Hayley Brooks

Be open to possibilities. I think I was really orthodox in how I thought about myself and my skills, and I wasn't open to how many infinitely many things and doors I could go through with my skill set. So I think it's just about being nimble and willing to say yes and thinking about yourself as a shapeshifter, and that you can do multiple things. I had this one internship, so I thought that was the scope of things that I wanted to do. I was writing the story before I was living it, if that makes sense. I would just say, be really open to what the universe might throw your way, and don't count yourself out before you get in the ring.

I think the challenge and opportunity are kind of one and the same. Since I'm a solo entrepreneur, business of one, if someone books a service with me, it's always going to be with me, at least for now. So I've realized that the challenge lies in the fact that I need to be out front and center, and really market my business and my brand through myself and my energy, my personality, my photographs. That hasn't necessarily been natural or intuitive to me, and sometimes it feels kind of cringey, like the cringe of business is how I describe it. I think in 2026, if you're going to be a small business owner, you really need to also think about yourself as a content creator, and how you are going to present what you bring to the space. Like, why write a resume with Hayley versus somebody else? That has been something that I have been thinking about and investing in and spending time on. Posting a selfie video on Instagram of me talking about formatting a resume - that's not my favorite, but I'm working on it, and the response has been really great. I can track tangible sales from those efforts. It's requiring time and practice and throwing things against the wall and seeing what happens.

In my work and in my personal life, just with the state of the world, listening is really important. A lot of what I do is just actively listening to people and listening to try to uncover what they're actually saying in a way that they might not even know themselves. So I think just really active, focused, attentive listening is really, really important. Another value I have, also in my personal life, is unplugging, for lack of a better way to phrase it. I really try to be off of my phone at night. My husband and I don't have any technology in our bedroom, we don't bring our phones into our bedroom at night, we try to be off of our phones on Saturday. We got a landline. I really just think it's important to kind of touch grass and step away from your devices every so often. And also, I don't want my kid seeing me on the phone. So I'm just trying to be very thoughtful and conscientious about my smartphone, internet use and consumption, especially when I'm in front of my child, because I think we've seen, especially in recent news, that you are the product, and that is a really nefarious place. So I try to be really mindful of that, and when I'm with someone, it goes back to the listening as well. I really want to give my full presence and attention to someone. I don't want to be on my phone.