“ It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to have worries. It’s okay to doubt yourself. But it’s not okay to give up because of that.” with Dhar Mann and Candice Georgiadis
Don’t be afraid to go after your dreams. So many people are stuck in fear or self-doubt. They’re worried about failing or what others are going to think of them. But what separates successful people from unsuccessful people is not that successful people don’t have those same thoughts, it’s that they decide to move forward anyway. It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to have worries. It’s okay to doubt yourself. But it’s not okay to give up because of that. Don’t live with regret later in life wondering “what if”. Never forget the biggest obstacle is always in your own mind. Push past that mental block that’s preventing you from going after your dreams so you can live your best life!
I had the pleasure of interviewing Dhar Mann, a serial entrepreneur who shares his personal stories of success and failure to help inspire others. He is currently the Founder and CEO of LiveGlam, a cosmetics company that he took from $600 in starting capital to 8-figures in annual revenue in less than 2 years. On social media, his motivational videos on life and business have been viewed over 150 million times and shared by millions of people in less than 6 months.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Throughout my life I’ve experienced epic successes and failures. From starting my first business at 19 and funding millions of dollars in real estate transactions to losing it all in the mortgage crisis. From making International headlines as an early pioneer in the medical marijuana industry to going completely broke sleeping on a friend’s couch. I’ve experienced more setbacks than most people can even imagine on the way to creating the 8-figure cosmetics business I run today, and that life and business experience ultimately is what led me to being the storyteller and content creator I am today.
People are able to empathize with failure, and because I’ve failed more than most people have, that’s what makes me relatable. I turned to social media as the best way to connect with more people and spread positivity and inspiration.
Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?
Six months ago, I decided to create my first motivational Facebook video. I committed myself to making two videos a week, and within a short amount of time, my videos started catching on. Today my videos have been viewed over 150 million times and have been shared by millions of people. I’m growing over 50,000 followers a week on Facebook, and on Instagram I have over 500,000 followers.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?
On one production for an Instagram video, I was working with a makeup artist who was shooting a class on how to do bridal makeup. The model happened to be another Instagram beauty influencer named Laura (@LauraG_143). At the end of the class, to complete the bridal makeup look, Laura got fully decked out in the bridal veil and wedding dress. When the class was over, we all decided to go out for drinks to celebrate. Laura only had her wedding dress to wear and I was coincidentally dressed up in a white button-up shirt. Everywhere we went, people thought we had just gotten married and were congratulating us. Even though we had just met, we played along. And sure enough, we actually ended up together. So when people ask us about our story today, we tell them we got married the day we met! In summary, using social media is not only a great way to scale a business or make money, but also to meet your partner!
Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?
In my experience, the fastest way to increase business revenues is through Facebook due to one simple fact: virality. While Instagram and YouTube are the most influential platforms for influencers to drive sales, it takes a long time to stand out on those platforms and to gain influence. But with Facebook, one piece of content can translate to hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in revenue very quickly.
When I first started a nail polish line for my cosmetics company, we had posted a picture of a girl’s hand wearing three different nail polish colors to our few hundred followers. A beauty blogger ended up seeing the picture and decided to share it to her audience. Then all of her followers starting sharing it and it created a massive snowball effect. That one post ended up getting shared by tens of thousands of people and resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. We had to restock those nail polish colors several times just to keep up with the demand. It’s unbelievable the amount of traction one great piece of content can get on Facebook if done correctly.
Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.
Develop relationships with key industry influencers — This is a great way to make the brand more exciting, generate sales and grow a following.
Do giveaways of exciting products and have influencers promote it — Our last giveaway helped my cosmetics company @liveglam.co gain over 80k followers in less than 24 hours.
Take time on your captions — People like to look at pretty pictures, but they really engage with captions that speak to them. Take the extra time to write engaging captions and don’t underestimate the power of storytelling.
Your first 9 pictures matter the most — For most people when they come across your page they will not take the time to scroll it if you don’t capture them right away.Have exciting content that will make people want to follow at first glance.
Use Instagram Stories, IGTV and Live — Facebook and Instagram like when you use their new features. They will rank you higher in the algorithm. Be an early adopter to all new feature releases and your visibility will increase.
Respond to every comment and comment on other Influencer’s pages — It doesn’t matter if you have 5 comments or 500, respond to every single person that comments on your content. Similarly, take the time to like and comment on the content for Influencers that are important in your industry. It’s a great way to develop a relationship, have them get to know your name and possibly want to work with you.
Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Don’t be afraid to go after your dreams. So many people are stuck in fear or self-doubt. They’re worried about failing or what others are going to think of them. But what separates successful people from unsuccessful people is not that successful people don’t have those same thoughts, it’s that they decide to move forward anyway. It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to have worries. It’s okay to doubt yourself. But it’s not okay to give up because of that. Don’t live with regret later in life wondering “what if”. Never forget the biggest obstacle is always in your own mind. Push past that mental block that’s preventing you from going after your dreams so you can live your best life!
Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
Gary V simply because he has the ears of a lot of young people aspiring for more. I feel my message will resonate with his audience. I similarly come from an immigrant family, am the CEO of my own business and am creating my own content that’s getting shared by millions of people. He doesn’t read articles, only comments, so hopefully his team sees this!
Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!
“ It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to have worries. It’s okay to doubt yourself. But it’s not okay was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.