HD Live: Market from Your Motivation ft. Brittany Herzberg

Breanna Owen (00:02.604)

You’re listening to Own Your Mark. I’m Breanna Owen. 

If marketing feels hard and something in you knows that it doesn’t have to be that way, you’re not wrong. 

Every episode, we’re naming what you’ve been feeling but couldn’t quite say and what it looks like when your communication is built for how you are literally wired. 

That’s where human design and marketing strategy meet. And that’s what we do here. It’s no accident you’re hearing this, so stick around. I can’t wait to meet you in the next episode. 

Excitement does not even begin to cover how I feel right now. I am so freaking jazz and elated, enter other adjectives here, to be bringing my very first guests to the Own Your Mark podcast. 

I cannot wait to introduce you to this dear friend. We have known each other now for going on four years. We have been on this wild entrepreneur, business, woo, spirituality, copywriter, client, living life through all the things journey together. 

Four years is like a hundred years in business years, it seems like. And so to also bring you this person who I’ve done so much life in business with as the very first guest, I could not be more excited to bring you Miss Brittany Herzberg, the queen of SEO herself.

After barely making rent her first month in a brand new state, two clients quite magically found Brittany, but only because she optimized her site for SEO. She realized then that she had a knack for doing SEO and leaned into that strategy, accidentally kind of becoming an SEO expert along the way. Since then, Brittany has applied the strategy to everything, not just her website, but for hundreds of clients and her boyfriend. Before she knew it,

SEO was her thing and people, including me, I’m people, calling her the SEO queen. So, Brittany, thank you so much for joining me today.

Brittany Herzberg (02:11.724)

Of course, thank you so much for having me. I’ve been really looking forward to this.

Breanna Owen (02:15.48)

Same, same. One of the reasons why I was so excited to bring you on, especially like my first guest, is because of what happened when I first started integrating human design into marketing and messaging and email content. 

I very specifically remember it was within a month of me first starting this journey and pivoting my business in this way and was reading through emails and your emails are ones that I have read for a while. I I read a lot of your emails. I can’t say that about everybody. 

And so when I opened up my inbox and I read this particular email, I noticed that it didn’t feel great for me to read it. And because of the work I had been doing and the journey that I was recently embarking on, I think that’s what made me more aware of how it felt in my body and also made me very curious as to what was going on. 

And I had a hunch and I was curious about it, but like, I didn’t know how to like ask you. And so I remember Voxering you and being like, “hey friend, the email you sent out yesterday, tell me about it. How did it go for you? How was the open rate? Did you get responses, engagements? Like, I’m just real curious about it.”

And that was it! So starting there, how was it on your end to receive that email from me, especially now realizing that that was a sales launch email for you?

Brittany Herzberg (03:58.11)

I will be very transparent. So typically, when I am in like launch mode, or even this just happened for me last week where I’m in the middle of, there’s just a lot happening on all fronts. 

So my nervous system is pretty fried during launch mode recently, kind of in like a more sensitive bubble. So typically when I get messages like that, because it happens, I don’t know if it’s me, I don’t know if it’s something about my human design, we can certainly go into that.

It is just like not usually a great time for people to send me those messages because I’m just super sensitive about it and it triggers something. 

But for whatever reason I was like, it’s Breanna and it’s emails and it felt like getting this extra little bit of like coaching, if you will. being in launch mode, I want to learn to do things better, especially if it’s like in that moment. 

So I got your message and I was just very curious, like, what did you notice? What could I do better?

So I don’t know why or how, it hit me in just a better way than those messages typically do. So yeah, I was very interested and intrigued. good.

Breanna Owen (05:00.608)

I’m so glad that hit you well. Honesty, transparency, yes please, all the way around for all the things. I tried to leave it open in that way. 

Again, I was still early on in the journey of doing it all that I was still navigating and building up the confidence. And actually what I was doing was I was waiting for the system to be proven wrong. I was waiting for my work to be proven wrong. 

And so I was giving you an out to be able to say, actually that email was really great.

It was really well received and to which I would have said, amazing. I love this for you. I’m celebrating you. Good luck with your launch. And we would have gone about our day. But do you remember what you told me?

Brittany Herzberg (05:43.734)

I remember the open rate being a little bit lower and I also think I might have mentioned that I don’t typically look at the open rate for like a few days and I think you had messaged me on the day that it went out to answer that question. That’s what I remember about that one.

Breanna Owen (05:57.622)

Yeah, I went back through and looked at the emails because I was like, you know, we’re well over a year ago now that these were sent out. And I wanted to be like, hey, how do I feel? What is so fascinating to me was this morning when I opened up the emails again and was starting to read through them again, as I was reading that initial email, the one that like I had that external response to being a generator myself and reached out to you about, I didn’t like reading it this morning either.

Brittany Herzberg (06:04.685)

Yes.

Breanna Owen (06:26.67)

And so that is, I think it’s just fascinating that a year later I still feel the same way. Yeah. Because again, I had read so many of your emails previously that I had a good feel for what your emails typically sounded like and felt like. We were good friends. I knew I was an ideal client. So if I was feeling a little like disconnect or dissonance, I was like, ooh, there’s something off here. And I had a hunch that it was specifically within your chart, your motivation. 

Did you know very much about your motivation at that time?

Brittany Herzberg (07:02.986)

Yeah.

No, I didn’t. Human design to me has so much information. And I feel like I’m never going to catch up. I much more easily gravitate toward the information with astrology. Couldn’t tell you why. But with human design, there’s so many things. 

So I feel like I kind of remember skimming that on one of the, you punch in all your stuff and then it pops out with the report. I feel like I probably skimmed it, but didn’t sink in. Because even when you asked me, I was like, my what?

Breanna Owen (07:30.052)

You’re like, I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Brittany Herzberg (07:32.494)

Like, where is that on the report? What? What are my options?

Breanna Owen (07:37.492)

So the big three of your human design profiles, you are a manifesting generator, three five profile, and need motivation.

Brittany Herzberg (07:46.318)

Ta-da! It me.

Breanna Owen (07:48.782)

fun facts about need motivation to one, refresh your memory, and two, for anybody listening. Need motivation is all about what do people need. It is very community oriented, very like people centric. You can predict the future a little bit because you can kind of anticipate what your people need before they start mentioning that they need it. 

So you can be working on and creating the products, the services, the information to give them before they even realize that they’re asking for it or needing it. Need motivation loves to be a resource to others, which also makes so much sense considering other aspects of your design. So the Manny Gen, the 3.5, and the need really all points to being a resource for others. Who are moved to action when something needs to be done?

Brittany Herzberg (08:41.195)

You

Brittany Herzberg (08:45.678)

Yeah, which is great when everything feels like a fire.

Breanna Owen (08:51.17)

But when in alignment, your energy is really steady and clear. can like legit, you just say what needs to be said and the way that needs to be said it. You can cut through the noise. You can like just really shush the chaos. And it’s like, hey, here’s what needs to happen. Here’s what we’re going to do. It is very like community, we’re all in this together vibes of it all. And also you don’t post a post. You don’t send emails just to send emails, which I think circles back to what you said earlier about how

It’s just one of the many reasons why you prefer to write in real time and not batch create. But the opposite of need motivation is fear motivation. And fear motivation is all about creating safety and security in order to take the next step forward. But often how fear motivation does that is by saying, here’s what could happen, here’s what could go wrong. Are you worried about this? Are you stressed about this? It just like covers

all of its bases, which we love when people are in alignment with fear motivation and that is their true thing. But for someone like you, whose true alignment is need motivation, when you slip into the fear of what if, and what if this went wrong, and what if that goes wrong, and I just need to have all of my bases covered, because that’s not in congruence and in alignment for you, it feels

Not our favorite. Yeah. And so that was your first email was like, Hey, option A is you could do the thing. Option B is you don’t do the thing and let’s go through what will happen in both scenarios. Yeah. And so I think that’s what was not even I think like, I know like that’s what was happening was you had slipped into fear. And so we talked on Voxer and was like, Hey, here’s what you can do with need. And then.

Brittany Herzberg (10:21.976)

feels off, yeah.

Breanna Owen (10:50.24)

you went and you wrote your next emails using need motivation. Did it feel different for you when you were drafting your next few emails?

Brittany Herzberg (11:01.014)

Yeah, I mean, it definitely felt different. And even going back and looking at like email number one that you were talking about, I just kind of like jumped right into it. Like even now I could see how I could do that differently and pull in some of the stuff that is more me. Like there’s zero social proof. There’s no real like storytelling before you get into the thing. It was like really just like bing, bang, boom. And then looking at the one that I did after that, it was more storytelling. was more like we are in this together, which I actually like.

saying that and one of my big things is like never letting someone feel like they’re in it alone. Being very protective of other people, being very much like I spotted the thing like don’t do that here’s why this is like the thing that you need instead type of thing. So yeah I could even just going back to that first email and then the second one I can see how they’re different but yeah it definitely felt different it felt more like me and the other thing that was going on with that first email

and you kind of alluded to it, is that it was a template. It was something that was suggested or offered that I could work from. And I was like, okay, this is the email I’m supposed to write today. So here we go. And batching has never been my thing ever, ever, ever. Anytime I’ve tried to do it, it’s just like finding an uphill battle. And so seeing that template, going and writing that email, it just felt like a task that I was checking off the list. It didn’t feel as good to write. It didn’t feel like I had a message to share.

which I’ve since learned and definitely like very largely because of the conversation we had. It’s like I am built to respond. I am built to have the thought to see the thing and then to go and create. So just a very different energy from one to the other.

Breanna Owen (12:39.16)

Amazing. Not having a template, I’ll follow that trail. That shows up in a few different places in your chart. Do you want to know?

Brittany Herzberg (12:47.928)

Yes, you know me. Yes, I want to know. We’ll go down like all the rabbit holes.

Breanna Owen (12:53.71)

Okay, well, we can start at the top with being the managen. That express builder-doer, somebody who has so many pivots and does not stay in one lane or one box, you need to be able to speak to what is true to you in real time. And so following a template does not allow for the real time, hey, how do I feel right now? And the…

self-theme for both generators and manifesting generators is satisfaction. So even what you just said about how this was a task that I was checking off a list tells me that there was nothing about this that was lighting you up and making you feel excited, making you feel satisfied. And so that is also going to like flatten your energy and how it comes out. The three line of being trial and error, experimenter, let’s see how this goes.

guess one could argue there was a little bit of that because you’re like, okay, fine, I’ll do this prompt or whatever. But you like to play in the sandbox. You like to be inspired by how you are experimenting and trying things out. So you have a lot of active gates. You have a defined throat centers. You have consistent access to your voice. It’s why you can force yourself to follow a schedule if somebody really told you to.

You have the consistent access to your voice. You could make it happen if you needed to. The one channel that’s coming from your throat, so this means that this energy, you have consistent access to it. It is a grounded, stable access to your energy. It’s the gate of now. It is all about like, what is happening right now in this moment? What’s going on now? And like reacting and responding, being that sacral, bandage and energy of like in the moment. And so,

Again, like, this is a prompt that somebody else told me to write, which love them for that. Like, thank you for trying to help us out. I mean, that’s why you were responding to a movie you had just watched, too, was like, you took that prompt and you were trying to make it like, okay, well, what’s happening right now? Yep. But the other thing that’s fascinating to me, I can’t make this shit up. Like, I can’t. I couldn’t make it up if I freaking tried.

Breanna Owen (15:18.112)

your other channel, inspiration comes suddenly and spontaneously. It rarely comes when you are actively trying to figure things out.

Brittany Herzberg (15:25.71)

Yeah, this all resonates.

Breanna Owen (15:28.686)

So give yourself time and space for insights to come.

Brittany Herzberg (15:32.216)

Channels are when it’s like connected, right?

Breanna Owen (15:34.284)

Yep, so you have two. Your channels are both also in the individual circuit, which is all about empowering others to follow their own path and really just lean into what makes them unique and special.

Brittany Herzberg (15:50.234)

This is comical.

Breanna Owen (15:52.846)

See? Told you I can’t make it up. No. And so we start putting all of these things together and the templates are great for giving you something to respond to, but it’s especially important for you. Brittany already knows this, but we’re just going to remind Brittany for when she needs the reminder and the permission that if you’re not feeling it, you don’t have to.

Brittany Herzberg (16:16.238)

And I’ve told you too, when we were like kind of chatting about this conversation, that now I have like a grab bag of prompts. So it’s more just like, okay, wanna make sure ideally that I cover these like five or six things, but the way in which I do that could be any of these dozens of things. So now it’s like, because I know that I’m built to respond, I’m paying attention to what conversations I’m having on threads or even things that I see and paying attention to what people are actually saying to me or.

responding to emails or saying on DMs or things like that. So it could be things that they’re directing at me and sharing with me, but it could also be just like what I’m observing, or it even could be like the things that I have saved, like that grab bag.

Breanna Owen (16:55.79)

Is there like a specific category or type of things that you like addressing or responding to the most?

Brittany Herzberg (17:04.851)

is there? And this even actually played out this morning. I definitely like calling out the BS where it’s like, this thing is happening and this is not okay and here’s what you should be looking for instead. Or here’s how you can avoid falling into this trap just like this person. And then I am pretty good at, in most cases, not all, some of the time I’m just like, I just want to say that and like leave it there. But in lots of occasions I’m like, and here’s how I’m different and here’s the thing that you can do with me. So that actually took some time to like start weaving in, but I have.

started to.

Breanna Owen (17:35.714)

Yeah, that three line especially loves to call out the BS because you’re the one in the trenches.

Brittany Herzberg (17:40.876)

Yeah, which I think is helpful with me, especially right now being an SEO strategist and coach, because people don’t know what they don’t know. And SEO is this like big giant monster of a thing. And everyone who’s out here besides me for the most part seems to be like, here’s how confusing it is and complicated and costly. And I’m like, no, you can literally do this yourself. And you don’t even need to do keyword research. You got to just do these things. Yeah. So yeah, it’s kind of fun being that person.

Breanna Owen (18:04.8)

And do you hear even from that of being like, here’s what you need?

Brittany Herzberg (18:08.758)

Yeah, that’s true. I was laughing really hard when you said I like being a resource because literally you know this. Yep. Anytime someone’s got something going on, like, do you want a thing? Whether that’s a Google Doc, a link to something, a connection to someone, an idea for a blog post. I’m literally like full of it.

Breanna Owen (18:25.216)

Mm-hmm. Yep. I just love how all of the different layers really come together because need very much wants to be a resource, but so does your five line. Your five line is like, it interprets everything as that is a problem that I need to solve.

Brittany Herzberg (18:41.198)

Oh, everything, which can be helpful. This is the part that plays out in personal life with friends and just people who are close to me where it’s like they’re expressing things and they probably just want to express things. And I’m over here like, have a solution. Can I say something? Oh my God. It’s like killing me. I’ve had to be very careful with that in business too, where I used to offer things because people pleaser, want to make everybody happy, don’t want to be left alone. And realizing like, oh, they can’t. I mean, you know, no, I’m kidding.

Breanna Owen (19:04.59)

can’t relate.

Breanna Owen (19:08.46)

Does not compute.

Brittany Herzberg (19:12.238)

What are you even talking about? But even with that, I’ve had to really like chill on that and just be like, cool, I’m here if you need anything. Yeah. Or asking them if they want a resource or something. Yeah.

Breanna Owen (19:21.848)

Well, and going back to what you were saying about how you are responding to things and like really calling out the BS of it all too, every motivation has a specific question, like an underlying question that their people are really asking. Even if they don’t say these words, they need to hear this from you in order to get to a point of being able to say yes to working with you. And for need motivation, shocker, the question is,

that they’re asking themselves is, I really need this? Do I really need SEO? But they’re also asking it in that way as kind of like a protection of, like, what if I don’t have what it takes? Or what if I am the one who can’t do this? What if I start it and I don’t follow through? I don’t wanna waste my time.

Right? all of these, and even as I’m saying that, you’re probably thinking of like, I can see how all that has come up with people before.

Brittany Herzberg (20:22.964)

Mm-hmm. That and I’m also like, I’ve got a solution for that. I’ve got a solution for that. I’ve got that built into the program. Yeah, it’s kind of- Yeah. Freaking hilarious.

Breanna Owen (20:30.638)

Yeah, it doesn’t matter how much they like you, how much they trust you, how much they believe that you are good at what you are good at. Like if they’re not confident in their capacity and their ability to do the thing that you are offering to walk alongside them to get done, they’re a no. Or at the very least, they’re not a yes.

Brittany Herzberg (20:49.526)

Yeah. So play this out with me because I have my own podcast and one thing that I have really been doing in the last year is bringing people on who’ve been through the program and asking them about their experience, like sharing their wins, all that kind of stuff. And I will say the one thing that keeps popping up is how confident they feel and how empowered they feel now as business owners. So should I keep doing more of that? Because it feels like it’s resonating and landing with people, but like from what you’re seeing chart wise.

Breanna Owen (21:18.712)

There’s no such thing as too much information for your people. They love a good foundation. They love a good amount of research. It’s probably also why you have to remind people that they aren’t behind. And you have to remind people that they know enough to move forward, that they don’t have to become an expert in SEO before they start implementing SEO. And that’s part of the reason why you’re there with them is to guide them and make it the bite-sized chunks of it, right?

Your people really need that reminder and they think more information is going to help them. And so when you were doing your case study interviews, when you can get your people to say things along the lines of, know, I was able to implement what Brittany gave me a little bit at a time. I felt really comfortable. I felt really confident. I knew what I was doing. And then look what happened. Because the question of do I need this is really answered in the results.

that come from it.

Brittany Herzberg (22:17.582)

Yep. I feel like I got really clear last year on the thing they want and the thing they think they need to get them there. They want more leads. They think they need a pretty website or a really good appearance on social media, even though it’s draining them or whatever. They don’t have the finances for like a rebrand or something at the time. And it’s like, no, you don’t need either one of those. You need clarity on who you want to help, how you want to help them, and what makes you different. That’s literally it.

Breanna Owen (22:43.308)

good. And also like, if you already invested in the rebranding or the website, that was not in vain. That was not money that was just thrown down the drain. We can input that SEO to really help you get even more of an ROI on the money you’ve already invested there.

Brittany Herzberg (23:01.13)

Right, yeah, because now they’ve got the prettier website, the website they feel better about, and now it’s like, okay, time to put the bat signal in the website to actually bring the right people to see it.

Breanna Owen (23:10.026)

I love that. Do you call SEO a bat signal very often?

Brittany Herzberg (23:12.91)

Uh huh. That signal has been the thing I’ve found myself saying a lot recently. I like

Breanna Owen (23:17.176)

Love that. Like really just thank you. Distilling it down to no SEO is the bat signal in your website.

Brittany Herzberg (23:23.502)

And some people’s flashlights are literally turned off.

Breanna Owen (23:26.476)

Yeah. Okay. I have a question for you. How else do you notice that being a three, five manny Jen with need motivation, how have you noticed that come to play in your content, your marketing, your email?

Brittany Herzberg (23:42.062)

It’s the stuff that I’ve been fighting, I think. The experimenting and playing around with content. Sometimes even sharing my opinions, like it’s taken me a long time to get to this point, but now that I’m here, I’m like, we’re like gloves are off. I am sharing all of the thoughts. I will say one thing I have seen a lot was just content and even stuff you and I have talked about too is like five, I know is one of the ones that has like a lot of people project whatever they’re looking for onto them. And my God, have I felt.

and just become more more aware of it. And so I’m like, okay, I’m not available for that. I’m here for this, but I’m not available for that. So even just like getting more clear on that has been helpful. I think one of the other things I told you too is that with writing those sales emails, like particularly when I was doing it in launch mode, like the open cart, closed cart, which this year I’m moving more to like an evergreen program with push periods, but having the launches and being like, okay, you know that you write better if it’s in real time.

So how about you just like clear your schedule and give yourself space to write the emails in real time? my gosh, what a wacky idea. Like that’s been pretty amazing. That has led to a lot better conversations even. And even too with, I’ve had a lot of people sharing recently that they have been following the podcast for a long time. They’re finally coming over and saying hi in the DMs. They’re asking me questions, they’re signing up for things like, so that’s been pretty cool too. I don’t know if that really answers your question, but that’s some of what I’ve noticed.

Breanna Owen (25:05.432)

I love it. Hey, what is one like aha or takeaway that you’ve had from today?

Brittany Herzberg (25:11.724)

The biggest like taking the weight off my shoulders has just been that like I am built to respond. So if I have a thought, if I’m like, I should say this and yet I have like something else planned for the day. No, it’s totally okay if I go with the thing that I want to respond to because that’s going to hit better. Yeah.

Breanna Owen (25:27.296)

Absolutely. Brittany, I’m sure that people listening today are now so intrigued and curious about how SEO can work for them. like, you know, if that was something, because also speaking from experience, SEO feels very overwhelming for me. And Brittany is the only one who has made it made sense in my brain. And they want to learn more about you. Where can they find you?

Brittany Herzberg (25:52.462)

So me and SEO hang out in lots of different places. We’re over on my website, britneyhersberg.com, my podcast, The Basic Bee Podcast, where I share all things SEO for entrepreneurs. I’m over on Instagram. I am trying to post a little bit more, because I do enjoy it, but I’m trying to be flexible. I’m forever in my stories and my DMs, though, so definitely come hang out there. And if you want the most Manny Jen experience from me, go hang out with me on threads.

Breanna Owen (26:17.228)

love it so much. Threads is the best. Yes. And thank you for demonstrating how mani gens can have more than one CTA. Mani gens are so good at being able to be like, multifaceted, multi passionate. Don’t make me choose just one. Here are your options. Like we can handle that from a mani gen. And thank you for just demonstrating that so beautifully for us.

Brittany Herzberg (26:19.544)

the best. love it.

Brittany Herzberg (26:40.758)

You’re welcome. Thanks for giving me the opportunity.

Breanna Owen (26:43.79)

Well, this has been such a tremendous first guest episode of Own Your Mark. Thank you for being here and helping me break into this and sharing so much with us. I appreciate you so much, my friend.

Brittany Herzberg (26:59.07)

I’m so glad that I got to be here and would love to be back and share more about SEO and human design. You breaking down human design is so amazing for me because it’s almost like I’ll come to you with a question, you’ll share something from my chart, and then I’m like, cool, and I get to respond to that and go and like implement it, which I think is really beautifully that played out with the emails. Yeah. Just thank you for all your brilliance.

Breanna Owen (27:21.036)

Well, thank you for playing along with me because you also do such a great job of integrating and connecting some of those dots yourself. that’s what really is just like lets you just run with it. So, so proud. Until next time, go on your mark, chat soon. That’s it for today. If something landed, give it space to settle and trust in the timing of clarity. If you were thinking of someone specific during this episode, now’s a great time to share it with them.

Brittany Herzberg (27:34.23)

of you. Love hearing that. Thank you.

Breanna Owen (27:50.626)

Here’s to more fully owning your mark. Until next time.