The Blueprint for a Winning YouTube Strategy

0:00It's not about perfection. If you're going to try to be perfect, you're going to hurt the business. You're going to self-sabotage. Hey, it's Shuang Esther Shan and welcome to Shopify Masters, your companion for starting and building a business. Do you dream of becoming your own boss? Maybe try out the four-hour work week and build a business that fits your lifestyle. Well, you're in luck because Mimi Icahn is my guest today. Mimi co-founded Luxie Hair in 2010, a premium line of hair extensions and accessories with over 3 million YouTube subscribers. She later sold the multi-million dollar company in 2018.

0:44Since then, Mimi launched Intelligent Change, the makers of the iconic 5-minute journal with more than 2 million copies sold. We're going to talk all about building loyal communities and powerful brands that could create change. Mimi, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm very grateful to be here today. I'm so grateful that you are here. I feel like you are one of the original YouTubers who I feel like is super ahead of the curve, found success that translated content to community to also business. And so much of Luxie Hair is the content you created. for those who are listening, what makes great content for people to want to watch and want to be a part of a community?

1:33That's such a great question. I think a great content, first and foremost, is something you're interested to learn about and then share. And for me, I've always enjoyed learning about beauty. However, I had zero experience in hairstyling. I remember thinking to myself, like, would I actually be able to teach people on how to do hairstyles when I have zero professional experience. And at the end of the day, I realized, you know, 300 videos later that in reality, as long as you can learn something and easily explain it to others, you can make videos about any topic. And that's why even now when people tell me like they want to go on YouTube, I say it's never too late as long as it's a topic that you're really interested in.

2:17And if you can simplify it for people, people will watch and they will engage with that content. So for me, it was just learning different hairstyles that I personally wanted to know how to create on my hair and using the product that we were selling, which was clipping hair extensions, and then sharing it with the audience. And in the way, whenever I made the videos, it was very much organic sell whenever I told people to buy the products. It was very much just educational. And then just letting people know that, by the way, I'm using Luxi hair extensions. And, you know, today I'm going to show you how to do a six strand hairstyle.

2:52Or I think one time I did a 10 strand hairstyle. So like very unique, but also like people just watched also for entertainment. So I think it's about being engaging and authentic, but also really enjoying what you're doing. because that resonates with the audience. People can feel it. They can read it through the camera. Yeah, I remember that six strand braiding video. It's magical because you're able to make it educational and entertaining. It's not like I'm in a lesson I'm learning, but it's like I want to see it in completion. I want to see the braid come to life. Of course, when I mentioned you're ahead of the curve, this is something you started in 2010, and the media landscape has changed so much.

3:33What would you say for people who want to start content creation today? What should they think about? I personally still am a huge believer in long content. A, because it is searchable and also because you can go deeper with the content. So if I were to invest into any platform right now, I'm still a pretty big fan of YouTube, although I think TikTok is great as well. But what I suggest is, again, like whatever business you're doing, whatever idea you have, make it something that you're genuinely interested in. Because if you think it's going to grow and you're just going to do it for the views, the fact is it's not going to go anywhere because people, again, can resonate with your energy when they watch the videos.

4:19And that really important part of authenticity when you're making videos is so important. So when you genuinely enjoy what you're creating, people love watching those videos and then they engage, they come back. And obviously consistency is really important. So if you're making one video or two videos a month and if it's sporadic, people won't know whether when they come back, there will be a new piece of content. So like building that trust with your audience is also extremely important. So creating content that's authentic, consistent, and again, resonates with whatever it is that you're trying to share or educate people on.

4:57And I like that you're so committed to long form. I think it's very important because a lot of the times, even though people spend time on short form content like TikTok, it's hard for people to actually remember who they watched and actually subscribe and follow them. So, yeah, it's a very good note. what other platforms should people be experimenting? And I guess like when they're trying to experiment with different channels in tandem, how do they stay consistent, be recognizable on all of the channels that they're experimenting on? I think organic content is still really important. So of course you can make a long form content video for YouTube and then break it into shorter videos for Instagram or TikTok.

5:42But I think ideally if you really want to engage and grow your channel, it is better to create organic content and original content for whatever platform. Now, I'm personally a big fan of Instagram just because I enjoy the visual aspect of what we see there. Like, to me, it's a very beautiful platform where I think most creators put extra effort into making things more visually appealing. So I personally spend a lot of time on Instagram. But at the end of the day, though, If you're thinking about growing your channel, the algorithm on Instagram is not very conducive to growth unless you do things in a certain way, which right now, for example, is like posting a lot of reels or text.

6:29Like text does a lot, like really well right now, like carousel pictures with different quotes or texts. So but it's always changing at the same time. Right. So you always have to stay on top of these trends. But I think ultimately it has to be a platform that you personally enjoy using. because if you don't, then it won't be long-term consistent effort, right? So I personally still enjoy using Instagram the most. I'm a consumer of Instagram more than I'm a consumer of TikTok or YouTube. So that's where I have built most of my audience and that's where people engage with my content. So ultimately, you have to ask yourself where do you enjoy spending time and then invest more of your time, energy and content in that one platform But of course, you can, you know, let's say focus on YouTube and then repurpose the content and split into shorter videos or YouTube shorts as well or TikTok videos.

7:25But I just think that ultimately you see real growth when you focus on one platform and really understand what is trending there, what kind of music, what kind of content, which, like I said, is always evolving. So you have to really dive deep and observe, like really become an observer of that platform. I never realized that the reason I personally grew on first YouTube or then Instagram is because like subconsciously I've always been paying attention. and kind of like watching other people and seeing what works for them and not then copying that content, but doing similar things with what content I enjoyed putting out, whether it was in beauty or travel or, you know, anything else that I would share on Instagram or YouTube.

8:13But it's just watching for those trends that resonate with people and then doing it in the way that resonates with your values and the content that you want to put out. I always say that you need creative input for creative output. So by focusing on a platform, you're able to actually understand the minute details. And as you said, the trends are changing every day. All the time. Yeah. And it's sometimes to a point like it's jarring to see something repurposed for Instagram because then you kind of see it being kind of out of place, whether it's like a watermark or if it's like that high def YouTube on Instagram.

8:50So I totally understand that as well. That's a really good tip. I think what's also really at least astounding to me about your journey is you're so able to understand what you want out of life and business and understanding different pivots you've taken. So for Luxie Hair, you built it to a multi-million dollar brand. It had over 3 million YouTube subscribers. And you were brave enough to say, I'm okay to let go of this business and start something new. So at that time, what was on your checklist to get the business to the ideal state to be able to be for sale and also for you to move on to the next chapter?

9:35Yeah, thank you for that question. So my former partner, I mean, I'm still a business partner with Alex. So in our previous business, Luxie Hair, we were also business partners. And three, four years into having Luxie Hair, we knew that this is not something we're going to do forever. So we started thinking long term, if we were to sell this business, what would it look like? And as we looked at other people who were selling businesses, we realized that most of the time when you sell a business, you would have to stay in the business and run it for the next few years because that's just part of the deal.

10:11Because nobody wants to lose you, the main operator and the vision of the business. And for us, because freedom is our main value in life and in business, that just didn't resonate with how we wanted things to pan out for us when we went through the process of sale. And actually, at the time, there was somebody who was interested. And as they gave us the offer, that was part of the deal is that we would have to stay for at least two years. And for us, that just didn't make sense because, like, if I'm going to grow somebody else's business, I might as well grow my own. So then we, at the time, also moved to London.

10:44So it was interesting because moving to London and the business was based in Toronto, it was a blessing because in a way it pushed us to become real entrepreneurs. And what I mean by that is that we were at first thinking to bring Luxie Hair to London and then logistically and tax wise, it just didn't make sense. So we ended up keeping it in Toronto and then we found somebody who would run the business. So she started as an assistant manager, then became a general manager and then became CEO. And we just focused on the vision and kind of being on the board and took ourselves, even though we were still like in all the meetings and the team was executing our vision, we were not there day to day.

11:29She was running the show. And then for us, the vision was that when the business gets sold, she will have to stay with the business. And that's exactly what ended up happening. I think two and a half years after Lulu started, and she was just amazing. So grateful for her, Lulu, if you're listening. She's such a talented woman, and we're very grateful because when the sale happened, we were completely free to leave literally the next day after the sale went through. So very lucky for us, but again, it was very strategic. It took probably three, four years for us to strategize and find the right person to put in the place So then we continue growing the business.

12:10And then, you know, whenever somebody bought it, that it would pan out in this way. It sounds like you were working on systematically making sure operationally it was functioning on its own. And you also found someone who could be your successor and look after the business after the sale. On the flip side of the checklist, I guess, what were you looking for in terms of a buyer? Because for someone going through that process, they often forget, like, you can also negotiate and look for things that's ideal for the situation that you're in as well. Absolutely. For us, it was important that it was somebody who, well, first of all, gave us the right price that we had in mind.

12:49Because that's important because we had many offers from many different companies. And they were not the offers we would ever consider accepting. And then, of course, it was somebody who would continue on the vision that we had for the business for the next 5-10 years. Because we created the vision, we had it for the team to execute on. Whether we are going to be running the business or whoever else buys it, it doesn't really matter. It's just for us, let's say, something like sustainability was really important or fair wages. So anything that was already part of the identity and the brand had to remain after the sale.

13:26So somebody who would resonate with those values and want to continue running it in the same way. And then we got really lucky that the right buyer came around. They gave us a price we were not happy with. Then we went back with a price we wanted. And we were ready to lose the deal because for us, again, it's very important in life not to come from scarcity and come from abundance. And know that when the right time comes, you'll find the right person, the right buyer, the right opportunity. And I think when you come from that place, people feel it on the other side that you're not playing games, like you're really ready to walk away.

14:00And we were. They brought the offer up significantly and then we ended up getting the number we wanted and, you know, moved on to other things. But yeah, it was a huge milestone, obviously. I think at that point, we've had the business for about eight years. Yeah. It's like one of those, I feel like if we were writing a textbook about this chapter in commerce about YouTube and business, you are a significant maker of history in this chapter. Thank you. Yeah, and I'm very excited to chat about your new business, Intelligent Change. But first, I'd just like to take a quick moment to thank our listeners for tuning into the show.

14:42wherever you're listening go ahead and make sure to follow shopify masters so you will never miss an episode and as always if you have feedback for today's episode feel free to leave us a review we love reading them thank you so much it's amazing because you build a business once you realize you have a different viewpoint on life and as we all do through chapters of change And now you have this new business that you wanted to focus on. How did you find inspiration and conviction to actually start Intelligent Change? I love how you're calling it new, but actually Intelligent Change is almost 11 years.

15:25I know. You know what? I call it new as well because in a way we started in 2013, but at that time, Luxy Hair was in full growth and Intelligent Change was sort of neglected. It was growing organically, but very slowly. And so we only started focusing on intelligent change after I was sold Luxie Hair around 2018, 2019. The reason we started intelligent change, again, it was very organic. I was going through a very dark time in my life, in my 20s. I was going through anxiety, depression, panic attacks. And I was just looking and searching for an answer to feel better and get myself out of that darkness.

16:06And two things that really helped me on that journey, one was meditation. Vipassana meditation is something I discovered and tried, and it really helped me to learn to cope with overwhelming emotions. And the second thing was discovering gratitude and practicing gratitude. And once I personally experienced the incredible life-changing benefits of using gratitude daily and doing a lot of research on actually how it works, like what is the science behind it, we realized like we want to actually share it with the world as well. And for us, the idea was never that this is going to lead to this huge business and other products and this whole movement.

16:46It was just to create a little practice that is simple enough for us to use daily. Because at the time we used to do this like long one hour walk where we would talk about all the things we're grateful for and we want to manifest. And it was great and fun, but it's not sustainable. And it's also something that I think most people cannot do or afford to do. But everybody has five minutes a day to focus on the good things that are in their lives, because we all have something that's good in our lives. And again, for us, it was the practice and the habit was so profound that we just wanted to put it in a simple tool.

17:25And when we first printed it, I think we printed about a thousand copies and we never thought it's going to go anywhere. and we thought, you know, if nobody buys it, we're just going to gift it to our friends and family for the rest of our lives. But at the time, we still lived in Toronto. It was this event and Tim Ferriss, who actually inspired our first business, Laxie Hair, was in the city and our previous partner, UJ Ramdas, gifted him the journal. So he gave him the five-minute journal and he said, you're part of the dedication because he inspired our first business. Yeah, we'd love to give this to you.

17:57And Tim Ferriss was going through a really difficult time in his life at the time. And he started using the journal. He loved it. And then he's been talking about it for years, literally 11 years. He recently made an Instagram post about it as well. And he featured it in his book, Tools of Titans. He featured it on his podcast so many times because it really helped him out on his journey as well. And, you know, it's been really profound to see how many other people have benefited from using the journal. I think we've sold now more than 2 million copies and we have about 200 ,000 active app users.

18:34So every day feeling extremely grateful and humbled by this movement. And I love that moment where things come full circle, where Tim Ferriss inspired you guys and he then is using a tool that you've created. Such a beautiful moment. Did it feel, I guess, like at all intimidating to have to rebuild from scratch, essentially, because I feel like anytime you're building a new community that is outside of the realm that you were working on before, you feel like, do I have the authority to actually be able to start anew in this new space? I think it's always daunting when you're starting something new.

19:14I was very fortunate because I already had an audience that transitioned with me from laxy hair to intelligent change. And I think that's the beautiful thing about content creation. When you create content, regardless of what you talk about, at the time I was doing YouTube videos about hair mostly, but some lifestyle videos as well, you build trust. So then if you choose to out of a sudden sell tea or workout gear or anything you choose to, if you have the trust of your audience, people will support whatever it is that you're doing because they support you and they trust you. And that's been a great, I guess, business exercise as well, right?

19:56Like to see where we've pivoted from one industry to a completely different industry and the trust was there and people supported what we did. And, you know, if it wasn't for the audience, we wouldn't have been where we are today. Is it difficult? I think ultimately it's all about educating yourself continuously. What I've learned about Luxia Hair before, as I mentioned earlier, is that you don't need to be a hairstylist to make hair videos, right? And at one point, we had hundreds of millions of views on Luxie Hair Channel. And I was the biggest hair channel. And again, I am not a hairstylist.

20:31So for me, this was a big wake-up call that it's not about having that authority or education. It's about being willing to learn and then share that knowledge. So then I basically replicated that or we, you know, because it's not just me, we're a team. So like we're always learning and we're always honest that this is what we're learning. And then we're just sharing whatever it is that we're learning. So, for example, now I love doing workshops. I recently did one on gratitude and like I did all this research on the science behind gratitude and how it works. Because it's one thing to say that it works, but to truly understand how does using gratitude affect your brain.

21:13And there's so much research, but I can summarize some of the key points. There's this part of our brain called hypothalamus that every time we practice gratitude, it gets activated. And it floods your brain with dopamine, which is a feel-good chemical. So in a way, it encourages you to want to practice it over and over again. And also there's so much research from like other scientists who dedicated their whole life to studying how gratitude works. And if you practice gratitude regularly, the biggest takeaway, A, is that you will be happier. I mean, that's our biggest thing that we always tell people.

21:52It's like toothbrush for the mind. You know, if you don't brush your teeth, what's going to happen over time? Slowly they're going to decay. And the same with your mind, like what you expose your brain and mind to affects your reality. The research shows that if you focus on gratitude, and not necessarily every single day, like you don't have to be perfect about it, but even if you do it a few times a week, your brain goes to those places where you're focused on appreciation and the goodness. And the more it does that, it like automatically starts going to those places. And that positively affects your immune system.

22:28It helps you sleep better, longer, fall asleep quicker. It improves your relationship with yourself, which is the most important relationship that then affects all of your relationships. Well, it's infectious in the healthiest way possible. And I feel like you are like the testament to that because you bring like a sense of calm. Oh, thank you. Yeah, definitely. I did want to ask you about growing these businesses and having a team that you have to manage and you truly give them autonomy to have ownership in their domain. What is your advice for founders who now have to look for talent and give control a little bit to empower their team to make decisions?

23:11I think ultimately what we've learned early on in the business is that if you want to grow, you're going to have to give away control. You won't be able, you just can't do everything yourself. However, nobody will care about your business as much as you care about it. But again, that is fine and that is okay, right? Like ultimately, it's not about perfection. If you're going to try to be perfect, you're going to hurt the business. You're going to self-sabotage, right? So at one point, I just realized I need to focus on the things that I'm good at. Like I'm best at. Like I'm not good at accounting.

23:49Let somebody else do that. They're not even good at operations. Like I've personally, what I do in the business for me, it's like the creative or the marketing, the social media. Those are the things I understand. I'm going to double down on that and let everybody else do things that they're good at. And like I think learning to delegate is such an important part of growing your business and becoming a true entrepreneur. And I think most people struggle with that. And they self-sabotage the growth. So I think ultimately it's just learning that you can be perfect and you have to let go. And in order to grow, you have to free up your own time and space to focus on what you're best at.

24:30It's funny because I remember like an older podcast, you mentioned how accounting was the class, which ultimately made you drop out of university. So it's all good to let go of some of those controls. Still not good at accounting. But it's also like a vulnerable story. You share a lot about what you feel comfortable with sharing personally, especially the change within your partnership and stuff like that. A lot of business founders might be intimidated to share about their life personally or struggles they go through. What do you have to say to them in that area where by opening up, you can actually build a community?

25:10And sometimes it is hard to be vulnerable, but it could be helpful as well. I think when we're vulnerable, we're relatable, right? Otherwise, again, going back to that word perfection, nobody can relate to that. And nothing is perfect and nobody's perfect. But I personally struggle with trying to be perfect because I think we have all been conditioned either by our parents or education system that like we need to do things a certain way. We need to perform. And in reality, you know, we won't ever be able to attain that perfection. Like whatever image we have in our head based on like whatever way we were raised and everybody was raised in a different way with different image of perfection, right?

25:52Based on their community and that conditioning that they received in their culture. But the truth is, it's so liberating again to be vulnerable because through being vulnerable, you also learn that other people understand and accept. And then again, you're building that trust in whatever you're doing. I mean, people trust you more actually when you are vulnerable because being vulnerable, again, makes you more authentic. And when you're more authentic, people trust you. When they trust you, they'll, again, buy your products and support your services and support whatever, watch your videos. So, again, whatever you do, that vulnerability definitely is not easy because it takes a lot of courage to be vulnerable and imperfect.

26:34I make mistakes all the time. I'm not always honest and share them on social media, right? Because, again, I struggle with it myself. I catch myself in a way sometimes wanting to put out the perfect image out there. But as soon as I catch myself, then I try to share more of the real experience that I'm going through. And I always observe that whenever I do that, people in a way love me more because it just resonates with who they are. Because everybody is going through something. Nobody has a perfect life. Everybody is going through their own ups and downs and certain challenges. and yeah for example like the recent transition that like Alex and I my former husband had is that you know we've always worked together we met at a bank working together then started Luxie Hair did that for you know eight nine years and then intelligent change is now going to be 11 years so we're still business partners even though we've recently separated as a romantic couple we're continue to work together and support each other and admire each other and wish the best for each And I think for many people, this is quite like, in a way, maybe unbelievable because it's not something that they have seen a lot.