We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jasmine Cruz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jasmine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

I started off with social media so slowly, scared to put myself out there. I also thought that I needed a huge following to do social media when in reality I didn’t. You just have to know how to create good content. It’s something I wish I would’ve known before I started, along with not caring what others were going to think.

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 background and context?

My name is Jasmine Cruz, I am a Texas mom Influencer. I have a loving husband that I have been married to for 6 years and 2 amazing sons. Creating content and sharing a part of my life on social media has been something I have always loved doing. I remember when I first discovered youtube back in 2009, I ran to go grab my mom’s camcorder and tripod and instantly started recording myself. Back then everyone was making music videos on youtube, so that’s what I started doing. My mom wasn’t thrilled about me putting myself on the internet. I eventually had to stop uploading on youtube, but it didn’t stop me from filming. I started a little web series with my friends, and I would share it by burning my content on CD’S and sharing it on my Facebook.

Fast forward to 2013, I finally convinced my mom to let me start posting on youtube again. I started sharing beauty content but never became consistent with it, because I cared too much about what others would think. Around 2016 I picked up my camera again to start documenting my wedding progress. I shared that on youtube, but I did it more to capture the memories and didn’t really care if I had an audience watching or not. Between 2016-2020 I posted vlogs on youtube when I wanted. Eventually, covid-19 hit and lost my job. I knew I could take this time to pursue social media. I remember jumping on a call with my potential coach that was going to guide me with everything I needed to know about social media and she told me “we all start somewhere…..If I’m going to continue to worry about what people will think I will never pursue this dream.” Eventually one of my close friends decided to do social media too, and that’s when I really told myself if she can do it, so can I.

In December 2021, I hired a coach to help guide me and I learned everything I needed to know about becoming an influencer. I figured out my niche, how to approach brands, and learned how to maneuver in the influencer world.

Picking my niche was one of the hardest things I had to do. My niche was going to define who I was on the internet, and what I was portraying. After many sleepless nights and going back and forth with my coach, we finally decided that “mom content” was my niche. I love sharing my everyday life and how I go about being a mom. The struggles of it, the good and the bad, tips & tricks. I had finally figured out what I wanted to share on the internet. My only problem now was figuring out how to set myself apart from others. After much thought, I decided to be myself and hope that it was enough to make me stand out.

I honestly learned so much. I booked my first brand deal for $400 within less than one month of having my coach. I was so excited and knew there was no going back from that point. I am going on almost a year of creating content for my loyal following of 30k across Instagram and TikTok, where I focus on sharing my daily life as a mom and wife with my newborn and 3-year-old. My audience of course isn’t huge but I have so much support and couldn’t be more grateful for that.

I wish I could have told my younger self to pursue this goal of mine sooner. I was so scared of what others were going to think or how I could make a living from social media with no followers. Little did I know that I didn’t need a million followers to start working with brands. They just care about the kind of content you make and how you can help them promote their products.

I have had the opportunity to work with many amazing brands. I’m so thankful to my husband & my amazing family & friends for having my back and pushing me to pursue my dream job, because of them I am now working full-time as a content creator and am able to bring an income in for my household doing something I absolutely love. I am currently in the process of planning some exciting new things for 2023 and I can’t wait to share them with my followers.

If you are thinking about pursuing social media it can be done! Remember you don’t need a huge following, just need to know how to entertain the internet and create content that brands want to see. Don’t let fear or the judgment of others stop you from pursuing something you love.

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

Honestly, I started posting on TikTok when covid-19 hit and started gaining a little bit of a following. My son and his aunt ended up going viral over a dance video. Also, I shared content about some projects we had going around in my house and eventually switched over to mom content.

My advice for growing your following is honestly to be consistent. I know you have probably heard that saying over and over again, but I can’t express to you enough how true that is. Whether or not you think anyone is following your journey, YOU have to be consistent. I have personally seen the growth it can bring if you just put yourself on schedule for uploading. I was taught to always have my camera running even if I think something can’t be turned into content, it can!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Yes! I wish I would have known there are coaches who can guide you. I never knew a social media coach existed until I started doing my research. You may think it’s enough to do it on your own, but it’s not. There is so much back-end stuff to social media when it comes to creating content, working with brands, what to charge, learning about usage rights, etc. Learning about all that stuff really helped me get to where I am now. So please do your research or ask for help when it comes to this industry! It makes such a difference.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasmineeileenn/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjaa5mXUTuLv6CXbrjl0w2g
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@jazzyeileen