TikTok Ban, Omni Channel Marketing, and Income Diversification

In this episode of the Business Millennials Podcast, hosts Safa Harris and Ashley Dreager discuss the potential TikTok ban in the United States and its implications for content creators, businesses, and consumers. They explore the reasons behind the proposed ban, the lobbying efforts of competing social media platforms, and the importance of diversifying income streams and marketing strategies to build a sustainable business.

Key Takeaways:
1. The potential TikTok ban in the U.S. is driven by lobbying efforts from competing social media platforms and concerns over data security and foreign ownership.
2. Content creators and businesses heavily reliant on TikTok for income and marketing are at risk if the platform is banned, highlighting the importance of diversifying revenue streams.
3. Influencer income from social media platforms is not a reliable, long-term business strategy and should be leveraged to build owned assets and revenue streams.
4. Businesses should adopt an omni-channel marketing approach, utilizing multiple platforms and owned channels like email lists and websites to mitigate the risk of relying on borrowed platforms.
5. Businesses selling products through TikTok Shop or other online marketplaces should establish their own e-commerce websites and fulfillment processes to maintain control over their sales and customer relationships.

Timestamps:
00:00 Welcome to the Business Millennials Podcast!

00:58 The TikTok Dilemma: Consumption, Creation, and the Potential Ban

01:32 The Struggle of Content Creation and Business Ownership

02:11 The Unique Value of TikTok for Users and Creators

06:01 Exploring the Potential TikTok Ban and Its Implications

09:42 The Business and Political Dynamics Behind the TikTok Ban

18:28 The Creator Economy: Navigating Income Streams and Platform Dependence

25:35 Strategies for Diversification and Ownership in Digital Business

28:42 Diversifying Income and Marketing Strategies for Sustainability

36:26 Final Thoughts: Building a Sustainable Business Beyond Social 

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Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the business millennials podcast. This show brings you strategic insights through raw and unfiltered real world advice to accelerate your business growth for longterm success. I'm Safa Harris, and I'm Ashley Drager. We're the founders of scale and thrive co a full service marketing and business development firm, helping visionary companies scale sustainably. Expect us to have the uncomfortable conversations that no one else is having. We'll break down what it really takes to grow and scale your business beyond six Seven or even eight figures, as well as inspiring interviews with diverse leaders across marketing, product development, sales, and more. We apply on the wall as we conduct strategy sessions with business owners, experiencing issues such as plateaued income, burnout, and generally dropping the ball, giving you the tools and resources to break through your own roadblocks, but also personal development methods to grow you as a balanced, conscious leader amidst business growth. Let's jump into this week's episode. you

Ashley Dreager: 0:58

What are our intros going to look like when we can no longer consume TikTok?

Safa Harris: 1:04

Oh, I don't know because we talk about it a lot and we're like, oh, did you see this on TikTok? I was on prison talk

Ashley Dreager: 1:13

There's, I,

Safa Harris: 1:14

mom talk

Ashley Dreager: 1:15

I love TikTok. I'm like, I'm not even going to like sugarcoat it. Like it is my favorite platform right now, by far.

Safa Harris: 1:26

but Particularly for like consuming because you've posted like three

Ashley Dreager: 1:30

Oh yeah. For consuming. I'm terrible. I mean, I've always been really terrible at being consistent with my video based content. Just because like, because the kids,

Safa Harris: 1:41

while

Ashley Dreager: 1:42

the kids are, it's just

Safa Harris: 1:44

hard

Ashley Dreager: 1:46

like,

Safa Harris: 1:48

We're not content creators. We are business owners. That's like the hardest part us. I was really, really consistent for a really long time. I was posting one once a day and I, I was having like really good growth and I'm sure if I like kept it going it would have done stuff because they even like opened up like I can do lives on there now because I have enough followers.

Ashley Dreager: 2:07

Oh, no way.

Safa Harris: 2:09

Yeah,

Ashley Dreager: 2:10

Oh my gosh.

Safa Harris: 2:11

posting cuz like we got busy with like our launches and stuff like that And I'm like I can't because it's not just posting the video like granted I wasn't just like spending the time editing or anything like that But it's still like okay like let me sit and like set my camera up have this conversation do all of this post it and then The thing about TikTok is that you will get a lot of engagement and a lot of conversation and comments. Even on your videos that like flop, you're gonna get likes and comments.

Ashley Dreager: 2:43

You know, it's great. I started getting notifications that people were watching those videos that I posted, it was like two months ago

Safa Harris: 2:51

I know.

Ashley Dreager: 2:51

now, a month ago,

Safa Harris: 2:52

how,

Ashley Dreager: 2:52

two months ago. Yeah.

Safa Harris: 2:53

we talk about like the half life of, um, a piece of content and

Ashley Dreager: 2:56

Yeah.

Safa Harris: 2:57

it's only like this long for each of these different platforms? don't know what TikTok is doing, but, like, it will push out your old videos from months ago and expand, like, the half life on it. And I'm like, this is genius.

Ashley Dreager: 3:14

One of my favorite features is when you click on somebody's profile, and it automatically takes you to the video that you just watched, so that you can like, continue.

Safa Harris: 3:23

Yes.

Ashley Dreager: 3:24

Like,

Safa Harris: 3:24

so good. And it tells

Ashley Dreager: 3:25

goodness.

Safa Harris: 3:26

watched this one.

Ashley Dreager: 3:27

Yeah.

Safa Harris: 3:28

And you will also get reach. And, like, I'm getting followers just from stuff I'm reposting.

Ashley Dreager: 3:35

Oh, really?

Safa Harris: 3:37

Mm hmm. From

Ashley Dreager: 3:38

Okay. Laughter.

Safa Harris: 3:42

pages. They will see my comment, like it, go to my page because we're all nosy as bananas. And then I, they will follow me and engage on my other content.

Ashley Dreager: 3:54

That's why I don't comment on that account because the videos that I have up there Yeah, they're tick tock has become a staple for a lot of things for a lot of things

Safa Harris: 4:07

that's like our experience on like the creation part, but just like the consuming part. Like I was just telling you the other day, I was like, TikTok is usually where I. I'll hear something or say something and then especially when it has to do with like Social justice issues or governmental things or things like that That is where i'll hear about it. And then i'll go do a fact check the only person I I will only send Non fact checked things, too, is you. But everything else, before I share it on my stories, or repost it, I'll do a quick fact check. Just cause, like, I do, like, I have a degree in international relations. Like, that is something that I am qualified to do as fact check. So I'll do, like, a quick fact check to be like, Okay, yeah, this is legit. And some things I'll, like, hear and I'll know. I'll be like, yeah, no, I know this is true. And I'll repost it. But it's, like, a great starting point for your exposure to things you may not know. Oh! and you can't trust any of the mainstream media outlets anymore. So I'm like, where am I getting my, hey, you need to go do some research on this ideas because I don't have time to sit there and like do all of that. I need the prompts to go figure out and go look things up and find things out. So it's like, I don't know where I'm going to get that anymore. then also it's really great for like, I need ideas to do with like a toddler. I need. Give me cottage cheese recipes. And like, my consumption is probably going to go down a lot. Cause I never would have, you never would have bought in prime bites. I never would have gotten the bulldog ramen. And then we're going to be out of content for our intros. It was

Ashley Dreager: 5:53

know. All of, I was just telling you all the saved videos, all the stuff that I need to go back. So if you haven't caught on, uh, we're talking about the, the ban on TikTok that is coming. If it's, if it doesn't end up getting banned, I'm going to be shocked.

Safa Harris: 6:15

Yeah, we'll see what happens with the Senate vote, but the fact that they snuck it into an appropriations bill. That's how they get it so a couple things here related to business of like how this even started to happen, why the TikTok ban initiated, and then like what impact it has for the content creators that are on TikTok. The impact it has on businesses on TikTok, like on TikTok shop, or just using it as a marketing channel. And then, um, just, well, we already talked about what it, what it does for us as TikTok consumers. We're very sad just on the fact of like, I'm not going to

Ashley Dreager: 7:01

It's enhancing my life.

Safa Harris: 7:05

Like, I don't watch TV or anything like that. This

Ashley Dreager: 7:07

I

Safa Harris: 7:07

like my form of entertainment. And, honestly, I've learned a lot. Even, like, just, like, on Muslim TikTok, like, religiously. It's, like, given me a lot. Like, I've learned a lot on there, too. And it's, like, this is gonna sound insane, but it's, like, been, like, instrumental in my spiritual journey. Like it's TikTok me closer to God.

Ashley Dreager: 7:32

believe it though, because you can get exposed to so many things and perspectives and new conversations and

Safa Harris: 7:40

It was bringing the country back together again. Like it really does. It was I will say TikTok was a great way to expose you to other cultures, to other information, getting to know people in a real way. Way that like no all people in Texas aren't hillbillies like all Muslims aren't terrorists like now You're seeing and meeting and talking to them like from all different parts of the country all different parts of the world and you're getting Exposure to these cultures that you may never have gotten any other way Because that's not what my Instagram feed looks like and it's never looked like that. I only get videos of business owners and like moms and it's not even very diverse moms. It's just like moms that also have businesses. They're all working on mom.

Ashley Dreager: 8:35

I mean the extent, the extent of my suggested posts on Instagram are just human designed content creators. Like that's it. That's all that I ever see. I'm like, Oh, this is really interesting. And then I'm like, Oh, it's suggested for me. Okay. Yeah. So like the algorithm is like completely different.

Safa Harris: 8:57

that's competition for Meta. This is like the one very big popular platform that Meta doesn't own. So Clubhouse, it came out, it was huge. Vine came out, it was huge. But then they died very quickly. TikTok is the only one that got its hooks into people. That people are like, this is a winner, this is gonna stick around. A lot of people moved off of Instagram and Facebook and made it their preferred platform. And Zuckerberg over there is like, Oh, this is like, this is competition for me. It's hurting my income. And so one of the things that is very common for, um, the newer age American business owners, billionaires, is that they will. Employee lobbying for their business efforts.

Ashley Dreager: 10:00

Meta tried just truly competing.

Safa Harris: 10:05

Oh,

Ashley Dreager: 10:06

in 20, I think it was like 2021. They tried to truly compete with TikTok by pushing reels. Yeah. And they push and push and push. And it just, I mean, yes, it was much easier to get visible than it is today on Instagram, but it wasn't the same.

Safa Harris: 10:22

Mm mm.

Ashley Dreager: 10:23

So,

Safa Harris: 10:24

and a lot of people, like, because remember all those dancing Reels and pointing? I

Ashley Dreager: 10:32

I think about the ones that I did, it's just so cringey.

Safa Harris: 10:35

know, I was like, I don't wanna. Hmm. and a lot of trends from TikTok will go over onto Instagram and things like that, but it's just like a different way to consume. There's different, like, the authenticity factor on TikTok is very different than on Instagram and all of that kinds of things. And I remember a lot of people being like, hey, they're trying to compete with TikTok. It's different. This is not working. Everything is broken. Instagram, stop. Stop doing this, whatever it was unsuccessful. Um, but so you'll see this with like Amazon with Bezos and then like with Zuckerberg and meta and things like that, they will employ lobbying efforts to dampen competition. They'll try to legislate out their competition. And so that's what happened with Tik TOK. They started being like. Oh, like they're Chinese owned, there's security measures, like we want to keep, we want to keep all the profits in the U. S. type of thing. And then they started lobbying to get TikTok banned. So obviously politicians, they get lobbied. That's how it works. Like, okay. We all know what's going on with lobbyists and things like that. So that's kind of what started the legislation going. And since then, there's a lot that's happened like with APAC and other lobbying efforts to also push back against TikTok. And then, uh, there was a whole snafu with like, Jeff Jackson that everybody trusted and he became the sacrificial lamb. Of where he,

Ashley Dreager: 12:16

It

Safa Harris: 12:17

where he had, I feel like he was like poised really well to be able to run for president because he was doing like FDR style, um, oh man, what, what did FDR call them? There were like radio, nightly radio talks that he would do, um, during that era where he was just like, it was very like face to face, very authentic marketing from FDR, just

Ashley Dreager: 12:41

was transparent.

Safa Harris: 12:43

very transparent. And so. Jeff Jackson was mirroring the same thing. Be like, oh, I'm in my pajamas in my kitchen, and I'm talking to you real talk, like a real human, whatever. And he had garnered a lot of trust and respect from both sides. And then he was like, guys, This is why we're banning TikTok. Like, I'm really concerned. You guys don't know what's going on. And then like, it came out that he had like gotten, um, people debunked everything he said that like, no, it's like, yeah, he was like, Oh, it's just like a forced sale. It's like the company that owns TikTok is one, they're not going to do a forced sale. They're not going to give up their most profitable income stream. And they already moved the data centers to Texas. So.

Ashley Dreager: 13:32

Side note, who are they to force the sale of somebody's business?

Safa Harris: 13:39

A foreign entity's business. Yeah.

Ashley Dreager: 13:40

Like, can you imagine if the U S government came to you, like whoever, whoever you are, whoever you're listening. And they said, you need to sell your business because we want you to hello, can we acknowledge how wild that sounds like you? Okay. So we could go down a tangent with that, but Just on the Jeff Jackson thing, I don't know why he thought that was a good idea. do you think that that was planned with his people behind the scenes to like, put that content out in that way? Cause that's just, like, just watching it, I feel like the majority of people, regardless of whether they supported him or not, just on a surface level, like, it sounds like a terrible idea to say those things. I

Safa Harris: 14:34

Like, one, we knew that he got money from APAC that wants TikTok gone. Like, they had a leaked tape being like, oh, we have a TikTok problem. And then, then, um, so he came out with that. Yeah. don't know if they think like all Americans are stupid or what, because they were like, oh, it's for your safety. It's for national security. They have your data. Like Meta sells my data more than TikTok does.

Ashley Dreager: 15:04

was going to say, like, that's not happening anyways with all of these other social media companies with Google with like, yeah,

Safa Harris: 15:17

Big Scary China. And so this is for your security, whatever it may be, like, we're trying to protect you here. You guys don't know. And it's like, one, either they're stupid, and they don't know, and they've bought into this story of this is what it actually is. Or they think, Oh, we can just push out this narrative. We can push out this propaganda and get them to buy into this for X, Y, Z reasons that we are wanting to this to happen and do this. And they'll go along with it, which work has worked for years and ages and ages and ages. But then now we have TikTok and that's why they want to get rid of it for all of those things. But people are just like, No, he lost all of his brand awareness because he came out with this and people were like well No, because reasons and then he ended up taking the video down.

Ashley Dreager: 16:20

I remember he, he deleted that video, but like the damage was already done.

Safa Harris: 16:25

exactly

Ashley Dreager: 16:25

already stitched everywhere.

Safa Harris: 16:27

exactly. So it's it's once it's out there. It's out there. Sorry Jeff But on that, so Zuckerberg and like Bezos and them, they usually use lobbying efforts to their competition and or force sales to create, like Instagram was used to not be owned by Meta. Used to not be they are not like the old school business owners that were good at business strategy and things like that. You'll, they'll use legislation now as a business strategy versus like business strategy as a business strategy that like Henry Ford or the Rockefellers did. And all of those kinds of things. Those, Those are not the business owners of our day now, so will tick tock be banned? Possibly. Maybe we'll see how it goes with the Senate vote, but the fact that it failed so many times as different pieces of legislation, and then they start to stick it into a defense spending bill and defense spending bills always get, they always get passed through because can't not send all of the money we don't have. It's defense spending. Um, it's defense spending. So yeah, can they pull it out and do it as like a separate, um, line item and argue it that way? Yeah, maybe. Is it looking like it's gonna pass? Yeah. So what does that mean? I don't know what it means for us as consumers of TikTok. Where we're going to go or what we're going to do. there be another platform? Maybe it'll come up, but what can content creators on that page and on that app and then business owners, what can they do? What are their options and what should they learn from this? All of that is a long winded introduction to our episode for today. So.

Ashley Dreager: 18:31

It's something that we have had side conversations about for a while with the, uh, I think it's called the TikTok creator fund where people make money. Content creators make money based on the number of views that their videos get. And there was one creator that I had come across. I had followed her for a while. I really liked her content, just genuinely as a follower. But one of her videos had come up in my feed about how she was so upset that the amount that she was getting paid per view dropped significantly. And she didn't think that was fair. Um, she was really upset about it. And I was shocked that she had this perspective because it's not an owned income stream. You don't have control over that income stream, how well it performs, when you get paid, how you get paid, you opt into something that somebody else says that they will pay you for. But it's almost like it's too good to be true. it's not something that you should have planned for forever. Like, take it while you can get it. Yeah, for sure. But this is not a W 2 job. Like, this is not an employer.

Safa Harris: 19:52

Well, I wanted to say that, like, that's just like being employed because they can lay you off whenever they want.

Ashley Dreager: 19:58

Oh,

Safa Harris: 19:58

no job security in a W 2 job. They can stop

Ashley Dreager: 20:00

true.

Safa Harris: 20:01

and that's exactly what happened here.

Ashley Dreager: 20:03

Mhm. Mhm.

Safa Harris: 20:07

Or being a content creator from a platform because they can stop paying you and doing whatever they want because it's their business. You

Ashley Dreager: 20:14

Right.

Safa Harris: 20:15

That's not an owned asset in your business. This is exactly what we were talking about in the MRR episode, right? This is not an owned asset in your business. This is not an owned revenue stream in your business in your life that you can count on. Can you take it and leverage it into something else? Yeah. So I think a lot of content creators have been like, Oh, I'm making like how many K a month off of just putting these videos out. I'm totally going to keep doing that. Like I'm going to retire on. This is my retirement fund. Like just doing all that. And like, You just recently shared a video where a guy was like, I've been creating these videos for however months My wife has been doing been working really hard and today's like her last day and they don't have any other Revenue streams, they're purely basing it off of the TikTok creator creativity program, where they're getting paid for videos they're posting based on views, which to the other person that posted being like, yeah, my views take, I'm not making as much money per video. Like, this is just an aspect of revenue stream in your business. should be diversifying. Your business to have multiple revenue stream. And I get it. A lot of content creators and influencers, they just start off for some extra cash. Like, cause we've seen that too, because some person was like, yeah, I have a job. I work full time and I just started posting these videos, whatever. And I was struggling to make meatloaf. ends meets and now I'm posting these and that's helping me pay the bills. And like now that's going to be gone for me. So I need to figure something out. But some of them, they take that and they're like, Oh, I'm making all this money. This is now my main income. And then just keep going with it. Like that is not the smart, sustainable, long term business plan that is going to put you in some hot water because just like you can get fired, you can get laid off from a job, TikTok can stop paying.

Ashley Dreager: 22:16

hmm.

Safa Harris: 22:17

views can go down. You can make less money and there's nothing you can do about that other than try other marketing tactics to maybe to get your views up, but not

Ashley Dreager: 22:29

You don't have control over it. They could, even if all of those other variables stay the same, they just change the algorithm. The number of people that complain about how little reach their content gets because of an algorithm change, zero control over that. Right? This is why we talk about social media being a borrowed platform. marketing channel, you're borrowing someone else's platform to reach your target market, to reach your audience. You don't have control over it. You don't own it. And with this TikTok ban coming up into the like conversation, into the news, it could go away altogether. And there are a lot of businesses that are kind of having this Oh, crap moment because they've been so dependent on tick tock because it's been so easy to build an audience to, to reach new customers, which, yes, that's something that we suggest to our clients to in marketing strategies right now. Um, but I mean, right now I say like, We have right now, we're going to say, yes, we could, you know, we can use it while we have it, but we're going to have a backup plan. Um, but that's not the, that's not the approach that a lot of people take. And that video that you, um, that creator that you were just referencing the messy house one, the second that I saw it, I was like, this is a terrible idea. Because, you know, for context, his wife, uh, works in the medical field, was full time. He was a stay at home dad. All was fine and dandy. Um, but he's saying that she's, she's quitting her job so that he can be full time as a content creator. And even if there was no issues coming down the pipeline for Tik TOK, we can talk about how risky it is to be solely dependent on it, influencer income.

Safa Harris: 24:29

is like, oh, I need to diversify. I need to add some revenue streams and then create that influencer brand. If you are in the position where you're making that much money as an influencer off of your Creator platforms like this is a great time for you to take that and launch a product to build out a business Do all that like and leverage that But if you are sitting there and you're thinking oh, this is great money I'm going to make this my full time plan. Think a little bit deeper. Go a little bit further. Make up, use it as something to leverage and make into something bigger and have more of that strategy in a longer term plan because this, it's not a long term plan because when algorithm changes, things are not going to work the same way. And then TikTok can, go away all on its own. so what can you do if you're in this position? If you're in the position where TikTok is being banned, you've built your entire business, product base, whatever it may be, on TikTok shop. That's where your audience is. What are your options? What can you do? Um, and then like one of the suggestions we've made to avoid being in this situation is diversify your income streams. Don't just rely on the creator income stream, also as a business owner that's using it as a marketing channel, what can you do to kind of hedge those and not be so, don't put all your eggs in one basket. I was going to say put your chickens in one basket, but that's count your chickens before it's counting your eggs. put your eggs at all, all in one basket in like your marketing strategies and like what you can do there.

Ashley Dreager: 26:12

Even if you are not on TikTok, a lot of businesses do this right now with Facebook and Instagram. They are solely or very, very heavy on Facebook and Instagram. That's still not an owned marketing channel. That's still not an owned platform for you. It's still borrowed. And something that I've pushed for a really long time and something that we, we've always incorporate into our marketing strategies is something called omni channel marketing, which just means multiple places. It's not singular like social media, right? You're incorporating things like, um, SEO, uh, email lists, blogs, podcasts, collaborations, like whatever other ways that you're going to be marketing. It's, it's multiple channels. So you're kind of like

Safa Harris: 27:02

Everywhere.

Ashley Dreager: 27:02

everywhere, but it doesn't need to literally be everywhere. It just needs to be Not Facebook only

Safa Harris: 27:10

Well, because that's, so I remember in 2020, a lot of coaches were like, Oh, just pick one platform start there. Like home, like get out there and put your efforts there. And then what happened is people, that's a great way to test, like test your messaging. what you're putting out there. Figure it out. Learn content creation. Learn all of that. Be in that one spot. Figure that out. But don't stop there. And like we get it, don't burn yourself out trying to be everywhere. There's different like repurposing tactics and things you can do to do that. We have a whole Last, go listen to all of last month's episodes. We talk about repurposing to be everywhere, um, and how to do it without burnout. But like that, don't put all your eggs in that one platform because you never know what's going to change and what you're going to need to adapt to and change and figure out a way to essentially be everywhere because that's going to hedge your bets. When something does go down, you could pick up and get leads from elsewhere and they're all compounded efforts moving in the same direction.

Ashley Dreager: 28:22

An email list is a Usually the next one that I would recommend

Safa Harris: 28:28

Oh,

Ashley Dreager: 28:29

Pretty much across the board

Safa Harris: 28:30

list.

Ashley Dreager: 28:31

Yeah, yeah, it's it's just so versatile It's a tried and true marketing method. It's an owned channel. You get to keep that email as like, uh, intellectual property for you. To bring it back to the businesses now that are going to, that are really worried about what their future looks like. This is where that expansion of the marketing strategy needs to happen. And to preach the benefits of a marketing strategy. I feel like I'm like, I talk about this till I'm like blue in the face, but it's just so important to know where you're showing up. Why you're showing up there, who you're reaching, because it, you, you really can't get dependent in any one area. Like it just, things change so rapidly, even if it doesn't feel rapid in the moment, like just think about how much change has happened in the last two or three years in the online space. Like it does happen really, really fast. And when you have that marketing strategy, when you have a documented Plan of what you're going to be doing. It's easy to manipulate it. It's easy to add in or change the variables that you need to, to kind of like shift the direction that you're headed.

Safa Harris: 29:48

and it also allows you to track the data and actually know what you're looking for. If you know what you're doing um, put like a tangible data efforts in there and then you can see that coming. You can see that change before you're like, Oh, man, I didn't make the sales. I needed to, to keep all of this going. You can see it coming and then you can make the change and then you can actually see if the change is working. So it's going to be marketing efforts. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Diversify. Expand your marketing effort. Yeah, maybe start with one. Get good at it. Figure it out. And find a way to expand your effort. Move it into something you own. Your own, uh, channels for marketing, but that also goes for your revenue stream. So if your revenue stream is dependent on shop, if that's what it's built on, your revenue stream is creator income, which all the other platforms also have creator income. So yeah, you can keep that as part of your strategy for your revenue streams, but build something out. Off of TikTok shop, figure out that fulfillment, figure out all of those things. And that's the same thing with, um, the Amazon FBA stuff. If you are selling exclusively on Amazon, Amazon can shut that down anytime they want.

Ashley Dreager: 31:17

That's a good point

Safa Harris: 31:18

what are

Ashley Dreager: 31:19

that, yeah, that hasn't come up in our conversations yet. That's a really good point.

Safa Harris: 31:26

just came to me. A

Ashley Dreager: 31:30

yeah. Amazon's not your own website. Like Amazon Etsy. Um, There's another one that was just right off the, like that, where it's like an online marketplace for you. That's not your own website.

Safa Harris: 31:44

to figure out that fulfillment, figure out that tech, build it out to you own the fulfillment of your own. So you, you own the product, right? You own that asset, but your sales process, your sales framework, that is unowned and it's owned by other channels that could go away whenever. You need to figure all of that fulfillment out, put it in place, own that as well so you have the control over it, and then push your marketing efforts up to Yeah, it's going to take time for you to make the same amount of sales. can, I'm not saying abandon Amazon, don't abandon TikTok shop, like ride the wave till it's great, but how that contingency plan and also be building that up because as we've talked about a lot, it takes a really long time to get brand awareness. So take this time where you're bringing in that money to build all of these other things up and then use those to sell because you own it. You have the control. Same thing with your email list. You'll own it, whatever. So diversify your marketing. Expand it. No eggs in one basket. Revenue streams. your revenue streams. Diversify them so you're not reliant on one Own your business assets that you're selling and have control on your fulfillment and own that as well. If you are leveraging someone else's fulfillment mechanisms, then you're going to That can take it taken away from you and that is not going to be long term sustainability and you're going to end up in hot water.

Ashley Dreager: 33:36

And just to give you a very actionable takeaway in case you are in this position of very heavily dependent on a social media platform, start your email list today. I understand that like a, a full website can be a huge undertaking, can be very costly or time consuming to learn how to do it on your own. At least start with a single page landing page to get people onto your email list and start moving them over now because it's, it is, it's going to be a lot more than just, Oh, Hey, here's my freebie. Here's my opt in. Click the link in bio and suddenly everybody floods over there. You're, you're gonna need to push it. It's gonna be like a launch. let's be honest. So, you know, if we have, if we're looking at a nine month timeline for TikTok to potentially go away, focus that whole nine months on pushing people onto one of your own channels.

Safa Harris: 34:37

And if you are one of those tiktok shop owners building your shop on your website now Figure out your fulfillment if you're a physical product figure out your fulfillment all of that to Move it on to something that you own. You have nine months to do that. Two things you're doing right now is building up your shop and building up your email list be able to launch that and bring that income in as soon as you need to And really a lot of people might just prefer to pay you directly anyway So you're because you're going to make more money off of it and they would rather give you the money

Ashley Dreager: 35:14

Mm.

Safa Harris: 35:14

versus tiktok anyways

Ashley Dreager: 35:16

fees. Yeah. Yeah. I think there is a, there is a benefit to having that on your own website. There's like a trust factor. Uh, this is the authentic product. I'm buying it directly from the seller.

Safa Harris: 35:29

which sometimes like as a consumer I do go on I'm like is this the right thing that I saw that video because I'll see like three four five videos of like different creators pushing the same tiktok shop product And they can all label the link a little bit differently and things like that and i'll click on like, is this the one that i'm actually trying to buy? Is this like the original? There's no way to know For sure. Cause everybody names it a little bit different when they push the affiliate on Tik TOK shop stuff.

Ashley Dreager: 35:58

And they can just take the pictures.

Safa Harris: 35:59

I do have a moment. I'll be like, Hmm, like, is this, let me, let me investigate. Is this the right

Ashley Dreager: 36:04

Heh heh heh heh heh heh.

Safa Harris: 36:07

product I'm looking for. But now if I knew, Oh yeah, this is this brand. Let me just go to their website and just buy it. Like,

Ashley Dreager: 36:13

Mm hmm.

Safa Harris: 36:14

If you want a long term sustainable business, you need to diversify your marketing, you need to own your revenue streams, and own your marketing efforts as well.

36:26

And that wraps up another episode of the business millennials podcast. We hope you found this conversation, thought provoking, inspirational, and helps you make a larger impact with your business. Growth is not just about profits or revenue. It's a journey of personal development, contribution, and bettering ourselves in society. Our challenge for you take at least one key lesson from our time together today that you can apply not just to your business. But your relationships, creative expression, wellbeing, and personal evolution to, we appreciate you tuning in. If you enjoyed this show, we invite you to pay it forward, share it with an entrepreneur, creative student, or community leader who needs an infusion of insight or inspiration right now. And make sure to subscribe on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. So you never miss a single episode. And if you like what you heard, leave us a five star review. See you next week.