MILLION DOLLAR DIGITAL PRESCHOOL | BECA MILLER

BECA MILLER [0:00]

Just because my body could do it didn’t mean I should be doing it. What you learn and acquire is the biggest thing that we can do in this life.

[MUSIC]

CAMILLE WALKER [0:12]

So, you want to make an impact. You're thinking about starting a business, sharing your voice. How do women do it that handle motherhood, family, and still chase after those dreams? We'll listen each week as we dive into the stories of women. This is Call Me CEO.

[MUSIC]

CAMILLE [0:37]

Sometimes business comes out of nowhere. Sometimes it's a hobby that turns into something you never imagined happening. And this is for sure the case with my next guest, Beca Miller who is the creator and owner of Munchkin Lane LLC, which started with just an idea with how to keep her oldest occupied before starting kindergarten. She then turned these pre-K learning packs and printable notebooks into a membership and in 11 months, scaled her business to making $1 million. And she won't say that for herself, but I did get permission from her to share that with you today.

Her story is miraculous, but what is even more incredible is that she is jugging five children with her husband in medical school and somehow keeping it all together. What I love also is that she's really honest and straightforward about getting help, getting therapy assistance, and also being really honest and authentic. I know you're going to love this one, so let's get started.

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CAMILLE [1:40]

Welcome back everyone to Call Me CEO. I am your host, Camille Walker, and today we have a dear friend, Beca Miller, who is the owner, operator, creator, and founder of Munchkin Lane LLC soon to be .com maybe by the time you hear this. And I am so excited to have Beca on the show today because she had a vision for creating early literacy for children with reading and writing and creative products that people could not get enough of. So, Beca, thank you so much for being here today.

BECA [2:08]

Hi. Thanks for having me.

CAMILLE [2:11]

Tell us a little bit about you, where do you live, how many kids do you have, and then how you started your business.

BECA [2:17]

Okay. I am in Middletown, Idaho. I actually grew up in Southern California and I have five kids. My oldest is eight and my youngest is three, so they're all just squeezed in there, five years.

CAMILLE [2:32]

Wow. I didn't know that. That's amazing.

BECA [2:35]

So, I have four boys and one girl and she's right in the middle of all the boys. So, it's fun, but definitely a lot. Actually, at the time when they were babies, it was no big deal. And I'd much rather have 10 babies at once than have kids that can talk because I'm realizing when they can talk back is when it gets a lot harder than when their babies. They'd cry and you could just cuddle them and feed them.

CAMILLE [3:02]

Oh, my friend, I hear you. And then, they become teenagers. And then, they really talk back and they're smart. That's what I'm going through right now. It's quite the challenge. Tell us about how you started Munchkin Lane and where the idea came from.

BECA [3:13]

So, I used to be a teacher. I was a first-grade teacher in Utah and we lived in Utah for 10 years. And I quit after I had my first baby to stay home. And I realized I missed the teaching, but I also missed the affirmations. People would always tell me what a good job I did. I got Teacher of the Year in my first year. I'm an overachiever-type person. And now I know I'm an Enneagram 3 and that makes a whole lot of sense.

I didn't know I was missing that part, so I would make baby products and sell them. And then, when I get a review, I'm like, "Wow." That's awesome because there's nobody congratulating you or telling you how awesome you're doing at being a mom. And so, I realized I was really missing that part. And so, a lot of times people are like, "Oh, do you like to sell?" And I'm like, "No. I don’t know that it's my favorite thing in the world." Because I would sell things, but I was like, "I don’t know if I like doing it."

And so, I started that dabbling into handmade things and sewing things. And then, I had a friend reach out to me in my neighborhood who her sister worked for Jane.com. And so, she's like, "You should sell on Jane." And so, you had to have an Etsy shop, so that's when I opened an Etsy shop. And so, at the time, I was selling these rattle blocks that were really so cute, but they're so time-consuming to make. I'm making $1 an hour basically with the actual time you actually spend to make them. And so, I would make a bunch and then they sell out right away. It would take me a whole another month to make some, sell it right away. And then on Jane, I saw a paper-type product and for whatever reason in my head, I thought you had to sell handmade sewing stuff on Jane. I don't know where that idea comes from.

CAMILLE [4:55]

Those of you who are listening and you're like, "What the heck is Jane?" Jane.com is a place where others submit. At the time, you didn't have to send in the things, but you could sell products whether it was digital or physical. Some were homemade, some were not and they send it to the masses. So, you don't have to host on your .com. Jane hosts a bunch of retailers or merchants. You just had a lot of eyeballs on it, but it also had to be somewhat at a special pricing. Would you say that that's a good description?

BECA [5:26]

Yeah. And they take commission, which is totally I think okay because they're doing all the marketing. Anyway, so I did that and then I was like, "Oh, I didn't know you could sell other things." I just did that on and off for I guess five years. So, fast forward to when I was about to have my last. So, my oldest just turned five and I was a couple of weeks from having my last baby. And then, for whatever reason, I was like, "I'm going to make a busy book."

And my oldest was going to go to kindergarten the next year. So, I was already making one for him. And then, once I saw it got sold on Jane, I'm like, "I'm just going to try this out." And so, those really did well. Even with the leftover coils that you would have after making a busy book, I came up with a product. And in my head, I was telling myself, "Nobody is going to like this. Why did you do this?" But by 8 o'clock in the morning, I had sold out.

CAMILLE [6:20]

Wow. How many units was that?

BECA [6:22]

It was 200. So, at the time, 200 was insane because I actually didn't have the product made because I took a picture of an idea basically and said what it was. And I hadn't even made one. I didn't know how I was going to do it and I was just weeks away from having my last baby. I think it was even the week of, yeah, because I ended up having neighbor ladies came over and everyone stayed up late. And then, I even have pictures of me in the hospital clipping the ends of the flashcards after I had my baby. With all my babies, I was Strep B positive, so we always had to stay the 48 hours. And I'm like, "If you're not going to let me leave, I need to work in here" because there was only one part of the flashcards that I could do and nobody else knew how to do that part yet. And so, it was just really funny, but I consider that the real start of it, I guess.

CAMILLE [7:16]

Only three years. Okay.

BECA [7:18]

Yeah. And then, that whole year was just chaos because at that same time, my husband was graduating pharmacy school and that's why we moved to Boise because that's where he got a job and everything. I had just a newborn baby and only deals on Jane at this point. It was just when I could, I would. And then, at that point, I asked my mom if she wanted to help because I'm like, "Look. When we post things, they sell, but I didn't have time to continuously do it at that moment."

And then, fast forward to December of that year. So, we moved in the summer. And then, by December, I was like, "Okay. I think we can make this an official business" because I was going to have my mom do it, so we needed to have a separate bank account versus my personal one. And so, we made it official in December of 2018 is when it was. I became Munchkin Lane officially.

And that summer, I found Alison J Prince, her course. And I was telling my mom, "I think we need to do this." And she's like, "I don’t think we're there yet." It was the biggest blessing in my life because I had a coach telling me what to do even though at the time, I was nervous and not sure about it if somebody tells me to do it and I say, "Okay. I'm going to do it." And so, it's really good having her as a coach and huge blessings along the way. If I wouldn't have moved to Boise, if I wouldn't have done this in life, all these things wouldn't have happened at all. It all lined up.

CAMILLE [8:38]

Okay. We just went from 200 sales to $70,000 printer. Give me some steps in between. What kind of sales were you seeing at this point? Did you buy that printer with your own business funds? Give us a little bit of that in-between.

BECA [8:55]

I haven't even got the starting point of that. I'm skipping around, but okay. In the middle, I said I was still only on Jane. I joined Alison's course in July 2019.

CAMILLE [9:07]

She's talking about Alison Prince for those of you who are listening. And if you have any product, you need to listen to Alison Prince. She has an amazing podcast. She also has an incredible course that she helps you learn how to sell things online unlike any other. Okay. Continue.

BECA [9:21]

Okay. So, then I joined hers in July. So, it had been a year after we moved to Boise. And then, that's when I got my Shopify account. So, I had munchkinlanellc.com and then that was the start of me selling stuff on my own website, but it was slowly trickling in because I was just learning everything. And so, by March of the next year, 2020, COVID, then that's when she was telling me I should get the printer. Because just in March on Jane, I had sold 5,000 orders all at once because it was for COVID and everyone needed educational stuff and I happen to have all that stuff. And so, it was just out of nowhere.

And so, I had all these teenager girls come over and I still did not have a real printer at this time. It was just three Office Depot printers and everything was by hand. And so, I probably didn't make as much profit-wise because I had to pay so many employees to do it all and get it all done. So, that's where I got that. COVID March time is where I went huge on Jane.

And then, after that, Jane is oversaturated now with sellers. So, it's really hard to have your deals be seen on there. But at the time, it was a huge blessing that I ever got that because then that is what created me to have enough income to buy a printer. And so, right after that is when Alison said, "Get a printer." And then, we even had our meeting. I was in her INSIDERS group. She doesn't have it anymore. But when I was in there, we had meetings about finances and there were saying, "Yes, whenever you can pay for something, pay for it all out."

And I had just met with the printer guy and he was telling me the printer was $20,000. So, in my head, I was like, "I'll pay for it full price. That’s what you're supposed to do" and thinking it was only going to be $20,000, which that's still a lot of money. And then, I go in and they're like, "You need a colored one and it's this." And it's almost $80,000. And I was like, "What? That's everything I've made." But I was like, "I got to do it." Alison said, "Pay for it if you have the funds," even though I felt like it was almost going to eat all the chunk that we had just made. But I just went for it with that printer company that the one we ended up going with had a tech guy.

So, they have a tech guy that will come to your house and show you how to use the printer on your computer because they want you to use it because you still have to pay for it every single month, the clicks you use, which are like miles on a car, clicks on a printer. And he sat in my house for two weeks with my kids running everywhere and it was total chaos. And he showed me how to use all the Adobe programs.

So, I had never even heard of them, never even knew what they were, anything. And it was so over my head in the beginning. But after he showed it to me, then it was like my head exploded with a million more ideas of things I could do. And then, at that same time, an influencer who I've followed had a little boy with heart problems and her daughter couldn't go to pre-school because of COVID. And if she did go, it would be a problem if she came home and got the little boy sick. And so, then I was like, "Oh, I can make her a workbook basically which would teach her everything she would learn at preschool and then just do a little bit each day." And then, I was able to do that because this guy had shown me for two weeks how to use Adobe. Otherwise, I would never have learned how to make the workbook.

CAMILLE [12:33]

How long did it take you to learn those programs?

BECA [12:36]

For eight hours a day, he came into my house for two weeks. So, two weeks of just full immersion, doing nothing else but that, yeah. And then, I still didn't know everything really to this day. It was like every single month, we just learned something more and more and more that was more efficient. Like a year ago today or tomorrow around the same time is when I first posted like, "Here, I made a workbook. And I'm going to make it a subscription and send it every month." And that's just naturally when my business exploded and I had no idea. It was just like an idea that I had and even my employees were like, "How are you going to make one of these every month?" It took you a really long time to make. And I was like, "I don't know. I'm going to do it. I can figure it out. I don’t know." It was just a huge, huge blessing.

And then, in the middle of all that, I forgot to say, my husband decided after a little less than a year and half that he wasn't feeling fulfilled as a pharmacist and wanted to go to medical school. So, at first, I was like, "You're insane. I just went through pharmacy school with basically myself raising all these little babies and then now you want to do this? No. This is crazy." But then, it was also a series of miracles where I just felt like, "Yeah, he should do this and we need to do this."

And so, he left in January of 2020, so that was before I bought the printer, before this big, huge thing. And so, at that same time, on Jane, you can hide. Nobody knows who you are and what your products are. And then, that's where it was like after he left, it was me finding out, "Okay. I should post on my own social media. I should have my own website." But I was nervous about putting myself out there and then him leaving meant now that I was the only source of income for my family, and by leaving I mean he went to a medical school in the Caribbean, because we already had a huge amount of student loan debt from pharmacy school. And so, we went with the Saint James School where they teach you in the Caribbean for a discounted price versus a normal medical school, but they only accept Americans. And then, you do all your rotations in America two years after your schooling in the Caribbean. So, it was like, "Okay. My baby was born. My oldest was six."

CAMILLE [14:47]

Okay. Wait. Hold on here. Your husband leaves to go live in the Caribbean and you're home with five kids running this business?

BECA [14:56]

Yes.

CAMILLE [14:59]

What? How are you doing this?

BECA [15:02]

Miracles. That's what I'm telling you.

CAMILLE [15:04]

Tell me a little bit how much has he got because he's in school, so I assume he'd be full-time? How often are you seeing him?

BECA [15:12]

When it started, he was in the Caribbean, in a different country, not in America. It was supposed to be two years, but then March happened, which COVID happened in March. And so, he got sent home. I don't know if it was a miracle. At the time, it was chaos. It's like you never hear of online medical school, but he literally has been in online medical school since last March because this semester, they were supposed to send him back. But they had a volcano on the island, so he's still here. But this semester, he will start his rotations, so he will never end up going back to the Caribbean. Yeah. It's been crazy. Yeah.

When he came back, then he had to study from home, which medical school's really hard and five screaming kids is really hard and my printer was 10 feet long like a production printer. And it was in our house and I would have ladies come in our house and it was just crazy. My two-year-old little boy would go on and push the button to shut the printer off and it would jam everything up. It was so chaotic. And then, this time last year, so this August is when I did the workbook. So, they started picking up and people started loving those.

And at that same time, I was thinking about getting another printer. I happened to have some ladies come over to help work that hadn't come before and I had sworn I would never take my business out of my house because I thought I was being a good mom by staying home with my kids. But I wasn't really being there with my kids is what I was learning. And so, I just was overhearing them talk about it. And then, the next day I contacted that lady. And then, sure enough, the day she was moving out, I was able to then sign a contract and get a lease and it happens to be a mile from my house and the perfect size. And then, I ended up having three commercial printers running. And so, I would never have been able to expand this big into my house and it's been a huge miracle.

Everything was miracles and blessings, but I've also learned from a mom's standpoint to be like, "Okay. I'm going to have to put my kids in daycare because this is just too much." I couldn't watch them from turning off the printer while designing on my computer and not stop them from eating my entire pantry, things like that. And so, I put them in daycare. And that was super, super hard and I just felt bad all the time about it.

CAMILLE [17:37]

When did you put them in daycare? How long ago?

BECA [17:38]

It was about the same time. So, they've been in a year now.

CAMILLE [17:42]

Okay. And why do you think you felt so guilty? Talk me through that a little bit.

BECA [17:46]

I just had definitely a mindset of, "You're the mom. You raise your kids. You figure it out." And my mom would work nights and my dad worked days. So, when my dad got home, my mom would go to work. They never saw each other. They wanted to make sure at least one of them was home watching the kids all the time. And so, I felt like, "Okay. That's what you're supposed to do and only the parents." And then, I had friends that would be like, "I don't know why you have kids if you're just going to put them in daycare," all those thoughts. At that time, I was a stay-at-home mom. They were just saying it about somebody else, but I was remembering all this stuff.

And so, it was mostly just me and my thoughts thinking I was a bad mom for putting them in daycare. And finally, I had this therapist be like, "Okay. Are you providing food and a roof over their head? And you're the only one in your family that's able to provide that and that already considers you a good mom. And so, you don't even need to question if you're a good mom or not because you are doing that."

And then, we talked about how when they were at home, I wasn't even giving them half my attention and most of the attention I was giving them was, "Go away" or "Can you just wait a minute because I have to finish this?" And all they knew was, "Just a minute" or "Go away" or "Go watch this." And they were watching so much TV. I would take the TV away, but then my house was a disaster. And so, it was just this nonstop chaos. But since they've been in daycare, it's so much better. Whereas when I was parenting, we would never have lunch at the same time. It was just whenever mom remembered to feed the kids, that's when we ate.

CAMILLE [19:19]

Yeah. Because a lot of times, you're busy that you're like, "Oh, it's two o'clock and no one's eaten." Yeah.

BECA [19:23]

Yeah. And so, now they eat at the same time every day and they have scheduled activities. They play with their friends. It's a really, really good daycare and it happened to be another mile away from me. So, I'm really close to where it is. So, if I need to leave, I can like leave to go pick them up. Yeah. And then, when I go home, it's okay. We work at work and then all of my attention is on my kids. So, I realized, okay. Four hours of undivided attention is way better than eight hours of half attention where I'm not even present most of the time because I'm constantly thinking of to-do lists or, "Oh, can I squeeze in a few minutes here?"

But now, it's like, "Okay. Instead of trying to squeeze time, let's play a game. Let's actually kick the ball instead of me sitting on the bench while you're kicking the ball." And so, it's definitely been a learning curve for me to not think of myself as a bad mom, but I definitely see the benefits for them being in daycare and then us having together time that's totally intentional and not interrupted with work.

CAMILLE [20:33]

I appreciate you saying this because I have not myself used daycare. However, I think the way you're describing not having to divide and the struggle back and forth and, oh my gosh, having live printers that are printing a product that it could stall the whole thing, I can imagine that being really hard of not wanting to yell and scream and being like, "What are you doing?" I would totally do that.

There are a few things I want to comment on and one where it's incredible that you are a wage earner. I mean you're bringing income for your family. That alone is amazing. I also want to point out that for me and for many women that I know, having something outside of the world of motherhood makes them a better mother because they need something more. Not everyone is that way and that's fantastic too.

But I think that recognizing that and especially being a 3, which I am as well, so I get that where it's like you seek for maybe outside accomplishments, so that you can bring your best self forward. So, I think that's really a good thing to think about and tap into.

And then, I love what you're saying about designated time where you have time blocks because it's a lot easier when they're napping. It's a lot easier when they're in school, but come summertime or come a time in your life especially where you have so many tiny, tiny kids, you really don't have a pocket or a window. It's just someone is always going to be needing something. I just don't want you to have that mom guilt. You're just doing incredible, incredible things. What do you think of that transition and what has helped you the most would you say with quality of life with making that transition of being like, "I'm doing the right thing here?"

BECA [22:30]

For me, I know it's not going to be forever. They're not going to be little forever. I don't want to miss out on this little time. But then, that's where I really just soak up the hours I do have with them. And then, I just finally told myself, I'm doing the best I can with my circumstance and I've gotten my business to a point where now I thought it would be already, but soon I have other employees that could run it, the day-to-day stuff, so I should be able to go home most of the day. And I'll probably do just a couple of hours every morning and then have most of the day with them.

And so, I already knew it wasn't going to be forever. I knew I could eventually hire a lot of it out, but they love it for the most part. But after a weekend together and then Mondays are sometimes hard, but just like, "Oh, mom's doing this." So then, we can spend even more time together in the future than I would be able to if I had just a normal 9 to 5 job. Because by doing this kind of business, I had to put so much work into this last year, but because of that, I should be able to have more time going forward and do more things with my family than I ever would have been able to otherwise.

CAMILLE [23:41]

Yeah. Wow. What a crazy chain of events that your husband was going to leave and you were like, "Okay. Let's do this." And then, COVID hit and your business explodes and he's able to go home. That's pretty amazing. Would you say when you started this business, did you have an end goal in mind of what you hoped to have happened? Do you have an end goal now and where are you in that time period?

BECA [24:05]

Yeah. At first, it was just like, "Let's try to pay off some of my husband's student loan debt." I grew up never having debt. I mostly got scholarships and never had any kind of debt. I bought cars without debt and all that stuff and having that huge student loan debt was hard for me, not for him. But for me, it was. And so it was more like, "Let's pay that off." And then, once he left, it was, "Okay. I need to make enough for us to survive. It had to be a full income."

And then, now I've been able to make enough now to pay every month, but then also pay his medical tuition because we haven't had to take out loans. So, that's a huge blessing. And then, we just now have his pharmacy student loans still, which that will be fine to pay that off. I barely just got into knowing who Russell Brunson is and I just feel like that's the direction I need to take. I don't know why.

It was like my workbooks were about to finish. So, I did workbooks for a year to where it involves a traditional school year. And so, then I did 12 workbooks which took me 90 hours for one and I did four a month for an entire year. So, it literally soaked up all of my time. This entire last year I did nothing else besides that. And then, I was like, "Oh my goodness. I'm about to be done." I can literally stop and just go home and be a mom to my kids and have somebody else run it. And then, we would be fine financially.

But then, it was like I was listening to a podcast and I just felt this overwhelming feeling of like, "You're just starting. You're not done." And so, it was more of I feel like now I need to share more of the things we went through this whole last year to help other families that are going through a lot of things. We have lots of mental health in our family and lots of therapy I've gone through. And I've done parent-child interaction therapy, which is so amazing. I feel like everyone should do that.

And I feel like I just now need to be more of a positive influence in the world which to me, I was like, "What? I'm not doing that." But now, I just feel like that's what I've been called to do. And so, I'm going to try. And so, this last month was to try and delegate things and figure out how people are going to run the day-to-day business of Munchkin Lane and how I can jump into being more of myself on social media, which I'm nervous about, but I'm definitely feeling the call to do that. So, that's where I'm headed next.

CAMILLE [26:35]

Talk to me a little bit about parent-child interaction therapy. What is that?

BECA [26:40]

It is the best therapy in the world. So, it's where you go and you play and the therapist is behind a mirror, but you can't see her. She can see you and you have an earpiece and she just feeds you lines. Before you do that, you have a few meetings just with the therapist and the parent. And she goes what over PCIT is and that's parent-child interaction therapy. And just it's parenting in a positive way and you're just trying to fill up your kid's cup as much as possible. And then, that way, when it's time for them to listen, they will listen.

And so, it's like a whole new way of parenting. It's not even that new. It makes so much sense, but I'm like, "How come not every person in the world has been taught this?" Because it just seems so, yes. Everyone should know this and do this. But it's really hard to break habits. So, that's why they then have you play with your kids, so that way you can just work on the new ways of phrasing things.

For example, a lot of times, we'll say, "Oh, do you know what color that block is?" But a lot of times when you ask questions, that's putting a lot of pressure on your kids to make sure they get the right answer. Especially if they're like me, I always wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing and the right answer. And so, instead of asking questions, you would just say statements like, "This block is blue." Your kid is going to learn whether the block is blue, whether you say it or they guess and get it right or guess and get it wrong. Either way, they're learning if you point to a blue block and say blue is blue versus asking them the question.

And so, it's a lot of just little tiny tweaks to the way you talk to your kids to make them feel less pressure of needing to perform and to get things right. And then, also they teach you ways to be consistent and set up privileges. So then, when your kid gets in trouble, they would lose their privileges, but they actually know it's a privilege. Because sometimes, we're in the moment like, "You're going lose this for the rest of your life." But then, losing a trip to Disneyland, it has the same cognitive effect on their brain as losing an iPad for 15 minutes.

To us, it seems like it would be a way bigger deal, but to them, it's the same effect. So, they teach you how to take consequences away in the day and not carry it on over to the next day. It's just amazing and it's so much behavior change I've seen in my kids and my family and just my home and the way we talk to everybody since there was chaos for so long.

CAMILLE [29:11]

Wow. Oh my goodness. Girl, you're running a major business and a family as well, so I'm curious. Tell me power statements that you have used in your family that has changed everything where you said doing small consequences through the day? Is there a coined phrase that you're, "I always say this now" before I might have just gone to an extreme? Are there examples of that that you could share?

BECA [29:36]

Yeah. And so, you would just say instead of asking a question. That's where I was the worst at was asking. I would always say, "Can you please do this? Can you please do that? Will you do this?" But instead of asking, you're telling because they said if your child then says no, you should respect their no. Otherwise, when you tell your kid no, they're not going to listen. And so, if you want your kid to know that no means no whether they're about to run in the street and you say no, then they stop. But if they're going to tell you no and you're not going to listen, then it confuses them what the meaning of no really is.

So, instead of saying, "Can you please put your shoes on?" You say, "Please put your shoes on" or you can say, "We're getting in the car right now. I'm going to put my shoes on." And then, let's see if Megan will put her shoes on with me. You're just saying things in that phrase. And sometimes when I really can't think of how not to say it in a question, a good word to use is "I wonder." It's like, "I wonder if you're going to put your shoes on with me." Because then, it's like putting it in their control and you're not asking them to.

CAMILLE [30:40]

I heard once it's good to say, "It's time to." "It's time for bed. It's time for dinner." Is that another phrase that they suggest?

BECA [30:47]

Yeah. Anything without a question is ideal. And so, for me, the biggest thing was getting rid of questions and then saying something that's considered a command. And so, you want to limit your commands for however many things you tell them, affirmation type things like, "Oh, look how good your playing with your siblings" or "You're sitting so kindly while we wait for this." And so, you're always trying to fill their bucket with eight of those phrases for every one command you give.

And so, that was also a thing I struggled with because I'm a quieter parent. And so, when things are going chaotic, I can just tune everything out and just let it be wild and crazy and I can still focus on my work. And that wasn't good because I should in the moment even if, let's say, they're all playing good and they're doing puzzles and they're being good. I need to start talking more and saying like, "You're being so nice sharing with your brother right now" or "I like how you helped your brother finish the puzzle," instead of seeing it and not saying it. And so, that's been a huge shift for me as well in the therapy.

CAMILLE [31:51]

I appreciate you sharing that. I've done a couple of the play-led therapy with my son. And I remember they said a lot of it is about observation and talking about what you see and not acknowledging them, but more just creating a conversation where a lot of times, it can be one-sided because kids are like, "Okay." They don't really want to talk about it, but you're meant to talk about it and discuss it in a positive way. So, that's really interesting. Okay. So, you have obviously done a lot of work on yourself, on parenting, on your business. What is your secret? How are you doing all of these things?

BECA [32:24]

Before, I was not surviving. Now I’m delegating. I hired a live coach. I'm not sure if you've heard of Brendon Burchard, but I don't work with him directly. But he has a coach right under him that I work one-on-one with and I have a weekly meeting. At first, it was insanely expensive, but then I was like, "The only thing we take with us is my brain, my body." I always were like, "My brain is your biggest asset if you're running a business I think." And in life, what you learn and acquire is the biggest thing that we can do in this life. And so, that's where I was like, "It's the biggest investment I've ever made on anything."

And it seems silly because I didn't grow up with going to therapy or things like that. And so, I was so nervous. But then, after the very first call, I'm like, "I'm so glad I did this." Every single week, he walks me through my mindset and just shifts in my mindset and how I can think different. And when you think different, you act different and be different. And there's so many things too that are related to my childhood that I didn't even realize were holding me back today and things that I'm like, "Oh my goodness," that therapy and lots of other therapies. And so, I'm a huge supporter of therapy. I did personal therapy and child therapy and one with my husband. We've just tried lots of different things. And so, I say work on yourself. The most you can do for yourself, the better you will do in business and life and parenting and everything.

And even Brendon Burchard has so much free content too about how the brain functions. I would sleep only four hours and stay awake for 36 hours, sleep four hours. And I was like, "Just because my body could do it, didn't mean I should be doing it." And so, that's where this personal coach was just like, "Stop. You will feel better about yourself. You need eight hours of sleep every night." And it seems so hard because I'm like, "How am I going to get this done?" And a lot of the things they teach are like your brain tricks you to think you're not going to be able to do everything you did, but you actually can do more because your brain is functioning properly and better. And so, I guess my secret is personal development.

CAMILLE [34:36]

Personal development and delegating, not having to do it all.

BECA [34:39]

Yes.

CAMILLE [34:41]

Yeah. I agree with that. Any tips on how to find good help?

BECA [34:44]

For business or moms?

CAMILLE [34:47]

For business.

BECA [34:47]

For business, ask friends. If you like people on social media, I've made so many new friends just through DMs. I'm like, "Oh, I love your business." And then, we would just start chatting about business stuff. And then, I found somebody who could do my Etsy SEO. Even that one little thing with that friend was a huge help. And this girl had another ads person and that was a huge help. And so, it's the more people you talk to, the more you find out what other people are doing and try a different thing and just talk and have friends.

CAMILLE [35:24]

I agree with that, 100%. Some of my best help I've brought on to my team has been with referrals. I have found some on my own, but it cuts out so much guesswork of finding someone that will work well with you and your team when you find someone that is really proficient at something and you bring them in to help you with that is. So, that is so helpful.

This has been amazing. We have covered so much ground. I appreciate you just weaving in and out with me and taking it through what an amazing business you've built here. And I cannot wait to see what you do next. And I would be happy to share your messages on my social channels as well as you grow and want to share more about that parenting piece.

BECA [36:07]

Thank you. I also learned too through therapy. I thought I had to go back to school and become a counselor to share anything. It's a quote, I can't remember who said it, but it's something like, "Your experiences are what qualifies you." In life, I've been through so many things that are relatable to other people, so that qualifies me to then teach others what I've learned or how I got through things because I've actually been through it. It’s not like you need official schooling to give yourself permission to share.

CAMILLE [36:37]

Another thing too is that when you're turning around and coaching someone, typically what they're looking for is someone that's just steps ahead of where they are. It's not that you have to be 200 steps ahead. It could be 20 and it's just turning around and saying, "Hey. I've been there. Let me help you." And if your heart is in it, that will shine through and I can really tell that it is. Wow. I am so glad we had this conversation. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.

BECA [37:06]

No problem. Thanks for having me.

CAMILLE [37:09]

You're welcome. Stay tuned because you will have another episode coming up next week and I cannot wait for our audience to connect with you. Can you please tell them where to find you online and where to find your packages and your memberships and all of your wonderful resources?

BECA [37:27]

Yes. Okay. So, currently right now everything is @munchkinllc, so whether it's on Instagram, Facebook. The website is just www.munchkinlanellc.com

CAMILLE [37:37]

Thank you so much.

BECA [37.39]

No problem. Thanks. You too.

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CAMILLE [37:45]

Hey, CEOs. Thank you so much for spending your time with me. If you found this episode inspiring or helpful, please let me know in a comment and a 5-star review. You could have the chance of being a featured review on an upcoming episode. Continue the conversation on Instagram @callmeceopodcast. And remember, you are the boss.

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