July 11, 2025 • 22 mins
Running Your Own Race: Success on Your Own Terms
What if the key to standing out isn’t being louder—but being more you?
In this episode, we dive into a powerful conversation with a digital strategist and live video expert who shares how she embraced visibility on her own terms. From overcoming introversion to showing up every single week—even when no one was watching—this episode is full of wisdom, strategy, and heart. We talk about building with consistency, leveraging AI without losing authenticity, and making space for the version of success that’s right for you.
🎧 Tune in now for inspiration that helps you stop second-guessing and start creating what truly matters.
🔗 Connect with Tanya:
📘 Facebook: www.facebook.com/videocoachtanya
📸 Instagram: www.instagram.com/videocoachtanya
💼 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/videocoachtanya
📺 YouTube: www.youtube.com/@tanyasmith
🛍️ Amazon Store: www.streamlikeaboss.shop
🔗 More Ways to Connect with Amanda:
📕 Free Thrive & Scale Expert Blueprint:
https://thecoachesplaza.com/the-thrive-and-scale-blueprint
🎙️ Podcast (The Amanda Kaufman Show):
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-amanda-kaufman-show/id1450993176
📺 YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/@theamandakaufmanshow
📸 Instagram: www.instagram.com/theamandakaufman
💼 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/amandackaufman/
👥 Clients Over Chaos Community:
https://login.thecoachesplaza.com/communities/groups/clients-over-chaos/home
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What I told myself, and I still tell people to this day, is when you do the things thatothers don't, you get the opportunities that others won't.
(00:28):
Well, hello and welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show.
And I was just telling my guests that I couldn't wait until we recorded this episode.
So Tanya Smith is a genius when it comes to live streaming, to using video in a reallyeffective way to promote your business, build your personal brand.
(00:50):
And I have been friends with Tanya for...
Goodness, I guess it's just over six months.
We're in a business incubator together.
And I have to tell you something about her.
She is consistent.
She is somebody who knows how to build that brand, show it off, and be like very reliable,which in today's nutty world is uncommon.
(01:11):
So Tanya, welcome to the show.
I'm really glad to have you here.
I am super excited and thrilled to be here because it's you, Amanda.
So thank you for having me.
my pleasure, my pleasure.
So I'll give you 30 seconds here to just correct anything I just said about your specialtyand what you really focus on.
Go ahead and share that with us.
(01:32):
Yeah, I mean, you pretty much nailed it.
The one thing that I would give a little bit of correction on is the pronunciation of myname is actually Tanya.
I'm sorry, Tanya.
I've been going Tanya for how long?
My gosh.
the default.
It's everyone's default, which is absolutely normal.
So I'm glad that we got a chance to say this because it's always hard.
(01:56):
said, mom doll, right?
Like, and like sometimes they do, but Tanya got it.
dog.
So good.
Well, catch me up, though, on how the heck did you get into all of this with the livestreaming and really discovering your genius zone in this area that you build whole
(02:16):
business around it?
Yeah, it was a miracle because I'm an introvert and the last thing I wanted to do was tobe on camera.
Like the absolute last thing.
And so what I would do, Amanda, is years ago, if we went back in a time machine like 15plus years ago, I would have said, yeah, I'll just do voiceovers.
(02:42):
Like I can do the voiceover a slide deck.
They want me to do video?
No, we're not doing that.
What was happening is I had built my business primarily using platforms like Twitter, likesocial media platforms, right?
Twitter at the time was really gold for me.
And I had an abundance of followers and I had a lot of activity with Facebook and all ofthose things with a page, you know?
(03:07):
And then over time, my organic reach took a nosedive.
Yep.
everybody's facing that.
And so I made a decision probably a little over five years ago that I was gonna have tomake a dramatic change or else just stop altogether because I was tired of fighting.
I was tired of fighting to get visibility.
(03:29):
And not only that, besides the fact that I'm in a space of digital marketing and socialmedia and live streaming and all of those things,
Besides the fact that I was competing in those spaces, which are very, you know, a lot ofpeople are in those spaces, I also was competing for my namesake, because how many
thousands upon thousands of people have the name Tanya Smith, right?
(03:52):
I only know one and it's you, but I hear what you're saying.
Like that's a pretty, common combo.
There's a lot.
So I really needed to figure out like, what can I do to stand out?
And I kept hearing the social platforms were talking about live stream, live stream, livestream.
And finally I said, okay, I'm just gonna take a plunge and I'm going to try this thing.
(04:14):
But I knew I know myself when it comes to exercise and everything else.
I will fall off the wagon if I don't make a real commitment.
And so I committed to doing a live stream once a week for an entire year, which was crazyat the time, Amanda.
And so I ended up just trying to figure my way through.
(04:36):
And as I did, there was just this crazy growth professionally, personally.
Yeah, I went through a lot of angst and some issues and things falling apart.
But it was so good for me and for my business that I decided I was going to teach otherpeople how to leverage it to really build community and connection.
(05:00):
love that.
Goodness, there's so much wisdom in what you're saying, even beyond, you know, let's beproficient at video.
That decision not to do it once or twice, not to do it for 90 days, but to do it over 50times.
And that commitment is uncommon.
know, like people, people, I mean, if it was more common, I probably wouldn't have abusiness with the Coach's Plaza if I'm just being completely honest with you.
(05:27):
Let's be real.
You're right.
be real about that.
But recently I posted a little I call them fortune cookies, you know, the littletweetables on Facebook.
And it was saying like the next time you're admiring someone's discipline, take a look atthe systems they have.
And you're reading between the lines.
It sounds like you really took the time because you knew you were going to be going onsuch a long, repetitive journey.
(05:52):
You.
took extra care with the preparation to be able to do that and keep up with it.
Am I reading that right?
You're reading it completely 110 % correctly because you can't, going into something likethis, I know maybe for some it's easy to just say, hey, I'm gonna try it and we're gonna
see how it goes.
(06:12):
I wanted it to work.
I wanted it to be something that was going to, because in every other aspect of mybusiness, my goal has always been.
how can I make a positive impact and show others what it means to be successful in doingthis thing that I'm doing?
And so in order to do that, I had to commit to something that I knew, a runway, right, ifyou will, that I knew would give me the ability to be able to say yes or no, it's a fail
(06:40):
or it's not.
Because if it was a fail, then that's the story I would tell.
Is here are all the things I tried and it didn't work and here's why.
And fortunately that I got to tell the opposite story of how it helped me to, I'm notgonna say come out of my shell because I'm not, even though I'm an introvert, I'm not shy.
(07:01):
um It was about me showing up more powerfully in a more powerful way as myselfauthentically with me being chill, right?
And who I am.
versus trying to model after somebody else who might be like bouncing off the walls doinglive streams.
So being able to show people a different path, being able to be a model for my twodaughters to also see that, mom is speaking up and she's doing something that she really
(07:30):
doesn't want to do and she's afraid to do, but she's doing it anyway.
Thank you, Spum.
So many times we think we have to transform into somebody that we're not, or that we needto be very performative in our expression and perform things in ways that aren't really
our truth.
Like you're all in bright paint for our audio uh listeners only.
(07:54):
She's got the bright pink microphone, she's got the bright pink shirt, like she's...
She's got a look, you know, and it is very expressive and bold.
But I think sometimes people take themselves way out of the conversation.
I know that was my truth, is that I was hesitant to even speak because I didn't see a lotof examples of someone who spoke the way I did or had the perspective necessarily that I
(08:18):
did, because the people that would like rush and grab that megaphone, if you will, thearchetype just, didn't seem like it was me.
Mm-hmm.
And, you know, like you, I had a very similar realization, aha, one day of, I know I wantthe success.
What if someone like me who speaks like me, who values like me, who thinks like me, whatif I could be successful without, you you're talking about screaming, I'm like, I'm about
(08:47):
Mr.
Beast, I'm thinking about Gary Vee, I'm thinking about, you know, all of these charactersthat
have done so extremely well of monetizing these platforms.
But I think it's easy to shortcut into thinking, well, that's not me, so I can't do it.
Yes, it was super easy to do that.
Especially because not only are you telling yourself that, there may be other peopletelling you that too.
(09:12):
And there were a few people in the history of my career that I can recall very clearlysaying, maybe it's just not for you.
And what I realized is that their definition of what success looked like didn't define meor what success looked like for me.
Mm.
me.
It's my race to run.
(09:34):
And so I figured that out, especially once I turned 50 plus.
Amanda was like, yeah, I don't really care what they think.
I'm going to run this race the way that I choose to, and I'm going to go down a path thatmay not look a little.
It's not going to be straight path, like from A to Z.
It's going to be A, and then I'm going to move over here off the path for a little bit,and then I'm going to.
(09:58):
wind around a rock and then I'm gonna hit this, you know, so I'm stop at a coffee shop.
This is my story to tell.
And I think that's what people have to remember is that sometimes we get caught up in whatother people's stories look like and we forget that we're writing our own as we go day to
day.
(10:19):
We're writing our own chapters, right?
So.
Yeah, you're the only one that really lives with the decisions you make.
And I absolutely loved your frame around, well, I'm going to make the commitment.
I'm going to do the thing.
And I'm choosing this thing because based on what I know, standing here at the startingline, this feels like the best strategy.
(10:41):
This feels like based on what I know, this is going to work.
But I loved your frame about the possibility for failure.
And I'm just so curious, like when you stood at that starting line and you said, I'm to dothis for a year.
Did you check in on failure throughout the year?
Did you wait till the end of the year to see if you're failing or succeeding?
(11:01):
Like, walk me through that, because that sounds like some some massive self-control thatyou got to explain that one to me.
Okay, look, I knew there would be fails and there absolutely were, especially at the earlystages where I would get on camera and I'd be totally exhausted and not want to do it or
(11:22):
I'd get on camera and no one would show up.
It was crickets, right?
So many times.
Yeah, very rude.
But what are you going to do, right?
um I knew that there would be times that...
Equipment with glitch even today when I was preparing to come in here one of my camerasjust kind of went out So I ended up having to use a backup So because of these things
(11:45):
happening what I was doing is I was observing like I was outside of myself and saying,okay So what can I do?
What did I learn from this and?
What can I do to continue to move forward?
Instead of saying you know what that doesn't work.
I'm giving up
This is the reason why I gave myself the runway, right?
(12:07):
Because if I had just looked at what things looked like the first several months, Iprobably would have said, this isn't working and I'm gonna give up.
I'm just gonna stop.
I think that the fails came, but I don't necessarily even own them as a failure.
I owned them as lessons that would help me to continue to improve and get better.
(12:31):
over time.
And I think that Amanda is an experience thing though, right?
Like I wasn't, I didn't come out knowing that it's just life experience teaches us thesethings.
And if we look back at our life, a lot of the things, the decisions that we make inbusiness are simply a reflection of what we've already done and what we're wanting to do.
(12:54):
And so that was a big thing for me.
huge and I just am thinking now about all the all the times that I would have taken myselfout of gaining experience and therefore valuable lessons and it's easy to do you know the
it's easy to get into catastrophic thinking it's easy to allow your environment toinfluence your choices it's eat like it really literally is the easiest thing in the world
(13:20):
to choose the path that is the least aligned
to your vision of success and your vision of your future.
It's kind of wild how much pull there is towards this average baseline.
And something I like to remind people is I'm like, hey, look, if you want averageoutcomes, take average steps.
(13:41):
The average American is divorced, the average American is obese, and the average Americancan't pay for $600 emergency.
So.
You know, it's like if average is really what you're looking for, comfort and ease isreally what you're looking for.
Have that, but don't be surprised by the outcome.
You know, if you want uncommon outcomes, then you're probably going to have to make someuncommon inputs, right?
(14:06):
That's exactly the whole basis for the whole live streaming decision.
What I told myself, and I still tell people to this day, is when you do the things thatothers don't, you get the opportunities that others won't.
So what you just said is really just another level of that same exact mantra that I'veadopted and that I teach other people.
(14:31):
you've got to do something different.
And that was the big thing for me is I knew I couldn't just settle and try to follow sometype of formulaic thing that other people were doing.
I knew I needed to do something dramatically different and difficult for me in order tosee if there were potential results.
So.
I feel that I cannot leave this conversation without just asking, what about AI?
(14:56):
Because speaking as a digital marketer myself, I hear so many people bemoaning, theplatforms aren't supporting what I want to do.
it's so hard to get attention.
A lot of the things actually led you into live streaming in the first place.
And so now,
with live streams don't get the kind of reach that they did organically at first, which isbasically the curve for everything in digital marketing is wildly popular at first, and
(15:22):
then it kind of drops off to a baseline, right?
em So I'm just so curious, like with all of the change and evolution of AI and things likethat, what's your attitude?
How are you looking at that?
And what's that mean for you and your business?
Ooh, this is a great question.
So I am an early adopter and I always have been.
So even way back before I was truly putting my face on camera, I used to do somethingcalled Click of the Week where I would review different digital apps and tools.
(15:51):
So this is my happy time.
Like AI in the introduction and evolution of things as a result of it being made morecommon and commonly accessible is...
To me, this is like gold.
This is a great time for us to look at what we've been doing and to amplify it and enhanceit.
(16:14):
I'm not saying that it needs to take over and become us.
What I'm saying is I love to use the power of artificial intelligence and the differenttools that are implemented with it.
I am loving the idea of being able to create branded characters.
I used to spend...
When I tell you thousands of dollars a year on photo shoots, because I couldn't findcharacters that looked like me, my black skin, with my short haircut, with my unique
(16:43):
features, I couldn't find stock photos that looked like me.
And so what I would do early on and over the years is I invested in photographers and Iinvested in studios to take images that I could use in my business clips.
And now...
Within minutes, I can just imagine something and be like, I need to create that.
(17:05):
And it's going to look like me.
It's my clone.
It's in the environment that I choose.
can create really the possibilities are endless right now.
And I've even started creating custom agents to help my clients with their live streamsand video podcast, Amanda.
So the workflows and the systems and the automation and things that we can put in placenow.
(17:28):
saving so many hours and so much money and it's leveling the playing field for smallercreators and entrepreneurs, which I think is a beautiful thing.
So yeah, I love AI.
I love it when it's used for a positive impact.
I love it.
I recognize also the other.
force in Star Wars.
(17:48):
know, it's a great, powerful force, but there's a light side, there's a dark side, butlike that's life.
You know, that's what it is.
And I love hearing your perspective on that.
I've seen your experiments.
mean, it's really quite amazing what you've been able to do with just, you know, one ofthose beautiful photographs and turning it into a movie animation.
(18:09):
I'm like blown away by some of the things that you've already figured out.
how to do.
I feel like I'm way behind the learning curve.
So I'm definitely going to be going to be picking your brain about that pretty soon here.
But before we wrap up, if there was one thing that you really wished every entrepreneurknew, what would it be?
Cool.
(18:29):
The one thing would be that I hope that you will give yourself the grace and thepermission to create what is meant for you.
I think we follow all these trends and we're trying to be so competitive and we seeourselves running up against other people, other industries, other niches.
(18:54):
Instead,
if we all simply operated in our own purpose, in our own gifts, and leveraged the tools toenhance those individual gifts, how much of a difference it would make in the world, not
just in our own little corner, right?
But the positive impact and the ripple that could be made if people simply dug deep withinto find out, like, what do I love?
(19:21):
What do I want to do?
What am I great at?
What's my passion and how can I make a positive ripple effect?
If we do that, I feel like there is so much room for everybody to win.
I could not agree more with you Tanya, that is such a beautiful thing.
you you reminded me of a saying I learned a long time ago, I think it was Paula Abdulactually said it, which was there's no traffic after the extra mile.
(19:52):
And you know, when you get that permission to create that permission to run your own race,don't worry about where other people are, how fast or slow you're going or how big or
or small relatively it is, if you just let go of that and you can really be present withrunning your own race.
I've had that very experience of there really is no competition after the extra milebecause when you move past being a copy paste clone of everybody else, you start really
(20:22):
playing with artists and creators and real independent thinkers and it's much morerewarding, I think as well on the other side of choosing to do that.
Yes.
Yeah, that's so good.
What is the best way for people to follow you and keep up with what you're doing?
I use a link, so streamlikeaboss.tv slash links.
(20:46):
And that way, however you choose to connect and define me, whatever place you like toplay, that's the best way to find that space and get into.
I love it, so good.
Thank you so much for joining me on this episode.
I learned a lot.
It was a lot of fun having you.
(21:06):
It was a lot of fun to be here, Amanda, and thank you for giving me this space to talkabout, you know, what was on my mind and to just have conversation with you.
I loved it.
favorite, my favorite kind of episode.
I love it.
And hey, dear listener, if you love this, don't forget to smash that subscribe button sothat you never miss another episode.
(21:27):
And if you're chatting with a friend who's maybe looking at getting into more video, moredigital marketing, just grab the link to this episode and text it over to them so that
they can find it directly.
And if you got just like 30 seconds.
Taking those 30 seconds to leave us a review on whichever platform you happen to belistening on is such a tremendous help to the show because it helps people decide if they
(21:51):
want to spend time with us.
So thank you so, so much for leaving that review.
Until our next episode, just remember to do what matters.
What I told myself, and I still tell people to this day, is when you do the things thatothers don't, you get the opportunities that others won't.
(00:28):
Well, hello and welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show.
And I was just telling my guests that I couldn't wait until we recorded this episode.
So Tanya Smith is a genius when it comes to live streaming, to using video in a reallyeffective way to promote your business, build your personal brand.
(00:50):
And I have been friends with Tanya for...
Goodness, I guess it's just over six months.
We're in a business incubator together.
And I have to tell you something about her.
She is consistent.
She is somebody who knows how to build that brand, show it off, and be like very reliable,which in today's nutty world is uncommon.
(01:11):
So Tanya, welcome to the show.
I'm really glad to have you here.
I am super excited and thrilled to be here because it's you, Amanda.
So thank you for having me.
my pleasure, my pleasure.
So I'll give you 30 seconds here to just correct anything I just said about your specialtyand what you really focus on.
Go ahead and share that with us.
(01:32):
Yeah, I mean, you pretty much nailed it.
The one thing that I would give a little bit of correction on is the pronunciation of myname is actually Tanya.
I'm sorry, Tanya.
I've been going Tanya for how long?
My gosh.
the default.
It's everyone's default, which is absolutely normal.
So I'm glad that we got a chance to say this because it's always hard.
(01:56):
said, mom doll, right?
Like, and like sometimes they do, but Tanya got it.
dog.
So good.
Well, catch me up, though, on how the heck did you get into all of this with the livestreaming and really discovering your genius zone in this area that you build whole
(02:16):
business around it?
Yeah, it was a miracle because I'm an introvert and the last thing I wanted to do was tobe on camera.
Like the absolute last thing.
And so what I would do, Amanda, is years ago, if we went back in a time machine like 15plus years ago, I would have said, yeah, I'll just do voiceovers.
(02:42):
Like I can do the voiceover a slide deck.
They want me to do video?
No, we're not doing that.
What was happening is I had built my business primarily using platforms like Twitter, likesocial media platforms, right?
Twitter at the time was really gold for me.
And I had an abundance of followers and I had a lot of activity with Facebook and all ofthose things with a page, you know?
(03:07):
And then over time, my organic reach took a nosedive.
Yep.
everybody's facing that.
And so I made a decision probably a little over five years ago that I was gonna have tomake a dramatic change or else just stop altogether because I was tired of fighting.
I was tired of fighting to get visibility.
(03:29):
And not only that, besides the fact that I'm in a space of digital marketing and socialmedia and live streaming and all of those things,
Besides the fact that I was competing in those spaces, which are very, you know, a lot ofpeople are in those spaces, I also was competing for my namesake, because how many
thousands upon thousands of people have the name Tanya Smith, right?
(03:52):
I only know one and it's you, but I hear what you're saying.
Like that's a pretty, common combo.
There's a lot.
So I really needed to figure out like, what can I do to stand out?
And I kept hearing the social platforms were talking about live stream, live stream, livestream.
And finally I said, okay, I'm just gonna take a plunge and I'm going to try this thing.
(04:14):
But I knew I know myself when it comes to exercise and everything else.
I will fall off the wagon if I don't make a real commitment.
And so I committed to doing a live stream once a week for an entire year, which was crazyat the time, Amanda.
And so I ended up just trying to figure my way through.
(04:36):
And as I did, there was just this crazy growth professionally, personally.
Yeah, I went through a lot of angst and some issues and things falling apart.
But it was so good for me and for my business that I decided I was going to teach otherpeople how to leverage it to really build community and connection.
(05:00):
love that.
Goodness, there's so much wisdom in what you're saying, even beyond, you know, let's beproficient at video.
That decision not to do it once or twice, not to do it for 90 days, but to do it over 50times.
And that commitment is uncommon.
know, like people, people, I mean, if it was more common, I probably wouldn't have abusiness with the Coach's Plaza if I'm just being completely honest with you.
(05:27):
Let's be real.
You're right.
be real about that.
But recently I posted a little I call them fortune cookies, you know, the littletweetables on Facebook.
And it was saying like the next time you're admiring someone's discipline, take a look atthe systems they have.
And you're reading between the lines.
It sounds like you really took the time because you knew you were going to be going onsuch a long, repetitive journey.
(05:52):
You.
took extra care with the preparation to be able to do that and keep up with it.
Am I reading that right?
You're reading it completely 110 % correctly because you can't, going into something likethis, I know maybe for some it's easy to just say, hey, I'm gonna try it and we're gonna
see how it goes.
(06:12):
I wanted it to work.
I wanted it to be something that was going to, because in every other aspect of mybusiness, my goal has always been.
how can I make a positive impact and show others what it means to be successful in doingthis thing that I'm doing?
And so in order to do that, I had to commit to something that I knew, a runway, right, ifyou will, that I knew would give me the ability to be able to say yes or no, it's a fail
(06:40):
or it's not.
Because if it was a fail, then that's the story I would tell.
Is here are all the things I tried and it didn't work and here's why.
And fortunately that I got to tell the opposite story of how it helped me to, I'm notgonna say come out of my shell because I'm not, even though I'm an introvert, I'm not shy.
(07:01):
um It was about me showing up more powerfully in a more powerful way as myselfauthentically with me being chill, right?
And who I am.
versus trying to model after somebody else who might be like bouncing off the walls doinglive streams.
So being able to show people a different path, being able to be a model for my twodaughters to also see that, mom is speaking up and she's doing something that she really
(07:30):
doesn't want to do and she's afraid to do, but she's doing it anyway.
Thank you, Spum.
So many times we think we have to transform into somebody that we're not, or that we needto be very performative in our expression and perform things in ways that aren't really
our truth.
Like you're all in bright paint for our audio uh listeners only.
(07:54):
She's got the bright pink microphone, she's got the bright pink shirt, like she's...
She's got a look, you know, and it is very expressive and bold.
But I think sometimes people take themselves way out of the conversation.
I know that was my truth, is that I was hesitant to even speak because I didn't see a lotof examples of someone who spoke the way I did or had the perspective necessarily that I
(08:18):
did, because the people that would like rush and grab that megaphone, if you will, thearchetype just, didn't seem like it was me.
Mm-hmm.
And, you know, like you, I had a very similar realization, aha, one day of, I know I wantthe success.
What if someone like me who speaks like me, who values like me, who thinks like me, whatif I could be successful without, you you're talking about screaming, I'm like, I'm about
(08:47):
Mr.
Beast, I'm thinking about Gary Vee, I'm thinking about, you know, all of these charactersthat
have done so extremely well of monetizing these platforms.
But I think it's easy to shortcut into thinking, well, that's not me, so I can't do it.
Yes, it was super easy to do that.
Especially because not only are you telling yourself that, there may be other peopletelling you that too.
(09:12):
And there were a few people in the history of my career that I can recall very clearlysaying, maybe it's just not for you.
And what I realized is that their definition of what success looked like didn't define meor what success looked like for me.
Mm.
me.
It's my race to run.
(09:34):
And so I figured that out, especially once I turned 50 plus.
Amanda was like, yeah, I don't really care what they think.
I'm going to run this race the way that I choose to, and I'm going to go down a path thatmay not look a little.
It's not going to be straight path, like from A to Z.
It's going to be A, and then I'm going to move over here off the path for a little bit,and then I'm going to.
(09:58):
wind around a rock and then I'm gonna hit this, you know, so I'm stop at a coffee shop.
This is my story to tell.
And I think that's what people have to remember is that sometimes we get caught up in whatother people's stories look like and we forget that we're writing our own as we go day to
day.
(10:19):
We're writing our own chapters, right?
So.
Yeah, you're the only one that really lives with the decisions you make.
And I absolutely loved your frame around, well, I'm going to make the commitment.
I'm going to do the thing.
And I'm choosing this thing because based on what I know, standing here at the startingline, this feels like the best strategy.
(10:41):
This feels like based on what I know, this is going to work.
But I loved your frame about the possibility for failure.
And I'm just so curious, like when you stood at that starting line and you said, I'm to dothis for a year.
Did you check in on failure throughout the year?
Did you wait till the end of the year to see if you're failing or succeeding?
(11:01):
Like, walk me through that, because that sounds like some some massive self-control thatyou got to explain that one to me.
Okay, look, I knew there would be fails and there absolutely were, especially at the earlystages where I would get on camera and I'd be totally exhausted and not want to do it or
(11:22):
I'd get on camera and no one would show up.
It was crickets, right?
So many times.
Yeah, very rude.
But what are you going to do, right?
um I knew that there would be times that...
Equipment with glitch even today when I was preparing to come in here one of my camerasjust kind of went out So I ended up having to use a backup So because of these things
(11:45):
happening what I was doing is I was observing like I was outside of myself and saying,okay So what can I do?
What did I learn from this and?
What can I do to continue to move forward?
Instead of saying you know what that doesn't work.
I'm giving up
This is the reason why I gave myself the runway, right?
(12:07):
Because if I had just looked at what things looked like the first several months, Iprobably would have said, this isn't working and I'm gonna give up.
I'm just gonna stop.
I think that the fails came, but I don't necessarily even own them as a failure.
I owned them as lessons that would help me to continue to improve and get better.
(12:31):
over time.
And I think that Amanda is an experience thing though, right?
Like I wasn't, I didn't come out knowing that it's just life experience teaches us thesethings.
And if we look back at our life, a lot of the things, the decisions that we make inbusiness are simply a reflection of what we've already done and what we're wanting to do.
(12:54):
And so that was a big thing for me.
huge and I just am thinking now about all the all the times that I would have taken myselfout of gaining experience and therefore valuable lessons and it's easy to do you know the
it's easy to get into catastrophic thinking it's easy to allow your environment toinfluence your choices it's eat like it really literally is the easiest thing in the world
(13:20):
to choose the path that is the least aligned
to your vision of success and your vision of your future.
It's kind of wild how much pull there is towards this average baseline.
And something I like to remind people is I'm like, hey, look, if you want averageoutcomes, take average steps.
(13:41):
The average American is divorced, the average American is obese, and the average Americancan't pay for $600 emergency.
So.
You know, it's like if average is really what you're looking for, comfort and ease isreally what you're looking for.
Have that, but don't be surprised by the outcome.
You know, if you want uncommon outcomes, then you're probably going to have to make someuncommon inputs, right?
(14:06):
That's exactly the whole basis for the whole live streaming decision.
What I told myself, and I still tell people to this day, is when you do the things thatothers don't, you get the opportunities that others won't.
So what you just said is really just another level of that same exact mantra that I'veadopted and that I teach other people.
(14:31):
you've got to do something different.
And that was the big thing for me is I knew I couldn't just settle and try to follow sometype of formulaic thing that other people were doing.
I knew I needed to do something dramatically different and difficult for me in order tosee if there were potential results.
So.
I feel that I cannot leave this conversation without just asking, what about AI?
(14:56):
Because speaking as a digital marketer myself, I hear so many people bemoaning, theplatforms aren't supporting what I want to do.
it's so hard to get attention.
A lot of the things actually led you into live streaming in the first place.
And so now,
with live streams don't get the kind of reach that they did organically at first, which isbasically the curve for everything in digital marketing is wildly popular at first, and
(15:22):
then it kind of drops off to a baseline, right?
em So I'm just so curious, like with all of the change and evolution of AI and things likethat, what's your attitude?
How are you looking at that?
And what's that mean for you and your business?
Ooh, this is a great question.
So I am an early adopter and I always have been.
So even way back before I was truly putting my face on camera, I used to do somethingcalled Click of the Week where I would review different digital apps and tools.
(15:51):
So this is my happy time.
Like AI in the introduction and evolution of things as a result of it being made morecommon and commonly accessible is...
To me, this is like gold.
This is a great time for us to look at what we've been doing and to amplify it and enhanceit.
(16:14):
I'm not saying that it needs to take over and become us.
What I'm saying is I love to use the power of artificial intelligence and the differenttools that are implemented with it.
I am loving the idea of being able to create branded characters.
I used to spend...
When I tell you thousands of dollars a year on photo shoots, because I couldn't findcharacters that looked like me, my black skin, with my short haircut, with my unique
(16:43):
features, I couldn't find stock photos that looked like me.
And so what I would do early on and over the years is I invested in photographers and Iinvested in studios to take images that I could use in my business clips.
And now...
Within minutes, I can just imagine something and be like, I need to create that.
(17:05):
And it's going to look like me.
It's my clone.
It's in the environment that I choose.
can create really the possibilities are endless right now.
And I've even started creating custom agents to help my clients with their live streamsand video podcast, Amanda.
So the workflows and the systems and the automation and things that we can put in placenow.
(17:28):
saving so many hours and so much money and it's leveling the playing field for smallercreators and entrepreneurs, which I think is a beautiful thing.
So yeah, I love AI.
I love it when it's used for a positive impact.
I love it.
I recognize also the other.
force in Star Wars.
(17:48):
know, it's a great, powerful force, but there's a light side, there's a dark side, butlike that's life.
You know, that's what it is.
And I love hearing your perspective on that.
I've seen your experiments.
mean, it's really quite amazing what you've been able to do with just, you know, one ofthose beautiful photographs and turning it into a movie animation.
(18:09):
I'm like blown away by some of the things that you've already figured out.
how to do.
I feel like I'm way behind the learning curve.
So I'm definitely going to be going to be picking your brain about that pretty soon here.
But before we wrap up, if there was one thing that you really wished every entrepreneurknew, what would it be?
Cool.
(18:29):
The one thing would be that I hope that you will give yourself the grace and thepermission to create what is meant for you.
I think we follow all these trends and we're trying to be so competitive and we seeourselves running up against other people, other industries, other niches.
(18:54):
Instead,
if we all simply operated in our own purpose, in our own gifts, and leveraged the tools toenhance those individual gifts, how much of a difference it would make in the world, not
just in our own little corner, right?
But the positive impact and the ripple that could be made if people simply dug deep withinto find out, like, what do I love?
(19:21):
What do I want to do?
What am I great at?
What's my passion and how can I make a positive ripple effect?
If we do that, I feel like there is so much room for everybody to win.
I could not agree more with you Tanya, that is such a beautiful thing.
you you reminded me of a saying I learned a long time ago, I think it was Paula Abdulactually said it, which was there's no traffic after the extra mile.
(19:52):
And you know, when you get that permission to create that permission to run your own race,don't worry about where other people are, how fast or slow you're going or how big or
or small relatively it is, if you just let go of that and you can really be present withrunning your own race.
I've had that very experience of there really is no competition after the extra milebecause when you move past being a copy paste clone of everybody else, you start really
(20:22):
playing with artists and creators and real independent thinkers and it's much morerewarding, I think as well on the other side of choosing to do that.
Yes.
Yeah, that's so good.
What is the best way for people to follow you and keep up with what you're doing?
I use a link, so streamlikeaboss.tv slash links.
(20:46):
And that way, however you choose to connect and define me, whatever place you like toplay, that's the best way to find that space and get into.
I love it, so good.
Thank you so much for joining me on this episode.
I learned a lot.
It was a lot of fun having you.
(21:06):
It was a lot of fun to be here, Amanda, and thank you for giving me this space to talkabout, you know, what was on my mind and to just have conversation with you.
I loved it.
favorite, my favorite kind of episode.
I love it.
And hey, dear listener, if you love this, don't forget to smash that subscribe button sothat you never miss another episode.
(21:27):
And if you're chatting with a friend who's maybe looking at getting into more video, moredigital marketing, just grab the link to this episode and text it over to them so that
they can find it directly.
And if you got just like 30 seconds.
Taking those 30 seconds to leave us a review on whichever platform you happen to belistening on is such a tremendous help to the show because it helps people decide if they
(21:51):
want to spend time with us.
So thank you so, so much for leaving that review.
Until our next episode, just remember to do what matters.
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