Nabeel Shah on life as a male influencer
“Don’t get caught up trying to be someone else. No matter what you do on social media, be yourself and use your successes and failures to iterate on that. Don’t start trying to be like your idol or another successful person, because that’s really hard to sustain and you’re not likely to end up happy.”
Nabeel Shah was born in Pennsylvania and raised in the Greater DC area. He went to college at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, where he met his better half and received his degree in Electrical Engineering. He blogs about food, men’s fashion, men’s grooming, fitness and his dog, Marbel.
The US based influencer talks us through his life as a blogger and tells us about the best advice his dad gave him which helped him on a professional and personal level.
Childhood
My parents are from Pakistan (Islamabaad and Karachi) but I was born and raised in the US. Like most other immigrant parents, my parents gave up a lot for me and my sisters but in return they also expected a lot from us. There was no “balancing” between work, school, sports, and family. We had to not just give 100% to all of them but also excel in all of them. I went to grade school in MD and eventually moved to Atlanta for college at Georgia Tech, where I got my undergrad in Electrical Engineering.
Growing up, like most other kids, I switched dreams like I did outfits. I wanted to be an FBI agent, firefighter, an inventor, a lawyer, an engineer. I wanted to do anything that I saw make a difference in people’s lives. I eventually settled on becoming an Electrical Engineer, something that fed my need for solutions oriented thinking, but it’s also a field that leaves you with a skillset that can be applied across so many career.
Insta Blogging
My wife Maryam and I started our blog (Thread & So) two years ago as a way for us to be able to pursue something a bit more creative than our day-to-day lives. Blogging was great in providing that outlet because it was whatever I wanted it to be; fashion, food, travel, family. Eventually it became part of our lives and our careers. Not just because we saw success in the business of it, but also because we started to realize how much of an impact we had on our community.
Opportunities for male influencers
I think female influencers definitely have a more diverse opportunity set in blogging than men do. The beauty circuit is huge on social media and it’s something that the average male can’t participate in. Men also have very different follower patterns than women so our engagement is much more difficult to measure. That being said though, there’s definitely plenty to go around.
Disconnecting from social media
It’s definitely really hard, especially since social media isn’t just work. It’s a way for us to keep in touch with our friends and family. We’ve tried to set a few ground rules for ourselves though. No phones during dinner, which we always eat together. When we’re traveling and sightseeing, we’ve stopped taking our camera. We take our phones, and once we take the pictures/stories we need, we put away the tech and really try to take the experience in.
Least favourite thing about social media
Social media can cause people so much anxiety and depression. I wish I could help more people to understand that social media is just a highlight reel. Very few people are posting about their bills, family problems, and health woes.
Best advice
The best advice I ever took was from my dad and a college professor. I was taking a microcontrollers course and was not doing very well in it. About 60% through the semester I went to my Professor and tried to see if there was anything that could be done (my school didn’t give very many curves), he said no and that I would likely fail the course. I tried to blame it on him, saying that so many people are failing and that it has to be his style of teaching and he said (I’m paraphrasing) “That may be the case. But tomorrow when you go for an interview, no company is going to ask if you failed because you had a bad professor, they’re going to pass up your resume because you couldn’t figure out how to get it done.” My dad independently reiterated that to me later that night. And that has stuck with me ever since. We get so caught up in figuring out ways to blame others that we forget that the consequences of our failure are ours alone, so we should start taking more ownership of our lives. Anyways, I upped my hours at work to be able to afford a tutor, and ended up passing the class!
Podcasts and books
I watch and read a lot of different talks. Whether it be on artificial intelligence, blockchain, leadership, or cooking, I really enjoy learning. And, honestly, if you’re willing to open up your mind, you’ll realize how much wisdom can translate between fields.
Tips for start-ups/young entrepreneurs for approaching & working with Influencers
Approach an influencer as you would a marketing agency. Do your research, be ready to provide a budget (or a reason for not having one), and make sure that your brand echoes our own. Also, make sure you spell our names correctly. You’d be surprised how often I get an email with my name misspelled.
Advice to young entrepreneurs
Don’t quit your day job… yet. Yes, eventually you’ll probably have to make that final leap to fully dedicate every waking hour to chasing your dream, but until then, grind it out while you’re working your day job. Build a business plan, make a prototype, , think of a company name, build a website… all of that, you can do from 5–9. Entrepreneurship is as much about calculated risk as it is about trail blazing and innovation. That first calculation though, should be WHEN you need to jump all in.
