251: From $18/Day to $10K in Projects: Jolleen's Instagram Strategy for Freelance Success

Learn the powerful mindset shift that took Jolleen from underpaid to unstoppable in fashion freelancing!

Tired of feeling stuck, underpaid, or invisible in the fashion world? Jolleen Gabriel’s story will seriously light a fire under you. She went from earning just $18 a day in the Philippines to making over $4,000 a month as a freelance fashion designer—working only 20 hours a week. No massive audience. No secret connections. Just a smart strategy, a mindset shift, and some intentional Instagram magic. 

In this episode, Jolleen shares how she built a thriving niche in swimwear, turned Instagram into a client-generating machine (without needing a huge following), and overcame self-doubt to confidently charge her worth. Her journey is packed with practical insights and inspiring mindset shifts that any freelancer can learn from.

If you’re new to freelancing or have been at it a while, click play now to discover how to land better clients, build a business you’re proud of, and finally charge what you're worth.

Resources:
197: How to Sell Yourself As A Freelance Fashion Designer (without feeling gross)
Bonus: The $200K Reality Check: Why Starting a Fashion Brand Costs More Than You Think

About Jolleen:
Jolleen Gabriel is a swimwear designer who loves helping people bring their brand visions to life. For her, it's about more than just creating beautiful designs; it's about empowering entrepreneurs to launch successful swimwear lines. She guides her clients through every step, from sketching concepts and developing tech packs to finding the perfect manufacturer. Her goal is to make the process as smooth and supportive as possible, so her clients feel confident and excited about building their dream brands.

Connect with Jolleen:
Email her at [e-mail]
Check out her website
Follow on Instagram
Connect on LinkedIn

Download my Freelance Price List just for fashion (it’s free!): sewheidi.com/price

Creators and Guests

Host

Heidi Weinberg {Sew Heidi}

Heidi (aka Sew Heidi) is a self-taught freelance fashion designer who built a six-figure business without a degree, portfolio, or industry connections. After years of burnout in the fashion industry, she went freelance—and never looked back. Now, she helps other designers ditch toxic jobs, land better clients, and build flexible careers they love. Through her podcast, courses, and resources, Heidi has helped thousands of designers take control of their fashion path and finally get paid what they’re worth.

What is Fashion Designers Get Paid: Build Your Fashion Career On Your Own Terms?

This is a show for burnt-out fashion designers (and TDs, PDs, patternmakers, textile designer and beyond) who want more flexibility in their career while still doing work they love.

You'll learn how to build a freelance fashion business, so you can do the work you love on your own terms. Freelancing in fashion is the only way to get freedom in your day (instead of being tied to a desk).

Whether you want to earn extra money on the side, fund your fashion brand, or replace your salary, the FDGP podcast will help you get there. Listen in for actionable tips and strategies to kickstart or grow your career as a freelance fashion designer, build your confidence, and create the life you want.

Hosted by $100k+ fashion freelancer Sew Heidi, the show features interviews and strategy sessions with successful freelance fashion designers from around the world who've ditched toxic fashion jobs and taken control of their own destinies. This is the only place to get REAL insights from REAL freelancers who have built REAL careers on their own terms. (Formerly the Successful Fashion Freelancer podcast.)

Heidi [00:00:00]:
Jolleen Gabriel went from making $360 a month working full time in The Philippines and then a thousand dollars a month working six days a week in Dubai to now earning over $4,000 a month working as a freelance fashion designer. And spoiler alert, she only does about twenty hours of client work each week. Most of her clients work from Instagram where she's been intentionally focusing on a very specific strategy using micro touches. So how did she turn Instagram followers into paying clients without a massive audience? And what is the mindset shift that took her from undervaluing her skills to confidently closing high ticket projects? If you are ready to land better clients, grow your freelance business, and finally charge what you're worth, this episode is for you. Let's dive in. So we have so many things to talk about. And one of them was that you sent me a LinkedIn message, and you're like, Heidi, I have four x'd my income. And I'm like Yeah.

Heidi [00:00:50]:
Okay. Let's talk about that. So Yeah. A ton of other wins. And I know it's never as easy as, like, I just quadrupled my income. But talk a little bit about, like, where are you at now with forex in your income versus, like, where you were at previous with

Jolleen Gabriel [00:01:06]:
Yeah. Yeah. Your career. So before I was getting, like, a few projects here and there, one off or one or two projects. And then I focused my energy on really, like, putting myself out there in terms of, like, the platform I chose, which was, at the moment, it's Instagram. K. And, it is, like, really connecting with, people and kind of nurturing a relationship and converting it into, you know, con converting, like, onlookers or your audience to, like, more of your clients. So I was I did post kinda, like, about, getting, like, a lot of discovery calls.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:01:54]:
And some of my clients now, they were from those discovery calls. Mhmm. And so now I have, like, five active projects at the moment. And it's really amazing because I compare, like, where I am right now. So can I talk a little bit about numbers? Like, a little bit about, like

Heidi [00:02:18]:
Please do. I would love to hear, and I know everyone listening would love to hear you. Yeah.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:02:24]:
So, to simplify it, I looked at, like, what I used to make in a day back in The Philippines, and I'm gonna get give you, like, really hard number. I was making, like, $18 a day in The Philippines. And now

Heidi [00:02:43]:
That's where you're originally from. Yeah.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:02:45]:
And that's where I'm originally from. And now it's so amazing to see that, someone would pay, like, a hundred dollars per CAD. Like, that's 1 CAD or, like, one initial sketch. And that is the, you know, the simplest kind of comparison of where I used to be and where I am now that I was thinking about. So yeah.

Heidi [00:03:12]:
Yeah. And when so when were it's 02/2025 right now. When did you leave The Philippines? And now I know you kinda travel around and you are kinda based in Dubai and stuff, but I think people listening might be a little bit curious about that part of the journey and how that coincided with you building your freelance business in your in your career.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:03:34]:
Yeah. Okay. So, how I started my journey, I left The Philippines December 2020

Heidi [00:03:42]:
One. K.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:03:43]:
I got a job offer in Dubai, and so I started working, in Dubai, and I was making, like, a thousand dollars a month, more or less.

Heidi [00:03:55]:
Is that in fashion?

Jolleen Gabriel [00:03:58]:
Yeah. So it was also, like, being a fashion designer, but I wasn't really happy. It was long hours. It was, like, ten hours a day, six days a week, something like that. And those yeah. It was insane, and it was toxic, and I was overworked, underpaid. And so I was really upset, and I was really getting, like, Sunday scaries a lot. Like, I would just lay in bed.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:04:33]:
Let's say I went to bed at, like, ten. I would look at the clock and it's, like, 2AM and I haven't slept because I was like, no. It's Monday again. Yeah. That that was the worst. And so, anyway, I quit eventually, and I decided to do, like, freelancing on the side. And that's where my freelance journey sort of began. I was, I was doing almost, like, all categories, like unisex and bags.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:05:03]:
And but then, you know, I was actually, like, doing pretty well, at that point, but then I had to leave Dubai because my visa was tied to my company, and so they had to cancel that. And that's how I went to, like, LA. My mom was there at the time, and that's where, at one point, I think it was around September that I saw, you you. I saw you, and then I was like, I I really wanna do freelancing full time. I know I wanted to go back to Dubai and do freelancing because I was able to do it, and I was able to make, at that point, like, more than what they were paying me in Dubai.

Heidi [00:05:51]:
And you're full time

Jolleen Gabriel [00:05:52]:
So yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And so that's when, like, I started working with you and, like, you taught me a lot, like, niching down, focusing. And it wasn't I I get this question a lot. Sorry. I'm, like, talking.

Heidi [00:06:08]:
You're good. It's a podcast interview. You're supposed to talk.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:06:11]:
Yeah. It's Anyway, I get the question a lot of, like, oh, why did you choose swimwear? For me, like, it was a lot of things as, like, a no brainer for me, in the sense that I've always wanted to do swimwear, but I like, where I'm from, The Philippines, and a little bit of the back, more conservative. Right? And so there was, like, never really a market for it, but that was kind of what I love and what I was passionate about. And I didn't really wanna do, like, men's wear or bags. So I was like, oh, yeah. No brainer. Let's do swimwear. And, yeah, we worked together, and it was a really amazing experience.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:07:00]:
And I love being in the fast community. And then I actually, started learning sales with Nikki Rausch. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, I think I really combined I was trying to find kind of, like, what angle works for me. I was more active on LinkedIn at the start. Right? And then, I knew my niche was on Instagram though, and there was, like, a lot of swimwear brands there.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:07:35]:
So I knew, like, you know, I I'll just give it a shot, IG. And so, yeah, I started showing up there, and that's how I found, like, four over five of my clients. So one of my clients was from LinkedIn, actually. So I'm still there on the platform too. So

Heidi [00:07:57]:
yeah. Well, talk to us about I mean, first of all, huge congrats. You're and so now I know you would I think you had said you're four x ing your Dubai salary. So you're making about $4,000 a month Yeah.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:08:08]:
As a freelancer. Yeah.

Heidi [00:08:10]:
Not working ten hours a day, six days a week. What does your current upload look like? I'm just curious.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:08:18]:
So now, so actually, like, the full projects that I got, I calculated it. It was over, 10,000. K. But then, for the month of February, I just tracked, like, okay, I made, 4,500, something like that in February. And Okay. My current workload yeah. So what I try to do mostly is I'm still figuring out if that's, like, my limit, the number of projects in terms of, like but it's also, like, the scale of the project. Right? So, these are smaller projects, but they've compounded.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:09:06]:
And what I like about kind of like this setup is that okay. Yeah. I know I still have, this much to earn from these existing projects. And so and really the challenges right now is, kind of trying to find, like, at the same time, like, working on the projects and we're trying to find, like, nurturing my relationship and finding, like, new clients. So Mhmm. I think in terms of workload, I would be at twenty hours twenty hours, like, a week because the rest of the time I would be, nurturing kind of, like, my social media and, showing up for myself. Yeah. Because it is, like, definitely a lot of leg work to be, showing up and creating content.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:10:07]:
Yeah. So yeah. Yeah.

Heidi [00:10:09]:
Okay. But twenty hours a week of client work, roughly four thousand a month versus ten hour ten hour days, sixty hours a week for a thousand.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:10:24]:
Oh my god. That was I mean, even if you have

Heidi [00:10:26]:
a month that's, like, less than 4,000, you're still, like, miles ahead.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:10:31]:
Yeah. Just realizing.

Heidi [00:10:33]:
Yeah. Yeah. So it's not even comparing apples to apples. It's not like you're working sixty hours versus sixty hours. So, I won't do the math because I'm horrible at that kind of math. But it's such more than four x at this point. Well, I'm so happy for you, and I'd love to dig into, like, you know, you keep saying showing up for myself and nurturing clients and posting on Instagram, and four of your client four of the current five clients have come from Instagram. Like, I'd love for you to talk through how are you thinking about content.

Heidi [00:11:03]:
And I see it because I follow you, but I everyone else listening doesn't. Right? And so well, they can. We'll share that for sure in the show notes. Go follow Jolleen so you can see what she's doing. But I'd love for you to talk through, like, what's some of the thought process behind your content, and how do you approach this and plan things out? And and and then also, like, how do you take some of that nurturing, and how does that turn into conversations and relationships that then turn into discovery calls that then convert to clients? Like, it's a it's a process. So I just asked you 800 questions at once, but I'd love for you to really walk us through the minutia of all of that.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:11:42]:
Okay. Yeah. So, I I honestly love to learn. Right? And I I've been, also a part of some in so many different communities. I'm in a community that focuses on social media as well, and I was going through, like, this person's, kind of, content, and she was talking about, like, creating a brand and nurturing a community. Right? And so I tried to convert that and make that into kind of like swimwear. So I have a rough outline of what I would post. So Mondays, I would post, like, trend reports.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:12:31]:
Tuesdays, I would try to post, like, a time lapse. And then, some days I would post about educational stuff and my service, my services. And then, either Sunday or Saturday, I post about my personal journey. And it's so interesting because I've I was posting educational stuff before, like a % educational stuff.

Heidi [00:12:58]:
Okay.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:13:01]:
It's so interesting. I would have never thought that the post that gets a lot more engagement is the journey, like a little bit of my personal life. I can't believe how many people I mean, it's not a lot, but if you compare it to, like, the educational post, that's the one that gets more engagement. And so when it comes to engagement, I do prioritize kind of, like, Instagram in the sense that there's just a little bit more ways that you can connect with your audience in the sense of, like, posting on stories. Mhmm. So I try to make it, like, easy for people to, engage with my stories, and I use polls. I use just stickers to send their reaction and emoji, whatever like that. Yeah.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:13:58]:
And so one of a few examples of kinda, like, my stories would be what is the most difficult part about, like, launching your brand? Where do you need more help on? What do you wanna gain more clarity on? Is it looking for manufacturers, figuring out, the whole product development process. And then so that would be in the form of polls. Right? And then if Okay. Someone reacted, I would just send them a DM and, like, ask, like, hey. So, tell me about, like, what do you wanna know more about? And just starting a conversation like that. Like, they they're kind of giving you an in to, like, like, yeah, engage with me. You know? They're kinda sending you, like, a signal. I would love to know more.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:14:49]:
And that just gives you kind of, like, permission about starting a conversation. Right? So, yeah. And then I would invite them to, like, a discovery call, and then and then after, like, the you know, I would get to know them on the call and all that. And then that goes on to, like, sending a proposal and then hopefully, like, signing on the project, stuff like that. So yeah.

Heidi [00:15:20]:
Wow. I have so many more questions now. I love how I know you're a very avid learner, and I've I've, you know, seen you over the last year and a half since we started working together in Fast Track. Yeah. Really push yourself and continually invest in yourself and learn. I know you worked with Nikki Roche, who we've had on the podcast before. We'll definitely link to her episode in the show notes because such a great sales expert.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:15:48]:
So great. Yeah.

Heidi [00:15:51]:
But I'd and I could hear, like, all the nuances of all the education you've done, like, being threaded into that journey you just walked us through. So a couple questions I have that I think people listening would also really be interested in is, like, how did you first build out any sort of like, well, actually, tell us right now. What's your follower count on Instagram? Like, what is your engagement actually look like? Because I think some people might be thinking huge numbers. And my guess is it's not anything crazy.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:16:20]:
No. It's not anything crazy. It's just, like, 3,000 followers. And and I do admit, like, it is a combination of, like, strategic ads. I would just boost, like, one ad at a time. Oh, you are

Heidi [00:16:38]:
launching some ads.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:16:40]:
Yeah. Yeah. But then that just, like, gets you I learned that that just gets you, like, followers. And then it's your kinda it's my responsibility to nurture those kind of, like, without I mean, if I didn't do the reaching out, asking questions, and all that, they would still just be kind of, like, just followers. Yeah. And I'm not converting them into clients. So they just, like, wanna see, you know, like, your post, but then they don't interact with it or engage with it. So that's kind of, like, the difference.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:17:19]:
You know?

Heidi [00:17:20]:
Okay. So how much we could get super in the weeds on ads, which I don't think we're gonna do because we don't have the time. But

Jolleen Gabriel [00:17:27]:
Yeah.

Heidi [00:17:28]:
Like, how much in a given week or month are you spending to on ads to boost anything on Instagram?

Jolleen Gabriel [00:17:37]:
In a week, it would be, I don't do it every week, but it would be like, $50. Like, I set aside money for investing in those sort of things. I think, it's also, like, important that you get kind of, like, eyes on it, but then convert them, you know.

Heidi [00:18:00]:
Yeah. So, like, would it be fair to say, like, maybe a hundred bucks a month or so?

Jolleen Gabriel [00:18:05]:
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

Heidi [00:18:07]:
And you're just taking, like do you just take is that kinda how you built your whole Instagram up to 3,000? Was just by boosting some posts over time? I mean, I know it doesn't happen in five seconds, but

Jolleen Gabriel [00:18:20]:
Yeah. It did take, like, more than a year to get to 3,000. Mhmm. K.

Heidi [00:18:28]:
And have

Jolleen Gabriel [00:18:28]:
you been

Heidi [00:18:28]:
posting, like, almost daily for a whole year?

Jolleen Gabriel [00:18:32]:
No. There were times that, I think I started posting more seriously this year.

Heidi [00:18:41]:
Oh, and it's only March. So just in the past couple months.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:18:44]:
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Because I was more active on LinkedIn. If you notice, like, I was more active on LinkedIn before, and then I switched to Instagram. I decided to do that, like, December, and then I started posting more consistently since January.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:19:04]:
And it does take, like, a lot of effort in the sense that, I need to post five times a day. Five five a week. Times a week. Yeah. Yeah. As compared to LinkedIn, I just, like, post, let's say, I don't know, three times a week, and then and then your your post gets boosted. What I like about LinkedIn is they boost your post even after, like, two weeks being on there. It has

Heidi [00:19:33]:
such a long shelf life on LinkedIn.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:19:36]:
Yeah. Yeah. For us, Instagram, it's like gone. Gone.

Heidi [00:19:40]:
It's if it lasts for twenty four hours, you're lucky.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:19:43]:
I know. I know. I know. So yeah. So mhmm.

Heidi [00:19:48]:
Okay. But I do see you taking some of the stuff you're creating for Instagram and cross posting it on LinkedIn just for some extra exposure.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:19:56]:
Yeah. I think, like, I'm still trying to get used to, posting what I post on Instagram into LinkedIn because I do feel that LinkedIn is definitely more has a more has a different vibe, if you will say. And Instagram is more casual. So and while, while I would just call her a coach because I don't know what to call her, the the, my coach that does the social media tells me it's okay to just post this stuff from Instagram to LinkedIn. And and now I'm still getting used to it. I feel like it's definitely, like a comfort zone thing. Like, I'm not sure, like, I should be doing that, but then I should really just do it. Yeah.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:20:50]:
Yeah. Because I started out doing reels on Instagram and putting my face on video and just listening to my voice. And then, of course, like, the first time, it was so cringe and just talking, like, oh my god. What am I doing? You know, those thoughts kind of like yeah. Yeah. Those were the thoughts I had. But now I do feel like I've gotten a little bit used to it, and so I could talk about one of the things I'm trying to do now is, post more resources for my audience. What else? And talk kind of, like, have the green screen on, and then while you're talking, talking about, kind of, like, trends, talking about, what goes on.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:21:38]:
I was talking about budget as well, educating kind of, like, my audience, with regards to a budget. I know I've seen you talk about this on LinkedIn, like, you need two how much was it? 220 k? Yeah. 200,000. Yeah.

Heidi [00:22:00]:
I'll link to that episode. We talked about how you need $200,000 to, like, really launch a profitable fashion brand.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:22:07]:
Yeah. Yeah. I agree. It it's because it's definitely more than the product development and the design. It's a whole So all the things. Yeah.

Heidi [00:22:19]:
Okay. But you said that your personal posts tend to do better. Like, give us an example or two. What are you posting that is along those lines?

Jolleen Gabriel [00:22:27]:
They really love like, my audience loves to hear about the journey, about, like, how I became a freelancer. So it's so interesting that the caption was, I ditched my nine to five to be my own boss. And that had the most, like, organic engagement and, reacts. It wasn't anything crazy, but that's the post that really got a lot of, you know, reactions, basically.

Heidi [00:22:59]:
Okay.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:22:59]:
And yeah, they just love hearing about, like, kind of like the what the challenges, you face. And I was listening to the podcast episode earlier with Alina, and I heard that that's what people, I guess, really want to hear about, you know. Like, how did you how did you face that challenge? What did you do? How did you get over it? You know? How did you come out strong and successful? So

Heidi [00:23:30]:
yeah. Yeah. Okay. So then okay. So multiple questions here. First is, do you then how do you decide what to boost? Do you take a post like that that's done well and boost that? Because where I get a little bit lost is I'm like, is that attracting the ideal avatar, which is someone who wants to start or someone who needs help with their swimwear brand versus that kind of is speaking more to maybe someone who wants to quit their nine to five and become a freelancer. And so,

Jolleen Gabriel [00:24:05]:
you

Heidi [00:24:05]:
know what I'm saying a little bit? I'm just I'm getting a little lost on the audience. And so then I guess that's a little bit of a question. And also, like, how do you decide which post to boost?

Jolleen Gabriel [00:24:15]:
Yeah. So I tried a few different things, but there was this one post that just tended to do well in terms of ads, so I kept boosting that. K. And, you would tinker a little bit on kind of, like, the audience settings. I would try to target, like, Europe, where else? Australia. Australia, I know, is big on, like, swimwear, United States, mostly LA and New York. So those and Dubai, I would try to target those. So I would get my usually, like, my audience from there.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:25:00]:
Right? K. And, you tinker a little bit, like, with the age and their interests. I think there's, like, they're interested in these swimwear brands. Like Mhmm. Swimwear, apparel, and then specific brands, you know, specific swimwear brands. So

Heidi [00:25:20]:
That they're interested in. Okay. Yeah.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:25:23]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Heidi [00:25:25]:
So this is not the, like, one click boost your post directly from the Instagram app?

Jolleen Gabriel [00:25:32]:
It sorta is, but instead of letting Instagram, deal with, like, just recommend an audience to you Yeah. I sort of think tinker with, like, the audience settings. What what the demographic would sort of be like, you know? Okay.

Heidi [00:25:52]:
And so are you, like, I you obviously wanna attract people who are starting or who have and need help with their swimwear brands, not people who wanna be freelancers. So, like

Jolleen Gabriel [00:26:03]:
Yeah.

Heidi [00:26:03]:
What posts are you boosting? Is it the personal ones, or is it ones that maybe speak more to that avatar?

Jolleen Gabriel [00:26:10]:
No. They are more of speaking to that avatar. One of the post, I have it on here. It's it's a reel that's like, come design a swimwear collection with me. That's one of the post I boosted. And another one was kind of like, turn your sketch into well, oh, no. One of the other post was, talking about cost, like, Oh, okay. Behind the scenes of, like, cost of creating swimmer or something like that.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:26:49]:
So yeah.

Heidi [00:26:50]:
Okay. So on the organic side of things, your personal post do well. But when you're boosting, you're really intentional about the content and who the audience is so that you're attracting the right people.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:27:02]:
Yeah. Yeah. I I haven't tried boosting the the, the journey sort of. But I do know that they my audience likes to see the creative side as well. Like, they like to see me design a collection. And the things that do kind of, like, surprising me less are the educational stuff.

Heidi [00:27:29]:
Oh, isn't that funny? Yeah.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:27:33]:
Yeah. I'm just looking at You

Heidi [00:27:34]:
guys never know it's social media. Some stuff really throws me through a loop.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:27:39]:
Yeah. I'm just looking at, my post here, and the one with, like, least engagement is, the topic about prototypes. Skipping prototypes and here's why you shouldn't, which is sort of like important.

Heidi [00:27:55]:
I know. And I feel like I have the same type of stuff with some of my content, and I think, I I don't know, I have random theories on it, but, I think that part of it is like, it doesn't feel exciting. Like, if I get to watch you design a swimmer collection, that's fun and exciting. And like, teaching me about skipping prototypes, I'm like, don't make me feel bad because I skipped my prototype or something like that. Right? And I think Yeah. I think there's some psychology behind it. This is just theory. So okay.

Heidi [00:28:28]:
So you posting a lot, boosting some posts very intentionally, which is helping grow your follower count. Do you know these four recent clients that came through Instagram? Do you know where they originated from? Did they originally come from an ad, or did they follow you organically? Like, do you know their journey?

Jolleen Gabriel [00:28:50]:
I feel like most of them found me from my ad. So it does pay to, like,

Heidi [00:28:58]:
You feel like or they did?

Jolleen Gabriel [00:29:01]:
I bet they did because these Okay. I'm looking at them, and they were kind of like my earlier followers. Okay. Yeah. Now because I've built that foundation right, I don't have to boost an ad as much Okay. Boost the post as much. But before, like, when I was starting out and I was trying to get more eyes on my profile, Yeah. They've followed me.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:29:29]:
And and, yeah. These were, like, clients I've signed on, like, yeah, in February, early February. Yeah.

Heidi [00:29:38]:
And so they followed you through a boosted post, and then you are very intentional. I mean, I feel like something I wanna continue to point out, you and I chatted about it briefly before we hopped on the call, was, like, you've been super intentional about every step of this journey. And so you then intentionally are like, okay. Now let me engage in stories or in some other way, and then take the people that are engaging and then being intentional to take the next step in that conversation. Because I think, yeah, you could get them on the follower, and then they'll just they might just sit there forever. You have to take control.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:30:17]:
Yeah. So, one of my clients, she followed me in December, I think. And, you know, I just at first, she ghosted and she didn't, follow through right. And I just, like, asked her, one time, like, hey. How are you? I've been thinking about you. Blah blah blah. Just, you know, making that conversation and just asking them how they've been, how was their journey, if they started their swimwear brand. And and actually, like, that just keeping them in mind and just checking in on them.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:30:59]:
This was in December. She first followed me in December, and she just signed with me in February. So, you know, you really have to go back to kind of, like, the people that have reached out to you. Doesn't mean, like, if they ghosted you, doesn't mean that that's it. You know, they've the bridge bridge is burned and you won't be able to return back. I'd actually, like, keep, an excel sheet, a Google sheet of, like, prospects of I've done, like, calls with people, and I have, like, dates of when I'm I'm gonna follow-up on them and all that. So yeah. So it is really, like, building a relationship with them.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:31:45]:
And if something just reminds me of them, I would just say, hey, this reminded me of you, you know, like or if I just found something, like, really helpful that I think they would that kind of, like, is relevant to them, I would send it to them, you know? Mhmm. So yeah. A little

Heidi [00:32:05]:
bit of value in just staying in touch and having conversations and being a real person that cares.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:32:10]:
Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I am I

Heidi [00:32:15]:
had no idea the depth of your strategy, with everything on Instagram. I don't I don't spend a lot of time on Instagram. I spend more time on LinkedIn. So I just see some stuff that you cross post on LinkedIn. So I really didn't understand how you had so intentionally built this out, but it is it's amazing.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:32:34]:
Yeah. Yeah. I know. Now it's just like, oh, yeah. I did a lot. See? When it comes from someone, on the outside, I wouldn't think that I was building this strategy really deeply. But now that you've pointed it out, oh, yeah. Actually, like, I didn't know how to do Instagram at first, and I've, like, built, a few strategies around that and, like, connecting with people.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:33:01]:
And I oh, there was this one, I forgot which coaching call it was, but someone mentioned that, and I think this is very useful for people to keep in mind. It's like, someone like an audience, let's say a prospect, you've come into contact with them. Right? And you need to be kind of like micro touches is what it's called. You have to have, like, micro touches, like, about, I don't know, like, 27 times, something like that. That was just, like, something someone said. And I think, like yeah. I think, like, with Instagram, it makes it easier because there's a more casual connection. Like, there's, like, more ways, like, okay.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:33:48]:
You can comment on their story. You can comment on their post. You can send them, like, a DM. You know? It's not yeah. So I think it just gives you, like, more access to a person, I think, without being, like, too invasive for sure.

Heidi [00:34:04]:
Yeah. But yeah. I have such a interesting vision for where this is all gonna go for you because I know you're just building this foundation and it's super intentional and it's really, like, manual, you doing all this outreach, but I feel like you're building such an amazing base for yourself, and it's going to get to the point where, like, you are just leads are just coming in. And you're not going to be so intentional about all the minutia. But that's when it starts to build any type of foundation with anything. Right. Freelancing or anything.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:34:38]:
Yeah. I know. It's just I know this is just the start, but I was thinking about that. Oh, should I do, like, the interview now, or should I, like, do it in the future when I built, like, that foundation that very strong. But it's, like, you know what? Yeah. You know what? Like, let's just do this. Let's just do this now. Stop with the imposter syndrome.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:35:02]:
Stop it. Yeah.

Heidi [00:35:04]:
Well, I'm glad you didn't let the imposter syndrome get you, and definitely, I'm stoked to have you on the podcast. This is amazing to chat with you. We have our we have that

Jolleen Gabriel [00:35:14]:
you, Heidi.

Heidi [00:35:15]:
Call coming up inside Fast Track on social media and content strategy.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:35:22]:
And where

Heidi [00:35:23]:
are we? March. It's in April. We're gonna Yeah. Yeah. I'm I won't put you on the spot, but I'm gonna send you an email after this and see if you might be interested in, like, doing a little mini presentation in there. Because Allison and Marie and I are gonna talk, but I feel like you would have so much value to add. I think that would be amazing.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:35:40]:
Yeah. I would love to, of course, like, share more knowledge with freelancers for sure. I I just love also, like, helping freelancers and people in general, you know, just get more knowledge and value of, like, how to do this, how to crush this, you know? Yeah. So yeah.

Heidi [00:36:01]:
Well, thank you so much for coming and sharing your story and your journey and everything you've built. It's amazing to hear where you're at right now. I'd love to finish. Yeah. First, where can everybody find you and connect with you online?

Jolleen Gabriel [00:36:15]:
So, yeah, mostly Instagram, julene at julene gabriel. I also have my website julenegabriel.com, and my email [e-mail], as well as, like, my LinkedIn, Julene Gabriel.

Heidi [00:36:30]:
Okay. Great. We'll link to all that

Jolleen Gabriel [00:36:31]:
in the notes. Thank you, Heidi.

Heidi [00:36:33]:
Of course. I would love to, ask you the question that I ask everybody at the end, which I think you know is coming. And that is Prepared. You're prepared. Amazing. I can't wait to hear. What is one thing people never ask you about being a freelance fashion designer that you wish they would?

Jolleen Gabriel [00:36:51]:
So what I think, like, for me is what it actually means, and a lot of it is just, perseverance and discipline, especially discipline and showing up for yourself. Those are most of, like, my takeaways as well from my journey. It's staying consistent and being disciplined. Because it's hard, you know, no one keeps you how do you say this? Like, no one keeps you accountable other than yourself. You have to be accountable for what you do. So yeah. Yeah.

Heidi [00:37:28]:
That's Well, you have definitely shown those attributions over the past, bit of time, and it's it's been huge to your success. So congrats on doing that.

Jolleen Gabriel [00:37:39]:
Thank you, Heidi. Thank you so much. Yeah. It's been so great. And, yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited to, kinda keep going on this journey as well. And I know this is just a start and better things, greater things in the near future.