Episode #035 — Real Estate, Comedy, and Coaching with Christina Rordam

Melanie Branch: Episode of Trailblazers rising where I am bringing to you today a very special guest of mine that I've been stalking on social media for a little bit Please welcome Christina Rordam to the mix. And Christina, tell everybody about yourself.

Christina Rordam: Hey, well, thank you so much. I have been mutually stalking you. Um, I love all of your content. I was just saying earlier. I'm like, I'm always watching the videos and I'm like, uh, huh, that. Yep. That resonates. That's me. Stop reading my diary. Um, so I'm a Central Florida native. I've been in real estate for 20 years.

Um, I'm just starting to get into like social media coaching, retail, or real estate mentorship. It's a Freudian slip. I used to do retail before I did real estate. Um, that's a hard job. And yeah, so I've just been, uh, I've been in real estate for 20 years. Um, you know, in my spare time I like to do comedy. I like to write.

Um, You know, I like to try new yummy places around here. Uh, Cat Mom, Crazy Cat Lady, checking that box. Uh, before I got on the podcast today, I swear to God, I thought I, the cat stuck its paw through a door and then I like, I didn't see it and I started to shut the door and I had like a meltdown because of like, I was like, Oh no, I'm going to miss the podcast.

So. Checking the crazy cat lady box. But, uh, but yeah, I have been, um, in real estate for 20 years. That's really my main thing. And now I'm trying to just make it more fun with the podcasts and the videos and the social media started to branch out and coach people. And, you know, I think that's the main thing.

It's like, I think you're probably the same way. It's like, it's gotta be, it's gotta be entertaining. It's gotta be fun for us, you know, when you've been doing it for so long.

Melanie Branch: I have found over the years, I got my degree in business in 2019 after five years, anyways, it's fine. Neither here nor there. And I actually, back then thought that I was going to start my own restaurant cause I was still in the restaurant industry at the time. Um, but you know, 2020 hit, my mom died in the height of the, of the shutdown and all this, and I went, what?

I. And, you know, crazy spiritual awakening. And I was like, wait, I'm a mindset coach that also has psychic powers and is an energy healer. Why am I not monetizing this? This is exactly what I meant to be doing. I always coach people. Let's make this a thing. And it's been a real wild ride, social media, especially because.

You know, I believe that 10 year old Melanie manifested TikTok because I always knew that I wanted to be famous, but I knew that it wasn't going to be for acting or singing or dancing or anything like that. So here social media came along and now, you know, I help clients build their brand successfully on social media because we're all aspiring, you know, moguls, if you're a female founder and you are strapped with, you know, neurodivergence and chronic illnesses.

Then I mean, at this point, I don't, if you don't even have a chronic illness, but you're perimenopausal, I put you in the chronic illness category.

Christina Rordam: I have all of those I have and that's kind of one of the things when you're when you talk about neuro spicy. So apparently I've always had migraine, but like, now that I am perimenopausal. It's just like kicked into like the next level and I feel like that's a type of neurodivergency So I've got all the things i've got the chronic illness.

I you know, I have digestive I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis Um, and I have migraine and people don't understand. It's like it's like an inflammatory brain disease and I didn't really You know, and, but then you, you get into midlife and it's like, you know, it's so many things and it really is like with just the brain fog alone.

I feel like puts it in a really strong neuro spicy, not neurotypical category and I didn't really realize till I got with, um, an actual migraine specialist and another friend of mine referred me to and he was like asking me all these questions and I'm like, yeah, I have that, but that's something else.

Or that's not really, he's like, no, these are all, these are all, but yeah, uh, yeah. I love that you mentioned that because I feel like not enough people prepared us for what perimenopause is going to be.

Melanie Branch: or the, the mind fuck that is menopause. Here's a scientific thing that pissed me off. Menopause is the moment one year after you no longer have a period. So you go 12 months out of period that moment is menopause. Then you're postmenopausal. Menopause is not the long transitionary period. That's perimenopause!

All the jokes that the men have from the 90s movies about aging, menopause, blah, blah. They're talking about perimenopause and that could be for like 15 years.

Christina Rordam: Yeah,

yeah. I was at the salon and I ran, like I was getting my hair, uh, colored, like Monday or Tuesday, I ran into a girlfriend of mine. We used to do new homes and you know, she's the same age as me. And I was like, we're, we're talking about like some symptom. And I'm like, yeah, that's, it's perimenopause.

And she's like, I'm not that old. And I'm like, Hate to break it to you. You are like, this is, you know, it's not enough talk about, like you said, it can, it can start earlier. I mean, I've had friends that started out in their 30s. So

Melanie Branch: in third. I was 32 years old, 32 years old when I started being in perimenopause and my mom rest in peace. She died in 2020. Um, my mom, I remember her saying when I had when my kids were babies. So, you know, 13 years ago, something like that. I remember her saying that she had been in menopause for like, 20 years.

So now that I put everything together, right? All of my research for hormones and premenstrual dysphoric disorder and polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis and ADHD and Ehlers Danlos, like everything comes together. And I'm like, Oh, so if you already have hormonal issues and body issues and brain issues, Then you just going to be impaired menopause for like, I'm, I'm thinking about chemical menopause every once in a while.

I'm like, do I, how much of this do I really need anymore?

Christina Rordam: Yeah. Yeah, it is. Um, it's fascinating and it's like, you know, just, just getting like, you know, just adding things like magnesium or, you know, selenium or different, like, because I manage my, my Hashi's with just like supplementation. I see doctors. Um, but I have a holistic doctor that I see that really was like a game changer.

I was, I like my GP, but you know, I was in my late twenties and I'm like, my thyroid is kind of messed up. Let's test it. They did all the tests except for the Hashimoto's test. So then I was still experiencing issues with like, you're fine. I went to this holistic doctor. I was referred to them by a friend and then that MD.

She's an actual MB. She did the Hashi's test and she's like, Oh yeah, you have anti because like either you have the antibodies or you don't when you have Hashi's and um, so they didn't even like do the complete testing, you know what I mean? So it's kind of crazy. So I have been, I've been managing that with supplementation, but now as I'm, you know, You know, in midlife, like magnesium is so key.

It's so crucial. Like my friend that I ran into at the salon, she was talking about sleep issues and I'm like, it's really been a game changer for me just taking a, uh, uh, you know, a safe, but high level of magnesium. Um, you know, and I get my blood looked at and all of that, but now I can sleep at night, like, you know, there's certain things that are game changers

Melanie Branch: You

Christina Rordam: that I just, I wish I knew about. the time. If one thing worked for everyone, there would be no wellness industry.

Um,

Melanie Branch: feel your best a, you got to work on your mindset. Cause I used to think that I wasn't worthy of feeling good all the time. I didn't know that off the top of my head, but that's what my deep rooted beliefs were about myself when I didn't even know that I had chronic illnesses.

Like my family and the people that were closest to me, my entire life. Spent all of their energy making sure that I knew there was nothing special about me. The fact that my mosquito bites swell up to 15 times the normal size and get hot and are so freaking itchy. And I'm from Florida! I'm from the Everglades of Florida!

And I have a response to a mosquito bite that makes me want to claw my skin off. But no, that's totally normal. My bruising, you can look at me wrong and I would get a freaking welt of a bruise that would last for weeks. No, you're totally normal. Um, my digestive issues. Like if I don't take something, nothing happens.

It'll just stay in there forever. Nothing's wrong with all, all, all, and now after spending three years of really just mastering my own body and my own needs and going through the trauma work and understanding if 80 to 90 percent of people with chronic illnesses and people with auto immunity in the U S are women.

Then let's go ahead and assume safely that that has a lot to do with the fact that we're raised with human giver syndrome and the ideals and expectations that we are to take care of everybody except for ourselves. So then there's no gas left in the tank to even wash your face at the end of the night.

And we are internalizing all this guilt and the shame and this fear and this worry and this concern. And you have to always be like, okay, are my kids are going to be okay at school? Are my, is my husband going to be happy? Is my partner going to be okay here? Is everything? It is the law. Of course we're fucking sick!

Christina Rordam: Yeah, yeah, that's so true. And like, in our industry, like in real estate specifically, it's like, it can be, it can be wanting to like, pull your hair out because, you know, once in a while you'll get a customer and they'll be like, Oh yeah, you guys. Yeah, well, you guys work all the time, right? And it's like, for years, that is kind of how I ran things, but I'm so much more, you can't do that.

It's not sustainable in any industry. And then especially we are, um, as women, I noticed this too, with some of the male realtors that I'm friends with, like, they'll tell me, oh, I had this conversation with another agent or with a customer and I'm like, You said that they didn't like hang up on you and it's really just them being assertive or them setting boundaries And they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, because the expectation even sometimes I find that dealing with other it's not everybody I don't want to sound like i'm like, you know, i'm hating all men, but sometimes you just notice the expectations are that We're supposed to be managing everybody's emotions.

So that's that's 1 thing that I've I've worked on recently is just really like, you know, I'm chaining myself from that responsibility. It's not that I'm I'm being a bitch. It's not that I don't care. But, you know, Specifically like I have a transaction now or the other agent is very like there's no about just just very inappropriate, you know, quite frankly, not that knowledgeable and kind of just making these comments.

And it's like, it's not my job. He's going to do what he's going to do. I'm just I'm just sticking to the facts. I'm responding. I don't have to manage his. I have to walk on eggshells because he might be upset that I'm telling him something that needs to happen. You know what I'm saying? So I, I, I agree.

It's like, you have to sort of just like, um, Unattached yourself from that societal expectation that you have to manage the ex, you know, the emotions of everybody around you and you have to, like you said, take care of everybody except for yourself because, you know, I just got to a point where, like, I couldn't do that.

My body was like, Nope, you're not going to do that anymore. You know, I was on the, um, I was, you know, Go ahead. I'm sorry.

Melanie Branch: No, you go.

Christina Rordam: I was saying like I was a couple years back I was really heavily involved in a lot of volunteerism in my um in my industry And I was on the board of directors for a really large, you know for our local real estate organization It's like the fifth largest in the country and doing all these good things and I was volunteering on all these committees and it just was like I got halfway through the year and I was just Physically exhausted.

I wasn't taking care of myself and I wanted to do all this good work, but it's like You You know, I, I decided that after that, I took a year off from like, all of the volunteers and I just kind of made sure I had my, you know, it's like, you have to put the mask on yourself 1st. I feel like I'm kind of just like, all over the place with that.

But I'm just basically agreeing with you. Like, we are not responsible for managing everybody else's stuff. You know, we deserve the

same love and care.

Melanie Branch: There's a lot with women, um, who, and I see this and this is going to be controversial, but I don't care if you are offering services on a sliding scale, because you're of the mindset that I just want to help everybody, whether they can afford 5, they can afford 500. If you are trying to serve everybody, you serve no one.

Christina Rordam: Good point.

Melanie Branch: And if you have spent a large amount of your time perfecting your craft, getting educated, Marketing it because a solopreneur, bitch, you better know everything about social media marketing. You better know everything about email marketing. You better know everything about funnels. You better know everything about going on podcasts.

You'd better know it. You got to know everything about everything. I just want to coach women who are female founders, who are sick of being strong and are ready to be fucking powerful. But to be able to do that, I got to know all this other shit. So you can damn well bet. Then I'm going to charge what it is that I am worthy of because you're not just getting six months of my time in my six month entrepreneurial glow up program.

You're getting all these years that I have comprised all of this information and put it together in a package that will actually provide you a deep and meaningful transformation. Like you're going to pay for it. And if you can't pay for it, here's the thing, the people that we teach us as a neuro spicy Academy, you are creating products and services for one person.

Who is on a journey, which means a level 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. You can help people that are at a level 1 that cannot afford your services with your content and with the free stuff you put out and then being on your email list and all that sort of shit so they can get to the next level and be able to afford your stuff.

However, if you are trying to help somebody who makes the money of level 1, but they have no plans of becoming a level 3, 4, or 5, you are wasting all your time and energy on that person. I would rather. Get a message on Instagram from somebody that says, Oh my God, I love your content. I really need your help with this one question.

Fuck. Yeah, I'll answer that question. But if you come on my social media and you DM me four paragraphs and law, obviously you don't respect your time. Obviously you don't respect my time and you were nowhere near close enough to benefit from my services. Cause I don't work with people that are just starting out.

So sliding scale is bullshit. And if you, here's another thing about, um, volunteering, you'll notice the people, the women who like lunch and the women who are socialites and work with, um, all the charities and stuff. That's their job. They don't, they're not running a business. They don't have, they're not going to work anywhere.

They don't have anything else to do. That's their job. So if you're running your business and getting it to a place where you're still active in the day to day operations, I don't expect you to have time and energy to donate to things like that's, that's the recipe for burnout.

Christina Rordam: Yeah, it's, it's, and it's something that kind of like nobody, I mean, you're telling me now, but, um, you know, I didn't know you a couple of years ago when I was, when I was doing too much, because it's not that it's a bad thing to be involved, but 100%, I noticed that people that were like the most heavily involved and like thriving in it and not, you know, not looking as tired as I was feeling coming into those, those meetings, you know, weekly, monthly, um, They have somebody else kind of, they have a team or, you know, And so I had to put systems into place.

I had to, you know, pull back and now I'm sort of reentering that space. But, but yeah, I mean, it's, I feel like that's kind of one thing that's sort of a myth that's out there. It's like, you don't have to be all things to all people all the time. And I really thought for the longest time, um, like my friend, she's a broker.

She's the one that actually introduced me to this amazing migraine doctor. That's been like game changer. Um. She was, you know, for the longest time I would like look at other people and I was like, oh, I can do all of that. You know, I kind of looked down on people because they were getting help or leveraging or hiring other people.

It's like, well, I can do all that myself. Like, I'm smarter. I'm better. And then I'm realizing, oh, that's not. That's not the way to do it. It's actually smarter to leverage the things that you can and to get help and to ask for help, and it's, that's actually the better way to do it. Like, like you said, I mean, those people that are full time doing that, that's their full time thing, you know?

Like, you, you can't have it all, but you don't have to do all of it, you

Melanie Branch: Yeah. You can have it all as long as you're hiring out.

Christina Rordam: Yeah. So worth it! So worth it, because at the end of the day, I mean, you gotta have quality of life. Like, you gotta enjoy what you're doing. What's the point if you're not? So

Melanie Branch: one of the reasons too, that I've gone the holistic natural pathic. intuitive route for healing my chronic illnesses. Cause there are a lot. I have PMDD, I have PCOS, I have endometriosis, I have, um, Ehlers Danlos, I have POTS, I have Massile Activation Syndrome. That's the one that really kicks me in the ass.

But like the three of those Ehlers Danlos, Massile Activation Syndrome, and POTS, They all go hand in hand together. So like my, with mast cell activation syndrome, it's a histamine intolerance. So your body just overreacts to stimulus with, uh, anaphylaxis of some level and degree, which includes thoughts of impending doom.

So even right now, as I'm in remission from MSL activation syndrome, because of lifestyle changes, diet changes, all this other sort of stuff, if I get too excited, or if I get angry, right? So it can be excited or angry, whatever it is. If I get one of those big emotions, I'll get a hive over here on my face and over here on my face.

That looks like mosquito bite. So it happened to me my whole life, but I literally just thought I was getting bitten on my face by mosquitoes. I had not connected the top. And like, it'll happen when we're on campus of the Neuro Spicy Academy, a student will come on and they'll share a big win that like I was waiting to hear about from them.

And I'll be like, I get so excited that I give myself hives. It's kind of a joke on campus now that they were able to give me a hive. But it's one of those things too, where I was like, How, how different, where could I be right now if I had known all of these things at a much earlier age and recognized them and gotten the treatment for them, as opposed to being the girl that used to flex how hard I could work out, how much stuff I could get done in a day, how many people I could help,

Christina Rordam: Right. if I were to just rest it a little bit.

Yeah, yeah, I feel like rest is severely underrated. And that's so true. Like, I didn't even know what mast cell was POTS, Ehlers Danlos. I don't think I have any of those, but it's been really enlightening just to see all of that on tick tock. And then people are sharing so many different, um, you know, symptoms and getting help just from watching tick tock.

That's, that's really incredible. So that's, that's great. That's how I got my education. The little that I do have on those, on those symptoms. But, you know, I mean, it's for me, I'll see migraine videos on my timeline and I'm like, Oh yeah, that, that, that, that's a symptom. I had, you know, I just thought that was, you know, when you get into the brain, but you're like, I just thought I had become like a lazy person.

And you feel bad, you feel shame about it. And then you're like, Oh, that's actually a symptom. I can take this pill or I can make this lifestyle change this diet change and feel better. So, yeah, I really hope that this is a new information age. But now, like people like you have podcasts, if somebody can come across it, somebody can get served your content and then they can go and get help and, and, you know, figure those things out sooner and have like a better quality of life.

So that's, that's kind of why I love. have, what kind of migraines do you have? I have only experienced in my life two or three. ocular migraines where I get the bright, shiny

them.

Melanie Branch: in one eye. That the first time it showed up, I was like, um, I think something's wrong. I was out to eat with my husband and one of our sons and I got this bright, shiny, like crinkly thing in the corner of my eye.

And it gradually took over my sight in one eye. And I was like, we got to get home. And that migraine turned my whole body into a little old lady in pain. And I couldn't look at lights. And I was, it was 24 hours like that. And then for a week. For a week, I had brain fog that was just like, I couldn't ride a bike.

My brain fog was so bad, like, holy shit. And so then I've had it one more time, but I, I, I caught the bright, crinkly light and I went, bitch, turn all the lights off. And it wasn't as bad and as severe, but things like looking at a ring light, which I have my ring light on right now, but it's turned to the side.

So that it's not directly in my face. And if I'm, if I'm making content in my kitchen where the lighting is best, while I'm staring out the nice bright window, um, I can only do it for a short period of time, the same with these ring lights, and then I cannot go look at my computer screen for hours. So like when we're done here, I have emails I have to write, but because I've been looking at this light.

I will have to go do something else and take my, my eyes off of a screen. Cause I also have binocular vision disorder, BVD, where

Christina Rordam: I want to get checked for that.

Melanie Branch: Yeah. And it's, it's a real pain in the ass. And I have, um, dyslexia and dyscalculia. So things move on me. Um, so like, I know what my triggers are for migraines.

What kind of triggers do you have? And like, what kind of migraines do you have? Cause there's so many different kind.

Christina Rordam: Yeah, I have DYS Cal. I have dys ula. So yeah, that's, uh, you know, and like I was, I guess I was diagnosed when I was young, but it was like, I was like, you know, genius level in the languages and the eng English, and then it was like, uh, not so . You kind of have, uh, you know, I guess it's, isn't it, it's just basically like dyslexia with numbers, right?

It,

it's not so much.

Melanie Branch: um, your ability to remember numbers. It affects our ability to understand space and time. Um, so like directions, if somebody says a half a mile, your brain goes, I have no idea what that actually even means. And it actually, dyscalculia can be the reason why you can't do routines.

Christina Rordam: I didn't know any of that. Um, so, yeah, I kind of went through like high school and like, I, I don't have a college degree. Like, I have, you know, whatever I Q testing, you know, like I said, when I did the, like, or whatever, it was like, perfect in English. And then they were like, Not so great in math, like really bad.

And that was sort of irrelevant, right? I have all these fail safes, everybody has a calculator on their phone. I don't need to do algebra in every, you know, in everyday life. It's just not in my field. Um, but I wish, you know, I guess I was tested, diagnosed, and then nobody ever said anything. Nobody ever got any help for it.

So I was just like, uh, am I an idiot? You know? Um. So, it goes back to figuring things out sooner, but migraine, you know, I don't know what, I forget what my actual, uh, diagnosis was, but I do, I get the migraine with aura. And my understanding, you know, I saw a neurologist for it, you know, because I had one of those episodes a few years back.

Uh, and then I can, you know, if I think hard, it's like, oh, maybe like 10 years ago, I had another one of those where I had the aura, um, like you're describing.

Melanie Branch: the sparkly light?

Christina Rordam: Yeah. Yeah. Mm hmm. Um, which is terrifying. You're just kind of sitting there, and all of a sudden, it's like

Melanie Branch: It just takes over, just takes over your eye. Like, holy shit, my eye doesn't work anymore. There's like something permanently in my field of vision.

Christina Rordam: like am I having a stroke? Like what's going on? Like legit, you're like, you don't know. And so I had one of those and I looked it up and it's like ocular migraine, not a big deal. I was like, okay. Cause I didn't have at that time, you know, head pain associated with it. And it's kind of changed. So I don't remember, I would have to look and see what my, it's like I have migraine

with

Melanie Branch: feel like? Because I thought migraines were just a headache. I had no idea that it was going to affect me for a full on week.

Christina Rordam: Well, I'm learning it's a lot more than what I thought because like that was the symptom that I noticed. And then last year I had 1 or maybe it was like 2022. I had 1 in the summer and then I went to a neurologist and they're like, yeah, you know, you're not having them. You're not having the aura frequently.

You don't have to worry about it. You don't need to be on medication. It's not anything you need to worry about. Then I got covid that fall. And then right after that, I had another 1, I think, just because of all the inflammation. You know, I, I, I actually couldn't get in with this migraine specialist for like a year.

By the time I got in, he started asking me all these things like depression, anxiety, and I'm not like, I don't have severe depression, but it's like, I'll notice around an attack. That's a symptom. Depression, anxiety, brain fog is a big 1, the ocular migraine. I really don't have that aura a lot. Um, but it's because now he's got me on so I can take that when I'm having 1.

I might, and it started to have like anxiety. That was like just out of nowhere. It wasn't making sense. I'd be in a restaurant Eating with a friend having chips and salsa, you know Gossiping about our co workers and then all of a sudden it was just like that feeling of impending doom that you're describing I would just be like, holy shit.

I gotta get out of this restaurant. Like i'm gonna freak out I'm gonna pass out what's and I just had these feelings come over me And I didn't know what was happening and then eventually it would pass but Those were some symptoms that I didn't understand were part of it, you know Or maybe you would just feel off like i'd be out working or doing something and I would just feel like Out of it just it's like a feeling like something's wrong, but you don't know what You All of those things, like the brain fog being a bit, and then, then I started to have, you know, I get the, I get the really bad headaches, but I went in and I talked to the specialist and I didn't realize I hadn't connected any of those things.

I just thought maybe I'm having anxiety and I'm just having anxiety, but it's like, it really wasn't like me. I, you know, I've had anxiety before and learn to really work through it with breathing exercises, you know, self care, taking care of myself, managing my stress and other ways. But this just started cropping up like.

You know, I think along with midlife in 2022. Yeah. And so I went to the, the migraine specialist and he was like, yeah, all of these things are, they're all migraine, um, like muscle tension. Like right now I have like very tense, you know, like, and that's kind of like dizziness. I'll get sometimes, um, somebody did a TikTok sound about it where it's like they do the ringing sound and then it kind of fades out.

So I'll, I can tell now when I'm going to have one, because it's like, I will have um, sometimes you'll just have a feeling like something's off or I'll get that ringing sound that kind of fades like you can't hear in that ear and then it slowly comes back or I'll get dizziness and I've seen people talk about vestibular migraines on here.

I've had that for years and years where I would just get like like just like somebody like hit me and it's all of a sudden everything is like real dizzy. And then I just snap back and I'm just like, Oh, maybe I'm dehydrated, et cetera, et cetera. But now that he's kind of put me in line with what these things are all about, I'm able to better, um, I can go, Oh, I had this dizzy attack.

I'm going to take my neurotech now. You know what I mean? These are like kind of precursors. Apparently there's four stages of migraine. You know, I forget the names of them, but those are all things that are telling me, okay, you're, you're going to get a migraine, you know, take a neurotech. Let's, let's go.

Melanie Branch: Yeah. One of the, um, best entrepreneurial things that helps me manage all of my fluctuating energetic needs because of all of these things that are going on in my body is having B roll in my camera for content creation. All you need, kids. All you need! It's three good pictures of yourself in a restaurant.

All of my major viral videos in the last six months have been three, have been picture posts on TikTok with three pictures. You'll recognize them because I'm sure you've seen the, the views or the viral videos. And it's just three pictures I took of myself at a restaurant in November. And those fucking pictures and something about them resonates.

And you just put text on screen and put that shit out there. Cause you can make content now on TikTok that gets played for years. I have old videos of mine from pre purple hair. It was just pink hair. And I still get notifications

Christina Rordam: Oh, I saw.

Melanie Branch: that people are liking those videos.

Christina Rordam: I feel like a rose gold Bob. I think I got served one of those the other day or maybe you posted on this day. And I was like, that's so cute. I love, I love that. I mean, all I love your hair now, but I was like, that's so pretty. Yeah, it's, it's fascinating. And that's kind of, that's another thing that you talk about that I really resonate with.

And I think it's so true because I feel like there's, um, there's a big hustle culture mentality and I'm all about the hustle. I mean, if you want to do like what we do, you have to be able to hustle. You have to be able to work through, um, you know, Not feeling well, especially, you know, if you have something that's chronic, you're not going to feel well A lot of the times chances are so you've got to find your rhythm But I love that you talk about like like things like that Like I call it like lazy content hacks, you know have b roll.

So I tell like people You know my real estate, you know coaching clients or even just something that I figured out myself. I document my day so if i'm out and I have makeup on and i'm dressed and i'm showing a house or i'm doing an inspection or I'm, i'm doing a pop by and visiting one of my favorite customers or maybe i'm i'm teaching a class Or something like that.

I'm gonna be filming it You know, because then or taking photos of like my listings, I'm out front of my listing doing a selfie, or maybe I'm at a local restaurant. Like you said, and I want to I live in Dr. Phillips. I want to talk about, you know, Dr. Phillips real estate. I'll be at the coffee shop and Dr.

Phillips. I'll take a picture of the outside. Take a picture of me having a coffee. And then, like you said, you can put. Text over the screen. And you also and use that as without getting on camera where you maybe don't have the energy to show up on camera and really connect with people. But the other thing that I love is you talk about, you know, like working with your natural energy.

Like, you don't have to get up at 4 a. m. every day, you know, and have the same energy level and go grind it out. Everything you may have. You know, more energy 1 day, more energy, like, when you're not on your cycle, if you're a, you know, somebody who obviously, if you're a woman, like. You're going to have different energy cycles, and if you work with that, you can get more done rather than trying to fit yourself into this box of what we're told we need to do to be productive.

Yes.

Melanie Branch: Yeah, I actually just had a huge client breakthrough. Two clients had major energetic breakthroughs in the same week for me. Um, and they're, they're both in my six month entrepreneurial glow up program, but they're a week apart from each other because we meet 12 times in that six months. So one is in session eight, one's in session nine, right?

So they're just a little far apart in the actual plan that we're in, but they both had the same breakthrough at the same time where they got their periods. But in that luteal phase before their period, before menstruation, they had not started a fight with their partner, their spouse, which was something that they had noticed.

Since I have you track your energy, they were consistently, every time they hit their luteal, they were starting shit with their husbands and they had not. Um, felt super duper, like unhappy with their looks. Like, you know how we get in that luteal phase and you're like, what the fuck? I'm fat. I'm ugly. I don't even want to put any makeup on.

You people are pissing me off because I get it. I got PMDD, but both at the same time, they were messaging me on, um, Marco Polo. And they're like, Oh my God, I just got my period. And that made me realize that I didn't do this and I didn't do this. And I didn't do this and holy shit. And I was like, these are major breakthroughs because.

We're not going to get better in 180 degree turn. We get better in steps. So as you realize, Oh my God, this got better. You celebrate it. And then more of the better comes in.

Christina Rordam: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. It's like you And that's the other thing too is like new, new year, new me, all the new year's resolutions. I think that's great. But it's like, you gotta, you know, you gotta kind of baby step it. And if you're just taking small steps towards your goal, you know, consistently, you know, just like with social media, it's like I see people where they're like, you got to post 200 videos a day.

And if you don't, you know, like Gary Vee gets on here and I'm just like, Oh my God. Um, it's just like, no, you don't. The reason that I think your, your, um, you know, like the lazy content, right? Where you just like the photos with the text, which is really not lazy. Cause you added value. It's cause you're adding value.

That's, that's something that's really valuable to people. The text overlay, you're not just adding nonsense, you're adding value. Um, so it's like, I think it's more important to be consistent and it's more important to actually add value because you're putting yourself very clearly in the shoes of the people that you're trying to help and you're like, well, what if.

What do they need to hear? You know, what would they benefit from? What are they, what are they asking? And then you're making content around that, not just like, you know, oh, you know, content for yourself. You're, you're putting yourself in their shoes and you're actually adding value. So I think it's more important to be consistent rather than trying to like burn yourself out with, um, you know, If you're doing social with posting social media, you know, six times a day, you know, just post with what you can be consistent and actually add some value, put some thought into whatever you're trying to do, who you're trying to connect with, what they, what they need, because obviously, you know, they're going viral because people are like me, they're, they're watching those videos and they're like, yeah, that makes sense.

That's, you know, I have that problem.

Melanie Branch: Social media is such a conundrum for some. It makes perfect sense to me. And this is what I teach on my clients, your social media channel as a female founder, as a business owner, as in high ticket sales, you're in real estate, I'm in coaching. What we're doing is establishing a personal brand so that like, people know where I stand when it comes to politics and religion, because I don't go on there and say, this is what I believe and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah.

But it's clear from the stances I take. On the things that I post about that I'm pretty fucking liberal. I'm pretty LGBTQI plus I am neuro spicy for crying out loud. Like this is the game that I'm after. I'm not going to work with anybody that is super duper right wing and conservative. I'm not going to work with people that are staunchly religious or anything like that.

Like, absolutely not. That's not, you're not going to enjoy me and I'm not going to enjoy you. But the content that I make is about my community and about my potential clients. So, you know, me and you get to know me through my content, but the content is about you, the viewer.

Christina Rordam: Yeah, and that's, that's such a huge, that's such a huge thing, you know, and I feel like I'm still, I still struggle with that, but it's like, you have to be intentional with it. And it is about, um, Like, you know, I don't know who it is, some quote where it's like, if you, um, help people achieve their goals, like you're just always going to have success.

So you're, you're doing that. You're figuring out like what people's problems are, because, you know, some of that is also you. So you're like, I've, I've been through this, this is what helps me. But also there's not a one size fits all for everybody. And, you know, you're, you're working with people to find out what their, you know.

What their best rhythm is going to be so yeah, I think that's important It's like you can you can you don't have to go like the corporate mindset that's what I like about real estate the most is that I I'm, you know the captain of my own ship and I see some of these You know, there's a lot of real estate teams now and, and I'm not knocking it.

Some are doing a great job. Some aren't, but I see some of them and it's like, it's just become, I think systems are good. Organization is good. Efficiency is good. Professionalism is good. But it's like, you know, I see some of these people and there's no creativity. That's a, that's a big problem in our industries.

It's a lot of cannibalism where people will just see one realtor post one type of post or one type of content. And then. I mean, I, I, kudos to them for trying to get out there and put themselves on social media and make content just at all. It's like, let's not cannibalize each other. Let's like, harness our own creativity.

Let's like, do what we want to do. You know what I mean? Rather than just copying what somebody else, cause that, that may not work for you. And that's not, if you're different than that other agent, um, you know, then you're creating content for that agent's buyer or seller, not for yours, you know? Yeah.

Melanie Branch: It's so important to, to work with a coach in business development, social media, development, mindset, all that sort of stuff, because you're too close to the problem, right? So

Christina Rordam: Um,

Melanie Branch: call I have with clients, even if we're not working on social media at that moment, I'm like, Oh, well, that's a piece of content and I'll tell them what I see.

And they're like, hold on, I got to write that down. And I'm like, I don't even get that kind of vision for myself. My content is like secondary because I can see. Everybody else so much better than I can see myself. So when you hire a coach, which I took a long time, I was in this industry for many years before I said, okay, fine, I'll get a coach.

I'll do it because I'm stubborn. But, like, working with a coach where they get to know you and they understand you and your problems, and they can say. So I know you're not seeing it right now, but this is where the leak is. This is what we need to plug. I see you're working over here, but let's work on this and then watch the change happen.

So, you know, if you are in an industry like real estate, like coaching, like consulting, you know, high ticket service based things, which is what real estate is, it's the highest ticket, right? People buying houses, you're building relationships with people that you want to have a relationship with for a very long time.

If you sell somebody a 500, 000 house in Orlando. You're going to keep messaging them. You're going to keep them on your email list. You're going to keep them on this. So what happens when daddy gets a whole nother job or mommy starts making major money with her coaching business and they're ready to level up.

You want them to pick you. Charlotte

Christina Rordam: Yeah, and I love that you said that because I think, again, another thing that's like sort of, there's, there's people, I grew up in a real estate family and I fought it at first because I'm like, I don't want to do what my mom and dad do. I don't want to do that. And then, um, I, so this is kind of an interesting story.

I was working, I was a store manager for Charlotte Roos, which is no longer around, but I opened the store.

Melanie Branch: is gone.

Christina Rordam: It's gone. I know.

Melanie Branch: I remember it vividly. I know what you're talking about.

Christina Rordam: no more 5 for 15 thongs in a bit. Do you remember that?

Melanie Branch: Speaking of

Christina Rordam: used to have to write like,

Melanie Branch: speaking of putting, you know, plastic on your body and now having reproductive issues. Thanks, Charlotte. Roos,

Christina Rordam: We used to have a big, big aspen of just thongs and it was just like dental floss, you know, like just the worst. Crappiest material. They're like five for 15. Um, but I opened the Charlotte roof store at the West shore mall. And, um, and so I'd open it. I was the store manager and eventually I got robbed.

I got robbed. You get robbed all the time. People would come in with booster bags that that's booster bags. It's like they're lined with duct tape. It's like a shopping bag. They line it with duct tape. So one day I had, um, somebody come in and, um, for about 200 worth of, of duct tape. Capri Prance, they started putting it into their booster bag.

And I don't know why I was like, you know, 25 or something at the time. And I'm like, I'm going to stop him. Like if you're in retail, don't do that. Let them take it. It's not worth it. It's not worth it. You know, the company doesn't care about you. I promise. And so I tried to take the back from him. I don't know why that was just my reaction.

I guess I'm the type of person that's my natural reaction is to kind of something that's going down. I'm like, all right, let's go. So I tried to take the bag from him. He pepper sprayed me. beat me up. I got put, I got, you know, had to call the ambulance. Like it was, I didn't know what I was sprayed with. So that was kind of the scariest thing.

I didn't know. Was it pepper spray? Was it mace? I didn't know and it was like burning and then I tried to put water on it and like that made it worse and I felt like I couldn't. It was a whole thing. So after that, Lovely experience. I was like, you know what? This isn't worth it for 43, 000 a year. So I, uh, you know, I moved back to Orlando eventually, like a year later, I got my real estate license and, um, and that's how I got into real estate.

I feel like there was, there was a point to that. What were you saying before that? There was a point to all of that.

Melanie Branch: family, industry, real estate.

Christina Rordam: relationships. So, uh, my, my, my mom had always, you know, she did more of a transactional residential real estate, but I did learn the value of relationships. And so that's my whole thing.

Like, I become friends with a lot of my customers and that I'm not some agents are. I'm not knocking them. They want to pay Zillow the hundreds of thousands of dollars that they do every year. There's agents that will pay Zillow like 225, 000. And those are the top agents, right? They're closing the most deals.

They're giving all their money to Zillow. I don't operate like that. I operate on referral basis. So I usually I try to connect with my customers and do such a good job. They're going to hire me again. They're going to refer me to people and that is what happens. So I'm more focused on the customer service aspect of it and the relationship building aspect and actually adding value So that they and treating them how they want to be treated not not how I would want to be treated because it's different So those are all lessons that you learn along the way but but I love what you said about relationships because I feel like Anybody that's in a service based industry if you're focused on that relationship nurturing that relationship actually adding value Putting yourself in their shoes and trying to serve their needs Rather than just showing up and looking at a paycheck because I'm sure there's agents that do that, you know They're just like when is this deal closed so I can never talk to this person again I'm the opposite of that and I completely agree with what you're saying.

It is about relationships

Melanie Branch: it absolutely is. And that's why, you know, mindset and branding are so important. If you are creating your brand. To help a specific person that's on a journey, then they're going to want to keep you around all the time and they're going to align with you and you're going to attract the people, like how many times have you had somebody, since you're on social media, I have people email me all the time saying, Oh, I looked at your website and it's not ranking on Google and it's not doing this.

And on your YouTube, I can do this. And da da da da da da. First of all, mother fucker. I have PDA autism and I have demand avoidance with my ADHD and you're telling you're coming in here Authorized without anybody asking you telling me that I have fucking problems that I don't even have and that you're the one that's gonna fix it Okay, snake oil salesman back up.

Don't even talk to me like this because Here's the thing. Don't tell, don't have no following, no proof, no nothing. And tell me I have a problem. What you're supposed to do, buddy, is what I'm doing, where you put yourself out there and you provide value and you create relationships and you solve a problem for somebody.

And then naturally, when they come across that problem, they say, I know exactly who can help me with this. Melanie, help me. I would like you to coach me. Don't come out of nowhere and tell people that they have a problem with something and that you're the one to fix it. You better get out of my way and stop wasting my time and telling me that my shit isn't done.

Right. Thank you very much.

Christina Rordam: I love it. I love it. I know we, we get, we get tons of those calls like all, you know, oh, you're not. And honestly, like, I don't, I'm on Facebook. I have like a business page. I have a personal page, but I really have not been posting on there very frequently for the past 3 years. I just don't enjoy it. I feel like it's a lot of people arguing about politics or just, you know.

You know, one upping each other. It's just not as enjoyable for me. I exist there just because I have friends and I have customers on there, but I'll get that. I'll get that email. It's like, I noticed that this and this and this on your Facebook page and I can help you. And I'm like, I don't want your help.

I'm good. Thank you. I'm not like, I'm not overly concerned with Facebook and, and, you know, it's, it's always You know, it's always bullshit, right? It's not somebody that's like a legit, like, Facebook, social media maven. It's like somebody that just has a company and they're like, they're gonna sell you. We get that with leads too.

We get a lot of people trying to sell us leads. And we're supposed to pay like some upfront fee, and then inevitably you don't get the leads. And it's just like, Okay, I would rather stick to, you know, building relationships, showing up authentically, adding value, exactly like what you're saying, because, you know, and you gotta be yourself, like, you are so yourself, which I think is fabulous, um, and more people should feel free to do that, you know, um, because if you're not showing up authentically, you're not gonna be connecting with the people that need your help, or that are gonna resonate with, you know, what you're doing, so, you can't be all things to all people.

That's um, that's a lesson. I, I, uh, I'm always having to remind myself, but, yeah, I hate those people. I hate

Melanie Branch: what I teach people to do. I want you to magnetize your energy. That means you're going to strongly attract the right people and pretty intensely repel the wrong ones. And a lot of times. The people that are repelled want to tell you that they're repelled by you.

And you're like, okay, buddy, I understand that you're not happy about my freedom to have pink hair and makeup that honestly is inspired by drag queens every day. And the fact that I can say whatever the fuck I want on my platform. Like I've been going live with, um, my friend, my favorite Joe. She's a client of mine and she's a member of the Neurospicy Academy and she has recently launched her cult, which is her fun membership for neurodivergent people who see their neurotype as more of a strength than a disability.

Um, so she's really building a community of the fun neurodivergent people. They're like, Oh yeah, my brain's different. What if neurodiversity was the norm? Like that's really her stance. We've gone live a bunch. Like we go live probably three days a week. Um, she's in Australia. So we go live at four 30. Um, Eastern time because that's 8 30 a.

m. Her time. It's really I've learned a lot about time changes and time zones from her Um, but the last two times we've gone live together two times ago I got banned and I got my live ability taken away for a whole week because they said I said some sort of Sexual abuse comment. Again, TikTok doesn't tell you what it is that you did.

They just say, you broke this rule. You're in timeout for this amount of time. And my first account was banned while I was live back in 2021. So this was pretty traumatic for me. Um, they just say you got reported for this. This is what you did. I, I appealed it and they instantly said, Nope, you did it. You don't get to go live for seven days.

So we finally went live again yesterday and she was reported for using tobacco and had, um, like a warning label put on her side of the lives. And we were.

Christina Rordam: then.

Melanie Branch: to build your community, the more people are going to get pissed off at you because they can't be mad at you for not serving them.

So they have to be mad at you for not serving them. You know, like if you make a piece of content. That makes people really pissed off, but you're not clearly taking a stance of like, well, I only work with neurodivergent women entrepreneurs. Right? So if I make a wide statement, a widespread statement, and I can piss off a whole group of people, then I'm really setting myself up for disaster.

But if I make very targeted content about, if you have this problem, this is the solution, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Here's how I back it up. It makes it a lot harder to be attacked,

Christina Rordam: yeah, yeah. And

oh, yeah, that's that's kind of the thing. And I, and I feel like none of the, um, and there's a lot of coaches that I've had over the years with social media that I love and adore and they've been amazing. But 1 topic that I noticed nobody really delves into, but I love that you addressed is it's going to happen.

You know what I mean? You are gonna get, you're gonna get the haters. If you're, if you're a realtor on TikTok, just fucking forget about it. And the people come out of the, there's a guy, I don't know who this is. And I don't know. Okay. There's a guy. And I think his screen name is like Miami 89, 89 or something like that.

At any agent on TikTok is going to know who this guy is because I think I just blocked him because it's harmless. But I was like, I'm over this dude. Like he will just post any piece of content that you have he's gonna post go to home depot and get a for sale sign And save yourself ten dollars or whatever and that's he's got the same con and he just spends like literally all day just posting that same spammy like I mean, we, we, I've gotten so crazy.

I had a, I had a girl, I mean, whatever. I had a girl like, and I looked at her profile and she was just like a, like a young girl, had to be like Gen Z. She was telling me like, you know, I posted something. I, I, uh, duetted an Airbnb. Somebody went to an Airbnb and the Airbnb host after they checked out was like, Oh, you owe us 3, 000 because of this, this, and this.

And it was stuff that she didn't do. So she backed it up. She had screenshots. She won the dispute. They did not charge her the money. She was good, but she was telling her story and I do edit it with like talking about the Airbnb market. Cause I'm in Orlando, we're Disney universal. It's a lot of Airbnbs. I sell, you know, I help people buy and sell Airbnbs, but it's not for everybody.

And not every Airbnb owner is created equal. It's really down to that. That particular owner, you know, it's not just the platform not every, you know, some people are just assholes. So, um, she told this story, I do edit it and this person commented and basically said like basically that, you know, something about me like being unalive and like, you know, I'm part of the problem because I have a real estate license and it's like, You know the reality is it's not like selling sunset.

We are some of the most blue collar professionals out there that you can be, you know We're moms. We're entrepreneurs, you know, it's it's a majority female business It's not like they portray where it's like these two oppenheim brothers and everybody else is a barbie doll No shade to them. They look beautiful.

These are actresses and models that you know auditioned and were cast on the show Maybe then they got a real estate license Maybe they had another one, but it's not like they're going and it's a my point is it's very blue collar You It's a lot of mamas out there. It's a lot of hardworking, you know, females, it's majority female.

And, um, we're not part of the problem. We're actually out there helping people get into homes and, and things like that. But the, it doesn't matter what you post, if you're a realtor on TikTok, you are going to get the hate comments and it's like, just block and delete, you know, there's going to be, there's, there's not shops out there.

And you like, just, just ignore it. Don't internalize it. Um, but I think it's important for people, like you said, any entrepreneur, but especially if you're in my field, just, it's going to happen. It's not you. You know, just ignore it. Tune it out. Those aren't your people. They're just miserable people that

just want to tell you to

Melanie Branch: that wake up every day and they say to themselves, what stranger in the, on the internet. Am I going to scream at today?

Christina Rordam: Wild. Wild. I don't care. I don't care. Like, I come across your content and I'm like, Oh, she's rad. I resonate with it. She's smart. You know, like, that's really cool. I'm gonna repost it. I'm gonna like it. I'm gonna comment. I'm like, Oh, that's cool. I like that vibe. But I don't, like, if I see somebody I don't like, I'm just like, uh, not interested or I just keep scrolling.

But it is wild that there is, uh, there's people out there, that's their, that's their vibe. They're like, I'm gonna go argue with people that I don't know. And it's like, who fucking cares? You know what I

mean? You know, what I mean?

Melanie Branch: chemically, we get addicted to cortisol and stress hormones, and you can actually get into a cycle where you get dopamine for picking fights and getting people to argue with you and stuff. So from a scientific standpoint and an energetic standpoint, it makes sense. Why people like, I get why people are doing that, but I also understand it's not my responsibility to teach them that there is a better way.

I'm here to teach the better way to the women who are running their businesses and understand that they don't want to be worried 24 7 anymore. That they want their brain to work for them, not against them. I mean, my business partner at the Neuro Spicy Academy, she came to me over a year ago. She binged all of my content.

She had joined my membership at the, at the time that I had, like she had done absolutely everything she could do other than my high ticket program. And then she was, she just came to me and said, I just need you to fix me. I don't know what I need to buy from you or what it is, but I need you to fix me.

So we worked together and we ended up. Getting along so well that we were at the last call. I was like, I don't want this to end. And she's like me either. And we said, all right, let's do a joint venture. So that's where that came out of. But when she came to me, she was sitting down at her desk every day and she had a course to build.

One of her mentors at the time said, I need you to put this into a course for me. It was the only thing that she had to do. And she literally would sit at her desk for nine hours and not make any. Progress on it. No headway whatsoever because she couldn't get her fucking brain to do what she wanted to do.

Do you know what her life and business were missing? They were missing fun. She was missing stimming. She was not eating properly for her body. She also has POTS, which was misdiagnosed as something completely her doctor had told her she had some form of narcolepsy I'd never even heard of because when she would get so excited she would pass out.

Bitch, that's POTS!

Christina Rordam: Wow,

Melanie Branch: are you talking about? So like really helping her understand if you want a successful business as a neurodivergent woman with panic or with, um, chronic illness problems, you have to have joy and novelty and play and interest and competition in your life. Or you're always going to have to rely on haste in the last moment to get things done.

Christina Rordam: Funny story when I was selling new homes, and I had a cool partner. I was selling homes at a community neighborhood called Lake Nona here in central Florida, and I was selling new homes out there. And I had a partner named. Boomer at the time. I don't know where Boomer is, but he was a cool dude. And so, you know, we, you know, we were on commission, but we were, we were chill.

Like work is a competitive floor, but we were like very chill with each other. We just kind of took turns. People would walk in and you try to help them buy a house. You know, they would, or they wouldn't, et cetera. You take them through the models, but in between when we would be slow, um, I would, I would make him watch like comedy clips.

And one of the things that I made him watch all the time, like we would watch and it would just crack me up and just kind of fire me up to get out there and have good energy with customers. I would watch Jim Gaffigan's hot pocket joke. Have you seen this?

Melanie Branch: No, but I know who you're talking about.

Christina Rordam: If you Google, if you go on YouTube and look up Jim Gaffigan hot pocket or even just Google it, he has like a five minute bit and it's just him making fun of the, the hot pocket.

Like one of them is he's like, Oh, did you know they have a breakfast hot pocket? It's like good morning. You're about to call it sick. It was like, you know, it's like I cannot do it justice. Jim's a genius But um, so I would just like crack myself up and I felt like I would make more sales I'd be more productive because like when we had a down moment, it's like I just do something You know, we'd look at a funny clip so I I 100 percent agree and I feel like Sometimes people, you know, what works for them sitting down at a computer nine hours, like maybe whoever was telling her to do that, um, or not telling her to do anything like that's kind of the traditional thing.

Like, you know, um, she's probably got her area of genius. And so that's really where you need to focus, you know, get your focus on your, um, What you're good at, and then you can leverage and do the other things and you don't have to just be sitting at your computer. So I love that. You're talking about having fun because that is, uh, if you're not enjoying it, you know, at least I think I agree for somebody who is not neurotypical that it's like, you know, you're just kind of be burning yourself out, you know.

Melanie Branch: yeah, you gotta figure, that's why I always say track your, your time. Track your days for 30 to 60 days. Say, this is how I feel in the morning when I wake up, this is how many hours of sleep I think I got. This is how I feel in the middle of the day, this is the food that I ate, this is the people I was around.

This is how I feel at night when I'm going to bed. Am I proud of my day? Could I have done things better? La la la la la. And then when you have that data, you can reflect back and say, wow, on Fridays, it seems like I'm really not able to sit down and get any work done. Does that have anything to do with the fact that my birth chart is ruled by Venus and Venus rules Friday?

And so Friday feels like a day to just fuck around and go out to lunch and have a good time and maybe make some content and not do any heavy work. Yeah, that makes sense. Does it, is it hard for me to knock out work between the hours of 3 and 5pm? Because historically, over these past 15 years of me being a mom, I've had to go pick up kids from school between 3 and 5pm.

So now my brain and body just naturally associates this is a time of transition and shuffling and moving around and picking kids up. Yeah, does that mean I should not? Plan a, an interview for my podcast or a client call between three and 5 PM. Yeah. Cause I'm not going to be able to get my brain to do it.

I'm not going to reign this guy in and try and harness this genius at a time where I'm just not able to do it. That would be at self sabotage. Right. So it's really about making your energy and your mind work for you and not adjusting yourself to the schedule, but adjusting your schedule to yourself.

Christina Rordam: I love that and I love that you're talking about tracking because that's what my migraine doctor had me do because he came in and I was like, I only have like one migraine a month and he's like, so but you're having auras and like, it's like, he asked me all those questions because why don't you go back?

And he told me to do what you just said, like, go back and track, you know, before you have one, what are your, like, and just pay attention, like, what's happening every day, you know, keep track, do a, like, you know, basically audit your time, audit your symptoms, and that's how I came to realize, oh, shit, I'm having migraines, like, pretty much constantly, just to varying degrees.

And I can get my brain back to a normal state and, you know, be more productive is the same way with time. And it's like, instead of just forcing yourself, I mean, there's sometimes you just got to buckle down and do it, but you can create a different system. So, I love that you're saying that, because I feel like not a lot of people do that.

And then, if you, you know, if your brain or your body. I feel like we all have our, you know, our different things, uh, don't operate in that best in that traditional system. Then you feel shame and you feel like I'm lazy. I'm not doing this right. I, I need to do what a Grant Cardone says and get up at 4am and go work out.

I need to be like Mark Wahlberg. I gotta get up at 3am. I got to work out for two hours and I got to play golf. Wait a minute. I don't play golf, but you know, it's like, that's not going to work for me, you know, and that's okay. That's totally fine. I think you gotta, you know, if you're, if you're. Vibing with what's working for you and, and creating your own system.

Like you're gonna be so much, not just more effective, but you're gonna be happier. So I love that you're talking about auditing your time and, and your productivity because you don't have to try to fit yourself into a schedule that doesn't work for you. You

know

Melanie Branch: that's one of the things too.

Christina Rordam: your entrepreneur. Mm-Hmm?

Melanie Branch: Productivity is not getting a lot of work done in a big period of time. Productivity is getting a lot of work done with a little amount of energy expend.

Christina Rordam: Mm-Hmm.

Melanie Branch: So if I figure out that. I can take my kids to school, come home, eat my brekkie, scroll for a little bit, get ready for my day, and then knock out three hours worth of work in one hour because I use chat GPT or cloud.

ai because I have dyslexia and it's hard for me to get what's in my head out onto the paper. So instead I just hop on chat GPT and I say, hey buddy, today we're going to write an email that includes this story and this call to action. I want you to make it really smart and funny and intriguing for me.

And then we're going to change the copy on this sales page from this to this. Thank you so much for your help. La la la la. That is stuff that used to take me. Oh, hers. And now I knock out all this work in one or two hours time. And I get up and I go shit. Now I can go live. Now I can go for my walk. Now I can go get my latte.

Now I can exercise. Now I can talk to my clients. Now I can make some more content. La la la la la. Whereas before, you know, if I would feel like, um, chatty BT and stuff was cheating and now I get every single one of my clients, I say, ChatGBT is your Gen Z assistant that has a dick ton of education, but has no original thoughts in his mind.

So you have to say, here's my original thought, I want you to fix it up for me. Here's this, I want you to fix it up for me. And then, boom! Look at all of the, uh, how much work you can get done.

Christina Rordam: Mm-Hmm. . I agree. And I don't see it as a replacement for every, you know, for what we do. Certainly. I feel like exactly like what you said, you know, I had somebody that was helping me out with some of my, like. With my podcast and things like that and I could tell they would send me like clips and it was like incomplete thoughts Because they were just dumping it into an ai and then they weren't over that's just my opinion, you know I don't want them to come for me.

We parted ways but um They would send me clips and I'm like, that's not like I had an attorney on it. He was giving a great point, a real estate attorney. And then they like, they sent me a clip and I was like several clips. And I was like, these don't make sense that you're, he's not, he's talking about the thing.

And then you're finishing it's because they were just dumping it into an AI. So you still need to like, you know, like you said, you put your thoughts into it. You put your oversight into it. You got to say, Hey, this is right. This is wrong. You can't just trust that whatever it's spitting out at you is going to be.

You are still an important ingredient in that recipe in order to get The end product, so it's just a way to. To uh, you know leverage and get back your time and get back your life. So you're not sitting there for three hours It used to take me the first instagram coach that I had I took a course and We were not resonating at all And uh, you know She was like just go in canva and and make some posts And I was like and it would take me like I didn't know anything about anything at that point And it would, it would take me, when I was first creating posts, it would take me like four and five hours.

She's like, Oh, did you do all your content for the week? And I was like, I made one post and I felt so bad about it. And I was like, well, I, you know, I didn't know anything about Canva at the time. And now, you know, I have my brand kit, I have my templates and I don't just, you know, I use it. But I use it in a way that works for me.

Canva has AI now and that's

helpful.

But yeah, you're an important component. AI is not like replacing everybody. It's just enhancing everybody. You still have to tell it what to do. Tell it when it's wrong, those types of things. So yeah,

Melanie Branch: replaces. Hold on. I got to write that down. replaces. Excellent. I was live a little bit earlier before we came here and my business partner was on the live and she was able, she started texting me during it. She was like, that was a good nugget. She likes to, we call them, that's a writer downer.

Um, so she texted me while I was live with like three different things. She's like, I got your writer downers here. They are in case you want to use them later, but it's so true. Like my, out of the eight executive functions, which you can Google, you can say, what are the eight executive function and it'll pop up, you know, working memory, um, task initiation, impulsivity, planning and prioritizing, you know, um, emotional regulation.

There's eight of them that are the main ones. You have to figure out which is the most difficult one for you. And which is the one that you're really, really good at, because. Both of them need an equal amount of support and accommodations because the one I'm really good at planning and prioritizing, that's what I do in my 90 minute breakthrough booth sessions with my clients, they come to me with a problem and I say, okay, here's how we knock it out.

What is your schedule look like? What is this? What does this set it up? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I can keep you from going off on a tangent and I can keep you to just answer the questions that I'm asking and not the questions that you think I'm asking, which is a major thing and bing, bang, boom, we can knock that out.

But my working memory. I don't know what I'm saying mid sentence. I don't know why I walked in that room. I don't know what I ate for dinner last night. I can't remember, like, I can go through the notes app on my phone because I write down all of the words that are really, really, like, intriguing that I know I want to use.

And they're simple words, but I can't remember them because of my working memory and my dyslexia. So I wrote down tragedy the other day because I was like, Oh yeah, that's a good one. I know I'm going to be able to use that in marketing. Just all these random, Oh, I wrote down a really great thing by Michelle Obama the other day, which is You can't carry people when you're climbing to the top,

Christina Rordam: Mm-Hmm. . I think I.

saw that. I.

Melanie Branch: oh my God, she's so incredible. I love her. If she runs for president, uh, anyways, neither here nor there. Um, so, you know, really just understanding we need accommodations and support. It's no longer this mindset that it's anxiety and depression or, you know, bipolar, and you're just going to take a pill and it's going to be fine.

No, honey bunny. I don't make the rules, but I'm here to tell you it's ADHD and autism. And it's the way your brain works. And your world is not designed for you. So you have to design your world for you.

Christina Rordam: Mm hmm. Yeah. Um, it's it's been like, it's been a combination of those, you know, and I'm still like, I worked last year on, like, creating systems and then, you know, and I took a systems course and this person was really amazing. And I love her dearly. And I was like, she was like, well, how can You know, make this better.

And I'm like, I felt like I was trying to explain her exactly like you're saying, the nine hour principle. Cause it's like, I can get into the flow, but there's some days when I'm just like, it's just not, I'm not going to be able to sit there for hours at the computer. I got to maybe make phone calls to clients or, you know, do other things, go film some content, go edit a video.

Um, because it's like, like you said, you have to work with, you know, how. You're going to best operate what's going to work for you. And so it's just, you know, just getting out of that, out of that, um, hamster wheel of, you know, I got to show up and sit at the desk, especially if you're an entrepreneur, you really don't, you know, you don't have to sit there like for 12 hours every day in front of a computer.

Um, You know, in fact, for what I do, it's actually better that I don't do that. It's actually better that I'm out there, you know, I'm talking to my people, I'm meeting my people, you know, that's, that's kind of my relationships are probably like my, uh, my circle of genius, right? Like, I'm good at that building and maintaining that and that's the lifeblood of the business.

So it's like, you know, don't feel bad. You know, female entrepreneurs that if you're you're, you know, maybe you're not good at being an admin. That's okay You can hire an admin. You can you know, you can find a way to do it like The business like for me my business doesn't run if there's not relationships, right?

So all of those other things you can get help and it's it's you know Focus on on your circle of genius. Like you said create that ecosystem. That's gonna That's gonna help you and don't feel bad about it. That's the thing don't feel bad about it You know, that's, that's what it's all about.

Melanie Branch: You are so wonderful. Thank you so much for being on here, Christina. Tell

Christina Rordam: Thank you for you on the social medias, what your handles are, all that sort of stuff. It'll be in the show notes, but might as well tell them in case they're auditory learners.

All right. So my podcast is selling funny. You can find that anywhere you listen to podcasts. Uh, we're going to be recording and dropping some new episodes. Hopefully by the time this podcast is live, you can find me on Instagram and YouTube at Christina Rortum, Orlando homes. Um, and you can find me on Twitter.

Tick tock at Christina Rortum, Orlando. I didn't have enough characters, so that's where I live on social Facebook. I think it's Christina dot Rortum. That's my business page. Uh, I think my personal page is private, but yeah, that's where, that's where you can find me.

Melanie Branch: It's been so nice to have you on. I know my viewers have learned a lot from this episode. I'm so excited for it to go live. And, um, to everybody watching, you know I love you all equally and for different reasons and I want you to do two things. I want you to do your research and I want you to take care of yourself.

Christina Rordam: Awesome. Thank you so much for having me on.

Melanie Branch: You are so welcome. Okay, bye everybody!