Hey there, it's Abriana

and you're listening to the Digital

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Hoofprint Podcast.

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It has been a while since I have produced

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episodes of this podcast,

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but I am excited to be back, okay.

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And I am excited that you are here

listening to this episode

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because I felt so compelled

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to go ahead and get started

and record this particular episode out

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because of some really cool

things that I have going on in my life,

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but also because I'm playing it

for a whole reboot of this.

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Okay.

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I am here to help you

establish your digital footprint,

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and that is exactly what you're going

to learn

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through

listening this podcast to this podcast.

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So I'm going to go through

a little bit of a reintroduction.

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Okay?

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I'm going to introduce myself,

tell you a little bit

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about who I am, that I'm going to talk

about what a digital footprint is.

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Then we're going to have a little bit

of a conversation about breadcrumbs.

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There's some things

that have come up for me recently

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that are have led me back

to the very beginning,

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and I want to give you some insight

into that.

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Next, we're going to talk about

what I'm going to offer for this year,

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what my plan is,

how you can engage with me

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and establish

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And we're going to wrap this thing up.

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Okay.

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I have to myself to

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create episodes

that are 30 minutes or less.

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Okay.

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So let's see if we can do this,

because, you know, I'm a wordy girl

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and I will talk and talk and talk.

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All right.

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So we're going to

we're going to do this within 30 minutes.

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All right.

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So since you are already learning a little

bit more about me again, I am Ariana.

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I am a North Carolina native.

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I'm from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

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And I have been a horse lover

since I was very, very young.

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However,

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I started

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writing when I was young and then I

stopped and start again until high school,

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and that was when I decided

that I wanted to go into vet Med.

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I wanted to be a veterinarian.

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Like many horse girls do.

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I went to NC State,

got my bachelor's of Animal Science

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and started working in an animal hospital

and did not end up going to vet school.

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But what happened was I ended up,

you know,

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when you're wanting to go to vet school,

you have to get a plethora of hours

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and different experiences

to show that, show your commitment

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and show your experience and show

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that you actually know

what happens in the industry.

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So I got research experience.

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Small animal,

large animal makes animal tons like

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And through that and working in a small

animal hospital post-graduation,

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I was exposed to them back

ins of so many different

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animal businesses

that that became a big interest for me.

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How does this operate?

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How do you

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create a amazing client experience?

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How do you connect with the client

so that you can help the animal

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in the best way possible?

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That was huge for me.

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And so in working at the animal hospital,

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I started managing the pet resort

and did that for three years

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and had huge success

in that kind of arena.

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I mean, it was it was so much fun.

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I got to be creative.

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I got to have so many ideas fleshed out

and how we can create

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an amazing environment

for the animals that came to see us,

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but also for the client

so that they were like,

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If my dog does not come here,

I'm going to lose my mind.

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And so

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fast forward, we hit the pandemic, right?

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People weren't traveling.

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And I said, You know what?

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I think this is an opportunity for me

because

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I love large animal, I love horses,

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and I love looking at the businesses

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that horse people operate and

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now that we are in the pandemic and,

you know, horse

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activities were some of the few things

that we're able to do.

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We need to bring this industry

into the 21st century.

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And so I left my job

at the animal hospital to start Black

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Unicorn Creative, where I say

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I'm not even going to go through

the very beginnings of things.

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Actually, I lied.

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AM You know, I started with logo design

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and then brand design

and website development, and I felt like

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there was still a route

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that was not being uncovered, right?

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That people who came to me for web

and brand design had the same problems.

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So there was still a foundational piece

that was not happening.

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And some of the things you need

before you get to a brand

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and web designer

so you don't have to do this.

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The the website development process

over and over and over again because your

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your branding is not consistent

and it does not feel authentic to you.

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And so that's what I am here to explore

and that's what I believe the

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digital hoofprint is.

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Some of the brands that I have created

on my own, I'll share that a little bit.

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One of them is Black in the Saddle.

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It's a podcast

and media platform started off

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being called Young Black Equestrians,

but we had a rebrand.

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It's now called Black in the Saddle

and there's over 100 episodes

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of interviews and conversations

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about the impact and the influence

of black people on the horse industry.

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So wherever you are

listening to this podcast,

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you can also find Black in the Saddle

episodes as well.

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My second brand

and the one that is the focus

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Camryn Cowgirl.

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Camryn started off

as a children's book series

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and is now being developed

into a licensed character brand.

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So I'm talking I want media,

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I want retail products, activities,

you know, Cowgirl Camryn

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I will truly want to be a global brand

that helps

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kids navigate situations

where they feel like they don't belong

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and they're trying to find their place

in this world and understanding

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that our connection to animals

and to the environment

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is so integrated

that that is where we find our place.

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And we're teaching that.

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I'm teaching that through Cowgirl Camryn

and different situations

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that show up on the farm,

different farm reality

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is that we all know of as horse people,

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as agriculturalists, you know,

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having that

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connection and finding place in

that is so important to me

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and something that I feel like

can really help the next generation.

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So I'm really super excited

about those two things.

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And you know, they fall under the umbrella

of Black Unicorn Creative.

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So I am so excited to be in the process

and model

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what it is

that I really hope to teach here.

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Now let's talk hoofprint is.

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Okay?

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Your digital hoofprint is

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your online presence

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and the digital impact that you may.

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That's the short version.

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Okay.

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You when you show up online

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or when you incorporate technology

into your process,

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all of that

and compass is your digital hoofprint.

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And so when we say

that we want to establish that,

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we want to identify

how you are going to craft

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how people engage

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with you, you know,

we talk about branding.

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I love branding so much,

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and a brand is

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what other people

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think about what you have to offer.

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It's akin to your reputation,

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but in more of a gut feeling sense.

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Like when I see Nike, I'm like,

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I'm about to go do something.

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Yeah, like, let's go right?

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When you see I'm

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trying to think of like a food brand,

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I don't even know I shop at Aldi.

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I don't get named Brand

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or like

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when you see McDonald's or Chick-Fil-A,

a win is, you know, some of these fast

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food brands, They have different personas

in your head, right?

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You have different associations with them.

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And so in developing a brand and crafting

what you want that experience to be,

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that incorporation of technology

for reach and expansion

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and for curating the type

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of experience that you want people

to have with your business.

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That is what is that is what is all

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involved in your digital health brand.

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You know,

when I was first crafting this model

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of a digital footprint,

I was like, yeah, it's just a website.

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Is your website and your social media.

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But then I built websites and did people

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social media and realize, okay,

wait a second, we had to take a step back.

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We have to go back in-house.

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We got to see what's going on

under the hood.

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How are we incorporating technology

into our onboarding,

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into our sales process,

and to our distribution?

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What is that like?

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How is that impacting the brand?

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And so I realized this digital hoofprint

is a little bit more expansive

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than simply

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putting up a website

and posting on social media.

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And so if you made it this far,

I am so excited

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for you to go on this journey

with me in exploring all the intricacies

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of a digital hoofprint and what it means

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to establish that intentionally. Now

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you may say, you know, from

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listening to this podcast,

okay, okay, I Brianna, I am I'm here.

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I am ready to establish

my digital footprint.

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How do I get more social media followers?

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I want to tell you

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how this is going to work.

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So the Digital Footprint podcast

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is going to be an exploration

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of these larger concepts, right?

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Is going to explore

what it means to develop a brand,

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what it means to cultivate

a social media community,

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what it means to have different

touchpoints in your customer journey

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so that you're communicating

what you want, where you want,

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and converting in a way

that makes sense for your business.

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We are going to be discussing

and break it down.

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These larger concepts

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have something

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really cool that I'm working on that

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It is called Beyond the Hoofprint

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and it is a private podcast

that will be available for

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people who have engaged with me

in some sort of way,

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either have gotten on my email list

or have purchased a service for me.

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And so

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that beyond the hoof print

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is going to discuss

those nitty gritty details.

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The the tactics, the step

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by steps

that I recommend for different scenarios

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and different use cases and different

goals.

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One of the things that I found is that

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when you start with tactics,

people get confused.

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They start cutting corners

because they don't understand why.

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When you start with just the why

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and these overarching concepts,

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people don't really

know what they're supposed to do next.

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Okay, so this Digital Hoofprint podcast

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is really going to discuss the why

and give you the additional context.

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And beyond the digital footprint or beyond

the whole of print is going to discuss

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those tactical details and step by steps

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to implement

what it is that you have learned here.

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So you can

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get excited for that.

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Honestly, because it's bridging the gap.

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For me,

that was so apparent in a lot of the work

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that I have done in the past.

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All right.

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One of the things that

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drew me compelled me

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to record this episode today

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was this idea of breadcrumbs came

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my well,

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a huge part of a huge chunk of my journey

that I did not share before

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I started my business and

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that was September of

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I became a caregiver

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for my grandfather who had dementia.

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And so that rocked my idea

of what I was able

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to accomplish in my business

because it ended up not being very much,

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not as a full time caregiver with someone

who was that

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far gone in the disease.

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And so it took me a long time

to get my feet

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back under myself and say, okay,

this is what I am capable of,

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this is what I have to offer,

and this is what I have the capacity for.

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Given my current circumstances.

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And so my grandfather passed

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eight days ago,

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and since his passing

we have, you know, been preparing.

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You know, I won't get off on a tangent

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with how amazing

my granddaddy was because he was.

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But let me just say that

a man planned his funeral, all right?

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He wrote everything.

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He wrote his program obituary,

you know, assigned roles.

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Okay. He wrote everything.

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So I don't want to hear anything

about my type A preparedness.

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Okay? Because I get it honest.

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I'm pretty sure

it's genetic at this point.

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But in in

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looking

back and getting the house ready for

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guess who might want to stop

by came across so many photo albums

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and my granddad was dedicated

for over 50 years

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to documenting and archiving his life

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from things that were.

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I mean, I can't even fathom,

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like his experiences

in Vietnam, in Okinawa,

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to just document

and the flowers that were here

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in his yard, a 50 year hobby

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of documentation

with every Polaroid, with every image.

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Some of these images are pre-polaroid.

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writing captions and writing

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who is in those photos and saying,

You know, this is where we were.

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This is he has pictures

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while he's on some sort of naval ship

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going underneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

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It is amazing.

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There's 16 photo albums

and I mean, there's pictures

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even before that of his family.

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Family farming

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on a wagon drawn by mules.

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There's a great uncle of his found

articles of him in a vineyard in my,

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you know,

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additional spare time that I have.

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You know, I'm studying wine.

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And so to see those breadcrumbs,

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those nuggets of history

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that seemingly influence who I am today,

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that has been a trance

formative experience.

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And so

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when we think about breadcrumbs

in the online

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space, in a digital space, breadcrumbs are

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a line of of texts or links that

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help you navigate back to where you were

there.

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Digital aids that assist in navigation

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of different online spaces.

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So if you visit our home page

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and then you click the blog

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and then you click what is a brand,

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you will likely have digital breadcrumbs

along the top

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that says Blog Home, right?

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This is not necessarily

the menu at the top,

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but this will be kind of lower,

lower on the page.

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Giving you a pathway

like this is where you came from

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and this is you can click

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any of these links to get back to where

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you want to be

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and these breadcrumbs,

you know, knowing that there is a digital

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significance and importance to them,

but also realizing how

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finding breadcrumbs in the form of images,

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pictures of me.

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Honestly, you know,

I really thought that I,

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you know, when I look back

and have this story of my childhood,

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I never felt like

I was really a horse obsessed kid.

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Not in the way like I didn't watch

Saddle Club, you know, I didn't watch it.

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And I read the book

and it just wasn't in my childhood.

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I just sorry, but

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I have some pictures of me

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and I'm going to post them here.

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If you're watching on YouTube,

you'll be able to see them right here.

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I have a picture of me

like knowing I'm on some sort of toy

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in my grandfather's

home, the home that I'm in now.

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And there's horses behind me

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on the bottom row of the entertainment

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system area.

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And I saw that and I was like, wow, Like

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that is an incredible breadcrumb that

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that drives me

and gives me a sense of purpose

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and validation

in for the work that I'm doing now.

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I found another image output that here

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is that my grandma's house

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and I am smiling from cheek to cheek.

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My hair is a mess

and I have on this sweater

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that has a horse on it.

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And I have seen that image so many times,

and I didn't even really

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look at the fact that there was this

I was wearing this knit sweater.

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I had a horse hat on it.

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And so in looking at my

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very first children's book,

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Cowgirl Camryn and the Crazy Hair Day,

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I see these

these breadcrumbs, these nuggets of

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lived experience

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that contribute to the stories

that I'm creating today.

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I have

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had a mentor

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for the last almost four months,

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and she was assigned to me

through an association

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called Women's in Toys,

Licensing in Entertainment,

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and that's the association that I joined

to figure out how to develop

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Cowgirl Camryn

into a licensed character brand.

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And she unlocked

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something huge for me previously.

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When when people ask me,

I'm like, is Cowgirl Camryn you?

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I was like, No, Cowgirl Camryn.

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You know, she would be the the kid

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that I would have, you know,

And then I just get to raise her

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by writing

and telling the stories about her right?

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But my mentor unlocked something for me

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a couple of months

ago, and I realized that

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Cowgirl Camryn,

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you know, there's a significance

to the fact that she's seven.

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There's a significance to the fact

that that's

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where that character showed up for me.

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And thinking back, you know,

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I had to stop writing when I was seven.

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I had an experience

and I felt like it was not for me.

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And so Cowgirl Camryn has entered

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the chat to be that brand

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that guides kids through that

pivotal point where they are learning self

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identity and and starting

to explore their place in the world

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and saying,

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You belong here,

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you can do this.

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You might have these different situations

show up for you,

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but in knowing yourself and being able

to connect with the environment around you

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and in understanding that you share that

with these other animals in

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having these

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conversations, yes, she's

having conversations with animals, but

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these are conversations

that kids can take to their friends

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and to their parents

and to adults around them to say,

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you know, I need help with this

or I don't understand this. And

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they're able to have a shared experience.

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Through reading Cowgirl

Camryn says she did this, so I can't, too.

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Or she had questions about this.

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So do I.

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And this is how she got through it.

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Or her barnyard besties.

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Her herd

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dealt with this situation.

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I see someone dealing with that.

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And so this is how

I know how to handle it.

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This is how I learned how to handle it.

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That is so very important to me.

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And so these breadcrumbs

coming across them and looking at them

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through these photo

albums has really helped me

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solidify and

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and evolve the

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the stories the world

that is being built around cowgirl care.

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And because she was me

and she's who I needed in that pivotal

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time in my equestrian journey,

for my email list.

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Also,

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there is where

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I spill majority of my details

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because I really do feel like in building

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a community,

you do your best when you are.

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I'm not even going to say you.

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I'm going to say me.

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I'm a make it real clear this is for me.

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This is what works for me.

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I do my best and I bring my best self

when I am engaging

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in a conversation back and forth

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with someone who is already invested

in such a small investment.

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Just give me an email address

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to say, Hey, I'm interested in

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figuring out

what this relationship could look like,

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what kind of conversations you're having,

and how I can contribute to that.

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I do.

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I thrive the best

when I am having a mutual conversation.

426

And when you sign up for my email list,

that's what we're having.

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It is a mutual back and forth to say,

This is what I'm exploring right now.

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How does that show up in your life

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I'm still offering brand strategy

sessions.

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I'm increasing the amount of time

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and increasing the amount of value

that it brings.

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So keep a lookout for that.

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I'm also doing something new.

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I have been doing

coaching in small increments, one on one.

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I do it a lot in

some of the contract work that I do also.

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But this year I'm launching

a group program.

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It's going to be small cohort,

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12 weeks Digital Hoofprint coaching

and we're going to go through

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understanding

how to craft your digital hoofprint

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based on the capacity

that you have right now to sustain

442

an amazing experience for the people

that you want to engage with you.

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So I'm super excited about developing that

and you'll hear a little bit about that

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later on.

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And then the third way

to to engage with me

446

this year is through

kind of one of my larger services.

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It is a retainer kind of contract

based service where I am

448

integrating some sort of transformation

in your business.

449

So I call it integrated

transformation design for right now,

450

but it is a more long term

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retainer base where I am coming into

your business, understanding where

452

some of your challenges lie and building

453

and assessing and implementing

a lot of the different strategies

454

that I use or recommend

kind of through this

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digital hoofprint concept to

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increase the efficiency and

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the operations and the brand development

of your organization.

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So those are the three ways that

you can engage with me this year, y'all.

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I could be at 30 minutes.

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So thank you so much

461

for listening to this episode.

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I will catch you on the next when.

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Have a great rest of your week by.