Content Creation & Social Media Hacks with our Nomadic Instagram Wizard Amanda

In this week's episode, join host Ayana as she chats with Amanda, a fellow nomad and the creative genius behind Tiny Home Tours' Instagram presence. Dive deep into Amanda's adventurous journey of bus life, exploring her insights on living in a tiny home on wheels and navigating social media on the go.

Throughout the conversation, Amanda shares invaluable wisdom on leveraging social media, offering advice on content creation, forging brand partnerships, and finding equilibrium between work and life on the road. Whether you're an aspiring content creator or simply intrigued by the idea of minimalist living, Amanda's experiences and tips serve as an inspiring roadmap for carving out your own path in the digital age.

Follow Amanda & her husband Owen on Instagram: @indigosomewhere
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Transcript

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Hey everyone, this is Ayana I'm back with another episode of the tiny home tours podcast. Today we have Amanda. She is our Instagram wizard over at tiny home tours, and we are going to chat with her about her bus life journey, tiny living experience, and also kind of the ins and outs of running a social media account while living on the road.

So thanks, Amanda. I'm so excited to have you on today.

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to finally just kind of get to like chit chat with you and talk all day because we, so much fun seeing you in the meetings. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, likewise. It'll be fun to dive deeper because I really don't know a ton of your story. So, it makes me a little bit more nervous for the two truths and a lie part because I think I'm gonna get stumped. But, hit me with your two truths and a lie. We'll take it 

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: I'm so excited. Okay, so I hate pickles, like so much. I hate pickles. I am adopted and just connected with my biological brother [00:01:00] and I used to work as a special effects makeup artist in Los Angeles. Yes! 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: are three really good ones.

I'm gonna go with the lies that you hate pickles. Okay. 

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: That is the lie! 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: I did think to myself it would be a bizarre lie to come up with about being adopted and connecting with your biological brother. So it was like, okay, that one has to be true and I can totally see you as a special effects makeup artist that just 

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: girlie. Like, I, one jar and a sitting. Like, that is my way to go. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, I feel like pickle people are just more trustworthy in general. I don't feel like I trust people who don't like pickles.

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: A hundred percent. Pickles, garlic, and olives. If you don't like any of those, unless you have an allergy, then that, I'll let it slide. But, those three, if you say you don't like them just because [00:02:00] red flag. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Total red flag. Will you tell us more about connecting with your biological brother?

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yes! So, It's actually a pretty crazy story, but I was put up for adoption, my birth mom got pregnant with me when she was 13, so super young, and then she had a second child when she was older, 20, 21, still young, but a bit older, and she did end up keeping him. And just this past August, I found out that she passed away.

And when she passed away, my brother reached out to me being like, I would really love to connect with you. And it turns out that he lives in San Diego, which is where I'm from, where my parents live. And when I was down there, we went to go meet up with him, my husband and I, and it was such a crazy experience.

I suddenly have this brother in my life and he literally just like It's that topic of like nature versus nurture where I didn't know if we would have any similarities [00:03:00] But we had so many similarities like even being raised completely completely separately like we just have so much in common and I hung out with him four separate times in like the five weeks that I was in san diego and each time it just felt Like more and more natural.

So yeah, he's definitely like I just have a brother now I'm 27 years old and suddenly have a brother and it's so so cool 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Wow. Thank you so much for sharing all of that. I feel like we are going deep so fast. First of all, I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. And also, like, what an amazing connection, like, piece of connection to have to her through this new relationship with your brother. 

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, no, I I feel so, so lucky that it went the way it did. I was nervous that we were going to connect and we weren't going to mesh. And then it was just going to kind of be like another, like, you know, cut between that part of my life, but it just went so well. And he actually gave me a like little urn of her ashes.[00:04:00] 

It's like bus sized urn, it's literally this big, and so now, it's resting on that shelf over there, I don't think you can see it, but yeah, it was just, it was so sweet of him to think of that, and, you know, it's interesting, because I didn't know her very well, so, it's this odd, you know, obviously, like, ah, she's the reason I'm alive, and the reason I'm here, but also, like, I didn't have any connection to her, so it's a, it's an interesting dynamic, but now I have this brother, who I'm just, like, will be in my life for forever, so I'm super excited about it. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, and a little piece of her kind of traveling around with you and, and getting to see you live this crazy and wild life that's uniquely yours. 

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: wow, wow, wow. Okay, so tell us kind of your bus life backstory. How did you find yourself living in converted school buses?

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yes. So, honestly, I feel like I have the same story that most vanlifers that I meet have, which is COVID. Me, my husband, and I were [00:05:00] meant to get married, actually. Our wedding date was set. two months after COVID really started. So May of 2020. And we had planned and been saving for like years to go on this like long six month backpacking trip through all of Southeast Asia.

We were going to like, we quit our jobs. end our lease and just like start this whole new life and then COVID happened and we found ourselves with all these savings, no wedding was happening and we couldn't travel and no place to live. We were at Owen's parents house and so we were like, how do we get out of here?

Like, what do we do? And Owen's mom was actually the one who was like, joked, like, you guys should live in a van and we were like, haha. We should live in a van! Like, you're so right! Let's do it! And then literally, like, two days later, we were on Craigslist. Every single day. We looked at about 20 different [00:06:00] buses.

The original plan was vans, and then we quickly realized that a van was, like, out of our budget because the van itself was, like, the same amount. of price that we had for the whole build. And then we started looking at schoolies. We drove all over the country looking at schoolies because we really wanted to make sure that we found the right one.

And at the time there weren't tons available. I feel like now it's more common to find them on Craigslist because van life is so big, but yeah, we drove all over the country and we ended up settling on the most expensive bus that we had looked at and originally we said no because it was out of our price range and then after looking at some of the more rundown builds we were like it's better to front this money here than in a year be like Our bus doesn't work.

What's the point? So. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Wild. Yeah. COVID really accelerated this lifestyle for so many people. A lot of people that we've had on the podcast, yeah, have very similar stories. And I love that it was Owen's mom that just like [00:07:00] offhandedly made a joke and you're like, wait, no, but yeah, yeah, we're doing that. That actually fits us.

That's amazing. So you're in your second bus build now. Is that 

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yes. Yes. So when we first moved into the bus, it was just my husband and I. And we had a smaller build. It's about 24 feet in length, which is just as long as the largest sprinter van. And when we built it, we built a full sized bed. We're both like, pretty petite people, so we were like, that'll be totally fine, but after two years of sleeping in that full size bed, and our family has grown to two relatively large dogs as well that I insist on sleeping with us when Owen permits um, we were like, we have to get a bigger bed, and so Yeah, so now we're in the second bus and honestly, we've, this is literally our first week really in the bus.

And it's amazing. it's so nice. I like starfish at night and it's great. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah. Well, we'll [00:08:00] definitely link the tour to Indigo, your first bus on here because it is truly a beautiful build. And then I'm hoping that we'll get a tour of Margot as soon as possible up on the channel. Cause I want to see like all the ins and outs and nooks and crannies. But for anyone who's curious, head over to Amanda and Owen's Instagram and peep their builds because they are truly, truly beautiful.

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Aw, thank you. Yes, we, we do love both of them so much and Indigo, our first bus, has such a special place in our heart. We, we do miss her, but We found the perfect girl for her, and I just feel like, you know, she's solo, but with her dog, and that's the perfect size for her, so. It was a hard goodbye, but so, it feels right. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah. Yeah. Totally. So kind of diving into the social media side of things you know, as I said, you do run the Instagram for tiny home tours, but you have kind of this whole ecosystem and page of your own [00:09:00] chronicling your bus life and your festival experiences and just all of the cool things that you're doing.

How did that come about for you? Like, was social media always the plan? Did you, did it kind of just happen? How did that page kind of get started?

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: So, we started

the page with the build series. I feel like a lot of people, when they're starting to build, make a whole page kind of to document it, and We didn't do it to the extent of what we do content now. It was more so just like, it was truly for us and uh, intended to connect with other schoolie people along the way.

Like we only followed schoolie accounts and we were constantly talking to people that were in the same phase of the build. And it was just a very like cathartic experience for us, like really personal. And then when we hit the road I didn't have a remote job and I don't have a degree. And. I was under the influence that it was gonna be really easy to [00:10:00] find remote work.

Like, people say, like, oh, just get a remote job, like, and these are these websites. And I was like, oh, yeah, totally, I'll get one in, like, a month. And then I applied to, like, ten or so jobs every day for basically a year and heard nothing back. And was like, what am, like, what am I doing? Like, it's, was super stressful, we needed the money.

And I had been half. doing social media. Knowing that like there was money in social media, I had half committed to it, but I was also half looking for remote work. And finally Owen was just like, why don't you spend three months, like dedicate three months to just social media and see what happens. And I stopped looking for remote work.

And within that first month of dedicating all of my time, we went from like a thousand followers to 10 K in that month. And then pretty much every single month since then, we grow about. 10k. And followers. And so it just skyrocketed. And once that happened, I was like, I [00:11:00] can work for myself. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: That's so incredible. Tell us about kind of that process of dedicating all of your time. So like, for example, for me, I'm not really someone who loves, like, shooting footage. I'm not someone who loves like the nitty gritty of editing. Like maybe a reel will come out every once in a while. Like find a sound that I'm inspired by.

Is this something that you kind of just love doing? Was it easy for you to dedicate your time? Did you have shooting experience? Like tell us about kind of the nitty gritty of spending all your time doing that.

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Totally. It is something that I absolutely love now. It is something that when I first started, I was looking at it is like, I'm going to be self employed. And it was like very much a job. And I really had to find a healthy balance with making it a full time job. At first, My M. O. was kind of like day in the life vlogs always [00:12:00] and with that comes the feeling of needing to record every single thing that you're doing of every minute of every day and That was so draining.

It was so stressful I, you know, I hated being on camera all of the time. I would like these things that were supposed to be like really fun became stressful because of filming. And I had to be like, okay, this is not healthy. Like you can't keep going on like this. It's not the reason you're in the bus.

And I really had to find a balance. And now I do what's called batch content creating, where basically Once or twice a week. Or honestly once every two weeks. I will sit down, I'll create a list of like 15 videos and I will film that entire day for eight hours, like different things. And then I will spend the next day editing those videos.

And then I post every single one of those videos over the next two weeks. And that takes [00:13:00] about 30 minutes of my time every single day. So I'm working 16 hours a week and those are hard film days. And then the other time is just my free time. And that has just alleviated so much stress. I'm not filming when I don't want to, I don't feel that need anymore.

And yeah, it's just created a really healthy balance for me. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, thanks for sharing that tip because I feel like it's not something I ever would have thought to do of like, okay, I'm going to create essentially two weeks of content in two days. I feel like there's almost this energy that some creators have of like feeling like you

Your whole life, or I was going to say real life, but I don't want it to sound like you're not sharing your real life. Right. But I think there's also this line of being like, but I am creating content for this platform. So if I can film like the picnic breakfast and the making coffee in the morning and get 15 videos out of two days, then it gives [00:14:00] you that sense of I'm sharing with you what is real in my life, but sharing my life isn't that real.

Happening all the time. It doesn't get to that, like, draining point. Does that make sense?

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: A hundred percent. And yeah, I like the content. in a sense is curated, but they're all things that I do in real life. So you're just getting like the curated bit, but like, yeah, like the picnic example, you know, like we might film a picnic, but we're actually having a picnic every single day.

We're just not filming that picnic every single day. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Exactly. Yeah, and I love that that gives you the freedom to, like you said, enjoy the aspects of being in the bus, like, the whole reason that you got to bus life in the first place, and not feel like it is kind of this grind that takes the joy of daily living out of it.

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: totally. And there are still like some exceptions, like, you know, if we're like, let's say hiking the Grand Canyon or something, you know, and it's not like per se, a film day. [00:15:00] Like, we're gonna document it.

but we've also just learned, you know, Instagram and TikTok, which is my primary, our primary form of social media, they're 60 seconds at most reels.

So you need at most a five second clip. So it's like, my phone is out for five seconds and then it's away. And that's like all that I'm taking away from myself. I don't feel the need to record for minutes and minutes. Cause I know that it's not going to be used. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, that's another really awesome hot tip too. You're totally right. The media that we're consuming right now is like little tiny snippets. And yeah, for some reason in my mind, like a whole day of filming, I just think about like, Oh gosh, I got to set up the camera here and the camera here and have my phone out all day.

And though you're totally right. It's like five seconds, like a five second view of the beach that you're staying on a five second view of the Canyon. Yeah. Yeah, I like that a lot. So after you kind of started that full time, you know, the growth that you like, that's amazing that you all were growing that fast.

That's so, so cool. [00:16:00] Did you, did brands start reaching out to you? Did you reach out to brands, like kind of taking this conversation into the monetization part and how you make this kind of sustainable? How did that all go for you?

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: so it started out with brands coming to us and a lot of it at first was for trade. So, you know, they give you a product and in return you give them a video. And then it wasn't really until I found this account and I'll let it's, her name is through the lens. I think there's a dot somewhere in there, but her account is fully dedicated to just like, content creation, like, and how to be a content creator.

And she has this packet that costs 50 and it's like how to monetize your page. And the best 50 I've ever spent for anyone who wants to content create, like they should go and support her. Like it just had so many great tips on how to reach out to brands, how you should format your emails, your DMS, what you should be charging, all of it.

And. It was a slow progression of [00:17:00] reaching out and also figuring out, you know, what our time is worth. Like at first we were saying yes to all for trade deals because it was just so cool that these brands were reaching out to us and then realizing, you know, like actually they're getting a lot better of the deal.

And these brands have thousands of dollars to spend on advertisements and they're just kind of taking advantage of that. People for free work, so it's, you find where you fit pretty quickly after, you know, a few mistakes. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, I love that resource. We'll definitely be sure to link that How, how far into it do you feel like it was like sustaining itself? Or like, do you feel like content creation is, can be sustainable for people? I'm just thinking about folks who may be interested in getting on the road and who love content creating or thinking about doing this.

Is it like reasonable to expect in a certain amount of time that you might be able to like really make ends meet with this?

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: I definitely think it's [00:18:00] reasonable. There is, like, an exponential amount of money available for content creators. You know, you touched on earlier about the saturation of the Of really any industry like cooking van life, whatever industry that's so saturated but there's so much Advertising money from all brands and so I really never feel like there's a lack of money available.

It really comes down to What your drive is? I think At the end of the day, you have to be an entrepreneur sort of person. And if you've ever been self employed, you know, there's benefits and there's what's the opposite of a benefit? Yeah. There's benefits and Drawbacks?

You know, the benefit obviously being that.

I am my own boss. If it is a beautiful day outside and I don't want to miss it and it's been rainy all week, I don't have to check in with anyone. I'm going to take the day off and I'm [00:19:00] going to go out and enjoy the outside. But also I am constantly looking for the next brand deal. I am constantly looking for that money and you don't know.

ever, whether or not you're super rich or just making by because it could be the only brand deal you have that month. So it's like, which is it? And, you know, obviously when you're an employee of someone, you have to, you know, respond to someone else's time, but also when your work day is done, it's done.

You can package it up and you don't have to think about anything else. So there's gives and takes and. Honestly, I think I'm right in the middle. There's some days where I'm like, I wish I just had a nine to five, and I didn't have to do anything. And then there's other days where I'm like, I could never work for anyone.

I'm my own boss. So yeah, there's definitely gives and takes. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me. I think we all kind of float in that middle ground where we're like, man, stability counts for a lot. And especially in [00:20:00] this lifestyle where there can be like seeming lack of stability, right? Of like figuring out all of the logistics. There's always so much kind of like swirling around that some days you're like, yeah, man, to just have like those like solid hours I know, and then I can put it away and the work is done.

Yeah. But the thing that bus living gives you and entrepreneurship gives you is kind of like freedom around time. And that is something that I feel like more and more people are valuing and like getting excited about having that sense of agency in our lives that really previously didn't feel possible.

You know, like pre COVID, pre remote work, like none of, none of this stuff really felt possible and it's really cool how how kind of it's coming into the mainstream a little bit and more people can, can have these conversations.

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: And I think more Like, people are valuing this sort of [00:21:00] content, and just like, real, real people, basically, instead of, you know, there used to be the phase of like, we're the Kardashians, we're like, everyone's idol, and everyone wanted to know, like, what they were doing, and now I think, like, as the wealth gap increases, people are actually, like, I don't respect any of those people because they're rich and famous for doing nothing and here is this like Content creator who is like, you know providing like some level of like education or just like value And so I think that you know, that's another reason.

I don't think that the field is too saturated. I think That there's someone for everyone and no one is going to share something in the same way that you share it So you'll find your audience No matter how many other creators there are doing the niche that you want to do 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, totally. Did you find it tricky to kind of like find your like creative voice? voice or like style when you first started or did it come pretty naturally?

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: It did end up Coming pretty [00:22:00] naturally?

I think once I dropped the, you know, filming every second of every day, like, just kind of jotting down some ideas came, ended up coming, like, super, super easily. And I feel super lucky, knock on wood, right now, but we have, like, We've been pretty lucky and we don't frequently get too many mean people on our page, like very rarely do we have super mean comments, you know, we have just like I feel like we really have found a community is what I feel like of people that are supporting us and, you know, building actual connections with them in return as well. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, which is I feel like that's The most important part of any content creation, right? Like the value that brands see in a page is kind of directly correlated to how engaged and trusting your audience is of you. And so that's something I know I've definitely thought about is like, what, what value am I [00:23:00] providing to my community?

How can I connect with my community and making that a priority over You know, monetizing or making a quick buck with a brand that, like, I don't really like or we don't really use because I think that trust is, like, easy to erode with an audience but kind of tricky to build.

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah. And that's, that honestly is another, that's one of the hardest parts of brand deals is, you know, sometimes you get into this contract and you realize that this product is not what you think it is. And we have actually never gone through with one of those contracts. We will ship the product back and just let them know that we don't, we don't feel comfortable supporting it.

And, you know, you might, Make like a little bit of a bad name for yourself. It's like other I don't know how it works on the business end Right if like they're like have some sort of network where they're talking about different content creators But at the end of the day we would never want to Promote a [00:24:00] product that we don't actually stand by.

I mean, yeah for trust and also just The the aspect that is hard about the promoting products is the environmental aspect. I am Environmentalist through and through and so like I don't want to promote Some, like, 5 Amazon thing that's gonna get thrown away in five seconds. So, I think that also, like, ties into, you know, how much money you can expect to make.

Like, if you're someone that's okay and gonna accept every single brand deals, like, you could make so much money. But if you're someone who's gonna, like, be a little bit more selective and really pick and choose, the options do, you know, split in half, essentially. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. When you first got started, do you have any tips, , how big should an Instagram account be before you start reaching out to brands? When you do start reaching out, like in what way do you do that? How do you pitch a brand kind of successfully? What, [00:25:00] what insights do you have around those things?

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: I never think it's too early to reach out to a brand. I think sincerely, if you have a thousand followers, you could start reaching out to brands and whether or not it's for trade or even just like, you know, 200. I think a lot of brands actually like smaller accounts because they're like, It's a tight knit community that they're reaching.

Whereas, you know, even with a hundred, 200, 300, 000 followers, it's like a wider, it's a wider audience, but it's not necessarily a more engaged audience. And so I think a lot of brands actually like smaller accounts. So I would say it's never too early to reach out. I wish I had reached out. Earlier, like as we were building this account and it's also a great way to build relationships with brands.

So as you do grow, you can be, you know, like I did this for you for free and it went this way. I would love to do this and I'm pitching this amount now. And you've already built that bridge with the brand. So I would say, yeah, just reach out now if you're thinking about [00:26:00] it. And You had a second question. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, like, what's the best way to reach out? Did you have like, a pitch deck or something, or, yeah, what's the best way to do that?

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: So when I first started reaching out, I had the most well thought out email template and this like long message about, you know, who I was, what I support, what my audience is like and why I think I would be a great candidate for their brand. And none of those emails were ever responded to. I have actually found that the best way to get in contact with the brand is to send them a two sentence DM on Instagram.

And be like, Hi, my name is so and so, I would love to work with your brand. Is there someone I can contact to discuss this further? And, you know, every single brand has their social media head who is, you know, not someone scary. There's someone like me. I'm the social media girl for tiny home tours, 27 years old.

You know, finding [00:27:00] my footing in the world and that's who's behind all of those big brand accounts. And so I think the more relatable, sizable DM you send the more like willing that they are to respond. And they'll oftentimes give you the direct email then of who's in charge of the collaborations. So instead of just sending a generic email to like whatever their customer service is, website, you're getting in contact with that person.

And then once I have that?

email, I will send A lengthier email, you know, kind of summarizing everything that I listed before, but no more than five sentences. And I find that that is the like tried and true way of getting through to those brands because they're looking at so many emails. So at the end of the day, the less that you, that they're having to read in the last time they're spending the better. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Wow. You are, like, hitting me with these hot tips that I would not have expected. I feel like I'm walking in as, like, a 30 year old archaic [00:28:00] dinosaur to this conversation. Just being like, what? You're just sending a two sentence DM? But, like you're saying, it does make so many so much sense. Like, they are reading a million of these.

I feel like it is kind of about, like, personality. That's, like, what you're selling. A bit and yeah, summarizing the, like the, here's what you need to know about me. Like, look forward to hearing from you. That's incredible.

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, it's so simple. It's so simple, but at the end of the day, you know, I think social media, it's so new that it's like the one workforce that's actually dominated by young people and we're all just a bunch of silly gooses. So put

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: all just a bunch of silly gooses. So shoot your shot. I love it. I could not agree more with, with that sentiment. Ugh, that's so good. I'm trying to think of other kind of Most frequently asked questions about social [00:29:00] media. 

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: I was going to say the one thing that we haven't touched on and I was going to bring up earlier is just the other dark side of social media, which is the algorithms, which is, you know, a real thing. You do need to show up consistently in order for the platforms to promote you.

Both Instagram and TikTok and YouTube really, really value consistency. And that can be hard because, you know, everyone's life is in phases. Just this past five weeks as I was sharing on my platform, you know, my bus was in the mechanic and without my bus, I'm not really doing anything cool and so I wasn't showing up for about a month and I have seen like a significant hit to my socials.

Which I've done, I've been through this a couple of times. I've been content creating for three years now. There have been other lulls in my life, and I know that it will come back, so I'm not super worried about it. And so I guess if you're someone who is new to content [00:30:00] creation, just know that just because things are bad right now doesn't mean they won't get back and get even better.

Like growth is not linear with the With anything, and not with social media, so just keep pushing and don't let it, like, bother you too much. And when you feel like you need those mental health breaks, take them. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Hmm. Yeah, that's good to touch on. Do you feel like So, like, for example, I'm someone who is so erratic and irregular on social media, like, I can't be consistent for the life of me to show up on an Instagram page, it seems. If you have an account like that that's been around for a couple of years, do you feel like it's almost better to just start a new account if you were trying to get a page off the ground to, like, show up consistently?

Or is it something where Once you show up consistently, the algorithm's like, Okay, maybe this is for real this time. I'll start promoting you. Do you get what I'm [00:31:00] saying? Like, is there a point where you can't come back from it, I guess?

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: I don't think so. I think the only plus I could see to making a new account I think the algorithm will forgive you. I think eventually with consistency, like, the algorithm will just, like, pick up that you're, you know, like, now pushing and they'll push you. but the only thing thing that I could think of that would be a plus for making a new account is actually for the brands, if that's your intention with growing your account, because brands will look through your page.

And, you know, if you've only been consistent for about a month, there's not much for them to go off of. So if that's your intention, maybe start a new page. But other than that, I think For the algorithm's sake, it's totally fine. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Cool. Cool, cool. Social media is a wild place. What's the strangest thing that's happened to you on social media?

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: We have gotten quite a few mediums that have reached out to us to, like, let us know, [00:32:00] you know, our future that they've seen. And I think it's happened three times, and twice they were super positive. They were honestly all things I love to hear. They were like, you know, you're gonna be successful.

You're gonna have, like, four beautiful children, and Owen and I really do want four children. Like So, and it was just, like, this long, well thought out list of, like, positive things, but there was one person that sent, like, you're in danger, and I was just like, oh my gosh, like, I'm very superstitious. So I was like, okay um, and that's probably the weirdest, the weirdest thing. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: So these are completely unsolicited future forecasts. That just got dropped in your DMs.

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah. And, like, the positive one, like, sure. I mean, to say the kid thing, it worked out on our behalf, you know, because we do want kids. But you really never know, like, what if we had been trying for kids for years and it hadn't been working out and it's, like, this dagger or, like, we really don't want kids and I'm like, oh [00:33:00] my god, am I pregnant?

Like, and so, you know, it's just a risky thing to send to those. But yeah, especially the, you're in danger. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: You've gotten three of them, too. That's wild.

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: No, they just keep coming. Yeah, that and people are really interested in how frequently we shower. Like, it's a really popular, popular question.

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, the bus life bathroom obsession is wild to me. And it's a craze that its thirst cannot be quenched. It is just Always there. I don't understand it, but everyone needs to know where do you bathe and where do you do your business?

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah. And the answer is we don't bathe that frequently. Like, I'm gonna be honest. It's not that frequent. And you also don't need to bathe as frequently as people think. I will say we have a we do have a bougie bathroom situation. Our toilet flushes with water like a regular toilet It's like a fully plumbed toilet 

People [00:34:00] hate on the black tank situation, but we love it. We don't have to worry about dumping our tanks. Now in this new bus, we have double the tanks that we did last time. Probably two weeks, like, not have to worry about it.

It's like you're just using a bathroom without having to think about it. And in Indigo, it was a full week. And I know, you know, with the composting toilet, you're entering that jug. Every couple days, especially if you're a household of two, so 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: Yeah, a well hydrated household of two is like an everyday situation. For 

amanda--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: yeah. 

ayana--she-her-_2_04-09-2024_110732: For sure. For sure. Oh, I love it. I love it. 

ayana--she-her-_3_04-09-2024_114503: Anything else that kind of comes to mind in the social media content creation world 

amanda--she-her-_3_04-09-2024_114503: No, I think we've touched base on most of it. I think social media has the potential to completely change your life. It, it is something you want. I think it's worth going after and I think that it's something that honestly anyone can get if you just like if you are consistent with it. So if it's something that you've been thinking about for a [00:35:00] while, just go for it.

Fight the feeling of embarrassment that comes at first. Because At the end of the day, it's way cooler to have tried than to not try at all. So just go for it if it's something that you want. Tag me in the post. I'll like them all. I'll be your number one fan. 

ayana--she-her-_3_04-09-2024_114503: Yes I love it. I love it. Yeah, we'll be sure to link your socials and the tour of the bus Below so everyone can kind of see what you all are up to and follow along. It is It is one of my, I know I'm biased obviously also, but it is one of my favorite accounts to follow. I feel like all of your videos are like so pretty to watch and Andy actually gets this all the time with his voiceovers.

Everyone loves the way that his voice sounds on Instagram, which is so funny, but I do feel like you have like a very, listenable voiceover voice. 

amanda--she-her-_3_04-09-2024_114503: It is so funny. I get complimented on my voice a lot. And, it is hilarious because in real life, I feel like I'm so high strung and [00:36:00] I'm just like stream of consciousness, like da da da da da da. But nine times out of ten when I'm recording voiceover, I'm whispering because it's a shared space and I'm trying not to bother Owen.

So I go into like smooth jazz, like, type of voice. And that's why everyone likes it. 

ayana--she-her-_3_04-09-2024_114503: I'm going to have to give my smooth jazz voice a try on Instagram. That's hilarious. Well, thank you for taking the time to share your tips, tricks, wisdom, story, all of the things with us. 

It's been super fun. 

amanda--she-her-_3_04-09-2024_114503: Thank you for having me, this was so much fun.

ayana--she-her-_3_04-09-2024_114503: All right, everyone. We'll see you back next week with another episode. Bye.