The Robyn Graham Show - Success without Social

Brittany McBean realizes the deep connection of story telling.

She is a copywriter and marketing strategist helping online educators and creatives stand out with crystal clear messaging and a laser-focused strategy. Her focus is writing the words that get you seen by the right people so you can make a maximum impact and serve the people who need you the most. Brittany graduated with a degree in theatre, as an actor she came to appreciate the immense value and deep connection of storytelling, as well as the difficult work of self-promotion.

Trading the life of an actor for a more rooted, yet still flexible, job, she began her own business in social media marketing. After 5 years of experience and success in an oversaturated market, Brittany has begun to work with other brands and businesses to help them stand out in a sea of noise.

She lives in Richmond, VA with her husband and baby girl and can usually be found throwing family dance parties in the living room or watching The Office for the bajillionth time

Brittany’s first phase was as a professional actor. From there Brittany moved to working as an admin for a theater company and then to becoming a social media marketing expert.

She was in social media marketing for 5 years with a network marketing company. After a few months of spamming all of her friends, she got tired of getting lost in the noise of everyone saying the same thing to sell the same products.

As a result, she started finding ways to really use her unique voice and personality to stand out. Once she was successful with her own personal branding and marketing, she trained her team of hundreds of women to do the same.

Eventually, she started feeling burned out and began a social media coaching business. She worked with client after client, and realized that she always came back to the same thing: messaging. As a result, she took her knack for the deep connection of storytelling through writing, smooshed it up with a ton of copywriting education, formulas, and persuasion psychology and got super nerdy about crafting messages. She began creating the exact messages that would help her client's websites, emails, and launches convert.

Her background in acting and her degree in Musical Theatre have enabled Brittany to switch voice and personality naturally. Where she used to be front and center on stage, now she just does it behind the screen with her words instead of wigs and tap shoes!

It took Brittany a while to realize that there was a name for what she wanted to do. She loved the challenge of strategizing each individual brand's messaging and marketing and became absolutely obsessed with finding the right words to help people explain what they did, but it took a while for her to consider herself a writer.

A personal brand expert is the title Brittany gave herself at first, but she was really a messaging expert. Once she found the word "copywriter" and the whole world of direct response sales copy, she was hooked!

Brittany is now a conversion copywriter for online educators, course creators, and coaches. Basically, she writes the words that make people cash monies online. She helps entrepreneurs find their brand voice. This is accomplished by identifying what makes them unique, special, and interesting. Using the exact words their dream clients need to hear to make that connection, Brittany converts dream clients from browser, to stalker, to buyer.

Brittany spends hours and hours studying her client’s dream clients, excavating their questions, hopes, dreams, fears, and objections, as well as the words THEY use to describe their problems and then write the words that make them say "get out of my head!"

Brittany’s ability to create effective messaging also has application to her personal life on a deeper level. Two years ago, after experiencing and suffering through infertility and miscarriages, she and her husband adopted a black baby. They are now navigating what it means to have a transracial family.

There is a level of bias and racism in each of us because of our life experiences. It’s important to admit them and face them or we can’t change them. Brittany is using her gift of words and deep connection of storytelling, to not only help herself manage this journey gracefully, but to help others navigate it too.

Robyn referenced episode 40 with Tayna Longino who also discusses bias and diversity and inclusion. Tayna’s interview is from the human resource perspective, but the interviews compliment each other.

She started her career in sales and her communication skills and ability to engage with people were critical for launching her career. She quickly learned that the secret to being happy at work is to have a career, not a job.

As she hired her team, she hired people that were engaging. She built teams that got great results and had high employee retention rates. As her sales statistics rose and her team was so successful, the human resource department started noticing her and her ability to put people in place who were motivated to do a great job. The were people enjoying a career, not a job.

Because making decisions can be challenging, as Tayna was trying to make her decision to transition to human resources she sought advice from her mother. Her mother’s advice was that when people want you or see something in you, you need to take advantage of it or at least explore it. So Tayna made a career change and started her career in Human Resources (HR).

Using similar strategies to hiring sales teams, once in HR, Tayna worked to hire the right people for the right job. She was hiring in a way that she married the employee with the role so that they could have a career and not just a job, but also fulfill the needs of the company.

When you aren’t doing something that you are passionate about, you are more likely to leave or move on. Changing hiring models and even job postings, shifted from hiring transactional employees to people who wanted a career and wanted to meet goals. Therefore, really seeking out the right talent and competencies helps with employee retention and company success.

Likewise, listening and observing intentionally what people were experiencing in their job roles is how Tayna has been able to build successful teams. Doing so allows her to identify what people’s passions are today as she works with her clients in the second phase.

Tayna now uses her HR skills to coach people who are looking for careers, not jobs.

With some intentional work, you can identify what people really want in a career. People no longer just have to take any job to pay the bills, they can have a career doing something that they are passionate about. Something that they love and fulfills them.

One job posting will have several hundred applications. It is important to write the job description to find the ideal candidate.

Tayna now coaches career seekers by helping them look at and identify their values, visions and passions so that they can find the right fit in employment. She also coaches them on interviewing and communicating their strengths and expertise.

There are three reasons that candidates fail in their interviews:

1. Unprepared – didn’t do research on the position and how they can effectively answer questions in the interview.
2. Unable to communicate – communicating and articulating experiences and value that they can bring to the company and hiring manager. The problems they can solve for the company or hiring manager.
3. Can’t connect, lack of confidence – Not connecting with the hiring manager because of a lack of confidence, not connected with the company, the competitors, or the needs of the company or hiring manager. The unknowns cause a lack of confidence.

In a nutshell, this is a personal brand. You have to be able to communicate your expertise, the problem you can solve, the value you can provide, and why you are the expert the company and hiring manager needs.

For that reason, Tayna helps her clients identify their stars and elevate the situations where they have really been able to shine and effectively share their success stories. She helps them present their personal brand and making experiences relevant to the specific pain points that company has. This is a differentiator for candidates for a successful interview.

It’s about crafting a story that completely resonates with the hiring manager and makes a connection. This makes a difference for career seeking vs. job seeking. As a career seeker, you are marketing yourself and leveraging your expertise.

Certainly if there are gaps in your experience, it’s important to sure them up so that you are more confident when interviewing. Be able to tell your story better than you’ve ever told it before.

1. Discovery – identify the landscape where you want to be, where you want to play. Define your point of difference, what is special about you.
2. Differentiation – point of difference. It may seem pain staking, but it is critical.
3. Delivery – practice and prepare, work on delivery and become more confident in how you express yourself. It is not bragging it is articulating your messaging and point of value and uniqueness.

Passions

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Sometimes, using illness to launch an opportunity makes the illness worthwhile. No one knows this better than Jill Wichner who suffered from Lyme Disease, lost her job and started over by following her passion.

Jill Wichner is a copywriter and content marketing strategist whose happy place is showcasing your unique voice and message through strategic storytelling and personality-packed content. She specializes in helping creative entrepreneurs and small business owners grow more engaged and connected audiences through impactful, high-converting copy that beautifully captures your voice, captivates your audience and is optimized to get results that will help grow and market your business.

Jill lives in beautiful, Bucks County, PA.

She loves dogs, patient advocacy, Marvel movies and curling up with a great book.

She began her career in corporate, for a large pharmaceutical company.

Then, the unthinkable happened. She became ill. After several months of trying to figure out what was going on with her health, she found out she had Lyme Disease, with two additional tick born infections.

She went through many months of treatment and hospitalizations before she went into remission.

Jill is now on the board of the PA Lyme Resource Network, PALyme.org, a non-profit, where she is an advocate for patient care and prevention of the disease.

There are Lyme literate medical doctors that specialize in Lyme Disease diagnosis and treatment. If you suspect Lyme Disease, seek out a Lyme literate medical doctor.

Only about half of people with Lyme Disease present with the bull’s eye rash. If you have had a tick bite and develop flu like symptoms, go the doctor and ask to be tested immediately.

If a patient gets a diagnosis and treatment early, they can be treated and avoid the horrific experience that Jill went through.

If you are going to spend time outside, use bug-spray either with Deet or a natural product with eucalyptus. When coming in from outside put your clothing in the dryer because heat will kill the ticks. They can survive under water, so the washing machine won’t kill them.

One of the Deet sprays Jill uses is Repel. Repel also has a Eucalyptus product.

For clothing, camping gear, shoes, etc. there is a product by Sawyer called Promethrin. Always check yourself when coming in from outdoors and take precautions when spending time outside.

Post her disease, she became a writer and entrepreneur. She has had a life-long love of words and their power to help us relate to others, to make us laugh and connect emotionally.

Content that is strategic and emotionally connecting. She helps small business owners and entrepreneurs build the know, like and trust factor.

She helps entrepreneurs connect and convert through copy.

When people connect with you through your word, they keep coming back. She is infusing the client’s personality into the business copy.

You don’t have to over share or get too intimate with your readers you just have to share enough that you are authentic and your audience can get to know you.

Good copy with draw people in, be appealing, and attract the right people. You captivate them with your words and they stick around and purchase from you.

What you say is your personality that stays consistent. How you say it is staying true to your personality that brings people in but also speaks to the pain point of the audience.

Jill focuses mostly on website copy, blog post copy and email newsletters.

All copy across your entire business should be consistent. There are different strategies for blogging, website copy and email newsletters. For email marketing, you want white space, and no large blocks of text because it can be overwhelming.

Book Recommendation

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Favorite Quote

What you allow will continue.

Question for Robyn

Have you ever faced the challenge of setting and adhering to boundaries and how do you do it without feeling worry and guilt?

I’ve learned that nothing in my business i...

Kristin Smedley is seeing through the darkness and changing perceptions of blindness.

When Kristin Smedley’s two sons were born blind, she had to give up her dream career teaching 3rd grade and figure out how to survive and unknown world.

After figuring out how to raise her own unsighted children, Kristin dedicated her life to making sure no other mom has to sit isolated in devastation over a rare eye disease diagnosis. She is on a mission to change the perception of what it means to be blind.

In 2011 Kristin launched a non-profit to fund research for children living with the rare eye disease her sons have, CRB1 LCA/RP. CRB1.org is not only providing support for parents of blind children but raising awareness and funds for rare eye disease research.

She has done a TEDx talk in New York City to change perceptions of blindness and recently published her first book in 2019; Thriving Blind: Stories of Real People Surviving without Sight.

Kristin is a popular keynote speaker with her message “I’ll Teach You to See: Set Extraordinary Expectations”.

During her first phase Kristin was a 3rd grade teacher. She had it all. The husband, the big house, a great job! And then came the baby! Life was perfect until it wasn’t.

Kristin’s first child was born blind. At the time, there were limited resources available for parents with non-sighted children. The perception of blindness was so negative. Kristin lost hope in the future for her son.

Then along came her second son. Also, blind. A double whammy to some, but extraordinary blessings to Kristin, especially once she accepted their blindness.

Blindness is the second most feared thing next to death. Just one reason for Kristin to be a champion in the blind community. Twenty million people in the US are blind. The unemployment rate for people who are blind is 70%. More fuel for Kristin’s fire of desire to change the perceptions of blindness.

If everyone had a good perception of blindness and blind people were treated with the same respect and given the same opportunities as sighted people, there would be no need to fight for a cure. Kristin’s mission to change the perception of blindness is fueled by the lack of expectations, the misunderstandings and the lack of opportunities offered to the blind vs. sighted communities. If perceptions were great, research wouldn’t be necessary. If parents of blind children just sit on the couch and cry, and don’t advocate, the unemployment rate and the perceptions will never change.

You are given experiences so that you can learn from them and then help others who are experiencing what you went through, or something similar.

It’s important not to put your dreams on your children. Get them what they need and follow their lead. Let them go after their own dreams, not yours for them.

Get to know the things that you fear the most because it is the things that you fear that are often the most powerful.

Surrender the control and move forward because everything is “figureoutable”.

Don’t try to do it by yourself!

Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man’s Journey to Climb Farther than the Eye can See: My Story by Eric Weihenmayer

Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Our goal with this interview was to bridge the gap between the black woman and the privileged white woman and discuss how can we work together to decrease racism and build healthy relationships across communities and between individuals, personally and professionally?

Acknowledging that I don’t know everything. There’s much left for me to learn. Even as a black woman, there is much left for me to learn about relationships and inclusion that’s left for me to learn. In the state of vulnerability, it’s about being patient, trusting that I can learn, reaching out, asking questions and having conversations. And sometimes, getting feedback about something that I did as a leader and not taking it as a personal attack upon myself for the sake of being vulnerable. Being vulnerable allows us to learn things that we don’t know. Learning is positive and what we’re in taught in the moment is valuable.

Right now, in our society, we are at a vulnerable state.

When doing the racism evaluation at Bucks County Community College, Tracy received results that surprised her. She didn’t think she had any racists tendencies, but she wasn’t as tolerant as she thought she was. One thing she learned was that saying “I don’t see color” actually takes away from a black person’s identity. Not having bad intentions, Tracy felt like since she and her black colleagues worked together, and they were friends they were all the same. Tracy had never thought about the color of her skin being an advantage. She hadn’t never thought of back women she went to school with were any different than her.

God has a knack with timing. The COVID pandemic has forced us to face the issue of racism and really learn and be educated. Learning is more powerful than a training on racism that you have to do. Education is more sustainable than trainings so if we can work together to educate others on racism, we will have a better chance of bridging the gap for good.

Being privileged is not about money. It’s about access. The important thing is to recognize privilege and not pretend it isn’t there.

Both Tracy and Robyn admit they were ignorant as to what white privilege is. Neither one of them associate with racism, but they also didn't recognize white privilege.

June points out the difference between her upbringing in an impoverished area with little resources. College was a dream, not a reality. Minimum wage was considered success. It took being outstanding in order to make it out of the neighborhood and go to universities. There is much more pressure for the impoverished black people who have to do ten times the amount of work to be able to get to college.

How can we as female leaders change the landscape of racism?

Take the entrepreneurial mindset of risk taking and channel that energy into conversations about racism like the one we have on the podcast.

It would be easier to keep quiet instead of getting uncomfortable, but if we are going to channel the entrepreneurial mindset, we have to bring it into conversations. That is the only way any measurable change is going to happen. Female entrepreneurs are the people who can do this because we have the support of other women who are willing to come together and work with each other. Bring the spirit that drove us into entrepreneurship is what is going to do it.

We must be willing to take the risk and be supportive when other women are taking the risk and let the uncomfortable conversations happen.

Being a leader of ourselves must happen first. Open the channels to improve and build relationships. It must start with the individual. We must take the action to improve ourselves first before we can lead others. Take the time to reach out, ask questions and seek resources to education ourselves and then use our knowledge to lead.

We can assume that others are in the same situation we are in. Once we focus on our-selves we can realize that there are differences and accept the things we don’t know.

We need to have accountability partners to ensure that we are taking action and not only listening but taking the necessary action. As women we need to hold each other accountable for taking action. But also, if we do something or say something in accordance with what I’m saying about mutuality and inclusion and decreasing bias, then also call each other out on that.

Behaviors or things done or said that are offensive but not directly done or said towards someone. Doesn’t have to be directed at you but will offend you.

Being aware of what we say and do is critical to avoid committing microaggressions.

We should live with humanity as a core value. Human decency may not be measurable, but we can certainly hold each othe...