Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Fave Hits: 6 Quick Questions with Lil Ahenkan, Founder of Flex Factory (part 2)

Transcript

Fave Hits: 6 Quick Questions with Lil Ahenkan, Founder of Flex Factory (part 2) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  Hey, it's Dune here. This is just a quick message to let you know that for the next two weeks, we're bringing you a roundup of our favorite episodes that you might've missed the first time around. Episodes from women like Leslie Carls, the founder of Midday Squares, Ju Ru, the founder of Hero Cosmetics, and Michelle Grant, the founder of Lively. I hope you enjoy these episodes as much as I did recording them. And if you learned something, please do shout about it by posting it to your Instagram stories.
• 0:30
  Welcome back. Here are the six quick questions. So question number one is what's your why? Why are you doing what you're doing? In the most candid way possible, I'm sick of having conversations I don't care about.
• 0:53
  And I think that issue was only exacerbated by the fact that, you know, I do what I do and I interact with strangers on a daily basis. And the quality of those conversations were just were not improving. So this was my solution, which I recognize is a greater issue on a far larger scale.
• 1:11
  And I just want us to remember, like, the only thing stopping you from getting what you want, improving your life, whatever, is a conversation. Like, the conversation is what needs to happen for anything to improve, anything to change. And so if people don't...
• 1:27
  affirm that skill, we're not going to be making any progress. And I think like something about communication, it gets touted as like the most important thing, yet people aren't proactively doing a lot about it to ensure that they are good communicators, that they are, you know,
• 1:42
  having the conversation they want to expressing themselves in the way they want to having their thoughts, line up with their beliefs, line up with their, the words they speak. So that is the why I'm like, let's pay attention, everyone. Let's do better. If we all pull our weight, if we all pick up the slack, then things improve. Totally. Language is so important. Words are actually very important and, um,
• 2:08
  Yeah, it's a good one to be exploring. We all do need to pick up the slack and talk more and communicate more. I agree. Question number two, what has been the number one marketing moment that's made the business pop?
• 2:21
  Do you know what it is? And it sounds really self, self-absorbed, but honestly me playing the game, I feel as though somehow, like you said earlier, before we started recording, something about me playing the game is selling the product is selling the business, but I didn't necessarily realize how much until I was doing it intentionally. You know, there are days where I can just pick up a game, start playing the game on my Instagram story. We could make $20,000.
• 2:48
  You know, and I don't often think about myself as a marketing channel because I'm like, well, surely everybody knows. Like they know me. They know if you're following me, you know me, you know the game. But I do often forget how people need proof.
• 3:03
  of the experience. They want access to what the game can give them without taking a chance on their own dollar. And I'll quite happily do that. I mean, I don't need anything to prompt me to have a big chat. And so happening to use our products was such an easy way to generate income. But also, you know, my big priorities is making sure there's a clear separation between the business and me so the business can thrive.
• 3:26
  without me being the face, the names or whatever. And so I only use that every now and then, you know, when I'm feeling frisky, but it works. It definitely works. Yeah. Gosh, that is a constant battle to, to figure out like how you can step away from it and still get it to thrive. I've heard this a lot on the show for people who have, you know, an audience and are deep in it.
• 3:48
  Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading or listening to or subscribing to that we should know about? This one's an obvious one, but there's two. The first is there's this newsletter called The Growth Newsletter by Julian Shapiro. I don't think he's related to Ben Shapiro. I hope not.
• 4:13
  But anyway, basically they say that we pack every issue of this newsletter with the most actionable, highest leverage growth tactics that we come across each week. And so like in an average email, it's like I can't explain how good it is. They'll basically give you all these really like, as I said, actionable, easy, insightful tips on how to grow and market. But they put case studies and results and links to other resources together.
• 4:41
  and they're fresh tips it's not like build an email newsletter um okay it's like here's a new way how to segment newsletters or like a clavier update or something it's just like and it's fun to get it all there in like a bite-sized chunk i love it so much so please go subscribe it's free
• 4:58
  And I love the Shopify blog. I think it's very underrated. I get so much information from there. I used to listen to podcasts a lot, but because we've been in lockdown, podcasting is my driving thing and can't drive anywhere. So I've just been reading the blog and I'm like, hold on. There's a lot of really great case studies here. Businesses and brands who are using the platform and all the unique ways they are using it to get the best results. So if you don't read the Shopify blog, you should.
• 5:26
  Yeah, I've never read it. I am subscribed to the growth newsletter and I haven't read it in a long time. So I'm going to open that bad boy up and get into it after this call. Thank you. Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM and PM rituals and habits that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated and productive? This question always gets me because
• 5:51
  I just feel like three days to me is one day. Like everything just blurs together. I go to sleep at 7am. I wake up at midday. I'm just doing stuff and vibing. But the only way I can properly win the day is if I action off one priority from every business I have.
• 6:11
  Right. So it means that everything kind of gets care and I don't feel like I'm neglecting everything, but I don't put pressure on myself to have a game changing moment every day. And I also know there's not enough hours in the day for me to resource everything equally. So allowing myself to create these just small priorities like, you know, have you done that report yet? Have you pitched something you've just let me? Yeah, good, great. Whatever else you do is enough.
• 6:36
  Yeah, that like one action that moves it forward. Absolutely. Question number five is if you were given $1,000 of no strings attached money, where would you spend it in the biz?
• 6:49
  You know, I've been thinking about this question for years. When you first asked me this question a couple of years ago, we were sitting at Hacienda in Circular Quay. I don't even know what I said now, but I think that, I mean, $1,000 isn't a lot of money, but I just think that I would add it to my balance for SMS marketing. It's just going so well for us that I'm like, I can keep using free organic marketing to drive traffic to the website, use lead generation tools like free wallpapers, free calendars, free eBooks,
• 7:18
  And then just keep abandon cart remarketing to them. Like we have a 16 times ROI on SMS marketing. Facebook ads could never, it could never literally. I was like, hold on. I'm telling everyone I know. I'm like, get on SMS bump.
• 7:35
  put on your abandoned cart slow and let's get paid. Holy moly. Is that the tool SMS bump or is that like a term? It's a tool and we link ours with Klaviyo and it's super cheap. It's like between 30 cents and 70 cents to send in a text.
• 7:53
  And it's good for us because we have a very like low ticket item. So Facebook ads for us were always so touchy because some months we were getting like a two times ROI. I was like, this is just not worth it. I'm like, take it down, delete it. I don't need it. So with this, you know, 17 times, yeah.
• 8:10
  I said, hold on, hold on. There's a strategy here. So yeah, everyone needs to get on it ASAP. That's crazy. Yeah. So imagine what a thousand bucks can do for us, where that can take us. That can take you far, girlfriend. Question number six, last question. How do you deal with failure? What is your mindset and approach when things don't go to plan?
• 8:37
  I get very excited by failure. And I think it's definitely like my exposure therapy tool when it comes to running the business. There is so much I don't know. And I can attribute so much of our growth to doing something poorly and having to put systems and structures in place to not have that ever happen again.
• 8:54
  And that's any anywhere from like the deal with the 3PL or, you know, not being mindful of our taxes. And, you know, even small things like when it came to end of financial year and we had all this stock sitting there that we had to pay taxes on. We didn't know we were like, what is this? We haven't sold it. So are we paying taxes on it? Well, that's a thing to know. But I get hype because I'm kind of like, well, this is something that goes wrong. Just another thing that I can remind myself to be more mindful of. So, yeah, I feel good about it.
• 9:22
  But I think also because. Goes in the learning bank. 100%. I just don't think that I've had much experience with failure when it comes to business. And I feel like, oh, this is like a rite of passage. Like let's, something needs to go wrong. I'm happy for it to happen. I feel like a real business owner. There's the challenge. There it is. Oh my gosh.
• 9:47
  I have loved this. Obviously you are the best. I love you. Thank you for coming on the show. Thank you for sharing. We are the best. I'm so excited for you and all the things and can't wait to see what you're doing next. Thanks babe. I love us. This was so much fun. I wish we could speak to everybody in real time, but you know, one day.
• 10:18
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 10:42
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 11:05
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 11:22
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 11:46
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 12:09
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.