Episode 31 - The Influencer Lifestyle With Sara Lovestyle

Nicky Saunders: 0:00

What's poppin'? What's poppin'? What's poppin'? Welcome to Nicky and Moose! I'm Nicky! That's Moose! 'Sup Moose?

Mostafa Ghonim: 0:08

What up y'all?

Nicky Saunders: 0:09

And we're in Episode 31! And we got another special guest. Last week was so many bars, we had to bring somebody else. But we had to do it for the ladies this time, right? This person to me is very special because she makes me want to wear 19 different outfits in one day, cook, which I don't even really do. But she makes everything look so simple and easy. Right? And then put sauce all over my kitchen. I'm not really sure. But I feel like I'm supposed to take all this thing of sauce and just put it on a table and smash it all over. I don't know. It's weird. She's a mom. She has 17 million businesses. She has an agency. We'll get into who she is. Moose, what do you think about her? What's up?

Mostafa Ghonim: 0:57

Yeah, awesome person, man. I think of the really cool dance moves. I've seen the you know, the reel challenge take off with the with the cool dance moves. So I'm excited to get to, you know, just the mindset, the mentality behind it all.

Nicky Saunders: 1:09

So you already know what we're gonna do. Let's get this intro.

Jaymie Jordan: 1:14

Two kids from Queens, cut from a different cloth. Now joining forces helping you to elevate your personal brand. Yeah I'm talking about Nicky and Moose! Bringing you a never before seen perspective into the mindset, the mentality, the behaviors, the driving force, but more importantly, the stories behind the people and brands that you know and love the most.

Nicky Saunders: 1:42

And of course, it is the review of the week. And this one is from like a super dedicated listener. I cut off the thing, because the name wasn't fitting, but it's Overland. Oh. Why did it not go? Okay, here we go. I was bout to say. Overland has been listening since like day one. She's on all the lives. She's super dope. So shout out to you lady. So it says "Stay locked in. Alright fam. I know it took me a while to get here with this review. Especially because I got mad love and respect for both of you. However, I am so glad I didn't pass up this episode because it spoke on every area of my life, especially on how you all broke down the business mindset of Jay Z..." and keeps going because there's a whole novel because she's super dope. Shout out to Overland and shout out to everybody who leaves us a review. We read all them we go back to them. It's a whole vibe. We appreciate you. But let's get...Oh semi semi thing. You see the hat right? You see it? E-camm. This whole podcast thing is done. Because of E-camm. And they gave me a hat. I gotta send you some hats if you want to hat I'll show you them. It's a whole vibe. Shout out to E-camm and if you want to go https://www.nickyandmoose.com/ecamm, you get 14 days for free free.

Mostafa Ghonim: 3:18

Free 99

Nicky Saunders: 3:19

Yeah, free 99 if you want to look and have the setup like us, not saying we're the best but we're up there. I'm just saying light flex light flex.

Mostafa Ghonim: 3:30

We're making it work.

Nicky Saunders: 3:33

But Moose, should we just get into our guest. Should we just go?

Mostafa Ghonim: 3:37

Absolutely. Absolutely. Without further ado.

Nicky Saunders: 3:42

Wait do I have some drum rolls? Let me see if I have some drum rolls real quick. Hold up. And we got Sara!

Mostafa Ghonim: 3:54

There she is.

Nicky Saunders: 3:55

You get the Pop Smoke. You get it.

Sara Lovestyle: 3:57

Mama I made it.

Nicky Saunders: 4:02

Wow. Some of y'all have maybe seen her on Instagram. She's went viral 19 different times. I'm exaggerating or maybe I'm not. Um, but Sara, can you let the people know who you are all that great stuff yada yada. Like I don't know.

Sara Lovestyle: 4:27

Yada yada. Hi everybody. I'm Sara Lovestyle. I am an influencer and content creator. I own Agency Lux, which is a digital marketing agency where I help small businesses and influencers start their businesses online flourish. And then I'm also an angel investor, a special needs mom, and this could go on forever but we'll stop there because we're going to talk about it.

Nicky Saunders: 4:49

I'm with it. I'm with it. So Moose, I'm gonna let I'm gonna let you start this one off.

Mostafa Ghonim: 4:57

Yeah, yeah, no, Sara, I mean, shoot. For those who don't know, which is I include myself in that in in that category as well, because this is gonna be as much of an educational episode for me as it is for everyone else out there. But tell us, man, tell us how you got started in this. I mean, I know that your story is very unique, of course, just in, you know, there was a health scare that kind of like, had you reroute life a little bit, but just talk to us, you know, in the beginning of that journey, and how you got to where you are today a little bit.

Sara Lovestyle: 5:29

Yeah, absolutely. You know, most of the time, in life, we have one kind of defining moment, I've had four in my life. I was born in a refugee camp. So I've got this insane... I'm Ethiopian, but I was born in Sudan, so I've got this insane story that I thought nobody would ever care about. And then when I was 23, a week after having my son, I had a heart attack, and lost 80 pounds, I knew I needed to get my life together, I knew that you only get one life. So obviously something like that happens to you, you really do change the trajectory of everything in the way that you view life. And then for me, the really big defining point was after my son was diagnosed with autism, he's also nonverbal. And was dealing with a really difficult situation. And I'm, like, I don't cry ever Nicky knows, like, I'm just not an emotional person. And I... And one day, I was so mad, I was like, bawling in my living room. And I'm like, God, what's the point of all of this? If it's like, Am I just supposed to sit here miserable? Am I supposed to be depressed? What am I supposed to be doing? And I remember not having an identity, I remember not feeling like I was being purposeful, and really just asking God, what is what is my purpose? And what's the purpose of the situation that I'm in? My son is nonverbal. I have a voice. And someone said to me, You need to put up or shut up. And for me, it was like instantaneous, I grabbed my phone, hired a team, and completely rebranded and became the voice that my son didn't have and does not have.

Nicky Saunders: 7:24

So man, I don't know how to start this one off, because I don't know if I want to go super silly or super serious. But that was so serious. So now I feel like I have to do a happy medium. Um, okay, so I'm gonna go with my topic, right? Um, can you explain to the people how many clothes, articles of clothing that you have? Okay, I went a little silly. So for those who don't know, her growth on social media right now is super crazy. And one of the main reasons why we wanted to bring her on, just to kind of make it realistic and say, Hey, this is a person you may know, or you get to know and how they grew. Right? So, um, there's a particular feature that you have grown to love, but I didn't know you had so much clothes and all this detox water and everything like that. Talk about, like, how, how you've grown your social media to what it is, and how important it is to you to stay on trend with everything you have going on, because you just said some serious stuff. But like business still got to go on. So how does this all kind of combine together?

Sara Lovestyle: 8:57

I love love reels. Like that's how I have almost tripled my growth. I think I've tripled my salary. I charge five times more today for my services than I did...

Nicky Saunders: 9:19

I needed to celebrate that and bring that back. Say that one more time.

Sara Lovestyle: 9:24

I make five times more money now than I did in November when they really or October when they released reels.

Nicky Saunders: 9:34

So because of Instagram reels you can charge that? Oh yeah break this down. Break this down.

Sara Lovestyle: 9:44

So it's video content. And the opportunity to go viral is huge. So if you want my services and I can prove data, everything is data driven. I'm a nerd in that way. And I can even though they're not necessarily giving us the insights for reels, I know how to work my way backwards and run the numbers. On average, if I do a like transformation reel, I'm probably going to hit 400,000 - 500,000 views, up to potentially 1.9 million, 2 million views. You're gonna have to pay for that. You want 1.9 million views? It's going to cost you a very heavy price. If you know and then if I put it on my stories, I'm going to charge you for that. If you want it on Pinterest, I'm going to charge you for that. So for every element of one single reel, it's allowed me to, oh, I've made more money in six months off of reels than probably all of 2020. Creating content.

Nicky Saunders: 10:51

Moose, could I say, could ask one more thing? Can I ask one more thing?

Mostafa Ghonim: 10:53

Please do? Yeah. Please do.

Nicky Saunders: 10:54

Okay, so, so, so break down...Let me let me, let me get like this, please, for for for the listeners and the viewers, shout out to my YouTube people, right? Break down how reels, especially the types that you do, because some people will look at the face value and be like, Oh, she gets the trending song. She changes, she does the transitions and keeps it moving. Can you break down how that's onnected to business? Can you reak down how that's connected o your brand in some way, shape r form? Because people are not oing to understand that face alue.

Sara Lovestyle: 11:36

Everything that I post is strategic, everything. And even when I post it, the order in which I post it is strategic. When when a company comes to me and they say, Hey, we want to send you clothes, can you make a reel with it? Yes, I can. But it comes at a price. Can you...and a lot of the stuff that's that you don't see, and the money that I make is actually creating content for brands that I'm either I'm not even in or I'm in but it's for them to use. Not to mention if it's exclusive and all that other stuff, you know, obviously perpetuity, then that adds more. But because I batch my content, and because I know what my audience likes, I can almost guarantee to a brand this is what works. For example, the water video was the first one to go viral. Guess what I got a water deal. And a fruit company wanted me to create reels for them. And it ties to my brand because it's I don't have to fake anything that's on my page. That is truly what I'm already doing in my real life. The first water video of the detox water as 1.9 million views. It took me maybe two minutes to make, I was already making it that morning anyway, so because it's truly, I hate the word authentic thanks to...but because it's authentic to my day to day, and it's how I get my kids to drink more water. And plus I'm giving nutritional facts and data. It's relatable. And people feel like Okay, cool. I feel like I'm a part of her story. And they understand my my brand. My brand identity is fairly, like, my audience knows exactly who I am and what, well, who I am based on social media, and what to expect from me. So even if it's a voice over reel sure, it might not get a million views. But I know that let's say a company wants to use a viral sound, I make the content, I know it's gonna get 100,000 views. Its...brands, for the most part are paying for impressions. I for the most part, don't do deals that are tied to conversions. Because one, I don't want that kind of pressure. And two, it actually doesn't benefit because I can't guarantee what my audience is gonna pay for. But brands are paying for eyes. So I get 6 million impressions, sometimes in a week. That's 6 million sets of, you know, impressions or eyes or whatever that the brand does not have access to. And I know who my followers are like, I know their demographics, Where do they live. So if I have a brand and I'm just going to be quite frank, the brand is very, like geared towards like Caucasians. They wanted more brown eyes, more black and brown eyes. Guess what tha t's going to, there's going to be an extra charge for that because I know exactly what you want from me. Because you want access to them and you don't have it. So because I know the value of my audience, okay, you don't pay a very, very beautiful price for that.

Mostafa Ghonim: 14:46

Beautiful price for that. No, I love it. It's real. And I definitely want to jump into the business side of things but I do like to talk about the importance of personal development as well, right? Because I think that somebody can if we skip past that part, I think people are going to assume that you've always been this way. Like you've always been this confident. I know my worth, I know my value, I'm going to charge you twice and pay tax all of that. Talk a lot, just a little bit about maybe some lessons that you learned along the way, whether it was, oh, wow, I charge this price and the brand made what from it? You know, like something like that that made you say, okay, hold up, I need to reevaluate how I'm actually navigating my business world because personally, you know that things are not clicking. Were there any, you know, any, any lessons are like that, that came up?

Sara Lovestyle: 15:38

Oh, a ton. The first three years of my career were a mess. So what I did do well was I knew that I needed to trademark like, I understood that aspect of the business. But I did not understand contracts. I did not understand perpetuity. I remember one of the first deals I ever it was under $1,000. Like, it wasn't a lot of money. But I didn't read the contract. So they were able to run ads on my photo. They made... It still burns my soul. They made so much money off of running ads on my picture, my face my likeness. My saving grace was I could sue because my name was trademarked that that was the only thing that saved me. But they made like $300,000 off of those ads, like, Oh, it's so important to read the contracts. The other thing too, that I've learned is whenever I go against my intuition, every single time I pay heavily, every time I've made a mistake, it's because I it felt off it felt wrong, it it or I didn't have the confidence. I can honestly say, up until the pandemic I don't think I felt completely comfortable even being called an influencer. Right, right before the pandemic is when I was like, Okay, I'm in my stride. I understand. I'm supposed to be on this 12 city tour with my cooking pop ups. I had 2020 nailed down. I mean, I was so confident. And then the world shut down. And the question then becomes, I've never been on Instagram without makeup. I've never had a perfectly curated feed, like, like uncurated feed. My messaging needed to change who I am needed to change. I had to evolve and very quickly. And I think had I not, it would have been a huge mistake. But to be honest Moose, like, it took me a long time to get the confidence because I was like, Is anybody even gonna care? Okay, they see your face every day. And then what? Do they care about what I have to say? I'm an autism Mom. I don't, but I also don't want it to be a sob story. I don't want it to be a woe is me page. I wanted it to be a place where people felt loved and seen and felt joy. And you also learn to be compassionate, but tough at the same time, which are all my personalities, and it just needed to come out onto my feed. But it took me it took me a solid three years before. Even still it sometimes I'm not sure sometimes I'll post stuff. And I'm like, I look ugly. There's a role here. I look like a Pillsbury Doughboy over here. Like, we don't always...there there's an assumption that we all feel like oh my God, this like is so amazing. And it's not but I know that I have to show up. I know I have to be consistent. Not to mention Nicky, you say all the time, there's so much bad content, so much of it. ...anyway.

Nicky Saunders: 18:54

Alright, so I don't think we even covered the bases like let me let me break this down. What what exactly, because somebody may be asking in the back, what exactly is your brand? I know you got an agency I know you get the sauces and the things that I got downstairs that I should have brought up and been like, look I got it, right. I should have done that. That's bad of me. How bad am I as a friend? But break down because they're hearing all this. So some people may be getting confused like so is she an influencer? What does she do? So like break break that down real quick.

Sara Lovestyle: 19:37

So I do a lot. That that is the truth. You know, lifestyle is probably one of the hardest careers on social media because there isn't really one specific direct niche which is what we tell everybody right? Like start with with one. And the reality is I did. I started with one, mastered that and then expanded to the other elements. But even within my brand, yes, I do seven things. But there are seven different teams for all of those things. So for Belay and Bell, which is my spice line, there's a team for that. And, but there's also like, again, I'm mildly OCD. So my calendar is very color coordinated for each business. And each one gets a specific day and time in which I work on those businesses. But like, with Sara Lovestyle that's all me that that is my personal brand, what you see is what you get, that's exactly who I am. The "Lovestyle" came from, like living your absolute best life in truth, in love and compassion. Like that's what the... enjoy. Even when life sucks. And it's awful. And it's hard. And there are things that you can't control. But I know that the one thing I can control is when I show up every single day, you're going to see a smile on my face, you're going to see, regardless of what I'm going through, I still choose joy. So that's the Sara Lovestyle brand. With Belay and Bell, it is named after my father. So those are recipes that are passed down by my family, Those are recipes that my dad has tried. My dad literally prays over every single order before it goes out. Like that is the brand identity of Belay and Bell. Like my dad is the sweetest human being you'll ever meet. He's amazing. And that's what I want it to be. And then with, even with investing, it's the one area I don't really talk about very much, because it's complicated, but it's the area that I'm the most proud of like, really, really proud because some of the investments I made in my children's names, because, you know, we talk about generational wealth, but how do you actually create it? And how do you learn and I'm one of those people where I just jumped headfirst and hope for the best. I don't invest the typical way. I invest based on my intuition, which is literally what I thought my weakness was what I thought made me undesirable in that space. Turns out, I can walk into a room and dominate a room of 50 men, because my intuition is able to do what their smarts and their wits and their logic can't do. And it's it's been amazing. Like, I it's been amazing. It's seven. They're all minority founders. And it's I can't wait till I can really talk about that part of my life because it's dope. It's so dope.

Nicky Saunders: 22:31

I was about to say, I don't know nothing about that part. Moose, ask certain questions. Ask certain questions about the investment thing and kinda like, go back to the episode where we were talking about investments and kind of make it go together. So she's forced to do it.

Mostafa Ghonim: 22:56

Give us the give us the juice. Now, that's incredible. I mean, Now, the other thing that I heard you say is teams, right, like you've mentioned teams quite a bit, you said, team for each like that, that seems to be a big component of what you do. And and you also said, You started off by hiring a team, like when it was time to regroup. What What did you notice to be important on that journey, like when it comes to hiring and like, you know, having to lead others, especially when you have so much going on, not to even mention the fact that you're a mom as well, like, on top of all that you also got to balance out, you know, the home life. Talk about the team dynamic of it all and just kind of being in that leadership position.

Sara Lovestyle: 23:40

Being a leader is one of the scariest things I've ever done. And it doesn't really get easier. I think there is. I think fear is good. Like having a little bit of fear is good. It makes you a better leader because you shouldn't be scared. You should be nervous, to a certain extent, not where it's paralyzing, because it's just that's not ever a good thing. But when when I hired I'm I knew once I had that aha moment with my son. I knew that I'm not a strategist. So where do you find one and I went scouring and scouring and scouring and turns out there was somebody I met four years earlier that was still in my phone. That was a strategist, so I knew that part. And then I knew I needed help with social media, because I said, I'm a mom and I'm a special needs mom. Something that most people don't know is my son attends school two hours from my house. I used to drive that pre pandemic four times every single day. I spent eight hours on the road every day. There's no way, no way, I do what I do at the pace in which I do it without my team. So there is there is a social media team just for Belay and Bell. There is a the first person I hired for Belay and Bell even before I launched was the COO. I am...I don't know how to do operations. I love numbers. But that's not my gift. It's not my ministry. So there is something to being a great leader and giving up control. I think when we try to control too much, or we don't want to give up equity or you, you don't want to hire help, because you think you don't have the money or you don't want to spend the money. It's literally one of the biggest mistakes. I've watched businesses that's been their demise is their founders refuse to relinquish control. And you cannot grow that way. You can't scale that way. Whether that is social media, whether that is creating content, like even now I'm at the point where I knew I needed help. So I don't even style myself anymore. I don't...now, I do have a lot of clothes Nicky. But these are all outfits from pre pandemic. So because I had plans for outside. But it's if there is a team for like strategy for how do we shoot somebody creates the deck, somebody creates the Pinterest board. I don't have to do that anymore. Actually, Nicky, that's one of my favorite lines that you always say is I pay for convenience. And that's at the point of my career, but that's where I am now. But I didn't start that way I started with on Mondays for two hours, I don't get up until I come up with a strategy for what for my posting, then maybe on Tuesday, it's let's come up with a Pinterest board. Let's come up with a style. How are we going to do this? And then it's okay, shoot day, where am I shooting, picking locations, all of that I try to compartmentalize as much as possible. And something that's really important is I am really good at compartmentalizing my personal life from my business life. And because they are two entirely separate entities, I have a team for each of them even at home, that helps me operate at a very high level. The reality is, it's it is and I'm not saying I'm cool or special because I'm not at all. I know that I'm blessed. This is not normal. The pace in which I'm at I Know isn't normal. But I'm there's no way I do any of it. Without without help. I'm not gonna lie, I'm not going to be one of those people that says, You know, I do it all myself. And it's 100% me, no there's about 15 other people in the background that...here's what I would say. Because the mission is so purposeful, and it's so much bigger than me, when you are a good leader or a great leader, you can get people to believe in the mission so much that they love the brand as much as you do. My team is just as dedicated to the brand. It's not about me at all. It's not about Sara Hood, but they believe in the mission of Sara Lovestyle, and Belay and Bell and in the investments to the point where like, wherever you go, wherever you lead, we will follow and we will operate in excellence and in a very, very high efficiency rate. The fact that anybody would want to even follow me still blows my mind because I am not a natural born leader. I'm not. I'm the girl that sits in the corner and hopes nobody notices her. That's who I was. This being my reality blows my mind every day. But that's how I know that it's God it and it's not me at all.

Nicky Saunders: 28:19

Feel like I should pass it a Moose after that statement. But I'm gonna ask one thing. Um, so there's something that every single time we're on Clubhouse I call you a liar for because I can't believe it. Right. So there's I always kind of separate people who create content as introverts and extroverts. Yeah. And you continuously lie and say you're an introvert. I don't understand this lie. I just don't get it. Right. But, um, supposedly people she's an introvert but creates 17 million pieces of content on video, and then snaps at people who don't do it like her. It's really funny. Come to Clubhouse, I'll do a room, y'all pick a day, and I'll make her snap like she usually does, which makes me once again think that she's not an introvert, but it's fine. It's cool. So I'm going to let her speak on this fib that she has about being an introvert on social media. Okay, so Sara, so, hey, um, you identify as a introvert. So can you talk to the people about, you know, creating content as an introvert because I think you've mastered that very well.

Sara Lovestyle: 29:47

I know how to turn it on now. But that took 32 years of work that that took some self discovery. I mean, and the reason why I snap, is because like, Do you have something to say or not? Do you have something to share or not? I want growth. How? But you don't show up you. I want to monetize. Baby, listen, I need you to come all the way back. How about let's let's walk, let's let's crawl before you run. You want to monetize, but you don't show up. So that's why I tend to like snap because it doesn't make sense. I'm like, make it makes sense. There's no strategy here in how that works. But I am naturally an introvert. And the reason why I can make so much content is because 99% of the time, I'm by myself, I don't to talk to anyone. I don't have to engage with anyone. Every time I hit, there's a misconception that, like I was saying earlier, like you feel so confident about the reel or whatever it is. I hate hate with a passion, the way my voice sounds. I have never rewatched any interview I've ever done ever. I don't I don't like it.

Nicky Saunders: 31:04

Not even the grilled cheese one?

Sara Lovestyle: 31:05

I did. I did well, yes. Because I had to edit Yes, it had to be edited. So I did, which is like this, like I don't. I don't like the way my voice sounds. But I know that what I have to say is more important than what I think or what I feel. Again, it's not about me. And then when I create content because I'm alone, nobody's watching. When I do content in public, I literally want to throw up. I hope nobody sees me. I hope nobody's watching, I hope. Oh my gosh, confession. The first time I did a photoshoot in public, I had to take a shot of tequila, because I was so nervous. Like I couldn't relax and I just wanted to hide. But I didn't become an extroverted introvert until like, well, like into my 30s. But also I will say this, when I do turn on the extrovert that is is so exhausting. I like t's exhausting. It takes me hour to recover and rejuvenate bec use it's giving so much and I c n't like stay in enclosed and I can't like vulnerability is 't my strength. I like to be sa e and stay in my own bubble by m self. And I'm more comfortabl that way. Which I think is one f the difficulties of also b ing a leader must because you can't afford to be an introv rt in that scenario. I can't fford...too many mistakes are eing made. I have to lead. B t I know the important imp rtance of my purpose. I know t e importance of like I love it I literally say to myself ev ry day, what would Josiah I tell him today? Can if he could tell me, would he be disappointed tod y if I gave up or I quit or I s t in a corner and I didn't w nt to be seen? What would I tel my son? My my youngest who wat hes me and has a very entre reneurial mind already and i talented. But he's also an intr vert that kids are very differen in that way I have one of each So by helping them navi ate the world, especially as b ack men within their introvert and extrovertedness it's fo ced me to it forces me to ree aluate how I work in the worl and where I fit in the wo ld. And if I matter. And how c n I tell the boys my introverte son that he matters, and I don t live it. I can't lie to my k ds. I can't. I'm not perfect But the one thing I can say is 've tried to...you do your best as a parent. And I thin with my scenario, especially with Josiah, every everythin that I put out is would my ki s be proud. Whether I'm introver ed or not

Mostafa Ghonim: 33:57

Yeah, that's incredible. It sounds like you've really found a way to tap into your psychology so that you can make sense of the things that make you uncomfortable. And use people that are so meaningful to you, especially your children, so that you can push past somebody uncomfortable stages for you. Now, I want to see if you have something similar for maybe the discomfort of putting something out. And because as an introvert, I know some introverts are they don't like to be seen. They don't want to really be judged on their work, especially if they've taken so much time to perfect or develop. So talk a little bit about maybe some of the things that you use for Okay, I create content by myself as an introvert that makes me comfortable. I'm not seen, but I am putting it out to the entire world. Yeah, how do you how do you navigate that side?

Sara Lovestyle: 34:47

I don't know if you guys are faith based but I'm gonna I'm gonna say this. What I tell myself is, who do I think I am? Who do you think you are? Biblically speaking, even Jesus had haters. Even the most perfect living being the most holy person had haters. And I don't call them haters I called them celebrators. They were celebrating him, because I actually don't mind celebrators because one, it increases my engagement. So I'm like, thank you. It gives me more impressions, which means you also watch my content. So thank you. And I get paid for that. So thank you. That's my mentality. But you know, it's, it comes with the territory, you can't make everyone happy. You just can't ever be on the schoolyard, and somebody didn't want to be your friend when you were a kid? Now, we're just doing that, as adults, and adults are mean and miserable. And I think about, you know, a lot of times the comments are not a reflection of me at all. It's a reflection of what they think about themselves. I actually, the darn grilled cheese video, I got hate grilled cheese. Someone said, no, this isn't something that we if you know what I'm saying, We don't eat them. We don't do that, first of all, what I my response to the person was in love what I post on my page is not up for debate. And it's not a matter of race, you're more than welcome to enjoy this content. And if you don't just say it's not my preference, and I hope you have a blessed and wonderful day. And that's how I left it. And the person responded with an apology. Right after that, I got another one. And someone said, Yuck, with a throw up emoji. I politely respond, which I don't typically respond to to celebrators. But I was in a good mood that day, and had time.

Nicky Saunders: 36:41

I had time.

Sara Lovestyle: 36:42

I had time. And you know, and the person said, you know, yuck, and I said, you know, let me correct you. I think what you're trying to say is, this is not a preferred grilled cheese for me, or I've never tried it, and I don't think I ever will. And, again, the person came back with an apology. Now I'm really blessed in a lot of my hate or celebration is very minimal. Like it's, it's minimal. But I know that I can't make everybody happy in real life, on social media. I'm just not like, it just is what it is. Somebody will pinpoint, hey, you're pimples on your face, or, Hey, your arm looks fat here or which, which I've gotten that kind of hate. But guess what? I love me. I think what's that mean? Your Your life is just extra. I if you're secure in yourself, enough, whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, whether or not somebody likes it or doesn't like it doesn't affect me. It's not to say that it's not annoying. Or that it you know, sometimes people aren't adding, you know, out of control. But it comes with the territory. If God can be judged, Jesus can be judged. I'm not special. There's nothing unique about me that says, I'm not going to get it. And do you want to grow or not? Even the LeBron James got hate yesterday. Like, come on.

Mostafa Ghonim: 38:06

Yeah, yeah

Nicky Saunders: 38:07

I thought she was gonna snap. I thought she was gonna snap.

Sara Lovestyle: 38:14

I was going to but I was like let me not.

Nicky Saunders: 38:14

I'm gonna see if I could get her snap. Okay, so, hmm. Let me see what normally gets used snap, hold on. Um,

Sara Lovestyle: 38:20

For a week? Do you get a paycheck after a week? shoot, okay. Okay. All right, here we go. Here we go. There we go. So what do you tell the people who okay just heard this podcast and was like, okay, Sara, does reels. Alright. I' e done it. It doesn't work. It doesn't it doesn't it does 't work. I tried it. I trie the you know, the few chal enges here and there. I trie it for a whole week. And I'm ot getting the I didn't get a mi lion views. What? What What do I do? What why does it work for ou and not and not me?

Nicky Saunders: 39:24

I think I'm a get her.

Sara Lovestyle: 39:25

Do you get paid to do mediocre work? Do you go to...do you do you just put in an hour at your job and be like, Oh, I hope for the best I tried it? No! Your boss would be like get your mind up and go do the work. Show up every single time. I think when people are creating one one, when people are creating reels, they're just randomly creating stuff or you saw somebody make it so you're like, Alright, I'm gonna do the Bussit Challenge. But if your audience is of a different demographic, what the heck are you doing the Bussit Challenge for? You got to find something else that works. Sometimes the content you're making is for the wrong people. Who... if you don't know who you're serving, and who you're creating content for, the biggest mistake that people make, especially when I saw during the Reels challenge is you're making content for you. Nobody gives a flying f about you wanting to make content for you. You make content. You make content for somebody else. So if you don't know who you're... like, let's say, Nicky, you did a water drink. That's not on brand for you. And then you get 20 likes, now you upset. And now you're pouting. And you're whining, which is what people do, because it didn't work and it flopped. But if that's not what you do, and your audience has no idea who you are, they don't know what your brand identity is, they don't understand your personality, you are creating seven different reels every day in seven different issues. It doesn't make any sense. Like you will never see a what do you call it reel on my page? You're not going to see the the investment part of my life, you're not going to see that part. You're not going to see my kids. Yes, they are the why behind my brand, but my children are not necessary for my brand. And because when I want to be private, and that's a personal decision that I made at the beginning, but it literally does not serve a purpose for my kids to be on my page. So you're doing a real with your kids. But if you're a fitness page, and that's what your audience knows you for, you gone be hot, because they're not gonna like it because it's random. You can't create a random content and expect different results. And you're not going to get the results if you show up for a week. And you and I both know, they don't show for a week, seven days straight. They show up like three times that week. And sometimes you post it at 8am. And then you post it at 11pm bruh. If your audience lives on the west coast, what are you doing? If your audience lives on the East Coast, and you post content in the middle of the night, bruh we sleep. We're not going to see it.

Nicky Saunders: 42:07

Told you people. It's not hard. It's really isn't.

Mostafa Ghonim: 42:15

I thought she was gonna drop a F bomb for a second. But she caught it.

Nicky Saunders: 42:17

She's gonna censoring herself. That's the great thing about it. She's good at censoring yourself except for past 11. And then she looks at the time she's like, oh, we're all grown. And then she'll go, I know, I know this.

Sara Lovestyle: 42:31

That's when spicy comes out.

Mostafa Ghonim: 42:34

I love it. I love it. Now, let's go more on the business side of it now. Yeah. You know, we talked last week with Jeremy about negotiations. Right, he kind of shared some, some lessons around man. Like, there were some things in the contract that I had to start figuring out so that I can really navigate that world. How...although you don't make some of these things public meaning your investing world and let's say your personal brand, public or together at the same time, I should say. What are some lessons that you've taken from the investing world that you've bought into, you know, the branding deals, for example, that you will, okay, this is something that I can take from here. And although I won't show publicly, I can definitely use from a knowledge standpoint, to be able to navigate the world.

Sara Lovestyle: 43:18

Let me tell you. Actually, I think I think...said this to me about a year ago. And and the reality is when you have when you have mentors and coaches that can help you in different spaces, even in a world where you're uncomfortable and that's not where your knowledge lies, take the opportunity and build the build the plane that you're flying. But that is my motto. And so I built out these relationships and networking over the course of several years. And I realized that I just the one person was right in front of me that I needed to get me in the rooms. And once I got my foot in, I was like you're going to be my mentor. You don't know it, but you're going to be and then I learned like how investors operate and how they work, and how like they crowdfund and how, like, the same 10 people invested in PayPal and instacart and Uber Eats, it's literally the same people across the board. What it taught me was when you build relationships, make sure that those are the people that you continue to build with. So even with, I've taken that part of the investment. I'm also really good with contracts now. And I also have a great attorney team that helps. But I would have never gotten those attorneys. If I didn't get in like a seat at the table. There's something to be said about like just listening and building those relationships. A lot of the brand deals that I've gotten were years of relationships and making it Like really making it about the relationship and not necessarily and not having it be transactional is something that has helped my intuition in investing has also helped the intuition and trusting my gut with, like the things that I post in the brand deals that I make. You know, I learned about contracts and how much I needed to understand what was in it from making that mistake with the first content deal that I did. So when I moved over to investing, I knew immediately I needed an attorney and somebody who knew what the heck they were looking at, because that was not when something is not your ministry, it would take me eight hours to read one contract, when I could just hand it over to somebody else who can look over it in 20 minutes, and is an expert in that space. I also don't believe in we get in our own way. That's that's reality, we as human beings are our own worst enemy. And we sometimes are so afraid of our worth, or that we think we're not good enough. And we think that because I don't have the knowledge or my reels aren't good enough, or I'm not in tech, but I don't know what I'm doing. So I'm just not going to get into it. Those are the biggest mistakes that we make. I when I when I made my first investment. I don't know anything about tech you saw earlier, I barely know how to turn my bluetooth on. But I hit a... But with that being said, I hit a unicorn on my first try. That doesn't happen if I don't lead. My first upper five figure deal that I made for first Sara Lovestyle. I was scared to death. I never made that kind of content in my life. But I said yes. And I figured it out, you find people who know what they're doing, you study them. It just do do your research, do your due diligence. But I truly believe like, even scared jump, I'm going headfirst every single time, if my intuition is telling me that that's what I'm supposed to do. Sometimes logic is not the best indicator of what you're supposed to do, because you'll talk yourself out of stuff every time.

Nicky Saunders: 47:20

Okay, so here's my question.

Sara Lovestyle: 47:23

What are you going to give me?

Nicky Saunders: 47:24

So, um, what is one of the worst deals, whether it's you or somebody that you know, or have helped out and things like that, that you've seen, that a person went through, like, a brand came up to them was like, we need this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and we're only going to give you this, like, you don't have to say the exact amount, but I want people who are trying to be influencers or want to kind of get into that game, some of the things they got to really look out for and just because a brand comes up to you. That's not always the greatest thing in the world. So what was one of the worst deals you've you've experienced or seen happen?

Sara Lovestyle: 48:19

Whoa, I have a lot of those stories. One came across, a lot of one came across my desk this week for somebody else and but I'll give you mine first. I didn't follow my intuition and knew the deal was bad. I felt the pressure from from everybody else telling you to do the deal. Make the deal, make the deal make the deal. I thought I read the contract. I thought I understood. It was a $16,000 mistake. That's how much it costs me to get out of that deal. 16 grand. I wanted to throw up. I still want to throw up. Read your contracts. Make sure that you understand what you're getting yourself into and what the brands are asking for. Same thing goes for investments. Make sure you actually know what you're getting yourself into. I when it comes to influencing, I saw a deal recently where this I understand where newer influencers are coming from or even established influencers I get it especially because race and there's a pay inequality there. There's a lot of things that happen and they are real. But do your darn research because what happens is when one influencer makes a mistake, it affects all of us. An influencer made a mistake charged way...I mean it was it was stupid high, unnecessarily high. The brand was very like put off, and that brand didn't hire another black influencer for like five years, because they did not trust us. Then there was another deal this week that the person had about 20 something thousand followers. And the brand was like, wait a minute, we don't understand what this means and why is this influencer asking for this much money. And the person just did not understand they they didn't understand how this works. And you know, the nature of the business and it's, it's disgusting. I had a brand come across my desk and said, Hey, we'll pay you a couple 100 bucks, and we'll give you this is this week, and we'll give you and my name was spelled wrong, which pisses me off. To be honest, it's four letters. I need brand managers to get it together, please. And the way that the email was written was so unprofessional. It was very off putting and it was a brand that I liked and that I respected. But guess what, I'll never work with that brand. And the person in the email said, you know, we want four pieces of content on your feed. They wanted seven stories. They wanted a link in bio, and they wanted a post on my website. Y'all, for 200 bucks and some what what's good exposure? I cannot pay my bills for exposure. I don't need exposure. I cannot pay my mortgage with exposure. I cannot feed my children with exposure. I cannot buy shoes with exposure. Help me. You have to pay me and then the person ended it with you know what if you really want to show us love we'd like a reel too. I'm not your "f"ing friend bruh we're not friends. This is business. So I politely sent an email that said that just really professional.

Mostafa Ghonim: 51:59

We're not friends. Sara, we're glad that you are our friend.

Nicky Saunders: 52:10

I'm just trying to get on Sara's page. I just try one time. I need to get those impressions.

Sara Lovestyle: 52:17

Oh, I'll do a remix today. How about that?

Nicky Saunders: 52:21

Okay, cool. Hey, listen, pick what reel I will... I will enable remix now.

Sara Lovestyle: 52:29

As soon as we're I will let you know. And I will say that's the one that I want. And we will remix that. It's going up today. Youn know I don't do spontaneous content.

Nicky Saunders: 52:37

She has to change she has to change nine times though in in the reel. She has to change nine times.

Mostafa Ghonim: 52:44

She said she wants nine different outfits in the remix.

Nicky Saunders: 52:48

And the reel was about apps. It was like all different apps. And she's like...

Sara Lovestyle: 52:54

Oh! I like it, I'm doing it. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it.

Mostafa Ghonim: 53:02

We just got you a remix deal on the on the episode Nicks.

Nicky Saunders: 53:06

Right! I'm trying to increase my following, you know, by just like a follower. Just one follower. She got a few.

Mostafa Ghonim: 53:19

My last question Sara. My last question, how do you pick? You know, obviously, you gave us some scenarios of things when they don't go well, why would somebody brand managers maybe not reaching out to you and recognizing the value. But are there any other metrics that you use, you know, to, that you take into consideration when saying yes? Like, this has to be here for me to say yes to an opportunity, even if the money is great. Are there other things that you utilize outside of just money to select your opportunities?

Sara Lovestyle: 53:51

Yeah, you know, for the most part, I don't do free deals. And I for the most part would tell people not to do them after a certain point. But there are scenarios and cases in which like, I... the relationship for a very for a long time. One of the larger brands that I work with, I did one or two, to build that relationship for two years. And then when it was time, it was my first six figure deal. And I've earned it. Now. However, there are some major brands and I did have this happen as well. Huge, huge brand, like if I told you you'd like WTF, but they're used to influencers working for free, because they're just so honored to work with a brand that a lot of times people do a free and so they will not pay influencers or content creators for that matter. Because I'm supposed to be honored enough because that's supposed to be that's just should be good, right? It's important when saying yes, that let's say if they want perpetuity. I love brand That are like super professional, they bring it to me, they're like, hey, it goes vice versa. Because they trust me and they trust my work ethic and they trust, my content is going to be great. And that it's, they're going to get their impressions and they're going to get more eyes and whatever to to their page. It works. But I love when a brand is like, Okay, this is what we think this is how, especially if they're really conscious about the fact that I am the black crater until they're really super respectful about how they approach money and the business and the contracts. And okay, we want perpetuity, we'll pay this. Okay, we want six months for it to be exclusive. This is what we were thinking, can we negotiate? Or what's your rate? It's not always an easy process., but I think if there's a level of respect and responsibility on both ends, it makes it more likely for me to say yes. I, I say no, a lot more than I say, Yes, I probably 99% of the time I say no. Because if it's not a good fit for me, if it's not a good fit, like... listen people aren't dumb. My audience knows when something is off, if it doesn't make sense, if you just randomly see me making, I don't know, like something like travel content, all of a sudden, my audience is going to be like what the heck is going on here. Or if I start putting ads back to back to back or sponsored posts, that's not a normal natural occurrence on my feed. And I love when brands are aware, and they do their homework. And so they know how I work and how I how I operate my business and my page. And then they come to me and they say, but this is what we see this is what we're doing. And then these are all the elements that we want. This is the price that we have for each of these sections. And can we negotiate? Or what's your rate that those are the relationships that I prefer. I would rather work with five brands for the next year than to work with 30 brands in a year. It's just it's just not. I don't like operate in that way. And long term deals. That's where the money's at. I don't do one offs.

Nicky Saunders: 57:18

I just want to borrow $5. That's all I want. I just want to do that. Um, alright, my last question. My last question, right?

Sara Lovestyle: 57:30

Yeah.

Nicky Saunders: 57:32

What's next? What's next for you? I know we finally gonna be outside. I know me and you had a conversation that both of us haven't really been outside outside like that. But the world's opening up, alright. I happen to be in Cancun soon, so, or wait, when this goes out, I'm gonna be coming back. So I went outside, but um, what is next for you and all the things that you have going on? And, you know, if you want to give an investment tip, I don't know, if you want, you know, one of those things.

Sara Lovestyle: 58:17

So I'm gonna tell you a secret.

Nicky Saunders: 58:21

I like secrets. I won't tell nobody except for my audience.

Sara Lovestyle: 58:27

Um, I want to start my own VC fund. That is in my plan for 2022.

Nicky Saunders: 58:34

See Moose! See! See how you could have connected that? See Moose? I told you how you could have connected this. I'm just saying. But anyways, we did a whole episode about Nas and how we could have done that we could have just we have to find something that makes us a lot of money. And then do... see nevermind. Okay. It's not about us. It's not about how...nevermind.

Sara Lovestyle: 59:03

Listen, when when I start in 2022 and I call y'all don't act like you don't know me. Or like, we didn't just have this conversation. I'm gonna send y'all this this link for this session or ...And I'm gonna ne like do you remember when you said? Here you go.

Nicky Saunders: 59:22

Hey, I record everything. And it's all documented. And it's going to be on all podcast platforms and YouTube. So you don't have to worry about sending me You just have to point the direction. I'm just saying. I'm here. I'm here for it.

Sara Lovestyle: 59:43

You guys did an episode. I want to say it was the Biggie episode about the importance of documenting. S over the course of the past three years I've been under wraps documenting My journey, because I know eventually the question is going to come up or someone is going to say, how did you do this? And when I get ready to answer, I don't want to say I don't or I don't remember, or I don't want to be so far removed that I, I want to be able to feel those experiences again and to have those moments again and make sure that they're still real and raw in that moment. But I've been, you know, documenting. Here's, here's the reality, we are the most underfunded. That's, that's the reality. Women investors make up, I think or funded is like 3%. And of those 3% black women make up .0008. That's not okay. We start the most businesses of any race. This is not okay, we have phenomenal ideas that are being lost, because they can't be funded. It is really, really important to me that because I have a platform and because I know that I am blessed. And I have a vast network that is continually expanding. And the the thing about leadership That's so scary, especially in the investment world, and in the direction that I'm going in with the VC, I will lie I'm scared to death. I'm scared as all outdoors. As exciting as it is, I also don't want to make mistakes. And I know that that's part of the journey. But I but I want to document even that because I know that's just gonna make me better. But it's important for me to not just everybody's creating tables and you know, build your own table and build your own table. But at what point do we fill it? When do we fill the table? I don't want to sit at a table by myself. I can build 50 tables, but I don't want to eat by myself.

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:01:52

That's a good word Sara.

Nicky Saunders: 1:01:59

I was trying to I was gonna let her rock but I found the breather.

Sara Lovestyle: 1:02:06

I don't I don't want to eat by myself. I don't want to be at the top by myself. I don't? What point is it if I don't have people that I'm opening doors for along the way, especially when someone did it for me? And every single step along the way there have been men and women who have said, Alright, we got you. Let's go. We're gonna sit you at this table. Um, I am. I am consistently at tables I'm not qualified for. I am consistently seated in places where I'm like, What am I doing here? And why am I here? But I know that there has to be a purpose if someone found me qualified enough to at least get me in the room. Okay, cool. Then the question becomes when the next seat is filled, or the seat is expanded, can I look back and say, Are there four or five, six other people that I can kind of bring with me, because people are doing it for me, I have to leave the door open, I am used to being the only black woman or a black woman in the room. I'm used to being the only woman in the room. I'm used to, you know, walking in and folks thinking that I'm the secretary, or I'm going on a coffee run and no, I'm your boss, or no, I'm actually the largest investor in here. Or no, I'm here to learn, but I need You to Know your place just like I know my place. So it's, it's being fearless even scared, it's moving even while scared. It's Um, there's a project that I'm working on in in 20... So I'm already on 2022 goals. And, you know, the goal is to have even Belay and Bell in...I can't say the name in a major grocery store and the next 12 months.

Nicky Saunders: 1:04:02

We trying to get the name. You want me to try to get the name people? I'm not gonna do it. It's probably NDAs all signed all that great stuff. We're not talking about it, but it's major.

Sara Lovestyle: 1:04:17

Yeah, it's just it's it's interesting what we can do when we apply ourselves. I think this like studies show that we only apply ourselves for a maximum effort about two hours a day. And my goal is if I can if I can do three or four every single day, I know that the goals that I'm building towards and the vision that I've seen, man, I'm about to go spiritual. Listen, my dreams are saying...

Nicky Saunders: 1:04:41

But you still have to do the final word. Hold on. Don't give it all away. We still have to do the final word. Hold on. Save that. Save that right there. Let me let's let's let's close this up because I feel like she was gonna go in and then I didn't have anything for y'all. I'm sorry. So, look, go YouTube live every Tuesday 8pm. Why was I gonna say am like, why? Why was I gonna say that? 8 pm/ 7pm Centra/l 5pm West Coast time and follow us everywhere on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram at Nicky and Moose and all that great stuff. And you see the E-camm hat. You see it. You see it. I might wear another one. I have to ship one to Moose. It's gonna be a whole vibe for a little bit. Yeah, E-camm rocks with us. And so we we rock with E-camm. But Moose what you got say? What you got to say?

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:05:45

No, we, Sara so typically I close it out with final words, but I'm not even going to try. I think this is this is yours for the taking. Especially when you said I don't want to build tables to eat that right there. Yeah.

Nicky Saunders: 1:05:59

I wanted to end it there. I didn't think people...

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:06:02

That was...

Nicky Saunders: 1:06:03

I just wanted to be like, Nope, that's I'm not even gonna do the horns. I'm just gonna end it. Bye. But...

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:06:08

Yeah, that that's the serious word so yeah, close us out. What you what do you got for us?

Sara Lovestyle: 1:06:15

It is imperative that...most people will start social media with no plan. No goal, no vision. The reason why I don't get tired. And the reason why one question is asked, Are you motivated? your motivation is based on your emotions. F your emotions. F your feelings. Show up every time consistently, and the reason why I can do that is my visions and my dreams are so clear. They're so Okay, I'm gonna give you another secret. I wrote my Emmy speech, December 23 of 2019. I don't even know what I would need an Emmy for. I'm not on TV. I don't have any insights or any idea of being on TV. But for some reason I remember on that day waking up knowing I saw it. I know what dress I'm wearing. I know what heels I'm wearing. I'm telling you right now I'm wearing a red dress. It's going to be backless. I've seen it. I know exactly how my hair is going to look, I wrote the speech. And the reason that I wanted to finish off with that is when something is so vivid, and it's so real, it's raw to your core that it that it never leaves your mind. That's the thing that you should be going after. I don't get tired of making content because it makes me genuinely happy. I love what I do. I know that even if I'm on two or three hours of sleep, guess what? Because I've seen the vision and I've seen the end goal of where I'm going. That's what keeps me motivated. That's what keeps me consistently waking up. Yes, it's my children but but at the same time, even though the Yes, they are my why it's for me. I know God's purpose for my life. I've seen it. I've seen the VC I saw that vision five years ago, I wrote it down. And it's happening. It's about to happen. I'm in everything that I've ever manifested and worked for and decreed or my life is happening. I had to work hard as hell for it. Really, really hard. But every single second is worth it. When you can have the vision and the clarity and get rid of clutter that's in your mind. A lot of the space in our brain is wasted. It is sheer waste with junk. That's people. That's content you're consuming. That could be habits that you have. It could be the people around you that don't believe in you. Listen, for the sake of my vision, everybody got to go, everyone. I'm not willing to sacrifice my dream or that vision that I've seen for anyone. I don't care who that anyone is. No, it could be my mama, my daddy, my sisters, I don't care. Make sure that you have a vision that's so strong that bulldoze whoever you got to get to it. Like I don't want to get to the end of my life and have the regret of shoulda woulda coulda. And so many people have that. I know what it's like to almost die after a heart attack. I know what that's like. I don't want to live like that. And I really want people to live every single day working towards something that they put the vision that they've had, and we all have it, we just ignore it. Because it seems unreal. It's not touchable. It's not based on my current circumstances. It could never happen to me or I don't have the background. I don't have the money. I don't have the network. Build it, make it. If you can't get into the room, serve water. Serve. However you got to get there. Do it.