Tisha Alyn: You know, I think what initially got me into the game was that it really bonded my father and I. And so that was my initial love for the game. And then you know, I hit that awkward teenage year where I was like, I want nothing to do with my dad. He was my coach. And at that point, it was truly the people I met in golf that really drove me I love the girls I was competing with. And they were my friends and I wanted to make it to stay or I wanted to compete for the US and represent Illinois, so I could see my friends from other states. And that’s what drove me for some time. And then Kham come college, I knew that I was kind of in a at a road stop where it was like, do we know if we want to go professional or not? Do we want to take a full ride scholarship? I love dancing. I really wanted to pursue dancing at one point in my life. And I went with the scholarship, because really, you know, my sacrifices in my life are also my family sacrifices in my life. And my family put so much into it that I was like, there’s no way that I can allow my family to invest in an entire Junior Golf career for me and may not take on a scholarship. But I have these at hand, and I can get an education, I can get everything that I need. You know, I didn’t come from much, but my family gave me everything they could. And so I took on the scholarship, I had an amazing college coach, who was one of the first, shout out to her. And at that point, I knew I was going to try and go pro after college. And so there was different motivating factors throughout my career.

Mackenzie Mack: Awesome. So kind of take it back a little bit. Since you just love dance, did you pursue dance at all growing up, or it was just a passion that you just liked watching and doing? 

Tisha Alyn: Both. So you know, it’s funny, because I grew up in Chicago, and I feel like dancing was a bit like a survival move out there. Like if you didn’t know how to like dance like usher in Sierra and like, I feel like growing up, you weren’t cool. And so I remember just I was kind of like, I was a really nerdy kid growing up. And I remember just watching the cool kids dance and thinking like, I think I could do that, but I just didn’t have the opportunity to and then you know, come up a family party and we had like a dance circle and someone just pushed me and I’m like nine years old or something and I just did what I saw. I just remember their calling saying like music videos and stuff and I’m dancing the circle that I remember my family just being jaw dropped. They’re like, what? The girl has rhythm. Like no one knew this. And I was just a golfer, I was already competitive golfer. That’s all I knew. And so it was a passion. It was for fun. And then I did join a dance studio, I really wanted to compete. I was taught by an amazing a world renowned choreographer for some time, and hip hop, and I’ve ventured into ballroom for a hot second. And I just love the art of it but I’m in a fortunate place to be able to incorporate both and I’m not so burnt out dancing. And because golf is what I grew up with, it’s like my job, and it’s also my love but dancing is my passion. And so I feel like if I made that my job, I wouldn’t love it so much.

Mackenzie Mack: Awesome. I love to dance as well. But when I dance, like my family’s jaw dropped to at the lack of rhythm, I feel like I feel like I’m Beyonce. But I think that’s what it’s giving, but I’m doing my best. So, so maybe you can give help me.

Tisha Alyn: I got you. It’s all about the effort.

Mackenzie Mack: I give effort. I don’t know if I give rhythm, but I give effort. So I love it. We’ll have to work on that next time that you got to visit. So you jumped into being a professional golfer, tell us about that life and how that works for you?

Tisha Alyn: So out of college, I graduated in 2015. I turned pro, pretty much out the gate. And then I went into Q school. I think I participated in Q school three times. And then, you know, I did the mini tour thing, and I had my symmetric card for the 2017 year and 2018 year, I believe gosh, I It’s so weird talking in years, like as if it’s so far away. Like I’m that old and it was a grind. You know, people don’t, I think I don’t know if other people realize like how difficult it is when you’re basically working up the ranks of any professional sport but let alone women’s golf where at the time when I was competing, the money was even lower than what it is now. We’re catching up. We’re getting there. But it was so low, like a mini tour check like full, you know, it’s not a secret. It was like my first check. I came, I came first place and I have a downstairs. It’s a big, big check. I like mounted it on the wall because I was like, heck yeah, I’m proud of this. I shot real low for this. I think it was like $1,500 for first place. And if you go second, it cuts in half. And to me when I got that cheque, I thought I thought I was baller, okay, I was like, “Yes, I’m making it on tour”. It was absolutely a grind. I had a killer, miniature circuit career. And when I hit [inaudible 00:07:48], that’s when things got really real and really hard. And that’s where a lot of careers come and go because money falls short. And I was just very fortunate that in the middle of my professional career, I documented my journey. And when I documented my journey, I grew a following. And so I was kind of in this weird balance of like, I am a professional golfer that is my identity. I don’t want to change that. I don’t want to be a social media, girl, whatever this is, we don’t know what this is yet, because it was very new in 2016. But it’s getting me some gear. It’s helping me open doors. I just got a gig that helped pay for my entry fee. And I’m really struggling right now. So that was kind of like the gradual change from professional golf to social media. But professional golf, did I love it not the whole time? I don’t think any professional golfer is gonna say, “Oh, I love it”. It’s like the whole time. But I love the people I was with. I love the girls, it was all about the community to me because we were doing the struggle and we were doing the struggle together. And I’m a very competitive person. And so I think that’s also where like that fire of wanting to go low happens. But I very much enjoy what I do now way more than the professional golf hands down.

Mackenzie Mack: Yeah, I completely understand. I have a similar path play Collegiate Golf, Junior Golf, decided to play mini tour golf, and had some symetra tour status and it just was a lot. It was a lot and doors opened up for me to be a teacher and get my PGA and LPGA membership and so I kind of veered over kind of like you veered over to influencing. It just was like, I was at that same crossroad like do I keep going? Or do I kind of pivot a little bit and so I completely understand the struggle, the costs, the everything, so I’m glad we’re your viewers are glad that you kind of transition because we enjoyed seeing you and seeing you’re out and about. So do you still play a lot now?

Tisha Alyn: I don’t not like I used to, absolutely not. I mean, I’m sure you completely understand like, when I was playing professional, so I don’t know. Again, another thing that people probably don’t know behind the scenes, but I am a workaholic, like I grind that whatever I do, I’m grinding, I’ll make it look fun, but I’m grinding. So when I was playing professionally, I was training, seven to eight hours a day, I would play two rounds of golf hit a bucket before hit a bucket after work on the weaknesses work on that short game, putting for like two hours, literally, my lower back would be in pain. And I would always have major blisters in my hand and pop blisters. Because I was a range rep for some time, I was very mechanical. And so coming from that to what I do now, I truly only perform when I need to perform, like, you know, yesterday I was out at, I was at the top Golf LA opening and I had to hit a ceremonial tee shot in front of a whole crowd and bounce the ball go play nine holes. I haven’t played since. Well, actually, I had another event reason. But usually I just play. Last time I played was last event, I had to reformat and I just kind of got to a mental state where I was like, you have done this your whole life. Like you have to trust that you know what you’re doing and that you’re not a professional at the top tier anymore. And it’s okay, if you mess up a shot. You know, the 98% of the world can’t do what you do. And that’s constantly what I tell myself when I get into a why can I perform? Why am I so nervous? And I get into a like, listen, it doesn’t even matter if you mess up and then I’m just totally cool with it.

Mackenzie Mack: Yeah, I’ve been there. I’m still there. Like I get gray playing corporate events. And I’m like, we can do this one this our whole life. Better than most at that. So you’ll get it better than anybody at any point. So getting into being an influencer, you said it just kind of happened, you were documenting your journey and people fell in love with what you were doing. So at what point did you say like, did it go like, this is like I’m becoming something like, how can I take it to that next level? 

Tisha Alyn: I mean, I still have that thought, like, every day, you know, like, Okay, I think I’m getting somewhere now, what’s next now? But I think the first time it really hit me was when I truly made the switch over from being a competitive professional golfer to social media. And that was I think it was in 2018, I put the bag down competitively, like I started playing on, on in tournaments. And I thought, you know, I am getting I was getting more gigs. And I was getting it kind of like on a monthly basis. And I was I mean, you know, truthfully, like my professional career, it was only going to last as long as I had the money to do that. And I was literally taking the gig money and like grabbing it, and then giving it to a tournament fee and doing it over and over again. And I kind of got to a point where I was like, what if I just not? What if I just hold on to it, and then do it again, and do it again and do it again? Maybe I’ll feel a little more secure. And I actually cried about it many, many times. Because like, you know, being a professional athlete playing a sport all your life, you feel like it is your identity. And I being a professional golfer wanting to be on the LPGA Tour was my identity for as long as I like since I was three years old, I used to say I want to be on the LPGA Tour. And so I feel like it was prolonged actually switching over to social media because I didn’t want that to be my niche. Because for me it was dead. Wrong. And so I made the switch. It was truly because I had to really think and ask myself, like listen to show you’re going to be number one in the world at its rate right now. Are you number one? No, absolutely not. I had just covered like LPGA LA, I watched [inaudible 00:14:06] crush it, then y’all came, you know, on an order quest? And I’m like, “No, that’s not, that’s not me”. And I was like, but am I happy with social media regardless of what the chatter is? Am I happy with it? Am I enjoying it? Am I getting opportunities? And the answer was “Yes”. And I thought, all right, this is scary, because it’s not really stable. And even to this day, I’m like, I don’t know if it’s stable, but I just I needed to choose what made me happy. And it was that and I got to reach a broader audience and I really like being an extrovert and reaching other people. And when you’re a professional golfer, as you know, you’re just you have to be very selfish. You’re just focusing only on yourself, your head down, grinding, all you want to do is beat other people and I got I got tired of that part of the grind. I wanted to do a different grind where maybe I can make a better impact this way than being a professional golfer.

Mackenzie Mack: So for some of our listeners at home that one I want to be an influencer, what is your like, top one or two actionable that they can take now to head that direction?

Tisha Alyn: I think one of the most important things is figuring out what your passion is. Because social media, you’re not going to get fast results ever. You know, it’s kind of an anomaly to be a one hit wonder kind of thing, if you’re the first at something you might go off. But I think for a lot of people who’ve has a career in social media, it kind of fell in their laps, like a lot of the successful influencers and personalities that I’ve met. And it’s because they were working on something else. And then they tried to build their passion in social media, whatever that niche is. And the reason why I never gave up in my niche through ups and downs is because I just had so much passion for golf. But I’ve been doing social media, legitimately is like actually telling myself like, Okay, let’s try and post more. Maybe end of 2015, 2016. And, you know, where are we now in 2022? I’ve been doing this for over five years now. And people think like, oh, my gosh, she just got this overnight. And I’m like, “No, I watched number slowly grow”. And sometimes it gets to you like, let me tell you like, Well, I’ve been stuck on that. What am I have to do like? It’s a mind game, but finding your passion, definitely one of them. And being very consistent. Like, you’re going to have to be consistent for some time. And if you like, like I said, I was consistent for how many years like, and it wasn’t until my three and a half year mark, I went actually like a level up. And then now like the five six year mark that I went like, an incredible up. And now I only hope to go up. But I was truly like at a flat line. And there was many times where I was like, hey, man, like I’m living out of my car. Is this what I want to do? And I was like, dang, I lived out of my car and I’m a professional golfer. And I’m living out of my car, the social media. What if people don’t see that part you know?

Mackenzie Mack: I’m glad you said that. Because people don’t see that part on any successes, whether it’s athletics, athletics, whether it’s business, whether it’s whether it’s anything, you only see the glow up, you don’t see the backstory. So I’m glad you shared that with us. And you mentioned the money and playing was tough. So what can somebody expect to make as an influencer? Like, how does the how do you? How do you make money? And what can they expect?

Tisha Alyn: Great question. That’s the money question. Let me just get my agent over here. She’s, she’s gonna go crazy. So how to make money in influencing and being on social media? It varies but a lot of times it comes from ad posts, like literally a brand will pay you to, to endorse a product or, or what have you. And so for myself, when it comes to social media, I get paid for ads, appearances towards events, there is revenue that you can get from things like reels and YouTube and whatnot, and I’m alive on every platform there is like, I’ve never not working truly because I’m like, Okay, I finished that TikTok. Oh, let’s get on Twitter. Oh crap, don’t forget YouTube. Oh, you know, there’s always something and so that’s basically the majority of where, where that comes from the money per se. And when it comes to how much an influencer or a personality is worth, it truly, truly differs. Like, I can’t even give you a hard number because, like, let’s say my value in the golf world compared to maybe an influencer or a personality that’s just in a very broad niche. Who can have maybe a million followers like, I think, I may actually have more value because I’m more needed in my niche. I’m more I’m different in my niche. I don’t blend with every single person and there’s only like, a handful anyways, in my world, like if you think of like, golf, fun dance, I hope my name pops up like that’s the vibe. But if you’re an influencer that’s just like everything influencer or like travel or fashion or makeup. There’s it’s so oversaturated that they can just be like, Oh, you don’t want that deal, all right, there’s another girl who’s going to maybe do it for free. And so for myself, I’m you know, clearly able to make a living off of it and I’m in a place where I can be comfortable. But again, it really took that first three, four years of grinding before I could even be like, let’s step away from having the thought of a normal job. Like I had the support of my family, which was awesome for them. Then I was like, hey, I want to do this. They’re like, I don’t even know what that is. Is but you know, you could stay at home until you get there. And they’re just really supportive. So you can you can make a living off doing this, but you better be very, very patient.

Mackenzie Mack: So, is there a range that people normally get for like, is it like $5 or $1000? Like, what’s a range?

Tisha Alyn: Again, it truly depends on the following. And it depends more so on your engagement, so let’s say if you have, like 50,000 followers that are captivated by you, like you’re adding the average percent rate of engagement per following is around 2%. So if you have a million followers, 2% of that is what’s engaging with you. And the majority of your followers aren’t actually seeing what you’re doing. But there’s a lot of education when it comes to numbers and being seen going viral, blah, blah, blah. And like for pay per post, I think it just depends. Like, I think like with brands, like let’s say for someone around like 50,000 followers or whatnot, they can probably get campaigns between two and six grand, depending on how many posts that they’re told, it just really depends on the engagement, like let’s say if they have 50,000, 60,000 followers, but like everyone is all is like audit, they would live read die for this person, like, you know, what a post for them, if it could be worth four grand, you know, just one and that’s it. And if they have that much value, or if they look like they have good numbers or trying to do a test run, they might say, Hey, we’re gonna do this for lower, can you do this for 500 or less? And let’s see how we do and you kind of go from there. I think every personality and influencer has a very customary rate. And it very much like behind closed doors, the conversation is often what’s your budget, they’re like, how much do you cost? And I’m like, what’s your budget and I’ll tell you, what I have for you? And it kind of goes from there. I’m very fortunate that my following, and my engagement, has been performing quite well. And I feel like I’m being seen, and the more I’m seen, the more I get to raise my own personal cost. And, you know, the visibility is truly like the purpose of influencing. So hopefully that answers your question. I wish I had like ‘X’ equal. You know, it’s hard.

Mackenzie Mack: No, that’s perfect. So do you have a team that helps with all these posts? Or do you like, post everything yourself?

Tisha Alyn: I now have a team. It wasn’t like this before. It’s still a very like Mom and Pop kind of team. You know, coming out the gate. When I made the switch in 2018. I also switch agencies to digital golf collective, my agent has just come McAllister, she’s probably the most outward agent there is like, you’ll actually find her on social and she traveled with us. And I remember my first gig and she was like, Okay, I’ll see you there. And I was like, what? Why are you coming to my gig? Like, you know, I’m good. I’ve been doing this solo thing versus 2016. Like, don’t cramp my style. And now I’m like, are you coming? I need to hear like, I need your support. And so it kind of just really started slowly, like my agent started, you know, obviously being on my team was slowly come, and then people within her team would slowly come. And then now I have a videographer that comes with me to all my bigger events. And she’s actually my childhood best friend, I love her to death, I was able to convince her to make the switch from her normal job. And I was like, you’re such a creative come with me on the road. Let’s figure it out. I’m going to help you make as much money as you need. Like, I would rather Feed My People than feed me. And so people don’t see that too. And so I take my videographer to maybe 70% of my events, like if I can handle something on my own, I will take it on. I usually am manually posting everything myself except for YouTube. I have my videographer handle that. Anything high quality photos, high quality video edits, that’s usually her but if you see like transitions and like the dancing and like the trick shots and whatnot, and like the editing with Zoom and zoom outs, like that’s all me, I still am very, very much hands on. It takes a lot of me keeps me awake at night. I have a team now but we all are very much like you know, hands are dirty. We’re in it so. 

Mackenzie Mack: Right. So okay, what is the one tip to a viral posts? Like, how can I get my posts to go viral?

Tisha Alyn: That’s a great question. 

Mackenzie Mack: Just put you in it, so I just have you in my area.

Tisha Alyn: If I give you better odds, I will be there for you. So, you know I honestly ask that question every day and there are times when I’m like, you know what this video is a banger. I can’t wait to put this out edit like just eyes and I’m like, what? I love. I edit this video for like 10 hours, it’s 15 seconds. What am I doing? What’s really cool, I think right now is like, I’m a huge fan of tick tock. And what’s really cool about tick tock is that it’s not oversaturated and over overly sponsored and promoted. So I feel like people are a lot more brave to just kind of do whatever, like, I can literally post like a cat video that can go viral. And then I could post a golf video that goes viral, like, there is no rhyme or reason there is no aesthetic there is that I think that’s the word. There’s no aesthetic, unlike Instagram, where it’s like, I my feed needs to match my filter, and I gotta look pretty, not too many videos, I really just don’t care. I’m like, I think this is cool. Let’s do it. And for a viral video, I think if you feel like you would swipe on your own video, that it surely isn’t going viral. The average viewer takes in, I think around, it’s three seconds to decide if they want to watch it for another like seven. And then from there are you going to captivate them till the end and my videos are on average between 15 to 30 seconds long unless I’m doing a long piece, a longer piece. And so for me, if something isn’t engaging in the first three seconds, then I already know that like, I would swipe past my own post. And if I was like past my own posts that were definitely not viral. And I feel like that’s step one. And step two is just like thinking about I guess, what do you think hasn’t ever been done? Or what do you think is really unique and like your own niche? My trick shots are usually the things that kind of go viral. But I’ve had dances that have gone viral. I’ve had random skits that have gone viral. And I think it’s just being really creative, really relatable and just being very, very captivating and very little time.

Mackenzie Mack: Gotcha. So as an influencer, what do you hope people take away from following you? What message or what vibe like what do you want them to get from you?

Tisha Alyn: I hope that they just get a huge dose of serotonin when they come onto my page you know, I hope that they just feel like a breath of fresh air, I hope that they feel like there’s more life that’s truly it. And I like to make my motto is really just making golf. You know, super fun, super relatable. There’s a lot of people that are influential that are trying to get into golf, which is amazing. But I want to be that one influential person who was raised in golf to bring it outside the sport. So when people think of golf, and I think of fun, they think of me and if and anytime someone comes up to me, and they’re like, Oh my Gosh, you’re the girl that like you make golf look fun. Like that gives me so much joy because Golf has had the stigma of just being so stuffy, being you know, only for the guys. And I mean, I had to fight those stereotypes for a very long time. You know, literally being POC, LGBTQ female, like throw it at me. I got the checklist girl like, you know, and, and I had to fight that fight those odds. And now I feel like we’re at a point where like, Okay, now let’s make it relatable. And so I hope when people come to my page, they can see that, like, I want to pick up golf. This call makes it look so fun. I want to go to a top golf, and then maybe I’m gonna go to a course and then maybe I’ll go get some clothes. Maybe I’ll go get some clubs. And if it’s not golf, I just hope that you feel like, Man, this girl just, she’s so much fun. Like I want to look at life like this. And if people get that vibe off my page like that, that’s what like fulfills me like for real. 

Mackenzie Mack: Okay, so on the show, we have our quick nine. So I’m gonna give you a question. You give me the first thing that comes to your mind. 

Tisha Alyn: Okay

Mackenzie Mack: Who are the other three players in your dream foursome?

Tisha Alyn: They don’t from golf, but Bruno, Mars, JLo, Tiger Woods, of course, I’d love to play with Tiger that’d be awesome.

Mackenzie Mack: What song is number one on your playlist at the moment?

Tisha Alyn: Sweetest Pie by Dua Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion.

Mackenzie Mack: What’s your favorite TikTok challenge or dance?

Tisha Alyn: I mean, I just because it’s the first thing that comes to mind. I did just do a dance trend that’s happening. And it’s an old song. It’s by ‘Guy’. Literally the artist name is ‘Guy’. It’s called, “I like it”, I think. And I did this dance. And I did transition to it. And I just thought it’s not really a challenge. But I really liked that trend because it was old school vibe. And everyone’s like, how old are you? I was like, chill, calm down.

Mackenzie Mack: What’s your favorite social media platform?

Tisha Alyn: TikTok right now, I can just spend too much time on there and that’s a problem.

Mackenzie Mack: Is there a golf course that you haven’t played but you would love to play?

Tisha Alyn: Augusta, that would be gold.

Mackenzie Mack: I watch your social and you’re like working out a lot, you like very into fitness. So is there an exercise that you do because it’s important but you like dread having to do it?

Tisha Alyn: Cardio, that’s just not the vibe. Cardio is not it, I would rather like lay down

Mackenzie Mack: Who is your favorite golf influencer outside of you, like who are you tuning into

Tisha Alyn: Well, influencer because he’s my good friend and I just love him to get coach recipe. I don’t know if you follow him. He’s Florida bass, he does a trickshot. And Tim and I were just like peanut butter and jelly. We just work together so well. And every time I see a post, I’m like, get it like, that’s my homie. I love it. I can’t believe you just did that. That was so cool.

Mackenzie Mack: Who has influenced you the most in your life?

Tisha Alyn: I mean, I think the cliche answers to say my family. But that is but I mean, they are definitely the biggest influences and everything that I do because I learned work ethic. And just truly like, like the struggle, you know, you want it you want to get out of that bubble. And they never showed me what our struggle was growing up. But they always showed me how to work hard. And so I feel like indebted in that sense where I’m like, I want to get us all out of there. But besides that, I think any female of power truly inspires me like Serena Williams, I’m like, saying “Yes, girl”. Like I take a piece of that. I love that. Megan Rapinoe from the US Women’s Soccer I take a piece of that. Michelle, Annika Sorenstam. A lot of them are female athletes, but even people like Beyonce and JLo just changing up their lyrics and showing how amazing like women are like being moms and then coming back and just doing the thing. And I’m like, gosh, we are amazing human beings. Like I when I take a piece of powerful woman like that, and it makes me feel like, you know what, I could do anything?

Mackenzie Mack: And last one, in one word what does golf mean to you?

Tisha Alyn: Hashtag Golf is life. Like, okay, I mean, but truly, I mean, how many comparatives can we make between golf and life between you know, patience, perseverance, the grind, knowing that not everything can be perfect or in one literally in a matter of seconds, you can lose every like it’s no comparable life. And I mean, all pros have said it to like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer that if you want to learn about life, you play golf.

Mackenzie Mack: Absolutely. Golf is life. Everybody, share the hashtag. Tell the people where they can follow you keep up with you get a hold of you, all of that.

Tisha Alyn: Sure thing you can follow me at Tisha Alyn on all platforms, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, you name it and I’m probably there.

Mackenzie Mack (PODCAST OUTRO): Tisha, thank you so much for joining us. And thank you all for listening. Be sure to follow this show on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, so you don’t miss an episode. I’m Mackenzie Mack, and I’ll talk with you next time on “Getting to the Green”.