Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Pianist turned entrepreneur, Angela Jia Kim shares her approach to building Savor Beauty

Transcript

Pianist turned entrepreneur, Angela Jia Kim shares her approach to building Savor Beauty · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Angela Jia Kim for Female Startup Club. Hey everyone, it's Doon here, your host and hype girl. Joining me today is Angela Jia Kim, the founder of Savor Beauty.
• 0:22
  Angela is a retired concert pianist turned founder of Savor Beauty, a natural skincare, facial spa, and self-care journal brand inspired by Korean beauty rituals, with the award-winning serums, creams, cleansers, peels, and masks being made sustainably and ethically by women in the Hudson Valley.
• 0:43
  We're chatting about Angela's approach to building this business, bootstrapping it with credit cards, and why it's important to use your passion to drive you forward in life and in business. If you love the show and you want to help spread the word, please do. I always love to see your posts and connect with you on Instagram. You can find me at Doon Roisin, which is D-O-O-N-E-R-O-I-S-I-N.
• 1:08
  Let's jump into this episode. This is Angela Gia Kim for Female Startup Club. Angela, hi, welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. I'm so excited to be here with you, Dune. Let's roll up our sleeves. Yes, let's roll up our sleeves. I'm going to ask you all the things about building your business. I always love to start with just a simple, can you introduce yourself and tell us what your business actually is?
• 1:34
  Okay, so I'm Angela Gia Kim, and I'm the founder of Safer Beauty and Spa. It's a natural skincare brand based in New York, so we're organically made in New York. We have two spas in the city, New York City, one on Upper West Side, one in the West Village. And it's a simple skincare numbered system that's based on the Korean beauty rituals.
• 1:58
  And there's five, right? There's five. It's a five-step system. Yes. The essentials are a five-step system. So it's like super, I always like to say it's effortless beauty.
• 2:07
  Love that. Love effortless beauty. I want to wake up looking effortless. I feel like five is manageable. It's super manageable. And we try to create them in like little minute rituals so that, you know, we're all busy women, right? We don't have an hour to spend like my mom did on massaging our faces every single night. But we do want to wake up effortlessly beautiful, right? And I think we all learned through this entire pandemic that skin, you need to start with skin.
• 2:36
  And if you have beautiful, glowing, hydrated, moisturized, glistening skin, people will be mesmerized by the glow, you know? And that to me is effortless beauty. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And I also think during the pandemic –
• 2:51
  Well, I know for me and my girlfriends, I can't speak to everyone else, but I feel like self-care became super important. And the evening ritual of taking off my makeup, washing my face or being in the shower or whatever, and putting on my evening routine became such a treasured few minutes, you know, it doesn't need to be long and drawn out, but it became something that I really looked forward to. And I've never been like that before. Yeah.
• 3:17
  Well, I'm so happy to hear that, really, Dune, because I think that's such an important message for women just to take a little, that they matter, and just to take some time. And then I always like to take beauty deeper. And I try to say affirmations while I'm doing my evening beauty ritual, morning beauty rituals. And I just said earlier, you have this glow when you take care of your skin that's mesmerizing, right? But a lot of it is also inner radiance. So that's something
• 3:47
  really nourish your inner and outer radiance. And so I hope we'll talk a lot about that as we talk about building business, because building business is really challenging at times. It's joyful and wonderful, and you get to express your passions, but you also, they're challenging moments. Let's not kid ourselves. And I think nourishing our inner and outer radiance is key as leaders.
• 4:12
  Totally. I love that. What was your affirmation this morning? So my affirmation this morning was, I feel nourished and radiant. Oh, how beautiful. I'm going to start doing that. Yeah. I think affirmations, why not? You're washing your face instead of thinking about, oh my gosh, I've
• 4:29
  forgot to do this. I forgot to do that. Just to stay super grounded and just say something like at the end of the night, it's like, I put away my stress for the evening. Or just anything that I always say, people are always like, well, how do I create my own affirmations? And my little trick is if I'm feeling negative or if I'm feeling weighed down or stressed, I try to find the opposite feeling and that's my affirmation. So if I'm feeling like as an entrepreneur, there's a lot to do and you can easily feel overwhelmed.
• 4:57
  I'll say something like, I feel poised and prepared for tomorrow. You know? Oh my God. I love that. And I don't just say it once. I'll say it like 10 times in a row until I start to believe it, you know?
• 5:09
  I am going to report back to you in a week's time and let you know how my affirmations are going because I need to do that. That's a great tip to implement that in the daily self-care rituals. Yes. But let me get into the story. I want to go back to the very beginning and understand where your entrepreneurial journey really started.
• 5:29
  So I'm a retired concert pianist, and I remember selling CDs after my concerts. You know, I would go on these month-long tours, and I think that's where I got the entrepreneurial bite. You know, it'd be so thrilling after, and it'd be like, oh my God, it just made $15, $30, $45, you know, so it was really exciting. But I was about to walk out on stage one day on a concert tour, and I put on this, quote, natural lotion all over my body.
• 5:54
  and started breaking out into hives in front of hundreds of people, which, you know, I don't know if you've ever broken out in front of one person, but imagine in front of hundreds of people. It's very humiliating. So I took a look at the list of ingredients after the concert and was shocked to find out how many chemicals there were.
• 6:10
  And I just went into my kitchen and started, you know, I was like, maybe I should make my own lotions and potions, you know. And at that time, this was more than a decade ago, there weren't a lot of natural clean beauty brands on the market. I know today there's a lot. But I wanted to find something that was anti-aging, that was like, I called it green sexy.
• 6:29
  Something that looked beautiful, like Christian Dior meets Vermont mom and pop's lotion and creams. And my mom is Korean. And so I wanted to make something for her that she would... Korean women are obsessed with beauty, right? So I wanted to make sure that she loved it too. I wanted something organic for her. So that's just really how my entrepreneurial journey started. And then I started... I made like thousands of lotions and potions in my kitchen.
• 6:55
  thousands. I would take olive oil, coconut oil, mix it together. And then I'd be like, oh, that feels greasy. And it smells kind of funny if I add an essential oil. And that's just what I did every single day. And so I started giving them as gifts to friends. And they were like, oh my God, I love this cream. It helped really hydrate and moisturize my skin. And can I buy some? And that's just how it all started.
• 7:19
  So to paint the picture, what year are we talking about here? You said 10 years ago. So are we talking like 2001? No, 2011. Actually, so, you know, I keep saying 10 years ago, but every year passes. I should increase the year. So it was right before my daughter was born. So she was born in 2009. Yeah, so it's more than 10 years ago. 2009. Okay. So you're giving them to friends and family, and, you know, they're starting to say, hey, I might like to actually buy this. Yes.
• 7:45
  At what point do you be like, okay, I'm going to turn this into a brand and I'm going to stop being a pianist? That's such a great question. So I was on tour and I remember I was taking orders on the phone and the audience, I could hear the audience and they're like talking, talking. I should be nervous, but I'm like on the phone going, okay, so you'd like 13 lotions. Okay. And I would like, that's just, I didn't realize it, but I was selling. Right. And
• 8:11
  juggling both. And then I became pregnant with my daughter and I just realized I didn't want to have the lifestyle of touring and being on the road. I wanted to make my home in Manhattan and just stay there with her. So when she was born, I was like, okay, I'm going to go on maternity leave for three months. But she came with such a creative tour de force. And after a month, I was like, I'm bored. I want to do something with her. Yeah.
• 8:36
  And so I opened up a little holiday pop-up shop in Bryant Park in New York City. And while I was breastfeeding her, I was, you know, selling creams. Oh, my God. That's amazing. You know, it's just funny where life takes you because you never know in 10 years where you're going to be in life. But I'm a big believer that if you follow your passion –
• 9:01
  something amazing will always happen. That's so true. So I just followed my passion and my daughter and I, she was one month old and I was, you know, breastfeeding her. We sold like $40,000 of cream that, that holiday season. And that's when I knew I had a little business. Right. And that's when you knew, okay, I'm going to switch my focus and I'm not going to go back to the touring. I've got this now. I'm going to get cracking.
• 9:28
  Yeah. And I think a lot of women, a lot of people in general, they go through that where they're like, I'm not really, I know I'm meant to do something else, or they want to start a business, or they want to go and do a different career, or they want to go back to school, they want to transition. And it's hard, right? It's scary when your identity is one thing for a really long time, and then you want to do something else. And I always say,
• 9:50
  Let passion be your guiding light and dedicate yourself to it just a little bit every single day. And eventually it will become so big that the leap is not as scary. It just becomes the next big step that you take. But what about music? Because that must have been a big passion for you too, right? And what were people around you saying? Were people saying, oh, it's weird for you to give up this thing that you've really worked towards already? Or with people like, hey, you actually are onto something you're doing?
• 10:18
  yeah, you should quit that and start this. Yeah. Well, and so this is what's very interesting. This is where I talk about nourishing your inner radiance because I came from a background where it was all about applause, approval, and perfection. So I was used to doing things for outer, external appreciation, not internal. So it was really hard for me because my mom was not supportive at first. She was like,
• 10:47
  you're a concert pianist, you can't do this. And I remember just making up every excuse, mom, if I'm always on the road, I can't have a baby. Mom, I can't raise my daughter. And so I was using that as a way to convince her so that I could feel okay with my career choice. I think what I did to handle that is I just said, I'm gonna take a little break.
• 11:07
  Just take a break. And I think that's the trick. Just take little baby steps. You don't have to commit 100%. You can just take a little break and see where this takes you. And then it became so big for me and so obvious that the decision was painless. Totally. Got it.
• 11:24
  And so after that holiday season, you've made $40,000. Did you, was that like profitable $40,000 that you were able to then think about, you know, manufacturing and actually making it a bit more legit and serious and all that kind of stuff? Or were you like, I need to invest some money now and get a loan or, or find some investors or, you know, what was that money piece of the puzzle to get started at the next level?
• 11:49
  That's another great question. You're just full of amazing questions. And I think this is going to be really helpful for a lot of people who are just starting out. So to answer your question, I've never taken on investors. I view our customers as our investors.
• 12:03
  So before, let's rewind a little bit. Before when I was like doing a lot of the creating of the lotions in my kitchen, I was racking up a lot of money on my credit card. It ended up being after I opened up that holiday kiosk and then I opened up my first shop. I put about $60,000. I was $60,000 in debt for my credit cards. And I kept saying to myself, okay, and this is a little tip for risk. You can always ask yourself, well, how much am I willing to lose? Yeah.
• 12:32
  And I said, well, sell my Manhattan apartment to pay off this credit card thing if it doesn't work out.
• 12:38
  And so really that's what I did. And then I, the first two or three years, it was not profitable by any means because it's very expensive. Like who does that? Who starts a cosmetic business on credit cards and with no investors, you know? So, I mean, there are a lot of people who do it, but it's very challenging when you don't have a lot of money at the start. So I would just pay it off little by little, $300 a week, $400 a week. And then eventually I paid it all off, but it took me a good three years to do that. Right.
• 13:08
  I would pay off the credit card like after like a week or a month, I would put it into the savings and then I would pay off the credit card. Yeah. And I think that's a big thing about entrepreneurship is it's like you've got to be comfortable being in that uncomfortable stage of being like, well, I'm going to have to be in debt a little bit here. And, you know, until I figure it out and until I pay it all back and then find my new groove.
• 13:32
  Yes. And so I would say that journey for me was three years. And I remember a very specific moment when I had an assistant who was helping me and she was making money and I wasn't. She was making her salary. Of course she was. She was working for me. And I remember thinking to myself, one day that is not going to be the case. At some point I have to be paid well for what I do because I work the most.
• 13:58
  over any employee, you know, and I carry the most risk. I carry the risk. I carry the burden and I carry the privilege, right? So I need to be compensated well for my, for what I've done, right? And I want to tell you and all the entrepreneurs out there that it's really important at some point, you're going to take care of your business. You're going to nurture it. You're going to feed it. You're, it's like a baby, but at some point you're going to shift and your business will take care of you. So yeah,
• 14:25
  It is a full circle moment. And I think that's an expectation that's really important for us entrepreneurs to have, that the business will take care of you eventually.
• 14:37
  And at what point did the business start taking care of you? I would say for me, because I had no business experience. I am sure the listeners, your listeners are much more savvy than I am. I had to learn everything the hard way. I call it the school of hard knocks. So I had to learn every single entrepreneurial lesson, you know, how to manage employees, how to fund your business, how to do PR, how to do marketing. I didn't know that what marketing was. I didn't, you know, I did shipping. I did every single thing in my business.
• 15:05
  So every single thing that my employees do now, I've done, you know, so I had to learn the hard way. So to answer your question, it probably won't take most people this long, but it took me about five years to get it to the point where I felt like my business was taking care of me. And honestly, you know, there are many twists and turns, but I feel like in the last year, it's finally really taken care of me in that spiritually and emotionally, you know what I mean? Because
• 15:32
  I learned to let go. I learned that I don't have control, really. We all learned that lesson, right? Right. And by letting go and allowing my business and my team members to really thrive in what I call their zone of genius, I feel like it's really taken care of me. And even now we're reopening. New York City is reopening and there are a lot of stressors. Now we're renegotiating leases with the landlords and
• 15:56
  New York City landlords are sharks, you know, so there are a lot of different stressors that are starting to build up again. But I sleep well at night, because I know that this too shall pass, and my wisdom will carry us through, you know, so there's a point where you will know that your business is taking care of you because you're allowing it to do that. Oh, I love that. So cool. I'm happy for you. That's amazing. Yeah, it's an amazing feeling. I bet.
• 16:24
  I want to go back to the early phase of, you know, those early years when it comes to marketing and actually building the loyal customer base and finding your community of people. In the beginning when you launched and you were, you know, giving it to friends and that kind of thing, how did you actually then start to find the wider net of people who you didn't know?
• 16:45
  Okay. So for me, I feel like it was word of mouth. It was really, you know, I still have customers that come into our spas in New York city and they're always saying to me, they met me at the Bryant Park holiday kiosk with my baby. Oh my God. That's amazing. And I think this is where authenticity comes, comes into play at least for my, the way I've built business where I listen to their stories. I still know the names of their dogs. You know, I don't know how I remember that stuff, but yeah.
• 17:14
  there were real conversations happening. And so there was a lot of loyalty. We have 60% retention, like returning customers. That's really high for the cosmetic industry. People love the story. They're super loyal. They love the, you know, I employ employees that have the spirit of a warm heart and they can feel it through all of our marketing, through all of our PR. Hopefully you hear it even in this interview that I'm very passionate about what we're doing. And that is very touching for people
• 17:43
  in a sea of businesses that actually don't care. You know what I mean? So if you're authentic, and you really care about that ground floor interaction, it matters. And so when I have
• 17:56
  when people come in for their spa treatments, their facials at the spas, I always say to the estheticians, you need to know everybody's name. You need to know, write down information about your conversation because you'll forget it the next time they come in, but they will love that you remember when they do come back in. So it's a very personable business where relationships count. So it takes a little bit more time, but you know what? 60%
• 18:21
  to 65% retention where people are replenishing their creams and they're coming back month after month, that is so valuable. Now we're working on the second part of your question, which is how do you find new customers? That's something that we need to work on a little bit more because that ratio should be a little bit more 50-50 in my opinion. But social media is a really big part. We are big on email campaigns.
• 18:47
  We do really well with our email campaigning and we haven't been able to do this in the last year and a half, but in-person pop-up events are really key as well. We do a strong sampling program. That's very important as well. So there are different marketing, really fun ways to find new customers. When you talk about the sampling program, what does that actually mean and how do you build out that program?
• 19:11
  All right. So the sampling program for us is try before you buy. So in the cosmetic industry, it's really important. And whether you're in the service industry or wherever you are, even Zappos does this, right? You buy something and you're trying it, and then you have the option to return it. So in the cosmetic industry, sampling is really important because people need to know if it's good for their skin type, if it sits well on their skin. So we have little sample packets so that they can try it and then contact information at the bottom, and then they
• 19:41
  purchase it if it goes well. And so is that like they just do that on your website or is that you work with certain companies to get the samples out there to who knows who? So in my business, and you can't, there are a lot of sampling companies out there that you can work with. With my business, we are kind of A to Z. So we're very vertical in that we produce our products, we package them, we fill them and we label it up and send it. So we do everything from A to Z.
• 20:09
  So we're able to, yeah, do all of that. And so even when we send out products, we will include samples with each ship. Nice. Love that. When you look back over the last, you know, it's been a decade, it's been just over a decade, what have been the key moments of growth and kind of that leap forward in the business? I think the most important thing is the people you hire.
• 20:36
  Well, first of all, let me back up. The most important thing is your mindset, right? It's like, how do you think on a larger scale? And also, by the way, bigger isn't always better. That's what I've learned. I used to think, oh my gosh, we've got to get to this.
• 20:53
  X amount of millions of dollars, you know, and people will tell you that's the most important thing, but ultimately as an entrepreneur, that's the beauty of it. You get to decide what you want, right? So I want to start by saying that when you talk about growth, so you determine how big you want to get. And if you do, if you want to grow, you know, you determine how am I going to get there and your mindset needs to be one of resilience, right?
• 21:17
  and creativity, right? There's no stopping you. And then people are, to me, the second most important thing. The people you bring on. And, you know, we talked about how you need to nourish your radiance, how you lead those people using your radiance, because you can be a really crappy leader, one that's focused on desperation or stress or bottom line only, or you can be a radiant leader, which is much more mission-driven,
• 21:46
  you know, people centric, people centered, where you are mentoring them, you're helping them to grow. If you are able to lead your team and choose talent that can absorb that, then that's going to be your key to growth. Right? So I always say it's really important. Even I have our social marketing manager, today's her last day. And, you know, I said, I'm so happy to see how much you've grown here in the last few years. Like that's so important to me.
• 22:13
  So regardless if people stay with me forever, and some people have stayed with me for years and years and years, or they move on, that's not what's important to me. Their growth is most important. So if they're growing, your company's growing. That's a really cool way to look at it. Yeah. I love that. And I bet she would love that too and feel that support going into her next role and feeling really proud of how far she's come as well. Yes, definitely. Love that. Yeah.
• 22:38
  When we think about specifically marketing and in the more recent years, how do you kind of expand and grow now? And what's like working for you when it comes to marketing? I mentioned email marketing campaigns are really important content. It's a fine line content and sales, right? So you want to provide value, but also do not assume that your customers don't want to buy. So like always there should be a call to action, right? A way for them to purchase.
• 23:04
  Text marketing is really big for us as well. Oh, okay. I've heard that a few times actually. Yes. I was surprised too.
• 23:12
  You know, I think Facebook ads, it's, of course, that's effective and it's a necessary evil. You're just constantly looking at that ROAS, that return on ad spend. And word of mouth. I think word of mouth is like the most beautiful way because people are talking on your behalf at the dinner table or at dinner parties or while having cocktails. You know, I love that. I also think people often tend to forget that every touch point of your business is a marketing opportunity.
• 23:42
  So how you handle your clients, how you interact with them, you know, the use and ease of your website and, you know, your product. That's the best marketing too.
• 23:56
  Absolutely. Gosh. When you think back about like when you originally started the business, what was your goal with the business then? Was it like grow this really big business and sell the business or was it build a lifestyle business, see how it goes? And has it now shifted? You know, when you were saying in the last year, you really like felt that things started to feel different for you. What was the original goal versus has that changed and is the goal still the same?
• 24:24
  I think when I first started, the goal was just to survive and, you know, make, I don't, I don't even remember what the, I think the goal at the very beginning was I'm passionate about a cream I want for myself and for my mom and I want to sell it to other people because they seem to love it.
• 24:42
  And I think that's sort of been the ongoing goal. And that really hasn't changed over the years. We launch products and I have a talent for creating one of my talents. And you have to be very, very cognizant of what your strengths and weaknesses are. One of my strengths is I know what the customer wants to buy. So it's usually because I need it myself.
• 25:02
  So if it's a hydration cream, we'll come out with that or serum. And that's just always been my goal. I'm passionate about this and I just want you to have it because it's going to improve your life. And now the tool is different now. So I'm writing a book called Radical Radiance that's going to be published by St. Martin's Press in 2022, I believe.
• 25:25
  Ah, congrats. That's so exciting. I've been writing it this whole past year. And I think now I'm really interested in nourishing your inner radiance. I've been teaching women how to nourish their outer glow. And now I'm really interested in that extra
• 25:44
  spark inside, that shine inside, the radiance inside. Oh my gosh. That's so exciting. Yeah. Because I think it goes- I can't wait to read it. Yeah. Thank you so much. So I'm very excited about that. So again, that's the same goal. It's all about creating something that I'm passionate about that I know is going to make a difference in your life. Totally.
• 26:05
  So where is the business today and what does, say, the next 12 months look like? You said that you were reopening the spas and there was going to be, you know, all that stuff that's been different during COVID coming back to life. What's going on? Oh, my gosh. Wow. So this last year knocked us off our feet. Like, you know, just us having to close, let go. I think I let go of like 27, 30 employees. I can't even remember.
• 26:30
  It was just rough. And so all of our revenue goals, I mean, that was devastating just to see it crumble in that month when all the closures happened. But what we were really lucky about, and this is where customer loyalty happens, everyone started buying our products online and that just carried us through and has been growing like crazy. So that I'm very, very fortunate about.
• 26:50
  So now it's just rebuild time. Now that Governor Cuomo has said, okay, open. At first, honestly, doing it felt like about two months, three months ago, I felt tired already before starting because it felt like you're building Legoland, like a whole little Lego city, and then Bigfoot just comes in and stomps on it without reason. And it felt like, oh my gosh, I have to rebuild. Do I
• 27:16
  This feels like a lot. But the other day, I don't know what happened, but I just found my inner strength. And now I'm excited. Like rehiring, retraining, you know, just really feeling the passion come back. And I think passion, I'm noticing, is our recurring thread throughout this interview. I think passion is your paycheck at the beginning. And passion becomes your purpose throughout. And that's what keeps you engaged and present in your business. Absolutely.
• 27:45
  Do you think that because of what happened with COVID and having to close the spas and then everyone going to that online piece and buying the products, that it's opened your business up to more opportunity on that D2C side? Totally. I think definitely we are shipping worldwide. Our shipment, the number of shipments going out has just doubled, tripled, quadrupled. So
• 28:08
  That has been fantastic. But also on the other flip side of the coin, what I love is that it made me realize we can hire remotely. So I was hiring for a project manager and a social marketing manager. And so instead of just having New York City as my pool, I opened it up nationwide. And what I loved about that is I found exactly what we want in the company, like-minded spirit. So we hired someone in California, someone in Texas.
• 28:35
  And so I think what COVID also taught us is that we can stay very cohesive remotely. And I love that.
• 28:45
  Yeah, I think that's such a good thing, this like the wave of remote working that's become so normal now, which before it was a bit like, yes, there was people doing it and all that kind of thing, but it really forced everyone to be able to get on board with it. And now it's a really exciting thing where you can work with someone anywhere in the world. Yeah. And what I like about that also is that you can get a certain caliber of talent that might not have been available just because you're like so localized, right? Right.
• 29:16
  Absolutely. Or like someone who is a mom who can't go into an office necessarily every day, but has so much to give and wants to give, but is also, you know, deciding that she's looking after her baby. It's exciting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's exciting. What advice do you have for women who have a big idea and want to start their own business?
• 29:39
  passion, make sure that you're passionate about it. And that I think the best businesses are the ones that start with the founder's need. And then when you're your customer that needs marketing too, it's, I don't know, it's just magical. I just think that's beautiful.
• 29:57
  And then break it down into manageable steps. Just take one step at a time. You're not going to build an empire overnight. And if you can break it down, that's key. And then we mentioned, and I touched upon it earlier, the people you hire, like-minded people and really thinking about their growth mindset as well is going to help you so, so much.
• 30:21
  Hmm. When you were saying the bit about it doesn't happen overnight, someone was saying to me recently on the show, it takes 10 years to reach overnight success. And I loved that because it's so true. Everyone thinks you just pop up out of nowhere and you're like, hang on, I've been building this for, for 10 years. Takes a long time. Actually, I'll even make that even bigger. Like it can take decades, right? Because don't discount what you're doing today that is not preparing you for the future.
• 30:48
  So let's say you are working a desk job today. All the skills that you are acquiring today are really like, think of it as wealth management. You are learning things that are gonna help you 10, 15, 20 years down the road. And if you think in that way, you will approach your job. Let's say you're in your 20s and you're in a job and you're sitting at your desk dreaming, oh, I wanna have my own thing. Why isn't it happening? You're learning skills now that are really gonna benefit you down the road. So like when I was a concert pianist,
• 31:17
  I learned a lot of things. Like what can you learn as a musician that's going to apply later in business so much? I was practicing stage presence all the time. I was going on stage under severe stress and it's like a duck, you know, you're paddling like crazy underneath, but your voice on top. Right. So I was learning stage presence. I was learning discipline because you have to get up and practice every single day when nobody's watching. I was learning standards of excellence. You know, you want to reach a certain peak and be able to have your peak performance.
• 31:46
  I was learning communication skills, so many things that I'm applying to this day today, right? So even this podcast, I don't think I'd be able to speak as well on the subject had I not had the years of experience on stage that I have, right? So everything that you're doing today is preparing you for the future.
• 32:05
  I love that. That's so cool. So cool. Amazing. We are up to the six quick questions part of the episode. Oh, fun. Let's do it. Fun. Question number one is why do you do what you do? What's your why? What's my why? I love making wine out of water and that takes growth. And I just get very excited about personal and professional growth for me and my team.
• 32:33
  Amazing. Question number two is, what do you think has been the number one marketing moment that made the business pop? I would say word of mouth marketing and email campaigns.
• 32:48
  And actually, let me back up a little bit. I also think that I used to be like, marketing, ooh, that's like, I don't like that word. I don't like to market. And then when I realized that marketing is just one big party that's just announcing what you authentically love and have a passion for, I fell in love with marketing. To me, marketing is one big themed cocktail party. So let's say you're doing...
• 33:10
  your marketing holidays. Just think of it like it's one big party. What kind of cocktails are you going to have? What are you serving? What's the meal? What's everyone wearing? If you think of it like that, it's so much fun. You are throwing out so many great analogies today. That's amazing.
• 33:27
  Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading or subscribing to or hanging out on the internet? Where are you hanging out to get smarter? I like to read the New York Times. I have a lot of entrepreneur friends who we share wisdom bombs all day long. And I'm so lucky that I can call them when I'm in a pinch and they can call me as well.
• 33:50
  I think that's very important. And, you know, my partner helps me tremendously. He's like so smart. So I learn a lot from him. And yeah, so I think surrounding yourself with really with people you admire is key. Absolutely. The network, the community. Yes. Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM or PM habits and rituals that keep you feeling happy and motivated and successful?
• 34:19
  So I always tell women to start with washing their face before going to bed because a lot of people don't. And I think that just starting one small, tiny habit of washing your face and making it significant in that you are cleaning out your skin and you're not going to bed with pollution and anything that's dirt and toxins in your pores. You're cleaning it out and cleansing and purifying. And then as we talked about the affirmations at night, just you're purifying your soul as well. So skin to soul purification.
• 34:49
  through washing your face. It's a beautiful nightly ritual. And then in the morning, I always have my coffee and I try to be as present when I'm making my coffee, smelling the aroma and I have a date with it. And I just try to stay nourished all through the day. So small wins, it's not just one big win, it's small wins every single day and trying to be as present for all of those little rituals. Yeah. I love that. The small wins that make up the, a great day.
• 35:17
  Question number five is if you were given a $1,000 no strings attached grant, where would you spend that money? I would probably hire somebody and say, here's $1,000, make it grow.
• 35:33
  Love that. You do whatever you want. Yeah. Just make it grow. Let's see if you can make it grow. And to be honest, that hire would probably be my daughter. My 11-year-old daughter is so wise and she's so smart. And she does lemonade stands in front of my spas to raise money for ASPCA, which is for pet shelters. And this little girl can raise $400 in an hour in lemonade stands.
• 36:00
  Oh my gosh, that's amazing. It's amazing. Go her. Oh, I love that. That is so cool. Oh my gosh. That's amazing. Don't forget, she was with me when I was breastfeeding her to sell first cream. So of course, she's got that entrepreneurial spirit. She's got it in her blood. She's going to be just like her mom.
• 36:25
  And question number six, last question is how do you deal with failure? What's your mindset and approach when things don't go to plan? I don't see anything as a failure or do nothing.
• 36:36
  Like really, I mean, listen, there are flops and there are fails for sure, but I just, I see them as like roadblocks. And once you get rid of the roadblock, there's something more amazing, you know, kind of like I was just in Hawaii and like, it was always rain and then there'd be a rainbow. Right. And so as cheesy as that sounds, it's just, I don't see it as fails. I really, I don't see anything as a failure. I see it as, okay, we need to work through this and there's something better at the other end.
• 37:04
  That is so cool. Angela, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show today and share your amazing story and all the lessons you've been learning along the way. Thank you for having me as your guest.
• 37:19
  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.
• 37:44
  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.
• 38:06
  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.
• 38:23
  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.
• 38:47
  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.
• 39:10
  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.