We were lucky to catch up with Amanda Wollet recently and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?

As a child my parents always took my sister and I on great Michigan Vacations. We owned a 1950’s silver bullet airstream, and my dad would hook it up to our blazer, my mom would pack the camper with everything we needed, and we would head north. Now, when i say we would camp…we would camp! My dad would find the most remote area in the upper part of Michigan, and we would set up camp in the middle of deep woods. There were times, my sister and i would be caught taking showers in the rain out in the middle of the woods! It was such a great childhood. We would do this every summer. So, as a child, I was able to experience my beautiful state to the fullest and really learn everything Michigan was about.

In the summer of 2019, my daughter and I decided to take a weeklong trip up north to my dad’s home and travel the upper half of Michigan. I wanted to start showing my child everything I had been shown and taught about our state. She too is a Michigander, so it was time to show her what that entailed. We bought a small two-person tent, air mattress, a camera and headed north. My father now resides in a deep wooded area in the north, so my kid and I pitched our tent in his back yard and took a full week to travel everywhere we could. Each day we visited a new place in Michigan. He doesn’t live too far away from the U.P, so there would be a few days we would travel over the Mackinac Bridge and explore the Yooper half of the state.
At that time, The Michigan Guru wasn’t even a thought. I headed home after that long trip with an abundance of film, photos and memories. They all sat on my camera and computer for a few years. Once the pandemic hit, and I was stuck at home, I watched A LOT of YouTube. I found a few YouTubers that I really liked. Then one night, it was like aq lightbulb went off in my head! If all these wonderful people could film themselves and post great content on YouTube, why couldn’t I?
From there on out it just rolled out perfectly. It was like it was a meant to be. Here I was, with all this childhood knowledge of Michigan, all this footage on my computer, and an idea in my head. Within, I’d say, 2 months of the idea hitting me, ‘The Michigan Guru’ was born on January 2021.

Now, my parents love to travel with me as I film. Not only are they the main influence on this idea, but they also help me along the way. With their knowledge, experience, and my filming and memories, we all make ‘The Michigan Guru’ roll. LOL! You will always find either my mom, dad, and Sister in a film of mine!

Amanda, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

About me? Hmmm. This is a hard subject. I am a simple person. I love life. I love nature. I love getting out in the world and conquering it. Life is hard. life will challenge you more than anything else out there.
I wasn’t always the signature child when I was younger, especially in my 20’s. I moved A lot. From state to state. I got into a lot of trouble. Was always running from the law, had warrants out for me, spent a lot of time in jail. I can’t tell you why I was like that. It was like I had something inside me that was just screaming to find itself. It was only years later, when I hit 27 years of age, I was living in the middle of the state of Missouri, basically homeless and living in some random stranger’s garage on a dirty old couch just to stay warm, that I got pregnant. At that point, when those two little lines showed their faces on that little stick… I changed. I was going to be a mom … and it was at that time I knew I had to change my life.
So, I packed what little stuff I owned (with my child’s dad) into our car and hit the road back home, to Michigan. I got a job right away, found an apartment asap and gave birth to an amazing little girl. That little girl changed me. I looked into her eyes and my soul fell in love, I did a 180 turn around and got my ducks in a row.
I am now a single mom that works a full-time job and fully supports my girl and ‘The Michigan Guru’.

It took a long time to find and heal myself. I had to fight that depression that was hanging like a cloud over my head. The anxiety and random sadness that followed me and made me make horrible life decisions. I had to look in the mirror and inside myself to realize it was me and me alone that had to make a change.
I still fight with that little black cloud at times but it’s very rare. Now I just accept it as a part of myself and ride that storm out… but if it wasn’t for this long road of self-discovery, ‘The Michigan guru’ would not exist! You must find yourself and love yourself first and foremost in order for good things to happen!!

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

I am always working towards building my audience on social media. I go to my main regular job early in the morning, work util late afternoon, get home and hit the computer for hours working on content. I am always drafting and trying to come up with ideas on how to build ‘The Michigan Guru’. I like taking it slow though. I do not want instant “fame” if you will. This is something that I have my whole heart into. I want to walk the roads, climb these hills. Eventually, I would love to make this a full-time career and get paid to travel but until then, here I am.
Right now, my main platforms are YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. I have a lot of support on these platforms.
Any advice to give? Just take it slow. Baby steps. It’s how you learn. It’s how you build your name. The things that fail. The things that succeed.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Staying true to myself and ‘The Michigan Guru’. Sticking to my path and producing good content that will resonate with viewers. I have this main goal in my head. I want to spread the love of my state to my viewers. I want to show the beauty of my state to my views. There are a lot of other people out there doing what I do. Just in a different way. I want MY way to stand out to others. I look at what I do as an art. ‘The Michigan Guru’ is my art outlet and I want others to love MY art and my filming style!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_michigan_guru/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.wollet/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAGZB7m4F3SbhMptr4xIXuA

Image Credits
All photos are credited to ‘The Michigan Guru’