Episode 440: Ange Mumporeze of Studio463
In this episode, Fiona chats with Ange Mumporeze, a creative entrepreneur, content creator, and former influencer. Ange shares her experiences in navigating the complexities of personal and professional life. Tune in!
You'll Learn How To:
Balancing motherhood with entrepreneurship
Challenges and misconceptions of being an influencer
Tips for building confidence in front of the camera
Importance of authenticity in brand partnerships
Navigating the influencer industry with integrity
The significance of human connection
Balancing authenticity with external opinions
Insights into working with brands
Importance of clear expectations
Navigating challenges as a content creator and influencer
The impact of societal and cultural pressures on career choices
The importance of mentorship and support in business
Utilising tech tools
Overcoming fear and self-doubt to pursue dreams
The value of living authentically
Get in touch with My Daily Business
Connect and get in touch with My Daily Business:
Practicing is important and ripping off the bandaid sometimes if you make something much bigger than it is it gets so scary. Just the thought of even talking on video, but I haven't quite figured out how to say it in a nice way, people just don't care that much in the sense that if you post, maybe you'll say the wrong thing or maybe you'll think you look silly, or maybe the worst thing will happen a few minutes later. People's attention span, they're just going to move on. Whatever happens, it's not the end of the world.
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Welcome to episode 440 of the My Daily Business podcast. Today is an interview episode and I love this because I connected with this small business owner through this podcast. She sent me a DM saying, “I just discovered your podcast. I love it. It's great.” And she went right back to episode one and this was not that long ago that we connected. I love it because she sent me so many other DMs since then and we've chatted and we started talking and I said, “Why don't you come on the podcast? You've got a great story and I think it'll be helpful for people.” I just want to encourage people, if you're reading this and you're thinking, I get a lot from this, or I'd love to send her a message, please do. I think sometimes people think that there's this big team or something behind our social media.
There's not. It's me. Sometimes I think we have had people in the past like VAs that are in there, but it's predominantly me who is getting back to you. Please don't be shy. You can always send us a dm, you can tell us what you like, what you don't like, and who you think we should feature. If you want to pitch yourself to feature, do that. But don't be a stranger. Reach out. I love connecting with our community, just as I did with today's guests. Before we get stuck into that, I want to let you know that Marketing for Your Small Business is back. We have Marketing for Your Small Business, an online course. You can buy it anytime, it's always available. However, twice a year we offer a live nine-week coaching component to that. You go through the course in your own time and then you turn up for an hour every week for nine weeks and you can ask any questions you have about any part of the course or your marketing in general.
It's good you get coaching from me and you can turn up and also ask the other people on the call for feedback. And at the end of that, if you wish, it's optional, you can present your marketing plan to me and the rest of the people for feedback. It is an incredible way to not just buy a course but finish a course and understand how to be strategic in marketing. I've worked in marketing now for more than two decades, well before social media and I just feel that a lot of people do not understand how marketing works. And they think social media is the only thing that they should be doing, but they also don't understand how to be strategic. They're just throwing things at the wall hoping they stick, or putting money into ads and not understanding where in the cycle are people, what do we need to talk to them about?
What are we trying to do in terms of our brand? What do we want to be known for and how do we use marketing to cultivate that? As well as cultivate sales. If you're interested in that, check out marketing foryoursmallbusiness.com. You can also find all the information at mydailybusiness.com/courses which is running at the end of September. We often try and find a time that is suitable for people outside of Australia, so don't feel like you can't sign up if you're not in Australia. But if you've got any questions, you can always just DM us or send an email to hello@mydailybusiness.com.
Of course, I also want to acknowledge where I'm coming from and acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of these lands that I work on. I run these courses and I connect with people and send the DMS and that is the Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. And I pay my respects to their elders past and present and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. Let's get into today's small business interview.
Today it's my absolute pleasure to bring you a chat with the wonderful Ange Mumporeze who is a content creator, a photographer, an influencer, does all sorts of brand content creation and also co-founded Studio463, which is a Melbourne-based photography and content studio that allows all small business owners to hire it for photo shoots, equipment rental and their photography, whether that's photography taken by Ange or bringing in their photographers. Ange has also worked in podcasting and all sorts of mediums in terms of content creation. In today's chat, we talked about how she got into that because this was not the career path that Ange had originally chosen and studied and was working in. And then how did she lean into what she genuinely wanted to do, which was what she's doing today? But she had a different career path. And I think that is something that we hear about sometimes in terms of people when they're 10 years into their business and they're like, I started as this.
But Ange's a few years into her business. I love that it's fresh and we can talk about, how you made that leap what your friends and family think and how you worked through what other people think. Because that is a huge part of what I hear from small business owners, this fear around how they will be perceived, not just in starting a business but in changing direction in the business or showing up more on social media or launching courses or doing something else that is unexpected in terms of that industry or that career path or unexpected from perhaps the ideas and expectations that their family have for them.
Today we chat about all of that. We chat about choosing yourself, choosing your own path, showing up as yourself, and how do you have the confidence to do it. As a photographer, Ange sees people all day long who need to be confident quickly to get through the photo shoot. She has so many great tips around that and she has also worked with so many brands on content creation, brand collaborations, and partnerships, so she talks about that as well. There's so much in today's chat and I won't gush any further. Here is my interview with the wonderful Ange Mumporeze of Studio463.
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Welcome to the podcast Ange. I'm excited to talk to you. Let us know how are you feeling right now.
I am feeling refreshed, which is very rare considering I have two young kids, but at the moment I don't have them with me and I've got the house to myself so I'm feeling refreshed and I got to sleep in.
I am feeling quite envious hearing that because I would love to be in that position. But I get how enjoyable and wonderful that is. As much as we love our children and our families lucky to have them. It's so nice to have some time to yourself as well.
It's the best. I feel like we don't get it that much. And I always joke to the kids that I'm like, can I get some annual leave? Can I apply for annual leave as a mom, please? And they'll say no. And they happen to go to Queensland this week for about seven days. I was like, my annual leave has been approved. I got time off as a mama. This is so cool.
Have you seen that meme or that video that was making the rounds a few years ago and it was like you're going to have to be on 24 hours. We don't give you annual leave. Then at the end, it was like, it's a mum.
It keeps talking about all the things you don't, it's unpaid, it's unbanked and you're just like, I'd never do that job. Without that, it described being a mom.
I always remember that. Outside of being a mom, you run multiple things. I did my best to describe it in the intro just now, but how do you describe all the businesses and all the creative things that you do?
I think at the moment definitely it's a lot of creative things and I've tried since 2020 I've tried and I've just said yes to a lot of things that have come my way. Opportunities that have like arisen similar to this thing. Going on podcasts and I've been saying yes to things that feel like they align with my values, with that have come putting out an ebook, and doing a podcast as well. I was doing some public speaking at some point running fitness classes, I was doing consulting, I've been doing a lot of different things. And then the most recent one, which was my biggest yes, was opening a content studio here in Melbourne.
Yes. What is called?
It's called Studio463, the Greatest Studio in Melbourne. I just added that tagline.
I love it. Tell us then about what is Studio463 and who is it aimed at.
That's a good question. Studio463 is a photography and content studio. You can use it for anything in terms of hiring it. It can be a blank canvas if you are looking for workshops to use as a workspace to use it for events and everything like that. But regularly, the bread and butter of it is that people usually hire it out to create content or get photos taken by us as a team. Essentially it is aimed at anyone who needs some new fresh photos or somewhere to go that is nice and aesthetic if you're trying to organise something where you want somewhere a bit better than being at your own home and you want to level up a bit.
Many people are trying to do this right now and you do such a good job. We are going to talk about content creators and influencers and all the other things that you hold the title of in a second. But coming back to all the things that you've just said and like public speaking, running fitness classes, I mean these are big things on their own let alone doing them as a whole, like a lot of different things. Were you always super creative your parents super creative? Did you grow up super creative? Were you like, this is the path for me?
No, my family are very corporate. You go to uni, you do the nine to five and you just work your way up in a nine-to-five. The creative side of things. My parents especially being from an African background, they're like, so when are you going to use your law degrees? Like when is it going to happen? They're still a bit like, this is the nice studio. Like I'll show it to them and I'm like, this is some of our studio wins and as a photographer, I'm getting these clients and I got to do a photography for this big event. And they're like, that's nice. But they're still a bit confused as we don't have that. Our family is a bit more like that straight and narrow path. It's not windy like what I just mentioned I've been doing.
I didn't grow up in that creative side and I didn't even picture myself doing it. It was more that I, it was always hobbies of mine, but I never realized that I could make a living from them. It was something I always did out of love out of just enjoying being in front of a camera, taking photos, taking videos, and editing. I've always found it therapeutic but it was always something I did just on the side. Never something I did publicly. It was just something I did as my thing. And then it's not until 2020 that I just leaned into that. Yes. And I was like, I can like take this somewhere. People enjoy what I do. I was quite surprised.
I'm not surprised because even just now you're so chatty and lovable and all the things. When you mentioned it just, I don't know if you mentioned it as an example, did you have a law degree? Do you have a law degree?
I have two. I've got my undergrad and my master's. I know.
Wow.
Whenever I tell my parents like, I got this new job and this thing and they're like, still not being a lawyer. I'm like, it'll come or I don't know. I'm very open to it, and I have this big sense that at some point the two things like my love for the creative side and my love for the law side will marry. I worked at legal aid the Department of Justice and a few other places, community law centres and I didn't feel that same fire that I feel now. I liked the steady paycheck. I liked that I was heading down this path. I'd written down steps as to what I wanted to do five years, and 10 years and I was heading down that path. I liked those things but I didn't feel like I was like, I wouldn't go on podcasts about it or anything. Like now I do these things and I feel like they make me feel alive, like excited and I'm hoping and I have a good feeling that at some point the two will marry together.
Having a law background is incredible for business. I mean the amount of stuff that you have to think about like, how do I protect myself here or what is my IP or all the things? But also even, and I know we're going to talk about confidence as well, but even the ability to speak, lawyers, that's what they do and they have to get up in front of a crowd and argue their case and research and all the thing. I mean there are so many elements of that that would be so instrumental and helpful. Beneficial for what you do. Then on that, I guess you said, was happy in front of a camera and you can talk like an Irish person, you just talk. But like I know that that's something that has helped me massively in my business and people always say, how do you have the confidence to get up on stage?
How do you have the confidence to go into a room? And I still get nervous for sure. It depends on different things I'm more confident in. But were you always confident? Was Ange always like, I'm super confident I can jump in front of a crowd because you have to be confident in front of the camera, behind the camera talking to the crowd, doing the podcast. Doing a podcast may not be as much because it's not in front of heaps of people. Feel like it. But Were you always super confident? Is that just part of who you are?
I think it honestly is, I've been lucky in that way that I'm pretty confident. There are some things like public speaking that have always made me so afraid. I remember doing speeches when we were young and I'd feel like it was the end of the world. I'd still do good in them, which was cool, but I was nervous. But other times like being in front of a camera or taking photos I feel like that's my element. I was thinking about it in terms of like, since when did it start? I used to think it was maybe when I was a teenager when we were getting phones and starting to do videos and stuff. But I realised way back when we'd have those chunky video cam record thingies. I probably wouldn't have been, I wasn't even in primary school yet.
I would've been about four. I used to just spend hours, in just random videos. I'd just like to get something and be like, and this is whatever it is and introduce it. I would take my time and I would, I couldn't even see myself time because they're very old machine and tool thingies and in the end, I'll just put it on the screen or someone would help me because I was quite young and I'll just watch them and I just loved them. I'm presenting this way. And I just loved it. I remember I didn't even know what it meant at the time, but I just enjoyed taking videos of myself and seeing it and adjusting. It was quite bizarre at the time.
I think that's amazing when you can pinpoint things when you were younger that you still do now. Because I don't know if you ever watched that UK show, what was it called? Seven Up. It was about children and they took them from age seven, I think they're now in their sixties. The same group, but some people have dropped out but every seven years they would go and document their life. Interesting. The whole thing. It comes from some piece of poetry I think that says show me a boy at seven and I'll show you the man. The whole idea is that most of your character traits are already in you by the time you're seven. You'll continue to have that your whole life. It was interesting watching. It was also looking at class structure in the UK and everything. But I look at my children now and I think, I can see who you're going to be and you Interesting. When you're four years old in front of the camera and then here you are doing what you do now. It's fascinating
Because you can think it's random but it's not, it's never random.
It's never random. I was writing stories. I used to write the Killackey toilet times when I was about eight. I would write like, what's happening in the world, who's my sister dating? I would have a little newspaper for my family in the toilet. I know that's hilarious. But it's funny because I've always been like writing and telling stories and stuff. In this, you've just talked about how that's come naturally to you or what advice would you have for other people who might be reading who are not that confident? And particularly now that you've got a whole studio because you understand that content is a huge part of what businesses have to do today and brands are huge and you have to show up. I have so many clients who are phenomenal at what they do and yet put them in front of a camera and they're like, I've gone back to who I was in high school. My most awkward self comes out and I can't it takes 25 times to do one Instagram story face to camera, for example. Do you have advice for them? Even though you've just had this naturally, do you have advice for people to get a bit more confident?
I think so. I'd have a lot but I'll try and narrow it down. But I think practising is important and ripping off the bandaid sometimes if you make something much bigger then it gets so scary. Just the thought of even talking on video. But I haven't quite figured out how to say it in a nice way. But people just don't care that much in the sense that if you post, maybe you'll say the wrong thing or maybe you'll think you look silly or maybe the worst thing will happen a few minutes later. People's attention span, they're just going to move on. Whatever happens, it's not the end of the world. Just keep practicing or even if you put it on close friends and only post it to a few people or start a little bit.
But the more you delay it, the bigger it is and you just going to be so critical of yourself. I do have a lot of people that come into the studio that are nervous. Most people other than models, content creators, and influencers come in, most people are not that happy to be in a cam in front of a camera or that comfortable. I do spend a lot of time trying different things to get that sparkle in someone's eye without them realising I'm taking a photo of them, especially if I've just met them. I think part of that is like finding the right person to take photos of you and finding the right audience so you know that they're not going to make fun of you. Aligning who you're speaking to, and who you're working with so that you're comfortable is important. But people don't care as much as we think. No one's going to be looking at your ears, your nose or your hair. They're just not.
No, we just did a podcast episode. I don't know if it's come out or it'll have come out definitely by the time this is out on, people just don't care. They just don't care.
Yes, I don't don’t know how else bitter to say it, but they just don't care.
They don't care. In the podcast interview, I talked about my website and how I was like, the website's launching and we got some messages but no one cares if your website is launched except you. It's like, you put all this pressure on yourself. Then in that part of what you do and you do a lot of different things is you're an influencer and like, you can't see everyone, but she's like, Oh yes. How did that come about and what do you think of the influencer world? Because there's always been influencers. People think this is a new thing. It is not. There's been celebrities, there's been movie stars way back in the 1940s. The 1920s. The original ones. I'll talk in a second about the difference I think between content creators and influencers. But how do you feel being an influencer? Did you take a while to like own that, that moniker or how like And then what do you think of the whole influencer world, particularly in business relation?
At the moment I'm not actively doing the influencing side of things because it truly is a bit of a full-time job. I don't know if it's like I have the ick when I hear someone say I'm an influencer, I'll try to be like, no I'm not. And then I'm like, technically yes I was doing that. That was what I was doing and I was making a living from it. Which wasn't, it was not as easy as I thought it would be. People think it's very simple. I think five or 10 years ago if someone told me like, someone's an influencer, I'd think, you take selfies someone pays you for it or something. If something minimal. But the amount of admin, the number of contracts, and the amount of meetings and revisions that go into what I was doing when I was doing it full time shocked me.
I was like, these videos might be a 32nd reel that I might do with a university for example. And the amount of meetings that went behind that, I think the aim of it is to make it look so smooth and seamless. It happened but it took time to get there. There's scripts, there's people approving things. Because you're representing either a brand or institution and you're, there's so much that goes into it. I think the biggest misconception or myth is that it's just taking selfies, looking good and getting paid. It's not that. As you said, I think that a lot of what helped me, which is crazy because you don't go to law school to become an influencer, but a lot of those things helped me. I'm like, I need to know how much I'm getting paid for this and I need to make sure it's fair and equal how long are you using this for and what is it for? Am I going to be on banners and et cetera? It was a lot more paperwork than I could have ever imagined because you don't see that. All you see is the 32nd reel. None of the behind-the-scenes.
It's so interesting because it's a bit different, but my husband was a full-time model. Which always cracks us up because he is not, I love that one of himself ever as that. And then he just kept getting asked and I was like, can you just go and stand there? It's just genetic. We could get money for it and if I was getting asked to do it, I would go and stand there. And then he did it for years and he did huge campaigns and a massive company had agents all over the world, which was amazing. But he was like, it's not easy. Like you are exhausted. You're standing there, you're doing take after take. You've got people priming you the whole time. And say, oh that looks disgusting. That is not on. Like Just so, and then all of the auditions that you have to go to where people are looking you up and down and going, “Oh no.” You've gotta have a thick skin and It's a lot more work than people think.
Yes. All they see is the photo at the end.
Yes. If someone's thinking and reading this and going, I would like to be a bit more of an influencer and I think I can influence my audience or the audience that the brand is going after. Do you have any tips for them to get started?
In terms of getting started more so like, just understanding what you're getting yourself into, just so you understand. Because I think that it can take a huge toll on you and you need to know what you're getting yourself into. If it's just a few brands here or there, but if you're doing what I was doing, which was I stopped working and I was doing this full time, like you mentioned what your husband was dealing with you're pitching, it's very judgmental, superficial.
They're going to look at your thick skin.
Right. Understanding what are you getting yourself into, and making sure that you're finding brands and deals and influencer deals that are aligned with what you like, and who you are, I think is the most important thing. When you start making content, you'll notice a lot of people will reach out to you and want to work with you. I lost 30 kgs and I documented it online. I had a lot of brands wanting to jump on that to take credit for it. You have to be quite careful to not just accept anything because they want to throw money at it and say, could you hold this up in a photo? Could you do this? You'll feel good about yourself at the beginning and throughout if it's something genuine.
At some point, once I realised, I could do this full-time, I wrote everything that I use. I'm like, I, we eat HelloFresh, we do this, we do that, we go here, we go there, we eat this, we all these things. I'm like, these are genuine collaborations that when I share this online, I'm not a fraud. I'm not doing this for money. I'm not just a puppet for this brand. It's a genuine thing. I think the first thing would be asking yourself, if you're ready, talk to people why. And then make sure the brands you're going to work with, the people you're going to influence what you're influencing is genuine.
I'm going to Chloe Kardashian, I was watching the Kardashians recently. She just admitted at the very start of my career I was saying yes to everything because I was like, I want to get that money. Baby. I imagine that like how did you have that foresight to go? No, I'm sticking to my guns because I especially like weight loss. In the weight loss industry, a bazillion things are coming up thing after thing and people buy into it. I've bought into lots of those things. But you may have had brands that were like, I'm happy to pay you to triple what you're asking because you've exactly got the audience I want. I know you've just said this, but were there some cases where you were like, that would've been nice to take that money?
For sure. I'd be trying to convince myself like, let's say they'll send me stuff and they're like, these supplements help with these things. I'll be like, you can send those to me and I could try them and see, but they'll want you to create the content prior. And I'm like, I'm not going to tell people this works when I haven't seen the results. It's stuff like that where I'm like, send the things and I can try them. And I'm just always going to be honest. I'll always say, “Look, I've only got this myself.” And there have been times that maybe it'll be tempting to be like, they already want me to take a photo with it. But I'm like, “No, that would be false advertising.”
Because I don't know what this does. People could be losing their hair things. I had an incident where it was like, okay, we need to take this quite seriously 'cause I'd got a brand to send me because I'll just at this at one point it was just anything I was getting sent anything and everything, which is great. Until they sent me skincare and it was like a mask. And I was like, be cute. I'll put some on my son at the time. I'll put some on myself. I put it on four of us and it started burning my face.
This was after I'd already put it on my kid. I'm like, we are basically like Guinea pigs in a lab. I was very fortunate. Two of us felt the burning sensation. My son didn't. And I did it to my sister, but I was like, we shouldn't be playing with this. You know what I mean? And what are the in these products and if they're needing us and they're a new brand, have they tested it? I started taking it a bit more seriously from then. Even just things like giving to the family. I'm like, let me vet things a bit more. And a lot of supplement companies and things and not everyone is giving you the best stuff. That was a wake-up call that it's not worth always the money if it's your body you're giving and injecting or not injecting, but like putting these things on.
For sure. Just even like I'm working on the book launch at the moment and getting different sponsors and I've been exactly like I would not contact this person unless I'm happy to or this brand unless I'm happy to promote them regardless of whether there's a partnership here or not. And it's the same with this podcast. I don't talk about we haven't taken ads to date. We've been hit up a lot for ads and I haven't found the right pick where I'm like, hmm. Because some of them are like insurance or this other thing that it's like, I know I'm not a client of yours, I don't know how you do it.
I don't want to say that to my audience who are trusting me. Whereas you just know, and I've had I've had like four different networks reach out to do the podcast and go onto their network banner, which I've seen other people do. But then I also know that they just put the ads in and I've been listening to stuff that's quite sensitive. And then suddenly there's an ad for Office Works. Although Officeworks is something, hello. If anyone from the office works I would love to work with them sponsor because I use them all the time. But as in sometimes you'll get an ad that's coming in that is like, this has nothing to do with the podcast I'm listening to.
It's not aligned. Alignment is everything.
I could not agree more. I often talk to clients about working with influencers and content creators and I try to differentiate the two because an influencer to me is somebody who has influence. You listen to them and there could be a micro-influencer, they might be somebody who has 500 followers, but every single one of those followers is hanging onto what they say. Trust them, everything else. Some people are content creators sometimes they crossover. But a content creator might be incredibly creative, good at videography or content or writing or taking beautiful photos.
They don't necessarily have a big audience or they don't have an audience where they're necessarily influencing, but they're making super smart, fun content. Sometimes I've had numerous clients that fall into both and we've had to look at certain contracts and be like, what are they asking for? Are they asking for you to leverage the audience you already have, which is more influencer? Or are they asking you because you are super creative and they love the way that you style things or film to come up with the content? You can do both of those things. I know you said you're not necessarily doing heaps of influencing at the moment, but what do you think has made you able to do both?
It is. Not that it's one or the other, but that there is a distinction. And there's also, I'm not sure if you've heard of user-generated content Content. That's also something I ended up doing later, which I liked. Because you don't have to post it on your page. That comes under that content creator where they just like your content, but it's not that they're trying to leverage your audience. Exactly. I think in terms of being able to do both the content creator side of things came naturally to me from my love of creating content editing and just doing that already. Like a lot of what I do, I would do it even if I wasn't getting paid. Because I genuinely love it. It's a great outlet for me.
But don't ever, if anyone's out there thinking, I'm going to work with her. She said she doesn't need to be paid.
No. I'm just saying how much I love it. I always ask people if would you be in the industry you're in if you weren't getting paid to do it.
A hundred percent. I would talk to someone if someone bumped into me at a coffee shop and was like, I have a business. I'll be like, let's sit down.
Let's check. And that's why today you're like, I don't want to take too much of your time because because this is your week off. I'm like, no, I want to do this. This is my free time. The content-creating side of things that's come to me from just, years of doing that, leaning into that and being, I guess a content creator since I was maybe four or five now that I've realised. Whereas the influencer side, which again, is very much like speaking to your audience, influencing them to do things, to buy things, to try things to go places. That one was a surprise to me. I didn't even realise I was doing it until it was happening. And it was hence why I still struggle with the word because I feel like it's quite, it's an interesting one. But in terms of being able to do it, I'm confident talking in front of the camera, speaking to people, and sharing things. I'm like a recommendations addict. I just love sharing things. I recommend. That's how I ended up chatting a bit.
Yes. Because you have been recommending my podcast. Thank you. I love it.
Constantly, I'll send it like even in the DMs, I'm just like, “Guys, watch this. Listen to this.” I think that's just my actual character in terms of, I like being on screen, I like recording things. Even if it's not me on screen. If I receive something, even like HelloFresh, I'm already just documenting things and then it's selling it already without intentionally doing that. then brands are like, she's doing what we need to do so that works. And then it's more organic rather than, I didn't sit there and go, I want to be an influencer and I'm going to figure out a way to become one. I already was doing that. And then, and then so until later that I realized, oh this is a full-blown job. This is not as easy as I was picturing. So I think maybe that's, that's how it , I'm able to do both.
If we take it back to when you said part of it came from losing a chunk of weight, did you start that account or start that journey of documenting things for yourself to be accountable? People do that, whether they're trying to lose weight or trying to declutter their house. Was that just like, I'm just going to show up Or did you ever think I'm going to show up and maybe this will lead to something? Or was it just not?
I genuinely did not think it would lead to something and it led to something so fast. Within a month, maybe two max, I was having brands reach out to me within about that time I had a brand that I was obsessed with. They have so many different things that I was wearing and eating and doing that I was like, this is crazy. It was not intentional, but because a lot of us have been on weight loss journeys. But I guess I coupled that journey with one, documenting it, which a lot of people don't like to do. And just being honest about the fact that I did let myself go after my first child. And coupling that with like, I documented it so that you could see the beginning and the end side by side. Of course, we are very visual. People love an overnight and they
love overnight success, which isn't a real thing.
They love the before and after.
Even like something dirty and then it's clean. It's like “Wow! Transformative.”
Or people in business always do it. Like I started with nothing and then I got a million dollars tomorrow.
Like sleeping in my car. Now I'm a billionaire.
And now I'm on a private jet.
I was just like, I honestly was happy to do it without any, there was nothing to do with money when I was doing that. I was just posting it. I had been documenting it and then I just being the creative person I am, I've already had the content ready to go and I was posting it and sharing it. I was staying up to date with the trends and incorporating my weight loss into the trends that were happening creating reels and just giving it a go. It was a bit scary at first because I did have people be like, should you be sharing this? The more they told me not to, the more I realised how important it was because they'd say things like a woman shouldn't talk about her weight and stuff.
I'm like, “This is life.” Everyone goes through weights up and down. It's just a normal thing. It shouldn't be this scary thing that, and it's evident when you gain weight it's not something you can hide. I'm ready to face that and being accountable helped me to lose weight. I was consistent for many years. It was genuinely just for accountability. And then it turned into like, Hey, would you like us to send you our things so that we can help you with your journey? And when that brand in particular reached out, I was like, there's something here.
Wow. And go you also for just sharing, I think even I've shared a bit about losing, I feel like I've shared a lot about losing my parents in my thirties and I've had a few people over the years say, “You shouldn't be talking about that on a business podcast.” I had somebody say, “I hope you're getting some mental health.” Which I saw a grief psychologist. But also I've had where people reach out going, my father's just been diagnosed with this and I know that you went through that. Or my mom just passed away. I had somebody wonderful who was like, I just lost my dad. And I don’t know anyone else who's lost both parents and I don't know you.
That connection, it's just human.
It's a connection. And I just feel like if more people shared things regardless of what it is, and you did so in a safe way, you weren't like, everyone needs to be size eight tomorrow. I understand also every time we're talking about weight loss, there are going to be people who don't do it nicely and a percentage that every woman has to fit in. This particular size, which is not what you were about and it was about eating right and looking after yourself and getting to the gym and like the whole holistic health part of it. But I think that's awesome that you did it because if more of us shared the crap that goes on behind the scenes and it's not all perfect, whether it's grief, whether it's fertility problems, whether it's whatever, then more people feel okay to be themselves and say, me too. I'm also going through that.
Especially because all those things you just mentioned are so common. We are all dealing with it at some point or another. And if you're not dealing with one thing, it's the other. But if you're not talking about it, you feel so alone at the time you're unprepared. I think it's important. It's interesting when they told me like, someone came to my house and they're like, I've noticed you're starting this weight loss page thing and I think it's a bad idea. I was like, I felt more encouraged. I realised just how much this was important to do because why on earth am I being silenced for something that is just part of life?
And part of my journey. You're not telling anyone.
I'm not hurting anybody. I'm not telling anyone, like you said, to lose crazy amounts or do this or do anything crazy. I'm not doing anything bad. It's interesting.
It is. And everyone's got them, everyone's got their opinions. Speaking of these brands that reached out and you've worked with so many and you've got your legal background with brand partnerships, I've seen the good, the bad, the ugly, you know. I've worked in brand partnerships even before this when I worked as head of marketing at MIMCO and different companies. When you work with influencers or content creators or some brand sponsorship or partnership or collaboration and they're all different things, what do you think are the things that work well? What are the things that, I guess especially because small business owners reading this who may not have done this before or might not have hired somebody before, are there things that they should have in place? Are there things, the mistakes that you've seen brands make that you're like, don't do this. Or what are the do's and don't?
I think being clear on what's expected is so important as well. What do you want this person to do for you? What are you expecting to achieve? A lot of people are very like followers and it's like your follow account isn't going to necessarily do anything for your business. Then putting all that pressure on one person to bring your following up is not a good idea either. Or even getting someone to do content for you based on just their following. It should be more about the audience that they have is who you're trying to get in front of. Not just that, when you go to their page, it's all just so aesthetic and beautiful. It's like what is that going to do for you in the long run? I think it's very superficial metrics that she's got a hundred thousand followers and she takes nice photos.
Just be careful with that. Because as you mentioned, you can have 300 followers and if they're all genuinely like, we are going to listen to what this person says. Find the people who are genuinely aligned with what your business is doing and it's clear what you need them to do. Because it can be quite confusing I think when you have a business and they're just a bit vague. It's good to have creative freedom to do what you can to bring about whatever content it is. But I think it's good to be clear in terms of even payment and stuff. I think one of the biggest red flags I've had are people or businesses that want, and I think I see it a lot, content creators and influencers to work. They'll say we'll give you exposure and things like that.
You can't pay a mortgage with exposure. That's what I always think.
Honestly, Fiona, I had like one of the biggest brands that I've ever worked with. Huge. I won't mention the name, wanted to do that and I'm like, this is crazy. I spoke to Collective Closets about that and I was so confused because I said, they're huge. I can't do this. And in the end, I was like, this is so wrong. Because there's a team of, I think there was about eight people I was having to work with. We were shooting in different places. It was all this, this massive plan. And they're like, and when it came down to talking about those things, talking about how much I'd be getting paid for this and I'd be on ads and stuff. It was just crazy. And they're like, “This is good exposure for you.” And I was just like, “This is madness.”
Totally. And it has to be a win-win. Even with like sponsorship or something with some of the people that I'm working with, I've been like, for this much, which is less than what they'd have to pay to to do some of the workshops and things with me, I'll do a workshop, you'll be on a podcast, you'll do. What else am I giving you in return? Because I'm trying to That's right. Something for free. I think that is so important that win-win and the whole exposure thing, I think people are well and truly over it.
Especially when you make that much like, I can understand like some people, well it wouldn't be exposure for a small business because what would you be exposed me to? But let's say if you're just starting and you don't have, I don't know the budget or, but if you're gigantic, like if you're going to make money off this and it's an ad for something to sell. This is about money at the end of the day. Because they kept saying, “This isn't about money.”
But you are making money.
Exactly. And I'm like, the lawyer within me, like all those things that I was just like, this couldn't be more wrong and it's not just about me and getting a paycheck. This is a bad thing. It would take hours of my time in terms of prep, meeting the recording and then using my face and my story again with the weight loss. I was just like, this is so wrong. I think that was probably one of the biggest red flags that I've come across. And it was like a bit disheartening 'cause I'd worked hard towards that goal to work with specifically them. And then you get there and you're like, this is how some people are treated. And you might see people on billboards and things and you just never know. You never know what's happened or what it took to get there or what they might have been cheated out of, which sucks.
Also for you to say yes, it's training them that that's okay. The next person that comes along asks for money.
Someone will say yes, and we'll get a yes.
We'll get a yes somewhere. I think if you're a small business owner and you're reading this it may not be financial compensation, but it might be something else. I mean, yes it should be if it can, but you might be like, I'm a photographer so I'm happy to do a photo shoot for you next time. Or let's do a bit of a barter spot. That's right. How can I help you outside of just, it's just great exposure for you. I've had that. Even with the book, I had somebody reach out who said, can you send us 90 copies of your book for free? I have to pay for the book. I don't get the book for free. I have to pay the publisher. Then I'm going to pay shipping. Are you kidding? 90 books? That's thousands of dollars. They're like, but it's great exposure for your book. I'm like,
People are not serious.
It's strange. Then what advice would you give to people who are reading and think, I'm going to do more with content creators or influencers? How do they find them and then how do they initially contact them if it's not through an agency?
There are different ways like agency apps. It's not an agency like the right fit. I think social soup, there's a bunch if you're to type that in where you could just do it on your own as a business and put out a brief as to what you need and it will connect you to someone. And I did a few jobs through those sorts of apps, which are good. Otherwise, send them either a DM or try to get on a call or even more so an email to me. I feel like if someone would email me and have a clear brief as to what they're after, I'll take that a bit more seriously versus just a DM. Once you're creating content, you are getting a lot of these DMS and you can fall into the message requests or you can just fall into it.
I think sending an email, explaining what it is that you liked about the person and what it is you're hoping to get out of it, what it is you're now Interested in what project or work or expectations. And then maybe even setting up a meeting so that it feels it is business after all. I think doing something like that is good. Or even if it's maybe not something that requires an email, sending voice notes, something a bit more personable because the person's probably being inundated with messages and it can be hard to tell the difference between the scams and legitimate businesses and ones that will maybe take advantage. Just like being a bit human and having that connection and maybe even making sure you're following them and things like that, just so that they know you're not just sending it just for the sake of it, but that you're interested in who they are as an influencer, as a content creator, you like their work. I think some of those things would tell me like, the person's following me, they engage with my staff, or they like it. They've now sent me an email or they sent me a voice note. My ears are open. I'm interested to hear what they've got to say.
You always think of that idea of like, dating before you marry someone. Know this whole book's written on that, and it's a common analogy, but it's still like, you don't just jump into going, can you marry me?
Warm them up.
I feel like even just that like the simple thing of following somebody, the amount of people that reach out to be on the podcast and they're like, I love everything you do and I love this and that. And I'm like, they're not on our Sunday email. They don't follow us on any channel. And they've never contacted us before.
It's just a cold message at that point.
Just be honest. I'd be like, I just found a podcast and I think it would be great. Rather than, we love everything you do. We've been here trans for years. I'm like, you're not anywhere.
But in reality, it's just not true.
Easy for us to check that.
So true.
It sounds like you are a very capable woman by yourself and you've got this, just this drive and everything else. But have you had mentors along the way? Are there certain mantras that you live by? What has helped or who has helped you build all of these different businesses?
I think a bit of both. Both In terms of the business side though, if you told me five years ago that I'd own a business that I had done these things, I genuinely thought I was just heading down that corporate life and I was honestly okay with it. But so it's interesting. Even when I hear things like business or stuff, I'm still learning. I still feel new to it. But in terms of mantras, it's helped me in both business and to get through my studies, to get through anything. I've always told myself if I've got something that seems big and scary, if it's opening the studio if it's going through the law degree, it's more, the quote essentially would be like, if your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough. And it would tell me that it's okay to be afraid.
The dreams that you have the projects in front of you, are meant to give you a little bit of give you butterflies and give you, that feeling. In terms of mattresses, I used to tell myself that a lot to get through things to say it's okay to be afraid and that's just part of dreaming big. In terms of mentorship, I had a bad experience. I hired a coach at the beginning of being like, I'm going to be an entrepreneur. I have no idea what I'm doing. This was in 2020 and it was just like, the alignment wasn't there. It cost me a lot of money. I didn't know what I was doing. I don't blame the person, but it was just off. She was getting me to say things that weren't quite accurate or wanting me to say things that weren't quite accurate, wanting me to say things that I wasn't, I'm like, I'm not going to say that these things, especially in the beginning.
In terms of that, it made me a bit afraid to have mentors or business coaches after that because of the weird experience I'd had. But recently this year I did get a mentor through an organisation called Ignite, which helps women of ethnic backgrounds and she's been incredible. She's like someone I speak to each week and she's just so helpful as someone who doesn't have a business background. My family doesn't have a business background. Naturally, I'm not an entrepreneur, I'm still just learning on the job. She's been great as someone who had a successful career, and a successful business. I speak to her each week and she gives me great advice. I do have that mentor now in terms of business.
I'm glad you had a good experience, but I get it. There's like a gazillion business coaches out there and a lot of the people unfortunately are teaching things that they don't know how to do themselves or that they've just done for themselves and they've never worked in an office doing it or in a company doing it. They can't replicate things again and again and again. It's hard. And also you've just gotta find that alignment. I've hired a couple of business coaches over the years and I remember one, the first one, she was nice. She was nice. She was in another part of the world and just very different ideas about what would fit versus an Australian audience and things like the minute you should still talk to somebody, you should get their credit card out over the phone. Get it. And I was like, it's not how I roll.
I don't want to pressure anyone. If they need some time to think about it, they need time, time to think about it. And we often even say to people when they say, could I pay by credit card? I don't have enough money right now. I'm like, you can, but why don't you just go and make the money and then come back when you can spend it? Because I don't want to put you into debt doing this.
Yes, you don't want them worse off when they've come to you.
I just think you've gotta find the right alignment. What was that company? Ignite? Someone's reading and is from an ethnic background or wants to find that. Is that Australia-wide?
Yes, It's an Australia-wide one. My mentor's in New South Wales, she's not here in Melbourne, but we meet on Zoom once a week and it's so therapeutic. They line you up with someone who can help. They have mentors who have experience in business, who have like maybe, I guess they're in their retirement stage and they're giving back as well. It's called Ignite, yes, it's spelt the normal way and it's so good. It's been helpful. It's helped me to prioritise and I've seen huge shifts in the business since working with her because I am just making it up as I go. I'm listening to podcasts like yours. I'm reading books like yours. I'm trying to figure it out. But I just like parenting. I'm just figuring it out on the job. With things like this, it's so helpful talking to her. It's just therapeutic honestly.
And having that accountability every week. Talking to somebody every two weeks or whenever it is. Then what about tools, like tech tools? Are there video apps that you're like, Capcut everyone needs to be on it. Or like what other apps you couldn't run your business without?
Apps I couldn't run my business without would be, Capcut and InShot are what I usually use for social media reels. That's something I'm very good at doing. It comes very easy to me to just pump out reels. I can do that. But I think, am aware that social media isn't an entire marketing strategy. It's just like, one of the ways you can market intentionally if you do it right. But I do like cap cutting in the shop for those ChatGPT I don’t know what we'll do if they ever take it away because I use it for like everything. I love ChatGPT so much and maybe Lightroom because I'm a photographer at the studio and that's what I use to edit. That's what I used to do a lot of the work that I do for clients. I think without those three or four I would don’t know how I'd do my business.
I'm just going to ask another question. I'm going to put you on the spot because you are a photographer and you did a law degree. You also mentioned when you were starting the channel your friend came over and said, are you sure you're doing this? How have you got past? Or do you have any advice for people? Because one of the things that comes up a lot, even with people who are years, decades into their business, and I'm always not surprised because it's very common, but it's still surprising sometimes is that people worry about what their friends or family, not necessarily the strangers on the internet, but like, if I start influencing or if I start showing up more on camera or if I start doing X, Y, Z or if I jump on TikTok and I'm in my forties or fifties like my family is going to have a field day or my friends are going to think this and it comes up quite a lot I would say in coaching when maybe we're trying something different or I'm like, have you tried TikTok or have you done this? Any advice for people like that?
I think it does go back to the people don't care as much as you think, but if they do care, 'cause you do have family who or friends, people around you that might, that might give you a hard time about it. I think at the end of the day I'm very big on it's your life. You have to live it. You can't live for someone else. You don't know how long you have and you don't want to get to the end whenever that is and think man, I wish I had just done that thing. I wish I had said yes because I've wanted to be a photographer so much, but a photographer can't be a lawyer and a lawyer can't be a photographer or I can't be a lawyer and also do tiktoks or I can't be this and be that. This is how my life looks and it might not be what my sisters want or my husband or whatever, but if it's right for me, I'm not hurting anyone. I think you have to live your life. How is authentic to yourself? Just being authentic and also not being afraid to just do it. Because it's your life.
It's your life. Bon Jovi.
Exactly. Because I know I've had friends where like for example in law school, I had one of my closest friends studying the same thing but she didn't want to do that. She wanted to do a completely different career. She would've been amazing at it. She'd done com competitions in it and her parents like it's an African saying that you're either an engineer or a lawyer, a doctor or or a failure. It's one of the four. She was doing it because what she wanted to do was just so like outside of what we are used to hearing within our communities. But she would've done an incredible job at doing that and in the end she didn't finish and it didn't work out because I like every day was just such a drag for her being there because she was living a life for someone else. And I'll tell her like they're not the ones here at the lectures going to the exams going through this for years. It's your life. If this is what you want to do, despite what your parents and your family think, you have to live it for yourself.
Is she doing that now?
She ended up doing it for a bit and it worked out but she didn't do the law side at all. And it worked out for a bit. It was better. It worked out more than the law side.
It's like so much of us and it's hard. I think as a parent now, I'm so conscious of not pushing my child too much and being like, you be led how you want to be led. But then I'm also like, my parents were immigrants to this country. I mean we all were. I have that very, like my sister's a doctor, my brother's a professor, my other brother's a lawyer. Like we've sacrificed a lot. You are told, not even necessarily told that it's inferred. Throughout we've given up our family, we know no one in this country, we're giving you a better life, all of that. I've got that. But I'm also trying to be more like, you do whatever you want to do, we're here for you. But I'm also like so hard. What are your grades? What do you like it's a fine balance I think. On all of this, you do so much incredible stuff. What are you most proud of from your journey in business so far?
Pretty much what we're just talking about. I'd say not being afraid to say yes despite what others might think. I think people are confused and it's fair. I'm even sometimes confused as to how I studied this and ended up here. But it's something that happens a lot. You can study something and it can help you in another way or they might marry together. I've said I think that they will. But I'm proud of myself for not, there was a moment that I thought, if I go this way, if I turn down this path, this is so different to what everyone thought I was or thought I would be. It's different to my plan and I'm proud of myself for leaning into that wholeheartedly and doing it publicly as well and not being afraid of that. I'm proud of myself. I think it's not an easy thing to do something different to what most people do.
Totally. The number of people that you would've influenced by seeing you who don't tell you this or other people's children that are watching what you do or your cousins or nephews and nieces or other people seeing stuff like, I have a 17-year-old niece and it sat with me because she's like, I just love that you are just doing your thing. For somebody to look and go, I don't have to do this very linear path. Like the doctor path and you're a doctor and you're not a success if you're not, which I've gone through those things myself, thinking about it in terms of my sister but what is the best way to people connect with you? If they are reading this going, she sounds amazing. How do they figure out like if they want to go and do the studio work or if they want you to be their photographer or you to be their content creator or influencer or brand partnership or just to get some mentoring, how do they reach out?
Definitely through the studio. We're doing all of those things through the studio. Studio463 on Instagram is @_Studio463. And via the website, it's www.studio463.com.au. We'd love to get some fresh photos for you guys. We'd love to host you in the studio. We'd love to see you there. It'll pop in. We'd love to see you.
Amazing. Lastly, where does 463 come from? Is that just the number?
This is interesting. Unless someone asks, I'm like, they've asked so I can hear it. But I come from a Christian background. The four six three on your phone is, God. My business partner that we did this with. We are both Christians and we said that we want God to be with us through this whole journey. We're like, let's sneak it into the name.
I love that. That's cool and it's meaningful to you. It is. That's so cool.
In such a subtle way. We didn't want it to be called Studio God or something because it's a church, what is it? I think it's nice that we always know what it means and seeing it on the logo, on the chairs, on the stuff, I'm like, we know what it means, which is pretty cool.
I love that. And it's so funny, I just thought it was like 463 or something.
Everyone thinks that it's an address or a birthday or something.
Nice. I love something very meaningful, glad that I asked because everyone's got their own. I love when you hear people's different names and things and you're like, that's so cool how you came up with that. Awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time and thank you for listening to the podcast. That's because you connected and you're like, I love it and sharing it and recommending it and being you and then that's also part of your position in your business as well. But thank you so much and I hope you enjoy the rest of your child-free, family-free week.
I would enjoy it and I can't wait to keep listening for more episodes. Thanks for having me on.
Bye.
Bye.
—
How lovely is Ange? There's so much in that interview that I'm going to be thinking about and taking into my own business from the way I create content, to showing up to so many things. I just feel that Ange gave away so many tips and insights and I'm so thankful for it. If you want to connect with Ange and Studio463, you can do that either on Instagram via @ange.mumporeze. You can also find everything for Studio463 on Instagram. It's underscore @_studio463. You can also find 'em online at www.studio463.com.au. I'm going to point out two things that stood out to me, but I'd love to know what stood out for you. You can always send us a DM @mydailybusiness_ on Instagram or just @mydailybusiness on TikTok.
The first thing that stood out for me was when Ange just said no one cares. And not in a horrible harsh way, but it's something that we talk about a lot. I talk to a lot of clients, I have to tell myself many times as well, I think we've recently put out a podcast. I'm not sure exactly when this one is coming out, but it will be after that one. It just is something we need to remind ourselves of that most of the time most people aren't even going to see what you're doing. And then let alone out of that percentage we'll see what small percentage may judge you. And if they do judge you, it might be for a fleeting second and then they're onto the next thing. If they do judge you, often that says something more about them than you.
I love this idea of just not caring and reminding yourself that most people are not going to care. For most people, it's not going to be a huge part of their day when they've decided to show up on Instagram, do a different TikTok, do a reel or decide to start a YouTube channel. They might be like, that's interesting and that's it. And then they move on. I think so many of us need to hear that people just don't care as much as we imagine that they do. And of course, we'll link to the podcast that we've done on that as well. The second thing that stood out to me was when Ange talked about brand partnerships and collaborations and understanding what's in it for you and also what you need from the other partner. Often I see people join into, I don't know anything from like an online competition through to sponsorship, through to a full-blown partnership or collaboration opportunity.
Often we see small business owners not all the time, but sometimes get railroaded by bigger brands and bigger companies or people with more following or a bigger email list or whatever to do what they want as opposed to it being a win-win situation. Now recently, I've been planning my book launch in Melbourne. We have an online book launch as well. If you want to be part of that, you can go and register at mydailybusiness.com/booklaunch. In any opportunity where I'm seeking something, I have been like, what can I offer you? In one situation I was like, I can do a masterclass for your different members in another. It's like, does the founder want to come on the podcast? Can we mention you in our Sunday email? Can we do this? Can we do that? Can we offer this so that there is a win-win?
It's not just take. I think so often in business we can look at collaborations as opportunities to connect and have a great solution and a great result for both people instead of just what can I get from this? We get pitched a lot for this podcast and I've talked about this previously as well. A lot of people will pitch and say, I'd like to collaborate with My Daily Business and I think it's a great collaboration. They'll use that word a lot. We will read the email like, where is the collaboration? Because all we can see is that you're pitching to come on a podcast, which is fine and great, but that's often promotion for you and that's awesome. But there's not even an example of like, and then when it comes out we'll share it on our socials or we've got this much of a following, or we've got this great email list and we'll shoot out your podcast to it.
There's no sense of like, here's what I'm offering in return. I'm not saying that you need to offer something big to come on our podcast, but if you're going to use words like collaboration and collaboration, please think about what those words mean and what is happening for both parties. It's completely fine if you're like, I want to promote my new book and I'd love to go into your podcast and do it. At least that would be honest and real and it'd be like, I see why you want to come on. We have an audience that you want to connect with and tell them about your new book or about what's something else. I mean, we don't spend a lot of time with people with them promoting and promoting. However, we do always say to people, if you want to promote something, you are so welcome to do it at the end of the podcast if you have something big you want to promote.
We are happy to mention that in the outro of the podcast, which is what I'm recording right now. But many people use the word collaboration partnership in just the wrong way. If you're going to do that, take note of what am I offering, what am I getting in return and how it works for both parties. Of course, if you are going into any brand partnership, look at the legs, look at the contract, and make sure you are protected as well. I love that she also talked about being clear if you're utilising an influencer or a content creator as to what they need to do and why they're doing it. What is the objective behind you working with them? Many things in here, but those are two that stood out to me.
That is it for today's podcast. As I said, if you'd like to connect with Ange, you can find them at studio463.com.au. Also on Instagram @_studio463. You can also find Ange herself over at Instagram under @ange.mumporeze. We'll link to all of that in the show notes, which you'll be able to find for this particular episode at mydailybusiness.com/podcast/ 440. If you're interested in Marketing for Your Small Business, check it out at marketingforyoursmallbusiness.com and join us for our next live intake of coaching. Talk to you then. Bye.
