Social Butterfly Group

My quick recap for 2022 makes me feel energized ⚡️

• Kept the newsletter going and here we are with an UPGRADE. (thanks @SubstackInc!)

• Reworked my music biz AND my social media biz - moving ever forward to how I want things to be… i.e. travel and work, the kind of students and clients I want, better hours (OHHH this is a big one!)

• More family time ❤️ think cruises, glamping, watching the manchild do martial arts, working on upgrading our home, together.

• Found my power mode, now to polish her up!

• The biggest work accomplishment? 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝔾𝗣𝕊, my podcast! Coming up on 750 downloads, and big plans for 2023.

Fave quote I re-read weekly... “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” @JamesClear

I would LOVE to hear your wins for 2022! Comment back and share them with me! 🤩

2023 is your year for everything you've wanted in social media! It’s starting to happen!

My two biggest takeaways from all the research I’ve done for what’s coming in 2023 in the world of digital marketing and social media strategy?

✤ Vertical video and AI ✤

To hear all of my thoughts and predictions plus a few things I think you will need to know both big and small AND will potentially be an important part of your strategy for 2023 listen to my latest episode,

Subscribing and sharing would be AMAZING, TIA!

Here are a few helpful social media info and updates;

⏰ TikTok confirms 10 minute videos coming to all users.

📚Facebook pages and Professional Profiles have massive potential right now!

♾️ LinkedIn is seeing record levels of engagement, update that profile!

Ⓜ️ Medium is working to be THE PLACE for writers (I’ll be going all in).

🐦 Twitter will likely add long form writing (personally soops excited for this).

📺 YouTube going all in with shorts… don’t miss this GIANT opportunity.

ANY questions on these let me know… remember to comment and ask.

I LOVE IT! 🦋

Everyone says focus on ONE THING.

In a bit of contrarian thinking... that ideology is just not for me.

By allowing myself to lean into more of my passions, my quality of life AND finances are infinitely better than when focusing on just one.

The multi-hyphenate life brings me great joy.

Here's my story... I hope it helps you!

As an artist and performer, my income was feast or famine or I had several gigs to make ends meet... never was this highlighted more than during lockdowns.

The one time I had a "real" job (a singing food server in Vegas!) it ended when the company changed their biz direction and I had no choice...

secretly, I was VERY glad.

I started my voice studio with no real business knowledge... in addition to teaching, I was working on getting more gigs as a singer and pianist.

It was tough getting going but things picked up. AND I loved what I was doing.

The best part? It was absolutely fantastic for raising our son. I could *mostly create my own hours or have him with me while I was working.

While still contributing financially to my family AND doing work I love.

Fast forward to the pandemic - my social media biz - mostly a side-hustle helping friends - quickly became an actual income stream. WHAT?!

I helped people with their tech, how to social media, getting their blogs up and running and facilitated taking an entire national conference online for one of the largest voice professional organizations in the world.

They had one of the largest number of attendees EVER.

I didn't have to worry (as much) that I had less students and ZERO gigs because I had things moving.

I leaned into my love of tech and writing and socials and found the GREATEST thing...

Being creative in a completely different way (not just musically) actually made my performing and music work and teaching, my LIFE so much better and so much more interesting!

🌈 Thereby bringing more joy. 🌈

Friends.

Lean into the things that make you happy and bring you joy. The many and the few.

You are smart.

You will instinctively know how to best allocate your time.

Don't ignore what makes you happy. Allow it to elevate your life.

Use the “million dollar device” and have your best year ever.

Sound too good to be true?

PS you (likely) already own this.

It’s simple really, as these things often are… however!

It is in the DOING that makes the difference.

→ It’s HOW you use it

→ WHEN (how often) you use it

→ staying CONSISTENT with that use…

What million-dollar device are we talking about?

It’s the phone in your hand. 📲

I often refer to the phone when I’m teaching and coaching as the 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 because if used properly, you can make a million dollars. 💯

I constantly tell the teens and pros who work with me in my music studio and the business owners I coach for social media...

That phone in your hand is an INVALUABLE tool and resource! USE IT!!! ✔️

What kind of resources are we talking about?

Just look in the app store to learn about:

↓↓↓

Music

Photography

Writing

Podcasts 

Reading

Learning

Social Media

Finances

Lifestyle

Travel

Run Your Biz

The fact that I can work, create, read, learn, while Mom-ing and running multi-businesses improves my family time, my productivity, and my sanity.

And, THAT is worth its weight in gold.

I’ll be transparent with you…

My financial goal is to have 1M in. the. bank.

My business goal is to deeply enrich and teach my clients and students to reach their dreams.

My life goal is to have more time with my people, have more time to play music, write AND have white space.

I’m working on this in front of you, so you KNOW you can do it, too.

Long way to go... BUT!

Inching forward every. dang. day.🦋

Morning routines with kids are ANYTHING but ease and flow...

Our kid has a super early start so all focus goes to him till he's out the door on time.

Yet, I still manage to FIND ease, flow and creativity most of the time.

Here's how you can, too!↓

→ Every night before I go to sleep, I read through what's coming up, so there are no surprises.

• my client calendar

• my gig calendar

• the family calendar

• my son's school app

→ I get up 15-60 minutes before everyone else.

This ensures me a few quiet moments to take the dog out, breathe and do a little reading, writing or praying before all the hustle and bustle.

→ Most days I write in my journal but now I wait until my son is out the door.

It gives those extra precious moments to drink a cup of coffee with him, set him up as positively as possible and help him stay on track... which has the bonus of TOTALLY helping me!

😃 All the pep talk, notes help, running flash cards quickly for last-minute test review gets my brain focused and going.

I used to feel distracted and frustrated, but a simple mindset shift helped me.

Helping my son always makes me feel good. I FOCUS on THAT feeling.

When you help someone, you have the added bonus of a fab dopamine hit of positivity. You KNOW I'm ALLLL about the positive vibes! 🌞

It also gives me a boost. I can check something off the list! ✔️

After he leaves, I turn on my focus music/sounds, refresh my coffee and hit the journal with even more verve and focus than before. 📝 ☕️

Don't be fooled into thinking that if you don't have a "zen" morning all is lost.

That's just straight-up, BS.

Find the routine that works best for you and your needs and KEEP refining it. The way things are now has been a few years in the making.

The most important thing, tho?

🎯 Find a way to have time for YOU. Every single morning, check in with yourself.

Find a way to write or read or journal or pray or all of the above every day.

Your future self will thank you. 🦋

Today is one of my fave days and also one of the hardest…

Being a Mom is and has been, the greatest joy - the hardest job - has nearly broken me - made me a better human, of my life.

My son has given me and taught me so much more than I’ll ever be able to give to him.

The feelings motherhood gives me are so overwhelming sometimes I have to take a step out of myself or I might explode.

And I thank the Lord daily for this now man-child. Dealing with infertility nearly took over our life… adoption became our saving grace.

I too, am an adopted child and understand that it NOT the vehicle in which arrive in the world but the destination we are brought to.

Secondly, I am missing my Mom so deeply that again, I have to guard my heart so it doesn’t disintegrate. She was the most incredible, unconditional-loving human I have ever known.

I aspire on the daily to even come close to the woman she was.

Happy Mother’s Day to all who take care of and give of themselves to the human children and the creature children of this world.

I salute you, I learn from you, I admire you and I love you. 💕

We had a very lively discussion at the house today.

Many of the opinions and thoughts people shared were based on long-held, taught-when-they-were-young ideologies.

This doesn't necessarily negate those ideas. However, when pushed to defend the position or explain their thought process behind those thoughts, things began to fall apart.

Here's a bit of what was said:

"That's the way I was taught."

"My parent - teacher - minister told me that."

"I learned it in school (over 2 decades ago)."

"The Bible says...". OHHH gosh this one. This will be an essay on another day, but suffice to say, it can stop any conversation cold. None of us wanted to argue against a friend talking about the Bible and DEF don't want to argue against God.

I am a life-long lover of learning and I have come to realize that it is 100% keeping my thoughts, my heart and my brain, young and vibrant.

It makes me feel more a part of the world, instead of watching it leave me.

The moral?

→ Keep wondering.

→ Keep thinking.

→ Keep asking “why do you think that way”.

→ Keep asking yourself “how can I do better?”.

→ Keep going.←

These have been the most incredible two weeks! Talk about manifesting and putting things out there and also hard work and effort...

Many of you know that in my other life I am a singer and a pianist. I am a singing pianist for corporate events and private events, I sing with a jazz trio called Dangerous Curves and I do various one-offs.

One of my favorite calls is when I sing with the Desert Angels All-Star Choir. And OHH my gosh. For the last 2 weeks we have been singing in Michael Bublé's show at Resorts World. SO DREAMY!

And, what a lesson in professionalism, kindness and work ethic it has been, friends. His crew, RW's crew, the 20+ piece orchestra, the conductor, have all been absolutely incredible and so high level.

Every time we arrive (and after the Covid test which is EVERY day we perform), he is on stage rehearsing going over things, rewriting, tweaking, checking sound, the list goes on.

When we soundcheck, the conductor is brilliant and kind and wonderful and makes sure we are all comfortable and know what we are doing. His knowledge and skill level of musicianship could fill 50 essays, so suffice to say that I have had several conversations with my teacher about him.

In fact, this experience has redefined and refocused the work I am doing with my teacher. The level at which each and every person is performing is not only awe-inspiring it's making me look at the way I practice. The amount of time and what I am spending it on has become paramount.

We are creating a new schedule for me so I am not practicing only when there is a gig but dedicated, specific DAILY hardcore practice with a yearly goal leading up to my BHAG for 2024.

The lesson here is this...when you are surrounded by people doing great things, YOU will follow suit.

Just as I talk about curating your social media feeds, carefully and judiciously curate your friends and those around you.

I’m sharing a personal journal entry with you… I think about this kind of stuff a lot…

Success and happiness. Sounds like nirvana, doesn’t it? And maybe even unrealistic.

How do we get to there? Where is there, anyway?

Actually it’s pretty simple. NOT easy. But simple.

Enjoy the journey as much as you can. The journey is all things wonderful, difficult, heart-filling, soul-crunching. If you don’t seek out the moments of bliss, they will sneak past you.

Maintain an open mind. It is so easy to get stuck in a mode of thinking that THIS or THAT is the only way. Because we were told it when we were kids or someone of so-called great authority told us or even someone we love and trust told us such things. Keeping our minds open will lead to more growth then any other single thing we do.

Give yourself the grace of being a beginner and making mistakes. This is one of the most helpful things I’ve learned in the past few years. Holding oneself accountable to an impossible standard promotes stress, anxiety and frankly a distraction from doing the real work.

The truth is happiness and success are one thought away.

Take care the thoughts you allow to grow and chatter away in that beautiful brain of yours.

They are the key to happiness and success.

I’m building a group.

To help people who struggle with social media make it easy and fun or, at the very least, helpful to their businesses.

Creating it - scheduling it - optimizing it, so that it uplifts and helps their biz grow and DOESN’T interfere with their time.

I’ve always loved social media and found all the changes and updates and additions and craziness, fun.

Literally, FUN. I know. Weird. But true.

I’ve often found myself on the opposite side of the fence from others and so instead of fighting it - I am learning to optimize that ability and see things in ways that others don’t.

In fact I even think this may turn out to be my super power.

• I never studied voice steadily until I was in my 30s because most teachers wanted to change it and “fix it”.

• I never started writing and taking it seriously until a few years ago because my English teacher from high school told me my writing was “childish and banal” because I liked using doodles and what I now see were emoji-like characterizations in my writing.

Fast forward to now…

I regularly perform - sing and play piano - very cool, paying gigs.

I write blogs and copy for many clients who enjoy the conversational and colorful style I use.

I can help you to stop: 🛑

• all the endless, time-sucking video and photo and graphics editing (you don’t need it) 📸

• wondering what to post (this is the best part of my strategy!) 🤷‍♀️

• worrying about dancing in videos (unless you want to them by ALLLLL means do it!) 💃🏻🕺🤸‍♂️

I can help you to start: ✅

• creating content quickly and easily 🦋

• creating a social marketing plan 📆

• a content “shopping list” so you are never at a loss for what to write/talk about 🛍

I have Zoom meetings at least 2-3 times a month so we can chat about ANY questions you have about YOUR socials and marketing. We talk about ALL the platforms and how best to optimize everything you are doing.

Right now, as I’m just getting this going and I have more work and tweaking to do and my group is very small, you get a lot of time with me. 😄

Meeting people and helping them with their socials is so. much. fun!

Off to do more on work on the group!🤩

I hear over and over again from clients how the ROI on ads is hardly worth the effort or the expense.

I get it. I feel that way, too. They’ll be a reel or tok or graphic that performs gorgeously, we’ll throw money at a painstakingly created post and then, crickets…ugh.

SO FRUSTRATING.

Now? Every time a client starts to talk about getting into ads and worrying about their budget, I say, WAIT! Let’s try this…

• “Sprint” posting - double the number of posts for a couple of weeks (learn more about this on my podcast, your creative GPS)

• Short form video with your face in it - humans love to see other humans… yup, that simple

• Short form video without your face in it - the algo still loves it since it’s video

Think of it like this… you are “spending“ your time instead of actual dollars.

It’s an extremely effective way of growing your accounts and even doing a bit of discovery marketing to learn who is responding and if you can engage with them, why they responded.

Use those precious and hard-earned dollars in other ways.

IMHO, booking sessions with a biz coach, joining an accountability cohort, join a group or taking a Skill Share class is a much more effective way to use those dollars especially if you are just beginning your entrepreneurial journey or just a few years in.

To me, it’s like learning about wine. The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know! But that’s what is FUN!

Enjoy your journey of learning and growing.

Conflict and resistance. Not my favorite feelings.

I have learned that when I allow myself to feel them at full force, I know whether I am ignoring something out of fear or if something is actually up.

It would be great if I could tell you I learned this early in life and have been utilizing this skill for years... but I can't.

Honestly, it wasn't until I became a parent and then a biz owner that I learned both the skill and the reward of leaning into resistance.

Having the responsibility of keeping another human safe, sheltered, fed, and ultimately taught to be a good human has been the ultimate test of love, patience, and mental endurance.

Not to mention, he often puts things to the test and that is how this has all come about.

When you have a child confrontation is a regular occurrence. Learning how to navigate that with grace and love and strength. And most importantly, remembering the goal.

It is very hard to maintain all of the above when you have a screeching toddler or an unruly and crying teen. It would be so much easier to just give in and enjoy the quiet and ease of a child who got their way or didn't have to be walked while everyone else was enjoying their meal.

Our own discomforts are much the same... it's so much easier to just ignore that relationship drama or health warning, or business issue and act like everything is ok.

The irony is once I learned that by leaning into resistance, things often turned out even better than I could have imagined, I started getting better at doing it.

Likely I'm still learning it as there are things I do my best to avoid. Alas, a work in progress am I.

Let's lean into resistance together and improve our lives exponentially.

Today as I was listening to one of my FAVE podcasts Mac Power Users (it's so nerdy and so good I jus LUV it) one of the hosts talked about an email he received from a listener "I don't want to make Omnifocus my job… the job isn’t to manage my tasks - my job is to do the tasks.”

This resonated with me so. deeply.

There are some incredible platforms out there doing and allowing incredible things. You know what they are. The way you can create and customize these platforms is thrilling.

But at this time in my biz life, it's just me and I have a lot to do and get done. My systems are simple - straightforward - and easy. For me, is the caveat I'll add.

It’s not the right time to fully rehaul my systems. Not sure if I even want to! I love the tools I am using. They work well and help me get the job done.

My current mini tech stack is:

• Apple notes

• Readwise

• Goodnotes

• Workflowy

• GarageBand

• Descript

• Mailchimp

• Revue

• Setapp

• Zapier

All of these were instantly easy to use and have room for creating a more custom experience. Most of these work across both OS and iOS which is one of my biggest needs

All of these help me keep track, save important research, automate things (at the beginning of that journey!), organize client and work flow systems and best of all, create things.

I am in constant refinement of my systems and workflow. Which, for me, is the the key to getting where I want to go.

It’s the whole reason I jumped on board with Apple - windows has never made sense to me. I don’t need to know the details of how and why some things work.

I just need it to work for me and with me.

I love Sundays. Sundays are generally reserved for family, downtime and organizing for the upcoming week.

• 😴 Sleep in (7am instead of 4am)

• ✔️ Check scheduled posts

• 🎵 Rehearse for upcoming gigs this week (YAY GIGS!)

• 👀 Look at “trending” on TikTok, IG etc #socialmedia

• 📝 Write. All. The. Things. #journaling #essays

• 🧺 Clean and organize laundry/house

• 🛒 Shop

The only way I can stay on track for my social media clients, my music gigs and students is with my mini tech stack - Apple notes, Workflowy, Readwise Goodnotes and iCal.

Easy, clear, uncomplicated.

And, for now, getting up between 4-430am.

If you’ve listened to my podcast episode, “Sprinting vs Strolling”, you will see that I am in sprint mode.

It’s tough, it’s fun…it’s not forever.

I have a two week sprint and then a week with WAY less on the calendar coming up. I have so much more energy and verve around this because I know I have some easier days coming up.

Today? I got up before the fam to get things done and now we are off to lunch and shop and a movie together tonight.

Planning, organizing, and systems have made a HUGE difference in my life. It can in yours, too!

The focus on oneself has been a hot topic for a while now, and it has always felt uncomfortable to me… likely that has something to do with my generation which then shaped many of my views as a woman and a mom.

Until I started digging deeper.

Conventional thinking is "shouldn’t we be focused on others' needs? Not to the DETRIMENT of self, of course, but everyone else should be first, right?"

Ohhhh the journaling around that, friends. I know that I truly enjoy helping others and making sure they are comfortable, even more than I am. And, many times that is ok.

It's the times when it is NOT ok, that is a work in progress for me.

Like when...↓

• I have to rearrange an important (to me) calendar date/time.

• I didn't get enough sleep for too many days in a row

• a client changes something last minute and I have to do cartwheels

• I want more time with the hubs and teen

• I need/want/desire white space

Bringing support and boosting another human is 100% one of my fave things to do. As a strong empath, however, I need to better guard and protect my psyche so that I am most available to myself and my family.

Put your oxygen mask on first, friends. We cannot do all the wonderful things we dream of if we are depleted in our souls as well as our bodies.

A quote I keep in my notes...

Anne Lamot

Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.

When we perform self-care in a genuine and honest way, it will contribute to the uplifting of oneself AND to those around you.

When is the last time you updated your profile on any platform? 🤔

I recommend to clients to re-evaluate their profile on any given platform once a quarter or so. 📆

Here are a few top actions to make the most of (my fave) a few of the platforms

🧵👇

🔵 LinkedIn

I looked at my LinkedIn, which has been doing well and I haven't updated my profile IN OVER A YEAR! 🤦‍♀️ (think the tale of the cobbler's children's shoes, lol).

Here's what I redid...↓

• bio

• cover image

• headline

• work history

• professional affiliations

🐦 Twitter

OHHH you gotta be clever with those limited characters! I've re-written mine like 700 times! 😅 Keep experimenting and see what sticks.

Try updating your ↓

• name

• bio

• cover image

• use "location" cleverly!

📸 Instagram

Look how often they are updating! OMG.

You could...

• update profile photo

• use keywords as your name

• update your bio

• watch for more updates (grid re-arranging?! HOPING for that one!)

⏰ TikTok

Adding more of this platform to my workflow for biz building, clients, and the fun factor too... 😎

Soooo try this!

• colorful profile photo

• video profile

• use emojis in bio for an even bigger bang

• create collections

• pin your top-performing toks

📍 Pinterest

Use this lovely search engine for inspo & SEO!💥

• changing cover photo every 30 days helped my reach

• use keywords in profile

• verify website

• CLEAN UP BOARDS (not yelling at you, highlighting this 😊)

• make secret boards

• write fab board descriptions

If you found this mini thread helpful:

1. say hey 😃

2. This taps into the basics... but starting here will help you build your audience! 🦋