How to Build Your Social Media Community, Start a Podcast, and Deal with Imposter Syndrome
Online Communities have become a powerhouse in 2020 for businesses and organizations, connecting like-minded people around the world on the topics they are passionate about. They give people a voice, and a chance to engage with an organization in a more personal way. Today’s women dreamers, Beth Mulholland and Taylor Adams, created the Women’s Investment Network (WIN), known for its WIN podcast and programming. They share their insights on how to build an engaged online community as women, the journey in launching a podcast, and their thoughts on Imposter Syndrome, a common issue women face when pursuing their dreams. Enjoy their story below.
1) Tell us your story. How did you create Women’s Investment Network? What was the need you saw?
We created WIN in response to our struggle to find a community of womxn that was primarily focused on supporting and encouraging each other’s success rather than networking and making business connections. We had seen first hand the benefit of having that type of support system, as that is what we had found in each other! When COVID19 hit, we had to shift our initial plans and decided to put all of our energy into the podcast. From there we have evolved to include programming opportunities for womxn looking to invest in themselves, and are currently expanding.
2) Online communities are becoming increasingly popular. What are the challenges you faced at the beginning? How do you keep your community engaged?
The biggest challenge starting out was just getting our name and content in front of people. We are lucky to have many womxn in our lives supporting us in this journey, and we have met even more incredible womxn since starting WIN! We prioritize providing as much value as we can for our community. Starting out, this was primarily in the form of the podcast and virtual panels and has now evolved into two paid programs - Invest in You and Finance Your Future as well as collaborative events with female business owners. We really try to listen to our community’s wants and needs and evolve accordingly!
3) You also have a podcast component. What are your tips to women looking to start their podcast?
Just go for it! It won’t be perfect starting out but if you’ve got exciting and interesting content and a clear vision for what value you are bringing to your audience it will evolve and improve over time! We only wish we had started sooner.
4) You recently did a blog post on Imposter Syndrome. Could you elaborate on that, and how professional women go through it, and what they can do to be confident in themselves?
Imposter syndrome is a huge roadblock for many womxn on the path to success - as womxn we tend to doubt our abilities anytime we have a failure or setback. Rather than focus on re-evaluating the idea or concept we believe that we are the problem, we are not good enough. But that is just not true! Failure does not make you bad at what you are doing, it just means you didn’t get it right this time. The most important thing is to remind yourself that everyone goes through struggles and nearly every successful womxn has felt like an imposter at one time or another!