Now more than ever, students and college graduates are making money from the convenience of their home. More and more people are giving themselves the title of “business owner” and “self-employed”.
As for Barnard College graduate, Arianne Siegel, blogging about her favorite female-founded companies was merely the beginning of what would launch her career in E-Commerce and social media. Arianne Siegel is the mind behind the chic blog, Seeking Millenial, that features trendy products, freelancing advice, and social media management services. Siegel has worked with a variety of well-known brands from Tinder to Caulipower Pizza.
Siegel created Seeking Millenial in her sophomore year of college after interning at her favorite blog, Well+Good.
“Whether you’re a blogger, content creator, or want to work on the strategy side of a brand, it’s also super important to have some kind of showcase of your current and past work”. Siegel shared.
Since starting Seeking Millenial, Siegel has been able to generate income through building clientele with big brands and social media users. Here’s how she did it and you can too.
How did you connect with big brands?
“The first thing I recommend is creating a media kit! When I was more of a lifestyle blogger, I definitely kept my media kit updated regularly. Now, I have a social media portfolio that functions similarly and I keep that updated regularly.
The next thing is to reach out to them—a lot of times I’ll shoot over a simple DM, but I make sure to ask for an email address in the DM that way I can send a fuller pitch or inquiry to the brand.
My friend and fellow content creator Austen Tosone created a guide called Right On Pitch that’s super helpful for sending those types of emails.
My last piece of advice for working with big brands is to make sure to let them know what you personally would bring to the table—essentially your value proposition. How would working with you benefit the brand and what unique content can you create for them?”
How did you establish your business and gain clientele?
“Most of my new clients come from referrals from my current clients. That’s why it’s SO important to have good relationships with all of your clients and make sure you’re meeting their goals and even giving them extra value in any way you can. Two of my current clients I interned for in college and so when we reconnected (they both reached out to me once I went full time in my business), they recognized my value and are now paying me double what I was making in college.”
What is one piece of advice you would have told yourself when you started your business?
“Start (and keep) saving for taxes! I’m so risky and like to reinvest in my business rather than stash away for savings, but I’m trying to build my savings for when it’s tax time.”
What is your advice for college students and graduates looking to sell their services through social media?
“Before you start to sell anything, make sure that you’ve nurtured your audience to trust you by providing them with value regularly. You have to establish trust and credibility before you can start asking for your audience to give you anything. My other tip would be to do the market research before you release or try to sell anything—make sure there is actually a market need/ demand for the type of service or product you’re looking to sell. And lastly, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there—I’m almost at 10k on Instagram and was still scared to show my face on IG stories until a couple of weeks ago. But the truth is people want to see who is behind the brand because it helps them better connect with you.”
You can follow along Arianne’s business ventures and lifestyle highlights on her instagram @seekingmillenial or visit her website https://seekingmillennial.com.