Tracy Murray, owner of The Glasses Lady was disillusioned with the optometry world’s increasing focus on profits over people, so she started a business that shifted the spotlight back. The Glasses Lady offers a unique eyewear styling experience, with made-to-measure glasses customised to the personality and taste of the client.
Tracy signed up to the Digital Solutions program to improve her Canva and social media skill sets. She reflects she wanted to “Become more familiar with how to use Canva, Facebook and Instagram, and to build my confidence up. I was hoping by the end of it I’d be able to create posts, and they’d be more interesting and in line with what my audience was looking for.”
Paired with expert advisor Sarah Thomson (digital marketing), Tracy attended one-to-one sessions and workshops. “She was patient with me, she took the time when she knew I wasn’t confident. She was clear and concise with instructions, she made the whole process easy to work through, and for me to not feel silly. You know at my age you think you should know it, but you can’t, and she made it so comfortable.”
As a result of the program and Sarah’s guidance, Tracy changed the name of her business and learned how to use Canva for branding, as well as for social media content creation. “She showed me some really cool techniques on how to create posts through Canva, they look a lot more professional instead of me creating what I think is okay. It’s just the inspiration and the belief that what you’re doing, and what direction you’re going in is the right one. If it’s not, then it’s look you can do this, or you can do this and that will make it better. It’s the guidance.” She reflects, “I sort of miss tuning in with Sarah because I just feel so much better when I come off the call.”
Sarah also provided tailored advice for Tracy based on her current Facebook usage. “I would normally share my posts to one of the community pages, which I thought had to be around where I live. However, I’m mobile, so I can reach lots of other places as well. I joined some other community pages at the recommendation of Sarah and instead of sharing a post, I posted directly onto the community page and introduced myself and my services. I went to a conference that day and when I got to Fremantle from my home, I had 35 notifications and 4 bookings. That for me is incredible. It’s all about exposure, but to gain the bookings and have lots of people saying oh wow is this a thing? Is this what you really do? People really responded, that was down to Sarah saying I should reach out to more community pages to introduce my services.”
Reflecting on her involvement with Digital Solutions, Tracy says “I’ve already told people to just do it. Don’t waste time thinking you can learn yourself when you’ve got this funded program. It’s not expensive, it’s easily accessible, and you learn so much from it. You’ll get help and you can ask the questions. Especially the people who work on their own, you really do need that support.”
Interested in Digital Solutions? Learn more about the program and how it can help your business here.
