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Twice weekly show providing social media updates, trend alerts, original content ideas, strategy session, industry guests, tutorials and more!
Transformation. What what is it really? Is it an instant glow up makeover? Or is it something that happens over time that you barely notice until it's a big change. Welcome to the Muthership Creative Strategy.
Helen:That's what I'm going to talk about today. And I'm going to lean into how you can transform your personal brand, your social media, and make it what you want it to be. And the reason this topic even came to my mind is that I have watched creators in my studio transform slowly over time. And Julie and I have started highlighting them as creators of the week. And that's we started this series in February.
Helen:So what I wanna do is tell you the three creators of the week that we have already featured and why they were chosen because of their transformation that has happened. So I'm gonna just highlight that, and then I'm gonna talk about how transformation is possible, what steps you can take, and how it happens. Alright? So number one, we had Carla. Fab and Fit by Carla.
Helen:She was our first creator of the week. She was a founding member of the studio. I met Carla several years ago in person because we followed each other on social media. I went out to LA to see Julie in a comedy show. And I had invited, I posted about it.
Helen:And I said, who's ever in the area and wants to come and see Julie, I'm going be there. And I thought that would be fun. And she showed up and immediately I recognized her. And I was like, oh my God. But because we had such little time to talk at that event, the next time I went out to LA, I I reached out to her and I said, would you like to get together?
Helen:And we had dinner and we really got to know each other. And this is long before the studio was even a thing in my mind. It wasn't even a it was maybe a germ, but it wasn't even started. So I've known Carla for a while and it was such a surprise to me because she is an influencer and she was a very established influencer at the time that when I launched the studio, she was literally one of the first members. And I was so honored because I thought, okay, she's not doing this because she's a longtime friend of mine.
Helen:I mean, we had gotten together the one time. But I loved that her reason for wanting to join was because she wanted to level up. She made a decision that she felt like she was at a place where she was at a point where she needed to do something to trigger, the better the better of her to come out online, I guess. And she committed to it. And I loved it because she was posting, like, you know, my new classes and all this stuff.
Helen:And it was just so much fun to watch this happen and watch her learn how to do transitions because she's in the fashion space and the fitness space. So those serve her. That type of content will serve her well. And just watching her learn to edit better, and she still is always pushing the limits. And I love that.
Helen:She doesn't just say, oh, good enough. Good enough. No. She pushed the limits and to as like, no one was more excited than me when she was invited to be on the Golden Bachelor. She got the attention of the producers.
Helen:They reached out to her on social media. So the power of social media is real. And so so in my mind, Carla, over the past year and change of being in the studio, has channeled her star power and has really paid back and served her well. Our second creator of the week, Tina, who does Get Fable Cosmetics is her username, but her company is Fable Cosmetics. She has come into the studio.
Helen:She's also been with us a long time. And watching her gain confidence and also pushing the limits. You know? Like, she is such a sweet person, and sometimes the sweetest people have the biggest struggle pushing themselves to especially with a business because they just don't want to put themselves in a position of making anyone feel uncomfortable. She's just the nicest freaking person, I'm gonna say.
Helen:So because of that, I am watching her gain her self esteem on camera in a way that just excites me. She's also doing things that she wouldn't normally do. I said, you should make a tutorial and show me how to use this makeup. Next thing you know, she's doing it. And it's not something she was looking to do.
Helen:So she's pushing the limits, and she is stepping it up. Go, Tina. And then our third creator of the week this month is Betsy, Zoom expert. Betsy Zoom Playground. I think hers is at Zoom Playground.
Helen:I'm gonna put all the links down below so you'll be able to find the creators I'm talking about and take a look. So Betsy, again, not confident on camera, didn't even understand how to talk to the camera. And we through the studio, she has worked at it. She has come to the meeting. She's asked questions.
Helen:She's figured out a way to, I mean, I in the meetings, I even suggested to her, well, maybe instead of trying to think about doing an on camera video, you think about making a Zoom meeting. Think of it as a Zoom meeting because that's your comfort zone. And that kinda clicked a switch in her head, and then she joined the challenge in January, and she was posting every day. So she's really pushing herself through uncomfortable situations to find her sweet spot. And she also has taken the leap, and she's the one that spurred me on to doing a podcasting series in the studio for our members.
Helen:So I have a podcasting lesson in there. Also, wanted to be, relevant on YouTube, so I made YouTube lessons for those who are interested in YouTube. So I think that she has helped me I mean, all three of these creators have helped me become better as a community studio manager. Carla, the same. She always gives the feedback.
Helen:She's there with brute honesty, which I love. And Betsy as well. She's yeah. She'll say what she needs, and then I'm like, oh, that would actually benefit a lot of people. This is great.
Helen:So all of three three of these creators have, you know, my sincere thanks and also just I I just feel honored that they are with me and they are still with me. Even though they have leveled up and they are getting better and better, they have they've stayed with the program. So thank you to all of them, and you deserve creator of the week more than you know. So I appreciate you all so much. And now on with the topic from today, which is relevant to these creators who have made these transformations.
Helen:So I'm gonna start by saying five years ago, I was not comfortable being on camera. I went back because I tried to do that challenge where it was go back to 2016 and then you show what you were then in 2026. Holy hell. I could barely find photos of myself, much less a lot of video content. There was a handful of photos, group shots, this and that.
Helen:But I couldn't believe the difference in my content then to now. And I didn't even realize it. I to me, I feel like I've always been this person. I've always been making content. And Julie will say it.
Helen:She's like, you you were the OG content creator. And yes, I was. I was content creating other people, other things, my children, my vacations, whatever. I was never the focus of the content. And now I and it's not like egocentric in a way that I think, like, now I'm the focus of the content.
Helen:But now I'm a part of my content. I am the main character in my content. Whereas before, I was a voyeur. I was a cameraman to the content. And that's a major difference.
Helen:So I'm here to tell you that and I was you know, I've well along in my years and had never found the confidence. So you can do it. Okay. You can do it. So I'm going to talk to you about some of the things that you can use to trigger what you want to happen in your life in a slow way.
Helen:These are actionable, practical steps, and it's not going to be like a makeover. This is not something that you go, Oh, I think I want to have a new hairstyle, and you have a new hairstyle. That doesn't change your inner self. You might feel more confident in the new hairstyle or the new look or the fashion or the makeup or whatever you do, But it takes time to change the inner being, and that is what it is to be on social media and evolve. So if you have a presence on social media right now and you're looking to change it, evolve it, transform it, it doesn't have to happen overnight.
Helen:You don't have to let me start a new account and start over. No. You can just slowly take steps in the direction that you want to go, and then you will make your way there, and you'll look back and not even realize that it wasn't you then. It is the most unbelievable thing. So I'm going to go back and I'm just going to say, in the beginning when I came on TikTok and it was bored and pandemic, blah blah blah, I wasn't doing tutorials.
Helen:I didn't even know that that would be my thing. But I knew I wanted to do something and I wanted to make videos and I thought it would be fun, so I decided to put my myself out there. So if you think about the actionable framework, and I'm going to use myself as an example because it will help you, because you will realize, oh gosh, I see now. Because you need a tangible, you almost need a tangible example as I'm just, if I just say the steps, they're not connected to anything. The steps are just, oh yeah, okay, I'll do that.
Helen:But if you actually have a step with an example, you might be able to find your own tangible example. That's how I like to explain and teach. But the first thing you wanna do is define your core mission. Now I'm gonna go back in time because my core mission when I got on TikTok in the beginning was just I was bored in the pandemic and I would just want to have fun. And then I said, oh, I'll make some baking videos.
Helen:So I did have a core mission. I did wanna be known as the happy, fun woman in the kitchen making really good desserts. So even though that mission is not the same mission I have now, and this tells you something, you can always change your mission. You can always change your core reason for being. And so even now, if you say I wanna change my core reason for being, in another few years, you might find yourself in another place.
Helen:But you need to make some decision about what you wanna do and to kick yourself off, even if that mission changes. Alright? So define your core mission. What do you wanna be known for? What do I wanna help?
Helen:What do I wanna share? And at that point, it was me. It was like, I wanna make baking content and show people my family recipes and why they mean so much to us. And I just started. Okay.
Helen:The next thing you need to do after you define that in some way is decide how you're gonna do it. So you're gonna decide, alright, and I'll look at my own content again. I will go back and say, was making recipe how to videos. I was making those were longer for YouTube. And then I was making shorter versions of the same thing for TikTok.
Helen:So I was making my horizontal YouTube videos, and then I turned my camera vertically, and I was doing shorter, clips to make short social media videos where I was not talking. So I was talking in the YouTube videos, but I was too nervous to talk on social media. I was so scared. I was scared. But I turned my camera, and I would, like, do a little dance, bake dancing, was calling it at the time, and I would put cool music on, and I'd show the steps and show some fun transitions, and I made the videos.
Helen:So that was like a second area I was doing. And then the third thing I was doing, believe it or not, on TikTok is I understood trends. I knew I got it. I right away got what trends were and how to use them. So I was immediately using trends and using them in my niche.
Helen:So I would do a trend and I'd be singing into a whisk, a baking whisk. I would do a trend and it was always having involved with baking things. So even then, when I wasn't that experienced on social media, I got it. And, like, I clocked it, and I was like, oh, I get it. You're supposed to use the trend to bring people into what your content is about, and then you might get more views.
Helen:And I had trends that would, you know, would go viral on things. I did lip sync videos where I lip sync things and just to be silly and fun in the kitchen. I did a lot of trans transitions. I was gonna say transformations. I did a lot of transition videos where it was like before apples in the apple dish and then boom, apple pie.
Helen:I did transitions. So I had my own content pillars. I didn't even know they were content pillars. Seriously, people. I had no idea what I was doing.
Helen:I just went from instinct, and I realized looking back that I had a strategy even though I didn't have it outlined as a strategy. But now I can help you by telling you this is a strategy. I didn't even recognize it. It was just purely instinctual. So you pick three to four repeatable types of videos or themes that you can talk about forever or depending on what it is.
Helen:If it's if it's, let's say you're a relationship coach, you're gonna pick themes that you're gonna talk about that you can talk about easily. And then you're gonna say, okay, what styles of video? Do I want just talking videos? Do I wanna do a couple of trends now and again? Do I want some voice over videos where I'm so you've gotta think about what the types of content you're gonna make.
Helen:Alright? So this is like making these decisions is going to help you transform. So let me get to that. But I have to explain that you're going to do these things. You're going to make a core plan, a core mission in your head.
Helen:You're going to decide what kind of content you're going to make. And then you're going to start going. And you're not going to worry about like, okay, people are going to be judging me. You're just going to have to do it. Okay.
Helen:So now, I'm giving you more, like, literal steps. So now I wanna talk specifically, like, how do you decide you're going to transform? Because that's important. You're you may already be doing these things that I'm talking about if you've heard my podcast before and you know, okay, how to do a content strategy, how use trends. So you know all these things.
Helen:But this is a framework. And then you say, okay, within a year from now, going to make something up. I don't want to be doing baking video. Oh, actually, couldn't I don't have to make it up. I did it.
Helen:But let's say at the time I was making baking videos, I was like, oh, I'm over this. I want to change what I'm doing. What should I do to change it? You slowly take steps in that direction. You don't have to go, okay, turning the car, and now I'm going down down the other highway.
Helen:You can just put out one video in this other niche that you're thinking about. Just test the waters. Put it out. Next thing. Put it out.
Helen:Make another video. You can slowly take steps in that direction. You don't have to go and, you know, shake out the sheets and start over. You can throw one video up in the direction that you wanna go. So that is the start of transformation is you're going down one path, and then you go, okay, I'm gonna take a left turn.
Helen:I'm gonna just sprinkle this out and see what happens. And you may have to sprinkle it again and again and again, or you might be a person, which kind of what happened to me, is I was like, oh, somebody asked me a question. Could you teach us how to do that? I'm like, alright. I made a tutorial video.
Helen:Never thinking that would get traction. And for me, it did. So right away, I was like, light bulb, we're gonna move in that direction now a little bit. But I didn't stop the baking videos because I had a specific bunch of followers who were following me for that. So then I would still sprinkle in a baking video.
Helen:I eased my way out of it. Eased my way. I will also tell you this. I couldn't fathom talking on camera until I did a teaching video. I couldn't fathom even talking about on TikTok.
Helen:I was doing it on YouTube. For some reason, it was comfortable. I had I felt like I was talking to only my family and friends and no one was gonna watch my YouTube videos. So I was like, this is what you do. You know, sometimes I mess up the milk and I don't know.
Helen:For some reason, for YouTube, it didn't feel as much as that I was gonna be judged. I guess because I didn't think anybody except my friends and family would be seeing those YouTube videos, and I'm like, they'll get me because they think I'm a goofball anyway. For some reason, on TikTok specifically, social media, Instagram specifically, I couldn't fathom talking on my videos, which is so weird. So since I couldn't fathom speaking on my videos, I had to move into an uncomfortable place. Okay?
Helen:And that's what I'm talking about when I say if you're going to make a transformation, there is going to be some cringe moments. And if you're a person that isn't willing to, it's just like when you're exercising and you're gonna have days where you're gonna be sore. But if you wanna build muscle, you're gonna have to go through the pain of that, and that's the only way to do it. So if you want to transform your social media and you wanna move in another direction or you even just wanna start, let's say you're starting at the beginning, you're new to the whole thing, you just have to push through the cringe. And the people who can do it are the ones who come out on the other side.
Helen:So I'm not gonna sit here and tell you the magic, here's the magic, and here's how to do it, and you're never gonna feel uncomfortable because I would be lying. You will feel uncomfortable. You will think about who's judging your videos. You will be judged. You will be judged by friends.
Helen:You will be judged by family, the people that see it. You'll be judged by strangers. You will. And so you have to ask yourself, am I ready for this? And you have to know that it's going to happen.
Helen:So transformation doesn't come without judgment, unfortunately, in this world that we live in. And if you're a person that just can't handle it, and I'm gonna be honest here and say, I've always been a people pleaser type of person. I never wanna make feel I don't want I don't wanna feel uncomfortable, and I don't wanna make other feel people feel uncomfortable. So this has been a sort of a thing that got fixed in me from social media where I now don't look for that as much. I think that it, in a weird way, media helped me with this part of my personality.
Helen:It helped me go, oh, well. I can see in the comments, you can get thousands of really nice comments. You're always gonna get one person that's that's kind of an idiot or has to say something mean. And so because of it and initially, it hurts. Initially, like, my god.
Helen:I'm gonna win that person over. Oh my god. You know? How could they think that of me? Like, You know, there was some really nasty comments about like, oh, you must be just retired with nothing else nothing else to do or not all time on your hands.
Helen:And I'm like, this person doesn't know me. And I would instinctively wanna go, actually, I work two jobs, blah blah blah. You know, I wanted to go at the person. But so I'm telling you that no matter what you do, you are going to face judgment. So if you're serious about transformation, you're you have to know that it comes with discomfort.
Helen:And it comes with little steps in a direction. But the little steps might provide might cause you some discomfort. It's a fact. I wish I could tell you how to avoid it. I'd love to know, but you can't.
Helen:Unfortunately, you can't. And I do as always related to to exercise in that way, like, there's pain, there's there's uncomp you know, there's, like, annoyance, like, you have to make a commitment, and then you have to get up in the morning and go to that exercise class. And so you have to go, I I don't wanna make content today, but you have to push through and you have to make the content. So transformation doesn't come without work, but it's a decision you can make, and you don't have to make it it doesn't have to do be a thing that changes overnight. It can change very, very slowly.
Helen:And it can be little tiny increments of like, I'm gonna try this. I'm gonna put this out there, and I'm gonna I'm just gonna push through. Oh my gosh. I got a negative comment. I'm gonna make another video.
Helen:And that's the only way to push through. That's it's it. There's no magic answer. There's no magic answer. And the more you do it, the more you practice, the less pain it'll be.
Helen:The more you lift weights, the less pain you're gonna have in recovery. The more you're just gonna have to relate it to that. The more you do it, you're gonna practice that video. Oh my god, I'm so cringe, I can't take it. Post.
Helen:Close your eyes and post it. So transformation can come from you deciding that you're gonna be uncomfortable. And I think if you can accept that in upfront, if you can go, I'm I'm diving into this, and I know it's gonna suck. You might have an easier time because you might be making it even worse in your mind. And then when you do it, it's like, yeah, that wasn't so bad.
Helen:So you have to accept it. Alright. Now let me back it up for a second. It's important to also make sure that whatever you are putting out there always comes back to your aligned north star. Whatever that is that you've decided you wanna be in your personal brand, you need to define whatever that is.
Helen:It's your your core belief for why you're making videos, your core belief with who you're looking for to have as followers, you need to make sure that your content, whatever you're putting out there, aligns with what you've decided about yourself and your brand and what you want to put out there. Because there's sometimes you'll get sidetracked. Like, somebody will say something and you'll want to make a clapback video or and then you have to pause for a second and say, is that really what I want the karma to be on my account? Do I want that kind I mean, some accounts thrive on that. They want to be controversial.
Helen:They want to have people arguing in the comments. That is a style. But it's if you are not ready for that, you have to make sure that whatever you're putting out is in alignment. It's in alignment with your your North Star, your ideal, your the brand outline that you created for yourself. You you really have to know what it is.
Helen:And then you know what it is, you have to make sure the content does it. Even when you have that moment where you wanna just, post something that's like a little off. And it's it's tricky. It's really tricky right now because there's a lot of content coming at us in a lot of different ways, and it's rough. It is rough.
Helen:And sometimes you'll think, want to jump in that conversation. I want to jump in that conversation. And then you have to kind of dial back for a second and think, what is my personal brand? What am I bringing to it? And does this align with that?
Helen:And it does you don't have to make videos about every damn topic that's being talked about. Everybody thinks you gotta oh, that person talked about that. I gotta talk about that too. That person made a video about tips and trends, and I I gotta make videos about that too. No.
Helen:You don't. No. You don't. You don't. That person made a video about that.
Helen:That doesn't mean you have to. Don't look at trend insights or whatever the creator insights and make sure you have to make videos about the same thing everyone else is making videos about. No. No. No.
Helen:You don't. Matter of fact, you'll get lost in the sea of people making the same types of videos if you do that. What you need to do is decide what direction you're going in. What are you trying to create? What is your message that you want to share with the world?
Helen:There are so many voices that we could look to on social media, and they all bring something different to us. So you don't need to be matching the same as other people. Bring something new. Bring your own personality. You don't have to follow I do this all the time.
Helen:Like, you don't have to follow what everyone else is doing. If you really want transformation, you need to see where you wanna go and then slowly move in that direction. It does not have to be zero to 60. It can be zero to point 5.5 to point one. You go little by little.
Helen:It's just like atomic habits. Chain do something five minutes a day, and over the course of six months, it's it'll be a habit. Do something a little bit towards that direction. Eventually, you will get to where you want to go. And it is, I mean, it's so basic, and I know that it sounds like I'm breaking it down to make it too simple.
Helen:And you're probably like, oh, that you make it all sound so easy because you did it already. But I did it in the same way I'm describing. I didn't do an express train. It's been five years. And I I'm just saying years come quickly, and you can make change over the course of a year, believe it or not.
Helen:Like, in a blink, the year will be there. So your little bit of change in that direction and pointing yourself in that direction a little bit at a time will get you where you want to go. And you'll look back and go, wow, I made big progress. Okay? And all of these things can be done with help because when people are in a transformation and making a transition together, they tend to thrive better because they watch someone else doing something a little out of the comfort zone and they're like, I can do that too.
Helen:And someone else is doing something else, and then they're inspired by that. So the group effort, just like with fitness, again, really makes the change possible over time. So you go to these classes with the same groups of people, and then you'll start seeing, oh my gosh, that person didn't even used to be able to do a pull up, and now they can do look at that. They can do three pull ups. And if if you watch that, that's inspiration enough, and you can do the same thing.
Helen:So it's just a little bit of discomfort, a tiny bit. Just keep pushing through it. And if you need help, that's what the support team is here for. Okay? We have a whole studio of support.
Helen:We have creators doing it, watching someone else get inspired, watch the creators I just talked about as creators of the week the things that they've done, and it helps you to see what you can do and what is possible. And that's all I've got for today. Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend. Thanks for joining me again on a lovely Friday, and I will see you next week.