“A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles.”
Ask yourself, “What are you starting with?” Your journey to a thousand miles began with a footstep – years of experiences, discoveries, success, failures, but most importantly individuals that have led you to your now. Today I’m getting real personal on the blog as I highlight my connection with these amazing women.
A Snippet of my Blogging Journey
Before I had this platform to share my thoughts, before there was the SweetLikeOyin brand, before the IG followers and before the paid collabs, there was just regular Oyin. I was 23 year old girl trying my best to navigate through life and I had a million and one things I was trying to focus on; one of them being a hairstylist.
At the time, you can say that I was San Antonio’s elite kitchen beautician lol. I had clients coming in and out of my apartment waiting to get their hair slayed for any and every occasion. That’s how I got a message from Crystal, who recently moved from Oklahoma inquiring about booking an appointment with me. We had a conversation on the phone that lasted no more than a few minutes and instantly we vibed. Before you know it she invited me to her birthday celebration the next day.
[Tweet “Trust the vibes you get, energy doesn’t lie.”]
That was the start to a meaningful connection. It took a few more interactions with Crystal to later find out she was a blogger. She had been looking for a steady photographer to work with and had no luck. She saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself and asked me to take her photos. I wasted no time jumping at the opportunity to help with no idea what I was doing. The deal was that I was taking her photos and in return she was taking mine. Seems like a fair trade right? What I didn’t know is that she was giving me the BTS view of what it means to create content while painting a vivid story through words.
This went on for a few months before she got a new job in LA and had to move. Here I was, knee deep in blogging world with all the tools I needed to create my own path.
Paying it Forward
Truth is, social media is probably the most powerful tool of our time. I’ve met a handful of people through Instagram that have turned into some of my closest friends. Now, I’m telling you this to say that it doesn’t happen over night, but in my case it does. The art is knowing how to network in your niche to get the results you want.
A simple DM is what led to my friendship with Laolu. It was fate for us to meet, being that we both moved to Austin in 2019. We were both bloggers, ready to explore a new city, and shared the same Nigerian culture. It is very rare for all three of these things to align.
Ever since that DM, we’ve been inseparable! She has easily become my accountability partner in Austin. We plan shoots together, strategize marketing plans, trade editing tips and trick, and motivate each other to grow our respective brands. It’s somewhat a full circle moment to be able to connect two women that have helped me in ways that they could never imagine.
Who’s Your Tribe?
Who are the people you can lean on during your journey? If you can answer that question off the bat then kudos to you! If you can’t, I definitly suggest you take some time to identify the people that have helped shape your journey and continue to do so.
