Podcast S3E4: Instagram Reels with Niamh Crawford-Walker

You can connect with Niamh over on Instagram or on her website!

Show notes:

In this episode I talk to Niamh Crawford-Walker, a content strategist and coach all about getting started with Instagram Reels.

Niamh has successfully coached radio presenters, authors, freelancers, female founders, those working to take their side-hustle to their full-time gig and those transition from employee to business owner.

(Please note that this transcript is computer generated and therefore imperfect).

Ellie: Welcome to the Capable Collective podcast. He plays for women who want to ditch the overwhelm and learn to run their business with ease. I'm your host, Ellie McBride. And I firmly believe that as women and non-binary folks, we work best as a collective. So together with my. We are sharing the tools, systems and ethos behind a simple yet thriving business.

This season, we will be talking all about making great content from your website to social media. My guests and I are here to help you create content that attracts and engages your audience. Episodes drop on alternate Wednesdays. So make sure to subscribe, to catch every one. Ready to dive in? Let's go. 

Well, thank you so much for coming and joining us here on the Capable Collective podcast.

Niamh Crawford-Walker: Thank you. I'm so excited. I haven't done one of these in a while, so it's always fun to, to share some of my story. 

Ellie: I love podcasting, umm it can be a lot of work, but I think it's such a unique and like really great way to connect with people. 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: I know, it's like you, you get to eavesdrop and you have an actual reason to kind of an excuse to eavesdrop.

Ellie: So, um, are you ready for the rapid, rapid round? Ready to go? I'll try to keep it funny. I call it the rapid round. It never actually really stays that rapid. There was talk for longer than I expect. Okay. So starting with, where are you from? 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: So I am from County Down in Northern Ireland, born and raised, and I live in Dublin.

Ellie: All right. And you've just moved to Dublin, like in the pandemic, didn't you? 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: Yeah. So I moved last October to Dublin. And then I think we lose track of all the time, but we were in a slight window where things, and then I moved, went through the craziness of moving all your stuff and just getting settled into new space.

And then we went back into a, quite an intense often where we couldn't go further than 5k from our house. Um, the regarded checkpoints everywhere. And that's based the time I really got to know the 5k ride name, which thankfully is lovely. And I'm really going to know the walls of my apartment. 

Ellie: Yeah. I think like I've lived in this house for four and a half years almost.

Is that right now, at least a while I've lived here a long. And, um, anyway, like I don't think I had explored like Le as much until yeah. That same thing. You're like, okay. Like we are in lockdown. And the only thing we're allowed to do is personal exercise in our own neighborhoods. 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: Like I, so we live in Dublin 8, so we're right beside like Phoenix park and things.

And I think partly because I don't have my car here as well. I rarely leave Dublin yet, which is awful. Like I have my gym, which is like 10 minute walk from me. I go to the, like the coffee shops are the easiest ones to go to. Like I get my hair done 10 minutes from my apartment. Like, I've just got so used to that like little area, which in some ways is lovely and it makes life very easy, but it is nice to be able to explore different parts of Dublin, know that it's open a wee bit more.

Ellie: Yeah, I'm sure. It's definitely like, it's nice to have the built-in community where you have everything you need in your area, which is, I think how it should be. It isn't always. 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: Yeah. Cause like I grew up in the middle of nowhere. Like I've always lived in the middle of nowhere. Like we, I wouldn't say I'm a country girl, but like, you know, I, we didn't have, you had to get a bus or you had to get a lift to the nearest bus stop kind of thing.

So it is lovely for me to have so many things just like outside the door. 

Ellie: Yeah. That's really nice. Um, and what are your preferred pronouns? 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: My preferred pronouns are she and her.

Ellie: And when did you start your business? 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: So I started my current business and my coaching, uh, boy, it was July, 2020, but I'd been doing my training for coaching, you know, maybe a year prior to that and sort of doing like some of, um, cause you have to do a lot of like supervised RS and a lot of practice and things like that.

Um, as part of your qualification and part of your training, cause I'll say coaching is quite a person. Important, um, direction with other people. Um, but in terms of actually turning it into a business that was a year ago, and then I've always done some freelance copywriting on the side. So I've done that since I left uni, which was six years ago. Well, I dropped out of uni, but that was six years ago. 

Ellie: I know, I feel like that's a weird thing with the pandemic. You're like, was it three years ago? It just feels like a year has sort of disappeared, but that's very, very cool. So you've essentially, for years, like six years, you've been doing freelance copywriting and writing and you just decided you were going to go into this coaching thing, did a year of training. And so we're doing coaching throughout that process, but then we're like official about a year ago. 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: You know, obviously freelancing was running a business to a point, but I think when I started my coaching business last year, like that was that's when I feel like I actually became a business owner. Like that's when it felt really.

Oh, yeah. I actually have a business, like freelancing always kind of felt like it was always on the side. You know, whether it was when I was doing internships, um, all my internships were paid, so I needed some money on the side or whether it was like bits and pieces here and there alongside full-time work so that I never necessarily took it as seriously as I did when I started my coaching business was in full time.

Self-employment....in full-time self-employment from a slightly before then what I was doing some copyright and stuff with them PandaDoc. So. 

Ellie: Right. So you've kind of given us a little bit, but how did you start your business? What brought you into the world? 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: Um, so I touched on there that I had dropped out of uni in my second year.

And a lot of that stemmed from, I really wanted to work. Like I just wanted to be. You know, putting my knowledge and skills into actually working. So I started applying to internships and things like that and through all of that journey, and that was in the fashion industry. So it was working with magazines where confession, PR, things like that.

So I was working with a lot of creative women, um, on a lot of, um, business owners and things like that. And just interacting with a lot of creative people or people who maybe didn't take traditional paths in their career on a big thing that stood out to me, both from my own experience of dropping out of uni on my own experience of being in university, choosing what to do all of that kind of thing, being young and trying to figure out what north I'm supposed to do with like my entrepreneurial creative mind.

I realized there's such a gap in the support offered to those of us who want to take the road less traveled when it comes to our career or who are more entrepreneurial focused on. Don't always. Recognize that that's what is going on in our kind of brain and our career preferences and things like that.

And then also I was always the kind of friend who offered advice or people came to. And even if I was just listening, sort of pour their heart out to you or, you know, and so I was starting to acknowledge certain skills, like empathy and kind of my own emotional intelligence and things like that until I relate to other humans and enjoying.

Process of helping people to figure out, um, themselves really. And I didn't really know. I'd never heard of coaching. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know how I would actually help people, how it could help me. And then I just knew the concept in terms of wanting to help people and help them figure out their business and figure out their career.

And then I did some coaching of my own. So I took part in a program and a coach had said to me here, She said, why don't you come along to the program, it'll help you kind of shape your, your own, what is that's going on in your brain and how you can shape that into a career yourself. But also you can look at it and see if it's something that you think might work for the kind of audience you're thinking of.

Um, so that was really, really helpful. And she also then introduced me to Olivia who then did my coach training for me. I trained. And I just like, it sounds so cheesy, but whenever I started coaching and whenever I started doing the training, it just felt like everything made sense on the pieces of came together on it all.

Just kind of like, yeah, more like a puzzle than dominoes, because it felt like it just made sense. And it just was war I was kind of made to do and need to be. And, um, and just, it was the first time that I could make sense of my own career and what I saw my own future. So that's how I got into coaching. That was very not so rapid for you.

Ellie: That that's really cool. And what do you love about coaching? 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: There's so many parts too, but I love, you know, I love the light bulb moments that happen, and I love being witnessed to that. There's just something very special. About, especially when a client comes into a session. Or a client job comes onto a discovery hall and they just are like frazzled.

They just are so frustrated. They're just, you can see there's like this big potential, this big excitement, this like light, but they are just running into they're just so frustrated that they can't make sense of it or that they can't quite reach it or whatever it is. And seeing that transformation where they come to you with some issue, that's frustrating them.

And at the end of the session, okay. Much calmer. They understand they've clear, like action steps they can do to move forward. And they actually can start because a lot of them are on zoom or in person before pandemic. I can see the expressions on their faces when they realized the answer, when they realized the potential.

Like, I always remember, um, one of my first week of. Who, um, I was working with on, she was so frustrated in her role and she had actually taken some time off just for personal reasons and things. And she'd been going through this cycle of go into job interviews. You know, she's such a hard worker and she's so creative and so clever and so capable.

And she was so frustrated because she was doing all these job interviews. They weren't going the way she wanted, you know, she was putting her heart and soul in it and then ended up crushed when they didn't work. And then one day and one of our sessions. She just said, she was like, what if I actually went freelance?

What if I tried to do this freelance? Because she had an amazing portfolio and amazing CV, a lot of, you know, experience and things on it was just like that moment. She just like lit up and it was like someone had lifted that like we had offer shoulders and it was just suddenly seemed so obvious there.

And then a few months later after we'd finished working together, I randomly reached out to her just because something had come into my mind. And she had, she came back and she was like, yeah, I've actually got like three or four clients right now. And this was without having a website with always having, you know, shared on Instagram or anything like that.

She had already like secured her client this, and it was just, I just love that magic of seeing her, or seeing her realize what she really wanted to do, seeing her acknowledge her potential and then just making it happen. Like that's so exciting and rewarding to be part of it. 

Ellie: That is really, really cool.

And then the question I ask, um, because I am doing my best to break this myth around this fact that we all that solo preneur entrepreneurs actually do everything on their own because we don't, we have contractors or really partner supportive partners or other things, people therapists sometimes whatever.

And that it helps us make our businesses possible. So what help and support do you have in your business? 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: So currently, um, I've actually just started working with a, another coach called Neve Taylor, who is a, I think she taught herself as a marketing coach because I, well, I obviously really believe in the power of coaching and I like to practice what I preach and anytime I've had the biggest moments in my business have come from having that support of a coach or a mentor or an accountability partner beside me.

And I think. Like your soundbite sort of preneurs or entrepreneurs doing everything by themselves. For me, I am good with self discipline, but I really miss sometimes I'm really benefit from having someone push me on having someone that I know it was holding me accountable and that I know is keeping me on track.

So I just started a program with her and I'm also doing some one-to-one coaching with her. That's going to help me kind of with a lot of my content, which is, I always find it to where Veronica, because as a content marketer, I knew what I should do. I can do it for other people, but when it comes to your own business, sometimes you just need that extra person to be like, okay, take away the personal take away the ego here.

So that's, that's, who's helping me at the moment. Um, I also, so I started my business a year ago. I also still do some freelance work to, you know, keep things going while I build up the kind of financial stability of it. And I do some part-time social media work and things like that at the moment, which again, just takes a bit of pressure off on.

In these kinds of earlier stages, as I, I'm still finding my feet with certain areas as I am just building up that, you know, financial stability side of things. Yeah. So those are probably my main support. Obviously my partner role was very supportive and very, you know, helpful and, you know, just having someone there to go inside days off and when you've had a bad day or whatever, those are my main.

Yeah, I do have a great support system. 

Ellie: That's great. I think you're totally right about coaching. Like the biggest moments in my business has been with my coach and I've done a couple of her programs and things. And just, there's something about when you're like doing the work, right. It's you're, you're in it.

You're thinking about it. You're being, like you said, challenged and having someone to help. Open your mind and work through the ifs and buts and maybes and all of those things. And I've sort of, and I don't know if this is a great analogy because I'm not a coach, but I sort of personally think of it sort of like business therapy.

Like you sit there and like, It's very similar to like when I was, when I've been in therapy for like other stuff, like you go and you talk through all the things undermined and how to go move forward from whatever's going on. Right. And I, yeah, I think it's really, really important. I think I, when I was starting my business, I was very like, who pays someone to tell them what to do in nervousness?

Like who does. Like who does that because sort of a coach's job similar to a therapist's job is to help you explore and, and get through what you already know innately. Right. You know, it in your intuition, but we can get so battled listening to our intuition and we can be so bad at you're right.

Removing the ego and solving the actual problem we're having. And coaching is something that I. Now have invested lots of time and money into it. It's changed everything. Like it's changed my business model. It's changed how much I work. It's changed how I price. It's changed everything and made my business more long-term feasible and less draining and more rewarding.

Niamh Crawford-Walker: I think that that is what you said about it is an investment and to be honest, possibly an unpopular opinion, but the things you've achieved with having a coach. You probably could have done on your own. It just would have taken so much longer, a lot more stress. Like for me, it's in a way it's like you invest in, in, uh, in, um, acquainted to, to help you in your business.

You, you know, things like that, like you delegate those different things. And for me, some, for some people like unacquainted might be, you know, you can figure it out yourself, but for me, I know how much stress that causes me. And I know that my content has it sorted in two sides. And it's like when you work with a coach or the scene, or the other analogy is working with a PT, like you could go to the gym and you could probably get the same results as working with a PT, but it would take you a lot longer.

There'd be a lot more stress, a lot more on you in terms of like, you have to be the one to motivate yourself, to go to the gym. You have to be the one to make sure you show up. You have to be the one to. Watch what you eat. Um, you know, all of those, all of those kinds of things. Whereas it's just having that, you know, it's just, it's just having a coach.

Is it gets you there faster, but it's also like, like you said, it is like the therapy it's like, we think that we should note because it's our business. We should know exactly how to do things and you're right. In terms of the intuition is there. We do know how to do it, but. You still, like, sometimes you need the professional on the person who's, who's being trained specifically to help you explore those solutions.

Ellie: Yeah. Like you can't always ask 

yourself all the right questions. Right? Exactly. It's hard to challenge yourself that way you can, but it's, it's, you'd have to be a really good like exploratory journal or a meditator or something, but I like what you said there about your accountant and stuff. And I also was liking what you had said because.

Like when I invested in coaching is when I, and she says she, she swears, my coach was like, I don't tell people, leave their jobs, but they seem to do it. So when I invested in coaching, I left my job. And honestly, without being like too overdramatic, that decision changed my marriage. Right? Like I was so stressed working essentially two full-time jobs.

Like it. Wasn't great for my marriage. And it's things like that. Like, it changes so many parts of your life to do things the way that they're meant to be. But it's so hard to see what is the phrase that like trees for the woods or, 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: yeah, it just, you know, anytime I reflect on times, like I was saying that I've had the biggest milestones, I've had the biggest breakthroughs, but also that I felt that my bed.

Is when I have worked with a coach or if, when, if, when I've worked closely with a mentor or other people holding me accountable and other people pushing me on having that sole focus on my own stuff, my own goals and not, you know, wandering off in a daydream, comparing myself to others. It just brings a different level of.

That I have experienced being coached, um, that I know from my own clients. 

Ellie: That was a big one for us. But what simple systems are you using to do business with these? 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: Ooh, I flip in love with system. It's something I've really learned about myself recently. Um, on a really practical front. There are toes that I just could not live with in my business.

And I'm always, mind-blowing when other people don't use them. So I would say on a practical, in terms of practical tools, I could not live with like, Calendly. Like that is how I, I organize my calendar. That is how I, my clients can book in for their next sessions with me. I have them set up with my automation, so they'll get it after their session so they can book their next sessions at any time.

It allows me to control my calendar. Like I know when I'm open for coaching, when my brain is in coaching mode and when, you know, the days that I'm not coaching one-to-one thanks for that. So, and also if no one's used, honestly blows my mind, like you can collect your payments through it as well. So that's why a lot of what I did at the start of the contracts and stuff in both, but it's just a really easy way.

For people to book in with you with like the back and forth. I'm not sponsored by Calendly, but you know, I would take, or I love it. I use it too. It's so good. Canva is a really big one for me. There's not a day goes by that I don't use Canva. They literally have a design for anything and you can schedule right to your social media.

So again, it's like, I love anything that's going to let me do things. So like, I can schedule the content to go white when I'm busy doing something else. And you know what. Phrase for that, but like just the things that are going to make your life easily easier without having to physically be doing them.

If you know what I mean? Like automation, automation, there are other ones as well, but I think those would be, I would be lost with like Calendly. I honestly Calendly Stripe as well. Just anything with an automation and that I can integrate them altogether. I just, I just really geek out on that and love those things.

Ellie: Yeah, I love Calendly. I use Calendly a lot and my business as well. I, for you, listen, people listening here, I recommend Calendly for most people unless they need to have like packages or group classes, like for like yoga teachers or, or if they want to do like payment plans that I recommend acuity. 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: Oh, I haven't used that yet, but good to know. There's another option. 

Ellie: Actually, a lot of coaches and things that I know use it because they can do the payment plans. And then after each installment to the payment plan, it will automatically send the link for the next like appointment. So definitely a good one to look at. That's not the reason I've stuck with Calendly is because it's just so clean, looking everything like both in the backend and the user interface and the front end.

They're so user friendly. And so, so I love Calendly that way. All right. So let's get to the meat of things today. We are talking about reels and launching, and one of the, I brought you here today because your reels are so much fun. And I remember especially thinking like when reel sort of first came out and I was like, what the is this.

I remember thinking what you were just knocking it out of the park. You were just like, they were so relatable. And so you, cause I've met you in person a couple of times. Um, and I was just like, they seem so genuine and, um, relatable and, and informative at the same time. They were very good at being like, I actually want to watch this, but it's promoting your business.

Right. So tell me a little bit about all that. 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: Really so much. I actually haven't made one in a while. The biggest thing for me is that when someone invests coaching is so personal, it's a very, quite a personal relationship with, you know, in terms of obviously everything's confidential, but I have been, as I said, I have been coached and I've been on the other side on account, feel vulnerable to talk about the things that are stressing you out.

So the big thing is when people work, invest in coaching with me, They need to know me and they need to trust me and they need to feel safe with me. And so read it's like you were saying, it's just a really easy way for me to show my personality, because to be honest with you, I just find them so much fun.

And the joy with ratings or tech talk or whatever it is is that there are so many options. So there are people like who really don't want to do the joke in a rind dancing thing. But for me, that's when I am at my most relaxed, that's when I am like able to kind of let loose and be like, oh, we're just having a bit of a laugh.

But like you said, I have the bonus of making it informative. I've the bonus of making it, you know, relevant to my services and using it to promote my services. So someone said to me recently, like I'm not afraid to try new things. And if I really stupid grant, like I tried, um, I think with reels that's the biggest part is like not taking yourself too seriously, but equally I know some people who do, who aren't into the dancing thing until you aren't into the silly jokey things, but they make amazing, you know, 32nd clips that are purely like quick tips.

And they're so good. And they're so confident on they're so informative, unhelpful and all of that. Um, that's their thing, but it wouldn't be. So it's like knowing what your personality is, um, and what works best for your strengths. I'm working with your strengths. And I always say to my clients, whether it is with making content, whether it's with making Instagram reels, whether it's, you know, something totally different, not related to content in their business, like it's a boy following the fun too.

Cause that's when things are going to naturally for you, that's when you're going to, while you can't always rely on motivation, that's when you're going to. Have the discipline and have the motivation to do the things like creating X amount of content, or like talking about your business on your New York, new offer X amount of times, because it's fun and it's natural and it's easy for you.

And that's how I feel about real. So that's why they work well for me and why I enjoy them so much is following that fun element and following, how can I show my personality more? In a more natural way than some of the other seals content that might work for them. 

Ellie: So you told us a little bit about how you kind of got into reels and how you're following the fun, but like on a practical basis, how do you go about creating content that shows off your personality, educate your audience.

And it's still something that they like want to watch and maybe share. 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: Okay. So first of all, I would say. Start like consuming reels. Think about the content that you consume. So if we go very specifically for Instagram reels or tik-tok style content, and for Nye, watch some, like, just scroll through and have a watch.

Like it doesn't have to be specific to your industry or specific to your niche, but see what other people are doing. See what inspiration comes from there. I'm bringing that, that that's where you can bring the kind of fun element. In terms of a really practical thing, something I did last night and it's off the back of working with me.

The coach I mentioned earlier was I actually went through my audience and looked at who my audience actually actually are, but also looked at the content that was, that had performed best or that was really resonating. And that was working in line with what my own social media goals were on my own mark, you know, social strategy and things like that.

And, um, for me, that's going to be different for everyone. So for example, for me, the things that came up is like photos of me, stories of what, how I got started. Um, random facts about me, what it's like, that's how know. From a business, wouldn't be what it's like to actually work with me. A sort of combination of some motivational quotes and things like that, and also testimonials and transformations.

So I then know going forward, that's the content that's going to resonate. So it's kind of thinking to yourself, okay, well, Well, it's a fun way, or what's another way that I can start to relay that message and replicate that message. Another point of what I'll say about replicating is you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Like I repurposed so much of my content. And I think I did a whole blog post on this. Cause you can literally get like 10 pieces of content out of one post or one blog or whatever it is, I'm breaking it up. So make life as easy as possible for yourself. Look at the blog posts that people resonated with.

Look at that one Instagram post that went really well and think about. You know, creative ways. Like I get the PA I go old school with like the coloring pens and paper and everything. And I'm like, okay, if anything, every idea that's coming into my head while it's a creative way that I, or what's another way that I can relay this message.

So looking at looking at your own content insights, looking at the reels at the moment that, you know, the trending songs, the, what keeps coming up in terms of the, you know, jokes and things like that, and looking at how that relates back to your, to your business, look at your. Competitors. Um, it doesn't work for everyone cause sometimes it can lead to a comparison hole, but if you can look at your competitors, um, objectively.

And see what, see what they're doing, like what what's working well for them, what's not working well for them. What do you like about their content? What do you really like about, or what do you really not like about it? And also thinking about the people that you follow? Like, why do you follow them by, do you like consuming their content?

What works well for them? What do you like about that? And those same kind of questions. Then. Okay, well, how can I apply that to my own from a sales point of view stink, avoid the last time that you purchased something like online from social media and things like that, or even in person, like, what did you like about that experience?

Why did you decide to buy that thing? What was it that changed your mind or was that moment of like, yeah, I'm going to go for it and buy it, like, think about that experience and how you can bring that back to your audience and bring that back to a content side point of view. The good news is that it might be hard to think of the first one, but once you get the ball rolling, you will adjust.

Be like that. Just that whole action breeds momentum on the ideas. More ideas will start coming and things like that. But I think to start, you need to just follow, like I said, follow the fun, like try things. Don't be afraid to try things if you really hit it or it really flops or the worst case scenario, it's terrifying.

And you know, you can always delete it if you really have. I've kind of a faced fear person, but if in a worst case scenario, you can always delete it and try out new things. But unless you start testing things and just giving them a go, you're not going to know what works and what doesn't. And if you're really stuck for specific content ideas, think about your frequently aspect.

Like, what do people ask you about, about your business or what do people get confused about, about your business and how can you make that clear? And those are kind of some starting points to, you know, if you're really stuck for an idea, but honestly like just starts for one, three of them and look at them and see what other people are doing and what might work well.

And repeat what what's worked for you. Um, Even just having like rough pillars. So if I'm launching something new, I'll always talk about, I'll do something about the features. I'll do something about the benefits. I'll do something about the transformation. I'll do something about previous testimonials.

I'll do the practical side of things of what's actually included thinking about some of the potential objections. So for example, we were talking about how coaching as an investment, like educating people around the fact that it's an investment, um, Y. Well, if that can get them and things like that. So having those key, like common myths, debunking those, what are some of the mistakes that people make regarding your, your topic?

So, you know, when I was focused on mindset and things like that, it would be a raw, like common limiting beliefs or three questions to ask yourself when you're stuck in a negative self-talk cycle and things like. So just having those, having those core points that you can repeat and every single launch when it comes to creating content about it.

Ellie: And so then if you're talking about, so we talked a little bit about some real strategy or content strategy where you're going in and you're looking at, what's worked for you and you're repurposing some of your best pieces. Your blog pieces are your best posts or those types of things. But if you were to say, if there are any tools or resources that can help people with improving their real strategy or their real content, what would you say? 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: So actual totals, um, again like combo, because we're not all graphic designers, we're not all, you know, we may have the copy or the content, but like not the actual visual graphic.

What other tools with reels? Like a lot of it. Can just be off the cuff and. So it's, I'm just thinking about my own just because my own strategy is more lighthearted. Um, I'm kind of jokey around. 

Ellie: So like when I I've done some reel stuff and I'm not saying I'm great at it, I I've played around with it though enough.

And I think that that's, the key is really playing around with it. Like it takes practice to figure out how to get the thing, the words to pop up at just the right time. How to find the song that really works. Um, and, and that is, yeah. Whether it be either just really well fitted or really on trend for the moment and getting all that traction, because it's like the song for the moment.

I also find. Sometimes you don't have to be just standing in front of a camera. So if you're looking to create a real, that is more of a tutorial and you need to do a screen recording of your phone, and then you need to like cut that with something like there's loads of really easy and free apps for that.

Um, Or if you're doing a photo slide show for whatever reason, like not that all of the, I don't think those perform like super well to be doing all the time, unless somehow you're magic or maybe a photographer or something, but like playing around with it, having a lot of fun with it. And there are tools that make certain things better, right?

You're like, you're right with Canva. You can make some really nice like meals covers and the thumbnails for that. And those types of things. Like there's so many little. Things. I think that's the thing is I didn't realize for a long time, and this is me being like, I'm older than NEEF, by the way, people who are listening me being like, I was like, I didn't realize that for the best effect with reels, a lot of them work best when you're actually recording in the app, because then you can do the transitions better.

You can align yourself, right. That they have tools. Doing those kinds of things. Whereas I have a tendency and I won't, I could practice and get better at those transitions and fun things like that, that I haven't really bothered with. But I have this tendency to put my phone up upon somewhere, have know that I'm going to be talking about something that's like five or six points or whatever, and do some fun dancing things or gestures or pointing or whatever.

And then I will pop that in too. And that's fine. And if you keep things in your drafts and don't like, delete the app or anything, cause there are cookies they're stored there and you will lose all of your work. If you do delete the app, you have to read it back or something. But I, when I went to America, I had, I think, seven reels prerecorded before I left and just post it out one a week.

And so like, I was able to keep my content up, while traveling now, I haven't had the energy since I got back to record anymore. I'm getting some inspiration from this chat. 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: Yeah. So then on a practical point of view, I actually just remembered there is an Instagram account that I think is called 30 day reels challenge or 30 day reels, 

Ellie: 30 day reel thing, I think is what it's called.

Niamh Crawford-Walker: That's what it is. So if you do want to learn about the transitions and want to learn, you know, have a few ideas, um, you know, do that kind of 30 day challenge to get you on, on that momentum. That's such a good place to start because they have tutorials that are. That show how to do all of those transitions and show all the kind of cool things you can do, but in a really easy way, and also with the community that are to support you.

So there's that side of things. There's also like you were saying that planning, like I, the easiest way for me to do it is, is time-blocking and doing, you know, spending one afternoon a week when I was in my prime with my Instagram reels, I was doing one. So I would have five or seven, um, Instagram wheels, as you said, in the draft, ready to go on, they're all done.

They're pre recorded. You just have to press it. And I will say, as you were saying about losing them, definitely see if from, to your camera roll. Cause there's nothing more frustrating. The only thing with saving them to camera roll is that you can't save it with audio, but it should be spanked anyway, when you put it back up, because you've done it with that.

I also think. I have a tripod NOI, which makes life a lot easier because like you were saying, I was propping my phone off on, you know, a bookshelf, which limited where I could film things and stuff. Yeah. So, so while not practical side of things that really helped. 

Ellie: I recently invested, and this is for a lot of things, I do courses and stuff, but I've invested, it's not on right now, but a really nice light and it's on a stand and I can like, and it goes up really tall and I can like drag it around my house.

And so, and for me, it's. That I, I can't use like a cheap ring light. I have glasses and I would have like these big circles in my eyes. Right.

Niamh Crawford-Walker: Like I never considered. 

Ellie: So, but having, like, if you have good lighting and a place to prop your phone, like I have, um, I probably should, if I'm going to keep doing reels more, probably invest in a tripod, but I have one of those phone things on the back that it's like a rain and I literally will like put, pop up in that ring.

It my TV on, or my phone on top of like my TV or even like my, um, computer monitor or like, can I stick my phone in all sorts of weird places with that? I have used blue tack to stick my phone in weird places. I don't know what that's called in America anymore, by the way, people who are listening. I don't remember sticky tack, I think might be the cat name.

Anyway, 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: if you're someone who's listening and you just want to start with reels. I think like anything, it's one of those things you don't have to have the fancy equipment, but like, you can literally just use your phone. Most people, most of us have Instagram or you wouldn't be challenged by those, if you didn't, but like you, all you need is your phone, whether that's an iPhone or whether it's Android or whatever it is, and you can record in the app.

So just keep it. So flipping central, if you're getting started, what's important is that you actually do start. I will also say that. I only do only deal with reels. If it is something that you are excited to do and you actually want to do on your think your audience might respond to it. If that's not where your audience is, don't add a whole other thing to be thinking about because like we were sending by following fun, following ease.

You're not going to do it if it's not easy. So if you, if you're going to go for it, keep it easy. Just use your phone, prop it up, do one. Tiny clip. You can even do it in one shot and just get that first one done and see how it goes. Yeah, because I didn't get, like I used to do, I do quite a lot of like Instagram lives and things.

So I would do weekly Instagram lives and I, you should have seen set up, like I used to have cookbooks piled high in my window sales so I could get the natural light for slightly better lighting, like my phone. I want to say it was ridiculous. And it was only after I'd really gotten the rhythm of that.

Then I actually was like, oh, I should probably get a try. I got a ring light with a tripod stand in it. That's what I meant when I said tribal. And it makes life so much easier because I can take it anywhere. I can choose the backdrop and all that. But I did that after I'd already committed to the habit.

Ellie: Makes total sense to me. And I think that's the thing it's like, it can be easy. I know reels can seem really intimidating, but it can be easy if you let it. All right. You don't have to go and do all the crazy fads you don't have to do have all the crazy equipment you can literally. And I'm going to apologize for using that word twice.

That way there's no, I'm working on it. It's just so ingrained in our society, but you don't have to have all the wild stuff. Like you can do it easily. Yeah. 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: And everybody puts them on this pedestal when it's not. And it's the same when you're trying to anything new. It's like a lot of people feeling the pressure to do tech talk or Instagram reels right now.

It's like people have put it on this pedestal, but if you are someone who creates content in your business, if you're someone who posts Instagram, Instagram stories, You can post a real, like, they're the same thing. They just have a different name. It's still a 15, second 32nd, 62nd clip of you talking about something that's relevant to your business of you educating your audience on your potential customers of you supporting and giving value to your customers.

It's the exact same thing. It just happens to be a different medium. It's nothing to be, you know, keep it really, really simple and it doesn't have to be this big, scary. You're already doing it. If you're creating Instagram stories, you will be able to do your rating. No sweat. 

Ellie: Well, boop. I love that. If you create Instagram stories, you can do a real, no sweat.

Okay. So I've only got a few more minutes, so let's get through our other questions here. So I love to ask people what has been their biggest win in business so far?

Niamh Crawford-Walker: This is a big question. I was thinking about this before. I think probably my biggest win is on a conceptual level, realizing about myself that I actually I'm not scared to do new things.

Like when someone said that to me the other day, I was like, "Oh yeah, I will just try things." Like, I'm not scared. You know, that doesn't scare me. I'll just try it and figure it out. I obviously have fears around other things, but like, I'm so glad I'm that kind of person who will just do it. And if it fails, whatever, we'll figure it out.

 Never as straightforward as that. But, you know what I mean. But on a actual milestone level. I think my, what I'm most proud of is my goal setting planner that I created started working on this time last year and launched in November last year. And when I look back on the last year one, that's one thing I'm really proud of, but it also is like, I know how I alive.

I was at that time and I know how excited and energized and just in the zone I was in creating that start to finish. Like I have always been serviced. And I always really, really wanted a product, but I never knew what it could be. And the planner started as an ebook that I created during lockdown, like in April, I think.

And I remember I was just so bored and I had all of this coaching knowledge. I read a lot of self-development. I read a lot of entrepreneurial stuff and I could see how frustrated people were. With their own self-belief and their own confidence. And they had these big ideas, but they just weren't going for it.

And that's kind of like what I was saying with whenever I'm coaching and the, my favorite bit of my coaching is seeing people realize how amazing. So one being able to create my own product, um, seeing it in people's hands, seeing people share stories about it, share their own content about it. Messaging me, telling me that the impact it had outside of coaching.

It was probably the biggest investment I'd made in my business as well. And it was the first time I really. Had a lot of like actual risk or sort of skin in the game, because like I said, I was, I was service-based before, so you don't a lot of overheads, things like that. I had to find printers. Um, but yeah, I'm just, I am really proud of it and I love it.

Ellie: And it's gorgeous. 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: Yeah. Just, you know, that was a really, really proud moment for me. 

Ellie: And what about your biggest mistake or learning experience? 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: My biggest mistake or learning experience has been again around mindset stuff. So it's being, getting wrapped up in the vanity side of things, you know, vanity metrics, like for example, Hallie.

Many, you know, journals not sold on how many I want to just to sell now it was successful. And I sold like something like 60% in the first three days. And there's only a few left. I only did like that one run, but I had such high expectations of myself for this like seller launch. And then I was like, no, actually those are genuine human beings who have physically taken, you know, their purse or their wallet, and decided to buy a product that I created.

And not only that have also. Being at like one person. Um, again, one of the standards, like testimonials for me was someone messaging me and she was like, this gave me the confidence to apply for my dream job. And I just found out I got it. And like, that was so exciting. So for me, that mistake there was getting called in the vomity I'm the ego side of things of being like one numbers in terms of like sales and stuff.

But also another big breakthrough for me that happened was like recognizing that I have the most momentum in my business. I have the most success in my business. I make the most money in my business when I'm being myself. I remember like someone actually, I was really frustrated with something they were like, but here are you trying to prove this to your, you performing for don't?

I was like, yeah, you're right. Like, well, you know, it was only when I then stepped back and was like, actually, if I'm just myself and I just talk in my own language. No, the expertise that I have, I go back to my own self belief and my own values and my own understanding myself more. That's when I'm at my best.

That's when people respond to me at the best, that's when I am able to be the best coach to people and that energy transpires on I'm able to support my own clients, um, the growth of my own business better. So the biggest mistake or learning, um, learning experience is just remembering to be myself on stage.

The kind of comparison or like the ego performance of things, because that's irrelevant. Like what matters is that I am showing up as the best coach that I can be to my clients existing or perspective on that. I'm staying true to my values in my, in my business. 

Ellie: Yeah. That's completely true. I think that it's really hard to remove the ego sometimes or to just consistently, like, I know there's been periods that I feel like I showed up in my business more.

Naturally more easily. And it doesn't like, I feel that right now, I don't feel super aligned. I've got plans to fix that, but you're right. It's not, it doesn't. Like it's okay to know that business kind of ebbs and flows. And, um, all right. So are you working on anything exciting rightnow? 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: I, um, so I am currently working on putting my own, uh, putting my expertise with coaching on content marketing and launching to put together a new one-to-one program.

So working with business owners to help them plan that whole launch, start to finish, um, sort of get into that place of being able to sell without feeling icky. Launches feeling overwhelming with our launches, being something you dread and instead be something exciting that you can have fun with and make fund reels with and connect with your audience as yourself and be aligned and true to yourself and your business.

I guess, touching on the learning experience is how my clients evolves and how I evolve with them. Um, I'm finding kind of, you know, they need different levels of skills. So that's what I'm working on at the moment. I have the guts of it. I love launching, like, that is my favorite thing. 

Ellie: I don't know many people that say that, like, if I could magic wand, one thing in business and get rid of it, it would be launching.

Niamh Crawford-Walker: It is my favorite outside of the coaching. It is my. Nerd out on it so much. Like I could honestly work on launch plans, create launch content, be in launch mode. Okay. I can do try for seven, but I could lose to affiliate it, track a day, planning a launch ideas and things like that. And that, that flows over into my experience as when I've worked freelance and content strategy and marketing, like the.

Strategy side of things, just, I love it. So I'm bringing a little bit more practicality to my coaching, and they'll still be able to focus on self belief and mindset work as well. But it's also starting to combine the two and how you can use that to, to benefit your business and make things like launching less, stressful, less scary, and just really easy because once you have a process, we were talking about systems.

When you have a process in a system. You can just do that launch off the box, you know, straight away, you know what you're doing? 

Ellie: Absolutely. And where can people find you?

Niamh Crawford-Walker: So people can find me on Instagram. So, @niamhserena is my Instagram handle. And if you would like to join or find out more about that launch program, it's on my website, which is hashtaggoals.org/.

Um, um, there is a link to the wait list there. There's also a link to the wait list in my bio if you're interested in that. But Instagram is where I mostly out. Ooh. 

Ellie: Okay. So, um, links will be all in the show notes. So make sure to get in touch with me because she is brilliant. And if you're looking into launching a content strategy around those types of things, or just need some insights maybe around what's next for you.

Um, she's definitely your girl. 

Thank you so much for being here today. 

Niamh Crawford-Walker: Oh, well, thank you for having me. I love that so much fun.

Ellie: thank you for listening to the capable collective podcast. I really hope you enjoy this episode and if gotten value from it. If you did, please subscribe on your chosen listening platform. And if you happen to be listening over on apple podcast. Please take a moment to leave a review. It helps other people to find and trust this podcast.

And it would mean the world to me, this episode was edited by Emily Crosby media. She's amazing to work with. And if you are looking to start a podcast or for some practical media solutions, definitely check her out. Thank you so much again, have a great day.