Ina Coveney Have you tried posting on TikTok yet?

Ina Coveney Whether you have or you haven't, I need to tell you about my experience posting there for the past 45 days because it has been insane.

Ina Coveney I knew that before I got on TikTok, I needed to get myself some serious help, so I recruited the help of Jaya Rose, who grew her business since starting her TikTok journey. Jaya was actually a guest on this podcast—you can go back and listen to Episode 109 for the full scoop.

Ina Coveney But what I learned over the past 45 days was so much more than academic.

Ina Coveney And if I was going to come and recommend TikTok to you, it had to come with a few warning labels.

Ina Coveney Which brings us to this episode, where I’m going to share with you three things that I learned on TikTok that nobody else is talking about.

Ina Coveney Hi, I'm your host, Ina Coveney. Every Monday, I bring you an interview with a successful online coach where we uncover their true startup story. And we wrap it up with a companion episode on Thursdays—this one right here—where I teach you three things that our guest is doing very right in their business and that you should start doing right now. And today, our focus will be on three TikTok tips that nobody is talking about.

Ina Coveney This episode was inspired by our last conversation with someone who blew up on Instagram Reels—another way of using short-form video—Laura Bitoiu. Her story is an incredible journey that had nothing to do with blowing up overnight.

Ina Coveney To hear about her intense rise to fame, go to the latest episode after you're done with this one. And if you're listening on Apple Podcasts while you're going for a run—hey, good for you! Don’t forget to hydrate and to head over to the review section and leave us a five-star review and say something nice. It really helps support the show, and thanks!

Laura Bitoiu I love that! Okay, Ina, you’ve been on TikTok for 45 days now. What has been your biggest takeaway so far?

Ina Coveney Oh my gosh, Laura, there’s so much! But before we start talking about TikTok, there’s something you need to know. You need to understand the context of my business so that you know why I’m doing TikTok right now—because this is not a blanket strategy that I recommend to everybody.

Ina Coveney It’s not something that if you text me one day, I’m gonna be like, "Oh, you need to get on TikTok." No, there’s a context here that I need you all to understand so we’re all savvy entrepreneurs and we know what we’re looking at here.

Ina Coveney I have a coaching business. I’m a business coach, and I help other coaches get clients—even when they have a small audience—because that’s what I’ve always done. Right? I’ve never had a big audience. I’ve only just gotten clients from the followers that I currently have.

Ina Coveney So that’s what I teach. I teach my people, "Hey, you don’t have to resort to these fad strategies that are just going to burn you out, get you all frustrated, and still not get clients." Your business still isn’t going anywhere. So let’s just get clients right now.

Ina Coveney I have a flagship program—it’s called Get Clients First. And that’s all we do in there—getting clients.

Laura Bitoiu Okay, and how does TikTok fit into that?

Ina Coveney Great question! So in my program, I divide the process of growing your business into four stages:
Stage 1: Validating your offer.
Stage 2: Developing a reliable sales engine—that means you have a repeatable formula for getting clients every single time, reliably. Steps one through five—you do this, you get clients, boom.
Stage 3: Audience Growth—this is where TikTok comes in!

Ina Coveney In my business, I have been able to validate my offer and create a reliable sales engine. I’ve been selling my exact same offer every two months to a small audience for the past eight to nine months. And every single time, I get clients.

Ina Coveney Which means that I am ready to step into Stage 3, which is audience growth.

Laura Bitoiu I love that! So you’re not just jumping into TikTok because it’s trendy—you actually earned the right to focus on audience growth.

Ina Coveney Exactly! And that’s so important because audience growth is NOT what I recommend you go and do first.

Ina Coveney There’s a process to this. And by the way, if you want to learn more about it, because the whole point of this episode is not to tell you about Get Clients First, you can go and learn all about it at getclientsmembership.com.

Ina Coveney So I want to be very clear—as I’m about to tell you about my experience on TikTok, you need to understand that I’m not recommending that every single person listening to this should go on TikTok.

Laura Bitoiu That’s so refreshing to hear, Ina! I feel like everyone says, “You HAVE to be on TikTok,” but you’re saying, “Not necessarily!”

Ina Coveney Right! Not everyone is ready for TikTok. Not every offer is ready for audience growth. That’s just not going to be the case for most people.

Ina Coveney So please, focus on getting clients first. Otherwise, you’ll get burned out, you won’t get clients, you won’t make any money, and then you’ll quit too soon—and I don’t want you to quit.

Laura Bitoiu Okay, so now that we know why you got on TikTok, what’s your first big lesson?

Ina Coveney Oh, this is a big one. Tip #1: Nobody can teach you how to go viral.

Laura Bitoiu Ooooh, tell me more!

Ina Coveney Nobody can predict it. Nobody can give you a foolproof formula. You can sign up for all the masterminds you want, you can follow every growth account, and you can implement every single tip—and still, there’s no guarantee.

Ina Coveney You cannot sit down and engineer virality.

Laura Bitoiu Yes! I tell my clients this all the time. It’s a numbers game—the more you post, the more chances you have to go viral.

Ina Coveney Exactly! Statistically speaking, the more you put out there, the higher the chances that something will take off. That’s all it is.

Ina Coveney I had one of my Reels go viral once—it got over 100,000 views. But guess what?

Laura Bitoiu What?

Ina Coveney It was one of those throwaway videos! I recorded eight Reels in one sitting, and that one was the one that blew up.

Laura Bitoiu Oh my gosh, yes! It's never the video you expect!