Hashtag Authentic - For Small Businesses, Bloggers And Online Creatives

I first met deep-dive master coach Katie Pulsifer when she was my instructor for certification at The Life Coach School. I recall being pretty intimidated. I’ve never been sky-diving or tried a bungee jump, but I’m pretty sure the adrenaline rush is comparable to coaching in front of Katie for immediate feedback in front of a group.

I’m sharing something a little different today… the results of my ‘podcast affair’ with my Aussie bestie, the gorgeous Ms . Bonded over our love of storytelling and creativity, Keeley and I and came together to create - a gathering of resources, classes and a shiny new podcast, in the hope of passing some of that passion along.I chose this very first episode to share here with you on Hashtag Authentic because I really think the fundamentals we talk through - which we’re jokingly calling our ‘commandments’ - are applicable to every and any platform out there online. So, whether you’re Substack-curious, have no intention of ever joining Substack or are a self-confessed Substa-holic, I hope this episode can offer you support, strength and encouragement for showing your creative side online.If you want to hear more from me and Keeley, be sure to Subscribe to and to the SSS podcast in your favourite podcast app.PS - Our special Winter Substack class is now enrolling, until Monday November 27th! Check out all t

This week I talk to Katie Leamon, who turned her love of paper and pattern into her eponymous family-run stationery studio. Her notebooks have been a daily companion to me for many years, so it was really fun to chat with her about her designs, her process and the realities behind running a product-lead business with the family on board!Things we talk about:* Building from a home studio to printing and selling at scale* Designing products based on creative instinct* The rise of independent stationery makers and designers online* Selling wholesale vs. direct* Family business, and drawing the the lines between work and home life.* Taking time for creativity outside of work* Growing a team, and when to let things go* Katie’s new experiments in creating ceramic range * Launch strategies and learning from mistakes* Trusting your brand identity and staying authenticLinks we mentioned:* My Substack Soiree class* Katie’s online store, Katie Leamon * Katie’s new ceramic range (I LOVE THIS CUP!)Listened and loved it? L

Find Hannah’s 4 Week Refresh Programme here Hannah’s Instagram: @hanbullivantHannah’s website: hannahbullivant.com Sara's Instagram: Sara's Substack:Sara's classes and coaching:Sara's website: Get full access to Entre Nous at meandorla.substack.com/subscribe

Things we talked about:The way multi-faceted careers can feel piecemeal (especially if parenting is added into the mix), or “like I’m doing five different jobs at once”Factoring in time to play as well as workExploring your home town like a holiday destinationTaking things home from real holidays that you might not expect (like appreciating the simple things, family meals, all your possessions in one suitcase)Avoiding habits of consuming everything and creating nothingMaking connections on Twitter (Lisa says, “I engage with people because I love it”)Pondering the idea that the Internet means we don’t get bored any more, and what that meansOn making things happen (Lisa was waiting for a radio job offer but it didn’t come, so she started a podcast)“People say you’re brave putting yourself out there, but I’m more afraid of not doing it”The importance of perseverance, and regularly doing the thing you fear (until you don’t fear it any more)We had a frank conversation about money. Despite living an outwardly glamo

Things We Talk About In This Episode:Working with clients in the creative process and their reactions.How as humans we respond to visuals in a human way. Narratives that make it seem shallow to care about how things look. Like it’s superficial to care too much about the way you look and that this might mean you don’t have depth.Aesthetics are a luxury that comes after the essentials of survival and how you can still care about aesthetics, even if the first priority is survival.Creating worlds on Instagram for an escape, or for an imaginary world to exist in.Growing up in a third-world country and living without running water. Living and growing up in a country where safety isn’t guaranteed and that these things stay with you.That where we start is not always a reflection of where we’re going to end up.The importance of the client’s story, understanding and connecting with them.Taking lessons from pain. Looking for good and having empathy.Struggling with seeing our own magic and the stories we tell ourselves.B

Things We Talk About In This Episode:The importance that established news organisations find ways to use social media if they want to engage a young audienceTikTok has redefined the experience of social media, with short video content, and Instagram Reels and Youtube Shorts have followed suitHow Sophia found an audience on TikTok (and later on Instagram Reels) by talking to camera about her media storiesThe way we can gain insights into what makes a successful social media post by being a user of the platformThe importance of constant engagement on social media, both creating and consuming contentAcknowledging the fear and vulnerability that can come with being authentic and genuine onlineSophia’s tips for successful TikTok/Reel content: action or engaging content in every second, and lead with your most powerful image/shot/quote)Comparing the strengths and drawbacks of the different platforms, especially Reels and TikTokWhen creating Reels content or TikTok content, share that content on both platforms so yo

Things we talked about:The value of owning your own audienceBuilding a brand for yourself around the work you’re doingThe growing online hunger for content by real people and the forging of real connectionsWe seem to be entering an era that Farrah calls, rather poetically, "the Time of the Writer": the world has passed the period of devouring all the content on the Internet, now we are more discerning, and only want to consume content that we genuinely enjoyThe continued return of demand for long-form contentThe return of community: the value of hearing from and engaging with your audienceGiving your best work away from free (yes!)The limitations of the stories that can be told in traditional mediaAnd related, the limitations of creating content when you're in competition for followers or clicksWhen you try to appeal to the masses, you bland outFarrah's tips for what works well on Substack:Niching works well. The more you niche, the more dedicated (as opposed to big) an audience you'll getPublishing twice a w

Where to find Sara:Sara’s website: meandorla.co.ukSara on Instagram: @me_and_orlaSara on Twitter: @meandorlaSara on SubstackThe Insta RetreatSell Your Sh*tOne to one business coaching with Sara Get full access to Entre Nous at meandorla.substack.com/subscribe

Things We Talk About In This Episode:The many ways for a book to “be successful” that don’t involve writing a New York Times bestseller (who knew?!)Lockdown lessons, and learning to live with uncertaintyThe surprising weight and reliance that we put on the future, without realising we’re doing itThe “ladder of hierarchies” through which we try (and mostly fail) to feel better about ourselvesLearning to enjoy the process of making something, more than the reception it receivesDrinking the Kool-Aid of never-ending work, productivity, and demonising rest (and this pearl of wisdom: even machines burn out!)And the related delusion we buy into, “I’ve put enough into the world that now I feel worthy”Shame in its many forms, and diet cultureUsing self-worth as an alternative motivator to shameHow to drop the shame (the first step is to start noticing it)Curiosity is the bridge that can take us from shame to self-loveAnd the freedom and curiosity that comes when we finally drop the shameLinks mentioned in this episode

Things We Talk About In This Episode:Recognising the power of what’s possible when people come together with a common goalThe value of creating your own, distraction-free destination for group learning and supportEmpowering creators to place higher value on the important business, community and content they are making - rather than being driven solely by the pursuit of money and influenceThe importance of community, particularly when we are forging new paths (or making things up as we go along). Gina says, “the single best place to make things up as you go along is in a small, trusted community of people who are there on the same journey”The important difference between “community” as opposed to audience, following or marketplaceThe great value of having diversity within a likeminded group is in the different and interesting ways that community members apply the common conceptsThe “fluff paradox” (the theory that content that is easy to judge - such as kittens or outrage - rises to the surface)How content and

Things we talked about:Trusting that you have enough, you are enough and that there'll be enough in the future and how that applies to you as a humanDecluttering and finding your own style, starting with the external and slowly moving inBeing diagnosed with cancer at 25 and having an existential crisis that kick-started a big lifestyle changeJess's realisation that if the worst happened she would have had so many regrets, that the situation shone a light on ways she was living her lifeThe fundamentals of doing stuff well online don't really change depending on the platform, it's about having something worth saying, being a human and connectingWe have access to all these amazing people online and we can feel like, finally, there's somewhere where we do belong, that you can share actual feelings and emotions with people over the internetBuilding relationships with people that you wouldn't otherwise and connecting with like-minded souls that typicallyWe are what we consume, so having a huge de-clutter of social

Things we talked about:How it still doesn't feel quite normal to call herself a full-time artist and how that's something a lot of us struggle withGrowing up with a parent who's an artist, the expectations that brings and how that comparison can make creating art feel overwhelmingFinding your own path, however varied and wherever it takes youThe feeling of not being good enough, how it can hold you back and the judgements we make of our own workHow posting on Instagram helped Maria to believe in her work and grow in confidence, that sometimes we need the outside world to tell us we're doing a good jobThat throwing yourself into your passions can lead to burnout, especially when making career changes and having other responsibilities and that recovery can be slow and frustratingHow burnout shows up and that working with your body can be hard especially in our brains and the guilt that comes with itThat naps are part of the creative process, taking time away from your creative process feeds itMaria's watercolou

Things we talked about:The difference between writing as a journalist and writing a book (it’s just so long!)But: you only get to publish your first book once! Accept the nerves, and appreciate the momentThe ever-present contention and push-back received when one writes about raceNatalie’s very wise words that reaction is the point of writing - and those reactions don’t have to be positive every timeThe value of the interviews in her book, and how she found and chose the right people to talk toSome of the stories and themes that came out of the interviews that surprised herThe unique experiences that people of mixed race have when they walk through the world, and the impact this has on identity, parenting, privilege, and the experience of racismParenting mixed race children (avoiding “colour-blindness” and those fetishised hashtags on social media)How white parents can open dialogues that empower their mixed race children to talk about racismThe value of social media in creating connections, sharing ideas, an

Things we talked about:The trials and tribulations of being a “goat doula”Her new book Earthed, and its journey from concept, through to the transformation it underwent while she was writing, due to pressures from within (mental health) and without (a pandemic)How she actually managed to get it written, with all this going onThe challenges and joys of writing autobiographicallyWe dug into the need to be honest with ourselves about how we want our lives to look… and to recognise the good stuff in there, even if reality doesn’t match the fantasyAnd about lessons learned about life in pandemic times: acknowledge the difficult stuff, but don’t give up on your dreamsWe talked about the process of being diagnosed with ADHD (both of us), and how those diagnoses changed our lives – in many cases for the betterThe fear of not being taken seriously by your GPThe way the lifestyles we choose can be – subconsciously – self-medicationRebecca talked about following the things that interested her, even if that meant changin

Each week in the insta retreat we have 2 calls - one with a business/IG focus, and one like this, for mindset issues. Find out more and join in the fun at The Insta Retreat Get full access to Entre Nous at meandorla.substack.com/subscribe

Things we talked about:Why so many of us feel suspicious about new technologies, and how we can change the narrativeThe way artificial intelligence (AI) reads and interprets our interests and activities in order to deliver content to us… and the impact that content can have on usApproaching social media mindfully, by noticing the impact certain content has on our moods and behaviours, and carefully curating what we choose to consumeThe difference between active and passive behaviour on social mediaTechnologies (other than social media) that Becca is loving… and thinking outside the box for ways in which technologies can improve our livesThe often-fraught topic of addictions, in relation to using our devices and social mediaThoughts about influencers and unhealthy comparisonsBecca shared her top tips for healthy ways to live with technologyAnd finally, I asked Becca to share what she would like the landscape of technology to look like in 10 yearsThe Insta Retreat - My tell all, best selling course for Instagra

Things we talked about:Allowing ourselves to feel good when things actually go wellThe synchronicity of things happening when they’re supposed to (and when you’re ready)Defining success for ourselves (and it’s not always what we assume it might be)How lockdown taught Katherine to create her own “sense of safety” following the success of her book, by creating courses to shore up her incomeFinding ways to own your own story, message and brandHow Katherine’s approach to Instagram evolved from “sharing pictures” to “telling stories”Katherine’s experience of coming back from “an anxious pattern of behaviour” around social mediaThe quiet activism in the premise of Katherine’s book, Wintering, which is all about periods of life in which we feel cut off from the rest of the worldNot always having to be “on” and “up.” As Katherine says, “The vision of us being always up discounts useful wonderful things like thinking, reflecting…”How we’ve all learned things about ourselves during lockdown, and the way our priorities

WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT Anna and I discuss the difference between the business of writing, and the writing of writingThe fear that so many of us feel of showing up, and putting ourselves out there or “being seen to try”. Anna says this is “straight-up embarrassment,” and we feel this way whenever we step outside the norm (even if we are embarrassed for positive reasons, like receiving a compliment)But in addition to this, she says that what holds us back, post-pandemic, is “very low emotional reserves.” All of us have a lower baseline of resilience which makes pitching scarier, and rejection harder to takeRecognising when you’re in burnout (and remembering that you don’t have to have all the answers before you’re allowed to help anyone else!)Defining freelancing and the many roles that freelancers need to play. Learning to be both boss and employee, and knowing when to shift between these modesSeeking a balance between working ON the business versus IN the business. Anna says she spends 20 percent of her time ac

Sally is joining me for weekly bonus coaching calls in my upcoming Insta Retreat class. Enrol now at meandorla.co.ukSally’s free program, “stop people pleasing in 5 days”Sally's WebsiteThe Life Coach SchoolSally's Instagram @sallyhardie_coachMy Instagram Get full access to Entre Nous at meandorla.substack.com/subscribe