Bonnie Conrad, Inn8ly

[00:00:00] Sanjay Parekh: Welcome to the Side Hustle to Small Business podcast, powered by Hiscox. I'm your host, Sanjay Parekh. Throughout my career, I've had side hustles, some of which have turned into real businesses. But first and foremost, I'm a serial technology entrepreneur. In the creator space, we hear plenty of advice on how to hustle harder and why you can sleep when you're dead.

[00:00:21] On this show, we ask new questions in hopes of getting new answers. Questions like, How can small businesses work smarter? How do you achieve balance between work and family? How can we redefine success in our businesses so that we don't burn out after year three? Every week, I sit down with business founders at various stages of their side hustle to small business journey.

[00:00:43] These entrepreneurs are pushing the envelope while keeping their values. Keep listening for conversation, context, and camaraderie.

[00:00:56] Today's guest is Bonnie Conrad, a longtime entrepreneur and now social media strategy expert at Inn8ly. In 2022, Bonnie founded Second You, an online business management company, focusing on crafting social media content and campaigns. It's email marketing, graphic design, and optimizing blog writing. Bonnie, welcome to the show.

[00:01:17] Bonnie Conrad: Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to chat with you. 

[00:01:20] Sanjay Parekh: So am I. I'm excited to have you on. It's always great having folks that have done marketing because it's always great advice for our listeners. But before we get into marketing and marketing advice or anything else like that, give us a little bit about your background and what got you to where you are today.

[00:01:35] Bonnie Conrad: Absolutely. So, I'm a military spouse and I've been through about 14 years, about seven moves. I got about 10 years in and got sick of quitting my job. Because every time we move, I'm always the new person. And with lots of years of experience and being the new person, it gets frustrating. So, I decided about 2018, I decided I'm going to work for myself, and I actually was a builder.

[00:02:01] So I would build furniture, like huge tables, entryway tables, huge, you know, pictures, just personalized stuff because we were in a very secluded location. I became known as like, the craft store of the desert and I loved it. I loved owning my own business. I loved servicing the community, but what I didn't love was figuring out how to share my business online in a way that people thought, okay, well, she's better than the other person. And to elevate myself.

[00:02:33] And that's when I really started digging into marketing and then specifically digital marketing because it's just kind of the way of everything. And so I full in just everything that I could learn about digital marketing, I did. And in this time, we were also moving again and I knew at that point I didn't want to continue to build but I also wanted to do something for myself.

[00:03:00] So I was like, I could start my own business. I know how to do all this stuff online. I was also, in this time, I was a president of a nonprofit. We gave large scholarships and grants within the community to other military spouses and family members. So, in this time, I'm like, I'm going to try this virtual assistant work, this online business management.

[00:03:20] And I loved it. But in that time, I also received a Fulbright scholarship to finish my bachelor's for digital marketing. And it all just came to fruition. And I had started my company, and I was very successful, and I had lots of clients, and I loved what I did for them. But I really loved the marketing side of things and that just pushed me even further.

[00:03:43] And then I ended up partnering with Inn8ly and now between James's expertise on his marketing side of things, of 40 plus years of marketing with websites, and my expertise of social media and the other digital marketing side of things, we can now help all of our clients grow through digital marketing.

[00:04:02] Sanjay Parekh: So I’ve got to ask you about the furniture building thing. Like why did you pick that as the first thing to start and try? 

[00:04:11] Bonnie Conrad: I know, it's a weird niche, right? But I wanted a farmhouse kitchen table. I didn't want to pay the price because, every time I looked at them, they're like kind of not great quality, super high price.

[00:04:24] And I thought, okay, I can build one. So, I did. I built this beautiful table with matching benches, and it was amazing. And then I had a friend stop by my house and she had a friend with her and this lady was like, I love this table. Where did you get it? And I was like, I built it. And that's how my business blossomed. 

[00:04:47] It was called I Built This Workshop because I would build these things and I would sell them. And I had so many people come up to me and they're like, did your husband build this? And you painted it. I'm like, no, I built this. And so, it really just grew really rapidly because we were in such a secluded location. I mean, the closest big box store was 45 minutes away.

[00:05:09] So there really wasn't a lot of options. So, when it came to me launching products it was, I would launch, and it would sell out within an hour. It was fast. And if you didn't get on there. It was great, but it was in the middle of the desert. So, when it's 110 degrees outside and I'm in the shop, cutting and sanding. I was sweating. And so, it was definitely a time for a change. I loved it. And I still do build, just not as a business anymore. 

[00:05:39] Sanjay Parekh: Right. Yeah. Super, super interesting. So, did you hadn't built stuff before I take it, right? Like you just figured it out as you went?

[00:05:48] Bonnie Conrad: Yeah, I had never built before. I'm super engineer brain-wise of spatial recognition. And my husband loved it because it was very easy for him to buy me presents. He would just give me new saws or new sanders or like any tools that I was looking at. It was really fun. And you know, I was teaching my friends how to use power tools because they're like, I don't know how to do this. I'm like, well, come over. 

[00:06:14] Sanjay Parekh: So when you were running that business, would you just build stuff and then put it up for sale or would you like get people to tell you what they wanted and then build it that way? 

[00:06:24] Bonnie Conrad: So, in the beginning, I just built it and then I sold it because I didn't want to do customized stuff because it gets a little bit hairy when you do that.

[00:06:32] However, when COVID hit, I had my eyeballs on a laser engraving machine that would engrave and cut specific things. And so COVID hit, lumber prices shot through the roof. So, I kind of pivoted a little bit and bought this ridiculous engraving machine. And then figured out how to design the files the machine needed and just started making. I made ornaments for every single army duty station.

[00:07:05] So it was like a sweatshop in my house at Christmas time. I've got my husband sanding. I've got the boys like, you know, packaging stuff and it really like, it kept me busy in the middle of the desert, but also like filled my cup of me doing something and like just giving back to the community of those personalized gifts that I could add to, right?

[00:07:29] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. I'm super jealous. I've always wanted a laser cutter engraver thing. And I've never been able to like, honestly justify why. I actually knew like, there's no reason for me to have it. I have no, it's probably just gonna be dangerous if I have it. I was sweating the entire time I was ordering it because I knew it was an expensive piece of equipment, but it was, no, I will tell you I paid it off like the investment within two months.

[00:08:01] Bonnie Conrad: Just, yeah, it was, yeah, it was a wild experience. I still have it now. I still use it once in a while, but not as much as I used to. 

[00:08:10] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Okay. So, what was the furniture business? Was that your first ever kind of entrepreneurial venture or did you do entrepreneurial things as a kid or were there entrepreneurs in the family or anything like that?

[00:08:22] Bonnie Conrad: No. Well, my, my parents owned we called it a party store in Michigan. They owned a store when I was like in high school, middle school. And, you know, I worked there as a kid. And you know, that was a really successful business. They ended up, you know, getting rid of it, but that building stuff was my first kind of like big entrepreneurial adventure and I learned a lot from it, you know, especially dealing with different types of customers and the communication and learning how to like streamline processes, workflows, the little things that you just have to learn along the way, you can't really.

[00:08:58] You know, everybody's different. And so like, I could have took lots of classes on how to be an entrepreneur, but I feel like just baptism by fire of just got to do it and it's going to be messy, but it'll work. 

[00:09:10] Sanjay Parekh: I mean, honestly I love that approach because everybody has a first time at some point, right?

[00:09:16] And so you might as well get over that first time and go ahead and just do it. You can sit and read about it, but there's nothing like actually just doing it for the first time yourself and seeing how messy it actually is. So. Yeah, I love that. Okay, so clearly from your journey to like being a military spouse has played quite a role in terms of first of all, doing this and deciding you don't want to be that the new kid on the block every single time you ended up having to move. 

[00:09:46] Are there other ways that it impacted your journey in entrepreneurship and how do you think that's kind of played out for you? 

[00:09:53] Bonnie Conrad: It definitely has. My scholarship that I got for my digital marketing degree was from a military spouse event I got here in Texas. And I was like, I don't know anybody I'm going to go at this dinner.

[00:10:07] Well, it turns out you can also apply for a scholarship, and I got it. I would not have got that if I was not a military spouse. And it also makes me super, I think, resilient for sure, but like easy to like change and make decisions quickly because we move so often. We joke that we speed date our friends because we're like, you're my neighbor. We're going to be friends now.

[00:10:30] And so I think maybe that like, hesitation of ‘what if’ is kind of gone with me of, what's the worst that could happen? I have a bad decision, and I learn from it and then I grow. And so, I do think that the military, the way that like, we just learn quickly and like are very driven has made a huge difference in everything that I do.

[00:10:59] Sanjay Parekh: So, so along those lines then, was there anything that made you nervous? About kind of embarking on any of these things? I mean, so what was that? 

[00:11:10] Bonnie Conrad: Well, first of all, I met my husband and then two weeks later we were engaged and it's always like the thing that you're not supposed to do in the military. 

[00:11:17] Sanjay Parekh: Was he already in the military?

[00:11:20] Bonnie Conrad: He was, he was home for three weeks for recruiting duty. He was home for three weeks. And then 15 days later, he bought me a ring. And then six months later, I moved to Georgia. I drove down there from Michigan to Georgia. And I remember coming to the hotel ‘cause we didn't have our house yet.

[00:11:38] And I sat on the bed. I just had like a breakdown. I started crying and I'm like, I don't know what I'm going to do with my life, and like, I'm not going to have any friends, I'm not going to have a job, and I had like — he still to this day makes fun of me — of like, my pity party, and he's like, look what you've done, like, what have you done?

[00:11:55] So, that was tough. I mean, the first couple years was tough because I had no idea about anything that I was going to do, but it definitely pushed me to grow ‘cause I don't think I would be where I'm at. I know I wouldn't if I stayed in the same spot where I grew up. 

[00:12:13] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Well, was there one thing that really kind of pushed you over the edge to be like, yeah, I'm going to be an entrepreneur?

[00:12:19] I'm going to start a company. I'm going to go down this path. 

[00:12:22] Bonnie Conrad: We had a small, our youngest was like two at the time and where we were, it was very hard to get childcare and a job. And I knew I wanted to work, and I also wanted to have it fit with my family. And, that's a big struggle that across the board military spouses have of, like, they want to still continue their career or continue a job of some sort.

[00:12:48] But the child care isn't always, like not so much affordable, but accessible. And so that was kind of like my drive of, well, if I could do something at home and I can do something that is on my time, then I can still fit it in with the family because I still want to be able to like take time off when my husband gets off or he gets a random day, I don't have to work because I work for myself, and I make my own rules. 

[00:13:15] Sanjay Prekh: Yeah. Yeah. That's you know, that's something that is a common thread with a lot of founders that we ended up talking on this podcast. And I think just in general, you know, people that are entrepreneurs really think about how their time is their time and they have that flexibility is there. So let's switch on to the other side flexibility, which is the stress and demands of having a business and then balancing them with family life. Like, yes, we do have flexibility, but sometimes there are demands on us. And, you know, being the person at the top means it stops with you. And so how do you balance those things for yourself? 

[00:13:58] Bonnie Conrad: I'm really great with time blocking my schedule.

[00:14:00] So even though I do work from home. I still schedule myself personally on a daily basis of, you know, from this time, this is what I'm going to do. And then from this time, this is what I'm going to do. And I also make sure I'm putting those coins in the family bucket. Like if the kids are home, I am paying attention to them.

[00:14:20] I am doing stuff with them, and I am detached from my business. I don't, you know, try to mix. I don't try to like work while I'm with the family. Unless it's like an emergency and there's emergencies in marketing. So, I think it's important. It is hard in the beginning, especially as like a new entrepreneur, you want to say yes to everybody and you want to make everybody happy, but you, for one, you don't have to say yes to everybody.

[00:14:51] If they don't mix with you or if it's not your target audience and you can say, no, I, we don't, I don't think we fit very well. And you know, I think that is a big power move for yourself to give yourself that time. 

[00:15:10] Adam Walker: Support for this podcast comes from Hiscox, committed to helping small businesses protect their dreams since 1901. Quotes and information on customized insurance for specific risks are available at Hiscox.com. Hiscox, the business insurance experts.

[00:15:31] Sanjay Parekh: Well, let's go down the path of you kind of moving into digital marketing. So, you got really lucky. You went to a dinner, you decided to say yes to the dinner. Got the scholarship. You know, got to go do all of that stuff and then start your own thing. But then you ended up merging it with somebody else.

[00:15:48] So like, talk to me a little bit about like that decision as to why that made sense for you because, you know, in some sense you're going from, you're the kind of master of the universe and get to decide all the things, but now, you know, you've merged and now you've got a partner and now there's other people involved too.

[00:16:06] And so now you're not fully in control. Like, how did you think about this process for yourself and why did it make sense for you? 

[00:16:12] Bonnie Conrad: So, James with Inn8ly, he's been doing marketing for a really long time. And him and I were partners on a project with one of my clients. I was working with one of my clients and James and Inn8ly were building their website and doing their marketing. And I was just at the time I was a virtual assistant for this client. And I knew James, and I loved anytime he was on a call. I wanted to be on it because I always wanted to learn like anything that he said, I was like, I just want to absorb all this information.

[00:16:44] And unfortunately my client had to shut his business down pretty rapidly. And James reached out to me and he said, I love how driven you are. I love how you just like pivot and learn really fast. I want to get on a call with you and see about coming to Inn8ly. And at the time I just kept my business separate and just kind of started working with an Inn8ly. 

[00:17:03] But I joke that it's like a paid internship because I really learned so much from him. But he said to me, he said, you really stuck out to me because I've been doing this for a really long time and we were on a call and I made a statement and you looked at me square in the face and said, that sounds stupid.

[00:17:27] And he's like, I appreciated your honesty, but like your willingness to give your opinion. And so, in December, January, this year, I was, you know, struggling with like my website. ‘Cause I'm not a website developer at all. And I don't claim to be. And I, you know, I wanted to grow at that point, but James has the, you know, Inn8ly been around for about 12 years now.

[00:17:53] He has the back end of all the business stuff. He has all of that built and I don't. And so, it really kind of was a no brainer of me just merging because he's got the, like the business is already set up. I'm just like an addition to the business. And it, I love working with him. So, you know it was a no brainer for me.

[00:18:16] It really wasn't a hesitation at all to do that. 

[00:18:19] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Since you've moved around so much, I, are you in the same geographic location as him and the rest of the team or? Are you separate? 

[00:18:28] Bonnie Conrad: No. So, our team is kind of all over the place. I am in mountain time. He's in Pacific time. So, it's not too big. 

[00:18:35] You know, we love hiring military spouses because they're responsible and they're nice. And there's two things you can't really teach anybody. And so, I love, you know, hiring our, my fellow military spouses. And we have one that's in North Carolina. We have one that's in the UK. So, you know, we're all over the place.

[00:18:56] There's some Tennessee and Michigan. So, our team is just kind of all over the place. 

[00:19:02] Sanjay Parekh: Right. Oh, so interesting. Yeah. And then having somebody in the UK, like that span of time, does that present challenges in terms of coordination because of the time differences or how do you guys deal with that?

[00:19:13] Bonnie Conrad: No, she's actually really good about it. Usually we meet like, you know, 9:30 on like Wednesdays or whatever, and it's about four o'clock her time. She actually also homeschools her boys. She's a little more flexible. She's, I know her because of previous duty stations, homeschooling our kids. So, I knew she was responsible, so she does really great about, the communication and coordination of like the time difference.

[00:19:40] So, it's never been an issue. 

[00:19:43] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Yeah. So, how big is the team now at Inn8ly? 

[00:19:47] Bonnie Conrad: We're about 10, 15 people now. And it ranges. Sometimes we bring in others to help us with certain projects that, you know, if we're not the expert in that, we know somebody who is. 

[00:20:00] Sanjay Parekh: That's great. Is there any technology or apps or systems that you guys use to either help yourselves kind of manage the business and kind of your projects or kind of for the team overall that you would recommend? 

[00:20:16] Bonnie Conrad: So we definitely, you know, we use ClickUp for project management stuff and we love it. It's very easy to use. It's very streamlined, you know, communication wise.

[00:20:27] Slack. We love Slack you know, and I can turn my notifications off. So Nikki in the UK, when she's messaging at weird hours of the day and vice versa, we're not getting pinged at three in the morning. 

[00:20:40] Sanjay Parekh: Right. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. Okay. Last kind of couple of questions kind of retrospective questions now.

[00:20:48] You know, if you could go back in time and do something differently what is that? You know be it the by the laser engraver earlier or what like, you know, what would you think of? 

[00:21:01] Bonnie Conrad: I definitely would share more of my experience and what I've done and how I did it. I hear that a lot of like, when I'm like, oh, I own my own business and I kind of work from home.

[00:21:16] I hear that, like, how did you do that? I think I would kind of share my journey a little bit more as I was going through it because I feel like that's an inspirational type of thing of like, you never know if I can reach one person with my story that I feel like I've succeeded. And so, I think sharing that along the way, and like the struggles that I'm going through in the moment would be really powerful.

[00:21:41] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Well, when did you realize that you should have been doing that and weren't doing that? 

[00:21:46] Bonnie Conrad: Probably like six months ago. 

[00:21:50] Sanjay Parekh: Okay. 

[00:21:51] Bonnie Conrad: Yeah. And in, the building, I feel like I did I didn't share a lot with that and maybe thinking about that now, I think I would have shared more of like my building process and how I built those things and how I like did the measurements and how these two things go together.

[00:22:08] ‘Cause I'm not just like nailed together. They're using a biscuit joint and like, what is that? And those things, I think I wish I would have shared more when I was building. 

[00:22:18] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. I think that's a particularly hard thing for entrepreneurs though, because you just want to get to the thing that you want to do.

[00:22:25] Yeah. Right. And you don't want to talk about the thing that I've experienced that when I was a first-time entrepreneur too. And I had challenges, one of my co-founders, we were supposed to write, you know, patent paperwork stuff. And it was just a bunch of writing. And it's like, I want to get to building.

[00:22:39] I want to actually get to the thing. Fun thing. Not the talk about the fun thing. So that's, I think a challenge, but how do you think about that then for yourself? Since you're saying like, hey, I wish I would've done this. Like, why would, you know, like, what's the motivation to do that?

[00:22:55] Instead of doing the thing, talk about the thing instead of doing the thing. 

[00:22:58] Bonnie Conrad: My biggest goal when I started the digital marketing was I wanted to help other fellow spouses, the military spouses who have decided to start this entrepreneurship, this journey. I wanted to share with them how you market yourself in a way that is, you know, that's targeting your audience, that sharing your message, that's going to get you know, stop the scroll. It's going to like really get what you need out of your marketing instead of the, just like I have this come by it, like teaching them how to like do that. Because if you're really good at one thing, you might not be great at marketing and that's okay.

[00:23:36] But like I wanted to be, and I still do want to be their marketing brain. And so, my whole goal is to build that up. 

[00:23:46] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. Kind of last two questions here. If you were talking to somebody who's thinking about taking the leap like you did and launching a side hustle or taking that into a different direction or into a full-time business, what advice would you give to them?

[00:24:05] Bonnie Conrad: Delegate. I know it's scary at first but know that if you lead your team correctly in a way that is supportive, you are going to get more out of what you want versus trying to do everything yourself because you can't. If you really want to grow, you just, you can't. And I think being honest with yourself about that of like, I could do this, I could do my email, I could do my social media, I could do my everything.

[00:24:37] You can, but it's not, you're going to be like, pockets of good, and it's not going to be what you're really great at. So, focus on what you're great at and delegate the stuff that it's not really like your thing. 

[00:24:50] Sanjay Parekh: So, one thing I think that a lot of people struggle with is the amount of time that it takes to start delegating to somebody else.

[00:24:59] And a lot of people like I could do it in less time. Let me just, I'll just go ahead and do it. Instead of telling somebody how to do it, because that's how much time it's going to take. So how do you think about that in terms of the delegation process? 

[00:25:09] Bonnie Conrad: No, I've 100 percent been there. You have to think of it as like in the future.

[00:25:15] So yes, it's going to take a little bit more time right now, but once you hand that off, it is a freeing experience. I am a hundred percent culprit of this of recently. I've held on to stuff and I'm like, I'll just do that. But, I've taught my team how to do these things and I have gotten so much stuff done because I can focus on things that I'm really good at and I can let them do the things that I've guided them how to do.

[00:25:42] So it takes more time in the beginning, but once you get going and you really create that good bonding and team, it's a no brainer. 

[00:25:53] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. I love it. Okay. Last question for you, Bonnie. What's one piece of advice that you give to business owners about a social media strategy for them?

[00:26:02] Bonnie Conrad: Have a strategy.

[00:26:08] Sanjay Parekh: That's a good one. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:26:09] Bonnie Conrad: So, I see a lot of pretty noise out there and a wonderful graphics are great. But if they don't have an objective behind them and they're not serving a purpose for your business, then they're just a waste of time. Yes, like let's share these cute pictures of whatever the case may be, but like, what's the reason behind that post?

[00:26:29] So always having a reason why you're posting and not just posting because you're like, Oh, I need to post today. Like actually having that strategy built that’s like, what's the goal? What's the strategy we're going to use to make that hit that goal. And like the tactics within that to make it all make sense.

[00:26:49] Sanjay Parekh: I love it. I love it. Bonnie, this has been fantastic. Where can our listeners find and connect with you online? 

[00:26:54] Bonnie Conrad: Yeah, absolutely. They can find me on LinkedIn. So, I am pretty active on LinkedIn. So just Bonnie Conrad. And they can also find us on our website. So, it's Inn8ly.com. It's I N N the number 8 L Y.com. And then we're also on, you know, social media platforms. So, we're on Instagram, we're on YouTube. And our name is the same across all of them. 

[00:27:16] Sanjay Parekh: I love it. Thanks so much for being on today. 

[00:27:18] Bonnie Conrad: Thank you.

[00:27:24] Sanjay Parekh: Thanks for listening to this week's episode of the Side Hustle to Small Business podcast, powered by Hiscox. To learn more about how Hiscox can help protect your small business through intelligent insurance solutions, visit Hiscox.com. And to hear more Side Hustle to Small Business stories, or share your own story, please visit Hiscox.com/side-hustle-to-small-business. I'm your host, Sanjay Parekh. You can find out more about me at my website, SanjayParekh.com.