#awinewith Mia Dickson
MEET Mia
Mia is the Founder of Social Dot Australia and Safe Bandz.
Find Mia here:
Social Dot website or Instagram @socialdotaus @safebandzco.
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:10):
Mia, thank you so much for being here on Spark tv. It's an absolute honor to get to chat to you.
Mia Dickson (00:17):
Thank you for having me on. I'm so excited to do this. I've watched a few, seen a few, listen to a few, so it's really cool. Few.
Danielle Lewis (00:23):
Yeah, I love it. Well, our intention is for people listening in to be a fly on the wall with two female founders just telling it like it is. So I'm super stoked to share your experience in business. So why don't we start there now you have two businesses because you are clearly crazy, so I can't wait to hear extremely.
Mia Dickson (00:47):
Yes.
Danielle Lewis (00:49):
So you've got social,
Mia Dickson (00:50):
Extremely crazy and
Danielle Lewis (00:51):
Safe bands, which is so cool. Why don't we start by telling people what both of those businesses are and then how you got here. What's your past experience that led you to launching two businesses?
Mia Dickson (01:06):
There is crazy there. Yes, agree. So basically social is a digital business card alternative. So we can say goodbye to Pepper business cards and it gives you the ability, I know love. It gives you the ability to have somebody tap their phone to your social product, whether that be a dot, a physical plastic business card or an Apple watchband or whatever it might be. And they can actually receive all of your contact info, your socials, and any other custom links that you load onto that. So that in itself is one side of the business, social dot. And then the other side, safe bands is a wearable wristband for kids and adults alike that can store contact information and any important or medical information about the wearer so that in the event if they become lost or something is to happen, the parents or the guardians can be called directly and the person there once scanning the bands notified of anything necessary that they might need to know about the wearer.
Danielle Lewis (02:08):
That is so
Mia Dickson (02:10):
Nutshell. So it, they've grown and evolved. And pre covid, I was actually teaching yoga that was
Danielle Lewis (02:20):
Oh my gosh, wow.
Mia Dickson (02:21):
Yeah, all around north Queensland. So that was, we went into lockdown. I had a crazy idea. I hated using business cards in my yoga business and decided that when Covid went away and I went back to yoga, that I was going to need to fix that. And having gone back to yoga, so social was kind of born out of sheer frustration and just needing something for myself and then found a lot of other business owners needed that too. And in growing that business and building it, I'm very lucky. My husband is the tech side, he's done a lot of the building at the backend. We realized, and I've always had this dream of safe bands in sort of some way. I didn't know what it quite looked like. I think having poor kiddos, all of which who have liked to have done a runner on me at one point in time, I knew I needed something with that. So we were actually able to sort of recycle some of the backend build of social do and build out the secondary business of safe bands. And yes, they're two very different themes, but I am very passionate about both of them and it's really cool that I get to wear two different hats on a daily basis, just as well as general mum life and everything like that. So it's fun.
Danielle Lewis (03:41):
So cool. And obviously when you were a yoga teacher, I assume you were kind of running your own business at that point, and was there a career or something before yoga or how did,
Mia Dickson (03:55):
Did you get into
Danielle Lewis (03:56):
Yoga teaching? I secretly want to be a yoga teacher, so I'm so keen.
Mia Dickson (04:00):
Oh yeah, cool. So I guess I left school, I did a floristry apprenticeship of all things.
Danielle Lewis (04:10):
I love this z zag that's happening here.
Mia Dickson (04:13):
And then I started having children and after I had one, I started working in banking. I worked in banking for a very, very long time, probably nearly 15 years or so, and did a diploma of financial planning and all that sort of stuff. Not really what I was loving, but I lived in a small town. There wasn't very many jobs that you could work Monday to Friday, have weekends off with kids and that sort of thing. So banking was a really easy option. And then once I had done that, we'd moved a few times to my husband's work. He works with the bank on his normal nine to five, and we ended up moving to Townsville and I'd had my fourth baby decided that my mental load was just huge. I was really struggling with postnatal depression and lots of horrible stuff and I kind of just needed to do something for myself.
(05:09):
I'd been wearing the mom hat for I think nearly 13 years at that point. And I have always been really interested in yoga. Yoga's kind of flowed in and out of my life over the years, and I'd always come back to my own personal practice. So I took the leap of going down the teacher training route and then had my own little business. I ran little workshops around the place linked in with a beautiful community of yoga teachers here in Townsville in North Queensland, and managed to get in on some teacher trainings and different things like that as well. So yeah, yoga was a really nice kind of turning point in my life that I really needed and created a beautiful community up here for me to have mates and things as well. So it's good.
Danielle Lewis (05:51):
That is so amazing. I love yoga because I feel like it tricks you into working out. It's like, it's just so then here we're so relaxed and then, oh my God, I can't move
Mia Dickson (06:08):
The next three days. You can't walk straight. Yeah, it's great.
Danielle Lewis (06:11):
So good. I love it. And that's awesome because so I mean, such an interesting background, right?
Mia Dickson (06:19):
Yeah. Very different, all different
Danielle Lewis (06:20):
Experiences. So cool. So how did you go from, I'm thinking mindset more than anything, going from being a yoga teacher to essentially this online business that's like you've got hardware there, you've got technology, it's a super innovative product. How did you make that leap?
Mia Dickson (06:40):
So again, super lucky. My husband is very techy on that side, so I was very blessed. I'm not even going to lie. My tech understanding and knowledge in that space has grown immensely since then. But originally it was this idea of, honey, I really need this thing. I wanted to magically do this thing, this can you make it happen? And he's like, okay, I love that. It's definitely grown a lot more since then. This problem, can you solve it for me? Yeah. So we worked together now and everything and I kind of look back on our first release and now and I have a bit of a giggle. I can't believe which market and jumped in with that, but if you don't run and have a go, you're never going to know. So I'm really proud of how far we've come and now the industry that we service and everything like that and the amazing connections we've made, it's really been very cool.
Danielle Lewis (07:38):
Yeah, I mean, you are always obviously very fortunate when you've got somebody close to you or someone that you know or someone's in your network that can help fill some of those skills gap mean, but it's still like as for you being the business owner, the one that's got to go out and market, got to plan, got to strategize, it's still quite a leap. So that's super impressive.
Mia Dickson (07:59):
I think I'm very lucky. I came in to TikTok when it was quite just sort of starting to explode through that height of covid and everything like that. So the marketing side of me and the social media side, I kind of already knew I've had businesses before and that sort of thing, so I knew roughly what I needed to do. But definitely that mindset of making the switch between everybody take a breath to, oh my God, I need to take a breath to figure out what on earth e-commerce is and how it all works was a huge switch and shift in mindset. So yeah, it's really cool to see how far we've come and I love doing little things like this. It makes you think back about how everything has changed. And we two flying past, probably there's a wide open here in North Queensland because it is hot, but so doing these little things like that, it's really lovely to reflect back and see how far it's come.
Danielle Lewis (09:02):
I love it. So you mentioned TikTok and E-commerce, so obviously having to get your head around those things. So are you a TikTok star?
Mia Dickson (09:11):
I love it. Love a good TikTok. Yep. Cool. So we're really lucky. We've got a beautiful manager at TikTok that looks after us. They're both the safe bands and the social channels are verified and we're probably over around 25 million views together on our channels. So it has created and opened the market globally for us. I knew when social dot hit TikTok within two weeks we actually had to open global shipping. We were only looking at servicing Australia and New Zealand, and then we just had all these requests coming in from weird and wonderful locations around the globe of we need this product. So we really had to jump and figure that out really quickly when Safe fans was in that stage. I think about two weeks before we launched, I jumped on TikTok, started telling our story and build an email list right before launch, and then we were able to kind of hit that launch weekend full pelt running and smashed our opening weekend goals all from TikTok, organic marketing, just nothing. It blows my mind to think of what that app has done and how it's changed our business because that's where our communities, that's where comes from all these people from everywhere around the world and it's been able to get our products into hands of people that wouldn't even know who we are, who I am, what my business does. So it's a really cool app. I've got nothing but amazing things to say about TikTok, and I think if you're a business owner, everyone needs to be on the app. It's really cool.
Danielle Lewis (10:49):
That is so cool. I love you and I hope you don't mind me exploring this TikTok angle from, yeah,
Mia Dickson (10:54):
No, shoot. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (10:55):
But we get so many people going, I don't want to dance to silly songs. Is it more than that? Do I look
Mia Dickson (11:03):
Like a dancer?
Danielle Lewis (11:05):
No, I mean you could be. So what do you do? What's your approach to TikTok?
Mia Dickson (11:13):
Yeah, so I mean obviously I think everyone that has had that, I guess exposure to social media understands that there is pillars in creating content and you need your content to be educational, you need to be entertaining, you need all these sorts of things. That's great. How the hell do you do that? So for me, I find storytelling works really well using visuals from, for example, with safe bands, outings with my kids, with kids wearing the bands, and I'm explaining why they're wearing the bands, why do they need to wear the bands, all those sorts of things. Demonstrating how my social product works, literally a video of me tapping a product and having my display pop up on my phone. It's as simple as that. There is no singing or dancing. I'm not going to lie. I have lipsynch. This is great
Danielle Lewis (12:07):
News for everyone.
Mia Dickson (12:10):
Yeah, that's not my thing. I tried it a couple times on my own personal TikTok page, but I mean, I'm just not to answer. It's not in my repertoire. I'm very good at other things, not at that. And I already embarrassed my children enough if it's having a TikTok channel. So dancing mother on TikTok would be even worse.
Danielle Lewis (12:32):
No, that is awesome. Do you think that there's room for people who are just getting started on TikTok? Do you think where we've missed the bandwagon or what's your vibe?
Mia Dickson (12:43):
No. Yeah, everyone please, please go out, open your account, get on there, start scrolling, start seeing what it's all about. Yes, there's trends. Yes, it's going to feel very awkward at first looking in and thinking, what the hell are these people doing on there? But you'll find that the way that Instagram and Facebook are moving now, they're moving more to reels anyway. Majority of the reels are just repurposed TikTok content. So by being on that TikTok app, you're just kind of removing that middleman out of the Facebook and Instagram side of things. So yes, there's room for everyone on there. Yes, there's room for people just starting. Yes, there is room to share and spread your message and it can be done. You see it now, accounts blow up that have started a week ago. Accounts blow up that have started 12 months ago that they finally decide that, okay, I'm going to give this TikTok thing a go. I am going to post once a day and give it a crack and see what happens. So yeah, it's definitely, you don't need to be scared by it. You don't need to think that you've missed the boat, nothing like that. You just need to get on, start scrolling, take in the content, absorb it, and then have a crack.
Danielle Lewis (13:57):
Oh, that is so cool. I love that so much. I have a TikTok account, the Spark, but I think I've posted one thing on it, so I'm like, okay, now I'm motivated. I'm making this happen.
Mia Dickson (14:09):
Yes, good. Yes, and I can't thank TikTok enough. It has changed the way that our businesses A, have been firstly established, and B, the exponential growth that is available is ridiculous. And then in saying that, we have a really supportive TikTok Australia community. So by having your own business manager and everything like that, the guys in TikTok Australia do an awesome job. And it's not like when you have those problems with Facebook or Instagram or your account gets banned or whatever, there's actually people at TikTok that you can email and you know can say, Hey, this has just happened. Can you give me a hand? And it's like, oh yeah, sure, no worries. Whereas you can sit on hold with Facebook and I know it's amazing. You sit on hold with Facebook and Instagram for hours. So I really feel like it's not just this great app, it's also all the people behind it that you have to be thankful for as well, because they're doing a great job as well.
Danielle Lewis (15:15):
Yeah, that is so cool. I mean, I must admit, I see every day someone post online, does anyone have a contact at Facebook or Instagram? My account's been banned or my ads aren't running, or something's happening and they're just getting automated messages replying. No one's read their customer service request message and they're just dying and it's affecting their business sales. So it sounds like
Mia Dickson (15:41):
Exactly. You say,
Danielle Lewis (15:42):
So it sounds like this has all been absolutely smooth. Sailing business is amazing, or have there been any challenges along the way?
Mia Dickson (15:52):
Yeah, there has been, and I think it's probably been more for me on a personal level, going from being out in the public and having students that I see every week and every night with the yoga business to being locked in an office, working on my own. Obviously my mental health was really struggling, my health was struggling. I actually ended up having weight loss surgery nearly 12 months ago, and I've six, lost 45 kilos. So I really needed, so I really needed to ballooned out with the stress of it all, and it was just, weight's always been a huge issue of mine, kind of yoing up backwards and forwards, but now I feel like I'm really on top of that as well, and it's just changed everything mentally and physically and everything. So it's really cool to be in a completely different space now. But it's also really interesting because I'm coming from a period where I kind of took the foot off the gas.
(16:52):
Yes, the tiktoks was still going out there organically and sales and things are still happening, which is awesome, but the content making kind slowed down. So I'm kind of coming back. It feels like I've had a baby and I know the gist of what's going on, but it's kind of like there's been water cooler conversations that I've missed out on that I've kind of got to learn again what's happening and jump back in so I can fully appreciate the fact of taking some time off myself and reflecting and getting myself in a better place to be able to run the businesses and also to be a better mother, partner and wife and all that sort of thing as well. So yeah, it's behind the scenes has been very challenging personally, in front of the scenes with the businesses. It's actually been pretty freaking amazing. Really. Yeah, it's been pretty cool.
Danielle Lewis (17:44):
I mean, I'm so grateful that you shared that honesty because I think it's just sitting here fangirling about your success on TikTok. So it's so easy for people who are on the outside looking in just go, oh, everything must be amazing. This is awesome. And as business owners, we're kind of the make or break for our business, especially in the early days where we've got small teams actually looking after your physical health and mental health is so critical for the longevity of any kind of business. So absolutely. Yeah, I'm really impressed that you've actually taken steps to make sure you are okay.
Mia Dickson (18:24):
Yeah, and I think too now, it's funny, it's kind of like whether it's a universe knocking on my door and going, here's all these great opportunities now here I come, you're really ready. It's kind of like, okay, cool. I feel like I've hit a really great step or a stride in my step that it's matching with what the outside looking inside kind of portion now is matched. So it's cool.
Danielle Lewis (18:50):
That is absolutely fantastic. So what advice then, just kind of diving deeper into that a little bit. So I know as a business owner, I would be very surprised if anybody listening to this isn't having some kind of bad day at some point this week. But I'm just wondering if there's any kind of red flags or things we should be looking out for in ourselves if we might be struggling a little bit. Anything that you can say if you're feeling like this or doing this or any kind of advice to make sure we are actually looking after ourselves.
Mia Dickson (19:24):
I think for me, it kind of got to a point where I would just shift through a task and ponder on it way too long before actually achieving anything or doing anything. And that just started to really snowball in my daily life. So then by the end of the day, you kind of get to that point and we all know what it's like. It's like go, oh my God, I really need a wine. I've gotten rid of the wine. The wine.
(19:55):
Yeah, exactly. So it's just, for me, it was that realizing of where my brain was swimming and I kind of felt like I was drowning a little bit, and then I needed to be able to see the task clearly, and I couldn't. It was almost like putting on a dirty pair of glasses. You can't see through them really, really well. You can kind of see, you can make out what you need to make out, but you're never going to achieve and read the passage that you need to with full clarity. And so once my glasses were clean and I could kind of really absorb what I was and comprehend what I was reading, then everything feels lighter. Everything feels easier, the words roll off your tongue a lot easier. You can make everything happen with ease and grace. Whereas before it was just struggle and hardship.
(20:42):
So yeah, I think for me, noticing that the mental struggle there that came with the physical struggle because coffee and sweet treats were my go-to, so therefore there comes the weight and then it's like, oh my God, you look at yourself, you look back at the tiktoks and you go, holy moly, that was me. So now being able to be in a healthy position where I can run, jump, have great outings with my kids as well, especially when filming content or anything like that for the safe fan side, at least with the kids, just brings a whole different feel to the business as far as my vibe and energy and vibrance, I guess.
Danielle Lewis (21:25):
That's so cool. I love that. I feel like we do try and separate our personal lives and our business lives, but when you are the business owner, it's so hard to do that,
Mia Dickson (21:36):
Right? Yeah, yeah, it is. And I'm in a great position really because my kids are the models of my business.
Danielle Lewis (21:46):
Nice. Put them to work, I like it.
Mia Dickson (21:48):
Yeah. Oh God, yes, we go. Woo.
Danielle Lewis (21:51):
I love it.
Mia Dickson (21:53):
I mean, still it's funny, I have a lot of anxieties and different things from a lot of mental health, so I actually do wear safe ends as well, especially when flying and that sort of thing. So I'm able to use the product as well, but I'm in a great position in the fact that I get to enjoy my business with my kids. My kids are really hands-on in the business today. In school holidays, they actually all got together. They decided they were going to earn some pocket money and they folded, I think probably about four or 500 boxes of safe vans because we've got a new shipment coming in soon. So they had to pack up the old funds and get them ready and packaged up. So they're really great in the sense that they are now getting a great understanding of what a business is like to run, how profit and loss and all those sorts of things and how you can interact with your customers and then this great new social media out there that's able to open them up to around the world. And yeah, it's a pretty cool, I guess, lesson and or life lesson, I guess, really to be able to show your kids that lots of adults say anything's possible, but how many adults are actually out there living that possibility as well? And I tell my kids that every day, but it's not until you physically demonstrate that they can see that it's able to be done in adulthood.
Danielle Lewis (23:16):
And I just love that. So I recorded a podcast earlier today with someone who went to business school and then started a business and realized they didn't learn anything that they needed to know. And I reflect on, I did a fashion degree, so don't use any of that. Whatever I learned in high school, don't use any of that. I'm sure
Mia Dickson (23:39):
You look great though, I'm sure
Danielle Lewis (23:40):
Your outfit.
Mia Dickson (23:42):
Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (23:42):
Exactly right. Something's got to help. Even when I studied social media didn't even exist back then.
Mia Dickson (23:48):
So
Danielle Lewis (23:50):
I love that they actually get hands-on experience in something real. I feel like the best way to learn business is to run a business.
Mia Dickson (24:01):
And I must admit, it was actually quite funny that we've gone down this route because today, this morning the kids decided that they were going, we've got a passion fruit vine, and that they were going to pick all the passion fruits and open a stall out the front of our house.
Danielle Lewis (24:16):
They made a
Mia Dickson (24:17):
Sign, they did everything. My son was out there, and I have never seen a better salesman to all the neighbors like, hello, do you love passion fruit? I know I do. Come on over. It was so funny. But they did a brilliant job. They made eight and they had a fall, and that is so good. But they were like, no, this passion fruit business mom, it's going to take off. And then they came to me this afternoon and they said, we need some chickens because I feel like we've got an egg business to be out the back of the backyard. And I, oh, guys, I love the entrepreneurship. I think that's amazing. I'll talk to dad
Danielle Lewis (24:55):
Right now we have a farm,
Mia Dickson (24:58):
You imagine. Oh my God. But yeah, seeing that they can create, again, a business is an equity out of nothing. So seeing that they can be able to do that in their mindset as well, I think more power to them. I think it's really cool that they're thinking along those lines. So yeah, it's really awesome to see.
Danielle Lewis (25:16):
Yeah. Oh my God, I love it. I remember, I don't remember this, but my mom telling me, I used to make up fake raffle tickets in preschool and make people buy them. She's like, you've been in bloody sales since day one
Mia Dickson (25:31):
Your whole life. Yeah, I love it. But it,
Danielle Lewis (25:35):
It's super interesting the way we get these different experiences. People go to uni, people just dive in. Amazing that your kids can get that in the family environment. So that's so awesome. So then my last question for you to wrap up our fabulous chat today. So lots of people dialing in might be struggling to take the leap into business. So is there any tip to getting started or thing that you wish you had of known before you started that you'd like to share with the Spark community?
Mia Dickson (26:12):
I think the biggest thing for me is to solve a problem.
Danielle Lewis (26:17):
Yes,
Mia Dickson (26:18):
And it might be your own problem. It might be your mom's problem, it might be your best friend's problem, it might be your husband's problem, whatever it is. Look into solving that problem, making it better for the person that needs it, because you can nearly guarantee there's going to be a community out there that is in the same boat. And once you've solved the problem, or even if you find a standard solution, how can you make that solution better? But once you've established that there is a solution there and that there is a market, then it's just really about putting yourself out there and taking that step to get yourself on TikTok. Not just making one video, making two and three and four and whatever the social media preference is, whether it be YouTube, whatever. But just putting yourself out there, sharing your story, solving the problem in each story that you are telling so that people understand where you're coming from. You're coming from a place of service and you're coming from a place of caring and nurturing that you are here to help better their experience as well. So I think that's the biggest thing, is solving a problem and then finding your tribe, finding the community that's going to help you as well, and that you can help them with your solution.
Danielle Lewis (27:33):
You are absolutely incredible. Mia, thank you so much for taking the time to share your story and your insights, the Spark community. I'm so grateful. You're incredible.
Mia Dickson (27:45):
Oh, thank you. Thank you for having me on. Like I said, I love making connections and everything like that. I feel friends, so it's awesome. So thank you for having me on.
Danielle Lewis (27:53):
Amazing.
