Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / SUMMER ‘23 - 6 quick questions with Kaylin Marcotte, Founder of Jiggy Puzzles (Part 2)
Transcript
- 0:00Hey, it's Dune here. I'm recording this quick message to let you know that over the next few weeks, we'll be playing some of our favorite episodes from the past year while I spend some time with my best friends and family back in my other home, London. If you missed these episodes the first time around, they are so good and packed with so much value. I know you're going to love them just as much as I did recording them. See you soon. Bye. Welcome back. Here are the six
- 0:39So question number one is, what's your why? Why do you wake up every day and create Jiggy? I love finding ways to kind of surprise people. And I think especially for something as simple as a puzzle, where that's probably the first, you know, they're like, oh yeah, okay, a puzzle. But to bring my unique spin on it and purpose with it and to kind of have people look at them differently, I think it's a good idea.
- 1:09And kind of rediscover that just joy of, you know, the simple things. There's so many over the top and hyper-stimulated activities that we turn to these days. But to kind of simplify your life and just kind of have quiet, down time, mindful time with a product.
- 1:35The other big why is to support artists. And my mom founded an arts nonprofit when I was a kid, so that's where it comes from. But to be able to help artists actually monetize their work and make a living off their work, instead of just sharing it, I think artists share their work for free a lot. And to actually have them help get paid and make a living off their work is really important to me.
- 2:04I love that. Question number two is, what's been your favorite marketing moment so far? I would say, I think the originals that we did, these hand-painted ones, it just blew my mind what these artists were able to create on a blank white puzzle. So just the creativity that they infused into it and then to see people really treating this puzzle as artwork,
- 2:33Um, it was just very, very cool to me. Love that. Question number three is what's your go-to business resource at the moment? If you are thinking about a podcast that you listen to or a newsletter that you're subscribing to religiously reading every week or a book that you're reading at the moment. Yeah, I like, um, because the retail industry is new to me. So, you know, my experience with the scammer and,
- 3:01been in kind of startup world, but not really the consumer brand retail world. So I have a few newsletters like Lean Lux and the Morning Brew did Retail Brew. So those are two that I read that kind of keep me in the know about what's happening with e-commerce and retail that I find really helpful.
- 3:25Love, love both of those. Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM or PM rituals that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated? Yeah, I'm pretty rigid about these. And I think for a good reason, because I definitely, I feel it immediately. You know, it really is the little things and the simple things and
- 3:51a couple of days without my, my morning routine. Um, and I, I really feel the impact. So, um, first thing movement and son first thing in the morning. So, um, before, you know, other than my alarm before I'm getting outside, no phones and go for a walk with my husband and, and we'll be in my moment. So it's very easy to get our son filled, but, um,
- 4:21walk in the sun, coffee, and then we're kind of eating our brains into the day with a wordle and a crossword. And then I usually make breakfast and I'm not the reason a breakfast person. That was also a game changer for me. So make breakfast and then get to work. And then in the evenings, I do a, or the last thing in the day is I have a five year journal where it's every day and it laps itself.
- 4:50So each day has five sections on the page. And so you write that days and then, you know, I'm on year three now. So I see that same day, the two years prior. And it's just a really nice. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. What's it called? It's I think it's called Align a Day five year journal. Align a Day.
- 5:14That's cool. I want to check that out. So yeah, I see, you know, everything, um, just kind of a nice like check-in of, of how far I've come and what I was, you know, worried about or focused on then. And just a little perspective to end the day. Yeah. I love that. I'm going to get me one of those. Yeah. Highly recommend. Yeah. Question number five. This is a good one. What has been
- 5:44Hmm. Um, it's just like a silly one of just not, um, following best practices, which was on, we have international, you know, manufacturing partners. And so on an international wire, you know, you're supposed to like just best practice their value info. If you can get on the phone and talk to someone to just confirm the information. Um, I did not do any of that. And I wired. Um,
- 6:13It was $10,000. And then I never heard from, I was like, okay, what's the production? When will this be ready? They didn't reply. So I had her WhatsApp. And so I WhatsApp her and I was like, hey, are you getting my emails? She was like, I haven't heard from you in three weeks. And it turns out the whole company's email is hacked. And it was like, it was a Bangkok hacker who I had accidentally wired the money to.
- 6:40Um, and she thought I just ghosted her. So, um, yeah, definitely verifying financial information and, you know, try to get two methods of conflict, you know, what's after phone before. So don't, don't send large amounts of money purely by email communication, I would say. And then I think, you know, another one was, I think just, you know, we, we tried some experimental, like.
- 7:07a showroom or a partner that would, you know, display our product amongst a bunch of others. And I think just not being clear about expectations can sometimes bite you of just, you know, of course, like what is foot traffic, but like how many are actually converting? And even if they're not converting, can we display, you know, QR code or capture their email or what other value can you get from this? And if you, you know, if you don't sell the product, then
- 7:37who's paying for the shipping to get back to the warehouse and can we have some guarantees on the amount that sells and if not, can we participate in one in the future? So I think just really being clear, setting clear, clear expectations of any partner that you're taking a bet on.
- 7:59And kind of figuring out all scenarios where all of those scenarios, if this happens, what does this mean? Yeah. A hundred percent. Oh, that's a really good one. Last question. Question number six, what is just a crazy story, good or bad that you can share from building Jiggy? Crazy story. I mean, the Thai hackers is bad. That was a really crazy one. No, I would say,
- 8:29I mean, I would still, to me, like it, you know, I don't know if it's crazy, but still to me, the, the craziest moments are when I either, I'm like, there's no feeling like seeing your product like in the wild with a stranger, you know, when I still get texts, you know, I, my,
- 8:53friend in LA went to some house party, dinner party, and there's a jiggy sitting on the table or something, you know, when it's just like, Oh my God, I love that. This has gotten so much bigger than me. And they didn't just buy it because they're trying to be nice and support me. Um, or seeing it. Yeah. Seeing, seeing my product in the wild. We've done retail now in Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom. So walking into a Bloomingdale's and Soho and New York and seeing a jiggy on the shelf are still kind of, um,
- 9:23yeah, the crazy moments that could the pinch myself moments. Uh-huh. I love that. Oh my gosh. Kaylin, this was so cool. Thank you so much for coming back on the show. I can't wait to do part three. I'm so happy to. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you.
- 9:44Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
- 10:09And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
- 10:31As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
- 10:47Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
- 11:11And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
- 11:34As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.