What it really means to be an influencer

This weeks blog post has been one I have been chewing on for a while now. Wondering if I should even share it! I kinda touched on this earlier last week on a live video (you can catch that replay here) The topic is, What it really means to be an influencer!

Welcome back to another blog post with me, your newbie-blogger AMBER! I have said from the beginning, I am not good at writing, grammar or punctuation but I simply write out what is in my head! But I am glad you’re here for this blog post!

OK, SOOO….. Unless you are from another planet, you know full well that we are in a social influence state! Everyone is an influencer or wants to be. I know you already are tired of reading, but stay with me for this one! I know I am talking to some of you reading this and you need to hear this truth! Let’s roll this back for just a second. Everyone is an influencer or wants to be……

just chew on that for a few while I tell you a quick story!

Last week I was sent a rather ugly email from a woman, (actually I get ugly mail all the time) but this one in particular just really burned me up! Why? Well, in this email the sender wanted off my email list and didn’t want anything I was SELLING HER, by the way, she opted into a FREE business resource and was being reminded to not give up. (Sometimes, I need to be reminded to keep going) There was zero selling happening!

But in her “ugly” email, she made a few statements that I just did not quite understand. 1. She wanted all the free stuff when it only pertained to what she wanted to consume 2. She didn’t feel that I should do ANYTHING OTHER THAN what was serving her. 3. The only influence she wanted out of me was what she wanted to dictate. 4. She never said thank you one time. (Not that I needed a Thank You)

Are you still with me? Because what I want to do is shed some light on this.

Alright, so now that you have been chewing on the Everyone is an influencer or wants to be a statement, now let me DIG a little deeper into some mindset stuff! (Yes, this is really a mindset thing)

When I read that email, the first thing I thought of was those women in my tribe, my circle, and my community, especially in my Facebook Community. For the past 2 years, I have spent countless hours showing up, encouraging and motivating woman after woman to live out their dreams, be the influence, believe they can do the things and make an impact. BUT to live out their lives to help others because God has a higher call for them and that the money will always follow (after all if we are not working hard for the dollar we are merely volunteers… nothing against volunteering) But it’s TRUTH!

DO IT SCARED

Anyways, I thought of those women who might have just been starting out scared, mustering up the courage to go on the journey of starting a business, applying for that job, or simply GOING LIVE for the first time or telling a close friend or family member what their dream is all about. What if they had gotten that email? See, I am glad that email came to me and not to one of them because honestly some of us are not ready for the attacks, we are simply just trying to face our fears and do the big things in our lives. Now don’t get me wrong, there will be haters, those who are just not your people.

But you are for someone! PERIOD! OWN THAT!

See, many of us do not INFLUENCE anyone because of fear, judgement or the “who do we think we are” mentality. But did you know that no matter what SOCIAL MEDIA says, God, says you are called to INFLUENCE! Maybe not those exact words but he calls us to be salt and light! That my friends is pretty much a modern-day influencer! Back to the email. Her message to me was clear, what I had to offer was not for her. She said things like: I have enjoyed your painting videos for the past year…… BUT when you started with Pool Day 1 and Pool Day 2 blah blah blah and then you started putting on makeup SERIOUSLY! That was it for me. Who do you think you are some 16-year-old influencer? I had to stop reading and walk away. I needed to process this email! This one in particular!

I asked myself, who DO I THINK I AM?

This person obviously doesn’t know the real me, and only sees the stuff, and better yet how many other people might have read this same KIND OF email and are questioning what God has said they are? I decided to take to good ole social media and share this with my community on a LIVE VIDEO, not to shame this person because who knows what she is going through or why she felt this way. But that was none of my business honestly. What was my business is how I chose to react. How I chose to INFLUENCE the situation not only to her but to others!

So you want to be an influencer! You already are! You influence someone on the DAILY! Family, friends, your children, your neighbors, the woman at the grocery store, the person on social media! You do not need permission to influence. PERIOD! You do not need anyone’s permission to be an encouragement, to share your story, to share your gifts with the world. You don’t! God gives you permission when he places you in the position to tell your story and to witness through what he has done for you and he will allow you to do that in ALL THINGS THAT YOU DO! Not just some but all!

A DIFFERENT OUTLOOK!

So that email allowed me to look at it in a different way. We are called to influence no matter what our age, demographic, geographic, financial in the public eye or simply in our everyday private lives! Whether it be as an employee, a mom, a daughter, a son, a husband or wife, a business owner, a volunteer, a speaker, a mechanic, a doctor, a teacher and the list goes on. So I believe that everyone is an influencer, what is different is how you USE your influence. And sometimes we take that influence for granted and we spew ugly. Unfortunately, sometimes that ugly silences our influence and we need to start to stand in our impact!

So, if you want to be an influencer there are many ways you can go about this:

1. Influence in a wider footprint, we see these people in the public eye mostly on social media, on tv, in movies, events, videos, conferences, and so on.
2. Influence locally, we see these people serving in our community.
3. Influence in print, these are the people who are authors and bloggers mostly
4. Influence in education, these people are teachers and educators
5. Influence in business, these people are those who help others in building a business or starting one.
6. Influence in employment, these people are those who help others get jobs
7. Influence in volunteering, these people are the ones who serve with nothing in return.
8. Influence in your home, these people are moms, dads and grandparents training up their children
9. Influence in your friendships, these are the people who are simply a listening ear, a word of truth or laughter.
10. Influence in your business, these people are serving a group of people and are offering to solve a problem or provide a service, or impact.
11. Influence in music, these people use music to influence and reach people with a word and sound collaboration
12. Influence by children, these tiny people are out with each other learning from their upbringing and life situations.
13. Influence in ministry, these are the people who are sharing the word of God and have a message to deliver.
14. Influence in everyday living, these are the everyday people just living out loud to help impact and make a difference.
15. Influence in relatability, this one is pretty much all of us. We all have an unidentified influence that speaks to the masses in what we have heard called the “me too” movement.
16. Influence in missions, these people dedicate their lives to the cause they serve and believe in.
17. Influence in appreciation and support, this is good. Did you know that you simply showing support and appreciation is influential? Some people are just amazing encouragers!
18. Influence in living, Each day you are given an opportunity to influence. How are you using it?
19. Influence in authenticity, simply be you every day.
20. Influence in negativity, unfortunately, I think we have all had this in our lives.
21. Influence in ________. I guess the list could really go on and on.

I know this is my own list that I curated but maybe it will shed some light on this subject. I honestly do not like the word influencer, simply because of what it looks like nowadays. We are all influencers, it’s what we choose to do with it. So, what does it really mean to be an influencer? I guess it has multiple meanings. You can honestly decide.

I believe that we are all influencers and there are many meanings and many ways of influence. But my mission has always been to influence authenticity. Maybe this is your mission too! But to shed light on the email I got, the core of the email was this, many people want only a certain part of our influence. I expect that is normal, but when our influence is not EXACTLY what others want, we are instantly put in a box that says what we can and can not do or say. So if you are reading this super long blog post then “high five”! Thank you! But seriously, if you are reading this today, know this! You are not just free stuff, you are not just for one person, or one thing, you are not only good enough for X, Y or Z. Your influence will change, and then so will those you are influencing but that does not mean that you stop your impact, your message or your influence. No!

God placed a call on you and sometimes that call evolves!

If you are just starting out and you are scared and feel a little imposter syndrome setting in, remember this. You are who he says you are, you are called by him, and you are not going to be for everyone but you will be for someone! Don’t take for granted your influence, your platform whether it is in the public eye or the private space! God knows our heart! When the ugly shows up, shake it off and let it roll on by.

Most of you friends reading this are in the public social space, and you are possibly struggling with “what does it mean to be an influencer” I hope this clears it up and you can walk on in that thing you are doing. No more excuses and no more thinking of quitting. And for those who are not believers or spiritual, whether you believe in God or not you can decide how to interpret this, but the inner message still applies.

YOU ARE AN INFLUENCE!

So girls and guys! You are simply this, an everyday influencer living your life out loud to simply serve and shed light on being a real human being! That is honestly the best way I can put it to ya!

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog this week! It really means so much to me that you pop in time after time and read and support my cause, my mission, and my dream! I would love to hear from you your thoughts on this week’s blog, you can leave me a message below!

Come back next week for another blog post and if there are any other bloggers out there who want to collaborate on something reach out to me, I would love to do that! info@themakersmap.com

If you are super curious about what it looks like to start a business, to expand your influence I put together this super awesome freebie just for you! It is my FREE STARTER KIT! You can snag it here!

FIND ME ON PINTEREST!