This is a republished episode from LFAHC

In today’s episode we dive into listener questions all about Instagram - from building engagement up, feeling hopeful and excited about the platform again, coming back after a long break, adapting to creating more video content, whether to use hashtags anymore and lots more.

Join Sara for her Instagram Summer School Class starts on Monday, the 29th, so you need to be quick.

Would you love some encouragement and support in your business? Submit your letter for an upcoming episode here.

More from Sara

More from Jen

I first met Sarah D Rees through my class, The Insta Retreat, quite a few years ago, and we’ve worked together ever since. Sarah is a mental health nurse and CBT therapist with over 10 years of experience in private practice. Through her mentoring and coaching services, she supports other therapists in setting up and growing their private practices. Sarah struggled with the lack of a business plan and structure in her private practice, leading to dissatisfaction and confusion, and wanted to help others so they don’t have to feel the same way.

Her book, A Therapist’s Guide to Private Practice: Building a Values-based Business, is out this week (Happy publication week, Sarah 🥳), so it seemed the perfect time to ask her on the podcast to hear about it and how she supports therapists.

Things we talk about in this episode:

* Challenges of setting up a private practice for therapists and coaches

* Identifying values in business and personal life

* Marketing strategies for private practice therapists

* The benefits of niching for mental health professionals

* Using Substack for email marketing and membership platforms

* Using Substack for therapists to build communities and generate income

* Therapist social media presence and boundaries

* Mental health services demand, therapy training and book launch.

Links we mention in this episode:

* Sarah’s book

* Sarah’s website, Instagram and Substack group for therapists

* My Instagram Summer School

The Instagram Summer School

Instagram Summer School is my new 4-week refresher and revive-r for your instagram mojo! The whole of my bestselling Instagram Masterclass, The Insta Retreat, but condensed into 4 weekly highlight reels to get you straight to the good bits and set to work! With daily challenges, free templates, planners and guides, plus weekly AMA (ask me anything) calls with me, and mindset coaching calls with Katie Pulsifer, this is your sun-filled, breezy vacation from all the Insta drama! Check out all the details by clicking here ⬇️

PS. If you have done The Insta Retreat before, look out for emails about how to take part

Where to find Sara:

• Sara’s website: meandorla.co.uk
• Sara on Instagram: @me_and_orla
• Sara on Twitter: @meandorla
• Sara on Substack
• The Insta Retreat
• Sell Your Sh*t
• One to one business coaching with Sara

I know I seem to say this every week, but author and illustrator Helen Stephens is truly one of my very best friends. She's also brilliantly successful, with her books for children winning multiple awards, being adapted for stage, featured on BBC Children's television and appearing on the shelves of millions of happy children worldwide.

I first met Julia of Humphrey & Grace (nee @JuliaBesideTheSea) at a rooftop party on London hosted by Instagram. We've followed one another for years - four of them, to be exact - and I've seen her account grow from its early days to the massive 200k following she enjoys today. We caught up for a natter, and our chat covers changing your Instagram username, dealing with imitation and copying, the dreaded algorithm, calling yourself a photographer and oh so much more.

"Creating for Good is a London based collective of creatives who use their passions and skills to make a difference in the lives of women, men and families affected by war, political discord and poverty. " With a combined following of over 1.2 million. Through workshops, photo walks and individual tutoring we give 100% of all proceeds to charitable organizations which focus on providing skills to empower marginalized people and communities to secure a more sustainable future." I talk to Giulia, Jo, Elena, Jessica and Sarka from the team, to find out how it got started and what they've learned along the way.

Julia from Stylonylon is a journalist-turned-fashion blogger. I called her up to find out about how she sees blogging fitting into the world of journalism, and what skills she’s brought over for communicating directly with her audience. We also talk about podcasting, self-taught photography and the power of owning your own audience in this episode.

This week it's the Q&A I promised, and I'm diving into the questions you all sent my way. I cover blogging, Instagram, social media and getting everything done, plus lots of extra things in between. Sidetone - apologies for the glitches in audio quality this week. I didn't realise my settings were off until after recording, and didn't have time to redo it! Lesson learned. Done is better than perfect anyway, right?

Janet Murray is a freelance journalist turned PR-queen. She's passionate about PR and publicity being accessible to everyone, and shares insider knowledge of how to get press and media coverage for your business or blog, without selling out. In this episode she shares her top tips for getting featured, and why it matters more than you might think.

Today I am joined by Sally Gurteen, aka the Cafe Cat. Sally is a social media manager whose past clients include Caffe Nero, Selfridges, Lindt and many more, where she’s been responsible for blogger outreach, social media campaigns and sponsored content with influencers on Instagram and beyond. I asked her to come onto the podcast to give the inside scoop on the whole process - what brands are thinking, what they’re looking for, what turns them off. So if you’re an influencer, or thinking you’d quite like to become an influencer, this is essential information - and it’s equally useful if you have a business or are considering using influencer marketing at some point in future.

Jen Carrington is a coach for big-hearted creative business owners based in Manchester, UK. We first met when she was launching her coaching business and I was looking to take my blog a bit more seriously, and three years down the line we've both learned and grown an awful lot. In this episode we reflect on the lessons that business and money have taught us both, and Jen shares the secrets of structuring a working week for the self employed.

“Anything that has ever changed your life - that person had to stop being afraid of self promotion. They had to pitch the book agent, they had to write promotional tweets, they had to work with a PR agency and talk themselves up. That's the reality of putting yourself out there." Sarah Von Bargen is a writer and teacher who’s been blogging for nearly a decade at Yes and Yes. In that time she has travelled the world, created ebooks, ecourses, appsand more, and been featured in places like Forbes.com, Lifehacker, Problogger and Glamour. And she says she only really started trying quite recently! She is a living gold mine of wit and wisdom, and in this episode we talk about two topics that are close to her heart. Intentionality – in our online actions, and in our spending too.

Xanthe Berkeley is a photographer and videographer with a penchant for stop-frame photography and cheerful colour. A a self-confessed 'project fountain', she's able to chart her own creative and professional development by the projects and assignments she has embraced along the way. By the end of this episode I defy anyone to not want to find their own new initiative, and follow in Xanthe's footsteps creating for pleasure and passion without caring about the response.

• The many ways for a book to “be successful” that don’t involve writing a New York Times bestseller (who knew?!)
• Lockdown lessons, and learning to live with uncertainty
• The surprising weight and reliance that we put on the future, without realising we’re doing it
• The “ladder of hierarchies” through which we try (and mostly fail) to feel better about ourselves
• Learning to enjoy the process of making something, more than the reception it receives
• Drinking the Kool-Aid of never-ending work, productivity, and demonising rest (and this pearl of wisdom: even machines burn out!)
• And the related delusion we buy into, “I’ve put enough into the world that now I feel worthy”
• Shame in its many forms, and diet culture
• Using self-worth as an alternative motivator to shame
• How to drop the shame (the first step is to start noticing it)
• Curiosity is the bridge that can take us from shame to self-love
• And the freedom and curiosity that comes when we finally drop the shame

• Radically Content is available from 12 April 2022, and can be ordered (or pre-ordered if you’re reading this before 12 April) here
• Jamie’s website
• Jamie’s online course on self-trust, “Live with Intention”

Here’s where to find and chat with Jamie in your favourite app:

• Jamie on Instagram @jamievaron
• Jamie on Twitter @jamievaron
• Jamie on Tiktok @jamievaron
• Jamie on Facebook @jamievaron

Where to find Sara:

• Sara’s website: meandorla.co.uk
• Sara on Instagram: @me_and_orla
• Sara on Twitter: @meandorla
• One to one business coaching with Sara
• The Insta Retreat
• Sell Your Sh*t

Kat Molesworth is a blogger, photographer and vlogger, and founder of Blogtacular, an annual UK conference for bloggers and online creative folk. She is also a font of knowledge on all things blogging and internet related, so I wanted to get her take on the future of blogging, and whether or not it’s really important for online creatives.

Sas Petherick is a UK-based coach who specialises in helping women experiencing self doubt. I first met her through Instagram a year ago, and was struck by how much insight and wisdom she could drop into the most incidental moments of casual conversation. She also makes me laugh until it hurts. For anyone who's ever felt like an imposter in their own career, or like their self doubt is holding them back in life, this episode is essential listening. I think you're going to love it.

Hannah Argyle has over 200k followers on Instagram, as well as a successful lifestyle blog and partnerships with a heap of big name brands. I called her up for this episode to get the scoop on how she balances motherhood, the expectations of her Instagram audience and her own creative desires.

This episode is 'mailing list 101', for people who don't have one, people who think they don't need one, or for people who have one but aren't doing anything about it...

This week I talk to US-based business coach Tara Swiger about the importance of creating for your right people on instagram and beyond, and why finding them is the secret to achieving your dreams online.

With over 66k followers on instagram, Jono Smart says about 90% of his business comes via the platform in one form or another. His signature minimalist designs can sell out in a matter of hours, and he’s now in demand across the world as a contemporary potter. I called him up for a chat about sales, keeping a healthy Instagram mindset, future-proofing his business, instagram as a creative 'gateway drug', & his frank online sharing of living with Bipolar disorder.

'Comparison is the thief of joy'. We've all heard, read or pinned it on Pinterest, but how can we keep our worry about other people's success in perspective, and avoid falling into the comparison trap? This week I share lessons I've learned about learning from our envy at other people's achievements, and how to handle the fear of failure when it hits.

This week I chat with Dominique, better known as AllThatIsShe on Instagram. In the last 12 months she has gained over 100k followers from scratch, simply by sharing her uniquely beautiful, fresh and innovative content. We talk about how she did it, finding a balance when sharing her family life, and her go-to photo staples for Instagram success.

This week I'm talking with Instagram royalist, Philippa Stanton of 5ftinf. With over 460k followers, Philippa was a pioneer of the whole flatlay movement with her colourful 'domestic foraging' shot at her kitchen table. We talk about the early days of Instagram, authenticity, staying fresh and creative, and following our obsessions - wherever they may take us. Find show notes at meandorla.co.uk/podcast3

How can you get more Instagram followers without having to resort to shady tactics? Is it still possible to grow just by using honest engagement and great content? I'm sharing the 5 deceptively simple strategies I've used to grow my account to 152k that can work for everybody, right now.

• Recognising the power of what’s possible when people come together with a common goal
• The value of creating your own, distraction-free destination for group learning and support
• Empowering creators to place higher value on the important business, community and content they are making - rather than being driven solely by the pursuit of money and influence
• The importance of community, particularly when we are forging new paths (or making things up as we go along). Gina says, “the single best place to make things up as you go along is in a small, trusted community of people who are there on the same journey”
• The important difference between “community” as opposed to audience, following or marketplace
• The great value of having diversity within a likeminded group is in the different and interesting ways that community members apply the common concepts
• The “fluff paradox” (the theory that content that is easy to judge - such as kittens or outrage - rises to the surface)
• How content and course creators can now market themselves less on formal qualifications or years of experience, and more on how they make ideas and skills accessible to people who can’t yet do the thing we’re teaching
• That networking is increasingly moving towards safe, trusted, creator-led online communities, which in turn is transforming in-person conferences and events less into “networking meet-ups” and more into reunions, with the capacity for deeper connections
• How I use Mighty Networks to create community and support the members of my own 15 Minute Magic program
• Pricing your services and wares, and in particular understanding that people value and pay attention to the things they pay for (a difficult concept to remember when our own self-doubt tells us to keep our prices low or give things away for free)
• Gina’s top tips for building and facilitating a new community: 1. Fear of failure is the biggest challenge most people face, something we all need to recognise and overcome2. Go for quality rather than quantity in numbers of members3. Don’t get bogged down creating content: focus on creating results for your community4. Remember that community is about all members adding value to one another, not you preaching to an audience (“I’m not a sage on the stage, I’m on the side as a guide”)

• Find Gina in the Mighty Network hosts community
• Follow her on Twitter at @ginab
• The Mighty Networks platform
• Information on my 15 Minute Magic program

Where to find Sara:

• Sara’s website: meandorla.co.uk
• Sara on Instagram: @me_and_orla
• Sara on Twitter: @meandorla
• One to one business coaching with Sara
• The Insta Retreat

Why do you seem to lose followers every day on Instagram no matter what you do? In this episode, we look at this tactic people use to grow their accounts - why they do it, what it means, and why ultimately, it's a bad idea for your Instagram account.

Things we talked about:

• Trusting that you have enough, you are enough and that there'll be enough in the future and how that applies to you as a human
• Decluttering and finding your own style, starting with the external and slowly moving in
• Being diagnosed with cancer at 25 and having an existential crisis that kick-started a big lifestyle change
• Jess's realisation that if the worst happened she would have had so many regrets, that the situation shone a light on ways she was living her life
• The fundamentals of doing stuff well online don't really change depending on the platform, it's about having something worth saying, being a human and connecting
• We have access to all these amazing people online and we can feel like, finally, there's somewhere where we do belong, that you can share actual feelings and emotions with people over the internet
• Building relationships with people that you wouldn't otherwise and connecting with like-minded souls that typically
• We are what we consume, so having a huge de-clutter of social media is a good thing
• Minimalism and simplifying life comes down to learning how to use the word no and how that can be really hard
• Intentional use of social media through asking yourself how you feel about it and taking action to make it work for you
• People's perception that we have to be perfect online and that showing any sign of weakness or difficulties is going to turn people off or mean they are no longer be interested in us
• When it comes to sharing online people don't connect with perfectionism like they do with pain or being broken because that's real, that we're all broken and we're all in pain and that being honest and open leads to deeper connections
• Showing up online as you is the key to a consistent online presence, the energy that we put into something transfers to the other person, they can feel it in your work,
• That we have so much to learn about vulnerability, fear of not being liked can lead to us not showing up as ourselves
• How it's all an experiment, that taking small steps makes being more us easier
• That you end up being so bland if you try to please everyone and how it's so dishonest to yourself as a human to deny you likes and dislikes - don't be like white rice!
• How validation can be good especially if you haven't received much in your life, as it helps build confidence
• Learning to use the word no, that it's about choice and that both paths are available to you
• That we're told we're not enough by media and society, and that we can stop, ask a few questions, try be a bit braver, try be a bit more intentional
• Sustainability, that the planet can't sustain our need to buy things to make us feel better, that it's not happiness but fulfilment that's important and it's about asking ourselves the difficult questions to reach it
• The freedom to explore and experience the good and the bad of life and how we miss out on the full experience if we are living by the rules we have been told
• That we are working too hard, that people are struggling with the expectations and are going to the doctor to get medication to keep up, that it's broken, the fact that people are working themself sick
• Enough is a decision, it's a choice we get to make
• My IG live with the Good Ship Illustration
• Jessica's IG live book launch 

Where to find Jessica Rose Williams online:

• You can buy her book here
• You'll find her @jessicarosewilliams on Instagram
• On Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JessicaRoseWilliams
• And on her website

Where to find Sara:

• Sara’s website: meandorla.co.uk
• Sara on Instagram: @me_and_orla
• Sara on Twitter: @meandorla
• One to one business coaching with Sara
• The Insta Retreat is currently open for enrolment

Things we talked about:

• How it still doesn't feel quite normal to call herself a full-time artist and how that's something a lot of us struggle with
• Growing up with a parent who's an artist, the expectations that brings and how that comparison can make creating art feel overwhelming
• Finding your own path, however varied and wherever it takes you
• The feeling of not being good enough, how it can hold you back and the judgements we make of our own work
• How posting on Instagram helped Maria to believe in her work and grow in confidence, that sometimes we need the outside world to tell us we're doing a good job
• That throwing yourself into your passions can lead to burnout, especially when making career changes and having other responsibilities and that recovery can be slow and frustrating
• How burnout shows up and that working with your body can be hard especially in our brains and the guilt that comes with it
• That naps are part of the creative process, taking time away from your creative process feeds it
• Maria's watercolour course, which has run twice and is open for enrolment at the moment, it covers the technical side of things as well as your mindset when producing work
• How people have art supplies they are saving because they are afraid to use them and how people expect to be either creative or not, when actually it's a skill that can be developed
• That we can feel not worthy of using the fancy art supplies or that we're waiting, but what are we waiting for?
• The journeys we go on to become good at the things we do, the hours we spend practising and the impact
• How Maria's audience likes unexpected pieces of her work, that what you want to create and post and what your audience wants are two different things and how easy it would be to only create what people love but how that can be a trap
• That maybe Maria's art would be different if she was paid for painting and not for a piece of art, how if it didn't have to be marketable it might be different? And how that's hard to know
• How people can feel like an imposter, usually if they have had a different job and found or come back to the thing they're doing now, they want to take it seriously but they don't think they're allowed to and that technical skill can be the route of this
• Some people self-sabotage by talking quietly about their work, how we shouldn't be afraid to share about yourself because people want to know the person behind the post
• What's the big deal? If an Instagram post doesn't work then no one will see it so what's the problem with sharing it?
• How art changes over a lifetime, how it transforms into something new and that that's a good thing as you may do this for the rest of your life so if it stayed the same it would be terrible
• And that life can give you the perfect training, even if at the time you don't realise it.

Where to find ... online:

• Maria's website
• Maria's Instagram @mariawiggeart
• Maris's course  Creating Boldly Use code ”MEANDORLA” for a 20% discount
• You'll find her Pinterest here 
• And here's Episode 84, when Maria was last on the podcast

Where to find Sara:

• Sara’s website: meandorla.co.uk
• Sara on Instagram: @me_and_orla
• Sara on Twitter: @meandorla
• The Insta Retreat is currently open for enrolment
• One to one business coaching with Sara
• Sara mentions her new programme Sell Your S**t. It's coming soon - sign up to find out when here

Things we talked about:

• The difference between writing as a journalist and writing a book (it’s just so long!)
• But: you only get to publish your first book once! Accept the nerves, and appreciate the moment
• The ever-present contention and push-back received when one writes about race
• Natalie’s very wise words that reaction is the point of writing - and those reactions don’t have to be positive every time
• The value of the interviews in her book, and how she found and chose the right people to talk to
• Some of the stories and themes that came out of the interviews that surprised her
• The unique experiences that people of mixed race have when they walk through the world, and the impact this has on identity, parenting, privilege, and the experience of racism
• Parenting mixed race children (avoiding “colour-blindness” and those fetishised hashtags on social media)
• How white parents can open dialogues that empower their mixed race children to talk about racism
• The value of social media in creating connections, sharing ideas, and giving voice to minorities who are not always heard on mainstream platforms
• But on the flip side, the deeply disturbing fetishisation of mixed race people - particularly mixed babies - and “blackfishing” trends (changing your appearance through make-up and hair to appear as though you have black heritage)
• And Natalie’s rallying call to allies: “We need you to still care. We need that energy you had in the summer.”

Where to find Natalie online:

• Natalie's book, Mixed/Other
• Natalie is @nmozz on Twitter
• And also @nmozz on Instagram
• You'll find her writing on metro.co.uk, in the lifestyle section
• And here's the Guardian article I mentioned, "Why celebrating mixed race beauty has its problematic side"

Where to find Sara:

• The Insta Retreat - My tell-all, best selling course for Instagram creatives and business owners 
• One to one business coaching with Sara Tasker
• Sara’s website: meandorla.co.uk
• Sara on Instagram: @me_and_orla

Things we talked about:

• The trials and tribulations of being a “goat doula”
• Her new book Earthed, and its journey from concept, through to the transformation it underwent while she was writing, due to pressures from within (mental health) and without (a pandemic)
• How she actually managed to get it written, with all this going on
• The challenges and joys of writing autobiographically
• We dug into the need to be honest with ourselves about how we want our lives to look… and to recognise the good stuff in there, even if reality doesn’t match the fantasy
• And about lessons learned about life in pandemic times: acknowledge the difficult stuff, but don’t give up on your dreams
• We talked about the process of being diagnosed with ADHD (both of us), and how those diagnoses changed our lives – in many cases for the better
• The fear of not being taken seriously by your GP
• The way the lifestyles we choose can be – subconsciously – self-medication
• Rebecca talked about following the things that interested her, even if that meant changing careers, and finding herself subconsciously being drawn to a life that fed what she needed
• And (this is a big one, I think), we talked about loving your brain! Loving the way it works, and the things it can do, regardless of whether or not it conforms with the way society says “all” brains should work
• The importance of nature – and simple connections with animals – in keeping us grounded and helping us both give and receive unconditional love

Where to find Rebecca online:

• Rebecca’s book Earthed, which came out in May this year
• Her website: www.rebeccaschiller.co.uk
• Find Rebecca on Instagram: @rebecca.schiller

Where to find Sara:

• Sara’s website: meandorla.co.uk
• Sara on Instagram: @me_and_orla

Each week in the insta retreat we have 2 calls - one with a business/IG focus, and one like this, for mindset issues. Find out more and join in the fun at The Insta Retreat

Things we talked about:

• Why so many of us feel suspicious about new technologies, and how we can change the narrative
• The way artificial intelligence (AI) reads and interprets our interests and activities in order to deliver content to us… and the impact that content can have on us
• Approaching social media mindfully, by noticing the impact certain content has on our moods and behaviours, and carefully curating what we choose to consume
• The difference between active and passive behaviour on social media
• Technologies (other than social media) that Becca is loving… and thinking outside the box for ways in which technologies can improve our lives
• The often-fraught topic of addictions, in relation to using our devices and social media
• Thoughts about influencers and unhealthy comparisons
• Becca shared her top tips for healthy ways to live with technology
• And finally, I asked Becca to share what she would like the landscape of technology to look like in 10 years
• The Insta Retreat - My tell all, best selling course for Instagram creatives and business owners.

Where to find Becca online: 

• Becca’s new book, Screen Time (https://www.waterstones.com/book/screen-time/becca-caddy/9781788704212)
• Becca’s website: beccacaddy.com
• Becca on Twitter: @beccacaddy (https://twitter.com/beccacaddy)
• Becca on Instagram: @beccacaddy (https://www.instagram.com/beccacaddy/)

Where to find Sara:

• Sara’s website: meandorla.co.uk
• Sara on Instagram: @me_and_orla

Things we talked about:

• Allowing ourselves to feel good when things actually go well
• The synchronicity of things happening when they’re supposed to (and when you’re ready)
• Defining success for ourselves (and it’s not always what we assume it might be)
• How lockdown taught Katherine to create her own “sense of safety” following the success of her book, by creating courses to shore up her income
• Finding ways to own your own story, message and brand
• How Katherine’s approach to Instagram evolved from “sharing pictures” to “telling stories”
• Katherine’s experience of coming back from “an anxious pattern of behaviour” around social media
• The quiet activism in the premise of Katherine’s book, Wintering, which is all about periods of life in which we feel cut off from the rest of the world
• Not always having to be “on” and “up.” As Katherine says, “The vision of us being always up discounts useful wonderful things like thinking, reflecting…”
• How we’ve all learned things about ourselves during lockdown, and the way our priorities (and what we are willing to accept) have changed
• Being diagnosed as autistic, quite late in life, allowed Katherine to make the personal changes she needed: “How to meet my own needs, rather than how to solve me”
• The experience of living life as a neurodivergent person
• Finding your right people online (if you lose followers after sharing your true self, then you’ve lost the right followers - you don’t want them)
• And this piece of wisdom from Katherine, for anyone who identifies with our “neurodivergent” conversation: "Your identification is yours. It doesn’t need the approval of a doctor or your mum.”
• The Insta Retreat - My tell all, best selling course for Instagram creatives and business owners.

Where to find Katherine online:

• Katherine’s website, katherine-may.com [https://katherine-may.co.uk] where you will also find her books
• Katherine on Twitter: @_katherine_may_ [https://twitter.com/_katherine_may_]
• Katherine on Instagram: @katherinemay_ [https://www.instagram.com/katherinemay_/]
• Katherine’s podcast, The Wintering Sessions [https://katherine-may.co.uk/winteringsessions]
• The True Stories Writing School [https://www.truestorieswritingschool.com], home of Katherine’s online courses

Books we mention in this episode:

• Wintering: the power of rest and retreat in difficult times [https://bookshop.org/books/wintering-the-power-of-rest-and-retreat-in-difficult-times/9780593189481]
• Electricity of Every Living Thing: a woman’s walk in the wild to find her way home [https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-electricity-of-every-living-thing-a-woman-s-walk-in-the-wild-to-find-her-way-home/9781409172512]
• The 52 Seductions [https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-52-seductions/9780755362530]

Where to find Sara

• meandorla.co.uk
• Instagram - @me_and_orla
• My website designer - stories studio

I first met deep-dive master coach Katie Pulsifer when she was my instructor for certification at The Life Coach School. I recall being pretty intimidated. I’ve never been sky-diving or tried a bungee jump, but I’m pretty sure the adrenaline rush is comparable to coaching in front of Katie for immediate feedback in front of a group. 🪂

Katie’s recently gone solo, after many years working for a large coaching school, and as we caught up over Zoom I was struck by how her open, beginner’s mindset to social media is bringing so much ease and fun to her work. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all recapture a little bit of that early magic when we’re showing up on the internet?I asked Katie to come on the podcast to tell us more.

Things we talk about in this episode:

* How Katie found her niche and why it resonates with her deeply

* Building a values-led business, and being ok with not doing things like everybody else

* The mindset shift and learning curve in switching from employee to entrepreneur

* Using Instagram, Facebook, newsletters and Substack to grow an audience in 2024

* The evolution of coaching techniques, including the self-coaching model, and how Katie adapts them to best serve her clients

* The importance of trusting the process, being present, and allowing growth to unfold naturally

Links we mention in this episode:

Katie’s upcoming Mind at Ease masterclassKatie’s website, Facebook and InstagramThe Self Coaching ModelBev Aron’s Deep Dive Coaching Certification

WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT 

• Anna and I discuss the difference between the business of writing, and the writing of writing
• The fear that so many of us feel of showing up, and putting ourselves out there or “being seen to try”. Anna says this is “straight-up embarrassment,” and we feel this way whenever we step outside the norm (even if we are embarrassed for positive reasons, like receiving a compliment)
• But in addition to this, she says that what holds us back, post-pandemic, is “very low emotional reserves.” All of us have a lower baseline of resilience which makes pitching scarier, and rejection harder to take
• Recognising when you’re in burnout (and remembering that you don’t have to have all the answers before you’re allowed to help anyone else!)
• Defining freelancing and the many roles that freelancers need to play. Learning to be both boss and employee, and knowing when to shift between these modes
• Seeking a balance between working ON the business versus IN the business. Anna says she spends 20 percent of her time actually writing… but she’s working on increasing this!
• The bonkers (Anna’s word but I wholeheartedly agree!) system that rewards creative people for doing a good job by making them managers - a completely different skill-set and a role that a lot of creative people don’t actually aspire to take on
• Working with people in your business from a place of collaboration, rather than management
• Getting comfortable with sales (and moving on from the door-to-door salesman stereotype)
• “Dirty capitalism” versus “clean capitalism” (in other words, the conflict-that-shouldn’t-be-a-conflict of doing the right thing while also making money)

LINKS WE MENTIONED

• Anna’s book, “You’re the Business: How to Build a Successful Career When You Strike Out Alone”
• My first chat with Anna, on “Life Lessons for Freelancers” -
• The book Anna mentions, “A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload” by Cal Newport
• The quote I was trying to remember is attributed to Ellevest co-founder and former Citigroup CFO Sallie Krawcheck, who said, “About the most powerful thing you can do to help a society and economy is get more money in the hands of women.” Hear hear!

WHERE TO FIND ANNA ONLINE 

• Anna’s podcast, Is this working?  Which she co-hosts with Tiffany Philippou
• Anna on Twitter (she’s @annacod)

Sally is joining me for weekly bonus coaching calls in my upcoming Insta Retreat class. Enrol now at meandorla.co.uk

Sally’s free program, “stop people pleasing in 5 days”

Sally's Website

The Life Coach School

Sally's Instagram @sallyhardie_coach

My Instagram

If you want to know more about my tell all Instagram class The Insta Retreat follow this link

To read my companion blog post 'What the F is up with Instagram Hashtags?' follow this link 

WHAT WE TALK ABOUT

* The often-underestimated importance of being “politely persistent”

* Starting a blog and Instagram before you become an expert (practising in public), as a way to find clients after you graduate

* The way Kimberly used Instagram not only as a photography portfolio but also as a way to train her writing voice ahead of writing her book, alongside her blog writing

* The value of receiving immediate feedback on Instagram to hone our marketing skills: we immediately learn what works and what doesn’t, based on people’s responses

* A burgeoning shift of women taking up space and creating businesses, that is reshaping our ideas of what it is to be a leader, what a CEO is, and what “sales and marketing” should look like

* The historic under-valuing of creativity in the mainstream, and particularly in business (creativity is not perceived as productivity, and productivity is how we measure our worth), and how creative people (often women) are forging important changes to that attitude

* Kimberly’s fabulous words, like a rallying cry, which someone needs to put on Pinterest! “Creativity is joy. Creativity is being alive.”

* The highs and lows of pitching a book to publishers and agents (and recovering from rejection)

* Using our public platforms to hold ourself accountable to pursuing our creative dreams

* The awful summer of 2020, and Kimberly’s personal and professional turning point after reading the rather grim statistics around the number of women of colour who get book deals, and what they get paid…

* The importance of investing in ourselves (even to putting our money where our mouths are!)

* The nuts and bolts of self-publishing… beautifully (and being the CEO of your book)

* Kimberly’s advice for anyone who is seeking the courage to follow their dreams

LINKS

My Instagram class The Insta Retreat

* Kimberly’s Instagram, @thelittleplantation 

* Her book, Creative Food Photography 

* Her podcast, Eat, Capture, Share 

* Kimberly’s blog, with lots of resources on self publishing and food photography 

* Sara’s podcast interview with Fiona Humberstone 

* For self-publishers, Kimberly recommends The Book Launch Show podcast with Tim Grahl

* More about Clubhouse, a live, audio social media app, currently invitation only 

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Ida on TikTok 
• Ida on Instagram 
• Ida on Youtube
• Ida’s lumberjack TikTok 
• Clubhouse 
• My Instagram Class, The Insta Retreat 
• Me on Instagram – @me_and_orla

Times for our Clubhouse chat

16:00 GMT

11:00 AM EST

08:00 AM PST

04:00 AM Sydney

• Multi-layered, multi-hyphenated careers and what to call yourself if you’re asked at a party
• Being led by curiosity, the value of deep-dive research, and the joy of starting something new
• Mel’s early career in the not-for-profit charity sector, and the turning point she reached that led her to galvanise a group of volunteers and ultimately, to co-create Freedom Acts, a not-for-profit group aimed at ending modern slavery
• How pregnancy can be an impetus for both creativity and personal rebellion
• Doing something new, how to “be a learner at every stage,” and how to get things done despite feeling totally unqualified
• Pivoting careers, self-doubt and self-worth wobbles when it comes to moving from charitable work to for-profit work, the desire to “do good,” and the realisation that roles, and work, can be “both-and” rather than “either-or”
• Finding your ‘ideal community’ on Instagram, and building space to make that community part of your offline life
• Starting an “accidental business”
• Allowing your values to drive your business, or the work you do in the world
• The inner work that goes into making peace with charging for your services, skills and time
• That women need to have more stakes and autonomy in economics, finance and making money… and that we are to be trusted
• Navigating the world of online influence
• The concept of being influential as an improvement (what it means to be “improvingly influential”)
• Mel’s research into what people consistently find “influential” in both social and personal contexts (three core pillars of intuition, integrity, and impact)
• The value of finding and maintaining our own personal boundaries when sharing online
• The very human desire to “be seen” - and giving ourselves permission to admit this and pursue it

• Mel’s website
• Mel’s business, Assembly
• Mel on Instagram, @melwiggins
• Freedom Acts
• Sara’s podcast episode “Using Instagram for Charity Fundraising, with Creating for Good”
• Sara’s story in Stylist magazine: “How becoming the breadwinner changed my relationship with my husband”
• Tara Mohr (coach and author)

• The evolving trends of Instagram
• How our fears and doubts stay the same, no matter how the platform evolves
• The risks and costs of buying too heavily into one trend
• Why I'm always wary of one-size-fits-all solutions online
• The importance of staying connected to your own creative vision and voice
• How to use trends for growth without getting blown off-path
• The importance of building meaningful connections with your audience/customers

• My Instagram
• My Insta Retreat Class
• An example of my window photos
• My Vodafone Business Story 
• My upcoming Lunch N Learn session in growing your Instagram, with Vodafone Business UK and Enterprise Nation

• The world changed between the time Skye wrote this book and when it was published. We talk about how she faced the challenge of publishing a book about feeding the people you love, when you’re not allowed to be with them. (Spoiler alert: being apart from the people we love makes us value those times we do have together, even more)
• The creative ways we have responded to lockdown, finding unique (safe) ways to gather, and cooking with limited ingredients
• How lockdown is impacting our children, but not necessarily in the same way that it is affecting us
• The positive ways in which lockdown encourages us to pause for meals and enjoy eating together
• Ready-chopped onions!
• The difference between simply cooking to one recipe, versus pulling an entire meal together
• How truly universal food can be (“everyone eats - if we don’t, we die!”) and the myriad cultural, historical and aspirational elements we bring to our cooking that make it so very personal
• How to set up two kitchens in two different countries
• Our guilty food confessions
• And the market for someone to invent a ready-made choux pastry!

• Skye’s new book, A Table for Friends
• Skye’s first book, A Table in Venice
• Hive online (where Skye suggests you can buy her book - and others - while supporting independent sellers)
• Skye on Instagram: @skyemcalpine
• Skye’s range of tableware for Anthropologie
• Me on Instagram - @me_and_orla

• The business idea that grew out of Maressa’s own creative slump
• How important it is to value creativity (Maressa says it’s the uniqueness that makes us human) even if the people around us - and society in general - don’t recognise the value
• The challenge of finding the balance on Instagram (and elsewhere) between “what I want to share” and “what people want”
• Developing an Instagram account that creates space for you to be a whole person, and that can evolve alongside your interests
• How talking to camera on video became a way for Maressa to make her content more accessible to people with visual and hearing disabilities
• The way in which Maressa uses her platform to talk about anti-racism, in a way that started out from a need to share and evolved into a process of very personal and vulnerable education
• Talking to our children about racism (“we need to see colour in order to see privilege”)
• Maressa’s Patreon space: why she started it, how she structures it, and how creating a paid space enabled Maressa to start valuing herself, and helped members of her community likewise value themselves
• The difference between consciously selling, versus sharing with genuine excitement about what we are doing
• Parenting and creativity, and how Maressa models the creative life to her children

• Maressa on Instagram: @maressamade
• Mareesa’s Patreon community
• Maressa's Maker Affirmations series
• Some of Maressa's Anti Racism videos: here, here and here
• Nova Reid's HA podcast episode “Anti-Racism Work for Well-Meaning Liberals”
• Nova Reid's Instagram
• The Insta Retreat

• Why you don't need a huge audience online to be successful
• How to get organic reach on Instagram without having to pay for ads
• Photography for Instagram, and how it differs from conventional photography
• Pivoting your business, and why it pays to put yourself at the heart of your brand
• The difference between being a freelancer and an entrepreneur/business owner
• Promoting a book during lockdown, and the unexpected benefits of “marketing for introverts” when almost everything has to happen online
• How the workplace might look on the other side of COVID
• Caring for your mental health as a freelancer, and recognising that mental health goes beyond mindset
• Relaxing the idea of rigid timetables, and embracing routines that work for our health and happiness
• The value of having a person outside our situation, such as a coach, help us recognise and overcome our limiting beliefs
• Managing your finances, including building a financial buffer, pricing yourself, planning for holidays, and avoiding the limitations of exchanging time for money
• Fiona’s experience delivering a donation-based course, giving away content, and the balance of making support and content accessible to all, while still running a profitable business

• Tickets to Fiona's virtual Book Launch with me, October 1st 2020
• Fiona's podcast, "Out of Office"
• Her book “Out of Office” on Amazon
• Her Instagram: @fionalikestoblog
• Fiona's website, fionalikestoblog.com 
• Her Twitter profile, @fionalikes
• Our first podcast episode together, here on Hashtag Authentic
• My Instagram Class, The Insta Retreat 

I’m sharing something a little different today… the results of my ‘podcast affair’ with my Aussie bestie, the gorgeous Ms Keeley Rees . Bonded over our love of storytelling and creativity, Keeley and I and came together to create The Substack Soirée - a gathering of resources, classes and a shiny new podcast, in the hope of passing some of that passion along.I chose this very first episode to share here with you on Hashtag Authentic because I really think the fundamentals we talk through - which we’re jokingly calling our ‘commandments’ - are applicable to every and any platform out there online.

So, whether you’re Substack-curious, have no intention of ever joining Substack or are a self-confessed Substa-holic, I hope this episode can offer you support, strength and encouragement for showing your creative side online.If you want to hear more from me and Keeley, be sure to Subscribe to The Substack Soirée and to the SSS podcast in your favourite podcast app.

PS - Our special Winter Substack class is now enrolling, until Monday November 27th! Check out all the details on how you can join us here.

• Why we get tempted to make something new instead of doubling down on selling what we've already created
• What to do when you think you've run out of marketing ideas
• Why our brains like to keep us from doing things that are new
• The benefits of creating and selling a long-term product
• Lessons learned from maintaining a bestselling online class for 4+ years
• The difference between when your product is the problem vs when it's your marketing or offer

• My Insta Retreat Class
• My Instagram
• My Twitter

• Nova's career path through acting, singing and psychotherapy, and how she came to anti-racism work
• Nova's wedding blog and the lack of diversity in the wedding industry
• Nova's work educating white people about white supremacy
• The boundaries and safeguards Nova has to put in place due to the trauma of her work
• The origins of racism and white supremacy in the UK and beyond
• Why we need to do the work personally, and not just put the blame of white supremacy on big institutions
• The practical work we need to take to dismantle white supremacy together
• Why silence is so dangerous, and how the powerful majority needs to step up
• Why Nova believes holding compassion is vital to facilitate change
• Screwing up on your anti-racism journey, and accepting feedback along the way
• How the current political turmoil might be a necessary catalyst for change
• How relating racism to feminism can help some people begin to understand the work
• Nova's personal healing journey, and how trauma can be carried through generations
• Why Nova won't be doing this work long term (so grab your chance to work with her now!)

• Nova's website
• Nova's new podcast, Conversations With Nova Reid
• Nova's Instagram @novareidofficial
• Nova's @novareidoffic
• Nova's excellent anti-racism courses for individuals and small businesses
• Nova's TED talk - "How you have the power to change the world"
• Nova's Courageous Courage Class for allies
• Courageous Courage for BME women
• Nova's "pick my brain" consultancy sessions
• The Bridge Retreat

• What's great, and not-so-great, about conventional art education
• The balance between profitability and individuality, and where mainstream advice often goes wrong
• Creating an online class for the first time, and building a mailing list
• Why it's so hard, and so important to get to grips with your own creative voice
• The magic of imperfection in all things

• The Good Ship Illustration
• Helen Stephens
• Katie Chappell
• Tania Willis

• Why being truly indistractable isn't really the aim
• “A mistake repeated more than once is a decision” ― Paulo Coelho
• Why your goal should be growth, not perfection
• Why we can't rely on willpower and self control
• The antidote to impulsiveness
• How time-boxing your calendar gives you freedom
• Why we can't blame our phones for our distraction
• How to stay indistractable when spending time with our kids (even when it's boring!)
• The power of changing our thinking from 'have too' to 'choose too'
• The tyranny of the to-do list
• Being indistractable with ADHD
• How to keep to a schedule, even when we don't want to
• Getting started on a task
• Why accountability is key to staying focused
• How to turn distraction into laser sharp focus

• The Flock Community - get notified
• My 15 Minute Magic Class - enrolling now
• My Instagram, Twitter and website
• Nir's previous conversation on Hashtag Authentic (episode 82)
• Nir's Instagram and Twitter
• Nir's book, Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life
• Nir's website, Nir & Far
• Hooked, Nir's first book
• Nir's free schedule maker
• Focusmate  accountability partners

• Women for Women's #MessageForMySister campaign
• How Angelica started About Time Magazine and built her readership
• How the title survives online when so many others have folded
• Finding mentors, and how sometimes the best mentors can be people you've never met
• The value of meeting fellow entrepreneurs and creative business owners
• How the difference in experience affects the terms used for women in business
• Why true entrepreneur spirit doesn't need to look like Richard Branson
• Approaching business with 'playful curiosity', and why joy is vital in what you seek to establish
• Angelica's upcoming book
• Starting a business straight out of University
• The need for women-only events, and why wellbeing and business should both be on the agenda
• The challenges of establishing and organising a large event
• Developing the skills to run a team
• Angelica's advice for someone just starting out

• #Messagetomysister from Women for Women
• About Time Magazine
• #SheStartedIt Live (13-14 March 2020)
• Angelica's Instagram @jellymalin
• Angelica's Twitter @jellymalin
• You're not Listening - Kate Murphy
• Moody Month - App
• 15 Minute Magic - enrolling this month
• My Instagram, Twitter and website