Inside Marketing with MarketSurge

Reed: Hello.

Welcome to the Inside Marketing
with Market Surge Podcast.

Carmen special welcome to you.

You're a member of the team, I would love
to hear the Carmen in 60 Seconds intro.

So we've got you as a tech
wizard, a TikTok creator,

the market surge writer die.

Who are you?

Carmen: I am just a girly trying
to navigate her way through life.

I always say, you know, my
biggest thing is to have like

an abundant mindset and a girl.

With mindset, because we're
all here to continuously learn.

And that's what I feel like I show up
as an, you know, as a wife, as an, uh,

just an employee, as someone that does
some fun content creation on the side.

Um, you know, building a
community and whatever it may be.

You have to learn how
to connect with people.

And the more that you can learn, the
better you can show up as your best self.

Reed: Well, Carmen, you're balancing
a full-time career in supported

market surge customer success and
implementation, being a wife and

crushing it as a content creator.

So tell us a little bit about, you know,
managing all of these responsibilities

and maybe some interesting multitasking
moment you've had recently.

Carmen: Yeah, so in the multitasking
realm of things, one thing that I'm really

trying to focus on this year is my health.

Just my overall mental health, physical
health, and just being a little

bit better in that area every day.

So I've been setting goals every month
about how many steps I wanna get.

Got myself a little walking pad, and
what I'll do, you know, before or after

work is focus on the content creation.

You know, we're gonna be doing that
in the morning and the evening.

And during that time I'm like,
okay, how do I fit everything in?

You know, I'm already busy.

How do you fit more things in that
are also a priority in your life?

So I have learned that I'll get on
my little walking pad and I'll start

walking and I will start editing my
content that I probably may filmed

yesterday or filmed in the morning.

And, um.

Last week I thought I could go a little
bit faster and I actually fell right off

of that thing and right onto my couch.

I was tumbling and rolling and I was like,
honestly, maybe I just need my own little

reality TV show of how embarrassing I am.

So tasking is all about
like that time management.

And I, you know, realized I needed to
start waking up a little bit earlier,

going to bed a little bit, earlier as well
to kind of just fit everything in and.

able to show up and be happy in each
aspect of where I'm at right now.

Reed: Interesting.

Yeah.

And you know, I, I love to hear,
uh, these kinds of stories because.

You know, even if we're not doing
multiple, running multiple businesses

or multiple careers, and we all have
to balance our, our personal life with

our professional life, and, and so, you
know, it's nice to hear that, you know,

uh, someone doing really well, like you
is, you know, having similar struggles.

So, um, well, you know,
we're gonna talk about.

Your work with Market Search,
um, later in the podcast.

But would love to hear, to start a little
bit about your experience with, uh, TikTok

and being in a, uh, an influencer there.

Um, tell us, you know, how did you
get started and was there a moment

where you felt like this is really
taking off and that I should really

invest some, some more effort into it?

Carmen: Yeah, absolutely.

So I sat at, started as most
people do, just being a consumer.

You know, TikTok was a really big
thing, you know, wanted to check it out.

Really loved that style of just
being able to search for different

content, being able to find new people.

And I'm all about like resources and
for me, social media is looked at as

a really bad thing, but for me it's.

It's just another resource.

How you spend your time with that
resource is your own problem.

But you know, that's a
whole different discussion.

Um, and that's something that I will
talk about a lot as an influencer as

well, is just priorities, you know,
time management, all of those things.

But being able to just focus
in on what I'm doing, um,

helps me be a content creator.

And I just kind of realized that all these
people were kind of just human beings.

They're similar people to me.

I feel like that's the thing about
like influencers or, you know, even

business owners outside people are
like, oh, I could never do that.

And.

Really you can.

It's just what are you making a priority?

How are you showing up and creating,
you know, the amount of effort you're

putting into it is your timeline.

Right?

You know, that's how you're
gonna see that growth.

So for me, one day I
was like, you know what?

I wanna be able to like get free
stuff and like get to try new things.

I'm all about self-care.

That's a lot what my content is about
and I just kind of noticed this.

Transformation among women and
in the thought of self-care.

So I was like, you know what?

I have some thoughts about that.

Let me start creating some content.

So, um, I started with these little
moments called coffee car chats with Carm.

A lot of us, you know, we're on the go and
it's just sometimes we have a thought and

we're just like, oh, I wanna share that.

So that's what I love to do is.

Just take a moment and share.

Was I inspired by a song?

Like sometimes I will just be bawling
my eyes out to a song and be like,

I wanna share how that made me feel.

And you know, how do people
get in their feelings?

How do they walk through those emotions?

So there's so many different
things in life, and I.

The theme that a lot of, you
know, content creators hear

today is everything is content.

So that's how, you know, you kind of
build that and you start to build your

brand as you just kind of dive in.

What are you, what are
you doing in daily life?

If you're showing up and trying to fake
it or do things that you're not really

doing, people are gonna see that as.

Inauthentic and you know,
you're not gonna succeed.

But thing for me was I had a brand, like
I said, I kind of started out just to

get, get the free products and just to
kind of feel a little bit lonely, less

lonely in my normal life, and build kind
of a community and just have some friends,

to be quite honest, people, to talk to
people with like, like-minded interest.

So that's kind of how I
like really dived into it.

And then when, um, there
was a brand, it's called Dr.

Teals.

They are a brand that
I have been using for.

15 years or however long, ever since they
were in Walmart, I was getting them and.

What I did was I checked my
email one day and I saw Dr.

Teals was like, I love your content.

It's so inspiring, it's so empowering.

Like we would love to share
our products with you.

So that was one of those moments I was
like, okay, well people are noticing

they are, um, liking what I have to say.

And it's as a content creator,
whether it's gifted or it's

a huge paid collaboration.

If you love that product,
you're gonna be proud of that.

So that was definitely my moment.

I was like.

Okay.

I'm doing something right.

Reed: Interesting.

Interesting.

So it kind of emerged organically
as something that you, you

genuinely loved and, and that was,

Carmen: Yeah.

Reed: that was enough to get started.

Well, that's great.

So did, um,

tell us about, like the, I'm
curious, like the timeframe you

started at TikTok was this like at
the, in the early days of TikTok.

Carmen: So,

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: actually wasn't on TikTok for.

Probably the first

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: think that it really started
blowing up during COVID, but I

actually worked in healthcare, so
I never really had that like covid

Reed: No.

Carmen: I was completely
shut down from the world.

Like I was always on the frontline working

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: Um, and, and you're drained.

I mean, you are just absolutely
drained during that time.

So coming home, and I didn't really
care about anything like that.

I didn't care about the trends
or anything, but sister was

telling me that, you know.

She always wanted to talk
about different things.

She was like, you know,
did you hear about this?

Did you hear about that?

And I'm like, no, I didn't
hear about that again.

So I finally like, downloaded it and I
was like, honestly, this is pretty cool.

It's, it was a completely
different way to consume content.

Um, a lot of people, they either love
YouTube or they, they don't, don't

like to spend the time listening
to it, um, or sitting down and, you

know, kind of engaging with that.

So TikTok just kind of
gave people that, you know.

Are a little bit faster in the
way that they consume content.

Um, a little bit more carefree.

I feel like it kind of do
dove into that demographic and

they've really found a way to.

Do it across the board for everyone.

But that was definitely
how I kind of started.

And then I kind of consumed content for
probably a year, uh, before I even thought

Reed: Oh,

Carmen: becoming a content

Reed: okay.

Carmen: Um, I had kind of left that, that
busy, crazy, chaotic life, um, and in

healthcare and started searching for a
new position, which, you know, led me to

Reed: Awesome.

Carmen: But in that kind
of downtime I was like.

I felt really lonely.

I wasn't interacting with anybody.

Um, you know, I think I didn't have
a job for several months and it was

like, what do I do to fill my time?

That feels good.

I didn't have any hobbies at the time.

Everyone kept saying, that's me.

You need to have hobbies.

You need to love yourself
to not feel so lonely.

And I was like, okay,
well how do I do that?

So I kind of started just seeing all
of these people getting a lot of.

Satisfaction in their
life from being a creator.

And I was like, yeah,
let me do that as well.

So I wanna say I started like maybe three

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: um, somewhere around there.

It was like right before I started
at Market Surge and then, you know,

kind of just kind of fell in love
with it and have continued ever

Reed: Interesting.

You know, and, you know, we've
been working together for about

a year, Carmen, and, um, I think
I just found out about your, your

TikTok following a few weeks ago.

So you've kind of kept it on the DL at
work and, but, um, you know, I, I've.

I've seen a lot of your videos.

You, you do a great job.

Um, do you plan to pursue
additional sponsorships?

Is that something that
you'd be interested in?

Carmen: Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, that's the dream as a
content creator, right, is to be

paid for how you're showing up

Reed: Yeah.

Carmen: So I actually just
had one not too long ago.

Um, it was from, it was
for like a super viral

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: You know, virality is
a huge thing that kind of came

from TikTok, I believe as well.

And, um.

Being able to do products like that
is always, you know, easier because

it's like, I know people are talking
about this, like, what are they saying?

So I feel like a lot of it
is the research behind it

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: And that's something that they,
you know, don't realize about content

creators is we're not just like getting
on there and just chatting about things.

Like, we do our research, we
wanna make sure that we're, you

know, looking at ingredients.

And that's something that I've
learned from content creation.

Like is this just a product that
they just stuck a bunch of things in

and they want you to slap it on your
face and call it the best thing ever?

So you just like, I feel like
it's been a way to learn a lot

about myself, which has been

Reed: Okay.

Well that's great.

Um, so I know there are a lot of.

Entrepreneurs that would like to, uh,
extend their brand with social media.

TikTok seems to be a, a good platform.

Um, do you have any, uh, tactics that
you'd recommend for somebody just

getting into the TikTok game now?

You know, selfishly like market search.

We opened a TikTok account a few weeks ago
as well, and so I'm listening intently,

you know, what, what do you recommend
for, uh, maximizing your influence on.

TikTok.

Carmen: Yeah, absolutely.

So there are so many people now
that just have pages dedicated

to teaching people how to do this
because it's become such a big thing.

It's filling the, the loneliness
gap that we're feeling a lot these

days, um, that social anxiety, it's
a way to interact with people without

having to physically leave your house.

So there's so many different people that
are on it and so many different creators.

So you can just look up
what are the best tips

Reed: Hmm.

Carmen: you know, to, to do content.

Some write out the, the.

The gate here are, um, if you
haven't heard of this yet, there's

a thing called a millennial pause.

So, you know, people of our generation,
um, apparently we like to come on

and we're really like, quiet at first
or we pause a lot, or, you know,

we're saying, um, like those things
to fill gaps because we're just

not used to being on social media.

But the younger generations,
apparently they figured this all out.

So that's something that we've kind of
learned from them is you wanna be like.

away.

Action.

Um, and I kind of talked to you about
this is like where you're like sitting

down or you're moving your cup or you
know you're putting on your glasses.

It's, it's basically like little
movements that are catching people's eyes.

So what you're saying is really
important, but actually what you're

doing with your body is very important as

Reed: Okay,

Carmen: Um, that body language,
which we learn at such a young age

about body language that really
comes to life as a content creator.

As you can see, I can't stop
moving my hands 'cause I'm so used

Reed: so yeah.

Carmen: as.

Creator, um, on my own.

community and just kind
of chatting with them.

And that's how I would
interact in real life.

So I, I do it on camera as well, so
I think that that's where like that

authentic factor kind of comes in.

But yeah, there are so
many tips and tricks.

Um, I will say on TikTok specifically,
you can actually look at your metrics.

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: something that's nice
about that software specifically

is you can kind of look okay, when
are people that are following me.

Looking at my content, when, what times of
day does my content kind of do the best?

Do I have mostly male
followers or female followers?

And it even breaks it down as
to what region of the world is

kind of consuming your content.

So I actually have a lot
of Canadians that follow my

Reed: Hmm.

Carmen: is really

Reed: Interesting.

Carmen: And um, personally, I fallen in
love with a lot of like Canadian creators.

So it's been fun.

I am.

I, I love travel, so just being
able to talk about anything

culture-wise for different regions
of the world is always fun for

Reed: Oh, that is interesting.

Okay.

Yeah.

Uh, those are some great,
uh, ga great tips and tricks.

You know, we're always looking for hacks
to maximize the use of these platforms.

And, you know, other than the
time spent, you know, this

investment in TikTok is free.

You know, you, you, you can buy ads.

Um, I am, I'm not very familiar with the.

A side of TikTok, but, um, so much
of this is just self-generated

effort polish, you know, and best
practices like you're describing.

So I'm, um, I'm so glad to
hear that you're, you're doing

well and really enjoying that.

Um, I.

Well, let's, let's talk a little bit about
your other career, uh, at at Market Surge.

Um, so Carmen, you've actually been
with Market Search much longer than

I have, and, um, you know, and I, I
think you, you know, many, you know,

if you look at the reviews like Carmen,
you're mentioned in almost every

five star review we have and, um.

You know, and, and I, I feel like you're
kind of like the beating heart of,

of market surge and what most people
see is their human, the human face

of, uh, you know, customer success.

And so tell us a little bit about what
brought you to Market Surge and, um,

you know, what, you know, what your
career arc has been like, you know.

Carmen: Yeah, so as I mentioned
earlier, was kind of a

frontline worker during Covid.

that was draining on my mental health.

And I am an empathic person so I
can kind of feel people's energy

and like it was really hard.

Um, I worked in addiction and I.

Overall, that's just
a hard field to be in.

So, during that time we saw huge spikes in
anxiety, huge psych spikes in depression

just across the world, I feel like.

So I just kind of realized that, um,
personally for me, I, I just couldn't

turn it off and it was really eating
into my happiness in my day-to-day life.

So I started looking into something
that most importantly, I could turn

my mind off at the end of the night.

That was really important to me.

And, um, when I.

Met the, um, that was interviewing
me the at the time for market surge.

I remember that he said to me,
there is never an emergency in.

You know this tech industry, yes,
people feel like there's emergencies,

but no one is going to die about this.

And that was just like the indication
that I needed, that this was the

right move for me and I'm so happy.

I do, I feel like I have such
a better work life balance.

And I always tell people, you know,
and my friends are ever, you know,

having struggles in their job.

I tell them, you know, if
you're not happy in that.

The world is big.

The world is wide.

You know, go and find your happiness
and maybe if you can't change your job

situation, something or find a hobby,
like I said, like content creation,

that's gonna fill your cup up because
our batteries are drained every

single day and you need to be able to.

Know that your job is something that
you wanna wake up to and you know

you're excited to go could to go do so.

Once I got into market surge, I
just loved the customer part of it.

Um, so I was mainly operations,
um, in my career before this.

And operations is customer success,
but it's also really the admin

side of it, the backend side of it.

Um, so what I'm learning from
all of our entrepreneurs is.

You kind of wear multiple different
hats and I mean, I knew that

because I have worked in like I
said, that industry of operations,

As a entrepreneur, you really are.

You have to be really good at
operations, you have to be good

at financials, you have to be
good at so many different things.

I feel like I've been able to take
my experiences from personal life

and professional life and be able
to help people and you know, just

connect them to why, you know, how do
we make market search work for you?

That's the main thing.

Reed: That's, that's wonderful.

And, and, um, you know, so just
add a, a little color to, um.

Uh, market Surge was founded, uh, by,
by Jared Nygren, um, uh, you know,

a friend of ours and he's, he's,
uh, off starting another business.

Maybe I'll have him on
the podcast in the future.

Um, but one of the, when I was in the
process of acquiring Market Surge, um, one

of the, the keys that I insisted to Jared
is that we find a way to retain Carmen.

Like Carmen is like such a key asset to
the business that I can't really acquire.

But acquire the business
without, without Carmen's help.

And, um, the, uh, you know, and, and
Carmen's been so valuable, but I think

Carmen was actually one that told me that
there aren't really technical emergencies

that you have to be on 24 7 for.

And, um, you know, I, I think sometimes
in support, you know, when we, when

we have clients, we, um, are, are
reactive, um, we, you know, and, and.

For context, we do actually
have 24 7 support available

on our technical platform.

Um, but uh, it's, it's overseas and
so they're working daylight hours.

Well, you know, if, if a problem would,
uh, come up at night, however, you

know, a lot of the, the issues that
that could come up would be like a.

Uh, one of our marketing automations, um,
work, you know, having been configured

incorrectly or working incorrectly
and messaging the wrong person.

Um, but, but those sorts of things
are, um, very easy to turn on and

off and, and, you know, not life
and death as you, as you say.

And, and, you know, and Carmen,
I think you've, you've done a

good job, um, teaching that.

And I even helping our clients
understand, you know, the gravity of that.

Um.

Carmen: Yeah, that's what I always say.

Whenever I'm on a meeting with somebody,
I always, you know, let them know

of all of the resources available,
available to them, because everyone

loves to get on a call with me and
I love to get on a call with them.

But you know, I'm not
available during the weekend.

So when people are running, you know.

Say a campaign during the
holidays and we're not available.

We have that backend support, which is so
helpful to them, but I also really push

my clients to, let's work out the kinks

Reed: Yeah.

Carmen: And I feel like
that's just a life lesson.

You know, work out the kinks
beforehand so you're not stressed in

the moment and, and it's not a fire.

Reed: Yeah,

Carmen: I feel like that's been
something I've really been able

to build with our community is.

Preparation and kind of instilling
those kind of values that we have in our

community, um, into our clients as well.

Reed: 100%.

And, um, you know, over time,
inevitably, you know, you've, you.

You know, we've all had this problem,
but we've dealt with people who, shall

we say, have a different communication
style or different working style

and present a bit of a challenge.

Now, we love all our clients, um, but,
but we've, we have had interactions

occasionally with somebody that
maybe is rushed more than they

should be, or stressed about.

You know, something that maybe doesn't
have a material impact to their

business and kind of unload on on you.

How have you dealt with these
kind of situations and, and you

know, you do it so effectively.

But, you know, I think this
would be valuable for anybody

in any kind of support business.

I.

Carmen: Yeah, absolutely.

And you know, as.

Entrepreneurs or business owners
are working in any industry, you're

gonna deal with clients that you
know, maybe don't see things the way

that you do, or they wanna play the
blame game or whatever it may be.

And those can be hard conversations.

And I feel like in the beginning
I used to react, kind of like

you said, and I was just kind of
came from a chaotic environment.

So I kind of would put that into my
energy here and people can feel that

energy even through the screen if I'm
kind of freaking out and I'm like, oh, I

can't, I don't know how to navigate this.

Or, you know, hold on one moment,
let me figure this out real quick.

Um, I've really realized to kind of slow
down and people actually appreciate that.

They appreciate that calm energy
when you start to freak out as the

leader that's leading a conversation.

People are gonna freak out around you.

So that's number one is just showing
up with your own energy that you

want people to give back to you.

Um, another thing is to say you
have a client that really is

just giving you a hard time.

Like every time you see them on your
calendar, you're like, ah, dang, it's,

this is maybe gonna be a bumpy ride.

I feel like just remembering that
everyone is human and we have to

show up with kindness and compassion
because at the end of the day, we don't

know what that person on the other
side of the screen is going through.

Um, you know, they may look so successful
running this amazing business, and

I'm sure they are, but we know that
comes with a lot of stress as well in.

Sometimes as humans we deflect and
we put our energy into the wrong

places and just kind of being
like not taking it personally.

And I think that's, that's just a lesson
in everyday life is if you can be like,

okay, they had a little bit of a moment I.

from there.

And then also, if you do have someone
that is kind of, you know, maybe

giving you a little bit of anxiety,
making you a little fearful to jump

on a call with them, I think that
what I learned to do was to actually

just take a little bit of extra time.

And on our calendars, it's nice
because we can add a little bit of a

buffer time into all of our calendars.

So I started adding buffer
times in my calendars.

So that during meetings,
it never felt rushed.

I always had an extra 15 minutes
at the end of every meeting.

And what I learned with, you know,
specific clients in the past is I

just started to learn about them.

I remember taking a class in
college and it was all about like,

how do, how do humans behave?

How do our minds work?

And how that relates to management styles.

We are all different.

Everyone reacts.

In different ways.

Everyone was raised in
different environments.

We all have different values and
morals, and that is just like a lesson

I'm always trying to project to people
because kindness comes from that

compassion and that understanding.

And when you can take the time to be like.

You know, I feel like as a support
member, if you're constantly talking

to the same people, if you can be like,
oh, hey, how's your brother doing?

And you remembered that he was in
the hospital last time you spoke to

someone, that is going to be just the
biggest cherry on top to a successful

conversation because people know
that you're really listening to

Reed: Yeah, and that's a great point.

You know, it, it's those, uh,
it's those kinds of touches

that make people feel heard.

And, um, because we're, we're really
in a business of relationships, you

know, and, and trust, you know, like,
um, you know, they're, our clients

are asking us for recommendations.

They're asking us for, uh, you
know, asking us to help them make

important decisions for them.

And, um.

You know, if, if we're somebody
that, that feels like we're along

the ride, uh, with them, then that
really, that really does help.

And, you know, and also like, I mean, once
in a while we're, we're wrong or we make a

mistake, you know, we, we make that right.

But, but our relationship can, can
persist past those kinds of errors,

um, provided we have that relationship.

And, um, you know, I, I, I.

Think, Carmen, you do such a great job
with, with this and, um, you know, have,

have just so much patience, um, and,
and kindness with our, with our clients.

So you've done excellent work with,
with them and, and definitely,

definitely a, a patience that I admire.

I, I, I don't have myself and,
um, so I'm, I'm glad that.

Well, we do, we do our best.

Um, now, so the, you know, question for
you is, um, you know, so you have a, a

great combination of creative project
management and technical skills and,

you know, but a lot of those were.

Especially the technical skills
were learned on the job, you know?

And how, how does that experience, um,
you know, that you've, you've come so

far, you're definitely the, the market
surge, uh, CRM expert on the team.

You know, I, I, I still go to you
with, uh, tons of questions and, uh,

you know, but knowing that like, and
you know, where you started and where

you are now, how, how does that make
you, or how would you advise somebody.

In a, like a non-technical,
with a non-technical background

to learn technical skills.

Carmen: Absolutely.

Your mindset is so important.

If you tell yourself, and I, I hear
this a lot of the time, just like

I kind of tried to hype you up.

Yes, you do have

Reed: Sure.

Carmen: I do that with our clients a lot
too, because I always have, you know, I.

People that are like, oh, I'm
just never gonna understand this.

I'm, I, you know, I'm so grateful for
you because you walked me through it.

And I'm like, well, if you feel like I
am going too fast, like slow me down.

You know, let me tell me how I can help
you actually grasp this information.

What kind of resources, and that's
something that our team is really great

about too, is if somebody asks for.

know, can you make a tutorial on
this and say, it's a very complex

one, you know about creating funnels.

I'm either gonna jump on a call
with you, or we're gonna provide

those resources because we wanna
make sure that you're successful.

But that is just the biggest thing,
is just kind of breaking it down,

being a continuous learner and
just having that mindset to be

like, I'm gonna figure this out.

I mean, I will even tell
people it took me probably.

A good six to eight months to truly
feel so confident that I could run

the, you know, the entire system.

And there's still even things today
that I'm like, I, you know, a client

will come with us with an issue
and I'll be like, okay, well let, I

don't know of an answer to that right
now, but let me think about that.

Let me ask our development team, and
we're usually pretty good about finding

what we call workarounds, which will
be ways that if the system can't do it.

We're gonna find a way for, you know,
to piece some things together so you

can automate that and make your life
easier, because that's what we're all

Reed: Yeah.

Carmen: in this game, is just making
sure that our, our are not wasting

time on the admin things, and they're
actually being able to dive into

the creative things that they love.

Reed: Yeah, that's a great
way to, to, to put it.

And, and I, I've been surprised
at how important teaching and

the ability to teach is, is so
crucial to, to our business.

Um, you know, both like
internally and, and externally.

Um, well, you know, this has been,
this has been awesome, Carmen.

A couple more questions just before.

We leave maybe a little bit
outside of work, what, uh, would

you say is your guilty pleasure
or what's like, interesting media

you consume outside of work?

You know, what, what are, what are some
of those, uh, you know, favorites you

like, um, when you're not on the clock?

Carmen: Yeah, well my guiltiest pleasure
is definitely binge watching a TV show.

I love to just rot and be
able to turn my mind off.

I'm a very overactive, my brain
is bouncing off the walls 24.

Or seven.

So to be able to actually like
just chill is, is such a blessing.

But what I really have been leaning into
recently, 'cause I'm kind of realizing

that might be rotting my brain a little
bit and you know, it might not be the

best thing for it, you know, all the time
after work or whatever is diving into.

Kind of the content that I wanna
show up as, and that's kind of one

of the reasons I got into being a
content creator is there it are.

A few YouTubers that really honestly
changed my life, changed my mindset,

taught me about the abundant mindset,
taught me about a growth mindset.

Um, so I really like to stay
really up to date with them.

I feel like that's something
that's really fun and a big

trend that was going around is.

Comfort creators, and that's exactly who I

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: wanna be the person that you're
like, oh, you know, what's she up to?

And you know, that's kind of the
relationship that I like to have with

my community and the people that I
follow, is again, filling that loneliness

gap and you know, having those people
that you can catch up with and just

kind of looking at everything more
so as a positive than a negative.

If I do realize that maybe I'm consuming
too much TV or something, you know.

Maybe change that muse up or
media that I'm consuming and go

to a book or something like that.

But I, I always laugh because people are.

Seemingly a little scared of self-help
books, those are like my favorite thing.

I, I love to learn more about the science
behind the mind and why do I have anxiety?

Why do I suffer with that?

And you know, what ways can we
basically plan and prepare so we don't

have those in say, moments like this
where you show up and you're like,

oh, I hope this, this goes okay.

But you know, doing our deep
breathing and things like that

will definitely get us prepared.

Reed: Well, uh, any, any specific, uh,
I'm going to, um, uh, follow up with,

are there any specific YouTube creators
you like that, uh, we could recommend?

Carmen: Yes.

So, um, I have a

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: Janine Amla.

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: She is a very good
Christian lifestyle content creator.

There is Sam Oz Corral.

She is again, a lifestyle creator.

She is in her, you know, early thirties,
you know, I'm getting there as well.

So I like to kind of see people that
are a little bit maybe ahead of me

to kind of see what they're going
through, what kind of struggles.

She's very into manifestation and
just like teaching about mindset and.

Simple like habits to
kind of better yourself.

And then there is another one
called Lauren Rado, I think

that's how you say her name.

She's just funny.

You know, you gotta have those funny

Reed: Mm-hmm.

Carmen: You know?

You can't always be
consuming content that's.

Trying to better yourself, or
you're gonna be like, oh, I'm

not, I'm not good enough for this.

But, you know, balancing it out and having
different types of people that I go to.

But Lauren is, she's, she actually created
a very big trend that's called 12 3

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: Um, I don't have quite the
treadmill, I just have a little

walking pad, so I can't do that.

But I have done it before and
it is a great workout and.

I, I just think it's cool to follow
people that you know, that my sister

follows or that my friends follow, so
that we actually have things to talk

about beyond the negativities of life.

Because let's be honest, every time we
get together with people, the the natural

thing to do is to gossip or to talk about,
oh, this was hard this week, or whatever.

So that's what I've kind of learned,
you know, as I'm approaching

30 now, is finding things that.

We're like-minded with people that
are positive, which can be a little

bit of a, a struggle, but that's
one thing that I do love about.

You know, you can see who's following

Reed: Sure.

Carmen: your, you know, Instagram
or whatever it may be, so you can

be able to connect with them about

Reed: Interesting.

Would you, would you say you're
an extrovert or an introvert?

Just in general.

Carmen: I'm in, I'm right in the

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: I can

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: you know, once I show up and I
am, get that little energy, that nervous

energy outta the way, I'm gonna be

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: I'm gonna chat it up with you.

Um, and I would say probably everybody
thinks I'm an extrovert naturally,

just because once I start c and I,
I'm over here just chatting away.

But really, truly, I am
one of those people that.

When you make plans with me,
I probably thought 30 times,

should I go, should I not go?

Like, because you know, you have
that nervous energy about it.

Reed: Sure.

Carmen: that's the introvert

Reed: Okay.

Carmen: But I actually recently went
to an event by myself, and that's

something that I'm learning too,
is you can do things by yourself.

Reed: Mm-hmm.

Carmen: you, you don't always
have to be with friends.

But we went to this event, it was
actually a friendship building event,

and I sat with all these girls.

And they said to me at the end of
the night, they were like, we are so

grateful that we were sitting with you
specifically because you made us open up.

They all were like, we're such introverts.

And it's, it's so hard to come to
these events and to feel comfortable.

So I feel like that's just, you
know, what I'm trying to make my

life motto is to make specifically
women just feel confident to show up.

And if you love a bubble bath, like.

Dig into that.

And I remember I used to be made
fun, made fun of for that in my

family, and I'm like, have you
ever had a self-care bubble bath?

Like, that's the best.

So it's really leaning into
things that actually make you

happy and fill up your cup.

Reed: Yeah.

Well, that's great.

You know, and you, you, you had a few
tells that made me think that you were

an introvert as you were describing
your approach to social event.

And, um, I, you know, I'm a,
I'm a definitely an introvert,

you know, I overthink things.

I, um, you know, I, I sweat before I get
to the event, but if there's a task at

the event, you know, like if we're, um.

You know, working on something or
watching a sporting event, it's

like, I'm good, but like, if it's
open-ended, I am just like a mess.

Like I have, like, I'm the, like
my kryptonite is small talk.

That's really what, what I strike with.

Carmen: is the weather?

Reed: Yeah,

Carmen: feel like that's all I

Reed: yeah,

Carmen: days.

I'm like, it wasn't sunny

Reed: yeah,

Carmen: So,

Reed: exactly.

Carmen: but yeah,

Reed: Or just like, ask me how I'm doing
and I'll be like, you know, like, what?

Carmen: yeah.

Or what have you been up to lately?

Reed: Oh man.

Yeah.

Carmen: Can you just check my Instagram?

I'll, that's what tells you I what
the pictures I posted yesterday.

That's

Reed: Exactly.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Ask me about something substantial.

Well, you know, well, Carmen,
it has been, uh, a real delight

to have you on the podcast.

Um, you know, you, you add so
much to the market search team

and you do such great work.

You know, our, our clients love you
and you know, I, I sure appreciate

all that that you do for the team.

Well, we're, we're gonna wrap it
there and, uh, you know, at any time

you can always reach, uh, Carmen
on at support@marketsearch.com

or, or text her at, uh,
8 7 2 2 6 6 3 3 8 3.

Um, we are always here to
help for any of our clients.

Any questions you have, but, uh,
again, thanks for coming on Carmen.

Carmen: Yeah.

Thank you so much for all
the kind comments and just

making this nice and easy.

'cause you can be around people
that make you feel good, that's the.

A way to be successful for sure.