Ask Me Anything with Bernadette Boas

Blog Talk Radio. Hello and welcome to Shedding the Bitch Radio, where you can discuss, debate, and get advice on how to discover and shed the bitches of fear, insecurity, self-doubt, and negative mindsets so you can realize your dreams and life purpose and create and accelerate the riches you want in life. Join us here live every Tuesday at noon Eastern and dialogue with us at 818-572-2910. You can also chat with us at blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitch or share your stories on our website at sheddingthebitch.com. Whatever the bitch is that's holding you back from living your life to the fullest, it's not worth giving up the riches in life that you deserve. So call in now and let Bernadette Boas know what's holding you back. 800-818-572-2910. Good day, good day, good day, everyone, or should I say good October 1st, everybody. How are you on this beautiful— I hate to say it, but I have to say it— steamy hot day in Atlanta, like 95 degrees. Deborah and I were just talking about it. We're tired. I'm very tired and exhausted by this weather. But it is a beautiful day. I hope it is wherever you are around the world. I am— I also just mentioned to Deborah, I am sitting in my home studio with 5 pups, a couple of them staring at a stink bug that's crawling up my curtain at the moment. So if they happen to, you know, bark out and want to say hello, you'll know why. Anyway, so it is a great day, although we are kind of having a little bit of a— what's it called— anxiety attack over the fact that it's October 1st. That I had mentioned to Debra that I saw my first Christmas commercial. It was about a week ago. I posted it on Facebook, but it was about a Christmas movie that is coming out now. It doesn't come out till November. Why they need to actually hit us up about it in September when it's not only a November movie but a Christmas movie? Uh, now granted, they don't know it's 90+ days here in Atlanta and none of us can be thinking about anything but getting get rid of this heat. But there it was, a Christmas commercial in September. At the same time, we were talking about the fact that my sister had even mentioned that being in Costco and Walmart, they're fully decorated already. This was actually several weeks ago. So, you know, everybody is rushing each other's lives away faster and faster as the clock ticks on. And I just wish it would slow down every once in a while so we could just take a deep breath and appreciate it. So, at least here within the Gen Ed Bitch community, let's do that, shall we? Let's take a deep breath. Let's just sit back, turn off all the distractions that are in our lives. You know, even if you're at an office, close your door. Maybe you have some sort of divider to shut your cubicle off. If you're in a home office, shut the door, close the curtains, whatever the case might be. Find a nice— build yourself a nice little cocoon wherever you might be listening to us, and let's just take a deep breath and slow life down, at least for the next 55 or so minutes, shall we, as we delve into your questions, stories, and challenges that you bring to me each month, the first Tuesday of every month during our Ask Bernadette episode. Now if you are new to the program, what you can do is at any time during the month, during the year, you can be posting your stories, questions, and challenges up on our Facebook or Twitter pages. Just look for Shading the Bitch on Facebook or Twitter. I get a lot of them, uh, actually I get majority of them sent to me in my LinkedIn profile. So you can send me a private message on Bernadette Boas on LinkedIn. You can email me at bernadetteboas@sheddingthebitch.com. You can go to sheddingthebitch.com and place it on one of our posts. Any way you need to reach us, we are here to help provide you some tips, advice, and sometimes tough love. About whatever it is that is top of mind for you. And today we have a number of questions in regards to it. We'll be talking about diversity and inclusion. I had a conversation with someone who kind of was confused about the two, but more so was concerned that her company, her managers were even more confused about it, and therefore creating confusion amongst team members and amongst the groups that she was working within. So wanted some simple language and terminologies that she could take back and start a conversation with within her own team. So we'll be talking about that. We'll be talking about— someone had asked me, and I have even talked about it here over the last several months, about kind of what— what is the benefit that I'm finding in taking an improv class? I've been taking it all year, just graduated last week, boop boop, with 11 other members of my class. But I've also mentioned that apart from improv, I've taken acting classes, I've taken stand-up comedy, and one of you had asked about what the benefits were that I have found out of my personal and professional life, and more so professional they were interested in, so we'll talk about that. One of you wanted to find out about freelancing, you know, freelancing, what to do, how to go about it, when to pull the trigger on it, so forth and so on. So I'll provide you some specific steps you can be taking in regards to freelance. And then the last one, which was interesting, I had somebody ask me about, and it's a curious question. It's about social media, but more so it's about personal branding. So the question is specifically that we'll be talking about is basically, how are people using social media to profile you, to qualify you for opportunities, maybe it's a job. Maybe it's determining if you are an influencer or an expert in any way, shape, or form. Maybe it's something within your community and someone seeking you out. I personally had a situation where someone reached out to me and I immediately went, because I couldn't remember meeting them, went online to find them, couldn't find a stitch, and we'll talk about that. So those are the things we're going to be talking about today. And at any time, if you're listening to this live, If you still have a question, story, or challenge that you would like some tips and advice about, you can always, as while we're live, call into 1-818-572-2910 to talk to me directly. I'm also on the chat room, so if you've gone to blogtalkradio.com/shamelessbitchradio and found this particular episode live, you could scroll down and use the chat room as well. And I am hooked into the chat room and can be chatting with you through there as well. And keep in mind, you never have to share who you are specifically, you know, what your company is, whatever the case might be. You are totally anonymous. So don't hesitate just because you don't want to be called out. Unless you have a distinctive voice like myself, and we can always figure out a way for you to disguise that. If need be. All right, so before we dive into all that, I just want to remind you, at any time you can go and download our episodes on, uh, blogtalkradio.com, obviously, on sheddingthebits.com. They're all out there on our, uh, radio page. You can scroll down on the home page, see Shedding the Bits radio channel, click into that, you'll find all of our episodes. You can always go to Apple Podcast and That is your primary preference because obviously we get, apart from the few that we get through BlogTalk, we are now getting all of them, the majority of them downloaded and streamed via Apple Podcasts, which I am thrilled about because that means that you're looking and finding and intrigued by our topics of discussion, you know, 24 hours a day all over the world, which is a beautiful thing. So some of our previous recent discussions have been around hate. So last week, and you'll have to listen to it because even Deborah called me out on this subject about hate, and that's not a bad thing. I asked her for her input regarding a situation that had happened to me, and I shared the transcript with her so she could give me a very, a very honest perspective on this back and forth that had happened online that I was pretty kind of pissed off about. And yet, I ended up, I played a part in it. So we did talk about why we must hate online or in person. We've talked about it in a previous discussion how to stop saying I'm sorry because it's hurting your career and it could be hurting your success. So tips for how to stop saying I'm sorry. We've talked about grabbing someone and bearing your soul, or be— being a witness, bearing witness to someone else's disclosure. And we've talked about not visualizing as much as needing to believe in what it is you're visualizing. So you can find, like I said, any and all the past discussions out on blogtalkradio.com, sheddingthebits.com, Apple Podcasts, and download them at any point in time. So as I mentioned, today is our Ask Bernadette episode, and we're going to just take a really quick brief break, and when we get back, I'm going to dive into our first discussion which I'm going to kind of move things around than what I even originally planned. And we will just make sure all of them get in in a timely manner. And we'll start with the benefits that I've received out of improv classes and what you can take advantage of when it comes to creative classes that, that could really lend themselves greatly to your personal and professional lives. So we'll talk about that when we get back. We'll be right back.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business. Available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors: North Georgia Tax Solutions, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate size clients. Go to ngtaxsolutions.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and social media support for small to medium size businesses. Email deborahparker@parkerhouseservices.com. Deborahparker.va@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at mediarelations@sheddingthebitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Welcome back everyone. Today's episode is your episode. Every week's episode is your episode, but this one actually, uh, addresses your specific questions, stories, or challenges that you pose to me, whether that's on Facebook, Twitter, uh, my LinkedIn profile, sending me a private message, um, whether you send it to bernadetteboas@sheddingthebitch.com. However you get it to us, I answer it immediately upon receiving it, but then the first Tuesday of every month we bring them right here onto the program so we can dive into them a bit deeper than what I can reply in a Twitter post or a Facebook post or even an email. And you have an opportunity to join in on the conversation should you choose to by calling 1-818-572-2910. And maybe there's more information, backstory, that you need to share in order to get your question addressed. So know that you can always do that, even if you've posted your question online, you can always join the program and talk to me directly. So our first question is, came from somebody. I've been talking about my taking improv classes all year. I started taking them, I believe it was back in February, was 101. So it's a series of 101 to 401, 4 classes, and that leads up to a big bang graduation showcase, which is actually a real show open to the public. As opposed to after your second and third, it was a more of a private showcase opened up to family and friends. And this individual who reached out to me was very curious as far as the benefits, you know, that I was receiving and was it lending itself to me more professionally than even personally. So let me give you some backstory. I have taken classes such as this since my early teens— or I'm sorry, since my early 20s, though growing up as one of 12 and with a mother who sang in the church choir and she also performed in our church plays, I guess musicals, they were predominantly musicals. In order for her to be able to do that when she has 12 kids at home to be taken care of, she would then incorporate us into these musicals. So myself and my siblings pretty much have been— I won't call us performers, but we've been in shows since, gosh, I was probably 8 or 9. And I'm the middle child, and so therefore that kind of might shed a lot of light on who I am personally as well as professionally. And I've always found entertaining to be a lot of fun. So put a microphone in my hands and I'm a happy, happy, happy camper. However, I did find an opportunity— when was it— 2003 was probably having done those musicals and those shows, having taken improv classes in my early 20s, part of boredom in the wintertime when it's dark and gray out and not necessarily cold because I was in South Florida. But I would find like an improv class to take in order to kind of stretch myself creatively. In 2003, being a corporate executive, I I really was looking for something— so this is addressing this person's question about business benefits. I was really looking for something that would help me when it came to public speaking. Now, the public speaking I was doing at the time was within corporate, within my organization, and I would have to present, you know, case studies. I'd have to pitch to to customers. I'd have to present my organization plan to the leadership team. I'd have to get up in front of people. And though people would look at me automatically and assume because of my outgoing personality that I'd be great in front of people, and I was doing those shows and whatnot, I was freaked out when it came to public speaking. You know, I was one of those people that would sit in a room and or in a conference or in a boardroom, and if I had to raise my hand and/or they were coming around asking, you know, everybody for their input, I'd be sitting there, my hands sweating, my throat drying up, feeling as if my face was beet red. No one would believe any of that when I would tell them, yet that was reality and that was what was going on. And it did feel kind of disconnected to who I was, but yet I really didn't know who I was at the time. So I thought it would be great to take a stand-up comedy class as a way of breaking down those fears and those barriers. Now I could have taken a public speaking class. I could have taken Toastmasters. I could have taken a number of other things, but I found that stand-up comedy— I was looking for storytelling. I was looking for ways to be funny and to tell jokes in my speeches as a way of just kind of breaking down walls and whatnot. So the benefits, to answer your question, the benefit professionally I found in taking these type of classes, even this improv class which I'll get to in a second, was certainly beneficial in that it did break down my fear of getting up in front of a room full of people, let alone a theater full of people. And it was only an 8-minute skit, gig, whatever they might call it, but 8 minutes is an eternity if it's something that you feel you're fearful of. I also found the benefit of professionally was the fact that 9.9% of the people in my company would not do and not take that risk that I was taking, and was actually stunned and very impressed. So it also helped my personal brand, let's call it, that I was doing something like that professionally. It helped me creatively. It helped me realize that there is a lot of humor and humanity in the simplest elements of our lives. You know, many of us don't think we have a story to tell, let alone making it funny and making it engaging. And I learned in that first class in 2003 that, you know, the simplest thing— you know, my whole skit was around being one of 12, you know, being double the Brady Bunch, and then I talked about my online dating experience, which if you think about 2003, archaic. You know, Match.com was certainly out, but it was very archaic, and therefore I shared, you know, stories about that experience. So there's a lot of benefit, you know, in regards to that type of creative class. It did help from a public speaking perspective. It did help me frame my thoughts. So you come up with an outline. You come up with talking points within that outline, let alone then getting up in the class. It involved each week you would work on your script, and each week you would get up in front of a video camera and your class to perform it and to get feedback. So professionally, it also helped with not only the performance, not only the public speaking, not only the outlining and the scripting. It also helped with getting in front of a camera, so to speak. But more importantly, I found the benefit to be that it required you to listen to feedback—good, bad, and indifferent. So it also helped to really be okay and to take in and to assess and to keep and yet throw away feedback from members of your class. And that I definitely immediately saw a benefit when I went back into the, you know, into the team, into the company, into a boardroom when it came to receiving any type of feedback from clients, from team members, from managers, from performance reviews, whatever the case might be. I didn't find myself as defensive as I had before I was taking this this class that required very blunt and sometimes brutal feedback regarding, you know, your skit, your dialogue, and your performance. And so that was— that lent itself greatly in 2003. As I, you know, moved forward and moved into this improv class, I would say from a business perspective, I was looking for help in my writing. What I mean by that, I was looking for help to create characters and really figure out how to make a very powerful, entertaining, engaging, funny, and yet sometimes Oscar, because that's one of the games in improv, type of character. So that's why I took the improv class. Now I will say that it did not necessarily help with building a character. So I'll be looking for other classes to take. I might even go back to stand-up comedy again to figure that out. But to answer the long way around this question around the benefits is depending upon what it is that you're looking for. If you're looking to improve your creativity and to kind of break through your analytical mind and get out of your comfort zone and to consider, you know, even engaging and collaborating and trusting others within your team, and you want to find ways to do that, to kind of break down your walls, your barriers, your insecurities, whatever the case might be, then things that are teaming in a creative space like improv versus stand-up. Stand-up is you're alone. Yes, you're working and presenting your skit to a room full of people and they're giving you feedback, but you're pretty much working on your own. Whereas improv or an acting class, you're certainly having to engage with other people. So there's a lot of benefits from it professionally. And then personally, quite honestly, I have to say that personally it really helps any of these creative classes, you have to let go of your vanity. You have to let go of your pride. You even have to break through your fear, whatever that might be. You have to let go of your ego, especially where improv is concerned, because you're going to make an ass of yourself. And I won't get into— and I'll share with you if you're interested. I could share some of the clips from our graduation showcase. Trust me when I say my ego had to go right out the door or the window during one of those skits because I made a complete ass of myself, but I didn't care. It was fun and the audience had fun. That's all that matters. So doing something like a creative class, whatever that might be, can definitely help you professionally and personally. And just consider what it is that you are looking to do and why it is that you want to do it, and then find that best platform to do it. And recognize too, one may not work and one will work really well, and you might have to just kind of go through those experiences, even spend that money. But trust me when I say you will get some benefit out of doing any of it. Just because it will open up your mind and your creative juices, and it will break down walls, and it will just stretch yourself, whether you're 20 years old or you're 90 years old. It's just— and it's just a lot of fun. It's just a lot of fun. So, that was our first question, which I thought was going to be a lot shorter to answer. Okay, so I'm going to move on before we take a break. I'll get in this next question. Question because I'm going to keep it simple. This question about diversity and inclusion, it's either about to have to be kept really simple or it would take up a whole program. All right, so I'm going to keep it really, really simple. And I actually had a very in-depth conversation with this individual who asked me this question anyway because they wanted some immediate approaches to take back to their workplace. So, but I thought it would be interesting and needed for all of you to really understand it, just in case there's this type of confusion on your part or anyone within your, your team, your company, your business that you're working in when it comes to diversity and inclusion. So their question to me was, what's the difference? Because it appears that my manager is confusing it confusing the two things and therefore just creating all type of chaos, which is probably, you know, too dramatic of a word, but it's creating upheaval and confusion within the company. So what is the difference between diversity and inclusion? Very simply, it's this. Okay, let's— because you probably see it, D&I, right? D&I, D&I, D&I, big, big, big, you know, strategy. Big initiative, big imperatives within business today. Diversity inclusion. So as simple as I can make it is this: separate the two. They are two separate things, and yet some people confuse the two. Diversity. Diversity is about bringing together all the different races and obviously genders. But even gender has moved beyond male and female. So you have to consider all of that. So it's gender, it's race, it's religion, it's sexual orientation, it's background, it's demographic region of where you come from, you know, it's culture, it's income, you know, there's socioeconomic status. Levels. It's basically all the different traits and qualities that make up an individual. That's diversity, and it's ensuring that you have all of those differences on your team, within your company, within your community, because they all bring different perspectives. They all bring different views of the world, beliefs of the world, experiences, expertise, knowledge, opinions, you know, just— and without all of those, then you're kind of isolating and insulating yourself. So I am going to divert for a minute because I thought this was interesting, and it's it ties into this diversity piece of this. An example of the lack of diversity is this. I was reading an article my sisters, two sisters posted on Facebook. It happens to be an article that my niece's best friend wrote about my hometown, which is Havertown, Pennsylvania. And growing up, I never thought about it, although I did realize growing up that there was one Black family within our community within Havertown. Excuse me. Mark Johnson. He moved in in my fourth grade, when I was in fourth grade, and I fell in love with Mark Johnson. I was like— and my father was like, no, no, no, no. I'm like, yes, yes, yes, yes. But I was in fourth grade, you know. So, but this article touched on the fact that Havertown— they were talking about the fact that Havertown has remained this little kind of— it's not country because it's right outside Philadelphia. But this kind of insulated old town that has not changed from the '40s to the '50s to the '70s, let alone to 2020, and they don't estimate it changing greatly in the future, though it is getting more diverse. Now, it is still, from what they read, what I read, it's still 85+ percent white. Which is a problem. Yet they are, between the businesses, the restaurants, the bars, the social recreational centers that are being built, they're creating more diversity there. But I thought to myself, geez, it's so true. I didn't grow up in a very diverse area. So now I'm loving the fact that I'm in Atlanta because it's polar opposite. That's diversity. All right. Now inclusion means that you're actually involving all of those people into a conversation, into a collaboration, into a problem-solving situation, into a strategy building you know, opportunity. It's making sure that you have all of those voices, all those different opinions, different beliefs, different views being heard. So inclusion is about being heard, being contributing, and being involved in a situation. So, so why is there confusion? Well, because What managers will often do, and I won't call them the leaders because leaders know the difference and know how to operate and implement the difference. So what managers will do is they'll think that having all of that diversity at a table takes care of both diversity and inclusion. And yet when people start talking, when people start making decisions, when people start solving problems, when people start getting promoted, when people start, you know, initiating new projects, those diverse voices aren't being heard, aren't being asked to be included, aren't being— you know, they're shutting them down, they're ignoring them. And women, you know, the simplest way to illustrate diversity versus inclusion is the fact that from a diversity perspective, male/female, right? Have men and women at the table. The difference and the issue is the fact that then the men, you know, shut down the women, ignore the women, let the women talk but then they don't consider their opinion or their idea and they attribute it or acknowledge a male for that. That is lack of inclusion, though the diversity was there at the table. All right? That's as kind of as plain and simple as I can make it without going too far into it. So hopefully that helps and clarifies a piece of that discussion. And for more of it, you can just Google it. And I have a number of pieces within volafireconsulting.com regarding diversity inclusion should you want to look into it. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. When we get back, we're going to dive into our next couple of questions, which is the impact of your presence online— good, bad, or indifferent— and then we're going to talk about freelancing and how to go about doing it. Should you consider wanting to be a freelancer? We'll be right back.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business, available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors, North Georgia Tax Solutions, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate size clients. Go to NGTaxSolutions.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and social media support for small to medium size businesses. Email deborahparker at deborahparker.va@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at media-relations@sheddingthebitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Welcome back everyone. This is our Ask Me Anything, or Ask Bernadette episode, where I take your questions, stories, and challenges and provide you some tips, advice, and sometimes, just sometimes, some tough love. And you can always pose your question, story, or challenge out on our Facebook or Twitter Shedding the Bitch pages. You can send me an email at BernadetteBoas@sheddingthebitch.com. Majority of you, like this next question, reach out to me on LinkedIn. Go to my profile page, connect with me, be sure to connect with me, say hi, and then they'll pose a question to me through my LinkedIn profile. So this question did, it came through LinkedIn, and the reason why was because there was this, and it does stun me, so when this person asked, I kind of really had a fun time talking with this person about it. But so it came as a result of a political post. Why people do this, I do not know. But it came from a political post that was put on LinkedIn. Now let me just divert for a second and just say to all of you professionals out there, you should be smarter than that. You don't at work, I don't care if it's at work in a room, literally in a room, if it's in your home office, or if it's online, especially in a place like LinkedIn, which is a work professional platform. There's two things you don't talk, or maybe three, politics, religion, and sex. They just don't belong in the workplace. Those views should be kept— your personal views on all of that should be kept personal. And so it'll just land up getting you in trouble, as it did this— well, not this individual, but I'm sure it did to the people that responded to this post. So it was a political post, and unfortunately today there's no such thing as partisan, so it was definitely posted in a way that pitted one platform over another. And I won't even get into which one over the other. A party, not platform. Party over another. And so the hate, the hate posts began. And it just stuns me because, and I even sat there and watched it, and actually there was a number of posts, but I'm pointing out this one. It stuns me that these professional people would do this and put this hate speech out on any platform, let alone LinkedIn, because everyone is watching. So this person jumps in, and I happen to make a comment to, you know, to that point. I kind of made a comment simply stating You know, do you not understand that, you know, your hate speech is being viewed by employers and recruiters and peers and so forth and so on, and it's extremely inappropriate? And after our conversation last week, trust me when I say I made sure it didn't include, and I wasn't playing part at all in hate speech. So this individual reached out to me and she asked, well, she kind of commented in a very kind of flabbergasted way, "How is it," I'm going to read it, "how is it people using social media don't realize who is watching, when and where they are watching?" You know, is it, you know, am I, no, she goes on to say, "Am I wrong? Is it all, is all of it considered?" Is there ever a place where it is safe from not being used against you? Now I thought it was interesting the way she posed that question, and so I reached out to her and we were having this very lively conversation back and forth because I thought it was interesting. Is there a place where it's safe? If you have to ask that, then— and she did not intend it to be asked that way, but I used it with her and I'll use it with you to point out why words matter. Because if you have to even question if there's a safe place, then you're looking to do something that you should not be doing. To verbalize on writing or, you know, or by, you know, voice something you should not be. Something that can be just thrown away and not even considered, you know, in part of the part of the conversation because it's just going to get you into trouble. So, you know, we went on to say, and I, as I said to the person that, you know, the number of people that were posting these hate comments back and forth, it, you know, I can't put it, is there a safe place? There is no place where it's appropriate because your future employer, your your current employer, your friends, your family, your peers, your recruiters, your executive search, you know, your clients, your vendors, anybody and everybody is finding this information. They might not go directly to that post because that's what she challenged me back on. Well, you know, amongst all the posts that come through LinkedIn, maybe they don't see this one. Put it to you this way. I received a call, actually a text. I first received a text from somebody who reached out to me. This was only about a week ago. Who reached out saying, hey, we met back in like 2009, 2010 at a networking event, and I'm, you know, I've kind of dropped off the grid and I'm looking to kind of reengage, and I came across your information and I would love to catch up, learn what you're doing, and see if you can help me. So that's a story in itself, but I immediately went online to illustrate why, you know, there's so-called no safe space. So I immediately went online to find this person, to see if I could recollect who this person is. And the texts were getting very, very cryptic, and I couldn't figure out what in the world was going on. So I said, well, I'll go online and find out who this person is. I couldn't find anything, not a drop on this person. Now that's an extreme to then doing a search on somebody else that had been reaching out to me and I was doing some homework on, and was able to find anything and everything I needed to find out about that. And all of it was good. There was, you know, nothing there. But my point is it didn't matter if someone brushed over that one post where all these people were throwing hate, because all you have to do is Google that person. If you Googled me, you're going to find anything and everything that I'm involved in. And no, you may not find a specific post in LinkedIn, but you will find my LinkedIn profile. Of which then you're going to click in and want to learn more about me. And then you can even go into activity, which I do for people. I'll go into their activity, which will show me their posts and their groups that they're involved in. So I'm able— I'm going to be able to get down to that post and/or posts where you or someone is spewing hate. Even me, after that conversation with Deborah last week, And I won't get into all of it, but someone will eventually be able to find what it is that you are saying and how you are saying it online, what it is you are posting from a photo perspective, what it is you are sharing in a video. So if you are looking for a job, if you want to be considered an expert or influencer, if you are looking for new clients, If you're looking for, you know, mentors or people to sponsor you or advocate for you, if you're looking for a relationship, it doesn't matter. People are doing homework and they're researching, and it's a beautiful thing nowadays, quite honestly, about, you know, being online, so to speak, is if you are about to go out on a date, if you are about to go and and take on a new job, take on a new manager, take on a new client, find a new vendor, you can do your homework and research them in great, great detail. And there's great benefits to that. But the downside is there is no safe place if you are looking to spew hate or crudeness or anything apart from being kind, being considerate, certainly voicing your opinion, debating people, but doing it in a mature, adult-appropriate manner. This also touches on— and I'm only going to mention it quickly because this individual asked me about it— it goes back to personal brand, and we've had conversations about personal brand. And actually, that touches on and floats into our next question regarding being a freelancer. So think about it as we get into that question, because your online presence is your personal brand, whether it is at home, in the community, or at work, or in your own business, or in this case, as we move into our next question, you're looking to become a freelancer Everything about you online as well as in person, on a phone call, in a text message, in an email, all makes up personal brand. So I got into that, and I won't get into it really deep here, but I've gotten into that conversation with Lisa when she was asking about this online social media presence and the impact of kind of hate speech when it comes to that. So, with all of that in mind, we'll move on to our fourth question. We're not even going to take a break because I want to make sure we can get into it in great detail. So, the question was, I've considered doing freelance work on the side of my full-time job. I want to save for a new house. What do I need to know about it?

This is a great question.

It's a great question because nowadays, and even Deborah mentioned something before we jumped on the call, I showed her a photo of 5 dogs that are in my house at the moment, and 4 of them are not mine. And she kind of assumed that, you know, I just watch them out of the kindness of my heart, which I do because I absolutely adore these dogs. But I do also get paid for it on occasion. So she's like, well, you should do it as a side hustle. Now I know that that is— that, you know, helpful side hustle is a term at 57, you know, it's probably 20 years beyond, beyond where that side hustle crowd lives. In their 20s and their 30s. But it goes to freelance. It goes to the whole subject of being a freelancer. So I thought this was a great question that we happen to be talking about today. So what can you do if you are in a position where you want to side hustle or you want to become a freelancer? What are some steps? What are the things that you need to consider when doing that? The first thing I'll start off with when it came to this question that she posed to me was she has a goal, and that'll be one of them. Like, have a goal why you're doing it. And in this case, she wants to save for a new house. I would do something, a side hustle, so to speak, be outside of a full-time job if I wanted to do refurbishments in my house, buy a new car, take trips. You know, come up with a goal, and that would be your number one thing that you would want to consider is the why. Why would you want to be a freelancer? Now, the other key thing that she mentions in her question that you need to consider and that I would advocate that you think very hard about is the fact that she wants to do this on the side of her full-time job. Because, again, she's looking to save money for a house. But there are some people who are looking to do it as a full-time, become full-time freelancers. And the first thing I would tell you is do it while you still have your full-time job because too many people think, oh, freelance work, you know, freelancing is very hot right now, and it will always be very hot. And there's a number of reasons— hold on a minute, I'm going to scribble something. And there is a number of reasons why, and I will actually just spend a minute or two on that. But my first piece of advice for you is whether you want to do it as a side hustle, be a freelancer, or you want to take it from your full-time job to be a full-time freelancer, start doing it while you have your full-time job. Work out all the kinks, work out all the elements that you need in order to become a successful, productive freelancer. Do it while you have stability in your salary. It's just like, you know, starting a business. I would always tell my clients, start a business, a new business, while you have your full-time job. You know, it's also why some people always tell people look for a new job while you have a full-time job. It just gives you a lot more stability, and it gives you a lot more security as you're figuring it out. Because trust me when I say, it is not as easy and not as cheap— whether that's cheap on your money, cheap on your time, cheap on your sanity— as people will make you make it out to be. You know, you can look online, you can go to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and you can see these ads about how easy it is to become a business owner, how easy it is to become a freelancer, or how you can be doing it and successful in the next 30 days, whatever the case might be. Trust me when I say it is not that easy. So, so what do you need to know about it? First, apart from keeping your job while you want to start doing freelancing. Why would even people hire freelancers? Why is freelancing, you know, hot right now and will remain hot and will continue to grow and become important and will become a natural part of doing business? It's because of the fact that businesses, small and large, need a lot of nimbleness. They need a lot of flexibility. They need a lot of mobility in their workforce. So if they're— for instance, if they are creating a new product and they need a certain skill set to create that product, but once the product is created, they no longer need that individual, then they're not looking to hire someone full-time. Because that is very costly. It's harder to transition. There's a number of factors for it. So they'd rather hire somebody short-term that they can— that they're not on their books, so to speak. So they're 1099s, and they have a lot of flexibility of moving them in and out. And whether that's one person or teams of people, businesses are finding there to be a lot more nimbleness in their business by hiring freelancers versus permanent full-time employees. The costs are different. Some people might say, well, actually it costs more. My hourly rate as a freelancer is a lot higher than it is if I worked for a company. Well, to you it is, but you're also having to pay now your own health insurance, your own expenses, so forth and so on. And for a company, they save a lot of money on onboarding, on training, on personal development and growth, on your salary, on your healthcare, on your payroll taxes, so forth and so on. So don't be fooled that, you know, you might be charging $100 as a freelancer, only getting paid in a company, in a business, as a W-2, $50. Trust me. Companies are smart. They know that they're saving money by hiring freelancers. You're not getting the better of them. And yet at the same time, they are also paying a lot of money for freelance/consultants that are temporary, and they're okay in doing that because they save money elsewhere. So, in some cases, you know, you are getting paid more than you would if you worked for the company. But again, they're smart. They know that they're eventually saving the money and the bottom line as a result of it. Also, the training costs can be exuberant for companies, and if they don't have to train you because you're coming in with the expertise that they're looking for, then, you know, they're saving all of that money. A lot of reasons for companies to be hiring freelancers, therefore there's could be a great reason for you to become a freelancer. But again, keep your day job until you figure it all out, because what you need to be looking at is the why. We talked about that. Why would you want to be a freelancer? What is that goal? So you want almost a personal plan. You want to establish a personal plan, which means it's kind of a personal personal/business plan. What is it that you're going to be doing? You know, we have the why. Who needs it? So, who's your target client? Who has a business problem that needs your skill set? You need to look at the industry itself. You need to look at the competition. You need to look at your business model. How are you going to go about marketing, selling, pitching a client, onboarding a client, negotiating with a client. You know, you're operating, even as a freelancer, you're operating a small business, and you need to treat it as such. Now, there's very simplified ways. Say you're a certain program developer, and you could probably find these freelance side hustle sites, websites, that you can, you know, even Fiverr or Upwork where I hire people, you know, you just throw up a profile and you can just start getting gigs, so to speak. But it's never that easy. It's never that easy. There's a lot of backend that you need to be thinking and putting in place because you have taxes to pay. You have, you know, you have a business to operate, whether it's a side hustle, freelance work, consultant, or a full-blown small business. So you need to get all of those things in place, and you need to know where are you going to be able to put your expertise, and what does that look like, and, you know, who specifically are those people. Now, where most people from a whether it's freelance or running their own business, where they struggle the most is in their pricing and their business model. Really understanding, can I make money at this? Is my, you know, the money's coming in going to create a profit than the money I'm going to be putting out to render this service? So you really need to understand your pricing model, and trust me when I say, even the most expert, experienced, senior type of people struggle with valuing their services and their products, meaning they undervalue, they don't ask for what they really deserve or should be earning for a lot of insecurities, bitches, whatever we want to call them, that come up for them. So, you really need to get a handle on your pricing model and you need to decide. Am I going to do free work as well as fee work, or am I not? So, why would you do free work? Well, free work, when you're starting off, can give you, you know, client referrals, could give you connections, could give you logos to put on your portfolio so then you get hired for money from somebody else. So, there's a lot of moving parts to consider, and it's not very different than you starting your own business when it comes to freelancing. And then what you want to do is you want to tell everybody that you're freelancing. You want to tell everybody that you're looking for extra work in this area of this specific skill set of which you have this value and this expertise and this experience and this background in order to support them. So you need to be able to feel comfortable pitching yourself. You need to be a PR whore, I call myself. You need to be comfortable with honoring your riches. To the people that could be hiring you. So you can't be afraid of pitching and, you know, kind of beating your own horn because you need to in a certain way. You need to in order to find that business. And if you are smart, you'll seek out mentors, advisors, and even coaches, whether you pay for them or you just engage them. In order to help you avoid mistakes, think outside the box, be a sounding board, whatever the case might be. Freelancing is a great opportunity for many people, especially when you do have a sound goal in mind. You just need to do it smart. All right? So, on that note, I look forward to— I appreciate you being here, but I'll look forward to having you right back here next Tuesday at noon Eastern time. We're going to be talking about authentic voice, and there's a reason for that. Stay tuned, I'll let you know what that is. Anyway, for everybody here in the Shed in the Bitch community, have a rich, prosperous week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday. Take care, everybody. Thank you for listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. Join Bernadette every Tuesday at noon Eastern as she helps you shift your bitches to riches. And the dialogue is always going on at sheddingthebitch.com. See you next week.