Dec. 25, 2025

From Broadway to Brand Building: Liberty Cogen on Reinvention

In this episode of the Learnings and Missteps podcast, host Jesse Hernandez sits down with Liberty Kogan, a construction social media expert with an impressive background in musical theater and business. Liberty shares her journey from performing in Legally Blonde to launching a successful babysitting agency in Atlanta and eventually transitioning into social media marketing for construction companies. Throughout the conversation, they discuss themes of vulnerability, the importance of human connection, and finding fulfillment in one's career and life. Liberty emphasizes the significance of doing what makes you happy, the challenges she faced, and how she rediscovered her passion for theater under different conditions. The episode is filled with insightful and heartfelt advice, making it a must-listen for anyone seeking to navigate their own career and personal growth.



00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction
01:29 Getting to Know Liberty Kogan
01:57 The Power of Vulnerability on Social Media
09:00 Liberty's Journey in Theater
17:57 Transitioning from Theater to Business
19:21 Starting a Babysitting Agency
31:40 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
39:46 Auditioning for Kiss of the Spider Woman
41:52 The Importance of Human Connection
43:09 Returning to Atlanta and Facing an Existential Crisis
44:28 Realistic View of Pursuing Arts
50:27 Transition to Social Media for Concrete Companies
54:01 The Power of Authentic Social Media
58:37 Encouraging Vulnerability and Storytelling
01:11:37 The Promise You Are Intended to Be

Set the stage for an amazing new year with the Self First Framework.

https://calendly.com/jesse04/self-first-webinar

Download a PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be
https://www.depthbuilder.com/books

00:00 - Choose Happiness Over Money

00:11 - Meet Liberty Kogan

02:00 - The Power Of Authenticity On LinkedIn

09:56 - Theater Dreams And Early Success

13:25 - Rejection, Depression, And Leaving New York

20:42 - Starting From Scratch In Atlanta

26:45 - Reclaiming Theater Without The Pressure

33:02 - Advice For Late-Starters In Acting

37:10 - How To Start A Business With No Map

44:16 - Network, Resourcefulness, And Momentum

50:18 - Pivoting To Social Media And Dance

56:03 - Enter Construction: Niche Social Strategy

01:02:18 - Story-First Content Beats Polished Posts

01:09:38 - Make Clients The Hero, Tag Partners

01:16:08 - ROI That Actually Matters

01:19:10 - How To Work With Liberty

WEBVTT

00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.080
If it's not making you happy, don't do it.

00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:07.120
And it doesn't, and even if you are making a million dollars and it's not making you happy, don't do it.

00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:13.519
What is going on, LM family?

00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:14.400
Back again.

00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:19.600
And this time I feel like I have a celebrity or at least a celebrity in my mind.

00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:21.440
I've been following her on LinkedIn.

00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:25.920
She is a fespian, a truth teller.

00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:33.359
And the words that I got to pull off of her profile was construction social media expert.

00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:40.640
But when you see her stuff, it's a whole lot more than just construction social media expert.

00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:42.240
She's got some serious game.

00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:50.799
She's helping construction companies out there market themselves, build their brand, make, and more importantly, make connection with other human beings.

00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:52.479
And that is no small feat.

00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:54.799
Her name is Liberty Kogan.

00:00:55.679 --> 00:01:01.119
We're about to get to know her, and I'm excited because this is the first conversation I've ever had with her.

00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:03.520
So I get to learn all kinds of stuff with you guys.

00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:23.840
And before that, if this is your first time here, you are listening to the Learnings and Missteps podcast, where you get to see amazing make it happeners just like you that are sharing their gifts and talents to leave this world better than they found it.

00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:29.120
I am Jesse, your selfish servant, and we're about to get to know Miss Liberty.

00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:30.480
Miss Liberty, how are you?

00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:31.840
I'm great, Jesse.

00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:33.680
I'm so thrilled to be here.

00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:40.799
First of all, I can't believe this is the first time you and I have ever spoken face to face because I feel like we have like five times.

00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:41.840
I agree.

00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:42.959
I agree totally.

00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:49.599
But I guess we've just been like chatting on LinkedIn for like four or five years or something at this point.

00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:52.000
So it feels like I already know you.

00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:57.920
I want to like I want to comment on that to help the LM family out there kind of get some context.

00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:22.240
I know for me, I have this comfort level with you because of how much you've shared, like your vulnerability, the truth that you've shared about yourself, and not just like yourself, but like your business, the way you think about things, really made it easy for like this person is like, I gotta spend some more time with this human being, even though it was at first just on LinkedIn and then now here, and then who knows what's coming up in the future.

00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:24.319
But there's extreme value.

00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:29.120
I mean, maybe that's a data point in terms of how valuable it is to show up.

00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:33.439
I don't know if the words authentic or whatever, but like to show up the way that you do.

00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:34.319
I'm just gonna say that.

00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:34.960
What do you think?

00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:37.039
Well, first of all, thank you for saying that.

00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:39.120
That really means a lot.

00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:46.080
It feels good to know that the content that I put out there isn't just disappearing into the void.

00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:47.360
People are reading it.

00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:49.120
Hopefully, it's helping people.

00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:54.400
And some people have shared a woman a couple of weeks ago, or maybe it was last week, I can't remember.

00:02:54.560 --> 00:03:02.960
And I can't remember what my post was even about, but she shared this beautiful story in the comments about her sister who had passed away from cancer.

00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:07.919
And she shared about the beautiful moments that she got to spend with her.

00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:16.400
Oh, I remember because I had talked about I went to New York, I came back home, but I got to be close to my family, and a great positives came out of it.

00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:18.240
And she said she went through something similar.

00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:29.199
She went, she moved away from home because she felt like she should and she needed a change, and then realized that she was actually really lonely when she moved away.

00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:39.360
And so when she moved back and got to spend time with her, I don't know if it was her nieces and nephews, but with her sister and got that valuable time with her sister before she passed away.

00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:45.520
Like the fact that people will even write that as a comment on one of my posts, I've already won.

00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:52.719
So experiences like that on LinkedIn really touch me very deeply.

00:03:52.879 --> 00:04:02.400
And it feels good to know that there are other people, like you said, that are experiencing similar things out there, and you never know until you put yourself out there and say it first.

00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:02.800
Yeah.

00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:10.000
So well, and I'm gonna go a little further, Library, because I don't think I I need you to see this in case you don't.

00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:17.839
Your vulnerability is giving other people permission to be vulnerable.

00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:18.240
Right.

00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:33.439
And the fact that they're doing it on the internet is uh I think signals something deeper in that maybe they don't have the conditions in their life, like in their immediate circle, IRL circle, to be that vulnerable.

00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:42.399
Yeah, but because you are demonstrating that behavior, it is emboldening them to come at the same depth.

00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:50.560
Yeah, and that's like your fault and your gift, I think, even more appropriately, it's your gift to inspire that type of interaction.

00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:52.720
So you're amazing.

00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:54.079
Well, thank you.

00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:56.480
You're amazing, you're amazing.

00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:07.439
I have been following you for, like I said, it's gotta be at least like four years now, and I have always been impressed by your ability to first of all constantly put yourself out there.

00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:14.319
I remember for a while on LinkedIn and probably like on Instagram and TikTok too, you would like go on like these morning walks.

00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:23.279
I'm not sure if you're still doing it, but you would just like film yourself, just going on the walk, just like stream of consciousness, just whatever was going on in your mind.

00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:34.160
And I was like, I wish that I had the ability to put myself out there more like that, and not care about what other people think and not care about judgment.

00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:40.959
But you, I'm sure you obviously helped me in that way, but you helped other people in putting yourself out there like that.

00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:51.600
And so, and what I'll say too about the aspect of being vulnerable and I guess talking about yourself on LinkedIn, which that's what we're doing.

00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:52.959
We're talking about ourselves.

00:05:55.040 --> 00:06:01.680
In my personal life, I don't really get the opportunity to talk about my work and what I do.

00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:05.199
My husband and I and my two kids, we live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:07.199
I mean, it's on my LinkedIn profile, you can't miss it.

00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:10.560
So if you're in Tuscaloosa, give me a shout.

00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:13.680
We moved here in 2018.

00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:18.079
So we don't have a lot of like, we're from Atlanta originally, we don't have a lot of friends here.

00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:20.639
Like, I have a couple mom friends here and there.

00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:25.360
My husband has a couple colleagues that he's kind of surface level friends with.

00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:37.040
And so when I meet like moms on the playground and stuff like that, they never really ask me, or if they might ask me about what I do, and if they do ask me about what I do, they're like, What the heck is she talking about?

00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:39.040
Like, all right, is that a real thing?

00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:40.000
Yeah, exactly.

00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:41.759
I'm like, honestly, I don't know.

00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:45.680
Like, it's a miracle anyone pays me, to be perfectly honest.

00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:47.199
Because, like, what is it?

00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:53.600
I don't know, but I never get the chance to talk about my work and how much I love it and how important it is to me.

00:06:53.680 --> 00:07:05.279
And so I think LinkedIn for me has become that place where I can do that because I'm talking amongst peers in my industry, but also in other industries too.

00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:24.079
And so for me, it's kind of therapeutic in that way to laugh with people and have DMs with people that aren't business related but are that are just like conversations that springboarded for maybe a post I made or a post they made, and we just become like LinkedIn friends.

00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:32.720
So I wish I had those LinkedIn friends here in real life, but to have them virtually and to show up every single day means a lot.

00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:36.079
So that's what LinkedIn has really become for me.

00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:44.720
Yeah, well, I think I love the way you're using it because there's I know you know this because this is your profession, but people use it differently.

00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:45.519
Yeah.

00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:49.120
And I don't think it's wrong, like whatever's working for you, do that.

00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:49.439
Right.

00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:56.160
But I have a deep appreciation for people like yourself for the way that you show up, because it helps me.

00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:59.199
Because I'm like, okay, well, then I'm like, I'm not the only one.

00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:00.079
Right, right.

00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:06.959
Not because I've chosen or kind of decided like people always ask, like, man, you're crazy, like you don't care.

00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:08.160
Like, oh no, I do care.

00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:09.439
Like, my I do have feelings.

00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:11.759
I get my feelings get hurt and all of the things.

00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:13.519
Oh, yes.

00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:20.160
But I do it anyways, because like you said, it can connect with somebody in a certain kind of way.

00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:21.120
It I mean, hell.

00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:24.319
So those month, those walks of where I'm just the Monday morning hug.

00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:27.920
Yeah, those videos you're talking about, I've turned that into a newsletter.

00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:28.240
Right.

00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:30.160
So now it's a the newsletter, right?

00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:30.959
On LinkedIn.

00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:33.840
It's still the Monday morning hug on all the other platforms.

00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:38.799
And just the other day, I was talking with Stephanie Wood, another LinkedIn friend.

00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:45.919
Yeah, and she was like, Jesse, that hug that you put out today was exactly what I needed with the really difficult decision.

00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:51.200
I'm like, oh my God, that happens once maybe every two years, but it's enough.

00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:54.320
I know, yeah, those moments make it all worth it.

00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:57.679
I know that sounds super crazy, but it's really true.

00:08:58.799 --> 00:08:59.679
It totally is.

00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:00.159
Okay.

00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:09.519
Now I know that this social media marketing expertise world that you're in now is not where you started.

00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:17.600
No, you started, well, from what I know, or what's caught my interest enough to yes, you were in my theater.

00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:22.960
You're touring doing legally blonde, which was your dream.

00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:26.000
And so here I got a simple, like kind of simple question.

00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:26.159
Yeah.

00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:26.960
Is that okay?

00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:27.600
Yeah.

00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:35.120
So how do you reconcile living your dream and being miserable?

00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:37.519
Girl, you're gonna make me cry.

00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:38.559
Well, here's the thing.

00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:42.480
So I I moved to New York right after I graduate college.

00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:48.879
Uh at a BFA in musical theater from one of the top musical theater schools in the country, which is amazing.

00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:49.759
Amazing.

00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:55.120
Um I'm gonna do the LM family member shout-out.

00:09:55.440 --> 00:10:02.240
And this one goes to Miss Rocio, my sister, former guest of the Learn Inns and Mystebs podcast.

00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:05.279
And she says, Jesse Hernandez is the man.

00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:13.919
I've had the pleasure of working and being in a couple of his organization class, the best class ever, according to Rocío, not me.

00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:18.159
So he helped my squirrel brain get focused and organized.

00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:18.799
Uh Mr.

00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:29.039
Rocillo, thank you not only for the beautiful, amazing review, but taking the time to be in the things, because I do crazy things and you never know what to expect.

00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:37.039
Uh folks, if you're wondering what she's talking about, it was the self-first Time Mastery workshop that she was in, and she was also an emotional bungee jumpers.

00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:40.559
Anyways, uh Rocil, thank you for taking the time to leave that review.

00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:43.279
And folks, you already know I love attention.

00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:44.480
I need attention.

00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:55.039
So anytime you take your precious time to leave a comment, leave a review, it gives me an excuse to celebrate you in the future and it feeds my ego.

00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:57.039
So please do some of that.

00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:03.840
Moved to New York in, I want to say it was like May of 2009.

00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:09.840
I booked Legally Blonde in January of 2010.

00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:12.879
And yeah, no, I was very lucky.

00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:19.679
I mean, like I said, I came from one of the top schools, so I like I had a showcase in New York where my class got to perform in front of agents.

00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:26.799
We had a step up, we had a privilege that we had this opportunity to get in front of the top people in the city.

00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:29.039
So I gotten an agent from that.

00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:35.039
So I had an agent that was able to get me into rooms I would not have been able to get into myself.

00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:41.679
Um so I booked Legally Blonde in January of 2010, which was incredible.

00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:43.440
I was only 23 at the time.

00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:46.080
So I was like one of the youngest people in the cast.

00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:47.919
I I thought I was a cat's meow.

00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:49.120
Okay, let's just say that.

00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:49.840
Of course.

00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:51.679
I thought I was a Snapdrag.

00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:54.080
I love all my animal references.

00:11:54.399 --> 00:12:03.279
But so I go, I like literally like less than a week after I book the job, I'm on a plane to somewhere in Oklahoma.

00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:04.240
I can't remember.

00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:06.559
I'm on a plane to Oklahoma.

00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:10.080
And so right away I start learning the show.

00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:15.840
I want to say a couple weeks later, I like had my debut in the show because I was replacing someone that was leaving.

00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:25.440
Did that for seven months, had the absolute time of my life, was making a lot of money, way more money than a 20, 23 year old probably should be.

00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:31.759
Um, and I was able to just put it, keep it in my bank account because I really didn't have any expenses.

00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:35.919
I was subletting my apartment in New York, so I wasn't paying rent there.

00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:37.440
So it was great, it was amazing.

00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:44.240
And I remember the day that I got back to New York after the tour ended, because our last city was DC.

00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:48.720
So we had played DC, then we just took a bus up to New York because it was very close.

00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:56.080
And I remember just like having my bags and walking back into my apartment and be like, okay, that was fun.

00:12:56.240 --> 00:12:56.879
What's next?

00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:02.080
Because I was terrified of never booking a job again.

00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:08.320
I just like had in the back of my mind that something like that was never gonna happen again.

00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:28.080
And even while I was on tour with Legally Blonde, I remember we were in, we did we played Toronto for five weeks, and I remember like going to this park by myself alone in Toronto, like during the day before show, and just like sobbing because I was so terrified of going back to New York and having to relive the whole audition experience again.

00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:33.600
And I just had in the back of my mind that like this was gonna be the only job I was ever gonna get.

00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:41.919
So I get back to the city, I'm still with the same agent, they're sending me on auditions, nothing is clicking.

00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:48.879
I change agencies, thinking, okay, well, maybe someone else will, I don't know, change my trajectory.

00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:52.240
Got really close to booking Sister Act on Broadway.

00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:55.200
I had like 11 callbacks or something crazy like that.

00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:57.679
Didn't get it, was totally devastated.

00:13:57.840 --> 00:13:59.519
That one I don't think I'll ever get over.

00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:03.440
I know everyone's like, oh, get over and move on to the next thing, but that was it was very emotional.

00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:09.039
And so basically for a whole nother year after that, I just kept auditioning and nothing ever clicked.

00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:17.919
And so probably every day that year, I would just call my dad sobbing on the phone, being like, I can't do this anymore.

00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:19.679
I'm so unhappy.

00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.000
I felt untalented, I felt unworthy.

00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:25.360
It just felt terrible.

00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:26.720
I was extremely depressed.

00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:30.159
Looking back now, I didn't know I was depressed at the time because I was so young.

00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:30.399
Right.

00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:33.279
Looking back now, I'm like, oh no, you were definitely depressed.

00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:35.919
That is impressive behavior.

00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:46.000
So eventually in March of 2012, my agent at the time calls me and he was like, Oh, by the way, we're dropping you.

00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:48.000
And I was like, Oh, geez.

00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:50.080
Another nail, yeah.

00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:52.960
But you know what my first thought was when he said that?

00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:56.000
Okay, I thank goodness leave now.

00:14:57.039 --> 00:15:00.879
Oh I mean, I was no, go ahead, go ahead.

00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:06.320
Okay, and man, if I go too far, just tell me back off because I have a habit of dig in.

00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:12.480
Was it how much of it was like the rejection?

00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:17.840
How much of it was it the like the unknown, like not knowing?

00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:24.559
I guess because I had such a big job so early on and so fast.

00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:34.720
And that it's not that I expected that to happen again, but I just had in the back of my mind, and I I probably defeated myself at the end of the day.

00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:40.799
I'm sure that I went into every audition just thinking like you'll never get that again.

00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:43.039
Like that was a once in a lifetime.

00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:46.080
That was just pure luck.

00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:48.320
Well, where did that idea come from, though?

00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:52.639
Was it just you just decided that or I don't know.

00:15:52.799 --> 00:16:07.679
I because right before I booked Legally Blonde, when I went home for Christmas in like December 20, 2009, like the day before I got back on a plane to go back to New York, I remember saying to my parents, like, I don't want to go back.

00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:09.440
I don't think I can do this.

00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:12.000
But they were like, Liberty, you just got there.

00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:14.000
Give it some more time.

00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:17.519
Like, this is what you've this is what you've wanted your whole life.

00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:18.480
And that's true.

00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:21.919
From age three, I was like, girl, I'm gonna be on Broadway.

00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:29.519
That that that was the only life goal that I had, and that's what I knew I was gonna do.

00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:36.480
So I was like, okay, so then a week later I booked Legally Blonde after I said that to my parents.

00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:36.960
Okay.

00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:43.519
Or do the show for seven months, and then yeah, I don't know, I don't know what changed in me.

00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:57.919
And also when you're when you go to a school like that, like the school that I went to, and you see your classmates succeeding at a very high level consistently, yeah, you can't not compare yourself to that, right?

00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:04.480
You're like, why are they getting all this stuff and I'm sitting like a bump on a log?

00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:08.720
It just makes you feel very less than and very untalented.

00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:14.400
Yes, and that's why that industry, any performing industry, is so tough.

00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:18.079
I mean, you when they say you gotta have a thick skin, that's baseline.

00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:22.799
You need to have skin and nerves of steel.

00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:26.559
And I I guess I just didn't have that.

00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:32.880
But I would but and I just remember thinking while I was there and while I was so depressed, I was like, I'm just like not happy.

00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:46.160
Should I just I'm just gonna like live and not being happy for the next 10 years and still be going to open calls when I'm 33 years old with 23-year-olds that are gonna be shooting me out of the water?

00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:51.039
I would see older women at these auditions that I went to, and I was like, I don't want that to be me.

00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:56.000
Not because I didn't respect them, but I just knew that's not what I wanted for my life.

00:17:56.240 --> 00:17:57.359
Sure, yeah, absolutely.

00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:00.079
So, so yeah, so my agent dropped me.

00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:07.279
I think literally, like my dad, I think called my landlord and was like, dude, you gotta help get me out of it.

00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:08.799
Help us out, help us out.

00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:10.559
Please break this lease.

00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:12.319
I don't know what kind of deal they came to.

00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:16.079
Somehow we got out of the lease, moved back to Atlanta.

00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:20.559
I remember just like arriving back at home, being like, What the heck am I gonna do?

00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:23.440
Like, I feel like you didn't even have a plan.

00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:25.279
You're just like, I'm not gonna do this.

00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:28.400
No, I don't know, like I'm just not gonna do this.

00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:29.119
Oh, that's awesome.

00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:34.319
Because all I had known for my whole life, and what I wanted my whole life was just to perform.

00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:35.359
That's all I wanted.

00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:35.759
Sure.

00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:41.680
So I didn't other professions or careers never entered my mind ever.

00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:44.640
Because I was dead set on that goal.

00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:46.240
So yeah, I get back.

00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:47.599
I had my boyfriend at the time.

00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:50.240
So we had done long distance the whole time I was in New York.

00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:57.119
I get back, he's in Atlanta, my parents were in Atlanta, so I go and move in with my boyfriend, which we've never lived together before, but I'm like, guess what?

00:18:57.200 --> 00:18:58.240
I'm coming in.

00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:00.559
Luckily, that was all okay.

00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:04.000
Yeah, that was probably a little strange for a while there.

00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:10.880
But when I was in New York, what I did for work was I worked for a babysitting agency as a babysitter.

00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:12.799
And I really enjoyed that.

00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:21.519
I it was an easy quote unquote gig, paid decently for young girls that were in college, fresh out of college.

00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:25.920
And so somehow, right before I moved back to Atlanta, I convinced our CEO.

00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:29.279
I was like, what if you let me open up an Atlanta branch of this?

00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:33.200
And she was like, she was like, okay, like we can give it a try.

00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:35.119
So literally I moved back to Atlanta.

00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:37.200
She's paying me$200 a week.

00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:39.440
And I am starting from nothing.

00:19:39.599 --> 00:19:43.680
I don't have any clients, I don't have any babysitters, I don't have any anything.

00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:48.880
But it forced me to, I mean, I'd always been like a hustler my whole life.

00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:51.119
I was very dedicated to everything I did.

00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:53.759
Everything that I approached, I wanted to be the best at it.

00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:55.039
No matter what it was.

00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:59.759
So when I got this, when I started this new gig, I started connecting like with old.

00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:02.640
Families in like the neighborhood I had grown up with.

00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:09.359
Started reaching out to like colleges, seeing if there were any guys or girls interested in babysitting.

00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:12.079
And just slowly started to build that.

00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:14.240
And I kind of got addicted to it.

00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:20.720
It like I loved pairing great babysitters with families that they would call on again and again.

00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:23.119
They were like, Oh, we love Allison so much.

00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:23.759
She's so great.

00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:24.640
Can she come back?

00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:25.599
I'm like, yes.

00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:27.440
So that was kind of like a high.

00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:28.880
I really liked that feeling.

00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:32.400
So I guess I was kind of like a recruiter in some sense.

00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:33.920
I didn't know her at the time.

00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:39.279
But as I was doing that, Atlanta is, I'm I don't know if you've ever been to Atlanta.

00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:40.720
I'm sure you have at some point.

00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:43.519
I have a couple times, but just kind of in and out.

00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:43.839
Yep.

00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:50.720
Atlanta has a huge art scene in every facet, whether it's theater, opera, dance.

00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:54.079
So I found theater opportunities for myself there.

00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:56.640
I started working in some regional theaters there.

00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:00.319
I was a I was a member of Actors Equity, the Actors Union.

00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:02.960
So I had kind of a leg up there.

00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:08.000
So during the day, I was babysitting matchmaker extraordinaire.

00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:10.559
And then at night I went to go rehearse.

00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:12.160
I would get casts and shows.

00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:15.359
I would go and rehearse, perform the shows.

00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:21.680
And it felt so good to do it because I wanted to do it and to be there with people that wanted to do it.

00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:25.039
Like these were people that were working nine to fives driving.

00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:27.759
When you live in Atlanta, all you do is drive.

00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:29.039
You live in your car.

00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:34.480
So these people are like getting up at the crack of dawn and then they go to rehearsal at 11 p.m.

00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:35.759
because they love it.

00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:41.119
Because the, I mean, the pay was not great, but they're there because they love it and they want to do it.

00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:46.799
So it reignited my flame for performing and for theater.

00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:53.839
I met some amazing people, got to be the lead in several shows, which I'm extremely grateful for.

00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:59.440
And so I it felt good to have a creative outlet that wasn't like the end-all be all.

00:21:59.839 --> 00:22:02.319
That was like if you don't get a job, you're gonna starve.

00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:03.440
Not that I ever would have starved.

00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:04.240
Luckily, I had a man.

00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:06.720
It's a different experience.

00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:07.440
Exactly.

00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:09.200
It wasn't life or death.

00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:12.240
So I got two questions, Liberty.

00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:14.319
One is totally selfish.

00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:14.960
Love it.

00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:18.079
And the other one I think will be helpful for the audience.

00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:19.920
But I'm gonna be selfish first.

00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:28.160
I since I was in elementary school, we watched West Side Stories, and this was back in the 80s.

00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:28.400
Yeah.

00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:32.799
And I just knew that's what I wanted to do.

00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:36.319
Now I was raised under different conditions.

00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:40.960
It said there ain't no way in the world you're ever gonna don't get that thought out of your mind.

00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:41.359
Right.

00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:46.000
But now I can do it.

00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:54.319
So not that I have the skill set, but I have the buying power and the decision-making authority to do that.

00:22:54.559 --> 00:22:54.720
Right.

00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:57.359
What advice do you have for me?

00:22:57.519 --> 00:22:58.880
Do I get an acting coach?

00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:00.400
Do I just go to an audition?

00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:02.960
Like I have I'm going from zero.

00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:05.920
So so going into like theater jobs, right?

00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:07.599
Like auditioning for shows?

00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:08.720
Yes.

00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:12.240
To do like that kind of stuff.

00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:15.200
Well, okay, so you live in San Antonio, right?

00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:15.920
Yep.

00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:20.640
So where you live, I'm sure, first of all, again, there's another huge art scene in San Antonio.

00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:27.599
I'm sure there are a lot of opportunities for acting classes, singing lessons for people of all ages.

00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:37.359
So what I would definitely recommend is if you're interested in theater acting, which it sounds like you are, but it might, but that might evolve into like TV and film acting.

00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:37.920
Who knows?

00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:38.960
The sky's the limit.

00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:39.519
Who knows?

00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:44.799
But I would definitely recommend finding an acting class, adult acting class.

00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:59.279
So everyone's kind of experiencing everything at the same level, like a weekly acting class that you really love and that you really you vibe with the teacher, you vibe with your classmates.

00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:08.799
And that will open up opportunities because they'll make you aware of like, oh, this the blah blah blah theater is doing a production of Pippin soon.

00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:13.359
Here, here's all the auditions that you know, here's the auditions that are happening.

00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:18.160
Let us help you prep for your audition so you're not just going and cold turkey.

00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:25.599
But yeah, I would recommend adult acting classes because I'm sure in San Antonio there are really great resources for that.

00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:26.799
Awesome.

00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:30.319
Yeah, I wrote it down now, which it's just a matter of when I do that.

00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:31.119
But I get this.

00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:32.880
You better keep us posted.

00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:36.400
I will you better, but I'll be posting about it for sure.

00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:47.759
I want you posting monologues on LinkedIn, like videotaping yourself doing monologues, or you like doing a scene as Bernardo in West Side Story.

00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:54.079
I want to see all the behind the scenes, and then use your LinkedIn fandom to give you tips.

00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:54.880
Yes.

00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:57.759
Oh man, we just started up dangerous ball rolling.

00:24:57.920 --> 00:24:58.160
I love it.

00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:01.759
This is the construction slash theater.

00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:02.720
I don't know.

00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:08.880
We'll do something with it, but yeah, yeah, we'll come up with some awesome, yes, a new community.

00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:09.519
I love it.

00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:10.160
Thank you for that.

00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:10.880
You're welcome.

00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:16.400
Now, the other valuable question for the audience is you started a business.

00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:17.119
Yeah.

00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:23.680
You didn't have any experience on around, I'm assuming, on how to start a business.

00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:25.200
You just said I'm going to start one.

00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:25.680
Yeah.

00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:28.319
And then so there's two buckets.

00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:31.599
I want to pick that apart because I think there's a lot of value there for people.

00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:38.079
Doing something you had no experience or training or certification for, and you did it.

00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:46.720
The other bucket, and we'll come back to that here in a bit, is doing the thing you love under different conditions and what that felt like.

00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:48.559
So we'll come back to that one.

00:25:48.720 --> 00:26:02.720
But first, in terms of like starting this business, where did you get the courage or the momentum, the drive to because there's a ton of shit you gotta learn.

00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:03.680
Oh yes.

00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:04.559
Yeah.

00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:08.160
So what was the support system?

00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:09.599
Where did the drive come from?

00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:13.920
What did the how did you overcome the I don't really know what I'm doing, but I'm gonna do it anyways.

00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:14.720
Yeah, yeah.

00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:17.599
Well, and too, like it's Atlanta, it's a big city, right?

00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:19.839
There's other babysitting agencies there.

00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:23.920
I wasn't afraid of like, I wasn't gonna do like a market research.

00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:33.039
I probably should have, but I wasn't afraid of competition because I was like, I know, first of all, I've been working for this company now for three years.

00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:36.720
I know the caliber of what we offer.

00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:39.119
And same thing with LinkedIn.

00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:41.039
I know that I'm different.

00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:45.359
So I have my own unique superpower, if you will.

00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:49.359
So other real seating agencies, yeah, I'm sure they're great, but they don't have me.

00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:57.519
So they don't have my connections and my connections, meaning people that I knew from my past, right?

00:26:57.599 --> 00:26:58.240
I grew up there.

00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:06.319
So they don't have my connections, they don't have my network, and they don't have my psychotic drive that I have in my mind that I can't start.

00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:11.839
So I was lucky in that I was like, okay, I want to open an Atlanta branch.

00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:16.160
At the time, they had a New York branch and a San Francisco branch.

00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:20.079
So the there was already a basic infrastructure there.

00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:27.279
Like they already had a website, they had a financial person that was in that like handled all of the billing.

00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:42.960
So my job was to introduce it to Atlanta and convince people that I knew that this service, this babysitting service, is if you're a if you're a mom or a dad, you're gonna want this.

00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:47.119
Because the sitters that we brought on, they weren't just like random people.

00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:51.680
It wasn't like care.com where you go on there and you're like, I need a sitter for Friday night.

00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:55.039
And 20 people that are in like a five-mile radius pop up.

00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:56.799
You don't know anything about them.

00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:00.079
Like these people were reference-checked, background checked.

00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:05.039
I interviewed each one of them personally, so I knew that they were a very good caliber.

00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:09.440
And they did it because they really enjoyed working with kids.

00:28:09.759 --> 00:28:20.000
So my job was to convince families that yes, this is an expensive service, but once you start it, you're never gonna go back to the other way.

00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:20.400
Yeah.

00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:23.519
Because it's reliable, you're getting a great person.

00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:27.440
And whenever you want a babysitter, you just at the time we didn't have an app or anything.

00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:29.359
This is 2012.

00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:37.200
You just log into your account on the website, type in a date and time, you'll see who's available of sitters that I have vetted personally.

00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:42.960
They're CPR certified, it's top-notch people, and you'll be able to book sitters that way.

00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:49.759
And then if there's a specific person that you want, you can email me, oh hey, Liberty, we're going out Friday night, is blah, blah, blah available.

00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:50.880
Let me check and see.

00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:54.480
If they're not, here are some other wonderful people that are available.

00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:56.559
So, so yeah.

00:28:56.640 --> 00:29:01.200
So I just went to, like I said, people that I grew up with, moms that I knew.

00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:09.599
I wasn't a mom at the time, moms that I knew, and just kind of, I don't know, just slowly worked my way up.

00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:12.559
And it just became like a word of mouth thing, right?

00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:14.000
Oh, call liberty, call liberty.

00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:16.880
Don't call the name of the company at the time, they don't exist anymore.

00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:18.079
It's called Sensible Sitters.

00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:20.480
It wasn't called Sensible Sitters, it was called Liberty.

00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:22.400
So, and that's what I wanted.

00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:26.240
Slowly over time, I was bringing in more families.

00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:32.720
I was slowly bringing in sitters from, and again, Atlanta has a ton, and around Atlanta, there's tons of colleges.

00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:38.960
There's a huge resource of people, of babysitters that you can get to.

00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:43.759
So, yeah, I just found creative ways to slowly build it.

00:29:43.839 --> 00:29:53.519
And then by the time I left in October 2015, I was at the point where I had like 20 babysitters working a day, like going out a day.

00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:55.119
And it felt great.

00:29:55.359 --> 00:30:00.880
Unfortunately, the CEO and I kind of had a little bit of a falling out, and that's why I eventually had to leave.

00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:05.680
It happens, and then I got to another point of okay, what am I gonna do now?

00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:07.119
Yeah.

00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:09.279
I'm like, okay, next one.

00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:14.000
Yeah, I and I think that's kind of been my life, likewise.

00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:16.720
I mean, I've stayed in the construction space the whole time, right?

00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:18.720
It's like, okay, I did that now.

00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:19.119
What?

00:30:19.279 --> 00:30:25.359
Yeah, but I want to like summarize a couple of points for the LM family out there.

00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:29.759
Like, one, and these two for the first two are true for everybody.

00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:34.400
You have a special, like you are unique.

00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:36.480
You have you, right?

00:30:36.799 --> 00:30:38.240
And you embraced that.

00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:41.680
Number two, you started with your network.

00:30:41.839 --> 00:30:42.000
Right.

00:30:43.680 --> 00:30:44.559
Everybody has that.

00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:48.079
They have their own uniqueness and their own network.

00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:54.400
So you can and you leverage that to start this thing that one freaking 20 sitters a day.

00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:55.599
That's not a small thing.

00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:58.000
That's a big, it's a pretty significant thing.

00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:18.720
Now the third thing that I'm hearing that not everybody has rather I'll say it this way not everyone has access that you did was your confidence, your self-confidence to say, I'm gonna figure it out and I'm going to do it.

00:31:19.839 --> 00:31:26.480
So this that self-confidence, which I like to put in the bucket of like uh being resourceful.

00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:35.759
Confidence is a resource, but if I'm not resourceful, meaning I don't know how to access the resource I have, it doesn't matter.

00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:36.079
Right.

00:31:36.640 --> 00:31:40.160
So having access to it and being resourceful is two different things.

00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:48.559
Do you have any advice for somebody out there that's got a like a tingling, tickling of an idea that they're like, oh, I don't know.

00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:53.359
Do you have any insider advice for them in terms of like getting started?

00:31:53.519 --> 00:31:58.480
Maybe not bringing it to full birth, but just get the ball rolling.

00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:05.359
Yeah, I mean, you kind of hit the nail on the head that you there is no other you on planet Earth.

00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:05.920
Okay.

00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:09.680
So you in yourself, you are unique.

00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:13.039
You have your own network, you have your own connections.

00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:20.720
And you, it's really comes down to it, really comes down to does this make you happy?

00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:21.279
Right?

00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:24.480
Like, yes, if it makes you money, great, awesome.

00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:32.480
But you and from just what I've learned from all the ups and downs that I've been through, if it's not making you happy, don't do it.

00:32:32.640 --> 00:32:36.960
And it doesn't, and even if you are making a million dollars and it's not making you happy, don't do it.

00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:38.319
Because I've worth it.

00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:42.720
I've had clients that were paying me a ton of money, but it was a miserable experience.

00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:45.519
So I was like, I'm out, I can't do this.

00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:49.920
It's not worth the stress, or it's not worth being miserable.

00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:55.440
So yeah, I I mean I wish I had more like business insight to offer.

00:32:55.519 --> 00:33:02.880
I I wouldn't say I'm the most business savvy person, but what I do have to offer is that drive and that entrepreneurial push.

00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:14.880
So if there is something that you really want to do and you want to be the best at it, like in your mind, like you're like, you I know I can do this, and I know I can do this well.

00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:15.759
Yeah.

00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:21.119
Go for it, try it, and it might lead to other things.

00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:22.640
Exactly.

00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:28.000
The people that you meet, and again, LinkedIn's a great example of this.

00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:34.559
The people that you meet along the way are gonna open up more doors and more doors and introduce you to more people.

00:33:34.799 --> 00:33:43.839
And so you might start with something that you think you really wanted to do, and you're like, oh no, actually, I really want to do this, and I really want to work with this person or these people.

00:33:44.400 --> 00:33:47.119
So that's really what it's all about.

00:33:47.359 --> 00:33:50.960
Putting yourself out there, meeting as many people as you can.

00:33:51.279 --> 00:34:01.759
Like if you're an introvert, like I feel for you, but you gotta get out of that bubble a little bit and you gotta force yourself to get out there in a way that's comfortable for you.

00:34:49.159 --> 00:34:49.719
Yes.

00:34:49.960 --> 00:34:51.880
Oh, solid, solid.

00:34:52.119 --> 00:34:54.839
Because I feel like the business stuff is tactical.

00:34:54.920 --> 00:35:01.159
Yeah, there's a million resources out there, and it's just really a matter of who you resonate with, and you can like copy paste that stuff.

00:35:01.239 --> 00:35:10.759
Yeah, but this kind of the mindset, the thinking, and more importantly, the awareness of the resources we have just because we're a human being that we can't see.

00:35:10.920 --> 00:35:13.079
You can't, I can't see my network, right?

00:35:13.159 --> 00:35:16.039
Like my buddy, I have a friend who's a state senator.

00:35:16.360 --> 00:35:20.599
He's still the goofball that always wanted to play basketball who's shorter than me, right?

00:35:20.679 --> 00:35:26.839
Like, I don't think of him as a state center, I think of him the guy that liked to DJ and wanted to be a professional basketball player.

00:35:26.920 --> 00:35:27.719
Like that was crazy.

00:35:27.880 --> 00:35:28.519
Right.

00:35:29.000 --> 00:35:31.159
But that's that guy's in my network.

00:35:31.719 --> 00:35:33.319
But and so we're blind to that.

00:35:33.559 --> 00:35:33.799
Yeah.

00:35:33.880 --> 00:35:49.719
And the other thing too is you never, ever know when someone is gonna come back into your life in a different role, in something that you will that will introduce you to someone that you're gonna work for or that you will work for, that you will work with.

00:35:49.960 --> 00:36:01.480
So, I mean, this sounds pretty basic, but like don't burn your bridges and just keep in touch with people, keep tabling people that you grew up with that you haven't seen in 20 years.

00:36:01.719 --> 00:36:08.679
There is a good chance they will come back into your life in some capacity and open up a door that you never even thought existed.

00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:12.199
Because I've had it happen several times.

00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:13.319
So, yeah.

00:36:13.799 --> 00:36:15.079
Yeah, love it, love it.

00:36:15.159 --> 00:36:15.960
There you go, folks.

00:36:16.119 --> 00:36:16.920
Write those down.

00:36:17.400 --> 00:36:18.839
I have one more, I have one more.

00:36:19.079 --> 00:36:32.119
And if you so I'm like more of like the creative entrepreneur-hustler type person, I'm not very good at I don't have the business savvy, I don't have like the technical stuff, I don't have there's a lot of skills that I don't have.

00:36:32.360 --> 00:36:46.119
So if you know your weaknesses and you know the skills that you don't have, find someone that is really good at that stuff that either wants to be on the train with you or that is willing to just like do kind of some kind of like mentoring session with you.

00:36:46.360 --> 00:36:53.960
Lean on people that have other skill sets than you and you do what you're really good at, but then trust them to do what they're really good at.

00:36:54.199 --> 00:36:57.079
And forces combined, you're unstoppable.

00:36:57.480 --> 00:36:58.279
Oh my god.

00:36:58.360 --> 00:37:01.319
Yeah, and you don't have to, you don't have to do it all alone.

00:37:01.639 --> 00:37:02.759
So yes, amen.

00:37:03.159 --> 00:37:04.279
Amen to that.

00:37:04.440 --> 00:37:04.759
Yeah.

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:05.639
Oh, okay.

00:37:06.039 --> 00:37:07.400
Oh my god, I'm such a genius.

00:37:07.559 --> 00:37:08.360
It's amazing.

00:37:08.679 --> 00:37:10.599
You are, girl, you are.

00:37:11.079 --> 00:37:11.400
Okay.

00:37:11.880 --> 00:37:19.799
Now I opened the loop a little while ago about doing the thing you love, like the performing, under different conditions.

00:37:20.599 --> 00:37:24.440
So when you were in New York, it was like, I need to do this to have a living.

00:37:24.599 --> 00:37:28.759
There was some comparison going on to like, man, everybody else is doing better than me.

00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:30.759
And I know what that causes for me, right?

00:37:30.839 --> 00:37:37.079
It's like, man, I must suck, I'm defected, I'm less than, I'm in inadequate, and it creates this kind of situation.

00:37:38.440 --> 00:37:41.400
And then it's compounded because I need to make a living.

00:37:41.559 --> 00:37:52.279
This is supposed to be my career, the bookings, the revenue, the earnings, all of that are all indicators that I am successful, and because I don't have them, I'm a freaking failure, and right, like blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

00:37:52.440 --> 00:37:53.079
That's what my brain is.

00:37:53.239 --> 00:37:53.799
Yep, same.

00:37:56.119 --> 00:38:01.400
But you go back into the water, meaning to act and to perform.

00:38:01.639 --> 00:38:07.159
Yeah, but now there's not the pressure of like it being your career.

00:38:07.719 --> 00:38:08.440
Same thing.

00:38:08.519 --> 00:38:11.559
You're still in the water, just different conditions.

00:38:11.639 --> 00:38:12.279
Yeah.

00:38:12.920 --> 00:38:16.039
And so what were your takeaways from that?

00:38:16.199 --> 00:38:17.719
Like the second attempt.

00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:21.480
What were the revelations you got from doing that again?

00:38:21.559 --> 00:38:24.199
Because a lot of people would say, I ain't touching that ever again.

00:38:24.279 --> 00:38:25.400
Like that was never.

00:38:25.799 --> 00:38:31.880
Yeah, I mean, I definitely still to this day, like the wounds are there for sure.

00:38:32.119 --> 00:38:34.440
I can't, I have a very hard time.

00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:41.799
Like, people that from my past that I know are very successful, when I and like obviously social media doesn't help.

00:38:41.960 --> 00:38:42.119
Right.

00:38:42.360 --> 00:38:50.839
When I see them like booking a Broadway show or like doing something incredible, I'm not gonna lie, it still hurts.

00:38:51.159 --> 00:38:55.559
It still hurts because I'm I still deep down, I'm like, that could have been me.

00:38:56.039 --> 00:38:59.960
But then I have to think too, they don't have they have an amazing life.

00:39:00.039 --> 00:39:12.119
They're doing what uh it seems like they want to do, but they don't have my life, they don't have my family and this community and my job and my house.

00:39:12.360 --> 00:39:14.599
So I have I have to look at it that way.

00:39:14.759 --> 00:39:32.759
But yeah, so the wounds are still there, and I still have a very hard time engaging in musical theater like I used to, because back when it was such a pipe dream, and now it just it it hurts to look back and see that I didn't I didn't continue on the path, even though I was miserable.

00:39:33.880 --> 00:39:42.039
Right, I understand but so when I moved back, I I moved back in April.

00:39:42.279 --> 00:39:45.079
At the time, I was like, I'm never doing theater ever again.

00:39:45.239 --> 00:39:47.799
Like it's too painful, it hurts too much.

00:39:48.039 --> 00:39:55.559
I'm done being judged, I'm done auditioning, like I'm not doing that anymore.

00:39:55.719 --> 00:39:57.719
I've been doing that literally my whole life.

00:39:58.039 --> 00:40:08.920
So I went the whole summer and then a theater that I had gone to several times growing up, a local theater in Atlanta, was doing a production of Kiss of the Spider Woman, which the movie just came out with J Lo.

00:40:09.319 --> 00:40:09.960
I haven't seen it.

00:40:10.199 --> 00:40:11.159
I want to see it.

00:40:11.400 --> 00:40:14.119
That wound I can take because I did the show.

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.159
And I was the Spider Woman, so Oh, of course.

00:40:19.319 --> 00:40:20.519
You gotta see.

00:40:20.679 --> 00:40:21.639
Check the competition.

00:40:22.519 --> 00:40:24.920
Me and J Lo, I mean, we're basically the same.

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:27.719
So I'll see how she does.

00:40:28.039 --> 00:40:29.239
I guess she's okay.

00:40:29.480 --> 00:40:32.679
No, if I look at that good at her age, girl, I'm winning.

00:40:32.839 --> 00:40:36.599
But uh, so I auditioned, I was like, okay, I'll audition for Kiss of the Spider Woman.

00:40:36.759 --> 00:40:41.319
I was nervous about it because I was afraid of feeling all those same feelings again.

00:40:41.639 --> 00:40:46.279
But I went into the audition, I auditioned for the role of the Spider Woman, got the role.

00:40:47.559 --> 00:40:57.719
And then had just like met the loveliest people that again are doing nine to fives during the day and then show up at 7 p.m.

00:40:57.960 --> 00:41:09.880
after driving all day and working all day and being with their kids and just show up and we just get to have fun and we just get to be creative and be like musical theater nerds.

00:41:10.199 --> 00:41:18.199
So doing it in that setting because with Legally Blonde, I really only had like one good friend on that show in that cast.

00:41:18.599 --> 00:41:29.480
I didn't really drive with a lot of my cast, so it wasn't while it was a great experience performing, the outside of the performing part, like we went all over the country.

00:41:29.559 --> 00:41:35.159
I there were so many things that I wanted to do, like I want to go see this, I want to go see that, but I didn't want to do it by myself, so I just didn't do it.

00:41:35.319 --> 00:41:36.440
So I have regrets there.

00:41:37.079 --> 00:41:40.119
But because I didn't, I wasn't close with anyone.

00:41:40.360 --> 00:41:54.360
And so doing shows with people that get to be normal humans during the day and have perspective and are doing this for maybe like$200 a week, it's gonna be a totally different experience.

00:41:54.519 --> 00:42:00.119
They're not, they don't think they're all that in a bag of chips, they're there because they love it.

00:42:00.519 --> 00:42:03.079
Yeah, so it just made it different.

00:42:03.239 --> 00:42:06.679
It it made it very authentic and genuine.

00:42:06.920 --> 00:42:11.799
I got to do several more shows, luckily as the lead role, which was awesome.

00:42:11.960 --> 00:42:14.679
But yeah, it was just an overall totally different experience.

00:42:14.839 --> 00:42:24.920
Hard to describe, but very different from what I experienced in New York with people that are extremely narcissistic and which kind of in that industry you kind of have to be.

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:28.039
If you don't think you're guilty and proud.

00:42:28.360 --> 00:42:32.119
Yeah, if you don't think you're great and you're gonna book it, you're probably not gonna book it.

00:42:32.279 --> 00:42:37.480
So, yeah, so just being with different types of people, it just made a difference.

00:42:37.960 --> 00:42:38.599
I love it.

00:42:38.759 --> 00:42:48.199
So here's what I'm picking up is the like the big difference, or one of the big differences was the level of human connection.

00:42:49.480 --> 00:42:56.679
Touring with legally blonde, there was one person that was a friend, you didn't dive with the rest of the people, so there was no connection to share the experience with.

00:42:57.079 --> 00:42:57.639
No, exactly.

00:42:59.000 --> 00:43:04.440
And now you've got folks that you can connect with, and it totally transforms the experience.

00:43:04.599 --> 00:43:07.159
Sure, I mean, different scale, different scope, whatever.

00:43:07.639 --> 00:43:11.639
But the experience is more meaningful, which I think ties back to what you said earlier.

00:43:11.719 --> 00:43:17.559
Uh like if you're doing something that that's making you miserable, like you don't have to do it.

00:43:17.639 --> 00:43:29.400
And I, and you we're both in the playing the construction industry now, I think the substance abuse, the mental health uh crisis that we're in is due to a lack of connection.

00:43:29.639 --> 00:43:30.519
Yeah, a lack of connection.

00:43:31.880 --> 00:43:34.759
And like find the people, right?

00:43:34.920 --> 00:43:35.799
Find your people.

00:43:36.039 --> 00:43:41.319
Like you don't have to change, right, just find your people so that you can be connected with them.

00:43:41.400 --> 00:43:43.079
And I think that's true for any industry.

00:43:43.239 --> 00:43:43.400
Yeah.

00:43:43.639 --> 00:43:53.559
And it sounds like it played, it transformed the experience for you to continue doing what you love, but now you're experiencing connection, and so it's a positive experience.

00:43:53.719 --> 00:43:54.279
Oh, yeah.

00:43:54.440 --> 00:43:55.960
No, all of that.

00:43:56.199 --> 00:44:04.119
And yeah, I mean, because when I moved back to Atlanta and I had no job lined up, no shows lined up, no dance classes lined up.

00:44:04.199 --> 00:44:05.880
I mean, I had an existential crisis.

00:44:06.039 --> 00:44:07.079
I was like, what am I?

00:44:07.239 --> 00:44:10.599
I've done this my whole life since I was three years old.

00:44:10.759 --> 00:44:15.159
I've gone to dance classes, I've gone to singing lessons, I've prepped for this audition.

00:44:15.719 --> 00:44:16.679
That was all I did.

00:44:16.759 --> 00:44:21.400
I went to a performing arts high school where we would rehearse every day after school and then Saturdays from 8 a.m.

00:44:21.559 --> 00:44:22.119
to 8 p.m.

00:44:22.360 --> 00:44:23.719
That was all I knew.

00:44:23.880 --> 00:44:27.079
So if I'm not doing that, what am I?

00:44:27.239 --> 00:44:27.719
Who am I?

00:44:27.880 --> 00:44:28.839
I had no idea.

00:44:29.079 --> 00:44:32.759
And it took time to find that.

00:44:33.079 --> 00:44:34.039
So yeah.

00:44:34.199 --> 00:44:35.719
Oh my god, I love it.

00:44:35.880 --> 00:44:36.839
And thank you.

00:44:37.079 --> 00:44:42.279
I really appreciate like the depth of vulnerability that you're sharing because this is heavy stuff.

00:44:42.440 --> 00:44:44.119
Uh I feel like awesome.

00:44:44.519 --> 00:44:49.960
And it's important for because I've talked to a lot of groups, like even here at University of Alabama.

00:44:50.039 --> 00:44:57.960
I've done master classes with their theater kids there, which they probably don't love because all I do is talk about how terrible it is.

00:44:58.279 --> 00:44:59.719
I'm like, don't do it.

00:44:59.880 --> 00:45:00.519
It's real.

00:45:07.559 --> 00:45:12.199
Thank you for destroying our program and preventing future students from applying.

00:45:13.559 --> 00:45:14.920
So I'm like, just get up.

00:45:15.159 --> 00:45:29.799
And so I I want it's really important for people like young people that are in the arts that want to pursue the arts to have a very realistic view of it and to know that it's like movie stars.

00:45:29.960 --> 00:45:35.000
The 1% of the 1% makes it, and it's the same way with theater.

00:45:35.079 --> 00:45:37.480
Like, okay, you want to be on Broadway, great.

00:45:37.799 --> 00:45:41.639
But those are very few jobs and very few people.

00:45:42.039 --> 00:45:48.039
And so to try to show them that you need to find other things in your life that make you just as happy.

00:45:48.119 --> 00:45:54.759
I know you can't see it now because you're only 18 and you are blinded by the New York City skyline.

00:45:54.920 --> 00:45:55.400
I get it.

00:45:55.559 --> 00:45:56.199
That was me.

00:45:56.360 --> 00:45:57.559
I was like, I'm gonna make it.

00:45:58.199 --> 00:45:59.480
You don't need a backup plan.

00:45:59.719 --> 00:46:00.839
What are you talking about?

00:46:01.159 --> 00:46:03.559
Um and I'm not saying you have to have a backup plan.

00:46:03.639 --> 00:46:06.519
I'm saying if you want to do it, go for it.

00:46:06.679 --> 00:46:12.440
But you have to realize that there are other things in your life that are going to fulfill you and make you just as happy.

00:46:12.519 --> 00:46:14.279
You just can't see them yet.

00:46:14.920 --> 00:46:17.400
Yes, and it's well said, yeah.

00:46:17.799 --> 00:46:25.559
So it's really important for me to get that message out to young people that want to be in the arts and even to my own kids.

00:46:25.799 --> 00:46:28.599
I mean, my kids are still young, they're seven and four.

00:46:28.839 --> 00:46:29.719
But like my six-year-old.

00:46:29.880 --> 00:46:30.519
Oh, nice things.

00:46:30.679 --> 00:46:32.920
Yeah, my seven-year-old, you know, she loves to sing and dance.

00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:35.319
She was just in a local production of Annie here.

00:46:35.559 --> 00:46:37.239
She had the time of her life.

00:46:37.480 --> 00:46:41.799
But I don't want her to go into theater because I know the heartbreak that's there.

00:46:42.039 --> 00:46:42.279
Right.

00:46:42.440 --> 00:46:43.719
And it's really hard.

00:46:43.960 --> 00:46:49.719
So if you want to do it as a hobby and if it makes you happy and you make great friends doing it, absolutely do it.

00:46:49.960 --> 00:46:54.679
But you also, I would I just want you to consider other things, I guess is the moral of the story.

00:46:54.839 --> 00:46:55.400
Fair.

00:46:55.799 --> 00:46:56.199
Fair.

00:46:56.279 --> 00:46:56.519
Yeah.

00:46:56.679 --> 00:47:04.679
I think, and I think there's a there's a thing about fulfillment there that maybe we'll I'm gonna put that one in the bag.

00:47:04.920 --> 00:47:05.639
We can come back to it.

00:47:05.799 --> 00:47:06.599
Fulfillment and just wait.

00:47:06.839 --> 00:47:07.319
Underline.

00:47:08.599 --> 00:47:14.839
So theater launching and running a babysitting business, and then construction.

00:47:17.799 --> 00:47:19.319
Yeah, that's a weird one.

00:47:19.559 --> 00:47:21.400
I love that so much.

00:47:22.199 --> 00:47:23.079
Yeah, let's see.

00:47:23.239 --> 00:47:31.880
Okay, so in 2015, my husband, who at the time was working for a big country band, very well-known country band.

00:47:32.119 --> 00:47:37.639
I won't name drop on here, but they he was working as a recording engineer for them in Atlanta.

00:47:37.799 --> 00:47:43.000
They closed their Atlanta studio and they're like, Oh, we actually want you to come work at our Nashville studio.

00:47:44.039 --> 00:47:48.519
So we talked about it and we were like, it's a new experience.

00:47:48.679 --> 00:47:51.719
I can still run my Atlanta babysitting agency from there.

00:47:51.960 --> 00:47:53.480
It's not a long drive.

00:47:53.639 --> 00:47:56.039
We didn't have kids at the time, so it's like do whatever.

00:47:56.199 --> 00:48:08.839
So we move up to Nashville, and then for a few months, Sensible Sitters is working, and then it's just not due to again stuff that happened with my CEO that I just won't go into.

00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:12.039
But uh so I quit that job and then I'm back.

00:48:12.119 --> 00:48:14.279
I feel like I'm back at square one again.

00:48:14.440 --> 00:48:15.799
And I'm I love it.

00:48:15.960 --> 00:48:21.480
This is 2015, so I'm almost 30 years old, and I'm like, okay, yeah, what am I gonna do now?

00:48:21.799 --> 00:48:22.599
Don't know.

00:48:22.839 --> 00:48:25.319
And in that and a national, I don't have the network.

00:48:25.559 --> 00:48:31.159
I don't have I mean, I number one, I don't have my family, but I don't know anyone here.

00:48:31.719 --> 00:48:32.119
Right.

00:48:32.360 --> 00:48:33.400
Oh, yeah.

00:48:33.559 --> 00:48:46.119
So somehow I get connected to someone through my Atlanta network that is working at this brand new company there, that their goal was to be like the Netflix for dance.

00:48:46.279 --> 00:48:51.319
They wanted to be a streaming service of all dance programming, which I actually I think is a great idea.

00:48:51.480 --> 00:48:56.360
So dance movies like step up and so you think you can dance, all that kind of stuff.

00:48:56.679 --> 00:49:00.199
Very niche, but also very broad audiences as well.

00:49:00.440 --> 00:49:03.799
So I somehow finagled my way in there.

00:49:03.960 --> 00:49:08.039
I don't know how, I just knew some guy that actually got fired like the day after I started.

00:49:08.519 --> 00:49:09.319
Sorry about that.

00:49:09.480 --> 00:49:13.400
I didn't take his job, we didn't do the same thing, but I was like, thanks for the job, bye.

00:49:13.559 --> 00:49:16.679
I didn't really know him that well, but I appreciate his help.

00:49:16.920 --> 00:49:19.880
Started there as just like an assistant to the CEO.

00:49:20.039 --> 00:49:24.519
A few weeks later, the CEO and a bunch of the upper management, they all get fired actually.

00:49:24.839 --> 00:49:25.559
Oh, geez.

00:49:26.440 --> 00:49:29.639
It the whole thing was just is that's awesome.

00:49:29.799 --> 00:49:30.679
It's so awesome.

00:49:31.079 --> 00:49:35.559
It just it was red flags from day one, but I didn't have anything else to fall back on.

00:49:35.639 --> 00:49:37.159
So I was like, sure, I'll stay.

00:49:37.400 --> 00:49:39.960
You guys are gonna pay me a little bit of money, sure.

00:49:40.519 --> 00:49:47.000
I because of all of that turnover, I became their social media person there.

00:49:47.480 --> 00:49:54.519
They like five, they like had a big agency that they were paying a ton of money to do their social media, and it just wasn't going you anywhere.

00:49:54.599 --> 00:49:56.839
I was like, well, I have danced my whole life.

00:49:57.000 --> 00:50:01.799
I think I know a little bit about this industry, and so I just kind of fell into that social media role there.

00:50:01.960 --> 00:50:03.559
Now it's not like what I do now.

00:50:03.719 --> 00:50:05.159
Like LinkedIn wasn't right.

00:50:05.319 --> 00:50:06.199
I mean, it's dance.

00:50:06.440 --> 00:50:11.319
LinkedIn's not exactly like the place dancers and dance lovers to hang out.

00:50:11.480 --> 00:50:17.880
So it was like Instagram, Facebook, and actually we started a podcast there that I volunteered to be the host of.

00:50:18.039 --> 00:50:22.279
I was called the bar tender, but bar is called B-A-R-R-E tender.

00:50:23.319 --> 00:50:23.799
Of course.

00:50:24.920 --> 00:50:27.079
So I did that for a while.

00:50:27.159 --> 00:50:35.960
I interviewed like huge people in dance, like choreographers, dancers, like people that I had looked up to my entire life, which was really cool.

00:50:36.199 --> 00:50:39.960
I don't think I was very good at being a podcast host, but I tried and it was fun.

00:50:40.279 --> 00:50:40.599
Sure.

00:50:40.759 --> 00:50:50.839
And and then, so how it got into construction is uh my parents at the time, who were still back in Atlanta, they were working for a concrete company in Atlanta.

00:50:51.000 --> 00:50:58.440
So my dad was the head of estimating, and my mom was like the admin person for the residential department.

00:50:58.920 --> 00:51:02.360
So I knew, and my dad had been there since 2003 or four.

00:51:02.440 --> 00:51:03.960
He'd been there a long time at this point.

00:51:04.119 --> 00:51:04.360
Okay.

00:51:04.599 --> 00:51:11.319
So I knew I knew the president, I knew the vice president just from interactions and social gatherings and stuff like that.

00:51:11.480 --> 00:51:13.880
And so I was like, well, I'm doing social media now.

00:51:14.039 --> 00:51:19.960
I was like, why don't I maybe I can meet with their president and like convince him to let me take over their social pages?

00:51:20.199 --> 00:51:27.480
So we met in Nashville for coffee one day, and because they had pages, but no one was running them, no one was posting on them.

00:51:27.719 --> 00:51:32.119
LinkedIn, again, it's not what it is now back in 2017.

00:51:32.440 --> 00:51:33.159
Yeah, it was different then.

00:51:33.319 --> 00:51:33.559
Yeah.

00:51:33.799 --> 00:51:35.880
But I was like, let me just take over.

00:51:36.119 --> 00:51:38.679
You guys can just like pay me a little bit of money.

00:51:38.759 --> 00:51:40.360
And so they said yes.

00:51:40.839 --> 00:51:48.759
So I started doing that in addition to my dance network job, probably way more than my dance network job secretly, but not so secretly.

00:51:49.400 --> 00:51:57.719
And once I started marketing myself as that on LinkedIn, like that I do social media for concrete companies, it was an immediate differentiator.

00:51:57.880 --> 00:52:02.039
People are like, Oh, I didn't know they had social media people for concrete companies.

00:52:02.199 --> 00:52:04.679
I was like, Well, they don't really, but here I am.

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:06.440
Uh I'm doing it now.

00:52:06.679 --> 00:52:17.079
So it just the power the power of LinkedIn, it just snowballs from there, where people, random people would reach out to me and be like, Oh, we have these pages.

00:52:17.239 --> 00:52:17.960
Can you run them?

00:52:18.199 --> 00:52:19.639
Sure, why not?

00:52:19.880 --> 00:52:23.719
And it just became a word of mouth thing, a LinkedIn thing.

00:52:23.880 --> 00:52:25.799
And so I just kind of ran with it.

00:52:25.960 --> 00:52:30.360
And I ended up quitting Dance Network after I had my first daughter.

00:52:30.519 --> 00:52:36.759
I quit Dance Network because I didn't have, first of all, the means to have full-time childcare or and I didn't want to put her in a daycare.

00:52:36.839 --> 00:52:38.679
Again, didn't have the means to do it anyway.

00:52:38.839 --> 00:52:44.599
So I quit that, and I'm just living off of my concrete social media money, which is not very much.

00:52:45.079 --> 00:52:51.239
But um simultaneously, my husband gets a job at University of Alabama here in Tuscaloosa.

00:52:51.559 --> 00:53:02.839
So we leave Nashville, we move to Tuscaloosa, I'm just being stay-at-home mom and doing a little bit of social media here and there, and the snowball just took off.

00:53:03.400 --> 00:53:08.199
And I just decided to dig in and say, okay, this is, I guess, what I'm gonna do.

00:53:08.279 --> 00:53:14.360
I get to be creative, I get to be my own boss, and it just became addictive.

00:53:14.440 --> 00:53:25.639
And it became that high that I experienced with sensible sitters, it became that because whenever I see content doing well for my clients, you I'm sure you feel it too.

00:53:25.719 --> 00:53:28.039
You're like, oh yes, this is awesome.

00:53:28.440 --> 00:53:28.759
Oh, yeah.

00:53:29.000 --> 00:53:32.039
Yeah, and they and then they tell me they get clients from their content.

00:53:32.119 --> 00:53:34.039
I'm like, oh my god, that's amazing.

00:53:34.519 --> 00:53:36.920
So that's how it happened.

00:53:38.039 --> 00:53:38.759
It's okay.

00:53:39.000 --> 00:53:45.480
I again one thing I want I hope people are seeing why like dramatic shifts.

00:53:45.880 --> 00:53:53.880
Yeah, theater, babysitting, podcast hosting, construction, dramatic shifts.

00:53:54.039 --> 00:53:56.759
Yeah, and I believe that's possible for everybody.

00:53:57.000 --> 00:54:02.440
Yeah, and now I'm not advocating for everybody quit their career and go do because it's not easy, right?

00:54:02.519 --> 00:54:09.239
Like that's not a lot of people like, man, I like you gotta understand there I have no people, plants, or pets to distract me.

00:54:09.559 --> 00:54:09.719
Right.

00:54:10.599 --> 00:54:15.639
So that means that's why like I spend a lot of time how much time it takes doing the things that I do.

00:54:16.519 --> 00:54:21.239
Um and so I'm not advocating necessarily for you to quit your comp, quit your job, yeah.

00:54:21.639 --> 00:54:21.799
Right.

00:54:22.679 --> 00:54:27.239
But that thing that you're thinking about, you can bring it to life.

00:54:27.400 --> 00:54:33.079
Yeah, without any certifications, training, or whatever, right?

00:54:33.159 --> 00:54:34.920
I mean, you've done it multiple times.

00:54:35.079 --> 00:54:36.839
I've done it multiple times.

00:54:37.079 --> 00:54:38.759
Uh it is possible.

00:54:38.920 --> 00:54:43.159
And I think I'll just leave it there for the family, the LM family out there.

00:54:43.239 --> 00:54:44.199
Like, it is possible.

00:54:44.279 --> 00:54:45.480
You just got to start working on it.

00:54:45.639 --> 00:54:46.679
Yeah, no.

00:54:48.199 --> 00:54:52.759
You got into social media for con for concrete companies, very specific.

00:54:54.119 --> 00:54:55.239
The market responded.

00:54:56.360 --> 00:54:58.119
I'm sure they started saying, Hey, can you help us?

00:54:58.279 --> 00:54:58.839
Can you help us?

00:54:59.000 --> 00:54:59.159
Yeah.

00:54:59.799 --> 00:55:04.039
And I from what I see, it's expanded beyond concrete companies, right?

00:55:04.279 --> 00:55:05.239
More and more.

00:55:05.480 --> 00:55:15.400
And so how much has the market informed your services versus saying, I'm gonna deliver these services and let me figure, let me tell the market about it.

00:55:15.559 --> 00:55:15.799
Yeah.

00:55:16.039 --> 00:55:17.159
Is it one or the other?

00:55:17.319 --> 00:55:18.360
Is it kind of a mix?

00:55:18.920 --> 00:55:20.279
I guess kind of a mix.

00:55:20.440 --> 00:55:32.360
I mean, I've tried my hand at doing other things for clients that maybe like weren't 100% of my wheelhouse that I could do, but that I maybe necessarily wasn't great at, that there are other people much better suited for those things.

00:55:32.599 --> 00:55:32.920
Okay.

00:55:33.559 --> 00:55:42.440
But what I tell clients when I speak to them, like if we have just like a, they're like, oh, can we I just learn more about you do more about what you do, and we'll have like a Zoom call.

00:55:42.599 --> 00:55:45.799
I tell them that everything that I do for every client is very tailor-made.

00:55:45.880 --> 00:55:52.839
There's no one size fits all because every company is different and every their goals are different and their platforms are different.

00:55:53.159 --> 00:56:16.599
So my job is to, and what I bring to the table is my creative background, my you know, music that I know, and ref pop culture references that I know, and just wanting to be creative and have a creative outlet and being able to write, which I've always enjoyed writing, because I guess never found a place to do it until LinkedIn came along.

00:56:16.920 --> 00:56:17.400
Yeah, yeah.

00:56:17.960 --> 00:56:28.679
That was that's really what they see in me and what they come to me for, and what I kind of like market myself as just from what you see on my LinkedIn.

00:56:29.079 --> 00:56:38.599
So what I tell people now, and yeah, it's evolved over the years because platforms change and I find what I'm really good at, what I'm not so good at.

00:56:38.839 --> 00:56:51.000
And so what I tell people now is like, I'm going to, I'm gonna turn your LinkedIn or whatever social media platform it is, but for construction, it's primarily LinkedIn, just because it's where a lot of those people live.

00:56:51.239 --> 00:56:54.199
I'm gonna bring your company to life there.

00:56:54.279 --> 00:57:01.639
It's gonna be kind of like a living, breathing website where people can actually can interact with you, with the decision makers in real time.

00:57:02.039 --> 00:57:08.599
There's not all this red tape to go through anymore where it's like, can you get me uh the phone number or the email address of the president?

00:57:08.679 --> 00:57:10.839
It's like, no, dude, just connect with them on LinkedIn.

00:57:11.239 --> 00:57:12.119
Yeah, duh.

00:57:12.360 --> 00:57:15.559
I but you know, a lot of people are very fearful to that, which I was the same way.

00:57:15.799 --> 00:57:16.679
So I tried to do it forever.

00:57:16.759 --> 00:57:18.279
And now I'm just like, nah, screw it.

00:57:18.599 --> 00:57:21.480
But it's gonna be, it's gonna be very bespoke.

00:57:21.639 --> 00:57:25.079
It's going to be creative, but it's gonna be in your voice.

00:57:25.400 --> 00:57:40.360
I have monthly meetings with my clients to learn about not only the projects that they're working on, but their history, the people that work there, their culture, all of that is what is that that's their superpower.

00:57:40.519 --> 00:57:41.639
That's what makes them different.

00:57:41.799 --> 00:57:46.279
There, yeah, there's a million concrete contractors out there, but there's none of them that are just like you.

00:57:46.759 --> 00:57:50.360
So I want to bring those special things to life.

00:57:50.599 --> 00:57:54.199
And that's really what I sell, I guess you could say.

00:58:05.079 --> 00:58:11.079
So one thing, one crazy lesson I learned, I came up as a plumbing apprentice, journeyman plumber.

00:58:11.239 --> 00:58:16.759
Then I went to work for the big gigantic general contractor, and then I went to work for another national brand.

00:58:16.920 --> 00:58:25.079
And in my brain, I expected when I went to the first leap, like there was just gonna be the titans of industry, right?

00:58:25.159 --> 00:58:28.519
That they talk super fast and they're super witty, like on a few good men.

00:58:29.079 --> 00:58:31.079
And then when I got there, I'm like, oh, they're like me.

00:58:31.480 --> 00:58:34.759
Like there's there's some of them are as dumb as I am.

00:58:35.079 --> 00:58:35.799
Like, okay.

00:58:38.519 --> 00:58:57.319
Right, like, oh they all everybody has insecurities, everybody has strengths, everybody has fears, and it doesn't matter what their socioeconomic background is, it doesn't matter what their education is or what their backlog is, hundreds of millions or billions, they still have insecurities, fears, and strengths.

00:58:58.679 --> 00:59:12.119
And so I think it's easy to think, well, the uh uh business owners, uh right, and I'm sure they're probably running several million dollars of annual revenue, maybe hundreds of million dollars of the your clients that you're working with.

00:59:12.279 --> 00:59:19.319
Uh it's very easy to assume that, well, they have a clear plan, they have like this is their strategy, and they're just executing on the strategy.

00:59:19.559 --> 00:59:23.880
Uh but they're human, they're probably struggling with I don't know if what if.

00:59:24.039 --> 00:59:40.599
So uh the question is this how do you help them get comfortable with telling their story, meaning disconnecting from the corporate polished, glossy stuff to doing or giving you the space to do your thing?

00:59:40.839 --> 00:59:41.239
Yeah.

00:59:41.559 --> 00:59:43.319
I mean, it's not always easy.

00:59:43.559 --> 00:59:46.599
Some clients are more open to it than others.

00:59:46.920 --> 00:59:53.559
But typically the ones that eventually sign on with me and come on board with me, they have already kind of accepted that.

00:59:53.719 --> 00:59:56.839
They already kind of know, like, okay, we're gonna do these monthly Zooms.

00:59:57.000 --> 00:59:58.519
Like, I'm all in.

00:59:58.679 --> 01:00:00.679
Like, I'm going to be vulnerable.

01:00:00.839 --> 01:00:10.119
I'm going to share our history, share our story, whether it's my company or I've just been working here for 10 years and this other guy, Bob, started it.

01:00:10.360 --> 01:00:15.639
So typically, by when the top by the time they get to that point, they are already comfortable with doing that.

01:00:15.960 --> 01:00:27.319
And once we get into that Zoom, like the first 10, 15 minutes might be a little like stuffy and fearful, but then I'll ask them a question that they never expected me to ask.

01:00:27.480 --> 01:00:31.480
Because they're like, How the heck does this relate to what you do for us?

01:00:31.639 --> 01:00:32.039
Yep.

01:00:32.679 --> 01:00:34.759
And then they'll start talking about it.

01:00:34.839 --> 01:00:41.799
And I'll be like, Do you realize that you just wrote like 10 posts in five minutes just by talking about something completely unrelated?

01:00:42.199 --> 01:00:46.360
And we're gonna tie that in to, and again, it depends on.

01:00:46.679 --> 01:00:51.319
Who it is within the organization, or if it's writing for their personal page as opposed to their company page.

01:00:51.559 --> 01:00:55.079
But everything that they spout out is valuable in some sense.

01:00:55.159 --> 01:01:05.559
And everything, things that maybe you did 20 years ago, or even like as a kid that you don't think is important anymore, it's like, oh no, you're actually doing that exact same thing now.

01:01:05.799 --> 01:01:09.719
You're just doing it on a different scale and in a different way.

01:01:10.199 --> 01:01:24.519
So if you talk about what you did as a kid and how it was like something that you were passionate about, or something that you learned from somebody that's stuck with you all of these years, how is that informing what you're doing today?

01:01:24.599 --> 01:01:26.839
And how does that bleed into your company?

01:01:27.000 --> 01:01:28.440
Let's tell that story.

01:01:28.679 --> 01:01:34.440
Let's that's 10 million times more interesting than project announcement.

01:01:34.599 --> 01:01:36.920
We'll be working the new blah, blah, blah.

01:01:37.319 --> 01:01:39.880
Which again, like we can interject those here and there.

01:01:40.039 --> 01:01:40.839
I'm not against that.

01:01:41.239 --> 01:01:43.799
We have to show that we're making some money, right?

01:01:44.440 --> 01:01:55.639
But also, and also framing it in the sense that like you have to think about social media, the content that you put out in social media, you have to think of it in a very, I'm sure what's the right way to say this.

01:01:56.679 --> 01:02:02.199
Think of it as first of all, you're propping up the your clients and your team.

01:02:02.279 --> 01:02:03.719
You're not propping up yourself.

01:02:03.960 --> 01:02:05.079
You are not the greatest.

01:02:05.159 --> 01:02:06.199
They're the greatest.

01:02:06.440 --> 01:02:07.960
So tell us why you're the greatest.

01:02:08.279 --> 01:02:10.279
And think of it as in a very selfish way.

01:02:10.360 --> 01:02:18.279
It's like if you make this post and you tag your client or your GC or whoever it is, first of all, they're gonna feel so good.

01:02:18.440 --> 01:02:24.759
They're gonna feel famous, and they're gonna be like, oh, we love blah blah blah concrete.

01:02:24.920 --> 01:02:31.159
They promote us on their social media, they're getting more eyeballs because of a post that you made.

01:02:31.400 --> 01:02:47.719
And so if you can think of it, if you can reshape the way that you think about the way that you put content out there, you're gonna have way more success if you think about it in like they want you to tag them, they want you to talk about them because it makes them look good.

01:02:48.039 --> 01:02:50.920
But you were the ones that helped them reach that goal.

01:02:51.159 --> 01:02:53.239
You were the guide in their story.

01:02:53.400 --> 01:02:55.159
They're the hero, but you're the guide.

01:02:55.400 --> 01:02:58.920
And that very much comes from I don't know if you've ever read the book Story Brand.

01:02:59.559 --> 01:03:00.039
Oh, yeah.

01:03:00.360 --> 01:03:00.839
Right there.

01:03:00.920 --> 01:03:05.719
I mean, I read that book and it totally reshaped the way that I think about content.

01:03:05.880 --> 01:03:08.360
So I'm let them be the hero of the story.

01:03:08.519 --> 01:03:08.839
Yes.

01:03:09.000 --> 01:03:09.559
I'm the guy.

01:03:09.799 --> 01:03:10.519
Right, right.

01:03:10.759 --> 01:03:15.159
So think of it in that way if you tag them, they're gonna freaking love it.

01:03:15.799 --> 01:03:20.839
Because it gets them more business, it's it gets them more eyeballs, and it shows how great they were.

01:03:21.319 --> 01:03:30.440
So, and I was talking to a prospective client at the time, but now a current client, and he was it was so interesting.

01:03:30.599 --> 01:03:33.559
He was talking to me, asking me about what I do and how I work.

01:03:33.719 --> 01:03:43.880
And he was like, So, right now, the way we do our social media is the there's the social media person our team will come to me and be like, Okay, tell me every single thing about this job that you did.

01:03:44.039 --> 01:03:45.159
Who do I need to tag?

01:03:45.400 --> 01:03:46.920
How many square feet was it?

01:03:47.159 --> 01:03:49.000
What were the vendors that you used?

01:03:49.159 --> 01:03:51.319
And for he's like, It's just so much work for me.

01:03:51.480 --> 01:03:55.400
He's like, I don't have the time to go through every single job.

01:03:55.559 --> 01:04:00.440
He's like, it's more work for me to have a social media person because they come to me with all the questions.

01:04:00.679 --> 01:04:11.639
So when I told him that every single post doesn't have to be a job update or a project announcement or a project completion, that blew his mind.

01:04:11.799 --> 01:04:12.759
He was like, Really?

01:04:12.920 --> 01:04:13.159
Yeah.

01:04:13.319 --> 01:04:13.960
I was like, Yeah.

01:04:14.119 --> 01:04:18.279
I was like, just talk about I don't know, the funny thing that happened at lunch today.

01:04:18.519 --> 01:04:24.360
Or like how you found this guy that started out as an intern and is now one of the top people at your company.

01:04:24.519 --> 01:04:27.559
I was like, and we'll cover that in that one hour Zoom.

01:04:28.360 --> 01:04:29.239
I'll take it from there.

01:04:29.319 --> 01:04:32.440
If you can give me one hour a month, that's it.

01:04:32.920 --> 01:04:35.559
Because my job is to make your life easier, not to make it harder.

01:04:35.880 --> 01:04:37.319
Yes, yes, wow.

01:04:37.719 --> 01:04:45.400
So when clients realize that not every single post has to be like down to a science, they're like, oh wow, that's so much easier.

01:04:45.559 --> 01:04:47.000
I'm like, yes, exactly.

01:04:48.519 --> 01:04:50.839
That was so that was very eye-opening for me.

01:04:50.920 --> 01:05:01.880
That I'm like, okay, there are people out there that think that every single post has to be like that, and it has to be perfectly crafted and strategized beyond a shot.

01:05:02.119 --> 01:05:07.159
Like, I'm like, girl, you can strategize all day long, every day until you're blue in the face.

01:05:07.319 --> 01:05:15.400
The post that you're gonna make day of that you thought of five minutes before is gonna be 10 times better than something that you scheduled a month ago.

01:05:15.719 --> 01:05:19.319
Like I do very little content scheduling.

01:05:19.480 --> 01:05:21.239
I I mean, I like to make my life harder.

01:05:21.319 --> 01:05:29.719
I would much rather write something spontaneous based on either something that they just told me or something else that I saw on LinkedIn.

01:05:29.960 --> 01:05:38.119
I would much rather write about that than schedule something a month in advance, because then by then it's it might be sale, it might be old information.

01:05:38.679 --> 01:05:47.000
Um, so you don't have to think about strategy and your voice and your tone as much as you think that you do.

01:05:47.319 --> 01:05:51.639
And so teaching people that can sometimes be a little bit of a barrier.

01:05:51.799 --> 01:05:55.639
But once they realize that, they're like, ah, this is easy.

01:05:56.279 --> 01:05:56.519
Yeah.

01:05:56.679 --> 01:05:59.960
Well, I I again back to your uniqueness, Liberty.

01:06:00.199 --> 01:06:05.400
Because I've worked with people and listened to people and stuff, YouTube, my YouTube education.

01:06:05.799 --> 01:06:12.039
There are a I would say the majority of the people that I've listened to and things that I've talked to and heard.

01:06:13.319 --> 01:06:14.279
That's the template.

01:06:14.440 --> 01:06:14.679
Right.

01:06:15.000 --> 01:06:15.319
Right?

01:06:15.400 --> 01:06:18.360
Like peep, there's service providers, I'll say it that way.

01:06:18.599 --> 01:06:25.559
People, your competition, folks out there that are providing a similar service, that is what they have conditioned people to expect.

01:06:25.639 --> 01:06:28.119
Like it has to have all of these things and these bullet points and the data.

01:06:29.400 --> 01:06:29.559
No.

01:06:29.799 --> 01:06:32.199
It it doesn't have to be that heavy.

01:06:32.360 --> 01:06:32.519
No.

01:06:33.159 --> 01:06:37.400
But your uh well, again, to your uniqueness, you know that and you're helping them with that.

01:06:37.559 --> 01:06:52.759
Where I think a lot of folks are not doing that, they're making it heavy because it's the only way they know how to do it, which again taps into your life's experience of like, no, I'm creative, I got some game, let me help make this fun and massive business value.

01:06:53.000 --> 01:06:54.440
Right, exactly.

01:06:54.599 --> 01:07:07.319
If you're looking for very in-depth analytics and like the clicks to the website, like there are people that do that stuff very well, and that are they have that savvy.

01:07:07.480 --> 01:07:08.360
That's not me.

01:07:08.599 --> 01:07:13.799
So if you're looking for something like that, I'm I might not be the right person for you, and that's fine.

01:07:14.119 --> 01:07:23.799
But if you want real, human, fun stories that are gonna be different from everybody else, then I'm your girl.

01:07:24.360 --> 01:07:32.599
So a lot of people like they ask for like, okay, well, I want can I get like an analytics report of the clicks that we got and how well is it?

01:07:32.759 --> 01:07:35.639
I'm like, go on the LinkedIn page, go see it for yourself.

01:07:36.679 --> 01:07:38.039
How many people liked it?

01:07:38.199 --> 01:07:39.639
How many people commented on it?

01:07:39.719 --> 01:07:44.519
And I'm not saying that there are a lot of we do people on LinkedIn talk about this all the time.

01:07:44.599 --> 01:07:45.400
The lurkers, right?

01:07:45.480 --> 01:07:51.799
The people that just look at stuff, yes, they never engage with it, they don't like it, they don't comment on it, but they saw it.

01:07:52.039 --> 01:07:57.079
So focus on impressions, don't focus on the actual clicks or the likes on it.

01:07:57.480 --> 01:08:03.000
Focus on the impressions, but the post right there, they'll inform you everything that you need to know.

01:08:03.159 --> 01:08:09.079
This post is great because it was this hilarious thing that happened, or this guy that we hired.

01:08:09.559 --> 01:08:17.239
You don't need to dig into the in-depth analytics of whatever it is that you have in your head.

01:08:17.480 --> 01:08:19.880
If you want that, go find that elsewhere.

01:08:20.440 --> 01:08:20.840
Right.

01:08:21.079 --> 01:08:30.360
And it's not like I'm working for like a shoe company that's like, okay, we need to make shoe sales, so we need people clicking on this link that takes them to the shoe sale.

01:08:30.520 --> 01:08:32.760
I would never be very well suited for that.

01:08:32.920 --> 01:08:40.840
But if you want to just want to build your brand and you want to give people a real picture of who you are, then call me.

01:08:41.480 --> 01:08:42.119
Yeah, yeah.

01:08:42.279 --> 01:08:47.720
And I think construction companies, like that's the game because there's not like direct conversion.

01:08:47.800 --> 01:08:56.440
Like you said, if you're selling a widget, you can track the clicks and you can track the conversion or you can track all of those things, but construction projects don't function that way.

01:08:56.600 --> 01:09:03.000
No, you don't want to convert 50% of the people that engage on that click on your content.

01:09:03.160 --> 01:09:03.320
Right.

01:09:03.480 --> 01:09:06.680
Because you don't have the workforce to do all the stuff.

01:09:06.920 --> 01:09:07.400
Exactly.

01:09:07.640 --> 01:09:11.720
Yeah, like if like if you're gonna ask me for the ROI, I'm like, I don't know.

01:09:11.960 --> 01:09:12.520
I don't know.

01:09:12.680 --> 01:09:15.640
I know what I see on my end and I know what's performing well.

01:09:15.800 --> 01:09:21.480
And the best ROI for me is when you tell me, like, I shared this testimony a few months ago.

01:09:21.640 --> 01:09:28.600
My concrete client that walked into one of their meetings with a huge GC, and they're like, oh man, who's running your social media?

01:09:28.680 --> 01:09:29.560
It's so good.

01:09:29.720 --> 01:09:32.039
That's the ROI, not the number.

01:09:32.360 --> 01:09:34.760
Yes, they already know before they walk in the room.

01:09:34.920 --> 01:09:35.240
Yep.

01:09:35.400 --> 01:09:36.440
And you know why they love it?

01:09:37.000 --> 01:09:40.200
Because you tagged them and you made them look so great.

01:09:43.560 --> 01:09:44.840
That's it, success.

01:09:45.240 --> 01:09:45.560
Okay.

01:09:46.200 --> 01:09:49.400
Now, for the folks out there, like, man, I need to talk to Liberty.

01:09:49.560 --> 01:09:52.200
So if they want to work with you, where do we send them?

01:09:52.360 --> 01:09:56.039
Where what's the pathway to spend time with you?

01:09:56.280 --> 01:09:57.400
Honestly, LinkedIn.

01:09:57.560 --> 01:10:00.840
I'm on there all I'm on there all day, every day, literally.

01:10:01.000 --> 01:10:02.760
I check it way too much on my phone.

01:10:02.920 --> 01:10:08.600
But yeah, connect with me there, shoot me a DM, I will always respond.

01:10:08.760 --> 01:10:10.280
That's really the best place.

01:10:10.520 --> 01:10:11.000
I love it.

01:10:11.079 --> 01:10:11.480
I love it.

01:10:11.560 --> 01:10:12.039
All right, folks.

01:10:12.120 --> 01:10:15.000
We'll make sure we have the link in the show notes and all that good stuff.

01:10:15.079 --> 01:10:16.520
Because one, you're just awesome.

01:10:16.600 --> 01:10:23.560
So if you folks, if you don't know she's awesome, like, come on, man, connect with her followers, support her, or you want to be a lurker, be a lurker.

01:10:23.640 --> 01:10:24.039
That's okay.

01:10:24.120 --> 01:10:25.880
Because I know how valuable the lurkers are.

01:10:25.960 --> 01:10:26.200
Yes.

01:10:26.440 --> 01:10:33.960
But if you want to like increase your presence and people know you before you walk in the room, she can help you with it.

01:10:34.360 --> 01:10:45.720
Just the last thing I'll say, the main thing I'll say, what when people ask me what the goal of social media should be, it's that they already have every question answered before they call you.

01:10:45.880 --> 01:10:48.280
So by the time they call you, they're ready to buy.

01:10:48.600 --> 01:10:50.840
Because they've already told them everything.

01:10:51.560 --> 01:10:51.960
Yep.

01:10:52.200 --> 01:10:54.039
Same, same for me.

01:10:54.360 --> 01:10:57.800
It is 100% about building a community.

01:10:57.880 --> 01:10:59.720
Yeah, that's what I'm doing with social media.

01:11:00.200 --> 01:11:07.000
And like you said, people will real quick know I ain't the kind of clown that they want to put in front of their people.

01:11:07.320 --> 01:11:07.720
Good.

01:11:08.360 --> 01:11:08.760
Great.

01:11:08.840 --> 01:11:09.640
Don't call me.

01:11:10.600 --> 01:11:12.520
Don't call me because I'm not that guy, right?

01:11:12.600 --> 01:11:15.880
I'm not the poly, like, well, here's the magic.

01:11:16.120 --> 01:11:24.520
Clients that I talk to or prospects before their clients, they're like, Man, I'm reaching out to you because I saw some of your stuff wherever.

01:11:25.320 --> 01:11:29.720
And my people, I think my people are gonna, you're gonna resonate with my people.

01:11:29.880 --> 01:11:30.039
Right.

01:11:30.200 --> 01:11:31.079
That's why I'm calling.

01:11:31.400 --> 01:11:33.800
And I'm like, and that's on call one.

01:11:33.960 --> 01:11:34.440
Right, exactly.

01:11:34.760 --> 01:11:36.840
Because of all the garbage that I put out there.

01:11:37.000 --> 01:11:38.440
So it's super, super valid.

01:11:38.680 --> 01:11:38.760
Right.

01:11:38.840 --> 01:11:46.039
Like if we have to go through five phone calls for you to like maybe consider working together, I'm like, we're probably not the right fit.

01:11:46.120 --> 01:11:47.000
And that's okay.

01:11:47.800 --> 01:11:48.120
Right.

01:11:48.280 --> 01:11:51.079
Yeah, and that is okay, 100% right.

01:11:51.400 --> 01:11:51.800
All right.

01:11:51.880 --> 01:11:53.960
So are you ready for the grand slam question?

01:11:54.600 --> 01:11:55.240
I'm scared.

01:11:55.320 --> 01:11:55.960
Yes.

01:11:56.920 --> 01:11:58.920
So I don't be scared.

01:11:59.000 --> 01:12:04.680
I'm excited because I'm suspecting that it's going to be a really deep and meaningful response.

01:12:04.760 --> 01:12:09.880
It's going to help people and give them more insight into like all your unique awesomeness.

01:12:10.120 --> 01:12:14.200
Knowing that you have designed your life around fulfillment.

01:12:14.600 --> 01:12:17.480
This is what I'm like, okay, this is gonna be some heavy stuff.

01:12:17.560 --> 01:12:19.720
So I've got my Kleenex here ready just in case you're gonna be able to do it.

01:12:20.680 --> 01:12:22.840
Okay, I don't have any, but I'll be okay.

01:12:24.120 --> 01:12:25.160
All right, so here it is.

01:12:27.480 --> 01:12:30.840
What is the promise you are intended to be?

01:12:32.840 --> 01:12:34.440
What do you mean when you say promise?

01:12:35.160 --> 01:12:35.880
Elaborate a little bit.

01:12:36.039 --> 01:12:36.680
I'll give you an example.

01:12:36.920 --> 01:12:37.240
Yes, please.

01:12:37.480 --> 01:12:37.960
Yeah, yeah.

01:12:38.520 --> 01:12:40.280
So I was in rehab.

01:12:40.360 --> 01:12:42.200
This is almost 10 years now.

01:12:42.840 --> 01:12:45.400
And because I've wrestled with addiction the majority of my life.

01:12:45.480 --> 01:12:48.039
I've been sober nine and a half years.

01:12:48.520 --> 01:12:48.840
Thank you.

01:12:49.000 --> 01:12:49.480
Thank you.

01:12:49.960 --> 01:12:55.240
Um, and I had a one of my counselors was calling me on my stuff.

01:12:56.039 --> 01:13:02.200
And he's like, Jesse, you don't have a problem admitting that you're an addict, alcoholic, et cetera.

01:13:02.680 --> 01:13:04.440
He says, You have a problem accepting.

01:13:04.760 --> 01:13:06.760
And I said, What games are you playing here?

01:13:07.560 --> 01:13:18.039
And I said, No, you haven't accepted that if you continue to live life the way you're living it, you will never become the promise you are intended to be.

01:13:18.200 --> 01:13:23.000
And in that moment, I just it transformed me because I felt it.

01:13:23.160 --> 01:13:32.200
Like all of the aspirations that I had in my head, the hopes, the potential, all of the things that I told myself chill out.

01:13:32.440 --> 01:13:35.640
You're not that special, it's not that big a deal, be more practical.

01:13:35.880 --> 01:13:46.680
All of the disappointment that I caused because of living a very selfish life of consumption, being a black hole of need, is like that's getting in the way of me doing these things.

01:13:47.480 --> 01:13:53.240
That is the promise that I'm I just got to change the way I live so that I can achieve and become that.

01:13:53.400 --> 01:13:53.960
Does that help?

01:13:54.200 --> 01:13:54.760
Yeah.

01:13:55.079 --> 01:13:55.960
Oh man.

01:13:56.280 --> 01:14:06.920
Well, as a mom of two daughters, I mean, I guess for me, and it's really just to be an amazing role model for them.

01:14:07.400 --> 01:14:07.720
Yeah.

01:14:08.039 --> 01:14:15.000
Career-wise, health-wise, life-wise, being just being a good person.

01:14:15.320 --> 01:14:16.840
I'm not a religious person.

01:14:17.000 --> 01:14:20.760
What's most important to me is just being a good person.

01:14:21.079 --> 01:14:28.600
So, and just trying to instill that in them and showing them that I have had a lot of ups and downs in my life.

01:14:28.680 --> 01:14:31.000
Have I ever like lived on the street and been homeless?

01:14:31.160 --> 01:14:34.039
No, I'm lucky enough that something like that has not happened to me.

01:14:34.200 --> 01:14:48.200
But I have had many points in my life where I felt you're making me crash, very lost, very conflicted, very confused, and that like I didn't know what I was supposed to do or what I was supposed to be.

01:14:48.440 --> 01:14:57.720
Because when you have this thing that your whole life that you're like, okay, that's what I'm gonna be, and then you stop doing that, you're like, I feel completely lost.

01:14:58.039 --> 01:15:05.480
So showing them that it's okay to you're gonna do a lot of different things in your life.

01:15:05.720 --> 01:15:08.440
I don't like the question, like, what do you want to be when you grow up?

01:15:08.760 --> 01:15:13.640
Because you're gonna be like 20 different things at 20 different points.

01:15:13.880 --> 01:15:24.520
And so showing them that it's okay to have questions and to do a bunch of different things, to literally just do what makes you happy.

01:15:24.760 --> 01:15:37.800
And especially again for young women that you know, mental health and ideas that we have about our bodies in our heads, and like that you need to be thin, or you need to be this or you need to be that.

01:15:38.039 --> 01:15:49.720
I have to teach myself constantly, like, I'm never gonna say in front of my daughters that I don't like the way I look or I feel fat or I feel ugly, because they're gonna copy that exact same behavior.

01:15:49.960 --> 01:15:57.640
And so teaching them that have dessert, be creative, be unique, wear the weird stuff.

01:15:57.960 --> 01:16:00.600
Don't worry about what all your friends are doing.

01:16:00.760 --> 01:16:05.000
And I believe me, I know as a young person that's hard because all you want to do is fit in, right?

01:16:05.079 --> 01:16:08.280
You want to be one of the cool kids, one of the cool girls.

01:16:08.520 --> 01:16:15.400
So teaching them to be unique and individual and have their own personality and to not be afraid of that.

01:16:16.039 --> 01:16:17.880
I guess that's the promise.

01:16:18.120 --> 01:16:20.840
Just that's doing that for them.

01:16:21.560 --> 01:16:26.120
Well, from my perspective, Liberty, you are doing that magnificently.

01:16:26.280 --> 01:16:27.320
Oh, thank you, Jesse.

01:16:27.640 --> 01:16:28.360
Thank you so much.

01:16:28.600 --> 01:16:29.400
It's clear.

01:16:29.480 --> 01:16:31.079
Like, just keep doing it.

01:16:31.240 --> 01:16:31.960
Did you have fun?

01:16:32.120 --> 01:16:33.240
Uh, let me think about that.

01:16:33.400 --> 01:16:35.079
Yes, I had the best time ever.

01:16:35.160 --> 01:16:36.440
I don't want it to end.

01:16:37.160 --> 01:16:37.640
I know.

01:16:38.280 --> 01:16:39.160
Let's just talk all day.

01:16:39.240 --> 01:16:41.240
Let's make a really long podcast.

01:16:42.680 --> 01:16:49.320
Yeah, oh man, but it's it's me, it's oh, we gotta look it's gotta have to be like a series, like a Netflix series.

01:16:49.720 --> 01:16:53.720
Or we'll just live stream ourselves all day long and see if anyone watches it.

01:16:53.880 --> 01:16:55.880
Oh I like live streaming.

01:16:56.039 --> 01:16:56.760
I've never done it.

01:16:56.840 --> 01:16:58.039
It's I'm too scared.

01:16:58.280 --> 01:17:02.280
Oh, I know you it's just like this, except live and other people asking questions.

01:17:03.160 --> 01:17:05.320
I mean, no, I would love the question aspect of it.

01:17:05.400 --> 01:17:06.039
That would be cool.

01:17:06.280 --> 01:17:08.440
Well, if you ever want to do one, let me know.

01:17:09.000 --> 01:17:10.520
We need to get it on the board.

01:17:10.680 --> 01:17:11.400
Let's just say that.

01:17:12.360 --> 01:17:12.520
Okay.

01:17:13.720 --> 01:17:16.520
Thank you for sticking it out all the way to the end.

01:17:16.600 --> 01:17:18.760
I know you got a whole lot of stuff going on.

01:17:18.920 --> 01:17:29.320
And in appreciation for the gift of time that you have given this episode, I want to offer you a free PDF of my book, Becoming the Promise You're Intended to Be.

01:17:29.560 --> 01:17:31.800
The link for that bad boy is down in the show notes.

01:17:31.960 --> 01:17:32.440
Hit it.

01:17:32.680 --> 01:17:34.440
You don't even have to give me your email address.

01:17:34.760 --> 01:17:38.360
There's a link in there, you just click that button, you can download the PDF.

01:17:38.600 --> 01:17:54.680
And if you share it with somebody that you know who might feel stuck or be caught up in self-destructive behaviors, that would be the ultimate you sharing that increases the likelihood that it's gonna help one more person.

01:17:55.400 --> 01:18:03.160
And if it does help one more person, then you're contributing to me becoming the promise I am intended to be.

01:18:04.200 --> 01:18:08.120
Be kind to yourself, be cool, and we'll talk at you next time.