We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Libby Cope. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Libby below.
Libby , 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.
Honestly I think every creator struggles with this to some degree, and I’d love to say I’ve overcome it but it’s something I still struggle with here and there. I create content in the outdoor space which is full of incredible, talented, type-2-fun-humans. I’ve met some of the best people in the outdoor content space, and majority of my best friends too. When your job is to showcase the outdoors by doing cool outdoorsy things, there is a sense of pressure you get from seeing other outdoor creators doing other wildly awesome things and being so successful at them. Even if you’re doing a lot, it always feels like you should be doing more. There have been several occasions I found myself doing an activity in the outdoors and creating the content, and asking myself if I’d really be doing this otherwise if it weren’t for content. Usually the answer is yes, because I love being outside and trying new things but there are also several activities that don’t make sense for me or my brand. I constantly have to remind myself that my outdoorsy-ness looks different than others. We are all on a journey of our own! In a niche that can be sometimes over-saturated, there’s a little something that separates each of us, and I think that’s awesome. We can all get caught up in follower counts, views, and the dopamine rush that comes with those things (embarrassing as that is to say, it’s true). It’s also easy to conform to what people want you to be, or conform to what you think will perform well on your pages so I try really hard to only do and share activities I’m actually passionate and excited about doing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I work with outdoor/lifestyle brands and take photographs and videos for advertisements, social use and website use, as well as sponsored content posted to my own social media accounts. I have always loved the outdoors and it’s where I feel most comfortable and at peace, so I love showing others how awesome it is and how much it changes you! I’d say my brand is targeted towards women who solo travel and solo camp/hike, so I work with a lot of outdoor clothing and shoe brands.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Practicing patience! Growth happens over night for some, and for others it’s not that simple. Keep showing up, putting in the work and your company/platforms will grow with time!
2. Create a portfolio where all of your brand-related content lives. Even if you made the videos for fun, put it in the portfolio. When you’re first getting started with content, you typically will unintentionally do free work and gear reviews on your page— hang on to those videos!
3.Learn to negotiate and learn to advocate for yourself! It’s so exciting to get emails from brands, but don’t let them take advantage of you either. Know your worth as a creator and be able to recognize small businesses with lower budgets VS. big brands who have the budget but don’t want to pay you. If your content is valuable enough for them to ask for it, it’s likely valuable enough for them to buy it from you! Every once in a while, content/gift exchanges are fun and worth it, but don’t let it become your only source of payment when it comes to brand deals IF you’re hoping to monetize your platforms.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
My mom for sure! She is the most resilient and hard working person I know. She taught me from a very young age that it doesn’t matter how good you are at a job— your kindness and compassion and ability to communicate with others will always be the thing people remember about you. Having someone’s trust and respect is much more valuable than just being good at what you do. My mom has always managed to be professional while being the most infectious person in the room in every setting, and if there is one thing I know I got from her it’s my ability to communicate and make fast connections. I try to apply all of this to my content and how I present myself online. I want my pages to feel safe for people, specifically women who want to get outside! When I meet followers in person, I love following them back and connecting with them. I love the community aspect of this job and I’ll always view my followers as my friends. I never want people to meet me in person and feel like I’m a totally different person online, I want to always be authentic and transparent because that’s what makes this so fun.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tiktok.com/@momcallsmebirdy?_t=8py1bEFDEcg&_r=1
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lib_claire?igsh=NWVuMWx5NjBiNzF6&utm_source=qr
Image Credits
I took them myself with my tripod!
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
