On this episode of the Behind Her Empire podcast, hear from Sharon Rechter. She's the co-founder and president of First Media, a multiplatform content publisher dedicated to millennial women. First Media's videos bring in over 1.7 billion monthly views on social media and their BabyFirst TV cable network reaches over 60 million U.S. homes. Their social media brands — So Yummy, Blusher and Blossom — have an average of 50 million views for every video post on social media.
Rechter is full of anecdotes to illuminate her philosophy of life. We hear why she left her career as a lawyer, what it takes to make a video go viral on social media, why women need to talk more about money and how she juggles being an entrepreneur and a mother of four.
Key Takeaways:
- Rechter says she doesn't try to avoid the things she's afraid of. She says she tries to imagine the worse-case scenario; If she can live with that scenario, then she knows her next move.
- When building her cable network, Rechter says she and her partner (and now husband) had a meager budget. They focused on developing content first, rather than attempting to create it. This strategy let them close a deal and launch the network three months later.
- Her first hire was a cable network veteran, because, she said, she felt her sales team didn't trust her. Hearing it from a veteran made the plan more palatable.
- Her company started to create content for women on the social platforms, and because, as Rechter says, they mastered the art and science of what makes a video shareable, their Baby First Facebook fans went from 174,000 to 150 million without the company having to spend anything to acquire customers.
- Rechter and Guy involve their children in business decisions and share both the ups and the downs. She said she believes if children only see a perfect relationship or a perfect life, they will feel too much pressure to be perfect. The goal is allowing the kids to see their parents fail and come out okay.
"My goal is not to look at what I don't have or what I could have better, but rather how do I win with the cards I was dealt." — Sharon Rechter
Sharon Rechter is the co-founder and president of First Media.
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