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

Alright, Sarah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

No matter what you’re tackling, I believe there are some unifying factors that any person can adopt to be successful in their chosen field. I think being positive, consistent and maintaining a culture of growth and learning are the building blocks of any business. A lot of people don’t understand the “business” side of social media. There’s a misconception that you’re just taking pretty pictures and talking about yourself. Content creation, in a successful capacity, takes so much more than that. If you were to concentrate it down though, I would say that you need to maintain positivity. The more successful you are, the more open to feedback and criticism you may face. The uncertainty of social media, and other industries, can make you feel defeated. Being able to overcome that feeling and the insecurities that come along with it, is crucial to being successful. Being consistent is my next advice. Being someone that businesses and “followers” can rely on gives your brand integrity and an underlying credibility. If this means you share less so that you can maintain a consistent output, then you need to consider that as a part of your business plan. Create business habits you are confident you can maintain so that you understand your capacity. The last is true no matter what business you look at. You always, ALWAYS, need to remain a student. If you get “too big to learn” you are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. Growth is the key to any successful business. It means you stay open to feedback and constructive criticism and you’re adaptable when industry flows and trends change. Setting key pillars like this as the foundation of your business habits allows you to build a reputation of professionalism, likability and reliability.

Sarah, 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?

My journey with Instagram started shortly after Covid began. I am an extremely extroverted person and found I struggled with the isolation that occurred on a mass scale during this time. I’m an inherently positive person and this time period really effected me more than I could have ever imagined. We decided to build a home during this time to accommodate the changes in our lifestyle that occurred due to covid, including both of us working from home and relocating to a community that aligned with how we wanted to the school system to respond during Covid. I’ve always built and design, coming from a family of builders and trades. When I started sharing that journey on social, it really was the perfect fit to highlight my personality traits, experiences and passions. While I used to offer design services, my current business purpose is to inspire, motivate and uplift. No matter what journey you’re on, I want my audience to feel like they have a relatable and positive place that they can go to for knowledge, inspiration and community. Community is the core of everything, so building that has been one of my driving factors from the beginning.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

My most effective strategy from growing my clientele has been to build the community I am participating in. That means collaboration over competition. If you want to be successful in an industry that relies heavily on community participation, that means you need to participate in return. When people comment, respond. When you feel inspired, comment and share. When you see someone struggle, reach out and uplift. You have to be able to shake the negative off because people carry a lot of hardship and negativity in their life. You want to provide a bright spot that they look forward to visiting. Also, be consistent. People, inherently, are conditioned to have a short attention span. In terms of content creation, you have to overcome that initial hurdle to be able to get to the point where you can build connection, loyalty and growth.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

As a full-time student and stay-at-home mom starting my account, I did not have a dime of capital to get started. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to build a business this way but you have to build your platform before you can truly monetize. All my business investment has come from money the business has made. I’ve monetized through design services, LTK and collaborations through Instagram to fund the business I have today. If I made a penny, I kept it designated for the business so that could be used to fund growth. Even to this day, I have yet to take income from my business. It functions in my business functions like a water cycle. Funds eb and flow to meet the needs of the business and I work to grow my capital everyday. Instagram, like any other business, takes hustle, commitment and sacrifice. Maybe one day, I will take a salary from my business, but my goal isn’t to pay for today. I invest in myself and my business’ future in the hopes that I can reach heights other people say is impossible. I’m willing to be patient and sacrifice to get there. For me, that means reinvesting in my business until it can truly sustain itself and not just spending the money the moment it’s made.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @fromdirt2details
• Youtube: @fromdirt2details
• Other: FromDirt2Details is my handle for both LTK and Pinterest as well!