WHY I AVOIDED SOCIAL MEDIA

I avoided social media like it was the black plague for over 9 years. Why? Because I don’t like attention, it’s that simple. I’ve never been one to seek it out in any form of self-serving manner and I have 0 interest in chasing any type of fame. Nor did I want to put my personal life out there as I didn’t see the point of it. To be clear this is not a knock on anyone that seeks that type of attention out and I do believe everyone should do whatever makes them happy and that they are passionate about. I’m just giving you some insight on who I am and why I avoided it. Plus, from a work, business standpoint I was brought up in the old school mindset of recruiting in which all you needed to do was smash the phones - smile and dial your way to success.

But boy did all those years of thinking change back in January when I watched the episode of The School of Greatness podcast that featured @garyvee. My immediate response was who is this dude? I quickly identified with him and to say my thinking on the importance of social media was pushed by the end of that segment would be well you know...He completely flipped my mindset on digital marketing.

Provide value to your community first and expect nothing in return. It was the providing value part that really did it for me. I know I have value to provide and by getting out of my own way, not making it about me but instead about my community, my audience I realized that I’m doing them a disservice by not putting out content. At that point I understood that there was so much opportunity to make a positive impact that I was able to start pushing out content on a consistent basis. I have no intentions of stopping and only see the velocity of content increasing.

Several books, countless podcasts, keynotes, and daily content consumption has been extremely helpful educating myself on social media and digital marketing but it all comes down to execution. My education will forever be ongoing but I had to take action along with it - push content while providing value. It kind of freaks me out a little when I think what if I never would have watched that episode but I quickly remind myself that there is no time for dwelling only time for doing.

The last 4-5 months has been a mixture of excitement, fun, positive energy and a lot of uncomfortable moments but I’m all in. I went from having a LinkedIn profile and Facebook page, the latter I was never active on, to now having Instagram, Snap, Twitter, Musically and Vero. Not sure what I will be on next but whatever it is I’m looking forward to it. Side note, I absolutely love making musically’s with my kids. It’s the perfect platform for someone who is a DJ at heart.

Also, the amount of positive feedback I’ve received has been crazy and I’m super grateful for it all. I’m still very early to this but I’d encourage everyone to start pushing value to their community today. You’ll never know who you’ll make a positive impact on.

#GrindForGreatness @justina11ison

P.s. My gratitude is unlimited for Gary Vaynerchuk. Thanks for giving me the mindset shift on social media, building a brand and providing value with no expectations. When I look back at 2018 in a year from now, 3 years from now, 5 years from now I will always be able bring it back to that moment/podcast. It will be the catalyst of building my brand and company.