134: Showing Up as Your Whole Self on Social Media

My friends, Happy Tuesday. I have a shorty episode for you today and it's one that I really end up talking about all the time. And so I'm going to read you a question that was submitted in our membership this week and I'll give you my answer. But it's one question that we have discussed so many times. I think it's going to be helpful for you as well.

I'm Bonnie Christine and this is where all things creativity, design, business, marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most creative and impactful work of my life.

But when I first set out to

become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer. Fast forward to today. I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and experience the same success. I'm here to help you spend your

life doing something that lights you up.

I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable. Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast.

So here's the question. It's about social media. I am a multi passionate creative. I love to paint, design patterns, sew, etc. All the advice I've heard about Instagram is that you need to curate your feed as to not confuse people. But this leaves out a lot of who I am. Is it possible to have a good social media account where you're focusing on more than one thing? Okay, so have you ever felt this? My goodness. As creatives, we are all so multifaceted and I think that's the very definition of a creative. Of course we are going to evolve and pivot and have new interests. And so the question is really, what do I do with my social media accounts? So here's my thought on this, is that really when you're creative and you're the one who is doing all the things and making all the things, you are the common denominator. Meaning you don't have to have multiple accounts. As long as you are maybe this big umbrella and everything underneath, it falls in line with you, the creator. Now the only exception to this is if you truly have your hands in two completely separate things. So let's say that you are an artist and then let's say that you also are a professional in the medical industry and you're giving advice on like cardiac Rehab or something like that. Well, okay, I can see how those two different audiences are so completely different that you would have two different social media platforms and then two or accounts and then two different websites as well. But if it's all related, meaning you're the creator and you're painting, you're drawing, you're doing pattern design, you're doing ceramics, like you're making jewelry, all those things, I think that you make it about you, the creator. I think it's important to build in room to pivot on your social media and to also show every single side of you that there is. This has me going back to the story star. So if you go back just a few episodes to number 127, you'll see my approach for how to show every different angle of who you are and do so on social media. I think what a disadvantage people have when we hold ourselves back to showing all of the different sides that we have and how inspirational and aspirational it is to really show who you are and all those different sides that make you who you are.

I want you to just imagine what

it would feel like to hold your

very own custom fabric for the first time. Or maybe it's wallpaper or stationery or gift wrap.

Perhaps you use it to wrap gifts

with or sew projects with, like blankets or pajamas. If that sounds exciting. I'm so excited to tell you about my new free mini class. It's called Start Simple. In pattern design, it's called Start simple because, well, we're going to do just in just five lessons that are under 20 minutes each, you'll learn how to take a simple sketch or painting or picture and turn it into vectors using Adobe Illustrator. Now, don't worry. Even if you've never used this program, I'll teach you everything you need to know to get up and running simply. I'll even show you how to take pictures of found objects like leaves and petals so you don't even have to draw if you don't want to.

I'll show you how to create a

custom color palette, design your very own repeating pattern, and order as little as 1 yard of fabric or some wallpaper or maybe some gift wrap. Today, once you learn how to design fabric, that's the magic, you'll be able to design just about anything you want. So do you have an hour to learn an entirely new skill for free? If so, let's get started. Head on over to bonniechristine.com startsimple Once you register, you'll gain immediate access to all of the lessons and begin learning right away again. That's bonniecristine.com startsimple Come on. I'll meet you there.

So when I think about this, it naturally has me thinking about how important it is to show who you are on social media. Yes. I mean, like a picture of you, your face. I think that this really allows your audience to see who you are, and they're interested. They want to know who the creator is behind the thing that's being shown. I know that this brings up so many different feelings, like maybe we're not comfortable with how we look, or maybe we're not comfortable with the way that our workstation looks. But I beg and urge you to overcome that. I know it's uncomfortable, and yet it's still so important. And I think that there's a big opportunity for people to just be willing to show up as they are and be who they are and inspire others to do the same. There are, of course, some workarounds to this as well. For instance, one of my favorites is that if you don't have a studio or you don't love the way that your workplace looks or your workstation looks, then head outside, have a photo shoot outdoors. You know, you could even hang up a curtain or a sheet behind you or set up a table outside. You could also maybe rent a beautiful hotel room or an Airbnb. You can always get out of your space and still get really, really great content. And so I love a brand photo shoot for this. It's one of the best things I ever did for my business. Because not having great imagery for your social media often turns into a bottleneck. You can't find any images to show on social. You don't have any good photos for your website. You haven't updated your bio image in forever. So having a brand photo shoot once or twice a year is a great to just kind of release that bottleneck and have great imagery that you're proud of, that's professional, that you can show on social. And when you build in more of who you are to your social, I think what you'll find is that all of a sudden you have permission to pivot because people are there because of you. Not so much what you do, of course. They're there for what you do as well. But they have also started to get to know you.

So they'll go with you wherever you go.

They will be there to follow because they're interested in you.

So I hope this has just encouraged

you to build in more of who you are on social, have one account. Put all of the things that you do that are related in that one account. And know that people will learn. They'll learn to expect those different things from you. They'll fall in love with you. They'll get to know you better. And you will only have one account to maintain and build. My friends, create the beauty that you want to see. Come alive in the world and remember there's room for you.