Imagine sitting at home in your most comfortable pants with a hot cup of coffee. As you slowly and purposefully sip in your morning mojo, you crack open the lap top to begin the days work of researching and posting.
Just kidding. My world is nothing like that.
I usually start every morning like any other working mom. I rush the kiddos to get ready and hope that I am leaving them with enough self assurance that they can face the day. I also have a 3 year old who hangs with me three days a week while her part-time school is out.
After lunches are packed and a grunt is given for a goodbye from my teenager, I head home to begin my work day. This means finding an activity that will keep my 3 year old occupied for a while feeding the dog and trying to stuff breakfast down my face. I may load and unload the dishwasher, pop in a load of laundry, figure out my after-school schedule and if I need to add milk to my Target pick-up order.
Wooooo. I haven't even started work yet.
Work for me does not start until my 3 year old is asleep. Or, if I am super lucky, she watched Frozen all the way through. Wearing the SAHM hat with the Social Media Manager hat can be daunting at times, and shouldn't be seen as a way to make money passively.
I start by checking my emails, messages, and how any social postings are performing. I am always looking for a new customer. Always. Most of my customers are seasonal businesses - think roofing, lawn service or landscaping, or holiday light installation. So with that, I am looking to keep the doors revolving from one season to the next. This is my first piece of advice when looking for clients, check out the seasonal guys. You will not make thousands off of these guys, but you will get the chance for referrals. Because most contractors actually contract work out to other contractors, you can bet that if you are able to wow one, you can count on a referral or two coming your way. The best part is the guys are not looking for a new marketing strategy nor counting on you bring loads of leads. These are the clients looking to have consistency, be present on potential customer's feeds, and to handle any comments that may appear on their posts.
Being a social media manager is a slow business and will not be built over night. It takes consistency and quality to build up your client list. In order to promote your consistency, you need to be consistent on your social postings.
I wish I would have had the ability to make side money while I worked on my client list. Luckily, you can. Click the link below to learn more on how you can start earning money right away. I wish I had!
Still don't know which social media platform you should start offering services for? Try the quiz below. It will help set you on the right track with a few short questions.
If you didn't feel like reading all of this, TLDR: Social Media Management is not easy. Offering affordable services to seasonal businesses and contractors is a great way to start and lead to referrals.
Check back next week for another lesson I've learned about being a SAHM and social media manager.
- Jax
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