Julia Capallo: How To Make Your Brand Feel Human

Wendy & Rich 0:01
Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios, Hartford County Living presents conversations with Rich Bennett. 

I love Rich Bennett. You're not that show up. You're not that show up. You're not that show up. I never played football before. It's kind of a two-second argument. It's kind of a two-second argument. No, no, no, no. It's kind of a two-second 

Rich Bennett 0:27
No, 

Wendy & Rich 0:27
I

Rich Bennett 0:28
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I love this young lady. Actually, online first, right? 

Julia Capallo 0:32
Me? 

Rich Bennett 0:33
Yeah, no, the other person's sitting there. 

Julia Capallo 0:35
Oh, I don't know. I thought you were talking about somebody else because you were talking about somebody else on your show. 

Rich Bennett 0:40
No, we met online originally. Yes. 

Julia Capallo 0:41
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 0:42
Then you came to the Community Connections Fair. That's where I met you in person. 

Julia Capallo 0:45
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 0:50
that you had a market coming in, I have 

Julia Capallo 0:52
As 

Rich Bennett 0:52
Julia Capello. I got it right. From now I'll screw this one up. A marvelous 

Julia Capallo 1:01
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 1:01
spark. Ha! 

spark. 

Julia Capallo 1:03
Marvel 

Rich Bennett 1:04
Spark, which is a marketing company? 

Julia Capallo 1:06
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 1:06
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 1:07
Among other things. 

Rich Bennett 1:09
Good. Well, let me see if I can get it right. Marketing, branding, web design, social media. 

Julia Capallo 1:16
Correct. Yeah. And then I also do Community Events. But that could be part of the Macaroni Kids' side of things which is it's own kind of it. 

Rich Bennett 1:25
Okay. All right. 

Julia Capallo 1:26
I'll 

Rich Bennett 1:28
be listening, especially those of you here in Hartford County. Y may recognize the name from Macaroni Kibbaugh Ware because she's running. How long you been running that now? 

Julia Capallo 1:38
A little over a year. 

Rich Bennett 1:39
That's 

Julia Capallo 1:40
So 

Rich Bennett 1:40
it. 

Julia Capallo 1:40
the end of July. Yeah. Because I moved in April. And then I found that roll opened up shortly after that. 

Rich Bennett 1:47
Move from where? 

Julia Capallo 1:48
Up here. 

Rich Bennett 1:49
Oh, t 

Julia Capallo 1:50
But 

Rich Bennett 1:50
true. But 

Julia Capallo 1:50
you're 

Rich Bennett 1:50
you're not 

Julia Capallo 1:50
not. 

Rich Bennett 1:51
a gator. 

Julia Capallo 1:52
No, I grew up in Howard County. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 1:54
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 1:55
And I moved, basically, yep, moved up, like, basically moved north and north and north, lived in the city for a little while, lived in Perry Hall for almost 10 years and then moved up to Bel Air last April. Which is crazy. Because I feel like I've jumped right into the community. 

Rich Bennett 2:07
So what part of Perry Hall? And I may have issues before. 

Julia Capallo 2:10
Right near the Honeycomb Village Center. So like Angel Park, we could walk there 

Rich Bennett 2:16
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 2:16
the library. 

Rich Bennett 2:17
Okay. Yeah. Which, um, you counted houses over there. Well, I say new because I remember 

Julia Capallo 2:22
being built. My house was, um, I think it was built in 99. 

Rich Bennett 2:27
Yeah. But, 

Julia Capallo 2:29
um, yeah, a gunpowder farm road. 

Rich Bennett 2:31
Yeah. You used to have curse farm behind you, right? 

Julia Capallo 2:34
Yeah. It's still. I mean, I think they're 

Rich Bennett 2:37
I mean, 

Julia Capallo 2:37
starting. 

Rich Bennett 2:37
yeah. 

Julia Capallo 2:37
That's 

a little bit of. 

Rich Bennett 2:41
I'm 

Julia Capallo 2:41
interested to see what's going on there. Because that's 

Rich Bennett 2:44
another story on. My brother in law is probably if he's listening, probably shallow bridge. But anyways. All right, I have to ask you know, a marvelous spark. Because when I first saw that. My first thought was, okay, she must be a Saturday nightlife fan. 

Julia Capallo 3:01
I am, but what's the reference? 

Rich Bennett 3:03
I don't remember when Billy, you're probably two younger. Remember this Billy Crystal used to be on it. He was character. 

Julia Capallo 3:11
Character. 

Rich Bennett 3:11
You know, I say simply marvelous or whatever. You know, 

Julia Capallo 3:14
oh, I don't remember. I don't have to 

Rich Bennett 3:15
Yeah, 

Julia Capallo 3:15
look that up 

Rich Bennett 3:15
you 

Julia Capallo 3:16
though. 

Rich Bennett 3:16
guys. And I can't do it like him. All right. So where did a marvelous spark come from 

Julia Capallo 3:19
That's 

Rich Bennett 3:19
that? 

Julia Capallo 3:19
a great. That's a great question. Um, so. I guess I should start from when I. When I was in college like, I always needed. And even when I was a teacher for a while. So I used to need to. I know we're going to go. Well, this is like my train of thought is going to be like this conversation. It's like, there's all. Um, so anyway. Um, I used to do a lot of like making jewelry and like just doing stuff. Like, that was my way 

Rich Bennett 3:45
As 

Julia Capallo 3:45
to. 

Rich Bennett 3:45
a teacher. 

Julia Capallo 3:46
Yeah, like after school. That was my way of kind of unwinding was like 

Rich Bennett 3:50
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 3:50
to do something with my hands. Like creating something 

Rich Bennett 3:53
Oh, 

Julia Capallo 3:53
of some kind. 

Rich Bennett 3:53
okay. 

Julia Capallo 3:54
So then I was like, oh, I want to have like a business name like. I don't like calling it a hobby or like a side gig or whatever. 

Rich Bennett 4:01
Right. 

Julia Capallo 4:01
I just wanted to have like an actual name attached to it. So I was thinking about what. What is that? Like what's the name be? I don't know. I think marvelous. I kept looking up like adjectives. 

Rich Bennett 4:13
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 4:14
And then I was thinking about the aha moment. So that's really what the marvelous spark is like the aha moment, the spark of creativity and the spark that when you get an idea, it like sparks other ideas. And that's kind of the origin 

Rich Bennett 4:31
So 

Julia Capallo 4:31
story. 

Rich Bennett 4:31
the business originally was just like jewelry and everything. 

Julia Capallo 4:35
yeah, and 

Rich Bennett 4:36
Really? 

Julia Capallo 4:36
like it's, yeah, it was like I, um, would do craft fairs and stuff. And a lot of people, you know, most people have like a business name and like a little 

Rich Bennett 4:43
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 4:43
banner and all that stuff. So I was like, okay, I need something. So it's really evolved obviously since then. Even like the logo that I first have is kinda cringy looking at it. I'm like oh, 

Rich Bennett 4:54
like I 

Julia Capallo 4:55
I doesn't 

Rich Bennett 4:56
did it. 

Julia Capallo 4:56
look very good, but it's, it's a good indicator of like the growth 

Rich Bennett 5:00
the changes 

Julia Capallo 5:00
and that the business has taken over time. I'm sure other people can relate to that. 

Rich Bennett 5:05
Oh, I can. 

Julia Capallo 5:07
Like 

Rich Bennett 5:08
what year did you start 

Julia Capallo 5:10
it? The LLC? Like as it 

Rich Bennett 5:13
today 

Julia Capallo 5:13
or? 

Rich Bennett 5:14
Just as the business before you even registered because I'm sure you were like doing business as or whatever. Yeah. Before you got the 

Julia Capallo 5:22
Oh yeah, because I didn't do the LLC until 2023. 

Rich Bennett 5:25
LLC. Okay. 

Julia Capallo 5:25
So I think I started all of this in, I want to say like 2013, but then I also am thinking about my timeline. Like I was in. Yeah, I guess it was around that. 

Rich Bennett 5:39
Right. Okay. 

Julia Capallo 5:39
Charity at that point. 

Rich Bennett 5:40
Now you were teaching in school, public school? 

Julia Capallo 5:43
Yeah. So it was a county art teacher 

Rich Bennett 5:46
for 10 years. Really? In high school or elementary school? 

Julia Capallo 5:49
I was in elementary for eight years and then middle for two. 

Rich Bennett 5:53
Wow. 

Julia Capallo 5:53
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 5:54
I crazy for 10 years and you left that? 

Julia Capallo 5:58
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 5:59
That's a government job, isn it? 

Julia Capallo 6:01
No and I 

Rich Bennett 6:02
I'm 

Julia Capallo 6:03
know. 

Rich Bennett 6:03
not gonna make your cry here. 

Julia Capallo 6:04
No, no, no, no, no, I'm not gonna cry. Like I trust me because it was a really like, it was a very emotional 

Rich Bennett 6:10
me. 

Julia Capallo 6:11
decision to 

Rich Bennett 6:11
Yeah, 

Julia Capallo 6:12
burnt out. Honestly, from having my kids, that was kind of my catalyst to leave. 

Rich Bennett 6:17
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 6:18
Not feeling like I could be the mom that I knew 

Rich Bennett 6:22
that your mom that you wanted to be. 

Julia Capallo 6:23
But when I got on the phone with like the benefits office, they were like, oh, you're like you got, you know, you just barely made that because I think at 

Rich Bennett 6:32
Wow. 

Julia Capallo 6:32
one point it was only five years then they changed the policy like you had to have been teaching for way longer to get the full pension and all that. 

Rich Bennett 6:44
Really? So if through 10 years you're able, not a full pension, but you were able to get a pension? 

Julia Capallo 6:49
Well, no, I mean, in other words, the benefits wouldn't have been 

Rich Bennett 6:51
okay, gotcha. 

Julia Capallo 6:53
like, Okay, you get your full, you would get your full benefits at the end. 

Rich Bennett 6:57
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 6:57
Like a pro-rated or I don't even know how that works, honestly, 

Rich Bennett 7:00
I 

Julia Capallo 7:01
specifically. 

Rich Bennett 7:02
don't have a clue. Wow. So for 10 years you're teaching art. 

Julia Capallo 7:06
And 

Rich Bennett 7:07
then I guess the kids came along when you, well, not both of them. And then you quit. 

Julia Capallo 7:14
Yes. So actually, interestingly, when I left my first school, I just, I needed a break or I was just trying to figure out what 

Rich Bennett 7:21
do. 

Julia Capallo 7:21
to 

Rich Bennett 7:21
Right. 

Julia Capallo 7:23
Found out I was pregnant with my son. He was born September of 2019. 

Rich Bennett 7:26
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 7:27
So his birthday's coming up actually next weekend. My 

Rich Bennett 7:29
Wow. 

Julia Capallo 7:29
youngest birthday was yesterday. 

Rich Bennett 7:31
Oh, wow. 

Julia Capallo 7:32
But I was like, I need to take some time off and then the pandemic happened. So it was like a weird timeline, but it was also like the universe telling me, oh, 

Rich Bennett 7:41
Blessing. 

Julia Capallo 7:42
this is, yeah, this is what this is your path is going to be different. And this was kind of, 

Rich Bennett 7:47
But you're still doing the art. 

Julia Capallo 7:48
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 7:48
Yeah. Okay. Good. Good. All right. So now you have the company as just doing art. 

Julia Capallo 7:55
Mm-hmm. 

Rich Bennett 7:56
What made you swerve towards doing the web design marketing and which first? 

Julia Capallo 8:03
So I studied graphic design undergrad. Again, this is kind of, this is all part of the story. This is like 

Rich Bennett 8:08
All right. Wait a minute. Hold on. 

Julia Capallo 8:09
relevant. 

Rich Bennett 8:09
You know what? Let's back up here. Okay. So you're from Howard County. 

Julia Capallo 8:15
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 8:16
When you're in school, as a teacher, I'm sure you know this. Everybody's supposed to have a career path. Whether they follow it, I'm most likely now. So what was your career path in high school? 

Julia Capallo 8:31
Again, I didn't know. 

Rich Bennett 8:33
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 8:33
I was 

Rich Bennett 8:33
We met what? 

Julia Capallo 8:35
undeclared major. I knew I wanted to do something like creative, but I had no idea what that was going to look like. So what I was at Towson for undergrad. 

Rich Bennett 8:43
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 8:44
Declarate a major, but I like did my general courses. 

Rich Bennett 8:49
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 8:49
Then I one point I think I wanted to do like interior design, but I don't know if they had that program Anyway, I landed on graphic design. I was like, 'Yes, I really liked'. I was part of the yearbook in high school. So I loved doing formatting. And basically, like, visual communication was what I was trying to accomplish 

Rich Bennett 9:09
in right. 

Julia Capallo 9:09
in some capacity. So graphic design was it. 

Rich Bennett 9:23
Wow. Okay. Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 9:26
And I, like, I had an internship, but she basically said, like, we can't really hire right out of this because 

Rich Bennett 9:33
we're 

Julia Capallo 9:34
not able to do that right now. So fast forward, I was a substitute teacher in Howard County for a little while. And I just had this like a piff any one time. Like, I was in a school and the lessons that they left me were just really lackluster. I'm like, this is supposed to be an hour long class and you give me like 15 minutes. like things to do. So, you know, we got through that and then I started talking to the students for a little bit. And I was like, I really like talking to these students 

Rich Bennett 10:03
Yeah, 

Julia Capallo 10:03
a lot. So then another time I was something and, like, a library. And so I just started doing some research, like, teaching degree, looking at not looking at 

Rich Bennett 10:13
though. 

Julia Capallo 10:13
what 

Rich Bennett 10:13
And, 

Julia Capallo 10:14
different 

Rich Bennett 10:14
yeah, you're 

Julia Capallo 10:14
programs 

Rich Bennett 10:14
a substitute. 

Julia Capallo 10:15
Yeah, because I had a library in a high school, like, they don't have an actual class. It's more like 

Rich Bennett 10:19
Right, 

Julia Capallo 10:19
you're just sitting in, like, observing the room. And 

Rich Bennett 10:22
oh, 

Julia Capallo 10:22
so, you 

Rich Bennett 10:22
fuck. 

Julia Capallo 10:23
know, I needed something to do. So anyway, fast forward. So, teaching degree me think, yeah, so that was kind of the path. And I was teaching for a long time. And then shifting back to the design world now. And then the design world's really changed quite a bit. It was all print based mostly when I graduated. And now it's very much more digital. But now we're kind of in this weird like pendulum. 

Rich Bennett 10:53
The 

everything with the marketing you like doing the graphic design, the best. 

Julia Capallo 10:58
That is my area of expertise. 

Rich Bennett 11:01
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 11:02
But I have always been a strong writer also. So I feel like that, you know, that's that's really part of it. Like graphic design can't live in a bubble. 

Rich Bennett 11:11
Right. 

Julia Capallo 11:12
Okay, it needs to have a purpose in it. You know, you can make you can design stuff just for fun. But like, if it when it comes to marketing, it needs to have a purpose. It needs to reach a certain audience. You need to know how to use the messaging 

Rich Bennett 11:25
Right. 

Julia Capallo 11:25
in addition to that so that it all goes together. And you're, you know, everything's kind of clear cut. So that's what I like to gravitate towards is, like, how can we use this visual communication going back to that whole thing like effectively use those different components to understand. What are their components to reach the audience that we're trying to reach? 

Rich Bennett 11:43
Do you ever think about doing it for TV, especially the writing part, like writing copy and all? 

Julia Capallo 11:49
I've never thought of that. Never thought about that. No. Never crossed my mind. 

Rich Bennett 11:54
I know. I mean, the graphic design, which you're doing is based like static or whatever. 

Julia Capallo 11:58
Yeah. Yeah. But 

Rich Bennett 12:01
you look at the old, the old movie boards and everything. That's at all. 

Julia Capallo 12:05
Yeah. Start, 

Rich Bennett 12:05
start it. 

Julia Capallo 12:06
Yeah. But 

Rich Bennett 12:07
I didn't know you're like doing the writing part as well. 

Julia Capallo 12:09
Storytelling. 

Rich Bennett 12:10
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 12:10
In general. 

Rich Bennett 12:10
Which is important. 

Julia Capallo 12:11
Right. It's, it's very, I think it's the most important thing. Like I, if I think about branding in and of itself, you know, there's so much clutter out there, especially online. So it's like, how do you differentiate yourself? How do you show your personality? Storytelling is going to be that. And in a lot of times it's like the static graphics probably not going to tell a lot of the story. It's going to lead you. It's going to 

Rich Bennett 12:33
Then. 

Julia Capallo 12:33
really you in. But then like the written and verbal storytelling, I think, is also going to be really. 

Rich Bennett 12:40
Yeah. Especially now I think, especially a A career of our own, but with social media marketing, I think it's getting harder because. Your a lot of your social media platforms don't want people to click on something and get off the platform. 

Julia Capallo 12:56
Absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 12:57
So I would think the storytellers even more than the question is, how do you get them to your website? 

Julia Capallo 13:02
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 13:03
Which is well, of course, we know within Instagram is Lincoln Bio. But I mean, is that been one of the biggest challenges so far for you for the social media part? 

Julia Capallo 13:14
Yes, 

and no. So I don't do like ads like I'll 

Rich Bennett 13:19
OK. 

Julia Capallo 13:19
make the visuals for the ad. 

Rich Bennett 13:22
Right. 

Julia Capallo 13:22
But when it comes to like more organic marketing, let's not paid advertisements. I think, you know, especially on Instagram. I'm going to use that as an example. it 

Rich Bennett 13:32
Yeah, 

Julia Capallo 13:32
does function a little bit differently than Facebook even. 

Rich Bennett 13:35
Right. 

Julia Capallo 13:35
they, you can link them to each other. Instagram is very much more, um, the trend and now it's like talking at the camera, not having, being just authentic and 

Rich Bennett 13:46
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 13:46
not just having like something that doesn't really feel like people can connect with it. 

Rich Bennett 13:51
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 13:51
So that, um, carousel posts, I feel like are starting to come back. 

Rich Bennett 13:56
Yeah, I was gonna say that's like, they were big and then 

Julia Capallo 14:00
yeah, it's just like again, this like that pendulum is like, okay, this is the trend now, that's like something else is gonna be maybe taking its place. it comes to things that people really resonate with, I really think that it comes down to like something that's authentic and you see the person behind the business 

Rich Bennett 14:18
When 

Julia Capallo 14:18
in some way. I know some people aren't really big on like having their 

Rich Bennett 14:22
putting their 

Julia Capallo 14:23
face, 

Rich Bennett 14:23
face at that, 

Julia Capallo 14:23
right? 

Rich Bennett 14:23
I know, but it's important 

Julia Capallo 14:25
Yeah, every once in a while, like you don't have to do it every single time, 

Rich Bennett 14:28
now. 

Julia Capallo 14:28
but like, if 

Rich Bennett 14:29
sometimes there can be such thing as doing it too much. 

Julia Capallo 14:31
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 14:33
I've seen that with some people and it's like, it wasn't even the business again, 

Julia Capallo 14:37
yeah, right. 

Rich Bennett 14:37
or it's not a business, but they're trying to be a business. 

Julia Capallo 14:40
If 

Rich Bennett 14:40
that makes 

Julia Capallo 14:42
What 

Rich Bennett 14:42
sense. 

Julia Capallo 14:42
could be like a like a personal brand? Yeah, I'm, is another? 

Rich Bennett 14:47
I'll be honest, if it now days, Yeah, well, you know, I'm on social media all the time, you have to be, 

Julia Capallo 14:55
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 14:55
especially if you're in a business. but when I see the videos and everything, skip, I just get very past them because it seems like it's always the same thing 

Julia Capallo 15:05
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 15:05
over and over again, and it always the same person. And it's like, I don't, that's one of the reasons I stopped doing the one video podcast. I just, 

Julia Capallo 15:17
it's too much. 

Rich Bennett 15:18
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 15:19
Yeah, and I, I mean, that's a good point too because, again, the people who do that, if they're audience, like, if they notice that they have a drop-in views, for example, that's the other challenge is like these platformers are kind of controlling that a little bit. 

Rich Bennett 15:33
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 15:33
But if it's something that is being shared a lot or people are commenting on it or whatever, it's relatable, I feel like that's really, when something's relatable, people are like, yes, let me 

Rich Bennett 15:43
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 15:43
send this to my friend or whatever. 

Rich Bennett 15:45
But the other thing is too. And you see this with a lot of, I guess you could say, so-called social media influencers. And they get a lot of followers, a lot of people are sharing it. They're talking about a product or a business, but a lot of people can't tell you product or business they were talking 

Julia Capallo 16:03
about. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 16:04
Because it's just, oh, it's a friend of mine, so I follow. 

Julia Capallo 16:06
Right. 

Rich Bennett 16:08
Which kind of defeats the purpose. 

Julia Capallo 16:10
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 16:10
You know, Dad, do you do anything for YouTube as well? 

Julia Capallo 16:14
I'm not. No. 

Rich Bennett 16:15
Good. 

Julia Capallo 16:17
I don't really 

Rich Bennett 16:18
Because 

Julia Capallo 16:18
do video, like I'll do video editing, but like, be minimally, like, I have a couple of social media clients that I just, it's nothing polished. And I honestly, I appreciate, don't get me wrong. Like it is, it's very much an art to that. Like, when you have really nice equipment and you're doing a very like intentionally 

Rich Bennett 16:36
video. 

Julia Capallo 16:36
promotional To look polished. When it comes to like, you know, you're doing posts, X amount of times a week, like, there's just not a lot of really time to do 

Rich Bennett 16:46
Right. 

Julia Capallo 16:46
that all the time. In most cases, for most people, so like even something as simple as just like having your phone up and just doing a quick little snippet. 

Rich Bennett 16:58
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 16:58
And it's also like quantity, quantity versus quality and vice versa. Some people may enjoy doing that like frequency of certain number of videos or posts 

Rich Bennett 17:10
per week. 

Julia Capallo 17:12
Um, I think we just talked about this. Like, I have that for my clients, but then when it comes to my own, like I might have this really big chunk, like all the bunch of content and then kind of go, like without for a couple of weeks, 

Rich Bennett 17:26
Right. 

Julia Capallo 17:26
like not on purpose, but like, it's because I don't plan out my stuff. Sometimes it's like, oh, if I issue a project, let me like share this or something like that or something funny that I come up with that I feel like, okay, I'm going to do this just for fun. Like, I think that's also important in business pages. Like, it doesn't always have to be just about your product or your 

Rich Bennett 17:44
Right. Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 17:45
service. It can be something somewhat relevant, but also shows that you're a person behind it as well. I think that is important. 

Rich Bennett 17:53
All right, so since you do web design, how important is it for a business to have a website? 

Julia Capallo 18:04
It's insanely. I think you have to have a but you have to have a website. I'm kind of sumbling. 

Rich Bennett 18:09
You 

Julia Capallo 18:10
h to have something. Like, even if it's just a landing 

Rich Bennett 18:13
does 

Julia Capallo 18:13
page, like it 

Rich Bennett 18:13
be 

Julia Capallo 18:14
super elaborate, but like if I'm looking up a business, 

Rich Bennett 18:18
you're not looking on social media for them first. 

Julia Capallo 18:20
I do 

Rich Bennett 18:21
not 

Julia Capallo 18:22
it depends, 

Rich Bennett 18:23
because but are you still looking for a website for them? 

Julia Capallo 18:25
I 

Rich Bennett 18:26
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 18:26
do, because I'm speaking from my own experience, I'll look at both, 

Rich Bennett 18:32
Yeah, 

Julia Capallo 18:32
because a lot of the updates are probably going to be on social media because it's easier to do that. A lot of people don't manage their own websites, or maybe 

Rich Bennett 18:39
but 

Julia Capallo 18:39
if they do, it's not top of mind, the social 

Rich Bennett 18:42
they're 

Julia Capallo 18:42
media 

Rich Bennett 18:42
not. 

Julia Capallo 18:43
page is going to be more updated. But I've seen so many websites that are just not updated, especially like I'm using farms as an example, because they have seasonal things. That is so crucial to have social media, yes, it's great. And most people have it. Some people don't though. So, the website is the next way that people are finding information easily. 

Rich Bennett 19:06
I've only seen a few farms that do that, where they keep it updated, as well as their social media, 

Julia Capallo 19:12
that. Yeah. And 

Rich Bennett 19:13
or 

Julia Capallo 19:14
I was going to say they either have somebody that they've hired, or they have somebody who's really dedicated to that role, because when it comes down to, I get it, some places may not have somebody that they've hired, or they have volunteers, but when it comes to that, that's where it falls off. Oh, who is supposed to do 

Rich Bennett 19:34
something 

Julia Capallo 19:34
that, or who 

Rich Bennett 19:34
like 

Julia Capallo 19:34
is supposed to update this or that? You really need to have a designated person for it, or team? it's a lot on one person, maybe, you say, "Hey, we need to figure out a plan for this," because ultimately, you could be losing business if someone goes to your website. Oh, this is still saying 2025 or whatever. 

Rich Bennett 19:53
If 

Julia Capallo 19:53
I've seen it. 

Rich Bennett 19:54
Oh, I see it all. One of the things I've never understood, and you see this a lot too, there's a lot of restaurants, coffee shops that'll have everything on Facebook, but they don't have a website. 

Julia Capallo 20:08
I'm 

Rich Bennett 20:11
sorry, if I find you on Facebook, I'm going to your website right away to look at your menu and everything. And if you don't have a website, I'm not coming to your business, I'm not going to sit there and go through every post on your Facebook page find out everything that you do. 

Julia Capallo 20:34
to Well, that and also like SEO. you have somebody coming from out of town for example, they're looking up coffee shops near me or whatever they're looking up, the Facebook page probably isn't going to be showing up first thing. It's 

Rich Bennett 20:49
If 

Julia Capallo 20:49
going to have your Google business profile, typically, or that's, if you're using Google, I don't know if we're going up topic, I guess we're kind of just, 

Rich Bennett 20:59
you're good. 

Julia Capallo 21:00
What did you want to say about SEO, because that's, 

Rich Bennett 21:04
oh, no, no, I think SEO is, it's still very important. 

Julia Capallo 21:07
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 21:07
But the other thing you see now is the, is AIO or whatever for the sound devices Alexa and all that is becoming important, which it's looking and SEO, if you're doing Google search, being search, there's all the search for whatever, using those search engines, it's looking for SEO 

Julia Capallo 21:30
so 

Rich Bennett 21:30
but look at Google is now when you search, the SEO parts not at the top, it's what Gemini, 

Julia Capallo 21:37
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 21:38
they're AI thing 

Julia Capallo 21:39
and sponsored. So, yeah, 

Rich Bennett 21:41
so which is part of the, what's it called, AIO, it's where the artificial intelligence is. So it's looking for, whereas old SEO, you said, have not the meta tags, what was it, like 

Julia Capallo 21:57
But 

Rich Bennett 21:57
key phrases. 

Julia Capallo 21:58
yeah, keywords. 

Rich Bennett 21:59
Yeah, whereas the, I'm going to get it wrong. Yeah, I wish I knew 

Julia Capallo 22:04
it 

Rich Bennett 22:05
is looking for answers to questions. 

Julia Capallo 22:08
Yes, 

Rich Bennett 22:08
you could say, 

Julia Capallo 22:09
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 22:10
And 

Facebook, Instagram is not going to come up on that. 

Julia Capallo 22:15
Sometimes it does, you know, because, 

Rich Bennett 22:18
later on down, 

Julia Capallo 22:19
hashtags used to be what people used on Instagram. Now they're limiting it to five. 

Rich Bennett 22:23
Yeah, 

Julia Capallo 22:25
now it's more just having those keywords in your post or in your caption. So again, that's another, like, I wouldn't call it a trend, but it's like when people understand the algorithm and understand how information is being processed 

Rich Bennett 22:40
capacity 

Julia Capallo 22:40
by the 

Rich Bennett 22:40
of, spit 

Julia Capallo 22:41
back out if somebody was doing a search of some kind, that's how these businesses or organizations get searched. 

Rich Bennett 22:49
All right, admit it. This is the man coming out at me, nobody, you know, the algorithms are like women, nobody will ever understand them. 

Julia Capallo 23:00
And once you do, then they change. 

Rich Bennett 23:02
Exactly, 

exactly. But I mean, how often does the algorithm want things change? 

Julia Capallo 23:08
I? certain, like I don't dig too deep into that 

Rich Bennett 23:13
Yeah, 

Julia Capallo 23:13
realm of things but it is, it is important if, if for example a client is saying like, or if I'm analyzing the like views and things like that, most, more often than not, it's the photos or videos that 

Rich Bennett 23:27
yeah. 

Julia Capallo 23:27
show the people behind whatever the organization is. 

Rich Bennett 23:30
All right, so when it comes to the marketing, the branding, the web design, the social media marketing, what are some of the things 

that businesses are doing wrong, that you see that they're doing wrong, besides the fact not having a website. When it comes to the marketing 

Julia Capallo 23:53
to. 

Rich Bennett 23:53
branding, all 

Julia Capallo 23:53
I'm 

Rich Bennett 23:53
that. 

Julia Capallo 23:53
probably going to, uhm, the, 

Rich Bennett 23:57
What, 

Julia Capallo 23:57
the, the republic few feathers here, but I think it's really important. 

Rich Bennett 24:00
you don't have 

Julia Capallo 24:00
Stop 

Rich Bennett 24:00
names. 

Julia Capallo 24:01
Oh no, no, it's not, I'm just saying whoever's listening, who does this. Stop using AI graphics. 

Rich Bennett 24:07
Oh 

Julia Capallo 24:07
god. 

Rich Bennett 24:07
my 

Julia Capallo 24:08
Stop it right now. Full stop. Like, 

Rich Bennett 24:12
I got I got caught in that for 

Julia Capallo 24:15
And I'm saying like, there's so many people who do it, so that's, it, 

Rich Bennett 24:18
what? 

Julia Capallo 24:18
it needs 

Rich Bennett 24:18
Oh man. 

Julia Capallo 24:19
yes. You, it's, it, the bubble is bursting. Yes. 

Rich Bennett 24:22
Yes. 

Julia Capallo 24:22
I just did a video about this. L kind of a humorous one but in, in all seriousness, it's not good for your business. It's not good for organizations. It's damage. You know, it eats up a lot of resources. And I think beyond that, people, I know gosh, and this is, I, I'm glad that we're bringing this up because like, I, this is something I'm very 

Rich Bennett 24:42
about. 

Julia Capallo 24:42
passionate 

Rich Bennett 24:42
I got to get bought a 

Julia Capallo 24:43
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 24:43
water. 

Julia Capallo 24:44
Ah. Oh, should I keep started talking? Yeah. So they all look the same. I've got mine. Thank you. 

People, you're, you're, you're really kind of ruining a reputation, some people don't see that yet. They don't, or they don't, they're not seeing like the impact of it yet. But it's already started where either people don't engage with it. They click out of it. They just straight up like, I mean, I've seen ads where people are just like, this is AI slop. Stop doing this like, I'm not supporting your business. 

Rich Bennett 25:24
Don't 

Julia Capallo 25:26
Yeah. And I don't want to be that person, but I need to be that person because this also influences 

Rich Bennett 25:32
call it. 

Julia Capallo 25:32
my industry and my livelihood. And when I see it, just so overuse, it's like, God, like how I, I, again, I get it. Like, oh, it's it's easy. It's, it's quick. But like, that also translates to, okay, so you're taking this like, easy, quick road where why should someone invest in your business if you're cutting corners? 

Rich Bennett 25:57
The big thing of that, especially when it comes to the graphics, when you're doing AI, using AI for the graphics, it's not personal anymore. 

Julia Capallo 26:07
You're 

Rich Bennett 26:08
taking that person on. So when the graphics are created by you, then it's more personal. I think if you're going to use AI, use it as a tool, but not to do the work completely for you. And for the, my podcast, I use it to, like, when we're done and when I edit this, I transcribe it. So then I'll upload it into whatever platform I'm using and AI will turn it into the show notes and basically write everything for you, but you still got to go and edit 

Julia Capallo 26:51
And 

Rich Bennett 26:51
it. 

Julia Capallo 26:51
I was 

Rich Bennett 26:51
I 

Julia Capallo 26:52
going to say 

Rich Bennett 26:52
spelled name wrong. 

Julia Capallo 26:53
I should 

Rich Bennett 26:53
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 26:54
probably also distinguish between assistive AI and generative AI are two, they're very different. But your example is assistive AI. It's assisting you 

Rich Bennett 27:03
Mm-hmm. 

Julia Capallo 27:04
with tasks. Generative AI is essentially 

Rich Bennett 27:07
Doing it. 

Julia Capallo 27:07
stealing. Yet, it's doing it for you. It's generating something that's essentially stolen work 

Rich Bennett 27:11
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 27:11
because it's scraping the internet from existing things. And again, I'm not just saying this, like, as a designer, I'm saying this also for people whose work has actually been stolen and sold. because, you know, some AI platform or app took their work, slapped it on something else, and then it was sold that they didn't know about, you know, it's essentially if you have an intellectual property, 

Rich Bennett 27:37
Like, 

Julia Capallo 27:38
lawyer involved, like, you could probably sue for that. I'm not, again, not certain how that all works. But again, like, I don't want to say I'm anti-AI. Like I think there are certain aspects of it that are great. 

Rich Bennett 27:51
Yeah. Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 28:00
like, 

something that you value and that you prioritize in your business, 

Rich Bennett 28:14
of the, 

Julia Capallo 28:16
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 28:16
and, and it's, and the thing is a while, I'm going to bring up Facebook and Instagram. When you see businesses posting these, I don't know, pliers about events, sales or whatever, and then you go to another business or doing the same thing, the outlines the same. 

Julia Capallo 28:37
yes, 

Rich Bennett 28:37
The, the, the graphic, it looks like you're just taking their thing out and you know, taking the other one out and replacing it, it's all the same. 

Julia Capallo 28:45
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 28:46
it. You're listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. We'll be right back. 

You know, one of the things I love most about what we do with the show, and Hartfordcantanyliving.com, is helping people discover great businesses, not through flashy ads or gimmicks, but by building trust and creating real connections within the community. That's why we're always looking to partner with reputable businesses that went long-term visibility. As a sponsor, your business can be featured across Hartfordcantanyliving, conversations with Rich Bennett, the author-pitch, and the ChSP podcast network through website exposure, social media promotion, podcast advertising, and more. Whether you're a local business or located anywhere, we have sponsorship opportunities designed to fit a variety of goals and budgets. In fact, some sponsorship levels started just over a dollar a day. We keep our sponsor spots limited, because we believe in quality over quantity. And we only partner with businesses that share our commitment to serving their customers well. If you'd like to learn more, email me directly at rich Bennett@danban.com. That's Rich Bennett, R-I-C-H, B-E-N-N-E-T-T, at danban.com, D-A-N-B-E-N.com. Now let's go back to the conversation. Yeah, it's 

Julia Capallo 30:22
And 

Rich Bennett 30:22
-- 

Julia Capallo 30:23
it's exhausting. Like, it's on the eyes. It really, again, I'm just using, like, some of the content I've created for myself recently, like, breaking it down from a design perspective. Why certain things don't look good is because the design principles have not been applied. 

Rich Bennett 30:39
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 30:40
And if you don't, like, when you see good design, it's like -- it almost -- you can take it for granted because it looks like you can't really place -- or you can't really explain why it looks good or why it works. But a lot of it comes down to, like, the psychology behind it, of, like, how we organize information. If it's too -- if there's too much going on, it's like, "Ugh, I don't want to look at that. 

Rich Bennett 30:59
Right. 

Julia Capallo 30:59
I don't know where to look. I don't know where to focus on." So 

Rich Bennett 31:02
Well, and the other thing is, too, not just of the graphics, but you see this with people 

Julia Capallo 31:07
-- 

Rich Bennett 31:08
because, you know, you mentioned, you got to put your face out there. You are your brand. How many -- look, how many people are using it to make -- using AI to make themselves look younger? 

Julia Capallo 31:17
Yeah, that's the -- that's the thing, like, I don't understand. 

Rich Bennett 31:20
Sorry. But I don't 

Julia Capallo 31:22
understand 

Rich Bennett 31:22
it. And then you'd be with a person like, "Whoa, my God, you aged really fast!" I see 

Julia Capallo 31:28
a picture of them online and then you look at them and person, 

Rich Bennett 31:30
like, "Yes." 

Julia Capallo 31:30
you're Is this the same person or like, was that a cartoon of them? 

Rich Bennett 31:35
I wouldn't be able to do it because, I mean, with the beer coming on and off, I throw people in a loop already, as it 

Julia Capallo 31:40
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 31:40
is. Yeah. You know, then to be like, "Wait, wait, me, what?" Yeah, I just -- and, like I said, I was guilty over the first use -- a matter of fact, because if you remember my -- what do you call it? The cover. For a half a candy living. had did it in spite of somebody else. And it was just easy 

Julia Capallo 32:04
I 

Rich Bennett 32:04
to put it out there. I still had it adjusted in everything, because believe me, AI does not know how to size your graphics for -- 

Julia Capallo 32:14
Right, for the certain purpose. 

Rich Bennett 32:16
For certain things. And then this month is like, "No, no, no, I got to change it." 

Julia Capallo 32:22
Yeah. And don't get me wrong. Like, you know, some people -- it's almost like, once you know that there's a better way to do things. Or, again, like -- I'm saying the bubble is bursting in the sense that there's more rejecting it now. 

Rich Bennett 32:34
Yes. 

Julia Capallo 32:35
Like, at first, it was kind of a novelty, like, "Oh, look, this is really cool." But then you also have to think about like the implications of, you know, people saying they don't want data centers here? 

Rich Bennett 32:43
"Oh, 

Julia Capallo 32:44
Little hypocritical if you're just using 

Rich Bennett 32:46
AI. Oh, yeah. Hey, 

Julia Capallo 32:47
AI all the time when you don't necessarily have to, like, let's, let's look at how that impacts each other is literally. 

Rich Bennett 32:56
aye. 

Oh, 

Julia Capallo 32:56
That's, 

Rich Bennett 32:57
yeah. 

Julia Capallo 32:57
that's just the evidence right there. 

Rich Bennett 33:12
Yeah, I think it was in them within a month or something like that. Trillions of gallons of water. That's just. Outrageous. It's scary. 

Julia Capallo 33:24
Right. 

Rich Bennett 33:24
Yeah. Mine Joe. What was that movie of Kevin Costner? 

Julia Capallo 33:27
Oh, uhm, 

Rich Bennett 33:28
Waterworld. 

Julia Capallo 33:29
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 33:30
Eh, was that the one where they were running out of water? No, they were in water. I don't 

Julia Capallo 33:35
remember, but I 

Rich Bennett 33:36
but 

Julia Capallo 33:36
think I thought 

Rich Bennett 33:36
yeah, 

Julia Capallo 33:36
that was 

Rich Bennett 33:36
you're 

Julia Capallo 33:36
the 

Rich Bennett 33:37
gonna 

Julia Capallo 33:37
title I 

Rich Bennett 33:37
see 

Julia Capallo 33:37
was 

Rich Bennett 33:37
that happen where it's like, it's going to be gone. 

Julia Capallo 33:40
thinking. Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 33:41
What are you going to do? You can't use gas 

Julia Capallo 33:43
People 

Rich Bennett 33:43
at least. 

Julia Capallo 33:44
are already in droughts in some areas of the 

Rich Bennett 33:46
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 33:46
country. 

Rich Bennett 33:47
And that 

Julia Capallo 33:47
What's 

Rich Bennett 33:47
happened. 

Julia Capallo 33:47
the other thing? It's like, it's one of those things when it doesn't directly impact you in this moment, but it's impacting somebody, and it's going to eventually impact like our future generations. 

Rich Bennett 33:58
Oh, yeah. 

Julia Capallo 33:58
Oh, yeah. And then to think about like the place of the do-of-data centers near them, like, talk to those people or let's get some insight from some of the people who are dealing with like the constant 

Rich Bennett 34:06
Oh, 

Julia Capallo 34:06
buzzing. 

Rich Bennett 34:07
that living by there. Yeah, well, anything is to because you'll have some experts say, well, it creates jobs. It creates jobs when it's being built. There are thousands of people working there as it's being built. Once it's finished, it employees about 15 to 30 people, that's it. 

Julia Capallo 34:25
Wow, I 

Rich Bennett 34:26
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 34:26
didn't even know that. 

Rich Bennett 34:26
Oh, yeah. I found that out because I, Somebody I know is working on a data center out in Frederick, 

Julia Capallo 34:33
oh, wow. 

Rich Bennett 34:33
Frederick, Maryland, and got all the scoop on it's like, well, yeah, it's going to employ a lot of people for a few years as is being built, but afterwards. 

Julia Capallo 34:44
And do they like, do they know that like, hey, by the way, you're probably not going to have this job once this place is built. I don't 

Rich Bennett 34:50
have that job. They'll go on elsewhere, most of that most of that stuff. 

Julia Capallo 34:54
Contractors. 

Rich Bennett 34:55
Yeah, most of them are like union and everything. So, you know, they're going to have it. Don't move on to the next day of the summer, if they're still being built. I think what's going to happen and to me it makes sense. I mean, you look at all the space stations of satellites up in space. Because you can't put data center up there. It's not effective. Maybe because there's made me water. 

Julia Capallo 35:20
Yeah, I have no idea. 

Rich Bennett 35:22
Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I mean, there's got to be. Just 

Julia Capallo 35:25
That's 

Rich Bennett 35:25
got to 

Julia Capallo 35:25
where 

Rich Bennett 35:25
be a 

Julia Capallo 35:26
Mars 

Rich Bennett 35:26
better. 

Julia Capallo 35:26
to come into play. 

Rich Bennett 35:27
yeah, there's a tree. Mars got water. Go outside the data centers up there, but then I mean, it's got we're getting off topic here. 

Julia Capallo 35:35
Well, 

Rich Bennett 35:36
But it is on topic. Yeah, it is. It is. But yeah, you're probably a good point there. The people that are so against these data centers, but use AI every day. It's like talking about being a hypocrite. Come on. I know a lot of authors hate it. 

Julia Capallo 35:55
Yeah, well, the book fair Belair just had a new policy for their 

Rich Bennett 35:59
event. 

Julia Capallo 35:59
next 

Rich Bennett 35:59
I saw that. Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 36:00
And I was just like, yeah, like so many people are supporting that. Because again, it's like these people are pouring their heart and 

Rich Bennett 36:05
Thank 

Julia Capallo 36:05
soul. 

Rich Bennett 36:05
you so 

Julia Capallo 36:05
for 

Rich Bennett 36:05
much 

Julia Capallo 36:06
work. And when somebody just skips the whole creative process, again, that's why I think about generative AI is very distinctly that it's. 

Rich Bennett 36:16
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 36:17
You're essentially skipping the creative process. That's my, my timer for. I try to meditate every day when I can, which obviously not every day sometimes I have to. 

Rich Bennett 36:29
Well, come on now. You're in the meditation too. I guess you do yoga as well. 

Julia Capallo 36:33
I try when I have time or like when I can, I try to prioritize it. I try not to use that phrase like I don't have time. It's the prioritization. The time. But yes, I meditate in different ways 

Rich Bennett 36:46
like. 

Julia Capallo 36:47
Do like walking 

Rich Bennett 36:49
Yes. 

Julia Capallo 36:49
meditation or like the two o'clock ones really usually because by this time of day, I'm usually like really kind of groggy. I'm like, do I preach for a cup of coffee? No, I should just. I need to take like a mental break, but they also awaken the senses at the same time. 

Rich Bennett 37:04
All right. So those of you listening, yes, we're going to be going, switching track here to mental, mental health and physical health. Now this is me because I meditate as well, and it's helped with my anxiety. 

Julia Capallo 37:17
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 37:19
But why did you start meditating 

Julia Capallo 37:21
I started my, like, doing yoga, I did it a lot, I, 2017, 

Rich Bennett 37:27
to 

Julia Capallo 37:27
yeah, 2017 was like a big year for me to start in yoga in general. Like, I remember we moved to Perry Hall in 2016, we got, I got married that year, coming up on 10 years 

Rich Bennett 37:37
wow? 

Julia Capallo 37:37
marriage. 

Yeah, that year, I 

Rich Bennett 37:50
Hey, 

Julia Capallo 37:50
was like, 

Rich Bennett 37:50
you can 

Julia Capallo 37:50
'sup'... 

Rich Bennett 37:50
go there free. Look, go ahead. 

Julia Capallo 37:52
Oh, we'll talk about the... 

Rich Bennett 37:54
Uhm, 

Julia Capallo 37:55
what? 

Rich Bennett 37:56
Take 

Julia Capallo 37:56
take 

Rich Bennett 37:56
a, 

Julia Capallo 37:56
a walk. Oh, so yeah, I got super into yoga, then. Um, and then when I had kids, like, it just, I started changing how I was exercising because I loved that, but it was a little, it was more time consuming. 

Rich Bennett 38:07
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 38:07
Then I wanted to have, so I, I try to do yoga every, I used to, I was trying to do, like, once a week or maybe every other week, something like that, but the meditation piece, um, my dad has been a practitioner of meditation since, like, the 70s, 

Rich Bennett 38:22
did. Really? 

Julia Capallo 38:22
he And then all meditation and that was, he does it every single day, like, I remember growing up, it was like, um, Dad was doing his program, because it was, 

Rich Bennett 38:31
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 38:31
at the time was like a program. Um, and I never really understood why or how he did it, but he was a teacher for a long time too, so I think like I started meditating around that same time, like, in 2017 was when I was like, "Oh, let me sit down and just do this practice." It's very uncomfortable at first when you're not, have you haven't practiced it? Um, but then I got a, um, mindfulness and education certificate, so I did this year long program. 

Rich Bennett 39:02
Wow. 

Julia Capallo 39:03
yeah, because I was fascinated by it and I find it, it's like, children need that 

Rich Bennett 39:08
Um, 

Julia Capallo 39:08
adults, obviously adults need that, but like, children, if you can foster that type of practice early on, 

Rich Bennett 39:15
Like 

Julia Capallo 39:15
then it just. 

Rich Bennett 39:15
daycare time. 

Julia Capallo 39:16
Yeah. Um, so, yeah, so that's kind of where that started. 

Rich Bennett 39:22
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 39:22
It was like, SEL, like, all that kind of stuff, and I started implementing it a little bit in the classroom, and then I've just kind of. Kept with it as a, as a mom of two young children. And you know, 

Rich Bennett 39:32
yeah, 

Julia Capallo 39:33
it's a little chaotic or just, you know, just like my nervous system gets dysregulated, so I'm like, how do I get back to like this grounding practice that's. Just for me and it's only a few minutes, but like, I do actual just sitting, listening to like ambient music for 10 minutes. 

Rich Bennett 39:49
I love the time 

Julia Capallo 39:49
Um, 

Rich Bennett 39:50
that it bows. 

Julia Capallo 39:51
yeah. Like, I do some journaling and I do, um, that walking like I'll go walk in the woods for, yep, yeah. So 

Rich Bennett 40:00
Yeah. Wow. 

Julia Capallo 40:00
just kind of like, I, I think that that's super important 

Rich Bennett 40:04
It 

Julia Capallo 40:05
as. 

Rich Bennett 40:05
is 

Julia Capallo 40:06
creative person, um, getting out and like, having, nature's really helpful for just getting inspiration or getting ideas for looking at things in different ways, 

Rich Bennett 40:16
right. 

Julia Capallo 40:16
directions, and things like that. 

Rich Bennett 40:18
Well, I think it's something that, uh, entrepreneurs, solar, pernors and business owners should also implement as well, especially companies that have employees. 

Julia Capallo 40:27
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 40:27
Why night, set time aside for everybody 

Julia Capallo 40:31
for 

Rich Bennett 40:31
to meditate 

Julia Capallo 40:32
three 

Rich Bennett 40:32
minutes. And I guarantee you, you'll see them get more work done of that. It just, it, let's face it, work as stressful as it is, 

Julia Capallo 40:45
because 

Rich Bennett 40:45
you meditate. That stress is just being released and going away. I never knew that about that. That's pretty wow. 

Julia Capallo 40:52
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's one of the things like you see, don't really like talk about necessarily. 

Rich Bennett 40:57
Yeah, I love talking to people that meditate. 

Julia Capallo 40:59
Um, but actually speaking of like, like, branding and things like that. So, um, I'll do a little plug for local photographer, brand photographer, um, Ingrid Barrios. So she did my photos last year and this year, Ingrid Barrios. I hope I'm saying her last name right in my- 

Rich Bennett 41:17
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 41:17
Um, but she did my photos last year and this year and last year, um, she's really good at like grasping how to get like what, what all you want to encompass in your brand. 

Rich Bennett 41:29
Right. 

Julia Capallo 41:30
Um, so for me, it wasn't just the work that I do, but also like the things that are important to me. 

Rich Bennett 41:37
Mhm. 

Julia Capallo 41:37
So in last year's photoshoot, I included like, I do some of these like mindful, um, hard readings like after I meditate my kind of closing out the meditation session. I have like these little decks of cards. I have mindful messages on them. So I had that in my photos. Um, and then this year, I wanted to focus more on the fact that I have an actual studio now because before I used to like sit in, I like a shared space with my husband in our old house. studio and office in our basement. 

Rich Bennett 42:08
Uh, I thought you meant elsewhere. 

Julia Capallo 42:10
Yeah. No, no. And I don't feel like I need anything like that because I don't. Yeah, I work at a computer, but I have an actual physical space. Like I can shut the door. Because right outside of my office area is like our kids playroom. 

Rich Bennett 42:24
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 42:24
So it's like trying to keep 

Rich Bennett 42:26
Yeah, shut 

Julia Capallo 42:26
that out. 

Rich Bennett 42:26
your lid. 

Julia Capallo 42:27
Y. 

Rich Bennett 42:28
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 42:28
But, 

Rich Bennett 42:28
Yeah. Why? 

Julia Capallo 42:29
but anger is a fantastic photographer, visual storyteller, um, I just, she just does such an amazing job and 

Rich Bennett 42:38
she's local. 

Julia Capallo 42:38
She's local. Yeah. She's based in Edgewood. So really? 

Rich Bennett 42:41
Really? 

Julia Capallo 42:42
We're Abbington, but in 

Rich Bennett 42:43
close enough. 

Julia Capallo 42:44
Yeah. Yeah. I would say kind of near, um, the estuary center. 

Rich Bennett 42:48
Uh, it needs to be like, 

Julia Capallo 42:49
mm hmm. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 42:50
Well, you're going to have to bring her on the show day. 

Julia Capallo 42:52
Yeah. I will tell her. 

Rich Bennett 42:54
Yeah. Absolutely. Wow. That's, that's pretty amazing. D, um, so meditating, yoga, art, marketing, web design, macaroni kit, bell, which you said you'd been doing for a year. 

Julia Capallo 43:11
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 43:12
What attracted you to that besides your kids? 

Julia Capallo 43:16
Well, yeah. Well, I saw the, like, I saw it come up on 

Rich Bennett 43:20
I'm 

Julia Capallo 43:21
LinkedIn and really excited. Oh, I've heard of that because they have different territories. 

Rich Bennett 43:25
Right. 

Julia Capallo 43:26
my wonder how people like get involved with that? So sure enough, I reached out. They're like, Oh, we actually have a publisher in that area because they did like a general like, we're 

Rich Bennett 43:34
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 43:34
hiring all across whatever. So I, like put an application in, they're like, we have a publisher in that area already. I was like, Oh, okay. And if it opens up, we'll let you know sure enough, like a week later, they're like, Oh, actually, 

Rich Bennett 43:46
Is that 

Julia Capallo 43:47
yeah, the, they were like, Oh, the publisher is actually, I don't know if it was like, Like a backlog that they didn't know that she had already left, 

Rich Bennett 43:54
okay. 

Julia Capallo 43:54
but essentially she left. 

Rich Bennett 43:56
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 43:56
Um, I jumped in and I was like, this seems like such a great. Like fit, not just because I have young children, but because it's, I consider an arm of my business. Like I, 

Rich Bennett 44:07
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 44:07
that's how I kind of position it because, especially because it's, it's hyper local. So it's only Hartford County. I also oversee the Cecil and Northeast Hartford 

Rich Bennett 44:17
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 44:17
area because that publisher was no longer So it's just a wider net or like a wider place for people to, um, to market themselves 

Rich Bennett 44:28
yeah, 

Julia Capallo 44:29
and it's, I like working locally. I like working with people that I could like sit down with her coffee or, you know, conversation like this. Like, I don't have to be on zoom all the time. But, um, that's, especially as a business owner separately, I think about that. And it's just another avenue for people to get the word out about events. Like I just put a fall guide out yesterday, or I made it two days ago and I just 

Rich Bennett 44:51
the 

Julia Capallo 44:51
started 

Rich Bennett 44:51
newsletter. 

Julia Capallo 44:52
I do 

Rich Bennett 44:53
Yeah, 

Julia Capallo 44:53
that weekly newsletter, but then I just made a guide on the website, that I've just basically researched a whole bunch of like fall festivals and like, um, trunk or 

Rich Bennett 45:03
events. 

Julia Capallo 45:03
treat 

Rich Bennett 45:03
Right. 

Julia Capallo 45:04
Things like that people can share it. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 45:07
I just realized that Halloween is that 

Julia Capallo 45:09
I 

Rich Bennett 45:10
close. 

Julia Capallo 45:10
know, well, I think the crazy thing is like, I feel like August to October seems like it's really far from each other, but it's only 

Rich Bennett 45:16
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 45:16
two months from each other. Like yeah. 

Rich Bennett 45:19
Wow. I so with because you gotta be able to make money. So how do you 

Julia Capallo 45:24
Right. 

Rich Bennett 45:24
make money from macaroni kids? 

Julia Capallo 45:26
So I do advertising. People can sponsor the newsletter. Um, I've sidebar ads on the website. And then I also, 

Rich Bennett 45:34
same thing I do. 

Julia Capallo 45:34
Yeah. Um, and the audience like. It's growing. I 

Rich Bennett 45:38
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 45:38
think I'm slowly growing it. Um, right now I'm kind of focusing on the brand awareness, like just letting people know what it is, because like I always see online, like, oh, what's going on this week? I was going on. And if it's like, I'm looking for things for my kids to do. I'm like, please, like, please check this out, because I've working really hard to like make this a thing. 

Rich Bennett 45:55
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 45:55
Um, but, and then I also, I've been trying to do some events. So I have one event that I did this year called the spring into wellness, um, community fair. And I'm doing it again next year. So it's. One time thing, but you know, the vendor fees and so forth. Um, that's pulling in and then 

Rich Bennett 46:14
Right. 

Julia Capallo 46:14
I take some of that pot of money and I use it towards my hope is like, I'll have a little bit of a pot to start marketing that. Event. 

Rich Bennett 46:22
Yeah. For. Where do you hold that 

Julia Capallo 46:24
at? That one is at Hartford Day School. 

Rich Bennett 46:27
Oh, 

Julia Capallo 46:28
because they've got a big. Um, I guess it's like a gymnasium. 

Rich Bennett 46:32
But 

Julia Capallo 46:32
I'm always looking for different venues because I'm trying to do I love a thing I mentioned earlier, like I like doing community events. So I'm just trying to find like good venues that aren't going to cost me an arm in a leg. 

Rich Bennett 46:43
And I'm just speaking of which. Because I'll, if I don't tell you now, forget. So, because you were part of our community connections affair, a 

Julia Capallo 46:53
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 46:54
fair community connections fair in June. 

Julia Capallo 46:57
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 46:58
We just got short in the name of Connections Fair. It's 

Julia Capallo 47:01
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 47:01
too much to put on the board. 

Julia Capallo 47:03
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 47:03
Um, but we're moving. Oh, 

Julia Capallo 47:05
Oh. 

Rich Bennett 47:06
we have a new location. 

Julia Capallo 47:07
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 47:21
Uh, I feel like we're going to get a good shepherd. Presbyterian church on 

Julia Capallo 47:24
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 47:24
the field. 

Julia Capallo 47:25
Nice. 

Rich Bennett 47:25
She's all flat. There's a park. There's. It's right across the street from the top 10 high school. 

Julia Capallo 47:31
Okay. That's great. 

Okay. 

Rich Bennett 47:44
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 47:45
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 47:47
Yeah. 

Because that was a big end. Since it's right on Jump Farm Road. It should be no problem for people that you striper. What did we do on 

Julia Capallo 47:59
phone 

Rich Bennett 47:59
their to get connection? 

Julia Capallo 48:01
Right. That was the other issue. Ye. 

Rich Bennett 48:03
a 

Julia Capallo 48:03
Like

Rich Bennett 48:03
lot of people couldn't do it. Uh, uh, it was nerve wracking. So it's something very important. Tell everybody the website. Websites websites. 

Julia Capallo 48:13
Okay. Yes. So a marvelous spark is just a marvelous spark.com. And then macaroni kid beller. I do want to make a note that it's not just beller. Like I covered all of Harvard County. Um, but that website. It's not as obvious. It's beller MD dot macaroni kid.com. 

Rich Bennett 48:33
Just Google 

Julia Capallo 48:34
or Google, yeah. Macaron. 

Rich Bennett 48:36
the 

Julia Capallo 48:36
Yeah. Look at macaroni kid. There's the beller one. And then the C. So, Harvard, like North Harford. 

Rich Bennett 48:42
Right. 

Julia Capallo 48:42
I just say Harvard and Cecil County that I 

Rich Bennett 48:44
Just 

Julia Capallo 48:44
cover. 

Rich Bennett 48:45
say upper just speak. 

Julia Capallo 48:46
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 48:46
Yeah. Alright. So there's anything you like that before you pick the last question. 

Julia Capallo 48:50
Uh, no, nothing to go. 

Rich Bennett 48:52
Alright. So we can do this one of two ways. I have a hundred different questions. So you can pick a number or I also have broken down into five blocks. 

Julia Capallo 49:01
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 49:02
So like block one of those you would then you would pick one through 20, but I can tell you what the categories are if you'd rather do it by block. 

Julia Capallo 49:10
No, cause I have a favorite number. 

Rich Bennett 49:12
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 49:12
My favorite numbers 18. It's my day birthday. 

Rich Bennett 49:17
Your what? 

Julia Capallo 49:17
It's like I was born June 18th to Paul McCartney's birthday. 

Rich Bennett 49:21
Come on. 

Julia Capallo 49:21
Wait, when's your birthday? 

Rich Bennett 49:22
Is your June 19th? 

Julia Capallo 49:23
Oh, stop. 

Rich Bennett 49:24
Okay. Yes. I don't think we did. 

Julia Capallo 49:27
Okay. I don't 

Rich Bennett 49:27
We 

Julia Capallo 49:28
know. 

Rich Bennett 49:28
may have because my best 

Julia Capallo 49:29
friend, 

Rich Bennett 49:30
his daughter. Two of his daughters. The one is June 18th. The other one is June 20th. 

Julia Capallo 49:35
Whoa. 

Rich Bennett 49:36
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 49:37
Gemini's on the edge of the Gemini. 

Rich Bennett 49:39
Okay. We rock the ATO. 

Julia Capallo 49:43
Should I change it to something else? 

Rich Bennett 49:46
No, this is good, but it could be this could be a scary answer to. 

Julia Capallo 49:50
Oh gosh. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 49:51
it. 

Julia Capallo 49:51
Let's go for 

Rich Bennett 49:52
Because it talks about 

Julia Capallo 49:53
dreams. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 49:55
Well, sort of what's a dream? You had that came true in an unexpected way. 

Julia Capallo 50:03
Mmm. Oh gosh. I have no idea. 

Rich Bennett 50:08
Hey, you picked it not me. 

Julia Capallo 50:09
Yeah. I'm trying to think like an actual because I don't remember a lot of my 

Rich Bennett 50:14
That could 

Julia Capallo 50:14
dreams. 

Rich Bennett 50:15
be a day dream, whatever. I mean, yeah, everybody has dreams, not just why you're, 

Julia Capallo 50:18
I mean, I would say starting a business would be a dream. Like I didn't physically have that dream, but I think that I guess the reason why I have a business is because of my children, 

Rich Bennett 50:32
righ? 

Julia Capallo 50:32
I left the classroom twice, you know, I was at the one school and then I was like feeling burnt out and then I realized I was having I was pregnant. So I like finished out the school year because both my kids are September birthdays. Then I went to another school realize it wasn't just leaving. I just needed to leave the classroom in general. And then it's like the universe was just kind of pushing me towards entrepreneurship and I didn't even realize it. Because then I was applying for design jobs and just not hearing back or whatever. So I started doing freelance and then, so you know, it's in a roundabout way a dream. It's like, oh, that'd be really cool to do my own thing, but like, is that really going to pan out and then it's 

Rich Bennett 51:22
scary 

Julia Capallo 51:22
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 51:22
to. yeah. I mean, it's starting your own business period is scary, especially if you're married because then you have to, especially if you're leaving a job. 

Julia Capallo 51:36
Yes, 

Rich Bennett 51:36
It's just say, yeah, I'm just going to start my own business. You have to have your partners support as well. 

Julia Capallo 51:44
absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 51:44
Otherwise, it's going to make it even harder. 

Julia Capallo 51:46
Yeah, and I think that is definitely something to be noted is like we looked at finances, we looked at like just how and if there were certain like milestones to look at over the different court of the course of time. 

Rich Bennett 52:12
Right. 

Julia Capallo 52:16
Yeah, but that's what kind of got me into the whole thing about like, doing more writing and I did some blog writing and storytelling, and then it kind of just, it's always continuing to evolve, but I'm also looking at who I want to work with, so I guess that's important to note. 

Rich Bennett 52:34
Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 52:35
I love education organizations or businesses because that's my background, anything wellness-based, I'm just passionate about that, that's why I'm making that community 

Rich Bennett 52:46
event. Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 52:47
That actually, I would say also, that's, it wasn't a dream per se, but it was like a vision, I had a vision 

Rich Bennett 52:55
for 

Julia Capallo 52:56
this wellness I was like, oh, that'd be really cool to do this, let's just do it. I had the idea, 

Rich Bennett 53:01
when 

Julia Capallo 53:01
I have an idea that just sits with me for a long time, it's like I have to at least try it out. If it doesn't work out, at least I tried. 

Rich Bennett 53:10
That's how the connections fair came about. been wanting to do it, the club didn't want to, they wanted to keep it as a 

Julia Capallo 53:17
I've 

Rich Bennett 53:17
pet fair or pet festival, it was a pet festival originally. Yeah, and so I've always wanted to do a connection fair as hard for County Living, and so you know what, I'll give it a shot to the club one more time, see what they say, and they were on board. Yeah, so we did it, and they seemed to like it better. We got to, the funny thing is we did not get a lot of people come through from the Jopatown. 

Julia Capallo 53:48
That's interesting. 

Rich Bennett 53:49
It was from Hartford and Baltimore counties, people from all over, but not a lot of people from the Jopatown even though it was right here in Jopatown. 

Julia Capallo 53:56
You mean participating or coming as attendees? 

Rich Bennett 53:59
Coming as attendee. Yeah. Yeah, I actually even participate in not a whole lot. I'll be honest, if we would have done it just as the club, we had 160 vendors signed up, and I think 70 some showed 

Julia Capallo 54:21
That's 

Rich Bennett 54:21
up. 

Julia Capallo 54:21
crazy though to think that, I mean, 

Rich Bennett 54:23
it 

Julia Capallo 54:23
guess because 

Rich Bennett 54:24
was free. 

Julia Capallo 54:25
Right, 

Rich Bennett 54:25
Right, yeah. 

Julia Capallo 54:25
but I just, I mean, I feel like that's a whole other conversation about like just showing up even if it's free. If you signed up, like you should be committed to that obligation. 

Rich Bennett 54:37
Yeah, you can see people, see, they miss people all who've been. 

Julia Capallo 54:40
Yes, or learning how to a whole new. Yeah, I just remember, I taught Kevin from, what's freedom? 

Rich Bennett 54:50
Freedom federal. Yeah, freedom federal credit. 

Julia Capallo 54:51
Yes, 

Rich Bennett 54:52
new. Yeah, you should, 

Julia Capallo 54:52
or not a 

Rich Bennett 54:52
did you 

Julia Capallo 54:53
whole 

Rich Bennett 54:53
get video? 

Julia Capallo 54:54
I think he did. 

Rich Bennett 54:55
Okay. 

Julia Capallo 54:55
Yeah. Shared on LinkedIn, but 

Rich Bennett 54:56
Oh, 

Julia Capallo 54:57
he. He couldn't share both the photo and the video in the same 

Rich Bennett 55:00
okay. 

Julia Capallo 55:00
post or whatever, but yeah. 

Rich Bennett 55:02
Oh, wait, I'll see him again. 

Julia Capallo 55:07
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 55:08
Post it on Facebook. 

Julia Capallo 55:09
Nice, yeah. Maybe 

Rich Bennett 55:11
not, I don't know, I'll have to check. So those of you listening, you need your brand done, you need your marketing done. You need any graphic designs with design, whatever. 

Julia Capallo 55:20
Or even consulting. Like if you want to try to do it yourself, like I am an educator. Like I'm actually I'm running some Canva courses coming up. 

Rich Bennett 55:30
God, and that keeps changing too. 

Julia Capallo 55:32
Yes. Yes. 

Rich Bennett 55:32
Yeah. Where they keep adding more 

Julia Capallo 55:33
Right. So like if, again, I'm trying to be very mindful of people's budget or 

Rich Bennett 55:38
stuff. Yeah. 

Julia Capallo 55:38
what their capacity is. So it's like if you want to outsource all of that stuff, I'm available for that. If you just want to learn it yourself, so you can do it yourself. I teach those types of things as well. So. So I'm kind of fusing all of my skill sets together is essentially what my business 

Rich Bennett 55:55
is. Y'all know who to contact now. Get your dinner. Well, I better not say to ask, probably trademarked. Get it done. Julia, thanks a 

Julia Capallo 56:04
Thank 

Rich Bennett 56:04
lot. 

Julia Capallo 56:05
you for having me on. 

Rich Bennett 56:06
You know, what I really enjoyed about this conversation with Julia is how all the pieces of her story connect, art, teaching, motherhood, entrepreneurship, and helping people find their place in the community. Leaving the classroom was a big decision, but she's still putting that teaching experience to work through a marvelous spark, helping business owners tell their stories and understand and have to share them. And that's something we're thinking about. When someone discovers your business, are they getting a sense of who you are? We talked about thoughtful design, keeping your website updated, and letting people see the person behind the business. Our discussion about AI brought up some strong opinions, too, especially around protecting creativity and keeping that human connection in the work we share. I really appreciated Julia's honesty about making room for family and taking a few minutes to pause, meditate, or get outside. When you're busy building something, it's easy to forget to take care of yourself along the way. A huge thank you to Julia for sharing her journey and for the work she's doing through a marvelous spark and macaroni kidbell air to connect businesses and families throughout our community. Check out her work, explore the local activities she shares, and think about that idea you've been putting off. What's one small step you could take to give it a chance. Until next time, I'm Rich Bennett. Thanks for listening and remember, every great conversation starts with someone willing to listen and someone willing to share. Now it's your turn. Join the conversation by sharing this episode, leave it in the comment, or reach it out to me to Berkeley. Take care, be kind to one another, and I'll talk with you again soon.