Interact

 By:  Ada Z.

        Over the years I have worked on growing a small video production business.  It's nothing fancy but it has helped me achieve my dream of becoming a video editor.  While building this business, I began to realize how important it is to interact with people in real life and on social media.  

        As I've mentioned before, my shyness was always one of my biggest flaws but having something that I could speak confidently about helped me open up to people.  I felt confident in my skills as a video editor so much so that I was being hired on the spot by people and businesses to help them with their video needs.  It felt easy because I knew what I was talking about and the confidence spoke for itself.

        Once we started our podcast, we realized that we were starting from scratch when it came to a social media following and listeners.  We had to work on building a following from the ground up and it is no easy task.  

        First, we reached out to some of our family and friends asking them to follow our social media pages and to give our first few episodes a listen.  Next, I started reaching out to fellow podcasters and joining podcasting groups on Facebook.

        Interacting with fellow podcasters gave me a sense of community.  I felt like we were not alone in our struggles because everyone else has had the same struggles too.  People who did not know us personally were taking time to listen to our podcast and give us honest feedback.  

        It's always nice to have the support of your family and friends.  However, most of them are cheering you on because they love you and want to be there for you.  The majority of the time they will not give you honest criticism.  Having people that are working on something in a similar field as you (in our case podcasting) and who are there to support you even though they don't know you, is a pretty awesome feeling.  

        These people have no reason to interact with you or to be nice to you.  They do not know you personally.  However, they take time out of their busy day to give you feedback and cheer you on.  This is why interaction with everyone, but especially outside of your inner circle, is extremely important.  You need people who will give you honest feedback while also cheering you on.  

A few great examples of receiving words of encouragement, support, and us showing support as well.