We were lucky to catch up with Simji recently and have shared our conversation below.

SIMJI, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

3 and a half years ago, before I was SIMJI, I was a content creator but in a niche I didn’t enjoy. Then one day during the pandemic, I was scrolling on Instagram when I stumbled upon a post of a rug shaped like a cartoon character. This really caught my attention because I had never thought about how rugs were made and that they could even be something other than the typical rectangular or circular rugs we are all used to seeing.

Back then, I was creating content as a part of a two-person team, so I shared this intriguing find with my creative partner. Knowing my art background, they encouraged me, saying “Let’s do this.” Of course I was hesitant… our content was doing well, so why take the risk of starting from scratch with something I had never even tried before? Why risk everything we had built thus far?

We dove deeper into the rug-making content side of things and noticed a common trend: everyone was trying to sell something whether it was rugs, tools and materials, or affiliate links. Everyone was focused on either selling or making tutorial based content. That’s when my partner boldly suggested that I handle everything on the front end and be the face of this content while he handles the back end. He said “our videos will be the ones people watch when they’re tired of being sold to and just want to be entertained.”

This was a pivotal moment for me. The same day I discovered rug tufting, I made the exciting and life changing choice to dive in headfirst. We decided to apply our one-year rule: put your head down and grind for one year, as if success were the only option, and reevaluate if there’s no growth after that.

We took a huge risk by spending the last $3,000 in our bank account on buying materials in bulk. We had boxes and boxes of yarn! Not only monetary risk but restarting with a following count of 0. Now, 3 and a half years later, with a community of over 15 million, I’ve learned that success worthwhile requires risk and sacrifice.

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 back background and context?

While my content includes rugs, the true focus has always been the content and the storytelling in the videos. The engagement with my audience drives the ideas, leading to never seen before content that is compelling, and people want to stick around NOT for the rugs, but for the innovative and entertaining content we create together.

For the people who ARE interested in rug making, I released a book, “Rug Tufting with SIMJI: Essential Techniques and Creative Projects for Beginners”. It is available for pre-order now and will officially be launched in November! Like my content strategy, my goal with this book was to help the readers think creatively outside the box to create rugs that push the boundaries of what rugs would traditionally look like. Of course with the techniques they learn from the book, readers can create any kind of rugs including traditional rugs that would go on the floor or wall, but I really wanted the readers to think creatively as if “the box” didn’t exist.

And of course, I get so many custom rug inquiries. My team and I do accept custom rug order requests as long as nothing is copyrighted. Interested parties can send an email to [email protected] with details.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I already discussed how I built my audience on social media above, but advice for those just starting to build their social media presence would be to always provide value to the audience. Tell yourself that “no one cares” so creating content that is “me, me, me” won’t perform well. Give something of value to the viewers – give them a reason to take time out of their day to watch you.

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

Being emotionally balanced is so important to creatives especially when what you are thinking and feeling can impact your view of your work. I’ve seen other creators and creatives talk about this but sometimes it is good to drown out the noise if you can’t hear the noise without letting it affect you.

Of course everyone has good days and bad days! I’m also not perfect at drowning out outside negativity 100% of the time. Something that has helped me is to take a step back and see things in perspective. I think about how honestly nothing matters at the end and that we are just tiny specks in the vast universe. It might be cheesy or weird but I swear this has helped me so much on multiple occasions! I’ve literally gone on YouTube to watch those planet size videos and it brings me back hahaha

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://Instagram.com/simjiofficial
• Youtube: https://YouTube.com/@simji
• Other: TikTok.com/@simjiofficial

  Pre-order the book: https://amzn.to/3AJ0cP7