HR BESTIES - HR Besties: Content Creation 101

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

Today’s agenda:  Jamie's wigs Cringe corporate speak: pick your brain Hot topic: all things content creation: answering your questions, tips and tricks, getting started and best practises for businesses and HR professionals The path to social media growth is different for everyone Mimicking what someone else has done is not the answer to social influencing. Authenticity is key. What inspired us to begin creating content? What inspires us now? Although it can be useful, try to not overanalyze the data. Stay aligned with who you are and wish to be on socials Dealing with the haters Consistency is key... but finding balance is also important Your To-Do List: Grab merch, submit Questions & Comments, and make sure that you’re the first to know about our In-Person Meetings (events!) at https://www.hrbesties.com. Follow your Besties across the socials and check out our resumes here: https://www.hrbesties.com/about.  Subscribe to the HR Besties Newsletter - https://hr-besties.beehiiv.com/subscribe We look forward to seeing you in our next meeting - don’t worry, we’ll have a hard stop! Yours in Business + Bullsh*t,  Leigh, Jamie & Ashley Follow Bestie Leigh! https://www.tiktok.com/@hrmanifesto https://www.instagram.com/hrmanifesto https://www.hrmanifesto.com Follow Bestie Ashley! https://www.tiktok.com/@managermethod  https://www.instagram.com/managermethod https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyherd/ https://managermethod.com Follow Bestie Jamie! https://www.millennialmisery.com/ Humorous Resources: Instagram • YouTube • Threads • Facebook • X Millennial Misery: Instagram • Threads • Facebook • X Horrendous HR: Instagram • Threads • Facebook Tune in to “HR Besties,” a business, work and management podcast hosted by Leigh Elena Henderson (HRManifesto), Ashley Herd (ManagerMethod) and Jamie Jackson (Humorous_Resources), where we navigate the labyrinth of corporate culture, from cringe corporate speak to toxic leadership. Whether you’re in Human Resources or not, corporate or small business, we offer sneak peeks into surviving work, hiring strategies, and making the employee experience better for all. Tune in for real talk on employee engagement, green flags in the workplace, and how to turn red flags into real change. Don't miss our chats about leadership, career coaching, and takes from work travel and watercooler gossip. Get new episodes every Wednesday and Friday, follow us on socials for the latest updates, and join us at our virtual happy hours to share your HR stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So there was a time on social media that your girl, me, Jamie, wore wigs and a very heavy filter on the TikToks and Instagrams. And a lot of people had no idea why I was doing that. And I think most people just thought I was playing a character, which kind of worked out well because now I do use those wigs for characters. But I actually, there was a reasoning behind my wigs. And the reasoning was, even though I was very forthright at my job at the time, that I was on social media, and they were supportive of it.

Someone kept sending my videos to my boss and she started to get worried. And so she essentially sat me down, wrote me like a little letter. And this is actually how Ashley and I became good friends. Ashley and I were already friends via social media, but I reached out to Ashley and I was like, this is fucking bullshit. Like, what do I do with this? And so Ashley having a yes face, thank God. I mean, I guess it worked out to your advantage because look at now we're all in a podcast, but Yeah, we're good. No, no, no. It was good.

I reached out to her and I'm like, this feels like bullshit. What are your thoughts? And essentially they were asking me to not show my face on social media, but my face is a part of the brand. And even though my memes, I am behind the scenes. I was like, fuck that noise. And so I invested in a couple of cheap wigs on Amazon and I proceeded to continue to do my videos in a wig and a very heavy glamour filter. And I mean, I was even like in my fucking pool.

Like I was, I was committed. So if you ever see me posting a video from like two, three years ago with a wig and that heavy ass filter on, that's why, cause I actually had someone once make like a snide comment about it. They're like, why are you doing this? you'd look so you look so silly with that filter on everyone can tell it's fake. I'm like, that's kind of the fucking point. But I said, you know, the reason why I was like, I'm incognito. Yeah, I was like, I'm trying to be incognito. And they were like, well, but don't you aren't you

like in articles and stuff? Because I had like an HR brew article come out. And I'm like, sure do. Like a New York Times article came out like almost back to back. I'm like, sure do. But for some reason, the articles don't bother them. The social media does. I mean, I can remember walking up and down my street with AirPods in talking to Jamie and stopping on my phone and she was like, I'll send, she's like, I'll send you what they sent me.

And I'm like, what do you mean sent me? It wasn't just a conversation. She's like, no, no, they want me to sign something and I was like, what the fuck But also I was like because I was looking at the videos and I'm like, I guess I never noticed it was like a heavy filter I'm like cuz this is you like I can tell this is you this isn't even pixelated like a dateline episode This is oh, yeah, and she's like no, I know you can literally tell that it's me like there is no question But so I remember getting back, coming up to my computer, and reading this thing.

And I was like, what the fuck? I was like, this is the most corporate shit I've ever seen. Literally, it was like, and I told Jamie, I was laughing. I was like, I can tell you a law firm lawyer was involved in drafting this 100%. Oh my god. It was like, first of all, because it was a letter. And it was all bold pointed out with the things.

And I remember talking to Jamie and I was like, listen, like, do you care if you get fired? I was like, I want to ask you really honestly, do you care if you get fired? Like, is that like, and she's like, no, I do. And I'm like, okay, so you got to sign this. I do, which I'm like, everybody's always got to choose what you're going to do based on what you want to happen. And I'm like, if you're willing to live within these, I was like, I mean, honestly, I'll

be like, this is the stupidest shit I've ever seen. Because I can understand they're trying to thread a needle here. But yeah, it was, I chuckled looking at that one. See, that's why I didn't recognize you when I first met you, because the hair, like from so you know what I mean? Like, but your hair is so long, I thought. And then I remember going back and watching. I was like, oh, that's a that's a wig. And that's a you know what I mean? Like, but your hair is so long, I thought. And then I remember going back and watching. I was like, oh, that's a that's a wig and that's a, you know what I mean? It's like, oh, gosh. Yeah. Yeah. And then you realize, you know, that girls trying to stay employed over here.

You know what I mean? I was trying to. But it's all good because my current company wrote it into my offer letter that it was OK. So. Mm hmm. Red One. We're coming at you. Is the movie event of the holiday season. into my offer letter that it was okay. So. I might just go back to the car. Let's save Christmas. I'm not gonna say that. Say it. Alright. Let's save Christmas. There it is.

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But first things first, though, we'll do some Cringe Corporate speak, and that's going to be brought to us by Ashley today. Thank you in advance for covering that. And then our hot topic of this meeting is another topic that so many of you all ask us questions about. So this is a listener proposed topic and it's all things content creation 101. So I've got some of the questions that you all have asked us here. I'm sure we'll just start talking right in our business and bullshit, you know, kind of way. But it turns out some of you all are curious on what the hell is content creation behind the scenes, especially for business people and HR professionals and some of our tips and best practices.

It sounds like so many of you all are interested and, you know, doing more with your socials and self-promotion, which is really, really cool for us to hear. You know, so we'll turn that inside out and talk all things, content creation and influencing social promotion. And then of course, at the end, we will do questions and comments as always. Ashley, cringe corporate speak. What do you got for us today? I'm sure it's a good one.

Well, today's corporate speak is aligned with all of the topics today, and that is pick your brain. And the way people will tend to hear that is you may hear that at work by someone stopping by often when you're very busy, but someone will say, let me pick your brain on something. Or you may get that from people outside of work who just want free advice. You're not even paid for it. But so this aspect of pick your brain, which is like, I want information on something that's taken you a long time to build up. And I want that really quickly and free and applicable to my situation. And I say that because also there is a lot of value in giving your advice to

others and we all try to do that on the podcast and through our social media. But have you all ever heard, pick your brain? Oh, yes. I probably have at some point. I wouldn't say regularly. Do you use it? I don't think I use it. Yeah.

Yeah. Hey, let me ask you something. Yeah. Hey, let me get your advice on something. Yes. Yes. I do more than that. But yeah, pick your ask you something. Yeah. Hey, let me get your advice on something. Hey, let me do it. Yes. Yes. I do more than that. But yeah, pick your brain is a little cringe. I don't know why, but I always like picture like monkeys, like eating lice off of each other. Like that, like, you know what I mean? Like someone's like, like up in your

hair. The origins are, and I had looked into this, the what the origins are. Because, Lee, you did that last time. It's actually saying. That's my job. If I don't do it, then I have no value. And so, no. Just kidding. But the origins are from the 1800s of when physicians would actually take apart pieces of someone's brain to diagnose them.

So that was the picking of the brain. But now, they said it became popular again in the 1980s and 90s with corporate deals of picking your brain between picking the brains of corporate tech or whatever executives. But Jamie, Jamie, what do you think? Gross. I'm grossed out because now that's what I'm going to picture. Like lobotomies. Yeah, like literal.

Like autopsy. Yeah. Lobotomies. I will no longer be using that. I will stop myself dead in my tracks. Just you can just ask for advice. It's not sometimes we have the corporate speaking, what we give us an alternative is so long. Yeah, exactly. It's really that easy. Hey, I got a couple questions. I'd say thought partner from my time in corporate, I say thought partner. From my time at corporate, I say thought partner, which I can't remember if we've used that

as a Grinch corporates people. We have. Yeah, yeah. We did thought leader. Oh, thought leader. That's what it was. Thought leader, but I don't think thought partner is more of a, you wouldn't tend to put thought leader would be on your LinkedIn headline.

Thought partner would be in your mouth. In your mouth. Thought partner, and like your corporates speak, but we will see this, and maybe this is a transition, is we will see this at times of people reaching out. Being like, you've built this social media following. Let me pick your brain on how to do that. And again, there's reasons that it's hard to, I mean, certainly, I mean, the paths we have each taken

are very different to get to where we are today. And we can talk about that. But so there's absolutely none. And I can tell you, the number one recipe for disaster is to try to mimic exactly what somebody else has done. Because when we see it, it just never comes across as quite your authentic voice. I think that's a great transition. Paths into content creation, social influencing. What do people want to know?

That's like one of the top questions. It really is like, I thought I got a list over here. How did you get started as a content creator? What inspired you to get started? Lee, you want to kick us off? Yeah. I had left yet another horrifically toxic job, right? And I said, hey, I'm going to take the summer off,

and I'm going to write the summer off and I'm going to write that book that I'm still writing. But the book that every HR person says they're going to write. And then I wanted to test content for that book. And I downloaded TikTok, posted two videos that day. It was June 3rd, 2021. That's my HR manifesto inception date there, my TikTok-aversary. And I think it was two weeks later, I had 10,000 followers, you know? So the content really resonated with people, which I was thankful for. And I went into it just saying, hey, I want to help one person, video two, someone reached out to me with a DM and said it was helpful in some way. I think I have a screenshot of

that. I took a photo. So everything for me since then was, hey, well, I already accomplished my goal of helping someone. And so it's just kind of been gravy ever since. But that's how I got started in doing that. I had a break. I had a pivot point career-wise and this was very unexpected and not at all purposeful. Ladies, anybody, anybody? I know I've told this story before, but humorous resources was actually always something that I actually started a Pinterest board, I think in 2015 about it.

And it's something I'd always kind of had in the back of my head and I didn't know what that meant or what it was, but somehow bringing humor to HR. And so how it started was in September of 2020, you know, during the pandemic, I was working in health care, HR, and I literally felt like I was going insane. And so I was a departmental one and I really just needed some humor. But I was like thinking of the funny things in my head. So I just kind of started humorous resources. And I was shocked that to be completely honest, I don't know,

I mean, like, memes, you know, like, they're, they're just silly little things, you know, but I didn't realize that it would take off as much as it would. And it's turned into like this corporate humor commiserate page that we all laugh about dumb shit and corporate. And it's not just corporate America, you know what I mean? And millennial misery too. I mean, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Millennial misery was later because like, it was July of 2021. I had so many nostalgia things that I remembered from my childhood being an elder millennial

that I wanted to share memes that obviously didn't fit on humorous resources. So I started Millennial Misery. How do you get your memes? Like how did you get your memes? Maybe that's changed over time. It's usually like I will think of something or I'll see a photo and I will be like, oh my God, that's me when I haven't had my coffee in the morning or you know what I mean?

It's usually when I see photos and so like a lot of times I'm inspired by watching like if there's an award show or even like sometimes when I'm watching football on Sundays with my husband and they'll like show Aaron Rodgers on the sideline looking defeated because he plays for the Jets. And being like, oh my God, I could make a meme out of that. And just kind of humanizing celebrities too a little bit, but even like Simpsons and stuff like that. It's just, I get inspired by seeing little things like that and making them more human for us.

I mean, I kind of say that thoughts in my head and I've told you all I wanted to be a playwright growing up, and I'd never did anything really that creative professionally with it. But I had left my corporate job in summer of 2020, because I wanted to do something different. COVID, again, I was exhausted from being in legal and people. And I'd started manager method before that, and was going to work more on that and had actually had manager method as an organization, as a going to work more on that, and had actually had Manager Method as an organization, as a company to help do manager training and things like that. I had that written into my deal the prior year,

but then COVID happened, and so all I did was work at that corporate job. And so I left that job to start Manager Method. I started that connected to my husband's friend's search firm, like a legal search firm. And so I was helping him do recruiting, and so I got a taste of that, which is like, oh my God, I realized that is not for me.

And also I realized in the recruiting world, people wanting recruiting candidates to do not give a shit about manager training at the moment. And so it just didn't make sense. So I was doing fractional work and things like that. So honestly, I was really like at my most on steady. Like I had this idea for manager method. I was doing some of it.

I had a lot of self-doubt. Do I go back into corporate? And so as I started doing then fractional work, including working with some prior companies, it was January of 2022. And I actually had started first on YouTube because I was doing videos where I broke down the OSHA vaccine mandate, which in the US was the mandate by this government agency about vaccinations of employees. It's totally wild to think about it now. That kind of went through a lot of the same core processes that like the non-compete ban, exempt salary bans.

When you hear me break those down, I was doing that, doing like long blogs, Q&A about that. So I did a super long Q&A blog about that. People are like, oh, this is really helpful to break it down. And that's when I realized my background, everything that made me feel really unsteady of like, what the fuck am I? Like, I'd been a lawyer. I became head of HR at North America at McKinsey. And I left that to start this.

What the fuck was I thinking? And a lot of those doubts. But then I thought, well, hold on a second. I can take these things, but break them down into concepts for people that don't always they don't have to and should not go to law school, God knows, or HR. And so I started making, I did the TikTok videos

on my personal channel with my kids for years before that. But I started just doing these role play kind of things, videos on TikTok first. And I didn't have quite that growth. doing these role-play kind of things, videos on TikTok first. And I didn't have quite that growth, but about six months later, I hit just a wave in the algorithm when I did a video about pumping at work. And I then gained like 100,000 followers within just a few weeks from that. And it was totally wild.

But that's kind of what got me going with content creation. But I first, again, like a lot of you all I started and hit videos and I when I look at them now I'm like, oh my god, they're so broke ass, but I just was trying to find my my voice I am so dreading groceries this week. Why you can skip it. Oh what just like that? Just like that. How about dinner with my third cousin? Skip it. Prince Fluffy's favorite treats? Skip-able. Midnight snacks? Skip. My neighbor's nightly saxophone practices? Er, nope, you're on your own there. Could have skipped it? Should have skipped it. Skip to the good part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on skip.

Interior Chinatown is an all-new series based on the best-selling novel by Charles Yu about a struggling Asian actor who gets a bigger part than he expected when he witnesses a crime in Chinatown streaming November 19th only on Disney+. You want another question from a bestie? Yeah. I've got. How do you consistently come up with fresh ideas for content? I think it's kind of like what's trending right now on social media. So like, you know, a couple months back when it was quiet, quiet quitting, quiet vacationing, or even like when it's a trend on TikTok, like the demure, very demure. I like to

take those trends and flip them in a different way or even like spin it in an HR way on it. That's kind of where I look is like what's trending right now? What's everyone talking about? I probably have a mix of like trending, or someone will tag into a video. And sometimes I see those, sometimes I don't, but I'll stitch that. But I don't have a broad strategy on things, but I will have, I think a lot of us have a notes app on my phone, and I just have a list of different things. And some of that I think of the employee life cycle, things people go through, from exit interviews to interviews to parental

leave. Other times, you can look at news articles that will always, there's the content, real life always has content or experiences that, especially if I've seen those happen more than once. That's right, Breanne. What about you, Leigh? Well, I am very neurologically spicy. I absolutely have ADHD and anxiety, and I'm an only child, which should also be some sort of disorder or something, some sort of mental illness.

But I cannot turn my mind off. So I'm one of those people where I'm almost haunted with it half the time, right? I have crazy vivid dreams. I've just, like the thing is just busy over here. So I'll tell you that most of my content just is unscripted. It's me talking to a camera. That's what makes it really easy for me to do and why it comes across very authentic or genuine because I'm not reading anything half the time, right, or 95% of the time. And it's just me, like, from my heart kind of speaking. It really is. Or my memes, you know, like, so,

so I like, Ashley, I have an open email draft. Not even a notes app, damn. I mean, it's like a Google open draft email of like thousands of ideas. And then I have something over in the Google draft. I mean, so the ideas are just everywhere. I have to write them down constantly. That's why it's an open draft on my email. Just real quick, I could just throw something in there to remember the idea, right? Like when I get out of the shower or whatnot.

But I don't I don't follow anybody, as you all know. And, you know, they laugh at me about. So my algorithms, a trash can, I just get all whatever. I don't spend a lot of time on the social like that. Half the time I know I don't even they know I don't even like know the news. I learn all my shit from them and the text group. I'm not even kidding. So that's where I get my intel. So I'm really not inspired a lot by what I'm reading or seeing. It's more, it's coming inside. So I just talk about whatever, for the most part, whatever I feel like, I guess. That doesn't help anyone else create their own content.

But if your mind's a fucking mess like mine, there's a way to get it out, right? So people call my page therapeutic. Yeah, for me, too. Like, really, I mean, you know, it's very cathartic for me, too. Every once in a while, I'll talk to other people. I don't really talk to anybody generally except for Lee and Jamie.

No, I mean, we all talk. That's a lie. But people will talk about things and they're so into analytics and strategy and stuff like that. And on some hand, it depends what you want it for. But there's a reason when you look at like, and we'll get into this, brands and brands that want to work with individual social media creators, there's a reason that with some certain exceptions, but a lot of brand social media is terrible because it's like, it's like every law firm

on LinkedIn that like their pages are all like, you know, announcing webinar, October, you know, whatever November, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like it's all very factual or boring or other brands that'll try to like bring a like a trending concept in once and you're like, oh Okay. Okay or people that I talked to that are like so focused on like follower counts and analytics in view views and I understand that and there's obviously some like dopamine and other reasons for that but I Mean I in some of this is, you know, probably, I probably looked at that stuff more when I was first starting out,

but when you quickly realize it's a little bit of a crap shoot, but that's also one thing that you learn over time, and now having done this two and a half years is that's not where my joy is gonna come from, and I would much rather have an account that I do work that I enjoy doing. And honestly, some of that I think has been stuff that Lee, like Lee has talked about in some of this of finding your joy and doing things that, yeah,

finding your purpose and leaning into that. But I think if you focus a lot on those analytics and views, or I'm going to delete this video, it doesn't have views, or these things, if you're trying too hard, then it tends to come through through or if you're trying to be like other people Mm-hmm. Yeah, we bitch about that Between us as content creators talk, you know, we're not all friends with each other like y'all think but but we do talk You know and that's one thing where it's like It's disingenuous. It's not yeah when you're It's disingenuous. It's not authentic.

Yeah. When you're blatantly copying another content creator and not even giving them credit or inspired by. Yeah. Give me an inspo. Give me an inspo. Come on. That's insanely frustrating.

Yeah. That's insanely frustrating. Yeah. It just comes across corny sometimes of like, there's so many people that have great content. Like, oh, that's fantastic. But then when you see some like, and I will see it often when I see one person that does something all the time, and then somebody else starts doing that. And you're like, and it's like, exactly the same other people will be like, Oh, this person copied me. And you're like, well, that's not that's a very, I mean, again, people have the same,

the same thoughts. What's a fine line, but really like focusing on the stuff that's that's where I've found my most success. And I don't mean success in a money or views or things way, but the feeling I have. I love what I am doing right now in my work and my life, but in part of that, because I make videos that I enjoy. And everyone's going to make some video. I'm like, I don't really like that, so I just delete it.

Do you delete content sometimes? Well, I don't delete content when I post it. I mean, I don't really like that so I just delete it. Do you delete content sometimes? Well I don't delete content when I post it. I mean I just don't post it. Well rarely. Oh like I misspoke. But I think one thing is I don't know if people ask questions on this but the hate how you deal with the negativity that comes with things. And is that a question people have? How do you handle negative comments or online criticism? That is a question. We send them in our group chat and roast the fuck out of you.

Well I'd say 98% of my shit is very positive. I really enjoy my experience online. If I didn't, I wouldn't do it. So shout out to my fellow toxic workplace survivors or those that follow me. I just adore you all so much. You all are very supportive. It just fills my heart. It really does. It means a lot to me. It makes my days. And so it's rare, thankfully, that I get someone hating on me now. It wasn't always like that. As you start to climb, people tear you down as much as possible to put you in your place. I learned that. First starting out, it's like, oh oh wow, people can see perhaps potential in you

for doing what you're doing. And so at the beginning, there was a lot of, like, wear your mascara this way. You'd be pretty if you didn't do X, Y, and Z. You sound like a man. Are you a man? Is that an Adam's apple? I mean, whatever. I'm not, But you know, you do you, Boobs. But you know, all these things, right? Or this content. Well, I don't know

that I got negative content. It was always mostly my look, I think, or whatever. And people will really criticize you. And I noticed that in the beginning, as I've continued and had become, I don't want to say a staple, but maybe from a social perspective, it's been three years now, right? So I've been coming up on people's feeds or they would have just ignored or blocked me by now, which I totally please do if I'm annoying. I don't want you to have a bad day. But that really shifted for me to where if someone were to put something people, my followers are going to attack them. They go after them. I see them go on that person's page. I said the bad comment, right? Like you have people that start having your back, right? Because people start really getting to know you and defend you

all funny. But when I do have a negative comment, I get really bad secondhand embarrassment for the person who left the comment, just naturally. And I hate the feeling of embarrassment. And what I tend to do is just delete that comment, because I am embarrassed for them and I don't want to see it. I don't want any negative shit on my page. That page is mine. And I want the vibe to be high. Like you misread the room, looking at these comments, being all fun and jovial and whatever, and then you're gonna come in here with some dumb ass comment, you know?

Like you forgot to put Botox in your forehead. I don't have Botox in my forehead. So yeah, I guess I did forget, but you know what I'm saying, like some dumb ass, like rude or just not a line comment, you know, so to me I just delete them and Then sometimes I block them if they're really like, oh, I do not want to see something like this again You know what I mean, but that's that's how that's how I do it

Which is different than how other people do it, you know So I think everyone kind of used that a little different but in the beginning it was tough because you're being kind of validated, you know, on the interwebs. I think that's the most frustrating though is when people are making comments on your physical appearance. Always physical. And it's like, I can't fucking help it

I look like this, you asshole. Like either like my video, laugh or keep scrolling, you know? And that's one thing that still constantly bothers me. Not so much for myself. It's more like when I, when you guys show a comment, like it really pisses me off because I'm like, why you took time out of your day to write the shitty comment on my friend's post for what? You know, and it's, it, I will say it's not just men. Women are bad too. Um, and it's just so disappointing. Like, I'm okay if you don't agree with something. Maybe I'm saying in my video.

That's okay. Go ahead. Yeah, go for it. But if you're going to comment on my appearance, I have a fucking problem with that. And that's just rude. And who raised you? It's rarely about the content. Is that right? No, it's, yeah, it's never. Especially when a female creator, I know in a different experience than our male friends and counterparts on the socials. Yeah. I get some, because I'll talk, I'll talk more about HR and do videos on HR being helpful.

And so I will constantly get legal stuff. And so legal stuff actually, often it's a breakdown of things. And people are like, thank you for breaking this down. But sometimes people are like, this should be, keep this under 60 seconds. I'm like, I'm sorry I can't break down. I try. I really try.

No, because I don't get bonus monies if it's under 60 seconds. Come on. I influence your insight. I'm like, I'm if I'm explaining if trying to explain something like a history because it's like you're damned if you do damned if you're down because otherwise, then I'll make a follow up video that you can tell it's like a responding to a comment on another video because it has the little comment bubble. And I'm talking about non-competes. And someone's like, explain what the fuck non-competes are.

Thanks. Or next time, do that. Like, all rude and like this. And I'm like, and I'll be like, I have a playlist of that. And they're like, the video's too long. OK. So I do get it. I get it on the physical stuff.

I mean, you look old. Or like the person that said I look like Carson Cressley, which I like Carson Cressley. So there we are. It's fine. You do get that stuff. I mean, you look old. Or like the person that said I look like Carson Kressley, which I like Carson Kressley, so there we are. But it's fine. You do get that stuff. But I do get on the content aspect as well. And so for those that are listening that are wanting to think about getting into it, I mean,

the number one thing I say to people is be consistent, because that's a gap. And it doesn't mean like, you know, we've talked about taking breaks. And again, I start out for when I first did it. I do because that's a gap. And it doesn't mean like, you know, we've talked about taking breaks. And again, I start, for when I first did it, I do videos seven days a week. I do not do that anymore. But being consistent is showing up,

at least on a regular basis, but also stealing yourself against the negativity and knowing no matter how much you say you are, it really sucks. And so having people that you can talk to and reach out to and knowing when those things happen, those can really mentally impact you and other things that can happen.

The ladies know I've had, earlier this year, I had one that rocked me to my core, honestly. And it was someone that put out a really attacking post that was also wrong. But then I don't want to give this person attention by saying wrong. That had a ton of engagement, was incredibly personal and wrong. And my kids saw it because it was on a platform that my kids, I would not have think there was something negative. And it was really unnecessary and brutal and so inappropriate.

And so those things happen and they kind of will make you question everything. So ultimately, it's deciding like, if you're the star, just thinking like, what are you going to do when these things happen? And sometimes you don't know until they happen. So anyway, I was just going to say, and I had a whole blog post written about me because I defended you. So that, that fucking lady's a nevermind. Anyway, well, it's, it just got, it was, it was personal in an aspect of it, but it's the risk and dark side.

That is the risk. That is the dark side. You're putting yourself out there, right? I mean, so- But I think other times, and people may ask this, is then, so now, so I have my own business now. And so for me, it's nice. It's kind of a sieve. So like I have all my own business now. And so for me, it's nice, it's kind of a sieve.

So like I have all my kind of, you can kind of get the flavor of my general approach. And now I don't talk in manager training quite like I do to Luke in my, those videos, but the approach I have, people can see it. And so it's been helpful for me because when I talk to people, like they know generally what to expect or my approach. But I don't have to. It is very freeing because things like breaking down a sherm lawsuit or things. There's no way. I wouldn't do that

if I worked probably in a law firm environment or I worked for a company. I probably would have felt too nervous. And so Jamie in particular, I'm curious how you now, again, doing still full-time work, how you do, how you do balance that. Yeah. I mean, obviously it's, I don't put out content regularly as far as my TikTok videos consistently. I wish that I could be more consistent, but having a job that does require me and also I'm in HR. So you never know when there's a fire going to happen or everything's changing tomorrow and all hands on deck or you know what I mean?

I wish that I was more consistent. I do try to batch record as much as I can, but sometimes I'm just not in the mood. I'm just not in the mood and I don't want to. So I do the best that I can. I try to record on weekends to have stuff filled up so I'm not cutting into my real job. I mean, it's difficult.

And a lot of times I too have a notes app of things that I want to make a meme of, or I really wanted to make a Halloween post semi-recently. And I kept saying I was going to do it. And finally I was like, I have to sit down and do it. Otherwise, I'm never going to do it. So it's really hard, you know, between the podcast, my socials, my real job, being a mom, being a wife. It's hard to juggle everything. But you know, you just you just kind of take it day by day and then you just decide what's important to you. I didn't hear any being Jamie.

Being Jamie there. No, no. Jamie's never in the equation. Well. Well. We will have something to say. I know, always. But I'll tell you, I was working corporate and doing this, what, up until the end of last year.

Yeah, you were. So 2024 was, this is my first year being a full-time content creator, writer, speaker, all of those things, everything on the creative corporate side. I don't even know what you call this niche that we're in. But it was hell trying to balance all of that. Because like Jamie said, sometimes you're not in the mood to create and you had to strike when the iron's hot. So you'd have a day where, man, you're in the mood, you're on fire mentally,

your heart's in everything, your energy is high, you're feeling great. And then what you're at a work conference, or you have all day meetings and it's like, there goes all the creativity just sucked out. So it's incredibly hard to balance both, when you have passions and responsibilities and all of that, just like anything else people have with their hobbies and multiple jobs and side hustles. It's hard to balance all of that. It's a bitch. But you prioritize what means something to you. Part of it, same as I was doing fractional work. Yes, I remember. Really having manager method for, for you, for, you know, I started manager method in December of 2019 is when I registered

manager method, but it was only in January of this year that it was full on manager method. And I started building a team in 2023. So we have a team, it's a team of three, but I was still doing fractional work. So like I was in it doing work for multiple company. I was a general counsel. I did even general counsel last year and then head of people in room for Blue Stone Lane Coffee Company, which I love, Australian in the US. But it was part of it was also, yeah, it's the same thing. In particular for me, having been a lawyer is that legal background is helpful because

it's brought me a lot of, like especially in forms, things that I'm like, managers really need to know this because it's gonna cost a lot of money if they don't do it. What's really important to me is to teach managers what to do and what not to do because of the impact it has on people. But I also know at times working with employers, like they need to understand the financial cost of it.

But what was challenging to me is, even though generally I've actually enjoyed the legal work I've done, is you do feel like a situational janitor. You've got to figure things out. And so for me, making that shift, and now almost a year ago, in doing that, there was some fear to it. A lot of people probably have, which is you've got to have,

to Lee's point, of choosing what you want to do. That's also a bit of a privilege. And I've worked my ass off to get to the point where I could run manager method full time. And it's been amazing. Like my fear of like, what's going to happen if I'm not doing the legal work that, you know, it pays very well for actual legal work is, is now, you know, I create these and do training programs and I love it. Love love love love what I do. And so I

discounted a bit the joy I would feel and that also like things will work out. But no, you know, also don't, yeah, so don't quit your job and try to become a full-time content creator straight away. Because that's, if you do get there, which is very hard, it's hard, it's going to take a long time to get there. So there are times that you, you know, may have multiple layers to that career quilt and you got to leverage the ones that pay the bills. Well, and I want to say something very important is when you see your favorite content creator promoting a brand, interact with it, leave a comment.

Don't put anything shitty or stupid underneath it, because here's what I'm going to say. We are producing content and providing content free. We do not get paid by any of these social media platforms to post content. It is all free. We may get, like if we set up subscriptions, we may get a small nugget of that. Maybe,

maybe, maybe, maybe. TikTok has a creator fund. I've never seen any money from that creator fund and I've been in it for several years. But it, we do not make money from having followers. Like for instance, I have you know over what probably two over two million followers across my accounts. I don't get money from followers and I think that's a common misconception that followers equal money and that I know where we get our money is with these brand deals and you can call us sellouts whatever you want. You. I'm trying to feed my family and provide them holiday. And my husband's driving an old ass car.

I'm trying to get him a car that's reliable. So if you see me posting something, don't be a hater. Just keep scrolling or like it and interact with it and go on. I know I'm incredibly picky. And I know these ladies are too about what we put on our account. We want to make sure it's brands that make sense for our followers, but make sense with the content we're putting out or brands that we actually use and like. The same goes for the podcast too, right? We actually want to believe in what we're

selling. But that is the little bit of money that we do receive is from those brands. And so it's important that I say this because this is my mic drop moment because that bothers me the most is when I remember I posted something on Millennial Misery and someone said, I don't know what they said. It was just so hateful. It was like, I'm going to unfollow this fucking account. This is goddamn ridiculous that this person's posting something. And I'm like, yeah, God forbid I make $200 on posting this ad. Literally I'm making...

I think you said, oh, God forbid I buy my children Christmas presents or something. Yeah, literally. It was like a response like that. Literally. Like, God forbid I buy that one thing my child wanted that I couldn't afford before, you know? And it's like, I created all this and I busted my ass. Yes, I know that sounds silly because it's social media, but I worked hard to create

this social media empire. And God forbid, I'm not trying to press a vibrator on you. Damn. Damn. But you know what I mean? That's one thing that I think frustrates me the most is haters about comments. And look, I know that there's pages, every other damn fucking post is an ad. But there are people that also really thoughtful, and I can say at least the three of us are very thoughtful about what we post and brands we work with. We've definitely had ones. We've had ones recently.

I mean, I look at it and be like, I don't want to, I want to hold off on promoting. And I'll once that I won't even have the conversation. Like I don't even know how much it possibly is because I'm like, Oh, I just want to, I appreciate it. Or it's something that's's in a similar space to something that I promoted recently. And so sometimes we'll have non-compete type language, speaking of non-competes, non-compete language.

But for me also, it's important to me to not be back to back, speaking out of both sides of my mouth. And so same as I like working with brands that I like and believe in. I'll put them in my newsletter sometimes to make it to like, I really like, I've done one recently that was a salary guide. It was like a free salary guide. And it was, and so some of the comments were like, oh, you're trying to get employers to pay less. I'm like, it's not, go to, go to the link. There's, there's, there's resources for employers, resources for job seekers. I've used this as, as HR to show this is, these are things always to

advocate for increases, never for just, and also for job seekers to have this as a resource. And so, but overwhelmingly, that one was actually probably one of my favorites to date because it was a free resource just to get it in more eyeballs. And I mean, that response was awesome. The team was awesome to work with. And so those are some things, I mean, I don't think any of us anticipated that coming into like when I started making videos and was like making things, I certainly wasn't.

And it, I mean, I remember my first one that was a, an HR company that was like, we want to do a webinar and we'd love to pay you for your time to do this webinar with us. And you're like, what? You want to pay me? Totally. I was on vacation. It was the week I got viral, like with this pumping at work video. And I was like, what do I even charge for that?

And I mean, whatever it was, was so little. And then the response, and do I even charge for that? And I mean, whatever it was was so little. And then the response, and they also, they didn't know what they were doing, which is kind of like funny and cute because we're both like, it's like the awkward first date. Like, what do we do? Who pays the bill? You know what happens? But it was like, you know, now I have a better sense, you know, better sense of things and you know what to do. And I, you know, can do that. But it was pretty funny, but I just felt like I couldn't believe it. I literally couldn't believe it. It's amazing.

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Just a few of the reasons why we're Canada's number one rated online broker by MoneySense. Get started today at questrade.com. This episode is brought to you by Dyson On Track. Dyson On Track headphones Get started today at Questrade.com. engineered for comfort and a range of colors and finishes. Dyson On Track, headphones remastered. Buy from DysonCanada.ca. With ANC on, performance may vary based on environmental conditions and usage, accessories sold separately. Yeah, that was actually one of the questions is,

hey, anything you can share or insights? I don't know, I have it, like I said, I got a list here. No, but it's all about kind of working with brands. Like, what has surprised you working with brands and how do you balance content creation and the business side of being an influencer? And I'll tell you, we signed some big contracts and I don't mean money-wise, but that too. What I mean is the link. Maybe Lee. I mean the link. Yeah. I mean, this is, this has taken off for me and I'm really appreciative about it. I don't have to work in corporate anymore,

but I'm talking the length of contracts. I'm talking 20 page contracts. Like this is a huge deal for billion dollar brands and, and this is marketing. So to Jamie's point, sell out or have I used that product personally? Do I think this is a real solution for others that are like me? Yes. And do I also need to eat? Absolutely. Yes. All of those things. I enjoy shelter. It's a job. Yes, I do enjoy shelter and roofs and home. So please respect the content. And to Jamie's point again, we put out a lot of free laughs and a lot of free therapy and a lot of free support and community and guidance and expertise. And

we all went into it to just do that. Right? This is something, the business part, right? We've been figuring it out and just growing with the growth of our brands. It was never the point, though, to go in for celebrity. It was never the point to go in to do a bunch of social influence marketing on you, right? Or debate and switch you out, you know, or whatever the comments are to sell out, ugh, you know? It's just marketing. We so appreciate your support,

but that was one surprise for me getting into this is just the business of it all, right? When you start working with brands and how lengthy these contracts are and how personal they are and how some brands are paying your sales instead of marketing. I'm not sales. I can't guarantee you nothing. Okay. But I do marketing just to remind you, it's different. But that has been a huge surprise. What about y'all? What big surprise, especially as it pertains to brands? Mine might be more of a surprise for other people because I've gotten, I get this, a lot of times when I meet people, they'll say like, so what do you do exactly? They're like, do you just get paid by again, by the social media and the podcast?

And I say, my main business business is actually manager training. My manager method where I do my course and toolkits I do for organizations and I do trainings, that's what I spend probably more than a full-time job on. I work on it a lot. And so the social media is on top of that, the podcast and our podcast social media is on top of that. But for me, there's like, there are very like, each three of us have different paths. And so I think that's actually surprising to other people is like, I still have like spend most of my time like building like, you know, building my business Lee now is much more in like the creator, the creator space with her with her book and watch her videos. There's reasons for that.

Jamie's actually in corporate. And so why I like that for us as a podcast is, again, me having a legal background. We have our different experiences. But I think that's surprising to some people, because I do think a lot of people still probably think the three of us, all we do is social media ads get paid for just posting videos.

Again, yeah, it does not tend to happen in the podcast. So that's it. But what about you, Jay? I think really probably the most surprising thing working with brands is how little they sometimes know, to be honest. What do you think? What caption do you think would get the most? We'll get the most traction. Me having been a lawyer in HR and I'm like,

I'll tell you, I'll tell you what I think. I mean, I know all three of us have worked with brands. Sometimes it's insanely frustrating when they have no idea what, how something works or a link or a story post or a reel or you know and then and I think that's really the most challenging is like sometimes you'll get with like a marketing person on the other side they know exactly what they're doing and it's easy peasy and other times you work with a brand and it's like you're having to tell them how you cannot click on a link in TikTok

Yeah, you can't click on a link in a caption So it has to go in my bio like and just like yeah We are experts and social media strategy and so that for me has kind of been the most frustrating I've literally also I've on numerous occasions because I do have a real job this is my quote unquote side hustle. What I love to do this one day full time apps of fucking lately, but I have literally walked out of deals because of the frustration. And sometimes it's even like I remember one specifically, this was a couple of years ago with a pretty large brand and memes.

They wanted me to do a couple of memes and I had done all these memes. They loved them. They got approved. Then it was last minute. Oh! And then it was literally like, I think there was like 30 something emails back and forth. And finally I was like, I'm out. I have a real job. I don't need this money that bad. This is way too much effort. Change this, move the font. You know, I mean, sometimes it's just, it's absolutely wild. And I think that's the most, has been the most frustrating for me. Has just been brands that are truly not, this is a new space. This is pretty new space, right? Let's, TikTok really, well, I mean, it's been around for a minute, but it didn't really take off with the marketing aspect till like 2020. And then you really saw brands started using it to

their advantage in 2022, 2023, and especially 2024. And so this is a new marketing thing. So even even people aren't that familiar with how to do it. And so that piece is the frustrating piece for me. Well, one thing that I say is that's one that was surprised me that just happened weeks ago was a brand used one of my videos. Oh, one thing that surprised me that just happened weeks ago was a brand used one of my videos. Oh, yeah. To promote its own product. And it was like an HR. And again, some of what I do is like HR, you know, work with different HR companies. And again, I vet them, I like them, I have

to like see what you're doing, all the things. This company I'd never heard of. And I'm like, look, they tagged me. I'm like, what's this? It's like they remixed your reel. I'm like, I don't know what the fuck that means. But I'm looking, I'm like, oh my God. It was like a video on my like tips for managers and like great tips. Use our product for things. So it wasn't even like fair use, which is like commentary. No, it was literally for promotional purposes. Spoiler alert. Can't do that.

That is illegal. That is absolutely. So and I happen to know that would likely violate the Lanham Act. It's like, anyway, it's a very... That's not an okay thing to do, especially if you don't have an agreement. Then how do you deal with that? I've been on the receiving end, having been a lawyer of demand letters. Often those demands are for six figures. And there can be at times settlements for things like that, of like copyright infringement and use that's five, six figures easily. I decided to use it.

Maybe I'll put it on our HR Bestie social, the note that I sent to them. First, I was like, basically, this is it. What's your proposed resolution? Because I was like, hey, heads up. But they were like, oh my god, I'm sorry. We'll delete it. And I was like, mm-hmm, yes.

But I wrote and was basically kind and like, please let this be a lesson learning, because this is why this isn't OK. And there's a lot of people out there that would not be OK with the deletion. Even having it published for a second is the same legally as having it published for 100 years. So you would owe me normally.

I'm not going to make you do that. I'm going to be kind, Ashley, and let this be a learning lesson. And so I put it. I'm in a Slack group with legal creators still, even though I don't practice. I'm in it with like, and I posted it in there. And just to...

Like, ooh. It was the closest thing to a cease and desist I've gotten in a long time, all through the Instagram DMs. But please let that be, let that be. If you're thinking about using someone's videos for your own commercial purposes, like, please don't do that. Let's see that. I mean, it's messy behind the scenes, right?

I mean, we all have a lot going on with our content, with the followers, our content with the brands, our content with prospective brands, all these. I mean, it is always busy behind the scenes on the socials. It just is. And I mean, I think we're learning still too, right? I mean, let's hope. I mean, I had to set up an LLC. I was like, what the fuck is this? What am I doing? I am. I really am the chief meme officer motherfuckers. But you know, like a couple years ago, when I did

all this, I didn't, I mean, I never anticipated any of this. I never thought I'd have a podcast like this is wild and this is fun and I thank everyone for supporting us because this journey is insane and I still don't know why people find me funny. Well maybe on that note of you curious about why you're funny, we shift into questions and comments but maybe for sake of time we do comments and we share just a quick best practice or two from us, right? For anybody out there, especially our HR besties out there in the field and function that are thinking about putting themselves out there more from a professional and personal brand perspective, maybe just a couple best practices that we think could work to help them. There any insights? I think Ashley already said it was be consistent.

You know, that's the one thing I think I see the most is people are, you know, people always want to pick my brain and ask me for my advice on, you know, how did you do this? How did you create this? And it's like, I'm consistent. I post every single day. And I try to post a couple times a day on my Instagram channels. Now, sometimes I don't fucking feel like it and I don't. But for the most part, you will see at least three posts on each one of my meme pages. Not now the chief meme officer now because that's truly just me. But consistency is key there.

And so keeping your audience engaged is a big one. My three, I'll say one is, lawyer Ashley is make sure you read your employee handbook. And if you have any doubts and you are in that position, getting back to the question I asked Jamie, if you could lose your job over this, make sure just read your handbook on policies and talk to your boss and make sure you get the proper approvals, because what you don't want is a situation where you're having to choose between social and your job if you really want to do social and can't make that choice.

So just be mindful. Two, I'd say, is to be authentic, is to really find what resonates, find what likes it, and try to ignore this aspect of engagement, but find your authentic voice. The third is to be supportive where you can. So for example, Ellie Manuel, who's lovely, very lovely, but recently she'd sent a message and was like, hey,

this person, other creator, has this brand deal. It's a really cool video. Hasn't really gotten much traction, so she's not following that advice. But she's looking at analytics of a friend. She's like, will you go engage with it? And I loved that example coming off a month or so ago of Work Besties Day, but showing that support for other people.

In addition to, if you're just seeing videos, as you grow and then supporting people, that can make a lot of difference. Right? Yeah, you definitely need that network. Right? So, not a question, but a quick comment. Having a network, you know, people that do like or similar work or hobbies or side hustles, boy, does that help, right?

So you can always pick their brains as well. Oh, she got it in. But I also think about when I first started, when I recognized that, oh, hey, you know, HR manifesto, if I can say my own name right, is a thing here on the TikTok. Wow. Let me go and now grab that brand name across all of the socials. Oh, okay. Now let me protect it. LLC, trademark, whatever. Okay. Now let me really focus on brand saturation. So I was very strategic at first in the sense that, hey, my content needs to look sound and be familiar so that it's recognizable. And like,

this is me, you know? And so to start out, I was, like I said, I was very strategic and I was Googling a lot. We didn't have the chat GPT back then readily available. I was Googling a lot, like best practices for doing this shit because what is this shit? Like I said, I fell into it. I wasn't trying to really go into it, right? But educating yourself, whether it's picking brains or it's chat GPTing or Googling or, you know, trying to figure out best practices for doing X, whatever X is for you. And then I'll also say, I'll end on a third one too, is that this isn't for everybody. And that's okay. Try it on. If

it's not working, if you, you know, feel it, if you don't like it, you can stop. So I've had a number of people say, hey, I've been trying this like you and I just don't like it. Should I continue? What the fuck? Like, do you continue roller skating if you keep falling and it hurts? I mean, don't think that hurts. But absolutely try it on if you're curious about it.

Dip a toe in, whatever. And, ride the wave, see what happens. See, people look at us now and they think like we just woke up and this shit happened. Right. Like it wasn't blood, sweat and tears and thoughts and networking and money and investment and shifts and change and all the things we've had to do to get right here. We didn't know shit at the beginning. We weren't even trying to do this, none of us. It takes time. Again, back to consistency. That is key. But if you don't like it and it hurts, don't do it. It's totally fine. But again, if you want to try it on, do it. Take that risk. You know what I mean? So, but again, if you want to try it on, do it.

Take that risk, you know, take that risk is what I'd say and dive in and give it a shot because you don't know if something's for you until you know something ain't for you. Right. I mean, you got to try it. The one thing I'd say is in addition to grabbing it on social media accounts, grab it on Telegram. Oh, I'm not on Telegram. I'm not on Telegram. I think it only is, I don't know if it's for messaging or just sending cash, but that is

the one where on TikTok, where there's a lot of, you know, when you start, when you start hitting big is when you have like a bunch of spam accounts on TikTok that are imposter accounts and we can't get those blocked. That's a problem. Like 30 on there. It's crazy. Yes. But often what they'll say, they'll, they'll say, message me, I guess it is a messaging,

but message me on Telegram. And so like manager, so I own manager method on other places, but they, I would have never used it. And so that is one that a lot of the scammers will use. So manager method on Telegram. So FYI, if you ever see it, Intermetafesto, humorous resources, and manager method on Telegram, but that's, that is one.

I would have thought of that. Grab it there because again, it doesn't stop someone from registering manager method, you know, one manager method, all the things. But at least that is one I hadn't known about. I wish I had because again, I don't know if anyone's actually been scammed. I know a number of people that have nearly fallen for it. Protect yourselves, people. Protect all that hard work, right?

So if you're thinking about it, just start doing it. How about that? Ha ha ha.