#92: Get Your Life Together with Lauren Berger

[00:00:00] Hala Taha: You're listening to YAP Young And Profiting Podcast, a place where you can listen, learn, and profit. Welcome to the show. I'm your host Hala Taha and on Young And Profiting Podcast, we investigate a new topic each week and interview some of the brightest minds in the world. My goal is to turn their wisdom into actionable advice that you can use in your everyday life.

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[00:01:03] I'm chatting with Lauren Berger, CEO and founder of both the internqueen.com and careerqueen.com as well as the author of three books, including her latest release, Get It Together. Lauren has helped over 6 million people be connected to internships and jobs to ultimately help them find their dream career.

[00:01:22] She's spoken at over 200 universities, leadership conferences and entrepreneurship events and your YouTube channel boasts over a 1.2 million views and Lauren's career advice. Featured on the Today Show, CNBC, Entrepreneur, Glamour, and more Lauren not only delivers unique career advice to her audience, but she also has a marketing agency that helps leading brands, activate brand ambassadors and establish a presence with both college students and a young professionals worldwide.

[00:01:50] Her current roster of clients includes Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Whole Foods, Estée Lauder, and over 30 other major brands. And this episode, we'll talk about [00:02:00] Lauren's beginnings as an intern herself, why she started Intern Queen and how she created momentum for the site. We'll also discuss key, easy insights on how to stay organized her time management advice, and getting into the mindset of method over mood.

[00:02:15] Hey Lauren, welcome to Young And Profiting Podcast.

[00:02:17] Lauren Berger: Thanks for having me here.

[00:02:19] Hala Taha: I think this is going to be a great conversation because I think my listeners are really interested in the stuff that you have to say. So to briefly introduce you to my audience, you are the founder of internqueen.com and careerqueen.com.

[00:02:32] You've written three books you've spoken at over 50 conferences. And you have 15 internships during your college career. So very interesting career journey, you're a young entrepreneur and one of the things that everybody asks in a job interview, one of the first questions that people get is, so tell me about yourself.

[00:02:51] So I figured that'd be a great way to kick off the interview. Tell me about yourself.

[00:02:55] Lauren Berger: Absolutely. I think that's a great transition there. Like you said I'm Lauren [00:03:00] Berger, I'm the CEO and founder of internqueen.com and careerqueen.com, which are two websites that are totally free for young people to go to and get great internship and career advise.

[00:03:13] I also started our IQ agency or Intern Queen agency, which is a full service college marketing agency, where we specialize in connecting brands with gen Z. So my life is college students and recent grads all day, every day. And I really made my living in my career, helping people get from where they are, to where they want to be, and really excited to be here with you guys on the podcast today.

[00:03:38] Hala Taha: Very cool. Like I mentioned earlier, you had 15 internships during your college career. Based on the research. My team gave me, so correct me if I'm wrong.

[00:03:47] Lauren Berger: I did 15 internships when I was in college. I always have to follow that up with no one needs 15 internships. I definitely recommend. College students getting one to two internships under their belt before they graduate.

[00:03:59] But for me, [00:04:00] I was really addicted to these experiences and they really helped me navigate what I did want to do after college and also figure out what I did not want to do.

[00:04:09] Hala Taha: Yeah. And so when you were in these internships, your goal wasn't really to get a job. Like you obviously only spent a few months there and then moved on to the next thing.

[00:04:17] So were, are you doing like a fall spring, summer internship? How did you pack so many internships throughout your college?

[00:04:24] Lauren Berger: Exactly. I was doing internships in the fall, spring and summer. Sometimes I was doubling and tripling them up. One summer, for example, I was going to school in Florida, but I flew out to Los Angeles for the summer to intern and I took on two internships.

[00:04:37] And then I realized that I had, I was doing like a Monday, Wednesday and a Tuesday, Thursday internship. And then MTV came along and said we have an opportunity for you to intern with us Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, to do something with what was MTV radio at the time. So I. Great. Sign me up. I think that internships now.

[00:04:56] The internships that my company and Intern Queen are still [00:05:00] part-time internships. They required 12 to 15 hours a week and they're paid, but a lot of companies because so many companies have switched from unpaid to paid internship programs. A lot of companies are requiring longer hours than they used to.

[00:05:13] Whereas, 10 plus years ago, it made sense to do three internships because no one was requiring that much time. Now. It probably wouldn't be as practical as it was back then.

[00:05:24] Hala Taha: Yeah. I was just going to ask you, where are you getting paid for? These internships are really, was it just free work? You just wanted the experience.

[00:05:30] Lauren Berger: I really want to be experienced. That's why I was there. I was always working a part time job while I navigated my internships in school. But most of the internships that are paid now were not paid when I was in school. Kudos to all of the students that are getting paid now, I think that's wonderful, but I was really doing it for the experience.

[00:05:49] Hala Taha: Totally. And that's a point that I want to call out for my listeners. Sometimes it's not about the money. Sometimes it's about the experience. As many of I worked at Hot 97 or radio station for free for three years. Three whole years

[00:06:00] as an intern, and and I worked almost like 30 hours a week sometimes, and that's probably highly illegal now, but at the time it was normal for people to work for free, even at Young And Profiting Podcast, our interns typically work for free for a few months and then they get paid like.

[00:06:13] Still a certain amount of time that I expect people to work for free, because I feel like it weeds people out in terms of who's really motivated. Who's there to learn, who's who really wants it versus, who just wants like a check, right?

[00:06:24] Lauren Berger: Yeah, absolutely. And it is interesting. Again, a lot of the companies that I used to intern for that were unpaid.

[00:06:30] I think there's a lot more just oversight in general, but I always tell a student if you're choosing between a paid and an unpaid opportunity, like you said, it's not a question of the paycheck. You're going to get the paycheck and if you can't get it there, you'll get it somewhere else. What does your gut say?

[00:06:45] Is this experience going to help you figure out and essentially save you time and get you a bigger paycheck down the line? And if the answer is yes, then it might be worth your time. You have to evaluate that. But if the answer is no, then you can say no, and that's okay. I think. Sometimes the [00:07:00] Intern Queen, I spend a lot of time telling people to say yes to opportunities, because if you don't say yes, a lot of these magical moments won't happen.

[00:07:08] And then conversely, I spend a lot of time telling people to say no, because well, you do want to say yes to the right opportunity is with so much noise and distraction and events and all the things going on. You do have to be really selective in terms of how you spend your time. So it's really a matter of thinking, okay, is this a yes opportunity?

[00:07:27] Or is this a no opportunity? Because we do all have to guard our time. Because it's time is the most valuable thing we have. So it is this sort of like precious balance that we're all working between our networking precious balance that we're all walking between our yeses and no's.

[00:07:44] Hala Taha: I totally agree.

[00:07:45] So in terms of these 15 internships, were they all very different or were they all in media? Was it something that you did and able to know what you wanted to do in life and how you want it to spend your time?

[00:07:56] Lauren Berger: So I did most of my internships around [00:08:00] either media, marketing, entertainment, PR, and journalism.

[00:08:03] I would say those were like the five things that I was really interested in. And I think they're all connected in one way or another. If you have a PR job, you have to be a great writer. If you have to meet, a media job usually requires knowledge of PR skills. So they all feed into one another.

[00:08:17] But each internship that I got was in those fields and taught me a little bit more about that specific industry. And I would do some internships and think yes, that's it. That's what I want to do. And then I would do some internships and say that was a great learning experience. That's not for me.

[00:08:32] And I used all of these learnings about myself and what I like to do and what I didn't like to do to sculpt myself as the business woman. And I still use so many of the skills I learned as an intern today as an entrepreneur.

[00:08:45] Hala Taha: Yeah, you probably got so many different skills and experiences and we always talk about skill stacking on this podcast.

[00:08:52] Learn a little bit of everything and put them all together and you have unique value. You don't have to be the best marketer or the

[00:09:00] best PR person, but you have like just enough to be dangerous. So I think that's great.

[00:09:04] Lauren Berger: That's enough to be dangerous. That's great. I, yeah, that reminds me another piece of advice.

[00:09:09] I give people along those same lines. You don't have to be the best person in the room, right? You just have to be the best fit for the job and the best candidate versus the best fit for the position are sometimes two different things. I've interviewed people who are like the best candidate in the land.

[00:09:25] But frequently with those people, I'm like, why are you interviewing for this position? Like you clearly have achieved. All the great things like is this really what you want to spend your time doing every day? Did you read the job description? So don't worry about the person that sits next to you.

[00:09:42] That's had the 15 internships, like focus on the job description or the internship description. And if you have relevant experiences that correlate to what that company is looking for, don't get caught up in the am I the best person in the room?

[00:09:57] Hala Taha: Yeah, totally. I think that's great [00:10:00] advice. So let's talk about your first job.

[00:10:01] So after college you landed your first job and it was actually a very strict environment, so much so that you had to ask to go to the bathroom. It was that strict in terms of your time. So at the time, did you realize that you were in such a strict environment? You had other work experiences, so I think you you might've known right.

[00:10:20] That it was. Unusual maybe to have to ask to go to the bathroom. And then did that trigger you to want to be an entrepreneur because you felt so trapped in that job.

[00:10:28] Lauren Berger: So, I think that I'd had all these internships, but as an intern, I think, yes, you learn a lot of different skills, but I think as an intern, especially when you're not working full-time hours, you're there and then you're not there and then you're there and then you're not there.

[00:10:42] So you're not necessarily being treated like a full-time employee would be. So when I made that transition into a full-time employee, I don't think, I think I was moving so quickly to be honest, that I don't know that I knew what to expect. I was like, yeah, I'm going to be an assistant. But I don't know that I really took the [00:11:00] time to think about what that means.

[00:11:02] I was in a situation where the person that was training me had already started their next thing. So I was trained on the fly. And I'm sure that I, had the fake it til you make it mentality. And so I was pretending that I understood on the fly when I really did it. So looking back, the advice that I would give to people that are starting new jobs is like a write everything down, even the stuff that you think you're going to remember, write it down, ask a lot of questions.

[00:11:26] And then if you feel like you're not adequately trained for your position, ask for more training because it's easier to. Get the learnings. Then like three months in realized that you don't know how to do certain things. And at that point, like your boss doesn't even know what you don't know.

[00:11:41] So you really have to be vocal at the beginning. But again, it's hard. I always say you don't know what you don't know, so you can think you're great and then realize, oh, I might not know what I'm doing here. And that was definitely the situation that I was in. I was at a talent agency. And everybody around me was really passionate, [00:12:00] about reading movie scripts and then determining what talent should play those roles, right?

[00:12:05] Like who should be the leading lady in the script. And that's a very cool thing. I have a lot of respect for everybody in that industry, but I, at the end of the day, realized that I didn't want to go home on the weekends and at night and read movie scripts and think about who. Person to play. The roles would be like, I wasn't connected to that in my heart.

[00:12:24] And so I remember feeling really jealous of my coworkers because they were really passionate about what they were doing and they would beg for more scripts to read over the weekend. And I couldn't relate, to what they wanted more of, but what I was jealous of was their passion for their work.

[00:12:42] And I remember thinking I want to be passionate about my work and I want to move up in my career, but I, so I wanted something that I could connect with, and the thing that was always in the back of my head was this Intern Queen idea ,that I had senior year of college. And so after a lot [00:13:00] of. Self doubt and confusion and talking to people that did not understand.

[00:13:05] I finally had that entrepreneurial gut feeling that if I don't do something now, I'm never going to do it. And I ended up quitting and starting my own business.

[00:13:15] Hala Taha: That's amazing. Kudos to you for being an entrepreneur so young in life, I'm just now I was an entrepreneur right out of college.

[00:13:22] Like you guys started a blog site for three years. It was really popular. We almost got to show on MTV. We did more like hosting. Yeah, it was really crazy. Had a lot of ups and downs. And we were like the sorority of hip hop and had a very big hip hop site and very popular in the New York tri-state area.

[00:13:39] But I shut it down because I couldn't monetize it. So I'm curious to know you built these websites, essentially. Your business is based around these websites that you have internqueen.com, careerqueen.com and being like an engine, a search engine for internship opportunities. From what I understand, did you learn how to create websites, like on your own.

[00:13:59] Did you go to

[00:14:00] YouTube school? What'd you do to really get up to speed in terms of launching this business?

[00:14:04] Lauren Berger: So what you said is probably the biggest misconception, which I'll tell you more about, about Intern Queen. So when I. I totally agree with you that it is so hard to monetize a website, right?

[00:14:16] Because you're basically, what advertisers want is they want traffic and how do you get traffic? That's, marketing and SEO and all of these things. So when I started Intern Queen, the way that we were making money is through, a very minimal amount of advertising on the website because we didn't have a lot of traffic because I started it.

[00:14:34] It didn't have a lot of money to invest. I also want to point out that Intern Queen has never taken on any investment money. And as I feel like that's really important to point out because so many people think that you do have to have a huge check written to you, to start your own business.

[00:14:48] When I first started Intern Queen when I was like, how the heck am I going to monetize this? And then be able to hire someone to build out this huge internship search engine, et cetera. So when I first started, we were monetizing the business through again,

[00:15:00] advertisers on the site, which was minimal. Speaking engagements was one of the first things that I started getting paid for because frankly, I didn't even need a website to do that.

[00:15:07] It just was, it was the Lauren show. I had a blog site on WordPress. And that was enough for that. And then, I would get, I would say every year I would get like a cool endorsement deal that would just the lucky, right? I'd get a LinkedIn note from someone or whoever. So I didn't need to make that much money.

[00:15:22] I just needed to be able to make what I was making at the talent agency, which was also pretty minimal at the time to support like my rent, which in LA it was not cheap, but I needed the basics to survive. So I started doing that and I did that for the first two years of the business. We also started getting paid from companies that wanted to post their internships on our site, which we still do now.

[00:15:43] That is great and all, and so many people, there's so many people out there that I, again, respect and admire who have smaller websites and through Career Queen, a smaller site Career Queens, a smaller site, and they're able to monitor. Off of personal appearances, endorsements book, I've books [00:16:00] out, things like that.

[00:16:01] That's a hard, it's a hard path. It's hard to control the brand endorsements. Again, I find that even now 13 years in, sometimes they come and sometimes they don't, some years are hot and some years are not. Web traffic is tricky because Google's always changing its algorithms. Like it's a hard business to be in.

[00:16:17] And so what I did about two or three years into intern green, which really revolutionalize the way that I was making money was we started our college marketing agency, the IQ agency, and it's on the website is IQagency.com for anyone listening. Basically I said, okay, what is, what's my special sauce? And my special sauce was our student community.

[00:16:40] We have a great relationship with so many young people from across the globe. That was our special sauce. Again, I'll try to be cautious of time and not get too far into my story, but I was watching American idol. And I saw that the Ford motor company was sponsoring it. And I thought, why is Ford sponsoring American idol?

[00:16:57] Oh, because they must want to get in front of young people.

[00:17:00] I have young people in my audience, maybe Ford wants to work with me. And so I literally cold called the Ford motor company. And after a year of back and forth, because it did take a year. I don't want to sugar coat that I closed my first pretty large business deal with them.

[00:17:14] And we started the Ford college ambassador program powered by the Intern Queen. And that was our first step into segwaying the business into a college marketing agency. So today, again, several years later we have some of the biggest clients in the world. We just finished a program with T-Mobile.

[00:17:30] We worked with Michael Kors with Rag'n'Bone and across fashion, beauty, lifestyle, food, et cetera. And that's really how we make money at Intern Queen. And again, a lot of people don't know that because our student facing website is what people know us for, but it's great because it's really taken the stress off of things like brand endorsements, which as can be, just difficult.

[00:17:50] And then you end up working with brands that you don't love because you need the money. Just like it's a, it's a tough path. I think. So this marketing agency has been great because

[00:18:00] we can use the profits of that to fuel our free content, because if you're going to have free content that takes time, energy, and money.

[00:18:06] So it's been a really great business model. And so I really encourage, I'm trying to, I want to make sure I. Turn that into advice for the listeners. So I guess the advice there is really think about what makes you special. What is your special sauce and how can you potentially market and monetize that and who are the people that would really care and we really need what you have.

[00:18:26] And again, for us, that's our students, right? So that's our, that's our story about how we monetize the business.

[00:18:34] Hala Taha: I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. And I can relate on so many levels. Like I said, I had a website straight out of college. We were a very popular website. I used to host parties alongside with Funkmaster Flex and DJ Camilo and all these huge DJs.

[00:18:47] We were like, super popular. And I had a big following and I couldn't monetize it. It was so hard. I just couldn't figure it out. I was too young. I was too stupid and I didn't stick with it long enough.

[00:18:57] Lauren Berger: Awesome. What you did used to be so proud of that. That is [00:19:00] so cool.

[00:19:01] Hala Taha: It's cool. It's cool. And I've done a lot of things since then, that I'm really proud of, but I mad at myself sometimes, and I think even the girls that had the website with me.

[00:19:10] Everybody was like, how could you shut this down? We've got so much momentum and everybody knows about us. And I was just like, you know what, we're not making any money. And I got to grow up now. I gotta shut this down. And so sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I pivoted, if I started something new, if we turned it into something else I probably would have already, be.

[00:19:29] Superstar by now it's okay. Everything happens for reason.

[00:19:32] Lauren Berger: Yeah. They say, everything happens for a reason. And I really think that one of, one of my mentors who actually I was thankfully able to hire and now helps with operations and interviewing, but she told me a couple years ago that I had a strong gut feeling.

[00:19:48] And I think that I used to think that whenever I had an instinct about something that was an insecurity of mine Ooh, I have that must, that feeling must be self doubt. Or I meant I'm being insecure about this [00:20:00] decision. And I was really hard on myself. And then Leslie is her name and Leslie said, So he's learned, that's not self doubt.

[00:20:05] That's a gut instinct and you got to use your gut and your gut is going to steer you in the right direction. And it was such great advice. And I really try to think about that today. What does my gut telling me is the right or wrong thing to do?

[00:20:17] And I really try to listen to it. And it sounds for whatever the reason was right or wrong. It was your gut that, that steered you in the direction and you followed it. And I think, it is what it is and you probably end up where you're supposed to be.

[00:20:28] Hala Taha: Exactly. And the last, just the last thing I'll say on this, cause it just gets me excited.

[00:20:33] When you lead with passion, you don't need to have your plan right away in terms of how you're going to monetize, how you're going to make it big. Even with this podcast, it started out as me investing into this podcast. I pivoted into starting a podcast marketing agency, and we're already like this summer, we're already on track to make multi seven figures.

[00:20:51] Next year, already we're making multi seven figures.

[00:20:55] Lauren Berger: That's so cool. Yeah.

[00:20:57] Hala Taha: Yeah. And it's because I was open [00:21:00] to the opportunities around me and I knew that, maybe the podcast is not going to be the thing that makes money, but something around the podcast, like our marketing. So I just want everybody to know that sometimes it's okay to just lead with passion and see where it goes.

[00:21:12] All right. So let's talk about. Your latest book. That's what I want to get into now. So your latest book is called, Get It Together.

[00:21:22] Lauren Berger: Because don't, we all need to get it together sometimes.

[00:21:26] Hala Taha: Yeah. And so it came out in 2018 and you give a lot of actionable advice in terms of how to build your schedule.

[00:21:33] Self-care maintaining your relationships and so on. So one of the things that you first talk about in your book is the importance of loving yourself. So tell us about how you learned about self-love. Did you always love yourself? And at what point did you start? What changed you or impacted you where you realized you needed to start loving yourself more?

[00:21:55] Lauren Berger: It was such a good question and I'm not sure that, I'm not sure that I even know the answer [00:22:00] to it. I think that what I realized, so when I was writing, get it together, I knew that I, along with my. All felt stressed. I knew we had a couple of things in common, right? We all felt stressed.

[00:22:11] We all felt overwhelmed and we all felt like we were so busy, but not necessarily getting things done at the end of the day. Like we'd work all day long or for college students go to school all day long, do all these different things. But at the end of the day, those calendared items. Making me feel fulfilled, so I knew something was wrong.

[00:22:30] And so before writing, Get It Together, I just journaled for a while and did like a bunch of it in the book world. Sometimes they call it word vomit of here's all the things that went wrong with my day. Here's what I'm upset about. I'm upset about this and this went wrong and this went wrong and it was work stuff.

[00:22:45] It was personal stuff. And I basically used all of that. Sort of word vomit to structure the book, because I said, if I'm dealing with this and I was trying to be as raw and vulnerable and what I was writing as possible, then I [00:23:00] think the world is needing this also. And I think it was the. Again, I don't know if self-love is the word, but I was putting so much pressure on myself to go everywhere to be doing everything.

[00:23:12] And as an entrepreneur, I'm sure you can relate, like there is this pressure, especially as a female entrepreneur to be written up with the cool girls, right? There's there's a couple of cool entrepreneurs and you want to be like featured with the cool girls. And then you want to meet this person and do this and and you put all these things on your calendar.

[00:23:28] And then I think with friends and a personal life, there's a similar. Like unspoken competition of did you do more today? Did you hang out with more people? Did you have five plans on a Sunday? Obviously COVID like, COVID was like, we're going to shut down your entire life. So now everything's different.

[00:23:43] But yeah, I felt like there was just all of this pressure that we were all putting on ourselves and I just felt like I was putting all this pressure on myself every day. And then I wasn't even happy looking in the mirror at the end of the day. I wasn't happy with what I was accomplishing. I wasn't. I remember saying to my husband actually, We do all these [00:24:00] fun things, but it doesn't even matter because we don't get to reflect on any of them.

[00:24:04] Like we're so busy doing the next fun thing. And I'm super blessed. I have a great husband. We travel all the time. We used to travel all the time. We do all these cool things, but I said to him, I don't even have time to process the things that we do because we're already doing the next thing.

[00:24:18] And again, whether that's work-related or personal. Or, in our personal lives, that's how I was feeling. So that's what I wanted to fix and really sorting through all the issues was what Get It Together, allowed me to do again for myself, but also for all the reader. And I tried to be again as raw and vulnerable as I could and writing it.

[00:24:38] Hala Taha: Yeah. It was a fun read. I have to say I was like kept reading and reading. So what's your compass then? We're all over committed. We all feel pressure from our friends, and we ended up not having time to go to the doctor, or to take a break and do nothing, be bored, and also just have time to follow our dreams.

[00:24:56] I had to definitely prioritize my life differently. When I started this [00:25:00] podcast, because I was focused on my dreams while my friends wanted to keep partying and this and that, and I needed to get buckled down. So for you, what's your compass for saying yes versus no to an opportunity or to inactive?

[00:25:12] Lauren Berger: It is really hard.

[00:25:13] I try to prioritize even as an entrepreneur and I know this surprises a lot of people, but I try to prioritize my family and friends first, like above work. I feel like that's really important to do. I had a baby in six months ago. She's six months old. And so I've been challenged to get it together all over again because now I have.

[00:25:32] This new person that I need to try to prioritize as well. I try to prioritize friends and family first, that does mean that the random friends that everybody has, don't always get the time. And I've had some, I've had personal friends say to me, like you're not calling me back enough.

[00:25:48] And I've had to say to them This is what I can give you right now. And that's it. I've also something that I've been challenged with and I'm sure your listeners and you can probably relate is texting. People [00:26:00] expect an instant response, or even like a, within two hour response. And if I'm working. Me texting you is going to delay so much of my focus, right?

[00:26:09] Like me texting a friend back about plans for like next Saturday. If I do that in the middle of my Workday, that's going to create such a distraction for me. It's going to. And then if they like, and then if they write me back, it's this whole thing. So I've really tried to stop responding to text messages during the workday.

[00:26:27] And I think we all think that like a text message needs an immediate response, especially if it's, it, even if it's from important people, unless it's an emergency, I really just don't respond anymore. And I respond to them later when I'm done with work. Because again, I'm giving them half responses.

[00:26:42] I've just realized I can't do that. Three things at once. So I really try to give my energy to one thing at a time. And I really try to look at everything that comes on my calendar and say, am I needed for this? And as a business owner, I have there's eight people that work at intern queen full time.

[00:26:56] So it's not a hundred, it's eight and eight. People's [00:27:00] a lot and we're a young business. So I'm very involved. And as a boss, I often have to. Say to myself, I know you want to be on that call or, but chill out, you can't be today. Like the world's not going to end. And so it is really hard to know, like when to tighten the Rams and then when to like, let people do their thing.

[00:27:18] So I try, I struggle with that a little bit, but I've been trying to, trust more and back up a little bit more, but it's always hard. And I would just say, if you feel like there's a pattern and you're constant one day a frustration. Happens every everyday. But if a whole week goes by and you're frustrated every day and you don't think you have time for your kid or your husband or your friend or yourself.

[00:27:40] I think that's when you should try to look at your schedule and see what you can do. I know we all don't have a lot of fun. Some people don't have a lot of flexibility, but typically there are small things that you can do, whether it's waking up early, whatever it is to try to make a positive change.

[00:27:54] Hala Taha: This episode of YAP is sponsored by pod bean. Podbean is a podcast hosting platform [00:28:00] with all the features you need to start a podcast, promote your podcast and monetize your podcast. Podbean has been my podcast hosting providers since I started young And Profiting Podcast, I actually got approached to switch my hosting provider and I even got offered money to do.

[00:28:16] But I won't be switching because I truly enjoy their analytics features. I am a nerd and I also like the simplicity of their UI and the security and reliability of Podbean. I honestly wouldn't feel safe putting my podcast in anyone else's hands. I've been 2.5 years on pod bean without a hitch or a glitch.

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[00:29:00] Episode performance. I can see the download source breakdown to understand where my audience is listening from. I can see what day and times they're listening and I can even check out where they're listening from, and not only by country, but also by the US State they're listening from as well.Podbean provides a full array of podcast monetization.

[00:29:19] You can monetize using Podbeanbuilt in dynamic advertising system or patron program. And you can also create a fully customizable website using their platform as well. And I'm pleasantly surprised to always hear listeners telling me that they found me from that website. I bet there's so many of you out there thinking about starting a podcast for the new year.

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[00:30:05] I'll stick the link in my show notes, happy podcasting.

[00:30:10] I agree. And I think paying attention to the time that you waste. I think a lot of people watch mindless TV. A lot of people scroll mindlessly on social media. Social media is great if you use it with a purpose, and I think a lot of people just use it and feel bad about themselves and get jealous and just get, sometimes I sit there and I watch reels.

[00:30:27] Now it's so entertaining, but it just wastes your time. And be careful with that. Cause it could just suck up your time. That could be your side hustle time, and you're just spending it on TikTok and reel.

[00:30:37] Lauren Berger: You feel you nailed it. And even so you said mindless TV. So I love some bachelor.

[00:30:42] I love some Housewives and I try to intentionally make time on certain nights. Mondays dancing with the stars night. Fro-yo dancing with the stars. That's my jam. But like sometimes my husband will be like, You were so excited to take a break and disconnect and watch dancing with the stars.

[00:30:58] And you're scrolling on TikTok. [00:31:00] Like you're not even enjoying your own thing that you set out to do it, and this is supposed to be your break. And he's totally right. So I think what you're saying is so important, like whether it's work or personal time, put down your phone, Stop scrolling. And I think some time away from our phones. Is what we all, whether we think we need it or not, you need it, and I think just try even for an hour, trying to put your phone away, like nothing, the world isn't going to fall apart. It's going to be okay.

[00:31:27] Hala Taha: Yeah. So let's talk about organization and routines, cause I know you talk about this a lot in your book too. So would you say that like naturally you're a very organized person or was it something that you really had to train yourself?

[00:31:39] Lauren Berger: I would say I continue to have to train myself on being organized and I'm always experimenting with different things for example, and I know we're on video, so the video folks can see this, but the listeners can not, but like right now I'll just describe it. But I have this like new you can see it like to do us format.

[00:31:56] So it's like the tutus, the notes, the hours. And I've been using this [00:32:00] every day. Or sometimes I'll do it. I usually do it like tonight. I'll make my little note pad set up for tomorrow and I'll write out the calls I have and the hour slots, and then I'll write out my to-do list items. And then I usually right next to the to-do list item, I'll write how many minutes or hours I think that item is going to take.

[00:32:18] And that really helps me, if I have a 10 minute gap, I look at my list and I'm like, okay, what's a 10 minute tasks rather than starting something. And then having to, again, take a break and get distracted from. But to answer your question. Yes. I have to work on organization all the time.

[00:32:33] Hala Taha: How about in terms of having a clean environment and being on time?

[00:32:38] I think they go hand in hand actually, because I think a lot of people are late because they can't find their keys or did he know what they were going to wear or they didn't. Yeah. So what's your advice on that? Cause I think that's part of being a professional.

[00:32:52] Lauren Berger: Yeah, absolutely. So I think it's about knowing what you need.

[00:32:55] I think I talk about this in the book. So for me, I, so for example, I'm at my parents' house right [00:33:00] now. You guys, for those of you on video, we're in my dad's study right now. So like I met I'm in Florida for a month over the holidays with my family. And so every room is my office set up. Like it is at my house. In California. So here, I think it's just knowing what you need. So what I need to be productive and feel good about my day is I need my computer. I need my phone and he, my AirPods, I need an iced coffee. And because I'm at my parents' house, I need a coaster under the ice coffee.

[00:33:28] I need a. And I need my, the notepad. I showed you in a pen and those are my things that I need to have to feel organized. And like I'm in control of my day. If I didn't have the notepad, I would feel like something's off. So I think it's a matter of knowing what you need to be productive.

[00:33:42] Like I am one of the people like I have my AirPods in and I listen to. Loud music blasting. And I get into the zone when I write my books, same thing, other people they want, they need quiet. So I think it's like knowing what you need, and making sure that wherever you're working that day. Cause right now people [00:34:00] are having to be really flexible and I'm adaptable.

[00:34:02] It's just knowing how to set up your space. And then what you're talking about with being on time. I think a lot of that is just it's really all preparation. It's thinking ahead, it's thinking about where you're going to be. And what you're going to be doing and the whole situation. And a lot of that is just looking ahead.

[00:34:17] We use a sauna at Intern Queen, which has a task management tool and oh, and it's really easy to just sort your tasks, by the due date and to do your things for today. And I really challenged my team to always look at tomorrow, look at the next day don't just look at the task that's due today.

[00:34:32] Try to challenge yourself. Can you get three days ahead? So it's looking ahead and just knowing what you're going to need to set yourself up for success.

[00:34:41] Hala Taha: Yeah, totally. And I think it's also realizing your personality. If so, for me, I'm pretty carefree. And so I think I always have all the time in the world because I'm very positive.

[00:34:51] I'm very ambitious. I'm very motivated. And so I always say I have all this time in the world and I'm always running. I was even 15 minutes late to this interview and it's not that I'm not [00:35:00] working hard. It's just that my personality, it's very hard for me to think. I don't have enough time. I'm always positive thinking.

[00:35:06] I have enough time. So I think. Thinking about your personality and who you are, and then putting some boundaries and rules around yourself, because so you have a very fun story in your book. You talk about being a young entrepreneur and not having the motivation to get dressed in the morning. So now because you didn't have hear your daddy today, but you were a young entrepreneur, you were used to going into the office and you didn't have to go to the office.

[00:35:35] You had trouble waking up early and he had trouble getting dressed.

[00:35:38] Lauren Berger: I think I know I was wondering what story you're gonna reference. And I think in the story you're talking about, I talk about my husband, and how he had it all together and I would copy him.

[00:35:46] Hala Taha: Exactly. Exactly. So now, Everyone's in this situation, we're in, COVID, we're all working from home.

[00:35:52] A lot of us are working from home and even me, myself, I love to get dressed up, but sometimes I just don't feel like it. I feel like no, one's [00:36:00] going to see me. I don't necessarily have to turn my zoom on in the meeting. And I feel like being in my PJ's all day, but what's your perspective on that? Is that healthy or like, why did you decide that you were going to get dressed every day?

[00:36:11] No matter what.

[00:36:14] Lauren Berger: When I first started my own business because I came from such a rigid, structured environment at my first job out of college. The idea that no one cared where I was all day, what. Confusing. It was scary. You want, you go from college where it is, yeah. You're on your own, but it's structured.

[00:36:32] You have classes, you have your schedule, people are checking in on you, you have your roommates to, again, a job where it was really, again, rigid, disciplined environment. There was a dress code, all kinds of things. And now I go to nothing, like no one cares where I am all day. It's all on me. Learning self-discipline was really hard.

[00:36:52] I assume that a lot of college students are dealing with that right now with virtual school. And I actually think that skill is going to really pay off in the future. [00:37:00] And a lot of executives that are learning how to work from home and be flexible. I had to learn that very early on. So for me, it was really difficult to wake up, to not stare at my bed and want to go back in it.

[00:37:13] And luckily I was dating at the time. My now he's my husband, but I was dating an entrepreneur who had been running his own business, with a business partner for many years. And so I would watch what they did and it was almost like he was my teacher. And I remember they would have morning conference calls.

[00:37:30] So I would be like Oh, I have a conference call with myself and then it was with my first team members, but I was really lucky to have that sort of guide to show me how to structure your day with no, one's going to structure it for you. That was really hard. I did go, I've gone through many phases with the whole, like getting dressed for work and looking super professional.

[00:37:49] I would say nowadays. I'll really only get dressed, not, I would say not, I feel like the hoodie is like work from home gear. I would say if, when we have like client [00:38:00] kickoff calls or if we have last week, I did five evening presentations where I did these big panels, speaking events.

[00:38:05] Of course, then I, you put on the makeup, you get dressed up and whatnot, but I feel like right now, as long as I'm not working in what I've slept in. I feel like it's fine. As long as you look presentable, as long as you can get on zoom, as long as you look somewhat well-groomed I think having again, your hoodie, a hoodie and bike shorts has been like my go-to after pregnancy and being an entrepreneur luck.

[00:38:28] So yeah, so I think my, and I think it's interesting. Not having, I do think there's this. I don't know if you want to call it a trend right now. On Instagram, right? That like you don't necessarily have to look perfect all the time. And that's a hard thing to I think, wrap your head around because I always felt like I had to be like perfect, and odd and look like my newscast herself, at all times.

[00:38:51] And now. People are cutting one another, a lot more slack for a variety of reasons. But yeah. So I think now I try to not work it, try to not work in what you slept in, just so you [00:39:00] feel like you're transitioning from personal time to work time, but otherwise I think be comfortable. And of course, if you're doing a job interview or something like that, dress it up.
[00:39:09] Hala Taha: Yeah, totally. Like you said, be comfortable.

[00:39:14] Lauren Berger: Be confident in what you're bringing to the table and own it. If you don't feel confident, then that's a problem. And again, go with that gut instinct of what makes you feel comfortable.

[00:39:25] Hala Taha: Yeah. So I want to talk about another topic you talk about in your book.

[00:39:29] It's called mood over method. I actually had Seth Godin on the show a couple of weeks ago, and we talked about something pretty similar. He talks about being a professional in his book when it comes to creative work. And when you're a creative, you have to be creative, no matter. Your mood and that's what being a professional is.

[00:39:46] It's doing your work, what you have to do, no matter your mood. And so he was saying, there's no such thing as writer's block, for example, like that's totally an excuse that writers say, because they're not in the mood to write when really it's their job to write. And so [00:40:00] they need to embrace the process, know their process and be professional.

[00:40:03] So tell us about your mood over method. I think it really relates to all of this and break that down for us.

[00:40:09] Lauren Berger: Yeah. Again, I think the example that I give. This is the typical everybody. I feel like at night we're all so ambitious, right? We're like, we're going to get up tomorrow morning at five eight, and then we're going to do a workout and then we're going to do this and that.

[00:40:23] And then like it's 5:00 AM. And you're like, heck no snooze news. And that's an example of you had a strategy. But instead of going with the strategy, you decided to go with your mood, you're feeling that you were tired, that you were sleepy and again, not to say that's right or wrong, go with your plan.

[00:40:39] So I think it's really important to try to be consistent and really follow through on whatever that plan is and also know yourself. Like I've really tried to stop making, over ambitious plan. Like I've tried to stop making plans that I know I'm not going to do. Stop writing a hundred things on your to-do [00:41:00] list.

[00:41:00] When you know, you're only going to get to the top five because at the end of the day, you're the one feeling frustrated with yourself when actually going into it, you already knew you weren't going to accomplish all these things. And I think that's a hard thing for all of us to work on. So I recommend really trying to stick with the strategy and not the I'm tired.

[00:41:20] I'm sleepy. I'm in a bad mood. I don't want to go anymore. No, you said you were going to go to this event. You RSVP. Clearly you had a thought process there. So don't not go to the event because your friend called or you're bored or you're sleepy, or you want to watch dancing with the stars, or whatever it is.

[00:41:37] So really try to go with that mindset over your mood. And I think that'll help everybody get it together.

[00:41:44] Hala Taha: Yeah, I totally agree. And I think it's important for you to keep commitments with yourself. And a lot of times it's easier to say, oh, it's just, it's just a date with myself at the gym who cares, but it's your health.

[00:41:56] It matters. And just because your friend, you didn't make plans that your friend to meet you [00:42:00] at the gym doesn't mean you don't have to go. I never heard anybody who regretted going to the gym after they went, nobody ever regrets it, and so it's I think my best advice for people who have trouble starting, I have a lot of people who ask me, I can never finish anything.

[00:42:13] I never get my work done. I can never focus, do it for 10. Start it for 10 minutes.

[00:42:18] Lauren Berger: And I think that's a great point.

[00:42:20] Hala Taha: Yeah. It's once you start, you're halfway there, you get it done, but if you just never start that's where the trouble begins. And if you never keep your own commitments, that's when you become unsuccessful.

[00:42:31] Everybody who's successful keeps their own personal commitments, whether that's on their to-do list, whether that's their health, they keep their own commitments. And so I think that's one of the secrets of success honestly, is keeping your own personal time. Okay. So last set. And from your book, we're running out of time here, and then I'm going to close this out.

[00:42:47] Let's talk about rejection. I've been rejected so many times in my life. I'm sure everybody deals with rejection, no matter how talented you are, no matter, actually the more talented you are, probably the more opportunities you're going to get. And the more [00:43:00] rejection you're going to face because you got more opportunities.

[00:43:02] So I'm myself. I've been victim of rejection. You tell this really cool story in your book about a sponsor, basically dropping you. They used to sponsor all your events. And then one year they decided that they no longer wanted to work with the Intern Queen and it crashed. But you took it in a really professional way and you handled it really well.

[00:43:22] And I have learned the hard way about rejection and handling, it really badly. So tell me about how you handled it well, and the advice that you can give to people when they get that rejection note and how they should approach.

[00:43:36] Lauren Berger: Yeah. So if I remember that story correctly, now I'm thinking of, I wonder if I said at the exact same way in the book, I got the email and it's really hard.

[00:43:44] Hala Taha: Just tell it from your heart. It doesn't have to, I'm sure it's stuck in your brain.

[00:43:47] Lauren Berger: It's hard when you it's hard when you have a lot going on in your day and then right in everybody deals with this, and then you get rejected in the middle of your. What I really tried to do is I got this email and it hurt and some rejections don't hurt, but some emails do.

[00:43:59] And [00:44:00] this was an email that definitely hurt, right? Like I was emotionally attached to this email. So I got this email that this company, big company didn't want to work with me anymore. They always say, don't take things personally as an entrepreneur, and that's easy to say and hard to do because you do.

[00:44:13] I find even now so many years, then I find that I'm still investing so much of myself to do a great job for the relationships that I create. So I create a relationship with an executive. I try to do it so well. So then when they take the opportunity away, you feel like it is personally. So I had a really busy day that day.

[00:44:32] So instead I think I even started drafting a couple of responses that were a little bit knee jerk, maybe had a little bit of sass and the tone. And then I was like no, I'm not going to do that. And I went back to my, I had the, let's put it in a box mentality. And then I went back to my to-do list.

[00:44:48] I did a bunch of other things. I've learned that when I get rejected, one of the things that makes me feel better is accomplishing something else. No matter how small. The act of doing something else is really helpful. So I [00:45:00] did a couple of other things, took a deep breath and I think it was maybe like two or three days later, I went back to the email, took a deep breath.

[00:45:07] I didn't feel as connected to it. I didn't feel as fired up. As sometimes we all do the day we get those kinds of emails. And I really just had the old school kill them with kindness mentality of it's a long career, even though we're not working together now, it doesn't mean we, we might work together six years, right?

[00:45:24] Whether it's at this company or maybe this executive is at a different company. And I just tried to write back a really kind response. And so that's how I handled it. But I think that a piece of advice that I give in my speeches and presentations is no doesn't mean never. It just means not right now.

[00:45:41] And something that's been really a hard lesson for me to learn as an entrepreneur is that you meet an executive, you sell them, you pitch that you get them to say yes. And then in your mind, again, especially I think us entrepreneurs do this. You put these peoples, let's say like Sarah Smith works for Dunkin'.

[00:45:59] And [00:46:00] Dunkin' is actually a client of mine, but let's say Sarah Smith is a fake person. Sarah Smith says yes to a deal, I've now in my heart, put Sarah Smith on this pedestal. In my mind, Sarah Smith is a yes person. She loves me and everything. I do. Two years later, Sarah Smith says no. And now as an entrepreneur, I'm like.

[00:46:19] I'm shocked. I don't know what to do. Sarah Smith was a yes person and now there are no person. And so that's been really hard. And I think it's an important thing to note is that just because someone not to be negative and be Debbie Downer here, but you do need to realize that the people that say yes to you might come back and say no for other things, and you need to be ready and prepared. And have that thick skin developed to deal with that because it can be really challenging. When the people that say yes, come back two years later and say no, and I've dealt with that a lot.

[00:46:45] Again, something that's helped me is moving on to the next thing on a, to do list, stepping away from it, giving it some air, giving yourself some space and then writing back a kind email. And if you need to challenge the response and ask for feedback. .

[00:46:57] Hala Taha: Yeah, I totally agree. I think the [00:47:00] best piece of advice is never right.

[00:47:02] Never send anything that's written when you're mad. I got fired from Hot 97. I was an unpaid intern. I still got fired. Quote unquote, cause I work. I was like, this glorified intern that worked there and it was because. I didn't get this job that I wanted as an assistant producer, after working for free for three years.

[00:47:19] And I wrote a really nasty text to the guy who did get it. And he showed it to Angie Martinez, who was the host of the show. And so I got fired for that ended up, fixing my bridges after that, but it was one of the biggest lessons that I had to learn the hard way, because I wrote something really mean and sent it as soon as I felt really bad.

[00:47:37] And you'll always look at things differently. A couple of days later when you call down. Whether it's your personal relationships or professional relationships, you want to just calm down before you say anything that cause your words stick with you forever and it can really hurt your reputation.

[00:47:52] Okay. So last question. The last question I ask all my guests is what is your secret to profiting in life?

[00:47:58] Lauren Berger: I think that it's really [00:48:00] been prioritizing, personal things above work. And even for an entrepreneur with entrepreneurs, it's easy to say work. And I see a lot of my friends that have corporate jobs saying work, but at the end of the day, we only have so much control over.

[00:48:14] If you have a boss, when you get, we saw with COVID, there were so many people that thought they had these jobs forever that were laid off out of nowhere. And so I just think it's so important to have special, unique relationships that you. To some extent control. So I think prioritizing for me, it's family and friends for other people it's religion, or, whatever it might be.

[00:48:34] But for me, it's prioritizing family and friends first, putting the majority of my time and energy there. And that way I still have my work. I'm still passionate about it, but when work isn't going my way and it's. It's a constant rollercoaster. It's not like this all the time, right? It's not all the way up all the time.

[00:48:52] I think that's been really helpful and it gives me a lot of personal satisfaction at the end of the day.

[00:48:58] Hala Taha: Cool. I think you've covered a lot [00:49:00] of ground here. We had a great conversation. Thank you so much for coming on Young And Profiting Podcast.

[00:49:04] Lauren Berger: Thanks for having me.

[00:49:06] Hala Taha: Thanks for listening to Young And Profiting Podcast.

[00:49:09] I hope you enjoyed this episode with Lauren Berger, and if you're a new listener, please take a few minutes to subscribe to the YAP and drop us a review on Apple Podcasts. Apple podcasts reviews are the most coveted kind of reviews for podcasters. We love them because they act as social proof for new listeners and they largely impact our podcast rankings.

[00:49:28] So from now on every time I end the show, I'm going to be shouting out. Leads us an Apple Podcast review. And so if you're a listener on Castbox, on Spotify,Podcast Republic, Overcast, wherever you are.

[00:49:40] Do me a favor and hop onto Apple Podcasts using your iPhone or a family member's iPhone and support Young And Profiting Podcast by leaving us a five star Apple Podcast review.

[00:49:51] I really want to get to 200 reviews by 2021. And so we have one month. To get me to 200 reviews and I am obsessed

[00:50:00] with reaching this goal. And if anybody knows me, I always reach my goals. So please take the time to leave us an Apple Podcasts review. I'm trying to get to 200 views by 2021. We've got thousands and thousands of listeners.

[00:50:11] And so if you appreciate my podcast, please take a minute to leave us an Apple Podcasts review. So this week, I'm going to share a review from Marsh Buse and Patrick. So Patrick and wake, I think it's his Apple ID. If you guys don't tell me your full name and your review and your location, I won't be able to properly shut you out.

[00:50:32] So remember to leave your full name and your location in the review. So the first one is from Marsh and it's a really good one. He says, you're as young as you want to be. 46 years young and I love Hala's podcast. There's no such thing as too old, too late, too young, too much, or too little of anything unless you make it.

[00:50:52] You've got now and now is a great equalizer. No matter where you find yourself in life, Hala will take you where you need to be [00:51:00] subscribed today. Wow. That's one of the best reviews I've ever read. And I appreciate you so much. Thank you so much, marsh for dropping such a thoughtful review and such a motivational review.

[00:51:11] And I encourage all of you to try to beat that. Next one from pat super valuable. I love this podcast. Hala is super talented and has added so much value to my life. She always asks great questions and has the best guests. Thank you so much, Pat. I appreciate it. And your ideas, what only shows. Patrick, Mike, I'm sure that's not your real name.

[00:51:34] So I'm sorry that I was unable to properly shout you out, but for everybody out there listening, if you guys do leave an Apple Podcast review, which I hope you do, please leave your full name and location so I can properly shout you out. And so what happens to Petra? Mike doesn't happen to you. Thank you both for the amazing reviews.

[00:51:51] And if you're out there listening and you found value in today's show with Lauren, please take a few minutes to rate us on Apple Podcasts review. It's a free and [00:52:00] effective way to support our show. And if you don't have access to apple podcast, try borrowing. And don't forget to include your full name and location when you leave your review.

[00:52:07] So I can properly shout you out. And I love seeing posts about YAP on LinkedIn or Instagram. If you're listening on Spotify, you can share the podcast, right? Your Instagram story. There's like a little button you click share. And then it says Instagram story, and you can just shoot it off right there, or take a screenshot of your podcast app and share it to your story.

[00:52:24] And tag me at YAP with Hala. I'll always repost. It, support those who support us. And if you follow me at YAP with Hala I'll follow you back. And you can also find me on LinkedIn, just search for my name. It's Hala Taha. Big, thanks to the YAP team as always. You guys are awesome. This is Hala signing off.