Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Fave Hits: 6 Quick Questions with Melanie Travis, Founder of Andie Swim (part 2)
Transcript
- 0:00Hey, 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.
- 0:30Welcome back. Here are the six quick questions. Question number one is, what's your why? I started Andy because I wanted to start something and see if it could be successful. And so far, that is proving to be true, but we're not there yet. But it keeps me going every day. I want to prove that I can do this.
- 1:01Totally. Question number two is what do you think has been the number one marketing moment that made your business pop? Early in the life of the business.
- 1:14we didn't pay her, we didn't talk to her. Lena Dunham posted in an Andy swimsuit. She posted a bathroom selfie, which is like the best you can possibly get in an Andy swimsuit and talked about her body. And Lena Dunham is very candid about her body and it fits right in with our brand sort of ethos. And we popped like crazy when she did that. So that was a real, I remember that being a pivotal moment.
- 1:40That is so cool. I just love her to bits. She's amazing. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What do you read? What are you listening to? Are there any groups you're subscribed to or newsletters that you get on the regs?
- 1:56Yeah. Oh God, so many. So I'm in a lot of like female founder groups here in New York. I mean, we haven't met in a while because of COVID, but that was always a fun exchange of ideas. I read the Lean Lux newsletter. I read the 2PM newsletter. These are very like D2C industry newsletters. It looks like you know them from nodding.
- 2:14And I listen to a lot of podcasts, things like How I Built This on NPR, but also like smaller entrepreneurship focused podcasts like this one. And then lastly, I recently started working with a CEO coach at the Business Scales. I want to continue to be the best leader I can possibly be. And she gives me a lot of reading homework assignments, like you need to read this book on OKRs or you need to read this book on like, you know, leadership principles, whatever. So constantly, constantly like soaking in information from all places.
- 2:45Any top books that you recommend from the top of your head? Radical Candor by Kim Scott. Great. I'm going to link it in the show notes. Thank you. Sure. Question number four is how do you win the day? And that's around your AM and PM rituals that keep you feeling happy and motivated, but also productive, successful, et cetera.
- 3:05Yeah, I think that's super important. So especially during COVID, I've gotten really making sure that I stay healthy. So I know that people listening don't see it, but there's a SoulCycle bike behind me. We added a SoulCycle bike to my office and I jump on. I try to ride before work starts, but if I don't, if I'll take a call that's not on video, I'll often do it while riding. I'll just tell them ahead of the call that I might sound out of breath at some point. I love that. It gives me so much momentum to be on a call while biking in my office.
- 3:36And then I have a dog and taking my dog on walks in the morning, you know, in the middle of the afternoon is such a nice way of breaking up the day. And we used to have a walker and now we don't. So I get to go out. So those are some of the things that I do that help me win the day. Love a dog helping you win the day. They're just such the best. She's the key. Terrible English. Totally. Question number five is if you only had $1,000 left in your business bank account, where would you spend it?
- 4:07Oh, boy, that's hard. If I only had $1,000 left. I mean, like today, where I am today, I would divvy that up among my employees and say, I'm so sorry. Like, I mean, you know, I should go to the employees, I guess. Nice. Perfect. Great. Love that. And last question, question number six is how do you deal with failure? Yeah.
- 4:31That's an evolving answer. I think I try to deal with it as a learning opportunity before anything else. And I've said to my team so many times, it's okay if something goes wrong or if we fail at something, as long as we learn from it. And I think they know, if they were to tell you my number one pet peeve, they would say making the same mistake twice. I cannot stand that. If you fail at something, great. You've learned something. If you do it again,
- 4:55You're sloppy, you're not paying attention. Like we're too small and nimble to fail twice at the same thing or like for the same reason. So I view failure as a learning opportunity. It doesn't mean I don't get frustrated. But overall, I think failures help you build a successful brand. Absolutely.
- 5:13Mel, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show today and share your incredible story. I've loved listening and I'm going to be tuning in when you hit that 100,000, hopefully very soon. Great. Well, thank you so much. This has been wonderful.
- 5:31Hey, 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.
- 5:56And 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.
- 6:18As 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.
- 6:35Hey, 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.
- 7:00And 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.
- 7:22As 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.