Hi, and welcome to the yoga news podcast. With me your host, Katherine Getty. It's easy to believe the news around us that the world is dark and the future is the same. But what if we chose something different? What if we chose to find the good news each day? This podcast is a collection of interviews with friends, mentors, colleagues on their good news and some solo episodes on inspiration I find from business to health to politics and kind of everything in between. It's my hope you leave with a boost and find your good news.
Welcome back to another episode of The your good news podcast with me Katherine Getty. In this episode, I am joined by Amber Gerdes. I first was connected with Amber through a mutual friend and I wanted to invite her on because for me, she really represents good and social media. She shares on her Instagram that she wants to put the social back in social media that is building genuine online communities representing a brand and the way it is true to itself and creating meaningful impact on the world through digital communication. Now the concept day. In this episode, we talk about engaging with others and building those communities. We discussed relational versus transactional, that social media often feels more of the transactional piece and she is just truly a breath of fresh air. And I know you'll enjoy this episode. Without further ado, my interview with Amber.
Welcome back to another episode of The your good news podcast. I am beyond honored to have my next guest Amber on today. And so like I start every episode, Amber, welcome. What is your good news?
Hello, I am super happy to be here. Thank you for having me. And my good news. Um, I guess that it's the first Monday of May. And I don't know if anybody else feels this way. But I think when at least in Wisconsin, I feel like we're like really in spring. And it just like really revitalizes me. I just feel like really energized and excited to be able to spend more time outside. And I feel like the start of spring and kind of getting into summer. It's always just like really inspires me to just do good in the world. And I'm just really happy about that. That's my good news.
I feel the same way. It's like the older I get the more the weather impacts my like, demeanor and how I feel about that day. So it's probably something I should work on. But I totally get it. It's feel like it's was so cold this weekend. I'm in Nebraska, as we're recording it was like 40 and 50 degrees. I was like, isn't it may. But today it is raining and it's going to be sunny soon. So I'm excited. And I totally feel about the energizing excitement of summer just around the corner. It's crazy. How was it may? I know this year is lit It's insane how I feel like every month and like how was it April? How was it March but it's flying by? It's insane. It's flying by? Well, I am so excited you're on today. And I was able to share with the listeners your background, but I wasn't able to share our connection point I wanted to save that for when we were recording. And like I said, I'm just really grateful to have you on today we met through my Marlena Geller, who is an amazing rock star. She's been on the podcast multiple times. And I met when we I was kind of seeking advice on social media and saying out loud makes me feel like an elder millennial that I am. But like I didn't know how I knew how to do it. But I didn't know how kind of to put myself into it. And so I think that's a kind of a really great way to kind of set the foundation. And when I invited you on, I thought about two different kind of buckets of questions I'd love is one, you've done amazing business on social media. So taking a social media kind of questions. And then also taking that entrepreneurship piece because I think there's so much good that can be born out of both of those. And I love the listeners to learn more. And so we'll start with social media. I know everyone is probably like, oh my gosh, we're going to talk about social media, like what is there to talk about, but I think there's so much good that is in social media. And I think you just have a really unique way of demystifying social media. And you have this amazing little quote of putting social back in social media. So how do you how did that kind of vision start for you?
Oh, gosh, I'm trying to think I think it ties back to what actually led me to go into social media full time. So just for some context, my background is in journalism, but then I ventured into social media, years and years ago and then what really made me realize I wanted to do social media full time social media.
Marketing and professionally do it full time was like you said, the social aspect of it. I love that with journalism, I love that. But it really is like you put something out, and then it's just kind of out there. Where is it social media, people can engage, they can tell you their thoughts, you can have conversation. And then the further I got into social media, I realized that it you know, the complaints about it are totally valid. And I definitely want to recognize that but also, I've just seen social media do some amazing good things in the world and just really be a positive catalyst for change a positive tool for somebody good missions. And that's really what brought me into it, and what keeps me in it, and what encourages me to help other people feel encouraged to use social media in that way, as well.
And I love how you talk about engaging and asking questions and creating conversations. And what I've really learned from you is, it creates a community more so than you can kind of have even thought and I think, yes, we can acknowledge that social media has some negative pieces to it. But I think far too often the society we as a society, look at the negatives versus the positive. What has been lessons on kind of that growing the community? Do you think that there can be a community online? And what have you learned from it? If so?
Yes, I absolutely believe there can be a community or can be elements of community and community building and relationship building on social media. And I almost would go so far as to say there should be because I think a perfect example is the pandemic has been a lot and trying dying for many reasons. I think one thing that was really cool is that we as just a society had social media to keep us united, like think of a couple of years ago, all those memes about just like we were all just making whip coffee, and sourdough bread. And just I think that was a really cool thing in itself there. But then also, having community does so many other things too, like, like I said, it can be used as a tool for so many great causes. But it also can just be used as a tool for just normalizing certain topics and talking about things like mental health and wellness and things like that. And I think that just embracing community makes social media just a way better space. And usually when people come to me, and they're like, Look, I know, I'd need to be on social media for my business, or I know I need to be on social media for this reason. And they say, but I don't like it. I hear that a lot. And then I want to ask people, why why don't you like it. And I find out usually, I find that the reason is because they're just coming to kind of sell their product or service, or they're just sharing content. And they're not necessarily building relationships with the community, engaging with other people's content, they're not setting their audience up in a way that they can easily engage with their content. It's just, they're just posting and then ghosting. And I find that if I help people actually change their mindset from just like, I'm just showing up to promote my business to actually really digging deep into why do you do what you do? What are the core outcomes that you would love to see out of your social media, you know, your little corner of the internet? Like, what do you want to be known for what kind of conversation create what kind of mission Do you want to push forward, and I find that if people can actually dig deeper into not farther than just what they're marketing, and actually think about the mission and the messages that they want to spread and be known for and create a community around, it becomes a way better space, and way more enjoyable. And you can now like, I look forward to seeing what messages I have my people to seeing, like, even if I do like a check in poll on my stories, I like seeing how people how their weekend was or what they were doing, or just connecting with people and I want that for other people too.
so many good things. And what I'm really hearing is that there's a lot of fear and a lot of like misperception I don't know if that's a word like, like people are perceiving the internet as, oh, I just need to like, you know, post it for the link up the swipe up slide. And it just needs to be a transaction versus the idea of how do you kind of engage with those people and actually share yourself and they feel comfortable sharing with you is that kind of what you're getting at because I think that that's a powerful it's flipping the script on what typically you think of the internet.
Yes. 100% And the great thing is I think when you
approach marketing and social media, as relational versus transactional, it actually is better marketing anyway I've seen for myself and my clients it to be much more effective anyway. So kind of like a win win scenario. And like we talked about, I obviously encourage boundaries with social media. And I definitely don't want this to be like a toxic positivity thing of like, social media is great. Yeah, no issues, because I'm not sure either. But acknowledging that while there are some pitfalls with how prevalent social media is, in our society, I think I definitely do acknowledge those. But it's more so like, also acknowledging that there is some good in it, and we can use it good. And we can use social media to do good for ourselves, our businesses, sure. But we can also twofold use it to do good and other people's lives and have an impact. And I think that it's just a win win. And I think that's really cool.
I love that relational versus transactional if, and I feel like when I think back to maybe how Facebook started, it was creating a kind of a network so that you knew, like, you know, the social network, so that you felt connected to people and you knew where they were going, or what was happening in their life. And I know, when I kind of first started on it, I was like, commenting on so much more. And I don't know where along the lines, I kind of stopped doing that, like, I comment on close friends, but I think it's important to kind of think of like, how do you create that relationship? Not only in real life, but also kind of on social media and in a healthy way to your point.
Yeah, exactly. And it is so true that like all of a sudden, there's or I shouldn't say all of a sudden, it's been I think over many years, it's just social media became a little less social. And now I think that's kind of the mission is that it can, it doesn't have to be so filtered. It doesn't have to be so curated, it can be social, and really something I do myself and that I encourage other people to do is just if I was approaching this relationship, or my overall just mission with my in person relationships, like how can I reflect that online? Obviously, it's a little different because it's not face to face. But I think there are some things that we don't have to communicate with people differently. Just because it's on Instagram versus seeing someone at a social event or something like that. We can still check in with people, we can still send the send people messages out of the blue, I think sometimes we feel like we can't even just message someone out of the blue because it's weird, or we're just it's a Hey, girl cold pitch kind of message. Because I think you're right. I mean, I think sometimes when I see DMS, I'm like, oh, no, is this about to be a bitch. And I think I think we're starting to shift away from that, which is great. But I think just actually looking at other accounts, not as account but actually looking at them as people. Like if I see a pose from you, I'm not like, Oh, this is her business. This is the podcast, I'm just like, oh, Catherine, like she she ran a race this weekend, how great and just thinking of it trying to retrain our minds to think of things whether we're on social media for business, or not retrain our mind to just think of it as social media and a way to just almost instead of looking at it so separate as our social life outside of the internet, looking at them more as like integrated.
I think that's like so good. I mean, thinking about not an account thinking about a person, I think we're not talking about all the negative and this isn't a toxic positivity. But you know, there are a lot of people that treat people differently online and treat them not as people online. And I think that could be a whole nother topic of conversation. But what I really kind of want to dig in more is this idea and I kind of hear you saying it throughout is putting yourself kind of putting yourself in like in the social media hang with me for a second that and what I mean is not feeling so detached from it. I feel like you may have said that kind of in different pieces is that how do you do that? Like, I feel sometimes I know personally, I get like nervous. I'm like, someone's gonna judge me is it's gonna be weird, but I don't have those same concerns. When I'm in person. I'm like, I'm just going to be my quirky self.
Yeah, absolutely. Because on social media, it's possible to kind of detach yourself in person is literally not possible. Like they're obviously talking to girls on social media, we can hide behind filters and graphics, or we can take 30 minutes to write a caption whereas you don't get that kind of time to say something in real life. So it is very possible would be weird. Yeah, right, right. Yeah, maybe be possible, but it'd be weird. Um, well, on social media like there is an ability to sort of hide behind things like that. And while it is scary to kind of put yourself out there in a way that's maybe not as curated, it is just so worth it, I cannot emphasize that enough. Like, I'll even use myself as an example. I'm, the more I been able to put myself out there using I'm moreso talking about my business Instagram specifically, I used to keep I stuck my core topics I talked about, you know, Instagram updates, and social media marketing and things like that. And now I've really felt this courage driven just by the mission, I have to share things that are a little scary to share. Like, I don't use filters as much on my Instagram stories anymore. I am had been pretty open about my journey with anxiety, I been pretty open talking about as I grow a business, like it's not all sunshine and rainbows. And I have had some really hard days. But as I've shared some of these things, it's been quite amazing to just see how actually, what I was worried would make people look at me and be like, she's so unprofessional or okay, what is she talking about? Like, I don't want to see that. Like, it's actually made people respond and be like, I've really been struggling with seasonal depression too, or I am totally experiencing some anxiety. That's really great that you tried this, and it helps you can you tell me more? Or people just the things I share some things that are just like my messy house like things that I'm like, what I'm This is so crazy, like sharing these things. But people respond and they resonate, and they're like, Yep, I have also had a crazy week, we'll get through this together. And if actually only strengthen the community, I'm building online. And then furthermore, I think the more I'm able to encourage other people to do that, the more they're able to do that with their respective communities and their corners of the internet. And we're just creating my goal is that we can create a better, more open, more authentic, more real social media space. So it is scary to kind of put yourself beyond the graphics and the filters and the perfectly curated captions and the highlight reel, but it is so worth it, because people will only know and like and trust you more for doing that.
I mean, and that is what I have loved, like learning from you so much, you. It sounds like it should be intuitive, but being so honest and real online. Like it humanizes the experience. It makes you feel less alone. Like when you share your stress and like like answering that poll question. I'm like, Yeah, to Monday, I am having some Monday skerries. I don't know why. But it makes me feel less alone. And I think that that's social media should, like you said, be an authentic real place where you can connect with other people create that community, reconnect with the community, maybe you've lost touch with like, so I just, I think there's so much good in there and ever, we got to we got to talk about your Instagram handle, I'm going to put it in the show notes for what is your Instagram handle so people can follow you.
My Instagram handle is Salt Light social. And that's pretty much where I hang out. Anyway, so cuz I'm on a couple other platforms. But to
me it's amazing. And before we wrap up social media, anything else you want to talk about or anything, any topics before we talk about, kind of building a business, entrepreneurship, everything in between?
I think the last thing I'd say about social media is just kind of Yeah, wrapping up everything we've said that it is such a can be such a positive tool for change or promoting a mission or a cause or a platform, but only if you let it and only if you really lean into that. But leaning into that looks different for everybody. And that's why I really want to say like, just because I think social media is great, does not mean I'm on it. 24/7 I think that's actually something that I would encourage everybody to look at their own relationship with social media and think about, okay, what are the good things I want to do this platform? But also what are maybe ways that it might affect me negatively without me knowing? And how can I create boundaries that allow me to move toward the goals without being bogged down by the negative thing? So I'll use myself as an example. But of course, it's going to be different for everybody like so my mission like I said, is just promote being authentic, edgy, educated real life community. But I know that I can be really negatively impacted by just like the stress of seeing everything that's going on. Or maybe it can be a time suck sometime. So I have boundaries like I don't check it during certain times the day I logged out of my business account into my personal one when work is over. And I try to not follow accounts that cause me to feel negatively by myself. This is different for everybody. But I would encourage you to like really examine your relationship with social media, and then how you can use that information to decide like your boundaries and goals moving forward.
I think that's a perfect way to end. And I feel like as we're talking, I'm like, we haven't even scratched the surface. So there's, there's so much there there. So anyway, there may be a part two in this one, if you want to come back because I'm my brains attorney is amazing. Well, I want to switch gears a little bit. And we've talked, we kind of touched on it, you launched a business. And I think that it's, it's, it's honestly so amazing to watch, you kind of grow it and I've only been following along for a short period of time. So how did this business dream started? It really kind of started out of that journalism degree and kind of figuring out, oh, I'm really interested in it, or how did you kind of make the leap to say, I'm going to start this business?
Yeah, so definitely not something I thought I would do. I really didn't. So as I mentioned, just for background, in college, I studied journalism and business marketing, because why not? Why not study two things. So I did that. And then graduating school. I actually come My background is in the sports industry. So I interned and worked at a number of different places. But my most formative experiences were I interned at ESPN just before I graduated and that was where I really got to do both so deeply and both as in journalism and marketing and social media. I got to do both so deeply and then take that experience into my full time job with usta that the US Tennis Association most non tennis fan don't know the acronym I didn't. So then there was when I really realized, wait a minute, it I always thought I was gonna go to the journalism route. And then I realized a social media route was calling me for a number of reasons. One, to be frank, I was good at it, like people kept commenting, like how the social media was improving, and I was able to just grow our socials. But I also became really, really attracted to like I said, that social element of it, I love that people were engaging back and sending us messages and sending their own photos and content. And that was when I was like, This is my thing. So fast forward a little bit once the pandemic started. A lot of businesses were like, wait a minute, we really need like a digital presence. This is more important than ever. So I had just like friends and family reaching out for help. I was helping people I was charging pretty much nothing I was just doing it because I was home I had time and why not? I had no idea about this whole world of online business. And so if I was just like, I think I could make a business out of this not even knowing that people were already doing this and I started the business summer of 2020 but it definitely it didn't take me till November 2020 to actually jump into a full time I kind of got to a point where it was scary for sure. But I was like I'm maxed out at my time and I'm either going to see what I can do make this full time or not and so just with the full support of my husband who kind of I don't say force it was a very loving push into just like just do it Amber you're gonna you're gonna sometimes you need other people to speak that into I definitely did. So then I went full time from there the rest is history is I've learned so many things already. I can't believe how much is changed me as a person for mostly for the better. I'd saying. It's been like a wild ride. And I don't regret it. Though. I had some really stressful weeks and date. I don't regret it for one second.
It's I mean, watching you talk about it. I wish everyone could see you're just like lighting up. And I think that that's what we hope for people is that they're passionate and they're, I mean, you should shout from the mountaintops. You are amazing at it. You have an amazing eye and thoughtful presence and like you need to like shot that but I love that. You know, I think oftentimes it takes some time someone else to say yeah, I'm pushing you out of the nest. We can't always be our own pushers out of the nest, so to speak. Um, maybe I'm just because I saw a nest and I'm thinking about birds. But anyways, you know, what would you say to someone who's maybe teetering on that point thinking? I don't know if I'm going to make this, I don't know if it's going to be good enough, like, I have so many doubts, what would you say to them and speak over them?
Good question, I think two things come to mind. The first thing is that it is going to be hard, but it's going to be worth it. And that's not necessarily me saying, like, you need to buy into the hustle culture and work, you know, 6am to 11pm. I don't think that I think that if you need to make time for your life, so that way, you can, you know, not burn out. But I do want to acknowledge that like, it is, it isn't always easy. And it isn't always what people make it seem to be like, you're it's okay, if you don't make six figures in a year, or if you don't make like a certain amount or have a certain goal, it's okay. And it's we all operate on different timelines. So it's going to be hard, but it's going to be worth it. And definitely, like, find that community or those people that can encourage you on those days. And then the second thing I would say is that there's always room at the table. I think sometimes we're like, Well, other people are doing this and other people have been doing this for longer, or you know, this person doing what I do, and it's better. And I just would say there's literally room for everybody, like people are starting businesses every day. And we have no idea like five years from now, there's going to be some business that is blowing up that none of us have ever even heard of today. And it could be your business, but it's not going to be your business if you don't start. So I would just say that there is room for everybody, always we all bring our own special something to the table.
This is why ladies and gentlemen, I invited her on because she just has amazing, amazing thoughts that like, sometimes we just need to hear like it is going to be hard, but it's going to be worth it. And that there's always room at a table because I think you're I think there's some times this idea If so and so is doing it, I can't do it. It's like we'll do it and put your own self into it kind of going back to the social media piece of it all. I think there's so much we can we can learn from just taking that leap. Totally. Yeah. And what has been kind of you've talked we talked about like it was it's been hard work. But what has been like one of the hardest lessons that you've learned and how did you learn? How did you navigate it? What kind of things did you lean on? To get through it?
Yes, um, this is something that now that I've learned this lesson, I want everybody to know it. And I will shout it from the mountaintops until everybody learns, you do not have to, and you should not work yourself to the point of burnout. I think that is definitely normalized in our culture. And I wish it wasn't. Because I'm a former college athlete, I had this like hustle culture mindset, because of my background in sports, both playing in sports and working in sports that like you, if you aren't working all the time, if you weren't exhausted, if you aren't sacrificing everything, like you're not working hard enough, that could not be farther from the truth. Because if you do that you are 1,000% Guaranteed to burn out. And then what are you doing all this for anyway? Because we we don't live our lives just to work, we work so that way we can build our dream lives. So if you're working yourself to the point of being miserable, is not worth it. So I would definitely say I learned this lesson. I've definitely gotten hit with burnout a few times. But this February like February 2022. It was horrible. Like I have had, I had never I had never experienced anxiety as as an adult until semi recently. And it was February it was at a point where I like could not even I did not even want to get out of bed and just like every day was just I was waiting for it to be over. And I was so anxious. I couldn't even like it was constant anxiety. And then I realized like after having, you know, multiple, just like crying or just stress like a week, I was like something's got to change. So I gave myself permission, I let a few things go in my business. It felt a little scary. But I let a few things go. I got myself to a point where I was like, this is sustainable. I feel good. And now I'm building back in a slower, more sustainable way. And I'm so grateful I learned that lesson one because I can share with others and to because I've learned that I actually think it's better to grow slower if it means you're actually enjoying the process more or you're not building yourself to a point where you it's not sustainable for you or you don't even want Want to keep going or keep growing. So now I'm giving myself the permission to just keep growing, but do it in a way that's slower and allows me to also live some life like and not have to work all the time. And that's definitely been it was a hard lesson to learn. And, you know, at a point, I did feel like am I failing because I have to let some things go, am I failing because I have to put a stop. But now that I took some time, I traveled a little bit, I like slow down, I'm actually feeling 10 times better and 10 times more ready to take on my future goals. So I think it was a hard lesson to learn, but it was the lesson I needed.
I just want to thank you so much for sharing that that is probably like, you know, when people think about like business, they don't always think about living, you know, we, you're right, the culture is live to work versus working to live, whatever. I think that that's that's the quote. And I think it's a really good reminder of the grow slower that can apply to if you're thinking about starting a business, that can be to starting a podcast that can be to a goal that you have. It's I think we kind of also have this idea, it needs to be an overnight success and be perfectly polished. But like, hard work is not always pretty. You fail, you get up, you fail again, you get up, you have a success, you fail again, like it's not a linear timeline is what I'm hearing. And I think it's a good reminder. Personally for me, too.
Yeah, absolutely. And you're so right, that that applies to so many things in life, like think about you and I without running like imagine if we had just been like, I'm going to run a half marathon today. Like that's not realistic. You know,
I It's it would have not been realistic. And I think it's a reminder kind of diverting from business for just a second is the idea that like those steps along the way, like those are the successes versus like getting to the, you know, the end goal. Yes, that's a success. But that consistency of showing up creating strong boundaries, ensuring that your mental health during your physical health and during your relationships, that you're having a full life. I mean, that's such an important reminder that is so easily overlooked. And I don't know why we do that to ourselves.
I seriously how it's so like, obvious. And yeah, we don't do it all the time.
I literally was scribbling like, you know, just to be completely honest, it's like this is, this will probably be near the, you know, I've been doing this since July of last year and the podcasts and it's, you know, growing slowly, like I always say it's the little engine that could but it's always like, the comparison is the thief of joy. Like, I'm always like, I'll come to you and be like, I didn't post this ride, or I didn't do this, right. But you're like, but you did all these other things that put you in a good position. I think flipping the script, to use the same phrase on how we view success in this world is so important. And it sounds like I mean, that's an amazing nugget that you've left the listeners and myself with. So I'm very, very grateful for that. Thank you. So we've kind of talked about it. And I kind of alluded to it. But I feel like you've through building your business have really created some healthy traits. You talk about, like downshifting and reprioritizing. And taking some time for yourself to like experience this thing called life? How have you found things, you know, things that maybe could help the listeners to on their journey to figuring out what kind of helps them?
Well, I think, first, if you couldn't tell by now I love my boundaries. And some of these things, I think, just finding your non negotiables. And some of these things I've had, since you know my whole adulthood, but then some of these things I've more newly brought on because I either didn't need it then but I need it now. Or I've maybe only now learning like these non negotiables. So I'll share kind of how I've made this work for me. But of course it is going to be different for everybody. So for me, it's all about protecting my morning and my evening. Because you know this Katherine and I lot like as much as I love my business and social media and what I do living life, and especially like my wellness and running and health and fitness and all of that, like that's very important to me. So finding ways to protect both these things that I love, like in ways to kind of integrate them. So I say balance and work life balance. But really for me, it's more about work life integration, because some days it's not going to be 5050 or even like 8020 like some days it's going to be more about work and some days it's going to be more about the other things and that's okay More about how they integrate together and making sure over the course of like a week, a month a year, it's more balanced. But anyway, so for me, it looks like in the morning, I do not check my phone until I am done doing my morning things like I a non negotiable for me, it's absolutely like a walk with my dog in the morning, my workout, whether that's a run going to the gym, it's just waking up getting my coffee just like these things that I really treasure my morning and I don't check my phone until after those things because otherwise, I'm waking up. And I'm already stressed. I'm hard here like I already have 10 DMS to respond to I already have emails and that's just for me, it's not a great way to start my day. It doesn't allow me to show up when I do start work as my best sell. So having that. And then in the evenings I this is a newer non negotiable, I will say I used to work just until I went to bed I horrible for you. I know everybody knows that. I just still did it. And then recently I realized like, it's actually like, I can't fall asleep as easy. I don't feel as rested in the morning, I'm waking up feeling like anxiety. So now I give myself I try to give myself two hours between shutting my laptop and getting ready for bed. Am I perfect at it every day? No. But most days, I tried to do that as just another way to be my best self, mentally and physically. Because honestly, when I am taking care of like my wellness, it actually allows me to be way more productive and do way better work and show up way more fully when I am working. So it's actually better for work to if I give myself boundaries for work. So those things are definitely going to look different for everybody. But I would definitely like think about what is balanced look like for me, what does integration look like for me? And this, I will say before I started entrepreneurship, I did have that nine to five schedule. So if you're a nine to FiVER, and you're listening to this, and you're like, Well, I can't do all those things in the morning, or I can't control when I'm done working. Think about, okay, instead of thinking about what you can't do, think about what you can do. So like maybe you can get up 20 minutes earlier to take a 10 minute walk around the block. Or maybe you can like set screentime limits on your phone. So that way, you're not like spending all this time on tick tock in the evening, like whatever it looks like for you. Because it's different for everybody.
I love that. And you were you're taking the thoughts right on my brain. And the reason I kind of asked you is because I think it's so important to not only like talk about it, but to hear other people's kind of how do they do it, and then try it on, see what works. See if maybe you're an evening worker out or in the mornings, you just want to scroll, scroll on Instagram, or you want to listen to a podcast, or whatever it may be. And I think it's so helpful to like kind of like, hear and take it as like, oh, that's an idea that I can use if it feels good, great. If it doesn't try something else.
I love my morning routine. I love my evening routine. But it's definitely taken like years of experimentation. And it's constantly evolving. Like even I feel like my morning routine, I have duty and now my next mission is like evening routine, like trying to make sure I'm like well rested. But my point is that it definitely is evolving. And I think it's awesome to like try new things and see what works for other people. And if it doesn't work, that's okay, at least you tried it. So I agree.
I love that. And I think that this next question is going to be the perfect way to bring this puppy home. So I want to talk about your proudest achievement? And also, what are you thinking about? What's your next kind of dream goal? What are you thinking about next that you want to do? Or what are you thinking about trying? Hmm,
good questions. I'm proudest achievement. I really was racking my brain thinking about this and I couldn't I couldn't pinpoint it to one thing, but I did think of it's more like a bunch of small little things that are in kind of more, a more holistic concept. And I'm very proud. This is completely echoing off everything you just talked about, but I'm just proud of myself for kind of pushing past those uncomfortable feelings and I think people are very surprised when I say which is true that it is actually really hard for me to be totally like transparent and authentic and just keeping it real on social media. I think people are surprised by it is and I'm proud of myself for pushing through and doing that because I've just I get really like it honestly makes To be like, super happy and emotional when I think about just I can think of specific moments in my mind when doing that impacted somebody else. And it put good in the world. I don't know, like I even think of like I said, sharing my anxiety, like I've had other people respond and be like, I'm gonna try this. And then they'll come back and they'll say, oh my gosh, that helped, like, Thank you for sharing that. And then were able to have that dialogue about it. Or even like something I never ever, ever talked about until last year, was I'm deaf. And I always grew up thinking like, this is a weakness, and I can't talk about it. And now that I'm talking about it, I will have people responding to my story. And they're like, oh, my gosh, I'm deaf, or my childhood is or my parent is and just realizing like they, that person in their life can go on to do whatever they want. Just not that I'm like this super amazingly successful person, but someday, and just knowing who you are. And thank you, thank you so much. You're too kind. But even just same with sharing, like, I'll have people who are a little newer in their business, they'll respond to my they'll send me a message or respond to my content. They'll be like, how did you do this? I'm really struggling with this. And I'm just I freely share the information that I've gained, not because I'm an expert yet, but because why not share the knowledge that I've gained, and it's made a difference in people's lives. So I'm rambling but just in general, just saying that being transparent has enabled me to impact at least some people's lives in a positive way and do good in the world. And then I've noticed that now I'm able to empower other people to do the same and put good in their part of the world. And that's what I think of Yeah,
I mean, again, ladies and gentlemen, why I invited Amber on She's incredible. So what is what is next what's next on the docket for for salt light social, Amber's amazing business or amber. Just you what's next for you?
Oh, my goodness, um, what's next? So I will be totally honest, since I said, I'm that kind of what I do. Um, I'm giving myself the freedom to not know the next 10 steps. I honestly for some people, though, but probably like big one for me, novel concept. And I'm actually really enjoying being in this space. So I know what's coming up like more like this year, but I'm so I first I'll just say that that like, I'm giving myself the freedom like I'm, I'm still young, I'm still new to new ish to this, I'm only a few years in. So I'm giving myself the freedom to just figure it out one thing at a time. So as far as personal life, um, I would like to run my second marathon this fall. So we'll, we'll see how that goes. And then professional life I just launched, or we haven't started yet, but I just announced a free storage challenge that I so I announced it last week. And I've had so many people interested in that. I'm like, why don't I make us like a Slack community and we can like chat and get to know each other. And now I'm like, wait a minute, my friends are meeting each other they're connecting. So it's really cool that this happened, because my bigger goal that I'm working toward is making some sort of like, I want to make some sort of community where we can just like kind of show up on social media personally and grow together. And I don't know exactly what that looks like. But it's very cool that the pieces are sort of putting themselves together even in ways that I didn't expect, like with this challenge. So that's what's on the docket. But I need to figure out, well, I don't need to, but I want to figure out exactly like how to get there. But I'm actually really enjoying the process of figuring it out.
I love that so much. I love that you're just kind of being open to what's next. And you're just kind of forgetting how to do it. You're just like taking steps along the way. And it's it's happening because you're putting yourself in a really great position. And I mean, my notes, if you could see them are just, it's like so much goodness, from humanizing and making sure people don't feel less alone on social media, putting yourself and being really vulnerable and authentic and honest, to talking about entrepreneurship and how it's going to be hard. It's going to be worth it. And always, there's always room at the table for your idea. I mean, Amber, any last thoughts for the listeners?
I guess I would just say with social media and business or even if you're not involved in either of those things, and you're just listening because you love the podcast or listening because you just love some of these ideas. I would just say that you're doing enough and instead of focusing on like, oh, I can't do this, or I don't like this or I don't have the resources for this. I don't
Just focus on what you can do and taking one step at a time. And yeah, like, you're absolutely enough, you're doing enough. And you'll figure it out. Just like if you're still here today listening to this, that means you've figured out every challenge before this, and you'll figure out the next one. And that's an amazing way to end this episode. Thank you so much for joining. And for your time, I think we're done.
The importance of human connection has never felt more important than the last two years. I know we've all experienced the lack of it. And so I just want to thank you, Amber, for joining today. And thank you for listening to another episode. Amber really hit on the importance of utilizing social media as a place to share more of yourself in an authentic way. And she helped me understand how you can really be authentic and I think that that was a breath of fresh air and some good news for me. If you liked this episode, please subscribe. Leave a review, share with someone you know. And I'm on Instagram at Katherine Getty or visit my website, your good news podcast.com. I'd love to hear your feedback on this episode or what you'd love to hear next. And tune in next week for another episode of The your good news podcast.
