This week’s episode of Be On Air we get pro-tips from social media expert and host of the Beat the Culture Podcast, Grace Walker. Grace is a 19-year-old real-estate agent, a brilliant social media influencer and an overall inspiration to anyone who strives for success. She has the dream to build a platform that encourages people to get rid of their limiting beliefs, be different from the crowd and to realize their capabilities. We dive right into Grace’s background and why she decided to pursue a career of entrepreneurship at such a young age. This episode is full of fabulous tips for social media strategy, keys to self-actualizing mindsets and how to budget for growth and success. We discuss topics such as education, family, mentors & guides, podcasting and the importance of staying true to yourself.
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00:00 – Introduction
01:50 – Grace’s “why”
06:51 – How Grace got into Real Estate?
12:46 – Becoming a public speaker
16:44 – Self-actualizing advice for students
21:07 – Budgeting for success
28:44 – Future of education
33:05 – What works well in today’s education
37:44 – Social Media strategy
47:53 – Final thoughts
Grace Walker: [00:00:00] Having different people feeding into your life and, um, helping guide you is so helpful. You can’t do everything yourself. And you kind of just have to understand that you’ve gotta be able to take advice, take criticism and just let people guide you along.
K.Lee Marks: [00:00:43] Welcome everybody. Welcome back today has been a jam packed day, full of amazing interviews. And I’m, I’m so excited for these all to drop today. I have a extraordinary guest. Grace Walker is a 19 year old real estate agent and an incredible podcast host with a passion for seeing others succeed. She has the dream to build a platform that encourages people to get rid of their limiting beliefs, be different from the crowd and to realize their capabilities.
We’re going to get into some really interesting topics. Education, podcasting, real estate. Uh, the, you know, the future of, of what youth can accomplish in this world. And I’m really excited to dive in. So please stick around. Grace. Thank you so much for making time and hopping on the air with us. Would you? Yeah, it’s great to have you here. We were chatting a little bit before you got on and just already getting into some really interesting topics.
So I’m excited to dive in. And I, you know, I was thinking about Simon Sinek and he has this book called start with the why. And so I wanted to start with the why, if you’re okay with that, I wanted to ask you, like, why do you do what you do? Why did you start a podcast? Why did you, uh, you know, you have an interesting, um, trajectory with school and, and what you chose to do with your higher education. So could you tell us a little bit about your, why?
Grace Walker: [00:02:03] Sure. So I think my why so as you know, I’m very young, I’m 19. And so my why is pretty recent, I mean, within the last four or five years, and that’s me being a very little baby 14 year old, 15 year old grace, but, um, You know, starting out in middle school, I went to a little charter school.
And when you’re in kind of a sheltered environment like that, it, you feel a lot more comfortable kind of being yourself. You don’t really need to conform to a cultural norm because you’re kind of sheltered. That’s how I was, um, through all of middle school. So I was very outgoing, super involved in theater.
I started a YouTube channel. I was already into all this social media stuff. From the get-go. Um, and then I went to a public high school and that was definitely a culture shift for me. And I got really bad when I was a freshman and look, I didn’t really take it like. I wasn’t crying or upset about it, but I kind of just took it as, oh, like, apparently I’m weird.
Like I need to fix that. No, I didn’t. But at the time I believed that. And so I totally stopped doing all the stuff I was doing. I stopped doing YouTube. I stopped doing acting. I stopped doing all this stuff that I liked and made me, me that I cared about, which is kind of a bummer. And so for a few years, I just kind of conformed to that cultural norm of being like everybody else and doing what people approved of and just doing things for other people’s approval.
And then I graduated and suddenly. All the people I’ve been working on the approval for, it were just gone. And I was like, wow, I should have listened to the people in my life. Like my parents, my family, who said like, you don’t need to change for others because it’s true, like four years fly by. And then you never talked to them again.
I can’t even tell you more than probably one or two people I’ve spoken to since I graduated high school. And so about a year into maybe even less like maybe six months to a year into college, I realized. I started to slowly go back to my roots and back to what I liked and enjoyed. And I started really using social media, especially with the pandemic starting and not being able to do anything live, really using social media to go back to my original me.
So I immediately started doing the things I wanted to do. Again, I started. Trying to have a platform on Tik TOK, which if I had done that before in high school, of course you’d get made fun of, it’s tik tok but, um, started doing that and then I always wanted to have a TV show. So I started a podcast as kind of like an easy way to get into that.
And I haven’t actually started YouTube up again, but it’s definitely like in the pipeline for me. I want to start doing that again. So my why for doing all of this is really to tell people. By doing what I want to do and not caring about what other people think. I want to encourage others to do the same.
And that’s where the name beat the culture came from. It’s just being different because that’s okay. And it’s something that I really struggled with for awhile and totally changed myself for and realized that was dumb. And I just don’t want people to do the same. So I just want to start an encouraging platform and community to encourage people, to reach their goals and not let other people get in the way of that.
K.Lee Marks: [00:05:09] I’m hearing you say that I feel so inspired and, and yeah, so I, I mean, I definitely understand looking back and being like, oh, that wasn’t the right decision. I don’t think it’s dumb at all. It makes sense with the pressures of school and went on. I was coming in, in middle and high school. We had flip phones with like any, I don’t even, you know, the cameras weren’t really a feature of the phones, it was texting.
And so we didn’t have cyber bullying. We didn’t have all this stuff that the newer generations. Or having to cope with, and it’s, it’s unimaginable just like the pressures. So it’s understandable that we kind of try to conform to be accepted. We all want to be accepted, but it sounds like you returned to that inner inspiration and fire, and it’s, it’s amazing.
Like your social media game is, is crazy. It’s so good. Your reels, your design. It’s, it’s extraordinary. A lot of people. Can’t create that content and put that level of content out. And it seems like you’re doing everything yourself. Is that right?
Grace Walker: [00:06:04] Oh, it’s so much work. It’s actually so stressful, but yes, I am doing it all myself and it’s just so much to keep up with and it’s constantly changing and I was literally laying in bed last night.
Like, like social media is so overwhelming, but the whole goal that I have requires growing a following. So you’ve kind of got to put in that work, but you’re right. Like, people don’t realize I’m over here in my head, like, okay, I need to post. Three reels a day, three tik toks a day, one Instagram post.
Every other day. I need to join clubhouse. I need to join a telegram. Like all these new social medias, are constantly getting thrown at you and then the algorithms change and it’s so much work, but, um, yeah, here we are doing all by myself and. Dying of stress, but it’s working
K.Lee Marks: [00:06:48] Hopefully you’ll be able to get some VA’s soon.
So I think you’re also a real estate agent. Would you, would you talk a little bit about your transition out of school and how you came into Real Estate?
Grace Walker: [00:06:58] so it’s kind of a funny story. Um, so my plan originally was. I want it to be like everyone else that I’m wanting to go straight to a four year college. That was kind of a common theme for me.
It’s just, I wanted to do everything everyone else was doing, but my parents quickly shot down that idea because of finances. They were like, no, you don’t need to take out student loans. And you should go to a community college and I throw a fit, but eventually I did that. And I’m so grateful now that I did that because I’m super into finances now.
And I would have been super mad if I had student loans. So I’m very grateful that they convinced me to go to the CC locally. So I went ahead and I was getting my degree. At the local community college. Meanwhile, I was working at, in and out actually. And, um, I worked a lot there. Like it’s really hard to get full-time but you can get part-time with very close to full-time hours.
So I was I was working a lot of hours there. I was working six days a week, six hours a day. For like a year straight while being a full-time college student and graduating early.
So it was just constantly like head down, grinding, getting things done, saving money and working hard. And my plan was to do that for the next four years, but then to eventually transfer wasn’t too sure where yet, but I got to a point where. I was just not taking time for myself at all or enjoying anything.
I was just constantly work. There was no rest. There was no breathing, it was just stressful. And again, like I said, I’m really into saving money. And so I wouldn’t spend any money on myself, but almost to an unhealthy point. So. One day, I just have had enough and I had like a mental breakdown and I was like, I’m getting a sandwich.
So I took myself to get a sandwich at sub marina, which is the sandwich shop locally. And for me, that’s a big deal. Cause I don’t spend money on food. I try not to. So this was a big. Change buying a sandwich. I get there and my uncle was there for some reason. And I was like, Hey. And he was eating on him, his break, I guess he had gone to the same spot.
So I sat with him and I was just kind of venting. Like, I’m so overwhelmed. Like I do not like working this much. I don’t like, like, I’m not doing anything I enjoy. And just feel like I’m just working it’s too much. And so he was like, oh, you should work for Susan, which is my aunt. He was like, it’s easy. All you have to do is make phone calls.
You can get like four or 5,000 a month. And I was making like 1000 a month. So I was like, what for phone calls? Sign me up. So I met with my aunt and she’s like, oh yeah, well, you’ll have to be a licensed real estate agent to do that. And so. I, it still didn’t click to me that it was going to be a lot more than phone calls.
So I was just like, okay, sure. Real estate license. So it was again, another few months of work because I was still full-time college, still working a ton at in and out. I took a little bit of time off, so I could have time to study for real estate and do all that schooling as well. Um, but I got my real estate license at the same, almost the same time as I got my associate’s degree.
And then I went to meet with my aunt. I was like, here’s my license? I’m ready. And she was like, okay. And then the first meeting we had, she was like, so I just, we need to talk about college because you can go to college, but I don’t want you to like move off to college when I’m sitting here training you, which completely makes sense.
She needed to take a lot of time training me up to be a good agent and things like that. But I just had not. Assume that I have to make the choice. And I don’t think I necessarily had to make the choice because if I wanted to, I could get my bachelor’s and just maybe do it online or do it locally while being an agent.
But I did kind of have dreams of moving off to college. So it was kind of like, oh, now I have to choose. And I just did all this work to get my real estate license. Like what should I do? So I thought about it a lot and I decided that I just thought really about my future, my real goal in life. And it was.
Wasn’t necessarily anything that needed a bachelor’s degree, but the thought of that really freaked me out because everybody is convinced that you need a bachelor’s degree to succeed. And me being one of them. So. It was almost like I wasn’t worried about not having my bachelor’s because it wouldn’t let me succeed.
Like it wasn’t that, but I was more worried about if I don’t get my bachelors, people won’t believe that I will succeed. It was again that thought of, I need to please everybody else, like, everyone’s going to think of this. And then I immediately slapped that thought on out of my head. And I was like, It’s fine.
Let’s just do this. I’m already a semester ahead in college. Let’s take a semester and just do real estate and focus on my public speaking career. Let’s see where that goes. Let’s see if I need a bachelor’s and lo and behold never went back yet. We’ll see. But for now I don’t, it’s not in the, it’s not in the pipeline and I’m doing fairly well.
I’m on my aunt’s team. Susan Johnson andAssociates Real Estate team. Um, With EXP Realty and I’m loving it. And then meanwhile I’m starting a podcast and doing all this public speaking, and it’s just, it’s a great balance.
K.Lee Marks: [00:12:01] That’s such a exciting and, um, eyeopening story for anyone listening, especially anyone who’s still in school.
And I hope that hope that this show becomes. You know, more accessible to younger folk because I want it to support them in their, in their educational and expanding possibility. Right. And I love that you got your associates, you, you had some of the, of the sort of core studies that, you know, everyone can benefit from, but then you went into a trade and you started to earn instead of going into debt.
And that is just so powerful. And you know, we’re both huge fans of Dave Ramsey, which I hope we’ll geek out on, in a little bit here. Um, but I want to back up a little bit too. Um, this public speaking and, uh, You know, so in your bio that you sent me, you were talking about how you were always interested in public speaking.
And I think that is one of the things that’s probably allowed you to Excel, not only in podcasting, but even in real estate. So how did you get into public speaking? And if you, if you could, let’s talk a little bit about some action items or tangible tips that people could, could implement myself included.
I’m asking you how to become a better public speaker.
Grace Walker: [00:13:13] Okay. So, uh, I grew up around public speaking. So obviously my aunt, she lives right. 10 minutes from me and I’ve grown up around her being a real estate agent. So she’s just always been a public speaker and educator. She speaks out. So I’ve had that influence, but also, um, my dad actually is a huge public speaker.
He has my parents both together own a record label events company I’m in Southern California. And so I’ve grown up around him producing concerts and events that are pretty, pretty good sized events. And he would always go up and speak and just kind of from a little age, like from probably when I could speak, he would bring me up with him.
Like he would bring me up to do little things like, Hey grace, why don’t you announce the winner of the raffle? I’d go up and be like, there’s a mic right here. I don’t know why I did that. I know what, but, um, so having the, my aunt and my dad both in my life from a young age was huge. Probably more. So my aunt came in a little bit later.
Now that we’re getting a lot closer, but my dad, especially like from a young age, Always have me public speak. And along with that came singing and performing. And I think that having that background definitely helps you to grow confidence being in front of a crowd. So just speak at my parents’ concerts.
I started performing, I would be the opening act like singing for, um, different concerts for a lot of them as a kid and into my teenage years as well. And then, yeah, that’s kind of how, where it came from. And then again, I did a lot of musical theater as we got through middle school and. Just, I would say kind of just being exposed to a public setting got me here.
K.Lee Marks: [00:14:50] Let’s do tips. . I mean, it definitely sounds like practice makes perfect and having encouraging support, but yeah, I’d be curious, some, some, some tips for the listener, some tips.
Grace Walker: [00:14:59] Well, I think one thing that I struggled with a lot, for a while was I talk fast and I would forget to enunciate. So sometimes I’d go up and I’d be like and everyone would be like, what? So, um, if anyone else has that problem, definitely just. Really working on slowing down and practicing beforehand, you might not necessarily need a script, but if you write down some bullet points of what you’re going to be talking about, and you kind of just memorize the general concept of what you’re speaking of, and you’re confident in what you’re saying, things tend to come out a lot more smooth.
So I am one of those people who I enjoy the instant gratification of like, I don’t need a prep. I can just wing this, but sometimes you kind of got to put your pride aside and realize, no, I need a prep, no matter how good you are, preparation is everything. So even me just like, or any of you just having those bullet points and doing a little bit of prep before you go out to speak is super, super beneficial.
When it comes to actually getting the words out of your mouth.
K.Lee Marks: [00:16:00] And the slowing down piece is really important in probably every area of our life. I think I was just speaking with, uh, another, a guest in a previous interview and we were talking about slowing down to speed up. And how can do, do, do, do do, or, or, or say a lot of words, but if we can slow down and get quiet or still.
Then some really powerful things can happen. I think with speech, especially if we can create these dynamic kind of flowing. Um, uh, stories or, or, um, you know, with our, with our tone and everything, then that is going to be way more engaging for the audience as well as they’ll actually be able to understand what we’re saying.
So, you know, fast forward now you’re on you’re, you’re, uh, you have this wonderful podcast where you’re talking about all things, you know, mindset and, and, you know, self-empowerment and actualization. And, um, I, you know, what would. What would you recommend to this? Let’s let’s say the, the middle schoolers and the high schoolers right now.
If, if you could speak to a thousand of them, what would you tell them?
Grace Walker: [00:17:10] Oh gosh. Um, the main thing, and I cannot stress this enough, is it don’t worry about what other people think that is. Was my biggest obstacle still is I still deal with it, but that’s just been my biggest obstacle in life. I’m convinced that like, My success could be even higher.
Now, if I had just not been so caught up in the idea of being a people pleaser and worrying so much about what others thought. So that is probably where I would go with that. My main thing is just you, do you like who cares? Be confident in what you can do because those people are just so irrelevant. So that is the main message I’d want to get across to them.
K.Lee Marks: [00:17:50] Yeah. And the, in, in the marketing world, in the business world, that becomes your greatest value and your greatest, uh, differentiating factor that will actually get you clients or that you have niched down. Um, and, and what makes you different? What’s your value proposition? Like what, why would someone work with you versus someone else?
And it’s that it is that, um, It, it is our own uniqueness that will empower us to create X, like immense impact in our communities and in our work. So that is such amazing advice for everyone. And it’s, it’s hard. It’s challenging, right? It can be easier said than done, especially if you’re around a lot of peer pressure.
And so I I’ve always found that surrounding yourself with people who lift you up is key. Association is everything. So if you can have a circle of friends or mentors around you, that that support you as you are, and, you know, challenge you to, to grow, but, but support you in all your quirks and all your uniqueness, then that really is such a huge support system.
Grace Walker: [00:18:55] Absolutely. I completely agree. And what you said about having a mentor too? It’s huge. I have realized over the past probably year or so that I really do enjoy talking to people who are older than me, almost more than I enjoy talking to people my age. And that has nothing to do with anybody my age. And some of you, I love talking to, it’s not that, but it’s just hearing people with more experience and having them.
Really help shepherd in your life is so useful. And I’m very plugged into my church, um, here in my hometown. And so having, I get it’s called discipleship in church, but having those disciples around you is so important. And I don’t know if you’re religious or anything, but a Bible verse that always pops into my head is Proverbs 1114.
And that is, um, it basically just says that a multitude of counselors that are safety. And I completely agree with that because I just think that. Having different people feeding into your life and, um, helping guide you is so helpful. You can’t do everything yourself. And you kind of just have to understand that you’ve gotta be able to take advice, take criticism and just let people guide you along.
K.Lee Marks: [00:20:02] Uh, thank you so much for bringing in some, some soul food into this. I love that you’ll have to send that to me later so that I can meditate on that, but I agree a hundred percent having mentors. I love speaking with my elders and my guides and I owe them everything. Um, uh, shout out to. Raven Blair Glover, the talk show Maven.
She has been really helping me with developing my podcast and, uh, she recommended streamyard to me actually, which is what we’re recording this on. So yeah, with, with the guidance of elders, we can get so much, and I will say this I’m really enjoying speaking with younger folks like you, because you bring such a incredible, um, Like enthusiasm and, and unique way of seeing this situation that we’re all in.
And just so, so much creativity. And, you know, every, every generation has its own gifts to bring. And so I think that connecting us all together is really key. And so this is inspiring to get to talk to you about this. And so, you know, you know, okay, so we were talking a little bit about Dave Ramsey earlier.
I would love to talk a little bit about the financial piece because you know, you can have a good support system. You can have good mentors. You can be yourself, but it’s like, if you can’t put food on the table, then what do you do? So could you talk to us a little bit about what, what is budgeting and why should we even think about that?
Grace Walker: [00:21:24] Yes. So I am so thankful that I found Dave Ramsey as a little child. I found him when I was 17 and I’m so grateful for that because. No matter where you find, um, financial advice in life, it’s beneficial, but I was just very fortunate to have found it kind of before I had to deal with it. So I kind of went into the financial world with a good head on my shoulders.
A good idea of what I wanted to do. Um, good idea. Not perfect idea. Let’s get that straight because again, I knew that number one. Well, I’m technically number three. So Dave Ramsey’s maybe steps. Number one is save a side, a thousand dollars emergency fund. Number two is pay off your debt. And number three is, um, set aside a three to six month emergency fund.
And so for me, I never had debt. So I kind of just like started out at step number three, saving up that three to six months. And so I was really, I was going for that. And I would, whenever I got paid at, in and out, I would put a good, like 75, 80% of my check into my savings. And I had the ability to do that because of course at the time I was, and still am a young adult and I still live with my parents.
I didn’t have expenses. So I was fortunate enough to be able to do that. Um, But what I would do with the rest of it is I would just kind of like spend it was spending money. I didn’t know where it was going. And so that didn’t cause too many problems until my expenses kind of started happening a little bit more.
I started having to pay for my own car. I bought my own car. I started having to pay for gas. I started having to pay for food, groceries, all things like that. Kind of started that I had to pay for now instead of just paying for fun things and saving money, got a little bit more real. And I remember like the pivotal moment when I realized I need a budget was when I went to go fill up my car with gas and I didn’t have any money for it.
Now, granted, I had money for it, but it was in my savings account. And I’m very strict where it’s like, don’t take out of your savings. So, so it was just like, there was nothing in my checking account and only enough for a little bit. And I remember being like, well, that’s a bummer. And so then I just kind of kept driving on empty.
And then I parked at my house and my car was on fumes. And I went out the next morning to start my car and my car wouldn’t start. And I was like, why is my car not starting low and behold? Apparently you need gas in the car. What? I don’t know. I didn’t know that. I just assumed like gas makes the car run.
Right. Makes sense. But I didn’t know. You need gas to actually get the engine started, uh, This is why I’m still, I’m still 19. I’m still learning this stuff. But, um, yeah. So when my car didn’t start that morning, I was like, you know what? I had enough money to go out to eat this month, but not enough money to get my car to start.
So we obviously need to get our priorities in line. And so that’s when I really started getting into budgeting and just being intentional with your money, because my intention with my money was. Spend this aspect, save this aspect, then that’s not that intentional. I needed to be more direct. And so that’s when I got Dave Ramsey’s app, which you might be familiar with, it’s called every dollar.
And it’s a great app for budgeting because you have to manually put in when you spend money and where it goes, you plan it for the month. And then as the month goes on, you. Put it in, like, let’s say I spent $10 today. I put that in the app where I spent it, and then it will tell you how much is remaining, And it helps get you on track and really know where your money’s going. So you’re not going to run into any of the issues like me and my car, not starting for example, but yeah, budgeting is super, super important. And I’m so glad that I am finally starting to realize that and figure it out.
K.Lee Marks: [00:24:59] Yeah. And it, a lot of financial, um, A lot of the impact if we want to change our financial situation.
So much of it is behavior. And Dave talks about this all the time. It’s, it’s not about the job you get or what you do. I mean, obviously those things affect it, but it’s the behavior. If you don’t spend money, you saved money. The quickest way to earn, to save and build wealth is to not spend money. Right.
And so the budgeting thing’s interesting. I, so I use an app called Y NAB a Y N a B. You need a budget and it’s a, it’s a similar app as, as Dave’s and. You know, I have it set to auto import everything, which, which removes me from the mindful practice of taking money out of my budget categories. And therefore I’m always like overspending and budgets and re rebalancing.
And so I think it’s important to have that relationship with the money going in and out. And, you know, Dave talks about how. Uh, cash hurts when you pay, but this little plastic card is so different from money.. It’s like not an issue to just swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, no problem. And then you’re bank account’s empty.
And so that’s, that’s a huge thing and not a lot of people. Actually do the budgeting practice. So I think that’s a really cool feature of what you’re doing. And on top of that, obviously you’re doing real estate, you’re doing all this stuff. So you’re really showing how you can, you can build wealth. And I wanted to comment that, you know, in the circumstances where we can save money by living with family, right.
It’s great. And that is how generational wealth kind of works is like we have these resources that we can give to our kids and they can give to their kids. And so I think that’s really an amazing, uh, thing that you’re able to save and kind of give yourself a foundation. It puts you in such a great place.
Grace Walker: [00:26:38] I mean, it’s definitely kind of like a poll because obviously there’s the part of me. Who’s like, wow, I kind of have like my professional career going on and I’m really trying to start something and I still live at home. So it’s like kind of a double life, like I was telling you beforehand, it’s like, I go to work and I’m being super like adults.
I’m selling houses. That’s very adult. And then I come home. I’m like, mom, what’s for dinner. Did you do laundry? I’m just kidding. I do my own laundry, but you know what? You get the deal. Um, so it’s very, very much a double life. And so there’s a part of me. That’s like, I should be moved out. Like I’m living like an adult.
I should really be living like an adult, but then there’s the other part of me. That’s like, okay. But you have this opportunity to save so much and prepare yourself. So that’s why I have not moved out yet. It’s been, um, a couple years since I graduated high school and I don’t think I don’t, at least personally right now have an opinion on when people should move out.
It’s all different circumstantially for everybody. But I think for me, it’ll definitely be soon just because I’m getting to that point where financially I can still budget out rent while continuing to save, um, Which is great, but in the meantime, yeah, like living at your parents’ house or living with relatives, family, friends, that’s okay. And it was hard for me to get that for a while. It was, it was very, almost draining.
K.Lee Marks: [00:27:52] I think it’s a cultural thing, you know, because, um, so I’ve been to India several times and it’s, uh, they, a lot of folks have a multi-generational family. They. They have the grandparents there. They have the parents there, they have the kids there, maybe the grandchildren there, and it is it’s.
So I think, you know, you’re talking about beat the culture. It’s like, it is a, it is a cultural norm in the west. It’s like, oh no, you need to move out and go be independent. But what does that do that? I’m not saying that’s bad or not correct at all, but. But if we break the family system apart, then it’s, it’s so much harder to succeed and, and we can succeed more in community, whether it’s blood family, or just your, your, your soul family.
.Uh, and so I think that, yeah, I don’t, I don’t personally see anything wrong with it. As long as you’re happy, they’re happy and everything’s flowing then. Yeah. Then the more, you know, it makes sense to me, so, okay. Let’s, let’s zoom out here and, um, I want to, I wanted to kind of. Pick your brain a little bit on what you see the future of education kind of turning into, and kind of like brainstorm with you.
I’ve been in all these clubhouse rooms on like edu-tech and the, you know, how to keep students engaged. And I believe in podcasting, I believe that podcasting is actually, we’re talking about mentors. We’re talking about like Allowing kids to explore their own interests. And I think that if you, if you do a podcast, you do all that.
Plus you learn all these amazing skills. So I wanted to, I wanted to get your thoughts on that and also what you see sort of working from your days in school and what you would like to see happen in the future.
Grace Walker: [00:29:24] Well, This is a personal opinion, but at least in my opinion, I think that I’ve learned more listening to podcasts than I learned in my two years of college.
I’m a hundred percent convinced. I mean, when I start talking about facts that I’ve learned about things that I’m confident discussing topics like finance topics, like real estate, I’ve learned that all through experience. Podcasts YouTube videos. I didn’t really learn that through school. I did go to real estate school to take the exam, but I could probably tell you one fact that I learned on the exam that I still remember.
It wasn’t the exam. That was important. It was the experience and the real, like hands-on aspects of real estate that taught me things about real estate. And it’s been. listening to podcasts. listening to Dave Ramsey has taught me so much about finance. I’m convinced that I could get up and give an entire spiel about finance now.
And I didn’t learn any of that in school. And I don’t want to say that to talk down on school because I think that education is powerful no matter where it comes from, but I think that message really needs to be. To be normalized because people are so convinced that they need college without college.
You’re not educated and that’s not true. Self-education is huge reading podcasts, experience all our education, just as much as the university. And if you’re going into like the medical field. Go to college, please. I don’t want anybody who hasn’t been to college to be operating on me please
K.Lee Marks: [00:30:46] Just because they listen to a podcast.
Grace Walker: [00:30:48] I listened to a podcast about giving open-heart surgery. I’m fine. No, that’s of course college is great for a career field like that, for example, but if you want to grow on to be grow on, go on to be a public speaker or real estate agent in my case. You don’t need school for that? I mean, I feel like I’m a prime example.
I’m doing very well and I didn’t go get that bachelor’s degree. And so it’s just kind of like, I don’t like the idea that college is normalized to the point where people who don’t go to college are looked down upon, like I’ve even had that happen with me where someone’s like, oh, what are you doing now?
And I get kind of nervous. Like I said, sorry, not what are you doing now? But like, if someone asks me, oh, where are you going to school? I kind of like get anxious to respond. I’m like, Ugh. I’m not in school and I feel shameful almost. And then I have to go on to justify that with, but I am doing a, B and C to, to justify the fact that I’m not going to college.
And I just don’t know why that’s the thing it needs to be fixed because it’s true. Just like you said, there’s so much power in education beyond the classroom and we need to normalize it. That’s how I feel.
K.Lee Marks: [00:31:57] Yes. Okay. So, uh, the first thing grow on should be a thing I think, right. That’s a, that’s a good term grow on now, a new idea, a new idea.
Um, I, I think it’s interesting the point you made about listening to podcasts as a way to all, to fill in some gaps. So I, cause I’d always been thinking about this as students starting a podcast. And that and how that would help them, but then listening to podcasts like fills out this whole, other thing.
That’s how you can get those hours in. Because I think the problem with that other idea is like, well, how do you get all those credit hours? Right? Like you do have to lot of time with subject to have it. And you have to engage with it. And I think the engagement piece where the interviewing is really powerful because you have to engage with the content.
You have to see what your guests have talked about, what they haven’t talked about, what you want to ask about. So there’s a lot of self-reflection in it and it teaches emotional intelligence skills, how to communicate, how to like ref you know, listen really well, public speaking, all that stuff. But, but yes, so listening to shows is a super powerful way to learn.
And, and so what, what do you think. Like, what did you see in school that is working?
Grace Walker: [00:33:12] That is working?
K.Lee Marks: [00:33:14] Really well.
Grace Walker: [00:33:15] All right. So what I did learn from school is it’s kind of hard now with COVID schools aren’t really in person, but the in-person experience that I got through school is what helped me. And I know everyone learns differently, but I do learn better from doing, not just.
Being there. I don’t know if that makes sense. So for example, I got my associates in communications because speaking, and so I had a few communications classes where we’d have assignments to work with other people to go on, to create a speech about such and such a thing. And I think school is really beneficial for me because it gave me the opportunity to work with others and like, Podcasting, I can listen to a podcast and that’s just me listening to someone else, but at least with that school aspect.
Um, so on the contrary of my opinion, where school does maybe work better is I got the opportunity to work with other students to hear other people’s ideas, get to know different personality traits and just a lot of getting to know different people and putting , not just working just alone, but working in a group.
I think group assignments really helped me in that way.
K.Lee Marks: [00:34:22] Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That’s awesome. The collaborate piece is huge. The social aspect is huge. I don’t think that the digital space can perfectly, um, replace that, however you, so I was a teacher in middle school. I did after-school programs, teaching electronic music and podcasting actually.
And yeah. It seemed like a lot of the kids would just go home separately and play video games together. Like that was actually the way that they hung out anyway, that there was like a decline in actually going over and having play dates and stuff. And so in that way, I S I think that podcasting is a great and streaming is a great way to socialize.
And you can, you can do collaborative projects together. Like, I’ll just give a little, a little tiny example. Um, this morning, uh, we have a, I was invited to Madi coach’s connection room on clubhouse, a networking room, uh, in the morning. It’s every Tuesday at seven 30. And, uh, Just the planning of it and what, okay, how are we going to mod it?
What’s the format, you know, what’s the timing. And just being in a room with these five other incredible women who were leading it and sharing it is and brainstorming collaboration , what that teaches. It’s so important. And I felt a little bit of that coming back from when I was in college. And when I got to collaborate with people, I felt that same feeling of like, oh, this is a school project we’re all working on. So I think that it can at least give us. Some percentage of that experience, again, even though not in person.
Grace Walker: [00:35:54] Yes. And like I said, I am pretty new to the podcasting world, so I suppose maybe I’ll get experience like that hopefully soon. But yeah, that makes sense. I definitely think, um, being able to be collaborative and work with other people is a huge skill that you need to have.
And that’s why it really is a bummer seeing all this online school, because it’s just kind of like. Taking the way that I feel like at least, I don’t know. I’m just hearing from my brother’s experience. My brother’s over in zoom class across the room right now. But, um, but you know what I mean? I just feel like working with other people is really important for sure.
I said just no matter where you get it from it’s, it’s just an important life skill, for sure.
K.Lee Marks: [00:36:31] Yes. And, and you know, that point, I heard that a statistic that like almost a third of students just kind of dropped off the map. They didn’t show up for zoom, all this stuff. And so, you know, it would be, it would be interesting for you to ask your bro about this.
Like. What if, what if he, like, is he at all interested in podcasting? Does he see what you’re doing? And is he like, oh yeah, I could imagine that. Or is it like, uh-uh.
Grace Walker: [00:36:54] I don’t know, he’s a very much an athlete. So not really into like the whole artistic type stuff that I’m into so
K.Lee Marks: [00:37:02] what if he could interview , like the athletes that are most inspiring to him.
Grace Walker: [00:37:06] Oh, he really likes, um, Lionel Messi. If he could speak with him, I’ll, he’d probably love that.
K.Lee Marks: [00:37:14] So then we’re talking about the council, their safety and council, that verse that you read or recited. That is that that’s where that’s exciting. So every student come up with their own track and their own plan and their own heroes that they want to reach.
And it’s kind of like a quest. They need to go find their, their guides. They need to go find the heroes of their story to learn from.
Grace Walker: [00:37:35] Gotcha. Yeah, that’s interesting. I need to go pick his brain now.
K.Lee Marks: [00:37:40] Yeah, that’d be awesome. If you could do a little bit of research and development. Um, okay. So, uh, you know, as we’re winding down, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about social media strategy because there’s, there’s a huge range of people coming into the space right now. Not everyone likes social media. Not everyone wants to be on social media. I kind of wanted to pick your brain about Instagram Tik TOK. How you’re using it with your podcast, what you found to work, any tips that you have to share with the community?
Grace Walker: [00:38:08] Yeah. So what’s tough about social media is the fact that the algorithm is always changing.
So right when you think you’ve figured it out, there’s a change. So it’s definitely been a lot of trial and error for me Tik Tok was more of a joke. At first, to be honest, I would just kind of make like funny videos. It was just. I didn’t have anyone I knew on there. So I was like, whatever, like, I don’t really care what I do and I would just make random videos.
And then one day, one of them blew up. It blew up being like 400,000 views, which is blowing up for me. Um, and I gained like 8,000 followers. I went from like zero to 8,000 and that was a lot for me. So I was like, whoa, I’m going to do it more. So I just started doing it more. And, um, a few of the things, the tips I realized through a lot of.
Growth since that video to now, um, I a lot of times would make my videos about me and what I’m doing, and those don’t blow up the way I wanted them to. I’d be like, hi, I’m grace and I’m doing a podcast. And everyone’s like next sad, but it’s true. You need to make what you’re posting be about them. Because if you pull them in, if you like, instead of saying, hi, I’m Grace, I’m doing a podcast about finance and you start out saying, are you struggling with finances?
They’re going to be like, wait. Yeah, I am. And they’ll listen. So you need either, you can do the same idea, video idea as you had. But you need to flip it and make it seem beneficial to your audience. And that’s what I’ve noticed with the videos that blow up. I, a lot of times will start in my reels in intake talks with a question that is a common question, and then people will want to know the answer.
So they’ll stay around to finish the video. And the reason I have also been focusing on reels and TIK TOKs is because. TIK TOK on its own. That’s all there is, is videos and TIK TOKs algorithm is just a lot easier in my opinion, to get followers on because people on Instagram, most of the time, see who they’re following.
They don’t see a lot of new people yet. I’ll get into how they do, but a lot of time, like your Instagram feeds are mostly just people you follow up, but on Tik TOK, your, for you page is. Very rarely people you follow. It’s people who are posting things that you’re interested in. So even though you start out on tick-tock with zero followers and you post a video about finance, if that video starts to gain traction, Anybody who’s interested in finance is going to see that video on there for you page.
They don’t have to be following to see it. So it’s just a lot easier to get your content out there. And that’s why I like that platform because you don’t have to feel like you’re inferior to have, because you have a small following. You can kind of get out there regardless. And then Instagram kind of saw that everybody started moving towards Tik TOK and away from Instagram because he was easier to blow up on Tik doc.
So that’s when Instagram produced reels, which are basically tik tok’s , but on Instagram and. So now that the reels are in effect on Instagram, they’re doing the same thing. You’re not going to see reels of people you follow. Well, you will, but you’re not only going to see rails that people you follow.
You’re going to see reels that pertain to your interests. So it’s just a lot easier with those two platforms in my opinion, to get seen and grow your following. So that is one thing that I kind of just like really send it in on are those two platforms because of that reason. And also like, Consistency is huge because I would, at the beginning of my tick tock career, I would post one video and just be like, all right, when’s it going to blow up?
And then it wouldn’t. And I’d be like, what the heck? But then once I started posting two, three times a day consistently for months, I started blowing up a lot more. And it’s because I was being consistent. The algorithm realized I was being consistent. It was like, this person wants to be noticed. We’re going to push out the video, your chances of getting.
A video pushed out if you’re posting one video are a lot smaller than if you’re posting 20 videos, your chances are higher. So consistency making your video about you and then really centering in on platforms where it’s easiest to grow are my three biggest tips.
K.Lee Marks: [00:42:04] Those are some amazing, amazing tips.
And the piece about focusing on the viewer, the listener that, that piece of advice scales across like every aspect of, of marketing and sales and business, like copywriting, everything needs to be framed in the problem that you’re solving for them or how it involves them or why it matters to them. And so that is huge.
And then all the strategies you shared really valuable. I also have been experiencing a little bit of the, nothing like 400,000, but reels just for whatever reason, they reach more. And also I think that the attention span of being 30. So I’ve been playing around with how can you promote your podcast in 30 seconds?
So if you can just take the best. Clips of, of the episode are the best soundbite and make it into a real, uh, and somehow frame it towards the viewer. Then I think that’s probably going to go farther than even the one minute, like story feed posts, you know, so
Grace Walker: [00:43:04] very true. Agreed. And I mean, once you get that, Um, the audience’s attention.
So let’s say you get them because of a reel, you do want, I don’t want to underestimate the power of your story and your feed because once you’ve got their attention, you want to keep their attention. So once they finally follow you because of a real, that made a might’ve blown up and caught their attention.
If they click on your profile and then there’s nothing else for them, besides that reel , they’re probably not going to be that interested and want to stay. So I still do like to focus on my feed and consistently posting content that is beneficial to my audience on my feed and my story, because once I get them, like the reels is kind of how you reel them in.
Oh, maybe that’s why they need them though. Huh? Wow. Creative Instagram. Once you reel them in, you want them to stay. So that’s kind of where I feel like your feed and your story come into play and being relevant.
K.Lee Marks: [00:43:56] Yeah, I think about it like composting actually. So Podcast Farm , I like to come up with podcasts and agriculture
analogies, but if in composting and in permaculture, sustainable agriculture, uh, soil is everything. And the way that you build soil is through, um, wood and carbon and nitrogen. So you need carbon based like leaves and leaf and wood material, and you need. Uh, grass and manure and food scraps that are nitrogen and you mix them together and make soil.
But the nitrogen stuff burns up really fast and decomposes and the woods stuff takes longer. And so what people often do when they dig a big garden bed is to like put stumps in the bottom. And T and branches, then they’ll put leaves and then they’ll put soil and then they’ll put the green stuff and then mix it.
And that, that wood is long-term food. It’s a long-term, uh, soil, nutrient and decomposition material. And so similarly, what I’m hearing from you about the feed and stuff is like the reels reel them in the tik tok’s reel them in , but you need to nourish them. And that’s why I think the podcast is also like that the podcast is this.
Okay, now you’re ready to feast. You ready to get like. Right. Real real cause 30 seconds. You can only, you can only share so much a minute. You can only share so much. Yeah.
Grace Walker: [00:45:10] Agreed. It’s true. Um, I always question it because I’m still, like I said, figuring out the whole social media thing. Like, I feel like I kind of have a grasp, but it’s constantly changing and evolving and I’m still at the beginning of my journey in the social media world, but I do.
I wonder, like, how does some of these big influencers keep their audience engaged? Because they’re only posting that stuff. And I’m like, what? Like if I was a big influencer, I’d want to be dragging them to my podcast, dragging them to something bigger. So I do kind of wonder, like, what do you think? Like, how do you think they do that?
Do you think it’s just the algorithm? Cause not everyone has. A platform like a podcast or TV show. You know what I’m saying?
K.Lee Marks: [00:45:50] Well I’ve actually heard that a lot of influencers aren’t doing so well, they have the social capital, but they don’t have the business behind it. Not all influencers, obviously influencer marketing is huge, but, um, let’s, let’s put it this way.
If, if you’re only advertising other people’s products and services, what do you have? To invest in and that, yeah. So you’re investing in your platform, you’re investing in your brand. You’re also real estate investor. Like that’s really intelligent. And I would say, I, I tell people this a lot, like as of this, I’ll just be super transparent as of this quarter, March 23rd, 11:48 AM
uh, I’m just about to hit a thousand downloads on my podcast. It’s only, it’s three. Woo. Got to celebrate everything. You know, that’s not a huge number. That’s not a big number in podcast land. Yeah. Well, here’s the thing. Do you want, do you want 10,000 downloads and no conversion and no engagement? Or do you want a couple hundred downloads and.
And sales and inspiration and connection. And I’ve been able to monetize at least like 10 grand so far in three months because of the show, because it has gotten, so I always counseled people to just focus on. Quality focus on service to the community and obviously numbers matter for many different reasons, even if it’s just psychological goal setting, but the, the importance of investing in our own platforms, as far as those influencers, I’m not sure exactly.
You know, there’s a lot of great examples of how that works, but I would say that you want to have your own products and services so that you are a little bit more self-sustained. That’s okay. We’re going to be influencers next. So we’ll change the game for them once we’re up there, right? Yeah. Micro, micro influencers.
Micro influencers is a whole other thing too, right? Like not going to the huge reach people, but going to the, like the middle and lower end of the influencers for podcasters, you can kind of build some collaboration possibility there. Right? Yeah. So grace, as we’re getting down to the end of this wonderful interview, you shared so much value. And I know that the audience is going to get a lot out of this. Um, where, where could they tune in and how can they connect with you? And, um, any last words to share with them?
Grace Walker: [00:48:12] ahh, last words is thank you so much for watching. And then if you guys want to tune in to me, um, like we mentioned, my Tik Tok and Instagram are my main social media platforms for now.
Um, so if you want to follow me on there, my personal is @GraaceWalker with two A’s in grace. So G R a C E Walker. Bummer that Grace Walker cannot give me the name, but it’s okay. We’re working with what we got. And then, um, my business one is @Beattheculture and yeah, I post very consistently on all those platforms if you guys want to keep up, but then obviously the main place I want you guys to head is to my podcasts.
So beat the culture is on all platforms. You can find podcasts, apple music, Spotify, Google podcasts, whatever you name it. There’s there it is. There it is. And if you guys want to tune in I’m super. New. And so I am open to talking about whatever, but it always ties down to the fact that it’s different than the culture we talk.
Finances, we talk career, we talk success just self-improvement in general is my thing that I like to talk about. And so, yeah, if you guys want to tune into that, that is where you can find me. And I would love to see you there
K.Lee Marks: [00:49:20] Yeah you will not regret it! Check out the most hilarious tik-tok reel, just awesome content and also really useful, really useful.
Self-development uh, just not, it’s kind of, it makes it sound so. You know, small it’s more than that. You really great info, really great conversations on your podcast. Go check out sister grace. She’s working on some amazing stuff. Grace, thank you so much for joining and I hope to have you back on the show in a little bit, so we can see how your media empire has grown.
And you’ll probably have a TV show by then.
Grace Walker: [00:49:53] Yeah, let’s do yes. TV show come and see. Not really, but hopefully eventually.
K.Lee Marks: [00:49:59] All right. All right. Well, take care. Have a great day.
Grace Walker: [00:50:02] Thank you, you too.
