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

Simene’ , appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?

Confidence will make or break your profits. If you don’t think you are worth a particular amount, you will never charge that. If you are not confident in your price, you will waiver every time and the client will sense that and move forward with someone else. Price is never an option when value is present. You as the person must know your value and be confident in it.

Hebrews 10:35 states, “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward”. There is a literal payoff for holding on to your confidence. Without it, you settle for crumbs and struggle to meet your financial goals.

Simene’ , 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?

I have spent the last 17+ years in public education. If you ever need patience, lots of laughs, and someone to be brutally honest with you, try teaching middle school aged children. Today, I still impact the lives of young people and stand to be impacted by those same young people inside and outside of schools across the country. Most days, I am a Reading Teacher, Educator & Speaker for Schools and Organization centered around Trauma-Informed Care and Social-Emotional Learning. I am also an International Best Selling Author and Book Publisher helping educators and leaders tell their stories unapologetically after years of being silent.

I am highly skilled in giving workshops, presentations, and professional developments that are dynamic, heart wrenching, and thought provoking. I believe I was born to speak and impact people with my words. I released a spoken word, gospel prayer single February 2022.

I train, teach, and mentor other educators on the importance of equity as it relates to the heart of a teacher. I also help new and novice authors craft and publish their stories without losing their voice or compromising their faith. Our company is a vehicle and platform for men and women to share their stories of pain for the first time ever to receive the necessary healing and next steps of their freedom from secrets. We transcribe books into Braille. If you are looking to tell your story, look no further.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I started making videos and then posting them late at night back in 2015 because I thought people were sleep or not online. I have come to know that social media is open 24/7, 7 Days a Week and someone is always on and someone is always strolling and watching. I would average about 15 views on my videos but the private messages that I would receive encouraged me to keep going. And that is what I did. I kept making vides and posting them. I would post more pictures of what I was doing in a new state and I would receive a lot of feedback. in 2017 I did my first live video and I was too nervous. I started to be consistent with praying for the school system. I would log on and then get on my knees and pray so they couldn’t even see me in the screen. Those were the days of periscope and facebook live. I have come a long ways from that. But I was being myself, sharing my own story and experiences and people started to relate to it. Too many people are muzzled online even when they claim to be free. Be you and be free to be you. Everyone else is taken.

The best advice I can give right now for building a credible audience is be yourself. Be true to who you are. Know your limits. Know what you can commit to doing online and stick to that. There will be times when you are uncomfortable, but push pass those feelings. There will be many people who are saying or doing what you are doing, but no one will do it exactly like you. Your voice print is specifically designed for the people that are assigned to your voice.

Focus on impact and the numbers will grow organically. How fast or slow that happens will depend on how fast or slow you want it to grow. If you can set aside time daily to respond to comments and post, then do it. If you have time to view other people content and leave meaningful comments, do it. But whatever you post, share, or tag, make sure it aligns with you and will be a benefit to those who see if from your page.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

March of 2020 will be a month and year that anyone living during that time and is still here to tell the story will probably never forget. The world literally went on lockdown and everyone was inside. I had just started my business 3 years prior and I was in the flow of hosting events, conferences, attending conferences, and growing my brand. I was already active on social media and had started doing a lot online, but the world shifted to a predominantly virtual world. Instead of in person conferences and events, it was now 100% virtual. I learned different platforms and had to invest in my technology to make sure I had the capacity to continue to scale and grow my platform and still provide a level of excellence. After a few months, I was in full swing of things and it became the norm to do business remotely 100% of the time. Since then, I have taken a break off of social media and have been able to pivot in my marketing strategies from predominantly being online to word of mouth, email marketing, and one on one contact with other businesses. Now I focus on B2B partnerships.

In January 2022 my whole life changed as I would know it. My best guy and the man I had loved since 7th grade departed this life into eternity. He had become my biggest cheerleader, confidante, and go to person for encouragement when business was at a standstill. When his health started to decline at a rapid pace, I started to pray more and give back to him more of what he had given me so many times, encouragement. But this time the prayers and encouragement was not enough to keep him here. Just when I committed to being all in with him, he was gone. That has been one painful blow.

24 days later on January 27, 2022 my maternal grandmother also departed this life to move over into eternity. Talk about devastation on top of devastation. After her funeral, I traveled back to my home in Maryland and literally stayed in bed most days in February and March. I was heart broken and too sad. My family seemed to be falling apart and there was not many people I wanted to even share about how I was feeling. I was feeling a whole lot too. Most people around me who saw me for the purpose of ministry had no idea how broken I was. But I kept telling God yes even when I wanted to totally curl up in my bed and stay there.

Slowly and surely I have been able to get back up again. April of 2022 I deactivate all of my social media accounts to focus totally on my on inner healing so when I am back online, I will be even more impactful than I was when I left.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.simenewalden.com
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMXUNf9eMndm5uVx-eqVIMg
• Other: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1606868446?ls=1&app=itunes