Launching a Product Based Business w/ Erin on Demand

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're tuned in to the All About Your Brand podcast,
your go to destination for brand and life transformation. I'm
your host, Brianna Aponte, brand expert and transformation coach, helping
everyday people create brands and lives they love. Join me
and other experts as we share our personal stories, unveil
effective strategies, and give you an exclusive peak behind the

(00:21):
scenes of our lives and the inner workings of our brands.
If you're ready to abandon fear, become your best self,
and turn your dreams into reality, You're in the right place.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
What's up, everybody? Thanks so much for joining us for
another episode of All About Your Brand Today, I have
one of my favorite girlies that I love to follow
and watch on Instagram, Aaron on Demand. For a few reasons, y'all.
You know, a lot of you that have been following
my journey know that Drey and I are trying for
babies soon and Aaron is actually seven months pregnant, So

(00:55):
I'm super excited to be able to chat with her
and kind of just see what it's like to be
like a mama preneur, because I don't have any idea
what that's going to feel like. And since she's about
to pop in a few months, you know we're going
to get some insight from her. But also Aarin has
done such a good job of creating a relatable brand

(01:16):
and also creating a tangible product, which is something that
I'm also unfamiliar with that I know a lot of
you want to learn about. So without further ado, let's
welcome Aaron. Hey girl, Hi, thank.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
You so much for having me. I'm so excited to
be here to just chat about all the things business
and whatever else we talk about.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, gir, I'm so excited because you know, it's been
hard to not like DM you certain questions.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
I was like, wait till the interview, wait till the interview.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
But you are absolutely glowing like a mami hood and
you're already looking so good on you. You posted this video
on or It was an actual in feed post where
you did like zoomed in versus zoomed out, and I
thought that was so cute because from Boden, you have
no idea that you're pregnant.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
I feel really good though, like, I'm so happy that
this pregnancy has been so smooth and I'm having a girl,
and everyone's like girls steal your beauty, and they're just like,
you're gonna be just like, oh, well when you're pregnant
with the girl. And I'm like, well, my Navy girl
did not do be bothd because I feel really good.
So I'm happy about that. Oh and I don't know

(02:25):
if he knows about me, but I want girls like
all girls a cheerleading team would just answer prayers.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
So I'm so excited for you that you're having a baby. Girl.
So before we jump into the episode, can you just
tell our listeners a little bit about you?

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yes, Well, I started Aaron on Demand. Well before that,
I went to Howard University graduated with a broadcast journalism
degree minored and graphic design. I've always really been into
being on camera. I wanted to be a news anchor
for the longest and I actually did this four year
internship at one of my local news stations. Every summer

(03:07):
that I came home from Howard and I realized that
I didn't want to do news my senior year of
college and I'm like, well, what am I going to do?
You know, like I you know when you're in college
and you feel like your life is just like, oh
my god, I got to have everything figured out as
soon as I graduate, and like, you're just so you

(03:28):
feel so much pressure. So once I graduated, I actually
moved back home and got this job as a spokesperson
and it was at this local credit union. Now all
of my friends were going off to like New York
and LA and Atlanta and staying in DC and just
getting hired by all these cool companies, and I'm like,

(03:49):
what is going on? Like I just I felt like
I was doing the thing that I should be doing,
but it just didn't look like what I envisioned it as.
So I moved back in with my parents and that
job lasted for a year. After that, I went and
worked at National Geographic for a year and then I

(04:10):
couldn't find a job after that, so I moved back
to Michigan with my parents, and I was like, you
know what, I'm going to start a business, Like I'm
going to start doing social media commercials for small businesses
or whatever businesses that will hire me in Metro Detroit.
And I called them so commercials. They were social media commercials.

(04:30):
And I did everything. I wrote the scripting, I produced,
I shot them, I edited them. I was like, I
want to help people tell stories and do that on
social media. And this was in like two thousand and
eighteen because I actually started this before I started my
YouTube channel. So I was doing that and I was

(04:51):
making really good money, and I was like, well, Aaron,
you're not telling your own story. So I ended up.
I ended up started my YouTube channel, and I was like,
let me show what it's like to, you know, be
building a business from ground up, because I just kept
seeing all of these entrepreneurs when I was googling, like
how to start a business, how to do all these

(05:13):
things for that phase that I was in, and I'm like,
first of all, none of them are black, none of
them are young, none of them are women, none of
them are well young black women, and none of them
are like at ground zero basically, like I was really
putting myself out there and it just took off. And

(05:34):
so the YouTube channel took off, and then the business
started picking up. But I was noticing that the business
was picking up in a way that I wasn't expecting
it to. It was more so picking up in a
sense of like, how are you growing so fast? How
are you so great on camera? How are like asking
me all these questions? I'm like, no, y'all need to
hire me for videos that I'm doing these commercials, but

(05:56):
nobody was hiring me for that, and they were really
interested in, like my story, the brand building and all
of that. So I was like, Okay, well I'm going
to share you know, how I'm doing that through the
lens of this business that I was also building. And
eventually I kind of eased up from doing like you know,
in the field video like videography essentially, and moved more

(06:20):
into branding and marketing and social media. And that's how
most people find me from sharing how I've been building
my brand as an entrepreneur, creating products, doing one on
one coaching. I also have a membership club and just
you know, building the online brand in a multifaceted way.

(06:44):
So it's been fun. It's been such a blessing and
I'm excited for all that to come. So that's a
little bit of background. Love it.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
And so how long ago did you actually create your
YouTube channel?

Speaker 3 (06:57):
November of twenty eighteen. Video looks so yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Cannot wait to dive into the YouTube stuff. We're going
to do a quick game of this or that before
we get into our questions. So I'm going to give
you this or that scenario and just quickly ramble off
which one you would pick if you could only choose
between the two.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
Got it? Okay?

Speaker 2 (07:19):
All right? YouTube or Instagram for building your brand, YouTube
scriptive content or spontaneous.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
Blogs, spontaneous blogs.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Podcasts or blogging podcast collaborations are solo projects, solo projects
uploading daily or quality over quantity, Quality over quantity d
I Y editing, or hire a professional.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
Uh the.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
D I Y?

Speaker 3 (08:00):
I knew? I knew that one would have you like,
that's so.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
Virtual events are in person meetups, in person Instagram stories
or YouTube shorts, shorts early morning or late night work
sessions late night and the last one launching a new
product quietly or making an announcement in building the hype.

Speaker 3 (08:27):
Definitely build in the hype.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
Hey, I feel like we learned so much about our
speakers through the Q and A or this or that.
This is something new that we've been doing, and I like,
absolutely love it. All right, so let's ship on it.
Because you said you launched your YouTube in twenty eighteen,
So what was the thing that made you decide I'm

(08:50):
going to start your YouTube channel.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
I had been wanting to start one for a long time.
I was sitting on it for a while, and I
think when I I wasn't starting it it was because
I just didn't know what to say. I didn't know
what like what that looked like for me until I
started aeron on Demand as the business and I was like, wait,

(09:13):
I can it clicked at that point. I have so
many videos that I have recorded before Aaron on Demand
was conceived.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
And.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
They just it's so funny to look back on. But
I think the moment that I remember so vividly waking
up that day. It was some day in November, but
I remember waking up and being like I'm doing this today,
like I'm recording a video today and this is going
to be the video that goes up. And that day

(09:46):
I did it, and that was the thing that like
flipped the switch for me, like okay, if I'm gonna
put this up, like I'm doing this and it all
worked out. So I just remember that day getting up
and being having this big epiphany like you're telling everyone
else's stories but your own, you know, like tell your

(10:09):
story and let it unfold over time.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
I'm so glad that you mentioned that you felt like
you were telling other people's stories, So talk to me
about your transition from telling everyone else's stories to telling yours, Like,
what did that process look like? Because I know when
you worked with your clients for your commercials that you
walked through, Okay, this is the script, this is what
I'm capturing, this is the b roll, this.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
Is the a role, this is the editing.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
So when you sat down and was like, Okay, what
does Aaron's brand look like? And how are we showing
up and telling our story? What was that process like
for you?

Speaker 3 (10:42):
It's funny because it was no strategy, Like, it was
no and that's why I tell people like you can
just start, like the strategy comes once you have some
type of data or evidence. Like it's hard to strategize
when you have nothing to go off of, you know.
It's kind of like it's kind of like budgeting with

(11:02):
zero dollars. It's like, how are you going to budget
and you have no money to work with? You know.
So when I started Aaron on Demand, it was just
kind of like I just want to be me. I
just want to share like the things that I'm looking
for that I feel like people aren't creating from this
perspective and I think that's the thing that made my

(11:23):
content pop fast is because it was more it was
less about what I was talking about and more of
the perspective at which I was coming from. And a
lot of people really resonated with the fact that I
did move back in with my parents. I was not
shy about being vulnerable of where I was at that time,
and I wasn't trying to teach people or be an expert.

(11:46):
I was just like sharing where I was, and like
one of my videos was like how much I saved
before I decided to be an entrepreneur, or things that
I was sacrificing, or you know, just like kind of
sharing those like those things and it it That's why
I tell people, like the best time to start is

(12:08):
when your life looks uglier than you want it to look.
When you start, like you want to capture that kind
of like ground zero, if you're there, if you feel
like that's where you are, Like, that's some of the
most beautiful content that I can look back on and
be like, oh my gosh, like I really I really

(12:30):
like I'm here now, I'm where I wanted to be
at that point, and now those goals that I have
now looked different, and I'm going to look back on
today and be like, oh my gosh, like that was
so you know, that was so long ago of you know,
my dream of being a multi millionaire. Now I'm you know,
now that's my lifestyle, you know what I mean? Like

(12:51):
you kind of you have to start where you are.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
Oh, I'm like, there's so many things I.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
Want to piggyback on that because that was so good.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Like I have noticed, not just with myself but also
with clients that you get the best results when you
take people through a journey, when you show them the
process and the transformation from I started here who I'm here,
and every day, as buyers, especially when we're deciding what
business we're going to invest in and who we're going
to spend our money with, we want to work with

(13:26):
people who are relatable, who make us see a little
bit of us in them. And the fact that you
did that so early on, that's really why you are
where you are. It's like people want that relatableness. They
want to be able to know that you weren't just
you know, given the silver spoon, and that things just
worked out for you and this is where you are
because you had X, Y and Z. It's like I

(13:46):
was doing this. I was just like you, this is
how I felt, this is what it looked like, and
this is what I did to get to where I
am and this is what I'm doing to get to
where I'm going.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
And so I love.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
That you were from the jump, very transparent, honest about
yourself and where you were. I want to plug one
of our past speakers real quick, because I was in
the gym today working out and I was like, oh
my gosh, this is why I'm working with Gina. So
Gina was a girl who looked like me at my
heaviest when I was at a space where I was like,

(14:18):
I don't know what to do other than to like
go and get surgery because I don't know how I
can possibly look like that. And she has shown how
this is where I was and this is where she is,
and she took you through the whole journey, so you
know there was no snippin. You know, there was no
body work done. She actually implemented consistency and healthy eating

(14:39):
and a lifestyle change and it got her to where
she is. And I've had so many fitness people come
to me willing to offer their services for free and
never move forward. But because of with her, I've seen
her full journey. I'm like, she can get me the
results I need. She got the results for herself. So
I love that, and I hope all of you listened
very closely to what Eric was talking about because that

(15:01):
is the key to really building a good brand. And
then if you are building a business, that is the
core of it, that's the foundation of where that business
is going to come from. The proof is in the
foot of y'all. So, going off of where you kind
of left off, I want to just ask you if
somebody was starting from scratch, right, so go back to

(15:23):
your early days of launching your YouTube, what did you
actually use, Like what equipment did you have or did
you not have when you got started? And what advice
would you give now knowing what you know now for
someone who started from scratch.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
Okay, okay, first thing is starting from scratch doesn't have
to feel so scary. I feel like it is. I
always say like you have this depth perception of where
you are to where you're trying to be, and sometimes

(16:02):
that depth perception feels so big that you and you're
trying to close this with buying super expensive gear making,
you know, trying to create this perfect background. You're trying
to do all of these things that is just prolonging
you from starting, and you're trying to close that depth

(16:26):
by doing things that really don't matter. So the biggest
thing is, for one, just like getting up and starting.
I feel like if I had had that epiphany and
overthought it and not just went downstairs and been like, oh,
I'm pressing record, I think that day I went to Target,
I got a little clock, I got like a little

(16:48):
marquyboard that looks like this one that have right here,
and I hung it up on the wall and I
sat down and I recorded, and that was that was that,
And I I feel like you just don't need all
the bells and whistles now. If you do want to
get some stuff, like I would say, get a camera

(17:09):
that you are comfortable using. The biggest mistake, especially when
people are starting on YouTube, is that you buy this
fancy year and then you don't know what you're doing,
and then you don't want to. You feel like you
need to use it because you paid hundreds or even
thousands of dollars for this equipment, so you just don't

(17:29):
do YouTube at all because you're like, I don't know
how to work this and I'm just overwhelmed. So on
top of the learning curve of editing if that's the
style of content that you want to upload, if you
want to have edited content, and then just the back
end of YouTube and all the SEO and then thumbnails
and then so YouTube. The reason why I feel like

(17:51):
I was able to hop in is because in the
way that I did, it's kind of like kind of
like that Iceberg analogy where it's like I had so
much video experience before I got to YouTube that like
it looked like I got on YouTube and just everything grew.
But I had been interning at news stations, editing, producing,

(18:12):
doing all of these things for years. I knew how
to storytell, I knew the basics of talking on camera
and you know, having the step a presence on camera,
and so all of those skills really translated right into YouTube.
And I also minored in graphic design, so making thumbnails,
even though my thumbnails now I'll look way better than

(18:33):
they did back then, it's just like I was confident
enough to take that step and could kind of I
kind of had the eye. So I also don't want
to make it seem like I just even started from
just simple ground zero. When it comes to starting YouTube,
if I were doing it now, I probably would start

(18:54):
with short form content if I didn't have the experience
that I had, you know, going into YouTube. So I
always encourage people to if you feel really overwhelmed with
YouTube and all of that that comes with it, then
start with like just one minute videos, you know, like shorts.

(19:15):
There are just so many opportunities to create content where
you don't have to sit and talk to the camera
for ten minutes straight in order to like get your
point across. So I would recommend creating really easy content.
I just posted a video today about like lazy content
that performs really well, like how to create high performing
lazy content. And so if you are good at like

(19:36):
capturing moments, but maybe you're just not there yet with
like talking right to the camera, start with where you
feel comfortable, because that's just going to give you the
momentum to continue to grow and like start doing the
things that feel less comfortable.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
That's such a good advice because I think that's what
keeps people from starting, is it feels uncomfortable and because
they can't do all the things they do nothing instead
of ye just starting in that comfort zone. Okay, So
coming from someone who has close to four hundred thousand
subscribers on YouTube, can you tell our listeners who YouTube
is for and who it's not for, just in case

(20:12):
they're thinking of starting or launching their own channel. Who
is it for?

Speaker 3 (20:16):
I think it's for everybody. I know it sounds crazy,
but like, I don't think I've met a person who
I'm just like, you shouldn't start a channel, like absolutely not,
you know, like unless you're the type of person who
just doesn't want to put the work in. Because YouTube
takes work. I'm not gonna sit here and say it's
hard necessarily because I just never go into anything with

(20:39):
that perspective. I am very much a I'm gonna use
my resources. I'm gonna make this as easy or simple
as possible for myself, So I wouldn't go in thinking
that it's hard. But it is work. So I would say,
if you're not somebody who's willing to give it some time,

(21:02):
you know, make sure that you're checking all the boxes.
I think with YouTube, because there are more steps, it's
very easy to slack off. So like you might put
so much energy and effort into the video and then
like slack off the thumbnail, slack off the title, and
those are the things that really make people click and

(21:23):
they're gonna get your channel traffic. So if you don't
have this stam enough for YouTube, then I would say,
you know, and then also the ability to be consistent,
then I would say don't do it. Now. Here's the
thing about YouTube now is that you don't have to
have a long form channel. You can start a YouTube
channel with just shorts. I have met many creators who

(21:45):
have multimillion dollars I mean multimillion subscriber channels and they
post no long form content. They only post shorts. And
so if you want to start YouTube, I think our
generation typically associates YouTube with like I'm going to search
for this thing and I'm gonna watch it for ten
minutes or twenty minutes, or I'm going to listen to

(22:06):
this podcast or you know whatever. You don't have to
start that start there on YouTube if you don't want to,
you can literally start with shorts. So I say it's
for everybody.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
I'm thinking. I wanted you to say it, because you know,
I don't I don't have a pop and subscription on YouTube.
But I have been telling people lately and almost like
kicking myself in the butt for not starting a YouTube sooner.
And I launched my channel only with shorts because I'm like,
I just want to be able to monetize before I
do add more of the longer form content. But I

(22:41):
do agree that I think it's for everybody as long
as you can make it makes sense. So now my
next question for you is do you think that someone
who is not consistent on any other social media platform
should jump right into social or do you think that
or into YouTube or do you think that they would
need to show up consistently on like maybe Instagram first
and then a YouTube. What's your thoughts there?

Speaker 3 (23:04):
No, because YouTube, Like I started on YouTube, can you
hear me? Yeah? Okay, my AirPods. I think the the
sound cancelation stuck. Just sound it weird. But yeah, my
YouTube I started on YouTube. I had no Instagram following.
I mean, I know times are different now because that

(23:26):
was like five years ago. But Instagram, I feel like
it's not the Holy Grail like I think people think
it is, but it really isn't, And so many creators
are flocking to YouTube, they're ditching Instagram. They're they're hoping
TikTok doesn't get shut down because that is where they're
trying to be. I'm also recently on substack, which is

(23:49):
like so amazing. I love substack. It's an email. It's
kind of like the email social media. Oh my god,
I think I have a lash in my eye. Sorry,
get it because I know it's annoying. Oh my god,
it's so annoying. And so I think there's just so
many opportunities out here for you to build an audience.
And there are people who have huge YouTube followings who
have very small followings in other places. So you do

(24:12):
not have to feel like, Okay, let me get my
Instagram going, then I'm gonna start my YouTube channel. No,
just start the YouTube channel, because like you just don't know,
Like you can have a video that you post on
Instagram that performs terribly and then you post it on
shorts and it can perform amazing. So or they can
both perform great. I mean, who knows. But I just

(24:34):
think you don't have to miss that window of opportunity
if you're feeling inclined to get on the platform.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
You know, speaking from someone who is only on Instagram
right now, what I've realized is like Instagram takes more
energy and more effort, whereas YouTube, you don't have to
post every single day on YouTube. So you could be
consistent with a platform like YouTube before becoming consistent with
something like Instagram or a more needy platform. So I
love that you said that, and like I said, I'm

(25:03):
going to you with all these questions because you're an expert.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
And that way I do. What I do is like
I tell people, folks, if you're gonna do YouTube, you
have to focus on YouTube. Like YouTube is not a
in the background kind of social media because it ends
up being hard. It creates this perception that it's harder

(25:27):
when you don't focus on it. Like if you focus
on it and you get into a good stride with YouTube,
then you're feeling like, Okay, I feel good. But like
if you put a YouTube video up once a month
and then you're focused on Instagram for real, and then
you're like, oh, I should start I should start posting
on YouTube again, and then put another one up, and
it takes you six hours just to get that video up.
Every time you're associating yourself with YouTube, you're thinking of

(25:50):
how long it takes to create on the platform. And
so if you're gonna commit to YouTube, I will say this,
you need to really commit, like at least once a
week be uploading, especially if you're gonna do long form.
If you're gonna do shorts, you can upload those however often,
but like, if you're gonna do long form YouTube, like
you need to at least upload once a week. And

(26:10):
I found that when I make YouTube, my focus and
my numbers just grow. It just pours into Instagram, it
pours into TikTok, like it just pours into everything else,
Whereas it's harder to get people from like Instagram to
YouTube or TikTok to YouTube. Like YouTube though, when they're

(26:30):
spending ten fifteen twenty minutes with you watching you blog,
you popular Instagram thing up on the graphics, up on
the on the screen, share some little things that you
posting your stories, like oh my gosh, join me on
Instagram because I'm posting daily, like I post here once
a week, but like if you want daily updates, like
people will, they get so invested in you when you're

(26:52):
on YouTube. So it's so much easier to honestly do
the opposite of what you're saying and get people onto
the other platforms from YouTube.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
That makes a lot of sense because a lot of
the people I found on YouTube, I would look up
just for their YouTube name. I would just search their name,
find their Instagram. Then I'm like, oh, and I would
be surprised to see that someone with such a large
YouTube subscription had such a low Instagram following. But then
it made me more intrigued to maybe want to feel
it felt like if I followed them like this is

(27:22):
a relationship versus like I'm one of the millions of
their subscribers on YouTube, and so I yeah, that's such
a good point. Now, speaking of YouTube and other platforms,
what has been your like creative process for how to
determine what to put on YouTube versus what to put
on Instagram or or do they intersect at all?

Speaker 3 (27:44):
Yeah, I think it's helpful. They do interse it. But
I do think it's helpful to kind of have a
focal point for the different platforms, just so that you
kind of know what works on each each one and
so that your community has a reason to follow you
on those different in those different places. So for me,

(28:06):
YouTube is definitely more information driven like more business content,
content creation or creator economy content. And I do love
to do blogs, but even most of my blogs are
like day in the life entrepreneurship kind of still showing
through the lens of work. Or even if I do
talk about being a mom, it's like kind of morepreneury,

(28:28):
Like I just know that that's what my community in
you on YouTube wants to see. Now if they've gone
from YouTube to Instagram, nine times out of ten they
want more like personable stuff. And so my Instagram I
am sharing, you know, just more personable updates, and then
also like what am I saying? Personal updates, but also

(28:49):
like I am bringing some of those business tips and
overlapping them into my Instagram content because I know that
so many people are coming from that content as well,
so I don't want it to seem too foreim. But
I also want to add like a little some something.
And then on TikTok, I kind of fell off of
TikTok a little bit, but when I was posting consistently

(29:11):
on there, it was very raw and like talk to
the camera, chit chatty, like quick tips, very very just
like on the whim content that performed so well that
would probably not fly on Instagram as well as it
did on TikTok. So I think just kind of setting
those platform boundaries just helps you stay organized as a creator,

(29:33):
and it also helps you to kind of push your
audience to the other places because you're like I share
all my travel tips on TikTok, where I share all
of my makeup tips, and like all of more of
my beauty stuff on Instagram, like whatever whatever that looks like.
I mean, it doesn't have to be so compartmentalized, but
just kind of having a little bit different of a

(29:53):
focal point on each one.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
I love that. That's such good advice. So I do
want to talk about your podcast before we jump into
the product based stuff. So the SIPs of Success, I
want you to talk to our viewers about what made
you start the podcast and then what has the podcast
been for you within your personal life and for your business.

(30:16):
Because a lot of our listeners or people in our community,
they're in a space where they're trying to figure out
do I start a podcast, do I start a blog,
do I start YouTube? So this is specifically for those
who are thinking about possibly starting a podcast. Just give
us a little insight to why you started it and
what it's done for you, both personally and for business.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
Okay, so yes, I love the podcast. It's so much fun.
We started it so it's with me and my husband
and I do it together. And it was honestly his idea.
So he retired from corporate and he's like full time
with Aaron on Demand and like with our businesses, and
he just was like, I just really want to do this,

(30:58):
Like I want to get more practice in front of
the camera, and like I feel like the easiest way
for me to do that is if we're doing it together.
And I was like, okay, cool, Like I'm down as
long as I ain't got a edit and I got
to be hands all once I'm done, once we're done recording,
I'm good. So he did all of like he came
up with the name, he did all the all of
the things, and it has been so much fun and

(31:21):
it's so interesting because people will comment like I watch
Aaron's videos, but I just love her, like her openness
on the podcast, Like it just I'm sharing even on there,
a different side of myself than I even share through
any of my air and on demand platforms because it's
just a different dynamic. When I'm talking with my husband,
it just feels more comfortable. But I think if you're

(31:44):
trying to decide what is the best thing to start with,
it really depends on your lifestyle, Like if you are
somebody who okay, it depends on your lifestyle for one,
and also the type of content that you gravitate to
number two, and also what you're actually good at or

(32:05):
best at. So if you're an amazing writer, don't start
a YouTube channel right now. Like, leverage your writing, you know,
if that's the thing that is your secret sauce, Like
leverage the writing, start a blog or get on substat
like really really like focus on that if that's where
you're feeling you need to put your energy. And as

(32:27):
time goes on, like obviously you can add another platform,
or maybe you can start voicing over your newsletters in
the form of a podcast, and that's how you add
the audio component or the video component of you sitting
there reading and talking, you know, about your daily thoughts
or whatever. Like, I think you have to figure out

(32:49):
what feels the most authentic. And there's just so much
advice of like this is the best platform, that's the
best platform, This is why you should be here and
there and everywhere, And it's just it's like it's no
point if you're not gonna be consistent, if you're not
gonna put in the energy or the effort. And so
just as like the podcast, the podcast, I'm only doing

(33:10):
that because I know that it's something that's easy to
add on to my plate. So I think you just
have to look at your lifestyle and determine which one
makes the most sense. And with podcasting, another good thing
about it is like it's such light editing. Like if
you're really bad at editing, but you're really great at

(33:30):
talking and expressing yourself or storytelling or whatever, podcasting might
be great for you because it's like editing. You don't
have to do video podcasting if you don't want to,
even though that's super popular and very optimizable these days,
but like you don't have to do that. You can
be in your pajamas and be in your bed and
have a microphone and it can be very easy for you.

(33:51):
So I think it just kind of depends on your
goals and like what you're good at. Yeah, that's so.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
Good because knowing your skills works. And foremost I've had
clients that like didn't even want to do talking head
videos for their social but then was like, I'm going
to start YouTube channel and I'm like.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
Yeah, Hike, you've got to build. How are we doing that?

Speaker 2 (34:17):
So yeah, I think the advice that you gave us
so good. I hope you guys were taken notes go
off of your lifestyle and as well as your skill
set and then what you gravitate towards. It's just like
for me, you know, TikTok has never been my thing,
and once I got an assistant, she was like, you
need to be on TikTok. You know, she's like five
years younger than me, so I'm like, of course you
would say that, but she's probably laughing right out. But

(34:40):
I was like, well, I'll just have you repurpose the
videos I've created on social that you feel would do
well on TikTok, and we'll just see what happens after
three months. And it's like, I'm not going to be
in the space that I don't feel called to be in,
and that is like, I think the best advice that
we is like, choose the places that you act actually
want to show up in it and just be consistent

(35:02):
with that first before trying to do all the things,
because you do not have to be everywhere at one time.
So okay, we're going to jump into the product stuff
because you are our first guest that is actually talking
about tangible products. And I just want to know first,
like what made you create your notebook? And I know
it's based around productivity, so I assume it comes from

(35:24):
something that happened with you as an entrepreneur, but really
walk us through, like why you created it and why
you decided you know what, this is something I'm not
only going to create, but I'm going to mass produce
and sell.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
Yeah. Okay, So it's funny because I had no intention
of creating a product and I started the YouTube channel,
like I was telling you earlier in twenty eighteen. Twenty
nineteen is when I started vlogging on the channel, and
I thought this whiteboard behind my disk and I never

(35:59):
knew to write on it until I started writing my
top three and I would just write three things on there,
and now it would just I would write the three
main things that I needed to get done that day,
like what I must complete, and then I was like, Okay,
if I do these things, I'm gonna reward myself, and
I started showing it on the vlogs, and it kind

(36:20):
of turned into like the format of the blogs because
at the beginning of the blog, I write the top three,
and then the content of the blog would be me
like doing the top three, and then the end of
the blog would be like me checking off all the
things that I did and then rewarding myself for completing
them or not completing them if I didn't complete them.

(36:40):
So then it just turned into like this big thing,
Like literally I was getting so many tags on Instagram.
My Instagram following started picking up, and like we did
this top three challenge where I had this calendar on
I put this calendar on Instagram and it was for
one whole month, and it would be like do three

(37:00):
things you've been procrastinating on, respond to three emails you've
been delayed, or it was just like all these daily
little like top three things, and that just that just
did crazy. So we created a top three template for
Instagram because people were starting to like go out and

(37:21):
buy the same whiteboard that I had in the vlogs.
I had got it from Target, and I was so
mad because at my parents' old house, I could not
get the board off, like it was just stuck to
the wall. So I was like, well, I guess this
is souvenir for the next family because we could not
get it off. So they people started tagging me saying

(37:41):
I got this board. I found it at Target. It's
the same one as Aaron's demand, and like they were
writing their top three. So we made a template for
Instagram stories so people could share their top three and
their stories. And then after so much buzz, I'm like, Okay,
this is like really helping people and it's really starting
to like take shape on its own. So I'm like,

(38:06):
we need to have we need to create something. So
I went through several different ideas. I'm like, do we
do sticky notes, do we do a whiteboard, like, you know,
a custom whiteboard so people ain't run on the Target
and getting that one. Or do we do like a
planner or a notebook or whatever. And so it was
interesting because the plan I was always wanted to be

(38:29):
a planner girl, Like I always have had a planner,
but I never finished them. I always wanted to like
decorate them and color coordinate them and all the things,
but I would just never finish them or I realized
that there were so many sections in the planners that
I just wouldn't use, like budgeting and meal prepping and
all these things, and I'm like birthdays and all this stuff,
and I'm like, I'm I feel like I'm wasting money

(38:51):
because I'm not using like a good portion of what
this planner has. So we ended up having the top
three note and it was very It was a very
big goal because I'm like, I don't know anyone who's
created a product, and I didn't intend to do this,
so like, how do we do this? So the first

(39:12):
thing that I always do is ask anybody in my
network like who do I I think so long in
hard like who do I know? Or who do I
know who knows somebody who has done something along the
same lines. So there was this woman who was in
my area and she had a planner line and I

(39:35):
was like, hey, like love your planner. I ended up
ordering one because I wanted to see like how it
came in the mail and just kind of do like
my own research, and so I started ordering different planners
like I ordered her planner, but then I was ordering
all different planners, like what's good about this one? What's
not good about that one, and so I got to

(39:56):
she responded, So I emailed her. She responded and I'm like, Hey,
can we meet up? I just I want to ask
you a few questions about your planner? I really love it.
Blah blah blah blah blah. So we meet up at
a coffee shop and she's telling me all this information
like oh, yeah, like I have this manufacturer. They did
a great job. And I'm like, okay, that's great. How
about you be my project manager for this?

Speaker 2 (40:18):
Like do you do that?

Speaker 3 (40:19):
Like I I don't have the capacity to like do
all this back and forth with the manufacturer, but I
will be more than willing to pay you to do
it for me. So she was like, oh my gosh,
I don't offer that, but sure. So so I was like, okay, cool.
So she reached out. She had multiple manufacturer connects, and

(40:43):
so she reached out and she's actually since started a
whole business doing this ever since yes, and so I
was like, so she'll so and she specializes in paper products,
So I was like, okay, cool. So we reached out
to the manufacturer and well, first of all, we had
to design the product. So I was trying to figure

(41:06):
out like what I want the pages to look like.
I found a designer. The designer was also someone I know.
I was like, I need a friend who I know,
because I'm not I don't have the money to pay
tens of thousands of for to get designed. So we
ended up the three of us kind of power teamed it.
My friend as the designer, Alexa, who was the project manager,

(41:30):
and then me who was like coming up with the
ideas and like doing sketches on hand, like on regular paper,
and where is that? Hold on, I gotta show you this.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
Okay, for those of you watching, we just got a
little seak peek of the belly bump.

Speaker 3 (41:52):
Yeah, I'm getting large, you guys. So we got samples
of the notebook and the sample did not come out
right like the pages were. The pages were like the
writing was taking up a small amount inside of the pages.
It was like this big and the notebook was like

(42:13):
this thick. And I was just like okay, Like I
was so excited because I'm like, oh my gosh, my product,
Like I can feel it, I can see it. But
then I opened it, I was like, Okay, this isn't right.
So always get a sample like that. Is just that
is just you have to get a sample, and then

(42:34):
we made some edits to the sample, and then they
sent us another sample based off of the edits, and
we're like, okay, we're gonna press it.

Speaker 2 (42:42):
Go.

Speaker 3 (42:43):
So we ordered five hundred units and they just flew
off the shelf like I they just they were just gone.
And so we were like, okay, like let's order more,
and so we ordered more. Those sold out, and so
we were like, okay, we need to do like this
needs to be its own company at this point, like

(43:04):
we can create other products that are simple, because the
whole idea is that it's a simple. It's simple, like
it doesn't make planning complicated. And I feel like in
this day and age, like everything is just made to
be so complicated that it's just hard to focus on
the things that you need to focus on and actually
implement it because there's just so many They make you

(43:28):
feel like you have to plan out every little looking
cranny of your life and you really don't. You just
need to keep your eye on the needle movers or
like the top three priorities that you're trying to get to.
So this is so funny because I actually still have
the pages that I drew on to send to the

(43:50):
designer of like the current notebooks, So like, this is
a drawing and then this is is it actualized in
real life? So what? But yeah, they turned out really
really good and people just they love them. So we're
working on our second product right now and it's gonna

(44:11):
be Oh, it's gonna be so good. So I know.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
But what is my thing? The thing the fact that
you asked this woman to do you a favor and
it turned into her being favored over and over again.
She started a whole business doing something from a question
you asked. And that's why I always say ask the question.
The worst is someone could say is no, ask the question,
because you all know what someone's gonna say. That is amazing.

(44:37):
I'm sure that she's so grateful for you and that
opportunity that she took when she said like yes to
something that was maybe a little unfamiliar or uncomfortable and
look at her now. So that is that is such
a good, like three sixty story. I absolutely love that.
And the fact that you still have the pages from
what you drew out. Don't ever throw away. Don't I

(44:58):
never thrown the way Okay, So my next question for
you is because you are balancing and juggling a product
based business, a service based business, and then essentially your
likeness on all of your social media platforms, YouTube, Instagram,
and now like really sharing the journey of your growing family.

(45:19):
You're about to have your first so exciting. How do
you plan to juggle it all, including motherhood as you
step into this next season? And I know you may
not have all the answers right now, right, but like,
what are your thoughts right now? Take us into your
brain and like what you have been doing thus far

(45:39):
to balance it all? And then what your plan is
once you're introducing your baby, Like are you taking time
off from your business? What does that look like for
your family? Give us all the tea.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Yeah, so I'm definitely taking time off. I think for
me it's been People are always asking, like, it's the
nurse We've done? Is it? Like? How are you feelings excited?
And I'm like, I have not. The nursery has not
even gotten started because I am so focused on getting

(46:11):
ahead with work so that when she's here, I can
just give her all of me for like at least
six weeks, because I'm like, I this is like my
maternity prep. I hate to like get content scheduled, Like
there are partnerships that I'm I have long term partnerships
that I have to like I've committed to and they're

(46:34):
going to go through my maternity lead that I need
to make sure are scheduled, and it's just not always pretty.
Like some days, I'm very tired right now, like not
right now in this moment, but like in this phase
of life, Like I'm just like I could take a
nap at any time. So it's just kind of finding
the balance of like also resting and making sure that

(46:55):
I'm doing what I need to do to take care
of myself so that everything is going on well with
the pregnancy. And then you know, it's just it can
be a lot. So I think the biggest thing for
me is just like, Okay, what is the main focus
of today, Like I'm just trying to take everything day
by day because when I do look at it holistically

(47:15):
like that, it can feel very overwhelming. You know. I
have this big calendar on my wall and like I'm
starting to write down the next few months of content,
like what I need to shoot and then because I
kind of want my maternity leave to be for me,
but not necessarily my audience, Like I don't really want
my community to know that I'm stepping away, but also

(47:41):
I am putting things in place, like I just hired
on a project manager to kind of help with the
back end of the business to make it a lot
more sustainable moving forward, because I just over the last
year or so, even before we found out I was pregnant,
I was just like, I need to be able to
step away for months at a time and nothing changes,

(48:05):
you know what I mean. And that takes very high
intentionality to set up a business in that way and
to be able to really live in true entrepreneurship, because
when you're so involved inundated with your own business, it
becomes very difficult to feel like you can separate business

(48:29):
from just life. And so that has honestly been the
biggest transition of all of this. And my husband and
I try to have lots of conversations, and even before
I got pregnant, just try to like create routines that
we can fall back on once the baby is here
at least we have some type of flow. Now, them

(48:49):
routines be getting jacked up once I got pregnant because
I can no longer set an alarm, like I just
have to wake up when I wake up, because I'm like,
you know what I need to I'm gonna either be
tired later or sleep now. So it's kind of like
you do choose your battles, and things do kind of
shift a little bit, but I think for the most

(49:09):
part like knowing what the main priority is and just
like constantly like keeping that at top of mind. And
like that's why I said, you know, obviously the baby's
nursery is gonna get done, but it hasn't been like
the thing that we are just like focusing all of
our attention on. It's been like, how can we get

(49:30):
all these other areas of our lives settled so that
we can focus on her when she gets cleared. So
it's a juggle, look.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
But so first of all, Aaron, we're friends now, So girl,
I have a phone call away. I will do your nursery.

Speaker 3 (49:46):
Like this, and you got you can take a nap.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
And wake up and it'll be done and beautiful for
you girl.

Speaker 4 (49:52):
Right, Oh my gosh, I literally I love design so much.
So I had launched like my all about your Space
business like a year ago, but I only do it
for clients who are all about your brand, clients who
are looking to build like creative or functional at home offices,
or like just de compress and organize from like declutter

(50:14):
and all of that.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
And so it's very like under wrapped. So like, girl,
like you have a friend of me, so just just
just call me because I will come over and get
that girl.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
What's everything she does? Rook? Or would you do this
career with this?

Speaker 2 (50:27):
Rook? I got you, But that makes so much.

Speaker 3 (50:31):
On my community. So if you get a care from me,
don't be surprised.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
No, that's so sweet, And I mean I can definitely
relate to that because Dre and I aren't even pregnant yet.
But that's exactly as of last year, that's what I
was doing. I was like, we have to transition the
way that we work and the way that we live
so that when the baby comes we're not completely shell
shocked and it's just like, what the heck is this?
And so we've been transitioning, and lately Drey's more excited

(51:00):
than I am for the baby. So like every time
we have a conversation, he's like, so, what would you
do if or what do you think about and it's
a thing I'm so excited for you guys. But you
know what, motherhood reminds me a lot of entrepreneurship because
it's one of those things where it's like, for your
first you don't know what to expect, right, you don't
have a guidebook, you don't know exactly what to do

(51:20):
or how to do it. But it's all about thinking
about your needs and like what do you and your couple,
your marriage, your man, what do you all need to
be the best versions of you to be the best
versions of you for your baby? And that stems from
your business, especially with what you and your husband are
doing where he actually works full time with you and
your business ventures. That is amazing. So does he have

(51:43):
like a paternity plan for like how he's going to
actually take time off too to be with the baby
or is it like, are you guys switching on and off?
What's that? Like?

Speaker 3 (51:53):
I think I think he's going to try his best
to be able to be off as well. Okay, but
if things need to get edited or things like things
need to kind of get done, he is gonna do them.
And also he ships all the notebooks, so like he'll
definitely still be doing all of that until we feel like, okay,

(52:15):
we need to hire someone. He's doing that, and we
have a project manager on who's gonna like be kind
of overseeing everything while I'm gone. So yeah, I think
we're in good hands. Oh that's so good to hear.
I'm just exciting for you, guys. I can't wait for
her to get here. I'm so happy it's a girl too.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
Okay, So now talking about like, especially as you're going
through this transition, what do you do to stay inspired
and to stay productive despite having to juggle it all
and also feeling what you're feeling emotionally and hormonally through
your body. Do you have any tips for how you

(52:54):
stay inspired?

Speaker 3 (52:56):
Honestly, all I've been inspired just because I know I'm
about to have a daughter. Yes, that has been the
fuel to keep me driven in terms of like powering
through some of my fatigue, or like powering through to
just like Aaron, just at least finish these top three
things to you know, go rest. But being pregnant, it

(53:21):
is just like the I feel like the adverse happened
to me, Like a lot of I feel like a
lot of people are like they kind of like soap
in that fatigue or like those pregnancy symptoms or like
and it's nothing wrong with that. That just hasn't been
the effect that pregnancy has had on me. I feel
like it's had quite the opposite effect. I mean, obviously,

(53:41):
in the first trimesteron was like a little just out
of it. But once I got my energy back, I'm like,
let's go, Like, I gotta get things done. My baby
girl is coming, Like I want her to know me
in the absolute best way possible, and for her to
know me in in a way of like yes I'm

(54:02):
her mom, and yes I will do whatever for her,
but like I'm also driven and I have my own
goals and I want to want her to see that
so that she can be there on herself. And so
that has been like a huge dose of inspiration for me.
And I think I needed that right now because even
though we weren't necessarily planning, we were like, if it happens,

(54:26):
we're fine, you know. But I think it happened at
the perfect time because all last year I was just
like I feel like something's missing, Like I feel like
I need some extra push or I feel like we
need something to spice up like our lives and our
routine and like, just I feel like we need something.

(54:46):
I wasn't thinking it was a baby, but like here
we are and it's like exactly what I need. And
it's just so amazing how God just knows, like he
just knows when you need it, like what you need
when you need it. And that has been like, that
has been my inspiration.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
Right now listen. For those of you who have not
tuned in to Aaron's YouTube channel, go to her YouTube
it's Aaron on Demand. She recently posted a video talking
about how her goal is to be a millionaire by
thirty one and her business, although it has already accumulated
over a million dollars, she wants her salary, y'all, to

(55:23):
be a million dollars, and she talks about how her
baby girl has been the inspiration for that and that
honestly was the first thing that I saw and I'm
not saying this just because you're on this episode right now.
It was the first thing that I saw that I
was like, this makes me excited to be a mom,
because up until that I had had this vision of like,

(55:47):
once I got pregnant, it was all downhill from there.
That my motivation would go away, that my productivity would
be down the tubes, and that I would be struggling
to be the best version of myself. And when I
saw your video, the way that you spoke, and just
like I could see it in your eyes, girl, like
you weren't doing this just for clicks or views, like
you were honestly just connecting with your viewers and be

(56:09):
honest about your journey. And it was. It was such
a good video. And you in this video you mentioned
the fact that you listened to Rachel Rogers. I think
it was how to plan your year like a millionaire.
And so I had a LASH appointment and it was
a new one. So the girlies who followed is girl,
no I've been out here, Yeah, I'm out here ball

(56:29):
and I was like, it's time to do in society.
So it was like a two and a half hour
LASH appointment and I was like, I'm going to listen
to this and her her audio book is a little
over two hours, so it was perfect. I listened to
the whole thing. I will say I think I dozed
off for a second, but I came back and I
was like, sorry, Rachel, I got you. So I do

(56:51):
want to talk about what you feel like you learned
and maybe like a top three things of just like
nuggets that you took away from that audio book and
what you can kind of share with us that was
helpful for you in this phase of transitioning from being
where you are now to actually generating on salary a

(57:11):
million dollars a year that our listeners can maybe take
and just apply to their life today.

Speaker 3 (57:16):
Yeah. I think the bigggest thing from that was like
practical it was, or how tactical it is. I think
I know she has a book called We Should All
Be Millionaires. I didn't read it, but I also sometimes
I like self help books, but sometimes I feel like
they all kind of say the same thing. Yeah. I

(57:38):
really loved that she off I really love that she
kind of just gave the takeaways instead of all the
fluff and then the take Yeah, if that makes sense.
So with that, the first thing that kind of hooked
me in the audible was that she talked about Serena

(58:00):
Williams on how Serena Williams was like, obviously she's the
greatest of all time, but she had won so many
Grand Slams and she ended up hurting my dog, babe,
can you call Addie? Addie go on there? Because she

(58:21):
go out there? So she had won so many Grand slams.
I guess, okay, so she's won seventeen total, right, Yeah,
she was messing with me. She's won seventeen. However, before
she set this goal, she had only won like maybe

(58:42):
a few a handful, I can't remember how many. But
so she sets this goal and her coach is basically like,
you need to set big, bigger goals, like you're not
working hard because you're not setting the goal that will
push you. And I really resonated with that because I'm like,
I feel like I've gotten so comfortable with where I

(59:05):
am that, you know, and it's kind of like the
the more you accomplish, the easier it can be to
settle into that and not continue to push yourself forward.
If that's what you want, and that's what I want it,
and I'm like I got to set their goals and
that's kind of when I set like, Okay, I want

(59:25):
to be a multi millionaire or like at least have
a million dollar personal networks by next year. And with Serena,
even though she didn't hit thirty Grand slams, and hit seventeen.
I think she still was like that's like I don't
know if the top of a mount of Grand slams
ever won, but like she's still like dominating, and she

(59:46):
wouldn't have hit that goal if she kept being like
I could just win twelve, Like she would have known
that she could do twelve, so she would have played
like she has to win thirty. And so I think
just kind of setting those high she calls them big Harry,
audacious goes be hags in the audible. That was like
one of the big things that really resonated with me.

(01:00:10):
And then she also talks about like vision and I
am big on vision boards and like setting my vision
at the top of the year or just whenever. But
I really loved how how just like nuanced she was
with like how specific she's setting these goals and visions

(01:00:33):
and like she's like, how do you want to travel?
Do you want to travel first class with your family?
Do you want to travel private jet? Like how do
you want to you know, like what schooling do you
want your kids to go to? Like where do you
like all of these like granular things that really when
we set a lot of times people do vision boards.
It's like these big goals that are just kind of

(01:00:54):
like pasted on, but like what about the day to
day small decisions that like you're making where do you
want a grocery shop? Like what kind of food do
you like? Do you want to have a private chef,
Like all of these little things that I feel really
helped you see the big picture and like really envision
your life in that. So I really love how granular

(01:01:14):
she got with creating a vision. And I'm trying to
think of what else. I actually listened to it a
long time ago, but those would be like my top
two things. And then she talks about like financial planning
and also like letting go of just dead thoughts, like
she calls them broke aid thoughts. But I think that
she does a really good job at kind of just

(01:01:36):
making it relatable and easy to understand, but also like
very tactical so you can go out and just like
do it. So I started this series the Planner You're
Like a Millionaire. Audible was kind of the catalyst for it.
I'm going off of it like pretty pretty loosely, and
I have other books and like resources and things that

(01:01:58):
I've seen that I'm gonna tie into the series and
kind of just showing myself taking myself back to like
twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, Aaron of like I started at
ground zero and like, let's get to fifty thousand subscribers together.
Like that was my gold then and now it's like, okay,
let's channel that back into like something bigger and something different,

(01:02:21):
and like I needed that drive and excitement. So I'm
really excited for it because I think I'm gonna hit
it so and it's like I expected it for you.
I was like, you know, I'm gonna be checking now,
like so where we at? I know, and kind of
figure out do I do? Like how do I do
the updates? Like do I yeah? How I feel comfortable

(01:02:41):
like being like okay, like right now I'm at no.

Speaker 5 (01:02:45):
God, I think you should do an update after like
a year, like let the whole year go by, just
just post your mommy content and then do like a
full year Like remember that video I posted a year ago.

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
You know, I had all faith that you're going to
do it. I think the biggest thing that I kind
of took from the audiobook was it was all about
mindset and lifestyle and although none of these things that
she talked about was like new things to me because
I've been implementing them, but it just kind of lets
you know that you're on the right track, but also
to like step it up a bit. Because the exact

(01:03:17):
thing was that Serena won her seventeenth and her goal
was eighteen, and her coach was like, if you just
won seventeen, why is your goal eighteen? It should be thirty,
And she was like, because the worst case scenario, if
you don't reach thirty, you're definitely going to reach way
beyond eighteen. And she ended up doing twenty five before
retiring and having her baby. So she was like, imagine

(01:03:41):
if you were to stop at eighteen. I did.

Speaker 3 (01:03:43):
I can't remember what. I just know Serena the Grand Slam.

Speaker 2 (01:03:49):
Yeah, but it was you know, that was so interesting
for me because what I've realized when she said that
is that I create my goals based off where I
just left. So if I made X amount, I'm creating
a goal based off of where I just left, versus
being like, this is what I want, so this is
what I'm going to, this is where the goal is.

(01:04:10):
Any fear of not reaching the goal, and I do
think that there is a level of like, you should
set realistic goals because if you set overly high goals
and if you don't reach it, it lowers your confidence.
And that could be a thing that you know just
doesn't help you in the long run. But like, what
I feel that you're doing is aspiring to meet a

(01:04:33):
goal that you know you're capable of reaching. It's just
about putting all the right things in place. But also
you're in the space of your life where like girl,
your biggest goal is going to be keeping this baby
girl alive, happy and will and regardless of all the
money stuff, it's more of the intent behind it. And
that's what I appreciated when I saw that video that
you posted. It just really gave me hope and made

(01:04:54):
me feel like I'll only be more motivated by a
potential baby on its way versus feeling like, oh now
my life is over. So I appreciate that. I just
wanted to thank you. And now we're going to jump
into our Q and A from our community. We had
a few people list some comments and just because they
are alive, I'm going to go to them first and

(01:05:14):
see what they have.

Speaker 3 (01:05:16):
So we have.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
We'll hope about YouTube. Who is it you're referring to.
I don't know what that question was about. Who Danny
If you want to respond and let me know what
that question is referring to. I don't know if it
was about the Rachel what's her last name, Rachel Rogers person,
but if you want to re ask you a question

(01:05:38):
in there. So our first question is how did the
E Brand Creator College come about? And who is it for?

Speaker 3 (01:05:47):
So it is it was originally the E Brand Club,
which they started back in twenty twenty, I think twenty nineteen,
and it came about because I realized that so many
people needed additional support with building their brand, creating content,

(01:06:09):
and also like not just building a brand and creating content,
but through the lens of actually creating a sustainable income
from it, and whether that's leveraging you know, your own
products or services, or you know, becoming an influencer. Like,
we really wanted this to be a place that people
felt comfortable asking questions because, for one, my YouTube was

(01:06:32):
kind of it was growing so rapidly. I'm like, if
you want to ask me questions, you're going to have
to get into the community, because I can't. It was
no way for me to answer all of those questions.
So really is now a community for content creators and
entrepreneurs who are looking to essentially build their brand and business.
And we go through so much information about content about

(01:06:54):
business building and finances, and we have so many different
lessons in there. So it's just a really great resource.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
I love that And for those of y'all listening, definitely
go check it out and do you mind sharing what
you're like, what the rate is for people to join?

Speaker 3 (01:07:13):
Yeah, actually we're about to close enrollment for right now.

Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
We're doing some re working.

Speaker 3 (01:07:20):
So the enrollment is the fee is going to change.
It's not though, So this is not like a marketing
employed to run and go and get in now. So okay,
so yeah, just keep your eyes peeled on like my
social or my site for when we like do the
newer launch. Perfect.

Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
All right, what advice would you get someone who is
thinking about possibly starting a product based business.

Speaker 3 (01:07:49):
The biggest piece of advice would be to have demand.
In do market research. It's very difficult to have a
product with no demand. So if you're just kind of like, oh,
I really want to create my own journal and you
don't have anybody who wants to buy it. Then it's

(01:08:09):
gonna be so hard to have a product business where
you're sitting on so much present. I always encourage people
to value the I call it the pre launch phase
where I don't know why these balloons pop up when
I do that, Like every time I do this, they
pop up. But I tell people to really lean into

(01:08:31):
the pre launch phase. A lot of people get really
scared to announce their products or announce their idea before
it's all the way done. Like I this came so organically,
like I was. It's like I secured the method and
that and I mean the method was where the value lies.
And so at that point it was kind of like

(01:08:53):
when people are doing it, why wouldn't I tell them
I'm creating a product and take them on the product
journey and like really show myself through every step, getting
the samples, using it myself, making changes, having calls with
the like whoever, Like I think that's all a part
of That was all a part of like how I
marketed the product before it even launched and create demands

(01:09:18):
like have an email list of you know, people who
are on a wait list who are ready to buy
as soon as it drops. I think just kind of
just trying to generate some type of demand before you
press order, because you do not want to be sitting
on a bunch of products that you can't push.

Speaker 2 (01:09:38):
Listen. I a would tell my clients if you can,
if you're debating between a service and a product, offer
the service first, and once the demand is needed or
is had, then offer the product. But product based businesses
are hard y'all. And you know Aaron did this because
the demand was there, So definitely take that advice. Otherwise
you will spend a lot of money, time and energy

(01:09:59):
into creating some thing that is just sitting in your
home or sitting on a shelf somewhere being ready to
ship up. Thank you for sharing that. What would you
say are the building blocks of a profitable online brand?
Mm hmmm.

Speaker 3 (01:10:18):
A very strong value proposition, Like whatever the brand is,
there needs to be some type of value proposition. And
that I don't mean that you have to be like
spewing out information. I mean like, if you're very funny,
like that needs to be the value proposition. Like people
are gonna come here and they're gonna lee and they're
gonna laugh a lot every time they see your comments.

(01:10:39):
They're gonna laugh, you know, Like there needs to be
a very strong value proposition. It needs to be consistent
that there needs to be like people need to know
that you're gonna show up, and it needs to solve

(01:10:59):
some type of problem. I think that kind of goes
with the value proposition. But it needs to be able
to fill a need of some sort. And it can
be a very very small need or a very very
big need. It just it needs to feel some type
of need. That would be my three things.

Speaker 2 (01:11:18):
Absolutely, I feel like a lot of people they have ideas,
and if the idea doesn't actually solve a problem for
a large group of people, that idea, although it may
be great to you, what is it actually doing for others?
So that is a perfect answer. We have three more questions.
Someone asked, how do I stay productive without losing interest
or running into burnout? In terms of creating. That's a

(01:11:44):
tough one.

Speaker 3 (01:11:45):
It is because it's very subjective based off of like
do you like what you're creating? Do you like to create?
Like do you like the form at which you're creating?
So like maybe you're creating YouTube content, but you actually
low key don't really like creating you tube content, Like
maybe you need to figure out like maybe you're better
at podcasting or vlogging or I don't know, like something else.

(01:12:11):
I think it just kind of depends. I Also, I
think it's really important to figure out, like why do
I want to do this? You know, like is there
some type of is there more than just like me
wanting to make money off of this a reason? Now,
for some people that's enough, like being like, look, I

(01:12:32):
want to make some money, and there's nothing wrong with that.
But if you're realizing that that's what your main goal
is and it's not causing you to move, then you
need to dig deeper and there's more there that you
need to figure out, like why do I actually want
to do this? Maybe you haven't quite hit the spot
of like this is the content that I'm really created

(01:12:55):
to be creating right now, Like this is what I'm
this is what my voice is needed for. And if
you just don't feel that, and you feel like your
content is kind of empty right now, then I think
it may take some more digging for you to figure out,
like what does that look like for me? And that's
why I shared that earlier, is because like I wanted
to start a channel for so long, and I feel

(01:13:16):
like I could have been on YouTube for two years
and I still would have popped at the same time.
I feel like it would have still happened when it happened,
how it happened, regardless of if I started earlier or
when I did.

Speaker 2 (01:13:32):
That's great advice. Do you have a team, and if so,
how did you go about building it?

Speaker 3 (01:13:38):
Yes, I've had multiple iterations teams. Right now, I don't
have an assistant anymore. I've had a community manager. I
don't have a community manager anymore. We're working on like
just kind of automating a lot of things, and I'm

(01:13:58):
just kind of and not to say that I wouldn't
have an assistant again, but I need Also, once you
start hiring, you start realizing like how to hire better.
And so right now, my husband works for the team,
and I have my mom as a bookkeeper. So my

(01:14:19):
husband does a lot of like operations stuff like he
just make sure that things are flowing. He also does
like he sets up all of my stuff for filming,
He does all the editing, uploading, he mails all the notebooks,
does all the customer service for all that. So he's
like doing quite a few jobs. My mom does all

(01:14:42):
finances like she was the first person I hired because
she has been an accountant for since before I was born.
And there's nothing scarier to me than the irs besides
the devil. So I'm like and honestly they might be
running neck and neck, so I do not play with them.

(01:15:06):
So we keep all of like like we were saying,
like the business finances are separate than the personal finances.
We run payroll, there is very every like my books
look pristine. My mom has every every single transaction I
make is categorized, and we know what we're spending on.
Every penny is allotted for. So I think that's very, very,

(01:15:30):
very important. It's one of the biggest things that entrepreneurs
push to the back burner or like super quick to
put money into, like delegating tasks that are more forefront,
but like those back end tasks are like where I
highly recommend starting at more self finances. Now, you don't
need a keeper if you're not making consistent money, but

(01:15:51):
or if you don't have a lot of trans options.
But I think that it is a very important role
to have. So so that's it. And then I have
a project manager that I'm contracting right now, and I'm
like part of me is like, oh, it would be
so nice to have like a personal assistant who can
come and like do certain things like around my house

(01:16:13):
or like go mail notebooks or like kind of be
a little bit more hands on, whereas I had a
virtual assistant before. So it's kind of just like trying
to figure out, like at this stage, what do I need?
So and Aaron, where are you located? Detroit, Metro Detroit.

Speaker 2 (01:16:28):
You're in Detroit. I'm in DC. Oh okay, I was
just say I might, I might have someone local to
you that I can like send your way as like
a recommendation. But yeah, girl, the in person is so
much different, Like Danielle has been my first in person
well no not my first, but my first in a

(01:16:49):
while in person like assistant, hands on helper, and it's
so different, like when you can have the person in
your in your space doing stuff with you, it is
very different. So I totally get that. Awesome. All right,
So this is the last question, and it's kind of
a two part question. It's what has been your biggest
challenge in entrepreneurship and how did you overcome it? And
then what is your favorite part about what you do

(01:17:11):
within your all of your businesses.

Speaker 3 (01:17:17):
The biggest challenge is such a part question, which I'm
happy about because I have a very take on this.
But I never expect things to be hard, like I am,
I said, I think I said this earlier, but I

(01:17:38):
just I really, I really expect success. So like when
challenges come, they don't feel as hard as they are,
because like I know it's going to get figured out,
you know, Like I know God has me right here
for a reason, regardless of if it's like this it's

(01:18:00):
difficult situation, temporary situation. Most of the time, I know
it's going to get handled, you know, And like that
has taken a lot of faith and like evidence to
myself that like expect success, Aaron, Like why wouldn't you
at this point? Like you, when you focus on the challenge,

(01:18:23):
you expect the challenge and you bring the challenge, you
know what I mean. Whereas when you focus on and
expect the success, like when the challenge does come, you
already know where you're going, like you're you, you You've
got momentum at this point, So I don't expect challenge.

(01:18:45):
Where So therefore when I ye ask this question, it
becomes more difficult for me to answer because when I'm
thinking about my journey, I'm never really thinking about the challenges.
I'm thinking about like all of the successes that have
and like the fruits of my labor and all of
the things that God has given me based on the
work that I've put in. So I would say that

(01:19:12):
the biggest challenge, if I have to really answer the question,
is just building the faith to actually walk in belief
that it already is and like being being like content
with that and not being afraid to like answer the
question in this way, you know, like I don't I'm

(01:19:33):
not gonna make up a challenge if I don't think, God,
you know, if I can't think of one, you know
what I mean, like being okay with like this is
how I think, and like this is why I am
where I am and like where I'm expecting to get
to where I want to be.

Speaker 2 (01:19:49):
So yeah, oh that was my husband. I'm like, that's
literally exactly what my husband was saying. I'm like, I'm like,
oh my god, this guy is falling and he's like
I expect vidit de Paul yesterday. It's a fun challenge. No, No,
that's such that's I mean, it is such a good
way to look at both business and life. And this

(01:20:10):
has been one of my biggest challenges. I think I'm
naturally a pessimistic person and I've had to gradually like
unlearn that behavior and that mindset. And now I do
expect blessings, Whereas in the past, I would expect like
the worst of the worst that could happen, and it
would make me feel proud to get through it. But

(01:20:30):
like the expectation that it was gonna happen, it was
almost unhealthy for me versus like welcomed.

Speaker 3 (01:20:35):
And that is your take. What I have learned is
that like it's the same amount of efforts, Like it's
just as much to think it's gonna work then that
it does to think it won't. And so I realized
that I'm like what am I doing? Yeah, like why

(01:20:56):
you know, like and if it doesn't work out, Like
I share this in my newsletter one of I love
her content. I went to her. She had an in
person event and she is like a faith based business coach.
Her name is Brooke, and she was basically like, I
just pray a prayer that like, Lord, put what you

(01:21:20):
have for me in my path and like I'm aligning
with that, I'm walking in faith that where what I'm
doing right now is what you want for my life.
If it is not, take it away, take away, so
that I can be fully aligned with where you want
me to go. And like, I am so confident that.

Speaker 6 (01:21:41):
Like if I'm going in the wrong direction, like I'm
not gonna the Lord is not gonna let me keep
going that way, like something that's going to pivot me,
you know.

Speaker 3 (01:21:52):
And so when you know, like when you're walking in faith,
whether that's in business or whatever your life circumstances are,
It's like, why would I worry when I know that,
like I'm following the lead of the Lord, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:22:07):
So yeah, girl, this could be a whole episode in
its own. Yeah. This, I mean, this is so good.
I'm like I literally have chills right now. Okay, So
the last part of that question was what is your
favorite part about what you do?

Speaker 3 (01:22:20):
Yeah, I was gonna ask you what was the second part?
My favorite part? I love being creative, and I love
when the creativity resonates with my audience. Like I just
I love when I get like a good idea and
I'm like, oh, like this this is this is good
and then it actually like performs like that just makes

(01:22:42):
me so happy. And I know, like the numbers aren't everything,
but they still mean something, and I feel like when yeah,
and I feel like when you see the numbers reflect
the effort and reflect like your creativity, like you know,
it's just like a reward, and I love that. I
also love meeting people in person. It's so funny because

(01:23:03):
like I just went to a baby shower this last weekend,
and I could tell as soon as I walked in.
I was like, there's some subscribers in here, Like I
could just tell by how people look at me, Like
I can't tell. It's so funny. And so then a
couple of women came up and they're like, oh, I
love your content like blah blah blah. And I just
love meeting people in person because it just makes it

(01:23:23):
feel so much more real, Like you can get so
used to feeling like your subscribers are just numbers, but
they're real people who are like really tapped in and
like really excited to be on this journey with you.

Speaker 2 (01:23:37):
Yeah, that's so beautiful. I am so excited about this episode.
I mean, I feel like you dropped so many gems.
I know our community is just so happy that you
answered all their questions. And we're gonna hop off of
this live so that I could give you a proper goodbye.
But before we tune out, Aaron, how can our listeners

(01:23:58):
stay in touch with you and all that you have
going on?

Speaker 3 (01:24:02):
Yes, I'm Aaron on Demand on everything, so that is
how you find me. My website is that everything is bad.
You can even find the top three notebooks through that link,
even though that has its own website, but you can.
If you're interested in anything that we've talked about is
probably you can find it through Aaron on.

Speaker 2 (01:24:20):
Demand hashtag proper branding and we are Thank you so much, girl,
I really appreciate you.

Speaker 3 (01:24:29):
Thank you for having me. I'm so glad we did this.

Speaker 1 (01:24:32):
Thanks for tuning in to the All About Your Brand podcast.
For details and links for this episode, check out the
show notes or visit all about your Brand dot com
backslash podcast. If you found this episode helpful, share it
with a friend, and don't forget to leave a review
for a chance to be featured on an upcoming episode.
Stay connected by following us on Instagram at All about
Your Brand

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