I’m slightly pivoting for 2022, and the better. And if you’re reading this page, welcome to my new and improved website + blog!
2021 was both a tough and successful year for me in personal and professional progress but I'm not sure if it was the progress that was needed. It started out promising as I recall last Christmas season I was jamming to the Ariana Grande rockumentary ‘Excuse Me, I Love You’ on Netflix and happily working away on new graphics for IG that I had purchased on Creative Market. I have to say my content has progressed so much farther than those days and I’m so proud of its aesthetic and value at this very moment. I never used to be happy with my nine last posts on the grid but today I’m pleased as punch.
Then the clubhouse surge began and everyone was clamouring for an invite. Eventually, I made my way onto the app. It was lovely to meet all these different types of people and connect with unique business owners that became like a positive tribe. I finally found my people. While I’m still in contact with a few people, after a while it became repetitive and like any good thing, it was ruined by a couple of bad apples.
What was once a community of genuine friendships and uplifting each other off of the app on Instagram or TikTok became a place for ‘bro marketing’ guppies to colonize the amazing conversations that were going on. Each room was plagued by old white men telling people how they should run their business with toxic habits such as spending 24 hours on the app. Then school began, and that always stifles my progress as a business owner. I talked about this in a previous Instagram post on how it's extremely hard for me to balance both being a student and an aspiring entrepreneur but nevertheless, I will always persist.
I'm aware that my choice to follow through with my education will always drive my entrepreneurial journey a little slower and I know that my empire will take a lot longer to build, but I see it as an opportunity to lay extremely strong foundations. That is why I hate how in my industry there are all these Instagram gurus trying to preach and practice that you can easily make a million dollars seemingly overnight and somehow get all these different clients and gain all these followers from surface-level content.
It seemed like overnight becoming a social media manager was the best thing since sliced bread. What I saw were a lot of people trying to get into a get-rich-quick scheme by helping people grow their socials with unconventional and unsustainable practices. Micro influencer hype chats or posting 24/7, cookie-cutter content, basically being an Adam Mosseri update account anytime Instagram made a single change. I can’t tell you how many people I connected with in 2021 were trying everything just to get money with little to no knowledge on just how hard it is to be a social media manager, and then fall off of the face of the Earth. I’m not even exaggerating but there are so many accounts that haven’t posted anything past August, especially with the engagement dip from people finally getting outside and going to restaurants.
This made it extremely hard for me to spend time on Instagram when every post was almost the same or just felt pretentious to me. Whenever there was a new change in the algorithm, suddenly my feed was plagued with the same post 20 with various Canva blobs. And this isn’t shade. I use Canva too, but it was all shamelessly generic copies of each other and reels with audios that were trending on TikTok that were popular months ago.
2021 was also the year that I had the most clients. It was also the year that I gained a thousand followers in 24 hours and then lost those followers over the course of the fall semester. I knew that my clients' socials had to come first and I had to prioritize their results which came naturally to me. But my social media was suffering as a result of neglect due to extreme demands. Yes, I was posting here and there and showing up on stories but in actuality, it was just meaningless because I would be ‘on’ 24/7 for 1 week and then the next week I'd be too busy so that hurt my engagement and bruised my ego. I’m not ashamed to say I’ve been stifled a bit, even after doing everything right in the books of social media managers.
There were so many times I was just frustrated with my position in the social media industry and there were many sleepless nights where I was wondering: can I do this? Am I meant for this? What if I just start lowering my prices and doing the services to sell out like everybody else? I was on the verge of an epiphany because once you hit your low, you can only go up. After a hurricane, comes a rainbow as Mrs. Perry said.
Unfortunately, on the new moon, I had to withdraw myself from a creative partnership due to being burnt out and I did not want to jeopardize the quality of my work. But it was the best learning opportunity I could’ve ever had outside of school because it helped me learn so many things about running a business hands-on, branding, as well as finding new passions for things such as creative direction or social media campaigns. I learned that there are so many different systems with tools you utilize to keep me reassured in my business. I realized that I couldn't even tell you what I do and who I serve because it wasn't specific enough and I could barely remember it which only reflects the type of clients I was attracting aside from a few that year. So I had to dig deeper and figure out what I enjoy doing, what I hate doing, etc.
Obviously, I still maintain a passion for logic. I still kept some of my popular services because there is a demand. Additionally, there is no such thing as a dream job I don't care what any entrepreneurial people on Tik Tok tell you in a dark filtered filming set up with stocky subtitles and all the Unsplash videos in the world there is no dream job because we live in a capitalist society and any job that you have is always going to have an aspect of your job that you hate.
I realized I was working with the wrong audience because they did not understand my vision. I realized that as much as I love doing social media management there was no reciprocation back in contractual agreements such as late or no testimonials after our work together. I was just doing a bunch of freebies because I lost sight of my worth and became blinded by the clients' requests. I also became more formal on the operational side and realized that I had managed to function with a proper business plan for almost three years. I just found a quick template on Shopify and it was done in a snap. It also motivated me to get more out of my comfort zone. In fact, I was uncomfortable this whole year but it wasn't always for the best. Despite my advice to my followers, I was staying busy with some meaningless tasks.
There were some more small wins. I went through a personal rebranding, I got to 100K on TikTok, and again I doubled my passive income. I still have many things to work on such as being consistent in my social media work like I do for my clients. My profile is not kept to that standard which brought on major imposter syndrome upon me. Even though in reality no one's watching or obsessing over my vanity metrics, it felt embarrassing to me that a self-proclaimed social media expert is not even getting the results that they claim to give other people. This year I want to be very intentional and strategic in everything I do to grow properly myself. I have been taking my time to not only heal from the burnout of the semester and client work. Usually, I'd be scrambling to jump back on the horse. This time, I'm making sure that I'm truly well-rested.
If 2020 was re-evaluating what matters the most, 2021 was transitional. In 2022, I'm ready to make my mark in my respective industry, my work, and my life. I'm not going to jinx myself and say 2022 is my year but I know it is going to be a lot different from the last. I am going to be doing what I love most in creating content that is not only valuable or viral but is sustainable. Content that will stand the test of time is like a body of art. I’m going to work on enjoying the process to hone my craft and continue to stand out against the crowd. 2022 is going to be all about consistency. That is my word and theme for this year. I'm going to share with you three areas that I'm going to be working on instead of a generic list of resolutions that I'm going to stop following by February.
CONSISTENCY: I want to be more consistent in my content, my work-life balance, and the best way I can do that is by setting up systems and working ahead of time to help my future self even when I don't want to so that I can have more energy to do what I do best.
HEALTH: Not only did I neglect my health this year from being busy and burnt out from everything on my plate at the moment, but as well I was a little scared from the pandemic. Feeling good inside and out is only going to amplify my consistency.
BOUNDARIES: I used to be very confrontational/assertive but lost it along the way in the pandemic. I let everybody walk over me this year and I became someone who just shut down emotionally. There is internal work to be done to enforce own rules that I've set. By going through with my set boundaries it will help things run smoothly.
I wish you all the best for the next year and I hope you’ll be along for the journey as I embark on these areas of my life to improve and I’d be more than happy to cheer you on as well, just give me a holler! Happy New Year, and let’s kick ass this year!
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