104: The Key to Success in Business + Learning, with Polyglot Bront’e Singleton

Kate Kordsmeier 0:00

Have you been wanting to start an online business, but you just have no idea where to where to start, maybe you're completely overwhelmed. You feel like you have a million different passions and ideas and you're not sure which direction to go, you've heard that you should pick a niche, you don't really know what that means or how to do it. And you just want to feel confident and get some clarity that you can actually do this thing. Well, I have some exciting news. And this is actually something we have never done before. On January 5 2023, we're going to be kicking off a 30 day sprint with anybody who is ready to make 2023 your best year yet. And finally, launch your website and your first offer out into the world setting you up for Success with Soul. We're going to give you select access inside the incubator to do your 30 day sprint. So you will be getting certain modules that will help you complete the checklist for what you need to do. There's going to be tons of accountability and support to make sure that you actually do the work. We know how isolating and lonely it can be sometimes when you're in this trying to figure things out by yourself. And so this is our solution to best serve you. The best part is you'll have guided support from our amazing program coordinator Rachel who will meet with you once a week and there's more you will also have access to all of our coaching calls and support during this 30 day period. So you do not have to do this alone. Sign up now to take advantage of the three payment plan option only available through the month of November. With just a $777 deposit you can secure your spot now and pay the balance off by January. Get all the details at Kate kordsmeier.com/sprint. We also have a pay in full option available where you'll save 20% Again you can get the details at Kate kordsmeier.com/sprint.

Indira 2:06

Welcome back to the Success with Soul podcast. I'm your guest host Indira with tiene que que and today we're doing another incubator client spotlight with us is Bront'e Singleton. She helps language learners get consistent with their language studies without feeling frustrated and overwhelmed. She's been learning languages for 10 plus years, and works with other language learners as a teacher, a mentor and a coach, all to help support them on their journey. She's the founder and creator of the polyglot project, a program that helps language learners create consistent steady routines, using systems and habits so they can finally start making progress in their language studies, improve their skills, and ultimately start using the languages they're learning. I am so excited to dive into this episode with y'all today. Let's do it. Bront'e, I am so excited to have you on the Success with Soul podcast. Please let our audience know who you are. Tell us about you a little bit about yourself, your business and your entrepreneurial journey. Absolutely. So

Bront'e Singleton 3:20

I am Bront'e Singleton. I am a language learning coach and mentor. I'm obsessed with learning languages. And I really want to help other language learners get consistent with their language studies so that they can actually start using the languages that they're learning. So outside of language learning, I am a huge reader. I love to read I read every single day I can't stop. And I also love video games and creative arts. I have too many interests to be honest.

Indira 3:48

I'm so curious how many languages do you know?

Bront'e Singleton 3:52

So right now? I think it's seven, seven languages. Not all to like complete fluency but so Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, American Sign Language and Russian are my two newest ones.

Indira 4:09

So in English.

Bront'e Singleton 4:11

Oh, well in English.

Kate Kordsmeier 4:12

Yes. Really? It's

Indira 4:13

eight languages.

Bront'e Singleton 4:14

Yes, absolutely.

Indira 4:16

That is the most amazing thing. I have always heard that. Knowing a lot of languages is the key to everything right to be able to really relate to someone I can tell you that when I travel, I don't speak English. I speak Spanish. And that really connects me with people like, immediately.

Bront'e Singleton 4:36

Absolutely, absolutely. I love that languages are able to bring people together and also open up opportunities for like information that you wouldn't have known before. New experiences that you wouldn't have had before. So I love it. That's my obsession.

Indira 4:52

I'm so curious. So like, what was your main reason for joining the incubator like what led you to the incubator? How did you discover Kate spilled the tea?

Bront'e Singleton 5:03

Absolutely. So I think it was somewhere in emails. I think in my my beginning journey, I was like downloading and signing up for everything business related. Because I was like, I don't know what I need, I don't know where to start. I'm just going to sign up for things and then see what like resonates with me and then what doesn't. But I ultimately signed up for the incubator because I want to create a business that is sustainable. I don't want to work for long hours every day, I was a teacher for years. And I left that teaching job to focus on the business full time. And I really just want to support other language learners create the content that I love, still learn languages myself, but also have a life outside of the business and be able to enjoy like relaxing and my do nothing to eat. So you know, so thank you beta really supports me and crafting a system that supports all of my goals, both professionally and personally.

Indira 6:02

I love that. So what was your biggest or what is the biggest risk that you've taken, or maybe your biggest challenge that you've had to overcome in your business?

Bront'e Singleton 6:14

Well, to the biggest risk was me quitting my job recently, to focus on this full time, you're all in all in definitely had like the tears and the like fear excitement building, but I knew that this was the next step that I needed to take. And then in terms of, like, risk outside of that, I launched a summit back in January, February, where I had to do my own interviews of Congress, learning mentors, and coaches and influencers. And that was big for me, because I had to do the entire summit myself, I had to like, create the assets and like, record the videos and get all the like VIP things ready for people who wanted that access. And the only thing that I had done before were interviews. So I was like, used to interviews, but everything else was new. So that was a lot for me. But it was a very, very good experience. And I love to

Indira 7:07

Yeah, talk about going outside of your comfort zone. Yeah, you know what, that's where the biggest growth happens, right? Absolutely. What immediate impact did being inside the incubator have on your business? Or, you know, what's been your biggest impact in general? Like, what are some wins that you can share with us?

Bront'e Singleton 7:29

Well, I think the biggest one, by far that kind of touches all the other wins is mindset, really helping me to, like see myself as a business owner, or businesswoman, being able to accept that everything's not going to be perfect. I'm a huge perfectionist. And I know that that's something I probably will always carry with me. But I use it strategically and being in the program immediately helped me to know, okay, this is when you get a little scrappy, and you know, you're imperfect. And so I'm not as hard on myself. And then this is the section where I can be a little bit more of a perfectionist and revamp and refine the thing that I already created. But yeah, I think mindset is the biggest thing.

Indira 8:10

I absolutely love that you say that. Because just even in our team meeting on Monday, we were having a conversation about that. And I said like, I think one of the biggest things that y'all offer inside the incubator, that is like not tangible, is the mindset. And yes, Bailey kind of starts there, right? It's that whole imposter syndrome. Like if you don't think you can do it, you're not gonna do it. So lately. Gosh, I love that. Are there any tangible wins that you?

Bront'e Singleton 8:41

Oh, yes, absolutely. So I guess the biggest one is I launched my evergreen funnel? Well, I guess to go backwards, I launched my course. I got some students, and then I put that on evergreen. So like the sequence of those things happened back to back over the course of three or four months. I think that's the

Indira 9:02

that's amazing. That's amazing, especially in the timeframe that you did it. And I'm so curious, what's your course.

Bront'e Singleton 9:11

So my course is the polyglot project. And it is a course that helps language learners builds that long term consistency. I have a four faces, some that I created, really just based off my own experiences. So getting clear on what it is you're trying to achieve with your language studies and why you want to learn creating a plan that actually worked for you and not like a plan that someone else is using for their language studies. Launching that plan and managing things like your time, your energy and your expectations, and then refining it, which is a huge part of like the process, figuring out what worked well, what didn't work, what do you need to add or change or modify? And then just like, continuing that cycle again,

Indira 9:51

so you launched your first course and did you live launch or tell me a little bit about the launch?

Bront'e Singleton 9:57

Yeah, so I definitely Live launched it to my audience on like Instagram and my email list. But when I try to think and feel so long ago, I was only Yeah, yeah, but my time, it just time is weird right now. But I launched it live. And I actually pitched it and like Instagram stories just saying like, Hey, I'm looking for some students. It was really, really scrappy, and really imperfect. And that way, so I had like a Google Doc, where I just wrote down all the different things that I wanted to share about, like who I am, what the program is all about, what are the things that are going to be included? And I use like a Google form for my application. And to the program, I shared lots of stories and emails, and I just was like, reaching out to people talking to my friends and saying, could you share this? So it was really just getting it out there to people and got my students?

Indira 10:55

And I'm curious, how big is your email list?

Bront'e Singleton 10:58

My email list is really tiny. So I have about 160 people. But from that email list, I got one student. And then from Instagram, I got another student. And one of the strategies I also use because this was my first launch is I asked a friend to join the program in exchange for a testimonial. So she's also someone learning languages, learning Japanese, and has been one of my biggest supporters in this process of building my business. And so that was a way that I could also get some feedback as well.

Indira 11:29

So did you launch it as a beta?

Bront'e Singleton 11:31

Yes.

Indira 11:32

Oh, yes, I did. Okay, so then I

Bront'e Singleton 11:35

created the content with the students as they were in the program.

Indira 11:39

Perfect. So I I'm so glad that you're saying that. So many people think that they have to have all the things done before they can talk about their course. Oh, yeah. And I just love that you took so much, Perfectly Imperfect Action, which got you to sales, and you're able to say like, Yes, I did it. And you know, now it's just a windfall of, you know, it's just gonna get better and better as your students give you feedback. And then you tweak here and there. Gosh, I love it. And then you turn that already into an evergreen funnel.

Bront'e Singleton 12:18

Absolutely. Yeah. So I, when

Indira 12:22

you're like, the most amazing incubator client, you're like, Yep, I'm gonna follow exactly what Kate says, which is exactly what Kate did with like Amy Porterfield, you she took digital course Academy, and she's like, I followed step by step what she told me to do, because she's done it. So I love this.

Bront'e Singleton 12:41

Yes, one of the biggest sort of, I don't want to call it a pressure. But one of the biggest reasons why I immediately went into putting for evergreen is because I'm still so low, I'm still doing all of this on my own. And I know that well, one, I have the offer validated because people bought the offer. And I have students now. So I really just wanted to make sure I had a system on the back end that supported people who were coming into the polyglot ether. So that I didn't feel overwhelmed. For me, it's really easy to get overwhelmed, and to try to do all the little pieces myself. And so creating evergreen, even though it took a lot of effort, a lot of moving pieces, I know that once it's set up, I don't have to actively manage it day to day. And then I can focus my time and attention on building community and connecting with other language learners and showing them what I do. And you know, all of those things.

Indira 13:35

I love it. So I guess this question, I don't know if we've almost covered it, but what immediate impact? Did being inside the incubator have on your business? Like immediate was the mindset, right? And then the biggest you would say, was the

Bront'e Singleton 13:54

course? Yeah, absolutely.

Indira 13:57

So how has your relationship to your business changed over the last six to 12 months?

Bront'e Singleton 14:04

I think overall, I'm kinder to myself, I think when I started, I was definitely in this mindset, like it has to work, and I'm gonna do the things XYZ and work this many hours to get this done. And once I work these hours, then I can rest in setup, you know, the amount of hours I wanted to work. And I think the immediate change was, oh, I don't have to, you know, post on social media three times a day, every day, you don't have to make three blog posts a week. So many emails, I can do what's sustainable for me. And that can change and that's fine. And it also helps because a lot of the things that I teach in my program are around the same mindset strategies. But it's almost harder for me to think about it for myself in a different context. So it plays a lot of the things that I knew inherently but in a different context. So I could be like, Oh yeah, you You know, you teach your students to like, take your time and do what works for you. And now the incubators seem to take your time. And so

Indira 15:10

I'm curious, do you use the cyclical living that we teach inside the incubator to kind of give yourself some time to like,

Bront'e Singleton 15:19

rest? Yes, absolutely. So I think the biggest way that I use it is when I'm ever feeling like, oh, I don't want to do this task, even though it was set on my schedule. That's when I refer back to the cyclical living. And I go, Oh, I'm clearly in this phase right now. So then let me just do that instead. And it's fine. And again, thinking about being kinder to myself, it helps me to be kinder to myself, because I used to think a lot about how I would interact with my community, or even just like networking. And there'll be days or even like a week, where I don't want to talk to anyone, and I feel bad about it. Like you're not, you don't know, you're not a good business owner, you're not a good person and not wanting to talk to other people. And then I had to learn that no, you're just in a phase right now where you just want to retreat and go into your like, hermit phase. And that's fine. First of all, I

Indira 16:12

love that you are giving yourself grace. I love that you are being kinder to yourself. And I feel like you can apply that to business and to your personal and that is a huge win. I love it. Lovely. So what would you say is like one word to describe your experience inside of the incubator.

Bront'e Singleton 16:36

I feel unbelievable. Just unbelievable, to encompass all the other things.

Indira 16:43

That's amazing. So you know, I've been doing these interviews highlighting our amazing incubator clients. And I've had people say community, I've had people say, team, and now here you are saying unbelievable. So that's amazing. As someone inside of Team KK, you have no idea how it makes me feel that we have clients that use these words to describe what we're trying to do. It's validating for us as well.

Bront'e Singleton 17:15

I, if I could be in this program forever, I'd be in this for like,

Indira 17:20

forever. This is meant to be forever. We forever. So Grunty now we're getting to the part of the podcast where we call the lightning round. And so I'm just going to ask you a set of questions. Don't overthink it, just whatever comes to mind. Okay. All right. So the first one is, what's your favorite way to make time for self care while running your own business?

Bront'e Singleton 17:46

Okay, so I tend to sprinkle self care throughout my day. Because when I try to set it as like a set time, for a long period of time, like an hour, even 30 minutes, I tend to go oh, well, I don't really want to do that right now, I want to do this business thing. But if I sprinkled it five minutes here and there, it adds up. And it also gives me that mental break away

Indira 18:06

from the work. I love that. And what is one tool or strategy that you use to help with time management.

Bront'e Singleton 18:14

So I use something similar to the Eisenhower matrix is actually set up in my notion because I use motion for everything, where basically every time I write down a task on my to do list, I map out the effort and the impact that it takes. So what is this called? Does

Indira 18:31

this have a name? I don't remember

Bront'e Singleton 18:32

what it's called. But if I remember the name of this share with you, but essentially, it's looking at, okay, and personally, how much effort is this task going to take? Low, medium, or high? And then what's the impact of that, and if the impact is high, for example, but the effort is low, then it's going to automatically set it up to say, do that right now. Because you know, it's necessary versus if it's low impact, and high effort, it's gonna go way down on the list of to dues, but know that it's still something that I probably should get done. And that helps a lot.

Indira 19:03

Yeah, that's amazing. And, you know, just so you know, once you start growing your team, you'll be able to delegate those to your theme, so that you are just focusing on low effort, high impact tasks. Yes. I like that. Actually. I think that's why I was like, Oh, is that like an app? But I guess that's just something that you would be to

Bront'e Singleton 19:27

think, I don't know if it was in like a book that I read or a website, but I know I adapted it on notion, but I would definitely look it up they would try to figure out the name and share it. So that's what you use

Indira 19:36

notion.

Bront'e Singleton 19:37

Yes, notion.

Indira 19:38

I love notion. It's, I'm a visual learner. So I, the look of notion is unlike any other project management, yes, by far.

Bront'e Singleton 19:49

Yes. I love the customizability and just like being able to create all the different pages and I'm also a tech person. So I like all the functions that I get to add to make it like Really meat and like extra functional?

Indira 20:02

Oh gosh, wow. You should teach notion inside of the incubator. Oh, like maybe have a have a guest session because yeah, I guarantee you there's a lot of people notion is one of those that people are like, Oh, I don't know, it's so different from asana and clickup. It's so different from Trello. It's just Monday, all of it. It's a very different app. Yeah. I love it. Love it.

Bront'e Singleton 20:30

Yes. Oh, yeah.

Indira 20:34

So speaking of you said, you read every day you love to read? I'm so curious, what's the most like powerful business or mindset or entrepreneurial book that you've ever read? Or that you reference again, and has made the biggest difference in your life?

Bront'e Singleton 20:52

Alright, see, I have it over here. It's like a show how much I actively use it. There are stickies all over atomic habits is the book that I absolutely love. Change. A lot of Yes, James clear. So this is a book that a lot of the ideas I already use in my language studies. And when I was crafting my framework, it was something that I already thought about. But atomic habits gave me the language to articulate those ideas, and also the strategies to help other people build their own habits for language learning. So all the time I'm referencing and pulling out quotes and pulling out examples.

Indira 21:29

Yeah, everyone in TKK. That's actually part of on our onboarding process. That's in our team K. K library, we've

Kate Kordsmeier 21:38

already

Indira 21:41

I love it. So this is mindset, which I love. Because it's one of the things that you have mentioned, what's your favorite quote, or mantra or affirmations? You know, like when things get tough, and you feel like giving up like you rely on

Bront'e Singleton 21:57

so I am a huge quote person. So it's hard for me to choose just one I actually wrote it down, can I share three,

Indira 22:04

so freakin literally.

Bront'e Singleton 22:07

So the first one is a quote that I have carried with me since I was 16, which is, success is largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go. And this is something that when I first decided I wanted to be a writer and write books, but I knew I had to hang on even though things that tough, so that I can see the success that I wanted. The next one is success doesn't come from what you do. Occasionally, it comes from what you do consistently, you know, the spirit of consistency. And then the one that I share all the time with my language learning friends and students is the day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit, to know that you have to put in the work now and you know, nurture that in order to see the result that you're trying to see. It's not going to happen quickly. Or it's not always going to happen quickly. But you still have to try and put in that work every day.

Indira 22:58

Bront'e, I'm gonna use that for my son. That's a good one, right? Because I feel like in this day and age, everyone has the I want it now syndrome. Yeah, that one feels very appropriate. The day you eat is not the day you see the fruit. I love that. So thank you so much for sharing that. And so finally, we're in the Success with Soul podcast, right? Yes. So what does Success with Soul mean to you?

Bront'e Singleton 23:26

So Success with Soul means to me achieving your goals and sort of building the habits of the kind of person you want to be both professionally and personally. But also staying true to who you are, you know, your voice, your vision, your heart. It's about connecting authentically with your community, but also remembering that you're still human, but you still have fears you still feelings. You know, you still need breaks, and really creating a system around what supporting you in achieving those goals. While also like managing your time your energy and your expectations like what's going to help you achieve your goals and also take care of yourself. And that's what I feel Success with Soul is all about.

Indira 24:11

I love that I think Kate would be thrilled that that's the way you identify with Success with Soul. Bront'e, please tell our audience where can they find you?

Bront'e Singleton 24:22

Absolutely. So you can find me on Instagram on Tik Tok, All at the polyglot Fox. I also created for any language learner who is trying to get consistent with their language studies. A masterclass where I talk about the reasons why language centers are stuck in not being able to stay consistent with their language studies, what they need to do instead and like the big mistakes that they're making, as well as my step by step process. So that's all at the polyglot fox.com/systems And I also just shameless plug that I share an additional guide so the top 10 and ways to boost your motivation as language learner. But I think these strategies work for boosting your motivation. Even outside of language learning. If you're just feeling like you're not able to get that inspiration to do a task, those are the 10 strategies that I recommend. So that's where you can find me everywhere.

Indira 25:17

Perfect. So we are definitely going to put all these links on the show notes so everyone can connect with Bronto. Jay, thank you so much for being on the Success with Soul podcast, you had been such a pleasure to get to know you to get to know your business. This is actually the first time I've ever heard of a business model like yours. And I'm thrilled because I'm a lover of languages myself. I'm so excited that you're inside the incubator, and I'm even more excited to see all the growth that is to come.

Bront'e Singleton 25:53

Thank you. I'm excited to

Indira 25:56

thank you so much. Vontae Thank you, Indira.

Kate Kordsmeier 26:02

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