Finding Your Voice: Navigating the Creator-Entrepreneur Journey

Where does your personal identity end and your professional brand begin? For entrepreneurs and content creators, this boundary often blurs, creating unique challenges that most 9-to-5 employees never face.

In this candid conversation, KayCee and E open up about their parallel journeys as small business owner and content creator, sharing the realities behind building something from scratch. They tackle the uncomfortable truth about creator burnout, the constant pressure to perform, and how to maintain your authentic voice when trends and algorithms push you to conform.

"I'm not my brand," KayCee reveals about her supplement business, explaining why she deliberately separates her personal life from her professional identity. Meanwhile, E reflects on the challenges of being the face of multiple content platforms: "Your face is your brand...you sometimes don't have off days."

The hosts don't shy away from difficult topics, addressing the mindset shift required to succeed as an entrepreneur. They explore why traditional employment thinking sabotages independent ventures and how to find your tribe when friends and family don't understand your unconventional path. Their personal anecdotes about trade show anxiety, filming in public, and recovering from on-camera mistakes provide practical insights rarely discussed in entrepreneurial circles.

Whether you're currently building a business, creating content, or simply curious about alternative career paths, this episode offers refreshingly honest perspective on what it truly means to chart your own course. The greatest takeaway? Authenticity isn't just a buzzword—it's your most powerful business asset.

Ready to stop emulating others and embrace your unique approach? Listen now, and join the conversation by sharing your own entrepreneurial or creator experiences with us on social media or via email.

The Fitness Collectif promo 

Chapters

• 0:00 When Your Brand Becomes You
• 8:04 Creator Burnout and Content Pressure
• 18:06 Maintaining Your Authentic Voice Online
• 25:32 Embracing Uncomfortable Business Roles
• 34:21 Finding Your Tribe as an Entrepreneur
• 42:46 Authenticity as Your Superpower

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:26

Hey, welcome back to Disrupt and Discuss, better known as D&D. How's everybody doing? You good, I'm great. How's everybody doing? I'm doing well, so I am.

Speaker 2: 0:40

E and I am KC.

Speaker 1: 0:44

And we have another episode where we are talking about sequels or series. We're in a series of entrepreneurs and creators and we thought it would be good to talk about, because Casey is the entrepreneur and I am the creator, and you're wearing dual hats. It's good that these are conversations that we've had or we like to have, we like to discuss, so inviting you guys into our conversations that we normally have about stuff like this?

Speaker 1: 1:15

Oh for sure. We're going to discuss being an entrepreneur, having a small business, being a small business owner and also being a content creator. If you're interested in having your own brand or creating your own brand or how that works and talk through some things like that, this is going to be the segment for you and evolving your role. Let's get into it, casey, when your brand becomes you. Let's talk about that. When your brand becomes you.

Speaker 2: 1:40

Well, my brand, believe it or not, is not me. I know entrepreneurs, and especially on Instagram, doing stuff to bring attention to them. Not bad, but I mean like the way they dress their signature items. Like one of my friends and I'll just shout her out Hot Sauce Girl, homestead Hot Sauce. For example, she's known for her red boots, a lot of the stuff in her content. No matter where she is, she has a signature red boot.

Speaker 2: 2:09

So, she's building a brand, not only for her business, but who she is. When you see her, you will know her brand. For my, herba by the Fitness Collective is a supplement line, but you might on my Instagram you'll see a lot of videos in regards to health and wellness. So that's the difference. You won't necessarily see me online how I came to be, how the company became what it is today, and then you'll see other stuff with the podcast and how the podcast bridges the gap For me. I just don't have my face out there. I just choose not to do it that way. It works for me. Every once in a while I got to peek out from behind the camera, peek behind the curtain. A lot of people that I. They are their brand, I'm not my brand. I hope that wasn't too short or too confusing.

Speaker 1: 3:01

No, it's not, because, with regards to my Herba, you're not the face of the brand Correct, but you're more so here for D&D. You are the face. Yes, we are the face.

Speaker 2: 3:13

Right, it makes a difference and this is our brand. But again, you can be in the forefront or you can be behind the scenes, so it all depends on what you want to convey. Quite frankly, I didn't want to be out there like that, because I do like having a life. That is not my brand. I like to have my weekends, even though I'm working dang near all the time, but there's times when I want to have a weekend where I'm not doing anything. I'm not my brand. I'm not D&D, I'm not any of that. I'm just a sloth on the couch watching TV or not.

Speaker 1: 3:50

And for me being in content creation, my face is my brand. Oh, you're plastered, I'm plastered everywhere.

Speaker 1: 3:58

So whether it's D's tap in, whether it's just ETV, I'm the face of the brand. You sometimes don't have off days. With regards to this, casey and I was talking about the difference between D? Andd and tap in. D&d we record and we try to do it so well in advance that it's easier. So if anything happens with one of us or we need a mental health break, we have enough in the bank. You want to take a week, a couple of weeks, we're fine. As opposed to tap in, it is live.

Speaker 1: 4:25

So me and SBK, we're constantly like every Friday. We did have a situation and Casey and I talked about it on the back end. Both of us had their things that we needed to do, so we just said we wouldn't be live, but we're going to have to rectify that because we do have people that come every Friday, our community and our folks that like to watch us. So she was like you may want to come up with your recording. You know your greatest hits. You know a pretty, very popular one.

Speaker 1: 4:55

We talked about that and so that's something that's going to be coming up pretty soon because we're going to have one of these moments summertime vacations and things like that where it's going to take place. So that's the downside. Sometimes, when you're at the face of something and you have commitments, obligations, showing yourself, quite often it can be exhausting, very tough to think about things like that. Are you willing to commit to something like that? Are you willing to participate in things like that and have backups for it? It's easier when you're doing podcasts recording, but it's kind of sticky when you're live.

Speaker 2: 5:28

So just think about it. Yeah, and one of the things you and I talked about, dealing with podcasts. I'm still new with this since December, but it's fun when you're doing it, but then there's days when sometimes, honestly, it's not so fun, right, and you still have to produce content. This is where that whole content creator thing because I'll see and I'll hear every once in a while, even from people I follow I have to take a mental break. I'm just not up to it. I'm just not into it, or something like that it, it, it gets to you.

Speaker 1: 6:00

You get creator burnout, like you want to come up with something, or if you did come up with something, sometimes you're not as excited. Sometimes you just want to curl up in a ball and not deal with it for the day, for the week. You do experience that. I think we'll talk about that a little bit more too. It's good to have a backup plan, because you're going to experience it. You're not going to be on 10 all the time.

Speaker 2: 6:21

Well, we did the show when we both in the I don't want to say dumps, but we were not as jovial at that particular time. And again, our lives aren't exactly the same, but they're running kind of parallel on a lot of different things.

Speaker 1: 6:36

Yes, yes, let's talk about being on 24-7 for your audience and customers and how that affects you.

Speaker 2: 6:45

Well, see, that would affect you more than me, because, first of all, you're live and in doing that, you do have to be up Again, my thing is sometimes I'm listening to podcasts or songs so I can escape something, or I'm looking forward to my drive home. So now I want to have this and you know, I'm expecting you to be in a certain realm. I want you to be up, I'm expecting certain things and if I'm not getting that, it's like, well, shit, what's going on, what's happening here? But just like what we've done, we've had shows about not being up or other things. So then you're like, oh, okay, yeah, and that gives you some insight. Sometimes people sometimes don't give a shit, but it gives you some insight. I didn't realize. I said back when youtube was really starting to hit and everybody was happy, go lucky. And when people started just disappearing for a while then they would come back and tell you oh, I had a meltdown.

Speaker 2: 7:39

I'm like, well bam, you see how serious this stuff is. So, yeah, you do have to be on 24 7, but how you're on 24 7, and that's why you know when he and I sometimes are like how much stuff do we have in the bank? Because you still have to stretch it out Wednesdays is when they drop. Consistency is what everybody's saying. You have to be consistent. You also have to, like you had said, plan B. I need to take a week off. I don't want to have to do this, so let's have our contingency plans put in place.

Speaker 2: 8:11

So you are falling under the guise of 24 seven being consistent, but then you're able to kind of take a break yourself. Exactly.

Speaker 1: 8:17

Like Casey said, our we're not exactly, but we, our lives are in parallel. And sometimes, because our lives run parallel, and some people might be saying, well, you guys have just started this podcast, it hasn't even been a year and y'all are already experiencing burnout, might be saying, well, you guys have just started this podcast, it hasn't even been a year and y'all are already experiencing burnout. But you also have to look at we have lives outside of here. She runs a business and I run two other channels. It can experience work that have been in existence before D&D. So it can experience burnout, even though we haven't even done this for a year, but it's still exciting. But it's just. Sometimes life be lifin'. Yeah, you have to be smart. So we try to work smarter, not harder.

Speaker 2: 9:31

Absolutely For sure. Oh, I know, I know yeah.

Speaker 1: 9:35

So what about influencers? So far as influence, how do you handle pressure of always being authentic online?

Speaker 2: 9:43

I'll put it this way because I'm older, I'm not necessarily trying to impress the same way as somebody younger. You get some old hacks in there that you're trying to impress. As one of our guests had said, she went through ballet, she went through the times where you being judged, and so now when she walks into a room, it's like I'm here, having that corporate background, always having to cover your ass, do this, do that, I'm not doing that. And he says this is who I am, this is what I'm about, right, and basically you don't care for it.

Speaker 1: 10:16

Then there's 40,000 other channels, exactly, I love that because it's true you have to. Sometimes you do feel that pressure, especially when you're live or you're on here on social media. Sometimes you get into the habit of kind of compete against people who are similar to you, or you're trying to be like someone else, or you're trying to emulate or get to their level, their status, exactly. But you have to learn how to run your own race. Running your own race means you have to be who you are and knowing that who you are, people are going to gravitate to you. Are you going to be like that person and what the type of folks that they get? Maybe not, but it definitely helps to be grounded in who you are, know what you're trying to do and not try to emulate other people.

Speaker 1: 11:08

And a lot of times in this world of content creation or YouTube, a lot of people try to emulate a lot of folks. They try to catch onto the way, catch onto what's popular, what's getting the most views. And a lot of times these analytics you look at your analytics they give to what's popular, what's getting the most views. And a lot of times these analytics you look at your analytics they give you ideas. Hey, this person's talking about this. You should do that, and it's good if you're just starting and you don't know what you want to do.

Speaker 1: 11:31

But when you have, like your own set of what you want to do and what you want to see, that kind of throws you off, because then you're trying to appease different pockets of folks and you're not necessarily being who you are and what you want to put out. So I don't want to reel that in a little bit. But that takes learning and, like Casey said, you get to a point in your career or a point in your life to where you like I don't use it, I don't be me, whether you like me or not, and the same stuff that would not necessarily get me written up at work, seeing things that?

Speaker 2: 12:04

no, I'm not going to do that and this is why and not just being obstinate, speaking up for yourself, for example, certain things you can and cannot say and ways you can say it or can't say it at a job, starting out you know, I'm looking at other podcasters, influencers and that kind of stuff get an idea of how you want to go, how you want to sound, and then you just kind of make it your own right as they make it your own.

Speaker 2: 12:27

Yeah, same thing with, you know, baking a cake, for example, it's like, okay, here's the basics, but you know, you might want more cinnamon, you might want more butter and all that kind of stuff. We have the same recipe, but we just judged it as they would say and you make it your own.

Speaker 1: 12:41

Correct. Now here's one for you being a small business owner. What is it when your personal values are tied to your brand? It's tied to you, as opposed to what you went through.

Speaker 2: 12:50

Well, okay, so you were saying personal values in conjunction with your brand yeah.

Speaker 2: 12:56

Well, just having the I can't remember the word I'm trying to say For example, with my product, I make sure that every year that I have it analyzed, integrity is what I'm looking at because, granted, you can have supplements done. Yeah, you're advertising, you're sending them out and everything. But I need to know that when I'm sending something out that it is still viable. It might've been good last year, but then it's getting weak this year. But I'm sending something out that it is still viable. It might've been good last year, but then it's getting weak this year, but I'm still cranking it out. I still got the product. I'm going to get it out, no matter what.

Speaker 2: 13:29

I need to know if there's an issue, even though it's got the correct date, I still need to know that the integrity is in that bottle because, at the end of the day, my face might not be there, but my name is there. You know a lot of people like to dig, they like to find out who you are, this company Doing so, trying to be in the forefront of that, getting in front of that before there is anything that I spend the money to go on and have that done Because, again, integrity still reigns supreme with me because, at the end of the day, it is me. You might not see my face, but it is me.

Speaker 1: 14:07

Absolutely and I definitely agree with that, because we're still in the age of word of mouth, Like when you create a content or when you create stuff out there, your word of mouth carry so people who like your brand. They don't like your brand, you know. They may go on their TikTok or Instagram and talk about you. That's still a word of mouth referral.

Speaker 2: 14:29

Oh yeah, negative. And then, for example, if your advertisement is a little off, and I'll, here we go. We're being transparent on Amazon, for example, where my product is one of the places. It stated the incorrect entity of the bottle and one customer had purchased based on the quantity, and then they got it. When the product actually arrived, it was different and they blasted my ass on the reviews.

Speaker 2: 14:56

So, basically it was. I'm lucky I've only had like one bad one, but that bad one still is not good, if that makes any sense. So, and again, here goes where the integrity comes in. Once it was brought to my attention, I was like oh shit, so sent her another one and refunded her for the first one. And it's like my bad, this has been rectified, I see it, so on and so forth.

Speaker 1: 15:21

But that's just good business. A bad business person would say well, I didn't make the mistake, amazon made the mistake. Da, da, da, da da. But that's good business. That's wanting to keep a customer.

Speaker 2: 15:30

Yeah, and granted, was I the one that set it up in the system.

Speaker 2: 15:34

No but again my name. They don't care if the intern did it, they don't care, they just know this is what I saw and this is what I got, so I did it that way. One of the things questions I have for you when you're doing your stuff is one of how do you and it might be a simple question but how do you keep all your stuff straight straight, because I know just when I'm doing the podcast and then all the intricacies of doing behind the scenes for the business. My desk looks like a fucking tornado hitter. I'm like, and I'm one of those people I have folders upon folders to keep things, and even on my laptop I like to have folders upon folders. Now I've got all these pixelated things all over the desktop. I'm trying to get everything done. I will organize that, maybe when we're on hiatus or something, but it's just not working Right For me.

Speaker 1: 16:30

That's where we're different, because Casey is the pencil to pad. Yes, I am very technology forward, so I have digital folders. I have a tap in folder, I have a D&D folder, I have a just ETV folder. That's how I separate everybody. I'll have certain days I'm looking at D&, so look at that and look at where we are and then, you know, converse with SBK and then for it's Just E and my other channel. I do that as well, so it's more so. Just I separate them digitally. So I have digital folders that are specifically for each channel. I plan days that I go and look at. You know, look at what we've done. Every once in a while I'll go through our catalog and look at. You know, look at what we've done. And every once in a while I'll go through our catalog and look at what our conversations and I replay our show I am, I'm anal about it, I have to do it.

Speaker 1: 17:28

So it's like, hmm, I could have said that better. Or hmm, I get an idea for a show, but the next episode we can talk about that. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2: 17:41

That's how my mind works Well, to champion you, because you do listen. You're able to say, okay, you know what? This is the area I want to move towards. We need to stop doing this and do a little bit more of that, and it works. Let's be more conversational, for example, instead of being more robotic. And how would you know that? Because you're listening.

Speaker 1: 18:03

I'm out.

Speaker 2: 18:04

I'm good, and a lot of it is because I don't like hearing my own voice. In my head I sound one way, but then when I actually hear it it's a totally different way. I sound Absolutely, way, I sound Absolutely. I feel comfortable now doing the shows and talking and doing all this kind of stuff, but reliving it, rehashing. I'm over it. We're done with this one. I might go walk to the park or something, I don't know, go take a nap, but I won't be listening.

Speaker 1: 18:38

We have different strengths and they come together very well. She is more of the front facing, getting us out there ideas with where we could possibly take it. So Casey is very forward thinking. I am sitting in the now sitting. In what we need to do right now, she's the visionary.

Speaker 2: 18:59

I'm behind the scenes. Yes, for sure, for sure, I want to do that, yeah.

Speaker 1: 19:04

So what about?

Speaker 2: 19:05

oh, go ahead. Yeah, no, no, I was. I'm all over the map, literally. We might've talked about this before, but again, in case others hadn't heard it, and one of the segments we were talking about finding your tribe. We bring that up kind of topic adjacent, but not really. I look at my oldest granddaughter. Okay, she just turned well, not just, but she's going on 13. She's going to the seventh grade. She's not very outspoken, she's quiet, but she and then they're all into that anime stuff and the little weirdness and we always say, baby, she's, she's going to find her tribe. We know she is and she stands out in that respect that she doesn't stand out. Her brothers and sisters are loud and outgoing. But you see, she's plotting and she's looking and she's singing.

Speaker 2: 19:52

Even with entrepreneurs or business-wise, finding people that are doing the same as you, it's very, very hard in the beginning Because even if you have a group of you that say, hey, we're going to go and we're going to do a podcast or we're going to do a business, the cream rises to the top.

Speaker 2: 20:14

And then you're going to have those that don't and I tell people, how do you know this person, how do you know that person, what I've found and what I've been told. Just keep doing what you're doing and your path will cross with other people. Some may be like-minded or half like-minded or somebody you can call upon them to help you with something down the road. It's always one of those things trying to find like-minded people, and sometimes they're not like-minded they're in the vicinity of what you're doing and be able to help you, which is part of your tribe. You're not going to find anybody exactly like you. You'll find somebody enough like you to understand you and where you're coming from to where you start to get with other people in that same realm, if that makes any sense.

Speaker 2: 21:02

So that's how it just starts to happen organically. And then, hey, let me introduce you to so-and-so, let me introduce you to this. You might go to a trade show, seminar, seminar, and you'll start to build your tribe. It happens because I'm talking with you about, oh, what about this person? It's only because I've been doing this for a moment that I'm starting to run into people and getting to know people that can help maybe you in some way that I know. So, yeah, I just wanted to reiterate that, because I think it's easy for us to sit and talk about what we do and what we have accomplished, but it's like, well then you're doing it by yourself.

Speaker 1: 21:40

No, but you find people who are not necessarily your same mind, but you guys are traveling down similar paths and ideas off of each other. So if you can find that, that's really good for you, because you hate to be the only person in your bubble. You want to have somebody in there where you can bounce things that can be critical sometimes of you, right, like girl, I don't know or not necessarily down your idea, but make you think. Another perspective For sure.

Speaker 1: 22:10

Another perspective, yeah, absolutely, or they're just like, but make you think Another perspective, for sure, Another perspective, yeah, absolutely, or they're just like you know what that just sucks Exactly, and I can appreciate that more and I find that more genuine than the people who are like oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we can do that, oh yeah yeah. You don't object to anything, nothing, everything.

Speaker 2: 22:29

I'm golden everything.

Speaker 1: 22:33

I'm golden, okay, okay yeah, I mean because we don't even agree on everything. No, we don't, and that's why I like to be able to be okay with talking to someone who's going to be authentic with me and be like e I don't know, e well, maybe we can try, we can talk, we can do this. Now you're like I don't know, but when I go to sleep or I wake up, she was right.

Speaker 2: 22:50

they're talking about me every day, so I'm just throwing that in there.

Speaker 1: 22:53

It helps to have people who are.

Speaker 2: 22:54

It really does and, like I said, a different perspective, because when you're in it and you can't see anything, what you're in, it definitely helps for someone to, even if they know what you're in or don't care, they'll give you an honest opinion.

Speaker 2: 23:07

Yep, and you'll be like, like oh shit, I didn't think of that or sometimes your own family can be the worst culprit in all of it and trying to do or say what's right, and then you still get shitted on and you're like, well, I should have said what I wanted to say anyway and not saying it was out of pocket or disrespectful. But you should have said what you wanted to say anyway, because you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. If you're not running in that pack, you're an outlier, to be to be perfectly honest. So I say that, which is regular living. Then you put that with your business, then you become a powerhouse in a sense. That was you know that resting bitch face. She's very direct, she doesn't. Let me get a word in edgewise. Maybe I'm guilty of one or two of those things, but I know what I want and I know what I don't want.

Speaker 2: 23:51

It's easy for people to come and tell you their version of how to do something, but they don't have their skin in the game.

Speaker 2: 23:58

Listening to other entrepreneurs and giving me their tidbits of how things are working for them, I'm tending to listen to them and we're in a totally different space of entrepreneurship altogether. But it's easy for somebody to sit on the sidelines and Monday morning quarterback, but then they're not getting their ass out and doing something. You're just telling me what you would do, but you haven't done shit to back up what you're saying. So again, listening or not listening to somebody, you're registering that in your mind also and it's like, well, fuck you, you ain't doing shit. So then it makes it easy for me to say, no, you might have a good idea, I might take it into consideration, but no, you're not going to be the voice of reason over here, you ain't doing it. And people tell you you have to have a certain mindset. You got to be a lot crazy to be an entrepreneur. You really do, because of the ups and downs, the emotions, and you're still moving forward.

Speaker 1: 24:49

So we're going to jump into evolving into new roles.

Speaker 2: 24:53

Ah, evolving into new roles, yeah.

Speaker 1: 24:57

So entrepreneurial. She's touching on it a little bit. Casey touched on it. Unfortunately, you wear a lot of different hats and she gave you the example of the difference between just an entrepreneur or a business owner. How do you, as a small business owner, how do you embrace roles outside of your comfort zone, like sales or social media?

Speaker 2: 25:15

Are you asking me or are you going to talk on it?

Speaker 1: 25:18

I don't want to have a pregnant problem. Yeah, how do you embrace the role of being because you've said yourself this is like outside your comfort zone, you don't want to be the fake, but you have to do social media, so you have to put yourself out there. So how do you embrace that? Bringing those sales and dealing with sales and social media things that are not necessarily comfortable for you being comfortable, being uncomfortable?

Speaker 2: 25:39

Yes, I might not necessarily feel that comfortable, first of all, with the ads and stuff that I have on my social media. I'm not in them. Correct, first of all I'm not in them, but I do have pinned at the top. I'm there and I'm explaining how I came to be in the world dealing with entrepreneurship and how I came with the business. So that part I had to get comfortable recording it and what do you call it? Pinning it up there. It was one of those days no makeup, just we're going to do it today. I'll throw on the red lipstick and then that's it, explain what's going on, and either it's going to work or it's not going to work. I put it up there, really hadn't listened to it much, but I had to listen to it and make sure it made sense. You're going to be put into a lot of different roles that you're not comfortable with.

Speaker 2: 26:28

I'm comfortable when we're at trade shows. You're out there talking about your product, you know what you know, but there's still that anxiety, that first person coming up and asking that question. You're like am I going to remember? Am I going to say it right? Am I going to mispronounce? I did a whole script the night before and we were at the trade show and my sister-in-law was with us. She speaks eloquently, so she was in education and she speaks eloquently, so she was in education and she speaks, and it just so I'm listening to her talk about my shit, right, and I'm like I don't sound like that uncomfortable, uncomfortable. Then somebody came and asked her something about oh, you, the owner, she goes. No, she is. I'm like fuck and I'm like, hey, I'm talking.

Speaker 2: 27:09

And because I was so in my head after listening to her, I started stumbling, and then that little voice is like that's her, that's how she makes her cake. You do it a little differently and so once I got out of that, it worked in about two or three people come by. Then I'm rolling, I'm good, but you might stumble, and one of the things that I forget who said it? But there's no failures, it's only learning. Somebody was saying basketball analogy I had so many wins, but no failures. Because these are all learning lessons.

Speaker 2: 27:38

And again I'm telling myself you don't do it the same way as somebody else. That's you are you, and when you talk, they can feel the passion in what you are saying. And if not, then that's okay too, because you're not for everyone. Just like I always said before, I look at three different influencers dealing with makeup actually four and they all talk about blush, lipsticks, concealer, the gamut, but they bring to the table a different flair about them, which is why you look at them. So try not to you know. Oh, I'm gonna share this with you because that's going to take away from me. No, it's not. You're bringing something different. And how you deal with those obstacles is like take a deep breath and let's just do it, I agree, and you can speak to this as well. There's times you don't have a choice there is no one else that's going to do it, or there is somebody else that's not there right now. Right, so what are?

Speaker 2: 28:30

you gonna do you gotta?

Speaker 1: 28:31

do it, yeah, and that's okay. That's another thing. You gotta be okay with messing up. You definitely, if you want to be an entrepreneur or a content creator, you have to be okay with messing up. You have to be okay with failing.

Speaker 2: 28:45

It is part of the prerequisite one of the things I always ask you, because this is something I had to do and I only did it a couple of times and I don't feel comfortable filming or doing your content, even if you're like when you're in your car chronicles, you're in the car, but now you're pulling up to a red light. Out here people don't really stop at red light. So I can't really even use that. It's just a suggestion, as I tell people.

Speaker 2: 29:07

But, you're in the car and you're clearly talking and somebody's looking at you like I know she ain't singing. You know, even when I would sing in the car which was very bad I was still like hit the wind. Or you're having a conversation and you're doing a thought out loud, Right, I would like, Ooh, hit the steering wheel.

Speaker 2: 29:24

I think, oh yeah, she's listening to some music or something, because you're talking to yourself and you're doing that in the car, but then you're out and about and you're doing it and you have to be comfortable because your listeners, or your viewers, they need to be comfortable listening to you as well. So if you're uptight, they're seeing that you're uptight. Now you kind of got the whole vibe off. So I'm asking you, how do you, as a creator, do something like that?

Speaker 1: 29:53

It took a while for me to. When I first started doing it, I was more scripted. I would drive around and I would do it, and if I didn't like the way I sounded, I would start all over again and just go drive again and do it again.

Speaker 1: 30:09

I got so used to it, though, listen, I was like, oh, I didn't like the way I sound. I would literally go back and watch it. I'm one of those people I watch and I'm like I didn't like the way I sounded. I could have said huh, and so I would do it a few times. So I could be out there for a few hours driving making this video, but now I can turn it on at any point and I just free for all because I'm used to it now. So I got used to my voice. I got used to being okay. If I messed up on something, I would stop it and be like, oh shit, I'm just like I don't care, because editing even though I'm making the car chronicle, it's not live, so I can still edit it out. So it's just more so, just learning, educating myself on creating content and learning about editing stuff, believe it or not.

Speaker 1: 30:54

Back when I started, I didn't know about editing. I just put up different takes. I didn't know that I would do different takes, so it was more like, oh, I messed up, so I would stop and do it again. Now I just run the gambit, I'm comfortable and sometimes I like my little quirkiness and I'll keep it in there. You know I got used to. I had to go through my learning process and failing. The only way you're going to get better is if you keep doing something. And guess what, when you do something for the first time, you're not going to do it kind of you're going to f it up. So you got to be okay with that and I learned to get okay with doing it. So now I can pop that sucker on and just get the talking and don't care who it is.

Speaker 2: 31:36

I might wait, hey you want to be in my. You know a lot of people now are used to that. I mean, you still find people that are like looky-loos and want a photo bomb and everything, but a lot of people are it's commonplace now. I I sometimes at the gym, I see people doing that and everything. I remember during COVID, my trainer. I would have him on the camera and he's talking to me and telling me I'm working out and everything that was awkward and I'm like, oh, people don't think that I'm watching them or something.

Speaker 1: 32:07

And the only thing with that in gyms or public places, you know, sometimes I try to keep it on us when we work out so we're not getting other people. But if we do happen to get other people or somebody crosses through, you can edit it out, you can blur people and sometimes I even ask are you okay with being in my video? Some people are fine with it, they don't care, and some people are like no, and I'll blur them out.

Speaker 2: 32:35

I can cut you out or I can blur you out makes it a lot easier. Yes, it does, but again, being consistent and constantly doing it and learning from your mishaps right as how you get better with stuff. I was terrified when we started doing this. I'm like I think I was going into labor or some shit. Now it's like, okay, let's just do it. Just do it. You can edit it, you can do all this other kind of stuff.

Speaker 2: 32:49

We just go into it we just go with the flow and we've got little points here and there. I know this is more than likely, probably not on our agenda of stuff, but my question would be and again I have my way of doing it but family, not so much getting family's approval, but there's family that doesn't know what.

Speaker 2: 33:11

I do not even the business or podcast. They just know I exist. That's it. So my thing is, my question to you is we have heard different things with our families, right, how many even know what you do? But then, most importantly, are there other people in your family that're doing something similar or also trying to be creators, probably based on what they've seen you do and again, you've learned so much and come so far. They're looking up to you and want to do what you're doing so I have not a lot of people know so.

Speaker 1: 33:48

I'm not again where this yeah, I'm one of those people and in my thought process for this some people may agree or disagree I don't like to tell people a lot about what I'm doing. For the simple fact of a lot of times I don't want people to oh, I'm going to follow you because you're family, I'm going to follow you because you're my. Oh, I'm going to follow you because you're my friend. I like that. But then again, I don't like that because I want people who authentically want to follow me because they like what I'm doing, they like what I'm about and some people may find that odd, but that's just me. I want people to rock with me because they want to rock with me. I don't want people to rock with me because, oh, that's just my family, my cousin, that's my sister, that's my you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1: 34:35

So that's why I didn't tell a lot of people. I'm just now allowing people you know outside of my immediate family, know that I'm out here doing what I do. I'm throwing stuff out there, little tidbits here and there I'll put like D&D's podcast, like Clip Up or tap in Clip Up. You know things like that Me. So somebody did reach out to me, a friend of mine. They caught my shorts so it's gone in 24 hours.

Speaker 2: 35:01

No, we do that but.

Speaker 1: 35:03

I only put it in stories it's up and there were a couple of people that reached out to me. It's like you doing that, oh, okay, I'm going to follow you and that was good. I've been doing this for a minute. I'm just one of those folks. I want you to do it for me If you like what I do, because I'm not going to follow someone just because we're friends. So if I'm not feeling what you're doing nine times out of 10, I'm not going to follow you. You should be okay with that. I don't like the sympathy because I know you type of view. I just want people who are genuine, who like what I'm doing, and so that's why I haven't done that. And to answer the second part of your question does anybody aspire to do what I do? Not yet.

Speaker 2: 35:41

So you make it look easy. You really do. You make it look easy.

Speaker 1: 35:45

I've gotten some inquiries questions, and when they're serious, I'll take them. When they're serious, and what I mean by serious is that you know they may have something already.

Speaker 2: 35:58

Oh, I see.

Speaker 1: 35:59

That to me means you're serious. You're not just probing to be probing. You're probing because I have something. I tried this. I'm trying to get it off the ground. Can you help me? And so I haven't gotten that yet.

Speaker 2: 36:10

I've I've had curious about how I'm doing it, but not like I want to do it yet so yeah, yeah, no, I, as far as I know, I have a cousin that's heavily into marketing. They've got some marketing tools out there and do some stuff similar, but not really. But yeah, that's the only person that I know within family. I mean, my cousin had more of an entrepreneurial mindset way before I did. We were all like what is he doing for a job? Because all of us went nine to five. We knew that in the first and the 15th you got your paycheck, but you still had your paycheck and like, what does he do? What is he doing? And now I get it in the sense that we never really knew all of what he was doing.

Speaker 2: 36:54

First of all it wasn't our business, but with that nine to five mindset there was no way I would have understood what he was doing. So now he and I talk fairly regular about entrepreneurial ups and downs, because now I've got street cred in the sense that, like you said, I'm not just poking around for the sake of man, what you doing, where's that money coming from? You said a word. Well, yeah, you said a word. People just know oh, casey is out there, they don't. And again, I actually have it like that purposely. I mean obviously my husband, my kid, they know what I'm doing, but outside of that, my sister-in-law and cousins and some friends it's a very small network of people that really know what the hell I do. I'm sure a lot of them don't even know about this podcast. It is what it is.

Speaker 1: 37:44

You know, I appreciate what you said just a moment ago, where your cousin had a different mindset. He wasn't in a nine to five mind. If you guys can take anything from our conversation, you really have to switch your mindset in order to be in this type of lifestyle. You cannot have a nine to five mindset and be an entrepreneur or creator. You have to switch that mindset. That's the only way you're going to be able to sustain this, have skin in the game, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 38:13

You ain't guaranteed a paycheck. You hope that it's going to turn into some type of monetization. You hope that it's going to do what you envision it doing, but that might not happen. You have to be okay with that. You have to know how to pivot. You have to know how to make some changes. If you cannot, you don't have that type of mindset to where you know, in 90 days you expect to produce something and it could happen, or those are those outliers. Most of the time, we out here are grinding, creating, coming up with ideas how to market ourselves, how to brand ourselves, how to create certain things. So if you don't have that, you're not going to survive.

Speaker 1: 38:56

And if you don't start getting with like-minded people. If you're trying to do this and still rocking out with your nine to five folks, they not going to understand you at all and they don't look at you like you crazy. So you have to get around different people who have the same mindset as you oh, oh for sure.

Speaker 2: 39:13

And I've told you I've had the. I went from being what do you call it? Uh, hr for, like you know, like almost 17 years. So I have the corporate job, but then having to still make, you still have to bring money in the house, you still have to do, but then you still want to be an entrepreneur. So now you're toggling between the entrepreneur and some other kind of job, like one of the podcasts we talked about.

Speaker 2: 39:39

I did it at Amazon and it wasn't glamorous, right, you know, unloading big old carts off of the trucks and during break, checking voicemail and email for the business. And this is just trying to get somewhere with. You know, other people are trying to, some of them trying to get dates for that night, right, and I'm over here trying to bring this little money in, not even for the household, to fund the business that I was doing. So it didn't take money out of the household, out of the household, and that was, you know crap. I mean, you know it took care of what I needed to and as soon as I didn't have to be there anymore, I left willingly.

Speaker 2: 40:14

But I just and it just a lot of things. It just confirmed that's not what I want to do anymore. I not so much that, that job, but just a nine to five, I don't. I mean, and you got pilots in this world too but it's it ain't the same as doing that, busting your ass for what? Two weeks of vacation, and then you're still getting the okay, if you can be gone those weeks that you planned Exactly.

Speaker 1: 40:38

Somebody can tell you no, yeah, let that sink in sometimes.

Speaker 2: 40:43

Yeah, and these are things that are awarded to you for working, but then you're still asking permission to go. Right, right, you know, and it's hard. It's hard. I mean, I got goals here that that are going on, that I need to make sure they're done, but still I'm just like, oh shit yeah, it's totally different.

Speaker 1: 41:02

But it can be crazy, it can be exhausting, it could be stressful, but also exhilarating and when I plan to go on vacation, I just make sure my calendar is open.

Speaker 2: 41:14

I'm not worried about oh, I got to get this okay from my manager and oh, this is the only week we can go. No, exactly, when I came back from my vacation, I called the travel agent. I said let's book something for next year. Okay, this is open. She's telling me okay, I put that on my thing so I don't put anything around that date. Right, we're going.

Speaker 1: 41:34

I'm out of here that's what you got to do. I definitely agree with that. Let's talk about authenticity as your superpower. How do you stay true to your values when chasing growth or trends? And when I say authenticity, let's paint the picture. In the world of filters and fads, being authentic sets you apart. How do you stay true to your values?

Speaker 2: 42:00

There's enough people in my immediate life that'll let you know. You're not Casey, you're not that entrepreneur with my Herba. Those are called grandkids. They keep authentic. Oh, man, they maybe keep me a little too raw sometimes, but just having to deal with that and not just kids, life outside of what you do, right, I have the people that I have that are helping me run my business and we're all yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, business, business. When I get done with all that, like we get done with this, where am I going? We're gonna go walk to the park. My ass will probably be burning because we're going up the hill. That's the good stuff. And every once in a while they get so far and then I'm like, if we can't see you, you gotta stop. And they're like, oh, but she walks so slow and they're talking about me and they're like, god, yeah, your legs are short, can you move a little faster? No, I can't. She can't burning I'll catch up.

Speaker 1: 42:57

She usually catch up when we get to that incline, because your girl be like oh yeah, but then everybody arrested by the time I got there and then it's like now we're ready to go.

Speaker 2: 43:07

No, I got here yeah, that was yesterday because I got like a eight-year-old and a seven-year-old running up the hill, then running back down to check on me Like I'm coming, luckily my sister-in-law's with us and she's ahead of the bunch. I pull up the room making sure nobody's bothering anybody from behind, but again, doing those things At the end of the day they don't see that and I used to I don't know what actor big screen, but the trash needs to be taken out.

Speaker 1: 43:37

Exactly.

Speaker 2: 43:38

Exactly, or like some of the comedians, I bet you're funny at home. No, not really. I go through periods where I do the whole monk thing, when I don't even want to talk, as I tell my husband, if I could move to where my neighbor, the closest neighbor, would be a mile away, I'd be okay with that. I don't want to call myself a recluse, but damn near. As a kid I never understood it when my mom would say you want to live somewhere so you can go where the action is, but then you can come home and I was like, oh God, that's boring. But now, like I said, if I could live on a ranch not with animals but just a ranch and have the closest neighbors be a mile away, I would be fine with that, I really would. There's times when I don't want to talk.

Speaker 1: 44:20

I don't like to talk that much, believe it or not. I talk to my husband, we talk to each other, but even us we're like. He'll be doing his thing, I'll be doing my thing, whether that's me watching YouTube, because that's what I usually watch, and he'll be watching his tablet in the garage and we're fine, and me and Aaron.

Speaker 2: 44:37

I'm upstairs, he's downstairs.

Speaker 1: 44:39

It works out. It's like I don't have to always be in his face, he doesn't have to always be in my face, so it works out for us. But yeah, I'm not one of those people and I think for me, how do I stay true to my values when Chase growth and trends is just, oh heck, yeah, I just, I, just, I'm just me. Um, I think you said it earlier. I've come to this point in my life when I'm okay with saying what I say. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1: 45:05

Some people don't like it. It's still me. I can't be anybody else, and my dad said this to me. He was like don't do nothing, that you can't wake up in the morning and not lick yourself in the face. Right, if I can't lick myself in the face and say that was me, or I can't stand 10 toes down and say yeah, I said that, then I'm not being authentically me. Like I said, some people don't like my delivery. Oh, it is what it is. It is what it is. You know, I try to soften it up sometimes, but then I'm just like you're going to get me and this is me and you love me or you don't. And if you don't, like Casey said you don't have to subscribe, you can click on that other one Over there, over there.

Speaker 1: 45:44

That's why there's so much variety out here. There's variety.

Speaker 2: 45:48

Yeah, yeah, no, and I mean, it makes sense.

Speaker 1: 45:52

I'm not a people pleaser, you don't have to always like me.

Speaker 2: 45:55

I'm not going to always smile Well you know, even I know with my upbringing my dad was law enforcement, my mom worked for the county. So everything was cut and dry. You had to have a thick skin in either one of those occupations I didn't grow up in. Back then it was in the suburbs. I guess it still is considered suburbs, but yeah. But so I didn't have the harshness, I was coddled in the sense oh hey, how are you feeling today? So my parents always thought that I was going to grow up soft. You know you need to get harder. So now you bring me out to the suburbs to have a better life. But then, because I'm not acting hard, they were afraid I was going to be a doormat. And so then life will do that for you. You come out there and you become a doormat. They will walk on you, they will gladly walk on you.

Speaker 2: 46:45

So as I got older I got harder and to the point where my parents didn't like me challenging them and I'm like, okay, you're afraid I was going to be be a doormat. Now I'm not a doormat, now we're all locking horns. You try to be your authentic self and you know things like that. And I used to try to please everybody, but of course you never do. You make yourself all sick. So then after a while you're just like you know what.

Speaker 2: 47:09

That's what I had said earlier. I'm gonna say what I'm gonna say within reason, with respect as much as I give you, as much respect as you give me, but at the same time I'm going to say what I have to say because I don't know if you've done this, but some or some people out in the audience okay, a situation comes up, you get walked over, but in your head you played that same scenario over, so much to where, oh god, I should have said this. I knew that so long to where you feel. And now you have said that. And now the reality isn't really what the reality is. Your new reality is.

Speaker 2: 47:40

Well, I got them told and I got to that point where I don't like having to monday morning quarterback some bullshit that I should have nipped in the book right when it first happened. Again, experience is the best teacher. I'm not going to argue with you, I'm just not going to mess with you. I'm good. Goodbye, then you still, you still going to get chastised. Like I said, I don't get invited to a lot of stuff, no more, because you know, you leave a few people alone. And there you are.

Speaker 1: 48:09

There you are Exactly and you have to be okay with that. You guys, and how that look in business and social media is don't chase the trends, don't chase popular, because a lot of times you'll get stuck into something you never wanted to do in the first place. You were just trying to, you know, get your relevancy up, get your views up, get your subscribers up, but that was never authentically you in the first place. You want to stay away from that If you can, unless you want to do that. If you're one of those people you want to jump around, do what you do.

Speaker 1: 48:42

But if you have some idea of who you are, what product you're bringing, you, have a game plan that you know, stick to it. Try to stay true to who you are, what your brand is, what your product is, because when you start chasing trends for growth and you start seeing growth in those things, you that's not authentically you, but you're tasting what everybody else does. Well, guess what? Those people are coming to you because of that. And if you don't like that and you're just doing it because, then when you start trying to be yourself, you're going to lose those people. And if I can tell anybody be yourself, start out being yourself. There's a lot of people out there that'll tell you you do this to get into this. You got to do this, but at the end of the day, if it doesn't match with who you are, it's not going to work. Anyways, it'll work temporarily.

Speaker 2: 49:28

They'll see right through it.

Speaker 1: 49:30

Yeah, just be you. That's what I would say. That's why I say what's my name? It's just E, I'm just E. I can't be KC, I can't be anybody, I can only be E. That's why I say I'm just E. Either you rock with E or you don't rock with E.

Speaker 2: 49:49

And that's all right with me. Oh, look at you, look at you, you a poet, and don't know it. Quick question, before I know we're going to get out, but have you been actually noticed or somebody recognized you Out and about? Yeah, because I don't mean like family or you know, like, hey, gary, we went to high school together, but just in general, they saw your blog, they saw your podcast, podcast anything, and then people recognize you no, and it's by design, I know what, purposefully for me not to be like that.

Speaker 2: 50:23

Yet that's why I said I didn't, so people don't recognize me like I said, by the time I get through here it's like I got the really weird glasses and hair body. Recognize me. Trust me, if you't know me, you're not gonna recognize me. I just blend in.

Speaker 1: 50:39

She's like I blend in with the Avocado frozen food, everything else.

Speaker 2: 50:44

Now you ain't gonna see that.

Speaker 1: 50:45

But you guys, I hope you like this segment we shared with you. It's part of the Entrepreneur Creator Series that we're doing. Hopefully you guys are enjoying it. We got another episode coming to you soon. In the meantime, let us know what you thought about what we were talking about with regards to branding, evolving authenticity as your superpower, things of that nature. Tell us, are you a content creator? Are you a small business owner? What do you do?

Speaker 2: 51:11

We would love to hear from you, especially those from the Bay Area, because there are a lot of us out there and we don't know each other. We know of each other, but we don't know each other. Who's to say that we can continue these conversations on the podcast? Because my experience versus your experience are completely different. There's slight nuances to it.

Speaker 1: 51:34

That's a great point. If you're in the Bay Area East Bay, san Francisco, south Bay, even Sacramento, stockton, whatever Northern California let us know what business are you in? Are you a content creator? What do you do? And we would love to hear from you in the comments or on our socials. All our socials are connected to this YouTube channel. We're on IG, tiktok, all social media platforms. We're on all audio platforms. You can email us as well. Let us know. We'd love to hear from you and always comment down below like share, subscribe, yes, subscribe to your girls Until the next one. Guys, we love hearing from you. Guys. Shout out to our international watchers. Got a new one, egypt. Shout out to Egypt. Thank you for rocking with us.

Speaker 1: 52:20

I love opening the platform and seeing the international folks that rock with us and, of course, the folks that rock with us domestically. Shout out to Texas, Hawaii, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina. We love y'all.

Speaker 2: 52:36

Thank you, so so so much for rocking out with us.

Speaker 1: 52:39

We are going to get out of here until the next one. Bye.