We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Weller otherwise known as Southernchicstyle, recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashley , thanks for joining us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

When you ask me how I scaled my business, honestly it’s all been trial and error, fails and successes and lots of persistence.

When I first started out in 2012, I was using Instagram as a personal Pinterest because I wanted all of the fun places to visit, things to do and fashion and decor ideas that I loved, in one place on one space. Instagram back then was first starting out and had no algorithm, people just loved what they saw and let you know. People posted everyone else’s photos mixed with their own and no one knew any better. I never began this thinking I would turn it into a money making business that helps other people and business grow! In the beginning I had 30 followers and I was happy.

One day I posted a photo and another Dallas blogger that was much younger than I was at the time, called me out and asked me why I was posting her photo. I told her that I was just posting it because I wanted to remember it as a fun place to go eat, little did I know that it would be the beginning of something great!
When she realized I wasn’t trying to steal anything or be malicious, I asked her if she would teach me everything that she knew if and in exchange I would buy her a few dinners. She said sure and that was that. I learned about hashtags, following people, contact businesses and most importantly posting about only my life!

She told me that I had a great eye for color and design and that people would want to see my life and what I did. I thought she was crazy, but jumped in feet first and began to share my life on social media.

I quickly learned that businesses had no interest in people that had 30 followers but I kept trying. One day I decided to really define my feed and fine tune what I wanted my focus to be on, so I posted a Southern sign and told everyone about my southern lifestyle. I shared some funny sayings, and used my “important top hashtags” and it worked! On that one post I gained 1300 followers. I could not believe it. The more niche I made my Instagram, the faster it grew. I knew that I did not want to box myself into an only food or only fashion instagram because being Southern was a lifestyle. I wanted to capture it all.

I kept plugging. It was not easy and it was not a fast process at all. In year six, I had finally reached twelve thousand followers and companies began to reach out! I was so freaking excited that I did not know what to do! I said yes to everyone and everything.
My husband and family could not believe it. They said it was like Christmas every day at our front door because of all of the packages.
I told myself though that I would ALWAYS go above and beyond for the people I worked for and that I would always give more than what I was getting. It worked! Doing your best is always important. All it takes is one time of sloppy work, or burning a company and you not only ruin it for yourself, but for all the other bloggers. You have to do your job well in order to keep the job opportunities coming for everyone.

It’s not easy and it’s not fast. Figuring out Instagram’s algorithm is almost impossible. You just have to stay authentic and true to yourself and you will do fine! Also remember there is room for everyone and there’s enough business for all!

I am finally over forty thousand followers and business is good! Do I get jealous of opportunities that the 100k accounts get? Absolutely! But hopefully they have worked hard to earn it and I hope to be there someday!

Ashley , 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?

If you have never heard of me, I am Ashley Weller and I am a Southern Lifestyle social media influencer. I live in Allen, Texas, just north of Dallas and my feed is full of local and surrounding area travel, fashion, southern food, decor, local events and family time! I work with all kinds of businesses, big and small to help them grow and reach a larger audience! I work with small women owned boutiques, to large companies like Kendra Scott, Toyota, Airbnb and Walmart and many more!
I love and enjoy what I do and I think the one thing that sets me apart is that I am authentic to myself and what I post and always give 110% to the companies that I work with.
I love my followers and they are extremely loyal. I have made many lifelong instagram friends the I consider family!

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

I think the most important part of building and keeping a loyal audience on social media is to respond to them. I answer every dm that I get and I comment back on every single comment that is made I see each of my posts. You have to develop a relationship with them, otherwise why would they trust what you say? Be yourself and do not worry about what others think. Not everyone will like you and that’s ok! You have to love who you are in this business or you will fail.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

This is not really a story, but something important that I learned about taking risks even when the odds are stacked against you. In this business you HAVE to believe in yourself and know your worth. Several times I have had to bid for a project with a large company and I ask for what I thought I was worth based on the time that I would have to put in, how far I might have to drive and what they were requiring. Sometimes you have to take a risk and ask for more money, even though you might be passed up for that opportunity. Each time I have asked for more money, I have gotten it! Do not doubt your worth, remember what you are doing is a job and they cannot do their job without you! If they choose to go another way, so be it, but do not settle.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/southernchicstyle
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/southernchicstyle1?mibextid=LQQJ4d