214. It's So Hard to Say Goodbye with Ameerah Saine

Welcome to the Brunch and Slay podcast, your weekly dose of inspiration, where we remember that if she can, I can, we all can. I'm your host, Amira Sane, founder of Brunch and Slay, a lifestyle brand created to inspire women to live their best lives every day. Hello, welcome to the Brunch and Slate podcast. Oh my gosh, this is bittersweet.

And I'll be, I'm lying. It is not bitter. It is so sweet. Y'all, today is the last episode of the Brunch and Slate podcast.

Yes, we have recorded more than, but definitely recorded and aired 215 episodes. I'm not going to count the ones I had to rerecord because of technical issues, but 215 times you have pressed play. Thank you. If you even pressed it once, thank you.

If you pressed it twice, thank you. If you told a friend, thank you. Y'all, I feel like I'm graduating. I really do.

You know how when you were senior in high school and you were in May and you knew you've already passed your tax, tax, star, whatever test you had to take to graduate in Texas or wherever in the world. You've taken your SAT and ACT. You've done all your entry information for college or signed your contracts for military or whatever. You're just smooth and you're easy like Sunday morning because, you know, you're ready for the next chapter and you've done everything.

and you're just literally waiting to graduate because that's what the formality is. That's how I feel. I feel like it's time to graduate. I feel like I got my cap and gown on and my tassel's about to be moved from one side of my cap to the next.

And I'm excited about it. I am over the freaking moon about it, y'all. I am, when I first wrote my notes for this episode, I felt a little scared, but that feeling is gone. I am giddy with anticipation of what's to come.

Of course, my wheels are turning. Of course, I am thinking of the most fabulous coming out over the top brunch that we can have in 2022. And yes, I'm saying 2022 because I believe that greatness takes work. I truly really thought about starting back up our events and live podcasts and all these things in 2021.

And I felt so rushed. I felt like it wasn't authentic. I felt like my heart wasn't in it and I didn't want to give you any half ass stuff. So I didn't do it.

But 2022, we will have the most impactful brunch to date. It will be amazing. Roll out the pink carpet, bringing it out of storage, getting the backdrop, getting the food, getting the bubbles popping and chilling and ready to go. If you want to know about the 2022 brunch, shoot me an email at info at brunch and slay dot com.

We can talk about it. If you have a product or something you'd like to get in front of the amazing women who support Brunch and Slay, Shoot me a note and I will make sure I add you to our vendor list and we can talk and figure out how to incorporate your brand because it's all about the experience to me. Our brunch is not about a bunch of booths set up and people walk through and sell things. It's about an experience and it's about building relationships.

So if you're ready for that and you're looking for that and you're a professional grown up, right, and you're ready to meet women on your level, I'm just going to say it, then this is going to be for you when it comes. OK, today I'm saying what's next and what's next is to continue to pour into beautiful souls like yourself and continue to offer great advice from other leaders and industry experts. Right. We're really going to embrace.

We build. We win in a way we never embraced it before, because I truly, truly believe that when we put our resources and power together, y nothing can stop us because we are all the way up I know that was corny but hey all the way up nothing can stop us Hey that the truth My goal is to continue to craft experiences and content that make that idea front and center and remind us to pour into one another and remind us that we are just as close to the people who inspire us as we are to the people we know.

Listening to them on the show, listening to them on video, listening to them on TV as they talk about their journey is a part of your journey because it lets you know that someone who looks like you, right, can do it. And you cannot be what you cannot see. So I will continue to make self-help and wealth a priority and build and win together with women in the brunch and slate aspect. But a lot of my energy, which you may have noticed, I'm not posting as much on brunch and slate.

Number one, I'm not posting as much because we are fading out that particular brand of content marketing, that particular brand of connecting with you because you deserve more. And I believe you deserve more than what's always been done. That's just how I feel. And when you open an email for me, which you probably get, you know, you notice those now, I'm pretty consistent with them.

And I want to always add value to your day, either letting you know about someone who's building and winning who you might want to support or some tips that they can give or some content that they created that we should know about or event they're having, or, hey, they look like you and they got it, whatever. I want you to know it. And I'm going to continue to do that. So follow me on my journey at BAS Media US.

And that's our Instagram page. And you can follow us on BAS Media on any social media. We're there. Brunch and Slay is still there.

BAS Media is for people who are needing marketing services, who need attention to detail, who need tips. If you can't afford a marketing service, We give away a lot of free information, a lot of free PDFs, everything you need to kind of elevate your business and your brand. If you want to just stay in touch with me, then you can follow me at Amira Sane. That's my social media.

It's no secret. My name is Amira Sane. I'm Amira Sane on Instagram, Facebook, everything. I don't have any pseudonames or nicknames.

That is who I am. Feel free to follow me. And I'll also be sharing a lot of behind the scenes stuff through basmedia.net and showing new clients and how we're crafting their messages and evolving their message and getting them to the next level.

And I'd love it if you join and follow and support and then continue to follow Brunch and Slate. The next couple of months is going to be kind of quiet because I wanted to make sure we have the work. Right. And I didn't want to just put up stuff and waste your time and your energy just throwing up things.

So the next couple of months will be a little quiet. But baby, y'all hear that baby? No, when y'all, when I come back, be ready because I'm ready. I'm smiling right now because I am doing the happy dance because I, y'all, I don't even know if y'all know because I didn't say anything, probably because I didn't say anything, but I struggled.

I struggled. I struggled with making this decision to end this podcast. I felt like I would be letting someone down. I felt like I hadn't accomplished everything I thought I could accomplish.

I felt like it was different. But then I realized I needed to because it was no longer serving the purpose it once served. I've learned so much. Interviewing well over 200 people kind of makes you get your ducks in a row.

It just does. It makes you get it together. And it makes you call yourself out when you know that you're cutting corners. And the universe has a way of sending you exactly who you need when you need it.

And I can honestly say the bulk of the people I interviewed always showed up right on time for my spirit. And I can't feel any more lucky than that. So as you follow my journey, I want you to cheer for me and our team as we grow, as we evolve, as we see what our next level is. I want you to know that I learned to do it anyway I learned from this show a few things And the number one thing I learned is to do it anyway I shared this story before but I think it only fitting that I share it again When I first started this podcast it was just an idea I talked to two of my girlfriends and said, I think I want to start a podcast.

I'm not sure. Now keep in mind at the time when I started this podcast, there were only 300,000. No, I'm sorry, 100,000 podcasts in existence. There weren't very many of them.

No one was listening at all. Not like it is today. Now there are millions of podcasts. There were 100,000 podcasts.

I definitely didn't see one in my space. There were a ton of them that start and stop, like three episodes, four episodes, and then they disappear. But I kept pushing. I didn't have any guest book.

I really didn't even know what the format was. I just knew that Brunch and Slay needed another way for me to connect with people. I had a very small child. There was no way I was going to be able to write a blog and keep up with it the way it needed to be done.

but I felt like I could carve out some time to grab a mic and chat and interview someone and pour into you all. And that's what happened. And I didn't even have any guests lined up. And I met this really cool dude called Ty Hunter.

And I said, oh, I have a podcast. I'd love it if you'd be on my show. And he said, yes. And once he said yes, I had to figure it out.

Okay. I had to figure it out quickly because he said yes and booked a date. So that is how this podcast was born. I did it anyway.

I did it uncomfortable. And Ty Hunter just so happens to be the Ty Hunter that if you know Ty Hunter, you know I'm talking about the one who's connected to Beyonce. He used to be her stylist. And that was like literally one degree of separation from being.

Yes. I still get chills when I think about it because I absolutely know he should have told me no. He should have been like, oh, honey, yeah, email my people or I'm sorry, I don't do that. Whatever the case, he didn't.

He saw favor. He gave me favor. And for that, I hope he has been blessed tremendously over and over again for it because he helped this little girl think that she could. And not only did he help me think I could, he helped me reach out to people who I normally probably would not have.

And I stretched myself and I talked to so many people who probably had no idea who I was. And they gave me their time. They gave me their energy. They gave me their voice.

They shared their stories. And I'm a better woman because of it. I've learned the second biggest lesson was to implement systems. Y'all, what does that mean?

It means get your ducks in a row. That means anticipate the ask of people and have that email ready for them when they finally ask it. Have that follow-up package information ready so when they ask, you don't have to say, hold on or panic. You just go to your little Google Drive or your Dropbox and you click that folder and you forward it on.

Having systems in place was a game changer for me. I would not have BAS Media had I not learned very early in this podcast that I had to have systems in place, systems that help people book and see my calendar without having to talk to me, without 17 back and forth emails, systems that automatically send them an email and let them know that they're on the show and their book, systems to let them know when their show will air. And here's your show arc to support and support our show and to publicize it.

Those are things that sound little, but when you're doing this and you're interviewing five, six, seven people a week can make or break you. And that was a major game changer for me. It definitely gave me the confidence to really own my own business on another level and to elevate our reach and to the know-how to know that I could handle the giant corporate clients who we have been so blessed to work with. If I didn't have systems in place and triggers in place, I would run around like a chicken with my head cut off every week.

So that was the second most impactful thing I learned doing this podcast. The third thing that I can say has changed everything for me is to stay true to me, stay true to my brand. And in this aspect, to stay true to the brand, there were times when I would deviate and my numbers would drop tremendously. And when I would go back to being Amira, the fun Amira, the real person, you guys would listen again.

And I thank you for that Because that let me know that just because I heard something on somebody else show it worked for them It did not work for me I had to be me And if you working on something right now and you wondering how much should I share? How much of me should I put out there? I say put out as much as you're comfortable with putting out. There's no too much.

There's no too little. Everybody has their boundaries. But being okay to share and be authentic to the brand's voice was 100% a game changer to me. It allowed me to be confident.

It allowed me to boldly go into avenues that I probably would have never gone into from speaking. Y'all have done a ton of speaking engagements. Never would have thought in a million years I'd be doing that. Never been featured in blogs, been featured on podcasts, been featured.

And when I say me, I don't mean a mirror like the show has a show. Amira has reaped the benefits in some capacity, but what I've learned is that with the right mission and the right attitude, you can raise the bar and you can change the trajectory of your path. There will be people who tell you you can't. Fuck them people.

It's my last show. I can say that. Fuck them. They're a hater.

I don't care who they are. They could be your mama, your daddy, your cousin, your sister, your kid, your husband. If they are saying things to make you doubt what's been placed in your heart. Not something you're wishy-washy about and you're kind of thinking because you saw an episode about it on Netflix last night.

No. Something that wakes you up at night. Something that makes you question your whole path because it's that powerful for you. You don't need to share that with people.

You really don't. You just need to get quiet. You need to write a plan and you need to implement it. And you need to be confident in it.

And you need to know. And I want you to know, listen to this. I'm talking to you. If you're thinking right now, I don't think she's talking to me.

I'm talking to you. Whatever that thought is, whatever that vision, whatever that dream is you've been sitting on, you've been playing with, you haven't been given the attention that it needs. You've been saying next time, today's your next time. I started this podcast in 2017, one year after I launched Brunch and Slay, and it has been epic.

And it has been one of the best things I've ever done. And it became easy to upkeep. Didn't miss a show unless we had technical difficulties, which is only twice in all this time, two Tuesdays out of everything that I did miss a posting. That's amazing.

Didn't always have the money. There were plenty of times when we first started, I didn't have the money to get the show edited. It was not in my budget to go pay someone to edit the show. It wasn't in my budget to pay the hosting fees or whatever, because I was a brand new business and I didn't have a lot of resources.

But guess what? Something happened. It always worked out so much so that my husband started editing the show. He just took a couple of classes and figured it out.

He did. He edited our show for two years, two whole years he edited our show. And I'm forever thankful for that. I'm saying this to tell y'all that where there's a will, there's a way.

And I don't want you to sleep on your dreams. I want to hear about them. I want to know how you're winning. And I want y'all to know that I would not be as happy as I am today were it not for you.

And this show has impacted me in more ways than I even know at this point. And I want to thank every guest, Every person who took time out of their day or late in the night and stayed up so that we could interview. Thank you. Thank you for reposting.

Thank you for sharing. Thank you for pouring into me and answering the call and sharing. Even sometimes when the conversations went totally left, when you thought you were coming on just to talk about your brand and we wind up talking about whatever the spirit moved me to talk about. Thank you.

Thank you.