I took this selfie during the Summer of 2010. I was living out of state. At the time, I was working from home. A remote employee for a large media company. I had been working from home for well over a year for a smaller company before the large media company bought it out.
During this time, I had made several trips to Dallas, Texas for business. I attended a lot of lengthy meetings. One of the big topics was exploring and utilizing social media streams in addition to Facebook.
At that time, Twitter was booming.
I signed up for a personal Twitter account and worked the Twitter account for the company. I dove into the frenzy.
Back then, in the world of Twitter, it was all about the numbers. The more followers you had, the more reputable you were. I spent hundreds of hours following people, unfollowing those who didn't follow me back, and maintaining the wide gap between followers and those I was following.
I worked diligently on all of my social media streams. The number of followers grew. I posted a lot of content. My diligence paid off. I earned the title 'Social Media Queen.'
When the large media company was bought back by the original owners, I knew it was time to apply for another position at a different company. In April of 2012, I was hired by another company out of Dallas, Texas. That was less than a week before all of my colleagues lost their jobs without notice.
Since 2012, I have worked for numerous companies and entrepreneurs. I have freelanced, assisted local businesses with marketing, etc. I used my Twitter and other social media accounts to promote companies, products, entrepreneurs, local businesses, etc.
Over a year ago, I took a hiatus from Twitter and other social media streams with the exception of Facebook.
With all of the new changes that I'll be making in the coming months, I knew I needed to bring my social media accounts back to life.
I tried to sign onto my Pinterest account. Not a problem.
Twitter...well.
Not so forgiving.
The personal account I began a decade ago was still there.
However.
All but 45 of the tens of thousands of tweets had been eliminated.
I'm not going to lie, I was devastated.
When Lisa arrived home from work, I vented. She tried her best to understand, but Lisa is not a fan of social media. Lisa has a Facebook account, but hardly ever posts anything.
We have a standing joke that her Facebook page only has updated content because I tag her in a lot of photos I post on my personal Facebook wall.
I told Lisa that I just needed to feel the loss of 10 years worth of work. I was not going to unpack in that cloud of devastation. I just needed a day to process it.
It was one of those moments when I knew I needed to take a few steps back and look at the bigger picture. I've been in marketing long enough to know those big pictures can put things into perspective rather quickly.
Yes, I was crushed, but after taking a few steps back, I needed to take a handful of things into consideration...
1. My account was dormant for about a year and a half. That's kind of a big No-No in the world of social media.
2. Most of the links didn't work. That's because most of the sites and companies and entrepreneurs I worked for took their sites down.
3. Some of the local businesses I linked to were no longer in business. Yep. That happens. I knew the risk, but...
4. I'm not doing the same thing I was doing a decade ago. I am not also the same person. Not even close.
5. It's no longer about quantity. It's about quality.
6. It is time for a fresh start. Yeah. It is. When Lisa and I bought a house back in February, it was all about new beginnings and a new chapter.
So...
I have well over a decade of marketing experience under my belt. I've had to start over many times. Sure it's frustrating, but with age and experience transpires into wisdom.
Despite all that I have shared, one thing is for certain.
I still have that fire.
Determination.
Motivation.
Experience.
I will persevere.
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