And my “why” for doing so…
I know you’re no stranger to the prompts.
“Want free shipping? Enter your email address here!”
“Want 15% off your first purchase? Enter your email address here!”
“Want to know what makes you special? Take this quiz then enter your email address to get your results!”
To be honest, it’s why I almost backed away from this and just said “oh well, whatever happens happens.” UM EXCUSE ME WHAT. Sometimes I can be really ignorant, and I’ll be the first to admit it.
This is my business we’re talking about, ya know, this thing I built from the ground up. Built from literally nothing into what it is today. Something I’m so incredibly proud of. Something that I hope has left or will leave a lasting impact on people (in a good way, obviously). And I was just about to say “Meh whatever, let Mark Zuckerberg have my following, it’s fine. I’ll be fine.” Crazy, right?
Let’s rewind shall we? Let’s go back to the night of April 19th, 2023. I had just put the girls to bed and was settling into my own after a long day. I picked up my phone for some late night scrolling, as one does before sleep takes over. I clicked on my Instagram, caught up on the latest wedding trends, funny and relatable mom Reels, and lunches people ate that day. When that became mundane, I closed out and clicked on the all too familiar blue and white “f” icon, as I had done for the last 16 years…only to find it brought me to the log in screen instead of my familiar newsfeed. “Weird.” I thought, but no worries, as I had done countless times before, I would just enter my info and I would be onto my scrolling. Wrong. Instead I was met with a pop up that said “Unable to log in – An unexpected error occurred. Please try logging in again.”
What followed that night were countless unanswered emails, unanswered letters, scam calls, and my dying hope that my Facebook profile circa 2007 would be able to be recovered. To be honest, it was my business Facebook page I was more concerned with. Don’t get me wrong I was weirdly depressed that all of those memories were gone, but I was a business owner now and social media is a big big part of that. I no longer had access to my business Facebook page. Not ideal when you’re running a business that relies on word of mouth and social media tags for marketing.
But I didn’t give up. I kept sending emails, kept mailing letters, kept my hopes up that Facebook would come through for me. I mean, we had been in a committed relationship for the last 16 years, the least they could do was answer an email, right? Wrong again. Which brings us here. June 19th, 2023. Exactly 2 months after it all went down. I don’t want to say I’ve given up, I’ve just pivoted. My therapist says that’s a good thing to be able to do. Yay me. I now have a new personal Facebook page connected to a new business page. I have access to it all again, only this time, I have like a 1/4 of the following I started with. How in the world was I going to spread the word on this? Get my numbers back up? I had done the Instagram and Facebook stories updating everyone on the drama that was ensuing and was met with support from my die hard fans (I love you btw). What I couldn’t win over was the algorithm. It wasn’t showing my stuff and for a business who has never put a dime towards paid marketing, ads, etc, that was pretty damn scary.
Enter my email list.
I had seen businesses across the spectrum use this method to really move the needle in their favor and I was intrigued, but always had an excuse.
“I don’t have a big enough following.”
“No one cares what I have to say.”
“I’m not selling any education yet anyway.”
“People will think I’m stupid and full of myself.”
Geez, I am not very nice to me…
After the Facebook fiasco, I knew it was my sign to finally start my email list. Scared? Check. Imposter syndrome? Check. Doubts? Check. Feeling like I had no idea where to start, how to start, or that no one would even sign up? Check, check, check. But you know what? Just like getting off the couch to go on that walk or go to that HIIT class or to fold that pile of laundry that’s been staring at you since last week (I’m not judging), starting was the hardest part. Now it’s actually fun for me. I’m planning out content on a daily basis, ways I can best serve my list, how I can entertain people and hopefully give them a laugh in the middle of what might be a stressful day, a #reallife story I can tell my fellow parents to make them feel less alone and like they are failures, how to help support that new photographer just starting out on their business journey. I love everything about email lists and I’m just getting started!
It’s so incredibly sad to think of all the great, fun, exciting, happy things we could be doing if we didn’t give a poop what other people thought, or even just what we thought. I think I’m more mean to myself than anyone else, and if I do have some haters (don’t we all?), I know I don’t want to make my life or business decisions based on what they might be thinking. What a waste of a life amirite?
My main focus are those who love and respect me and my business. Those that I have created a relationship with because we just click as human beings. Those that support my business even if they’ve never booked me for a session. Those that look up to me for advice or tips and tricks when it comes to business and motherhood. Those that hold space for me, and who have been my biggest cheerleaders from the very beginning even when the work I was producing was nothing to cheer about. Those that give their advice to help me out purely out of the goodness of their heart. THOSE are the people who get to occupy space in my life. Those are the people I want to serve via this list.
If this sounds like you, I would genuinely love to have you in my email list family. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, love to laugh, enjoy a good story, but also know the value of hard work and aren’t afraid to put our head down, blinders on and get to it. Your biggest dreams are on your heart for a reason. Get after ’em!
You never know when Mr. Zuckerberg will give ya the boot, and I would hate to lose what I built all over again. But if it does happen, I’ll know I’ll be fine. I’ll have you all here 🙂
