Starting this week we are launching a new segment, Influencer Interviews. We have crafted some great questions and built out some topics that we think you guys will all connect with. These interviews will be releasing over the next couple of months and will give you some great insight into different influencers’ views and thoughts on numerous topics.
Getting to Know Naomi Genota
This week we are chatting with Naomi Genota, otherwise known as @naohms on Instagram. Naomi is a new addition to the Boost Society team in 2020, and we are super excited to have her joining us this week to discuss life as an influencer, while still working a full time 9-5.
1. Tell me a little bit about yourself, why you became an influencer and how you found your own voice in the saturated influencer world?
Hi! I’m Naomi, and I’m a lifestyle content creator based in Los Angeles, CA. I’m a full-time structural engineer for a large corporation and building a few businesses on the side, including being a content creator!
I became an influencer BY ACCIDENT (yes, by accident)! I started out posting my makeup shopping hauls only to find out that there was a large beauty community on Instagram. From then on, I started sharing my recommendations on beauty products (which I was doing for my friends already), and that’s how my following blew up!
I became a YouTube beauty guru for a few years until I took a hiatus in 2015 when I had to take care of personal matters. At the end of 2017, I wanted to pick up my Instagram once again, but I really wanted to connect with people on a level deeper than beauty and makeup because there was so much more to my story that can really resonate and impact people differently.
I’ve seen so many influencers through my journey who have changed over time with fame, and I never wanted that to happen to me. I wanted to stay relatable and raw and approachable. I wanted to be everyone’s sister, everyone’s friend. That’s when I made the transition from having a beauty-based Instagram to lifestyle.
Through this, I’ve really found that my real calling is to help people through my story, experiences and things I’m learning and teaching myself every day. Being vulnerable and transparent with taboo topics, like domestic violence, singleness, being bullied or even my faith, has given me the opportunity to speak life into other people’s lives, give them hope and reassure them that if I can rise above my struggles, they can as well.
2. What do you wish someone told you before becoming an influencer?
I wish someone told me how big of an industry this was going to be back in 2014 or I wouldn’t have spent more money going back to school for a master’s degree. If someone also told introverted, nerdy, bullied me I’d be where I am now 15 years ago, I wouldn’t have believed you.
3. Why have you chosen to have two jobs?
I got laid off in 2013, and I struggled to find a stable job as a structural engineer for 2 years. This experience wasn’t only discouraging, but also eye opening to know that a job isn’t guaranteed forever, no matter how complex your college major was, or how great your resume is.
From then on, I’ve always known in my heart, my calling was never to spend it on a desk. Plus I’ve always had the heart for the hustle, so since then, I’ve made sure that I have eggs in multiple baskets and developed more than one stream of income.
I’ve been fortunate to have connected with entrepreneurs who are teaching me how to create wealth on the side. They have always taught me to foster my career full-time and to build on my fortunes part-time. I want to be worth more than my last paycheck and eventually get to a point where my expenses no longer rely on the next paycheck or the work I do for someone else.
In my full-time job, my employer is in control of my income, and I’m trading my time for money. In my side hustles, I’m responsible for how much or how little I want to make. I’m building a pipeline where I’m trading more time for money right now, but I will eventually create assets that will generate income while I’m sleeping and give me more choices in life.
4) What is your best advice to someone who is in the same situation as you are?
Oh man, I have SO MANY!
- Find someone who is where you want to be, find out what they did, follow it, and one day you’ll have what they have.
- Don’t be afraid to take RISKS and invest in yourself.
- Don’t wait for the right time to act on your dream..only a fool waits for perfect conditions. THE TIME IS NOW!
- If you’re going to pursue something, have a why and have a big dream, but it has to be bigger than money.
- Always have the heart of a student and learn something–the day you stop learning is the day you start dying.
- Losers quit to fail. Winners fail to succeed. You gotta fail to succeed as long as you don’t quit.
- When you feel like quitting, always refer back to your why. If you don’t have a why, find one.
- Never do anything that will compromise your integrity, your morals and your values. Always choose those over profits.
5) How do you stay organized? What tools do you use?
I PLAN EVERYTHING! Everyone gets 24 hours in a day, so I make sure every second counts. I keep a planner and a calendar (I have my Powersheets Goal Planner, my Google Cal, my Passion Planner and Spreadsheets on Google Drive) and planning my week/month/quarter/year has become so therapeutic bc it really avoids chaos with my hyperactive lifestyle. I even give myself time blocks to knock out tasks (i.e. emails, DMs, engaging, pitching, etc.).
I also have learned the power of saying NO. Delayed gratification is probably one of the hardest things to learn in our generation. We see everything on social media and we act on impulse without carefully planning. So before I agree to doing something, I always ask myself whether or not it will help me get closer to my goal. No brainer, everything I do now has become either a business decision or a decision to foster the important relationships in my life.
Another thing that is probably not a conventional answer to this question is to surround yourself with anything that will keep you fueled and keep you from burnout. Because trust me, it will happen, so…
1. Surround yourself with like-minded people who will push you to work hard, keep you accountable, cheer you on, and propel you to be the best version of you.
2. Trade your Netflix bingeing with reading self-development, leadership and business books.
3. Trade your radio and music with podcasts or motivational audios.
4. Self care (ie. gym, yoga, massage, mani pedi, etc)
6) Do you eventually want to take on content creation full time? If yes, what is your biggest fear/concern holding you back from that? If not, why?
Most definitely! It is one of my goals to replace my 9-to-5 income and live off of my side incomes and have more control of my time. One thing that’s holding me back from that is that my full-time pay is significantly higher, so at this point, it’s financially not a good decision.
My business mentors have advised me to keep my full-time job until I can bank my engineering income for at least 6 months before “retiring”. Because what’s worse than going to a job, is tasting freedom and having to go back because you can’t afford the lifestyle.
*****
Thank you Naomi for sharing some of your insight into who you are as a person, an influencer and a hustler. This woman is doing big things and is working VERY hard at it, so go give her a follow and watch how she gets it all done!
Comment below how you are dealing with working your 9-5 and hustling on the side or how you did it before you made your side hustle your main hustle.
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