Ep. 34: The power of public relations (Brittney Lynn, The Human Connection Agency)

• Free pitch templates: http://brittneyllynn.com/teachable
• Instagram: @brittneyllynn
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brittneyllynndotcom/

Read the full transcript below.

BL: PR is really about visibility, right? Like, we are all as business owners, as entrepreneurs as content creators, creators in general, you’re trying to get in front of more people. And I think PR is one of the best ways to get in front of new people. Of course, I’m a little bit biased because I have a PR agency, but I also have a reason why I think it is the best. It is the way in which you can share your story with an audience of people.

HF: Hey, friends, it’s Haleigh from teachable. I’m really excited to have Brittany Lynn on the show today, she’s a public relations expert with a knack for connecting with others. In this episode, we dive deep into the foundation of public relations, the importance of having PR for your brand or business and what you can do today to start leaning press. Welcome to everything is teachable. The podcast that takes you behind the scenes to learn how everyday creators have transformed their skills and passions into online courses and businesses. Britney Lynn is the founder and CEO of the human connection agency, a public relations agency that serves a purpose driven entrepreneurs worldwide. She has over 10 years of experience working in the online marketing industry and has a passion for helping others grow their reach, revenue and impact through strategic public relations. She’s also the host of the human connection Podcast, where they dive deep into the topic of how entrepreneurs and small business owners can be better at building real authentic relationships with their audience. Brittany and her team have landed clients in Bloomberg Wall Street Journal, New York Times, US News and World Report and Washington Post’s to name a few. Brittany, thank you so much for joining me. I’m so happy to have you on how are you?

BL: I’m doing great. I am so thrilled to be here. I can’t wait to get into the conversation.

HF: This is going to be a good one. I have a good feeling about it. Yes, me too. That let’s go ahead and jump right in. I’d love to know more about the human connection agency and kind of your background. Yes.

BL: So my name is Brittany Lynn. And just like a fun fact, for everyone to know, my middle name is also Lynn. So my name is Brittany Lynn. Lynn is the same. I married into that. But it just makes me very memorable. So it’s just like a nice icebreaker that I just like to share with everybody. So call me I love that whatever you want to call me. Yes. And I started my business about five and a half years ago. And so my business right now is a PR agency, where we pitch people to podcasts, we actually pitch some people to this five guys. And that’s kind of how we got connected. And we pitch people also for publication interviews, as well as TV, both local and national. And so I actually have a PR degree. I worked in corporate for about five years, and my husband and I were paying off all of our debt. For me to be able to start a business I actually found podcasts. That’s kind of like what opened my my eyes to this whole other online business world. And then he got a new job in Dallas. And so we moved down there about five and a half years ago, for me to be able to start my business. And yeah, we’ve just been going ever since. And now we’re actually in this new life transition where we are converting a Sprinter van to live and travel out of with our two dogs.

HF: That’s so fun.

BL: Yes. So we’re like literally days away from being done with it and heading out on our first trip. So yeah, I think that that’ll be kind of a little bit of a part of the conversation. But that’s kind of how I started my business and like what it is right now and I’m sure we’ll just dive in to more to our details. Yes.

HF: So what drew you into pursuing public relations as a career?

BL: Yeah, so like I mentioned, I did graduate with a PR degree and I think what really drew me to that during college was I’ve just always been the connector. Like I just am always like anyone that I meet at a party or a friend that I have. I’m just always thinking of oh my gosh I need to introduce this person to so and so. And I’ve always loved media of that sort of just like I remember having like stacks of magazines in my childhood bedroom I like weirdly like kept all of them like for a really long time. I don’t know why I was like thinking I was going to keep them for like 25 years because what are you going to do with a magazine from like 1993 I don’t know but I had plans for it apparently. Um, and so just like the combo of those two things of like connecting people really digging into people’s stories kind of their their why behind why they started there. business as well as just really loving media. That’s kind of what drew me into it. But whenever I worked in corporate, I actually was more in like, broader digital marketing and social media. So I didn’t do a ton of PR work during my corporate days. And ironically, I never worked at a PR agency. And now I run a PR agency, which is kind of bizarre to some, but I think I applied to a lot of agencies, and I just never got hired. And so I think a part of it was the universe was like, you just are not going to be a fit for a traditional PR agency. Because for those that aren’t aware, in traditional PR agencies, you know, the super big ones, a lot of times, it’s very high pressure, you’re on, you know, dozens of client accounts, you’re not really personally connected to those accounts, or like what it is that you’re pitching, it’s very demanding. You’re there a lot of late hours, all that kind of stuff. And so I just run my agency in a very different way. So I think it kind of helps that I didn’t previously work in an agency, because I didn’t have any of those, like bad habits or, you know, kind of mindset around Oh, this is how I’m supposed to run an agency, I kind of created the thing that I would want to work for. And yeah, so about a year into me starting a business, like the first year was just kind of, as I’m sure similar, like past guests of the podcast, you’re just kind of like doing whatever, like you’re just figuring it out. And then about a year in is when I really started focusing in on PR and pitching to podcast, publications and TV, and it kind of just grew over time through referrals. And, and yeah, even still, to this day, everybody’s like, you know, somebody messages me. And they’re like, Hey, who do you know that does this? I know, you know, someone so who can you connect me with?

HF: Oh, I love that so much. Yeah, I think that’s really great that you’re able to really start from a perfectly clean slate, do things the way you want it to do it, because I know that agency life can be really, really intense sometimes. So having that opportunity to kind of break away from that mold, I’m sure is really important.

BL: Totally, totally. Yeah, I think it helped. And it helps me, you know, stand out, even when I’m looking for people to work with me where it’s like, I run a different type of agency, you’re not going to be staying up all night, we really are. We try to focus on working with purpose driven entrepreneurs. So it’s not just, oh, I’m an entrepreneur, and I want to make, you know, eight figures. And that’s like, what my primary focus is they’re really dedicated to helping the people that they help. And so that just makes for a better work experience as well.

HF: Definitely. And I mean, of course, this is probably very loaded question. And we can go and as deep as we want into this, but why is public relations so important for any business?

BL: Yes, I love this question. So PR is really about visibility, right? Like, we are all as business owners, as entrepreneurs, as content creators, creators, in general, you’re trying to get in front of more people. And I think PR is one of the best ways to get in front of new people. Of course, I’m a little bit biased because I have a PR agency but I also have a reason why I think it is the best it is the way in which you can share your story with an audience of people and to me and this is like no hate no shade to you know, paid Facebook ads or anything like that, because I think all types of marketing is important. And they serve different you know, pieces of the puzzle. But with PR you know me coming onto this podcast, someone that you know, dedicated listeners that you guys have to this podcast, they’re hearing my story, this is a long form interview, we can really dive into a lot of different topics, they get to hear from me, they get to hear my my experience, that’s so much different than seeing, you know, a Facebook ad on your newsfeed. Right. And again, this is not to say like, I have used Facebook ads in the past this i’m not i’m just using that as an example. Because I think a lot of people think that they need to focus on those types of things to get exposure. And there are other ways that you can get more organic exposure. And I think it helps make new people a little bit warmer to you, right? So let’s say there’s a listener here that has never heard of me never listened to me before them listening to you know, this 30 minute conversation that we’re going to have, they’re going to know me a lot more than if they just saw a Facebook ad for me or you know, a Pinterest pin. And again, those things serve different purposes. But people like to connect with other people. That’s why my agency is called the human connection agency. And why my podcast is called the human connection podcast is because people like to you know, you buy from other people and I think Especially with entrepreneurs and online entrepreneurs, you’re really looking for people that you resonate with. And so you can be that person for others out there. And so for you to share your story in different media ways, such as podcasts, interviews, being interviewed on top publications, and even TV, if that’s where your audience spends time, it just can go a lot further and can get you a lot warmer leads and true connections with new audience members.

HF: Oh, yeah, that is that is so key, I think. And when we start talking about entrepreneurs, like really needing that opportunity to get in front of more people, and they are thinking about, I really do want to get more press, but I have no idea where to begin. What advice would you give to fellow entrepreneurs and creators? Who do want to land press? What is kind of the best first step to take?

BL: Yes, yes, great question. So I scoot back a little bit and say, I think a lot of people maybe listening to this podcast, maybe to start your like, PR shop for me, I’m not ready, I would maybe question you on that, maybe that’s true. But if you have, you know, a proven service, or a proven product, or membership, whatever it is that you sell, if you have had people purchase it, have a good experience with it. And if you are ready to scale, that you’re just looking to just really blow it out of the water and grow your audience like you are ready, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t have 10,000 followers, like you don’t need a certain amount of social media followers to be able to to do this and to get the benefits out of PR. So I just want to, you know, it can be intimidating, right? It’s intimidating to put yourself out there to pitch yourself, you are being vulnerable, because you could get to know and who likes getting nose, nobody likes getting nose, right. But I will say that that is the nature of pitching. So whenever you do start pitching yourself, for opportunities, you will get nose, you will get ignored. That is just kind of how it happens. That’s how this works. So that is normal. And I think one of the best places to start is to start on podcast interviews. And to, you know, the lowest hanging fruit would be people that you are already connected to, maybe you have some connections to podcasts, and to podcast hosts where you know that their audience can get value out of what you have to teach. Start with those, get a few quick wins before you start pitching people that you don’t know, you know, like me and you weren’t connected, whenever like we pitched because we’ve had several people to you guys. And we’ll just like take you behind the scenes if you want it to go. Cold, you guys, a few people who we were like, you know, they use teachable, they can take they can speak on these topics, we see that you haven’t talked about these topics in a while you haven’t ever talked about them. So here’s an opportunity for you to have this piece of content for your podcast. But I know that that can be intimidating, right? It’s intimidating to cold pitch, I do have free pitch templates for people to download. If you just go to Brittany on lynda.com slash teachable, you can download the free pitch templates and get access to those. And it actually also has examples of pitches that have gotten yeses. So you can kind of see it in action as well. Amazing. But I would definitely start with podcasts because that is that can give you the biggest return on investment of your time and your energy. And like you know some people it’s like TV’s not it’s not going to be a fit for your audience. Your audience doesn’t watch TV or you know, they don’t watch the local news channels and stuff like that. But podcasts interviews, there’s a podcast on literally any type of topic and I know that you guys have a wide variety of creators that listen to this podcast that use teachable, guys, there’s podcasts about fly fishing, like there, there’s podcasts about any topic

HF: Really anything. Yes. Literally anything. So just searching for those, finding those top podcasts, building connections with those hosts, and then in pitching yourself. That was really, really valuable. And I back in the day A long time ago, I used to intern at a small PR agency and I remember when I had to do cold pitching, I was sweating. I was so nervous and terrified. And I you know I was a lot younger than but I’m sure people you know across the board can get a little nervous when they think about cold pitching someone and not really knowing what to say. So let’s like if we don’t mind I’d love to kind of take it from like a creator pitching themselves to be on a podcast, what would be kind of a good framework for setting that up and making sure that they are really showcasing their value right away. Because I know you know, we’re all moving so quickly we need to like get all of our points out kind of quickly. So what kind of advice would you give around that?

BL: Yeah, great question. What I would advise is one, make sure that you’re pitching podcasts that are relevant to you. So even before you start writing something, and when I say a pitch, I’ll just define it. I mean, an email pitch, we send all of our pitches via email. Back in the day, people used to call journalists and you know, all that kind of stuff. Not many people use the phone to pitch anymore. So we’re talking about just sending emails. So make sure that you’re pitching the right types of places, because you want to make sure that your topics are relevant to that audience. So if you’re pitching topics, to a podcast, where that audience doesn’t need to know your topics, it doesn’t mean it’s not it’s already not going to land because that host is going to be like, this person. Does that make sense? Right podcast? The Fly Fishing example. If I pitched myself to a fly fishing podcast, as a publicist, they’d be like, what are you doing? You’re not talking about fly fishing. Goodbye, I don’t I don’t fly fish. So you know, that doesn’t make sense. So identifying the right podcasts can save you a lot of time, because you want to make sure that you are pitching topics that are important for that audience because the pitch should be about that audience. What is that audience going to learn? After listening to an interview with you? Why is that important? Why do they need that now? And so thinking about the audience because every podcast host you’re not thinking about what’s interesting to me I mean, maybe you are a little bit but you’re thinking about what do the listeners of this podcast want to hear? What do they need to know so that’s always the lens that you need to be thinking of. So you know, the beginning of the email can be like a one line introduction to yourself like Hi, my name is so and so. This is what I do, this is who it’s for. And this is how I do it basically. So just like a one line, like if they don’t know anything else about you, they know exactly what you do and who you serve and that first line of the email and then you can go into I’d like to pitch myself to be a podcast guest on your podcast, I think I’d be a great fit. And then you can go you know, into a line or two of here’s why this is important. Here’s why my topics are important to your audience, and why they need to know it. I typically recommend people bullet point out actual topics that they can talk about because a lot of times I’m sure you do this, you’re looking at an email okay who can be a guest on this podcast I’m going to scan and look at the bullet pointed topics to see right you can talk about yes and with those you know look at podcast episode titles. Look to see how they are phrased a lot of them are phrased in like how to use the x steps to blah blah blah you know find out the reason why you’re missing out on something that’s not a great topic title but thinking looking at the structure of podcast episode titles you will start to see a lot of common patterns that’s how people that’s how podcast hosts want to phrase their episode so if you can already put it into a framework of this is what the episode could be titled. They’re going to pull from that and 99% of the time when we get a yes from a podcast host they’re pulling from one of the topics that we sent them so it makes their job easier because you don’t have to go back and forth with like okay well what can you actually talk about like what can you teach my people link to your website link to any of your socials if you have a press page link to that just so that people can find out more information about you make sure that you’re you know, a legitimate business owner you you have the proof of your experience and then that’s it you know that that is that is the pitch

HF: Wow, that was just a few minutes of pure gold thank you so much for sharing that. So you are so so you have so much expertise and experience with you know, teaching people how to get their pitches together. This had to have been a topic that you were asked about a lot over and over again when you had your business which leads him sure into you wanting to develop online courses. So I was curious to know about like your online course journey and what what made you start thinking about bringing them into your business?

BL: Yes. So when I was first starting, it was truly like service based business just like one on one client work. And at the very beginning of my business, I did have a course which I had no business creating a course at that point in time I had been in business for two months, I had no idea what I was doing. So that doesn’t even exist anymore. So don’t ever try to find a people. Um, so I really honed in on my services, and you know, getting my team in place because that was really like The bulk of where my business was coming from. And so I really needed to focus on that. And then fall 2019 I joined Pat Flynn’s mastermind, who I know like he’s a, I think he’s a not he’s one of the board of directors of teachable, but he’s involved in teachable and has been a very big fan. Yes, we love Pat Yes. And so I was in his mastermind. And so I joined that intentionally for the reason of, Okay, this is going to be the year, the year that I’m in this program is the year that I’m going to build my course. And this by no means means that like you need to join a mastermind to be able to create a course like you, you could absolutely do it on your own. But I was just I was ready to uplevel. And I knew that learning from him, because he’s created all these amazing courses, he’s very good at it being connected with other like minded individuals, where they could give me feedback about the course. And so we had our first retreat that fall. And that was really where I started thinking about, you know, putting together the framework of the course. And it was really at the time, just just adding on just like another revenue stream, like that was the thought process behind it. And so I started dripping it, I pre sold it, so I literally had created nothing, and I pre sold it in December, and then I had a round of people who were starting it in January of 2020. And I dripped it out to people. And then you know, pandemic happened. And that was and school still kind of is happening. Um, so that kind of just like I had all these plans of like relaunching the course. And then it was just like, this does not make sense. Like, I got to pause, you know, clients were dropping, like, it was just an insane time for everyone, I’m sure many listeners can relate. And then Personally, I went through something really tough, where I had lost my 24 year old cousin to leukemia in June of 2020. So this was, again, middle of the pandemic, a lot of family stuff going on, processing that grief. And so that situation happening is kind of what made my husband I reflective of like, how we’re spending our time and like, are we doing what we love? And like, are we spending, you know, are we in the location that we want to be in. And so then we basically created this plan of us to convert a Sprinter van for him to quit his job and for us to travel. And I swear that this was related to creating a course. And so, you know, as we were, you know, creating all the plans for that it was really like, Okay, I’m so glad I have my course here that I can really focus on and grow over the next year and years to come. Because that is what really helps us have the lifestyle flexibility that we want, while being a digital nomad kind of traveling wherever not having exactly like a home base. Because we still have the agency side of my business, we are still serving entrepreneurs. But you know, a lot of times that is dependent on my time. And creating a course that can be kind of purchased whenever is really great and kind of fuels that. And so this last half of 2021, I’m doing a lot of exciting things with the course. And really just like focusing on that side of my business. And I’m just, you know, at the time, when I started first started creating all of this, I didn’t know that I would be doing what I am doing now, I didn’t I never thought I’d be living in a Sprinter van. You know, never say never people. But that, you know, I knew I was doing it for a bigger purpose. And at the time, I just didn’t know why. And now I know why I invested the time and the effort and energy. And so it’s really just equipping us to be able to live the life that we want to live.

HF: Right? Well, first off, I’m so so sorry for your loss. And it is such a beautiful thing for you and your husband to be able to have the you know, have the realization of Okay, this is what we want to do with our lives. And we’re going to follow our dreams and get this fan and travel all over the country like that is incredible. So congratulations.

BL: Yes, thank you so much. We’re very excited.

HF: What are you most excited to work on with your online course moving forward?

BL: Yes, so I’m actually I’m updating all of the content. So whenever it was first created, it was you know, January 2020. And our world is completely different since then. So and a lot, you know, a lot of stuff with media had also changed or was realized as well. So I’ll definitely be creating updates. I do a challenge. Typically every year that’s called pitch Fest, where it’s just a five day free challenge where people can participate and land their first media mentioned and send their first media pitch. So I’ll be doing a lot of fun updates with that and it’s it’s nice that I have a base To start from, instead of like, Oh, I have to create this whole new thing. But for anyone that’s listening, where maybe you haven’t created your first course yet, and it’s just like hard to get started, I would highly recommend pre selling it, and then just dripping it out, I dripped it out. So I was creating it as I went, and I don’t really know if teachable, like, recommends that I recommend that

HF: We’ve definitely recommended it, of course, you know, we are like, hey, if you want to do it this way, and do it all at once, then that’s fine. But I actually am so glad that you’re bringing this up, because I did want to ask you the benefits that you saw of dripping your course out and why you think that that’s like a great method to Yes,

BL: Yeah, and again, like, there’s a million ways that you can create your course, right? This is just like one way, I could not have created my course. Unless if I dropped it out, like I would, I just would not have created it, I would not have sat down and spent days and days of time, just like creating the content, like I just wouldn’t have done it. And I needed to pre sell it to one, like get some get some money to basically be like, Okay, this is a valid idea, like people want this. And now I have to create it, I’m so much a person where, like, I will please others, which is like sometimes like a bad thing. You know, like, it’s like, you should do things because like you want to do them and be motivated by yourself. But sometimes I just use like my, my personality to my advantage. And it’s like, Look, I’m accountable to other people. And like, I just am. And so if I know that people have paid for this course, I will create it like it will be created and it will be amazing. And we were able to I like to dripping it out as well, because I was able to edit and kind of like know, in real time what people wanted so that whenever I was creating the next module, I can make sure to include that information into the course, instead of just me assuming of what everybody wanted to know, and create the whole thing. And then there’ll be all these questions where it’s like, oh, shoot, I didn’t, I didn’t cover that. And of course, there are ways that you can, you know, add those in later on if you wanted to, if you did create your entire course. But if you are a type of person like me, that is accountable to others. And like you’ll do it, if you have that pressure, I highly recommend gripping it out.

HF: Yeah, I think it’s a really good method to kind of do some reflection to and kind of track how people are doing. And then from there, you can kind of, like you said, switch it up if you need to, or if it’s Yeah, if it’s great, just keep on going. I’m curious to know, though, when you were going through this process of dripping out the content, how did you kind of stay organized, and like give yourself different timelines to making sure that it was all going out on the right cadence and all of that.

BL: Yep. So I dripped it out every Monday. So every week, there would be a new module that came out and I did do when I dripped it as I since I was doing it live. So my course has five modules. When I got to we It was either before we started or after week three, I gave an implementation week, because I knew that a lot of people would get either overwhelmed with the content, or they would get behind that life happens. And so I wanted people to have a catch up week, where it’s like, Alright, you’re just there’s not going to be new content this week, you’re going to implement what we have been already covered. So you can catch up. People really, really appreciated that. And I think that can be any time that you’re running a course live, I think that that can be really, really helpful for people because there’s always things that pop up where people get behind. So I think that helps your students get more wins and catch up instead of just like always, like throwing content their way. Right. So yeah, I would like where I had, you know, I had a little bit of a framework of like what would be covered in the modules ahead of time. So I wasn’t going in like completely like, Hey, I’m selling this course like you don’t really know anything of what’s going to be in it. But I was able to kind of like edit and tweak and add on as the week’s progressed. And so I just knew that like every Monday, you know, there needed to be the next module out. And so sometimes I would work ahead and I would you know, get like two modules done. Other times it was like, I’ll be honest, I was just working up until like, I was gonna be releasing it because I don’t know I just work well under pressure. So just kind of work for me.

HF: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s kind of a win win situation and kind of is helpful for both parties. In the creator sense. It’s giving you enough time to reassess the curriculum if you need to, to have a fresh like a fresh slate when you’re approaching really Using the new module, and then for students, it’s giving them the opportunity to approach the course. You know, they’re not going into it and seeing everything all listed out and feeling maybe a little overwhelmed, like, Oh my God, look how many modules I have to get through.

BL: Yep, yep. And I will say one, like tech tool wise, because a lot of, you know, big program creators, it’s like, they have the fancy video, and like, they have a studio and all and like, that is great and amazing. But like, I was doing this out of my house in Dallas, like, I didn’t have any of that fancy equipment. And so I was like, okay, what’s like the lowest lowest barrier to entry of like me starting this, and like, the easiest way that I can get this done. So I would just record so I had slides, I would just record like a loom video. So loom is I don’t know, if you if, if you’re not familiar, it’s just a screen recorder. But you can also have like your picture there as well. And so I would just like record my screen, because that was like a super easy tool to use. So I didn’t use any fancy, like, video work, like, there was nothing like behind the scenes of me, like it was just like me, my slides. And like that was it. And again, like, I’m going to uplevel it this next time, like I’m going to improve it. But again, I just needed to get something out there, I need to get started. And that was the easiest way to start.

HF: I really appreciate you sharing that, because I think that a lot of creators who are really in the beginning stages, that and feeling like they need to have all the fancy equipment and all these super high tech videos and all this kind of stuff, when in reality, if you don’t already have it, and you’re not already super well versed, which is okay, you don’t need to have that to make really engaging material for your curriculum.

BL: 100% agree, and you’re doing this too, for the long term. So you can always improve over time, you know, every time I do a launch of my course, I’m always trying set, like, I’ll try one new thing, or I’ll add, you know, one new aspect or a new bonus or something like that, but you don’t have to have all those things in the beginning.

HF: I completely agree. And I think that, you know, hearing that, I hope and whoever whoever is listening right now, like can make them feel a little bit more relieved to know that creating an online course is super accessible, like you can film videos on your phone, you know. So it’s definitely like a lower, like you said, a lower barrier of entry. And just just putting something out there is the most important part because you can always go back to it, you can always improve, you can always change whatever you need to change. Totally agree. Yes. So I’m curious if you’re starting an online business today, what is something that you would do in the first month or two?

BL: If I was starting an online business today, um, so this is what I would do, maybe this is a little bit of a different question. But this is what I would do differently than what I did. I wasted so much time trying to make my website perfect. Where I wasn’t spending enough time, like getting myself out there in front of potential people that could pay me money to work for them. And I just thought everything had to be perfect on my website. And it just doesn’t like it. Yes, like you need a website. But there’s just so many easy tools out there. Now to use where you can like quickly get up a website. I was just like, poking around with the colors all of the time, it was just I was wasting time because I was scared of putting myself out there. And saying, like, Hey, I’m a business owner. And this is how I can help you. I didn’t think much about like, I didn’t think as much about like, this is the start, this is the transformation that I can offer to people. This is the service that I can offer or the products that I can create. And that’s how you make money, right? That’s how you’re able to continue being a business owner. So I would just shorten that time because I wasted several months doing tasks like that.

HF: Yes. And that’s I feel like that is so totally a universal feeling amongst many entrepreneurs and creators of feeling like it has to be perfect, but maybe, you know, what are some if someone’s like, really developing their website for the first time, and trying to figure out oh my god, like what do I even put on here? For it to be good enough to at least publish? What are some like key parts that someone should have on their website to make sure that they’re like giving visitors a proper understanding of who they are and what their business is all about?

BL: Yep. I mean, the most obvious answer is you know, your services or products that you sell like, and I think if you’re if you’re very new to online, starting on online In business, one of the easiest ways to get in is service based business. And I understand why a lot of people don’t do that or don’t want to do that, because it is a little bit of exchanging time for money. Now we don’t charge like hourly, like we have retainer rates, but like it is an exchange of work, like we do this work that takes us time. Our clients are paying us for it. And I think a lot of people want to skip to the creating an online course and you know, digital products, all that and I think that is great. I millions of people have successful businesses with that. But also with that you need an audience? And so how are you going to build that audience? And how are you going to get known of like, hey, my work is valuable, and is helpful to people. One of the quickest ways to do it is offering services. And then as well as creating content, like you need either blog posts, or podcasts episodes, or videos, whichever way in which you like to create content, you need content for people to consume. And that’s really how I got one of my first clients was, I started guest blogging on some other people’s websites. That’s how one of my clients found me and we work together for four years, she actually lived in Malaysia, she lived in a totally different country from me. But you know, we worked together for so long, and that was just from like me creating content, and she liked the piece of content. And then she wanted to work with me. And what I mean by content is like, actual tips and valuable like, this is how to do something, you know how to pitch the media, like that could be like a blog post, you know, that those are kind of types of topics that I cover on my podcast, you need to teach people something, they need to learn from you, because then that helps it make a connection to Okay, now may if you wanna take this further, enroll in my course. But if nobody has any content to consume of you, they’re not going to know what they can learn from you.

HF: Definitely, I think just having that good baseline of free content. So like you said, you’re providing value. And people can look at that and be like, Okay, wow, I trust this person, I trust their expertise. I’m interested in learning more. And I really like what you said about picking content that you actually enjoy creating, I think people can definitely start to feel like a little overwhelmed by how much is possible to create. And it’s just so important for people to know that you don’t have to do every single thing, you don’t have to be on every single social media platform, you don’t have to be creating three videos a day for YouTube, you can just find what you really like and what you’re good at, and then just go from there and double down then that way, I feel like it’s more authentic. Yeah,

BL: 100%. And it’s easier for you to do. So I very much I started with a podcast, because to me, it’s like I can pop, like plop a mic down. I can ramble for days, like mean, you could be talking for hours. And I have no problem with that. Whereas if I told myself, I got to write a blog post, I would just stare an empty Google Doc screen. Now Now that I have like a lot of podcast content that’s in a rhythm, I’m going to be adding blog posts, but I’m getting help with that, because I don’t, I don’t like writing blog posts. But I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I didn’t have you know, the work I if I started from there, you know, right? And so I had to start with something that was felt easier for me. Now to other people. I literally talked to a friend about this, and she’s so much a writer, and she’s like, why would you do a podcast? That sounds like so much work? I’m like, are you kidding me, I have an editor, she just edits out everything, like it’s so easy for me. But for her, it’s easier for her to write. So really like knowing yourself and knowing what you enjoy is really helpful.

HF: Definitely, I completely agree. And to kind of shift away a little bit from the more business talk, you know, something that we’re really passionate about and we care a lot about a teachable is, you know our creators and entrepreneurs just taking care of themselves I feel like there can be the tendency for there to be the no sleep hustle mentality. 24 seven kind of thing when it as you think about entrepreneurship, and we definitely kind of want to take a more holistic approach and kind of make sure to be like, you know, it’s okay to take the time you need to take care of yourself. Entrepreneurship is not easy. So with that being said, How do you usually practice self care? And you know, when you realize you’re feeling maybe a little burnt out, like what are some of the things you do to take care of yourself?

BL: Yeah, I love this question. I’m very much I have never been a hustle person stay up 18 hours of the night. Like I’m just like, that’s not me. We’ve run the beginning and really, you know, we are our business. And so if we are burnt out, if we aren’t taking care of ourselves, you can’t move forward. And so you really do need to practice self care, the ways in which I practice it, I really tried to get enough sleep, I just I need sleep. And there are some people who they can thrive on four hours of sleep, I am not that person. And so really getting in tune with yourself and not judging because I love reading, you know, the morning routines that people and the nightly routines, you know, business owners, I think we all like just love a little inside peek into those types of things, definitely. But some of those things, it’s not taking into account like how you live your life. So like me, getting ready to live out of a Sprinter van. Like that’s a different type of lifestyle than someone who is a parent to two toddlers, and has to take them to school, like, our morning routines are probably going to be different. And so finding what works for you is really important. And so getting in tune with yourself, and just like not having any judgment around it. So it’s like, I need a lot of sleep. Like I just don’t judge myself with that, like I just I’m not going to be a person that sleeps for only five hours, eating well, like meal, prepping and getting in movement, whether it’s my like morning routine and walking my dogs, you know, getting a quick workout. Just those types of things that helped me throughout the day be more so it’s like I already have lunch prepped, it’s healthy. I know that it’ll feel me for the rest of the day. I don’t have to think about like, oh, what am I going to cook, you know, for lunch today and make it healthy? Again, those are like simple things. But those really, you know, help take care of myself and keep me energized.

HF: I really appreciate your sharing that and yes, it definitely does look different for everyone else. So I but again, I love hearing what everyone does with their specific morning routine. I love interesting. Yeah, so cool to see what everyone does. So where can people connect with you or learn more about your services and just yourself?

BL: Yes, you can go to human connection agency.com that is the website you can learn all about our services we do have. So we have the done for you services, we have the course we have variety of products in between. So just like any type of entrepreneur, whether you’re just starting out with your visibility, definitely go check those out. on the interwebs everywhere, I’m Brittany l Lin. So that’s on Instagram, Twitter, and then our van life account if you are interested in what it’s like for these two adults and two dogs, we living in a van. We are life with the lens. And we also have a YouTube video or YouTube channel as well. So that’s on YouTube and on Instagram for that account.

HF: That is so exciting. I cannot wait to follow that journey. Before we hop off. Do you have any last words of wisdom or inspiration for our listeners?

BL: Oh man, I would just say my kind of mission in life is to share with people that your story matters. And so however you got to be who you are today, as a business owner, as a creator, people need to hear that people need to hear from you. And you’re doing people a disservice if you’re not sharing your story and you’re not sharing your experiences. So if that helps motivate you to get you out of the fear of pitching yourself and putting yourself out there because people need you people, people need to hear from you. So that is the inspiration that I would leave you with.

HF: Thank you so much for sharing that I this was an amazing conversation and I just so appreciative for you taking the time to come on the show. I’m really excited and I hope you have an amazing day. Thank you so much.

BL: Yes, thanks so much, Haleigh.