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Get In Touch With Alenka Kyslik
Interview Transcription
Morris: Welcome to CreateGrowProfit: Coaching Stories. I am Morris from creategrowprofit.com and today I’m speaking to Alenka. Alenka is building a platform for people who haven’t found answers in conventional medicine and connecting them with vetted experts. I’m super excited to learn more about that especially because this platform will also work and collaborate with coaches. Alenka, thank you so much for being here, where are you calling in from?
Alenka: Yeah thank you so much for having me. I’m calling in from Los Angeles.
Morris: Cool! Like downtown LA or like area LA?
Alenka: I’m in Venice Beach.
Morris: Venice Beach. Oh, nice! So tell us more about the platform.
Alenka: Yeah so I went through my own series of health issues and wasn’t finding answers and I tried a whole bunch of different things. Some of them worked, some of them didn’t and I realized with my background in building software for companies, that I could build something that would connect people based on where they’re at today, right?
And I think in the framework of coaches, what that means is like sometimes people aren’t ready to commit to doing the work that they need to do to get better and then they need help, actually doing the work to get better and so what this platform is going to do is build connections between the people who need the help and the people who can offer the help and meet them where they’re at based on shared values, based on where they’re at today right?
Because some people, everyone believes different things. They have different worldviews and the beauty of connecting people globally is it means that you can find someone who is an expert at what you need and if you are like a niche coach, you can have a wider audience that helps you connect and so that’s like the basic concept of the platform.
Morris: Yeah I think you’re right about the health space, the belief systems have become really important. It’s not just that people take health advice from anyone just because they have a certificate. They also want to know a bit more about what they believe in.
Alenka: Yeah and it and different things work for different people right? So I think it’s really important to be able to cater to that because the other thing from like a coaching perspective is you are going to have a vetting process for bringing on clients right? You want to work with clients that align with your values, that align with what your beliefs, and what you are trained in because if you’re matched with somebody who doesn’t get why what you’re doing is powerful, it’s not going to work well. And so we’re eliminating that kind of matchmaking process and making it so much easier to find the people who match well with you and who you’re going to be able to bring the best results for.
Morris: And what’s the name of the platform? it’s SAHA, is that the correct pronunciation?
Alenka: Yeah SAHA, S-A-H-A and that translates to, it means connection or together or endure and that’s because we get through the hardest times in our lives with community, with experts, with friends, family right? Like, we humans are connected beings and there’s so much power in that.
Morris: Yeah I saw that on your Instagram. You were either interviewing someone or somebody interviewed you and you mentioned that. What inspired the name SAHA? Is it from a language? From a culture?
Alenka: There are a few different things right? So you need to find something easy to spell, that’s short, that you can find the Instagram the domain names, etc, and then also for me something that means something and that translates well and so I was doing a bunch of research and I had an idea. I saw how just was the one thing that felt right.
Morris: And is it in a different language?
Alenka: Yeah it’s Sanskrit.
Morris: Sanskrit okay, okay. Gotcha, thanks. From a user perspective, when somebody uses your platform what is the process there? How does it work?
Alenka: Yeah so there are two different options. If you know what you’re looking for and some people do, right? Some people know I need an acupuncturist, I need a health coach like, it just depends then, they can search based on that, based on their location and it’ll give them results with like availabilities, time zones, etc.
Or if they don’t know what they’re looking for and I think this is the most powerful part of the platform, a lot of people know that they need something they just don’t know what right? And so this would give them a short series of questions that would basically figure out what is it that they’re what is the problem that they’re trying to solve and where are they at in their healing journey right?
Do they need immediate relief? Do they just need a break from the pain or the symptoms that they’re feeling? Do they need to find the root cause? Do they need to find systems that can help treat what they’re going through? Do they need to or do they know what they need to do they just need to commit to doing the work. Do they need to actually do the work right?
And there’s this whole flow of where we match make based on we say like, hey providers tell us where in this flowchart you are best at addressing concerns for your specific niche and then we match that based on what the clients actually are looking for right? And so clients could be looking for support in getting them through. They know what they need to do but they just need support and they need someone to like quite literally and in some cases hold their hands or virtually right?
And get them through what they’re going through. In other cases, they just need a break and so we match make based on the need so like the symptom or the problem and where they’re at in that healing framework.
Morris: That sounds really advanced! Is there also a kind of scoring system like both for providers and users that the provider can give a five-star rating to a user or vice versa? Are you thinking of something like that?
Alenka: Yeah so I think it’s really important to continuously gather feedback right and I think the feedback can look like a lot of different things. Yes we are looking at different rating systems because there’s pros and cons to different ones but we do want to implement rating systems right now. So we’re in development. I didn’t mention that earlier, we’re currently in development.
But what’s also important for me is after every session there’s some sort of feedback like, did you like it? Did you not like it and especially the first session both ways like as a coach, was that a good fit for you? Because maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t and like and then as the client was that a good fit for you?
And we can kind of manage that system and then ongoing so it is going to be vetted by experts right? We want to make sure that values align with what we are doing but it’s also going to be like continuously checking and making sure like does this still align right?
One of the values is transparency and that transparency can mean a lot of things but for me in terms of how we’re evaluating the providers that are coming on the platform, one of the key things is saying if you get on a call with someone and you see that what they need is not something you provide. Be transparent about that because you know that you are still going to get more bookings and this isn’t the only client going to get.
And I think that builds a lot of trust on the platform from both the provider side and knowing that they feel confident that they’re still going to be you know booking clients and making money but also from the client perspective where they’re not spending money on something that’s not effective.
Morris: Yeah I really like what you’ve said. You’ve set the bar high though. That’s great!
Alenka: Yeah I mean the goal isn’t to do something that is mediocre, right?
Morris: Yes I understand just thinking about the implications of the tech and stuff but that’s not the point of this podcast, just very intrigued. When you mentioned your health system, and health problems without you know going into personal details, were you supported by some coaches in that process?
Alenka: I mean, I have friends who are coaches who didn’t you know were kind enough to walk me through it in a non-official capacity. I think that made a huge difference because it’s really hard to get through hard things without having someone that has your back.
Morris: Yeah. Where do you feel the difference between like let’s say someone who gives you the supplements or someone who treats you like a therapist or physiotherapist and a coach who helps you do the but you do work?
Alenka: Yeah and so that’s part of that framework so what you’re talking about like somebody who gives you the supplements, that’s like could be treating the underlying cause. But like for example part of one of my health issues was burnout and stress so I was given digestive enzymes and other things to help with my ability to digest food because that stress was causing all sorts of wreaking havoc.
But as I’m sure many people know it’s just like a band-aid that doesn’t actually have to work on your anxiety, on your stress levels, and many other things to get you to a better place, and that’s where I feel like the coaches are so crucial, right?
So when we talk about that framework, the commitment to doing the work and doing the work is a huge part of where coaches will fall because people do need support and they might not be able to find it in their immediate circles right? Like I have a friend who for her own personal reasons stopped drinking alcohol but her family still does and that really is hard when you’re in those social situations it’s not that wants to but she doesn’t know how to navigate the situation so having coaches in those types of situations I think can really help.
And that’s I mean that’s just one aspect of it, right? We can talk about so many different things that coaches do but I think helping people commit to doing the work and then helping people do the work and standing by them during that process is really valuable.
Morris: That is such a great example with the drinking, the alcohol, and also what you went through with the digestive enzymes. I had a similar issue with heartburn. I had crazy heartburn and I went to the doctor of course, they gave me blockers and I didn’t want to take these pills for the rest of my life changing my diet was really hard but that’s what it takes to fix the underlying issues and not just treat the symptoms so yeah resonate with that.
Alenka: Yeah it’s so hard and having someone who can like be there for you is huge because especially when you don’t have that support you know in the rest of your life.
Morris: Yeah I really liked your platform now that we’re talking about this because I think many people go to doctors or I assume there are many people because it happened to me and I’ve heard it from people in my family where you go to the doctor and you get something but you don’t feel like the problem solved you just feel like yeah you were treated for the symptoms or you were treated as a number but it doesn’t feel like the problems solved as if it was brushed over and I think that’s where having access you know not to think of it what would you do instead of that while you would go to Google probably or nowadays maybe talk to ChatGPT I don’t know but having a platform like that I think can be really helpful in those situations.
Alenka: Yeah and it’s really hard because I think so I ended up reading a lot of scientific journals and I am grateful to be at a place where I can do that and have access to it but it’s like I only understand 70% of it. It’s really heavy with jargon and confusing and I feel like it still doesn’t often get to the core issue right?
And or it doesn’t give you a game plan for what to do and so you’re still stuck in this place of like well I have this problem and I don’t know how to fix it and like I don’t know what to do next and I think that’s the most powerful part of like SAHA and what we’re building is you like you might know at least symptoms right?
We can all explain the symptoms of what we’re going through but you don’t know how to address them and what to do and having a platform that kind of walks you through and says, hey okay this is what you’re feeling, this is what you’re at, these are some options for what you can try next which doesn’t exist anywhere as far as I’m aware.
Morris: Let’s talk about your marketing a little bit because I noticed that your Instagram account is new. You wrote that in my booking form. Then I went to your Instagram and you’re already getting pretty close to a thousand followers in such a short time and you’re getting really good engagement on your posts. Is that something you already have a lot of experience with?
Alenka: Well I did hire a social media manager because I needed help I think it’s hard. So yeah we’re live I mean we’re recording this end of May we’ve been live midday is there are a lot of different aspects right to growing social media. I do have some background in marketing. I have worked in it in the past and my primary roles have been more product and building software but I have done marketing it is hard and I don’t feel that my messaging is as clear as I want it to be yet so that’s something I’m actively working on.
I think what’s hard and unfair in many ways, especially for coaches or individuals like practitioners trying to build their client base is that all of a sudden, you need to be like really good at being on camera, or all of a sudden you need to be good at editing video or whatever it is right and like all of our things we are good at are different. And just because you’re a really good coach doesn’t mean that you know that’s your expertise and I don’t think it should and that’s part of you know why I’m building SAHA.
But I think I don’t think it’s ever fair to compare yourself to others because you never know what, how they got to where they got to or maybe there was a personal account. They just switched the names like it’s just really like right and that’s not the case for me. It was brand new but I think it’s just not it’s as easy as you think and like I know once I clean up my messaging a bit it’s going to grow more and I do a lot of networking calls. I do a lot of other things that you don’t see in terms of getting the growth to where it’s at.
Morris: Yeah I’m really glad you shared that I mean first of all, it’s true being a great coach or being an expert in your field is not the same as being good at the social media game. These are two completely different skill sets. So you can be good at social media games for example but maybe you’re not that good at getting results for people and so yeah understanding these are two different skill sets is really important and not attaching your own value to your social media performance.
Alenka: Yeah 100% because I think this is the case for anything right? What is your zone of genius and all of the other things that you are doing daily are they taking away from your ability to be an expert in that zone of genius, right? And that can mean you know spending time like creating a website that if it’s really frustrating for you right? For some of us, it’s really easy but it can look different for everyone like building social media calendars, building the content, and doing accounting as an example right?
These are all things that can take away from what we’re good at so what can you do to like either give that work to someone else and pay someone what is it worth it for you to offset and where are the things that are most powerful for you in terms of getting what you want and focusing on your why and coming back to your why which I mean we didn’t talk about it when asked about marketing but I think that’s really core and really important because it’s so easy to get distracted with all the advice that people give you right?
People will say that you need to be huge on this platform or that platform or build your own podcast which in some cases can be really good but in some cases for some people, it’s too much stress and can be distracting right because this is also video editing and stuff and it works differently.
One coach, I met was doing all the things and she realized this was too much and she started focusing more she did a lot more in-person events and she found that was more effective, and doing networking was way more effective for her than focusing on social media she still posts on it but it was more true to her so I think it’s important to find what is true to you what works for you and people sense when that’s aligned with you and it feels more authentic versus when you’re trying to be something you’re not. People have a sense of that.
Morris: Yeah yeah the energy is a huge deal, you even feel it in the videos or in the posts on social media. Interesting that you mentioned the in-person events. I talked to a really great coach yesterday on my podcast and he mentioned that he does best at in-person events too because the number one feedback he receives from his clients is that they get tremendous value out of his voice and presence.
This in-person presence and you know considering the work that he does with people like very deep emotional work helping them be more successful at what they want to do deep down which can be difficult because we’ve been a person all our past and now we got a change and that’s going to rock some boats or create waves and that’s not easy to deal with especially if you’re an empathic person right?
So hearing him talk about that like sure you could argue with enough acting skills and whatnot he could bring that to the camera but he was so clear on that he’s good at that and so he sticks to that and he’s really good at it. Connecting with people in person like speaking at book clubs or even organizing his own events and again and again people come to him and say, Hey you know just seeing you speak today, listening to you, having a conversation with you in person is incredibly valuable and I want to work with you.
Alenka: Yeah and I think it’s just like trying enough things and seeing what drives you know if we want to use old school terms but like like what feels right for you because it’s not the same for everyone.
Morris: Now in regards, you mentioned hiring a social media manager so in this journey very short journey on your Instagram, are there still any like takeaways that you can already share or is it too early?
Alenka: Probably a few yeah I also did a lot of research beforehand. They have a 28-page document that I put together on researching social media. I tend to research a lot with like anything and this is an example so a couple of things are interesting for me, for example, my social media manager will put together content. I read it and I’m like it doesn’t feel right authentic to my voice like it’s a little too professional a little too cold and so I end up rewriting a lot of the content but it is really helpful for me to have a starting point.
So it is still worth it for me to find that person I think she also finds a lot of strategy which is really important for me because I tend to be a little bit more like, oh let’s do this let’s and it’s like you need to have like a longer-term strategy and a plan and that can get overwhelming. I think that has been really interesting I think a mix of trends because trends get visibility and content that is true to you is important.
But I will say that visibility doesn’t mean follows and doesn’t necessarily mean engagement. I’ve had more of that from networking events and meeting people and talking to people than I have to get a semi-viral view like post right? So it’s like it’s just I think the biggest thing that I saw is that the more research I did the more people are saying the video is key.
Video is the most important but video doesn’t have to mean you talking at the camera. It can mean you find some for example there’s a website called Pexel I don’t know if that’s how you say it but Pexels.com you can find royalty-free video content that’s like you know whatever and you can put a quote on it maybe it’s something brilliant you said today and like when people share that means something too right?
I think it’s really important to not sell in a way that feels inauthentic to you. Sell in a way that feels authentic to you and then one other thing I know is I’m rambling that. Someone said to me if you’re giving some sort of a free offer of any kind right like a free master class, a free download whatever it is. It should hurt a little to give. It should hurt a little to get it for free because then it has value.
Morris: Yeah one of the best rambles by the way. Thank you so much for sharing all of that.
Alenka: Happy too.
Morris: No really, yeah. Everything you’re saying has been my experience too and the work that I do with people especially the going viral doesn’t guarantee engagement or followers or anything like that that’s sometimes it almost sounds like a contradiction but you can have videos or posts that perform really badly according to the mainstream metrics but that post makes you have two conversations with people and both of them become your client.
That happened to me with a video on YouTube that had 10 views and you know how it is with 10 views like some of them are mine so how many people actually watched it because of that video I sent up a client and when they booked, the call they told me they saw that video of me and saw the link in the description and booked the call and we’re ready to work and it’s just such an eyeopener that again, going back to the social media game is not the same as doing coaching or right building your platform things like that.
Alenka: Yeah it’s really important to remember and focus on it and one of my friends who’s a sematic coach, she was telling me when she niched down and really focused on the things she cared about the most and like which is contradictory right in the sense that it only targets and can focus on a small number of people, her engagement rate I think because there are different ways to measure it, is like 20% which is higher than any.
I looked up a bunch of different people I follow and you know people who are well known and like her engagement rates are off the charts. She has only 15,000 followers but her engagement rates are really high and so and that makes a difference in the content she creates too because it’s focused on that niche. So get focused on your genius zone what is the thing that you’re good at and really grow from there.
Morris: Yeah I’m glad we’re having this conversation about social media marketing too. 15,000 followers is I think, that’s a lot. It’s not little and the 20% engagement rate is absolutely huge. For anyone listening to this in comparison if you have a Facebook business dashboard, you can check it out by going to business.facebook.com, it gives you goals and one of the goals is to reach a 1% engagement rate on your posts so if that’s the like Benchmark that they give you, then you can just imagine how 20% is really high.
Alenka: Yeah and it’s totally and to be clear that’s not for most people she’s been working on this for years and had platforms like public platforms for her brand before that so this is like over a decade worth of work to get this place but what was interesting to me is how that niche messaging really made a difference. And so yeah just something to keep in mind.
Morris: No, no you’re absolutely right and that’s where this decade pays off because she understands her audience she paid her dues right she paid her fees for a decade to get to that point and speak that message and connect with people on the platform.
Alenka: Yeah exactly and it is really powerful.
Morris: And the other thing I want to follow up with is, you talked about how your social media manager creates content and then you edit it and I think that is such an important step in the process because many times there’s this misconception about, oh I’m hiring a contractor or a freelancer and they’re going to write the perfect post and it’s going to go viral and if it doesn’t go viral they’re ripping me off. If they would be so good at connecting with your audience right? What’s your job in this whole process? Nobody knows your audience better than you and it’s easier to edit than it is to write from scratch.
Alenka: Yeah I think there are a lot of things that people who are in marketing professionally are really good at and one of them is defining the pain points. What are the pain points that you were addressing with the offer that you bring? I have a really hard time writing them like I’m getting better, it’s working there and like but it is not an easy thing to figure out the right language to address those pain points and there are different types of ways of doing this right.
There are lots of different methodologies I think what’s also really important is to understand that there are a lot of people who are going to say they’re going to get certain types of results and sell you on it and you’re going to that you could spend a lot of money on and it’s really important to be careful about who you choose to work with because there are a lot of money in this and people know that.
Morris: Yeah. What are some of the pain points you’ve identified so far if you’re willing to share like for your content?
Alenka: So some of the pain points from it client’s perspective is they have tried everything and they still don’t have answers or they know that there are answers that exist but they don’t know how to find the right experts or those experts live so far away right? There are so many like it was so hard without having a connection so one of the things that I didn’t mention earlier.
That we’re building is that for every appointment booked, there is a percentage fee that goes towards the platform right and this includes things like payment processor you know it’s expensive to build software all of that but the most important part of that is a percentage that goes towards a fund and that fund is available for people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford the services and so then people can use that to be able to pay for their services.
What they’re looking for and so imagine you have these clients that really they’re in desperate places and they can’t, they really need you but they can’t afford it so for me, one of this kind addresses multiple pain points right. You give forward by booking through the platform but as a provider, you have access to these clients that you would never be able to take on because you have bills too.
You can’t just do things for free continuously like you might be able to do it here and there but this allows for a way for you to actually get paid as well as take care of people that truly need you so I think that those are like a few of the pain points that I see but I think it’s and then from if we talk about from a provider standpoint, we were talking about it earlier you’re like you need to find clients, you don’t want to do marketing, you don’t want to do administrative work which is totally fair or like setting up some sort of a billing system or whatever like that can be so.
I have a friend who’s a coach and who hasn’t literally started coaching because the idea of setting all this up is so overwhelming he’s like I’m just going to continue like making money the way I am right now and eventually I’ll get to it which I get like some of these things are huge blockers do I avoid booking like dentist appointments until the last minute absolutely right and this is just like an example of like things that we just get so up in our heads about and so this those are the pain points we’re addressing from both a client and a provider standpoint.
Morris: Yeah talking about dentist appointments, I have that on my to-do list and you’re right like especially for coaches, the marketing and the self-promotion for some people, it can suck out all the passion enthusiasm, and fun or coaching where there’s just no ambition to do it professionally anymore because of that roadblock and in some way, it’s a good thing for business. In other situations, it’s a bad thing for business but marketing and sales are yeah you can’t be in business without it so platforms like yours, yeah huge pain point there.
Alenka: Yeah and something that to that kind of addition you reminded me of is we help onboard our providers in terms of like helping them write their bios and helping them write their services and their offerings and explanations because that is also like it’s so much easier to do it for someone else than it is to do it for yourself right and so like helping them because that can be another blocker.
I know what I can do and I know I’m amazing at it but how do I explain it in words that other people understand? It’s exhausting so that is a part of the offering that we give to providers.
Morris: Really love the platform you’re building linkup coaches and users listening to this, where can they go to sign up and you know go get on the waiting list?
Alenka: Yeah so I think waiting lists are really important for many reasons. But most importantly algorithms change on social media and so like you know I think that it’s really important and we have a welcome email that’s it right now. I don’t have time to build more eventually we’ll get there so I won’t spam you I promise. So www.sahacollective.com so that’s S AHA collective.com is where you can sign up for the waiting list.
And we’re going to be running focus groups and getting feedback from people so if that is something you’d like to be a part of, you can opt-in for that in terms of social media, Saha.Collective on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, and then if you want to email me, feel free, info@saha.collective.
Morris: Alenka, thank you so much for being here and sharing your projects, and insights about social media marketing.
Alenka: Yeah, thank you so much. Happy to be here.
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