I’m gonna’ let you in on a lil’ secret…
I HATE SOCIAL MEDIA.
The endless game of chasing the algorithm, the temptation to tie your value as a human being to how many likes and views your video gets, and the barrage of everyone else’s highlight reels. Truthfully, if social media wasn’t a major part of my business, I wouldn’t have it at all. No business accounts, no personal accounts. I’d switch to a flip-phone and call it good.
But that’s not reality. Social media is a core part of my business, and without it I would never have any hope of building this into something financially and creatively sustainable. But while I can’t avoid social media entirely, I CAN set BOUNDARIES around it… and I need to.
In a recent newsletter and YouTube video, I announced my plans to launch my first storybook this year: Ivy and the Special Somethings. My hope is to be able to launch the pre-orders in October, but in order to do that, I need to kick myself into gear. I have around fifteen more illustrations I want to create for it, I need to edit the story and fix the plot holes, and I need to format the whole thing (which, as you know, is not my cup of tea 😅.)
Lately, I’ve been spending too much time on social media between making business posts that aren’t all that fruitful and personal scrolling which is DEFINITELY not fruitful. What I need to do is cut out the noise and cut out the tasks that aren’t in alignment with this goal. So, for the month of August, I’m ditching social media.
Well… kind of…
I’ll still be sharing a video every other week on YouTube and sharing my art on Patreon (if you hate Instagram too, come join me on Patreon! It’s very close-knit and cozy!) But I’ll be cutting out Instagram and excessive personal scrolling on YouTube. I do love to learn and YouTube is a great place for that, but when the watchlist pulls me away from my goals, it’s not a good use of my time.
My hope for setting these boundaries is that I’ll be able to make some pretty big strides in my storybook process and set myself up for a successful launch in October!