Hello dibslies!

We both know that Facebook Live Selling is a lucrative way to leverage your boutique business. 

But it’s extremely intimidating right?! 

It’s just scary to turn on your cam, talk to people you can’t see, and expect them to  engage, much more buy from you with all those nerves!

And what if there are only a few people that watch? What if they don’t even comment or react? 

It’s honestly nerve-wracking and close to impossible. 

So it makes you wonder…

How do these successful boutique owners just do it? 

Surely they’re in on a secret script or strategy to get those views, likes, and sales right? 

Well consider yourself lucky dibslies!

Because we just had a major breakthrough with Katrina and Dom from the successful The Other Side Tribe Boutique in this no-holds-barred interview!

Catch the replay right here.

Spoiler Alert: The amount of views isn’t really the meter that makes their FB Lives a success! 😉

HOW DID IT ALL STARTED?

Katrina: I don’t know if it was mid-life crisis…it seems like any time I have a major life challenge…it brought me back to a perspective, is this really what I want to do?

I loved to do hair, my customers, and branch out to selling clothes…as a side hustle, and when I did my first Live Sell I was blown away by the love and the community online versus hair salon…the response was so different 

Dom: I really like engaging with people…and in the beginning it was culture shock in a good way. 

Katrina: And the value! The value seen in clothes and how I present myself, and offering them something that makes them feel good inside versus valuing me with getting a haircut. It was really about the community.

HOW DID YOU GET YOUR FIRST CUSTOMER & WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU DO ONLINE? 

Katrina: For me, everything I do now I compare it back to the salon world because I grew up there. So for me…if you’re starting a boutique you have to think minimum of at least two years…it takes time. I kind of just brought over my base of following with me into the boutique world. 

Another thing with online, pretty much everyone can window shop, and see your business. 

Dom: It’s like Facebook is a huge mall…you want them to come to your store. So we would always try to put out a quality product, always be engaging, and it’s really a grind. If anyone try to tell you there’s a shortcut, they’re lying.

We started in 2016, spent hours, hours, and hours online. It’s a lot of time, and hard work. 

Katrina: Being online, it’s all about building relationships, and having that connection with people. In the sense of not making anyone feel like a number! Nobody wants to feel that way. We just really treat everyone as if they’re going to dinner with us.

Dom: We didn’t just go live to sell. I remember when we go shipping, Katrina would go live and it’s 2 in the morning. There’s always somebody online. 

Katrina: There’s no perfect time for anything. It’s just letting people know you. 

WAS THERE A TIME WHEN YOU HAVE LOW VIEWS OR ENCOUNTERED A ROAD BLOCK?

Katrina: When you’re an entrepreneur you just continue to learn and perfect and kinda pivot and tweak what you need to do to move on and kinda launch you to the next step. 

The misconception is when sales are down, it doesn’t necessarily mean my views are down. Views don’t really equal sales. I think what happens is people get high esteem, so they have good energy, which equals sales.

It’s not the number, it’s the feeling they get. 

It’s hundred percent about the mindset. 

WHEN YOU GET LOW VIEWS HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH IT?

Katrina: That’s just the nature of the business. Everyone can’t win everyday. You can’t hit a home run every single day. 

Dom: Nobody really knows what happens behind the scenes. What may be perceived to be looking so great and amazing and there’s tons of people are watching and looks like there are tons of sales happening, you have no clue what’s going on at the back of the live. It could be a disaster for all you know. 

Katrina:  If you’re having a bad sales day or 2 that doesn’t really mean you are doing anything wrong. Now if you’re continuing and not seeing any growth, I would say within a couple of weeks or a month maybe it’s time to pivot and try something new.  

I don’t think that one or two bad days defines who you are. I still at times struggle with that, not making my sales define my worth. I think we have to really focus on what our goals are, what defines us. 

My goal is to help women feel good, look good, and succeed. Because that’s what it’s about, it’s not about the money. 

Dom: True story, if your mind is not right. Like if you don’t know how to be happy, you’re not gonna be happy with a lot of money at all. The same with you’re not gonna be happy with a little money, and a little sales. 

Katrina:  Define what you need to survive the bare minimum and not be your goal and make little bigger goals and you know it think the key is to be content but strive for you’ll be able to be better

There is that line where you can’t let that bad day or bad sales ruin you or make you second guess your entire world

Dom: Facebook has changed now. A lot of the bigger people that you’re seeing are spending thousands of dollars for engagement. But if you’re going organic, you’re gonna have to be prepared for a roller coaster.

Katrina:  Algorithms are always gonna change, they are always gonna be against you. The cards will always be stacked against you and it’s kinda like the algorithm. It is not an excuse. 

Dom: It also comes with some baggage. That’s kind of like a trade-off when you’re on a platform like Facebook. Authenticity is the most important thing. Don’t be a mimic of somebody else. People would be naturally attracted to who you are, just be you. 

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU INTRODUCE A NEW PRODUCT? 

Katrina:  I just do it. Don’t worry about too much “are they gonna like it? Are they gonna want it?”. They come to you for the trends, and the fashion. They need you to tell them. I’m their stylist, it’s my job.

Dom: Just go with your gut. Whatever you think is best for your group. Essentially, you can buy a shirt anywhere. But there’s a reason why they’re watching you. People are shopping not just necessarily for the clothing but also for the experience as well. So it’s a whole package.

Katrina:  Ultimately you have to decide what’s good for your business. And not necessarily listening to what people are saying because they may not really be your customer. I’m not saying you should not listen to feedback. 

You should have a pulse on your business, you should know what trends are coming, and you should know what to prepare for by just doing basic homework and research for your business. 

HOW DO YOU RESEARCH FOR WHAT IS TRENDING?

Katrina:  I feel like part of it is intuition, maybe something that you find yourself leaning towards. I do love Pinterest and TikTok to see what they’re wearing, learning different things to broaden my horizons. 

HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR LIVES ENGAGING?

Katrina:  We’re just ourselves, I think if you’re doing it alone it would be harder. Definitely have somebody with you to keep on talking. Because you feed off their energy; if you have little viewership, and you’re alone. Prep before and list down things you want to talk about with your best friend…like it’s one on one. 

I tell stories where people can relate to you…cause it’s not always about sales but really making those connections and helping women out. Even if it’s just a quote you read, and what it means to you.

If you talk and think like “Oh, where did the time go?” For me that’s what a live sale is. 

Dom: If you’re a one-person show, be prepared to have a conversation with yourself. Prepare yourself mentally to not be awkward about it. If you talk enough, people that are watching will join in at some point. 

HOW OFTEN DO YOU GO LIVE? 

Katrina:  We have Monday through Friday, we like two lives a day. But everything is crazy at our house, and we try to be there with our kids. I have a live room in my house, so I can squeeze in time there…because you gotta show up for your business

Dom: If it’s your own business, you just pour your time and you choose how you work with it. There are no rules. 

Katrina:  There are no rules, you are your own boss. You can hit at any time. When people look up other people they think there’s a checklist off that you have to do to be successful, I would say take that list and throw it in the trash. And do whatever you want to do and not look up to other people. 

Because everyone’s list and check off list is gonna be completely different. My audience, my community is gonna be completely different from theirs. Own in what your culture is, what your vibe is. And what’s great about it is  there really is no competition because you’re your own boss. Like it’s your world, it’s your own boutique. So other people are completely different from what you could be doing.

HOW LONG DO YOU SUGGEST TO GO LIVE?

Dom: In the earlier years we’d go live for 8 hours a day. 

Katrina:  Before I would go live everyday because I think, if I don’t go live my kids don’t get to eat. If I could go live more, I would do it. As you grow, it’s like a double edge soar as you grow bigger. Maybe growing big is not really what you want. You have to really define ‘is that really what you want is to grow big?’

Dom: And it brings its own sets of problems. 

Katrina: You have to think about the staff, the taxes, the warehouse. The more you grow the harder it is. I dedicate at least 5 hours a day doing inventory, a couple of hours in the morning, and more hours during the night. It’s a lot of work. There’s really no downtime ever.

WITH TIMES CHANGING, WHAT WILL YOU DO IF YOU LOST EVERYTHING? YOUR FOLLOWERS? YOUR COMMUNITY?

Katrina: You can’t have that fear, I feel like there shouldn’t be really a fear of losing everything because that’s when you get [to be that] jewel in a fire. It forces you to do  things even more. 

Dom: If we could start over again, and we lost everything, I would find it exactly how I need to live, and what would make me feel happy. Because it is true…the bigger you get, and yeah it’s appealing, but it’s more problems. And be content.

Katrina: You have to find your state of happiness. No money is gonna make you happy, no number is gonna make you happy. You have to be happy now. Because today [is] not a promise for tomorrow. Learn to be happy with what you have.

Dom: I know it sounds like BS, but it’s so true. If you could look at the mirror today and learn to be just too happy with what you have and look at yourself honestly and say “I’m doing the best that I can.”

Katrina: Your happiness is gonna be so contagious and people gonna wanna be part of what you got. 

Dom: There’s always something “better”, if you can’t just be happy right now, you’re not gonna get happy when you get that warehouse because there’s this hole. 

Katrina: So I would take time to figure out what you mean to survive, make realistic little goals. If something’s causing you to stumble, cut it off, block it, get it out of your life, focus on what you need to be doing to better yourself so in essence you’re bettering your business. 

Dom: Best thing to set your mindset is to create attainable goals like little attainable goals and use them as rungs on a ladder. Just little ones, because the little ones add up. 

Katrina: Cause a month is scary, a week is scary, so break it down day by day. 

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH TROLLS ONLINE?

Dom: Oh that’s easy, just troll trolls. I would just let them do their thing, and never let them win. I must have blocked a 150 online. 

Katrina: We make use of the trolls to extend our lives. There was a time when I wasn’t mentally strong, I would hop off a live. But really, it just triggers you, and you have to take that, and pray for them. And figured out why it’s bothering you…grow, and build your mindset.

Now the trolls are great, they help feed the content. So you have to have grace for sure. You have to feel for them, and you just use that because people are watching, and will see how you react. You can have fun with it. 

Dom: I pretend to say that “Aww thank you for saying that compliment” and they would just jump off real quick.

HOW DO YOU START YOUR LIVE SO YOU HAVE ENERGY AND PEOPLE ARE EXCITED TO WATCH YOU? 

Katrina: I always hit the camera button, and see what it looks like. If you’re not feeling or looking your best. Don’t hop on live if you don’t feel good live. If I’m having a bad day, I have to clear the air before I go live because I wear my heart on my sleeve. My customers know, so it’s better off to…find a solution, and make it right, and just move forward. 

You should be naturally excited, because you have an inventory you wanna show, you wanna serve them, and help them. 

Dom: I’m always bringing my best, no but my job is I’m more of a commentator, so being nitpicky comes natural with me, and that’s why I’m good at what I do. 

Well that’s a LOT of value bombs right dibslies?

Summary

To sum up what Katrina and Dom shared here:

• Views doesn’t equal to sales
• There’s a reason why they’re watching your live. They can buy a shirt anywhere but they chose to listen to you 
• Being authentic is the most important thing
• The numbers don’t define you or your happiness.
• Stop comparing and focus on your own customers.
• There’s customers to go for everyone.
• There’s no shortcut to success.

And ultimately, these external factors and technical meters of success don’t matter.

Like what Katrina emphasized, it’s how you can make meaningful relationships, and positive changes to your tribe. 

We hope that you take into heart what they said dibslies! 

So what are you waiting for?

You better get ready to brainstorm your next Facebook Live Selling event with confidence and heart!

Just remember what Katrina and Dom said to be authentic.

If you’re still on the fence though on what kind of Facebook Live you should do then check out these Top 10 Creative Facebook Live Ideas!

See you soon for our next Dibsly Expert Session dibslies!