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Hey, what is up?
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Welcome to this episode of the Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.
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As always, I'm your host, brian Lofermento, and I'll tell you what.
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I know that I am super biased when it comes to entrepreneurship, because I very strongly believe that entrepreneurs are the change agents of the world, and I don't just mean that in a business sense.
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We don't just solve business problems, but entrepreneurs solve societal problems, and today's guest is such a perfect example of that.
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This is someone who's doing really meaningful and impactful work in the world, and the fact that she's doing it under her own umbrella, with her own growing business she's already won so many awards, she's a bestselling author just makes it all the more impressive and cooler, so I'm excited to hear her story.
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Let me tell you all about today's guest.
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Her name is Rose Sprinkle.
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Rose is a storyteller by heart, especially when it comes to kids.
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As a mom, she cares deeply about the well-being of children and families everywhere.
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She's a lifelong learner.
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She loves personal development, and each of the books that she has written have been inspired at times of struggle and personal growth.
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She discovered that not only herself loves all of this stuff, but people everywhere needed to hear these positive and uplifting messages, so that's why she hopes that her stories encourage more meaningful connections and precious memories as kids everywhere grow up.
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She does all of this under her umbrella of the Little Virtues, which is an award-winning children's book series that teaches kids emotional resilience and helps build character.
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Now Rose is thinking on a really big scale, not just about books, but a curriculum that she's rolling out so much exciting stuff that I'm excited to hear about and learn from, so I'm not going to say anything else.
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Let's dive straight into my interview with Rose Sprinkle.
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All right, rose, I'm so excited to have you here with us today.
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First things first.
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Welcome to the show.
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Thanks, I'm so excited to be here.
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Heck, yes, rose, I think what you do is incredible.
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You heard it.
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I talked a big game in the intro, because I think you're solving real life societal problems, so you've got to kick things off by taking us beyond the bio.
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Who's Rose?
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How did you start doing all these cool things?
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Oh my gosh.
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Yeah, well, that's a loaded question.
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I'll see if I can try to be succinct.
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But my whole background is actually in visual design and graphic design and so I like to learn and kind of dabble in a bunch of different things, and I kind of started the books just as a personal project on the side.
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I was working full time at Amazon at the time.
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I was teaching online courses for interior design.
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I was heading kind of in a totally different direction, but these books just kept kind of like pulling at my heartstrings and I kept writing them and before I knew it I had like an entire series of like eight books and I thought, oh my gosh, what am I going to do with these?
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Right, I was just kind of writing it for my own personal fulfillment and I didn't have a name like the Little Virtues or anything.
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I just realized that's what I was speaking about, and so it kind of developed into a bigger mission, and so it was a very organic process how it all started, yeah.
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I love that overview, rose, especially because you call it organic, and I know that it feels that way.
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But I would argue that there are so many intentional decisions along the way Because, rose, I'm sure a lot of moms out there have had the same thoughts that you've had, but you actually took action.
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So talk to us about those intentional steps, or what was it that pushed you to say I'm not just going to think about these things, I'm actually going to do these things and put them into the world?
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I think I've always been the person that's more afraid to not act on ideas, like I like to be a doer and I like to put ideas into action versus just thinking about it.
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Because I always think, like what a shame, like all the time that people have had really good ideas and I think eventually, if you don't act on it, someone else will.
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Because I think that you know a lot of people have overlapping ideas and you'll see the same thing over and over again.
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Just maybe a different take on it or a different iteration doesn't make it any less special or less meaningful.
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But I think that if you don't act on it, eventually someone else will.
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And I always think of like oh man, and for taking the chance, if I can, and just learning along the way, and I would say that I've had a lot more, probably, failure than success, but I feel like that is what actually keeps me going is the continuation of learning what I can be doing better and how to apply it.
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Yeah, I wanna ask you this, then, because I'm just gonna lump you in with all of us creators.
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We're all creators in so many different ways.
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I'll call out authors, artists, podcasters, anyone who's creating content in all the different forms.
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There's one thing, rose, that I've really realized separates successful creators and impactful creators with the creators who we never hear from and who never make a positive impact in the world, and that only thing is they hit publish.
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They do it and then they actually put it out into the world.
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And what I think most people don't realize when it comes to creating is that we all look at our own work and think I could have done this better.
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I could have done that better in hindsight, but for one reason or another, rose, we're crazy enough to hit publish.
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Talk to me about your mindset around that scary step of publishing.
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Was it a progression for you?
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Because you're obviously so comfortable with it now?
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Did you doubt it?
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I'd love to hear those insights.
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I've.
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Actually, I still feel like I'm still learning on the journey, because I actually had a publisher and then just recently, within literally the last couple of maybe months, two or three months, I decided to pull away from my publisher and actually do self-publishing instead.
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I think it depends on the relationship with the public.
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We have a really good relationship me and mine, but I just realized that it was a lot better financially for the long term of the company to be able to cut out the middleman and for me to actually just self-publish.
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So it's been a transition even in that regard.
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So I would say that, um, as far as how I started, I just felt a very strong feeling that, like these books needed to be written.
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It almost felt like I was kind of a witness to a creation that really wasn't my own.
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And I've heard of that dynamic happening with a lot of creatives where they feel like they're just kind of the conduit, they are the ones that manifest it, but really it feels like it's not even really their creation, and I felt like that with these books and so it was kind of a risk to be like, okay, I'm going to put these out there and see how people respond to it and usually you know you go through all the steps formally like I'm going to have a launch campaign and then I'm going to create the product and have all these pre-orders and blah, blah, blah, but for me it was just like I'm just going to start and do what I can, and so to see the response has been really, has been really uplifting, but very much a lot of my day to day.
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I mean you can see my house is crazy.
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I have a baby.
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Like a lot of it is just me just sitting, trying to manifest, ideating and just doing the work.
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It's not glamorous.
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A lot of the time it's just this motivation of I feel like something is bigger than me and it is important and I have a responsibility to use my talents and my skills to try to better the world around me.
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Yeah, rose, you're preaching to the choir here.
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It's something that I've always felt about the best entrepreneurs is it feels like a duty, like an obligation.
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It seems to me like you're embracing that, even though you have all the reasons not to.
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You are a mom and you've taken all of this on top of all the other things you have on your own plate.
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What did that look like, and what does it continue to look like?
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I don't even want to talk past tense there, because you continue to manage all of these things.
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I'd love to hear how you make it happen.
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Oh my gosh, yeah, me too, cause I feel like I'm really asking myself that question every day, like how am I doing this?
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How does this work?
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You know, there's different phases of your business, there's different phases of life, and I actually started the books before I had a family.
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I started the books when I was still single and very much in my career, and it wasn't until recently honestly, I think it was December of this year that I was done with Amazon, and that was right after or right before I had our first child.
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So I'm kind of doing all at once, like the family and trying this, and it's just been kind of wonderful to see it all fall together for that to allow that happen.
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But you know, there's times where I want to move faster, but you kind of have to really prioritize, like you know, what is the thing that requires my attention the most right now?
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And so I'm doing what I can, but it's definitely not the pace that I was before my baby, obviously.
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But I'm okay to do that Because, you know, I know that eventually, like I'm going to get there may not be as fast as I want.
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But I think, as long as you're just showing up every day and doing what you need to do, like you're on the path, as long as I'm staying on the path, like I'm going to get there and I also have a very supportive husband who, uh, is amazing with our kids and I'm expecting again it was another surprise.
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So I'm gonna have two under two, 14 months apart, and I'm still like how is this gonna work?
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And you know, you just have to constantly problem solve and you have to be willing to pivot and be flexible with whatever your circumstances throw at you.
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And I think, as long as you're committed, I think it's just the people who give up too soon don't get that reward in the end.
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And it's encouraging because I think, like we always see the success at the end and think, oh my gosh, like they just had it so easy.
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Or they just got to it Well, I started writing these books in 2019.
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Or they just got to it Well, I started writing these books in 2019.
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So, like I'm well in, invested into this for a long time now and still, in many ways, feels like I'm just beginning, but I just keep telling myself like you know what it's worth it.
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Yeah, rose, that's.
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I've always loved that concept of an overnight success, a decade in the making, and that's the stuff that we see in business magazines and on podcasts.
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But I so appreciate you bringing the real stuff to us, as you called it, the not so glamorous side of it, because that's what it takes, and it is a long journey.
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We don't have these results overnight.
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You bring up your career, and I think it's always fun to look back on careers for us as entrepreneurs, because I always believe that every single thing we did, whether we realize it or not.
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I can trace back to my first job for two days as a 15-year-old at CVS, how that set me up for all the things I did in the future.
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I want to talk about your career path, because you've worked for some brands that we all know and love.
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I don't know if you want me to name drop them here on the air, but huge companies that really dominate the industry and one that, especially when it comes to online learning for so many entrepreneurs that serve them.
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Rose, I'm sure some of that leaked into the way that you think and the way that you do business.
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Talk to us about, in hindsight, how that career sets you up for everything you do today.
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Oh my gosh.
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Yeah, I mean, I was all over the place when I was trying to figure out my career in the beginning in college.
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I think I took five years to graduate because I was just like changing, I was getting closer and closer to what I wanted, but it just took me a little bit of time.
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So it's kind of interesting because the books now kind of harkens back to, like, my original roots.
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In college I started out as an elementary education major for two years.
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I was like set all of my life that's what I knew I wanted to do.
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I started getting into teaching and I thought, oh my gosh, this isn't, this isn't it.
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And so I pulled out, restarted over and took a visual design class and it was kind of that was the, you know, beginning of the end, basically.
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So for 18 years I was doing visual design, graphic design, marketing, branding, product design, all those things.
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And you know, it's kind of interesting because I feel like my love is really teaching and but I also feel like people like to learn in a very specific way.
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They like to learn visually, they like to be hands-on and they don't like to be pandered to and I think, like with kids especially, you know, they're a lot smarter than we give them credit for, and I think I see a lot of the children's products out there today that I'm like.
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You know this is kind of like a shame, like some of it's funny and it's gimmicky, but it's really not like speaking to them on their level, and so I felt like there was a really good opportunity to create a product that did that specifically.
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But I definitely love product creation.
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I think it is like the funnest thing to do because it's probably the most rewarding.
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You get the dopamine hit, you like have a task you need to do every day and then you get to see something come out of it fruition.
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And I realized like I need to start working on this other part of myself where I need to start developing my marketing a lot more, which to me, is not as fun, it's not as rewarding, it's a lot more like okay, it's uncomfortable.
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But I realized, like I'm always learning about myself, the areas that I need to improve as an entrepreneur and just get over myself, get over my pride, get over my fear If I really want to help people and just get over myself, get over my pride, get over my fear if I really want to help people.
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Oh man, rose, marketing's the fun stuff.
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Come on, since you said it's not the fun stuff, we'll first start with the product, because you went there first and clearly you love that side of it more, so let's talk about that.
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I remember in 2015, when I was writing my book, that actually sparked this podcast, wantrepreneur to Entrepreneurs the name of the book.
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Everyone said the same thing to me, rose.
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Everyone was like aren't there already so many books about entrepreneurship?
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And that's the feedback I kept getting.
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You must get the same In your space.
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There's way more than a million.
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There's so many books for kids.
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Talk to me about how you've approached that, and I'm sure you've gotten that feedback from others.
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Oh my gosh, oh, absolutely, absolutely so.
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Like, I think one of the best books I read in college was like good artists steal, or like great artists steal, or something, and the whole argument of the book was basically like there's no original ideas, right, and I think even people like Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote uh, eat, pray, love, kind of argues the same thing, right, it's like nothing's really original, but it still is, because it's coming from you and it's coming authentically from you.
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And so I've kind of developed that, I've adopted that mindset, and I think that is a lot of what it has to do.
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When you're being an entrepreneur, you have to develop a mindset of like it doesn't really matter, right, if I have a good idea, if it's valid, if people like it, if I feel like I'm being genuine and I'm showing up as my best self and like what's what's wrong here?
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Right, it's just the pressure we put on ourselves to be perfect or to feel like it has to be successful, or if not, then we, you know, we shouldn't have pursued it in the first place, and I just don't believe in that school of thought.
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So, um, that's just my own personal opinion, but, um, I totally forgot the question as I was going off on that thing now.
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There's a million other children's books out there.
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Rose, yeah, absolutely, and I feel like there's always room for more, right, like there's always room for more, and there are plenty of companies and businesses and entrepreneurs who've been successful in highly saturated markets.
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And so I think you just have to look at like if, consciously, if I'm going into that type of environment, how, how I'm going to, how am I going to set myself apart or or how am I going to differentiate that I feel like I can honor, and for me, that was writing books that I felt like, for one, were fun, two that I felt like really left an impact on the reader after they read them, and three drew families closer together.
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And so you kind of come up with this recipe with your different ingredients for success or benchmarks that you want to meet for your product or your minimal viable products in your testing.
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And that has kind of been like my North Star.
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Every time I go down to write or create my books is like are they meeting these three things?
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And if they're not, then what do I need to adjust?
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Rose.
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I love that Sounds like we both.
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I'm hoping the book you're referencing is is steel like an artist by austin cleon.
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Is it the same book?
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Yes, yes, that left such a huge impression on me.
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Actually, I had read it a long time ago and, similarly, when I was writing my book and people would say that to me, I would say, yeah, but nobody's written a business book the way that I can.
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Because, you're right, we're the only ones on planet earth that can do things the way that we do them.
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There can be a zillion children's books, but only Rose Sprinkle can write it your way.
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And hearing that recipe in real time, I so appreciate that because something that stood out to me the more I looked into all the things you do about the little virtues.
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It's that word and you've already said it once in our conversation today of pandering.
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That clearly so factors into the way that you think about servicing children and families, and parents, of course, who are raising those children.
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Talk to me about that, because you clearly identified that as a shift in the way you deliver your content.
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Yeah, that's a good question, Because I wrote them before I had kids, right?
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I'm not an expert on children, like by the way.
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I mean I'm raising them, but you know who knows what I'm doing right or wrong.
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I don't deem myself to be like a subject matter expert on children I'm not a counselor, psychologist or anything like that but I think that when I was writing them, even before I had kids, I just had this feeling of like I want this to be something that I feel comfortable sharing with my children, that I can leave as a legacy for them and also for every child that picks up my books, that they feel comfortable, they feel included, they feel like it speaks to them, and I think that's probably why these books resonate so much with people is because they're so relatable, like it doesn't matter if you're a four year old reading this book, if you're 25, 37,.
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It's talking about what it's like having a human experience and their feelings that all of us can relate to.
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And I think this idea, like you know you talked about okay, well, this other person has this idea and I have this idea it's like you don't need to validate your own ideas or self-worth compared to someone else just because they have the same idea, because you're already putting yourself down, and I don't think that's where we should operate from.
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I think we should operate from a place where it's like you can be authentic to yourself and honor your desires and your beliefs in a way that's healthy and good and strong and that doesn't take away from someone else, it just adds to it.
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And so I feel very strongly, like when I'm writing these books, that kids still deserve respect, they deserve to be spoken to in gentle ways that are still authentic and true and really relates to their experience.
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And so at the beginning of each book, the characters don't know the virtue, like Little Brave, for example.
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He's not courageous.
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He thinks that bravery is not being afraid at all.
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He thinks that's what true courage is, which a lot of us have, that misconception that we think that's what that is.
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And then by the end of the book, through the help of like a mentor and going through a challenge, he then better understands the principle of what it means to truly be brave.
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And I think that's how we learn, you know, like Luke Skywalker became the Jedi at the end with the help first in the beginning.
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And it's just such a destructive cultural mindset we have that I think it really does more harm than good.
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Yeah, really well said.
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This is powerful stuff, because you've obviously worked within the realm even before.
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What you're doing with the Little Virtues is that you've worked within the realm of curriculum, of online course creation, of teaching, and with regards to that, I always think back when I got my soccer coaching license back in Massachusetts.
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They always talk about guided discoveries.
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I can tell a kid how to dribble a soccer ball, or I can put him in an environment where he's forced to inevitably learn how to dribble a soccer ball on his own, and so I love hearing you talk about that.
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What are some of those foundational elements?
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Because I love that real life example that you just gave us about bravery and courage.
00:18:29.275 --> 00:18:36.635
How would you sum up, because I know you're also rolling out curriculums and courses within the little virtues what are those?
00:18:36.635 --> 00:18:38.281
You gave us the recipe earlier.
00:18:38.281 --> 00:18:41.617
What are those things that you think about in order to effectively convey that?
00:18:41.617 --> 00:18:54.013
And I just want to add one thing for listeners behalf right now is that we all need to educate and guide people into what we want to teach them, whether you feel like you're teaching material or not, when it comes to sales, when it comes to effective marketing.
00:18:54.013 --> 00:18:55.936
So, ruth, I know you don't like marketing.
00:18:55.936 --> 00:18:57.779
I'll put it under the framework of learning.
00:19:00.407 --> 00:19:01.510
How do you navigate that?
00:19:01.510 --> 00:19:03.415
Oh my gosh, yeah, I'm still navigating it.
00:19:03.415 --> 00:19:11.663
I think for me, one of the criteria I've always had is to find good mentors.
00:19:11.663 --> 00:19:17.733
If I really don't know what I'm doing, find someone who really knows what they're talking about.
00:19:17.733 --> 00:19:25.205
So and I think that also goes for just taking advice Like, ultimately, it's our responsibility in the day who we take advice from, and so we're still responsible for the outcomes and the choices, even though we want to blame someone else.
00:19:25.205 --> 00:19:28.830
Right, like they gave me a bad advice, they weren't a good mentor, well, it's like.
00:19:28.830 --> 00:19:31.394
Well, yeah, but you're also going to learn from that experience.
00:19:31.394 --> 00:19:33.317
So, like, is it really going to harm us?
00:19:33.317 --> 00:19:41.673
Like, maybe temporarily, but eventually, you know, it'll become a nugget of wisdom and gold for us later on.
00:19:41.712 --> 00:19:57.086
So, I think, surrounding yourself with people who have been through what you've been through, so I respect the entrepreneurs and the people who haven't, who've struggled, who have really dedicated themselves and sacrificed a lot to get to the point where they're at, because I think that they learned earlier from all those mistakes.
00:19:57.125 --> 00:20:03.067
In fact, I just learned yesterday that the app um, oh my gosh, that the bird app, that one that's really popular.
00:20:03.067 --> 00:20:03.709
I can't think of the name.
00:20:03.709 --> 00:20:15.240
It's so popular, though, but angry birds like I guess they had like 14 or 16 failed apps before they landed on that one, but we just see it as like the billion-dollar successful franchise that it is now.
00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:25.299
So I think being humble to take advice and also discerning about what advice to take and whatnot, is a big part of it.
00:20:25.299 --> 00:20:33.691
Finding a good team, good support, what you're doing, basically, brian, you're helping everyone out there, and it's a hard thing to do.
00:20:33.691 --> 00:20:35.385
Teaching is difficult, you know.
00:20:35.385 --> 00:20:45.570
Like you said, you can teach something in theory, you can express and share your experience, but really, like, entrepreneurs have to go through the grind and there's just no way getting around that.
00:20:46.113 --> 00:20:47.750
Yeah, I always love the analogy of a bike.
00:20:47.750 --> 00:20:49.891
I can explain to you how to ride a bike.
00:20:49.891 --> 00:20:57.070
Until your butt is in that seat, there's no way to navigate balance and all of those very complex things that we have to experience.
00:20:57.070 --> 00:20:58.692
So I really appreciate those real life insights.
00:20:58.692 --> 00:21:06.224
Truth be told, rose, this podcast is born out of the fact that I wish, when I was 19, starting my first business, I got to hear these conversations.
00:21:06.224 --> 00:21:10.210
So I appreciate you bringing the real stuff here in today's episode.
00:21:10.609 --> 00:21:26.836
Along those lines, I want to talk a little strategy, because you and I have kind of both alluded to the fact that it's easy to look at people we hear on podcasts as the finished product, but of course, we're all figuring it out in real time Even more than a thousand episodes and we're continuing to evolve behind the scenes at this show.
00:21:26.836 --> 00:21:35.826
I love your business because it seems to me like you've built an entire ecosystem around the things that you're doing, of course, around the books, but now you're expanding in so many ways.
00:21:35.826 --> 00:21:45.307
Talk to me about that strategic component of your mind because, rose, what stands out to me not only is the stuff that you do, but how much of an incredible entrepreneur that you are.
00:21:45.307 --> 00:21:51.259
So I do want to hear that strategic mind when it comes to thinking about the ecosystem and the broadening empire.
00:21:51.259 --> 00:21:56.952
I'll call it that as you look into the future, Goodness, brian, you're so good at complimenting me.
00:21:56.973 --> 00:21:58.220
I'm blushing, I'm blushing.
00:21:58.220 --> 00:22:00.712
You know you don't get to hear that validation all the time.
00:22:00.712 --> 00:22:02.586
So I appreciate just saying that it's very kind.
00:22:02.586 --> 00:22:04.327
It's a good question.
00:22:04.327 --> 00:22:08.634
I kind of am an odd duck, I would say.
00:22:08.634 --> 00:22:15.051
Even in art school I felt a little different than my peers because they were I would say they were better artists than I, was like by far.
00:22:15.051 --> 00:22:16.890
They're visual, I mean, they can draw really well.
00:22:16.890 --> 00:22:18.551
I still can't even draw to this day.
00:22:18.551 --> 00:22:20.873
It's amazing that I even had a degree in art, I would say.
00:22:21.404 --> 00:22:31.332
But I think that I was always a creative strategist, so I always understood kind of the business side a little bit better and how to put two and two together.
00:22:31.332 --> 00:22:41.839
And I knew that if I wasn't really great at art, if I wasn't really great at this, I could always find people and kind of lead them through helping me bring my you know, my dream to creation.
00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:59.468
So in a lot of ways I feel like I'm very dependent on others to help and I but I think that's not necessarily a bad thing and I think a lot of entrepreneurs have to do that you need to outsource and bring people to the table that are better than you in a lot of ways so that you can create a product that is ultimately like, beyond your skill set.
00:22:59.468 --> 00:23:02.240
And you know a lot of people argue in the beginning like, well, rose, why don't you just draw your own books?
00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:04.406
And I thought, well, because they would just be horrible.
00:23:04.406 --> 00:23:08.334
Like I could, I could take the opportunity to learn and become better.
00:23:08.334 --> 00:23:19.655
But you know, ultimately I think I would be doing the product a disservice and so I had to be really honest with myself and luckily I found very, very talented illustrators that helped me and they are by far like.
00:23:19.655 --> 00:23:26.926
I feel like they carry 80% of the work, to be honest, like the work that they do and how they continue to help with the brand and stuff.
00:23:27.007 --> 00:23:31.173
But I think as a creative strategist, I've always thought of big picture first.
00:23:31.173 --> 00:23:38.308
I've always been a little bit of a dreamer and so I'm always thinking about like systems, how to replicate, how to scale.
00:23:38.308 --> 00:23:47.486
You know, if I write one book about like little honest is in Candyland, how can I use Candyland and all these different themes and different products and things like that?
00:23:47.486 --> 00:23:58.413
So you just kind of I start with the end in mind and then work backwards and just think of how I want to get there and, ironically, I wrote the books first.
00:23:58.413 --> 00:24:15.799
In some ways, I almost wished I wrote the curriculum first, because I think it would have been a little bit easier to transition, but I think that, either way, whatever product you start with, you can always, you know, come around to the other side and tie the two together and, um, yeah, that's been really effective and helpful for me.
00:24:16.565 --> 00:24:18.351
Yeah, I love those real life insights.
00:24:18.351 --> 00:24:31.895
This is so cool hearing the way that your mind thinks, rose, because, like I said, it's easy to think about children's books as very simplistic things, but we're talking here about wrapping around an entire business, because that's how we're you're reaching even more people and impacting even more people.
00:24:31.895 --> 00:24:41.813
Talk to me about the curriculum and the fact that you're rolling that out as well as part of the little virtues, because it's deeply impactful work and I'm sure that you fully embrace how important this work is.
00:24:41.813 --> 00:24:43.717
So talk to us about your views on that.
00:24:44.644 --> 00:24:59.497
Yeah, I mean in a lot of ways like we always hear that phrase like when you become a parent, you're kind of reparenting yourself, and I think a lot of this curriculum targets both the child and the parent, that they get to do it together, right, because virtues apply to everybody, no matter your age or your background or your experience.
00:24:59.497 --> 00:25:04.057
And so like who doesn't want to be more kind or more loving or more honest, right.
