We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eden Westbrook a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Eden, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
While imposter syndrome does sometimes come back from time to time, I found out an open secret about being an adult –and especially being an entrepreneur — nobody has a clue about what we are doing.
And many adults don’t even LIKE what they are doing.
And I learned that as long as I love what I do, I show up, and I do my best, I’m crushing it in my field. Loving what I do and helping others let’s me know that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a classically trained food blogger, and an entrepreneur. I love teaching people about the backgrounds and history of the recipes I share and how to become better cooks in the kitchen, teaching different techniques I learned while in culinary school on my blog and in my private SubStack subscription.
I also teach other food bloggers how to build and grow successful food blogs through my own set of courses and The Food Blogging Mastermind.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three qualities? Ambition, the ability to think outside of the box, and the willingness to pivot when needed.
For those in the early stages of their journey, understand that things change out of nowhere on the internet. Suddenly you need to change course, so be adaptable enough to do so and wily enough to have a pocketful of ideas of what to do to keep going forward no matter what.
Another thing: you need to constantly learn and be on top of what is going on, and you need to network. Gaining friends and contacts in your industry can make everything feel less lonely and bring help when you need it.
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
I believe being well rounded in my industry is how you grow, BUT you need to have strong foundations in order to step out and grow the weaker aspects. Consider it a Jack of All Trades, Master of a Few Things.
In food blogging, having gorgeous photography isn’t an option. It’s a necessity in order to get the traction you want, the viewer wants to lick the screen because wow, your food looks so good! It brings in eyes.
But that doesn’t mean your recipe work can be shoddy, people will eventually figure out your recipes don’t work.
My love for food means I am serious about my work in the kitchen, and it also means I am constantly learning how to bring it to my audience. Beautiful styling, innovative dishes, techniques to make things easier, tastier, awesome-er, and showcasing it in ways that a home cook can understand and implement.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sweetteaandthyme.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweet_tea_thyme/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sweetteaandthyme
- Other: TikTok: @edenwestbrook
Image Credits
Eden Westbrook
