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

Terran, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I have a very interesting take on the creator industry because of the multiple avenues I represent. My degree is a Bachelor’s of Science in News and Information from the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas. I began college in 2010 and social media was coming to a headway at the same time as I was graduating in 2015. I’ve always had a passion for creating media and disseminating information. Back in the day, I even used to code my own Xanga page.

I spent years posting randomly across Instagram and Facebook and making sure I was my most authentic self by not putting too much pressure on that avenue and keeping my creativity alive by posting on topics about which I really cared. I also became a certified Personal Trainer, Nutritionist, Yoga Teacher, and Group Fitness Instructor. I did that full time for several years while still maintaining my online presence. With the onset of the pandemic in 2020, I found myself still utilizing my education and certifications, but the majority of my work migrated to being online full-time. At this point in time, I work as an influencer across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, and a streamer on a platform called BIGO LIVE.

I have kept all of my fitness certifications active and am planning to go back into the field in person very soon. Along the way, I have learned that it is very much possible to create your artistic stream of revenue even on top of other obligations. The way I’ve done that is by streamlining my content creating. With a consistent formula, I’m able to create content to be posted for a week or so within a couple of hours. It’s taken me years to get to a point where I’m able to be so effective and efficient with my creative process.

I would say things that speed up the learning curve in creative process would be practice and repetition. I also think maintenance of physical and mental health is paramount. You must take care of yourself first and foremost. And your content creation should feel good. It should feel organic and inspiring and invigorating.

Truly the only obstacle in place that I’ve come across tends to be myself. I can always find a way to do more or think out of the box, but if I’m not feeling good in my own headspace or environment, my content creation will suffer. It’s so important to be in tune with yourself and with your overall being so you can take note and implement self care to maintain a production process that is consistent and healthy to you as a person and professional.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

So I am a fashion, fitness, and lifestyle influencer across social media channels. I also work regularly as an online streamer. I am also a certified personal trainer, nutritionist, yoga teacher, and group fitness instructor. I also have a degree in journalism. When you combine all of those things with one pretty ribbon you get the result of my services as a creative professional. I have worked with individuals and groups in a fitness setting in person and online. I am to uplift and inspire with positivity-based content on online platforms on a regular basis. One big way I do that, is by working with brands I believe in and collaborating with them in things such as gifted and paid sponsorships.

I have always been told along the way in building my career that I needed to pick one specific needs to be successful. I firmly believe that that is a load of garbage. If you have multiple avenues of understanding and if education and you can combine them all into one overall theme, you become a extraordinarily valuable asset to people looking for your services. I personally can provide people social media management advice, and I can provide them advice on their nutrition outlook. I can provide people with entertainment by creating short form videos, and I can also educate them on better self-help methods through those videos. I can work with someone on a one on one basis in person in a gym and help them get to their next fitness goal, or I can crowd source with people on my online stream and help people collectively feel better in one afternoon virtually.

What sets me apart from other people is I firmly invested myself in creating a business both online and in person depending on what my clients need and what services I’m willing to provide at any given time. The great thing about what I do, is that I can do it from anywhere and I have the option to do it either online or in person. There are unforeseen circumstances that sometimes happen in this world that require us to do things on a virtual basis at times. The pandemic happening in 2020 would be a really obvious example of that. Now while I am planning to start working in person with people again very very soon, and I’m very very excited about that, I think it’s so important for entrepreneurs to have a business set in place that works remotely. And that is what sets me apart from a lot of other people.

Another thing that sets me apart from other people, is my extensive experience with mental health. I am a huge advocate for complex post traumatic stress disorder because I’ve had it my whole life, along with ADHD, anxiety, and depression. I am a survivor of child abuse, domestic violence, and sexual assault. I am so very passionate about helping people to help themselves. I truly believe that by helping myself I can help other people and vice versa. So I think that is also a big reason why people who do follow me and work with me do so. I think when someone like myself is so energetic and at the same time so open about very dark deep things that I’ve experienced, it helps people to recognize that not only is there a light at the end of the tunnel, but that also that light might be fun and bright and let you be the ultimate version of yourself you’ve always wanted to be.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I was furloughed from my position in March 2020 as a certified personal trainer, nutritionist, yoga teacher, and group fitness instructor. I was invited to come back to work full-time at the same establishment about six months later. I still may go back and work at that establishment, I’m not sure what will happen in the future, but at the time it wasn’t the right move for me. Because of the pandemic I had to pivot my business to being only online for almost the past two years. Because of that, I put so much time and energy into my creative process for content creation across social media. Also is what led me to becoming an online streamer. Although I am finally about to go back to work in person, these past two years have help me truly build my own brand that much further and create consistent brand deals in collaborations and monetization by social media platforms.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I have between 50 and 60,000 followers across all of the social media channels that I use. It is taking me years to get to this place and I’m really proud of where I’m at. I will say that if I had implemented consistency on a more ongoing basis earlier I probably would have more followers than I do by now. But I think it’s so important to take the time however, however much time that is, to perfect your creative process in a way that feels good to you and allows you to produce work on a consistent basis. I think people struggle the most with creating things consistently with a large volume so they can post a whole lot. There is a lot of competition and there are a lot of people on this planet trying to go following us at the same time. You do not have to have one single needs to build your following. That is a myth. That is not true. You can do a bunch of different things or just be yourself, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you find a way to add content creation into your weekly habits. Set aside time for you to be creative on a regular basis and be steadfast in committing to completing that process as it comes around.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @terranraesmith
• Facebook: @Terran Rae
• Other: TikTok: @terranraesmith

Image Credits
Moon Carlo for the last four pictures