Show Up, Sell Less: How Consistency Builds a Loyal Buying Audience with Brooke Riley

If you've ever felt stuck trying to get seen or unsure how to actually connect with your people in real lasting ways, this conversation is gonna be gold. I have a special guest today, Brooke Riley, and she opens up about what worked when she was just starting out, how she keeps her audience engaged long-term, and the biggest mistake that she sees newer business owners making when it comes to growing online. Whether you're just launching or you're deep in the trenches of scaling, this episode is packed with real talk tactical advice, and a whole lot of inspiration. Come join us. Welcome back to the Launch Your Box podcast. I'm super excited today because I have my friend Brooke Riley here today and we're going to talk about just being social. We're going to talk about building these social platforms. We're going to talk about what it's like to be an influencer. And if you haven't, you know, figured it out, you are an influencer too, whether you have a small audience or a big audience. I want her to share her story with you guys today. She's built an incredible audience multiple times. And so we're going to dig into that today, and I hope it inspires you to keep showing up. So Brooke, welcome to the Laundry Box Podcast.

Thank you, Sarah.

If anybody doesn't know you, and I kind of find that hard to believe sometimes because you have a huge following, talk to— tell them a little bit about what you do, and we're going to jump into that. Okay.

Well, hi everybody. I'm Brooke Riley. I own Refabbed and the Refab Boutique, and I've known Sarah for several years. I'm super excited to be here with you today. Hope we can bring lots of value and help you understand the importance of social media and even more so just the importance of consistently showing up no matter how big your audience is, because it'll make a huge impact in your business. But I started Refabbed 10 years ago. Refabbed is a DIY decorating platform. It just started as a blog, as a website where I shared DIY and decorating ideas. And I started on Facebook the day that I started my blog, refab.com. That's my blog. And I just shared, you know, home renovation stuff, furniture flips, all that kind of stuff, and tried to create stories along with that. Because basically, A story sells, which we can definitely get to later. But I tried to just merge all that together and then I started sharing it on social, had zero followers on anything. We're just starting from scratch there from the ground up. And I just started showing up very consistently on my Facebook page posting. Facebook Live videos were not a thing 10 years ago, so I was consistently just showing up with my content. About 2 or 3 years in, I think it was about 2 and a half years in, Facebook Live became a thing and I decided to start showing up on Facebook Live. And so that's where it kind of weaves into when the boutique got started. So I just want to share it in this direction.

Let me pause you there because I want them to understand like the what and the why. So you started the Refab Blog and that was your goal. You were going to be a blogger. You were making money off of hits from your blog and you were very very successful at it. And then you started the Facebook page to send people over to the blog, right? To get exposure for the blog.

Is that correct? Let me explain that a little bit more. So sometimes I can forget that not everybody knows how it's all connected, how it makes money, how it influences each other. So when I started the blog, you don't have website visitors naturally, okay? You don't. You have to send people to your website. They don't just know you're hanging out there on the interwebs, you know. And so I had no way to do that. I had no influence anywhere unless I was telling you like, Sarah, I just wrote a new blog post, go check it out. And then I get one blog view from you. Yeah.

And that's the same with sales too.

Exactly.

We build a website with our products, but nobody knows. Nobody's out there looking for us.

Nobody knows we're there. Yes. So I started the Facebook page on the same day because I was trying to grow the two together so that I could grow an audience on Facebook to send people. The whole point was to send people to my website because that's how I made money. That's how I was going to make money. I was making zero at first, obviously. And so as my page grew and I started sending people to my blog, it started growing and they were kind of going, you know, hand in hand. And then I saw the value when Facebook Lives started becoming a thing. I was like, you know what, It's great to have all this written content and have links and send them there. But what if I could have even more of a personal relationship with this audience that I was starting to grow? Because it was taking off. It was slow. I'm not gonna act like bam, I just hit it big like immediately. It was slow and consistent and steady. So I started going live and I was like, what can I go live about? Well, whatever. People just want to connect. I already knew that even before I started, but I was a nervous wreck. I want to make that very clear because I already know the hesitancies of some of the people watching will be like, well, I'm not doing that. She lost me there when she started talking about video. I don't want to go live. But what you have to understand in what we're going to talk about a lot today is, first of all, you got to do hard things. You got to do it scared. You got to get over it. It doesn't matter how scared you are. I don't mean to sound whatever kind of way, but it gets easier each time. And so I was very scared, but I knew that there was something about this that could really impact my business and help me make a difference and help me connect in a way that I wasn't able to connect through written form where they didn't see my face. So I started making bows and doing random stuff, whatever it is I thought I could do on a live video that would kind of bring my audience in. I started doing that, got easier and easier, and my audience just started growing and the engagement was going through the roof and people were connecting in real ways and they were starting to feel like they knew me and I was starting to feel like I knew them. I was noticing their name. I'd be like, Sarah, it's good to have you back, you know? And people were starting to recognize me in town and I'm like feeling like a rock star. Not really. I was actually— that was really awkward because I'm an introvert. But I was like, okay, there's something to this. Like, this is a really cool thing and this can be really leveraged. And I will tell you, like I said, the whole point was the blog, driving traffic to the blog. So what I saw as I was growing that audience in my live video, even though I wasn't sending them to a blog through my live video, I was just connecting. What was happening was they were starting to read into more about who I am, starting to get to know me better, starting to understand that I had a business. And then they were engaging so much with me that it became a personal relationship. And when I would post about my blog, they were so engaged with my page, they saw the content because the algorithm was pushing it to them. Next thing I know, my blog views are just skyrocketing and my money was going higher. And I'm like, yes, that's what I'm talking about. So I'm doing this, you know, not the only reason, but like I saw both of them hand in hand.

You needed it.

I needed that. And you need that. Like, that is— it is so important. I hear people all the time say, but I don't, I don't have to show up on social to make sales, or I don't have to do that. And I'm— I just don't really agree with that. Like, that is where you are making those relationships and those connections. And as we all know, people buy from those they know, like, and trust. And that's how you're building that up the most. With them is through your social channels. We're a social world.

I want to deconstruct this for my product audience here because it— what you just said was so powerful because you weren't showing up selling anything. You were showing up serving them, showing them how to make a bow, showing them a special paint finish, showing them a project, a craft project. You were just showing up and connecting with them, and I think we missed that point when we're so product-based business focused. And so for my audience here that's building their subscription box business, how can you just show up and be you? How can you attract the audience that would buy the subscription box without selling all the time?

Yes.

And that's exactly what Brooke did. She just built an audience to hang out with her, and that in turn changed into the you know, the views on her blog, which was monetized, and that's how she was making money at that time. Then what happens next, Brooke? Because this is, this is pretty incredible. As you're showing up, you're writing the blogs and you were writing what, 2 a week or 1 a week?

Probably 2, a couple a week, nothing extraordinary, but enough to stay really consistent and get really good page views that made enough money to keep going for sure.

Writing, you're writing the blogs, which takes a lot of images and pictures. And in the meantime, you're showing up on social media regularly, and you're doing projects around the house, you're showing them DIY stuff, you're just hanging out and chatting with you. And then what starts to happen?

So what starts to happen in the meantime, as I'm showing up with no intentions of anything except just to show up and be like, hey, this is what I'm up to today. People started asking questions. Where did you get those earrings? Where did you get that shirt? Where did you get that necklace? They started asking all these questions about me and what I was wearing and how I was showing up, like, physically. And I'm like, I got it. So-and-so, so-and-so. I didn't have anywhere to push them. I could throw them an affiliate link and get a couple percent, and I would do that when I could, if I could give them something. But I was like, they really care about this stuff. They're asking me a lot of questions about this, and they genuinely wanted what I had on. So I was listening to them, and I was hearing this for month after month, and I was like, I need to provide a product. Like, I need to start something. I had no intention of starting a store. I had no— that was not like my goal, but you listen to your audience too, and you know what they're asking for and you know that next step. And it was like very, very clear that like, I want to provide what they're asking for along with— I'm not changing directions, I'm adding to what I'm already doing. My home base was still my blog, my website, but I decided to start an online boutique and to be able to wear my own things. If they ask, where'd you get this shirt, Brooke? Well, here, let me tell you, it came from the Refab Boutique, and here's a link to that. And by the way, everything I have on is from the Refab Boutique, just shameless plug.

And, um, so, you know, I'm gonna need those, I'm gonna need those earrings, by the way.

Seriously. So, um, you know, I started that, and, you know, that's a process and all the things, but that's exactly how it came about, is people asking, not because that was even what I had planned. But they— me showing up and connecting to them, they were connecting to me in other ways too. And it just started opening other doors. And a lot of times that is exactly what's going to happen. And so I started the Refab Boutique. It's been 7 years, so it was 3 years into my journey. So it just turned 7 years old and it's grown into a multimillion-dollar boutique, which I'm proud of. But what I'm proud of more is the community we have over there on that boutique. I've got a community with Refabbed of the DIY decorators. Some of those merged over obviously to the boutique, but then we've grown our own community over there as well, and it is as strong if not even stronger. Those women, they connect to me, they connect to our other live sellers, they connect to the girls, and we have super cute clothes and all the things, But I'm telling you, that's not what's selling. It's their connection with us and our personal relationships and how we show up for them and let them into our lives. Somebody else could buy this shirt a lot of different places, but they're going to buy it from us because they love us and they support us and they know us and they feel connected to us. And we've created that through showing up very, very, very consistently. And not just consistently, but you mentioned this earlier, authentically, totally ourselves. The other day I was live with no makeup on. I don't do that much. I don't prefer to anyway. And I am a business person. I'm gonna show up my best. But I really, I really didn't feel like being live that day. I was tired. I had a lot going on personally. But I love my people and they love me and they wanted to see me. And I thought, you know what, they love me for me. They're going to understand if I'm not wearing makeup today. And I showed up and I still looked nice. I wasn't like— didn't look totally like death warmed over. I fixed my hair and all that. And I showed up and they were like, what we love about you is you're so real.

Like, you—

and they bought just as much clothes. It's not about that. And, you know, and that's the only time I've ever went live on the boutique without makeup. But that just showed like that realness, because people just crave that authenticity. They, they're— I don't know, they're tired of the fake because there's so much fake in this world and everybody's showing up in a way that that's not real. You're going to see them out on the road one day and you'll be like, who was that? They are nothing like what they show up online. But when you can show up as your true authentic self and they feel that, that connection and that relationship is going to be so strong that they're not going to be able to help but show up for you the way you show up for them. It's just reciprocal.

I love that because I think sometimes we get stuck in thinking we have to be perfect and polished and put together and everything has to be set up the way we want it before we can ever push that button to go live. And I think that's what stops people. But if you don't ever do the thing, if you don't ever show up in that way, you're missing a big piece of the puzzle here. And that's building trust with your audience, that's being relatable. And that's something that we have as small business owners that these big brands don't have. You don't, you don't see anybody from, you know, Macy's showing up live and selling you clothes. And that's why we're seeing all these big box retailers kind of going out of business, because they're not influencing their audience. They are selling to their audience. And that's the shift that we have to make. We are influencing our audience. We are being authentic. We are building trust with our audience every single time we show up. That's showing up on a post, that's showing up in a live, that's showing up on a reel, that any way that you can. When we were looking, we had a meeting on Wednesday of this week about kind of our social media goals. And as we're plugging away for the rest of the second half of the year. And what we were seeing, even on like the coaching side of my business, let alone the Framed side of my business, every time there was a personal post, whether that was a static post or a short video, those outperformed anything else. Any nurturing content I was delivering, any selling content I was delivering, that personal issue that I showed up and talked about, or personal win or personal struggle, like it's all those things we have let people see that. And that's how they, that's how they connect with us. And that's how you've built this amazing community. Tell them what your following looks like right now.

Right now on Facebook, there's over 900,000. I haven't looked in a month or two, honestly, but there's over 900,000 followers on Facebook right now on my Refab page, the main DIY decorating. And then on the Refab Boutique, we have close to 300,000 on there. So that's a totally separate page. Then of course, you know, on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, you know, all the other places, and there's several hundred thousand across those. And, and honestly, and this is what's so crazy about that, like I didn't set out planning. I had this goal. I wanted to hit a certain follower count. But it just happened because I really believe it's because of everything you said. I showed up in a real way all the time. I showed up when I didn't feel like it. I showed up sometimes when I was sad and I just shared that with them. You know, I'm going through a struggle right now and here's what that's looking like for me. And I showed up when something hilarious happened and I shared it with them. I'd share. I just showed up, period. And I showed up not selling. Probably 90% of the time I wasn't selling a thing. And then I do believe that that is the key to everything. I've got a subscription box also, by the way. So just to say this, like our boutique, we started our subscription box probably 6 years ago, um, at 5 or 6, I can't even remember. We've got about 1,100 1,200 subscribers right now with that. And so I can also speak to that, like the subscription box itself. You know, we, we push it sometimes, do launches for it and all that stuff. But like what really even just propelled it and helps it grow is just showing up and then having people naturally start asking about what we offer and then us always just keeping it in the forefront. You're not really always having to sell it, but they just want what you offer when you're showing up. It just naturally happens. And if your subscription box is what you're offering, that's what they're going to want because that's a piece of you that helps them feel connected, and it's something that is like a gift to themselves. That's, that's always how we push it. And I know I've heard Sarah say the same thing and several other people. It's like this is a gift to them from them, or you can gift it to somebody else. And we always love for people to do that. That's always amazing when they can to do that, but they buy a subscription box from somebody that they feel connected with. Like, and, and that is literally why you buy from anybody. Yes, sometimes you're going to get on Amazon and buy stuff you don't feel connected to that person because you just need that umbrella phone case that's going to keep your, your phone from, from the sun. I did buy that recently from Amazon.

I'm gonna need a picture of you sitting by the pool with your umbrella phone case.

Okay, I'm gonna need Did you seriously— I said it was a need.

But that's the difference, right, Brooke? Because you'll probably never go back to that exact shop. You bought it because you found it. And but if you were following that shop and you knew the person that was selling that thing, you would more likely go back over and over again. And I think that that's what people get stuck with as far as being seen and being visible, like what actually works. And you've said it, you've said it over and over again. One, being consistent. You showed up all the time when you didn't necessarily want to, and then you showed up and you didn't sell all the time. And I think if you're just showing up and selling all the time, people are going to stop watching. But if they feel connected to the story— I like to tell a story when I— even on like on the framed page, when I go live, there's always something crazy that's happened to me in the week. Like, you know, I got stuck in Mexico overnight this week. So I had to share my story about what happened and what the airline did and how we were like cattle prodded all over the airport and through customs again. And it's just sharing life because life happens. I share when things don't go the way that I think they're going to go. We have kids. We know a lot of our audience are moms. So just sharing like my teenage, my teenager woes of dealing with teenage problems right now or issues like that, like we experience that. And that's how you get seen. And that's how you connect with people. It's not by dancing on TikTok. It's not by doing something gimmicky and going viral. It's by being very consistent and just showing up. And I think that you've done an amazing job with that. And I know that you're also a business coach. And so I want to talk coach to coach with you for just a minute. What mistakes do you see these newer business owners making when it comes to building their audience? Let's talk about that.

It's pretty much across the board what I see the majority of the time. It does not matter the business, by the way. It literally is across the board, any business. It's a couple of things. One of the first things that I notice is kind of— we've already hit on it. They think everything has to be perfect setup. They got to have this perfect lighting. They got to have, uh, their website absolutely meticulous. Everything, all their, you know, everything has to be good before they ever get started. And so what's happening is they're staying in this compulsive learning stage for so long, and they're constantly still, well, I got, I gotta fix that. I gotta make sure that logo's perfect. I gotta do this, I gotta do this. Well, I don't have a tripod yet. I don't have this, I gotta do that before I go live. And here you go, you've went a year of doing nothing but preparing and you've still never made any action. And, and I tell them in my group all the time, like, stop being a compulsive learner. I'm glad you're here learning, but until you're a doer, you're getting nowhere, okay? You can't be— Lainey Wilson, the big theologian, she said you can't be be a doer. I mean, you can't be— don't be a dreamer without being a doer. You can't be a dreamer without being a doer. You can be a dreamer, but it's just going to keep being a dream. Like, you're just going to keep dreaming. And so I'll see people with these great business ideas and, and probably going to be a great business one day if they would ever do the work, but they're preparing. And you can get caught in that. There's a lot of people that are caught in that in the entrepreneurial world because they're so scared to finally make that first step, but you really can't learn and understand what to do until you really get started. And if you could see my first blog that I published, you would understand. Um, I, I didn't understand anything. I want to make this really clear because I do think this is important. I didn't understand anything about websites. I was not technical. I didn't understand what a widget was. I didn't even know how to get the little pin it button on my images so that people could pin it to Pinterest. It took me days to figure that out and work the code. I didn't know what I was doing. I had to stay up all hours of the night figuring all this stuff out. But I went live with my blog, and I'm like, you know what, I gotta put it out there. And as I put it out there and people started seeing it, I just kept tweaking it along the way. I was constantly learning new things and changing it, making it better. And then now it's something I'm really proud of. But for a while, it was just me, one step forward, learning a little bit more and doing that as I went on. If I waited until now, it would never be done because I wouldn't have learned. Like, you learn in the process. So that's one of the biggest key things. Actually, that probably encompasses everything else that I would even say is right there. People are waiting and learning and just constantly filling notebooks up with notes but never taking action and doing what they need to do.

It's the same with their subscription boxes, right? Like, they keep dreaming about it, they keep planning it, but they keep pushing their plans back because something isn't right or they're not ready. You're never—

it's—

I always relate to building a business like motherhood. I don't think you're ever really ready for it. Like, I didn't know what to do with a newborn baby when I had one. I had to figure that out. And, and I think that that's how business is too. Like, it comes and you figure it out. You start your business and you figure it out. And that's exactly what you're saying, is like, if you would have waited till everything was perfect, you would never got those first few followers, you would have never got your first monetization check for a couple bucks, right? Like you would have never gotten there. And that's what we keep doing. We keep spinning in our heads. We keep feeling like we have to do more before we can ever get started. And that subscription box idea has been sitting on your desk for too long and you have to get it out there. And if you've been spinning in your head about social media, you have to love it or you're not going to make it. Like, period. You have to find something you love about social media. And I have just come to really love social media. I love my audience. I love the people that I get to engage with. Do I get weird and negative comments sometimes? Yes. And I just say, bless and release. I'm like, bless them, and I release them from my page by blocking them.

Yeah.

So just bless and release that. And, and so it's just, that's what you have to do, but you have to show up. So I'm going to challenge everybody listening. This is from Brooke and I right now. If you have been holding yourself back, not showing up on social media, not going live, not posting your real self, this is your challenge right now to do it. Let's get a post out there. Let's talk and be vulnerable. Hey, my name is Sarah. I'm the owner behind this business and I've been terrified to show up. I am an introvert. This is uncomfortable for me, but I want you to know who the face is behind this brand. And I guarantee you that will be the most engaged post on your page.

There's no question.

And that's going to give you the courage to start going live. Oh, and by the way, I'm going to do my very first Facebook Live on Thursday. So I would love for you to join me. And then when you go live on Thursday, there is quite— it's quite possible that no one's going to be there. And I need you to push through that. And then I need you to do it the next Thursday and the next Thursday and the next Thursday. And you know what's going to happen? People are are going to start showing up. And it's not going to be your mom and your grandma and your sister. It's going to be people that you don't know. And that's how we build trust. That's how we build consistency. And that's how we finally get seen. You want visibility because you want to sell your stuff. But if you're not doing anything to get visibility, you're going to be paying for it. And I see business owners pay over and over and over again to get visible when they could very easily do it organically. And then once you build organically, your paid efforts go so much further.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, because you've already got that momentum built up organically. So like you said, it just propels it that much more. I mean, almost all of my— and I will say this is 100% the truth— almost all of my followers reach has happened organically. That doesn't mean I haven't boosted some stuff or ran some ads to things, because 100%, I believe in that too. But everything you said, like, it's been just showing up organically. And then sometimes I'll be like, okay, let's propel that even more because that one did so well. And, and, but if I had just done that on its own, it would have had just very minimal reach compared to what you get organically by just showing up. And that is so, so, so true.

Brooke, let's talk about challenges because you and I don't get to this point without having challenges in our business. Talk to me about maybe one of the biggest challenges that you've had along your business journey and how you move through it.

Honestly, right, in 10 years, there's been many challenges along the way. I mean, because you're a business owner, but you're also a wife, a mother, living your day-to-day life, doing all the things like everybody else is. That's not your only hat you're wearing. And so, and as a very driven person, which I know you're the same way, you're very driven, you're ambitious, you've got goals. Like one of my biggest challenges personally has been— I want to word it in a, in a good way. But, you know, honestly, and this is me being very vulnerable, is been battling workaholism. That's, that's the truth. And because I care so much and I love it so much, it is my passion. I am truly walking in my passion and purpose combined, which is the most amazing thing you could possibly do in life is have those two things combined. Like, that is a gift from God and I'm thankful for that. But because of that and that, and that's one of my greatest strengths is that I am so ambitious and I will drive forward and I will be consistent no matter what. But sometimes your greatest strength can also be your biggest weakness. And I've learned that. And I have to find that balance, or I've had to find that balance where I'm like, okay, this is important. I'm going to show up and then do this. But then I'm also going to have to lay it down for my mental health. Yeah. And, and I think that is equally important because for a while my mental health started to really suffer, and I was starting to reach a burnout stage that I never thought I could get to. Because when you love something so much, you're like, I'll never get burned out from this. And it's not because you suddenly stop loving it, it's because your body can't handle it anymore and your mental capacity can't keep up with what you're making it do. And so I reached that a couple years ago where I was just like, okay, I have to prioritize my mental health. And that was something that's been the biggest struggle for me in business. Probably not what you're expecting to hear, but is knowing that as long as my consistent efforts are there, that does not mean I have to work it 24/7. That can still happen within a time frame that I set and allot to my business, which is extremely important to time block and say these are my business hours. But then also when that time is up, my consistent efforts that day will pay off tenfold and I can rest and I can spend time with those I love and not feel like I am— if I'm doing it right during that time and I'm scheduling things out and I've, and I've written things and I've shown up and those replays are still rolling, people are still seeing my posts, I can rest a little bit. I can hire somebody to respond to comments. At night so that I don't have to. I can set those things up and I don't have to be the one to do all that. And once I finally got to that point where I was like, okay, this has to— I have to have boundaries, everything changed and got even better. Because for a while you feel like this is all up to me and it kind of is at the beginning. You've got to put the pedal to the metal and I'm not denying that one bit. Like you've got to be able to grind and hustle. I don't believe in the full hustle culture where you don't ever rest, but I do believe when you are starting something, you— that is your priority and you've got to hustle. But then once you've got that going and you've got consistent routine set up and you are showing up daily in all the ways, whether it's scheduling, whether it's being live, whether it's doing some recorded videos and time blocking and batching and making sure those go out different days, then you can have time for rest and relaxation. And all of that. And that's equally as important because if your mind is not sharp and your mind is not where you need it to be, you can't show up effectively in your business. And I think everybody also needs to really understand that. And that was a struggle that I really dealt with for a lot of years of not having a good balance. But once I got that, everything, even the money, got better. Like, I mean, it really just— it really makes a huge difference when you're mentally sound in your business and you have to prioritize that too.

And there's that— there's that heaviness of guilt. And we kind of had this conversation last week when I was with my mastermind ladies. There's this guilt. And I think you go through these different seasons in your life as a woman, right? There's this season— your kids are younger than mine. So there's this season of my kids are here. Are all the time, um, and they're younger, and I have to be mom more. And then you go, and so there's this mom guilt that, am I working too much? And then, you know, there was— so we start to like take those things off of our plate and think, okay, I'm going to be more present as a mom, I'm going to be more involved, I'm going to do the things, I'm not going to work as much as I have been building my business because now I can relax, I can, I can afford to hire someone now so I don't have to work 24/7. And then you get to these later seasons in life. Like, I've got, you know, a 17 and a 19-year-old, and they're never home. Like, they're never here. And so I was talking with one of my mastermind students, and then we feel guilty because we are working at night, or we are working longer hours, but we don't have anything else to do. So the thing is, like, then there's guilt. Like, it's 8 o'clock at night, and I'm working on something, but what else am I going to be doing? My kids aren't here, and I could be watching Netflix, or I could be building out this awesome new accent, like whatever that is for you. And so you have to remove the guilt because nobody else is putting this guilt on you. You're putting it on yourself. So if the guilt is that I'm working too much and I want more, I feel guilty because I'm not with my kids. Go spend time with your kids, whatever. Like my goal today is to be done working by 2:00 so I can hit the pool. Like that is my goal for today. And I think that there will always be work to do. There will always be nonstop to-do lists in your business and you have to know what needs to be done today and what can be done tomorrow. And you have to have a stopping point no matter what. And if no one's home and you don't have anybody to spend time with, or whatever that case, don't feel guilty about working at 9 o'clock at night. Like, I don't— I remove the guilt from you, whatever it is. We're wives, we're mothers, we're business owners, we're friends, we're daughters, we're sisters. Like, there's so many roles that we have in our life, but you gotta just do you, and you can't worry about out all the external factors because we're never going to be the perfect wife, we're never going to be the perfect mom, we're never going to be the perfect daughter, we're never going to be the perfect business owner, we're never going to be the perfect sibling. But you have to do— remove that guilt from you because we're the only ones that put it on for ourselves.

Yes. And we go through seasons like you said, like when your kids are younger and they need you more in different areas, and then now they're out of the house, you know, mine are are, um, 12 and 13. She'll be 14 soon. And so I'm at a different stage. They've got more going on than ever before.

You're, you're in the Uber mom stage. You have to drive them everywhere.

Prioritize that. And because I want to too.

Yes.

And, um, but the thing is, like, your business, you— there's so many things you can do to stay consistent that is not requiring your physical self every second of that day, that you can set up processes and you start learning that. And, you know, we're not going to talk about that today, but, you know, there's going to be things that help you stay consistent that are not going to require all of your time. And so, like you said, there's seasons and there's times. If you're in launch mode or whatever, you're going to be more invested and you got to— and your family understands and you help them understand, look, Mom's in launch mode right now. I'm getting this subscription box off the ground, trying to get some more members so that I can, you know, benefit their lives with my product. And like, this is my ministry, you know. And like, they start to understand. And they actually— when you bring your family, I think this is a good point— when you bring your family and your kids into your business a little more where they understand what it is you're doing and why this is so important important and how you're impacting lives, not just selling products. They want you to do that. Like, they support you and they cheer you on with that. And they understand those later nights and they understand those longer hours because there's balance there. And they understand your mission and why you're doing this. And it's for a greater cause. And, and that helps, that helps them get alongside of you more for sure.

Yeah, that's the buy-in. We got to give our families the buy-in on what we're doing and why and how it benefits them too. Like, um, I— by doing this, mom gets to stay home. By doing this, I'm eventually going to get, get to quit my 9-to-5 job. By doing this, I get to go to all of your games and all of your concerts and all of the things that you're involved in because I'm not tied to a time clock at a job. And so they have to understand that because they don't. Brooke, let's, let's talk final thoughts. Somebody listening right now, they're thinking, okay, I get it, Sarah and Brooke, I've got to be consistent and I got to get visible. What advice would you give them if they haven't been, but they, they really want to be?

I would just say if you want to— okay, this is exactly what I told my daughter the other day, and it is just the perfect example for right now. I said, if you tell me you want to be better at basketball, but I never see you out there dribbling, shooting around, doing anything to prove that you are trying to get better, then these are just words that you don't mean. Like you want to be good, but you don't want to do the work to do it. So if you're going to tell me you want to be good at basketball, I need to see you out there shooting free throws. I need to see you walking up and down the driveway dribbling. Like that proves that you're putting in the work to try to be good at basketball. If you tell me I want to sell my subscription box, I want to get it out there into the world, I want to do this, then there has to be something you're doing to show that that really is what you want. Or that's just words. And why are you wasting your time or anybody else's time by continuing to talk about it if you're not going to put in the effort to actually make it happen? And I know I'm not a sugarcoater, which I know Sarah is not either. But like, the thing is, you either want it or you don't. If you do want it, then today's the day. I mean, why wait till tomorrow what you can do today? Make a point today to say, I'm going to do just like Sarah said earlier. I'm going to introduce myself face to face to the camera, to my people and say, hey, I'm Brooke. I'm nervous to be here. This is probably going to be a really awkward live, but I'm showing up because I just want you to see who I am and what I'm about. I love Little Debbie cakes. I drank too much Mountain Dew. I, you know, whatever. Like, tell about yourself. Tell the funny stuff. Tell the weird stuff. That's what they care about anyway. Um, and it can be 5 minutes. Like, it's not the set amount of time you have to be live. You don't have to have a ring light. You don't have to have a tripod. And I never had a ring light. I want to say this because literally it is about getting started where you're at. You either want it or you don't, plain and simple. I had a box of pens. It's like a little— it was like this little galvanized box full of pens. I would sit my phone in the middle of it, okay, hoping it didn't fall out, and it did almost every live. And I would sit it in there, and I didn't have a ring light. I was in a single-wide mobile home while we were building our house for 3 years. I had fluorescent lighting in my kitchen and a little tiny window that was janky and terrible lighting. And I'd be like, hey, it's Brooke, I'm gonna make a bow today, you know, and all this. And I would just start doing it, and then all of a sudden it would go like— and I'm like, oh, I lost you, my phone fell, hold on. And I'm going like this. And that was my first several lives. Yeah, that is where I grew to 500,000 followers while I was still in that setup. No ring light, no tripod. I could have bought a tripod. I don't know why I never bought a tripod, but I never did. I don't even know why. But I was doing it. I was showing up. And so there really are no excuses. I'm not one that likes to listen to excuses. It's like you either want it or you don't. You know, if Eden doesn't do any better at her next basketball game, I'm gonna be like, I'm sorry. I mean, you know, you had a week to be out there practicing your shooting or to, you know, dribble a ball, but you chose other things instead. Because the thing is, you're choosing something over that. Whatever it is. You're maybe choosing to keep learning, you're choosing to do whatever, but that time could be spent actively doing the work and showing up. And after that first time you show up, you're gonna have this— it's gonna be a little scary, there's no question. I'm not gonna try to act like it's going to be easy at first, but then you'll be like, I really like that, I want to do that again. and then maybe you show up a little bit longer or you come up with a different topic or whatever, and it just slowly starts. And then the next thing you know, it's like second nature just to pop on and hit that live and then just start talking. And, and you're gonna see— I just, there is no doubt. I tell people this all the time in my coaching group. If you would just do what we're saying to do, you will see the results.

You will.

You're still sitting there doing nothing and thinking you're gonna see the results. That is not gonna happen. You know, they're not gonna find you randomly. You have to put yourself out there and be found and let yourself connect to people. And, and you don't have to be an extrovert to do that. Me and Sarah are both introverts.

Very, very introvert. I'm not very much introverted. Like, if you knew us outside of this, um, social media that we are currently on, um, you would know that we are very reclusive. We are very much homebodies. We are very much— we want peace and quiet and to ourselves, unlike some of our friends who are very—

I'm a lot of friends. That is not me.

We are the ones going to bed at 9:30. We don't want to go out and hang out. We will not go to a busy restaurant with like 20 people. That sounds awful to us. No, we will talk to you in small groups till we fall asleep, but we are not doing the extroverted things. And that's okay because you don't— you sit like right now, we're both sitting in our offices by ourselves talking one-on-one to each other. And I want you to think about that's how you're going to go live. You're by yourself in your comfortable place. And I always like to sit down when I'm live because it makes me feel rested. Like, I feel antsy if I'm standing up. And so, and I can I just go live? This is your time to take action. Stop talking about it if there's no action behind it. And Brooke, thank you so much for showing up for me today and doing this podcast, because I think it's going to be very powerful for our listeners. Maybe ones that have built a box and just haven't been consistent, you can be more consistent. Or those still thinking about it, stop thinking about it and start doing it. Stop giving yourself an excuse of why you can't do this, because you're really consistent at a lot of other things in your life, but you're choosing not to be consistent with this. You can get visible, you can grow an audience that is going to buy from you over and over and over again. Brooke, absolutely, where can they find you?

You can find me on Facebook, um, at Refabbed by Brooke Riley. There is a hyphen in Refabbed. That's the DIY decorating page, or the Refabbed Boutique, um, on Facebook and Instagram and all those places. So, and we'll put those there.

Yeah, we'll put those in the show notes so you can find them easily. Brooke, thank you so much for joining me today. We'll be back next week.

Thanks, guys.