The Road to Becoming a Reelies 2024 Winner! 🏆

This month, I attended The Reelies, an award show created to celebrate solopreneurs, small business owners, and content creators.

Three of my reels were finalists, but with a busy work and travel schedule, I decided the extra trip to Atlanta wasn’t going to be realistic (and I was sure I wasn’t going to win).

It wasn’t until one of my own clients reminded ME of the importance of showing up for my business (and getting content, wink wink), that I decided I needed to go anyway.

The networking alone would be worth it (and it was).

So three nights before the event, I purchased my flight, hotel, and event ticket (which were sold out, but I was able to snag one that became available).

Before I knew it, I was on my way to Atlanta for a quick, less than 24-hour trip to represent Social With Karen and meet so many other hardworking content creators who can relate to what I do on a daily basis.

I met the most wonderful business owners, fellow finalists, and some of my favorite industry experts who I have followed for years.

As if that wasn’t enough….

There were 1,071 submissions into The Reelies.

150 of those became finalists.

And I was one of the 31 Reelies winners!!

I won for Best Educational Reel for one of the dance studios that I manage.

The reality behind this win is that I’ve dedicated 8+ years of time, patience, and hundreds of pieces of content to achieve the results I’ve gotten for my social media clients.

Social media is truly a marathon, not a sprint.

Every post, video, and piece of content (especially when backed by strategy) is a small step in an uphill journey that often feels unrewarding.

We’re told to stay consistent, experiment, and be patient—yet it’s discouraging when it feels like no one’s noticing.

But the more you show up, the more opportunities you create for yourself.

This award was proof of that. It was validation for all the research, trial and error, and experience that I pour into my clients’ social media.

And to think, I almost didn’t show up for myself by not attending!

Moral of this story: Show up. Keep going. If you feel frustrated by the slow pace of your progress, invest in someone who’s already been in your shoes to take the burden of social media off of you as a business owner.

The only thing that’s for sure is that you’ll never reach your target audience on social media by not posting.

Find my finalists here in the Best Educational Reel and Best POV Reel categories.

Watch the full award ceremony here.

Meet all the 2024 winners here.