An Influencers Guide To Feeling Inspired…

It’s been just over a year and a half of dipping my toes into content creation, and as of November 2022 I have been making a full time income from it while I spend most of my days as a stay-at-home mom. I currently post on Instagram about 4-5 times a week, on Tiktok about 6-10 times a week and I write blog posts monthly.

How are there always so many things to create content about?! Well, sure it’s easy after you go on a great adventure with jaw-dropping views ; I mean, that content basically makes itself. But how about the times when you’ve been in a rut, the weathers been gloomy, you don’t have any exciting plans and you can’t afford to just run off to Iceland for a month?

I don’t have all the answers for you, but I am going to give you some tools that I have found work for me and I even want to give you some writing prompts for those pesky Instagram captions that can get so repetitive.

Let’s start with the most important thing of all…

TAKING BREAKS!

You heard me, take a damn break! Humans are not on this Earth to be consuming content 24/7. In fact, here is a new rule for you: CREATE MORE THAN YOU CONSUME.

What does this mean exactly? When you spend minutes, hours, days, scrolling on social media it becomes pretty overwhelming how much you fill your head with. It’s all just a distraction and can end up killing your inspiration. Dedicate certain times on your phone to engaging with other creators and finding new creators to connect with, but also dedicate even more time to creating content. Even if you don’t have an idea, just throw some of your favourite videos, or videos you rarely touch into your favourite editing app and play around with some text or music. And if you don’t end up posting it anywhere, that’s ok. You are exercising your brain to come up with your own ideas – something that isn’t easy to do when you consume a lot of content.

So dedicate 1-3 days in the very least off your social media completely each week and on the days where you are on social media, set boundaries for the time you spend on it. I personally take every Friday off, and I just check in with myself on Saturdays and Sundays on if I feel like it.

Create A Content Journal

I don’t just mean logging ideas in your phone’s notes app (which I do only to remind myself to add to my Content Journal), I mean having a physical book where you write ideas down. But here’s what makes it work: Create categories in your content journal, whatever you think will work for you.
For example, I have a

• “General content idea” page full of bullet points of ideas I have randomly thought of
• “Tiktok series” page of ideas for new series’ I could create
• “Seasonal content” page where I made a calendar and wrote in some of my favourite ideas or trends for each season
• “Favoutire words” page where I literally write down how my favourite things make me feel and use them as inspiration on super hard days (Ex. Camping-peaceful-relaxed-crackling fire-toasty-moonlight-campfire scents-wilderness-summer nights)
• “Old ideas” page where I workshop old content I’ve already created and/or posted
• “Intentions” page where I write what I intend to get across with my socials
• “Instagram captions” because they are my arch nemesis

Talk With Other Creators

Who better to seek out inspiration from than a fellow creative person? When I go hiking with my friends-even ones who aren’t creators-our conversations are often inspiration behind that week’s posts. Whether it be a new audio I make, an Instagram caption or a new Tiktok series. Talking about ideas with others can provide so much more perspective on them. It’s also worth noting that asking someone to give their opinion on what your profile looks like to them, and you can compare what they say to the intentions you have for your social profiles to make sure they align, and if not that can be your next goal.

Set Up A Wonderful Thing

Remember how I said some content just makes itself? If you do some planning and put something unique together, you can make content that does just that without going far from where you live. One way I like to do this is taking my Jeep to a local trailhead, setting up a blanket, pillows, cookies, coffee and wearing fuzzy socks and taking photos in it. It’s a cute enough set up to land on my feed, it’s versatile enough that you can put many different phrases on it and it will stand out because not everyone thinks to make content like that! Other ideas: backyard campfire photoshoot, making a meal over a campfire, make a fort and set it up cute, create a new lighting set up for showing a recipe you love, film you trying a local coffee shop, etc etc etc! (keep in mind these are ideas for a variety of niches)

Writing Prompts!

Instagram captions could be the death of me some days. It used to be me sitting around for 20minutes trying to think of one, typing it out, erasing it and just workshopping an old caption. It was horrible. Now, thanks to my Content Journal, I have a bunch of captions ready to go and I put a lot less pressure on myself. I personally enjoy reading captions that are either stories about the photos, short and funny/witty/punny, emotionally captivating, recommendations or I just don’t really read them. Oops…

But, here are some writing prompts for you on those rough days. I have thought of these on my own as captions I would genuinely be interested in reading (for a variety of niches/post types)…

• Your favourite quote and WHY it is your favourite quote
• What about your body are you most proud of (how far it can walk, how you survived something, how much progress you’ve made, etc)
• What makes you feel the most you (is it when you go on big adventures, when you have days home alone, when you’re at a coffee shop working? tell me!)
• What is a photoshoot idea you’ve always wanted to try
• How would you describe your style (fashion or photo style)
• What is the scariest thing you have ever done
• What would you tell yourself 5yrs ago if you could
• What kind of friendships mean the most to you

Ok, I hope your brain feels a little refreshed and that this helps you feel inspired to GET inspired. At the end of the day, you inspire yourself. Your ideas are all ready there, you just need to do the right things to dig them out of your brain – go for a walk, take a break, journal, use some writing prompts, hang out with some people you like.

I can’t wait to see what your imagination can do!

Chat soon,

Katie