Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Contour Cube™’s Sarah Forrai sold 20k worth of product during her launch after her TikTok video went viral amassing (6M views!)

Transcript

Contour Cube™’s Sarah Forrai sold 20k worth of product during her launch after her TikTok video went viral amassing (6M views!) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Sarah Foray for Female Startup Club. Hey everyone and welcome back to the show. I'm Doon Roshin, your host and hype girl. Today we're learning from Sarah Foray, the founder of Contour Cube, which you might be familiar with on TikTok. Okay.
• 0:26
  From 3D printed prototype to sellout success, the revolutionary facial icing product Contour Cube is now TikTok famous, having been viewed by over 25 million people, gaining a global customer base and a following of over 150,000. The Australian designed Contour Cube is a facial icing tool that's been uniquely designed to sculpt your face, de-puff eye bags and addresses your facial skincare needs from breakouts to fine lines.
• 0:57
  In this episode, we're talking through her launch where she generated $20,000 and sold out of all her products multiple times, how she's capitalizing on her TikTok strategy now, and what she's doing when it comes to copycats. If you're new here and you love this episode, please do hit the subscribe button and leave us a review because it helps new ears find us like you. Let's get stuck into this episode. This is Sarah for Female Startup Club.
• 1:25
  Sarah, welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. Hey, so happy to be here. How are you? I am good, but I'm sure I'm not as good as you. You were just telling me some really great news from where you are.
• 1:40
  Yes, it's finally Freedom Day here in Australia. So we're finally out of lockdown. It's been 102 days. So I'm very excited to get my hair done, get my nails done, get everything done, drink shopping, add it all to the list.
• 1:57
  Oh, God, I remember the day here where we came out of lockdown and it was just such a vibe. You know, everywhere in Soho was absolutely crazy, but everyone obviously took it too far as well. I remember walking around being like, whoa, are we in Bali? Yeah, no, definitely feeling the good vibes. I'm really excited to get back into the gym and not go on a walk. Anything but going for a walk or a picnic.
• 2:22
  Oh my God, totally. I know those feels. I know them so well. Well, I'm excited to have caught you before you're back into the real world on your last evening in. I'm very excited to talk about your brand, Contour Cube. We've had you on Instagram Live before sharing a little bit of your story last year, I think it was, or was it this year? I can't remember. Me too. It was a while ago. Yeah.
• 2:47
  But anyway, I'm excited to hear the updates. I'm excited to dig in again. Where do you want to start? I want to start with like, actually, let's start with your elevator pitch. When someone asks you what you do and like what your business is, what do you tell them?
• 3:01
  I tell them that Kondo Cube is a facial icing tool for healthy glowing skin. And I always say, you know, don't you hate using slippery ice cubes with your hands because it's messy, you know, it's slippery, it makes your hands really cold.
• 3:19
  So don't you want something that can easily grip the eyes, that can actually fit the contours of your face and that you can easily use for at least, you know, up to a week instead of having to like change the ice cube tray and whatnot. And yeah, don't you want something that that could easily fit into your skincare routine and make facial icing that much, you know, easier? Great sales, bitch. Yeah, that's how it all kind of started, I guess.
• 3:47
  Well, let's go into that. Let's go back to the beginning of when you started having these. I mean, because you were working on a different brand at the time, Sanny's hand sanitizer. But at some point, there's a rumbling of something else. Let's go back to your early, early thoughts and ideas.
• 4:04
  So basically, it all kind of came about because my mom absolutely loves facial icing. She basically swears by facial icing. And she sort of asked, like just told me about it and wanted me to get into it. And she's like, read up on all its benefits. It's so good for, you know, de-puffing your skin. It's so good for treating acne. It just adds like general radiance. Like just go do it now.
• 4:27
  And I was like, okay, cool. I'm going to incorporate it into my skincare routine. So I basically grabbed, you know, an ice cube out of an ice tray and started icing my face in the mornings and basically quickly...
• 4:38
  quickly realized how annoying the whole process is. It's awkward, it's slippery, it's messy. And I actually suffer from something called a Raynaud's phenomenon, which means that my fingers and my toes and basically my extremities are really sensitive to the cold. So that was kind of like another reason why I don't want to hold an ice cube
• 4:59
  because cold things trigger it. If I hold a glass of like Coke, a Coke bottle or anything, that would trigger it as well. So I kind of really wanted something that would protect my hands from being cold. So I jumped on Google and I was like, okay, surely there's a product out there that will help me fix this problem.
• 5:17
  And surely enough, there was nothing out there. So I quickly sort of put pen to paper straight away. And I was like, I need to design this. I need to make this now. How is this not a thing? So I basically started designing. I come from a graphic design background myself.
• 5:35
  So I kind of was drawing different kind of prototypes and my partner, Lewis, actually has a 3D printer. So we actually were able to start 3D printing different prototypes in the comfort of our own home. And within like a couple of hours, we already had like a 3D printed prototype in our hands, which was just crazy. That is so insane.
• 6:01
  Yeah, it's very cool. And yeah, from there, I was like, once we were happy with the shape, like it took a couple of months for us to really kind of finalize what we were happy with. I was like, okay, cool. I'm happy with this. I'm happy with the logo. Yeah.
• 6:16
  Let's sort of finalize the color palette, you know, final touches like the heart shape hole, that kind of thing. And then we kind of just brought the product to life with like a first batch of contour cubes just to test out the market. Cause we weren't really sure like, how is this, is there going to be a demand for this product? Like, will people need this? Will people want this? And I gave the first one obviously to my mom. Um, and she absolutely loved it. She swears by, she uses it every day. And I was like, cool. She's my guinea pig. She's into it. This is going to work.
• 6:46
  If it's got mom's seal of approval, it's good. Exactly. Exactly. And then, yeah, from there I was like, okay, cool. I'm going to launch this on TikTok and see what happens.
• 6:57
  Amazing. Before we get into the launch and the pre-launch kind of of selling that first batch, just to rewind a bit, when you're talking about the 3D design and you designed it and you did the logo and all that kind of stuff, is it fair to assume that your costs were pretty low in that sense of there wasn't a lot of capital that you needed to invest to do any of that? And if you were ordering kind of, you know, a small batch for the first test run, what was the kind of capital you needed for that?
• 7:26
  You kind of were able to do it quite lean, it sounds like. Yeah. So obviously, I come from a design background. So kind of like all the design and web design, logo design, the actual product design and everything, we pretty much had down packed. And that's kind of where our strengths really lie is just like the production of products.
• 7:46
  and the branding. So that's kind of, just to take it back, I actually started off in a design agency. So like my career started off in a design agency. And then from there, I kind of was surrounded by a lot of designers from all over the world and really picked up on their style and learned a lot about branding in that space. And then from there, I started working for a production agency. So that was literally like bringing products to life,
• 8:14
  working really closely with creative agencies. So like your Ogilvy's, your Clemenja Group, Saatchi & Saatchi, they would come to us and come to us with a crazy idea and be like, I want to make this. And we were the type of production agency that could make anything. So that was kind of my background to where I am today. I actually work for a large online retailer. So when I look in hindsight, it's like I learned how to brand the product, I learned how to bring it to life, and now I'm kind of learning how to sell it online, the e-commerce side.
• 8:43
  you know, promotions and that kind of thing. And yeah, investing and finding a manufacturer that can do a small batch, say, you know, a couple of hundred rather than, you know, needing an MOQ of like hundreds of thousands is really great to find. How did you find yours?
• 9:02
  I definitely just jumped on Google jumped on, you know, different kinds of supplier platforms and just kind of spoke to quite a few. Um, it's, I like to speak to maybe like five to 10 suppliers and kind of just suss them out a bit. It's like, how good's the communication, how quickly can they turn around things? Um, yeah. What is the communication like? Are they fast? So yeah, I had to like speak to quite a few and kind of suss out that kind of thing. And, um,
• 9:30
  Yeah, if they had minimum order quantities and what their capabilities are. Okay, got it. And I know that you went through the process of patenting your or trademarking. Did you patent as well? Yeah, well, the patent's pending at the moment. Right, okay. But we did obviously protect the design aspect of it. So the design's protected and the trademark and the name's protected. Yeah.
• 9:56
  So I first trademarked in Australia and then I could trademark like globally through the WIPO, which was quite very surprisingly easy. You kind of like do it all online. Oh, really? Yeah. So because I trademarked in Australia, I had a priority date. So that's like I was in first, I was in a priority and I can date back to that priority when I apply for other countries.
• 10:22
  So I applied to literally all around the world and, you know, it takes a while for that to be approved and whatnot, but there's like coming in in batches. So we've got quite a few approved ones around the world already. Okay, right. And did you have to do that before you were kind of launching and like showing the brand essentially, or did you need to keep everything...
• 10:47
  like secret? How did it work in those early days? In terms of trademarking, I kind of did it as soon as we started to gain a lot of traction. I was like, okay, this product's doing pretty well. I'm trademarking now. And you do want to protect yourself early before anybody jumps on the bandwagon. And definitely with the design as well, you need to make sure that you do that before you kind of show it to the world. So make sure your design registrations and stuff are in place.
• 11:14
  Got it. Because, and the reason why I ask is, so as you know, I'm developing the non-alcoholic wine brand, but I haven't like shared the name at all. And we just filed our trademark in the UK. And once that kind of comes through, we're going to push that to the US.
• 11:29
  But I'm in this position of like, so can I share the name now? Or is it still kind of, because what if it's four months, you know, until I get it back? And then I'm like, but I want to start talking about it. What would you recommend? I would definitely protect it now. And I would make sure you have your domain handles, your Instagram handles, your social handles. Yeah, we have all of that. We have that and we've registered the trademark. So now I'm kind of like, can we start talking about it?
• 11:55
  Yeah, yeah, definitely. I reckon if you've, yeah, if you've definitely registered the mark, then I would start talking about it. Cool. Okay, so you did all that like early phase stuff and then you had your small batch of, I guess, a test run. Let's talk about the pre-launch phase and like what you were doing to get it ready to launch and, you know, bringing in TikTok and things like that. So it was kind of a...
• 12:22
  like a not very planned launch, to be honest. So as you said, I had that Sani business. So what we did was we actually launched the product on sannies.com.au at the time.
• 12:33
  We didn't have like a full website dedicated to Conjure Cube like we do now. And we basically, as soon as we got the batch, the first batch here, we actually got the packaging produced in Australia because it was only like, you know, just our sleeves that go around the product. And once like, you know, we did the e-commerce photography at home with our light box that we have here. So all the e-commerce photography we do ourselves.
• 13:00
  So we basically just got that already on the Sani's website. And then I literally just launched my first TikTok video explaining the product. So I was basically standing in the middle of my living room and just said, Hey guys, I invented this product. It's called the Contour Cube. This is how you use it. And it was a really short video. It was like,
• 13:23
  like 15 seconds long and I think it hit probably like 20,000 views. Wow. But from just that video, I had already generated sales. Like me as a total random product no one's ever seen before, somehow converted some people to buy it like immediately, like traffic straight to my website.
• 13:41
  which was insane. So it was like a signal to you that you were onto something because for Sani's, you'd been going for quite a while with TikTok and you'd been obviously hustling on that business too. Was it different? As in, were you like, oh, okay, like this is, this just hits straight away?
• 14:00
  Yeah. Well, with Sani, we had a video that did go viral, but the problem, well, it hit like 400,000 views and we had a lot of traffic to the website. But I think for Sani's, we were kind of limited because of the product. So because it was a hand sanitizing spray, we had limitations and restrictions in shipping it overseas. So we had like quite a lot of
• 14:24
  yeah, like interest and people in America, like on a website wanting to check out, but they couldn't because of the, yeah, just the nature of the product, which was such a shame. So I think that that's really what like hindered our growth with that specific product. So that's, that's the thing with Contour Cube, you can ship all around the world. You don't have to worry about the ingredients that's in it because it's just like the packaging itself. So, um, yeah, that's kind of why. It's so interesting. Yeah.
• 14:51
  Are you still pursuing Sunny or have you completely pivoted and now you're just focused on Contour Cube? At this stage, I've kind of pivoted and I focused all of my energy pretty much on Contour Cube because that's what's really kicking off at the moment. We've separated the websites as well because we're like, we don't want the confusion that
• 15:09
  of people trying to check out a Contour Cube, even though there were like a halo effect in sales of people wanting a Contour Cube and wanting to check out a Sani. You can only do that in Australia. So we didn't want the confusion of people trying to check out a Contour Cube, but then also trying to check out a Sani, but not because they're overseas and that kind of thing. So we split the websites.
• 15:30
  So it's contocube.com and yeah, it's all focused on that one website. And we definitely want to put our efforts back into Sani and we will like get the website back to where it was, have it Sani focused and whatnot. But at this point in time, it is very much Contocube focused. Got it. Okay. So back to the launch, you sell out of your test batch. Then what happens? Tell like paint the picture of what life is like when this is all going on.
• 15:58
  So what happened was, so that was the very first video that I posted, but it wasn't until like the third video that I posted that it really went viral. So I had posted a video about how I started my business and it was literally just sort of showcasing the product. I had a little demonstration of how to use it and then quickly showed, you know, this is the 3D printer. This is the snapshot of the prototyping process I went through.
• 16:26
  And then kind of was like, this is the final product. This is how I packaged it. And the first hundred units are available now. And I posted that before I went to bed. And the next morning we completely sold out. The video hit, I think it was like half a million views or something. And as I was refreshing it, it was like jumping up by the tens of thousands, just tens of thousands. It just kept going up.
• 16:50
  And oh my God. Yeah, it was so surreal. There was, there were like 500 comments or 80,000 likes had been shared hundreds of times and it had like a massive effect on our following as well. So as you said, like we were seeing on Sani at like 5,000 followers for like a while. But from that video, we quickly jumped from like 5,000 to like 25,000 and it just kept on going up and kept on going up.
• 17:17
  Wow. And now you're like 150,000 and millions and millions of likes, which is just so cool. And your content is really like, I really enjoy your content. It's so fun. And it's so TikTok, right? Yeah. The classic TikTok, you can just see why it does so well, because it looks great. It sounds great. It's very fun. It's very upbeat.
• 17:38
  It's just very authentic. So like if it's I've tried to do content where it's like user generated content and it seems a lot more kind of like direct marketing and that just really doesn't work on the platform. So like you said, if it's just like being yourself and being real, it's what really works. And that, yeah, works on TikTok. That's so interesting. OK, so you sell out of the 100 units.
• 18:01
  You obviously have probably a huge demand. There's probably people trying to check out. There's probably, you know, it's a bit of a nightmare I can imagine because you're like, damn, what do you do next? So that's the thing. We're in a bit of a pickle. If we knew that that was going to happen, we would have prepared for scale like a lot sooner. So yeah,
• 18:25
  In and amongst that time, basically, we had to get on the tooling. Like, let's get the tooling properly made because, like, what we had was, like, a handmade prototype. And that could make, like, a certain number of units. But we wanted to, like, really build this to make hundreds and hundreds of units.
• 18:43
  So we quickly got onto the tooling and that does take some time. So it takes like three to four weeks. So we're looking at like probably a month till we get our hands on the actual product. When you say tooling, sorry, what do you mean? Is that like a mold? Yeah, like a proper like metal mold, like for like mass production. Got it. Okay, got it, got it, got it.
• 19:02
  So from there, we're kind of like, oh, well, we've got all this momentum going. We kind of don't want to lose it. So let's keep the momentum going because people want to see the product. And I also want to get the name out there, even though we don't have the product in our hands.
• 19:18
  So we were busy packing all the orders, you know, to ship out for the ones that we sold out in. And then in the meantime, we continued to create TikToks. So I was showing TikToks about, you know, the recipes, how to use it and everything
• 19:34
  kept popping off. Like we kept popping off and I was like, this is great, but also is it? Cause we want the product on the website. But, um, obviously, you know, it was still helping, you know, increase our follow count on Instagram because they come through your TikToks, they go to your Instagram, they go to your website. And another big,
• 19:52
  like big advantage was that they were signing up to our EDM. So they were signing up to our email mailing list. So we were building up a massive email mailing list while, you know, we were getting the product made. And then we started to open up our website for pre-orders as well.
• 20:12
  So that was kind of our strategy to kind of keep that momentum going. And I posted another video where I showed my mom because she was the inspiration for the whole product. And that hit like over 6 million views.
• 20:31
  That is so crazy. So yeah, so it's kind of like our pre-orders quickly kind of sold out as well. And then, yeah, obviously like a lot of pent up demand. So when we finally got our hands on the product, we sent out an EDM to like let everyone know like we're back in stock. And that's when we made $20,000 in the space of two weeks because like just a lot of pent up demand and just people waiting for the product.
• 20:58
  $20,000 is crazy because your price point is quite low. I think at the time it was 20 something Australian dollars, which is like maybe like 15 US dollars or something. And, you know, now it's a little bit higher. I think it's 34 or 34.95. But that's a lot. That's a lot of sales to do. Holy moly. How cool. And did you sell out again then from that as well?
• 21:23
  Yeah, we saw that again in our second batch of the product. So that's the thing. It's kind of like, okay, we never want to be in this position again. Like, you know, so that's when we started to be like, okay, let's make sure we've got more than one manufacturer. Let's make sure that this, you know, we don't want to be in that position. Right. Gosh, it's like, it's bittersweet because of course it's a great position to be in, having so much demand that you can't fulfill it, but it's also a terrible position to be in because then you can't keep making revenue.
• 21:53
  Yeah, exactly. Something I wanted to touch on and something I wanted to bring up to talk about was copycats. I was looking on Google. I saw a few things that suggested you have probably got some copycats in the works. And I wanted to just talk a little bit about that, how you're dealing with it, what it actually means to have copycats, and especially around things like copycats.
• 22:19
  You know, if you're going to patent and trademark and protect your brand like you have, what it actually means financially when you've got copycats, because obviously you're a small business. You've just started to be fighting copycats. I can only imagine is, you know, incredibly expensive. What's the rundown on this?
• 22:40
  Yeah, so there are a few things. It's quite disheartening, I have to say, to see people try to copy the products. And I think I'm obviously very much open to competition and competition's great. But I think that when there's copying with kind of like no innovation whatsoever, like from the color palette to, you know, hashtagging the word Contour Cube, like,
• 23:06
  That's just feels like not that you can't actually do that. But in saying that, like platforms like, you know, social platforms have been very supportive of small businesses like myself. So, you know, there are ways to protect yourself on like Instagram and Facebook. Like you can file, like, you know, you've got a trademark. So you can upload your trademark to the platform. They'll review it. And within a couple of hours, you know, they'll let you know that that content has been disabled. Like they can't actually do that.
• 23:35
  Oh, wow. That's amazing. I didn't know that. Yeah. It's really, really helpful. And yeah, to be honest, it is quite tough. Like it has had an effect on my mental health. You know, when you try so hard for something, you've made this thing from scratch and then to see something pop up that's very close to the design that you've created, um, is really, really tough to see. But in saying that, like you said, like,
• 23:59
  Like, you know, you have a trademark, you have a patent and that kind of thing, but people are getting really smart at, you know, tiptoeing around your patent. They know what, you know, you can just change something ever so slightly and they're no longer infringing on your patent. Like, it's quite tough. And like you said, it's only as useful to have that if you have that, you know, financial backing to really then take somebody to court.
• 24:26
  And have you tried to do that? Are you pursuing that angle or are you just having to literally just deal with it and try and kind of like send the emails and upload the trademarks to the platforms?
• 24:39
  Yeah, at this stage, I'm kind of just like not trying to put too much of my time into it because it's like really time consuming. And, you know, I think it's better to kind of just focus on your own thing and make your product, you know, the best that it is. Get your name out there. I think the fact that everyone's calling it a contour cube is because it's never been made before and nobody knows what else to call it.
• 25:02
  So, I mean, I have to think of it in a positive light. You know, these are just, you know, people who are flattered, I have to say. I mean, it's flattering to be copied, but at the same time, it is really difficult to see that happen. And.
• 25:18
  Yeah, I mean, it'd be great to kind of see a little bit more creativity as well when it comes to, you know, if you're trying to do something different, like make it a little bit different to the original. But I mean, it happens all the time. You know, it's unfortunately just kind of like human nature.
• 25:35
  Yeah, God, that is so, so annoying, so frustrating. I'm wondering if you had anyone in your life that had kind of given you advice on how to deal with this? And when is the point that you have to take action? Like, at what point do you have to be like, oh, this is too far? Like now, now the line has been crossed.
• 25:55
  From day one, like my dad is a lawyer and he told me straight up, he's like, Sarah, this is an easy thing to copy. Just expect this to happen. Like this is going to happen. So I kind of geared up for it. I just didn't expect it to happen so quickly. Like this business is just so new. Like we launched in February this year and then to have copycats come around like six months later, like that's pretty quick.
• 26:21
  So I think that obviously if they're using their trademark, like that they can't actually, people can't actually do that. So you can take action then and there. You know, you've got your certificate of registration. They can't be calling it a trademark because you've trademarked
• 26:35
  you know, for that specific product and for that name. So you can definitely start doing that pretty much straight away. And I think the real like, you know, no one can actually use my mold and nobody knows like my actual materials that I've used and like the brand name itself. Like, you know, that's what is like our biggest advantage. So I think that you just got to focus on building your brand and making it the best that it is.
• 27:03
  Yeah. Keeping up with those TikToks. Yeah. Yeah. On that note of building the brand, where are you today in terms of kind of, obviously you've got TikTok. It's hugely successful for you. And you said you have an email database now, which I imagine is also a really great kind of revenue driver and channel for you. But what else are you doing to build out that brand when it comes to things like influencers, paid ads, marketing?
• 27:27
  you know, SMS marketing, like all the other kind of retailers, all the other channels, what's the kind of ecosystem that you have at the moment? And what's working besides TikTok?
• 27:39
  So what's been working for a really long time was, like you said, we're so native to the TikTok platform. And just that organic reach from TikTok was so beneficial for us from the very beginning that we didn't even need to do any paid ads. But obviously, that can't last forever. And the algorithm is constantly changing. Sometimes, you know, we don't really know what's
• 28:01
  what's changed and, you know, what videos are going to pop and that kind of thing. So we've definitely started to invest in TikTok ads. And there's a really cool thing called Spark ads where you can basically monetize the content that you currently got on your TikTok. So you're basically just easily pushing one of the TikToks, say, that's done really well and pushing that out as an ad. So that's been a really cool way to increase your engagement, drive traffic to the website as well.
• 28:30
  We've also started to invest in obviously like Facebook ads and Instagram ads and also Pinterest ads. But at this point in time, you know, where I thought, you know, an image, say for Instagram would do better than, you know, a video. It's not actually the case. Like on pretty much every social media platform that we've got.
• 28:53
  ads running on. It's really the videos that are performing really well. And I, I'm not sure if that's just kind of where we're all heading or because, you know, video is such a great way to actually showcase the contour cube itself. Like it's so easy to show somebody in a 15 second video. Yeah. Although I, I do think though, when you say, you know, maybe that's the way we're all going, I agree. I feel like even if I look at my own behavior, um,
• 29:20
  You know, I'm just so bored of Instagram. Like I just, you know, the pictures, like polished, straight pictures. Like I actually don't use Instagram anymore. I post on my own channel-ish sometimes. I check my DMs. But like if you looked at my consumption of the channel on a daily basis, I really am not on it anymore. I'd say less than 20 minutes a day, maybe even if that.
• 29:41
  And I'm much more into TikTok because it's so much fun. It's so buzzy. Like, it's great. But I also just feel like flat images, now that we're so, our brain is so stimulated by video that it's hard to just have flat image. Like, it's just kind of boring to me.
• 29:59
  Yeah, agreed. So I really do feel like that's where things are going. And if you just, I always pay attention to the way that I'm behaving with platforms and like what my consumer behavior is, because I'm like, well, if I'm feeling this, other people are feeling this. And I think that's something really important to note when you're kind of like creating your ecosystem of content and where you're going to live on channels and how you're going to show up on these kind of platforms. So I totally agree. I think we're definitely like in the age of video only and...
• 30:26
  You know, maybe even Instagram will have to start changing the feed to be more, I don't know, maybe they'll just go straight to feed video. I guess that's what they're doing with reels.
• 30:35
  Yeah. So yeah, that's another thing I'm doing, kind of like repurposing my TikToks and kind of reposting it on Reels. But then again, you're kind of getting like double the audience. You got the audience on TikTok, you repost it on Reels, you got an even bigger audience of people on Instagram. So totally. Gosh, how exciting. Well, I'm so happy to have had you on the show to talk about this journey. I have a few more questions just before we jump into the six quick questions, which I wrap up every episode with.
• 31:03
  What do you think is your kind of best piece of advice for entrepreneurs who are innovating and, you know, creating something new in 2021? I would definitely say like start now. I wouldn't actually really strive for perfection. I would just say, just go for it. And then like you'll get that real time feedback from your customers and you can fix and improve anything that you need to. And that learning curve will be a lot faster.
• 31:32
  I definitely, definitely protect yourself as well where you can, especially if you're making something brand new. Make sure you've got like your trademarks in place, any design registrations in place. Just make sure you've got all that set in stone as well, because there will be copycats. There will be copycats when there's a good idea out there. And what's next for you? Like what fun things do you want to shout about? What's on the horizon? What's cool that you want to kind of shout about?
• 32:03
  I guess we're just kind of expanding the range. So I wish I could tell you more, but we are definitely expanding the range. We're looking at the whole ecosystem of ice facials from start to finish. We've launched our contour cloths recently, which is basically a protective layer between your skin and the actual contour cube.
• 32:25
  It's like a cool cotton bamboo blend that you can use to obviously have a more gentle experience when you're icing your face. And yeah, I guess we're just kind of growing the business. It's super exciting to see, obviously, with all the growth that we've seen on TikTok, we were able to get stocked in Urban Outfitters. So that was a huge milestone for us. And then more recently, we launched in Uncommon Goods in New York, which is really exciting.
• 32:53
  Congratulations. Thank you so much. Yeah, no, it's been really exciting to see like retailers like that kind of back a small business like us. So hoping for more of that, especially like at a local, like on a local scale as well in Australia. So yeah, that's kind of... For sure. That's so exciting. Gosh. Okay, six quick questions. We wrap up every episode with these. Some of them we might have covered. Some of them we might not have, but I asked them all the same.
• 33:22
  Question number one is what's your why? Why are you doing what you're doing? I feel like I've always loved the idea of having a business. Like my mom could never get me to read fiction books. I just couldn't do it. But as soon as I had my hands on like a business book, I just couldn't put it down. And I think it's because like I was so inspired by the people behind the business because it wasn't like they were like, you know,
• 33:49
  like had a Harvard business degree or something. They were kind of just like you or me. They didn't know what they were doing. They kind of learned along the way. And it's not like they were like industry leaders. So that's what kind of really inspires me to want to build something like of my own. And I love the idea of like building something from nothing and kind of leaving that legacy behind.
• 34:11
  creating something that's a staple in people's lives and just something that makes people's lives easier. And just solving that need is something that, you know, really kind of is something I'm passionate about. Absolutely. So cool. Question number two is what do you think has been the number one marketing moment that's made the business pop?
• 34:34
  Definitely a TikTok video, particularly the one with me and my mom, just showing the inspiration behind the product. And, you know, she's, she's pretty convinced that a video is not going to go viral unless she's in it. So, so yeah, I mean, I would definitely recommend for any small business to jump on TikTok because you never know what's going to pop off and what's going to do well. And, and it is easy because you can be authentic in front of the camera. You don't need like all this equipment to set up.
• 35:02
  You can just literally film in your own home, in your living room. And you never know who's going to scroll and who's going to see your video.
• 35:12
  Totally. And what I think about TikTok is like, A, every video has the opportunity to go viral, literally, no matter who you are, no matter where you are, no matter what the situation is. But it also shows me like I feel people are getting into that vibe or that mode of like, oh, it's not going to happen for me. Like TikTok is so saturated, like, you know, but really...
• 35:33
  When you have something new, when you have something different, if you have a really cool product, especially one that is, you know, bright, colorful, like has those kind of like the recipe for success on TikTok, anything can happen and you've just got to try and start putting yourself out there. And also I think the other thing about it is like,
• 35:54
  you've done a lot of videos. It's not just one video. You've persisted, persisted, persisted. And now your videos are all crazy. Like they all get views and all that kind of thing. But you were really hustling like from the very beginning there, like multiple videos a day. And so it's like, if you're actually trying, you can get somewhere.
• 36:12
  A hundred percent. Yeah. If it's relatable enough, if it's engaging enough and, you know, if you're just scrolling through TikTok and you end up watching a video from start to finish, I would just say like, what is that video doing to make me watch this? And then you can, you can almost get inspired by other creators and see what they're doing and, and yeah, kind of get motivated by that.
• 36:35
  Totally. It's literally, again, monitoring your own consumer behavior. Why are you watching that video? And how can you make other people watch your videos? What's your hook? Totally. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading or listening to or subscribing to? Well, you know what? TikTok has been such a great place to like find all these like
• 36:58
  hacks and, you know, it's, it's been such a great place just to help educate, you know, you on all sorts of things. And what I found myself doing recently is actually jumping on TikTok lives on some sort of like on certain business owners that I follow, which is quite cool because it's almost like having like a one-on-one session with somebody that you never thought you'd be able to have a chat to. Yeah.
• 37:25
  That's cool. Yeah. So like who? So like the owner of the Uri, we jumped on David Fogarty or I think that's his name. Yeah. And. Wow, that's cool. Yeah, that was quite cool. Like he was just open to questions. You can literally just jump on and like ask a question. And, you know, if they're lucky enough to pick your question, you know, they'll answer it, which is which is really cool.
• 37:48
  Did he answer your question? What did you ask? I did ask a question about like what do you do like when you do see people that are actually jumping on the bandwagon and he just said just continue to innovate, continue to innovate, be the first mover. Yeah. Yeah. Be better. Pretty much.
• 38:09
  I love jumping on YouTube and listening to TED Talks. I love listening to TED Talks about business. And just listening to podcasts, obviously. It's so easy to just pop on when you're going for a walk. And it's great to hear other people's experience.
• 38:25
  the road to entrepreneurship can be kind of lonely. It's obviously like a bit of an emotional rollercoaster as well. So just being able to listen to like other people's stories and their struggles, like it gives me a bit of an insight of like what they've experienced and then, you know, could just give me that kind of, you know, click inside that makes me kind of, you know, understand like, okay, no, other people are going through this as well.
• 38:51
  Totally. It's so important to hear the perspective of others. I completely agree. It can be lonely. 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 motivated and successful?
• 39:08
  Well, it's been pretty difficult being in lockdown, but I definitely need my eight hours sleep and definitely start my day off with an ice facial with my contour cube to kickstart the day. I definitely need to work on getting that balance a lot better. I work nine to five, so I'm constantly working. Then at nighttime, I'm working on contour cube every waking moment. So
• 39:37
  being able to kind of step away from that and like have you know free screen time like step away from the screen and kind of go for a walk um and sort of
• 39:48
  get back in the gym again and that kind of thing. So I've started playing tennis again, which has been really nice to just kind of get my mind off of things. But I definitely do love to plan. So I like to like make a list, prioritize that list the night before so that the next day I'm kind of prepared for like what I need to get done for the day. Um,
• 40:08
  What I've started to do now because I'm so time poor is actually putting on like a bit of a guided meditation while I shower. So it's kind of like less than 10 minutes, put on a guided meditation. You kind of, you know, kind of kill two birds with one stone kind of thing. Yeah, I love that. That's a great idea.
• 40:26
  Put a little aromatherapy oils in the shower. Yeah. Yeah. I'm obsessed with lavender oil. Question number five is if you were given a thousand dollars of no strings attached grant money, where would you spend that in the business?
• 40:42
  I would definitely put it into marketing for sure. I think I definitely put it into email marketing because that's like the highest return of investment in like marketing efforts around. And I'm just going to make sure that email is like gold and obviously...
• 40:59
  Like those are the customers that signed up and subscribe to my EDM. So they do want to hear from me. So I definitely invest in email marketing. I definitely back video marketing as well. So I probably put some money into TikTok ads. And yeah, definitely grow the traffic and push the brand out on there. And then probably the rest on TikTok.
• 41:19
  more social media ads. So like Facebook ads, Instagram ads, I just, yeah, I definitely go all out on the ads. Love that. And last question, question number six is how do you deal with failure? What's your mindset and approach when things don't go to plan?
• 41:37
  I actually feel like I don't really fear failure. I feel like failure kind of stops a lot of people from starting things, but I get really motivated by the fact of just doing it and starting it. And then if something weird comes along the way, you can improve on it, you can fix it.
• 41:55
  You know, it's just kind of like a learning curve rather than a failure. But I definitely always kind of learn from anything that doesn't go wrong and have like a backup plan almost straight away. So say like the position I'm in at the moment, oh, that I was in, sorry, about, you know, not having enough stock or whatnot. And then I was like, cool. Okay, I've learned from this. We're getting a backup supplier. This is happening right now. So we're setting this up, you know, so kind of, yeah, just learning from it straight away and just implementing a backup plan.
• 42:25
  Love it. Love it. Sarah, this is so cool. Thank you so much for taking the time to be on Female Startup Club and sharing your journey so far with Contour Cube. Love the name, by the way. I think that is so cool. I'm like such an alliteration girl. This was amazing. And I'm so excited to see where you take the brand and what happens next. I imagine you're going to be on those shelves of Sephora ASAP. Oh, fingers crossed. Thanks so much for having me. Yeah.
• 42:57
  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.
• 43:22
  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.
• 43:44
  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. Thank you.
• 44:01
  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.
• 44:25
  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.
• 44:48
  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.