Marco? ... Polo!! 🗣️

🔗 Quick links to:

Section 1: Why I started using Marco Polo

Section 2: How Marco Polo unexpectedly changed my life

Section 3: Who can benefit from Marco Polo?

Section 4: My honest review of how the app works

Section 5: Get your 2 months Free Marco Polo Plus Pass

How it started:

I opened my first salon suite in 2021, and very quickly realized I was lacking something - community and accountability.

I was alone in making decisions for my business now, so I wanted to find a mentor to help guide me through my journey as a salon suite owner. I was also craving community from likeminded stylists that I just wasn't finding in the small town of Minot, North Dakota.

So, I joined a hairstylist mastermind called Stylist Soul Tribe. During my onboarding process the founder, Lisa Huff, told me about this app we'd be using to regularly communicate with everyone in Soul Tribe - the app was called Marco Polo. There was a group chat called the 'Mega Group' that everyone was a part of and there were also group chats for our smaller accountability groups.

I had never heard of Marco Polo before, but I was more than willing to give it a shot if it meant I got the opportunity to connect with 100 other stylists all over the world!

The concept of the app was simple enough to understand - "think of it like FaceTime, but you don't have to watch the videos in real time." You film a video message (we call them Polos), and then the people or person your sending the Polo to can watch it whenever they get the chance. Easy!

So I downloaded the free app, and jumped right in to the Mega Group to make my first awkward as hell introductory Polo 😅

➡️ It's kind of an unspoken right of passage that your first Polo is suuuper awkward. Don't worry, it's like that for everyone 😉

After a few awkward Polos, I started settling in nicely and got to connect with tons of stylists in an incredibly unique way! But what happened in the months that followed absolutely blew my mind...

How Marco Polo Unexpectedly Changed My Life:

Once I downloaded Marco Polo, I was immediately hooked.

I started showing up in my mastermind groups daily - and not out of obligation, but because I genuinely wanted to! I went from having approximately zero colleagues within the beauty industry that were on the same entrepreneurial mission that I was, to having close to 100 stylists in my corner who I could brainstorm with, give + get feedback from, and connect with on a genuine level - And I could do it all from the comfort of my couch, any day or time that I wanted 🤯

But that's not the life changing part...

What was completely unexpected for me, was the immediate friendships I made with people that I had never met in person before.

There was a small group of us in Soul Tribe that created our own side Marco Polo group because we were a bit over-active in the Mega Group (😅). So we decided to branch off and create our own small group where we could spam each other with 30+ Polos per day - and we decided to call ourselves 'The Savâge Squad' 💁‍♀️

Don't worry, I'm not going to explain the long inside joke that landed us with the name - you'll just have to trust that it's a funny joke 🥸

Because of the unique way you can communicate on Marco Polo, it seemed like we were able to build deep connections in practically no time at all. It literally felt like we were all just hanging out at someone's house watching movies, drinking wine, and enjoying each other's company every single day.

Almost a year after we started our side Marco Polo group, I had the privilege of finally getting to meet 3 of the 5 incredible women from our Squad in person at the Soul Tribe Retreat in Chicago. The craziest thing in the world was that none of us had ever met in person, and yet the moment we were together it felt like home. There was no awkwardness that you would expect from a first meeting - just love and excitement that we were finally together.

Of course, because we were missing 2 members of the Squad, we all squeezed together to Polo the rest of the Squad to both send them our love and let them know that they were there in spirit... because we printed out their headshots to carry around with us on sticks while we were at the retreat 🤣

Meeting my Squad for the first time was when I knew without a doubt that these were my people - my best friends 🥹🫶

To this day, we continue to check in on each other every week on Marco Polo. We have cheered each other on during some of the best moments of our lives and supported each other during some of the most difficult times of our lives - and we've done it all on Marco Polo 📲

It has been over two years since I downloaded the Marco Polo app, and I can honestly say that I would not have had the opportunity to make these friendships without it. So to say I'm grateful for it is an understatement!

Who Can Benefit From Marco Polo?

Short answer: Everyone

Less short answer:

➡️ Anyone who uses text messages, phone calls, and/or social media to keep up with or touch base with loved ones both near and far.

➡️ If you don't live in the same city (or timezone) as friends or family and want to stay connected with them in a way that doesn't feel so surface level.

➡️ If you run a coaching or mastermind program that is centered around community (similarly to Stylist Soul Tribe) this is the perfect way to build a tight knit community.

➡️ If you run a business that benefits from 1 on 1 calls or mentorship, this would be the perfect place to connect with your clients or answer their questions in a more casual setting.

➡️ If you have a friend group or gaming group that would otherwise use a standard group message to communicate, this would be the perfect place to stay connected.

➡️ If you are so sick and tired of the 'extended family group text' that you somehow keep getting added back in to, this is the perfect place to redirect everyone to!

Need I go on? I truly believe that there isn't a single person that couldn't benefit from the app in some way.

My Honest App Review:

I give it a solid 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

➡️ Is the app perfect? Definitely not.

➡️ Do I still highly recommend it to everyone? 1,000% yes!

No app is perfect, and as with any app with a lot of users there are bound to be tech issues here and there. As an Apple user, my main gripe with the app over the last 2 years of using it (almost daily) is that my notifications don't load when I first open the app. I usually have to close it out and then restart it before they will all load. Aside from that being a consistent struggle in my experience, I genuinely can't think of anything else that has been a huge 👎 for me.

There are definitely ways that the app could be improved, but luckily the company actually cares enough to take feedback and make updates to better the user experience where they can.

I love that with Marco Polo Plus I'm able to listen to Polos on 2x speed, take notes while I'm listening to Polos so I don't forget what I want to say, and I especially love that not all Polos have to be video messages - I can do just voice messages or text Polos with Plus as well! And the fact that they don't use your data to send you ads or any of that slimy cookies related stuff is a nice perk too 🙌

Get Access To Marco Polo Plus FREE for 2 months:

No need to input any credit card info, just download the app and claim your free pass!

Claim your FREE Plus Pass

If you're already a Marco Polo user you can still claim the free Plus Pass, just not if you already pay for Marco Polo Plus.

There aren't any gimmicks here like you may have been expecting. I didn't get paid to write this article, and I won't get paid if you decide to use my link to get a free pass. I just genuinely enjoy using Marco Polo, so when they asked me if I wanted to be a part of their Ambassador Program to help spread the word about the app, it was an easy yes!