Social Media Manager Society

How I Reached $15K MRR And Grew My Program To 50+ Women [Update]

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Amanda Shepherd

Founder, Social Media Manager Society

$20K

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Social Media Mana...

www.smmsociety.com

from Las Vegas, NV, USA

started September 2020

$20,000

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Discover what tools recommends to grow your business!

Discover what books Amanda recommends to grow your business!

You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and... Jen Sincero

Want more updates on Social Media Manager Society? Check out these stories:

1. How I Started A $7.5K/Month Social Media Consulting And Training Business (2020) ➜

2. I've More Than Doubled My Social Media Consulting Business To $300K/Year [Update] (2024) ➜

This is a follow up story for Social Media Manager Society. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published almost 4 years ago, check it out here.

Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.

My name is Amanda Shepherd. I am the founder and lead mentor of the Social Media Manager Society, which helps women start and grow a successful freelance social media business with ease so they can finally live their life they’ve always wanted to live.

The program started as the Society and has broken out to include a couple of different products, including the Perfect Portfolio Pack, which helps social media managers create the perfect portfolio.

I also run a social media management business alongside the Society, as I strongly feel that I cannot teach women how to have successful freelance businesses without having one myself.

As of today, I’ve had over 50 incredible women come through the Society doors, take the program and start their successful freelance businesses. Some of them, have taken it a step further and grown into full-fledged agencies. I’ve also been able to grow my own freelance business to a consistent $15k/month in freelance work.

Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?

Since we last spoke, the business has been booming, both on the freelance side and in my program. As I said, I’ve had over 50 women come through the program. I’ve watched them grow their successful businesses, some of which have grown into full-fledged agencies. I’ve been able to refer a lot of potential businesses to Society members and I love being able to watch them grow and be successful.

It’s all about trust - and my clients trust me. I’m working with clients whom I love and who have been with me for years now. It’s exciting to be able to help them and watch them grow.

My freelance business essentially operates solely on referrals now. While I do outreach for the sake of my program, it’s not needed for much client acquisition at this point.

Many clients I have had the pleasure of working with for the last 5+ years. I have established a true relationship with these clients. They trust that I have their best interests in mind when it comes to social media, and because of that, feel confident working with me year after year.

I always keep clients up-to-date on social media industry changes and trends that pertain directly to them, report monthly or quarterly on successes and improvement ideas, and always keep in mind how social media helps their business overall. I am in constant communication with these clients, which I think truly lends to my high retention rate. It’s all about trust - and my clients trust me. I’m working with clients whom I love and who have been with me for years now. It’s exciting to be able to help them and watch them grow.

I haven’t invested much at all in additional marketing or Facebook advertising. It’s been minimal, as I wasn’t seeing much of an ROI from it. I rely heavily on organic social, specifically Instagram. The introduction of Instagram Reels has certainly led to great growth and organic referrals to my business. I will continue to utilize Instagram Reels and TikTok while I can.

Moving forward, I will continue to utilize organic social media but plan to dip more into affiliate marketing with some potential partners and former students.

What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?

Like many others, I’m sure, the pandemic blindsided me. However, it was an interesting position to be in as an experienced social media manager, as so many businesses were moving online. I had an influx of new business come in that I couldn’t take, which bode well for the students in the Society, as I handed a lot of that business off to them. That did, however, leave less room for growing the Society, as I instead had to focus on more client work.

However, simultaneously training new social media managers during this huge growth period has been rewarding. Even now, two years later, there is still such a strong need for social media managers in every niche, with every skill set.

Mindset is everything. If you want to start a business, you can. The only thing stopping you is you.

Because I was so focused on client work, I didn’t have the opportunity to grow the Society as I would’ve liked, and certainly missed out on a few partnership opportunities that would’ve been fantastic. I’m hoping to split my work a bit better post-pandemic and focus more on the Society once again.

Some personal news - growing this business has allowed me to focus more on myself. I’ve started traveling again and love being able to work whenever I want, wherever I want (as long as there’s wifi). I’ve also been able to lose almost 50lbs as a result of this business - because I’m able to put myself first and have more free time.

I have more to go but it’s a huge personal accomplishment that I’m very proud of. I was also able to upgrade my office with state-of-the-art tech and even bought a new car!

Because my business gave me more freedom, both with my time and with my location, I’ve been able to establish a solid routine, which has truly helped me, both personally and professionally. I now have time for morning meditations and journaling, which helps me start my morning the right way.

I’m able to step away from my computer by 4 p.m. each day. I’m able to have shortened, or no-work, Fridays, and truly take a weekend! One thing I love to do just for me is read, and I am now on track to hit my goal of 40 books read by the end of this year. Yay!

What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?

I’m certainly excited about what the future holds. It’ll be interesting to see how my own business expands. I’m still debating on whether or not I want to start expanding into more of an agency setting on the client-side or not. However, regardless, I would like to focus more on the Society and continue welcoming hopeful social media managers and celebrating their successes with them.

In the next 5 years, I would like to see the Society welcome 500 women and continue to build a network of successful female freelance social media managers, where we can all exchange client leads, ideas, tips, tricks and so much more. Building relationships and building this community has been the most rewarding part of what I’ve been able to do.

Have you read any good books in the last year?

I continue to listen to Social Media Examiner podcasts, but I’ve also started following Her First 100k and she has been such a wonderful source of knowledge on the financial side of things. I also recommend all women read Untamed and You’re a Badass if you want to get into the right mindset of starting a business.

Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?

Mindset. Is. Everything. If you want to start a business, you can. The only thing stopping you is you. So be sure you want it bad enough and you’re ready for the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship. I will say, it’s been the hardest yet most rewarding thing I have ever done.

Also, don’t listen to what anybody says about you failing. Because they’re right - you might fail. But you’ll learn so much from that “failure” and keep growing and growing until something finally does stick. And you WILL become successful. So don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.