debbiebradleyI want to take you back to 2018… so long ago, right?
Well, back then I had a Facebook Group called Boost Your Biz using Pinterest – I love the irony of using one platform to promote another, it’s not lost on me. It was something I started based on a recommendation (“all the cool kids are doing it”) and I wanted more people to use Pinterest! It’s the dogs-danglies of places to promote on the internet. Especially if you have a creative/online business. Oh, and a ton of it can be done for FREE! None of this pay to play stuff needed (although it is an option)
How do I know?
Well, I get more blog traffic from Pinterest than any other platform
I have clients who’ve reached over 1 million unique monthly views, boosted their sales, and brand new e-commerce businesses (online shops for us normal folk) who had their first sale within 19 days on Pinterest vs 3 months on Facebook. So yeah, I was using a Facebook group to draw attention to the awesomeness that is Pinterest.
All hail the Pinterest!
I’ve consulted, created strategies and trainings for people in various industries on how to use Pinterest for their businesses, from wedding planning to personal style, artists, creatives, designers (it all started with Interior Design), foreign language tutors, bloggers, sports and fitness, health, even baby sleep coaches.
Yeah, it works. Every damn time. It works.
I opened the Facebook group to reach people, help, support, grow, do all the things you’re supposed to with a Facebook group; bring people together to achieve a common goal.
It went well, I had plenty of people in the group and joining the group, I was sharing, people were trying out my ideas and having wins of their own.
But I felt trapped, drained, and unfulfilled.
I got so fed up of talking about Pinterest, working on Pinterest, having my life revolve around Pinterest, that I just wanted away from it all.
I battled with that feeling for a long time.
Just keep pushing,
Make it work
It will be worth it
You’re just resisting
You owe it to (insert persons name here)
On and on I fought with myself, told myself to keep on pushing, get the thing done, stop being a wimp about it and get on with. DO NOT BE A QUITTER!!!
But I folded.
After months of pushing myself through all the steps of posting in the group, creating images/graphics on Canva to try and pull up engagement, talking to people, answering questions, trying to find something new to say, putting together a 5-Day challenge to get people started on Pinterest, putting together PDF guides to share with people… I loved seeing peoples success stories and wins of all sizes being shared in that group, but it still didn’t help me love it any more. I started to resent Pinterest, not just the Facebook group. I felt like I needed to get away, start over, move on.
I effectively closed my business by terminating my Pinterest management and consulting services (you’ve seen them pop up here and there, I never fully let go). I gave all my clients notice in one (batshit crazy) email spree, panicked for 3 days after sending the emails, then closed the group after not posting in it for a while.
I’d convinced myself that no one cared, no one was bothered and no one was interested.
I did what most people do when they come up against something like this – they try to place the blame outside of themselves.
If you were one of the people in that group, who worked with me, or who found me when I was the “Pinterest Queen” as friends dubbed me, and wondered what the hell happened when I hauled ass outta there, and gave up the crown without any warning, I can only apologise. I truly am sorry.
But it’s taken me until now to realise something – I wasn’t falling out of love with Pinterest, heck I’m so addicted to it I still tell everyone that they need to be on it!
Even my children who are too young for their own accounts, have secret boards on my account so they can join in on the fun too – not gonna lie, it messes with my feed, I’m not a big fan of nail art or unicorns, but there ya go.
The thing that was getting to me most was the advice I kept hearing from all the “business coaches” around me, the people I was listening to; they were all telling me I had to “niche down” pick ONE THING and focus on ONLY that thing.
That thing for me was Pinterest, but that wasn’t enough, once we honed in on Pinterest, I was expected to focus even smaller, how would I build a business around it? How would I make money from it? Well… you do what all business coaches do and focus on helping other business owners in the madness of the “spend to accumulate” mentality.
So that’s what I was doing. I was listening to that advice, I was implementing it, even though it never really felt right, and I felt uncomfortable doing it, but I persisted anyway.
Why? because people were advising me it was the best way to grow my business.
There are a few problems with that;
1 – I’m not my coach, and they’re not me. Never will be. I (nor they) ever seemed to consider that. Why would you?
2 – I don’t like feeling limited or constricted – LIMITING what I was offering and talking about was difficult. I felt like I was putting a gag and handcuffs on myself every day – not fun. “Shut up and get in the damn box!”
3 – I get bored easily, I like to keep things fun and different. I can’t do the same thing on repeat and feel “lit up” by it, I just can’t. That’s why I hate housework.
4 – I know so much more than Pinterest, Pinterest is merely a VERY small part of a much bigger picture, whether that’s business, life or studying – three areas I am well acquainted with when it comes to Pinterest.
5 – There is so little required to have success on Pinterest that it started to feel condescending and a little insulting to charge for it.
Basically, I got bored.
I felt like I was taking myself, all my ideas, skills and knowledge, and using the stuff that would fit on a Post-It note to try and build a business.
I felt like a quitter.
Like I’d given up and failed, not just myself but my coaches, the ones I’d paid thousands to work with and learn from. I don’t blame them in the slightest, they were just doing their thing; teaching their way, the way that works for them (and countless others who like to work like them). I just needed to realise that I wasn’t and am not like them. And trying to be will never do me any favours.
It’s taken me over a year to “unsilence” the rest of me, the parts that I tried to keep shut down and quiet while I grew my business. I had convinced myself that it was wrong to want to use all that I have to build a business. It’s madness when you think about it – Just look at the most successful businesses out there – they’re diverse. They embrace new and different things and they don’t shy away for fear of “not being understood properly” (Virgin who??)
I fear it’s not just something that we do to build businesses though. So often I see or hear people saying they can’t say this, or do that, or go there etc in case it upsets someone else. It’s a destructive pattern we have in society – trying to limit ourselves, “trim down” on who we are or what we do in order to not make others uncomfortable.
Well, I’m sorry, but it’s bullshit.
We are multi-faceted. If we weren’t complex beings with multiple and varied interests and skills we’d be boring as hell.
It’s time we stopped trying to be just one thing, and we started to embrace all of us. (John Legend had a hit for a reason y’know! and yes, it’s now stuck in my head)
So be ALL OF YOU!
At home, at work, in your business.
Embrace being you fully.
Otherwise, you’ll end up feeling crappy about your Facebook group, shutting it down, firing your clients, then feeling shitty about it for over a year, whilst tirelessly trying to convince yourself that you just don’t have what it takes or that it’s someone else’s fault that you’re being boring as fuck.
So there ya go,
I closed my Facebook group because I was boring myself by not doing what I really wanted to and trying to “play it safe”
The phrase is “Go big or go home” for a reason…
And on that note,
I’ll catch ya later 😉
Debs x
