A Conversation with Alaina Brubaker: Tips for Getting Started on Instagram

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A Conversation with Alaina Brubaker: Tips for Getting Started on Instagram

I’m excited to introduce a brand new series on the Serve Me the Sky blog! Each month, I’ll be interviewing folks about various marketing, social media, and communications topics. My hope is to expand beyond my own knowledge and share the expertise of other amazing experts.

Up first in the “A Conversation With” series is an interview with Alaina Brubaker, an experienced therapist who joined Instagram in September 2019 to much success! We discuss what led her to join Instagram, factors that have helped her succeed so far, and some of her best tips for setting yourself up to shine on social media. Enjoy!

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20 Books for 2020

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20 Books for 2020

If you know me, you know I’m an obsessive reader. I devour books like some people binge TV shows or podcasts. Last year, I read 118 books (the goal was 100, but I hit that goal in October and kept going) and blogged about them along the way. I guess I should have seen the whole hitting 100 books in October thing coming when I hit the 50 book mark in May.

You can’t read more every year, so no, I’m not upping my reading goal again. In fact, I’m cutting it in half. My goal for 2019 is just 59 books. I’m hoping to read a bit less (and some longer books that I skipped in 2019 so I could read more books) and to try out some new hobbies and creative pursuits.

But of course, there are still plenty of books I’m looking forward to reading in 2020. Plus, people are always asking me for recommendations, so without further ado, here are 20 books I’m looking forward to reading in 2020.

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2019 in Review

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2019 in Review

It’s hard to believe that 2019 is coming to a close already. A lot has changed this year. Back in January, I was working full-time at a startup incubator. As I close out the year, I’m sitting at a Wayfair desk in my home office with my dogs snoozing nearby. 

I wanted to take some time to pause and reflect on everything I’ve achieved this year (at the risk of sounding braggy), because it’s important to remember how far we’ve come and to celebrate it. And besides, as a self-employed person, no one else is going to celebrate for me! Let’s do this:

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Make Your Content Work for You

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Make Your Content Work for You

As the year draws to a close, I figured it was a perfect time to talk about something we all want to get better at: making your content work for you. Creating content is a LOT of work, and folks outside the social media profession often underestimate how much time, knowledge, and creativity it takes to create quality content that your audience will enjoy. 

Based on my and Elise Miklich’s presentation at Upstate Social 2019, I’m sharing some tips for making your content go further. We shared 10 tips for overwhelmed small business owners at Upstate Social, and today I’m sharing five of my favorites from that presentation.

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6 Things I'm Thankful for as a Small Business Owner

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6 Things I'm Thankful for as a Small Business Owner

For a long time, Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday. As an angsty teenager, I grew disillusioned with Christmas and the way we lie to kids about the whole Santa thing. I also worked at Target from age 16 to age 23, and felt increasingly frustrated at America’s consumerism. I’d work on Black Friday and watch people fight over discounted Wiis, yelling at Target team members because we ran out of their favorite season of Breaking Bad on DVD. (Ok yes, these references are making me realize it’s been awhile since I worked at Target! Wiis and DVDs? Wow). 

Thanksgiving became my favorite holiday primarily because of the food. As an added bonus, my birthday usually falls right after it, and gets lumped into the family Thanksgiving celebration. Stuffing, pumpkin pie, and presents? Sign me up.

In recent years, though, I’ve come to appreciate Thanksgiving as a reminder to pause and take stock of everything I have to be thankful for. This year feels particularly special, because it’ll be my first Thanksgiving as a self-employed person. I wanted to reflect on the things I’m thankful for as a small business owner.

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So...I Read 100 Books in 10 Months

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So...I Read 100 Books in 10 Months

Back in May, I recapped what it was like to read 50 books in five months. I had set a goal of reading 100 books in 2019, which I thought was quite ambitious. When I reached 50 books in May, I figured I’d still need until December to reach my goal of 100. I should have known that by October 27th, I’d be done with Book 100!

I won’t talk about all 100 books in this blog post, so if you’re curious for the full list, you can peruse it (along with mini-reviews!) right here. As I’ve talked about this reading challenge with friends, family, and strangers, I’ve gotten tons of questions. Today I’m going to share the answers to the three most common ones:

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How to Run a Successful Instagram Takeover

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How to Run a Successful Instagram Takeover

For over three years now, I’ve been working on a project called I Heart ROC. We tell the stories of Rochesterians living in and loving Rochester, NY. One of the ways we’ve been able to grow our following is through Instagram takeovers. When I joined in May 2016, we had about 800 Instagram followers. By October 2019, we’d reached 13,000 followers. Because Instagram takeovers have been such an effective strategy for us and for many others, I thought I’d share some tips on how to run a successful Instagram takeover.

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On Saying Goodbye to a Place You Love

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On Saying Goodbye to a Place You Love

I recently had to say goodbye to a place I love: a little family cottage on Cayuga Lake that we’d enjoyed for eight summers. After seven years, the upkeep got to be too much for my parents, and they decided it was time to move on. When I found out via a Facebook post over the winter, I was crushed. I’ve never had the wind knocked out of me, but I imagine it would feel like this. I’d been getting ready for a yoga class and the post literally took the breath from my lungs. I sat down and cried.

It took several months for the cottage to sell, which allowed me to avoid reality for awhile. When my parents finally received an offer and it was time to clean the place out, reality sank in. I had to acknowledge that this was really happening. I knew our last weekend at the lake would be tough, but I had no idea how emotionally draining it would be.

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7 Takeaways & Action Items from Upstate Social 2019

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7 Takeaways & Action Items from Upstate Social 2019

Last week in Rochester, social media beginners, fanatics, and experts alike gathered at the Temple Building downtown for the 5th annual Upstate Social Sessions, the largest social media conference in New York State outside of New York City. It’s jointly founded and run by two badass women, Danielle Raymo and Leah Stacy. This year was the first time the event spanned two full days, and it was jam-packed with great #content. Seriously, the word content was said so many times I started to forget what it means.

It’s easy to attend a conference, walk away with a head full of ideas, and head back to work inspired, but lacking time to implement it. So here’s a list for you of 7 key takeaways from the event and 7 action items you can tackle to start putting that knowledge to work!

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Thoughts on Therapy After One Year

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Thoughts on Therapy After One Year

If you had asked me two years ago, or even 18 months ago, if I thought I’d ever go to therapy, my answer probably would have been, “Ew. No. Why would I go to therapy?”

For years, I believed you only went to therapy if there was something “wrong” with you. But at some point in 2018, my perspective started to shift. I noticed positive depictions of therapy on TV shows I love, like Crazy Ex Girlfriend and Bojack Horseman. Friends were talking about going to therapy. All of Twitter was abuzz with therapy chatter. If all these people were going, maybe it was...normal?

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