From Hashtags to High Kicks: Your Guide to Living Out Loud

In this episode, I chat with Brittany Winfield, a millennial social media manager and solopreneur hailing from the wilds of Vermont. Brittany gives us the lowdown on her journey from dabbling in social media as a teen to running the show at Winfield Creative Agency.

What really makes Brittany stand out, besides her knack for hashtags, is her love for comedy and performance. When she's not managing social media, she's mixing up drinks as a bartender and strutting her stuff with the comedic burlesque troupe "Tits ‘n’ Bits." Brittany talks about the exhilarating experience of performing on stage, where she uses humor to connect with the audience and embrace her body. This unique gig has boosted her confidence and sharpened her skills as a public speaker, which she brings to her social media workshops and keynotes.

During our conversation, Brittany and I discussed the importance of keeping it real in today’s digital world. She discusses using tools like speak-to-text to capture her authentic voice rather than striving for picture-perfect posts. We both agree that letting go of perfection and adding a dash of playfulness to social media can help entrepreneurs stand out and truly connect with their audience.

About Brittany: 

Meet Brittany Winfield, social media manager and mentor, and owner of The Winfield Creative, a Vermont-based digital marketing agency. When she's not building her women and community-focused business, Brittany enjoys making people laugh while taking her clothes off as a performer at the Vermont Comedy Club.

Transcript

Kristen Daukas: 0:00

Kristen, welcome to Conversations on the rocks, the podcast where the drink is strong and the stories are stronger. I'm your host, Kristen daukas, and this isn't your average chat fest. Here, real people spill the tea alongside their favorite drinks, from the hilarious to the heart wrenching, each episode a wild card, you'll laugh, you may cry, but you'll definitely learn something new. So grab whatever, what's your whistle and buckle up. It's time to dive into the raw, the real and the ridiculously human. Let's get this chat party started. Hey everybody, it's Kristen daukas, and you are listening to this week's episode of conversations on the rocks, the conversation and podcast that is as random as the thoughts that ramble through my head and Friends, let me tell you today, they are rambling. I just got back from a trip I'm running on just a handful of hours of sleep. I had to go from West Coast to East Coast, and that's a rough thing. So and if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see that I am in my not in my normal glamorous Hollywood self. I am down and dirty. I look like farmer Jane, but we are not gonna let that stop the fun I have with me. One Miss Brittany Winfield, and here's something cool. Brittany and I never met before she came. She was introduced. We were introduced through a mutual friend of ours. So I'm gonna let you introduce yourself to everybody, Brittany, and then we are going to talk about some fun stuff. Heck

Unknown: 1:32

yeah, I love it. And thanks so much Kristen for having me on podcast on the rocks. I've got my rocks glass full of H, 2o here. Ready to hydrate. Got

Kristen Daukas: 1:41

mine here too? Yeah,

Unknown: 1:43

I love it. Yeah. So my name is Brittany Winfield. I am a social media manager with the Winfield creative I'm a solo entrepreneur based out of my town, home in South Burlington, Vermont. And yeah, I do a lot more than just social media, though, which I think we're gonna talk about some of those things on this episode. We are, but we're

Kristen Daukas: 2:03

gonna, we're gonna talk a little social media. We're gonna talk a little worky work first, because we do basically the same thing. How long have you been working in social media and how long have you been a solopreneur?

Unknown: 2:16

Yeah, so solopreneur. I filed my LLC july 2021 I actually come from the Mental Health admin background, working for a designated agency in Vermont for five years beforehand social media, though, I have always dabbled in it. I mean, I grew up with, literally, Facebook was launched when I was in seventh grade, and that was like the new thing, and we never went back to that world. Instagram launched when I was a sophomore in high school, so I literally grew up with social media at the palm of my hands, at the good years. I still had a childhood, so I still went outside and was told to come in when the street lights went on. Okay, I know that saying and, yeah, but all throughout college, I designed web websites. Also loved doing that. It was actually my hobby. As a kid, I trained myself how to use Microsoft Publisher and came up with, like, fake businesses with my cousins, where I was, like the head of marketing. So I've been a CEO since like age eight. No big deal. And yeah, it just kind of transformed into working at a radio station at my college. I was the promotions director, did a lot of social media work with that, so got some professional experience. Did worked in the insurance agency for a hot minute. Me too. So 30 seconds, so fun. Yeah, I for a three month internship, paid. Thank you, nice and got the heck out of there. And it's a

Kristen Daukas: 3:46

crazy world. That's a crazy world. So are you millennial or Gen Z? Yeah,

Unknown: 3:51

I consider myself a millennial. I was born in 94 so some could argue I'm on the line, but I definitely would consider myself a younger millennial. My sister, who is two and a half years younger than me, she is definitely, like, more of a Gen Z er, like the language difference is apparent. So, yeah, I would consider myself a millennial.

Kristen Daukas: 4:14

So I am working on, and because of this trip, I'm a week behind. I'm working on a month long thing of Gen Z, of Zoomers, right? So my daughter will be the first one, and then I have a fantastic young lady who will be the next one, and then, but interestingly enough, the one that will end up hitting at the end of the month, she's, she's like, You, she's your same age. So maybe I need to, like, nestle it and make it a millennial Zoomer month.

Unknown: 4:41

I'm like, there's this new like in between, like millennials, and I'm actually part of a Facebook group that is all millennials, and I feel like it's a nice little line to cross, like you're just walking the line between the two. But I consider myself lucky and being part of the generation that I had a childhood. Yeah, and it wasn't until I hit those teen years that social media popped up. So, you know, I come from the aim world. That's how I connected with friends after Yeah, but you know, you still had to have your parents coordinate, like Hangouts and stuff like that, over over a landline phone. So, you know, walking and towing that line, I feel very privileged to still have a childhood that I'm not, you know, in front of a phone screen, I put picked up books, and I still love books because

Kristen Daukas: 5:30

of it. Yeah, it's interesting, because my oldest was born in 98 so she's just a few years younger than you, and in our conversation, I pointed out I was like, you know, you're the only one of your three sisters that did not have, like, we had something later, like, but she was still, you know, so she, she probably hit about, I would say, seven eight. She definitely didn't have anything by second grade. But I distinctly remember before she went into the sixth grade, and that was more for me, going into middle school that. So that was about sixth grade for her fifth, sixth grade for her. But, man, some of those kids, and I remember when we were living up in Pennsylvania at the time, there were kids, some of her friends, you know, that they would do a sleepover, mall date, like a shopping, birthday party type thing. And I remember being gobsmacked that one of the kids, who, I guess at that point, she was six, had a phone. I'm like, wait,

Unknown: 6:26

it's wild in you know, I moved from, I'm from New Jersey originally. My parents moved me my sister, from city to country of New Jersey, very rural area, when I was 10, and on my 10th or 11th birthday, that's when I got my first cell phone. But back then, they were, like, Nokia flip phones, right? Weren't iPhones. They weren't, they didn't have all these apps. They didn't have, like, Snapchat and, yeah, they were this big. You you would hit the internet button and say, oh shit, oh shit. And like, my parents are gonna kill me. Like, Exit, Exit, like, that's, that's the reality of, you know, I had a phone, but only to make sure my parents knew where I was, because I was in a brand new geographic location, brand new school, all that. But it wasn't until I was in high school that the iPhone came out. And, you know, I didn't get my first phone without buttons until college. It, you know, you still had the Nokia flip phones. You still had the envys and the envy twos and the chocolate. Oh my gosh, yes, I miss those so much. I feel like we need to bring those back. Blackberries can stay where they were, but we need to bring back like the Nokia. I just want the envys, the teen nines. I just the sidekick, please. T Mobile, if you're listening, bring back the sidekick, please.

Kristen Daukas: 7:49

And it was, you know, while I was out in Spokane with Cassie, we had to, of course, go to Verizon, because she had to. That's when she chose to upgrade her phone or something, or his nature. And there was a man in there, and I'll just refer to him as madam swift would be, which he was definitely a brand or Chad, right? And he's going at these two people, right? And so, of course, you know, Cassie and I are on one side of the story. We see it. We're like, he's giving them a hard time, because he apparently, and I'm just putting some of this together, but apparently they must have gone somewhere where in Australia, where his kid, his daughter, ended up. So it must have been like this huge charge, international phone charge, and I looked at cat, and I remember one time we did a cruise and I got back to the states and ended up with like a $2,000 because we told them, Do not turn your phones on, right? And of course, what are they gonna do? They're like, I'll just do it real fast. Nobody will know. And so, like, have all these data charges. And I'm like, Dude, you knew. Like, don't give these people a hard time. But it's so funny, kids will do that stuff, right? I'm like, I

Unknown: 8:56

remember the days where we had to pay per text message that we did, and the amount of times that, you know, I didn't get grounded a lot, but when I did, it was always because I went over my phone bill. I always I was capped at a certain amount of messages. I'm like, Mom, I can't help it that you raised a social child. You should be happy that I have friends. Isn't this what you parented me on?

Kristen Daukas: 9:19

She's just like, come on me your phone.

Unknown: 9:21

Yeah, I'm like, fine. It's fine. You know, I can wait till tomorrow to see them. It's fine. And now, you know, we can't escape it. Now we have means of technology to like, Do Not Disturb did nobody bother me. Like, I don't want to be social. Let me recharge that battery well,

Kristen Daukas: 9:40

and especially with what you and I do. And, you know, somebody like, usually my mom will be something like, oh, did you see such and such on Facebook? I'm like, believe it or not, I'm not on there. I'm like, I'm on there for my clients when I have to be and then I'm out. And it's just so funny, just being I mean, I've been doing this for 15 years now, so I am so tapped out. I. On it and like, you know, I'll post Instagram and cross, you know, I do all the things that I tell my clients not to do, don't cross post. But it's just, it's, it's so exhausting, and especially now with all the different things coming at it, what is your favorite platform? Right, as a user and as a professional,

Unknown: 10:18

Instagram the golden app. To me, I love Instagram. I love it as a scrapbook of my own personal life and connecting with people. I love it on professional level and connecting with small businesses. I love Instagram to consume. It's definitely Tiktok. I can go down a Tiktok rabbit hole like no other person, and that's how, honestly, I find a lot of my information.

Kristen Daukas: 10:44

That's great. Yeah, it's interesting. Because when you know coming out of the pandemic, I'm actually kind of glad somehow my algorithm got changed, because it saved me so much money. But, man, let me tell you something. The House hacks and organization hacks on Tiktok, me and home goods. We were BFFs. I was like, Oh, I gotta go get that. I have to put my crackers into a plastic

Unknown: 11:09

like you should see, my egg carton. It's not a carton. It's like, egg house. It's amazing.

Kristen Daukas: 11:16

And why? Why did they decide on 14? Yeah, stupid. Why? Why? I mean, like, what

Unknown: 11:22

am I more eggs at $7, a carton, right? I'm

Kristen Daukas: 11:25

like, What's up with that? Y'all So, okay, beyond social media, let's talk a little bit. What does it do for fun? I know what you do, but I want everybody else to know,

Unknown: 11:35

yes. So what Kristen's getting at is, I am a bartender slash performer at Vermont comedy club in downtown Burlington. Vermont and I am a founding member of tits and bits, which is the in house burlesque comedic burlesque troupe. Yes, that's, you know, a lot of thinking went into that name, believe it or not, and there was no going back once it was on the poster to clarify

Kristen Daukas: 12:01

is that tits and bits are tit and bit. Tits

Unknown: 12:05

and bits so and but like the cool way of spelling it with an N apostrophe, because it's comedic. So not only are we showing our beautiful bodies, but we're being hella funny while we do it. It's a lot less pressure. Yeah, I, you know, people ask me because, you know, I've dabbled in stand up, I've dabbled in improv, I've dabbled in burlesque, and people are always like, what's your favorite? I bet it's stand up. Guess what? That's my least favorite. Actually, it's too much pressure, you know, you're one person on stage, and you're kind of, like, forced to, you know, make people laugh. That's a lot of pressure on somebody where comedic burlesque there. The last show I was in, my bra didn't come off, like, the hook got stuck on the lace, because it was a super lacy bra. And guess what? I played into it. And it was even funnier because then I got really frustrated, frustrated about it, and people were like, look at her. She is a woman who can't even take a bra properly. Like, yeah, of course, it's funny, and I'm gonna lean into it, and that's how I get the laugh. The easiest part is the taking your top off, believe it or not. The hardest part is the bit part of it. So how are our structure runs? Which is a little different than other burlesque performances that you might have seen is there's a theme to the show. So for example, our Valentine's weekend show is tits and bits presents most eligible singles. It's my favorite one to perform at because it's a very generic theme. You can kind of pick what you want, pick a character, develop a character that is very much like your personality. That's what I choose to do because it's easier to act kind of as an expansion of yourself. So last year, this year, I did a different character. But last year, I was like, What would and I was single both times. So I was like, hmm, what is the most like, epitome of Brittany being a single woman at the age of what 28 I was at the time, I was like, you know, it'd be funny if I delivered a eulogy, but people didn't really know who I was delivering a eulogy to. And you'll see where I'm going with this. So there's a theme. We have a host who is named titsy bits. She plays this like, you know, the mother hen of all of her dancers, and she introduces us. It's my friend Brit Flynn. Big shout out to Brit. She's hilarious. And, you know, there's the roster of girls. So normally, the funnier ones are up at the top. You know, they you know, we mix them up to make sure that everybody's entertained throughout. And it depends on your music choice and all that stuff. So you come out as your character, and you give a, you know, one to three minute monolog to really set the scene as to who the character is, that we are, that we are being introduced to before the dance. And then you dance to a song of your choosing. So I come out. This is my first show at. Ever like before this, I did burlesque as my first ever public performance before even trying improv or trying stand up. Amazing, first time on stage. Yeah, to a sold out room of like 160 people. Wow, yeah, it was nuts. Um, full black on black on black, like veil, slip dress, thigh highs, lace, arm gloves, bouquet of roses in my hand, and I come out, and I deliver a eulogy to my friend bunny, who she is, just a smooth, no frills kind of gal, you know, only the good Thai young I go into all the euphemisms, and at the end of my monolog, I pull out from the middle of the bouquet of roses my vibrator from when I was 18 years old that had recently died. And that's, in fact, who Bunny was, but you're my team bunny. Oh, yeah, and I laid her to rest on stage, and that was her funeral. Rest in peace too soon. And you know, it's about having a little bit of fun with the audience, having fun with yourself, and it really should be an expansion of who you are as a person. And as you know, a single woman at the time who uses vibrators, spoiler, so, you know, but that brings us

Kristen Daukas: 16:23

a fine point, you know, I think one of the one of the biggest issues we have right now is that not only do people take themselves to every the world too seriously, they take themselves too seriously. It's like, yeah, I take what I do for my clients seriously, but not me. It's like, okay, whatever you know, I'm that type of person as well. You know, give it. Let's just go make fun of me. Yeah, let's just exactly, life's too short, man, if you want to whip your vibrate around of a bouquet of roses, do it. Who

Unknown: 16:54

cares right now? You

Kristen Daukas: 16:55

know what? You're never and I always say this to myself and to my girls and to everybody, I'm like, You're never gonna be as young or as cute as you are today?

Unknown: 17:02

Heck yes. And you know when I was present, actually

Kristen Daukas: 17:06

look cuter tomorrow, because this,

Unknown: 17:10

you're the exhibit today. When I was presented with this opportunity, I was like, oh, like, there's no going back. I signed up to do this, and I have no dance experience I had very limited. The only comedy experience I had was working at the Comedy Club as a bartender slash server. Like, I had no experience whatsoever and to be surrounded by women that were like, we've got you. These were my friends. These are all staff members of VCC, like, not just strangers, auditioning for a troop, like we built this truly from the ground up. All I had to do was look at them right before I went on stage. And oh my gosh, you would think I would be nervous, but this sense of calm just came over me, and then going onto stage, being like, Okay, I'm the baddest bitch in this room right now. Like, literally nobody can touch me, and even if I mess up, it's comedic burlesque. Who cares? They don't know what my set is. Only I know what my set is. That's exactly right. It's even funnier if I if, if something were to go wrong, and the worst thing you could do is picture the audience naked, but honestly, they were just picturing me naked, so just, let's make it happen,

Kristen Daukas: 18:18

right? Well, yeah, you think about that. I mean, who was the queen of physical comedy, Lucille Ball. I've got her signed portrait right in front of me, and it was in a lot of and I I'm so jealous of you. Well, one, I took a burlesque class right before the world shut down, right? Nobody knew it was gonna shut down. I was like, and that feeling. I loved it. It was so great, and I was totally down for doing more, and then covid, but it just and to this day, anytime I hear foxy lady, I'm like, I know this. I know this. I know how to dance to this. I know the room to get. But I love improv, and I wish, and that's crazy. I mean, my town is 250,000 people. Why don't we have improv here? I love improv, one of my favorite shows. And I know, you know it was whose line that was, yes, without a doubt, one of the greatest shows of all time. And you know The Drew Carey, you know, all of those guys, they were just amazing. All amazing. And I'm like, we need more stuff like that with improv. I mean, because I I enjoy improv more than I enjoy enjoy, and I used to live in Chicago. I lived in Chicago when I was around your age, and, you know, there was second city, and there was always the improv troupe, and that I used to bartend at one of the bars that had the second city improv. And it was just unbelievable. I was just, and I just, I would love to do that. I need to look but I know we don't have anything like that here. I wish we did. Um, you remind me so much of my friend Suzanne, because she's, you know, that's her. That's her jam as well.

Unknown: 19:50

Yeah,

Kristen Daukas: 19:51

okay, I'm sorry I interrupted. Keep going. It's all good,

Unknown: 19:54

but yeah, literally, that moment I remember, you know, taking off the bra and just holding it. Up like Lion King style with my bra in the audience. Like that feeling is better than any drug I've ever done in my life. Like the amount of rush you get with the you know, empowerment, the freedom that is just like here I am. You know, this is the body that higher powers put me in. Like, enjoy. I'm a body for the people right now, but more so about myself. Like, you know, I don't want to say it was like validation. Like, obviously it's validation, but like, the energy that you feel from people, you're like, Oh, the rush, the adrenaline rush. Yes, I sucked in all that energy, and we still had the ending finale dance to do. I was the second person in the lineup of maybe, like six or seven girls. I held that energy after my individual dance, I got off stage, and I'm like, Okay, let's fucking go. Like, I'm ready, and that group dance at the end was the best I've ever danced in my life. I was like, okay, the hardest part is over. I got what I needed, like and we all and you didn't die, and we didn't die, you didn't die. We danced our little asses off. And you know what? Like, I never felt sexier in my life. Like that was better than any like physicality I've had with another person, and I did that all like, that was me. I made that happen. And it's just like, such it. It is such a motivator to get up and do other public speaking engagements. Now, as a business owner, and I was really afraid to speak about it after I'd had that experience, like, I didn't even talk about it on the Winfield creative, and I was actively, like, growing my platform. I did not talk about the fact I was going to be in a burlesque show beyond, you know, my personal Facebook page, but I didn't put it anywhere on the Winfield creative until afterwards. I'm like, Hey guys, I need to be honest about you. Honest about how I spent my weekend with you, and the response that I got from people, I was like, Oh, they're gonna judge me. They're not gonna look and see me as a professional. They're just gonna see me as like a 20 something year old, like taking her clothes off out, yeah, for attention and a little bit of money legally, you know, we do get tips. Okay, I do deserve something for that. And

Kristen Daukas: 22:25

yes, she does claim them on her IRS, because 30% it's annoying. Government's sucking on the teats of everybody. What else is now?

Unknown: 22:35

Hashtag me too. Oh, my God, free the titty please from taxes as well. I have never seen such a positive response from the women community. You know, of course, I had some of the trolls being like, but like, all they were like, cis white men, typical. Of course, we expected that, but all the women were like, wow. I wish I had the courage to do what you do, like that was basically the response overall that I got. And I was like, Oh, why don't I talk about this more on the business's platform? Like, it's not just about, you know, taking your clothes off. It is more about being a woman and showing up as a woman with an awesome body, who, you know, is funny and is charismatic and is opening up conversations about vibrators too, because, like, that's not a very open conversation, as we said, and putting herself out there, you know, with her, with the community of her friends, being on stage with her, and trying something new like that, again, was my first time really ever being on stage and dancing. I'm not a dancer. That's why I say on tiktoks, I refuse to dance. I'm not a Tiktok influencer in that regard, like no way. And it was still so such a good experience that, of course, when the opportunity came the next year, I was like, yes, Sign me up. I'm ready to go. I already have so many ideas of characters I want to do, which, this past year I went as my DND character and made that a very sexy Bard with a wand and grinded on it. Thank you very much. Ate a lot of people in that room very happy. They were very glad they left, you know, their homes for that that evening. Yeah, it's just such a fun experience, and now it gives me the confidence to go do keynote speeches at businesses.

Kristen Daukas: 24:36

You know, if you can grin on a wand and, you know, deal with, you know, malfunctioning wardrobes. What is a speech in front of a bunch of sales? I mean, it's nothing. And, you know, I guarantee you that you get a better rush doing the tits and bits than you do it. You know, you know, performing presenting at Social Media Examiner, right? Or social media world, right? It's. Oh yeah. Again. You know what we do is just so it can be very mundane. And you know that day to day? Yeah, sure. You would think that, oh, you get to come up with different stuff. And I'm like, Oh my God, if I have to figure out another way to say the same thing that I've been saying for the past 10 years, I'm going to poke my eyeballs out, but, you know, and I that's, you know, one of the reasons why I relaunched my podcast is I don't have that. I used to blog all the time. I like, I was an influencer before influencer was an actual word, but they just called them mommy bloggers, right? And, you know, that used to be my creative outlet. I used to get a rush from that, but I just don't do it anymore. A lot of it's because I don't, I'm not actively parenting, but I, you know, to have a creative outlet like that for you, it has got to have such a positive impact on your business. Oh, yeah, because you get those juices flowing and all of a sudden you're thinking of things. And, you know, I'm not gonna say you'd be afraid. But, you know, there are times as social media managers and strategists that you know we're looking at a piece of content, you go, man, I really wish I could just say how I want to like, for instance, oh, I had to create a post for one of my clients today that is because of the hurricane Debbie, or tropical storm Debbie, because I'm down in North Carolina and, you know, I just kind of, because I've been on for several days and away from, I was like, not to be a Debbie Downer, but guess what? We're gonna be close tomorrow, because of, that's right. And you just, it gives you, you're just like, okay, that's fun. You know, that's the thing about what we do, is it's supposed to be fun. I mean, it's freaking social media. It is not the Washington Post. It's not the New York Times. It doesn't have to be a byline. It seems to be fun and engaging. So, you know, doing something like that that has just got to get those juices.

Unknown: 26:56

Absolutely pun intended. All the puns intended, true? Oh, of course. Oh, my gosh. And that's absolutely true. Like, you know, I do a lot of mentoring, host social media workshops, education, that's a huge part of my platform. And I, if I I've been to so many workshops that I'm just like, I'm about to fall asleep. It's yeah, head banging against the wall, exactly. And I'm like, this type of comedic experience. That's why I talk about it. I combine comedy and mental health advocacy, which are, you know, my former life and my current life. Because, yes, my goal is to teach you social media, so that way you spend less time. But I don't want to be like everybody else on the internet. There are so much noise on social media from quote, unquote gurus who are just repeating the same thing over in the same way. That doesn't make you unique, that doesn't make you fun, and it's not gonna make what you're teaching in workshops memorable. So you know, putting a little comedic spin on it, it makes you more memorable. It's like remembering your favorite TV scene, of course, like you're gonna remember a train wreck a lot more than, yeah, not that I'm a train wreck. But still, you know, like, if you throw in a little bit of fun and creativity, it needs to come from somewhere. And also, it's like free therapy doing comedy,

Kristen Daukas: 28:21

I'm not sure.

Unknown: 28:22

Oh my gosh. I'm like, if I get to, like, go on stage and be a squirrel one day, sure, like, that's cool. You know, you get to process, you get to be characters and take yourself out of reality a little bit. And it's a fun break from all the BS that you go through just in life as an entrepreneur. You know, just life happening.

Kristen Daukas: 28:42

Let's just stop it at life, especially

Unknown: 28:45

exactly with all of like, what we're dealing with in the world. It's a way to put the phone away, because, like, you're not going to be on your phone on stage. You know, whenever I go on stage, at least two hours before I perform, I shut my phone down. I go on, do not disturb. I don't check messages from the outside world. I need to get my head in the game. If I'm gonna do that, guess what? I need to have a little bit of mental and liquid courage, but more mental courage than anything, and put the phone away. And then it's like you get to release so many emotions when you're on that stage, whether they be good, bad, ugly, whatever it may be, and then it, it recharges you in a way that you could step into being an entrepreneur with more confidence, with more creativity, with not being I always say, like, I don't have shame. That's not true. I do, obviously have a little bit of shame, but less now, like, I it didn't kill you. Yeah, it didn't kill me. So, like, recording a 32nd reel being a little goofy, that's nothing. Are you kidding me? Like, yeah, I it just, it has helped in so many different ways, and like, to anybody who's ever considered doing comedy, I, I. It, understand it can be very scary, find a safe space to do it, but please try it, because it is so much fun and really get you into this like kid like play. You know, we were talking about not having a childhood or having a childhood like that's an opportunity to bring some childhood fun back into it and play around with other adults just being weirdos together, no matter where the scene ends up taking you. Yeah? So, yeah, it's

Kristen Daukas: 30:31

like when you're with a group of girlfriends, right? And you know, on a girl's weekend trip, right? And nothing's around. There's no inhibitions. You got a couple of cocktails, and you just get silly, and it's just such a good and it does. It's so good for your soul. Yeah, it is so good. I mean, this thing has killed our creativity. It has absolutely and, you know, AI I've been using, you know, AI for two years now, and I love it, and it helps me find different ways to say the same thing that I've been saying, a different way to say the same thing I've been saying for 10 years. Saying for 10 years. I love it for that, but, man, I can tell you, it has really my like I've been writing. My youngest is 21 I had a I've had my blog for 21 years. Of course, it hasn't been very active, like I mentioned earlier. But still, man, I used to my storytelling was amazing. And it's it's not, it's not anymore, and a lot of it is because I'm sitting here, you know, in front of this window so much, so that's one of the reasons I'm really looking forward to this trip next month, because I ain't taking my computer and I'm too cheap to get the data plan, so I'm gonna get 150 minutes on that boat, and I think that's for 14 days. And you know what? And as I've said to people before, in the 15 years that I have been doing social media, I can count on two fingers how many emergencies that I've had.

Unknown: 31:54

Mm, hmm, yeah, it's so true. You know, I one of the strategies I teach people is like how to detach my best content planning clients, I teach them how to do it with a pen and a paper. Yes, ma'am, old school, baby, and it's not even old school. Yeah, exactly. Your best ideas will come from taking a pause, sitting down in a you know, in a spot with a cocktail, water, whatever fills you up, and just being one with yourself, take a hot minute to, you know, do a mindfulness exercise and get to the deep roots as to why you started your business, how you can relate to your target audience. And, you know, think about what interests them, and write those down on a piece of paper. That's where your best content will come from. An algorithm is not going to know that. AI is not going to know that you have to spend so much more time training the algorithm of chatgpt to speak like you instead of you just speaking like yourself, because that's the whole goal of being genuine and authentic on your social media platforms, is to sound like yourself. So that way, you make your brand unique. You make your platform unique. A robot can't do that for you. No,

Kristen Daukas: 33:08

no. And I used to, I used that that's so funny that you say that, because people used to ask me that question. I'm like, I literally write how I talk. Yeah, me too. Me too. If you read not something that I've written in the past, you could imagine sitting down and having me read that to you, because that's just but that's the flow. And you know, I do. I really miss it. I remember, I used to go through, we would do these. I can't remember the Ackerman now, acronym now, but it basically said it would, it was a the 30 day challenge of writing every single day. And you know it was, I can remember sometimes sitting there in the evening, because that's what I would do. I would do a lot of my writing at night in front of the TV and just go, God, what am I going to write today? And it was always the most random things that always did the best. My favorite, my other favorite thing too. And I've told my clients this is like, use going back to the phone. Like, my best ideas, obviously, are when we're not so shower, working around the house, and driving right? And I'm like, use the note app. I said, open it up. Use the note app. I said, matter of fact, start writing it. Just talk into it. Yeah. I said, and go back and let that. Ai work for you to listen to what you have to say and transcribe it exactly.

Unknown: 34:26

My friends have literally made fun of me for years. Years now, I've gotten crap about this since I had a phone that can do this, but my best number one used feature on my phone. I this is why they need to bring back buttons, so that way I use them. I always do speak to text to text, people, audio messages, voice DMS. They are my number one like i That's why I like podcasting, because the genuine authenticity of saying how I say it coming from my brain out my mouth. Yeah, that's how I write all of my Instagram captions. Do I go back and edit them to make sure the computer spelled them right? Yes, obviously, of course. But I always speak to text all of my captions because I want the likes I like literally, the word like the literally is the the filler words that make Britney sound like Brittany, because that's how I speak in real life. That's why I've relied more on reels and showing up on screen than I have been doing static posts, right? One, it's a little bit more personal. But also, you know, I'm just talking into a camera for 30 seconds how I genuinely would so, you know, I think we need to bring in a little bit more personality into social media, and I'm so glad that right now, there is, I use this word lightly, a trend of imperfection. There is less emphasis on having super esthetically pleasing grids right now, and more showing up just as yourself and I am. So I really hope this stays, because as small business owners, we don't have all the money and resources in the world to hire photographers every time you want to go post on Instagram. No, you've got to go do it yourself. So, you know, showing up and having less perfection, I think, will, you know, bring down the stress a little bit the overwhelm of having to, you know, have everything be picture perfect. That's not what social media is about anyway.

Kristen Daukas: 36:24

It also comes down to the age old adage of people don't people want to do business with people they like, right? Yeah. And, you know, I had an not an intern, but I had a VA for a while that was helping me out and on my business. Because, as marketers, obviously it's the cobbler, the cobbler shoe thing and but everything she did was a graphic everything was, you know, and I'm like, that's just, that's not who I am. And sat in on my mastermind today, of which I was, like, worthless. And, you know, cut, you know, we all tried to hype each other up. And so I'm gonna have to go back and rehyped myself up tomorrow when I'm filling up for it, that we're all gonna try and do the 32nd you know, more 32nd videos, right? I can do it. I know I need to do it. I've been doing it for so long, but yet I just go and I am saying the same things that some of my clients, you know, you said, I'm like, I can. There's nothing out there that I can say that hasn't been said before. And I always tell them, You're right, you're not going to say anything original, however, it's going to come from you, and that's what makes it original. And I'm sitting here going, okay, apparently I need to sit myself down and have my own conversation with myself like that. So yeah, I love it, and I love the fact that it just, you know, makes you a stronger and better person for your your clients. Yes, that's the word. We're looking for clients, but even more so for you, and it's just that's so awesome. It's such a well rounded thing. And you know, my girls tease me because, you know, I'm kind of typical Gen X, or I'm like, Look, dude, we were feral. We're latchkey kids, and you know, they would come, they'll come to me sometimes, and you'd be like, and I'm like, Did you die? Okay, you're gonna be fine. Are you gonna remember this in a week? Okay, you're gonna be fine. You know, I have to do some of the, you know, striking and mothering, but I'm like, but did you die? Yeah,

Unknown: 38:17

no, you didn't. You're still here, and you've survived a lot worse, that's right, and you're a better person because of

Kristen Daukas: 38:23

it, exactly. That's my other favorite. Like, so far, you've survived 100% of your worst days of your life, so you're doing pretty good. I have had so much fun talking to you. Any fun closing comments before we sign off for the week?

Unknown: 38:39

Fun? You know, make sure check out the Winfield creative on social. Absolutely not all the links in the show notes beautiful. See some trends I really want to plug on my email list. Every single Monday, I actually send out what I call viral vibes. So I do the research for you of all the viral trends of the week, and I send you an entire week's worth of real audios that are, in fact, trending in that moment. So if that's of interest to you, I will also make sure you have the link, so that way you can get that in your inbox every Monday morning.

Kristen Daukas: 39:12

I'm gonna have to do that, because I think I need some of Brittany's energy. I try. So all right, all right. So that's, that's the snapping energy that we do at the at the poet reads, Okay, everybody, it is time to say goodbye, and as you hear my closing, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here again. Brittany Winfield, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it, and I can't I'm so glad we're gonna be besties. I have a feeling. So we're gonna be around forever. So Okay, everybody, take care of yourselves, be kind to others, and until next time see you later. As the saying goes, you don't have to go home, but you can stay here, and that's a wrap for this week's episode. A big thanks to my guests for sharing their story and to you for listening. Don't forget to share the show. Your friends and spread the words and if you'd like to be a guest on the show, the link is in the show notes till next time cheers you.