Suzanne Chadwick 0:00
Hey, lovelies, welcome back to the podcast. Today I am interviewing somebody that I have known for a very, very long time. style by Sally has been around for 17 years now and is an absolute icon in Melbourne, in the fashion and styling world. And I have followed her for a very long time, I used to have a style blog, way back in the day when I was still in corporate and just love talking about fashion and beauty and all the rest of it, which I still kind of love talking about as well. And so I was excited to get her on the podcast and speak to her about how her business has grown. What are the things that she's doing on the regular how she's grown her socials, to over 200,000 followers. And I was really surprised to find out who does her content and editing and all the rest of it. So that's what we're talking about today. I thought this was a fun chat. So enjoy. And let's dive in. Sally, welcome to the brand builders love podcast.

Sally Mackinnon 1:29
Thank you for having me.

Suzanne Chadwick 1:30
My pleasure. My pleasure. I have known about you. I feel like forever.

Sally Mackinnon 1:38
I recall I remember meeting you all those years ago. Was it like a source bottle event or something like that? Source bottle? Yes,

Suzanne Chadwick 1:45
I do remember source bottle bottle not around anymore?

Sally Mackinnon 1:50
I don't know. I don't subscribe to them anymore. So I'm not sure.

Suzanne Chadwick 1:53
Yes, there were a lot of events. And I used to do. I had a style blog for years. Like when I was working in corporate I had I had stylize which was a just a little hobby blog on the side.

Sally Mackinnon 2:08
Now I remember. Yeah, there were things called blogs. Kind of back again. But anyway, yeah. I

Suzanne Chadwick 2:16
love it. I love it. And then my girlfriend, who I went to primary school with actually works with you. And so no, I did you go to primary school? We did. We did. We went to school.

Sally Mackinnon 2:28
I didn't know that was like you were that connected?

Suzanne Chadwick 2:32
Yeah, well, I actually think and she might correct me. I can't remember. But when she wanted to get into styling, I said to her, yes to look at style by Sally

Sally Mackinnon 2:43
stalking her, which is basically what she did.

Suzanne Chadwick 2:47
I love it. So she's still working with you now. So

Sally Mackinnon 2:50
yeah, 10 years, just about, I know. crazy.

Suzanne Chadwick 2:54
I don't know. I don't know. Because I just celebrated my 10th year in business on my own. Yeah, and honestly, I don't know even where that time has gone. So yeah, no,

Sally Mackinnon 3:04
crazy. Wow. Oh, there you go. Yeah, good. That's a long time. Yeah. Has

Suzanne Chadwick 3:09
been. But how long have you had your business that you're in now?

Sally Mackinnon 3:15
So I started stopped by Sally in 2007. Can you believe I know that's a long line when I was just thinking about the kind of questions that you will probably ask. I was like, oh my god, that is now 17 years. Like it's 2024. Now. Crazy. So yeah, so 2007 when really the personal styling industry was like, not bubbling. It was bubbling. There was but they were literally could count us on. I would say one hand the number of stylists that were I think in really Australia wide.

Suzanne Chadwick 3:54
And so what were you doing before you started your business?

Sally Mackinnon 3:59
I was teaching primary school children. What else does this personal stylist do?

Suzanne Chadwick 4:05
And you were just saying before we started recording that you were on another podcast and one of the girls was installed student of yours mine. Amazing.

Sally Mackinnon 4:14
I know. I taught her in grade. And the weird thing is, is that I actually taught her in grade two. And then I actually then stayed in Grade Two for a couple of years, took my long service leave, which was all when I started when I thought or made the decision I should say to change careers, came back to the school and taught her in grade five. Because by the she'd gone through the school. So yeah, so full circle moment.

Suzanne Chadwick 4:43
That's incredible. I actually started my business when I went on long service leave as well. It's a great time to get out. Yes,

Sally Mackinnon 4:51
yeah. Well, I have to say I didn't quite do that. Suz. I did take long service leave I took being an education department. I could take six months On half pay. And so I traveled the world for six months, but had a lot of Sally time to think about, you know what I wanted to do when I came back. So I was able to come back and I worked four days a week. So I had one day to slowly, slowly, slowly build style by Sally.

Suzanne Chadwick 5:19
And so when you went traveling, and you took the time to build your business, what was it like then like, Did you did you know exactly what you were going to offer? Did you know what it was going to look like? Like? Were there other people that you could model off at the time? Or were you really just starting it from scratch?

Sally Mackinnon 5:37
To be honest, I think in 2006, when I was traveling, and just kind of coming up with the idea, I knew that I could help women with their clothes and their wardrobes. That was the the original idea. I actually don't even thought originally I thought about personal shopping, I just knew that I could go into someone's wardrobe, and really help them work out what did and what didn't suit their shape. And because it was very shape driven at the time, show them how to do outfits, edit their wardrobes. So that was the kind of the original business model and idea Yeah, and really no one was doing it. But the inspiration for doing that was Trinny and Susannah and what not to where I used to go. Yeah, so that's kind of that was really what I thought I can do that. And then the rest is kind of just evolved, I suppose.

Suzanne Chadwick 6:33
And so were you always into fashion? Like, is that just been a thread through your life where it's just been something Yeah, enjoyed.

Sally Mackinnon 6:41
I guess I've always you know, I'm not certainly not going to sit here and say that I've been the most stylish person since I was a teenager. I mean, maybe my friends would argue, you know, it's one of those things that you the people that you know, would probably say, oh my god, Sally, you always dressed well, you always looked good. But I didn't have that self confidence, being tall and lean and feeling a bit gangly. But I always loved shopping, my mom hated shopping. And so she would send my sister and I who's only a year and a half younger than me, we would never shop with my mother, she would just send us out or we'd go shopping to sports girl or a spree. And so I always quite enjoyed clothing and shopping. And I suppose then essentially styling.

Suzanne Chadwick 7:26
And so when you started the business, and you, I guess were styling people, how did you evolve the business,

Sally Mackinnon 7:34
I guess it did evolve just organically. So when I started started by Sally, I didn't even have a website. I literally, you know, came up with my business name, got a logo design and took a print ad out in the local newspaper. But the services that I offered from the get go were wardrobe edits, and personal shopping. So So I probably obviously, I did think that I could help people shop. But the inspiration kind of came from working at the ward on the wardrobes first. And then obviously, over time, it then evolved into moving into men's styling as well, because that market started to grow, and then do style workshops. But you know what so is essentially, the service types have actually kind of stayed the same, you know, a wardrobe edit, personal shopping, a style consultation, probably the service that is the newest. And that has kind of shifted is what we call wardrobe styling. And that's where Ann's really good at that. So that's where we go to someone's house. And rather than editing and calling the wardrobe, it's actually more about styling, the existing pieces that they have in different ways. And so that kind of again, organically just became part of a wardrobe edit. And then I realized, you know what, that's actually quite a separate service cost the same amount of money, but it's kind of it's now a standalone service on the website. And it's a very different service. And the outcomes are very different for that as as would be if you are looking to really someone to help how your wardrobe learn about your body shape, blah, blah, blah. Yeah.

Suzanne Chadwick 9:30
I love it. So when you think about the business because I love the fact that you are like we these are our services. This is what we do. This is what we're known for. Yeah. And it's pretty much stayed the same. Yeah, period of time that you've had the business which I just think is if you can get to a place where you're like, like, this is our bread and butter. Yeah, yeah. Yep. Then grow from there. So the question I have is, from a business growth perspective, what have been pivotal moment meant in your business that you kind of look back on and go, when we did this, like we really saw a shift change. And within that, like, when did you start bringing on team members?

Speaker 1 10:14
Well, Loray has been with me longer than Ann. So if I saw I started the business in 2007, I reckon the Loray came on board in about 2013. So, you know, that's over 10 years ago, then, and then more recently, Melissa, a couple of years ago. So I guess, I feel very grateful that I did start my styling business when I did. I mean, I was in my mid to late 30s. But at the time, because it was such a new industry. It wasn't as though that I had heaps of competitors, to be quite honest. So a lot of that initially was a lot of word of mouth and referrals. And then obviously, repeat customers. And I guess, you know, in terms of, you know, growing the business, again, it just kind of happened, it just, the more the more demand kept coming, and obviously, so then I realized, I can't do this all myself, and I can't be booked three or four months in advance. So I knew that I needed, you know, another team member and then another team member. But no, without doubt, the one thing that I have always had since I started a proper website, which I did get eventually is very, very, very good SEO. So that has never, never wavered. And

Suzanne Chadwick 11:52
that's where you get a lot of the majority of your clients is through Search Engine and Google.

Speaker 1 11:59
Well, then we introduce good old social media, don't we Suz? So it depends when, like, what era where we're speaking about, but I would probably say if my marketing manager was sitting next to me right now, she is still very, very big on SEO keywords. fresh content on the website, which basically I pay someone to write blogs because I just don't have time. But there is the the website traffic. So we are number one on Google in every single category. There we are, which you know, costs money, as you know. So there's that aspect of it. So yes, we've still got really good SEO, lots of our organic traffic comes through SEO. But then you've now got social media, pretty much head to head, I would say so I'm sure we'll probably get to it. But I was gonna say a pivotal moment was bloody COVID.

Suzanne Chadwick 12:59
Actually, what happened to your business during COVID?

Sally Mackinnon 13:03
Well, it went to shit. Yeah. As most people's you know, when you work for yourself and you're doing a job that involves you being you know, one on one with with with people. So look, it was a pretty bloody tough two years going in and out obviously, particularly in Melbourne and going in and out of lockdowns and not knowing how long we were going to be in lockdown and rescheduling clients and then having to cancel and reschedule. And I guess, you know, also going back to that previous question about how the business has changed, probably the only thing that the other thing that came out of COVID and that has still in still remains as a very big part of our business is online styling. You know, so but but still doing what we normally do. So personal shopping, editing wardrobes, styling wardrobes are just like this. Yeah, so still doing what I think we're really good at, and he's kind of good old fashioned styling, but doing it on a you know, FaceTime or zoom, which has been Yeah, which I kind of thought our pandemic is over. Now on all because I kind of I must admit, I've got pretty bloody sick of them. You know, it's one thing to chat like this, but it's another thing to meet someone brand new and try and you know, get a good sense of their personal style and their lifestyle and then you know, looking at their wardrobe and body shape and you're trying to bloody set up cameras and whatever, whatever. But it does actually work. So I'm not I'm not saying it doesn't work because it actually does. Yeah, I just think for me, I'm much more of a people person. And so after doing it for so many times during lockdown, I was like I never want to do another online one again. But now that I do them less frequently, I actually really enjoy them. And I know and also loves a good home session so she can stay at home with her dog. So yeah, so the online sessions are still really, really popular. But getting back to the question is that locked down gave me the time to create video content. Yes,

Suzanne Chadwick 15:12
because I wanted to touch on that. So there's two things one that kind of piqued my interest. So you've got a marketing manager, because I think your socials are fantastic.

Sally Mackinnon 15:23
I know she doesn't manage my map that she's she's like the website and the business.

Suzanne Chadwick 15:27
Okay, who manages your socials, you?

Sally Mackinnon 15:33
It's all me.

Suzanne Chadwick 15:34
I'm so impressed.

Speaker 1 15:36
It's all made Sue's I know, it's ridiculous. Editing. Everything

Suzanne Chadwick 15:42
I was honestly just like, you have to have a team like you need, you obviously have an editor and somebody follows

Speaker 1 15:48
graphics. If I was to spin my camera around, you would say just over here is my tripod, my boom microphone, my ring light in my lounge room.

Suzanne Chadwick 16:02
Well, I know that you film it all. Because obviously I've seen you film it, but I'm like it. Oh, you must have somebody that's like doing all the backend stuff for you like the editing and all the rest of it. Wow.

Sally Mackinnon 16:13
I actually quite enjoy it though. I actually really enjoy the editing. I'm a bit of a perfectionist. So I love to have that complete control as to which little snippets I put together and, and the music and the stuff like that. So I do actually enjoy that the techie side of things, but it's very labor intensive. Like it takes a long time for you know, like why No, couldn't be a one minute video that you put out there on Instagram. All the work that goes in behind it. People have got no idea.

Suzanne Chadwick 16:46
Yeah, like I know. But yeah, that's, that's amazing. Because right now you've got like, 233,000 followers. And have you Did you see a period of time where there was massive growth for you like when you joined Instagram? And is Instagram? Your number one? social

Sally Mackinnon 17:06
platform? 100%? Yeah, okay. Yep. I've got about 65,000 on Facebook. Yeah, but I don't really care. But again, for SEO and advertising, I need I need to keep my facebook page a little bit happy. But I just kind of spit occasional content out to them. And I don't mean that. So if any Instagram or sorry, Facebook followers are listening, I don't mean that. I don't care about you, because I do. But unfortunately, it is a different demographic on Facebook. And if I'm going to be told that I'm ugly, have got no idea. Blah, blah, blah, that it'll be on Facebook.

Suzanne Chadwick 17:52
Wow. Yeah. And

Sally Mackinnon 17:55
that's not my followers. I shouldn't say that. That's not my followers. It's just that the algorithm is different. So on Facebook, my posts will pop up on someone's feed, typically, from a certain part of America. And they just don't get my style. So they think it's rubbish and foul and will tell me so.

Suzanne Chadwick 18:17
People are just interesting interest. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, okay. But

Sally Mackinnon 18:24
Instagrams are much, much nicer, generally speaking, a much safer community, to be honest. So

Suzanne Chadwick 18:31
with Instagram, and you're doing all of that, like, as far as clients coming in from it, are you because you're doing the editing and the posting and everything? Like, are you really conscious of what works as far as when you post this kind of content? Do you get more inquiries? Do you get DMS? Like, how is Instagram helping you to get more clients through as well,

Sally Mackinnon 18:54
to be completely honest, and I think this is where the video content and the time to do it in COVID just made an impact instantly, is that doesn't really matter what I post, it's when I speak, there's a trust that people have in me, but they can also see that I know what I'm talking about. So it's a very different communication with your audience, to speak to them as to just as opposed to just posting a photo. So it's just that I guess I get across the point that yeah, I am a good stylist. I do get it. I do understand style and outfit building. And of course I also understand how to dress every body shape. So that's kind of it that's that's the little magic spice just being yourself. Yeah. And, you know, teaching I'm still teaching every day. I know.

Suzanne Chadwick 19:59
A lot I think your intention is still teaching. Yeah. And so and so with that, do you get a lot of inquiries through the platform? Or is it Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Sally Mackinnon 20:08
So lots of people will either, you know, either DM first or hopefully, you know, realize that on my bio, there's a link to inquire. And then we'll send an inquiry through to via, like, go to the website, have have a look where you know, the services prices, otherwise, I might just direct people to email my, I have a PA now as well. I do have a PA, who manages all the bookings, which has been the best thing I ever did.

Suzanne Chadwick 20:42
Amazing how you had them on your team. So about

Sally Mackinnon 20:46
eight, only 18 months? I don't know why I didn't do it sooner. Again, it was just letting go that control of the business. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, sorry. I was a bit nervous. But this thing over did? Yeah. So you've

Suzanne Chadwick 20:58
got three stylists a marketing person? And yeah,

Sally Mackinnon 21:02
yeah, I know, it sounds a bit.

Suzanne Chadwick 21:05
Sounds a bit amazing.

Sally Mackinnon 21:07
And I still don't stop. It's just like, I know, you've got all this support, Sally. But I honestly still don't on my own worst debt. I don't stop.

Suzanne Chadwick 21:18
And so on that, how have you how do you think you've evolved as a business owner?

Sally Mackinnon 21:25
Oh, um, I don't know.

Suzanne Chadwick 21:31
Like, when you think back to where you started, and where you are now, like, what do you think I just think that as business owners, I mean, we are testing and trying different things, and we're evolving, but it's kind of like being more focused on the things that you no matter the things that you know, are going to, I don't know, have a bigger impact or work etc. Is there any particular skills but from video editing? That you feel like I feel like I've really like developed in these areas? And that's helped you as a business owner?

Sally Mackinnon 22:07
I guess. I mean, certainly, out, you know, outsourcing. You know, I know that I know that I can't do it all. And so I do what I think I do well, and then obviously outsource other other things. But I just think also over the years as, as a as a person, as a woman, as a stylist, I've become a lot more confident, but also intuitive when it comes to personal styling and working with my clients. So I feel like that's shifted to a degree, and I'm probably just more, you know, maybe less anxious about running my own business, because I'm more confident because I have a successful business now. Yeah, that's probably all I can really say to that question enough, that really answers it. Yeah, I guess like, yeah, and I guess, because, you know, and I'm sure what you do, as well. So it's, but I guess, in my line of work, everything's kind of changing and adapting rate all the time, and really quickly. And, you know, I'm 52 You know, I'm no spring chicken, but I feel like I've been, I've proven to myself that I'm actually quite ahead of the game and up, you know, with, with, with things into and maybe you could look at social media as an example, that, you know, for a lot of people a little bit older, who didn't grow up with social media, getting yourself out there, in you know, and, and having a presence and talking or just showing up is actually quite scary. So, whereas I've kind of realized actually, no, that's also part of my skill, I can communicate with people. And so I do it, but if you asked me to stand on a stage and dance, or pretend I was an actor, absolutely no way. Like I actually don't. I hate performing in front of other people. But that's where, you know, here, it's just me in front of my own camera. Yeah, sometimes I look at myself on the video and think what like I that is just so not me, like people probably think I'm very maybe extroverted or, you know, all this insane self confidence. I'm not absolutely not. I'm just in my little safe space, just here. Just talking to the camera. But wait, isn't it so

Suzanne Chadwick 24:37
interesting? I love Yeah, a little bit of a along those lines, a bit of a segue. So from a building your personal brand perspective, obviously the business is called step by step. You know, so obviously your names out there, but are you like speaking at events speaking on panels, I know that you've been talking on podcasts than that, have you had any kind of strategy or intentions around you being on your platforms to kind of raise awareness about the business? And what it is? Yeah.

Speaker 1 25:14
I think it would be fair to say that, again, it's been part of discussions that I've had with, you know, my marketing person and, and that, but I guess, I've never, like, I've never gone down the path of having like a PR person, for example. And I'm not really that good at that kind of self promotional type stuff, either. So I've never really followed through on that. And again, use that buddy, same word again, but organic, you know, things just kind of come and happen. So, yes, you know, I'll do you know, events at with, you know, with businesses or retailers and do partnerships like that, but, you know, speak on the occasional panels. But I feel like, there's a little watch this space, there's a few things that I've got in the pipeline that I can't talk too much about now. But I do you see that that might be the next kind of step in my career, when maybe, you know, I've I cut back on the, and all those clients listening are going to be like, No, Sally, don't stop. But, you know, there will come a point when I don't want to go into shopping centers every day. You know, and you know, that, and I think it's also just part of evolving as a person and as a business that, you know, what's the next? What does the next chapter look like? And I'm very open to that now.

Suzanne Chadwick 26:45
Yeah. And I totally agree, I just I think that goes talk to clients as well around getting paid for what you think not what you do. Yeah. And I see that, as somebody who has come from a consulting background to where I just saw that kind of every day, which is going in and being the person that that either speaks or comes up with the ideas or there's their expertise, etc. And isn't on the tools. I totally get that. Yeah, I think that when you've been on the tools for a long time, it's totally normal, you get to a point where you're like, I did it, like I've done. The next thing,

Sally Mackinnon 27:25
I think that's a really good way to look at it being on the tools like I have now been for 17 years, like, that's a long time. And it's, it's exhausting. And, you know, because of social media, or you know, there are now other platforms that I can use to still do what I do, but in new ways to broader audiences. So I think it's, yeah, it's actually quite exciting.

Suzanne Chadwick 27:50
Well, I do have to say in template or and just think she's amazing. There is now a place because Iris appel has left us there is now like, sadly, for somebody to become the icon of our generation.

Sally Mackinnon 28:12
Well, okay, that's very nice of you to say, we'll see. We'll see. Maybe, as I said, there's I can't say too much. Yeah, this, who knows? Who knows? That's what happened. Yeah.

Suzanne Chadwick 28:26
I love it. That's so exciting. But I also think it just, you know, who knows, like, you could bring in more stylists. It could be, you know, yeah. Sometimes it's, we can kind of move to a place of us being the business owner, without being the person who's doing the work all the time.

Speaker 1 28:44
And unfortunately, though, I didn't know my husband when I came up with my business name, because he will he or her says all the time, your name should never be in your business name. But anyway, I think it's, I think it's, it's fine. It's got me through this this many years. So yeah, so totally, I mean, I, you know, my again, my marketing wants me to go into stage, you know, they've been Sally look at Sydney, you know, but I just, I can't be bothered. Yeah, you know, like managing, you know, managing people as hard as well and managing people's at different expectations. So, I don't know and I just also think, you know, I'm very Melbourne, you know, I am Melbourne I live in Melbourne. I literally live in Melbourne CBD, so I feel like Styled by Sally. You know, now that everything's open. It's not far to come to Melbourne and, and shop obviously.

Suzanne Chadwick 29:41
Well, I know you get a lot of Interstate and yeah, sometimes international customers that come in to shop in Melbourne. Because obviously Melbourne is such an iconic shopping. Yeah, like hub as well.

Sally Mackinnon 29:55
It is absolutely. Yeah. Which is great. Go ahead.

Suzanne Chadwick 29:58
Is there any thing that you sort of look at as far as lessons that you've learned as you've built and grown the business, where you're kind of like, that was either amazing, or I really stuffed up here. But it was, it was a great lesson to learn,

Sally Mackinnon 30:15
oh, gosh, I nothing kind of stands out. But I think what I have, if I could, something that I would say to anyone, obviously watching or listening, that is, you know, working from themselves, starting their own business, is that I think the one thing that I did for way too many years, was care too much about my competitors, and get quite defensive of what I thought was my little space, you know, and caring about what they were doing, or how many Instagram followers or Facebook followers they had, or, you know what I mean? And I've realized that that's just, there's, there's enough, there's enough space for all of us to operate, and we all operate very differently. And, but you know, I'm a competitive person by nature. So what took a long time for me to realize, you know, what, Sally, just, you do you and focus on being the best, you know, stylist, that you can, you know, that you can be and always, you know, when people are talking about you whether it's you know, someone, a client talking to a friend, or someone who works in a store, because you can imagine, you know, our relationships with store staff are really important. But they would always say, oh, yeah, look, Sally's always so polite, and easy to work with. And as long as I can just be the best me, then that's really that, that all that matters. So trying not to see, as I say, your competitors has as being the enemy. And they are a little bit, let's face it. But not to feel not to try and feel too threatened by them. And I guess, probably, you know, for me also, because I was kind of one of the early pioneers of personal styling in Australia. And then all of a sudden, you can go and go to the, you know, this institute and become, you know, get a certificate to say you're a stylist, you can do this. And you can do that. So all of a sudden, and then throw in social media where anyone can be anything they want to be and just post photos and, you know, say they're out doing this and out with a client. They may not be you know, I guess that's where my kind of defenses kind of went up a little bit. So I just Yeah, trying to just come the farm. Sally, don't worry about it. Just you know, because Enough, enough is enough population, you know, I'm never going to be able to stall the whole country. Yeah. So you know. Yeah. So that's probably the advice that I would say is that just just focus on yourself and just try not to feel too threatened by other people in your, in your lane or in your industry doing similar things? Because you'll always have a point of difference and focus on what you do and what you do really well.

Suzanne Chadwick 33:07
Yeah, I love that. Was there a moment that you kind of realized that? Or it's just been a gradual, like learning process?

Sally Mackinnon 33:14
I think it's been very gradual. Yeah, different every now and then I have to give myself a little slap. Yeah. But I also think it's one of it's also that, you know, because and I'm going to mention social media again. But, you know, when this is the kind of the good thing and the bad thing is social media is that, you know, like, I know that there are competitors of mine, who don't have 233,000 followers. But that doesn't mean they're in a bad stylist, or that they have an unsuccessful styling business. Do you know what I mean? So, you know, it's, you're throwing social media, which is on one hand has been amazing for lifting my profile and reaching a new audience and getting even more clients. But at the same time, it's, you know, you're always got, you've always got someone that you can compare yourself to. Yeah, yeah.

Suzanne Chadwick 34:11
And I think that that is a big one that holds a lot of people back. And I know, I've got some stylists in my community as well. And I know Yeah, that's a that's a big thing. The whole social following. And, yeah, yeah. And then I

Sally Mackinnon 34:27
know when I, because I was very, I was pretty late to Instagram. Really. And so, you know, took me a long time to build my following like a long time. And I remember myself, I would compare myself to my followers or likes on posts or views on rails to other people. And it's like, Oh, my God, I'm too old for this shit. Really? Really?

Suzanne Chadwick 34:50
Yeah. Yes. But then

Sally Mackinnon 34:52
we are. Yeah. So I wasn't, but we are we are kind of, you know, that metric is used by people to whether they want to then, you know, pay, you know, a sorry, approach a stylist or an influencer or whoever, you know, in whatever industry, what's their metric for wanting to engage my services? I can tell you now if I had 2000 followers, I would not be getting emails from, you know, brands to say, Hey, Sally, we'd love to pay you. That's not going to happen. So it's a weird one, isn't it? Yeah.

Suzanne Chadwick 35:30
Yeah. But I also I just to kind of wrap that up as well. But I also know somebody who started fairly recently, like, in the last, you know, year or two, you hit 100,000 followers, because one of her reels went viral. And she's amazing. And I love her. And she does really, really well with her content to very good. But yeah, but so it's also sometimes it's the work, but it's the luck of the draw as well. Totally. sorts of things. Yeah.

Sally Mackinnon 36:04
Yeah. And there's no rhyme or reason, really, as to when or why a post goes viral. Yeah, but 100,000 followers, Jesus.

Suzanne Chadwick 36:14
Yeah. Like, in a year and a bit. Yeah. But just because one particular real went viral, and then PR picked it up. A lot of publications picked it up as well. And so Wow, from there, so. So you know, I think if you do the work, I think that there's obviously that steady growth that you can get, and if you happen to, you know, hit the jackpot, sometimes it can happen, but I just think it's not about chasing that. It's about like doing the work. And like you said, knowing why you're different, knowing what you're great at, and really focusing in on that as well. I think for me, it's just, I always say that you can have 10 stylists in a room and they'll only be one stylist who's for me. It's their, it's the way they communicate. It's their style. It's the way they put things together, where I'm just like, oh my gosh, like I love that. And the other people aren't amazing. But yeah, they might just not speak to me personally. So yeah, I also think that that's another thing to realize is that you'll attract the right clients who love you and your style and what you do. Totally awesome. Well, we said we're gonna leave it there. For my listeners, we're gonna have all your links. But where can they find you for those who are walking the dog or driving the car,

Sally Mackinnon 37:30
or walking the dog driving the car drive safely, you can follow me on Instagram at style by Sally nice and easy. Or Facebook style by Sally. I am on tick tock but I'm only posting a very my aunt my street style interviews on there, which I need to book another time with my PA to do the filming, or style by sally.com.au antastic.

Suzanne Chadwick 37:56
So, so good. Thank you so much for jumping on and sharing all of your wisdom with us. I have loved watching your journey over my 10 years or more. I do love I do love myself a bit of shopping and I watch all your videos. And I'm always just like, I don't know how you put that together. But anyway,

have you ever you haven't ever thought of enlisting the services of ann? Did she give you free tips? No.

No, I'm just a bit of an exploratory shopper. Yeah, I don't know. I love going in and just try but I am a shopper. So I spend I spend a whole day shopping. have no problem doing that. So. So I do enjoy it. But yes, that would be fun. I think that should be on my list of things to do.

Sally Mackinnon 38:41
Yeah, it is funny, because I think when we work with clients who actually like yourself, do like shopping, sometimes it's just about, you know, like, I know if I would love to actually work with a personal stylist, like in New York or Paris or Copenhagen or something like that, because I'd be open to see how they would interpret or, you know, style me a little bit differently than that, or, you know, and push me out of my comfort zone. So, yeah, sometimes it's just good just to do that with with with people. Yeah,

Suzanne Chadwick 39:12
and I feel like I follow a couple of different, like, probably like three or four that I always look at, and they're all quite different. But they give me new ideas. And I think that's what I really enjoy. I always say that you want to follow people, whether it's installing or anywhere else who help you think differently and see yourself in a new way. Absolutely. And yeah, that's always fun.

Sally Mackinnon 39:34
Yeah, yeah. And you know, you're not always going to like everything they say they do they were you know, doesn't mean that you you know, you give you to do the keyboard warrior and whatever say that but, you know, it's it's the inspiration. It's the ideas, it's the confidence to perhaps try something a little bit different. If you know if you want to that's that's I think that's the great powerful to that we have in social media, whether we're creator of the content, or a viewer of it, consumer of it.

Suzanne Chadwick 40:08
So good. Well, I have to say you've totally inspired me I need to up my Instagram game. Now that I know that you do all of your Instagram. I'm like, you must have a team. But then I'm like, Alright, so it's time to, but

Sally Mackinnon 40:21
I do have the time. I don't have children to worry about. If that helps. It is

Suzanne Chadwick 40:29
pretty self sufficient.

Sally Mackinnon 40:30
Child.

Suzanne Chadwick 40:32
Yeah. So I say good, Sally. Thank you so much.

Sally Mackinnon 40:37
Yeah, likewise,