TFS#210 - Fiona Wang Grew to 150k+ Followers, Leveraging It To Build Her Agency & Other Businesses

Fiona Wang, founder of Candidco.au, helps businesses grow online through content and social media strategies. With a background in business and media, she’s built multiple ventures, including a Bearbrick painting business and an upcoming dessert café in Bali, focusing on authenticity, consistency, and creativity. www.instagram.com/heyfionawang www.tiktok.com/@heyfionawang www.youtube.com/@heyfionawang 0:00 - Introduction 1:00 - Meet Fiona Wang 2:01 - Why Bali is a perfect place for foreign investment 3:06 - How Fiona quit her job to pursue entrepreneurship 3:49 - How she started her Bearbrick painting business 5:52 - Andy on meeting Fiona learns about her agency 7:53 - Helping businesses build online brands 9:24 - The challenges of mixing business and friendship 12:47 - Fiona on generating leads from her social media following 14:25 - What her agency’s sales process looks like 16:12 - How being flexible with clients' needs leads to a 65-70% close rate 17:53 - How she manages all her businesses 22:04 - How she learned to handle all the business aspects 24:00 - Her experience working with and collaborating with entrepreneurs and influencers in Sydney 27:22 - Fiona's journey in launching her dessert cafe in Bali 29:38 - Building businesses from scratch vs. raising funds 31:11 - Using time-blocking to manage workloads 32:49 - How she got into the content creation space 36:11 - Growing her first 15k followers by creating food content during lockdown 38:06 - How she creates and builds backlogs of content for her social media posts 39:19 - Tips for planning and structuring content 40:43 - Why unique formats matter in content creation 44:04 - How she came up with the idea of building an agency that helps businesses establish their online brands 45:25 - How her agency creates content for their clients 46:40 - Why influencers often earn more than agencies 47:37 - People as her agency’s biggest expense 48:40 - Difference between her social media agency and a management agency 50:27 - How they would build UGC content for a tooth whitening brand 55:17 - Hiring in-house influencers vs. hiring an agency to help you grow your social media 57:22 - Why content creation isn’t full-time for most 1:02:11 - How being authentic and consistent on social media allows you to stand out 1:04:38 - How using her own voice and personality allows her to connect with her viewers 1:06:31 - Fiona on why emotion-driven content resonates with viewers 1:12:32 - Importance of brand consistency and authenticity 1:15:10 - How every personality can find an audience as a content creator 1:16:56 - Being shy when recognized in public 1:20:32 - Personality differences with her sister 1:22:11 - Why he doesn't want to post stories live 1:22:52 - Fiona's socializing strategy when going to a party 1:24:53 - How she came up with the idea for her dessert café in Bali 1:28:44 - Losing $10k on her first venture 1:30:53 - Bali vs. Sydney vibes 1:32:47 - How she discovered the local culture of Bali 1:33:38 - Fiona reveals her outbound message to get free accommodation while traveling 1:34:50 - How studying a double degree in business and media helped her build her agency 1:36:17 - Focus over the past six months 1:37:08 - Flexible hours for Fluid employees 1:38:06 - Hiring through Instagram stories 1:42:00 - Paying employees per project 1:43:02 - Doing quality control and finding new clients for Candidco.au 1:44:34 - Adding 1-hour breaks into her routine 1:50:51 - 1 hour of doing nothing vs. 1 hour on an afternoon walk or working out 1:52:17 - Sheduling her 1-hour "doing nothing" routine 1:53:45 - Goals for the next six months 1:55:15 - Fiona on the girl boss movement and advocating for femininity 1:56:42 - How Fiona wants to make money and give back to children 2:00:37 - Andy’s story about chatting with someone who doesn’t want kids 2:01:36 - Fiona on handling mean comments on her socials 2:02:24 - Fiona’s take on Trump’s presidency 2:04:38 - Connect with Fiona Wang 2:04:49 - Outro