Balancing the Grind With Brittany Innes, Digital Marketing Manager at Status Anxiety

Brittany Innes is the Digital Marketing Manager at Status Anxiety, an Australian fashion brand specialising in fine leather goods.

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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?

Of course! Over the last 6 or so years I’ve worked heavily within digital marketing in e-commerce environments.

I have developed myself across end-to-end campaign planning and development, digital marketing, e-commerce management, social media, content marketing, SEO/SEM, EDMs, data analysis and more.

Currently I’m the Digital Marketing Manager at Status Anxiety, an Australian leather goods brand that’s all about a life lived more simply. In this role I have also extended to more traditional marketing as well, which I have really enjoyed.

I actually studied PR at Uni and originally wanted to get into that area but realised my passion for digital after a couple of internships. So it’s really great to be able to work across digital, PR as well as events, retail marketing and internal comms.

Before Status Anxiety, I was the Digital Manager at LUSH Cosmetics, which was super fun and taught me so much, and previously I also worked at Royal Caribbean Cruises and SkincareStore (now known as lookfantastic).

2) What does a typical day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?

It really varies throughout the week based on what’s coming up. But as an example of my day today, I got into the office around 7:30am and started it off with a coffee. Nothing would get done without it.

After that I read through and respond to my emails and dedicate some time to read through any articles or blogs that I’m subscribed to that help me stay up-to-date on digital or industry trends.

We launched a new website a little over a month ago so I’m still working very closely with our development agency to get some post-live tasks launched to further improve our UX and CRO so this has been taking priority for me over the last couple of months.

Then throughout the day I was juggling keyword research and content optimisation for our SEO performance, planning out the marketing budget for the next quarter, setting up social media paid campaigns, curating content for our socials, catching up with the team, and reaching out to media.

Then I’ll be out of the office by 4:30-5pm.

I always make sure that I take my lunch break each day as well and go for a walk for some fresh air and downtime from the screen.

I’m very fortunate to work close by the water in the southern suburbs of Sydney so a walk at lunch is just what I need for a bit of R&R before tackling on the rest of the day.

3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?

It sure does. Status Anxiety is a family run business so the owner himself knows how necessary a flexible environment is to have that work-life balance.

I remember when I first started with the company and I had asked what time they wanted me to start. I was expecting a straight forward answer (a.k.a 9am) but instead I was told that person A starts at 7am, person B starts around 8 and person C starts around 10:30/11am, so it was really up to me what hours I wanted to do.

I had never encountered this in my working life so it really shocked me but I now love it.

If I have to head to an appointment at any time I can just adjust my hours to suit or work from home when necessary. It really does make it so much easier to have that balance.

4) Do you have any tips, tricks or shortcuts to help you manage your workload and schedule?

For my day-to-day tasks, I keep a very detailed to do list using Trello. It’s so easy to stay on track of what needs to be done and I can access it on any device if I do need to stay home and work.

In terms of my workload, I had a manager once tell me that there’s always going to be more work, there’s always going to be more that you can do and in reality you could work an infinite amount of hours to do it all, but you don’t need to.

It’s all about what needs to be done now and what can wait. Knowing the difference is the key to having a weight off your shoulders and a greater motivation to have a work-life balance.

Any time I feel overwhelmed, I always think of this and try to sign-off completely when it’s time to head home.

5) What does work life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?

As stereotypical as it sounds, to me it’s about working to live, not living to work.

My life is not just my work. Yes I enjoy it and it’s what keeps me engaged and busy but when I’m older, it’s all going to be about what I did outside of work.

My husband, my fur babies, self-development and enjoying the sunshine, fresh air and nature are what I enjoy most and they’re not going to be around forever.

Understanding that is the first step to a work life balance, the next step is realising that work can wait, everything else can’t.

That can be easier said than done though especially when you’re in a role like Social Media where it never stops. It’s all about knowing when you’re doing too much and when you need to pull back more to not feel overwhelmed.

6) What do you think are some of the best habits you’ve developed over the years to help you strive for success and balance?

What I do to help myself achieve this is a couple of things:

1. I always try to leave work on time (or within an hour of my supposed end time) and that’s it for the day.
2. I always take my lunch break and get away from the screen.
3. If I HAVE to do something urgent, I will still go home on time and will sign on from home later on in the night. That might not work for everyone but I enjoy spending some time doing ‘me’ things after work before getting back into it.
4. If I’m feeling like I’m getting the balance wrong and am leaning more to the work side, I will make more of an effort to sign out of my work emails and work social media accounts on my personal phone or computer so those notifications don’t tempt me to jump back on.
5. Weekends are a strict no-go for work. I sometimes make exceptions (like when we were launching our new website) but this is the exception, not the rule.
6. Try and encourage others to find a balance as well. I’ve found that when you’re in work environments when everyone leaves on time, you will too. But the opposite is also true, so if everyone starts to stay back, you see more and more people do the same, which forms a nasty habit that can be hard to kick.

7) Are there any books that have helped you improve over the years?

I’m not a huge book reader but I love reading Medium. There are so many great articles out there about marketing, work, self-development as well as relationships, mental health and so much more.

I’m subscribed to topics I’m interested in and will read some each day.

8) What is the number one thing you do to make sure you get the most out of your day?

COFFEE haha!

But really the biggest thing is making sure I get enough sleep. I make sure I get to bed at a reasonable time and if I wake up still feeling sluggish, I might adjust my work times to allow for a little extra time for sleep.

I am very lucky that I’m able to do this though.

9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?

I have worked in workplaces where everyone leaves on time and places where people will stay back until 9pm. I know how hard it can be to get up and leave on time when no one else does.

But you have to remember that only looking at the hours you do is a very out-dated practice. It’s all about the work you do within that time so make it all count.

You have to put yourself first because no one else will. Take care of your mental and physical health first to avoid feeling run-down or overwhelmed and just think what’s most important to you at the end of the day, what brings you joy?

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