Episode 91: Designing a Life with Marketing, Mental Health & Mindset — with Sydney Nanberg

 

The full episode transcript is below.

Today on Beyond 6 Seconds:

I didn’t want to be miserable anymore. Okay, well, what I’m doing isn’t working. So how can I change? Not me, but how can I change my mindset? And I figured if I do everything that scares me, something is going to change.

Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds, the podcast that goes beyond the six second first impression to share the extraordinary stories and achievements of everyday people. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel. Did you know that Beyond 6 Seconds has a free newsletter? This newsletter will give you exclusive insights behind the scenes and bonus information about this podcast. Plus as a special thank you for signing up, you’ll get a copy of my free checklist for getting started with podcasting. It’s easy to sign up, just go to my website www.beyond6seconds.com and click on sign up for my free newsletter. Or you can go to the show notes of this episode and find the signup link for the newsletter there. And now on to today’s episode!

On today’s episode, I’m speaking with Sydney Nanberg. Sydney is an anti-bullying activist on a mission to prevent suicides. She defied the expectations of society by dropping out of college to create her own path in life, and built a six figure marketing agency when she was 20 years old. Now Sydney teaches tools to help others live fulfilling lives on the topics of self care, the power of mindset, and entrepreneurship. Sydney, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you so much, Carolyn. I’m so excited to be here. I love your podcast. I’m so glad that we were able to connect.

Thank you.

I am really excited to have you on the show and really excited to connect with another fellow podcaster, and especially someone who has such an amazing story like you do. I’d love to learn more about that big decision point that you had, I guess it was about five years ago now, when you decided to make a big decision to follow your own path in life; and kind of break from what society had expected you to follow. Tell me more about that, what was going on at that time? And what caused you to make that change at that point?

I was at the University of Arizona, I was a sophomore in college. And I just, wasn’t happy. And I remember I was in a class, it was about plants. For some reason, everyone in the class failed this test or whatever, and the professor gave this little speech where he said, that because everybody failed, that you should really consider, you know, basically your future. You know, maybe you shouldn’t be in college right now. And maybe this isn’t for you. And just because we fail the test about plants, it was the beginning of the year. And so everybody in the class was like, Oh, my God, like, how could the professor say that? I was like, I was inspired. You know what, maybe it’s okay, that my path is not the same as everyone else’s. And I don’t usually talk about this part that much, except a little bit on an episode of my podcast. People were interested in it as I’m sharing it. So I went up to the teacher after class. And I tell him, thank you so much. You really encouraged me. I’m going to drop out of your class right now. And I think I’m gonna drop out of school as well. Wow. I had a paper signed to drop out of his class. I think he was like, he didn’t really say much. I think he was in shock. When I was leaving class, I was like, Oh, my God, what am I doing? My parents are going to kill me. I didn’t drop out of school yet. I was walking back from class and I wasn’t happy. And I was like, I’m going to take this as a sign and I’m going to follow my gut feeling. So, I asked myself, if I could do anything in the world right now, what would it be? I gave myself three seconds to answer the question because if you give yourself longer than it’s no longer following your gut feeling right? So my initial goal was to move to Miami Beach, and I’m from Chicago. Originally, I was in Arizona for school. I have family in Florida, but not in Miami. But Florida was always my happy place. So I think that’s probably where it came from. So I said, Okay, move to Miami Beach. You know, I wanted to somehow own my own business. I was 19 at the time and I just I wanted to own my own business. I wanted to create something and I wanted to live in the warm weather. That’s really it, it really started off that simple. So what I realized was okay, it’s going to be hard to get a job Initially, I don’t even have an idea for a business, and how am I going to do this without a college degree? I told my parents what I wanted to do, and they were very supportive. I didn’t tell anybody else what I was doing, like my friends or my roommates. I dropped out of school, but I stayed in Arizona and I took courses and classes and things that would challenge me and I got a job in sales to become really good at sales. I took public speaking to improve my speaking skills. I took comedy improv classes to really do something outside of my comfort zone and be quick on my feet. I took leadership classes, and I spent a lot of time just working on my habits and personal development and growth. And because of that I had an idea, I want to do real estate. I left school, and I moved to Miami after a few months of doing those classes and personal development. I got my real estate license, I moved to Miami by myself. I did not live with family because I I do have family in Florida, but not Miami. I moved to Miami by myself, I started doing real estate within my first few months of doing real estate, I ended up selling about $5 million worth of real estate without knowing anyone, and I didn’t know anything about real estate, I just knew, do the opposite of what everyone’s doing. Because there’s so much competition, everybody’s trained the same way, and so that’s what I did. And I realized I don’t like real estate. I like marketing. I wanted to get a job maybe for a real estate broker. Maybe it was me, maybe I needed to learn more. I figured if I did that, you know, maybe it would like the whole thing. So there was a company that I was looking for a marketing director. I did not go to school for marketing. But you know, I’m almost 26. So it’s my generation and I could figure things out, I can Google anything. I went in, I applied for this job for the marketing director of like, some luxury brokerage in Miami. I was prepared, and I did a lot of research and I got the job. I wasn’t really paid a lot. People started asking me to do their marketing, and I started a marketing agency. And I’ve been doing that ever since. I still live in Miami and I met my boyfriend here. We’ve been together for five years now and that’s where I’m at. I just kept taking one step at a time. So that’s kind of my journey. Wow,

That’s such a explosive and quick change. You know, I think it’s something that Malcolm Gladwell has written about is that, a lot of those big decisions we make in our lives are made in an instant or in a blink. It sounds like certainly there was, I’m sure quite a lot leading up to the point where you were in the class, and the professor gave that famous peace of mind. advice, inspiration or you know, however you view it.

I liked it.

It’s incredible. Because once you have someone with a boss or a teacher or some authority figure who says something about your ability, and so often it sticks with us, but in a negative way. But I think it’s amazing that you know, you were in a place at that time that it really freed you. Okay, now this is the impetus for me to finally make this change. I’m sure that certainly, while the actual point of change was quick, I’d imagine that there was quite a lot leading up to that. I know you mentioned that you were in college at the time and that you were unhappy. So could you take me to what the situation was like right before that, what had you been through and what was leading up to this change?

When I tell people that story that I just mentioned, that is what happened, but behind the scenes and what I went through to get to that point was a lot more than just a success story is not a success story. I’m still on my journey in my life. And that’s how I see it.

There is a lot going on at the time and leading up to that, even in that I just wasn’t happy at school. I made some really amazing friends who I’m still friends with today. But I had a lot of anxiety. I was depressed all the time, I felt very out of place. I don’t know why I was doing what everyone was doing. But for some reason, being in school, I just didn’t feel like it was my path. So I was just miserable. When I started making the change to just so everyone listening knows, it’s not like I just Okay, I got a job. Great. I’m signing up for all these classes. Great. There were days where I didn’t show up to public speaking. There were days that I didn’t go to the comedy improv class, or I took a cab to go there and ask the cab driver to bring me back to my apartment because I was terrified. There were times when with the job in sales that I screwed up and I got nervous. I mean, it was really hard leading up to my current situation. I kind of had done what everybody told me I should be doing my entire life. You know, I was bullied growing up really badly. So I dealt with a lot of anxiety, a lot of depression, you know, suicidal thoughts, things like that. But I was always very quiet, very shy, I’m still kind of quiet unless I’m around my friends or, which is crazy because I have a podcast, but I’m pretty quiet in real life. I always knew that I needed to do something different that from the path that everybody is told to take. I knew it wasn’t for me. But I kind of went along with it. I think I hit that breaking point was when I was on my own in school away, living on my own, where I had time to think to myself, and I realized, okay, I’m, you know, 19 years old, I can make a choice, I can either do something about the situation or continue doing what makes me feel miserable. And I hit a point where I was like, I’m not going to feel miserable anymore. Leading up to that was just a lot of me just being silence my whole life. And a lot of anxiety, like I said, and a lot of depression, a lot of feeling like I didn’t fit in and all of that and I think when I chose to see that moment when I failed that test in a class about plants, I saw it as a sign that I don’t have to take this path because I saw in that room that everybody was just like disappointed because of a great because of a letter. The fact that I didn’t feel that showed me that maybe there’s more to life, maybe I don’t have to be like everybody else. And then I started researching and reading about successful people in life, peace and happiness and learning about it. And people who tend to follow their gut feeling, etc. That’s when I had all those realizations. But before that, those previous experiences is what led to the change. So that was the breaking point where I was like, I’m going with it, I need to change. I can’t live feeling like this anymore. And so there was a lot of things that built up and it was a lot of hard work. And it’s still a lot of hard work to this day. I mean, now I own a business. I mean, I have a podcast, I have more responsibilities. It’s always a lot of hard work. It’s easy just to tell you, how you ask what happened leading up to it, because a lot of people just like to tell the good parts. But the reality is that it takes a lot of hard work to get to the good parts. I mean, it’s not easy. I’m very relentless, and I’m very driven by happiness. That’s really what I’m after. And that’s what I’m trying to help other people do as well. I hope that answered the question that was like a very long explanation.

It doesn’t, there’s just so many amazing points that you’ve made and things that I want to revisit, because it sounds like it’s such a change, not just a change of I’m leaving school and I’m doing something else but also a change in your life. It sounds like potentially, in your own perspective and your own thoughts about how you wanted to live your life, and how you want it to feel, because you mentioned struggling with anxiety with being bullied throughout your life. I certainly would imagine that puts you in a very difficult situation to deal with and very challenging and negative. So to make that change and that decision to say okay, I’m going to focus differently, I’m going to make the decision to pursue health and happiness and get in touch with my true talents and build my own path is really amazing. But it sounds like also you have in you the drive, and persistence to carry you through the really difficult times and find where you feel you’re supposed to be.

Sometimes I feel like you have to hit that point. Anyone can tell you, you can listen to a podcast, read a blog or talk to friends and they can say, oh, all you have to do is just this or this or that. But really, I believe because, maybe because it’s my experience, that you kind of have to hit a point where it’s like, Okay, I’m now ready to make this change. I can do it. And you know, part of my mission is to help people realize that but it took that moment for me to realize, Okay, my life doesn’t have to be miserable. I still deal with anxiety. I still deal with all those things, but I had to learn how to improve my myself my habits, my mindset, and I everything and I was ready for that change.

Wow. It’s such a lot to really move through because you mentioned having anxiety but it’s not, not to make light of it at all, it’s not just oh, I’m feeling anxious. You had severe anxiety, you were having daily panic attacks, suicidal thoughts and feelings as you mentioned, and even I think an eating disorder. That’s a lot so that is incredible. How did you take control or really start taking stock of your mental health and moving through and finding a better mental wellness for yourself?

That it’s really tough because to be completely honest with you, I still have panic attacks all the time. And they’re very severe. I know everybody says, Oh, I have anxiety, it can mean a million things. My panic attacks are like, sometimes it happens out of nowhere. Usually when I’m under a lot of stress, or, you know, usually with anxiety, there’s something going on, at least for me, and what happens is, I could be laying in bed having a great day or great night, great night, if I’m laying in bed and all of a sudden, I’ll feel like, everything’s kind of blurry and my throat feels like it’s closing, I can’t breathe and I can’t think straight and it’s very scary. It’s scary. And I’ve dealt with that since I was younger. So just because I worked on myself doesn’t mean that it just goes away or the eating disorder. Growing up I did used to starve myself where I would binge eat, or I would like chew food and spit it out. And I think it’s important to be very open about this because there’s so many people out there who do suffer with this, and it’s something that we have to deal with. So to learn how to cope with it, I started focusing on my health and what I wanted in life. I started like I said, improving my habits, meaning I put better routines in place, I took time for myself, I started journaling, I started seeing a therapist, which was great, and although I still deal with these things, not the eating disorder. But the anxiety today, it’s not as severe. And I have coping mechanisms. And I’m really into meditation. And I have things that I use as tools, I guess you could say that, I can use that I’ve learned. I just knew that I had to get through it. And so I took the first step of doing whatever I had to do, and I just kind of built from there, I guess I’m referring to routines, but I kind of built up my routines and my mental strength. I mean, I had zero confidence. I mean, I strongly disliked myself, obviously, you know, after I just felt like I was worthless. And so to go from that, to where I am now happened, I think because I was able to leave home and be out of my environment and be surrounded by amazing friends. It was like a fresh start and it got me thinking about what I really wanted in life. And I think that’s what kind of also inspired me too, you know, make that change and also once I started to realize that, okay, I want to make this change, I had to figure out what the root of the issue was. Right? So if you’re dealing with anxiety or depression, suicidal thoughts and eating disorder, it’s coming from somewhere, right? So I had to figure out once I was able to realize, okay, I want to make this change, I don’t want to be miserable. And through therapy, and through these other coping mechanisms, I was able to figure out what the deeper rooted issue was, and then I was able to work on it and improve. And it’s a process and it’s something that I work on every single day, but it’s possible to work through and you just need to have the right tools and find different things that work for you. Meditation doesn’t work for everyone, journaling doesn’t work for everyone. I was so against it for so many years. I mean, maybe it’s listening to the sound of the ocean, I have this whole thing where I’m like, I like to turn my bedroom into my bathroom. It’s like a spa. So I’ll put like essential oils and I have a Himalayan salt lamp and I will put the sound of the rain on or like spa music and I’ll take a warm shower, and I’ll get out and I’ll put on a face mask, like very specific things that I will do when I feel anxiety coming on, or just to start my day, to set myself up for success. So it’s taken a really long time for me to figure these things out and work through these deeper rooted issues, and figure out which coping mechanisms work. It took a lot, but that’s kind of what the process looks like. But it was really, really difficult. Like I remember there was a day, I was on this path figuring out okay, how am I going to get to Miami and I was already in all these classes, and I had my job and I had a moment I remember where I was just out of my routine. And I remember being in my apartment and my room, I’m very organized, my room was a mess, kind of like how I used to feel. I had all those horrible thoughts going through my mind. It was like, I hit a roadblock. And I remember allowing myself a certain amount of time. I know this is a thing that people do, but I didn’t know that at the time. I allowed myself a certain amount of time to feel bad. And at that time, I said, Okay, Sydney, it’s time to get up, get up, cleaned up my room, went for a run, I love to run, I am a big runner. So I went for a run. And I, in that moment, I remember, oh, my God, allowing myself that time and forcing myself after that time to get up and do something to make myself feel better, actually made me feel better. And that was a game changer, too. So I tried to become very self aware. And there’s a lot that goes into it. I mean, I could talk about it for a long time to try and help people. But that was my experience. And those are some things that I did.

I think it’s really important, the point that you made is important that it is difficult. It’s complicated, and it takes time. And it’s really incredible how you were able to build up that self awareness and understand the types of tools and techniques and different things that were helpful for you. So in terms of how you discovered that, was it a lot of trial and error or did it kind of come from therapy or how did you find out what works for you?

Ooh, that’s a good question. When I first went to school, my sophomore year when I moved back in and Tucson, I moved there that day. This is kind of how it all happened. I moved there that day. And the next day I got on a plane and I went home to Chicago. And I don’t talk about this that often. And I just had a breakdown because at that point I felt I was miserable. I didn’t want to be in school. And I got help and I went home and I took a break. I was still enrolled in school. I mean, I was still going to school, but I came home for about three weeks, it could have been a month, I can’t even remember. And I got help. And I got some ideas from getting help. And that’s when I started journaling. And that’s when I started meditating. That’s when I started really taking care of my health. That’s when I started working through some of these issues. I got to a point where I was like, I need help. When I went back to school, I was still unhappy. I hadn’t hit that point yet where I was like, Okay, I’m dropping out but I just was in a bad place. So I guess we’re backing it up a little bit further, but that’s when I started to learn about some of these tools, and from then on, I just read a lot, I started reading a lot about mental health, about self improvement, personal development and I just tried different things. And one thing, the first one,besides journaling, and meditation, I’ve always been into fitness. But one of the first things I tried was also creating, a couple of times, better habits and routines. So, you know, when I went back to school, I put really strict routines in place, like I would have a to do list and even the smallest things like making my bed or do whatever it is, I had to do, like I had to check things off the to do list and from there, I think ideas and different things just started coming to me, and little things that made me feel better. I paid attention to and through reading and therapy and just understanding myself. That’s how I figured it out. I think and I’m still figuring it out. I mean, I’m still coming across different things that work for me like that whole little spa vibe thing that I do. Now that’s within the last two years. I mean, I am always trying to discover new things and figure out new ways to cope. Because I want to be the best version of myself and I want to feel better. And I want to feel happy. I want to feel like I have the tools in place. But I think it was a lot of trial and error and also, help. Then me taking the initiative to be like, okay, I want to feel better, and then researching it, and then just try anything and everything.

I mean, that makes a lot of sense. And I think it’s really good. Again, going back to mindset to have, like a learning mindset is like trying out different things. I may discover new things in the future that will help and then having that commitment to, as you said, to feeling better and finding your own happiness and your own path in life.

Yeah, and a lot of times when people don’t feel happy, they don’t want to do anything about it. So that’s why I always say, I hope that whatever I share, it will inspire people, how I got maybe in a different way, how I got inspired to make a change, because for many years I was so unhappy which this is very common, but I was so unhappy that I didn’t feel that I deserved anything better. I didn’t want to, like I said, I felt worthless, I didn’t want to do anything else. I didn’t want to do anything for myself, I just didn’t feel like it. And there’s other people out there that I’m sure are listening to this and who have felt like that before also, and it’s not a good place to be in. So you know, once you realize, okay, I don’t have to be miserable, and I need to find my inspiration. I need to follow my gut feeling I do deserve happiness, then things start moving, takes hard work, but things start moving throught it.

It’s so easy to get stuck. And I think so many of us get stuck at certain points in our lives for a whole variety of reasons.

Oh my gosh, yeah, getting stuck is part of life. We all get stuck. We all hit obstacles and roadblocks and it’s all how we choose to cope with it.

Yeah, absolutely. So it sounds like that self awareness that you were talking about in order to understand what worked for you and what made you happy, and what made you feel well and positive, sounds like that also extended to what you wanted to do in terms of building new skills for your life. Because when you were telling your story you talked about going into real estate and doing public speaking and comedy improv working with sales. So, do you always have in the back of your head, I really wanted to try these things? Or were those things that you discovered after you made the decision to leave that class and totally change your life?

Okay, I didn’t want to be miserable anymore. Okay, well, what I’m doing isn’t working. So how can I change? Not me, but how can I change my mindset? And I figured if I do everything that scares me, something is going to change. I’m either going to get inspired, I’m going to come up with an idea, I’m going to improve as a person, I’m going to be out of my comfort zone and I’m going to grow. So I literally wrote down a list of the things that scared me and I did them. So when I was in college, I worked in a clothing boutique that was really cute. I used to shop there all the time, and I wanted to get a job there. My biggest fear in wanting to work in a boutique was because I would have to talk to people, I’d have to see people, like I was so self conscious. I was just like, I don’t know if I could do this. So I did it. I was public speaking. I mean, that kind of goes along with that. I could never get up in front of people when I was growing up, I used to have my mom calling or I go up to the teacher to get out of any presentations I had to do, I couldn’t even do them. Okay, that’s just like another level of terrifying. Leaders, leadership classes, I’d never done it before. I thought, well, I don’t want to take the class about plants. I respect people who really enjoy that, but I don’t. I like plants. I think they’re very pretty. I just I did not want to learn about it. I wanted to learn about leadership. Clearly I’m this quiet person, who I see myself very differently than who I could be. And so I tried to envision the person I wanted to be and I wanted to be a leader. So I did those things and I don’t know where I came up with that idea. But I recommend that to anyone. If you want to improve your habits, write a list of everything that scares you and do it. Everybody says, Oh, do what scares you. But the point of it is that you grow, you learn, you’re out of your comfort zone. If you are doing the same things within your comfort zone every day, you are not going to change, you’re not going to get closer to what you want in life. And if you’re miserable, if you’re unhappy, and you’re sad, or you’re anxious, whatever, and you don’t want to be, do the opposite of what you’re doing. And that’s just what I did. Why I did it.

Oh, yeah, that’s really powerful. Yeah, like you said, everyone says, do one thing a day that scares you, but really take that to heart. That’s really the point where you put yourself in situations or you’re in situations where you’re unsure, you’re uncomfortable, you’re scared, that’s really where you learn. And honestly, it almost doesn’t even matter how you react as long as you engage with the situation. And you know, whether you succeed at the particular task, you’re trying even it you don’t succeed; but then you still learn what you could do better or how you could apply it to something else. I mean, it’s really uncomfortable. And I think a lot of people who may already feel it, feeling kind of miserable or like, well, I already feel uncomfortable all the time and scared and I don’t want to make myself more uncomfortable and scared, but you’re right. That is really where learning takes place is when you’re in those situations.

Absolutely. For anyone listening who might be feeling like what you just said, like already uncomfortable or scared and they don’t want to put themselves in that position. Well, if they don’t put themselves, and this was a different position, I wasn’t taking the comedy improv classes where everybody in the class is in the same position. I wasn’t taking public speaking classes where everybody else is in the same position unless there’s those few in the room who love it. You know, I did things that I had never done before. The times when I was really miserable and really felt worthless,I was in school or elementary school, middle school, high school, and I was sitting in a class room and I kind of felt, left out and just I was picked on but you know, I made the choice to do things to improve myself. So it’s not like I, you know, I felt uncomfortable every day as it was, but I figured it’s better to try something different. And try something that’s not in my comfort zone. That’s, that’s going to continue to make me uncomfortable in a positive way. Because whether you fail or whether you succeed, you’re still learning and you’re still growing. I don’t necessarily do something every day that scares me. To be honest, even though, I do talk about a lot when I can I do, but I do believe and I think Richard Branson said this, that when an opportunity presents itself and you don’t know how to do it, do it anyways, and then learn and that’s my mindset. And I saw that a long time ago, and You know what, why not? And that’s exactly what I did. When I got the job as the marketing director. That’s what I did when I started a marketing company. It kind of happened. I took it and I ran with it. It scared me. And you know, I’m still always doing things outside of my comfort zone. I started teaching courses for marketing, which I mean, now I have a lot of experience, I have five and a half years of experience marketing. And I know and I worked with a lot of people, but it’s like, that’s new to me teaching a course. Like, I never thought I would ever do that. How would a podcast, I never thought I’d have a podcast or even speaking to you Carolyn right now, I never thought that I would be doing this, ever. But I did what made me uncomfortable. And therefore, I became comfortable. And I became more confident in myself even if I failed.

Yeah, and it really opens up new opportunities, like things you can’t even see because, for all we know, in the future, things could be coming to us that don’t even exist yet really. So you know, you have to, you know, build up those skills and open yourself up to those those opportunities where you could potentially fail, but you’ll still, I mean, it sounds so cliched. It’s like well, you never fail you learn but I mean, really, I mean, you will use those skills and there will be other opportunities to try again and get better and discover what you like so it really is valuable.

Yeah, life is not black and white. I always say there’s no such thing as failure, because failure to me, it’s a good thing. I saw a movie. It was a children’s movie, I was I don’t like flying and I was on a plane and my boyfriend’s family’s from Spain. So I have to keep myself preoccupied. I like had it planned out all the movies, I’m going to watch, those watching. I forget what the movie was called, but it was about this little kid and he liked to invent things. And he kept failing. And somehow he got to the future and it was his older self. Like, I was like some crazy movie and the family said to him, like, he failed and he was like, I failed and they were like, no, you won, you succeeded in let’s go celebrate because they were like, success is great, but failure is better because it helps you to actually reach true success. And I was like, Huh, good little lesson right there, is true. So now I see failure as a, it’s sucks. That’s the reality, but no one likes to fail, but It gets you one step closer to where you want to be.

Absolutely. And all of those skills and all of the different experiences that you went through where you embrace your own discomfort and fear to try the things that scared you. It sounds like that all led up and enabled you to start your own marketing company that reached six figures. It’s like a relatively short amount of time, which is incredible. And yeah, I just love to learn more about, I mean, you started kind of telling the story of working in real estate and then becoming a director of marketing. But how did that come about where you made the decision to start your own marketing company and build it up?

Yeah, so I was working for this company and I worked really hard. I mean, I was learning as I went, but I also have like a good amount of knowledge in marketing for me. I learned really quickly and I spent a lot of hours I came in early, I left late, I worked when I was at home and I just tried to learn as much as I could. I was promised, this is the truth. I was promised to raise a couple of times. Because they were paying me after taxes like $20,000 a year, and I was like, okay, it’s kind of like a college education. I’ll think of it that way, you know, I needed to learn. And I was actually the marketing director of two companies, and they were partner company. So one was real estate and one was construction, but they were two different companies. And together, they were paying me $20,000 to market for both expected me to do both. So, it was a lot and I accepted it because it was a rare opportunity. And it felt like it was probably the right decision for me. But after not being given the raise, even though I produce the results that they wanted, people kept asking me to do their marketing because they saw the results that I was producing for these companies. And they saw my work and they liked it. And I said, Well, why can’t I have my own marketing company? So I came up with a business plan. And I just kind of went for it. I got an LLC, I got you know, in touch with my accountant. I got a business name. I got my website, my social media, my brochures, flyers, I knew what my servicies were. This is where I figured out how I was going to take payment. I figured out who my target audience was. I just kind of did a lot of research. And then I went for it. And I started I remember the first day I was like, this feels like the first day of school, like, Oh my god, what am I doing? Like, I’m not employed by anybody, but myself, like this is up to me. And within the first like, month, I already had clients and I just started building and building and building and I built some really great relationships. And I’m relentless, like I like to say, and that’s exactly what I did. I just kept going and building and trying new things and taking new opportunities. And it is still a lot of hard work, but I’ve learned a lot. And even if I failed, you know, at certain points in my business, I learned a lot from it that helped me to succeed in other areas or learn what I really want, you know, my businesses change, target audiences are my ideal client, what we offer whatever, there’s a lot of moving parts and there’s a lot of things that we’ve tried and done and it’s taught me how to succeed. And so yeah, I did succeed in a fairly short amount of time. But I think a lot of that also came from being told my whole life that like, oh, if I drop out of school like I’m never going, I had people friends told me once they found out I was going to drop out that I’m not going to succeed, I’m going to end up back in college, like no one would ever use my company because like, I don’t have a degree. So I think there was like that fire in me that was like, I’m going to prove these people wrong. Now it’s, I do this for myself, I want to do what I enjoy. So now it’s not like, Oh, you know, that fire because of them. It’s more like, okay, like, now this is my career is like I’m just building and growing. But at first, I also had the anxiety of Okay, I’m self employed, so I need to figure this out. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have to work with someone again. And I didn’t like working for someone. I like the creativity. I like being able to travel when I want to travel and, do what I want to do. When I want to do it, call the shots, but uh, that’s kind of how it all happened. But there I don’t want to not be transparent that There were a lot of obstacles along the way. And it was very difficult. I want to be very real about that. But you just have to keep pushing. And that’s what I did. I just I kept following my gut feeling. And I always say that it sounds. So that’s another thing that everyone says it’s like, oh, just follow your gut feeling. But it’s true. Like, I literally just follow my gut feeling with everything that I do in life. That’s great.

And it’s so gratifying that the great work that you were doing was recognized, maybe not so much by the two companies that we were doing the work for, but it was good that you were able to get that reinforcement and realize that there’s, hey, there’s a market for my skills here. And I don’t, again, sort of like college, I don’t have to be in this situation. Like it’s a great learning experience. But there are other things that I can do and other ways that I can succeed. So that is really, do you still have the marketing company now? Or are you still running it?

Yeah, I still have my marketing company as my full time career. We’re coming out with some pretty cool things. So I do a lot of digital consulting for social media, for brands and influencers and just different kinds of companies. And I really like that I like to speak with people and actually get to know them understand them. I like the creative side of it. So I do a lot of that. And then I also have my podcast and blog to help people live a more fulfilling life and give them free mindset and self care tips and share the lessons that I’ve learned in life, and hopes that they can do the same with their life if they’re not where they want to be. So I do both. Two full time careers, but I like it. You know, I, I get to be creative. And I like it a lot. Yeah, that’s

Cool. And what’s the name of your company? your marketing company?

Oh, so long story. So my company for the last five years until now, it was called The Marketing Firm. And the only reason that the name changed was because I had a website, my first year, and I used a web developer who was great. And I referred him to a bunch of people, bunch of my clients. And then he got a little bit lazy and I said, Hey, you know, like, let’s maybe pick it off. was like, you know, I tried to encourage him, but then it didn’t work out. And he deleted my website and took the domain name. And so I haven’t had a website for four years. So as I built my company, like organically, like, it’s really referral. I also have like, I have a Facebook group that I started like a year ago, but I do a lot of email marketing and stuff. Everything is by The Marketing Firm. When you speak to me, I tell you, it’s The Marketing Firm. But recently, we decided I decided that we’re going to change the name so you can get a new website up and all the social media going and I just needed everything to be organized. So now it’s called Digital Maverick. I really love the name The Marketing Firm, but it’s Digital Maverick.

But if people are interested in learning more about your marketing firm, and the work you do, they can just reach out to you probably directly is the easiest way, and then find out, is that usually how you do it?

Yeah, so reach out to me directly, send me an email or you can go to my digital Maverick.com, or you can find me on social media, and send me a message, but yeah, that’s usually the easiest way people can reach out to me, I love to actually speak to people and build relationships. Everything I do is like very customized to the person. I kind of have that old school type of business. I grew up in a family business, and I liked how they built relationships. And I feel like today with the internet, you don’t know who you’re meeting. And so yeah, anyone can just give me a call. I’ll talk about it.

So cool. Okay, so we’ll definitely put the information for Digital Maverick and the different social media accounts where we can reach out to you, and can we also find like your podcast and the writing that you do in the same places or where would people find that?

So my podcast and my blog is separate from my Digital Maverick, marketing company. So my podcast is called, She Did It, and then the blog is just, SydneyNanberg.com, and then my Instagram is, Sydney Nanberg.com and my Facebook is Sydney Nanberg and my Twitter everything is just I think Twitter’s like Sydney_nanberg, but they’re all yeah, it’s all Sydney Nanberg. And so I keep that separate. That’s my passion project.

Oh, that’s so cool. Yeah, so definitely we’ll put those in the show notes, you know. And before I let you go, I definitely want to touch on one more project that you also work on as an addition to all the other work, and full time gigs that you have going on, is that you also have an anti-bullying campaign to prevent suicides, which I imagine is quite close to your heart. And can you tell us more about that?

Okay, so my podcast and my blog started as an anti bullying campaign to prevent suicides. And what I did was, I started off two years ago, maybe a little over two years ago, where I would interview people who had been bullied to share their story, and how they overcame obstacles to find happiness in life. And what I realized was bullying comes in so many different forms, you know, we sometimes bully ourselves, we can get bullied as kids, adults can get bullied, I mean, and it’s like, how do we get to the root of the issue to actually prevent this, and so how do you get into the minds of people who have been bullied and bullied, so my whole anti-bullying campaign actually turned into an entire self care brand. I mean brand is personal brands nonprofit, to help people with their own personal development. So I talked about self care mindset. And like I said, lessons that I’ve learned and I share that to help inspire people and to help be really real and vulnerable. I’m so tired of seeing on social media false reality and it’s causing so many issues. I didn’t have social media growing up, I might be a millennial, but I’m like an older millennial. I guess I didn’t have social media when I was younger, like these kids do today. So how can I really make an impact to tell people to stop bullying isn’t enough, they can watch the video, they can listen, it’s not enough. How do I help people improve themselves and deal with the deeper rooted issues because when you deal with that, you then feel happier and fulfilled and when you feel fulfilled, you treat people better you treat yourself better. So that’s kind of what my anti bullying campaign turned into. I call it an anti- bullying campaign because I am an anti-bullying activist, of course, but that’s where it stems from. So that’s the story behind what I do and why I’m doing what I’m doing, is to help prevent suicides to help people live a fulfilling life. But from a different angle, I’m all about doing things differently. And I just feel like I think the anti-bullying campaigns that, you know, we see are amazing, they’re all trying to do something good, but it’s not strong enough, it really is not strong enough. So that’s why I’m doing it this way. And I’ve noticed I’ve had some good feedback and I just I, if I can inspire one person that would make me so happy. So that’s kind of where my anti-bullying campaign is at.

I see how it all ties together the whole, you know, the focus on self care and self awareness and how to create our own wellness and happiness and health and working against Yang and understanding you know, what’s going on when you’re being bullied and when people who are bullies like how do we really get to the root of that, as you said,

Right. And you know, when I say self care, I like to make it clear that self care and wellness and like beauty products and like, oh you know you just take a steam shower room, and just, why said but it’s more than that. That’s just like, okay when I’m having a panic attack this is a coping mechanism and it works for me lights and candles, great, it’s helpful, it calms me down. But big part of what I talk about is mindset more than self care. And self care comes in many forms, in self care could be, you know, creating routines. But mindset is a huge thing. Because if you can improve how you think and how you see the world, you can improve how you see yourself. So, I’m not just like one of those bloggers or podcasters is talking about, Oh, I love this product. It’s going to cure your problems. No. You gotta work on yourself.

Yeah, we see that a lot on social media. But um, yeah, that’s powerful.

And I think self care, sometimes we get that term gets a bad rap, but people think of it as like a luxury. They think it was like a spa day or like you said a beauty product, but it’s the very basic root of it is quite literally caring for yourself. That’s everything from mindset, to eating well, to moving your body and exercise. All that stuff goes together.

Yeah, no, it does. And I always like to define that because I’m like, okay, I don’t want people to think yeah, these products are going to cure your problems they might help but it’s not how you ?

Really and there’s so many things that meditating, and things that you don’t have to make these big investments in somebody’s products, there are things that are free or low cost or you know, a whole range of things.

Yeah, I talk about things that I actually use and do and but the biggest thing is that in order to really you know, going back to the anti-bullying campaign to really live a fulfilling life you really have to get to the root of what’s holding you back and so that’s my focus and then the other things like you know, oh, you know, to help improve your sleep, like I’m obsessed, nothing that I say is sponsored by, like, I’m obsessed with these like vitamins. I don’t know if you know the brand, Ali. No, I don’t know that one. Oh my god, okay, I’m not sponsored by them but I would love to I because I take them every day, but they have these sleep gummies, and it looks like a gimmick and it’s not, and it knocks me out, it puts me to sleep and I tell everyone about it. Like, I shared things that really worked for me because I have a hard time sleeping because I have anxiety you know, and then like, you know, okay, those things are great. But like, at the end of the day, like with self care, you really got to get to the root of the problem. And then those are coping things. So I’m glad we touched on that. It’s really important.

Yeah, absolutely. Sydney, thank you so much for being on my show, and being so honest and candid about your story and your journey, and really everything, the good, bad, and the ugly about making big changes like this and moving through fear, and really all the great growth and the great benefits that we can see from getting ourselves on stock and doing things that scare us and taking care of ourselves and having a positive mindset. So I really appreciate you being on the show today.

I so appreciate you Carolyn, thank you so much. I love the Beyond 6 Seconds podcast. I think it’s incredible. I think what you’re doing is amazing. I just grateful for this opportunity, again that we connected and this has been a lot of fun. And thank you again.

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