Ep.64/ How to Become a Social Media Manager or Freelancer with Emily A. Hay
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Interested in becoming a social media manager? Or shifting into freelance? Emily A. Hay has advice and warnings about what to do and not to do as you shift into self-employment. She also talks about the lessons she learned about the imbalance of duties in her households after participating in the documentary FAIR PLAY, based off of Eve Rodsky’s hit book.
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Interested in becoming a social media manager? Or shifting into freelance?
Emily A. Hay has advice and warnings about what to do and not to do as you shift into self-employment. She also talks about the lessons she learned about the imbalance of duties in her households after participating in the documentary FAIR PLAY, based off Eve Rodsky’s hit book.
As the founder of Hay There Social Media, a unique training company that upskills women across the U.S. with a proven training program to become independent social media managers, Emily A. Hay has seen the profound impact on women's lives when they achieve what she called in Fast Company, the “3 Fs:” Flexibility, Fulfillment and Financial Independence. Emily has been published in BlogHer, Business Insider, has appeared on NBC Detroit and her content has been viewed by millions on TikTok.
In this episode you will learn:
The steps to take before becoming a freelancer
The importance of leveraging knowledge in order to gain more opportunities
The misunderstandings of work-life balance
Quotes from our guest:
“Surround yourself with other people that are doing what you are doing, your chances for success are much higher.”
“Upskilling is simply advancing your skills. It can be retraining, it can be getting a whole new set of skills, but it's usually just advancing or formalizing what you already know and by doing so you open yourself up to more opportunities.”
“Fairness isn't just about 50 50 and equal, it's just what's fair for your particular dynamic.”
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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
Kim (00:00):
This episode is sponsored by UppaBaby. You're listening to an UppaBaby alumni right here. I use the Up Baby Vista and seriously loved it. It grew with our family. We used the bassinet and then the toddler seat. And when my daughter became a big kid, she loved the piggyback ride along. Board Up baby is grounded on being experts in parenting solutions and pushing the limits on innovation. In fact, they're unveiling the Mira two in one bouncer in seat later this year. So exciting up baby develops products that parents have come to know and trust and focus on implementing their core pillars of understanding Parenthood, child development and family wellness in the workplace community and beyond. They have a brand thematic campaign of my hope about the hopes and dreams we have for our kids. So touching and they partner with Leslie Osborne, retired professional soccer player, business owner and mom of three. You can check out their products and their sweet video@upababy.com. Uppababy parenthood understood. Just Go Freelance is terrible advice. Our guest, Emily Hay talks about that and how to have a more balanced household after she was featured in the documentary Fair Play.
(01:12):
This is Mom's exit interview, the show for moms who want to craft the career and life they want. Each episode, you'll meet inspirational moms across various industries and levels who are working and living life on their own terms, and they'll bring you actionable tips from finance to business development to happiness, to crushing that imposter syndrome. I'm Kim Rittberg. I was a burnt out media executive at Netflix, US Weekly and in TV news. I wanted a career where I was fulfilled at work but present at home with my kids. So I started working for myself and I love it, but not every day was easy or is easy. I wanted to explore with all of you how other moms were creating careers on their own terms. They're carving out flex jobs, starting their own businesses, they're taking back control. Join me and make work work for you instead of the other way around.
(02:16):
I hope you're enjoying the waning days of summer and grabbing a hold of the sun and beach and sort of free time as much as you can. I'd love to know if you've had a chill summer or it's been like planning for and thinking about the school year and your job in September. Anyway, let me know. Drop me a line and if you like the show, I would be so appreciative if you would drop a rating and a review or share it with two people. Word of mouth is the best. And speaking of September, as you're getting all your stuff in gear, grab my free how to pitch yourself in 30 seconds download because a clear pitch, a solid pitch is the difference between growing your business and trying to grow your business or floundering. Really getting a great message is super duper important. And I have a free download.
(02:56):
You can grab that in the show notes or you can message me. I'm always on Instagram at kim Rittberg or LinkedIn and you can go to moms exit interview.com. Alright, I'm so excited to have Emily Hay on. She is the founder of Hay There. Social Media, a unique training company that upskills women across the US with a proven training program to become independent social media managers. Emily has seen the profound impact on women's lives when they achieve what she called in Fast company, the three F's, flexibility, fulfillment, and financial independence. All three of those speak to me. Emily has been published in blogger, business Insider, N B C Detroit, and her content has been viewed by millions on TikTok. Ooh, Shannon Harsman. Were also featured in the Fair Play documentary based off of Eve Brodsky's book, and she is championing a new dialogue around the ability to freelance and upskilling as a solution for moms seeking true work-life integration. Emily, thank you for joining us.
Emily (03:47):
Thank you so much, Kim. I'm thrilled.
Kim (03:49):
Alright, Emily, I need to know what was your aha moment, what we were doing before you started? Hey there. And why did you decide to leave a full-time job to start your own?
Emily (03:58):
Of course. Gosh. Well, I grew up with two working parents. I had a mom that was in a corporate environment. It was always known to our family that the economics relied on her income. And I feel like I grew up seeing that if you can achieve professional flexibility, then you will have done better than my mom did for herself. So to me, my goal was I will set out on my own, I will find some way to work for myself and to achieve, like I said, that flexibility that she really never had.
Kim (04:29):
And so what were you doing before you started? Hey there, social media, what was like right before?
Emily (04:33):
Sure. So I did work in corporate America for a short time doing sales B two B sales. It was great training ground. I think I had some advice in school people here go learn how to sell something that will always pay you back. So that was really great advice. And I worked, as I said, as a sales rep for some time and that's when I was seeing other women that were becoming moms and learning really how the system worked. You get your maternity leave, you find your daycare provider and then rinse and repeat with however many children you decide to have. So while that worked for so many women, it at least piqued my interest of how can I find another way to work for myself.
Kim (05:12):
And so tell me about, hey, their social media, what's the structure of it? Why not? So you train people to be social media managers, right? So can you explain a little bit about how hey, their social media works?
Emily (05:22):
Sure. So when I started, hey, their social media, I went out on my own as a freelance marketer. So I say that term freelance marketer. Well, it took me a long time to really even understand what I was talking about. So I said, so okay, I understand marketing, I understand sales. Social media was just coming online. This was like oh nine 2010. And I learned that well hey, if you know enough to be able to help a small business, small business in particular was the client that I was looking to help, then you can charge for your expertise. And for the next decade I really turned freelancing into what I call a boutique social media agency. So that's another concept I had to spend a lot of time saying, okay, so wait, I work for myself. So if I'm self-employed an entrepreneur, but I'm also a freelancer, I'm also a boutique social media agency owner. I mean there was a lot terms that I think I kind of got in my own way just looking at. But I was able to grow a business as a freelancer and by leveraging freelance team members.
Kim (06:22):
And when did the iteration of, hey, there's social media where you train people to be social media managers. When did that start?
Emily (06:29):
I was doing social media with my boutique agency for about a decade, and it was around 2019 that I came across a book called Fair Play and that was by Eve Rodsky and is a New York Times bestselling book. And it was at that time that my two kids were about five and three, and as you know, a fellow mom five and three is like pure independence age compared to the baby years. So it was at least my window to say, okay, well what else is out there? What else is next? And reading this book about women that have more life to live, it really spoke to me at that time to say, well, I can go right back into the work that I had been doing for the previous decade and that would be building up more clients, bringing on more team members, rinse and repeat. Or I could take a step back and look at what is something that I know how to do that I can help other women learn to do to be able to give them a better work-life integration system that I hadn't had for myself.
Kim (07:25):
And so it comes at, women will come to you or you'll find them and then you teach them how to be a social media manager. You do the training. So what are some of these people's backgrounds? So I know, and I'm going to tell the audience, I used one of Emily's social media managers that she had trained Kimberly Herman, who's fabulous. I like to say I teach people how to make video on how to do social media. So I'm very hands-on. But when I first launched this podcast, I was just inundated with work, just my regular workload plus launching the podcast, getting the podcast ready, and then getting the social assets. And it was just so much and I was so appreciative to have the help I now do social media myself, especially now that I'm teaching video to so many people. But I thought it was so cool because that was the first time I had heard of, Hey, there's social media.
(08:07):
But I thought it was really, really cool. Kimberly, she had been a stay-at-home mom and before that a dental hygienist. So I thought that was a really interesting thing on the show, I talk about pivots and how you can sort of more not so crazy way, you got to be whatever you want. Your next pivot can kind of be whatever you want. Except for me, I could not be an astronaut. But talk to me about what some of the social media managers you train, where did they come from? What was their background? How much of a pivot is it or how much of it is sort of they're already in marketing and they're just shifting to social media management.
Emily (08:37):
Thanks, Kim. I mean you're such an authentic force, social media, inside and out, you've had some help, you've done it yourself. So thank you for mentioning the work that we do. So one thing, again, I got tripped up on terms like, well, am I a freelancer or am I an entrepreneur? Well, freelancing is an entrepreneurial highway and I look at social media being a social media manager as just one of the vehicles on the highway. So hey there today is that. So we say to women that hey, if you are looking for what's next or if you are really dialed in and saying, I do have marketing or sales or communication or writing as a background and I want to be able to figure out how to work for myself, we really put that all together. So that's where the pivot, you mentioned, that was the pivot that my company took from being a boutique agency to being what we say now as a unique training company.
(09:24):
And the thing that's in common with all the women that go through our program is that they're willing to move forward without having all of the answers. And I say that because you can just look at this and say, well, okay, so social media manager, is that the job I want for the rest of my life? That's far too reductionist to say, well, are you going to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life with anything? Of course not. But freelancing is a great entrepreneurial vehicle and social media marketing is a great specialty. So by putting those together, you can accelerate your ability to thrive by going through our program. We did a fast company article talking about just going freelance is actually kind of scary advice.
Kim (10:05):
Yeah, actually I'd love to move into that. So you wrote an article saying just go freelance is terrible advice why?
Emily (10:12):
So telling someone to, I use air quotes, telling someone to air quote, just go freelance is really bad advice. I think the article even called it Crappy Advice is because it's not that easy. It's like telling someone to go climb Mount Everest without any training, without any oxygen. It can be done, but you have a far higher chance of failure if you could just learn some avoidable mistakes before you ever get going.
Kim (10:37):
What are some of the things you recommend doing instead of just saying, okay, I'm going to quit my job and just go freelance? What do you recommend the steps that someone does take before just throwing in the towel and doing it?
Emily (10:47):
Yeah, so with freelance, again, you are becoming an entrepreneur. So if you can surround yourself with other people that are doing what you are doing, your chances for success are much higher. So that's something that we really lean into is community freelancing can be a lonely sport. And so that's another reason why people can set themselves up to fail is because they feel super empowered and ready to get going, but then the day to day they're working by themselves, they're out there having to find their own clients and they don't have people to bounce ideas off of or ask questions of. So we feel like one of the things people can do better is doing freelance or taking their entrepreneurial journey together. Another thing we highly recommend is upskilling yourself. And I think upskilling is a word that's been around for a while, but I find myself talking a lot about it just post pandemic. Because if nothing else, upskilling is simply advancing your skills. It can be retraining, it can be getting a whole new set of skills, but it's usually just advancing or formalizing what you already know. And by doing so you open yourself up to more opportunities. So that's something else we say with going freelance, you should be prepared to upskill yourself.
Kim (12:00):
And I like your point of upskilling, it can be an advancement, for example, I'd say there are certain things that are totally in my wheelhouse and there are other things I'm not as good at. And I take classes in, I'm aware of SS e o because I ran the video unit for US weekly. And so a lot of what I oversaw was how do we push people along the path to watch a video number two, video number three, video number four. And that relates to search engine optimization, but I'm not an expert in it, so I need to upskill myself. Each year I have a list of what do I want to learn this year? It's not going to be this week, but it's going to be throughout the next year. What am I adding on to my skillset? Paid ads. I work in organic content marketing, mostly organic.
(12:38):
So if I want to do paid ads, what should I learn just to know about even if I'm not going to do it. So I like how you're clarifying. It's not necessarily I'm going to go out there and learn about a totally different area, but it's next level and related to what you are already doing, the upskilling, which I think is helpful and I think it can feel a little overwhelming. I mean I think some people upskilling in certain areas is like if your factory closes down, they're upskilling you to do a totally different job. But I think upskilling in these areas can just be upleveling your knowledge by adding on new topics. And it's like continuing education. It's basically continuing education.
Emily (13:14):
And so the examples you gave about yourself, Kim, are perfect. You might not have even taken a minute to realize that you are upskilling yourself and you are learning these things on your own. You are not in a formal workplace setting where they are saying, you must now take this six week program about SS e o, but it keeps you on top of your game. When you learn a little bit more about something, it opens your eyes to, oh, well gosh, I actually have a client that is struggling in that area. How can I bring in more people to possibly help them or how can I offer an additional service? So I don't want to make upskilling sound like some really formal endeavor. It's actually the opposite. You might be informally upskilling yourself right now. And the thing about social media, we all use it enough to know how it works. It's just upskilling yourself to be able to know what services you might want to lead with, what businesses need those services or what is a different part of social media? You mentioned paid ads, maybe it's influencer marketing that if you just learned a little bit more about those, you could bring even more expertise to more businesses.
Kim (14:16):
And I love the idea of not staying stagnant. I feel like people have asked me, I was teaching a college course and the kids were asking me advice for career. And I feel like my career has been fun and fulfilling and technically successful, objectively successful. But I also, I think it's related to what you were talking about, about not being stagnant even in a job setting. I don't think I was ever sent to continuing education, but some of the classes, some of the companies, at least one paid for a class. I'm like, well, I'm going to learn how to edit. I don't love editing, but it helped me be a better writer, be a better director by understanding that. And then other things, I just think I had a lot of different, I worked in TV and then I shifted to another part of tv.
(14:55):
I worked in news and then I shifted to digital and then I layered on podcasting. And they're all content based, but you have to learn a new thing each time. And I think not staying stagnant and staying on top of things, we're seeing so much happening. Obviously with ai, whatever, you don't need to go and be an AI expert to just understand how it's going to impact your job. How can you leverage it better? How can you not be afraid of it? All of those things about not being stagnant. Okay. You and your husband were featured in a documentary based off of Eve Brodsky's Fair Playbook. Talk to me about how long they filmed for, I worked in tv, I know that I can be in a crew in your house, in your face. How much did they film for how often? How many days at a time?
Emily (15:31):
Sure. So the Fairplay documentary, which is on all the major streaming platforms, it was a two year a filming process. So it was during the thick of Covid 20 and 21. The documentary came out in 22, and we had film crews local here in, I'm in the Michigan area that came about quarterly captured footage. I joke about we did more nasal swabs for the documentary than we did for school at that time. My neighbors got really familiar with knowing that something was going on, but of course we were under wraps until it came out.
Kim (16:06):
So every quarter they would come for one day.
Emily (16:08):
Sometimes they come for two and most of the time it was in our home. But we also did a couple of other locations that we bounced around to get a lot of footage. Again, I know you know this field very well.
Kim (16:19):
I know her book is Fair Play. The book is about balancing the workload in the houses. What is the documentary focus on the different families? Are you doing fair play? Are they showcasing you because you already did fair play?
Emily (16:31):
So the documentary is also called Fair Play, but it is not a movie version of the book. It is an exploration that Jennifer Siebel Newsom director and writer put together about is all time created equal and how are families tackling the invisible labor in their homes? And so there were a number of families that, like I said, are part of the story to show how we were balancing labor. But it is not a implementation of the book. So if anyone that's familiar with the book, of course there is a 100 card game associated with balancing the invisible labor in your home. The documentary is very different. It explores the whole systemic issue. And I even had to Google what a systemic issue was, an issue faced by millions of people. It's not just us. So this documentary really helps us understand how we got here and really zooming in now to my husband and I and saying, I'm someone who completely leaned in to my flexibility. And over the years my husband leaned on me and it's not because he had some archaic notion of gender, division of labor, and because you are a woman, you should handle the bulk of the childcare. I just really felt like, well, I'm the one a flexible job so I can handle more. And over time that accumulated, and again, looking at ourselves in the documentary just showed how it got us to a point that we never intended to be.
Kim (18:00):
So through the lens of the documentary, you realized that you were shouldering a lot more of the domestic burden than your husband
Emily (18:06):
Was? Yep, absolutely. I felt like I was balancing way more than what was fair. Again, the term fair is very intentional. Fairness isn't just about 50 50 and equal, it's just what's fair for your particular dynamic. That was something throughout the filming process that we did a lot of unpacking and wondering how were we raised? How is fairness modeled for us? It really isn't just about are you employed in a corporate environment or are self-employed? What are assumptions that are being made in your home? How is the communication in your home? So without making this whole episode about that, because I would be happy to, it's certainly worth seeing because there are just a lot of common threads that became blaringly obvious to my husband and I through that process. And that's really the biggest takeaway isn't some black and white transformation. The awareness is what you cannot unsee.
Kim (19:02):
What was the conversation with you and your husband after seeing Fairplay?
Emily (19:05):
Well, I mean, it was a year ago when we first saw it. When it came out very happy, very proud, grateful for the opportunity to grow. I'm sure from film and production life, there's nothing like some adversity to force you to grow. And I look at that experience. I joke about it being like a pressure cooker lined with mirrors. And I say that because the pressure from the outside world of you have everything. You have healthy children, you have good jobs, you have plenty of resources and things and time on your hands. So you should just be happy and grateful at all times for what you have. But then the mirror on the inside of that pressure cooker saying, but we're not. And why are we not? And one of the reasons we were not is because we felt like we could be doing things better. We could be doing things differently, but we didn't know how. And so that's where a lot of the complexities of the systemic issue I'm talking about come in of, well, this isn't just challenges that were unique to Neil and I, this is what so many families go through. And to just be able to have that experience to reflect and as I said, have a new lens that is maybe the one warning of the documentary, you cannot unsee the lens that fair play gives you with regards to the fairness and division of labor,
Kim (20:22):
What do people misunderstand about work and life or flexibility and parenting?
Emily (20:29):
I love thinking about that because when I think about what people misunderstand with flexibility, it just goes right to my soul of what did I misunderstand? And that was the whole flexibility means you can do it all. I think we're at a point where we, women are, we're okay with saying, well, we don't really want it all so we don't have to have it all. But when you have flexibility, I feel like you become the default parent much easier than you would if you said, well, I have this business I need to protect, or I have this work situation I need to protect and I cannot therefore take on more and more tasks. So naturally, as the future of work evolves and whether you become self-employed or whether you just get more flexibility from your full-time employer, you cannot use that as a gateway to becoming the default parent. Because like I said, you'll end up in the situation that we were in where we were saying, well, how did we get so out of whack? We really are modern, progressive people. We both take an active role. We both have an active desire in being in our children's lives and being great partners to each other. But how did we get here? And so that's where I say flexibility. People misunderstand that flexibility is going to prevent you from taking on more than what's fair.
Kim (21:48):
And Emily, now that you're, how many years are you into self-employment?
Emily (21:52):
About 13.
Kim (21:53):
Alright. Looking back, what would you do differently?
Emily (21:56):
I would not be so rigid over, am I self-employed? Am I a freelancer? Am I a business owner? Am I an entrepreneur? I would simply look at, okay, well, we talk about work-life integration and what is the future of what is work-life integration and the future of work? Okay, well, we cannot separate ourselves. I was so into my head of, well, I am separating work is freelance and therefore I can do it at certain times and then all the home stuff I can do on my own terms. And then when I looked at work that was much more rigid, do you
Kim (22:29):
Feel like you were being too rigid with the framing of what it's called? It's like who caress what you call yourselves, but more step back and look at what are you want to be doing? How do you want to be spending your time? How do you want the division of labor at home? It's not about what's on your tax form.
Emily (22:45):
Yeah, I would not be so rigid of what I called myself and what the business looked like. I think I go back to when I started my entrepreneurial journey. It was at a time when Facebook was starting, Twitter was starting, they were tech and they were run by men. And so it was really hard to feel like I was a legit entrepreneur. So then I feel like I owned the freelance term and I had a work from home business before Air quote. Everybody worked from home. So it really fueled that imposter syndrome of, okay, well you're not an entrepreneur because you don't have a tech startup. You are not a business owner because you don't have a physical space. Freelance felt really comfortable. But as I look back, freelancing is such an empowering way to be an entrepreneur, but don't get very rigid and linear with your definitions because you'll hold yourself back. You'll hold yourself back.
Kim (23:38):
It's interesting, I have thought about this through the podcast and just in general, now I'm writing more about these types of topics. I feel both ways about freelancing and entrepreneurship and what you call yourself. So I took a long time to call myself a business owner, and this year I was like, well, I'm writing for Fast Company Magazine, and I was featured a business insider. I think of a business owner now. It takes so long, it's so weird, but it takes a long time to decide what you are. I never called myself a freelancer, actually. I always called myself a consultant because for me, leaving media freelancer has a very specific, it's not a stigma, it's a very specific structure. Someone hires you for a day or two for a shoot or several weeks for a project. And I was like, no, no, no. I'm in charge of my life.
(24:26):
My hours, my stuff. I'm not a freelancer because I'm not working on only a shoot or a project or whatever. I am deciding what this business looks like. But I think calling yourself different things, some people will say, don't call yourself a freelancer. Call yourself an entrepreneur or call yourself a business owner. And I agree with that. And I also disagree with that because I think that when I come in, I'm a consultant and executive level. I don't always want on projects someone else who's an entrepreneur. Sometimes I really need a freelancer who's really good at what they do. And sometimes I think when we tell everyone, call yourself an entrepreneur, okay, charge whatever you want to charge, charge whatever you feel the market rate is. But there are times when the word freelancer is helpful and beneficial and you can get more work from being a freelancer who's really good at their job rather than deciding your something else, which then comes with other things attached.
(25:19):
An entrepreneur or a business owner, someone's like, oh, well I must be paying the highest rate. I'm working with a healthcare company. And they say, oh, well, we're healthcare consultants, but we are partners who actually do the work. So a lot of times you're paying for a partner at a consulting company and they're not doing the work, a junior person's doing the work. So you have to, I think also just be cognizant of the words you're choosing and how people think of it in terms of their budget and what they're spending and what they're getting. So I think it's a very interesting topic like using the word freelancer and actually think, if you're really good at what you do and you're a freelancer, go with it and get it. And it's great.
Emily (25:52):
Yeah, I love the thought you've put into the words because the words have impact. And I think through the Fair play documentary experience, there was a lot of discussion even now on social about not saying that your husband helps, he doesn't help. It's half his duty as well. So by saying, well, I'm a freelancer, you might feel like, well, I'm just dialing down the expectation of someone else of me, which therefore you then expect less of yourself. You protect your business less because you might be saying you're a freelancer. So I just look at freelance as it's always a journey. Freelancing is a journey. It doesn't have to be your final destination, and if you want to call yourself a consultant or an entrepreneur, that all works. But being able to move forward and like I said, start something that is entrepreneurial in nature, but you don't necessarily need to have a rigid definition of what exactly you'll be doing or how exactly it looks to me. It just kind of merges together some of what I learned through the fair play journey.
Kim (26:58):
What's been the hardest part of your journey?
Emily (27:01):
Not being so hard on myself? Is that a woman thing?
Kim (27:05):
I'm like, oh yes. I feel that very, very deeply. How do you fight that?
Emily (27:09):
Gosh. Well, first of all, there are so many definitions of success and it's so easy, especially if you are in a partnership where one of you is a W two and one of you is self-employed to just distill it down to a number, a line on your tax forms. I mean, self-employment is just a completely different beast. And again, I know of course, but if you work in a traditional environment where you are employed elsewhere, it's so hard to not just say, well, is my salary making what I'm doing worth it? To boil all that down and just deciding is it worth it based on a number I feel like is, first of all, we're just being way too hard on ourselves. And I am a very linear thinker, and I try every day to not be so linear because so many good things come, whether it's flexibility, fulfillment, financial independence, by just using your unique talents and being fulfilled professionally, that if you simply use the lens of, well, are you successful based on what's on paper, that's far too limiting. So I have learned that I should not be so hard on my own definition of success.
Kim (28:18):
I think it's a double-edged sword though, right? If you're not pushing yourself really hard, you don't end up being successful When you push yourself so hard and then you never stop to pat yourself on the back, you're like, why did I work so hard? So I feel like I've worked, I'm similar to you, I've worked hard to make sure to pause and be like, yeah, I just got invited to speak at this event. Cheers. I'm going to really celebrate myself. But it's hard because I think that to your point of you don't have those markers when you're at a company, you have your yearly review, it marks that year. You have that last year review of what were you working towards? How are you going? And I've heard experts say, give yourself a yearly review. Do that. Stop, start, continue. I learned that at Netflix. What are the things I want to stop doing? What are the things I want to start doing? What do I want to continue doing? And sort of measure yourself because you don't have those reviews. I see Emily writing my notes down. She loves my idea
Emily (29:07):
Totally.
Kim (29:07):
But I think that we don't have that objective marker of passing of time. And I think it's hard. You don't have, the only point of comparison is your financials, and that does not show the true picture. You can make a lot of money and be miserable. You could make no money and be thrilled. You can make hopefully in between. You're making the money you want, but you feel content. And so I think it is important to have that built in. And to your point earlier about having community, I think community gives you ideas like that community gives you that accountability. So maybe it's, Hey, in six months, let's all check back in on where we are on our goals. And I do my resolutions each year with my brother who works himself. I have two brothers, I do it with one of them, and we email each other our resolutions.
(29:46):
And some are softer resolutions. Be present with the kids, do something creative, want supporter. And some are like, I want to grow this part of my business. I want to do x. I want to be featured in at least one prime media outlet this year. But I think it helps. It has that accountability. And then I look back at last year's, I'm like, oh, okay, I got 60 or 70% of these. Okay, cool. So I think it's a good idea. I think. Thank you for your honesty. I think we all face the being hard on ourselves. Me a hundred percent. That's been something I've probably worked on for the past 10 years
Emily (30:23):
And always still working, right? Yeah, totally. Yeah, love. And speaking of resolutions, I mean, I know it's summer here and we're thinking about fall and back to school. I think there's been a surge of back to School being a time for women to really reset and think about goals that they might have, think about something new. They want to start thinking about something they want to get better at. So I don't know if in your discussions with as many people as you have, if you feel that energy shift, because I love thinking about all and all the new opportunities that can come with that,
Kim (30:57):
Right? No, you're right. It's like it could be fall, it could be Jan one the new year. Alright, Emily, how can people connect with you? How can they work with you? Give us all the goods.
Emily (31:06):
Thanks, Kim. So our website, haytheresocialmedia.com, and it's h a y like my last name. That's our site. We are really excited to not only offer our signature core training that we've been offering for some time that you mentioned, Kimberly Herman, a woman that had done some social media for you, went through, but we have launched what we're calling an upskilling in a box. So clearly upskilling is right up my alley to be able to make accessible and open women's eyes and in ways that it can really advance their goals in ways that they didn't know. So that's something I would just let people know if they had to our website, take a look at our new product called Core Training Light.
Kim (31:42):
Awesome. And I'll have that all linked down in the show notes. Emily, thank you so much. This was such a great chat.
Emily (31:46):
Thanks so much for having me, Kim.
Kim (31:52):
Thank you so much for listening. Make sure to drop a review, and if you want to send in a real mom moment that we'll share on the air, check out moms exit interview.com. And if you're a professional or small business owner looking to grow your brand through amazing content with no silly dances and with no burnout, check out my website kimrittberg.com and you can hit contact to chat with me. And thanks for listening. This is the most amazing community. You guys send in the best feedback. So share it with your friends. Let anyone know who you think would appreciate it. And this is Mom's Exit interview. I'm your host and executive producer, Kim Rittberg. The show is produced by Henry Street Media. Jillian Grover edited this episode, and Aliza Freelander is our editorial producer and publicist. I'll see you next time.