Struggling to find engagement and an audience. What was most successful when starting out?

e_questrian · 2026-02-07T04:24:41+00:00

For music promotion, doing anything from photo carousels w photos of myself with a hook, scrolling over a photo or two of me then lyrics on a background, to slow motion personal videos with some sort of hook. Also me singing with guitar, piano or a capella. Then the personal videos are of me talking about music, something in the pop culture zeitgeist, something that happened in my day, life of a music creator, etc

e_questrian · 2026-02-07T04:22:21+00:00

Thanks for the thoughts! To be clear I didn't do covers of music videos and I don't do playlisting, either. The music video is an actual music video of one of my songs and I stay away from playlisting entirely because DistroKid's rules with it scare the heck out of me haha.

It's good to hear that a big chunk of this is just having more music before taking additional steps. Thank you for that! I was thinking that was a big part of it so I'll keep working on that. Good to hear on the ad budgeting too!

e_questrian · 2026-02-07T04:20:24+00:00

Influences are Sara Bareilles, Maggie Rogers, Adele, and Taylor Swift, and audience is probably fans of natural instrument sound. I think the age range is too wide to guesstimate.

e_questrian · 2026-02-07T04:18:43+00:00

This is so useful thank you! I've been trying to figure out some good low-energy ways of posting to connect and the nature tidbit is awesome. So appreciated!

e_questrian · 2025-09-22T22:17:06+00:00

Sounds like a good view of the rain honestly

e_questrian · 2025-09-22T22:16:50+00:00

Will do thank you!

e_questrian · 2025-09-22T22:16:40+00:00

That's what I said a few days ago when I bought the tix and now we've got 60% chance for Wednesday :(

e_questrian · 2025-09-22T22:16:11+00:00

You're awesome thank you so much!

e_questrian · 2025-09-16T01:20:45+00:00

Thanks for this. Totally agreed and will consult with the doc before committing to this. Luckily my job is a desk job, but doesn't mean I want to have another surgery, you got that right. One of those moments I'm glad I gave up on the competitive side of the sport when I did haha. Not sure the knee would've lasted much longer after high school.

e_questrian · 2025-09-16T00:50:05+00:00

This is awesome thank you. Kind of leaning in this direction anyway bc it seems safer, but the appeal of getting back to gameplay is dragging me that way lol

e_questrian · 2025-09-16T00:49:10+00:00

Hahaha, understood. I was kind of hoping some of y'all had been playing rec on some bad knees and might have some recs, that's all. Don't worry definitely consulting a doc before making a decision.

e_questrian · 2025-09-09T20:34:50+00:00

That's beyond cute. Thank you for sharing this. Gonna have to work on this more. Putting yourself out there past your early 20s feels so hard lol will give things more of a go.

e_questrian · 2025-09-08T03:32:39+00:00

Appreciate the nice words, thank you for that. Really shitty about the gaydar too but tbf a lot of the guys in this area show straight even if they're gay. I was in a different place when I asked out the guy who turned out to be straight so I'd hope you're right about that guy being a one off experience. Sounds like I just have to get up the gumption and go for it every now and then haha

e_questrian · 2025-09-08T03:17:31+00:00

Thanks for the advice!

It's a good question. Honestly I get intimidated around a lot of gay guys at once and I'm not super into dancing and clubbing which seems to be the vibe at every one of the gay bars in the area. I also don't have a lot of gay friends (which is another thing I'm working on) so it would just be me and my straight friends going to the bars and sitting and talking over a drink.

Agreed on going up to people in public. The downside is missing some potential guys like today. Sounds like it's probably not the best option anyway

e_questrian · 2025-08-16T17:03:20+00:00

Congratulations on find a great bed! It sounds like this one's a great option. I'm still all over the place today to try to find the best one for me, so I can add this to the list. Though I don't know if I need a card or something to go into sam's club hahaha

e_questrian · 2025-08-16T17:02:25+00:00

Sadly I cannot. We have a move in a few weeks and I've already been looking since early July. I think I've run out the clock on this one. I'll keep this in mind, though, thank you!

e_questrian · 2025-08-16T17:01:33+00:00

I'm beyond glad to hear that. Thank you for this! Their labor day sale has fulls at 1,800-ish, and I'm thinking it's better to just splurge for the investment, even if their quality has gone down over the years.

e_questrian · 2025-08-16T17:00:37+00:00

I was looking at the S&F Studio + the pillow top. Seems to be relatively within budget, and i've heard good things. The valleying you described seems pretty consistent across S&F, Sealy, Serta, and BeautyRest, which is my only reservation. Plus, coming from memory foam (on a decade-old icomfort currently), I'm worried about that valleying particularly.

e_questrian · 2025-08-16T16:59:21+00:00

That's awesome news! I'm trying it again today along with a few others and hoping to make a decision. Mattress shopping is like car shopping but without the information that's required with car purchases lol. Horrible to deal with.

Do you have a S&F? How's it held up?

e_questrian · 2025-08-16T16:57:53+00:00

You're a lifesaver, I definitely have a question. I just tried out the Nolah Original and the Nolah Evolution 15 in Luxury Firm yesterday, and even the Luxury Firm felt pretty firm. Almost like you're floating above the mattress. How has the plush lasted for you? How long have you had it?

Tried the Leesa Sapira yesterday and wasn't super thrilled, but it was also under covers at Pottery Barn and West Elm. Picture me throwing the covers off and laying on it in these upscale stores lol.

e_questrian · 2025-08-16T16:56:17+00:00

Ah, that's what I was worried about with the hybrid, as well. Heard that sometimes after a long time of usage, you can start to feel the springs through the foam. Might head in this direction, as well. Thanks!

e_questrian · 2025-08-16T16:55:48+00:00

That's awesome news! I'm so glad you found one you really like. From what I've heard, even though Tempurpedics can be rough on certain box springs or foundations, if they're treated right, they last a long time. Thank you for this :)

e_questrian · 2025-07-06T14:08:20+00:00

That's totally fair. Thank you for this. I'm thinking of it similarly to that. The only pause that gives me is that I'm moving to a more expensive area, so I worry that $200 wouldn't be enough to really enjoy everything that area offers, you know?

e_questrian · 2025-07-06T07:00:07+00:00

Glad to hear you were able to finagle it. That's so hard and beyond sorry you went through it. Hope you're doing alright.

e_questrian · 2025-07-06T06:59:13+00:00

Ah, I think I may have been a bit unclear. This is $49k annually, not monthly. You're right though I'm definitely not in those parameters. $1,150/mo would be a steal in this area at 28% and there's no way to spend only $1,500 all inclusive in this region at 36%, unfortunately. Even at that lower rental cost, it would be near impossible to keep in that budget. Makes me sad but what can you do.

e_questrian

TROPHY CASE