We’re thrilled to present the latest addition to Afluencer’s content lineup – our podcast series featuring insightful conversations with influential brand owners. In this inaugural article, we have the privilege of introducing Stacey Wallenstein, the visionary founder of The Mint Chip Mama, as our esteemed guest.
Meet Stacey Wallenstein: The Mind Behind The Mint Chip Mama
Stacey Wallenstein, the innovative mind driving The Mint Chip Mama, takes center stage in the Afluencer podcast series. With a wealth of experience in the world of influencer marketing, Stacey shares captivating insights, challenges, and triumphs that have shaped her brand’s journey.
Podcast Premiere: Delving into the The Mint Chip Mama Universe
Join us in exploring the enchanting world of The Mint Chip Mama through the eyes of Stacey Wallenstein herself. We’ve embedded the riveting YouTube podcast video below, offering an exclusive glimpse into the transformative power of influencer marketing.
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Key Takeaways
00:00 📝 Stacey Wallenstein began mommy blogging in Manhattan in 2009.
04:09 💼 Manhattan life led to challenges, prompting Stacey’s move to Long Island.
07:51 🌟 Stacey turned her blog hobby into a digital marketing business, valuing her work.
09:13 💰 She stresses treating blogging as a job and setting clear prices for brand collabs.
12:37 🔄 Stacey prioritizes authentic collaborations with brands that align with her lifestyle.
16:34 🎾 She partners based on personal interests, like pickleball, for genuine content.
18:39 💻 Stacey stresses the blog’s importance for revenue through various monetization methods.
20:03 🌍 She plans to grow her blog’s travel section, prioritizing platform ownership.
21:00 📲 Stacey discusses adapting to shifting social media demographics, emphasizing audience alignment.
Transcription Insight: A Peek into the Conversation
Gain an insider’s perspective as we burrow into the transcription of our engaging conversation with Stacey Wallenstein. Discover the strategies, anecdotes, and wisdom that have fueled The Mint Chip Mama success, all captured in this in-depth transcription.
In Conversation with Stacey Wallenstein, Founder of The Mint Chip Mama:
Stacey:
I was living in Manhattan in 2009 and kind of just fell in with a group of people that were writers and bloggers really on the cusp of that, like Mommy blogging beginning just started like, you know, it was very organic in the beginning. My first thing that I wrote went up in the Huffington Post. This is now my job.
This is now my business. I have basically created a digital marketing company here. I need to, like, invest in myself. I drew the line in the sand. I get contacted all the time from so many different companies. And if it’s something that really doesn’t fit in my life and my lifestyle, I say no.
Brett:
Welcome to our Influencers podcast, where we connect small brands and e-commerce stores with the micro influencers and creators of today, such as Stacy Wallace and our guest here today, owner and blogger on the mentioned Mama. It’s a parenting and lifestyle blogger. Stacey shares great ideas and places to visit. Stacy is fresh in off a trip here as well, so we’ll get her thoughts on that.
And a rundown on the 8000 digital pictures that are on her phone that she needs to go through. So, Stacy, welcome. Can you tell us a little bit about what got you into this journey into the world of blogging and becoming the mention of mama?
Stacey:
Yes, of course. So thank you so much for having me. First of all, this is really exciting. So I was living in Manhattan in 2009 and I got pregnant and started becoming friends with all these women and going to all these events, pregnancy events, which until you get there, you don’t realize that there’s like this whole world of these people and these incredible events and just all these awesome companies.
And I started just meeting all these wonderful people and kind of just fell in with a group of people that were writers and bloggers, women, you know, really this at this ages me and date me, but really on the cusp of that, like mommy blogging, beginning the birth of mommy, blogging, if you will, the whole.
Brett:
That’s good. My job.
Stacey:
Thank you very much. Thank you so much. And it just started like, you know, it was very organic in the beginning where I went to events and then, you know, certain people started writing for different newsletters and calendars and, you know, websites, blogs, pages, all different things like that. And so I was writing here and there for a bunch of different people.
And then when I was pregnant with my second, I’m an only child and when I was pregnant with my second, I was at an event and I was having a conversation with another only child. And I had this like light bulb moment about my life and I mean, I was pregnant like eight months pregnant, and I was about to have a second child giving my daughter a sibling.
And yet I was an only child and kind of had this like crazy brain moment where I was like, how am I going to have siblings raise siblings as someone that has no frame of reference on that? And I turned to my husband having this whole, like, you know, brain moment, and he was like, You should write about this.
And I’m like, What are you talking about? I’m not a writer. And he’s like, You should write about it. So my first thing that I wrote was how to be a mom of siblings as an only child. And that went up in the Huffington Post and that started this is 2013, and I started writing for them and I wrote for them for a couple of years, which was really fun.
And then in 2014, we moved out to Long Island, where I am now. And while you.
Brett:
Stayed in Manhattan for for four years, five years with it.
Stacey:
So my daughter.
Brett:
Your second child and Matt said.
Stacey:
Well, no. So the second one. So we had my daughter. My daughter was almost four when we moved out here. So the baby was three months old. But she, you know, having your second one at almost four means that you have like a big title, Like she was a legit only child for a while. So anyway, I never thought that I was the kind of person that wanted to have kids in the city.
And I never thought that that was going to be a lifestyle that was right for us. And then it ended up being amazing because when she got out of that baby period where she needed, you know, a stroller and a bag with a million things, it was like the two of us against the city. And it was awesome.
Like I had a crossover bag. I threw in snacks, I threw in, you know, hand sanitizer and whatever else. A mom needs the minimum stuff. And we hopped on the bus, we helped on the subway. And we were I took her to the Met every Saturday for a class. We went downtown. We went uptown. We were left. We went right.
It was incredible. But we had this awesome life. And then when my son came along, I was like, Oh God, I need a stroller. And now to walk her to school, I Oh, and it became crazy. So at that point, right before we had him, we had bought this house. So we were really, you know, we went, we lived I lived in Manhattan for 13 years, so I went from, you know, dancing on tables till 3:00 in the morning to meeting my husband and going out to, like, fancy dinner parties with our friends to, you know, being young parents, exhausted, not leaving our apartment to, you know, desperately wanting to go out for dinner, remembering
the life we had. And I feel like Manhattan is one of those places that is very expensive. But if you’re not taking advantage of it, you don’t need to live there. So we moved out to Long Island and I was very hyper focused on getting a swing set because I said, after all of these years of packing up everything you can imagine and walking to a park, I want to open the door and let my kids out like a dog.
I know so and so. I bought a gigantic swing set I needed like I was joking. I made my dad come because I was like, I feel like I need an adult to approve an expense this expensive. And we had a great swing set and we moved to Long Island. And then over the summer my daughter was in camp, my son was asleep and I was like, I really just want to do my own thing, you know?
I love writing for these different outlets. I love writing for posts, but I want to kind of combine both of them. And that is how the Chip momma came about and I launched it. So talking about like things you’ve learned, right? So I launched it thinking it would be 30 days of my favorite things, thinking this would be so easy because I have so many favorite things.
Not realizing how much goes into a blog post, goes into writing a blog post, finding the pictures, doing all that. And this was like before I upgraded my site and it was like as basic as it could be. And so I launched it. I started writing the series and then it was really just a hobby. It was a way for me to put together reviews of products from from events and things that we love and things that we use and things that were said to me, places to go, all of that.
And then I kept having children. I kept being, you know, occupied by raising my children. And then when my youngest so I had a sober baby in 2016, a bonus of baby. And then when he went to kindergarten two years ago, I said, I want to look for a job. And I started looking for all these different things that I could do and realized that I had eight years of this content that I had been slugging away with.
And I said, I don’t want to have a proper job. I’ve basically created a digital marketing company here. I need to like invest in myself. And I feel like that’s hard as a woman and as a blogger. And this is a world in which didn’t exist when we were in college. I don’t I’m not quite sure how old you were, but I actually speak on this subject that I have a degree in psychology, a master’s in psychology.
But this didn’t exist. It’s not like I went to school wanting to be a content creator or a blogger. A writer existed, but never, you know, something like this. So I really kind of, you know, said that I want to give this a go. And I, I my line is I drew the line in the sand and I said, this is now my job.
This is now my business. This is now my company. Let’s go. And, you know, I’ve been very lucky. It’s been great. And with that said, what that means for me on, like a back end kind of place is I work very, very hard. I spend a lot of time. I put a lot of effort into all of these things.
I deserve to be paid for my work and for my time. And, you know, I think this whole concept of blogger and content creator and influencer, which I hate that word so much, is, you know, this idea that someone holds something up and makes a duck face and they have 10 million followers and, you know, go on a yacht because they’re so rich and and I come at it from a perspective of someone that has 20 years business experience, customer service experience, and realize that what this actually is, is a digital marketing service and it is an advertising service and a videography service and a photography service.
And, you know, just the humanized version of a brand. And so I put so much time and effort into all of these things. And, you know, the concept comes up very often of, Oh, did you get that for free? And I’m trying to actually rebrand that to both my friends and my family and anyone else that brings it up where I say they sent this to me in exchange for my work.
So much like the concept of if someone works at a bank every two weeks, they get paid because their time is in exchange for their money. My time is in exchange for the money as well. Except instead of money, maybe they’re sending me shoes or sending me, you know, a hotel room or something like that.
Brett:
How did you make that transition there, Stacy, from just blogging and creating the content and to turning it into a business, Like you said, digital marketing, far right companies make money, income products are absolutely right. Types of compensation. How did that work for you in terms of the first collabs, if you will? I don’t know all that back then, but in that process, like for you.
Stacey:
So I think a lot of it is just like declaring it, which sounds kind of funny, but, you know, I get contacted all the time from so many different companies. Oh my God, we want to send you this bottle of vitamins and all you have to do is make 15 videos and send us raw images. And I’m like, Are you kidding me?
You know, it’s really just saying what I’m doing is a job. And even though it’s like this kind of new version of an advertising agency, this is this is a job. And I started referring to it as a digital marketing agency instead of just my blog, because people roll their eyes at that and really just believing that what I’m doing is I’m servicing clients and I’m creating content around, you know, what they’re looking for.
I feel that the whole concept of UGC, you know, user generated content has kind of almost verified that this is something that’s something instead of just like making a video about, you know, a toy. But I think it’s just saying, yes, I would love to work with you. Here are my prices. And if they come back and say, I’m sorry, that’s too much, say either okay, next time or what works for you.
But, you know, I think, again, like we don’t want to say no because it feels weird to say no. But also there’s power in saying no. And you also have to respect your time and your money. And I think when I do say yes to things that I’m like, fine, I’ll just do it for a little less, because whatever, it always ends up coming back to bite me because they always become a super demanding client, or I end up, you know, spending double the amount of time.
But like I have, I don’t want, say, horror stories because it’s not like it’s horrible, but just, you know, ridiculous stories where I’ll get reached out for a campaign with absolutely no direction. I have been doing this quite some time. I write back, I say, What are your deliverables? What are your this? What are your that? Give me some sort of guidance because I want to provide for you in the end exactly what you’re looking for.
Oh, nothing. Do whatever you want.
Brett:
Okay. Yeah. So, Stacey, on in terms of brands contacting you, are you getting more collabs when they reach out to you or are you pursuing types of collabs brands that you want to work with? How is that working today from your perspective?
Stacey:
Check. So I think something that’s very important for someone that lives in this space is authenticity and creativity. I feel that, you know, now that this industry has grown somewhat on Instagram, for example, people know if you’re fake, and at least I think so. And so the way that I kind of structure this is I get contacted all day long from different brands.
And if it’s something that really doesn’t fit in my life and my lifestyle, I say no because I don’t want it to look like all of a sudden I’m talking about dog food because that just makes no sense in my life. Equally, I find it very interesting when brands contact me and say, you know, they feel that my contact is right in line with theirs, but then they want me to do something.
And I say, If you actually looked at my content, you would see that’s not my style at all. And an example of that is I don’t do voice overs. I do like fun, really light hearted videos. I just want people to be smiling short, you know, usually 15 seconds with a happy, uplifting audio, not voice over. So when someone says that’s what they want, I’m like, You didn’t really investigate who I am.
So that’s why that’s interesting.
Brett:
So do you find that Do you sense that they’re kind of new to the field of create or marketing? I would say from our perspective in working with the brands, they’re maybe experienced in doing other types of online marketing. But most of and maybe this is just this is what my phone calls are, but most phone calls are with people who, even though they’re our experience, marketers, are brand new to the social media staff.
They are they call it influencer. We know it’s more content creation, but it feels like it’s new and they’re still kind of feeling their way through it. Does that kind of jibe with your experience?
Stacey:
Yeah, I think so. And and it is new. That’s the truth. And what I was going to say is the other half of how I am. So, so half the time brands contact me. And if it sounds something that totally fits in my life, I say, Great, let’s do it. Here are my prices. But really what I love more than anything else in the way that I love partnerships more than anything else is I love to figure out what I want to do in my life and then reach out to the brands.
And, you know, talking about that, this is a new medium, but an old platform, let’s say, straight up, cold calling, straight up, you know, advertising. So, you know, to bring in the fact that we just went on a trip, we just got back from Iceland, which is has been my dream destination for 20 years. So I made an itinerary.
And this is the same as the trip I did last year. I made up my itinerary. I did all of my research myself, and then one by one, I found the contact information for every place that we went, every restaurant, every hotel. And I reach out to them, I pitch them good old fashioned sales pitching. And the way that I am then using my media is new, but it’s the same as if I said, Hey, do you want to take an ad in my newspaper?
It’s 1857 or something. And that’s how I really love to get partnerships. And I have to be honest with you, sometimes when I do it that way, I’m a little bit more loose about the payment aspect of it, because I do feel that if you are, you know, giving me a hotel room for two nights, that’s to me is the barter.
I’m cool with that. But I also feel like that’s really interesting and organic and I am the kind of person that when I go away or when I go somewhere, I love to find the hidden gems. I love to find the off the beaten path, which has become a joke in my family. My daughter was always like, Where’s where we going?
Off the beaten path? But I love doing that. And I find that that’s so much more interesting than saying like, Oh, here’s the place. Everyone goes like, I went to a place called Disney World. Have you heard of it before? So I enjoyed that. You know, like we just got into pickleball. So I have a client that has been awesome with baseball and softball.
I found out they have a whole range of pickleball stuff too, So I reached out to them and said I would love to partner with You want pickleball stuff now because that’s something really going on in my life. And also I feel like it’s such a value add to my clients because it’s not like they’re sending me, you know, a lot of chapstick and I use it once and that’s it.
Like, I’m going to be out there playing all the time. I’m going to be creating genuine organic content. They’re going to get so much of an ROI, they’re not even going to know what to do with themselves. So I like to find clients that way. You know, I talk about one of my first clients was a shoe company that I would buy shoes with all the time for my children.
And I remember someone said, Are they paying you? And I said, No. But they sent me shoes for the first day of school for my kids. And whereas that wasn’t money, I would have gone to the store to buy them. So it’s almost like it just saved me the trip of going. So I hope that that answers the question in two different ways.
Brett:
It does, Yeah. Excellent. Excellent. Yes. Stacy. Then I’ll get you out of here on this time. So just kind of looking ahead, where do you see this evolving? I mean, you’ve been there and I saw it evolve to when I graduated college, 2003 and mid-October. I remember blogging. Right. And then blogging turned into you had the blog, which you had a social media stuff to drive to the blog.
And then some people started doing social media only. Where do you see this going from here and how do you picture yourself kind of evolving the midshipmen as you grow your agency in the years ahead?
Stacey:
So that’s a great question because I was at an event recently and someone’s like, Dude, you know, the Internet Mom, I she’s one of the OG mom bloggers. And I was like, Oh.
Brett:
That’s awesome.
Stacey:
So I thought that was fun. And also I recently posted a blog post and someone was like, Oh my God, you’re still blogging? And I was like, Oh, I didn’t realize that not blogging was an option. You know? I think one of the beautiful things and one of the challenges of this world right now that we are in is there are so many different directions, right?
So like when you live in this space and this is your job, where do you put your time and money and where do you see the most return? Right. So like the blog is excellent and I have had drilled into my head over and over and over again. And this is something that I would say to anybody thinking about starting this.
The blog is the only thing I own. The blog is the only thing you own. The blog is yours. Instagram isn’t yours, Facebook isn’t yours, Pinterest isn’t yours. Any of these sites are not yours. And we are. I’m part of this amazing media network and we had a call the day after that big like blip a couple of years ago where like, remember that we’re met?
I don’t even know if it was Metta at the time, but they like.
Brett:
Yeah, right. They were down, significantly down.
Stacey:
Right? So I’ve been working for six years on getting my Instagram to be where I want it to be. And that day there was just a blip. And it’s possible if it didn’t come back on Gone Right, And we had this call the next day where this woman who is this incredible mentor was talking about your blog, your blog, your blog.
So she was trying to just keep us to remember that all this time we’re spending on all these different social media sites really should be spent investing in ourselves. Now, why is that on our blogs, we have monetized sales as we have different clicks. We have affiliate marketing, affiliate marketing, you know, and passive income is like my absolute favorite thing in the world.
So I don’t ever think my blog will will stop because I feel like that’s such a nice revenue source for me. I also really do enjoy writing the bigger pieces. So like we just had February break in New York, excuse me, we just had February break in New York and I wrote like 20 things to do for free or inexpensive for families over February break.
And these pieces, when I write them like I have no intention of writing them sometimes. And then I’m like talking to a friend and she’s like, What should I do over break? And I’m like, I should write a piece about this. So I really do see that I will like to continue at the blog. I really feel for myself.
I have I’m passionate about travel and I used to be a big traveler. Then I had kids, then my kids got a little older. Then we started traveling. I would like to see the travel part of my blog and my, you know, digital marketing agency grow. I think that it’s so important to keep your own thing because you own it.
I think the social is you need. I think the social is drives beautiful traffic to your blog, but I think it’s a multi prong. I also think it’s hard and I and I’m in networking groups where we discuss this over and over which socials are the most important right? So like everything is moving to tick tock, but then is tic tac going to be cut off?
You know, so, you know, Pinterest is a huge driver to your blog, but is it, you know, that there’s threads in these new things and, you know, if you’re doing this day in and day out, do you want to start creating a whole new do you want to keep reinventing the wheel every place? So I don’t know. You know, and then you’re told Instagram’s for old people and Facebook is for older people.
Brett:
So is that right now with Instagram? I’ve heard for Facebook, I didn’t know Instagram is now being lumped in. I guess I’m an old person now that Instagram.
Stacey:
But here’s the thing. Instagram is for old people coming from a 13 year old. So that would mean like a 20 year old is old, but also this is what I say to everyone that asks this question Who is the audience that you’re trying to reach and where are they? Because I’m 45. So if someone that’s old is looking at my content on Instagram and then going to go buy the product, that’s my audience because I’m old, I’m not.
Right.
Brett:
Right.
Stacey:
To get a 30.
Brett:
Yeah, that’s a brand. That’s what brands want. They don’t necessarily why what are really trying to reach 13 year olds.
Stacey:
I don’t need to be on Snapchat. I don’t Oh God, I no, I don’t care. You know so I think that and honestly, as much as Facebook is for old people, Facebook, even though I have a small following, is one of my most active areas because that’s the people that like started with me and that’s my engaged audience.
So the answer is you have to be everywhere all at once. And you know, it’s just you get cross-eyed.
Brett:
Yeah, it’s a lot, right? But you pick your battles and I understand that about the blogs. I always feel that’s still how it is. That’s your lady. So that’s your real estate, that’s yours, and that’s what you monetize. And you rent out these units, right? That’s kind of your affiliate marketing, right? That’s your that’s your space. And you get the traffic that Google sends to you because you’re the OG, one of the OG mom bloggers.
Right? You just got that authority that nobody could ever take away, which is awesome versus someone who just, you know, you can build up an Instagram or of a following quick, but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything, right, from that last thing perspective. So Stacy, thanks so much. How can people find you and follow you online and on the blog and on the socials here?
Stacey:
So I’m at the mint chip Mama across all platforms and the mint chip mom I dot com and it’s mami. So the mint chip mama, everywhere you can find anything the.
Brett:
Excellent and we’ll get the links down here below the show notes so get your influencer profile link as well. Stacey the OG mom, one of the OG mom lawyers. Thanks so much for joining us. We said, Mama.
Stacey:
Thank you so much.
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Reflecting on a Journey of Innovation and Influence
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