Inspiring Conversations with Michelle Berman-Mikel of Berman Media PD

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Berman-Mikel.

Hi Michelle, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up as a competitive athlete and swam all through college (Rutgers University). Upon completion of college became a competitive Crossfit athlete just after finding out my dad had stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma. At the time, I was working in corporate America as a social media director for a public relations firm, but I hated it!

I went out on my own in 2012 and did simple social media management for local businesses in southern California before I started in the Instagram world exclusively in 2014 as an influencer, but not in the traditional sense. I was buying and selling Instagram accounts, similar to how you would flip real estate. I would buy accounts, grow them organically and sell advertising to large brands who wanted to sell products in the meantime while the account grew. I was in charge of creating and developing large-scale advertising campaigns for companies that involved creating adverts, leveraging my relationships with owner account owners to place ads in front of their page audience, and ideally turning a profit for my client.

In 2018 the “influencer” space I was living in was really shifting and I ended up hiring a business coach in the UK to help me level up and focus on the future of my career. I flew to the UK alone, met up with him and his wife, and mapped out the future trajectory of my career in coffee shops for seven days straight. As soon as I landed back in the states, I fired all my clients that were not in Real Estate and or the Loan Space and reversed engineered everything I had done prior to create and develop the Instagram Power Method Course. That course was born in 2019 and has since exploded. I now teach nationally, speak nationally, and have clients and students in 26 states and counting. I have two employees, my VP is Sara Anderson and my Content Operations and VIP Client Coordinator is Marissa McCoy.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Definitely not a smooth road. The Instagram space is ever-evolving and is something that changes constantly. What I really focused on was my “IT” factor as an actual practitioner of my craft. Like any small company, there are relationships you build that hurt you and take from you, and I have had people in my past want to steal my content, my name, my design and brand and, of course, try and tarnish the name. I have always focused on being my true authentic self and have definitely cut people out of my life who didn’t align with my morals and values.

We faced struggles just like everyone else, but for me, having a reckless, resolve attitude, not allowing myself to have a back door or exit plan out of entrepreneurship, and having a spouse who was incredibly supportive… made all the difference. We had our best year ever in 2020, during a pandemic, and are on our way to being a 7 figure company in 2022.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in building a strategy to organically grow your business through funnels and ultimately bringing everything back to my Instagram. I have an insane knack for helping people figure out WHAT kind of content their audience actually NEEDS and how to strategically place it in front of them without being salesy. The goal is to help my clients generate leads that are on fire for them.

What sets me apart is the fact that 1) I am an actual day in and day out a practitioner of my craft. I walk my own system every single day. I am not someone claiming to be a “guru”, I am truly in the trenches alongside my clients. 2) I believe in personal relationships with every single client. Whether you are a VIP client, a course student, or just a coaching client, every single person who comes through the Berman Media Pd, and Instagram Power Method door, gets to talk to me directly. I really don’t think this exists very much!

What I am most proud of brand-wise is that when people see my logo, they feel our passion for what we do. When people hear me talk, speak, teach or even just see my content on IG, they know that I eat breathe and sleep their success. If they aren’t succeeding, then neither am I.

Your readers need to know that we offer coaching (both group and VIP), an extremely high-level course, and VIP all-inclusive services. What they should also know is that the clients who work with us know how much we value walking alongside them in their creation/content and ultimately success and are not just a VA that knows nothing about the client. We create personal relationships, and with that comes a truly elite service experience.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
This is a great question. The Real Estate and Mortgage Industry is truly transitioning into a “digital business” card state of mind, in my opinion. The power of your “virtual” footprint is the make or break of your career. Traditional grassroots marketing is not 100% irrelevant but should be supplementary to what you do through social media/digital.

The biggest thing? Don’t expect to just run FB ads or “buy leads” and expect to convert at the level you once were if you don’t have a social presence to back it up. You may be the best, most experienced agent ever, or 100% referral base, but even if you get referred to someone, that person will likely know five others like you, so your social presence will be the authority maker, decision-maker and ultimately tell that person if you are worth them giving you their money!

Pricing:

• Course: $1497

Contact Info:

• Email: michelle@bermanmediapd.com
• Website: http://bermanmediapd.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bermanmediasocial/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bermanmediapd,
  Free FB group for the Instagram Power Method: https://www.facebook.com/groups/241809630405784

Image Credits
Photographer is Roberto Cordero JR and we love him!