Transcript: Elena Paweta interviews Frida Tronnberg

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SUMMARY KEYWORDSGoogle Podcasts

criticism, instagram, followers, important, pelvic floor, women, instagram account, clubhouse, sharing, valuable content, courses, account, ideal client, sweden, business, videos

SPEAKERS

Frida Tronnberg, Elena Paweta

Elena Paweta  

Welcome to the next episode of IDEAS+LEADERS Podcast. Today we have a great business woman in our episode. So I’m speaking with Frida Tronnberg. She’s a yoga teacher, and she’s specializing in yoga for pelvic floor. And she’s working in Sweden only for Swedish audience. But she managed to build a great following. She has a lot of followers on Instagram, a lot of clients, satisfied clients. And she has built this business only working with women who have issues with their pelvic floor. And today, we will be speaking about how to build the following. How to find your ideal clients working in such a narrow, interesting niche. Hi, Frida. it’s great to have you here today. 

Frida Tronnberg  

Hi Elena, thank you for having me.

Elena Paweta  

So Frida, you have almost 10,000 followers on Instagram now, right?

Frida Tronnberg  

Yeah, exactly.

Elena Paweta  

So why did you start your Instagram channel in the first place? Did you plan to have a big business out of it? And how did you get to this number of 10,000 followers?

Frida Tronnberg  

Well, I started my Instagram account, I think two and a half years ago approximately. And the reason why I started it was I didn’t have a business at the moment, I had suffered a birth injury when my daughter was born. And I tried to get help from the healthcare system or from doctors. But it took me five doctors before my birth injuries was diagnosed. So it took a lot of effort for me to get to help. And, and the pain I had severe pain my pelvic floor at the moment, and no one could really help me. So then I started googling. And I started doing some research. And I was a yoga teacher at that point also. But then I took different trainings, postnatal trainings, and also pelvic floor, yoga, teacher training, and a bunch of other trainings to actually to heal my own pelvic floor to make the pain go away, because the pain was there, because I had so much tension in the muscles in the pelvis, which is the pelvic floor. So when that’s the background story, so I started my Instagram account as some kind of therapy, I would say for myself, like journaling. But also because during the half year or eight months, when I was seeking help from the health care system, I had gotten to know so much information that it’s so important to know when you’re seeking help for these kinds of issues in Sweden, specifically, I knew which hospital that actually could help women with these disorders, pelvic floor disorders, because unfortunately, not every hospital in Sweden is as experienced as some of these hospitals. So I wanted to share that knowledge, you know, making people learn from my mistakes, so to speak, and also making women believe in themselves. And also, I wanted to empower women to continue to seek help for their pelvic floor symptoms. And also, I also started at that point, to upload video clips on igtv with different pelvic floor exercises to relax the pelvic floor, reduce pain, and exercises that were like five minutes long, but that give you an instant effect. So that’s the background of how I started out my Instagram account. It wasn’t a business at all at the moment, and I had I had no plans whatsoever to make it a business.

Elena Paweta  

So what do you think? What were those success factors? Why did you manage to grow this account so fast?

Frida Tronnberg  

Extremely valuable content, really for free. And that’s still the reason why my Instagram account is still growing so much. Because I am giving you so much valuable content for free such as like where to seek help in Sweden, but it could also be like these important exercises like I said, and I have many women that that they’ve never taken my courses. They have just released their pain and tension the pelvic floor. Thanks to my videos on Instagram And I think that’s just so amazing, you know, that they find an account, they don’t even have to pay any money. And the help is just there, that the job for them is actually to do the exercises. So I think, you know, sharing valuable content, good videos, like very, very clear content and short videos, also.

Elena Paweta  

Yeah, yeah. So sharing valuable content for sure. helps you to grow your your social media accounts. But at some point, you decided to monetize what you do. And you started conducting online courses. And how did you when you started with with your business? How did you define your ideal client. 

Frida Tronnberg  

So when I started my business, my ideal client was a woman who had given birth, and who had a birth injury. That’s interesting that your clients, define it yourself after some time with this. Because first, we think that our ideal client is a certain audience, but then after some time, we may realize that So, where there is pain, there is definitely tightness that needs to be like solved and released. 

Elena Paweta  

It definitely helped you and you have really successful business out of it. And you’re helping a lot, a lot of women. So what would you recommend to our listeners if they want, they have their ideal client in mind or the target audience and they want to start sharing value to bigger amount of people? What would you recommend to grow their social media accounts? What tips and tricks Could you recommend? 

Frida Tronnberg  

So it depends, of course on the business, but I’m all for igtv, like the videos, small videos. And also, Instagram is very important now because of another new social media Clubhouse, which is super popular now and which is connected with Instagram. So everyone you meet on clubhouse goes immediately to your Instagram account. That’s why it is important to give value to show what you’re doing. So short videos, and reels, and giving value all the time. You know, I think that many people have barriers on this giving value, because maybe they think that all I will give away too much of what I have in my courses or in my programs. 

Elena Paweta  

Don’t you? Aren’t you afraid of this a little bit sharing a lot of value on your social media?

Frida Tronnberg  

At first? Yes, at first I was sitting with like, the best information I had and was like, I’m going to share this only with those who buy my courses. But now no, because the thing is, those who buy my course they want to be able to be taken from step one to the last step when they definitely have reduced the pain or are already pain free. So I remember that I listened to Amy Porterfield podcast and I mean she has hundreds of episodes. And she said that yeah, probably if you listen to all my episodes, you will probably be able to to see my course. But it’s very hard, because there’s so many episodes. The same goes with my with my video clips, they’re like five minutes long. And if you want to be taken from from Point A to Point Z, then they definitely need to buy my course then to get some kind of structure also, because now there’s a bunch of videos and you don’t really know like, which should you start with, or etc. So many people like to have the structure, and they want the whole course. Yeah, the whole course. So I’m not afraid of that at all. And, and for me, it’s just a bonus if people can watch my Instagram account and get that relief from their pain by only doing these exercises on my Instagram account and not even buying my courses for me, that’s just a bonus, because I know people will buy my courses anyway.

Elena Paweta  

Frida, I know that usually when we start building our businesses, we start growing our social media accounts, and we have having more and more followers. We always face criticism, and I wanted to ask you, did it happen to you that you faced some criticism? Because you have quite a big following? So Did you face any criticism of from your followers or from someone? I don’t know. From not from your clients? Maybe?

Frida Tronnberg  

Yeah, definitely. So whenever I get criticism, it’s not that often, I must say, but I do. I mean, all large accounts will do, statistically speaking, there will be someone there who doesn’t like what you’re doing. And that person wants to wants to speak, speak up or mind and tell you that so that will definitely happen. So for me, it’s the criticism from people who work in the hospitals. So healthcare system, and I’m not medically trained. And I’ve never said that I am. And I also say that my course is a complement to healthcare. The problem is, though, because I’ve been around, I’ve been around for a while trying to get some help from the health care system, and it didn’t really work, it took a while. So the women, they’re trying to get help, but they’re not getting any help. And then they find my course. And I always say that it’s a complement to other treatments. And it definitely should be, but it’s hard for these women because many times they’re not getting any help or not sufficient amount of help from that from the healthcare system. So it’s basically that, that I’m not medically trained, and I shouldn’t be speaking about these topics. But whenever that happens, what I do then is I’m putting up lots of testimonials, because I have so many testimonials, now great testimonials, from clients, and from almost the followers who are getting pain relief by watching my videos. So I’m putting all the testimonials up on Instagram, sharing them, and then all of a sudden my account is like, full of love again, you know, so I feel like, I know what I’m doing. I’m not medically trained. But at the same time, I’m not diagnosing anyone, I’m not really treating anyone either. I’m putting up a bunch of exercises, yoga exercises, and I’m trained in yoga for pelvic floor health, to help women actually empower themselves and, and to heal themselves. And many times, yeah, my course will not be enough. They also need help from other professions. But at the same time, I’m know that my course will be an amazing first step to reduce the pain definitely. And I’m seeing it all the time. So just like up with the with the testimonials on Instagram, put them everywhere on your web page. And I also think that it’s very important to be to be humble, to have a good heart. I mean, that’s something that is so important. And I think that’s one of the reasons why I also built my, my account this way, that if I would just if I only would put up valuable content, but I would be I don’t know, bitter, angry, negative. I don’t think that people would have listened to me. So for me, it’s all about like leading and serving with the heart. I don’t want to lose myself in in my work. And the most important thing is to be vulnerable and to serve from the heart and to and for me to remember who I am, even though my courses sell great. And even though I’m getting more and more followers every day. Let’s remember who you are, why you started this account. 

Elena Paweta  

This is very important what you say because some people may get discouraged and we start being super active. We are getting a lot of followers a lot of likes. But then when we get even one negative comment somewhere on social media, which is inevitable, we can get so discouraged and think, why am I doing this and I had several conversations like this with people who got hooked, started being active and got negative comments. And they just said, I don’t know if this is the right thing that I’m doing. So they start doubting themselves. And only because of one or two comments, although you have thousands of followers who love what you do. Those opinions can really have bad impact. So for sure, putting up testimonials helps. And I think that you’re dealing with this in a great way, what would you recommend in term in terms of also, you know, this mental approach, and mental health to build still believe in yourself and not to stop doing what you’re doing?

Frida Tronnberg  

I think it’s really hard. You know, because I’ve been, I’ve been struggling with it, myself, with handling criticism from people who work in the healthcare system, etc. I think first and foremost, is this the criticism or feedback or whatever you want to call it? Is it constructive? Is this something? You know, is there something to be? Should you take this into account? Should you maybe change something? Is this is this like a good criticism, making you change something so that your account will be better? And if it is, yeah, then maybe change something up? So I think that’s also important, not just like, I will not listen to this. But if it’s if it’s unconstructive criticism coming from a place of envy, I would say, or also, maybe the person writing is a bit confused. I mean, who is this person? Pelvic Floor yoga, what is that even, you know, coming in here in in Sweden being an influencer for women with birth injuries? What is this? If that criticism comes to me, then it’s more about the person who is who is giving that criticism. So I think that’s really separating the different types of criticism that you are getting. Is this really about me? Or is this about the person that writes this? And more often, it’s about the person who writes it. And what is nice now is that I have I have almost 10,000 followers. So anytime I’m getting criticism, I know, my followers will back me up. So I will just lean back, you know, not respond immediately to criticism. I think that’s so important. I mean, you have to ground yourself first. Because otherwise you will be you know, writing something that you might regret, you will not write it from like a regulated nervous system, I would say, you will react, and that will not be good at all. People also listen to someone who is calm, I would say, in the midst of a storm. So the way you react to criticism that will also show people what you really are about, I mean, who do you listen to someone who’s like, given a lot of critique and super angry, or the person who’s getting that critique, but it’s at this at the midst of the storm is like, okay, here, I’m going to respond to this, like this. And I am not, I don’t have to respond five minutes after that comment was made. I’m going to regulate myself, I’m coming down back into my body. And then I’m going to write back in the place of the calmness and from my heart again. 

Elena Paweta  

Absolutely. I I always say to my clients, when we are working on the communication aspects and negotiation aspects in the business that when we are in some kind of conflict situations, we get criticism, exactly do not respond immediately, because it is not only about this person, it is about all the other people who are listening to us and reading and maybe in the copy of our emails. So we need to show respect to the other person, to agree with them and some point to explain, but for sure, we need to maintain our credibility for all the other followers.

Frida Tronnberg  

Yeah, exactly. We and I think that I think the most important thing that I’ve learned from getting criticism is really about that most often it’s not about me, it’s about the other person, where she or he is coming from. And also, criticism is an opportunity for you to really show the world, what your brand is about, you know, the way you are commenting, commenting on that criticism, if it’s in a comment on Instagram, for instance, you can really, you know, show people what your what you are all about, which is not anger, not bitterness, not envy. It’s really about serving and wanting to help people.

Elena Paweta  

I love your approach. So, Frida, what would you recommend to our listeners? What is the one the most important thing that they should do to build their following? And to build their following out of their ideal clients, out of their raving fans?

Frida Tronnberg  

Okay, so three things, free and valuable content. Definitely, definitely like lots of free content. And don’t be afraid to just give them all you have, because people will want to buy your courses anyway, to get some kind of structure. But I think it’s also important to be a good person, actually, to remember why you created this account. And that and doing things solely for money. It’s not, it’s not enough as a purpose. So really remember who you are, why you created this in the first place, even though if your Instagram account is really big, and you’re selling lots of courses, etc. Like, really coming from a place of love and serving. And that’s really important and also being vulnerable, I would say, I mean, I shared my story about the birth injury, for instance, that’s important. That’s an important background story to why I created my business, why I created my company. And it also is an important background story for all my clients, because they know that freedom she healed through this work. And if Frida can do it, I can do it.

Elena Paweta  

And you’re also a role model for your audience. And you’re sharing so much free content and very valuable content. And I think that this is the key not to be afraid to share with your audience as much as possible. Thank you very much for that. So if our listeners want to contact you, where they can find you? 

Frida Tronnberg  

I think the easiest way would be to contact me on my Instagram account @heltunderliv. You can find me there. 

Elena Paweta  

Thank you very much, Frida, for being with us today.

Frida Tronnberg  

Thank you for having me.