Do you have a dream or vision to create an influencer profile or to bring a small business to the online world?
Not sure where to begin? Scared to step out and give it a go?
Allow me to walk you through my thoughts, experiences and top 5 steps for bringing an online dream to life! Feel free to listen to the podcast on Spotify Or watch it on The Drumming Barista YouTube or keep scrolling to read the podcast transcript. I have made a couple of alterations to the transcript and made it a little more personable and easy to read.
Welcome everybody to the first episode of Coffee Break, here on The Drumming Barista substack.
Now, let me begin by being a little bit of an arse, I suppose and giving you the answer that nobody wants to hear. That answer for how do you bring a dream to life? Is simple and it's in the words of Nike, and it is:
Just Do It.
Now, I know. Such an easy answer right? But at the end of the day, that's, it Just Do It. What is holding you back? Putting it directly.
The thing that is holding you back is, You!
Sean, The Drumming Barista
Now, I've said the following statement to a lot of different people along the way and during my life, but that statement is:
The hardest part of wanting to turn a passion into reality is getting over ourselves and just doing it.
I know that's probably quite deep. So allow me to open it up just a little bit more and then add a little bit more clarity to it.
So what I mean by getting over ourselves, getting over human instincts to just be like, ‘Oh, I'm not sure if I want to do that. There's so much involved. It takes up so much of my time. There are so many other people doing it. So I'll just let them do it.’
When you have parked all those thoughts the next stage is then getting out of your comfort zone because it's not easy being in front of a camera. It's not easy talking to a camera when you're just by yourself because you feel really stupid and you just feel as if so many people are looking at you, and those people can hear you, Even though there's no one else in the room haha.
Once you are past the above second stage. It is time to realise that it isn’t going to be instant fame? I know that social media platforms sell instant fame to you, but that’s because they can and this is how they get you to come over to their platform.
Two words for you, Commitment and Perseverance!
I want to give a shout-out and talk about a guy named Stan Bicknell for a moment.
He is an incredible drummer, a face of the global coffee industry, personality, influencer, super nice guy and all-around legend. He is a big inspiration to me through coffee, drumming, working hard, staying motivated and bringing online dreams to life. Heck, this podcast right here is inspired by the one he created with his good mate Stevie Cat JNR - Pocket & Chops.
He published a post on Instagram a couple of weeks back that stopped me in my tracks that simply reads:
Time + Effort = Results.
Let me just say that one more time - Time + Effort = Results.
Stan Bicknell - Instagram.
This hit me big time, as at the time of seeing this post I was in the beginning stages of brainstorming for this particular episode/article. I reached out to him and asked if it would be all good for me to share this and speak to it and he said totally.
What I want to say about this is that Dreams unfortunately don't happen overnight. You have to put the hard yards in. You have to put the time in like Stan commented. And you also have to put yourself into positions that you don't want to be in and move into new positions that you didn't see yourself being in.
I know this is much easier said than done. But, take it from me as I have been there done that. It is scary and nerve-racking, but, When you step out and it works in your favour the feeling of success is second to none and the confidence boost is sensational.
One last point here that I am going to end this section with is FAILURE! The dreaded word right?
Nobody likes failure.
Nobody wants to fail.
Nobody wants to be seen as a failure.
Nobody wants to be called a failure.
Nobody wants to start something that fails. But failure is a good thing. You're not going to smash it the first time. You're not going to find the winning recipe or the winning formula the first time. Failure makes you stronger. And the moment that you start to understand that and start to realise that the failures aren't scary anymore, the failures become little stepping stones to wins.
So allow me to give you what I feel are my five steps in helping you bring a dream to life.
Now, first and foremost, this is really important.
Everything begins with a vision. So create a vision board or a mind map for that vision that you have in mind, write down everything, and I mean everything, big or small. Spend a couple of days reading over it, refining it, and honing in on the niche that you know and you can see yourself being in. And then once you're happy with the time that you've spent looking through the vision board, the mind map, and honing in on what your niche is, now it's time to:
Create a logo. Or if you're not going to go down the logo route - find a picture that you like of yourself, one that you feel represents you the best.
And this is an important one. Is to create a brief description, like a paragraph description explaining what you as an influencer or what your business is all about. Now please check your grammar. There are so many social media pages or businesses that run a social media page where the grammar sucks and it sucks when it's in the description or the bio because that little paragraph is so important for you as a person, as an influencer and as a business.
How many times have you searched a business on social media, came across them and noticed spelling mistakes in the bio or about me page and gone Nah, not buying from them they can't even spell properly?
Humans are visual people, so make sure your spelling is correct. I am going to go out there and say that correct spelling and good grammar equals sales!!
So please, if you are not very good at writing or not very good at grammar, but you know somebody that is, please seek their help.
And now we are getting into the juicy bits. The good bits! The part where everybody wants to be. And that is,Create a Social Media Profile. No matter who or what you are you 100% need a social media profile. An online presence is key in this day and age, most people are online more nowadays than they are out and about on the streets.
To begin with just set up the profile, whatever platform you want to be on and start following relevant pages that are similar to you so that you can gain inspiration from them. Then create a couple of draft posts from the inspiration that you have gained. But please make sure that the content you are sharing, looks, sounds and feels like you. There's nothing worse than going on to someone's social media profile if they're an influencer. And it's all just so similar to a particular person that I may or may not follow or have seen on Instagram or social media before.
So please make sure it has you and your business at the centre of the content.The final step is the one where everyone wants to be. Once you are ready and you are happy with everything. You are happy with the vision board, the mind map, your logo, your picture, your brief description and your social media drafts if you have any?
It is time to hit publish and get your vision, your dream, your social media profile and your business out to the world.
In the beginning, your social media page, business flow, social media flow, digital marketing, and content creation may not look amazing, but just be proud of yourself. I am a strong believer in you learn by creating, so get creating.
Create as much content as you can, learn from what your content is doing and please use analytics. Most if not all social media platforms will have analytics built-in and they are a fantastic free tool. They give you a snapshot of what your followers are up to and how well your content is doing.
Like any good business owner will tell you, numbers don't lie.
Find your voice, find your style, find your look, lock it down and make sure to put yourself into the heart of everything you do. By doing this you are on to an absolute win and you cannot wrong. I promise you!
So there we go guys, I hope you have enjoyed the first instalment of ‘Coffee Break’ here on Substack and the Home Barista Podcast for Home Baristas. If you have please let me know by leaving a comment below or dropping me a dm over on Instagram.
Thank you for tuning in all you beautiful coffee lovers and I will see you in the next episode/article.