I love that saying. It helps me get over whatever it is I need to get over to push myself out of my comfort zone and go after things that scare me. Just embrace it. You are probably going to suck. At first. Then you will get better. Why would taking pictures on IG be any different than say, driving?

This post is a bit of a 2021 Intentions and Goals check-in. I said I wanted to push myself and begin to film videos as part of AFL and as of Friday, February 12^th, I have completed four of them. In case you missed it, here is a link to the ones that I have done:

My Top Sustainable Purchases for 2020

My Favorite Vintage Dresses and How I Modernize Them

The 2020 Trend I Loved the Most and How I Plan on Wearing It: Colored Leather

My Favorite Designer Investment Pieces and Why I Chose to Invest in Them

Since I do not want to “suck” forever, I wanted to look at the good, the bad, and what I have learned thus far, and a few plans for future videos:

The Good
I did it. I didn’t overthink it for days, weeks, or even months. I said I would do it and I did it. My MO would be to wait until it was perfect. Normally, I would not launch videos until I had a teleprompter, a perfect script, and a top-notch camera for the highest-quality video. Not this time. I just started doing it. I made my notes, fumbled with a ring light, a tripod, and my iPhone, and pressed record.

Besides the public accountability and the title of this post, my final Nike moment (aka when I told myself to, “Just Do It”) came when I logged into a webinar by an internationally renowned fashion trend company that I paid $30 to Zoom in on. The hostess was in a dark room, and by dark room, I do not mean a place for developing film. I mean a literal dimly lit spare bedroom with one sad lamp, a threadbare quilt on a barely made bed, and boxes strewn everywhere that made it look like she just moved in when she has lived there for a while. I was shocked but decided at that moment if this was good enough for them, then the effort I was putting into trying to find aesthetically pleasing angles and the best lighting was enough. And teleprompters are expensive 😊

Feedback and metrics-wise, they are a success. According to IG insights, these are rather successful, and they even landed me on the Explore page and for those who do not know, the Explore page is a big deal in terms of getting your content in front of new eyeballs.

The feedback from IRL friends, IG friends, and family/framily has all been overwhelmingly positive. I have had a couple of women DM to either offer suggestions for future videos, as well as say that I have inspired them to push themselves to confront something that scares them. That last bit means waaaaaaay more to me than the Explore page.

Another MO of mine is self-deprecation. I consider it an art form, along with sarcasm, so normally I would say the positive feedback is because I surround myself with kind and generous people. Or as I said to my parents as a self-doubting teenager, “You HAVE to think I am pretty. You are MY PARENTS!” as I stomped off to my room. Ah, the good old days. But I am fighting the urge to feel like these people are all too nice to tell me the truth, but I have gotten constructive pointers from people whose opinions I respect, so I have decided to take their words for truth.

The Bad
If I hold myself to taking the positive feedback as honest, then I am being overly critical of myself (MO number 3! A trifecta for one blog post!). I think I am talking in circles, tripping over words, and being redundant. And I am a bit, but I know that will only get better with time.

My videos are too long. While I LOVE those of you who have had sat through multiple 25 minutes plus videos, but as another saying I love goes, “Ain’t nobody got time for that.” I know this is an issue and I have a plan to rectify it.

The Future
Is directly tied to the length of my videos and another one of my goals and intentions. I need to learn to incorporate Reels. That way, I can say what I have to say with a bit of demo but show more outfit details in a fun Reel. I want to keep the talking part to around 8 minutes but push myself more creatively with the latest IG video bells and whistles.

Reels have me stuck in an aforementioned holding pattern of they are not perfect so I cannot show them, but I am meeting with a social media specialist to teach me all the tech stuff that seems to come so naturally to so many. While I may be recovering from a bit of perfectionism, I will always embrace my need for a certain amount of due diligence before embarking on something new.

I hope you find this post helpful when tackling any goals or intentions you have for yourself, especially if you are nervous, unsure, or scared. And if you have any feedback on how to make my videos better or topics you would like to see covered, please let me know in the comments.

Photography by Breezy Ritter