Today’s guest is a very special Southern grandmother, who’s rockin’ it with her ecommerce business and hugely entertaining Facebook page. If you’ve ever wanted a fairy godmother with purple hair and the courage to dance on Facebook live each Friday, look no more.
Sasha Gray, the host of the Lipstick, Margaritas, and Hairspray Facebook page, and ScatteredSasha.com, says her page of over 245,000 followers is “A Tribe of Glitter Dome Goddesses” that lift each other up and hang around to laugh, inspire & support one another. She claims that she just drives the bus and runs the gift shop.
The Accidental Business
Sasha says that her business was an “accidental one.” After working in corporate America for many years, Sasha left to work in direct sales for a time. But her heart was in motivational speaking, and more specifically, motivational humor. She had a very successful stint doing that, with the help of her family.
But when the perfect storm hit their family, Sasha had to make some changes. She could no longer travel doing speaking. She still wanted to share some humor, and she had a desire to write and make some income, so in June of 2012, she decided to start a blog.
To make money though, she bought some coffee mugs, had one of her funny sayings put on them, and took them to a vendor market to sell. And she came home with every single one she went with. So she decided to try another strategy. She put them on her Facebook page.
At the time, she had around 15,000 followers. She posted a photo of the mug and told people to message her if they wanted one. Within 15 minutes, she had sold 15. While that may sound fabulous, Sasha soon realized that she knew absolutely nothing about shipping, packaging, taking payments, etc.
She spent the next 6 months learning everything she could about how to sell her mugs. And they continued to sell like crazy. Her Facebook group continued to grow as she shared more of herself and more of her humor. And now, she frequently receives messages with people thanking her for what she shares and for reminding them that they are not alone.
Be sure to check out Sasha’s Facebook page to see what she shares and how she has grown that page from 15,000 followers 5 years ago to over 246,000 followers today!!
Lessons for Success
- If you're going to ship a product, know the system.
- Facebook controls the Facebook market. With every algorithm change, one has to change how she markets her business on the platform.
- Seek to know what you don't know.
It’s not that we don’t know the answers…it’s that we don’t know the questions! ~Sasha
Sasha very generous in sharing information with others as well as asking for it. Ask those above you, below you, and on your level, what they are doing and how they do it. And share what you are doing. There is no rulebook for the entrepreneur, and there are so many parts that you might not even know about. You have to ask for help.
Community Support
Where to find the community and support you need as a blogger:
- Boss Moms
- Wake to Make Tribe Facebook Group
- Paradise Bloggers
- The Blog Connection
Sasha also suggests that you use the group search feature on Facebook to find groups you’d like to try out. Use search terms like entrepreneur, boss moms, etc., or whatever your niche happens to be.
[ctt template=”8″ link=”wWd04″ via=”no” ]Find a community that meets your needs & lets you get involved. #blogging advice from Sasha Gray @scatteredsasha[/ctt]
Find communities that will not only meet your needs, but that you can be a productive member of. The other members want you to participate as well. Not every group will be a good fit, so if you join a group and find out that it’s not for you, then just leave the group.
Long-term Success
In March of 2017, Sasha launched her first course; a 6-month course called Forever Fabulous Journey. It combines her love of motivational speaking with the benefit of not having to leave her home to do it.
Sasha’s personal definition of success is:
Getting to the end of each day and realizing that you survived it. Not to be sarcastic or morbid, but knowing that all of us have difficult seasons in life, and sometimes, getting through life unscathed is a huge success.You are going to make mistakes, so make them…then go do it the way you wanted to do it the next time. ~Sasha Gray
Links From Today’s Show:
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Connect with Sasha Gray
- Sasha's website – ScatteredSasha.com
- Her Facebook Page
Mentioned in the show
Today’s Resource Highlight:
#1 for building email lists. *ConvertKit was a game changer in serving my email subscribers and growing my list. It’s user-friendly and makes it easy to segment users by interests and actions they take.
Great interview Katie. I always enjoy listening to Sasha. She truly does connect with her followers, and shares her everyday life letting us know we all struggle, but we also can choose to sparkle and shine, and giggle and snort at least once a day. Thank you for having her. As she said, she has had to learn the hard way. She is so generous in sharing what she has learned.
She was great fun to interview!
Sasha is such an inspiration. We tribal ladies adore her. Her real life stories will have you giggling and snorting and leaves you with a day of joy. We love her items she sells also. We need more people like Sasha in this world.
I can see why you adore her. Fabulous person. So glad I was able to have her on the show.