Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lisa Taylor. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Lisa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with something countless entrepreneurs have had to figure out on the fly – how have you dealt with the rise of remote work?

As I was making the transition from a career in the military to a “retirement” lifestyle (retired veteran) I knew that sitting at home on the sidelines wasn’t something I was readyto do at 51 years old. I also knew that I didn’t want to try and go into corporate america either due to what I percieved to be a ageist situation. Finding a niche that I could do from home, that I felt challenged me and was fun was what was important to me and so I went in search of what I knew how to do and what I was good at to see if there was a place for my talent / skill set in the world of social media.

I realized that there was a platform for someone like me out there. Someone that had been an early adopter of social media and was tremendously comfortable with the medium as opposed to a lot of my contemporaries. However, there is always room for more information and so I enrolled in a degree plan titled Technology and Communication with an emphasis on social media. I went back to school at 51 years old, and while undertaking that, started a digital media company, and that started a snowball that I hadn’t forseen. I parlayed my success as a digital media creator for small business owners, like myself, into my new venture as Prints and Pinots in the world of Influencers on Instagram.

Lisa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

When I look back on my teenage years, my 15 years old self would never have thought that I’d end up spending 27 years of my life as a soldier; but, that’s exactly what I did.

What I really wanted to do was go to Hollywood, become a famous writer or a fashion model. Serving in the military wasn’t even on my radar. Flash forward to 26 years of age, and there’s me, holding up my right hand to pledge my commitment to the US Army. Looking back now, I know that it is one of the proudest moments of my life.

Serving in the military as a woman was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I joined in 1989 and never once did the notion that we would ever be at war again enter my mind. And then, in 1990 we engaged in Desert Storm. A short-lived event, however totally altering the course of my life. I decided afterwards that a career in the Army was what I was going to do and made my decision to become a “lifer”. My career was well underway and another war would come. After serving during Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, I finally retired in 2015 after serving for 27 years.

When I got out, I was 51 years old, still a single gal, and had no idea what the next phase of my life would look like. I had a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, thanks to Uncle Sam and the GI Bill. I lived in Austin and was happy to be at this place in my life, but I needed to find my next “thing”.

Austin is a great place to be an entrepreneur and I had many friends and family that had started small businesses so doing that, as opposed to ever working again for someone else, seemed like a great idea to me. But, what would I do? I needed to tap the right skillset to market and so I started asking my business owning friends what they thought. Then, my answer came.

Social media had long been a part of my daily life, starting way back with Myspace. I’m what they call an “early adopter”. I love trying the new stuff when it comes out and because of that I was very familiar with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, et al however; I found that many of my friends were not comfortable using social media nor were they doing a lot of marketing because they were too busy running their own businesses. So there was my in. I started a digital media marketing company called The Write Place with a few small businesses and never looked back. Six years later, I have somehow gleaned favor with the Real Estate market in Austin and have a roster of clients that is Realtor heavy. Along the way, I also went back to school to get a degree in Social Media Technology and Communication from ACC.

My personal life also took a huge diversion. In 2017, I met the man I’d been waiting a lifetime for, and in 2018 we were married in a small ceremony in an old warehouse space in East Austin. It was a magical day.

Of course, we all know what happened in 2020. Well, when small businesses closed their doors, they stopped all their marketing too, and then the dominos started to fall.

Over the years as I was building my business, I’d become familiar with the term “Influencer” and was following many women on Instagram that made money showing beautiful outfits or sharing lifestyle tips, etc. and I’d always wondered how they got into it, so I did some research and found a company that represents almost all of them, so I applied. They told me no. No reason. No explanation, just No. Well, I applied several more times between 2015 and 2020 and always got the same response. And then, in April of 2020, I got an email from them that said they accepted me! I was elated.

So, now I am an Influencer! Well, whatever that means. I get to take photos of all my favorite outfits and share them with the world, or at least all 1759 of my followers. I suppose I’m what you would call a micro-influencer. LOL But, I am having a blast, playing at being that fashion model that I’d always dreamed of being and making a little money while doing it. It really is amazing that at 57 years of age, anyone would give a crap about what I wear, where I eat, or how I conduct my life; but, here we are.

I am Lisa Taylor, a loving wife, sister, and Aunt. I am a fashion blogger (printsandpinots.com) an influencer, a small business owner, a veteran, and a dog mom and I love living in Austin, Texas.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Entering into the world of Influencers on social media was initially terrifying. I was over 50 years old trying to compete in a online world where young women dominated the platform, but as a career soldier I’d never backed down from a challenge and I wasn’t about to do so now. I knew that there was an audience for what I felt was “being your authentic self.” and that many women over 40 struggled with putting the right outfit together for a special event or even, for everyday so that was where I started.

I steadily and methodically served up content in this realm while also creating a website that would focus on my travels, how I pack for specific trips, tips on multiple ways to wear an item, etc and the followers just came. The process was slow at first. Sometimes I felt that I was here, creating all this content and sending it out into a black hole. But eventually they came and then my following slowly started to grow.

My advice for anyone that is trying to grow a following on social media is three fold:
Create good content (use the many tools out there for editing, good lighting, a good camera etc)
Stay true to you. Be authentic.
Be consistent.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Serving a lifetimw in the military was one of the hardest, most challeging things that I’ve ever done, especially during the war years, but once I was ready to hang up my combat boots I really had no idea what would be next for me. I did know that I wasn’t ready to sit on my rear all day watching my life pass me by, so making the decision to go back to school seemed like a no brainer. I still had GI Bill money to spend, and getting additional education is never a bad thing. I enjoyed my time back in the classroom immensly and also got to interact with younger, hipper, much more socia media savy individuals than myself, and that paid off.

As I made the transition from Machine Guns to Manolos, I knew that the only thing that could stop me would be me.

In my everyday waking life, I am a clothes horse, I am tremendoulsy social, I am a lover of good wine, and my husband and I love to travel and we have a trip planned in the fall that will be epic. Seven international cities in 34 days.
First stop; Marrakesh to celebrate a friends 60th birthday. From there we go to Lisbon, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, and finally Prague. I am already having anxiety about how to pack for a 34 day adventure to 7 different cities, climates, etc. but that will be a blog post coming soon.

Going from a combat boot wearing GI Jane to a world traveling fashionista isn’t something I had on my “retirement” bingo card, but hey, here I am.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.printsandpinots.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/printsandpinots/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PrintsandPinots/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisataylor6310/