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“Your mental health is more important than posting on Instagram every single day”

Hey friend, welcome back to another episode of The Anxious Creative podcast. I have got a very special guest for you today, this is her second appearance on the podcast. She is one of my dearest friends, the “Instagram Guru” for our industry and others, a wealth of knowledge and an all-around awesome person, Jamie Dana.

A lot has changed in the world, in our industry and in our personal lives since the last time Jamie and I chatted in 2018 and we’re talking about all of it. 

Buckle up friend and let’s dive in.

Polarizing Pandemic

There is no denying that 2020, covid and the pandemic threw a huge wrench into our industry. And that shift was felt on social media. Jamie explains it as a frenzy of “what’s the right move to make” and it became a very polarizing topic with many thoughts of “you’re doing it wrong, I’m doing it right” from the very beginning.

Since Jamie’s main business is educating on the business of Instagram, she saw that it was a pivotal moment where Instagram and social media felt like unsafe spaces to share what you were doing. Even going for a walk would be met with judgement. 

Jamie was quick to pull back on many things. They were set to launch her program RISE Social Academy (previously known as Oh Hot Gram!) right when covid hit, literally the week of. It didn’t take long for Jamie to realize that it wasn’t the right time, it didn’t align with her values and it felt inappropriate at the time. 

They made the decision not to open the doors, something that she’s never done before.

Jamie then went into hyperdrive mode of “how can we serve stylists?” She saw so many people all over the place having no clue what to do. And to be honest, Jamie didn’t know what she was doing either. But she kept asking herself: how do we show up, how do we serve and how do we help stylists right now and give them peace and confidence in this moment of confusion and instability.

Jamie lives in California and they shut down pretty early on. Jamie explains it being a crazy thing and it didn’t feel real. She says that it felt like she was in an episode of Black Mirror. Not to mention the depression and anxiety that came along with the uncertainty.

In retrospect, Jamie’s thankful that she was able to be real and vulnerable during that time because everyone else was also in a vulnerable state and truly no one knew what was going to happen.

Helping Stylists

Jamie felt like she had a responsibility to help stylists, whether she was creating her own helpful content or sharing someone else’s, she wanted to help. She opened up her membership, The Social Suite, which helps hair stylists have content to post on a regular basis, when you have nothing to post. This was perfect in a time when stylists weren’t able to be in the salon creating their own content. 

While she was grateful to be able to offer something for stylists while they were shut down she realized there needs to be something for stylists when they open back up. She knew it was going to be a mess. How do you reschedule those clients? What do you do if you’re only open for a certain amount of time? So many unanswered questions and no one knew what to do. 

So Jamie started thinking about creating a system that would help stylists rebook their clients, show up for their clients if they’re not able to be open and make a little money right now. 

In 30 days, Jamie created an entire online program, the Beauty Business Rebuilder. The launch was a massive success with over 700 stylists joining. 

Jamie admits that she was in a good place to create this system because she wasn’t stressing about her clients (she’s now a full-time educator and doesn’t work behind the chair) and she had a clear mind to be able to say “if I was in the salon, here’s how I would handle this”. 

When Burnout Hits

2020 disrupted all of our plans and the same is true for Jamie. At the beginning of 2020, the goal was to do a huge overhaul of her signature program, Oh Hot Gram and turn it into RISE Social Academy. She says this is where the burnout started. She redesigned the whole curriculum, built a new course from scratch and then did 10 weeks of coaching with her students. 

During the height of the pandemic showing up on social media was challenging because it felt like every single thing you did was being judged. It made it hard to show up in an authentic way for Jamie, paired with the enormous work behind the scenes. 

“How can I teach Instagram and all this stuff if I’m not even showing up on Instagram?” Jamie started to feel the effects of imposter syndrome during burnout. 

In true transparency, Jamie didn’t have the capacity to do all the things.

Her rest and recharge plan didn’t happen, instead her 2 weeks off between Christmas and the new year were spent taking care of her sick husband and then taking care of herself after they both got sick from Covid. 

That was her 2 weeks to recharge that didn’t happen. 

It came down to a combination of feeling the weight of 2020, all the things she did in her business and then expecting to just jump back into a new year, without a chance to recharge. She carried a lot of that weight into 2021 and it wasn’t until March that she finally started to feel better. Jamie admits that if it weren’t for pushing back a lot of deadlines, she’d still be burnt out. 

Jamie has realized how important it is to take care of her mental health and has even pulled back from posting on Instagram, which is totally okay!

Consistency at your Capacity

Jamie is now a firm believer in capacity. What do you have the capacity to do?

Although 2-3 years ago she would’ve educated about consistently posting to Instagram every single day, she sees that a shift has been made on social media. Daily posting doesn’t even align with who Jamie is now. 

So she talks more about capacity and consistency with your capacity. What is your consistency that’s going to work for you? Maybe that’s every other day, maybe that’s 3x a week, even at that level 2-3 times a week. You can still have success on Instagram, you can still be attracting the right clients, you can still be nurturing your current and potential clients, you can still have success on Instagram and not be posting every single day.

Jamie wants to give you permission that you don’t have to post every single day, you don’t have to be on your stories all the time, it’s okay to pull back.

Your mental health and rest are more important than your engagement rate. 

We’re not designed to always be on and I think social media has made it so that we feel like we have to always be “on”

Jamie’s words of wisdom are to give yourself permission to give things up. Whether that’s something as simple as getting your groceries delivered or hiring a bookkeeper for your business, you don’t have to do it all. (Even if you can.)

Remember, your mental health is worth it.

It was so much fun for Jamie to come back onto the podcast. It’s so great to be able to have open and honest conversations with her. It’s a simple reminder that we are all human and even when it may look like we’ve got it all figured out, we still struggle through things too. 

If you’re interested in seeing more from Jamie (don’t expect daily posts though!) you should definitely go send her a DM over on Instagram @jamiedanahairstylist and check out her YouTube channel, just search for “Jamie Dana”. 

Want to take the guesswork out of what to post and learn the secret to planning your posts so that you can enjoy your time more? Check out Jamie’s The Social Stylist Plan here. 

Isn’t Jamie the best? Hopefully, it doesn’t take another 3 years to have her on the podcast again!

Thanks for hanging out with me, friend. See ya in the next one!

Let’s be besties?