344: Building a Brand That Gets Noticed with Shavonda Gardner – Pt. 2

[00:00:00] Bree: Hello friends. I have a lovely treat. Last week we shared an interview that I had with Shavana Gardner, and this week is part two of that conversation. We're continuing that chat and talking about strategies to grow your brand while staying true to your unique voice. How community building played a role in her growth.

Navigating trends and that con feeling of pressure to conform to industry norms and wrapping it all up with her advice for content creators who feel like they're not getting noticed despite putting in all that hard work. So let's continue this conversation together. Welcome to the Thrive Podcast, where we believe creators deserve more.

More money, more freedom, and even more love for what they do. I'm Bree P, your coach for content creators. And I know the struggle, the long hours, the endless ideas, the feeling that success is just out of reach. But here's the truth. You've got what it takes. And this podcast, it's your shortcut to getting there from strategies that actually work to behind the scenes insights.

We are unlocking your potential one episode at a time. So if you're ready to turn your creative hustle into a thriving business, let's get started. Okay, so I want to pivot us into talking about, you know, with staying true to yourself, attracting the right audience and growth strategy. So I would love to know, you know, what strategies helped you grow your brand while staying true to your unique voice?

[00:01:42] Shavonda: Number one, boundaries. Mm, boundaries were key for me. Um, it helped me to stay, it helped me to create the authentic, the community that I wanted to create. And also it helped me to be accountable to myself, to be accountable to my community, and it helped me to not stretch myself too thin and avoid a lot of burnout.

Boundaries were really key for me.

[00:02:11] Bree: What were some of those boundaries that you needed to set up?

[00:02:14] Shavonda: Um, number one, I am a person. I am a human person. We treat each other with respect. We say, hello, do not come at me fountain. Where'd you get that? I don't like that. I don't, giving me unsolicited opinions that I didn't ask for, you know, just.

Basically treating me as if I am a machine or a computer and I'm not. Right. The tool that you're using might be a computer, but the person that you're speaking to on the other end is an actual human. And so I really wanted to show and lead with the humanity first. Mm-hmm. Always. And I've been pretty, I'm kind of like known for my boundaries in that way.

Basically, my social media is like my home. Mm-hmm. You're not gonna come into my home being disrespectful. We're not gonna do that. So yeah, humanity first has really helped me. The other thing is being a constant student. Being a student of social media, it is constantly changing. So understanding things like the algorithm, understanding the changes, understanding what.

You know what's happening and, and being a student, not being afraid to lean into whatever it is the algorithm wants at the time. And there is a way for you to do that while also remaining true to who you are. And while also keeping your voice and keeping your content that you want to be creating, but doing it in a way that.

Will also help you be seen or help you sell your product or whatever it is that your, you know, whatever your goals are. So being a student of social media and, and understanding the business side of it, I think for me, I really, I kind of blew up. I over, it was literally like an overnight situation. I had been growing very intentionally, very slowly.

I've set goals for myself every year. I wanna get this many followers and I wanna do these projects. And, but then in 2020, it was an overnight switch. It was an overnight, like I gained like 60, 70,000 followers in a, in like two days. It was wild. So I had to go about the way that I was operating differently because I could no longer, it was like this.

Thing that got way bigger than I thought it ever would get. Mm-hmm. Bigger than I ever intended for it to get. So then it was just about pivoting, you know, understanding like what worked before and when I only had 30,000 followers is maybe not gonna be the same thing that I can do now that I have 130,000 followers or whatever the number is from the perspective of the business.

So un once you kind of realize like, oh, this is really going somewhere. Okay. Understanding the business side of Instagram and or whatever social media you're doing, understanding the business side of it as well as kind of the social and connection side of it. Uh, so those were the three. Those are kind of the three things I'd say have helped me to scale my business, if you will, or scale.

You know, my journey as a content creator.

[00:05:42] Bree: Yeah. With, you know, you talk about, you know, growing this quickly and then also bringing your audience along with you on this journey. Mm-hmm. What role has community building played in your growth and how, how, how do you engage with your audience in a meaningful way?

Just a long, and it's probably changed along the way, but you know, maybe from like a smaller scale to what do you do now to engage with them and Really, yeah. I,

[00:06:13] Shavonda: I actually haven't changed that. It hasn't changed that much. It's always been important to me to show up. Sometimes I can't show up as much as I was before, so before.

Sure. I mean, I was able to show up literally every single day, all day. I was sharing all the things. But life gets so busy, and again, as kids are growing up and things are changing in priorities and all of that, but still showing up, not just showing up when I need to like sell something or if I have like an ad or something.

Mm-hmm. Show, you know, sh showing up for just a mundane, everyday random thing. Um, that really helps me stay connected with them sharing things that I love and them understanding and knowing that it, it's really about trust. That has always been the cornerstone of my community building is trust and knowing that I needed to earn their trust and doing that.

I meant being authentic, staying true to myself, calling out things that I don't like, you know, not allowing other people to be disrespected to, to other people within the community. Yeah. Um, and. Showing them my win, showing them my losses, showing them when I screw up, showing them when I, you know, people are truly invested in you.

They wanna, they want, they wanna cheer for you. They wanna see you win. And so allowing them to do that and allowing them to see vulnerabilities, allowing them to see all the different things is really how I've been able to build the community that I have. And I, I love my community so much. They always show up for me.

For me, it's always been, I always had this saying that when I'm creating content or when I'm showing up, I am there to show up for the people who are already there, right? Yes. That, that is who I'm there for. I'm not necessarily showing up specifically to like get a bunch of other people, Hey, come over here.

Come hang out with me, right? While, yes, I want you to do that, but. At the forefront, it's always been showing up for the people who are already there. And if anybody else wants to come and join us, we would love to have you. That would be fantastic. But I never wanted my focus to be so much on growth that I forgot about the people that got me there in the first place.

And so that's really, really important. And that may be a strategy, uh, that other people won't do. But for me, it, I've always wanted to be, I've, it was always about the slow grow. It was never like, I never wanted to go viral and then all of a sudden, whatever. It's like virality has never been a goal of mine.

But if you are somebody who virality is your goal, and if that is, that's fine. Your strategy is gonna be very different than mine. You may not spend as much time really trying to get to know your community and trying to get your community to know you and, and doing all of those like deep soulful dives into things that maybe aren't as relevant.

If your goal is more virality, you're going to be on top of what's hot, what's trending, you know what's gonna be the thing that gets the most eyes on you.

[00:09:44] Bree: Mm-hmm.

[00:09:45] Shavonda: So your strategy will change depending on what your goals are.

[00:09:48] Bree: Mm-hmm. I think whichever route anyone chooses. Mm-hmm. I think there has to be some type of gut check, right?

With, is this true to me? Is this something that I am truly passionate about? Because otherwise, that's where burnout happens so quickly and it is so easy for that to happen on social media with it just feeling like a rat race where you have to keep going and going and going.

[00:10:16] Shavonda: Mm-hmm.

[00:10:18] Bree: How do you combat and just kind of deal with that, with like showing up as yourself authentically, but also showing up consistently for your audience.

Especially when there is times where it is a harder season or you are just busy and life is happening.

[00:10:35] Shavonda: Yeah. Um, I think for me it's really been about being honest with that. If I'm just having a moment, I come, you know, I show up. Stories is like my favorite place to be. Yeah. Um. I'm like, I just show them like, Hey friends, listen, we have nothing going on right now.

I'm tired, I'm exhausted. The kids are driving me crazy. Work is busy, whatever. I can't, like they know that I can't be, I'm not a hundred percent, so I can't give a hundred percent. What I can give you is what I can give you, and again. People understand that your community gets that because they are also most likely going through or have gone through that same thing.

It doesn't mean that I completely fall off the planet for two weeks and they don't hear from me at all. Sure. It just means maybe my pace is a little bit slower. Maybe I'm just doing quick check-ins, or maybe I'm just showing little things and I'm not doing like super deep dives, uh, of topics or whatever like I normally would.

So it's still staying, staying connected to them, but letting them know like I'm just in a season where I can't, I can't show up the way that I usually do. And like always there's everyone's like, we totally get it.

[00:11:52] Bree: Yeah.

[00:11:53] Shavonda: Do what you need to do. We're gonna be here when you're ready to come back.

[00:11:57] Bree: That's what I was gonna say, like how relatable is that to very much so, so many people in your audience of like, oh, maybe I do need to stop pushing myself constantly.

I.

[00:12:08] Shavonda: People the opportunity to. Have permission for them to do the same thing.

[00:12:14] Bree: Exactly. Overwhelmed with your content. Biz. Tired of doing everything yourself and still not seeing consistent income. Friend, it's time to shift. Shift is my high touch coaching program for bloggers and content creators ready to grow strategically, make more money, and finally find freedom in their business.

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along with that, were there any moments when you felt pressure to conform to industry norms? Oh yeah. Yes. Okay. I mean, we all all do, right? Oh, yes. So how did you handle that? I just look at you, this whole conversation. I'm like, well, maybe she did it. She seems so strong and firm with what she is, but how do you, how did you, how do you handle that?

[00:13:19] Shavonda: You know, this is a, this is a big question. It's, it's a big question, and it's one that's really difficult to answer in a way that doesn't. Sound condescending or make me sound like a jerk, but you just don't.

[00:13:37] Bree: Yeah.

[00:13:38] Shavonda: You know, period. Just those, I don't, I don't blinders on. You just don't. You just don't. Yeah, and I think, honestly, there is one thing that helps keep me very, very much, very not conforming, and it's my community.

They will call you out. They will keep you honest. You have. If you have curated and you have developed a strong community, they know who you actually are. Mm-hmm. They will call you out if they see you starting to do something that is not something that you, that you would usually do, or they, they know like, uh, I don't really know.

This doesn't really like you. They call you out on it. So. Really it's, part of it is I just won't, I'm not gonna conform. I'm not going to give in just because it's what everyone else is doing. And the other part of it is because I'm not trying to face the fire of this community who will absolutely put me into the coals.

Be like, destroy you. Yeah. Yeah. And, and not destroy me in a bad way, but be like, girl, what are you doing? Whatcha

[00:14:54] Bree: doing? Yeah.

[00:14:55] Shavonda: Why are you doing this? Yeah. No. Like, okay. They'll be like, no, Shavana has been body snatched. We need to put out an apb. A thing is wrong. Right? Absolutely. Something is wrong. Um, so yeah, I think all of that work you, you do in creating this community and creating your voice and developing who you are, if you start to try to conform

[00:15:22] Bree: mm-hmm.

[00:15:24] Shavonda: The people that you have, you know, the community that you've been talking to, they'll, they'll, they'll pull you back in. They'll kind of, you know, through those safeguard, it'll either be through Yes. It'll be your, it'll be your safeguard and it'll be your understanding of like, okay, no. You know? Yeah.

[00:15:43] Bree: Which is so good to have because, you know, it, again, it's, it's like those, uh, my brain goes to like bumpers and like when you're bowling rights Absolutely.

And things that keep you on track and be like, Nope, that's, that's not staying true to you. That, that may sound fun, that may be great, but like, that's not true to your own voice and who you are and who you've created Yeah. What you've created as a brand.

[00:16:08] Shavonda: Yeah. And it's okay.

It's okay for you to, to like something from afar. It's okay for you to love something for someone else. Yeah. Right. It's, mm-hmm. I think in the world of social media, kind of the point is for you to be centered in whatever you're creating content, you're, you know, you, you wanna like center yourself or center your point of view center, your voice center, whatever it is.

The point is you're sharing this thing for other people to see it, but I think within that. It's okay for you to also just be a consumer of content and a consumer of something that other people are doing. Yes. And love that for them, but understand that it's not for you.

[00:16:55] Bree: Yes.

[00:16:56] Shavonda: And that is 100%. Okay. It's okay for you to love.

I can love, I can absolutely see someone who has a style that's completely operative of mind and I'm like, I love that. It's so pretty. It's wonderful. Love that for you. I don't want it for me, and that's okay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah,

[00:17:16] Bree: absolutely. Okay. I will finally bring us to. An end before we go and pour ourselves some more coffee and tea and stay here for the rest of the afternoon.

What would you say to a content creator who feels like they're not getting noticed despite putting in the work?

[00:17:39] Shavonda: This is such a hard one because I have been there so many times. I have been there so many times. Um. I think kind of the one thing that I will say that I have learned in this, in this business, if you will, is you have no idea who is seeing you and who is inspiring you and who is watching you, and who is inspired by you and who loves you.

So even though you think that you're not being seen, you're, one thing I've learned is your name is being brought up in rooms that you don't even realize. Your work is being seen by people that you have no idea that you have been seen by. And also I think numbers are an illusion. That is, I think numbers are an illusion, right?

Somebody can have 500,000 followers, and that doesn't mean that they're better than you. That doesn't necessarily mean. That those 500,000 followers converts into to work or converts into opportunities like in that way. So there, there are plenty of people that have way more followers than, than I do. Way, way, way more followers than I do.

But I still get emails from brands that are like, we have admired your work for years. We love you.

Like, you know, share about small homes. We love your moody, cozy style. We love your X, Y, and Z. We wanna work with you and these are brands that you would, I would never in a million years think even knows who I am. But not only do they know who I am, they've been following my work. They know what my, you know, they, they understand like the foundation of my work.

They know what I'm all about and they're reaching out to me. Mm-hmm. So the thing I would say is keep, just stick on your path. Stick on your journey. Don't get discouraged and know and understand that people are seeing you in ways that you don't understand, or that you have no idea that they're seeing you.

[00:20:00] Bree: Hmm. That's such wonderful advice, such a beautiful way for us to end this podcast. Yeah. Where can listeners connect with you and follow on your journey? I.

[00:20:12] Shavonda: So people can follow me on Instagram at s Gardner style, on TikTok at S Gardner style. Now, listen. Okay. TikTok is kind of newer to me, right? It took me a minute to get on TikTok girl, because I was like, I'm not doing it.

I'm not. I cannot with TikTok, okay? TikTok is for the young people. But again, again, being a student, being a student of this world, I was like, no, Shabana. I have fun over on TikTok. It's a different vibe over there. You can find me on TikTok and newly. Now you can find me on YouTube. That is my next. That is my new journey that I'm, that I'm very excited about.

Yes, I've been wanting to get into Longhorn video for years, for years and years, and I just kind of figured this is, you know, this is the time to do it. Just entering this new wonderful phase of life. I was like, lemme get over on YouTube. So again, ES style on YouTube, so S Gardner style everywhere. And then my website, my blog is still there.

You put the blog? Yeah. SG style.

[00:21:16] Bree: Oh my goodness. All right, we will leave links to all of those places in our show notes for you guys. Shavana, this has been such a wonderful conversation, the highlight of my day. Thank you. I appreciate you so much for being here, and I know that you have. Something in the works probably next year.

Yes. Can we, can we tell the

[00:21:40] Shavonda: people, sure. I am writing a book, I'm gonna be an author, which Yay is so exciting, but also scary as hell. I don't even know if I can say that on this podcast.

[00:21:51] Bree: Yes, you can. Yes you can. Yes.

[00:21:54] Shavonda: Scary as hell. It is the hardest thing I've ever done. Um. As far as work. Work, it is, it is the hardest thing I've ever done.

Um, but I am very excited about it and I am, yeah, I'm very excited about it. It's gonna be wonderful. It's coming soon.

[00:22:11] Bree: Yes, it's coming soon. We will keep you guys posted on the journey and whenever she has it available for pre-order. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Thank you so much for being here, friend. Thank you so much for having me.

This was so much fun. All right you guys. We will see you back here in a few days with a new episode. Thank you so much for listening. If you missed part one of this conversation, head back to last week's show, episode 3 42, where we talk about. Really staying true to your unique voice and how you really hone in on that and follow that and use that as a way to grow your brand.

So be sure to head over to that episode now. If you haven't listened yet,

if this episode helped you, help us grow, leave a review, share it with a friend and tag us on social media. We can't wait to cheer you on.