I never thought I would be thanking TikTok scrolling for finding me a guest, but here we are! Janna Hattingh is the founder of Booby Food, which (wait for it..) freeze dries your breastmilk into powder so you never have to worry about tossing your breastmilk again! Janna tell me how her personal experience pushed to her starting this insanely genius brand. She opens up about breastfeeding and PPD struggles, leading her to look into how she could preserve her milk and not waste as much when she started to give her son solids. We dive into how she got things started, what she learned along the way and how she took big steps to push through.
Then Janna drops some real talk when she says that work-life balance isn’t truly attainable and how she aims to be more flexible and less rigid in business. We talk about how her family plays into the growth and her plans for expansion (umm, yes please!). Finally, she tells me some of the most common questions/hesitations people have and how she caters to each client/mama. There were multiple times I legit questioned having another baby JUST to use this service!
Whether you are a breastfeeding mom or not, this episode is filled with so much that you can use to take into your life and business! Make sure to follow Janna on Instagram and check out their site if you or someone you know could use this service!
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Full Transcript:
Dana: Are you dying at the thought of missing a single one of your babies first have no idea how you deal with the security that your nine to five job brings. My name is Dana Graham, and I had no clue how to escape that vicious 40 hour work being cycled either until I did, as the wife of a traveling husband and mom of two tiny humans, terrifying and totally bizarre for health insurance for two successful newborn and family photographer, all with the amazing craziness, with a two year old and newborn and I’m not the only one. I’m so glad you’re joining me as I travel, other moms, we took the leap into entrepreneurship and created the ultimate festival, we’re doing it all Amidst the Chaos.
All right everybody, welcome back to another episode of amidst the chaos, I was just telling our guests, she’s probably one of the most organically found guests we’ve ever had where like I wasn’t intentionally seeking them out I didn’t really do a lot of research to find somebody like in this kind of realm of, of a career I didn’t do anything like to find her she’s on my sister in law on Tik Tok, it was like just in a swiping scroll and there she was, this hilarious amazing tic tac toe and we’ll get there but for now I want to welcome our next guest Jana had a we’re so excited to have you. Thank you for being here.
Janna: Hello, thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.
Dana: So Jana, what we do here is kind of give our listeners who are moms or maybe already business owners or maybe mom’s looking to move into entrepreneurship ideas of totally different businesses that you might not even know what’s a business you might not even know it was a thing that you could do and you are the epitome of that. So, tell us a little bit about your business right now and then what we’ll do is we’ll back up and talk about your life prior to your company serving,
Janna: to say the least, my business is very nice, it’s very unique. So I started a company called Movie food, and not only is it fun to say it’s so good. Somebody Kahunas behind it. So basically what I do is I help moms to never waste a drop of breast milk ever again. We take their frozen breast milk, and we freeze it for them so it’s in a shelf stable travel friendly powdered form that they can easily make a bottle or fortify a bottle or add to their baby foods as they grow up so they never have to waste to drive up their very hard earned breast milk.
Dana: Oh, thank you. Whoever knows Me on a personal level and anybody that was around as a client when my girl, know that I like, was one of those parents that like I worked really hard to make it happen like I was definitely like working hard and then and then it got to be a whole thing where my son was like, not letting me quit ever so I, when we found a Jana, it was so exciting because we’re like this is genius. How did you even figure this out and I just knew that you had to be on the podcast immediately so I’m so excited to hear your story so give us a background into how this even happened. What did your life look like before you even had the idea for Booby Food did you have kids were you working a job like what were you doing before baby food came into existence.
Janna: Well Booby Food came into existence because necessity really is the mother of all invention the shall we say, so I’ll get to that point, a little bit later but basically before I started movie food, I had just had my little guy, I thought that being a lady of very well endowed status of boobs I would be able to milk all of my city, no problem, I got a very hard earned crash course in the no it doesn’t really matter the size of your booth supply does not come easy for everybody. And so even though I really wanted to breastfeed my little guy, he was born, SGA so he was born small for gestational age and he was born four days late, we had him at home. And we were supposed to rush into the NIC queue, just because he was born so small but he was too small for the carseat. So, yeah, but he was, he was that that kind of cut off point for the Midwest are cracking with Nicki, they said okay he can stay, but he needs to be started on formula, ASAP. So then we started him on formula and it’s any breastfeeding mom knows you are not moving that supply your supply is not going to be very abundant, so that’s basically where I struggled. I struggled with postpartum anxiety. I struggled with, not feeling like a good enough, mom. I struggled with, what’s wrong with me. Nobody told me breastfeeding was going to be this hard or this difficult. So, yeah, I basically struggled a lot before I started moving food before then. I was supposed to be going over to naturopathic school. My background in health and nutrition, nice theology holistic nutrition, and so the day that I was going to be getting my referral note for my nutrition school with, can I was actually meeting up with my naturopath friend who’s going to give me that referral note that’s the night I found out I was pregnant. So, wow, life has different paths for you right.
Dana: What a crazy like divine timing, I mean that is definitely part of the story that needs to be totally remembered because that is so so interesting. Okay, so what is the cut off for you like what did they say weight wise, was the cutoff for okay he needs to be either here or hopped on formula right now.
Janna: Yeah, so he was born five pounds 13 ounces so not insanely small but they did recommend, listen, he did he does qualifier, I guess the status is SGA we need to get into make here we want to monitor his blood sugars, make sure that it is getting nutrients because your milk hasn’t come in yet, I couldn’t really express that much colostrum beforehand, and I think any new mom is kind of wigged out the first time she like hand expresses or like is, what, what is happening to my body. Oh my gosh. So yeah, I mean, basically the midwife said, Okay, he’s at this okay Mark, he can stay here, we’re gonna monitor him very, very closely for the next few days to make sure that he’s getting enough calories that he’s making his weight. And we did manage to get him off of formula after a couple of weeks when he made his weight and it was okay to start weaning him, which was, It was important to me but I mean, the most important thing was that he was being fed and he was growing. And he was helping like, as cliche as it is, that is best, it does not matter if you know, birth cleanser was good on paper, shall we say.
Dana: Exactly, yes. Okay, so you’re home, you’re now at the point where you’re nursing him and he’s breastfed and you’re doing kind of what you want and again, that’s totally the path that you took, but could be completely different from somebody else, it’s so funny, like, literally every aspect of getting pregnant being pregnant, having a baby and raising a baby. There’s not one single person that does it exactly the same, or even the same between their kids. So it’s just funny to hear, hear the different stories and to recognize that, like, just because this is what works for Jana and projetos clients doesn’t mean that this is what you need, but I just think this is so cool. So talk to me then about what you were doing and how that was sustained and then how baby food grew out of this.
Janna: Yeah, so like I said, the necessity is the mother of all invention I had a very low supply, I struggled, or hot with trying to pump, I had all of the hospital grade medallions and everything like that. Strangely enough the haka, the little suction cup one that that was my go to. Was it worked so well for me. But when it came time to start them on sell it again we were struggling with his wage, making sure that he was still in line like he was about the third percentile the entire way. But, luckily enough, we had a really supportive doctor who was just like, You know what, that’s just his growth pattern, and he’s making those milestones and developments so that’s all good. So, again, because I’ve got that nutrition background I really wanted to add my breast milk to his solid foods because then I was like, oh no he’s eating solids, he’s not getting enough proteins and fats and nutrition from breastfeeding and, but then I went to my fridge and I saw my six measly bags and I was like, I can’t thought a whole bag just use the reverse and then throw it out. He actually started the bottle at three months too so he was like that was straight from the tap place that fell in one. Yep. So yeah that was, was the biggest thing I was like, there’s gotta be a way that I can preserve my stash. And the little nutrition nerd inside of me, like, let’s do some research and I was thinking about freeze drying I was like huh, like, you know, I’ve heard about this I know what retains a lot of nutrients. And then I went down the rabbit hole and I found so much research so much research and milk banks that were doing it since the 80s and I own a way, like research dating back to the 50s, recommend my breast milk. Yeah, wild, while I did not know that, did the German men they do it they they know, maybe not to the Europeans to think of, you know, so like scientifically like just into this. So, as much as I had this crazy idea was like okay, somebody has got to be freeze drying for us and offer people. Nothing. Zero thanks shut up and I’m like, nobody’s really stirring like breast milk first service and so again I was like okay all right all right I got an idea, crazy idea, but I still wasn’t quite 100%, committed, so I wanted to reach out to some people who knew the field, I ended up reaching out to some of the scientific managers at the donor clinics and hospitals that were doing this and had experience with this. And between broken and broken English phone calls and emails and messages, I had just lovely mentors, who I chatted with and one of the most amazing pediatricians scientific managers of the milk banks in Europe. He was like, you need to do the researchers there. We know that it preserves nutrients long term, it can help so many people there’s like, you know if you ever want to join in with studies or anything like that like we can work together but he’s like, this is a great idea. So, it really was him that totally convinced me. I need to do this like the science is there. The benefit of babies getting breast milk for longer and you know the mental anguish of mums not having to throw their breast milk out is just the benefits are just expensive, they’re expensive, and below nutrition nerve it means like, oh yeah more babies are getting their nutrition and we’re, you know, more breast milk is being saved so I mean my little bags you know that was my that was my stash that I wanted to save but there’s also moms that have like freezers and freezers full and their babies don’t take a bottle and they’re like, What am I gonna do these hard earned nights and sleepless all like and it’s like pumping is not easy by any now,
Dana: it is not.
Janna: So, we, that’s basically how booby food came to be
Dana: amazing. so obviously there are all these amazing benefits of it but what was holding you back, like you said you weren’t quite committed like I have a feeling that this is probably what a lot of people are thinking like your experience and like, I don’t know if I should do this is probably in alignment with what a lot of people are doing right now they have this great idea, but they’re like, I’m just not committed, where was your head at that time in the business building.
Janna: Am I crazy enough to start this crazy business, that was my that was my head nobody’s done this before, you know, you’re trailblazing, I mean there was a lot of hurdles that we had to go through between health approvals between Canada and I mean, once I decided to like go full throttle in it was a no brainer like do everything and make sure everything is done book, getting health approvals and everything like that but really it was like, This is crazy. That was, that was it, but the craziest idea has always turned out to be the best one.
Dana: Yeah, so clearly in this case, and I can’t imagine like starting something that’s so new like this that has to be so very well, won back in science to approved on a federal level like this is a lot of pieces that go into it and when you’ve never done anything like that. I just feel overwhelmed right now. I feel like the mental burden of all of those things and all those steps you had to take so where did you find the research and who did you talk to, to be able to see if, like, even getting those approvals was going to be possible from literally a small business that isn’t even technically started
Janna: Yeah. I didn’t know anything. I knew the research was there. That was number one. I ended up buying the equipment, my husband, blesses self. I sound like, Listen, I got this crazy idea, and he’s like, you’re gonna do it anyways so thanks for letting me know but I know I can see that little glimmer in your eye and I know that you’re going to do it. So you know I reached out to some mom friends and I said, I’ve got this crazy idea, you would like to be kind of my little guinea pigs, I want to make sure I’ve got my procedures and everything like that. I mostly just followed the research, and I was blown away by the Muslims are like, Yeah, take it. That sounds awesome. Go ahead and do that for sure. And so I was like if it all fails, you know, I’ve got some pretty sweet freeze drying equipment and I’ll just be like food rationing for a while. Again, the nutritionist inside of me was like, well, we’re gonna have lots of nutritious food for a long time. So yeah I mean I basically just I trials I had really amazing feedback the mums were so happy with what they got and I knew I had something, and then it was basically just working with my provincial health, health officers working with food safety managers working with government officials like it was absolutely nuts, going through and I had no idea if it was going to be approved or not right but I pushed and pushed, and there was so much research to back it up. I was so blessed, also because one of the food safety managers for our region. She actually had two babies that were thinking babies, and she 100% related to, so you know Sarah deputy man but she’s 100% related she’s like, This is amazing. Like, this is a whole nother level so with her support working together with her and health inspectors, we were able to, you know, make this happen because I had a lot of people that we’re like, Listen, this is actually a really beneficial idea this is awesome. I met with the local milk bank here in town so we donate a portion of every single sales to our local milk bank to help Nikki babies and babies. Wow. And really like that’s where it started, I had no idea where it was going to go but I’m stubborn, I had the, I had the research, I had the science background, I had, you know, the big wigs scientific managers and Europe being like, go for it. So I, you know I had that fire and I was like, listen, always remember your why, why are you doing this, I know it’s for the greater good and I know that it can help a lot of people so I had no idea that it was going to be approved, but I had a lot of the backing that I needed to get me to keep going, at least, rebels were and it was interesting, shall we say. So
Dana: how long did it take to get those approvals from like when you first started like to start submitting things to get it done. How long did it take before you could take it from like testing it out with your friends to like actually selling the product. Well, not selling the product they’re selling the service, some of them.
Janna: Yeah, it was almost a year, and I was very very pushy, you know, with SEVIS on this was the update on this, but again I think that, I also had a lot of backing with the food safety managers and the provincial health officials as well pushing for this, I was on their butts as well so ever mess with a stubborn Mom Right. But you know, we’ve always, almost a year and I’m thankful that you know when I received that letter from Health Canada I was just like we did it, we did it, we got it was amazing.
Dana: So tell me a little bit about the setup so you have all your equipment right so how does it work like when somebody contacts you walk me through start to finish how the shipping works how you actually do it like where your little studio or whatever you call it is like how does this whole thing work.
Janna: Yeah, I’m really like booking is really easy, um you book online, you just reserved the amount of breast milk that you want FreeStride we’ve got little hacks so you don’t have to like count each bag and Alex acts to help you measure your, your stash. But yeah, you basically go online you book an appointment you book the day that you want it done. If you’re shipping in. You just choose any time slot available but if you’re in the Calgary area we have local pickups and then you can just choose the time slot, whatever works well for you and your mate, you don’t have to leave your house to put pants on, I’ll come to you. And then I take it back to my facility, and we work out of a health approved facility and we document every single bag every single bag is documented by weight, we document, like the brand of the bag that you’re using in photos and video on paper, and you we only operate by appointment only. So that’s one of the ways that a lot of moms are like well how do I know if I’m getting my breast back and if we have because we are health approved, we have to follow very very strict standards, but above and beyond that, I’m very nerdy when it comes to stuff like this. So like every now and again I’ll post my notes on on Instagram and show like exactly like the documentation process and they’re like, it just gives me so much really knowing how detailed you are with each bag and I take pictures, front and back of the bags and lots of times I’ll show the moms, I’ll tag them privately on Instagram and they’re like, I have no idea what my breasts month look like that and how, and moms are getting excited about their breast milk now and it’s just really cool. But yeah after we take it to the facility. We documented. We then open up all of the bags we break it down, everything has been frozen we don’t follow your breast milk whatsoever. And then we freeze dried so freeze drying is different than dehydrated, we’re not using high temperatures, we’re not D, we’re not D hydrating your breast milk, we’re not evaporating the water freeze drying is is very low temperatures and pressure systems to take the water out while your breast milk is still frozen. So that’s how the nutrients are retained. That’s preserved longer, and then afterwards we take it out of the freeze dried it takes about two days for 100 ounces, just for free just for freeze drying, it’s a very long and slow process, which is how nutrients are preserved. And then we combine all of your breast milk together and we put it into convenient resealable bags, so a lot of moms are like well if you combine all of the breast milk. Then you’re getting all of the wide range of nutrients from your entire breastfeeding journey, I mean your breast milk changes from pumping session to pumping session, and you know you’ve got maybe more antibodies or if you’re exposed to sickness and, you know, in the fall or something like that or if you’re stressed out if you’re eating better than your breast milk changes but when we combine all of your breastbone together. There’s like a wide range of nutrients from your entire breastfeeding journey and every single bag so that to you, or deliver it back to,
Dana: yeah, I’m like do I need to have another baby so that I can do this, like, just, just to do that, it’s like as amazing, I just think it’s, It’s so incredible, so I have a bunch of questions on the business side after listening to kind of how it works so you did this, you got the approval. And then what happened, did you start small, did you just go for it. Did you go ahead and hire a team like have you ever owned a business before like, how did you even actually make it happen once you got that letter of approval. What was your first step.
Janna: Well the first step was because I was already working with my provincial health officials, I was like hey, you know the facility that I’ve already been at so we’re going to like they gave me my permit and I started I was like boom, let’s go. Wow, and it was like a few clients and that in the beginning, and then I worked a lot of markets back with pre COVID. So, you know, being able to answer questions because my biggest thing was, okay, it was so new. Well, new yeah it was it was a new business, it wasn’t really means research wise but. And so I’ve had a lot of people are like, Are you selling your breast milk, are you selling milk like how does this work I don’t understand. So that was one of the hugest learning curves is really communicating what I was doing and, and what is going on, because I had a lot of people like, Well, why would you do that like That’s weird, you know, and a lot of people were just, they just didn’t know or they didn’t realize like the benefits of variety of ways you could use your powdered breast milk so being at markets, I was able to chat, one on one with people, show them what it is, and hear their stories and chat with connect with other moms and chat about, you know, mom’s struggles with breastfeeding, supplies and that was one of my kind of bigger things that people were like, they heard about this company, we read about this company, the market I saw I read this market and answering people’s questions, and then really it wasn’t until like full on went on Instagram and I was like I’m just going to show what I’m doing, like yeah what’s going on with your breast milk. This is how it works and so when I started showing what I was doing with your breast milk. That’s when people were like, oh, that’s what you do. Cool. And then a lot of it was just word of mouth referrals. One woman team still kind of is a one woman team, even now I definitely need to hire more people I volunteer well my husband, to help me out and my sister will help me out every now and again but yeah, it’s been a pretty wild ride. You’ve mentioned tick tock before. When the pandemic started markets were ceased, right I couldn’t answer your questions, I couldn’t meet people one on one, so.
A lot of my marketing went into like video platforms really showing the process showing client stories, you know like, this is the reason why this client wanted their movie food and this is how we’re doing it and then she shared it with somebody else and they shared it with somebody else over here and you know you got to pivot. You got to like roll with the times and that’s exactly what we did. And that’s how we got to where we are now so amazing.
Dana: Now heard the Tiktok work that my sister in law, marine found you on was literally just behind the scenes like this is what we do here and I think it had gone like relatively viral, at least at the time I’m like it was, I mean it found us in DC so it’s pretty, pretty incredible with the power of tick tock can do and I was like yeah a tick tock is, this is a beneficial use of my time on tick tock the rest of it is mostly wasted but this was super, super amazing.
Janna: Like I was, I’d make fun of my husband all the time I’m like, he’s like, You need to go on ticked up, I’m like, I’m on a 13 year old girl dancing and I’m not letting my hair on fire like why don’t pick that, like that’s my bad I’m like I’m 35 I can’t start a tick tock account of 35 and 00 clue. And then, sure enough, like I just kind of posted the behind the scenes, this is, this is what we do. Blown away it was like, almost like 2 million views now within like the first like week it was like 1.4 million and I wish. Oh my gosh. Sorry. Let’s talk. And I’m 35 and I got picked up and I’m like, I have no idea. No idea.
Dana: Amazing. And if you guys, what’s your tick tock candle, so everybody can go look at the video real quick. Yeah, so go look at her to click video, and they’re all on there like it shows up all the behind the scenes and I love that. So talk to me about how you’re balancing because your son is little still and you’re basically one woman show and you’re posting on social media, you’re actually getting new clients, you’re doing the freeze drying your package like, how are you doing all of us right now and I know that’s a loaded question because it’s everybody it’s impossible, but like what are some tips that you have and what has been helpful lately for you in maintaining wearing all the hats.
Janna: There is no work life balance as much as you wanted. There is not. It’s a myth. It’s that unicorn that doesn’t exist, everybody reaches for it, they want it, it does not happen, and I think, you know when especially when you’re first starting out a business, you really have to have a supportive family to understand that there’s going to be a lot of times where you’re not around, or you wish that you were with family, but really is prioritizing and segmenting time I think like okay, if it’s dinner time it’s dinner time, there are no phones at the table, we’re not replying back to messages. If I have to go drop of a hat go to facility, or pick up a stash, or whatever, it’s really just maintaining flexibility, not getting hard and fast with expectations, because the biggest thing and just like trying to go with the flow and not try not to be hard on yourself for things that aren’t done because you cannot do it all in a day. I am backlogged with so many emails and invoicing and stuff like that but it’s like, I could get bent out of shape about it, or I could just kind of breeze and get done what I can get done in a day and then, you know, move on to the next day so I’ve got a two year old, and I’m expecting again in a couple months, things are a little nuts over here, the first thing second trimester really sucks, but you know you got to power through and so now I really just have to get organized for the next few months. But, strangely enough, I’m one of those people that thrives off of chaos, so oh my goodness company when sage was just a wee little beam, and, you know, if you remember your why everything else becomes so easy. So, how hard things get remembering your why makes it so much easier to just get up in the morning or do the things or stay up late, you know like, that’s what gets you out of bed, like why are you doing it.
Dana: I love that and I think it’s so important to remember it and be able to circle back to it sometimes I’m like so in the weeds that I not only forget, but I can’t even, like, get myself to remember to come back, you know what I mean like I can’t even be like okay get back to the why and I think that keeping in the back of your mind and talking to yourself about it more often. Like I feel like on the days that I’m, I recognize like remember why I’m doing what I’m doing. It helps me on the days that are bad if I’ve been like really appreciative of why I have this and why I’m keeping going and the days prior, it helps me stay on top of preferring those good reasons and those good things that we’re doing for different people in different arenas, absolutely. So talk to me about how you’re, you talked a little bit about your husband and he’s been so supportive but like what did your family say when you were like, Hey, I’m starting this business and nobody’s ever done it before
Janna: you know, they were like, Okay, that’s cool. Like, I think that’s really interesting and I think as things have progressed and they’ve seen how I’ve kind of build this up, they becomes so much more supportive like I believe in you like this is amazing. You’re doing a great job you’re helping people. You know I think one of the first things I remember I remember meeting with my brother in law, and I said, you know, I was like okay business plans and you know all of this and he’s just like, Do you really think that women are going to send their personal to you, they’re going to ship their breast out to like, Do you really think that that’s going to happen like they cherish their breast milk. Yes, I think they will. And you know I just really need to harbor down on the nitty gritty with things but I think that they will and sure enough, I mean, we got a package from Texas this morning and we got a package from California, the other day and, you know, Maryland, and people from all over the world are like can we ship to you, how do we ship to you like what is it I like I want to get in on this and I’m just like I did. And so, like, as much as I love I love my family, they’re very supportive, but I also love that they’re like, Listen, I’ve got questions for you and you need. So I’m like, Okay, awesome. What else you got. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Dana: that’s awesome that they did that and that was going to be another one of my questions was about shipping from either from the States or from anywhere really because I know first off is complicated with keeping it frozen and like keeping it preserved that way but also like between customs and like how does that even work so how did you figure out all those regulations do you ever get it sent Returned to sender like, how has your experience been with like the international shipping
Janna: things have been pretty smoothly like me and my FedEx distribution manager know each other very well. They know when they’re expecting my packages, which is great. And, you know, shipping is definitely the most nerve wracking thing for sure, delays, do happen and we have very good step by step, kind of instructions and a video on how to pack and ship your breast milk to send it to us so it arrived safely and also accounts for delays. So you never know what’s going to happen like this weekend was absolutely bananas, there was a package that was sent, and it was delayed in customs, but it wasn’t delayed in customs there’s a big miscommunication with ups and actually didn’t arrive I didn’t pick it up until Monday. And I was like oh my goodness, like, I’m chatting with the, with the client, and it was fine. How is the breast milk Gods smiling on us, right. Like, even shipping with dry ice it wasn’t an insane amount of dry ice, but we’ve got very specific step by step procedures to help protect your stash during shipping because delays are inevitable they happen, and we just want to make sure that your stash is protected by any means possible. So, I always refer people to the shipping page, and then I’m on it like a mama bear, like I treat every stash like it’s my own, and love better and leave that I’m going to be on that tracking information knowing exactly where the person lives at all times. So then, I know what to expect. Most times I end up calling the distribution center and I’m like, I’m just gonna pick it up from there. Why wait a few extra hours for it to be delivered, like, I just want to feel comfortable knowing I’ve got it now.
Dana: Me, I mean, that is some quality customer service like they’re like, that’s what I’m, that’s what I’m looking for and. No, it’s not a gamble because you have a hold on it clearly but I love that you have all these things in place because for me that would be my like my only hold up, and I mean I think this is a great solution for and I know, I know you talked about this too but for anybody that’s listening that you’re like, I don’t have that much but like, what if you were on a business traveling and you were like like instead of sending it back home, you could just reach right wherever you are and send it to you, mate or not freeze right, put it in on the dry ice and send it to you to freeze right like that’s amazing and to have this option for moms that are working so hard to be pumping and working and I think even now too. So, there are so many moms that have babies like right at the beginning of COVID or like right before COVID Hit that are now having to go back to work but have never had to do anything other than breastfeed, or even if whatever they’re pumping like has just been given right to baby because the babies have been home like it’s been a whole different world for all these new moms they’ve gotten a ton of extra time at home with their babies but it also like created a very different normal for that first year of baby’s life and this is just such an awesome way to be able to kind of mitigate the hesitations about going back to work and having your stash, you know, not as built up as you want because obviously it goes back for not freezing it so that is so amazing so was there a huge jump when that tick tock video went viral, like, was there a huge jump in your business or was it really a steady growth.
Janna: No, that was a big jump, big jump, I think just getting more eyes on the business. I mean I’d had shipments from the States 11 shipments from the states that have inquiries before that, but after the Tick Tock account like that was just the catalyst, it was just like, blew up, which, again, at 35 I had no idea that picked up restaurant business but yeah and that’s when I really knew I was like I need help, I can’t get to all of these emails as much as I want to like I ended up having to disable my Facebook chat because there were so many different forms. Yeah, it was. It was nuts. It was absolutely crazy. And I still have to, I still have to deal with the food right so it’s my right, your left to people as fast as possible. I just couldn’t or the comments and stuff like that and my sister had to be like channa you don’t have to upload it every single comment and I’m like this slow and undergarments I good problem to have good problems to have, but I mean I think the other thing is that it’s such a unique business, and people were like, what’s that, you know, and that, yeah, we’re going to pick up the face of it like blew it out of the water. That’s amazing.
Dana: So what is your plan for growing like are you planning to hire someone to help with production like to help with that media like what is your, what are your next steps because you’re in a really like I feel like a transitional period of the business where it’s like totally you’re just, you’re you have a lot going on.
Janna: You have a lot happening so what’s your end goal for all of this will be uncle really is we’re trying to get some franchise improvements going on because one of the problem is is that as much as we’re living in a beautiful world, for accessibility to things easier, sometimes it’s still not the easiest four months, and shipping costs can be insane, because it’s time and temperature sensitive. Yeah, no, we want to open up more locations, we want to get the accessibility to mums, you know, being able to be available like hey, I don’t have to ship my stash across the country into another country and I can just go here and drop it off, or somebody can go and pick it up here or the shipping is just maybe a state away or something like that so that’s basically where our growth is we just want to be able to save as much personal income from homes as possible keep babies getting nourished as long as possible with their mums liquid gold and and have that accessibility so that’s the next step, that’s the end goal that we’re working on. But in the meantime, I’ve got, I’ve gotten a little bit helpless in social media, just like your I just need you to post this so that I can do this for me. And then, yeah I just basically hiring assistants and hiring texts and all that fun stuff for when I’m, you know, tending to my little bee newborn here, thank goodness, like the newborns are always like, they’re like little potatoes for the first ones they’re like, man, whatever take me anywhere.
Dana: Yes it is. And it’s funny, like, I feel like I appreciated that way more with my second because it just feels all like your whole life is changing with your first vote they’re sending like alright come on we got, like, let’s keep moving.
Janna: Oh my gosh, well that’s great.
Dana: So what’s your most common hesitation, Other than the shipping like What is your most common like question when someone inquires, but they’re wondering about, they could make the difference and then actually sending it or not using
Janna: a lot of it is nutrients so a lot of people think they think that it’s like I’m using a dehydrator and I’m just heating up all of the rest of them, so a lot of the questions that I get is, what about nutrients What about it, immune properties and everything like that. We have a very long extensive page on research and evidence based, that we’ve researched at around 50 So I always look for people to there. here’s all of the research that backs up the freeze drying is not dehydrating. So, once they really realize like, oh okay and also how long it lasts years, because when the water then it just freeze drying just extends the life thing so much longer and so once they realize, Oh, you mean my breast milk can be still, quote unquote good after a year and two years and three years and I can add it to my baby’s foods and that’s probably the two biggest ones, and then the other one that I like to mention is mom’s highlight case so mums, this highlight pays and lipases of total naturally occurring enzyme, but it can change the taste and smell of the breast milk and sometimes moms are off put by it, they’re like whoa is my breast milk, bad or my baby doesn’t want it. Most of the times, baby don’t care, they’re just like, Yeah, but some babies are like boom, you know what, that’s just not for me. So freeze drying will help reduce the off taste and smell and make it much more tolerable for your baby. We’ve yet to have alone say that their baby has rejected their movie food.
Dana: Wow, awesome,
Janna: but even if your baby just still doesn’t take that bottle of your highlight pays restarted personal habits for foods, sneaking in smoothies sandwiches, anything like that, then you’re not wasting any of your hard earned, time and effort and nipples and hustling.
Dana: That’s so great. So, I think I was reading on your website or somewhere when you go to make a bottle with the FreeStride power, talk to me about the ratio of water that you added, it’s different is that right.
Janna: Yeah, it’s different for every month. I mean, you may notice the same with your pumping sessions some sometimes don’t sometimes have a pretty streamlined breast milk supply but sometimes your breast milk can be a little bit more watery or a little bit more fatty and, you know can depend on so many different factors but every mom is given their own water ratio so then it’s catered strictly for your breast milk so there’s not like a one size fits all kind of a thing, because, first of all because constantly changing our bodies are different, your breast milk is different from the next month. So yeah, you’re given your own water ratio and that’s for all the bags, not different on every bag or anything like that, And then so that’s just catered to you and your baby and your breast pump.
Dana: I mean I don’t know if you’re hearing what she’s saying but like this is incredible, my mind was blown it just, I just can’t even resonate with this, it’s just insane. I literally want to have another human just to be able to do this with my breast milk I would have been so thrilled to have the service and to have known about it when I when I had my little one. So, Jana, thank you so much for being here and for for doing this interview because I just want to spread the word as much as humanly possible about what you have going on because I just think it’s the coolest thing that’s happened this century so tell everybody where we can find you, I know we know where you are in tech, tech, but what’s your website and all the all the places that you don’t want to be reached out to but we can learn about you.
Janna: Well, you can reach out to me on any of the platforms now. Of course I’m available anytime, the website is Boobyfood.com and all of our social media handles are, I love movie food and so it’s pretty easy to remember, even if you Google movie. Movie food you’ll, you’ll find the movie bird and you’ll find us. It’s a free, easy thing to remember one of my favorite I love working markets because I love it when the little men walk by my booth and they’re like, food, the food.
Dana: Amazing, amazing.
Janna: Well thank you so much for being here and giving us the time and I can’t wait for all the moms that are listening to hear what you have to offer. Hey, thank you so much for allowing me to be here and it was just lovely to chat with you and, yeah, reach out to me with any questions you have whatsoever.
Dana: Great, well thanks Jana. Thank you.
I am so honored to spend any minutes of your day listening to me babble about living this entrepreneurial life amidst the chaos in any mom’s normal day to day. If you love what you’ve heard any more snippets of knowledge about this mom Boss Life, head over to our website at amidst the chaos podcast.com. If anything mentioned in today’s episode. If you’re really feeling inspired to me and my family if you take the time to breathe. Thanks for joining me, amidst the chaos.
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