Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Izzy Morter. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Izzy, appreciate you joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I am so happy that I own my own business. I wake up each and everyday feeling so grateful that I’m in control of my work.

I have known since I was very young that I was meant to be an entrepreneur. I have always been incredibly self-motivated and have always sought control in my work.

I started my first business as a “massage therapist” when I was around five years old, where I charged my relatives at family gatherings to give them a massage. The massages were probably awful and I more than likely overcharged, but what can I say? I was a hustler.

Working a “normal,” nine to five job was never in the cards for me. I never saw myself doing the same thing every day for the majority of my life. I appreciate my business so much because every day is different and I am in full control of the services I offer, who I work with, where I work, the hours I work, and how much I make.

I am truly so blessed to be in this position. I worked so hard to get here and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Izzy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Izzy, I’m twenty-one years old, from West Milton, Ohio, and I help businesses rise socially.

Since I was a young girl, I have always known I had a passion for two things. One, helping people. And two, being able to create. Social media management is the best of both worlds. I have the privilege of creating beautiful content, a cohesive feed, and a strategic plan, to help hard-working business owners maximize their online potential. With this career choice, I am able to do the two things I am most passionate about.

Social media has always been a huge interest of mine. It started out when I was in early middle school, posting on Instagram every five minutes, then me growing my personal Instagram to over 1,000 new followers in a three-month span, and then more recently managing every aspect of Instagram and Facebook accounts for different small businesses in the Dayton and surrounding areas.

Over the past two years, I have dedicated my time to learning all about Instagram. I’ve spent countless hours educating myself on what to do, what not to do, what works, and what doesn’t work. Although I consider myself to be very knowledgeable about social media, I will never stop learning and educating myself about the subject. There is always more learning to do and experience to be had.

I offer an array of social media management packages, content creation services, and personalized Instagram coaching. My most popular service is social media management. This service includes, but isn’t limited to: content creation, caption writing, hashtag research, feed aesthetics planning, account engagement, and basically everything else it takes to run a successful Instagram account.

All of my clients are small businesses in the Dayton, Ohio area. For these businesses, I’ve been able to grow their social media accounts, expand their account reach, generate sales leads, entertain their existing audiences, and so much more.

Running a successful Instagram account isn’t always as easy as it sounds. It takes dedication, patience, creativity, and a lot of time, which can be a lot for a busy business owner. That’s where I come in to help business owners in need.

I’m an extremely passionate self-taught social media manager. I take my craft very seriously and work super hard to make sure my clients see the results they’re seeking.

I’m very proud of how quickly I’ve been able to scale up my business and am so eager to see where else I can go with Socially Risen.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I built my business Instagram audience by posting a mix of informative, inspiring, and entertaining content. With these three content types, I used all of Instagram’s features: stories, reels, static posts, carousel posts, etc. to get my overall message across.

When building my Instagram account, I made sure to show myself to my audience. I always recommend adding a human flare to any Instagram account. You can do this by posting talking videos on your Instagram story, sharing your story on your main feed, introducing your employees to your followers, sharing the content that your customers post regarding your business, etc. etc.

People crave human connection on the internet, and I use this to my advantage! I regularly post life updates, what I’m doing, behind the scenes, personal stories (to an extent), and other things that show my followers who I am.

It’s also important to remember to post consistently. Consistently doesn’t have to mean every day. This could mean every other day, or twice a week. Just find a posting schedule that works best for you!

The last thing I do to help grow my account and my clients’ accounts is to engage with relevant accounts for their specific business. For example, one of my client’s is a wedding venue located in Ludlow Falls, Ohio. For them, I regularly engage with accounts such as: wedding photographers, wedding planners, florists, bakeries, etc. that are in the Dayton area. I do this to try to increase their reach with people who have something in common with them. Think of it this way… a couple have just got engaged and they’re looking for a wedding planner on Instagram when they notice this beautiful wedding venue who commented on the wedding planners’ post, stalk their account, follow them, and now they have a scheduled tour at that venue. Engaging is such an underrated way to get noticed by potential clients!

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

About a year ago, I was feeling very lost, discouraged, and was struggling to figure out what it was I was going to do with the rest of my life. Around this time is when I started working at a boutique and was asked to take are of their Instagram and Facebook accounts for them.

Working at this boutique struck a cord in me and reminded me of my passion of content creation. In November of 2022, I realized that I was meant to be working for myself in this field. At this time, I started creating a plan on how I was going to make it as a freelance social media manager without any college education.

I started my business in January of this year and very quickly got my first client by word of mouth. Whilst working with my new client, I was still working at my boutique job.

As time went on, my clientele was increasing and I was still working at the boutique. I would work on my business before I had to work at the boutique from 10AM to 6PM, then come home, eat dinner, then work on my business until I fell asleep. There were many days that I would have meetings before having to go to work and days that I’d work for 14 hours a day. Eventually, it had just been too much and I had to start slowly backing away from my boutique job and start focusing on building my business more and more. And now, I’m not working in the boutique at all, but I am still managing their social accounts.

I have put so much into my business and am so proud of myself for being able to follow my passion. It has taken a lot of hard work to get to this point, but I do not regret any part of it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sociallyrisen.com
• Instagram: @sociallyrisen

Image Credits
Kelsie Tomlinson: krt.photography