When others ask how I became a Social Media Manager, I’m not always 100% sure how to tell the story.  It isn’t because I don’t know what happened, I do.  The story of how I found my way here is a long and windy road that most of us don’t have time for.

Instead of the long version, let’s talk about the influencers that changed the game for me.  For example, how my business has stretched my boundaries,  being an introvert until starting my own business, and learning that Fear can be so paralyzing.

I’ve been blessed to run onto the path of many great Entrepreneurs that were willing to mentor, share and teach newbies like myself.  The blessings also included run-ins with the naysayers and Debbie Downers of the world.

It starts here.  I often think back to the jobs I had before going at it solo. I don’t have a clear vision of anyone who mentored me in a way that made a lasting positive impression. But those who discouraged me were the ones planting seeds.  I was once told that the job I was doing in large part could be handled by a monkey.  Guess what? I told them to find a Monkey and never went back. Can you believe that they were surprised by this fact?  I also worked for a company that had lousy business ethics but because I needed a job, I stayed through three rounds of office closures, down-sizing and bankruptcy.  The company cared little about their employees and discouraged them each step of the way, I wanted more but was held back by fear. My final lesson in defeat came when running a small business for an Entrepreneur who had no desire to be in the business but wanted the financial rewards.  As I ran and grew the business, I learned in detail what worked and what didn’t. I stretched my boundaries and limitations personally and grew professionally. Eventually, the business owner wanted to sell and agreed to sell the business to me. I was nervous, excited and entirely too trusting. Once she realized truly what I had grown the business into, she refused to sell. The biggest lesson here is to get everything in writing first. I didn’t so I was defeated.  After wafting in self-pity for a while I decided I was doing it on my own so I could do it on my own.  Insert my first business venture here.  I did it and thankfully was blessed with many positive mentors immediately after that.

I was shy, I was nervous to speak in public and always afraid to close the deal.  These 3 things led to more procrastination than I want to admit.  That needed to change which led me to time learning, listening and reading.  At a training class, I met a wonderful woman who held my hand and guided me often.  When asking her the best thing she ever did for her business, the answer was networking. “Yikes, networking, I can’t” was my initial mindset.  I set out to do it anyway and made a grand and embarrassing entrance to a first meeting that I didn’t even stay all the way through.  I pulled myself up, pep-talked myself repeatedly and went back the following week.  Here a kind, classy and inspirational businessman took me under his wing. He found covert ways to bring me out of my shell and put myself in front of others.  Not the lessons I could read in a book.  I didn’t realize what was happening. After that, I found a group of area business owners that I shadowed, asked questions of and continued to grow. There were many steps that I took with Fear in the forefront.  Those inspirational people always talked me down off the ledge. Nothing I dreamed up was ever as hard or as impossible as I imagined. Back then I made very little money but learned more than my weight in gold.  I loved that business, but it wasn’t my calling, it was my stepping stone.  One of the things that I did need to learn to get the business in front of others was social media.  I found it exciting and constantly changing.  It was also the perfect blend of honoring my shy introverted tendencies but still requiring me to put myself in the front.

Social media is constantly changing which means that you must be learning daily and knowledgeable of how those changes impact your business.  That is challenging to do while also running your business, I struggled.  I enjoyed the concept so much though I began to focus on what could come next and with that, I grew into a Social Media Manager.  I promise it wasn’t overnight. I learned and planned over many sleepless nights first.  I thank my very first client who was overwhelmed also but realized the importance of social media for giving me my first chance and paying gig.  I’m even more thankful that they are still with me and it has been a blessing to witness both their business and my own bloom.  Social Media still creates challenges and sometimes I must ask my team of professionals for answers. I thank those beginning mentors for showing me the power of learning from others. It also stretches my boundaries with things like Live Videos, Membership Programs and Groups that need interaction.  If you haven’t gone live in your business, I suggest you give it a try because FEAR doesn’t own you, or me.