Over the last month, on my social media break (as much as work allows), I’ve noticed a few things. Things about my life that I completely missed in the non-stop app switch that is social media. Firstly, I’m not very satisfied with my life. I keep looking for meaning and coming up short. And yes, to be honest, it’s hard to tell if it’s general dissatisfaction or if I’m going through something. But the feeling remains.
And secondly, feeling good (making myself proud and doing what I want) has motivated me. And then, I started chasing the algorithm. Which algorithm might you be asking and concerning what? The short version is all of them and everything. From Google to Instagram, Twitter to Pinterest, I was creating and somewhat existing to tick a box. Except, the box was unclear at best or invisible at worst.
IRL and online, I was looking outside myself for that pat on the back that seemingly never came.
But I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want to spend the next 20+ years of my working life unfulfilled and ticking boxes. And that’s precisely why I work for myself to have the freedom to create and do what feels good to me, especially when it comes to this blog. But also when it comes to living my life. It has to be my number one priority; I’m no good to anyone if I don’t find a way to put my happiness first.
And so, with all this figured out, this thought keeps popping in my head. It taunts me that I should have got a handle on this stuff already. That I should know better and that I can’t seem to learn my lesson on this one. I’ve been here before when I’ve felt disconnected from my life and threw in the towel.
At various stages throughout my life, I’ve been here before. Sitting on the steps of my first real home here, wondering if the choices I’ve made are going to create a life for us or sink us. Wondering if I’m capable, worthy or deserving. Wanting so desperately to make it all work. Exhausted by the very prospect.
But I won’t beat myself up for stumbling at this point again.
And just so that we are all on the same page, I know now that it’s time to seek some help. So that I can maintain the life I want to live and see it through using tools I’m yet to learn. At this stage, I’m not sure how much of that process I’m going to document here, but I’m permitting myself to share what I want. To stop being afraid of upsetting someone or putting a foot out of place. And to say nothing when it feels like something that is mine.
It turned out, in the end, I’m still a blogger. After reading Austin Kleon’s book Show Your Work, I realised that instead of racking my brain week in and week out for what I hope people or algorithms want, I could share what I’m loving/doing/enjoying instead. I could document the process.
Which, if I had paid attention, some of you have been saying all along. Yet everyone says a blog can’t be successful unless you focus solely on giving the reader what they want. Make it entirely about them and what they need. But I won’t survive if I do it that way. I’ve always found an overlap between you and me; we often go through the same things.
Let’s hope this is one of those times you are happy to come along for the ride.
Some of you aren’t going to believe this. Maybe I’ve claimed a comeback one too many times. But I’ve been throwing around some ‘show’ ideas for the YouTube channel too. I’m 100% not sure if I can pull them off yet, but I thought, that’s also the sort of thing you guys may want to join me in figuring out. And speaking of comebacks. I decided that while I’ve enjoyed experimenting with my hair colour again, I miss the blue. It felt like me, and I miss it. So, with some effort from the team, it’s making a comeback.
I’ve been here before, questioning myself and my ideas. Back in May 2020, I would give the blog a bunch of my effort and see what results I could get. Make a decision then if blogging was still for me after all this time. It’s hard to confront that the only real skill I’ve spent any time developing in the past decade might be obsolete.
But in facing that head-on, I learned that there is still a living to be made in blogging. Yes, it means a few more ads or affiliate links when the occasions arise, but it also means the blog is a business. Worthy of time in my work week and not just being relegated to those exhausted moments at the side.
The funny part is that maybe you won’t notice a change.
Funny haha, I mean, not funny, strange. If you follow the blog or the socials, maybe it won’t feel that different. I don’t plan on changing the topics I blog about, nor do I plan to conform to some new schedule or content plan. My haphazard style of posting will probably continue to bump from where to buy guides to rants and back again. That may all look very familiar, and I’m okay with that.
Taking a social media break has allowed me to check in with myself in a way I haven’t done for a while. Not looking at those ‘doing more than me to figure out what it is for me to share, but asking myself what I want. Everything feels different for me now. That’s what matters, or should matter, for any of us.
How amazing is it that we live in a time when women can decide to start a business, blog or personal brand and do it for themselves? For the things that matter to them like time, freedom and space to dig deeper into what makes them tick? To side hustle or create and ensure that their finances are their own. I’ll never forget how empowering it was to find, inspect and buy my own car. I imagine that feels a world away from women unable to open bank accounts without husbands or enter public bars.
The quiet of being without other people’s opinions or their fears allowed me the space to hear my own voice. To stand on my own two feet and ask the questions of myself that I hadn’t taken the time to ask in too long. What do I want? Am I happy? Why do I do what I do, and is there anything else I’d rather be doing?
The answer is I’m right where I want to be, with room to grow and options to explore. I’m a writer, a photographer, a blogger and a creative. And, since I saw my first magazine with pages of glossy advertisements, I’m a marketer. So it’s time to stop questioning all of that and start doing.
I’m back from my social media break and ready to roll.
Recently, I closed my MailChimp account. An account I had since 2011! 2011, team, do you remember the good old days? And if you receive the Suger News, you would know I switched to a new kid on the block, FloDesk. I’m going to talk a little more about it later, but first I wanted to let you know why I went looking for a replacement in the first place.
Now, to be fair, I’ve been with MailChimp for nine years. There was a lot to like about the platform, including a lot of the analytics and integrations. But after the integration with Shopify was ended and there have been issues with accurate tracking and sign-up form options. There wasn’t one specific reason that I decided to keep my eyes open for an alternative. A lot of little things; things that should work but don’t.
And the cost, which is always a problem when the bigger you get, the more expensive it is to keep your list. Plus, there are very few additional features or bonuses with your upgrades. When I spoke with my clients who use MailChimp about what they are paying and whether they believe it was worth the money, most had similar feelings to me. It seemed to work, and we hadn’t found better. Then I saw a tweet about FloDesk.
A little more about FloDesk
The tweet came from a fellow blogger who sells their book via their website. I knew immediately that it would work for me. That said, I haven’t done a lot recently with eBooks or Online Courses, but they are on my list for 2020. After a brief look around, I went about setting up the Suger News as a test. A couple of hours of work and I had three fully functioning lists with sign up forms and welcome series emails. I decided that night to shut down my MailChimp and bring my account over.
But that wasn’t all.
Soon I discovered how much easier it was to deliver PDF content directly through emails and found my way around the templates and analytics. Bit by bit, I wondered if my product-based business clients would benefit from how slick and easy to use it all was. So, I reached out and asked one of them if I could try the program for them. They were paying over USD 200 per month for their MailChimp subscription; we excited to try out something that might cost them only slightly more than that a year.
(with a sign-up code, see below, wink wink)
I warned them that I didn’t feel that we would get the same level of sales analytics. However, since we were tracking it through Google Analytics and the Shopify Dashboard that it was worth a look. They agreed and later that week we set them up and officially put their MailChimp account on pause. It only took two weeks of the new emails going out for them to decide to switch. We didn’t miss the analytics, and their brand fonts were already available as standard in the program (along with heaps others) making it simple to design everything from more straightforward sales emails to lengthy updates.
They too were sold on FloDesk.
And then, the final; example I have is from a friend who desperately messaged late one night saying she was at the end of her rope with MailChimp. She had written, designed and set up a free download around working from home that people were signing up for but it wasn’t delivering to them. Getting people to sign up and then not providing the content they signed up for is always a bad look. So, I jumped into her MailChimp to see if I could locate the issue. After some digging, a few tests and coming at the problem from every angle I knew to come at it from (she had probably tried them all herself too) I was stumped. It’s just one of those things that MailChimp sometimes does, I told her.
But if you want something fast, do I have the program for you!
And after some quick consideration, a play in the software, that night she set up her free download, sent an email to all those that hadn’t received it, and was back up and running. It was about that time that I thought I should sit down and write this post. After all, there are a lot of you that write a blog or have your own business. Maybe you’re battling it out with some out of date program that is too complicated for what you need or want also. So, here we are. For me, for the people I’ve talked about and a handful more, this has been a great solution. Maybe it will be for you too. Below the screenshots (provided in FloDesk as part of their Affiliate program, open to anyone with an account) I’ve put my link if you want to try it out.
If you want to sign up to FloDesk, I have an affiliate link. You will receive 50% off your subscription. Which makes it just $19USD per month no matter how big or small your list is. Want to see how it works? Create your account with that link to lock in the savings, and use the two-week trial. Check it out, let me know what you think. And if you read the Suger News, don’t you agree that we’ve been looking pretty flashy recently?
This is it! The time has come for the resurgence of the personal blog. Not that they were gone-gone or anything. But with the rise of the Insta-blogger, twitter-superstar and all the tween Tik-Tokers, blogging has been a little out-dated. Short, punchy and on platform updates seem to have taken the lead.
But not so much anymore.
In 2020, we have something to say. More than the Instagram caption will allow and more important than some algorithm deciding who will see it. On a personal blog, you can take your time, find your words, and deliver them to your audience without the interference of Zuckerberg et al.
It’s s resurgence. From the back of the dusty wardrobe, people are dragging out blogs, dusting them off, and sharing the things that matter to them. I’ve seen it with several accounts I follow. Some have done very well in the recent social media boom. A lot of them blogged before, some had stopped, and others are finding their way to a blog now. But whatever their path they all agree, the time is now.
And I couldn’t agree more.
I mean, to be fair, I’m pretty biased. Team blogger, that’s me. I’ve been in love with blogging since I published my first, tiny dinky post. And yes, I’m uniquely placed to be like, WOOOT, can’t wait. But I can’t ignore a trend towards people having space to voice their opinions and ideas; to share their story.
What’s better than that? Here on this blog, I am the boss. Sure there is still some reliance on social media to promote a post, but when it comes to subscribers (both blog and email), they hear from me because they asked to. No middle man. And certainly, no signing up only to be shown a post every week or two. My thoughts and ideas travel from me to you. The words (and images) are here just as you asked them to be.
Unfiltered. Uncensored. And most of all, unapologetically me.
That’s why I think that personal blogs will make a comeback in 2020. There are too many of us with something to say for it not to happen. I don’t know about you, but I feel like now is not the time to be quiet. To go quietly when they shut down our accounts or put us in some algorithm based sin-bin. Oh, no. NOW is the time to be heard. And I plan on taking advantage of that. How about you?
As far as being on social media goes, I consider myself pretty balanced. I work a lot online and over the years have developed ways to manage the distractions of notifications and the draw of new posts. For those playing at home, I use MUTE a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Haha. But ultimately it all works because I have a system that works, so I work with it.
But when it comes to my phone, I’m a bit of a nightmare.
Prone to flicking between apps mindlessly, I can pass hours doing nothing at all. Which can be a form of downtime or decompression for some, but it’s not for me. I ended up a bit twitchy and on edge for no other reason than social media comparison and burn out. Not ideal. My mind is often running at a million miles an hour. This sort of split and interrupted focus is a nightmare for me. And to be honest, it’s become a compulsion, and I’m not into it.
So, a few months ago, I decided to get mindful about how I use my phone for social media. I still check emails, text messages and calls the same way; the socials would be my focus. Primarily Facebook, Instagram and the Facebook Pages app with some emphasis on Twitter and YouTube. I would be excluding apps like UNUM and Buffer because I use them for post scheduling and planning for myself and client accounts. Ultimately, reducing the total hours using my phone was the primary goal.
The plan, Stan.
My plan to kick things off was to make sure my data usage tracker was on. With an iPhone, this is built-in, but I’m sure if your phone doesn’t have one included there would be apps for that. I wanted to know the time I was spending on the apps and how many pickups a day, which can be LOTS if you’re not paying attention. Have a second doing nothing, what do you do? I know what I do, I reach for my phone. Then I put it down, resume what I was doing slightly more distracted than before, and it happens all over again in another 5 minutes.
It was my goal to reduce these times/pickups a little each week. I knew this would help with overall hours of content consumed as well as breaking my concentration. The strategy was simple; I would set my phone aside, out of reach more often than not, and only pick it up when I had something to do. This alone saw my daily pick up average go from (don’t judge me) 97 pick up average to more like 60. Which, for a start, was decent enough, but there was room to go even lower. Don’t you think?
That’s what I thought!
So, my next step was to make my phone a little bit more unavailable so I could get on with what I was doing. If I were in the house, I’d leave it in the kitchen instead of taking it to the lounge where it stared at me from the coffee table. If I was in my office, it sat on my desk out of direct sight. I was working with the out of sight, out of mind theory. And it made a huge difference, and I started to notice that I wouldn’t get that ‘urge’ to pick up my phone as often. And when I did, I quickly realised that I had no reason to go out of my way to get it, to flick through apps and go back to what I was doing.
From here it became effortless to do things like leaving it at home, or in the car, when we went to family dinners or out for the night. Usually, Kel would still have his phone on him, so I knew if I were needed, I’d be able to be found. But, let’s face it, how often these days are we ACTUALLY needed that urgently by someone? I get urgent emails and messages all the time that could easily wait for the morning or business hours. It has become easier to untether myself from my phone, rather than retrain other people to respect my boundaries.
The takeaway habits
Mainly, that the world doesn’t end if you’re not checking on it every five minutes. There are times when I’ve come to a message or email later than I would have before. But never TOO late. I think too often we make excuses around being contactable that don’t apply anymore. I had to get real with myself; was I carrying my phone to be in contact with the world or as some kind of downtime buffer? We talk about the attention span of children, and I think we need to turn that spotlight back on ourselves.
When you add up the hours, the days and then compound them into weeks and months, we are wasting our lives here. That was a big takeaway for me, and I love social media. But scrolling through your phone a couple of times a day to admire the things being writing and created and shared is one thing. The way I was doing it, and I dare say some of you ARE doing it, is a waste.
Why are you flicking through the same apps when there is a world to explore and stuff to do?
Why do we do that? Is it a FOMO thing? I know for me it feels similar to not wanting to miss a day of school in case things change. As an adult, I don’t want it in my life. My social media, via my phone, isn’t something I want to be tethered to like a toddler on a leash. It’s here to give me access to the people I love and work and creators that inspire me. And even now, after being more aware of how I use my phone, it’s not always something that inspires or motivates me. I need to stop looking for those things on a screen and listen to myself more; to my life and nature and family more.
So, your kids want a digital career? I get that. There’s a shift away from traditional employment happening. So maybe your child will be a YouTuber or eSports Gamer or any of the other hundreds of things people do online as jobs. But I can help you, and your kids, be ready for this change. After all, times are changing, and there is no going back.
I am continually playing devil’s advocate for screen time for kids and embracing technology as part of our modern lives. Some will say it’s not my place, as a ‘have’er of no children’ but I argue that I am uniquely placed to understand the possibility that your kid, at least one of them, will work in a digital career. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you they’ll become a digital millionaire to support you in your old age, shall I? Haha.
What happens when your child comes home and declares their ambition to be a YouTuber, a Blogger, a Digital Entrepreneur or an eSports Gamer? How would you react to these ‘new’ careers?
For a lot of the parents I’ve spoken to, this is one of those ‘silly kids’ things, like being an astronaut or a cowboy (both could happen!). Of course, every teenager wants to play Fortnite for a living or be a global YouTube star at the age of 10. But in the end, it’s not a career, a real job, something that they can count on to support them in the future. Right? No, actually. You couldn’t be more wrong.
I’m living proof of that, and I’ve had minimal success with online fame and fortune. But as far as having a career online, I’ve 100% done that. I had to come up with something, my skills on Fortnite are limited to hiding in bushes until someone finds me. (Top 7, don’t @ me, haha). There’s a massive range of careers out there, and it’s essential to keep moving with these trends.
I saw a figure in a YouTube video (it’s where I get my news now, take note of THAT) the other day that said very soon the percentage of people working ‘for’ someone and the number of people working ‘freelance’ will switch positions. Something like more than 85% of people will be working for themselves in some capacity. I think if you, or your child, has an interest in doing their thing online, now is the time. The world is changing, and the way we are working, being employed and even seeing careers is changing.
We just need to stop getting in the way.
This year, we started a YouTube channel for my nieces and nephews. It’s called Aunty Suger Presents… and is obviously the cutest thing ever. The kids, especially my brother’s eldest two, had been asking about making videos for a long time. Long before I started making them for myself. When they kept asking, we did it. I’m saying we because obviously their parents were involved in this process, for those playing at home.
We didn’t start the channel to give in to that pressure from them. Their interest in not just passively watching, but making something didn’t lessen. That was the first thing. But it ended up being a yes because there’s a lot to be learned from creating content for the internet. (Their aunt does it, after all.) Skills that will serve them later; things like confidence and ability to make a plan and execute it. Not to mention problem-solving, conflict resolution and a whole conversation around consumerism, consumption and having more than you need.
But how do you take those things and turn them into a solid foundation for a digital career?
I thought you’d never ask. Because I have a few ideas about that. Firstly, I think you have to involve the kids in the process of creating. For some kids, they’ll have no interest in the whole thing. Great, this isn’t for them. But the ones that want to make videos show them how. Show them the work that goes into it even if they never go on YouTube. Support them to come up with ideas and create. Show them what it takes to execute. I’ve found that the kids are more engaged in the making process when I talk them through the stages and get them involved.
Don’t rule out these careers as ‘real’ careers.
There are people all over the world, well below the top-tier superstars, making a comfortable living doing something that makes them very happy. For people to have something that they love to do and make it their career has always been my ideal; I want that for everyone. Wouldn’t you want that for your child?
When your child says they want to be a YouTuber, I get the concerns related to that some of those fools are ridiculous. BUT, you can support the dream without being on board with that kind of outcome. Find ways to develop your child’s skills. Sure, they might want to be the next Ninja (Fortnite superstar) and is probably lobbying hard for more game time. But there are other skills to develop for a gamer; things like critical thinking, dexterity and reflexes. Make it part of their ‘training program’ and include a range of activities based on the end goal of becoming a professional gamer.
Do your kids want a digital career? Support the foundation, even if you’re like, wtf IS this?
My parents, almost a decade after I started my business, still aren’t overly sure how the whole thing works. How a person gets paid to ‘influence’ or create content online. But that has never meant that they weren’t behind me, giving advice on the things they COULD do. From a young age, we were given training in answering phones, computers, managing finances and more because they were business owners, and they wanted to pass on their skills. To this day, I still go to them with those types of questions in my business. They built a foundation, and their support of me helps me to know I can ask them anything.
And finally, teach them how to operate online. As a parent, I can get that your outcome is 100% focused on raising a decent human. That extends to how they behave online. As I came back to this post, I had recently had a conversation with a friend whose child is not being their best self online. To put it lightly. The struggle for her, and many others I’m sure, is how do you ensure that the qualities you encourage in your kids are the same ones they are showing online? Especially when there’s a world of pressure to behave contra to that.
I have no magic solution. Sorry, I know, it sounded like it was leading up to something big, right? All I have to offer is to be present. Participate when you can (interact with your child online and in the settings, they are hanging out in). My favourite thing to do when hanging out with friends is playing video games with their kids. Yes, that means you’re probably going to have to learn that new game or create an Instagram account. But whatever is within your means to be present. And yes, you can’t be everywhere, and I have a little personal conflict about kids having their privacy, but keep the literal and figurative doors open. That matters.
Show them how you behave online, involve them and make sure they realise that online conduct has real-world consequences.
I hope that helps those of you who are wading into the kids want a digital career thing. There’s an absolutely shift away from the traditional model of employment happening. This generation is going to be working online more than any that have come before them. As freelancers, content creators, influencers, entrepreneurs and business owners. Let’s not take their opportunity to prepare for this style of a career away from them by not being open-minded and informed. We need to do our best to stay relevant and on top of the changes to offer these kids the best advice we can. Questions? Leave them below.
I’ve been a little quiet for the past couple of weeks. From the high of daily (ish) blogging, it was a bit of a comedown. So, without excuses or blame, I want to tell you what was going on in the hopes it might clear the way for some words to show up.
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”
― Anne Lamott
You know the quote, right? Maybe you’ve heard of it. I was never sure how I sat with that. After all, we each have our experiences of things. Who says our version is THE version? In fact, it’s something I’ve always been cautious about on this blog because even when people THINK I might be talking about them, usually I’m not. So, I avoid blogging about things that weren’t my experiences or things happening in other people’s lives. Which, as I said, has served me. However, this past month and I felt like there was nothing to say, alluding to someone else’s situation or even offering an opinion/preaching.
I’m questioning everything.
It’s the worst.
To shake it, I just sat down to write. Monday was our anniversary; we celebrated 13 years. While I was pondering what I write about marriage and relationships, I worried about how that would land for some people in our life. Then the other day, I was feeling overwhelmed by social media, and when I went to write about it, it felt like I was having a dig at people who ‘do the thing’ that was overwhelming me.
See what I mean? Those are just the two most recent examples. I’m sure it occurs to some of you (myself included) that my procrastination technique of discarding everything I write before it has been published might be back. I get that; I wonder about that too.
But, I also wonder if sometimes it’s the right thing to do.
The last thing I would want is for someone to read what I have written and feel like them enjoying their Instagram moment was making me feel like crap, and they should stop. Or that someone who has recently confided in me is now the topic of a blog post. I choose to share my life here, and others have the right to choose too.
Boundaries have long been a question for bloggers, certainly those that share their children’s lives, but it goes further than that. We are responsible for the words we use and the stories we tell. Most importantly, to the context of this post, how we tell them. The tone and the intended outcome.
How do I write, share and document my life when my thoughts and ideas feel so tied up in my experience (and the experience of others) right now? This is the question. My current age-old question, which, as I write this, it occurs to me that there’s a pretty simple resolution.
Ask myself, what is the intention of my writing?
If I’m worried that there’s judgement or opinion about how someone is living their life, maybe there is. And I need to take a look at that. What if what I’m writing is coming out as judgmental and preachy because that’s the space I’m in right now? Possible, right?
When I look at a post, and the intention is to help or serve, not shame or judge, that should be clear. It’s something that I can stand by if it does come up as a problem for someone. I think that’s the way I’m going to go about it. Because giving up and saying nothing, well, that won’t work for me. I think we all knew that.
I’d love to hear your thoughts? Have you ever crossed the line with someone else’s story? How do you balance sharing what is true of your experience and other people’s version of things? Do you think my intention thing will work, or am I just giving myself a free pass?
I don’t know about you, but the minute I saw IG TV launched online, I downloaded the secondary app immediately. Not sure what I’m talking about, read this from the Instagram blog first. Short version. Watch the video if you’re interested. I’ve embedded it and everything. (And yes, I went looking for it on YouTube before realising they’re mortal enemies, my bad).
More ways to consume video, exciting! As I scrolled through all I could think about was the huge potential there is for someone to create something new, and cool, and completely different. Because everything looked same-same. And when everyone is doing the same thing (for now, to start anyway) there’s a BIG opportunity for you there.
IG TV, well, now what?
Someone doing it well, so far, and I’d say that’s because of the footage she has available to her from YouTube, is Kellie B of And I Got Dressed. Killing, as per. I’ve been looking around and I thought maybe what would be most helpful was a few hints and tips. Like, dos and don’ts but I couldn’t fit them all into that, so calling it hints it is.
It’s not stories.
I get it, the urge to just upload your Instagram stories to IG TV is tempting. It’s a new app and getting in fast can go a long way to gaining some serious traction there before anyone else jumps on. BUT, story content is different, think of IG TV more like having a vertical YouTube channel.
It’s why there’s a desktop upload option, they WANT you to be editing and making something cool. Check out Shonduras and the series “Will It Shred?”(formally on YouTube) on the platform. Come up with a ‘show’ or ‘series’ idea and upload it weekly, fortnightly or monthly. That’s my hot tip.
It IS a way to expand your brand story.
You might not be a business or brand, but this tip still applies. IG TV is the perfect opportunity to increase your connection with your audience. Expand what is possible in terms of story-telling on Instagram. Anywhere, really. We all know how much time we spend with our phone vertically in our hand, so carve out some of that time to share who you are and why you’re there. And that doesn’t have to be serious.
I mean, you heard video is a big deal, right?
I know, I know, I’ve said it before and you’ve heard it before. I’ve heard it myself a billion times, but the future (which is basically the present) is video and voice. And you, in whatever form that suits you, if you WANT your piece of social media pie, need video. Your plans should all included video. Video video video. Marsha flashback intended.
The best news is that this format seems like so much fun! The introduction to it, see the Instagram post above, is so exciting and filled with personality. If that’s what each of us can make our IG TV channels, that’s such a win. Content that is considered but free and easy at the same time.
It’s a keeper.
The best news about the videos uploaded to your IG TV channel isn’t going anywhere. They live there until you get rid of them. That means if you have an amazing live session that needs a home, this is 100% it. The best news is that anything you have stored on your phone or computer that has since disappeared from Instagram, you can upload it. There’s no timeframe for the uploads like there was at launch with Stories. It’s a free for all.
Just, go vertical, pahlease!
There’s one caveat on that free for all thing, this is a vertical platform. It should be used as a vertical platform. Sure you could go landscape and hope people flip their screen, but the app isn’t set up for that. In fact, they basically scoff at people having to do that, so I’d guess they won’t make it easy. It’s simple, don’t complicate it, go vertical.
So, team, those are my first impressions on how we can use this new shiny thing we’ve been given. Have you been using it? What have you found so far? Do you have a tip for us??
Genuine question. How do I transfer the renewed joy and consistency to my YouTube channel? Some of you have seen it, maybe you haven’t, but I need your help and advice. I wish I was offering you something different today but when I sat down to write, it’s the only thought I have. Not that into it? Check out yesterday’s cosy AF outfit post instead. So, YouTube, huh?
How do I do that?
And no, before you suggest it, there’s no way I’m making a video a day. You’re dreaming. Calm down, you don’t want to push me over the edge. But I am committing to my previous one per week schedule again. That’s more than manageable for me. I can do that.
I have some questions if you’re willing to answer them. I’m wondering about the topic, the feel and what the heck would be useful to you to see on my channel. It’s not about me just making the videos you tell me to make, it’s about getting some ideas, and being really in tune with what you NEED to live your best life.
1. What kind of content would you like to see me make on YouTube?
This is your chance. If you’ve ever had a thought or a suggestion this is it. Do you enjoy the tutorial style content like the photo editing or Instagram workflow? Or would you prefer something more ‘talky’ like the back-story of my blog or my confidence story?
2. What questions do you want to be answered?
Is there something that you’ve always wondered? Is there a topic on the blog that interests you and you want to know more about? Someone suggested I should be talking about confidence more on the channel, is that something I should be doing? Ask away, anything I feel I can answer, I will.
3. How do I deliver on my blog mission?
In case you don’t know, my blog mission is to provide women with the tools to live a successful, profitable, balanced, and joyful life. Which is a big, fat, lofty goal and one I am taking very seriously! But how does that look on YouTube?
How does that mission convert to individual videos? I’m wondering if it means that I need to be sharing more about things like what I’m watching or reading, lifestyle tips and things about just living well… I’m not sure.
And that, my friends, is what I’ve been pondering today. And by today, I mean since I edited the final Suger + Ink podcast episode for the season a couple of weeks back. I won’t go on about it, but if you feel like lending me a hand, please do. The comments section is open and if that doesn’t work, just leave it in the comments on Facebook.
Thank you muchly, team. Let’s do this.
And you know, follow along for the rideon YouTube!
But are you embarrassed about how it looks? She asked. Not out of the blue, or to be unkind, as part of the conversation. We were talking about Instagram. The challenges people and businesses can face there and how we aren’t really that sure what to do to reach people anymore.
And, I understand what she means. Having an account with over 13k follows and getting consistently less than 100 likes on an image is disheartening. It was 15k once, but a clean out, a shadow-ban and a huge chunk of unfollows later, here we are. To watch unsubscribes happen day after day. To feel completely cut off from the interactions that meant so much to me. It sucks, short version.
So yes, embarrassed is one word for it. My ego has taken a bit of a hit since my fall from the top (ish). Frustrated is another emotion along with sadness, sheepishness, and some good old-fashioned ego related jealousy. No one said I was perfect! Having my Instagram fail, it stings a bit, let’s put it that way.
I mean, I wrote a damn eBook about Instagram for goodness sake! Cringe.
Earlier this year I declared that the purpose of the blog and associated social media was changing. I thought it was a clarification of what I am about now as well as an end to the constant frustration of creating content I just wasn’t that into (sorry, where to buy, but I mean you).
It turns out, all that did was make a bunch of women feel not welcome here. When I realised what I’d done to the community I spent almost a decade building, that hurt. It hurt more than the embarrassment of fewer followers, likes or comments. That was something genuine that I’d messed up.
But I’ve learned something too.
I learnt that it doesn’t matter whether 40 or 400 people like my photos, I still love taking them. It doesn’t matter if 2 people or 20 comment back, I’ll still reply and enjoy the actual conversations. And when I post a story and even one person gets a laugh out of it and DMs me to say so, well, day made.
My blog, the Instagram or whatever, is going to be what it is going to be. I’m going to create and make things because I love doing that. People will either stay for that or not. There’s no need for me to be serious, focus on a specific niche or do anything I don’t want to.
I’m not embarrassed to have learnt something. And I refuse to be ashamed that I made a mistake that cost me an awful lot of people from the team. I will, however, keep going and trying new things. Being Insta-Famous or a Blogebrity (Blog-Celebrity, thanks, Freya) can’t be the bottom line. It’s not good enough. In fact, it’s a waste of the rather large platform some of us have been granted.
So, am I embarrassed now? No, I’m not. I know who I am and a number is never going to define me.
As some of you know, I started working with an assistant earlier this year. I wanted work to continue on my other blog, The Leave Home Blog, as well as some other things. I was lucky enough to hire Charlotte, the daughter of my friend Desiree. Oh heeeey. Charlotte, welcome to the team, right?
I loved having Charlotte because she had been around social media for years. She had assisted her Mum with numerous make-up clients giving her experience with people AND on the job, assisting. She knew how to lay out a flat lay, this crazy world of content, she just got it from day one.
And for the second time today, she kicked content creation ass.
The results from our second photo shoot for the Leave Home Blog brand, went just as smoothly as the first. I’m so proud of the keen eye Charlotte has developed for what we need to tell OUR brand story. (Want to see some of her work, check out the blog or the Instagram). I’m so proud.
I had to learn a lot along the way in order to be able to let others help me. Along with Charlotte I also have the assistance of another teen, Aeris. Along with that, I use a guy for website and content help. Someone who would rather remain nameless. And I’m in the process of working out how to use an editor for some video content.
To think of where we started this year, this is a WHOLE THING.
A whole MASSIVE thing. Here we are and this is what we’re achieving. If someone had asked me at the start of the year if we would be working with National social media clients, large-scale organisations and more small businesses than ever, I would have laughed. Who has the time, right? But somehow, we found the way to make it all work.
And still blog. And still Instagram. And sometimes even podcast and YouTube. I mean. I’m proud of us. I can’t wait to see where we go from here. Between the blogs, the social media business and all the things we manage in between, I’m just grateful, you know? And for today, this night where there was nothing much else to share, I wanted to share that with you.
I was talking to Dani (you know her, right? SUPERSTAR) and as long time, back in the dark ages type bloggers, we were wondering how the heck we used to make it work. What did we blog about? How did we fit so much more in? Did we fit more in, or nah?
While in this what the heck, how do I even do this spiral, Ash of Ashas_Curves said she’d recently lost her mojo, but now she’s identified her why and she’s ready to go. I’m pretty confident this isn’t my problem. I’ve been locked down on my why for a while now. I even created a mission statement type thing. Classic geek.
To advance the position of women through confidence, self-awareness and self-sufficiency.
It feels like I don’t know where to start. Or what to start or how. I mean, is it possible to forget how to do something that has been a part of your persona, business and lifestyle for almost a decade? It feels like it went POOF and disappeared.
And yes, this increasingly lengthy post seems to directly indicate otherwise. What I’m doing is something I used to do; I opened a page and I started to write. With no plan. Heck, I even just went back up and put a title in.
So, in the interests of making something, I’ve decided to write a post on this blog for the next 30 days.
If I have something on, I’ll schedule it. If I miss a day, you’ve got full permission to kick my butt. You guys, my team, are pretty great to me. You let me come and go, time to deal with myself and time to grow. But this time, it’s on, let’s not let this go by the wayside. I want to get back in the habit of blogging. After all, I said I have to get out more, what better way to tackle it than by doing STUFF to blog about.
I mean, I ate breakfast at a cafe this morning, does that count?
And, the other day I softly petted the head of a teeny tiny, new’ish baby.
Last week I made a warm salad that was impressive AF and learned how to play Fortnite.
And most importantly I spent the day with my mother and sister saying goodbye to a woman who impacted my early years in a way I’m not I can quantify. How do I express that? How do I share what she taught me so it lives on here? I know I want to, I want it recorded and here for when I need it. But how?
To be honest, I’m not sure. But I’ll try. That’s what blogs are for, right?
I’m probably the last person you should be listening to on the topic of building a healthy email list right now. My newsletters have been infrequent and uninteresting, to say the least. But, take this as a do what I say, not as I do kind of thing, okay? If you’ve got that firmly in mind, let’s move on.
You see, I’ve managed lists from a few hundred subscribers all the way up to ten thousand, and the secret is? They’re all the same. Big lists or small, established or brand new. You grow them the same way. You maintain them the same way. And in the end, if you don’t take care of it, people unsubscribe the same way.
Let’s get started, shall we? Email list building 101.
When building an email list, you have to offer people a decent reason for them to be there. Your offer must have genuine value to the subscriber. And no, as fun as it seems to you, subscribing to buy stuff from you one day is not a good enough reason.
That said, side note, make sure you are collecting email addresses, with consent, from people who ARE buying from you. At least you know those people already like you. Right? Do this by asking existing customers and clients to join the list, give them the opportunity at every stage of the transaction and more often than not, they’ll take it. Now back to a decent offer thing.
A decent offer to subscribe is the reason you see so many offerings of content upgrades and freebies on websites. Things such as how-to guides, sample product (especially popular with stock photos), checklists, webinars or eBooks. The subscriber is offered the ‘thing’ for free in exchange for your email address. These are great. I highly recommend having an offering or five because they work. People love a bargain and something that’s free, well even better.
BUT.
And that’s a BIG BUT.
Make sure what you offer for an incentive is actually worth the trouble of subscribing, confirming and waiting for that download to appear. Because if it’s a page or two made in Word and half of it is your bio, then you’re not offering actual value there. I once subscribed to receive a checklist for creating a YouTube video. The document I received was very schmick and professionally done, but the content was a single page long. I mean, hardly worth the effort and I was immediately a little put off the list.
Then you have to consider if it’s something your audience really wants. I offered a Suger Drinks cocktail ebook once, not a great lure at all. People just weren’t that into it and so they didn’t see the point of signing up to get it. No problem, moving on to the next idea. Start by testing it with your existing audience. If they’re not that into it, back to the drawing board for you. This item, this discount or free download or offering, MUST be worth the effort.
Bring the value, not the sales pitch.
Think creatively, this part of the journey isn’t about making a sale. Put that out of your head. You’re not selling your wares right now. You’re selling value. This offering has one purpose. And that is to be of value enough to the person who sees it that they subscribe immediately.
When you have an offer (or five) that are performing reasonably well when promoted to your existing customers, clients or audience, you can move on. That last part, it can take a while and an investment in developing something great. But rest assured, when you get something that works, it will keep working for a long time afterwards.
Widen the net.
Next, you need to widen your net to promote your list. If your offer is performing well enough with your existing audience, they’ve signed up already. But how do we reach more people, right? Short version, with ads. Facebook and Instagram ads.
Stop. Don’t eye roll at me that Facebook and Instagram are over. That’s not even close. What is even close to being over is the free ride we’ve been enjoying up until now. Chalk the freebies up to good luck and implement a genuine Ad strategy to grow your list.
Not sure what you’re doing? There’s SO much free information online. Google it my friend. Spend smaller amounts to test the performance of your ads. Find something that works, then and only then, put more money behind it. Have a look at brands like Showpo and Wish, they out pretty much 100% of their marketing budgets into content creation and Facebook ads. You can’t argue with that kind of growth!
And finally, make it idiot proof.
If you want people to subscribe, you need to mention it, make it easy and generally talk about your list whenever the opportunity arises. For the first year of my newsletter, I posted the link to Twitter and Facebook every single week. I’d talk about what great content was coming and the freebies for subscribers. It was a whole thing. People felt part of it and being on the list was worth it.
This section is called make it idiot proof for a reason. Mentioning it, telling people to subscribe is one thing, but making it easy is the real key. Have multiple subscribe buttons and options, even word the ‘subscribe now’ differently to make sure it’s clear. Include a link to your sign up form whenever you can. Add it to your website’s menu bar for goodness sake.
The last thing you want to do is have someone land on your business page or website, and NOT be able to figure out how to subscribe. Make their life easier and your list fatter. Make it EASY. Not sure if you’ve made it obvious enough, ask a friend to head to your site and subscribe. If they can’t find it, no one will. Move it!
And that, my friends, is my post about making your email list MORE subscribe-able.
This was a question sent to me by Carly, who is looking to grow her audience for an upcoming book release. Hopefully, that helped, Carly. But the tips will work for anyone. Keep it simple, offer people value, and really consider what’s in it for THEM when they subscribe. We’re all clear what’s in it for us. Before you take the first step, know what’s in it for them. No arguments.
Have a question for me about blogs, business or branding? Let me know, I’m happy to help.
