Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / What happens when your small business blows up on TikTok, with Inoki Bathhouse Founder Helen Yin

Transcript

What happens when your small business blows up on TikTok, with Inoki Bathhouse Founder Helen Yin · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Helen Yin for Female Startup Club. Hey everyone, it's Dune here, your host and hype girl. Today I'm learning from Helen Yin. She's one of those small businesses that you've seen absolutely blow up through the magic that is TikTok.
• 0:25
  I'm part of a paid community, and when I saw her partner posting about it, I instantly wanted to know more. So this is the more. We're talking about what happened to her small business and TikTok, what capital she's invested so far, and what the future looks like.
• 0:42
  Inoki Bathhouse is a brand you need to get to know. With natural ingredients inspired by Helen's childhood in Beijing and her travels around the world, Inoki Bathhouse enables anyone to transport to a calming bathhouse experience continents away. And in case you need to hear this today, because I certainly do need a reminder sometimes,
• 1:05
  Whatever journey you're on, just know that things take time. It's really easy to get swept up in the success of others, but just know that the magic is in chipping away every single day. Chip, chip, chip. Taking those small, tiny actions that move you forward. You got this. Let's get into this episode. This is Helen for Female Startup Club. Helen, hi, hello. Welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast.
• 1:34
  Hi, dude. I'm so excited. I'm so, so excited. Amazing. Where are you today? Where are you calling in from? I'm calling from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Nice. What's the weather like there at the moment? Looks sunny. It's really, really sunny. It's so nice. We had a couple, I don't know if I would call it like monsoon, but it was really, really heavy rain the last couple of days. And now it's so bright and sunny and it just, yeah, it's so wonderful. Yeah.
• 2:01
  Oh, love that. How about yourself? Sorry, I didn't actually catch that. Well, I'm usually based in London, but at the moment I'm actually in Monaco visiting my husband's family. And so also great weather, you know, it's so beautiful, very different to what London was like when we left about a month ago. It was really bleak still. I was like, where's summer? Anyway, finally got it here in Monaco. Nice. That sounds amazing. Yeah, it is. It is. I love it here.
• 2:28
  Okay, tell me, introduce me to who you are. Introduce me to your brand. What's your business?
• 2:35
  For sure. So I started my career in corporate consulting, and then I started my first business around almost three years ago. It's an innovation consultancy. And then since then, I've started my second business, which is Inoki Bathhouse. So the first one is like a consulting company that I started. The second one is a direct-to-consumer wellness brand. It's basically creating a bath house in your own home. And it's something that I really fell in love with during my amazing time during COVID-19 and the pandemic. Yeah.
• 3:03
  But yeah, it's a direct-to-consumer wellness brand. So cool. I love it. And I want to give everyone a little bit of context about how I discovered your brand and maybe they've discovered your brand too. I am part of this community called Trends, which you're also part of. And I saw a post from your partner that you'd kind of like started this small business. It's...
• 3:24
  blew up overnight, essentially. And like, what do you do? What's next kind of thing. And so I started following him on LinkedIn to, you know, just see what was going on and keep up with the updates. And then I reached out to you to invite you on the show because I wanted to learn all about what's going on with TikTok, what the strategy was, what the blueprint was and how it's going. And that led us here, essentially.
• 3:47
  So I'm excited. And I'd love to kind of go back to, I think I read that you launched in February of this year. So I'd love to go back to kind of what was leading up to that, what was happening during COVID that was sparking the interest in starting this brand.
• 4:01
  For sure. So during COVID, I mean, anyone from Canada can tell you we've been in the pandemic for the longest. We actually just got out of the lockdowns recently and from the social isolation. And I used to be a digital nomad. So going from traveling and then going to being confined in your home, it was really, really difficult. And I experienced a lot of mental health challenges.
• 4:23
  I think at the peak of my mental health challenges, I was going through insomnia. I went through insomnia for over a month. And that's essentially me not being able to sleep for more than one to two hours a day. And I never understood how much of a toll that could take on a person, but it definitely took a huge toll on me. And I was going through quite a miserable time. And I think what I wanted to do for myself was just take that because I tried everything. I tried everything.
• 4:47
  going to my doctor to get prescription pills to sleep. And that actually like wore off. And then I tried melatonin. I tried sprays like lavender, like all these different types of things. And I just went back to the basics of taking a bath because I have loved baths ever since my childhood, ever since I watched Spirited Away. And I saw baths as a way to really find balance within myself and really decompress away from technology, away from people and just really be calm and relaxed.
• 5:14
  And then I read a signal from Trends, and they mentioned that Hinoki trees was a rising scent coming out of Japan as well. The concept of forest bathing, which is essentially immersing yourself in a very beautiful environment. And you feel like you're bathing in like spirituality because you're in this environment. I thought that was so wonderful. And I thought that was so incredible. So I think late February...
• 5:35
  I had the idea like in the middle of the night and I spent the next five hours mocking up what it would look like for this business to look like. So I was researching because the first name that came up to my mind was Hinoki. I thought maybe Inoki would be a wonderful name to have as the business. And then I created a bunch of design mockups and then I sent a poll on Instagram with my friends and family. And a lot of people really love the idea of creating a bath company that was based on creating a spiritual space in your own home to relax and decompress.
• 6:05
  So then after realizing that people would be interested in it, I quickly set up a website on Webflow to get more traction. And then I set up a TikTok and then I basically bought a bunch of things and then my business kind of snowballed from there.
• 6:20
  It's just so amazing. And I actually like when I was watching your videos, my mood was just like, I could so go bath right now. Like this looks so relaxing and so nice. Like to watch your TikToks is a really soothing experience just from the way that you speak. You speak calmly. You're more softly spoken. It's like you can almost smell it, you know, because you've got all these beautiful things that, you know, the smell is there and like the ASMR stuff.
• 6:47
  Anyway, I just really got that mood and was like, this is really cool. When you were having the baths during lockdown, were you already doing this kind of ritual stuff in the bath? Or were you just as in like, were you putting these things in for yourself and lighting the candles and doing that whole thing? Or did that come is the idea?
• 7:05
  Yes, I was. So I already began doing this. I bought a bunch of rose petals. I bought jasmine tea. And one of my first formulations was just with jasmine tea. And I really love the experience. I grew up, I was born in Canada, but I was raised by my grandparents in China for a period of my life. And my grandpa loved tea. I was constantly surrounded by tea during my upbringing. And I didn't realize how much nostalgia that would bring to me when I actually immersed myself. I was creating a tea bath for myself, but it kind of brought me back to my
• 7:35
  the days when my grandpa would brew tea and it was a very freeing time and so yeah I would put these like tea baths together and then I would light my candles and then I would also play very soothing music and I realized this end-to-end experience is only something that people typically DIY there isn't a company that I personally know that curates this experience for you so I thought that would be a really great idea for myself to do that for other people.
• 7:59
  Got it. And I always love to ask in the beginning, like how much money did you need to invest to get started? Like what was the first capital that you put into this? That's a really great question. So everything I put in was I put in naturally just because I wanted to buy things. So I would buy things. So I think I spent like one hundred dollars on buying just things for myself. Like I would buy like the tea. Tea is very, very expensive. I don't think people understand how expensive tea is. And like you order quantities, but it still doesn't get that much cheaper.
• 8:27
  I spent around $100 just buying tea and then I gave some to my friends to try. And then I think the next amount I spent was around $1,000. I got the Webflow up. Webflow is around like $30 a month or something. I got Webflow up. I bought more quantities of tea. I bought some, like I tested with more ingredients. So not just jasmine tea, but also chamomile and other types of ingredients.
• 8:51
  So I think like initially $100 and then I put $1,000 into buying more things. And then once I got traction, I think my first investment was $10,000. I basically just kept pouring more and more money into this. And we recuperated all of that back after we made some sales. So I put all of that into...
• 9:09
  investing into tools that would allow us to run the business. So like things that you would just generally need for a small business as well as for the ingredients. So specifically for myself, I needed to invest in like $200 worth into these like tools that like airtight, like seal bags, for example.
• 9:25
  So those were different types of tools also had to like buy shelving for like my home just because we had to stock so many things as inventory. So in total, I think I spent and this isn't Canadian dollars, by the way, I spent around $12,000 buying inventory and whatnot. And we've recuperated all of that since.
• 9:43
  Wow. So cool. Love that for you. Thanks, dude. Let's talk about TikTok. Obviously, that's such a key part of this story. So what happens? Actually, before what happens, what was your mindset with the TikTok? Like, were you thinking, oh, like, here's my big fancy strategy? Or were you just kind of like, oh, my gosh, something? What was the pre TikTok starting?
• 10:07
  I feel like such an old millennial. I see how like tech savvy Gen Z are. And I honestly am not that savvy at all. So I was honestly just like, Oh, like, you know, how would tech talk work for me? In my experience, like I'm not a influencer. So I feel like very uncomfortable with
• 10:24
  I don't know. I think like TikTok is like for a lot of people who are like, I'm very introverted. So TikTok was kind of like a perfect platform for myself. I could just post something and it had the potential of going to a lot of strangers. Whereas Instagram, I'm posting things and only my friends and family would see it. Like you have to be very good at Instagram in order for you to grow your following. I'm not good at Instagram. So I thought I would try TikTok and my fourth video got so much traction and I was like, okay, TikTok is my platform. I'm going to continue going down this route.
• 10:52
  And like, just to give everyone some context, the video is you make a bath for your partner and it's like going through the ritual of picking out all the things, like building this beautiful setup and relaxing music and all this kind of thing. And this video takes off. What did you then think? Like, what was the next steps? Like, were people being like, can I buy this? Or was it already set up for people to buy that? Or like, how did it work?
• 11:18
  That's a great question. So by that time, I still had my website, my really like janky like Webflow website where I just like put things together that said, this is my vision for the product. And I also had a wait list that I use Typeform to power.
• 11:31
  I was shocked. I was screaming around my home with my partner and I was telling him that I was going viral. I was on my phone for nine hours straight. Like I didn't really move or eat and I was just responding to people. So I spent nine hours responding to people because like when TikTok hits, it just like exponentially grows. So I spent nine hours doing that. And I think we got a waitlist that day of around 2000 people who are interested in purchasing our products.
• 11:57
  So yeah, that was crazy and wild for me. So we didn't have anything set up. They couldn't purchase it, but they had a waitlist and we like pursued basically the business after that. And so I think I read by the time you actually launched your videos, you had about 4000 people on the waitlist and then you sold out in something crazy like 30 minutes.
• 12:19
  Yeah. So after our second viral video, we had around 4000 people on our waitlist in total. And then finally, we were able to put up a Shopify together. I spent like weeks doing that. And then it sold out within an hour. So we had around a 200 order preorder. And I mean, 200 isn't like that much, but it was honestly just so exciting for us because that was all that we could handle.
• 12:41
  And every pre-order since then has been sold out within a couple of hours. So now we've opened it up to the broader audience. We've hired people to support us. So it's not just myself, my partner and our family. But yeah, it was really exciting to see the positive response.
• 12:55
  Yeah, that's so cool. I love that for you. I want to ask you, like, now that you've got the beauty of hindsight, and now that you've obviously kind of figured TikTok out, and you know more about it, for new entrepreneurs entering the space who want to leverage TikTok, what are the critical to-dos, and what are the critical not-to-dos? Like, what's the magic? What's the recipe for success?
• 13:18
  It's so interesting because I've heard so many people say, oh, it's a quantities game. You just have to put as many videos out there as possible and then one will pick up and it will go viral. And personally, I can't do that. I can't put like three videos out there a day. I can barely put three videos out there a week. And I just put a lot of effort into each and every one of my videos
• 13:36
  And I think like the video does really well when people respond in emotional way to it. And when you put out videos that are sort of like low value, doesn't really do anything, doesn't really say anything and kind of like evokes no emotional reaction.
• 13:51
  I'm not saying it would hurt your brand, but I just don't think videos like that do very well in like current TikTok. And I think TikTok has also changed their algorithm. They're ongoingly changing their algorithm. So even people who have millions of followers, they still follow the same TikTok pattern. Like if the first couple of people, they react to your video really well, it goes to like another community and then it kind of like tests in like portions like that.
• 14:13
  So my advice personally would be to put more intent into the videos, especially when you're starting out, just having a strategy, creating some type of emotion, like being really good at storytelling. So I think that would be my advice for sort of doing well on TikTok.
• 14:28
  Hmm. It's still such a tough one, though, because it is still hard to replicate because I feel like you see some brands who you're like, yeah, but why haven't they blown up kind of thing when they're doing like great content or great, like beautiful things. And then you see other brands who literally it's like one video and it's of absolutely nothing and it's got a million views. And you're like, but how? Like, I don't understand. Yeah.
• 14:50
  Like I can understand what the formula is. Like when I look at your brand, I'm like, this makes so much sense that it's a brand that thrives on TikTok because like there's just so many pieces that truly make sense. But then there are some brands that I see or some like creators that I'm like, but how? Like, I don't get it. Do you know what I mean? Like some of it is just like mind boggling to me. Hmm. Yeah, I think like some videos like on TikTok, I'm just like, oh, this is like,
• 15:18
  how did this get millions and millions of hits? Yeah. But I think it's that aspect of people keep replaying it. And so that is like a key algorithm hit for TikTok. Like if someone keeps replaying it, that means they're intrigued, they're curious, and it's content that go to a broader audience. Got it. But yeah, I'm not too sure about that. I have found, so like I had one TikTok video
• 15:39
  It hit like around 500,000 people. And honestly, that TikTok didn't really generate any sales for me. Like some viral videos, it doesn't necessarily equate to sales because you're not really hitting the right audience, which is why I think that putting more energy into your videos and just making it very intentional is really important. Because even if a video goes widespread, still doesn't necessarily mean people will buy from you. Yeah, that's interesting. And that's important to note as well, for sure.
• 16:08
  What's happened since the launch? So from February to now, how has it been going? What's the traction sort of been since then?
• 16:17
  It's been really good. So we only have one product. So like I had a vision of having multiple types of like bath teas, but I want it to be very intentional around the formulation. So I've been very, very slow about it. So we only have one product and the traction has been really good since like February, we've sold over $30,000 worth of inventory. So that's been really phenomenal. Of course, like none of this money is like going into my pocket. It's continuously being reinvested into the business.
• 16:42
  I don't see myself paying myself like for a year, to be honest. But I think that has been going really well. We've been growing organically. And I think at this point, I can't just like rely on TikTok anymore. I need to go with traditional methods of building the brand and business through like traditional means. So I am thinking about that as well.
• 17:00
  But yeah, the original hit from TikTok, it really set my business up for success. That's so cool. Something else I actually like about what you're doing on your TikTok, just to circle back to that for a second, is I like how you're using the negative comments or not even negative, but like the questionable comments as an opportunity to educate your audience. And the one that comes to mind is someone was saying something about they'd get a UTI if they put this in the bath.
• 17:24
  And then you were responding with the video being like, well, hang on a second. Like, that's not the case. And let's like talk this through and educate people. And it's such a good opportunity because I'm sure if she thought it or whoever thought that, you know, other people would think that kind of thing. And I think that was also a very cool strategy to be putting out there.
• 17:42
  Yeah, I think I got, I didn't get a lot of comments about the UTI. So first of all, I mean, I wish people talked about women's health more. I am prone to UTIs and it's a terrible experience. And so it was really important that, of course, like I made products that wouldn't induce UTIs. And I mean, there's so many factors that go into getting a UTI. And honestly, sometimes you're just unlucky. I mean, that's like a lot of the cases, or at least when my doctors tell me.
• 18:08
  But I think it's really great when people ask questions. But I think like what really kind of sucks a little bit is when people do it in a way that almost seems like they're so confident, like, oh, yeah, this will for sure give me a UTI. And so they're creating like fear. And it's like, well, first of all, like, I think it's good to ask questions, like maybe clarify, maybe raise your concerns. But when you do that, you're spreading rumors and you're.
• 18:31
  I don't know. It's just very hurtful. So yeah, I thought that would be a really good opportunity to address some of that concern. Yeah, I quite like it. I think it's quite good to be able to be like, I'm going to actually highlight this and put it out there and explain and educate and use this as the opportunity. I think it's really clever. So what's next? Like you're going to bring in the new formulations. You're going to start expanding the strategy. What's the plan? What's the future stuff you can shout about?
• 18:57
  So yes, absolutely. We're focusing on introducing more formulas. I think only having one product is very limiting as a business. But beyond our formulas, I really want to innovate the bath industry. I want to bring different elements from different cultures. I think the bath industry hasn't really changed in the last couple of years. I mean, a lot of phenomenal companies are releasing like bath bombs, like bath salts, bath syrups. I think that's incredible. I think like there's so many business who do that, like bath soaps, bath bars,
• 19:26
  I really want to focus on the experience. I want to curate experiences. I want to introduce how different cultures take baths and using different elements of aromatherapy to introduce this new experience and also just focusing on the digital aspect as well. So like for my bath experience, I have a curated playlist like per bath experience. So you feel like you're immersed in this like unique experience.
• 19:49
  experience, especially made for you. And I want to continue doing that. And I want to build this bath on a modern lens of classic traditions from not only Asia, but from other countries as well. So exciting things to come. We are a very small team. So I am hiring my employee number one right now. So that's actually something that I'm like actively doing because I do think that we would need that level of support in order to really grow.
• 20:12
  What's the role? Maybe someone listening in Canada can apply. Yeah. Oh, that's actually such great timing. Yeah. So the role employee number one, I think just someone who loves building, who would want to build a company. I really admire people who have built companies in the past. It doesn't matter if it's successful or not. If you attempted to build something, I really deeply admire that and respect that because it takes a lot of courage to do that. So basically it is building the company as employee number one, which is,
• 20:41
  It's essentially like it's like a class in your role. Yeah, many hats, many hats to be worn. And you're literally just doing everything with me to grow the company. So it's really hard to give a description because it's not just marketing. It's not just finance. It's not just operations. It's not just like product development. It's literally everything.
• 21:00
  But yeah, if someone is passionate, someone who can hustle and is appreciative of your 3am packing orders on the TikTok hustle style. Exactly. Exactly.
• 21:13
  Yeah, some of those videos, really. I really enjoy the content that you're putting out there, especially... I think it's like the little things as well, right? Like the videos that you were doing, little drawings on people's packages and explaining that. So cool. I love that kind of stuff, especially in the beginning when you're just trying to build your audience and figure out who the brand is for. But going back to what you were saying about the vision for the brand and creating this modern brand that's rooted in tradition and heritage...
• 21:40
  You know, that just sounds so amazing to me. That speaks to me because I want that. Like people want that, especially after the pandemic, when the world has just been so tough and like we do need more self-care and you want to have these luxury moments without having to leave the house necessarily. And this is so that I'm actually just so surprised that we don't do that in life already. You know, I've never done that thing. It's amazing.
• 22:05
  When I was in Korea, I took, so I went to, I was, I was backpacking in Korea and Japan by myself a couple of years ago. And I took baths more than ever. And I was so uncomfortable too. I went there and I was like naked and I was like, oof, like all these women are so confident in their bodies. Well, really like they don't sexualize, like the women there, they were just like, it's just like a part of their lifestyle. And I just realized that baths are even in places like Korea, it's, it was really, really hot and people still love baths. And you're just getting that like nice soak.
• 22:34
  And it's almost like a ritual for a lot of people. So yeah, honestly, I feel like bringing that to the North America or just the global lens, I would love to bring this to like very cold places because I feel like cold places would really appreciate this. But yeah, I definitely want to bring this tradition to other countries respectfully.
• 22:51
  I mean, bring it to the UK. The UK is gloomy most of the year. I feel like the UK is just in constant winter mode and it doesn't change. It's the middle of summer and it's like, it's 12 degrees. And you're like, what? But how? I cannot deal with this. Please run me a bath.
• 23:09
  Gosh, that's amazing. I'm so excited to watch what happens over the coming months slash years for you and what you're going to be building. It sounds really, really exciting. I want to ask you your advice for women who have a big idea and want to start their own business and are looking at brands like you who have blown up on TikTok, can see the power, you know, what your advice is to them.
• 23:34
  My biggest advice would be to just put something out there. So like, I am very nervous about putting myself out there. Like it makes me like feel very uncomfortable. And I think because I did it and I got traction, I was able to iterate really quickly. So not just being a perfectionist, but putting something out there and learning as you're going.
• 23:52
  Because like when you are a perfectionist and a lot of the times so many like women can be, you get so overwhelmed with every little detail that you never, ever really launch anything. And if you launch something, it's launched too late. So putting something out there, put a website up, get traction, find your product market fits and just don't be discouraged. We'll find your community to continue like building positive thoughts and.
• 24:18
  I think for myself, I'm a very pessimistic person. So I needed a support network around me to sort of like lift me up in those moments. Oftentimes, I think like women can be pessimistic or not as confident. So I think having that support network and just constantly learning and putting something out there would be really important.
• 24:36
  Amazing. Thank you so much. At the end of every episode, we ask a series of six quick questions. So I'm going to get started. Question number one is what's your why? Why are you doing what you're doing? Oh, wow. That's such a beautiful question.
• 24:55
  When I was younger, I always wanted to do something that would drive impact in the world. And I didn't exactly know what that would be and what that would look like. So there's a Japanese word called ikigai, and it's basically pairing what you love doing with what the world needs with what you're good at doing. And I think when I learned about that word, it kind of was magic to me because I feel like every step that I take, it's finding like my ikigai around what I love, what is necessary and what I'm good at. So yeah.
• 25:21
  I think in a way that answers the question. I just want to drive impact and I want to find something that I love doing and be able to do that. Yeah, amazing. I love that. That's a great word to have in your mind as an entrepreneur, for sure. Question number two is what do you think has been the number one marketing moment that made the business pop?
• 25:41
  I think it was definitely that video that you were mentioning earlier where I made my partner a bath. I think that was just so wild to me that people loved it so much. But I think people really love love languages and those type of acts of service. I think it's very refreshing to see when couples are able to do that for each other. So, yeah. And just like pampering your partner, like whoever they may be. I think that's just like it's just so nice.
• 26:03
  Yeah, it resonates with you because you're like, that is so nice. Like, I love that that person's doing that for that other person. It's so sweet. I actually watched this video just before we got on the call, and my best friend sent it to me on Instagram, and it's this guy and this wife, and they've been married for 14 years, and basically he's filming her, and he's hired out of cinema. And basically what's happening is that when they got married, their video footage was lost, but 14 years later someone found it,
• 26:30
  And he hires the cinema and plays it and records her like reaction to their wedding video. And I was like, oh, God, this is amazing. Like, this is crazy cute. Like, what? So I can see that, how it resonates with people to just be like, you feel the emotion for that other person. It's so nice. It's so sweet. Oh, my God. It's so sweet. I nearly cried. Yeah. I'll send it to you. Okay, good.
• 26:54
  Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading or listening to or subscribing to that other founders and entrepreneurs should know about? Oh, I love this question. So I'm subscribed to a bunch of newsletters. I mean, so many that like a lot of people are aware of, like Morning Brew. I read The Peak, which is like Canadian version of Morning Brew. I go on TechCrunch a lot to just like check out like what are upcoming types of like newsletters.
• 27:21
  companies that are sort of like blowing up. My partner is leading a venture fund. So we're constantly connecting with new founders who are building things to invest in. I mean, Trends has been a really great resource for myself personally. And I think The Hustle have a podcast called How I've Made My First Million. I really like their content. And I think just connecting with other founders in general allows like me personally, just to keep up to date with what's happening. I think those are some top of mind for me.
• 27:48
  Yeah, absolutely. I am such a fan of trends when it comes to the community side of things, but I think they do content really well, but content that's like not necessarily relevant to you, but it opens your eyes to different things that you may not have ever thought about before. And it's just interesting to know. So yeah, I'm a big fan. I'll link all of those in the show notes. Some great ones there. Thank you.
• 28:10
  Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM and PM rituals and habits that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated and asleep? Wow. That's such a good question. Um,
• 28:25
  I'm going to be honest, my AM habits are not really healthy. I think the first thing I do is check my emails just because I run a consulting company. So I feel like very pressured to like get right to work. I actually only eat like one to two times like a day and I eat like at 5pm, even though I like wake up early. It's like terrible for my health. So I'm going to be honest, my daily habits aren't that great. My night habits also aren't that great because I'm just constantly overwhelmed with work.
• 28:51
  To be quite honest, I started journaling. So that's something that I've been doing, which is like writing like daily prompts of what have I been doing? What have I been thinking, feeling? What is a win that I accomplished? So I think that is like one healthy habit that I developed.
• 29:06
  On weekends, I take baths. So I don't do it regularly, but I do it on weekends. So I bring all the stress of a five-day work week, mostly six-day work week, and then I release it in my bath and I sort of recharge from there. So I'm still sorry. I don't have a good answer for that one. That's a great answer. What are you doing now? I'm still struggling. Yeah.
• 29:26
  You're still struggling. I mean, to be honest, me too. I really struggle with the phone thing and I go through phases where I'm pretty good. At the moment I'm in a bad phase because we're traveling. So I've mixed up my routine a bit, but I look at my phone as the first thing that I do. And I really hate that when I'm in the bad habit. When I'm in a good habit, I am waking up and I meditate as the first thing that I do to a guided meditation. It's the last thing I do before I go to bed. But
• 29:50
  When I lose my routine, it really shuffles me. And I'm in one of those like bad routines at the moment where I'm just looking at my phone too much, even though a few weeks ago I stopped scrolling on Instagram. I haven't scrolled since. I think it's been almost four weeks now. So I still post on my story and I still post on my feed and I still read my DMs. So I'm producing content, but I'm really not consuming. I don't scroll. I literally just haven't done it. And so I feel really happy about that.
• 30:17
  That's amazing. Wow. That's really, really amazing. Saves a lot of time. Do you use, so I, when I, when I do yoga meditation, I use this, it's called Open. Do you use Open? Have you heard of it? No. It's a company based out of US, I believe. And it's, it's like spelled really like, interestingly, there's like a lot of like,
• 30:36
  If you Google it, you'll see what I mean, but like different like space and gaps in it. But it's called open and they have live workshops for yoga meditation throughout the day. And I've really enjoyed that. I don't do it like on a like a ritualistic basis. I do it whenever I need it for myself. But that could be something that could be interesting to some folks. Yeah, I'm going to check that out. Sounds awesome.
• 30:58
  Question number five is if you were given a thousand dollars of no strings attached grant money, where would you spend it in the business? Oh, wow. That's such a good question because a thousand dollars, it's it's kind of like a nod towards like where's the most important spend of a dollar for you? Hmm.
• 31:20
  I think my, so my team is like my biggest asset. Like our team is like, we took our team from Onova, which is my main company. And then we basically lent it to my sister company, Inoki Bathhouse. And I would honestly just like, if I could, I would just bring on maybe like another person. Cause I think like your team is just so important in helping you grow and develop. And I know my team has been my biggest value add. And so I guess like to my team, I think that would be like my biggest like spend.
• 31:49
  Amazing. Wait, wait, sorry. I also want to note that whenever I do have like funding, so like every time we do earn money, I do put like a huge amount of that into testing new formulations. And that's like R&D has been a huge part. So if like, I don't need to hire anyone else, I would put that into just testing future formulations. Yeah. And I feel like for you as well, you would just have such a customer base already that would be ready to jump on a new product that you release. Right. It would be like a clear win. Yeah.
• 32:19
  Last question. Question number six is how do you deal with failure? What's your mindset and approach when things don't go to plan? I used to deal with failure really poorly. I used to take it very personally. And I would think that my world around me was sort of like crumbling around me. And I would think, oh, I am incompetent. I'm not good enough. I suck. Everything I'm creating is terrible. Having like the worst possible thoughts that you could imagine, but having that directed to yourself is,
• 32:46
  I think like after going through like so many instances of like a failure, you realize that literally everyone who has achieved anything has gone through failure. Like you can't achieve greatness or you can't achieve really anything without having gone through failure. Failure is the number one thing.
• 33:03
  that allows you to grow and learn. And yes, of course, you know, success, like, oh, like success, like you learned so much from it, but failure, failure, you grow as an individual, you grow as an entrepreneur, you grow as like a human being. So I now look at failure as a learning point, I don't take it personally anymore. I look at it as an opportunity. And I look at it as a story, like a fun story that I'll like, tell my friends, you know, when I get out of that failure mode, and I was like, Oh, my God, it was like, so hilarious that I like lost,
• 33:32
  that like huge deal with a client but like it's okay because you know better things happened so that's how I approach failure now much healthier much better the negative self-talk is a real it's a real kicker it's not good it's a I hate it I really hate it when I can because it's hard right to like never go into those spirals and to never have negative self-talk sometimes it's just like
• 33:56
  eats away at you, but that's awesome. I'm glad that you've changed that and you've shifted gears. Yeah. Thanks, Dune. Helen, thank you so much for taking the time to be on Female Startup Club today. I'm so excited for you. This is just the beginning and it just seems like this really exciting journey that's in front of you and what you're creating for the world and people and in the self-care space. I'm really excited. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much, Dune.
• 34:28
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 34:52
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 35:15
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 35:31
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 35:56
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 36:18
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.