In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews digital marketing strategist and blogger Shea Duriel Davis of The Bronze Hustle. Shea shares a cautionary freelance story where a client’s lack of clear task outlines led to non‑payment, highlighting the importance of leadership and pre‑agreement clarity. She emphasizes transparency in digital marketing, urging entrepreneurs to show both ups and downs rather than curated perfection. Her core business advice is to launch with imperfect resources—"do what you can with what you have"—and to assert knowledge by focusing on solutions instead of dwelling on problems. Shea defines happiness as personal fulfillment. She discusses the book Sore by Bishop T.D. Jakes, extracting a lesson on delegation to avoid burnout. Her favorite quote, from CurlBox founder Miley Teal, stresses focusing on the distance you create rather than competitors. Finally, she provides her online handles (@SheaDurriel, @TheBronzeHustle) and website (thebronzehustle.com).
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Shea Duriel Davis with us. She's a digital marketing strategist and blogger at The Bronze Hustle. So welcome to the show, Shea.
Thank you, I'm glad to be here.
Of course, thanks for joining us, and we'll dive in. The first question I have for you, Shea, is what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Um, I think the best story that I can think of off the top of my head would be a few months ago I actually was doing some freelance work for a business and she just was very unorganized and she really hadn't outlined the tasks that she needed me to do. It was supposed to be more of like a part-time position, but she never really outlined anything. And so, you know, I was just kind of doing my own thing and researching more about her niche and her audience and everything and creating work based on that. And long story short, she decided that she didn't deserve to pay me or that I didn't deserve payment and I was chasing her down for money and I just had to, you know, back away from all of that and just dissect the situation. So for me, the underlying message for that was just all about leadership and making sure before you agree to do something for somebody or even with somebody, somebody just to make sure that everything is outlined beforehand.
Yes. And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
I would say especially digital marketing and blogging, something that I've really been pushing lately has been transparency. So not everybody is so interested in all of the curated timelines and photos of Instagram. I think that we all really should, as entrepreneurs, be more transparent about the ups and the downs that we all go through.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice, not necessarily industry-specific?
I would say do what you can with what you have. So it's okay to launch when you're not, you know, 100% ready or things aren't perfect. I think the work really happens once you get out there and you get going.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I would say to assert my knowledge within the solution. So not just letting people bring you down with discussing the problem, just being better about figuring things out and just moving forward rather than being stuck.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
I would say fulfillment. So whatever fulfills us as individuals doing more of that and becoming happy because of it.
And what's the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
One of the books I've read recently was Sore by Bishop T.D. Jakes. And there is a section in there that stands out to me about his father, who was also an entrepreneur, but he had a janitorial business and he actually ended up dying at a young age of 48. And T.D. Jakes just talks about the whole message of delegation and not stressing yourself out so much within the business that you can't work on the business.
And what's your favorite quote and why?
I actually just found one. So the quote is by Miley Teal, which she is the founder of CurlBox. And she actually just recently posted this, but the quote is, in competition, I don't focus on quote unquote them. I focus on the distance I'm putting between quote unquote us. So I just really love that as we move forward in business, not focusing necessarily on the other brands.
Yes, I love it. Thank you so much for coming on, Shea. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where's the best place for people to find you online?
My personal pages are @SheaDurriel and then my brand, The Bronze Hustle, is @TheBronzeHustle and thebronzehustle.com.
Perfect. Thanks again for coming on, Shay.
Okay, no problem.
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