Latest / QUESTION EVERYTHING / Spreading Kindness One Bracelet at a Time: with Little Words Project Founder Adriana Carrig

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Spreading Kindness One Bracelet at a Time: with Little Words Project Founder Adriana Carrig · QUESTION EVERYTHING

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Big things happen when you're pretty, pretty bold, pretty clever,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: pretty strong. I'm Danielle Robe, and each week my guests
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and I have conversations that put a new spin on pretty.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: This is pretty smart.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Adriana Karrig founded the original word bracelet. Her company is
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Little Words Project. You know the bracelets I'm talking about,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: they're all over. Their mission is to spread kindness by
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: the bracelet with the word that speaks to you. Wear
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: it until you want to pass it on to someone
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: who you think.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Needs a little bit of the word.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: You chose fearlessness, ambition, love, good energy, or a little
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: you got this in their life. And just like so
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: many great companies, Adriana's was started from pain. She was bullied,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: dealt with a lot of mean girls, and wanted to
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: inject the world with some more kindness. So she started
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: beating and beating and beating and beating.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: She was beating in her.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Parents' basement, packaging the bracelets, shipping them out, and doing
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: it over and over again until she couldn't do it
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: all by herself anymore. What started with Adriana beating in
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: her parents' basement has now grown to forty employees. Seven
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: locations and huge brand collaborations with companies like Nike, Barbie, WNBA,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Dunkin Donuts, and so many more. Despite doubters, copycats, and setbacks,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: which Adriana is very honest about, she hasn't changed her
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: core perspective in the last decade of building her company
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: by staying true to her brand's values. By staying true
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: to her brand's values and taking bold but strategic risks,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: She's been able to take all of that motivation, inspiration,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: and kindnesses and grow Little Words Project into a multi
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: million dollar business. Also, this is just a little personal note.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Adriana is my friend. I met her a few years
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: ago in Miami because we had a mutual friend named Montana.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: And since then she has become a mom. She's pregnant
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: for the second time now. I've seen her deal with infertility,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: financial and growth snags, all of what she talks about
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: in our conversation today, and each time she moves through
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: something challenging, I see her do it with honesty, openness, optimism,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: and even humor. I look at her with a lot
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: of commendation because not only do I admire what she's built,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: I admire how she's built it. For example, when I
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: launched my card game Question Everything, she was one of
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: the first people to call and say, how can I help.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I'll never forget it.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: I launched, and the morning after she called me on myself.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Well, and she was busy because she's always busy, but
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: she called anyways, that's just who she is now.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Question Everything is sold in all Seven Little Words project
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: retail locations across the country.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: And before we jump into the conversation, I want to.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Note this phrase that Audreyana says that has stuck with me.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Just start beating. What a metaphor if.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: You're wanting to start a business, a TikTok account, a
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: new gym routine, forge a new relationship or friendship. Truly,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: whatever is on your mind and heart.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: That is the key.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Just start And analogies that have imagery attached are always
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: powerful for me because it's not just the words.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: I can think about what it looks like to really.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Start, and I keep thinking about taking a string and
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: putting on one bead at a time, regardless of the outcome,
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Just start beating, do the thing, get into motion, take action,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: just start meeting.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: We're going to get into our friendship and love affair.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Later we don't even have time for that. It'll take
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: up too much.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Time, exactly.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: But I have to tell you, since we met, I've
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: had such admiration for what you've built and how you've
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: built it.
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, you are so sweet to say that,
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: And honestly, I'm very excited about this because I feel
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: the same way about you. I feel like we had
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: such a happenstance meeting and we were so authentically kind
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: to one another, and it's just resulted in this really
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: sweet friendship.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: I'm just so.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Certain people you meet where it's like it's easy right away.
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, one hundred percent. I feel that way about you
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: one thousand percent.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Okay, Well, we spoke about kindness, so be nice are
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: words that are written in Neon signs all over your
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: almost seven stores, the newest one opening in Miami. It's
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: a simple phrase, be nice, but it means a lot
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  Speaker 2: to you.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it does.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: I grew up I know, my entire life, being pretty
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: much bullied from the age of five all.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: The way through college.
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: And you know, I'll tell you, at thirty two years old,
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't use the term bullying anymore, but you know,
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: I definitely experienced that you know, competitive cruelty that exists
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: amongst women.
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  Speaker 1: Still to this from your friends or from like girls
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: at school.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: Well, when I was younger, it was girls at school
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: and in some cases my friends quote unquote at school,
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: and you know how that story goes for young girls.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: And then as I went into college it continued and
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: that was more. You know, I would joined a sorority
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: and the sorority was great, and it actually showed me that,
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: you know, sisterhood can exist amongst women.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: But it was the other sororities and the other girls.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: And I've always been a very outspoken person. I've always been,
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: you know, kind of the leader of the pack. It's
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: the aries in me and I was. I was, you know,
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: in many ways, the face of my sorority at the time,
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: and it just it led to so much cruelty and
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: negativity and competition.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: It's really the competition element of it that.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: I think is what leads to that that cruelty amongst
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: amongst women, or at least at that collegiate level. And
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: now you know, luckily, no, I do not maintain a
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: friendship if it does not fill my cup. I will
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: not engage. I don't need to keep that around and
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: vice versa. They shouldn't keep me around if I'm not
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: feeling theirs. So it's definitely not friends. Now now it's
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: i'd say sometimes it's other business owners. It's other people
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: in the industry that you know aren't like you, for example,
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: and are You know, you know right off the bat
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: that it's not an easy thing because you know that
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: you're not being celebrated. You know, when when you're when
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: you're experiencing those wins, No matter how much you celebrate,
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: you know you're not getting that back.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: So I've experienced that in a handful of that.
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: Now it's definitely much less, and I think I've also
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: developed a little bit of a wall against it to
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: the point where I don't even recognize it anymore because
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: it doesn't affect me. But yeah, that be nice stems
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: all the way from that. You know, it's been the
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: true thread that has been woven throughout the fabric of
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: this brand from the very early days when I started
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: it in twenty thirteen to right now. That's all we're
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: asking is literally, just be nice.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Well, you started it in your parents' basement. I remember
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: we met in Miami and you told me the origin
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: story of Little Words Project, and you were like, I
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: just started making bracelets in my parents' basement, and.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: I have to tell you. When you told me the story,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: I'm like, was she crazy? There's like a million bracelets,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Like what?
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: Oh?
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: And you took this thing so far.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: Dude, I was supposed to go to law school. You
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: want to play about I'm crazy. I took the l
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: s at twice and I was going to do it.
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: And then I'm like, you know, I had been making
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: these bracelets for myself, and I think that was the
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: trick for me. It was like I knew that they
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: worked for me, that I would wear strength or believe
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: and it would get me through difficult times because it's
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: such a simple reminder right on your wrist, so I
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: would look down it would.
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  Speaker 3: Get me through.
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  Speaker 4: And I started making them for the sorority in college,
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: and that's where the passing on concept came from.
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  Speaker 3: Hey, girls, pass it amongst yourselves. When the time comes
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: that you need a little lift.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Or a wait, explain that because that's actually something I
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: didn't know.
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  Speaker 4: The entire concept of Little Words is you wear it
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: and then you pass it along, right, And the beauty
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: of the bracelet is that it's meant to spread that
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: positivity and that kindness person to person. So I came
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: up with that piece when I was in college. In
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: my sorority, I was actually the VP of membership and
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: recruitment and.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: When yeah, it makes sense, I'm selling. I've been selling
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: myself since day one.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Okay, no, no, it's just you're so you're like a
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: social butterfly, and so it's like that makes total sensetting the.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: Girls and yeah one and branding, it's all about that.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: It's literally sales at the end of the day.
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: But anyway, so I was the VP of membership and
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: as part of you know, when you're in a sorority,
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: you have this like assessment packet essentially at the end
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: of the term that you have to prove that you
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: did your job right. And one of the questions in
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: that packet was how did you keep the love of circulating?
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: So I was like, oh, you know what, why don't
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: I bring this new idea. I'd make these for myself.
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: I'll make a handful of them for the girls, and
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  Speaker 4: at every meeting we'll pass them along.
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  Speaker 3: Soon, I mean, it took off.
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  Speaker 4: Like it became more of a symbol of our Sisterhood
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: than our letter shirts did. If you were wearing these
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: bracelets on your wrist, you were I was adulta Zeta,
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: you were adulta Zeta. And so once I graduated, I
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: saw that the girls were still making them themselves.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: It was still happening.
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: They were still doing it, and Instagram had just come out,
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: and I was trying to encourage them to like use
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: a certain hashtag so whenever they traveled with the bracelets,
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: we could see where the.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: Bracelets go and cool. One night, I had like one
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  Speaker 3: of these aha moments.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: Of what if each bracelet had a tracking number on
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: it and you could register that number and when you
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: pass it along, you can track and see where it goes.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: So it's like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but with
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: a tracker and a bracelet.
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: I exactly exactly, And you know, it's a lot of
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: human use, right, Like you have to actually do it,
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: you have to track it, you have to put the.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: Registration code in, and not everyone does.
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: Not everyone decides they want to pass them along, and
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: that's fine too, but it's there. It's there to be
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: a vehicle of kindness and self love right on your wrist, right,
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: So be kind to yourself first is a big piece
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: for us, and that's something that as the brand has evolved,
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: that's one of the pieces that matters to us is
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: you know, just be nice to yourself, and then once
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: you've achieved that or you feel like you're filling yourself
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: up a little bit more, you now have that kindness
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: to pass to others.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: Your first employee is somebody named Mariah, who I also
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: got to meet when I met you originally, and I
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: actually had a dinner with her. We were both in
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Chicago for WNBA last year and we had dinner with
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: two of my Chicago friends and she was telling me
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: that she was like dating this guy and he had
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: this idea but he couldn't figure out how.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: To do it, and she was like, just start beating.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Mariah is really funny, so when she says it, it makes
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: everybody laugh even harder because she just has a funny
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: way about her. But I actually have never That was
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: probably six months ago, and I have not stopped thinking
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: about that because the idea of just start beating is
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: really powerful, Like just start beating in your basement.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: It's so rudimentary, right, It's such a simple thing. And
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: when you say beating. Like it's literally like, there was
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: this gimmicky YouTube video that was going around back in
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: the day when I started this, and it was like
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: a little kitchy song of like she went to college,
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: but she's making jewelry now.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: It's like a song and she's making jewelry now.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it was like that joke of like, Okay, you
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: go make jewelry in your basement. But if you're trying
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: to start something, you gotta just start it. You can't
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: be worried about like if it looks crazy, if you know.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: Just seems silly, like just do it. Just start beating.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: I mean, Nike was onto something with that. Literally, it's
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: just do it.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Though feels amorphous to me. Just start beating. There's something right,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Like it's the simple movement and the imagery of it
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: is like, just start beating.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: I loved it. No, that's so true. And it's the
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: simple act of one thing at a time. It's yes,
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: it's monotonous, it.
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: Feels like it's never ending, but at the end you
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: create something, right, So that's that's a very beautiful point.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: So you guys, little words project are recognized as the
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: original word bracelet. You now have forty employees and seven locations.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: By the time this comes out, you'll have seven locations.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: I met you when you had one employee. Yeah, yeah,
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: and in the matter of i'd say four years.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well you met me, I had one. She's being
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: the only employee that's lasted since then. But I had
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: about five, so still dead, had about five, still small,
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: but yeah, she was always my right hand Mariah, but it.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: Was still yeah. Significant.
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: I mean it's significant jump to go from five to
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: forty and the only one who lasted through that journey
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: was Mariah.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: So how did you decide early on what you were
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: going to do versus what you were going to hire
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: people to do it?
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: Honestly, it came to me as the needs arose, right,
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: So in the very beginning, it was I'm going to
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: I have to do it all if I'm going to
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: do it or have the help of my boyfriend at
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: the time is now my husband. My dad was my
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: shipping department, my mom was my production department. Like we
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: literally were all doing it together and in lockstep, if
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: you will. And then once I moved out of my parents' house, hey,
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: I needed my first helper, right, And then once I
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: moved into a bigger space.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: I needed more people.
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: Once we started doing wholesale, I needed someone to help
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: manage that. So it was as the business evolved, you know,
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: because we were self sustained, right, and that's a big
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: piece of this. We've been self funded since the very beginning.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: Because we were self funded, we've been playing catch up
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: for ten years, if you will.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: We've never been able to sit down and be like, Okay,
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: we want.
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: To build for forty employees, or we want to build
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: for this much revenue, so let's hire this many people
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: to get us there.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: No, it was.
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: Always we're making money, we're making money, we can afford
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: to hire someone now.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: And also we have no additional appendages to do the work.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: We have no additional hands, so let's hire.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: So in the beginning it was really that, But also
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: it was that in a combination of Okay, I know
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: I can't do math, right, I know I'm not a
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: numbers girl, so hiring the right financial minds and people
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: in that area was like one of my first requirements, right.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: But as time has gone on, it's become really much
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: more intentional. I mean, we've got an HR person now.
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: I barely interview myself I kind of let that animal
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: run itself.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: Cool. It's so cool.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: It's so crazy, and thank god, because the hiring part
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: is really hard and getting it right, especially as someone
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: like me who like I just come from this age
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: of I need hands and I need kind people, and
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: I don't care if you have the background. I just
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: want your help and if you want, if you want
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: to be here, I want you here. And unfortunately that's
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: not the way it goes anymore. I mean, the amount
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: of people who want to be here that I can't
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: hire because it's got to be a little bit more
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: about the resume and the experience.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: I'm not made for that.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: So I'm glad I don't have to do it because
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: I'd be like I hire everyone.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: I'm every interview, I'm like, okay, you're hired.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: I tell you. Yeah, you see him so sweet?
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I real the nicest girl. Oh my god, you're
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: in no.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: I My husband was like when he joined he's now
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: my COO and president. He joined us in twenty twenty
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: one after we had our baby and like right after COVID.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: Perfect timing for that, thank goodness.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: But when he joined, he's like, Adriana, you're no longer
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: hiring anyone, I was like, bet, I'm it works for me.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: Right, you guys are the market leader. How do you
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: feel about the copycap bracelets?
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: So, on the one hand, I feel.
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: Somewhat of a sense of like we're doing it right
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: and making it because so are other people are seeing
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: that it's something. Because when I tell you, when I
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: first started this, I had started it basically purely on ability.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: I was able to make this bracelet. This was always
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: just a vehicle for the mission in the community.
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: So when I first started it, it was just the
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: ability that led me to doing it. It wasn't because
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: I thought this was the coolest design ever. I mean,
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: we've been making them since we were kids in summer camp.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: Once I started trying to sell them, I had so
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: much resistance.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: People were like, do people wear those? Like my daughter
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: could make that?
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: Like, I don't know, thank you, you should do a
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: different design, blah blah blah. So I had to push
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: these things uphill for about six years. Literally, all of
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: a sudden, everyone started to get what we were doing
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: and it started to take off and we were working
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: with incredible partners. Like what shifted it was our growth,
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: It was our expansion. It was just the community continued
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: to build because it was very grassroots. If you got it,
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: you got it. If you didn't get it, you're not
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: one of the early adopters. We're an early adopter brand
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: for sure. So all those early adopters got it, they
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: brought in their family. To this day, our number one
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: tool for growth has been grassroots. It's all word of mouth.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: And are you saying online or offline?
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: Offline? Primarily online.
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: Once we started using ads spending and Google analytics and
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: all that, that became a much more of like an
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: intentional growth experience. But still even with that piece of
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: the of the paid ads, we are still seeing through
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: post purchase surveys that a majority of our customers heard
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: about it from their sister, their aunt, their cousin, their
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: best friend.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: It's a word of mouth's grown brand.
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: So back to the point of copycats, is a part
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: of me feels like I didn't I didn't invent the product.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: I didn't reinvent the product. I just brought it back
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: to market and I did it in a way that
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: the community wanted to buy them. And now everyone and
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: their mother is adding a word bracelet to their jewelry.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: Assortment if they're a jewelry brand.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: Because they can quote unquote, but it lacks heart, it
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: lacks meaning, it lacks the story. So I really, as
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: a person, have always tried to not look right or left,
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: but rather forward and backward right. So I don't want
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: to look at what this one's doing or what that
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: one's doing. Although I do here and there, I really, though,
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: try to focus on where were we and where do
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: we have left to go?
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: And where have we come?
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: Because I no longer have people, you know, putting their
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: hands in my face saying no one would ever wear
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: this in my store. But now we have Target saying yup,
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: I want you.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: And not only do I want you, I.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: Want to give you an end cap with your full story,
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: your full brand, and I'm going to reorder heavily every week.
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: That's like the ultimate, Like Okay, people are starting to
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: get it.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: They are and they came to you, They didn't come
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: to those other brands exactly.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: I do think we're like we own the original word
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: brace messaging. We do own that. We're a market leader.
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: And I feel lucky because it's a hard business. Anyone
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: who wants to get into just the word business word bracelets.
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: It's tough, so good luck.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: So I read that forty two percent of small businesses
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: fail because there's a lack of market demand. How did
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: you assess that? And did you assess it?
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: Even?
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: Girl? I just started beating. What do you mean that
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: I assess? You know, assessment? I just started beating and
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: I and it's funny.
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: I will say, I don't think that there wasn't market
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: demand for the mission and purpose. I think that there
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: was absolutely market demand for this concept of kindness, kindness
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: amongst women.
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: I mean, twenty thirteen, we're talking pre I'm with.
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: Her, pre me too, pre all of the women. The
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: growth that has happened for women over the past decade,
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: but not only women, everyone people. The importance of kindness
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: and connection human connect activity has just was, you know,
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: drastically dipped during the pandemic, and we survived it. We
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: survived it because we had a customer base that just
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: wanted something that was purely about connection and kindness and yes,
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: you can make it through, right, keep going. All these
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: words that just blew us out of the water during
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: those times. So I think that there was absolutely a
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: necessity for it. I think I had some foresight I
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: didn't assess anything, but I think because of what I
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: had gone through, and I looked at the market and
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: saw there was nothing out there that was all about
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: the purpose driving of passing it on paying forward kindness
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: besides maybe one other brand. I really felt like there
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: was a hole and I wanted to fill it. Now
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: did I think this was maybe the smartest design to
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: do it with? Not necessarily again, that was ability, But
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: I'm sure lucky that people started picking up what I
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: was putting down, because otherwise I would have been a
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: cold years.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, quick little story time.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: When birthdays or holidays came around, my mom would always say,
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: don't buy me anything, save your money. But I wanted
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: to get her something, and I knew the one thing
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: that she would ultimately smile about and love was a
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: brand new, fresh, matching set of pajamas. I saw how
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: she felt when she put them on, and since then,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: pajamas have always been a go to gift for a
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: woman in my life that I love, and honestly sometimes myself,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: because I feel like we all need a little pajama
• 21:35
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• 21:36
  Speaker 1: It just feels so good.
• 21:38
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• 21:42
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• 21:50
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• 21:53
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• 21:56
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• 22:00
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• 22:24
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• 22:27
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• 22:30
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• 23:14
  Speaker 1: I like that you're a sharer and you share the truth,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: which I love because you're very transparent about the time.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: You know, it didn't like it wasn't like oh a
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: TikTok hit and it blew up overnight, like this was
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: when you say grassroots and just a lot of time
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: and love. It really was.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: I remember you telling me about going to I forgot
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: what they're called, like conventions.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, like trade shows.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Trade shows, and those are exhausting and you go and
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: you set up and you create your booth.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: And you guys did those for years.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, literally years. We still do them. I just don't myself.
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: But I have a team of sales girls now internal
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: sales reps that go out and they represent different parts
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: of the country. They'll go to these shows and they'll
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: sell and yes, I mean, those were the days where,
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: like I was saying earlier, I remember women boutique owners
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: putting I'd start my pitch, I'd be speaking Danielle and
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: they'd put their hand in my face and say, uh uh,
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: not for me, and keep walking. They'd say to Pele
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: literally roll their eyes to people, actually wear these to
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: my face. And I'm the founder of this brand. So
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: that's where those that cruelty kind of continued. But yeah,
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: it was a tough experience. Like it was so uphill,
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: and it still is uphill in some ways. You I'll
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: share when it comes to like, yes, we're self funded.
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: We've been self funded since the very beginning, but we're
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: getting to a place with the macro economics of the world.
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: You know, Chase pulled our funding recently.
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: We had chunky line of credit with them, nothing too insane,
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: but enough that it was helping us kind of.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: Booy those those dryer periods throughout the year.
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: You know, we are consumer products, so our best months
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: are going to be the holiday season and Mother's Day,
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: but there's the middle of the year, in the beginning
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: of the year that's tough. And there were days before
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: my husband joined that I was completely running all of that,
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: and I would do like hand math on like a
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: piece of paper of like okay, I owe this, I'm
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: making this, I have to pay this now this then
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: just moving those pieces around. So when Chase pulled their
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: funding because you know, it's a risky environment and jewelry
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: is a quote risky business. So now we are in
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: the process of looking for funding and helping, you know,
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: because now that we're in the bigger waters, right, the
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: bigger league, we it. Making something stretch for a month
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: is different than like, Okay, I got ten thousand coming in,
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: ten thousand going out. We're in like the millions now
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: that I'm having time.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, you have all these brick and mortar, brick
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: and mortars employees.
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: They're employee retention tools, giving our employees bonuses. I mean,
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: I've had to ask some of our top dogs to
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: not take their bonus this year because you know, or
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: not this year rather but just wait till we get
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: the funding or wait till we get a little bit
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: more money in the bank. Because there's so many moving
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: pieces to keep a business going.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Entrepreneurship has this like girl boss vibe that like I
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: just don't think we hear or see a lot of
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: the hard stuff.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, we don't.
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: And transparency has been my number one thing from the
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: very beginning. I mean, our Instagram in the early days
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: was just us looking disheveled packing boxes and being there
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: beating bracelets so our fingers bled.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: Literally, we just did whatever we had to do and
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: we shared along the way.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: And so that's why whenever I have platforms, I really
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: do try to share those things. Because even the process
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: of securing funding as a consumer brand, right now, it's
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: the worst time to fundraise, and so the fact that
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: we're in this process now, I'm having to prove my
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: value and my worth and I just don't want to
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: have to do that. I wish I could just like
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: have a loan that I can continue working through without
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: having to give a piece of the pie. Luckily, we
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: found a really incredible partner that we're believing we're going
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: to close with soon. But even that, I mean it's
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: like bye bye thirty percent, you know, or twenty percent
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: for now, And again it's fine. It's all about keeping
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: the business afloat and working with the right people and
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: the right partners. Yeah, but you're singing for your supper
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: It's like a constant game of proving yourself, proving your
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: worth and believing in yourself nonetheless, because it can be
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: really disheartening when you get so many no's and you
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: have to still keep going and believing in it.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: I want to talk about risk tolerance with you because
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: I've always heard that women are less likely to take
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: risk and take investment actually and make investment than men.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: And that never sat well with me because I was like,
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: what do you mean, We're just biologically wired to like
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: not assess risk the same way.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: There's no way. So I dug deeper and I read
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: this study that says it's actually that.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Women were less likely than men to be high earners
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: in the first place, so men were more likely to
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: take risk because they had more faith in their ability
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: to make up on any investment lost through their future
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: earnings than women did ooh wild. Do you see that
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: now that you work with your husband, do you guys
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: assess risks differently?
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Like? How do you look at things?
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: I'm laughing because it's the opposite.
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: With my husband, I am a very pro risk kind
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: of girl.
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: He is hugely against risk.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: He's much like the brick and mortars, those were yours
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: your idea.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: Yes and no. So the brick and mortar came about
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: really interestingly.
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: The first one was him believing it was possible because
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: we had a company come to us called Leap, who
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: actually helped set up our first store and a few
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: of the stores that we have that we have our
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: Leap owned stores.
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: So what they do is they set.
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: It up and then they employ the team, which was
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: very helpful. They help with the capex of the build out,
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: and then you share a percentage of revenue over time.
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: We're moving in a direction that's probably going to be
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: more our own channel now that we know our process.
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: But that really expand was expansive for us and enabled
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: me to think, oh, it's possible. Because if Bill, my
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: husband said financially it was possible, then I believed him.
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: And it was and it's still very much so.
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: A financially lucrative piece of the business, especially during high periods,
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: but the riskier piece of the business is or it
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: was just rather the belief in what's possible is where
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: I disagree with that statement, because I think that's person
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: to person. I mean, I am a person who has
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: blind faith and blind belief in myself I think it
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: comes from a lifetime of being put down and needing
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: to fill my own cup and learning how to keep
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: that bullshit out of like really affecting my inner brain
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: and ability to like believe. I also, I am a
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: huge believer in you know, if you've got an anxiety
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: problem or something like, taking care of your mental health working.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: With the therapist. I'm on lexapro. Thank you God for that,
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: the beautiful.
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: Pill, and it's just helped me navigate some of those
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: mental struggles that would keep people from believing in themselves
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: and taking those risks. So I fully believe that we
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: are going to be fine. I have no concern even
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: if we don't get funding. I know we'll figure it out.
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: I don't have a question in my mind. Bill has
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: a little bit more of the risk adverse side. He's
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: much more conservative than I am. He's also very financially sound,
• 30:19
  Speaker 4: so he's like and it's also his wife's baby, right,
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: it's his wife's business, So beyond the natural pressure of
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: being in the business world, he has the added pressure
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: of this is my wife's company that you know.
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: I'm coming in and helping to run.
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: He doesn't want to make a misstep so I don't
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: know that it's necessarily wired based on woman versus man.
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: I don't subscribe to any of that bullshit anyway, but
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: I guess there's some truth in studies.
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: As we have to listen to the studies sometimes.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: So do you feel like there were in looking back?
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: Because are you on year ten? Yeah, no, November as
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: year ten?
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Looking back? Is there a place where you think you
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: should have spent more or less money?
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: I think I probably could have spent more money. There
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: was one year that we had like an incredible ebadah,
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: like we ended with an incredible profit that.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Was like, wait, EBAITA stands for what.
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: Earnings before income tax depreciation.
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: It's like your bottom line, right, it's like what you
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: take from now, you're forgetting me a you take home?
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: Correct, it's after everything. It's like the number that matters.
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: It's the number that you're going to be valued on
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: over time. Okay. So it's a huge deal.
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: And there was a point in time where we were
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: doing like like my profit with March, like it was
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: like fifty percent of our total revenue was what we
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: were taking home. And I ended up having to pay
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: a shitload in taxes and I wasn't being financially smart
• 31:57
  Speaker 4: with that money. Where you're forecasting, you're spending accordingly. Like
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: that was where I just didn't have the resources. Bill
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: was full blown working in finance in the city. There
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: was no assistance there. So I probably wish I would
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: have spent more of that money at the end of
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: the day as to not have it go to taxes,
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: but have it be something that could have helped us
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: grow a little quicker, hiring interesting person, spending money on
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: advertising to increase the top line, and all that stuff.
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: So probably would have spent more then.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: Four years ago, I watched a documentary on Netflix about
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: toxins in our everyday life that we're contributing to negatively
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: impacting our health and even our children, our future children's health.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: The doc freaked me out.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: For instance, the flame retardant they put on some of
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: our mattresses, car seats, and shower curtains were hurting us.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: I felt a.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: Little helpless because I have to sit in my car.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: What am I going to do about that? So I
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: decided to switch over all of the things in my
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: life that I did have control over. I started with
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: cleaning products and with cookware, and I bought my first
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: set of green Pan pots and pans. Now, there are
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: a few non toxic cookwear brands out there, but I
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: chose green Pan for a variety of reasons, and now
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: pretty Smart gets to partner with them, which is amazing
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: because I can share all of the reasons why I
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: chose green Pan with you today.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: Here's the backstory.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: In two thousand and seven, Green Pans founders discovered that
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: traditional nonstick pans were made with plastic coatings that can
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: turn toxic with heat. That's why they created a new
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: alternative without forever chemicals. So, for instance, you could be
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: cooking food like spinach that's good for you, but all
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: those bad for you chemicals are seeping into it. Green
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: Pan introduced the world to ceramic nonstick cookware, and they
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: have over one hundred and fifty patents to prove it.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: They are the leaders in creating cookware without harmful toxins,
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: and they have a sixty day return policy, so you
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: have plenty of time to make sure green Pan is
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: the right fit for you. Here's the thing about switching
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: over to non toxic products across the board. It all
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: has to be realistic and work in your life. That's
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: why I chose Green Pan over any other cookwear brand.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: It's dishwasher safe. I mean I need things to be
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: easy to clean. It's oven safe up to six hundred
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: degrees and they are all non stick, just without all
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: the chemicals.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: And they have a durable surface.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: So one of the downsides you'll hear people talk about
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: with non toxic cookwear is that it can easily scratch.
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: I've had my Green Pan pots and pans for over
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: three years and they are super durable. I personally have
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: the stainless steel set. But they have really beautiful color
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: options like tope with gold handles, more low blush, smoky blue,
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: basically any color you want to match with your kitchen
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: they have. I think the color variety makes it a
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: perfect gift for someone for a wedding, or an engagement,
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: or even a birthday. It's twenty twenty three, are you
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: still cooking with pans made out of plastic? Head to
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: Greenpan dot us and use promo code pretty Smart and
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: you'll receive thirty percent off your entire order, plus free
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: shipping on orders over ninety nine dollars. That's right, thirty
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: percent off, whether you buy one pan or a whole
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: set that's thirty percent off, So head to Greenpan dot
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: us and make sure you use our promo code.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Pretty smart.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: You guys have a really tight knit community you have,
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: Like you said, I mean a lot of it comes
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: from word of mouth offline, which I didn't know, but
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: you have a tight community online too. What do you
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: think has been the most pivotal decision in building your
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: customer base?
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: You know, I think it was back to the beating analogy.
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: It was just one beat after the next. It really
• 35:50
  Speaker 4: was because of that self funding story, because of the
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: transparency throughout the growth, because of always showcasing the truth
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: of who we were. We attracted such genuine customers and
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: people who loved the brand and what we were doing
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: and what we were.
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: Trying to do.
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: And so I think it was just that intentional action
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: throughout the entire journey that was the most game changing
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: for us. Now because even and this is I think
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: important to note, we have doubled year over year since
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: we started, right this is the first year that we're
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: now starting to be more intentional about that growth and
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: not try to double, like we don't need to. We
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: can still get to our goals without having to burn
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: the candleate a million in one ends without funding, if
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: you will. But I think what's so important is that
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: this is a twenty to understand is that this is
• 36:46
  Speaker 4: a twenty five dollars product, right, So acquiring customers can't
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: be more than really twenty five dollars a customer, right,
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: because you want to break even at least or be profitable,
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: which luckily we are profitable with the first first order
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: profitability they call it because our average first order is
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: like fifty bucks, But it's we're spending about twenty five
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: dollars to get that customer if we're paying through all
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: the stuff we spend money on, right, it's that original
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: customer though, it's that foundational customer who is still going
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: into all those smaller retail stores, who is still going
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: into the targets and buying every new collaboration even though
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: we don't have at sight of them through our analytics online.
• 37:29
  Speaker 4: She the original girl, is the one keeping us afloat.
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: She's the one who keeps coming back from more, whether
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: it's in person or it's fueling those wholesale accounts because
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: we have a great wholesale business. So I think the
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: most important thing to note is that you know it's doable.
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: It's possible to build a brand that is maybe not
• 37:50
  Speaker 4: necessarily like the Glossiers of the world who got in
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: investment early in skyrocketed and so on and so forth,
• 37:58
  Speaker 4: but one that kind of like we're skating below the
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: surface right long enough that.
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: People get they know us now.
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, you have our knockoffs and all that good stuff,
• 38:08
  Speaker 4: but they want the real deal, right, the original group
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: wants the real deal, and they keep bringing others in
• 38:15
  Speaker 4: and it's this beautiful foundation and every new customer we
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: get is just like the sprinkles on top. So I
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: don't even know if I answered a question there, but
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: I do know that it's it's an important story that
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: I don't think is told enough, because you feel, if
• 38:31
  Speaker 4: you're going to start a brand, you have to get funding.
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: You have to you know, you know with your card deck, right,
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: it's hard to have the capital to do it and
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: to be able to buy as much that you need
• 38:40
  Speaker 4: to buy to get the price to be where you
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: need to be to be able to sell them.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: And it's like it's everything's backwards.
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: It's so backwards.
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: Do you feel like, how have you that original girl,
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: that one that you're talking about that keeps coming back.
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: How do you retain her?
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: We show her who we are, and.
• 39:02
  Speaker 4: We stay true to who we told her we were.
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: We don't lie to her.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: That's the thing, little words. Project is your heart. And
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: so it's never wavered, it doesn't change, it's gotten bigger.
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: You can tell.
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: The branding is more expensive, all those things, but the
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: heart of it is always you.
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: You know, thank you for saying that. I think that's
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: when I am pitching to investors or I'm pitching to business,
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: to other business owners or retailers. That's always what I'm
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: the most proud of. It's that it's been ten years
• 39:35
  Speaker 4: and if we think about those tumultuousness, the tumultuousness of
• 39:37
  Speaker 4: that decade, yeah, and how much has changed, and how
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: many people have suddenly discovered they have a mission behind
• 39:44
  Speaker 4: their brand, right and now this is what the story is,
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: and so on and so forth. Our thread has remained
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: the same. We're still selling a vehicle of kindness person
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: to person. And I think the original customer trusts us
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: and loves us for being honest with her and for
• 40:04
  Speaker 4: being authentic and for showing her the truth, you know.
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: And I think That's one thing that I'm on my
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: social media team about because I'm like, guys, I still
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: find value even though we do all the surveys and
• 40:14
  Speaker 4: nobody watches stories anymore, blah blah blah, do it in reels,
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: whatever it is. I find so much value in people
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: knowing who works here and people knowing Mariah's name and
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: seeing her like grab a broomstick and talk about how
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: how you know crazy things have been and this is
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: why you have to believe in us, Like she used
• 40:31
  Speaker 4: to do these like little speeches on social media and
• 40:34
  Speaker 4: our customer would watch it and love it. And I
• 40:37
  Speaker 4: just recently reposted one and I had thirty people in
• 40:40
  Speaker 4: my DMS being like, oh my god, I remember this day.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 40:43
  Speaker 4: So they're just loyal, And I think people want and
• 40:47
  Speaker 4: are craving authenticity, and we have been loyal to our
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: mission and authentic in every move thus far.
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: You've collaborated with Nike, the WNBA, major major brands, a
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: lot of them that I think have a strong women's
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: message as well, which is really cool to see when
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: you look at brands, because I think like great marketers
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: always are inspired by other greats. Who do you look
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: to what brands inspire you esthetically, mission wise, so on
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: and so forth.
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: I love Kendra Scott as a mission story. I think
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: she's a story first, brand first kind of brand. As
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: I'm looking at her journey, I'm just blown away by
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: the value she was able to build in it. And
• 41:33
  Speaker 4: it was all based on the storytelling, the community centric
• 41:37
  Speaker 4: story and the genuine kindness that she embodied, and I.
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: Just I love her for that.
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: As far as brand, I mean, I think Glossier is
• 41:46
  Speaker 4: just a bunch of geniuses when it comes to what
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: their branding is and the storytelling they do.
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: Every piece of the puzzle is just yummy.
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: I always refer to like my brand to be yummy,
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: Like I just want it all to be like yum little.
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: Pieces of the pie.
• 42:01
  Speaker 4: Those are two of the ones that I'm impressed by.
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: And you know Kendra from the Jewelry spot, I feel
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: like she's been the most expansive for me. Like I
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: can confidently talk to investors and be like, this is
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: someone who did it.
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: She became a Warren.
• 42:13
  Speaker 4: With a one billion dollar val like that is insane.
• 42:17
  Speaker 4: I mean, I don't have I don't even have like
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: aspirations of that. I'm like, I'll settle for like a
• 42:22
  Speaker 4: tenth of that, but it's just incredible.
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: That she was able to accomplish it.
• 42:26
  Speaker 4: So yeah, she's my biggest inspiration the growth, and it
• 42:29
  Speaker 4: was it was a product of her just being smart
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: with when she chose to do it right. Yeah, I
• 42:35
  Speaker 4: could have been a little smarter, but listen.
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: We learn.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: I don't think. I think there's there's seasons.
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and you're in a different season right now,
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: and I don't know. I mean I feel burnt out
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: too sometimes and it's there's season. I gotta like, you know,
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: refuel the tank, and then I feel like I'm ready
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: to get there.
• 42:52
  Speaker 4: So oh yeah, Oh, pregnancy will burn you out faster
• 42:55
  Speaker 4: than anything on this planet Earth. I literally am like
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: every day, I'm like, how is it only five o'clock?
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: Don't at two o'clock? Don't you just get exhausted.
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: Oh I'm exhausted the moment I wake up.
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: There's never a sense of non exhaustion. But it's all
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: right because it's a blessing and I'm happy and excited.
• 43:11
  Speaker 4: But boy, was that a surprise.
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: But I mean, for everybody who doesn't know, you had
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: a really hard journey getting pregnant.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: The first time. So this is like a double blessing.
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, such a double blessing. I did I
• 43:25
  Speaker 4: have to conceive my son Ford, and this one was.
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: A total, a total surprise. So we would have waited
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: like five years. That's okay, because you know, we make
• 43:35
  Speaker 3: plans and God laughs. Nothing is truer than that.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: Nothing is truer than that.
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: What's been the hardest lesson or biggest misstep that you've made.
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: I think the hardest lesson has just been understanding.
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: My presence to those on my team.
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: Maybe I will say, like I don't necessarily understand, especially
• 44:04
  Speaker 4: now I'm learning it. I think I'm just a girl that's,
• 44:08
  Speaker 4: you know, out here doing making bracelets and figuring it out.
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: Like I'm just a girl in my head.
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: I'm literally in my head, I'm like twenty, right, but
• 44:18
  Speaker 4: I'm like a thirty two year old adult woman with
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: two kids, and I don't understand the perception others have
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: of me.
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: And so sometimes it can be hard when you're a.
• 44:27
  Speaker 4: Leader to make sure that the people that are following
• 44:30
  Speaker 4: you within your own team, Like I can do it
• 44:32
  Speaker 4: easily for the outside world, but these women who like if.
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: I snap or I get upset.
• 44:38
  Speaker 4: It weighs on them, like if I say something the
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: wrong way or if I make a comment that it's
• 44:44
  Speaker 4: so much more to think about than I ever expected.
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: And I don't really have as much room to be
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: human unfortunately, which is fine, and that's the life.
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: I chose in a way.
• 44:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but I do have to be very intentional about
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: every word that comes out of my mouth, and that's
• 45:02
  Speaker 4: probably been the hardest thing, as like a Jersey firecracker,
• 45:05
  Speaker 4: probably have to shut up.
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: It's not in your nature.
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: I know it's not.
• 45:10
  Speaker 4: I just can't, as you can tell from this very
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: verbose interview.
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: No, that's so what makes you amazing when you look
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: back at your journey?
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: What makes you feel proud? All of it?
• 45:21
  Speaker 3: All of it? This team?
• 45:23
  Speaker 4: Speaking out of both sides of my mouth. I look
• 45:25
  Speaker 4: around this room at people doing jobs. People are literally
• 45:29
  Speaker 4: I don't know if this is even gonna be worth doing.
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: But oh my god, you have such a big office,
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: a big office.
• 45:36
  Speaker 3: Can you have so many desks?
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: So many desks? Oh my god, it's I'm in my
• 45:40
  Speaker 4: little conference room. We've're a pretty little showroom there. Wow,
• 45:44
  Speaker 4: I'm beautiful, thank you. But it's I look around and
• 45:48
  Speaker 4: I'm like, oh my god, everyone has a job, everyone's
• 45:52
  Speaker 4: doing something, and like, I'm getting to do this and
• 45:55
  Speaker 4: I haven't looked at my emails all day.
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: But that's okay because there's an assistant.
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: Like. It's just the ability to grow and still live
• 46:03
  Speaker 4: my life and have this incredible team I think is
• 46:06
  Speaker 4: the thing I'm most proud of.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: Okay, you are a busy woman and you almost have
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: to go, but I have some rapid fires for you.
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: Okay, let's do it.
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: Piece of advice someone gave you that you would pass
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: on to an entrepreneur.
• 46:17
  Speaker 4: Keres, which is, if you believe it and if you
• 46:20
  Speaker 4: want it, you can achieve it.
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: From my mom negotiating tip, believe in yourself blindly so
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: that they're blinded by your belief. Something you wish someone
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: would have told you before you started your own business.
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: It's really freaking hard. It's fucking awful. No, it's really hard,
• 46:42
  Speaker 4: but it's possible if you keep at it and you
• 46:47
  Speaker 4: keep believing.
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: How do you decide when to say yes versus when
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: to say no? Got what's a smaller brand that you
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: think everybody should check out?
• 46:56
  Speaker 3: Eleventh Hour Sunglasses? Really of them? He's a Jersey based girl.
• 47:01
  Speaker 4: We're actually doing a collaboration with her soon making a
• 47:03
  Speaker 4: pink sunglass.
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: Super cute.
• 47:05
  Speaker 4: And she's like the real deal, Like she's got great stuff.
• 47:08
  Speaker 4: She's sold an anthro and all that good stuff.
• 47:10
  Speaker 3: I love it.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: That awesome.
• 47:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: A book that changed your life, something you think everyone
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: should read, The one hundred dollars Startup.
• 47:18
  Speaker 3: I've never heard of that either.
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: It's a great, quick, little easy read, and it changed
• 47:23
  Speaker 4: my life because I decided to start reading it and
• 47:26
  Speaker 4: I decided to start the business right after that. It
• 47:29
  Speaker 4: basically says you can start a business with nothing. All
• 47:32
  Speaker 4: you need is a customer, something to sell to them,
• 47:36
  Speaker 4: and a way to capture their money. Done.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: Okay, you've played.
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: My card deck actually sold in Little Word Project stores,
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: which is such a gift.
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: It is so because we're virtual. Just tell me when
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: to stop. Stop. Which temptation do you try the hardest
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: to resist?
• 47:53
  Speaker 4: Oh?
• 47:54
  Speaker 3: I do not try to resist temptations. I gotta be honest.
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: I'm not a.
• 47:57
  Speaker 4: Temptation to resist. I am going to eat that chocolate.
• 48:01
  Speaker 4: I'm going to watch that stupid show. I'm going to
• 48:03
  Speaker 4: live my life because I can't be out here resisting.
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: So literally nothing.
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: Can I love that?
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: Sorry?
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: And what is the smartest decision you've.
• 48:13
  Speaker 4: Ever made going to the College of New Jersey Because
• 48:17
  Speaker 4: I met my husband who gave me my baby and
• 48:20
  Speaker 4: has given me this incredible life, as well as met
• 48:25
  Speaker 4: that sorority, dealt with what I dealt with and led
• 48:28
  Speaker 4: to me.
• 48:29
  Speaker 3: Starting this business.
• 48:30
  Speaker 4: So I hated that school when I was there, but
• 48:34
  Speaker 4: it's changed my life.
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: Rianna.
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: I started this interview saying I love what you built,
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: but how you built it, and I feel that even
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: more deeply after getting to talk to you. I believe
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: you can build the billion dollar business, truly and I
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: can't wait to see where you take it.
• 48:54
  Speaker 4: Oh, thank you, Danielle.
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: I want to thank the people that make the show possible,
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: Colleen O'Neill, Jill Salama, Karrie O'Keefe, and Phil speed Tech. Okay,
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: you know what time it is. Today's a good day.
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: To have a good day. I'll see you next week.