Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
I followed everyone who was good at it, and some who weren’t to know what to avoid: actors, singers, authors, artists, reality stars, influencers, bloggers, people who were just funny or creative with content, not to mention scrolling indiscriminately and going off on tangents to find new creators to follow.
I spent hours figuring out how to advertise and monetize. I studied trends and hashtags, taking notes, making charts for how long they lasted, more charts examining the rise (and fall) of the followers of various creators, and notes on my speculations as to why these things happened.
My two clients became four, and that rose to nine by the time I graduated.
By then, I wasn’t only editing, I was creating all kinds of content to adhere to social media strategies I devised for my customers.
Now, I was managing the social media of thirty-one clients, and I created and scheduled their content, monitored it, boosted it, reported on it, tweaked it, and recommended adjustments if needed.
It was an interesting job. In an ever-changing landscape it kept me on my toes, as new social media outlets sprang up, geared (or just used) by different generations or ideologies, what worked where, the wax and wane of popularity, and the never-ending possibilities of content.
Social media wasn’t going away, but I needed to expand services because I knew I’d get bored, and no niche business like this would ever make the impact to an income sheet I intended to make.
At that moment, what I offered was limited, and as my clients’ presence expanded, they’d outgrow me.
So I was going full-force into branding, marketing and advertising.
I’d taken tons of marketing classes in college, and since I graduated, I’d done two online graphic design courses, three website programming courses and one newsletter design course.
I wanted to provide the full experience of everything a potential customer/follower would see online and make it work for them full-spectrum.
As such, when I had a meeting with a potential client, I needed them to come to a place like this, not meet me at a coffee shop.
This location looked high-end and professional. There were compliance rules in what furniture you had in your office and how you could decorate so you could have your own vibe, but it fit an overall one that made the entire space coalesce.
And now I needed a PA who could deal with calls, scheduling, reporting, and posting content so I could stay on top of trends, create that content and strategize my expansion of services, then roll it out.
This would not only free up some of my time, having an employee would also give the impression I was established in my business.
Right then, I needed to scroll TikTok, Twitter, Insta, Reddit and Facebook. I needed to recheck my numbers to be absolutely certain I could employ someone, offer benefits, and keep them employed into the future (I was pretty certain I could, but this was a big step, it involved someone else who would count on me, and I was nervous about it).
And all I could do was stare at that tab for what I knew was Christos’s bogus business.
On this thought, my phone rang.
I looked down, trepidation hitting me because I worried it was Bryan, who had started texting to discuss getting together to work things out.
Luckily, I saw it was Mom and took the call.
“Hey, what’s up?” I greeted.
“Hey, sweetie,” she replied.
Damn.
I knew immediately by her tone that something was not good.
And I knew that tone so well, I further knew whatever it was, it was about Dad.
He hadn’t reared his head in a while. Not a surprise after he called to ask about tickets to my graduation, and I told him only people who invested in my future got to go, and anyone who felt entitled to go even though they didn’t earn that privilege could go fuck themselves.
He had a few choice words to say to me, and I did not hold back on my retorts.
This had the effect of him barraging my sister, Li, with his bullshit, some of that landing on Mom, but in the end it had the desired effect for us all.
He faded away, and unlike the other times he took a vacation from being a father for whatever reason he had, he stayed away (these reasons were mostly work, and believe you me, my mother, sister and I had learned the hard way that any addiction affected the ones you loved, even insidious ones like being addicted to earning status and money).
Now, though, I knew he was back.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Can you come over for dinner tonight? Or tomorrow?” she asked in return.
She didn’t want to mess up my day by talking about this on the phone.
I was happy to go to dinner, anytime. Mom was a great mom as well as a great cook, I loved Andy to bits, and Li and I were close.