“I like to synthesize information from people who have been in business and have been writing books for like twenty years.” – David Talas
Hiilite’s Chief Brand Officer Tina Walczak, and Senior Identity Designer Cam Schreiner, Interview Master Instagram Dr. Dave Talas
Q. Are Instagram carousels overdone? Do people just copy what they see?
Yes, and that’s why it doesn’t work for a lot of people.
You cannot just do the same thing that I’m doing, and I think this is where many people go wrong. They just copy. When another person just does something without thinking about why a particular thing is done, without thinking what the thought process behind it was, and how the framework was set up, they won’t see results.
What Chris Do does is he wants you to try to figure out what he’s thinking when he’s making a carousel, and how he structures his posts. What do I write about in the caption? Not just literally the words.
This is how I steal from people. I don’t really steal from Chris Do per se, but I look at what he’s reading, what he recommended to me to read.
For example, Chris Do told me that I should read Seth Godin’s All Marketers Are Liars, or his book Tell Stories. These are fantastic books, but even the way I read books I stole the process for. I usually underline a lot of things, and then I make my own notes from it. He recommended me to read, This is Marketing by Seth Godin, which I also read. I read Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon and stole from that too.
That’s what Chris Do recommends all the time, to go back to the source. So, I try to look at where he is learning from and then I add my own things that I am interested in. Then, I put it together and share it with the world through my own lens, using his process, and somebody else’s information.
I like to synthesize information from people who have been in business and have been writing books for like twenty years. They usually have much better knowledge of the industry than I have. When I come up with something, it’s usually more like a process of how I do things, because then that’s unique. I’ve developed that throughout the years.
Q. How should people credit work in 2020?
I sometimes get pissed off by people just saying what I say word-for-word. You know, they steal a ten slide carousel like the exact same order, exact same words. They just change the graphics and make it look a little bit worse. Then they don’t credit me or they just say “inspired by” in their post text.
But that’s not inspiration if you just stole the whole freaking thing! Inspiration is like, “Oh, this person gave me an idea!” and then explore your own creative take on it. I always scrape my sources, but if you just steal from one source, you either have to say, “This is from Dave,” or “Repost from Dave,” and credit them.
Q. How do you make money on Instagram, can you break down your revenue streams?
I have two parts to my business, the core of it is my Instagram course. I also consult with people on a monthly basis, helping them grow their Instagram accounts.
My job is to build something that’s scalable, that’s an asset. If I consult people, I’m selling my time, not just my expertise. So that’s why I want to try to build a bigger education platform.
November 2019 was when I started this whole thing. I wasn’t really looking for anybody. Then, as you start making a lot of content, you start building a community and people become interested in working with you.
If you are trying to grow your Instagram following, or are interested in making your own courses, check out Dave’s website or follow him on Instagram.
Get help improving your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)! Click here to learn how.
