September 3, 2024 • 50 mins
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/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rita Suzanne (00:01):
Hi, this is Mom Owned and Operated.
I am Rita, Suzanne, and today Ihave my guest Bianca with me.
Bianca, I am so excited to chatwith you today.
Please tell everyone all aboutyou, your business and your
family.
Bianca Sprague (00:14):
Oh, thanks for having me, rita.
My name is Bianca Sprague and Ifounded my company and it's
called Babo Mia.
Oh man, I, I, just no man.
I've learned a lot since namingmy business almost 20 years ago
, but we started as a brick andmortar in Toronto working with
families going through thatfertility, birth and postpartum
(00:35):
period, and then we realizedthat the training for
practitioners the bar, was solow that we pivoted and we
actually moved online and weteach practitioners and women
and queer business owners how torun a feminist business.
And if people are interested inworking with, with parents or
(00:55):
parents-to-be, we have thosecertifications as well.
And I just actually leftToronto last year and my wife
and I live with our daughtercalled Gray, and we live in
rural Nova Scotia, which is sucha huge change from downtown
Toronto to live in, with nothingLike I look out my window and
it's just trees, mountains andthe ocean, which is beautiful,
(01:18):
but it's a it's a big change.
Rita Suzanne (01:21):
Yeah, definitely, I'm sure it's very calming.
It's interesting that you saylike your very first business
name I remember.
I'm just going to sidetrackreal quick.
My very first business name wasBrainy Girl Designs.
I don't even know where I gotthat from, because I was web
designing right At the time.
People used to tell me all thetime I love your name, I love
(01:43):
your business name, I love yourbusiness name, I love your
business name, and I startedhating it almost instantly,
right?
Bianca Sprague (01:49):
Really.
Rita Suzanne (01:50):
Yes, I just thought, like what was I
thinking, you know?
And so, yeah, I justimmediately switched it to a
personal brand, right away.
Bianca Sprague (02:01):
I mean ours is memorable so it gets a tick for
that.
It's great for SEO.
But you know, we did have areally my business partner and I
started it and we did have likea really deep meaning behind
why Babo, Mia and it means mybaby in Esperanto but like
nobody ever says it right,People capitalize it all
lowercase one word, two words.
It is two words, everybody.
(02:22):
And it's all lowercase B, E, B,O, space, M, I, A.
So I've learned a lot about youknow things that are easy to
spell and and say, but you knowyou don't want to do a rebrand
when you're in.
You're going into your thirddecade.
Rita Suzanne (02:38):
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, evenlike purchasing your domain the
longer you have your domain, thebetter it is for it, and so
there's a lot of reasons tostick with something and keep it
.
Um, so that's good.
(02:58):
So let's talk about what is oneservice, product or offer
that's really been a gamechanger for you in your business
.
Bianca Sprague (03:08):
Yeah, as far as profitability goes, yeah, so I
mean, like I said, I was brickand mortar and we pivoted online
and that was in 2013.
And at the time, nobody wasteaching anybody about you know
how to do breastfeeding supportor fertility support or be a
doula, and so we had ourindustry going bonkers.
(03:30):
They were like, oh my gosh,babel Mia is pivoting online.
Can you believe they're goingto teach classes online?
Like you can't teach online allthis stuff and it was really
scary.
And we were the first to offera full spectrum doula training
in the digital space and wetaught it all live and guys,
this was before Kajabi, this wasbefore Teachable.
We had the clunkiest, ugliestwebsite that we built and we had
(03:54):
this like plugin that wecustomized to go into our
WordPress.
It was ugly, but it was reallycool to think that we did that.
We had to develop the techbecause it didn't exist for us
to be able to teach live in thevirtual space and that was such
a game changer for us.
A because we didn't have 14centers across Toronto, so that
(04:14):
overhead left.
But to be a trailblazer insomething that you know, even
though the industry was like youcan't do it.
I mean now, look at, by thetime the pandemic came, we were
masters at a scale up in thedigital space.
And now you know there's adownside is that there's a lot
of noise in the space.
But you know, we made sevenfigures from from creating this
(04:36):
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 reallyhad to decide how our product
and our services could bedelivered so that we didn't lose
that touch, move and inspirethat was so important to us.
But, like, the world opened upliterally, and now in our
(04:58):
classes we have students in 49countries, and so the
conversation it's just, you know, it's come out of a North
American context and now youknow we're talking about
business practices and marketingideas on a global scale.
So that was, hands down, themost profound pivot in our
business over the last 17 yearslove it, though, because if you
(05:25):
don't take that chance right,nobody else is doing it.
Rita Suzanne (05:27):
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'regoing to do it and and you've
made sure you found it and thatwas the best thing that you
could do.
So I think that's amazing.
Bianca Sprague (05:41):
So I just want to highlight sorry, rita one of
my favorite memories of thispivot, just because so many
times people hear the like sevenfigure story and I just want to
bring it down.
So my business partner and Ihad babies at the time, so we
had loud babies.
So we were in my car in aparking lot doing a teleseminar
Guys, this was before webinars.
So you did it, you call in, andso that's the only way, with
(06:07):
our babies outside the car, withus inside the car doing a
teleseminar, and it was reallyexciting that we got eight
people signed up for our firstrun and it was so much work for
only eight people.
But I just like I want to sharethat story because that happened
from 2013 to now, so like thatwas over a decade, but year over
year, and I think it's reallyimportant to go down to the
(06:27):
bite-sized pieces because I knowwhen I hear entrepreneurs that
I envy or I want to strive for,I can really beat myself up to
be like, oh, my goodness, shemade $7 million last year, like
what is wrong with you and itwas clunky and it was a lot of
you know, it wasn't this likebeautiful, smooth, smooth
journey and it was eight peoplein my first course, and so I
(06:52):
just I really want to highlightthat so you guys can like really
close your eyes and imaginewhat two moms, not knowing what
they were doing running anedutech company, look like and
and that we just stayed with itand just kept tweaking it and
and the art of the messy start.
So like just like start and getfeedback and keep going and and
don't try to like put somethingout for the seven figure launch
(07:14):
, because it's probably notgoing to happen.
Rita Suzanne (07:16):
No, I agree, and I think that that's the problem a
lot of times is that peoplehighlight too much the success
and they don't really showcasethe journey and the all of the
road.
You know the, the bumps thatthey had to go over.
And I like to tell people likelisten, this is not easy, it is
hard.
(07:37):
So, no matter what, like yes,we're talking about all of the,
the, the successes that we'vehad in our business.
That's what we're going to talkabout 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 tocontinue to be easy.
Even when you start makingmoney, it's still challenging,
(08:01):
there's still challenges thatcome up in the process, and so I
think that that's a really goodpoint for people to take away
and just say, yeah, you know,like.
I think that often social mediamakes it seem like you know, oh
, yes, you could be over heretoo, sitting on the beach with
your laptop making a milliondollars in five minutes.
Bianca Sprague (08:23):
Yeah, yeah, I just I want to bring it down for
everybody.
Rita Suzanne (08:28):
Let's come back to reality for about five seconds.
So right now, as we speak, whatis your biggest source of
revenue?
Bianca Sprague (08:37):
Yeah, I would say our online courses.
However, I do have a caveathere.
Everybody, you have to be readyto pivot, and it can be really
hard pivoting.
You can let go of things yousame way.
There's lots of reasons, Isuspect, the economy being one,
(09:08):
the pandemic and us being screenfatigued being another, and so
we're actually we're doing ashift to offer bite-sized micro
education, and so I'm rampingthat up right now.
So it's running alongsidebecause I know our programs are
absolutely incredible.
They're the best out in themarket.
I've taken almost all of themso I can say that.
(09:30):
But you know, people are reallyinto this like quick, quick and
dirty education and not this.
You know I want to invest infour months to two years and
like really developing somethingwith the foundation, and so I
do want to give the way thatsome people want to learn.
So I do have a new stream oflike very bite-sized bits of
(09:51):
education.
You know, like 10 videos, do itin an afternoon 20 minutes of,
like you know, 20 minutewebinars, and so that is
actually ramping up and doingreally well at the same time.
So hopefully by next year I'llsay that that's competing with
our, with our flagship programs,but only time will tell.
Rita Suzanne (10:13):
Yeah, I've always been one who likes the what I
would call mini courses that aresuper specific and and honed in
on a specific target.
You know, like targetinformation versus something
that's super broad and all likea comprehensive course.
I like the little, bite-sizedcourses so that I can take the
(10:34):
course and implement almostimmediately, right Like that's.
My goal is to implement rightnow.
But and if there's somethingbig it seems so overwhelming I
can't.
I can't do it.
But I've always been like that.
I've always liked the smallerones.
Bianca Sprague (10:50):
Yeah, and I think there's a time, like the
people who have success withthis, I was resistant to the
smaller ones, because so manypeople want to just grab a few
small ones and then it reflectsin their business that they're
like that is the extent of theirfoundation versus you know
people, I'm constantly learningabout entrepreneurship, and have
probably since I was about nineyears old, and so if I get a
(11:11):
bite size, like micro bit ofeducation, it's because I did
have a specific question andwanted that answered, but by no
means is it the only thing I'vetaken in.
It's probably one of, you know,a hundred pieces of content I
take in a week, and so that wasthat was a bit of my reluctance
is that we are so like instantgratification, get it right now,
(11:31):
do it fast, do it easy and withyour business, like I mean,
some people stumble intobusinesses that make a lot of
money without a lot of effortreally quickly.
Those do exist, but they alsofizzle out very quickly, and so
I think, though, if you'reasking specific questions, you
know, like some of the ones wehave, is you know, really, how
do you get solid testimonialsand what do you do with them
(11:52):
after, then I'm like, yeah, forsure, Go buy my micro course and
get that specific questionanswered and spend an afternoon
tweak your testimonials,understand what social proof is
and all the many ways you canshow it, and then, like, spend
the rest of the week working onit.
But if somebody is like, ohgood, that's the only thing I
got, I'm like it is not enoughof an education for you to just
like be scaffolded for your work.
Rita Suzanne (12:16):
No, I agree, like you are not an expert after this
, but I'm going to.
I'm going to share with youthis one thing that's going to
help you handle that specificproblem.
Ok, so what is your mostvaluable financial lesson that
you could share with othermompreneurs?
Bianca Sprague (12:34):
Oh, Rita, I've made so many colossal mistakes.
Yeah, I think, like a few of thepieces that I think are really
important with our businessesare intertwined, and so you know
, the financial pieces isobviously like profitability is
a really critical pillar of yourbusiness, but I think it also
(12:55):
you need to find a lot of joy inwhat you're doing.
Like you need to love nurturing.
Like being an entrepreneur isso much harder than being an
employee in many ways.
Like being an entrepreneur isso much harder than being an
employee in many ways.
And you have to love whatyou're doing in order to not
press next on Netflix, in orderto get up even though there's
not a boss telling you when youneed to be to work.
To like say no to your friendswho are having a daytime lunch
(13:15):
because they have the day off.
Like those things take a lot ofdiscipline to keep doing it and
when, like, people aren'tbuying it, to figure out why and
not just giving up.
It takes a lot.
So you really need to have thatheart space and that support.
And then our community is socritical.
So when I think of the mistakesI've made, when we're looking at
the financial bucket, it wasbecause there was a misalignment
(13:38):
with the joy bucket and thepeople bucket, and you know I'm
I'm deeply committed to tryingto understand and see how we can
have feminist business thattruly works outside the model of
capitalism, which I know it'slike, I hear it.
My wife's a prof and so she isalways like it's not possible
what you're doing, and I waslike I just I believe that women
(14:00):
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 forthroughout time, and so anytime
I would say something like Imessed up in the financials.
So like one, for example, waslike meta pivoted and we didn't,
and something that used to beso meta.
(14:21):
For anybody that doesn't know,that's the monster that owns
most of social media, mainlybeing Instagram and Facebook,
and and it's taken over andwe've become credibly dependent
upon it, and so you know wedidn't pivot with their
algorithm fast enough, and so Iused to make seven figures and
spend less than $30,000 a yearon advertising.
(14:41):
Now, if you're a tiny business,$30,000 a year sounds like so
much money, but if you're making1.1 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 wouldcome out without fail.
And then the pandemic happenedand the algorithms changed and
(15:03):
everything like just how peopleengage in social media and
that's just one example is thatI.
You know that that trifecta forme was out of balance and I
spent thousands and thousandsand thousands of dollars a month
and never made anything.
So I was putting an x and thenI was like, what about?
What about if I put in Z?
What about if I put in Zsquared and nothing was coming
(15:26):
out the other side, which hasbeen a really terrifying couple
of years, and so that reallymade me have to look at like,
okay, what are we doing here?
And turning up the joy andturning up the people and
turning up the community to youknow, balance out this, this
piece.
I know that sounded really likeprobably a bit complicated, but
(15:48):
I found that I can alwaysidentify these colossal mistakes
I've made, as well as anytime Igot stuck with bright and shiny
things like you should get abooth at a trade show and then
you spend $25,000 and nothinghappens from it.
So I have lots of those too.
They're fun.
Rita Suzanne (16:07):
Right.
Bianca Sprague (16:09):
I know.
Rita Suzanne (16:10):
And those are just .
You know, every action is alesson, right?
Okay, so let's since wementioned it a little bit let's
talk about marketing.
So one thing that I always loveto talk about is, like, what
marketing tactic or channel isworking best for you and your
business?
And we spoke a little bit aboutnot using social media to grow
(16:33):
your business, so let's divereally deep into that.
Bianca Sprague (16:38):
Yeah.
So this y'all get your pens andpaper out Like this is a game
changer here.
So I just want to quickly touchon the trap of social media.
We've been promised so muchfrom social media and all of you
I mean some of you might haveetsy shops and stuff, in which
case you're hitting a moreglobal market, but like, really,
you're gonna have the mostsuccess if you can really
localize your business, but ifyou're doing any kind of service
(16:58):
, it's as far as you can driveum, and so what you want to do
is actually use social media asa bit of a tool, like use it in
the way that we can as smallbusinesses.
So I have Bebo Mia, but I alsoam a doula and so, like, I have
my local business where I servefamilies.
So I'm going to use that one asan example.
So one of the things is we havethis trap where we are trying
(17:22):
to go viral with our stuff.
We're trying to go viral onTikTok, 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'snot going to be the ROI, and if
you go, look at some of thepeople that have virality and
you actually go in and look attheir of how many followers they
have.
Sometimes you'll see somebodythat did like a 9 million views
(17:44):
post on Instagram and thenyou'll go and they still only
have 1300 followers.
And so we, you know, if we'retrying to chase this thing, that
is always like, it's alwayselusive, like.
Sometimes you'll get one.
I'll put up a post and 25,000people like it right away and I
was like really.
And then I put one with so muchheart and content and
information and 12 people likeit and I was like guys, what is
(18:06):
happening?
So I want just I'm going tobreak this down into 15 minute
tasks you can do.
That is going to be such agreat return on your investment,
because the goal is notvirality, the goal is not to
have a million followers, butthe goal is to have a profitable
business that people know andrespect and talk about.
(18:27):
So I want you here's your firsttask 15 minutes.
You're going to go followchannels of people who are
working with your target market.
So let's say you're doing.
Let's say you're doula that's anice and easy one.
You'd follow the baby stores.
You'd follow massage therapists.
You'd follow, you know, themommy and me music time.
(18:47):
You'd follow, like housecleaning services, all of that,
and so you can take yourindustry.
So if you're a massagetherapist, you'd go see what
else are they doing acupunctureclinics, like whatever your
business is and make sure youcheck that those businesses are
in alignment.
So, like, have they postedabout your upcoming election and
are they on the side of thefence that you would like to
send your people to?
(19:07):
You know, factor those thingsin.
How are they talking about Roev Wade's anniversary?
Like, you really have tounderstand that, because they're
going to be an extension ofyour business.
Okay, so I would try to follow10 per day and then you want to
start like blowing up their feedBecause, as you know, as a
(19:28):
small business, you notice whensomebody shares something.
You notice when somebodycomments Like most of us here
don't have millions of followers.
If you do, congratulations, andthis episode is probably not
super useful for you, but forthe 99.9% of us, you know you do
notice when somebody regularlyposts and so, or like, comments
(19:49):
and shares your stuff.
So then you want them to knowyou.
This is the best way to likecold 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 yournewsletter, because these are
all going to benefit you havethe same community members,
(20:10):
right?
So your target market's goingto be the same.
Um, like their stuff.
Comment dm them like you wantthem to see your business name
in their, in their, you know,activity feed over and over and
over again.
Yeah, their notifications, thankyou, um, so then you're going
to do that for a week or so.
Now we've set the stage soyou're not just like going into
their shop or cold calling theirclinic or writing to.
(20:33):
You know, whatever their,whatever the business is, they
they start to know who you are.
And while you're going throughand 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 upwith five collaboration ideas.
And this could be a blog thatyou, you guys, do a blog swap.
This could be a contest you runtogether.
(20:53):
This could be an Instagram liveyou're going to do together.
This could be an offer fortheir community, a coupon code.
You could do a free talk attheir location.
You could do a diaper drivetogether, or a coat drive or a
food drive.
Like you know, there's thesky's the limit of what you
could do, but come up with fivethat would make sense.
I like putting these in aspreadsheet, so I have like the
(21:14):
business name and then the fivecollab ideas and you know, just
keep going.
I don't know if anyone, I'mreal type A, so I love a good
spreadsheet and then you'regoing to your next 15 minute
task is you're going to makesome templates and you want
these to be something that arereally replicable.
So, like I love a copy andpaste, have your operations
(21:34):
folder, but they're going to beessentially like the start of
the pitch of around these fivecollab ideas.
You could come up with more andthen, like maybe write the
channels, of which ones likedecide how you want to sort it,
but and this is how you're goingto start pitching folks around
you know, hey, like let's get toknow each other.
(21:55):
Now I just want to put a quickcaveat in here.
You're going to hear maybe oneout of every 10 people are going
to write back to you.
So if you've sent nine out andyou'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 or30, you might get somewhere
(22:16):
between two and five people thatwill respond, are you?
Rita Suzanne (22:20):
emailing them, or are you messaging them in their
DM?
So how are you doing this?
Bianca Sprague (22:31):
I personally really like emailing people, but
a lot of businesses havecontact forms and I find that
there's space for stuff to getlost.
You can also say in all of themso 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 throughyour contact form just so you
can like connect person who'sblown up their dms with the
person who sent that email.
If you're doing everything onyour instagram or your tiktok or
(22:51):
your facebook, then like, keepit just in your dms, like you
you can.
You can right, yeah, and Iwould.
I would, if you don't hear onone, maybe check out in another.
Um, that's what I regularly andnudge because you guys are all
small business owners, so youknow what it's like when stuff
gets buried in your inbox.
So don't be scared of the nudge.
(23:11):
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 reallybringing it all home together so
that you have this connectionof people-ness.
And this is what we're missingwith social media.
Is we just keep loving theconvenience of doing this in our
(23:33):
underpants on our couch, butlike we don't get that final
like connection piece and ifyou're nervous so I'm a super
introvert One of the things thatI found really helpful before I
went in.
So instead of coming in as asmaller business or perceived
smaller business and being likeoh hey, what can you do for me?
(23:54):
Like I'm really sorry to botheryou, like don't go in with that
, what you want to do is youwant to go in representing all
the clients you will ever haveand you're interviewing them.
So if you work with I don'tknow, you do plus size care of
anything like you're.
So you are supporting plus sizefolks living in a bigger body,
(24:14):
fat bodies, whatever languageyou use, you want to go in and
make sure that clinic or thatshop or whoever you're working
with is size inclusive, thatcelebrates health at every size.
That has.
You know.
You know you ask questions likehow, how are you supporting
people who live in bigger bodies?
Are there posters reflective ofthat?
You know, whatever, the,whatever the thing is, and so
(24:37):
when you go in, imagining thatyou're the, you're the shield of
all these people, becauseyou're going to be sending them
to there, and so you want tomake sure that they're safe and
they enjoy the care extensionfrom your brand or your business
or your service.
And so, if you can make a listof a few questions that feel
really important.
So some of the ones I alwaysask is you know what steps are
(25:00):
they're taking towards upholdinganti-racist, anti-oppressive
work?
That's always my first question, cause I personally work with
equity seeking groupsexclusively.
And then I would ask you knowthe next kinds of questions,
which are, you know, dependingon what, what the business is,
and but, like, really makingsure that you know, do you have,
have you worked with queerfamilies?
(25:21):
So I, I almost exclusively workwith queer families, and so I
don't want people to bestumbered over like you know
pronouns or family makeups, orpoly families, like, and so
these are the things that I makesure that not people are like
didn't you see our pride flag?
You have to be like no, haveyou worked or do you serve these
families?
And so, if you can imagine, nowI just going to do a quick
(25:42):
recap of your 15-minute tasks.
You're following those channels, you're blowing up their
notifications, you're going tocome up with those collaboration
ideas, you're going to makethose templates so that you can
just copy and paste and modify.
Again.
If you want to collaborate with10 people, you've got to send
out about 100, just so that,like, we have reasonable
expectations.
(26:02):
Then you're going to ask themout, you can bring in a coffee,
bring in helpful snacks, takethem out for lunch I don't know,
whatever the thing One of theand then anytime we can do more
service for them.
So to be like, hey, I also havethis really great opt-in for
your customers or your clients,and bring in a QR code to put up
there, like anything that youcan continue to give to keep
(26:25):
that community cycle going, andthe goal is not to like, jump in
and promote your business rightaway and now you want to
maintain these relationships.
That's, maintenance is reallyimportant, and you have to do
these 15 minute tasks about oncea month because people are
going to fall off.
You're going to realize youdidn't really like that business
(26:45):
, they're going to close,they're not going to like you,
and so you have to keep thatstream really healthy and
continuing to grow.
And then they're talking aboutyour company.
So that's the whole point at theend of this is to have you know
, 20, 10 to 20 other businesses.
They're talking about you andthen you can use your social
(27:06):
media channel to just continueto amplify what's happening in
your local community.
That will benefit the peoplearound you.
And now you might get 20 likes,but if you're making $20,000 a
month from those 20 likes, wholike that's great, right, right.
Our social media channel canactually serve us is being
(27:28):
almost like our yellow pageslisting rather than trying to be
.
I'm trying to even think of abig channel.
I've really curated my stuff tonot have it because it really
bumps me out and I do thecomparison.
No.
Rita Suzanne (27:42):
I get it.
I've been telling people too.
I, you know, because people arenow, you know, trying to figure
out like, since our, oureverything has changed, our
market has changed, and so I'vebeen talking about the
importance of having these threetiers for your marketing
strategy.
Right, and the three tiers areyour social marketing right, but
(28:03):
you're really only spendingabout an hour on marketing on
your social.
Really, don't let it consumeyour life.
Your online marketing, which isessentially like your website,
your email marketing, your SEOand your Google my Business.
But Google my Business is yourlocal stuff, and your local
networking and marketing issuper important, and I know that
(28:27):
a lot of people don't want todo it, so I'm like just find one
or two events to go to, but Ilove this as an additional
strategy to connect with yourlocal people, because a lot of
people are not doing this at all.
They're not even localnetworking period, but this is
another aspect of it that Ithink is brilliant, so I love it
(28:49):
.
Bianca Sprague (28:50):
Oh, thank you Rita, and it's free.
You guys Like I mean, our timeis, our time is money but like
you're going to, you literallymight as well burn your money.
If you're doing something forFacebook and Instagram, like ads
paid with meta right now, foragain, not if some of you might
have global digital products, inwhich case go about your bad
life, but, like for most of usdoing service or you know, we're
(29:14):
not at that kind of scale.
You're trying to compete withpeople who have massive budgets
and you have to spend a lot nowwith Meta to get eyes on your
stuff.
And this is really how you getthat word of mouth going and
your posts shared and make itmake sense for the people you're
serving.
Rita Suzanne (29:34):
And what I find with a lot of local networking
is they don't know.
They know even less than whatyou know.
So the even the little bit ofsocial that you know, they know
even less than that.
So they appreciate any of theexposure that you're giving them
(29:55):
and they, you know, are valuingany of that interaction.
That's that's coming.
So I think that it's importantto really connect with them and,
like you said, it's a great wayto increase your revenue and
you know, stop seeking thismetric of followers or likes or
(30:17):
shares or comments.
That's not really a great.
You know, I'm seeking dollarsigns, so yeah.
Bianca Sprague (30:24):
And I mean I've put up a post.
So I had a couple numbers readyfor you guys for this podcast
today.
I had, in the last 14 days, apost that had over 300,000 views
and it got me one person on mymailing list and $0.
I've had another post that had25 likes it was a post, so I
(30:44):
didn't have views and it made meprobably about $6,500.
And I would take the 25 likesand shares and $6,500 over the.
You know, the metric looks coolwhen people scroll your stuff
to be like, oh wow, you had overa quarter of a million people
watch this, but it didn't doanything for my mailing list.
(31:06):
Oh, that was the other thing.
I got 35 people on my mailinglist from that other one with 25
likes, and so you know betweenthe two, the two pieces you
don't know.
I'm trying, like I love,understanding the metrics and
there's people that say they'vecracked the algorithm and I just
can't accept it.
Rita Suzanne (31:26):
I just cannot, can't even figure out what the
difference was, but it wassimilar content.
It was just different media.
Bianca Sprague (31:34):
Yeah, and then sometimes I'll do carousels and
they blow up.
And then I've found the lastthree weeks they haven't at all,
and before they went industryviral and then other things I'll
put up and I'm like this wasjust dumb, because I was not, it
was a cute baby.
And then there are people likewow, that was great and I was
(31:55):
like what?
there's no rhyme no, and I do.
I do keep track of it, andthere are experts that would say
that of course there's a rhymeor 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 (32:25):
She got information and said the
algorithm changes like everyfive or six seconds, so there's
no way that somebody canactually figure it out because
they make it, so there's no waythat we can figure it out, right
.
So there is no real rhyme orreason to it.
Bianca Sprague (32:35):
Thank you, Rita, for emphasizing that I'm always
quite alone in that narrative.
Rita Suzanne (32:42):
You know, we just do the best that we can, and I
think the key to social media isjust trying to be consistent
and whether or you know, whetheror not you're you're you're
posting, because people won'tknow about you if they don't
know, right, like, if you're notout there sharing, then they're
never going to know about you.
So so I think we hit on this alittle bit.
(33:04):
But how would you definesuccess?
I know it's not solelyfinancial, but how would you
define it?
Bianca Sprague (33:12):
Yeah, I think if you're really enjoying what
you're doing and you and you'reworking with people you like
working with.
So I talk nonstop about nichingand people's eyes glaze over
because it's less fun than likedoing a logo or I don't know
even making ads, like there's somany elements that people are
like yeah, yeah, that, but likeyou have to love who you're
working with and and the nicheis really like solving a clear
(33:34):
problem for a clear populationor or group.
And I know that there's beentimes that I've worked with
people.
You know that I didn't discloseI was a lesbian and I came and
they had like anti-queerpropaganda on their lawn close
to election time and those arethe things that I was like oh
man, I wish I could give you mymoney back and walk out.
(33:54):
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.
But there's been things that Iwas like I needed to be clear,
but I was trying to be thepractitioner in the business for
everybody and so when I thinkof success, I think of you.
Know, I love the work that I do, I'm changing, I'm making the
(34:16):
biggest difference for the mostpeople.
And then obviously the revenue.
One is amazing.
But I mean, post pandemic, wewere just beat for a multitude
of reasons and it was reallystressful and there wasn't
profitability and so but I stillloved what I was doing and I
still kept going to work everyday I'm pushing because I loved
(34:39):
who I served, I love what I wasdoing and I find tremendous joy
in my work.
I'd have to, like I've been.
This journey has been likegoing to hell and back six times
.
You know litigations and theeconomy and a pandemic and
losses.
You know like cause you're.
As an entrepreneur, you're alsoan individual and I had, you
know, the death of my dad inthat time.
(35:00):
I've been divorced twice.
Like you know, stuff happenedover this business and your
parenting, like it's.
All of this is also.
Well, we are doing the lion'sshare, if not a hundred percent,
of the parenting and raising ofour little people.
So it's not for the faint ofheart and I think success is
when you can put your head downat night and think like I really
(35:22):
love my life, I love what I'mdoing, this is worth it and
that's like I'm so, so clearthat that is the mark of work
that feels right and is rightfor you.
Rita Suzanne (35:34):
Yes, I agree, okay , so let's pivot a little and
let's talk about your favoritetools.
Do you have any tools, apps,software, anything that you're
using that is making your life alittle bit easier and more
efficient?
Bianca Sprague (35:48):
Well, I love my Google Suite.
We got on it back when theywere 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 wellplayed.
We got wildly dependent.
I really like like that.
I think Canva is so incredible.
Um, how clunky it was.
You know I'm not a graphicdesigner and so you know,
(36:11):
clunking along on my MacBook forall those previous years.
Um, canva is incredible and Iwould highly recommend the pro
version.
It would.
It takes away the need to haveso much of your adobe suite.
Um, like most, most apps, youcan just wipe now with the pro
camo all the things they'veincluded.
I really like that.
Um, and I do like chat gpt, butI have like so many caveats and
(36:35):
like circles and like notescoming 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 outof anything.
Anybody that says you can't,even if you've trained it to do
your brand voice, it justdoesn't write the way a human
does.
But it does have really coolfeatures.
(36:58):
For example, oh, I love manychat.
Okay, that's the thing.
Last one ManyChat.
I mean I run an edutek companyso I have like 50 apps that we
use and our business 100%depends on them.
But ManyChat is really greatfor automatic replies on your
social media, which is reallyhelpful.
So if somebody's like commentsunshine, and then they get your
(37:20):
sunshine playlist, and so I doreally like that.
But, for example, when I'mdoing 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 alot of variety in when somebody
DMs me, what comes back to them,with different emojis, but like
(37:40):
keeping with the same feel thatmy friends does a good chat GPT
, coming up with blog titlesGreat Writing a blog for you.
Rita Suzanne (37:53):
No, I agree, and I don't really use chat TTP, but
people, people use it.
I don't see there anythingwrong with it.
But, like you said, it's not.
It's has its place foreverything.
I actually use Gemini, which iswith Google, because I'm a
Google lover like you.
I've got the whole Google suite.
(38:14):
We're sitting here on GoogleMeet because I refuse to pay for
Zoom and pay for Google Meet atthe same time, because I'm all
about making sure you're notwasting money in your business.
But the thing about Gemini is Itake my brand strategy and I'll
(38:34):
paste that into Gemini and I'llsay, okay, based on my brand
strategy, now tell me x, y, zand I'll use it.
But I always have that, thatkickstart of based on my brand
strategy, because it doesn'treally retain anything, even
though the thing about Gemini isit's going off of your Google,
(38:55):
my business, and it's going offof your website.
So it actually is connected tothose two things Because it's
going off of your Google work,your workplace account.
So I like that and I'm like, ohwell, it's Google, it's all you
know, it's the best, it'sconnected, it's superpower,
right.
But the reason why I like itthe best, I think, is you know,
(39:17):
and I did do comparisons right.
I have compared the resultsfrom the chat GTP, the Gemini,
and you know um the chat GTPlike the pro or the upgrade
version you know, not just thefree version and um, the results
from Gemini are just waysuperior, although I have
friends who like the um, what isit the one that starts Jasper?
(39:39):
I have a friend who loves theJasper AI for content creation.
She thinks it's the best,anyways.
So let's jump over.
Also, in case someone doesn't,I'll say mini chat.
There's this other one calledTutio, I think Tutio, yeah, so I
(40:03):
created a chat bot off of that.
You can create chat, yeah, forfree.
You can get like chat botscreated off of there, like they
have different tiers.
If you're the lightest bittechie, you can go in there and
create some chatbots and it'sactually pretty intriguing.
(40:25):
So that's amazing, yeah.
So let's jump into.
What are you currently readingor listening to right now?
Bianca Sprague (40:34):
Oh, I read and listen to so many books.
I try to try to get five in aweek.
I'm looking at my bookshelfbehind me.
I'm on on a rage kick right now, like women in rage, so I have
a whole like rage library that Ireally like.
I love the book all the rage,um, by Darcy Lockman.
Um, because I I really lovelooking at the inequities of the
(40:57):
gender, inequities at home andwhat it's like being, um, a mom
entrepreneur.
Uh, I also just finished how tobe 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 manexcitement.
And then the oh, I can picturethe cover of it.
(41:20):
I just loved it.
Hold on, I'll pull, I'll pullit 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 allthe time and so when I drive to
my roller Derby practice.
It's about 40 minutes.
So I always listen to thehandsome podcast because it
(41:41):
really breaks up and it's acomedy podcast with a fortune
fiendster, may Martin, and takeNagarro and it is very funny.
Um, oh, the minimalistentrepreneur is the book that
I'm almost finished.
I like that one as well.
It's a really like software asa service.
So if anybody here is doing SAS, it's um, it's a great book,
but it's also really nice.
(42:02):
Um, I mean, he's talking about,like seed money in the seven,
eight figures and so I laughed.
I laughed a little bit aboutthat and he so his minimalist is
not like mom's scraping by with$28.
But the values of it are aredefinitely really interesting.
Oh, and Hookpoint.
(42:23):
I know that was a lot, butthat's how often I listen to and
read books.
Hookpoint by Brendan Cain isalso a pretty good one, which is
about like how short it is togo viral.
But I don't want you guys tolisten to that one because it
will challenge everything I justsaid right now and you guys
have to like unlearn this goalof a million people liking your
(42:43):
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 ofstarting a podcast, start a
podcast about your localcommunity, local events,
interview local business owners,get ideas, get community
members on Like.
That is how you will make a sixand seven figure business.
Rita Suzanne (43:06):
I promise, even if you're like I don't understand,
there's going to be 50listeners, but they're all
really hot leads and not 50listeners because you've tried
to go on a global stage andcompete with our podcasts for
example, right, I think that'sthe key is to really, for
(43:27):
example, right, I think I thinkthat's the key is to really
consider actually localnetworking as a strategy for
yourself and I think, like forme, I never did it because my
kids were younger and I feltlike I didn't have the time or
the energy to do it.
And if I just put more effortinto my social networking, it
would actually take off fasterthan than my local networking
(43:51):
would.
And that's just not the case.
It's just not the case.
Bianca Sprague (43:55):
Yeah, no, it makes a huge difference and I
know that some of you are justlike cringing because it means
you're gonna have to leave, itmeans you're gonna have to put a
bra on, because it means you'regoing to have to leave it means
you're going to have to put abra on and you're going to have
to like, do, do extrovertedthings and the promise of these
digital businesses.
It takes a lot of work.
So all these businesses thatare, like, we make seven figures
(44:16):
, like I say, I make sevenfigures, but I'm, I've been at
it for 11 years as anexclusively digital business, so
you know any of these moms?
Rita Suzanne (44:25):
After you built locally.
So After I built, locally forsure.
Bianca Sprague (44:29):
And so I know it can be discouraging.
Even I can get sucked intothose videos of a mom dancing
and pointing and saying she made$3 million that month and now
she's on vacation all month andshe only works six hours, Like I
know sometimes I can, I canbeat myself up over those, but
they're not real and it's that'snot the type of work that most
of you are doing, Cause I canguess what most of your
(44:51):
businesses are in the fieldsthat they are and you know
that's not why you went intobusiness.
And that gal is all debatable.
She made $7 million and there'svery few jobs that you can work
for four hours a month and makethat much money.
It's just, it's not.
It's not realistic, it's notreasonable.
Even the even the making ofthat real, you know, takes at
(45:14):
least 45 minutes and they havetwo or three a day like that.
So like, just like.
Let's think real, reasonable,real, rational here.
So make sure everybody in yourlocal community knows you, loves
you, thinks you're wonderful,sees you at community events and
, honestly, your roster, yourproducts, your roster will be
full.
Your products will be off theshelf or off out of your garage,
(45:36):
wherever they are.
Rita Suzanne (45:38):
I love it.
Okay, so let's briefly talkabout self-care, and then we're
going to tell everybody whereyou are online.
Bianca Sprague (45:48):
Yeah, self-care, I'm big on it.
But I think self-care what itlooks like like I'm supposed to
be off.
This week I've done a veryterrible job because I'm in a
really excited, creative state,so I've actually worked every
day that I'm supposed to be offbecause I want to, and so I
think self-care can lookdifferently like that.
I also make sure I have lots ofhobbies that are just mine,
(46:09):
that are very different than mywork.
I play roller derby so, and Ihave since I started my business
, so that's like a really nicecompliment to my gentle birthing
practices.
It's very aggressive, violentsport and you know, I always
make sure I'm learning alanguage, I'm learning things.
I laugh a lot.
Oh, my favorite self-care tipy'all is when you're working,
(46:31):
you're working, and when you'renot, you're not.
Turn off your notifications,don't go to bed looking at your
emails.
You're the only one that cancreate discipline around this
and the act of doing that is solife-changing.
It will get your cortisol down,it will get your life back.
So if your kids are around youand you're like still trying to
(46:54):
email this client back andthey're nagging at you and you
feel your that sweaty armpit,your tummies and knots, and
you're like, so overwhelmed youhave to decide if it's a work
time and then you leave the roomand you answer the email, or
it's a not work time, and thenyou have to close it and
acknowledge your children,because that's what you're doing
in that time and I singleparented through most of my
(47:15):
business.
So I do want to put out thatI'm not like oh, I passed it off
to my partner, I was alone andit was really hard and this was
my saving grace.
And so make a time and after 6pm you literally turn off your
notifications and don't openyour laptop, don't look at your
phone and anything that's acrisis will be there tomorrow
(47:36):
and you can't do a lot after 6pm anyway.
Rita Suzanne (47:44):
And so that would be my like.
This will be my top life savingbusiness tip.
Business tip I agree.
I haven't had notifications onmy 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 (47:56):
oh, we have so many fun spaces.
Um, all of our handles end withbaboia 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 thechannels 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 specialshappening.
(48:18):
Um, like, we have guestlectures, we do free business
talks, we have a podcast thatyou 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 babomiacomforward slash moo M-O-O, you can
check out a little bit moreabout our conversation here
(48:38):
today and find some of thoselinks that are easier so you
don't have to remember anythingI just said besides babomiacom
forward slash moo.
Rita Suzanne (48:45):
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
All right and I will put allthe 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 (48:57):
Thanks for having me, Rita.
I really enjoyed this chat.
Hi, this is Mom Owned and Operated.
I am Rita, Suzanne, and today Ihave my guest Bianca with me.
Bianca, I am so excited to chatwith you today.
Please tell everyone all aboutyou, your business and your
family.
Bianca Sprague (00:14):
Oh, thanks for having me, rita.
My name is Bianca Sprague and Ifounded my company and it's
called Babo Mia.
Oh man, I, I, just no man.
I've learned a lot since namingmy business almost 20 years ago
, but we started as a brick andmortar in Toronto working with
families going through thatfertility, birth and postpartum
(00:35):
period, and then we realizedthat the training for
practitioners the bar, was solow that we pivoted and we
actually moved online and weteach practitioners and women
and queer business owners how torun a feminist business.
And if people are interested inworking with, with parents or
(00:55):
parents-to-be, we have thosecertifications as well.
And I just actually leftToronto last year and my wife
and I live with our daughtercalled Gray, and we live in
rural Nova Scotia, which is sucha huge change from downtown
Toronto to live in, with nothingLike I look out my window and
it's just trees, mountains andthe ocean, which is beautiful,
(01:18):
but it's a it's a big change.
Rita Suzanne (01:21):
Yeah, definitely, I'm sure it's very calming.
It's interesting that you saylike your very first business
name I remember.
I'm just going to sidetrackreal quick.
My very first business name wasBrainy Girl Designs.
I don't even know where I gotthat from, because I was web
designing right At the time.
People used to tell me all thetime I love your name, I love
(01:43):
your business name, I love yourbusiness name, I love your
business name, and I startedhating it almost instantly,
right?
Bianca Sprague (01:49):
Really.
Rita Suzanne (01:50):
Yes, I just thought, like what was I
thinking, you know?
And so, yeah, I justimmediately switched it to a
personal brand, right away.
Bianca Sprague (02:01):
I mean ours is memorable so it gets a tick for
that.
It's great for SEO.
But you know, we did have areally my business partner and I
started it and we did have likea really deep meaning behind
why Babo, Mia and it means mybaby in Esperanto but like
nobody ever says it right,People capitalize it all
lowercase one word, two words.
It is two words, everybody.
(02:22):
And it's all lowercase B, E, B,O, space, M, I, A.
So I've learned a lot about youknow things that are easy to
spell and and say, but you knowyou don't want to do a rebrand
when you're in.
You're going into your thirddecade.
Rita Suzanne (02:38):
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, evenlike purchasing your domain the
longer you have your domain, thebetter it is for it, and so
there's a lot of reasons tostick with something and keep it
.
Um, so that's good.
(02:58):
So let's talk about what is oneservice, product or offer
that's really been a gamechanger for you in your business
.
Bianca Sprague (03:08):
Yeah, as far as profitability goes, yeah, so I
mean, like I said, I was brickand mortar and we pivoted online
and that was in 2013.
And at the time, nobody wasteaching anybody about you know
how to do breastfeeding supportor fertility support or be a
doula, and so we had ourindustry going bonkers.
(03:30):
They were like, oh my gosh,babel Mia is pivoting online.
Can you believe they're goingto teach classes online?
Like you can't teach online allthis stuff and it was really
scary.
And we were the first to offera full spectrum doula training
in the digital space and wetaught it all live and guys,
this was before Kajabi, this wasbefore Teachable.
We had the clunkiest, ugliestwebsite that we built and we had
(03:54):
this like plugin that wecustomized to go into our
WordPress.
It was ugly, but it was reallycool to think that we did that.
We had to develop the techbecause it didn't exist for us
to be able to teach live in thevirtual space and that was such
a game changer for us.
A because we didn't have 14centers across Toronto, so that
(04:14):
overhead left.
But to be a trailblazer insomething that you know, even
though the industry was like youcan't do it.
I mean now, look at, by thetime the pandemic came, we were
masters at a scale up in thedigital space.
And now you know there's adownside is that there's a lot
of noise in the space.
But you know, we made sevenfigures from from creating this
(04:36):
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 reallyhad to decide how our product
and our services could bedelivered so that we didn't lose
that touch, move and inspirethat was so important to us.
But, like, the world opened upliterally, and now in our
(04:58):
classes we have students in 49countries, and so the
conversation it's just, you know, it's come out of a North
American context and now youknow we're talking about
business practices and marketingideas on a global scale.
So that was, hands down, themost profound pivot in our
business over the last 17 yearslove it, though, because if you
(05:25):
don't take that chance right,nobody else is doing it.
Rita Suzanne (05:27):
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'regoing to do it and and you've
made sure you found it and thatwas the best thing that you
could do.
So I think that's amazing.
Bianca Sprague (05:41):
So I just want to highlight sorry, rita one of
my favorite memories of thispivot, just because so many
times people hear the like sevenfigure story and I just want to
bring it down.
So my business partner and Ihad babies at the time, so we
had loud babies.
So we were in my car in aparking lot doing a teleseminar
Guys, this was before webinars.
So you did it, you call in, andso that's the only way, with
(06:07):
our babies outside the car, withus inside the car doing a
teleseminar, and it was reallyexciting that we got eight
people signed up for our firstrun and it was so much work for
only eight people.
But I just like I want to sharethat story because that happened
from 2013 to now, so like thatwas over a decade, but year over
year, and I think it's reallyimportant to go down to the
(06:27):
bite-sized pieces because I knowwhen I hear entrepreneurs that
I envy or I want to strive for,I can really beat myself up to
be like, oh, my goodness, shemade $7 million last year, like
what is wrong with you and itwas clunky and it was a lot of
you know, it wasn't this likebeautiful, smooth, smooth
journey and it was eight peoplein my first course, and so I
(06:52):
just I really want to highlightthat so you guys can like really
close your eyes and imaginewhat two moms, not knowing what
they were doing running anedutech company, look like and
and that we just stayed with itand just kept tweaking it and
and the art of the messy start.
So like just like start and getfeedback and keep going and and
don't try to like put somethingout for the seven figure launch
(07:14):
, because it's probably notgoing to happen.
Rita Suzanne (07:16):
No, I agree, and I think that that's the problem a
lot of times is that peoplehighlight too much the success
and they don't really showcasethe journey and the all of the
road.
You know the, the bumps thatthey had to go over.
And I like to tell people likelisten, this is not easy, it is
hard.
(07:37):
So, no matter what, like yes,we're talking about all of the,
the, the successes that we'vehad in our business.
That's what we're going to talkabout 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 tocontinue to be easy.
Even when you start makingmoney, it's still challenging,
(08:01):
there's still challenges thatcome up in the process, and so I
think that that's a really goodpoint for people to take away
and just say, yeah, you know,like.
I think that often social mediamakes it seem like you know, oh
, yes, you could be over heretoo, sitting on the beach with
your laptop making a milliondollars in five minutes.
Bianca Sprague (08:23):
Yeah, yeah, I just I want to bring it down for
everybody.
Rita Suzanne (08:28):
Let's come back to reality for about five seconds.
So right now, as we speak, whatis your biggest source of
revenue?
Bianca Sprague (08:37):
Yeah, I would say our online courses.
However, I do have a caveathere.
Everybody, you have to be readyto pivot, and it can be really
hard pivoting.
You can let go of things yousame way.
There's lots of reasons, Isuspect, the economy being one,
(09:08):
the pandemic and us being screenfatigued being another, and so
we're actually we're doing ashift to offer bite-sized micro
education, and so I'm rampingthat up right now.
So it's running alongsidebecause I know our programs are
absolutely incredible.
They're the best out in themarket.
I've taken almost all of themso I can say that.
(09:30):
But you know, people are reallyinto this like quick, quick and
dirty education and not this.
You know I want to invest infour months to two years and
like really developing somethingwith the foundation, and so I
do want to give the way thatsome people want to learn.
So I do have a new stream oflike very bite-sized bits of
(09:51):
education.
You know, like 10 videos, do itin an afternoon 20 minutes of,
like you know, 20 minutewebinars, and so that is
actually ramping up and doingreally well at the same time.
So hopefully by next year I'llsay that that's competing with
our, with our flagship programs,but only time will tell.
Rita Suzanne (10:13):
Yeah, I've always been one who likes the what I
would call mini courses that aresuper specific and and honed in
on a specific target.
You know, like targetinformation versus something
that's super broad and all likea comprehensive course.
I like the little, bite-sizedcourses so that I can take the
(10:34):
course and implement almostimmediately, right Like that's.
My goal is to implement rightnow.
But and if there's somethingbig it seems so overwhelming I
can't.
I can't do it.
But I've always been like that.
I've always liked the smallerones.
Bianca Sprague (10:50):
Yeah, and I think there's a time, like the
people who have success withthis, I was resistant to the
smaller ones, because so manypeople want to just grab a few
small ones and then it reflectsin their business that they're
like that is the extent of theirfoundation versus you know
people, I'm constantly learningabout entrepreneurship, and have
probably since I was about nineyears old, and so if I get a
(11:11):
bite size, like micro bit ofeducation, it's because I did
have a specific question andwanted that answered, but by no
means is it the only thing I'vetaken in.
It's probably one of, you know,a hundred pieces of content I
take in a week, and so that wasthat was a bit of my reluctance
is that we are so like instantgratification, get it right now,
(11:31):
do it fast, do it easy and withyour business, like I mean,
some people stumble intobusinesses that make a lot of
money without a lot of effortreally quickly.
Those do exist, but they alsofizzle out very quickly, and so
I think, though, if you'reasking specific questions, you
know, like some of the ones wehave, is you know, really, how
do you get solid testimonialsand what do you do with them
(11:52):
after, then I'm like, yeah, forsure, Go buy my micro course and
get that specific questionanswered and spend an afternoon
tweak your testimonials,understand what social proof is
and all the many ways you canshow it, and then, like, spend
the rest of the week working onit.
But if somebody is like, ohgood, that's the only thing I
got, I'm like it is not enoughof an education for you to just
like be scaffolded for your work.
Rita Suzanne (12:16):
No, I agree, like you are not an expert after this
, but I'm going to.
I'm going to share with youthis one thing that's going to
help you handle that specificproblem.
Ok, so what is your mostvaluable financial lesson that
you could share with othermompreneurs?
Bianca Sprague (12:34):
Oh, Rita, I've made so many colossal mistakes.
Yeah, I think, like a few of thepieces that I think are really
important with our businessesare intertwined, and so you know
, the financial pieces isobviously like profitability is
a really critical pillar of yourbusiness, but I think it also
(12:55):
you need to find a lot of joy inwhat you're doing.
Like you need to love nurturing.
Like being an entrepreneur isso much harder than being an
employee in many ways.
Like being an entrepreneur isso much harder than being an
employee in many ways.
And you have to love whatyou're doing in order to not
press next on Netflix, in orderto get up even though there's
not a boss telling you when youneed to be to work.
To like say no to your friendswho are having a daytime lunch
(13:15):
because they have the day off.
Like those things take a lot ofdiscipline to keep doing it and
when, like, people aren'tbuying it, to figure out why and
not just giving up.
It takes a lot.
So you really need to have thatheart space and that support.
And then our community is socritical.
So when I think of the mistakesI've made, when we're looking at
the financial bucket, it wasbecause there was a misalignment
(13:38):
with the joy bucket and thepeople bucket, and you know I'm
I'm deeply committed to tryingto understand and see how we can
have feminist business thattruly works outside the model of
capitalism, which I know it'slike, I hear it.
My wife's a prof and so she isalways like it's not possible
what you're doing, and I waslike I just I believe that women
(14:00):
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 forthroughout time, and so anytime
I would say something like Imessed up in the financials.
So like one, for example, waslike meta pivoted and we didn't,
and something that used to beso meta.
(14:21):
For anybody that doesn't know,that's the monster that owns
most of social media, mainlybeing Instagram and Facebook,
and and it's taken over andwe've become credibly dependent
upon it, and so you know wedidn't pivot with their
algorithm fast enough, and so Iused to make seven figures and
spend less than $30,000 a yearon advertising.
(14:41):
Now, if you're a tiny business,$30,000 a year sounds like so
much money, but if you're making1.1 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 wouldcome out without fail.
And then the pandemic happenedand the algorithms changed and
(15:03):
everything like just how peopleengage in social media and
that's just one example is thatI.
You know that that trifecta forme was out of balance and I
spent thousands and thousandsand thousands of dollars a month
and never made anything.
So I was putting an x and thenI was like, what about?
What about if I put in Z?
What about if I put in Zsquared and nothing was coming
(15:26):
out the other side, which hasbeen a really terrifying couple
of years, and so that reallymade me have to look at like,
okay, what are we doing here?
And turning up the joy andturning up the people and
turning up the community to youknow, balance out this, this
piece.
I know that sounded really likeprobably a bit complicated, but
(15:48):
I found that I can alwaysidentify these colossal mistakes
I've made, as well as anytime Igot stuck with bright and shiny
things like you should get abooth at a trade show and then
you spend $25,000 and nothinghappens from it.
So I have lots of those too.
They're fun.
Rita Suzanne (16:07):
Right.
Bianca Sprague (16:09):
I know.
Rita Suzanne (16:10):
And those are just .
You know, every action is alesson, right?
Okay, so let's since wementioned it a little bit let's
talk about marketing.
So one thing that I always loveto talk about is, like, what
marketing tactic or channel isworking best for you and your
business?
And we spoke a little bit aboutnot using social media to grow
(16:33):
your business, so let's divereally deep into that.
Bianca Sprague (16:38):
Yeah.
So this y'all get your pens andpaper out Like this is a game
changer here.
So I just want to quickly touchon the trap of social media.
We've been promised so muchfrom social media and all of you
I mean some of you might haveetsy shops and stuff, in which
case you're hitting a moreglobal market, but like, really,
you're gonna have the mostsuccess if you can really
localize your business, but ifyou're doing any kind of service
(16:58):
, it's as far as you can driveum, and so what you want to do
is actually use social media asa bit of a tool, like use it in
the way that we can as smallbusinesses.
So I have Bebo Mia, but I alsoam a doula and so, like, I have
my local business where I servefamilies.
So I'm going to use that one asan example.
So one of the things is we havethis trap where we are trying
(17:22):
to go viral with our stuff.
We're trying to go viral onTikTok, 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'snot going to be the ROI, and if
you go, look at some of thepeople that have virality and
you actually go in and look attheir of how many followers they
have.
Sometimes you'll see somebodythat did like a 9 million views
(17:44):
post on Instagram and thenyou'll go and they still only
have 1300 followers.
And so we, you know, if we'retrying to chase this thing, that
is always like, it's alwayselusive, like.
Sometimes you'll get one.
I'll put up a post and 25,000people like it right away and I
was like really.
And then I put one with so muchheart and content and
information and 12 people likeit and I was like guys, what is
(18:06):
happening?
So I want just I'm going tobreak this down into 15 minute
tasks you can do.
That is going to be such agreat return on your investment,
because the goal is notvirality, the goal is not to
have a million followers, butthe goal is to have a profitable
business that people know andrespect and talk about.
(18:27):
So I want you here's your firsttask 15 minutes.
You're going to go followchannels of people who are
working with your target market.
So let's say you're doing.
Let's say you're doula that's anice and easy one.
You'd follow the baby stores.
You'd follow massage therapists.
You'd follow, you know, themommy and me music time.
(18:47):
You'd follow, like housecleaning services, all of that,
and so you can take yourindustry.
So if you're a massagetherapist, you'd go see what
else are they doing acupunctureclinics, like whatever your
business is and make sure youcheck that those businesses are
in alignment.
So, like, have they postedabout your upcoming election and
are they on the side of thefence that you would like to
send your people to?
(19:07):
You know, factor those thingsin.
How are they talking about Roev Wade's anniversary?
Like, you really have tounderstand that, because they're
going to be an extension ofyour business.
Okay, so I would try to follow10 per day and then you want to
start like blowing up their feedBecause, as you know, as a
(19:28):
small business, you notice whensomebody shares something.
You notice when somebodycomments Like most of us here
don't have millions of followers.
If you do, congratulations, andthis episode is probably not
super useful for you, but forthe 99.9% of us, you know you do
notice when somebody regularlyposts and so, or like, comments
(19:49):
and shares your stuff.
So then you want them to knowyou.
This is the best way to likecold 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 yournewsletter, because these are
all going to benefit you havethe same community members,
(20:10):
right?
So your target market's goingto be the same.
Um, like their stuff.
Comment dm them like you wantthem to see your business name
in their, in their, you know,activity feed over and over and
over again.
Yeah, their notifications, thankyou, um, so then you're going
to do that for a week or so.
Now we've set the stage soyou're not just like going into
their shop or cold calling theirclinic or writing to.
(20:33):
You know, whatever their,whatever the business is, they
they start to know who you are.
And while you're going throughand 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 upwith five collaboration ideas.
And this could be a blog thatyou, you guys, do a blog swap.
This could be a contest you runtogether.
(20:53):
This could be an Instagram liveyou're going to do together.
This could be an offer fortheir community, a coupon code.
You could do a free talk attheir location.
You could do a diaper drivetogether, or a coat drive or a
food drive.
Like you know, there's thesky's the limit of what you
could do, but come up with fivethat would make sense.
I like putting these in aspreadsheet, so I have like the
(21:14):
business name and then the fivecollab ideas and you know, just
keep going.
I don't know if anyone, I'mreal type A, so I love a good
spreadsheet and then you'regoing to your next 15 minute
task is you're going to makesome templates and you want
these to be something that arereally replicable.
So, like I love a copy andpaste, have your operations
(21:34):
folder, but they're going to beessentially like the start of
the pitch of around these fivecollab ideas.
You could come up with more andthen, like maybe write the
channels, of which ones likedecide how you want to sort it,
but and this is how you're goingto start pitching folks around
you know, hey, like let's get toknow each other.
(21:55):
Now I just want to put a quickcaveat in here.
You're going to hear maybe oneout of every 10 people are going
to write back to you.
So if you've sent nine out andyou'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 or30, you might get somewhere
(22:16):
between two and five people thatwill respond, are you?
Rita Suzanne (22:20):
emailing them, or are you messaging them in their
DM?
So how are you doing this?
Bianca Sprague (22:31):
I personally really like emailing people, but
a lot of businesses havecontact forms and I find that
there's space for stuff to getlost.
You can also say in all of themso 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 throughyour contact form just so you
can like connect person who'sblown up their dms with the
person who sent that email.
If you're doing everything onyour instagram or your tiktok or
(22:51):
your facebook, then like, keepit just in your dms, like you
you can.
You can right, yeah, and Iwould.
I would, if you don't hear onone, maybe check out in another.
Um, that's what I regularly andnudge because you guys are all
small business owners, so youknow what it's like when stuff
gets buried in your inbox.
So don't be scared of the nudge.
(23:11):
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 reallybringing it all home together so
that you have this connectionof people-ness.
And this is what we're missingwith social media.
Is we just keep loving theconvenience of doing this in our
(23:33):
underpants on our couch, butlike we don't get that final
like connection piece and ifyou're nervous so I'm a super
introvert One of the things thatI found really helpful before I
went in.
So instead of coming in as asmaller business or perceived
smaller business and being likeoh hey, what can you do for me?
(23:54):
Like I'm really sorry to botheryou, like don't go in with that
, what you want to do is youwant to go in representing all
the clients you will ever haveand you're interviewing them.
So if you work with I don'tknow, you do plus size care of
anything like you're.
So you are supporting plus sizefolks living in a bigger body,
(24:14):
fat bodies, whatever languageyou use, you want to go in and
make sure that clinic or thatshop or whoever you're working
with is size inclusive, thatcelebrates health at every size.
That has.
You know.
You know you ask questions likehow, how are you supporting
people who live in bigger bodies?
Are there posters reflective ofthat?
You know, whatever, the,whatever the thing is, and so
(24:37):
when you go in, imagining thatyou're the, you're the shield of
all these people, becauseyou're going to be sending them
to there, and so you want tomake sure that they're safe and
they enjoy the care extensionfrom your brand or your business
or your service.
And so, if you can make a listof a few questions that feel
really important.
So some of the ones I alwaysask is you know what steps are
(25:00):
they're taking towards upholdinganti-racist, anti-oppressive
work?
That's always my first question, cause I personally work with
equity seeking groupsexclusively.
And then I would ask you knowthe next kinds of questions,
which are, you know, dependingon what, what the business is,
and but, like, really makingsure that you know, do you have,
have you worked with queerfamilies?
(25:21):
So I, I almost exclusively workwith queer families, and so I
don't want people to bestumbered over like you know
pronouns or family makeups, orpoly families, like, and so
these are the things that I makesure that not people are like
didn't you see our pride flag?
You have to be like no, haveyou worked or do you serve these
families?
And so, if you can imagine, nowI just going to do a quick
(25:42):
recap of your 15-minute tasks.
You're following those channels, you're blowing up their
notifications, you're going tocome up with those collaboration
ideas, you're going to makethose templates so that you can
just copy and paste and modify.
Again.
If you want to collaborate with10 people, you've got to send
out about 100, just so that,like, we have reasonable
expectations.
(26:02):
Then you're going to ask themout, you can bring in a coffee,
bring in helpful snacks, takethem out for lunch I don't know,
whatever the thing One of theand then anytime we can do more
service for them.
So to be like, hey, I also havethis really great opt-in for
your customers or your clients,and bring in a QR code to put up
there, like anything that youcan continue to give to keep
(26:25):
that community cycle going, andthe goal is not to like, jump in
and promote your business rightaway and now you want to
maintain these relationships.
That's, maintenance is reallyimportant, and you have to do
these 15 minute tasks about oncea month because people are
going to fall off.
You're going to realize youdidn't really like that business
(26:45):
, they're going to close,they're not going to like you,
and so you have to keep thatstream really healthy and
continuing to grow.
And then they're talking aboutyour company.
So that's the whole point at theend of this is to have you know
, 20, 10 to 20 other businesses.
They're talking about you andthen you can use your social
(27:06):
media channel to just continueto amplify what's happening in
your local community.
That will benefit the peoplearound you.
And now you might get 20 likes,but if you're making $20,000 a
month from those 20 likes, wholike that's great, right, right.
Our social media channel canactually serve us is being
(27:28):
almost like our yellow pageslisting rather than trying to be
.
I'm trying to even think of abig channel.
I've really curated my stuff tonot have it because it really
bumps me out and I do thecomparison.
No.
Rita Suzanne (27:42):
I get it.
I've been telling people too.
I, you know, because people arenow, you know, trying to figure
out like, since our, oureverything has changed, our
market has changed, and so I'vebeen talking about the
importance of having these threetiers for your marketing
strategy.
Right, and the three tiers areyour social marketing right, but
(28:03):
you're really only spendingabout an hour on marketing on
your social.
Really, don't let it consumeyour life.
Your online marketing, which isessentially like your website,
your email marketing, your SEOand your Google my Business.
But Google my Business is yourlocal stuff, and your local
networking and marketing issuper important, and I know that
(28:27):
a lot of people don't want todo it, so I'm like just find one
or two events to go to, but Ilove this as an additional
strategy to connect with yourlocal people, because a lot of
people are not doing this at all.
They're not even localnetworking period, but this is
another aspect of it that Ithink is brilliant, so I love it
(28:49):
.
Bianca Sprague (28:50):
Oh, thank you Rita, and it's free.
You guys Like I mean, our timeis, our time is money but like
you're going to, you literallymight as well burn your money.
If you're doing something forFacebook and Instagram, like ads
paid with meta right now, foragain, not if some of you might
have global digital products, inwhich case go about your bad
life, but, like for most of usdoing service or you know, we're
(29:14):
not at that kind of scale.
You're trying to compete withpeople who have massive budgets
and you have to spend a lot nowwith Meta to get eyes on your
stuff.
And this is really how you getthat word of mouth going and
your posts shared and make itmake sense for the people you're
serving.
Rita Suzanne (29:34):
And what I find with a lot of local networking
is they don't know.
They know even less than whatyou know.
So the even the little bit ofsocial that you know, they know
even less than that.
So they appreciate any of theexposure that you're giving them
(29:55):
and they, you know, are valuingany of that interaction.
That's that's coming.
So I think that it's importantto really connect with them and,
like you said, it's a great wayto increase your revenue and
you know, stop seeking thismetric of followers or likes or
(30:17):
shares or comments.
That's not really a great.
You know, I'm seeking dollarsigns, so yeah.
Bianca Sprague (30:24):
And I mean I've put up a post.
So I had a couple numbers readyfor you guys for this podcast
today.
I had, in the last 14 days, apost that had over 300,000 views
and it got me one person on mymailing list and $0.
I've had another post that had25 likes it was a post, so I
(30:44):
didn't have views and it made meprobably about $6,500.
And I would take the 25 likesand shares and $6,500 over the.
You know, the metric looks coolwhen people scroll your stuff
to be like, oh wow, you had overa quarter of a million people
watch this, but it didn't doanything for my mailing list.
(31:06):
Oh, that was the other thing.
I got 35 people on my mailinglist from that other one with 25
likes, and so you know betweenthe two, the two pieces you
don't know.
I'm trying, like I love,understanding the metrics and
there's people that say they'vecracked the algorithm and I just
can't accept it.
Rita Suzanne (31:26):
I just cannot, can't even figure out what the
difference was, but it wassimilar content.
It was just different media.
Bianca Sprague (31:34):
Yeah, and then sometimes I'll do carousels and
they blow up.
And then I've found the lastthree weeks they haven't at all,
and before they went industryviral and then other things I'll
put up and I'm like this wasjust dumb, because I was not, it
was a cute baby.
And then there are people likewow, that was great and I was
(31:55):
like what?
there's no rhyme no, and I do.
I do keep track of it, andthere are experts that would say
that of course there's a rhymeor 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 (32:25):
She got information and said the
algorithm changes like everyfive or six seconds, so there's
no way that somebody canactually figure it out because
they make it, so there's no waythat we can figure it out, right
.
So there is no real rhyme orreason to it.
Bianca Sprague (32:35):
Thank you, Rita, for emphasizing that I'm always
quite alone in that narrative.
Rita Suzanne (32:42):
You know, we just do the best that we can, and I
think the key to social media isjust trying to be consistent
and whether or you know, whetheror not you're you're you're
posting, because people won'tknow about you if they don't
know, right, like, if you're notout there sharing, then they're
never going to know about you.
So so I think we hit on this alittle bit.
(33:04):
But how would you definesuccess?
I know it's not solelyfinancial, but how would you
define it?
Bianca Sprague (33:12):
Yeah, I think if you're really enjoying what
you're doing and you and you'reworking with people you like
working with.
So I talk nonstop about nichingand people's eyes glaze over
because it's less fun than likedoing a logo or I don't know
even making ads, like there's somany elements that people are
like yeah, yeah, that, but likeyou have to love who you're
working with and and the nicheis really like solving a clear
(33:34):
problem for a clear populationor or group.
And I know that there's beentimes that I've worked with
people.
You know that I didn't discloseI was a lesbian and I came and
they had like anti-queerpropaganda on their lawn close
to election time and those arethe things that I was like oh
man, I wish I could give you mymoney back and walk out.
(33:54):
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.
But there's been things that Iwas like I needed to be clear,
but I was trying to be thepractitioner in the business for
everybody and so when I thinkof success, I think of you.
Know, I love the work that I do, I'm changing, I'm making the
(34:16):
biggest difference for the mostpeople.
And then obviously the revenue.
One is amazing.
But I mean, post pandemic, wewere just beat for a multitude
of reasons and it was reallystressful and there wasn't
profitability and so but I stillloved what I was doing and I
still kept going to work everyday I'm pushing because I loved
(34:39):
who I served, I love what I wasdoing and I find tremendous joy
in my work.
I'd have to, like I've been.
This journey has been likegoing to hell and back six times
.
You know litigations and theeconomy and a pandemic and
losses.
You know like cause you're.
As an entrepreneur, you're alsoan individual and I had, you
know, the death of my dad inthat time.
(35:00):
I've been divorced twice.
Like you know, stuff happenedover this business and your
parenting, like it's.
All of this is also.
Well, we are doing the lion'sshare, if not a hundred percent,
of the parenting and raising ofour little people.
So it's not for the faint ofheart and I think success is
when you can put your head downat night and think like I really
(35:22):
love my life, I love what I'mdoing, this is worth it and
that's like I'm so, so clearthat that is the mark of work
that feels right and is rightfor you.
Rita Suzanne (35:34):
Yes, I agree, okay , so let's pivot a little and
let's talk about your favoritetools.
Do you have any tools, apps,software, anything that you're
using that is making your life alittle bit easier and more
efficient?
Bianca Sprague (35:48):
Well, I love my Google Suite.
We got on it back when theywere 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 wellplayed.
We got wildly dependent.
I really like like that.
I think Canva is so incredible.
Um, how clunky it was.
You know I'm not a graphicdesigner and so you know,
(36:11):
clunking along on my MacBook forall those previous years.
Um, canva is incredible and Iwould highly recommend the pro
version.
It would.
It takes away the need to haveso much of your adobe suite.
Um, like most, most apps, youcan just wipe now with the pro
camo all the things they'veincluded.
I really like that.
Um, and I do like chat gpt, butI have like so many caveats and
(36:35):
like circles and like notescoming 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 outof anything.
Anybody that says you can't,even if you've trained it to do
your brand voice, it justdoesn't write the way a human
does.
But it does have really coolfeatures.
(36:58):
For example, oh, I love manychat.
Okay, that's the thing.
Last one ManyChat.
I mean I run an edutek companyso I have like 50 apps that we
use and our business 100%depends on them.
But ManyChat is really greatfor automatic replies on your
social media, which is reallyhelpful.
So if somebody's like commentsunshine, and then they get your
(37:20):
sunshine playlist, and so I doreally like that.
But, for example, when I'mdoing 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 alot of variety in when somebody
DMs me, what comes back to them,with different emojis, but like
(37:40):
keeping with the same feel thatmy friends does a good chat GPT
, coming up with blog titlesGreat Writing a blog for you.
Rita Suzanne (37:53):
No, I agree, and I don't really use chat TTP, but
people, people use it.
I don't see there anythingwrong with it.
But, like you said, it's not.
It's has its place foreverything.
I actually use Gemini, which iswith Google, because I'm a
Google lover like you.
I've got the whole Google suite.
(38:14):
We're sitting here on GoogleMeet because I refuse to pay for
Zoom and pay for Google Meet atthe same time, because I'm all
about making sure you're notwasting money in your business.
But the thing about Gemini is Itake my brand strategy and I'll
(38:34):
paste that into Gemini and I'llsay, okay, based on my brand
strategy, now tell me x, y, zand I'll use it.
But I always have that, thatkickstart of based on my brand
strategy, because it doesn'treally retain anything, even
though the thing about Gemini isit's going off of your Google,
(38:55):
my business, and it's going offof your website.
So it actually is connected tothose two things Because it's
going off of your Google work,your workplace account.
So I like that and I'm like, ohwell, it's Google, it's all you
know, it's the best, it'sconnected, it's superpower,
right.
But the reason why I like itthe best, I think, is you know,
(39:17):
and I did do comparisons right.
I have compared the resultsfrom the chat GTP, the Gemini,
and you know um the chat GTPlike the pro or the upgrade
version you know, not just thefree version and um, the results
from Gemini are just waysuperior, although I have
friends who like the um, what isit the one that starts Jasper?
(39:39):
I have a friend who loves theJasper AI for content creation.
She thinks it's the best,anyways.
So let's jump over.
Also, in case someone doesn't,I'll say mini chat.
There's this other one calledTutio, I think Tutio, yeah, so I
(40:03):
created a chat bot off of that.
You can create chat, yeah, forfree.
You can get like chat botscreated off of there, like they
have different tiers.
If you're the lightest bittechie, you can go in there and
create some chatbots and it'sactually pretty intriguing.
(40:25):
So that's amazing, yeah.
So let's jump into.
What are you currently readingor listening to right now?
Bianca Sprague (40:34):
Oh, I read and listen to so many books.
I try to try to get five in aweek.
I'm looking at my bookshelfbehind me.
I'm on on a rage kick right now, like women in rage, so I have
a whole like rage library that Ireally like.
I love the book all the rage,um, by Darcy Lockman.
Um, because I I really lovelooking at the inequities of the
(40:57):
gender, inequities at home andwhat it's like being, um, a mom
entrepreneur.
Uh, I also just finished how tobe 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 manexcitement.
And then the oh, I can picturethe cover of it.
(41:20):
I just loved it.
Hold on, I'll pull, I'll pullit 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 allthe time and so when I drive to
my roller Derby practice.
It's about 40 minutes.
So I always listen to thehandsome podcast because it
(41:41):
really breaks up and it's acomedy podcast with a fortune
fiendster, may Martin, and takeNagarro and it is very funny.
Um, oh, the minimalistentrepreneur is the book that
I'm almost finished.
I like that one as well.
It's a really like software asa service.
So if anybody here is doing SAS, it's um, it's a great book,
but it's also really nice.
(42:02):
Um, I mean, he's talking about,like seed money in the seven,
eight figures and so I laughed.
I laughed a little bit aboutthat and he so his minimalist is
not like mom's scraping by with$28.
But the values of it are aredefinitely really interesting.
Oh, and Hookpoint.
(42:23):
I know that was a lot, butthat's how often I listen to and
read books.
Hookpoint by Brendan Cain isalso a pretty good one, which is
about like how short it is togo viral.
But I don't want you guys tolisten to that one because it
will challenge everything I justsaid right now and you guys
have to like unlearn this goalof a million people liking your
(42:43):
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 ofstarting a podcast, start a
podcast about your localcommunity, local events,
interview local business owners,get ideas, get community
members on Like.
That is how you will make a sixand seven figure business.
Rita Suzanne (43:06):
I promise, even if you're like I don't understand,
there's going to be 50listeners, but they're all
really hot leads and not 50listeners because you've tried
to go on a global stage andcompete with our podcasts for
example, right, I think that'sthe key is to really, for
(43:27):
example, right, I think I thinkthat's the key is to really
consider actually localnetworking as a strategy for
yourself and I think, like forme, I never did it because my
kids were younger and I feltlike I didn't have the time or
the energy to do it.
And if I just put more effortinto my social networking, it
would actually take off fasterthan than my local networking
(43:51):
would.
And that's just not the case.
It's just not the case.
Bianca Sprague (43:55):
Yeah, no, it makes a huge difference and I
know that some of you are justlike cringing because it means
you're gonna have to leave, itmeans you're gonna have to put a
bra on, because it means you'regoing to have to leave it means
you're going to have to put abra on and you're going to have
to like, do, do extrovertedthings and the promise of these
digital businesses.
It takes a lot of work.
So all these businesses thatare, like, we make seven figures
(44:16):
, like I say, I make sevenfigures, but I'm, I've been at
it for 11 years as anexclusively digital business, so
you know any of these moms?
Rita Suzanne (44:25):
After you built locally.
So After I built, locally forsure.
Bianca Sprague (44:29):
And so I know it can be discouraging.
Even I can get sucked intothose videos of a mom dancing
and pointing and saying she made$3 million that month and now
she's on vacation all month andshe only works six hours, Like I
know sometimes I can, I canbeat myself up over those, but
they're not real and it's that'snot the type of work that most
of you are doing, Cause I canguess what most of your
(44:51):
businesses are in the fieldsthat they are and you know
that's not why you went intobusiness.
And that gal is all debatable.
She made $7 million and there'svery few jobs that you can work
for four hours a month and makethat much money.
It's just, it's not.
It's not realistic, it's notreasonable.
Even the even the making ofthat real, you know, takes at
(45:14):
least 45 minutes and they havetwo or three a day like that.
So like, just like.
Let's think real, reasonable,real, rational here.
So make sure everybody in yourlocal community knows you, loves
you, thinks you're wonderful,sees you at community events and
, honestly, your roster, yourproducts, your roster will be
full.
Your products will be off theshelf or off out of your garage,
(45:36):
wherever they are.
Rita Suzanne (45:38):
I love it.
Okay, so let's briefly talkabout self-care, and then we're
going to tell everybody whereyou are online.
Bianca Sprague (45:48):
Yeah, self-care, I'm big on it.
But I think self-care what itlooks like like I'm supposed to
be off.
This week I've done a veryterrible job because I'm in a
really excited, creative state,so I've actually worked every
day that I'm supposed to be offbecause I want to, and so I
think self-care can lookdifferently like that.
I also make sure I have lots ofhobbies that are just mine,
(46:09):
that are very different than mywork.
I play roller derby so, and Ihave since I started my business
, so that's like a really nicecompliment to my gentle birthing
practices.
It's very aggressive, violentsport and you know, I always
make sure I'm learning alanguage, I'm learning things.
I laugh a lot.
Oh, my favorite self-care tipy'all is when you're working,
(46:31):
you're working, and when you'renot, you're not.
Turn off your notifications,don't go to bed looking at your
emails.
You're the only one that cancreate discipline around this
and the act of doing that is solife-changing.
It will get your cortisol down,it will get your life back.
So if your kids are around youand you're like still trying to
(46:54):
email this client back andthey're nagging at you and you
feel your that sweaty armpit,your tummies and knots, and
you're like, so overwhelmed youhave to decide if it's a work
time and then you leave the roomand you answer the email, or
it's a not work time, and thenyou have to close it and
acknowledge your children,because that's what you're doing
in that time and I singleparented through most of my
(47:15):
business.
So I do want to put out thatI'm not like oh, I passed it off
to my partner, I was alone andit was really hard and this was
my saving grace.
And so make a time and after 6pm you literally turn off your
notifications and don't openyour laptop, don't look at your
phone and anything that's acrisis will be there tomorrow
(47:36):
and you can't do a lot after 6pm anyway.
Rita Suzanne (47:44):
And so that would be my like.
This will be my top life savingbusiness tip.
Business tip I agree.
I haven't had notifications onmy 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 (47:56):
oh, we have so many fun spaces.
Um, all of our handles end withbaboia 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 thechannels 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 specialshappening.
(48:18):
Um, like, we have guestlectures, we do free business
talks, we have a podcast thatyou 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 babomiacomforward slash moo M-O-O, you can
check out a little bit moreabout our conversation here
(48:38):
today and find some of thoselinks that are easier so you
don't have to remember anythingI just said besides babomiacom
forward slash moo.
Rita Suzanne (48:45):
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
All right and I will put allthe 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 (48:57):
Thanks for having me, Rita.
I really enjoyed this chat.
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