358: The Mindset Shifts That Built 6-Figure Blogs with Amy Reinecke and Jennifer Draper of Spark Media Concepts

[00:00:00] Bree: It is always a really fun treat for me when I get to have other friends in the industry on the podcast who are also podcasters. Amy and Jennifer are neighbors, turned business besties and co-owners of an an incredible business that helps bloggers and I am so excited to have them on the show. They have so much knowledge and we do a really fun episode that is different than any other one I've ever done with you guys before.

We are doing like a back and forth like popcorn style almost, where I am telling them common mindset blocks that I hear from you guys. And getting their advice on them. It's a really fun episode, so let's dive into it. 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 Brie 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 in 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. Amy and Jennifer, welcome to the show. How are you guys? Good. Thanks for having us. Thank you.

[00:01:32] Jennifer: Yeah,

[00:01:33] Bree: of course. Oh my goodness. Well, tell me, tell everybody about yourselves and.

The fact that you guys are here together, it's not often that we get a duo on the show, so I'm excited.

[00:01:43] Amy R: Yeah. Well, we are Amy Reineke, that's me and Jennifer Draper, and we make up Spark Media concepts and Amy Reineke, Amy Reineke, we are blog coaches, so we help women build the blogs that they desire, that they want to build for their life, for the freedom that they want, the flexibility.

And usually, obviously, as you know, if you're listening to this podcast, it's something that you're passionate about, something that you wanna share with the world. And so we wanna help them get that out to the world, and that's what we do. We have a podcast ourselves and a membership. I. But we started actually as next door neighbors.

And that's the, the funny part of this story is, I love it. Yeah. Yeah. We were next door neighbors. Uh, Jennifer was a blogger already. I was just like the next door neighbor, next door who was like, how is she doing this? Mm-hmm. What is she doing over there? That's my neighbors currently. They're like, you do what?

I know. How did you get into that? And so I kind of watched her like. You know, we weren't like the best of friends, but we were definitely like cordial, kind would talk when we saw each other, but we weren't like on the phone every day chatting. And then she needed a quote unquote virtual assistant. And I answered that call and it is kind of all history from there.

I was actually sharing content just on Instagram, not getting paid. This is back like 2016, you know, that timeframe. So things looked very different, you know, nine years ago. I started supporting her and through that, that is kind of where this idea of helping other people start blogs came about. That was a dream that she had.

She'd been a blogger. Then she helped me get started and then she's like, I think that we could help other people do this too. I thought she was nuts. I, I was like, what? I don't know what you're talking about. And she was right. Uh, there's totally a need for it. Bloggers need support, especially women who are at home.

And want to do something, but they just don't know how to do it. And so, uh, that little dream that she had placed in her heart was pretty cool. We've gotta see a lot of really amazing people lean into what they desire and what they want, so it's.

[00:03:43] Bree: Oh my goodness. That is a wonderful story at Neighbors Into Business Besties and oh my gosh.

So Amy, did you end up starting a blog as well, or did you stay with Instagram? I did. Okay. I did.

[00:03:55] Amy R: So I, yeah, and she kept like dripping it and it, it actually took me going to a blog conference with Jennifer to kind of like see it and understand because I'd blogged years prior, but it was, you know, back when, like blog spot or something and you didn't really see.

Back then there wasn't a lot of people talking about it. And so seeing that vision for me was really difficult, to be honest. And even though she kept saying it, I'm like, I don't think I can do that. You know, I was a, I was a stay-at-home mom at the time. Had two kids, um, had recently had back surgery when my second kid was like 12 weeks old, been through a lot and I'm like, I just dunno if it's the right time.

Like, just don't know. But is there ever a really good time? No, there's not. And so I went to a couple conferences with her, and after that I really, I guess, kind of drank the Kool-Aid and was like, this really is a viable career option. We need to take ourselves seriously. And that's one of the themes that we really do try to just instill in people in our community is no one else is going to take you seriously.

You have to do that first. If you don't take yourself seriously. Nobody else is gonna take you seriously either. So treat it like a business from the beginning and we really try to help people do that.

[00:05:04] Bree: Well, and what an incredible perspective that you guys are able to bring to the table with Jennifer, with you.

Like, okay, like being more seasoned and like being the one to start it and then for Amy, for you to come in and be like, yeah, I was a skeptic. I was the one that was like, Ooh, is this actually going to work? And being able to really help people in the community, you know, kind of a two for one meeting, people where they're at.

We are, um, also very different people.

[00:05:30] Amy R: And so we say that all the time, like she's one part of the brain. I'm the other part of the brain. And together it just works. 'cause you know, as a, as a community host, you have all like blogging and content creation. Like it brings in all kinds of different people and you need be, having both of us is, is really, really helpful.

Because you can, you can help people in different ways. You can, you know, people take things in different ways. We process things differently, and so that helps too, for sure.

[00:05:59] Bree: I love it. And so one of the things that we're gonna be talking about today. Is mindset shifts that build six figure blogs. Right. And you know, you kind of hit on it with like, you have to go into it and you have to believe in yourself.

And so much of what we do as entrepreneurs, whether we are. Successful or not, I would argue has a lot more to do with mindset than anything else, right? Because you can have all of these strategies, you can have all of these things that you need to do and try, but if your mindset is not in it to, to the things right, it's gonna be really hard.

So I wanna do something kind of fun with this episode. It's something we've never done before, but I want to present you guys with. Five different, unless I come up with more on the spot. Um, but five different kind of, uh, mindset, I don't know, issues or roadblocks that I hear commonly. And then if you guys are like, Ooh, don't forget this one, Brie, let's dive into it.

But I want to get your feedback on like, okay, this is a belief or this is a mindset. What is your suggestion for dealing with that? Does that sound fun? Yeah. Yes. I'd

[00:07:16] Jennifer: say if there's, if there's a mindset issue to be had, we've probably run across it in our years. Right? So we, we are totally on board with this.

[00:07:24] Bree: I love it. Okay, so let's start out with this first one of this idea that more hustle is going to equal more results, right? If I keep. Cranking it out, cranking it out, then it's eventually going to work.

[00:07:38] Jennifer: I love this one as, um, one to, to, to talk about and that's because when you get into some of the blogging spaces and you're connecting with other bloggers who you know are seemingly doing really well, making a big income, you're going to these blogging conferences, they're speaking, there is a lot of hustle culture there and it can be really easy to get caught up.

Feeling like that's what you have to do too. You have to create three new posts per week. You have to post on every single social media platform. You have to be getting brand deals and posting affiliate links, and getting on an ad network and doing all of the things in order to be successful. And what we've learned is that.

That is just a recipe for burnout and what you're not really seeing is what has it taken for somebody to get to this point. So we've really tried to. I think be more true to ourselves over time. What does success really mean to us? Like is this the kind of success we want or is success? The fact that we've created our own business where we can work a schedule that feels right to us, we can do the kinds of work that feels right to us.

We can earn the kinds of revenue that feels right to us. We really are more about being intentional about why you got into this and. Really thinking through what are your yeses, what are your nos, and making sure that when you build this business, you're building the business that supports your life. We don't want it to run your life.

We want it to be the thing that you want it to be, because you can still create that success. You just have to be more intentional about it. You have to put in systems, you have to have a strategy. You have to know. What to focus on, what things are actually gonna have the impact and go after those instead of just exhausting yourself.

Might you get there quicker if you were to try to do all the things? Possibly, but you're probably gonna burn out as well. And so. Our goal is really like just to really think through things in terms of creating like a long-term sustainable business and in the long run that's gonna be what really has more impact.

[00:09:52] Bree: Yeah. Is there anything where you're like, you know, we've, we've seen maybe somebody come through that you're like, oh my gosh, they're just hustling so much, that're coming to us for advice in the burnout phase Completely. What kind kind of advice do you give them? Because I come across that a lot, right?

Or I'll see people that I'm like, oh my God, she's just posting so much content. She's appears to be killing it, right? She's doing great. But then all of a sudden I'm like, wait, where did she go? I haven't seen her. And then she comes back and she's talking about how she just needed a really long break and how she was burnt out.

For those creators that you see like, oh yeah, you're in the thick of burnout, where do you say this is where you should start?

[00:10:32] Amy R: I think that's interesting because we've both been there, actually, Jennifer and I. Oh yeah, same. And I think that the important thing is, is we've been really honest about that, especially with people that we, you know, have those calls with in our community.

Like, we're very, very open. Like I, I'm burned out. I haven't posted on my blog in six to nine months or whatever because I, I'm hustling so hard. And so I think it takes the honesty and that's why surrounding yourself with other bloggers who are like doing it the way that you want to. Or like at least in a healthy, healthy way is what I would call.

I think that's important because we all can recognize as content creators, it's very easy to do that. You could work around the clock and that is something that I do not think is well understood when you step into this is you're like, I'm just gonna work five to 10 hours a week. No you're not. If you're building a business, no you're not.

You are likely going to spend much more time than that. It is going to be a full-time job, and it could be even more than a normal full-time job. If you let it. And that's the important thing is you have to have those boundaries. And so just being really honest about that, with our own personal journeys, we've talked about it on our podcast, I think it's, it's helpful for that honesty to say like, put the systems in place.

Like Jennifer said, understand where you are, know where you want to go with this business because you can't chase somebody else's dream. You gotta chase your own and you gotta know who you are and what you wanna wanna do. And if you don't know that. Then I think that you can really just get in that mindset of burnout and hustle, and I have to do all these things.

And if you're doing it just because someone's telling you to do it, but it's not because you want to do it, it will never work, and it just becomes another job. It goes from being your passion to just being another job. And that's, I don't think why any of us are doing, doing this kind of work.

[00:12:19] Bree: No. I mean, so many of us, I mean, we start these, I, I say this all the time.

We start these businesses for freedom, right? We, we want more time freedom, we want more financial freedom, and then we end up with less because we are just run into the ground. And so I'm hearing like boundaries, systems, those are like so important just to like really setting firm boundaries with what you will and will not do.

Okay. What about when you hear this mindset of everyone else is ahead of me?

[00:12:52] Amy R: So I had this exact thought myself starting the business with Jennifer because she was already ahead. Uh, she is had a, you know, a couple years ahead of me or whatever. And I felt, I wanna almost reframe this to say like, kind of in the way of.

Somebody else is doing a business that you feel like you have to follow in those footsteps. And so that's, that's the story I was telling myself is that my business needed to look just like hers and that's why she was ahead. And that's kind of a lie that, that I think content creators can get into. You are building your business for you.

And what ended up happening is we were on a podcast interview, we were interviewing somebody for our podcast, and she started talking about what success meant to us. That was such a mind boggling moment to me. 'cause I don't, I, I was chasing a number and at that moment it became very clear to me that like, actually success to me didn't mean necessarily a number I.

There was a lot of things that I wanted to be able to do, such as be here when my kids came off, you know, home from school. I wanted to be able to volunteer in their classrooms. I wanted to be in charge of my schedule. I didn't want somebody else to be telling me, you know, when to show up or when I could take vacation, and all of that.

I wanted to be flexible, like you said earlier, Bree, and so that was such an important conversation that I think needed to be had, and I would encourage every person who's creating content online. Is to really sit down and ask yourself like why you're doing this business and what does success mean to you?

Because the person who you think is ahead of you, they might have totally different goals and dreams and beliefs and values and everything. And so who's to say that they're the measuring stick that you need to be to be following that is just going to make you feel resentful about your business, and it's always going to make you feel like back to the first question that you have to hustle more.

I think we have to get very comfortable with what this business means to us, what we want out of it, and be okay. Like it's okay if you're not making like $300,000 a year, but you're able to do all the things, all the things that you wanna do. Can that be good enough? I think it can.

[00:15:07] Bree: A hundred

[00:15:07] Amy R: percent.

[00:15:08] Bree: It's, it's setting your own success marker, and it's knowing like what my own roadmap is and where I want to be.

And then also if you're like me, you're really bad at celebrating when you hit certain milestones and certain wins, and it just becomes like, oh, okay. Like this was a huge milestone that if you told me I hit it five years ago, I would've been freaking out. Wouldn't have believed you. Right. And yet

[00:15:33] Amy R: I was like, cool, check next.

It never feels quite as good when you get there. It's almost the anticipation of it. Oh, for sure. That can be with so many things in your life that can be with like a health journey that can, I mean, don't get me started there. Like it can just be like, on a whole number of things, but it's like almost like, it's almost like the, uh, the anticipation of it happening can be sometimes more exciting than the actual thing.

And so my encouragement to anybody is like, you gotta find joy in the journey today. Know that like this is where, this is where it's all happening. Is what you're doing today. Like how are you showing up today? How are you engaging with people today? How are you providing solutions to your community today?

How are you making an impact? How are you showing up for the people that you love? That is so much more like life giving than any quote unquote goal that you're trying to hit because you care way more about about that goal than probably anybody else, but the impact that you get to make along the way.

That's the secret sauce is knowing that like you're truly making an impact and I think that can give us something that money can't, can't buy. Just knowing that those things are worth chasing too. Those feelings of accomplishment are worth chasing too.

[00:16:44] Bree: Yes. You know what that makes me think of is like right now on Instagram, there's like this trend going around where people are like filming these like little like moments throughout their day of just like normal everyday life and then like the text over it is like.

Something like, you know, silly girl, why did you forget? Like this is the whole reason. Like this is the whole point. And it's like, oh yeah, like this is the moment. Like you, you saying like, I can, you know, pick up my kids from school, I can go and volunteer. I have time to go and do this. I can meet a friend for coffee.

Like, this is the whole point. What about mindset with, you know, when it comes to working with brands. And feeling like, okay, well who am I to be able to charge that or pitch this idea? Like there's so much that comes up with that like, well, why me? Why, why do I think I am enough, quote unquote, to pitch this?

Or to ask for this.

[00:17:41] Jennifer: That's a, it's such a hard one, and I, and I think that no matter where you're at in your journey, you're gonna come across that at different points in time. Whether it's like when you're, you're trying to get your first brand deal and you don't even know what to charge, or you're down the road and you're like, you're pri you're gonna raise your price and you're gonna be like, is anybody even gonna pay me this?

I feel like it's gonna be a long, that's just one of those things that's a long-term struggle. I think the first thing that we have to start with is I. Remembering why we are unique. So what are we bringing to the table? What do we do that's different than what everybody else is doing? And are we putting the value that we're offering, like first and foremost in our mind?

Because you know, you're not out there, you know, going to businesses and expecting everybody to hand you stuff for free. And so we have to remember that what we're doing isn't something that people are expecting us to do for free either. And. There's gonna be brands out there that are gonna be like trying to get you to do stuff.

I mean, that's just a normal part of the process, but there's plenty of other people that you can work with as well. So just being mindful of who you wanna align yourself with, reminding yourself, here's what I bring to the table. And it may not be like a lot of followers or this or that, but everybody has something.

Whether it's your unique skills to. Write the story, whether you have fantastic photography skills to show off a product, whether you just have a really engaged audience or email list or something like that of people who have come to trust you. We all have something. And so it's putting all of that into your value.

It's not just about like, it's gonna take me an hour to do this job. It's like, what have I done up to this point to get here? To learn all the things that I know to offer the value that I can offer to put this in front of my audience. And it should be worth it to me to put this in front of my audience.

You know, I don't wanna just be showing them every single thing that comes along because I, they have put their trust in me, and it's my responsibility to make sure that I am only sharing things that are, you know, truly aligned. And so. It's just gonna take some practice as well. There's gonna be times when we do something and we're like, Ugh, that didn't feel good.

I didn't, I don't feel like I made the money that I should have for that project. And then there, but there's gonna be times when you're like, wow, I can't believe somebody was willing to pay me that. And I think some of it just comes with, with, you just have to try. You just have to start. You have to put out a number that's probably bigger than you're comfortable, you know, asking for.

And you have to see what happens.

[00:20:23] Bree: Absolutely. And you know, like, uh, talking about pricing and all of that is one of my favorite things, but it is like, it's so uncomfortable for so many people. And I mean, it's, I think it's like, not even just, it's definitely not our industry only, right? Like this is something like every industry talks about is like, how much to charge, how much do I price myself for, whether it's a product or graphic design or whatever it may be.

I, I love that you touched on like, you know, the years of knowledge and skill that you've built up and your expertise. Okay. Can you see, I knew I would come up with something else. That is a mindset that I come across all the time is people telling me like, oh, well, like this idea of, oh, I'm not an expert at that.

I have women that have come into my coaching program, one in particular, who is, in my opinion, an expert gardener. Like you look at her gardens and she has the most epic cut flower garden and the garden. They're just, they're amazing. Right? Something that I'm like, I can only aspire to, but yet she has this mindset thing that she has to work through because she doesn't feel like, oh, well, I don't know, quote unquote enough to be able to share in this way.

[00:21:41] Amy R: I think that is a very, very common feeling because you come into this and you're like, you're probably not an expert quite yet, but like there is nothing better than real life experiences that give us the tools and the education and the knowledge than like getting in there and just like doing the thing.

So using that example of, of the gardener for instance. Like who, who would know better than her if she's in her garden all the time? Uh, figuring it all out. Who is going to know better than her? Like, and, and who is it to say that you're not the expert? Who is it to say that you can't call yourself that?

But I think just as women in general, that's a lack of self-confidence that many have. I think too is when a lot of us started, this wasn't necessarily a career. Some of us. Those of us who have been doing this for a long time, like I just got on Instagram one day 'cause I thought it was fun. I did not think like Jennifer was watching me create content.

I was like, what are you doing? Why are you not charging any money you are spending all day on Instagram? And I'm like, this is just an outlet for me. Like it wasn't, I wasn't planning to like make money and do that. Like that was not the intention. So then it had to be this mindset shift of, okay, I am spending my time, my money, and my energy and all of my gained experience to put something out there.

And that's what I'd say to anybody. You are putting forth effort in what you're learning about for your, you know, your website or your blog, or your social media. That is all a gained experience that is very, very beneficial for people. Do not sell yourself short. That is impactful. That is helpful. Do we wanna pick up a textbook or do we wanna ask our friend?

Right. For real. I mean, some people might wanna pick up the textbook. I personally am gonna call my friend who I know is going to like, have researched the heck out of it and I'm gonna say, Hey, tell me what I need to do for this. And then they're gonna do it and I'm probably gonna listen to everything they say because I trust them.

That's who we are. As content creators too. But you have to build that trust. You have to build all of that. And so kind of back to the brand thing, be a little picky with who you work with. It needs to work both ways and be authentic. It needs to feel good. All of that because that that bleeds into how your community's gonna feel about you, how your readers are gonna feel about you.

I think brand work is excellent for some people and it's not for everybody. So I think that that's really important to note is. I personally love working with affiliates and stuff, but we have people in our community who don't love it. We have people in our community who don't want ads on their on their site.

That's okay too. Once again, you get to build the business that you want. That feels good to you. So knowing that, knowing you know where your non-negotiables are, I think is really important. Too, but believe in yourself and don't sell yourself short because you do have a lot to offer. You're not like just a content creator,

[00:24:39] Bree: a hun.

Can I just remove the word just from the entire English language, like, oh, I know, let's get rid of it. But you'd said something there that I wanted to touch on, and that was the word authenticity and like, you know, being real with your audience. Again, that's something like I follow a lot of people on Instagram that are like quote unquote experts or like they're teaching something, right?

Because I'm always trying to like make sure I'm staying up on things so I can share things on the podcast or share things with my groups. One of the trends that I am starting to see, I say trends, but I don't feel like it's really a trend, but is this idea of like. Not having to present the content as if you were an expert, but rather taking your audience along the journey with you of like, this is what I'm trying, we're gonna see if it works.

It kind of, you know, I feel like TikTok does that really well with it being more like, come along this journey with me. This is what I'm trying, it feels more informal. It feels like stories, whereas Instagram has always felt like super polished blog posts, even super polished, right? Like you gotta have 'em perfect.

This idea of like bringing people along with the journey and of like, I'm gonna try this. Let's see if it works, right. We're gonna try this thing. Let's see if that will work. I think that is what, you know, yes. It, it almost creates this idea of like a series, right? So when you think of like TV shows or something, right?

Like, we wanna binge watch these things, right? So it creates that a little bit, but then it also just like makes you a real human and you're like, yeah, I wanna go and see what Jennifer's doing today. Like, let me see how that's going for her.

[00:26:13] Amy R: I agree with that. Totally. And I think as bloggers, another way that you can utilize that.

'cause like you said, blog posts, they likely do need to be a little bit more polished. If you're wanting to gain, you know, SEO and stuff, that's a perfect way to engage your email list. I to open, bring it into your email that way and, and share, engage with your email list that way because those are the people who really do, they have like stepped into that relationship, they've opted into that and they want to know.

So don't be afraid to share. Authentically with them that way. And then the land of ai, which is a total other, you know, topic and everything. But I think those real authentic conversations, those real authentic journeys are only going to become more and more important that we are showing up as ourselves and we are sharing ourselves and what we're comfortable with along the way.

You don't have to share everything just 'cause you're a content creator. Knowing what you do wanna share and how you wanna share it. Admitting like, Hey, I am in the process of just figuring this all out. My opinion might change. I think that's okay too. It is always okay to pivot and evolve. I. As a human, as a influencer, as a blogger, as a content creator, whatever it is, humans evolve and knowing that you do not have to stay stuck in the same box that you started in when you started this business, I think is one of the best pieces of advice, uh, that we could possibly give people is you are going to change.

Your opinion is going to change. Things that you do in the beginning of your business are going to look different down the line. That's okay. You don't have to stay stuck. You can evolve and grow

[00:27:40] Bree: your life is going to change. Like, that's something I feel like, you know, especially with us, like starting so many years ago, we've seen like, oh, now, now we have kids.

What do we do with our content now? Right? Like, all of these different like moments that happened in our lives, oh, we got married. Oh, we moved, oh, I'm, I'm not doing that type of job anymore. You know, has been this way of figuring out, yeah, I'm, I'm pivoting and I'm changing. But also my audience isn't in the exact same spot they were 10 years ago.

So many things you said. I was like, oh, we could have a whole podcast on that, and that and that. Okay. Let me jump back over to, I think what ties in with all of this so well is that mindset of if this post doesn't perform, that means I've failed.

[00:28:22] Jennifer: This one speaks to me because I think the one thing that I see people do, and this is totally natural, is that when you put all your heart and your soul into this content that you're creating, like it's very personal.

But when it comes to the internet, there's gonna be a lot of reasons people might not see it or might not react to it. And so I am always trying to teach people that your blog post, your social media post, whatever it is, it's data. And the important thing is we have to look at the data and so, you know, if it, if you post it and a month later you haven't gotten views on it.

What do you need to do? Does it mean you're the worst? You've failed. Nobody wants to talk to you. Nobody wants to hear what you have to say. Absolutely not. There are a million different things that could have gone wrong. You need to troubleshoot and see if there's any technical issues that could have prevented people from seeing it.

And then you can start looking at some of the other things like, did it just fall flat with my audience? Does it not tie in with the kind of content that I usually create? Is it something different or is it just not? Written in a way that is gonna help people. So they're not necessarily like staying on the post or clicking off of it for some reason.

You kind of have to look at all the different data points and use it as a way to make a decision about your next piece of content. That way you can say, okay, well this topic was not something that they were really interested in, so I'm not gonna try that one. Next time I'm gonna bring it back. And the next one I'm gonna, I'm gonna go back and look at what did perform well, and I'm gonna create something that supports that instead.

And I think you just have to take some of those personal feelings out of it and just try to look at the bigger picture and say, okay, this is a long-term sustainable thing that I'm trying to create. So there are going to be days when it just, you know, it just falls flat and there's going to be things that don't resonate.

And so I'm gonna take that as information. I'm not gonna take it as a personal, like everybody hates me kind of a reaction. It's just gonna be, this isn't quite what they needed. So I'm going to adjust the next time I post something, and then I'm gonna take a look at that data and I'm going to. You know, you're gonna keep adjusting as time goes on.

Maybe the post needs to be updated. Maybe it just needs to be completely redone. We don't know. But there's a lot of different ways you can look at all the data to kind of help you make decisions about how to move forward.

[00:30:49] Bree: There's so many factors that go into, like you said, like of just like how many people actually saw it to where they could click on it or view it or engage with it, right.

In whatever it may be. I think that goes along with, perfectly with the last one that I have for you, which is this idea of it has to be perfect before I share it.

[00:31:09] Amy R: No, it doesn't. It just doesn't. That's it. That's it. It's not ever going to be perfect because this kind of work changes. So what is perfect today is not going to be perfect two years from now.

And so back to creating, you know, updating your content and stuff, like knowing that what you put out today will likely need to be updated at some point down the road. You can have, I think, a roadmap for what, what a blog push should look like, or what content should look like or you know, different promotional things that you're gonna do with each piece of content that you create.

But I think this idea of perfection is the reason that we stay stuck. And I think it's the reason that we don't move forward with many different things in our life. Whether it's a dream that you have, whether it's something that you wanna do in your business, a relationship that can go so much deeper.

If that strive for perfection is what you're looking for, I can guarantee you that the other content creators that you might look up to, that you might aspire to, I can guarantee you that many of them did not wait till it was perfect. They waited till it was about B minus work, C plus work, and they did it and they put it out there and then they, they ran with it.

And sometimes I think when we try to get it too perfect. It can almost like set us up for this negative feeling outta the gate, and that is not how we wanna feel about the content that we're creating. I, for instance, did a sponsored, um, Instagram post yesterday, and I looked at that thing multiple times.

Previewed it, previewed it, previewed it, previewed it. Listen to it back, and somehow the helium talk got interjected like in one of the like clips. So like I sound like I'm a helium balloon stop. And I'm like, I could have like totally deleted it and started over. And instead, I just got on stories and was like, enjoy this, okay?

[00:32:58] Bree: Mm-hmm. You're welcome. This did

[00:33:00] Amy R: not, this did not look like that when I posted it, but somehow in the midst of me creating this and then hitting, you know, share whatever. They interjected the helium and I sound like I'm on helium. And so it, it is what it is. Like I could have cried about it. I can't wait to watch this.

I'm so excited. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, gosh. So you just have to roll with it. I, I think when you can make light of it, not everything is going to be perfect. You're gonna enjoy this business so much more. If you're not trying to be perfect, be real, be authentic. You're going to make mistakes. Learn from them, move on.

You can stay stuck very easily and you can give up very quickly If you think that perfection is the goal or if you think it has to be like always a plus work. I just encourage you to like show up as you are where you are today. Do the best at what you can do today. You'll be amazed what you can do.

[00:33:53] Bree: Hmm.

I love that advice. One thing that I have to do, because I can easily fall into that. Is you have to figure out how to fall in love with the process and it goes circles right back to what you were talking about earlier of like the journey, right? And loving the journey. Creativity, I feel like so much gets shoved to the back burner because of all these other things that we have to do.

But man, like I, it's so much fun and I can kind of pinpoint when I start to get burnt out is when I've pushed creativity, like into this dark corner and just started becoming like almost robotic with what I'm doing and with what I'm cranking out. And so it's like, you know, all kind of ties together with everything.

Everything we're talking about is like, keep trying, keep going, keep pushing, have fun with it. Enjoy the journey. Enjoy the process. You're gonna keep learning and evolving, right? You one thing that you think you got perfect a year ago, you're gonna look back and be like, oh my God, that was terrible.

Because we are tying in, again, we are evolving, we are pivoting, we are growing as humans and as creators. This whole podcast is like one beautiful braid. Everything just like looped in together. Lovely. Oh my goodness. You guys, can you please remind everybody where they can go and follow you? Tell us about your podcast as well.

'cause they're listening to a podcast right now. They need to hop over to yours next.

[00:35:18] Amy R: Absolutely. So you can find us on Instagram and our website at Spark Media Concepts. But our podcast that we release each and every Tuesday is called the Ultimate Blog podcast, and we would love for you to just head over there and tune in for an episode.

And we actually have a playlist that we can share with you for a successful blogger playlist. So if you're interested in that, you can go to the ultimate blog podcast.com/success. It's gonna give you like a list of podcast episodes, but also a Spotify playlist. If you listen over on Spotify, you can just go there directly and download that playlist and hopefully it inspires you.

So thanks for having us, Bri. I love it.

[00:35:59] Bree: Oh my God. Thank you guys so much for being here. Alright, we're gonna wrap this up and you guys go check them out. Go let head over to their podcast. I'll be a guest over there soon so you can listen to my episode and we'll see you guys back here in a few days with a new episode.

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