The concept of monetising your Instagram account is something many fantasise about. Both familiar and alien to many of us, earning money from social media is a deceptively difficult dream.
However, there is one woman (plus her husband) who has made it a possibility for upwards of thirty thousand people.
Amber Venz Box is one half of a duo that facilitates the earnings of tens of thousands of influencers, most of whom are women. Having founded rewardStyle - parent to LIKEtoKNOW.it - in 2011 with her now-husband Baxter, the Dallas-native drove $1 billion in sales just last year.
Pregnant with her third child, and only 30 years-old, Venz Box has been listed on Forbes’ 30 Under 30, as Fast Co.'s 'Most Innovative', Fashion Group International's 'Innovator of the Year', one of Business of Fashion's 500 and Entrepreneur Magazine's '15 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch,' just to name a few of her accolades.
By using both the ‘like’ and screenshot functions, selected influencers, including Emma Louise Connolly and Lucy Williams in the UK, are directly profiting from the sales they drive.
An influencer herself, Venz Box has unique insight into Instagram entrepreneurship, so we asked her about her golden rules for social media and business success.
Let Your Passion Take The Lead
Venz Box has known she has wanted to own a business since, well forever, she told ELLE UK: ‘My entrepreneurial spirit began young; as early as fifth grade I was knitting scarves in the back row of class and selling them to my peers. In middle school I deconstructed jeans into jean skirts. By high school I had what I would call my first real business, a jewellery line which I created and went on to sell after college.’
Failing Is Fine
Whilst Venz Box’s entrepreneurial spirit has been ever-present, it hasn’t always translated directly into financial success. In fact, she credits her parents for teaching her the importance of failing, ‘My parents were always very, very supportive of me, but were always willing to let me fail.’
It was always solving the problems ahead that ultimately lead to success for Venz Box - in fact rewardStyle was born out of problems. To support her jewellery business, Venz Box operated a personal shopping service on the side. In 2010 she started a blog to promote her personal shopping services. However, what the fashion-fanatic didn’t realise was how she had cut herself out of her own business, ‘So these are really busy [customers] which is why they are booking me in the first place. However, by just giving them access to everything on the website, they didn't actually need to book time with me anymore, they could just buy what they liked online.’ She wondered, ‘How do I monetise those services?’ and rewardStyle was realised.
You Never Know What Job Will Help Your Future Self
The Texan mother-of-three claims there is one thing that helped her ‘catapult forward’ - having a 360 degree view of her industry.
She explained to us her unconventional route to success: ‘I always knew that I wanted to work in the fashion industry, but I was unclear as to where I would land.’
After missing out on magazine internships, a younger Venz Box found herself working with a celebrity stylist in Los Angeles and then a wholesale business in New York. Whilst she loved each job, it was her jewellery business and subsequent blog that ‘was able to support [her] best.’
Far from holding her back, her roles in every element of the fashion industry meant she was well equipped for her business: ‘I just understood what drove everybody and knew what they needed to be successful..You need to know what motivates all the players in the game, but also what demotivates all the players.'
Yes, You Can Work With A Romantic Partner
Contrary to popular belief, Amber and her husband Baxter are proof that romantic and business relationships can go hand-in-hand. Which is good new for you and your #InstagramHusband.
However, it isn’t always a walk in the park. Venz Box readily admits that, ‘There were many years in the middle of building rewardStyle where we were business partners as well as romantic partners, but [the romantic part] very loosely. We were really dating our company more than we were dating each other for a really long time.’
Thankfully, their work relationship ‘has always been very complimentary’ and despite, particularly in the company's infancy, them spending much more time in a ‘platonic environment’ instead of a romantic one, working together has serious perks. Venz Box explained to us, ‘Right now we’re so grateful that we work together because, when we travelled for work a lot of time we get to travel together. Those are the moments that we can just be with each other.'
There Probably Isn’t A ‘Right Time’ To Have A Child
After what Venz calls an unusually long (for Texans) period of dating (six years) the couple and business partners were hesitant to start the family they knew they wanted.
The businesswoman explained, 'we always said "after we raise this round of money", or "after we’ve hire this person things will loosen up, get easier and then we’ll have time to invest in our relationship.'"
'However, what we found was the least complicated day that existed was the day that we were in - every single day got more and more complex. We realised waiting wasn’t actually the solution.'
The 'perfect' day never came, so they just did it anyway.
Becoming An Influencer Is No Easy Task
Considering she is somewhat the Queen Bee of all social media influencers, we couldn't not ask what Venz Box would do if she were starting now, sans her 90k-strong following:
'As with any business, you need content, inventory and a business plan.
'In order to be competitive, you really have to have a differentiated point of view and a willingness to provide a high volume of content. I emphasise volume because quality is a subjective thing - it doesn’t need to be the most fantastic photo of the world - in fact sometimes that’s a little bit alienating for customers. An influencer starting today needs to be pushing out original content three times a day at least across social media.
'Goal setting is really important - it’s better to have a goal and miss it than not have a goal at all. Do the research, learn and teach yourself on how to grow. Peer relationships are so beneficial, not just as a support system, but a place to actually get your information, this is such a new industry where there’s not necessarily any one given book that’s going to teach you how to do it and do it well, so spending time investing in relationships, whether it’s with brands or with peers can definitely help you grow.'
Money Isn't Everything
Venz Box is the first to admit that the driving force for her to start a business was the hope of owning her own apartment and the dream of buying cute clothes. However, with the passing of time and the growing of her business, her goals have evolved, from fiscal to feminist.
The mother detailed the importance of aiding other women's personal business, 'I’ve been on the other side...I so desperately wanted to be successful on my own and I wanted to be able to take care of myself and my family, but I just didn’t have all the tools or resources. That's what we do now for these, primarily women, around the world.
'It's incredible just to see the thousands of success stories that have come out of that - women who already had careers, maybe a chief architect or teacher, nurse, high school student. Or maybe a mum who wanted to help and contribute to support the family, but wanted to have work hours that meant they could be with their child.
'That’s why I wake up everyday and that's what gets me into work -because of we’re only able able to help more and more women each year.'
LIKEtoKNOW.it is launching a debut book, Stories From The Influencer Next Door, on September 18th, 2018.
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