#071 - Isabella Schmidt | From Trend to Strategy: The Evolution of Influencer Marketing and Building a Genuine Brand

Isabella Schmidt is the Co-founder and COO of Jexy Talent Agency. In this episode, expect to learn about Isabella’s journey from competitive horseback riding to eventually venturing into influencer marketing and co-founding Jexy Talent Agency. Throughout the conversation, Isabella and I discuss the evolution of influencer marketing, the importance of authenticity in content creation, and the strategies for scouting and managing creators. She emphasizes the need for genuine connections with audiences and highlights the significance of engagement over follower count. Isabella also reflects on her sales experience and how it has influenced her current role, shedding light on the reality behind online personas and the challenges of maintaining authenticity in the digital space. Additionally, we talk about the challenges of public speaking, the importance of investing in oneself as a creator, the dynamics of online friendships, the impact of AI on content creation, and the valuable lessons learned beyond traditional education. Thank you for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show!

00:00 The Journey to Jexy Talent Agency
06:00 Scouting Creators: What Makes Them Stand Out?
11:48 Creating Authentic Connections with Audiences
17:51 The Reality Behind Online Personas
23:55 Transitioning to Public Speaking
29:49 The Role of AI in Content Creation
35:03 Investing in Yourself as a Creator

Takeaways:

Engagement rate is more important than follower count for creators.
Authenticity and vulnerability are key to connecting with audiences.
Going live can significantly enhance audience engagement.
Creators should focus on their passion rather than monetization.
Sales experience helps in negotiating deals with brands.
Not all online personas reflect the true character of creators. Influencers can be introverted and still connect online.
Online friendships can feel real despite physical distance.
Public speaking can be a natural progression for influencers.
Content creation is becoming more accessible to everyone.
AI can assist but not replace personal connections in content.
Investing in quality tools is crucial for creators.
Learning to deal with different personalities is essential.
Time is the biggest investment for quality content.
Brands are increasingly recognizing the power of influencer marketing.
Authenticity is key to overcoming fear and criticism.

Download the Luxy App here: https://www.onluxy.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorQE6gOpRh5iTLYhBH2zLFzKX0WGhAc_oLC3EETPegghQkvcVUg

Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Anglophone South School District or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.

Transcript

Lucas Clarke (00:00.507)
All right, dramatic countdown over Isabella Schmidt. Thank you so much for coming on today.

Isabella Schmidt (00:02.412)
Hahahaha

Thank you so much for having me. Super excited in the chat.

Lucas Clarke (00:09.229)
It's a pleasure. So I've been kind of following your work for a while on Instagram. Obviously everyone who kind of is aware of you already kind of knows of your connection with the Jaxi talent agency. But I kind of want to go into a bit of the origin work. I feel like one of the main things that interests me and kind of seeing these finished, I guess, products and online is like what kind of goes into the process of building these things. So one recent, like I guess, quote I saw online was obsession creates originality.

So going into the origins of Jaxie Town Agency, guess, what kind of things did you want to start? And I guess, how did your previous experience kind of help you with that transition?

Isabella Schmidt (00:49.738)
Yeah, so I actually have a very different background than influencer marketing. So long story short, I actually went to a school for pre-veterinary medicine. Completely different. And my goal was to take a gap year, wasn't sure about vet school or anything like that. So I ended up getting into sales. I used to ride horses competitively. So I was selling saddles and then COVID hit.

Lucas Clarke (01:00.429)
it's very different.

Lucas Clarke (01:14.97)
Okay.

Isabella Schmidt (01:17.812)
and I was laid off for a few weeks and I was just like scrambling to find anything at that point. was like, I don't care what it is. I just need something. So I ended up getting into digital marketing, working with my now business partner on her company. And through that, I was starting to talk to a lot of other creators and kind of started to do my own content creation. So I started doing a lot of travel content. I am partnering with hotels and things like that.

Lucas Clarke (01:24.538)
Yep.

Isabella Schmidt (01:45.09)
And then her and I, her name is Jenny, we got a little bit closer, we started talking more, and we were like, you know, because she's a content creator too, she was a mommy blogger. So we were like, you know, we love creating content, we love this space, but wouldn't it be cool to manage the influencers instead of actually doing the influencing ourselves? So.

Lucas Clarke (02:01.917)
Mm-hmm.

So do you actually remember that conversation? Like when were you like, whoa, that would actually be an awesome idea. Like what was that conversation like?

Isabella Schmidt (02:09.468)
Yeah, mean, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it wasn't one particular conversation. It was a variation of multiple conversations over a string of time period. And especially as the COVID restrictions started lifting and we started saw, excuse me, started seeing a lot more creators going out and about and wanting to connect with each other and things like that. That conversation really just started hitting, you know, hitting hay. So we were like, you know what? Nothing like today. So let's just do it.

Lucas Clarke (02:22.578)
Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (02:39.074)
We jumped head first and that's what we did. And then we created Juxtype.

Lucas Clarke (02:44.797)
I love that. Yeah. Cause I even feel like I remember first a few years ago, cause I've been doing this podcast for about a year and a half now, but I remember because I'm a weird person. had this like three month obsession with the Vietnam war. Don't ask me. I'm a history major. So it's not that weird. It's not that distant of a connection. and I was like, Hey, like maybe I'll make like a Vietnam war podcast. And then I got accepted into a different program. So I kind of put that on hold, but I feel like everyone during COVID who

Isabella Schmidt (03:00.29)
Hey, it's all good.

Lucas Clarke (03:13.309)
Like who you see as kind of the main content creators now are like, I started during COVID just for something to do at home. And then I kind of just exploded into all these other opportunities afterward. So as you start to like, like, how do you go from, okay, we should go from influencer marketing to actually creating Jexy agency and like, what are the first, who are the first people you're working with? What are the things that you're doing differently? And how did that kind of go about?

Isabella Schmidt (03:23.522)
exactly.

Isabella Schmidt (03:37.23)
Yeah, I mean, we actually just hit our three years in October and let me tell you, thank you. Thank you. But let me tell you, it has been a whirlwind of everything. mean, just with any business, you know, there's ups and downs on everything. So I mean, to answer your question of how we started off getting it, you have to get certain licenses and applications through to become a talent agency.

Lucas Clarke (03:41.117)
Congrats. That's sweet.

Isabella Schmidt (04:02.914)
And especially in particular states, Florida being one of those states in particular, you have to get like a specialized license compared to a lot of the other states. So that was the big first process is getting through all of that, getting our legal team involved to do that, make sure we were doing it right. And then of course, setting up the accounting side and making sure, you know, we were putting funds into what was important to put funds into and then that. And then once we got that all squared away,

Lucas Clarke (04:09.147)
Hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (04:29.131)
It was okay, now we need to start signing creators. How do we do that? What kind of people do we want in here? And we started off a lot differently than where we're at now. But I think especially over these past, would say two years, we've really found our footing with the type of influencers we want to sign and who we want to like associate ourselves with, so to speak.

Lucas Clarke (04:32.843)
No.

Lucas Clarke (04:51.453)
Yeah, and I've noticed like a common pattern, I guess, it's not all creators are, I guess, seen in terms of just their exact follower count, but they usually range between, I would say, like 50 and 200,000. There's kind of something that you see as something that can be, I guess, propelled with them. I guess, what do you look for when you're like scouting creators for that?

Isabella Schmidt (05:12.652)
Definitely. Yeah, we definitely have a few qualifications that are super important. The first one being following count is very important. Yes, but brands are looking for all different kinds of creators, macro, micro. So, well, like I said, following count is important, but the most important is the engagement rate to your following count. So does your engagement actually match your followers? So if you have 500,000 followers, that's fantastic. But if your engagement rate doesn't match that, something's kind of

Lucas Clarke (05:21.149)
Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (05:41.794)
flagging off there. So we, yeah, we're good.

Lucas Clarke (05:43.858)
What do you mean by, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off there, but like, something I've noticed is that some people will share, like, they have like 1.2 million followers, but then their post is actually only seen by like 100,000 people. Like, how does, what have you guys learned about that kind of disconnect?

Isabella Schmidt (05:57.301)
Right.

Yeah, so I mean, brands are looking for a really good engagement ratio. So every percentage is different. Every brand wants a different percentage and things like that. So we don't necessarily stick to a certain percentage. However, for that example, you just gave 1.2 million followers to only getting 100K views. Something should be off there to me if I was looking at a million plus follower count.

Lucas Clarke (06:23.676)
Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (06:26.754)
I want to see at least 500 to 700K views averaging upon posts. know, obviously some posts are going to do better than others, but that's kind of the average that I would be looking for. So just making sure that your engagement is at least kind of half of what your following is, depending on how big you are too. There's kind of a lot that goes into it. Yeah.

Lucas Clarke (06:31.249)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (06:43.569)
Hmm. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you see people with like 48 million followers and obviously there's going to be a lot of variation there. I've always kind of wondered even just for myself seeing like how things perform so differently. And obviously some things are just going to click and they kind of just go off. But yeah, so a lot of licensing, a lot of business, a lot of kind of pre-scouting. And I guess the first thing is like, what kind of gives you guys

Isabella Schmidt (06:59.138)
Yeah.

Lucas Clarke (07:12.669)
the creator ick when kind of looking at the, I know I was thinking, I'm like, wonder what would be like, what would be the thing that would say, you know what, this person kind of could be someone of potential that we could work with, but this kind of turned us off.

Isabella Schmidt (07:15.263)
The Creator Egg, I love that!

Isabella Schmidt (07:28.194)
Yes, I have two big answers to that question. One, mean, let's be real, like influencer marketing pre-COVID was very different to what it is now. And back then it was like, you know, if they're promoting a product, they're just taking a selfie and hey, here's the product, you guys should buy it type of thing. But now it's shifted very much into brands want to tap into your organic content and just throw their products in there so it's more authentic.

Lucas Clarke (07:31.458)
Okay, yeah, lay it on me.

Lucas Clarke (07:40.285)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (07:47.665)
Yeah.

Isabella Schmidt (07:58.25)
and more of like a commercially style type of video instead of like just throwing it in your face so abruptly like that. So that's my first big ache is if you're doing a lot of partnerships where you're just kind of doing that, here's the product, take this, use this. Whereas then the difference being, know, here's my day in my life and I use this shampoo and conditioner and that's just thrown into the day of the life. If that makes sense, those two differences.

Lucas Clarke (08:06.194)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (08:15.143)
Yeah.

Lucas Clarke (08:24.069)
Okay. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Isabella Schmidt (08:27.01)
And then the second one is obviously, selfies, mirror selfies, those things are still super big right now, but it's kind of how you're approaching that content. Using like the OG Snapchat filters or like things like that. Don't really scream aesthetically pleasing. And that was very, know, again, pre-COVID, that was kind of more of a thing, but.

Lucas Clarke (08:47.513)
Yep.

Isabella Schmidt (08:54.58)
It's definitely not what brands are looking for at this point. So I would say those two are my biggest things for sure.

Lucas Clarke (09:01.729)
Interesting. I'm even thinking back to like when I was a bit younger and like you'd see the picture, like the joke was always, you're going to sell tea on social media. Like it was always like some sort of David's tea thing. And that was kind of the running joke of like, it was probably mostly, I guess, like girls at that time that were kind of doing that. So that's interesting. So what would have been kind of some of the different trends that you've seen of like, what is a more

popular way of influencing for example like the videos with the different things and starting with the tea like what have been some of those that you've noticed

Isabella Schmidt (09:37.484)
Definitely, I would say like the biggest trends right now is people that are watching your content just want to feel like they can connect to you in some sort of way. They want to feel like they're best friends with you. They know you, they have a connection with you. So bringing out the most authentic and organic self within your content is so incredibly important. Showing that raw vulnerable side, whereas again, pre-COVID, being vulnerable wasn't.

as much of a thing. definitely was a thing for some people, but not as much as it is now. And people are coming out more vulnerable to say, you know, the hardships that they're going through and things like that. Really, like I said, ultimately your audience just wants to feel like you're a real person. Like they can connect with you on a deeper level than just like, here's my glamorous lifestyle and here's the beautiful car that I drive, the house I live in. Like, I mean.

Lucas Clarke (10:09.981)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (10:21.137)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (10:25.734)
Yeah.

Isabella Schmidt (10:29.398)
How many people's houses are perfectly clean on a day-to-day basis? I know mine isn't for sure, so...

Lucas Clarke (10:35.697)
I know, even if you tilt my camera back a bit, see like books on the floor. It's like, I don't know what you're talking about.

Isabella Schmidt (10:40.718)
Exactly. Yeah, but people want they rather see that like they know nobody's life is perfect. Obviously, some may be more fortunate than others, but your life is still not perfect and showing that authenticity and that vulnerability and showing that. So that's where like those day in the life to get ready with me is the really talking style videos to the camera does super well because again, your audience just wants to feel that connection.

Lucas Clarke (10:45.244)
Yeah.

Lucas Clarke (11:09.277)
Well, yeah, because I've even noticed, obviously, I'm kind of more in the education realm specifically, but I'll see these ones where it's like, come to school with me in the morning and there's like grabbing coffee and then like walking in the front door and it's like, this got 9 million views. like, that's so crazy. Like how that can be. But I guess you are seeing more of a personal element where you're actually kind of with them in their day, not in how they're creating their content. So I can kind of see that. And so you did kind of touch on it there, but do you have any other, I guess,

Isabella Schmidt (11:18.038)
Exactly.

Isabella Schmidt (11:22.857)
Yeah.

Isabella Schmidt (11:31.914)
Exactly.

Lucas Clarke (11:39.033)
ideas for, guess, where do creators usually miss the mark of establishing connection with their audience?

Isabella Schmidt (11:48.222)
You know, it's different for everybody, but I would say the biggest thing is any creator wanting to get into this space or is already in it, you have to do it because you love it. Because you love creating the content that you're creating. You want to create that community. I mean, being an influencer, you're working by yourself all day. It's a very quote unquote lonely job to have. So having that online community is super important.

So if you're in it to I want to get brand deals. I want to monetize I want to make money from it That's when you're probably not going to be successful because you're too focused on the monetization aspect Whereas you should be focused on I just love what I do and I want to share that with the world and I want to connect with others That should be the goal and if that's the goal nine times out of ten You're gonna be way more successful than on the opposite side

Lucas Clarke (12:27.463)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (12:41.585)
Love that. And so what are some of the things that you see as like, I guess, kind of already having an established audience, but how would you go about advising people to create a better connection or finding their audience? Like, how do you encourage or guide people to finding their target audience?

Isabella Schmidt (12:58.911)
There's one.

Isabella Schmidt (13:03.958)
Definitely. mean, there's luckily for us, there's so many ways to be able to do that. Now we have so many different platforms that you can use. So my big advice would be to be on at least two platforms where you're established. A lot of people, their go-to is our Instagram and TikTok, but YouTube is also a great way to do that. and then the opposite side, as far as exactly the content goes, going live on those platforms is a really great,

real way to connect because they just feel like you're FaceTiming with them. And then again, back to what I was saying about what kind of content you want to create. As long as you stay true to you and your specific content niche, that community is honestly just going to come along with it and you're going to find your people. For example, we have a lot of moms who are in the infertility space on our roster. So they have really found a strong community tapping into that specific niche.

But it just kind of came along with it because they express their vulnerability with it and they're very organic and just honest with their audience about what they were going through. And you can do that with any niche like home decor to we have a lot of teachers that do it, really anything. But as long as you love what you're doing, somebody else will love it too. That doesn't mean everybody will love it, but you're going to find that strong community that will.

Lucas Clarke (14:16.381)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (14:23.581)
Mm-hmm.

Well, I think that's arguably one of the more underrated parts of creating content in general is that not everyone is supposed to love it. Like you're not making, it's like, I always hear about movies that are in the theater where I'm like, that's stupid. I don't want to see that movie. And it's like, well, that movie is not made for you. I guess it's made for other people who are going to enjoy that space a bit more. Yeah, I love that. It's honestly such valuable information. And so another kind of quote that I've come across in a few podcasts that I've listened to is does it grow corn?

Isabella Schmidt (14:34.528)
Right.

Isabella Schmidt (14:44.5)
Exactly.

Lucas Clarke (14:56.689)
Like what, like does it actually, does what you're doing actually create a positive, tangible thing that someone can take away from it? Like does it do the, so where I'm looking for it, like the least valuable thing for someone to take away. So in your process of kind of going throughout this, what are some of the most underrated things that a content creator can do to create an engaged, established audience?

Isabella Schmidt (15:26.21)
I would say the first thing going live. think a lot of creators just kind of look over that because they're so used to just, you know, creating their content on a daily basis, editing it, posting it. But going live is huge. mean, that's a like, like in-person way to really connect with everybody because it's live. It's not curated. It's not edited. It's all in the moment. so going live is definitely a huge thing. and really at the end of the day, like,

Lucas Clarke (15:46.045)
Mm.

Isabella Schmidt (15:53.44)
my biggest thing is just showing your face, actually talking to the camera. That's why Get Ready With Me's do so well, because you're just sitting there doing your makeup or doing your skincare routine or whatever it is that you're doing, but you're talking to the camera. So it's very, quote unquote, in real time. You're just kind of going on a tangent, talking about whatever you're talking about. So that kind of content, I would say, does really well. And then a lot of creators are very successful.

with on their Instagram stories specifically, just like say they're waiting to pick their kids up from school and they're in the parking lot line, right? Picking them up, getting on their story and just like, hey guys, this is what I'm doing. Like two frame story, super quick, but just like a pop in to say, hey, I'm still here. And like, it's this real time, cause it's happening right now versus like, you know, all the posts that obviously of course are not happening in that moment, right? So doing things like that.

Lucas Clarke (16:31.014)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (16:43.909)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (16:49.841)
Yeah. Love that. And so I'm actually, I'm interested in your, like you went from horse riding to sales, like it's such a crazy jump, but I guess, did it feel weird for you kind of going into sales at first? Like you're always kind of competing. So I guess you kind of have that background, but like, what did you learn about the process of actually making a sale and getting someone to buy in with your experience there?

Isabella Schmidt (16:58.441)
Hahaha!

Yes.

Isabella Schmidt (17:16.342)
Definitely. So in high school, I actually worked for a salary. it wasn't like commission based or anything like that, but of course it was retail. So I was on the floor, helped, you know, learning about the product, selling products. So I had a little bit of background from that. but this kind of selling was definitely a lot different. was commissioned base and you know, however much you sell is however much you're going to make. and for me, I honestly picked up on it right away and loved it.

Lucas Clarke (17:41.191)
Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (17:46.112)
right away for that aspect. I felt like a very much adrenaline rush just by like getting the sale, connecting with the person, giving them what they needed, what they've been looking for. And then obviously seeing that return in my pocket was a super big plus too. But I would say, yeah, I really just found, like I said, an adrenaline rush with the sales aspect. And I found that I was also able to connect with a lot of different people doing that too, that I probably would have never of.

Lucas Clarke (17:51.589)
Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (18:15.468)
connected with if I wasn't doing that job. So yeah, definitely different, a lot different than what I was used to. But I think that's why I kind of love doing what we do here at Jexy. Because while we're managing our creators, we are doing a lot of negotiating aspects with the brands and securing those deals and everything like that. So that brings into a lot of the sales aspects on that sense as well. And that's just like, mean,

Lucas Clarke (18:23.389)
Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (18:42.37)
Obviously you make your creators happy, they're thriving, they're doing great. Then in turn the agency is, and then you're making these connections with these brands. But it's also like that rush that, my God, this is like, gotta negotiate this deal to a certain price. And then when you do, you're on like this such high and then you just want to keep going and doing more. So I don't know if that answers your question.

Lucas Clarke (19:01.093)
Mm-hmm. Absolutely. No, absolutely. I I'm even wondering too, I guess, obviously, even being a content creator, there's a certain kind of perception that's going to be developed of you by the people that you're engaging with. And obviously, you're trying to be authentic as much as you can. Has there ever been a case where you've had, and obviously you don't have to name names, but where a content creator has kind of actually been very different in kind of your interactions with them versus kind of what you saw from them online?

Isabella Schmidt (19:29.792)
Yes. Yes. Yes. So we have definitely, there's definitely been creators I've come into interactions with where you see them online. They're this super bubbly, seem what, extroverted type of person. And then you get to an event and you're with them and they like don't talk and they're super shy and they're just very like, they're still super, I've never like encountered one that was like rude or anything like that.

Lucas Clarke (19:58.321)
Yeah.

Isabella Schmidt (19:58.902)
but they were super shy, very more on the introverted side and kind of needed like a helping hand to kind of talk to other people. And then once they did, they would get in their groove. But it is interesting to see that because we're so used to seeing these bubbly people that are ready to talk, ready to go. But then when you think about the other side in a sense that they are at home doing this by themselves. They're not like adamant.

by corporate office, like working with other people, interacting physically with all those other people. So it does kind of make sense that there would be certain people like that, because all they have to do is put their camera up and talk to the camera and get used to that. They don't actually physically have to interact with anybody. So it is, it does make sense, but it is always like a surprise because you're like, okay, wait, I'm used to this person, but now I'm getting this person.

Lucas Clarke (20:29.254)
Yeah.

Lucas Clarke (20:42.877)
Hmm.

Lucas Clarke (20:50.461)
Yeah. Well, it's also like, it's been weird for me too, because like, at first this podcast pretty much entirely started just the teachers that I work with at my school. And we kind of just go shoot the shit. We have conversations about like stories that have happened to us, that we've done. And now over the past, I guess, like six to eight months, it's been primarily online. And I always joke with people. And I also just moved across the country. I live in Canada.

Isabella Schmidt (21:14.71)
Okay, nice.

Lucas Clarke (21:15.741)
I just moved across the country recently and I'm like, I just have online friends now that I talk to like every now and then. And then I'm like, this is, it's very weird that, like a few other like teacher podcasters and I are going to start something here in the new year, but it's like, we all live in different provinces. And I'm like, this is very weird that we're just like, have a WhatsApp chat now. And I've never actually met any of you in real life.

Isabella Schmidt (21:21.593)
Yeah!

Isabella Schmidt (21:30.796)
of that.

Isabella Schmidt (21:36.754)
Never actually met them. Yeah, I know. That's what's so crazy about social media. And like one of the biggest blessings about it is that you find all these people that like, again, you never would have connected with them in the quote unquote real world, because obviously they live in a completely different state. You're not going to meet them like at a coffee shop down the street or something. Right. So like being able to connect with them in that sense, but like saying that you've never met them is like the craziest thing to think about. But

Lucas Clarke (21:44.476)
Yeah.

Lucas Clarke (21:53.841)
Yeah.

Isabella Schmidt (22:05.73)
For us, it's so like normalized. Exactly. But then it is really cool when you do go to events or like a lot of our influencers are really lucky to go on brand trips with these other influencers and actually physically meet each other for the first time. And it's like, you see that connection with them and you never would have thought that they were only talking like over the phone. Like you would have thought that they were best friends for like 15 years.

Lucas Clarke (22:05.834)
We're actually really good friends, but I've never seen you in my life.

Lucas Clarke (22:19.643)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Lucas Clarke (22:29.764)
Yeah.

Isabella Schmidt (22:32.64)
went on family vacations, like did all the things. So like it's cool to see them all come together like in person too.

Lucas Clarke (22:39.953)
Yeah. And it's honestly primarily instant messaging and just like replying to stories, which is honestly, I mean, really a lot of my friends now is just sharing weird memes on Instagram to them throughout the day. That's kind of just the bulk of my, my social media use. Arguably I use it too much, but, something else that I've come across, like looking through like your profile and kind of seeing things that you've been doing is that recently you've been doing a lot more kind of public speaking and conferences. So I guess.

Isabella Schmidt (22:44.054)
Right.

Isabella Schmidt (22:50.102)
Yeah.

Lucas Clarke (23:08.885)
Now you went from sales, mean, competing in horse riding, but now you're like one of the top leaders of a very successful agency. guess, how have you kind of psychologically managed that transition to kind of being the person with the voice of the room and like, how do you prepare for these kinds of events?

Isabella Schmidt (23:10.946)
Hahaha!

Isabella Schmidt (23:27.226)
that is a fantastic question. And honestly, I don't really have too much of a concrete answer. it really just kind of happened, which I know is like so bland to say, but it's true. I, the more we started growing our roster, growing our team, and I had to, you know, what, even just on a regular zoom call had to speak in front of more people. I just kind of started getting this feeling like, okay,

Lucas Clarke (23:37.199)
Okay. Yeah.

Lucas Clarke (23:52.06)
Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (23:55.872)
I feel like there's something calling to me that's bigger than what's happening right now. Like, obviously we have this huge vision for the agency and growth for, and all of that. But for me personally, I feel like, I feel like there's always a way that I want to reach more people outside of just our agency. And I feel like now the more that I do like the public speaking or the Instagram lives and things like that, I feel like I have this like.

something in me that I can't really explain that I really want to go and do those talks and connect with more people and just help change lives at the end of the day, like help bring these influencers from their corporate jobs to be able to quit that and stay at home with their families and do this full time. And that's the ultimate goal. And I feel like just the more that I've been doing it, the more I connect with influencers in person to add events, add social situations.

the more I have that feeling that, I feel like there's something bigger here that I need to be reaching for and going for. And I've just always been like, I'm a very extroverted person. Like I'll go up to anybody at, even if I'm just like at a bar or something, I have no problem starting a conversation with somebody. Like I'm just very, I guess an easygoing outgoing person in that sense. So that's never really been an issue for me.

Lucas Clarke (24:54.3)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (25:02.237)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (25:12.775)
Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (25:16.314)
And then, you know, my dad on the other hand too, he had a very big role in his corporate life. So I think I saw him doing a lot of that. So in some way it was kind of always instilled in me. He never told me like you have to do that or follow my footsteps or anything like that. But I think I get that personality trait from him. And it just kind of like I said, the bigger we grow, the more I do it, the more I'm like having this itch for it essentially.

Lucas Clarke (25:36.519)
Yep.

Lucas Clarke (25:43.843)
Cool. No, I like that. It's like a positive kind of feedback loop kind of keeping you moving, which that's sweet. And so now that you're like, I would say the first three years of incorrectly, if I'm wrong, it's like, you're kind of still probably feel like you're building, like you're not actually done. Like I know what you're saying. So

Isabella Schmidt (25:48.349)
Yeah, exactly.

Isabella Schmidt (26:00.898)
100%.

Lucas Clarke (26:02.133)
What do you kind of see as like you started with the selfies with the teas and you had like the live events and like, where do you see this going? Like content creation in general, because it seems like anyone now can almost over the course of a couple of years, like build an online platform and start to like.

get into some digital things and even myself, I've been fortunate enough recently to like have a few sponsors that have helped me kind of support the show. I'm like, like anyone can kind of start this process of like, where do you kind of see the change in the mediums, if anything, for content creation kind of moving forward.

Isabella Schmidt (26:41.442)
Yeah, I mean, I only see it getting bigger and better. mean, I've been even seeing there's more and more influencers being featured on like TV commercials for the very few that still are TV watching TV. They're using influencers for those commercials. And they're actually using a lot of influencers and content creators for like acting roles in movies and TV shows and things like that. So I think.

Lucas Clarke (26:52.817)
Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep.

Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (27:10.708)
Influencers being in this space, it really opens up their opportunities for the acting industry, commercial work. You know, I know a lot of influencers in specific cities are very big into modeling. So like even that side of things. So I think this industry alone will help influencers kind of, you know, create bigger paths into other industries and tap into that. As far as social media itself goes,

I mean, I'm sure we're going to run into more platforms that come up. Obviously, Instagram and just Meta itself is the biggest platform right now. So I see them constantly improving those platforms and offering new ways to improve there. But I think brands are really starting to take a wind of the importance of influencer marketing too.

Lucas Clarke (27:42.279)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (28:06.289)
Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (28:06.538)
So I think within the next couple of years, it's going to be one of those things where as a brand or a company, you really have to start allocating big budgets to spend on influencer marketing for your marketing. Because that's how people are buying a lot of their products now. You you think of Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up, which is so crazy to say that that's happening already. But you think about that coming up and like all these brands that are really just using influencers to push their products.

Lucas Clarke (28:26.916)
Yep.

Isabella Schmidt (28:34.444)
with their discounted deals and everything like that. Because I mean, think about how many billions of people are on the online space. Everybody's, know, buy from their favorite influencer the same way when a celebrity comes out with a cosmetic line or a hairline or whatever it may be, people buy it solely because it has that person's name on it. So I think that's going to be another path to a lot of influencers are going to, and it's already started to happen a little bit, but I think even more so going to start creating their own lines.

Lucas Clarke (29:01.178)
Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (29:04.394)
and selling their own brands and their own products and being able to expand their own personal business in so many different aspects.

Lucas Clarke (29:12.745)
Absolutely. And I can't believe I didn't even think about asking you this initially, but how much attention are you paying to like the, this movement in AI for actually being able to create content? Like it can be a very easy workaround. Like even for myself with Riverside, this platform, you can potentially, they can write AI newsletters for you.

Isabella Schmidt (29:27.51)
Yes.

Lucas Clarke (29:36.123)
And I'm like, that, that to me again, immediately strikes up. It's you're not providing anything authentic. You're just having this thing pump something out for you. So how much are you weighing that at all into your kind of business strategy?

Isabella Schmidt (29:49.058)
For sure. mean, there's a lot of different mixed feelings going around about AI from everybody, but, yeah, exactly. But at the end of the day, AI, it's still technology. It's a robot, so to speak. You can't replace people. And I mean, at least in my personal view points, I can't imagine somebody wanting to follow, like essentially a robot on Instagram or on TikTok or what have you.

Lucas Clarke (29:54.893)
Education as well, yeah.

Isabella Schmidt (30:17.698)
Cause that's not, you're not getting, like you said, that personal connection. so I can't really foresee it replacing these influencers or just people in general. However, I do see it as a benefit to help you like influencers that are super big. It is a great tool to use it in your DMS to set up like automatic responses so that you can get to more people. Whereas, you know, they're getting so many DMS a day, they just physically cannot respond to everybody.

Lucas Clarke (30:37.085)
Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (30:46.902)
So at least they can respond with that AI message that they set up in their own back end to say whatever they want. And they can say, you know, this is my AI messenger responding for you. And I'll get back to you as soon as I can, or however they want to word it. But stuff like that to kind of help automate their business a little bit better. Because obviously running your own business as one singular person. So doing all the content, the editing, the message responses, the comment replies.

Lucas Clarke (30:47.015)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (31:06.247)
Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (31:14.624)
the brand partnerships, the subscriptions, all these things that all these people are doing. It's a lot to do as one person. So I think if anything, it does help automate and make their lives a little bit easier with them still making that boundary of, okay, I'm going to help with maybe the auto message replies or even the newsletters, but I'm going to make sure it still sounds like me. And my following doesn't, does know that I'm not going anywhere. Like this is just,

Lucas Clarke (31:35.451)
Mm-hmm.

Isabella Schmidt (31:44.468)
a tool to help me and make it, you know, I would suggest them saying that too. Like, I'm sure you guys have seen my AI response tool. This is to help me get to more of you. It is not replacing me. Like really like be honest that they're using it. And then I think that that'll kind of help bridge the gap a little bit.

Lucas Clarke (31:46.098)
Mm-hmm.

Lucas Clarke (32:02.333)
Absolutely. Yeah, because it's something that I just maybe just purposely block out of my mind. So I'm like, I don't know where this is going. I don't know how to use it properly. And so just a couple more questions to kind of finish this off here. So a few quotes I've kind of put in. It's like obsession kind of creates originality. We touched on that one. Does it grow corn? But one of my favorites is do not let school get in the way of your education.

Isabella Schmidt (32:11.841)
Yeah.

Lucas Clarke (32:29.553)
And I think like we've touched on it a bit here where you've talked about kind of the traits that you had from your dad and like the confidence in public speaking and the relationship and the connection. But like, what are some of the things that you've learned that you think have helped make you successful that you wouldn't have learned necessarily in a classroom, even for marketing or for business or that you've actually kind of learned by doing?

Isabella Schmidt (32:51.596)
Definitely. Honestly, I think the biggest thing is learning how to deal with people. mean, as far as I know, I don't think there is. There's not a class that says, here's how to deal with this type of person, here's how to deal with this problem, and like, here's your blueprint. So, I mean, there's gonna be those people that just make you do the run around in every single which way possible.

Lucas Clarke (32:59.236)
Cheers.

Lucas Clarke (33:09.802)
So what are the different types of people?

Isabella Schmidt (33:20.722)
that kind of just make everything, I don't want to say difficult, but make it a little bit harder to get to the end point, yes. And then there's just those some people that also don't understand that boundary of business and personal. So like separating those two and like, you know, if they're blowing your phone up at a certain time of night where it's like way, way after hours.

Lucas Clarke (33:26.725)
Little unnecessary.

Isabella Schmidt (33:48.482)
kind of, you know, dealing with that respect of, you know, handling that sort of situation, I think is another one. And then I think just, you know, at the end of the day, in every business, in every industry, there are people that just come across a certain way that you just need to learn how to navigate. You need to learn how to deal with it, stay professional on your standpoint, remain respectful always. But again, you don't learn that.

Lucas Clarke (34:07.367)
Yeah.

Isabella Schmidt (34:15.936)
until you're really dealing with it. So. Yeah.

Lucas Clarke (34:18.717)
It's like you can always just talk shit about them later, okay? It's fine, I'm just kidding. You always have your friends where you can be like, man, you're not gonna leave this happen to me today, but you can always kind of get yourself through that position. I guess kind of one more question for the, and again, there's some researches, me search here a little bit. What are some of the things where you say to, I guess, creators that are starting to find some success of how to actually invest in themselves?

Isabella Schmidt (34:31.135)
Exactly.

Isabella Schmidt (34:47.97)
Find success in the how do you cut out there for a second? Could you repeat that? No, it's okay.

Lucas Clarke (34:51.833)
sorry. Yeah. I guess for the creators who are kind of starting off, like what advice would you give to people of how to properly invest in themselves to become better at this?

Isabella Schmidt (35:03.286)
Definitely. mean, there's a lot of different ways that you can do it. I would say the very first thing if you're first starting out and this is like very new to you, just getting a few different tools and that you can literally get off of Amazon. I can help you with tripod obviously is a big one. A microphone if you're doing like certain ASMR videos or things like that. A ring light is huge. One that yes, you can like stand up and do a tripod, but they sell ones now that you can just clip onto your phone.

And those are really great because obviously you can't control the lighting everywhere you are. So those things are really great starting points. As you start to grow investing, know, if you're doing a lot of vlogging or longer form style videos, investing in a really good camera is going to be super important because, know, obviously the iPhones are super up to date now and the cameras are amazing, but there's nothing like a good camera quality. So investing in that.

And then making sure that your editing tools are like super, super up to par. There's so many different editing tools now. I know a lot of the creators use CapCut. That's probably the biggest one. Lightroom Adobe is also another really good one. But just investing in the right editing tools are gonna be super, super helpful. And then of course your time. Like your time is your biggest investment. If you really wanna put out quality content.

You have to take the time to edit your videos properly and you have to be patient with yourself. As artists, as creators, we are harder on ourselves than anybody else will ever be. So I understand from that personal aspect that nothing is going to be ever a thousand percent perfection when I put it out there online, but nobody else sees the little things that you're going to see. So just making sure that you're spending your time on certain pieces of content.

that really, really need it versus like a quick little video that you don't need to spend three hours editing. You just need to post on TikTok to just help pump your content out. Spend that time on that. And then your brand partnerships. Really making sure that, know, as large as this industry is, it's also very small and brands talk, other influencers talk. So if you do not get your drafts in on time, if the quality of content does not relate to what you're actually putting out there every day,

Isabella Schmidt (37:25.794)
If you're not posting on time, that's gonna inhibit that relationship to obviously one, not be long-term with that one brand, but other brands could also see that as well, and that could inhibit other apprenticeships that you get. So those would be the top things that I would say.

Lucas Clarke (37:42.653)
Absolutely knows are all a lot of nuggets of wisdom there coming out. So the last one is Anyone who's listening to this podcast knows that I love to kind of discuss imposter syndrome So I won't go too much into it here as I'm sure you're aware I guess you kind of have some of those characteristics of kind of being more extroverted kind of enjoying that but if you're kind of that

Isabella Schmidt (37:45.986)
Hahaha

Lucas Clarke (38:06.471)
kind of more quiet introvert and you're kind of working your classic nine to five gig, you're kind of a little scared, but you really want to do it. So guess what would you say to that person to just get the ball rolling so they can actually make that start?

Isabella Schmidt (38:20.128)
Just do it. Honestly, just start doing it. Oops. Honestly, though, you really just have to start getting going with it. And you have to not care what anybody else thinks. And I know that is obviously way easier said than done, but you're never going to be successful if every single time you post, my gosh, what is this person going to think? Or, my gosh, what are my family and

Lucas Clarke (38:23.094)
No affiliation with Nike here, but I like it.

Lucas Clarke (38:41.469)
Mm.

Isabella Schmidt (38:49.516)
friends gonna think with me starting this? Because I know that's a big one with people really starting out is obviously all their family and friends already follow them. So what are they gonna think about me posting these particular videos that look like I'm trying to be an influencer, but I just love doing this and I want to start sharing my life. But through that, you'll really find out who your true friends are as well and who want that success for you. But like I said, at the end of the day,

You just have to not care what anybody thinks and you have to block everything else out. Again, easier said than done, but you really have to. The bigger you are, the more susceptible to hate you're going to get. Again, thank them for the engagement, move on and keep going about your day. Nine times out of 10, they got something else bigger going on with them that actually has anything to do with you. So those are the things that I would say. I would just say, if you want to do it, make it happen. You are the only thing stopping yourself from making it happen if you don't do it.

Lucas Clarke (39:36.988)
Yeah.

Lucas Clarke (39:47.325)
Beautiful. All right. Well, Isabella Schmidt, thank you so much for coming on today. guess, where can people follow you and where can they find your work?

Isabella Schmidt (39:52.224)
Thank you.

Isabella Schmidt (39:56.532)
Yes, so my personal Instagram is Bella S Rose 4 and then Jexy is Jexy Agency. You can also find our website, jexyagency.com. Connect with us, DM us, inquire on our website. We would love to connect with anybody.

Lucas Clarke (40:12.647)
Beautiful. Thank you so much for coming on.

Isabella Schmidt (40:15.478)
Thank you so much. I appreciate it.