We were lucky to catch up with Lisa-Gaye Shakespeare recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lisa-Gaye, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
I actually launched my business because of the pandemic. I had just gotten my dream job to travel the world and host group trips, but then I was grounded in April 2020 because I couldn’t travel anymore and ended up losing the job. I had no source of income so I literally had to put pen to paper and figure out what I could do to make money. I wrote down things I was passionate about that I could do online and that included social media marketing (because I had years of experience from the corporate world), copy writing (because I studied journalism in college), dance fitness (because I taught a class called ReggaeFit for fun) and travel (which is my first love and main goal). It was definitely a random mix but I blended it all together and called it Shakespeare Agency. It wasn’t easy because I had no clue how to run a business, and a successful one at that, so my first year was mostly trial and error which eventually led me to rebrand in 2021 and refocus solely on travel as a content creator, influencer and consultant. I hired a professional website designer & brand strategist, implemented scheduling and payment systems and executed a marketing strategy. My business isn’t perfect today but I’m definitely proud of my growth and excited for the future.
Lisa-Gaye, 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’m Lisa-Gaye Shakespeare and I was born and raised in Jamaica. I lived in the US for 16 years then moved back to Jamaica but I like to call myself a global citizen because I’m always traveling. I started out in the travel industry working full time at a university recruiting international students. I began vlogging my adventures and realized that I was truly passionate about seeing the world and showcasing my adventures to inspire others to travel. As the founder and CEO of Shakespeare Agency, my business offers vacation planning where I curate 3-14 day itineraries for the busy individual who wants to visit the Caribbean or Africa but doesn’t have the time to plan their trip. I also curate special group trips for individuals to want to travel and meet new people in a group setting, see the world and immerse themselves in different cultures, food, history and adventures, while giving back to the community. I also offer compelling content creation and visuals for brands within the tourism/travel industry who are struggling to reach an engaged audience interested in travel. Finally, I offer travel influencer coaching for aspiring or struggling travel influencers who want to get paid working with brands.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I began growing my audience on social media through vlogging when I first started traveling as a recruiter. I shared my adventures for fun and noticed that people were interested in the content I created, so I started being more intentional about what I shared. This meant that I created a monthly content calendar so I could be consistent with my posts, got more detailed in my captions sharing valuable tips and advice about my travels and engaged more with my audience to keep them interested in my content. I also entered a competition where I had to create content to showcase the city I lived in and to be honest, that grew my audience exponentially because I was exposed to a large audience who were deeply interested in travel. My main advice for those just starting to build a social media presence is content is king. Define your niche, create content for a specific target audience, provide value and be consistent.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
The best source of new clients for me is definitely through Instagram especially for my vacation planning and travel influencer coaching services.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shakespeareagency.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shakespeareagency/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisagayeshakespeare/
Image Credits
Rick Southers David Troeger Svenja Krueger