufacturer from China; the quality was good
  • 30:14 – Gretta wanted to order a year’s supply of tea which was a $1.3M deal
  • 30:26 – It was delivered but the quality wasn’t what they were expecting
  • 31:31 – Gretta learned to cut losses as quickly as possible
• 33:36 – Gretta can’t do the same thing every day—she hates routine
  • 34:16 – Gretta uses her calendar as her accountability tool
• 34:55 – What’s one new tool that you added in the last year that added a lot of value for you? – Wunderlist
• 36:04 – What’s one must-read book you recommend? – Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
• 36:56 – Connect with Gretta on LinkedIn
• 37:16 – Head back to Growth Everywhere for show notes and additional resources; leave a review and rating and subscribe to the podcast

3 Key Points:

1. Influencer marketing is all about creating and nurturing relationships.
2. Don’t stick with one account. Have multiple accounts in the same niche that can support each other in growing and engaging an audience.
3. If you made a mistake, own it, forget about your ego and just move on.

Resources from this Interview:

• SkinnyMe Tea
• The 5th
• The Drop Bottle
• Hey Influencers
• Hey Engage
• Badass Marketers and Founders
• Josh Fechter
• All Things Social Media
• Charm Offensive
• Wunderlist
• Must-read book: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
• Gretta on LinkedIn

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