Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / SUMMER ‘23 - 6 quick questions with Desiree Verdejo, Founder of Hyper Skin (Part 2)
Transcript
- 0:00Hey, it's Dune here. I'm recording this quick message to let you know that over the next few weeks, we'll be playing some of our favorite episodes from the past year while I spend some time with my best friends and family back in my other home, London. If you missed these episodes the first time around, they are so good and packed with so much value. I know you're going to love them just as much as I did recording them. See you soon. Bye. Welcome back. Here are the six
- 0:39So question number one is, what's your why? Why are you waking up every day and working on hyper? I think to celebrate people that just unfortunately have not historically been celebrated. Yeah, absolutely. It's a good one. An important one. Question number two is, what's been your favorite marketing moment so far?
- 1:04Ooh, favorite marketing moment. I think my favorite was we had a pop-up in Soho. We took over a newsstand and we gave out magazines and like product samples. And it was my favorite, A, because it was hella cute, very fun, great energy. My team, my team of six women like worked their asses off. But it was my favorite because it was our first like IRL event because we do so much digitally.
- 1:30as a brand that launched in the pandemic. So I love that it was well done, but it was also like, oh my God, we're outside with the people. It was great. Yeah. Yeah. So much fun. You've got to do the things in building a business that also just bring joy. It might not necessarily be this like big...
- 1:47you know, revenue moment or it might not necessarily be the big hit that you think it's going to be. But if it brings you joy in the process of like getting to put something like that out there and being like, this is so cool. Like this looks cool. Our customers love it. It's a great brand moment. Leaning into those things I think is so important. So important. Question number three is what's your go-to resource in business when you have to think about a newsletter or a podcast or a book that is useful to you at the moment?
- 2:17Can I say other founders? Of course you can. Network is very important. Because that's the honest truth. My WhatsApp is very active and I have so many like shortlist of other founders and I'm always like, hey.
- 2:31Thoughts on this? Let me tap your shoulder. Yeah, so much, so much conversation from fellow founders. Yeah, absolutely. It's a great one. Question number four is how do you win the day if you are thinking about your AM or your PM rituals and habits that bring you happiness and make you feel motivated? Yeah, I think the things I consider wins are so simple. I think when your day is
- 2:56Hectic. I think the wins are just like very simple things. I, like I mentioned, have two young children. And so the days where I like can drop them off and like pick them up and I have quality time with them, I feel like that is a win because the day in the middle is so insane. And, you know, I travel, etc.
- 3:15So I think starting the day with my children is awesome. Starting the day, like eating a real breakfast feels like such a win. I think just starting the day focusing on myself, which is not always where I start the day, is always like the start of a successful day. If I'm honest, I think putting myself first and recentering self-care is a big goal of mine and something I've done in 2023. But...
- 3:43We still have a long way to go. So, but yeah, those two things are the things that like make me feel like good and healthy and like,
- 3:52Yeah. Where I want to be. Yeah. A day of success. I feel like it's that kind of thing where like, you know, it's the case, but some days you just, you, you just can't win it every day. No, no, you can't. You can't. And some days feel crazy and they don't feel, um, the way you want them to, but they're, they're also wins. Like some of those chaotic days where you're working in the back of an Uber, those, those are wins too. But I think the ones that feel a little bit more,
- 4:19more tame and ordered with quality time are the ones that I aim for. Yeah, absolutely. Question number five is what's been your worst money mistake and how much did it cost you?
- 4:32Yeah, I think a lot of my money mistakes are not mistakes, just like marketing fails, which I was speaking to a friend, a founder friend that is venture backed. And she was like, you know, one of the reasons you should raise is because you have more room to like try things and it fail and you're not so bothered by it. But yeah, you know, I mentioned social media and influencers, et cetera, but there are so many things we've tried, podcasts and week postings and all of these various things.
- 5:03Sometimes you sort of sit around and you don't see exactly how they've converted. And so, yeah, I think the marketing fails are the ones that I feel, but also... You're going to try. The ones that I have to keep trying.
- 5:20Here we are. You got to keep trying because one day one of those things is going to pay off real good. Yeah, sometimes they do. And then you're like, oh, that was amazing. So, yeah, it's interesting. But, yeah, those are the – I'm always holding my breath when we do something new in the marketing arena.
- 5:36Yeah, you've got to be like, okay, I'm detached from this. I'm detached. In case it doesn't go to plan. Exactly. Question number six, last question. What is just a crazy story, good or bad, you can share from your journey of building hyper?
- 5:52I don't know if it's crazy. I think, I also think when you're in a world, so many things are normalized. And so when they happen, it doesn't feel crazy. Like I, shortly after we launched in Sephora, I went to Times Square and I was with my children and my children see me working with Hyper. They're very familiar with the packaging and the products and like seeing
- 6:19hyper on shelf in Times Square with them, to me, it was crazy. That was just a few months ago. If I go back now, though, I'm like, this is now normal. This is now the norm. So I think it's so weird, like, what feels crazy, and then how just sort of being in an environment, like, makes it like your new norm. But yeah, I don't want to lose the fact that like seeing...
- 6:45our products on shelf in Times Square with my family was just like the most bizarre, exciting thing. My kids were literally jumping up and down. Like it was,
- 6:56definitely insane. Yeah, I can imagine. But I think you raise a really good point. And that's something that we all struggle with is it's like you, you forget what the outside perspective is, you're kind of like, No, this is normal. This is Oh, that's just the normal I should be on Times Square, like all the time. Or like, that's not a big deal anymore. But then other people see that. And they're like, holy shit, how do I get on Times Square? That's amazing. Exactly. So I think, yeah, so that was that was definitely crazy.
- 7:24Lots of crazy moments that you then normalize. But yeah, that one was crazy. That one was a good one. Desiree, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your amazing journey with Hyper. This has been so fun. Thank you. This was great. Thanks for having me. I enjoyed this.
- 7:45Hey, 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.
- 8:10And 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.
- 8:32As 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.
- 8:48Hey, 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.
- 9:13And 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.
- 9:35As 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.