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

Meagan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Quality control is a challenge almost every entrepreneur has had to focus on when growing – any advice, stories or insight around how to best ensure quality is maintained as your business scales?

As a micro influencer I am constantly being contacted by brands to create content. When I first started I thought this was the coolest thing, but quickly realized there needed to be some sort of vetting process. My brand is dedicated to food. I create recipes in hopes of showing others how to make simple elevated meals at home. I also love to support local restaurants and engage with my local food community. These are the ideas behind why I do what I do and I use this foundation to help promote quality control on my page. Some brands will reach out with an exchange of goods, some with financial compensation, and others with no real perks at all. You have to know your worth. Because I do this for a hobby I do not always require a financial compensation. However, I do require the brand to match the quality of content I wish to produce. This means doing my homework and researching brands and restaurants. It’s okay to say no thank you and to only agree to work with brands that are a good fit. Make your list of what’s important to you and stick to it. If you stay true to your brand and do your due diligence then maintaining quality control should be relatively easy.

Meagan, 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?

My name is Meagan and I am currently a stay at home mom, wife, & food content creator. I was born and raised just outside of Jacksonville. I left for a short while to attend Stetson University and work in Volusia County, but returned in 2016. I moved out towards Jacksonville Beach and fell in love with the quickly growing food scene. I started Prosecco and Pineapple in May of 2018. I was working as a kindergarten teacher in the public school system and I absolutely loved my job, but felt I needed a creative outlet outside of the classroom. A natural passion of mine was cooking and food. I thought to myself why not share what I love with others and my food blog was born. Over the years my account has transformed to adapt to my life. Originally sharing more locals eats the local food community and myself would meet up and try new places. We loved helping local businesses promote quality food and family values. I absolutely loved sharing hidden gems and quality food around town. As my life changed so did my ability to eat out as much. In 2021 I became a mom and left my teaching role of 9 years to stay at home and raise our son. With my new role in place I was now able to really focus and perfect my love of cooking. Although I still love to support local and eat out when I can my main focus is now on creating recipes that are quick and easy to make, but elevated in flavor. This new journey has been incredibly enjoyable. I now work more with brands and promoting quality ingredients that help the home cook create magic in the kitchen.

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

My journey as a content creator has been an interesting one. Starting off as a single woman and building and growing my personal life while on a public platform. Many would think my page would reflect these changes, but for me I enjoy keeping my creative outlet separate from my day to day life. I chose not to transition my blog to a mom blog, but instead keep it food centered. I continue to choose to not share many of the more challenging topics of the world because I want my page to be a safe place where people know they can come free of judgment just simply because they love food. When I became a mom I definitely saw a lag in my engagement as well as a dip in my relationships with other businesses and brands. I think many people assume oh she’s a mom now she won’t have time, but in reality that needs to be the new moms decision to make. A “no” now may not mean a “no” later, but unfortunately when you can not consistently and immediately meet the needs of others you are forced to take a backseat. I’m not going to lie this hit was very challenging for me. Dealing with all the emotions of being a new mom and also feeling like I lost a big part of my identity. It was an adjustment. It showed me not all relationships are as they seem. It was a great lesson in knowing my worth and not allowing a social media platform and the people on it to dictate my emotions and worth. Once I realized I needed to focus on why I started this in the first place it was easier for my to continue on. I leaned on those that continually supported me and started pumping out new context. I found like minded people and formed quality circles on my own. I shifted my focus to recipe writing because that brought me a lot of joy and I realized I didn’t need the instant gratification from others. Social media can be a huge mind game but it’s important to focus on the good. I could have easily let this life change, end my journey with contact creation. However, I decided to remember why I love it and move forward because of the joy that it brings me each day.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

For me the best way to foster relationships is through consistent and genuine support. If I love a product or business I will not only adhere to our required agreement, but I will continue to support and share. Businesses use social media as a way to promote their product. Simply liking, sharing, and commenting goes a long way! Letting the client know this relationship is more than a one time thing is important. Sending messages of gratitude and support makes the relationship seem more genuine.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/proseccoandpineapple/?hl=en
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/proseccoandpineapple/