39: Travel Creator Burnout ( how to avoid it + love travel again)

Today, we have on Jenna from @thoughtfultravels_ on why the heck we need to have self-care as travel creators to avoid burnout. Also, we dive into how the heck you can enjoy a destination you're visiting without feeling like you constantly have to be capturing content. Without the right boundaries, our jobs can quickly go from our dream job as a travel content creator bouncing around the globe to completely losing our passion for travel or feeling overwhelmed. But no worries my friend because we will solve that in today's episode on how you can avoid the travel creator burnout.

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email: jenna.weih@gmail.com

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Transcript

 [00:00:00] Hey team. Welcome back to the travel creator podcast. If you've never heard my voice before, I'm Laura, I'm a content developer for travel influencers and I make your life so much freaking easier because content creation is hard enough. In this episode, I'm jazzed. I am jazzed for you to meet Jenna who is honestly a treat. 

And I'm so excited for you to hear everything we're going to get into today from why the heck. We need to have self care as travel creators. And how Jenna goes about doing just that slash how can you enjoy a destination you're visiting without feeling like you constantly have to be capturing content? 

Don't worry. We're going to get all into that today. So buckle up, grab a pen, a pencil. Nobody uses pencils. No. Grab something to take notes with, because I know you're going to want to come back and listen to this. One. 

So I'm Jenna.

I am a travel content creator. Been one [00:01:00] for two years and then been a content creator for the past four years. So long journey, but I'm here. And, Recently I've been mentoring, which has been like so fun and just so enjoyable. And I've always told myself that once I make it or make it, let's just say, quote unquote, I want to help others.

 cause it's so hard. It's such a hard world in the content creation world. So I just want to help the best that I can in any way that I can. alongside like doing the content creation too, if that makes sense. That's amazing. when you were early in your content creation days, before travel came along, what were you sharing about?

I went through this whole plethora of different niches.

I went from like self care, fashion. Then I started talking about being a highly sensitive person because I consider myself like a sensitive person So that was fun. But yeah, and then I [00:02:00] switched it to travel two years later and I've just stuck with that ever since. That's awesome. Wow. what a full circle.

Love the niche you landed in. So glad it's travel. I love that your approach to content or just like actually talking about burnout or actually talking about the realities of it is so refreshing and nice because I follow so many people who just talk about these beautiful places that they share about and it's like awesome, cool, but I know that's not the reality.

when you're like facing burnout, do you have any tried and true things you do to get yourself out, out of it? Or is it different every time? So I feel like for me, it's a little bit different every time.

I think my biggest thing is, obviously, once I am burnt out, there's a whole plethora of things that I can do, but I think, my biggest thing is trying to catch, the early stages of it, so [00:03:00] that I don't then have to go into, coping skills of, coping with, The burnout does that make sense?

Like I don't want to be burnt out. I know how much it sucks So what can I do to like prevent that from even happening? And it's still a work in progress. But 

I think relatable too because content is All like it absorbs your whole entire, attention.

so I feel like the first thing that I notice is that I have this tunnel vision on my business. Like nothing else matters. I'm not thinking about things that bring me joy on the outside of my business. and. That's one of the first signs where, okay, I need to, I've started asking myself recently, like what brings me joy outside of content creation and my business and focus on those things.

And a lot of those things are actually just cleaning, doing like normal things that normal people [00:04:00] do cleaning, like cooking a nice meal, like going for a walk, going to the gym, stuff like that. so that's like the first thing I noticed. And then Going to kind of like the gym wellness aspect when I'm not moving my body a lot.

So obviously content creation, you're sitting in front of a screen a lot. You're there sitting in front of your phone or you're sitting in front of your computer. So like when I notice I'm just sitting. For hours on end. I'm like, I need to get up, get my body moving. Cause it's true. Like a lot of the hormones that kind of get released from just moving your body, can get you out of the burnout alone or prevent the burnout altogether.

so that's another, and then the last thing, this is key. resisting the urge to break. I don't know if you've been in that position where you're like, just keep going. that's one more piece of content to [00:05:00] do. your brain is fighting the urge to break. And you're like, I honestly find that's when you need to break the most is when your brain is telling you to keep going, even though it doesn't want to.

Yeah, definitely. I especially find like when I'm in that stage of, I have so much to do, I don't, it doesn't make sense to stop and take a break, because One, I've overcommitted, and two, I love what I'm doing and I don't want to stop. But when I do take this space away and then come back, I'm like, Whoa, I'm way better at this.

I'm actually enjoying it a lot more. And that was so good. And I have so many other great ideas that are way better than anything else. But it's when you're in that headspace of, I can't take a break, it seems just psychotic to, to take a break. It's crazy. Exactly. Like your mind is literally telling you like, one more, one more, and your body is I cannot.

It's like a fight within you. Oh, you just got to recognize it and be like, nope, we're not doing that [00:06:00] today. And,get on with other things in life, but it's hard. I know. Like, why do we do this to ourselves? I don't know. Sometimes I'm like, why didn't I pick a career path that was so black and white?

Like, why am I not I don't know. Exactly. Cause content is so intertwined with your personal life. It's like, where do you find the like work life balance with it? Yes. And especially, okay, this is a incredible segue, especially if you're a travel creator and you're Going on these trips because I always say that people started to travel because they love to travel and nobody started to travel to become a travel creator.

That was a second, what would you call that? A symptom or a, something that happens after the fact. Yeah. but how have you been able to Distinguish, or I'm sure it's been so hard sometimes when you're actually traveling in a place to just enjoy it instead of Constantly maybe whipping out your phone or your camera or let's do this one ten million [00:07:00] times.

talk to me about that. Yeah. Sort of balance that never is great. yeah. I definitely, In the very beginning, it was purely just a passion and I just took pictures when I could and left it at that and still was like, okay, I'm on my vacation. Once things started to progress with Thoughtful Travels is when I started to feel like, okay, like I got to show my audience this and I got to show my audience that.

And, um, that actually exact situation happened on my Dolomites trip, About a year into thoughtful travels. so I could not sleep because I was so anxious about making sure I got the right content. And I like was so upset just because I was in this place that I wanted to be my whole life. Like I should be so happy, but I was not [00:08:00] happy.

I was not enjoying myself. And that's where I kind of had to, after that time, I kind of had to tell myself, like, things have to change. I'm going to do this as something that's sustainable. In my life, like my joy is to not be disturbed by this, after that trip, I kind of did like mental preparation for future trips.

If I was to go on, a future trip.as being this content creator who also takes videos, I have to find the balance. I have to not compromise my joy. And, I think slowly I'm getting the hang of it. I think It still takes practice obviously, but I think the biggest thing is being confident in The first video that I take because I can go on and on about oh this wasn't good let me try again Like take the video and then stop like yeah it doesn't matter if it's not [00:09:00] perfect You know take the video and stop and Look at your content later.

don't go into this rabbit hole of looking at it while you're on vacation, because that's when you're going to start earning your own joy. 

 Oh man burnout. Of course everybody who's ever done creative work experiences, burnout, and it comes and goes in waves. And oftentimes I. Feel like it hits me when I know I have so much work to do that. I don't really know where to start sometimes. That's when it kind of feels like, oh my gosh, I feel overwhelmed by opportunities here to choose what to work on first, which I understand is something to be very thankful for. 

It is super hard though. 

Um, when I've know I'm feeling burnt out, I try and limit the number of hours I'm working in a day. And because I know my brain works best in the morning time. Definitely not the late afternoon, that's when I'm not working. So if you are in a position where you're able to not be working at a certain time [00:10:00] of day, I would take advantage of that. If. You are not in a position where you can't just kind of log off or, you know, stop work around a certain time of day. 

I would give yourself a hard boundary in the evening time and say like, okay, I only have. 90 minutes to work on this tonight. And then I'm done because I find I do so much better work when I have the opportunity to go away from my computer and then come back rather than it just being all. all. concern. Consuming.

Okay. So if you don't know. I currently live in a rooftop tent, traveling the. [00:11:00] 

And I think, especially for the creators who have been at this for a while, and then it's like you've earned the skills just from doing reps of how to shoot a good video.

So just do one take and walk away and that's the footage you get. And if it's not perfectly perfect, honestly, that's probably better because people want to see what it was like. Like they don't really care that it was. It's perfect and polished because it's unrealistic and it's unattainable, but you, on your one little clip video, is going to be a much better piece of content.

And I think that's so hard to realize, one, because travel [00:12:00] creators are people who genuinely like creating content, and so you don't want to make it, your goal isn't to make a shitty piece of content, and you want it to be looking good all the time, and it's probably, it's just such a hard thing in your brain to change or just such a mindset shift to realize that C sometimes is good enough in these cases.

Okay, people are here because of you and not necessarily because of your incredible Zoom camera. Exactly, and it's it is just not worth stealing your joy over. I'll always come back to that. Your joy is so important, more important than money, more important than like good content, put your joy above everything else because that's when you're actually going to be consistent with this work and you're going to see growth in my life.

Yeah. do you,I'm sure it changes all the time. But if you're going somewhere with the intention of creating content, [00:13:00] do you try and give yourself, a schedule of, Okay, on Monday, we're gonna create the content. Or does it just depend on where you're visiting? Or the I'm sure it depends on so many factors.

Like, one day it might be pouring rain. Or the place that you end up going that you didn't think was gonna be awesome turned out to be awesome. I'm sure it's hard to figure out how to take that. I don't know. Yeah. So I personally, this could change in the future, but where I'm at currently is I don't really have a list because I feel like if I have a list, I'm making it about work.

I'm making it more about I have to get these shots and it's going to be in the back of my head. I currently take the approach of like, if I organically see something in my heart that I know.

it's very feelings based. it's based on like when, it feels right for me to take a piece of content. Does that [00:14:00] make sense? Yeah, I do. And I get it. And I get it because it's like, Oh, I am having so much fun. I just want to share this with somebody, even if it's, My mother, I, we gotta take the video to share.

Yes, I get it. And I've been like that my whole life. I've always, like, whenever I've gone on vacations, I've always been like, oh, take a picture of me here because I like the view. Or let me take a picture of this. So it's like just getting, trying to get back to that place where it doesn't consume me.

so hard. It's brutal. It is be brutal. . [00:15:00] Have there been any sort of things you feel like you've done this year so far, or just overall in your content that has made it helped you have more joy in it or have just made it easier? I think it just goes back to being able to just put my phone down again. It's like not, I know I like already mentioned that, but I really feel like that's something that I discovered this year that I'm really happy about.

And I'm like, this is progress to getting my joy back as A travel creator and getting joy out of this job is like I said, being able to just take that one shot and call it a day and I'm not perfect. there's times where I will go over and over the shot, like two or three times and I'll say to myself, [00:16:00] like, all right, that's it, Jen, like cut it there.

And it's, it's hard. I'm not saying it's easy by any means. And I don't know it will look like in the future. If I'll still struggle with it, but, I do it because I like it. So it's just a matter of finding the balance of like work and life, like just documenting because I like to document versus document because I have to document as a content creator.

Yeah. when you're getting out of burnout, I personally try and start with a project or a task that is fun. Maybe it's not the most, Top of the priority list, but maybe it's just something I love to do or enjoy.

is there anything that you do to help get yourself out of burnout? Because we know Your warning signs now of I am heading very, I am burning out. I am [00:17:00] burning out. Will yourself push yourself back into doing the thing? Yeah. there's a few things here. I think, I think wellness and wellness has always been something that I've also been passionate about.

and I do think moving my body, like actually getting to the gym, making routines for myself, like, okay. I, I'm going to go to the gym at this time and I'm not going to take my phone inside and doomscroll while I'm working out.just moving my body has been something that will always get me out of burnout.

I think that's huge. It is so true. Like the, after you're like, oh, I don't really feel like working out or doing something and then you do it and you're like. That was like free drugs. You just feel quite literally like the most serious sense. I know it's so crazy. It really is. [00:18:00] And then I will say A mindset thing that I find works for me.

It takes a little time to get used to, but refocusing on tasks that, are going to push the needle forward. So like in the beginning phases of being creator, I think it's just throw a spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. And, that was like me for the first three years. Two years, pretty much like it took me a really long time to get out of that phase, but I think what switched was being able to, trial and error with tasks, different tasks, such as let me engage a little bit more and see if this helps.

Let me, post three times a week at the same exact time and see how that helps. I think once you get really zoned in on what tasks are working for you. it makes it easier to draw the line and say, okay, I did task a, I did task B, I did task C, now I can shut the computer and be done. [00:19:00] And it's almost like such a ratifying feeling to get those tasks done.

And then Shut the computer and know in your head like I'm done with work. yeah, I had to do so now I just Get to sit and enjoy, my time with my husband, and my time with my cat, and do things that bring me joy outside of my home. It's so hard as a creator, because there are always, the list will never end.

You could always be updating your whatever, or changing your whatever, and it's really hard to know when to stop. or to get lost in, a side project, and think, you wake up one day and you're like, this project is the most successful thing I've ever thought of and going to be so important.

And then it's okay, but is that really the most important thing right now in terms of Yeah. it's, there's just so many things you can do, and especially seeing other people do so many other things, it's holy cow, you could be doing X, Y, and [00:20:00] Z, and all of this stuff, Yeah, and I think that's why, one other thing, I think is, like, setting goals.

it's crazy to say, setting goals, because I am such a type B person, I'm like a last minute person. Like I arrive late to things. Like I am not organized, like I'm working on it. I'm doing my best, but my business, I'm like a very different person. Like I'm starting to set goals for myself.

and I follow this method called smart goals. It's like specific measurable. achievable, and time bound. Yep. And, you like create a sentence. You're like, by September of 2024, I'm going to have this many followers or I'm going to have my first, hotel collab. And I find that when you actually write it down in a sentence in that fashion, that you hyper focus on that as your [00:21:00] task.

and that has been something that's really helped with burnout too, is because then I can always, I'll like stray away for a little bit and then I'll be like, wait, I have that goal. Let me get back to that and focus on that. So I think, SMART goals has been like a major improvement and burning out.

That's awesome. Yeah. It's amazing what, writing down goals can do. And especially now we're. we're halfway through, more than halfway through the year, and soon we'll be asking ourselves about 2025, which is horrifying, and I'm pretending that's not happening, but literally. Yeah, that's coming. 

[00:22:00] [00:23:00] 

okay, to your thoughtful travels page, when you are taking these two years to feel like I'm building this thing from zero or from fresh, what do you feel like when you look back now?

was some of the highlights or Some of the big picture things that helped you make it successful or was successful to you. so since you've grown it what has felt like has been big in helping you grow or be successful really? 

I think the biggest thing comes down to the solid foundation of the fact that I am in a niche that feels authentic to me and has been something that has proven over and over again in my life.

This brings me joy. This [00:24:00] gets me out of my head. helps me cope with feelings sometimes. Maybe it's not the best coping skill, but who knows?but, time and time again, it has been something that I've learned. I find so fascinating. I could talk on and on about and I think it's because of finding that thing that I really wanted to talk about online is what like made people realize that I was authentic.

I had really good knowledge to share. and I think it's a very relatable topic people want to feel good and want to talk about things that feel good. So naturally when you read about travel, let's like, let's just say you read somebody's post about Paris.

I'm instantly like, I want to go to Paris. It's fun,it's enjoyable. It's enjoyable content for me to read, and I think it's enjoyable content [00:25:00] for other people to read. So I think I just found my niche, and I found my people who enjoy the same things that I did. And that was something that I never had beforehand.

And I think it's with that, solid foundation, That I started to see the growth and success that I wanted to. Yeah, typically there's a lot of like strategy that goes into it too. I was definitely like trialing and erroring a lot of different things and what I didn't do beforehand was trial and error with the goal of actually.

reading my insights, and like seeing what does good and what doesn't like I was just putting stuff out there. And to be quite honest, I feel like I was, I had a very low self confidence in my content back then. [00:26:00] So I feel like my content wasn't even worthy of reading the insights. because in my head, it all just did bad.

You know what I mean? So I didn't even think to read the insights because I was like, I think this is crap. So I'm going to continue to try to make better content. And then one day I'll read it, read the insights. Does that make sense? But once I start to feel like, okay, I like this content, it's doing pretty good, let me read the insights and see what's doing good versus what's not doing as good.

Yeah. I think it's interesting because of the creators I speak to and ask similar questions, Their, success, in terms of growth, all stems from sharing about things that they love and being true to themselves, and it's like, whoa, wait a second, this is so [00:27:00] cliche, and there are 5 million different strategies you can take to get to whatever X follower goal is on your Instagram, but if you're, it really comes back to sharing about something you love, And because people can feel that passion come through and it's like, hello, we cannot forget that this little social media app you're trying to grow on is social, like we are building a community, we are supposed to be a community, and it's so interesting because of course some of these engagement strategies you do are going to be helpful, but they're going to be helpful if you Like what you're doing and genuinely want to share about it.

It's just like it's so funny because you can get so muddy in reality, it's dead simple. but there is So much noise and advice on how to make it not so simple I know it's so funny because I would listen to podcasts [00:28:00] like this all the time to try to help me And it never clicked. And now I'm that person on the podcast telling other people and I'm like, whoa, full circle moment.

this is all it was just finding something that brought me joy and like sticking to that. And yeah, it is crazy. It is, but it's also kind of like,a journey of like finding yourself and finding who you are and like who you want to be. And. cause a lot of the times when we create content, we think of our future in terms of like, is this how I see myself living life And I think with the travel, it just came back to yeah, travel is always gonna be in my life, no matter if I do this or not, so, I might as well. Yep. It's so simple, yet so complicated. Yeah, I know. So simple, yet so complicated. 

Do you feel like you have felt good effects from your community? How do you feel like engaging with people? [00:29:00] On the internet has gone for you. I always say 90 percent of the people you meet on the internet are good humans. And there's this tiny percentage who. Or not. But overall, people are generally fine.

yeah. knock on wood, as of recently, I haven't come in contact with any kind of negativity. it's all been positive. but what I will say is that when I was first starting Thoughtful Travels, I came into it with a totally different mindset. Because I, I truly believe that the two first years of content creation, I was doing it for the money and for the free stuff.

and as we all are like, we're like, oh, content creation, like free stuff, money, yeah. but then it became something I actually liked to do and I wanted to continue it, [00:30:00] but. I wanted to also meet people and meet people in real life one day and make a community and get to know more people outside of my own circle.

So I went into thoughtful travels with the mindset of I'm going to try to make friends. Like I'm going to find people that are my size. engage with their content, not do anything that's like too forcing. Like I want to be friends with you right now. but just over time, just support each other. And. I think one thing started to finally take off in terms of my follower count beforehand. I had around 800. I was kind of struggling with it mentally. I was like, I wish I was further along than I was.

but I was still, I was still fine. I was still creating content from the point of view of I like doing this. but I think that strong foundation that I built of that 800 followers was so [00:31:00] key to my success because, we were supporting each other. It was helping me deal with my own feelings of, am I, you know, Doing this right?

Like, is there something more I could be doing to gain more followers? But then at the end of the day, people were actually like connecting with what my content was. And that made me so happy. So I was like, I don't know if you can curse on here, but I was like, no, please, everybody asks this.

I'm like, please. I was like, fuck it. I'm just gonna continue and who cares about the followers. And then literally, I kid you not, two months after that, I. grew from 800 to 11, 000 in six months. It's a few viral reels. So I think once you let go of the numbers, it becomes a lot easier, less stressful and more enjoyable.

And, you build a community. [00:32:00] And yeah, it's such a good part of content creation. It's funny how, when you stop focusing on something like so obsessively, yes. that then it like takes off. And that's with anything in your life. And that's like some weird manifestation shit that somehow works. I don't know.

But it's crazy. It is. Honestly, there's that saying that's like, Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder. Amazing. Mind drop. Mind drop, seriously. It's, yeah, we all need to take a break here. We all need to take a break. not take it so seriously.

That's the hardest part, too, is like, when you start being a creator, you don't know necessarily what's gonna come from it, and of course the people you've seen before, it's in your mind of, Oh, I'm gonna, [00:33:00] go on a million free paid trips and get all this, whatever, but, The, there's the other side of the coin where it's you're doing this because you like it and you're not necessarily, like, you didn't start doing this because you were going to make a million dollars.

You started doing this because you genuinely like creating content and, stop taking yourself so seriously, yet take it seriously. So, it's a losing battle at times. I think like you said, not, taking it seriously and not taking it, seriously. Personally to don't it's not like you only have 500 followers because like your content isn't good or like it has nothing to do with that it, it really doesn't it's just, you got to keep pushing forward and your time will come.

That's the hard part too, especially with social is that. It's such delayed, it's such delayed gratification, and that is exactly the opposite of what we get when we use these apps as a consumer. We never get delayed gratification, but as a creator, you always do, and that is enough [00:34:00] to make you stop. 

yeah, exactly.

Okay, tell me about you deciding to delegate content. Was this difficult? Is it helpful? Do you feel like you have more, maybe more time and space to do other things? I would love to know. Yeah, so I actually first delegated in March of 2024, so recently. but basically the reason why I delegated, I actually hired my first VA.

there's a few reasons. I was at this place where Buckle Travels was growing. It was doing really well. And, I knew it had potential, but then there was also this new discovery of, like, mentoring that I've always wanted to do and I wanted to take on. so was hard because I was struggling to even balance just continuing thoughtful travels and awful mentor.

so [00:35:00] putting another thing on my plate just set, it felt like absolutely impossible. Like I learned from my previous mistakes over the past three years of continuing to put things on my plate. So I was just, No more of that. And the reason why I decided to hire a VA was, I thought that I could improve my like emailing skills.

I was not so confident in, My abilities and I knew I could do better and I wanted to pick somebody's brain on like how they approach the situation. So like maybe I'm just not doing this one thing that could help me or maybe I am doing it fine, but I just didn't know I needed like an example for me to see like, oh, okay, this is how you do it.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. it helped so much like to just see somebody else. In my, emails, handling it, how long of a break [00:36:00] before they respond to somebody, or if somebody does respond, like, how to respond back, it's crazy because I have been in this for four years, but there's still so much that I don't know, and I want to be like, transparent about that because, it is, it takes years To understand all the ins and outs of what to do.

And,you can get courses on it and accelerate. and I have, but there's always still more to learn in my opinion. And, A double edged sword. It's so fun to learn, yet there's, we don't like, we don't even know what else is out there that we don't know about yet that we must learn. Ah, so crazy.

It's a lot. [00:37:00] Okay, I want to chat with you about trending audios. Tell me how helpful you think they can be. Tell me your opinions. I would love to know. Yes. So this is actually the viral reel that I got on Thoughtful Travels was I was doing this thing for a while where I was trialing and erroring, audios and.

I realized like I was looking for them and I was sharing them with myself. And then I got into this like wormhole of, Oh, wait, my algorithm is showing me more and more [00:38:00] trending audios as I'm searching for them. And then the trending audios would go from a thousand reels utilize the audio to then 500 reels utilize that audio, or then it would get lower and lower.

And I'd be like. All right, maybe I'll just try this and see what happens. so I started using like early trending audios. So I would send it to myself. I would write down, How many reels were used with that audio?

Yes. Yes. and it seemed to be working for me pretty well to use these, earlier trending audios. And I was like, let me tell people about this. Like, that I've never seen. I always see these posts where people are like, use this trending audio and then I'll click on it.

And it's it already had 2000. Yeah. 

so it was like, that doesn't work. let me try to help people be the person to find the early trending audio. cause I was starting to be that person. So. when I came [00:39:00] out with my process, it, it went viral, and every time that I talked about that process afterward, I talked about it like three or four more times and I still incorporate it cause I think it's great, but, it went viral every time.

So clearly it was something that was very helpful that worked for people and has worked for me. what I will say is that. I'm the first to admit like it doesn't hit every single time and you have to go in to it knowing like this is, could be a hard miss or a hard hit and you got to be okay with that.

I think that's what a lot of people struggle with using like the early audios is like, they want to be on the safe side and they want to know it's already trending. and I think that's Which is totally understandable, but I think generally speaking, when I use an early trending audio or a trending audio, I think for the most part,it doesn't, [00:40:00] hinder my success, on my reel, it just pushes the reel to reach just a little bit further.

Do you find that And maybe you've done both, of you're searching for trending audios and you might already have a video in mind. And it's, let's say it's just b roll with some text on screen and you just quite literally need some sort of music to go with it. Is that more often the case that you, find that you're using trending audios for, such as like you've already created a piece of content and it just needs some music?

Or do you, and maybe you do both, are, Just scrolling through trending audio and trying to decide, Oh, I could, this is an interesting audio, I could create this piece of content from it. Like it might spark some sort of inspiration. Yeah, so I think for the most part when using like the early trending audios, it's usually just like I have An idea in mind already.

and I just need, an audio to, to go with it. Yeah. I think for the ones I actually [00:41:00] have more of a thought out plan where it's like many different videos and I'm making a compilation and it's a long video. and it has a lot of information in it. It's. With value. Those ones I typically go for more of the current trending audios rather than the early trending audios.

But I think I'll. Test out the early trending audios with like,the concept of one video with one hook pointing you to the caption. I think those are the ones that it tends to work best with. Awesome. That's awesome. There's so many, yeah. Like we said, there's so many different things you can do.

And you just have to figure out what's working for you.for you, but also in some ways pay attention to, that's also the best part of social is that we get to see what other people are doing and if it's working or not, and then try and replicate and see if it's working for us. it's just one [00:42:00] massive experiment that will forever be evolving.

Yes. Yes. And try not to take it too personally, for sure. Yes. 100%. Yeah.

Okay. I think what Jenna is doing with her trending audios is genius. Because what is she's doing is coming to Instagram with her video already done. It's already created, she is confident in her idea. And what she believes in sharing, and she's just using Instagram to search. For a trending audio. 

She's just using that Instagram feature. What she is not doing is going into Instagram first, finding the trending audio and then making her. Idea fit or morph. Into that trending audio now. I'm not going to say there's a right way to do either of those things. Sometimes both can be beneficial, But what I really love is that Jenna puts her idea. 

She's confident in, in her content first. And finds that trending audio. That [00:43:00] really just that feature on Instagram to support her idea rather than shape her entire piece of content. think that's incredible food for thought and definitely something I challenge you to do the next time you're creating a piece of content and really ask yourself, am I creating this because I love this idea and I'm just going to go find a training audio to fit this idea. 

Or am I finding a trending audio first?

To then morph what I want to share into that piece of audio. 

I always offer people, if you have any, ics or things you see people do that you're like, I cannot stand that people do this and I don't understand why they still keep doing it.

sharing this or acting this way. Okay. Up to you. It's okay if you don't have either, but. when you said like ics, one thing that came to mind was, people who complain about the algorithm.you will never, ever catch me complaining about the algorithm because, listen, the algorithm cannot outsmart human connection.

Like, [00:44:00] mic drop moment. Literally, if you're in the place of wanting to connect with people, it's going to show it's like you said, when you see that somebody is, talking about something that brings them joy, you see it through the camera, like you'll click on their profile and you can feel the happiness and feel the connection.

So people know that people remember that, like you can't outsmart that, I heard recently a piece of advice that was, replace the word algorithm with people. So instead of saying what?

The algorithm wants just say like what do people want like that's who we're trying like hello again. It's so simple yet so complicated Yeah, 100 percent I think the algorithm will Periodically pick up on your content and it will do well, but is that really what you want?

don't you prefer human connection over what the algorithm picks up on your content [00:45:00] periodically, which is not all the time. Yeah, so it's that's a an ick of mine and I will never do it even if I want to I will never so You might think it but you won't publish it. I think like the biggest takeaway from everything is just the fact that I'll emphasize it over and over again now that I, it clicked in my head and I wish it clicked in my head earlier than it did, but is to just enjoy content creation and try not to think of the benefits of it. Enjoy it.

Because. You like to do it because you get a creative release from it and because it helps connect you to like minded people. And that is the best thing that comes from content creation. It's not the, I know it's so cliche, but like, it's not the free trips and it's not the hotel collabs. It's [00:46:00] getting joy out of.

Like creating the creation process and perfecting your art. It's an art like, and I think some people forget that even I forget that myself because there's so many distractions, but if you just come back to the place of this is art, this is something that. I can express myself with maybe I don't have the words for everything all the time, but I can express myself through art.

And that's what's so beautiful. I'm like going to cry. But like on the podcast, I'm just kidding. You can cry on the podcast, but it really is so cliche, but I think Just remembering that and coming and grounding yourself in that and just always coming back to that is what's going to help you push forward in this career.

That's amazing. I, yeah, I just feel so, lovely about the things you share online. I'm like, ah, what does Jenna have for me [00:47:00] today? I really appreciate that, and, if you don't mind, me shamelessly plugging. Oh, I was just about to ask, where do you want people to find you? Yeah, so I have two pages currently.

I have Thoughtful Travels, which is where I share all the travel aspect. That's more kind of like my artwork, if you will, like my fashion project. that's Thoughtful Travels underscore on Instagram. And then I do have my other page, which is Thoughtful Mentor, underscore. And I currently am, In the middle of a launch of a product, called creator growth toolkit.

And it's everything that I just basically talked about packaged in one thing that's actionable. We have 22 days where I teach you the tactics that I learned throughout my four year process.and it's something that's actionable. It's something that. When you [00:48:00] purchase it, you create a goal for yourself.

Like I'm going to do these actions to help myself grow and help myself learn about growth. And, so that's coming out super soon and. you can check it out over on @thoughtfulmentor_ T Amazing, I'm excited, I can't wait to see it, and check it out, and see all the scoop, that's so exciting, and I know you have put in a lot of work into that, and I know it will be amazing, and I'm excited, congrats on, you created something!

And you have it out in the world, that is freaking hard, let us not forget. It took so much work, but I was like, what would my,past self need, you know? What would my past self need to hear? And these are the things that, my past self would have needed to hear and I think a lot of other people need to hear as well.

Yeah, a lot of mindset stuff also, because I'm totally into that mindset. but it also has a lot of [00:49:00] actionable tips to actually get you that you can apply that have proven to me. get you somewhere into, your career as a content creator. We love actionable tips. I love them. 

 Holy smokes. Y'all this was such a good episode with Jenna. Honestly, I think I need to go back and listen and take some of my own notes myself. if you want to please go connect with Jenna on Instagram. She is a great follow. She not only has it feel good content, but also gives you actionable and practical tips at the same time. 

she's one of my favorite follows and I highly recommend, I hope wherever you are creating this week, it is beautiful and I wish you the best of it. And I will see you soon.