So last month I officially hit four years of blogging, and I realized that I have never completely shared my journey on how I got started/how “The Curly Clinician” came to be what it is today! I posted an Instagram reel about a week ago sharing how I brought in a little over $32,000 in 2021 via my blog and Instagram “side hustle”, and honestly, I did NOT expect all of the positive responses I received! A lot of people were interested in learning more about how I monetized my blog and Instagram, including how I started and tips for starting now. This post will cover my blogging/content creation journey thus far, and my plan from here on out (if y’all continue to remain interested!) is to begin creating more content with tips and advice surrounding content creation, influencer marketing, Instagram growth, running a blog, etc. Additionally, I am also figuring out the details of providing paid consultations for other creators interested in breaking into the influencer marketing world, as I have received a ton of DMs asking for specific advice (and this will be a fair way for me to provide a more individualized approach).

Now I want to start by emphasizing that when I started my blog four years ago, I never planned or expected it to turn into a stream of income.

In some ways, I think that allowed me to grow at my own pace and cultivate a genuine audience without the pressure of hitting a certain follower number or getting noticed by brands. I created a lot of free content and focused on helping my audience as much as possible, which helped me build a loyal base of followers. Yes, some of those followers have left over the years as some people were here strictly for PT content (and now I also share my daily life, everyday style, wellness tips, etc.), but that’s okay and normal as I transition my content! I am now refining my audience and attracting the people who are here to support all facets of my life, not just my career as a PT! P.s. If you only want to create content to make “easy money”, I’d suggest finding another side hustle because that as your sole motivation will not last long (and there are MANY other things you can do if you want to make money).

The Beginning

Alright let’s get into it! So I created my Instagram account during my gap year in 2017, about a month after I found out I was accepted into Duke’s Doctor of Physical Therapy Program. I somehow stumbled onto “Medstagram” via my personal Instagram account, and thought it looked so fun and informative. As most of you know, “The Curly Clinician” began as a way for me to share my journey to and through PT school, while also helping prospective and current students along the way. When I was applying, it was hard for me to find mentorship and current students who had completed the PT school application process and were willing to share their expertise. I found so many nursing, physician associate, and medical school blogs/Instagram accounts that shared helpful tips, but most of the PT accounts were focused on exercises and educational content around fitness. 

I was inspired by some of the first accounts I saw on Instagram (nurseclara, laurascottandco, thedptdiaries, fran.ish, lorae.the.pa to name a few) to focus on the PT school application process and my experience during school. As a Black woman, the lack of representation in the PT field (and the fact that I had never seen a Black female PT) was more motivation for me to create a space where I could provide other underrepresented minorities with the tools and resources they needed to successfully navigate the application process, and ultimately graduate from PT school! And so “The Curly Clinician” (because I have curly natural hair and I was a future PT, riveting I know haha) was born. My Instagram account was originally “dashae.the.dpt”, but that only lasted for a few days. After running my account for a few weeks, I found that I was constantly hitting the Instagram caption limit and needed a blog so that I could fit in everything I wanted to say. I was nervous to start the blog because I didn’t know if anyone would read it, but I decided that even if ONE person read it and found it helpful, it would be worth it. I also thought it would be nice to look back on the blog in the future to see how much I have grown.

For those first two years, I created SO MUCH CONTENT. From blog posts to Instagram posts to pdfs, I went all in! I wrote as much as I could on the blog and remained decently active on Instagram, posting at least once a week if possible. All of my content was strictly PT school-related, and after a while, I was becoming a little burnt out. I was in PT school during the day, and then came home and talked about PT school on the internet–-it was getting to be a lot. I was also interested in sharing more about my personal life, including things I enjoy OUTSIDE of PT. I enjoyed helping pre-PT and PT students, but I needed a better balance. I began following more fashion and lifestyle bloggers on Instagram, and was feeling more drawn to the “Medstagram” accounts that were also sharing their everyday life outside of their careers. Because I grew up reading fashion blogs and watching “beauty gurus” on Youtube, this was something I was always interested in doing myself, but ultimately too scared to fully pursue. 

Transitioning My Content

I have always loved expressing myself through my style (in high school I thought I was SO trendy lol), and I enjoy creating outfits that feel like “me”. There was even a period in undergrad where I created fashion videos on Youtube (you’re in for a treat if you ever find those), but again, I was too afraid of what people would think so I stopped creating them. This then evolved into dressing up in my favorite outfits and my begging my roommates to take pictures of me for my personal Instagram (bless their hearts!).

I knew that once I graduated from PT school I would be less connected to the application process, so I decided that I would start sharing more lifestyle and fashion content (two of my passions) on Instagram and my blog. I polled my audience to see what they thought, and for the most part, everyone was all for it! Of course there were some people that followed me strictly for PT content, but I no longer wanted to be stuck in that box. This was MY account, so I had to prioritize my wants and needs at the end of the day. This content shift was also influenced by my newfound interest in influencer marketing and working with brands.

After I began following more fashion and lifestyle bloggers, I inevitably started seeing more “sponsored posts”. I knew that you could partner with brands on the internet, but I didn’t know just how big of a market the influencer industry was (valued at ~13.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2021). At this point, I was making a very small income from services like essay and resume editing for pre-PT students, and had landed a few gifted campaigns with medical-related Instagram accounts. While I enjoyed posting free content, I knew that I wanted to begin partnering with brands to increase my earnings. I would be graduating from PT school with almost $200k in student loan debt soon, so I thought monetizing this hobby (even if I didn’t make much in the end) would be a smart move. Everyone and their mother preaches about having multiple streams of income, so I wanted to try my hand at it! I followed accounts like themattiejames, emmasedition, julssolomon, and jennakutcher on Instagram, and tried to learn as much as I could about influencer marketing through blog posts, podcasts, Instagram lives, and free webinars. There is a plethora of free information out there by the way, it just takes a bit of digging!

Getting Serious About Blogging

At the beginning of 2020, I decided that this would be the year I would seriously start treating “The Curly Clinician” like a business. I was inspired by Clara to register my business as an LLC that June, and this was a huge step for me! I then landed my first major brand deal (a long-term partnership too!) in July when I had around ~4-5k followers on Instagram. This was during the height of the first COVID outbreak, so everyone was spending more time at home/on the internet. From July to November 2020 ish, my Instagram account grew from ~5k to 10k, and I 1000% attribute this growth to my increase in consistency. I also had a post go “viral” (if you want to call it that) with 19k likes during the 2020 BLM movement that led to a few hundred new followers. During this period, Mattie James held multiple “consistency challenges” where the goal was to post DAILY on Instagram for a month. I also participated in her blogging consistency challenge, where the goal was to post five times a week on your blog. Before this, I didn’t have a set posting schedule on Instagram or my blog; I kinda posted when I wanted to or when I felt inspired. While this worked for a while, I knew I had to begin posting more consistently if I wanted brands to notice me. I posted daily on Instagram for about two months, and THAT is when I saw major growth. I also began “batching” content: on the weekends I would pick out a few outfits or pairs of scrubs and take a bunch of pictures. Then, I’d write out all of my captions in advance so that they would be ready to post for the week. My goal was to plan content at least a week in advance, and this definitely helped me maintain my consistency. 

In October 2020 I landed my first 4-figure brand deal, and I have been working with brands on a monthly basis ever since! Once I branched out of the PT world and began creating more lifestyle and fashion content, those types of brands began noticing me and reaching out. The major key to working with brands is to make sure you are ALREADY creating high-quality content that would be appropriate for their audience! For example, if all of your content is about your journey to medical school, you can’t expect Target or Brooklinen to want to collaborate for a sponsored post. I also invested in a DSLR camera (I was using my iPhone for photos previously), and began scheduling weekly to biweekly photoshoots with a local blogger friend. This has helped me consistently have an “arsenal” of pictures to pull from for content, and has added in a layer of accountability and consistency (as we try to keep each other motivated to reach our blogging goals).

And that’s my journey from 2017 to now! I enjoyed strolling down memory lane and writing about my blogging experience for this post, and am excited to continue sharing more tips with you all!

In the meantime, here are FIVE actionable steps you can take RIGHT NOW if you want to get started with content creation and working with brands:

5 Actionable Steps for You

1. Define your “why”, your niche, and your ideal audience

This will be the basis for your brand! What kind of content do you want to create? Do you want to share quick recipes? At-home workouts? Beauty recommendations? Who do you want to speak to? Millennial women? Stay-at-home moms? Physical therapy students? Right now, my “why” (which is also my mission statement) is “to empower others to embrace the “everyday” & live authentically”. I create content around this mission statement, which includes my three niches main niches: real-life, everyday style, and wellness. Even if I end up deviating from these niches at some point, my content ALWAYS ultimately relates back to my mission statement. Knowing your “why” is extremely important, because this is what will keep you going when you are feeling uninspired or unmotivated. This is also a great way to see if your content will align with a certain brand! If the brand’s product or vision doesn’t align with YOUR vision, then you probably shouldn’t work with them.

2. Decide what platforms you want to create content for

There are so many platforms to choose from these days: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, a podcast, a blog, etc.! Think about your communication style and how you like to convey information. If you like writing, then a blog is probably a good place to start. If you don’t like talking to a camera, then YouTube might not be the right platform for you, and maybe a podcast would work better! I personally enjoy writing and taking photos, so that is why my main platforms are my blog and Instagram. Video content is not my strength (but it is something I’ve been working on improving over the past year), so creating content for YouTube is not a goal of mine at this point. Don’t choose a platform just because that is what you see everyone else doing, and don’t feel like you need to be on EVERY single platform (especially when you are just starting out). Work on mastering one, and then branch out once you are ready!

3. Create a list of your “dream brands”

Create this list, and then check out their social media pages to see the type of content they are creating and reposting. What is their “vibe”? What types of things are they posting? How is their imagery? If you want to work with them, then make sure that your content could seamlessly fit on their page. Brands ultimately want to partner with influencers who create content that they can also use and repost on their pages. Interact with these brands often, and follow their branded hashtags for a better chance of being recognized!

4. Follow similar and relevant accounts on Instagram (and engage with them)

This will give you an idea of current trends and the type of content other people in your niche are creating! Engaging with relevant accounts (AND their followers) will help you build your community, and find your “ideal follower”. Instagram is a two-way street, and you can’t expect to grow without interacting with your followers and other creators.

5. Start posting

Don’t wait for things to be “perfect” because they never will be! You don’t need fancy camera equipment or a graphic designer to be ready, just START! Accept that you will make mistakes, learn, and grow along the way; I started out with a free Wix blog and my iPhone! I didn’t invest in my blog until a year or two in, and I JUST purchased a DSLR camera a few months ago. Also, try not to compare your day 1 to someone else’s day 500. You will get there in time with hard work and consistency!

Check out these posts if you’re interested in learning more about blogging/content creation and influencer marketing:

How I Hit 10k on Instagram: Tips for Growth

3 Things You Must Invest in When Starting a Blog

17 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog

5 Things You’re Doing Wrong As a Blogger

7 Books to Better Yourself & Your Brand

5 Helpful Podcasts for Blogging and Content Creation