I recently watched a YouTube video titled, “Stop Trying to be an Expert,” by Erin on Demand. I love her channel! I would definitely recommend her if you are interested in building your personal brand! In the video she stated, ” Stop trying to be an expert [for your brand]. Start documenting where you are and gain your audience’s trust. Relatability is credibility.” When I heard this I instantly had an ah ha moment!

I have been creating content on different platforms for about 4 years. I started this journey when I first documented my “big chop” on my YouTube channel. The feedback I received on that video was so positive, that I decided to continue making YouTube videos documenting my natural hair journey. After creating my YouTube channel I decided to create an Instagram page just for my natural hair content. At that time I had no intentions of making this my side hustle! In fact I wasn’t very consistent and I looked at it more like a hobby.

Fast forward to 2019, I saw a video on Instagram by Jenell B. Stewart (love her!) stating, just because you have a small following, doesn’t mean you can’t secure brand deals. That’s when the light bulb clicked! I can turn my passion for creating into my side hustle!

My long term goal is to master content creation. I am a creative at heart! I want to be able to teach people how to succeed at being a creative and make money from it, after all I am a teacher, but I am an elementary school teacher. I have a passion to teach. I’ve gone to school for it, and even furthered my education by obtaining my Master’s degree in Education. I come from a lineage of educators, it runs in my blood… and not to brag, but I am very good at it!

I’ve always told myself when I master this content creation thingy, then I could create courses, templates, merchandise, and become a teacher of content creation, after all this is what I do for a living. My struggle comes with the fact that I haven’t been a consistent content creator for a long length of time and I don’t know everything there is to know. I’ve been faced with a lot of trial and error, so how can I teach anyone???? BUT, Erin on Demand’s video made so much sense to me when she broke it down. She basically said that you don’t have to be an expert to start marketing your business or brand.

You can’t skip the process, the groundwork lays the foundation.

Instead of focusing on being an expert, I am focused on the progress that I am making and sharing it with you all. I started documenting what is working and what is not. I want to be able to share the good, bad, and the ugly! Some people make it look and seem so easy, but everyone’s journey is different. Some people are an overnight success, while it may take others some time. Where ever you are in your journey, you need to be ok with it and keep striving toward your goals. I’ve been on this journey for over 4 years, but I have only consistently been working on it for a year. We tend to forget that the baby steps still move us forward.

So I’ll leave you with this, “Just because you aren’t making progress as fast as you think you should, doesn’t mean you aren’t making progress.” Applaud the baby steps and keep pushing forward!

Until next time, Love & Light!

Meaghan Lindsey