I don't know how many of you use Facebook, but there has been a trend recently where people posted their first ever Facebook profile Picture along side their most recent profile picture to see how they've aged. Well I thought i'd do a bit of a twist on this trend. SO here is my first ever Instagram post along side my latest one (I am currently writing this draft on Jan. 21) to show my progress.
Almost two years to the day and obviously VERY different vibes lol. I cheated a little bit in that this is technically my second photo ever posted to my KGC Instagram, but the first one was off my original logo. I wanted however to show not only readers, but myself the progress I have made since starting this journey.
Everyone starts somewhere. As stated in my first Meet Your Maker post I didn't go into this Etsy/Instagram journey with any plan in mind. I was simply looking to share my makes with the world. I was not very good at taking photos, lived in a very dark apartment and didn't have a goal in mind...which is all totally fine! For me personally my love for the business side of things and making things aesthetically pleasing developed as I went along. In the beginning I posted horrible quality photos very sporadically.There are definitely month long plus gaps between my Instagram posts from early 2017. I pretty much posted a few things and then left it alone. It was not until August of 2017 that I started posting more regularly (side note- It was also in the fall of 2017 when I decided to try my hand at faux fur pom pom making!)
Once I got more into the swing of things I started posting more regularly, but still not the best quality. I had started putting more effort in though and what is interesting is looking back there are definitely photos that I remember taking and thinking "this is such a great photo"....that is not the case in comparison to my more recent posts, but in the moment I felt great about it. If you look through my feed you can 100% see progress along the way. I think the most of my progress has happened in the last 6 months. I have become more interested in mobile photography and have put more time/effort into actually taking better quality photos. How have I made this happen? I will get into more details in a later post on my mobile photography tips.
Now that first photo received to this day a whopping total of 10 likes over 2 years lol. The other photo (which is of my latest pattern, the pixie stix beanie *shameless self promo*) has been posted currently as i'm writing this for 4 hours and has 50 likes. I know to some 50 likes in 4 hours is still low. I average around 100 likes per photo, but that is 10 times the amount of likes the first picture got in 2 years....
Again I know to some that is low, but to me that is personally impressive.
All of that being said likes are not everything. Today we get so wrapped up in social media engagement, follows, likes ect that we don't ever take the time to just look at our progress, not comparing ourselves to other people but comparing ourselves to well ourselves. I think this is the first time I have actually looked back at my entire Instagram feed and I have to say i'm proud. If you told me two years ago i'd have ~1000 Instagram followers, selling faux fur pom poms, designing patterns AND writing a blog I would have laughed hysterically. Am I quote unquote successful?....to me the answer is yes because I have made progress, I have done things I never could have imagined and I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone. Am I successful in comparison to some larger brands..no, but that is ok by me. Yes there are days I get wrapped up in the toxic mental state that social media puts us all in...why do I not have more followers, why did that picture not get as many likes, why an I not selling as many patterns this month ect...but honestly I try to do my best to just do me and not compare myself to others. I know... I know... I know that is easier said sometimes then done but at the end of the day I'm happy with my progress and it is more then I could have imagined. I'm content with the way my business/brand is growing. At the end of the day you need to be happy with your own progress.
I encourage you if you have not done so recently to go look through some old projects, photo's, social media posts and see how much you have grown! Also try and do the same for others. Look through makers social media that you admire and see their progress and where they came from. I think collectively in 2019 we need to work on celebrating each others progress and victories as opposed to comparing ourselves to others and being envious of their strides.
So in conclusion celebrate the progress you have made in whatever journey you are on and reach out and celebrate others accomplishments as well. Every one can use a "good job" *high five* once in a while :)
-KGC
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