Latest / We Built This Brand / Marketing With Boundaries: Social Media, Mental Health & Authenticity with Halee Sprinkle

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Marketing With Boundaries: Social Media, Mental Health & Authenticity with Halee Sprinkle · We Built This Brand

• 0:00
  Yeah, so kind of my mentality.
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  I'm very big on mental health and social media.
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  You have to be careful because it's a place that
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  doesn't always feel great for your mental health.
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  No.
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  So a lot of that.
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  I also like to take clients back to the beginning of, it's called social media.
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  It's not marketing media.
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  It's not advertising media.
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  It's called social media.
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  It's meant to be a place to be social.
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  It sounds so simple, but sometimes I have to remind them of the origin
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  and the reason for it, and the reason that we as consumers are on there.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  We're not on there to be shown flyers and infographics.
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  To learn about the benefits of hvac.
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  That's not why we're on there.
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  You know, we are on there to see maybe something
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  funny that the HVAC team did, or mm-hmm.
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  You know, there's ways you can incorporate your
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  business and your marketing and be community minded.
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  Welcome to, we Built this brand where we pull back the curtain on the people,
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  the ideas, and the sometimes sparkly process of building something that matters.
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  Today we're talking with Haley Sprinkle the owner at
• 0:54
  Czech Yourself Marketing a social media marketing agency.
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  Located right here in my hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee.
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  Now I've known Haley for quite a while.
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  We were on the board of a MA Knoxville together years ago, and I've had
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  the privilege of watching her start this business from the ground up.
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  In this interview, we dive into her brand and we're gonna talk
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  about where she got her name, how she's positioned herself, how
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  that's helped her grow her business, and we'll also dive into
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  some deeper conversations about social media and mental health.
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  And how navigating that as a modern marketing professional can be challenging.
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  And lastly, we'll talk through the challenges and nuances of using ai.
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  I know it's a bit of a challenge these days.
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  And that said, without further ado, here's my conversation with Haley.
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  Sprinkle of Czech yourself Marketing.
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  Well, Haley, welcome to We Built This Brand.
• 1:46
  Thank you.
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  Thank you.
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  You've had an amazing guest at this table, so I feel honored to be here.
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  Wow.
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  Amongst, amongst the people at the table.
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  I know.
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  I'm very grateful to have you here.
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  I'm excited to be chatting today and really just wanna talk to
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  you today about what you've done with Czech yourself marketing.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  Um, how you've built that up, um, into what it is today.
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  Okay.
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  And kind of where you got to.
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  Yeah.
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  So,
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  um, really just, you know, how did, how did all this get started?
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  Like, where did you start your career?
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  So I was born in February.
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  No, I'm just kidding.
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  Um, so I did, I'll start that far back.
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  That far, but growing up in the Midwest, grew up in a very close community.
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  Community.
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  Mindfulness was the center of my family.
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  Our church just really, you know, showing up, pitching in.
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  So I've carried those skillsets and those
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  disciplines through life, um, into college.
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  And believe it or not, I went to college to be an Army nurse.
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  Um, oh
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  wow.
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  Right after nine 11.
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  It was kind of that I felt passionate about helping my
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  community and that felt like what the choice was gonna be.
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  And then a year into that realizing, you know, I
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  don't really think I can do that the rest of my life.
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  There's a lot of, I'm really connected with people and I thought that would
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  probably be really hard for me on that side of life to maybe fulfill that.
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  So did a 180 and switched to business marketing.
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  Yeah, completely different, um, area, but I've always been very
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  creative, very curious in the sales and marketing side of things.
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  So kind of switch that mindfulness, but then took the community with that.
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  Um, and in my careers, that definitely became.
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  An attribute of what I was doing with, um, a lot of non-profit board, um,
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  seats that I held and just within my jobs, and then kind of had that aha
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  moment within my last corporate role of there was a need in the market.
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  Hmm.
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  You know, it's always that need as well as wasn't super happy with kind
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  of corporate lifestyle and just the work-life balance, non-existent.
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  Stepped out in 2017 to launch my own business.
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  Czech yourself Marketing.
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  Nice.
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  So what was that aha
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  moment for you?
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  Yeah, so I think very particularly, it was a client that we had
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  gone to meet with to pitch an advertising package and they just
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  had so many questions that were basic marketing questions and
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  they were so overwhelmed with what we were presenting them because
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  they had no base knowledge of even the words we were using.
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  Hmm.
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  And that overwhelm, I did my empathy, I like almost wanted to
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  start crying in the meeting for them 'cause they were just.
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  So disheartened where their business was going, where it was at.
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  And they're like, I can't commit to this because
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  I don't even know what you're pitching me.
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  And we just didn't have the time in our, OR capability in
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  where we were at with our roles to be that person for them.
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  Hmm.
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  So it was the aha moment of they just need somebody that will
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  come on the outside and talk to marketing, talk to 'em about
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  marketing, explain things to them without selling a product.
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  Hmm.
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  Um, and I thought, could I do that on my own?
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  And then that kind of sparked the.
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  I would say downhill.
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  Downhill for a while, but then uphill thought of
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  entrepreneurship of what that would look like.
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  Um, leaving the corporate salary and the benefit
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  holder for the family and all those scary steps, so,
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  yeah.
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  Yep.
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  Wow.
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  Aha.
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  Moment.
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  That's a really, really good reason to jump into that career.
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  You found a, mm-hmm.
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  A need in the market.
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  Yeah.
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  You found something that people really needed help with and you dove in.
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  Yeah.
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  That's awesome.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Um, where did the name come from?
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  Check your, because it's not just C-H-E-C-K right's check, like cz, ECH.
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  Yep.
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  So where did that come from?
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  So again, back to my mid, my Midwest roots, uh, Cedar Rapid ias.
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  Born and raised.
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  A area of town is called the Czech Village.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  And as a little girl, it was my little Disney
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  princess, part of town folk art all over the buildings.
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  Beautiful colors.
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  There was a dress shop and a pastry shop.
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  And really my first kind of exposure to entrepreneurs, a lot of family
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  owned businesses from the immigrants in the 1920s still were there.
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  Mm. There was these big lion statues on the bridge, and I've always loved cats.
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  So it was just all these fond memories as a child.
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  So when it came to naming my business,
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  everybody said it should be sprinkle marketing.
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  Okay.
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  Yeah.
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  That's fun.
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  It's very fitting.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  My name fits me very well, but I wanted something different.
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  I wanted something I could walk into a boardroom and feel confident.
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  Of just saying something not as girly and outgoing as I am all the time.
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  So did a naming convention exercise where I love
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  spreadsheets and it gave me three columns and spreadsheet.
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  First one was kind of some words that resonate with you,
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  childhood memories, things that just are family, things
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  that maybe you could easily tell within a, a brand story.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  Second column was values for your future business or yourself as an individual.
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  Um, and then the third was just industry verbiage.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  So kind of then it gave you name and conventions where it kind of crossed.
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  Cross pollinated the words and gave you different naming, um, combinations.
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  And one was Czech yourself marketing.
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  'Cause I had the Czech Village written in kind of the childhood memories.
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  And then I'm also big on self review, stopping and checking yourself.
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  Every time I've changed a career, every time we've moved, every time
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  we've made a family decision, we stop and check ourselves at self review.
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  And so it kind of gave me this check yourself marketing.
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  With the Czech spelled like Czech Republic.
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  And I immediately envisioned my logo and the folk art of the
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  Czech Republic my way I grew up, that I could implement into it.
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  Um, and it just, it sat with me.
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  And it sounded weird to say it the first few times 'cause I was made up.
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  Right.
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  Like Right.
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  Imagine the first person that said Google was like, that's a weird word.
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  Yeah.
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  You know?
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  Yeah.
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  Um, so it was weird to say it first, but
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  then it really stuck and people remember it.
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  Oh, you're the check yourself business.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  Oh, you're that sprinkle check business.
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  And if they get those words right and they can Google it, I'll come up.
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  So Yeah.
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  I can't complain about that.
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  Yeah, it's fun.
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  That's,
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  that's awesome.
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  When, when I heard Czech yourself marketing, I remember when
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  you were coming up with this idea, 'cause we were mm-hmm.
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  Yeah.
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  In the board.
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  On the board together.
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  Yep.
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  At a MA Knoxville.
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  Yep.
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  And, um, I remember loving it because like, uh, the first
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  country I ever visited outside of the United States was mm-hmm.
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  To check Republic.
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  I went to.
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  I love that.
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  Have you been to Prague by the way?
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  I
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  have not.
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  But everybody's first question, I'm always like, I'm really sad to say no.
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  I need to make that in a bucket list item for myself's A. It's
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  beautiful.
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  It's beautiful.
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  And it's a relatively affordable trip too.
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  Yes.
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  It's that part of central Europe where it's
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  really easy to get to and it's just, ugh.
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  Especially if you go in the spring.
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  It's beautiful.
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  I highly recommend you go.
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  Yeah, I need to for sure not have a photo.
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  I have a brand photo shoot.
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  I can make it a business trip.
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  Right.
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  Oh, wink.
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  It's a business
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  expense.
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  100%. Yes.
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  Yes.
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  Yeah.
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  And while you're there, go to the town of Pilsen.
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  Of course.
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  Okay.
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  Adding it.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  Uh, town of Pilsen is the, um, the home of the Pilsner beer.
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  Oh, yes.
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  Yes.
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  Okay.
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  My parents had visited and they, my dad goes a couple times for work.
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  Has been for work and has always brought things home.
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  And I think I have a big coffee mug or something with that on it.
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  So.
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  Nice.
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  Yeah.
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  Pilsner Kel is the name of the brewery, but there's so much beer there.
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  It's like a Knoxville's, a craft beer city.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  But like, they're like the original, the o version of that.
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  Yeah.
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  Okay.
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  It's, it's awesome.
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  Um, but that's, that's really neat.
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  So you, so you've done that, you've, you've built.
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  Czech yourself, marketing.
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  Um, where was that first moment of validation with this business?
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  'cause I know it wasn't just out the gate.
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  There was challenges I'm sure.
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  Associated with it.
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  So yes, it wasn't just out the gate.
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  Immediate success.
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  I know there were some challenges.
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  I don't say failure 'cause I know you've done well, but
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  there's been failure.
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  Tell me about that.
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  Failure is okay.
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  I like to say the F word failure is.
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  Failure is okay to say in entrepreneurship?
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  Absolutely.
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  I
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  think if you haven't failed, you haven't tried hard.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  I think there's, and that can be small failures or big failures.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  There people that have had closed businesses, that's a pretty big failure.
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  Oh yeah.
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  Um, there has been failures.
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  There's been failures and services I've
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  thrown out there to see if people needed.
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  I did a summer of kind of these courses I put out there and it totally failed.
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  And then I let two years go by where I kind
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  of built a program and relaunched that.
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  The pilot program for it this past year, and it was a great success.
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  Hmm.
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  So every failure I took is a challenge to either, I'm not gonna do
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  that again, that was a failure, or how can I do different next time?
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  Hmm.
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  So there definitely was failures, but that true
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  validation moment for me I think was when, um.
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  Two, two parts.
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  One, when partners and collaborators started
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  to want to bring me into projects mm-hmm.
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  That felt kind of a, oh, okay.
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  So they see my value.
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  You know, when you're in corporate, your value
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  is, you're told what your value is, right?
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  This is the salary I wanna give you.
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  This is what you're, you know, you can have within the company.
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  And it's capped here.
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  You're told what your value is.
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  As an entrepreneur, we have to figure that out on our own,
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  and it's one of the most stressful things is to figure out
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  what your pricing is, what your value is to the community.
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  Um, sometimes in just the dollar sign, and I've always been told,
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  I have a friend Icks that tells me to give your price than ad tax.
• 9:32
  You've interviewed Erica.
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  You have it.
• 9:34
  You have That's right, yes.
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  So you can go back to her podcast and listen.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  So I always think about that.
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  I think about her words when I say that.
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  Uh, so that collaboration, those partnerships
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  coming in we're definitely a moment of validation.
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  Then also, one of my big goals was to, um, reach a salary.
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  That was the salary.
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  I left corporate on my own, and when I hit that, it felt like I did it.
• 9:54
  Yeah.
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  You know, I, I did.
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  I did what I said I was going to do, and I got
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  to a place that I can provide with my family.
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  On my own, with my own vacation time, working wherever and however I
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  wanted with my cats, in my pajamas on my couch full time if I want, or
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  on the beach with my son playing in the water, um, versus the corporate.
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  So those were my two big, big moments of validation.
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  Yeah, I I totally get that.
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  'cause I left a big corporate job years ago to go into
• 10:18
  marketing and kinda make my way through that field and
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  I, I cut my salary down to a third of what it was before.
• 10:25
  Yep.
• 10:25
  Yep.
• 10:26
  For years.
• 10:26
  Yeah.
• 10:26
  Mm-hmm.
• 10:27
  It is not an easy journey.
• 10:28
  No.
• 10:28
  And it feels so good when you get back
• 10:30
  there.
• 10:31
  It's, it has, it has immensely.
• 10:32
  Yeah.
• 10:33
  So that's, that's awesome.
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  I mean, those are, those are both really great
• 10:36
  things and um, I know you've done a lot with that.
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  So let's talk a little bit about what you specifically
• 10:41
  focus on within Czech yourself, because Okay.
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  There's a lot.
• 10:44
  Of businesses in the marketing realm, where would you say you specialize?
• 10:49
  Yeah, so again, going back a little farther,
• 10:52
  consultations where I intended to be.
• 10:54
  Just that, that ear to hear on the outside and then 2020
• 10:57
  hit and we all know what happened then everything went away.
• 10:59
  Marketing was the first budgets to be cut most places.
• 11:01
  I was working with a lot of nonprofits at the time and I
• 11:03
  just ended the says, I do not expect you to maintain this.
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  You cannot have fundraising events.
• 11:08
  Mm-hmm.
• 11:08
  So I fired myself on almost all my accounts.
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  Wow.
• 11:10
  And kind of went to zero and tried to figure out.
• 11:12
  What I was gonna do to pivot, um, that became my least favorite word,
• 11:15
  pivot, because I feel like we said it so many times that year, but I did,
• 11:18
  I had to take time to pivot and social media is where everyone needed me.
• 11:21
  Mm. They, that's where we were marketing, that's where people are present.
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  That's where we were getting information and updates and, you know,
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  talking to family and, um, keeping up with everybody and learning.
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  TikTok dances were the first time.
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  So, and, uh, all the challenges, so.
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  I kind of leaned into that skillset and did some certifications and just
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  took all these, did all the free zooms that were out there during that
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  time and really focused in on social media marketing being, um, my number
• 11:44
  one service and it has maintained since then, and it's still morphed
• 11:48
  from that, that place of where I was for my clients to where I am now.
• 11:51
  But a lot of social media marketing whole.
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  You know, white labeling, um, entirely behind
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  the scenes for their social media department.
• 11:57
  Hmm.
• 11:57
  Um, creating strategy, uh, content creation, photography, videography, wherever
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  I need to bring in third party assets where I don't have the skill sets I do.
• 12:04
  So.
• 12:05
  Mm-hmm.
• 12:05
  Um, yeah.
• 12:06
  So that's really been my number one service.
• 12:08
  Yeah.
• 12:08
  Yeah.
• 12:09
  So you focus on social media.
• 12:10
  Mm-hmm.
• 12:11
  What is your approach to, um, to working with a client?
• 12:14
  Like, take, take me through like your, your philosophy in social media.
• 12:18
  Yeah.
• 12:18
  So kind of my mentality, I'm very big on mental health.
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  And social media, you have to be careful because it's a
• 12:24
  place that doesn't always feel great for your mental health.
• 12:26
  No.
• 12:26
  So a lot of that.
• 12:28
  I also like to take clients back to the beginning of, it's called social media.
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  It's not marketing media.
• 12:33
  It's not advertising media.
• 12:34
  It's called social media.
• 12:35
  It's meant to be a place to be social.
• 12:36
  It sounds so simple, but sometimes I have to remind them of the origin
• 12:39
  and the reason for it, and the reason that we as consumers are on there.
• 12:42
  Mm-hmm.
• 12:42
  We're not on there to be shown flyers and infographics and.
• 12:46
  To learn about the benefits of hvac.
• 12:48
  That's not why we're on there.
• 12:50
  You know, we are on there to see maybe something
• 12:51
  funny that the HVAC team did, or mm-hmm.
• 12:53
  You know, there's ways you can incorporate your
• 12:55
  business and your marketing and be community minded.
• 12:58
  Again, always come back to those words.
• 12:59
  Community minded, thinking of our audience, what they're going to enjoy, hitting
• 13:03
  their pain points, reminding them as a small business, I'm still a person.
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  My child probably goes to school with yours.
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  Just resonating and building that community
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  and keeping the social aspect in there.
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  A lot of localized content.
• 13:14
  Yeah.
• 13:14
  That's, that's great.
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  Mm-hmm.
• 13:15
  So, I mean, speaking to that, thinking about the, that localizing of
• 13:20
  the content and the, the mental health aspect, like, is there a reason
• 13:24
  that social, that the mental health aspect became so important to you?
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  Or is that just something
• 13:29
  Yeah, I mean, I, I have, I have pretty high
• 13:31
  anxiety and really bad imposter syndrome.
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  Hmm.
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  So constantly comparing myself to others of.
• 13:37
  Your career, the way your Christmas looks to somebody else's.
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  Mm. How is my house decorated?
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  My house is a hot mess.
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  That person's house is immaculate and it's perfect.
• 13:45
  You know, those constant things that wherever you
• 13:47
  are in life, we're always gonna be second guessing.
• 13:49
  Yeah.
• 13:50
  Um, some people have imposter syndrome more than others.
• 13:52
  I had a, a, you know, kind of a breaking point and realized
• 13:55
  social media was the pivot of it, and a lot of it was.
• 13:58
  Mm-hmm.
• 13:58
  After I. Brought it on as a service.
• 14:00
  I was in it all the time, whether I wanted to be or not.
• 14:02
  Mm. Um, so another amazing individual.
• 14:04
  I'm not sure if you've, I interviewed her.
• 14:05
  If you haven't, you should.
• 14:06
  Samantha Lane,
• 14:07
  I have not interviewed her yet, yet, but I went to high school with her.
• 14:10
  Oh.
• 14:10
  It's a such a small world.
• 14:11
  Samantha, the swim team together.
• 14:12
  It's such a small
• 14:12
  world.
• 14:13
  Oh my gosh.
• 14:13
  Yeah.
• 14:14
  She gave me, um, a great skill set to put.
• 14:16
  Boundaries and time limits on my phone, on my
• 14:18
  social apps to not be on it beyond work hours.
• 14:22
  So if I've spent six hours in it during the day working, I'm not on it at night.
• 14:26
  Wow.
• 14:26
  Because even though I'm in it for clients, I can protect myself on
• 14:29
  my channels, but when I'm in on their channels, I can't block things.
• 14:33
  I can't.
• 14:34
  Unfollow things that don't feel good for my mental health.
• 14:36
  Mm-hmm.
• 14:36
  So I have to be very mindful of what time I'm spending on it
• 14:39
  and giving myself the break to walk away or look, you know,
• 14:43
  do what I need to, to kind of cleanse, cleanse my soul if I
• 14:46
  feel there's things that I'm consuming that don't feel good.
• 14:48
  So it's very important to me that I also kind
• 14:50
  of train, translate that and teach my clients.
• 14:53
  'cause a lot of them come to me like, I hate social media.
• 14:55
  It's a terrible place.
• 14:55
  I don't wanna be on it.
• 14:56
  Why do you think it's valuable?
• 14:58
  I'm like, well, the more good we put on it, the more we are there
• 15:01
  present in the way we should be for community, for each other.
• 15:04
  That helps shove the bad stuff away.
• 15:06
  Yeah.
• 15:07
  Yeah.
• 15:07
  Yeah.
• 15:07
  I mean, I, I think there's definitely value in social
• 15:09
  media and definitely when it comes to mental health.
• 15:11
  I mean, I can think of times where I've tried to do stuff for Humble Pod
• 15:15
  and had, like the first time I tried to run a paid ad, I had somebody like
• 15:18
  cursing me out in the comments because they just didn't wanna see the ad.
• 15:23
  And
• 15:23
  they don't, they don't know there's a real person behind all that.
• 15:26
  Nope.
• 15:26
  Checking that.
• 15:26
  Yep.
• 15:27
  They're just angry that something came up
• 15:29
  in their feed, they didn't volunteer to see.
• 15:31
  And we take that so personally Yes.
• 15:33
  As small business owners.
• 15:33
  Yeah.
• 15:34
  And it's, I I do have to, if you like, train a lot, train on the trolls.
• 15:37
  Mm-hmm.
• 15:38
  Teach them.
• 15:38
  It's, it's not a, if somebody's gonna say something,
• 15:40
  it's when, oh, I have all five star Google reviews.
• 15:43
  Great.
• 15:43
  I do too.
• 15:44
  I'm terrified of that first one.
• 15:45
  It's not great and it could not be a real
• 15:46
  person, but it still doesn't feel good.
• 15:48
  Yeah.
• 15:48
  Even if it's not a real person or it's
• 15:49
  somebody just wants to be ugly for no reason.
• 15:52
  Saying something.
• 15:53
  Um, it's just, again, one of those points that
• 15:55
  you really have to prepare yourself for and.
• 15:59
  Know that the people are gonna say something at some point.
• 16:01
  Yeah.
• 16:01
  And it's nothing to do with you.
• 16:02
  Yeah.
• 16:03
  It's them.
• 16:04
  Yeah.
• 16:04
  I had a, I had someone I interviewed for Humble Pod.
• 16:06
  This may not make it into the edit, but I'm gonna tell you anyway.
• 16:09
  Um, and if it does leave, you can feel free to leave that in.
• 16:11
  Um, but I had someone who I chose not to work with mm-hmm.
• 16:16
  Who chose not to hire.
• 16:17
  Yeah.
• 16:17
  And Hebrew Review bombed us.
• 16:19
  Yeah.
• 16:19
  Mm-hmm.
• 16:20
  And that, that was tough too.
• 16:21
  'cause it's like.
• 16:22
  Dude like that.
• 16:23
  Why, why
• 16:23
  there, why
• 16:24
  wait?
• 16:24
  Why are you wasting your energy doing this and making stuff up?
• 16:27
  Yep.
• 16:28
  And then, um, you know, I know from experience too, working
• 16:31
  with like in the, um, in the construction world a little bit.
• 16:34
  Mm-hmm.
• 16:35
  I want to be dry waterproofing and we had to be
• 16:37
  part of the Better Business Bureau and all that.
• 16:38
  Like Yeah.
• 16:39
  People can just be so angry Yes.
• 16:42
  About the smallest things.
• 16:43
  Yeah.
• 16:43
  And then that stuff just sticks on your digital record for forever.
• 16:46
  Mm-hmm.
• 16:46
  Forever.
• 16:47
  Forever.
• 16:47
  So
• 16:48
  yeah.
• 16:48
  I totally.
• 16:49
  Totally think it's wise.
• 16:50
  If you're doing that all day to step up and step away
• 16:53
  so you don't look at any social media after hours, then
• 16:55
  I wouldn't say that I, okay.
• 16:57
  I limit myself.
• 16:57
  So if I've done good and not been in the apps trolling,
• 17:00
  or not trolling, I'm not trolling doom, scrolling d doom,
• 17:03
  doom, scrolling myself for too long, then I can go back.
• 17:06
  Like I'll be in there for personal reasons or
• 17:08
  sure, you know, post things, but I am better.
• 17:10
  Than I used to be, of just not being in there, just looking at other things.
• 17:13
  Mm-hmm.
• 17:13
  Right.
• 17:13
  It's just I've tried to get back to reading books.
• 17:15
  Yeah.
• 17:16
  You know?
• 17:16
  And smelling paper and coloring and doing things that just
• 17:19
  feel good outside of what I'm doing on a day-to-day basis.
• 17:22
  Yeah.
• 17:22
  Yeah,
• 17:23
  I hear that.
• 17:24
  It's amazing how much time we spend glued to our phone.
• 17:27
  Yes.
• 17:27
  Looking at things, I mean, with the world being the way it is today.
• 17:30
  Yes.
• 17:30
  It's like what now?
• 17:32
  Like there was a, I'm just gonna say it like.
• 17:36
  When, you know, when this last election cycle happened mm-hmm.
• 17:40
  There was a mental shift that I had.
• 17:42
  Yes,
• 17:42
  yes.
• 17:42
  And my anxiety level started to spike.
• 17:45
  Yep.
• 17:45
  So, so many, 'cause the way the news cycle starts going mm-hmm.
• 17:48
  And starts posting stuff, it's like, I haven't had this for four years.
• 17:51
  Yep.
• 17:52
  I want it back.
• 17:53
  Yes.
• 17:54
  And now to add on top of that, all the AI that's being generated,
• 17:57
  the content's being generated, we don't know what to believe anymore.
• 17:59
  Right.
• 18:00
  So we're second guessing our own human nature of what we're watching.
• 18:03
  Mm-hmm.
• 18:03
  Was that real?
• 18:03
  Was that not real?
• 18:05
  We don't know.
• 18:06
  You know, we, we, we don't even know where to land and how we feel.
• 18:09
  Yeah.
• 18:09
  So that unknown is just creating more mental health issues.
• 18:12
  Mm-hmm.
• 18:12
  Uh, so yeah, it's a con, it's a, it's an ever evolving self boundary setting.
• 18:18
  Yeah.
• 18:18
  Um, plan that you have to do.
• 18:21
  Absolutely.
• 18:21
  Absolutely.
• 18:22
  Mm-hmm.
• 18:22
  But it's good that you do it, and it's good that you said that.
• 18:24
  I try my best said that.
• 18:25
  Um, so you've, you've also talked about,
• 18:28
  um, the, the idea that you had, that failed.
• 18:32
  Mm-hmm.
• 18:32
  And then you brought it back and it worked.
• 18:33
  Yes.
• 18:33
  Yes.
• 18:34
  What
• 18:34
  was that idea?
• 18:35
  Yes.
• 18:35
  So I, that the one that failed again, just was
• 18:38
  maybe two or three courses that I put out there.
• 18:41
  Because I saw this need continuously, people wanting me to teach them.
• 18:44
  Mm-hmm.
• 18:44
  So yes, I can come in and take over your social media, but then some small
• 18:47
  business owners were like, well, I can't really meet that price point.
• 18:51
  Is there something we can back off of that?
• 18:52
  And I never wanna devalue my work or my right, what I'm providing.
• 18:55
  So it was, how can I fill that need?
• 18:57
  'cause I'm a. People pleaser and I wanna fill every box.
• 19:00
  Mm-hmm.
• 19:00
  How can I fill that need?
• 19:01
  But at a price point that's more manageable for them.
• 19:03
  And that was, well, I can teach you how to do it.
• 19:05
  Hmm.
• 19:05
  I can create a course to teach you how to do it until you have the revenue
• 19:09
  stream to then support hiring a third party like myself or someone else.
• 19:14
  Um, and so I would do so, so I created those courses
• 19:17
  and launch those in topics very specifically.
• 19:19
  People had continuously asked for questions in
• 19:21
  or wanted me to, you know, um, train them in.
• 19:25
  And I had one person sign up.
• 19:27
  And I think I put like 30 different dates out there.
• 19:30
  And it was, I mean, she, I was so excited that she came,
• 19:32
  you know, she knows who she is and it was fantastic.
• 19:35
  And she signed up for every single one.
• 19:36
  So it was like I had revenue from it.
• 19:39
  I didn't put a ton of revenue into it.
• 19:40
  So that was also good.
• 19:41
  Like I did.
• 19:41
  That's good.
• 19:42
  Did prepare myself in a way that I did a lot of it myself, you
• 19:44
  know, created the webpage myself, did all the things on my own.
• 19:47
  Mm-hmm.
• 19:47
  The cheapest I could because it was a pilot program, first pilot program.
• 19:50
  Yeah.
• 19:51
  And so that felt like a failure.
• 19:53
  In a way of just, it didn't get as big as I,
• 19:55
  you know, everybody had said, I want this.
• 19:57
  I'm so excited.
• 19:58
  Can't wait till you launch and then nobody signed up.
• 19:59
  Mm. And I think a lot of it, there's a lot of things I learned from it.
• 20:02
  One, it was summer.
• 20:03
  Mm-hmm.
• 20:03
  Nobody, all the, you know, small business owners are either
• 20:05
  really busy in summer or they're home with their kids too.
• 20:08
  Yeah.
• 20:09
  And I didn't think about that.
• 20:10
  Mm-hmm.
• 20:10
  So the failure is time for to refer reflection.
• 20:13
  So I took that into consideration.
• 20:15
  Took a few years off of that.
• 20:16
  Just did a lot of speaking engagements.
• 20:18
  One off for other organizations.
• 20:19
  Rebuilt the kind of program and what content people wanted.
• 20:23
  Found a different space than I was using different,
• 20:25
  more easy to kind of navigate for people.
• 20:28
  And then relaunched that in February of this past year.
• 20:31
  Um, the second pilot program, let's say, uh,
• 20:34
  for what I ended up calling BIG marketing labs.
• 20:37
  Mm-hmm.
• 20:38
  The BIG standing for branding, innovation, and growth.
• 20:40
  Hmm.
• 20:41
  A lot of focus, a lot of the classes.
• 20:43
  Fell into one of those categories, if not kind of touched all
• 20:46
  three, uh, the categories being Chad c, PT for small business.
• 20:50
  I taught just a general meta business suite, um,
• 20:52
  that contain a lot of ad placement information.
• 20:54
  'cause a lot of small business owners are
• 20:55
  like, I just need to know how to place an ad.
• 20:57
  Mm-hmm.
• 20:58
  And.
• 20:59
  Um, had a couple other content creation classes, taught that
• 21:01
  out of the KN space downtown, which was such a cool space.
• 21:04
  Mm-hmm.
• 21:04
  Such a cool team there and had had great success and I had met so many amazing
• 21:08
  people I'd never met before, so it was kind of a new business generating.
• 21:11
  A lot of them wanted to work with me outside of that after the class, so it
• 21:14
  kind of was that residual income, you know, continuation, which was great.
• 21:17
  And I felt great, really great about that.
• 21:20
  Did it kind of February to April and then took the
• 21:22
  summer off and was gonna relaunch in September.
• 21:24
  And then a lot of shifts happened for my business and myself.
• 21:27
  I was reconnected with an individual that I've known for years,
• 21:31
  and she had stepped out of a corporate role into her own con
• 21:33
  consultation business, and she worked primarily in the marine space.
• 21:36
  And she brought this project to me that sounded terrifying, and I said, yes.
• 21:43
  That's the best.
• 21:44
  And it was the best and it was, it has kind of put us in this trajectory
• 21:48
  and we're replicating that project now to the point that I might be bringing
• 21:52
  some more internal team members on with me, which I've always been resistance
• 21:55
  resistant in being an agency myself, but another, and I don't know, I, I can't
• 21:59
  really contribute this to any individual like I have with Samantha and Erica,
• 22:02
  but somebody at one point said to give yourself permission to change your mind.
• 22:05
  Mm.
• 22:06
  And
• 22:06
  that's something I've held onto and tried to remind myself that
• 22:08
  you may have had a plan, but it's okay to change your mind.
• 22:11
  Whether that's, you know, I've told myself any, any given point, I
• 22:13
  wanna quit my business and go snuggle pandas, that's gonna be okay.
• 22:16
  Yeah, because that sounds great, but permission to change my mind.
• 22:19
  So we're, I've always resisted being an agency.
• 22:22
  I just wanted to be an agency of one.
• 22:24
  Mm. I might be bringing on some contractors and some work, um, more,
• 22:27
  more close to home than just a inter, you know, external contractor.
• 22:30
  Yeah.
• 22:31
  So that's kind of exciting, but also also terrifying.
• 22:33
  But back to my BIG marketing labs.
• 22:35
  Yes.
• 22:35
  With these kind of trajectory where I've gone now with this new partner.
• 22:39
  Um, my labs just didn't necessarily make sense to launch again
• 22:42
  'cause my time was very consumed with being present for this
• 22:46
  client and my clients that I already had in my portfolio.
• 22:49
  So I just kind of decided not to relaunch it.
• 22:51
  And at the same time, I had someone connect me with a University
• 22:55
  of Tennessee Professional Education and Lifelong Learning Center.
• 22:59
  Yep.
• 22:59
  That's a lot of words.
• 23:00
  Um, and so now I'll be teaching courses through their system
• 23:04
  next year, so kind of repurposing my marketing labs, my BIG
• 23:07
  marketing labs, so they're not dying and they're not going away.
• 23:10
  Just repurposing them for an, you know, a different, uh,
• 23:13
  coursework that kind of has a, has a wider net as well,
• 23:16
  which is kind of exciting to kinda see where that goes.
• 23:18
  But I've got big plans for my BIG marketing labs, you know, the big
• 23:21
  dream that if I win the millions of dollars, what I would do with it.
• 23:24
  Um.
• 23:25
  But for now, that's, it's landing at the UT Center
• 23:27
  for Continued Learning, so it's gonna be great.
• 23:30
  That's awesome.
• 23:30
  I actually taught there for a little while.
• 23:32
  I think we Oh, awesome.
• 23:32
  I dunno if we talked about that or not.
• 23:33
  I don't, maybe,
• 23:35
  maybe.
• 23:35
  But yeah, there been a lot of
• 23:36
  people that had great experience just kind of
• 23:37
  working through their system with them, so, yeah.
• 23:39
  Yeah.
• 23:39
  Yeah,
• 23:39
  they, they're great.
• 23:40
  I wish we could still keep it up, but I think.
• 23:43
  Podcasting like for someone at a corporate job.
• 23:46
  Mm-hmm.
• 23:46
  Like we did get a lot of people like Right.
• 23:48
  Coming in to sign up for those classes.
• 23:50
  Yes.
• 23:51
  So sadly mine ended up getting canceled.
• 23:53
  Yeah.
• 23:53
  But, um, but the marketing piece is very important over there.
• 23:56
  Yes.
• 23:56
  And so I think that's a great program to be evolved in.
• 23:58
  That's awesome.
• 23:59
  Yeah.
• 23:59
  I love That's exciting folks over there.
• 24:01
  Yes.
• 24:01
  Yes.
• 24:01
  That's, that's been great.
• 24:03
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• 24:44
  That's really cool.
• 24:45
  So, so you're growing, you're moving forward,
• 24:48
  you got a lot, you got a shiny future ahead.
• 24:51
  Yes.
• 24:52
  Unless there's another pivot.
• 24:53
  Yes, yes.
• 24:54
  No, I'm try to be optimistic.
• 24:55
  It's, it's great and it's terrifying all at
• 24:57
  the same time, but I've never done anything.
• 24:59
  That wasn't everything that's been terrifying in my life.
• 25:02
  Decisions we've made, whether it's through my business or my
• 25:05
  husband and I have an investment business between the two of us.
• 25:07
  Any of those scary decisions we've made have always been worth it in the end.
• 25:10
  Mm-hmm.
• 25:10
  There has been failures through them.
• 25:11
  Yes.
• 25:11
  They're not all sunshine and rainbows.
• 25:13
  I love me some sunshine and rainbows and unicorns, but, um,
• 25:17
  it's definitely that, that failure is part of it, but it's.
• 25:20
  It's kind of like, I'm excited to see what I fail at in next year.
• 25:24
  Okay.
• 25:24
  Because it means I'm doing scary things and I'm pushing myself.
• 25:27
  Mm-hmm.
• 25:27
  Instead of just being comfortable.
• 25:29
  This year was definitely about me not being comfortable and I can feel it.
• 25:31
  'cause next year feels really big, which means I've pushed
• 25:34
  myself past where I kind of hit a plateau with my business.
• 25:37
  And next year's gonna be a pretty big one.
• 25:39
  So we'll see.
• 25:40
  It's exciting, but yeah, still scary.
• 25:42
  That's really exciting.
• 25:43
  Yeah.
• 25:43
  That's really fun.
• 25:44
  Yeah.
• 25:44
  Um, so as we look towards the future, obviously we're at the start of a
• 25:47
  new year, what outlook do you have on like, social media for the year?
• 25:50
  Like what things do you see coming since
• 25:52
  you're in and on a day in, day out mm-hmm.
• 25:54
  Basis.
• 25:54
  Like what, what do you think?
• 25:56
  Yeah, so I've been.
• 25:58
  Having these conversations a lot just, you know, 2026 planning.
• 26:01
  Mm-hmm.
• 26:01
  And thinking for the year, trying to get ahead of a lot of things.
• 26:04
  AI is of course something that's always top of mind, top of conversation.
• 26:07
  How can we implement it?
• 26:08
  Should we implement it?
• 26:09
  What are we not using it for that we could be.
• 26:12
  Um, I'm actually teaching a AI Bots and boundaries course at
• 26:15
  the Maker City Summit in, in January, which is pretty exciting.
• 26:17
  The first maker city speak, speaking engagement.
• 26:19
  So that's exciting.
• 26:20
  But it's, that's exactly.
• 26:22
  The reasoning, the topics of, um, you know, where chat chip t and AI can
• 26:26
  be utilized for your business and where you should still have boundaries.
• 26:28
  'cause again, I'm very big on mental health,
• 26:29
  but also business boundaries of being authentic.
• 26:33
  So again, that's a good segue into authenticity is a big thing for next year.
• 26:37
  2020 really taught us, we want transparency from businesses and individuals.
• 26:41
  We wanna see them.
• 26:41
  For who they are.
• 26:42
  Where is our money going?
• 26:44
  Are they gonna say what they're do, what they say they're going to do?
• 26:47
  Um, so that authenticity is gonna be really important,
• 26:50
  making sure you show up everywhere, the same person, your
• 26:52
  brand's, authentic, and um, an easy brand story to share.
• 26:56
  And then.
• 26:57
  I'd say that third part, again, I always come back to community social media
• 27:00
  is continuing to create those private communities you can be a part of.
• 27:05
  Um, the Facebook groups are still a great part.
• 27:07
  If you can find a way to implement, then a business strategy.
• 27:09
  Facebook groups are just where people are collecting to talk about your product.
• 27:13
  Even if you create it and you let somebody else lead it, it's not led by your
• 27:17
  business, but they're there talking about your business or you create one.
• 27:19
  Within your industry, um, that people can just talk about things.
• 27:23
  If I was to create a small business marketing group and let
• 27:25
  people talk about marketing and then I come in as, you know, a
• 27:27
  thought leader and giving ideas, that's the way I could use it.
• 27:31
  I don't do that.
• 27:31
  That's just one more thing for me to create.
• 27:33
  But there are so many ways you can use Facebook groups
• 27:35
  to kind of create that community for your business.
• 27:37
  So I definitely say AI authenticity and those community,
• 27:41
  um, groups are gonna be pretty big next year still.
• 27:44
  Yeah.
• 27:44
  Yeah.
• 27:44
  I think, I think that's.
• 27:46
  You bring up something interesting because it's a
• 27:47
  big contrast and that is AI versus authenticity.
• 27:51
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 27:52
  And I've, I've had that conversation with Marcus
• 27:54
  Blair, who's an amazing I ai, um, automation.
• 27:58
  Uh.
• 27:59
  Business.
• 27:59
  Mm-hmm.
• 28:00
  Omega Solutions, I believe is his business name.
• 28:02
  Mm-hmm.
• 28:02
  Um, I'm name dropping a lot today, aren't I?
• 28:04
  Yeah.
• 28:05
  Uh, Marcus and I had done a class together and it had come up about,
• 28:08
  you know, how do I stay authentic and use ai because you're pulling
• 28:12
  from every, everyone else's quote unquote, authenticity, right?
• 28:14
  Mm-hmm.
• 28:15
  Their information, their business models, their thoughts.
• 28:17
  And I always just like to bring people back to, you know,
• 28:19
  before you go to ai, have a firm understanding of your brand,
• 28:22
  your values, your beliefs, your verbiage, your messaging.
• 28:25
  Know what you wanna say.
• 28:27
  Put all of that in ai.
• 28:28
  Create your own GPT, create your own kind of AI tool.
• 28:32
  And say, use this to pull information from.
• 28:35
  Mm-hmm.
• 28:35
  This is what, who I am, what I wanna talk about, and
• 28:38
  then start using it to generate content or ideas or, you
• 28:41
  know, that way they know it, quote unquote knows you.
• 28:44
  Um, but you've created a space that you kind of have these
• 28:46
  boundaries set around your brand and around who you are.
• 28:48
  Mm-hmm.
• 28:49
  That way you're not saying, give me a post about mental health.
• 28:52
  And it's pulling from the internet.
• 28:54
  And it may not be your viewpoint.
• 28:55
  Right.
• 28:55
  It may not be relatable to you and how you see
• 28:57
  the world or your experiences on why you've.
• 29:00
  You feel that way.
• 29:00
  So creating that your own kind of bubble of AI helps
• 29:04
  protect the authenticity of who you are when you use it.
• 29:07
  Yeah.
• 29:07
  Yeah, I would agree.
• 29:08
  Yeah.
• 29:09
  I mean we, we definitely kind of approach AI in that way.
• 29:11
  Mm-hmm.
• 29:12
  When we use it at Humble Pod or in anything we're writing is Yep.
• 29:15
  Um, we wanna make sure it has a data source that pulls
• 29:18
  from, that's something we've originally like Yes.
• 29:20
  That's original to us that we wrote.
• 29:21
  Yes.
• 29:21
  Here's our tone we created.
• 29:22
  Yeah.
• 29:23
  Yeah.
• 29:23
  That makes a lot of sense.
• 29:24
  Yeah.
• 29:25
  Yeah, yeah.
• 29:25
  Know who you are before you use, use ai, so it'll try to tell you who you are.
• 29:29
  Yeah.
• 29:29
  Yeah.
• 29:30
  And I mean, AI can be challenging with consumers too.
• 29:32
  Yes.
• 29:33
  And that's the other, the other real challenging part of it as well.
• 29:36
  Like where are you using any of your business that builds trust versus, you
• 29:41
  know, people see you doing an AI ad and like, oh, that graphic's definitely ai.
• 29:45
  Yes,
• 29:45
  yes.
• 29:46
  And then that's, that's almost, I'm, I'm, I'm really interested
• 29:48
  to keep a tab on that psychology of how we as consumers.
• 29:52
  CAI.
• 29:52
  Mm-hmm.
• 29:53
  Because I know when I see it, it, I immediately think fake.
• 29:55
  Yeah.
• 29:55
  And then fake makes you feel feelings of lack of trust.
• 29:58
  Mm-hmm.
• 29:59
  Right.
• 29:59
  So the psychology of, we keep using AI and we keep losing trust with people.
• 30:03
  How do we come back to that authenticity and that localized content
• 30:07
  that doesn't, like how do we show a photo and convince you it's real?
• 30:11
  Yeah.
• 30:11
  What is that?
• 30:12
  Is it, you know, how do we, how do we convey that?
• 30:14
  So that's a challenge that.
• 30:15
  I've been kind of working through with some of my clients on Yeah.
• 30:18
  You know, we use occasional AI just when there's something fun, but
• 30:21
  if it's anything trying to communicate message or, you know, um,
• 30:26
  trying to invoke a feeling, we try to use very authentic imagery.
• 30:29
  Yeah.
• 30:29
  Yeah.
• 30:30
  Well, I think people can suss it out too, the way.
• 30:32
  Yes.
• 30:32
  We've gotten pretty good about
• 30:33
  it.
• 30:33
  Yeah.
• 30:34
  It gets me every now and again though,
• 30:35
  when you see that one reel and you're like.
• 30:36
  Wait, is this real?
• 30:37
  Then you see the cat grab a knife and run
• 30:39
  through the house like, oh wait, that's not real.
• 30:41
  Yeah, that can be, that can be real.
• 30:42
  That can wait.
• 30:42
  That's not
• 30:42
  real.
• 30:43
  Just kidding.
• 30:44
  Yeah.
• 30:44
  Yeah.
• 30:45
  Um, but yeah, it's, it's fascinating what it can do.
• 30:47
  And I mean, AI can even be dangerous to your mental health.
• 30:49
  I mean, going right to that part of the conversation.
• 30:51
  Yes,
• 30:52
  absolutely.
• 30:52
  It enables and it wants.
• 30:54
  To make you happy.
• 30:56
  An example from Humble Pod, or even, we
• 30:57
  built this brand, we were writing a script.
• 30:59
  Mm-hmm.
• 31:00
  And I used AI to help me pull together and develop the script for, um, an
• 31:04
  episode we have that's gonna be like, highlights from previous episodes.
• 31:07
  Mm-hmm.
• 31:07
  It wanted to make me happy.
• 31:10
  So it started pulling copy mm-hmm.
• 31:13
  From the scripts that I provided it and modifying it mm-hmm.
• 31:17
  To match my, my storyline that I wanted to tell.
• 31:20
  Mm-hmm.
• 31:21
  And it wasn't giving me the actual content,
• 31:23
  which is what I needed to hand off to my editor.
• 31:25
  Yep.
• 31:26
  So my poor editor reached out to me and he
• 31:27
  is like, dude, none of this makes sense.
• 31:29
  It's mumble ju it's
• 31:31
  like, it's like, it's like it makes.
• 31:32
  Sense in terms of the flow, but it doesn't actually match
• 31:35
  what was said in the transcript and we had to go back and Yep.
• 31:38
  You know, massage that and clean it up.
• 31:39
  Yep.
• 31:39
  We've all done that.
• 31:40
  Just grabbed it and said, okay, great.
• 31:42
  This must be exactly what I want.
• 31:43
  Yeah.
• 31:43
  And then you read through it and you're like, what is that word?
• 31:45
  Yeah.
• 31:45
  For me it always makes me laugh because it, I had to ask it
• 31:49
  to stop using unicorns and sparkles, emojis, and everything
• 31:53
  I asked it to make because it knows that about me, that I
• 31:55
  like sunshine and rainbows and Lisa Frank and using unicorns.
• 31:58
  So it tries to make me happy by putting a unicorn.
• 32:00
  Every single post.
• 32:02
  Yep.
• 32:02
  You know, content that I ask it to create,
• 32:03
  I'm like, okay, stop using the unicorn.
• 32:06
  I, I actually told chat GBT that I wanted to talk
• 32:08
  direct and be very direct and straightforward.
• 32:10
  Yep.
• 32:11
  So now at the beginning of every comment,
• 32:13
  it's, let me shoot you straight on this.
• 32:15
  I'm just, we're just gonna be straight up
• 32:16
  honest on this, like it's overcompensating Yes.
• 32:19
  For, and it's what I want.
• 32:21
  I always like to also tell people to name it so that
• 32:23
  you can talk about it like it's a coworker, right?
• 32:25
  Yeah.
• 32:25
  So mine for some reason is Chad.
• 32:26
  I don't know why.
• 32:27
  Chad's just the name I named it.
• 32:29
  Mm-hmm.
• 32:29
  And I'll just be like, Chad, I didn't like that at all.
• 32:32
  Gimme something else.
• 32:33
  And it's like, okay, Hailey.
• 32:34
  And I can just read like the tone and it, you know, humanize it.
• 32:37
  But, um, it's to remember that it's AI is important
• 32:40
  because it's not gonna give you exactly what you want.
• 32:42
  It's pulling from the internet, from other sources, from your
• 32:45
  competitors to, again, people please to give you what you're asking for.
• 32:49
  Uh, I definitely always say if you're.
• 32:51
  Trying to write something in site information to
• 32:54
  ask for the site, a hundred percent the website.
• 32:56
  That way you can still go and look.
• 32:58
  Don't just believe it.
• 32:59
  Actually click, go and look.
• 33:00
  Verify what you're doing because again, even when you use Google at times,
• 33:04
  you can look at something and yeah, you go, okay, it's from this website.
• 33:07
  Just grab the quote off that, you know, Google Query page.
• 33:09
  You don't actually click on the website and go to the website.
• 33:12
  Not what you thought it was.
• 33:13
  Right.
• 33:13
  Or it's part of a conversation you didn't really intend to be a part of.
• 33:16
  So that verification is definitely very important.
• 33:19
  Yeah.
• 33:19
  Yeah.
• 33:19
  I think, I think it's very important to trust but verify with ai.
• 33:23
  Yes.
• 33:23
  You run into so many made up things and
• 33:26
  mm-hmm.
• 33:26
  It just, yeah.
• 33:27
  It's not, it's not, um, it quite ready for prime time.
• 33:30
  It's like they're building the plan on the way down or something.
• 33:33
  Right.
• 33:33
  Asking for billions of dollars and just,
• 33:35
  I, I just like any tool we use nowadays,
• 33:38
  I remember when Facebook first came out.
• 33:40
  You know, we had to say Haley is doing like, you know, the
• 33:42
  is is doing was part like permanent in the, in the page.
• 33:47
  Um, when I teach high school or college classes, I like to try
• 33:49
  to find some photos and show them the example of how much that
• 33:52
  system has changed and how it was never meant for businesses.
• 33:55
  It was meant for literally social media and college students.
• 33:57
  Mm-hmm.
• 33:58
  And where we've taken it today and they had, yeah, those
• 34:02
  beginning tools and where they, where we intend them to be and
• 34:04
  what we use them for and what they turn out to be used for.
• 34:07
  It's just kind of, you gotta kind of ride the ride
• 34:09
  sometimes with these platforms and where they're gonna go.
• 34:12
  Is TikTok gonna stick around?
• 34:13
  I don't know.
• 34:14
  Yeah, I, I will say, and they, they've eventually found
• 34:16
  a way to make it make money, which was their goal.
• 34:19
  Yes.
• 34:19
  Yeah.
• 34:19
  Oh, absolutely.
• 34:20
  Which is every goal, right?
• 34:21
  We're already paying for Chacha bt.
• 34:22
  So they monetize that pretty quick, which they knew.
• 34:24
  I'm sure there was examples out there before where they weren't having
• 34:27
  people pay for, but Well, they, they learned to monetize that pretty quickly.
• 34:31
  I don't know if you ever saw, but Microsoft defined
• 34:34
  when they put in a big investment into open ai.
• 34:36
  Mm-hmm.
• 34:36
  They said that their, um, what was it, their definition of A-A-G-I-A.
• 34:42
  Mm-hmm.
• 34:42
  Um, what is it?
• 34:43
  Artificial general intelligence.
• 34:45
  Mm-hmm.
• 34:45
  Yep.
• 34:45
  Generated general generated intelligence.
• 34:47
  Yeah.
• 34:48
  It,
• 34:48
  their definition was when it was generating like.
• 34:50
  $50 billion a year or something like that in revenue.
• 34:54
  And it had a, it was a revenue marker though.
• 34:56
  It wasn't any definition of what that
• 34:58
  actually meant or any metric other than money.
• 35:00
  Mm-hmm.
• 35:00
  And I think that says a lot about what's gonna happen in that industry.
• 35:03
  Yep,
• 35:03
  absolutely.
• 35:04
  So there's so many automations that I haven't even started to think
• 35:07
  of that I probably need to because the more you know portfolio.
• 35:11
  I've seen some people use it in a really smart way to automate some parts of
• 35:15
  their business, some parts of their task, their thinking, their email inboxes.
• 35:18
  I know you had spoke to, you know, kind of using it
• 35:19
  to help organize email inboxes, which is so smart.
• 35:21
  Mm-hmm.
• 35:22
  I think I've got little rules and folders and things that, you know, like the
• 35:25
  current quote unquote automation, not ai, but uh, I think there's some really.
• 35:29
  Really smart ways to implement the just AI tools outside of
• 35:32
  using it to create content and generate, yeah, generate content.
• 35:34
  Yeah.
• 35:35
  There are definitely ways to use it smartly and I think use smartly, it's great
• 35:38
  as every tool.
• 35:39
  You know, I told a professor challenged me at one point about
• 35:43
  why social media should be utilized for their, for their career.
• 35:45
  They've, I've made it to this point in my life, why should I use it now?
• 35:49
  And I said, so when you know, you could text on a cell phone, did you
• 35:52
  just not use it because you could communicate fine just on the phone?
• 35:54
  Mm-hmm.
• 35:55
  Just talking on the phone.
• 35:56
  N no.
• 35:57
  Okay.
• 35:58
  Well, it's the same thing.
• 35:59
  It's just one more way to communicate.
• 36:00
  You don't have to use it.
• 36:01
  No.
• 36:01
  You could stick with a cell phone and texting an email.
• 36:04
  It's one more, one more way to communicate in a more visual way to
• 36:07
  communicate and connect with your community and reach further than you ever
• 36:11
  could just by texting the people, you know, or talking to people, you know.
• 36:15
  Um, so she just kind of took that challenge, said, oh, that's true.
• 36:19
  I never thought about it that way.
• 36:20
  You're welcome.
• 36:21
  Yeah, that's what I'm here for.
• 36:22
  That's, that's a very good, that's a very good point.
• 36:24
  Yeah.
• 36:25
  Um, have you noticed it driving traffic to your websites?
• 36:29
  Because that's something I'm starting to notice.
• 36:30
  Yeah,
• 36:31
  absolutely.
• 36:31
  The more that social media is being used for, it's a whole
• 36:34
  nother acronym, but we have SEO with our websites, right?
• 36:37
  Mm-hmm.
• 36:37
  Search engine optimization.
• 36:39
  Social media is being used more and more to query within Google.
• 36:42
  They're querying and pulling in social media content.
• 36:44
  So if you search my name or my business, I feel like
• 36:47
  nine times outta 10, my social media pages has come up
• 36:48
  first because that's where all of my content resides.
• 36:50
  Mm-hmm.
• 36:51
  I don't do blog writing.
• 36:52
  I don't, I have a, a Okay website.
• 36:54
  Um, it's, I say, okay, it's not fair.
• 36:56
  It's a nice website.
• 36:57
  Um, I wish it was more, but I had.
• 36:59
  Jaybird bring it way, way up to where it is
• 37:01
  now, and it's fantastic from where it was.
• 37:03
  Um, you also did interview with Jess Curtis.
• 37:06
  I did.
• 37:06
  And she's done some work on our
• 37:07
  website, so yeah, she's fantastic.
• 37:08
  Fantastic.
• 37:09
  I said, listen, here's my budget.
• 37:10
  It's real small.
• 37:11
  Just make it pretty.
• 37:11
  And she did such a good job.
• 37:13
  I wish it was more dense, but I just don't get a lot of traffic mm-hmm.
• 37:16
  To meet, to communication through my website.
• 37:17
  So it's just, there's, you know, a really nice placeholder and information.
• 37:21
  But if you query me, generally my business, it's
• 37:23
  going to be social media content that comes up.
• 37:25
  Yeah.
• 37:25
  And that's for a lot of people.
• 37:26
  It's because if it, you know, they're.
• 37:27
  Putting the bots out there to say, what do you know about Haley in marketing?
• 37:31
  They're going through and combing, that's
• 37:33
  everything I've talked about in marketing.
• 37:34
  Used my name, used my business name, where other people have
• 37:36
  tagged me at events, about my speaking engagements, where
• 37:39
  advertising has been out there for different events I'm at.
• 37:42
  It's all on social media.
• 37:43
  Mm-hmm.
• 37:43
  So the more we put content out there, whether it is a blog, it's,
• 37:46
  that's kind of what's gonna help those Google bots find you.
• 37:48
  Yeah.
• 37:50
  Yeah, it's, it's funny, it still comes back to pushing out content.
• 37:53
  Yes.
• 37:53
  Day in day, wherever it's at
• 37:55
  pod, a podcast also a great place.
• 37:56
  Mm-hmm.
• 37:57
  But then I worked with a, actually worked with a podcaster in 2020
• 38:00
  and they had a slight social media presence and I just helped them.
• 38:04
  Basically grab those soundbites, create little soundbite
• 38:06
  content, and just push it on their social media.
• 38:08
  We weren't creating whole new content, we were just
• 38:10
  creating a visual and adding that soundbite to their social
• 38:12
  media to direct people to listen to the full podcast.
• 38:14
  Mm-hmm.
• 38:14
  And back then it was, you know, it seemed like rocket science.
• 38:18
  Um, but it was such a simple thing.
• 38:20
  And podcasts have just completely taken over social media, and I love the
• 38:23
  different visual representation that even you all use with some of your videos.
• 38:26
  Mm-hmm.
• 38:27
  And different things.
• 38:27
  It's just gone from that audio content to now.
• 38:30
  Video, audio, and you know, the graphics and the
• 38:33
  photography pulled from the, the, from the video.
• 38:35
  Yeah.
• 38:35
  So I love that diversification.
• 38:37
  Yeah.
• 38:37
  But what's crazy about that, even in what we do is
• 38:40
  it still comes down to what text is on the page.
• 38:43
  Right.
• 38:43
  'cause that's what the AI is scrolling.
• 38:45
  Yes.
• 38:46
  Looking at.
• 38:46
  Reading and pulling.
• 38:48
  And if you don't have a transcript, that's right.
• 38:51
  Yes.
• 38:51
  Mm-hmm.
• 38:51
  It won't be able to read it well.
• 38:52
  Right.
• 38:53
  And in some cases, the ai, depending on the crawler
• 38:56
  and how it's set up, won't just transcribe your audio.
• 38:59
  Right.
• 38:59
  They're not gonna take the time to do that.
• 39:01
  But if there's something that the AI can already read
• 39:03
  mm-hmm.
• 39:03
  It'll read it.
• 39:04
  So that's why those
• 39:05
  captions and descriptions and fulfilling in all those
• 39:07
  fields that you feel are so annoying and repetitive mm-hmm.
• 39:09
  Are important.
• 39:10
  'cause that's where it's, it's pulling it.
• 39:11
  Yep.
• 39:12
  Yeah.
• 39:12
  And side note, for anybody at the beginning of the year.
• 39:15
  Just a, just a professional PSA.
• 39:17
  Check your transcripts.
• 39:19
  When you, when you create a social post, read
• 39:22
  through what the transcript says and correct it.
• 39:24
  Please check yourself.
• 39:25
  Please check yourself.
• 39:29
  That's exactly right.
• 39:31
  That's exactly right.
• 39:31
  How easily I
• 39:31
  use it in conversations.
• 39:32
  It's funny, it's another good branding thing I didn't see coming.
• 39:35
  Yeah.
• 39:35
  Yeah.
• 39:36
  That's great.
• 39:36
  I love it.
• 39:37
  I love it.
• 39:38
  Um, well, Haley, as we wrap up, I always like to ask the question, you
• 39:41
  know, this is, we built this brand, we're talking branding and marketing
• 39:44
  and all that, and always like to know where you get your influence.
• 39:48
  Mm-hmm.
• 39:48
  So what brand would you say you admire the most right now?
• 39:51
  Ooh, that's a hard one.
• 39:54
  What brand?
• 39:55
  You know, I am always impressed by liquid death.
• 40:00
  The liquid death marketing plan and marketing strategy
• 40:04
  is just amazing how they took water and made it sexy.
• 40:08
  I know that's a weird word to use because it's water.
• 40:10
  Mm-hmm.
• 40:11
  They did such a good job in their merch and
• 40:13
  their just collaborations and partnerships.
• 40:15
  I'm always just in awe of that and I've watched a lot of
• 40:17
  the talks and interviews they've done with the, um, I'm
• 40:20
  totally failing on his name, but the marketing lead of that.
• 40:22
  Mm-hmm.
• 40:23
  But yeah, I'm always impressed with that.
• 40:24
  Um, I get a lot of my influence day to day and just.
• 40:28
  Keeping up with everything from the Daily Carnage.
• 40:30
  It's a daily newsletter.
• 40:31
  Mm-hmm.
• 40:31
  That hits my inbox.
• 40:33
  And they do a great job of pulling in stories from Liquid
• 40:36
  Death, but also all the big brands, Coca-Cola, everything,
• 40:38
  any new thing they're doing that worked or didn't work.
• 40:41
  Um, just to kind of, I geek out over some of those campaigns
• 40:44
  and how people are doing things with tools they're using.
• 40:46
  But that's a shout out to them.
• 40:48
  The daily carnage.
• 40:49
  Uh, it's a great, a great resource.
• 40:51
  Both, both are awesome.
• 40:53
  Yeah.
• 40:53
  I will definitely agree.
• 40:54
  Liquid death.
• 40:55
  I'm so glad you name dropped The Daily Carnage.
• 40:56
  Yes.
• 40:56
  'cause I've been following them for forever.
• 40:58
  Oh,
• 40:58
  forever.
• 40:58
  For forever.
• 40:59
  Yeah.
• 40:59
  Yeah.
• 41:00
  That's, it's great.
• 41:00
  And they always throw in like a recipe at the end, or a
• 41:02
  great throwback ad. I love seeing those 1950s ads that,
• 41:06
  you know, are hand drawn by the Dawn Draper of the world.
• 41:08
  Yeah.
• 41:09
  Um, and it's just, it's so fascinating.
• 41:11
  They do a great job of just keeping you interested and
• 41:13
  in our field and keeping it, um, really entertaining.
• 41:16
  Yeah.
• 41:17
  Yeah, that's always fascinating to me, so, yeah.
• 41:19
  Oh yeah.
• 41:19
  Awesome.
• 41:20
  Well, great.
• 41:21
  Well, Hailey, where can people connect with you?
• 41:23
  Yes.
• 41:23
  Do you have anything specific you need to promote?
• 41:25
  Like your classes at ut Yeah,
• 41:27
  yeah.
• 41:27
  Uh,
• 41:28
  share,
• 41:28
  uh, Shareway.
• 41:29
  Okay.
• 41:29
  So the Maker City summit will be the first thing, uh,
• 41:32
  that comes up in this year, 2002 six, uh, January.
• 41:37
  29th to February 1st.
• 41:39
  It's the last weekend in January.
• 41:40
  Maker City downtown will be a great time.
• 41:42
  A lot of amazing speakers, influencers there.
• 41:44
  Just any, any, if you call yourself a creator or creative or even
• 41:48
  you're a small business owner or have any interest come, it's fantastic.
• 41:50
  Mm-hmm.
• 41:51
  It's such a great time.
• 41:51
  They feed us so well too.
• 41:53
  I'm, I'm, I love food.
• 41:54
  They're Grit us usually through the real good
• 41:56
  kitchen, which Bailey Foster has amazing eats.
• 41:58
  Mm-hmm.
• 41:59
  Um, and then the next one would be my classes.
• 42:01
  February 4th is my first class.
• 42:04
  That is the essentials for marketing professionals in today's world.
• 42:07
  So I'm just gonna walk through a lot of essentials skills that I use in
• 42:11
  my day-to-day that I found useful in my corporate world to where I am as
• 42:13
  an entrepreneur, but also I see the gaps in young professionals leaving
• 42:16
  college and what they should know, walking into professional world.
• 42:20
  Then the second class will be February 4th.
• 42:21
  No, it was February 4th.
• 42:22
  March 4th will be my second class.
• 42:23
  That's, um, can a Canva course.
• 42:26
  So teaching you some basic skills in Canva.
• 42:29
  Um, yeah, so those are my three things to
• 42:30
  launching next, this year, next year, this year.
• 42:33
  Whatever at a January timeframe, you never know what day it is.
• 42:37
  Uh, and then keeping up with me would basically, I
• 42:39
  said social media, Instagram's where I put a lot of my
• 42:42
  just content, what I'm doing, um, at Czech yourself.
• 42:44
  Marketing is my handle, and yeah, it's.
• 42:48
  That's where I'm at.
• 42:49
  Awesome.
• 42:49
  Well, Haley, thank you so much.
• 42:50
  This has been a pleasure to talk to you today.
• 42:52
  Yes,
• 42:52
  same.
• 42:52
  This is so fun.
• 42:53
  I love this.
• 42:54
  Alright, thank you for checking out this episode of We Built This Brand.
• 42:59
  Don't forget to like, follow and subscribe on your player of choice.
• 43:03
  You can also keep up with the podcast on our website@webuthisbrand.com.
• 43:07
  If you like this episode, please give the podcast a five star review
• 43:11
  and make sure to tell all your friends about it so we can continue.
• 43:14
  To build this brand.