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Women Know What Women Buy with Krista Karpan · Serious Lady Business

• Krista Karpan (00:00) I think maybe, brands market to the demographic instead of the decision process. What really prevented me from moving forward was definitely analysis paralysis. I had all of these ideas, but I'm like, which one is the best one to move forward with? Leslie Youngblood (00:14) Mm, mm, Krista Karpan (00:18) I also think a lot of women suffer from perfectionism, myself being you want you launch. But they also say, you know, if you're not embarrassed by your first launch, you launch too late. Leslie (00:30) Welcome back to Serious Lady Business. I am so excited for you to listen to my conversation today with Krista Carpen, co-founder and CEO of Milked Media. She and her co-founder, Nicolette, started Milked Media in 2017. And when they niched down into what they did best, They helped more than 60 brands drive over $160 million in revenue and won a 2025 Meta Agency Award for their work with Heretic Perfume. But what I loved about this conversation is that it goes way beyond marketing metrics. We talk about building a company as women why having a team that actually understands the customer can be a total competitive advantage. and what happens when you finally stop overthinking and just start. Leslie Youngblood (01:18) Welcome to Serious Lady Business, Krista. Krista Karpan (01:22) Hi, thanks for having me. Leslie Youngblood (01:24) Heck yes, we are talking women know what women buy and the e-commerce advantage hiding in plain sight. Krissa, I'm always excited to talk to guests, but I feel like we're gonna have such a rich conversation. You lead a largely female team that creates marketing for brands whose customers are often women. Where do you see your team's lived experience giving clients an advantage? Krista Karpan (01:50) I mean, yeah, we truly are the target audience. We say that all the time to our clients who maybe have come from us come to us from other agencies that are comprised of mostly male and then they didn't understand Leslie Youngblood (02:03) Yeah. Krista Karpan (02:04) how to market their product. We are the target audience. We are reacting to the advertisements that we see. We are shopping these products, whether it's a $200 piece of jewelry or skincare item. We know what claims or what angles work on us and we're able to apply Leslie Youngblood (02:25) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (02:26) that to our clients account as well. Leslie Youngblood (02:29) Yes, that's such a unique and I think important thing. We know that women make the majority of purchasing decisions in a household, but when your product is specifically for women too, you have to go to any audience in such a unique way. And I know, you know, we could get really into the weeds with my background in marketing, but you think, a 12-year-old girl in in the Midwest is totally different than a 12-year-old girl in New York City. And it's like there's just so much nuance b in any audience, let alone when it comes to a female audience. So having that female team, I think just must have be so much fun too. Like when you get products and you can just like vibe in a totally different way together when you're putting campaigns and ideas together. Is that is that true? Krista Karpan (03:16) It is true. Yeah. We I mean, I shop a lot of our clients' products and I know a lot of our team does too. We are a predominantly female team. We do have one male employee and he is Leslie Youngblood (03:28) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (03:29) great at what he does. but yeah, having the largely female team, I mean, we are, like I said, the the target consumer, but we're also shopping even our clients' brands and able to experience that and then also. Leslie Youngblood (03:43) Yeah, this Krista Karpan (03:44) apply our own experience to the marketing as well. Leslie Youngblood (03:47) Totally. And know the competitor brands too, right? And that is again just such a cool nuance. And Krista, what do brands most commonly misunderstand when it comes to marketing to women? Krista Karpan (03:59) I think maybe, you know, brands market to the demographic instead of maybe the decision process. I mean, Leslie Youngblood (04:06) Yeah. Krista Karpan (04:09) women in itself is not really a niche demographic. Leslie Youngblood (04:14) Okay. Krista Karpan (04:16) so really I guess leaning into more what is driving the decision behind the purchase, as you mentioned. We are predominantly the ones making the purchases, even for our clients that their products are for men. We never exclude Leslie Youngblood (04:35) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (04:36) women from it because women are the ones even shopping for for men. So really Leslie Youngblood (04:40) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (04:41) leaning more into what is driving that decision. Women also do spend a lot of time researching a purchase decision. So Leslie Youngblood (04:52) Who is Krista Karpan (04:52) What goes into that decision-making process and really speaking to that with the marketing of overcoming those objections? Leslie Youngblood (05:01) Yes. Can you give us an example about a time when there was maybe something your team recognized about a female customer that might not have been obvious to someone that didn't share that perspective? Krista Karpan (05:14) specifically thinking of beauty or skincare, I think a lot of times maybe brands want to lead with like what are the ingredients or you know the Leslie Youngblood (05:25) Yeah. Krista Karpan (05:27) the holistic part of it. And we do care about that. We want clean, non Leslie Youngblood (05:29) Yeah. Yeah. Krista Karpan (05:31) toxic beauty, but really what we care about is what difference it's going to make for us. What problem is this going Leslie Youngblood (05:37) really. Krista Karpan (05:37) to solve? is it acne? Is it wrinkles? Is it rosacea? What is the problem that it's going to solve? And then also what makes you different? What is your differentiator? Why should I shop you versus someone else? There's a million and one skincare brands. So really coming Leslie Youngblood (05:53) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (05:54) up with what that differentiator is. and then another example are one of our jewelry clients was really leaning kind of heavy into more of the gifting angle. And largely, a lot of times, it's women buying jewelry for themselves. Of course, we receive jewelry as presents, frost ourselves, buy the damn ring, you know, like we are buying Leslie Youngblood (06:13) Frost yourself. Frost yourself, baby. Yeah. Krista Karpan (06:19) it a lot of times for ourselves. And if we're not buying it ourselves, we're typically Leslie Youngblood (06:22) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (06:25) teeing it up for the male partner, whoever that may be. Leslie Youngblood (06:27) Uh-huh, Krista Karpan (06:30) buy me Leslie Youngblood (06:30) mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (06:30) this. So we're the ones shopping it. We're telling them what to buy or we're buying it ourselves. So leaning more into the treat yourself type messaging works really well for that client and kind of skewing Leslie Youngblood (06:40) Yeah. Yeah. Krista Karpan (06:42) away from more of the the gifting angle. Leslie Youngblood (06:45) Yeah, that listen, like t how to lose a guy in 10 days was really onto something with that frost yourself campaign decades later, it still holds Krista Karpan (06:51) Yeah. Leslie Youngblood (06:54) true. And I think what you even said there too, it's it's an emo any purchase is emotional, even something as simple as a lipstick, a $10 lipstick. And so to and this is across the board for men, women, children, right? Like it's an emotional thing. And you wanna fe feel something from what you're doing and you wanna whether it's feeling good about what you're buying, feeling good about yourself. And I think that is just and you have to do it not in that like list of like you said, like list off how good this is and you should buy and it's good for you and it's good for the earth. It's like it still needs to have that emotional connection at the end of the day. And that truly will like hook your customer, not to like you're trying to like hook them like forever, but like you want to create that long term customer. You want to create that long term connection with them. And so to be Krista Karpan (07:41) Mm-hmm. Leslie Youngblood (07:42) able to do that, I think must be so fun when the you see the light bulb come on for some of those clients, Krista. Krista Karpan (07:50) For sure. Cause yeah, there's a million different ways to spin things and there's a million different messaging angles to to test, but really understanding Leslie Youngblood (07:59) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (08:00) what your customer resonates with, what is the problem that your product is going to solve for them and leaning Leslie Youngblood (08:06) Yeah. Krista Karpan (08:06) into that is not only going to be beneficial to you as the, you know, e-commerce founder, but it's also beneficial to your to your customer because they feel like you understand them. Leslie Youngblood (08:18) Yeah. So and I think we can go deeper here too, because I'm sure brands come to you. You know how to market to women. You have a team of women. But I'm sure you've seen brands sort of flatten women into one generic customer profile. And we kind of got into this a little bit. But what is the important what is that losing for them when they do flatten into this like this generic sort of blanket for we're marketing to women. So help us out. Tell us a little bit about that. Krista Karpan (08:50) I mean, like I said, w women in itself isn't really a niche segment with in Leslie Youngblood (08:55) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (08:57) the female demographic, there are a lot of niche segments. So I feel marketing more to those niche segments, whether that's, you know, the life cycle age that you're at or or just the air life stage is should I say, or the, you know, the age that you're at. A 20-something Gen Z, you know, woman and a 55-year-old woman could buy the same product, but they're going to be buying Leslie Youngblood (09:23) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (09:24) it for different reasons. They have different motivations. Leslie Youngblood (09:26) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (09:27) So again, it all comes really back to that understanding your customer, the customer persona, and really kind of meeting them where they're at. Leslie Youngblood (09:38) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (09:39) And understanding the differences. There's also, you know, segments of women who are very feminine and very, you know, girly. And then there's Leslie Youngblood (09:46) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (09:50) Some that are not. They're tomboys. They like, they like hiking. They like outdoorsy stuff. So really lumping Leslie Youngblood (09:54) You know? Krista Karpan (09:55) that all into one thing is going to do you a disservice. Really drilling down Leslie Youngblood (09:59) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (10:00) understanding who your who your ideal customer is and really speaking to that Leslie Youngblood (10:05) I think that Krista Karpan (10:06) person is going to make the marketing far more effective. Leslie Youngblood (10:10) Yeah, it's just so fun to think about. And it but I say that as a marketer, but it's also like terrifying. Like when you initially like bring on a c a client and then you have to find that nugget of info and that discovery about the customer. And it's not just these, These little profiles you stick on the wall. Here's our customer archetype, right? And her name is Sue, and she's married with three kids and lives in it outside Atlanta, Georgia. It's like so much more nuanced than that. And I think a lot of people not in advertising and marketing don't even realize like that there's so much work and thought and care that goes into creating these ads. Now, not all ads hit the mark. But I know yours hit the mark a lot, Krista, because you guys have generated Krista Karpan (10:55) Mm-hmm. Leslie Youngblood (10:56) more than $160 million in revenue for your clients. But I just think it's so fun because you really, when you really learn the customer, like it resonates. And you guys are doing work that resonates. And it's just so fun and so cool. And I would love to know what have those results taught you about that relationship between the customer and between customer understanding and performance of the campaigns you're creating. Krista Karpan (11:22) And I think all just goes hand in hand. Understanding Leslie Youngblood (11:25) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (11:26) who your customer is is what is going to lead to the performance. And you Leslie Youngblood (11:32) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (11:33) know, a lot of brands may struggle with how to really understand who who their customer is. Yeah, we may know she's Leslie Youngblood (11:42) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (11:43) female aged 30. Yeah, this is a lot of what, you know, Google Analytics may tell us, but beyond that, what really impacts their purchase decision. And there's a couple of ways to, you know, really do that. One would be ask them. So a service that we also offer is like our customer insights survey. It's literally asking your customer about what they Leslie Youngblood (12:04) Mm. Krista Karpan (12:07) shop, what guides their decisions. It's more than just the demographics for you to really understand who your customer is. And then another source of gold is the customer reviews. Look at what your customers are Leslie Youngblood (12:20) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (12:22) already saying about your products, whether it's positive or negative. A lot of times Leslie Youngblood (12:26) Yes. Krista Karpan (12:27) What the customers will say in the reviews will tell you exactly the pain points to focus on within your advertising. If they're saying, you know, I suffered from acne for years and within thirty days this this cleared up my skin. Perfect. There we go. That's exactly the problem. Leslie Youngblood (12:43) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (12:47) That this product is solving. So again, I think really digging into the data, the resources that you have, sometimes literally just asking your customer is going to Leslie Youngblood (12:58) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (12:59) help you understand who they really are. And if you understand that, you can develop creative that, you know, directly speaks to them. And that is what Leslie Youngblood (13:06) Yeah. Krista Karpan (13:07) is going to bring performance. And that's also from an advertising angle, but even from like a product development angle. Your customer is Leslie Youngblood (13:14) Yeah. Krista Karpan (13:15) telling you what they want. or what maybe the Leslie Youngblood (13:17) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (13:18) product is lacking. So listening to them there can also help with a launch and product development strategy as well. Leslie Youngblood (13:26) Totally. I would love to know how many potential clients have never re done a survey or even thought to do those things, Krista, where it feels like so obvious. I know there's clients I've worked before where I'm like, what are have you done a survey lately or have you gotten their feedback? And they're like, no, we've never done that. And I was always just blown away because if you're not close to your customer and you don't know what they like or dislike, then how do you even How can you even rationalize the sales that you're making? And it's so it's simple. And you can make a type form, a survey monkey, all the things, or go on Facebook and a p a LinkedIn poll, all the things that get made it's so easy today, but I don't know why if it's is it fear that you think holds them back from doing these things or just kind of they're so far removed from the process and the purchasing and those decisions on a day to day basis? Krista Karpan (14:18) Well yeah, I would say almost like none of them do that, any sort of like survey. And honestly, if you tie it to some sort of incentive or giveaway, the response rate is pretty good. People like free stuff. So there's definitely Leslie Youngblood (14:29) Mm-hmm. Yes, yes. Krista Karpan (14:33) a right way to do it. I think the reason maybe a lot of reason brands don't is because they assume they already know who their customer is. Leslie Youngblood (14:43) Mm. Krista Karpan (14:46) when in reality, like I said, a lot of the, you know, Google Analytics or even audience insights within Google Ads will show you some information about your customer, but it's not really going Leslie Youngblood (14:57) And Krista Karpan (14:58) to show you their thinking about, you know, Leslie Youngblood (15:01) Okay. Krista Karpan (15:01) what what influences their purchases. A lot of times, or probably the only way to get that from them is to just ask them. and so Leslie Youngblood (15:11) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (15:11) that survey definitely helps with that. Leslie Youngblood (15:15) Yeah, it must have been Emma Greed on her podcast. I s I'm maybe I'm making this up, but it sounds like something that she would do. I feel like she called like the first people that bought Good American or something and was like, What do you like? tell me about it. And people were so shocked. And then she keeps in touch or keeps tabs on some of those core customers that bought from the beginning because your product evolves and you your lines expand or contract or what have you and I was like man that is really so smart and anybody listening today can your customer whether you're in B2B and you work with like clients or you have a sales or you know or you're selling product there is a way to connect with those customers and learn so much about how to improve And evolve in the way that they will respond to. it's wild that they don't do that as much as you think that they do. Krista Karpan (16:09) No and yeah, especially for your most loyal customers. I mean, you know That doesn't have to be your entire customer database, but your most loyal ones, like doing those small Leslie Youngblood (16:17) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Krista Karpan (16:20) you know, outreach acts and reaching out to them and making it a little bit more personal and showing that there is a person behind the brand, I think goes a really Leslie Youngblood (16:27) Yeah, yes. Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (16:30) long way. And for those those customers who are brand loyalists, trust me, they are ready and willing to give feedback and talk to you about it. Clearly they're on board. Leslie Youngblood (16:41) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (16:42) So that is a great source. Leslie Youngblood (16:45) Yes, definitely. And I think that it's it's a wonderful counterpoint to the thought of I just have to spend more money on ads to get more people to buy and spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend. What have you learned, Krista What separates the brands that successfully scale from the ones that keep spending more money, but they don't see that meaningful growth? Krista Karpan (17:10) So many factors, so many. But I guess I would yeah, Leslie Youngblood (17:13) Top three. Top three. We could talk all day, I'm sure. Krista Karpan (17:16) I would say the the one thing it all comes down to is that the the brands that are able to scale are scaling on top of a solid foundation and the ones who are spending Leslie Youngblood (17:30) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (17:31) without results are throwing money at a funnel that is broken. the funnel Leslie Youngblood (17:37) Ooh. Krista Karpan (17:38) can be broken in so many different Leslie Youngblood (17:40) Mm. Krista Karpan (17:41) ways. But I guess some of the top yeah things that we would see is, you know, one, if your goal is e-commerce direct to consumer, your website is going to play a huge part in that. What we Leslie Youngblood (17:53) Mm. Krista Karpan (17:55) do is we help with ads. And you know, we're only a small part of it. If we are driving traffic to the website and the on-site experience sucks, you're not gonna see those conversions and you're essentially wasting wasting your money there. So really Leslie Youngblood (18:06) Money. Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (18:08) having making sure that your website is is dialed in. And then, you know, we always recommend having a variety of marketing efforts in place. It all works together. So making sure that Leslie Youngblood (18:23) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (18:24) your organic social is dialed in. If you are, you know, running ads and you expect that to maybe be the silver bullet, it most likely won't be. Our brands that see the most Leslie Youngblood (18:34) Mm. Krista Karpan (18:35) success are also engaging with influencers and you know, sending Leslie Youngblood (18:40) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (18:41) out product, doing seeding campaigns. Campaigns. They have their organic SEO dialed in. And I know that sounds like a lot, you know, maybe to some people. I think there's a lot of areas in which you can start small, just making sure you have an organic presence. building up some sort of influencer strategy in the beginning, if that's, you know, gifting, gifting product Leslie Youngblood (19:02) Mm. Krista Karpan (19:03) to get the word out there and in return getting content that you can use on organic social and in your paid media strategy. But really, yes, coming back to the website is a big one. And I guess the last thing and the big one, No amount of any of this is going to fix a bad product. So making sure that there's a Leslie Youngblood (19:24) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (19:25) good product market fit, but beyond that, is making sure that you are Building demand that can be leveraged through through the marketing. a Leslie Youngblood (19:36) Mm. Krista Karpan (19:37) client that we worked with, they really weren't producing anything new, they were relying on their hero products, and the account kind of just fell stagnant, and they were very reliant on sale periods in order to move the needle. Once they got a better launch schedule in place where they were launching new product about every Leslie Youngblood (19:58) Mm. Krista Karpan (19:59) month, this is What really ended up scaling the account, and those Leslie Youngblood (20:03) Wow. Krista Karpan (20:03) launch creatives actually a lot of times outperform the evergreens, and now they Leslie Youngblood (20:07) Wow. Krista Karpan (20:08) don't have to be relying on sales at all. They do two sales a year, that's it. And it is the launches which has driven the success of the account. So making sure that you in some way are building that demand layer to make the marketing effective. Leslie Youngblood (20:24) That is so smart And anybody listening right now can utilize those things in some capacity in their business. And you set a seeding campaign, Krista. What's a seeding campaign? I've never heard that term before. Krista Karpan (20:40) So that's essentially gifting product to influencers to kind of get the word out there. So brands who come Leslie Youngblood (20:47) huh. Krista Karpan (20:47) to us who are just starting out or, you know, maybe ready to launch, that is a great way to really build the buzz around the product. Leslie Youngblood (20:56) Yeah. Krista Karpan (20:58) these don't have to be the biggest influencers. It's nice if they are because they have a larger audience, but this Leslie Youngblood (21:04) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (21:04) is a way to not only build the buzz around the launch and get the word out there if people are sharing. It to their audience, but also a good way if you ask in exchange, you know, I'm going to give you this product for free, you share it to your audience, and then also in exchange, give me some content. that's a great way to build up that initial content library and even build up Leslie Youngblood (21:28) Yes. Krista Karpan (21:28) social proof because that is so important in those early days. If I come to your site and you know, I'm debating buying this and I don't see any reviews. On the site. It's like, I don't, I've never heard of you before. There's they're not a lot of trust built there. But if you Leslie Youngblood (21:45) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (21:46) have those reviews built in with people talking about their experience, it's an immediate trust builder. I'm like, okay, these people bought it, they liked it. So Leslie Youngblood (21:53) Yeah. Krista Karpan (21:54) there we go. I'm gonna move forward with it. So having that social Leslie Youngblood (21:57) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (21:58) proof aspect built in, and you can do that through through seeding as well to kind of build that initial momentum. Leslie Youngblood (22:05) Gotcha, gotcha. and again, something with that type of outreach and campaign, it costs you sure the cost of the product, but and then maybe postage, but you know, you're not spending tens of thousands of dollars on marketing and a launch. And when you're launching, and I mean every dollar counts when you're a business looking to grow and to scale. But and I and I would also say, and I think it's gotten so interesting too. Anybody listening that is a small content creator or for our small content creators out there, you may have if if there's a brand that you like that's small and growing, reach out to them because they may be looking for somebody to that loves their product and wants to share it on social. And a lot of times your audience is gonna be much more engaged if you have 10,000 followers than somebody that has a hundred thousand followers. And so I just think that it the game has is. Always constantly changing. But I think it's so interesting when it comes to those types of creator rules lately, too. And it's like, I hey, listen, you don't have to be an Alex Earl or an Alex Cooper to get in the game of you know, content and those partnerships when it comes to brands. And and what's the worst that can happen? They say, No, I'm sorry, we're not doing that, or you can apply to our program or this, that, and the other. But a lot of times the small brands don't even have those types of programs set up yet. So you could potentially even get some new product for that if you love it and do an a good job by them. So and I'm sure you have seen so much of this change too over the years, Krissa, with with your career in advertising and marketing. Has there been anything like what's been your favorite like marketing evolution over the past, like over your career that you've seen? Krista Karpan (23:47) Well, I don't know, kind of going back to just what you were saying there with like the creators, I will say one of the biggest shifts recently with Meta, in particular, Meta ads, they updated their algorithm. It's called Andromeda. Leslie Youngblood (24:04) Mm. Krista Karpan (24:06) Which sounds a little dramatic, but Andromeda yeah, I know Leslie Youngblood (24:09) It's meta. It's meta, of course they're gonna be dramatic. Krista Karpan (24:12) it favors user generated content and partnership ads. So brands Leslie Youngblood (24:19) Mm. Krista Karpan (24:20) are desperate for that content right now because in maybe even six months ago, it's like, yes, we want to test UGC in the account and it should be part of the mix. But now it's like it's not like we want to. It's like it's a necessity. Meta has literally come out saying that the algorithm favors this. So if you're not feeding it that you're actively working against what the algorithm wants. So Leslie Youngblood (24:46) Mm. Krista Karpan (24:46) yeah, if you are a creator, you know, just starting out, there is definitely a big opportunity to reach out to brands and offer to do content for them and even run those that content as a partnership ad because again that Leslie Youngblood (25:02) Yeah. Krista Karpan (25:03) is what is that is what meta wants right now and in the beginning if you're doing it you know for product exchange. It's a good way to just build up your portfolio. Once you have that portfolio, you can start, you know, asking for money in exchange for your Leslie Youngblood (25:19) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (25:20) services. And I think brands are willing to pay that now. And it doesn't matter at all in this instance, your audience. We don't care when we are building UGC working with creators if they have 10 or 10,000 followers, because what we want is the content that we can use Leslie Youngblood (25:39) Mm. Krista Karpan (25:39) in in the ad account. So that's really what's important is your on-air abilities and ability to create that content. And yes, brands are definitely looking for that right now. Leslie Youngblood (25:54) So interesting. So so interesting. I love it. Now, Krista before Milked Media, you had a 30-page idea catalog full of businesses you were afraid to launch. I'm sure everybody listening could relate to that on some level, whether it's 30 or three. What finally helped you move from analyzing possibilities to committing to one? Krista Karpan (26:16) Probably got sick of it at a certain point. But yeah, I know. It took me Leslie Youngblood (26:18) got sick of myself. Sick of my excuses. Krista Karpan (26:21) it took me a while to figure out. And, you know, maybe that was just being young and, you know, new to the the career working world. And there's Leslie Youngblood (26:33) Yeah. Krista Karpan (26:34) so many possibilities and you just don't really know where to start. And I think I struggled Leslie Youngblood (26:39) Sure. Krista Karpan (26:40) there for a little bit. I mean Even when you go to like college, they they're like, help me figure out what I want to be. And they're like, you're getting a degree Leslie Youngblood (26:49) Right. Krista Karpan (26:50) in psychology. You can be an HR generalist. I'm like, what's that? Like, I don't know Leslie Youngblood (26:56) Ha ha ha. Krista Karpan (26:57) what this is. I'm 20 years old. What do you mean? And so I was just a very confusing time. And eventually Leslie Youngblood (27:03) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (27:04) I figured out that what I really wanted to do was my own thing. And I had a lot of Leslie Youngblood (27:09) Mm. Krista Karpan (27:09) ideas. And so I would spend you know, any free time outside of my nine to five thinking of these ideas and then researching them and building out this idea catalog. And to me, at the time, building that felt like progress because I'm like, I'm thinking, Leslie Youngblood (27:30) Mm. Krista Karpan (27:31) I'm writing things down, I'm researching, but then I'm not actually Leslie Youngblood (27:34) Yeah. Krista Karpan (27:35) doing anything with them. And so yeah. Leslie Youngblood (27:37) Yes. D that's so common that they say like you think, but mm, you're just spinning your little beautiful wheels there. Krista Karpan (27:45) It felt like progress at the time and it wasn't because guess what? Now all of those ideas, all that time I spent has lived and died in this Google Doc. So yeah, Leslie Youngblood (27:53) Mm yes. Krista Karpan (27:56) I guess what finally, you know, got me to take action was I think yeah, I was tired of it. I was tired of r spinning my wheels, but also my My best attempts at starting a business always have involved a business partner. I think that's just me. I think I work well by having somebody else there to really, you know, spin ideas off of to help along this journey, help make decisions. So it was me and my friend who happened to come together at the right time looking to start a business. We're like, let's do what we know. This is after a couple other failed business attempts and we were like, let's let's just do marketing because that is that's what we know and I guess the rest is history from there. Leslie Youngblood (28:53) I love that you just said a couple failed attempts there, but I always try to call attention to the fact that no successful business person is successful in their first business in the way that you expect to be. You will, you need to expect to fail. Like expect to fail. Just know that it's going to happen. So, and then you'll evolve and you'll figure it out. And I mean, you know, everybody always has that, you know, points to Bezos and Amazon and news. You know, that wasn't his first business. And Amazon started like being just books. And it's like, you just have to be willing to take that step and know that it's not going to be the right step, but any step is still the right step because you are actually taking action. It's so simple. It's like I it's like maddening how simple and how hard it is at the same time. I think, especially as women, we put so much extraneous pressure on ourselves to. Knowing that maybe the deck is stacked against us, and so we wanna do do go extra and harder and be successful. And so like the sting of it not working is even more painful to even imagine. And yet it's going to happen. Or somebody, right? Like it's just inevitable. And so I just think that's so awesome that you were trying different things. And and here's the thing, it's like Who the hell really knows what they want to do in college, anyways? I always am so impressed with the youths and they like know exactly, or you have somebody like a Taylor Swift that knew exactly what she wanted to do and was so driven from a young age. I'm like, what is that like? Like, I still feel like I'm figuring out, like, wouldn't that be something to just know Krista Karpan (30:27) Mm. Leslie Youngblood (30:31) without a doubt when you're 10 years old, or like, you know, these incredible athletes, Serena Williams and you know, all that. I'm like, that is amazing, but you don't have to know. At 10. You don't have to know at 40. Like you just have to know that you're just gonna keep going and trying and evolving. And and I think that's so great too, is that you found a partner and almost like to have that trust and that accountability with somebody, you know, to go and do it together. So maybe it's not as scary as well when you start on that journey. Krista Karpan (31:04) For sure. Yeah. I I totally agree with you. The people have it all figured out. I'm like, cool, good for you. How? Yeah, how? How did you do that? I know. It's like, you knew Leslie Youngblood (31:11) How? Yeah. Lies. Lies, Krista. Krista Karpan (31:16) you wanted to be a doctor. Cool. but yeah, having a business partner, it does help. And I think even as you mentioned, you know, failed business attempts along the way. Yes, there are a lot of failures, but even within The current business, there's been a lot of failures. And I think Leslie Youngblood (31:33) Mm. Sure. Krista Karpan (31:36) I I think I was afraid of not choosing the right thing because it felt so Leslie Youngblood (31:43) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (31:43) definitive. It's like if I'm gonna go all in in this, I wanna make sure it's the idea. It's the one thing. So I think that Leslie Youngblood (31:48) Mm. Krista Karpan (31:49) What really prevented me from moving forward was definitely analysis paralysis. I had all of these ideas, but I'm like, which one is the best one to move forward with? And Leslie Youngblood (31:57) Mm, mm, mm. Krista Karpan (32:01) Ernie, again, you're not gonna really you're not gonna know. And you know, building Leslie Youngblood (32:05) Yeah. Krista Karpan (32:06) out this like business plan. You don't know all the things that are going to happen. The only way Leslie Youngblood (32:11) Okay. Krista Karpan (32:11) to figure it out. Is just by doing it and you're gonna figure out a lot of things along the way, and there's going to be Leslie Youngblood (32:17) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (32:18) a lot of setbacks, but then you learn and then you grow and then you move on from there. I didn't know how to build a team, I didn't know anything Leslie Youngblood (32:26) Mm. Krista Karpan (32:27) about payroll or benefits or any of that. Like you figure Leslie Youngblood (32:30) Right. Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (32:31) that out along the way, and eventually it becomes the rhythm of the business, but you Leslie Youngblood (32:37) Mm. Krista Karpan (32:38) you're not going to know everything going in. Really, you just Leslie Youngblood (32:42) Yeah. Krista Karpan (32:42) have to start. Okay. Leslie Youngblood (32:44) Yeah. And what you said too, with like all the ideas, n analysis, paralysis, and listening to the podcast and reading the books and writing the ideas. And it's like we feel like we're getting somewhere when we're not. And we can almost like hide ourselves in that comfort of like, I'm doing it, but like I'm s you're not like putting yourself like out there, out there. And and I think that can be something any for so many of us go through. And then once you start taking action, it feels so much better. Right. Cause then you're not in that little hamster wheel of, you know, that that comfortable little hamster wheel anymore. But it's very scary to start because like you said, you don't know. You know payroll taxes, like hiring, firing, like, my God. Krista Karpan (33:26) Ha ha ha ha. Leslie Youngblood (33:27) But you'll figure it out. And I think that any decision is the right decision. Because you make it the right decision. I'm sure you experience this too like campaigns, like we have this tagline and this one, which one's the right one, right? they're both great. Well, it's gonna be this one because this is the one, Like, and it's the right one because you decided it was the right one. And so anytime we are ever faced with simple d what are we gonna have for lunch today? What What what's gonna be our revenue projection for the next like five year? What's our vision for our five year plan, right? Like big decisions, little decisions, like they're all important, but they're all changeable too, right? Like you can Krista Karpan (34:05) Mm-hmm. Leslie Youngblood (34:06) decide tomorrow, we decide to change. So I'm sure Krista Karpan (34:08) Yeah. Leslie Youngblood (34:08) some of those decisions have been an you know, learning experiences for you along the way. Is there anything, any lesson that sticks out in your mind, Krista as as one that you're like, yeah, that was like That was a really good lesson, whether it was good or bad. Krista Karpan (34:26) I mean, I guess along the road with milked media, I think the biggest lesson was I mean, we knew how to do the marketing, we knew how to do the service, we you know, didn't have a problem there delivering the service. I think what we learned along the way was what I shared. It was growing a business, how to run a business, how to grow a business. Like we could do marketing all day. We could do meta ads. But once the time came to hire employees and grow the business and figure out the team structure and then figuring out how to you know then you're your employees have wants and needs. They want to know how to grow within Leslie Youngblood (35:11) Mm. Krista Karpan (35:12) the organization. They want to hear feedback. So learning all of that along the way of really how to structure and grow the team, I think has probably been one of the biggest like learning curves and and lessons for for both of us. And I think the biggest Leslie Youngblood (35:30) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (35:31) thing there too is I think early on we you know we had our employees and of course we appreciated them but I don't think we we fully, you know, and maybe invested in them in the way that we should have. And Leslie Youngblood (35:48) Hm. Krista Karpan (35:49) especially as an agency where our business is our people, really focusing on, you know, employee retention, making sure that they're happy in the role, that they're happy in the company, talking about growth opportunities, listening to them and seeing how we can fit what they want to do within, you know, the the scope of the work or within the growth of the company. I think really valuing your the people who work for you and really making sure that they stay a long time has been something that we've really worked toward and really really just value everyone that is on the team and really focus on that team building aspect. But that is something that we have had to learn along the way and figure out Leslie Youngblood (36:40) Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (36:41) along the way. And we did. We we figured it out as we went. We we learned as Leslie Youngblood (36:43) Right. Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (36:45) we went. Leslie Youngblood (36:46) Yep, yep. And that's that's the facts, people. You learn as you go, don't be afraid, know it's coming, and know that you'll learn. And and know that you'll learn. Now, Krista, what is one thing every brand selling to women should immediately stop doing and what should they do instead? Krista Karpan (37:03) think really what it all came down to from what we talked about today is you know don't focus as much on the the product photo or you know what the product looks like focus Leslie Youngblood (37:18) Yeah. Krista Karpan (37:19) on The decision making, focus on the customer, focus on what is going to help them make that decision. And that'll make the biggest, the biggest difference, I think, is really leaning into the customer should be the one thing that every brand is doing. Leslie Youngblood (37:35) I love that. That's great advice for everybody listening now, whether you're a business owner or work for a business. Now we asked this question, Krista, of all of our guests. What is one piece of serious lady business advice you wish more women actually took seriously? Krista Karpan (37:51) I'm gonna wrap up what we've already said. I think it is You are never going to be ready enough. I think another thing that you you said were, you know, women may be afraid in certain spots. I also think a lot of women suffer from perfectionism, myself being you want everything to be perfect before Leslie Youngblood (38:09) same. Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (38:12) you launch. But they also say, you know, if you're not embarrassed by your first launch, you launch too late. So getting Leslie Youngblood (38:19) Yes. Krista Karpan (38:20) it out there, starting, figuring it out as you go. I think don't wait until you feel ready. Just start. And like you said, what is the what is the worst that can happen? I mean, if Leslie Youngblood (38:32) Right. Krista Karpan (38:33) if the business fails, you start another business or you go and get a job. You're not going to be, Leslie Youngblood (38:38) Right? Mm-hmm. Krista Karpan (38:40) you're not going to be down and out. You will figure something out. Leslie Youngblood (38:43) Yes. Krista Karpan (38:44) Being an entrepreneur, you know, you do have to be a little risk adverse. You have to be willing to take Leslie Youngblood (38:48) Mm. Krista Karpan (38:49) some risks there. But for the most part, We do figure them out along the way and yeah, what is the worst that's gonna happen? I think we make up a lot more things in our head about, you Leslie Youngblood (39:00) Yes. Krista Karpan (39:00) know, these worst possibilities than what they really than what they really are. Leslie Youngblood (39:05) So, so true. There is a friend of mine in my network. She went out and started her own thing, I think after like 25 years with the business. And she was stressed and it was very scary. And I said, What's the worst that can happen? You would be so much further in six months doing this on your own than you would be just getting going out and getting another job. So that what there's no downside to this. You can always go and find another job. But if this is what you're feeling called to and pursue and you're curious about. Just do it. And yeah, like we just have to have just more audacity, right? Like I'm always like, just be more audacious. Like we gotta just like go and do it. And I'm number three on the Enneagram, which is the achiever. and a Virgo. So Krista Karpan (39:48) Ha ha ha. Leslie Youngblood (39:49) perfectionist achiever. I do not like being wrong, failing, making a mistake. But it's like those are the things that and then I recognize, like, no, you have to work through this, like you have to get over it yourself. And so I think that's true for so many of us women to just get over ourselves, whether we're in a corporate setting and we're trying to go after a promotion or a big project or being an entrepreneur, and going for and pursuing a dream and bringing something creative to the space and bringing helping others make money and bring their amazing products, you know, to the market and to their audience, like you guys do with Milk Media. I just think it's so everything is so needed and so wonderful and special and never It's it can be so hard to get out of our heads, but just like you said, we have to and just have to do it. So I think that's brilliant, brilliant advice, Krista. love everything you have shared with us today. Love everything you guys have been doing with Milked Media. And I would also love as as we wrap up today, for you to share where our listeners can follow up with you and find you outside of the podcast. Krista Karpan (40:48) You can check us out on our website. It's www.milkedmedia. It's M-I-L-K-E-D media.com slash work with us or follow me on LinkedIn at Krista Karpan Leslie Youngblood (41:02) Perfect. And we will also drop those links in the show notes. Krista, thank you so, so much for joining us to talk some serious lady business today. It was a pleasure. And we can't wait to see what you and Milk Media continue to do next. Krista Karpan (41:15) Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Leslie Youngblood (41:18) Thank you. Leslie Youngblood (41:22) Thanks for tuning in to Serious Lady Business. If you loved this episode, be sure to follow or subscribe so you never miss a moment of the real, raw, and really wonderful sides of female entrepreneurship. And hey, please leave a review if you're feeling generous. It helps more amazing women find us and join the conversation. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at at Serious Lady Business and get all of the updates at SeriousLadyBusiness.com. Until next time, keep showing up, keep building, and keep being your seriously amazing self.