Today, we're breaking down preconceived notions about what marketing should be and diving into the world of mindful and sustainable marketing with my special guest, Tomisin Smith.

Together, we're exploring practical strategies for creating compelling Instagram content, from scroll-stopping videos to well-designed carousel posts. We'll also tackle the all-too-common issue of burnout, sharing tips and personal experiences on maintaining a healthy work-life balance in the fast-paced world of social media management.

Tomisin shares her inspiring journey from medical school to becoming a dedicated social media manager and her passion for ethical marketing.

And you definitely want to hear our discussions on the importance of consistency, adapting to change, and setting boundaries to prevent burnout.

In this episode of the podcast, we talk about:

  • Tomisin's unconventional path to marketing
  • Innovative strategies for social media marketer
  • Strategies to avoid burnout and set healthy boundaries
  • Cutting through information overload
  • Creating a separate Instagram account for decompression
  • Focusing on consistency over viewership numbers and success

This Episode Was Made Possible By:

Riverside All-in-One Podcast & Video Platform
Visit Riverside and use the code DREA to get 15% off any Riverside individual plan. We use it to record all our podcast interviews!

Social Media Day Summit
Social media is not dead. It is simply evolving. And that's what we're exploring at the Social Media Day Summit.

Join me and my fellow experts on June 30th as we dive into innovative strategies and timeless tactics designed to empower social media marketers, freelancers, agency owners, and anyone else ready to take their social media strategy to the next level. Grab your ticket today for $10!

About the Guest:

Tomisin Smith is an experienced social media strategist and the owner of Twenty Six Digital, a digital agency specializing in product-based businesses and memberships across various industries.

With nearly a decade of experience in social media, Tomisin brings a background in multinationals and a deep understanding of the challenges, strategies and successes involved in building an online presence. She openly shares her own journey to inspire and guide others, emphasizing that social media can play a crucial role in business growth.

Tomisin also emphasizes the importance of mindful social media usage, acknowledging the potential negative effects of excessive consumption. She provides guidance on finding a balance between leveraging social media for business growth and maintaining a healthy relationship with technology.

Additionally, she is dedicated to debunking common misconceptions and providing accurate information and strategies to her clients, helping them unlock the true potential of social media for their business growth.

Website
Instagram
YouTube 
Threads
TikTok 
LinkedIn

Resources mentioned:

Grab Tomisin's Social Media Manager Checklist

Watch the Episode Below:

Transcript

Andréa Jones (00:00):
Today we're breaking down some of those preconceived notions that we all have about what marketing should be, and we're talking about mindful and sustainable marketing. With my special guest today, Tomisin Smith. I'm excited to geek out about marketing with her. Let's get into it. You are listening to the Mindful Marketing Podcast. I'm Andréa Jones.

(00:29):
I've recorded over 300 podcast episodes. Yeah, it's a lot of podcast episodes and I've tried a lot of different virtual recording studios, but my favorite has been Riverside. Riverside makes their virtual recording studio look so profess. My guests love it. Plus I also low key love recording YouTube videos in here as well because it's so easy to use. My team also loves Riverside because it spits out separate audio video tracks making editing easy, breezy, lemon squeezy, and if you want a little magic, they've got this tool called Magic Clips, which uses AI to take your video and turn it into perfect social media sized videos. I'm talking vertical videos for TikTok and Instagram, Facebook reels, all the places you can post these videos with the captions included, and you don't have to hunt and search for that perfect clip. So if you want to try this out for yourself, click the link that goes with this video. Or if you're listening to the audio on the podcast, it's in the show notes. Okay, click that link. Use the 15% off coupon code. It's Drea, DREA and try Riverside for yourself. Thank you, Riverside.

(01:41):
Tomisin, welcome to the show.

Tomisin Smith (01:44):
Thank you. I'm happy to be here. It's super nice.

Andréa Jones (01:47):
Yay. I am excited to chat with you and just geek out about marketing. We have a lot of the same foundational beliefs and what marketing could be and how businesses can use it. But I want to go way back to your origin story. I was watching a YouTube video of yours right before this, and you said you started 10 years ago, same as me. So tell me, yeah, we're OGs. How did you get into the marketing space?

Tomisin Smith (02:11):
It's so wild because I mean, my story is not one that is smooth because I'm originally African, so you're either a doctor, an engineer, or you fail. So I went to school for medical sciences and it was so hard. I hated every second of it. I did everything we had to do, open people up. It was gory and I just knew that, you know what? I don't want to live my life like this. I'm not happy. So once I was done with medical school, I went to advertising school. I've always been fascinated by creativity. It's wild to me how something in someone's brain can become pen to paper, right? Taking something from your head and putting it down whether you are drawing, whether you writing. So I've always been that kind of victor and I'm like, you know what? Lemme go to advertising school and see what I can do with this.

(03:06):
And that's also a lesson for someone that you don't always have to have your life figured out. It's okay to keep trying and experimenting up until you find out what you really want to do. So I went to advertising school for art direction because I'm also super into producing and directing movies because I used to think I'm more of a behind the scenes girl me otherwise. And after I was going art direction, direction, I noticed that I really gravitated towards graphics and social. And the cool thing about my ad agency was, yes, you had your core, but you were involved in every other thing. So I had some information about copy, radio, jingles, billboards, the process, shooting ads, and I found out that throughout all of these and all the knowledge I had gone on, social was more interesting to me, but I did not know how to go about it.

(04:04):
I had the advertising school certification, how do I apply for jobs? How do I get a job? Then I made this lady in church summer 10 years ago, and I always really liked how she carried herself. She had three phones and then 10 years ago she had three phones. What do you do for work? Why do you have so phones? I just asked her that. Sorry, is it okay if I ask her? She says she social media manager. I like, oh my God, I love this. People can pay me to manage their social, which is me using all the skills I have, all the skills I have gone on, all the skills I love, and then I went into action. I took every certification, I read every book. I took every course because I'm a very DIY kind of person, a self-starter. So yes, I get the basic school knowledge, but I'm very, very into practical knowledge.

(05:01):
So I took the Meta, it was Facebook Blueprint. I took courses on Shore Academy. I took courses on Google Digital Garage, and that's what I tell people that want to be social media managers. Now you have not got all these skills and you're just maybe following some gurus and they're telling you what to do, which is most likely not right. There's so many free resources that you can exhaust before you start paying for things. So I took all of these free resources and put that knowledge together. I got the certifications, wrote a resume, and applied to my first big girl job and I got it. I was like, oh my God, I got this job by myself. And that's really how I got into social, and I've been there for a decade this year, still loving it. Yes, I grown from employee to business, owner, owner, but I'm really, really grateful for the kind of journey that I've had so

Andréa Jones (06:01):
Far. Yes, I love that. And I love that you're, first of all, you just casually are like, yeah, I went to med school. I'm like, what girl? That's a lot of school. That's a lot of school. And I'm with you. I can't even watch. I just started watching Chicago Med and I can't even watch that. I'm like, it's too gory. Can we fast forward through the, it's not for me. It's not for me, but I like your journey because it's so rich from the background, and I think that's important for us to talk about because sometimes people, when they come into our world the first time, they just get the snapshot of where we are now and where we are now can be easy to describe, but the path to get there sometimes is not easy. So I love that. I love that. So you're all about sustainable and mindful marketing just like I am.

(06:55):
I know for me, there was a key moment where it was like, oh, I don't want to do things the way that everyone else does them. I think I have a different approach. Then once I had that key moment, I couldn't go back. I had to start infusing it into my work. And then now this is the Mindful Marketing podcast. I've rebranded it because of all this work that I've been doing for the past few years. So I'm wondering for you, was there a moment in time or a couple of moments where you're like, we can't do things unethically. We can't do things without being mindful?

Tomisin Smith (07:30):
I think for me, it was late 2020 and 2021, the heat of Covid when everybody and their grandparents became online educators and everybody knew about social, and there was so much misinformation out there. It used to give me up at night. Every time I say this, people are really, because this is what I do, this is what I love. I don't want it to be misrepresented. And at that moment, I just decided that you know what? I'm going to get online and demystify everything. I can break every myth, breakable, call out whoever I choose to color out and also teach people the right way to think about things. Because social is so noisy, social is so hard. People get depressed from social media. So it can be a matter of life and death. The difference between someone's life looking a certain way and it looking in a very good way.

(08:31):
So I decided that I wanted to be that person that to a large extent would put that positivity back in the heart of people while teaching them that it is a marathon. It's not a sprint. You have to think sustainably over virality, because I say this all the time, I'm not building an agency that I want us to be viral today. I'm making a hundred million today. No, my goal is slowly, for surely, because even as a person, maybe because I'm, when things happen too fast, it overwhelms me, and I know almost everybody's like that. I've gone viral on social. I hated it so much. So in 20 20, 20 21, I just decided that I don't like the information I am seeing. There were a lot of people that were kind of looking to me in the social media space, so maybe people I had mentored in the past or people that were Nigerians like me and maybe just moved to the us.

(09:30):
I just needed some direction and I decided that I was going to be that guide for them while remaining true to myself. It is so important to me to be able to sleep at night, for me to be able to feel like I did the right thing. I said the right thing. I let people in the right path because I believe that when God gives you an opportunity, because I'm a believer, when God gives you an opportunity, when it sets you on a path, you're supposed to do it right because you won't count. So for me, legit, that's where it came from. I just wanted to do the right thing. Whether I go viral or not, I really don't care. Low key, I don't want to, but I want you to be able to come back to my page, to the work that I have done to the results we have delivered for our clients 5, 6, 7 years from now. And it is still valid. It's evergreen and it's good information.

Andréa Jones (10:25):
Yeah, yeah. I love that. And same here. There's so much, not just misinformation, but the advice that's given. It's like, yeah, it could work, but you're selling your soul for it. I remember around the same time, 20, 20, 20, 21, the big thing was like post a TikTok five times a day, a day, five times a day. What else are you doing in your day? You're living on TikTok and yeah, you could go viral. Sure. Going viral, first of all, doesn't guarantee that you're going to get more business. And then the second thing is you're going viral at the cost of your own personal self, which I just don't think, that's not a price I'm willing to pay. Okay. I'm not willing to pay it. And so I think that that part of what you said, low key. We don't want to go viral. We've seen too much. We've seen too much. It's part of the reason I don't put my kids on social media. I've seen too much. I know too much.

Tomisin Smith (11:19):
Two children, you would never see them anywhere. They literally have zero digital footprint. Cannot do it.

Andréa Jones (11:26):
Yeah, we've seen the behind the curtain. So with all of that in mind, I want to learn more about you and how you apply this to your own accounts because as much as we as marketers say, this is what you should do, sometimes what we actually do is different or even the time that we make for our own stuff is different. I know a lot of marketers are listening to this and they do it for their clients, and then when it comes to their own accounts, they're like, what? And one of the things I saw recently was that you are on YouTube. I think you posted this on threads. You said you're starting on YouTube. So talk to me about, this is a two-parter question, what your current favorite platform is, and then why you decided to explore a new platform like YouTube.

Tomisin Smith (12:12):
I'll start with what my favorite platform is, and I'm rolling my eyes as I say this, but it's Instagram. Instagram for me is like that toxic X that we've had our differences and I love to hate, but I find it hard to let or her go because it's just, it might be because it's the first platform I ever managed at my first job, and I've been on Instagram since it was Instagram, if you know what I mean. At that point, when I got on Instagram, I knew the contents that would go viral. I knew the ones that would do well. I knew the ones that my audience or the audience or whatever page they're managing would engage with. It wasn't Russian relay like it is now. So I really, really, really like social media, Instagram in particular because it has just always been there for me and I'm a very visual person.

(13:06):
But visual, I mean graphics, not necessarily video because I mentioned earlier that I like to be behind said I'm so of video. Video. It takes a lot of me, pepping myself up talking to myself and having conversations with the inner tummy to be good on video because I don't even take pictures. That's how bad. It's because I feel like it's just not my vibe. So I'm not big on video, but I'm big on graphics, give me designs all the time, tell me to make things look pretty, tell me to. So Instagram has that for me. I can put pictures, I can put graphics that people would appreciate and be like, oh, this looks really good and it has good information. So I think that's majorly why Instagram is still my fave to date. YouTube, I am loving, loving love. I'm not going to France. I currently have 80 subscribers and I love it.

(14:05):
I'm so happy because I feel like for me getting on YouTube, it's not about putting myself out there necessarily. It's about keeping a promise I make to myself, which is to consciously share good information. I know that I can do that on Instagram, but half the time I'm like, I have so much more to say and then it has to be one minute or it has to be 30 seconds or it has to have a training audio and all those things that I'm just like, you know what? I'm not doing this. So I decided that with YouTube I can have much more impact. My watchword this year is impacts over effects. Impacts over virality. Impacts are long lasting in comparing to effects just come and go. It's like a shadow. It passes and that's the end of it. But YouTube, and I thought about the platform that can give me that type of impact that I'm looking for, and it's YouTube.

(15:02):
I watched YouTube videos from 10 years ago, so I necessarily do see Instagram post from 10 years ago. So I'm like, you know what? If I'm thinking longevity, if I'm thinking sustainability, especially for my personal brand, then I need to be on YouTube. So this is me keeping that promise to myself. This is me consistently deciding to post at least for this year. And I was telling my friends, honestly, if I get two views, Andrea, I'm still going to take it because it's not about that for me at all. For now, it's about showing myself that when I tell myself to do something, I can, because I was talking with my younger brother that the people that are doing well, the ones that are selling their businesses for millions or the ones that have impact, the kind of impact I'm looking for, the malas of this world is not because they're the most brilliant people.

(15:58):
It's because they're the most consistent. Everybody's going to forget about you if you don't keep doing what you're doing, if you don't keep the promises you make to yourself, the promises you make to your audience. So my major goal this month is consistency. I don't care if nobody watches. I don't care if it's not doing well. The numbers are not, at least maybe next year will change for me this year. It's nothing about that. So that's majorly why I decided to get on YouTube. 90 subscribers log, but the vibe is immaculate. I'm not feeling pressured or feeling anxious to get in front of the camera and record a video because I'm just talking about what I already know. So that's where I'm at, honestly.

Andréa Jones (16:43):
Honestly, I love it. We are like kindred spirits over here. I feel like I always have way more to say than social media allows. I feel like I'm always just teasing people on social media, listen to the podcast, watch my YouTube videos. That's where the real stuff is. I love that. And I think that a lot more people are leaning into these long form content styles. We're seeing podcasting, YouTube, video blogging is having its moment. I'm here for it. I love it. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, I want to talk more about all of this change in what that means when we get back.

(17:19):
[Podcast Ad break] We are long past the good old days of MySpace, and despite what those Facebook ads are touting as the magical AI solution antithesis to social media, social media is not dead. It is simply evolving, and that's what we're exploring at the Social Media Day summit.

(17:38):
Join me and my fellow experts on June 30th as we dive into what's working for social media marketers here now. And today we're exploring innovative strategies and timeless tactics that you can use for both yourself and your clients. Grab your ticket today for $10 and I'll see you there. [Podcast Ad break]

(17:59):
And we're back. So I want to talk about change because I watched a, I think it was an Instagram reel of yours recently, I believe, because you were in the car and you were talking about change and how as business owners, we need to embrace change. It's going to happen anyways, and I think especially in the industry we're in social media, it changes so much. So can you talk to us a little bit about change and what are some ways that business owners and marketers can think about change as a good thing and not necessarily a bad thing?

Tomisin Smith (18:32):
Okay, awesome. So first the video I started recording in the car is because I was trying to take the pressure out of video content. So it was me distracting myself and talking like I would to maybe my friends or someone sitting on the other side. I just talk about something I'm passionate about. So that goes to show that just create wherever I meet you, it doesn't have to be perfect. And so many good conversations in my dms on threads. I've come from those, my car conversation type videos. So I just wanted to put that out there that you don't have to have a fancy camera, you don't have to have a script. Sometimes you're talking to just have a conversation. That being said, talking about change, I think one of the things that has helped me as a person, as a creator, as an educator, as a mom, is that change will always happen.

(19:32):
No matter what I do, everything will change. I literally have no control over change, my body will change, there'll be change in my career, there'll be change in my life, there'll be change in my work. There'll be change on social media. So how best can I approach it? Number one, you just have to work on it, right? For me, whenever something changes, and that was even two years ago before I had matured this much, whenever there's a change on social, I take a step back, I log out, don't think about it, do something for the day and then come back and think about what it means for me for my clients. And if I want to strategize now, change that every day on Instagram that I don't even know about. And I only honestly do not care because half the time, even Instagram that is announcing the change, don't know what it means because they've started spreading a lot of false information.

(20:27):
So I'm at that point, even with client accounts that we manage, we're at that point where we are focusing on our strategy. Nothing is ter us. Nothing is shifting us to the right or to the left. We know our focus and that's what we're doing. So for me, change should not shape you, especially if it comes to platform change. It should not make you rethink your entire strategy, except if it's a drastic change. Like, oh, reels are leaving Instagram or carousels are living Instagram. If it's minor things like, oh, now we have an sticker. Now you can do this in nobody cares.

(21:06):
So I'm legit at that point. I'm like, oh, muster has the new video. I don't watch his video. I do not because it does absolutely nothing. And Mo says, don't use rules today, tomorrow, it says rules are the best for you to use. So right now it's just, you're right. So I'm not going to, his word does not hold water. So if you're a marketer, if you're a creator, if you're an educator, you have to be attuned to all these changes. If it's platform changes, honestly, I would say focus on strategy. But if it's changes in consumer behavior, if it's changes in industry trends, where are people gravitating towards your target audience? Is Gen Z? Are they more on Pinterest now? Are they more on TikTok? Do you want to diversify your strategy or focus on that one platform because that's where your audience is.

(21:59):
So you have to think of change in the regard of how does it affect my business, not how it affects my engagement, because engagement does not equal business engagement Comments like shares does not equal dollars. You have to think about your business holistically and the strategy you have for marketing of which social is just one part of your integral entire holistic marketing strategy. So think about change and what it means for you. And if it looks like something that is drastic, that is very important. When Instagram makes reduce risk, embrace it, sit as an opportunity to try experiments and do new things. Because for me, if you go through my content from 2020 to 2021, something is always changing. Maybe because I can't sit still, but because I also know that my audience is changing, I'm changing, they're changing, the way they consume is changing.

(22:56):
So how can I find the delicate balance of giving them what they want whilst you're being true and authentic to myself? Because my ethos is what helps me sleep at night, my authenticity, me sharing only good information, me talking about mindful social media using me, helping people to avoid burnout. So how can I still have the same message but deliver it in a different way because people are changing. So I always experiment with different content formats, curing the car conversations. I always experiment with car sales. Am I using 10 pages? Am I using five? Using a single graphic recently experimenting with put of myself now experimenting with that. Have to think about what do I want to do, and then analyze how your audience receives it, analyze how much they enjoy it. And this is not just in the numbers. Think of how many conversations it starts in the dms. Think of how many emails you get from that one piece of content speaking to people, and you go from there. If you don't embrace change, you'll most likely not remain relevant, especially when it comes to big changes.

Andréa Jones (24:12):
Yeah. Oh my gosh, very, very well said. And I had to laugh about the adversary piece because when I see him in my feet, I'm like, what is this man saying now? Because he always has something different. You're right, and it feels like he's contradicting himself constantly and we have to say the course. I love that you say that be uncheckable, because a lot of these little changes, they make them and then they end up pulling them back. The one recently that a lot of people kept asking me about was the Flips or the other Instagram that you get, have you have your main Instagram, then you have your secret Instagram. It was like this whole thing for two months, and then they were like, yeah, we're not doing that anymore. Okay, good. Nobody changed their strategy because when they release these things, they take them back half the time. So yeah. One of the things you mentioned was that you're experimenting a lot. I'm curious what you see working really well right now, not just for you with your clients. What type of content is working really well right now?

Tomisin Smith (25:14):
Honestly, I will say scroll stopping contents, and I would explain what I mean by that with basic information. You know how YouTube people are very, they want more information, they're in depth. Instagram people are basic. They want surface level. They want something that you just have to say, oh, right, don't use line in your caption. But how you deliver is what matters. By scroll stopping, I mean if you have been noticing the videos that I've been getting, like good, rich, good engagement views is videos that are well edited by well edited and scroll stopping. I mean, interesting. So did you clone yourself? Do you have the big text behind you? Do you have some capcut effects flying around? Those are the things that people are really, really enjoying now because you know how humans like this, the dopamine to just hits them and then they Gucci.

(26:15):
So for me, with clients with my content, I have noticed that scroll stopping slash distracted content has been really working well. For example, in the conversation videos, I was deliberate about not making eye contact with the camera because then I don't want you to feel like I'm talking to you. You are probably going to be much more interested when it looks like I'm talking to someone else. Why? Because humans are nosy. Want to know what I'm saying? That is next to you? So it works all the time as one. For clients that are personal brands, I have seen it work for me. So scroll, stopping, storytelling type rails, videos always work. Well. That being said, I am a huge carousel girl and this I'm so proud to say, right, I'm never proud to say that I have gone viral from, but I'm always proud to say I've gone viral from Carousel, I carousels bring me 2000 followers because we currently, as you can even say the numbers of follows from that particular character, and that's because I enjoy delivering information in a digestible way, but also intelligent for lack of words.

(27:31):
So helping you to think about things the way you haven't thought about it. I have one that everybody really loves, and I was talking about consistency over frequency and how that you can be someone that posts once per week. Are you a consistent person? Because consistency does not mean I post five times in a week. It means I'm posting once, but I'm sticking to that. It literally means sticking to your shadow. I was talking about burnout, how to avoid it, how to create, and people really, really loved it. So I procars, if you make sure that it's well designed number when I'm by well designed, it's not like bells are whistles, it just is to be visible. People can read it. The background is dark enough, the text is light or the background is light and the text is dark and it's not a novel because this happens all the time. People overload information on their currency and that's why now you have 20 pages just sharing information gradually make it easy for people to scroll. And another reason why I love them is they're literally the only two on Instagram that shows up twice on one person's feet. So if for example, I see a person for the first time, I don't engage, it shows me the second page a few minutes later. So Tim, super nice, distracted slash storytelling slash scroll, stopping reels and good information type carousels.

Andréa Jones (29:03):
Yeah, I love that. And I love that you said that Instagram is basic too, and YouTube is like the in-depth content because I do think that sometimes even with a carousel, like you said, we try to stuff it with so much content. I a hundred percent agree with you. I'm nodding my head yes because that's exactly what I say about consistency versus frequency. You can be consistent at your own frequency. I'm here for it. I love all of it. One of the things you mentioned too was about burnout. And I think it, it's happening a lot right now. People are getting burnout, especially content creators. I'm noticing a lot of content creators making announcements saying, I'm pausing from Instagram, I'm taking a sabbatical, stepping back, because they did so much too much to get to where they are and it wasn't sustainable. So can you talk to us a little bit about what are some of these anti burnout strategies that you recommend so that we can keep going at a consistent pace, at our own frequency without burning out?

Tomisin Smith (30:01):
Yeah. First things first, I feel like I'm too realistic and logical for my liking. I believe at every point, if you are creating content on social, you will burn out. I mean, I am on my 500 burnout at the moment, but how do I come back from it and how do I make sure that it doesn't happen too frequently? Because it will with the way social is how distracting it is. The shiny object syndrome, it will most likely come if you or a content creator. What you can do though is to work against it. And for me, when I noticed that burnout is creeping in, I'm not excited about my contents because that's what burnout is. You're not excited anymore. You're not excited about what you're creating. And it's not like you don't have ideas. Cause you do. You're just like, I don't want to do it.

(30:57):
So if I'm not excited about what I'm creating or excited to put content out there, I first take a step back. The first thing I always always do is log out of that account that is bother me and I have a vibes Instagram accounts. That's Instagram account is just for fashion, comedy, just basic things that just makes me happy. Cut videos, people being silly because at that point, I don't want to be an agency owner. I don't want to be a creator. I don't want anybody to look up to me. I want to be a person in that moment. And because social is one of the ways I decompress maybe mom life, I don't have enough time to myself to do a lot of hobbies or all these cool things that people are doing. So me being on my phone really helps me. So I have a vibe Instagram account, highly, highly recommend where you can just decompress, enjoy things that you really love.

(31:58):
Then if you have hobbies, if you like to read books, if you like to watch TV shows. But I noticed that if I don't address the burnout as I'm watching that TV show, I'm seeing content ideas. So it doesn't really, really do what it needs to do. So in that moment of burnout springtime, because once you get back on that account or that email on that YouTube channel that is making you burnout, you will fall into the trap of comparison. Oh my gosh, she just did this and I was going to do it, but you did not. Then that would just take you deeper into the whole of depression. Take a step back, focus on what is feasible at this point. What's sustainable for me as I'm burnout? Do I still want to create? Do I want to reduce my post to one or do I want to do once per month?

(32:52):
Just think of yourself as a person in that moment and not necessarily a creator or a marketer or someone that has to perform. Secondly, I'm the queen of boundaries. Oh my God, my clients know if you text me past 3:00 PM you would get your reply next day at 10. Once I'm out, I'm out. I work in social, not in the air. And I learned this the hard way because there was a time I got burnt out so much I having panic attacks from Slack notification and I'm just like, you know what? This is not how I want to live my life. I have have children dreams, I have aspirations. Why am I allowing Instagram posts to give me sleepless nights or someone dropping a comment and I was just like, yeah, I'm not doing this. So I have work boundaries, super solid ones. I have mental health boundaries.

(33:52):
I have some people I follow on social that I have muted, right? I love you, but I don't want to see your post. And sometimes I mute them for a particular time. Even sometimes my friends in the industry, if I'm having a hard time mentally with maybe life in and they're launching things, I am human, I would fall into comparison. So for that moment, if I see that you have a lunch coming up and I cannot handle it, I'll probably send you a message, oh, wishing the best with this. I'm new to you. I'm not going to see your post. I'm not going to see your stories because I just cannot handle it at that moment. So for me, I had to set that boundary for myself, not necessarily for them. So think about the boundaries that you need to set. What is that thing giving you anxiety? What is that client or that person or that account making you anxious and just release them in the words of I let them go. And every time I say that, I also acknowledge the fact that that might sound is the word entitled or for example, a lot of these people, online educators that are taking sabbaticals it privilege stuff. Privilege, yeah, it's privilege. Yes, they have made enough money to do that.

(35:10):
They have money saved to do that. They have cars they can't sell to do that. I knew necessarily might not have that. So yours might look like just reducing your scope and knowing that, okay, this month, do I need to leave? I need $3,000. I was making six and it was making me anxious. So what if I reduce my scope, let it go or reduce my hours to three five. I know I would not have a lot of money, but your life is more important than money. Your mental health is more important than money. And when you get back up, you get back up, you can pick up the slack. But I just want to acknowledge that privilege is also very important. Maybe having another a partner that works, having a transformed or having money saved is good when you are burnt out. The last thing I do when I feel like I'm burnt out is self-care.

(36:04):
For me, self-care looks like sitting on my bed and watching station 19, sitting on my bed and watching with anatomy, turning off my phone, turning off my phone for those moments. And I feel like at the end of every week, I'm always burnt out. So from Friday, 6:00 PM my phone is off. Except if a client has an important launch that maybe we just have to be there. But I even have a social media list that is super good with things like that. But I always try to turn off my phone and then I put it back on Saturday to talk to my family, my mom, if she wants to call back off, then I turn it on a Monday. And by off, I don't necessarily mean switch off. I mean my airplane mode is on. So I read books if I want, I can play games. I love to play games on my phone because it helps me to compress. No notifications are coming in and then by Monday I'm energized. I can do whatever it is I want to do. I can be the best for my clients, for myself, for my family. You know that if you burn out, you are not winning, nobody's winning, you're not doing your best, you're not doing your best work, cancer paying you, but they're not getting you. You're not happy. It doesn't make sense to work through burnout.

Andréa Jones (37:21):
Yes, okay, you could be me and I could be you. Everything you're saying, I'm like, this is me. You're me, basically. I mean, I think that's part of working in the industry. I have moments where I'm like, oh, I was literally having panic attacks about getting emails because I was just too available. And you're right, there's this, I think the biggest thing about burnout is most of us are not privileged enough to take a year off to deal with the burnout. So before you get to the point where you need to take a year off, let's set some boundaries. Let's turn off the notifications. I will put my phone on do not disturb in a heartbeat. People like Andrea, I texted you, I'll text you back in two days. It's not an er like you said, oh my God, everything you're saying, I'm like, it's what I would say. It's what I would say. I loved this conversation so much. Tam sin. I love it. I know you have a checklist for social media managers. Tell us about the checklist.

Tomisin Smith (38:20):
That checklist was birthed from burnout, legit. It was birthed from doing everything and doing nothing. So I decided, and this was even before I built my team, hired people to help and support when it was just me. I decided that how can I best maximize my time and be effective? So I wrote a checklist for things I have to do daily things, I have to do biweekly things I have to do monthly. And every time after I created it, I put a post on social and I'm talking like three years ago, and it went far. It got a lot of saves. And that's how I knew that you know what? This would be a good lead magnet for my people, which is social media managers to help them maximize their time and to help them work smarter and faster. So that's basically what it is. It has a daily tasks. So that looks like inbound and outbound engagement, if that's relevant to you. Scheduling or putting things up if that's relevant to you. Biweekly, it has things like creating client contents because in the agency we do biweekly calendars. It has other things like getting ready for reporting analytics, sending things off to clients. And it has many timelines that if you want to get approval in a week, for example, when should you send out content. So it's basically for you to work hard, be effective, but also still have a life.

Andréa Jones (40:00):
I'm a hundred percent here for it. If you want to grab this, go to our show notes onlinedrea.com/three 10, that's 3 1 0. And you can get the checklist and you can connect with Tomisin everywhere. Instagram's her fave, but also on YouTube. We'll put all the links. Thank you so much for being on the show. This is great.

Tomisin Smith (40:18):
Thank you for having me. I had the best time. It's always really good when you're talking to someone that you have the similar ethos, similar messaging, because the vibes, the energy is always content. So super happy to be here.

Andréa Jones (40:36):
Yay. Thank you. The vibes are vibing. I love it. I love it. And thank you dear listener for listening to another episode. Next week. We're talking about Substack marketing. So if you're curious about Substack and all things Substack, we have three amazing people in our roundtable to talk about how they're leveraging Substack. So tune in next week for that. In the meantime, make sure you give us a five star rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, it helps keep us in the top 100 marketing podcast. That's because of you, dear listener. We'll back soon. Bye.