00:01:42
what was the impulse to start the clear men uh clear for men the moment you said yes this is it this is what i want to do so it all it all sort of started back in in 2020 so in 2020 i was struggling a lot with my mental health uh i was very burnt out it was the first time that I had really experienced any form of anxiety, so I was very much like the physical forms of anxiety were taken over, and I just find it very difficult to talk about. I remember speaking to a few of my friends, and it was almost as if we didn't really know how to speak to each other about it because we'd never done it before.
00:02:16
I just thought, 'This is really weird; like, I should be able to come to my friends and talk about this but we just don't feel comfortable enough to do it, and I thought, 'We need to do more about this.' And a lot of things grounded me during that during that period because I think everyone was going through such a difficult Time in that, in that time um, but like this was like all completely brand new for me so I was just like I don't know how to channel this anxiety that I'm getting, you know. I remember before I had this feeling where I had like a tight chest pain and I had like
00:02:47
this like tingling sensation through my arm and I actually thought like I am having a heart attack but then I realized it wasn't that, it was I was I think I was having a panic attack, it just came out of nowhere and I found it really hard to talk about these things and the more and more I bottled it up, the more and more I just sort of i felt worse, and the only way for me to feel better, I knew. Was by talking about it, so a lot of things really helped me during that period. Uh, one of them was actually setting self-care as definitely something that was huge for me and that's sort of the fundamental of clear boundaries men uh, but things like running, going for walks, really looking after myself, me and my brother used to cook a lot during during that time as well.
00:03:30
But self-care really grounded me because that was time that like no one could take away from me so I in my head I thought you know this is time for myself and I'm like I'm putting time aside for my routine every single day, this is making me feel, both like you know I'm feeling More confident in myself I feel better in myself mentally as well because I feel as I'm putting time aside to pour into my own cup, and that's sort of where the idea for Clear For Men came from. So I thought, 'You know what? Like self-care, there's just a stigma attached to it with men. There's such a stigma attached to mental health in men. Why don't we combine the two and give them give men that reminder to take five?
00:04:06
And that's sort of where Clear For Men, the idea came from. And then I kept toying with the idea for around three, I think two or three weeks to come back and I was like 'Oh my god, I'm like Oh my god, I think it was in 2020 and I was like' i really want to you know i don't know where to do it and then i new year's eve i was like you know what i am going to set a new year's resolution and i'm going to start this in the new year and then i bought a course i bought a founder course in that literally i think it's like two or two or three days after new year's eve
00:04:35
um and it was a course on how to how to build a brand like from like nothing and i think i spent like a thousand pound on this course and i was like i just want to i just want i need to learn how to build because i don't know what to do and that's sort of where clear for men started really and i just sort of learned about building A brand community trademarks, yeah, it also started back then, so it's been a wild one, really. It's been like four years, nice! I really like how COVID-19 was transformational, I think, not only for you but for many people who are also listening to us today. It was actually also transformational for me, uh, especially in because during the Marie Olivie it was mainly that I ended up jobless during COVID-19 and it was a really hard time for me.
00:05:24
I was recently a graduate, I was really motivated to get the job and I actually didn't know like what will happen, how should I actually find a job during COVID and it was really uncertain times which made me actually think during the anxious time what can i do and i then discovered that i don't want that anyone would feel like i did during the covid19 and this is why i started with marie olivie to actually show people that they can start their brand from nothing exactly what you said the similar course as you did during the covet before you start clear for men and it's really important to sometimes use the struggles as your opportunity as a signal that you can embrace it into something maybe even better you said that uh you felt good with uh like self-care and these things do you feel that sometimes self-care is underestimated For men, because we speak a lot about self-care for women, how women like should embrace their femininity and things like this.
00:06:30
How do you feel about this uh balance and dynamic of uh feminine and masculine uh uh for men for women uh the self-care that's a very good question so I actually had so a few about about just under a year ago I think it was I i had a woman reach out to me and she was doing a dissertation for uni and she said to me, you know I'd love to talk to you about self-care with men and the stigma attached to it. I thought yeah okay let's let's do it and she was telling me how her brother had told her that he would never go to his Friends to talk about self-care, he would never go to his friends to talk about what I should use on my face or how I should, you know, like just self-care tips in general, he would only go to his sister because he just
00:07:15
thought oh that's just like the thing to do and it had me thinking like there is such a stigma attached to this like, like men don't really talk about the importance of looking after ourselves and I know even today, like even today I, I think it's it's I always say that self-care is not a luxury, like it's a necessity so like today I was feeling a little bit burnt out this morning and feeling a little bit like oh my goodness i got so much on my plate like what am i doing and then i had a shower i did my skincare i did my hair care and i sat back down and i just
00:07:50
thought wow i feel 10 times better now because i've taken myself out of the situation that was stressing me out and i've put myself and put myself first and i felt 10 times better for it and i think sometimes it's just i think it's massively underestimated because like you said i think i think self-care is is spoken a lot about being feminine whereas i think i think self-care is is everyone i think everyone um deserves to take five and i think like i think it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's we can we could sometimes i think that's where the stigma lies in self-care because i think sometimes people
00:08:20
think oh yeah i don't do skincare i don't do self-care because that's not what i do it's fine but whereas actually like it's so much more than just like washing our face like it's actually just putting time aside for ourselves which i think is like the most important thing that we need to do more of so i would say it's like it is fundamentally one of the most important things i do for myself um especially with a very busy schedule um i yeah i think it's massively underrated i think it definitely is helpful yeah i also agree and uh what advice would you give to men who are for example who don't know where to start actually with self-care because there is not a lot uh probably instruction i'm not men because i'm probably like targeted but by all of this advertisement for uh the dry hair and things like this so i don't really see like uh how the social media platforms for example target men in self-care
00:09:15
so uh how would you advise what would you advise to men who would like to start with self-care actually that's that's a really good question so i i actually so i recently looked at my analytics a few months ago and i i saw that a lot of women buy for the men in their life because of the same same exact reason so a lot of men don't really know the beginning like the they don't really know where to start a lot a lot of people ask me like you know or do you use the cleanser for like what what step to use the cleanser in and i think it's really important to know
00:09:45
that and i think what's really nice about what i do is the fact that i feel as though i've built a community now where people feel comfortable to ask me on a live stream or ask me on my videos or when when should i use this product like what time of day or how much should i use it's those small questions i think sometimes people Feel embarrassed to ask; they shouldn't feel embarrassed, but I feel like they they're like worried about what other people may think because like I said, it's just not it's something that's not really spoken about a lot. It's never you know, a quick search on like social media so on TikTok on Instagram anywhere really, just like self-care videos or like how to wash your face.
00:10:25
Like if you go on TikTok and you just search that, like there are so many male grooming videos that will sort of show the foundations and I post a lot of them as well, like how to how to wash your face or how to apply moisturizer or what are what is SPF moisturizer. And why you should use it every day, and all these different things that sometimes we often overlook. Um, a lot of men say to me like, 'I don't really use a cleanser but I'll use moisturizer, and I'll say to them, 'I'm like, do you use SPF?' And they're like, 'Oh no, I don't use SPF moisturizer.' And I ask them, 'Is there a reason why that I just don't use it?' And and it's so, it's I think the education aspect of it, I think is something that for myself, I need to do more of, so that people see the importance of like SPF, and why we should use it on a daily basis.
00:11:05
So yeah, I think. I think. I think the way social media is now, you can very much just search any sort of query you have right it's self-care and there are videos that do tend to pop up even if you type in a hashtag like men's grooming, a lot of them do come up, and it's and it's really nice I find them really really useful for like shaving tips so there are a lot of things about shaving that I've learned over just typing it in like other like the best ways to shave or like how to use this blade to shave um and all these different things because sometimes we do genuinely just feel like we can't ask someone, and I'm that that's quite a hard thing as well so i with the Take Five community, I really
00:11:45
encourage people to ask questions and I always Say like, no question is a stupid question because, like, ultimately we're all here to learn about it and it's like really nice that we can talk about self-care to the point where people feel comfortable asking any question without feeling judged. So I definitely say like, search on the content because there's so much out there that can help you. YouTube is really good for it as well, like there are so many different platforms that can really help you with self-care. Um, I think adverts, like you said, some a lot of them can be targeted to the female audience and that's actually why I do target women as well which is kind of a different.
00:12:21
approach which is a whole other thing in itself I do target women predominantly because of the fact that women want to support, they want to remind the men in their life to take five and they also know that if I do my skincare with my partner we can take five together so that's something that I have noticed a lot of and they then will educate their partners through the like the cleansing stage and they'll they'll educate them while they're doing their skincare, so that's something I've definitely seen. Um, sorry that was a very long winded answer. And if you are a man, this is your star pack to self-care. If you are a woman Then, forward this to your men so that he can also get some educational content on self-care.
00:13:03
I think it was brilliant where actual people can start with self-care, especially men because I also think it's more rightly widespread that it's a totally normal and I would like to get back a bit into building a brand so how can actually entrepreneurs now with all of the knowledge that you have because you started in 2021 if I'm not mistaken, so like four years of experience of building a brand starting with this online course but now you really know it from practice so how can entrepreneurs build a brand that not only Sells a product, but also creates a movement, so uh, that it's not only this kind of like a cold selling, like hey do you want my shampoo and like that's it.
00:13:55
But uh, you have a really a story behind it, so like how entrepreneurs can connect it to something more than just cold calling, cold messaging, cold DMs, and yeah, no, I love that! I, I so I, I recently read a book, I read it a few months ago, actually, it's called Start with Why by Simon Cynic, and that really helped me. So, the whole thing is is starting with a why for me. I've always i've been from in 2021, it was like I need there's a why behind this; it isn't just skincare, I don't want To be known as just another skincare brand, there has to be a reason why I'm doing this. Then I read that book and it really changed like, and I read that book in 2024 so three years after I'm still learning to like adapt this.
00:14:39
This is the why behind what I do. Um, I, I, I find a lot of the time like I'll go live on the internet, I'll go live on the internet, I'll go live on the internet on social media and I'm never like buy my product, buy my product. It's very much like 'join my community let's take five together, like 'let's talk about mental health let's talk about self-care, let's talk about let's educate ourselves on the importance Of looking after ourselves, let’s talk about any questions you may have about self-care. And for me, has been the the the, what's the word? How do you describe it? Like the pivotal, pivotal point I want to say. I think that's...
00:15:15
I think that's the right way, yeah, yeah, that's been the best way for me to grow the brand because so many things have happened ultimately. Because I've led with the reason why I do what I do. Because ultimately, I could create content and be like, oh yeah, we're just a skincare brand and we do this at this and this. Oh, and we do we do we donate to mental health charities. Whereas like that's the forefront of what I do, so I'm the face of the brand. It's like we donate to charities; we want to do more than just what we want to be more than just around; we want to be a reminder for you to take five, so standing for something way more than just a product.
00:15:50
I think is arguably the the thing you have to do nowadays. Um having a strong why behind what you do rather than just like, oh when I start a business and make money or I'm doing it because I think it's a good opportunity. Like I think having a genuine passion behind something is so important because on the days when it gets really tricky and really hard and you feel like giving up, your community. the other people that spur you on are the people that spur you on, the amount of times I get emails and messages from people that are like 'thank you so much for everything that you do like I had a message
00:16:21
from from someone I had commented on on a TikTok posted a few months ago and it was like 'you saved my life without even realizing it and it's things like that that make you think like 'this is so much more than a skincare brand' and I was like 'and this is why I lead with the why behind what I do because it is, it is making that change so I'd say it's arguably the single most important thing for me is building a community that really resonates With you rather than being like, 'Oh yeah, we just do skincare.' I think, like, people just no, it's just no. I just don't think it works. I
00:16:53
really love how we are connecting to a community that you actually have conversation and that you have the patience to, for example, educate people around it, like as you just, for example, explain how to start with self-care for men, and to have a real conversation about it because you were at that place, you understand the pain points that men might have, and I think it's really important to have a conversation about it because you were at that place, you understand the pain points that men. Might have and just open up a safe place for them to speak openly. I'm just now interested, how did you actually save the life? What was well, I don't actually know, so so she so I I received comments and I don't actually know, but but I think it's so.
00:17:31
Basically what I do on my own social media is I post on my personal brand, I'm also on on my Clear Men page as well, so I'm posting the two, and a lot of them are it's very much mental health reminder-centric, so it's very much like positive reminders, like really, like reminding people that they're not alone. So this is a real big push on on that, like that is the content that I push because I just think It's the content that really helped build my community, and again drives the message home that that people aren't alone in in whatever it is that they're facing. And I think that's what it was like. I think it was very much like I posted a positive reminder, and then I received this comment and it just made me think, 'Oh, this is what they did.
00:18:11
Again, this is why I do what I do.' I've screenshotted that message, and I actually had a message on LinkedIn the other day, it was this morning, and this woman said, 'Like you should keep all of these messages in a gallery and if you ever feel like quitting or giving up, look at these because this is Going to be the thing that keeps you going, and I was like, 'Yeah, that is so true.' So, yeah, it's really, it's really, it's very fulfilling knowing that I'm able to help so many people as well and by telling my story and being vulnerable, which is again, it's hard for me to be vulnerable and talk about it, but ultimately if I talk about it, we're helping hundreds of people-they're not alone with theirs as well.
00:18:46
So it's very yeah it's nice to see that yes, I have the same. I never delete anything from the community any feedback from any client because even though it may not relevant at this stage, I will never know when I will open that uh I'm calling it, I don't know how you call it in English, but it's like when you have a table and you open the drawer, uh, and you have like, uh, all of the ideas inside it, yes, yeah, got you, yeah, yeah, got you, like the next chapter, yeah, exactly. So you never know when you will pick, uh, that idea and you will just um, just do that, uh, that idea that the person gave you, uh, was there maybe something at the beginning of your journey that you maybe asked people about their ideas of what, what they think, that for example you are strong at or some feedback.
00:19:39
For example, what I did when I felt like lost about my content, I, uh, wrote on Instagram to 20 followers that Were following me on daily basis and I asked them, 'Give me the three things that you like about my content and give me an example one uh question that you would like to go to me to help you with or something like this. Do you have also something like this when you were starting, yeah? Well, I so I always say to people that one of the things that I wish I did more of when I first started was actually speak to my community more-like I speak to them like every day now, like it's like a daily thing for me to talk to them.
00:20:18
Um, but I wish I like did more of that at the beginning, so when I first started, I said in the day like it took me six months to post. a tick tock so i launched in august 2022 and i didn't post my first tip at all march because i was so scared of what people would think of me so i couldn't really build the community or i couldn't really build connection with people because people couldn't see the face behind the brand so it took me a long time to get to the courage to where i am now to talk and go live and make content so now that i'm making the content and i go live on social media i actually ask people on a daily basis do you like that content is that content a bit rubbish
00:20:56
what do you like about it can i improve it and i'm constantly asking people for the genuine honest Feedback and I always think like it sometimes, like I'd rather someone say to me, 'Look, it's awful. Do X, Y, Z to make it better' because obviously you know if they're being nice about it, like you know um, but it's going to help me to grow and I've had that a few times, like I've had a lot of mentors say to me, 'Look, you need to do this. You're focusing on the wrong things. This isn't going to help you, bro. You need to do this, this, and this, and that.' Those conversations have really helped me. But in terms of my actual content, I have spoken to people and people do really enjoy what I post now, and I'm constantly looking at the next thing to create um.
00:21:34
so yeah i do talk to them a lot but i wish i did i wish i started it a lot sooner like i didn't really start talking to my community properly until maybe the end of 2023 it's quite a long time really yeah like around three years i think you were like hesitant yeah very hesitant yeah i think i was i think i was just scared of what people were going to think or like i was in this mindset of like oh i've built a brand i need to have it all figured out now i can't ask anyone for help whereas like now it's just like i will dm my my community on a regular basis if they respond to a story so it's quite nice to have that like personal touch personal Feel to it, um, so yeah, it's completely different now.
00:22:17
I feel, I feel a better headspace with that, whereas before I was so frightened to message anyone because I didn't want people to think, oh, why is this brand messaging you know, I mean like it's just, whereas now it's so much different which is quite nice, it's like weird, like why would I like reach out, yeah, and you're rather like waiting, you want that people will approach you, but when you learn how to approach people for your strategy, you feel much more aligned with your vision and why you are doing what you are actually doing when you speak. When you said that, you speak daily. With your community, what does it mean how your day of speaking with your community look like?
00:22:53
You said that you go live, I don't think that you go live on daily basis or do you, yeah, no, so that's very good. So I go live on TikTok, so I predominantly go live on TikTok every day, well I try to as much as I can, um. So I go live on my personal brand and also on my clear from end page, and I differentiate the two live streams. So let's say if I have like a busy day of admin, I'll go live on my personal page and I'll just like go to right now and just have a quiet it's just in the background, people can join me whilst I do my admin day, um, and then on my clear.
00:23:20
from end page i might be a bit more like oh yeah by the way we have this cleanser we do we donate to mind and calm um and people can learn more about the product itself so i i do a variety of live streams but that's like a way for me to constantly talk and stay in the loop with community and also because i'm posting on social as well so i'm probably posting i mean on linkedin i'm probably posting at the moment almost twice a day on tiktok i'm probably posting about three or four times a day on each on each account so people are commenting on those on those videos and then also on the on other platforms as well so i find i get a lot of a lot Of contact with people, um, through through my content, which is it's quite nice actually.
00:24:00
There is so I'll post a variety of things and I'll see what resonates with people and something like some people won't, some people in the community won't see any of the content I posted or someone will see every single, every single thing I've made um, but yeah no. I try to go live on social every day um, because I do think it's a great way to, it's a great way to build my, it's a great way to keep my community engaged but it's also a great way to create new audience as well and for people to see me and it's also free like, like people can just join me for. Free uh once you get over that hurdle and that fear of going live which is very daunting to begin with and people can just join you you know and they can find out about you for free it's great it's a great way to to connect with new people nice but I think on TikTok you need to have a
00:24:44
10k followers in order to go live if I'm not mistaken so yeah I think this used to be a thing um they've changed it now so I go live yes they've changed it now so on a business account you don't need to have you don't need to have any requirements on a business account you can go live straight away um because you're registered as a business and like they'll Know you're a legit account because you have to put like a company, you have to put your company number in, you have to put like your uh your certificate of incorporation like everything in there, you have to have a thousand followers so oh no I
00:25:18
think it's even I think it's 800 followers actually, so it's between 800 to 1,000 followers on a personal account but on a business account I was going live when I had like 300 followers, yeah it was great and everyone sorry no I wanted to just say I will check it because I thought that I need to have 10, 000 followers but it's almost like you have so many jail cells that like I was in 200 followers' jails. Then, like 400 and it's like, uh, never like putting you like, uh, in, uh, like the searches and things, like this, and I was like, how can I actually get like 10k followers if, uh, like it's it was just impossible even though I was like posting every day?
00:25:57
So now you told me that I should open the business account so, yeah, yeah, that'll work. That, yeah, business account will make you go live with any, with any following, and yeah, a thousand followers on your personal is hard to grow it's hard to grow a following as well on TikTok; I find it can be quite difficult to do that, but it's difficult. Um, but I suppose some content performs really well like i get content sometimes and i won't get followers for weeks and then i'll post one video and i get like 60 new followers from one video so it really does depend and a lot of my a lot of my followers and viewers come genuinely through live streams anyway so the more often you go live the more the more people will see you they'll stay in the live for maybe five or ten seconds and then probably i'll keep scrolling and then they'll eventually see a video that you posted so it's trying to stay in the loop with
00:26:44
so it is so hard trying to do both it's so difficult and aren't you scared of this uh tiktok tiktok ban that everybody is speaking about that it might happen because this is for example discouraging me a bit that why should i actually like put effort in tiktok when everybody's speaking about how to relocate as a content creator to some another platform actually so yeah that's a yeah i like that actually so i i don't think that that ban will happen in the uk i don't think there's anything about that in the uk but saying that i so i follow a entrepreneur called gary vaynerchuk and he he says all the time like so many people ask him like oh what happens if this happens and he's like well we'll just move the direction to somewhere else so that so you just go Into another platform, and it's quite right, actually.
00:27:34
Like I think there are so many different platforms now to double down on. So for me, I'll post on LinkedIn on a daily basis, and I'll engage with people on a daily basis, and I double down on that because the opportunities would not have happened if I didn't start posting on LinkedIn. So it's like I'm going to double down on this now and make sure I do more of it. Um, and it's just like trying to figure out if it if it were if it works on there great, you know? But if that did happen, I'd probably move over to another platform just or just or just shift, so having it's having like diversifying. It's a little bit so sometimes I'll say to people on my live streams, 'Oh, don't forget to go and follow me on X platform.' Do you know what I mean?
00:28:08
So, so so people can people can see me in different places then, and it's also that idea. I don't know if you've ever if you've ever read the book, but there's a book by Daniel Priestly, it's called 'Oversubscribed', and it talks about the concept of 7-11-4. So, people become advocates for you and your brand once they've seen you for seven hours of time and uh yeah, so seven hours of time in... oh, hang on, I've stumped myself there, seven hours of time, I can't remember what the 11 is but then in four different locations. So, I'll give you an example so people see me on my TikTok content on my TikTok live
00:28:47
on my email list and on Instagram so four different places they'll see me but they've seen my content for seven hours they now become it's like we're friends like it's they've become so they've seen my content enough to know about me and I need to figure out what that 11 is I don't know what it is but I stumped myself I stumped myself by saying that but yeah no it's um it's also the difference like if you spend the specific time with a person they become a friend then if you spend this amount of time with them they become a best friend and like there Is this kind of like a limit, so it's about like, uh, the followers how you can actually navigate that it's also your uh prospect, your friend, uh, your like, uh, interaction and things like this, so how you warm up uh your followers and uh your uh the people on the other hand on the other side, yeah, yeah, uh.
00:29:42
I have a question about you said before about uh, that you were hesitant about posting for three years, so what made you to actually start to post, what was the like, okay, I'm going for it right now, is the time, like, what changed, yeah, three years so so LinkedIn is the is the platform really that i didn't post on at all um. i went to a i went to an event last year um so i actually won um the uk startup awards i won it's it's can't see it but that little pink certificate by there that is a uk startup awards i was a finalist for it last year and it was a big
00:30:22
event in hartfordshire and one of the women who was there she was doing a talk and i looked at it and i was like oh this is actually really really cool and i remember thinking like this looks really cool but what's linkedin gonna do for my business like that's not gonna drive any and i i kept thinking that but i thought sure i'm just gonna listen to what she has to say and i just i was immersed in that and i was Like, oh my god, I'm what she had to say, and I was like, this is really interesting, so I left and I found her and she was sat on the bench, and
00:30:51
I was like, I'm gonna speak to her now because she has hundreds of thousands of followers, I think, on LinkedIn, and I was like, I'm just gonna speak to her, I just said, like, look you know I do this, this is my brand, like what do you think I should do, like because I'm just like so nervous to post, and she was, she just like, be yourself, and her like mantra is like, post it just post it, and it got me thinking, like, yeah I'm in my own head so much about all these things, I decided then, like you know what I'm just going to Take it day by day, and I'm going to post and the more and more I post the more the more and more comfortable I'm going to get out of my comfort zone.
00:31:22
I'm finally going to be in a position where I can just post and move my and like point the camera in front of me and not worry about what other people think, um which took a lot of courage and a lot of time. So from like I said from August 20, 2022 until March 20, 2023 I didn't I didn't post at all on TikTok, I posted a few videos but that's it. Um LinkedIn I did not post properly until this this year January 20, 2025 is when I started taking LinkedIn seriously and I've managed to double my growth, I think. I had like 300 followers and now I've got over a thousand, um, because I've started to really take the platform seriously, because I can see the opportunities that come my way are unbelievable.
00:31:59
So just doubling down on what worked for me was like really important, um. But in terms of like TikTok and other platforms, like posting for me, I read a book and it was called 'Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.' I was terrified-like going live, I was terrified. I just felt scared, I felt i was so nervous of like, oh what are people from school gonna think or oh what are people, like random people, what are they gonna think, you know? I'm gonna get Criticized, people aren't gonna like what I do, and all these things were like just telling me 'don't do it.' All right, so I gotta do. I have to do it because all these people that I admire on this platform and all these people I admire in the business world are doing these things and they're doing so many amazing things and they've got so many opportunities for them.
00:32:42
It's because they felt the fear and they just did it anyway, and it just made me think 'I need to do more of this.' I have to do it, and that is sort of where it just led me to go, you know what? I need to just do it. And that's when I first went live in September 2023, and it's why I now post consistently because I just felt the fear and did it anyway, and I know that sounds so cliché but it was very much like this is the mantra I have to stick to because it works so well for me and it made me feel I'm such a more confident person now because of it.
00:33:13
I uh, I didn't smile because it's cliché; I smell that you really remembered even the month when you first oh yeah, it's your like a life anniversary! Like I know it's from no one; it's uh, it's a really uh, really impressive and I also really like what you said uh, about that you just should start, the woman told you and she recommended you just post, yeah because. i believe that sometimes people just wait to show off on social media and this is a bit what is setting them back i have a friend who just told me recently that you know marie my life is like uh not something interesting i'm building my business and
00:33:56
i'm just waiting for the time when i will be successful and i can just show that to people but uh like knowing how hard it is to actually get into routine like posting interacting building community it's like hey man just start now then when you will have something to show off and then you will be able to show off to show people like you will have already like cheerleaders behind you And you will have, like, an amazing product. You do a really good job, and people also on social media, it's called social media. People want to actually see your transformative journey; they don't want to see you showing off in Ferrari in Dubai. They want to see like how you actually progress. This is the thing what they want to see.
00:34:38
And it's so true. Also, like I find that I will share my losses. Like, I find just being my transparent self and being like 'today wasn't a good day; I feel rubbish' or 'today wasn't a good day because of this reason.' I find like showing like my authentic self and just being transparent about it to like not Just the community, but to everyone I think like it does show like, the reality of what it what it is to be a business owner. It's like, I think people are like, 'Oh yeah, you know like, it must be amazing.' And don't get wrong, the high is so good, it's not even funny. Like they are better than I could ever imagine. But the lows are also excruciatingly lonely and I think that's something that's just like, not spoken about enough.
00:35:22
Like, it is lonely being a business owner and like, 'Okay what do I do? I don't know what to do.' And like you said, you don't want to i don't want to post on social media and be like, 'Oh yeah, look at this amazing thing That I've got going for me and I'm like, but I'm struggling, like I'm just kind of that lie. Why would I tell a lie? Why would I lie about what I'm doing or where I am at with my business? I'd rather just be fully transparent because then when I do win, my community can look at me and go, 'Look how far you've come!' And that's exactly what I want to do.
00:35:52
So, I know exactly what you mean, and it's, and it's that thing of like people are so think people are so much like I don't know what to post because nothing's happened or I don't know, or like, like your friend was saying, like you know? It's almost like you, we automatically feel as though we're scared. To talk about maybe the losses or where we're at right now or the stagnation, but actually that's just a part of the process. Like, that is just the process of becoming... because I always say like I'm nowhere near where I want to be and I openly say that with the community-I'm like I'm nowhere, I'm nowhere near where I want to be right now. Um, and that's fine.
00:36:29
But from where I was two years ago, miles apart, and it's because of the small steps every day so that's really helped me on a confidence level, um, and also just helped to enjoy the journey. Like some days are gonna be bad, some days are gonna be bad-like that's just it once you what But again, I think that all ties right back to the very beginning with the why. If you have a strong why behind the business, the bad days that suck like and they're awful-your why is what will keep you going because when like everything's gone wrong and you're just like 'I don't know what to do the why will be the thing that keeps you going. You take a break, take five, and you come back to it, and it's it's the why that keeps you from not giving up.
00:37:13
I love it especially like uh the loneliness what you mentioned of entrepreneurs. For me, it's like I travel a lot and uh I'm solo traveler actually for 10 years already and my social media Where, for a long time, I've been traveling with a friend, like I was always like sharing how I'm traveling, and then it also became my business account, so like more switching to my business account and I'm like, 'Oh my god, I'm going to go to from travels to actually like how I do the business and like doing it actually with people in my smartphone to share with them.' And then it's really funny because I return into my small city
00:37:46
in Czech Republic and like people actually know where I was what I did what I had for breakfast and they want to speak with me about it, and it's uh it's really nice that I don't need to repeat to them, 'Where I traveled Like, they already know everything and it's uh making my life like much uh simpler, and I would say that it's lonely but not in the sense like uh anxious lonely, like I don't really feel that like the entrepreneurship for me, I feel lonely like in the sense that I'm alone, but not like the anxious loneliness that uh because whenever I want I actually can go out or do something, but it's rather that I prefer uh to, for example, work on my business, to work on the social media, the priorities etc and it's the loneliness in this sense so uh that it's like making uh you the drive to work on your why on your purpose, yeah, and I would like to elaborate.
00:38:42
more on the purpose and the why what you said because you chose like really really competitive field and have you ever questioned your purpose your why and uh how you usually go over it like how uh because like i think that every entrepreneur has this kind of moment like why i just didn't choose another another thing to do that is that's a very good question because everyone says it to me all the time it's like it's a very competitive niche and uh and people say to me it's arguably the toughest it's probably the toughest niche it is you know it's challenging but i also find with it and again like the reason why i do what i do is What makes me different, so I feel like I'm the face of my brand.
00:39:34
I can tell my story; no one can tell my story the way I tell my story, so that again it's like, that uniqueness that we all have is like, we have a story to tell. It's very tough; I've never questioned it. I never questioned sort of my niche and I think because I've always loved the element of self-care and I love my skincare routine, it fitted in perfectly with what I'm trying to do, so in terms of that, no, I never questioned it, but I've always thought, 'My goodness, I've like, I've bitten off more than I can chew because this is hard; like, this is hard. And it's just but also like i find that when you have people that love what you do and they love your brand and they love your product they become advocates so it is hard it's very very difficult but once you find your people
00:40:24
because of it because realistically and again this goes back to that book that i read the oversubscribed book you don't need to have the market like you don't need to have the entire market i realize you just need to have your market so you only need a few hundred people who love what you do to make a sustainable business really in my in my opinion i think when if you look at it from oh i need to have a massive like you know that this is one of the biggest growing industries, uh, you know. Like, how am I going to get my piece? It's like, let's just focus on getting a few hundred people to be a part of my market, i do and be a part of my community.
00:41:03
That's how i've sort of reframed it so it becomes less stressful. Um, i don't think of it as this massive mountain that i've got to climb. I look at it like, how do i day by day get more and more people to join my community, and i do it from the hundreds rather than the tens of millions of people that there are in this industry. It's tough, there's no denying it, but i think i've never questioned it i do sometimes have major imposter syndrome like imposter syndrome it's like i talk about it a lot but i don't talk about it all the time with my community i think to the point where they're like
00:41:35
they constantly say to me like you should not have imposter syndrome and i'm like i know but it's so hard to like it's so hard to get rid of it um i think based off the fact that i feel like i don't know what i'm doing um but again i've come this far so i'm i i must know in the least arrogant way i must know something i just tell myself that i don't know um as much as i should so and how do you usually deal with imposter syndrome like how do you Usually, overcome it do you have uh some kind of process when you know that it's coming or that uh it's
00:42:09
you are getting in that mood of uh like uh self-doubt or uh these kind of things how do you then get out from the post uh from the imposter syndrome like to give some advice to the audience who might feel the same maybe yeah yeah I love that um I think for me one of the most important things I've ever done is is speak about it so like talk to someone, talk to a mentor, like this there's people online will happily help you free so I i use a platform and they and I have a well-being uh mentor and we just chat and I just chat for 40 minutes or So, and I just tell him everything I just, I just basically say, 'Look, I feel like this um, I don't know why,' and we talk about and we just break it down bit by bit.
00:42:53
And after the session, I just feel 10 times better because I've got it off my chest, whereas otherwise I'm carrying that that feeling around with me all day. So, I find that talking about it is arguably the best thing that I've ever done for it. I'll talk to my community, and my it's actually really nice now because I'm so invested in my community; they literally know they can literally see in my face when I'm live, when I make videos, they can see if I'm not 100% okay, so they can they Say to me like I think he needs a bit more support today or I think he needs a bit, like, a bit more reassurance and they'll reassure me of the things that I've learned about them.
00:43:28
It's like, okay, yeah, maybe that means I need to like stop being so harsh on myself, which I think is again another thing – we should, we should stop being so hard on ourselves. We've done you know, we're building something which is so hard and I think imposter syndrome creeps up on us all, but I think and a lot of people say to me the reason why you've got imposter syndrome is because it's new like you don't you've never done it before, so like how are you meant To you're not gonna just fall into this new business and be like, 'oh yeah you're gonna know how to do trademarks and you're gonna know how to to do advertising, advertising like you're not gonna know how to do that straight away.
00:44:00
It's just like it's it's realizing that and going, 'okay take a step back let's just do it bit by bit'. But I think talking to someone is so important about it, like just being transparent, like talking to your community, like getting in front of the phone and just being like, 'look, I don't I don't really feel the greatest right now.' Does anyone have any tips because I see that a lot on social as well, like a lot. Of people will post a video and they'll say, 'Like, oh, has anyone got any tips on how to overcome imposter syndrome or have they got any tips on how to help me with this particular thing in the business?' And people are flooded with comments of people who genuinely just don't know how to do it want to help you.
00:44:32
So like I think you've got like so many people out there that are willing to help you and I think a mentor is like really, really important just to unload how you feel. I think you really it's really important to get off your chest because like I said I i do sometimes feel lonely on my business journey um and I don't want to be so having. Someone to talk to because it's really helpful, um, and having a really nice network around you is really helpful as well. So, imposter syndrome could be really hard to overcome, but I would definitely say just talk, just talk to me about people about it and be honest like it's nothing embarrassing about where you are on your journey.
00:45:09
Like, I used to genuinely feel embarrassed about talking about my business journey because I used to think, 'Oh, people are gonna laugh at me because why? Because I'm nowhere near where I should be.' But, like, I can't progress any further if I don't just be honest about it and so many People are just like willing to genuinely offer their time to you and I just think never feel ashamed to talk about it because it really is, it's so important to be honest about it and I think it's really important to talk about it and I think it's really important to be honest about it and I think that's a really important important thing we do and it's how we grow, you know.
00:45:34
Just being like, you know what I'm having a bit of difficulty with this right now. How do I, how do I go about this? Do you know of anything that I can do or do you know someone who may be able to help me? So many people out there that want to help people because they because Everyone you know just wants to see people win. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, it's a really deep thing. What you're telling us here in the podcast, especially yesterday, I was hosting a master class and I realized that actually expression is the opposite of depression, and it might be even the treatment for many other things that lots of people, they feel like that, they want to share something, that they want to express themselves, but they have this kind of fear that people will laugh about them, that they will be awkward, that it will not be right.
00:46:21
And it's just evolution-like the more you will put yourself in awkward situations, the more it Will feel normal, it will feel comfortable, and I think that a lot of people. Is that where they stop their evolution, that there is the fear of showing up, that they will, that the people will see them what they are actually doing, even though they do it in their normal life, and it's totally normal to actually feel this way. When you just jump into it, and you just start to show up, and you start to talk with people, you will actually realize that a lot of people have maybe similar feelings like you did. A lot of people have the similar problems that you might, and actually create a community around you.
00:47:09
Talk a lot about the community, I when. somebody asked for example a I want to join a Louis community where should I go should I go to tick-tock should I go to LinkedIn do you have some dedicated platform to it where do you send people so that's a very very good question so I actually I ask my community this all the time and I'm still trying to weigh up the best way to do this so it's in a variety of platforms so predominantly on tick-tock I'd say on my live streams is where a lot of my community hang out and they a lot of people they talk to me so a lot of I have people that I find through my personal brand who come through to clear for men and they both sit in that take five community realm same on LinkedIn I find so many people on there they really love what I do and I think that's a really good question
00:47:56
like I get voicing the voice notes from so many people and they're like I love what you do like this is incredible like keep going and I always think of them as being a part of of the community as well I think in terms of like where it actually lies I think it at the moment it is it is in a in a variety of platforms and I want to be in a position where I can start doing things in person so I want to hopefully be in a position where I'm like okay in even if it's every quarter I do an event in London where I tell my story I like A few
00:48:27
brands to join me, we tell our stories, and we we can bring the community together so people can actually meet people in person because that would be nice as well because there are so many people when I go live and I'm in the middle of talking to someone else, people have having other conversations that people are having conversations sorry with other people that are in the live, so it's like people have built friendships like it's not just being a part of this community with Louis, it's like oh I've actually made this friend with this person and this person and they can actually meet people in person and that's just that's. Like, really what I want to try and do is a variety of platforms at the moment, and I do hopefully in the future I want to be able to do more in-person events and hopefully be able to do like a broadcast channel that's where I want to try and do.
00:49:04
I want to try and do a broadcast channel but at the moment on a platform like Instagram you need about 10, 000 followers to create a broadcast channel that's my goal that's my goal to have everyone there so that when people follow me they automatically get a notification to say oh would you like to join the broadcast channel I have thought about doing a WhatsApp chat the only issue is with GDPR like I think people other people's mobile numbers and I don't feel comfortable with sharing that and I don't think I don't want to put people through that people have also said about Discord and other platforms like that but at the moment it's
00:49:37
predominantly through a variety of social medias and so we are in a position where it's like okay Take Five community is sitting here on Instagram on on the broadcast channel and then we also go live and everyone can see me there as well so that'll be like my main focus there I think when you get to a position where I can start talking to people. I think that we are in a similar position because, currently I have the same that is, people here and there, and I want to create my own space. And on WhatsApp, actually, I'm creating my community on WhatsApp. I was like thinking about a lot about, like, school and Mighty Network, and all of these things.
00:50:12
I also have Kajabi for courses, you can also have community there, and on WhatsApp, you cannot actually see the mobile numbers until you don't have the people in contact with you. You can actually create your broadcast channel on WhatsApp as well as your own community. So it's a just a really good hint. You can take a look at it. I also felt like people can see your phone number because, like, you're the main point of contact for WhatsApp, but you cannot see like each other's numbers until they don't have themselves in the contact. So, and for me, like, the community is where I am the most, and for me, I really have what's up like for everything. I'm the most reactive on it. Like, on Instagram, my Instagram is growing.
00:51:01
There are lots of notifications. And I would also like to do the broadcast there. But, also, I don't have the 10K, first of all. I don't know how it will work. Because when you have the 10K, you have lots of notifications running. People are actually commenting. And I prefer to set up for these apps, the social apps, the times when I'm actually hanging out around. So that it doesn't disturb my focus from the work. So I don't know how this would actually work if I would be motivated. Because on WhatsApp, I am all the time also for my business. So I can just speak with people while I'm working, etc. So this is something I'm currently considering. And I chose WhatsApp, actually, among all of the platforms. I'll have to message you then.
00:51:49
I'll have to message you about how to do that then. Because that sounds like a really good idea. Because I think what I might try and do, I might try and create. If I do it on WhatsApp, and I do a clear. Because you can get a WhatsApp business, can't you? You can get a WhatsApp business. Yes, you can. But I don't know what is the difference, to be honest. I asked one girl. She has her business. And she was using WhatsApp for business. And I asked her, hey, I was actually thinking about it. What is the difference? And she told me, I actually don't know. Yeah, I know what you mean. I think the difference is. I might be wrong. But I think the difference is, it's a different mobile number.
00:52:28
So they won't have your personal number, which I think might be better for GDPR regulations, rules and stuff. People can have just a clear for men instead, maybe. I don't know. Maybe something to investigate. But definitely, you can also join my community if you are listening to us. We put the link in the description, so definitely check it out. And also, we will invite you, Louis, so you can join too. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for inviting all of the guests from the podcast so that they can also interact with our community for our questions and answers. It's a growing community. I actually just made it recently. So this is a really fresh thing, which is great to announce actually here at the podcast. So thank you for that.
00:53:14
I have a last question. And it's, what are the key lessons you wish you knew before starting? So when we're like with all of the knowledge that you have right now, and you would be starting your new brand right now, what are the key lessons you wish you knew before the start? I wish I knew. Well, that's really, that's a really good question. That's a really good. I think because so, so if I give you a bit of context, when I started, I was quite naive. So I started when I was 19. No, it's 20. When I started. I started working on Clear for Men. So I was quite naive. So I immersed myself in everything. Like I learned pretty quickly how to do trademarks.
00:54:02
I learned how to do branding, like what, like, like how to stand for more than just being a product, all these different things. I think the thing that I wish I learned more of starting again, if I was to start from scratch, it would be probably, Oh, that's really, that's a really tough one. That's so hard. It's either, either, either more about community building and trying to figure out how to build community in one place or about, Oh, I don't know. That's so hard. That's a really, that's a really good question. I don't, I, I, I think, I think my Achilles heel right now, my, my, my weakness, I think sometimes is maybe I get really scared about doing ads. So ads is a really big thing of mine.
00:54:50
I got quite scared up and perhaps it's because I genuinely don't think I know enough. Okay. So I think I'm like, I don't really want to invest in the ads because I'm scared that I'm not going to see a return, but in order to learn from the ads and make more, you know, make money from the ads, I need to invest money in it and see what creatives work and replace the careers of different careers and just try again. So if I were to start again, I would say have a bit more of the 'feel the fear and do it anyway' mantra when I started, you know, feel like, you know, be, be, be more like open.
00:55:23
So if I were to start again, I would say have a bit more of the fear and do it anyway mantra when I started, you know, feel like, you know, be, be more like open and willing to fail quickly so that I can get to the next thing. Cause I saw a post the other day and it said, if you knew that you were 29 failures away from success, how quick would you want to fail? And it makes you think like, oh yeah, like we really are just like, we're just throwing darts at a board until one day, one of them is going to hit the bullseye. And for me, I'm scared to throw that dart, which is the ads. I'm scared to throw the dart of ads because I'm worried about the return.
00:55:52
Um, and also influencer marketing as well. Like I, I don't really work with many influencers. And the reason behind that is because I want to build community that essentially are my influences. I don't want to, I, you know, I want to, I want to build a gang like people who love my brands and love my, and love my ethos. I want to, I want to give them PR packages. I want to support them. I want to, because they support me. Um, so I would say learning more about ads and learning to fail fast, fail fast, and just try something and fail fast. That seems bizarre. That seems bizarre, but I'm so stuck on that question. That's just a hard question to think of an answer for.
00:56:36
But I think they're the two things I would, I would look at. I really like it, especially, uh, fail fast. Uh, we had another podcast, um, and, uh, it was about that. You should celebrate your failures, actually, that you should not celebrate only your successes. And then like, I was thinking, I think, I think for the whole week. Like, what can I celebrate today? Because there are so many failures on the entrepreneurship journey that, um, like, uh, to learn how you can also recover from the failure. Because like, I think that people also overthink the failures and this is sometimes why they never come back to that idea. Just because something small just didn't bend perfectly. There is also this perfectionism that, um, like we want everything to be like really.
00:57:23
Perfect. But, uh, I mean, just try it. You don't need to like spend one, 100 ,000, uh, euros or pounds for that idea. You can just, uh, spend the proportion, try it, test it, you know, like you don't need to go all in and like, uh, with all of it just fail. Maybe like one third. You don't need to fail with all of it. Because I find, so this is what I find, I find that when I, so when I first started going live, I had no in the room. Like I had zero people and like for a long time, and it was so gut-wrenching, like, because you are just like, what is the point of this? Like, I'm not doing anything. I know when seeing me, what is the point of this?
00:58:05
And I just kept going and kept going and kept going, changing the approach, changing the layer. Like a lot of the live streams I do now, I'm sat at my desk or I'll, I'll be stood there and I'm, and I'm packing orders. And I find that like you test in different things that work, and all of a sudden those people that saw you once on a video, they may comment. They say 'hello', and it's just the consistency. Just like not worrying about this thing of like, oh yeah, but what if, what if they think I'm, I'm silly for doing this? Like you have to try it because, because so many, and so many people say to me about TikTok shop and they say, look, you know, it takes time, but ultimately people's businesses can change overnight because of platforms like TikTok, um, you have to, you have to fail.
00:58:49
And like you said, you have to embrace the failure and genuinely fall in love with it. That's what I've had to do. And it sucks sometimes. Cause you're like, why, why am I loving the failure for like, this is awful, but like it works, you know? Cause you then, you then enjoy the process. You enjoy it. You enjoy where you are and you, you take a time rather than rushing all the time, you know? I love it. We just renamed this podcast episode on, uh, how to feel in love with your failures. But, uh, yeah. Uh, I would like to ask the final, final question. And it's like, uh, do you have something, uh, you want to share with our audience that I maybe didn't ask the right question or I may be over hurt, overlooked, uh, something that you would like to share with our audience?
00:59:36
Anything, the last message. Ooh, I've got an example. Sorry. I've got an example. I'm not sure. I don't know. Like a motivational or inspirational message, uh, for our audience to like, uh, go live tomorrow. Do it. I, yeah, I think, I think if I was to look back at my 20-year-old self, I don't think they would see, they wouldn’t recognize the person I am today. And that's, the result of very small steps. So like I used to, when I was younger, I used to say to myself, why am I not there yet? Why am I not there yet? And it used to drive me insane. Like I would, I would become so burnt out because I'm, I am constantly comparing myself, constantly looking at other businesses.
01:00:23
I'm constantly comparing myself to someone else, and, and just criticizing my content. Oh, this is rubbish. This is rubbish. I can't go out. The content that performs the best for me is the content that I get my camera and I just start, start filming like this. The content where I edit and I take hours filming, but that tends to not do as well. So I find to start trying different things, you never know what could work. Um, and like I said, like I said, and I'm very humble about it. Like I am nowhere near where I want to be right now. Nowhere. And I have impossibilities. I have a syndrome every day. It's normal. And you just gotta post and try it. And, and yeah, be proud of yourself.
01:01:00
Like be proud of yourself and enjoy it. I think if you enjoy it, you've won. I think you genuinely have one. If you, if you enjoy it, I love it. Especially what you said that you just need your phone to record yourself. You don't need some fancy setup. I was just actually posting before I joined you here on this podcast about like, uh, you know, everybody is like, yeah, I want to have a profit podcast and stuff like this, but you can also have. Yeah. Just podcast like this, like with a microphone, with a beautiful sunset view. I love that view. Yeah, I was going to say. It doesn't need anything else. You just need, you don't need even the microphone.
01:01:33
I mean, you just need your computer and the table and probably some Wi-Fi and internet. But you don't need a lot at the end, like to become a content creator. So just start, even today, not even tomorrow. Like, don't leave it for tomorrow. Right, man. Yeah. All right. So that brings us to the end of this podcast of Your Brand, Your Business. Thank you, Louis, for sharing your insights with us. It was really exceptional with a lot of insights about the imposter syndrome, how to start your brand, how to start your business. And also thank you to our listeners for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's podcast, then be sure to subscribe and leave a review. I'm Marie and I will catch you next time. Thank you. Bye.
