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

Jessica, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Has Covid resulted in any major changes to your business model?

Up until Covid I had been running Hidden San Diego more as a passion project. Sure it was slowly making more and more money but definitely not enough to survive in San Diego. I was teaching art 6 days a week and every free second I had was pretty much poured into Hidden San Diego.

At one point I was teaching 25 classes a week and my health started really declining. I was eventually diagnosed with lupus amongst other autoimmune issues. It was then that I learned that I needed to slow down and start receiving as much as I was giving.

So I started teaching less and less classes and began putting even more energy into Hidden San Diego and ways to profit off it. Teaching art to large groups of (mostly children) takes A LOT out of you.

Once the shutdown happened I lost my teaching job completely. At that point I had been running Hidden San Diego as a side hustle for 10 years. I knew it was finally time to get more confident asking companies for the money I deserved. I had been told more times than I could remember how many customers I had gotten companies after I’d feature them. I needed to accept that it was fair for me to receive money too.

Jessica, 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?

The slogan for Hidden San Diego is “For all Hidden, Haunted and Amazing Spots in San Diego”. I created my brand in 2010 as a way to inspire the community to get out and explore the hidden crevices of San Diego. Mind you this was before the days of social media and influencers. In fact, I didn’t even make an Instagram page for it until 2015!

At the time there wasn’t a solid adventure website for San Diego out there and I knew I could do a great job filling in that empty space.

I am very proud of how far it has come. Everything I could have dreamed it could be seems to have come true. I just keep dreaming bigger now! It really helped solidify for me the belief that if you work hard and passionately towards a goal you can meet it.

My brand has really shifted in many ways since Covid. Right around that time was when I hit 100k followers on Instagram. Before then I was posting a ton of underground content such as caves, waterfalls, tunnels and really unique stuff. Once I hit that number though I knew I could no longer be posting such delicate places to the masses.

So now I put a lot more attention into promoting unique businesses. The businesses want a lot of people visiting them afterall so it’s a win-win situation!

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media has gotten more and more complex over the years. There are just SO many people on the platforms now and the platforms seem to constantly be changing those mysterious algorithms.

Interestingly enough, I created my Instagram page 5 years after I had started Hidden San Diego. When I finally got on Instagram there were a few thousand hashtags of #hiddensandiego and people sharing their adventures of spots on my site! It was the most amazing thing ever to see!

There has been a great ebb and flow of growth for me on social media but I try to post consistently and stick with my theme of unique places in San Diego. It can be really frustrating at times seeing my growth slow down compared to how it used to, but I try to look at the bigger picture. The bigger picture is beyond social media and I am thankful that I have my website because for me that is where the real magic is. Social media is a tool I use to bring people there.

My advice to people just starting out is to post daily if possible, post high quality content, stick with the theme of your brand and look for a niche that a million people aren’t already in. The goal is to stand out!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

There have been a lot of times that I’ve had to stay resilient. I guess I will touch on when I got sick because I’ve never talked about it publicly. I was diagnosed with lupus in 2017. I was so sick that I thought I was going to have to go on disability. I was in and out of the ER and no doctor or specialist was able to help me. I was just being thrown random pills which I declined every time.

To greatly summarize, I went the holistic route which has been a huge journey. In 2021 when I had my bloodwork tested again, the lupus “magically” had gone away (from what the doctor said). I was able to reverse it and shortly after I finally got pregnant (another miracle I didn’t think would happen).

Through it all though I showed up every single day for Hidden San Diego, still making posts, still editing photos, researching, putting out new articles. You would never know how much suffering was going on behind the scenes but I always tried to believe that one day I would get better and really get to enjoy life to the fullest.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hiddensandiego.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hiddensandiego/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HiddenSpotsOfSanDiego/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hiddensandiego1
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1uO34z0YosqP0JP7DlsezQ?app=desktop
• Other: My other website, Hidden California: https://hiddenca.com/