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Are you ready to grow your audience, but also intimidated by the idea of showing up online? I think we’ve all struggled with the confidence to do all the trendy things we see our peers doing. In today’s episode, Jo Johnson Overby joins us to share how you can build confidence and show up online without having to jump all in on the latest trends. Listen in as she shares her advice to entrepreneurs ready to build and serve their audience.
Jo is a photographer turned educator and content creator. When the pandemic cancelled her scheduled work she turned to TikTok and found her passion for building an online community. She now uses it to teach, connect, and share her life with her husband Matt and new daughter Gardner.
Get to Know Jo (1:52)
Posting to 1 Million + People (7:37)
Building a Personal Brand (8:50)
Creating Confidence (11:33)
How to Show Up Online When You Don’t Know Where to Start (14:45)
Showing Up Consistently (16:57)
Unpopular Opinion (19:00)
Links
jojohnson.co
instagram.com/jojohnsonoverby
pinterest.com/jojohnsonoverby
tiktok – jojohnsonoverby
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Review the Transcript:
Laylee Emadi
Welcome to so here’s the thing where we share candid conversations that lift the veil on what it takes to find success, even if that means sharing a few unpopular opinions. I’m your host Laylee Emadi. Grab some coffee or cocktail and let’s get real.
Laylee Emadi
Hey friends, welcome back to the show. I am so pumped to have the wonderful Jo Johnson Overby with us to date. Jo is a photographer, turned educator and content creator. And when the pandemic cancelled her scheduled work, she turned to tick tock and found her passion for building an online community. And man, did she do a great job at it? She now uses her community to teach, connect and share her life with her husband, Matt and her new daughter Gardner who’s freaking adorable. As if you guys don’t follow Jo, you need to go do it. She’s such a delight. Thank you so much for being here. Jo.
Jo Johnson Overby
I’m excited. I’m excited to thank for asking me to be here.
Laylee Emadi
Yeah, absolutely. I love I think we actually connected on clubhouse if I remember correctly. And I like tracked you over to Instagram. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this girl is like a powerhouse. And she’s got like, this lovely, charming husband and this like adorable while you were pregnant at the time, I guess. But now baby, and that she’s so fun. So fun to watch you. And I know that so many of our listeners probably already follow you. And if they don’t, they’re going to and they’re going to be like, Okay, I don’t think I can ever do that. And so I’m really excited to hear a little bit about your journey. And to kind of hear some ways that we can encourage our audience to really like lean into audience growth and embracing, like authentic social media, because I think that you do that so beautifully. So I’m not going to get ahead of myself, but I’m going to let you kind of tell us like, what was your journey, like from photographer to now? Primarily content creator, right? Correct. So
Jo Johnson Overby
I started out and I was a wedding photographer. I photographed weddings full time for almost five years, and was traveling all over doing this. And in 2018, I had this big change of heart that weddings really weren’t for me. And I decided I was going to start transitioning out. But social media was not the direction I thought I was going. So I started doing photography, education, and I was teaching workshops. And that’s where I kind of started putting myself out there online. And I grew a little audience like I had maybe 15,000 followers, which at the time seems like so many. And that really is a substantial audience, you can do a lot with that size audience. And so I was feeling really good about it, well, then the pandemic hit. And all of my work got canceled. And I was sitting at home, my husband never ended up working from home during the pandemic, because his job required him to be in the plant. And I was just at home alone. So I turned to tick tock and I said, You know what, we’re gonna have fun, we’re gonna share our lives. We’re just going to see how this goes. And things started blowing up. And in the last year and a half, I’ve gone from those 15,000 followers on Instagram to having well over a million followers online. And yeah, so that’s what we’re doing now.
Laylee Emadi
Oh, my gosh, like I literally can’t even imagine, I probably could have done my due diligence before I had you on but I feel like because we’ve connected and chatted, I’ve never actually looked at your numbers. That’s insane. A million people. That’s incredible. Wow. Okay, I have a lot of questions that are like popping into my head right now, the first of which is like, you went from 15,000, which that is a lot like I I have a very small audience. So for me, I’m like, Wow, 15,000 is a lot of people jumping from 15,000 to something like a million over the timespan of a year and a half, which is not very long. What has changed for you, if anything in the way that you approach your content creation, like from a from a strategic standpoint, like Has anything changed? Or have you just kind of like stuck with what’s tried and true for you.
Jo Johnson Overby
I think that I’ve gotten a little more strategic in terms of it being my full time job now. So I photographed my last wedding last month, and I’m now doing content full time. So I am thinking about I want to post every day. I want to you know in terms of things like that, since it is everything I’m doing. But I haven’t changed the approach in terms of just posting what I’m feeling at the time. That’s been really important to me, because I think social media is such an incredible tool, but it’s used in what can be a negative way by so many people. Not intentionally, I don’t think I just think it’s really easy to as people not want to share everything about us, you know, and then we end up with this inauthentic presence online. And so I’ve really tried to stick to the share, eat at all, and whatever pops in my head still to this day.
Laylee Emadi
Yeah, I love that. And I think that is something that I really enjoy. Like, as somebody who has been following you, since we connected, I really enjoy it because I feel like you’re just chatting with a friend. And I think there’s a lot to be said here about people looking at numbers and thinking, like, oh, that’s going to completely change whatever that it is that you’re doing. But I listened to you. And I think to myself, Okay, I’m over here with my like 4000 Sweet followers, who I love with my whole heart. And our journeys are similar in the fact that like, I shot my last wedding, the December before the pandemic, which was really great timing for me, I’m good. I was like, very, it was really serendipitous, it was worked out well. But I switch from going to that to like, Okay, I need to be strategic about like, what it is that I’m showing. And all of that is the same no matter if you have a million followers, or 4000 followers. And I think there’s something to be said about that to encourage the people who are listening, like, you don’t have to get a million followers to do that. But look, what can happen by showing up authentically. So if somebody is listening to this, and they’re like afraid to really show up in that way, what would you say to them?
Jo Johnson Overby
Well, the biggest thing that I’ll say is, I think so many of us have that mindset that Oh, once I hit 10,000 followers, then I’ll feel okay doing this. Once I hit 50,000 followers and somebody who we have 1.2 million followers on Tiktok. And now, just over 200,000, on Instagram, and we have subscribers on YouTube and all this stuff. It doesn’t matter how many people are following you online, there’s always more. And your perspective evolves as you go. So, you know, right now you get 100 likes, and you’re like that was the best post ever, like, you know, but you’re always comparing yourself to other people. And you will always compare yourself to yourself. So get out there and do exactly what you want to do with 100 followers, 500 followers, a million followers, it doesn’t matter. Because at the end of the day, it’s about the people that you’re reaching, and you don’t need that big audience. And you’re always going to want more. It’s just part of it. Because I don’t feel any different. posting to a million people as I did posting for 80 people.
Laylee Emadi
That’s amazing. Do you have any additional? I feel like I would feel different only in the fact that I would be like, a little bit more nervous to post to that many people like do you ever run into that feeling?
Jo Johnson Overby
Not often? No. Part of that probably is I am not the most polarizing of personalities. So I’m not posting content that I feel like really evokes a lot of hate or negativity typically. Not that it never happened. But I think that that’s probably part of it. But no, I don’t really think about it. I really don’t, it just kind of is.
Laylee Emadi
I think that’s super refreshing. I love hearing that. Okay, so I would love we love to get like super tangible and tactical on this show. And I’d love to hear from you like maybe some first steps that somebody can take who’s really afraid to kind of branch out and try like a new social media marketing strategy in order to grow their audience, because I know that you found so much success on Tik Tok. And again, you kind of turned to it in a really organic way where you were like, I’m bored. I’m just gonna, like, have fun. But if somebody is out there trying to really like, grow their business, grow their audience, try to like, you know, create content that converts into really great marketing strategy, but they’re afraid. What would you what would you tell them like a few starting steps,
Jo Johnson Overby
I think that we’re living in the time of a personal brand. I think anything that you can do to attach your face and your personality, and anything that you can do to attach yourself to your business is huge. Right now people want to know who they’re supporting, what they do what they believe. And I think that that’s so cool, because it gives us an essence a way to intentionally spend our dollars with people that align with us. And so it’s going to be really hard to pick people to support if you don’t know who’s behind the business. So my best advice would be don’t be afraid to put yourself out there to talk about why you’re passionate about what you’re doing. I think that a lot of us get focused thinking that marketing ourselves needs to be marketing the product, or the service. And sometimes it’s not about the product or service but instead about the people and the people that we’re supporting. And get on both what brought you to what you’re doing, why you’re passionate about what you’re doing, and people will see that people love passionate people. If you love what you You do, and you are confidently showing up in an authentic way to speak about it. People are gonna listen.
Laylee Emadi
Yeah, I love that. I totally agree. And I feel like you know, the concept of people buy from people more than people buy just like random products applies really strongly here. Actually, for those of you listening, we did last week’s episode, we talked about brand photography, and the importance of attaching your face to your brand and all the things. And so if you want that download of ways to utilize brand photography and images that you should have, that download is still available for you guys at our show notes. And we will link everything in the show notes as well. But yeah, I love that concept so much. And I think that we are living in a time of, of, it’s just such an interesting, like societal shift of like, we bought from big companies for a really long time. And now everybody is really excited to like support people who are out there and just trying to make it happen and attaching their names and faces and families, to whatever it is that they’re selling. I know I feel more excited to like, give my money to somebody who I’m like, that’s going to their family. That’s amazing, like, I know exactly where my money is going. So I think that’s really beautiful. And I love that I would also love to know, like from you, I feel like you’re very competent person. And that’s something that a lot of people are drawn to. Are you as competent as you seem? And what would you say to somebody who is not as confident, but really wants to start showing up like to kind of combat that feeling of imposter syndrome or self doubt.
Jo Johnson Overby
So I would start by saying that I at this point in my life, I’m very confident, very comfortable in who I am. But I’ve not always been that way. And so I think that that’s part of why my confidence and that discussion that I have on my social resonates with so many people is I was the girl in high school, that wasn’t popular not because the popular people weren’t nice to me. But because I was so insecure that I wasn’t enjoyable to be around. And that continued through Calkins. And probably not until my adult life I had this realization that I needed to stop trying to be what I thought people wanted out of me. And I needed to start being who I am and just roll with it. And I had this overwhelming realization as an adult that the people I loved it wasn’t because of something they were doing wasn’t because of something they were interested in. It was because they were passionate and happy and content with who they were. And so I was like, Okay, I need to hone in and spend time focusing on myself and figure that out. So the advice I would give if you’re in a season of life, where you’re not feeling as confident, you’re not feeling that ability to just post anything and, you know, show up and say any words is really focused on what do you want? What do you want to show up as and get after it? And really try to remember that other people’s opinions don’t matter. It’s so much easier said than done. And I know that from experience. But at the end of the day, it just doesn’t matter. All you have is you.
Laylee Emadi
Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s amazing. It is so hard. It’s like definitely a lot easier said than done. But it’s such an important lesson, I think if you can wrap your mind around it. And they know that for me personally, I struggled a lot with like showing up on social media in the beginning, especially because when I started, you know, like doing Instagram stories and putting my face on video and things like that, like I was a high school teacher I was trying to do and emulate what other photographers were doing to grow my photography business. But I found that once I started to really just like lean into my own personality and the things that sat right with me and the things that felt right with me, I was able to make connections with the people who ended up being my clients and converted into actual purchasers of the things that I were selling. So I think that that’s really, really important. And I do I do know that it’s hard, but I love that you’re encouraging people to kind of like come face to face with that. So on that same like token how like, what are your thoughts on people who are trying to grow their businesses through like tick tock or social media and they like, they don’t want to do trends. They don’t want to dance? They don’t know what they don’t know what to do. Like, what do you tell people like how do you like if somebody’s like, okay, Jo, I really want to show up on Tik Tok but like I literally don’t know what to create. Where can they start?
Jo Johnson Overby
That’s great. You don’t need to dance. You don’t need to do trends. You don’t need trending, audios, things like that you can and those are awesome things. So it interests you and it’s fun for you go for it. But if not film throughout your day and do a voiceover tell people what You’re doing, there are all kinds of options to create, that have nothing to do with a short lived trend. A lot of my content that has done the very, very best isn’t us doing trending dances, it’s not us doing trending sounds, it’s me sitting on my couch as I had a realization, and it’s just me talking. And just means sharing my thoughts. And I know that I engage with a lot of business content, where they are walking through a day in their life and what that looks like. And, like I said, previously, that may not feel like it, promoting or selling a product or service, but it’s you selling yourself. And people will get to know you through that. And then people will want to support you and what you bring to the table.
Laylee Emadi
Oh, that’s such good advice. I think that’s, that’s incredible. And I love to advocate for, like, if you want to show up and dance, like, do what you want to do. But if you don’t, you don’t have to, like, there’s this pressure, I think a lot of people feel to like, show up. And like I said, just emulate what the people who have already found success are doing. But I think more and more people are just looking for people that they can relate to or people that they can aspire to or whatever that they’re looking for, it’s not going to be found in someone just trying to like create a cookie cutter, you know, copy of somebody else. So I love that. All right, I would love to hear like if you have any any final thoughts on like, audience growth or content creation that specifically, like tailored toward Content Marketing for Small Business Owners, as a photographer yourself, and I know that you’ve, you’ve kind of been like transitioning toward Well, obviously, your full time job now is content creation. But I know that you still do photography stuff, too. And I know that you still educate photographers. So you know, if you’re trying to do both, like, what are some final thoughts on how people can balance and juggle the two
Jo Johnson Overby
consistencies your number one thing you have to show up consistently. And that doesn’t mean I think a lot of people get caught up, and they’re like, I need to show up every day. And you don’t, you can make it to where you show up every Monday, once a week, you know, and then people know that you show up on Mondays and they know to look for you on Mondays, because you provide valuable content that is engaging or interesting or inspiring, every single Monday. And so it’s not as much about the quantity as the quality and consistency. And so whatever is achievable for you, I think that we get caught up in mass of, we need to get six posts out a day, or we need to get 10 posts out a week or whatever it is. And well, I think that’s great. If you’re running a business, I mean, it’s my full time job. And I sometimes have trouble showing up on Tik Tok and Instagram once a day. Because it’s very time consuming. And it takes a lot of energy. I know that and if you’re running a business also, and that’s not the full time gig. I mean, next to impossible. So don’t put that on yourself. Instead, show up and make sure that you’re doing it on a weekly basis, or a monthly basis or whatever it is that works for you. And then do that consistently.
Laylee Emadi
Oh, that’s so good. I feel like consistency is something that stresses people out so much, because they do think like it has to be every day. But I think I mean, I know I struggled to be consistent as well, even even like twice a week or whatever. But I love the idea that like you can make it work for you and make it fit into your life, whatever that looks like. So thanks. Appreciate that. Okay, and I always have to wrap up. So on our podcast, we have our signature question, which is what is your unpopular opinion on this topic? And we kind of covered several topics. So you can you can choose your unpopular opinion, it can be about audience growth, or social media or whatever you want it to be
Jo Johnson Overby
my unpopular opinion. I think it’s probably that you shouldn’t aspire to those with large audiences, but in said, be looking for people that are converting, and I don’t know that that’s necessarily an unpopular opinion. But I feel like so often we idolize these people with huge audiences, and stead of looking at the people with 10,000 followers, who have just rocked our community that are so tight knit and are talking and communicating. And so stop idolizing the people with big audiences that, you know, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be having a close knit small audience can get you a lot further, a lot quicker, in my opinion.
Laylee Emadi
I love that. I totally agree. And I think that’s really refreshing to hear somebody with a large audience kind of shared that permission and that kind of freedom that comes with that. So I really appreciate it. I know everybody’s probably loved hearing from you. And I know a lot of people already know where you are. But for those of our audience members who are just now meeting you, where can people connect with you follow along with you, and just take in all your amazing content.
Jo Johnson Overby
Oh, I’m on Tik Tok, Instagram, Pinterest, all those good things at Jo Johnson Overby, I have my own podcast at middle ground podcast with one of my best friends, where we talk, healthy mindset, and just all things life. And I’m trying to think I have a website, Jojohnson.co. And that’s where all of my things like precise courses, things like that live. And yeah, that’s where you can find me mostly on tic toc. I feel like that’s where I’m really show it up.
Laylee Emadi
That’s amazing. I love it. And I love following along with you and your sweet fam. It’s always really, really fun to see you pop up while I’m scrolling, which I think is rare for people to respond that way. So y’all go check her out. She’s amazing. Thank you so much for all your time. And for all your wisdom. I always love love getting to chat with you.
Jo Johnson Overby
Well, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Laylee Emadi
For show notes and resources mentioned on today’s episode head to so here’s the thing podcast.com And if you’re enjoying the podcast, I’d love to read your review on iTunes. Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll catch you in the next episode.
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