We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andrea Bev Ledbetter. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Andrea Bev below.

Hi Andrea Bev , thanks for joining us today. What’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO NICHE DOWN TO BE SUCCESSFUL. Brands that are the most successful across gaining visibility with their audiences on social media, DO NOT NICHE DOWN. The most successful brands are brands that are personable with their audiences and pull from all of their niches and not just one. When you advertise your brand, you should be as personable and relatable with you audience as possible. Your audience wants to see YOU. They buy what you are selling because its YOU. They support everything that you have going on because it’s YOU. The more you let them into your background setting, your process, your methods that you learned for free and who you are as a person, the easier it is for them to trust you and creates authority with your brand. BE REAL WITH THEM. Present yourself as you are normally, unaesthetically and all.

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

I am Andrea Ledbetter also known as Coach Bev Owner and Creator of Bev of Hi’La Management. I am a wife to my loving and supportive husband, Marcus and a mother of my two beautiful children, Latreal and Aubrey. I am a social media marketing manager and content strategist. I have been a business owner for over 7yrs and Influencer for over 3yrs. I am also a Cybersecurity Analyst and use my skill to track patterns across platforms to grow visibility for brands and help influencers start their journey to becoming affluent influencers, without having a huge platform. I have created a community of creators to help them establish connections with global brands using education and resources. We help brands and influencers, build their online presences with coaching, social media marketing management, course creation, and so much more. What sets me apart from other brands is that I show up for my students and the brand that I work with. NO MATTER WHERE THE ARE IN THE UNITED STATES, I Come to their offices and locations and teach them hands-on skill they need, shoot content for them, show them how to shoot content for themselves or brand, and walk hand in hand with them on their journey with creating their own personal brand and visibility across their platforms.
I am most proud of my programs and course that I have developed for my students and brands. These courses take a lot of time to develop, yet has been the determining factor as to why new influencers and brands trust me with their process. I have been told that I don’t “gatekeep” the process and “keep it real” with my students with making sure that they understand each platform and the work needed to achieve the results they desire.
It was not easy to be in these shoes I walk in. My personal journey has been HELL. I was an adoptive child, suffered from homelessness, mental and physical abuse, bullying, anxiety and depression. Life has not always been kind to me. As an adult, I job hopped a lot because I felt unfulfilled in any task that was given to me. So I started my own brand. And Niche hopped (as a multifaceted being I get my hands into everything), I Started with handmade clothing, then home decor, and now social media management and personal brand building because it’s what I’ve always wanted to do but was too scared to do.
I took a 4 month paycut with no income and no idea when I was going to secure my first client. I made sacrifices with my time and family because I am committed to my own personal growth and development. I sacrifice time with my family for time with my brand students and Social Media Marketing Clients to make sure that they have constant visibility with their development because it’s tied directly into mine. I know that these sacrifice’s will not be made in vain, as I reach into corporate places and space

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My brand, Bev of Hi’La Management, branched from my original brand, Hi’La Decor. Hi’La Decor is my home decor brand that I am revamping at the moment. I started off creating funny saying on satin pillows in my home office. And as a Sublimation artist, I watched as my brand skyrocketed, so did recreations of my brand and saying across social media. I watched my brand came to a complete halt. There were months where I made no income. Months where I had no idea when my next sale would be made. So I started using social media to speak about my business and brand. I started showing the background process of what I was creating for my customers and went viral for a video about washing pillows. (Yes, I know how ironic). Because I was one of the very first social media accounts to be monetized on Facebook, when it wasn’t a thing, I started to speak about the experience of being monetized and able to make money from the videos I made for my Decor brand. During the time of my video going viral, I was in school with Per Scholas, Inc. studying to become a cybersecurity analyst. I had saw what I needed to see with my brand and was looking for job security to bring income to my family. I signed up for a course building class, and had my focus on launching a Beginner Crafting Course. I had my heart set on building these videos and hand in hand courses to help crafting simpler for other. As I got ready to take my CYSA CE certification, asked God if this was the right lane for me. I said give me a sign and just help me figure this out. I took my Certification and FAILED, TWICE!!! ( I can laugh now because the certification isn’t needed to secure jobs, most companies just want you to know the work) After failing twice, I dug into building my course and put all of my focus into my business.
With the mindset, what’s for me is for me and nothing can stop it, I kept getting called to help my business acquaintances, become monetized. I had read the terms and conditions of my monetized contracts and learned that as long as you had more than 20 reels on Facebook, had a public account, no restrictions, and your following button turned on that you qualified for the Professional Mode on Facebook (this was when the Reels platform was first introduced). I kept explaining the steps to my business acquaintances and as soon as they turned their following button active, Facebook sent them an invitations to join the Professional Mode. Word gets around that I was the person to help your activate getting paid on Facebook. I asked God again, if this was the right lane for me. And person after person was reaching out to me to get the information. So I created my Monetize Your BRand Ebook and the rest is history. From my eBook, I have launched a community of influencer on Facebook Groups named Content That Sales. I also branched into Social Media Marketing Management for other brands and run their social media accounts for them. I launched a Brand Coaching cohort, where I teach brands how to run their social media pages. I also launched Influencing Coaching cohort, where I teach influencers how to connect with global brands using the tastics I have learned using my cybersecurity analytic skills.
When its time to pivot, trust in the universe to have your back. Lead with the mindset that what is for you is for you and no one can take it from you. Create your own lane and learn to manuvuer around people who tell you NO! Be your own cheerleader and clap for every single accomplishment you achieve. And NEVER SEEK VALIDATION FROM OTHERS TO BE GREAT!!!!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When I first started my journey as a traveling social media marketing manager, I thought it wouldn’t last long. In my head I said to myself, well Andrea, do you really think that people are going to pay to you to come to them and record their content and create their videos for them? I had to unlearn that EVERYBODY KNOWS HOW TO CREATE CONTENT. Almost all of my brands that I work with as a social media marketing manager, are brand of the older generation, who genuinely do not know how to operate social media, and have no idea about content, video footage, reels, and/ or tiktoks. They are used to word of mouth fulfilling their orders and buying their services and products. but because word of mouth can only reach so far, they were stuck trying to extend their brand to newer eyes, while also living their work/home lifestyle. This is where I step in. As someone who tidder on the lines of two generations, It very easily for me to explain to my brands different ways to get content, while also teaching them why it is important for them to show what we are showing. With teaching and explaining to them why they have to show this side, and how it helps their brand, we watch as they expand their skills with creating new looks, styles, and visuals for their audiences based upon how comfortable they are with being seen. We watch as the shy brands become more visible in their content and as the social butterflies start to incorporate live sessions and host Q&As that sell out with their audiences.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bevofhila.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/obsessedwithcontent 
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/bevofhila
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@obsessedwithcontent
• Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@obsessedwithcontent