Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Mimi Ikonn on selling more than 1,000,000 units of The 5 Minute Journal (& why Tim Ferris uses it daily)

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Mimi Ikonn on selling more than 1,000,000 units of The 5 Minute Journal (& why Tim Ferris uses it daily) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Mimi Icon for Female Startup Club.
• 0:12
  Hey everyone, it's Dune here, your host and hype girl. Today we're learning from a dear friend of mine, Mimi Icon. She is a woman of many talents and has founded multiple successful businesses such as Luxie Hair, which she bootstrapped through to an exit a few years ago, Love Hair, and in more recent years, Intelligent Change, which is a company that creates products to enrich your life like daily gratitude planners and productivity planners.
• 0:42
  You actually might be familiar with their five-minute journal that's frequently used by people like Tim Ferriss and Hayley Bieber and has sold more than a million units worldwide.
• 0:53
  I love this conversation so, so much. Mimi has a view on business and life that we can all take inspiration from. So I hope you love the episode as much as I did recording it. And if you're feeling generous, please do take the time to share this with someone in your life who would benefit from tuning in or shout loudly about it on social media. You know, I love it when you do that. So happy listening. Let's get stuck into this episode. This is Mimi for Female Startup Club.
• 1:23
  Mimi, hi. Welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. Hi, Dune, and thank you so much for having me on the show. I'm really happy and excited to be here and to be finally chatting with you on the show because we've been trying to plan this conversation for so long and here we are, finally. Here we are. I'm so excited. I'm so happy to have you on the show. As you said, it has been a while and we've known each other for a few years, so I'm
• 1:50
  Extra excited to get into this today. You are so many things. You are a YouTuber. You're an entrepreneur. You have Luxie hair. You've had love hair, intelligent change, author, podcaster. What else? Mom, angel investor. So many things. Superwoman. For those of the audience who don't know who you are just yet, how do you like to introduce yourself and what's your kind of spiel? Yeah.
• 2:20
  Yeah, this is the part I guess I struggle with the most is I often don't talk about myself. Like when I meet people, I never tell them what I do. And I always ask, I'm the one asking the questions. So when people ask, so what do you do? I'm like, oh, gosh, how do I even begin? But like you mentioned, you know, I've tried a lot of things in my 35 years of life on planet Earth. First, obviously working physically.
• 2:45
  having jobs and learning through that experience. I think that was really pivotal in my early years. I think for anybody who has a job, you have an opportunity to learn so much of what you like, what you don't like, how that business is ran and you're the employee. Like you don't have a control over many things, but once you do have your own business, you can do it your way. So, you know, I,
• 3:11
  late teens and early 20s. I worked as a waitress in several restaurants and a club. I worked at a bank, even had a small gig working as a nanny. That didn't work out for me. But, you know, I had a lot of experience, mostly customer service, because I love people. I love working with people.
• 3:30
  And I learned a ton. And the biggest thing I learned is that freedom was really important to me. And I would love to have my own business. Then fast forward to my husband and my also business partner, Alex. One day walking to the bank where I used to work and us becoming really good friends. And we connected on so many levels. But most importantly, we both had the same vision. We wanted to travel the world. We wanted to have lots of freedom.
• 3:59
  flexibility in our lifestyle and we wanted to do our own thing whatever that was
• 4:05
  At that point, we weren't yet a couple, but there was a lot of chemistry because we first, I would say, even connected on that as friends and kind of similar type people. And then that became romantic relationship, which of course ended up later in a marriage. But that's a funny story because this is how our first business, Luxe Hair, was born. Alex proposed to me at a point in our lives when he was,
• 4:33
  He got fired from working at a bank. You already probably know the story. He had a side hustle selling cars from U.S. to Russia. And he was doing it sometimes during his work hours at the bank they used to work at. This is years ago when we were working at CIBC. This is one of the big four in Canada. We used to live in Toronto before.
• 4:57
  And yeah, one day corporate security walked in and they basically told him that they know that he has a side hustle and this is unacceptable. And he lost his job like that.
• 5:08
  It was to him in that moment, it was, yeah, it was a very difficult moment, but it was the best thing that happened because he wanted to be an investment banker. And in that moment, that dream sort of, you know, crashed, even though he could have still pursued it. But he realized that, you know, when you work in a big corporation, you're just a cog in the machine. Nobody really cares who you are.
• 5:30
  who you are. If you break the rules, you're out. And at that point, I also wanted to leave the bank. I never really wanted to be in the bank in the first place. That was my escape route to get out of high school. In grade 12, I wanted to just get out. I was kind of fed up with it. And I found out about a co-op program. For anybody who's listening who's maybe young, this is great because
• 5:53
  If traditional education is not for you, there are always ways to get credit and work. And while you're working, you're learning all this knowledge that can actually apply to what you want to do. So this is how I got out of high school. Ended up getting stuck at the bank because I had a really great team and it turned out to be...
• 6:12
  This really incredible experience for me because this is how I met Alex one day, right? So then he gets fired from the bank. I right away quit because at that point I knew that it's not where I want to work anyways. And we were, you know, kind of unemployed for maybe about a year.
• 6:30
  a year and a half, sort of searching of what we want to do with our lives. Both of us knew that we would rather do our own thing than go back to the corporate again. Because once you have a taste of that, if it's not for you, you just know it's more of like a bit of over-exaggerated, but like a death sentence. You know, for me to be there, it was like...
• 6:49
  I was constantly having existential panic attacks and thinking like, why am I here? And I think it's so important to connect to that inner intuition and calling. Just like a relationship with a partner, a relationship with your work should feel good. If it doesn't feel good.
• 7:07
  You're free to leave. You're free to go and do something else. Life is so beautiful and there's so much variety and diversity. You don't have to be stuck in a job or relationship that you don't enjoy. So we ended up, well, so he got fired. I ended up quitting the bank, even though it was very much unknown. I knew that I need to step away to do something. So then I went on to...
• 7:32
  Actually, I'm a college dropout. I didn't cover that part. Again, I think it's an interesting point because, you know, a lot of us grow up thinking that we need education. And I'm a big advocate for educating yourself your whole life. But education is not something you necessarily need to go to school for. You can do it in many different ways. And I believe it's something that never really stops for as long as you're alive.
• 7:58
  So I ended up quitting my school. I went for international business. So I did have an inkling in me that knew that I want to travel and do business. So I went into that program, but then...
• 8:11
  I was working two jobs, helping my parents pay for the mortgage. And I took accounting class. And then I realized in that class that, you know, if I am to pass this class, I will need to take some extra help. And I really, with two jobs, I really couldn't afford that. So I ended up just quitting my school and deciding that one day when I start a business, I'll just hire an accountant. I don't need to do everything in the business. And I think that was...
• 8:39
  That was such an important lesson for me. I let go of the attachment that I need to have this piece of paper to be acknowledged as an educated, good enough woman, person, doesn't matter. And so then when Alex got fired and I quit the bank...
• 8:57
  I was looking again for some new area of interest that I could pursue. And Alex, because he knew me at that point very well, he mentioned that, you know, you really love fashion. You're always, at that point I had a blog, I was posting my outfits. This is many years ago, way before even YouTube was big. So I started a fashion blog and I went to, I went back to college to get certified as an image consultant. And.
• 9:24
  I did that very quickly. The certification program is something you can do in half a year. It was amazing. It's the first time in my life that I actually enjoyed being educated because I genuinely was really into the topic and it makes such a huge difference. So when I came out of school straight away, I started my own practice as a fashion stylist, image consultant, and I quickly realized that this is not the type of business I want to run.
• 9:52
  Again, such an important pivotal lesson is that when you are self-employed, it's very different than owning a business where you are not. I mean, you're running the show, but you're not part of the equation. For example, if you were to go away on a holiday and you have a shop, an online shop selling, I don't know.
• 10:15
  vitamins, the business is still going to run whether you're there or not. You need a customer service person. You need, you know, a fulfillment house shipping out the product. But essentially, you can outsource yourself out of the business. But if you're an image consultant or if you're a doctor or if you're anybody else who is self-employed,
• 10:34
  you are your business. And I realized that's not the avenue I want to take very early on. I think it was the first year of that business. I was doing well, but again, it was very intense labor where I was working from, you know, sometimes from six in the morning till 8 p.m. And I realized if I ever want to start a family, this is not going to be easy. And then I remember coming to Alex and complaining about it.
• 11:00
  And at the time he was listening, it was probably one of the first audio books we both listened with Alex. And it was, again, a really important book in our lives called The Far-Hour Workweek. Have you listened to the book or have you read the book? I've read it, but a really long time ago, and it also changed things in my life from reading it.
• 11:21
  Yeah, the reason it was such an important book in our lives is because oftentimes many people don't have people in their lives who are doing what they want to be doing. And, you know, we had an idea of the lifestyle of the dream we wanted to create, but we didn't know anybody who did that. So we doubted ourselves often. But then you come across a book like For Our Work Week, where you can read stories about
• 11:49
  real life stories of people who are already living the lifestyle we wanted to be living. And it was so inspirational and so encouraging. And it definitely pushed us in the right direction to pursue our own business. Now, at the time...
• 12:05
  Alex also decided to propose to me, which was to me at the time felt like a really crazy decision, but also it felt right in our hearts to just do it. Even though we were broke, we didn't know what we're going to do with our lives, but we were full of dreams. And I think in your early 20s, that's sometimes more than enough.
• 12:26
  and we had each other. That was probably one of the most exciting times in our lives. And then what ended up happening is for the wedding, I really wanted to get hair extensions. And money was tight because we were both kind of self-employed, but not really making that much money, kind of figuring things out. And then Alex proposes, and I'm thinking, planning this destination wedding where, you know, everybody pays for their own trip. And we just asked everybody to, you know,
• 12:55
  Not give us gifts, but their presence would be the gift. But then I still wanted to have a nice dress and, you know, do my hair and everything, but very, very frugally. So I buy these clip-in hair extensions that, you know, I bring home and put it on. And when Alex looked at me, he said, wow, this is really amazing, but what is this product? Tell me more.
• 13:16
  I wasn't happy with the product I bought because it didn't look real. You know, oftentimes with hair extensions, if you have naturally quite thick hair and you don't get a lot of thick hair when you buy it, a lot of it comes like quite a small package and you put in your hair and it just doesn't look real. And that was the case for me. It just didn't blend.
• 13:38
  Didn't look real. I was extremely upset that I wasted, like, I think this years ago, maybe probably around $200 even back then. And I always tell people out of great disappointments or problems, you can create solutions and you can create the business. So this was the conception of Luxie Hair, our first baby, our first business together with Alex.
• 14:03
  that ended up becoming extremely successful and making millions and millions of dollars. And in the end, we ended up selling it about three years ago. So to make the long story short, we went for it, even though we had no experience in hair industry. We didn't know how to market the products at first, but...
• 14:22
  Because we were a small team, it was just me, my sister, and Alex. We just did everything ourselves. So my sister and I, we just made videos showing these hair extensions that, you know, Alex found on Alibaba. We got 10 different samples. And the first sample we got was incredible. The hair was amazing.
• 14:41
  We only worked with natural hair. It looked natural, beautiful, thick. And then I didn't want to get excited. And then we got nine more samples and they were all horrible. So there was obviously there was hard work in looking for all these products. But also there is an element of luck being at the right time, at the right place, doing the right thing.
• 15:02
  So then we ended up working with that first factory, the first sample that we ever got that was just incredible, sensational. It was like mermaid hair and made me feel so excited to share that product with our audience. So the way we marketed the products, because we didn't have any money whatsoever to spend on anything,
• 15:20
  It's just me and my sister making YouTube videos, showing people how to use the products. We never even pushed the products or told people that we own the company. It was simply us sitting down and showing girls how to get, you know, Victoria's Secret Waves, how to do a fishtail braid, and all these different hairstyles. And the company grew. In the first year, we made our first million. It was really incredible because it was truly a dream come true. If one thing I remember from my first year
• 15:48
  first year of being in college and doing international business is that the first thing they tell you is something like 98% of businesses fail in the first two years. Like, it's so depressing. So I kept thinking to myself, Oh my God, we're the, you know, the one, the 2% that survived and not only survived, but flourished. And,
• 16:07
  We grew and we kept on growing. And, you know, for the first five years of Luxie Hair, we only grew organically. We didn't use any Facebook ads, no YouTube ads. We didn't even pay any social media influencers at the time. We just send it out as gifts and the girls loved them and they raved about them. And that's how the company grew. And yeah, it did really, really well. So that's the story of the first baby. That's amazing. Yeah.
• 16:36
  That's such an incredibly inspiring story. Thank you. And of course, yeah, you know, it sounds very exciting and it sounds very effortless. But as you already know, because you've interviewed so many inspiring, hardworking women, at the end of the day, there is a lot of work that goes into making a business successful. And what I think we did right is we...
• 17:00
  first identified our values. For us, the reason we're in business or we are still in business is because we value freedom. We need to make calls on what we want to do in life, where we are every day, who we're with. We want to be in charge of that and help.
• 17:17
  To us, that's really important. So I would say Alex and I, you know, we've always been business partners. We do it together. We are lifestyle entrepreneurs. And even, let's say, with our first business, we could have probably scaled it and grew it to be like a 50 plus million dollar business. But for us, that wasn't the goal. The business did incredible. And then we ended up selling it for exactly what we wanted. But for us, that lifestyle part.
• 17:42
  is always incredibly important. So then we moved on to doing what we're doing now. You know, as you already know, we, Alex and I, we run Intelligent Change. It's a baby that was created first by Alex and his best friend, UJ, years ago,
• 17:58
  Many of you listeners probably might have known one of our products, which is the bestseller, the five-minute journal. And then UJ ended up moving on to do his own thing, and we bought the company over from him. And now it's Alex and I. Basically, we're the vision, and we are, I would say, biggest legacy that we want to leave behind today.
• 18:18
  With Luxie Hair, it was a business that we knew at one point we're going to sell with intelligent changes, something we genuinely want to wake up and want to do every single day of our lives. And for those of you who don't know what intelligent change is, is basically we create tools that make people happier and improve their lives in...
• 18:38
  in one way or another, in different areas of their lives, whether productivity or happiness or mindfulness. So we provide those tools through different journals or, you know, we're going to be launching a range of games that are really cool for getting people closer, for having better, deeper relationships. Yeah, we're doing so many things that are going to be launching in the next year that I'm really excited about. Also, we have an app
• 19:05
  for the 5-Minute Journal, which, as I mentioned, is the bestseller. Again, the product came out of a personal, I would say, challenge. When we became really successful with Luxi Hair, you know, I grew up with very little money. Same with Alex. We thought when we are going to have financial abundance, all problems will be solved and we're going to be so happy and everything will be perfect. But the reality is, in my case, even in the first year of Luxi Hair,
• 19:34
  you know, making the first million and me realizing that I can afford to buy anything I want materialistic or travel anywhere I want. I actually became extremely depressed and I realized that in reality, I don't want any of these things. I just want to wake up every day knowing that.
• 19:53
  I'm getting emotional right now even saying this, knowing that there's a purpose, that I'm here for a reason. I want to feel excited and I want to feel alive. And as nice it is to have material things in our lives, these are not the things that make us feel happy.
• 20:10
  alive and useful in this, in this world. At least that, that for me was the case. So then, you know, that was partly why we ended up selling our previous businesses because we just wanted to focus on what makes us the most joyful and, and happy and present in our lives. And, um,
• 20:30
  Yeah, so that's that's partly how our first product was created, which is the five minute journal, is that, you know, for many years, Alex and I were and still are big fans of the work of Tony Robbins. Have you ever done any of his programs, June? I haven't done any of his programs, but I'm no, no, I haven't done any of the programs, but I'm very familiar with Tony Robbins.
• 20:53
  He's amazing, which is so funny. I had a dream about, I never dream about Tony Robbins, but this night I had a dream about him. I've only dreamt of him twice. Once was when we attended his event years ago. This was in New York, Unleash the Power Within, which is like a really huge event. It was like 5,000 people and he makes you go through all your limiting beliefs and all these things. He's basically like, I don't know, you could call it like a self-help guru, but he's
• 21:22
  He's so much more than that. He's got a really inspiring story where he overcame depression, obese. He was quite overweight. I'm not sure if he was obese, but, you know, he went through a lot of limiting beliefs and became this really successful speaker, entrepreneur, author, and changed probably hundreds of thousands of lives, if not millions of lives. I would dare to say that definitely millions of lives, I think.
• 21:47
  And, you know, years ago, we listened to his program called Get the Edge. To this day, I think that program is the most useful tool anybody can use who is kind of in a rut and doesn't know what to do with their lives. And part of that...
• 22:03
  program, I think on day one, he talks about the power of gratitude. So every day you go out and you do this gratefulness walk, you know, and Alex and I, this was years ago, even before our first business, we used to go on these gratefulness walks and
• 22:19
  First, you start saying things that you're grateful for that you have in your life. So you could say, I'm grateful for my eyesight. I'm grateful for my physical health, that I'm strong and healthy and I can walk. All these basic needs that sometimes we take for granted. So you make yourself aware of all these things and truly feel grateful for them. Then you could expand a little out of yourself and be grateful for your family, friends, etc.,
• 22:47
  And then the really cool thing, and I truly believe the magical part of the whole exercise is then being grateful for things that you don't yet have in your life, but that you want to manifest. So we used to go on these gratefulness walks and we'd be like, I'm so grateful for our, you know, business that is generating millions of dollars. And we get to meet all these incredible people and travel the world and do all these things that at the time...
• 23:15
  I mean, we were broke, like we literally were, you know, basically almost living in our line of credit because both of us, you know, were kind of struggling financially. And I remember this funny story I always tell, but truly it's funny. My dad calling one time and you've met my father, he's such a sweet man. And you know, he was always about like, get a job, get a safe job, get education and you'll be set for life. And I was like, oh, I don't know, that doesn't feel right at all in my heart.
• 23:44
  And he used to call us in the mornings, be like, hey, what are you doing? And I'm like, oh, we're just on our gratefulness walk. And then there would be like a long pause. And he would say, I think you guys need to get a job.
• 23:58
  It was funny to him, but now looking back, he's said to me so many times that what we did, he finds so inspiring what we were able to really manifest coming from a background of where we weren't surrounded by any entrepreneurs. Our parents are not entrepreneurs. We don't have any mentors or friends who were entrepreneurs. It was just two of us. And yes, we used the 4-Hour Workweek.
• 24:22
  as a guide and as inspiration. That's why I'm super grateful for Tim Ferriss, the author of that book, Tony Robbins, who created many programs and many books to inspire people to follow their dream, to follow their intuition, to follow their bliss, whatever it is. Like when you're doing the right thing, you're present. You feel in the flow. You feel great. And I think that's how we're all meant to feel, maybe not all the time, but most of the time.
• 24:49
  Life is not supposed to be this thing you dread. It's supposed to be something you enjoy every day and you're excited to wake up to. So yeah, long story short, that gratitude practice is something that really inspired eventually for us to create the five-minute journal because we just made it short and sweet for anybody to be able to do in five minutes a day. So people don't have excuses because we're all good at finding excuses not to do things.
• 25:17
  that can actually have huge positive benefit to us. And yeah, so the, you know, it's a very simple tool that anybody can use. If you go on our website, you know, intelligentchange.com, we actually share the inside of the journal. So you don't actually have to buy the journal. You don't have to buy the journal.
• 25:35
  You can just write it out in a blank notebook and use it starting from today. And it's such a powerful tool to help you focus on all the good things in your lives. And the more you see in your life, the more good you attract and create in your life. And yeah, creating that mindset of abundance versus scarcity and growth versus, you know, fixed mindset.
• 26:00
  Yeah, and it's hard to do. It's hard to make that switch, but I think that daily practice is where it becomes really important, the small moments of daily practice.
• 26:12
  Wow, gosh, what a story. So amazing. So inspiring. When you think back about, obviously, the landscape has changed so much. You know, when you were building Luxie Hair, it's a different time to what it is now. What are you seeing that you're having to do differently to grow this business, you know, second time around?
• 26:34
  I think the landscape has changed, as you said. You know, we see a lot more video, but yet even 10 years ago, we used video to grow our business. So yes, there's new tools, there's new platforms, but I think the fundamentals...
• 26:49
  are always the same. And what are the fundamentals? Is providing a kick-ass, incredible product. You know, so many people, and this really breaks my heart, started the business just for the sake of making money. This is extremely unhealthy, not only to our world, because you're creating essentially products,
• 27:10
  you know, crap that already exists in this world and you don't really care about the products you're creating. But also it's not good for you because you're not going to enjoy doing this day in, day out. And creating a business takes a lot of hard work. When people ask me about what business they should do or to give them ideas, I always say, you know, the best business you will create is the one that comes out of your own challenge.
• 27:35
  And problem. So if let's say you are looking for, I don't know, bags that are biodegradable, you know, for packing your lunch. I don't know. That's just an idea, right? Just throwing out there. A Ziploc, a paper bag Ziploc. I don't think it exists.
• 27:53
  And it doesn't exist. You wish it existed, but, you know, all of the ones that are out there are plastic. And then one day you're like, oh, I should be the one creating this product. This is how the best businesses are created.
• 28:06
  You're really into it. You feel like you're solving a problem in the world. And then you can create it in a way where you can easily tell a story, which is basically your marketing. You can make videos. You can take photos. Then you provide a kick-ass customer service. This is something that still most businesses lack. Right.
• 28:25
  Really, it just breaks my heart. There's so many resources to have great customer service. And yet, you know, I buy things like the other day I bought something for my daughter and I bought, I got an email saying, oh, there's a delay. And there were all these excuses and all these things in the email. And I'm like, oh, my God, the language is so negative. Like,
• 28:47
  I cannot believe these guys are doing this. Like, you can have problems in your business. You can have challenges. But it's how you communicate it to your customer. It was problem after problem after problem. And they didn't provide any solutions. And I felt like, oh, why did I even buy it from that website? It looks so professional and beautiful. And they have really nice products. But then...
• 29:07
  that is really sour experience. And I doubt I will ever purchase from them again, because from the first point, from the first point, you already have a bad, you know, like that negative, the after effect, you know. So having those fundamentals in place,
• 29:25
  It really is within your power. If you are the one running the show, if you're the entrepreneur, this is your business. You can create these basics that will have a solid foundation for your business. At this point in life, yes, regardless of whether you run a restaurant or you have a physical product, you need to have an Instagram page. You need to have a YouTube. Of course, not for everybody. Yeah.
• 29:48
  But if you can, it will greatly benefit you in any industry, in any business. And yes, then you need to consistently post content about your products, because if you don't share about your products, how will people find out? And if you don't care about sharing it, then, well, who will your customers want if you don't? So it's about first identifying your story. And that, again, as I said, that's why it's so important why you do what you do in the first place.
• 30:18
  the rest will come so easy. And that's why even with Luxie Hair, I think the reason it grew so quick and so fast and became such a sensation is because it was a genuine story of how I wanted hair extensions. You know, I couldn't find anything that was affordable and good quality. Then we went on to creating that solution for me and for everybody else. And then people just told the story and it just spread like wildfire. And we just, you know...
• 30:47
  enjoyed the benefits of that. And there's a really great book or audio book you can listen to called Contagious. And it exactly shares what we did. So in a way, we weren't aware as we were doing it, that this is what we're doing. But years later, when we already had a successful business and I listened to that book, I remember thinking, ah, this is why, this is why we grew so quickly and so fast because we had that compelling story. And because we were doing things the right way,
• 31:17
  For us, customer service then and now with the new business, with any business we create, is like the most important part of the business. It's the touch point. The only touch point, especially if you only have a virtual business, is the only time people will ever come across you. And if that experience is sour, not only they're not coming back, they're telling their friends. The issue with bad experience is that people talk about it even more often than the positive experiences. Yeah.
• 31:45
  You know, funny enough, a friend was sharing a story how she went to this new coffee shop and, you know, they didn't have the right coffee. She wanted this filter coffee. And then the guy gave her something else and then double charged her. And then, you see, she spent maybe 15, 20 minutes telling me about this bad experience. And I was thinking of going to that place. But after she shared that story, I'm like, well, I'm definitely not going there. But in my mind, I'm like, oh, my goodness, you know, one bad experience happened.
• 32:13
  And sometimes people will completely cancel you out. So we have to, as entrepreneurs, we have to be aware of that. And we have to do our best to avoid that happening in our own business. And that's why also hiring the right people is so important. People who are aligned with your values. But before that, of course, you have to identify the values. And then when you hire, it becomes easy to hire the right people because...
• 32:36
  You can just ask the right questions to see if they're the right fit in the role and for the overall culture of your business. So, yeah, I mean, there's so many things to talk about, you know, how to run a successful business. But like, even though the platforms change rapidly.
• 32:54
  The basics are the same. People who ran successful business 100 years ago and are doing it now are still doing the same thing. Maybe we're using different tools, but, you know, kick-ass product, kick-ass customer service and genuinely caring about what you do and the customers that you serve.
• 33:11
  Yeah, I love that. And it's so true. And I really think the customer service piece truly gets forgotten a lot of the time. There are so many times I have a really frustrating experience and I'm like, but how is this the thing that you forget? Because, of course, I'm going to either tell my friends the same way if you have a great experience.
• 33:31
  you're likely to tell your friends or you experience a great product. You're literally going to text your group of girlfriends and be like, hey, you should try this. And the next thing you know, everyone has the same deodorant. And you're like, yeah, this works. You can see why this business is doing well. But it's funny how people really do forget that customer service piece and can fall short on so many levels. And that even makes an even more, you know, a higher advantage for people who want to come in and be like providing incredible service.
• 34:00
  and can blow it out of the park with that. It's, yeah, it's incredible. What do you think is your key piece of advice for entrepreneurs who are early on in the journey? If you want to create your own business, the most important thing is to do something you truly care about. And I think now with any business that you're starting, looking at how you can make that business sustainable,
• 34:28
  I think in the next five to 10 years, this is the biggest opportunity there is in the world. More and more businesses are increasingly becoming aware of how much waste as humans we're producing. And there's so much unnecessary waste. It just, you know, oftentimes just makes me cry and breaks my heart.
• 34:47
  But I also think there's so much opportunity. So in any industry, in any business that you're going to create, do it sustainably. It's going to help you, but actually do it sustainably. Don't use it as a marketing tool. Really look into how you can have the least amount of waste with what you're doing, how you can avoid plastic at all.
• 35:07
  all costs, how you can do this as if this was 80 years ago. How would people do it? And, you know, people had businesses before plastic was created, you know. So doing it sustainably can give you such an advantage and an edge, you know,
• 35:24
  Because most companies, even though there's so much conversation about sustainability, most companies are not doing this right. For example, yesterday we were at a store with Alexa, my daughter, and I was thinking her birthday is coming up. I thought maybe I'll get her a new dress for the birthday party. And we look through this department store, Harrods, you know, they have lots of expensive dresses from Starbucks.
• 35:48
  You know, even designer brands, literally, I kid you not, 99% of the dresses were made out of polyester. These are expensive dresses. And, you know, my daughter, she's going to be five. She knows about fabrics. You know, she knows about the issue with the plastic we have in the world. And we don't wear plastic in our house. We don't wear polyester. Yeah.
• 36:10
  So as we're walking through aisles and aisles of clothes and touching things, she's like, plastic, plastic, plastic. Why are they making everything from plastic? And I'm like, I don't know. It really makes me so sad because it makes me sad, but also there's a huge opportunity. Yeah.
• 36:25
  So even her, she's like, we should make our own line of clothes. I'm like, I know I wanted to do this for years. This is something I, you know, I've shared with you this summer when we're on a holiday together. You know, it's been a dream of mine to create a sustainable fashion line, which is definitely not an easy thing to do. But I'm just bringing this an example here.
• 36:44
  You know, you see a problem, create a solution. And then the marketing piece will be so easy because you can just talk about the fact that you created a solution to this massive elephant in the room that nobody wants to face because it's not the easy thing to do. The easiest things to do, you can find any kind of clothes maker. Like I can start a fashion line tomorrow if I want to make it out of polyester. And I'm sure it can still be successful, but I don't want to do things for the sake of making more money.
• 37:12
  I've learned early on that doesn't make me happy. And I think many people who have success in that area of their lives would agree with me. But creating something that's different, that's solving a global issue can feel incredible. It can give you a purpose to live. So, you know...
• 37:33
  Go with that. And then the marketing will be easy. And then, you know, ask for help. Not necessarily ask for mentorships because that's a huge ask. But if you know somebody who's doing things right, buy them a coffee. Please avoid using a phrase, I want to pick your brain. This is like the worst thing people can say. When people ask me that, I'm like, I don't want anybody to pick my brain. Like my brain is not for picking. But you can say something like... It's such a weird saying.
• 38:01
  Yeah, but people use this so often and I'm like, oh, like, oh, my brain is not for picking. I actually am so guilty of using it. And I always catch myself and say, I hate that saying. I don't know why I've ever said that. You see it because it's like, oh, I want to meet you. I want to pick your brain. The reason like subconsciously it doesn't feel right is because that person is like, I want to take something from you.
• 38:22
  Whereas I think the approach we can have when we reach out to people that we find inspiring is like, hey, I love your story. I'm really deeply inspired by what you're doing. Could I please buy you a coffee and have 30 minutes of your time? So instead of saying I want to come pick your brain, I want to buy you a coffee. And I find you inspiring. So you're flattering them. People love you.
• 38:45
  of course, knowing that they are inspiring people around them. So it will be much harder to refuse an email like that rather than somebody who just wants to, you know, take something from you. So then, you know, look for help, ask people questions and don't be shy because also other successful people, they want to help people who are starting out. It's just oftentimes the people who are starting out are too shy, too embarrassed to, you know, be rejected or, you know,
• 39:12
  I don't know, there's so many different reasons that we don't ask for help. We want to do it ourselves. You know, maybe we have big ego. Bring it down, ask for help, and create these relationships. I think especially with women, I think it's so important to realize it's like we can have this sisterhood, not of competition, but of unity and help and empowerment where we can all be
• 39:37
  raise each other, you know, the more we raise each other, everybody raises, you know, so it's a win win for the whole global world for everybody. So yeah, I guess that that would be my advice for anybody who's starting out. Great advice. Love it. Thank you so much for sharing that.
• 39:56
  We wrap up the end of every episode with a series of six quick questions, some of which we may have covered, some of which we may have not, but I asked them all the same. It's very Tim Ferriss style. So question number one, what's your why? Why are you doing what you're doing? We've covered this, but I'll ask it all the same.
• 40:14
  Yeah, for me, it's knowing that what I do every day, I know it sounds like a little maybe cliche, like makes the world a better place. Even with my social media content, which I never really monetize, except for like one sponsorship deal that I've done in like,
• 40:31
  more than 10 years of my life on social media because I genuinely love Audible. When I put out any content on social media, I'm always like, is this going to make people feel better? Like, if not, then what's the point of sharing it? You know, so I avoid posting on days when I'm not feeling good or if I feel like complaining or like sharing something that's not actually...
• 40:53
  raising the vibrations in this world. So anything I do, this is my why, is that it has to improve people's lives or make them feel better, make their day brighter. The products have to make their life easier or improve their life in some way. So knowing that gives me the satisfaction and makes me feel like I'm useful in this world.
• 41:16
  Totally having that impact and impact at scale. I love it. Question number two is what do you think it could be out of Luxie hair or it could be out of intelligent change, but what do you think has been the number one marketing moment that's made your businesses pop?
• 41:35
  For sure, you know, with Luxe Hair, this was such an obvious one, but I can share in both Luxe Hair and Intelligent Change. Luxe Hair for sure was the YouTube. You know, we used YouTube as our main tool of showing and showcasing our products. And because hair extensions, they're so visual, you can see the before and after. The transformation is so exciting that people...
• 41:58
  want to have what they see. And then you don't even need to tell them to buy. We never did. They find the info box and they find the website and they buy it by themselves. So it was extremely effortless way for us to market the product. Whereas with intelligent change, it was getting the tools in the right hand. So one of the really big wins was at one event, our previous partner, UJ,
• 42:23
  gifted the five minute journal to Tim Ferriss, you know, the author of the Pharoah Workweek. And it was like a full circle where, you know, Tim Ferriss' work inspired us to start our first business. But then our journal made a huge impact on his life. And he's shared about five minute journal so many times on his podcast, in his book, Tools of Titans.
• 42:46
  in videos, like he, he talks about it all the time. He's been using it for years. It's really helped his mental health. And that's why he's probably gifted it to many people as well. It's, it's been a huge win. So getting it in the right hands of people who are not just influencers, like somebody like Tim Ferriss, they, like what he shares even changes culture. And that was pivotal in our growth as well and intelligent change.
• 43:13
  That is so crazy. So crazy. I mean, talk about right place, right time, right. There's so much serendipity in that moment for him to actually, A, accept something from someone in the audience and B, actually want to use it and then actually want to share about it, not even just once, but a million times. It's crazy. Yeah.
• 43:33
  So crazy, powerful stuff. That's amazing. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What do you read or listen to or subscribe to at the moment that other founders would benefit from knowing about?
• 43:49
  You know, I actually consume very little. It's a funny question because, like, I'd say I hang out with myself. And I think when I find the space to be more quiet in things like even meditation, I can hear a lot of what I need to do that comes from the inside of.
• 44:08
  Of course, I do listen to lots of audio books and I think they can be extremely beneficial in like changing the mindset, thinking bigger, believing in yourself. But ultimately, I think if you find a quiet space to listen to your heart and your intuition, you're going to be a little bit more.
• 44:26
  You'll know what to do in any situation. You'll know if this business is right or that opportunity is right or if you should hire this person or not hire this person or partner with this person or not partner with this person. All the answers are within. So making the time and space to hear that. But also, of course, surround yourself by great, successful people. If not in real life, then watch their YouTube channels or listen to their podcasts. You know, How I Built This is a great podcast. I find inspiring.
• 44:54
  But again, it's not something I do like on the regular, you know, once in a while I'll go and like binge listen through a few episodes. But oftentimes, yeah, just I make space to connect with myself. And there's a knowing that knows what needs to be created and what will be popular, what people need, because what I need is what people need, because there are at least a million people like myself in this world. Like we have a world with like, what's the population now? Like more than 7 billion people probably.
• 45:24
  And it's growing. And if you can make yourself happy with the product or the service that you're creating, trust me, there will be thousands of people just like you. So connect with yourself. Ask yourself, what do you need? Are you happy with this product? Are you happy with this service? Tweak it. Change it. Improve it. Constant evolution. And then...
• 45:45
  I can assure you it will become a success if you do it that way, rather than, you know, getting distracted by what that person is doing or this person is doing. This person says you need to use TikTok. That person says, you know, it's not, not everything's for everyone. You don't need to do what everybody's doing. Do what makes you happy in the way that makes sense to you and stay true to that authenticity in yourself. I love that.
• 46:13
  This kind of leads into the next question in a nice segue, but question number four is how do you win the day? What are your own AM and PM rituals and habits that keep you feeling happy and motivated and successful and productive?
• 46:29
  So how do I win the day? I think the easy one is just starting day with gratitude. For me, using the five-minute journal in the morning and in the evening takes just two and a half minutes. If I have a really busy morning and I don't manage to fill out the journal, I do it in the shower. When I take showers, I'm grateful for my healthy body. I'm grateful for...
• 46:51
  that I'm present. All the things that I want to embody, I say out loud that I'm grateful for them. Then also working out in the mornings has really helped me have more energy and feel like more like myself because I find that when I go through periods of not doing any physical activity, I feel more like...
• 47:10
  down and more lethargic. So that gives me extra energy, which is, you know, kind of you would think like by working out, you're using energy, but definitely it gives you fuel and fire. So, you know, that's really important to me. Then using Productivity Planner, which is another one of our products and tools.
• 47:29
  And I'm not just trying to market it again. These products have been created because we had the struggles before and we created the products to help deal with the struggles. And I actually love our new productivity planner, which is like a desktop. The original one works for people who work every day, let's say, and have like a consistent schedule. Whereas for me, I'm at a point in the business where I do a lot of the creative work. So there's times when I'll work fast.
• 47:55
  three days like full on and then I won't work for a week or I mean, I never stopped working, but like I don't need to be in front of my computer. So I don't need to use it every day. So the desktop is something that you can use like randomly on any day that you need to like really have that focus and the productivity planner is
• 48:13
  The reason it's so great, such a great tool, it's just like you address the most important things in your day first, because oftentimes we do the small things and never get to the big things. But if you start with the big thing and you're like really hyper focused and you avoid multitasking,
• 48:29
  Multitasking is the worst thing ever anybody can do. It's been marketed to us that it's a good thing, but actually it's the thing that actually makes us so incapable of accomplishing things we want to. If you just do one thing only, you'll feel so much better and you'll finish it. So that's kind of the strategy there. Again, you can just go on our website, intelligentchange.com. You can see the inside of the journal information.
• 48:54
  If you can't afford it, get it. If you can't, just start it in a blank notebook. The tools are there. All you have to do is use them. So in terms of productivity, that helps me. And then, you know, fueling your body with healthy food because you are what you eat.
• 49:10
  That makes me feel great. And then walking. I love walking. A lot of my work that I do is done on the phone. Even creating products, like I'm walking and I'm holding my phone, putting things in the notes constantly. But I realized that this is partly why I think I never liked traditional education. It's like...
• 49:27
  My brain thinks differently when I move. It's hard for me to think and sit still. I don't know if that makes sense. I'm sure for some of you it will make sense. And you'd relate. For me, I think better when I move my body. So once I realized that, I just like, I go for these long walks just to, you know, sometimes I have appointments or meetings. So instead of taking a cab, I'll walk for an hour. And as I'm walking, I'm actually working and like creating a product, putting down notes or responding to messages or having a call.
• 49:57
  And yeah, I feel great. It's just, instead of just sitting in front of a computer for like eight hours, I think that's the biggest thing I realized after doing it for some years that it really depresses me and doesn't make me feel good. I know what you mean about the education thing. I went to the Van Gogh immersive experience a few days ago that's happening in London at the moment. And it's like this huge room. Have you seen the, have you been to it yet? We've been, yeah. It's great.
• 50:24
  But I was there and I was thinking, why don't kids learn like this at school? Because like if I read this in a history book, I struggle and I cannot. But there, you know, they're telling you on the screen, there's music, there's sounds, there's like crazy visuals. It's so easy to like remember his life, whereas...
• 50:43
  In school, it's so difficult to learn like that. I was like, this is how people need to learn. This should be school. Like, this is how kids should be experiencing this stuff. It's crazy. Totally get that. So I can imagine the good work is being done on those walks. I can totally imagine.
• 51:00
  Two more quick questions and we're good to go. Of course. If you had $1,000 of no strings attached grant money, where would you spend that in the business? And it's kind of a question around like, what's the most important spend of a dollar for you?
• 51:15
  I think I would definitely give the products away, you know, and we already do that a lot because again, every product is different, of course, but we have products that actually don't cost a lot. With Luxie Hair, it was more difficult to just give them away because the cost of the product, each unit was so high. Whereas with journals, it's more forgiving. So you can give more away. And it's like the more you give them...
• 51:40
  The more people use them, they benefit from them. It's a win-win. We're getting to our mission, which is to positively change the lives of 1% of the world. But also, once people use it and they love it, they tell their friends, they buy it as a gift, and the message spreads. So for me, that's where we have and we constantly use the dollars in the business is to give away the product so that more people can know about it.
• 52:07
  Yeah, I love that. Can I just add one more thing here? Because I think it's so important because I'm on the side of being an entrepreneur, but also as an influencer. And I get lots of people trying to send me products. I think when you send your products out, it's so important.
• 52:24
  This is key, okay? Everybody who's listening, who has a business and sends the products out, it is so important to do it unconditionally. The moment you send a product and you're like, test it out and can you please post about it? You know, first of all, send them the product and just ask for their feedback. Once they receive the product and they give you some feedback, if they tell you they love it,
• 52:45
  Then maybe you can say, I would so appreciate it if you could share about it. But don't just, you know, send it in the first email and have that expectation just by sending the product. They're going to have to now. They owe you. They don't owe you anything. It's a gift. That's why it's called a gift. So just, I think, an important thing to mention because, you know, as an influencer, like I never want to owe. So I never accept any products that are sent my way with that kind of attachment, you know.
• 53:14
  I totally agree. It just needs to be like left, left out there. If something happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Totally agree. Last question. Question number six is, how do you deal with failure? What's your mindset when things don't go to plan?
• 53:30
  It's a great question. And I'm glad we're ending on this note because some women or men who are listening to this podcast, you know, could be thinking, oh, well, she's so successful. She's just lucky. You know, it happened to her. It won't happen to me because she's the lucky one. But in reality, I've had so many failures, you know, in my life all the time.
• 53:52
  And I think at the end of the day is your relationship with the failure. How do you look at it when you fail? Is it the end of the world? I look at it as an experience that gives me more knowledge and diversity and actually makes me stronger. I learn so much when I fail. I actually learn more when I fail than when I succeed. Yeah.
• 54:14
  So, you know, to give you an example, even with the fashion business, I've tried to enter that market three times through various different projects. And I was just never happy enough with the end product to go to market. So did I fail? You could say yes, but I don't look at it even as failure because I learned so much of what not to do and how to approach it next time if I go in that direction. And...
• 54:42
  The learning part is the winning part. So you never really fail. I would say the only time you fail is when you don't try. That's real failure. It's getting to the end of your life and you're dying. And you know you have like, if you're lucky enough to know, some people just go and disappear. And you know you're at the end of your life. Maybe you're just, you know...
• 55:05
  Already in your 80s, 90s, you know you're not going to start a business at that age, most likely. I'm sure there's exceptions. And you realize it's too late. You haven't tried, you know. So I never want to look back and say I haven't done things I wanted to do. I think that the doing is the winning, not the actual outcome.
• 55:25
  Mimi, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show today and share your story and all your amazing insights and learnings. I truly value you. And, you know, I really admire the kind of leader that you are and the person who you are showing up in the world as. So thank you so much.
• 55:44
  Thank you so much for having me on the show and big hugs to everybody who is listening. Thank you for what you do and the knowledge you share with your community. I'm sure it's changing lives and helping people create so much success and purpose in their lives. So keep on doing what you're doing as well. Thank you.
• 56:09
  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.
• 56:34
  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.
• 56:56
  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.
• 57:13
  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.
• 57:37
  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.
• 58:00
  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.