Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / 6 quick questions with Christina Kao, Founder of Le Mini Macaron (Part 2)

Transcript

6 quick questions with Christina Kao, Founder of Le Mini Macaron (Part 2) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  Welcome back. Here are the six quick questions. So question number one is, what's your why? Why are you waking up every day and building Lemini Macaron? That's a great question. So to be honest, I do work like a crazy person. And sometimes I'm like, why am I doing this?
• 0:29
  And I think it's simply because I really enjoy it. I don't have a larger purpose beyond the fact that I just am really passionate about the business. When we started the brand many years ago, my partner said to me, I think that this business allows you to realize your potential.
• 0:48
  And I was like, I think you're right. Like, I just really love it because I am constantly throwing problems. I have to solve them really creatively. I have to pull together resources. I need to constantly stay up to date and learn so that I can like navigate around the next problems. And I love being part of a team. And.
• 1:08
  and working, we have a lot of women on our team because we're a beauty. And I just love, you know, the amazing people we have that we can work with and helping to develop them. And I just find all aspects of it really, to be quite honest, just like really entertaining. Even though it's tiring, it's fun. Like I love going to expos and fairs and shows and events. I love, you know, when we do great content,
• 1:37
  And we work with amazing partners and influencers and they do great content and we can showcase it to our retail partners and they get excited. Or if we have a display that my team designs and we see it in the store and we all go to the store together to take a picture or we did like Metro ads over the over the fall and we all like.
• 1:56
  15 people went to go take a picture with the Metro ad and shoot a bunch of content. I think just all aspects of it, from inventory forecasting to financial modeling to leadership and team development to project management and managing a launch schedule...
• 2:16
  to international markets, like all aspects, I find it so dynamic and so fun. It's very, very hard, but I really like it. And I feel like that's the whole point of like life without being too like without trying to sound too deep. It's like you were in a job where you were
• 2:32
  like, I don't know about this corporate nine to five, like I'm not feeling excited about looking for a marketing director role. And now you're in this place where like you're enjoying the journey, even when it's great, even when it's shit, you're enjoying that every day and like loving your day to day life, which is what we should all be optimizing for.
• 2:51
  Yeah, totally. And I think there's so much more opportunity nowadays to reach for that for people. Absolutely. Question number two is what's been your favorite marketing moment so far?
• 3:04
  So in the 10 years, there's been lots of moments, but I probably would say the most memorable one, which is also the one that had the most impact at a pivotal moment of the business, was when we were launching in Target in October 2021.
• 3:22
  And we had gone out to a few influencers to make content where they had to go to the store, find our product, purchase it, and, you know, make a video of them doing their nails and showing the manicure.
• 3:37
  And we had a number of influencers doing this and they had to tag target so that target would see it. And targets like TikTok manager saw it and reached out to us and was like, hey, can we post this? And I remember this day because I was in New York at the time and it was just like this like quick turnaround, like, oh, my God, I need to. So I called.
• 3:59
  the creator. And I was like, can we use this piece of content on, you know, not guaranteed that they're going to post it. And so they agreed. And when target posted it, it, we like sold out of the color that was featured, which was our cherry red color.
• 4:14
  And it became the number one TikTok video with 5 million impressions on their TikTok account since they launched. Oh my God, that's amazing. It was like insane. I was like, oh my God, this is, you know, you post stuff on your own social and hopefully it'll drive sales, but a retailer posting it, like people follow retailers to know what to buy. So a retailer posting it for sure, like drives awareness to their, and they had a million followers. Now they have 2 million on TikTok.
• 4:43
  But like people follow targets, like, what do I buy this week? You know, and that was just that was like just everything lined up. And we had this like amazing Q4 sales season and tons of awareness. And we like like that became a case study for us. Like we are like, hey, we drove.
• 5:03
  Gen Z consumers into the stores to look for the product and they bought it, you know? And then since then, every time we do these campaigns, we're trying to like put together those, um, the magic formula, right? The recipe. Yes. Of like being in store, shooting that content. Um, you know, we work with a lot of,
• 5:22
  creators who create for Target, for Ulta, you know, for these retailers, because their audience is trying to figure out what to buy. So I would say that was a huge learning for us. And there was a wonderful results, you know, in terms of marketing and sales.
• 5:38
  But that was the most like just amazing, amazing period. That is so cool. How profound. I love that for you. Thank you. Thank you. Question number three is what's your go-to business resource if you have to think about a podcast or a newsletter or a book that you've read recently?
• 5:56
  So yeah, I'm jumping around a lot, but I had a coach come in and train some of our managers. And he was really talking about Simon Sinek. And he was playing videos. He's like, after three videos, he's like, you will see that I'm just obsessed with Simon Sinek on leadership. And so I was like, I mean, I know him, but I started to re-listen to some of his stuff. And I think it's coming at a really good time of our business because he really talks about the consistency of leadership.
• 6:26
  major things you do with and for your team, but it's about the consistency of how you treat them like every day, right? So it's not like one major thing, but it's like a hundred things. And I think it's coming at a really good time because as we scale, there's just more and more people. And I'm not close with like some of the younger people or the newer people. Like I'm closer to the ones who've been around for a long time or the ones who work with me directly. But how do we
• 6:53
  maintain that culture of like, you know, that I think we have a, you know, in French, the je ne sais quoi, we really have something really special within our culture, because the team is very connected with each other. And they're very supportive and collaborative. And just for me to realize, you know, last year, when we were scaling, we had some breakdowns among our team, because we weren't structured, you know, and I realized last year, I don't know how to be this kind of leader, as we grow, and I need to
• 7:22
  get some coaching and learn how to be a new type of leader for more than 10 or 15 people. Right. And, um, that was very eyeopening. And so I think I'm going to be digging into Simon Sinek a lot more. Um, and just thinking about like, what is this new way of leadership, um, that I need to be adopting and, and kind of with my team as well, like my senior team, like
• 7:45
  like helping coach them on that. The other one that I listened to is Esther Perel. She's more relationships and she's just incredible. Like what a brilliant woman. But she does also like a work podcast. And I would just say the insights that she has on like interpersonal, I mean, it's mostly she talks a lot about couples, but she does talk about family dynamics, work relationships and just the insight on interpersonal, you know, because I think the heart of,
• 8:14
  business are our teams, right? Like you need teams to help you get somewhere and you need your people to help you get somewhere. And so I think like the psychological aspect, the relationships, really understanding, you know, how to nurture those, um, dynamics, um,
• 8:29
  So yeah, I love her. I always am excited when she's doing something. Two great recommendations. Thank you so much. We're going to add those to the list. Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM or PM rituals and habits that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated?
• 8:49
  So I have like really bad habits. So I don't know wine. I mean, I drink way too much wine. Don't we all? Yeah, like I don't wake up and exercise, even though like I know I need to. So I like have really bad habits. I don't have kids also, which is like, I think a lot easier. I think people who have kids, they really have to balance a lot of things.
• 9:09
  Um, but no, I, um, mostly just, um, just, yeah, like drink wine. And, um, I try to see my friends and people that I'm close to, um, and spend some quality time. I think that helps me a bit, but, um, maybe this new year, I'm going to bring in some healthier habits. I mean, I feel like we've all got the bad habits. I've got plenty. It's so difficult. Me on my phone. Like before I go to bed, I really want to break that as a habit. And it's just so hard. Yeah.
• 9:39
  It's difficult. It's difficult. It's very difficult. Question number five is what's been your worst money mistake and how much did it cost you?
• 9:48
  Oh, there have been a few different ones. But I would say when we took the bet on QVC, that was back in 2018. And, you know, I had no idea about forecasting inventory. They basically gave us a forecast. They're like, we're going to give you eight minutes on air. We expect a productivity of this many like unit sales per minute. So they like crunched some numbers. Yeah.
• 10:15
  So they purchase 5,700 pieces, which is like insane. I mean, we were not selling that like nowhere near that. Like that's like thousands. So 5,700 units. And for QVC, you have to box for them. So usually they want like a promo, you know, so it's not just one item. It's like usually like two items or a kit, a set. So you're having to like kit and box for them, you know?
• 10:45
  And do they pay for it up front or do they pay like after the fact? It's consignment. Oh, it's consignment. Wow. Okay. Right. It's consignment. So I don't remember specifically the numbers, but you can probably just crunch out some numbers. You know, imagine like if they were at, like, I don't even know. Usually retailers are anywhere from like 40 to 60% retail margin. Yeah.
• 11:06
  you have all these costs. So, um, they basically ordered like these units. We had to box everything for them and then ship them to their warehouse eight minutes on air. I think I sold of my 5,700 units, less than 40%. So like, it was just really painful. I think I also had a host that I was like, wow, she just did not let me speak. It was so uncomfortable. So I left the show. Usually you
• 11:36
  camera and I looked at my screen because they have like in the green room like the screen and the sales were like amazing we blew it out and I was like the the failure story it was like I was alone there I knew it hadn't sold well I was with a host who didn't give me much talk time on air and then I came off and I was like oh crap like that's really bad and then I basically got on the train back to New York City crying calling my partner and he was like it's okay you did well
• 12:07
  You know, like this was the big moment and I had to fly there for training and there was just so much. I knew we had a ton of inventory leftover. So that inventory, they gave me another show to try to move some of that inventory. The second show, I had a beautiful host. She was incredible, set me up as much as possible for success. Yeah.
• 12:24
  The airing went well, it looked really good. But again, it just wasn't our audience, you know, and that sort of product market fit with the right audience, it just wasn't there with that particular, it's an older audience, you know? So it didn't move that much. All that inventory went to my father's warehouse in Alabama, where it sat for more than a year until COVID hit. And I was, you know, for a year, I was like, how are we ever gonna move these like thousands of product
• 12:52
  And then COVID hit and we ran off stock of everything and we put that stuff online and it sold out in weeks. And it was just, it was like, it was this like blessing of like pallets of inventory in disguise blessing of like, hey, we have lots of stock of something that we can sell when everything else was selling out. We're like, hey, so. Oh my gosh, wow. Very, very fortunate that it turned around. Cause I'm like, how do you move thousands of pieces? You know, cause like when you start a retail partnership,
• 13:21
  you're probably they're ordering more quantity than you've ever seen before. And if they don't sell it, like, where else are you going to put that you don't have other channels open, you know, if you get bigger, and you're more diversified, maybe you have other options. But that was a very painful whole experience. Yeah, I'm so glad it turned around for you, though, like the year later. Wow, I can never predict something like that would happen. That's crazy.
• 13:46
  A global pandemic. And yeah, I mean, who could have, like, we were very, we were very blessed, I would say, in that period. Wow, gosh, what a story. Question number six, last question. What is just a crazy story, good or bad, from your journey in building Le Mini Macaron?
• 14:06
  Um, okay. So one that I have fun telling these days is I mentioned to you that we had started selling in Canada and this was like in 2016, we had no idea what we were doing. So we got an order from a department store in Canada and it was a really good purchase order. Like
• 14:27
  very big purchase order to launch in all of their stores. And we were like, yeah, let's do it. And so shipped everything out in a container to like Vancouver. We went to Bali. We were on holiday in Bali and we're like, okay, we're off for the week. But like, you know, we'll like talk to Canada when the container arrives.
• 14:47
  No clue that when you import something into Canada, you probably need to have a registered company to receive the import. No clue that when the retailer forecasted that order, they weren't thinking they were ordering something.
• 15:02
  straight from overseas because retailers tend to order locally. And so the container lands, and then we get the actual official purchase order, which was divided up by store. There was almost a hundred stores. So they had expected us to pack everything by store. And we had everything bulk packed into containers. And they were like, this store in, I don't know, Toronto wants three of this color and two of that color. And it needs to be in a box with a sticker for
• 15:32
  And so I was up till 3am every night in Bali calling this warehouse in Canada. I was like trying to find people who would rework all the products for us, break it down, find boxes, print the labels. It was insane. Um,
• 15:49
  And we found a warehouse that did it. And it was just such a nightmare. It was like for five days, I was just up till 3am every night, trying to problem solve it to make sure like, this order is going to get delivered. And we're going to get this like several hundred thousand dollar PO, it's going to come through. It all came through.
• 16:09
  Um, that was really wild because we literally had the container landing and it was just like, we were so naive, like so naive, had never really worked with a retailer. You know, I mean, now we don't do that. Like you, like if we're working in different, we have companies in a few different countries and they were set up to be able to work with local retailers. But you know, I mean, just so naive live and learn, you live and learn. And I think, you know, that was just such, this is like 2016 and that, um, retailer,
• 16:39
  We ended up having a really bad sell through during the season. It was like a 23% sell through because we didn't activate marketing because we didn't really know that we should store training, train the sales staff so they know what they're selling, have some signage or visual merchandising. Didn't know, you know, they don't let you do all those things exactly, but yeah.
• 17:00
  you try, right? So yeah, like so many mistakes. Crazy story. But a funny story these days. Yeah, now you can look back and tell that story. Now I can laugh about it. Yeah. Oh my gosh, Christina, this was so cool. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I have loved hearing your story and all the ups and downs and crazy moments that you've had. Thank you so much for sharing. Thank you, Dune. It was such a pleasure.
• 17:32
  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.
• 17:56
  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.
• 18:19
  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.
• 18:35
  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.
• 18:59
  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.
• 19:22
  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.