About the episode
In this episode of the Mom Owned and Operated podcast, Rita Suzanne and Brieanna Lightfoot Smith discuss raising a family, running a business and remembering yourself.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith is a Coach for Mompreneurs and Brand Strategist. She transformed her passion for affirming and encouraging teenage girls into four published books and then turned those books into a curriculum-based program. That program became the foundation for her coaching business and digital product library and now she’s excited about helping other women get paid for their passion.
You can connect with Brieanna on her website, LinkedIn and Instagram.
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Listen to the episode
Show Notes
SPEAKERS
Rita Suzanne, Brieanna Lightfoot Smith
Rita Suzanne 00:01
Welcome to the Mom Owned and Operated Podcast, the podcast about moms and for moms, where we have candid conversations about running a business, raising a family, and remembering ourselves. I’m your host, Rita Suzanne, a single mom of four, digital strategist and provider of no nonsense business strategies and tactics.
Rita Suzanne:
Hi, this is Mom Owned and Operated. I am Rita, Suzanne, and today I have my guest, Brianna, with me. Brianna, I’m so excited to chat with you today. Please tell everyone all about you, your family and your business.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Yes, thanks for having me, rita. My name is Brianna Lightfoot Smith. I am a mom of three boys. We’re actually expecting our next baby as I record this, and I have been an entrepreneur for a decade.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
I started my business straight out of college and have a background in digital marketing, brand strategy, really got into coaching over the last few years and have focused specifically on coaching moms, because we just have a lot of hats that we wear. We have things that are unique to us. You know we need to bring our children onto the Zoom sometimes, and so it’s been such a blessing to be able to serve my children right, but then also serve my clients and seeing that intersectionality and I just love things that moms do, because we really are super women out here and I don’t say that like the superwoman badge we don’t need help, but just when you really think about the things that we’re managing on a day-to-day basis, if you write everything down, we have about 178 jobs and you know we do a lot of them really, really well, and so I’m super excited about this interview today.
Rita Suzanne:
Yeah, how old are your boys?
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
My boys are three, five and six. My husband and I had children pretty much like a year into marriage, so pretty quickly after we got married. But we had been together since college. So I was like I guess we kind of got our time a little bit, but it’s been really. I have loved having them close in age, even though during the pandemic wasn’t sure if we were going to make it and bring them so close and them so young, right. But now, as they’re older, I’m like, okay, it was worth a little craziness, it’s good, it’s good.
Rita Suzanne:
Yeah, it’s so. I had my two boys and I remember having the two of them when they were younger and it was good because they were playmates, right, like they were, at least could. And I remember, after I had my first son, my mom said you have to have another one so that they can play. They have somebody to play with. And I was like I wasn’t even ready to have a second baby, but she was like no, you have to do it, like right now she’s like ready, Go, Come on, Come on.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Yeah, it’s such, it’s. It really is wisdom. Because my, my heart really went out to moms who were kind of their child’s like sole source of entertainment during the pandemic. Like they were like okay, what are we going to do now? What are we going to do now? And I was like go play with your brother, talk to your brother, what are you and your brother going to do? I definitely lean heavily on that and still was halfway crazy. So I really remember feeling like, oh my gosh, I’m so glad they have siblings, you know for sure.
Rita Suzanne:
Yes, definitely. It’s so much better because then they can play with each other. So when you started your business, I assume that you weren’t focusing on moms, but it just kind of transitioned into working with moms. So let’s talk about how you kind of pivoted and how that transition happened.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Yes. So when I first started my business, like I said, I was straight out of college. So, mom, motherhood, even marriage, you know, marriage wasn’t so far off on the horizon because at that point my husband and I were dating, we were kind of heading towards getting engaged. But my thought process was I wanted something that gave me flexibility and I really, because I have so many different interests. I was like I want to have something different to do every day, right? And if you’re an entrepreneur, you know that is our life, right, your morning can even look different than your afternoon. And so I really fell into entrepreneurship. I had an aunt who has still does to this day a foster care and adoption agency. She knew my background with journalism and she said we need a monthly newsletter and we need someone to run our social media pages. And so I was like, bet, I’d never run social media before, but I’m like, hey, I’m young, how hard can it be? It wasn’t the behemoth thing that it is now Right. At that point, running social media just meant posting on your Facebook page a couple of times a week, and so I did that. I started the business.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
2014, got engaged. 2015, got married. 2016, had our first son, 2017,. Got pregnant with our second son, 2018, right. So it was just like nonstop stuff. And in 2018, I told my husband. I said, baby, I don’t have it in me to go and do the hunting, right, because as an entrepreneur, the saying is, if you don’t hunt, you don’t eat. And I was like, well, we just about to be hungry because I don’t have it in me to get these clients. And I remember not even worrying about it and not being like, but what are we going to do? Because my business at the time was like a big source of our income. But I was just like I know I cannot continue to function the way that I’ve been functioning and I don’t want to do both. I just I told him. I said I just want to be one of those stay at home moms, for I didn’t know how long it was going to be. I just knew I didn’t have it in me to keep going how I was going.
Rita Suzanne:
So I closed my business. What were you doing at that time?
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
no-transcript, because you’re just kind of get used to doing whatever needs to be done. Right Again that ties into motherhood as well Like you’re sick, but the kid’s sick too, so you’re prioritizing their needs of your own. And that’s how I felt, like with my clients. I’m like I remember being at a client’s house like working on edits for her website, and I was like, yeah, I don’t know how I got here, but this is not sustainable.
Rita Suzanne:
It reminds me. That reminds me of I was telling somebody the story about one of my first clients who kind of I joke about how she held me hostage at her house and doing working on edits for her website as well, and I was like I got to go. I felt like this lady was going to have me there forever if I did not and I used my kids as a reason. I was like I have to go, like I need to feed my kids dinner.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Yeah, in my mind I’m like how did we even arrive at that point? Like why was I at her house? There is no client I have to this day where I’m just out there.
Rita Suzanne:
I would never go to a client’s house now, but she was one of my first clients and she wanted me to come to her house so that we could kind of collab on the project, yeah. And so I was like, okay, sure, why not? I didn’t realize it would be five hours later and I’m begging to leave.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Yes, seriously. So that was kind of like the pinch point for me Closed my business down a few months later and I didn’t open it up again until 2021. And even then it wasn’t just this like okay, it’s time it was. It was so funny in the, in the course of one week, two people who knew my business from New Orleans reached out and were like, hey, do you still have, are you still doing stuff with Brands by Brie? And you know I’m a God girl, so I prayed about it.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
I’m like, am I still doing stuff for Brands by Brie? And you know I’m a God girl, so I prayed about it. I’m like, am I still doing stuff for Brands by Brie? And I feel like God gave me peace about it. So I was like, yes, I am, you know, and they are both moms and I just thought that was so interesting. One needed a website. I think both. No, both of them needed a website. One had a fitness company that she was kind of rebranding and the other one had a coaching company and she had wanted to work with me before, but she knew the business was closed, so I had posted something online about this other project.
Rita Suzanne:
And she was like did.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
I see that Brands by Bree is back open and I said it is unofficially, you know. And so you asked about how I transitioned from the website design social media to coaching. I started getting frustrated because we would do these incredible website design projects and it would be time to launch. And my mom was would just go ghost. And I’m like sis, I’m emailing, I’m DMing on social media, like hey, I haven’t seen you say anything about the site or you know, is everything okay?
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Or I’m checking on your links, everything seems to be working. I know you said this was going to be your launch date, and I remember one of my moms saying like I feel so confident when we’re working together. She’s like but when it’s time for me to kind of go off and do it on my own, I don’t feel confident anymore. And so that’s when I wanted to add coaching in because I’m like okay, this is a mindset.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
A lot of these women were starting businesses because they did want to have the financial freedom, because they also maybe didn’t feel really fulfilled in their full-time job. So they were like, hey, let me do this thing on the side. And I realized I’m like they’re having a hard time seeing themselves as business owners, right, as entrepreneurs. And so I needed to. I felt like I had a responsibility to talk them through that mindset of what it means to run a business and, even if it’s a side hustle, even if you never plan on being a full-time entrepreneur, right, like, what are the systems you need to have in place? What’s the structure? And once I did that, I started seeing them actually launching their sites and talking about their products and services and I feel like I was hooked since then because it felt like the perfect partnership. I wasn’t just giving them that branding assets Right Like I was really giving them that business acumen.
Rita Suzanne:
Yeah, because I felt it sounds like their confidence was just really they were struggling Right. Confidence was just really they were struggling right Because they didn’t know that maybe they just didn’t feel like they could do it without somebody holding their hands and it’s really sad.
Rita Suzanne:
I posted the other day on my Facebook about how and I think maybe this is how you found me I have posted in a Facebook group asking for, um, you know people to sign up to be a guest. And in that, in that post, there were people who were commenting on there telling me about themselves and saying, um, saying, uh, let me know if I, if you think I’d be a good guest, and I never replied to any of the comments. And I didn’t reply to any of the comments because it kind of made me a little bit frustrated, and not because they didn’t follow through, not because they didn’t follow directions. It made me frustrated because I felt like they needed me to validate them, to let them know that they were good enough to be a guest.
Rita Suzanne:
And the thing about being a guest on this show is there is no, there’s no like, there’s no hoops to jump on. You know you, all you have to do is be a mom and have a business and I’m going to interview you and I’m going to support you in everything that I can. And so, to me, it frustrated me because I felt like you don’t even have the confidence to click the link and do the thing right, Like, and it’s so frustrating that I feel like oftentimes women are struggling in that just that minor thing. They don’t even want to put themselves out there in that way, and it’s really sad to me that, you know, cause, like the two of us, we’ve been in business for a long time and I think, like in the beginning, obviously maybe we were not, you know, as comfortable as we are now, but in the, you know, at any stage I feel like if you’re going to have a business, you really need to put yourself out there, and part of it is applying for things that maybe you don’t qualify for.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Absolutely. Yeah, Grants included. Okay, You’re like okay, I’m not sure, but I’m going to just find out, you know everything.
Rita Suzanne:
Put yourself out there, and you know there’s been so many things that I’ve applied for that I’m like, well, maybe they might like my story, I don’t know. Yeah.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Yeah, I’ll give you a perfect example of that. Last year I was in this program called the Goldman Sachs Black in Business Program and it’s a program they have for minority women in business and I applied because I had a friend who went through it. She said it was an incredible opportunity and I can’t even say that I was like I don’t know if I could do that.
Rita Suzanne:
Right.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
I just was like, ok, let’s see, you know why I’m connected to her, we have similar passions. And I actually had the opposite happen, where I got in and I wasn’t like, oh my gosh, what? You know, I was very grateful, absolutely. But I think there was a well, why not you? You know what I mean. Like, I think we think why me, why me? And there was just a mindset I had, especially in that season, of like, why not me? You know, if I have this story, if I know I’m impacting women, why I shouldn’t be shocked.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
And what I loved about that program is that every time we were together because they flew us out to New York twice and we met at their offices they said what you said. They said you being in this program is not us validating the work that you, you, you have already validated the work that you do by doing the work right, like they’re like. Yes, it’s great, we’re glad that you’ll have the Goldman Sachs name. You can put it on your email, you know footers and stuff like that. They’re like, but you had to qualify to even be in this room. So don’t feel like, okay, well, now what I’m doing is worthy because they have said it’s worthy. They’re like you were worthy before you even came Right.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
And I think that that’s so important for us to understand and it translates to our parenting as well. Right, like your child’s performance in school or performance in sports is not the thing that makes you a good mom. What makes you a good mom is that you’re taking care of them, that you’re teaching them good habits, you’re teaching them how to navigate their emotions. That’s what makes you a good mom. It’s not about your performance or their performance and things.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
And I think if we could stop walking from that place of limitation or, like you said, that place of like well, does this person like me? Or are they saying that I’m enough and just show up like we are already enough because we are? It shifts the atmosphere and it positions both us and our children to have that benefit. Because something I’ve realized is that, as I’ve shown up more in my business, my boys know my pitch for my business. They’ll be like we’re a brand vibrate, where you build your business and you raise your babies and they know how it goes Right. And if I have a meeting, they know like, oh, she’s, she’s on a meeting and I have to understand doing that, leaning fully into the side of me that loves entrepreneurship and connecting with women and speaking, and all of this does not take away from them, it actually adds to them, because they can see oh man, when mommy does these things, it really lights her up. So what are the things that light me up currently?
Rita Suzanne:
Right? I think yes, it’s definitely empowering. I remember when I had started my business and my sons were about four and six and I would be sitting there with my laptop and each of them I’d have one on each side sitting there beside me, and they would you know I talk about this in a negative way, but they would because I felt like I was working too much to really benefit from being at home with them. But they would draw pictures of me always being on my computer and always they knew how important my business was to me yeah, yeah and
Rita Suzanne:
still, and they still still know, like all of my kids know, how important it is to me. You know, because I’m I’m working like it’s important to me and um, and so I think that I think it just shows them by example. You know that you can know, because I don’t know if you know my story, but I have my two sons, but then in 2020, my sister passed and I have my two nieces as well, and so there’s some you know there were, you know, a lot of there’s been issues with, like you know, just merging of families and and so now I have a single I’m a single mom of four teenagers and you know there’s a there’s been a lot of things going on in that, so it’s a.
Rita Suzanne:
It’s a lot of of situations that have come in to that, but I, what I find the most exciting is seeing my girls now just have grown and kind of blossomed and they, their self-esteem has grown in in this whole process, because I think that you know, I’ve just been kind of lifting them up and showing them that they they don’t have, they don’t need somebody else to validate them and to make them feel a certain way. And I try to do that with all of my kids really, and I think that that’s an important thing that we need to do like for each other, but also for our kids. I think that you know they need to understand they don’t need a spouse or partner to make them feel special, a partner to make them feel special. Yeah, you know. So let’s get back to business. Let’s talk about these mompreneurs. Let’s talk about is there something that you see in common with these moms? Is there something that successful mompreneurs have in common that you’ve?
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
noticed.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Is there something that successful mompreneurs have in common that you’ve noticed. That’s such a good question. I would say it’s the willingness to invest in themselves and the willingness to show up, even if it’s imperfectly right. So at the very beginning, we were talking about coming onto the Zoom with your baby right there. Right, you talked about your boys being right next to you. Sometimes I call my boys my bodyguards because I feel like they are never like the whole six foot thing during coke. I’m like, yeah, they didn’t ever. They are always within like maybe, yeah, two inches, like I can feel your breath, right, and so I.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
I have seen one of my clients. She’s a mom of six and she would get on her calls and you know, sometimes she had to hold on for a second and she put herself on mute and I’d see her go and tell the kids something and then come back. Right, but she didn’t use that as a reason to not show up. And I think where I get frustrated on the opposite side is for moms who are constantly being like, oh well, this is not the right time. Right Like oh well, when so-and-so finishes soccer or when so-and-so is out of ballet. Because when I hear it, I’m like, okay, all of that is external and that is something that your child is doing right. And so when we get to the place where we are and this is not to say that we don’t make sacrifices as moms, we absolutely do, but one of my mom clients really put it in perspective. She was like I realized I can spend four figures in a school year on all of the extracurricular activities for my kid. She said, but I won’t invest a hundred dollars a month for a really good gym membership. And she was like I realized I needed to shift that Like cause. I’m saying they’re worth the investment. I’m thinking about their advancement, their development, but then is that at the, is that my own like detriment? Where I don’t get to, I don’t get to develop as a person, I don’t get to move forward.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
And so I think the women I see have the most success are those women who are like you know what I am worth the investment, and not just the financial investment but the time investment. I’m going to show up on these coaching calls for an hour, I’m going to bring my questions, I’m going to go through these modules that she has up here for me, I’m going to do the worksheets and women who are willing to do the work and this is mom or not, right People who are willing to do the work. You have the benefit from that. There’s a scripture in Proverbs that says all hard work leads to profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. If we’re always talking about what we’re going to do but we never take the time to do it, I feel like it, it, it. It puts us in a place where it’s like who are you to envy this person and the stuff that they have when they were willing to do work that you just weren’t willing to do. The time is going to pass anyway, right.
Rita Suzanne:
I think that, um, oftentimes, when you, when you put it in that perspective, I think that moms feel like they would be selfish to put themselves ahead of anyone else. Right, yeah, any thoughts on that and what’s your perspective?
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
on that and what’s your perspective? Yes, I think, and I’ve been in. I don’t know if I ever felt like, oh, I’m being selfish by doing this, but I definitely had a martyr kind of spirit about myself for a really long time where it was just like dying on the hill of. Well, this is for my kids, right, and mine has primarily been centered around just pregnancy, right, as I share, my boys are back to back I’m pregnant as the recording of this podcast episode, and so there were so many things where I was like, oh well, I’m pregnant right now or like, oh, you know, that’s around when the baby’s going to come, and, yes, you need to have some margin in your schedule because these babies do not care, they don’t care when they get older, they definitely don’t care as newborns, right.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
But I had to realize there was this bitterness and resentment that was building up, because I was always like, oh well, I can’t do that because of this, oh, I can’t do that because of that. Oh, I got to wait one to two years, two to three years, whatever, whatever. And I’m like you know what I have to create my business and structure my business and my life in such a way that two things can happen at the same time, that I can create a thriving business and I can have a peaceful home. Right In my bio I talk about how I believe that a peaceful home and a profitable brand can coexist. And people say all the time like you can have everything, you may not. You just may not be able to have it all at once, and I don’t even think that’s saying like seasons, it’s literally just like no in this moment, right? So if I’m here and I’m locked in with you, rita, and we’re doing this interview, well, that means that I’m not at home with my boys and we’re not going over puzzles or whatever.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
But that also means that when I’m locked in with them, I want to be locked in with them. So, okay, we’re doing painting or we are. I like taking my boys on walks because I need, I like to get out in nature. They love, they love looking at ducks and chasing squirrels and stuff like that. I’m like okay, so when I’m doing that, that means I’m not checking email, and I think if we would look at our lives like that, there’s not really a lot of space for us to feel like we’re being selfish, because you’re like, wow, my children are actually getting the best version of me. Because if you’re home but you’re thinking about all the things you could do if you didn’t have kids because that’s a lot of times where our mind jumps to we’re not even like oh, if the kids were older. We’re like, if I didn’t have kids, like that, you know she doesn’t. She built a seven figure business, but she don’t have kids. Like I do, right, or you know she did this, but she doesn’t have kids.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
If we would stop looking at our children as a thing that’s holding us back and instead look at it like man, they’re actually pushing me forward, they’re positioning me better, they’re helping me to be more intentional with my time, because I don’t have the 12 hour work schedule. I’m not going to be at the client’s house for several hours because I need to get home and get dinner to my kids. If we would see that as an opportunity instead of like a hindrance, then I think again. That thought of I’m being selfish moves away because you see how you’re showing up. I know that I show up better when I have these other outlets and avenues and I’m not just at home upset about all the things I gave up because I chose to be a mom. So that’s how I look at that.
Rita Suzanne:
Sometimes you have to be in order to prioritize yourself and and as harsh as that may sound, right Like people don’t like the word selfish, yeah, but I think that sometimes we do need to make play, we need to make a way for ourselves Right and our kids don’t have time.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
They don’t care. They don’t care about being selfish.
Rita Suzanne:
Because they’re selfish, right, like they care, they care about them, they prioritize themselves. Let’s talk about one thing that I see as an issue oftentimes is pricing Right new moms or new mompreneurs and pricing, but also like them feeling like nobody’s gonna pay me for the thing that I offer. What are your thoughts on that? Like, do you have moms who struggle with that issue?
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
I do, and I think we as women struggle with that right, like I’m reading um Rachel Rogers book we Should All Be Millionaires right now and she’s just talking about how much of how many of our limitations around money and even admitting that we want more money is rooted in the thought that, like, as women, we’re supposed to prioritize family above everything else. So, yes, we are on welfare, but you know we’re we’re taking care of the home. Yes, we’re in situations where we could be making more, but, like, at least our kids are whatever. You know, and I’ve just been really kind of unpacking a lot of that, and I think that that mindset affects our pricing, because sometimes we’ll price just like enough, right, like okay, well, I don’t need too much money, so this is enough to get by, quote unquote. But one thing I have seen, you know and you hear the quote yesterday’s price is not today’s price. It can’t be, because guess what, especially if your family is continuously growing, last year’s bill is not today’s bill, so things may have been cheaper in a previous season of your life and guess what they’re not.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
You only needed one car seat, now you need two. All right, you only had to get groceries for three people Now you have to get groceries for five Right. And so I think we have to be intentional in the way we even price our business. Our price, our products and services, and thinking about that like, in the same way, the economy, that when they need to add some more money to something when we went through that season where eggs were like $7, they weren’t like, well, maybe we should charge a little they like listen, these people need eggs and they’re going to pay whatever price they need to get these eggs Right.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
And so I actually have a method in my business that I teach my students called the PET method when it comes to pricing my business that I teach my students called the PET method when it comes to pricing, and the P stands for purpose, the E is your experience and the T is for time. When I say purpose, I’m talking about what is the what place like? If you think about your business in tiers, or if you have multiple products or services, what place does this play, this product or service play, in the grand scheme of your business, right? Is it an entry-level product where you’re like, hey, they come in here just to kind of see how it is to work with me, and then I advance them forward? Do you only have a top tier? No, this is it. This is all you can get. It’s a premium investment thing. That’s fine as well, right, but knowing that is really helpful. Then I talk about your experience, and I think that people’s people don’t realize we have experience with the thing that we’re charging for, because we don’t I don’t know anybody who’s just like you. Know what? I think I’m going to charge for the things. Yeah, I’ve never made a quilt before, but I’m thinking I’m going to start selling quilts and it’s like you’ve been doing this already. Our the disconnect is you’ve never charged for it before, so you’re used to just making the quilts for all the new babies in your family and you’re like, well, let me, girl, you’ve been doing this for 20 years, I think. About hairstylists, they’re perfect examples a lot of the people who are the top. Right. They’ve been braiding their friends hair when they were younger. Right, They’ve been experimenting with colors since they were in college. They’ve been doing all of these different things that have built up their experience. They’ve just maybe never charged for it.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
And then time. Time is important because it’s not just the time with coaching. That’s a perfect example. It’s like, oh well, it’s just a one hour call, okay, but how much prep time is going into it? Do they get some kind of feedback afterward? Do they get like two weeks access to you? Are they going to get the notes sent? Are you sending out additional resources after the call? Those are all things we have to factor in and we have to value our time because people are going to. It’s like we’re setting an example for our clients. I can’t tell you to put value and to value what you’re doing if I’m not valuing what I do. And I also love what one of my former coaches said. She said sometimes there’s no transformation without a transaction. She’s like I can come in here and say this is going to be free. Nobody comes, I charge even $50 for it and everybody’s like.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Oh let me hurry up and get in here, right, and they’re there because they had to pay. They pay attention, right. So if we would get, I love. Like I said when I, when I thought about that, I was like that’s what we. I think sometimes people are just pricing for one of those tiers. They’re just looking at the time so they’re like it doesn’t need to be that expensive.
Rita Suzanne:
I’ll tell you what they’re doing. They’re looking at somebody else’s website and they’re looking at their pricing and they’re saying I’m going to charge exactly what this person is charging, Except I’m going to go charge just a little bit less because it’s going to take me and that’s the complete opposite of what you should be doing.
Rita Suzanne:
So it’s a horrible strategy to use and nobody should do that and, like you said, it’s definitely not taking into consideration the framework or strategy that you suggested, which I love, I think is brilliant and, you know, would help somebody in any stage of business to come up with pricing which would make sense Absolutely. Yeah, I think that you know. Again, it comes with confidence. I remember when I first started doing design, I came in probably started at like a middle tier pricing. I was brand new but I was like I don’t care, I ain’t starting at the bottom.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
And the thing is, when you undercharge like that, then when you realize, oh baby, I’m charging, I’m not charging enough and you have a price jump. That doesn’t mean people won’t pay your prices, but there’s typically a gap because you’re having to transition to this whole other demographic of people. If you had the people who are used to getting by on the budget and coupon clipping and whatever and that’s not knocking that because we’ve all been in that season before, right. But if that’s the demographic you’re serving, if you come in, if they’re used to two and three figure pricing and you come in with a six figure offer, they like baby.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Yeah, to their brand strategy as deep as as they should.
Rita Suzanne:
You know and really dive into like you said, like the demographics of who they’re even working with, because if you knew that, then you would know that your pricing structure needs to be along those lines of what the person is willing to pay.
Rita Suzanne:
You know. So, yeah, I mean, it’s a, it’s a whole thing, and I think that you know, like you know. So, yeah, I mean, it’s a, it’s a whole thing, and I think that you know, like you know, I’m sure that you’ve come across people who think that your brand means your logo, and those are, those are two. It’s just really the most tiniest piece of your brand and it’s not even the most important part. It’s literally the least important part and I I don’t understand, you know I. Anyway I digress.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Let’s talk. She’s like this, is this is like this irritates me If you can’t tell.
Rita Suzanne:
I will go off on a tangent, but let’s talk a little bit about self-care, because the whole, one of the reasons why I started this podcast was because I had stopped taking care of myself. You know, I was like, you know, had gone through like this whole thing and I was like I need to reconnect with moms, I need to figure out how these other moms are able to raise their families, run their business, but also like, remember themselves because I had stopped taking care of me, and so I was like I want to make sure that I don’t leave an episode without asking other moms are you doing for yourself?
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Yes, taking intentional time away from my children is something that I have done, especially as someone who has homeschooled for the past two years, like I’m always with these people.
Rita Suzanne:
Oh my gosh, you didn’t add in that you were homeschooling. That’s crazy.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
I am like I am always with y’all people and I love it. I mean, I genuinely love the relationship I have with my sons. It’s been such a blessing to learn them. But I had to realize okay, girl, you’ve gotten so used to that that even when you have a window of time, you’re like well, it’s not a big and I’m like no girl, put some clothes on, get out the house. I don’t care if you’re just going on a drive, right, wednesdays are awesome, because my husband works from home on Wednesdays and so that’s my day to be. Sometimes I’m gone all day and my boys just know that they’re like all right, mommy bye. I love you, have a good day, you know, but it took me to tying with what you’re saying about being selfish. It was they didn’t start that way, especially my youngest right, my three-year-old he’s like where are you going, can I go?
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
and I was like no, you can’t come, well, why not? And then he’s trying to. I remember one day he literally was trying to hurry up and put on pants so he could come with me, and I was like I don’t care, if you get dressed, you’re still not coming. I’m going by myself, right, and he’s screaming, crying on the other side of the door and I was just like, girl, it’s okay, he’s going to be fine, he does this A little bit of mom guilt.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
I know there was oh honey, so stop, but I’m gonna go Right. And I remember, even when I came back that same day.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
he’s like hi, mommy, how was your day, mommy, and I’m like you’re the same one who was trying to fight me on leaving. So I would say intentional time away from my children. That is literally one of the top things that I’ve done, because it’s recharging my battery, it’s giving me opportunity to have adult conversations right. It’s giving me opportunity to not feel like I’m on demand. I’m not the snack girl for an hour, two hours. I’m not having to kind of regulate my emotions because this one’s screaming and this one’s crying and this is like I really I’m like man, that overstimulation. I don’t realize how bad it gets until I’m in a silent environment and I’m like, oh, it’s like my nervous system is naturally just coming down, and so that’s one of the best things that I’ve done for myself. And notice, I wasn’t like I go and get my hair done. I go and get my nails. Baby, do it if you want. But it’s just whatever it looks like. If it’s lunch with a friend, if it is time at my office space, right.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
If it is time outside, if it is solo lunch, dates, I love a good solo lunch day and sometimes my solo lunch dates are in my car because I realized sometimes when I’m in a restaurant or even at a fast food place, I’m hearing other people’s children crying and it’s like I’m back with my own kids, right. So I think that that’s really important and I would say also being honest about where I’m at right, whether that’s being honest with my husband, honest with my children, and saying, hey, I need a break, or you’re doing a lot, or you know with my children and saying, hey, I need a break, or you’re doing a lot, or you know teaching them that emotional regulation. And honest with my friends and being. I remember reaching out to my friend. This was just last week. I said, girl, you trying to, because she’s a homeschool mom too, like you trying to meet up with these kids somewhere, because I don’t feel like I need, we don’t need to be alone right now. They right there on that last nerve and I just feel like we need to break out, you know.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
And saying that because I think that so many women suffer in silence and, like I said, that bitterness builds up, that resentment builds up and they start to feel like they’re a monster, they’re like I can’t believe I would think about leave my kids at this park and never coming back again. Right, I can’t believe I would think about just leaving my family, completely right? These are thoughts that can come to your mind if you are in that constant pressured environment. And so when we have those safe circles I’m not saying you need to broadcast on social media, I don’t think about slapping my child across the face, you know what I mean. But if you have those safe circles where you can say, yeah, girl, he always got me today right.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
Then it’s helpful because they can help, and I think that is a feeling where the validation is helpful, because they’re like oh girl, yeah, that was me, and so-and-so last week, oh, for sure.
Rita Suzanne:
Yeah, no, and that sense of validation is warranted. Right, but needing someone to validate you for confidence is totally different right, absolutely.
Rita Suzanne:
Needing a friend to say, like, I understand, I’m with you and you’re not a failure. Because I think that’s the thing that us, as moms, feel is like if we can’t do everything, picture perfect as a mother, then we are a failure. And that’s not the case, right, because we have to recognize that the things that we see on social media there, that’s just highlights, right, nobody’s really showing the craziness of what it’s like to be a mom. It’s hard, just like running a business is hard, being a mom is hard.
Rita Suzanne:
And you know, like and I like to, I like to show that also like you mentioned that going to the spa and doing all these things get our hair done, our nails done and all of those things they are maybe a form of self-care, but that’s not real self-care. Real self-care it’s maybe locking yourself in your bathroom if you need to, because your kid is, you know, is screaming and is is really doing the most and you just need five minutes away. So you know. I think that it’s important to really understand that. You know there’s different, there’s also different levels of you know, like, where your kids are in that in that moment. Right, different ages have different issues and things, and I think that you know, now that my kids are all teenagers, they have different challenges, and so I still don’t forget, though, what it was like to have little ones.
Rita Suzanne:
Yeah it was all that you can.
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
It was like a lot of work. You will never forget that.
Rita Suzanne:
It was. It was a whole lot and I recognize that and I appreciate it for what it was, and I know that running, trying to run a business and you know and do all of that at the same time, is heavy and it’s a lot, and that’s why I say, adding in the homeschooling on top of that, that is an extra level of pressure as well. So I salute you for that. Let’s talk about where everyone can find you online. Where are you at?
Brieanna Lightfoot Smith:
talk about where everyone can find you online. Where are you at? So you? The best place to get in contact with me is my website, brandsbybree.com, and that’s B-R-A-N-D-S-B-Y-B-R-I-Ecom. That has all the information about our group coaching programs. It has. We have digital products on there. If you’re more of like a self-paced girly, like listen, listen, I’m kind of dipping my toe into entrepreneurship. I’m not fully committed yet. Um, we have brands by brie academy on there, so that’s a great place. It also has links to my social media. I’m on linkedin, I’m on instagram, but, yes, brandsbybrie.com is the best place to get in touch with me yes, thank you so much.
Rita Suzanne:
It’s been such a pleasure chatting with you this has been great. I’ll talk to you soon.
And there you have it. I want to encourage you to remember that being a mom who runs her own business is not easy. We all struggle, but just keep moving forward. And don’t forget to make time for yourself. As moms we are usually the first thing to go to the bottom of the list. If your business is overwhelming you and you need real solutions, not just some sugar coated suggestions apply to work with me at ritasuzanne.com/apply
