This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Oh, hey there. What's up? Welcome to Side Hustle School. This is your host, Chris Guillebeau here with another episode of Failure Friday. Failure Friday, a fun weekly segment we do. It's kind of
like our Throwback Thursday segment where you get to hear directly from a side hustler who has struggled to get something off the ground. Well, that's actually that's today. Throwback Thursday is just like, hey, here's an update. Failure Friday, that's today, a collection of short stories about mistakes, missteps, disasters, and of course, failure. I think, you know, what ties them together is you get to hear directly from the side hustler. That's where it started. And in
today's segment, they're going to tell you a short story of something that went very wrong. The stories tend to vary a bit. They often begin with an idea or an assumption. And then what happens when that assumption or idea meets reality. You know, often we have an idea to do something, but we don't really understand what it's really going to be like. And what are the positive and
negative effects or impacts, you know, of turning that idea into action, which I think is good. But in doing so we gain some experience, we gain some knowledge that we can then apply to perhaps our next project or towards improving this project or just doing something entirely different. So it's really fun to look at the mistakes. And I try to share a lot of my mistakes along the way as well. Today, though, you're going to hear from Emma. Emma's from Santa Barbara. Let's hear from Emma
about her unsuccessful attempt to become a professional Instagrammer or an influencer, if you will, which ended with her quitting the platform altogether. So she wanted to go pro, she ended up walking away from it completely. So let's let Emma tell the story. Hi there, my name is Emma, and I'm a big dreamer. I've always loved fashion, beauty, and all things social media. So when I thought about the idea of becoming an influencer, I jumped at the chance.
I always wanted to do something creative. And this seemed like the perfect fit. How hard could it be, right? It all started when I decided to finally take the leap and start a new Instagram account with the goal of getting sponsored. I mean, everyone else was doing it. So why not me?
Or so I thought. I had always been interested in fashion and beauty. So I thought I could use that as a way to gain a following. So I started posting and posting and posting. I spent hours curating my feed, making sure each photo was perfect and commenting on lots of other people's posts as you're supposed to do. I was convinced that I was going to be the next big thing. And
then it finally happened. I got my first paid collaboration, which was just $150. But I was so excited. I thought it was going to be my big break. But as you might guess, that's definitely not what happened. The collaboration was a total flop. The product didn't fit me properly. And the photos
came out looking terrible. The company wasn't happy and neither was I. I had put so much time and effort into this and it just didn't pay off. I was devastated. I felt like I have failed and that all my hard work had gone to waste. But then I realized that this wasn't what I wanted to do
with my life. I didn't want to spend hours every day trying to perfect my Instagram feed just to get a few likes and maybe a paid collaboration. So I decided to walk away. I deleted my new account and started focusing on other things. I realized that I didn't need to be an influencer to be happy. I was content with just being me. In the end, I didn't become the next big influencer. But
I learned a lot about the industry and about myself. I discovered that my true passion was in creative writing and storytelling. So I decided to pursue that instead. Looking back, I realized that my failed influencer journey was just a stepping stone to something bigger and better. And who knows, maybe one day I'll return to with a new perspective. But for now,
I'm just happy to be doing what I love and sharing my stories with the world. I learned that sometimes things don't go as planned. And that's okay. I also learned that it's important to listen to your own voice and do what makes you happy. So if you're considering becoming an influencer, just remember, it's not all fun and games. But hey, on the bright side, you'll at least have
a good Instagram feed to show for it. Emma, I really appreciate that honesty that candor. Thank you so much for sharing your story. And to Emma and everyone never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. That is the theme of Failure Friday. It's like a good theme for life as well,
because things are going to come along and knock you down or make you feel discouraged or defeated in some way. But there's always something else out there for you. You just got to keep trying, not always the same thing, but trying something new. So that's my encouragement. Again, thanks Emma for sharing the story. Listeners, if you've got a question or an update about your
sidehustleschool.com/questions, you can listen to the podcast. Wherever you like to listen to podcasts, it could be Apple podcasts, it could be Spotify, it could be directly on the website, it could be some other service, whatever you prefer. It's all completely free. And there's a new episode every day. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School.
From the Onward Project.
