The Creative Journey I Took to Start a Pinterest Business
So, you’re here to hear the story how my business started. I, like many other entrepreneurs, have come to this point on a very twisty-turney road that I have to say, I’m quite proud to have made. Looking back over certain periods in my life, I’ve always wanted to be the leader at something, but I never knew at what it would be.
But here I am now, in a space and business that I love, cultivating another chapter in my book with something that lights me up! The story how my business came to be is something near and dear to my heart. I hope it motivates you and encourages you to never stop dreaming.
For a looong time, I’ve always wanted to have a business or, be in business for my own self. I remember when I was younger, I dreamt of being a singer.
I had always had a creative streak to me, but being a young, shy, introverted child, I never knew how to overcome my emotions.
I could dream up myself being on stage in front of thousands of people, belting out songs that I wrote (another thing that I would do in secret was write songs) in my best Mariah Carey voice - falsetto and all! But despite me dreaming up all these images, I could never actually do it.
I remember one moment where I finally had the courage to tell my Mom that I wanted to take singing lessons at the Royal Conservatory of Music. I was on cloud nine! The reason why I was on cloud nine was because this was probably the first moment in my life where I put words and action to my dream. I told someone what I wanted to do & I was actually going to do it!
When the moment came of starting my singing lessons, I was nervous as heck. All the worst things were going through my head:
What am I doing?
Who do I think I am?
What if I suck?
What if people laugh at me?
I’m telling you guys, it’s a nightmare sometimes being in your own head. All I have to say is thank God for my mother, because without my Mom saying she believed in me, I don’t think I would have stepped foot thorough those doors.
Well, to my surprise, the very first day I was there, I actually was in class with one of my school friends!
Phew! The relief I felt that there was someone I knew! It calmed my nerves to know there was someone I could lean on when I could feel my emotions getting the best of me. Having my friend in my singing class actually sparked more of my creative streak as I slowly started trusting myself and my intuition.
As time went on, I continued with my classes but my friend and I started to drift, and quite frankly, I don’t even know why. I then started to feel like I was losing my touch with music and not sure if I knew what I wanted at that point. How was I going to express myself creatively? What other things did I enjoy?
As years went on, it came time in high school to start thinking about what career option I wanted. I thought long & hard about what I enjoyed but I felt like going into something creative was not the best option for me. I mean, I wanted to know that when I’m graduated from school, I would definitely have a job!
I was always good at biology and sciences, so naturally (and with a little persuasion from my mother), I applied to nursing school and got in to every one of them that I applied to.
“I’m going to be a nurse!” I told myself.
Although it’s no creativity and being in business for myself, I knew that once I finished school, there would for sure be nursing positions available for me to apply to.
After what seemed like forever in school, I graduated with my Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BScN) and couldn’t wait to apply for a position.
And apply I did.
Nursing positions were always abundant when I graduated. I even contemplated on writing my board exams to work in the States at that time too.
In 2014, I got married and I literally crafted EVERY SINGLE THING there was to craft for a wedding!
Truly, that’s where my love for Pinterest probably started without me even knowing it.
I crafted our invites, wedding topper, place cards, menus, our centerpieces, our head table, the thank you gifts to our guests, I could go on and on!
I made every single little thing I could think of with my own two hands and I was so proud of myself.
I even planned our whole wedding right down to the smallest detail, all I had to do was hire a “day of” wedding planner to execute my vision.
My husband frequently reminds me of how creative I truly am, especially on the days or moments when I feel like my talents and gifts have no meaning to the world.
As time went on with my career in nursing, I started to feel the pull to being my own person, away from the hustle and bustle and stepping into my own creativity again.
I started my blog in November 2019, but it wasn’t until January 2020 that I started pivoting my home decor blog into a business.
I loved everything (and still do!) about home decor.
Testing my skills & problem solving, being free to do what I wanted, and living out my creative passions is what I truly enjoyed!
The more I pursued my home decor blog, I started thinking about building out a business from it to work for myself, but I was finding it challenging to get my blog recognized and known,
Yes, I would tell my followers on Instagram, “Hey! I have a new blog post out! I’d love if you could check it out and leave a comment if you enjoyed it!”, but that would only go so far.
You talk about your blog post, you post it in your Instagram stories, you put the link in your bio, and you go on to even create a graphic to catch someone’s eye.
Oh! and don’t forget about all the crazy combinations of hashtags you use too!
After all of this, you sit back and anxiously wait to see if your stats increase…but they never really do. **crickets
I’d research #allthethings to grow my blog. I’d honestly become borderline obsessed because I wanted to crack the code on “making it big” with my blog.
But everything I read, listened to, and researched, would always point me towards Pinterest.
Now, I have always been a follower of Meagan Williamson. This lady right here is the PINTEREST QUEEN in my opinion!
On one particular day, Meagan announced in her Instagram Stories that she would be opening up a Pinterest VA Accelerated program that I KNEW I had to listen to my intuition and be a part of this.
I quickly signed up, and when the program started, my passion & purpose became fully known to me.
Meagan’s program hit all the points of what I wanted to do in my life.
I got all the enjoyment from being my own boss and having my own company, using my design and SEO skills (thanks to all those mood boards and many hours blogging), and using Pinterest to market my business and brand in a way that felt natural & organic, never sleazy or time-consuming.
After the program ended, I ran full force with my Pinterest management business.
I started talking about it, educating my followers on the power of Pinterest and it was getting traction, but I knew I had a bigger vision of what I wanted to do.
I started a new Instagram account page called Cultivation Lounge. I decided to open a new page that would allow me to fully immerse myself in my new Pinterest direction and expand my interests to marketing, productivity, design and overall creativity.
Cultivation Lounge on Instagram is a community that helps introverted business women (such as myself) use Pinterest to really expand our reach, and cultivate a community of women who want to use marketing skills to grow their business but don’t want to feel like they have to become a new person, that’s not authentic, to get there.
On my regular Instagram account, I was using it to showcase my talents as a home decor/DIY blogger. When I started to transition to Pinterest marketing, I felt like my message was a bit confusing to some, as many of my followers originally decided to share along my journey because of my home decor/DIY’s. I didn’t want to overload my feed with things that were not in alignment with my new passion and potentially lose those followers I worked so hard to gain.
Cultivation Lounge came to me from an idea/intuitive nudge/brainstorming session I had with my sister.
My sister told me to mind-map a specific word of what I truly wanted to have/feel when I started my business, and have that word be at the center of my page. Then, branching out from that initial word, I started linking other words that came to mind in relation to the word in the center.
You want to know what my word was?
FREEDOM.
I wanted complete freedom to think the way I wanted to think, to create how I want to create, and to live how I want to live. But ultimately from it all, I wanted to form a space where someone like me, who is an introverted businesswoman, could feel comfortable with themselves, and learn all there is to learn about Pinterest, marketing, and business.
So that, girls (and boys!), is the story of how my business came to be.
It came from a calling to be greater than myself, to get to a point of enlightenment full of knowledge, refinement, teaching and information, using Pinterest as the leading vehicle.
I hope you follow along for the journey, because I’m more excited than ever to start this mission in my life.
I appreciate your readership and encourage you to sign up to my email newsletter (right down below!) so we can always keep in contact with each other.
Why did you start your business? If you haven’t started your business yet, what do you feel is holding you back?
PIN FOR LATER!
Do you follow me on Instagram? If so, YAY! If not, let’s connect. Join me there so I can get to know you more & follow you back!
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