Celebrating 4 Years of Serve Me the Sky Digital

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Celebrating 4 Years of Serve Me the Sky Digital

This May marks four years of running my own business full-time. A four year anniversary may not be a big deal to some, but it feels important to me. Four years of successfully running my business, even through an unprecedented global pandemic and economic turmoil? It is a big deal!

As I said in my newsletter this week, running Serve Me the Sky Digital is the most satisfied I’ve ever felt in my work life. I spent four years in higher education and earned a master’s degree in educational administration, then pivoted to nonprofits and worked in marketing at a startup incubator. I learned a lot at those jobs, but both were not a great fit for me.

Since diving into self-employment full-time, I’ve had opportunities I never would’ve guessed would come my way and have been happier all around. Glowing testimonials from clients I love working with make me proud of how far I’ve come and thankful to be where I am in my career right now. 

Let’s get into some of my favorite projects, lessons I’ve learned, and a glimpse ahead!

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Reflections on Instagram: Its Evolution & Mine

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Reflections on Instagram: Its Evolution & Mine

There’s no denying that Instagram has been through quite an evolution. All apps need to adapt to keep up with what consumers want, but as a social media professional, I fear that Instagram is losing sight of itself in its efforts to keep up with competitors. Today on the blog, I’m sharing reflections on the changes we’ve seen with Instagram so far and how I’m shifting my approach to the platform.

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Celebrating 3 Years of Serve Me the Sky Digital

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Celebrating 3 Years of Serve Me the Sky Digital

It’s hard to believe that this month marks three years of running my own business. Strangely enough, this is the third business anniversary I’ve celebrated during the COVID pandemic. My first business anniversary was a few months after the pandemic started, in May 2020, and the second was in May 2021, just as we were all starting to get vaccinated. It’s certainly been a challenging time to start and sustain a business! I’m grateful to all the amazing clients I’ve worked with along the way who have made it possible for me to continue on this fulfilling journey of self-employment.

Without further ado, I’ll share with you some of my favorite projects from the past year, lessons learned along the way, and what I’m looking forward to in the future.

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The TikTok Experiments, Vol. 1: I Posted on TikTok 3 Times per Day for 3 Months. Here's What I Learned.

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The TikTok Experiments, Vol. 1: I Posted on TikTok 3 Times per Day for 3 Months. Here's What I Learned.

After being an avid consumer of TikTok content for a few years, last December I started feeling the impulse to experiment with creating my own TikToks. I started making a handful here and there, and by January I felt ready to ramp things up. I challenged myself to post three times a day on TikTok for three months.

Many TikTokkers were claiming that posting three times a day would help you grow quickly–some even advocated for five times a day! I knew five wouldn’t be realistic for me, but thought I could manage three, so I dove in. I started on January 23rd and finished the experiment on April 23rd. I had about 140 followers when I started, and thrillingly, had 1,533 by the end. 580 of those followers I gained in the very last week of the experiment! Here’s what I learned along the way.

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How ADHD Impacts Me as a Business Owner–For Better & For Worse

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How ADHD Impacts Me as a Business Owner–For Better & For Worse

In October, I got diagnosed with ADHD. Learning about my ADHD has helped me understand how I function as a human and as a business owner. This learning process all started thanks to TikTok. I saw a video about Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, a condition commonly comorbid with ADHD. "I don't have ADHD, but I definitely have Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria!" I told my therapist excitedly.

"Oh Emily...you definitely DO have ADHD. I've been trying to tell you that, but I guess you weren't paying attention," she said.

Consider me roasted! I had to laugh. Once I started doing my research, it was shocking how many things suddenly made sense. ADHD has a huge impact on how I show up as a business owner–for better and for worse. If you have ADHD and are considering starting a business, but worry that your ADHD may be a barrier: this blog post is for you! For as much of a hassle as ADHD can be in some ways, it can also be a superpower.

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What I Learned as Vice President of a Nonprofit Board

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What I Learned as Vice President of a Nonprofit Board

Around this time last year, I wrote a blog post reflecting on what I learned in my first year on a nonprofit board. The blog post was published just a few weeks before COVID shut down the world’s in-person activities. I never could have imagined what my second year on the Cameron Community Ministries Board would be like! I had just stepped into the role of Vice President of the Board, and I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Looking back, I want to share a little bit about what a Board VP does, what we worked on at Cameron in 2020, and what I learned along the way.

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2019 in Review

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2019 in Review

It’s hard to believe that 2019 is coming to a close already. A lot has changed this year. Back in January, I was working full-time at a startup incubator. As I close out the year, I’m sitting at a Wayfair desk in my home office with my dogs snoozing nearby. 

I wanted to take some time to pause and reflect on everything I’ve achieved this year (at the risk of sounding braggy), because it’s important to remember how far we’ve come and to celebrate it. And besides, as a self-employed person, no one else is going to celebrate for me! Let’s do this:

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