We recently connected with Krystal Melnyk and have shared our conversation below.
Krystal, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been one of the most interesting investments you’ve made – and did you win or lose? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)
In 2021, someone in the same small city I lived in started a business selling very similar products to mine, with the same company name. I quickly hired a lawyer and incorporated my business. It was a personal growth decision to look at myself in the mirror and commit to building this empire. The next year, we moved my workshop from my home garage into a commercially leased building. I was ready to take a bigger risk and prove my business was successful to the local community. I received so much positive recognition for that choice, and it definitely inflated my ego. Little did I know, the next 12 months were going to be extremely challenging.
I should have invested that $19,200 into hiring full time help with production. At that time, I working 80-100+ hour work weeks with every single dollar of profit going towards paying for my lease, which I did for 12 consecutive months. This space was leased from a massive provincial wide company, to sum up… they only cared about the rent being paid. The legal documents I signed stated that if I were to default on payment, I would be responsible for not only my legal fees, but theirs had I tried to leave the lease early, I would be going to court.
I never went to business school, I didn’t have a certificate proving I belonged where I was. I got myself into this mess, I had to get myself out. I put my head down and worked. Once the lease was over, I was so burnt out, I thought I was going to drop dead. I took out a loan for 30K, hired a business coach and went through my business ops with a fine tooth comb and made a plan that aligned with my personal life while aligning my business goals to that. We built a product suite that allowed for mass production 1-3 single clients instead of 30-60 clients with a hundred different products. This was the recipe I needed to not only feel better but give more attention to my clients, while not sacrifice scaling it beyond my wildest dreams.
I moved back into my at home garage, hit my first 10K month, while hiring 3 part time stay at home moms to help me, I doubled my business’ revenue 2 years in a row, and worked LESS. I learned many valuable lessons but most of all, “whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right” I am not always proud of the mistakes I made, but I am proud of the perseverance I encountered in result of the mistakes. This lesson completely transformed me into a higher vibration of personal growth and business.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I never even considered entrepreneurship as a high school student, or young adult, it was filed away in my brain as “too risky” and that was it. It wasn’t until my second son was born, I was your average helicopter parent who didn’t want to leave my kids at daycare. Going back to a job in retail management where I had already climbed to the highest potential of that career. I tried many different entrepreneur avenues from MLM, sales, beauty and so on. It wasn’t until I was diagnosed with Severe Postpartum Depression, that I fell into woodwork. My only goal at this time was to find something for myself that I loved, outside of being a wife, mother, daughter or friend. It had to be… just for me.
As a mother of three boys while running a full time business, I ended up making thousands of wooden signs, invested thousands of dollars into my business, made countless mistakes and learned many valuable lessons. It wasn’t just about making wood signs for me though. It was celebrating a couples newborn baby after experiencing loss, it was celebrating another woman taking a risk and starting her own business. It was the people and the stories I was told, the faith and the trust they had in me to turn some of their proudest moments into wooden art, that meant the world to me. After 5 years and my highest sales to date, I had to make the choice to further invest in more machines, and hire more staff to meet production deadlines or throw in the towel.
I threw in the towel. I am now in Social Media + Email Marketing. Through my artistic journey, I learned I am very passionate about telling a story from a human perspective, so when I did transition from product based to a service based, I carried a lot of that previous audience with me because they saw me as a human first. I want more women, especially mothers to succeed in business so I tell my own story to inspire theirs, they can persevere despite their doubt, mistakes and insecurity. My mission is to simplify marketing for women in business to help them further reach their own goals, both personally and professionally.
Being in Marketing is not for the faint of heart, it requires a microscopic look at the business, values and vision and for some people, it’s very vulnerable. I have heard too many horror stories of clients & friends being taken advantage of. I just could not stand on the sidelines anymore. Stepping into this new role, bares much more responsibility but so much more impact. I know that my art lead me to this career for a reason and I am so excited to see what the future holds, the impact we can make and the growth my clients will continue to experience.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
Being a creative person is not something that can be defined by an exam, or a textbook. It is definitely not something everyone can do, but when you are creative, it comes easily enough to you that you do feel, everyone else can do this too. This thought can dim your light, make you question your art, and perspective, if you let it. I want to say that again; if you let it. One of my worst insecurities as a business owner was always “I don’t have a piece of paper qualifying me for this career, proving to this world that I belong here” and I truly believed that’s why I have and continue to push myself so far, and so hard because I am trying to prove my worth. I got to a point where I was creating for outside recognition, and no longer for myself.
When you make art, it’s not just about the medium you use; acrylic, wood, pencils, digital formats. It’s about the feeling you get from it, the message you’re portraying to others, it is very vulnerable. Pouring into that piece of art takes time, you have a vision in mind and sometimes half way through, that vision gets distorted, and you go in a different direction. No matter what recognition your art gets or doesn’t get, it is so important to keep creating. Keep showing up and writing, painting and building. You do belong here, and you don’t need any piece of paper to prove it. Show up for you.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I actually work in Social Media Marketing so yes I love this question. I built my first audience through lots of trial and error, but also a lot of collaboration. Don’t be afraid to align with someone who has the same ideal client avatar as you and do some type of collaboration. This could look like an exclusive offer, product or even sharing different perspectives, interview each other, or a last resort, a giveaway.
Understanding a marketing funnel is also key to growth, there is three different types of content; one that will grow your follower count, one that will nurture your current audience (followers), and one that will convert your audience to paying you. It’s important to put the reps in on whichever area of the Marketing funnel you’re aiming towards before you give up. Consistency matters. There are so many different ways to go about this, but if you’re looking for fast growth, you want to focus on awareness content. This is content for people who don’t know who you are, have never met you and you’re trying to get noticed and grow your account. You will need to shine a bright light on the problem you solve for your audience, why do they care? (make it about them, not you) and then think of the symptoms they’re experiencing in result of this problem. For example: for my audience, people don’t love learning about a marketing funnel, but the symptoms they’re experiencing by not having one is less qualified leads, lower revenue, and less sales, which they does sting. Usually the Symptom of the problem stings more than the problem itself. Focus on the symptoms of the problem you solve, and what they’re experiencing right now, to stop that scroll.
Vulnerability and showing your human face is also a huge differentiator to faster growth. Social media is meant to be social, it’s one of the biggest roadblocks business owners cannot get past. Everyone wants to come across as Professional, and Aesthetic. But the world is changing and people want REAL human connection. In the world of Artificial Intelligence, showing up as an imperfect human being, will make you stand out.
Depending on the industry you’re in, what impact you’re trying to make, what you sell and so forth, its about being personable with your audience. Talk to your audience like you would your friend, someone you respect and admire, not like you’re a corporate r*b*t. If you pay close attention to the businesses going viral, and how they’re showing up, you will understand success leaves clues. Study those clues. If you are doing all of these things already, and still not seeing results, pay close attention to your 3 second hook and practise some hook layering. You want a visual hook, a strong text hook and an audio hook at the beginning of every video because if you cannot stop the scroll of your consumer, the entire rest of your video will not be seen.
On another note, organic social media traffic is something that cannot be measured, let alone reliable. I tell every single one of my clients; if you cannot rely on your traffic to hit your sales goals sustainably, you have a hobby, not a business. As brutal as that can sound, it’s so important to have a direct line of communication with your audience, which is why Email Marketing should go hand in hand with Social Media Marketing.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialmuse_society/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563284853749&sk=photos
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krystal-melnyk-688559236/?originalSubdomain=ca
Image Credits
Kayla Lynn Photography