18. Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes + Getting Organized For The New Year
In this episode, Merritt shares a recap of her festive New Year's Eve (there was a change of plans, but it ended up being perfect)! She shares her review of the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Special on HBOMax, as well as her deep connection to the series and how it was a fundamental part of her adolescence. She also shares her thoughts on Emily in Paris, plus another show she's rewatching that is an all-time favorite. In the meat of this episode, Merritt chats through some of her thoughts on always wanting and striving for more in business, and ultimately what's led to some changes she decided to make in the new year in terms of her blog. She also shares a list of her favorite apps for getting and staying organized with work and personal stuff!
In this week's Beck and Call segment, Merritt answers listener questions on where she'd recommend going in Italy at the end of April, as well as her thoughts on whether she'd ever move back to Austin after living in Dallas for so long! Call into the Beck and Call hotline to submit a question for a future episode: 214-620-0473.
Follow along on Instagram @beckandcallpodcast, and visit the website for more information, to listen to episodes and connect!
EPISODE AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION
Hey guys, welcome back to the beck and call podcast. I'm your host Merritt Beck. I am a fashion and lifestyle blogger. And on this podcast I'm talking about all things life work and love as a single woman in my 30s Hello, hello and a happy new year to all of you. I hope you all had a very happy, safe and healthy New Year's Eve and weekend. You may have figured this out if you follow me on Instagram, but my New Year's Eve had a slight change of plans. I had originally planned to go to Austin for the weekend and meet up with my friend Patti who lives in New York. And she ended up not wanting to fly due to the uptick in COVID cases, which is totally understandable. And honestly, I was kind of excited to not have to drive back to Austin because you know, I'd driven down there for Christmas. And then I was planning to drive back to Dallas to take Reese's to bevel dog behavior. I was going to work a few days up here and then drive right back down to Austin. And I was just a little relieved that I didn't have to drive back down and deal with more holiday traffic. So when my friend Patti decided to stay in New York, I bought a ticket to park house for New Year's Eve, which is actually what I did with my friends in Dallas last year. Like I said, I was super relieved to not have to drive back to Austin. And it was very nice to just lounge at my house and rest the rest of the weekend and not have to worry about getting back to Dallas fighting traffic on Sunday, I could just totally relax after Friday night. And as I said before, I'd plan to send Reese's to bevel dog behavior to board there before going to Austin the second time and I ended up just deciding to send her anyway to give myself a little break slash holiday treat for the new year. By the way, I'm actually going to be recording an episode with Brad bevel who is the founder of bevel dog behavior at the end of the month. So if you have any specific questions for Brad about dogs training, what to do when you first get a dog, send me any questions, you have to info at beck and call podcast.com and I'll be sure to ask him some of them during the interview. I already have a good idea of what I want to ask him because of questions I've received over the last couple of years after I got resist. So I will be asking him some of my own questions. But also if you have any good ones I will be do my best to include them there. He and his company have made such a difference in racist behavior as well as my communication with her which I mentioned in the muscle of dogs episode, but he's so insightful has so much good information and I think could really help you guys if you are on the verge of getting a dog or you just got a dog and just need some initial help. Hopefully he can give you some good advice. Anyway, back to New Year's Eve. So I know I've mentioned Park house a few times on here, but it's basically Dallas's version of Soho House. It's a private member's only social club in Highland Park village, and they host various events and parties throughout the year, including ones for major holidays like New Year's Eve, and honestly all this year, they knocked it out of the park. It was truly so much better than last year. So this year instead of a sit down dinner like they had last year they had food stations in nearly every room. So one room was dedicated to sushi, which is what I mostly ate. Then they had a room exclusively for cheese. Like all the cheese's you could imagine on the patio, they had sliders and more meat heavy bites. And then as far as things to do, there was a silent disco which I was obsessed with. It was so fun. They also had a stick on tattoo station, which I also thoroughly enjoyed. I got myself an ankle tattoo and didn't end up washing it off until Sunday kind of satisfied my fantasy of getting a tattoo that I never got as an adolescent. They also had a DJ, several photo booths and a bunch of other fun things. It was such a fun night I think I got home at like 130 So I didn't stay up too late. But let's just say I ended up spending most of the day on the couch on Saturday. But before we get into that I ended up wearing the same bash BA and sh that's the brand how you spell it. It's the metallic mini dress I wore a couple of other times already in December. I wore it to my friend Amy's birthday party at Monarch that restaurant in Dallas that I told you guys about last episode, I think or the episode before that. And then I also wore it to my friend Mallory's birthday dinner in New York. It's just the perfect party piece and it's comfortable and I feel you know, it feels flattering. So I've pretty much made it a repeat offender this holiday season. I'm so glad I bought it. Like I said before I ended up spending most of the day Saturday on the couch and my friend Graham came over to watch movies and we did face masks. It was a really great day. I think he didn't leave my house until like 430 That day we were just so chill couch.
But we watched Bridget Jones diary and we also watched two Harry Potter movies before remembering that the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Special had come out on HBO max that day, I highly recommend you guys watch it. If you were ever a fan of the books or movies like I was, it's a two hour special. And they brought together almost the entire cast from the movies. And they also brought the directors from each movie and they chatted about how it was made, they shared behind the scenes footage that nobody had ever seen before. From the set from over the years, you got to learn more about sort of their off screen relationships and friendships. It was so wonderful. And as a lifelong fan, I swear to God, I was smiling from ear to ear the entire time. And Graham and I kept looking over at each other to see if the other one was enjoying it as much as we were like we were both so giddy. It was the best. The Harry Potter series was truly a fundamental part of my adolescence, like I kid you not, I think I read each book over 30 times. And I'm not exaggerating, there was a point where I would read the entire series from start to finish, only to start over at the beginning when I finished the last book. And I did this a lot. I just always felt like I discovered something new every go round. And I also listened to the audio book on repeat in college when I had to drive back and forth to Austin and Dallas for holidays and summer stuff. I went to every midnight showing when the movies came out. I was of c'est and I've really listened to all of the audio books, I think it was at the beginning of the pandemic, but it might have been before then, and I'm happy to share that I still enjoy them as much as I used to. There's just something about the series that elicits like a childlike wonder in me, it's such an escape. And I've always you know, I You guys know I love fantasy though. So the idea of magic just like really excites me kind of like vampires and all of that stuff. I just I truly truly loved the series. But anyway, back to the special. So a few of my favorite moments included when Emma and Tom who played Hermione and Draco spoke about their love for each other. They both use the word love and it felt very, very close to actually a romantic thing. But they said nothing ever happened but that they like truly both love each other. They have a real life friendship to this day. He has shared photos of them together more recently, like in the last couple of years on his Instagram. I just love that they've stayed close like that. I also thoroughly enjoyed the build up of Ron and Hermione his kiss in the final movie and how the two actors could not stop laughing through shooting the scene because they'd all kind of developed a sibling love for each other like could never kind of imagine a romantic situation between them. But it was just funny to watch that footage and hear them talk talk about how that scene happened. I also loved seeing Helena Bonham Carter. I've only ever seen her in movies and never speak as just herself and she's fucking hysterical. She is so fast and quick witted. I loved her banter with Tom Felton, she just like kept doing jabs and funny, funny quips to everything he said. It was also just really fascinating to hear each director's take on the movies and the vibe that they were going for. So like based on the directions the books were going in terms of like how old the characters were and the growth of those characters, as well as like the how the plotline would get dark or get more hopeful. And the movie the whole theme of the movie changed as a result and I thought that was interesting, but like I said, it was incredibly heartwarming and wonderful to see the cast back together. I just absolutely loved it. You can watch it on HBO Max. It's the Harry Potter 20th anniversary special. I highly recommend it. It was so good. So that's pretty much all I did on Saturday, but on Sunday, I actually felt good enough to work out. So once I did that and showered I felt like it was a great time to return the couch. I didn't really have a ton of work I needed to get done before the start of the week because I did get some work done last week. So I took full advantage and just fully relaxed both Saturday and Sunday. And we had a major drop in the temps we had like an arctic cold front come in Saturday night so it felt like another perfect day for fire cozy clothes and TV. And speaking of TV, I finished Emily in Paris season two this week and I have to say I'm a total fan Now the show is incredibly over the top like the fashion is crazy kind of like it wasn't Sex in the City. But I actually like it way better on Emily that I that I did on carry I love I love the bright pieces.
It's just so fun to watch for that alone. I love that. Well the fashion is overdone in a good way something that's overdone in a bad way is her character. So Emily's character is this loud, silly American. That's how she's portrayed who like doesn't know a Lika French, you know, doesn't know any of that customs over there. She also has this annoying social media presence. She's always taking selfies and just they just portray her as like a dumb American and it's annoying and overdone and in your face. And I don't like that part. And I don't really love the storyline about her falling for and hooking up with her friend's ex, but it's still a very enjoyable show. If anything, like I said for the fashion. It's really fun to watch for that. It's just sort of a mindless thing too. watch the episodes are really short. So I recommend it if you're looking for like a pick me up kind of show. It's it's very fun. And then once I finished Emily in Paris, I started rewatching the Vampire Diaries. So if you followed me a long time, you'll know this is an all time favorite show of mine. It's kind of a comfort show for me and something I revert back to in between shows or if I just like need a palate cleanser before starting something new Grey's Anatomy is kind of like that for me too. I'll like watch the entire what is it? 17 seasons now if I'm, like, bored or have nothing to watch, I'll watch that. I'll watch The Vampire Diaries, shits creeks, kind of like that. For me. friends used to be like that for me, but I just haven't watched that in a long time. Anyway, I've been really enjoying watching The Vampire Diaries. I'm currently on season three. And I'm still so bummed that show ended because it really was so good. And after the first, you know, five episodes of season one, the acting is actually fantastic. Like, I always thought it was crazy how Nina Dobrev was able to play two completely different characters so flawlessly. Like I kind of picture Elena and Katherine actually as two different people, even though they're played by the same person, because I think she did such a great job. And she gave them two completely different personalities. And it's, I mean, you have to watch it to know what I'm talking about. But I mean, their mannerisms, their the way they talk. I mean, the whole thing. And I know it's like written into the show, but I don't think anyone else could have done it the way she did it. It's just, it's really cool to see actually. And sadly, I 100% blame her for leaving and ruining the show. I think it could have gone on for far longer than I did. But obviously she's the main character. So when she left, I think it was after season six, the whole thing went downhill I got cancelled, like a year later, it was very sad. But if you if you love vampires, if you like anything fantasy, or if you just want like an epic love story, it is such a good show. But like I said, push past like the first five episodes, they're still tinkering with the special effects and kind of the dynamics of the different characters, but they really get into it after like episode five or six, and it gets so much better. It's so good.
Now on to audio books. So I was mentioning that I was listening to the gift of fear, which is a book by Gavin de Becker. And I didn't finish it. So to be honest, I didn't really like the second half of the book, it just wasn't nearly as helpful or insightful to me as the first, mostly because it didn't seem very applicable to everyday life. So the first half of the book focuses on kind of identifying red flags, weird behaviors, picking up on context, clues, etc, for knowing whether a situation could potentially turn dangerous or harmful. And obviously, all of that was super helpful. And he spoke about it in terms of just general interactions with people as well as like handling that kind of stuff in the workplace where you're, you know, well, not for me, but when other people or when I was working at a regular corporate job, you're exposed to people that you're kind of forced to work with, you don't choose these people obviously. And so like how those situations can kind of turn dangerous, but it also disgust like being a person of public interest, like a celebrity or you know, even an influencer, who might be targeted or stalked. So that was sort of applicable. I also just, I just felt like the second half of the book was more general and spoke more to certain instance, instances in his career dealing with actual serial killers and more large scale crimes. It just felt like more personal anecdotes versus advice or helpful insight for regular people. I guess. I just didn't find as much practical information in the second half of the book, all and although I think it's an important read for anyone who wants to arm themselves with more information to protect themselves from unsavory situations. It's just it's very important to have awareness of your surroundings, understand context clues and know how to identify behaviors and also trust your instincts, like trust your gut, and that is really what the first half of the book is all about. And I definitely recommend listening or reading to that. The next audio book I started after gift of fear is Glennon Doyle's untamed I'll be honest, until you I honestly had no idea who she was or what this book was about, but I swear it's another one I've seen everywhere like that attached book I read a few weeks ago, and I just started this a couple days ago and haven't gotten that far into it. But I've heard it's great and I'll report back later on it with my thoughts once I get further into it.
Alright, since we are starting a new year, I thought for the first episode of 2022, we could chat about getting organized for the year ahead, and I'd figured I figured I'd start with myself and how I'm getting the new year off to a good start. So I'm going into my 11th year as a fashion blogger and I have decided to make a few changes this year. And most of the changes I've made since starting blogging has been by adding more of everything so more content, more mediums, more verticals, just more as a type A and A gram three person, I've always strived for success, I'm always looking for ways to improve my chances for success, I see new growth make more money, like these are all top of mind and almost always part of my business goals is just making more doing more being more and this is the first time I am actually saying the opposite and making some changes in the other direction. I want to do less an influencer, I follow Ayana lodge shared a post on her story of a quote by Tyler McCall that resonated with me so much, and I wanted to share that here. So here's the quote, I truly believe that the never ending pursuit of growth in our businesses is leaving us depressed, burnt out, overwhelmed, disappointed, it's toxic, it's dangerous, and it's unrealistic. When did growing year over year become the norm? Why do we always expect to have a better month next month than we had last month, a better year next year than we had last year? What kind of toxic culture have we created in the online business world where we expect small businesses with tiny teams and no outside funding or access to debt or capital to increase revenue by double digits every single year or else be written off as a failing and then another influencer, I follow Camille styles reposted something from Farnam street on her stories that said tiny thought do less but do better. Any energy that goes into what doesn't matter comes at the expense of what does with a little extra time, you can raise the standard from good enough to great, narrow the focus, raise the standard and set yourself apart. So both of these quotes were things I saw after I made the decision to make some of these changes. And it just affirmed my feelings and gave me the push to do it. So I have no intention to quit blogging. But I have found it more challenging to keep up with the daily blog posts and newsletters with all of the other mediums and channels I'm now using to create and share content. So with the new podcast and just general life busyness, picking up over the last few months, I've felt spread quite thin. I feel like I'm often posting just for the sake of posting and not because I'm super passionate or excited about what I'm writing and creating. I also feel like I'm forgetting things and not being as active on other channels like daily Instagram stories and series like Tuesday 10. I'm like always forgetting that. And that used to be like really important to me, as well as creating exclusive content for the LTK app, I had my designer create all of these templates, and I just keep forgetting to use them because I'm so busy doing other mundane things that I'm not excited to. And I've just been so busy and just trying to get everything done. And I want to get back to the place where I'm passionate about everything I post and I think scaling back is going to help with that. I'm hoping that by decreasing the quantity of blog posts and newsletters all increase the quality of the content I'm putting out there. But here's hoping anyway, I do feel like I'm one of the few fashion bloggers out there who still publishes a new blog post every day. So I don't feel like this is a huge change or all that groundbreaking. But because I've done a daily blog and newsletter over the last 11 years very consistently, I haven't changed that schedule for fear of like disappointing or losing any readers. In addition to fear of losing income, of course, I fear losing income. I'm also not great with change or letting things go. So it's taken me a while to get comfortable with that idea. But I'm just at a point where I can't do it all anymore. I've just got to make some adjustments to not only make my workload manageable, but also more fun. So I want to continue to do it for more and more years. So the two main things I'm changing and I've I've already made these changes. I announced it on the blog post yesterday, but or in yesterday's blog posts, but I'm going to be doing blog posts and new newsletters only three days a week now. So the schedule will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And then I used to do my beck and call newsletter where I answer lists or reader questions every week. And now I'm only going to do it once a month I will answer five to 10 questions and a single newsletter on the last Sunday of every month. And the reason I decided to do that is because I get so many of the same questions every week. And while I love answering the questions, it was getting a little mundane and monotonous and repetitive. And I think if I kind of break it down to just once a month versus once a week I can be a little more selective on the questions I get to answer and I can make them really big newsletters versus just you know, trying to throw the answers together to make it work each week. So I may occasionally do extra blog posts if there's something particularly exciting or sponsored content I need to do on top of organic posts. But that's the plan and I may make more adjustments as we try out this new schedule so nothing is totally set in stone, but I just feel like a lot of the time engagement and interaction I have with people is on Instagram, I will never give up my blog because you know, I want to have ownership over something and like God forbid, what if something happens to Instagram or LTK, or even this podcast, I want to have something that I totally own. That's just mine that nobody else can control. And that's what my blog and newsletter are. But I do have to face the fact that, you know, as time goes on, and this industry evolves, blogs are not king anymore, and creating content for other channels like Instagram is, and that's where a lot of my business is happening. And so scaling back a little on the blog and focusing more my efforts on creating content for social media, both my personal pages and fashion pages, but also the podcast page, I really want to focus on creating content just for you guys. So that is going to be where I put more of my efforts now that I'm scaling back on the blog just a tad. And by decreasing the number of blog posts and newsletters I do each week, I can spend more time making the ones I do create really great. So the goal is less fluff and more substance. I'm also eager to put more of my time into the podcast because this is a newer venture. And I want to see where it takes me this is a new year, I'm going to have a little more time to dedicate to, you know, getting guests and creating a better outlines for each episode. And yeah, that's sort of the plan. I do want to say thank you in advance to those of you who continue to read the blog, subscribe to my newsletter and engage with the content on the podcast and on Instagram, because it really means so much. And I could not do any of this without you guys. So thank you, thank you for continuing to support my little corner of the internet. And now this podcast. Now in terms of actually getting organized and how I get work done and you know, stay focused during the week, I thought I'd share kind of what my weekly schedule and day to day routine looks like. As well as some of my favorite web and social media apps that help keep me organized behind the scenes in hopes that maybe these things might help you guys kind of get going on the right on the right note this year. I mentioned this in a previous episode, but I generally wake up at around 6:30am and have a little breakfast and coffee a walk Reese's, I'll work out and then get ready for the day. And this all happens before my assistant Liza comes over at 10am. Since launching this podcast Mondays sort of become a podcast only day but I usually spend a couple hours before recording linking some new pieces like fashion items for Liza so she can work on collages while I'm recording. And then I also work on the outline for this podcast. So I can refer to it while I'm recording. So that's kind of what I do on Monday, once I'm done getting ready for the day. And then once I'm done with those, I'll usually make myself lunch. And then from around 12 to six on Monday, I will record edit and schedule that week's podcast episode. Because my podcast is released every Tuesday morning. That's why I spend all day Monday on the podcast and I really don't have time for anything else. But once I've gotten the podcast out of the way, I pretty much reserved the rest of the week for the blog, LTK and Instagram content. I have the same general morning routine every day. But starting Tuesday I'll be creating collages. I'll be writing texts for blog posts, and newsletters, Liza and I may shoot some outfit photos, it changes every day depending on what is coming up. But I always try to do the writing tasks. First, I'm just way more focused in the morning than in the afternoon. And I find they do a much better job at writing in the morning. I usually wait to do collages in the afternoon, as that doesn't take as much focus for me to complete. And I'm actually very fast at doing those. I think part of that is just having done them so much for so long. I've been doing them every day for 11 years now. But there's also another reason why I'm really fast at these this is super random. But in high school or college, I actually can't remember when I took this but I took an intense career aptitude test where they test you on a bunch of different skills and activities to determine what you're best at, like what your skill set is. And this is just one of the few things I remember from the results of that test. But I tested in the 99th percentile in terms of data recognition speed, and that may not be the exact correct term for it. But basically what it means is when I scan a page with a bunch of data or information, I digested incredibly fast. So when I'm creating a collage and looking for pieces to fit in said collage, I can scroll down a page of products on LTK or on a store's new arrivals page. Or if I'm looking for something in a specific color, I'll search a color and at a high speed I can quickly identify what can go where So creating collages is actually very easy and fast. For me it's a really quick process. But all of that say it's one of the more fun parts of my job and it doesn't take a lot of brainpower to complete. So the things that take a lot of brainpower I try to do first thing in the morning so like writing and that kind of stuff and Then the afternoon, the collages, photo editing and that kind of stuff I try to do near the end of the day when I don't need as much brainpower for that I don't ever make to do lists, but I generally tackle the most pressing things I think of early on in the week, by Thursday or Friday usually have a lighter load of work and can either get a head with content or create some extra content for LTK, or my Instagram stories, I always try to have most of my blog and newsletter content ready for the following Monday and Tuesday, since I now spend most of my Monday on the podcast. And if I can get a full week ahead, that's truly the best case scenario, I do not like to feel rushed, and I'm someone who does not do well under like the pressure of a quick timeline, I prefer to give myself as much time as I need to make something really great. So if that means moving things around in the editorial calendar to accommodate that, I will do it, I'd rather you know, take more time and delay it then make something shitty. Now let's get to some of the apps I use to get in stay organized behind the scenes. So first and foremost, I use iCal for my calendar, I like to have everything you know, coordinated on my phone and my laptop. And so I schedule everything here appointments, content, reminders for blog and social media posts. Like you know, if you have a sponsored post, I may not always remember that a story is supposed to go up on a certain day or by a certain time. So I always put those there, I even used to block out time for my workouts in my calendar. So I wouldn't accidentally book something there. But now that I've created such a habit out of my morning workouts, I no longer do that. But it's a great idea. If you are someone who talks yourself out of workouts easily if you block the timeout that will keep you from accidentally putting something else there when you should be working out. I'm not very good at color coding my calendar, my mom does that really well. But that is a good way to identify what things are really, really important. Or if you want to organize by work versus home stuff. You can color code, I'm just lazy. So I don't do that. Google Drive is something that Liza and I both use. And I like because you know, we can share all of the docs and collaborate on them. So Google Sheets, for example. It's basically Google's version of Excel spreadsheets. And I use that for my blog, editorial calendar, my podcast content calendar for tracking my accounting. So I have a different app that I use with my accountants to do payroll. But this is in terms of like looking at how much money I'm making over time. So I have multiple tabs on one spreadsheet for the different years. And then within each sheet, I have each month listed out with different columns for, you know, commission versus flat fee payments versus Amazon payments, because those are different from LTK payments. And so I have like different columns for kind of each source of income. And then each month at the end of the month all input the numbers for each column. And of course, use a formula to add everything up at the end of the year. And we'll go back and make adjustments of things are returned and that kind of thing. But it helps me kind of plan out for the year, or at least look back at the end of the year to see how I did and can compare to future and all of that stuff. So anyway, I love seeing all of that in Excel spreadsheets. And I like it for accounting in particular, because I like to see month to month how I'm doing over the year period, because commission is always fluctuating, I don't always have the same amount I'm getting paid for flat fee payments each month. So it's just helpful to look at and see where I'm stacking up throughout the year and be able to refer to those numbers as I go. And as I've said before, I love a schedule, I thrive on one. And so I love seeing a schedule of everything like my calendar, my editorial calendars, and content calendars. So seeing all of that all of my ideas laid out with proposed dates is really helpful. And if I need to move things around, I can but it just helps me to see where things could potentially go. Google Docs is another really helpful thing that Liza and I use a lot. I use them for content previews for collaborations. So oftentimes, like on LTK, when I'm working with Nordstrom, or Neiman's, or Saks or one of those brands, they want to see a preview of the content before it goes live. So they can you know, make any edits or suggestions before it goes live. And so I will input the photos, the captions and links for everything I'm planning to use in those and then you can download them as a PDF or share the doc it's pretty easy. We also use these Google Docs for brainstorming. So Liza and I will collaborate on a variety things if I'm like trying to think of new podcast topics or blog content ideas, or even new series for Instagram or LTK. We can collaborate and collectively brainstorm in one spot. I also do my episode planning on Google Docs. So I'll create outlines. Sometimes I'll list the questions I want to use. Like when I was talking to my mom, I had some questions I didn't want to forget to ask. And like when I interviewed Brad at the end of the month, I'm going to have a list of questions. So I'll put those on there. I'll print that out just to have on hand. So I don't forget anything I'm really excited to talk about. I also put travel itineraries in Google Docs. I sometimes do them in Google Sheets too. But I find Google Docs a little easier to work with and manage when it comes to travel itineraries, because I tend to get a little wordy with those. And I like to include photos and stuff. Sometimes I mentioned this in a few episodes a while ago, and the episode was tips from a type A traveler, it's episode eight from November 2. And so I use Google Docs for itineraries a lot of the time. And then I also have my beck and call newsletter, q&a list and Google Docs. So I often get emails and DMS with different questions. And that's where I keep track of all of the questions I have not yet answered. So I can just copy and paste them into WordPress, to then copy and paste into a future newsletter, it makes it really easy. Now, if you have a lot of files, like I do, like a lot of photos are important documents or graphics, I highly recommend Dropbox. That's sort of where I keep everything, my computer would explode. If I kept even a third of any of the content that I'm constantly downloading or content I'm creating, I just can't keep it on my computer. So I have different folders for everything I've folder for the podcast. And within that I have folders for all of the episodes, I've recorded a folder with all of the podcasts, photography, a folder with all of the graphics and design files. I also have, you know, different folders for all of my home documents. So when I bought this house, and when I bought my last house, that's where I've downloaded all of the stuff that I got from like the title company, I mean, I have folders for everything and Dropbox for the blog, I upload all of my edited photos and unedited saved photos like large files, just in case I ever want to use them again for something else or need to print them for something, I just figure it's always good to have a backup for everything, all of the photos that I liked. Anyway, I don't save every photo I've ever taken. But any of the ones that I went to do the work to edit, so editing the lighting retouching in any way, those are all saved. I also save all design files and templates for Photoshop, like the Edit gift guides, capsule, wardrobes, all of that stuff, I saved the design files for just in case you know, something happens to my computer, I need to be able to find it and use it wherever I am. So Dropbox, I put everything, anything personal, anything, business, anything home, literally everything. And then more recently, in the last few years, because of like having a full time employee, I now use gussto. And I don't do much in here, but my accountants do it for me. But basically, this is used for payroll paying like local and state taxes and all of that stuff. So gussto is great. I've used Intuit QuickBooks too. But gussto is what I use primarily these days. I also use the Notes app on my iPhone. This is mostly to write down things I want to remember to say on the next podcast episode. So don't forget, it's just easier to do that than to open like the Google doc app and edit within there. It's not the the Google Drive apps on iPhone aren't that easy to use. I mean, they're easy, but they're just sort of a pain to deal with and edit. And so if I need to do stuff on the go the app, the Notes app is the easiest way to do that. And then in terms of like planning out my Instagram feed and content and like for TSS edited, Liza and I both use Planoly. And this allows you to plan out the colors of your Instagram feed to make sure it flows right. I generally like the color schemes to flow on both pages. So use this to organize and arrange the photos to do that. And speaking of photos, I also use separate photo albums on the iPhone for things like the capsule wardrobe, the podcast, storing screenshots, the graphics and more, more stuff like that for easy access. Because I have so many photos on my phone, I have to have separate separate albums just so I can find things that I'm looking for. So like the podcast I have, I have all of the photos I've taken so far for podcast content for the podcast website, all of the logos, anytime you'll send me questions or anything on DMS that I need to remember for a future podcast episode, I'll screenshot it and put it in that album. It's not sophisticated, but that is it has been helpful for me at least in the last year to do that just to make it easier to find the things that I'm looking for. And while we're on the subject of apps, I thought I'd share what I use to actually create my content since I get questions about that quite often from either want to be bloggers or just people interested in starting a podcast or what have you. But for collages I use Adobe Photoshop for the capsule wardrobes. I use InDesign for organizing all of the content together in a PDF, but again, I use Photoshop to create the individual collages, collages collages. What am I saying? For editing photos and outfits? I use Adobe Lightroom first before exporting to Photoshop if I need to do any additional editing or retouching So, for example, earlier this fall, there was a giant mosquito about to bite my foot in a photo like a close up photo of my shoes, and it was like the perfect shot aside from the mosquito. So that is a case where I would use photo to remove the mosquito for the podcast or record and edit using Adobe Audition and then use anchor to upload and publish all of my podcast episodes. And anchor also kind of tracks all of the data and analytics for each podcast episode.
So I can see how many people have listened, what the demographics of my listenership is, and all of that good stuff. And as I was talking about the blog earlier, I forgot to mention I use WordPress for all of my blog posts. And I use MailChimp for my newsletter. For editing iPhone pics, I use the visco app, it's vs. Seo, and you can buy all kinds of filters and things to put on them. And I use only one filter, it's called a six. And I'm not exactly sure where it's from, I can't remember off the top of my head, but it's from a set that I bought through the VSCO app, and it's analog six, a six. But anyway, I use that I adjust lighting in there, I sharpen it, and may rotate or do whatever I need to do. But that's where I edit all of my iPhone pics. I think that's it. Clearly I'm an Adobe fan, I have the Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, so lies and I can both use the apps on our respective computers. It's great if you run a small business because you can always pay to add more people to the subscription. And you can have access to all of their amazing software on every device. So like I can log in from my phone. If I want to use the photoshop app on my phone, I can log in from a different computer as long as I'm able to log out of the other one. It's just a really great suite of software if you're looking if you're doing any kind of content creating they have so many things to choose from. Obviously none of this is groundbreaking information. But hopefully some of it is helpful to you if you're looking to streamline or perhaps you're just starting to work for yourself or starting a new business. Maybe some of these apps might be able to help you. I am not the best at staying organized just generally but these things these things have helped me.
Alright guys, we've made it to the beck and call segment. If you are new here the beck and call segment is a q&a segment I do at the end of every episode, and you can call in to submit a question if you need advice or just have a question about any topic you can ask me anything just call into 214-620-0473 to leave a voicemail and ask me anything. It is totally anonymous. If you like don't want to share your name or anything like that. That's totally fine. You can also submit questions to info at beck and call podcast.com If you'd prefer to submit them via email. Let's get into the first voicemail.
Hi Merritt. My name is Colby I am calling because I have a question regarding traveling to Italy. I will be going with for the first time with my husband at the end of April this year and I read your blog post about it but just curious to hear from you about the must dues were to go on your first trip there. There's a lot to do so we're just trying to narrow it down. Thank you.
Oh, I'm so jealous. You're going to Italy I'm dying to go back. It's one of my favorite countries. I mean the food it's beautiful the wine you really can't lose in Italy but a few things I think because of the time of year I think there are a couple of places that I would maybe recommend over others like I would probably do the Amalfi coast somewhere along there I loved Positano highly recommend it's so beautiful. It would be a great time to go there. I also think Venice depending on what the water situation is, I know that there's been flooding in that kind of stuff you may want to look into that but I loved Venice and I would definitely want to go before it like totally sinks and all that sort of said think about but if you've never been I would definitely put that on your list before somewhere like Rome. I just think you'd want to see it before you know things are getting destroyed and you know not able to be accessed anymore. So Venice, I would do the Amalfi Coast. I think those are probably the two places that I would really recommend. I love to Tuscany I love to Florence we went to those places though in the fall and it was beautiful. I'm sure it's great in April as well but I just think while it's still warm, you probably want to go somewhere near the water. That is where I would probably recommend but I cannot recommend the Amalfi Coast enough. I truly cannot. It is so stunning. There's quite a bit to see and do in Venice. And then when you're on the Amalfi coast somewhere you could do little day trips, you can drive to different parts of the coast. You could do a day in Capri, you could do Ravello, I mean, there's so many different places to visit. You can do day trips on boats. So I definitely think there's enough to do in those two places if you don't have too much time, but those would be the two places I would probably consider if this is your first time going to Italy. And just knowing that it's that time of year, that's probably what I would suggest. Alright, let's get into the next voicemail.
Hey, Merritt, I am loving your podcasts. Can't wait to listen to the new episodes when they drop. And I just had a question. I know your mom lives in Austin. And I was just wondering if you had ever thought about moving back to Austin. I know Dallas is your home and has been for a while but I was just curious to know your thoughts about moving to Austin. I love both cities. So anyway, talk to you later.
This is actually a question I get a lot and I totally get it because Austin is such a great city and my family is there. I have great roots in Austin. I've got a great community of family, friends and friends that live there. But you know, at this time in my life, I am still single and all of my grown up friends, all of my friends that are my age from school and just other friends. Most of them are here in Dallas, and you know, doing what I do in fashion, being somewhere that is a fashion heavy city like Dallas, there's a ton of great shopping. Aside from the pandemic. There are usually a lot of events and store openings and just happenings throughout Dallas throughout the year. And so it's a great place to be for my particular job. I love being here. My friends are having kids, I like staying close and being close to them. And while my family is in Austin, my mom and stepdad travel all the time. They go to Carmel a lot. They they travel a lot, and my sister works a lot. And when I come to Austin, I feel like I'm mostly spending time with them. I don't have a ton of people my age that I'm friends with that live in Austin. It's mostly like family, friends, older family, friends, younger family, friends, but not so many. My friends actually live there. So I think if I did move to Austin, I would sort of have to start from scratch and make some new friends which I'd be totally fine doing. But I just don't feel the need to move just yet. I think if I were having kids, I could see myself like raising a family in Austin. I loved growing up there. I know, it's a totally different vibe than it was when I was growing up there. But I loved growing up there. I think it's a great city. And I would, I would certainly want to be close to my family. I'm honestly so close. It's a three, three hour drive from Dallas. So I don't feel like I'm that far like my mom is actually coming in for a hot second later this week. And I get to see my family quite often. So I don't feel like I'm that far away. But I could see a time where I might eventually move back to Austin. Nothing is set in stone. Obviously I just bought this home in Dallas like a year ago. So I definitely won't be moving anytime soon. Sorry to people who are thinking I moved to Chicago after the pandemic. It's not happening. I'm staying in Dallas. I love both cities. I think I stay in Dallas though, mostly for my friends and my job. And you know, maybe down the road I'll move to Austin. I just don't have any plans to do so right now. It's just not at all in the forecast. So that's I guess that's my answer. Alright guys, thank you so much for tuning into the first episode of 2022. I hope you guys enjoyed it. In the meantime, you can follow along on Instagram at beck and call podcast and you can also follow me at Merritt Beck on Instagram for more fashion stuff if that's what you're looking for. As always, please be sure to rate review, subscribe and share. It means so much to me and it makes a difference, believe it or not on Apple podcasts to see those ratings and reviews so it would mean so much to me if you guys would take the time to do it if you're enjoying the podcast. As always, thank you so much for listening and I will catch you guys next week. Bye!
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