Tell us about yourself Yasmin 

Aloha, I’m Yasmin, aka the shell lady who knows all the ocean puns! I’m a soulful travel marketer helping travel, tourism, and leisure businesses to spark wanderlust through blogs, email marketing, content creation, and strategy support. 

Tell us about your business 

Aloha Social has evolved many times in the four years I’ve been running it and it’s still forever evolving! I work with a variety of wonderful souls looking for someone to help them navigate their social media to save them valuable time and energy.  I support them by aligning social media marketing with their business mission, vision, and their goals. I believe that social media isn’t just what you need in to drive your business, which is why I lead as a soulful marketer, embracing human elements in marketing, nurturing online communities, and flourishing together.  

What inspired you to start your own business? 

I was working in London, working with artists to help them get industry opportunities, gigs and helping them to stand out from the crowd with their marketing. I was also working on my own live music experience called ‘Live On The Road’ which was running successfully up and down the South, which was a project that paid talented, unsigned artists who didn’t have a big social media presence. Other promoters wouldn’t book them on this basis, and I learned so much about social media from marketing my own events.  

The London life however took its toll on my mind, body, and soul. This is what led me to freelancing. I was looking for a way to live a more balanced lifestyle after a few burnouts, anxiety spells, and having developed a chronic cough from living in the city.  

Freelancing opened up an opportunity to work for myself, grow, and create a life that I truly wanted while working with people I loved and who needed support but couldn’t afford the big bucks. 

I was on a mission to make social media marketing affordable as a necessity instead of a luxury. And over the years, Aloha Social has evolved and I now work with travel businesses as a huge passion of mine - before working in music, there was travel and I have been a globetrotter living in different places with my mum growing up. It’s a fire in me that won’t burn out, and I just love creating travel content and helping travel businesses to be seen and heard. 

What challenges did you face? 

You hear it so much, but having a niche has helped me ENORMOUSLY. I know who I’m talking to, their problem areas, and how I can help them, whereas before, I was marketing to anyone and everyone – it was making me feel lost. So not having a niche was definitely a challenge. 

Balancing work and health is another huge one. I was still living the London-paced life and being a bad boss to myself. So knowing when to step back and recharge was a challenge. I felt like if I wasn’t working, I wasn’t earning or making waves. However, you’re no good to anyone if you don’t rest! 

One final challenge I most definitely faced and still face today is confidence. When you work with and by yourself, you are your boss, colleague, accountant, director, and the rest! Safe to say, I wasn’t a kind one. I lacked the confidence to believe in myself and I realised that you are the only one that can give yourself a confidence boost. I was looking at what everyone else was doing in my field, instead of listening to what I wanted for myself. The trick was to rid of anything making me feel negative and replace it with things that inspired my vision.  

Can you share a pivotal moment or milestone that significantly impacted your business journey? 

Niching! This was my “SHELL YES” moment, and it happened at 11.30pm at night as I was struggling to sleep because I wasn’t in love with my own business and almost quit. Then it came to me. I asked myself “What do I love?” and I simply brainstormed in the middle of the night which led me to travel marketing. In the blink of an eye, it lit me up! And Aloha Social Travel Marketing was born (or reborn). While it meant starting again, it was a fin-tastic decision that has been the best thing I’ve done in four whole years. I’ve been attracting my target audience and better understanding the things that they’re struggling with, and how I can help them. 

How do you balance your business and personal life? 

I’m still learning to be honest. I feel like you have to reach a certain level of “oh shit” to realise that you need to step back to review what’s working, and what’s not working. You forget that you are in charge of your business and work schedule, and it’s OK to review it now and then to make sure it aligns with what you’re looking to achieve in your business and personal life.  

I now avoid taking on too many projects at once, which I absolutely did a fair few times, and allowing space in my diary for days where I’m experiencing brain fog, not feeling well, or struggling.  

This is so important to me, and something I am learning to safeguard; though it is super hard to say no or push projects back. 

Can you name one business tool that has helped you in your business?

Asana, asana, asana. I would never have been able to scale my business without this project management tool. It’s everything in one apart from a scheduler, and it’s a great way to work transparently with my clients and reduce the admin! 

Do you have a top tip for any woman starting on their business journey? 

My number one tip for any woman starting their business voyage would be to have a business plan that reflects your mission, vision, and goals. Plan your business out, from starting up to scaling, to create a pricing strategy, marketing plan, and sustainable schedule that won’t have you burning out. 

Can you name a woman in business who has inspired you? 

A woman in business that has massively inspired me is my mum. I know what you might be thinking, cliche haha, but my mum has been running a facial aesthetics clinic on her own for twelve years and I remember when she started with just one patient, and now has 1000 patients seeing her for treatments sporadically. 

My mum taught me to enjoy the journey of scaling a business and to be patient. Trust the process, stay in your own lane, and love what you do. In a coconut shell, all the cliche mantras that you hear are 100% true and helpful reminders. 

Visit Aloha Social by clicking here