Once Upon a Personal Brand
How I Became an Accidental Influencer - Part One
Once upon a time there was a middle aged woman who decided to film herself dancing on Instagram and that woman is now your favourite “Enfluencerrrrr!” Oh hey, hi, it’s me!
One afternoon waaaaaay back on 1 February 2017, I was cooking in the kitchen and listening to Boz Scaggs, and for some reason thought the interwebs would like to see me miming and dancing along. Turns out my intuition was correct, and all of a sudden women (and a few odd dudes) started following along, finding some joy in it, and even sending in requests.
I was still married at the time, my boys were 18 and 12 and all three of them were VERY unhappy that I was acting this way online and told me in no uncertain terms that they wished I would stop. There’s nothing like three men telling a menopausal woman who has spent the last 20 years of her life wifeing, cooking, cleaning, nursing - you know exactly what I mean - that they disapprove of her doing something for herself that brings joy. I calmly explained to them that I wasn’t going to stop and that they did not need to “follow” me. Looking back, I get it. Some - ok most - of those videos are super cringe but I was having fun and yes, getting some attention for it. I was nearing the end of my marriage and the last few years had been very focussed on him and his life challenges, and it felt good to do something just for me and be a little creative. Comments started coming in from women saying these videos brought some sunshine into their day, so I kept going.
More of you started to follow along. That was back in the day when my Instagram grid looked this:
It was a real mix of video, photos, quotes and other things that I was loving (I’m feeling quite inspired to actually shift back to this style of account. What do you think?) and I would generally post something everyday with some of my thoughts underneath. It felt creative and almost like a diary that I could share with you all.
Just a heads up friends: I have had one spot become available for my second trip to Bhutan from 23 July - 1 August. You will have heard me share how much this country has changed me and I’d love for you to experience it too. If you’re at all keen please get in touch with matt@travelproject.au asap as I think this spot will fill quickly. You can see our amazing itinerary HERE. Kadrin chhe la!
It was a time of great change for me. I had become the “breadwinner” of the family and was spending 3.5 hours a day in the car to work in the city. And then, after 20 years of being with my husband, we separated. Both the boys were with me for a few months until my ex got settled, so I was working full time AND cleaning houses to support us. The Instagram community that was starting to emerge from @themiddleagedgoddess really supported me emotionally during that time as suddenly weekends were often spent on my own plus I was trying to manage everyone’s feelings in this discombobulated phase of our family journey.
I was really having to watch my spending and so personal things like clothes or skincare or makeup, took a back seat to school fees, sporting equipment (why are basketball shoes actually $300+ and then they grow out of them half way through a season) and the mountains of food two growing men can consume.
Then one day I held up a mascara and everything changed….
