Lara Harb: “I Wanted to Use My Skills to Help Others Thrive.”
Who: Lara Harb
What: University instructor, social media strategist, founder and creative director at The Social Media Artist
Where: Toronto, ON
How: Lara is one of my instructors at Humber College. When she spoke about how her company provides training, social media management and consulting to artists and creative entrepreneurs, I knew we had to sit down for a chat.
What made you want to start your own business?
For about six years I worked in a corporate environment, first as an ad operations specialist, then as a copywriter for digital campaigns. At one point, I got tired of working for brands that I wasn’t able to make a huge impact for. As I was trying to figure out the next move in my career, I quit my job and bought a ticket to Iceland. I had always wanted to go there! It was just supposed to take me away from my usual surroundings, but something happened on that trip that really changed my perspective: I went hiking and got lost in the woods for about four hours. I didn’t know if I would make it out. After that experience, I got to this place where I decided that I was going to do things differently in my life.
I started writing my business plan right after the ordeal. My reasoning was that I wanted to use my skills to help others thrive. I was motivated to really make a difference, as opposed to being a tiny part of the process.
Why did you target artists?
Growing up, I was involved in theater and was still in touch with a community of artists that often needed assistance in building or maintaining a profile on social media. Many of my actor friends were confused on how much of their personal life they should advertise on Instagram, for example. On the other hand, the casting directors that I talked to disclosed that they check the actors’ online profiles to get a feel of who they are and how they might add to the character they are auditioning for. With my expertise in marketing, I felt comfortable in advising artists and providing a unique service to them. That’s how The Social Media Artist was born.
What is the competition like in your field?
Working with digital media has its particular set of challenges because there are millions of social media managers out there. Essentially, I am competing with professionals around the world, because you don’t have to live in the same city or even the same country as the client to do what I do. There are some agencies here in Toronto that focus on artists. However, what makes me unique is that I can also offer consulting services to the artists I work with. I can teach them how to promote themselves. If an artist is not big enough to have a PR agent, then they might come to someone like me so they can learn how to do it themselves in a digital environment.
Another advantage is my background in theater. I get a lot of referrals through the actors and artists that I’ve worked with.
What does it take to succeed as a small business owner in Toronto?
That’s a good question. Toronto is a very busy city, which also influences the level of competition that we were just talking about. I would say that finding a place to work out of, like a studio or a co-working space, is a great start. You will get to know people in a similar situation and good partnerships can arise from there. It’s also important to stay motivated and to find your peak hours, because you can lose track of time when you don’t have a strict nine-to-five regiment. I concentrate better in the afternoons and evenings, so I try to schedule my planning and writing for those periods, and reserve the mornings for occasional meetings with clients.
It’s interesting that you mention the advantages of a co-working space. Besides networking, I assume it is less costly than a traditional office. What are some other expenses that you address monthly?
Again, working with social media is great because you don’t have too many fixed costs. There is the flexibility of the online environment, meaning I can take my work anywhere, unlike businesses that need to pay rent on a brick and mortar to survive. I find that my expenses revolve around different web tools that I use to plan my campaigns, analyze results and just work better, overall. I have two employees on payroll that work remotely, as well as the membership to a co-working space.
Being a social media expert, can you comment on any trends that you have observed in recent years?
I would say that virtual reality has some interesting potential. I can see us using VR in Skype chats and being “present” for meetings in about five years from now. Currently, though, I would say that audio is definitely trending. When we think about social media, we’re usually sitting with our phones or on our desktop and we can’t necessarily multitask. But with audio you can listen to a podcast while you’re doing the dishes, for example. So I think it will continue to grow as time goes on.
