Episode 13 | Consistency and Networking in Business with Safiya Morgan

Sophia Noreen: 0:00

Welcome to another amazing episode of the Boss It Podcast. And today I am so happy for you guys to learn from Safiya Morgan, who is a multi-passionate entrepreneur and has two businesses running at the moment. Her first business is called the Glow Moisturizer and it's such a fantastic moisturizer, guys. She realized that there was a problem with dry skin and she went right for it and she decided to formulate her own moisturizer. She's scaled her business now. And she has a company who's doing all of her production She started her Glow Moisturizer business eight years ago. And if there's one thing she's taken away from her journey is that networking is key to business. She's also started her second business, which is called The Coffee and Business Show. And right now she's doing Instagram lives every Sunday. So you have to go visit her channel. Her links will be in the show notes. She interviews entrepreneurs every week on her show. And this has been running since May, 2020. She said that this actually started off as a quarantine project, but it's going to continue growing. So I'm looking forward to seeing how Safiya makes out with her new entrepreneurial gig. One last thing guys, I am actually recording this episode after I interviewed Safiya and her mantra is so spot on. I want you to listen for it. And I also want you to try to apply her mantra to your business and life. Okay. I'm not going to say much more, otherwise I'm going to give it all away. So with that, let's get on with our show. Welcome to the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen and I took an Etsy startup and launched it in big box retailers within 12 months. As a creative with an entrepreneurial drive, I left my full time career in healthcare to find better harmony between career, family and self care. We believe you can have it all. Yes, you can launch and run a successful scalable business while maintaining harmony in all aspects of your life. We believe we can learn from each other and draw on many experiences to create the best life possible. During each episode, we will share proven life hacks that will keep you on top and striving every day. There should be no hesitation.Make a plan. Take action. We are here for you. This episode of the Boss It Podcast is brought to you by the Full Focus Planner. Guys, trust me, it's super difficult to run a business, plus have yourself organized with everyday life. Trust me. I know. We have found that the Full Focus Planner is the best planner to help me and it's the best planner that will help you stay focused every day. What I love most about this planner is that this, it does a really good job of breaking down your quarterly goals. And then it helps translate them into weekly goals and daily goals. Head over to the link in our show notes to check out this fantastic planning tool. All right, guys, let's get started. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another fantastic episode of the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia, and I'm going to be your host today. And today I have Safiya Morgan. Hey, Safiya. How's it going?

Safiya Morgan: 3:06

Hey, good. How are you?

Sophia Noreen: 3:07

I am fantastic. We are super excited to have you on today, especially because you are a multi- passionate entrepreneurs. And I just let our listeners know about your businesses and we want to hear it all. But before we get started, I want to know your mantra. What keeps you going every day?

Safiya Morgan: 3:27

My mantra that I usually try to go back to a lot is actually a saying from the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. When he said "The best of deeds are the ones that are consistent." When we understand consistency, it's a life changer. If you start a project and you're consistent with it and you keep going with it, it just changes everything about that project. It changes everything about your personality. It changes everything about your business. It changes everything about your commitment to the actual project. So I love the fact that, in the eyes of God, when you do those consistent small, good deeds, it's better. And we can put that in our life as well. Like, in our life, it's better to be consistent. It's better to, even if it's small, as long as, you keep going and you keep understanding that; as long as I keep doing these little things, it's going to bring so much benefit to anything in my life. Whether it's trying to please God or trying to make a successful business or just trying to keep my product or my marketing alive. So I love just trying to be as consistent as possible. And obviously I'm reminding myself because I am the most inconsistent person ever, but when I do have that consistency, it makes a world of a difference.

Sophia Noreen: 4:45

Oh, my goodness. No, that's fantastic. And what a way to tie it back to our faith, because not only will it serve you to be consistent in business, but in all aspects of life. So that is such a fantastic mantra. And I think everyone could take away from that. okay. So how do you apply your mantra to your business? And you can start your story from the beginning or wherever you want to start it. But let's hear your story and when you have the moments sticking your mantra.

Safiya Morgan: 5:11

Okay. My my mantra and my business. Okay. So the mantra, again, was staying and being consistent. Just staying out in the eye, in the eye of other people, having, and let's put it into a marketing perspective because I feel like 90% of business is marketing. So we're putting it into a marketing perspective: if people are continuously seeing you and they're understanding that your content is beneficial and valuable, they'll keep on either tuning in or reading your emails or coming to you for your product or service. When I first started my moisturizer business, it was like, organic cosmetics. I had made a few different types of moisturizers and a few different scents of moisturizers. So 2012, my daughter was born. I was bored. So one day, my brother came over and he was like, I have, like, really bad scalp issues. And I said, okay, let me make you something 'cause I know these natural things. I was watching Pinterest videos, whatever. So I said, let me make you something. And he said, wow, this really worked on my scalp, but girl, it stinks. Like, he was telling me that it smelled so bad. And he's, if you can make this smell good, you should try to, like, get it out in the market 'cause it's, it worked. It was a natural product that worked for his dandruff and his, like, scalp issues. So at first it was a hair oil. So we pivoted a little bit ,which we can speak about too, because of The Coffee Business Show. We pivoted a little bit, we made it more universal. I, my brother was my partner and he was the back end of my business. He graduated with a business degree and he said, okay, you need this, you got to set this up. And if you want it, why don't you just make 50, put them in your closet and see people like, see if they'll buy them. Just really starting from the bottom. And then, so I made the product. I got a name for it -"Glow". I got a website. I started buying bulk supplies. I found containers. I found, like, someone to design my logo and it was just so exciting, like...

Sophia Noreen: 7:05

Oh my gosh. Just to see your expression. You can see the twinkle in your eyes because it's your idea coming to life. And I just love the story. Keep going.

Safiya Morgan: 7:12

It was so exciting. So I had my logo and I was, like, this is my logo. Look at my jars. Do you guys like them? And my friends were, like, you did this. And they were, like, you just had a baby. They're like, what are you doing? And I'm, like, I was just talking to my brother and he motivated me and we were just chit chatting and that's how we are. So I had the the lotion, created my formula. Everything was from me. And I handed it out to some of my friends. One of my friends was, like, hey, this is going to go somewhere because it really helped my daughter's eczema. Her daughter had eczema behind her knees, like, in the crease. And she was rubbing it on her at night and she was, like, four or five days later, it was visibly getting a lot better. I was like, hey, we can use this for marketing. And this is where consistency comes in because I'm creating these products. I lived in Michigan at the time. We had basements. So it's in my basement because it's cooler down there and I'm just, like, just pulling them off the shelf and fulfilling orders and just kind of people coming over my house and hey, can I get some of your lotion? It was a very, like a small tribe friendship type of thing. And then I said, okay, let me go on Facebook. Let me see if I can create a... Facebook was a thing. Instagram was...

Sophia Noreen: 8:25

It was still a baby in 2012. I think you had started by that point. My mom was on Instagram by that point and I had no idea what it was. So...

Safiya Morgan: 8:33

yeah, it was. So it was so, like, out of this world until people were like, oh, you have to get Instagram. You have to. So Facebook was my first nesting place where I put all of my pictures and I had different scents. Now I'm only down to 2 scents, just Japanese and lavender. But my website's still running and that's where consistency comes in because I had to keep up with people's, not demands, but like people wanted to know more about me, about the product. I didn't really study skin, but I have skin, so I know there's issues and I know what the lotion did. So I said, Hey, I've been putting it under my makeup and it's such a great primer. Or I've been putting it on my face a little bit at night and I wake up with, like, smoother skin and I don't have very many wrinkles. When your skin is all dry. Michigan is really dry. I even had a mixed martial arts fighter, he was actually my trainer. He was like, hey, my sister told me that you had, some moisturizer. So I was like, Hey, let me bring you some. And he was like, okay, it was really girly. But I was like, just try it. Just try it. I know it's in a purple package, but just try it. And he actually, like, next time I saw him, he was like, yeah, I had a burn from the mat from training. He lathered it on at night and he said it was like, feeling so much better. Like, see? Anyone with skin?

Sophia Noreen: 9:50

That's it. That's it. Anybody with skin.

Safiya Morgan: 9:52

But yeah. So I just had the the lotion created and I just had to stay consistent. I had to keep on marketing. I had to keep on pushing out those sales, like Easter Sale, Christmas sale, or would we say, I would say like winter skin sale or show your glow for Valentine's, like, you have, yeah, you have to keep up and you have to come up with catchy things and you gotta catch those, holidays. Because America has so many holidays. They have 50 in one year, but...

Sophia Noreen: 10:18

Just to sell the products. They just need to put an event around it.

Safiya Morgan: 10:21

And then we still had Eid and Ramadan. So I had packages for that. I still, till today, I still have my website, still have product available. It's still, are helping people cure their skin. It's not just a lotion that smells good from Bath and Body Works. It's an original natural moisturizer that really helps, not just, like, you put it on and then your skin is soft. It's, it'll go deep inside of your skin and it'll help the, yeah, it's very penetrating and it'll help the dry skin heal itself. So the more you use it, the more you use it, the more you glow.

Sophia Noreen: 10:56

Yeah. And I love the name. Was that your initial name or did you change the name as your product was perfected?

Safiya Morgan: 11:02

That was the name from day one. It was Glow Moisturizer and Glow wasn't even big back then. Like, this whole glow glam, glam glow, whatever, that wasn't even, it didn't even exist. So I feel like I was the first person.

Sophia Noreen: 11:16

Yes, of course. I love it. I love it. And you started in 2012 and you've consistently grown the brand. Do you want to talk about that journey about how you've scaled the business and pivoted a bit?

Safiya Morgan: 11:28

Sure. like I said, I was creating my own product. It was out of sight, out of my production in the basement. But I realized that, okay, if I have a lot of product, like, outsource production, basically I can focus on other things. Like, in the beginning, the formula was a little different. So I would hand it out and say, hey, can you tell me your honest opinion on this cream just be blunt. I don't care. And like, well, it's kind of greasy. So I changed the formula. If I see, like, a pattern, I'll change it a little bit. So I came up with a perfect formula. I said, okay, it's been consistent. I want this to be produced. I want to outsource it so I can focus on other things. That's when I started getting into networking. And I felt... you know how you feel a tingle when you create something and make the logo and it's all pretty? I felt that tingle when I networked. I was, like, these, like, gatherings or these, like, connections meant so much to me and made you feel like you were part of a world. Like, a world of business where it makes you feel, like, okay, I'm walking in this room and everyone knows that I'm an entrepreneur. And I was never an entrepreneur before this. I was just regular old me. So it was very heartwarming to connect with people. And I think that's what folded out I call it my quarantine project- The Coffee and Business

Sophia Noreen: 12:52

Show. Oh, that's your quarantine project.

Safiya Morgan: 12:54

Yes. I started that in May.

Sophia Noreen: 12:57

Wow. It's fantastic. Such a great idea. Especially at this time when... guys we're recording this hot in the mess of COVID. So if you're listening to this a year or two later, we're in 2020 the year of doom. So you started in May 2020, your Coffee and, say your name again for everyone.

Safiya Morgan: 13:15

The Coffee and Business Show. The page is called Coffee and Business. It used to be my marketing page for my lotion. I just changed the name. So I had my followers already there. I changed the name of the page. I said, let me just pivot a little. Serving the same purpose. I still have my lotion advertised on there and say, hey, I'm an entrepreneur. I just want to let you guys know that I do have a product. I use the platform for both, but I usually, I'm more concerned about people not being flooded with advertisements. So I just put the flyers and the shows so that you can scroll through and pick a show, whatever you want to watch.

Sophia Noreen: 13:51

It's such a fantastic idea. And it's such a fantastic way of connecting the community because that's something that you also love to do. Like, you love networking.

Safiya Morgan: 14:00

So before this, I was actually a kindergarten teacher for three years. I took a year off because it's crazy for me. I took the year off, but I was a kindergarten teacher for three years. So career pivot as well. I just, I loved just being like a part of the workforce again, and I never, ever stopped with consistency though. I would even be in school. Like hey girls, I got some Glow if you want some. Yeah. I would sell to the teachers to the parents. And, "Safiya, do you have any Glow? Can you bring it to the car when..."

Sophia Noreen: 14:27

You're doing trunk sales. It's so funny. It's, but that's the way you start.

Safiya Morgan: 14:31

Yeah. I'm like here, go pay me later, go.

Sophia Noreen: 14:33

Yeah.

Safiya Morgan: 14:34

Get these cars moving.

Sophia Noreen: 14:35

Yes.

Safiya Morgan: 14:37

So I used to have company with a friend of mine, who, I'm so sad, she moved to California. She's from Cali. Her name was Dolly and she... her and I opened a small company called MISCEO.

Sophia Noreen: 14:49

Okay. Nice.

Safiya Morgan: 14:51

For women entrepreneurs to come together and network talk about their business. And we had small.gatherings every month. We would have a gathering. And then at the end of the year, we'd have a huge cause. We would collect emails and be like, okay. Mis CEO is presenting a really big yearly event. Bring your business card, bring your pitch, whatever if you want to advertise with us. So we had it and then she moved and I had to close it down. And I always had that in the back of my mind. Like, I should be doing something like that. I have so much connections. Everyone knows me. I can't go anywhere. I'm like on the phone with my sister in, Kroger or whatever and she's like, why are you saying hi to everyone? She's, can I just talk to you? Okay. Sorry.

Sophia Noreen: 15:33

Like, sorry, when I go shopping, I'm actually networking with the entire community because I know everyone's. Isn't that amazing how business does connect the community? Isn't it amazing that if you had not started Glow and if you had not started MISCEO, you wouldn't have met all these fantastic women who are also on these journeys.

Safiya Morgan: 15:49

Amazing women, and not just Muslim women, to be honest. I feel like, I felt the most, not empowered, I don't like that word. I felt, like, the most awesome when...

Sophia Noreen: 16:00

A uthentic. Like, do you feel authentic, I think, when... tell me.

Safiya Morgan: 16:02

I feel very authentic and I was impressed with myself when I would go into a non-Muslim area where there was not a Muslim to be seen and I'd be like, yep, I own a company. And this is my product. And I would just be so confident and they would just be like, you're from that community over there. Like if you're f rom Texas it's hard to gauge the crowd. Most of the women that I connected with were small business owners or they were networking. Like, they would put together events and invite me to come and talk about my company or whatever. And I would pick up ideas from them like, oh, okay,her venue had a stage. Okay. Her venue had free coffee. It was just, like you, as you get older, you get wiser. I was just learning from people what they did with their events. I'm like, I can do that. I can do that. I can do that. I can do it for the Muslims. I can do it for the messages, whatever. Definitely awesome time in my life. And right now I'm feeling it again, like I'm feeling it after teaching for three years and not really doing this. I'm feeling it again to where I'm networking and I'm getting out there and I'm talking to people and I'm having those conversations again, even though it's online. It's okay.

Sophia Noreen: 17:11

That's everything nowadays, a new normal post COVID is going to be more virtual everything. Some people who are working may not even be back in the office full-time ever again, that's the predictions

Safiya Morgan: 17:21

Yeah. They're like, I'm not putting on my pants.

Sophia Noreen: 17:24

Probably a good meme that should be created because that's exactly what everyone's thinking. Nobody. Yeah. You should see my today. I'm dressed down, guys. We're not going to post this video because me and Safiya are both, like, in our tracks.

Safiya Morgan: 17:37

Take a screenshot, we'll take a screenshot and be like...

Sophia Noreen: 17:39

Yeah. We're going to be like this and that will be, like, the image if we'd ever do a YouTube thing. But, yeah, everyone's just so comfortable now being virtual. So everybody needs to check out Coffee and Business. Safiya's gonna give us all our handles at the end of the show. And we're going to put it in the show notes and everyone's going to go and follow your pages because I've been following for a few weeks after you tapped me on the shoulder. And I was like, where has she been? And I've been binge-watching whenever I can the interviews. Because we can learn so much from these other entrepreneurs. Have you found that when you are interviewing other entrepreneurs? Do you find that you're learning a lot of their strategies or their marketing tips? Are you learning a lot through them?

Safiya Morgan: 18:17

Oh, yeah. Yes. Yes. My dear. I'm actually excited when I have someone who has been in the game for a long time, because I'm like, I know you have some secrets. So I have like paper, I always have paper, like next to me. And I write, like, when I'm done, I'm like, let me write that down real quick. Because when I interview, let's say photographers and they tell me some tips and tricks on cheap way, a budgeting way to get a good picture, where I interview consulting person. She gives me good tips on how to not put all your eggs in one basket and go along with a Google ads and all that. So me, myself? Yes, I have been an entrepreneur for eight years, but that doesn't mean I know a lot. Like, I still have to raise my kids and take care of my house. So I haven't had the time to sit down and, like, university-educate myself. So I'm really picking up a lot from them. And that feeling that I get, where okay, if I'm picking this up, I hope that people can listen to these interviews and take their own notes and learn for their own business. And this is why I want to put out this content. I am actually working on this. I'm going to do a blog where, I'll post a flyer and maybe take out the time or something. But I'll post the flyer and say, hey, if you miss this show, click on this link, it will be the Instagram link. Then on the the blog posts, it'll be like tidbits of things that were in the interview. I think that's a great idea because the fact of the matter is some people just want to read. They don't want to watch...

Sophia Noreen: 19:40

Exactly, or they can't watch. Because they're like, I notice a lot of moms, especially mompreneurs who are just trying to figure out if they want to start their own business; a lot of times their quiet time is putting the kids to sleep. So they're beside the kids in bed...

Safiya Morgan: 19:54

or nursing or...

Sophia Noreen: 19:55

Or nursing and they can just read. Yeah. I love how you can basically reuse the same content and just put it in another form. So it's tangible for others. Such a fantastic idea.

Safiya Morgan: 20:05

So if you want to watch, you're gonna click on the link. If you want to read, you're gonna read the condensed version. Obviously we can't, but it's going to be a short blog. It's not going to be one of those, "oh my God, is this over yet?"

Sophia Noreen: 20:16

Like the transcripts.

Safiya Morgan: 20:17

Yeah. No, it'll be like to condense, just blurb of what we're talking about. And this is probably going to be a project of mine that I'm going to work on soon. I'm just going to put the blog onto my website, cause I already own the domain coffeeandbusiness.com. So once I get that on WordPress, I'll just start shooting out those blog because blogs are amazing. You can enrich them with search engine and optimize words. And you can really get out there with blogs because not everyone has Instagram.

Sophia Noreen: 20:46

No

Safiya Morgan: 20:47

Actually, I think everyone has Instagram, but...

Sophia Noreen: 20:49

Maybe within our niche with our niche, maybe there's a lot of people that have Instagram.

Safiya Morgan: 20:53

They have Instagram, but you're not going to reach everyone, but with blogs you can definitely reach a search engine.

Sophia Noreen: 20:59

Yes. And especially if somebody's actually typing in and searching for that specific theme or title, and Pinterest as well. If you were to put, a little bit of infographic and I'm giving you all these crazy ideas, put an infographic.

Safiya Morgan: 21:13

It's wonderful. I have a graphic designer who would ,definitely.

Sophia Noreen: 21:16

Fantastic. Yeah. And then that way. if somebody searches, like, business tips or that's something they've searched for in the past on Pinterest, it'll come up. I'm looking forward to seeing this blog. I'm totally gonna subscribe. Are you still working as a teacher?

Safiya Morgan: 21:30

I took the year off. I plan on maybe going back to work next year only because, number one, I miss it. And number two, like, things have been so different this year that I want to feel the normal again. And, my kids go to the same school. So I really loved being with them all day. Like, not all day, but Like I really loved that I could be there for them. I will always have, like, my business on the side and then the Coffee and Business Show is every Sunday. So it's not going to be hard to be consistent.

Sophia Noreen: 22:02

I love that theme.

Safiya Morgan: 22:03

Hence the mantra. It's not going to be hard to stay consistent. I'm not just going to fall off the map just because, I work one day a week, one hour. I just hop in here and say, hey, let's talk, and have my questions ready, whatever. But that's my plan for next year. If things work out, if COVID takes a vacation...

Sophia Noreen: 22:21

Oh yeah. Let's hope COVID goes away. Then that's your Plan A: to go back into the classroom I love it. And for your, the moisturizing company Glow.

Safiya Morgan: 22:30

Moisturizer. It's just glowmoisturizer.com. It's all spelled the

Sophia Noreen: 22:33

same. Oh, that's wonderful, glowmoisturizer.com. You've scaled that. And maybe just give our listeners a little bit of insight on where you are with that company today.

Safiya Morgan: 22:42

So I scaled it when using an American lab. It says, made in America, made in USA, which I really love because I like the fact that it's not just, I don't know, rando, like product that you can just buy in bulk and then sell. It's very genuine. Like, it's my formula. I scaled up in a cosmetics lab. It's in Irving, Texas. And, they're great. Like they, they really worked with me. They really try to develop the product as perfectly as possible. And, so I just yeah, I just outsourced the production and now I just market. I can just sit back and relax and market. Do those sales, try to do the Facebook ads and all that stuff.

Sophia Noreen: 23:17

Fantastic. And your fulfillment is done with the same lab who produces it, do they send...

Safiya Morgan: 23:21

They're manufacturers. I had a separate fulfillment, but I just decided to self-fulfill right now only because they were charging a lot. I know it seems oh, it's just this much money. But when I was getting the bills, I was like, oh, I dunno if I can do this. So I just said, okay, bring the product to my house. Once they make more, we'll store it somewhere and I just self-fulfill for now. I am looking for a fulfillment center though, for when I go back to work.

Sophia Noreen: 23:48

Yeah, 100%. You need to mind your own energies and you don't wanna over burden yourself at that point, especially if you're going to carry on the networking business, The Coffee and Business.

Safiya Morgan: 23:57

Yes ma'am. And booking shows is very easy. Like, I just reach out to people, like, hey, you guys want to be on my show? And they're like, yeah!

Sophia Noreen: 24:04

Everybody loves to chat.

Safiya Morgan: 24:05

Yeah. And it exposes them to their followers because their followers can see that, oh, look, they're live. And everybody wants to be live. Everybody wants to have a Live. And if it's a Live, that kind of gets to know them more. It's in their favor.

Sophia Noreen: 24:19

110%! Yay! Okay, great. So let's move on to advice time. What is one tip you'd wish you had known before starting your entrepreneurial journey?

Safiya Morgan: 24:30

I wish I knew more about networking. I wish I knew more about the organizations that are meant legit and just for networking. The small business expo, super amazing. Oh, I loved it so much. I was like, where was this? I was five years in before I found it. Yeah. And it was like, oh, this is getting lonely. I really wish that people would take networking to the next level. Whether it's reaching out to business owners. It doesn't matter if they're in your same niche, there's enough business to go around, I promise! Bring them together. Say, hey, come to my house for tea. Not right now, but...

Sophia Noreen: 25:07

Maybe after COVID.

Safiya Morgan: 25:08

Or maybe we'll do a Zoom meeting and we'll just network with each other. I know a graphic designer, you need a website, let's put you together. That is the biggest thing that I, like, oh, I wish I found this earlier. It is amazing. And don't be afraid to, I know we're all Muslim. Well, not all of us, but we're Muslim. We try to stay within our, yeah. Don't be afraid to go out there and be like, yeah, I have, I dress differently. I may speak another language or I may pray whatever. But I am an entrepreneur and this is what brings us together.

Sophia Noreen: 25:43

And your product is for everyone The Glow Moisturizer is for everyone. My product-based business being, right now, it is diversifying, but it started off being a very cultural-specific product. So I was with that one community.

Safiya Morgan: 25:57

But you're in Walmart. So that just tells you that you were not afraid to go out there.

Sophia Noreen: 26:02

That's it. And before that, Indigo, which is a Canadian bookstore I'm not sure if you are aware... So my story, and I'm going to definitely come in on your show and share with you, but I think most listeners know, and if you haven't listened to the first episode or the second episode of the series of Boss It Podcast, go back and listen to it because that will give you my story. But in a nutshell, yes, you're right. It is in a big international retailer, Walmart, and it just shows you that Walmart also is not uncomfortable exploring different communities and inviting different faiths into their aisles. They see that there's a demand just, like, for food right there, the food's there. So then, of course, the other merchandise has to follow.

Safiya Morgan: 26:43

Girl, if they're going to see money, they don't get it.

Sophia Noreen: 26:45

Oh man.

Safiya Morgan: 26:46

If they're going to see that you're bringing them money, they're going to for it.

Sophia Noreen: 26:50

Yeah. and in the middle of COVID we still sold out. So it's just goes to show you. And, I think you made a good point. Networking is huge and it doesn't matter what faith base you are. It doesn't matter what ethnicity you are.

Safiya Morgan: 27:02

We're all entrepreneurs.

Sophia Noreen: 27:03

We're all entrepreneurs.

Safiya Morgan: 27:03

That's what brings us together.

Sophia Noreen: 27:04

You just need to break down those barriers. That's one of our, actually our mission for our company, Also Sophia, is to break down barriers. So I think you're also doing something very similar by connecting to different groups of people and also doing Coffee and Businesses to break down those barriers. Don't be afraid to go out there. Yeah. And network, even if it's in your same niche, like you said, because you never know. A lot of business out there.

Safiya Morgan: 27:27

I didn't limit it to just Muslim women. I have men. I have non Muslims. I have, some of my friends that I met through networking. I'm like, remember we met at this event. Let's talk, let's get on live. And they're like, yeah, I have Instagram. I'd love to, so it's not limited. Someone suggested that I should limit it and that I should have one specific, like, e-commerce or something. But, I was like, you know what, right now we're just chilling. So it's not a big deal.

Sophia Noreen: 27:52

Would there be a benefit to limiting? Do you feel like your customer... I'm asking, I'm probing alot. Do you feel your customers are different because their needs are the same?

Safiya Morgan: 27:59

I have no idea. It was just a suggestion that I was, like, I'll chill for now. And then if I feel like it's too much, then maybe I'll narrow it down, but I don't, I feel like everyone just wants to hear about everyone.

Sophia Noreen: 28:10

you hit the head on the nail. We need to network. We need to get out there. I love that. Okay, let's go onto the next question. How do you keep yourself organized? Your goals, your time management? Do you have any tips for us? And you can be completely honest. Just go for it.

Safiya Morgan: 28:26

Okay. Okay. my, oh, okay. I do write stuff down. Do I find the paper? No, it's lost somewhere.

Sophia Noreen: 28:33

Love that. I love this honesty, guys. This is true because she's a mom. She's like, she's busy. Okay. And yeah, go on.

Safiya Morgan: 28:42

I do all the things they tell me to do. It just doesn't work for me. I think that the best thing for someone to do, who doesn't have a schedule, who doesn't go to work from nine to five is wake your butt up early, wake up early. Just wake up early and just open your eyes and wash your face. Prayer, meditation, whatever, and wake up early. And then I don't know what it is about waking up early. if you wake up late, you're like, there's my day. M ake yourself get up and then you just have so much more time. Wake up. Make your bed. Clean up your kitchen. Do whatever. And then sit, have your coffee and sit. I love using my phone because my phone has, like, a note that it has, the calendar. If I didn't have the phone calendar, I think I would forget every interview. So I just use those organization apps on my phone, cause my phone is always with me. I actually started journaling for, just for meditation purposes. So journaling really helped me just write out my thoughts. And when your thoughts are out, you just force yourself to get a little bit more organized. And when you're writing things down, like I would write down, just like random stuff, like things to do with the kids. And then things would just pour out. Man, I didn't even think about this because my kids are different ages and they all hate everything. But I'm journaling. Wake up early, sit, ponder. Use your phone apps because people are like, here's an app to stay organized. And you're like, oh my God. I'm like, busting in my head with these apps. Here's something that'll help your finances. Here's a digital calendar. Your phone, your iPhone, has everything. Use the iPhone. Use your notes. Write everything down. Try to put it into folders if you can. I love Google docs because I can always just go into my email, get those Google docs, Google sheets as well for I write up all my sponsors and all my guests on the Google sheets. Who's the guest. What day? What sponsor? And I can just click it open on my phone and be, like, what do I have today? Going down looking at, okay, I got to prepare for an interview with such and such. So these are the things ,like, haphazard going everywhere, but I don't have a strategy. But whatever I'm doing, it's working.

Sophia Noreen: 30:48

It's working girl, cause they're getting results and you're keeping your, you got the sponsorships. You got interviews, you got your product-based business. You're a busy lady, mom on top of all of that, managing a household. And I cannot stress how much effort and energy running a household is. Especially now with COVID, if you're not sure if you're doing distance learning with your children, or if they've gone off into the school.

Safiya Morgan: 31:10

They are all distance learning. they're home virtual all day. So I have to, like, are you in class? Are you in class? Are you in class? I had to watch out for them. Then I have to okay, they're in class. They're with their teacher. Let me just sit and like just plan some stuff. Or, okay, I have to contact this person. I have to do this. So it's very haphazard. But another tip, if you don't mind, is to just find those little pockets of time. Sometimes it's just go in my car. Babe, I'm going to go on my car. I'm just going to sit in there. Can you just close the garage and just go away? And he's yeah, I go.

Sophia Noreen: 31:44

That's hilarious. So you actually go if your spouse or your partner is at home, he's taken over and you're saying, I'm going to use this time and I'm going to actually go to my car because that's where you can actually fully engage with whatever work you had to do.

Safiya Morgan: 31:56

Oh, yes ma'am. It's so quiet in the car and you can't even hear anything. And what I do, either I can take my computer in my car or I'll just take my phone or even just a piece of paper. I'm like, okay, I need to not hear "Mommy". I need to not hear "Safiya". "Safiya, come over here. I'm going to show you something." Like, so I need to not hear that. And then I just need to just sit and just, it doesn't take long. And then I'm like, okay, I miss you guys. I'm coming back in. So it doesn't take long, just jotting some stuff down. Making sure that day was productive. And, someone gave a really good advice. I forget who it was. It was someone really famous. If you have a goal for the end of the month, manifest that goal daily, right? So make a daily goal. In order to reach that monthly goal, you're going to take it, you know when they say take it day by day. But once you make that daily goal, you'll see yourself almost like stepping upstair. You're going up. You're going up. You're going up instead of just, like, taking the flight and just saying, okay, I'm going to reach my goal. It doesn't work like that. So making those daily goals, taking daily, like, timeouts. I go to the gym every single day. I try to do like at least some, cardios and weights, and I try to just reset, decompress and then start over. So yeah, start over the next day. So you led into our next question. So I want to keep you going on that thought. Our next question is, how do you keep yourself going mentally and physically? What do you do to keep everything in check? And it sounds like you've touched on the timeouts, which I absolutely adore and the gym. So carry on with those thoughts. Oh girl, coffee. I need to have my caffeine. I gotta be in a good health state. I got to go to the gym and I got to have, like, time for myself. So I do those timeouts. So just, like, walking through one day of my life. I'm not saying, oh, a day in my life. I'm not trying to show off. I'm just saying this is how I stay afloat. I wake up early, I try to wake up as early. Like we have our prayers in the morning, our meditation. So we have to be up anyway before the sun. I try to wake up. I try to stay up. And the first thing I do is make my bed, so I don't go back into it. And then I'll straighten up the house a little bit because I can't sit with my coffee when the house is messy. It's just, it doesn't work that way. So I'll cook breakfast with the kids and then you guys rinse your dish, wash it, put it in the rack, keep the place clean. Then I'll have my coffee. So I'll stay caffeinated. Get that juice flowing. Then I'll open my computer on my phone or, try to see if I can connect with people. Or like, right now I'm in the middle of a project, so I'm just trying to just, tick off those to-do lists. I have to do this for my project, and just set the kids up for school, say, okay, go to class. I can see you. Don't be messing with me. I can see you on the computer. And then, after I have my coffee and everything, I try to say, okay, I have planned for today. Now let me just get those action items done. And then during that time, I try to walk around or try to do something, take a time out, more coffee, of course. And then, I usually go to the gym at night so that I can like sleep better and then wake up again and do it all over again. It's good to have support ,too. So that's how I stay with it. I'll tell my husband my plan because he'll remind me. He'll be like, hey, you said you had this and this to do. I'm like, Oh, okay. Yeah, you're right. So he'll remind me.

Sophia Noreen: 34:59

I absolutely love that. It really ties back to accountability and how we can plan all we want. But if we don't have that external support, sometimes we just. Don't do it right. We have a lot of other variables that may prevent us from following through. And I love that your husband is there as your accountability, because he's in the house with you. He can see what's happening. He knows how your day has been going. So that's fantastic. And that's such good advice and such, leading all the way back to your mantra about consistency. I am in love, like, such great tips, and everyone should basically try to move every day. I like how you've consistently made it in the evening time so you know your routine for the day. It just goes to show you being an entrepreneur doesn't prevent you from taking care of yourself physically and mentally.

Safiya Morgan: 35:45

It actually makes you a better entrepreneur. You have more energy. You're more like mentally focused. Really does a lot for your body. And a lot of people who are very successful do take care of themselves. So you can learn from that.

Sophia Noreen: 35:56

Oh, a hundred percent. Yes. All right, girl, that is all the questions we have for you today. And I'm so happy that you were able to show all of your gems, all of your wisdom with everybody who's listening. We need to continue following you. So tell us all your handles, all your websites. I'm going to also, if you're driving right now or if you're doing something else, it's going to be in the show notes and there'll be hyperlinks. You can just click on it. But for, if you're fast, pull out your phone and start following Safiya right away. So go ahead. Where can we find you?

Safiya Morgan: 36:25

Okay, so coffee_and_business_ is my Instagram. It should be the first one that pops up, but it's coffee underscore and underscore business underscore. It was the only one that was available. I just picked that one. So there's three underscores and then it's pretty simple. Just the coffee and business page is where I have everything. Basically my glowmoisturizer.com is on the bio. And then I have my shows on there. And then I have, I'm going to start maybe like doing business tips. But it'll be like a picture of me, like holding coffee, and then I'll just put the tips because, people usually read the caption under personal pictures for some reason. So I'm going to try to do business and I'm going to get those businesses from my interviews. So it's going to be like a condensed version. So yeah, just basically coffee_and_business_ on Instagram and glowmoisturizer.com.

Sophia Noreen: 37:13

glowmoisturizer.com. And I'm going to pick up some of that glow moisturizer. Okay guys, that's all we have for today. Thank you again so much, Safiya, for coming on.

Safiya Morgan: 37:22

Thank you for having me. It fun.

Sophia Noreen: 37:24

It was so fun. And guys go follow her accounts and there'll be links in the show notes. And remember guys, make a plan and take action and yes, you can have it all. Bye for now. So my fellow bosses, did you enjoy that episode? Now is time for you to make a solid plan and take action. But first, remember to subscribe and follow the Boss It Podcast so you receive a notification whenever we drop an episode. Remember to leave us a review on iTunes. Take a screenshot of your review and share it on Instagram as a post or a story and tag us @BossItclub. If Instagram is not your thing, no worries. Email your screenshot to [email protected]. As a massive thank you, we will be sending you our Top 50 Tips for Starting and Scaling a Business. This list is exclusively for podcast reviewers. So don't miss out. Now remember bosses: make a plan and take action in all aspects of your life. Yes you can have it all.