Becoming a Content Creator–How did I get here?
BACK ON THE BLOG–LEAVING HOME AFTER COLLEGE AND BECOMING AN INFLUENCER
HELLO! LONG TIME NO BLOG. I missed writing to you and have so much to tell you about if you’re still following me on this site. I’m so happy you’re here reading this and I’m excited to catch up with you because wow–a lot has changed. If you are new here, hi–my name is Shelby and I am now an adventure and lifestyle content creator. Before becoming an influencer/content creator, I use to run this blog on the side for funsies during my college years. I wrote about advice for students and when I could, about my adventures and whereabouts. I hope to bring this blog back and allow it to be more adventure focused as that has become my passion AND full-time career. 🙂
This blog has opened the door for me to get into content creation. When I first made the move 3,000 across the country to Truckee, California in the fall of 2019, I tried to occasionally update my whereabouts. Three months into my move, the world shut down and I lost my two jobs. I lived alone, didn’t have a family to go move back to in the area, and had to figure it out mostly on my own. Legally in California, I had some time to not pay my rent until I got my feet on the ground again which definitely helped. My mom and dad graciously covered my groceries. Given prior health concerns, I was too scared to work another customer service job during the first six months of the shitshow. Getting ahold of unemployment was impossible for six months, so I had absolutely no financial assistance (minus my mom’s help with groceries) and absolutely no emergency savings as a ski bum with two customer service jobs–living in one of the most expensive towns in the country.
COVID has shifted all of our lives in ways we never expected. For me, it was a huge blessing. I want to state that I am fully aware of my privilege. I know that even though I lost my sources of income, I still was able to keep my home and pay back my rent, and have financial help for groceries.
With all of the extra time I had on my hands, I decided to incorporate a morning routine to help ease my stress. I’d wake up, meditate, recite affirmations, read a ton, and spend every morning in the outdoors. I realized regardless of my situation, I was still very fortunate; I wasn’t going to become homeless since I could pay back my rent at a later date, I was privileged enough for my family to pay for my groceries, and I still lived in one of the most beautiful places in the world. And at this moment, I finally had endless time to appreciate where I lived. I wasn’t working 60-70 hours a week like I did all winter. I had all of the time in the world to read, write, meditate, hike, and bike around town.
One night while scrolling on the community Facebook page, a life coach submitted a post offering a free session to anyone in need during this time. I immediately messaged her as seeing a life coach was something I’ve wanted to do since the time I was ten. Susan and I immediately connected on our 1-1 call, and she offered to coach me more and said I could pay her back so we could continue to work together. She helped me work through so many doubts but the biggest one was about being seen online. She asked me about what I wanted to do when I was a child. I responded and told her that I had a dream of traveling in an old Volkswagon bus along the California coast and I wanted to be a Youtuber. She asked me why I wasn’t trying to become a YouTuber anymore, and that is when I realized that I felt like it was unrealistic. Without her help, I wouldn’t have been able to work through my insecurities to be where I am now.
This shift–COVID, having the time to brainstorm, journal, and get a life coach was what allowed me to be curious and experiment with my pipe dream.
Like everyone else, I downloaded TikTok during the pandemic. My first upload was a stupid dance video. I was embarrassed to post it, but I figured I’d have nothing to lose by playing around on this app. Eventually, I started posting about what was helping me during the lockdown–journaling, reading, meditation, and affirmations. One day, a guy named Adrian Brambila popped up on my FYP. He talked about how he and his wife have traveled for the past several years while working remotely. I was moved and wanted to learn how he did it. I asked him if he would meet me for coffee since he was in the Tahoe area and to my surprise he said yes. The next day, we met at a local coffee shop and I told him about my plans of wanting to become a Youtuber. He gave me so much advice and one of the biggest things he said was to post on TikTok–ten times a day. I listened to him and posted ten times for the next six months, as well as posting once a week on Youtube and every day on Instagram.
That summer I booked my first content creation job for a backpack brand. I was thrilled because they were paying me $350. I agreed to make a blog post, advertise it on Pinterest, post on Instagram, post on my stories, upload a Youtube video, and post a TikTok. I also gave them 10 photos for them to OWN. These were the types of packages I created to get my foot in the door. If you don’t know, that is SUPER cheap. But, I didn’t have the money to pay a creator coach or creator friends at the time to learn from. I had to figure out what to charge the hard way.
In order to make content creation work, I worked at a ski shop, babysat, and did Instacart until last year. Last year I was able to start making enough to do “influencer” marketing and affiliate marketing full-time. I also decided to coach part-time as well to help other women learn my craft without learning the hard way as I did!
A year ago, I also met the most amazing man, and if you follow me on any of my social media platforms, you already know. But we’ve spent the past year renovating a 1971 Dolphin camper. We have dreams of living in it full-time once it’s completely redone. For now, we travel in it part-time and boy, is it allowing me to live my childhood dream.
While I might not just be a Youtuber and may be more of a TikToker, I am creating video content online. And while I may not be in a Volkwagon bus, I am in a vintage camper traveling around California as I dreamed of. It’s funny how when we grow up, we relearn to become our childhood selves. I think that’s our greatest purpose–to not “grow up” but simply relearn what we already knew we were.
To follow more of the adventures:
TikTok: Shelbssays
Instagram: Shelbssays
