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

Alyssa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today.

While my time as a business owner has been short, just a little more than four years, I think one thing I would do differently if I had to start over -maybe just to get where I’m at now a bit faster, would be knowing and doubting a lot less my knowledge and expertise in my field and also charging more money from the start. Most all business owners think they can’t charge because they don’t trust their level of expertise but truly when you start out, you’re charging for time. When you say I can work 20 of the 30 days in a month as a social media manager along with all the research, content planning, posting, engaging, etc for just $500 you will absolutely get burnt out and to be frank no one wants to work like that. What I would have done is worked on building one solid social media marketing package at a better rate, and then increased my client roster from there, versus trying to have a massive roster and a wide range of services that was offered way too cheap. So if any business owners are reading this, PRICE UP!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a social media manager and strategist who works with businesses in San Diego and remotely (NorCal to Canada!) At first I started with some pretty small/local businesses but then it kind of just exploded into an all field, all brand, anywhere type of thing. I help business owners find out who their audience is, what people what to know/see/experience the most from their products and services and then I use content to tell their story, as well as a point of connection.

I’m the most proud of having built this idea into something, I think a lot of entrepreneurs give up or change their minds after 1-2 even 3-4 years and I’m proud to say that when I’ve felt low or struggled with doubt, I found ways to reshape my business into what I really think I want it to be. To be honest I don’t think what it is now is how it’ll be a year or so from now and I’m happy that I am able to grow and flow so I don’t get stuck.

I don’t have a crazy following but I am always growing and little by little the idea and dream builds, and I am happy with that. What matters is for every entrepreneur, in these early stages, to connect with every single person who leans into them because maybe a business doesn’t have the finances for external help now but maybe that will change, or maybe they want to take a class and you develop a 1:1 or 1:5 course! -being flexible and open as a social media manager or digital marketing expert of some kind is NECESSARY.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I would love to scale into being a 6-figure business and that sounds so vain, in a way, but not really because I really do aim for the stars. And I really just want to look in the mirror and know I’ve made a career of all this, when I never in a million years would have expected to.

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

I love to see how celebrities and celebrity brands, CEOs of brands I love, and businesses I love market themselves and I really spend time thinking about how they use and incorporate their audience into their social media strategies, how they serve their audience and how much or little they’re giving when they “relate” to them and I think I try to do what I personally can while also bringing in some of those same tactics that look like they’ll work for me.

I think instead of being “authentic” the message would be to know what you want the outcome of the content sharing to be and then you’ll be able to find the most natural way to approach that. I would say there is a big difference between doing something new and it feeling a bit uncomfortable or awkward at first, to something that does not feel ‘you’ or something that isn’t serving your bottomline, vision, or purpose.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @neighborhoodsocialcompany