Being Freelance

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You Listen, You Do, YouTube - Social Media Marketer Latasha James

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Latasha's YouTube videos didn't just gain her an audience. She gained customers.
Both for her social media business and her courses helping other freelancers.

Now, with her Freelance Friday podcast it's happening again.

We chat about 'passive' income, evolving your services, hiring help, how it's never too late to start on YouTube or Instagram and recognising what skills you have.

There's a lot going on - and that doesn't happen unless at some point you stop listening and start doing.

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More from Latasha James

Latasha on YouTube

Latasha on Twitter

Latasha on Instagram

Latasha's site

Latasha's Freelance Friday podcast

James + Park

 

Who the hell is Steve Folland?

Steve's a freelancer helping businesses use and make video & audio content in much better ways. Find out more at stevefolland.com, track him down on Twitter @sfolland or lay a trail of cake and he'll eventually catch you up.

In 2015 is decided to create the freelance podcast (well, there weren't any others doing this then) where freelancers could learn from each other via their stories.

Check out Steve's Being Freelance Vlog that documents his weekly wanderings and wonderings as a freelancer.


Transcript of Being Freelance podcast - Latasha James and Steve Folland

Steve Folland:      How about we get started hearing how you got started being freelance?

Latasha James:      Sure. Yeah, so, I am a freelance social media marketer, and I have been a freelance for quite a few years now. I've been taking clients, freelance for probably about six years now. I started back when I was in college. At the time, I was working as a retail manager for quite a few years, doing the whole college gig thing. I mean, I was a college kid, so I wanted more money. I mean, what college student doesn't need more money? Also, I was getting ready to graduate. I think I was a junior when I started freelancing seriously, and I was realizing I really need some professional experience, some experience in a field that I really wanted to end up in.

Latasha James:      I knew that working in retail, it just wasn't for me long term. So, I just started reaching out on ... Back then, it was called Elance. I think it's called Upwork now. So that's where I got my first freelance gig. It was a freelance writing gig. I guess I should back up a little bit and say that I've always had some kind of an online presence. I've always had a blog, or back in the day, when it was Xanga and LiveJournal. I don't know if anyone remembers those. They're like ancient blogging platforms. But I'd always had a blog just for fun.

Latasha James:      I had a lot of practice writing and understood SEO a little bit, and obviously, the social media for promoting those blog posts. So when I was in college, like I said, I got a freelance writing gig just based on my blogging experience for myself. So that's kind of where it all started. Then from there, I connected with the manager of that blog, and I let her know that I was really interested in social media. And so, eventually, she went on to start her own company, and she hired me as the freelance social media manager. So, that's where I got my first true social media experience, and I've just been doing that since then.

Latasha James:      Along the way, I've picked up a few other gigs, including a YouTube channel and a podcast of my own. So yeah, that's kind of where I started.

Steve Folland:      Cool. Yeah, I'm intrigued. From what I can see this, there is quite a few ways that you bring in money. So the main thing that you do is social media management or social media consulting?

Latasha James:      Yes, yep.

Steve Folland:      When did the YouTube channels start? What were you doing when you started it?

Latasha James:      Yeah, I would say, I think I have been on YouTube for about five years now, which sounds like such a long time when I say that. I started YouTube around the same time that I started freelancing to be honest. I actually got foot surgery at that time, and so, I was in bed. I had to be off my feet for three months. So honestly, I just spent a lot of time binge watching YouTube, as one does. I'd never really knew what YouTube was. Obviously, I knew cat videos and funny videos, but I never knew that there was this whole community behind it until that point.

Latasha James:      And so, yeah, I saw a YouTube video from, actually, a beauty vlogger. Her name was Bethany Mota. I was like, "Oh this is cool. I could totally do that." I was bored, so I just uploaded one of my own. I never really thought of it as like a part of my business at that point or never saw it going where it has went for me. But I'm glad it has. My YouTube channel has definitely transformed over the years. I started out doing a lot of beauty and fashion stuff, and just using it as like an extension of my blog and an extension of my personality.

Latasha James:      Within the past couple of years, I would say, I've really made a shift to doing more business content and the response has been incredible. I mean, every day, I get messages saying, "Oh my gosh. I got my first client because of one of your videos," or, "Your videos helped me so much and it's just the coolest thing ever."

Steve Folland:      So you were doing YouTube videos and then transferred into business. How often would you be publishing?

Latasha James:      Oh yeah. I have went in so many different phases with YouTube. In the beginning, it was definitely a little bit less frequent. But I would say, for the duration of my YouTube channel, I've pretty much always posted at least once a week, but there have been times when I post everyday. I don't know if you've heard of VEDA — vlog everyday in April and August. I've done that several times. I do Vlogmas every year, where I vlog every single day in December. So yeah, I go in and out, but I would say a good average is about once a week.

Steve Folland:      Wow. How do you stay committed to that sort of schedule?

Latasha James:      I always tell people, "You have to love it. Otherwise, you're not going to do it." It's weird because YouTube is, obviously, a part of my business now. It's a part of my income now, but I don't really look at it like that. I just genuinely love it. I love every process of it. I love the connection that I have with my viewers. I love filming. I love editing. I could edit all day long. I mean, that's definitely part of it, so I just genuinely love what I do. But also, just be realistic with yourself. I would love to be the person who posts everyday.

Latasha James:      I know that my channel could grow a lot faster if I posted even three times a week. But I have to just stay committed to my other obligations with my career. So, I have to be really realistic about what I can do and communicate that with my viewers and just not be too hard on myself. And also, batch producing, so batch filming, batch editing really helps me a ton too. I usually spend one or two days a month filming. I'm not filming, like every single day, and then I'll just film four or five videos in one day and then edit throughout the month. So, you come up with your own little processes that work for you.

Steve Folland:      Obviously, if you go to BeingFreelance.com, we'll put a link through to everything, but Latasha is up too, so you can go and check out her videos yourself. But to give people a flavor of the topics that you cover these days, because you say it's a part of your business. Are you talking about social media? Who are you talking to?

Latasha James:      Yep. So I do videos. I do a lot of videos on social media marketing and strategy behind it, updates to algorithms and platform changes, creative ideas, things like that. Then I also do freelancing tips. So really, the whole way that my channel switched from being a lifestyle, beauty, fashion channel to a business channel, was I had this idea to start a series called Freelance Friday. Like I said, I'd always been freelancing for the most part for the whole duration of my YouTube channel, and I got questions about it a lot. People would ask like, "What are you doing on your computer all the time? What is your career? What do you do?"

Latasha James:      So I thought that I would start this series just to kind of explain what being a freelancer was and what my journey and my path was. I called it Freelance Friday. It was just supposed to be a once-every-other-week series. And yeah, in that series, I do a lot of just tips and advice for freelancers, favorite tools, favorite resources, things like that. Then the other big series on my channel is called A Week in My Business. It's pretty much just a weekly vlog, so kind of a follow-me-around-style vlog. But it's more business focused. So, I share what projects I'm working on that week and just some tips and tricks, and we have a little bit of fun along the way too. Probably a lot of fun, actually.

Steve Folland:      And so, you make direct money from that through YouTube itself too?

Latasha James:      Yeah. So I monetize my channel a few different ways. The most obvious way is through Google Adsense. I get paid for a very small percentage of the ads that are displayed on my YouTube channel. Then I also work occasionally with sponsors. I also use affiliate links in my description box, which do have a payout as well.

Steve Folland:      So, is that the particular reason why people vlog everyday, for example, in December, because at that time of the year, there's more ad revenue going around, because people are trying to sell stuff ahead of Christmas?

Latasha James:      Yeah, that's a great observation. I think that's definitely a part of it. Ad revenue definitely tends to be higher at that time of year. But I also think it's just a really fun way to connect with your viewers, because especially for people who their audience is a little bit younger, maybe they're in college or even younger than that. It's a great time because they have a lot of free time. If you have a large demographic that's in college, which I actually do because I have a lot of people who are looking to start their careers. They're busy throughout the year. So December, they have a lot of time off from school, so it's a good time to just connect with everybody.

Steve Folland:      Cool. Do you find, like when you're putting them out everyday ... Also, you've mentioned April and August. Do you feel like you suddenly get better? Or is it actually quite a big pressure by the end? I've never done that.

Latasha James:      Oh you definitely should. You should do it. I love it. It is a little bit of pressure. I mean, there's usually a couple days out of the month where I'm like, "Oh my gosh. Why am I doing this? Why am I staying up till 2:00 AM editing a video?" But I definitely think that it builds your skills so, so much. You know, practice makes perfect. It's true what they say. When you're doing something only once a week or even less frequently, you get a little rusty at it. It's a little bit difficult to really grow and build up your vlogging muscles, if you will.

Latasha James:      So yeah, vlogging everyday is just a great practice. I just feel like I get better at it. I get quicker at it. And also, one thing that I love about it, is I don't second-guess myself as much. I think as creatives, we can be so hard on ourselves, and everything I do, I'm like, "Oh my gosh. This is terrible. This is awful. I second-guess myself so much." I mean, I have videos edited on my computer, ready to go, that I just won't upload, because my hair is out of place, or the lighting isn't perfect. When you're vlogging everyday, you don't have a choice.

Latasha James:      It's like, "What you get is what you get," and you'll find that most times people don't care about the hair that's out of place or whatever. So, it's a nice practice to do that. Then also, again, going back to the connection, with your viewers, they're just so much more engaged because they know I can expect a video every single day, and I even put a time limit on it. So I say, "A new video every day at midnight," so they know to come back to my channel, every day, at midnight. So my engagement is higher, my comments are higher. I just love it.

Steve Folland:      And so, I notice that on your website, you also then are selling courses to freelancers. Did that come off the back of YouTube, as you started to realize what people were interested and that kind of content?

Latasha James:      Yeah, definitely. That's really where it started. Like I said, I got a lot of questions from my viewers about what exactly I did and how I made money from it and how they could do the same thing. So, I honestly just got really tired of answering the same questions over and over again. So I was like, "Okay, I'm going to write a blog post about this and just detail everything." I started writing down that blog post. I'm like, "Oh my goodness. There's just so much to cover. Where do I even start?" And so, yeah, that's when I decided to do the course. My first course is called A Journey Social. It's all about just being a freelance social media manager.

Latasha James:      I've built a couple others since then, as well. So yeah, that's really where it started, and I've done a lot of promotion for it on YouTube. I think they go really well hand in hand, because there's a lot of material that's covered in the course that's kind of next level up from some of my YouTube videos.

Steve Folland:      Is it written content? Or have you made videos as part of the course?

Latasha James:      It's both. So, it's primarily slides, like me talking over slides, but then there are also some video tutorials, as well.

Steve Folland:      Did you use a particular platform for that?

Latasha James:      Yep. I host it on Thinkific, which I really like. I feel like it's very easy to use. Then to actually build out the course, I just created slides using PowerPoint. Then I recorded them and did my voiceover all in Final Cut.

Steve Folland:      How did you find that process, particularly on your first one, or maybe stuff that you learned from that that you then took into your others? Was it a whole ton of work? What was involved?

Latasha James:      Yeah, that's a great question. I don't think I knew what I was getting myself into before I started. Yeah, it was a lot of work. I think it was more work than I anticipated. It definitely turned out to be worth it, but really just a lot of research. There honestly isn't a ton of information, at least that I've found, about how to create a course online. So I was just googling frantically everyday trying to figure it out. Luckily, I had the YouTube experience, so I knew how to edit videos and do voiceovers and all of that. If I didn't have that experience, I would have been very confused. So yeah, it was just a lot of research and figuring things out along the way.

Steve Folland:      And how's that working for you? So, this is why it always makes me smile, like this whole passive income. Actually, a previous guest pointed out that we should perhaps call it scalable income, because there's so much work that goes into it rather than the word passive. So when did you make that? Like a year ago? Two years ago?

Latasha James:      Yeah, yeah. I guess it's been a year and a half since the first one.

Steve Folland:      Does that just take over that, and do you have to do anything now to have this up and running?

Latasha James:      Yeah, not really, to be honest. I had sort of a slower launch. There's a lot of things I wish I would have done at launch that I didn't do, but you live and you learn. It wasn't an unsuccessful launch by any means. It just obviously didn't make me a million dollars or anything like that, which I wasn't expecting. But yeah, I would say it was a successful launch, and it's been more and more successful over time. Really, just I point to it every once in a while in my content, in my YouTube content. Not to be over salesy or overly pushy, but when I feel like it genuinely has a fit and genuinely could help people, I'll just shoot a reminder out.

Latasha James:      Then besides that, it's really just a little bit of Facebook advertising, a little bit of email marketing, and really just relationship building. But yeah, it's been very successful. I think over time it's become more and more successful, just because more and more people have taken it and been very vocal about it. I have an awesome group of advocates online who are so happy to share my content and tell other people about what they're learning, which I'm so grateful for. So they really are kind of the mouths of the course. They love sharing about it, and I think that has a domino effect for other people.

Steve Folland:      Then you have a podcast as well, right?

Latasha James:      Yes. So that's my latest venture in content creation, I guess. I started the Freelance Friday podcast in January of this year, so it's still pretty new, but I absolutely love it. I love podcasting more than I thought I would.

Steve Folland:      And that serves the same audience and ultimately can bring them towards your courses and your other content?

Latasha James:      Exactly, yep. It's also aimed at freelancers. I interview different guests from all different industries and all different types of freelance work. Then I also have just one-on-one episodes, where again, I share my tips and tricks, my experiences as a freelancer.

Steve Folland:      How have you found podcasting? Well you say you enjoy it.

Latasha James:      I do. I really love it. But you know what? It's a lot of work. I feel like it's honestly a lot more work than YouTube is, which I was surprised about, because I'm thinking, like it's just my voice. I don't have to do my makeup. I don't have to have the lighting perfect. But finding a quiet time to record is one issue. I live in downtown Detroit, so there is always construction, and I feel like getting things perfect can be a lot of work. Then I feel like I have to think a little bit more with my podcast. I can't ramble as much as I can on a video. I try to be really concise and have good notes and be really prepared. So it is a lot of work, but I think it's really worth it.

Latasha James:      One of the reasons that I started the podcast was because people were saying, "Oh my gosh. I love your Freelance Friday video series," but they would say, "I can't wait to watch it when I get home from work," or, "I'm going to save this for later." I was realizing, "Hey, a lot of these people have either day jobs, or they're freelancing and they're out working with clients. They want to listen to this now, in their car, or while they're on the subway or whatever." So, that's really why I started the podcast, was just so it was a little bit easier for those people to consume my content.

Steve Folland:      I'm intrigued. It's almost like if you've got two sides of your business, so far. You've got your social media consulting and managing and all of that. Then you've got a different audience over this crossover, which is aimed at freelancers. Do the businesses that hire you for the social media side ever make reference to what you do on YouTube and your podcasts, for example?

Latasha James:      Yes, all the time, and I'm always surprised by that because I do try to keep my businesses pretty separate just so I don't confuse people, because every once in a while, I will get somebody on one of my websites filling out a form that's clearly looking for the other thing. And so, I try to keep them very separate. That's one of the reasons, and also just because my YouTube is a little bit more personal, and it's just a different audience. So, I do try to keep them pretty separate, but you would be shocked at how many people find me on YouTube.

Latasha James:      I would say, to be honest with you, a good 70 to 80% of my inbound leads and inquiries come from YouTube.

Steve Folland:      Wow. Yeah, yeah. But I guess it shows that ... I mean, well, for a start, I always think they feel like they know you. But also, you're showing that you can turn up every single week, but you know what you're talking about. And because you've mentioned that you talked about social media on there, you clearly understand YouTube. You're ticking a lot of boxes, as you say, without being salesy.

Latasha James:      Yeah, exactly. I think it does. I think you're your own best portfolio project. If you have our presence going and if you are excited about what you're doing. I mean, I think that's really what gets people, for me, is they're like, you can tell that you love what you do. You can tell that you love social media. So, I want to hire somebody that loves doing this and that isn't looking at this as a chore.

Steve Folland:      Yeah, that's great. So you talk there about keeping your businesses separate. You've got, like, Latasha James. It seems to be marketed towards the freelancers. But then you actually have, like a totally separate business name. Am I right?

Latasha James:      Yes, James + Park, is way legal business name.

Steve Folland:      James + Park. I like it. Is there a Park? As in, is there two people, or is it just you?

Latasha James:      It's just me. I get that question all the time, as well. So Park is actually ... It's just a significant street name in my life. I grew up on Park Street, and I've had a lot of business experience on another Park Street. So, that's what Park is.

Steve Folland:      Is James plus Park simply your social media work, or is there more to it? And, is it just you, or do you hire other people because there seems to be a lot going on?

Latasha James:      Yeah, there is a lot going on. So, it started as my social media work for sure. So that's the main thing that we do, is social media marketing, social media consulting, and we have definitely expanded a bit into more creative works. So, Squarespace design, video and audio editing. Then this year, I also introduced mentorships, which I'm really excited about. So I have a few people signed up for them already, and they're going so wonderfully. The mentorships are essentially where we work with CEOs and founders and managers, community managers, who are looking to build their own social media presence and be thought leaders in their industry. It's a hands-on intensive mentorship.

Latasha James:      Then I also do a video marketing mentorship kind of aimed at the same audience — business owners who are looking to learn how to do Facebook live and learn how to introduce a video marketing strategy to their business. Those are the major services that we offer. Then, yes, I am the founder and the sole owner of the business, but I do work with other subcontractors and other creatives as I need to.

Steve Folland:      How have you found that experience of bringing on other people?

Latasha James:      Oh yeah, it has its ups and downs for sure. I think that it's an ever-evolving process, being a great leader, and especially when it's your own business, it can be really tough. Like I said, I came from working in retail for so long, and so, I was hiring people all the time. I was a manager for years and years and years. So I thought that it would be super easy, like I know how to do this. But yeah, when it's your own business, it's your baby, so I just think it can be a little bit more challenging. Also, I guess one of the best tips that I have is just to start documenting everything from the onset.

Latasha James:      I never thought that I would hire people even just on a contract basis or a very part-time basis until I realized I have to. You know, until I realized I had too much work and I just needed somebody. So, you can never be too prepared, and you've never get prepared too soon. Every process that I have now, I document it and save it just in case I do need to teach somebody else, because it just makes things go so much smoother. Hiring somebody, it can be a job in itself, like just getting all the paperwork and all the processes and all the training together. It takes so much time. So, the more that you can be prepared for it, the better.

Steve Folland:      Yeah, yeah, that's so true. You mentioned they're having too much work or too many things to fit in, so how do you find the whole work-life balance side of being freelance?

Latasha James:      I think I definitely have that curse of being a multi-passionate creator. I love everything, so I feel like I can just be pulled in so many different directions sometimes, and it's really hard for me to prioritize. In the beginning when you're starting, you're really all about just getting work and getting testimonials and getting experience, because you need to. So you're taking what you can get really, but I feel like I've moved on to a phase in my business where I can really be selective, which is really a good place to be in.

Latasha James:      I'm pushing myself to say no more and more this year and to really focus on the things that will either really build my business and really move the needle for me, or things that I'm very passionate about and not just taking things just to take things. I can definitely be a yes person, so I'm definitely working on learning how to say no a little bit. But yeah, I mean, for the most part, I love to stay busy. I'm young and have tons of energy, so I'm trying to make the most of that time. I know it won't always be that way. So yeah, I love it.

Steve Folland:      When you mentioned the very services that you've branched out to, as James + Park, had they come about because people have asked for them? Like, first up, your social media, but you've branched out. There's like an umbrella of things that you're offering.

Latasha James:      Yeah, it definitely came from client requests and/or just things that I started to want to do for clients. You know, social media, it is video now. It is audio now. There's so many different components that I feel like you really do need to have, to have a great social media strategy now. Unfortunately, just posting links to your website just doesn't really work anymore. So I started to do a lot more of the creative stuff. You know, the video editing and the audio and all of that. So I was like, "You know what? I need to just start offering this as a standalone service, because a lot of people do really want this," and maybe they do have a social media manager either in-house or an agency that they work with, but they just don't have the actual content.

Latasha James:      Yeah, so, that's really how that stuff started, and then same thing for Squarespace. I got a lot of requests about websites. I would always build my own websites and I never thought that that was something that I could offer. But yeah, I've started offering it and people love it and I love it. It's a lot of fun.

Steve Folland:      Yeah, it's fun, isn't it? I guess, sometimes, we can take skills that we have for granted, like if you've almost grown up making videos, you might even presume everybody can edit a video.

Latasha James:      Yeah, absolutely. In this world, it's wild how many skills that we really do have, and I always tell creators that and people who are coming to my Freelance Friday series or my podcast. They're like, "I really want to start freelancing, but I don't know what to do." I'm like, "You're a YouTuber," or, "Look at your Instagram. You have an amazing Instagram. Maybe take a couple of photography classes and really brush up, and you could actually do that, as your freelance gig." So there's so many skills that we have that we just don't even think about.

Steve Folland:      Speaking of Instagram, is that quite a significant thing for you too?

Latasha James:      Yeah, I have a love-hate relationship with Instagram, and I am definitely not as consistent as I should be. I feel like it is a great resource for people to use, and I get so many inquiries through Instagram as well. I get so many questions and so many just requests to work together through Instagram. But I have to take breaks from it. It gets really overwhelming to me sometimes. I'm not sure why Instagram above all the other platforms, but I mean, there have been studies about it too, saying that that's one of the worst platforms for people's mental health, because it's just like the endless scroll, and you can get so wrapped up in what other people are doing.

Latasha James:      I try to really set limits for myself and not spend so, so much time observing, and I try to spend a lot more time doing. So anyway, to answer your question, I love it but I hate it.

Steve Folland:      Yeah, I have to say something you just said that reminded me of one of your videos that I watched about doing rather than perhaps watching, was that ... And it was a great title. It was something like, Why I Stopped Watching Gary Vee or something similar. But actually, when you watch it, you're not just talking about Gary Vee. You're talking about all of these kind of people who maybe you might follow online, and for that matter, some people who would be following you in a similar way. You found yourself following online entrepreneurs or advice-type gurus. I hate that word. But what was it that made you realize, "I've got to stop watching these people"?

Latasha James:      Yeah, and I love those people. I say this in the video, but I have to put this disclaimer out on the podcast too. I love Gary Vee. I think he's brilliant. There's so many great smart people out there giving advice, which is an amazing thing. But I'd spend an entire weekend in front of my computer, and I'm like, "Wait. What did I accomplish? Or what did I do this weekend?" The answer is nothing, like I was just watching other people do. I think that, sure, that has its time and place. You know, when you're first getting started and you absolutely have no sense of direction, you don't know what you're doing. You definitely have to spend a lot of time learning and observing.

Latasha James:      But there comes a point, where it's like, "Okay. You can only listen to so much." And really, a lot of this content is just people rephrasing things in different ways and maybe sharing a different perspective, which again, it's great, but you have the resources that you need. So just go get started. I felt like I was spending a lot of time listening to other people and just wasn't accomplishing so much. My podcast, for example, I had been wanting to launch a podcast for like a year before I did, and I found that I was just listening to a ton of podcasts to prepare.

Latasha James:      It's like, "Just record the podcast. Just stop listening to everybody else and just record your own." So yeah, I think that there's a healthy balance. And definitely, when you are in any type of digital career, things change so much, and you do have to be a lifelong learner. I'm never above learning from these big gurus, if you will, to new people who just have fresh, different perspectives. I'm never above that. But you definitely have to find a balance between listening and actually doing.

Steve Folland:      Yeah, no. I like that. Now, if you could tell your younger self one thing about being freelance, what would that be?

Latasha James:      Oh man. Write a contract for every client, every single one. Even if they're a portfolio project and you're doing it as just a freebie to build your portfolio, still get a contract. It's just great to get in that practice of doing that. Luckily, I haven't had anything go too wrong, but it's just a good thing to get in the practice of and to really protect yourself.

Steve Folland:      What would you say has been the biggest challenge of being freelance for you?

Latasha James:      I think just all of the money stuff. It's really overwhelming just keeping track of everything and, "Am I doing my taxes right?" And of course, getting paid. Again, I've been pretty lucky in that I've never really had anyone just flat out not pay me, but I've definitely had to call somebody all the time to make sure that they're sending the check and send reminder emails. It's just a lot. It's not what I thought I was signing up for necessarily. But again, the more that you do it, you learn what some of the red flags are, and then you also learn what really resonates with people.

Latasha James:      I've learned that writing the payment details into the contract, yeah, that's great, but you also need to spell it out on the phone with them or in an email with them when you're first starting to work together, because so many people just skim through contracts, so they're not really paying attention. So yeah, you live and you learn, but I would definitely say just the whole money aspect is overwhelming.

Steve Folland:      And sometimes it can feel, be it Instagram or YouTube or whatever, that it's almost not worth starting because it's too late. What's your thoughts on that way of looking at it?

Latasha James:      Yeah, I don't really understand the whole concept of it being too late. I guess the closest industry that we can really compare, like this content creation world to, is the more traditional world of TV and movies, right? Obviously, I'm no snow movie star or anything like that, but they're basically freelancers. They're actors working, trying to get known, and you never think like, "Oh Selena Gomez. She just started too late," or some actor. Everybody has their own time, and everybody is going to be known for one specific style or one specific type of content that they're good at.

Latasha James:      So yeah, I mean, that's just kind of how it works. There's always going to be somebody new coming along. As platforms advance, and as they change, we will too. Our content strategies will change too. So don't be afraid about that. If you're really starting it for the right reasons, which should be because it's something that you enjoy and also something that you've thought about and that you have a little bit of strategy behind, I think you'll be fine. I think that we're kind of past the days of having people post one semi-shocking or scandalous video and getting a million subscribers the next day.

Latasha James:      But slow growth is still a thing. I think that that's actually the more important kind of growth, because you're growing for the right reasons, and you're reaching the right people, and you're doing it strategically. You're not just like a one-hit wonder, if you will.

Steve Folland:      Latasha, thank you so much. It's been great chatting too. All the best, being freelance!

Latasha James:      Thanks for having me.