Story
Her brother made her first YouTube channel; she hit 100K in 3 months
Dani Austin's musician brother created a YouTube channel for her after fans in his sibling-tag video asked about her outfits and makeup. Her first video (affordable New Year's Eve outfits) popped off and she hit 100,000 followers within three months.
“my brother actually made my channel for me and I didn't touch it. We went home over winter break and we were so bored cuz you know, all of our friends are in Austin now and everyone's in college. And, um, you know, I was just like, you know what, let's give this thing a shot. So my brother filmed and edited my first video. It was all like just affordable New Year's Eve outfits. And it popped off and within like 3 months I had 100,000 followers and I just started kind of posting consistently.”
Story
She fired her manager after realizing she was just feeding her leads
Dani Austin landed brand deals herself but funneled them to a manager who only worked the deals with her bigger million-follower clients. Realizing she was too small to be a priority, she left the contract to manage herself with an in-house team.
“So I was basically just like funneling these brands to my manager. So I realized at that time I was like, I'm not big enough for them to care.”
Steal thisIf an agency only services its biggest clients, stop feeding it your leads and represent yourself.
Tactic
Treat Instagram Stories like reality TV: wake up with your audience
Dani Austin says her main platform is Instagram Stories because it works like reality TV - she gets on Stories the moment she wakes up and carries the audience through her whole day, making people feel like they're inside her home.
“it's kind of like reality TV where I wake up with my audience. Like, like literally when I wake up in the morning, I get on stories and I carry them throughout the entire day.”
Steal thisBuild parasocial trust by vlogging your day on Stories from the moment you wake up.
Fact
Women were using Monistat (a yeast-infection cream) to regrow hair
Dani Austin explains an online hack where women applied Monistat to their scalps to regrow hair - it worked because its antifungal properties cleared product buildup blocking follicles. That insight inspired Divi's clean scalp serum.
“there was actually this trend, um, or I guess a hack online where a lot of women were using Monistat. To grow their hair back, which is so strange. But the reason that was working is because it has a lot of like antifungal properties.”
Story
Unrequested before/after photos made Divi blow up
Dani Austin says Divi's scalp serum took off because buyers purchased it for moms, husbands and neighbors and spontaneously posted before-and-after photos. The brand never asked for them, but the social proof drove the growth.
“But what happened was a lot of people were buying it for like their neighbor down the street or their mom or their husband. And people started taking like before and after pictures. We never asked for before and after pictures, but I feel like that's kind of what made it blow up.”
Steal thisLet customers generate before/after proof organically instead of scripting testimonials.
Take
Chasing trends gets views but no real fans
Dani Austin's biggest regret is trend-chasing early on: trendy videos popped off but nobody actually wanted to get to know her. She wishes she'd found something unique and honed in on it instead.
“But I honestly wish I wouldn't have started out with the trends, like chasing the trends. I really wish I would've like just like found something really unique and honed in on that. 'Cause I feel like I was like trend chasing for so long and then I would have some video pop off, but that was just because it was trendy and no one actually wanted to get to know me more.”
Steal thisPick a unique lane and go deep instead of chasing trends that bring views but no loyalty.
Tactic
Give recurring people in your content named characters
Dani Austin turned her high-energy mom into a recurring character called Tornado - shown dusting and fixing things every visit - to make her memorable. Branding the people in your content as characters keeps audiences attached.
“her character is, we call her Tornado. And that's the re— the reason we call her Tornado is because she is a tornado when she walks in the room. Like right now, if she was in this room, she'd be dusting off your leaves over there. She'd be fixing all the light bulbs. My mom has so much energy and I didn't really know how to like communicate that to the audience. So my first step was like, we call her Tornado. And the second step is every time she comes over, we're showing her up on a chair dusting things off and like doing tornado things”
Steal thisGive the recurring people in your content memorable named characters and consistent bits.
Story
Begging Free People for a code drove 7 figures in the first hour
Dani Austin says Free People rarely gives discount codes, but after years of wearing the brand authentically she begged them for one - and pushed seven figures in sales within the first hour because the audience already trusted her endorsement.
“So we begged them forever to get a code. Finally got a code., you know, within the first hour we pushed 7 figures”
Idea
On-demand iPhone content creators for weddings
Dani Austin pitches hiring people to shoot iPhone photos and reels at weddings so brides get TikTok-ready content the day after, instead of waiting two months for a traditional videographer's polished cut.
“content creation at weddings, content creation at weddings. Yes. So I feel like now brides really want like TikToks or reels or just like iPhone photos.”
Steal thisLaunch a service of dispatchable iPhone content creators who deliver wedding reels by the next day.