Mom Owned and Operated

Thriving as an Introverted Entrepreneur with Inga Faison-Cavitt

Rita Suzanne Season 6 Episode 82

In this episode of the Mom Owned and Operated podcast, Rita Suzanne and Inga Faison-Cavitt discuss raising a family, running a business and remembering yourself.

Inga Faison-Cavitt, AKA Ingafay, is an Authenticity Strategist. She left her engineering career to follow her entrepreneurial spirit and now pursues her dream life full of faith, family, freedom, flexibility, and fitness. She enjoys empowering women to live their best life and helps women become top earners by using authentic lead generation and sales strategies that treat people like humans and not numbers.

You can connect with Ingafay on her website, on LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram


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P.S. You can find more interviews at momownedandoperated.com and learn about working with Rita at ritasuzanne.com/apply/




Rita Suzanne:

Hi, this is Mom Owned and Operated and I am Rita Suzanne. Today I have my guest Inga with me. Inga, I am so excited to chat with you and talk all about introverts and how to overcome all of the things. Please tell everyone all about you, your business and your family.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Yes, well, my name is Inga Faison Cavett. I go by Inga Faye. I'm a boy, mom of a 14, soon to be 15 year old, sophomore in high school and I am an authenticity strategist. I specialize in helping women with introverted tendencies in the entrepreneur space to really use their innate gifts to grow their business.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

I know through my trials and tribulations of being an entrepreneur how oftentimes I was mentored by an extrovert. And what do people often teach you how to do? They teach you how to do what they know how to do right. But it was often a disconnect for me because some of the strategies they were using really never felt good to me. So I really felt like I was really not my genuine self when I was out and about doing the things that they had recommended me doing.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

So when COVID happened, it was kind of an eye opening experience for me where I could really kind of figure out some tools and tricks and strategies that really would allow me to succeed as my authentic self, because at that particular time everybody was trying to figure it out Right, so I didn't really have to. I couldn't really go to somebody and say, well, what do you do when XYZ happens? And as a result of that. That's when I came up with these strategies that have really been beneficial to my fellow introverted women, and I'm just all about just helping them reduce their learning curve and really be the success they were meant to be.

Rita Suzanne:

Yeah, I think that it's such a, I guess, prevalent thing for women entrepreneurs especially, I don't want to say at a certain age, right, like as we become like at a certain age, some of us are just not as comfortable in putting ourselves out there online as maybe the younger moms and women are, and I think that's just a generational thing. But I remember when I started 10 years ago, I classified myself as an introvert, and I still do that, even though I'm comfortable getting on video, I'm comfortable in social situations. But I don't think that I'm actually an introvert. I just was being, I was just shy and uncomfortable online.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Yeah Well, I think that's a good thing that you just shared too, because oftentimes people think the only people that are shy are introverts, when in actuality, extroverts can be shy too, and really what I have found when you're talking about introverts and extroverts, it really comes down to how you get your energy. I know personally for me I recharge by myself. If I do something like this, I can get up and talk and be passionate about a product or a service that I really support and endorse. I can do that without a problem. But after I'm done, I'm definitely going to need my alone time to recharge and regroup, so I could possibly do it again. So I'm not one of those people that gains energy just from being around folks. Sunday is definitely a day that I'm like chilling. I am watching Netflix Bridgerton just came out. I'm all about that Just really relaxing and so I can recharge myself for the next coming week. So that's really what it's about.

Rita Suzanne:

Yeah, I think I'm the same way too, because I have four teenagers here and I always tell them that it's like being pulled in, you know, by four different people constantly needing all of your energy Plus. You have your business. Know, by four different people constantly needing all of your energy Plus. You have your business, your clients need you, all of the things and I just need my space. I just need to be alone and don't take it personally. I just need to be by myself for a little while. So I do feel like I'm introverted, but in you know, some people will say that ambivert or what or what right, but right um, my first, very first coach.

Rita Suzanne:

she kind of forced me to go and do the whole. What was that thing? It was like the very first video platform where everyone was getting on there and she kind of made me get on there and everybody was like tapping for likes and hearts and everything and I can't remember the name of it. But she made me do that as a way to promote myself and she was an introvert herself. But she said we're going to do this and it's going to make us better. And I will say that I was terrified. And so, because I was an introvert and because I was scared and all of these other things, I want to know, like what are some tips that you have for people who may be feeling that same way as I felt back then?

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Well, girl, I have felt that way too. I can remember my first video I actually did in my car at a in front of a dollar tree store because I was on my lunch break and I was trying to get in front of some sun so I could have some good sunlight for the video, because I didn't have a ring light and all that stuff that I have now. So, yeah, I totally get it. But in that same instance that I did that, I was scared out of my wicks.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

But I had really forced myself to do it, similar to what your coach recommended that you do too, and what I found out was that it wasn't that bad. I did it one time. It was just like, okay, I really didn't like that. I did it a second time and unfortunately I had somebody to slam the door our door, next to me. You can hear that I was just like, okay, well, I can't use that one Because at that time I didn't know how to edit. So then I had to do it again.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

But I realized the third time that I did it I was really able to really like kind of let my hair down and my personality came out, and it was so much better than the first time. So if anybody is on here listening to us or even watching us today and you're fearful for getting on video, girlfriend, I just want to tell you just do it, ok. On the other side, you're just like that wasn't that bad, and the more you do it, the better you get. And that was another thing that I learned when I first did it. As well is, I didn't want to stop because I knew that if I stopped doing it then I would go revert way back to that first time that I did and I was scared out of my wits and that was what I wanted, to make sure that I didn't go back to.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

So I just kept doing it. So now it's nothing for me to do, and most people when they see me they think, oh yeah, she's an extrovert, but I'm not. So yeah, so it's just. It's just one of those things. You just got to kind of push yourself out of the comfort zone. You're going to be glad you did, instead of wish you had.

Rita Suzanne:

I'll say it that way yeah, I feel the same way. I feel like the more you do it, the easier it becomes and, like you, people think that I am an extrovert and I'm like, ok, I'm just comfortable doing it. But, and even in social, situations.

Rita Suzanne:

I think that by doing it, though, it does boost your confidence, it does help you more and more, and so I think with anyone if they're struggling at all with any type of confidence like, do the thing that is going to push you outside of your comfort zone. So outside of like doing it. I find that a lot of times, a lot of my clients, they're struggling with their marketing in general and it's because they want to do video, but they don't know what to say. You know. So what do you think? Like is something that you would tell somebody who where they're just like.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

You're like just get on video and they're like well, it's funny that you say that, because this has kind of been on my heart for the last two days and I'm definitely going to have to act on this, to come up with some kind of platform to share this, but outside of this platform today. But the first thing that I would say is I think it's very imperative, when you're trying to think about what you want to talk about is who are you talking to? Ok, first and foremost, I think we get so caught up in the marketing and trying to get ourselves out there, but we forget who we serve, because that's who we're working to attract. Which is why I love using surveys, because it allows me to find out what people are really struggling with, because what are we trying? Who are we trying to attract, first and foremost, and what are they struggling with? And then how can we help them? And then, once we get, we keep that in mind the things that we talk about are going to be for that person. It's not going to be for us.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

So I think we need to take the the mirror and not look at ourselves, but turn it around and really find out what our client wants. And that's why I love the surveys, because it allows us to truly do that, and do it in a manner that allows us to filter and not necessarily convince people. What we have is what they want, because if you ask them, they will literally tell you. And, at the end of the day, people want to be validated, they want to be seen, they want to be heard, they want to be understood. And what better way to do that is by asking them.

Rita Suzanne:

They want to be understood, and what better way to do that is by asking them Right If they'll answer you. I think that a lot of people are like I will put out a survey, but I can't get anybody to answer them for me.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Right, but then that means that they weren't your person anyway, because if they're not willing to answer, they're not really the answer to your survey, they're not for you. They've already told you, they've already filtered themselves and said nope, I'm not it. So yeah, for sure. And then I think it's in the way that you ask it. I think you have to make it a win-win type of situation for them. You know they're helping you, but how are you going to help them at the end of the day?

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

So it's it's kind of that kind of thing too, cause, like for for me, one of the things that I I work with coaches and consultants and what do I know coaches and consultants want? They want visibility, right. So one of the things that I tell them hey, you're going to fill this out for me, but in addition to filling this out for me, this is also going to help me determine if we're really a collaboration fit me determine if we're really a collaboration fit and, if I can, if we can share the stage on one of my YouTube channels where we can both benefit as a result of us interacting with each other, because entrepreneurship is a team sport, right. So that's what we got to keep in mind too. So kind of think about that, what's in it for them. Don't just think about what's it because you're getting the market research. Yeah, that's great for for you, but what are they getting after they do it?

Rita Suzanne:

right, and I think that's where a lot of business owners would drop the ball, where it's just like, okay, this is, this is what I need, right? They don't really consider why would somebody fill that out, even whether or not they're the target audience, right, like there has to be some type of something in it for for the person you know. So I love that. So a lot of times I think now, especially in these past couple of years and we talked just a little bit briefly on our current state of like marketing, right, we talked about how a lot of times now, it seems like it's overcrowded, it's overwhelming. You have to be out here and almost as if you're not on video, it's going to be really, really hard for you to get clients and be seen. So do you think that someone who is introverted could be successful as an entrepreneur?

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, for sure. The thing about it is we have to use our innate abilities to grow our business and not do it like an extrovert would do it. An extrovert is going to go to a networking event and they're going to probably, more than likely, be the life of the party, be talking to a whole bunch of people, talking to a whole bunch of people, and we naturally are not going to do that because we're not really small talk kind of people. Okay, but we could possibly get up on a stage and talk about what we're really passionate about and have conversations after that and attract the people that we want to us and then have those one-on-one conversations to really determine if they are a true fit. We can do that for sure. So it's just kind of just finding out what your niche is, and that's why, that's why I tell people about the survey thing, because, okay, you can filter the people you can. You can filter first and foremost. Then you can also get copy, because we're trying, we want to, we want to attract our person to us. We don't want to attack and I know everybody knows what that feels like, because I'm pretty sure most people on here. If you're an entrepreneur and you're on social media, somebody has sent you a DM talking about how they're going to help you make $20,000 in three months, or they're going to do all of the arts and crafts for you to really market so you can focus on the income producing activity. I mean, I'm sure all of us have heard that. So it's really important. And that was another reason why I love the surveys is because I want to know what people really want, not what I think they want. And I'm going to give you a perfect example.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

I mean, I started my entrepreneur experience well, really journey in direct sales, and when I was first in direct sales, I was given this survey about lip color. So I'm pretty much sure everybody on here could kind of relate to this. And on this survey, unfortunately, what I did was I asked them what I wanted to hear Do you want hydration, do you want anti-aging, do you want long, long wear? Okay, so they would just kind of check the boxes, okay. So I flipped it. I was just like you know what, I'm not going to ask those questions anymore. I'm just going to ask them what is your biggest lip color struggle? Ok, you know what they said. They didn't say anything about hydration. They said nothing about long wear. They said nothing about anti-aging. They told me Inga, I just want something that looks good on my complexion Mic drop OK, they could care less about all that stuff that I was asking. So what did I use? Ok, they could care less about all that stuff that I was asking. So what did I use? I use that question on a landing page and started getting people to come into my world just by asking that one question that initially I wouldn't have inherently known what to ask because I didn't know what they were struggling with until I asked them. So that's what I'm saying about Figuring out the copy, even what to talk about.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

When you're doing the surveys, you're getting those ideas because they're literally telling you. You're literally telling you what they need. And one of the things that I found on my survey talking to other business owners is they're telling me they struggle. I don't know how many times I've heard they're really struggling with lead generation, how many times I've heard they're really struggling with lead generation and every, in every kind of way, they're telling me they have not identified their avatar. They say things like I want this. One girl told me. I want, I'm a nonprofit and I want clients that are that have a budget of 750,000 a year or something. She was telling me okay, those are the type of people you want to work with. Okay, so are those the type of people you're targeting? Because if you're not targeting those type of people, then you're not going to find those type of people.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

But if you know what you're looking for. Almost kind of similar to what we probably did when we were dating we wrote down the ideal guy for us or the ideal mate. It's the same thing that when you wrote it down and you figured it out and then when the person appeared, it was just like that's him or that's her, it's the same kind of thing.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

But we don't do that. We think we got to come up with all these marketing things and we're trying to do all the videos and we're not sure what to talk about. What does our person need? We got to find the need and then feel it. And that's how we do that by asking the question.

Rita Suzanne:

So I think that's really valid. It seems like often when I'm working with clients regardless of what it's about, whether it's marketing, whether it's, you know, web design, whatever they think that they understand who their ideal client is, right, right, until I asked them to describe that person. Except, what they're describing is more like a group or broad description of someone. You know, it's the whole. Oh, someone between 35 and 55, you know that thing and I'm like no, especially as an entrepreneur, we need to get super, super specific and really and it's not really about, like, demographics, all of that stuff At this point now in our marketing world, we need to focus on pain points. What are the pain points of this person? What are their buyer behaviors? How are they buying Like what? What are we? What do we need to do in order to connect with them more?

Rita Suzanne:

And yeah, instead of like really focusing in on on little things that don't really matter, right. So I love that you're using that. And back back when I first started, what we would do is we would go into Facebook groups and that had our target audience in it and someone would ask a question based on what we need, and then we would copy some of the answers. And someone would ask a question based on what they would need, and then we would copy some of the answers and put that in a spreadsheet or whatever, and then that would tell us exactly what people were asking, versus having the survey right, because at that time, like, let's say, you didn't have an audience right, you were just pulling. You were able then to pull some of the stuff that they were actually saying. So I think that that's a different way to kind of grab some direct, some direct like copy from people, but I think it's more powerful when it comes from your actual people.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Right, right. Well, you can. That's the ideal thing about it. You don't have to be this doesn't have to be a warm market type of person that's filling out the survey. You can do it in a cold type of atmosphere too, but again, you got to make sure that you have an incentive that they're going to be willing to do it for you because you're going to do something for them. So it's got to be a win-win type of situation. So, yeah, it can be done for cold market too.

Rita Suzanne:

I love that. So what are some, I guess, specific suggestions that you would have for people in order to kind of get them out of their little introvert shell? Do you have any recommendations for people besides? You just do it Right.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Just do it. Oh well, I guess it's really important to practice, I think. I think we think we should be shooting from the hip, which is not a trait of an introvert. Practice makes definitely progress for us. I won't say perfect, it makes progress. So, the more that we're able to practice and kind of think through the things that we're going to practice and kind of think through the things that we're going to say and how we're going to say it, and not be afraid of the pause. The pause is good if we need a minute to kind of gather our thoughts, because that's what we do. I mean, we're deep thinkers. We need that pause to really kind of figure out what the next thing that we need to do.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

It was amazing to me that I was in this mastermind a couple of months ago and it never occurred to me just to take time to think.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Because I'm a deep thinker as it is and it was, I was, as my father would say, days glazed in a maze by all of the things that I was able to create on my own, that I didn't necessarily have to have somebody to tell me that.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

It was just like I'm putting this in place, but it was because I sat there and I thought about it and not being afraid of that. I mean, I think it's very important when you, especially like when you're doing speaking engagements, if somebody tells you what the questions are before you get up there. Of course, if you practice them, you'll be fine because you were prepared for it, but we have to take that time to do that and I think that's really imperative for our success. Step out, push yourself out your comfort zone, make sure you practice, make sure that you're present. So, if you got to write things down, if something really makes sense to you, make a note of it and then, if you need further time to ponder on it, more than likely you will then take that time and then implement it.

Rita Suzanne:

Yeah, one thing that I like to do when I'm making my videos is to do like three to five like talking points that I can make sure that I hit on, so that I'm not bandering on the topic too much. Yeah Right, I need things that are going to keep me focused, right, so I think that that also helps. Let's kind of pivot a little Before we do you have a free guide that you want to share with everyone. Tell us about that, tell me what's included in that, because I feel like that might have some good stuff for them as well.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Right. So what I did was I wanted to come up with a way to help my fellow introvert to be able to create these surveys so you could completely avoid what I just described to you about telling people what you want to hear instead of finding out what was really going on with them so they could feel understood. So I have created a survey guide that you can download for free. It kind of gives you strategy on how to actually complete a survey to gather the things that you really want to find out more about from your client. So that you can go to my website, ingafaycom it's right on the homepage, so you can just put your name and your email address and then you'll get it instantaneously.

Rita Suzanne:

I love that. I think that and that just ties in perfectly, because people probably like well, I don't really sure what to ask, right, and I think that that's a great gift, especially since we're talking about surveys. So one thing that I want to really find out is how people are able to do like the juggle right, like what is one of your favorite tools that you are using in your business, that, is it a project management tool? Is it some kind of other software that you're using? Like what is helping you to kind of like optimize your day so that you're not super overwhelmed?

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

It's a planner that I use and I I'm a strong proponent of planning your day on paper before you walk it out, Especially as moms. We have 50 million things that like today. I had my plan of today but some things came in the way of that and, as a result of that, I just had to be able to know okay, today is one o'clock Well, really 12 o'clock. I know I gotta be on this podcast, so just kind of get myself back into sync. I think it's really important for us to at least plan it out. It may not necessarily go the way that we planned it, but it's very important that we have the plan so we can go back to where we need to, as needed. My computer Wait a second. My computer is about to die. Wait a second. Ok, Wait a second. My computer is about to die. Wait a second.

Rita Suzanne:

Okay, I'm going to make a note.

Rita Suzanne:

okay, sorry about that oh, no, worries, I'm gonna make a note and the thing to take that out, um, okay, so I'm, I'm very much like you. I'm such a list maker and I love I. Well, I carry around a notebook with me and I'll make notes inside of my little notebook and then when I get back even though I have my phone and I do have my Apple notes and I'll just, you know, write notes in there as well but then, once I get back to my desk, I'll take all of those notes and then I'll put them inside of my computer. But it helps me to kind of like, I think, get it out of my head when I actually physically write them down. So I love that you're doing that as well. The next thing I really want to talk about is what are you listening to or reading lately? It could be business related or not business related.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Right now I am very much looking at how to expand my visibility through SEO. So I have been reading SEO books about getting backlinks and making sure you have SEO content and really being able to have the authority because of the backlinks that you gain from writing in different magazines and that kind of thing. So that's one of my focuses, in addition to my YouTube channel really actively working to grow my subscribership because I want to monetize my channel and just really figuring out ways that, even as I reach that level of monetization that I could still do it even having less than a thousand subscribers that they're recommending, that I can still monetize in other ways. So just kind of being creative in that way of really just growing and expanding my reach so more people can know about what I have and how I can serve them.

Rita Suzanne:

I love that. And both of those strategies are long term strategies. So you know, so, even though they take time to build up, they pay off in the long run.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Oh yeah, for sure, for sure, and then I guess, more short-term, since you broke that down like that. So more short-term is more grassroots kind of marketing, and that's where my surveys come in. Where I can connect with, my happy place on social media is really LinkedIn. I feel like I'm really able to find my people over there. I do some on Facebook, but it's the majority of my stuff is over on LinkedIn. So I have newsletters that I write on a regular basis that attract my client to me, and then I do the surveys and then I'm doing podcasts and these kinds of things on a regular again to further my reach.

Rita Suzanne:

I love that. I and I just learned about the fact that LinkedIn has newsletters just yesterday, yeah, and they're really powerful, they're really proud.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

I've actually gotten right writing gigs from my newsletter. So I write for two beauty magazines and I'm in the process of writing for the entrepreneur magazine and those and those type of gigs have come as a result of my newsletter because, of course, when you're writing the newsletter and you're getting those writing gigs, they want to see what you've written. And typically, granted, I have my email list and my folks are getting that. Folks are getting that. But just to be able to just tell them, hey, you can just go to my beauty newsletter, hey, or you can just go to my coaching newsletter on LinkedIn, I can just direct them both to those newsletters and it's really easy for them to see how I write and what I write about.

Rita Suzanne:

I think that's. I think it's a good feature, because I guess, back, you know, back before, we used to, I guess, be able to add our LinkedIn. They said, you know, add your blog posts to LinkedIn, as I don't know posts or or whatever, but I used to worry that it would interfere with your SEO and so I never would do it, even though they would say it was safe, I'd never would do it because I would be nervous about it. But I love the idea of adding this, the newsletter aspect to it, and so I'm definitely going to start doing that. I think it's a brilliant idea, and the person who told me about it she was saying how it she has several clients who do it and it's, you know, brought them to X amount of subscribers and it's great.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Yeah, it is, it is. And then the thing about it if you already have an email list the things that you talk about on your email list you could just repurpose it on LinkedIn. Just change the title, just change it really slightly. So I mean, if you've already done the work of writing it, just reuse it and just put it over in LinkedIn.

Rita Suzanne:

So yeah, and I'm repurposing my newsletters now, too, to my blog as well, so I'm putting them over there, because I make the newsletters also like very educational as well, so there's lessons involved in them. So, yeah, I think that you know, repurposing as much as possible so that we can get seen in any way, I think is a smart idea. So the last thing that I always love to talk about is self care, because one of the reasons why I started this podcast was really to figure out how other moms were able to do some of the things that I was really struggling with, and that was, you know, figuring out as a single mom, like how to run a business and raise my kids, but also to remember myself. So I'd love to hear how other moms are able to do that. So what are you doing for yourself?

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Well, I before, I guess at the beginning of my day, I make it a point to do my devotional. I do my devotional before I even start my day and it just kind of grounds me for the rest of the day. In addition to that, I always do some kind of self-development after that. So I'm constantly learning, because as entrepreneurs it's not we don't just get to our desired, promised land or our next level. We have to grow into it. So making sure that I'm continuously learning and finding out new ideas and connecting with new people to level up my business. So I want to make sure that I do that on the regular and then, typically after that, I always make it a point to work out. So I do all of this in the morning.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

I feel like the things that you really want to get done first, you should do first in the day. So if you have a day, like I've had earlier today, that you can get the essentials that keep you grounded and then, if you have to do something else to catch up, back up with the other things, you can, but just really making sure that you take care of yourself, Because at the end of the day, if you're not well, you're not going to be able to have a thriving business, because your health is your wealth, so you have to take the time to exercise, to eat right. I'm religious about what I'm actually putting in my body, looking at the food that I put in my body not as pleasure, but really as fuel for me to do the next thing that I need to do.

Rita Suzanne:

I love that, and and doing the morning thing reminds me of the miracle morning. Have you ever? Read that I used to do. I used to be such a devout you know follower of that when my kids were younger. Now that they're older, I what I do is I'll take time and I'll leave and I'll go to the gym. I'll be gone for like two hours, like that's where I'm like able to clear my head and like get that that break that I'm talking about.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Right.

Rita Suzanne:

Yeah, so where can we find you online? We know you're on LinkedIn, right, you on YouTube, so tell tell everyone where they can find you. So tell everyone where they can find you.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Yeah, so I'm on LinkedIn, for sure. I am on YouTube. I'm on Instagram as well, and Facebook yeah, I have a Facebook business page. So, yeah, those are my places that you can typically find me. Unfortunately, in my game of creating my business, I wasn't as diligent to make sure that all of my apps were really. Yeah, all of my handles were the same, but they're pretty much the same. They have Incafe in them, but they, yeah, you have to add a little spice to it, but I'm sure that information will be down in the show notes, so you don't have to worry about finding me. You can just kind of click and go to the prospective place that you want to find me.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Yes, definitely, and your website again ingafaycom, that's I-N-G-A-F as in Frank A-Ycom.

Rita Suzanne:

Thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure having you on.

Inga Faison-Cavitt:

Likewise, thank you for having me.

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