In this episode…

Krissy Ballinger from The Inspired Little Pot takes us on her journey from school teacher to DIY natural product Queen!

Krissy is an entrepreneur, an author, a mum, and a passionate advocate for healthy living and is on a mission to spread the message about conscious consumerism and thriving health far and wide, as she inspires change for our future generations.

Hear how Krissy has created her business, The Inspired Little Pot, which has meant she can spend more time with her family whilst fulfilling her passion of health and education.

So let’s dive in!

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Links and Resources

You can find Krissy online in the below locations and her new book in Big W stores nationally (Australia).

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krissy.ballinger/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/krissy.ballinger

Facebook Community Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theinspiredlittlepot/

Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/krissyballinger/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/krissyballinger

Website: https://krissyballinger.com.au

Transcript

Amanda: [00:00:00] In this episode, we’re talking to Krissy Ballinger from The Inspired Little Pot about her business journey, the fork in the road moment and what that looks like for her today.

Hello, and welcome to episode three of the Heart Driven Hustle podcast.   We’re your hosts Amanda and Kingsley. Today, we’re talking to Krissy Ballinger from The Inspired Little Pot who is an entrepreneur, an author, a mum, and a passionate advocate for healthy living. She is on a mission to spread the message about conscious consumerism and thriving health far and wide, and wants to help create change for our future generations. Previously a Phys Ed and Health teacher, Krissy left her profession after having children and realizing her drive for school teaching was no longer there. She created The Inspired Little Pot as a way of being able to spend more time with her family whilst fulfilling her passion of health and education through her own business. Krissy has published three books filled with her DIY recipes to date  with her fourth book, about to hit stores.

We can’t wait to bring you this episode and hope you love it as much as we do.

Hi, Krissy We’re so excited to have you as a very first guest on the podcast here. So welcome.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:01:55] Hi, it’s good to be here. Really good.

Amanda: [00:01:57] We’ve been following you for several years now, actually, and really starting to embrace so much more of that natural DIY lifestyle , thanks to yourself and your books and recipes are something that’s certainly in high rotation in our household.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:02:10] That’s awesome to hear. I love that.

Kingsley: [00:02:12] Yeah. There’s been many a times when we’ve made many Christmas presents from all the different DIY products. Everyone’s gotten bath bombs and stuff down at the local schools. So, yeah, there’s many more people than just us that are thanking you.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:02:24] Yay. That’s great. Yeah, the more we do it, the more normal it becomes. And then it’s, it’s expected that we’re going to take the time to make something for someone, rather than just go and buy something that’s going to end up, you know, discarded after usually quite a small period of time.

Amanda: [00:02:41] Exactly. I mean, you can, you can really feel that sort of love as well in there. It’s so much nicer to receive something that is handmade rather than just store-bought so, yeah, it’s really appreciated.

Kingsley: [00:02:51] And it’s often cheaper as well. So, you know, you can’t get better than that. Better and cheaper.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:02:55] I know, better for everyone – people, planet, just everything. I wish you could say my smile right now. I love it when I hear people are making their own stuff.

Amanda: [00:03:04] Yeah, that’s amazing. So Krissy, I’d love for you to tell us a bit more about your business, The Inspired Little Pot. If you can tell us a bit about what it looks like for you today.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:03:14] Okay. So at the moment, it’s changed a lot. I’ve gone through roller coasters of, you know, at times it’s insanely intense and there’s, I’m juggling lots of different things and then other times I’m kind of just focusing on one, but at the moment, I just worked from home. It hasn’t always been like that with the business.

I’m writing, I’m just finishing my next book, which I suppose essentially it’s my fourth. I’d say my fourth book, it’s hard. Cause my first two sort of consolidated into my third book, which is a whole new book in itself. So we’ll say the fourth book. And so my day’s really consist of… I have a, I actually have a stepper that’s stands at this tall desk and I will like go on my stepper for most of the day while I’m writing away. And, yeah. And I think that majority of my time is spent, talking to people over the screen, really responding to questions and creating content and, you know, getting the right Instagram photos so that I can inspire able to give that citrus spray go.

And, yeah, so, but it, but that’s very different to what I used to do. So, you know, not long ago I had a warehouse where I was selling. Pretty much all of the ingredients you need to make DIY. And that was intense. I have no idea how I even did it for as long as I did it, but I’m quite happy with the pace, that my businesses at the moment and what it looks like.

Kingsley: [00:04:36] Yeah, great, so, just talking about that. Can you take us back to the very beginning of the business? You know, you talked about you had the warehouse where you’re selling the ingredients. Was that kind of before the books?

Krissy Ballinger: [00:04:49] When, so I’ve always been conscious of health. It’s, it’s my thing. I love it. It literally excites me to talk about health and I could do it all day and so I taught Health and Phys Ed for, you know, close to a decade, had my kids realised I couldn’t teach anymore. I’m still passionate about health. And I think we’ve nailed the whole food thing, you know?

And I think that’s for a lot of people, that’s where the journey starts for us. It’s no, we don’t have any. You know, ground shaking stories to tell we don’t have allergies or have any of that stuff. We just try to eat well and wholefoods and all the rest. So we’ve nailed that and I was like, hang on a minute.

If we’ve got that down-pat, what about all the stuff we do using on our bodies and in our homes and all of the rest. I couldn’t tell you what item it was I picked up where I had no idea what was in it, so it piqued my curiosity and I went, Oh gosh, you know, this doesn’t look great, these ingredients aren’t great, so, I basically just made my own stuff. I went, Oh, I’ll do a bit of research and I’ll create some washing powder or, Sunscreen, and then, you know, what do you do? This is back in 2014. And I was like, Oh, I’ll start a Facebook page. Cause you know, Instagram wasn’t, I don’t even know if it was a thing back then, but it certainly wasn’t a thing for me.

I actually don’t think it was, I think Facebook was the place to go Instagram. I don’t think he was even born,

Amanda: [00:06:07] Yeah, definitely. It was certainly in it’s is infancy, if it was around at that point in time.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:06:11] Yes, that’s right and so no one was really, you know, I wish I had now because I think that that’s where, you know, it would have boomed with being able to attract more people to be interested in this area. But anyway, started with Facebook, but I was so excited to get a hundred people follow me who were interested in this stuff.

And then I just sort of, that sparked me because I was like, Oh, there are people out there who are also interested in reducing their toxins. So then I made a few other things and a few other recipes and eventually people were asking, so on a Facebook page, you can’t share, you can’t save files. It’s not an easy way for people to find stuff unless they search through your wall. So I thought, I know, I’ll start like a free WordPress sort of blog and I’ll just copy all my recipes over there. So I had someone to direct people to, and that was great for a little while. In the meantime, the numbers were growing. So I could see that people were interested in this, and I found reason to, pay for a better website where I could, you know, organise things.

I’m an, I’m an organizer. If I’m nothing else, I love order and organisation and all of that, so paid for this website to be created and I had, you know, the recipe pages and I was like, you know, this is where I kind of, I have an idea when I go, right. I’ve done that now. And that’s going really great.

What else can I do?

So I started, I realized that I don’t know what came first – my idea to run  talks around just my local area in Perth or the ingredients. I’m fairly certain. I had thought to get ingredients because I thought no one knew where to get stuff. So I was sorted for it, and they were like, but I want to make washing powder, but what, what is washing soda? Where do I get that from? Where can I get bi-carb in bulk?

And I went, I know, I just told people and then I went, Oh, hang on a minute. What about if I was the person who supplied it to you? So everything that I have used in my recipes, I could supply the ingredients.

So it started off really small where I just had, I think I was ordering one bag or box of each ingredient, you know, the main ingredients for things like washing pattern, dishwashing tablets.

And, then I, you know, I sort of had a shop added to the website and then I was so excited when I would, you know, get five orders was like, Oh my God, this is amazing. So I was like packing these orders from home in my study and then I said to my husband, okay, this isn’t working, we need bigger shelves in here and they’re ugly so let’s get curtains to cover them and had the whole thing set up. And I loved it. I just see seriously thrived off it. And then it got to the point where I was like, wow, this is just too much at home, my garage was full cause I was having to order more and more and more stuff. And in the meantime, I’m also writing recipes still, and, people are saying, you know, if you just put your recipes in like a booklet, it’d be really great because you know, we could, we could get them and I like to have things printed and it’s so much  prettier.And I went okay, so, and I’m sort of telling two stories here, but they overlap, so, you know, I thought I’ll find it – I’ll find a designer. I’ll find a photographer and I basically had them sort of quote me on about a 15 to 20 page booklet and, you know, had my recipes. And then, and that grew to be the first book, which was The Inspired Little Book and that was 108 pages.

So it sort of grew to be this beautiful thing and I’ll forever be proud of. Funny now when I look back at how far I’ve come, but anyway, that’s where it started. And, so then that particular book was launched and I was stoked to sell… I think my overall target was to sell 300 copies. That’s all I wanted to do, because that would be amazing. And I think I sold that on the first day!

Amanda: [00:09:50] Yeah. Wow.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:09:52] And so then yeah, the second book, the gift book came, which, you know, if I could turn back time, I wouldn’t market it as a gift book because I think it pigeonholes the recipes as only being giftable whereas they are everyday recipes, I just made them look like that could be gifted for mother’s day or teachers’ gifts and things like that. So that particular book, I think, sold a thousand copies on the first day. So in the six months in between, obviously the interest grew and more people found out about me.

So that was really cool, I was like, awesome! They, you know, people want my books and so I started getting more and more recipes, more ingredients in. Hired two amazing people who are just lifelong friends now to work for me in my home. My garage was literally like six of those massive shelves that you get at Bunnings. Like those big metal shelves.

Amanda: [00:10:40] Uh, yes, I know the ones.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:10:43] So that’s what we were doing. We were, we were shipping from, I think, I think to a point where I had shipped like, you know, 10,000 orders or something ridiculous from my lounge room. And I went, yeah. Okay, this really, I need to get out of there because all I did was work.

The kids came home and sorted them out and then I’d go, I’ll just pack a few orders or, you know, or unpack this stock or I’d have like these massive trucks coming out, my suburban, straight to dropping pallets into my driveway. I just to kind of like,

Amanda: [00:11:14] Yeah, of course.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:11:15] So yeah, that’s when I decided to get a warehouse.

And that was probably one of the most exciting days ever, because it just felt so cool to have a workspace actually was going to work. I felt like when I told my friends I couldn’t do coffee cause I was working. I was for the first time for real working, even though I had been for so long, it felt like

Amanda: [00:11:35] It’s that different perception, isn’t it…

Krissy Ballinger: [00:11:36] Yeah, going to work and then, did that for 12 months and you know what happened? I think. It just, this area has become an I’m so pleased that so many people are into it. And then so many people have popped up selling ingredients and you can get them in bulk. Like, you know, I could only sell Epsom salt, for example, for $6 for half a kilo, but you could probably like three kilos at Audi for $6.

And I was like, well, what do I want? Do I want to continue? Cause it was, it was booming. It was doing amazingly well. Do I want to scale up and compete with people like that?

I’ll never compete with Aldi – like that’s just not going to happen because of their buying power, or would I just become this just solely the source of inspiration for people.

So I’ll tell you, I decided to stop all of that. Unfortunately, the two people who worked for me no longer had a job, which broke my heart, but it just, I had to do what was right for me. And also I was just losing my mind because I was always stretched. I was always doing a million things. So, I decided to just be the source of inspiration.

So I rather than sell my business, I rejected quite a few offers and said, no, no, because I just want a sheet, a page on my website where people can go and buy it in bulk themselves rather than continue to buy it in small sizes from whoever took the business over; you can now buy 20 kilos and citric acid, and I’ll tell you who my supplier is.

I’ve vetted them. I think they’re amazing. And then you’re going to save a ton of money and waste and all of the rest. So that’s where I am today

Amanda: [00:13:04] Yeah, that’s amazing!

Krissy Ballinger: [00:13:05] In really, really big nutshell

Amanda: [00:13:07] There’s so much gold that’s come out of that. And I suppose I want to tease a few little more things out. If we go back to the beginning, when you talked about, you’d nailed the healthy eating side of things  and I know that’s, like you said, that’s where a lot of people do start. You mentioned that you didn’t have a big story or there, where there weren’t any major challenges as to why you sort of started down this path. And I think that’s, that’s one of the reasons that people don’t tend to necessarily take that first step.

They look at what they’re doing at the moment and they kind of think, well, what I’ve got, it’s not that bad. I haven’t got that big a reason to make any changes. So I love the fact that that was wasn’t the driving factor for you but I think there’s so many people out there that do come from that same background and it’s so inspiring to see that you’ve been able to go, okay, well there’s no real major reason to actually  take that step, but why not?

Let’s do that.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:13:58] Yeah. And I think that that kind of like, we’re always, I’m always looking to improve stuff. Like I went and saw it and new I liked to see naturopath and chiros is, I like to kind of look at the, you know, I feel awesome day to day. I feel pretty awesome, but yeah. I was asked, why am I here at, you know, I think it was a chiro down in Fremantle

Anyway, she’s I heard amazing things and she’s like, why are you here? I’m like, I don’t know if I can be even better. Why wouldn’t I try? Like, what if this is the thing that just takes me to the next? Who knows? So I think with what I do, it’s, it’s a good thing. I didn’t, it wasn’t have a driving force that was, Attached to my heart that really… I think the reason it’s become what it is, is because I’ve really thrived of hearing that I’m helping other people, knowing that we’re just becoming better versions of ourselves in the meantime, but it’s such an extrinsic reward factor for me because we’re doing it, and we’ve always been doing it.

And whether or not I was sharing it, we would still be doing it. But knowing that people are having these moments where they go, Oh my gosh, I didn’t realise I could do this, and yeah,  average every day, people who don’t have issues like me, then they’re the hardest sometimes cause like you said, There’s no reason why would I change?

It’s like, but let’s consider a little bit more than that. Like, let’s look outside your little family dynamic and look at our impact on the environment or how you wearing perfume might affect, you know, the little girl down the road who has asthma or things like that. So, yeah, it’s, it’s a pretty cool space to be in.

Amanda: [00:15:30] Definitely yeah, it really is about  that bigger mindset. Isn’t it. So I absolutely love that. And the other thing that I just wanted to, to mention as well is, you talked about starting to go down the path of  all your ingredients. And did you want to be a supplier of those, or did you really want to have your focus around the recipes and start I suppose, narrowing your niche and focusing on the book.  I think that’s a really important point that you made there.

I mean,  it is possible to do everything, but when you try to do everything, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you do it well. So I think that’s such a valid point that you’ve made.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:16:04] Yeah. Yeah. Pleasure.

Kingsley: [00:16:08] Just to get businessy for a second, the warehouse that you started up. I would have thought, like looking from outside in,  if you had to set up some  automation processes, or even , if you decided to, you know, there’s warehouses that you can outsource the whole thing, so your suppliers delivered directly to them, they pack and sticker everything that says, you know, come from , The Inspired Little Pot, but like it’s all outsourced. Did that ever cross your mind or did that even exist when you started it up?

Krissy Ballinger: [00:16:41] You know what I love that question. It, it genuinely gets me, it rocks me a little bit because I think of what could have what I could have done. I mean, at the time I made my decisions based on I followed my heart. I think down the path of… I will stretch myself too thin… The key reason would be that I like to have full control over all aspects and to, to scale like that.

And I definitely thought about it more than you would ever know. Like it popped into my head on a daily basis that one point in time and I was like, what, how much control? Like what are they going to use to package how, okay, so I can sort that out…. what about the ingredients? All right, well, I’ll make sure I sort…

I just was so scared that I would lose that personal element where things just started scaling and then I was compromising on all these values and all these things that I was, you know, it was so important to me that was part of my business.

So, you know what I probably could have, but the other thing I wanted to say is that when I started this business, I had $11,000 that I was willing to put into it. We invested six and my, my dad and I invested $5,000.

Now, $11,000 started businesses, nothing really. So I only spent what I made, so this entire journey of mine and you know, it got to the, I dunno, whether you want to talk numbers or not, and I’m not afraid to say, but that last year that I operated, we, the business turned over three quarters of a million dollars, which is a lot for three people in a small warehouse in the North of Perth.

I just, I always only spent what I made. So if I didn’t make, if I needed money to say, run some sort of marketing thing or to do upgrades or build a new website and I’d be like, Oh, where’s my cash flow. I’m going to run a sale. And, and I probably, it’s probably not the right way for everybody, but I love knowing that, everything – wasn’t my mortgage, my house wasn’t hanging on and depending on me making this business a success. So I was genuinely thriving because I felt like I was in control the whole time. So to scale massively, I knew I was going to need a business loan. Which, you know, you look at what’s, what’s happened in the world such a short time later, where would I be right now if I did that?

I fully think that we all have, I’m quite spiritual as well, and I do think we have spirits who guide us and tell us what to do, and I listened to my heart and that’s what sort of took me down this path. Andwhether or not that, I mean pays off, define that. I don’t know. No, I think it is because, you know, I’m so excited about what Naturally Inspired, my most recent book, has done and it’s going to be on shelves in Big W any day now.

And I’m kicking all these goals and achieving these dreams that I don’t know that I would have had within me to pursue if I was still trying to manage and then start maybe franchising or having warehouses. Originally, I wanted a warehouse in every single state in the country just to make it more accessible to people and shipping and reduce our footprint and all of the rest.

And yeah, kind of just came to the point where I had to make a choice and I went, I choose to just inspire, which, you know, turnover’s much less, but I have so much more, I feel better. I feel more balanced. I’ve got more time for the kids. I’m able to be creative, which is where my heart really wants to be and always has since I was a kid.

So, I hope that answered your question cause it’s definitely something that takes at me occasionally. Like, should I have and but I think, I think I’ve made the right decision.

Kingsley: [00:20:09] Yeah, I love that. And I love the fact that, you’re inspiring people and you chose your time, not necessarily over starting a big business that, it’s a lot of risk as well. So it’s yeah, I love that answer.

Amanda: [00:20:20] And I suppose it really comes back to your reason for why that you’re doing this and then looking at what your values are as well.

Because as you said, you could have scaled, but it didn’t necessarily align with where you wanted to be. So it sounds as though where you have ended up, as a result of everything else that’s going on in the world and their potential risks and where that would have left, you exposed, it sounds as though it has really been the right step for you.

So now I really think that’s so important that you, that you have actually listened to your heart and I think that our listeners can certainly take a lot away from that as well.

So Krissy, were there any particular challenges or adversity that you encountered along the way and how did you overcome them, if you did encounter them?

Krissy Ballinger: [00:21:01] Yeah. Look from a practical point of view. Just the logistics in general. I mean, I live in Perth and you’re trying to ship anything to any other part of Australia. It is like so expensive. So if from a business point of view and things, even now, when I ship one of my books because it weighs just over where’s 1.4 kilos it’s it’s sometimes it would cost me $17 to ship a book that I only take $4.95, for shipping.

I don’t think people realize that when they’re starting a business, I do follow a few business pages on Facebook where people ask these questions. And I don’t think, you know, even customers when they question. keeping people happy. You know, that question a sale, I’ve just missed a sale. I don’t think they realize that I’m just a mum at home where, you know, my kids are my priority, but I also need to feel satisfied in myself.

Therefore, I’m doing this and I’m not a multimillion dollar corporation where I say, you know what, that’s fine. You’ve got, you know, you missed a sale. Let me just send you three of these to make you happy. Or, that I find to be, still a little bit of a challenge. But yes, shipping is, is huge. Sourcing for me in the early days, making sure I was getting, I mean, I can only believe what people are telling me, so having those conversations with suppliers, making sure that, you know, for example, the guy who supplied me beeswax, he’s just the coolest guy. And whenever I’d get on the phone with him, it’d be a 45 minute conversation. He loves it. He loves his bees and he’s so passionate about them and that they’re happy bees and I believe him, but I only know what he’s told me, so I haven’t gone to visit him. Logistically I can’t really get to New South Wales that easily with a husband who works away and two school aged kids but I think an issue I have come up many times in my business is copycats. And I think that anybody who, is in business is going to have that, you know, and one part of me thinks that’s so flattering that someone would feel so, inspired by me that they want to do exactly what I do.

However, there is a line. I think that you can cross with how much you are inspired by someone and how much you do what they do. And I have an instance of a person who literally copies my recipes, almost word for word and hopped into my discussion group on Facebook and private message people to say, do you know that I have recipes that are basically the same and I can get you ingredients that are cheaper and just that kind of… I try not to take it personally, but I’m very sensitive person.

So then I got here, Oh my God, what? I’ve worked so hard to get where I am and these people are copying me, but you know what? There’s people out there who are, I suppose, going to be dishonest and that’s kharma will come and bite them on the bottom. I reckon – take the high road each time.

Personal balance is another one that it’s a huge, and you know, you guys probably find it, anyone running a business these days, it’s given that we’re like contactable 24/7 and I see those apps on my phone and all those little red notifications. And sometimes I can feel really overwhelmed by that still because I want to give everyone all of me, but it’s really hard to do and, and maintain that presence because you know, Facebook and Instagram algorithms like you to be there and to respond really quickly and to carry on conversation. But there’s just one of me. It’s very hard to do that.

Amanda: [00:24:31] Yeah, that’s so true…

Krissy Ballinger: [00:24:34] Sorry. I didn’t cover a lot just then, but there’s a lot. There’s a lot of challenges.

Amanda: [00:24:39] They’re all so relatable. I mean, anyone who is either starting up a business is certainly going to encounter those.  Like I said, it is, it is completely relatable and even to those people who aren’t in business, the whole work life balance thing is such a challenge for so many people , like you say, constantly followed around by our phones.

And where’s almost trained that any little notification will instantly turn around and we must sort of seek that instant gratification from who could it be / what’s it about, or if it is business based, like you say, it’s the algorithm, it’s making sure that we are responding to keep up our rating and keep appearing in people’s feeds.

So when you are just a single little business who is also trying to balance their family as well, and give yourself to your business, your family, your partner, your friends, it does become quite challenging. So I think it’s something that everyone is actually coming across. It’s really prevalent these days.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:25:33] Yeah, and I, but I think on that, so every, so I’m such a doer when things feel like an issue for me, or I need to, tackle certain things, or there are challenges I’m like, right. Well, I’m proactive, how am I going to sort this out? And I think just being open to looking for ways to create some harmony, however, that looks for you, some people are okay with running around all day crazy.

I like being busy, but I also like knowing that I’m investing my time wisely and you know, I’ve, I’ve got, amazing woman, girl, lady, Carly, she’s an amazing friends of mine as well, who is there to help me and I’ve got her three days a week. She did stay on, I got her on in the late days of the warehouse to help with the kind of kitchen I was, I was nailing that side, I was like, cool, let’s get the whole marketing and social media stuff. We’re really ramping up and so she was able to stay on because of my new business model and having someone there to help with emails and coordinating things. you know, when I was touring around the East coast, doing my book talks last year and coordinating podcasts and all of that stuff has been invaluable.

So I’ve, you know, I get a cleaner every now and again, when I just can’t keep up. It’s kind of almost like not admitting defeat, but it’s kind of using your time wisely, where my time is worth more than the $60 it might cost me to have my house cleaned. So I’m just going to get that done so that’s not stressing me out and then I can focus on whatever it is that really needs me.

Amanda: [00:27:00] Yeah. I mean the whole idea of outsourcing and being able to, to help with that work life balance, it’s such a big thing these days. And whether it is outsourcing to a cleaner or outsourcing to say a virtual assistant or someone who’s going to look after your social media,  you’re spot on there in terms of you need to put your time and efforts into where it’s going to give you the best returns and asking for help…it’s not a sign of weakness or anything. It’s just a smart way of doing things.

Kingsley: [00:27:26] How did you know, it was time to hire someone, was it once you were run off your feet and you couldn’t keep up anymore or…

Krissy Ballinger: [00:27:33] Yeah, pretty much. So in the days where I had, Jeanette, her and Karen working for me at my house, it was really. I can’t keep busy and there’s always things I want to do when I don’t have time. So, and I saw, you know, people close to me who I knew were either interested or looking for work and that turns out to be amazing with, with Carly, it really just, like I said, came down to the point where I thought I could use my time better then answering the, I would get heart palpitations when I’d see how many emails in my inbox… keeping in mind so many orders were coming through every month… that inevitably there’d be an issue with postage, a lost parcel, a leaking aloe Vera gel.

Like there was always something to deal with and I think, yeah, I was sitting behind my computer so much doing stuff that I thought. Okay… Same with the cleaning… someone else can do this. Like, it doesn’t need to be me. So if I get on an Instagram Live, you expect to see me, but answering an email about a leaking gel – anyone can do that. So that’s where I went. Okay. I need someone else to help me with that because then it frees me up to be more creative and it kind of just evolves before, you know it you go, okay. So now how about Carly, could you help jump in my Facebook page and respond to a few of those questions that, you know, the answer to so these people get a response and then it’s kind of just continues to grow the responsibility. I think that I pass on  because I realszed my time is more valuable elsewhere, like writing books, for example.

Kingsley: [00:29:03] Yeah, excellent.  Putting energy where you can improve. That’s fantastic. So what does, the next chapter look like for you now?

Krissy Ballinger: [00:29:10] Well, I’m writing a kids book, so I’m so excited about this because the kids are our future and they’re the ones that I’m watching. I’m so passionate about this. They’re the ones that I’m watching. Like, you know, your young kids go, Oh my God, this slime, I want the slime. And

Amanda: [00:29:25] Yes. Our daughter’s been looking at the slime. She loves it. So I can’t wait for when that comes out.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:29:30] And I think just conditioning our children from a really young age that slime let’s teach you that homemade sign that might be a little bit sticky or might only have a two day lifespan is okay. And it’s fine. And if we don’t show them that, that toxic, colorful, smelly glittery stuff exists, they’re not going to look for it.

Same with bubbles. If want to show kids a bubble bath, they’re not going to, in fact, the bubble bars are quite scary.  We taught our kids that it’s fun, but the idea of getting in this white foam in a bath, you know, it could be quite intimidating for someone let’s not show them. Let’s show them that there are other ways.

So I figure if we can start doing that, you know, teach the tweens that you can make your own lip balm, and it’s fun. Kids love making stuff. You can pop in some really beneficial ingredients for your skin in there. You can gift it to your teachers and your friends and have pamper parties from home.

And from there we go, cool, so now we’re going to have tweens who are going to grow into teens and adults who will hopefully then have their own families and show them the right way from the very beginning. So I feel as though it’s our kids that we need to really influence because they’re the decision makers for tomorrow and we’re in a world of hurt in general, I think, with where we’re at with disposables and, our need for convenience and the number of chemicals in existence purely to make our lives convenient is out of control. So let’s try and change that. So for me, the future is influencing the kids in this next chapter, with this book and, really getting them excited and then hopefully knocking on and beyond that, who knows?

I have huge dreams, but I kind of just, I’m realistic in that I’ll just, I’ll get this done and then I’m open to the universe I invite that energy and then I go, what is meant to be, will be, and perhaps one day I’ll be the Jamie Oliver of the natural DIY and have my own… who knows!  Like it’s on my wishlist, so we’ll see what happens.

Amanda: [00:31:31] Exactly. You’ve got to have those big dreams because if you don’t then you’re, you’re only limiting yourself. So, I love that so much. That’s amazing.

Krissy, I’d just love to know your top three tips for someone starting out or thinking about creating their own little side business.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:31:47] Yeah. So initially it has to be an idea that excites it has to be something you’re doing… I think you can create a business based on extrinsic factors but if you can find something to do that you are passionate about that you love that you truly believe will do more than just earn you money…

I think that is the key to success. Like I, that it’s never been about money for me ever – it’s been a nice side bonus. We’ve paid off our mortgage a lot sooner than we thought we would, but has to be something that makes you happy and gets you up in the morning. Go, yes, this is what I get to do. So if it doesn’t do that, I think that it’s really worth considering is it worth doing it?

I also think that, building an authentic community is gold. So be always be honest, always be truthful. Yeah. You’re going to learn, be open to saying, well, I didn’t actually know that and now I do thanks and then using that info to further benefit, you know, what you’re doing, but also other people.

Connecting with like minded people in whatever field you’re in, wherever you’re trying to start is, is just so essential.

The friends that I have made in this space that I used to look at and go, wow, they’re so amazing and now I can call them friends that when we get together, I’m good friends with the girls at 1 2 3 Nourish Me – they’re also Perth based and just amazing humans – and when we get together for a coffee, it is like the most intense power session of business.

And I learned so many things about apps I didn’t know, existed that will make my life easier and social media tricks and yeah supply like ways to get my parcels out the door faster. There’s just so much to be said for people who were in this business and they will share with you everything if you’re an authentic person.

If they can see you’re in this for the greater good, you’re not competition to them, you are literally, they go awesome, let’s make this world a better place. I’m going to share with you what I know. Here’s my tips. And I’m this, obviously this is a two way street. Here are my tips. The most amazing web developer, or this is the best person to do your email marketing. And that is called because recommendations just, you know, from someone, you know, is, is really valuable.

Amanda: [00:34:02] Oh, definitely it makes all the difference really, because, I mean, who are you going to believe? You’re going to go out there and research on the internet and hope for the best, or are you going to take the recommendation of a friend? I certainly know what I’d be taking.

I think you touched on such an important point there in that being in business can actually be a lonely place. And if you’d see everyone as your competition, rather than trying to  make those connections with that like-minded community, you are really going to struggle. So I think that is such an invaluable tip. No, that’s, that’s beautiful. Thank you for those. They’re brilliant. Love them.

Alright, so Krissy, how can people find you and purchase your latest book?

Krissy Ballinger: [00:34:40] So I’m all over that, you know, the typical socials with the handle, @TheInspiredLittlePot. So Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, all of that, but I would probably say the most valuable place to be if being in DIY and moving down a more natural way is something you’re interested in is to find my discussion group on Facebook. It’s just a community of thousands of people who just are on the same journey and who are asking questions that you probably have. So a lot of people are usually, you know, sit behind their screen and read a lot and don’t often post or interact but for those who do, some of them will have answered your question, you know, eczema, my child has eczema. What can I do about that? There’s a search function, which is great in groups. So you can type in the keyword and then you’ll be making a cup of tea and get comfortable because that topic comes up a lot.

Amanda: [00:35:30] Yeah you’re never alone!

Krissy Ballinger: [00:35:32] Yeah. And, you know, it’s just a really fun, safe, welcoming space to be. So, yeah. And then my website, obviously theinspiredlittlepot.com.

So that’s what you can grab my current book, or you can find it like said in Big W soon, which is really exciting to go mainstream because I feel like I’ll reach people who didn’t otherwise know existed or that natural DYI was even a thing. You know, the, the amount of people you meet, where they go, what you make your own deodorant.

It’s less and less, but I think there are still, yeah, obviously millions of people in our country alone who wouldn’t even contemplate it. So this definitely gives a little more exposure to the natural space, which is really exciting.

Amanda: [00:36:10] It certainly is. That’s awesome. Thank you so much for that Krissy. We’ll pop all those details into our show notes as well for the listeners so they can find exactly where you are.

We really appreciate having you on here and learning all about your business journey. There’s been so much gold that you’ve given us today.

I’m sure our listeners will really take a lot away from that. So thank you so much, Krissy.

Kingsley: [00:36:29] Thank you very much.

Krissy Ballinger: [00:36:30] Thank you stoked to have been here. Thanks for inviting me on.

Amanda: [00:36:33] Welcome.

We absolutely loved having Krissy on the show and could have spoken for hours. We hope you were be able to note down all the pieces of gold, which were scattered throughout her story there. If you’d love to learn more about Krissy and check out her amazing DIY recipes, which we highly recommend, you do   find her details in the show notes from this episode, head over to heartdrivenhustle.com/3.