“I THINK I’M FINALLY TURNING THE CORNER”.

Well guys, I hope everybody got a chance to read my Friday night blog.

Technically, I guess it was my Saturday morning blog because I didn’t write the damn thing until almost 2:00 in the morning. 😂

But y’all, that one was a hard write.

It really was.

And no, I don’t do all of this completely by myself. Y’all know my bestie Chat helps me take the 47,000 thoughts running through my head and turn them into something another human being can actually follow. 😂

But those thoughts are mine. Those feelings are mine. Those stories are mine.

And writing that one made me realize something else.

Writing all of this down is actually helping me.

If you don’t journal, you should try it. And I’m not saying you need to do what I’ve apparently decided to do and air your entire life and all your dirty laundry on the internet for strangers to read. 😂

I understand that isn’t for everybody.

Some people are very private. Some people don’t want anyone knowing what’s happening behind closed doors. Some people want their life to look neat and pretty from the outside.

That’s okay.

But let’s also be serious.

Nobody has a perfect life.

We ALL have something.

Maybe you don’t have the circus I occasionally have going on over here, but everybody has disappointments, regrets, family problems, marriage problems, money problems, childhood shit, insecurities, mistakes, or something they wish they had handled differently.

Nobody gets through an entire life completely unscathed.

I’ve just decided that at this point in my life, I’m not interested in pretending.

And I’m sure that makes some people uncomfortable.

It may even make people in my own family uncomfortable.

But here’s where I am now:

I’ve already lived more than half my life.

And I’m finally at a place where I care more about becoming a better version of myself than I care about making everybody comfortable with how I get there.

Writing helps me.

Being honest helps me.

Looking at my own behavior—even the ugly parts—helps me.

So if reading about it makes somebody uncomfortable, I apologize.

Actually… I don’t know if I apologize. 😂

Maybe just don’t read it.

Anyway, that’s not even what tonight’s blog is supposed to be about.

Look at me getting distracted already.

SHOCKING.

Here’s what I actually wanted to talk about.

This Crazy Social Media Idea of Mine

Y’all know that sometime around December, I got this crazy idea in my head that I wanted to really do social media.

I was already posting every day anyway.

And I mean EVERY DAY.

Outfits. Shopping. Jewelry. Trips. Dogs. Food. My family. Random shit I found interesting. Whatever was happening in my life that day—you were probably going to hear about it. 😂

Social media was already taking up a ridiculous amount of my time, so I started thinking:

Why not actually try to turn this into something?

Everybody goes into a new year with resolutions, goals, vision boards, promises to lose 20 pounds, stop spending money, exercise every morning…

Mine was social media.

I decided that in January I was going to get serious about it.

And y’all…

I knew absolutely NOTHING.

I knew how to post on Facebook.

That was about the extent of my technological expertise.

I’m an old gal. Technology is NOT my strong point.

Technically, I own a computer, but saying I “use a computer” is being extremely generous.

I use it for shipping.

Welton has everything set up so beautifully that I basically enter some information and push buttons. If something goes wrong beyond that, we’re calling somebody. 😂

I didn’t know how to make links.

I didn’t know how to make Reels.

I didn’t understand algorithms.

I didn’t know how affiliate marketing worked.

I didn’t know how to properly set up accounts.

I didn’t know how to edit videos.

I didn’t know what connected to what.

Half the time I didn’t even know what I didn’t know.

And yes, I know what some of y’all are thinking:

“But Tammy, you use Chat for EVERYTHING.”

Correct.

I do.

And my bestie can help me with a LOT.

But sometimes my bestie isn’t the best. 😂

So I knew I needed actual humans to help me.

And over the last several months, I hired one person…

Then another…

Then another…

Then another.

I think we’re at about four.

And I want to be very clear because I don’t want to be ugly about anybody.

They weren’t necessarily failures.

But for what I needed?

It failed.

And now that I’ve learned more myself, I realize that some of the things that were set up weren’t done the way they needed to be done.

So instead of starting with a nice clean foundation, I ended up with this giant bowl of technological spaghetti.

Accounts connected wrong.

Links not working.

Things set up incorrectly.

Things connected that shouldn’t have been connected.

Things NOT connected that should have been.

And then I added a blog into the mix because apparently I didn’t have enough problems. 😂

Y’all, I cannot even tell you how many times this whole process has brought me to tears.

And I’m not exaggerating.

There have been days I’ve wanted to throw my phone across the room and say:

FORGET IT. I’M DONE.

But I haven’t.

Then I Finally Found The Right Person

I have my sweet Jessie who comes to my house on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I absolutely adore her.

She helps me with everything she can. She’s smart, she’s patient with me, and she is genuinely one of the sweetest people.

But social media on this level isn’t what she does for a living.

And recently, I finally hired somebody who does.

I haven’t really talked much about it yet, but I hired an actual social media professional.

This is her full-time job.

She has a track record.

She works on a much larger scale than what I’m doing.

And y’all…

In two weeks, she has done LEAPS AND BOUNDS.

I cannot even describe the difference.

She has been unwinding things, disconnecting things, reconnecting things, fixing things, adding things, removing things—and slowly this giant tangled mess is beginning to make sense.

We still have a LONG way to go.

But for the first time, I feel like we’re actually turning the corner.

She finally got one pretty major issue fixed.

I’m knocking on every piece of wood in my house as I type that because with my luck I’ll wake up tomorrow and it’ll be broken again. 😂

But right now?

FIXED.

We still have more to do.

A lot more.

And Apparently My Blog Needs A New Home

Here’s something else I’ve learned:

When I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to start a blog, I asked Chat which platform I should use.

Chat told me.

I listened.

And now apparently we’re moving the whole damn thing. 😂

So thank you very much, Bestie.

Sometimes you really do get on my nerves.

She’s moving my blog to a better setup and transferring everything I’ve already written.

Then we need to organize all of my links so when I’m writing about a makeup product I love, a lotion, an outfit, something for the house—whatever it is—it will actually be easy for y’all to find it.

We’re also working on getting everything set up so that eventually you can comment something like SHOP and automatically receive the link instead of me trying to answer 900 messages asking where something came from.

We have to straighten out Amazon.

We have to fix my Amazon storefront.

We have to organize my other shopping links.

I still need to learn CapCut.

And somewhere in the middle of all of this, I still need to build a proper website for my jewelry.

So basically…

I’ll be finished sometime around 2047. 😂

My Biggest Problem Is ME

And do y’all know what my biggest problem with this whole process is?

I have absolutely no patience.

None.

Zero.

I don’t want something fixed next week.

I wanted it fixed yesterday.

I don’t want my followers to slowly grow.

I want to wake up tomorrow morning with 100,000.

That’s reasonable, right? 😂

My brand-new Facebook started at ZERO and it’s already getting close to 1,600 followers.

That is GOOD.

I know it’s good.

My Instagram isn’t growing as quickly as I want it to, but again…

That’s because I want everything immediately.

I’m having to remind myself that I need to get the foundation right first.

What good would 100,000 followers do me tomorrow if none of my links work, my accounts aren’t set up correctly, my blog isn’t functioning properly, and nobody can find the things I’m talking about?

Exactly.

So I’m trying to learn something I have never been particularly good at:

Patience.

Build it correctly.

Fix what’s broken.

Learn what I don’t know.

Keep posting.

Keep writing.

Keep showing up.

And let the followers come.

Because I genuinely believe they will.

I’ve always been a big believer that when I really put something in my heart, pray about it, work toward it and believe I can do it, somehow I usually figure out a way to make it happen.

I’ve been pretty damn lucky that way.

So I’m going to trust the process.

Even though I hate the process. 😂

And Then There’s My Jewelry…

Y’ALL.

You’re killing it.

Seriously.

I’m not going to be a millionaire tomorrow—or probably next Tuesday either 😂—but slow and steady, you’re buying.

And I’m so grateful.

My jeweler has also started giving me more promotions and specials because they genuinely want to help me grow my business.

That’s one of the things I love about them.

They’re good to me.

They want me to succeed.

And as I grow, they’re helping me have better things to offer y’all.

I have some REALLY fun ideas planned with them in New York later this year.

Originally I wanted to do some of it in September, but I think October is going to be better.

And I cannot WAIT.

October and November are going to be fun.

Jewelry.

New York.

Round Top.

Holiday season.

All the people I haven’t seen in forever.

And hopefully by then, all this social media madness will be running like a well-oiled machine.

Or at least running.

I’ll take running. 😂

Life Is Good

After everything I’ve written about lately, I think it’s important for me to say this too:

I have a lot to be thankful for.

A LOT.

I’m excited about what I’m building.

I’m excited about my jewelry business.

I’m excited about this blog.

I’m excited that my social media is finally beginning to make sense.

I’m excited about fall.

I’m excited about Round Top.

I’m excited about the holidays.

I’m excited about the things I have planned.

And I’m proud of myself for not quitting when this became so much harder than I ever expected it to be.

I’m learning.

I’m fixing things.

I’m making mistakes.

I’m correcting them.

I’m starting over when I need to.

I’m asking for help.

And little by little…

I think I’m finally turning the corner.

Maybe that’s the lesson in all of this.

Not everything has to happen overnight.

Not every mistake means you failed.

Sometimes you hired the wrong person.

Sometimes you chose the wrong platform.

Sometimes you connected the wrong account.

Sometimes you spend months doing something the hard way before somebody finally shows you the easier way.

And sometimes progress doesn’t look like some huge life-changing moment.

Sometimes progress is simply looking around one day and realizing:

Wait a minute… this is actually starting to work.

And right now?

That’s exactly how I feel.

Slow and steady.

One mess at a time.

One fix at a time.

One follower at a time.

One blog at a time.

We’re getting there, y’all.

And life is good. ❤️