The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - Camille Styles On How To Build An Online Business, How To Stand Out From The Crowd, & Tips On Team Building

Episode Date: July 23, 2019

#203: On this episode we sit down with Camille Styles to discuss what it takes to build a substantial online business. We also talk about how to stand out from the crowd and how to build a team to help you do it. To connect with Camille Styles click HERE To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by the Peleton Tread Discover the immersive and challenging total body training you can get from Peloton Tread. Peloton is offering listeners a limited-time offer. Go to www.onepeleton.com, use the code “SKINNY”, to get $100 off accessories with the purchase of a Tread. Produced by Dear Media

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. And they're pink. There's no added sugar. And they promote faster hair growth. They strengthen the elasticity of your hair, which we love. And damaged hair is going to become brighter and more healthy again. The vitamin has all the things that are necessary for hair growth. So you're going to get biotin, selenium, zinc, vitamin A, B6, and B12. That's just a few of them, you guys. You can also count on Hairburst to have a vitamin range. They have hair growth cosmetics. Everything is just promoting this also count on hairburst to have a vitamin range. They have hair growth cosmetics. Everything is just promoting this beautiful luscious hair that we all want.

They have thousands of happy customers around the world and they're huge on Instagram. They have 850,000 followers. So start your hairburst journey today and achieve your hair goals. Use discount code skinny for 20% off at www.hairburst.com. That's skinny for 20% off at hairburst.com. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her. When you start looking at things like, you know, how engaged people are when they come to your site, how many different articles they read, I think headlines have a lot to do

with that. And I'm also a little bit of an analytics nerd. So I love when we're able to do A-B testing on headlines and figure out what are those elements of a headline that really draw people in without feeling like clickbait, which is something I try to avoid. Hey, hey, what's up? We have got a fire episode for you. Camille Stiles, who is the founder and editor-in-chief of camilleStyles.com, is on here. And she has so many good tips for people who are into branding, influencers, content creators,

and people who just want to maybe do a little side hustle off their nine-to-five. For those of you who are new to the show, I'm Lauren Everett's Bostick. Bostick sometimes, it depends on the day. The creator of The Skinny Confidential. And across from me, I have my husband, who really has a great hairline, Michael Bostic. Well, I'm getting compliments now all of a sudden. Today. Wow. We'll give you one.

My name is Michael Bostic. I'm a serial entrepreneur and brand builder, most recently the CEO of the Dear Media Podcast Network and the co-host of this podcast. Guys, we have a great show for you today, but there's one thing that I wanted to jump into. You know, Lauren and I have been going around, we've been speaking for a while, talking to a lot of different people, and a question that continues to come up over and over and over again, literally everywhere we go, every week is about failure and criticism. And I thought, you know, we hadn't talked about this for a while. We always touch on it on the episodes and kind of talk about breaking barriers,

but I really wanted to hone this in a while. We always touch on it on the episodes and kind of talk about breaking barriers, but I really wanted to hone this in right now. I want to really stress the fact, and it's a fact, that anytime you are taking a risk to be great, to achieve something, to put yourself out there, there is a risk of failure. It is very real. There's also a very, very high probability that it's going to come with criticism. But you just have to put yourself out there. You just have to push through all of it. Can you give an example, Michael, of when you were criticized and you continued to push through? Well, I'm criticized probably on the daily. And this is my point. Everything that I've ever done in my life, let's take, I mean, let's just take this podcast show, for example, when Lauren and I started this,

if you guys, early listeners can go back. and even now, we left the episodes up so that people can go back and hear where it started. We started in our kitchen, in our living room, with Taylor, with my sister. Very, very poor sound quality. We're interrupting each other all the time. We did not know how to get on a mic. We did not know what we were doing. We did not know the right equipment. And guess what?

There's a chance that we were going to fail. There still is a chance that we're going to fail. We got a lot of criticism. If you go back and read the early reviews, bad sound quality, constant interruptions, don't know what they're doing. Why does this show exist? This sucks. All of that stuff. We heard it all, not just publicly, but privately people messaging. And I think the whole point and the reason that I want to talk about this is unless you're willing to put yourself out there, there's no way to progress. There's no way to find success. It just comes with the territory. You have to keep pushing through.

I have been criticized my entire life. Like most people, I mean, everyone gets criticism. It's part of the game. It's part of life. It's part of putting yourself out there and it's part of, you know, a job, especially when you want to start your own brand. You guys know that when I had the idea for the Skinny Confidential, I was told so many times not to be a blogger. I was told to go work nine to five. I was told to go work at a news station. I was told I was crazy. How was I going to monetize? But I just really tried to drown out the outside noise and listen to myself. What's that saying you say about kites, honey? Well, I didn't say it. I wish I could take credit, but it's Benjamin Franklin. He said it and he said, kites fly highest against the wind,

not with it. Yes. And that saying has always been in my mind as I've continued to create my brand. And if we're getting really micro about it, I remember a time and I've written about this on the Skinny Confidential blog where I had a call with a huge company, guys. It was a major company. And I was so excited, and we were going to collaborate. And they sounded really into it. I shared lots of different ideas. We were jiving. We're spitballing. They were giving me ideas. It just was a really nice call. And it was a conference call with probably three people. And I got off the phone and hung up. But as I was hanging up, I realized they forgot to hang up. And I still heard them talking. And for five minutes, they went on to bash me. And when I say bash me, it was hideous things. How disgusting I was, how I was filled

with Botox. I was fake because I had a boob job that they would never work with me. That's laughable. I was not on brand for them, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I tried to tell them 10 times. I said, hey, guys, I'm still on the phone, but I guess they had muted me, so they didn't hear me. So I got off the phone, and I really thought about how I was going to handle this situation. And what I ended up doing was instead of, you know, writing some nasty email, I poured sort of my heart and soul into a blog post and just wrote about how this platform is supposed to be a platform that promotes women and their whole message is to bring women together as a community. And they just completely are the opposite behind closed doors. Didn't call out the company. But the point was, if I had taken that criticism that they gave me about what a horrible blogger I was and how I was filled with Botox and blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, and let that stop me, I would have stopped three years ago. So I just think it's really important to take criticism with a grain of salt. You can't let it get in the way. If you're going to create content, if you're going to create a show, if you're going to create a business, you're going to create a brand, you're going to create a product line, there's a question you have to ask yourself, and that's if you can handle failure and criticism. If the answer is yes, then what the hell are you waiting for? Get going. Start. If the answer is no, then you got to ask yourself why. What will happen if you fail? What will happen if you get criticized? Are you really that worried about Uncle Joe and Susie Q and these people behind a keyboard that you don't know and probably will

never know talking bad about you? Stuff you probably won't even hear unless you were checked into social. Like, does it really matter? If you fail, are the people that are your actual peers, are they going to respect you for trying or are they going to not or not, right? Are they going to sit there and say, well, it's better you never tried. Good for you. Are they going to respect you for trying or are they going to not or not? Right. Are they going to sit there and say, well, it's better you never tried good for you? Or are they going to say, you know, you tried and gave it your all and you failed, pick yourself up and get going. Like those are the questions you need to ask yourself. And I think most of the time when we step back and we look and say, do we actually, does it really matter if you fail or criticized and you start to go through the rabbit hole and ask yourself, like you'll start to see

most of your answers are pretty silly and it doesn't matter. Yeah. And why Rick from finance is criticizing you behind a screen, like Michael said, and making fun of you and you're out there hustling and actually making things happen for yourself. I feel like that in itself is just perspective. For me, I know I'm not for everyone. Not everyone's going to like me. And I think with the experience that I had with that huge company, it just made me stronger. It's like my armor is even stronger because of that. So if you're out there and you're listening and you're dictating your life and your business on what other people think and other people's opinions, stop.

Like stop, drop, and roll. You know what I mean? Stop and really, really think about what matters in life. And in my opinion, what matters is that you're doing your own thing on your own terms. And this is something that's going to piss some people off, but I'm going to say it anyway. If you're being criticized, those people that are criticizing you, they are losers. And I mean that they are losers. They are wasting their time. They're wasting their energy on something that is completely nonproductive in their life. It

doesn't help them. It doesn't help you. It doesn't help the world. They're losers. It's a waste of time. If you are somebody that finds yourself criticizing other people, you are a loser. And I mean that. I know that's going to shock some people and it's going to upset some people, but it's true. You're wasting your time. You're wasting your energy. Get out there and put it towards productive uses. Don't worry about failure. Don't worry about criticism. Worry about achievement. That's the only thing in progress and moving forward and putting better things into the world and helping people. Wow, honey, look at you. You're on a roll today. Did you have a cup of coffee or what? I haven't had a cup of coffee in a month. I'm just fired up about this topic. Okay. Well, that's enough firing people up. With that, let's get into the episode.

Camille's passion is inspiring others to live a happy and healthy life. She believes that everyday moments are a cause for celebration. Camille is also an author of a bestselling book, Camille Stiles, entertaining and a proud mom to her two children. Camille has proven herself to be a badass influencer. She has a huge team and she knows her shit when it comes to the influencer space. I met Camille when we spoke on a panel with Sophia from Hello Giggles, Julia from Gal Meets Glam, and Mary from Happily Gray. And we had this really great conversation. I immediately fell in love with her. And she actually flew out to LA to shoot my home. So if you want to check it out on her site, you can just search the Skinny Confidential on Camille Styles. With that, let's welcome Camille to the podcast. Quick little break. Let me tell you about the Peloton tread. Guys, this is major because not only are you burning calories and getting a sweat

in, you're also saving time. There's really nothing worse, and really bear with me on this one, when you have to get in your car, drive 10 to 20 minutes to the gym, go take a workout class. You get distracted by Sally who's next to you and wants to have a full conversation. And then you have to get back into your car and drive home. What's better is just working out in the comfort of your own home. We've been on a crusade to really push people to switch up their routines, I may say, that keep every workout unique, whether that's stretching, walking, running, whatever it may be. The Peloton Tread has something for you. It's constantly switching it up and it looks great in your house,

your office, wherever you want it, backyard, garage, anywhere. The fun thing about this too is it's a total body workout. So you're going to have convenience in both time and location. You have world-class instructors. You're working your full body and you have the variety, bootcamp, running, walking, stretching, the works. You're going to feel it is what she's trying to say. You're going to feel it. You're going to feel it the next day. You're going to feel the workout. And your workout's going to go from perhaps, I don't know, a two and a half hour whole situation to 30 minutes to an hour. Effective. Discover the immersive and challenging total

body training you can get from the Peloton Tread. Peloton is offering listeners a limited time offer. Go to onepeloton.com and use the code skinny to get $100 off accessories with the purchase of a tread. Again, go to onepeloton.com and use the code SKINNY to get $100 off accessories with the purchase of a tread. Guys, enjoy, switch it up, and have fun on the tread. Introduce yourself to the Skinny Confidential, him and her listeners. Give us a little background where you grew up, your childhood. Okay, well, I'm Camille Stiles. I'm the founder and editor-in-chief of the lifestyle site, CamilleStiles.com.

I live in Austin, where I lead a team of seven amazing women who are more like family than coworkers, which we can get into later. It has its own set of challenges sometimes. But I'm the mother to two kids. Phoebe is six and Henry just turned four. Can't believe they're that old. And I'm originally from Texas, but my family moved around a bit as a kid. I grew up in Missouri for a lot of my childhood, ended up going to Mizzou and was a journalism school major. Thought that I was destined to be a hot shot at an ad agency, totally what I wanted to do at the time. And then it's funny just the way that you learn as you start to get internships

and start to have a little bit of real world experience, like what some of these glamorous sounding jobs are actually like in the real world. The grind. The grind. I worked in PR, lowest level assistant for a PR house in New York for a few months. And I was like, this is not for me. I didn't love the pace of New York. I didn't love the vibe. I missed my warm, friendly Texans. So I was kind of at a point in my life where I was single. I was just out of college and I had been to Austin a couple of times and just kind of at a point in my life where I was single. I was just out of college and I had been to Austin a couple of times and just kind of had this gut instinct that it was a place I could really make a life and love my life. So I moved there with no connections, no job. Ended up

working for an event planning company, which I fell in love with a couple of years later, started my own event planning company when I was 24 and started my blog as a side creative project. That was in 2009. Well, Lauren, I need to work on my backstory. That was a really solid explanation of a backstory. Mine, I jump around. I don't know what to do. I'm going to take some tips from you. Yeah. Take some tips. It's hard to know. We could obviously all tell so many different things about our past. I could have gone into this horrible car accident I was in and all of these things that are huge learnings, but it's hard to kind of figure out what are those things that really matter, which I think is a lot of what I do as an editor. In a way, it's when I'm writing a story, I'm figuring out what are

those tidbits that really matter to our reader and that are really, you know, going to drive the ultimate kind of high level message home. So 2009, you're starting. I know that I just had a feeling when I was doing the Skinny Confidential. I had a vision and it was really clear and I had a lot of clarity with it. How did you sort of realize, oh, blogging is actually something that could become a full-time gig? Yeah. I did have a feeling about it, even though at the time, being a professional blogger was really not a thing yet. I mean, this was, I think it was pre-Twitter maybe, pre-Instagram, pre-Pinterest. I had never heard the word influencer. It wasn't being thrown around at all yet. But what I did know is that I loved it. While I still had my event planning company, I just found myself getting up early in the morning and staying up

late to work on my blog. I just fell in love with being able to create content, but then having an audience to actually share it with. So over time, we grew our audience. I had one employee at the time who was my event planning assistant who flipped over to being my assistant editor. And as we started to grow an audience, I was like, hey, this could be something. I remember going to my first blogger conference. Which one? Where was it? It was Alt Summit in Salt Lake City. And I knew nothing. I had never sold a single banner out of my life. But funny story, I haven't thought about this in a long time, but someone on one of the panels about how to monetize your blog got sick. And I guess they thought I was a little more legit than I actually was. And they asked me to fill in. And I said, yes, even though I had never monetized my blog

before. Now that sounds more something, a story that I can relate to. People have been thinking I'm more legit for years. That was definitely like a fake it till you make it moment. But the good part of it too is that afterwards, I actually got approached by a brand who was like, we want to buy a banner out on your site. And I think I sold it for like $200 for the whole month. But when I got home, I told my husband, I'm ready to go all in with this. I think now's the time I'm ready to stop planning events and really go all in with what I love because if not now, you know,

when am I going to do it? Do you remember the first time you monetized? Was it from the banner ad or was it from something else? It was from that banner ad. And that little bit of learning, you know, I learned what CPM meant and I understood, you know, how that type of monetization worked. And so then I started pitching and, you know, how that type of monetization worked. And so then I started pitching. And, you know, it wasn't expensive, but it was really, it was really fun. Even though I was charging low prices, I was like, okay, I'm making a little money off this and started to make some brand relationships. And then a couple years later, when sponsored content started to become a lot more common, I really kind of dug into that and really embraced the

challenge of how can we make sponsored content that our audience loves and that we feel is really adding value, not taking away from the content of the site. I just went down the wormhole a little bit. I was having breakfast by myself and I was looking at your blog and I went down and I swear, I text Lauren and Mimi. I said, Hey, she really knows how to title. Like you, you guys do a really good job at titling your content. So you know exactly what you're diving into right away. And then I got stuck down on this wormhole about like houseplants and which, where to start. So when I got, I got all sorts of links and I'm going to start looking at houseplants. Lauren's

not a big houseplant person. Um, but I, I think it's really smart the way you present your content because I knew right away, even as a man that may not be the typical end user, I knew exactly what I was getting. Can you speak on that a little bit and how you kind of figured that out or if there is any kind of strategy or thought behind it? Sure. I think several years ago, if you were to be on my blog, you would not have said that because the titles were just like almost an afterthought, which when you think about it is so ridiculous. It's the first thing that people see. If anything, it's the most important thing. It's what's going to draw people into your content. So I think that the big switch came a few years ago when I decided to stop treating my blog like a personal blog and really start treating it more like a digital magazine. We have writers,

we have contributors, we talk about different verticals. And I really treat each piece of content with the same weight as I would if I were writing an article for a print magazine. And so with that, bringing in some of my journalism school background, I knew how important headlines were. And when you start looking at things like how engaged people are when they come to your site, how many different articles they read, I think headlines have a lot to do with that. And I'm also a little bit of an analytics nerd. So I love when we're able to do A-B testing on headlines and figure out like, what are those elements of a headline that really draw people in

without feeling like clickbait, which is something I try to avoid because I think it takes away some of the trust of your audience. Well, listen, there's a reason clickbait, which is something I try to avoid because I think it takes away some of the trust of your audience. Well, listen, there's a reason clickbait headlines work, right? And I'm not a proponent of clickbait, but there is something to be said about why those titles work and trigger attention. There is. And I think the problem is you feel a little deceived as the reader when you do click. And then the article isn't really following through with what it promised in the

headline. Well, that's the key right there is like it has to follow through with what you promise. Exactly. It can't be national inquiry. Right. And I think that, you know, I'm seeing more and more, I think as there are more influencers across so many different platforms, maintaining that trust with our community is so crucial because the minute you lose that, you know, people aren't going to take your recommendations seriously. They're not going to listen to the advice or the storytelling that you're sharing. So I love a catchy headline, but then I'm always pushing myself and my team to make sure that we're really following through on what that headline promises by giving them meaty,

good content. Listen, I know exactly which houseplants to get now and I know where to get them and I know how to get them. And Lauren, I'm going to probably get them. No, we, I need to see whatever you're going to buy. It's beginner houseplants. No, Michael does this thing where he zooms in on one thing and it becomes laser focused on it and then has to do every single thing in the vicinity of the hobby that he's. I'm a hobbyist. I found that. I'll give you a little, for instance, real quick, just going off on a tangent. When he was little, he collected Pez. Now I've never seen someone that has so much fucking Pez in their house and his mom saved the Pez. So it's, what

do we do with that Pez? Well, I did Pez for a while. I did comic books. I did comic book cards. I did sports cards. I did... Michael, my best friends and I had a Pez collector's club. I am not lying. Why was I not? I didn't know about the Pez collector's club. We can shoot. And I did. What are those things?

Taylor, what are they? Pogs? Pogs? Pogs. No, Pogs is my, is the band. I like Pogs. Yeah. I remember those.

They were the slammer and the ripper. You get really obsessed with shit right now. He's obsessed with skin, which is good. I'm one of those people that I have to, I need to know a lot about a lot of things but never become an expert right so like at one point i got really into learning how to make craft cocktails and balance drinks oh my god that was a whole thing i went through the whole deal but now it's good because i have a very strong base knowledge i can't go and like go into competition that one was the best one though because i got to get buzzed.

Your next subject should be the book that I got you. Men are from Mars, women are from Venus. One time I wanted to learn about like world currencies and it took me on this weird path where I learned, I read a whole book just about the history of salt. So I get into these weird things, but then I take, then I move on. Okay. Well, I've got to say like a little knowledge, don't you feel like it really deepens your enjoyment? Like now when you're having a craft cocktail, you enjoy it that much more because you can

pick up on the subtleties of it. Well, I think everybody should get interested in a lot of different things and have some type of base knowledge. You know, my biggest turnoff in people and the biggest turnoff is ignorance, which is people just don't know anything or they can't talk outside of their field. Like you got to like know some things about the world. So right now you're on skin. Right now he's on houseplants today. No, today not. You got me on houseplants. I'm just diving into

house is going to be a fucking jungle like Jumanji. I want to talk about something that you said earlier, pitching. You said that you were pitching yourself. I want to get into that for someone who's out there and they're a new blogger and they want to pitch themselves, can you provide tangible tips that you did to pitch yourself to these brands? Sure. So I think that the number one thing is just knowing what makes you different. Especially now, it's even more important since there are so many more influencers and bloggers and creators in the space. And this was something that I struggled with for a long time because my site is a lifestyle

site. We cover food, fashion, beauty, entertaining, so many different topics. It's not a niche site. So it can be difficult to define like what is it that makes us different from all those other lifestyle sites out there. But that's what any brand or agency that you're pitching, they're going to want to know that first and foremost. Like why should we choose you? So whether it's your hyper-engaged audience or the beautiful content that you're creating or this really specific, unique point of view that you're bringing to the topics that you talk about, that should be like the number one first and foremost thing when you're talking to brands.

I think the other thing is really conducting yourself like a business person, which means that you're going to have a media kit with updated numbers and those numbers should be accurate. You know, you're going to know how to talk about, you know, ad sales or sponsored content rates. You're going to know those numbers. You're going to have your analytics memorized. So really knowing like your stuff before you go into it. And I know some of those words may seem foreign to someone who's just starting out, but that's what Google's for. You can Google like examples of great media kits. You can find, I think like Martha Stewart Living's media kit is like a PDF online. I think same with lots of Conde Nast properties. And that

may sound bold to model my media kit off of like Vogue, but why not? Because... Fuck no, it's not. I love that. That's great advice. And you know what you just said? You said you can Google it. When people ask me questions that you can Google, it's Google is your best friend. Like you can find anything. You can build your business off Google. Well, people are sitting around waiting for somebody to come in and give them the magic answers, give them a course, give them a teaching, like give them a lesson. All of this stuff for the first time, I mean, it's been the last, you know, 20 years or so, but for the, for the first time in human history, you have all of this information at your fingertips

with a couple of clicks of a button. And so what I would say to people is like, stop waiting for other people to go and figure this out for you and go figure it out for yourself. I mean, everything I think that we've all done, we've talked about is going and taking those steps. I have no background in broadcasting or media, none. I just look, I just use Google, honestly. Well, and I think a lot of people feel like they don't have the connections or the contacts, but I can't tell you how many campaigns we've gotten by, you know, I get on LinkedIn and I find the digital marketing manager or the social media manager for a brand that I really want to work with. And I shoot him an email and say, you know, hey, this is who I am. And this is why I would

love to work with your brand. I'm a huge fan. I think there's incredible content that we could create together. So if you're interested, let's chat. I totally agree with you. I do something a little bit different than you do, but it's similar. If I really, really like something and I find myself eating it or using it every single day, I put it on my Instagram story because if I'm using it, I want to share it with my audience. And if it makes sense to have a partnership and a synergy with the brand, typically they reach out. And I think that when you almost give it, I don't want to say give it away for free, because I would put it up anyway, even if I wasn't being paid a dime. People, the story of the partnership is easier. It's more seamless. It's an old fashioned old mentality, in my opinion,

idea that you have to be paid for everything. I hate that. I really like when I when people and even people that come on this show, like I'm not doing, unless I'm getting paid, my time's worth something. It's like, yeah, okay. Your time's worth something, but how much is it into who? Right? Like somebody might value, could not agree more. Somebody might value my time at a very, very high dollar amount. And some other people might say that guy's time's not worth anything to me. Right. So like, I think that's what people need to understand for, for Lauren and I, and for, I think yourself and the, in the content that we've all produced, it always started as just putting in the time for free. And because of that, then people say, okay, you know what? Like I see what they're doing,

whether we share this mountain water or whatever it is, then those, those companies say, okay, this could be an interesting partnership, but it's not like, Hey, we're not going to talk about something we like until you come and pay me for it. It doesn't make sense. Don't you think there's, there's nothing better than when you already use something and the, and the brand comes to you or you go to them think there's nothing better than when you already use something and the brand comes to you or you go to them? There's nothing better. You're getting paid for what you're already doing. And I think that what you said about, you know, I think that when people have that mentality of I'm not doing anything for free, they're missing out on huge opportunities.

Because, you know, if I think back to the early days of building my company, but also now, I just realized there are a lot of different types of value that aren't cash money. You know, the exposure you can get, the connections you can make, the people you can meet. I've done so many projects where I haven't gotten paid because I was really passionate about them or because I knew it was going to be an incredible opportunity to reach a new audience. And they have paid back in dividends. Well, look at what you did here today. You flew yourself out here. And I did it without a second thought. But can you explain that? I think that's so important because I would have done the same

thing. Can you explain what you did? Because I think that's really cool that you flew yourself out here. Yeah. So I mean, yeah, there are projects I do where they'll pay my flight. But at the end of the day, that $300, $400, it's worth such a tiny fraction of what you can get by being able to share your message and your platform with completely new audiences. Because if you're in the content creation space, if you're in the digital space, your greatest value is your audience and the people that you reach. And if you can continue expanding that, that's growing your company. There's one of our friends, D-Rock, he's on Gary V's team. And you look at him as an example. His whole story, and for people that aren't familiar, just go check out Gary V and all of his video content. And the majority of that content, maybe not now, cause there's like 30 people, but in the beginning was

all D-Rock, right? And he, and his story is that he said, I'm going to go and work for this guy for free. I'm going to give him free content. I'm going to follow him around with the camera. I'm going to pitch myself and just do everything for free. And that sounds crazy at first, but for the last three to four years, he's spent every single day, working day with Gary, running around with the CEO of a multi, multi hundred million dollar company, getting access to that guy's brain, that guy's wisdom. And I would say, and he's probably, D-Rock's going to probably listen to this, that at this point, like that stepping stone, I mean, he is set, like he can go in any direction he wants to go because he's had so much exposure. You would never get that if you were just like, hey, I'm not going to give any content to this guy unless he pays me.

You just never get access. It's a give as opposed to a take. And you know what it is? It's playing the long game. It's playing the extreme long game. For the quick, easy return and the instant gratification. It's like, I'm willing to be in this and work my butt off for maybe even years because my vision is so strong of where I want to go. The guy's known worldwide now and he can't, I mean, he's managing a team of 30. You could never do that in that quick of a pace, just going and working from the, you just couldn't, you just could not excel at that speed. I love that.

Let's, I know for some reason I just have this weird feeling that you're really good with your calendar. I'm just going to guess and your time. And I want you to go into how you manage your time, which apps you use, how specific you are with your time, how you pick and choose what you're saying yes and no to. This has been a really big theme with my audience. They're very interested in time management. Yeah, I love this topic because it's something that I think I'm always trying to refine it because time is, I mean, it's such a commodity. It's like the most valuable thing. So figuring out how to maximize it and feel like you're really getting done what you need to

do, but also like leaving time to enjoy life. Like that's a huge topic for me. So in terms of how I organize it, I really, I'm pretty streamlined. I use Evernote and I use Google Calendar and everything lives in those two apps. Why Evernote? I've never used that. What are you talking about, Lauren? No, Michael, don't say I told you so. Every single one of our podcast notes is on Evernote. I've never looked at Evernote. You have used it for three years running okay you've pulled it up though i haven't used it but i'm saying tell us how you become a practitioner of evernote because i have never used it like on my phone okay so i used to have this really complicated to-do list system in my calendar where i would like have to-do lists on all these different calendar dates and it was

just getting out of control because i had personal to-do lists, work to-do lists. I had to-do lists for my kids' activities. So it was getting out of control. So I realized I needed something else to help me organize everything. So I put all of my to-do lists and my brainstorm lists and lists of places I wanted to go next time I'm in LA. I put all of those in Evernote. But then I realized you could actually put of those in Evernote. But then I realized you could actually put so much in Evernote and have it organized and it's so searchable. So great example, I'm working on a new book and I'm writing it in Evernote. It's divided by chapter. That's a whole other tangent, but it's great. So really the way my Evernote looks, I have like a to-do list section and I'll have a to-do list for myself organized.

I mean, really my system is I'll put a little star by like the things that have to get done that day. I cannot leave the office until those starred things are done. The other things can probably wait. I'll have a to-do list for my personal stuff, things that like, you know, me and Adam are working on or stuff that I need to do at our house. I'll have a to-do list for my team members. Those are things that I need to remember to tell Caroline to work on in the office tomorrow, or I need to remind, you know, our new production assistant about like this training thing she needs to do. And so that

helps me keep kind of all of those to-do lists organized. I'm downloading Evernote. I have everything written out on notepads, but there's something, there is something orgasmic that makes me horny about crossing shit off on a pad of paper. Like, you know what I'm saying? The old school, just like crossing it off. I don't know what it is. You can cross off an Evernote too. You can cross it off. But you could use, but like some people, like I still sometimes carry like a notepad just for like personal tasks in the office, but for like what you're talking about, like basically like setting all your, your main tasks and tracking them, Evernote's the best. Okay. So how does that sync up with

your calendar? Explain that in depth. Yeah. Okay. Good question. Because I feel like my calendar is also like they have to work in tandem on my Google calendar. I have a personal calendar. I have a blog calendar that has the actual actual editorial pieces that are going live on a given day. I have a production calendar that lists out photo shoots and deadlines and school pickup schedule and ballet pickups because just wait. It's a freaking full-time job to figure out that stuff. So they're all color-coded. I can turn them on, turn them off. But I basically live by my calendar. So if it doesn't go on there, I'm going to forget about it. And I think that what that does is it frees up a little space in my head to not be worrying about dropping one of these balls that I'm juggling so I can actually focus on creative work or just be present in a conversation that

I'm in. And I try not to be distracted with a lot of other kind of maintenance details about what I'm going to be doing next. Do you want to know what I'm doing right now for my to-do list digitally? I would love to know. know it's horrible i'm emailing myself in the subject line so right now i have 375 emails and some of them like 75 of them are like you know email blank about blank in the subject line it's it's literally like does your brain feel a little crazy oh yeah so that evernote tip for me is like, I don't even think you understand. There's just a bunch of cuckoo birds flying around in there. Yeah, it's intense.

What's your morning routine? Wait, hold on. Before the Taylor, did you hear all of that? Because every single thing she just said, like, I want you to pull that whole segment and play it each morning as you come in the office. Okay. Taylor, are you watching porn back there? Are you listening? Don't make a note. Get your Evernote, get your calendar. That was

very valuable, tangible takeaway. That was really like, honestly, Taylor, um, you know how you are called the hole when you go crazy. Taylor's called the hole. That's his name for himself, his alter ego when he is messy and dirty and has soy sauce on plastic forks on his desk. That's the hole. So the whole needs Evernote. Evernote. Great mental picture. Okay. I want to know what your morning routine is. And I want to know if it's the same every single day and how you set it up. Basically the same every day. That said, that's something I'm like kind of thinking about switching up a little bit because I think I feel like it's really easy to get stuck in a bit of a rut when every morning is exactly the same. And I want to keep

myself on my toes a little bit and just kind of feel that excitement when I get up every day that it's a new day and there's going to be something different. So that's kind of a side note. But in general, I think the most important thing for me in the morning is that I spend a little time by myself, like easing into the day and thinking about bigger picture things that aren't an email I need to answer or an Instagram comment I need to respond to, like getting out of that, getting out of the weeds and like being a little more high level. So I try to get up earlier than anyone else in my house so they can't bother me. We need specifics. Like, are we talking six? You and I are pretty kindred spirits here. I think so. I've thought that before. I was like, this is the first time we've met in person, but we're friends. I

need to, I need to do the same thing. I need to have my time where I'm alone. I'm isolated. Wait, hold on. You literally copy me on this. Lauren, are you kidding me? I've said that I need my own time alone. Yeah, of course you need time. No, I'm talking about in the morning, right? Like that's, that's my time. Well, and like, how ironic is it to you that if like, let's say my three, now four year old gets up earlier than me one day and I find myself like screaming like I'm trying to meditate to leave mommy alone. I'm like, this is not this is not what I'm supposed to be doing. But sounds like me. That's why I try to get up the earliest.

OK, so what time? So six, six. OK, go on. I get up at six. I make my coffee. I do like coffee first thing. You know, I think everyone's really big on lemon water. I think it's great.

But that said, I'm a big believer that that first cup of coffee actually counts towards your daily hydration. What? You know what? It does. Well, there's a lot of water in it. There's a lot of water in it. And like caffeine saps out a tiny bit of hydration, but it's not that full cup.

So it counts. Well, if you do it that way, so dehydrated, if you do it, if you do it that way, you'll look pretty ripped up in the morning because it'll, it'll suck your system. Who are you looking ripped up for? I'm just myself in the dark in the morning. Yeah. Okay. Go on. Okay. So I make my coffee. I sit down. I like to light a candle. Just it like a little gift to myself. It's a little me time. I do a five or 10-minute meditation. I'm not a huge meditator, but I like having a few minutes to just get centered before I start doing something else. So I'll do maybe a five or 10-minute headspace. And oftentimes, my mind's off thinking about something else. But if I've even sat down and had a little deep breathing and had my coffee, I'm thinking about something else. But if I've even sat down and had like a little deep breathing

and had my coffee, like I'm good. I'm ready to go. Then I look at my goals. And this is something that I started doing a couple of years ago. At the beginning of the year, every year, I set one goal for each area of my life. So I have one family goal, one work goal, one health goal. I just kind of look at those different areas and I think like, if I only do one thing this year, like it's going to be a game changer.

And I got this idea. There's a book that I love called The One Thing by Gary Keller. It's one of the best. So good. And it really makes you hone in on like, if I only do one thing, like it's going to really move the needle. So those are the goals that I look at in the morning. And they're the same every morning, which sounds repetitive, but I think we all need like those reminders every day to kind of set our intention. And then I get out my calendar and I look at how I'm allocating my time that day. And I think about how much of my day is spent in pursuit of these goals.

Can we talk about the, I know I don't want to sidetrack you, but can we talk a little bit about how you just properly set goals? Because I think there's an art to it. You know, from my understanding and in my own life, I think where you get in trouble is when you set goals that aren't actually measurable and attainable. But I think at the same time, you have to set things that are outside the comfort zone. So there's like a fine line there in like what goals you're setting. Can you talk about, maybe give an example of a goal that you would set?

For, I'll take my family goal. At the end of last year, I was feeling like my things were getting a little unbalanced. And I am a person, I love to work. I'm very achievement oriented. And so it can be easy for things to get a little out of balance with just feeling like I'm really spending as much time with my kids as I want to be. So I was like, OK, my goal is I want to spend more time with my kids because – and I think it's important to know your why.

That's what's going to keep you going. I know that's going to strengthen our relationship. It's going to allow me to pour into them and be the best mom I can be. That said, spending more time with your kids is like kind of a vague goal. It's too vague. It's too vague. So what I did from there, I was like, okay, what does that look like? Well, it looks like every single day I need to spend 15 minutes. It's not a long time. 15 minutes with each of them playing one-on-one or talking to them one-on-one. And so in the morning when I'm looking at my calendar, there are days when I'm like, this day is crazy and I have a work

thing after work. And when I get home, my four-year-old is going to be in bed. So I'm going to go sit on the floor and play trains with him right now before I go to work. And that way, it's like I can lay my head on my pillow at night and be like, I actually allocated a chunk of my time towards what actually mattered to me. And so what would be maybe the flip side of this is like, what is the consequent if, if, or consequences, if those goals aren't met, or is there like a safeguard saying, okay, shit, I missed this day. It's going to happen sometimes, but how do you kind of combat missing goals? I think it's just knowing, you know, we're all human and having a little grace and forgiveness and kindness to yourself is so important. I think that goals are never something

to berate yourself over. But if you find that you are consistently missing sort of your daily goals, it's probably a case of either you need to change something in your life. You need to take a look at your habits and think about how you can rework them. Or you may have set a goal that's just not realistic for where you're at and it needs to be adjusted. I also think too, like it's so important. And you mentioned this earlier is to set the systems of what you need to get there. Like I said, I said this on the podcast the other day, goals are cute, but what are the actual tangible steps that you're taking to get to the goal? Well, say you're somebody that's making like, I don't know, maybe you're making 60 grand a year and you say, okay, my goal is this year. I want to make a million dollars.

The ambition there is great and I commend it, but I think a better step would be like, okay, I'm 60. I'm at 60 right now. I want to get to 120. What are steps that I can take to make up that extra 60 and like really define, okay, if it it's 60 that means i need to do x amount per month which is a little bit like a little less than six grand i'm like 5500 whatever it's 53 um and so you got to figure out okay how am i going to do that then you work backwards but i think what happens is people say i need this million and then they because it's so far out i mean that'd be like more than a 10x return they they're like okay well and then the goal gets missed. So you have to create some, some, uh, stepping stones to be able to get to that,

to the, to the million, maybe a million is a good goal for five years down the line. Right. Exactly. And then you can kind of map out like, okay, well, what's going to be the step number one, that's going to start pushing me in that direction. And you said that you said you look at your calendar and you think, okay, where am I going to squeeze in hanging out with my kids for 15 minutes? It's just really like getting micro instead of just macro. Well, I think when people do that too, they realize, okay, like, for me to make an extra 50 grand a year from where I'm at,

it sounds crazy to people that are in that range. But if you start to kind of say like, okay, that's really only four or five grand a month, and I can maybe pick up this freelance gig, or I can pick up this part-time thing, or I can go sell this thing in my closet. Like it starts to become very digestible very quickly. Yeah. And I think that's, you know, that's something I've learned through my career is to not be afraid to dream big and to not be afraid to think in those big ways. I think that when I started out, I, you know, didn't want to sound like I knew more than I did, or I didn't want to sound silly by saying, you know, I want to grow my site to this amount, or I want to sound like I knew more than I did, or I didn't want to sound silly by saying,

you know, I want to grow my site to this amount, or I want to have a team or have a studio in downtown Austin. Those were all big dreams that I had. And as I started to achieve some of them, it gave me courage to dream even bigger and realize that, you know, if I do set realistic goals that also make me stretch and make me keep growing and evolving, pretty amazing things can happen. 100%. What's your favorite failure? Let's see. It's so funny because failures really are like that hindsight is 20-20. You look back and it's so easy to see how something worked out the way it was supposed to. I think there have just been times when I've thought that I wanted something so much in my

career and it didn't work out. And I was so disappointed in the moment, like a book deal. I was trying to get a couple of years ago that like none of the editors I pitched it to liked the deal and I was crushed, but there was a reason they didn't like it. And now in hindsight, I'm like, thank God I'm not working on that book because it freed up my time and my mental energy to do like other projects that I think were way more successful than that book would have been. I actually, this morning while I was getting ready, I was listening to, have y'all listened to Oprah's Masterclass? Do we need to listen? It's so good. It's people like interesting, amazing, you know, the most

successful people in their field just sharing their stories start to finish, like no questions. It's just them sharing their full story. And this morning I was listening to Laird Hamilton, who y'all know who that is. He's like big wave surfer who I love. I have this like weird fascination with surf culture. I think I was supposed to be like a surfer in another life. One of the things I love about the podcast is it really does open you up to advice and wisdom from people in completely different industries. And I think it's so important to not just surround yourself with stories and content from your own industry, but to kind of look at different, just look at different creative

pursuits and like get inspired by those people. But Laird Hamilton said something that resonated so much with me. And of course, he was talking about it as it related to surfing. He said, there is an art to crashing. And he was talking about how when you're a surfer and you're surfing these big, risky, dangerous waves. I mean, he's on another level. He's like surfing skyscrapers. He called them dinosaurs. It was like 80. Yeah. It's like that building right over there. That's like what he's surfing. Yeah. It's crazy. He was like, there, people don't realize, you know, if you're a great surfer, you are going to wipe out many

more times than you actually ride a wave. And there's an art to crashing. You can do it the right way, but it doesn't get the applause. Like no one's going to be like, wow, you're such an amazing crasher. That said, it's like just as key to the journey and it takes like real skill. And it just made me think about how important it is to have resiliency when we do fail. And that kind of mastering the art of crashing is probably like one of the biggest keys to success we can have because we can use all those failures as jumping off points. It's something that as humans, we just don't have a lot of practice in it, right? I mean, you could probably relate to this in your own life. When you have these young children, that's what you're guarding them against those crashes, those crashes, right? And you're, and as we grow up, your parents are

protecting you. And so you get to, you become an adult and most people as they become adults, aren't, they're equipped for a lot of things, but they're not equipped for those life gut punches and those failures. And so you have to navigate, but I think the more you do it, the more graceful you become at doing it. And the more you realize, oh, this is actually very helpful. Like for me, the things that have been the biggest challenges in my life have been the most helpful things in my life, right? They push me the furthest forward. But we just don't have those tools as much as other tools when we're growing up.

Yeah. I mean, think about, you know, as a parent, I'm sure you can imagine like the kind of kid you want to raise, like you want them to be strong and smart and kind and you have all of these qualities. Well, none of us learned those qualities from having an easy life. Like those things come from having struggles and challenges and wiping out and like figuring out how to get up again. And that's ultimately how you build those. So I think like you said, Michael, it can be so tempting to like shield your kids from all pain. But at the end of the day, like that's a diss, it can be so tempting to like shield your kids from all pain.

But at the end of the day, like that's a disservice because they're not going to build up resiliency or really any of those other great qualities if everything's easy. Well, it's hard as a parent, I assume, right? Because you want to, you love your kid, but you've got to look at it and be like, are you actually doing this human being a service by shielding them and protecting them for everything? Because you're not going to be around for forever and they're going to be alone at sometimes you're going to have to, you're going to have to deal with, you know, this really relates to me for guys whose mothers baby them. I have a big thing. I have a lot of friends, Taylor Weston, whose mother's a baby. And what happens is then they get around women in the real world, you know, and if those women are not giving the same attention and they're not treating them the same way that their mothers did, they don't know how to deal with rejection or, you know, a hardship or an argument.

And then they just get completely flustered. So I think it's just like it's really important to understand like what your child is going to end up enduring as they become an adult. Right. If you're shielding them from everything, they're gonna have a lot harder time. Yeah, totally. Yeah, it's hard. But I think when you realize that when you realize like, okay, these are my real goals for my kids. And this is how I want to like, be you know, their teammate and like growing into the kind of person that they I want them to be and that I know they'll want to be, then yeah,

you've got to let them have those real world experiences and figure some stuff out themselves. I love the theme, figuring it out. You have a team of seven people, which I think is really, really cool in the influencer space. There's not a lot of influencers I know that have a team of seven. Can you walk us through what that looks like? I need some tips and tricks when it comes to managing people. Yeah, sure. So I love working with a team. I don't think that I ever set off at the beginning of my career to be a boss or be managing a team. And so it's been kind of a surprise that that really is one of my favorite parts of my job, like figuring out how I can be the best leader that I can be. And just the collaboration with other creative people is like it brings me a lot of joy every day. But it gut check is like, can we keep functioning without adding this role? And if the answer is yes, then I do not hire. Because I think that a big key to me

growing my company has been staying scrappy where I can and really being smart about not growing too quickly. So when I started, I had one employee who was my events assistant, Chanel. She's still with me today, nine years later. And she's now the executive producer of our team. So she runs all of our shoots and keeps everything going production-wise. The next hire was our art director. We really needed someone to kind of help with the visuals of the site. And the girl that we had freelancing for us was also like a great writer. So she was able to come on and wear multiple hats, which is another kind of tip I think for small business growth is hiring people who when needed can play more than one role. So even though each of our team members

has clearly defined roles in different areas, they all write and they all contribute to the content. This is a personal question. Most of my questions are personal questions, but when you think, you know, and there's a lot of young people listening that are starting to build their teams and you think about the financial aspect to it, you know, people are wondering, okay, when is the point that I can actually afford to hire? And it doesn't, you don't have to give concrete numbers, but like when you think about the financials around, you know, operating the company that you've operated now, when is the right time financially to start bringing people on? Yeah. So I think that in the beginning, it probably needs to be only when you can pretty

clearly see the way that that person is going to allow you to scale and make more money because otherwise it just doesn't make sense as a small business owner. As a company gets bigger, they can afford to hire some of those roles that don't necessarily have a direct effect on revenue, knowing that those are roles that will just allow them to scale or build the brand or do other things like that that will pay out in the end, but it's not such a quick return. So I think that being just really careful about that, because having a payroll is a big responsibility. I'm not going to lie and say that it's easy all the time. There are days when I'm feeling a little tired or discouraged about something like we all do. And, you know,

knowing that I have a team of people who are relying on me and who are relying on their jobs to pay their bills. I mean, it's a privilege, but it's a big responsibility. Yeah. I mean, listen, it's a mistake that I think all new business owners make in the beginning. And I made the mistake in the beginning of my own career where you start making money for the first time, something that you've struggled for, for forever, right? Creating this content or creating this product, whatever it is. And you say, finally, I have some money. You start pulling all the money out of the business for yourself. And trust me, I'm guilty that I've done it before. But I think if people realize and look to example and thought, hmm, instead of pulling that extra $50,000 out of that extra

$75,000 out for myself, could I continue to afford maybe living the way I am and bring on another person that's going to enable me to next year, be able to bring in 150 to the business or 200, whatever it is. But people don't have the patience to kind of sit through it and they want to pull, they want the instant results and it's reward. But I think it's at the detriment of the growth of the business. Yeah. Patience. It's been huge for me. I think, I think back to early earlier in my career for, I mean, the first five years of doing what I do, my whole team office out of my house. I remember seeing other bloggers moving into these beautiful studio spaces. And it was so tempting to go sign a lease right then. But I made myself wait. I was

like, I want to hold out. And instead of dumping that money into rent, I'm going to invest it in people. I'm going to be able to make a new hire. And, you know, we worked out of my house through the births of both my kids, which if y'all can imagine, I mean, it was a circus. Like I would be like running up to the front of the house to like nurse or do nap time or whatever. And then like running back to the back of the house to meet with my team. And it's not something that would work for everyone. But I will say that during that particular time of my life, we made it work, kind of like we've been saying. You figured it out. I figured it out. And it enabled me to also be there for my new babies, but also be able to

keep growing my company. So it was an interesting, challenging time. But at the same time, I think that that's one of the joys of being an entrepreneur is you can have the flexibility to do what works for you in that moment. I love it. What is a book, a podcast, a resource that you can recommend to our audience besides Oprah's Masterclass? Because I'm going to be listening to that. I have so many. Well, one book that I love is A Short Guide to a Happy Life. It's a tiny book. It's like easy to overlook because it looks just like a cute gift book. Michael's mentally ordering this on Amazon. I know him so well.

Short Guide to a Happy Life. It's good for anyone, like anyone at any place in their life. I think more than anything, it's a reminder of we only have one shot at life. Every single one of our days, every moment is precious because it's the only one we're going to have. And it kind of just gives you that gut check where for me, it's like I want to enjoy every moment, but I also feel so motivated to just live life to the very fullest. So that one I love. Daring Greatly by Brene Brown is a really great one for just emboldening you to be authentic, be you, like don't try to copy off anyone else. She starts the book off with this Theodore Roosevelt quote that, or Franklin, Theodore

or Franklin, I don't know. know two different Theodore was a little wild so maybe it was you sound like me I think after he was done I love to make up words who did I say Ulysses um yeah Taylor we gotta pull that clip again but Lauren did the Ulysses thing that was ridiculous I said Ulysses um but yeah Theodore and Franklin were very different Theodore actually became the president. Then after he wanted to go fight. And I believe it was world war one or two. I can't remember which my dates are fucked up right now. Which one was the new deal?

That was Franklin. Okay. I'm definitely. Wait, wait, wait. Franklin, Theodore, Franklin. No, it was, no, it was, it was Theodore. Okay. Well, this quote is about.

Now I got all screwed up. It's about like the man in the arena, woman in the arena. Basically it's like, there are all screwed up. and that's very paraphrased but she starts the book out with that quote and then goes through and shares about like listen you have to be bold to do your own thing be daring be vulnerable and then really like lays out how that looks so I think again I think

it's one that could speak to a lot of different people and a lot of different life circumstances and like it'll tell each of them a little something different. I was right the first time. It's Franklin, not Theodore. Thank you. Franklin, new deal.

I need to start consuming her content because everyone keeps telling me about her. I feel like she'd be good on the Skinny Confidential podcast. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I got to get her on. Thank you so much for coming on. Pimp yourself out. Where can everyone find you? So CamilleStyles.com is the hub of everything I do. Sign up for our weekly newsletter there. And then Camille Styles on all the socials. Perfect. Thank you so much for coming on.

This was so fun. Yeah. Thank you. Have you guys rated and reviewed the podcast? If this has brought you one speck of value in any area of your life, we would so appreciate it if you could take two seconds to do that. It really helps the show grow and the community grow. Also, if you want to win a pink, sparkly, Barbie, skinny, confidential pop socket that looks so cute on your phone, all you have to do is tag a friend

to listen and become a part of the community on my latest Instagram. Super easy. It's at the skinny confidential. With that, we hope you enjoyed this episode. Camille is so fun. You definitely have to check her out on Instagram. We'll see you next time.