Nikki Milne

Pam recently spent an informative and entertaining half hour via Zoom with Nikki Milne of The Perth Collective.

Nikki has become an expert in her field and has scaled a successful business, after identifying a niche in PR and Digital Marketing. Today, Nikki owns an online educational school and a successful PR and Marketing Agency.

How did you start in Business? 

I grew up in Albany where I completed a hairdressing apprenticeship. Growing up, my parents had a small business in Albany. I watched how hard they worked and the success they had. I knew it was always in my future to own my own business. At 23 years old I purchased a hair salon in Subiaco in partnership with my parents. We owned this for over 8 years, building it from almost nothing to being one of Perth’s leading salons at the time. After the arrival of my first son, it was time to move on and we sold it. I had always wanted to work in Marketing but when I left school at 16, hairdressing seemed like a good idea as there were so many people coming out of uni with Marketing Degrees who were unable to find work.

I took the long way round. After we sold the salon, many of my ex-clients reached out, asking me to help them with their business marketing and social media. One day, I decided to start up an Instagram account called The Perth Collective, a platform for business owners to share my knowledge and help people grow their businesses and it just took off! Within the first two months there were 20,000 followers then a few months after that 40,000. I then started teaching workshops and educating businesses in marketing and social media, using what I had learnt from having my own business. I have probably educated 20,000 to 30,000 people over the last five years with my workshops, masterclasses, via my social platforms, and educational videos.

It has been quite the journey! I am very fortunate that I went into business at such a young age. I did not go the traditional route for my education, and this has probably been my point of difference, together with my 15 years of experience.  

I am in the generation that grew up without social media and now on the flip side, I get to work with it daily to help businesses grow. I remember what it was like for mum and dad to market their business when I was growing up. We would go to the Albany Show and do flyer drops. Now I am in the digital marketing world of websites, paid Facebook advertising and the commitment of social media – it’s a completely different way to market your business and so much more time heavy. 

If you had to start again, would you do anything differently?

No, I wouldn’t. I needed the experience I gained by having my own business and it is that experience that has set me apart. People come to me because I have had a business, employed staff, and promoted products - experience becomes invaluable when you are trying to help someone grow their business. When I was starting out in marketing, I learned to listen to people. I listened to what they needed and what their biggest problems or challenges were. From there I set out to help them solve those problems. The number of businesses I have been able to help grow is countless, and that is a wonderful, rewarding feeling.

How is business?

Business is flying and has really picked up again since Covid hit last year. Having had lockdown, people have come out fired up and ready to grow their business plus they are now often looking at ways to diversify it, safeguarding it in case we face another lockdown. We are in a great position to help them, whether it be through an online course, business consulting or PR and marketing campaigns.

How would you describe your business?

The first business I started is The Perth Collective. This is a PR and marketing agency where I offer PR, social media management and marketing for businesses as a “done for you” service, mainly in the creative industries such as hospitality, fashion, design, hair and beauty. The second side of my business is an online education school for business owners so that they can expand their knowledge and self-educate on a series of topics including marketing, social media, and small business growth strategies. 

Where do we find your Business School?

Discover my courses on “The Perth Collective” website. You choose a course, enroll and then access is granted. In each course there are a series of videos which you watch in your own time. Each course includes workbooks plus downloadable templates.  

This school came about because of Covid-19?

Yes, as soon as Perth went into the first lockdown all my restaurant, cafe and PR clients just stopped overnight and I was not eligible for any JobSeeker or JobKeeper. It went from being flat-out to crickets……

With more time on my hands, I started teaching free business workshops on my Instagram and noticed that thousands of people globally were watching them. I thought there might be a business idea in this. So, I started researching online platforms for education and discovered that it was a booming industry in America and was just starting to take off here in Australia. I then built an online 6-week business course called the Growth Accelerator Program. It had a huge uptake. I still run that program twice a year.

I also offer short courses online that run all year round, which people can enroll in and start at any time. The beauty of the online school is it allows people to take my courses in the comfort of their home, from anywhere in the world. This works so well for busy business owners as many of them can’t afford the luxury of a day off to attend a course, or they might not live in Perth. With this they can do it at night when the kids are in bed or on a weekend. Being online, it also allows me to offer the courses at a more affordable price. I am now teaching and reaching people all over the world which I couldn’t do before. It was an amazing opportunity for me that came out of Covid, as I would never have done it otherwise.

How is the PR and marketing agency after Covid

It has come back ten-fold and we are busier now than ever. What happened was when everything stopped overnight, the big businesses I work with kept their marketing budgets. So, coming out of Covid they actually had a lot more money in their budget for Marketing and PR. This ended up being great for us as they had held their budgets and now had more money to put into bigger and better marketing campaigns. 

With small businesses, lockdown gave them time to realise that they were not as active on digital networks as they should be. We also build websites and do graphic design and in the last couple of months we have built 15 new websites for business owners who realised in the middle of Covid their digital presence and websites were just not up to today’s standards.

Covid was a bit of a reality check for some businesses. They realised that they did need to invest some money into a website, social media and digital marketing that 20 or 30 years ago would not have been relevant at all. You do need to keep on top of your digital presence, we say a website is as important as a store front.  You can gain or lose people over how good or bad your website is.

How vital is social media for business owners?

I believe that a website is more vital than social media. Social media is important to connect with people in a more organic way and great for brand awareness. Even posting just a few times a week to Facebook and Instagram, will make people aware of how your business can help them. Sharing client reviews, examples of your work, introducing your team and connecting with potential clients – there is so much opportunity in this, plus its free! My Instagram accounts have over 75,000 people on them so just by me sharing a post, I am reaching a huge audience for free which this has no doubt been part of my business success.

Visit

You can access Nikki’s Website, Instagram and Online Courses using these following links:

Website: www.theperthcollectivepr.com

Instagram: @nikkimilne_
Instagram: @theperthcollectivepr
Facebook: @nikkimilnetheperthcollectivepr