The Client I Lost Might Be the Best Thing That Happened to My Business.

This is a #keepinitreal post… vulnerable and difficult. I truly hope it’s inspiring for you.

Sharing so you don’t make the same mistakes I have made.

+ Cool tips and updates under my update.

A few weeks ago I found out I’m losing one of my biggest clients. 😳

Not because of poor performance.
Not because they weren’t happy.

In fact, it is quite the opposite.

The metrics I created were some of the strongest I’ve ever produced. Literally, at the beginning, there were barely any comments and ZERO tags and shares. To now, where it’s not unusual to receive thousands of views, comments, shares, etc.

The organization is making structural changes, and my role disappeared with them.

I’ll be honest…

It hurt. A lot.

When you pour your heart into helping build someone else’s business, it’s easy to believe that great work guarantees security.

It doesn’t.

But after the disappointment settled... I realized something incredibly important.

No one is responsible for building my business except me.

For years I’ve helped clients with:

• Planned strategies.

• Covered national conferences.

• Produced, edited, created hundreds of reels.

• Learning how to DO social media and not lose their soul.

• Written blogs.

• Created campaigns.

• Studied analytics/deciphered KPI’s

• Helped build communities.

Meanwhile...

My own YouTube? Barely touched.

My own digital portfolio? Didn’t. Even. Exist. OMG WTH. 🙄

(Which is honestly hilarious {srsly Karen???} considering I’m a social media strategist.)

I kept telling myself I was too busy serving clients.

But being busy isn’t the same as building, friend. NOPE.

Ugh, this is a hard lesson. VERY HARD.

I’ve cried and drank the wine. I’ve whined to my husband. I’ve sought advice from my fancy friends. I’ve given myself space and think time.

OK. Time get on with things. I’ll keep you in the loop and share strategies for getting clients and gigs as they happen.

Now on to what I love to do… share the research I do so your marketing strategies stay on track and up-to-date.

If you haven’t opened YouTube Studio lately... whoa.

Go look. 👀

Google has quietly added AI-powered brainstorming directly into Studio.

Instead of starting from scratch, it can help you:

✔ Brainstorm new video ideas

✔ Explore related topics

✔ Find follow-up videos

✔ Summarize channel performance

✔ Analyze comments

And because it’s working from your own channel, the suggestions feel much more relevant than generic AI prompts.

First look at this!

Now it starts with “Inspiration” and when you tap it all the ideas are based on what you’ve already talked about.

Next, select one of your videos and it will get even more specific with ideas.

Once you select one of your videos, YouTube suggests entirely new directions based on what you’ve already created.

I love this!

Not because AI is magically creating content.

Because it removes friction and gives you ideas to get those creative juices going.

Sometimes all we need is one interesting question or thought to get moving.

CLIPS! This made me SO excited! It follows with the “create once, make multiple” strategy that works perfectly with long form videos.

I’ve been playing around with this and it’s really fun! You can have the YouTube AI create your clips OR you can choose from the transcript - tap “start here” then tap “end here” (could be different words like only start or end btw) and then it creates your video clip!

Not only that you can tap the “reuse info” and it auto loads what you’ve already written as your description AND still edit that too! SO amazing and you can bet I’ll be using that, too.

Could this replace Opus for me?? Maaaaaybeeee?! Not sure of that yet, but this was really fun and also stays editable if you want it longer or shorter and get really specific.

Here’s something I’ve been doing that I think every creator should try.

Instead of asking:

“What should I post next?”

I ask:

“What has the internet already proven people care about?”

I’ll look at 10–20 creators in my niche.

Then I search for what is called outlier videos.

Those are the videos that wildly outperform everything else on that channel.

Maybe a creator averages 2,000 views...

...then one video suddenly gets 150,000.

Now, THAT’S interesting. 🤔

NOT to copy it.

Because I want to understand why it connected.

• Was it the title?

• The timing?

• The emotional hook?

• The problem it solved?

That’s the kind of research I do. For clients and (now) for myself.

Then ask...

“How can I talk about this from my own perspective?”

And one more thing.

If another creator genuinely inspires your approach...

Credit them. Always.

The internet doesn’t need more copycats.

It needs more original voices who acknowledge the people they are learning from and with.

P.S. you can absolutely use AI to do this research for you. Why not? ☺️

This week I’ve been working on something I’ve recommended to clients for years... a digital portfolio.

And it’s been surprisingly emotional.

Every project I add reminded me of something I’d forgotten.

• A conference.

• A campaign.

• A client breakthrough.

• A reel that reached thousands.

• A strategy that works.

Sometimes we become so focused on what’s next...

We forget to appreciate everything we’ve already built.

If you’re in a creative profession...

Don’t wait!

Document your work. Not just for future clients.

For yourself, too.

Sometimes confidence comes from simply seeing your own evidence of great work, all collected in one place.

I don’t have this update yet.

But the second I do... you’ll be the first to know.

Google is rolling out something called Platform Properties inside Search Console.

Eventually you’ll be able to connect platforms like:

• Instagram

• YouTube

• TikTok

• X

And see how your content is performing directly in Google Search.

The part I’m most excited about? Being able to see which Google searches lead people to your Instagram content.

This is incredibly valuable information for creators.

I’m still waiting for the rollout on my account, but I’ll absolutely report back once I have it.

Here’s the creator (remember attribution!) I learned about this from:

This is where things get interesting.

For the next 90 days, I’m making a commitment… just between us. 😜

I’m treating my own business with the same care I’ve spent years giving my clients. (If you are one of my clients now, DON’T WORRY! You’ll be getting all the care and love ++ I always give you.)

I’m going all in on YouTube.

Not because I know it’ll work. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Because I want to find out. 👀

I’ll share everything.

✔ The wins.

✔ The failures.

✔ The analytics.

✔ The AI tools.

✔ The SEO discoveries.

✔ The experiments that flop.

✔ No guru-style promises.

No “six-figure secrets.”

Just one working multihyphenate social media strategist building in public.

We’ll see where this takes us.

Honestly?

I’m kind of excited. And scared. 😅

Reference for my new online friend Monica Goh “…it made me feel excited… well excited and scared!” lyric Into The Woods (assuming you know this show since you mentioned Les Miz!!)

Maybe losing this client isn’t the only story.

Maybe it was simply the nudge I needed.

The reminder that while I love helping other people grow...

I have to keep building my own dreams, too.

Maybe YouTube becomes my biggest source of clients.

Maybe it doesn’t.

But either way...

I’m done treating my own business like a side project.

And I’m really looking forward to seeing where this experiment leads.

If you’ve ever had a setback that quietly pushed you toward something better, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Sometimes the thing we thought was the end...

Turns out to be a beginning.

This may be a new chapter for something I’ve been thinking about… The Butterfly Brief. 🦋 This is where I share what I’m doing specifically. Anyway, thanks for reading and sharing and when you need guidance remember my readers get a special price for sessions… book here!