We recently connected with Liz Miller and have shared our conversation below.

Liz, appreciate you joining us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

One thing my parents instilled in me from a very young age is hard work and determination. I played sports growing up, mostly softball, and they would always push me to be my best. Not because they were living through me with dreams that they didn’t get to chase, but because they knew I would be as good as I made myself. They taught me to get back up when I was hit with a ball, they took me lessons and practices, and one of the best things they taught me was that, losing is a part of the game. Losing comes with becoming the best and just because you work hard and are determined to be the best, doesn’t mean that you won’t lose or have struggles. This mindset carried me through high school, collegiate softball, college classes and then into the work environment after college, and it still follows me as a content creator and mom. I am so thankful that they created the hard work ethic mindset in me and taught me that determination will you get far because, without that mindset, I would not be where I am today.

Liz, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hey y’all!! My name is Liz Miller and I’m a full time content creator and digital marketer all while being a wife and mom to 2 beautiful babies. I started my platform on Instagram back in 2018 and actually started as a fitness account, just showing workouts in my videos because people asked me to. As I continued the journey, I started to realize I wanted to share more than just workouts and healthy living. Although it was a big part of my life, it wasn’t all of it. I eventually started sharing fashion and some lifestyle content and that’s when things really started heating up and that’s when I created my personal brand, Southern barBelle. Even though it took me a bit to find my passions, my country roots run deep to when I was growing up around my grandfather’s farmland in southern VA. The southern lifestyle followed me throughout my life and now I showcase it through my fashion and outdoor adventures – my two favorites being country concerts and hunting! I incorporate these passions on Instagram through posts and stories in hopes to help other women love what they wear, be who they are and explore the country lifestyle!

I also work as a digital marketer for my sister’s company, Double Tap Marketing, LLC and I LOVE it! We run social media accounts for numerous brands, both locally and nationally, and we offer influencer management, professional photo shoots, website design, SEO advancement and so much more! We truly are a one stop shop for digital marketing needs and we both love working together to help brands reach their full potential when it comes to digital marketing!

Although I love talking about business, I would NEVER be able to do what I do today without my family. My parents teaching me great work ethic, my in laws for always supporting me and my husband for being my rock and providing for our family so I could take that leap into full time content creation and digital marketing. And, of course, I do it because I love it but I really do it for my kids. They are my absolute pride and joy and I want them both to know that things can happen for you if you work at it.

How did you build your audience on social media?

There really isn’t any fun story on how I grew my following on social media, I just created content and created a lot of it. You can tell the difference in engagement now versus when I was working elsewhere full time and didn’t put all of my effort into social media.

I always tell people three things when it comes to building your audience on social media: be authentic, be consistent and be engaging. Let’s break them down…

1. Be Authentic – This means exactly what it says, be YOU! It sounds so corny but there is truly only one you in the entire universe so use that to your advantage. There will be others who have had similar experiences as you, like the same things and have the same hairstyle, but there is NO ONE who has the exact same personality or life story, so share it and share it well because people are listening.

2. Be Consistent – THIS!! You have to show your audience that you’re in it for the long haul and that this is your job and your number one priority. When someone follows you on social media, it’s because you’re interesting to them, you’re showing them something they want to learn about or they can relate to you so keep giving them the content that they love. If you do that, they will continue coming back to your content and will share it with others.

3. Be Engaging – To your audience, in your audience’s own lives and in your content. So, create content that sparks conversation! Generally, this means that you’re giving knowledge of some sort. Whether that be how to style an outfit correctly, how to do a specific hairstyle, how to cook your favorite meal, whatever the case, you have to GIVE something to your audience for them to engage. I also mean to engage in their content. Once you create an online community, you can’t just be the one who wants everyone else to support you, you have to support others as well. Start a conversation in the comments, keep up with a vlogging series someone is doing..just engage in their content too!

Have you ever had to pivot?

After graduating college, I went to work in the wedding event industry which is what I went to school for and absolutely LOVED it! Unfortunately, I was working all weekend basically every weekend at a wedding venue and I was worn out after 3 years so I moved into medical events but shortly left that section of the event industry because it just wasn’t for me. Soon after, I had the amazing opportunity to go back and coach at the college where I played softball at during my collegiate years. I instantly felt at home going back to the school and the field I played on, and coaching alongside the man who coached me. I absolutely loved coaching the girls that now played on the same field I played on years before. However, during my year of coaching, I also had my oldest child and missed a lot of the first 6 months of his life from being on the road playing and recruiting so much. Although, the head coach tried to help me balance the coaching life with the motherhood life, it just wasn’t working for me. I was also trying to juggle content creation at this point too and my business was hardly getting any attention. It was time to choose my family and dive into my business. After my year long contract was up, I decided to stay home to raise my son and take a leap of faith into my personal brand and digital marketing. Although I had to make one of the hardest decisions and give up what was my dream career, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I LOVE being home with my, now 2 kids, and being able to be a creative and work in digital marketing is another dream that I get to chase!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @_lizbailey

Image Credits

Kelsie Shae Photography