52: Your Content Strategy Shouldn’t Be About Growth (*gasp)

If you are a creator who calls himself small and think you have nothing to bring to the content creator table, your going to love this episode. Today we are talking about why growth isn’t everything with the small creator hype girl Amanda from @happyplacetravel

We dive into:

• Why growth shouldn’t be the main focus for content creators
• Should you hop on trendy content as a travel content creator? 
• How to get into the minds of your community
• And why your never too small to make big moves 

Scale Faster with The Growth Hack
Growth marketing tips & tech insights from those who’ve done it.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

NEW: Watch our Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@TravelContentWriting

Sign up for the 7-Day Newsletter Challenge:

https://travel-content-writing.kit.com/c07db27158

Schedule a call with me: https://travelcontentwriting.hbportal.co/public/66ddf21fc4f45e00190a4e0e

Schedule a coaching call LIVE on the podcast:
https://travelcontentwriting.hbportal.co/public/6750837edf524d0027c155ef

Want to be featured on the pod?
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScrPYGf4l_wWSGQgul4vY-8DS-5Kloj0owstVehKn9r_oabRA/viewform

Sign up to be the first to hear about my DIY Content Repurposing Course:
https://travelcontentwriting.hbportal.co/public/6711a7aae9d903002c5f3c57/1-Inquiry_form

AI Prompts to Grow Your Travel Content: https://www.tra...

Chapters

• 17:29 [Ad] Scale Faster with The Growth Hack
• 17:52 (Cont.) 52: Your Content Strategy Shouldn’t Be About Growth (*gasp)

Transcript

Laura: If you are a creator who calls himself small, by the way, the power of small communities is simply magic, but you're going to love this episode today. I get to chat with Amanda on why the heck she's a small creator hype girl and why growth actually isn't everything. It seems. So. If you're new here, welcome to the travel creator podcast, where we totally dismantled everything you think you know about creating content in the travel space. And give you BS free advice on how to get what you really want. 

As a creator. Just like everybody who is on this podcast, Amanda is a gem and I can't wait for you to learn from her. 

Amanda: Hello. I am Amanda. I am a travel content creator. and I'm also a self proclaimed small creator hype girl. So I'm super passionate about like the power that small creators have and just the journeys that we go through to sort of [00:01:00] build a business for ourselves.

That's not centered around growth. 

Laura: So, that's my shtick. That is really interesting. Not centered around growth. That's wild. I love this. Okay.

Amanda: Tell me more about. This not focused on growth.

Laura: Like what do you mean by that? I'm so interested in this because Everybody on the internet that's like the goal. So tell me what this means. 

Amanda: That's exactly why like i'm so I'm, so sick Okay, here's the thing. We know that like Opportunities the most opportunities we can get comes with a larger platform Most of the time but that's not always the case and i've come to realize that there's like You a million and one ways to Be a content creator and I personally follow smaller accounts that have full scale businesses And i've gone through phases where i'm like, okay, you know what?

I'm [00:02:00] actually gonna focus on growth this time and it just doesn't work and I'm not a growth coach, I will not be giving growth tips, I know them, but I don't, I just, I don't care, And this is another reason why I'm such an advocate for, like, the power that small creators have, is because I've gone through such shitty mental health as a creator because of this lack of growth, and it's held me back so much, creatively, and just feeling Good about showing up because i'm not growing and Growth is not the be all end all like I just I want people to know that you can do things without growth and also It's not the be all end all it is the byproduct of consistency and showing your personality and making connections Which I think a lot of people [00:03:00] miss a lot of people will follow like me Those, really, tried and true strategies for growth. But they're missing the personal component of that.

And, sometimes what happens is that you get a viral video, like, pop off. You have all these followers and then you don't know what to do with them. Because you don't, you don't know your content. You don't know yourself as a creator. And I think that's just so sad. I don't know, it just, frustrates me to no end that, like, some people just, like, Only share stuff to grow.

Laura: Cause I'm like, 

Amanda: there's so much more to it than that. again, like I know people that have full businesses that have like 3000 followers. Like you don't need it anyways. I'm not going to yell, but like, I get so fired up about this. I'm like, it just breaks my heart that there's so many.

Creators out there who are so brilliant and so creative and witty and they're just not showing their true selves because they're not growing and they [00:04:00] just I feel shitty about showing up. I'm gonna reel myself in because 

Laura: I'm like, I'm so mad. This, I'm sorry to make you mad, but I know what it's like to talk about things that like fire you up.

this is a great place to do that, so I'm glad that you're here. But, I totally get it. There's so many things you said that I'm like, taking notes on and thinking about. It's so true. I think There's so many thoughts. It's hard because when people are reaching out to brands to try and get Deals of any sort they're obviously looking at metrics and numbers and actually in a recent podcast episode I was talking with these two youtubers and they were chatting about how They think these vanity metrics, like they really don't matter anymore.

They really shouldn't matter. they do matter to people who I think don't really get it, or like aren't on that side of creating. But these metrics of like, look how many followers and whatever, doesn't matter. It shouldn't matter, but yet in, into brands and when you're [00:05:00] looking at those things, in some ways it does.

So it's such this like, it is such a mental sport that nobody's signed up for. Being a content creator is a hard job. Because nothing is ever really guaranteed and we're all just figuring things out and it's inevitable. That you will feel frustrated. And annoyed, especially as you are trying to. Quote unquote, grow. And the people I have chatted with the creators when they stop focusing on growth and start sharing content that they love. They have so much more fun and they don't burn out as quickly. Because they're not focusing on doing X, Y, Z to please XYZ platform. They're creating content. That pleases themself. Which then in turn pleases their audience because your audience can tell. When you are posting just to post something.

what sort of tips, or like when you're, man, [00:06:00] oh man, when you are a small creator and you're like, dang it, I just wanted to get bigger, like, what was going through your head? Or what did you try to say to yourself to get you to just keep posting or, like, keep sharing when it's feeling like, there's no return on your time here?

How did you keep yourself going? 

Amanda: Yeah. I mean, first of all, valid, because, everybody wants growth in one way or another. Would I love for that to happen for me? Yeah, obviously. it's not, like, a bad thing, but it's not my sole focus. 

Laura: Yeah. And 

Amanda: I think. One of the biggest things for me that sort of kept me going, is really focusing on The actual impact that I'm having with my content, that's has nothing to do with reach.

it can be difficult to sort of dial in and identify that impact when you want so badly for your content [00:07:00] to do well and to grow from it. which again, it's super valid. It's, it's, That's why we're here, right? Like we want to create businesses out of what we're doing. so for me, the biggest thing was really figuring out how to identify impact and like the real connections that I was making.

and like those interactions, those give me life. And that is why I've sort of pivoted my content in like the last like six months or so to be a little bit more focused on small creator magic, because everyone has so much to bring to the table. And it can be really hard to see that when you're exposed to so many, like, incredibly, successful and larger accounts.

And that's kind of the only thing that you're seeing. You think that you need to also be that in order to have the success that you want. And the reality is, is that again, there's a million and one ways to do this thing. And you don't have to do it like somebody else. [00:08:00] And I think like the connections that I've made, the friendships that I've made with my community and the validation that they've given me, that like what it is that I'm sharing with them is actually helpful.

that's completely changed my world. And that definitely, that keeps me going. 

Laura: Community is everything. I mean, when people reach out to me on Instagram to tell me that they listened to this podcast, it like is the most validating thing ever. And it goes right into my feel-good folder. If you know, you know, 

But being able to connect with people in this small community. Is insane. Like at this point now, We have a good handful of listeners who tune in week by week to see what is going on. On this podcast. And it is so awesome. And I think sometimes. Larger creators. 

Don't have as close of a connection with the people in their audience as smaller creators. 

Do. Just because there's so many of them and it's hard to get to know. Those. Who are [00:09:00] actually your super fans. 

If you are a large crater listening to this, I would encourage you to make daily engagement a habit and get to know, get to know the people in your audience who are constantly commenting. Or replying to your stories, things like that. And I would even go as far as making like a spreadsheet, if you must have all of your people and links to their profiles and websites and things so that if you come across someone who was like, Hey, I need a website designer and you're like, great. 

I actually know someone in my community who does this. Boom. Then you can just pull up. Their website really fast. as I'm saying this, I'm like, wow, maybe that's something I should do. 

But I kind of just have that handful of people in my mind. 

 I think when we like tap into the community that we have and people start reaching out to you and they're like, I love this thing that you did or are doing. That is enough to just keep going and doing it all over again.

I think we should share why and from [00:10:00] your perspective Why growth shouldn't be a main focus for creators because those who are listening They come to the show and they're like I want to be here because I want like some no BS tips on To do exactly that. So let's kind of reframe and from your perspective talk about like why Why we shouldn't care that much and maybe like what we should do instead or What we should be focusing on instead that really is going to matter more in the long run That is a loaded question and that couldn't be an entire podcast episode, but you can run with that 

Amanda: Yeah, okay.

So 

Laura: Ooh, this is hard. I know. I'm really sorry. I'm trying to think in my mind now like Why shouldn't people care about growth? I think one thing that I keep this might help get us started one thing that I keep seeing reoccurringly content on instagram is from creators who They have blown up whatever that means to them.

They have a larger mid to large size following [00:11:00] of thousands of people. And they will post things that say, what I wish I knew if I was a creator who had like a hundred followers or something. Like I wish when I had a hundred followers, I would have started reaching out to brands then. And that is really an interesting perspective because they're telling us that, hey, even if you have this smaller community, you can still profit off of it.

So I think there's this mental. Block there that once we reach x number or of anything. Is it like revenue? Is it? Monthly visitors is it followers that we can then take the next step to make money from it when like that's not really the case so that's interesting I think there's this huge stereotype that you have to have a massive following in order to make a lot of money Which is not true 

Amanda: Not true.

Like there's people with like hundreds of thousands of followers that are making zero dollars guys Like It's not like your sole identifier, and I think like what you said before, it was really interesting about like [00:12:00] how on the brand side, and we're just talking like sponsorships, which again, is like one of 10, 000 ways to make money as a creator, like, but that's kind of the biggest thing that like, we see on social media.

So we're like, Oh, this is what I got to do. This is like the way to do it. And it's so interesting, because like, from the brand side, obviously, like, They're looking at ROI and dollars and cents and things like that. But like you said, the ones that are a little bit more evolved that are a little bit more like involved in the creator economy, they realize that follower count isn't the only thing that defines a creator.

They might have an incredible connection with their community. They might have a very, very niched community that fits. A hundred percent with the brand. And that is so much more valuable than. Someone who has like 100, 000 followers, who has a very varied community, like, yes, you're [00:13:00] getting the exposure, but as we say, exposure doesn't pay the bills and nor does it for brands, like, they want something that's going to be very tailored, and like, something that fits.

And. Just because you have a larger following doesn't mean that you fit. 

Laura: Yes. I love this, because this made me think about how I see so many strategies, or content about people teaching others how to go viral. And I think that that is Because virality Stop. 

Amanda: I 

Laura: can't. 

Amanda: I can't. I hate it so much.

But yes, I'm sorry. Go ahead. 

Laura: Um, virality seems like it's the end goal here because we want more eyeballs on our stuff. Great. But I guarantee the people who have gone viral, they're not bringing in their target community. When content is blowing up at that rate of speed and it's bringing in all [00:14:00] these followers, there is a huge percentage, a huge chance that the people who have come in to follow you or interact with your content are not the people who might buy from you if you are selling something, or like, might take advantage of one of your services, because they came for this like, piece of video that went crazy and now they actually don't really care about what else you have to say.

They just came for this and now they're here and they're not really your target audience. So I think nobody realizes that that's the reality. It's not like I'm gonna get, I mean, you can get in front of a million, millions of people, fine, but the percentage of the people of that million that are actually gonna buy something from you are so much smaller.

And it doesn't, ah, man, I, I know what you're talking about. And it also 

Amanda: doesn't mean that those people are gonna follow you. Like, I've seen, within my community, like, people who are, like, freaking out because they had a video reach, like, 10 million views, and they got, like, maybe 12 followers out of [00:15:00] it.

there's no causation here it's not doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get more followers because your video goes viral. Yes, there are strategies that you can use to sort of I guess try to like sensationalize a piece of content to make it a little bit more, I guess likely to go viral.

But It's a guessing game a lot of the time like a lot of the time the stupidest things Go viral. I had one go viral. This was like years ago and it was

Something about It was me talking and it was one of those like trending sounds And it was something about italy. it literally like it was me talking and then like a beat dropped and it was just like screenshots of Italy It was like me running away to Italy being like, oh, I want to branch out like go to all like all these new places But and like cut to like actually this is what she wants and like that was like a dumb piece of content I put together it got like 400, 000 views and I got zero followers out of it.

Like nobody cares People [00:16:00] like, they love to watch it, right? They're like, oh, this is like really cool, like I'm gonna like this. I might like send this to someone because it's relatable. But that doesn't mean that they're gonna follow you. It doesn't mean that they want more from you. It just means that they like that piece of content.

So, Virality is Whack a doodle. It is. I think 

Laura: about the times when I'm like, personally consuming content, and I'm scrolling through things, and I see something that I like that I want to send to somebody, I'm never following that person! You're so right. 

Amanda: This is the thing! It's actually so interesting like, learning about like, human behavior with social media, because a lot of the time, we will do, we will take one action, if any, on a piece of content.

So if I'm sending it to someone, I might not even like it. Like, I might not even remember to go back and like, if I'm liking it, I'm probably not saving it. If I'm like, oh, damn, like, I'm gonna save this, like, I might forget to like it. I might not send it to someone. So, like, If [00:17:00] someone's liking your video and it's making it go viral, that doesn't mean that those people are also going to follow you.

Laura: So true. I guess, yeah, this all comes back to we really need to play the long game with our content and not worry so much about doing all of the tiny little things to get Hop on like the trends and things like that.

How do you feel about trends? Like if you see a trend coming or like a trending audio tell me i've Tell me what you think about that. If someone was like amanda, should I hop on trendy content? 

Amanda: What? No, no Stop Okay, here's okay Here's how I feel about trends. I think they're fun. I think they can be really funny.

And like, I understand wanting to hop on them, but what I hate is the pressure to do so quickly and come up with an idea that fits within your content for that trend as opposed to seeing a trend and being like, oh shit, like that, that's perfect for me [00:18:00] because that's the way that it should be. Like your trends should be in addition to your core content, not a content pillar.

Not amen. Oh my gosh mic drop because it's like Trends can enhance your messaging they can like bring out your personality and show people like how like witty or funny or whatever you are and Like I think that that's super fun But that should be an extra and I went through a phase where I was following people that were like, okay number one tip like for getting good like engagement and reach You is to consistently hop on trends.

So then I started to do all this trend research and I was like following certain hashtags and stuff so that they would pop up on my feed. And then I would be like, okay, like this week in the next few days, I need to come up with a piece of content that fits into this trend. Otherwise, I'm going to be too late.

And now what that's done has just one, scrapped my [00:19:00] entire week's worth of content. Plan because now I need to like scramble to figure this out and also that piece of content is not going to be that good because you're doing it out of like Necessity and not because you feel that it fits really well with your your regular content and like your purpose and so I just I hate I hate when people are like, you know, like hop on this trend like there's like those those accounts that share um, like Trending audios which trending audios is the exception for me I save those and then I just kind of like plop them in there and like that's there They're 

Laura: the you like you've created your piece of content and they're like the cherry on top You're like, great, I've done this thing.

Let me add it. Yeah, let me 

Amanda: just 

Laura: put this song 

Amanda: that's doing well. But like the ones that like require some kind of production. No, no, stop. Like, I don't have time for this. No, I do not. And like, I don't know. It's just like the [00:20:00] pressure, the pressure to hop on trends and to like constantly be like keeping up with it.

Like, you're taking so much time away from your own content and serving your people. And a lot of that, a lot of the time too, like, sure, hop on a trend early if you want to, but, like, that doesn't mean that you're gonna, that it's gonna do well. Totally. Especially if it's, like, very, like, base level.

Do you know what I mean? If it's, like, a trend for, something that's, like, You know those, those memes from CapCut that have like the, the person or like doing something? Yeah, yeah, it's like a green screen. Those are hilarious, like I love seeing those, but like, if the POV or like the text that's on screen with that is so basic, I'm like, why did you post this?

Laura: Yeah. 

Amanda: Like this isn't adding anything to your content, making funny content is fine, that's valuable. That's cool. Valuable as hell, but like, those ones? 

Laura: I know. I feel the same way about [00:21:00] trendy content because a lot of the times, as we know, content creation is difficult.

And it can take a really long time. And if you hop on these trends and you create them, and then you burn yourself out and you stop posting, if somebody comes to your page, they're just gonna see a trend from, like, three months ago. And Not a piece of evergreen content and they're going to think that you're dead.

And that's not helping anyone. I like to think of, like, Instagram as your billboard. It is a billboard. It is a tool. It is not the end all be all. It is a tool to push people to get them to take further action, whether that's book a call with you, buy your service or product or whatever. and it's not, like, the end result.

Such a mindset shift. you mentioned previously before, and maybe this has changed and that's okay. Do you feel like you've learned what your audience wants to see from you? If so, how did you do it? I want to know.

Amanda: I think it's a constant [00:22:00] process. Um, and like, a lot of the time the needs of your audience are changing, daily. So, I don't know, I think for me, I often, I guess I do two things. One is I, I do tend to like pull my audience and be like, Hey, guys, like, are we sick of this? Please tell me yes or no. And like, we will move on to do like something else.

Like I might have like a actionable Tip series for creators and I was talking about content pillars for like a month and a half and I was like Are we sick of this? Because I started to see like the numbers of those reels go down a little bit So I was like, is this what's happening? Are we sick? Just like let me know 

Laura: And 

Amanda: people were like, yes, please move on.

So I was like, okay great next thing. and The other thing that I like to do is I'm, like, I'm a very type A person, like, I pay attention to insights, with a grain of salt, but I pay attention to them very closely, just solely [00:23:00] looking at the insights. certain, like, trends, am I noticing that these kinds of videos are doing better, are they starting to, like, dip, are they starting to go up, am I getting more DMs, am I getting more comments, am I having conversations about what it is that I'm posting, and if it's just, like, crickets and I'm getting nothing, I'm like, alright, Maybe they don't need this right now.

Let's push this to the side and move on. and then another thing that I started doing, which I love, and I'm so glad that I found this. It's funny because it was actually a trend, uh, was the trade offer thing. I had seen one of my coaches, Kristen Busquette. I love her. She is amazing. Literally the best, she posted a trade offer.

This was like months ago. that was basically just like, okay, like comment below and I'll tag a brand that I think that you should work with. and she's a creator monetization coach. So she talks all about like brand partnerships and monetization and stuff like at any level. she's the best [00:24:00] so I saw that and I was like, that's sick Like I love this idea and like the idea of the trend was Basically, like follow me and like i'll reply to your comment but I was like Like I'm not really like I it would be great if like people would follow me for that but like mostly I wanted to be able to like really get into the minds of My current followers and my community and figure out like, okay, like what do we need?

so the first one that I did was I had people comment and then I was like I'm gonna go through your content and I'm gonna tell you one thing that I think you should lean into more and it was Nine times out of ten, it was personality. and like, I guess, just like, Leaning into like your intuitive creativity and that to me was so much fun I feel like I learned a lot about myself doing this because I like i'm a very type a person but I was like This [00:25:00] is gonna push me a little bit out of my comfort zone.

Yeah, because instead of giving that like broader Advice like i'm really telling one person What it is that I was drawn to in their content and what I personally think You They should lean into more and like that's scary because like who the hell am I? But I think we're often like way too close to our own content to really see the value that we're bringing.

So I did that one and it did really well and then from there, I guess like people really started to connect with my perspective and I got a lot of really good feedback on that which like I think Selfishly, I was like, all right, this is making me feel really good about myself and what it is that I'm doing.

And it just kind of validated, for me, the need to, I guess, like the need of my community to really get that tailored feedback. And I think that that's something that's missing at large. I found like this was a really good way for me to get into the minds of my community [00:26:00] and figure out what it is that they were needing. And then like from that trade offer, I started to see certain like trends, like common themes between like so many different creators of like. My entire community is basically travel creators or just like travel lovers in general.

So like, there were some very common themes that I started to see, but like, people who are so vastly different, like someone who's a digital nomad, who, You know has been traveling by themselves for like 12 13 years and then someone who Works in finance and it's just starting out in content creation and wants to travel And like take their pto and like those two very different people leading very very different lives had very, very similar things holding them back.

I can give an example, like this happens most of the time, [00:27:00] people who are like super casual and chitty chatty on their stories. And like, they're like being funny and silly and like less curated. And then you go to their feed, and it's like vanilla. And I'm like, I know, I know that the person that you are in your static content.

It's so cool. Like, you're 

Laura: so cool. Be cool. 

Amanda: That's what I'm saying. I'm like, your friends don't love you because you give really good travel tips. They love you because of your personality. They don't, it's not because of what they can get from you. And if that's why they love you, you need better friends.

But like, it's so much more than that. It's, it's your personality. It's your, your perspective. It's your, Like sense of humor and things like that people are so much more drawn to that than To you like giving them something like a piece of information. so I don't know. I just I feel so passionate about that and i'm [00:28:00] like you guys need to start leaning into your sense of humor and like your innate creativity more and just like drown out the noise because it's so good when you start to do that and it makes you feel so much more connected to your content as well.

because like, you feel like it's an extension of you. And it's just like, anyways, like, I just, I feel so passionate that we need to lean into that more and pay a little bit less attention to strategy because strategy is not everything. It's only a little teeny tiny bit that comes after you have a lot of soul searching to do first.

Figure out like what it is that you're doing here and why you love content 

Laura: creation in the first place? 

Think about your favorite brands and the things you buy from. Let's take for example, um, beyond yoga. Cause I love them. But [00:29:00] I purchased beyond yoga because it's super comfortable. But not only is it super comfortable, it's also sustainable side note. This is just a, I don't actually know if there's a sustainable company. 

I'm just, there was the first brand I thought of in my brain. So, this is just a, this is just an example. Hang with me. But the reason you, or I might shop at beyond yoga is because I like their product. And I think they're a really cool company. They're like doing things for the planet or they're making sustainable packaging, or they're doing XYZ and being explicit about it. 

Same goes for your content. People are following you. Not because you have incredible travel tips. But it's the way in which you get those travel tips across. As you let your personality show. That's what people are more drawn to. Then just the travel tips you can give them. If you were nervous about showing your face on the internet. I get it. I hear you. I would start. Bye. Just doing photos. Just do some [00:30:00] carousels, just do some photos of your face and then maybe start talking in stories. And then maybe start talking on video. 

That would be the goal. And, One woman I work with. She always says to people who are nervous about being on video. think about all the people you could be helping, if you told them what, you know. And the best way to do that is just chatting with them. But like hitting record, you know, So think of it almost as like you're being selfish. 

If you're not sharing what, you know, And that might motivate you to kind of let down what other people might think about you on video. Another thing. I like to tell people who don't really want to show their face on camera is that. The number of content people consume. Every single day on the internet is astronomically high. 

Do you really think they're going to remember. Your face. Exactly. No. They're not. And you might be asking why do we even create content anyway, because the right people. We'll remember and be [00:31:00] drawn in, but I wouldn't take yourself too seriously. Okay. That's also very important. Just do it. And Ugh. 

I hate that. 

I just said a Nike slogan. I hate that. That's another brand, perhaps don't they. I don't know it was Adidas. Anyway This is a great time of year to hunker down and get, comfortable being uncomfortable. okay going back to the people who they're vanilla on their feed But they're like fun, you know that they're fun, you know them you're like you're so much cooler than that like ariel font um 

showing your face will go farther than any, trend you could ever do.

And also, I will say, I remember I remember you doing that trade and I thought it was so genius and I commented on it and I want you to know that I think about what you said to me often. So it was amazing. No, I do. I actually thought about it the other day and [00:32:00] actually, so you had mentioned you're like, you should do more, um, talking reels because that's true.

I don't because I'm And I don't have a good reason for why, to be totally honest. It's not like I'm like But you have a literal podcast. I know. 

Amanda: Like, like, you're, you're fine talking. Like, you're very 

Laura: comfortable talking. I know, and 

Amanda: I'm like, fine. I don't know why. 

Laura: I don't know either. Until you said that, and I was like, Whoa, you're so right.

You're so right. So, my goal for the year is to write out, I was about to be like, what's half of 52? Like, 26 ish talking head reels, from like my own content that is done well that I'm like repurposing into reels. And like, I record every single one of these podcast episodes. Like, there's zero excuse for me not to talk on the internet, or talk in short form video.

But, that helped me see the goal of like, you know, Okay, if people get to know me, here we go. So that is super helpful. And I think you're so right. Like the, the [00:33:00] more that we can share or like show that we exist and what we like to do always does better. Like behind the scenes content always does well for every single person I've ever worked with because people are so nosy, myself included.

Like I want to know what your desk looks like. Like, I want to know. And it will always perform well, because we can't forget that we're human. Like, you can share all the tips you want, but you're also speaking to a human on the other side of the screen, and we forget that, because we're like, oh my gosh, like, Instagram's gonna love that I did this thing.

It's like, Instagram actually doesn't give a shit about you. Sorry. But the people on the other side of the screen will, so we have to pretend that they do. We're talking to them, instead of the collective whole. So many things. So many things. You also mentioned something. okay. Oh, your, coach that you work with, how she was talking about how she focuses on, Helping creators [00:34:00] monetize at any level and it reminds me of Going back to your How you kind of learned what your audience wants from you which is ever evolving But it's just to ask them the power of asking Is mind blowing I mean people just make content deals by just asking if they're like I want this thing and then they ask for it People like pretty pretty much say yes And one of my goals for this year is to ask people to be on the podcast that I think will say no You Because I think that they're like too big of a following or whatever, but like there's people I work with who have like A million followers and it reminds you so much that although on screen on paper It looks like they're untouchable.

They are not sometimes i'll reply to their stories and i'll like a genuine comment Like oh so cool or exciting or whatever and then like they actually reply to me. I'm like, how can you even see that? Like there are Thousands of other people doing the same thing. Like, how can you even [00:35:00] see that I sent that?

But it's just so, such a reminder that, like, the people you think are untouchable are not. And you can actually get what you want by just asking. It's so powerful, and I think that that is also another reason why, you don't have to focus so much on growth. You just have to focus on, like, making a really good foundation of content.

and then, Shooting your shot and figure a hundred percent. 

Amanda: We have like such a celebrity complex even With creators like it's so funny. Um, so I Do you follow Emily eats and explores? Yes. Yes Yeah, so I I work with her as a cure community manager for her membership. No, you do not Yeah, I do. It's the best gig ever.

I love her so much. 

Laura: Okay, we're gonna talk about this actually, 

Amanda: okay and she has people come in, uh, like every month to do like a guest a guest speakers um, so there's people like within the membership [00:36:00] that do these talks, but she also brings in outside people and she had on this was like a couple months back uh, helene helene in between Mm hmm.

She's got like I think like 600, 000 followers. She's like huge in the travel space. She just written a book. and that's why she was like, I don't care. I will be on your podcast. I will come talk to your people. Like, I don't give a shit. Like I want to be in front of your audience. Um, And everyone was so star like, I was, and I told her straight to her face during the call, I was like, Helene, you are one of the first people that I ever followed.

I am so starstruck right now. And she was like, shut up. Like, what are you talking about? Like, I'm just a person. And I was like, yeah, you're totally right. But like, like you said, like, people just feel so untouchable. And like, it's just bananas. Like I had Jesse from Jesse on a journey. She commented on my reel yesterday and I [00:37:00] was like, Queen?

Like, how, why? Like, do you, like, how did you see this? Like, do you, I didn't even check to see if she follows me, but I was like, This is crazy, but then, like, you still have to remind yourself, like, they're just people. They're just people. But, like, we have such a celebrity complex, because we, like, we're so, like, like, we're just so in awe of what it is that they've been able to do, and, like, at the end of the day, like, they still put their pants on one leg at a time, you know?

Like, it's still insane. Like, they still get cavities, like, they're still human. That is so 

Laura: funny. 

Amanda: Yeah, that's 

Laura: yeah, that's so true. That's even good public speaking advice. If you're nervous like they these people are just people 

Amanda: Yeah, they buttoned up their pants just like I did. Yeah 

Laura: Okay maybe in a similar vein You mentioned that one of the best things you did for your content this year was care [00:38:00] less and think less You Tell me more about this. It sounds like 

Amanda: horrible advice. No. Like, I don't know why I word things like this. But honestly, I think I've just, I've gone, like, I've been creating content for like almost five years for social media.

And like, I was blogging before that, but I put so much pressure on myself. To do well like there have been so many moments where i'm like, all right I'm quitting my job and i'm going to go full in on content creation and I did that And then I had to go back to work. I've done that twice. Um, because I put so much pressure on myself that I sort of like short circuit.

And I'm like, I actually can't do anything now. I'm like frozen. so like, I know that that doesn't work for me. And I was like, you know what? do I still have student loan debt? Yeah. But I'm going to continue doing what I need to [00:39:00] do to like keep myself afloat. And. Try not to put so much pressure on myself and my content.

That's a big thing too. Like putting pressure on your content is crazy because you can't predict how things are going to do all the time. and I just got to a point where I was like, I, I don't want to be stressed about this anymore. Like I want to have fun. And it sort of started out as like a test.

cause like I had my, content pillars and I was like posting pretty consistently, but I was like, I feel like it feels forced to me and I hate that. I was like, this is supposed to be my fun creative outlet. Yeah. Like my safe haven. So I started out as like a test where I was like, okay, one thing that I'm going to try to add a little bit more of into my content is all these like stupid little ideas that come into my head that before I told myself weren't good enough for content, [00:40:00] I'm going to start.

Speaking those like to the camera and I'm going to post those and and all like my stupid little like POV videos that are like, you know, people say like, we like no one has a unique experience like everyone's able to relate to something. 

Laura: Yes. 

Amanda: And I was like, I like you should see how long my content idea note is in my notes app.

Like it's, I don't even know how, I think it would take me a full minute. Just go to the bottom. Like it's crazy. And like, most of them aren't fully formed. It's basic. It's literally just like, I've written out something about blah, blah, blah, 

Laura: blah. 

Amanda: I'll figure that out later, but I've just realized that like that kind of content that like is very off the cuff, that's very.

intuitive and a little stupid works really well for me. it's usually [00:41:00] the pieces of content that perform the best and that get the most engagement which like if you're just looking at it like statistically like that's awesome but also like it makes me feel the most fulfilled because I'm putting my personality out there and all these like silly little ideas that I have And it's resonating with people.

So it's very validating. And it's, that's another thing that sort of kept me going is like, I know that my ideas, like my list of ideas of how to put all of my past trip content into bite sized pieces of the content, like eventually that list is going to run out. But I know that like this is not gonna run out 

Laura: Yeah, like 

Amanda: I know that my perspective and like my experience and my Creative like intuition like that's not gonna run out ever So I guess it's just helped me Worry less about what i'm gonna post and Yeah On the other [00:42:00] side, caring less about how it performs, somehow has helped me, increase views?

Like, I don't really know how that's worked, but, I think it's because, Because I care less, I'm trusting myself more than I'm trusting any kind of strategy. So, like, my personality is out there, my style of creating content is out there, and by not putting so much pressure on it to make it, like, super curated or, like, quote unquote strategic, it's resonated with people a lot more in my experience.

Yes. 

Laura: I think this is, this is the energy we need entering the new year because there is so much advice out there about how to do X, Y, and Z things. And so many case studies of people saying, I did, I got to X dollars, followers, whatever. And here's how you can do that too. but it's going to be a little bit different for everybody.

There's no proven. [00:43:00] process for every single person because we have chosen a career that has no playbook. We could have chosen something that is very black and white, very straightforward, but we have chosen the wild west and that's okay. But I think one of the reasons why it feels so good to care less and I similarly.

feel as though I'm leaning more into this because I'm like I started creating to Because it's fun because that's something I enjoy and the more that I put more pressure on it The more likely i'm gonna burn out and that is like the opposite of why we started doing this But I think it's also because we can see the larger picture Like we don't care as much about how it performs because we know that it is the right content Or the right message that our target audience needs to see And we play the long game of if I keep saying this right message to these right people We're gonna get to where I want to be.

and also something I learned [00:44:00] about from um I had lucy who has the podcast the bold founder. She came on my show I was listening to one of her episodes and she talks about white space Just how we should put, I'm trying to do this more, just put white space on our calendar where You're doing nothing like it's not for lunch.

It's not like for a workout. It's for whatever you want And i'm trying to implement that mindset But for content creation, like I have like you said a million ideas and they're all fun and I genuinely love doing it but we just need to give ourselves the space and time to Make the fun thing to do the fun thing And that's something I'm personally trying to lean more into, but I think it also goes hand in hand with trying to see the larger picture of your content.

Like, your content is not, like, this trendy piece of content is not gonna get you where you want to be. It is part of a much larger, longer term strategy that, oh man, is essentially you. [00:45:00] And you, like you said, you have to kind of figure out, like, why am I even doing this thing? Why, what, like, why did I show up to do this thing?

and once you figure that out, and then can harness your content to get people to The thing that you want them to get to by showing your face You'll eventually get there, but it's It's a whole thing. It's 

Amanda: a whole thing I think honestly like if if I want anyone to take anything from My spiel and my content is that it's not that deep Like nothing is that deep.

No one piece of content is going to make or break you and The more that you try to implement strategy You into your, creative ideas, the less you they become. And you can start to sort of pick apart, like you say, Okay, well, I have this idea that just came to me when I was in the shower, [00:46:00] and like, I'm going to write it down.

And then you go to create that piece of content. And you're like, Oh, well, actually, I don't know if this is going to work. If this concept is good enough, let's like tweak it a little bit. And in some instances, that's fine. But a lot of the time what happens is that you start to kind of like. Step on your own toes, the best way I can describe this is such a stupid comparison.

Laura: I'm ready. You know 

Amanda: in, you know in Cinderella, when she's like, she has her dress that the mice made her, and she's like, walks down the stairs and her stepsisters and, stepmother, like they start like picking apart her dress and then she's left with this rag basically like her original dress is your original idea and you are her stepfamily picking things apart being like you know what like this isn't good enough this isn't good enough i'm gonna change this and then you get to the final product and again maybe this is mean term it's vanilla like it's not you anymore [00:47:00] and that to me is so sad because there's so much like self doubt In the creator space in general, especially with small creators and like You're stepping on your own toes, 

Laura: I mean Amanda's right, right. The more you put strategy into your content. The more, less you, it can become, but I think there's a way to implement strategy into your content without losing yourself. And that comes back to a really strong brand and really knowing who you are, what you offer and who you do it for. Strategy can be a beautiful thing. It can be an amazing thing. But when you holistically look back at your content and you're like, would I have said that if I wasn't feeling forced into a strategy that I found scrolling Instagram reels, because this woman told me I should do it because she made a PDF and she sold it overnight for 80 K. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? 

Just do like a nice check-in with yourself to consider. Is this really something I would say or do, or am I saying or doing this? Because [00:48:00] someone told me I should, in order to reach my goals. Because I promise the more that you just show up as yourself. So far, they're all get you. Rather than trying to fit into a strategy and a mold that worked for somebody, but is probably not going to work for you in the long run. Cool

 okay, I have a question about how you sort of plan your content.

with this sort of, I'm gonna post content because it's fun and it's what I like to do, and I know the long game of me getting to my goals will happen eventually. But do you, I love that you're a type A person, I wish I, I wish I could be, I think I'm like a B plus person, but, how far in advance do you feel like you're planning your content?

Like you have your list, like walk me through what this looks like for you, what do you do? 

Amanda: I don't know that my process is like The right or wrong way to do anything. I'm just curious 

Laura: how people do this. This is very interesting to me. 

Amanda: I, okay. [00:49:00] I used to, because I'm so type A, I used to do things very much in advance.

I got to be like, okay, I'm going to sit down at the beginning of the month and I'm going to plan everything out. That didn't work for me because once I started leaning into like all these creative ideas, I ended up just like, I kept like pushing them back because I already had this plan. So now I'm very much like.

Either like the Friday or the weekend before I'm like, okay, like what am I posting this week? And I post typically Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. So I have Wednesday in the middle of the week And honestly if I have a busy weekend because like I work retail so I work weekends most of the time like if I don't have time To come up with all my ideas like i'll do okay, like i'll put everything together for Monday, tuesday, and I know that I have wednesday.

So yesterday I made my post and i'm going to be posting today and The reason that i'm able to do that is I mean a I have [00:50:00] a extremely long list of content ideas I'm also very, very familiar with my content pillars. So just so happens that I happen to have four content pillars that are pretty solid. And I post four times a week.

So going into my week, I know that generally speaking, unless I have like an ad or something that's coming out, I'm posting each of my content pillars every week, like one every day of the week. so that's made it so much simpler for me. Like I can go back, that week and be like, okay, like my content pillars, like, for example, I've got, like creator motivation.

I have actionable tips for small creators, travel, like destination tips. And then I have travel humor, which I've. Grown to love so, so much. so those ones, like, depending on how I'm feeling that week, like some of them will come to me right away. Other ones, I maybe go through my, like, bank of content [00:51:00] ideas, um, and be like, okay, what haven't I touched on yet?

Or I'll go back to my previous content and be like, what can I elaborate on? and that I do like literally a couple of days before, because I can't. I don't want to like stifle myself and I have to sort of like control my type A energy. I feel like okay you don't actually need to have a whole month because you might get inspiration for something and then you don't ever end up posting it because by the time you finish your whole content calendar that piece of content isn't relevant anymore or it's you don't like it anymore and then you just never post it.

So yeah, my, my system is very much last minute, 

Laura: This is amazing that. 

Amanda even has this process. And I think I'm going to create an episode for content organization tips for type a and type B people. Cause I'm definitely that type of B plus people were almost a type a. But we can let a lot of things a lot. If you want to know more about how [00:52:00] I organize my content and repurpose my content, you can head back 50. Two episodes is I think it's episode two of the show. Where I show you, how to build a content organization system. In that episode is chock full. 

Honestly, it's could just be a course that entire episode. About how I organize my content. And how I repurpose it. And if you want to learn how to repurpose your content, I am launching a. Group program. So for six weeks, I'll walk you through how to repurpose your content, how to know what's worth re-purposing and how to make it a sustainable strategy. More information will be coming to my email list very soon, The link to sign up for that is always in the show notes for you. 

And those folks will be the first to hear. About this counted pricing. 

 there anything else you want to say about. content creation or small creator creation that You're like i'm [00:53:00] gonna say this and i'm gonna feel good and remember that I said like I will feel my peace 

Amanda: I just think That there is so much untapped potential With small creators, specifically, um, I mean if we're looking at it as like an industry, from an industry point of view, like, you probably have a much better connection with your people than someone with like 100k followers does.

and not to discount that, um, because everyone has something unique and magic to bring to the table regardless of follower size. And, I just, I think it can be really difficult as a small creator to kind of see the finish line. but like, allow yourself to pivot and be a beginner and just enjoy the journey.

Because if you're not enjoying it, then there's literally no reason to be here. Like, No one does anything creative for the money, because like, there's not like, [00:54:00] I mean, yes, the creator economy is like, I don't know how many billions of dollars now, but like, no one gets into anything creative, because they're like, this is a stable field.

Okay, I literally, because you love it, make sure that you're always loving it, and that you're always having fun. and people are going to see that, too. People see that in your content. Oh, yeah. If you don't care, if you're not enjoying yourself, your content is not going to land. Mm 

Laura: hmm.

Mm hmm. I said that recently. I was like listen There's a lot of easier ways to make a lot of money than this. So you gotta make sure you like it. Because what, I mean, this is not, it's so easy to assume that this is an easy way to make money, because the internet makes it seem easy. And it's fucking not easy.

where would you like people to find you? 

Amanda: Oh, I mean, I am, @happyplacetravel_  Everywhere, although I really only post to Instagram and my newsletter. Um, but I'm on [00:55:00] TikTok, I'm on YouTube. Don't use them. You can follow me on there if you want to. But like, Instagram, @happyplacetravel_

And I do have a new blog coming out. Uh, I haven't touched my website in like literally years. And I'm redoing it right now. And I'm f ing obsessed with it. So, I don't know when that's gonna come out. Might be In 2026, who knows? Um, but that, that happy place travel. com don't go look at it now. Cause I don't even think it's, I don't even, I don't even know what it shows when you go to that right now.

Laura: Um, but yeah. Yay! Yay yay yay! Thank you, thank you for sharing all this. Dropping all the gossip on small creators and why they just need to shoot their shot and not wait, not wait until you reach a certain number to start doing things because that's a waste of time. This is a good reminder. This is really great.

If you take anything away from this episode with Amanda it's that you are never too small to start making big moves. You can [00:56:00] shoot your shot with tourism boards, with brands, with anything you want to work with. even if you have a small audience, because. Sometimes brands actually appreciate working with some Mahler air quotes around that creators because they have a higher engaged audience. Meaning, like I said earlier, sometimes these big creators who have such a large following, it can be really hard for them to get to know the people in their audience. 

But if you have a little bit of a smaller magic community, You are able to. Get to know the people who are actually in your audience. And that is a lot more appealing to brands because they know that you know, what your audience wants and likes and what will get them to engage. Thank you, Amanda, for coming on this. Episode this week. 

This is our first guest episode of 2025. I can't believe it. By the way. If you were listening to this. In your little ears. Thank you so much. [00:57:00] But also this year we are taking the podcast onto YouTube. So if you want to watch this episode, I E watch me and Amanda, and then behind the scenes, me later in a different sweater, talk to you about this same topic you can do. 

So on YouTube at travel content writing is where all the podcast, goodness will be. I am working on getting our past 52. Episodes uploaded to YouTube. So if you ever want to like, watch me speak these words to you. That's great there. I also imagine implementing some nice, pretty slides sometimes in there. 

If I'm trying to articulate. A visual experience to you in what is typically an auditory format. So. Travel Content Writing on YouTube. Go subscribe. You can be like my 11 subscribers. I appreciate you happy creating. I will see you next week.