“Mountain Mama Cabins” Owner Achieves 71% Direct Bookings Through TikTok Marketing with Brittany Magsig

Summary and Highlights

💌 A Letter from Brittany Magsig

Hi! We just launched Mountain Mama’s Cabins for guests to book this week. We’ve been vetting and bringing on new cabins for guests to enjoy through our platform, which now connects with my community of over 500,000 Smoky Mountain followers.

When my own cabin was fully booked and filled to occupancy, I still wanted to find purpose in creating Smoky Mountain content — and that’s when Mountain Mama’s Cabins was born. Instead of going against the numbers with today’s high interest rates and saturated market prices, I started recruiting cabin owners who believed in my vision to list with me.

You can find us and book at @mountainmamascabins on TikTok and Instagram, and at Mountain Mama Cabins on Facebook!

👩‍💼 Meet Brittany Magsig: From Social Work to Social Media Success

Brittany Magsig brings a unique perspective to vacation rental marketing, combining her clinical background with creative storytelling. As a licensed social worker (LMSW/LCSW) who worked in schools for 10 years, she developed exceptional communication skills that now serve her content creation and guest relations.

Her transformation began in 2020 when she and her husband purchased a cabin in the Smoky Mountains during COVID lockdowns. What started as a personal escape became a profitable venture that allowed her to leave her traditional career and build a business around her passion for hospitality and the mountains she loves.

Today, Brittany manages her own cabin with exceptional direct booking rates while co-hosting six additional properties and helping other cabin owners increase their visibility through her Mountain Mama Cabins platform.

Connect with Brittany:

• TikTok: @mountainmamascabins
• Instagram: @mountainmamascabins
• Facebook: Mountain Mama Cabins
• Website: mamacabins.com

🎯 The Psychology Behind Authentic Content Creation

Brittany’s background in social work became her secret weapon for creating relatable content. Her clinical training taught her to read people’s perspectives and deliver difficult messages with empathy—skills that translate directly to understanding her audience’s needs and creating content that resonates.

“I feel like a lot of what I do online is ministry. I want people to know they’re not alone,” Brittany explains, describing how her personal branding approach goes beyond business promotion to genuine connection.

Her vulnerability breakthrough came after appearing on Dr. Phil to help her father with addiction struggles. That experience taught her that being authentically herself—flaws and all—creates stronger connections than any perfect, curated content ever could.

📱 From 58 Followers to Half a Million: The TikTok Strategy

When Brittany started her TikTok account in 2021, she had just 58 followers and felt embarrassed about her slow growth. Following advice from content creation coaches, she committed to posting 3-4 times daily about the Smoky Mountains, dedicating exactly one hour after her school social work job to content creation.

The platform evolution mirrors her personal growth:

• 2021: Basic Smoky Mountain footage with trending sounds
• 2022: Personal storytelling mixed with mountain content
• 2023-2024: Authentic motherhood and business stories that built genuine community
• 2025: Strategic content balancing personal life, business insights, and mountain advocacy

“TikTok was literally a perfect mix of utilizing it for my creativity, my expression, and also connecting with people. It’s the best of all worlds,” she reflects on her platform choice.

Her content strategy avoids mainstream buzzwords and focuses on genuine storytelling. Rather than chasing every trend, she dedicates 10-15 minutes daily to consuming content strategically, looking for sounds and concepts that align with authentic stories she wants to tell.

🏔️ Building Trust Through Transparent Business Practices

Achieving 71% direct bookings didn’t happen overnight. Brittany’s success stems from treating every social media interaction as relationship building for repeat guests rather than simple marketing.

Her original booking process, while time-intensive, built incredible trust:

• Personal responses to all 35+ daily DMs about availability
• Custom quotes removing OTA service fees
• DocuSign rental agreements reviewed by legal counsel
• Payment through familiar platforms (Venmo, Zelle, Cash App)
• Hand-blocking calendars across multiple platforms
• Personal communication throughout the guest journey

“I would even FaceTime them. Some people wanted to make sure I’m legitimate. People trusted me after showing up every day online,” Brittany explains how consistency built credibility.

Now using Hospitable for streamlined operations, she maintains the personal touch while scaling efficiently.

🤖 Strategic AI Use Without Losing Authenticity

Brittany uses AI tools like ChatGPT strategically for business planning and idea generation, paying $20 monthly for enhanced features. However, she draws clear boundaries around content creation.

“I don’t use AI within my content because I think there is such a thing to be said about transparency, authenticity, seeing a real person to relate it to your life,” she emphasizes.

Her approach to AI mirrors best practices for hosts:

• Business strategy and pricing structure brainstorming
• Email templates that she heavily rewrites in her voice
• Creative problem-solving for her Mountain Mama Cabins platform
• Never for content captions or storytelling

This balanced approach allows her to leverage efficiency tools while maintaining the authentic voice that built her following.

📈 Scaling Success: From Personal Brand to Business Platform

Recognizing that other Smoky Mountain cabin owners struggled with bookings while she consistently filled her calendar, Brittany launched Mountain Mama Cabins with software developer partner Andrew. This platform allows quality cabin owners to benefit from her established audience trust and 1,000+ daily website visitors.

Her expansion strategy demonstrates community-driven growth:

• Vetting cabin owners for quality and hospitality standards
• Leveraging her content creation skills for multiple properties
• Creating a marketplace that benefits both guests and owners
• Maintaining personal brand authenticity while scaling impact

💡 Key Takeaways for Direct Booking Success

Mindset Foundations

“Being comfortable being uncomfortable” remains Brittany’s core advice. She advocates for:

• Consistent practice in uncomfortable situations
• Fitness and physical challenges to build mental resilience
• Authentic self-expression over perfect content
• Long-term relationship building over quick wins

Content Strategy Essentials

• Dedicate specific time blocks for content creation
• Mix business content with personal storytelling
• Respond personally to audience engagement
• Stay true to your voice rather than chasing trends

Direct Booking Fundamentals

Quality product comes first—excellent guest experiences enable confident marketing. Brittany recommends:

• Professional photography that showcases your property accurately
• Clear, easy-to-read descriptions
• Responsive communication systems
• Personal touches that differentiate from generic listings
• Integration tools like weather widgets or local webcams

📚 Rapid Fire Insights

Recommended Reading: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck* by Mark Manson “When you have that mindset of not giving a crap within reason, your problems really start to dissipate,” Brittany shares about this transformative read that helped her embrace authenticity.

Essential Mindset: “Don’t betray yourself in the process of being you. Whatever that looks like in self-expression, don’t be harmful, don’t be malicious, but just being you.”

Success Formula: Good product + personal branding + consistent content + authentic relationships = sustainable direct bookings

🚀 Ready to Transform Your Direct Booking Strategy?

Brittany’s journey from social worker to social media success proves that authentic storytelling and consistent relationship building can drive exceptional direct booking results. Her 71% direct booking rate on a single property demonstrates the power of meeting guests where they are—on their phones, seeking genuine connections and experiences.

Whether you’re camera-shy or social media savvy, the fundamentals remain the same: be authentic, be consistent, and focus on building relationships rather than chasing vanity metrics.

Ready to take control of your direct bookings? Listen to the full episode of Booked Solid for even more insights, then visit CraftedStays.co to build a website that converts your social media traffic into confirmed reservations.

Podcast Transcription

Brittany: But what I have seen. Digital media is not going away. And when business owners are shying away from doing something uncomfortable, putting their business out on social media, you have to meet the world where they’re at, and right now to promote your business online. Show that relatability with you as an owner or just kind of what you represent.

Brittany: Personal branding mean has a heavy weight more than we’d like to admit. We would love to. You know, say we can go door knocking and do all of maybe the older tactics, but there is so much value in getting on people’s phones. Everyone has a phone. Putting your best self out there of what they wouldn’t be able to see you in real life.

Brittany: Because a lot of people since COVID have really take, really evaluated their time.

Gil: Before we bring on my guest, I wanted to talk just a little bit about something that I’ve been hearing a lot from Host. I keep on hearing the same thing. I know my website isn’t converting, but I can’t afford $8,000 on an agency to rebuild it. Here’s the thing, you’re letting all these marketing strategies, you’re driving traffic and you’re putting it all to work.

Gil: But if your site isn’t really built to convert, you’re basically lighting your energy and money on fire. And even if you could afford an agency build, every time you want to test something or make a change, you’re having to pay them again. You can iterate, you can’t test, and you really can improve on things.

Gil: You don’t need a custom $10,000 website to get the conversion rates that really matter. You just need the right platform. That’s why I build craft estates. It’s purpose built for short term rentals and design from the ground up to help you drive more direct bookings. You can finally turn that traffic into bookings and you can keep on testing and improving as you learn, you can make changes all on the platform.

Gil: You don’t need to learn something new. So if you need some help or you wanna get started, go ahead and go to Craft to stays.co and start your free trial. Now let’s bring on our guests and dive deep into hospitality and marketing.

Gil: Hey folks. Welcome back to the Books Solid show, the show we bring on top operator to discuss marketing, revenue management, and direct bookings.

Gil: I am Gil Chan, and today I’m excited to share a conversation that I’ve had with someone that turned their social media storytelling into a direct booking engine meet Brittany Magsig, better known as Mountain Mama on TikTok. She started this as really her love on the Smoky Mountains on TikTok, and she has now grown this to be a half million person community and she has gotten to 71% direct bookings on just one property. She has an amazing story of how she went from being a social worker doing virtual therapy sessions and now managing her cabin remotely and really how she’s gotten really comfortable.

Gil: At posting on TikTok and using that as a platform to really gain a lot of independence and get away from the OTAs.

Gil: So in today’s show, we’re gonna be talking about how she’s put herself out there, her practical approach of converting social media followers into direct bookings, and now how she’s expanding. Really what she’s does to help other cabin owners in the Smokies do the same thing. So whether or not you’re camera shy or social media savvy, Brittany’s story is.

Gil: Really packed with very actionable insights on how to build trust, creating authentic content, and really turning your personality into the biggest marketing asset. So without further ado, let’s dive right in and bring on Brittany.

Gil: Hey, Brittany, welcome to the show.

Brittany: Hey, thanks for having me, Gil.

Gil: Yeah. I’m finally glad that we’re able to get a chance to record with you. I saw you either on one of the Facebook groups or some of the social media platforms, and when I saw what you were doing, uh, I definitely wanted you to share kind of your journey along the way.

Gil: So maybe just starting there, Brittany, do you mind introducing yourself and kind of all the different things that you’re involved in?

Brittany: Yeah, sure. It’s like sometimes I’m like, where do I even begin? My life has changed so much, so fast. Um, so I’m Brittany. Um, I’m known as, uh. Mountain Mama on TikTok Instagram. Um, I started the account Airbnb Mountain Mama on TikTok in 2021. But before that, um, I graduated here in Michigan. I live in Michigan.

Brittany: I reside in Michigan, east Lansing, go green. Um, I, uh, graduated with my bachelor’s in social work, my master’s in social work. And I was a school social worker for 10 years up until this past November. So in 2021, I bought, in 2020, I bought a cabin with my husband in COVID, in the Smoky Mountains where my grandparents had taken us our entire life.

Brittany: And when basically Michigan kind of shut down, um, the Smokies were open and we went stir crazy here. And you know, we were like, we’re gonna go safely. Quarantined in a beautiful cabin on top of a mountain. And we drove, we drove straight through. ’cause no gas stations were open, but grocery stores really weren’t.

Brittany: So we felt like we were living on the edge. We were in Survivor, like we couldn’t talk to anyone, touch anyone. It was you, you know, you remember the wild times. So,

Gil: Yes.

Brittany: and my husband is a real estate broker and so when we would go to the Smokies, we just, um, we were there for a while. So five nights, the prices were really discounted and then we realized after the two weeks or whatever the number was, it kept going.

Brittany: And so we were like, let’s go back to the Smokies again. So then we had to like have more money on a social work salary and we’re like, alright, like, I don’t know if we can do this anymore. My husband’s like, well, why don’t we look at buying a property down here? And I’m like, oh, I’ve always loved being the leader of my vacations and the groups and the itineraries.

Brittany: And my husband knows, obviously exactly what he’s doing. I had no idea. So me and him are looking at price per square foot, and I didn’t even know what those terms meant at the time. So we ended up buying our dream home in the Smokies right down the road from where my grandparents, um, kind of grew, not grew up, but um, where we would grow up visiting them.

Brittany: And so the ROI was amazing on it. Everyone wanted to come to the Smoky Mountains. Um, and we, we did a cash refi. We had no money. We bought our first home for $66,000. We did a cash refi with the interest rates and put it on a down payment for that home. Um,

Gil: So you, you, you took a, you, you re refined your primary into, into this home

Brittany: yep. Yes,

Gil: those, those rates were pretty low when you did that refi too, right? Like you probably got them at like the threes at that range.

Brittany: 2.3 I think it was.

Gil: Wow. Well done.

Brittany: Yep.

Gil: And you pull that money.

Brittany: Yes, 2.3 for our primary. And then the smokey’s I think was like 3.1. So we took advantage of that. And me, I had even, I had no idea what my husband was talking about. He’s on the phone with lenders and things like that. I’m like, you do you babe. So, uh, and then when we bought the cabin, I had like this instinct.

Brittany: I’m like, I will not let this fail. This was, this is the baby. This is our lifetime investment. This is a dream. We don’t have kids at this time either. And as a social worker, we weren’t in person. So we were doing virtual. I was doing virtual therapy with fifth and sixth graders on my laptop. While during school hours.

Brittany: So we would be in Tennessee and I would do my job and then on the other end then I would be writing the listing. I would be doing everything for the Airbnb. It got to a point where I felt I was being annoying on my own social media platform and my spaces. Um, and I wanted to reach new people. So I built my TikTok account in 2021 because it was new and I heard like you could go viral for doing really nothing that has changed entirely.

Brittany: TikTok is a way more credible platform, I would say, in regards to just finding information. Um, but uh, use that to get a whole new audience. ’cause I’m like, I can’t, there’s only so much I can do preaching my cabin to these Michigan folk. So I gotta, I gotta get outside my box. So I made the TikTok account.

Brittany: It went from me just posting my videos from the Smoky Mountains with sounds and trends, and it turned into me relating my stories in the Smokies, and then it went to me navigating the humps of motherhood and like, uh, stories of things that would happen. And I shared on TikTok and gathering an audience of mothers and just people I never anticipated loving the Smokies, but they’re like, I followed you for this, but I love the Smoky Mountains.

Brittany: So it became a, a way for me. And also I’ve always been, when my, I’m sorry, when a OL was a thing, I was there, I was the girl in the kids’ chat rooms. I remember as like an 11-year-old playing scramble in. I don’t know, this is just a core memory of mine. I just loved reading. I loved typing. I’ve always been fast.

Brittany: I used to send messages, um, to my friends on a OL. Making a thing called a zine, like a magazine. And I would say like pop culture, what’s going on? And I would create like mini websites to send emails to my friends when I was in fifth grade. So that went from probably MySpace to what was next, Facebook to Twitter, and then Snapchat and then Instagram.

Brittany: I’m, I’m like thinking of the timeline and then it now has not ended with TikTok, but then TikTok. So I’ve always been on social media. I feel like I’ve always loved that connection community and TikTok was literally a perfect mix of utilizing it for my creativity, my expression, and also con connecting with people.

Brittany: It’s the best of all worlds.

Gil: Yeah. And it sounds like things has evolved in terms of. What you are posting out there, like the, the, the things that you focus on in terms of the types of stories or the type of reels that you might be creating on the platform has evolved as you’ve been on just even, uh, even TikTok by itself.

Brittany: Yes, man, that you nailed it. It is been because social media apps evolve so much. It is when I kind of made the decision in my own head, I’m gonna be a content creator versus just a business operator of a social media account. You really have to take into account your own personal life. How do I wrap this in without harming my business?

Brittany: Or how do I wrap my business in without harming my, what’s going on in my real life? Like without pretending things are okay, or just like not acknowledging reality. Um, which is fine and a lot of people are like, why do you have this much mental gymnastics about it? Just don’t post. I’m, and you know, you have your people.

Brittany: I’m not on social media, but it was always a, I wouldn’t say a big part of my life, but it was always something I did and I love to do. And, um, yeah, I just feel you have to be cognizant of what the goals are and see the trends, see the customer behavior, see what people are saying, and evolve that way into how it best expresses you and not losing yourself in the meantime.

Gil: Yeah. Um, so in the very beginning it sounded like you were posting more on the, the cabin themselves, and as time went on, and it’s not like you had a kid during this duration as as well too. I’m, I’m, I’m assuming there, uh, that that motherhood kind of fell into this and it also allowed you to also branch off on the type of content.

Gil: And eventually, or not, not eventually, but things started to weave together between you posting about your experience in the Smokies, but also motherhood as well too. And it sounds like it also amplified it because of, of that, of that effect.

Brittany: For sure. And it’s crazy, like you mentioned how life evolves. So I started, you know, in 2020, I didn’t have kids 20, 21st of March, I had a a, a 31 weeker. My life changed forever. Or you know, my daughter’s first. Um. Uh, the first six weeks of her life was in the hospital, so I was navigating motherhood in that way.

Brittany: And then it was August of 2021 where, you know, you get your routine as a mother and you’re like, okay, I’m gonna start this TikTok thing. And then I had like a sense of embarrassment almost when I was posting a lot every single day. And I’m like, I only have 58 new people, which is fine. And it’s, people will say, it’s not about the followers account, uh, followers and count, but like at the time I’m like, I wanna reach thousands of people.

Brittany: So I, I type in TikTok, I’m like coaching on TikTok, how to grow your account. And so I used to watch TikTok coaches self-proclaimed coaches on like post three to four times a day, find a niche. And I’m like, okay. I was posting about a lot of things and weird things and fine trends and I said, okay, I’m gonna post three to four times a day and I’m gonna post about the Smoky Mountains.

Brittany: So when I was in the trenches of my daughter, I think, and then we moved into this house six months old, and I was going to my full-time job as a school social worker, I would, I would navigate through the sun, how it hit in my office with natural lighting, because once school ended at three 30 and if I didn’t have a meeting after school, I would stay in my office until 4 31 hour dedicated to TikTok and growing my business till I went to get my daughter from daycare.

Brittany: And so I did that, and then I edited at night. So I did that for three years. Um, I and I, and then it grew from 58 followers. I’ll never forget hitting my first 10,000 and I’m thinking 10,000 people like want to follow me. Like it’s kind of like the imposter syndrome and then. Sadly, it doesn’t feel like enough when it gets there and you’re like, okay, this is fun.

Brittany: The adrenaline rush is here. What if I can get 20,000 people and then that means that I don’t have to work as hard filling my cabin. I have more time with my daughter. I don’t have to be here an hour after school. You know, just like, how can I get more and more people? So I just kept, and the more I posted on TikTok, the, the easier it becomes.

Brittany: The editing that used to take me an hour takes me 10 minutes. So I would get, I would post more videos and then I would post more about my life. And I’m like, I love this because I get to, I express who I am on this app, not on Facebook. ’cause too much judgment there too, too pretty over on Instagram. But TikTok was really a way that I could just be myself.

Brittany: And I’m like, this is the self-expression I have just kind of pushed away for so long. Um, and then, you know, in motherhood. And it felt good to use my voice again. And so I never stopped. Since 2021 and now we’re in 2025 and it’s grown to a half a million people by just being myself. And I think that is where I can hang my hat up no matter what happens.

Brittany: ’cause any day anyone can be banned. I mean, the bots can ban any account. It can all be stripped away from me. You know, life can change as we know it, but I can hang my hat on. You know, I have done this, consistently grown an organic grassroots account just from being myself. And I have no regrets of, you know, and like I said, it’s not about the followers, it’s just I feel like I’ve put my best self out there and that feels good.

Gil: Yeah. How did, how did you get really comfortable putting yourself out there? Because I know a lot of listeners, they may record one video, but it feels very anxious that first time or you in the first half dozen times there. But like, how did you get yourself, and maybe because you’ve been. Doing different versions of this prior to TikTok that you got uncomfortable, but like how did you get yourself comfortable with just putting yourself out there?

Brittany: That’s a great question. I didn’t sto like when I usually make story videos, I just hold the camera in front of me and I didn’t do that until about 2022. I would say when I’ve had like my most, and I don’t mean to like shift a lot, but it’s, it’s public that when. Um, I was growing up, my father, and this is a great testimonial story, so it, uh, my father struggled with alcoholism for our entire life.

Brittany: I’ll never forget, I thought my dad was dying. So I, I opened my laptop, this laptop, and I, I’m like, you know what, Ben, we’re watching the Bachelor. I’m writing Dr. Phil, like my dad is my, my dad is dying. I wrote, I only had 250 characters to send this message, but I shut my laptop afterward and it felt good.

Brittany: And then we got a call from Dr. Phil Producers a week later that after 10,000 inquiries a day that they wanted us to fly to LA and be on the show. So that was a whole entity in itself, and I, I will never forget how hard it was because we had a great relationship with my father. That’s why it pained us so much to see him like in the state that he was.

Brittany: So this was 2019. And I will never forget looking at him on the stage. And as a clinical social worker too, in that lens, when you are struggling with addiction, you have no idea how your actions are impacting others. So I remember staring at my dad who feels the world is against him on this stage, and wanting to just be there for him and hold his hand and say, this is not how I wanted you to view this, but I wish you knew how much I love you and how much this is going to be good if you take this help.

Brittany: And I remember how hard it was facing my dad and feeling the guilt and shame, what have I done to him? But as you move through that, as you, um, heal and as my dad is now sober from Dr. Phil after six years, it, I felt like after that moment I was so vulnerable. I, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I was like, I can do absolutely anything.

Brittany: And I think. What I also, a big part of me, I hate letting injustice flow. If there is, like, if there is a beautiful picture of mountains in the background and it’s like, I wanna post this. I don’t want like just a picture to represent that. I’m like, I gotta get this whole thing. Like, people have to know everything about this because it’s so amazing.

Brittany: So I, I feel like to do stories justice to do to, for situations. That’s why I love talking about the Smokies because I want people to know how amazing these things are in the details. And I feel like a lot of people I’ve related to my life as a mother, things that I’ve been through or like relatable things that women go through in the business.

Brittany: And I just felt like storytelling is so much better than just a bunch of paragraphs that people don’t have time for anymore.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. So it sounds like you that from that experience, you got into this very vulnerable place where you felt like you wanted to share more, and that started to c. Have you invest more into your content and actually gave you a lens or a way to like, oh, actually I can do this, and then starting to then expand this to other topics or other things that you care very passionately about.

Brittany: Absolutely. After. After Dr. Phil. I had no idea the amount of people, and I don’t, I didn’t have TikTok at the time. I just had my Facebook. So many people reached out to me that had impacted them, who struggled with alcohol or the bystanders. Bystanders of people in those families who like, how do I love someone who is.

Brittany: S destructing my life. And I feel like when I saw how much it impacted in a good way, knowing what I was doing was, um, with best intentions to help my dad live. I felt like the relatability is so powerful and I want people to know they’re not alone. And as a social worker, that’s where I felt too, you know, I need help.

Brittany: Anyone needs help and so I wanna help others. But then I also felt it was ministry in a sense. So I don’t say this often, and, but I feel like a lot of what I do online is ministry. You know, my sister, she is a worship pastor at a church in Atlanta. I’ve watched her live a few times. She is just so powerful.

Brittany: She’s an amazing singer. Her church has thousands of people. And that’s ministry, that’s your, you know, typical ministry and growing up in the church and faith, and I feel like what I do is ministry. And so I have a lot of self-checking on because I am fiery. I’m emotional. I stand for justice too, and I am human.

Brittany: So I also have to check myself if I’m gonna call this ministry. I can’t be petty, vindictive. I can’t, sometimes silence is the most powerful thing you can do if you’re going through something too. So I, I do have these humanistic self-awareness talks with myself of, if I wanna call this ministry, I need to be true to God and put God at the forefront, but also not curate a perfect life because I’m not perfect.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah, that’s. That’s awesome. How, what would, as someone’s approaching this, like what advice would you give them to get into that vulnerable place of putting themselves out there?

Brittany: I think practice when you can practice and consistently put yourself in uncomfortable situations. The art of getting, being comfortable, I’m sorry, the art of being comfortable, being uncomfortable. If you can accomplish that in TikTok, going to the gym in the morning, showing up for your kids when it’s hard, showing up for your husband when you’re exhausted.

Brittany: I think once you’re comfortable being uncomfortable, so many opportunities in life will come to you because once you practice something you’re not good at, just like any, you know, I played volleyball in college. Um, there was. You know, there was always a next level you could get to. And I think just the early stages of me as an athlete going into, um, I, I, I do take my fitness seriously and I think fitness is a good way to open up your mind, um, to have a threshold of doing really hard things.

Brittany: And then when a TikTok, and of course everyone says if you follow inspirational people about posting online, they say just you gotta do it and not care about what people think. Um, but there is a lot of truth to that. You just have to be consistent.

Gil: Yeah, I, it, it reminds me a lot about, um, when I first started this podcast, I, I wanted to do this for a very long time. I, I’ve, I’ve wanted to start a podcast even before I got in short term rentals because it was a way that I found that I can connect with, with others and really share what I’m passionate about and be able to ask and have intimate conversations with folks.

Gil: And I would remember the first few episodes, like maybe the first three episodes were, were, were hard because it’s something I’d never done before. I would say like very quickly on like the fourth episode, it felt very natural for me to have these types of conversations and figure out like, how do I position myself?

Gil: How do I make sure that before I bring someone on the que types of questions I ask them so I can get to know them a little bit better in preparing for the show. And it just gets a lot easier to kinda like to your previous point where it used to take you an hour to do editing and now it takes you 10 minutes to do editing.

Gil: Like I gotten to a point where it feels the same with the podcast, where it’s not a burden to me now of anything. It’s like it’s, it gives me energy and be able to have these types of conversations.

Brittany: Absolutely. And you can, yeah, you can relate that with, you know, when people are like, I’m dreading the gym. And they get there and they’re like, I’m so glad I did that. Um, and then, you know, a lot, that’s where I found a lot of people view social media as a burden, whether it’s posting, whether it’s utilizing it for business, because it, it’s hard.

Brittany: It’s really hard to do things when you’re uncomfortable and you don’t know where the edit buttons are. Or like, you know, people reach out to me, what hashtag should I use? And, you know, those things I forget about. I’m like, ugh, I had to learn that too. But you just learn by doing it over and over again.

Brittany: You know, making it a habit.

Gil: Yeah. Would you say that now it’s less about the tactics and keeping up with the trends and really trying to figure out like what your own voice is and how you want to change things? Or do you feel like you have to stay up to date on all the new viral trends and so on?

Brittany: That’s a great question too. What. So I have learned, and for my own mental health, um, the more I consume content, the more down I feel. And I think that’s where social media gets a bad name. Because if you can have the art, if it’s creating content, whether it’s creating content online, whether it’s creating, if someone’s great at scrapbooking, if someone’s creative in their house and they’re amazing at home interior, the more you do those things and utilize your creative outlet, you the cons, the consumption, you’ll feel yourself when you’re like, eh, I, I am good.

Brittany: But what I do to consume the content, I do it as a job. So for 10 minutes a day when I’m eating my bagel and drinking my pre-workout before my gym visit, I’ll purposely scroll TikTok to send myself maybe some songs I’ve heard a few times, I’m like, oh, that’s a trending song. I could see like a situation I could write about or, um.

Brittany: Like, let me see what, and then also, you know, there’s a lot of things going on in the world, and sometimes overnight I didn’t see it. So knowing what’s also going on in the world and having, not being out of touch, but I’m like, okay, this happened, but here’s my business. You know, it’s that Will Ferrell meme with fire all around, like, who, who wants to go to the Smoky Mountains?

Brittany: Like, I wanna be in touch, I want to be aware. So I do take about 10, 15 minutes a day just to scroll because I want to be competent in what I’m doing also. Um, but yeah, keeping up with the trends, it’s, I, I find if I’m doing a trending song, if I have a storytelling video, if I just have a song over footage.

Brittany: I, I strategically do something, try to do, like, you’ll never see the same exact video style. Um, if you like, scroll through my videos, at least I try to. Um, you’ll never see three story telling videos unless it’s like a, a series of something, but I try to just mix it up where I can with variety.

Gil: Wow. It’s, it’s, it definitely feels like a skill that you’ve learned over time, and it’s not a bunch of tactics, but like it’s something that you’ve had to learn and really get good at.

Brittany: Yeah. And I’m glad for my degree in social work, we, it was a very writing intensive degree, and I feel like I relate a lot of the writing to social media. Um, it’s, it’s helped me become a storyteller and also in, even in my vocabulary or what I use or even being in therapy, uh, having, uh, being a clinical therapist, like having groups and being comfortable speaking to those groups, gosh, that’s helped me so much.

Brittany: Um, uncomfortable situations when I used to work in the schools being, you know, um, evaluating for things such as autism to tell a child, to tell a mom for the first time, who had no idea what autism looked like, that their child is showing characteristics of autism. I’ve had that conversation so many times in my life where you get better at delivering because you can read the body language of the mother, you can look at the family environment around you and you know your heart’s with them.

Brittany: And I feel like when Iran, when now like my life has, you know, more online and, you know, encompassing that way, I try to do the same, you know, how can I help others around me and think of other people’s perspectives as they receive me? Um, so just trying to do everything I can with thinking about other people’s perspectives.

Brittany: And it’s not because I wanna be perceived a certain way. It’s just like that integrity piece. I never want to hurt anybody. I never want to make someone feel uncomfortable. So it’s like, how can I grab a community and make them feel good, because that’s just who I am.

Gil: Yeah. Um, you mentioned a bit of contrast of like. How Facebook, you feel there’s more judgment in that platform where in TikTok, in contrast to it, you are able to be yourself and you don’t feel like you’re being judged by anyone else. How do you compare that to perhaps like Instagram, somewhere in the middle?

Brittany: Yes. I think TikTok started as I laugh because of the videos. I would see it’s just for lack of better terms, it’s unhinged. It used to be unhinged sometimes over there, people sharing just their raw perspectives. Just the, and nothing to take away from the cleverness and wittiness of what people have shared, how they have just the captions to their sounds and the audios.

Brittany: TikTok was, it’s truly a form of entertainment now. It’s more of like education and entertainment. But for a while it was the best app. It was, it was around during COVID. It really brought people together. And I think it’s because videos, videos are so relatable. You see a person right in front of you, it looks like a FaceTime, and Facebook has, it’s like all paragraphs or resharing photos or news articles, and you have to read to really get to know someone.

Brittany: And if you’re in a rush, like there’s sometimes when my best friends will post really great life updates and, you know, I’m, I’m out the door and I, I just forget to like follow up with it. And, um, if you’re not ready in the headspace to read and respond, like it can just be disconnect, you know, and Instagram.

Brittany: Huh. Instagram is a tough world because the demographic there is, I would say similar to Facebook, but I feel like Instagram has this optic that you have to have things perfect. You know, it started, it was the first app to really introduce filters, you know, and I, I feel like that hasn’t really gone away from the overall feel of it.

Brittany: So Instagram, I’m glad they’ve integrated the reels and the stories. I’ve actually used more stories than I have posts. Um, but I used to post on Instagram maybe even once a day, and now it’s maybe once every other week if something significant happens. And I feel like stories are kind of more wary. You could really get to know somebody or like what they share, what type of memes they share, and deciding if their humor’s like yours.

Brittany: I don’t know. I feel like it’s a good self-expression is Instagram stories.

Gil: Yeah. Um, over the past, I would say 18 months, there’s this big, there’s been this big wave of ai and, um, and because of that, the way that people generate content has changed a lot as well too. And I think some would even argue that the, the quality of content has gone down because it’s. It’s a lot easier to produce content, so people are giving a lot less thought there.

Gil: I’m interested in hearing kind of your thought on how you think about AI and whether or not you use it and how you’ve seen it used for either the good or the bad of like really creating good quality content.

Brittany: Yeah. Um, I do use ai, I use chat GBT often. Um, I pay the $20 a month and I started using it in my business of, give me some creative strategies. Of how I can structure, you know, for example, my new website, gimme some pricing structures. This is what I wanna do. I wanna solve the problem of cabin owners who don’t have bookings.

Brittany: But I have a 71% booking rate as we talked about. So it’s like, I wanna help you, and then I’m telling Chad, GBT, this is what the problem I want to solve. Gimme some good creative strategies on how to make this work also for me. And it’ll give you three options. And then you see those options. You’re like, okay, what do you think about this?

Brittany: I love AI for that. Um, I don’t use AI within my content because I think there is such a thing to be said about transparency, authenticity, seeing a real person to relate it to your life. Um, even Instagram content, aesthetically sometimes when people. Don’t have a variety to their posts. Sometimes you like, there’s a creator that I love following, he’s a fitness guy, but I know if I’m not in the mood to get my butt kicked mentally, I just won’t watch because his content doesn’t vary of get up outta your bed, do this.

Brittany: So I feel like as a content creator, I want to meet people where they’re at all the time. Um, and I don’t think AI does that, and I don’t ever think being real transparent and authentic will ever go out of style.

Gil: Yeah, I, I, I find that, and I have a outside of the Direct book podcast for those, I don’t know, I also have an AI podcast as well too, that where we talk about like how AI is used for the ultra performers out there. And the one thing that we talk about a lot about on that show is just how the folks that are really skilled in their craft, whatever their craft or trade is, they’re not using AI to completely replace them.

Gil: They’re not using it to completely ai, they’re not using it to like rewrite their script and ha like produce the script for me. But they’re using it in like very strategic ways where they’re trying to bridge certain things.

Brittany: right.

Gil: Um, but they still follow the same logical process that they’ve been starting even before AI was created.

Gil: Like I did do, I do video editing and even though there’s AI tools out there today, there’s just this. Craft in producing something from scratch where you have a vision in your head and you know your steps that you wanna follow through how you, how you find the right song or the music, how you, how you record your clips, how you edit your clips, how you put all, all it all together.

Gil: Like there’s a formula to it. And a lot of times I feel like if I were to inject AI into that process in the wrong place or automate certain parts of that process, it feels very unnatural because what I’ve, what I’ve done is something that I’ve learned over the last 10 years in, in crafting. And like, I haven’t found a good way for me to do it or incorporate AI to replace certain parts of it.

Gil: It feels unnatural to me. And it sounds like it’s, it’s similar to you where you have a way of thinking about your content. You’re consuming all this information. You’re, you’re, and it’s almost becoming like, where you’re very in tune with how you create your content. Where if you were to insert AI into it.

Gil: It just wouldn’t feel like you anymore.

Brittany: Exactly. And there’s, there’s been so many times where, um, I make a video and I can’t think of a caption, and I’ll say, give me a caption for this video where I’m doing this. And then it’ll say something that I would never say. It’s cheesy, it’s cringe. And I’ll even say, give me something more warm, less cringe.

Brittany: Take out the hyphens because it always wants to replace with hyphens. And I’m an exclamation point girly. So, uh. Like you said, I get ideas for, if I’m doing pitches to owners, brands, um, have like a basis of an email. But I, I rewrite them all the time because it just doesn’t show up authentic to who you are, as you mentioned.

Brittany: And it’s AI is helpful to help, um, enrich something or expedite something not to replace. And you know, I do hear like people talking about people in college or the younger generations who, you know, they have ai and I have a, you know, a college girl that, you know, is a part of our life where she’s babysitting.

Brittany: She, you know, works with my husband too, but I ask her like, how do you use ai? And she’s like, oh yeah. Like none of the tests anymore. No. Online classes feel as much of a merit as they used to because of that. And. It’s not that I worry about them, I hope they figure it out, but the skills that we do encompass, I think they’re very valuable for future, and I hope they’re able to learn other ways.

Brittany: Maybe, who knows, maybe they’ll be, you know, more farther along than we will in certain ways, which they will be. But anyways, yeah.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. Only time will tell. And I think that there’s going to be need, there’s going to be a change that needs to be made in just how institutions, or like how the school institution is, because I think that like we aren’t prepared for this tool right now. And I think it could be used and it’s already being used in not malicious ways, but unintentional ways that doesn’t provoke the essence of like, what is school about, like about the learning side of things.

Gil: So, yeah. Um, you dropped something that we didn’t really get a chance to talk about yet. Um, you mentioned 71% direct bookings. Talk to me a little bit more about that. Like that’s, that’s not, that’s not a small thing. And, and for our listeners here as a reminder, you have one property and you’re getting 71% direct bookings.

Gil: Like usually you have big property management companies that have much larger portfolios that can get that. And it’s often, it’s, it takes a lot of work to get to that point. Like, how did you get there?

Brittany: I feel like when I saw the demand, you know, when I would have a cabin video go viral, or when people knew I was in the Smoky Mountains and they wanted to book my cabin or book it at a later time when I realized, Hey, just go in my link tree, go to my Airbnb website it, I was actually saying. Go to my cabin, pay 13% on the total, and you’re gonna have to pay $350 more than if you just go through me and it benefits them.

Brittany: They don’t have to pay as much. And then I get a little more too on the top. And you build a relationship with, with these people. You’re talking back, and this is probably every big property management host nightmare, is talking back and forth. And a lot of times, I would say, out of the dms, I get no exaggeration.

Brittany: I probably get 35 DMS a day. Whether it’s, Hey, I wanna book your cabin. Hey, what dates do you have available? Or, Hey, I saw your calendar, I saw you have April 14th through the 21st available. And I answer that one because they’ve looked and it’s like, I’m gonna give you a quote. So it would go to Airbnb, see what they’re charging.

Brittany: I would take off the service fee and I said, we can do it for this much. Is that good for you? How many people. And it was probably six ex. There’s at least six exchanges before people commit. And so I would say, okay, gimme your first and last name and give me your, your email address. I’m gonna send you a rental agreement I made on DocuSign.

Brittany: So in the, in the beginning, I went to Google rental agreement templates, and I’m like, I am so not a lawyer. Like this is a lot. So I ended up sending it to a lawyer in the beginning. I’m like, I’m gonna pay this fee. It’s a good investment. And they gave me a rental agreement and I send it through DocuSign.

Brittany: This is what I did in the past before hospitable. But, um, and then I would ask, okay, does Facebook work Cash app, uh, Zelle or Venmo work for you? And they would tell me what works. And so I’d get their handle. They would give me $250 down to hold their dates. I would write it on three calendars to make sure double bookings never happen.

Brittany: And knock on wood, it hasn’t, and it will not. I’m speaking that into life. So then I would give them the rental agreement. I would have it on my calendar, block it off on every single platform, vrbo, Airbnb, my own. And then that’s how I would book. And it took a lot of time. Um, it takes a lot of time for that 71%, but I, I did not wanna leave money on the table with the opportunity, so I just kind of went after it, even though the process was really hard, it was time consuming.

Brittany: And then I found hospitable and things of that nature. You know, I could have used it from the beginning, but. You know, they didn’t have the entities of a direct booking website, and so hospitable does. So I got some help with that, and now my messages are automated, which feels yuck and gross sometimes because I was also the person going, Hey, let’s say the person’s name’s John.

Brittany: Hey John, can’t wait to have you in the Smokies. Please let me know if you have any questions. And then they do. So I’m like, okay. So I, I did everything. I would communicate with my cleaners via text message, and it was a well-oiled, and it sounds chaotic, but I, I have a, you know, I have it down to a science.

Brittany: I had it down to a science.

Gil: yeah, yeah. I, and I, I bet if you, um, onboarded another couple properties, you probably get hospitable sooner because it, it starts to get overloaded because you start to then cross your wires. Like, oh, which, who’s the guest that’s actually staying that day? Um, and I can’t even imagine like that, um, that process of like going back and forth, checking multiple calendars, blocking off multiple calendars, that’s, and then taking payment offline like that is kudos to you to getting to such a high rate.

Gil: Even without a PMS and then now being able to like, kind of like buy back your time and being able to grow, grow elsewhere as well too. So,

Brittany: Yeah.

Gil: yeah. It, it didn’t sound like not having a PMS stops you whatsoever from getting direct bookings.

Brittany: Yeah, it didn’t, and I know it kind of made people probably feel uneasy ’cause they’re like, okay, are you a real person? And so sometimes we do goods and services. Sometimes I would call them on the phone. I would even like hold up like, this is my TikTok. Like I would FaceTime them. You know, some people wanna make sure I’m legitimate.

Brittany: But just I think people trusted me, you know, after showing up every day online.

Gil: Yeah, and it’s, it’s probably a lot easier now that you have your direct bookings in place. You have your rental agreements in place, you have payment processing all online now, so it feels a lot more legitimate, a lot more trustworthy when someone goes to your site.

Brittany: Yes, and I’ll, I’ll, I have to say too what my, my process wasn’t great in a sense of two, and you know, you live and you learn online too. And like I told you, there’s things that I shouldn’t bring online if I’m human and venting. So, um, you know, if someone paid the two 50 and then in my own brain I’m like, oh my gosh, it’s three weeks before their stay.

Brittany: I haven’t got the rest of the rental agreement because in our rental agreement it says before 30 days it has to be paid in full. We’re at 33 weeks here, I’m reaching out to them ghost ghosted.

Gil: Yep. Yep.

Brittany: So luckily, like if, luckily in that case, you know, having that down payment is good, but then it’s like, if they don’t answer me, I also don’t wanna drop them off the face of the earth because what if they really wanna come, but they’re just busy?

Brittany: And so. I’m like, why am I doing this? This is not a good process, and it’s also, I mean, for the guests, I never wanna feel like I’m harassing somebody to stay at my cabin, so it just becomes a little messier than I ever wanted. So just good learning experiences on that too.

Gil: Yeah. Uh, you hinted about this a little bit, uh, ago, but you’ve expanded from just creating content for yourself, but also now helping others on, on really giving exposure to them. Talk to me a little bit about some of, some of the other things that you’ve invested into more recently.

Brittany: Yeah. When I saw the need on a Facebook owner site where I met you, I think that’s kind of what brought us together. I would. See everybody saying, you know, our cabins in the Smokies are not booked like they have been in the past and our summers are so empty. Christmas was like pulling strings or pulling teeth.

Brittany: I’m sorry to get there. And I was thinking, huh, I don’t have any of these problems. I do sometimes, but I can always fill that. It’s rare that, you know, after two to three posts that my cabin doesn’t fill if I write in the specific dates. So I was thinking it didn’t work anymore, just to comment kindly and say, try upping your social media.

Brittany: It works for me. And I, I read the writing on the wall. I’m like, nobody has time to learn social media and put that time and effort that I’ve learned over the four years into four days. So I’m like, I can solve this problem by helping people. I was like, I’m gonna launch me a little business where I. Do what I did for my, um, the cabins that I co-host.

Brittany: I was more of the marketing strategic partner there where, you know, they share with me like, Hey, we need these dates booked. So I would make a, a TikTok video on their cabins and the amenities and the location and getting people there because there was incentive to me, um, per TikTok video and also a percentage of the bookings that came in.

Brittany: So that was my incentive and I was like, what if I extend this to other people? So I took the market share rates of a content creator with my size following at about a half a million of where I would put it, you know, on every single platform. But I also know that content creation is a very new thing in the world, and I know the price tag on it.

Brittany: It’s like, okay, I’m gonna pay this amount, amount, but what am I getting from this? And so I really had to lower my rates of what the market share was, which is fine, um, because I wanted people to feel excited and confident about what they were getting. But at the same time, I had no way of knowing on my end if I post a video, if those cabins were getting booked.

Brittany: And so I feel like me bringing down my price too was my way of sharing. Like, I get it too, because this is also a risk for me and my reputation with you, and I want you to win as well. So I started though, um, a business where I would, cabin owners would reach out to me and I would promote their cabins on my TikTok, and I would do cabins that had great reviews, and the hosts were great, and just ones that needed the extra boost.

Brittany: So when these videos happened, and my husband who is truly, I always tell them like. I said, you literally, it’s like my mom, like they just always knew everything. My mom knew everything. And you’re like, no, mom, you don’t know a thing. Growing up, my husband’s the same. I’m like, Ben, you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Brittany: And he’s always end up being right in some way. But he, when I was doing this little business, I don’t say little, but it’s, it was the stepping stone to this one. He was like, how are you gonna scale that? Like as a, if I am, if I’m a host and I give this to you, how, how are you gonna make it bigger and better?

Brittany: And like, that’s it. They just, you just go on your day and you just hope it works. And I, and it felt uncomfortable. Like, you’re right. Like I, I hate this feeling like I can’t do more for these people. So then the idea of Mountain Mama Cabins came up and, um, I partnered with a, my great friend Andrew, who also is a Smoky Mountain cabin owner, software developer.

Brittany: Um, we’ve been friends for a long time in the industry and I told him my vision and I said, I. Want a place where I can have all of these cabin owners on my website that is getting 1000 clicks a day and having peop, I’ve built the trust, you know, that is shared in the numbers, that people can co come here and have a good smoky mountain experience.

Brittany: Because what I hate more than anything is reading. I went to it’s bad Smoky Mountain cabin and there was mice and dust and nothing worked. That’s like my worst nightmare because then they don’t come back to the Smokies and I’m thinking, owners, we gotta step up our game because we’re losing. We’re losing guests, we’re losing people.

Brittany: So I feel like it’s my way of solving a problem, doing what I love, content creation, and also doing what I’m good at. I realized really quick as I tell you, like my automated systems were bad. They just weren’t present. It’s like, I don’t want to full time. I’ve learned, manage other people’s properties ’cause it’s time consuming and.

Brittany: It’s not as fun as my passion of content creation. So I wanted to include that as well. And this was the perfect opportunity to do it, and we’re gonna launch it soon. And if it, if, if it goes amazing, like it’s, that’s obviously the goal and that’s ideal. But if it needs, it’s like almost like, I don’t wanna say if it fails, you know, there’s always the possibility, but I feel like I never try to do something I won’t be good at and put my all into and I don’t wanna, you know, let anyone down.

Brittany: So that’s my motivator. So it’s like I’m not gonna let this thing fail.

Gil: Awesome. That’s, that’s an amazing story of like just how you’ve progressed and like how you’ve taken something and you’re trying to have a further reach. If anything, you’re trying to impact more, you’re trying to leverage. Your skill sets more in other places. So that’s an amazing story. I can’t wait to, to follow along and kind of see how that grows.

Gil: And I think hopefully by the time the show airs, we’ll probably launch it by now and um, can share that with the world.

Brittany: Absolutely. Yes.

Gil: Um, awesome. Any other tips that you would give to our listeners here that’s trying to just get more comfortable with, um, putting themselves out there?

Brittany: Yeah. Yeah. I’d say, um, you know, I haven’t been in the business industry as an entrepreneur as long as I have, you know, in education in the schools. But what I have seen. Digital me media is not going away. And when business owners are shying away from doing something uncomfortable, putting their business out on social media, you have to meet the world where they’re at.

Brittany: And right now to promote your business online. Show that relatability with you as an owner or just kind of what you represent. Personal branding mean has a heavy weight more than we’d like to admit. We would love to, you know, say, you know, we can go door knocking and do all of maybe the older tactics, but there is so much value and getting on people’s phones.

Brittany: Everyone has a phone. Putting your best self out there of what they wouldn’t be able to see you in real life. Because a lot of people since COVID have really take, really evaluated their time. And so I think digital media for businesses. It is social media. As much as we hate to admit it, as much as social media can be toxic, I think over consumption makes it toxic.

Brittany: But when you are able to be creative and not a lot of, not everybody has the creative bug, right? So I think delegating, understanding where you might need some growth and hiring someone who might be able to do it for you. I think no matter where you look or how you look at it, social media is a foundation to someone’s business and you need to build a personal brand to get clients to get trust.

Gil: Yeah, that, that’s a really good point. I think you touched on something that, um, I’ve learned a lot as I’ve kind of transitioned from W2 employee to an entrepreneur is like leaning on the folks that can really help you reach your goals there. Um, are there any roles or skillset sets or things that like people that you’re like seeking out there to find, um, that you wanna partner up with?

Gil: Like, kinda like what you mentioned with Andrew, like are the, is there any like role that, like you as a business owner or uh, an entrepreneur is seeking out there?

Brittany: Yeah. Yes. What I’m not good at, oh, this is so hard to admit, and you never know who’s watching. What I’m not good at is I’d like to say I’m organized. I’m organized in my own way. But if I would lie to you, if I said, you know, my, my Excel sheets are perfect, my agenda notes are in order, my CRM is updated.

Brittany: You know, I would love ev everyone that had stayed with me, if I put them in a database to reach back out for repeat and referral, like that part of my business has failed. I need someone to help me do that. You know, I needed someone to help me build a website because I. Time is money. And it’s like, I could learn this, but with a four and 1-year-old and a, you know, husband who works, it was just, I couldn’t do it.

Brittany: So those are the areas of my business. Whew. I’m like red, um, that I just need it, I need help on. But you know, I, I do figure it out, but I wish I had help. It’s like, I wish I had help. I need to make more of an effort to prioritize getting that help. That’s the mindset I need to have.

Gil: Yeah, I actually really like this question. It, it, it has you think about like what is it that you want to it intro specs a little bit about like what are some of the areas that you wish you weren’t flawed at but you are flawed at or that you need some help on, but also allows you to kinda like voice that out there so that others can start thinking about like, oh, I’m actually raising my hand here because like, that’s actually a skill that I really love and that I would love to help you out on.

Gil: Because I find that a lot of the folks that we have on the show and just generally in the industry, a lot of us have really grand visions of all the things that we wanna do. And we’re probably like one connection away from really amplifying our impact there. Um, and I know like that person for me is like, I’m looking for that killer marketer that really believes in our vision, um, that. Is able to help me grow and build out the brand because I know that like I’ve had to learn marketing. I’m a product person behind, like, like I’ve always been a product person. I’m very customer centric, like customer like service centric there. But putting myself out there is something that I had to get really comfortable with.

Gil: Um, and if I had like a magic wand, I would love to be able to like, just focus on our customers, focus on building the best darn product out there and have someone really take on the marketing side of things. Um, but I haven’t really found that perfect person yet.

Brittany: Right. Right. And yeah, it totally can relate when it’s like when someone can do all the backend work of logging all my customers and just making everything organized and being able to, you know, just have everything in one spot and, you know, when it feels like everything’s everywhere. But like you said, I love, you know, the marketing.

Brittany: It’s like, get me in front of people. Like that’s where I know I could sell this, but like, don’t ask me to write meeting notes, please.

Gil: I might have a few folks I can suggest to you after the show.

Brittany: That’d be amazing.

Gil: Awesome. All right, Brittany, we usually end the show with three questions. Um, so the first question, what’s one piece of mindset advice that you would give to someone that’s starting something completely new?

Brittany: Mindset advice. So as I mentioned, being comfortable, being uncomfortable, and a thing that I’ve had to learn, especially lately is when you try to, like I told you, I’m very perspective seeking. I wanna make sure I’m doing the right thing by everybody. When you start to shrink yourself in a box or to maybe make someone else feel more at ease, you lose yourself.

Brittany: And I think a best mindset when you’re starting something new, there is gonna be uncomfortability. There is gonna be, if you’re putting yourself online, for example, there’s gonna be people who disagree with you, but they’re gonna follow you because they want to know more. Or you’re showing a mirror of what they wish they were doing themselves.

Brittany: And the mindset advice. I’d say if you’re true to yourself and you walk with integrity, truth, your intentions are in the right place. You’re self express, self expressing yourself, and you’re using, like when someone asks me, do you have a content calendar? I don’t have a content calendar. I mean, sometimes I have ideas about what I wanna post about, depending on what’s going on in life, but sometimes I just pull out the phone, like, I have a good idea, I need to convey it.

Brittany: Sometimes I don’t edit it on the spot because I don’t have time, and I’ll do it later, but I’m like, I can’t let this idea go to waste. So I think mindset is just a lot of people, it’s cliche, you know, don’t worry about what other people think about you when you post. But don’t, don’t betray yourself in the process to be you.

Brittany: And whatever that looks like in self-expression, of course, don’t be harmful, don’t be, you know, malicious, don’t, you know, do all the bad things, but just being you and whatever that niche looks like to somebody.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. And that, that’s really hard nowadays when you mentioned like, well, social media, it could be this place where it feels toxic or it makes you feel like you are less worthy than, than you should feel. Um, and like because of that, oftentimes we feel like we shouldn’t post or we shouldn’t try things because like, oh, we’re not good enough yet.

Brittany: Yes, and then, or we’re worried about how others will perceive it too.

Gil: Yeah. I love that. Awesome. Brittany, second question. What’s a good book of recommendation? Um, I am a huge, I’m an advocate learner myself. I love to read. I love to learn new skills. What’s a book that I should be picking up?

Brittany: So this might be controversial, me saying it, because as I mentioned, I’m a Woman of Faith, but the book, I think it’s Mark Manson, the Subtle Art, I’m gonna say Crap, the Subtle Art of Not Giving a Crap. I opened that book. I actually, I read it first and I listened to it again on audiobook. I needed to read that book again in this time of my life.

Brittany: Because when you are, as I keep telling unapologetically, you, life opens up, your problems start to dissipate. You start walking in confidence. Um, you start walking in truth because when you’re unapologetically, you, you know, I’ve had people tell me, oh, I saw your TikTok. And I’m like, what? On what? Like, let’s chat about it.

Brittany: Or, you know, oh, did you? I, and then my husband will say, they were talking about your TikTok. What did you post? I’m like, I don’t know. Something I’d probably say out loud. I, I don’t know. Um, so I just found when you have that mindset of the art of not giving a crap within reason, life, your problems really start to dissipate.

Brittany: They really do.

Gil: Yeah, there’s another book that I recently read, I forgot. It’s from a female author. Um, but she, oh, I forget the name of it, but it’s along the same lines of like, uh, if someone does something to you wrong, just like brush it off and don’t worry about it. I forgot what it is. I’ll find out. I’ll figure it out.

Brittany: Oh, is it the Let Them Theory?

Gil: Yes, it is,

Brittany: by Mel Robbins.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, it reminds me a lot about that.

Brittany: Yeah. I haven’t read that one. Um, only because I feel like I follow Mel Robbins and I’m like, maybe I consume the whole book just in her content. I know I haven’t, but I need to sit down and read it.

Gil: hi. I’ve enjoyed the audio version of that book because I think she, she, I think she narrates it herself. Um, and she’s very personable in, in that book, so I think it might be worth just like skip the hard copy and get the audio version. Yeah, that one’s a good, that one’s a good one to have an audible. I,

Brittany: Good to know. I, I love when she talks in podcasts, I feel like seen and convicted. I’m like, oh, I gotta do that too.

Gil: yeah, and I’m, I’m pretty sure you’ve already digested 80% of what you, what her, like what her theory is, um, through her, through just her social content already. Um, but you might get some, some new things out of it.

Brittany: sure. Yeah.

Gil: Um, awesome. Last question. What’s one piece of advice that you would give to someone that’s either looking to get started in direct bookings or amplify their direct bookings?

Brittany: I would make sure, so if someone was starting to get into direct bookings, I think having, I, you have to have a good product. If you have a product that, you know, if your reviews reflect consistent dust or cleaning, but then you might have a review every now and then that it was five stars. I feel like when you put.

Brittany: Yourself on a direct booking platform. You now have a personal brand. You now, you know, not a lot of people, like, we don’t, we only have one cabin that we own outright. So if someone has one cabin, or even if they have 10 and they want a direct booking platform, you have to look at what makes me different out of all these other direct pla booking platforms that will make someone wanna book with me.

Brittany: Um, making sure your products are good, making sure your photos aesthetically, you know, reviews, um, easy to read descriptions, but I think even making your direct booking site better of adding maybe the weather of the Smokies, like is there a widget for weather or, you know, we just added the Gatlinburg SkyCam to ours.

Brittany: You know, just like something that makes it fun and not just like, oh, this is just a booking website. Um, just having a way to make it personal to you and what you know, your audience would like.

Gil: I like that. I like that. Awesome. Brittany, it was a huge pleasure to have you on. Um, where can folks follow you, learn more about you? Um, yeah, how can they follow along?

Brittany: Yeah, so, um, on my TikTok account and my Instagram, it’s, um, at book with Mountain Mama and, um, mama cabins.com is gonna, is our direct booking website. And on Facebook we are, um, just mountain mama cabins and yeah, so Book with Mountain Mama. That’s how you’re gonna find us.

Gil: Awesome, Brittany, it was again, a huge pleasure. I can’t wait to kinda see you just continue to grow your following, but also just see your, just watch your journey. Um, you’ve been doing some amazing things, so I can’t wait to kind of follow along.

Brittany: Thank you so much and thank you for having me and meeting you and you’re who I wanna be in the industry of just your craft and, and I don’t know, just the reputation you have. You’ve done a lot and yeah, just helps little old me. I’m like, you’re my vision.

Gil: I appreciate it. Well, it’s, I fig, like I, I see these more as like peers where like, I’m learning a lot. Like you’ve given me a ton of information, you’ve given me a lot to think about and like, I’m still not posting as naturally as I want to. So like, I have a ton to learn from you and I think from, from many others in the industry there.

Gil: So like, that’s one of the, the, the great things I like about our industry is I like you get to meet some really awesome folks that doesn’t gate keep, that doesn’t try to keep things to themselves and that we’re all naturally here to kind of help each other grow. So I, I, I see you more as a peer than, than, than you may seem.

Brittany: Oh, well thank you. I appreciate that so much.

Gil: All right. Good to meet you again, rain. And we will, we’ll again, we’ll follow along on your journey.

Brittany: Awesome. Thank you Gil. Have a great day.

Gil: Yep. Bye.

Brittany: Bye.