There’s a lot of things I learned along the way that I think are so helpful to know now, so I wanted to share my top 5 :)
- Go with your gut – When I switched over into the digital content space (from pharmacy), I was working with a team who wanted to brand me much differently than I wanted to brand myself. I felt super comfortable being on camera as myself but they wanted me to relate to everyone by being neutral and flat which didn’t feel right to me. It was literally me against 6 people who were much more successful and experienced so I decided to trust them, against my gut, and it probably put me back a full year in my career. The videos were overly professional, not my style, and so stiff! Being myself worked SO much better.
- Double down on your strengths – and stop worrying about your weaknesses! Don’t compare yourself to others because it’s easy to want to do what they do or wonder why they are so much more “successful.” Focus on what you ARE good at. Rather than harping on the things that you are less knowledgeable in than others, choose to double down on the things you excel at. Personally, I don’t have an artistic edge, but I am super knowledgeable in health and wellness, so that’s what I doubled down on.
- Action v. Ponder – This goes back to when I was with a team where things were more delayed.. I remember we wanted to launch my website and instagram only when it was perfect. But we waited so long to reveal it and it gained no traction because success doesn’t happen all at once – even if your instagram is perfect! I realized I should have just gotten started over that year prior and built up content as I went along. This waiting came from being a perfectionist but over time, building would have helped me to be much further along! It’s even okay to make mistakes as you grow content. Mistakes are relatable and people like it – plus that’s how you learn.
- Delegating – but also understanding everything. If you know you’re not good at something – delegate so you can have it done right. If I were to spend all my time on YouTube backend, SEO, and editing, I wouldn’t have as much time to devote to my strengths. This will save so much time and your production value will shoot up. But, I want to note that it is also important that you are able to understand every aspect of your business. No one will ever care about your business as much as you do, so you want to make sure you understand everything because then (1) when you don’t want to delegate you don’t have to and (2) you can make sure you are being charged fairly. For example, I learned how to color correct my own photos so if I want to delegate I can, but I also have the option to do it myself. Plus knowing how to do this task helps me to understand the time and energy that goes into it, and I’ll know if I’m being charged a fair price.
- Calendaring – It seems so simple but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I started using a calendar! At first I would try and add things in but it wasn’t clicking for some reason. Now I put everything in my calendar (color-coded based on the type of appointment) so that I don’t forget anything. I even put phone calls with friends in my calendar. This has been a hugeee help for me! I love Google Calendar – especially because you can edit from your computer. It’s way faster to type all the event details this way. If you’re not sure how to use it, definitely look up a tutorial – you might even learn about functions you didn’t know were available.
I’m always learning along the way and I’m sure in a year from now I’ll have even more to share about what I wish I knew :) Hope this helps and I’d love to hear if you found this helpful.
