building community and your career w/director of marketing of renderatl

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auto-generated from the audio, so expect a few typos. the audio is the source of truth.

Brianna, let's give the people what they want and why they're here. Who are you? What do you do? And then we'll go from there. Well, hi everybody. I'm Brianna Holmes. I'm the marketing director for Render ETL. You might have heard of us. And if you haven't, that means you are in the right place. So I do a lot of different things and I love, love, love simply using marketing to build community, which is exactly why you're here. Um, as a marketer, my favorite thing to do is talk about the brands, of course. So Render ATL is an amazing tech conference that you should totally make sure you're there and get your tickets in advance for 2025.

It's gonna be amazing. But I also am the co-founder and CEO of the network of Atlanta, again, a community-based organization. And what I do is take all the things that I've learned along the way and make a community out of it. Literally without community, your marketing's not gonna work. And that's what I try and try my best to tell people alongside Network of Atlanta and Render ATL, I'm also the person behind a few politicians, social media accounts. So it's really fun to build different communities within different cities and different states. And if you are on one of my accounts, you'll know that it's all community focused.

I rarely talk about the politician as a person, but it's about what are you moving to the community? So that's what I do, that's who I am. I'm also a cat mom too. That's, that's my identity. We love a good cat mom on the show. I love this. I have so many questions for you. Chris, it's good to see you. I definitely, Joara. Yes, nailed it. Heck yeah. Love it. Awesome. Thank you so much. Yeah, I was fumbling. Yeah, Destin, Destin's a doozy too. Destin's a doozy too. All right, so I want to start out. Let me ask you this. Why do you think community led organizations in 2024 and beyond is the way to go about building business?

I'm interested in your thoughts on this. Again, we're getting nerdy on the marketing side, which I love to show, because I can bring on whoever I want. So let's kind of nerd out of market. Why do you think our community led organizations are really the next wave of? So I think, oh God, this is such a great question. And the truth of the matter is, people are over simply a digital persona. Over it. We are back into the IRL style of doing things and presenting those IRL emerald life experiences in a digital platform that is authentic. It is messy, it is unfiltered, it is not some AI universe that people have, it is authentic and true to that part.

Now the importance of community within those organizations community led organizations, literally it shows you exactly what you're getting when you're getting it. So I love thinking about Network of Atlanta in this instance. we started in 2016 with a Instagram account. That's all we have was an Instagram account. I was following people, trying to get them to fall back and saying, hey, I wanna have this event because I wanna meet people and clearly I'm very social. And I simply wanted to make friends. Well, how do you do that? You have an event. With an event, it's sometimes a little risky, depends on how much you're willing to put into it, both financially and energy wise.

But I'm like, you know what, this is the best way to do it. we became a go-doom for people to cover low cost and free events, whether it be social, service, educational or fitness. People came to us because they wanted to be part of something larger than themselves. We spent many of time alone in isolation or with people that we didn't, you know, have an an option to leave from for a couple of years. And now that we're able to reengage that community, that's what people want. I always tell people we were not meant to do any of this alone. We were for a minute.

So when you put yourself in a situation to say, okay, I could be by myself and say, I am the person you need to talk to, or you can say, Hey, these are all the amazing people that make up my community. And these are the type of experiences you'll have. This is the type of product you're going to get. These are the people you're going to engage with. It's so much easier. It's so much more easier to talk to somebody and feel like you can connect with them and take it a step further. That might mean, okay, let's take it a step farther. have coffee.

Let's interview for a job. Let's buy a house, whatever that instance or that reality expression. Is people want to feel like they're part of a community? They don't want to like they're just watching someone on the screen talk about nonsense anymore. You know I think and I'm sure you've probably gotten this too in me as well. Well, I think a lot of companies right now want revenue now. And again, I applaud Render from a community aspect. And obviously you've been at the forefront of that is what would you tell companies that maybe watch this now in the future? They're like, well, we've always wanted to build community, but we need revenue now.

What would you say? That means taking a better look at your products and services. If you're not able to have something that's going to create an instant ROI, something like a subscription method, or maybe it's a, you're paying for events, you offer free and a paid event, something of the sorts, or maybe you have free 15 minute consultations or however long that consultation might be and then lead into a pitch sales or something of the sorts. Of course, every company needs revenue now. That's just the reality of it, especially in the economic situation that we are all going through. If you don't try to build community while you do it, then you're going to fail.

There's no sugar coating yet you will fail. At the end of the day, when you tell people, hey, we want to build community, but we don't have time for you right now. Why would I work with you? Why would I be a part of that? I don't want to. But if I can see a leader saying, hey, things are a little tough right now, so we're not going to be able to do this to the extent of what we would like to do, but we still want to make space and make time for you. you? Yeah. When are you taking my money? Even the money I don't have, I'm still giving it to you.

100%. Let me ask you this. I have my marketing brains firing over time right now. So many questions. When from an organization perspective, we kind of flip the script just quickly, like from a render side of things. Like when you guys are looking at getting involved with organizations and whatnot, do you look at, hey, do they have a thriving community? Are they out there? Like, is that something that y'all look at? Yes, this is a two part question. So, So there's the first of the situation is yes, we definitely look at the communities and the community partners that we work with. But it goes larger, it goes deeper than that.

So a lot of people are aware, some people aren't but rendered does not only meet at render. We have tons of opportunities around the country in Chicago and LA and Oakland and Nashville and Dallas and Austin and Houston and BC and New York and Miami. Those are all of our meetup chapters. Yeah, forget about Miami. And we have our amazing meetup ambassadors, our vendor ambassadors, who host free and low cost events. Now, yes, we do have to pay for these. But at the end of the day, it's more important for us to engage people than worry about that bottom line right then and there. The money will come.

The money will come if you give to the people. That's how we see it. So when we're thinking about that, we say, okay, to the our meetup ambassador or our vendor ambassador, or hey, what community organizations do you see making and impacting your community? Where are you wanting to put your time and energy and effort? Who do you know? Maybe you haven't engaged with them, but you see them doing the work. You see that they are trying to make an impact. It doesn't have to be some organization that has tens of thousands of followers. Some organizations we work with only have 200 followers on social, I don't think about social.

It's not about, and we can talk tactical again, so many different ways to talk about. In my opinion, and not my opinion, this is like proven tick talk. The way tick talk came out with things fall or count does not matter anymore. It does not because you can have a hundred thousand dollars and let truly be getting five, like, or you can have a hundred a man. You want to put it in 50% of them want to show up at a larger capacity. Right. I don't know you, but I'd rather go with a smaller number that's going to make more of a difference than what is going to look good.

So when we were partnering, this year we had the honor of partnering with over 100 different community partners from across the entire country. My goal was to get everyone like one from each state that did not happen because Alaska was lacking. There's never looking to get involved with Alaska Kupitak community. Let's not know. The last Kupitak people placed in my way. But that literally is what we looked at like, okay, what are you doing? Great, some of these organizations I've never heard of, But once I went onto their website and learned a little bit more about them and saw the work that they were doing, you are building community.

You are fostering an environment where people can grow not only within that community, but in their career and their personal life. Sign me up. Yeah. Well, I think too, and then my buddy Kent, yes. Finally, I'm glad you got your hockey, you're doing, we need to get you out and also play some golf 100%. So I wanna talk, I think too, I wanna kind of dig on this community thing a little bit I kind of want to pivot a little bit and talk about kind of your background and kind of how you got in the marketing your career and whatnot. But I when it comes to this like community building from a company perspective, I talk about how people are buying in today's world, right?

Because I feel like from a conversion perspective, people no longer are like, I see an ad I'm gonna buy. I mean, sometimes that happens, right? If you're on Instagram, I'm going to the bathroom. Let's face it, we've all been there, right? But like, can you talk about buying trends that you've seen kind of as it relates to content and commuting kind of that pipeline? Honestly, the funniest thing about it is when we have our most authentic content, content where I'm like, mmm, just ship it. I don't care to like, yes, I don't care. Just have fun. That does the best compression. Why do you think?

Why do you think? It reminds people that we're human. At the end of the day, we're all human. And when you're able to laugh at yourself or laugh at something that you've struggled with, or maybe it's something that you're like, oh, I don't know the answer that either. People are being able to relate. And the more you're able to relate to something, the more likely you are to convert from a warm lead or cold lead to or a subscriber to someone who's actually pushing the button and saying, yes, this is an investment. So not only are you going to be relatable, but you're showing people, hey, there's an investment.

like, yes, we're having fun, we're enjoying ourselves, and we get to be our authentic selves, and that's what you're gonna expect, at least on our side. And my other capacities and my other multiple jobs, it's the same thing. When people are able to say, hey, this is what it is, is what it is, and you have to be okay with that or not, maybe this isn't for you, people are like, thank you for that honesty and transparency, I wanna do it. And at the end of the day, it's not just about what you're seeing on social. Yeah, social is great. Like you can see an ad on social, but like, if you're a marketer or if you're a consumer, are you seeing that in your inbox and your email?

Are you seeing that on your Hulu, YouTube or Netflix ads? Well, I don't think Netflix has ads. Are you seeing that on your Twitter timeline? Like, are you seeing other people who are raving fans talking about what you are interested in? Because you should be if the marketing is marketing. Um, the marketing is marketing. I love that. You got to put that on a shirt. I'd buy it. And they have to. Let me go to a camera real quick. But literally if you're being able to relate to somebody, show them that they're, this is an investment in why make it so that they see themselves as the consumer.

And after the purchase, then you're already winning because at the end of the day, people don't buy tickets to render because they, they were there. They are buying tickets because they want to continue to come back and converse. They want to continue to feel that sense of relief and be able to relate to everybody else in the place. Yeah. Prom because they... Relatability. Relatability. And they want to have fun. They want to enjoy themselves and be their authentic selves. So when you're making your content or making your marketing, all your things, all your content and you're making your campaigns, you have to think about like, Is this actually relatable to my target demographic?

Like do they care about this or are they saying, oh great, another ad. No, it needs to be able to relate to them. 100%, I love that. A jarara coming in here, getting face-to-face time at Render with devs and recruiters, single biggest boost to my network since changing careers. I love that, we love to see that. So it's not about changing careers, right? I wanna talk about, have you graduated from Auburn? Right. So, fellow SEC friend. So, talk about kind of how you got into marketing, talk about kind of getting out of college and kind of how you felt. And just kind of that process kind of getting into your career that it is now.

Because I'm sure it wasn't linear by any means. And so, you know, one of the things I'm going to start doing, I told you this backstage and for the folks that are still watching, you know, I'm going to probably pivot this a a little bit, still want to do off the cuff, but have a little bit more structure around how people got involved with careers and provide obviously, you know, how to nuggets. But talk about, break that down. Got out of college, got to Auburn, what's next? How did you get into marketing? Well, actually it started a little bit before college. Okay, great. Something that I've told myself that I need to start sharing and talking about a lot of more.

So thank you so much. Of course. I'll do what I can. So when I was in high school, I was a loser. Some boss putt. I was not popular. Yeah, I had glasses and really bad acne, and I had braces, and I wore my hair on a slickback ponytail every day, and I was flat as soon as I knew. I was... Sure. I was born young, but... It was not the cutest thing, but I was really, really smart, and it was really, really nice. So I spent my entire summer being the nerd that I was, and I went through my yearbook and found every single person in my entire high school who would still be there when we return, sent them a message on Facebook and said, hey, will you please join FBLA when school starts?

Huh. If you don't know what FBLA is, it's future business leaders of America, who would have thought. But I was like, hey, join this community, join this organization when you get back to school. I spent my entire summer coming to my yearbook. My yearbook had like 2,000 people. I went to a big high school. like it has like a huge amount of like 1,200 people, all of people. And I'm like getting in our little like my high school groups. I'm like, hey, like guerrilla marketing right there, like tactical hand to hand combat stuff. I was. And it worked. Um, senior year came and it turned into the 10th largest chapter of FBLA in the nation.

I was. How are you serious? I was 15. And that's when I like, I was marketing. I didn't realize it though. I wanted to be an accountant. I went to school to be an accountant. My- I did not know that. That's amazing. Mm-hmm. I went to school to be an accountant and then I, at the last minute, senior year came, I was like, I don't want to do this. And got a degree in psychology as well. So I ended up going to Auburn and saying, I want to pursue a passion where I can help people. And at that time, I believe that that was my way of helping people.

I ended up obtaining a degree in rehabilitation counseling. So I specialized in intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities and disorders. So, you know, you're real smart. But I spent a year as a counselor and I hated it. I did not like going to work because it was really sad and helping the people I was helping, it was really tough. I was only 23. So imagine counseling people who are homeless, who have different types of disorders and disabilities and not being able to help them. It was so sad. I was like, oh my gosh, I wanna do more. but this isn't like I'm being drained. And I was still hosting events for the network of Atlanta.

I was hosting events and getting people to come to these events, hundreds of people that I just not know that I was just welcome with wide arms. And one day a lady came up to me and said, hey, you're really good at this. Like thanks. You don't look like my target demographic though, like what are you doing here? At the time we were the millennials of Atlanta, but she'd heard so much that she was like, sign me up, let me come to this event, let me see what's going on. Sure. She said, let me hire you. I was like, what? I'm a counselor. What do you mean hire me?

And at that time, I just finished filming a show. And I was like, you know what? I need to change. And I took it. I just said, OK, if I fail, at least I've tried. And I became my first entry level role. Well, my first role as a marketer was actually as a marketing manager. So I kind of skipped a couple of steps there, but I was over Keller Williams. So I was able to work with a ton of different teams, real estate teams who wanted to help, they needed help with social media and marketing and getting their places sold. And that's exactly what I helped them do.

After that, I went on to being over social and community at NextUp, which I was a crucial part of the rebrand from the Network Executive Women. So again, community, there's a common thread. I know, I know. And help build out their virtual community as well as changing the entire brand to what we see now, which is a little bit more lively of an experience. And it has over 20,000 amazing women and allies who are truly advancing all women in business. And then render popped up. Again, community. So it all was very, very fast track. I have not had a very typical marketing career. I'm very aware of that because I am oftentimes reminded by myself, I'm like, oh, you've only been a marketing professional for a while, even though you were doing it way in advance.

Even when I left, I was like, you know what? I need to do something that's going to make me happy and that I'm really passionate about and that I'm going to get excited to leave and come home from work too. Like my job does not stop when I close my laptops. I get to engage with all the people from Render on Twitter all night long and I enjoy it. I genuinely love seeing the hashtags and photos and all the things and yes I have a team to help me do that and someone who's actually completely over Twitter but my fun time at In the evening comes down to getting to engage with the community on Twitter or X or on Instagram or LinkedIn or reading the replies to emails that people don't think comes to a real person.

And it does, it comes to me. But it allowed me to test run something that I'd been doing for such a long time. And make sure that I'm able to create an impact in all the different areas of my life. So whether it be at a nonprofit or whether it be for a render, whether it be for the city of Atlanta, it gets to be about community. It is not about me. And I love getting to say that and do that every single day. there. So, so so many questions. What would be your biggest piece of advice for folks who may be struggling? I mean, I feel like COVID, not COVID, I feel like the last year with this economy has caused a lot of people to transition, right?

I mean, even myself, right? I kind of transition out of traditional recruiting into kind of this growth marketing area ish, right? And so, I mean, can you talk about maybe people are struggling getting into a new career or, you know, are worried about what's on the other side. Any, any words of advice? If you're trying to get into marketing. This in general, just general career stuff, just kind of like switch careers. Oh, yeah. So number one, I think the best advice I can tell you to well, some of the best advice I can give anybody is number one, listen to people like dealer. What would you like to wear?

Who tell you to network or butt off? Network or butt off? Like I don't meet strangers. I meet temporary or permanent friends. That's how I look at it. Um, there's never a day goes by that I'm not meeting somebody new, um, whether it be digitally or in person. Um, typically that might be digitally because to Taylor's point, the economy is a lot, it's a very different economy than what we were used to. Um, and we don't always have the funds to get out there and like, I'm going to go get dinner. No, you don't need to go to dinner. You can have a coffee chat at home.

Yeah. You can DM something on LinkedIn. And they'll probably respect you a little bit more, I think. is there you're being like aware of everybody's situations? Exactly. So number one, network you're hanging off. I mean, as many people as possible who have the career path that you admire or are encouraging yourself to follow or someone who is in a position who can lend you their expertise as to how to even get started in that specific career. The second thing I can tell you to do is make sure that you're paying attention to resume trends. I am one of really put an emphasis on this is because as we know a lot has changed since AI has entered the chat.

And now we have, at least on the marketing side, I've seen this shift of what resumes you still look like versus what they do look like now. I hate to break it to you because I'm one of those people who loved a really pretty resume. And sometimes if you're specifically working in something like design or marketing, you can get away with a really cool creative resume or website portfolio. But if you are not doing something that has to do with designer marketing, please make sure you're paying attention to the current trends and best practices of what your resume does like. It will hinder you so badly.

If you're trying to do something that's so cool and your feel just runs it through, it's a very unfortunate thing that we are still navigating what that looks like. Please pay attention to that though. It really, really matters. And then the third thing I would tell people to do is just try. Apply to a job even if you don't think you're qualified. Yeah. Just do it. Half of the jobs I got was because I was not qualified. And most of them I did not actually originally get, specifically at the network of, excuse me, yeah, network of executive women. I got a rejection letter and I stayed in contact with that person.

So even if you get rejected, stay in contact with the person who is in the job, still connect with them, still talk to themselves, send them LinkedIn, whatever you have to do, engage with their stuff. Because a month later after I got that, well two months later, after I got that rejection, they said, hey, I really, really like you. I'm going to make this role for you. And I ended up there. I wasn't qualified for the job that I applied for. Oh, partly new. But I was like, we're going to try anyway. We're going to be looking at Lulu. It's okay. that. And they made a position for me because I showed where my strong planks were and what I could help that specific community do with my activities.

And that's like the biggest thing I can tell you is showcase your expertise. It's okay to drag on yourself. It is so okay. It's something that I'm still learning to do because I'm usually behind the screen so I don't actually get to do it in front of people. Yeah. Well, when you have the opportunity do it. Talk about what you can do. Talk about how how you've done it, share your information with other people because the more you're sharing, the more people are like, oh yeah, Taylor told me exactly how to do this. Let me see that information with you. Oh, suddenly, I really need to meet Taylor because he knows what he's talking about.

Yeah, yeah, 100%. Jason here plus one of that tip networking in Central Harbor, you can do it. And then obviously, Brian, I'll crush it last week. And then, a draw such inspired show. I love how you started. So young, I found your path by building those communities. Yes, 100%. What else? Anything else beyond your mind as we wrap up, I knew this was gonna happen as well as we started a little bit early. Anything else on your mind that you wanna preach, talk about, impart? I think I really want people to remember. Community does not equal coins, and you don't have to spend coins to build community.

Ooh, expand on that real quick. So. That was good. If you're an individual looking for a community, whether that be professionally or personally, you do not have to spend a lot of money to do that. Let's just be real. Things are changing. If you're not able to find a community for you, make it. Make it. Start it. It is free to start a community. Facebook is free for now. Literally. Literally. Literally. Today. at three o'clock I have scheduled tweet. You ready to see what it says? Ready? I'm gonna read it real quick. Today I scheduled at three o'clock. Remember you can literally start a meetup networking event that's not work related.

And to be honest, I probably recommend that. I think folks are worn out of educational talks. We have to just wanna hang out and talk. Just create. Good early. Just do it. Just create it because people need community now more than effort. And that being said though, if you're a company, you don't have to spend a lot of money to build a community. It starts with saying, hi everybody. You can literally do what a regular person does. Make a Facebook Live. Go live with your community. Maybe go stream via this amazing stream yard platform to get Tillington or to get to Twitter or X, whatever that meant to me, you can literally start building community with a press of a button nowadays.

So there is no excuse for any brand, any influencer, any professional, anyone who wants to change their status quo or their own experiences, just press the button and start. It does not take a lot of money. And when you have a community of people in your own organization who have brought it up, let them, let them run with it and see how your revenue will grow. See how your team morale will grow. See how your brain awareness will grow. It will grow substantially. might not be the right now ROI that you're wanting. Right. But I can bet my bottom dollar that the community that you build will continue to be with you a lot longer than any type of advertising dollar that you spent trying to get me on Christmas and birth.

100%. I love it. I love it. All right. A rapid fire here. I kind of have fun a few questions for you. And again, for those of you watching, please go connect with Brianna. Again, she is a gem of a human being and very, very knowledgeable when it comes to marketing. She's actually my go-to for a lot of marketing questions. So, all right. First question, if you woke up tomorrow and they're like, hey, you can't do tech or marketing. You can't do what you do. Like you can't do community. You can't do it. What you do, you can't do it. But money was the same or not better, but you had to pick another career, another profession, what would it be?

I'd say it'd be in a bit planner. Ah, that I, yeah. That's that's okay. That's why I would be in a bit planner. Like I love, I love looking at all the like pretty things that all the planners build on social. I'm like, I want to do that, but yeah. I love that. Second thing, what do you like to do outside of work for fun? Like, like what is, what is, what does Brianna do outside of work for? That's not marketing. I love to spend time with my partner. He's amazing. And I love to travel. So we are avid travelers. I've been to every continent except for Antarctica.

So really trying to get Antarctica soon, or then later, hopefully next year. Also love trying different foods. I think that it just comes back to traveling. And just trying out new products. It's one of the things where I just like to do, like for fun and happens to be able to monetize that now. But I love doing those things and just spending time with my friends and family and like random road trips, you know? And going, but you never know what happened. No, you never know what happens, ever. I stopped on one on the way back from Render actually. And it was a mad house.

Third question, this is kind of like, when I interview nerds, you know, I always ask like frameworks and stuff. So this is kind of a generalized question for us non nerds. Any piece of content that you've watched, read any brands that inspire you right now, just anybody you want to give a shout out to from a creator perspective, because I always do this in my newsletter, I give a shout out to other creators. There's too many. I know. Oh no. Oh, that's hard. There's literally like 30. I will say one person who not only is her content pretty cool, but what she's doing for women in business, Megan Ward, she's amazing, she's out of Detroit, founder of Feminology, she's awesome.

Akila from Mary Louise Cosmetics, she is in California. She's amazing, and I love that she's sticking to tradition and showcasing how tradition can withstand the test of time with not only cosmetics but lifestyle as well. And thanks for the new little box that she just sent over. And let's see Kayla Walker, she's a really amazing content creator for both people and brands. She's doing a phenomenal job. She also did Brenda as well. She's really awesome at what she does. Ah, let's see. Gosh, this is hard. Oh my gosh. This is really hard. No, that's good. That's good. I've never liked your Instagram posts or your tweet.

Keep it up. And also really honestly, Taylor, you. I'm gonna, yeah, you don't get bragged on a lot on here probably, so I'm gonna brag on you. As a marketer, it's very hard to make your own content because you spend your entire day making content for everybody else. And Taylor, you have been such a phenomenal human being, friend, colleague, everything for just encouraging me to post it. Just do it. Just post it. That's always what you say. And like, I actively look forward to seeing your vlogs every single day. When I last night when I turned off the light, I actually went like that. I was like, no, I was watching, but that's okay.

Literally though, you were an inspiration to content creators everywhere because you you are authentic in who you are both digitally and in real life. Like, I honestly feel like you're better in real life, which is setting the bar pretty high because you're already amazing on digital. Like it's wild, but you are just your content. So it really does inspire me to just be a better content creator. And I really appreciate that because you do like, I told you when I saw you last week, you make me want to post and I actually am posting now. I don't. I'm proud of you. Well, thank you. Yes.

So thank you for the content that you create and put out into the universe and what you're doing to help engineers all over the world. Like it does not go unnoticed. So we just appreciate you. On behalf of everybody in the whole wide world, we appreciate you. Thank you. Yeah, I'm going to go cry in a quarter now. I'm just overwhelmed. So thank you so much. And Jason, thank you, my friend. I appreciate it. All right. So last question as we wrap up here. Oh, I do want to go back something real quick. I'm gonna take a, let's take a side to where before we wrap up, last question.

I wanna go back to community real quick. I knew I was gonna say and I forgot. I feel like people are like, I see render, I can't be like render or I see like, I see Taylor and I can't scale my content like Taylor. Or we see all of these brands and people doing it to the end degree, but like, I just wanna tell you, if you wanna start community, Like it's you plus one others is community. Like, and that's how everything gets started. Like, render was a, what was your first year? 300 people, 500 people? 300. 300 people, first year, right? I wish I was the other first year, but I wasn't.

So 300 people, first year, now it's like what? 4500 I think was the last total, right? I was like 4,567. It was actually like 4,567 was really where number. That's great, I love that. We're only about 4,500 because it sounds fake. but it literally was four, five, six, seven. I was like, oh, that looks weird. And then I realized it was just consistent. But yes, it grew. And it started with Justin and Aroma people who had an idea. Yeah. Yeah. So again, yeah, I mean, again, my encouragement to you all, like bigger is not always better, especially for brands too. Like if you're looking to sponsor folks and whatnot, like bigger is not better.

I would say in today's world, depth and connection is what really moves the needle. And so I just want to encourage, I want to encourage you all, If you guys are sitting on the sidelines and you want to start a meet up, you're like, well, I don't, the only three people are going to show up. That's great. Start there. Just start. Yeah. That's enough. All right. Last question. We had guidance counselors in middle school, high school and college, but now as adults, we don't have them. That's why the show is called guidance counselor 2.0. What would be your biggest piece of career advice to young Briana?

Like if you go back in time, time capsule, you told Briana at Auburn or maybe high school Briana from the sound of it. What would you say? Oh, um, you know, my guidance counselors are awesome. Number one, like they are literally the reason I'm typically here. So just awesomeness from a love guide and counselors. My mom's actually counseling too. So no way. That's awesome. But if I had to go back to high school Brianna and tell her one piece of career advice, it would simply be don't worry about profit. Worry about passion. Oh, hey, drop us some. Mars today. That was a big Mars. Yeah, because if I was when I was in high school, I took an in I was the only little nerd.

I took an independent study of accounting because I wanted a career that would ensure my safety and my security financially and accounting is obviously very good. But I was not worried about my passion and my passion was people. Every new student who walked through the doors, I actually worked with the army of helping further student or student, which is a military program built for students to meet other military students before they come to the schools and every new student who walked through my high school door met me first. I left class every day to go meet a new student and walk them through their day and help them and love on them and help them find their what, their community.

And if I would have focused on that passion, I would have saved myself so much money by not going to school. But also, I would have been able to really lived in my passion and been able to positively impact even more people than I already have. And what in a way is 20,000 strong, grinder is 4,500 strong. And then the community is even larger than that. And even our community is like 50,000 is wild. I would have been able to to positively impact more people if I would have focused more on my passion and less on how much profit I could have created from it.

I love that. I love that. Probably a pretty good message for companies these days too. So that's fine. Anyways, we'll be around. Thank you, my friend. I appreciate you a ton. Stay on, so I can say bye to you backstage. But for those of you tuning in, thank you. The chat was off to change this morning. Had a cool 160 folks watch this at one time, which is pretty, pretty cool. So again, appreciate you all again. Go connect with people in the comments that watched. Go connect with Brianna. Check out Render ETL and y'all have a great one. And I'm off tomorrow. I'm actually hanging out with my brother in the morning.

We're working together at the Switchyard here in Nashville. So no live tomorrow. So we'll see y'all back next week, as long as Baby Destin is not here yet. But we will see for hopefully y'all next week. Y'all have a good one. Peace. Bye. Hey, you did it. listen to an entire episode and I am very grateful because you know why? There's a lot of podcasts out there. There's a lot of episodes and I myself rarely finish an entire episode so I appreciate you so so much for listening. Quick reminder please rate and review this podcast in the App Store. I want this to be discoverable to others and the only way that happens is if you take the time right now and rate and review it.

Please like right now unless you're driving then don't do it. So thank you again if you need to reach out to me at Tdaston on all social media handles, and I hope you have a fantastic day.