Build your brand by being you. Britney Crosson's story on becoming a social media expert by just being herself.

Melissa Bright: 0:00

Thank you to better help for sponsoring this podcast. I started my therapy whenever I started this podcast. And so that's exactly why they became my sponsor because they have helped me. So if you guys think you might need to see a therapist better help is amazing. They are online, you can do it from the comfort of your own home, you have the options to message them, you can do a phone call, you can do a video chat, whatever you feel comfortable with doing. Also, they have several different types of therapists if you need couples, or for marriage and family therapy, it's also available to individuals worldwide, better help is also a monthly subscription. So you're not paying per session and financial aid is available for those who qualify. So visit better help.com/brightsideoflife That's better help.com/brightsideoflifejoinoverfivehundredthousandpeopletakingchargeoftheirmentalhealthwiththehelpofanexperiencedprofessionalandforyourfirstmonth you're going to receive 10% off by being a listener of the bright side of life. So let them know that I sent you by using the link better help.com forward slash bright side of life. The link will also be in the description section of this episode.

Britney: 1:14

And it was a weird feeling to be the person that people knew of as being positive and all of a sudden I'm in this like dark cave of panic and anxiety. I was like I don't belong here. That's the only way I can describe the way I felt. I was like this. This is off brand.

Melissa Bright: 1:30

Welcome to The Bright Side of Life, a podcast where people share their personal stories of struggles, pain and grief. But through all of that they are still able to find the joys in life. Hello, bright cider and welcome to this week's episode of the bright side of life. I am your host Melissa bright. And just a quick reminder before we get started to be sure to hit the subscribe or follow button if you haven't already. And if you'd like to support the podcast you can do so at the bright side of life podcast.com/donateiamanindependentpodcasteranddoallofthisonmyownandispendalotoftimeandcreativityandresourcesandtryingtocreatevaluablecontentforyousoif You'd like to show your support it would be greatly appreciated. Today I am talking to Brittany Crossen Brittany Croston is the host and producer of the social sunshine podcast owner of fun love media, which is a social media management and content creation agency based in Houston, Texas, and also the founder of small business society, which is a membership that helps ambitious entrepreneur stand out on social media. As a performer from the age of three with a total of 35 plus years experience on stage and screen, Britney developed a natural love for being in front of audiences via social media. She has used her love and social media in her experience as an actor and dancer to help her clients membership members and podcast audience to use their existing talents, skills and knowledge to create exciting online content for their businesses. So I'm sure you guys are probably asking, Okay, what does this have to do with mental health and the bright side of life podcast? Well, Brittany is also passionate about sharing social media for good as she openly shares about her own mental health struggles to help inspire others and spread hope, whether she's dancing on a treadmill or her spin bike, or doing a comedy video about wine, Brittany prioritizes spreading joy to audiences everywhere. So today, we're not only going to talk about mental health, but we're going to sprinkle some social media tips in there also, because I know some of my listeners are business owners influencers content creators, looking for social media tips from the expert. And an important topic I want to talk to Brittany about is how we can use our existing talents or even personal struggles to create amazing content. That was very long winded Brittany, welcome to the show. How are you doing today?

Britney: 4:18

Thank you. I'm good. I'm good today. It's crazy. Like I got kids home school and I got interviews. I get client work, but I'm thankful for all those things. And I have my coffee, so we're

Melissa Bright: 4:31

good. There we go. That's awesome. I love it. Sometimes I feel like the busiest days, although they're like hectic sometimes they're the best. I feel like when I have downtime I can like actually like I think about stuff and I ponder and I way overthink so busy days. I'm just like, just go go go and you don't have time to question whether

Britney: 4:51

whatever's going on. You just got to make things happen and just go with it. Yep, I agree.

Melissa Bright: 4:56

Exactly. So you and I connected I read Originally, I think it was somewhere clubhouse. I don't know if I heard you talk on clubhouse or whatever. But then started following you on Instagram and I see you on this treadmill, I see you on your peloton bike, and your content was just so fun and so entertaining that you just want to click follow and follow you. So that's what I did. And that's why we're here now, because I just loved all your content. I'm like, I want to have a conversation with her.

Britney: 5:28

Thank you. Thank you so much. Well, I love to have fun. And I think I'm at the point in life where I'm like, Hey, screw it, do whatever, who cares? If you look crazy. Let's just get on here and have fun.

Melissa Bright: 5:40

Yeah, exactly. And another thing that I loved that it was actually like an okay, is you were kind of the reason why I started inserting cuss words on my Instagram stuff, because I cuss a lot. Like I drop F bombs a lot. You can ask my boyfriend and my daughter who's 15 Me too. I'm trying to wash my mouth for you. Well, you don't have to. But it's like, I know, this is kind of like my voice and I use F bombs a lot. And if I want to say an F bomb on there, you know, I mark out the little you so it doesn't totally say it, but I'm like, I'm gonna say it. And I like what you said, Whatever you said at one time on there. And I'm like, yeah, she can do it. And she's got all these followers and they're not like unfollowing her, I'm gonna drop the F bomb.

Britney: 6:27

Well, good. I'm glad you know. And because if it's authentic to us, and it's not harming anyone, then why not? Right. Like, that's the way I feel about it. I mean, I I'm kind of I'm probably like, a typical southern girl, and only a few ways. I'm in Texas, right? So and one of those ways is that I've got really good manners. I know when I need to watch the bad language. Like whenever you know, grandma's in the room or whatever, although home girl probably says just. Anyway, I mean, my grandparents had passed, but like, so when my when I was around them, or if you're around, you know, whomever, from mom's church or whatever, right? Like, you're really good at toning it down and having those good manners. But actually, the way you talk naturally in your own home is Yep, is just like, I don't know, like a sailor, I guess is what they say. Right? And it's an interesting combo to be like, I have good manners and I can control myself, but whenever I don't need to. I'm free to speak how I want

Melissa Bright: 7:26

100% and I'm the exact same way I actually I used to live in Conroe, Texas. Oh, yeah, for a very short while. My My dad had married somebody down there. And so I lived down in that area. So when you said southern like I know all about like the Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am. Instead of asking what you say, ma'am, or sir. I did all that

Britney: 7:48

for like, sir at least Yes. I tried to like kids, like just at least don't say yeah, like, right, right. Yes.

Melissa Bright: 7:55

Exactly. Exactly. So I know. Like, my boyfriend will sometimes be like, okay, like his family don't usually like drop F bombs around them. And I know that but if I am in my home, I'm going to do that. So right anyways, that's the little F bomb story about Instagram now. So maybe we've

Britney: 8:13

inspired you to use F bomb in your social media. I don't know. Whenever

Melissa Bright: 8:20

exactly. Okay, so I want to hear all about the entertainment industry. How you got into dancing and acting from the age of three. Tell me that story.

Britney: 8:32

Well, I mean, I presume that my mother just put me in dance class. I'm pretty sure that's a story I've ever heard. You know, I've always heard because we're in a small town in Texas. And there's not you know, you have certain options. And that's pretty much it. And, and I think that she she was the stereotypical is the stereotypical mom of a feminine female type of thing, right? She really loved that I liked to dance and she really liked all the ballet and all the cutesy, you know, frilly stuff, right? And luckily for her, I liked it, too. You know, we never know if our kids are going to be one way or another right. And I go into it as a parent with very low expectation, knowing that they're their own people. But my mom, I guess she got lucky. So I love dance. I really did just naturally love it. It was one of those things where I wanted to be at the dance studio all the time. I was taking all the classes that you could in the small town, blah, blah, blah, doing any sort of performance like you know, if there's like a Christmas festival in town, we go and we tap dance in front of like, you know, the 37 people that were there or whatever. And it was just a blast. It was just amazing. And I did all that, you know, in that progressed into. I did cheerleading because of course another way to perform why not do all these things and then, you know, the plan was I laugh now whenever I say the plan cuz I'm old enough to realize that the plan doesn't always work out. But the plan was for sure to be a television not necessarily movie movies, fine, whatever, but a television superstar, just like the girls in full house. Because Full House is everything to me. And it still is. Yes, I watched Fuller House, the reboot on Netflix, shout out. I know, I'm not a paid advertiser for them. But I may as well be. You know, I mean, being a kid CMEs these girls on the show, I was like, whoa, wait a minute. And, you know, I had explained to me about, like, how they're actors. And I was like, This is amazing, right? The life for me. And then of course, the kids on the Mickey Mouse Club, the whole shebang. So that was the plan for life. And I got into early adult, my total side story is that my my family, my family just fell apart. My parents fought like cats and dogs. horrifically it was a really bad environment, and hated each other got divorce and everything pretty much what to ship for a while. So you kind of cope with that as a preteen and teenager and just kind of almost feel like you're kind of alone, right? Whenever stuff goes weird at home, you just I don't know. It's crazy, right? So that's what I went through. But then I got into early adulthood where I could actually like, make my own decisions and do what I wanted to do and all these things. And so I started more acting classes and stuff. And I was able to do a lot of stuff here in Texas. I never moved to New York or LA like I said, like the plan was, but you know, here in Texas, I was able to do some movies, some television projects, and especially theater Houston's a big theater, city, you know, there's lots of opportunity for musical theater, straight plays the whole shebang. So it's just always been a part of my life. Even all the way up until now, but now, it's on social media and not the way you know, the traditional way, I guess.

Melissa Bright: 11:51

Yeah, that is awesome. So Houston does have like a lot of theater, theater stuff. That's really cool. I feel like that's how St. Louis is we have like these, the repertory theater and all this huge like stuff.

Britney: 12:05

Yeah, I mean, considering that, that there's not much of the other industry here. You do have decent opportunity as a theatre actor, but you're not gonna make money, honey, like not money, money. So I got to a point where I was like, I'm, I'm ready to like, actually make some money. I mean, no offense to the theater world. But seriously, this is ridiculous. Who can nobody can even pay rent with us. So I am. I actually because I was good at social media. And I was on it all the time. And I was posting things and I was trying things and experimenting and just loving it and having fun because to me, it's like a stage social media is like a big old stage and anybody. I had to like find business owners be like, um, so can you do my social media because I hate it. I would rather pay you and you just post things. And I just couldn't believe it. I was like, what? You're gonna pay me to do this. This is amazing. So that's how my business started, honestly. And then now here we are a few years later.

Melissa Bright: 13:01

That's odd. So you had actual people reaching out to you for your, because they loved your content.

Britney: 13:08

Yeah, but yeah, and I thought I you know, anytime you hear people say like about, like, some kind of cool career they have, like, I just stumbled into it. I mean, like, You're full of shit. I don't stop. Like, I don't believe you that you just stumbled into that. But that actually happened to me. And I was like, Oh, this is real.

Melissa Bright: 13:26

All right. Yeah, that is awesome. And I love stories like that, because I'm kind of the same way. I'm, I'm like, Oh, my God, whatever. You just stumbled, okay, I don't believe you, you probably how to do this, that and the other. So what kind of content were you creating? At that point? Do you remember, like, a couple years ago, and if we know if anybody knows about social media, this shit is changing. Every frickin second that we have to figure out something new. What were you creating three, four years ago, however long

Britney: 13:57

it was. I mean, I'm kind of laughing because like, sometimes I see, you know, Facebook will show you the memories of like, what you posted four years ago. And I'm like, Oh, my God. I mean, there's been some that are so bad that I delete them. I'm like, Please let them go away out of this universe, because they're just so cheesy, like, from back in the day on Facebook. And you know, nobody knew what the hell we were doing. So we are all posting dumb crap, probably. And that's and I'm no exception. And so, but you know, I think what these friends of mine saw that were business owners just that helped start my business in the first place was I had so I was working part time with the family business. So I started that when I was 16. And that's how I learned anything about business. So thank you, dad. I was still working part time in that like, you know, a few years ago or four years or whatever, and then, but also I was doing like a side business thing. Also, for myself that because I was just trying to explore My kids were a lot younger. And so now they're seven and 10. But, you know, this is whenever they were, this is four years ago. And so I was trying to figure out like a business and doing all these things. And I think that they just saw that I was posting often it was kind of like, decent content at the time. Not the best, but decent. And all that jazz and that was before Tik Tok. So it certainly wasn't as fun as like, tick, tock, and Instagram reels are. But yeah, and I just think that so many business owners are just like, they don't like it. They don't want to just sit around it. Because it's a whole world of marketing. It's not like it's just oh, just post whatever. I mean, it really does take effort and time and creativity. You gotta write everything out. And you really need to match it up with what's going on with your business. And I think that they were just like, oh, this is horrible. Yeah, thankfully, because now it's a full blown business. And we have 10 clients, and we're steadily growing and, you know, I'm thankful for.

Melissa Bright: 15:55

Yeah, that's awesome. So whenever you How did you finally transition over to, I guess, your content now that you're like, this is like, Brittany is going to create a social media page for her now business, which is fun, love media, right? How did that all kind of transpire?

Britney: 16:21

The more recent content that I that I share, honestly, I've got to again, mention tick tock because that was really the start of a new era of content for me, like, now I've been on, it's been two years, I might be my tick tock anniversary right now. It's, you know, somewhere around somewhere, October of 2019, or something like that, anyway, you know, and for somebody like me, imagine, like this song and dance girl, I see tick tock, and I'm like, Why, wait a minute. It's like, not only okay, but encouraged for these grown ass people to be dancing up in the grocery store wherever the hell they're at. And this is like cool to do. And we can use popular music, that's a big thing. So anybody out there that's in marketing, or that's been in social media, well knows that. Before that, it was very hard to be able to use popular music in your videos, because it's copyrighted. And it's complicated. And then a lot of times your post gets taken down, and you're not trying to cause trouble. You're just trying to like, you know, dance to Taylor Swift, or something. And it wasn't like a thing. And it wasn't allowed, blah, blah, blah. So tick tock brought that into our world, more commonly and easy for anybody to do, including me. And I was like, this is jackpot. So anyway, long story short, I just started doing again, not the best videos, you're never going to be great at first. It's okay, everybody, if it first little while it kind of sucks. And, and then it just started having fun with that. And then I started realizing that I'm sharing these videos, and then you know, the treadmill dancing and any other dancing and the whatever's, and it's attracting people to me, and then I'm actually getting business. Yes, of these. When I'm not, I'm not even talking about. I'm a social media marketer. I'm dancing on a treadmill. But you know, I think whenever a lot of people with social media, and this could help anybody that's on social media trying to like promote themselves or their business or brand. I think we overcomplicate it, and everybody thinks you always have to be busy and talking about like, what's your business? What's your, what are you selling, and all that stuff, when, really, if you don't want if you want to, and that feels good, then you do that. But if you don't, and you're like, Oh, this isn't really that fun, but you happen to be like the best tomato grower in the county, then maybe you should just make content about that. attract people to you, right? Because it's authentic, you love it, you're gonna make all these videos and your show your garden and you're gonna show your recipes with the tomatoes and whatever you're gonna do. And then people will be drawn to you and your authenticity, and they're gonna see your passion for it. And then you sprinkle in mentions of your business, like, by the way, I'm a real estate agent, or whatever. Don't you think you're gonna get you're probably gonna get a lot of business from sharing, like more exciting content that's real to you. You know what I mean?

Melissa Bright: 19:13

Yep. So one way it makes, that's how you sucked me in like, that's how you did because haha, right? There are tons and tons and tons and tons of social media experts on social media on Instagram.

Britney: 19:32

There Oh, my goodness, there are and

Melissa Bright: 19:35

whenever I saw your stuff, it was not only entertaining, it was funny. And then you would sprinkle like you said business stuff in there. Like this is what I do. And then you would sprinkle some like real life shit in there. Like this is what I struggle with or whatever it is. Yeah, it kind of like takes you on a journey. And then I like my gears start going And I'm like, okay, like she has a strategy of the way she does shit. This isn't on accident. This is on purpose, but it's amazing. So like, what did she do to get me to keep watching or whatever? And it's funny because you say Tik Tok was amazing for you because you love dancing. Okay? Little known fact. I wanted to be a hip hop dancer on made on MTV. Oh, you're 511 right. 510 Okay, I'm six feet. I cannot dance at all. Okay, like, I cannot dance. So I'm really really sad that Tik Tok is so like, dancing, because it is not. It isn't like I'm scared of it. I want

Britney: 20:41

to actually have skill as long as you're having fun.

Melissa Bright: 20:46

No, you gotta have drinks is what you got to do.

Britney: 20:48

You need some drinks that might help. Yeah, oh, my God. It's like,

Melissa Bright: 20:52

I just but I can sit there and watch people dance on Tik Tok all the time. But yeah, what I do, like, what you said is the authenticity of it. So dancing was your thing anyways, before this, so that just naturally worked for you. But you can really, I feel that you can tell somebody's authenticity, more on social media than like, when it's trying to be whatever. And that was kind of like my story. And I am a nowhere on the level of your social expert stuff on my social media. But one thing I told myself when I started my podcast is I'm going to be authentic and real. And this isn't going to be fake shit. I'm going to talk about real stuff. And that has definitely translated a lot better to people and attracted the right people, as opposed to randomness or whatever, you know.

Britney: 21:46

You're totally right. And that's the thing is like, did I do I do I post what I do on purpose with someone call IT strategy in some way we'll share because I understand what needs to happen to help everything work well. But it doesn't work. If you have some strategy and the content, the content you put out there, is that real to you, and you're not trying some random shit that you think is going to be popular, then that doesn't work. So the actual heart of it all has to be from the heart. And also, it really needs to be for real. And I know we hear the word authentic, so much, but that's the truth. It needs to be authentic. So like I said, if you grow these big, red, beautiful, amazing, juicy, organic tomatoes, I love to talk about tomato gardening, and I don't even do it. I don't know what my thing is. But really, if it's something you know, simple like that at your home, whatever it is, but you want to be active on social media, you want to be out there meeting people, it's like, it's your networking. And you want to also have fun in your life, it helps kind of like brighten things up. When you're sharing something that you love. You're meeting people that also like it, so you kind of make these friends. And it's all real and true. But you also know that you're going to meet people so that then maybe you'll get some business. It's just like, the best thing ever, if you don't want to talk about it as some people want to teach about their business all the time, because that feels good to them. And that's fine,

Melissa Bright: 23:13

right? Yeah, exactly. I love it. So we're gonna take a little bit of a shift. We're gonna get back to social media in a minute. But I do want to talk a little bit about your you. Okay, so were you diagnosed with panic? Attack disorder,

Britney: 23:32

panic disorder, I

Melissa Bright: 23:33

think, or panic disorder. Okay, gotcha. So can you kind of share your story of like when that started happening? And if you want to share, like, why or touch on that of why that started happening? Yeah, sure.

Britney: 23:49

I am an open book. So I had my first panic attack when I was driving. That's fun. This was 2005. So it's been a long time ago, I was still newly married, like, my husband and I hadn't even been married a year yet. I was actually on the way to do some musical theater. I was in a production of grease. And I was driving over there, too. It was a, like, tiny, tiny little theatre, you know. And I was driving over there. And I felt the feeling rushed over me. So if anybody's had a panic attack you you understand there's different they vary, but you know, for the most part, it's kind of like, boom, and then you're just hit with it. But see, whenever you've never had one before. You don't know what the hell it is. I don't know. Like, what is this weird sensation, what is happening me like crap. And basically, for that day long story short, I luckily, didn't have a big role in the show. I had a very small role. I was one of like, a big group of dancers. And I would, I didn't even go to theater. I went home because I didn't know what the hell and I just told him, I was like, I'm sorry, I'm sick. You know? It was fine. They went on what went on without me. So so, you know, basically, this hat when you don't know what's happening, and this was She hasn't five. So it's long enough ago, that social media was it what social media is I think I had MySpace, which I did like MySpace. That was fun. Wasn't the way it is now and so easy to just like, basically kind of have that like sense of comfort from finding someone, you know, someone's content where they've been sharing that they go through that alone. And I didn't really have that. And I'm like, calling my dad and my stepmom and I'm like, What is wrong with me? Like, am I having a heart attack? This is ridiculous. I'm 25 Blah, blah, blah. So anyway, that's what's happening. And then I went to a doctor. And they he did say he's like, Yeah, this sounds like panic disorder, which was kind of a relief. Because when you are panicked, you, and especially when it's new, you feel like something else is wrong. Like you think it's a health thing, like you really are convinced, yeah, you're definitely dying, you're definitely having a heart attack. I mean, you know, and so it was kind of nice to hear that it wasn't actually those things happening, but it also still suck. Right. And I don't want to bore everybody with the details of the medication. But I did try that. And I went on for a while. But see, like, it changed over the years, and I'm not on medication anymore. But I just kind of like, started trying whatever I could do to help solve the problem. And I was still so young. Right? I mean, at 25 I, I didn't know what the hell was even happening in life much less doing that. I think that probably what, what ended up really triggering this starting for me is that I have two brothers have a big brother and a little brother, Zach and Micah Hi. And Micah, my little brother is schizophrenic. And I had just learned about his diagnosis, not like officially, like I knew he had things going on. He didn't live with me, you live far away. But anyway, I knew some of the story. But like it was finally official. And we were getting more information. And I. And then, coincidentally, I had start having panic attacks. I feel like that triggered me into this huge state of worry being that we're siblings. And I went, Oh, yeah. Does this mean, that's going to happen to me do? What is this all about? Like it was just clueless. And so basically, over time, I just dealt with it the best that I could, like I said, I was on medication for a time, but I'm one of those people that reacts to like everything. Even Benadryl. Like don't even get me Benadryl. I'm just gonna pass out on the floor right here. Yeah. So I That's why I ended up going off of it, because I just had, like, every side effect in the book, and I did my best. And over the years, it's, um, I don't know, it's been a really long journey. I can't believe it's been that many years since all of this started. But it took all the way up until just just a few years ago, till I finally was like, Okay, I feel like I have a really good handle on this, you know, yeah, that it took forever, because then I'm like, starting motherhood, and you're starting that. So that's just another? Yeah, I mean, a hormonal mess. It's like surviving. With the babies and the anxiety and all this stuff. But yeah, I've been down, there's been plenty of times where I felt really great for a long time. And as the years go on, it all is more few and far between. I'm having like, flare ups and issues and stuff.

Melissa Bright: 28:25

Thanks. Yeah. It's crazy that you say that. So I never had panic attacks. But I suffered really bad from anxiety. And I knew where my name came from. My mom died in 2011, when I was 25. And pretty much like that was the most like, devastating thing was not expecting it, so on and so forth. So then I got this anxiety, because now I'm scared that anybody in my life, my life, my family, my circles is going to be taken away from me, and I don't have any control over that. So what am I going to do? I'm going to worry the shit out of it. So I can make everybody stay in my life. Because that's what is it that solves

Britney: 29:06

a problem. I understand. Oh,

Melissa Bright: 29:09

and it's like, my, I wouldn't wish this and I don't know if I would want what you had. But like my anxiety lasted for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours. Like I kept telling people it was like riding a roller coaster. And if your stomach drops, that's like the feeling that I would have but it would last for like eight or 10 hours. Like it's not just something that just happened and then it went away. So I'm like, what I have rather have had panic attacks or 12 hour long anxiety.

Britney: 29:38

Well, actually, unfortunately, in my case, and panic attacks can vary. Everybody's different with everything, obviously. But like for me, unfortunately, I would go for months at a time where I felt panic, basically every day. And I'm not exaggerating. It was it was ridiculous. Actually, I was like I was this Yeah. And and I mean I remember and whenever you have panic or you have anxiety and you You start getting like weird symptoms to like random weird shuttles, right? Like, I would get up in the night and I would itch all over. And it would go away. And I wouldn't be able to sleep and like random stuff, I would get a certain kind of like weird rash that like, nobody knew what the hell it was, you know. And anyway, on and on and on. And yeah, that was the horrible, horrible time and those beginning years of having panic, because, like I say, I would, I would feel shitty for several months, I don't know. And then like, I would just in those several months, I would have like, a few days where I could get distracted enough, maybe comfortable enough to just like, try to push it away, right. And it was such a dark, dark, dark time. And I'm not a dark person. Naturally, the way that you see me on social media is the way that I've always been like, I'm always about the fun and the music and this and that. And it was a weird feeling to be the person that people knew I was being positive. And all sudden, I'm in this like, dark cave of panic and anxiety. It was, it felt I was like, I don't belong here. And I don't know, nobody belongs here. But that's the only way I can describe the way I felt. I was like this. This is off brand.

Melissa Bright: 31:14

Oh my god, the best thing I've ever heard.

Britney: 31:16

Bad joke, bad joke. But now I'm making fun of myself. Um, you know, and so you. I don't know. And I feel like when I look back now and I talk about on social media, I love to talk about it on social media, even though I know it can be quite depressing. For in some ways it and maybe even off brand, honestly. But but I literally feel like I clawed my way out of a fucking dungeon or something on my own. And I'm proud of that. Because my own husband didn't know what the hell to do. He's a nice guy, and he did his best. He would just be like, Well, at first he'd say things like, well, just It's okay, just calm down. Anybody that suffers from panic attacks or anxiety attacks, or somebody saying just calm down? You're like, no, that's gonna make me even more. Yeah, exactly. And he didn't know what the hell to do. He didn't have experience with this. Right? He didn't have all the resources that we have now. Yeah, so I feel like I literally battled a beast. And I did. And anybody out there that's been through it did. And so I'm alive and well and thankful. And so I'm like, let's talk about it. You know, even though I want to dance and have fun on the treadmill, I also want to talk about, you know, yeah,

Melissa Bright: 32:39

right. Can you remember a time or any specific steps, strategies, anything you did to help with your panic attacks? For anybody that might be listening that suffers from panic attacks, and they're like, tell me something. What do you do? Because I can't get rid of mine? I don't I don't, I'm still there. So what can you tell them?

Britney: 33:01

Okay, this is what I do works for me. Not a professional. Should I say those things? Probably. Right. Yeah. But in my experience, it's like a lot of little things. And that's probably not the answer that somebody wants. But it really is. It's a lot of things. And a lot of it is basic health stuff. Because for me, I'm you know, we all have the our triggers. But for me, like if I'm exhausted, and I'm not sleeping, good, oh, I'm in for trouble. And I can start having anxiety attacks and all these things, right. So I know I have to sleep. And these are basic things. Also, whenever I'm dehydrated, I started to feel bad if I started to feel nauseous in the stomach, because like I've eaten something that I know I shouldn't have. Because these days, it's not about the way I look, I'm not I don't even care, it's actually about the way that that food will make me feel horrible and have you know, stomach aches or whatever that can trigger me. So whenever I start to have any sort of severe physical thing due to exhaustion or digestion, you know, it can cause trouble so I it's kind of cool, because it's, it's made me have to take care of myself physically better. So I do those things that are just common sense. And I seriously threw vanity out the window. I do not have what anyone would call a quote unquote perfect figure. I mean, I'm, I'm a size 1214 and five foot 10 I'm a large person. I got a still got a belly from the babies. I got huge boobs, like I don't you know, I got a lot going on over here. And you realize when you realize that like avoiding certain foods and then exercising, of course, actually make your brain work better. And you can actually live your life it's a whole other story you don't even care about, oh, I weigh this much. You know what I'm saying? So I do all the all the all basic health stuff is exercise and for me cardio like I just like I feel like if I go for a hard run, I'm literally just like exhausted any anxiety that might be like pushing it out of my body? Physically? Yeah, sleep, nutrition, definitely exercise, and having little bits of joy every day, every day. Like, I'm not going I'm not going a day without like, at least listening to music, watching one of my favorite TV shows, doing some dancing, something like that.

Melissa Bright: 35:23

Yeah, I love it. And I also love that you said like, this might not be the answer that everybody wants to hear. But it literally is. That is the answer. There was like, what is it the five best medicines are like there's a thing going around like sunshine. Oh, my God, sunshine, water, something something like it's all these things like outside, get exercise, drink your vitamin or eat. Take your vitamins, like all this stuff. And when you say those things, that's exactly what helped me like with my anxiety among, I guess a million other different things, but also like becoming aware of it and figuring out what it is so that I can like really tell myself Oh, Melissa, you're really not in fight or flight mode. Like that's just your brain like playing tricks on you. But that is what people sometimes need to hear is that while medicine is good, and I'm not saying don't take medicine, but it's like have you even done? The the the certain things that have you gotten the full eight hours of sleep and like make that your routine? Have you started eating healthy and making that a habit? Are you exercising? Like, you got to try these before you can say, Oh, this doesn't work. So I just love that you said that. Because those are things that we should really all be doing to

Britney: 36:49

ourself. Yeah, I'm totally and it's all it really is all connected, you know, and I probably I may have rolled my eyes at somebody if I had heard them say this 20 years ago, I don't know. But it's, it's um, it really is all connected. So no matter if somebody has something so severe panic attacks, like what I was experiencing, or they have small bouts of anxiety that isn't, you know, whatever level it is, like you said, if you will go back to the basics, and listen to your body as far as like what feels good. So like, if you need seven hours and 20 minutes of sleep every night, and you feel amazing after that, and that's what you need to frickin do. And, you know, you need to be drink of water. And you know, you should have nutritious food. And it doesn't mean that you have to try to be skinny or look a certain way. It's not about that anymore at all. Like I'm not because I'm not because I like bread, and wine. But I also avoid things that I know my body is like, oh, Brittany, this is my stomach like No, ma'am. You know what I mean? Like, I can barely scream anymore, okay, it just doesn't happen. So, you know, it's like you said, it's just doing that kind of stuff no matter what, no, and then work. And then whenever you said the thing about being aware, that's a huge one. That's a huge one. And now, we're so lucky. We do have social media to look at people's content, and maybe even interact with it or meet people if you want to, but at least know that you're not alone and start reading information and educating yourself. Yeah. Because like you said, Whenever once I finally took a long time, really, really did enough mindset work where I was like, when this starts happening, it's actually this not that. And when I was just happening, you need this not that. That's whenever everything, you know, really started to change for me.

Melissa Bright: 38:35

Yeah. And it is like the social media and how far we have came. I feel like even just in the last year, maybe it's because I paid more attention, like the mental health like people talking about it, which is great educators taking to social media to teach us about anxiety, depression, all this stuff, because Dear God, we need it after 2020. So yeah, it's it's amazing social media can be such a powerful tool in that aspect. Can I ask to kind of go back to the social media aspect? Have you always shared your struggles in your social media content? Or is this something new for you? And then to kind of go off that question. Did you see like a connection with people? Did they say, Oh, my gosh, Brittany, this is what's going on with me too. Yeah, I'll stop. Yeah,

Britney: 39:28

yeah. And I have shared bits and pieces about my own mental health struggles for a while for five years, I would say, but I've just gradually increased it over time, I think as I personally improved and learned, and then I would just kind of gradually increase how much I talk about it and I still don't talk about it as much as I want to, and I'm always working on ways to do that and do it well do it as well as I can. But I'll never forget, the first time I did a video on Facebook, because it was five years ago and I was, you know, Facebook was more of a thing than Instagram for most people and, and I did a video and I talked about the same things I just told you today like essentially like, okay, so I started paying taxes, what happened, blah, blah, blah, just want you to know you're not alone. I thought if I just told you what happened to me, at least you would know you're not by yourself and this blah, blah, blah, right? This girl, this girl that I know from our hometown who I'm not actually friends, friends with, I just know her. Um, she just she sent me a message about how much she appreciated me talking about that, and about how much better it made her feel. And like her child was having these issues. And it was pretty serious. And in, and then I just cried reading that message. I was like, Oh, my God, all I did was tell you what happened to me. And because I'm cool with doing that some people aren't and that's okay. But because I'm cool with doing that. I should be doing that. No. So you know, that's, and that's the thing, I don't want anybody to think like you need to go, you know, go to the world, you don't, you don't have to, it's your rightness. And you should have the freedom to choose what you want to share and what you don't want to share, I just choose to share because I'm okay with it. It just doesn't. It just doesn't negatively affect me to know that. In fact, it's the opposite. It makes me feel really good. I mean, I even had a conversation with my neighbor a few months ago, and she had a panic attack. And she didn't know what the hell was happening. And she was telling me this story. And I told her, you know, hey, I have some experience in this department. And I told her my story. And she was so grateful, because then she felt like okay, there's not anything quote unquote, wrong with me. You know, the way she was thinking, and she felt so alone. And then she didn't anymore. It's just so beautiful. What you can do, and you're willing to share? Why not? Yeah,

Melissa Bright: 41:58

I agree. Because like I said, when I started my podcast that was also like my deal with myself was I have to be authentic and real and share all kinds of stuff that I was scared to share. I was scared to share that I was ashamed that I didn't graduate college, I was sharing like, all kinds of stuff like about my depression, I talked a lot about my mom's death before, but not as much as I did. And through this, so many people reached out to me that like, people I never expected I always say this one on my podcast like men, men that I never thought because men usually don't open up. And this was not like a coming to like hit on me kind of thing. This was like a genuine like, Melissa, thank you for opening up about your story. Here's what's going on with me kind of thing. And I was like, Whoa, like, maybe me sharing my stuff is actually giving other people either permission to share if they want to. Or just to know, like, we said that you're not alone. And that's why like, I won't shut up about my story and my anxiety and everything else. Because I do know that there are people out there. That's kind of the whole point of this, this podcast. And so I just love everything that you said and how it can help people you don't know who it's going to help, who it's going to touch how it's going to make them feel. But when you get those messages or those comments, and you're like, Wow, I did help somebody. It's powerful. Because we do need people like us that are okay with sharing our story. For the people that aren't comfortable to share their story, just to say we see you. And yeah,

Britney: 43:46

yeah, cuz yeah, for sure. For sure. And you know, and talking about it over the over the years and overtime and stuff on social media. It was tricky, especially especially when all these you know, fun dancing videos became much more popular in the last couple of years. Because my, my, my social media brand and presence really was that a lot, you know, and it is and that's great. Because that's it. That's real. I love it. Let's dance to it. Let's have fun. But it was tricky. Whenever that all started because I was like, man, we're really on this fun. We're on this fun ride together and talked about panic attacks in a while. And I would really like to and now I'm like oh shit, like, I'm am I gonna bring everybody down? Like damn, Brittany, you know, it's like being at the party. And you're the one that turned the music. Yeah, yeah. And it was a legit concern. And I say that too. Because I know there's lots of other people that probably feel that way. So that's why I'm saying that out loud too. And so what I did was I figured out how to do both. And I'm still always working on it because I always want to get better at it. Right? What I've, what I've done is I basically said use See, fun and dancing and comedy and wine and all this stuff, you know, that's up, up, up. And I went through this down, down down thing. But the whole point is that look, there's hope, you know, I had a years of hell, in my mind. And that's the worst place to have hell, and, and I am here thriving and I'm a mother and I'm a wife, and I'm enjoying myself, you know, most days, and I'm running a successful business and I'm here dancing with you, this is a rainbow. This is hope this is showing, you know, what, what I went through, and now what can happen and that you can do it too, just because you feel like absolute shit. Right now in your struggle. It doesn't mean that it will always feel like absolute shit at me, you know, I'm showing you that there's hope and that life can get more and more beautiful, you know?

Melissa Bright: 45:55

Yeah. I love it. So yeah, so I'm that person that struggles with the content stuff. Because my podcast is called the bright side of life. It's supposed to be happy and fun. And I'm actually working with somebody that like, is helping me because they want to find somebody that sponsors me another sponsor, in addition to the sponsor, I have no. And he's like, everything that you do has to use, like, happiness, feel good, feel this. And I'm like, I understand that. But at the same time, like there is real shit going on in my life, like, or has happened in my life that I will not be quiet about because I want other people to hear my story. So to kind of go along with you is like, the, the balance the balance of like, I'm not dancing like you are. But still, I want it to be fun and encourage people and have people not feel alone. But I'm also going to talk about sad times, because that's reality. And that's life. And everybody's going through something, you know, so,

Britney: 47:02

right. Yeah, that's, that's tough, especially if you're dealing with a sponsor, because you're like, Man, I would like to have a sponsor. But no, you're you're right. And I know that a lot of people face that in their own way. That's why I wanted to bring it up. Because it's, it's a you're, you're definitely not alone in that either. You know, you're not alone in your struggle. And you're also not alone in this, in this recovery time that you probably just will always be in recovery is what you call it. And your your if you're wanting to talk about your struggle, even if it's not mental health related, it's something that some other trauma or something that you went through. But you also don't want to only harp on negativity you want to show you it's okay, you can do it, you just kind of like I said, give it some thought and thinking about how to show use it as a way of like showing hope, you know, I went through this, and I came out the other side. And you know, that way you kind of are able to show both sides.

Melissa Bright: 47:56

Yeah, definitely. I was gonna ask you a question. But you kind of answered it about it when there is a good time in terms of like brands, if there was a point or a scenario where you think either a business or a brand shouldn't share their personal stories? And then why or why not?

Britney: 48:22

Hmm. I think, Wow, I've never been asked Well,

Melissa Bright: 48:27

before I know, I'm eligible social media expert. And I day, I mean, I feel like the answer is like it could be both. But then Well, my gut instinct when

Britney: 48:37

you said that was to say, the only time you shouldn't share it is when you don't want to. I mean, really, don't feel pressured into sharing parts of your life that you don't want to share publicly. Clearly, I'm a big believer in sharing with someone so find, find a confidant, find a professional, your spouse, whatever, obviously, you need to have someone to turn to. But I mean, publicly on social media, if you don't want to talk about the shit you went through or that you're going through, then don't definitely don't do it just because you feel like, that's what social media is, I have to talk about all my shit. And you know, you don't you don't if you want it to just be business, let it be just business. If you want it to just be positivity, let it be that it can be whatever you want it to be. And I just wouldn't want someone to feel pressure to talk about it if they don't want to. But I mean, I guess there are situations in which it would be like from a business standpoint, it would be irrelevant, I guess, to share personal things. And I think people know, you know, would understand that. I mean, I guess I guess if you're you're like a plumber and you're trying to educate the local community on social media about like, how to handle small plumbing issues in your home. And then if you suddenly were like, Oh my gosh, I hate my ex wife. Right? Maybe that would be too much drama.

Melissa Bright: 50:01

Yeah, exactly, exactly. And I think like, people, like, I guess who I'm thinking of is like, small business owners who are like, like you putting yourself in individual, your self as your brand, like out there. Not so much like Target or like the plumber. Yeah, but I was just curious about that, because I always do appreciate, you know, when when people do have those, like vulnerable posts, I think I've seen a girl that like runs this like boutique that has like 100,000 followers, and she'll post all kinds of like cute outfits of her. But then the next one will be about like, maybe a struggle. And it's like, oh, there's her like, realness, her authenticity. Um, it's not just the girl and all these different outfits, and it really helps you connect with them. So yeah, it can be a benefit.

Britney: 50:54

No, totally. And I encourage someone who is a personal brand, meaning if you're not familiar, you're the face of your brand, like, I'm the face of my brand, and you know, the person you're not target, you're not a big corporation, right. And you should definitely, always include some sort of aspects of your life within your content. That's not about the business, but to what you know, to what degree you decide. So if you want to, you know, make sure and share that you're a parent, and that you're a dog lover, those things are somewhat personal, right? They're not business, and you want to talk about that. And that's as far as you want to go, then do that. Because you're right, people, connect with people. And so even if it's somebody who loves to talk about business, as long as at least sprinkle in something from their life, like you're saying with that girl, right gives you a chance to connect with people on a different level, and just have like a little moment, kind of gauge just how you would just maybe have maybe if you walked into her boutique, imagine that. You walked into a physical boutique. And there's Sally and she's the owner. And I don't know, Sally, I love that name. Your name is that I love that name. And so and so you go in and you're shopping, and she's talking business. She's like, we got this and this is on sale, this comes in this size, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then she gets to helping you and you kind of get a little bit more comfortable. And then what if all of a sudden she's like, Oh my god, I'm so tired today. My baby kept me up all night. It's okay. It's cool. She sprinkled in a little, you know, I mean, that's like a real life example of what you're doing. Totally. Yeah. And your social media.

Melissa Bright: 52:29

Yeah. Oh, I love that. You said that. And that you gave that example. And then you don't ever know that person me shopping going to see Sally. I can be like, Oh my God, I know. Me too. Totally, totally kept me up all night. And then there you are connecting. And then you just bought all these clothes from her because she was another mom that was tired. And that's the Connect and you connect

Britney: 52:51

and you you liked her stuff. And then it kind of took it to that next level, because you had this like, you know, quick five, six minute chat about being you know, tired moms, and you kind of laughed together and had this moment, and then you're gonna remember her better way more than you remember. Random no offense target, I love you target but no random, you know, target employee person that didn't even talk to you. Yeah, you know. So that's a really great way to look at it for somebody who wants to maybe not be too terribly vulnerable on social media and tell all of your stuff but have that little connection. And there's also a difference between, you know, personal and private, you can make a distinction. So something personal is that I'm a mom, and that I for me, like I had I had panic attacks really bad. But private would be like, how many times I pooped yesterday. Right? I can talk about that.

Melissa Bright: 53:48

Exactly, exactly. So we just we see the distinction for sure.

Britney: 53:54

Okay, got poof, it's all over. Over. It is

Melissa Bright: 53:57

all over. It is all over. I'm go on to the next thing. Okay, so I know I promised my listeners and we're actually doing in terms of like the tips and stuff. I love it because I think it's really good to talk about like the authenticity and vulnerability and everything. But I promised them a couple more tips. So if one let's just say a person, a person is starting their brand, and is looking to start on social media. What would be some of the some of the first things you would recommend for them to do when starting? They've already had their brand set up, but once they want to take it to social media site question, yes.

Britney: 54:37

Okay. Yeah, totally make sense? Yes, I did a whole I've done a whole course in lesson on this exact topic. So we're good. I'm prepared. So whenever you're starting on on social media, and even if you've been on there for a while, but you hadn't really like got your stuff together, and it's just been kind of like a thing you mess with. Whether it's brand new or it's a refresh, maybe you want to pick a platform I mean, really, I'm getting down to basics, but so many people assume that maybe since like, Instagram is so fun and popular that that's where you should be when maybe actually, you should be on LinkedIn, you know, or maybe you should just be on your Facebook Personal Profile networking with people, because you are Sally, the local boutique owner, and you want to chat with people in your community more often, you see what I'm saying you have to think about the platforms, and who what kind of person is using them. And, and then let let that guide you basically on where to start. And it can be more than one, you don't need to choose just one, if you have the energy and desire to be on all of them. Go for it. Cool. But you see, I'm saying so that really matters. And then once you feel like, okay, I feel good about this, I need to be on this one in this one, and I'm going to go for it, you really got to cover your basis. Again, as far as like all the basics, you want to have a profile picture that is clear, that is bright as far as like, lighting, you know what I mean?

Melissa Bright: 55:57

Not like how I look right now.

Britney: 56:01

He's still a beautiful, you know, you want to make sure you have all those basics, like filling out your bio, your account information, it really does matter. And a lot of people just skim over and like, oh, that's beginner stuff. And then there are so many profiles I've seen, and I'm like, I don't understand what that means. What the hell do you Why am I here? Aren't you, right? And you know, you're limited with how you can fill those sections out. And it can be challenging to be like, but I want to tell them all the things about me, that's how I like, but I am multifaceted I want, you know, it's like no calm down ready, because a brand really has to be focused. And we can't be telling everybody all 47 things about us, we need to narrow it down to three or four. So yeah, really going over the basics really matters. Don't overlook that, because a lot of people either don't do that, or do it wrong. And once you feel like, okay, I've set myself up, it's good, you, you've got to have things to post, you got to have content. And it's really about, you know, putting your How does it like your best foot forward like leaning into what you do best when it comes to content. So if you actually really enjoy doing like little mini photoshoots of yourself, like a lifestyle thing, like say you're hearing your office, or you're in your tomato garden or your wherever you are, and you enjoy that. And you can do a little photo shoot of yourself with a Bluetooth remote on a tripod. And that's fun to you. And that feels good, then that's what you know, lean into that, do lots of photos, make sure you get some great colorful pictures and all this stuff, right. But if you love talking on camera, and you're totally comfortable doing that, or you want to challenge yourself, and you want to get better at it, lean into that if you like to write, maybe you should lean more into writing, you know, really detailed captions and helping your audience like giving them tips, you know, so when it comes because so many people are like, I don't know what to share, what do I post on social media, like nobody cares about my life, and like, first of all, they do actually people are gonna be, they're gonna be people fascinated with what you ate for breakfast, believe it

Melissa Bright: 57:57

or not

Britney: 57:59

true. And then you really start trying things out, when you find the kind of content that works well for you. And that you seem to get a decent reaction from lean into it. If you hate live videos, I still think you should probably do some every once in a while. But you don't want to do it much do the thing that you shine at your rotating. You know all your little topics. I don't want to get all super social media nerdy in here, but like you know, you have a mark forever. But you know, you have like your content pillars, I call them your fab four, you have four things. So it might be like your business, the parenthood running and tomato garden and you have like your four topics and you're rotating your topics. You're making sure you're talking about everything every week and and you're staying focused in your brand. And then you have to start interacting with people and really start creating those relationships on there. Not to be besties with everybody, but like, say hi.

Melissa Bright: 58:56

Yeah, I love that you said something that I really struggled with. And it's always a work in progress is I felt that I had to do everything. I had to have the professional photos. I had to be doing the reels I had to be doing the lives I had to be doing videos, I had to be doing carousels I had I was getting so stressed out like I was doing so and I'm like Melissa, you cannot do all the things and like I said, I am nowhere like on your level and I still got but it's always a learning experience. Always always but like what the thing that I like that you said is leaning into what you are good at and taking that knee. I really like writing long captions and heartfelt personal stuff about myself that can inspire somebody else. What else was I gonna say? I was gonna say something there was something else I enjoyed. But then it's also something that I need to lean into is like doing the videos more and getting my actual face on there more and talking because I am not shy, I don't know why I'm scared to like, go on there and do stuff. But I also don't want to schedule forever doing videos and like, it's a whole thing. There's the right hours in the day. But

Britney: 1:00:14

I mean, for, you know, from a business perspective, like with a client, I'm going to have certain things I'm going to recommend that they do, depending upon what their goals are, depending upon what kind of job it is, I mean, there's so many variables, right. So I'm gonna, you know, there are some things, it's, it's not always just about, like, whatever floats your boat, because if you're trying to promote a business, and like your kids need to eat, then you should just, you're gonna have to do some shit you may not want to do, right. I mean, that's just a little bit of tough love for you. But it doesn't mean you have to focus on the thing that you do. So we all know, right now, as we're having this conversation that on Instagram, Instagram reels are very, very popular, they're still still very popular. I don't know that, you know, that probably changed one day, whatever. But so that's an example. So somebody who doesn't love video, but it's a business and they literally need to make money, and one of their main forms of marketing is on Instagram, because that's what's good for their business, then we have to do some rails, and we're gonna figure this out. Does that have to be the thing that you do seven days a week? No, we can keep it to a minimum, but we need to participate. So it really depends on where you're coming from in your business, you know,

Melissa Bright: 1:01:25

yeah, so many things and so many different goals and you're writing something I do want to try to do is like challenge myself, like, oh, maybe three times a week I do reels or something, you know, something different. Just to get more comfortable on the camera. I can rip pre record. But anyways, that's a story for another time.

Britney: 1:01:44

But you're right, though. That's cool. That's a cool way to do it. They do a little challenge or something and just see what happens. You never know you might end up really having exactly,

Melissa Bright: 1:01:52

exactly, that's all you can do. Okay, if you Well, first of all, I'm curious to know what is your favorite plat social media platform at this current moment? And why the pressure? Okay, you can only have one for the rest of your life. That's, that's the same right now.

Britney: 1:02:11

I don't, okay. If not, and just like any sort of person that you might love, you have some issues with it. But you still love them. So I'm going to answer with Instagram I have I have some issues with it. Some of them are a little dramatic, and they kind of anyway, but for the most part, that's my hub because I enjoy the way it works. I enjoy visuals I enjoy giving someone a visual giving a really fun photo or a cool video and that's all that all works really well on there. But tick tock is a really close second is really close and the only reason why it doesn't tie for first is because like I said it just because of the way it works and the tools and in the abilities like Instagram stories are just to me, they're just everything. I love them so much.

Melissa Bright: 1:03:02

Yeah, that's good to know. I thought you're gonna save Tik Tok.

Britney: 1:03:06

Yeah, no, it's just it's just because of what Instagram allows me to do and how it allows me to do it differently. Tick tock. I mean, Instagram stories have been such a huge part of my life for five years, however long they've been they've existed, right? Maybe they've been around for almost six now. And it's, I call it like the people that watch your stories on a regular basis. You know, they're always watching cuz you can see who watches your store? Oh, yeah, I'm like, those are your VIPs though, you know, those are the people that actually care a little bit more about what's going on with you and your business and your life. And it just like forms this tighter bond and now within Instagram close friends list, it takes it to another level because now I've got people that are on that list that get even more insight from me and it just makes it where you're like, closer with people.

Melissa Bright: 1:03:52

Yeah, yeah. Oh, I like that. I like that. That's good. A

Britney: 1:03:58

tick tock get stories, Instagram, but watch out.

Melissa Bright: 1:04:00

I know. Exactly. And you know, so I don't like it. I like Instagram reels, but my app is messed up and has always been messed up. I can not set the duration on any stickers on any captions on anything on my reels. I have updated the app. I have deleted my app. I I can't do any of it. It will like literally stay on my on the window. Forever. Like the word like text. Yeah. So if I would want it to pop up in three seconds. I can't do that. It'll stay up the whole time.

Britney: 1:04:32

It doesn't have the little thing at the bottom. No. Ah,

Melissa Bright: 1:04:35

no, it does. And then it will like be broken. It's broken. It has never ever worked for me. See, it's

Britney: 1:04:41

that kind of crap that tells you even though I mean I love Instagram, I got some issues

Melissa Bright: 1:04:44

with I know so then I have to do all my shit in Tik Tok and then like, yeah,

Britney: 1:04:49

I honestly, Instagram like I like creating an Tik Tok better sometimes I'll create an Tik Tok and then you have it over to Instagram. I like Instagrams filters because you can do like just like a subtle glow where you haven't like, totally changed your face. You're still you, but you're you with good makeup. I like that. But I like us. I do like actually filming and editing videos and Tik Tok a little bit more. So I'm with you on that.

Melissa Bright: 1:05:17

Yeah, same here. Okay, if you had to give your top three social media tips, what would what would they be? Huh?

Britney: 1:05:28

lay a solid foundation, that's got to be the first one. Like I said earlier, everybody thinks that that's such a beginner crap. And it's so easy, but so many of you out there didn't do it. Right. So laying that solid foundation. And it goes before you even set up those social media accounts or refresh them is knowing your stuff about your business, knowing your brand, feeling like you know, your message that you're putting out in the world, all of these basic things. And then the basic part of actually setting up the accounts and doing it well. And they're gonna change. It's okay. They can, it might change over time, but you got to start somewhere. And you've got to feel at least somewhat solid, about why you're even showing up and doing what you're doing. Right. So definitely laying a solid foundation, for sure is the first one. You know, the second one is what we talked about earlier, I really feel strongly about content, not having to be what you think it has to be. So essentially, making the kind of content that feels good to you. And I know that can be a difficult concept for some people to understand. Because you assume, well, I really want to promote my business. So I should be talking about my business. And I know it's all weird and marketing ish and tricky sounding. But the truth is, you don't have to, like I told you my, I mean, at one of my clients, that's now we've are about to celebrate our one year working together, and we've made good money together. And we've done such cool projects together. Over this year, she found me because of a treadmill dancing video. And then she's, she's like, Wait, this girl works on social media. Okay, I made that. And that's the reason why I mean, that's why. So to anybody out there that's at a loss for like, what the hell to even post on social media. And you don't want to always be talking about your business, you don't have to you just want to put out stuff out there into the world that feels good to you. That's real to you. And it's gonna draw the right people to you, for sure. And then my third one is, this sounds vague. Oh, gosh, I wish I don't want to get too detailed. So I'm trying to give like really, really right overall stuff. Yeah. Third one is, know the power of a personal brand. And stick with it. The, like 80% of the business that I have to like right now as of today is because I have a personal brand on social media. And simply I've shown up, it's changed over time, those posts that we talked about five years ago, they pretty much sucked. And I've improved, but I never just quit and just some people just also they vanish from social media. And it's like, Where the hell did she go? I mean, one friend that she just gone, just gone for nine months. And I'm like, and now you want to just come on back. And it's all this, you know, right? You gotta keep showing up, you do it your way. Figure out your groove. But by having a personal brand, and showing your actual face and showing up for an audience on a consistent basis on whatever platform makes sense for you. It's so powerful. Not only can it help you make more money in your business, and get more clients and customers and all these obvious parts of business, but it actually has enhanced my life like I I have a better life. Because I've shown up on social media. I know people like you, I've met people all over the world that have Ulus interesting people and my life is just more enriched, because I put myself out there in this like, global networking party, essentially.

Melissa Bright: 1:08:49

Yes, those are awesome. Those are three great tips. I love it very much. Okay. Brittany, how can people connect with you? You have first of all talk about your podcast because I want to talk about that and then how other ways people can connect with you. Because you know, if they want to, like hire you to like manage their social media, they need to know how to do that.

Britney: 1:09:10

For sure. Please do we are taking new clients right now. So yeah, that part of my business is called Fun love media. So we do the social media management, content creation for small businesses. And you can excuse me, you can find that all over social media at Fun love media, that Instagram, Facebook, you know, all the basic things. And as far as my podcast goes, though, yes, please listen to the show. It's called the Social sunshine Podcast. I'm sorry for the tongue twister. I didn't think about that whenever I named it. But similar to The Bright Side of Life, it's definitely got mostly a positive vibe. There is a focus on social media, being that it's in my profession, but on marketing, but also on just talking about social media had some really cool content creators on so far really big followings on social media just kinda like Hearing their fun interesting stories of how the big 450,000 Tick Tock followers and, and all this interesting stuff. It's a fun show if social media interest you and you want to learn some stuff for free. Definitely listen to the special sunshine podcast. You can follow follow me on social I'm everywhere I'm on Instagram. I'm on Tik Tok. I'm on LinkedIn. I am on Facebook. You know, I'm on all the things at Britney crossing.

Melissa Bright: 1:10:28

Yes, I already. I listened to your episode with the mothership from the tick tock. I forgot her name.

Britney: 1:10:36

Helen. Helen. Helen polisi. She's Fabuloso love. Yeah,

Melissa Bright: 1:10:41

that was a great episode. And you guys like dropped all kinds of tips and everything. So

Britney: 1:10:46

you? Oh, yeah. That's the cool thing about these guests is that I'm talking to people that, like, just in the conversation, you end up learning stuff without even really trying that hard. Yeah, she's a great one. I've had so many cool people on the show from all across the world. I'm really, really thankful for that. And you know how I met these people, everybody? Social media, social media.

Melissa Bright: 1:11:07

Exactly, exactly. And then yeah, just go follow Britney, because seriously, her videos are great. And they will make you smile, and they will make you laugh. And they are just wonderful. Brittany, I have one last question for you. What does the bright side of life mean to you?

Britney: 1:11:25

Oh, my I love that. The Bright Side of Life. To me, it means in a day to day sense, it means my children, it means me and my husband, being with our children and letting the thoughts of everything else kind of escape and just being silly with them and hanging out watching movie having a dance party, whatever. And when it comes to just me as an individual, though, I feel I feel like I'm on the bright side of life. Whenever I'm following my heart, and my gut, and it takes some time to get there. We all know, we don't always know, I still don't always know what I'm doing. But none of us do. But you know, it takes some time, a lot of times through life to really feel confident in that. And whenever I'm following my heart, and I'm out there in public, and I'm talking about these things that you and I've talked about today, talking about the panic disorder, talking about the fact that you can have hope and you can lead this really great life, even after going through horrible things. That just lights that lights me up completely. And I feel like I'm on the bright side of life whenever, whenever I'm doing that, and I'm involving my gut, because I know that's what I'm supposed to

Melissa Bright: 1:12:42

be doing. For sure. I love that. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing, and I love how you broke it down into two different

Britney: 1:12:49

cutting couldn't leave out the fam. I mean,

Melissa Bright: 1:12:52

I've never had anybody do that before. So that was That's awesome. Well, Brittany, thank you so much for coming on here to share your story to share your social media tips, and all that great

Britney: 1:13:02

stuff. Thank you for having me. This is awesome.

Melissa Bright: 1:13:05

Thank you guys for listening to this week's episode of The Bright Side of Life. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I hope you guys got some takeaways. I hope you guys got some great social media tips. I know we kept it kind of generic. But hey, when you're starting out, sometimes the basics are all you need. And sometimes when you've been doing this stuff for a while, you got to get back to basics and go look over everything and make sure it all looks good. So I hope you guys got some stuff out of it. If you have not subscribed to the podcast, do that. If you haven't followed do that. I don't know which platform you're listening on. But it's going to either say subscribe or follow that's going to notify you when a new episode drops. So that is important for you. And also another way that you can be notified and to get some other fun things is to subscribe to email. You can do all that at the bright side of life. podcast.com. And lastly, if you guys would like to support the bright side of life, you can do so at my website. Also click on that donate button. I have membership levels, or you can just buy me a coffee just to donate and say hey, I love your content. Thanks so much. I think that's it for today. Guys. If you know anyone that may need to hear Britney story, or to hire her as a social media management person and take care of all your social media needs. Share this story with them because you never know if this is the one that puts hope back in their heart.