Catherine Langman:
Well, hello there. Catherine Langman here back with another episode of the Productpreneur Success Podcast. And to kick us off today, I’m going to share a quick story that I think many of your listeners may have heard, but I’m going to tell it again. And I promise it is very relevant to the awesome episode coming up. The story goes like this. Imagine that you are on a plane flying to an overseas destination, hopefully on holiday. And yes, of course, we’re all only imagining this at the moment.
Anyway, you’re flying over the ocean somewhere and the pilot comes over the PA and says, “I’ve got an announcement. I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that we’ve lost all of our instruments. We don’t know how fast we’re flying. We don’t know how high we are. We don’t know how much fuel we have left, and we don’t know what direction we’re going in. But the good news is we’re making great time.” Of course, the analogy for business here is flying by the seat of your pants doesn’t get you there.
You really need to know where you are going, right, and how are you going to get there. This really comes into having a vivid vision for your business and being really clear on what that is for yourself, so that you can use that as your guiding light for everything that you do in your business to drive it towards achieving that vision and that goal for yourself. Today on the podcast, I’ve got an amazing guest and her enthusiasm and her passion for what she does is so infectious, you are absolutely going to love listening to her.
Her name is Amy McGlade and she has a business called The Breastmilk Queen. But what I want you to take out of this interview today is how she’s been able to take the vision that she has for her business and translate it into some really actionable steps, including things like creating content for her audience in a way that has really built up an enormous audience that is incredibly engaged and how she’s used that vision as well to help inform her very detailed customer avatar.
And again, she uses that avatar to help inform her content creation and all of her marketing and to be able to use that vision in a way that really translates down every single step of what she does in her business, from product creation to all of her marketing. You can see the actual results that are coming out the other end. Her business is growing so incredibly quickly, it’s just insane. Definitely you’ll enjoy some very actionable tips from this particular episode.
And I think you’re going to really enjoy listening to Amy speak with me today. So without further ado, let’s welcome Amy to the show.
Catherine Langman:
So welcome to the show, Amy. It’s really fantastic to have you here.
Amy McGlade:
Thanks so much for having me, Cathy. So excited to be here.
Catherine Langman:
It’s so cool. And so we are going to have a chat about your business, The Breastmilk Queen. And I’d like to just ask you to kick us off, tell us about the origin story of your business.
Amy McGlade:
Yeah, sure, absolutely. It’s a little bit of a long one. Sorry. The Breastmilk Queen is a social brand and my biggest aim is to empower mamas to reach their breastfeeding goals with confidence. So we are really big on having a social presence and making sure that we make mothers feel comfortable to be online and sharing their own breastfeeding journeys. It started back in 2014, sorry. I know. The years are just rolling by.
Catherine Langman:
They do.
Amy McGlade:
I was working as a midwife and I just had our third baby. And I was looking at a way to, sort of, commemorate those motherhood journeys. I was looking at I lots of [inaudible 00:01:13], and I came across something online called, breast milk jewellery. It was a pretty new thing. It was pretty wild at the time, where people would create keepsakes out of their own breast milk and use as a little bit of a token or an ode to their breastfeeding journey. So I was like, “I could do this, I could make this.” So I sort of started hustling away and taught myself how to make breast milk jewellery.
Catherine Langman:
That just sounds so hard and obscure. How do you learn something like that? That’s crazy.
Amy McGlade:
Oh, it was so hard. I looked like a mad scientist. My kitchen was just full of experiments and it wasn’t something you could Google. So it wasn’t something you could be like, “How to make breast milk jewellery.” It’s kind of something that… I knew resin was working for other people. I didn’t think at the time there were many, if any Australian artists. I think maybe one or two, but there was a few in the US. And it was a very closely guarded secret. So-
Catherine Langman:
Yeah, right.
Amy McGlade:
… You couldn’t just ne like, “How do I make the jewellery?” So I had to, sort of, learn. I was just using different formulas and trying different ways to, sort of, create jewellery that would, sort of, not go moldy and gross.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah.
Amy McGlade:
And something that I could sort of create it for myself. But months and months learning. Lots and lots of trial and error. So many failures.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. Yeah.
Amy McGlade:
And so I sort of came up with a bit of a formula that worked really well. And then I started making jewellery for myself. I was still working as a midwife at the time, and had three small children. And a lot of the women at the hospital were like, “Oh my gosh. That’s so cool. I would love that too.” Or “Could you make some jewellery for me?” And before I knew it, I was this midwife that I had started her own small business from her kitchen table, making breast milk jewellery. I started accepting orders from people in Australia and I’d sort of thought, “Oh, okay. Maybe I’ll make a Facebook page.” And made a Facebook page. At the time, my business was called Baby Bee Hummingbirds. It’s something that I loved. I loved that it had babies in it and hummingbirds and nectar and mother’s milk kind of tied into me. And then it just grew.
It grew really, really well. People started sharing my things. I started getting customers from all over Australia and before I knew it, I was all over the world. I think had delivered to over 17 countries within my first year. So women would actually send me that breast milk. [crosstalk 00:03:41].
Catherine Langman:
The logistics of hat sounds like an absolute nightmare. How did you get around that?
Amy McGlade:
Oh. It was so hard. Because I didn’t know what I was doing. So I had to call up Australia Post and be like, “I’m starting abreast milk jewellery business. I need to accept mother’s breast milk.” Then I had to call customs and say, “Hello, I’m starting a breast milk jewellery business. Am I able to accept breast milk from overseas?” And then I had to actually apply for a permit to allow the import of breast milk into Australia for the purpose of jewellery. And that was massive.
I had to share with customs authorities and border security all processes, and how I was doing it and why I was doing it. And yeah, it was really, really hard. I didn’t really have any support. I had no idea what I was doing. I just wanted to create jewellery for moms. I wanted to help them reach their breastfeeding goals. And I wanted to make sure they I had something special at the end of it. And it was, it was amazing.
Catherine Langman:
How did you, I mean, because that definitely sounds like a lot of hurdles that you had to jump through that would have been stressful and time consuming and just hard to work out the solution. And so how did you sustain yourself through that?
Amy McGlade:
You know what, looking back, it was really hard. I was working as a midwife. I was doing 12 hour shifts. I had three babies under five years old. But I was so passionate and the more people loved the jewellery, and the more I knew that they were sort of making a difference, it just spurred me on. I was going to do it. I had so many times that I thought, “This is just not going to work and how am I possibly going to do this.” And especially as the orders kept coming, it was growing really, really quickly.
And so I had to sort of go back to the beginning and develop formulas to make sure that I was working quickly and efficiently and I could process people’s breast milk. And at the time, of course, I was charging pretty much nothing. But then I was making no money. I was just basically doing it for the love of it. It started off as a hobby and I remember going to our accountant on my husband had a small business and he said, “You know Amy, if this ever reaches,” I think it was maybe it was $18,000, $8,000 at the time, “you have to declare it.” But you know, it’s just a hobby. And then I remember going back to him a year later and being like, “Well, we just went over six figures, so what do I do now?” He was just like, “What. Wow?”
It really grew. And it was really exciting. And before I knew it, people were asking me how I was doing it. And I was like, “Oh, I don’t want to share that.” I spent months and years trying these processes. And then people asking me and I have always been… I love teaching. I love sharing. As a midwife, as a nurse, I just love… I can’t help but talk, especially when I’m passionate about something. I was like, “You know what? I’m actually going to share it.” And I created the first e-course on how to make breast milk jewellery. I put all my knowledge into modules, into theories, and tutorials that could actually teach others how to make this jewellery because I created an amazing stay at home business. By that time I had reduced my hours as a midwife. I was staying at home more with my children. I was working from home. I was living what I wanted to. So I decided that, yeah. I was going to share this. So I created an e-course that people could enroll and learn. They could buy my special breast milk formulas, called Milky Mama Magic Dust they could-
Catherine Langman:
I love that. That’s so cool.
Amy McGlade:
… Preserve the breast milk for their clients. Oh, it’s amazing. And today, I think, over a hundred thousand pieces of breast milk jewellery has been made with my Milky Mama Magic Dust, that I created in my kitchen, seven years ago as a mad scientist. So absolutely amazing. So I opened my e-course. I think I had 21 people enrolled the first day. And by the first week of closing, I had over a hundred students from all around the world that were enrolled in my breast milk jewellery course.
Catherine Langman:
That’s incredible.
Amy McGlade:
It was amazing. I loved teaching. I had modules set up. It was amazing. So I actually stopped creating breast milk jewellery myself. I stopped taking orders from around the world. I was just was running my e-course and I was just really loving teaching, growing, connecting with breastfeeding moms, so much.
And then one day, I saw-
Catherine Langman:
Is that still running?
Amy McGlade:
It is still running.
Catherine Langman:
Oh, wow.
Amy McGlade:
It is. Yes. We have over five-
Catherine Langman:
Because I remember when you, launched that years ago. And I… Obviously, we’re going to talk about your business now, but I just assumed that you’d moved on from that. But that’s so cool that it’s still running.
Amy McGlade:
No, it’s still running. Yeah. We’re still running. Today, I’m not the one sitting hustling and answering messages at 3:00 in the morning. I have some people that help me run the e-course. So I have an amazing assistant, Lauren, who comes in, answers questions, direct students. It’s all just not on my shoulders at the moment. So it’s really great to watch that grow.
We have had the most incredible success stories of women changing their lives. They are working from home, doing amazing businesses. These women are making money because when I launched the e-course, I think my tagline, “How to create a profitable breast milk jewellery business”, because I was going to help these women make money doing something they love.
Catherine Langman:
Not undercharge.
Amy McGlade:
Not be me. Yeah. Not being me three years ago, making no money.
Catherine Langman:
And doing it as a favour.
Amy McGlade:
I really… Yeah. Doing it as a favour. I wanted to teach them how to make money, how to have a passion filled business, and how to grow that. And I was really good at growing a business. I didn’t know that I was-
Catherine Langman:
You were a machine.
Amy McGlade:
… I was so good at connecting with women. Yeah. I love to talk and I’m passionate about it. So it just grew and it actually just started growing more than I could… People were not only coming to me for my breast milk jewellery, courses, and me sharing my life as a breast feeding mother and a midwife, but they were coming for breastfeeding support and education. And you know, as a midwife, I loved it. I started really diving into my social with my Instagram, especially in my Facebook. I loved sharing my journey.
Catherine Langman:
And you had another child-
Amy McGlade:
I had my fourth baby during that time-
Catherine Langman:
That’s right.
Amy McGlade:
Yeah. So I had this baby. [crosstalk 00:09:58] .
Catherine Langman:
You needed another model, didn’t you?
Amy McGlade:
Yeah. I needed someone else to help me spread the love. So we thought, why not? We had a little surprise, fourth baby.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah.
Amy McGlade:
Yeah. She was great. And it just made me realize that I really love that aspect of it. I just love sharing and empowering other women to breastfeed. Which is confidence, reach their goals. So I did a rebrand. I went from Baby Bee Hummingbirds, to The Breastmilk Queen, and I focused on really just connecting with women as breastfeeding moms online. If they took… I mean, there’s only so many people in the world that want to create breast milk jewellery. So if they took my course, that was excellent. And if not, it didn’t matter because I was just so happy to be helping these women reach their breastfeeding goals, increase breastfeeding awareness, and normalize something that I’m really passionate about.
Catherine Langman:
And I remember not that long ago, when we were doing our marketing planning challenge, you listed a goal of the number of breastfeeding mums lives that you were aiming to impact in your business. Can you remember what that number was? I’m putting you on the spot here.
Amy McGlade:
I think had a million.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. It was pretty significant. And…
Amy McGlade:
It was high. Yeah.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. But my observation of the way that you operate, other than I think you are a machine, a bit. You really do keep that front and center and it drives a lot of what you do, which has been so tremendous to watch.
Amy McGlade:
Yeah, absolutely. I realised, only a couple years ago, that I could really make an impact. And I could reach large numbers of women. I really could. I could be inside their homes. Social media has been pivotal my business. I learned a really long time ago that I didn’t need to be perfect, I didn’t need to have my hair brushed, or a clean home, or perfect children. That women were so happy to see me as who I am and who my family are. And I could really impact on their journey and make it more normal for them to see. Because we can’t normalize something we can’t see. So it’s really hard to normalize breastfeeding without being able to see it. And I was so happy to share my life and my family with these women.
Catherine Langman:
And that sort of led to well… Or was it through that part there? Or was it really when COVID hit that you launched The Breastfeeders Club?
Amy McGlade:
It was really at the same time. It kind of all happened simultaneously. It was the breast milk jewellery… It had grown to where it was going and it was sort of just keeping on nicely. And then I rebranded The Breastmilk Queen because that just fit in who I was, who I was becoming. And almost around that time, COVID hit, and it was like, bam.
Mothers were online, they were isolated, they weren’t going to play groups or play dates. They weren’t meeting at their [inaudible 00:12:49] appointments where they met their best friends that they would probably bond with. Women were isolated and they really turned to online support. And I saw a huge increase in the amount of people that were following me, that were watching my stories every day, and asking me questions. And yeah, that’s when I created The Breastfeeders Club. And that just hit off really well. It’s just a virtual club where women just felt like they belonged and that they could ask me questions. I could answer and I could also share them with my audience. And they of grew as a club, as a support system for each other.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. And then was it through that Breastfeeders Club, that you really started to notice a few distinct problems that were quite common, I suppose?
Amy McGlade:
Definitely. Yeah. The type of questions that I had were just so straight. They were just right in my face. They would say a question. Women were wondering why they had no energy. And I think that because I’m so open about my own struggles, that they felt really comfortable saying anything. That they had low energy, but they had lost their libido. They felt like their spark had gone a little bit. And they were really questioning [inaudible 00:14:02] why they had no one to sort of encourage them or maybe to answer those hard questions. And I kept seeing those same questions coming every week in my stories.
And my husband and I would do a live Q&A together. It was always couples sessions. How do you guys stay together? How do you stay intimate? How do you keep your relationship going? Why do I not feel the same way about my partner? Why am I feeling so blah? Why is the end of the day so hard? And I could answer those questions. I was like, “Yes, girl.” I know why. Do you know when you’re a breastfeeding mother, your hormones change, and it actually is not you. You’re not broken. It is hormonal. And the loss of libido is completely normal and I’ve been there and I’ve done that. And this is what I do. And it was really, really like this big moment where I was like, “I know the answers to these questions and I can help these women. I really, really can.” And it was exciting.
Catherine Langman:
Well, super-duper exciting. And especially as you know, for you being the entrepreneur, you release all this amazing opportunity to create a solution for that.
Amy McGlade:
Definitely. Absolutely. Yeah. I had done it a couple of years ago. I had helped hundreds of women who were like, “I want to create breast milk jewellery. I was this business. I was like, “I can solve that problem.” And I saw it again. I knew that I could create products that were going to help solve these women’s problems because I’d done it for myself. And I’ve been there and I’ve done that. And I knew that I had the answers and I could help them. So yeah, I went back to my mad scientist kitchen. I was a woman on a mission. When I want something, I am going to not stop until it’s created, until it’s an…
And I’m a creative person. I’ve always got lots of ideas and I went to my husband and my friends, and I was like, “I’m going to create super food products because I know that what we eat helps our bodies. I know that we can take amazing, good nourishing food and get benefits from them. Because I’ve done it. I’m going to help other people do it.” And you this time everyone was like, “Okay, Amy. You’re going to do it.”
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. We know that.
Amy McGlade:
There’s no stopping you. So we have no choice. So, yeah. I went back to the beginning. I started researching. I already knew what [inaudible 00:16:13] helped my body. I’d seen it before in other women. I’ve been a midwife for 14 plus years. I’ve been a nurse for many years. I knew what I needed. I just needed to find people to help me.
So I knew that I wanted to make Australian products. I knew they wanted to be organic, and I knew they had to be local. So I went back to the drawing board, researched, contacted businesses, and started to develop my own brand of [inaudible 00:16:39] products that I knew would help solve those three main issues. Loss of libido, lots of energy, and replenishing milk supply.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. And they’ve got cool names. Do you want to share what they are?
Amy McGlade:
They are, very cool names. I’m all about naming things. And I like to put my spin on it. So we have OMG pills, which I just… They have just been loved by so many people. We only launched these in, I think it was March. And we’ve sold thousands. People are so into it. So, OMG, O-M God, bring back the OMG to your life. And that is just something that is so passionate to me because I just don’t want women to feel that they need their relationship with their husbands, to the OMG. I want their OMG within themselves as well. So I want to make sure that they have that. I want to make sure they feel good, as a woman, as a mother. And if their relationship is important as well then they feel put together. And then we also have pink mix, which is a lactation libido boosting mixer. So that could be made as a hot drink or as a smoothie.
And then we also have gold mix, which is our newest product. It’s a chai latte taste, and it is so delicious. And it has the same. So all of my products have the fundamental benefits of increasing your libido, increasing energy, and supporting our milk supply. So it’s those three main benefits that we make sure all our products encompass and then they sort of all have their own flavors, a way to take it. So OMG pills are great because moms are busy and we need something quick, and they’re going to pop it down with a glass of water in the morning or a cup of tea or whatever they love. And the mixer lactation and the other drinks are just something delicious and yummy that people can make into a smoothy or they can make it hot, they can add it to pancakes, they can cook with it. You know those mixes are [crosstalk 00:18:33] –
Catherine Langman:
That’s amazing.
Amy McGlade:
… Really good.
Catherine Langman:
I imagine that the whole product development and testing process and all of that kind of… That must take a long time and be quite challenging when there’s… I mean, these are food products. So are there extra hurdles that you have to go through to get these to market or do you have to get them approved somewhere? Like, what’s it like?
Amy McGlade:
It’s super busy, and once again, I knew nothing about what I wanted to say. So I really needed to turn to industry professionals. And we’re really lucky in Australia. There are lots of amazing businesses that offer services, like white labeling or product development. So you can really go to these types of places with an idea, and you can talk to you, absolute [inaudible 00:19:22] professionals who will help create the products you love. But you really need the idea and then finding businesses that will help create this for you because that’s food, so it has to be made as food standards because these products are considered food, they’re not medicine. So luckily we didn’t have to go through the FDA testing and therapeutic goods board. And so that benefits of using food as opposed to medicine [inaudible 00:19:51]. And we’re at a time sort of in the world where people are really in tune with wanting to put good things and nourishing things into our body. We’ve all been hit by the scare of COVID and being unwell and not looking after ourselves.
So, it’s actually a really great time for especially women and mothers to look and think, “Yeah, I’m going to put something good into my body.” All our products are dairy free, soy free, gluten free, and sugar free because I want to make sure that the choice is very simple. That women can take these, they can love them, and be good to their bodies.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah, and obviously that’s working because you’ve had such an amazing response from your audience and rave reviews and all of that good stuff. Can we talk just quickly a little bit about how you actually launched, because if I recall correctly, you were selling this before you even had a website or anything like that.
Amy McGlade:
Definitely. Yeah. Business over the years has definitely taught me that things do not have to be perfect before you can run with an idea. I don’t really see the benefit spending years and months sitting on top of something until it’s perfect because I think the best way to get the feedback and results is to put it out there.
I mean, obviously it needs to be perfect and safe and ready for people to eat, but I don’t think the back end needs to be perfect. I don’t think you need the best packaging. I don’t think you need the fanciest website. You just need to get it out into the hands of your ideal customer and get that feedback. And I think that will help. So I decided on something called a [inaudible 00:21:28] checkout. So it’s not a website, it literally is a stand-alone page. And all I did was, I would just add it to the link, to my stories on my Instagram, and people could buy the product and they could see the products and they were [inaudible 00:21:41].
So if you have a business, it’s all about getting traffic and then converting that traffic into your customers. And people loved it. It was a really simple way. And I think because they were learning everything about that product from me, and all I literally had to do with swipe up on the Instagram feeds that magic 10,000 follower number. And boom, it was bad for them. And it was great. It was real clarification to me that yes, Amy you’re onto something. The reviews were just incredible. They have just… They literally give me goosebumps when I read them. So it was really simple for me to be like, “Okay, now it’s time to maybe do some fancier packaging. Let’s build a website. Let’s give more value to our customers and let’s reach other people that may not know exactly who I am or who my brand is. Let’s just push it a little bit further outside my circle. And it’s worked really well.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. Definitely having that existing audience there, as well as, I mean, obviously proof of concept. I mean, I think one of the things that is easy to do when you’re starting your first business is to think that you can turn the website on and it’s just going to result in a flood of customers coming in and buying your staff. But you know, you do have to kind of work out that product/customer fit. And you were able to do that at really no cost, essentially, other than your time. I mean, obviously cost of developing products, blah, blah, blah. But you worked out that yes, there was definitely huge demand for this product before you went through the exercise of doing the website and all of that kind of stuff. But I am very happy that you did go ahead and do that because as I always tell people, you don’t own your audience when it’s on social media. So you do need to try and get them into your own domain, which you have been able to do since. So that’s amazing.
Amy McGlade:
Absolutely. Yeah. And that it’s really… And I know how scary that is, being a breastfeeding brand, I’m not [inaudible 00:23:38] for Instagram’s good books. So I quite often get page violations and posts taken down and it always, is… I was complying with the community standards, but yeah, it is a very unsafe platform when your brand is always treading on that very fine line about what’s allowed on Facebook and Instagram and what’s not.
So I think creating The Breastfeeders Club was really great for our business because it allowed me to capture and have these people’s email addresses that I have a way to actually reach them outside my socials because I don’t own them. And then yes, actually having a website where people can go, they can google go and they can find us, they can join the Breastfeeders Club on the website and they can be [inaudible 00:24:23] otherwise something happened tomorrow, I could lose it all. I
Catherine Langman:
I Know. And I’ve seen that and I’m sure you’ve seen that happen in other people’s businesses too.
Amy McGlade:
It’s super scary.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. So that community and engagement though. Remind me, do you have a Facebook group as well, or is it really just on Instagram that you have the most engagement?
Amy McGlade:
I think I have 117,000 followers on Facebook, and have about 58,000 on my Instagram. So that they’re large communities and they’re super engaged.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. And so can you talk to us about that kind of community and engagement? I mean, obviously you’re able to share your own personal story and you’re obviously very passionate about breastfeeding and you’re knowledgeable as well, so people can learn from you. But what have you learned along the way that might be some skills or some strategies that others could emulate that perhaps don’t have that same [crosstalk 00:25:20] ?
Amy McGlade:
Definitely. All day about how to grow someones socials. I am just so passionate about making sure that you have a little bit of a strategy because they can be time suckers. Instagram and Facebook, you can spend a lot of time scrolling, interacting, and if I could, I tell my audience every day, if my job was just sit and chat with you guys, I totally would, but I just can’t, because it doesn’t work. So I really have a little bit of strategy behind what I post. I make sure that everything sort of goes to my socials are for my content buckets. So this is sort of a little bit of behind the scenes where I make sure that each of my content that I’m posting really does have a purpose. And each post will do something different from my brand. So maybe it’s entertainment, or it’s inspiring, something that’s going to spark a conversation or I can educate someone I could connect or the littlest bucket is my promotion.
So all of those content buckets have a reason. So if it’s entertainment, I know that it’s purely fun, cheap means that is going to go, probably go semi-viral. It is going to share, and I’m probably going to get lots of new likes and viewers to my pages. But you know, if I want to connect, then I know that it’s probably not going to go viral. It’s probably going to get a little bit of shares, but it doesn’t matter because I’m going to be asking questions and I’m going to be invoking that trust and in growing that community and making sure that people are getting the answers to their questions. So everything I post, always has a meaning and it’s always going to do something different for my brand. And I know that each post… I know exactly how it’s going to do and what’s going to happen to it before I’ve even placed it. And it definitely helps grow.
Catherine Langman:
So do you have a bit of a rule, I suppose, of the number of pieces of content that are non salesy versus ones that are promotional? Is there like 10 to 1, or something like that?
Amy McGlade:
Well, I feel like I maybe do it in my brain. I don’t really write it down. I very rarely will post a promotional post to my feed. I know they don’t do super well. People often aren’t on those pages to buy products, but I do a lot more business stuff in my stories, because that’s kind of my life. So I’m like, “Hey, I’m literally drinking my pink mix”, because I probably am. Or I’ve got a cool special happening or something exciting is happening in my business. And I share that. And those types of Instagram story, business promotions, do really, really well because it’s authentic, it’s real, it’s something that I’m just excited about, but I probably keep my feed to my other buckets, my other five buckets.
And I know that those things are going to help me grow my brand, they going to spread trust, and they’re going to invoke that relationship. When I had launched my products, very, very rarely do people ever ask me any questions about them before they buy it? I pretty much answer no questions because people know everything because they’ve probably watched my stories or they’ve sort of pieced it together themselves which is really good. It’s really great.
Catherine Langman:
Well, yeah. I mean, you’ve got such a huge tranche now of content that’s really educating and passing on all of that knowledge that you have and experience from your own life as well. And I think the thing that makes a difference from our perspective with your advertising is that you’ve got all of this engagement and education and audience building stuff happening, and that of course supports your ads so that they perform so much better as well, which is brilliant.
Amy McGlade:
Yeah. It definitely makes a big difference. I think my biggest tip to anybody that has got a product business is honestly to go back to your customer and knowing every single thing about them. Like I mean, every single thing about the customer. When do they eat? What nickers do they wear? Who do they follow? What’s important to them? What are they watching on TV? What [inaudible 00:29:24]? Where do they buy that clothes from? What do they hate? What do they stand for? What do they love. I mean, you need to know every single thing about that person. And then I think if you create content that tailors to those people. Then the products and then solving those people’s problems are always going to do well. They’re always going to do well. And I’ve [inaudible 00:29:39] a few brands do it the other way around. [inaudible 00:29:41] and they’re pushing it out there. And to me, who’s that going to? Who are you going to help? [inaudible 00:29:46] customers. They don’t know those answers. I just don’t think as a product based business you’re going to do very well.
Catherine Langman:
I love that you said that like “What knickers they wearing?” I’m going to wonder, if I’d have the confidence to ask that in a [crosstalk 00:29:58].
Amy McGlade:
I know. Do they wear [inaudible 00:29:59], or digital nickers, or not? My customer does.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. Totally. Totally. And you know, like it’s music to my ears to hear you say all of this, because it is so important to be super duper clear on who your customer is. And there’s usually some variants in there, but if you can kind of keep that core customer avatar in mind and really know that person, like they’re your best mate, it’s going to make all that marketing content creation way, way, way easier.
Amy McGlade:
It really does. And I think it probably helps a little bit to me because I am that type of person. I am my ideal clients and I think that’s how my brand evolved and I know that not all brands [inaudible 00:30:40] all different business models. But I think for someone who is going to branch where you’re solving the problems that you faced, that you had a new challenge-
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. Put yourself out there.
Amy McGlade:
[crosstalk 00:30:51]. Yeah. Many entrepreneurs thought that way. And I think that definitely what I’ve noticed when people do, people will.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. Absolutely. Now, as we’ve been talking, it’s become really abundantly clear that you are a very busy lady and you’ve got a lot on your plate and you’ve been able to achieve an enormous amount in a pretty short space of time. Really. And so I want to ask you, if you have any tips on managing your time and managing your resources as you go about trying to tackle such a big thing, a big goal.
Amy McGlade:
Yeah. So important. I think I wake up every day… I love what I do. So I don’t live for the weekends or I don’t say, “Oh, I don’t want to work.” [inaudible 00:31:38] all day, but I have four children. We have [inaudible 00:31:41] and my husband has his own business and were just a busy family. So I make sure that I write down what I need to achieve when I wake up. What am I going to do? And I’m know that some days I’m not going to be very good business-wise. I know that I’m going to get nothing done. I know I’m going to get the orders sent. And probably that’s it.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah.
Amy McGlade:
But if I can just achieve one really small task, it’s going to move that needle forward, which I think he’d be like one of your like favourite words.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah.
Amy McGlade:
[crosstalk 00:32:06]. And it can only be that little tiny piece. A little, little click, and that is going to help the consistency. It’s just important. Ding something every day. Even if it’s so tiny, it could be answering some emails. Maybe it’s spending 10 minutes on social media scrolling for ideas or inspiration or, something that you could use, I think is important. Some days they’re going to be more routine. You’re going to pick up those really big frogs when you’re going to get all that big stuff done. And other days it’s not. So I think having the balance, the consistency, and knowing what tasks for the day, write them down and achieve them. And if you don’t achieve them today, it’s okay. You can do it tomorrow.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah, Absolutely. Yeah. I think honestly, if more of us aimed for 1% better every day, then the overnight miracle or the enormous leap, I think we would probably end up… It’s the compound interest from that, I think, that gets you further.
Amy McGlade:
Yeah, it truly does. I was pretty naive, seven years ago, when I started my business. And I kind of just thought, “Oh, I guess it will just grow. And I guess that people will just realised that I have a breast milk jewellery course.” They’re going to enroll online. And it just doesn’t work like that. It takes time. And people often say, “You’re so super lucky.” And I’m like, “Oh yeah, I’m totally blessed. But it’s been really hard.” It is not easy. You know, there’s some days where I maybe don’t feel like posting or for I don’t feel like interacting, and I don’t feel like showing up and that’s okay as well. But I think for the majority of it, consistency is really key.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. I do think we all need to be a little bit kind to ourselves in those moments because that’s pretty normal. I mean, if we were in a paid employed situation, as opposed to owning our own business, we’d have days where we just don’t feel like it and don’t have the energy for it, might need a mental health day. And that’s what we should give ourselves as business owners, as well.
Amy McGlade:
Absolutely. I have affirmations around my house that I stick in my bathroom or back of the door. We actually just moved, so there’s not so many, but there’s often quite a few little stickers around my house. And one of the biggest things in “Amy, don’t quit, just rest.” I mean, don’t quit. Just rest. It’s okay to rest. Quitting is one thing, I’m not a quitter, but you need to rest, you just have to. I’ve got little babies. So if I’m going to lay down and have a bit of a sneaky nap on the couch, then it’s okay. Things are still going to keep going.
Catherine Langman:
I love that. So where to next for The Breastmilk Queen, yourself and the business?
Amy McGlade:
I think so many exciting things. We’ve got new products, things [inaudible 00:34:52]. We’ve just actually decided to also work with beauty products. We’ve got an amazing all natural deodorant because breastfeeding moms are stinky, postpartum moms are stinky. And so we are going down, the beauty/health care. We’ve got an amazing lubricant and we’ve got a deodorant which is just out. So yeah, we’re just expanding new products, growing and I’m going to have a million people [inaudible 00:35:19] the next five years.
Catherine Langman:
That’s just amazing. I love it. And I think obviously you have this customer, it’s not just the breastfeeding momma, but it’s also the woman who is confident in herself and in her journey. And, yeah. That confidence and enjoyment in her life is, yeah. It’s just so powerful. It’s amazing.
Amy McGlade:
It really is. And I think that’s where our new product… We take that feedback and I want a turn that into something. And so many women are like, “Amy, I’m not breastfeeding anymore. You know, what have you got for me?” And I’m like, “Don’t worry. It’s coming.” You know, I listen to my audience. I make sure that I’m selling products that I know that they’re going to love and, yeah. Big growth to The Breastmilk Queen breastfeeding products and really heading into that postpartum time. [inaudible 00:36:14].
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. I love it. So where can our listeners find out more about your business and your brand and yourself, if they want to go looking?
Amy McGlade:
You can find me at The Breastmilk Queen on Facebook and at The Breastmilk Queen on Instagram and my website is also The Breastmilk Queen.
Catherine Langman:
Easy peasy.
Amy McGlade:
Easy peasy.
Catherine Langman:
The Breastmilk Queen. That’s right. We share those on our podcast show notes as well. And I’m sure that we’ll have a few listeners who are pretty keen to go and check you out and maybe sample some of your amazing products.
Amy McGlade:
That would be amazing.
Catherine Langman:
Awesome, so thank you so much for joining us on the show today, Amy, and sharing your story and also all of these fantastic insights into your business journey and the success that you’ve achieved so far. It’s been an amazing conversation.
Amy McGlade:
Oh. Thank you so much for having me Cath. I’ve been so excited to be with you today. Thank you.
Catherine Langman:
Awesome.
Thanks for listening to The Productpreneur Success podcast!
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We help our clients like Amy from the Breastmilk Queen, to launch, scale and grow their brands faster than ever. With Amy, we’ve been working on her Facebook advertising and email marketing to help her drive traffic and sales. And it’s been working incredibly well, with high return on ad spend helping to generate fast growth, and that comes down to creating marketing and advertising that is engaging and meaningful to your audience and motivates them to take the action you want them to take – that is, purchase.
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