So you've graduated and you're feeling ready to conquer the world!  You worked hard in college or graduate school and your GPA was on point! You did that! Everything seems to be working out according to plan - except you don't have a job lined up yet. You might be thinking..."why me? I have a lot to offer, especially since I've gained a degree." What's worse is when you see many of your classmates with amazing job offers at top tier companies making bank. It can drive one to an emotional breakdown.

That was me 3 years ago after graduating with my MBA from Georgetown University. I graduated from one of the top 20 MBA programs in the country, one that has a wide alumni network and the reputation to go with it. I assumed it would be a piece of cake to get a job and have one lined up before they handed me my diploma. But it just didn't work out that way. In all honesty it was months before I found a paying job. It was hard to accept that reality, and it led to a lot of frustration, anger, questioning, being broke, and naturally, depression. Def not the type of life adventure I wanted to be on.

My word that I felt reflected my MBA experience was "resilient." I chose it because I had overcome so much before and during business school. I made it through even though there were plenty of moments I thought I wouldn't. For that reason I decorated my graduation hat with the word. What I didn't realize is that my resilience would be necessary in the season I was in right after graduation.  

I haven't shared this experience in detail with many people, but I think it's appropriate to do so now, during graduation season. I hope that my getting through the struggle of finding a job post-graduation can help someone who is currently in that position. In sum, the best piece of advice I can give you is: Don't give up; it WILL happen. Let me preface my story by saying that I have since jumpstarted my post-MBA career and I am in a role, in my field, earning more than I ever have. I am blessed! But I didn't think that 3 years ago. 

Here is some practical advice that I hope will allow you to find hope and cope in what might seem a dark, disappointing time in your life: 

1. Realize that there is nothing "wrong" with you. 
I'm referring to those little lies that pop into your head. And believing lies about oneself has never helped anyone. The truth is that there is a job out there for any level of skill or experience. Avoid internalizing you not getting a certain position or interview as there being something personally wrong with you. I fell into this trap, and fell straight into depression. By all means, do the practical things to help you: do interview prep, change up your resume, network...but trust me, I did ALL of that (I probably changed my resume 20 times and spent countless hours doing interview prep)...and none of that worked. There just has to be a match between you and the job. I'm a firm believer that if a door didn't open, it wasn't your door, at least not at that point in time. So don't make it about a personal shortcoming.

2. Do consulting/work pro bono (i.e. free).
This is something I def took advantage of. If you have a skill and want a job using that skill, one way to really prove it is by doing the work for free. There are several advantages to this: a) you prevent yourself from allowing gaps in your resume, b) you continue to build skill & experience in your work field, c) you keep yourself busy/occupied, and d) you are able to build relationship with someone who can vouch for you. It's a win-win. Experience is experience, getting paid or not.

3. Start a business.
I never fully launched a business, but I absolutely worked on a business idea while I had that time - I'm an entrepreneur at heart!! I'm not saying this business will immediately create a way to provide for yourself, but it's a way to take advantage of the time you have to invest in yourself. And if you do start a venture, what great material to put on your resume and discuss in an interview!

4. Stay encouraged, even if others around you don't understand.
If I could write a letter to my MBA student self - it would center around this topic. Listen - do not assume that friends and family will understand your struggle and will encourage you. And you don't have to be bitter about it - if they don't understand, they just don't. If you have supporting friends/family, that's great. But sometimes when your unemployment drags on like mine did, people might start to say things like: you're being too picky or you're not trying hard enough. LIES. I applied to HUNDREDS of jobs. (Yea, you read that right, I said hundreds). I was anything but lazy. I would wake up in a panic and jump on the computer for the next 8 hours or so applying and networking. If struggling to find a job wasn't hard enough, try dealing with unsupportive friends/family or the thoughts of inadequacy in your own head. 

Let me tell you something - the only way I survived that battle was encouraging myself with the word of God. There is nothing like the truth of the Bible that will snatch you out of a pit of destruction. And that's a fact. I remember having to force myself to believe God's promises, when I couldn't see anything happening. Some of my fav scriptures that got me through are: Habakkuk 3: 17-18, Psalm 34:18, and Palm 111:7. These aren't shouting scriptures; these are scriptures that I used to cry out to God in my brokenness and asked him to hold me up when I couldn't stand. I made it through, thank you Jesus!

I would also recommend the book: The Power of Not Yet by Donna Pisani. This book gave me fresh perspective on waiting on God for what is mine. "Not yet" is not a "no". It means wait. And you'll be surprised what you learn about yourself while you wait. Trust me, you'll come out of this experience better than when you went in.

5. Travel
If you have the money to travel, this is the perfect opportunity. This wasn't an option for me, but if you've been following me for any amount of time, traveling is like breathing for me: very necessary. Take that cruise you've always wanted to take, go to that Caribbean island...whatever you can afford.

6. Spend some time with family
I moved home after not finding a job right away post-graduation, and while it was challenging because they didn't fully understand my struggle, I got to spend some quality time with my niece. I fully consider my niece as my child and I LOVED spending quality time with her. As a result, we developed an even closer bond. Being at home allowed me to do things like accompany her to her first day of kindergarten, help out with her birthday party at school and at home, help her with her homework or just snuggle after a long day. To this day, those are the priceless moments in my princess' life that I truly treasure.

These 6 things are the best pieces of advice I can give. I know that everyone's experience is unique, but just know that if you don't have a job lined up that you are not alone. Keep striving, stay positive and don't give up. God will open up the right opportunity for you that will be a match and that will make you thankful for all the other closed doors. I truly believe that in the end, you will have grown and learned some valuable things from that season.

Till next time,

​~T

To commemorate my 1 year blog-iversary, I wanted to take the time to share more about why I started blogging, discuss my challenges and inspiration as well as talk about what you can expect to see coming up next on the blog!

Check out this video interview where I candidly discuss it all and speak from my heart! Hope you enjoy!

And don't forget to subscribe to my youtube channel *wink wink

Guess whaaatt!! It's my 1 year blog-iversary!! I can't believe I've been doing this for a year now. I am incredibly proud of myself for how far I've come in this blogging world! Cue the music {"Do you know what today is? It's my anniversary"} ?? Fun fact about my blog - it took me 5 years to start it! Crazy, right? Why on earth would it take me that long to bring you all this juicy content!? A major stumbling block for me was fear and perfectionism. That is, I knew that I wanted to blog about life and adventure and inspire others while doing it, but I didn't know how. So the thought of wading into that unknown left me in paralysis. I am so thankful I finally decided to take the plunge... I don't regret a thing. If I could say anything to those wanting to blog or start anything new for that matter, just do it! Take that leap of faith. If you wait until everything is perfect or until you have everything figured out, then you'll never start. Of course, I def do not have everything figured out, but in my imperfection, I am thankful that I can share my life experiences with anyone willing to read about it.

​In this first anniversary post, I want to reflect on what I've learned in the past year of blogging - the good, the bad and the ugly. Here are my 7 key learnings from year 1 of blogging.

Authenticity is key
I can't emphasize this enough. It's typically hard for me to not be myself, mainly because I ooze personality where ever I go, lol I can't help it! To sum up my personality in a few words I would say that I am funny, witty, adventurous, creative, thrifty, a woman of faith, and I'm super friendly (no like REALLY friendly. I think it creeps people out sometimes, lol it's an island thing - we friendly). I love showing the world who I am because that's how people can genuinely relate to you. Who you are should come through in a blog post or in a social media post. There are a lot of people outchea on social media fronting or pretending to be someone else... don't be like those people. For me, I've found great freedom in allowing people to see my different sides or angles. So for me that means sharing my excitement about next home project or encouraging someone through a struggle I've faced or expressing my disgust with winter and my readiness for my next vacation. Don't try to beat the next Instagram algorithm - just be yourself, speak to your audience, and produce authentic content. That's all that matters to me.

Be consistent
When I first started this year, my blog posts were pretty spotty. I also didnt post on social media regularly. I might go a week or so without posting any content. If I'm honest with myself, part of that was being busy and lacking good planning for producing content on a regular cadence. Taking long hiatus' might come across as you not being serious about blogging. I'm not saying you have to bombard your followers with useless content, but rather that it's better to commit to regularly posting content that will be helpful to your readers/followers. I've also found that being consistent has improved my engagement. I believe that is because you are giving them regular opportunities to get to know you via your content. They will get used to seeing your posts and will look forward to seeing more. 

Get organized
This goes hand-in-hand with the previous section. Being organized will not only help you be consistent with your content, it's actually motivating! I love when I have a plan that I can run behind. Here are some tips for getting organized:

1. Create a content plan, i.e. decide what content you want to bring to your readers/followers over the next few months.
2. Create a blogging calendar, i.e. decide on when you are going to discuss all this content. What channels will you use? How will you space out the timeline for the content?
3. Set aside specific days and times to blog, i.e. decide when is your sacred time to blog and stick to it (also a way to keep you from making excuses for not doing it, LOL). 

Once you do these, you will def be wanting to do more blogging! It will also help you balance blogging and real life because, trust me, I've been at the place where I felt like my blog was taking over my life. Don't do this!  It will only lead to burnout and tempt you to throw in the towel. Organize your blogging activity and it will feel like fun like it was intended to!

Content is everywhere
As a lifestyle blogger, I don't have to go far or do much to come up with content that is within the realm of my blogging space. Anything in everyday life can become blog content. For example, one of my lifestyle topics is decor and DIY. If I buy a new chair for my office (which I did!), then that's content! I can share about the style and details of the chair, why I bought it, and how it fits into my space. Don't miss out on opportunities to take "regular" activities and turn them into content that others might find useful.

Don't be surprised if people don't support you
Remember that ugly part I was talking about? Well this is it. The reality of starting a blog (or a business or whatnot) is that people who know you might not support what you are doing (even while simultaneously congratulating celebrities, whom they do not know, on their success ?). It's baffling. Part of it is the familiarity issue. That is, if people are used to seeing you a certain way, sometimes it's hard for them to see you doing big things (or even doing things they wish they could but aren't!) [insert Olivia Pope pointing meme here] lol.  The SHADE, I know! I mean, look at Jesus! The Bible talks about how the people who knew him growing up didn't respect his ministry because they thought "who does he think he is? Isn't that Joseph's son?"  Don't let these non-supporters stress you! You are not doing it for them anyway! You are doing it because it is your passion and you have purpose in it. 

The flip side to that is that there are those who go out of their way to support you! Be thankful for those people (I know I am!). Also, be open to the fact that people can support you in their own way. So don't only see support as an Instagram like. Support can mean them being dedicated to reading all your blog posts, them telling friends about your blog, or them praying for you. Be grateful for the "silent" support from those who keep you close to their heart.

Keep learning and improving
Earlier I talked about getting started even if you don't have it together. However, I do believe that you can iterate and grow along the way. For example, if you don't have good photography skills, then take a class or buy a better camera. If you don't know what voice you want to bring out in your blog posts, keep working on it until it's just right. Bottom line is, don't stop improving. The best way to learn is to make a list of things you want to improve and actively work on them. Some of the best ways to learn is to look at what other, accomplished bloggers are doing. How do they caption their Insta-posts? How do they drive traffic to their site? What content do they talk about? The blogger world is so big that there are tons of good examples out there that you can mimic, likely in your blogger space. Trust me, when I look back and reflect on this first year of blogging, I can see where I've grown and all the iterations (big and small) that I've made to improve how I communicate with and reach my followers.  

Make sure you are building your brand
Your brand is who your readers/followers perceive you to be. The content that you put out, the things you say and the style in which you say them all contribute to your blogger brand. Are you just blogging or are you building your brand? If your goal is the latter, then don't just say anything! Decide beforehand what your brand is, and then make sure all your content is aligned to that. New, incremental content should reinforce your brand and help it to grow. Do you have a vision for your brand? If not, then get one. 

Another way to build your brand is to actually brand your blog. Get a logo and blog colors (my blog color is pink!) and use them consistently across your website and social media channels. Be consistent with your brand voice across all channels as well. If you produce video content, be sure they look consistent across all videos. If you blog about beauty, then don't blog about the environment (unless you are talking about the impact of the environment on beauty or vice versa). Your goal in branding should be to make your content recognizable as being authentically yours. And it will help your readers/followers better relate to it. 

​There you have it guys! My top 7 key learnings from this past year. Drop me a comment or a congratulations in the comments and let me know you are here! Thank you to all my readers/followers for your support over this past year. Your support has been incredible and is not unnoticed!

Until the next year,
~T
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