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This week on Marketing vs The World, we sat down with Tash Courtney Smith – strategic advisor, ecom investor, founder of Biz Kids, creator of her own Sky TV show, Tash Talks – and self-confessed algorithm obsessive.

“When people ask how I do it all, I say it’s a function of age,” Tash laughed. “I wasn’t doing all this when I was 28. It’s taken time – building experience, building knowledge, and yes, building wealth.”

This episode is a goldmine for anyone trying to grow their personal brand, their business, or just trying to work out how the heck to make TikTok work without burning out.

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“Follow the instructions – they usually work.”

This is Tash’s mantra. And when she says “follow the instructions,” she’s not talking about manifesting your way to 1 million views. She means literally – go read the platform guidelines.

“TikTok are world leaders in publishing how to succeed on their platform. They want you to do well. But people don't like reading instructions – it’s like trying to build IKEA furniture without looking at the leaflet.”

If you’re treating your social media like a casual hobby, you’re not going to see the kind of results Tash is seeing. She’s built feeds from scratch to 24 million+ views, powered by a process of deep learning, relentless consistency, and – her secret sauce – offshore content production.

Hear the rest of her secrets in the full episode.

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“The average UK TikTok costs £350 to produce. Mine cost £17.”

Yep, you read that right.

While most brands are faffing around with internal teams, slow editing pipelines and costly agencies, Tash built her own offshore editing squad. “We call them the Edit Squad. They’ve been with me for years. I even paid them when I didn’t have edits – because it’s about building trust, keeping talent, and creating stability.”

By combining an offshore team with super clear briefs, well-oiled Asana workflows, and a ruthless focus on repurposing raw content, she scaled to four to six videos a day – all without spending a fortune.

Her advice to any brand?

“No one in the UK should be editing. It makes zero economic sense. If you want scale, you need volume. And if you want volume, you need a different model.”

Mic. Drop.

“We didn’t follow trends. We followed our message.”

While everyone else was scrambling to lip sync and jump on trending audio, Tash stayed focused on her mission – using her Biz Kids initiative to teach kids entrepreneurship and confidence.

And then? Boom. One of those kids wrote a rap. It went viral.

“We had no idea what would go viral. I thought we’d go big from the teaching content, but it was this off-the-cuff moment that exploded. That’s when I realised: you need lots of content, because you don’t get to choose your viral moment.”

That rap turned into a song, a music video, a collaboration with Stagecoach, and press coverage on ITV News. The girl behind the rap became Britain’s youngest pop star.

All from showing up consistently, week after week.

Ready to hear more? Listen on Apple | Listen on Spotify

Key Takeaways

So what’s the takeaway if you’re trying to grow on TikTok or Instagram Reels?

Here’s what Tash wants you to know:

Use long-form content as your raw material
Outsource editing if you want to scale
Stay consistent (even when it feels like it’s going nowhere)
Stop chasing trends – chase your message
And seriously... read the instructions

“TikTok isn’t just about trends – it’s about timing, consistency, and repurposing.”

Because yes, success might look “overnight” to everyone else, but behind the scenes? There’s 10 months of grind, spreadsheets, systems, and... a hell of a lot of Zoom recordings.

“The algorithm is just a spreadsheet somewhere in a computer. If you understand how it works, you can work it. But most people won’t put the time in.”

Listen on Apple | Listen on Spotify

Autism is a superpower

In the “Versus the World” part of the podcast, Tash opened up about her neurodiversity – and how it's shaped the way she works.

“I’m on the autistic spectrum. I didn’t talk about it for years, but now I realise... it’s why I’ve been able to go so deep into algorithms, into building things like music production pipelines and running systems. It’s not always easy. But it’s helped me more than it’s hindered me.”

Her honesty in this part of the chat was incredibly powerful. She reflected on the pressure to keep up, the moments of burnout, and the reality of working differently.

“I’d hate for someone to compare themselves to me and not realise – this is how my brain works. This is what allows me to do what I do.”

It was a brilliant reminder that no one sees the full picture of what’s behind the scenes. So be kind – especially to yourself.

Listen on Apple | Listen on Spotify

Ready for more?

To hear Tash’s full story, tap play on this week’s episode of Marketing vs The World wherever you get your podcasts or using the links below.

And if you’ve got questions about content, TikTok, editing teams or just want to bounce ideas – get in touch.

Connect With Us

For more insights and updates on the world of marketing, follow Abbie Dando and Monday Clicks. And don’t forget to subscribe to Marketing vs The World so you never miss an episode.

DISCLAIMER

This article has been created using various AI tools, which transcribe raw audio and transform the content into a blog post. This helps us ensure each Marketing vs The World episode is released as quickly as possible.

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