Ep. 43 (Part #2) with Nikki Jacquin from Nikki’s Portraits of Childhood

Barb 0:00
Today’s guest is especially timely. Jess is going to tell us a little bit about some of the ideas she has to help kids keep busy to help parents enjoy parenting. It’s tough when you’re parenting kids 24/7. Or maybe they’re in school, and they’re still coming home and they’re looking for things to do. So our guest today is going to talk about her business called Stay n Play Parenting. And tell us a little bit about how she got into it. First off, first off, Jess, welcome to the show. We have Jessica Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting. Welcome. Thank you. It’s a pleasure to have you here today. Tell me a little bit about Stay n Play Parenting, it wasn’t a business I had heard about until you reached out to me.

Jess 0:51
So Stay n Play Parenting is a parent education company that helps parents find joy in their parenting journey. We offer a variety of classes including positive discipline, parenting classes, one on one parent coaching, party time webinars, baby sign language classes, activities, classes, such as Wrigley tots, which is a fun hands on hands on weekly class for that, usually about that 10 month and up kind of age where they’re just starting to explore their world get into it, and so on and so forth.

Barb 1:23
And I think if I recall correctly, from some of our conversations, we talked in email a bit, you actually got into Baby Signing because one of your kids needed the signing. Is that right?

Jess 1:34
Yes. So our eldest, she was diagnosed with a hearing loss when she was 16 months, okay, and we should sign in with her right away. So that way we could give her access to communication. My personal background isn’t early childhood education. So I knew that it was important for her to have an A language output and input so that we could understand what she was going on. And it really helped us because she had a lot of difficulties programming, her hearing aids, and so getting them to the level that she needed. So it gave her a method of communication. And now it’s seven, she’ll switch between the two. We have, we have two other children. Okay. And our came after her and both of them signed. So our middle started signing when he was about nine months. And he’s now five. And it’s really fun to watch him switch between the two languages to so he will use sign sometimes. And he will use spoken language depending on the situation. Right? And, and if he’s talking to his big sister, like, if she doesn’t have her hearing aids on for the day, he’ll be trying to talk to her and you have to remind No, no, like, she doesn’t have her hearing aids and you have to sign so then he’ll make that switch. And he will sign with him. Yeah, that’s pretty cool. But

Barb 2:50
So we use baby sign language as well, for completely different reasons. Our eldest is adopted. And so when she was adopted, she came from Africa. And she had some basic language skills, because she was almost two, but of course, had no English whatsoever. And so for the first well, for the first number of months, we were using baby sign language to help her then develop some English language skills. We a little bit more about your classes. Like what what kind of happens in a class.

Jess 3:22
So in the baby sign language classes, they are a seven week program, and each class is about 45 minutes. So during that seven week time, we’ll learn science. So there’s, there’s currently two different classes, there’s baby signing time purple and baby signing time blue, and they learn different signs within each curriculum. And so there’s a variety of classes, or a variety of signs that are taught within each one, both of them cover food, because that’s what parents are most interested in as food as well as bedtime. Mm hmm. Those are the only two that overlap between the two classes. And then between them, we learned about science for outside things that go animals feelings within about family members, as well as just opposites and some of those first kind of words that they might need to be able to communicate with their little one. Yeah. And we learned through like hands on Play. So we actually have materials that we play with our babies learn to play with our babies. Because I remember when I first was born, that like, I didn’t really know what to do with her. Because you’re kind of like little potatoes, right? Like they don’t really do much. That’s all you do. And so in the class, you learn how to play with them and how to engage with them and help their developments in that way. As well as actually learning the signs so that way we can communicate.

Barb 4:49
Okay, that’s awesome. One of the things that I remember from our early conversations when we planned to meet at the radio station was what One of the reasons or one of the impetuses for you starting your business was you were seeing parents not enjoying the parenting journey. And like that really made me sad, because parenting should be fun. Having a family should be fun. Absolutely. There are times, but But tell me about, you know, tell me about what you were thinking when you made that decision.

Jess 5:27
So, so prior to making the switch to parent education, I was doing preschool I had a preschool business. And that’s where I was seeing a lot of parents would come in, and then they were frustrated about things. They didn’t know how to, to find that joy within parenting, because I see parenting in the same way as you do that it’s supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to be something that we’re enjoy, take pride in and stuff like that. But that doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be those low moments. And I feel I feel that parents have this expectation that parenting is always supposed to be up here. And it’s all stored at that bar. That’s when they start to get really upset, and they start to get frustrated. And they don’t find that joy anymore. Yeah, but parenting is a roller coaster, as you know, right? We have days where it’s like, this is the best, right? This is the greatest thing. And then you have days where like this was a stupid idea.

Barb 6:24
Right. But what role do you think then that some of these social pressures are playing in the expectation that it has to be up here?

Jess 6:33
Oh, I think there’s a huge role in those expectations based on social media based on what we’ve seen in like, the media itself within TV shows and stuff like that, especially in social media, because people don’t want to feel vulnerable. Right? They don’t want people to know that they’re feeling vulnerable within a situation that they’re encountering. And so they’re always showing, always showing those high, those high moments. Which can kind of have a detrimental effect on somebody who’s probably going through a low moments at the time. Yeah, so they see that okay, my friend here is having an awesome time. And they’re doing great in this parenting gig. And I’m, you know, I’m over here, and I’m struggling, and I don’t know what to do. Yes,

Barb 7:17
Yes, exactly. You know, the kids are at school right now. And I see lots of parents posting, oh, here’s the fun activity we did. Here’s the learning activity we did. And my business is still operating. So you know, I’m not just hanging out with the kids playing games, doing activities, sending them, you know, out to do fun activities. And I do I feel a little bit guilty. It’s like, oh, I should be enriching this time with them when I shouldn’t be spending it. That’s like, you know what, at the end of the day, I do sit down with them in the evenings and we’ll hang out, we’ll watch TV, we’ll go for walks, we’ll do that kind of stuff. And so, that’s my bar right now, what I like to be able to be up here. Sure. But then what do I do? You know, from a business standpoint, what do I do from a client standpoint, you have to balance it. And you know, at the end of the day, I don’t think my kids are gonna grow up and go, there was that time we were off school and moms still work, right? They’re not going to go back and do that. They’re gonna be like, Yeah, good. No school, and that was awesome. That’s what they’re gonna remember. Right? So it is, and you’re balancing your business. So how do you find that balance? Oh, and actually have to.

Jess 8:34
Sometimes, honestly, sometimes my husband does get brushed aside more often than the kids do. But we have an open communication, and we can talk about it. We try to plan, you know, date nights and try and do things together. But we don’t have kids, or just as family. And one of the positive discipline parenting classes, we talk about kind of that balance, right, of finding that balance between the roles that we have as mums and dads, the roles that we have, as contributing members of society, our volunteer rules, whatever the case may be, that you have on your plate, by by setting apart what’s called special time to spend with our kids. Yeah. So positive discipline understands that parents can’t be there all the time for the kids, right? We can’t keep them entertained. They have to learn to entertain themselves sometimes. But they still need that connection and that love and that, that social interaction that come with being in a family. Absolutely. So so in our home, we set a special special time so each kiddo I’ll spend a couple of minutes throughout the day with them maybe multiple times throughout the day, so that way, they just have that connection that they need. If I have absolutely nothing to do that day, well then yeah, that’s the day that we’re going to do something super fun like well bake. The other day we made a marble track and of hot glue and cardboard and I Have no hot glue that like, used up all the hot glue to make this marble track. But they loved it, they thought that was the best thing napping. But there already is that it’s like a mummy has to do this and mommy has to get this brick down to the I needed to go play. I’d be really excited to spend some time with you. Once I’ve done this. Yes. So once once they understand that, then that can really help ease off some of that guilt.

Barb 10:27
I really liked the idea that you guys have, you know, designated Monday nights every other Friday night. I know lots of families do a special supper on Friday nights, where they’ll do family game night on Friday nights. So there’s that dedicated, committed time. And I find with my kids because they are a little bit older. And typically, you know, busy with hockey and swimming in all the activities. There’s, there’s no one night that we can count on anymore. So instead, we’ve gotten to a place where you know, Friday nights, we do tend to have some sort of special supper, simply because everybody does have to eat. But you know, sometimes it’s not all four of us. Sometimes it’s only three or two or whomever. And, you know, what I’ve really tried to do with my kids is they want help now. And lots of times I’m not available now. And so it’s when I’m done at this time, and my son is really good mum, what time your meetings done today, when am I going to be able to get help? Hey, my meetings go till three. Okay, I won’t come back till three and he will he’ll leave me alone. But at 301 He’s going to be at the door. So I better be ready to go super quick. Okay, just believe it or not, we are out of time already. These are the shortest, fastest episodes. And so just quickly, can I get you to share all of your business contact information, your website, your social channels, how would people find you register for a class, that kind of thing.

Jess 12:06
So all the registrations are done online on our website, which is www dot stay, then the letter N Play parenting.com. It’s all done online. So it can be done at anybody’s convenience, middle the night doesn’t matter. You can always send it in that way, as well as we are on Facebook. So Stay n Play Parenting on Facebook, we like to share just some kind of pick me ups in there. Some words of advice and words of wisdom, kind of all those things might need to get through the day, because some days are harder than others. Right? Absolutely. And that’s that’s just the way that parenting goes. So we’d like to try and help parents get through those hard times in that day. By posting things online so that way you can just kind of be that little extra push that they might need to get through that dilemma.

Barb 12:55
And I’d like to thank everyone for tuning in today. With Jess Tiefenbach from Stay n Play Parenting here in Regina. You’re listening to the Secret Life of entrepreneurs, a 91.3 FM CJ ter Regina community radio. I’d like to welcome Nikki Jacquin to the show now. And she’s going to tell us a little bit about her business. Nikki’s Portraits of Childhood. And one of the things that she already shared with me was her business has evolved to be so much more than just Portraits of Childhood. So first off, welcome, Nikki.

Nikki 13:36
Well, thanks, Barb for having me. I really appreciate this.

Barb 13:39
Yeah, I’m really looking forward to our conversation today. So let’s talk a little bit more about how your business has changed and evolved. You You must have started specifically working on portraits of childhood. And that has changed. So tell us about that.

Nikki 13:57
Well, I paint all family members, whatever their age, but then things evolved into art classes. And one particular art class I was teaching was a cafe sketchbook tour class where we go to different coffee houses. And the students at the end of the class said this was so much fun. We should do this in France, you should do this in France and that evolved into my international painting holidays. So I’ve taken two groups to France to to Cuba, and my fourth one to Cypress Hills hopefully will be set to go this summer in July. And after that. I had a company from Montreal approached me about producing my artwork on my clothing on their clothing. Okay.

Barb 14:42
So tell me about that. That’s very interesting to me. You’re taking groups to to France and Cuba so what would agree?

Nikki 14:52
Well, I think it’s important for us to connect and to have my students not only connect with other artists in our group, but also with the artists in the country we’re going to so in Cuba, for example, we visit. Each time we go, we visit you to Fidel faith, and she’s one of Cuba’s international artists. So she’s just wonderful. We see her studio, she closes it up, takes just my group through to see her studio in her home, which is all in one building. And we set up on her third floor open air patio that overlooks you can see the Caribbean ocean, the Escambray mountains, and she just sits in talks with us about what it is to live as an artist.

Barb 15:35
Whereabouts in Cuba is she?

Nikki 15:38
She’s in Trinidad.

Barb 15:40
Oh, okay. Oh, what an eight. Wow. Okay. All right. So let’s talk a little bit about your your business locally. What sort of classes do you teach? Who are your students? And how would someone you know register to take your class with you?

Nikki 15:58
Well, currently, I was teaching at the Neil bulk while only and then some private lessons so people can reach me through my website Nicky’s portraits.com. Okay, and, and then if they subscribe to my newsletter by clicking the QR button, they’ll be automatically notified about upcoming classes. Like the Neil Ball coil is closed right now. So I’m trying to take the classes online through I tried zoom. And I think I’ve settled on using Facebook live now.

Barb 16:27
Okay. Yeah. And Facebook Live is is kind of neat, because you can you can share your screen. And you can, you know, show the the students a lot of the work that you’re doing, I suppose then Right.

Nikki 16:40
And it allows them to replay it the video as well and pause it when they they need to. So I think,

Barb 16:47
yeah, because you can go back and you can watch again and things like that. Yep, that makes perfect sense. What kind of artwork are you doing? I’ve seen samples of your work. So I know there’s some really intricate detail. But what if someone was going to register for a class? What kind of class could they expect?

Nikki 17:08
Well, right now, I am doing beginner drawing from five year olds on up to adult, the adult classes how to draw pets. And then I also have a step by step acrylic class. Okay, it’s gonna be burning up.

Barb 17:26
You tell me about your kids classes. I know, kids are at a school right now. Tell me about kids classes and what they could register for?

Nikki 17:33
Well, I have occasional free ones coming up. And so if they subscribe again, they’ll know when those are happening. And I’ll send them information and links on how to access those videos. And then the low cost ones are $5. And recently, I had a group from I forget which little town it was, but there were six of them all different ages crowded around one cell phone that their mum was using. And I said, Do you have a laptop or a computer. So that was a fun, fun time with them.

Barb 18:07
You know, that’s a fantastic idea. One of the things I have seen recently is, I’m going to say a sketch artist is doing like a doodle class for kids online right now. And I keep meaning to log into that my son is getting quite interested in drawing. And he’s taken a binder and it’s just pencil drawings, but some of it is really good Nicky. And so we’re trying to encourage it. So I’ll have to go and subscribe to your website after we’re done today. Because I think, enjoy, you know, sitting down and doing a classroom learning a little bit. It’s neat to watch, especially with kids, how their interests evolve. So they go from, you know, sports to music back to something else to drawing like, all over as they find their groove. Right. Right. So how did you find your groove? How did you at what point in your life did you wake up and go, I’m going to be an artist. I’m going to run an art business. I’m going to run three different Facebook pages because I don’t want to sleep.

Nikki 19:09
You know me? Well, it started early. I remember I wanted to be an astronaut first because I grew up when the astronauts were landing on the moon and then later on I started getting up early with my dad and went before he go off to work. I’d sketch the squirrels on the peanut butter jar. And my parents always just made materials available to encourage me. And then I thought maybe an architect so I was taking all the science and drafting obviously I had no imagination. I just started at the letter A and never got to be

Barb 19:46
Cute. That’s really cute. You know, and I imagine your mom’s kitchen sort of permanently covered in newspaper because I know every time the paint or the really like thick markers come out of like where’s the paint Paper, we’ve got to get paper out.

Nikki 20:02
Yeah, no, she never did. I don’t recall us covering the table. Maybe we did. I don’t

Barb 20:08
Know. And honestly, the irony of it is, so my mom always, you know, had the news anytime I like touched a craft supply, you know, there was this big to do about preparation. And so that’s where I kind of get the behavior from. But the irony is, all of our countertops are granite. And so even if they did, you know, paint through, it’s gonna wake right off. But it’s that immediate panic is apparent. It’s like, Oh, I get the drop Cheeto get everything ready?

Nikki 20:39
Yeah, with kids, usually we use removable materials on permanent. Exactly, you can clean them up within a half hour at least. Yeah,

Barb 20:49
I remember one time when the kids were little. We’re letting them all say finger paint. But in all honesty, it was body pain. And so we took this great big sheet of paper that was probably five feet wide, and ran it down the length of the table. The kids were in nothing but their diapers. And then we put pots of paint out. And literally, like they were covered head to toe in paint by the time they were done. And I pictures, because my son had one foot that was completely pink, and one foot that was completely blue. But they were the neon colors. So you knew how long those take to kind of wear off. I was like, Okay, well, you gotta go with it. Sounds like fun. It was it was tons of fun. So, tell me a little bit about about you. Like what? What drives you to keep going? We’ve of course, you know, gone through some tough times lately. So what keeps you going? Where’s your spark coming from Nikki?

Nikki 21:55
Hmm. Well, my hope comes from my faith in Jesus, first of all, so I do believe we’re going to any any challenge that presents itself to me, I look to Him for hope. My little bit like a mouse and amaze, I’m like, and I do look for direction, you know, so hopefully wasting my time.

Barb 22:18
Yeah, well, and it’s so true that, as a small business owner, you’re constantly bumping into obstacles. So, so to feel like, Oh, this is an obstacle I can’t overcome. That’s not necessarily true, right? There’s always a way to, there’s always an option, there’s always another path. There’s so many different ways to solve a problem. And, you know, we’re all used to open my doors, teach in person classes, sell my product in my store. And you know, sometimes you just can’t do that. And so you have to be prepared to find option B, or find option C, or sometimes even D. But um, you know, it’s that determination as a small business owner, right? Um, what about your art itself? What inspires you for your art itself?

Nikki 23:11
Hmm. Well, it was children for a long time when my kids were small. And now and my grandmother So kind of going back to painting children and always have accepted Commission’s along the way. But as I’m teaching, the subject or theme of the class sometimes directs me in the direction that I’m going and but personally, my pet project right now is painting prominent Saskatchewan female artists over 65 what it’s like for them in this phase of their life, and I’m using the drafting and architecture theme as a means symbolic means to describe the the core value that they represented when I interviewed them in their studio.

Barb 23:56
Okay, yeah. Wow, that would be a fascinating project.

Nikki 24:01
I’m really enjoying it. And it’s connected me to some fantastic artists that are such a great blueprint for, you know, for younger artists in the province.

Barb 24:12
Exactly. Good for you. Nikki, believe it or not, we only have about a minute or two left in the show today. So can I get you to share your website and your social channels with our audience today and maybe spell out your name because I know that you do have two K’s in your name, so make sure everybody gets it right.

Nikki 24:33
So my website is nikkisportraits.com and nikkisportraits.com. And then on Facebook, if you search Nikki’s Portraits of Childhood, or Portraits of Childhood and then Nikki’s Why did that I don’t know. And then painting tours is the page that kind of covers my art inspired Limited Edition fashions and My Instagram is just Nikki’s portraits, Twitter, Nikki’s portraits and Pinterest as well. I don’t do so much on Pinterest every now and then I show up there. What else do I have Instagram? Did I say is also,

Barb 25:14
Nikki? You mentioned Instagram. Yes. And then

Nikki 25:17
LinkedIn. I’m on there with my business name as well. Okay.

Barb 25:20
Wow. So you’ve got some really good coverage. We’re at a time, I’d like to thank you for joining us today on The Secret Life of entrepreneurs. As always, if you’d like to be a guest on the show, please email me at barb@google girl.ca or reach out on Facebook and Instagram at abovethefold.ca. Just a reminder, you can even submit questions in advance of the live show on any of our social media channels. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner, digital marketer and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.