Founder’s Friday featuring Monica Banks @ Gugu Guru

Please provide a brief description about your company.
Gugu Guru is the premier community of mom creators and influencers creating and sharing content about the brands they love.

Two hashtags that best describe you 
#contentcreator #mompreneur

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Anytime I see my kids being kind and demonstrating empathy, it feels like the greatest achievement. I truly want to raise good humans.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Traveling and adventuring with my family.

What is your greatest fear?
I try not to get caught up in worries and fears because life is short and your thoughts are an extremely powerful thing. If you dwell on or put your energy on something, it is more likely to come true so always focus on the positive.

Whom do you most admire?
Personally, my dad. Business-wise, I have been very inspired lately by Sara Blakely and Deepak Chopra.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Honestly, I can’t think of anything at the moment. When something comes up that I want to change, I get to work on changing it. One thing I am working on at the moment is being a more present wife & mom.

What are your top tips for balancing work and life?
Set daily app limits on my phone (60 min total for social media). Go for a walk every day without my phone. Set downtime on my phone from 9pm-5am. Don’t request or accept Zoom calls unless 100% certain can’t be done by phone. Keep phone charger out of my bedroom. Say “no” to any activity that doesn’t get me closer to my goals. Schedule fun family activities frequently.

What is something new that you learned about running a business this year?
That detaching yourself from what you think your business should be and keeping yourself open to all possibilities is an extremely powerful thing.

What is your most marked characteristic?
Oh boy – this is hard. I am probably known best for my expertise in the mom influencer and mom creator industries.

What is your greatest regret?
In the past, I spent way too much time worrying about stupid things – especially when it came to my business. I lost a lot of sleep for nothing. I now know that as long as my family and I are healthy and happy, nothing else matters.

What is your motto?
Everything works out.

What is a legal mistake you wish someone warned you about?
That if anything is even slightly vague in a contract, make sure that you are CRYSTAL CLEAR on what it means before you sign it. I once had a company tell me that they were going to pay me “per purchase” and soon found out that we both had extremely different views on what constituted a “purchase”.

When running your business, what do you struggle with most?
My focus and just the daily distractions – especially because I work from home.

What advice would you give to yourself at 25 years old?
To live a life of gratitude & service and don’t sweat the small stuff.