Welcome to The Spark Show! In this episode, I'll be sharing the five influencer myths that you need to stop believing so that you can build a profitable and sustainable, influencer business today without those lies getting in the way.

As influencers we already have a lot of challenges with our mindset, like thinking we're not good enough or we're not worthy enough, as well as challenges with creating content and managing our time, so I want to help you out by busting these myths so you can actually get to the important part, which is making an impact on your audience and helping others one person at a time.

Myth #1: I Need a Lot of Followers to be an Influencer

This is probably the biggest myth I've heard since the rise of the influencer marketing industry. True, the first influencers were celebrities who have tons of fans, but with a social media and technology boom, you don't have to be a celebrity to grow an audience that knows, likes and trusts you. In fact, a lot of brands want to work with micro-influencers instead of celebrities because they've gotten better results and engagement and they're more affordable to work with.

Being an influencer is not about how many followers you have. It's about your ability to make an impact on your audience of 1, 10, 100, 1,000 or however many people choose to follow you because they get value from your content. Value can mean a lot of things whether it's information, education, entertainment, support, relatability. There are influencers out there making money without having a lot of followers. Some of my students are getting paid brand deals with less than 1,000 followers. I know multimillionaires that have less than 10,000 followers, because it's not about the number of followers you have, it's the way you serve your audience and help them solve problems.

The sooner that you bust this myth and believe that you don't need a lot of followers, the sooner that you can focus on providing value and helping your audience and making an impact.

Myth #2: I Have to Fit The Mold of What an Influencer Looks Like

Sometimes when people see the word "influencer," they think of someone in their late teens and early 20s, posting selfies and talking about what lipstick they're wearing. Yes, there are young beauty influencers but there is no industry standard of what an influencer is supposed to look like. I've heard people say, 'I'm too old' or 'I'm not skinny enough' and they have an idea in their mind of what an influencer is.

To me, influence is about impact. It doesn't matter what you look like, as long as you show up for your audience consistently and provide value with your content. That's it. There are a lot of influencers out there breaking barriers by showing up as their authentic selves and making an impact because they choose not to pay attention to the stereotypes. They choose to ignore fitting in because they know that their audience needs them to show up as themselves, because that's who people connect with - real people with real struggles who are not afraid to share their story.

We all have insecurities and self-doubt. If that's something that you're struggling with, make sure you listen to Episode 105, where I talk about how to stop being insecure, online and offline. It's really about learning how to build our confidence in ourselves so we can show up for the people we want to help and tune out all the negative thoughts that usually come from our insecurities. It's about cultivating a strong, healthy mindset so we can focus on making an impact instead of our fears of being judged and rejected.

Myth #3: I Need to Go Viral

The truth is you need a lot more than one viral post to make it in this business. If you think of the most successful influencers and entrepreneurs out there, the ones that are still in business, it wasn't because of a viral post. They're successful because they continue to show up and provide value and solve problems with their content or products consistently. It's not about going viral. It's about being there for your audience when they need you and building that trust and connection.

To me, going viral is like trying to get that one hit wonder instead of focusing on building a long lasting career with multiple albums and revenue streams. Instead of focusing on going viral, think of ways that you can show up for your audience on a consistent, sustainable basis. This could mean publishing one video or podcast every single week, doing a weekly newsletter. If that's a lot, do monthly until you can work up to weekly and then go from there. Focus on value instead of going viral.

Myth #4: I Need to be Everywhere

This myth is what I hear all the time from influencers. They need to be on YouTube, on Facebook, on TikTok, on Instagram, on Twitter, on Pinterest, on LinkedIn, now Clubhouse, and there are more apps and platforms popping up every single week. And, what happens is they end up getting overwhelmed and spreading themselves too thin that they end up doing nothing, and I don't want that to happen to you.

You don't need to be everywhere to make an impact. There is a time and place for repurposing and focusing on content distribution, but if you're just starting out, then I want you to focus on delivering one piece of primary content per week, that could be your blog, podcast, your video, and then your secondary content on a daily basis, and that can be your Instagram. If you can't do it daily, commit to something you can do consistently. If that's three times a week - great, you get to decide how much you can do.

If you learn to batch your content and plan it out ahead of time, you'll get better at being consistent, and then can add more channels in. As you grow your business, you'll be able to hire more people to help you and then you can add in even more.

Myth #5: Brands Won't Pay Me

You need to stop believing this myth right now. I have students who are getting paid brand deals with less than 1,000 followers and this is with big brands. This is because brands need content all the time and they're willing to work with influencers regardless of how many followers they have because what they're paying for is content creation and the license to use your content on their channels. They also have budgets to put towards paid advertising, so it doesn't really matter how many followers you have.

In the beginning, you may have to do some collaborations to get started, but as you grow and work with more brands, you can start attracting and pitching to brands.

This is what I teach inside my program, Seal the Brand Deal, and I've helped over 4,000 influencers get paid brand deals without a huge following. One of my students was able to turn a free collab into a $600 paid brand deal by following my exact strategy.

If you want to learn how to do this, make sure you head on over here to watch my free, online on-demand class on how to get paid brand deals without a huge following. I share with you my exact system on how I've worked with brands like Disney, Facebook, Google, Target, Starbucks, American Airlines, and more.

That's it for today's episode of The Spark Show. Thanks for listening and I will see you in the next one! 

Listen to the full episode here: 

Watch the Masterclass

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Listen to Previous Episodes: 

5 Questions to Ask Before Partnering With Brands

5 Ways to Get Unstuck

Money Mindset for Influencers

Impact With Podcasts Featuring Jeremy Ryan Slate

Get Yourself a Mentor with Kelsey Chapman

Connect with Gwen Lane

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