“My why is that I want to do this for myself and forget everyone else’s comments. I think that will help with anything in life.” – UTHUMI SENANAYAKE
#011 – In this episode, Uthumi and I discuss what helped Uthumi to get started with blogging. We talk through fears of creating content and the advice you get throughout the journey.
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Highlights from this episode:
[1:49] What started your journey in content creation?
[2:57] What fears were you facing when you started?
[9:35] Dealing with challenges that come your way when you publish online
[13:11] Good and bad advice Uthumi’s received
Connect with Uthumi:
A little bit about Uthumi:
Uthumi is a high achieving corporate woman who rose up the ranks extremely quickly and is in a leadership position at a very young age. From day one, she has followed the South Asian woman timeline – go to school, graduate from university, get a job, and get married. She would like the most unorthodox thing she does to be more than wanting to become a mother in her late 30s. To break herself from this narrative, she ventured into content creation where she publishes about her dating experiences.
Transcription:
Uthumi Senanayake
You know what, interestingly with my first blog post, I had no fears. Nothing. It was that is very interesting. Yeah, I think I was living in the naive, I guess where I don’t know anyone no one’s gonna have a backlash or I wasn’t even really expecting people to read it. To be honest. I kind of just did it because it sounded like fun.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
You are listening to the spicy Chai podcast. I’m your host, Mahrukh Imtiaz. And I’m on a journey to create inspiring, helpful and meaningful content. This podcast is not going to showcase high-profile individuals spouting hollow advice like find your passion or hustle harder. Instead, my mission is to bring you the voices of people who are just a bit ahead of you. People you can relate to, and the people who will inspire you to put your own voice out there.
So grab your cup of Spicy Chai, and let’s get this show started.
Welcome to the Spicy Chai podcast.
Today’s guest is a high-achieving corporate woman who rose up the ranks extremely quickly. She is currently in a leadership position at a very young age. And aside from managing a very stressful job, she has recently ventured into content creation. There she writes about her dating experiences. You’re very fun we’re gonna dig into today. So I’m extremely excited to have her on the show. Welcome to the show Uthumi.
Uthumi Senanayake
Thanks for having me here, Mahrukh.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
So to start off, what is your story? What got you started with posting blogs? I would say?
Uthumi Senanayake
Um, I think it was, you know, at that time, I had settled into work, it had been about four or five years of me, continuously working the nine-to-five. And, you know, it was a time I was also hearing a lot more about blog posts and people you know, wanting to become the next Instagram thing or the next medium thing, right? So just hearing a lot of buzz around that as well. And I was like, what’s going on? And I think the people I was surrounding myself by as well, like, especially you Mahrukh You were talking about, you know, I aspired to do more than the nine to five, right? There’s more out there, there’s more outlets to pursue. So I started to hear more about more about that in my Facebook and again, with my inner circle. So I was like, Okay, let me give this a shot. It seems like a lot of fun. And then that’s when I started checking out. Okay, how do I create my own website? What would I write about? And that’s when my first blog post came out? That’s actually
Mahrukh Imtiaz
That’s very interesting. It’s what makes lots of people just start because they want to do more than their nine to five, they either want to make an impact, or they want to check where their hobbies are, or you know, just something more exciting. So when you were getting started, what were some of the fears that you were facing? What?
Uthumi Senanayake
You know what, interestingly, with my first blog post, I had no fears nothing. It was that is very interesting. Yeah, I think I was living in the naive, I guess where I don’t know anyone, no one’s gonna have a backlash, or I wasn’t even really expecting people to read it. To be honest. I tend to just did it because it sounded like fun. And you know, why don’t I create my web home website? Why don’t I just write write about something I’d like to do. So I wasn’t scared. I really wasn’t scared it just, you know, I was thinking about, you know, what I want to write about how would articulate it, what are the photos I put on? It was it was really fun for me every morning my commute to work, I’d be thinking about that. My walk through the path to work, I was thinking about what photo I want, you know, how would I bold my content? And it was like, Wait, yeah, how would I format everything? It was that’s really what I was thinking about. I wasn’t thinking about you know, the aftermath of me posting it, what type of feedback or what would happen next?
Mahrukh Imtiaz
That’s very interesting because a lot of people that’s what kind of stops them from even starting because they’re so scared of what people will think but I like what you said there it’s if you kind of have this attitude of let’s just have fun. Nobody might even read it I’m gonna do this for myself. At least it gets you started. So I really liked that and do you think you still you have do you have fears today or do you think that attitude carries now I have fears. Ttalk to that a bit why why is that?
Uthumi Senanayake
Yeah so I think after my first post that night you bubble just kind of dispersed where you know you post it everywhere you say on Instagram On Facebook, I have this new blog, you know every now and then you start seeing the likes come in right so then you start measuring Okay, oh, not according to myself, but according to other people if they liked it or not, right. So like you have the likes, you have the loves, you have the comments. And then and then you know you have people are like ah I don’t know, I remember one I think you remember as well where one person, they didn’t necessarily vibe with the content of what I was writing about. I was really upset. I was thinking, you know, I obviously took it personally. They didn’t know what I was signing up for here.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Especially because you’re writing for fun, right? It’s just like, you’re like, Well, I’m just writing here for fun if you don’t want to read it, don’t read it.
Uthumi Senanayake
Right. Yeah. You know, is their opinion, they’re entitled to it. I shared it on social media, they’re, they’re more than welcome to provide comments on that, too, right. I’m the one who exposed it. Right. So I shouldn’t be able to deal with the comments as well. And again, I didn’t know this was going to come either, right? When I when I published so. Yeah, so when they commented, I was like, Oh, someone didn’t like something I wrote right now. I’m really upset, like, should I adjust? You know, should I? Should I? Yeah. Should I tailor my content to what other people want me to write about? And, you know, if I publish something else, will someone else be upset? So all those fears started after I published my first.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
And it wasn’t a hate comment. It was just someone giving their opinion on what they didn’t like, could you just expand a bit? And like, what was the comment just so that we could just tap into that a little bit? Yeah, so remember it all? Well, first, first bad comment? Yes, we all do. Trust me.
Uthumi Senanayake
It was it was on. So I published a blog post on top five things women want in a man. Of course, you know, like, you can’t publish something like that without someone saying something, right. You’re gonna have opinions on it. And naturally, so So anyway, that was that was. And
Mahrukh Imtiaz
I remember you said stuff like facial hair. Like it was very, like controversial stuff. It wasn’t just a nice personality. Yeah. Don’t be emotional.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Exactly. I remember, I’m just adding more context. Are we from me?
Uthumi Senanayake
Um, so yeah. I wasn’t thinking about anyone saying anything after I posted it. So. Yeah, so that individual, like wasn’t wasn’t so hard about, you know, me saying, you know, it’s my role to be the emotional one. I can’t have up the emotional one type of thing like that. My partner, my male.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
All right, so you said like, it’s one of the qualities of the top five men is that you don’t want them to be emotional. Correct? Because that was just one of your opinion. You took a comedy side to this. And sorry, I’m just adding more context. Yeah. Continue. Yes.
Uthumi Senanayake
Exactly. And so, so yeah. So I mean, I she was naturally of the mind where, you know, no, males should also be able to cry if they want, they can be sensitive if they want. If they can meet again, angry, sad. They can do whatever they want. They shouldn’t be restricted. Just because the female was supposed to be played the more emotional role. So
Mahrukh Imtiaz
So yeah. And that’s, that’s a fair comment. I just felt like it was the tone that it came with, right. It wasn’t what they said that or to you. It’s the way they said it.
Uthumi Senanayake
Yeah, yeah. And, yes, for sure. I agree. And I think, nonetheless, the Whitesville was like, there was a certain level of unpreparedness. Again, like with content creation, you have to come to a certain type of maturity, right? Where people are just gonna say that it’s their opinion, right? Whether they say it well, or they’re completely off off the chain, like they’re, they’re not making any sense. Like, you have to still take it, you have to still put it in its place, right? That this is someone’s, and it shouldn’t waver what I want to do and where I want to take it. Right, right. So so at that time, I still, even if she said it really well, you should do it with the right tone, I feel a certain type of way, I feel sad. I feel that you know, maybe I’m not doing the right thing. Or
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Maybe my perspective isn’t the right perspective. I can see that. Yeah, it’s funny, because so many people talk about the hate comments, you know, and obviously those we always say like, just ignore them, those people are really hurt. But people don’t talk enough about those comments were genuinely people just have different perspectives than you and how that could also not feel that great. Like, you know, I mean, as much as you like what you said about maturity. There are a certain kind of maturity that comes with content creation, because you have to become okay with someone saying, Hey, I don’t agree with your perspective. It’s nothing wrong with it. You’re not hating on you. They’re not saying bad things or just saying, Hey, you wrote this and I don’t agree with it. How would you say it when someone’s starting, how do they get to that maturity? If you were to break it down? Yeah.
Uthumi Senanayake
So yeah, I, I would say, You know what one of one of the easiest answers for me is just kind of keep going with it. Right? Right. Keep posting, keep posting, keep posting, and eventually you’re gonna start seeing the trends, you’re going to become more competent in yourself for sure. But I’d say even before that, though, start with just thinking about what’s motivating you to do this, right? Like, if I was more sure of myself saying, I’m doing doing that I’m just doing this because it’s fun, right? I’m myself. I’m doing this, like, worst case scenario, I’m just going to have like, 1000 blog posts for me to read back 5050 years later and think, oh, you know, funny, right?
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Like a scrapbook? Yeah. Yeah.
Uthumi Senanayake
Um, you know, what was motivating me at the time. If I kind of, if I kind of just kept telling me that telling myself that every single time, I think I would have adjusted to the feedback a lot better, right, I would have been a lot less intimidated and scared to, to make subsequent posts, it would have been a lot more easier for me. Again, if I predefined my motivation behind posting in the first place.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
I really love that it’s almost like the the buzzword for that now, right now is the why No, your why for starting. And it’s actually like, everyone says, like, write it down somewhere. So you can actually go back to it something I do, I have, I think I’ve sent it to you as well. You know, I just write down your why send it to people that you really trust, and you believe that they’re safe. And that way, when you’re going through this rut, or just going through a bad comment or anything like that, they kind of remind you in what your Y is for starting. And it’s the same thing. The other thing that I really liked about what she said there is, it’s important to have her y but it’s also important to just kind of keep posting not for the sake of this might become something especially when you’re starting, like you know, I feel a lot of people today they start because oh, this is gonna make me famous, or I’m gonna go viral, or I’m gonna have this like side hustle, that’s gonna make me a million dollars. The problem with that is, when you have that kind of intention, you don’t do the right things, right. So like, I think Brene Brown says nobody who got famous got famous because they wanted to be famous. They, they did it because they were constantly serving others. And it’s one of those things when you want to serving others, you’re going to become better, you’re going to have more quality in your content, you’re going to want to serve, but if you’re going after the fame, the viral video, the money, that’s gonna show, right, and that’s where you kind of stopped. So I definitely definitely really liked those pieces. So throughout, like when you posted the blogs, and when the comments started coming in, I bet people started talking to you about it as well. What would you say is some of the good advice you got? And what would you say some of the bad advice you got?
Uthumi Senanayake
Yeah. Good advice was people giving me ideas? I kind of really liked that right? Oh, this Why don’t you post about that? Right. And that was really exciting. Yeah.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Don’t you love it when that happens when people just be like, Hey, I saw you doing this, why don’t you do it? And it’s like, you’re, you don’t even think about all the content ideas. People are just giving it to you. I love that. Yeah, exactly. And
Uthumi Senanayake
It’s nice to feel people excited for you. Right. And that was really special to me. So I remember that during during my content creation dates, that, you know, like this. People being excited for you was a really special feeling for sure. And then in terms of the not so great advice. Um, I don’t know, like, to be honest, I don’t I don’t nothing is coming to my mind right now in terms of people who were being discouraging about it or, you know, telling me to, you know, deviate for some deviate from something that I was less passionate about. Oh, actually, one person I was again, like, it kind of goes back to what I was mentioning before about how, you know, people I was associating, associating at the time were really into content creation. And so you were one of them. But then also someone I was ready to go train with doing my morning commute. That individual was all about content creation. So one hour every morning and sometimes in the afternoon to all he talked about is like the new app he’s creating or like the new right. And so one of the good feedback that I got from him was, you know, different domains I can start posting on right and that was the first time I heard of medium. I never heard of me or anything. You know what, this is a great place like look how easy it is to Write your blogs. And you know, people can access it. So that was that was really good and helpful feedback I got. But yeah, going back to the not so great, honestly, nothing, nothing in particular is coming to my mind. Right. And that’s
Mahrukh Imtiaz
And that’s fair, like, a lot of times when, especially when we’ve just like started off and done something. And if we don’t have a lot of cognate craters around us, unless we intentionally go and ask for feedback, not a lot of people would give you like, some bad advice. I feel like, there’s discouraging advice. But I wouldn’t say bad. Because personally, like, if I were to answer that question for me, because I’ve done this for quite a bit now. And I’ve very intensely surrounded myself with a lot of content creators, you know, I’ve literally gone out and found them on the internet. For me, it’s, it’s one of the bad advices is niche down right away. And I think that’s bad advice. Because in the beginning, you’re finding your voice, you know, you’re finding who you speak to what your message is. And if, when it’s like when people say niche down, it puts us undue pressure on you, because you’re like, oh, shoot, now I have to figure out what my niche is. For people listening in the US niche, like, you know, what my niches like, you know, it’s, it makes it very difficult, because, again, it’s putting in all these layers before you start. But I truly believe when you start, just start talking, start giving out your message, just start writing your stories, and then eventually, you will notice a trend, like you mentioned earlier, you’re gonna notice a trend, you’re going to notice some points, you’re like, Oh, I like talking about this, but I don’t like talking about that. So I mean, for example, I’m very passionate about cricket. I think everyone around me knows that I think about cricket all the time. But if you were to tell me to start a blog post on cricket today, I don’t know how I feel about that, like, not so good. Not so great. You know, it’s like, okay, I love cricket. But I don’t know if I want to start a post on that. But imagine people telling me to niche down because it’s my passion. So that’s something that I consider bad advice. I mean, maybe in few years, I might not think that it is maybe people were right. But we’ll know. We’ll know pretty soon. But
Uthumi Senanayake
But, that you mentioned that sometimes, you know, constructive feedback only come solicited. And again, because I was still so new. I want to hear constructive feedback. So no one. And it’s something that I really admire in what you do. You know, every time you you, you post something new, whether it be a video, a picture, or a blog post, you said, you know, I usually always come back and say, Man, that’s great. That’s awesome. And you’re like, Thank you. Thank you, thank you. But like, please also follow up with some like, constructive feedback, like what could I have done better?
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Hola! This is Mahrukh. And now we will be ending this episode. If you want to hear more about feedback and constructive feedback in my conversation with me around that go to Episode 12, which is part two of this series. I appreciate you listening. I love you. Bye.
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