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Shine On Success
Shine on Success is a dynamic, story-driven podcast where extraordinary entrepreneurs, visionary leaders, and resilient change-makers share their journeys to success, revealing both the challenges and the strategies that led to their breakthroughs. Each episode offers a unique blend of inspiring personal stories, practical business insights, and actionable advice, allowing our guests to connect with an engaged, growth-oriented audience ready to be motivated and uplifted. By joining us, you’ll not only have the opportunity to showcase your expertise and inspire listeners but also to be part of a powerful platform that celebrates ambition, innovation, and the courage to turn dreams into reality.
Shine On Success
Post that Video: Overcoming Fear and Owning Your Authenticity
Fear holds too many people back from showing up on social media—and in life. In this powerhouse episode, we dive deep with Britney Crosson, a social media expert and high-energy creator, who built her brand by embracing authenticity, taking bold action, and simply posting the effing video. We talk about overcoming self-doubt, pushing through adversity, and the magic that happens when you just show up as you. If you're hesitating, afraid of judgment, or stuck in perfectionism, this episode is your wake-up call. Get ready to be inspired, laugh, and walk away with the confidence to step in front of the camera and let your personality shine.
Connect with Brittney here:
Website: www.BritneyCrosson.com
www.FunLoveMedia.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/britneycr
Facebook: http://facebook.com/britneycrossonofficial
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/britneycrosson
X: http://twitter.com/britneycrosson
Connect with Dionne Malush
- Instagram: @dionnerealtyonepgh
- LinkedIN: /in/dionnemalush
- Website: www.dionnemalush.com
- Facebook: /dmalush
- LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/dionnemalush
Welcome back to Shine on Success. Today, I have a guest who has completely changed the game when it comes to social media marketing, personal branding and simply showing up online. She's built a business around authenticity, creativity and consistency three of my favorite things. You've probably seen her viral videos dancing, storytelling and inspiring millions to post the effing video. Brittany Cross is the founder of Fun Love Media, the creator of Social Success and the former host of the chart-topping Social Sunshine podcast.
Speaker 1:But what you might not know is the grind it took to get here, the moments of self-doubt and the massive pivot she had to make along the way. So today we're going to unpack the mindset, the breakthroughs and some of the strategies she used to become one of the most recognized social media thought leaders out there. All right, so I am so excited to have you. I've been waiting for you to come on here and I adore you. I think you're amazing. So can we get started? My very first question is about the fact that you've built this brand around being your authentic self. But let's be real Was there a time when you weren't showing up fully, that you actually held back, and what changed?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there definitely was, and thank you so much for having me. I'm happy to be here. Yes, of course I always will talk about authenticity, especially when it comes to social media, as like an onion in layers, because you can't help, but let it be a process. You're not going to snap your fingers and suddenly be like, look, I am so real on social media, you know, the next day it takes time. So of course, yeah, at first I was not being as open and real as I am, but also I think that naturally, as humans, we change, so we have to realize we're going to also change when we're showing up on camera and you have to be open to that and just kind of figure it out as you go, which is hard, it's not easy.
Speaker 1:Definitely hard. And you know, I've been trying with social media for a long time and you're so comfortable behind the camera I guess, and it's it's amazing to watch you because I sit there and I think how does she think of all this cool stuff? And I don't. I'm going to get to that here in a minute, but let's talk about this because a lot of people they hesitate to post because of fear, fear of judgment, fear of failure. You say, post the effing video, but what do you say to someone who's truly stuck in that fear? What can they do to get out of that?
Speaker 2:It's super common, first of all. So anyone feeling that fear, no, you're not alone. So if you have a desire to show up on camera and to build this presence on social media, but first of all you want to make sure and check the box that you actually feel the desire, because if you don't, it's a whole different beast and you just may not be the right, exact path for you. But if you feel that desire and it's just fear that's holding you back, I say just fear. Like it's so easy, it's difficult. There are actual like practical things that one could do to get more comfortable on camera. You can literally just turn on your smartphone camera on the camera mode and just film yourself talking and doing other things right, and then watch it back and just get used to dealing with it, even if it makes you cringe, but also in more of like an active way on social media. You know certain features and there's certain ways that you can show up and just like little bits at a time if that's helpful. So people say, for example, people that really love Instagram or Facebook because stories are so popular on those apps. Well, maybe at first you're just able to talk for five or 10 seconds about your breakfast on stories. Okay, that's cool, but you just don't get stuck there. Let that be the first step and then move on to actual content. That's in your main feed. So I think, just really practicing and getting more used to it.
Speaker 2:I always joke that like I finally came to this point with seeing myself so much where I'm like Brittany, that's just your face. What are you going to do? Like yes, your eyebrow looks weird when you say this thing and your face isn't symmetrical really, like you know. But I just had to go, it's just your face and I do have a background as an actor and a performer, so I have a bit of an advantage because I love to be in front of an audience already, but it still feels pretty uncomfortable to see yourself all the time. But I just think you got to give yourself some grace because, honestly, people are not they're not criticizing you as much as you think they are.
Speaker 1:It's so funny. You say that because a lot of times with our, with our agents, I'll tell them you're afraid to look at it, but that's what we see. We see you this way, right, and so you look in the mirror and you see what you see. But we see you exactly what the camera is showing us, and so it's not a deal. We see it like that every day. So do you watch them over and over again? When you make a new video today, how many times do you watch it? How many times do you re-record it?
Speaker 2:I do watch most of my content multiple times. I do it for a couple of different reasons. I do it well. One just to make sure that I've edited everything nicely and that it looks the way it should, and all that stuff. I don't want to let my cringy feeling of myself get in the way of doing the best I can to go back and watch and make sure I did it well. So that matters. Also, it really helps me learn. I remember talking to a podcaster one time that was like I never, ever, listened to myself back, ever, not even at all. And I was like, oh well, it'd be good to you, should? You don't have to listen every second, every, but you don't have to see it. So I do I. I watch my stuff back, I study it, almost like okay, I'm not a sports person, but like.
Speaker 1:Isn't it fellow players or whomever that they watch tape of like? Okay, you're learning your craft right.
Speaker 2:It's so true. And even if it's one of my videos where you see me just being silly and just trying to entertain, I've probably studied certain things I did to see like the tilt of that head didn't work good, and that's just the performer in me. But so, to answer your question, yeah, I do watch things back. I do try to learn from it, sometimes might laugh at myself if it's a really good video. And as far as recording speaking on camera, it just depends on the situation. Sometimes I might start over 10 times if I keep messing up my words, and then sometimes I get lucky in the first time or two and it's done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I did before we started this podcast. I literally said the words incorrect backwards. So I'm not perfect either and I realized that when I got to this point in my life where other people think of me as none of my business, I don't even care anymore. You know views either. Sometimes I see the side view and I'm like, oh, I hate that, like you'll never see me focus on the side. I don't like that view. But you know, I love that and I tell.
Speaker 1:I always tell the agents this is your reality show. This is why the Kardashians got so famous. We got to learn everything about them. Let's just be real, be authentic, get out there and show who you are, cause that people are. It's like an attractor, like a magnet. You attract them to you by your personality. So I've been doing a lot better with videos lately. I found a form that I liked, so it took a while. I found something that was easy for me to do. I got it behind it. I like the positioning where it's at and I'm good with it right now. Now I haven't gotten to jumping around and dancing yet, but it might come, you never know, because I'm to that point I'm almost 57. So I have to not care anymore, right, don't care anymore.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you know dancing's not required, but I do always encourage dancing.
Speaker 1:Our agents started doing. There was a dance that says let's dance it, or something like that. And they start dancing every day. Everywhere they go, they're dancing and people are loving it, so they'll get better from it, for sure. So let me ask so there's a moment when people start to gain traction online. Here's my speaking issues. What was the moment for you? Can you remember that moment when you started gaining traction?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do remember the moment. It was in 2020. That was a big year for a big chunk of us that had been on social media for a while. I say us just because I know there's a big group of us. We had been content creators for a while and I know, for me, whenever I discovered specifically in the latter part of 2019, I discovered TikTok, and that was the first time that I saw the opportunity to create and share videos that had copyrighted popular music and it was allowed because for that it was like very complicated. If you were going to use popular music that people would know, you know, and me like dance to it or something, it would probably get taken down. There's all these rules. It was very complicated.
Speaker 2:And TikTok I was like wait a minute, there are grown people dancing in the grocery store to pop music. This is the best thing ever is what I was thinking. And so I hopped on that train right away and just kind of have fun with it and just stumbled around and explored. I hopped on that train right away and just kind of have fun with it and just stumbled around and explored, but then, in 2020, because I hopped in and just dove in started figuring it out. I mean, I already had my business, I already had a social media agency, but this was a whole new little world. Tiktok In 2020,.
Speaker 2:Things really amped up because, with the pandemic going into effect and people being at home, more social media usage skyrocketed for a while, especially viewership, you know.
Speaker 2:People would just go and watch more stuff, and that was kind of lucky for me and others that had been creating for a while, and we kind of finally got a break, and so, yeah, I had my first viral video on TikTok.
Speaker 2:It hit 2 million views, which, for me, at the time, I had like I don't even know. I had like first viral video on TikTok. It hit 2 million views, which, for me, at the time, I had like I don't even know I had like 2000 followers, or you know it was not, so that was a huge deal, and I was dancing on the treadmill, yeah, and so it's so random. It's so random, but you know it. Just what it did do, though, is it showed my true personality and that I was happy to be there with people and just help people smile and give them hope, and that's really the foundation of everything I do anyway, even within my company. So I think it's just the right combination of stuff, the right ingredients and recipe and it went viral. And so ever since then it's just been this whole exciting thing.
Speaker 1:So you weren't just creating content now, you were creating a movement, and I think that's kind of cool to watch and see you grow. So I've been watching it for quite a few years now and every time I see you I stop because I know it's going to be something fun. You know it makes me smile. So you're definitely doing that. You're creating such positive energy, thank you. And one thing I think that's super important is you ran a top podcast for five years straight, right, and every week, right, right. So most people don't last a few months doing that. What's the hardest part about showing up consistently and what advice do you have for others?
Speaker 2:The hardest part about showing up consistently, all of it. I mean, it's not that easy, but what I will say is that what has helped me like with the social sunshine podcast, like you said, said we did we had released an episode every single week for five years and never missed a week, and I'm proud of that and it really was a lesson in, like you say, consistency and also discipline. And what I found from consistency and discipline in general, but especially with content, is that it has helped build my confidence, like how you know somebody. How do you build your confidence? Well, it's by keeping the promises we make to ourselves right, and so that's what I was doing every week.
Speaker 2:By showing up to do that show, I was keeping a promise to myself, I was building confidence and discipline and it made me proud of myself and I just knew that had I not been consistent and been disciplined about it, that I would be disappointed, and I don't want to feel disappointed in myself. Therefore, I kept going Right Now, if something felt bad about it and it felt wrong, I would have quit. So you also have that desire in you to do this thing, but I loved it and I just thought it helps build confidence and make me proud of myself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree with you and I do love it too. It's you know. People are like why do you do that? You have so many other things going on, but I'm meeting the most amazing network of people that I would have never known all over the world, you know, and it's just so cool. So I do like it a lot and I'm glad that you do too, and it doesn't mean you have to do it forever, Right, but five years is time, and most people do not last that long. It's work. It's not like you're breaking your back work, but you've got to keep it going Right.
Speaker 2:It takes a lot of effort. I remember whenever the five year mark was coming up in the next few months and I was like you know, this is probably a good time to just wrap this up. Like you know, Brittany, calm down, because I can get a little out of hand with the consistency and discipline and be like I want to go forever. And so I took a beat and I thought, you know, it's a cool time, Like that's a cool accomplishment, Like go to the five-year mark. You did it. You'll be proud of yourself and I would love to have another show one day, probably a different topic and something more about life and the phase of life that I'm in, or something. And we'll deal with that adventure when it comes.
Speaker 1:I think that you could do it all over again and it would be just as successful, if not more. Because the life stuff we're all going through right Social media. Not everybody's going to go and say I want to do all this fun stuff on social media. I have 200 people in my company. I can barely get 10 of them to do it, and it's important. It's free, like do it, it's free, so I get it.
Speaker 1:But the main point of why I did the show is because I was going through so much adversity in my life, and still am to this day. As I told you, my husband needs a liver transplant. It's something I never imagined for him. You know, he's like the nicest guy in the world and he's going through the most difficult times. I lost my dad. It was devastating, like I watched him die. It was horrible to see someone that was so strong to their weakest moments. But adversity, I have had so much of it. How am I going to pick up the pieces every single time and get up? And I do, and so there's some power in that, the power in my purpose that keeps me getting up. So tell me about something that adverse that happened to you in your life, that you pushed through and got through the other side. Well, how long do we have? I don't really care.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's some kind of limit but we won't go through all of it. But you know I would say there are a couple of big standouts that are great examples. Well, I would say three. I had difficulty in childhood with parents that divorced and hated each other and it was all a mess, to put it politely, as you're a little kiddo witnessing those things. So there was that and they all kind of end up. It all kind of ends up, ends up connecting how I've handled all of them actually. Then you fast forward to my twenties.
Speaker 2:I started having panic attacks and I mean I'm talking regularly and it went on for a long time and kind of medication wasn't helpful. It's this whole long ordeal and it's something that I actually still deal with today. It's just that thankfully I have better tools to like kind of calm myself down and get through. But feeling those feelings of panic and like mental instability in those moments when if anybody listening you know has had that happen you understand it's a horrible, dark. The most scary feeling and going through that would be. And then the more recent thing would be business ownership and growing my company, where you're bringing on people, you have employees, I have payroll, I'm supporting my family's bills. It's serious business and it's a lot to handle, especially in these first five, six years of trying to do all those things.
Speaker 2:But I found, with all three of those instances that I point out is that something that has really helped me keep going forward maybe not in childhood, but especially now as a grownup is remembering myself at the age of 11 and thinking of little me and remembering all of the dreams that she had to be on stages and be in front of people and make people smile and help others and make that kind of impact and honestly doing stuff for her. Like it really, it truly helps me because I don't want to let myself down, so I just, when you envision little you, that helps, rather than big you, because it's not quite as cute and it really does help me. It really does Because I just, you know, we all probably did have such big hopes and dreams, especially being younger, and I want to pull through for her, you know, and so I just always hold onto that and I think that that vision has helped me push through.
Speaker 1:It's such great advice and I do think that when you're little you think we just think so differently. We're not feared of anything, you know everything is possible and you know what.
Speaker 2:Most things are possible and we can lose that as grownups we can forget about that because you got to deal with life, and the human experience can be extremely difficult, but I just I don't know. I think back to her and I think back to 11 year old me sitting at the burger joint with my dad telling him I want to be on television and I just don't want to screw things up for her, so I just do my best.
Speaker 1:Oh, you're doing an amazing job. So on, love media and social success have helped so many business owners. What's the biggest shift you see in people when they finally get social media right?
Speaker 2:Oh, I love watching the process. That's one of my most favorite things of what we do, because we're dealing with people that we're seeing in person. We are going to these local businesses and we're dealing directly with them, with the employees, with the owner, and we're shooting content. We're with them, making videos and all these things, and we're having to learn everything about them right, while also having to help guide them through that process.
Speaker 2:Like you say, like you know, to watch someone blossom in that way especially someone who was like oh, I hate this and I don't want to be on camera and I don't want to talk and I can't, you know, and it's very hard for a lot of people and watching someone progress through that process is really heartwarming and it makes me really proud of them. Even if they're almost twice my age, it doesn't matter, I'm proud, I'm like a proud mom, and I think that what happens with these people is that a lot of times, I really think it's social media is one of those things you kind of have to experience to fully grasp it and then really some trial and error. So honestly, it can feel a bit like weird at first, and that's why a lot of people probably don't go all in with it, because you're like you're trying something new, but people are watching.
Speaker 1:It's very different when someone's watching. You can dance around your house and do all that fun stuff the whole thing is that if you're a beginner, not that many people are watching that really was. My next question was if someone is starting from scratch today, with zero following, what's the first thing they need to do to build their brand right away?
Speaker 2:Oh, I love a zero following from scratch. We call that a blank canvas. It's the beautiful opportunity it is. Well, you are going to have to have some trial and error, so you are going to have to just go ahead. Just go ahead and accept that like, start to manage your expectations there.
Speaker 2:But it doesn't mean everything has to be a disaster and a mess. I completely respect that. You would want things to look as nice as they can and so on and so forth. You know. So the people that say it's okay, go on video. You know, in your pajamas. Well, if that doesn't suit, you don't do that. If you want to get dressed nice, do that. So you really do what feels best for you.
Speaker 2:And when you're starting from scratch, you want to make sure and start to lay a foundation the best that you can. Again, it could be a little messy, but you know, if it's a personal brand especially, you're going to choose a few things about you, your career, to kind of focus on. And although I know we're all unique snowflakes and we're so multifaceted and we're not just three things when it comes to branding, that just makes it easier on the audience, it's easier for them to remember a few things about you than to remember 27 things about you. So just kind of focus things down, make sure all your content stays within that for the most part, and be yourself the best you can and really really think about what the goal is. That's a huge thing missing.
Speaker 2:I know that sounds kind of silly and kind of obvious, but a lot of people that say, you know, I want to start this social media thing and make videos and stuff, they don't really necessarily know what they want to happen. You know, some people might say, oh well, of course I want to make more money. Well, okay, yes, but like, we need to get even more specific. Like, even if you have an established business which is great, by the way if your business is already established and now you're adding social at first, the better, and then you can start filling it out and broadening things.
Speaker 1:So, for me, I love mindset and marketing, right, and I'm creative. I was a graphic designer, we'll say right, so I'm always creating. I love that. So recently I just started focusing on creating things and so I've decided I'm going to take that to social media. I'm going to talk about mindset, I'm going to talk about marketing. I want people to get to know me and what I love, right? So therefore, if an agent in Pittsburgh says, wow, I really like Dionne, she's a really great person and I can feel that authentic miss of her.
Speaker 1:I want to be the attractor factor for Realty One Group Gold Standard, and I think that doing it this way, versus just sporadically coming up with stuff and trying to figure out what to do today, it's been a game changer for me, because I have a list, I work on it and I said this is something I love about mindset and marketing and I'm putting it out there. So we'll see what happens in a couple of months, how it works. But I want to say something about something so simple as consistency. So I started, we started telling our agents post the listing every single day to show people who you are, cause at the end of the day, you don't want to be a secret agent, you don't want to flood your information, but just post one listing a day, right, they won't do it. Finally someone does it. They're getting great success. And one day I had like a light bulb go off in my head and I'm thinking I'm telling them to do this and I'm not doing it myself. Two and a half months ago I started posting a listing every single day. Now I don't even sell houses anymore because I own the brokerage. I'm doing the brokerage.
Speaker 1:I missed any days and I am so consistent and I feel so proud of that because now I can say to them look at this, look at my statistics. People are reaching out to me to buy and sell houses now and it's going to continue. People are going to start to think that you know, dionne's always posted about real estate, but I'm not. I post about all kinds of other things too, but there's no way. For the last six years people probably looked and said I, but there's no way.
Speaker 1:For the last six years people probably looked and said I don't sell houses anymore. Well, I don't, but my company does. Yeah, I have 200 other people that do so. I don't ever want to see that and I know I'm the only broker owner that's doing this kind of work in Pittsburgh. I see it, so just know. So I want to stand out in this crowded space and because of you and people like you, watching you makes me feel better about it. But having a plan and a goal is huge. What is well, it's to grow my brokerage. How do I do that? By giving value and helping people learn about me, ideas that I have, why I was successful at it, right.
Speaker 2:I love that you said what'd you say? Attractor factor? That was cool.
Speaker 1:Instead of recruiting, we want to attract agents. We don't want to recruit agents. It's just such a more positive word.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. I love that, that's so cool. We're organized about it and you know it's understand like it's not. It's kind of challenging if you're not used to it. But hey, with content, like you said, the more organized you can be more prepared. It's going to make everything better. If you're going camera and talk, you can batch things you could on a, on a sunday or a slow day or whatever day for you. You spend two hours and you could probably make enough stuff for like at least two weeks.
Speaker 1:You know like you get into your own rhythm I was on in a mastermind last year where they did. She did a lot of lives. She went live all the time facebook lives and instagram lives and she built quickly. It took, but you know it's built quickly after five years of doing it. But when when the build came, it was crazy. Right, like it was just she kept doing it over and over again, getting ready in the morning with her makeup and doing all this, and then she shows the videos. They were horrible at the beginning, now on stage talking to thousands and thousands of people, coaching and teaching, but her first ones were terrible, so it was great to see that Cause. Then you realize. You know, even someone looks so polished at the end. The walk or ride or run there was difficult.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's so true. And whenever you get momentum, especially when it comes to social media ride, it keep going. That is not the time to calm down, like, because it usually is a roller coaster ride for everybody, except for, maybe, kim Kardashian, I don't know. Like, if you maybe, if you have hundreds of millions of followers, it always stays upright. But for everybody else, even a bigger following, you're going to have ups and downs, you're just going to have peaks and valleys. So I always say, whenever it's up, it's up and use it to your advantage.
Speaker 1:So you're known for energy and passion. That's who you are. So if I think of you, those would be two words I would describe you.
Speaker 2:But we all have enough days right.
Speaker 1:So how do you keep pushing forward when motivation is low, when things aren't working for you?
Speaker 2:Well, that's a good question. How do I keep going? For whenever motivation is low, whenever it comes to showing up on social media you know I was just mentioning batching content that actually has. It's like a multi-purpose situation because not only is it productive, but also like you're going to have days you either don't feel like being on camera or you can't, like I might be, I might have back to back meetings and then picking up my kids, and you know so, honestly, doing that really helps because if you're having a bad day, who wants to like sit here and be happy and talk to the audience? So be smart about it, be prepared, so that way you don't end up in that situation the best you can.
Speaker 2:But in general, it's just again knowing what the goals are, but also you know so, know so, like I said earlier, being specific, like wait, I'm not going to make this happen if I don't do this Right, but also trying to enjoy the process. That's one of the main reasons why my content isn't really I'm not teaching. I could teach anybody anything about social media Pretty much. I can probably answer just about any question, but I don't really talk about that in my content. I'm just showing my personality and that's my choice and it's a certain strategy that I use and it makes it fun. So then I want to do it more and I don't want to quit. Right, but if you're forcing yourself to show up and do things that don't feel right, the odds of you keeping going or wanting to, you know, stay motivated or lower.
Speaker 1:I agree so much, and consistency is definitely changing me. It's making me feel more confident about me as a person, and when I'm ready to do it, I don't even get upset, I'm like I'm ready, I got 15 minutes, I'm done. And, of course, you use things that are available, like AI, to help you to learn about people and how they're doing it, and I'll just reach out on AI and I'll be like there's this great podcaster, I want to learn how they do it and how they talk to people and teaches me Right. So we're learning our craft. Yeah, so I love to learn.
Speaker 2:That's one of my favorite things on the earth to do is and I wouldn't learn, but there's a point where you actually have to do it. So I always say don't let preparation turn into procrastination. It certainly can. So, yes, of course, learn and learn how to use tools and how to use your smartphone camera and all the things, but you, at some point, you need to start taking action.
Speaker 1:I love that. So if we fast forward 10 years, what do you want to be known for?
Speaker 2:Oh, my gosh. Oh, that's tough Actually. How old are you right now?
Speaker 1:I'm 44.
Speaker 2:I'd say, 54, which I'm 56. We're almost there. What is the one thing I want to be known for? Helping millions and millions of people to have hope and also to know that it's not too late.
Speaker 2:Believe it or not, no matter your age or what you've been through, or where you're from or what you look like, it's not too late to use things like social media or whatever we may be using or calling it in 10 years, to help make our dreams come true. I mean, you're looking at someone who dreamt of being on a show like Full House and being on television and Broadway and all these things, and at 44 right now, I haven't done it, but I found a way to use social media as a way to use social media as a stage to still reach people. So I want to be known as someone who has helped people, especially as people get older and go through life, to know that you can still figure out ways to make the dream come true. The path may change a little, it may not look exactly like what you thought, but you can still have a version of that childhood dream or that newer dream that you have.
Speaker 2:I think that there's that stigma and that mindset of like well, it's too late, I'm too old, I have a bunch of children, I don't have a fancy house, whatever the excuse is, and it's not true, and so I like to leave a little bit open, for because I'm really a control freak, so I try to get better at that for life to kind of go how it needs to go for me. But in general that's what I want to be known for is helping people have hope and smile and know that they can still do the things and, you know, make all the dreams come true, no matter how old they are.
Speaker 1:Who they are. That's a great message. And one thing that happened to me a couple of months ago. Someone said to me what would you do if this whole thing fell down, like your whole real estate company was out of business? What would you do? And I said well, I always knew that I would pick up the pieces and I would be able to be successful, no matter what. I know that inside of me.
Speaker 2:But what?
Speaker 1:I would do, I said, is I would create content and I would do. I would spend 30 or 60 days and I would just sit there and study for 30 and 60 days until I figured out everybody is doing, and then I'd go out and do it. So then I said to myself so do it right now. What are you talking about? What are you gonna wait for it to fall for right? It was like in my head, like I know I can do this. Yeah not, why not me? Right? And I remember the Super Bowl, and I know you're not a sports fan. But Russell, oh gosh, I can't even think of his name. He's our quarterback and I'm like sitting here because you make me laugh, and I'm sitting here laughing. Russell said at the end at the Super Bowl why not me? And I always think why not me? Why not do it now? Like what are you waiting for? Like time is. You know, I'm on the other side of time. Now You're on the front side.
Speaker 2:I'm on the backside, so I agree with you and having some sense of urgency, I think, is incredible, I don't. I mean, I understand we can't totally freak out on ourselves all the time and rush everything and I do want to snap my fingers and all of the things happen just FYI like that to happen. But I understand that it's not, and over time you start to realize that and start to deal with that the best that you can. But you still have to have some sort of sense of urgency, especially as an ambitious person.
Speaker 1:I agree. So you have an upcoming event that I wish I could be at. So bad I want to go, but honestly right now I can't because you know my husband. But tell us how they can find you Like. What can people do to learn about social media, to do their very best, whatever that is, to get their story out there, their authentic self? Tell us about that.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Yes, my upcoming event is called social success and this year, in 2025, it's happening April 25th and 26th right here in my hometown of Houston, texas, right in the middle of the city, downtown, great location. So people are coming from all over, not just here in Houston, to attend this two day conference. We call it the most fun marketing conference in the world because, you know, there's a lot of dancing and a lot of laughing.
Speaker 2:I think social success started because one I do love to be in front of an audience and I wanted to find a way to make sure that was a part of my life and business in front of people in person, not just on screens, and I also looked around me and was just like gosh, I know these so many really talented, smart, creative people that are kind of in this world of content creators and marketers and things, and I just thought I want to essentially build a stage for all of us to share. I want to bring them up there with me because we have so much that we could do for people and we also have heart and we have passion and we have purpose and it's just kind of we're this different breed of marketing creatives and that's what social success started for so that we could bring our good things to as many people as possible, and it started out really small and we've grown a little like it's like the first year is like 15 people, you know.
Speaker 2:So we're growing, growing, growing and this year we're looking at it being the biggest year yet in 2025. And people can expect to learn, like intermediate and advanced level social media marketing skills. So if it's super beginner like we're not going to go over super beginner stuff, but we can all Google all that or look it up on YouTube. The next level stuff that really brings you up a notch or two or 10 is what we focus on and it's really a lot about social media marketing content creation and this year we actually have our first podcasting panel. I have some podcasting buddies of mine that are going to be having a discussion about marketing your podcast. So it's going to be a really fun two days in Houston and also a lot of good networking. You're going to meet really good people and have lots of good collaborations and opportunities as a result.
Speaker 2:So that's what social success is and you can go to funlovemediacom slash social success and then we'll you know, I'll give you all the links and things for all that to get that and you know, connect with me on social media and send me a message. I'm Brittany Cross and I'm I'm on Instagram, I'm on TikTok, I'm on Facebook, I'm on LinkedIn. You know all the things. I would love to say hello to anybody and and try to also share good. You know supportive things to show people ideas and stuff. When the fun love media counts. We are always sharing like kind of like stuff we've done as a team, so maybe that gives other people ideas like how we film something or something like that.
Speaker 1:so of course, or anything that people can take. Do you have anything like that I?
Speaker 2:don't have an online course right now, but we're're really like. We have a Facebook networking group for social success. So, even for someone that hasn't been to the event yet, you can just look up social success networking group, facebook groups and you just request to get in and we'll let you on in, and it's really just a cool way to, if you haven't gone to the event, to keep in touch with people, of course. But then also we're just all sharing like tips and helping each other out, because it's a bunch of people that are having to create content. Whether they're creating it for their own brand or they're hired and doing it for someone else, it doesn't matter. We're all kind of like in this together.
Speaker 1:So my very last thing, can you give us one social media tip that you could give to anyone today that they can make a difference?
Speaker 2:Yes, this is something that I don't think you're going to hear a lot of people say but play the game If you actually want to see bigger numbers and things. If you don't, this may not matter so much. It really depends on your goals, the kind of business you have, the kind of numbers you even need, which most people don't need millions, by the way, like almost nobody does but you know, you've got to look at your goals. But if you are someone that wants to see the bigger numbers and the growth and things like that, you have to be willing to play the game. We can't be complaining about the algorithm. We can't be saying it's not fair and that it just must be the platform's fault, because that's it's not the case.
Speaker 2:There's probably more to it. Something in the content needs to be adjusted, something needs to be changed, and so when you start really studying it and paying attention to these platforms which are the ones you want to be on you know whatever your most important ones are and you're seeing what's working there find a way to do that, but for yourself. You don't have to copy people, but you've got to see what's working, and I think that people get really stuck and frustrated like oh, the algorithm, you know, sometimes is that true? Sure, but it's like a small amount of the time. So I say, if you want growth, you have got to be willing to play the game and you've got to be willing to just do what's working and then pivot next year when everything changes again.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for being here with me today and, if you could like, subscribe and share episode. I usually say we can help just one person, then this podcast is a success. But I'm going to take Brittany's idea and I'm going to say we can help lots of people in this podcast as a success, because at the end of the day, I don't want to just help one person, I want to help millions. Just like you, I want to be impactful, like that, and you're already doing it. So thank you, I appreciate it and I can't wait someday to meet you in person. Thank you so much for having me Dionne.
