Creatives Like Us Podcast - Ep:30
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Content, Ne'Twerking and talking strategy with Jess Bruno
In this episode of the Creatives Like Us podcast, host Angela sits down with Jess Bruno, a creative content strategist based in London. They discuss Jess's journey from aspiring Spice Girl (it's true!) to successful business owner, the importance of networking in a fun and engaging way (Ne'Twerking) and the challenges of building a business while managing chronic illness. Jess shares insights on her membership program, 'Watch Us Grow,' and her aspirations for creating inclusive spaces for women and marginalised communities in the business world. The conversation emphasises the long-term nature of business growth and the importance of community support.
Since Jess and I recorded this episode - she has created a new programme: Formula Hun
In Jess’ words Formula Hun is a 6-month strategic group experience for founders who know it's time for more visibility, more clients and want to post sh*t-hot content that reflects the quality of their work.
Connect with Jess:
https://jessicabruno.co.uk/
Instagram: @thatjessbruno
Bio by Jess:
I’m THAT content strategist who’s helped 400+ small biz owners turn followers into paying clients. I built a six-figure business with under 5K Instagram followers, proof you don’t need to go viraL to grow.
My business began after chronic illness forced me to leave my corporate marketing job at 27 with just £0.30 to my name. From my first £25 consulting session to hitting six figures in 2024, I’ve been living proof that small, engaged communities create big results.
Now, I work with founder-led business owners with under 10K followers, build sustainable content strategies that bring in sales, without burning out.
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Transcript
Hello and welcome to Creatives Like Us, a podcast where we open up conversations about what it really means to build a creative career when you're black or brown. I'm your host, brand and marketing graphic designer, Angela Lyons. In my guest episodes, I sit down with creatives who are out there doing the work, navigating the industries and proving that there's space for all of us. Because the more we share, the more we see our stories out there and the more we see ourselves reflected.
And the more we realise we're not alone in this. Okay then, are you ready? Let's dive in to today's episode.
Angela (00:40.91)
Hello and welcome to Creatives Like Us and today I'm joined by Jess Bruno and Jess, tell people where you are in the world and what type of creative you are.
Jess (00:49.772)
am in London, born and raised. I'm a North London girl, Edmondson Green. What kind of creative I am? I would say I am a chaotic creative. I'm the kind of creative that gets a bean hub on it about something then just has to do it. Like immediately stop everything else.
Angela (01:07.31)
Brilliant. And how does that tie in with your business? Tell people about your business and how that would tie in.
Jess (01:13.262)
So I am a content strategist. I help small business owners show up unapologetically online in two ways. And the second way is part of that chaotic creative brain of mine. So the first way is with content. So I help them understand like how to take all the goodness that's inside their business and really eloquently show it online. That's my favorite thing to do. And that is creative through like I get to
help them like sharp as themselves in many different ways and we find the way that makes sense for them which helps my creative brain because everyone walks away with something different from me. And then the second way is with day raves which Ange you've been
Angela (01:58.286)
I've been to one of them, telling people about them and what they're called.
Jess (02:02.318)
It's called Netwerkin and it's a, it's like a big party for business owners. It's networking. So you will walk away with connections. You'll meet people, maybe see someone, people you already know, but it's like my answer to boring, handshakey networking events. doesn't need, it feels like everyone knows each other. And as much as I love a keynote and there's space for that, this is like,
This is just like a live DJ and dancing, drinks. It's a tax deductible party midweek.
Angela (02:39.95)
I love that. I love that little caveat in there. Tax is acceptable so we can put it on our business expenses. Yeah. Because it is networking, isn't it? It's professional. It's CPD. Yeah, got it. your CPD. Yeah, no, I went to one of Jess's ones in, was it Christmas last year? That's 2020. And it was brilliant. And that was my first introduction to networking. And it was so much fun. And yeah, you do it. It's really weird because you do, you wouldn't think that you would, I don't know. I know. I went in with an open mind, of course, but actually meeting other
Jess (02:53.944)
This one,
Angela (03:07.928)
business owners and then talk them about their business and coming away with good contacts and you know, everyone's supporting each other and helping each other. And I loved also, I really loved what you did was the goodie bags and you let people put stuff inside them and everybody shared who they were and what they were in their business. And I just thought that was really good because you know, sometimes goodie bags can be controlled, but it's just really good that you just, you were sharing everybody's business that attended and I thought that was really good, really nice. It was awesome.
Jess (03:33.474)
Thank you so much. it was such a, that was like not a big decision for me to make, but it was always like a no brainer. Like people ask me, I'm like, course you can. Please bring, everything in these bags. Cause I want you guys to connect with each other at the actual event, but you will make a stronger connection through, I'm calling it a bit of an experience now rather than, I'm trying to, I'm using the word networking, but it feels like more of an experience. And when you can like be with someone,
and dance with someone. Yeah. You get this kind of like.
Angela (04:08.238)
It's energy. It's energy.
Jess (04:10.2)
Yeah, yeah, you get energy from them.
Angela (04:13.486)
I know people don't like using the term networking, but it is a network, isn't it? It's like a connection. It's people joining each other and it is working and it is, you know, coming together, it's people coming together. And was much, as much so we don't like using that word is, that's why I like the word networking because that is a fun word. Yes. And there is a teacher that comes in. Yeah, she's brilliant. And I was going to say, have you actually copyrighted the word networking?
Jess (04:32.238)
And we do actual twerks.
Yeah, tomorrow.
Jess (04:42.51)
I've trademarked everything. I've got the little TM, I paid the bill and all networking events I've got it under and I'm going to trademark it again for like merchandise because I want to create like...
Angela (04:57.593)
yeah, it can expand, can...
Jess (04:59.724)
Can expand people like want it to come up north and the next one's going to be at Canva.
Angela (05:04.542)
Mm-hmm. That is amazing, Canva. mean, when this episode comes out, it'll just be after your event, I believe. But I will put the notes in show notes when people can join you again. But Canva, that's a massive sponsor to be on board, especially what you do in your business content. And you've got Canva on board. That is just awesome. It's just like hats off to you, Jess, honestly. Yeah. So do you want to tell people how you started? Because all of this obviously didn't happen overnight and it didn't like...
Jess (05:24.81)
my mind.
Angela (05:31.298)
wake up one morning and dress up, I'm a content creator, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna run my own business, I'm doing networking. There's a start to it, so would you tell people how you started and where you are now?
Jess (05:42.894)
I never thought I'd be a business owner. Really? Never. It was never on the plan. And I was going to be a spice girl.
That was my dream.
Angela (05:58.126)
I've got to have dreams.
Jess (05:59.8)
But like, seriously, from like age four, when I started, I've been in like, my parents put me in like Saturday singing school, performing art school, whatever. And I've really like, every, in primary school, I was the like, the girl who was like doing the show. I was like in the primary school show, either main character or like main side character. I had this like, I was like glee. What was the profanication of glee?
But then I went to, I was so serious about it. They put me into like a musical theater secondary school. And then I did pop vocals in college. And then I got a 2-1 in pop vocals in university. Like I was gonna be a Spice Girl.
Angela (06:48.034)
You are the roads, Venus Spice Girl.
Jess (06:51.438)
And then in my second year of uni, I got really sick and it threw my world upside down. in my second year of uni, got, diagnosed, misdiagnosed at the time with Crohn's disease after about a year of going back and forth to my GP, just thinking I had like horrific hangovers. I was like, why is it? I don't know what's wrong with my body. Like the symptoms were like.
I was like rapidly losing weight. I couldn't keep anything down. was on my own. Like I moved out when I was 17, just turning 18. Cause I went, I went, I wanted to get there, be a uni. And yeah, I got really, really sick. didn't know what was wrong with me. Then I was diagnosed and then I didn't have stamina to perform anymore. I didn't have it. And I had to like repeat a lot of my uni stuff and I couldn't, I just.
didn't have like the breath in me to sing. And I was doing singing teaching at the time to make a bit of money. Um, but I couldn't, I couldn't keep up with it. So I got a job at my local picture house cinemas and it was looking after this thing called kids club, which was like a Saturday, like a one pound cinema ticket. Um,
Saturday event where kids could come and they'd have birthday parties and part of the job was to also advertise it. You had to post like on the Facebook pages and you had to find the mums group, you had to find everyone to tell people what was happening and then the job included having to like sell these birthday parties and that was like the very beginning of me like learning about like marketing, events marketing specifically without putting any words to it.
And so that's why I kind of, never felt any like heartbreak or lost love for the singing career, but I knew it wasn't at that time something I had capacity for. And so I just kind of went down the job, the job route and I really, I was really good at it and I really liked it. I worked at Pitch House Cinemas for years. The kids club started like going out to all the other ones, not just in my branch, but it was doing so well there. They modeled it in lots of different ones as well.
Angela (09:10.112)
Serious? wow, that's so cool! you created something!
Jess (09:12.354)
I know. was young. I created something, but I didn't think it was even a thing. I didn't think to put anything on it. When I left Pitch House Cinemas, got another job in marketing and I worked for a company called Exclusive Touch who ran brunch parties. One of them is called Reggae Brunch, one of them is called Afro Beats and I know that. So I was with them from...
When it was like, it just started popping off. When I started with them, they were doing like one or two events a weekend just in London. And then by the end of my three years with them, they had gone like across the country, abroad. And I'd helped really like see it build that and expand that. And I started running more events with them. Like one was called Motown Supper. And I was really getting a taste for like, was really learning, not from university or anything, but from like boots on the ground experience.
Angela (10:08.544)
Yeah, I was going to say, that's all of this is happening and you've still not had any formal training in marketing or content creation or anything. You're just doing it off the back of rolling with it as you know it and learning on the job. Wow.
Jess (10:19.528)
Learning on the job. Yeah. And then my business then started in 2020. I'm a lockdown baby business. The events world, the marketing of events, like it just shut down. At that same time, my health was like, I decided to get sober. I was self-medicating a lot to control my illness. The world shut down.
I had no money. had no job anymore. And I had to move back in with my mom and my grandma at 27 years old after 10 years of living on my own, paying my own way. And I moved into this little like tiny box room, which was no complaints. It was just very different from what I was used to having freedom. had literally 20p in one account, minus 500 in a Monzo account that I didn't even know about. That was wild. And then my friends who were all creatives were messaging me.
And they were saying, I'm about to start a business. Can you tell me how to do this Instagram post? Cause I saw my success with like all the other businesses. I knew I had an awareness of it. And this is all like in the background. was getting quite a lot of messages from like singers who were making postbox rowdy businesses or
Angela (11:38.083)
wow, everyone's trying to it.
Jess (11:40.17)
Everyone's transforming, major redundant, becoming like life coaches and all of that stuff. I'll get messages from my mum said to me, I bet you could charge for that.
Angela (11:50.773)
Woo!
Jess (11:52.138)
No, no, can't. She goes, yeah, you can. Next time someone messages you, say it'll be 25 pound. And I was like, for what? She goes, you'll give them advice, but it'll be 25 pound. said, okay. Lo and behold, about an hour later, someone messages me, Jess, I'm starting a resin ashtray business. Can you give me, how do you, how shall I do my bio or something like that? And I said, yeah, I can talk to you. be 25 pound please. And we could jump on a call. And they're like, yeah, no problem.
And I was like, how do I get the money? What do I do now? I had no awareness of it. At that, it was the beginning of my business.
Angela (12:30.488)
Check that, you and mom.
Jess (12:32.15)
Yeah
Angela (12:34.254)
Isn't that amazing that all of these steps along the way that you've had no like, I just love that you didn't have any formal training, you just learned along the way or talking to other people and including your mum, know, it's just like, that is so cool. You must be very proud of yourself.
Jess (12:48.49)
I should be more proud. You know, don't, I don't really see it. I learned, I learned a lot on the job, but I learned way more doing it myself.
Angela (12:57.966)
So when you're in it, are you not seeing yourself as being proud? you must, you must feel like I did that. I mean, after the network, when I left the network and I was on this high, I was like, my God, I just did this event. It was so cool. And even doing my own events afterwards, I come out and go, my God, I've just created something. You kind of, I get what you're saying about you do feel proud. But you just did, I was in shock to be honest with you. That people, yeah, come out and support.
Jess (13:21.408)
It's shock. I turned into like the showman version of myself when I'm at events and doing stuff like that. I love it. But you kind of, I go a bit, I'm not really here. like, I'm like the showman version. So afterwards, there is like, not a come down, but it's like a, what I want to get better at is like collecting the milestones and looking at them and watching the growth in real time. That's what I want to get better at.
Angela (13:45.902)
Yeah, you should do. I'm sure you've got a smile file somewhere. know, people always have this. I don't know if you've heard of it, but the smile file when good things happen, put it in a little folder somewhere on your phone and just have a look back and just flick through it, especially the comments and what people say about you. I mean, you know, you are awesome, Jess. I mean, even the other day I saw on Instagram you offered them checks on people's Instagrams and then what they were posting. And the response that you got was just crazy. I think you thought you were going to get about 10 responses and you had to stop it at one point because you had over 80 responses and you were giving feedback.
For free. You know, your mum would be, say, 25 pounds.
Jess (14:18.478)
She'd say, are doing? Do you know what was? blessing and a curse. Like genuinely thought about 10 people would, I did it as like a bit of soft market research myself, just to identify like what are people's pain points right now. And then I'm going to use that to speak to them when I launched my next group program. But then I got 80 people asking for these roasts that I said, it's not a roast in a mean way, but I said, I'll give you feedback.
Angela (14:47.969)
Tell us people what the roast meant.
Jess (14:50.242)
So I said, I'll roast your content. And that meant I'll tell you what I believe is working, what needs tweaking, and what I think you should kind of maybe hold back from doing. That's not really helping you towards your goal. But before I asked people to answer those questions, I sent them a message that said, tell me what your current goal is of the business and tell me what you think is holding you back from getting there. And then I can cross-reference that with your page and just to see if I can recognize your goal in your content right now.
And it was wonderful. It was wonderful to see. It wonderful to collect all of this information. I've got it in a folder that's like very overwhelming right now. I'm going to use all of like their language to help support my next group program.
Angela (15:28.813)
Yeah.
Angela (15:35.406)
I think that's the fun thing, well you are also on many things, but it's collecting data and helping people and seeing what's next for them. You're not one of those people who just saves it, that was doing Instagram in 2020, 2022 or something like that. You're actually current day, you're always helping people, always feeding people and your content is always on point and people please follow Jess because like she is just awesome online.
Jess (15:58.702)
I tried really, really hard. And I think because I didn't go to marketing school, don't, the marketing lingo doesn't come natural to me. And I remember in the really early days, people would always compliment me on saying things in a really easy and like non jargon way. I was like, how else would you say it? Now I know there's like these, like these words that people use. And sometimes I'll catch myself saying like funnel and pillar.
Which is fine, but then I got to think that's actually causing a barrier to my ideal clients who don't need to know that. They just need to know how to make a difference. So I do, I actually do try really hard to stay. So thank you for saying that. I appreciate that.
Angela (16:42.318)
Yes, all good, all good. was going to ask, can you tell, or ask you, tell people where you are in your business now and what you're up to? Because I know you run a membership club. Tell people about that.
Jess (16:50.19)
I do!
got a little ecosystem. year, years one to three in my business, I think I was just like, F around and find out really trying to like throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks in terms of how I want to, what I want to offer. I didn't, I, in my, I think, and middle to second year of business.
I found a business coach who I've worked with consistently since. We've not been the whole time, understanding how to set up offers and run a business and all of that, had no awareness of. So working with her, her name's Mae James, we actually met on Clubhouse. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. I I resonated with a lot of things that she said. She's got a lot of similar experience to me. And so I started working with her and we've been on and off since then. She's really helped me kind of.
work out my office suite. So I started with one-to-ones. I did social media management, I just coaching, I did a lot of things. And then I then moved into having one-to-one and a membership. The membership has been going, I feel like membership is so trendy now.
Angela (18:14.35)
Everyone's got a membership, hasn't it? I'm like, oh gosh, I've seen another friend who's a designer, I'm just seeing that she's having a membership. I'm like, wow, everyone's having memberships, but do know what? Memberships, they're hard work. It's not just like, say I've got membership and just like put it out there. You've actually got to be active. The person that's holding it and leading it, it's a lot of work. I know that I'm part of being freelance and I see the amount of effort.
that Steve puts in and I'm part of your membership and I see the amount of effort you put in. I'm just like, I don't think I could do a membership. It's just so much effort. It's a lot of mean, it's great, but it's a lot of work.
Jess (18:47.502)
It's a lot of work and especially as the numbers grow, like my membership has been like kind of a steady churn of between a hundred and a hundred and twenty members. That's kind of where my churn is. But even just from like an energetic point of view, the churn of knowing people can come in and out all the time. And like, it's hard, it's hard to keep up. It's hard to keep it fresh. It's hard to do challenges, especially at that low.
that low ticket rates and my membership is £35 a month. was, it started at 28, then it went to 30, now it's 35. But I look at it and I'm like, everything that I put in there, it should be a lot more. It should be a lot more. And the fact that I'm not charging more means that the people in there will only kind of pick and choose the bits that make sense for them, which is fine. And I don't mind that. But, um,
Yeah, I've been running it for ages. I see it more as like my top of funnel and a lot of people come through the membership and we'll either like do my group program or do one to one with me or come to my events. Like that's, that's where I see it. and so I also run a group program called Watch Us Grow. I'm currently in its fifth iteration, which is incredible. and I'm, it's gonna, I'm launching the sixth one in September launch, October start.
Angela (20:08.952)
Can you tell us a bit about what's just grow?
Jess (20:11.406)
I love, do you know what? I just love the name.
Angela (20:13.792)
And that's what I wanna know. It's like, tell me please.
Jess (20:16.43)
So Watch Us Grow is a six month, I hate to use the term, mastermind, but it's not just me talking at the group. It's an amazing high level room of experts who are all here to have more visibility in their business. There is key trainings. You'll learn my method. I'll have eyes on your content. You'll get live feedback from me. But a lot of it is having like in-depth high level feedback from each other as well.
Okay. Because it's not for beginners. Like let's say, I wouldn't even say the content clubs for beginners, but it's more of like an entry level rate. The people that are inside Watchers Grow are more seasoned business owners who have an awareness of like, they're good at looking at other people's stuff. They need the time and capacity for themselves. So, and I get so many compliments on how this program is built to have that kind of high level support from each other, as well as the feedback and direction from me as well.
So it looks like six months, there is a call, a two hour, I call it like a conference room every Tuesday. We have a theme for each month and there's guided training inside the portal. But some people like they don't need to learn my method. Some people will do this program again and again. They're just there for having like the accountability and support. Cause a lot of the time, know, you know what you need to do. You just need a bit of...
Angela (21:42.542)
You need a bit of guidance and accountability and that's the biggest thing. I know for me that's my biggest thing is accountability because I know all these things, I can do all these things, but it's like, I do them sometimes? That's why I the challenges sometimes and it's just like, oh, I could do this for a week or I could do this for this amount of time.
Jess (21:59.062)
I add in challenges as well. in September, which will be the last session, the last time for this container, we're doing an email challenge. And by the end of September, their goal is to get a hundred new subscribers into their email.
Angela (22:14.222)
Wow, that's so cool. Brilliant, brilliant. So, thinking about the future, who would be your dream? What would be your dream? What's next in the business? Is there a dream client you'd like to work with or what's the biggest thing that you, is there something else? Unless it's top secret, don't tell me, but is there something that someone or something you want to do next you can manifest?
Jess (22:35.95)
If I could manifest, so I think it's, it's not far away. I am going to be changing my office suite. So instead of like heroing the content club, I'm going to hero Watch Us Grow. And I want to turn Watch Us Grow into the program that I'm known for rather than the content club. That's still going to be there, but I'm going to hero Watch Us Grow. And I want to create a, I'm in, I'm in the
thickums trying to do it in the background. But I want watches going not only to be like a six month container, doors open, doors closed, but put it on an evergreen model when people can join any time, but they still have that input from myself and each other. So I'm just thinking about the mechanics of that right now. And I want to do at a really competitive rate. So a lot of these like masterminds go for like 8K, 10K for six months.
And I'm doing mine at 1500. And so that will be, and you get to pay over six months. So I think it's like 250 pounds a month to have.
Angela (23:41.742)
That's reasonable, so give people the instalments and the chance to do that. That's fair. And you're all right, are so good because you really are supportive of other business. It's mainly female, isn't it, that you work with?
Jess (23:45.843)
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
Jess (23:56.514)
I mainly work with girls. Actually, in all of my one-to-one and group, I've never had a guy. I've worked with guys on a one-to-one basis, but it's very selective. find it, I don't know why I find it a bit difficult. Networking is just for girls, gays and theys.
Angela (24:13.966)
Yeah. I love that.
Jess (24:16.078)
Yeah. I'm doing really good on the girls part. I'm not doing so good at attracting the bays and the gays part yet. And I want to make it a safe space for them. I'm thinking about, I know the answer is to put people in power that represent those people. So I've invited some special guests to this one to see if they can come. Yeah. Because once you see someone that like looks like you and cares about the same stuff as you in a place of power.
Angela (24:39.99)
is what attracts people into certain situations. know that there's some events that know that's mainly going to be all white, but if there was a black panelist on there, I'd be like, more inclined to like go, I'm going to go and see what they got to say. But they will bring their people too. So it's like one of those things where you need more representation and then people will follow.
Jess (24:57.014)
Exactly. On International Women's Day, I hosted a virtual panel for women in business with chronic illness. And even though that sounds really niche to me, we had about 60 people sign up to watch and I invited these amazing women in business who also happen to have chronic illnesses, not to talk about their journey or like their diagnosis, but to talk about how they run their business because we just have less time. And I find that they have the most like intricate
CRMs and they have the most amazing out of the box ways of organizing stuff and it's so good to just talk to someone who can tell you about these things.
Angela (25:36.44)
Yeah, yeah, totally. well done. Well done for doing that. That's fantastic. That's so good Jess. I feel like I could just chat to you all day. I know I can't. You got to go and talk to other people about their content and make money. This is the same thing though. We are here to make money, aren't we? And you're helping people and women to make money. So.
And a lot of people just say it's not all about just content. There's other things like that you can share about, especially getting out, as you said, the networking, it's not just all about being online. Obviously that's a big part of it, but I love that you're always empowering women and you're out there yourself. And I just love it. I love to see it. So keep going.
Jess (26:15.182)
Okay, thank you. My goal when I work with clients on content, wherever they are, I always ask, what is your goal in the business and how can we best represent that with your content? At the top of the month, that's my first question. Like what's happening in the business? What are the deadlines? What are the launches? What are we wanting to do? What are we wanting to bring in? And then I hand it over. What people always, it's hard when, even though I do, I do generate wealth for my clients. I do, that's my whole goal for them.
Sometimes, you know, it doesn't always work out that way and it takes a longer process, especially if you're like kind of in a transition phase or in the beginning of something. And so always say to them, it's about, you have to, it's not a short game. It's a long game. matter how, what the internet tells you, it is a long game. You may see immediate results. My clients have had the most amazing results, but we have to implement the strategy and see how it works.
Has it not worked? Why has it not worked? And the more you post, the more you make your content, the more you'll identify your voice. Which I like working with people, because a lot of the work I do is around business and around fucking ROI. It's like, I like to work with people who are more seasoned in business.
Angela (27:31.438)
Use the marketing word there, R-O-Y. Return on investment.
Jess (27:37.696)
Yeah, basically. And I want to give you a really lovely return on your investment with me, as always. Like one of my one-to-one clients, she's just paid off her payment plan in full because she's made triple. She's just made triple and we're not even halfway through. Fantastic. So it happens. stick to the strategy, not your mood.
Angela (27:54.51)
So.
Angela (27:59.404)
Yeah. that's interesting. my gosh. I might have to like clip that one. It sticks to the strategy, not your mood.
Jess (28:06.35)
A lot of my clients like me, creative chaos brain. So we're like, oh, that's, I should do that. Cause that person has done that. And that's really exciting. But if you, if you veer off what we've planned at beginning of the month, like, then I can't, but well, you didn't do that. So.
Angela (28:20.91)
That's so funny because I think that's me and I sit down on my computer and I'm like, oh, I could do this, I could do this. I'm like, you've got to do client work. I'm like, darling. And I've just like, I literally have to talk myself out of doing something that I really want to do. Like just, you can do that later. Focus on this. Focus on this.
Jess (28:35.21)
My, I have one hour in my calendar. I put the mask on myself before I put it on my clients always. Yeah. Nine, nine till 10 AM is always called Jess content. And that's where I'll either make something that I'm behind on, write the caption for something, finish the email. Sometimes it takes me an hour. Sometimes it takes me 15 minutes. I always make sure I look after my business first.
And then I can move on into client-lap. Every day, Monday to Friday, hour. Serious? Serious. Because no one's asking for me at 9 a.m.
Angela (29:06.158)
Mm-hmm. Do you do that every time?
Angela (29:11.842)
Wow.
That's a good tip actually, if people are looking to do their own content and block that time out for yourself. But that's why you're so good at what you do. You are, you're correct. You can't just, you know, just work on your business. You're always, it sounds like you're always developing, always thinking, being creative all the time, what's next, what's next, but also nurturing what you've got. So I just think that's a really good, really good model and mindset at the moment. Brilliant, Jess.
Jess (29:37.194)
It's not easy. Like I do struggle. I come on the outside. It's true. But I like, I struggle a lot with like switching off and time on the business and time on my life. think because of my chronic illness, like I had so much, I didn't have the freedom that I have now since I had surgeries and I got a bit of my life back. Like I would never have been able to do networking.
Angela (29:41.166)
Thanks, thank you, see you soon.
Jess (30:04.43)
if I hadn't had surgery, because I genuinely couldn't leave the house for like the first two and a half, three years of my business, I couldn't. So I'm still learning how to, and because in those first three years, all I could do was my business. And so I had so much pride and joy in it because it was something that gave me freedom, like being on computer and talking to people and doing all this stuff. But now I'm trying to learn how to really step away and really switch off and really like,
If I have a chaotic creative idea for the business, how to park it and not do it immediately and how, you know, it's hard. I'm trying to have Mondays and Fridays, no client work and just either Fridays you take off completely or do a little light work for me. I still haven't got into the full like, I still cheat on it, but it's there.
Angela (30:55.064)
there. Yeah, it's planning and it's there. You're doing bit by bit. As you said, it's hard so you can only do so much if it's there. You know, you're trying so it's all good. Yeah, well done. So I'd to end on a personal note and what advice would you give your teenage self?
Jess (31:13.282)
Teenage self. I'm trying to think of a funny one because otherwise it'll get really deep. Get off dairy, like ASAP, you don't need it anymore. It's only harming you. Stop the milk.
Angela (31:14.839)
Yeah!
Angela (31:27.054)
Okay.
Jess (31:28.622)
That's what I tell her. Get off dairy now. off dairy now. it's only going to cause you so much grief and you're going to keep trying to have that Nutella. You don't want it.
Angela (31:38.936)
Dairy is in so many products, even in crisp I found. like everywhere. It's everywhere. I not know that until I had to actually look for going dairy free and gluten for my kids. I was like, my God, it's actually in everything. I think the only crisp they could have is something like pom bear or something like that. Pom bears are nice little ready sort of
Jess (31:53.74)
I love a pom-pom.
You
Angela (31:59.886)
Why you so funny? So it's time for the quickfire of five questions. So you guys say one or the other. So it's, Christopher chocolates, beach or forest, book or Kindle, book, reggae or soul.
Jess (32:10.968)
B.
Jess (32:16.524)
Reggae.
Angela (32:18.424)
Patio sandwich.
Jess (32:20.565)
Hey!
Angela (32:23.096)
Brilliant. Lovely questions. This is end of the podcast.
Jess (32:23.95)
Thanks
It's so cute, I love it. But there was only like one real answer, so...
Angela (32:31.47)
I love it and everyone's always different. So thank you very much. Is there anything else you'd like to add to what we've been talking about today or is there anything else that you'd like to talk about?
Jess (32:41.494)
No, this was lovely. This was really sweet. Thank you so much for having me. I had the best time.
Angela (32:45.934)
Same hair, same hair. Will you tell people where they can find you and tell them about your membership or Instagram? Obviously I'll put all the notes in the show notes and the links and everything like that. So, but if you want to tell people that'd be great.
Jess (32:56.852)
Yeah you could come hang out with me on Instagram just search Grow with Jess Bruno or hang out with me on LinkedIn I'm getting a bit more on it with my LinkedIn nowadays so come find me there.
Angela (33:08.686)
Nice, brilliant. Thanks Jess and have a wonderful day. I really appreciate this. I've had such a brilliant conversation. Yes, Keep going, keep going.
Jess (33:18.126)
Thank you.
Angela (33:23.278)
for listening to Creatives Like Us. If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it today. That's how we build our communities and amplify our voices. You can find all the show notes and the links at linescreative.co.uk podcast and connect with me on LinkedIn and Instagram. I'd love to see you there. Also make my day if you can leave a review or comment in your listening platform choice. And it's really easy in Spotify, leave it in the comments. Until next time, keep creating and keep supporting creatives like us.
See you next time, bye.
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