Elizabeth Bronson @SincerelyMiami - How To Become A Media Maven and Foodie Blogger

SPEAKER_02 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story Podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian Frost. Hey, what's happening, everybody? Welcome to the show. I really appreciate you taking some time out of your day to listen to me. Chat about things that I find interesting, that I hope you'll find interesting. The show is brought to you by my friends at Self Publishing School.com. I'm currently writing my second book with Self Publishing School. They've got an incredible program. They put over 2,000 people a year through their program. That means 2,000 people a year are writing a book with their proven system and program. You too can write a book just like I am. Find out more information. Schedule a free consultation call with a book launch specialist just like I did. And uh you too could be making your book dreams come true. More information at self publishing school.com forward slash beyond the story. Elizabeth Brunson's in the house, aka Sincerely Miami. What's up, woman? How's it going? It's fantastic. It's so great to finally reconnect with you. My goodness, we're almost in each other's backyards here in Miami. But uh regardless of a pandemic or not, you're a busy little content creating bee. So uh I'm glad that you took some time to hang out with me today. Thanks so much. Uh, we'll have to get you in the studio uh next time here when it's not so, well, the Rona, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

I know, I know. See, and I'm going to visit family this weekend, so I'm being mindful that I'm going to family.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Right. Exactly. Oh, there we go too. Yes, absolutely. No need to bring the Rona into the family. Yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

So you can't be that person.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Right, right, right. Don't be that girl. So um you and I met a couple of years ago because I was fascinated with your content. And that doesn't happen a lot in my world because I've been in the social media space since about 2004. So I've seen this whole thing evolve on here and like, you know, better, everybody's an influencer, right? So that that just seems to be like the world of where it's at. Um I always joke that like, what's an influencer? It's a person paid to spread lies on the internet.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Um, so even that term, like I I try, I I don't I mean, I I guess in like the grander scale of things, like I probably I fall under that influencer umbrella.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

But I I never introduced myself as the influencer. Like I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Storyteller, I use. I use storyteller. Yeah. Content creator.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

You know, yeah. There we go.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

Um, but your content was awesome, and I I loved it. And it just always um it because it came from a very authentic space without me even knowing you. And then we had a chance to connect. We had a short meeting a few years ago just to kind of trade, trade, uh, compare notes and see you know what we had on each other's plate and see what we can do. Something our good friend, our good mutual friend, the want to know him, Mr. Scott Eddy, got us all together and fed us a bunch of booze and took us on a yacht one Sunday afternoon, which was an epic afternoon. Scotty Miami thing. Scott, if you're watching this, okay, we need to do that again very soon. I see there was there was some sort of gathering up in Del Rey Beach the other a couple weeks back. It was a good time. Yeah, it looked like it over there at A. I think he just moved into Alof for like indefinitely. He just lived there.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Oh, I'm sure he has like a permanent room there. He must at this point.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

It's I mean, it's about time he has an address. Goodness, so so how did this whole thing start? When did you wake up one day and go, you know what? I'm gonna start a blog. I'm gonna start a brand called Sincerely Miami, or I'm just not even the brand part. You woke up one day and you said, I want to start telling stories and creating content around things that interest me, like amazing food. So where did it all start?

SPEAKER_01 3:50

So I actually I came from the spa industry. I was a massage therapist for um almost going on eight years. I managed spas and the spa industry turned into a little bit of events. Um, and then I uh was at a point where I was like, do I wanna be in a dark treatment room for the rest of my life? And the answer was absolutely not. Um so at that point I uh I was like, Well, I'm gonna go to school. And so I did a media broadcasting program right here in Miami and it was like a quick program. Miami Abschool. Um, Miami Media School.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

That's what I meant. That's what I meant. I used to film my show there.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

There there is Miami Ad School.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Um I'm sorry, yeah, I know, but that's advertising. Your exact film school. Uh Meribrickle Village upstairs, right? Correct.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Yes, yep. So I did my program there, and that's kind of where I got introduced to like just the concept of creating content as a whole. Like I never did video before. Like I would take photos here and there that were shit, but I are we allowed to curse.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

It's a podcast. You can do whatever the fuck you want. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

I I know there's like a way, like it'll like you have to put it as something.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

Yeah, I guess you do have to look. Do you cuss on the podcast? Yes, I do. Sorry. I don't have any I I have no alternate words.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

I um my kind of podcast.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Friday is my second favorite F word.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Um yeah, so I did a media broadcasting program and um I really enjoyed the like the on-camera content creating video aspect of it. Sure. Um, as well as being able to connect with um my biggest thing was going to like small businesses and events and being able to connect to these people and create a platform for them to tell their story. Um so sincerely Miami really came about as part of like my school project. Like I didn't have to, but at the time, like there wasn't like food bloggers, Instagram, food bloggers and things. It wasn't really a thing. Like there's like there was the OG food bloggers, like your your chat chow, fat girl hedonists, like burger beasts, like the OG Miami people that started with websites. Sure. Um Instagram was still uh food bloggers was still something relatively new on Instagram. Um, and also at the same time that I was doing like the media broadcasting program, I was really into Yelp. Yelp was my jam. I was so proud. Everywhere I went, I had to take photos of my food and post it on Yelp. I was Yelp Elite for five years until they revoked it because I now work in marketing. So FYI, don't spill the beans if you're a Yelp Elite.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Um I have no idea about that world. But I believe it. Oh, really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

I have no hurt feelings.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

None at all. I fuck Yelp, but other than that, we're good. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding, you know.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Took away my shiny gold badge, but it's fine. I still I still shot you out. Um so so at the same time, it was, you know, I was doing this media broadcasting program. I was um super excited about trying new places on a regular basis and sharing it with with Yelp. And then I kind of combined the two and um like kind of just I started getting excited about going to new places, shooting, and being able to share and tell the story and actually like talking to owners and talking to staff and getting to know people. Um and then Sincerely Miami kind of just became my my platform to like like showcase all of the work that I was doing.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

Um then it it's whoops, sorry, sound effect sound effect failure. You're telling your story, and I'm like, see, I'm terrible. I am so bad.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Sorry, I was my story that bad.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

I was making sure the volume was bad right in the middle of the girl's story. You're giving her the sad trombonier.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Oh my goodness. Um yeah, and so it kind of it just it started to evolve, you know. Um I even at like, I don't know, a few hundred followers, um, was like the first time that a restaurant was like, hey, we'd love for you to come and try our food. So at this point, I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait. You want me to come and eat for free? I'm just like post photos of it. I'll do that all day. Um so it's even even like through my time, it's been super interesting to see how like it that space has evolved from like Instagram and Instagram food bloggers. Um and and for me, I I took kind of a different approach, right? So I finished media broadcasting for school. Um, and I I kind of went into it. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't want to go and be like your NBC anchor, you know. Um, I I I enjoyed, I did a lot of um live MCing for the New Times and just I loved being on camera. Um, I'm not doing on camera stuff nearly as much as I would like to. You should love to.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

You should you should be because you're good. You got it, girl. I'm telling you right now, from from one on air talent to another girl, you got it. So keep it up.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

I I think so. You know, I am it's my jam. I enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

Lean into it and own that shit because you took, I would, I wouldn't blow smoke up your skirt either. I mean, you literally have got it. Not everybody does. Some people try really, really hard, and you're like, put the camera down, put the camera down. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Yeah. But so for me, I the the direction that it kind of took me was moving into a a content creation space, not just for my brand, but then I started working with other brands creating content for them, and then started moving into um social strategy, and social strategy turned turned into some PR, and PR turned into um within the social strategy, it started into marketing. So I um I recently left my my full time where I was a marketing manager for a luxury um like dining establishment here in Miami, and um, you know, kind of just started to go out on my own. And um I have a few clients on my own.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

You continue to get that itch of like, do I really need a job? I mean, yeah, I'm doing all the work here. It's this brain right here, and I'm, you know, I'm being compensated for this brain, but I mean, because there is there a better way on here. So you know, I commend you on making that jump. It's never an easy jump, but I can't tell you one thing, there is no going back. And I'm not talking about the previous, I'm not talking about the previous job. But once you get a little just a little snippet of a taste of the freedom that entrepreneurship provides, it is well worth any financial stress that will ever come about of being an entrepreneur because I I I've been an entrepreneur for 15 years, and I'm a terrible employee. But I always looked at it as listen, if I'm gonna have financial stress, I'm gonna create it. I'm not gonna have some guy telling me or gal telling me you get paid every other week and you're late today.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

Type deal, you know?

SPEAKER_01 10:10

So for me, I I never was somebody who was like, oh, I I want to be an entrepreneur. I don't want to work for anyone. Like, I'm okay. I'm content working for someone else who has already created something and supporting them through that. Um but for me, when I really came down to like, what is it that I'm super passionate about? And it's um it's connecting with people, it's supporting people and being able to change my my my the way I'm working and do that for multiple people was more rewarding to me than you know being stagnant in one place. And also I made the move because um sincerely Miami don't totally got put in the backseat. Like I just didn't have the capacity to handle clients, handle a full-time job, and that hurts.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

That hurts too when you know that it should be you're like this the the the what's in the back seat should be in the front seat.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Yeah, you know, yeah. It was like the middle child. It was like you know, the unf like the forgotten one, you know.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

So um, yeah, so now I'm I I mean this was all maybe two months ago that I made the transition. So I'm um you know, getting my grounding and trying to jump on like more heavy since you're the mammy.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

I think you need to start a podcast, but that's just me.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

I I you know I've I've thought about it, at least like connecting with people. And like I I don't know if I would do it by myself, but I haven't literally nailed down like what would my podcast be about?

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Uh something to think about on the way to Jacksonville.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Right?

SPEAKER_02 11:35

So you never know, but I want to put a bug in your ear because I think that you've, I mean, you got you got chops. So having the talent and your butt then also the the second part of that is the content that you create. It's clean, it's crispy, it's not overly done professional. You can tell that it's just quality content that's there. Like everything you post, I always I mean I I I analyze it. Um fanboy here, total fanboy here. Because when when when it's good when it's good talent, plus I know you too. You're we're homies. So um I'm a little biased to that. But I look at every angle, whether it's you're you and Oliver or you're down at the park or you're taking pictures and like so she reviews food and but a restaurant doesn't go, here's a dish, let us know what you think, Elizabeth. Like they give her the half the menu, and she brings it back to her uh to to her pad and and like spreads like the whole menu out and was like, it's time to eat. And I always joke with you, I'm like, Do you always order half the menu when you get takeout? Um, but that you can always see what's there and then the way that you tell the story about what is not like, oh my gosh, this was amazing. You got to go eat there. You give you give your own little Elizabeth you know flair to it, which is so, so important when you're telling stories specifically about the you know the contents on there. So walk me through what that looks like. So you you go pick up food from a place and you know that you're going to do uh content piece on it. Is this are you are you shooting this with your phone, which are you know pretty damn good cameras these days? Do you have another camera you use in conjunction with that? Is the lighting set up? Like, how does that all is there like a little system you have in place?

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Yeah, I mean, I like the ideal scenario is natural night. Um, I do shoot with a Sony, but uh as of lately I've been doing a lot of stuff on my phone. I the iPhone 11 is out of control with like the the three cameras and like the power that we have in our in our hands. Right. Um is you know, so I I have a camera. Um I don't use it as much. Um but yeah, ideal scenario is is natural light outdoors um during the day. So daylight savings has been a complete pain in the ass because dinner is at four if you want the natural daylight. Um and and yeah, so I I like to even when I when I I try to be consistent about when I do post to share more than just actual like food on the dish in front of me.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Um, you know, and I I like to show like the ambiance. Um, I think the a dining, one of the things that I always like when I was yelping was very important to me is you see so many people say, like, oh, the food was great, like you were saying, you know, like there's so much more to it. Like, tell me about the ambiance, tell me about the staff, the service. Like, what was it that really struck you about this place? Would you go again? Um, would you recommend it?

SPEAKER_02 14:12

That's what you do though. That's what I meant. The first, it's like I got a library of I'm like that. One post you did three weeks ago, but I do remember one from last week, I think. And it was very um compelling uh because uh it was at a bar, and you're like, I did you know, there's and there were two bar stools, and you're like, you, me. But it was like a general like call to action of like, go like, even if you weren't there, it still told the story of like, hey, come check this place out because here's my perspective on it. And it you just got this, I it's hard to explain, but you've just got a unique ability to tell a story that that draws you in and it's compelling. So anyway, fanboy it. I'm glad that it works.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

I'm glad that it kind of translates.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

It totally does. It and I never like I don't fanboy out over content. I'm a content creator myself, but I'm like, this girl's got it, yo. So um yeah, so good. Listen, if you're listening to this right now, you're like, I want to create better content. The tips that she just got done giving you with better lighting and really getting into the story and not just being you know very passive with where it's at is is true storytelling, giving your perspective of what you're experiencing while you're creating that content um on there. So, so what's next? So almost like I don't want to say brand new entrepreneur, because you had this side hustle for a minute here and you've been doing a damn good job of it, but now it's like full-time hustle, which is even more exciting on here. So, what are the plans to take the you know the rest of this wonderful year? I finish the rest of this wonderful year out, and uh what what's going on for 2021?

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Um, so for the rest of the year, I'm kind of just sitting comfortable. Um, I'm not gonna take on any new clients or anything. Like I said, I want to go get back to creating more content for Cincinnati Miami. Um and I have done so in the social space, um, but I I have a website too, and I want to um be blogging more, um, you know, and taking these experiences and um both for myself, for viewers as well as for the business, um, you know, just because I I I find importance in having like a an actual website. I think that's one of the biggest things that um one of the things that sets me apart from other influencers and and also one of the things that I tell people that some a lot of a lot of influencers do just fine solely on their socials. Um I I think that there's definitely value in having a website. And so I want to um part of my goal is through the end of the year to start creating more content um for web as as I go along.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Yeah, because you own the website, you know. Imagine that. You don't own Instagram, you don't own Facebook, and that's what people fail to realize that, you know, you you might your Instagram may be lit, as my 19-year-old says. However, you don't own Instagram. And like Instagram had been down, it's been down all week. I just realized I had to log out and down, delete the app and reload it. And then I finally got like back on Instagram because I was like, is Instagram really down for three days? Case in point that depending on a platform that is not yours is not the smartest tool. Because like when you utilize approaches like you have, which are I want to focus on my website because I own my website and the content that goes on there, and I don't have to worry. And if it goes up and down, then that's my my responsibility on here. And then my social is tied in to my the real estate, the online real estate that I own on here, and it complements my content of what I'm doing. Plus, it's really a for for for like a self-expression, a blog is so much more personal than just an Instagram with just because it's all visual. The blog really digs in and actually tells the store and allows you to speak into it from your perspective. People are just literally going to your blog to experience that content, but also get your point of view instead of just another picture uh and a caption. So I I love that. And I it is is the website sincerely miami.com?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

It's my sincerely miami.com.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Mysincerely miami.com. It's gonna be in the show notes, so don't worry about writing that down, especially if you're driving, my goodness, uh be able to grab it from the show notes on here. Well, listen, I know you're a busy girl and you are running out of town literally uh today on here, but I do appreciate you squeezing me in. Uh, we need to connect further here. Uh, I gotta get you in the studio here to check this place out and we can we can we can record again. We're gonna do a sincerely Miami part two uh on there. But I wanted to encourage you, uh, not only just because we're friends and I think you're freaking amazing, um, but encourage you, you know, from from an entreprene from one entrepreneur to another, you made the right decision on what you're doing. You are on the right path. You're extremely, extremely talented, and it really is my pleasure to be connected with you and be able to call you a friend, especially a local friend here, too. Yes, absolutely. And Oliver's a rock star too. I'm sure he's running around there somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

He is Oliver, come here, Ben.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

He's like, I don't do podcasts on Thursdays, Mom. Sleeping. Yeah, he's like, I don't do pod, I don't I don't do podcasts on Thursdays, Mom.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

When I started working from home, I was like, is this really what you do all day? Like you just sleep the whole day.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

My sister just got a my sister just got a roomba for her apartment, and uh she's got a golden doodle named Lincoln, and uh she's like, Yeah, so my we were talking about vacuums the other day because that's what siblings do, right? And uh she goes, My floor's have been pretty clean now ever since I got the roomba, but Lincoln is a little confused on why we have another dog in the house.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Too funny.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Right, exactly. Imagine a bet, you can imagine a dog with a robot vacuum going, wait a second, this is my hood.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

When I when I was in the house down south, I had a roomba and and Oliver was terrified of it.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

I bet. I think some humans are terrified of that thing. My my goodness. Well, listen, everybody listening here, uh Elizabeth Brunson, aka Sincerely Miami on Instagram and my SincerelyMiami.com is her website. All of her links to be able to connect with her and follow her content. I'm telling you right now, from one content creator to another, she produces quality content that will make you hungry and interested and intrigued on what she's doing. So make sure you connect with her and reach out and say, Hey, I heard you on the Beyond the Story podcast with Sebastian, and I'm following you now and let her know as well. Elizabeth, keep rocking. Thanks for everything that you're doing here, and I appreciate you. And thanks again for your time.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Likewise, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

Alrighty, bye-bye.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Bye.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

We'll see you next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story Podcast. Be sure to appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. Be sure to appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. We'll talk to you next time.