We recently connected with Tammy Gibson and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tammy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

After more than 15 years as an online entrepreneur in a variety of roles, my biggest unexpected problem was becoming very sick in October 2021.

I certainly never expected to become so sick that my business literally stopped the day I went into the hospital. Thankfully, I had amazing clients who scrambled to make adjustments to their own businesses, while supporting my family and I during our darkest hours.

I learned some really important lessons from this experience:

1. Make sure one person knows where all of your passwords are and how to manage financial obligations. As a solopreneur, this is often overlooked. While I had all of my passwords on a spreadsheet, in the midst of my trauma, my husband had to dig through my computer to find them,

2. Relationships are the key to success in life and in business. I had wonderful relationships with my clients and coaches so I was fully supported even though it was an inconvenience for them.

3. Establish a good savings account. Having your income completely stop is a bit of a shock but if you have a buffer, you will have much less stress!

No one expects terrible circumstances to happen but preparing ahead of time helps keep your business reputation intact and tasks handled with minimal interruption.

Tammy , 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?

I am a wife, mom and oma. God blessed me with an amazing family. They are my North Star. Because of their love and support, I am able to design a life that I love, which in large part, includes my business.

My entrepreneurial journey has been a series of edits, full of unique and wonderful opportunities, pivots and experiments.

Each new experience led to a deeper understanding of who I am as a businesswoman, the purpose I am here to fulfill and the women I am here to serve.

I began online as a fashion boutique owner. When I started blogging as a way of marketing my boutique, I fell in love with the power of blogging.

This led me to selling the boutique and blogging full time for 13 years.

I had the best time growing my personal brand and business knowledge during this phase of my career.

Due to industry changes, mostly related to the powerful presence of social media and how it changed the blogging industry, I shifted.

Using my skills and knowledge of the online entrepreneur space, I began to help other women create captivating brands that were unmatched by others, so they could create greater visibility and recognition for their businesses.

In late October 2021, I became very sick and spent 4 months in the hospital.

My body had been ravaged by what they are calling A-Typical COVID-19. I was discharged with my right leg amputated, nerve damage in both hands, Stage 4 kidney disease and on dialysis, and my soleus muscle had been removed from my left calf.

While I am still rehabilitating my physical body, I’ve shifted into the next phase of my business.

My experience left me seeking new ways to serve others with the lessons I learned. I now speak life into women and help them create the life they crave, even in the face of adversity.

I use the pain from my past to create a better future for myself and I want all women to know they have that same power within them.

I trust that God will use my story to inspire others and together we can create positive change in our lives and communities.

How did you build your audience on social media?

When I was a fulltime blogger, I was a blogging purest.

When social media, in particular Instagram, first became popular, a lot of bloggers began microblogging on the platform. I wanted nothing to do with that so I had a slow start to social media. It’s one of my biggest business regrets!

When I stopped blogging, I began to embrace social media for my coaching business. Several years later, I added social media management to my portfolio of offerings.

Having a strong brand on social media requires more than colors and logos. It’s more about your beliefs and your personality.

My audience grew by leaps and bounds when I returned to Instagram after I got out of the hospital.

I’m not saying you have to go through a terrible trauma to grow your audience! LOL

I stopped holding back because I stopped caring what people might think (that’s something that near death will do to you).

I came back with a new attitude and shared honestly about my struggles, my wins, my faith and my endless gratitude for life. People are drawn to these topics because so much of what you see when scrolling is seemingly unachievable highlights.

If you really want to grow your audience on social media, dig deep into your core, get to know your authentic self and start sharing from that place.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

“If you pass through life without adversity, no one will ever know what you are capable of, not even you.” Seneca

The beauty of resilience is that you don’t have to wait for a life storm to develop it. You can strengthen this skill by learning to move forward and adapt to your situation with creativity, a good attitude and always remembering you have a choice.

One of the hardest things about my recovery was not having the energy or stamina to run my business.

Running my business was exciting and nowhere else did I experience the power of women on a mission the way I did while working with female entrepreneurs. I really missed it during recovery.

Before I could fully dive back into the extraordinary opportunity of entrepreneurship, I knew that I had to get physically stronger so that I would have the energy to provide excellent service.

I currently have 6 different types of physical and occupational therapies that are helping me work toward my goal of walking again, regaining full use of my hands and improving my stamina.

Each day, I reach new goals.

Each day, my resilience grows.

I can see that what I am learning from this process is going to enrich the lives of others.

Adversity is hard.

It hurts.

It tests your patience, faith and confidence but the more you get comfortable doing things that are uncomfortable, the more you experience personal growth and strengthen your resilience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tammygibsononline.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammygibsononline/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyGibsonOnline
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammygibsononline/
• Other: Shop https://teamtlt.myspreadshop.com/