We recently connected with Karen Michaels and have shared our conversation below.
Karen , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear your thoughts about making remote work effective.
Almost all of my work is remote with the exception of when I am performing live… although I have now done many virtual performances!
Before pandemic and lockdowns, most of my social media clients were remote so that was a fairly easy transition. However my music studio and performing in general changed drastically.
Figuring out tech, teaching that tech to others for the best experience possible was the most difficult part.
The non-obvious benefit happened later. Now we all know we can do online meetings, lessons, make music, have conversations, co-working all in ways we never dreamed possible. It’s been an incredibly innovative and mind-opening time!
Karen , 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?
I have always been a performer so that means I have always had multiple jobs in order to keep money flowing and pay those bills.
I was an early-adopter of social media and tech ( I owned the one of the FIRST versions of the Apple computer, and I also stood in the hours long line to the first iPhone lol) and so when people started to ask me *how do I use my iPhone and *how do I get more people to my shows or to buy my music or *how are you getting students into your music studio or *how do I get gigs – *what apps do you use – I had a handle on all of that and it began to turn into a business now known as the Social Butterfly Group.
My music studio Chicksinger Studios, is a home studio (actually my casita!) where I teach voice and piano and also rehearse for any I gigs I have.
How can I help you?
I specialize in social media services and strategies for musicians, voice teachers and creatives.
I have begun to creative digital products on Gumroad.
Teach voice and piano in person and online.
Write a blog at themultihyphenatelife.com on Medium.
Sign up for my newsletter (free and paid versions) on Substack, 𝗣𝕠𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕍𝕚𝕓𝕖𝕤, digital marketing and inspo for creatives.
https://socialbutterflygroup.substack.com
https://www.singingpianist.com/
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I worked at the Paris Hotel as a singing food server restaurant. After 14 years it closed and I was laid off.
Our son was very young and so we decided I would stay home and work on growing my studio and business.
I started my social media business from nothing and in my studio at the time I had 2 regular students and only occasional gigs.
I watched every YouTube video and read every book I could get my hands on regarding soloprenuership.
I joined a business group for voice teachers and creatives called The SpeakEasy Cooperative that has been a game changer for me.
I followed and bought almost everything she puts out about email marketing, Kim Doyal.
Fast forward to today. My music studio is full, I have 4-8 clients at any given time and I have amassed over 15k followers on all my socials combined.
Still a work in progress and miles to go, but I’ve been contributing to the bottom line of my family financially, contributing to our retirement savings and THAT is a fantastic feeling.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Well this is one of my favorite subjects!
My biggest and most important social media advice?
• Find out where your audience hangs out.
• Know and understand the platform(s) you’ve chosen. It’s idiosyncrasies and trends…
• Know their problem(s) and solve them.
Consistently post. You DON’T have to post a lot. But you DO need to be consistent with your branding, ideologies and schedule.
• Post as little or as much as you want. However, MAXIMIZE each post using current SMO (social media optimization) tactics.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialbutterflygroup/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesocialbutterflygroup
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenmichaelsthemultihyphenatelife/
- Twitter: https://x.com/techiebutterfly
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGT6EJqDDKK54wjAA_hHpCg
- Other: https://sleek.bio/socialbutterflygroup https://www.singingpianist.com/ https://medium.com/@themultihyphenatelifewithkaren https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/yourcreativegps
Image Credits
The one with 3 of us is my female jazz trio Dangerous Curves backstage at a gig Lisa Smith is the blonde – the long hair brunette is Gret Menzies-Gonzalez All the rest is me and I took the pics.