Mom Owned and Operated
Candid conversations with and for moms about the real deal of raising a family, running a business, and remembering yourself.
Tired of the fluff and just want real talk about what it takes to succeed as a mompreneur? Then you've come to the right place.
Join your host, business growth strategist Rita Suzanne, as she dives into the nitty-gritty of building a business while raising a family. With over 10 years of experience helping women entrepreneurs thrive, Rita knows what it takes to make it all work.
In each episode, Rita sits down with inspiring mom business owners to uncover the strategies, mindsets, and tactics that are actually making a difference in their lives and businesses.
Tune in and discover the secrets to building a successful business without sacrificing your family or yourself.
Hit that subscribe button now and join the conversation!
Mom Owned and Operated
Building Communities Without Relying on Social Media with Bianca Sprague
In this episode of the Mom Owned and Operated podcast, Rita Suzanne and Bianca Sprague discuss raising a family, running a business and remembering yourself.
Bianca Sprague, founder of bebo mia, has been a dedicated educator, author, activist, and doula since 2007. Passionate about accessible pre and postnatal care for marginalized communities, she advocates for mental wellness in families, drawing from her struggle with postpartum depression and family experiences.
Bianca champions reproductive health and justice, focusing on breaking down barriers for female and queer entrepreneurs and restoring joy, equity, and safety in family care through her expertise and innovative approaches.
You can connect with Bianca on her website, on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and listen in to Hot + Brave The Podcast.
Send a text message! Email, if you want a reply though. ;)
P.S. You can find more interviews at momownedandoperated.com and learn about working with Rita at ritasuzanne.com/apply/
Hi, this is Mom Owned and Operated. I am Rita, Suzanne, and today I have my guest Bianca with me. Bianca, I am so excited to chat with you today. Please tell everyone all about you, your business and your family.
Bianca Sprague:Oh, thanks for having me, rita. My name is Bianca Sprague and I founded my company and it's called Babo Mia. Oh man, I, I, just no man. I've learned a lot since naming my business almost 20 years ago, but we started as a brick and mortar in Toronto working with families going through that fertility, birth and postpartum period, and then we realized that the training for practitioners the bar, was so low that we pivoted and we actually moved online and we teach practitioners and women and queer business owners how to run a feminist business. And if people are interested in working with, with parents or parents-to-be, we have those certifications as well. And I just actually left Toronto last year and my wife and I live with our daughter called Gray, and we live in rural Nova Scotia, which is such a huge change from downtown Toronto to live in, with nothing Like I look out my window and it's just trees, mountains and the ocean, which is beautiful, but it's a it's a big change.
Rita Suzanne:Yeah, definitely, I'm sure it's very calming. It's interesting that you say like your very first business name I remember. I'm just going to sidetrack real quick. My very first business name was Brainy Girl Designs. I don't even know where I got that from, because I was web designing right At the time. People used to tell me all the time I love your name, I love your business name, I love your business name, I love your business name, and I started hating it almost instantly, right?
Bianca Sprague:Really.
Rita Suzanne:Yes, I just thought, like what was I thinking, you know? And so, yeah, I just immediately switched it to a personal brand, right away.
Bianca Sprague:I mean ours is memorable so it gets a tick for that. It's great for SEO. But you know, we did have a really my business partner and I started it and we did have like a really deep meaning behind why Babo, Mia and it means my baby in Esperanto but like nobody ever says it right, People capitalize it all lowercase one word, two words. It is two words, everybody. And it's all lowercase B, E, B, O, space, M, I, A. So I've learned a lot about you know things that are easy to spell and and say, but you know you don't want to do a rebrand when you're in. You're going into your third decade.
Rita Suzanne:Well, you know, and there's something to be said too for, like, keeping the name, and it's good for that brand recognition and, you know, even like purchasing your domain the longer you have your domain, the better it is for it, and so there's a lot of reasons to stick with something and keep it. Um, so that's good. So let's talk about what is one service, product or offer that's really been a game changer for you in your business.
Bianca Sprague:Yeah, as far as profitability goes, yeah, so I mean, like I said, I was brick and mortar and we pivoted online and that was in 2013. And at the time, nobody was teaching anybody about you know how to do breastfeeding support or fertility support or be a doula, and so we had our industry going bonkers. They were like, oh my gosh, babel Mia is pivoting online. Can you believe they're going to teach classes online? Like you can't teach online all this stuff and it was really scary. And we were the first to offer a full spectrum doula training in the digital space and we taught it all live and guys, this was before Kajabi, this was before Teachable. We had the clunkiest, ugliest website that we built and we had this like plugin that we customized to go into our WordPress. It was ugly, but it was really cool to think that we did that.
Bianca Sprague:We had to develop the tech because it didn't exist for us to be able to teach live in the virtual space and that was such a game changer for us. A because we didn't have 14 centers across Toronto, so that overhead left. But to be a trailblazer in something that you know, even though the industry was like you can't do it. I mean now, look at, by the time the pandemic came, we were masters at a scale up in the digital space. And now you know there's a downside is that there's a lot of noise in the space.
Bianca Sprague:But you know, we made seven figures from from creating this really amazing community-based, feminist business in the digital space and not just kind of like, oh, now we're doing exactly the same thing, like we really had to decide how our product and our services could be delivered so that we didn't lose that touch, move and inspire that was so important to us. But, like, the world opened up literally, and now in our classes we have students in 49 countries, and so the conversation it's just, you know, it's come out of a North American context and now you know we're talking about business practices and marketing ideas on a global scale. So that was, hands down, the most profound pivot in our business over the last 17 years love it, though, because if you don't take that chance right, nobody else is doing it.
Rita Suzanne:And you're like you know, oftentimes we're told like if nobody else is doing it, then there's not a market for it. But you're like you know what? There is a market and we're going to do it and and you've made sure you found it and that was the best thing that you could do. So I think that's amazing.
Bianca Sprague:So I just want to highlight sorry, rita one of my favorite memories of this pivot, just because so many times people hear the like seven figure story and I just want to bring it down. So my business partner and I had babies at the time, so we had loud babies. So we were in my car in a parking lot doing a teleseminar Guys, this was before webinars. So you did it, you call in, and so that's the only way, with our babies outside the car, with us inside the car doing a teleseminar, and it was really exciting that we got eight people signed up for our first run and it was so much work for only eight people.
Bianca Sprague:But I just like I want to share that story because that happened from 2013 to now, so like that was over a decade, but year over year, and I think it's really important to go down to the bite-sized pieces because I know when I hear entrepreneurs that I envy or I want to strive for, I can really beat myself up to be like, oh, my goodness, she made $7 million last year, like what is wrong with you and it was clunky and it was a lot of you know, it wasn't this like beautiful, smooth, smooth journey and it was eight people in my first course, and so I just I really want to highlight that so you guys can like really close your eyes and imagine what two moms, not knowing what they were doing running an edutech company, look like and and that we just stayed with it and just kept tweaking it and and the art of the messy start. So like just like start and get feedback and keep going and and don't try to like put something out for the seven figure launch, because it's probably not going to happen.
Rita Suzanne:No, I agree, and I think that that's the problem a lot of times is that people highlight too much the success and they don't really showcase the journey and the all of the road. You know the, the bumps that they had to go over. And I like to tell people like listen, this is not easy, it is hard. So, no matter what, like yes, we're talking about all of the, the, the successes that we've had in our business. That's what we're going to talk about today, what's working for you, what's actually going well, but by no means has it ever been easy and it's not going to continue to be easy. Even when you start making money, it's still challenging, there's still challenges that come up in the process, and so I think that that's a really good point for people to take away and just say, yeah, you know, like. I think that often social media makes it seem like you know, oh, yes, you could be over here too, sitting on the beach with your laptop making a million dollars in five minutes.
Bianca Sprague:Yeah, yeah, I just I want to bring it down for everybody.
Rita Suzanne:Let's come back to reality for about five seconds. So right now, as we speak, what is your biggest source of revenue?
Bianca Sprague:Yeah, I would say our online courses. However, I do have a caveat here. Everybody, you have to be ready to pivot, and it can be really hard pivoting. You can let go of things you same way.
Bianca Sprague:There's lots of reasons, I suspect, the economy being one, the pandemic and us being screen fatigued being another, and so we're actually we're doing a shift to offer bite-sized micro education, and so I'm ramping that up right now. So it's running alongside because I know our programs are absolutely incredible. They're the best out in the market. I've taken almost all of them so I can say that. But you know, people are really into this like quick, quick and dirty education and not this. You know I want to invest in four months to two years and like really developing something with the foundation, and so I do want to give the way that some people want to learn. So I do have a new stream of like very bite-sized bits of education. You know, like 10 videos, do it in an afternoon 20 minutes of, like you know, 20 minute webinars, and so that is actually ramping up and doing really well at the same time. So hopefully by next year I'll say that that's competing with our, with our flagship programs, but only time will tell.
Rita Suzanne:Yeah, I've always been one who likes the what I would call mini courses that are super specific and and honed in on a specific target. You know, like target information versus something that's super broad and all like a comprehensive course. I like the little, bite-sized courses so that I can take the course and implement almost immediately, right Like that's. My goal is to implement right now. But and if there's something big it seems so overwhelming I can't. I can't do it. But I've always been like that. I've always liked the smaller ones.
Bianca Sprague:Yeah, and I think there's a time, like the people who have success with this, I was resistant to the smaller ones, because so many people want to just grab a few small ones and then it reflects in their business that they're like that is the extent of their foundation versus you know people, I'm constantly learning about entrepreneurship, and have probably since I was about nine years old, and so if I get a bite size, like micro bit of education, it's because I did have a specific question and wanted that answered, but by no means is it the only thing I've taken in.
Bianca Sprague:It's probably one of, you know, a hundred pieces of content I take in a week, and so that was that was a bit of my reluctance is that we are so like instant gratification, get it right now, do it fast, do it easy and with your business, like I mean, some people stumble into businesses that make a lot of money without a lot of effort really quickly. Those do exist, but they also fizzle out very quickly, and so I think, though, if you're asking specific questions, you know, like some of the ones we have, is you know, really, how do you get solid testimonials and what do you do with them after, then I'm like, yeah, for sure, Go buy my micro course and get that specific question answered and spend an afternoon tweak your testimonials, understand what social proof is and all the many ways you can show it, and then, like, spend the rest of the week working on it. But if somebody is like, oh good, that's the only thing I got, I'm like it is not enough of an education for you to just like be scaffolded for your work.
Rita Suzanne:No, I agree, like you are not an expert after this, but I'm going to. I'm going to share with you this one thing that's going to help you handle that specific problem. Ok, so what is your most valuable financial lesson that you could share with other mompreneurs?
Bianca Sprague:Oh, Rita, I've made so many colossal mistakes.
Bianca Sprague:Yeah, I think, like a few of the pieces that I think are really important with our businesses are intertwined, and so you know, the financial pieces is obviously like profitability is a really critical pillar of your business, but I think it also you need to find a lot of joy in what you're doing.
Bianca Sprague:Like you need to love nurturing. Like being an entrepreneur is so much harder than being an employee in many ways. Like being an entrepreneur is so much harder than being an employee in many ways. And you have to love what you're doing in order to not press next on Netflix, in order to get up even though there's not a boss telling you when you need to be to work. To like say no to your friends who are having a daytime lunch because they have the day off. Like those things take a lot of discipline to keep doing it and when, like, people aren't buying it, to figure out why and not just giving up. It takes a lot. So you really need to have that heart space and that support. And then our community is so critical.
Bianca Sprague:So when I think of the mistakes I've made, when we're looking at the financial bucket, it was because there was a misalignment with the joy bucket and the people bucket, and you know I'm I'm deeply committed to trying to understand and see how we can have feminist business that truly works outside the model of capitalism, which I know it's like, I hear it. My wife's a prof and so she is always like it's not possible what you're doing, and I was like I just I believe that women and queer folks in business, we've always had this really cool um, like barter system, like we've survived with very little support and resources for throughout time, and so anytime I would say something like I messed up in the financials. So like one, for example, was like meta pivoted and we didn't, and something that used to be so meta. For anybody that doesn't know, that's the monster that owns most of social media, mainly being Instagram and Facebook, and and it's taken over and we've become credibly dependent upon it, and so you know we didn't pivot with their algorithm fast enough, and so I used to make seven figures and spend less than $30,000 a year on advertising. Now, if you're a tiny business, $30,000 a year sounds like so much money, but if you're making 1.1 million from it, it's not that much money. But that scale, no matter what, was always perfect. We knew if we put X in, y would come out without fail.
Bianca Sprague:And then the pandemic happened and the algorithms changed and everything like just how people engage in social media and that's just one example is that I. You know that that trifecta for me was out of balance and I spent thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars a month and never made anything. So I was putting an x and then I was like, what about? What about if I put in Z? What about if I put in Z squared and nothing was coming out the other side, which has been a really terrifying couple of years, and so that really made me have to look at like, okay, what are we doing here? And turning up the joy and turning up the people and turning up the community to you know, balance out this, this piece.
Bianca Sprague:I know that sounded really like probably a bit complicated, but I found that I can always identify these colossal mistakes I've made, as well as anytime I got stuck with bright and shiny things like you should get a booth at a trade show and then you spend $25,000 and nothing happens from it. So I have lots of those too. They're fun.
Rita Suzanne:Right.
Bianca Sprague:I know.
Rita Suzanne:And those are just. You know, every action is a lesson, right? Okay, so let's since we mentioned it a little bit let's talk about marketing. So one thing that I always love to talk about is, like, what marketing tactic or channel is working best for you and your business? And we spoke a little bit about not using social media to grow your business, so let's dive really deep into that.
Bianca Sprague:Yeah. So this y'all get your pens and paper out Like this is a game changer here. So I just want to quickly touch on the trap of social media. We've been promised so much from social media and all of you I mean some of you might have etsy shops and stuff, in which case you're hitting a more global market, but like, really, you're gonna have the most success if you can really localize your business, but if you're doing any kind of service, it's as far as you can drive um, and so what you want to do is actually use social media as a bit of a tool, like use it in the way that we can as small businesses. So I have Bebo Mia, but I also am a doula and so, like, I have my local business where I serve families. So I'm going to use that one as an example. So one of the things is we have this trap where we are trying to go viral with our stuff. We're trying to go viral on TikTok, we're trying to go viral on Instagram and on Facebook, and the reality is you're going to spend a ton of time and it's not going to be the ROI, and if you go, look at some of the people that have virality and you actually go in and look at their of how many followers they have. Sometimes you'll see somebody that did like a 9 million views post on Instagram and then you'll go and they still only have 1300 followers. And so we, you know, if we're trying to chase this thing, that is always like, it's always elusive, like. Sometimes you'll get one. I'll put up a post and 25,000 people like it right away and I was like really. And then I put one with so much heart and content and information and 12 people like it and I was like guys, what is happening? So I want just I'm going to break this down into 15 minute tasks you can do. That is going to be such a great return on your investment, because the goal is not virality, the goal is not to have a million followers, but the goal is to have a profitable business that people know and respect and talk about. So I want you here's your first task 15 minutes.
Bianca Sprague:You're going to go follow channels of people who are working with your target market. So let's say you're doing. Let's say you're doula that's a nice and easy one. You'd follow the baby stores. You'd follow massage therapists. You'd follow, you know, the mommy and me music time. You'd follow, like house cleaning services, all of that, and so you can take your industry. So if you're a massage therapist, you'd go see what else are they doing acupuncture clinics, like whatever your business is and make sure you check that those businesses are in alignment. So, like, have they posted about your upcoming election and are they on the side of the fence that you would like to send your people to? You know, factor those things in. How are they talking about Roe v Wade's anniversary? Like, you really have to understand that, because they're going to be an extension of your business. Okay, so I would try to follow 10 per day and then you want to start like blowing up their feed Because, as you know, as a small business, you notice when somebody shares something.
Bianca Sprague:You notice when somebody comments Like most of us here don't have millions of followers. If you do, congratulations, and this episode is probably not super useful for you, but for the 99.9% of us, you know you do notice when somebody regularly posts and so, or like, comments and shares your stuff. So then you want them to know you. This is the best way to like cold call is to share their stuff. If they have an event coming up, put it up in your stories, add a thing about them in your newsletter, because these are all going to benefit you have the same community members, right? So your target market's going to be the same. Um, like their stuff. Comment dm them like you want them to see your business name in their, in their, you know, activity feed over and over and over again.
Bianca Sprague:Yeah, their notifications, thank you, um, so then you're going to do that for a week or so. Now we've set the stage so you're not just like going into their shop or cold calling their clinic or writing to. You know, whatever their, whatever the business is, they they start to know who you are. And while you're going through and seeing what they're posting and seeing how they're reacting, I want you to do your next 15 minute task, which is to come up with five collaboration ideas. And this could be a blog that you, you guys, do a blog swap. This could be a contest you run together. This could be an Instagram live you're going to do together. This could be an offer for their community, a coupon code. You could do a free talk at their location. You could do a diaper drive together, or a coat drive or a food drive. Like you know, there's the sky's the limit of what you could do, but come up with five that would make sense.
Bianca Sprague:I like putting these in a spreadsheet, so I have like the business name and then the five collab ideas and you know, just keep going. I don't know if anyone, I'm real type A, so I love a good spreadsheet and then you're going to your next 15 minute task is you're going to make some templates and you want these to be something that are really replicable. So, like I love a copy and paste, have your operations folder, but they're going to be essentially like the start of the pitch of around these five collab ideas. You could come up with more and then, like maybe write the channels, of which ones like decide how you want to sort it, but and this is how you're going to start pitching folks around you know, hey, like let's get to know each other.
Bianca Sprague:Now I just want to put a quick caveat in here. You're going to hear maybe one out of every 10 people are going to write back to you. So if you've sent nine out and you're like, wow, nobody's even reading them, nobody's responded, that's okay, like keep going. And so I share that number, just so that you can get a realistic idea. If you're going to send 20 or 30, you might get somewhere between two and five people that will respond, are you?
Rita Suzanne:emailing them, or are you messaging them in their DM? So how are you doing this?
Bianca Sprague:I personally really like emailing people, but a lot of businesses have contact forms and I find that there's space for stuff to get lost. You can also say in all of them so you can send a DM and say, hey, I've sent you over an email, that's what I do all the time. Or I sent something through your contact form just so you can like connect person who's blown up their dms with the person who sent that email. If you're doing everything on your instagram or your tiktok or your facebook, then like, keep it just in your dms, like you you can. You can right, yeah, and I would. I would, if you don't hear on one, maybe check out in another. Um, that's what I regularly and nudge because you guys are all small business owners, so you know what it's like when stuff gets buried in your inbox. So don't be scared of the nudge. You can also ask them out. So here's your next 15 minutes. Is you can make a plan to go in, and a lot of times this is the step that people skip. But this is like really bringing it all home together so that you have this connection of people-ness. And this is what we're missing with social media. Is we just keep loving the convenience of doing this in our underpants on our couch, but like we don't get that final like connection piece and if you're nervous so I'm a super introvert One of the things that I found really helpful before I went in. So instead of coming in as a smaller business or perceived smaller business and being like oh hey, what can you do for me? Like I'm really sorry to bother you, like don't go in with that, what you want to do is you want to go in representing all the clients you will ever have and you're interviewing them. So if you work with I don't know, you do plus size care of anything like you're. So you are supporting plus size folks living in a bigger body, fat bodies, whatever language you use, you want to go in and make sure that clinic or that shop or whoever you're working with is size inclusive, that celebrates health at every size. That has. You know.
Bianca Sprague:You know you ask questions like how, how are you supporting people who live in bigger bodies? Are there posters reflective of that? You know, whatever, the, whatever the thing is, and so when you go in, imagining that you're the, you're the shield of all these people, because you're going to be sending them to there, and so you want to make sure that they're safe and they enjoy the care extension from your brand or your business or your service. And so, if you can make a list of a few questions that feel really important. So some of the ones I always ask is you know what steps are they're taking towards upholding anti-racist, anti-oppressive work? That's always my first question, cause I personally work with equity seeking groups exclusively.
Bianca Sprague:And then I would ask you know the next kinds of questions, which are, you know, depending on what, what the business is, and but, like, really making sure that you know, do you have, have you worked with queer families? So I, I almost exclusively work with queer families, and so I don't want people to be stumbered over like you know pronouns or family makeups, or poly families, like, and so these are the things that I make sure that not people are like didn't you see our pride flag? You have to be like no, have you worked or do you serve these families? And so, if you can imagine, now I just going to do a quick recap of your 15-minute tasks. You're following those channels, you're blowing up their notifications, you're going to come up with those collaboration ideas, you're going to make those templates so that you can just copy and paste and modify. Again. If you want to collaborate with 10 people, you've got to send out about 100, just so that, like, we have reasonable expectations.
Bianca Sprague:Then you're going to ask them out, you can bring in a coffee, bring in helpful snacks, take them out for lunch I don't know, whatever the thing One of the and then anytime we can do more service for them. So to be like, hey, I also have this really great opt-in for your customers or your clients, and bring in a QR code to put up there, like anything that you can continue to give to keep that community cycle going, and the goal is not to like, jump in and promote your business right away and now you want to maintain these relationships. That's, maintenance is really important, and you have to do these 15 minute tasks about once a month because people are going to fall off. You're going to realize you didn't really like that business, they're going to close, they're not going to like you, and so you have to keep that stream really healthy and continuing to grow. And then they're talking about your company.
Bianca Sprague:So that's the whole point at the end of this is to have you know, 20, 10 to 20 other businesses. They're talking about you and then you can use your social media channel to just continue to amplify what's happening in your local community. That will benefit the people around you. And now you might get 20 likes, but if you're making $20,000 a month from those 20 likes, who like that's great, right, right. Our social media channel can actually serve us is being almost like our yellow pages listing rather than trying to be. I'm trying to even think of a big channel. I've really curated my stuff to not have it because it really bumps me out and I do the comparison. No.
Rita Suzanne:I get it. I've been telling people too. I, you know, because people are now, you know, trying to figure out like, since our, our everything has changed, our market has changed, and so I've been talking about the importance of having these three tiers for your marketing strategy. Right, and the three tiers are your social marketing right, but you're really only spending about an hour on marketing on your social. Really, don't let it consume your life. Your online marketing, which is essentially like your website, your email marketing, your SEO and your Google my Business. But Google my Business is your local stuff, and your local networking and marketing is super important, and I know that a lot of people don't want to do it, so I'm like just find one or two events to go to, but I love this as an additional strategy to connect with your local people, because a lot of people are not doing this at all. They're not even local networking period, but this is another aspect of it that I think is brilliant, so I love it.
Bianca Sprague:Oh, thank you Rita, and it's free. You guys Like I mean, our time is, our time is money but like you're going to, you literally might as well burn your money. If you're doing something for Facebook and Instagram, like ads paid with meta right now, for again, not if some of you might have global digital products, in which case go about your bad life, but, like for most of us doing service or you know, we're not at that kind of scale. You're trying to compete with people who have massive budgets and you have to spend a lot now with Meta to get eyes on your stuff. And this is really how you get that word of mouth going and your posts shared and make it make sense for the people you're serving.
Rita Suzanne:And what I find with a lot of local networking is they don't know. They know even less than what you know. So the even the little bit of social that you know, they know even less than that. So they appreciate any of the exposure that you're giving them and they, you know, are valuing any of that interaction. That's that's coming. So I think that it's important to really connect with them and, like you said, it's a great way to increase your revenue and you know, stop seeking this metric of followers or likes or shares or comments.
Rita Suzanne:That's not really a great. You know, I'm seeking dollar signs, so yeah.
Bianca Sprague:And I mean I've put up a post. So I had a couple numbers ready for you guys for this podcast today. I had, in the last 14 days, a post that had over 300,000 views and it got me one person on my mailing list and $0. I've had another post that had 25 likes it was a post, so I didn't have views and it made me probably about $6,500. And I would take the 25 likes and shares and $6,500 over the. You know, the metric looks cool when people scroll your stuff to be like, oh wow, you had over a quarter of a million people watch this, but it didn't do anything for my mailing list. Oh, that was the other thing. I got 35 people on my mailing list from that other one with 25 likes, and so you know between the two, the two pieces you don't know.
Bianca Sprague:I'm trying, like I love, understanding the metrics and there's people that say they've cracked the algorithm and I just can't accept it.
Rita Suzanne:I just cannot, can't even figure out what the difference was, but it was similar content. It was just different media.
Bianca Sprague:Yeah, and then sometimes I'll do carousels and they blow up. And then I've found the last three weeks they haven't at all, and before they went industry viral and then other things I'll put up and I'm like this was just dumb, because I was not, it was a cute baby. And then there are people like wow, that was great and I was like what?
Bianca Sprague:there's no rhyme no, and I do. I do keep track of it, and there are experts that would say that of course there's a rhyme or reason and I do what I can with my time to understand it, but it's. It's not my, my goal. On the planet.
Rita Suzanne:She got information and said the algorithm changes like every five or six seconds, so there's no way that somebody can actually figure it out because they make it, so there's no way that we can figure it out, right. So there is no real rhyme or reason to it.
Bianca Sprague:Thank you, Rita, for emphasizing that I'm always quite alone in that narrative.
Rita Suzanne:You know, we just do the best that we can, and I think the key to social media is just trying to be consistent and whether or you know, whether or not you're you're you're posting, because people won't know about you if they don't know, right, like, if you're not out there sharing, then they're never going to know about you. So so I think we hit on this a little bit. But how would you define success? I know it's not solely financial, but how would you define it?
Bianca Sprague:Yeah, I think if you're really enjoying what you're doing and you and you're working with people you like working with. So I talk nonstop about niching and people's eyes glaze over because it's less fun than like doing a logo or I don't know even making ads, like there's so many elements that people are like yeah, yeah, that, but like you have to love who you're working with and and the niche is really like solving a clear problem for a clear population or or group. And I know that there's been times that I've worked with people. You know that I didn't disclose I was a lesbian and I came and they had like anti-queer propaganda on their lawn close to election time and those are the things that I was like oh man, I wish I could give you my money back and walk out. I mean now I probably would, but at the time I was in my twenties and now in my forties, so I'm a little braver.
Bianca Sprague:But there's been things that I was like I needed to be clear, but I was trying to be the practitioner in the business for everybody and so when I think of success, I think of you. Know, I love the work that I do, I'm changing, I'm making the biggest difference for the most people. And then obviously the revenue. One is amazing. But I mean, post pandemic, we were just beat for a multitude of reasons and it was really stressful and there wasn't profitability and so but I still loved what I was doing and I still kept going to work every day I'm pushing because I loved who I served, I love what I was doing and I find tremendous joy in my work.
Bianca Sprague:I'd have to, like I've been. This journey has been like going to hell and back six times. You know litigations and the economy and a pandemic and losses. You know like cause you're. As an entrepreneur, you're also an individual and I had, you know, the death of my dad in that time. I've been divorced twice. Like you know, stuff happened over this business and your parenting, like it's. All of this is also. Well, we are doing the lion's share, if not a hundred percent, of the parenting and raising of our little people. So it's not for the faint of heart and I think success is when you can put your head down at night and think like I really love my life, I love what I'm doing, this is worth it and that's like I'm so, so clear that that is the mark of work that feels right and is right for you.
Rita Suzanne:Yes, I agree, okay, so let's pivot a little and let's talk about your favorite tools. Do you have any tools, apps, software, anything that you're using that is making your life a little bit easier and more efficient?
Bianca Sprague:Well, I love my Google Suite. We got on it back when they were like, hey, there's this thing called Google Suite, that's brand new and free, many, many years ago. And now it's very expensive, which is a bummer. But I saw what Google did well played. We got wildly dependent. I really like like that.
Bianca Sprague:I think Canva is so incredible. Um, how clunky it was. You know I'm not a graphic designer and so you know, clunking along on my MacBook for all those previous years. Um, canva is incredible and I would highly recommend the pro version. It would. It takes away the need to have so much of your adobe suite. Um, like most, most apps, you can just wipe now with the pro camo all the things they've included. I really like that.
Bianca Sprague:Um, and I do like chat gpt, but I have like so many caveats and like circles and like notes coming off of it because it's not as one would use and I never, ever use chat GPT copy. It's like you could pick it out of anything. Anybody that says you can't, even if you've trained it to do your brand voice, it just doesn't write the way a human does. But it does have really cool features. For example, oh, I love many chat. Okay, that's the thing.
Bianca Sprague:Last one ManyChat. I mean I run an edutek company so I have like 50 apps that we use and our business 100% depends on them. But ManyChat is really great for automatic replies on your social media, which is really helpful. So if somebody's like comment sunshine, and then they get your sunshine playlist, and so I do really like that. But, for example, when I'm doing a mini chat reply, I'll do one and then I'll say chat GPT, give me 20 ideas of similar replies and then I can have a lot of variety in when somebody DMs me, what comes back to them, with different emojis, but like keeping with the same feel that my friends does a good chat GPT, coming up with blog titles Great Writing a blog for you.
Rita Suzanne:No, I agree, and I don't really use chat TTP, but people, people use it. I don't see there anything wrong with it. But, like you said, it's not. It's has its place for everything. I actually use Gemini, which is with Google, because I'm a Google lover like you. I've got the whole Google suite. We're sitting here on Google Meet because I refuse to pay for Zoom and pay for Google Meet at the same time, because I'm all about making sure you're not wasting money in your business.
Rita Suzanne:But the thing about Gemini is I take my brand strategy and I'll paste that into Gemini and I'll say, okay, based on my brand strategy, now tell me x, y, z and I'll use it. But I always have that, that kickstart of based on my brand strategy, because it doesn't really retain anything, even though the thing about Gemini is it's going off of your Google, my business, and it's going off of your website. So it actually is connected to those two things Because it's going off of your Google work, your workplace account. So I like that and I'm like, oh well, it's Google, it's all you know, it's the best, it's connected, it's superpower, right. But the reason why I like it the best, I think, is you know, and I did do comparisons right. I have compared the results from the chat GTP, the Gemini, and you know um the chat GTP like the pro or the upgrade version you know, not just the free version and um, the results from Gemini are just way superior, although I have friends who like the um, what is it the one that starts Jasper? I have a friend who loves the Jasper AI for content creation. She thinks it's the best, anyways. So let's jump over.
Rita Suzanne:Also, in case someone doesn't, I'll say mini chat. There's this other one called Tutio, I think Tutio, yeah, so I created a chat bot off of that. You can create chat, yeah, for free. You can get like chat bots created off of there, like they have different tiers. If you're the lightest bit techie, you can go in there and create some chatbots and it's actually pretty intriguing. So that's amazing, yeah. So let's jump into. What are you currently reading or listening to right now?
Bianca Sprague:Oh, I read and listen to so many books. I try to try to get five in a week. I'm looking at my bookshelf behind me. I'm on on a rage kick right now, like women in rage, so I have a whole like rage library that I really like. I love the book all the rage, um, by Darcy Lockman. Um, because I I really love looking at the inequities of the gender, inequities at home and what it's like being, um, a mom entrepreneur. Uh, I also just finished how to be a capitalist without any capital. It's real patriarchy Also, don't like, don't fully back me on that, but he does. He does have that kind of man excitement. And then the oh, I can picture the cover of it. I just loved it. Hold on, I'll pull, I'll pull it up. Um, it's. There was a systems book. I love nerding out on systems, so I have an and I break it up because I can't do business all the time and so when I drive to my roller Derby practice.
Bianca Sprague:It's about 40 minutes. So I always listen to the handsome podcast because it really breaks up and it's a comedy podcast with a fortune fiendster, may Martin, and take Nagarro and it is very funny. Um, oh, the minimalist entrepreneur is the book that I'm almost finished. I like that one as well. It's a really like software as a service. So if anybody here is doing SAS, it's um, it's a great book, but it's also really nice.
Bianca Sprague:Um, I mean, he's talking about, like seed money in the seven, eight figures and so I laughed. I laughed a little bit about that and he so his minimalist is not like mom's scraping by with $28. But the values of it are are definitely really interesting. Oh, and Hookpoint. I know that was a lot, but that's how often I listen to and read books. Hookpoint by Brendan Cain is also a pretty good one, which is about like how short it is to go viral. But I don't want you guys to listen to that one because it will challenge everything I just said right now and you guys have to like unlearn this goal of a million people liking your post and really think local, like. Local is where the money is at, local is how you get brand recognition. Even if you have dreams of starting a podcast, start a podcast about your local community, local events, interview local business owners, get ideas, get community members on Like. That is how you will make a six and seven figure business.
Rita Suzanne:I promise, even if you're like I don't understand, there's going to be 50 listeners, but they're all really hot leads and not 50 listeners because you've tried to go on a global stage and compete with our podcasts for example, right, I think that's the key is to really, for example, right, I think I think that's the key is to really consider actually local networking as a strategy for yourself and I think, like for me, I never did it because my kids were younger and I felt like I didn't have the time or the energy to do it.
Rita Suzanne:And if I just put more effort into my social networking, it would actually take off faster than than my local networking would. And that's just not the case. It's just not the case.
Bianca Sprague:Yeah, no, it makes a huge difference and I know that some of you are just like cringing because it means you're gonna have to leave, it means you're gonna have to put a bra on, because it means you're going to have to leave it means you're going to have to put a bra on and you're going to have to like, do, do extroverted things and the promise of these digital businesses.
Bianca Sprague:It takes a lot of work. So all these businesses that are, like, we make seven figures, like I say, I make seven figures, but I'm, I've been at it for 11 years as an exclusively digital business, so you know any of these moms?
Rita Suzanne:After you built locally. So After I built, locally for sure.
Bianca Sprague:And so I know it can be discouraging. Even I can get sucked into those videos of a mom dancing and pointing and saying she made $3 million that month and now she's on vacation all month and she only works six hours, Like I know sometimes I can, I can beat myself up over those, but they're not real and it's that's not the type of work that most of you are doing, Cause I can guess what most of your businesses are in the fields that they are and you know that's not why you went into business. And that gal is all debatable. She made $7 million and there's very few jobs that you can work for four hours a month and make that much money.
Bianca Sprague:It's just, it's not. It's not realistic, it's not reasonable. Even the even the making of that real, you know, takes at least 45 minutes and they have two or three a day like that. So like, just like. Let's think real, reasonable, real, rational here. So make sure everybody in your local community knows you, loves you, thinks you're wonderful, sees you at community events and, honestly, your roster, your products, your roster will be full. Your products will be off the shelf or off out of your garage, wherever they are.
Rita Suzanne:I love it. Okay, so let's briefly talk about self-care, and then we're going to tell everybody where you are online.
Bianca Sprague:Yeah, self-care, I'm big on it. But I think self-care what it looks like like I'm supposed to be off. This week I've done a very terrible job because I'm in a really excited, creative state, so I've actually worked every day that I'm supposed to be off because I want to, and so I think self-care can look differently like that. I also make sure I have lots of hobbies that are just mine, that are very different than my work. I play roller derby so, and I have since I started my business, so that's like a really nice compliment to my gentle birthing practices. It's very aggressive, violent sport and you know, I always make sure I'm learning a language, I'm learning things. I laugh a lot.
Bianca Sprague:Oh, my favorite self-care tip y'all is when you're working, you're working, and when you're not, you're not.
Bianca Sprague:Turn off your notifications, don't go to bed looking at your emails.
Bianca Sprague:You're the only one that can create discipline around this and the act of doing that is so life-changing.
Bianca Sprague:It will get your cortisol down, it will get your life back. So if your kids are around you and you're like still trying to email this client back and they're nagging at you and you feel your that sweaty armpit, your tummies and knots, and you're like, so overwhelmed you have to decide if it's a work time and then you leave the room and you answer the email, or it's a not work time, and then you have to close it and acknowledge your children, because that's what you're doing in that time and I single parented through most of my business. So I do want to put out that I'm not like oh, I passed it off to my partner, I was alone and it was really hard and this was my saving grace. And so make a time and after 6 pm you literally turn off your notifications and don't open your laptop, don't look at your phone and anything that's a crisis will be there tomorrow and you can't do a lot after 6 pm anyway.
Rita Suzanne:And so that would be my like. This will be my top life saving business tip. Business tip I agree. I haven't had notifications on my phone for nine years, so I agree, there you go, yeah, yeah. So where are you at online? Where can everyone find you?
Bianca Sprague:oh, we have so many fun spaces. Um, all of our handles end with baboia inc. So instagramcom, or, yeah, instagramcom forward slash babomia inc. So that's b-e-b-o-m-i-a-i-n-c? Um. Facebook and instagram are the channels that I really enjoy and our team really enjoys being on, so you can always hang out in our community there. Um, we have really fun specials happening. Um, like, we have guest lectures, we do free business talks, we have a podcast that you can find the link through there too, called Hot and Brave, and we actually made a page for your listeners specifically. So if you go to babomiacom forward slash moo M-O-O, you can check out a little bit more about our conversation here today and find some of those links that are easier so you don't have to remember anything I just said besides babomiacom forward slash moo.
Rita Suzanne:Thank you so much. I appreciate it. All right and I will put all the notes in the show notes, all the links in the show notes, and I appreciate you being guests. It's been such a pleasure.
Bianca Sprague:Thanks for having me, Rita. I really enjoyed this chat.
