Nyima Gyalmo is an energetic, passionate, young businesswoman. She is committed to helping businesses succeed by leveraging connections through social media.
Outside of business, she regularly blogs about science and technology. She is also a dedicated mentor at BITS, a youth startup incubator that helps enterprising youth bring their idea to fruition.
What motivated and inspired you to start your own business?
Without any job opportunities, my mother always delved into business ventures of all sorts from selling rice wine to setting tables at the local market to provide for my siblings and I.
Since grade 7, I started selling crafts with my mom at vendor tables all around the city, whether that was inside a building lobby or outside in rain or shine. My mother has always been a great inspiration for me and the experiences I’ve had with her have shaped me into a natural saleswoman.
When I began blogging during university, I started leveraging social media as an outlet for my writings. I then noticed that I was also connecting with like-minded individuals that didn’t exist in my circle.
Instantly, I started to delve into social media via online resources and started working as a freelancer for businesses. I told myself that, if I make 6 sales, I would officially start the business. With clear demand, I officially started my business to help other businesses succeed.
Tell us about your business.
Social Sherpa is a sales-oriented communication agency that focuses on growing businesses by leveraging connections and ad campaigns on social media platforms.
We provide dedicated Social Sherpas to formulate social strategy action plans and implement those plans as part of our monthly packages.
Our Social Sherpas are committed to helping businesses by connecting you to your customer and measuring all of business output!
Social Sherpa provides regular updates and reporting to businesses so our clients can find better ways to connect with their ideal customer segment.
Are you currently running any promos/contests/giveaways that you would like our readers to know about?
We have new promotion every month. Last month we gave away tickets to live Kickstarter, the month prior to that we offered a logo giveaway, and prior to that a website for a company. If you’d like stay updated, follow us on our social media!
List awards/certifications/accomplishments.
- Certified Social Media Marketer
- Certified Google Adwords, Google Analytics
- Awarded Entrepreneur in Technology from Brainstation
- HBSc University of Toronto
- Most dedicated Business Mentor at BITS – highest number of cohorts in which I acted as a business mentor
Where is your business based?
My business is located in Toronto, Canada, but I provide my services internationally.
What were the first few steps you took to get your business up and running?
Despite being familiar with the business plan and business canvas model, I took the supply-and-demand approach to assess a real need for my business through sales.
I told myself if I can make 6 sales, only then would I officially register my business. The first and foremost step was making the first 6 sales.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness of your business and getting new customers?
Hands down, it was networking in person. When nobody knows who you are, you need to shrink your sale cycle by getting in front of them rather than generating leads through ads.
When you are starting out, you need to get yourself out there by any means possible to make connections and grow your network.
Opportunities like networking events are a great way to do that. The only advice I have for networking events is to do your homework and go to relevant networking events and meetups.
What have been your biggest challenges so far?
The biggest challenge for me has been getting outside my head in the initial stage. When I first started out, I would have fluctuating emotions: some nights I couldn’t go to sleep because of all the excitement, and other nights I couldn’t go to sleep because of self-doubt.
How did you overcome these challenges?
I overcame the “scared me” mentality with action. I realized if I started doing things, despite the fear and self-doubt, I would succeed. These actions shrunk my “scared me” mentality, raised my confidence, and gave me clearer direction as to what I should do next.
How do you keep motivated through difficult times?
I tell myself over and over, “knock on enough doors; someone will answer”.
I tell myself I can either make the situation better by doing something about it or dwell on it and make it worse. I am sensible enough to choose the option that yields a solution rather than more pain.
I listen to The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone on repeat to remind myself that “success is my duty, obligation, and responsibility”.
How do you distinguish yourself from your competitors?
Although we categorize Social Sherpa as social media marketing, our services surpass this niche and any competitors in it. Our social media services integrate with all business communications, including with the company’s team.
Our sherpa’s generate and communicate qualified leads with sales team. Our sherpas also optimize content, provide ad analytics with the web development team, and have relevant posting with in-house marketing agents or the business owner.
Our company leverages all forms of communications to connect business owners with their ideal customers, all while growing brand awareness and eliminating obscurity.
What is the best advice you have received recently?
Work on your business at night if you can’t fall asleep.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
Take complete ownership over everything that happens to you.
What are your favorite business tools/resources and why?
My favorite business tool is Wave Accounting. It makes the invoicing process faster and efficient!
What is a good article or book you have read recently?
The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone is the greatest book for anyone seeking greatness in life.
What are you currently learning about for your business or looking for help with?
With my business I am looking to build some online resources and analytic tools to simplify social media analytics. I am open to connecting with anyone who has gone through the process of developing apps, dashboards, or any sort of tools available online.
I am also building a personal development platform for women: “thebetterwomanproject.com” emphasizing being better than our own self in all aspect of our lives. It would be awesome if some of the women would be open to sharing how they better themselves every day via simple Q&A!
What are your goals for the next few months and how are you striving to achieve them?
My goals for the next few months is to build on my current packages, complete one webinar, get the project “thebetterwomanproject.com” up and running, and continue to grow Social Sherpa.
What social media outlets do you use? List them below.
Instagram @thesocialsherpa.ca, @_nygy
Twitter @_socialsherpa
LinkedIn @socialsherpa
Facebook @socialmediasherpa
Website www.thesocialsherpa.ca
Email nyima@thesocialsherpa.ca