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Foreign. I am your host, Shannon McKinstry. Welcome to Good Content, the podcast where I remove the never ending content creation, guesswork and overwhelm so that you can actually enjoy being on social media again and growing your business with what has always worked. Good Content. What is up, friends? Okay, we are back from the beach. Amazing trip. It was nonstop. But what's nice is I don't feel like I need a vacation from a vacation this time. So that's been really nice. And I gotta say, I know I say this a lot, but one of the most crucial things you can do is if you feel uninspired, you're like, I have nothing good to say. Da, da, da, da, da. Get out of the house and go do something. And I know not all of us can just drop everything and take a trip. You could go to the library, you could go on a walk. Like, give us things that we are. You're naturally already observing or noticing and talk about it on camera. It doesn't. I really want you guys to get out of your heads that, like, you have to stick to one niche or you have to share this today or live on this content calendar. I'm telling you right now, being at the beach helped me feel so inspired. Like, I'm starting a new series today on Instagram. By the time this airs, you'll see it. My brain has been buzzing and I'm like, oh, my gosh. I was actually forcing myself to stop posting. So I was like, I just have so much I want to post. But now that I'm back in work mode and I was still posting, mind you, but I didn't want to be, like, doing multiple times a day. I was like, let me be a little more present. But one of the best things you can do for creativity is, and I've said it a thousand times on this podcast, get out, Go read a book, go sit at a coffee shop. Go have a conversation with someone, right? And this series this week on Instagram, you'll see exactly what I mean. With all that said, we're back. The girls are about to start school. So I'm back in work mode. I'm super excited because I do have a lot of stuff that I can't wait to create and share for you guys and just help you get out of your head and stop freezing when you press record. Because this is the thing. For years, I thought I had nothing really valuable to share, right? I always joke that, like, growing up, I was. I say it a lot, but I was never on the honor roll. I Wasn't a good student when I decided to be a comm major. I know a lot of people, especially back then, like in the 90s, early 2000s, com majors are kind of like, okay, yeah, sure, it's like a cop out type thing or a default, right? But honestly, I wanted to direct. I wanted to sit in a newsroom, in the director's chair or in an edit bay and just edit. I love to edit, right? This is why I do what I do. But I knew I'm never going to really make a lot of money doing this. You, you don't really get paid a lot until you've hustled for years and years and years and years and then whatever. I wasn't in it for that. I was like, whatever. So I became a comm major. The other reason I became a communications major was you don't really have to do a lot of math. Math and I are not friends. And I remember one of the math classes I was in, like the lesson that week was like, hieroglyphics. Why can't I say I'm still on vacation mode? Sorry, my brain. Those were the math classes I was in, okay? They thank God because I don't do math. So at the time I was kind of, I think, because this was ingrained in my head that communications, even though I had a, you know, minored in marketing, but, you know, communications, it was kind of just looked at as, oh, okay, sure, whatever. So what did that do to my brain? You know, I was like 17 when I started college. Cause I'm a November baby, whatever. I was just thinking like, oh, well, I guess I don't have a lot of value to provide. That's just kind of what my brain told me. Now my value personally, the way that I found value in just being a valuable human being over, I guess my entire life was I was always the one with the camera, right? My friends always joke, if it wasn't for me in high school, middle school, everything, there wouldn't be videos, There wouldn't be photos. Like I video. I recorded every sleepover I did. You know, like I would just bring my camera to school and I did scrapbooks and whatever. I was like, well, it doesn't really make a lot of money, but I'll just be that friend that documents everything. And so we always have memories to look back on. So even when I started my business, I didn't think anyone would take me seriously because I was never the smart kid. I was never even in my corporate jobs. I was hiding like, please don't call my name in the conference, in the meeting, right? Because again, I just didn't feel like I had a lot of value to provide. And maybe you're thinking that I hear it all the time. So I want to reassure you that even if you feel like you don't have anything valuable to share, you do. Here's how I know. So back in the day, I start posting on Instagram. I opened my business Instagram account in 2016. It was called Boutique Social DC. Cause that was the name of my business. Because I thought I'd only work with people in dc, Which I did for a long, long time. Now I had a personal Instagram. I was posting on there all the time. I was documenting everything. Like sharing photos of like, my dog, you know, my favorite latte with, you know, put a little Valencia filter. Like, ooh, how cute. I loved it. Like, that, to me, was a hobby that I enjoyed, but I didn't. No one in my world found that quote, unquote valuable. I didn't care, right? It was like, it's a hobby. It's like, okay, whether you're live reading or whatever, whatever that is, you know what I mean? Like, you might not all your friends might not get it, but you love it. That kind of thing. But again, you don't really talk about it because you don't think anyone cares. Okay? So that was my way of thinking. Then I start growing realtors accounts, boutique accounts, hairdresser, whatever, right? Because I'm. I'm now a social media manager in the D.C. area. And I'm like, you know what? Nothing I'm sharing for them is mind blowing. I'm just documenting, right? I'm doing exactly what I was doing on my personal accounts. I'm doing exactly what I did in middle school, just scrapbooks, right? So I start posting a little more frequently. Maybe more like one or two times a week. And then I start posting a little more and I'm showing up in stories. I'm taking people along on my journey. All of a sudden I'm getting people asking me, how do I work with you? What is that you're doing? You do presentations. Will you come into my office? I'll pay you this, right? And I'm like, oh my gosh. All I was doing was documenting something I did not find valuable or interesting was valuable and interesting to other people. So with that said, I did a post today on Instagram that said. And I'll. I'll read it so I don't get it wrong. Cause I was Thinking about this majorly at the beach. Cause I just hear it all the time. You know, they're like, oh, I don't know what value I provide. I don't know my niche. I'm like. And it said, I don't know, who needs to hear this? But you don't have to figure out your value before you start creating. You discover it by posting. Cause let me tell you something. I never thought what I had to provide or what I liked to talk about was valuable. I just didn't. Because most people in my world didn't get it. And that's fine. Once I started posting it, I found my value. And if it wasn't for showing up on Instagram before I knew what. Before I knew. I mean, I knew what I was doing. Cause again, I'm a marketer, I love, right? But I didn't know what would come outta my mouth that would be interesting to people. We had no money at the time. I was not doing anything crazy. I was literally just, here's me walking around Target. I've had a rough day, guys. And people would respond. I'd be like. I remember there was one post, like, back in. I think it was 2017 or 2018, and I was like. My husband looked at me today, said, you need to just go. I mean, we didn't have money to go do anything crazy. So he's like, just go walk around Target solo, get a cup of coffee and walk around and regroup. Because I was just having one of those days that resonated deeply with people. I remember it was one of the first posts I did that got a lot of traction. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Do you know how boring that is? That's nothing special. That's nothing spectacular. It made people feel something. It made people feel connected. That is what we want. You have something valuable to share. Do you know I. At the beach. And this is what got me hyped again, right? Cause sometimes I get in like those seasons of like, do I have anything interesting? Is this thing on? Right? Do I have anything interesting to say? You see all these other people growing faster and I'm just like, oh, what am I doing wrong? I have that too. So I did a reel at the beach and a TikTok about our little hot dog hack that my family has been doing for four years, right? We make a ton of hot dogs, wrap them in foil, then put them back in the hot dog bun bag to, like, save on bags and whatever. Just like a little hack. It was just nothing special. It's gone viral on TikTok. It's gone pretty viral. It and I did it as a trial. It's gotten over 500,000 views. A ton of people, some of the haters, let's be real. Um, and then I put it on my regular and it's doing great and it's bringing in followers. Like that's valuable. You don't know what's valuable until you post it. So post it. And if people don't find it valuable, well, you share something else you're interested in or you just find another way to say you can change one word. One word. That's what all my clients do. We change one word to make it feel, make people feel more connected to it and boom, off to the races. Please do not say you have nothing valuable to share. Please do not tell me you don't have a niche. You don't have to have a niche. You're the niche. I know you've heard that, but just start talking. And that's what this series is going to be about on Instagram. And again, it's a test. If people aren't feeling it, I won't do it. They're loving it. I'll keep doing it. I let y' all tell me what's valuable. I don't decide that. You guys tell me. Well, Shannon, that was helpful. Wow. That was life. Okay, cool. I'll share more of that. You don't know what people find helpful and valuable, funny, inspiring, until you freaking hit posts. You need to hit post. With that said, make sure you're following along this week's prompts because by the time this episode comes out, day one will be out. Get in here. Follow this little series I'm doing for the week because always on Mondays I share a whole list of hooks. So I thought it'd be fun to do something different. And again, I had this epiphany sitting on the beach, not looking at my phone, not looking at what other people are creating with my own little brain. That said, you know, Shannon, you should do a week long series where you give people. And I've came up with a fun little name. So go check it out and we're gonna do this together and we're gonna get more comfortable sharing things that we don't find valuable. After five days, you'll know exactly what your audience wants more from you and you double down and do more of that. But also, I share stuff all the time that people don't. It doesn't go crazy. I loved it. And sometimes that's all that matters. We need to get back to creating for the fun of it, for things we love. I wanna know what lights you up. I wanna know what thing you recently found. I wanna know the quote you just saw. I wanna know the article you read. I wa show that you're loving. It doesn't always have to be about that. And a lot of this series, it's. It's also like, if you guys don't want to actually post the videos, you don't have to. It's just a way to get comfortable on camera or they should go in your stories, whatever it is. So it's a very low pressure, because it should not be pressure. And that's all I really got to say today. I just want to remind you, you've got something valuable to share. My hot dog hack was valuable to a lot of people. And then to the haters, it like, hilarious. What are you doing here? Get. Get away. So people in your world might not think. Think what you have to do or say is interesting. Other people will. And guess what? Now that I'm. I have all my content out, my friends and family are like, oh, that's. That's really cool. Like, you know what I mean? I hate when people are like, oh, I blocked everyone. If you have that many haters in your family, friends. Can I just say this real quick? This is all. This is a little tangent. If you have that many haters in your family and friend and people that are friends, they're not your family or friends. My friends still don't. Most of them still don't understand what the heck I do, but they still like my content. They refer me to people. They're like, yeah, Shannon does social media, right? So let that just be a little lesson. They didn't understand it at first, but they weren't making fun of me. Do you know what I mean? If people are making fun of you, okay, well, join me over here. I'll cheer you on so hard. I will be way louder than they are. I love you, friend. Let's have a great week. We finally got the podcast room almost done. It's coming together because while I was away, my friend was getting it all together. So by next week, it'll be complete. And I can't wait for you to see. All right, love you guys. I'll talk to you soon. I'll see you on Instagram.