Guess Who’s Back with Season 3: Lately with Loverly

This podcast was transcribed using Descript. Please forgive any typos or errors.

Brittany: Hi friends. Welcome to Life with Loverly. I'm your host, Brittany Sjogren. I'm excited to share my heart with you beyond the 15 seconds we get on Instagram, grab an iced coffee and let's do life together. 

Hello friends. How are you guys? Welcome back to season three of Life with Loverly. It feels so great to be back behind the microphone in the podcast room.

Nichelle is here as well.

Nichelle: Hi guys!

Brittany: We just took I feel like 20 minutes of practice rounds because we're like, wait, what do we say? We have been like a little rusty by not recording for the past four weeks. 

And really it was longer before that because we had recorded so many leading up to the end of the season.

So yeah, it's been a little minute. I know it's crazy, but we're so excited to be back. We took a little month break to just reconnect and get some ideas for what we wanted season three to be about and get a game plan. So we make sure that we are serving you guys with valuable topics and conversation every week for the rest of the summer.

So we've got some really fun things coming up that we'll discuss later in the podcast today. But. So happy to be back. There's been so many fun things that have happened in the month of April, which I can't believe is almost over. I know it's been a pretty busy month. It's just wild to think that it's almost Mother's Day.

And then graduation, Memorial Day, summer's going to be here before we know it. We were talking, I think it was yesterday. And we were like, oh yeah, that's 4th of July weekend. And we were like, wait a minute. That is not that far away. 

It is crazy. I just can't believe it. School's going to be back before we know it.

So wild. I thought it would be fun to recap some fundings that we did in the month of April. The first really fun thing that I did was I went to the Masters. 

Nichelle: Yes, you did. 

Brittany: Which if you're not familiar with golf, the Masters is a golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia every year. It's such a tradition.

Chris has been several times, and I hadn't ever been before this year. I actually was able to go two days, which was so exciting and awesome. It's one of those things where if somebody asks or invites you like, Hey, we have an extra ticket or we have an extra pass for the Masters for this day. You figure out how to go.

Nichelle: I think that we were all we got this, here you go. Go. 

Brittany: Which Chris and I had planned to go on Friday, but then this like the day before, I guess on Monday, I got the opportunity to go. I guess it was Tuesday or Wednesday. I don't know which day and a few of my girlfriends, some of my best friends from college were all sorority sisters together.

 Then we lived together after college when we moved to Atlanta The three of us went and it was so much fun. It was one of my girlfriends, her company had extra tickets. And so we were able to go and just do the whole experience. It was so much fun and it gave me a great lay of the land for what to expect for Friday.

Cause was Friday busier than it was during the middle of the week?

 So Friday was like the official tournament. Whereas earlier in the week it was just practice and. Chris has been before, so he had a plan, like when we got there, it was, he was like, this is our route we're taking, we're putting our chairs here.

We're going to go back to this gift shop. Then we're going to get sandwiches here and we're going to sit here and we're going to, he had a plan. And so I really was thankful to get to be on the course and figure out what it was going to be like. So when we got there, It made sense to me.

And I could just easily follow along with his plan, but it was so much fun. We saw all this amazing golf and just being so close to golfers that we watch on television all the time. I feel like I watch a lot of golf just because Chris watches, a lot of golf, and it was just a really fun event. I always love, of course, like checking out the fashion and seeing what people are wearing, because while it is a golf tournament, people are still dressing up and it is like us, like a social event that you look should the part almost. 

Nichelle: Which it's really cool because that's one thing that you put together were some outfits for the Masters, and then you got to really go and you'll know even more next year, putting these things together for people to have ideas. 

Brittany: Exactly. And I was paying attention to what everybody was wearing and all of the outfits that I shared in my reel, I was like, okay, all of those would've worked great for being here and.

But now I feel like I have some additional insider information, whereas, I haven't been to every single event ever, but people always ask, can you share some ideas of what to wear to this? And I'm like, I don't know what to wear to that cause I've never been, but that's the fun part of my job is doing some research and kind of figuring it out and being like, if I was going, what would I wear?

How can I share this information? Anyway, I think there's oneevent, the Derby. Everybody always wants to know what I would wear to the Derby. 

Nichelle: Do we just need to pack some bags and go?

Brittany: Next year. Cause I think it's coming up in two weeks, but I think the big hats always throw me off. Everybody always talks about. Like wearing a big hat and Derby dress. And so I'm always like, I don't have a big hat and so I'll work on that maybe for 2023, for those of you guys interested in the Derby. But anyway, the golf tournament was awesome. I told Chris that we should make a tradition of it.

I think it would be awesome to go to continue going. And so if you ever get the opportunity, it was a blast. I think one thing I loved the most was that you can't take your cell phone in. And so I. was disconnected all day. 

Nichelle: You were forced to be disconnected. 

Brittany: I love a good, forced day of being disconnected. It doesn't happen very often. And those of you who've listened to the podcast and know a little bit about my job as a social media influencer. Your job is on every time you open up any of your social media apps, you have the opportunity to, make a sale or respond back to one of your customers.

And so there can be some not so defined boundaries. And so when I get the opportunity to truly put my phone away and enjoy the moment and be present, I love it. I need to force myself to do that more often, is what I'm learning. But, it was so much fun. 

Nichelle: That's awesome. So you and the family actually just got back from. a little adventure. 

Brittany: Yeah. We went to Nashville. Chris ran the half marathon in Nashville. He's been on this running kick for the past few years now, which has been awesome because he was a college athlete and afterwards ,like kind stopped working out, but always had that like athlete mindset mentality, needing to do something to stay active.

And so he picked up running and he's run a few marathons, he's run half marathons, he's training to run in Berlin later this year. And so part of his training was a half marathon. And so he decided to do the Nashville half, which was really fun. I'd never been to it before, but there were bands set up all around the course.

So while these runners are running, they're like there's music playing people cheering. And so that was different than like other half marathons or marathons. So we went up to Nashville, which is only about a five-hour drive from Athens. So it really wasn't that bad, and we went up there Thursday.

He raced on Saturday. And my mom came with us and helped with the girls, which was great. They love whenever Nana goes on trips with them. So they had a blast. We've rented this great Airbnb in Germantown, which was, I would definitely rent there again. The walkability in these like parts of Nashville are so great.

It reminds me of Atlanta years ago when everything felt so much closer. So in Germantown, we stayed in this Airbnb area. It was like a new building that had just been redone and it was so close. We walked to dinner two of the nights we walk to breakfast two mornings, like all of our meals. We were pretty much able to just like walk, which when you have little kids in tow is nice to not have to put them back in the car seat and do all of that. So we had a great time. My sister-in-law actually lives in Nashville, so she gave us tons of recommendations and we ate brunch with them at Snooze one morning, which was so much fun.

It's just like the whole vibe. I always leave Nashville being like, I can't wait to go back. I want to go explore more. So we're already got like a girls trip in the works for some time this summer, but it was so much fun. And Chris did amazing in his half marathon, he dropped 26 minutes from his time of like his first half marathon that he ever did, which is amazing.

Just the like progression that he's made. One thing that he did earlier this year, I guess maybe the end of last year was he hired a running coach. And so he's been training with a purpose and has a plan. And his coach like puts together his workouts every week. So he knows. And sometimes they're hard then his coach throws in like recovery days and he's training all different like muscles and parts of his body.

So it's not just Hey, go out for a light jog today or go do a long run today. It's we need to switch up and you need to ride the Peloton or you're going to do like an intense weights workout today. So he's training for Berlin with so much more guidance from a professional. And I think that's like helping him keep going and it's something new every day and he has an idea of what is going on. 

So I'm hoping that maybe he'll share a little bit more about that at some point because I know several people messaged me saying that they were interested in learning more about his journey and like how he's gotten back into running the way that he has. But I think there were like 9,000 people that race in the half marathon and he finished in I think he said it was a hundred and 30th, like somewhere under one 50, which is really good. 

Nichelle: So good. 

Brittany: Yeah. We're very proud of him for that, and he loves it. This week is a recovery week and he's already okay, so next week, this is my plan. And I'm like, you're so funny. He just, he loves it. So it was exciting.

Nichelle: You were on a podcast last week? 

Brittany: Yes. So I was a guest on a podcast, Allie Reeves. She has a podcast called the Six Figure Influencer podcast, and she helps women or business owners that are on the internet grow. It doesn't necessarily have to be like an influencer, but somebody who has their business, primarily online. She teaches people how to grow their following, just the whole, like social gamut of running a business online. And she has a course. And my sister-in-law Leah, who has been on this podcast before she. Is taking one of Allie's courses right now. So it's so cool. Just like the connections I feel like that the internet makes. 

Nichelle: It's so bizarre because remember whenever I came on board last year, I think was when you had shared her. Remember you had come across I think it was like the hashtag or something like that. 

Brittany: And we touched on this story a little bit on her podcast, but I don't think we actually said the whole thing.

So I got a pop-up ad on my Facebook for Allie's course, and at the time I was receiving a lot of messages saying, I want to start a blog. Can you help me? How do I do this? I want to do what you're doing, and I just don't have the time to help one-on-one. That's not my thing here, and I'm happy to share tips.

I've got blog posts at this point. I have podcasts, but back then, I didn't have any of the podcasts out yet, but I also just didn't have the time to stop everything I was doing in the day and help somebody or give a few tips and mostly because there's so much information out there of people who share this type of thing.

So I would always encourage people to like, do some research and there's definitely people who can help you go in this direction. Then I came across her, I got served an ad, on Facebook with her. Oh my gosh, perfect timing. So I got on my stories and I was like, few of you guys have recently talked about wanting to know more about how to become an influencer.

I don't have the bandwidth to share that right now, but check out Allie. And it gave like a little, I don't know, just like a few slides. I just thumbed through her website and was like, okay, this is legit. This information seems good if I was just starting out, I would consider buying this course or taking learning more.

And she messaged me and she was like, oh my gosh, what just happened? That's the first time I knew who she was followed each other on Instagram. And, but you knew of her before Nichelle came to work with me, which our connection was through a mutual friend and then on the internet, like we got connected and then here.

Nichelle: These people are in different parts of the United States, but somehow we are all connected somehow. I actually took Allie's courses when they were free, but yeah, she was giving this information away for free because I was selling skincare at the time. And I was like got to figure out how to do it online. Cause that's what everybody does now. And she had such great information and she was just giving this like wealth away.

It was Facebook first and then it was Instagram. But yeah, she blew up because she does so much research on the industry. That's what she specializes in is the research that goes into like the industry and like how to really get ahead of it. 

Brittany: Yes. So when she asked if I would be a guest on her podcast, I was very excited for the opportunity, but I think because knowing like how much research and just what she's constantly offering for her community, I felt like I have a lot of knowledge and experience that it could serve her community even though not every person that she's speaking to is an influencer, but a lot of what I do is business minded.

Nichelle: And you're an entrepreneur. That's what a lot of those women are wanting to do under her as well as just run their own business. 

Brittany: Exactly. So it felt like a really good fit, but I knew it would be a great interview because of just like her style, the type of questions, like she wanted, like the raw information that hasn't been shared. She did so much research, listening to any podcasts I had been featured on before podcasts that I have out on Life with Loverly that talk about blogging and giving tips and she wanted to ask completely different questions.

Nichelle: And you could feel it. It was so fun to listen to. I think one of the first things you said was like, wow, she has questions I'd even thought about. 

Brittany: I want her to come interview me on Life with Loverly, so that I can give you guys some of the stuff that she was talking about. So we will definitely link the podcast here, so you can listen to it if you haven't had the chance to yet.

But I think it also opened my eyes or just reminded me that I have worked so freaking hard over the last six years to get where I am. Sometimes I just go it's day in and day out. This is I hold myself to the standard and I'm not necessarily stopping to be like good job. You deserve that pat on the back.

Nichelle: You're in the box.

Brittany: Yeah. And so for her to be like giving me compliments along the way, and I'm just like, no, this is just like what I just doing, so I felt very good afterwards. I was wow, okay. I have accomplished a lot. I am proud of myself. Like we are going to celebrate certain things and gave me a different mindset in. I'm hoping I will hold on to that in days or times when it's like hard and I'm like, this is too hard.

I don't want to do this anymore or I don't, Something is going wrong. I'm hoping I can remember those times to be like no this is going to pay off or it's going to continue to pay off.

Nichelle: The way that I look at it. I think from the outside, looking in and listening to that episode, like I'm in it too. I'm in the box with you, so sometimes it's you have to make yourself step outside of it to see everything that's been accomplished. But the cool thing about it is that you are paving the way for so many people, and you have paved the way for so many people. And you could hear I'm getting chill, bumps, just thinking about it. You could hear it in everything that you were saying. You truly stand behind what you do. I'm not just saying this because she's my boss, it literally gave me chills listening to it. I was just like, you have made this a hardcore business. That's what it is. And that's exactly what the episode really drove home.

And I think that's the part where we were like, we've been saying these things about the business, but I don't think that people really understand that you come in here. This is what we're here to do. I expect nothing less. We should not expect anything less. You know what I mean? And that's what this team is so awesome at. Okay. We're not, settling for less, 

Brittany: So true. And it was funny because there would be a few times, like we here at Loverly Grey work Monday through Friday, eight to five every day. Like that's, we're all here, we're all working and just like any other corporate job. And she was like, Okay. Really yeah. And I was like, what do you mean really? Yes, this is a job. And so I think if you set your expectations, like wherever you want to set them, that's what works for us. But there's so many other influencers that do it completely different and there's no wrong way. 

Nichelle: No, there wasn't a right way to start. This is just how you chose to run this business.

Brittany: It's paid off. So I think there were just so many good nuggets of information where she asks, questions about hiring. When did we know to hire, there was one thing I think I might've shared this with you guys in the past, but this is. If you're wanting to be an influencer, really, if you're wanting to just have an online business and you, at what point are you like looking to hire?

And I told her, I talked to a friend who took this entrepreneur class and in the class they taught you need to give yourself an hourly salary as the CEO. And if every task that you're doing is not worth that hourly salary, then you need to hire somebody else to do it for you. And I feel like that was a turning point for me when it came to hiring more people, I already had a team of probably two people when.

Had that conversation. And I have constantly used that throughout. And I even think about that with Nichelle, where I'm like, okay, is her hourly rate or her salary is her time worth it to be doing this task? Or could we hire somebody who is really going to focus on that? Who is maybe even better than that, who really wants to do that. And that can open up your brain for other things.

So I've used that practice throughout as it's trickling down for everybody who works here. And that was one thing that really changed the game and allowed me to grow. Yeah. Because that's at the end of the day, everybody who starts a business online or any business wants to be able to grow and, flourish and you have to get help at some point to be able to do you can't do every single thing.

Sometimes if I want to do every single thing, but it just doesn't work 

Nichelle: It wouldn't be at a hundred percent. 

Brittany: Exactly. And I feel like in some of my like dark times, I've been like, I feel like I'm doing everything at 25%. I'm not being a good mom. I'm not being a good business owner. This is suffering. This is suffering. I don't even know how I can put more effort into any of this. And so that was one thing I feel like that really helped me. 

Nichelle: You have to be forward thinking in that role, like you can't wait till it's too late, you have to really think ahead. And to the point that you guys made in the podcast is like, you have to believe in yourself enough. If there's belief there, you're going to make it happen.

Brittany: Right. And I think for so many times, I think back that I used that mindset in convincing Chris, I need more help or we need an office or 

Nichelle: just starting this job 

Brittany: Exactly. It's always been, I need, I just, I know it's gonna work. Just trust me. Like we can do this. I know it's going to be, and he would always. Okay. And so far so good, but yeah, it was a great episode. If you're just wanting to learn more about starting out as an entrepreneur, like my story and maybe some things you didn't know about me as a business owner and as a CEO of a company.

Then there's a lot of really good nuggets in that episode. So like I said, we'll definitely add that into the show notes, so you can easily click over and listen to it. And we'll also share Allie's information as well. So you can follow along with her or sign up for one of her courses, if you are interested as well.

Nichelle: Yeah. Yeah. One of the things that after you came back from recording, that was, I think it brought up a lot of topics that we were like okay. So we can expand on that. So I think that kind of brings us to everything that I know that you wanted to cover this season, it's going to make it even better.

There's, you've asked a lot of questions about what people want to hear. And for the most part, I think a lot of people just want to hear obviously real life. That's what this is. But also just like day to day and like how these things are done as a mom, as a business owner, as I think a lot of that information really can be used in any of those areas. So I think it really brought up some really good topics that we're going to share this season.

Brittany: I know we have some great things coming. We've got some really great guests coming. We're going on a family vacation down to 30A later. I guess by the time you guys hear this, we will have already been on the trip or we will be on the trip. And then I'm going to do a big recap of 30A. Cause that's where we like to vacation. And I always get lots of questions about, I feel like there's definitely enough information to share some of our favorite things about being down there for sure. So that's coming, I'm going to have a few of my friends.

Y'all requested Taryn to be on the podcast. So I'm going to see her in May and we are going to record a podcast episode, so she will be coming. We're also going to bring Jenn back on and talk a little bit more about mindset. She's actually going to be doing a mindset seminar with team Loverly Grey, and we'll get into that in like a future episode.

We're so excited! That was probably like one of our, I feel like I heard so much positivity from that episode and just, it is so easy to just get down or let things overcome you, that you have the power to change with your mind. Yeah. And so she's going to deep dive a little bit more into that, and we'll go into that whole conversation with her again. 

My dad's going to be on the podcast this season, which is so fun. He was joking. He was like, everybody else has been on the podcast, except for me. I feel like he'll have some good stories. I know he has the best stories anytime he's oh let me just tell you this quick story. I'm like pull up a chair. Tell me all the stories. He's the women's tennis coach here in Athens at the university of Georgia, so they are in the busy season right now getting ready to go into the NCAA tournament. In June, he quiets down a little bit and we'll be able to have him on the podcast to share lots of fun things.

 Another thing that I'm excited to share about is Chris's sobriety journey. His anniversary of being sober is coming up. I believe it's nine years this year, and that is in June. So we've shared a little bit about his story on Instagram. I have a saved highlight on Loverly Grey Instagram. If you are wanting to know more about that before the sobriety episode comes out later this summer, but he shared a story there and I know it's touched a lot of people and has been helpful for some people to hear or share with a family member, maybe, but thought it would be.

Great to just recap in a podcast setting. Because when we've recorded it before, it was just, it was a little bit harder to record when we did it, but I think this will be awesome. And he's got a lot of really great tips and just how he gets like through every single day without alcohol. We've got some fun things planned that will involve you guys later this summer think large meet and greet shopping experience.

Speaking of shopping, Nordstrom anniversary sale is coming up later this year. It's one of our favorite times of the year. 

Nichelle: I feel like I'm a pro. Now we have one under our belt. Like we got this year. 

Brittany: Yeah. I know. I've been covering the anniversary sale for the last six years. When Nichelle came on last year, I was like, okay, this sale is such a big deal. It's so much fun. We get to preview brand new clothes and items and accessories to get ready for fall. It's always so fun to show you guys what's coming in, get y'all's mind in gear for upcoming fall fashion and a few pieces I love and carry throughout like the whole winter and into spring.

So we will walk you guys through that process later, that happens in July, but we just have a lot of really exciting coming, and of course, if we love to hear your feedback, if there's anything that you absolutely want us to cover, or maybe you just have a question we are happy to get back to you and answer any questions that you have, or if you have any suggestions definitely email us. All of our contact information is in the show notes. We love chatting with you guys over on Instagram as well @lifewithloverly . So we've got some great things coming in. I can't wait for us to get into season three. 

Nichelle: I think that the next episode is going to be a good one. Yes. We're stepping into mental health awareness month. And I know that episode that we talked about on the finale. I believe second to last finale, we talked a little bit about just dealing with every day, like stress and stuff like that. People love that.

Brittany: And there's so much that goes along with mental health.

And so I think it will be nice just to hear from two working moms, that are going through. We struggle. We have things going on in our lives. Nichelle has teenagers. I have babies, we're both married. There's just life things that happen that can weigh on your mental health. And so we thought it would be great to just chat through, have some conversations.

Yeah. Yeah. And so that will be coming in next week's episode. We can't wait for you to be back and I'm just happy to be back behind the microphone. There's been oh, one thing that we bought that I am excited to break out are these little like lapel microphones that we will do, like podcasts on the go. We talked about, I don't necessarily want to spoil this, but there might be a few times in this season that we throw out like a random, extra episode.

And I think it's going to come from when we just get in good conversation and turn our little lapel mic on and can share some random goodness with you guys I'm so excited. This it's so funny. It goes back because I think it was 2018 when I first was like, I want to have a podcast.

 I don't know what that means, but I want to, I think I want to talk to people more than just like the 15 seconds on Instagram. That was literally the mantra behind wanting to start this podcast even back then. And so now that it's happening, We're recording video content. We've got these fun, little lapel microphones that we'll be able to start having even like more in-depth and like real raw conversations.

Not that we're hiding anything now, but sometimes we start talking and we'll be like, wait, stop talking, so we can get a microphone on. 

Nichelle: Or we can't get to the microphone because we're in the car having a conversation. Yeah, exactly. 

Brittany: So I'm excited for that. It's just, it's so cool that it's come this far and we're doing these awesome things and we're touching lives and we're building this community and I just loved all of y'all's feedback and just chatting with you guys.

It's been so cool. So if you've ever listened to any of our podcasts episodes, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, because it means so much to me that you get the choice of what you want to listen to. And you're choosing to listen to what we have to say. So I truly appreciate that.

And if you have loved what you've been hearing, please make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you can stay up to date. On the most recent episode, we would also love if you could rate and review this podcast, wherever you listen. I absolutely love reading the reviews and seeing what you guys have to say.

It's always really fun to do that. And I know other people like seeing what others have to say about the podcast. So that means a lot to us as well, but please make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to Life with Loverly podcasts. 

Thanks for listening to today's episode. I can't wait to continue these conversations with you over on Instagram. Make sure to follow along at Life with Loverly until next time.