Author: rachelbrackett

What is YouTube?

As a very avid YouTube watcher myself, I am very familiar with YouTube and the various features of this social sharing site. But for those of you are are not aware, YouTube is an online video sharing and social media platform owned by Google. It was launched in 2005. It is the second most visited website, right after Google itself.

YouTube provides a simple way for people to store videos online and share them with others. YouTube videos cover any topic anyone cares to upload a video about. These videos are easy to share via other forms of social media, email and websites and can also be embedded in other websites.

What are the benefits to having a YouTube channel?

Some of the benefits to having your own YouTube channel (especially as a business owner) are:

-Extra content will allow your audience to further connect with your brand and get to know your brand personality on a new level

-Video content is one of the most engaging forms of online content

-Having a YouTube channel is a good way to stand out against your competitors who do not have as much video content

Curious about how you can better integrate a YouTube channel into your content strategy?

Check out my most recent YouTube video about this!

When most people think of ‘self-care’, they think of bubble baths, face masks, indulging in a pint of cream or glass of wine. Although this can be considered self-care, I believe that self care goes a lot deeper than this.

Oxford dictionary definition of Self Care:

The Oxford dictionary definition of “self care” is: the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress. Although it emphasizes practicing self care especially in periods of stress, I believe that should practice it all of the time. It is when we feel the most peaceful and happy (which self care is conducive to) that we are kindest towards others. Because of this, I believe that self care is service to others.

Although self care can look like the examples named above, it can also look like appreciating the little things in life (a sunset, for example). It can look like spending more time in solitude with yourself, or picking up a good book. For me, self care also looks like attending a daily spin class after work and listening to self-improvement podcasts in my free time.

Don’t get me wrong, I do love a nice glass of red wine in the evening as well. And I will consider this to be self-care (to an extent).

I made an Instagram reel showing different ways that I practice self care. These are the more ‘stereotypical’ ways of practicing self care, but nonetheless I enjoyed putting this reel together.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @exsm5510

I encourage everyone to take more time for themselves, whether this be taking some time to self reflect or going out for a walk in nature. When we take care of ourselves, we can better take care of others.

Need more ideas on how you can practice self care?

Go read my Twitter thread:

Ways to practice self care:
Go for a walk outside
Call your friends/family and express your love to them
Watch silly dog videos
Listen to a self-improvement podcast
Create a vision board
write out 3 goals you have for yourself for the next year#EXSM3989

— Rachel (@Rachel844497501) March 22, 2022

Blogging allows a business to connect with its customers in an authentic, trustworthy, and reliable way. Blogging also allows a business to set themselves apart from their competitors, and provide unique value to customers which goes far beyond pushing for a quick sale. When a customer feels like they can relate to the tone and values of a business, they are more likely to be loyal. Blogging allows for this. 

Benefits to blogging for your business:

-Blogging sets yourself apart from your competitors 

-Blogging acts as a vehicle of communication from you to your audience. Use this opportunity to build an authentic tone of voice, which will help your audience trust you.

-Connecting your blog content to your social media business accounts will increase traffic to your socials and increase consumer engagement in this way.

-Blogging is a great way to share customer testimonials, which will give your audience real opinions about your brand

-Blogging enables you to share information about your industry, rather than just information about your products/services. This create trust between you and your customers

-Blogging from a place of value and experience creates a unique bond between you and your customers, which makes you stand out from your competitors

-Blogging gives your business the perfect opportunity to optimize your website for search engines. Optimizing your blog with keywords in your content is a great way to do this 

-Blogging consistently and providing value in this way fosters customer relationships and customer loyalty. offering your audience free, valuable information on your blog increases return readership and fosters relationship building

-Blogging is a way to convert blog readers into valuable customers!

Tips on how to blog successfully:

– Maintaining a comprehensive and consistent blog keeps your brand at the forefront of peoples’ minds

-Think about ‘why’ you are blogging to guide ‘what’ you are blogging about

-Conduct extensive research for each blog post, as to provide your audience with useful and accurate information  

-Publish new and up to date content to not only engage with your audience, but ensure that there are key and relevant words for search engine optimization

-Make it easy for your customers to share your blog content and promote it for you on their social accounts 

-Include links to all of your social accounts, allowing your readers to easily visit these accounts

Now that I have convinced you to blog for your business, go out and give it a try!

As an avid Netflix watcher, I thought I would live tweet myself watching the first episode of Kanye’s new documentary series, called Jeen-Yuhs. I am a fan of Kanye’s music and how vocal he is about his faith in God, so I thought that his new series could be a good watch.

Kanye’s friend and video producer, Coodie, shot all of the footage for this documentary series. They started filming it back in 2000, when Kanye was still at the beginning of his career journey. The fact that this documentary had been filmed for just under 20 years was intriguing to me. Kanye KNEW that from the start, he was destined for greatness. From the start of the story, we come to love the person that Kanye is and feel that we can relate to him throughout his struggles to fame.

Themes of an engaging story:

Like all engaging stories, this first episode had themes of relatability, emotion, authenticity, urgency, and suspense. We rooted for Kanye’s success from the second the show started, and it was because of his authenticity and relatability. It was easy to be invested in Kanye’s journey because of his tenacity and perseverance.

The not knowing if Kanye would get signed for a record deal as an artist was suspenseful to watch. We watched him fail multiple times, but always rise up stronger than before. This humanization of Kanye made him a likeable character.

When Kanye finally succeeds in getting a record with his top chosen record label Roc-A-Fella Records, I genuinely felt so happy for him. Seeing him persevere through his journey made me emotionally invested in his story. His reliance and faith in God was a prominent theme throughout the episode, which I think is relatable to a lot of people. The episode ends with him closing the record deal, but the narration alludes that his story has only jus begun (again, utilizing the element of suspense).

I am beyond excited to watch the next episode in this series.

I have to admit, I struggled to identify a story that was memorable enough to dedicate an entire blog post to.  I’ll admit, I am not much of a reader. I tend to digest content in the form of podcasts, which do not always tend to move in a linear story line. But then I remembered Netflix. I am most definitely guilty of binging an entire season of a show in one weekend. As much as I advocate for healthy living and limiting one’s screen time, there have been a few shows that I have not had the self-control to turn off the TV and move onto something else. 

One show in particular had me completely glued to the couch and unable to take my eyes off the screen. I even have had reoccurring dreams about this series. If this doesn’t show you how dedicated I was to the storyline of this show, I don’t know what will. This show is called Ozark. This show evoked emotion, had a relatable protagonist who we could root for, had a purposeful structure, and had impactful impressions on the audience. 

Although the storyline of this series had many twists and turns, it tended to follow the principles of the The Story Spine (a story framework developed by teacher/author, Kenn Adams).

Ozark follows Marty Byrde, a financial advisor who becomes wrapped up in a money laundering scheme. When the scheme goes wrong, Marty is forced to relocated his family to the lake of the Ozarks to try and make amends with a powerful Mexican drug cartel. See more details, here.

This story synopsis follows the parts of the ‘Story Spine’ like so:

• Once there was a financial advisor named Marty Byrde
• Every day he laundered money for the Mexican drug cartel 
• But One Day the cartel leader found out that Marty’s business partner was stealing from the cartel 
• Because Of That, Marty had to relocate him and his family to the Ozarks to launder an obscene amount of money to repay the cartel
• Because Of That, the Byrde family has made both friends and enemies in the Ozarks that affects their business of working for the cartel
• Because Of That, there is continued chaos in the Ozarks which all began when the Byrdes arrived

This series is not yet finished so there is not a defined climax and end, but it is clear that because the story spine was used as a back bone of the storyline, the audience remains engaged. 

Another reason why Ozark was such a good story is because the protagonist, Marty, is very relatable. Marty is relatable in the sense that he keeps on trying his best, but despite his effort he does not always succeed. This also follows the first in The 22 rules of storytelling according to Pixar, which is “You admire a character for trying more than for their successes”. 

The last reason why Ozark constantly had me at the edge of my seat was because it evoked emotion in me. We got to know the characters so well, and were invested in their lives because of the emotional connection that was formed between them and us (the audience). I truly laughed and cried when watching this series, and it was because I was so emotionally involved with the characters and the storyline. 

Needless to say, I am stoked for the last season of Ozark to come out, as I will most definitely be glued to my couch, with my eyes locked to the screen when it does.