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:
- Influencer marketing is all about creating and nurturing relationships.
- Don’t stick with one account. Have multiple accounts in the same niche that can support each other in growing and engaging an audience.
- 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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