Welcome to Boostly Podcast Episode 505. In this podcast episode I will be talking with Kierra Castle about her journey to becoming a coach for hospitality hosts.
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Transcript from the Episode
[00:00:00] Mark: All right. Welcome everybody to a super special Behind the Host podcast. Um, I've been so excited about this interview for many, many months, weeks, years, even trying to make this happen, but we finally made it happen. So, uh, what we're gonna do, and we're gonna play the intro, we're gonna go straight into it, and we're gonna find out all about one of my favorite peoples on Instagram, Miss Kira Castle, otherwise known as the coach for the.
[00:00:34] Ready for my close up. Good looking. Let me tell you. Get more bookings. Oh, that would be nice. Giving me tips. Chosen advice. Yeah. You're gonna get 'em hun. You're gonna sit back. Listen to Mark Simpson. Whoa. Having a blast. Gonna get out on the Bruce Lee podcast.
[00:00:48] Bruce Lee led Bruce Lee cuz it's so hard on the tee years Loose leaf. Making up those rhymes.
[00:00:53] Kierra: Don't write it just to we loose leaf.
[00:00:55] Mark: If you want my respect, you'll better book direct. Mm. Here are the words in the [00:01:00] podcast. That's what comes. All right, Kira. Here we are. I never tell anybody that's coming and it always throws people off cuz it is kind of funny.
[00:01:09] I love it. It's my, uh, that's so dope. Freestyle. I wish I could say that I did it actually at the event last week in Nashville. I had people coming up to me saying, Wow, you. You're good at the rap. And I was like, That's not me. We may be British, but we're not the same person. really your family. It's not me.
[00:01:23] Oh, it's not me. Um, okay. So Kira, thank you so much for joining us today. Um, I'm really excited. We're gonna dig in for the next 45 minutes to an hour and just find out more about you and about the amazing work that you are doing. I've got so many questions and I haven't really pre-warned you on any of them, , so thank you so much for doing it.
[00:01:40] Absolutely. Thank you for being part of it. But before we start, I just wanna give a little shout out to a booth member, uh, called Rose Rose. Rose literally sent me a message on Instagram, uh, about an hour ago. Uh, and the, the message says this, So I've been following your tips on direct bookings, and she just got a $10,000 direct booking, which is [00:02:00] insane.
[00:02:01] So I asked the question, How did this happen? So they booked off my website. They found me on a social media post she's been posting every single day, and, which is something that we talked about for a while. It's in the book, and yes, somebody just found it, put a request in and have just completed the booking, which is fantastic.
[00:02:18] So I'm gonna give her a shout out. So thank you very much for sharing that with, that's amazing, right? When you, when you see little things like that come in and, and like, it's, it's a, it all makes it all worthwhile. And I know you've got many of these stories because I see your, Instagram. I see you everywhere. It is amazing.
[00:02:33] So, Kara, for those who may not have come across your Instagram just yet, can you please just give a quick breakdown of who you are, where you are in the world, and why you started doing short term rentals? Please?
[00:02:44] Kierra: Yeah. Okay. First off, I have to say thank you for even inviting me on. You are a huge deal everywhere.
[00:02:50] Um, and I, we've been following each other for a long time. Thank you so much for inviting me on here and congrats Rose , but, so my name is Kiara. Um, [00:03:00] I'm known as the coach for the host on Instagram. I started hosting in like 20 beginning of 2019 and um, I, What happened? I was working in corporate, No, no, I was about to graduate college and I realized I didn't like accounting cuz I did a couple of internship.
[00:03:16] And I was like, Yeah, this, this culture, this lifestyle is not for me. Um, so I stumbled upon Airbnb and I was like, Okay, I can make my salary in a month, you know, with one little bitty one bed, one bath unit. I might as well, you know, get three or four and I'll be cruising. So that's exactly what I did. And, um, now we're here.
[00:03:38] I'm here. I. We're here now and now. Yeah. I don't even know if you told me I would've been here three years ago, I wouldn't have believed
[00:03:46] Mark: you. And now we are, we are here. So we're definitely gonna dig in. We're definitely gonna dig into like the, the background and how you got here. But before we begin, can you just please explain to me the amazing people that are around this table in this picture?
[00:03:58] Kierra: Oh my gosh. So [00:04:00] we had an amazing time in, um, Houston. Uh, so that's my husband right by me to. The left . Yep. And then Julie, she's so amazing. Million dollar host. And then Noble, he's to the far, him and his wife are to the far Yep. Right. And, um, he is, he's known for government contracts when it comes to like, you know, bookings and all that good stuff.
[00:04:21] By the way, I have started reading your book, Direct Book. Your, um,
[00:04:24] Mark: The book, Direct Playbook. Yep. Thank
[00:04:26] Kierra: you. Thank you. I've been reading it and I love it. And then finally, last one, not least, TJ Taja and his wife, his wife is so amazing. Um, but we just had a good time and now we're here.
[00:04:37] Mark: Now we're here.
[00:04:38] So that was, uh, an event that just happened in, in Houston. So I'm so amazed you got to meet up with Julie George. I've been spending my last week, seems like I've had my last three weeks with, with, with Julie. Obviously for those who don't know who Julie is, uh, from Australia, um, grew and sold and scale scaled and sold her business now traveling the world and meeting up in events.
[00:04:55] And it, it's crazy. I feel like we all discovered it of each of a [00:05:00] via clubhouse. Yeah, that's where, where it all began, sort of beginning of 2000, 2021. And this is why the last week has been so amazing because of, I traveled over to America and met so many people that we discovered on, on Clubhouse, and now, uh, we're, we're, we're doing this, So thank you very much.
[00:05:15] So let's, let's dial that from the beginning. So you were in Virginia. That's great. So your, your partner, your husband is in, is in the military, so you were, he was based and you were doing bits and how did you sort of then go from being in Virginia to, cause you, you always talked about, and some of, I've listened to you on the podcast with, with Jesse and Rafa.
[00:05:33] You talked about how you've always been a born business owner, a born entrepreneur. You've always been used to selling things on the school bus, et cetera. But when was that moment that you sort of realized that you could, um, take a business, take a property and start doing it on short term rentals or on Airbnb?
[00:05:47] Like what, what was that sort of moment ?
[00:05:49] Kierra: Ooh, that's a good question. Um, you know what's crazy? I feel like because of my story and the way I grew up, I didn't think I could, [00:06:00] which is so weird because, well, I always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but the same time, since I didn't grow up with much, the reason I chose accounting against my major is because I wanted something secure so I didn't have to worry about where the next paycheck was coming from, where the next mail was coming from, if the lights would be cut off, things I dealt with as a child.
[00:06:18] When did I realize, I probably realized it way after I started, like probably sometime last year or this year, although I'd already been hosting and it's only because I was still stuck in that I need something secure and stable mindset. So I would say, hmm, if I had to put a date on it. It wasn't until after I got back, moved back to Houston with my family where I was like, Okay, it just has to happen.
[00:06:42] I have to make it happen. So it, it wasn't even like, After I started it was like way after.
[00:06:50] Mark: Yeah. And so you got started and you, you, I've got started with one property, obviously that's how everybody gets started. What was that experience like when you first sort of got, the booking came in [00:07:00] and you had your first set of guests?
[00:07:01] Like do you remember that sort of moment close you now you've had many guests. Like what was that first moment, the moment that you sort of get the book in, you know, on the day of arrival? Can you sort of remember that? Cause it was kind of, kind of. Yes,
[00:07:12] Kierra: so I remember that day, like it was yesterday, we got our first booking and um, it was like a girl.
[00:07:18] I remember her face and um, I was like, you know, Andre, maybe we should like meet them and tell them how to work the door. Tell 'em how to do all this. So what we did is like, we waited outside for them. I was so excited looking outside the window, just waiting for them. And then when we saw them, like walking over, we ran outside cuz it's an apartment building.
[00:07:35] We ran outside. I was like, Hi, I'm Kira, we're on, you know, Ki and Andre. And then we were like telling 'em everything. Like, Oh yeah, you're our first guest. We're so excited. Let's know if you need anything. And they were like, they were like a little shy, so I was like, Thank you, whatever. But they ended up walking in and um, after that it just felt like I was, it felt like I was giving.
[00:07:54] My kid to be married cause it was like my baby and that's how it felt. [00:08:00] Um, and then after that it's kind of like, yeah, okay. It just became like an everyday thing. And, and you have different goals cuz the goal then was to get booked. . But now that we know how to get booked, the goal is like, okay, let's figure out how to reinvest and like let's grow and grow and grow.
[00:08:14] Mm. I remember that day like it was
[00:08:16] Mark: yesterday, everybody remembers their first guest. Everybody remembers their first guest. It doesn't matter where you are, how long you've been been doing it. So over the years then, and I imagine that you've had many of guests and come and stay with you from all different areas.
[00:08:28] Is there one guest. That stands out. Is there one guest, one memory, one story? Is there maybe one guest who maybe left something, whether you liked it or not? Maybe one guest that was just a crazy story. What's like about that one guest that really stands out? Stands out for you if there is any?
[00:08:44] Kierra: Oh, there's a couple.
[00:08:45] I. I remember a couple of negative stories before I remember the positive one negative is, um, this one lady, she booked for like a week and a half and she was supposed to stay in our unit for a week and a half. She got to Virginia and turns out she just decided she didn't [00:09:00] wanna stay anymore. She hadn't even got to the property or anything.
[00:09:03] Um, but she decided she went to stay on her boat instead. And I was like, What your boat? So it was big because I had just started and I, I didn't know how to navigate it cuz I was like, okay, I'm worried about my five star reviews cuz I'm. But I'm also worried about my money. But you know, I also wanna make sure I'm, you know, but then I was like, Okay, Kara, you have a cancellation policy.
[00:09:23] Just tell her, you know, just tell her cancellation policy, cancellation policy. She never ended up leaving a review. But, um, we, we stood firm and I think we told her like, We're not like we, we can't. And it was a really, it was my first real learning lessons, like either you people please or. It's, it's a really hard mix.
[00:09:40] And then I would say the positive story. What's a positive story? I can remember, Oh, I met someone whose husband's a, a big producer on a lot of shows on hgtv and her, she's like from the area of one of our Airbnbs. And I kept that connection cuz I'm like, Girl, you know, if you didn't any black women on your shows, now your husband know I'm here , [00:10:00] so I'll get in contact a little bit.
[00:10:02] Those
[00:10:03] Mark: are, but those are like talking about bookings and talking about marketing. Sometimes those are the, some of the best connections to have. If I've got people coming in and outta Houston or coming in and outta your town, you know, we're gonna need accommodations. So it's little message saying, Hey, you know, have you and anybody coming to town for any fruits?
[00:10:17] Nice, nice work. That's so true. Mm-hmm. , which is, which is where my mind instantly goes to, which is where always thinking of like the market and hat on. Right. Okay. Right, right. So, Moving fast forward, then you've got your first property. When did, so when did number one property sort of then evolve into to, or free, Like where, where are you currently at, in, in, in the business?
[00:10:38] How many properties do you have and what was like the, the sort of the kick point to go from, Hey, we, we can do this. You chat to your husband saying this is this actual viable business model. When was that sort of kickoff to, to property number two. Oh,
[00:10:48] Kierra: okay. So I have another, like a short story. I promise it's a story though.
[00:10:51] Oh, keep going. So , so. My husband, Well, when we were dating, he decided to go to the military. So our agreement [00:11:00] was while he was in the military, I will be in school. Then after I graduate, I will be working, kind of taking care of us how he did when he was in the military and then he'd go to school so he could get his degree and move on.
[00:11:10] But when I realized I didn't wanna do accounting anymore, I was like, Oh crap, I have to figure something else out. So I tried a lot of different things, a lot. I kept trying to go back to accounting, but things just kept happening and I feel like God in the universe, whatever you gonna call it, they were like, Yeah, just stop trying this accounting thing.
[00:11:25] So, um, At one point I was like, Okay, Kira, like what can you do to make sure that you're set and you don't have to go back to accounting if you don't want to? And I was like, Well, the Airbnb thing did work. Um, so when we, So remember I started March, April, 2019. We got back to Texas November, December, 2020.
[00:11:44] That next month we started up again. But I think the real like point was when I realized that on that unit we had, when we first moved back to Houston, we made in the first 11 days, cuz it was the end of February. So the two, I think from like the 12th to the 28th or something, we made like [00:12:00] $7,000 on a two bedroom town home.
[00:12:01] And I was like, Wait, what . So that's when I was like, okay, like let's scale up some more. That's when I realized it can be very valuable. So 2021, I realized, okay. This can really work. So I am still really new to this, but at the same time, I have learned so much because we did scale up quite fast because the next month, that March, we had eight more units, and then after that we realized we wanted to.
[00:12:27] Save our funds and reinvest to buy property. So that's what we're doing now is buying property. But I it, you know, yeah, it, it probably took two years for me to realize like, this is real. Like you can really do this and scale up. And I think I have, you know, a lot of people in the industry see me and they're like, Hold on, who's this girl where she come from?
[00:12:42] Mark: But I think it's more, Well, I feel like we came to get, we came to, like, I came to know of you probably when you were just about taken. Those extra properties because you jumping into Clubhouse and the knowledge and the experience that you shared, and this is, this is what I love about Clubhouse is that anybody can have.
[00:12:57] And Instagram. Anybody can have a TikTok. Anybody can look, [00:13:00] make to look like that. They look like they know what they're talking about. But when you go into Clubhouse, there's no people doing it for you. There's nobody sharing you. It's you. It's literally you. You, if you, if and when you are up on stage, you've got like that one or two minutes to show you.
[00:13:13] That you know what you're talking about. And this is what Clubhouse was, was really good for, to be able to separate those that just have nice pretty Instagram pictures but really don't know what they're talking about to those that really do know what they're talking about. And you were one that hundred percent stood out.
[00:13:26] That's why you got on my radar. And then you know
[00:13:28] Kierra: what's real crazy? I'm pretty sure we met before Clubhouse. I know of her. Fact.
[00:13:33] Mark: Okay. I know it for a fact. Well, that's, that's interesting. We'll have to dig them out, . I know.
[00:13:39] Kierra: We know, but I remember. I know, I know, I know, I know. I know who I'm at in Clubhouse and who I didn't, and I'm pretty sure, I think I knew you.
[00:13:46] We follow each other
[00:13:47] Mark: before Clubhouse. Well, even if. It was before, like now, if we look at your Instagram and just the way that your growth over the last year. Yeah. It has been amazing. Like you look at the, the quality of your, I love your reels by the way. [00:14:00] Your reels are fantastic. I love your stories.
[00:14:02] Like when did you realize that, um, what you were talking. Uh oh. Oh, there you go. Sorry. I was gonna say , when did, when did you sort of think that, Hang on a second. Well, what I'm talking about could really help others. Like what was that sort of kickoff point? Cause I dunno, it's maybe been the last year that I've really noticed that your social media game has, has taken a level up and like what's been that sort of kickoff point.
[00:14:25] Kierra: Oh my gosh. So I took some courses on like Forex and stuff between, before I started my coaching business. I started in August, 2020. And right before that I, um, I was just helping people get booked At that time. I have, I, I wasn't helping people start their units mm-hmm. and, um, I was taking so many courses and I would do well with like, their products and stuff, but I was like, Hold on.
[00:14:49] How much did I just pay for this course? And like, I feel like I have knowledge, I just don't know how to package it. So I, I would say June, July slash August, my husband was getting out like in two months and I, that's another [00:15:00] reason I was like, Okay, what's another way you can make money without having to do accounting?
[00:15:03] Like, that was my goal. I was like, I just don't wanna go back to accounting. So, um, I was like, Okay, let me find someone who can help me package this knowledge. Cause I didn't know crap about marketing. I, I was an. . So I found my coach and um, she, she, she's actually coaching consultant now, but, well, she's a mainly consultant, but she taught me the process of launching and how to, how to build a course and all this other stuff.
[00:15:26] And I was like, Well, I just know I have a lot of knowledge. Okay. Here's the thing. I feel like people are gifted and I don't. I, I really feel like it was like Airbnb was a gift to me because when I first started, there were a lot of things that I figured out that I feel like I shouldn't have known unless someone taught me.
[00:15:43] And that's how I knew like, okay, wait, how did I know how to do this? I knew how to respond to guests. I'd never been in customer service. I knew, you know, I knew how to. How to mitigate situations. I knew how to get to the first page on Airbnb. I knew what attracted people, like I knew where their eyes went.
[00:15:59] [00:16:00] It's just like things I wish, I don't know how to explain, but when I realized that it was a gift, I was like, Okay, well if it is a gift, I can't hide my gift and I can't keep it to myself. Let me go help other people. And I think that is why I have grown so much is because I use my gift to help others get book.
[00:16:16] On Airbnb. I know, I know. I know. You're not just supposed to be on Airbnb, but Airbnb, what came ?
[00:16:22] Mark: Oh, we, we, we've gotta start somewhere. We've gotta start. Well, obviously we're talking on the diary booking podcast, but we've gotta start somewhere. And obviously you started on Airbnb. Now, your niche, the people that you now help, females and mostly American.
[00:16:35] Mostly American, What do you say? Yeah. Oh
[00:16:36] Kierra: yeah. So mostly American. I started off helping everyone, but I've always had a female audience. It wasn't until I got to YouTube that nails started to discover me and be like, Hey, do you also coach women? I get that message like every day. Do you coach men too? .
[00:16:50] Mark: This is the thing that I've learned, and this is something that I really like about yourself, is that you gotta bury yourself so far down in a niche that there's room for nobody.
[00:16:57] And you don't have to be the best, you just have to be the [00:17:00] only. Those are two things that I've always stuck with me. And you know, if you're try and appeal to everybody, then you'll appeal to, to nobody. But it's what I love about your course and your coaching and the way you document it so well on, on, on social media is that you.
[00:17:13] Really care. You really care. As in like, you've just recently traveled back from, is it Florida or you were somewhere with one of your students helping them get, get started up and Yeah. You know, that, that's, uh, that is, uh, amazing to see. It must be a lot of work must be, you know, , but obviously the, the, the payoff is, is is there, which, which is massive.
[00:17:31] Yeah. So let's go try and give a little bit of advice. And so if there's, um, a host, somebody's watching this, maybe if they're just about to get started or just about to pull the trigger. What is the, You've coached a lot of people now, what's the one mistake? That you see your students make that one main mistake that you see most people make when they get started in this industry?
[00:17:50] What, what do you see that being,
[00:17:53] Kierra: You know, it's crazy. I feel like our, ours might be the same, but I wanna hear yours too. So can I, Can I do it when I
[00:17:59] Mark: reverse ? [00:18:00] Yeah. So we, me to go first, right? Absolutely. So mine, what I noticed time and time again is when I talked about niche and we talked about guest avatar, I feel like everybody is trying to have.
[00:18:11] Anybody, anybody's got money. I wanna, anybody who can pay, anybody who wants to book a me or book a me. And I feel like that's the, that's the core mistake that I see so many people make. And it's interesting now as we come into 2022, going into 2023, more and more hosts are having to be really dialed down on, on their niche.
[00:18:27] And it's not just one property, it's like a brand of their businesses. And I take a fantastic example. It's um, Sergio at Jungle House. Let me bring up his website up on the screen because he's really dialed down. On who his, uh, guest avatar is. All the properties are designed the. All the property has got that jungle house feel.
[00:18:47] So Brandon is on point. So it's just, basically it's the house with the plants . And so you really do get a real good instinct as soon as you land on, on his site and on on his business. It's like, yeah, this is, this is a, this is a Sergio, this is a jungle house [00:19:00] property. And I feel like that's, that's where we're all needing to go.
[00:19:02] So wherever you focus solely on maybe digital nomas, people do work cases, maybe you're gonna focus on solo people or big groups, whatever it may be. I feel like you need to have that niche. And I think that's the, the big problem that. But when you do get it, life is so much easier because we've only got a very limited inventory.
[00:19:19] There's only so many heads on beds that we can, that we can fill. This isn't Amazon, you know what I mean? So , it's uh, you gotta understand your guests and it's not so much your business, it's, it's your area. So who comes to Houston? Who comes to Columbus, Who comes to York, where I'm from? Like who are the people that come and then you just go.
[00:19:36] Kierra: Mm-hmm. . That is so true. I, I feel like mine is similar because, um, well first off, that was, that was amazing. And I, now I'm about to go look up Jungle House and I'm done here and go show my husband . Um, we love good ideas, but, um, my mine would be, mine is there's two, they're a lot, but my top two is a, they.
[00:19:56] They don't get to know their area. They don't know if people are actually [00:20:00] traveling there. Well, everyone travels everywhere, but they don't know who's traveling there. And like you said, they don't know who to market to. And then b, I feel like they don't it. It goes back to the target audience. How do you furnish your property to pull in the people you want?
[00:20:14] You shouldn't be going to stores and getting random pieces of furniture you need if you can't afford a designer. For example, like me, when I was starting, I was still in college. I used my internship money to start my unit and I was like, this better work cuz I don't have no way to pay the rent. So, um, I, I would say what I did is I looked up different interior design styles and I said, Okay, which interior design style works best for me?
[00:20:35] And so I really liked to scandinavian cuz it seemed clean. It seemed like something that could easily be clean between each stay. And I said, Okay. I'm gonna go Scandinavian. I know I went on Google images and typed in Scandinavian interior design style. I looked at all the pictures on Google and I said, What do I see?
[00:20:51] What are common threads? What are common colors? What are common couch colors? What are common fabrics? And that's how I shopped. And I feel like it did help me, cuz I kind of had my, my horse [00:21:00] blinders on. So when I was in the store, I only looked for things that were Scandinavian. And because of that, that's.
[00:21:06] I feel like that forced me to have a target audience. And so now today when we furnish, we add, Well, most of our units are Scandinavian, and I think because of it we have the same type of guests. We don't have the partiers, we don't have the people who are crazy. We have good guests good quality guests.
[00:21:23] Mark: That's all we want.
[00:21:24] That's all we want. Well, brilliant. Thank you. That's a really good tip as well, like how you furnish it will obviously help with, with everything else as well. So let's look at behind the scenes. So the, the sort of the tech stack that you are, you are using, what helps run your business behind the scenes?
[00:21:37] Not the people, but like the thing, the softwares. Like what's, what do you have in place that helps run the show.
[00:21:43] Kierra: Oh my gosh. You know, it's so funny. I have all of 'em on. I'm like on my tabs at the top of this , but oh my God, where do I start? So I use Kajabi. Um, Kajabi is to homework course, and then I also use Thrive Cart.
[00:21:56] And that's kind of like a sales pro. Well no it's not a sales processor cuz I use [00:22:00] Stripe and PayPal for sales processing. But it's more for like the sales page. Um, I use Zapier. Zapier is amazing cuz every time something happens in my business, it automatically does something for me. Mm-hmm. ? Um, yeah, it's like a, it's like a assistant, it's like a, a virtual assistant.
[00:22:14] Mark: It's, it is a 24-hour assistant that is on, It's literally is. I know. And then, and it's free, which is amazing. You know,
[00:22:21] Kierra: so I, I outgrew the free, I think within a week.
[00:22:25] Mark: Wow. You, you have, I always say it's like pop in a Pringle, like once you pop right. You can't, you can't stop. You just gotta keep going. You, you can't stop , which, which is awesome.
[00:22:34] So you've got Zapier, so that's for the coaching side. What about the hospitality side? Do you use things like hospitable, do you think? What, what, what do we have in place?
[00:22:42] Kierra: You'd be surprised. I only use Airbnb. What? Yeah, so I, again, I feel like I, Airbnb is one of those things I, I understand really well. So it's really easy for me to, every time they have something new, I can implement it.
[00:22:57] I know, I know. I know. I shouldn't just been Airbnb, [00:23:00] but I understand it really well. Yeah.
[00:23:02] Mark: Right. Me and you. Dark activists, .
[00:23:04] Kierra: That's why I started reading your book. I was like, Okay, Kira, you had to, So I'm on page like 40.
[00:23:09] Mark: So we're gonna, we're gonna slowly just like peel this back, peel. If you lay this back, I'm gonna speak to you this time next year.
[00:23:15] And you're gonna be like, What Mark I've got boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. All of these, we got all of it going now. Um, so what would you say then would be. Main social media channel. I'm gonna say you, I'm, I'm gonna say Instagram, but with a little sprinkling of of YouTubers. Would you say that Instagram is your journey?
[00:23:32] Is that where you spend most of your time? It's when it comes, it's
[00:23:35] Kierra: where I spend lots of my. . Yeah. But, um, it's so funny, most of my traffic comes from Instagram and used to come from Clubhouse. So I had a popular interview that I did, podcast interview and it blew up. It really did. And, and for until this day, most of my followers come from that interview.
[00:23:52] And um, I realized too, a lot of the interviews that I do, they're always like one of the top viewed videos on their channel or the top viewed [00:24:00] video. So I told myself, Okay, if someone asks you to do a podcast interview, don't be close off. Cause I know. Charge for interviews, but I was like, Why not? Why charge when?
[00:24:08] It can be like a, it can really be something where you. Like people, like my audience will discover you because I had the posts, but also your audience will discover me so
[00:24:19] Mark: well, I just found out today that people charge for interviews I didn't know about. I need to work that out. ?
[00:24:24] Kierra: Well, I would say like the big people actually it's crazy cuz sometimes the person interviewing charges and sometimes interviewee charges.
[00:24:33] Mark: That's great. Well, well no one's gonna get charged here. Which is, Which is crazy. . So which was that interview that you spoke about, Who was the, the interview that you did that was the kickoff point? Who was the
[00:24:41] Kierra: Yeah, her name was Sarah from the, She's off script podcast. And, um, she, her podcast is for like women.
[00:24:49] Mm-hmm. who are, who are just wanting to, you know, do something different with life and, um, I, until this day, I can't believe how big it's grown. And I was like, You know what? Let me [00:25:00] try this YouTube thing, cuz it was on YouTube that she posted it on. So I was like, lemme just post a video. I'm, I'm not gonna take it seriously.
[00:25:06] I've done four other YouTube channels in the past and they barely got any, any, any views and let me try this. So my first video I did, I got like 6,000 subscribers and like over 260,000 views on it. And I was like, Oh, okay. I, I like YouTube, I see why people, you know, go to YouTube. Cause Instagram is a lot of.
[00:25:24] But YouTube, I feel like it's, it's work, but it's not Instagram
[00:25:28] Mark: work well in Instagram is your 15 minutes, you know? Yeah. Your post will last for 15 minutes. With YouTube, it lasts forever cause it's a search engine and people will find you at many different times. I've been very fortunate to be posting on one channel since 2016 and people still come to the Boostly channel, uh, through a video that I did four years ago.
[00:25:45] Which is, That's insane. And, and it is just, it basically just a catalog of work. Mm-hmm. . And that's all you're doing is you're building it up. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, they're all amazing. But with the algorithm, it's like, Here today, gone tomorrow. Yeah. Digital blueprints did. Yeah, [00:26:00] exactly. So amazing. All right, so talking about Instagram and YouTube, um, I'm gonna bring up the, the page on here.
[00:26:05] So the coach, coach for the host at, Coach for the host, please do go and, and follow. Um, like I say, you will not be disappointed. I remember, uh, putting a little shout out for yourself. I think it was a couple of months back, and the amount of people that came back to me saying, Oh my gosh, I love, I love, love, love the Instagram.
[00:26:24] I love Kierra it's, it's amazing. It makes me laugh. Like your filters, you've got the tattoo filter, which we , which has become, I know of that through you, but you need to get that branded somewhere because that is, I know, that is amazing. I love it. All right, so to YouTube, um, how do people, I assume people can find that via your Instagram, but for, to go to find a YouTube, how do they.
[00:26:46] Kierra: Um, so I would just go to youtube.com/i think c slash or no, actually youtube.com/kia Castle yt. Yeah. Um, yeah, Or you can just [00:27:00] let me think what else you could just like. Look up Kiara Castle and you'll see, you'll see two channels for me. You'll see my vegan channel from when I was vegan. Oh, that's what I've
[00:27:08] Mark: got.
[00:27:08] Just then I just found the vegan one. Yep.
[00:27:12] Kierra: So I did that. Um, I had a bunch of fun when I was vegan and, and on YouTube, but that didn't, Again, I feel like that that wasn't my gift. So that's why I didn't do well in it. I felt like. You know, Shortterm rentals
[00:27:23] Mark: and now we're doing, now we're doing this. We'll get, we'll get it all linked up.
[00:27:25] We'll find all the links and, and, and I, I do know that video. Cause I remember seeing it. I was like, Wow, it's crazy. It's got so many, so many views on it. And it's something that you've literally just launched as well. Seven minute video,
[00:27:35] Kierra: It's like not even that long. Yeah.
[00:27:37] Mark: Okay. It just goes, shows the power, theres goes to show the power of it.
[00:27:41] I, Kara, thank you so much and if anybody wants to reach out to you directly about maybe coaching or just asking questions, is Instagram the best place to start the journey.
[00:27:50] Kierra: Instagram is the best place. Um, but also you need to go read the playbook that Mark wrote, . Cause it's a great start as well. Thank you. So, um, find me on [00:28:00] Instagram.
[00:28:00] Um, I'm always, I'm always open to talk to anyone. I, I know you sent like a lot of people my way and I would like to thank you for that. We still talk to this day, so thank you.
[00:28:08] Mark: Yeah, of course. And hopefully one day, just like with Julie, And with TJ and Noble, you all got to meet in person last week.
[00:28:14] Hopefully the next time I'm over in the States, it'll be in person. Interesting. Are
[00:28:17] Kierra: you not coming to TJ's event and August?
[00:28:19] Mark: I, I can't with the baby on the way. It's mean. You're right. It's uh, it's uh, yeah, it's nails to the Mass. Now we are here. Nashville was amazing. 2023. Well, I'm gonna bring the whole family over next year, so I'm sure.
[00:28:31] Kierra: Oh, I can't wait to meet the boys.
[00:28:34] Mark: Yes. All right, Kira, have an amazing day. Know it's morning your time. I appreciate it. Have a great day. Thank you everybody for tuning in. And as always, this is the Broostly podcast where we give hosts the tools, the tactics, the training, and the confidence to get more bookings.
[00:28:48] And let's leave this with a little freestyle wrap. Having a blast. Gonna get out on the Boostly podcast. Bruce Lee led Bruce Lee cuz it's so hard on the tees loose leaf. Picking up those [00:29:00] rhymes.
[00:29:00] Kierra: Don't write it, just do it loosely.
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