What I Learned From My First Year As A Blogger and Social Media Influencer - 5 Tips To Kick Start Your Business
Photo Cred: Averie Sun https://averiesun.com/
Hi Curl Friends! October 1st marked the one year blogerversary of Naturally Shauniece. As I reflect on the last year, I thank God for all of his guidance, wisdom, and plans. God has orchestrated this platform and Curl Friend community to celebrate and support black woman with being our natural selves, starting with our hair. I am truly honored to have inspired so many to big chops, new tapered gang members, provide tutorials for those needing extra help with their curls, share motherhood truths, celebrate our accomplishments, and grow in our weaknesses.
When I first started Naturally Shauniece, I just had my Instagram account hacked after launching my first blog. I had a community of 900 and was SO discouraged because I worked extremely hard to grow to 900. I remember crying to a close friend and she said very important advice to me:
“Start over. Now you will know your exact impact and growth because you’re starting at zero. ”
I stopped crying and knew I had one choice; start over. Here we are one year and 12K Curl Friends later, and Naturally Shauniece has grown into an authentic platform for women of color to celebrate our natural selves, starting with our hair. While I still have a lot to learn, I want to share my lessons learned in my first year of being an influencer and blogger. I learned a lot throughout this last year and could list 20 things, but for the sake of time and proficiency, I’ve listed my top five lessons learned. My lessons are designed to help you kick start putting action behind your dreams. As you read this I hope you’re inspired to take the first step in pursuing your dreams, business, or hobbies. I want you to know that it is never too late (as cliche as that sounds, it’s true). I’m 35 years old, married, two kids, a full time job, and now and influencer and blogger; if I can do it, you can too!
Photo Cred: Averie Sun https://averiesun.com/
Just Do It
I know, too easy right? When I officially launched Naturally Shauniece in October 2018, I had NO clue what I was doing. I didn’t know how to take my photo, use hashtags, record myself, build a website, edit a video, and so much more. I just started and told myself I will figure it out along the way. One year later, I’m still figuring it out, but I started and learned a lot of new skills along the way. So what are you waiting for? Start today!
Don’t Let Money Stop You From Starting
Shortly after I started I realized that I needed items such as a new camera, editing software, a ring light, photographer, and app subscriptions (who knew blogging costs so much money?). I found myself getting really discouraged as I compared myself to other well established bloggers. It wasn’t until I listened to “Stop Talking Bout You Broke!” episode from a podcast called, Business SHET with Mimi G. that I realized I didn’t need money to start a business, especially a social media based business. Mimi G. taught me that in order for a business to be successful it must be the SHET:
S - solve a problem
H - help audience get past current stage
E - earn respect
T - build trust
In this moment, my perspective changed from “I need money” to “good business SHET”. I begin to create content on the business SHET framework and within one year I’ve had several paid campaigns that have enabled me to purchase tools for enhancing the quality of my brand’s content. My advice is to start with what you have and focus on consistent content based on good business SHET principles.
Expand Your Network
If there’s one thing I’ve learned this year it’s I cannot build a successful business by myself. One of my main goals for my first year blogging and influencing was to build my network with like minded individuals and businesses. My social media growth and business opportunities are a direct result of my network. To get me out of my comfort zone, I went to my first networking event hosted by Girl CEO. I remember arriving knowing on one, but leaving with three new friends. I loved the Girl CEO event so much that I added a monthly networking event to my calendar. As I attended more events, the more people I would know, and most importantly, the more people I had to follow-up with. I scheduled lunches and coffee dates with women from these events and as a result, began to develop friendships and business relationships. If you’re looking for ways to expand your network, start with attending local networking events in your area. A good place to start is Eventbrite. I also found this video by Jonelle Henry on Conversation Starters for Networking Events to be extremely helpful for learning how to network authentically.
Build Relationships Not Networks
I know this sounds contrary to expanding your network, but hear me out. In my experience, expanding my network means increasing the number of people I know who are in my business market. Building a network enabled me to understand the competitive market, follow and tag people on social media, and get my name out. However, building relationships allowed for people to get to know the real me, establish trust, and most importantly, give to others in a way that added value to their business, not mine. Building relationships is about building connections, not just receiving or asking for something. When you invest your time in people without asking for something in return, people want to help you. Over the last year, I’ve been blessed to build friendships that have grown into business collaborations for both parties. Now, it’s important to know that you can’t build relationships with everyone you meet at a networking event. Furthermore, you have to intentionally build relationships expecting nothing in return. So look in your network and think about who you would want to be friends with outside of business. Then reach out and schedule coffee or lunch. You never know where a simple cup of coffee may lead you.
Understand Your Vision and Stick To It
One of the hardest things throughout my first year of business was understanding my vision and sticking to it. It’s important for you to understand your vision because you will want to change it or others may want to change it for you! Expert entrepreneurs call this “know your why” or “knowing your purpose”. Your why is the driving force behind your business decisions. It's the reason why you do what you do despite revenue and popularity. Knowing your why will always be the core measure of defining success, establishing core values, and good business decisions. There have been plenty of times where I compare myself to others, get frustrated that no one is liking my posts or reading my content, and being tempted to take a campaign that did not align with my why. The only thing that gets me through these times is coming back to my why. I know that I want women of color to embrace their natural selves and live their best lives. I do this by promoting education, health beauty practices, and productivity tips for women and mothers. As my platform and brand have grown, I’ve experienced people sharing their opinion on how I should execute my dream. While seeking business advice and feedback is needed, no one understands my vision like me. The same is true for you. Take the time to pray and understand your why.
Xoxo,
Shauniece
Photo Cred: Averie Sun https://averiesun.com/