Podcast 20 | Comparing Social Media Addiction to Alcoholism + 3 Choices You Can Make For Yourself

Join me as we continue the conversation centered around social media addiction! This weeks episode focuses on what to do once you have realistically evaluated your social media use and its impact on your life. I also touch on what to do if you find yourself addicted and alternative ways to grow your business without social media.  This is not about deleting the apps and never going on social media again, this is a conversation about real practical tips to help free yourself from the burden social media so often creates in your life and business! 

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Episode Highlights:

・If you found yourself addicted, you are not alone

・A candid discussion regarding social media use for business

・Alternative options you can utilize to build your business

・Three choices you can make based on your answers to the homework in the prior episode

Episode Resources/References:

・Podcast Pro University

・Social media questionnaire mentioned in last weeks episode

Connect with Heather:

 HeatherKBurge.com

[email protected]

You can text (912) 405-8912 any of these keywords to learn more:

ARTIST (to learn more about what I do selling the makeup)

PODCAST (to get a direct link to all the things)

COLORMATCH (to get a free custom color match for the Seint Makeup)

VIP (to get a link to my VIP makeup channel over on Telegram)

Episode Transcript:

20 | Comparing Social Media Addiction to Alcoholism + 3 Choices You Can Make For Yourself
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So today I'm going to be sharing three different options when it comes to using or leveraging social media to build your business. And essentially this is going to be piggybacking off of last week's episode, where I ask the important question, which is, are you addicted to social media? And depending on your responses to the homework on the social media addiction questionnaire.

Or if you just listened to the eight different questions that I asked on last week's episode, and maybe it was a trigger for you. The answer to those questions are going to be what determines whether or not you make one of these three choices to build your business. And I'm going to use the analogy of alcoholism, or really just comparing alcohol, which in and of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, right? Like even Jesus's first miracle was turning water into wine. But when it becomes an escapism or an addiction, then it does become a problem and we have to make choices in life accordingly.

So today again, I'm going to be sharing these three options for how you can make some decisions around your business.

So, if you listened to last week's episode or you know that you have a problem with social media being an escapism, you spend too much time on the app, you're finding it's impacting your mental health, it's impacting your emotions; then guess what?

That's the entire purpose of this podcast is to help you find a way to take a digital detox if only for a little while. And build your business in another way.

Because absolutely it can be done. If you want to go back and listen to episode eight of this podcast, where I share the reasons why I believe absolutely you can build your business without having to be a slave to social media, or even use social media at all, because it's been done for generations before.

So the first choice is number one, yes, you are addicted to social media.

And if this is you, don't worry, you are not alone because of the over 4 billion people around the world that use social media an estimated five to 10% or over 210 million, are addicted and have a problem with social media. So if this is you just like, if you know that you had an addiction to alcohol, for example, then guess what? There are choices for you in that you can take a detox just like you would in abstaining from drinking alcohol or enrolling in a program like alcoholics anonymous. Which I know the step one is just admitting that you have a problem, right? And so you can take those same choices, just like with any addiction to number one, admit that you have a problem.

Number two, take a detox, which I know will be difficult. And again, you might even experience some withdrawal. But I can promise you after you're done, you're going to feel this freedom and you're going to feel this weight lifted.

Even if you are an entrepreneur who is experiencing these feelings of addiction, you can build your business without having to use social media if anything you might be empowered like I am and finding a way to do that. And to exemplify the business practices that have worked for a generation in terms of building a scalable passive income.

So, how can you do this? It is definitely gonna take getting a little bit creative and it probably will involve leveraging some online other sources. For example, like a blog, starting a blog is a great way. If you listen to the episode with Brianne bell, you know, that she has built a passive income using a podcast, but she also touched on blogging as being another great way to, to build a passive income.

And if you're like me and you love to talk, maybe a podcast could be the right thing or blog, if you're a writer. Another option would be in person. We talked about the importance of building trust and relationships, and in fact, when I shared that a friend, that's in the business model than I am of network marketing and the makeup company. When we first joined, we both envisioned it being almost like, you know, picture Mary Kay or Avon. So companies that have, have been around for generations that were built on basically being someone's local makeup lady, right? Like someone who will come and show you how to apply the makeup or show you the skincare that works. And people essentially love to support the people that they know like and trust.

And it's difficult to build those kinds of relationships in an online arena. So building your business in person is certainly an option. And there's so many different examples of that.

And then some of the other options and alternatives that you can use as opposed to social media to build your business would be email and text. So this is essentially what I'm going to be doing because I have built a fabulous, amazing, group of customers who absolutely love the makeup product that I share.

And of course, all of you that are listening to the podcast as well, and wanting to build a simple, passive income business for yourself. So you essentially are my people, right? And so I am finding ways to stay connected with you guys through email and text campaigns. And what's really cool is I actually just decided to create an email newsletter for y'all. I will run into people occasionally and they'll say, gosh, I'm missing updates from you, or I'm missing your beautiful face on social media. And sometimes that's hard for me to hear, even though I know I'm making the right choice by doing this digital social media detox.

And so I'm excited to let you know that I have a new newsletter. That can be emailed to you. And all you have to do is text the word update to 912-405-8912. So text the word update to 912-405-8912 and you will get added to my email list where you can stay in touch.

So of course, if you want to take a digital detox from social media, you absolutely could leverage something like this and build a thriving email list or a thriving newsletter. Or again, texts hit people where they are and communicate with your existing customer base in a more impactful and effective way as opposed to trying to build a following or build a brand on social media. Especially if it is going to be detrimental to your mental health and mindset

All right. So the number two choice, so if number one was an estimated five to 10% of people. I'm going to say that this next one is probably gonna be about 80% of people. So it's probably you that's listening and essentially you are, well, first of all, if you're listening to this podcast, your interest has been peaked on what the conversation around building a business without social media looks like.

And so maybe some of those questions that I asked on the last episode, maybe they did pull up a little bit of a trigger for you. Or maybe you are feeling a little bit of conviction around using social media less and less. Maybe if you took the quiz and last week's homework, you found that you were moderately addicted.

And so in that case, you don't necessarily have to delete your social media accounts or you don't necessarily have to take this crazy digital detox. But you probably also don't want to spend all of your time and energy, trying to build a personal brand on social media apps. So essentially what I'm saying is you can keep your social media accounts geared towards what they were originally created to be, which is sharing your real life updates with your friends and family, instead of trying to grow your network, right?

Like you are focusing on sharing the things that you love, or the things that are happening in your life with your friends and family. Which that's again, 80% of us out there are trying to do that. But what I see being detrimental with someone who's trying to build a passive income business is they try to keep this personal account right? With their friends and family.

And then they're trying to pseudo show up like an online influencer, some of the time on this platform. And it just doesn't feel right. Right? Like it feels like a disconnection. And that's where that, that internal struggle is. Of like, not wanting to show up that way. So again, this is probably 80% of you.

So my advice, if you are in this camp is to let social media continue to be your personal outlet and integrate your business into only 10% of what you post. And leverage those existing connections that you already have. As opposed to trying to build a following. So you can certainly, if you meet somebody at the soccer field or your cousin gets married and you meet his new wife, right? Like you can add them as friends on Facebook, because again, that is what they are. They're your new friends or your new, new family if you will. But you're not necessarily trying to attract random people that don't know you. These are people that you have real life connections with, that are on your social media.

And it's totally fine to strategically share a little bit about your business here and there. And I'm not talking about doing it in a spammy ad, kind of a way. I'm talking about just sharing what it is that you love or what it is that you do. Maybe a little bit of the backstory of how you build your business? In a way that sharing what you love in hopes that somebody else might love it too.

And so if you only post 10 times a month, that might be you only posting about your business once a month, right? Like, so one out of 10 would be 10%. Now if you're posting. You know, every day on there naturally, like I have a sweet friend, Jennifer, who takes the most amazing pictures of her kids.

Like I had a party at my house and her son was here and she was like, please take lots of pictures. And actually, I don't even know if she posted the pictures that I sent to her, but I bet she probably did. So that's just kind of who she is and, and she loves to share her life and we love to see the pictures that she shares of her life on her personal social media feed.

Right. And so, you know, if that is you and you are posting every day, every 10 days, you could strategically post a little something about your business. So I did an entire episode around this. It's episode 14, where I talk about how you can leverage the success of others who are having big results online and not have that FOMO, but use it to your advantage to build your own business. So you can check out that episode if you want some specific strategies on that.

But essentially one out of 10, of every one of your posts, if you fit into this category, should be, or could be about the business. But you shouldn't try to show up like an online influencer. Meaning like every post, every picture has to be curated and edited and fit in with this like beautiful aesthetic. And have this curated bio that helps show who it is that you serve. Right? And do posting your stories five to ten times a day and do one to two reels every single day.

Try to build this brand. Or nice down and find your avatar. All those things are, are not something that 80% of us need to do in order to build a successful business, especially if social media addiction could be a problem for you.

So an example, if we are comparing it directly to alcohol again, that might be like having a drink here and there. So again, if you go to a party or you go out to dinner with your husband, you might, you know have a drink or two right? So you're you're moderately consuming something that could be a problem, right?

Like you're setting boundaries around what you don't want to become more of a reason to escape or more of a reason to have an addiction. So again, that's probably 80% of us. And if so, keep listening, because this podcast is perfect for you. Because I'm not trying to tell everyone that they need to go delete their social media or never post again.

I'm just saying that you don't have to show up, like the number three group that I'm going to talk about. So if you fit into this final group or this final area. And you are confident that you not only don't have a problem in consuming social media. You know, you don't get sucked in that rabbit hole. You don't find yourself comparing your results or yourself to someone else you don't get in that FOMO or comparison mode.

And likely you also have a very strong sense of personal self-confidence and guess what? That leads to an energy that people can feel, and people are attracted to that. They want to be friends with that. That's where like attraction marketing comes in. Right?

And if you can think of some of the most successful online influencers. You can just feel that they've got this healthy sense of self-confidence around the things that they love and around who they are as a person. Around what they believe and the values. And they likely don't have a problem with social media.

And while I feel like this is, I mean again, if I said 5 to 10% for the first group, 80% for the second group, this might be an additional 5 to 10% for the last group. But I think it could even be less than that. It might even be like 2%. Cause when I think about the almost 4,000 people on my team, in my company, there are probably less than 5% that I feel like fit into this category of just having this amazing presence that leads to an energy again, that people are attracted to.

And in that case, when you got that, you've got that self-confidence then guess what? Social media could be an incredible platform for you to build a business. And you probably should build a personal brand online. And in that case, you are going to follow a completely different set of rules and advice in order to do that.

So if this is you. And again, I have several of my great friends and several amazing leaders on my team that certainly fit into this category. This is good news. And this is what you've hopefully been, been looking forward to have permission to do the thing that you love, because it's adding value to your life rather than taking away from it.

And if this is you, I want you to think of social media as a business tool. So this isn't going to be a place where you're trying to share your life with your friends and family, and maybe add a couple of people here and there. This is a place for you to provide value and an area or a passion, and your primary goal should be to serve someone in that specific area. So again, you're not focused on sharing about you so much, as you are sharing about what you have to give in terms of advice or value or education around the things that you love.

So, again, I've told you guys that occasionally I will hop over on Instagram. And it's so funny, cause the number one person that I love to follow. Is a gal, actually, I don't even know what her real name is, but she's frills and drills on, on Instagram. And she does these like DIY furniture and home make-over projects, which aren't something that I would ever want to do. But if I did, I would know exactly what to do because I've watched her do it. Right? Oh, Lindsay, that's your name? Lindsay Dean. She's amazing.

Maybe I should interview her for the podcast. If you know her. I sent her this because I just think she's seriously amazing. And she's one of the only people that I consistently go and watch her stories when I do spend the very little time that I do on Instagram. Because I just think she's so fascinating and she exemplifies this beautifully.

Another example of this would be my friend, Camille Clawson. And she, if you know her, if you've ever followed her, I actually interviewed her on my other podcast called stories of light. And she is just truly a light. She has a personality that's bigger than life. She has this deep hearted passion for sharing the things that she loves to lift people up and make their lives better. And just recently she has gotten a lot of clarity on how she can show up on social media because she has rosacea.

And so she is now. Essentially branding herself as the rosacea queen and sharing the makeup and the skincare that she has found to be beneficial for herself. In the hopes that it can serve someone else. And what's going to be really cool to watch she's Montana. Moonlight on Instagram, by the way.

Oh, yes. So she's Camille, the rosacea resource. Teaching, easy makeup for rosacea and redness coverage. Clean skin care for sensitive skin.Facing insecurities with a little love and humor.

So that's perfect. Right? Like she has curated her bio to share exactly how she's going to provide value. If you were to watch one of her hilarious reels, you would click into her profile and you'll be like, wait, I have rosacea. Maybe she can teach me a few things.

Right? And in that case, like I would never tell my friend, Camille, that she shouldn't grow her business on social media. Right? And she's going to follow a completely different set of guidelines that are tailored towards her showing up essentially as an online brand or an online influencer. Because she's got that, that energy that people again, can feel.

So what she's doing is she's going all in on a niche, which I really don't love that word, but there's not really a better way to describe it. And there's so many coaches that teach on that Chalene Johnson being one of them Brock Johnson, another person I interviewed on the stories of light podcast.

Jackie, Richard's a dear friend of mine in Seint. They are all teaching you how you can build a brand and build a massive online following centered around the things that you love.

But again, this is going to be for a very small percentage of you less than 10%, for sure. And I don't want you to feel like you have to show up in that way in order to build a business. So that's, again, the entire purpose of this and my passion behind this podcast is to help you know, that I didn't build my business in that way. And you don't have to either.

But if this is you, if you are like the Camille's or the Jackie's of the world, and you have the value and the self-confidence to know that this isn't necessarily a problem for you. Then proceed, go all in, be consistent. Focus on batching content, as opposed to just always trying to be on or feeling like you have to share every facet of your life, because you don't. You can get really specific about the things you could talk about again and again. Right?

So pick one platform to master. That would be another tip that I would do instead of trying to, you know, be a tick tock superstar, which is going to have a different strategy than an Instagram superstar. Just pick one, and go all in on what it is that you love and follow the advice on building a strong, personal brand that isn't, again, going to be sharing the facets of your life. It's going to be providing value for the people who are inevitably going to click that follow button.

And so again, that is like, if we're comparing to the alcohol example, that's like having a glass of wine each night. Right? We talked about, I think the last episode that red wine, a little bit of red wine can add that resveratrol into your, your health, right. And you're not addicted. You just enjoy the taste of a glass of wine.

And so my sweet grandmother was this way, right? Like she lived to be 97 years old and she had a little glass of red wine every night. And she had this incredible self confidence. She didn't have a problem with drinking. She never over-consumed. I never watched her do that at any point in time. And so for her, like having that little consistent glass of wine and it is not a problem for her.

So I hope this makes sense for you guys, that you likely fit into one of these three categories. Which means you likely have some decisions to make with how you should show up and leverage social media, or not, to build your business. And so I will be tackling each one of these more in depth in the coming episodes. Sprinkled in with a couple of interviews here and there as well. But I hope that this has been helpful for you to get some clarity on how your business does not have to look like someone else's depending on where you fall on the spectrum of the addiction, mental health side of social media.

So essentially, this week's homework is going to be just to make a decision. Which of these three suits where you are and where you honestly are in your business. Knowing that there's no wrong or right answer, just like there's no wrong or right answer when it comes to drinking alcohol. Some people prefer to abstain. Some people will consume a little bit here and there and some people will consistently have a little bit every single night.

And only you can know what's best to serve your business. And I want you to make a game plan based off of these three different options for how you will choose to leverage social media, to build your business moving forward.

And as always, I would love for the conversation to continue over in the Scale Without Social for female entrepreneurs, Telegram group. And you can get the link to that by texting the word podcast to 9 1 2 4 0 5 8 9 1 2. And I can't wait to hear what you guys think about this episode and maybe let me know which of those three categories you fit into in that group.

And don't forget, you can also text the word update to 9 1 2 4 0 5 8 9 1 2. If you want to get that newsletter with some of the things that you would typically see me share on social media, straight to your inbox for us to stay connected.

So thank you guys again for listening. And I hope you have a fabulous week!