Bout’ Her Business: Shelby Tinsley
Disrupting the Social App Space with Positivity
Wake up. Open your eyes. Feel around the bed for your phone. Scroll. Scroll. Scroll. Double tap. Comment flames emoji. Scroll. Double tap. Screenshot. Send meme to the group chat. Scroll. Scroll. Scroll. Double tap an influencer’s vacation photos. Wish you were on vacation instead of getting ready for work. Wish you didn’t have to work for money. Wish you could be an influencer. Google how much money influencers make. Read article on Kylie Jenner being the youngest “self-made” billionaire. Roll eyes. Toss phone to the side. Get out of bed.
Sound familiar?
From the moment you open your eyes until the moment you fall asleep, you’re constantly consuming messages through social media apps. While some of these messages are harmless, some actually take more of a toll than you realize. It’s time for us to find more outlets for positive interactions on our phones.
This month’s installment of “Bout’ Her Business” highlights Shelby Tinsley, Founder and CEO of iShallBe, a social app that provides daily doses of positivity through motivational messages, affirmation exercises, and a sense of community.
I caught up with Shelby this past Sunday, a time when most people would be winding down their weekend. Instead, she was ramping up for another week of sending out positive messages, videos, emails, and other forms of motivational content to iShallBe’s audience of more than 2,000 users. All while balancing a full-time job in Human Resources.
“Here I was. I had just got my master’s in May of 2016, but I found myself sitting at work thinking, ‘Why am I so bored?’” — Shelby Tinsley
From that moment, Shelby knew it was time to come up with a plan for her next business venture. In December 2016, she began pulling affirmations from church sermon notes and conversations with family and friends, which laid the groundwork for iShallBe.
“There’s this thing where entrepreneurship is glamorized on social media…In order for me to get iShallBe to where it needed to be, as well as for me to live my day to day life, I had to start coming up with cool ways to make money.”
— Shelby Tinsley
Shelby was very transparent about the fact that she works two jobs in addition to running iShallBe, which helps fund the brand that you see today. Having no background in business or tech, she soon realized the importance of adding an app developer to her team. By December 2017, iShallBe became available for download on iOS and Android devices.
Within the next year, Shelby sees iShallBe gaining more funding and providing more IRL experiences.
“Currently, we refer to the app as a happy place. In the future we want to make it more tangible so that people can connect outside of the app.” — Shelby Tinsley
The overall mission of iShallBe is to encourage people to speak positive things into existence. During our conversation, Shelby offered more insight into why this mission is so important to her.
iShallBe is not only a play on her name, Shelby, but it’s also a testament to the way that she views life. In the midst of doing what it takes to run her business, Shelby draws her inspiration from iShallBe’s users, who have, on various occasions, given her examples of how the app has helped them get through tough times.
In realizing all of the work and sacrifices she’s made, Shelby continues to fearlessly press forward in pursuit of her ultimate goal, working for iShallBe full-time.
“I had to stop allowing fear to make the decisions for me. If you don’t have faith and you’re driven by fear, you’re not gonna get very far in life.” — Shelby Tinsley
If you’re looking for some motivation that goes past Monday, definitely give iShallBe a try.
