StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Mar 4, 2016 · 16m · top-founders

19 years old, in college, has sales, will she drop out with Lila Zimmerman Episode 182

Nathan Latka · 8m spoken Lila Zimmerman · 5m spoken Sue B. Zimmerman · 5s spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The Top, host Nathan Latka interviews nineteen-year-old college student Lila Zimmerman about growing her wellness brand, Fresh Fit and Fearless, through Instagram marketing, recipe ebook sales, and brand sponsorships. The conversation explores her digital sales funnels, audience growth tactics, and the ongoing dilemma of balancing university education with entrepreneurial ambitions.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 60% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.5 Guest teaching 2.8 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 2.5
05100:0010:001:06–4:28 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Introducing Lila Zimmerman and the Fresh Fit and Fearless Brand Nathan guides the conversation through Lila's early Instagram growth, referencing industry terminology and other creators like Nathan Chan. Lila explains her organic growth methods, including hashtag usage and direct-message share-for-share arrangements.4:28–8:40 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Deconstructing the Digital Funnel and Ebook Revenue Nathan demonstrates digital marketing expertise by reverse-engineering Lila's Bitly link to inspect her exact traffic spikes and conversion data. He places her $900 in ebook sales into the broader entrepreneurial context of side-hustles and bridge businesses.8:40–10:50 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Balancing Higher Education and the Dropping Out Debate Nathan presses Lila on whether reaching specific revenue thresholds would prompt her to drop out of college. Lila acknowledges the family dynamic and the tension between her mother's entrepreneurial backing and her father's academic expectations.10:51–15:59 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 The Famous Five, Brand Sponsorships, and Life Advice When Lila needs help naming a book, Sue B. Zimmerman assists in the background, prompting Nathan to explain the GaryVee 'Jab, Right Hook' framework. Nathan then examines Lila's brand sponsorship terms and operational workflows, lightly probing her use of Iconosquare.1:06–4:28 · Guest teaching 3/10 Introducing Lila Zimmerman and the Fresh Fit and Fearless Brand Nathan guides the conversation through Lila's early Instagram growth, referencing industry terminology and other creators like Nathan Chan. Lila explains her organic growth methods, including hashtag usage and direct-message share-for-share arrangements.4:28–8:40 · Guest teaching 2/10 Deconstructing the Digital Funnel and Ebook Revenue Nathan demonstrates digital marketing expertise by reverse-engineering Lila's Bitly link to inspect her exact traffic spikes and conversion data. He places her $900 in ebook sales into the broader entrepreneurial context of side-hustles and bridge businesses.8:40–10:50 · Guest teaching 2/10 Balancing Higher Education and the Dropping Out Debate Nathan presses Lila on whether reaching specific revenue thresholds would prompt her to drop out of college. Lila acknowledges the family dynamic and the tension between her mother's entrepreneurial backing and her father's academic expectations.10:51–15:59 · Guest teaching 4/10 The Famous Five, Brand Sponsorships, and Life Advice When Lila needs help naming a book, Sue B. Zimmerman assists in the background, prompting Nathan to explain the GaryVee 'Jab, Right Hook' framework. Nathan then examines Lila's brand sponsorship terms and operational workflows, lightly probing her use of Iconosquare.1:06–4:28 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Lila Zimmerman and the Fresh Fit and Fearless Brand Nathan guides the conversation through Lila's early Instagram growth, referencing industry terminology and other creators like Nathan Chan. Lila explains her organic growth methods, including hashtag usage and direct-message share-for-share arrangements.4:28–8:40 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Deconstructing the Digital Funnel and Ebook Revenue Nathan demonstrates digital marketing expertise by reverse-engineering Lila's Bitly link to inspect her exact traffic spikes and conversion data. He places her $900 in ebook sales into the broader entrepreneurial context of side-hustles and bridge businesses.8:40–10:50 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Balancing Higher Education and the Dropping Out Debate Nathan presses Lila on whether reaching specific revenue thresholds would prompt her to drop out of college. Lila acknowledges the family dynamic and the tension between her mother's entrepreneurial backing and her father's academic expectations.10:51–15:59 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five, Brand Sponsorships, and Life Advice When Lila needs help naming a book, Sue B. Zimmerman assists in the background, prompting Nathan to explain the GaryVee 'Jab, Right Hook' framework. Nathan then examines Lila's brand sponsorship terms and operational workflows, lightly probing her use of Iconosquare.1:06–4:28 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Introducing Lila Zimmerman and the Fresh Fit and Fearless Brand Nathan guides the conversation through Lila's early Instagram growth, referencing industry terminology and other creators like Nathan Chan. Lila explains her organic growth methods, including hashtag usage and direct-message share-for-share arrangements.4:28–8:40 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Deconstructing the Digital Funnel and Ebook Revenue Nathan demonstrates digital marketing expertise by reverse-engineering Lila's Bitly link to inspect her exact traffic spikes and conversion data. He places her $900 in ebook sales into the broader entrepreneurial context of side-hustles and bridge businesses.8:40–10:50 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Balancing Higher Education and the Dropping Out Debate Nathan presses Lila on whether reaching specific revenue thresholds would prompt her to drop out of college. Lila acknowledges the family dynamic and the tension between her mother's entrepreneurial backing and her father's academic expectations.10:51–15:59 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 The Famous Five, Brand Sponsorships, and Life Advice When Lila needs help naming a book, Sue B. Zimmerman assists in the background, prompting Nathan to explain the GaryVee 'Jab, Right Hook' framework. Nathan then examines Lila's brand sponsorship terms and operational workflows, lightly probing her use of Iconosquare.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 73% · guest 27%0:00 · Nathan 73% · guest 27%3:00 · Nathan 57.7% · guest 42.3%3:00 · Nathan 57.7% · guest 42.3%6:00 · Nathan 55.7% · guest 44.3%6:00 · Nathan 55.7% · guest 44.3%9:00 · Nathan 65.1% · guest 34.9%9:00 · Nathan 65.1% · guest 34.9%12:00 · Nathan 44.9% · guest 55.1%12:00 · Nathan 44.9% · guest 55.1%15:00 · Nathan 64.8% · guest 35.2%15:00 · Nathan 64.8% · guest 35.2%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:40 Clarifying real-time posting versus scheduling

In a very low-conflict interview, Lila plainly rejects Nathan's assumption that she uses Iconosquare for scheduling future posts, stating she operates purely in real time.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 13:45 Interrogating unsolicited product pipeline

Nathan presses Lila with surprise on how 20 to 30 companies manage to send unsolicited physical products directly to her.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 12:50 Lila details micro-influencer sponsorship rates

Lila educates the host on her exact sponsorship economics, detailing her $100 per two posts rate and policy on retaining sponsored content.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 5:13 Nathan exposes Bitly click data

Nathan demonstrates technical savvy by appending a plus sign to Lila's public Bitly link, citing specific click counts and traffic spikes on August 21st and 22nd.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Lila Zimmerman and the Fresh Fit and Fearless Brand 5312 Nathan guides the conversation through Lila's early Instagram growth, referencing industry terminology and other creators like Nathan Chan. Lila explains her organic growth methods, including hashtag usage and direct-message share-for-share arrangements.
Deconstructing the Digital Funnel and Ebook Revenue 7212 Nathan demonstrates digital marketing expertise by reverse-engineering Lila's Bitly link to inspect her exact traffic spikes and conversion data. He places her $900 in ebook sales into the broader entrepreneurial context of side-hustles and bridge businesses.
Balancing Higher Education and the Dropping Out Debate 4213 Nathan presses Lila on whether reaching specific revenue thresholds would prompt her to drop out of college. Lila acknowledges the family dynamic and the tension between her mother's entrepreneurial backing and her father's academic expectations.
The Famous Five, Brand Sponsorships, and Life Advice 6413 When Lila needs help naming a book, Sue B. Zimmerman assists in the background, prompting Nathan to explain the GaryVee 'Jab, Right Hook' framework. Nathan then examines Lila's brand sponsorship terms and operational workflows, lightly probing her use of Iconosquare.

Statements from this episode (4)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lila Zimmerman: Fresh Fit and Fearless is nearing 15,000 Instagram followers
“It took me probably a year, but I didn't start taking it seriously until like six months in. And now I'm almost at 15,000 followers.”
Lila Zimmerman Mar 4, 2016 ▶ 2:53
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Latka uses Bitly trick to expose Zimmerman's 2,267 Instagram bio clicks
“The link in your bio is actually a bitly link. So I can just add a plus on the end of it and actually see the statistics. So it looks like you've driven from Instagram to your website well over 2267 clicks just since, what, let's see, since about August.”
Nathan Latka Mar 4, 2016 ▶ 5:25
Disclosure
Zimmerman: Recipe ebook has generated about $900 in sales at $14.99 per download
“And it's a 1499 download 14 dollar 99 cents download. And I've sold so far about 900 dollars worth of e-books.”
Lila Zimmerman Mar 4, 2016 ▶ 6:42
Disclosure
Zimmerman charges $100 for two sponsored Instagram posts at 15k followers
“So, usually it's, I get a hundred dollars for two posts.”
Lila Zimmerman Mar 4, 2016 ▶ 12:53
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 2,600 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more