Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Girlboss CEO Lulu Liang shares her learnings from 0-1 vs 1 and above at Luxy Hair (she took the biz through a massive exit!)

Transcript

Girlboss CEO Lulu Liang shares her learnings from 0-1 vs 1 and above at Luxy Hair (she took the biz through a massive exit!) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Lulu Liang for Female Startup Club.
• 0:12
  Hello and welcome back to the show. It's Doon here, your host and hype girl. Today on the show, we have Lulu Liang, Girlboss CEO, entrepreneur, and all-around legend joining us. We cover so many good things in this episode, like how she joined a business at just 23 and became the ultimate operator within it, taking the brand through an exit to become CEO. Hello.
• 0:41
  We also talk about her thoughts on taking a brand from zero to one verse one and above, and her crazy cool new gig as CEO of Girlboss. This is a super cool episode and I think you're
• 0:57
  So excited. And by the way, if you haven't done so already, are you signed up to our newsletter? We drop industry news, job opportunities, and the key takeaways from every single episode on Monday of every week.
• 1:12
  Obviously, I'm totally biased, but it is an epic resource for entrepreneurs or for people who are just interested in entrepreneurship and the women behind the brands we know, love and buy. It's a great way to kick off your week. You can sign up for free at femalestartupclub.com. But that's enough about that. Let's get into this episode. It is a cracker. This is Lulu for Female Startup Club.
• 1:39
  Lulu, hello. Welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be meeting you here today for the first time. Yeah, I know. I've heard about your name so many times and
• 1:53
  I've seen you around, so it's great to actually make the connection virtually. Yes. Lucky us. I want to give everyone listening a little bit of context. This is the first time Lulu and I are actually meeting, but I've been on the receiving end of such beautiful conversations centered around you for many years now through our mutual friends, Alex and Mimi Iconn.
• 2:18
  And I feel like I have the short version of your rise to the top within their previous company, Luxie Hair. But I want to dig into the long version. So let's go back to life before Luxie Hair, many years ago when you were a management consultant and you decided to scrap it all, trade it all in and go and work for a beauty startup.
• 2:40
  Yeah, my background previously has been in, it was in commerce and math. I was always super analytical as a kid, really, really nerdy and also super curious. So I really love looking at different things and thinking about how I can improve them. And when I went to school for a business, I got very...
• 3:02
  seduced by this career in management consulting. They pretty much pitch it there. It's like, if you don't go to investment banking or management consulting, you're failing in this business world. So they really, really sell these two careers for you. And I thought I had like my life planned out. So I thought I was going to do
• 3:21
  two years of management consulting, go to an Ivy League B school for my MBA, work another two years so that they pay for my MBA, and then go work in some kind of executive role in beauty or fashion. That's something I was passionate about. So this is the dream that you're sold in business school. Yeah, so I worked hard to try to get there. And then I started off at Accenture. It's the world's largest management consulting firm.
• 3:47
  And I was very like young, keen, eager eye to get started. And within the first couple months, I just realized really quickly that it wasn't meant for me long term. I just felt like I most importantly couldn't be authentically who I am every day at work. I felt like I had to go on every day and put on some kind of face. And I felt like in that industry, it's more about what you say you're doing than what you're actually doing.
• 4:17
  see the tangible effects of the things that you're doing in a really operational way, because it's more about presentations and decks and models and things like that. So
• 4:28
  I felt like I was having a quarter life crisis because I worked really hard, like my entire life, not just like in school, but like I sacrificed on like movie dates with friends and like so many things to try to like reach this goal. And before that, I wasn't actually an anxious person at all. I was pretty calm because I knew like I had a goal, like I was very like focused on this goal. But then once I achieved this goal...
• 4:53
  And I didn't know I didn't like it. I felt like so anxious because anxiety comes from like the unknown, you know. So I was having like my very own quarter life crisis. And at that time, I watched a lot of YouTube to like help me like feel better about like life for inspiration. And I discovered Mimi and Alex, our mutual friend on YouTube through Mimi's morning routine video. So do you know what I'm talking about?
• 5:18
  I don't know specifically which one it is. What's the morning routine video? I think it's her most popular video. If you filter for her, like uploads and by most popular, I think it's the most popular one. But it just got recommended to me. I was just browsing YouTube. I've never heard of them before. And this YouTube, this morning routine video got recommended for me. And I just really resonated with...
• 5:40
  the philosophy and I still use some of those morning routine like tips to this day like from that video but I really resonate with them not on just like their travel and vlogs but more like their thoughts about like entrepreneurship and about lifestyle and their values and I just thought like I had to work with them in like some way like capacity like whatsoever and
• 6:02
  Um, if it doesn't matter if it was free or if I had to like do like customer service and, um, I really didn't care like what I had to do. So I, um, Oh my God. Wow. I love that. Whoa. Light bulb moment. I know it was so keen.
• 6:19
  Yeah, no, it just like, I felt like the universe was calling to me. Like, like I felt like intuitively so right. But I, when I watched their videos and I watched everything within like a week, all of their content, I just felt like, like I meant to like work with these people and I really resonated with them. So I followed them on Instagram and I saw that they were hiring like a social media coordinator for one of their other companies, Intelligent Change. And I applied for that role. And I was, I was both like very passionate.
• 6:47
  under qualified but also over qualified for that role at the same time so got to know Alex and made me through the interview process it took like four months we had dinner in Toronto it was like a five hour dinner and yeah I decided to take like a pay cut from my consulting job and start working with them as assistant in 2016 I was about 23 I just turned 23 at the time
• 7:12
  That's incredible. Wow. What a change. I imagine that would have been a significant pay cut going from management consultant to, you know, startup life. I read that you kind of entered that role with, you know, such determination that you were going to change your title really quickly and that your motivation was like, you are going to have an impact within this business. You are going to, you know, do stuff basically. Yeah.
• 7:39
  Can you talk about that early time in the startup? What was it like? What were you kind of doing to actually prove yourself and change the business?
• 7:49
  Yeah, I thought like I was able to like take this like title cut and like pay cut and all these things and just take a leap of faith because I just felt very confident in my skill set. And I knew it wasn't being fully utilized in my past role. And I thought like I could just go in and prove myself and make a difference and like everything will work out in the end. So I took a leap of faith.
• 8:09
  And I think in terms of mindset of what really helped me in the beginning was I always treated the business like it was my business from the very beginning. And kudos to Mimi and Alex for getting me to do this because I'm sure I'm hired. I've hired probably I've done like a thousand interviews since I've hired probably at least 50 people since. And it's very hard to find this in people and to like cultivate this in people. So yeah.
• 8:32
  I don't know what happened, but like for some reason, like right from day one, I didn't have any equity in the business. I was an assistant, like my pay reflected that, but I just felt like I owned this business. It was my business for some reason. So I just tried to act in that way. And we at Luxie, for anyone that joins Luxie, we asked him to read the book called Linchpin by Seth Godin. And it talks about being like indispensable in organization and...
• 8:59
  associated with that kind of work and being a leader and how you're paid is directly related to the type of problems that you solve. So just being an extreme owner and a problem solver. So yeah, I think having those mindsets really helped me and just acting in the role that you want to be in and not in the role that you're in. Just like having my mindset switch to like not letting the title like deter me from doing things.
• 9:27
  Do you have any examples that come to mind specifically of like what you mean to paint the picture of like how you are acting or how you were showing up or like certain projects that you were kind of spearheading within the business? Sure. Yeah. I mean, I did everything like A to Z in the business, which I thought was really great experience because I got to like understand the details of that role and the nuances of that role before I hired out for it. So back then I was...
• 9:55
  Team number three, we had somebody on our team who did customer service and someone on the team who did, I would say like part marketing. Yeah, it was a marketing role. And I kind of like filled in for everything else. Like, so it was like all the accounting, all the fulfillment, all the operations, all the hiring, firing, organization design, HR, growth, product launches. So it was really good to like,
• 10:21
  Just everything from like buying snacks for the office and like picking a place for us to run to the office space to like, you know, building on the forecast model for the next three years. It was a very broad role, which I really enjoyed. But specifically, like what I think I did was like extreme owner where it's solution oriented was really just every time like there was so many decisions to be made in the business.
• 10:44
  And obviously as a founder, it's really, really hard for you to let go of decision-making because it's your baby, you know, and you're very attached to it and it's emotional as well as logical. So something I did in the beginning was every time I had a decision that I wanted to be made or a decision that needed to be made in the business, I would always, like I would approach Alex and I'll be like, Hey, this is the decision. This is what I would do. Like, this is what I would decide. Do you agree? Yes or no. And every time there's a problem...
• 11:11
  I would go to him and be like, hey, this is a problem. I think there's three different ways we can approach it. I think we should do this. Do you agree? Yes or no? So I just try to make their lives very easy. So all they had to do was say yes or no. And then obviously, like when we didn't agree, we would discuss and that would be a great learning for me.
• 11:29
  But we start to realize really quickly that we were aligned like 95% of the time. So like it was an easier transition for them to like start delegating like more decision making responsibility, full problem solving responsibility to me. So I was never like, oh my gosh, this is the issue. Like I'm so stressed. Like what should I do? Like I never asked that question. One of my first responsibilities was to lead a photo shoot and to like reshoot every single image on the website. And we sold hair extensions.
• 11:59
  So I remember we had everything like all planned out. I had this big like Excel Gantt chart for everything like it was organized to like by the 15 minute thing. I thought I had everything nailed down. But like you never know what's going to go wrong. So the night before it was like 9 p.m. Eastern. The photographer messaged me and they were like the studio told us that we can't shoot there anymore. So we don't have a studio space for tomorrow.
• 12:24
  And it was 9 p.m. Eastern and the shoot was at like 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. the next day. So I couldn't like I couldn't even talk to Alex and make my name because they're in the UK, you know. But I just like found another studio space. And I like I mean, like it was a very logical thing to solve, you know, and just had that all organized. I told all the models and all the makeup artists like where to go and just found the solution for it. So like that's like an example of something like that just to like.
• 12:52
  come not with like questions but like as much as you can like take the emotional labor to like to be wrong I think most people like they ask you like what they should do it's because they're afraid to make the decision because they're afraid they're going to be responsible for it and then they'll be blamed for the reaction and the outcome of it but I think the more responsibility you take and the more you're okay with being wrong sometimes that's how you grow and you just realize no one knows what they're doing at the end of the day like you know I realized it wasn't their job to solve all of my problems it's my job to like solve the problems so
• 13:22
  Wow, that is crazy. That's so interesting. And at some point in that journey, you become general manager and you lead the business through an exit and you become CEO of the company, which is just, you know, I guess when you're starting at 22 or 23, I think you said, going through this journey and then becoming this key top of the company and you've accomplished this huge thing going through an exit.
• 13:51
  What are the key learnings or takeaways from that kind of transition from exit through to CEO? Honestly, when I think about this, like my biggest takeaway from that year, I mean, obviously,
• 14:04
  tactically, like I learned a lot. Kudos to anyone who ever sells a business or exits. It's so much work from a diligence perspective and from a pitch perspective. And you have to still be growing the business at the same time and keeping it a secret from your team. So it's just like so many different factors at once. But like the first thing that I think about when you asked me that question is, I think I learned how important it is to let go. And how important it is to like have an
• 14:34
  yeah, just like reframe that part of my mind. I think like I was really, really working very hard towards like this exit. It was my North Star for the majority of that year. And like one track minded, I like a lot of other things in my life suffered. And I
• 14:54
  I felt like even it wasn't even healthy for the sale for me to be like, so, so like determined because like it was just showing up in a lot of unhealthy ways. And when I started like letting go, just like unnecessary stress and things I couldn't control and like worrying about things that you can't control. I think it's really important to like have ownership and like take responsibility for what you can control. But there's so many things that you can't control. So I honestly think like a big part of my lesson for that year is just like being
• 15:23
  like being a little like let go and more I think that's been helpful for me so far and to also like enjoy the journey as well you know like um I think the destination is obviously great a lot of founders especially the I'm sure this audience um maybe it's an eventual dream of them one day so like build this huge business and sell it for a big multiple and then it's obviously great when you achieve it but you realize once you do that there's so many like
• 15:49
  it's hard to explain. No one ever like knows until you experience it, but like the journey is actually like the most beautiful part. And when I think about like what I appreciate the most about that business and like my fondest memories, it's always been like with the team and at the office and at our off sites and like building them when we were really small and like doing all these like
• 16:08
  super scrappy, like unorthodox, not best practice things. And the romance of a startup. Yeah. And no one will ever take that away from you. Like now that I think like more than just like the result of what happened now, I have developed that skillset. So like now if I know if I like someone strips me of everything, of all of my titles, of all of my money, of like all of my success,
• 16:32
  at least I know how to do it, you know? So I'm just really grateful to have learned that through that experience. Everything you're saying really resonates with me because I think,
• 16:42
  And I was on another podcast this morning and I was actually talking about this. If you don't enjoy your day to day and you don't enjoy the journey on the way to the goals that you set for yourself, you've truly lost because like the goal is just this tiny thing that happens maybe once over here or maybe once over there, but your life is the everyday. And if you're not enjoying that and making the most of it and doing great things with it, then yeah.
• 17:09
  That sucks, basically. That's your life of the day. And yeah, I was just listening to a podcast on the Tim Ferriss show recently where he had his startup coach. I think her name is Alice. Come on to speak.
• 17:23
  And they were saying that like, everyone has problems, you know, it's like problems, problems, problems. There's like obviously problems in like creating your first business and like problems in the first initial branding and getting from zero to one. But then there's also problems in scaling and there's also problems in exiting and there's also problems in investing. So it's just like never ending like life things, you know, like no matter who you are, how much money you have, you still have
• 17:47
  have problems, they're just different problems. And they were like, if you put all of your problems on the table and all of everyone else's problems on the table, like most of the time you'll still choose to like have your problems. And I mean, there's so many things I respect about other people, like people who built these like ginormous businesses and like huge, huge, huge success.
• 18:07
  And I admire certain aspects about them. But when I think about like, if I admire their whole life, and if I want my life to be like their life, and its entirety, like, I don't know if I want to like make all those sacrifices and like, give up my life completely and like, wake up every day, like 4am. And like, I don't know if I could do all those things. So yeah, I don't think anything actually ever solves your problems. Like,
• 18:29
  The biggest thing that we get to do in business is that we get to solve like such interesting problems. You know, I would say that's one of the most beautiful benefits of like working in a startup is that every day you're faced with like with challenges. But like it's just just that's the emotional labor. That's where your value at is, is how you approach them and how you solve them.
• 18:47
  um but you know i'm like oh like i'm really overwhelmed here i need to just hire somebody to like help me with this but once you hire somebody then you'll have like management issues you know like there's always going to be some kind of challenges so like nothing's ever going to be perfect selling your business won't make your life perfect nothing will make it perfect so it's so important just like enjoy it as it's happening and like romanticize your life and enjoy the day-to-day and you're right like that entire year i was so one-track minded on this that i
• 19:14
  Like I was losing focus of everything else, which is my life. I got it. Like, you know, I'm taking control of my life. Like what's stopping me from like trying to live my ideal day today? You know, like it's under my power. It's all about my thought process, you know? So. Absolutely. It's all about that mindset shift and taking the challenges, using them as growth, using them as learnings.
• 19:38
  Gosh. Okay. So you go from, you know, being team member number three through to an exit, and then you decide to also launch your own business. You decide to start another company and essentially go it all again. Tell me about Evergreen Journals. Tell me about the journey. Yeah. I'm really, really into self-growth. I'm a big self-growth nerd. I read a book a week. I
• 20:07
  I'm always looking for hacks to like how to improve my life, you know, which now I'm thinking that like, that's probably a mistake. And like probably the biggest hack is to let it go. I really think letting go and like accepting and having that acceptance. But actually the biggest hack of all the hacks is to just let it go, you know? Oh my God. I feel like that's really easier said than done though. That's some serious practice. If I think about like all these things, like,
• 20:35
  They're all like just like a bandaid remedy, you know, but yeah, so I'm really into self growth. And well, it was sort of during the year when I sold Luxie or I led that sales process that I had this idea of like how the journey is so much more important than the destination.
• 20:52
  And your life is not like these crazy moments, but that's not who you are. That's not what makes up your life. Your life is like everything in between, you know? And like these crazy moments, like, you know, selling a business or getting engaged or getting a promotion, buying a house. Like they make up maybe like,
• 21:10
  0.5% of our entire lives you know we don't get these crazy moments every day so our life is actually all like that mundane day-to-day grind moments and we do that's actually our life when you think about people's lives it's not like all these crazy things they share on social it's like their morning routine their evening routine like
• 21:27
  how they approach their every day. And I just thought about how important that was, is to be intentional with how you want to live your like normal, very ordinary week and your ordinary day. And your day is really made up of your habits and your life is made up of your habits.
• 21:42
  And the things that you routinely do, it's what actually makes up what your life is and who you are. And so I wanted to create a product. I created with my best friend, Ali, on how to, on a tool just to help you hack building like habits, making the process, building habits easier and building positive lasting habits. I will say, honestly, as a co-founder, it's hard to admit this.
• 22:06
  has this solved like do you buy this product and then you like have positive habits forever no of course not you know but it has genuinely made it like at least 10% easier for me to build positive lasting habits and like that to me is like worth it and also it's made me like super
• 22:21
  super self-aware and be able to live intentionally because basically every day on the journal, you fill out, you track your mood of the day. So there's like five different smiling faces. You track your mood and most importantly, you track why you felt that way. So you just get very in tune with who you are and what you enjoy and what you don't enjoy, what fulfills you, what brings you like light and flow. And then just key random important learnings that you want to remember from that day. So yeah,
• 22:48
  There's so many things. I have great conversations with people and I'm like, oh, that's such a great nugget. I need to remember that for my life. And then I don't, you know, but this is a great way to document that. And then what I do is every day and I also review my journal entry from exactly a year ago that day. So I get to see like how I progress. Oh, that's a cool one. I love that. Yeah, I basically I document everything on this app called Day One on my phone.
• 23:18
  And I just like upload some photos of the day. And I also upload like a picture of my journal entry because I still like writing. Like I like the feeling of a pen and paper. It's very like soothing for self-care. But then I like this function to like digitize everything. So I get to like just put all the photos from the day. And then like I have my journal entry as well. So I get to like read everything. And then now I have this for the last three years. I've been doing this every day for the last three years. And it's just like,
• 23:47
  I think it's probably because I'm a control freak. It helps me feel like I have some control. What did you write on this day last year, a year ago? Oh my goodness, that's so fun. I just read it this morning, let me tell you.
• 24:01
  And it's so interesting to see like how sometimes you still have the same challenges or the same process or just to see how much you've grown. And it gives you like good perspective to like go into that day. Oh, this day I wrote that like I had a really lovely time meditating with my brother. And it was just really important to spend time with family. So my brother is 16 years old. So this is a photo of us meditating that evening. And I wrote like I want to remember that spending time with family is important. I'm really grateful for these like.
• 24:31
  special moments that I get to spend with him. So yeah, that was from a year ago today. Oh my gosh. You need to call your brother today. Give him some love. Remind him of that time a year ago. Wow. Getting me in the feels there. On the growth side of your Evergreen Journals business, how's it going? What are the key drivers for growth at the moment? I think you launched last year, right? In 2020. What's it been like first year of business?
• 24:59
  I would say definitely it's been very, very humbling, like for sure. Because when I came into Luxie, it was already like a very successful, like thriving, sizable business. I was able to scale it. So I was able to take it from a seven figure business to a nine figure business when I left. But like I didn't get to do the initial zero to one phase. And I would say now I've done that phase. I have so much more respect for like early stage entrepreneurs who'd like do the initial phase.
• 25:28
  Zero to one is hard. So hard. Yeah. Like I know people like love it and it's fun, but like obviously creating a brand is fun and creating products is fun and creating like beautiful imagery and all that's fun. But like actually finding product market fit for your brand, it's quite hard.
• 25:45
  And now actually I was like, I went in with very unrealistic expectations. I was like, look at me. I'm an e-commerce like genius. You know, my, my best friend, she's like a leader at Shopify. We know a lot about like e-commerce and like how to scale products. I'm like, this is going to hit seven figures and it's full of your.
• 26:01
  first year, like very organically. And it definitely did not do that. And like we launched, I was like, oh, like this is just like, it's everyone should just start an e-commerce business because it's so easy to like just generate passive income for yourself and have this great lifestyle business. But like, it's so much harder than like people make it out to scene. Like it's very, very difficult. And even like we're, I would say decently successful. Like we've generated very solid sales, six figure sales.
• 26:29
  very organically. Like I work on it for maybe two hours a week. So it was my partner because right now my focus and priority right now is Girlboss and growing Girlboss. And before it was Luxie. So it's been like a side project, I would say. But like, even if you make it very, very successful, like you still have to like, obviously like the product costs money, shipping costs money, marketing costs money, like to pay people. Like, so
• 26:54
  your margins get very, very thin. And then how much money as a founder, you can actually take out of the business. Maybe you can take out like, even if you make a million dollars a year, take out like 30,000, but you want to mess it back into the business because you want to grow. So I think like, it's definitely a myth and a hoax that people think you can start these
• 27:12
  like DTC businesses and you're generating like seven figures of revenue and like able to sustain it forever. I would say if I give like any piece of advice for like the aspiring entrepreneurs on like this podcast is like now that I've done this, I don't think I would actually start a business again from scratch, like from zero.
• 27:30
  I think I would, my next journey will probably be able to buy a successful business, something that's already found product market fit, has good revenue, has, is profitable, is sustainable, has like good bones. And then just be able to use my zone of genius and be able to scale it and make it bigger, make it better, bring the right team, the right culture and all those things. Those are things that I'm personally the most passionate about. I feel like that would be like
• 27:52
  the best use of my time. But no, it's great. It's been like every minute I've spent in this business has been such a joy because I've done it with my best friend. And like, it's been so fun. And I've learned so much. And like, we're still doing very well. We have like definitely growth plans in the mix. But I would say above all else,
• 28:10
  My number one lesson is that it's really hard. It's been very humbling. And it takes a very different skill set for someone to go from like one to a hundred, then from zero to one, like you're a different kind of entrepreneur. And I've learned that I'm more of a scaler as an entrepreneur than I am a zero to one. And I thought maybe, I think I started the business because I have some kind of like ego and inferiority complex that I'm not a true entrepreneur unless I start my own business. Yeah.
• 28:36
  And be able to like take it from zero to like 100 all on my own. But I think that's false. I think being entrepreneurs, like being a linchpin and taking emotional labor and like, you know, like leading a team, solving challenging problems, like hiring a team, managing people like that's real entrepreneurship, you know, like making like people who are like single person entrepreneurs.
• 28:56
  It's more like you're a freelancer because you're still employed. If you don't work like the business doesn't work, you want it to be an entrepreneur. You need to create a system and processes so that the business works without you in it. Long ramble. But yeah, honestly, like I'm oversharing on this podcast for sure. But that's really my biggest takeaway.
• 29:15
  I love it. And it's something it comes up often. I actually talk about this often, even just my husband, that zero to one phase feels really hard and identifying whether you're a builder or whether you're a scaler and where you fit in the mix. But of course, it's tricky because if you haven't gone through the scaling part either, you know, of course, how do you know?
• 29:33
  But we've spoken about that kind of, you know, a lot of founders now, you know, buy a company that's doing well on, say, Amazon, for example, and then putting their skill set, plugging everything else in, turning it on, you know, creating more of a sense of community and making it look cooler and all this kind of thing. So I think it's a really interesting what you're saying. I'm like, yeah, that's amazing. Very cool.
• 29:52
  Yeah. Yeah. Taking brick and mortar, taking like traditional products, like bring that into DTC. Yeah. There's a lot of ways to scale. And yeah, I'm not saying scaling is easy. Scaling is definitely not easy, but like, I think different people are, your zone of genius is different for who you are. Every stage you need different skill sets. And I feel like my skill sets are more suited for the scaling phase. So I'm excited for that.
• 30:18
  Well, this is a nice segue into what you're doing now. You have recently, earlier this year, joined Girlboss. So exciting. Congratulations, by the way. Huge new chapter for you. Tell us about Girlboss. Tell us about the vision. Tell us how you're going to be scaling this company.
• 30:37
  Yeah, I'm super excited. Yeah, it's been like so humbling again, and just such a great learning experience for me moving from D to C and now into media, which are two very different plays. But yeah, I took this opportunity, the owners of Girlboss reached out to me earlier this year, and asked me to join and lead the company through, I would say a turnaround, because we have a really large audience, extremely, extremely large audience, very engaged audience.
• 31:04
  Great mission, great purpose, but was very heavily focused on events and events production pre-COVID. And then when COVID happened, it was obviously really hard for the business. And we kind of had to start from scratch, you know, and we're just taking the assets and seeing how we can make it work in this new digital world. And when they first approached me, I was like, oh, like, I'm not interested in that because I'm so comfortable. Like, I'm very happy in what I'm doing. I love e-commerce. I love this amazing team. Yeah.
• 31:32
  I still have a lot more work to do. But I actually think like the biggest thing that convinced me over to join Girlboss and lead this new 2.0 is because I'm most motivated in all things in life by growth and like new experiences and just getting better and being a better version of myself. And I just felt like before I started a family, I had like one last hustle in me. I don't think that's true.
• 31:57
  Just like one last one, you know? But like, I felt like I was getting like a little bit too comfortable at the end of Lux. We just had like, I was kind of like, I worked myself out of a job eventually, which I think is a dream from an entrepreneur to like work yourselves out of a job. You know, you have all the right people in place doing all the right things. You guys are all aligned. There's the right system. It's just like working like clockwork, you know?
• 32:17
  And that's where we got it to near the end, which is amazing. It's beautiful to see that as an entrepreneur. But I think I was just getting too comfortable as an individual for my own growth. And I was like, okay, like I wasn't expecting to leave. But with this opportunity, I get to like really hustle and like turn a business around and be in the grind and get uncomfortable again and be really challenged and solve interesting problems. I definitely was very challenged, you know, like I'm solving like very interesting problems. Grow Boss...
• 32:46
  who we are and what we do. First of all, Girlboss, we exist because we believe, I guess, very similar to you guys at the Female Startup Club. We believe in the power of women. And I'm very feminist myself, and I believe in the power of women. And I believe that women are powerful, and we're here to support women to do whatever they want. And Girlboss, right now, we're a
• 33:13
  Scoop, Refinery, Forbes Morning Brew, Betches. We deliver content to help
• 33:21
  female entrepreneurs to help with career advice as well. We target a lot of people, women in their mid-stage career on just like really non-cliché career advice. Right now, when you're Googling career advice, it's all like very, very outdated and not relevant to today's world. So like we do that through our podcast, but mainly right now through our daily newsletter podcast.
• 33:44
  which we send to people every morning. We curate, we write it, and we give business news, career advice, staff picks, all consolidated in a very funny way. Our tone is very, very humorous. So it's kind of like having your best friend pop into your inbox every morning to say hi and tell you what's going on with the world and give you some good advice and like,
• 34:06
  help inspire you throughout your day. So that's what we're focused on right now is building really good content across the board, across all of our channels and growing our audience, making sure that we're delivering value for them and making sure that we're helping them achieve career success, relationship success, business success. But like the vision is so, so, so much bigger, like so many opportunities. I would say I'm definitely like,
• 34:31
  I'm actually like way more excited about what we're launching right now. We're currently working on behind the scenes than like this media play, which will launch Q1 of next year. So yeah, super, super pumped. I don't think I can share too much about it like right now, but we're going to launch it next quarter. And there's so many things obviously that we can do with the brand. We have a recently actually just finalized a three-year vision, like a three-year painted picture for the brand, which is this like four page Google doc.
• 34:59
  which it goes into detail about everything. Like what is our business model? Like who are we? Why do we exist? What is our mission? How are we going to give back? Like what does our team look like? Which I think is just so important for any entrepreneur to do. And now like have the vision. I'm super excited about the vision. I have the team on board. I'm just like super excited now to execute. And I feel like we're
• 35:19
  like in a really, really solid place. So I'm excited to see where it goes. Gosh, I'm excited. Q1 next year. I know you can't share, but I'm on the edge of my seat. And my follow-up question, which I'm assuming, you know, it's redundant now, but my follow-up question was obviously...
• 35:35
  you know, with what happened in the pandemic, events couldn't go ahead as planned. I know you guys did crazy, like nine or 10 figure deals or something weird, huge, weirdly huge. And obviously that goes to zero. And so my question was around like, what are you doing to, you know, change that revenue model and get back to that position? But I'm assuming that's Q1 next year. I've got to stay tuned. I've got to keep in the loop, which I obviously will be. I'm super excited to see
• 36:04
  I would love that. Yeah. I'm really excited. What is your most important piece of advice for entrepreneurs coming into 2022? I feel like I'm a broken record, but I really believe that it's all about your mindset and priming your mindset every day for success. And
• 36:25
  Believing yourself. I know it's so cliche, but it really is so important, you know, and every day I wake up, I'm thinking about how I can frame my mindset to like, no, I already can do something. And I'm watching like, this is cheesy. I'm watching like billions right now. Have you watched billions? No. What is it?
• 36:44
  I think it's on HBO, but it's a show about this like super aggressive, dominant male hedge fund manager and all of his skill sets, you know, and I'm thinking about like, what can I do to be a little bit more like assured, not like mean the way that he is, but like just more assured of myself every day. And I think that's especially for females, like so important to think about like how we can like shift our mindset to like serve us in the best way possible.
• 37:10
  Um, and just really like believe in ourselves. I think that's like the most important thing. You know, I think like, first of all, you can do it, you know, um, you think that people have all this crazy and stage advice and like everyone else in the world knows what they're doing. Uh, but like no one really does, you know, and like being entrepreneurs, like being like a dog with no one, like holding your leash, you know, you're just walking on your own.
• 37:33
  So I think it really starts with the belief in yourself and what you have to offer this world, which you should, because like I've worked in some really, really large corporations from Accenture to L'Oreal. And I thought I would come into like all of these like top secret of like strategy, but like no one really knows what they're doing. And it takes a lot of emotional labor to put that together. So I think.
• 37:54
  believing yourself is the most important thing. Um, I'm really big fan of like podcasts and books, but recently I've actually started listening to like more affirmations as I'm working. And as I'm like washing the dishes and like doing my, during my downtime of like folding laundry and washing dishes, um, and very simple affirmations I can maybe share for you to share in the show notes, if that's helpful. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. This, uh,
• 38:22
  I was recommended with this lady with her morning meditation guide and her affirmations. And it's so lovely. Now I'm like just washing the dishes, like hearing this woman tell me like, I am enough. Like you are enough. Like all of these like super wonderful things.
• 38:37
  So like really like I'm trying to train myself that that all happens like naturally and subliminally for me. I guess it's another hack. But it's been so lovely so far. I've been doing it for the last week or so. Yeah. So I think like just and that comes with shifting my mindset. So every day I'm thinking about like what can I do to prime my mindset to set myself up for success? So I guess to summarize it all, just to believe in yourself.
• 39:03
  believe in yourself, go in with blind optimism, tackle it head on, enjoy the journey. I love it. And act like it, you know? Yes. Show up as the person that you want to be. Totally. Yes, exactly. We wrap up at the end of every episode with a series of six quick questions, some of which we might've covered, some of which we might not have, but I asked them all the same. So question number one, what's your why? Why are you doing what you're doing?
• 39:31
  Um, okay. For me, the biggest thing that motivates me more than anything else is from internal, like locus of control. And that for me is growth. So that's anything from like business growth to like personal growth to see like growth in my team, seeing growth in others, just from me growing as a person, like learning new things, like learning new experiences, um,
• 39:54
  having new experiences. That to me is so motivating. Like every time I get to learn something new, it's so rewarding. I'm like, wow, there's so much left for me in the world to do. And it just makes me so excited about the opportunities that are out there. So yeah, just like getting better every single day and learning something new every day. That's what really motivates me.
• 40:16
  I love that. Question number two, and you can choose in which business this fits into, but what's been the number one marketing moment that made any of the three businesses we've spoken about today pop?
• 40:29
  I think across the board, for you to really beat your competitors, you have to do one of two things. One, you have to outspend them or two, you out educate them. So it's really about paid marketing or content marketing. And paid marketing is seductive because it scales really fast, you know.
• 40:50
  And you see like super fast scale, but it plateaus like over a certain amount of time. Content marketing is more of like a longer term play, but you reap the rewards later on. And when you don't have as many resources and capital, like it's so important. And now, especially with what's been happening with like,
• 41:07
  iOS 14 and a half and like everything that's happening. Do you see in Facebook? Like it makes me believe in content marketing, like more and more and just building a following, building an audience. So like podcasts like this and just producing a really good, valuable, consistent content.
• 41:23
  quality, authentic content out there. That's what's going to really drive business success in the end. And I think all businesses have been successful for that. Like for Luxie Hair, I walked into this like goldmine of a business where before I joined, I don't think they spend like maybe like $10,000, maybe $50,000 actually in total over five years of marketing period.
• 41:42
  Um, and it was doing like, it was a massive business and it was all through organic content that they produce on YouTube, um, that drove the entire business. So it was no, like, there's no like crazy spikes, but it was like consistent growth over time. And it's definitely like a long-term play. And you feel like sometimes you're posting, but you're like losing followers or everything you're saying, you're speaking my language. Yeah.
• 42:07
  Yeah, you're like, what's going on? But like consistency is one of the most important things. It's the compound effect. It's that 1% every day. Keep doing it. Take the action. Don't look at the numbers necessarily. Just keep going. And one day you're going to look back and be like, whoa. Totally. And delivering value. Just delivering like quality, authentic, consistent content, you know, over time that that's what's going to win. I'm so with you.
• 42:35
  Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? I know we touched on this before, but are there any other books, podcasts, resources that you want to shout about? Yeah, I would say I still in general like slow media more than I like fast media. So slow media to me is like books. You know, I feel like books are like the most stage advice over time because somebody took a lot of effort and years of their time to write something and their best knowledge and things that like,
• 43:05
  we can find teachers from like centuries ago and these are books that have lasted and through the testament of time you know so i feel like we can get so like seduced into like fast media and like instagram and twitter and all these things um and news but like slow media to me has been the most helpful for sure and it's where i enjoy the most it's like the
• 43:26
  most stress-free version of media there is out there. But now, actually, before, I think I had a pretty negative association with news. I remember reading Tim Ferriss' four-hour workweek, where his advice is like, don't watch the news. Anything that's important, like your waiter would tell you at dinner, whereas if it's important in the world, someone will tell you. And just stay focused on your goals. Don't get distracted. And I really subscribe to that
• 43:54
  mentality for a long time because the news is like so sad sometimes, you know, but I realized over the last like two years that it was probably very selfish of me to like be just so like turned off towards like fast media. And it's important to like, um, as an investor, as a business person to be informed about what's going on in the world. And now, especially I run a media business. I've slowly understood like the importance of that and how important it is to like
• 44:23
  like be informed so that we can give back and make educated decisions and like, you know, like help others as well, you know, especially with everything that's happened on this last year with COVID and all the different social injustice that's gone on in the world. Like it's taught me how more important it is.
• 44:39
  to be informed. So I'm doing a lot more fast media than I used to. And I get it from like certain people that I follow on Twitter and just like the Reddit homepage and with Girlboss Daily as well. We curate some highlights throughout, but yeah, I'm still a little bit torn on like what makes the most sense. But I think for like Sage, like not stressful, selfish advice to me, slow media on books is like the most soothing for me.
• 45:05
  I'm going to link linchpin in the show notes for anyone who wants to check that out who hasn't read it yet. Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM or PM rituals and habits that you, you know, do every day to keep feeling happy and successful and motivated?
• 45:22
  Yes, I shared the one earlier with you about journaling and the importance of journaling. I love, love, love journaling. I have a super, I would say like, I'm like a fun robot. Like I'm kind of robotic, but I'm also like, I don't take myself that seriously. So I'm...
• 45:38
  I've never had someone say that on the show. I track my anxiety level every day. I track my happiest level day. I have an Excel chart that maps it out over time. Like it's pretty like I have a system. I have like a daily, weekly, monthly, annually, quarterly review process. And I have a very strict like morning and night routine. But I won't get into like all of those details.
• 46:00
  Because it's quite intense. But I think like, obviously, I don't do it all the time. But if I really want to win the day, like those things help. I would say like the number one advice for winning the day, and like what makes the biggest difference for me, it's just like, don't check my phone first thing in the morning.
• 46:15
  Like if I can just do that, like everything else kind of like doesn't matter as much and like we'll follow, you know, the days that like, I'm just like, oh my gosh, like what's going on in the world? Like what's going on in the business? Like, and I want to like wake myself up. What's going on on Instagram? Those are like the worst days, you know, cause I already wake up like, okay.
• 46:33
  Living the day reactively and not proactively and not intentionally. I'm just reacting to everything. So just primes myself to like, just be reacting all day. So like, of course I don't follow my routine every day, but I definitely notice it's the biggest difference when I check in and don't check my phone first thing in the morning. I am really bad at that right now. And I need to get back into not checking my phone in the morning. I let that habit slip. And now, you know, I'm back in a bad place.
• 47:01
  It's really bad. Question number five, if you were given a thousand dollars of no strings attached grant money, where would you spend it in the business? And it's to highlight your most important spend of a dollar.
• 47:13
  I would say like if it's not a thousand dollars, if it's more than a thousand dollars, like in general, I really believe in people. And we didn't talk about people that much in this podcast, but I'm a big advocate for people and for building teams and for building culture and for org design. And in terms of how to scale the business, that is what's going to help you scale really in the long term is you have to let go. And I would say like, it's not about numbers. It's not about, I actually think the businesses who are able to like operate the
• 47:39
  very successful businesses with a very small team. Those are the businesses that I'm the most impressed with. Kudos for them for doing that in an effective way. So it's not about just adding people. It's about being very strategic about your org and how you design it, who are the right people, what are the responsibilities, and what do they own, and what are the skill sets you need to look out for in this person. And just being very strategic about how you design your overall organization. Once you do that, then you'll have a lot of success.
• 48:09
  And bringing the right people who are aligned with your values, obviously. That's super important. Obviously, you can't buy anybody. You can't for $1,000. So if it's outside of people and hiring org design, definitely content. It's the best thing that you can do. If you're a new entrepreneur and you're just starting out, that's where you need to start.
• 48:29
  you need to start with content and you need to start with like putting yourself out there, putting like valuable, consistent, authentic content out there for your brand, for your business. Because you're not going to win on paid media. Like, you know, it's hard to win on paid media, like right from the beginning. So you want a good day. So that's where I would say the best spend for your resources would be in the beginning. And last question, question number six, how do you deal with failure? What's your mindset and approach when things don't go to plan?
• 48:58
  I think for me, my biggest motivation in life is growth, right? And like, how do I get better every day? So whenever I fail, I actually try to look at it as a positive thing. And it's all about our perspective, you know, so I...
• 49:15
  I think about like, what did I learn from this and how can I prevent this from happening again? And every time something happens wrong in the business, which happens like all the time, it's not okay just to fix it. That's not like the solution just to fix it and make it better. It's like, what can we do to prevent this from happening next time? Like what could have done initially in the process earlier on to prevent this? Because I think if you're constantly chasing fires and
• 49:39
  it's not like something to be proud of, you know, like you want to build a good business where of course there's fires sometimes, but if it's fires day to day, every single day, then something's not right with the way that you're running your business and running your team. So every time there's a failure or a mistake or a fire, I just try to think about like, what can we do to proactively not let this happen in the future? And what can we add in as like safeguards and our process and the way that we work together to prevent this from happening?
• 50:07
  I love that. Lulu, you are such a powerhouse. I have loved meeting you. I can't wait to meet you in person. Thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show and share this wild ride that you've been on across these three businesses. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me on. I love doing podcasts because it's like therapy. I always feel like I've gone to therapy every time I've done a podcast. So it was lovely to be on. Thanks for hosting me through today.
• 50:37
  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.
• 51:02
  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.
• 51:24
  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.
• 51:41
  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.
• 52:05
  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.
• 52:28
  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.