Meet Angela Shae

We had the good fortune of connecting with Angela Shae and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Angela, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
It honestly happened by accident. Out of sheer desperation.

I was a burnt out photographer, who was taking a Sabbatical from photography work. I started managing Instagram accounts for other photographers and creative brands while taking a break from photography, and when reels came into the picture, all of my clients wanted custom reels. For about a year I created custom reels for each of my clients but it wasn’t sustainable or scalable, so that’s how the idea of plug and play reel templates was born. The process of creating a reel is tedious and long, especially when you’re trying to showcase a photo-heavy reel, and it was important for me to have the reels live within the Instagram platform so we could use the trending music.

Like all great things, it wasn’t instant success. The original business model failed, and I almost walked away from it entirely. However, after giving myself 3 days to cry and sulk, I got back to work. Our original idea involved photographers sending us content and we would put together the reel for them and send it back within 24 hours. They chose the template from our shop and we did the custom edits, but it was still manual work and for many reasons (including the price for both the customer and operations) it didn’t work. Within a month, we pivoted and rebuilt the entire business model and launched a subscription model with access to a private community with plug and play Instagram reel templates. It instantly resonated with the photo community and we grew faster than ever imagined.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Social Templates is a resource of hundreds of plug and play reel templates for photographers, creatives, and now real estate professionals.

We are a membership based community and our members get access reel templates, education and reel prompts to make posting on Instagram a breeze. What makes us different from other template services is that we focus specifically on Instagram reels, delivering 7-12 new reel templates each week that are created using current trending audios, so our members have templates with the latest trends. We are also NOT another app. We are a private community on Instagram, so you never leave the app to create reels, everything is streamlined within the Instagram app — it’s the easiest and fastest way to create reels.

I’m most proud of the fact that even though I had a newborn baby last year, we grew over 500% last year. That completely blew my mind. I worked hard; traveled to tradeshows, partnered with affiliates, said yes to every networking opportunity, went on close to a dozen podcasts, created content and gave it my all. It wasn’t easy, but to see the results is so worth it.

It’s not the smartest people that win, it’s the people who don’t quit. There were so many days I cried, was stretched beyond my capacity, but I was then reminded to shake it off and do the hard thing. Day after day. Even if some days don’t feel like progress, you need to keep showing up and putting in the work. It’s not magic, it’s consistency. It’s trying different things until something sticks. It’s knowing and analyzing your numbers.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’d take you to all the best coffee shops in town. Good coffee is good for the soul. Kit Coffee, Stereoscope, Milligram, Hopper & Burr, Herst, Daydream Surf Shop, just to name a few!

I live in Southern California, in Newport Beach, so this already sets the scene for a lovely time. We’d stop by the beach, my favorite is the neighborhood walk around Corona Del Mar.

I’m a big foodie, so most of your time would be spent making your way through cafes and restaurants. Love me some french pastries, so we’d have to spot by Moulin. Bear Flag is a staple around here, so we’d get fresh poke and sushi there. Sidecar Donuts is a must and Crack Shack can’t be skipped.

We’d take PCH down to Laguna Beach, walk the little downtown and end the day with a leisurely stroll in Heisler Park along the edge of ocean and watch the sunset.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My good friend, Daniel Usenko. He’s been in my corner since day 1. Back when I just started out in photography, he saw potential, took me to weddings with him as a second shooter and showed me the ropes. Years later, Daniel co-founded Pixellu, an album design software company and when I left photography and started my own social media company, he offered to mentor me and still does to this day. He’s seen me on my best and worst days, and has been cheering for me to succeed. He’s someone I trust has my best interests at heart and that’s so rare to find. Not sure one paragraph will ever be able to sum up how grateful I am for the way he’s poured into me for over a decade — he’s truly one of a kind.

Website: socialtemplates.co

Instagram: socialtemplates.co

Image Credits
photographer: Daniel Usenko