Brick by brick. Person by person. Joyful moment, thoughtful lesson, inspiring event by joyful moment, thoughtful lesson, and inspiring event. Thank you for helping me build a community - helping US build a community. This month’s focus is on someone I met during our Spotlight, and she has no idea she’s being featured. If that’s not a lovely start-of-the-week pick-me-up that’s (almost) better than a gallon of coffee with a pint of cream, I don’t know what is.

The lovely Brittany Sweeney-Lawson, or Sweeney as she prefers, who’s the Marketing & Communications Manager for SciTech, became my work bestie while I served as PM for the Youth STEM Congress. “Did we just become best friends? I think so!” (I feel a bit traitorous as this is a tagline for my Bestie Bestie, but she knows my heart, hahahaha). Brittany and I clicked instantly, and we’re now the type of colleagues who’ve developed a friendship that extends beyond the workplace.

Why is she our first community highlight? Because she can say the very cool words, “On my podcast…” She has a podcast, y’all! Anyone who knows me understands my deep and abiding love and appreciation for podcasts. In case you’re interested, I’m listing some of my fave below! “Second-Hand High” is all about the moments of goodness that inspire and uplift us - “the best side of humanity” as she describes it. Normally, our Feature Friday post has to be fairly succinct to fit within the parameters of social media platforms. Thankfully, a blog allows for a much fuller picture of that person and their venture. I hope you’ll enjoy this longer form of Feature Friday. 

Business Name: Second-Hand High Podcast, est. 2021

Business Owner: Brittany Sweeney-Lawson

Fave thing about owning her own business: “Hearing the sound of my own voice.” That’s a direct quote. She’s so vain, she probably thinks this song blog is about her. (See? We have very, very similar humor). “It’s a good reminder of how capable I am, because I’ve had to do everything from scratch. From making the intro and outro, to the cover art, to finding out what an RSS feed is and how you connect that to other platforms like Spotify or iTunes in order for it to be broadcast through several different platforms. I’m a one-woman production crew, from recording the pod and putting the podcast outline together to doing the interview, editing the episode, publishing it, and promoting it. It’s a great venture to have started, and a big part of it is hearing from people who have been affected by it. Whenever I get emails or social media messages where people are telling me how cool they find the episodes or how impactful it is to hear stories of good from others. [In a lot of the media], there’s a lot of juicy, bad news; there’s distressing [items], murders, but there’s not a ton of stuff out there that’s like, “hey, this is the best side of humanity.” And I think hearing that is helpful not just for me, but for other people. From what they’ve told me, it’s a good reminder that there’s a reason we keep trying and putting our best foot forward. 

Most challenging thing about owning her own business: There are so many aspects of it to consider, like trying to find new guests and just making the time, putting in the effort and the time and the work to try to make it successful and fulfilling and interesting to other people.

How she overcomes this challenge: I think a lot of it has to do with having a system, and I feel like that’s the most common answer in the world. But what’s going to work for me is not going to work for Billy Bob down the street. So knowing what works for me, like what are the best times? When do I have time to even do the things that I need to do to make this podcast work? What are the best times for posting; what are the best times to talk with other people, considering scheduling. A lot of it is planning and preparation, knowing the system, knowing the process - having a process - and following it through and adjusting and fine tuning it as needed because things change. Especially with anything media-related, there’s constantly something new and exciting, some new-fangled doodad; (nothing’s going to date me like that sentence; *eye roll* she turns 37 next month). There’s constantly some new update or some new program, software, something to get to now and be on top of. 

<Can I pause right here and firmly reiterate how true this is and exactly how overwhelming it can be for one-woman, one-man, one-person business owners? As we work to fit in all the duties that comprise successfully running any business, a persistent, seemingly round-the-clock influx of new tech, new tools, new info floods our channels, and we have to sift through it all ourselves, becoming as versed as possible without attempting to master each item, especially to the detriment of progress. The struggle is so deeply real.>

Back to Sweeney: Having a protocol, but being flexible with the changing of the tide - because it’s always going to change - and a lot of times that is beneficial. It’s the same reason we’re not using typewriters anymore. So that’s part of the excitement of it, figuring it out and then continually honing that process.

Advice for other small business owners: (In response to my callout that so many of us SBOs where it’s just us, and we wear so many hats, precisely all the hats). Get a good hat rack. 

[Know that] it’s going to be hard no matter what. When your biggest boss and driver to success is yourself, be gracious with yourself, be willing to know there’s going to be a lot of mistakes made along the way, and be willing to experiment and ask for advice and help from other people who have been there. With podcasting, I got lucky because I wasn’t joining in on the very front lines of it. There were already tons of podcasts, so I was able to do a little bit of homework. I was able to look at what other podcasts did; I was aable to ask for advice from people who were early listeners, get feedback and stuff. But I thnk most importantly is just remembering why you want to do what you do. You could always work for someone else; you could always do just about anything else. But what it is that is driving you to work so hard to have your own business? What is your why? What is the purpose? Not losing sight of that amongst all the chaos and frenetic energy that surrounds you all the time when you’re trying to make it work from day to day. 

To listen to Second-Hand High: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1787332 which will link you to all the streaming platforms on which you can find the podcast. Your's Truly will be featured in an upcoming episode!!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070042946557

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondhandhighohmy/

To contact or share your second-hand high: secondhandhi.ohmy@gmail.com