Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Fave Hits: 6 Quick Questions with Amy Liu, Founder of Tower 28 (Part 2)

Transcript

Fave Hits: 6 Quick Questions with Amy Liu, Founder of Tower 28 (Part 2) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  Welcome back. Here are the six quick questions. Question number one is what's your why? Why are you doing what you're doing?
• 0:19
  I mean, honestly, as somebody who's had really difficult skin, I think the one thing that we talk about on our team all the time, and it kind of is a double entendre, is we say like our tagline is, it's okay to be sensitive. And it is, obviously it talks about sensitive skin, but I, and I want the products to be something that I feel like people can use feeling better.
• 0:45
  safe, like feeling like it's not going to make their skin worse, that it is going to perform, that it checks all the boxes, basically like vegan, cruelty-free, made in America, all these things that you kind of want, like we're just thinking about them for you. So that's definitely part of it. But the other part of it really, for me, frankly, a lot of it is
• 1:05
  the team and wanting to do this in a way that is different from the experiences I've had. So beauty, even though it is historically almost all women, right? A lot of, I've worked with a lot of women. I think I haven't seen a lot of, until now, there hasn't been a lot of female women
• 1:28
  representation at the very, very top and certainly not a woman of color. And so I think it's pretty cool to be able to be part of that representation. Um, and then in addition to that, I think create an environment and a culture that, um, I would have wanted myself as I was kind of coming up in, in the world. So I really do believe in investing in the people who are on my team,
• 1:54
  And, and also just being able to choose people I want to have fun with. Right. Cause I think it is fun. Yeah. You've absolutely got to enjoy the journey, enjoy what's happening in your day to day, not, not taking everything so seriously and working just towards the goals, which is important, obviously, but enjoying the journey is so key. For sure. Question number two is what do you think has been the number one marketing moment that's made the business pop?
• 2:22
  That's a tough one. Um,
• 2:25
  I mean, the Sephora thing is obviously huge for us because it was so massive, right? So we went into all Sephora's US and Canada at the end of January. And I'll tell you, I thought what was going to be this huge moment was we were meant to be in through Sephora in a Times Square ad, right? Which is like this iconic, not only us, but like a multi-branded campaign, but certainly we were part of it.
• 2:53
  And it was meant to be this huge moment. And like, I think as a, and I don't know how many people would have seen it, but it's iconic, right? Like you think Times Square, all these things. And then COVID happened.
• 3:09
  And so it didn't happen. Instead, they ended up running something about like, you know, Sephora's there with you. I don't remember what it was. Right. So I guess there are these moments that you think are going to be these iconic moments. And I don't know who knows what that would have done anyways. But I've come to realize that the big moments are not just the vanity big moments, but it's honestly all of the small moments that.
• 3:35
  So the ones I actually really, it sounds corny, but the ones I really value are
• 3:40
  I love reading the testimonials. We don't, we have not done any. You have some great reviews. Oh, thanks. We, I mean, but they're all a hundred percent organic and that's something I'm really proud of. We've not bought one follower. We've not done any kind of gaming of the system. Cause I think sometimes you, especially early on, there are people who come to you and they'll be like, okay, if you participate in this giveaway, okay.
• 4:05
  like a really big giveaway or whatever, we're giving out like Louis Vuitton bags or whatever, and you're one of 50 brands, you'll be able to get a hundred thousand followers. Oh, right. Like what the Kardashians do with the big giveaways. Yeah. There's all these things that you can do those things. They're quite expensive. But I think in the beginning, you just want so badly to be like legitimized.
• 4:29
  And part of that is followers and those types of things. And I'm so glad we didn't do anything like that because at least –
• 4:38
  irrespective of what the size of our followers are, they're real. And so then when I see comments and I see people unfollow or follow, like at least if I see people unfollow, I'm like, what did we do wrong? Did we do something that upset people? And we can kind of go back and look. And then if we have a lot of followers, I can have the reverse, right? And then reading all of the testimonials. So I would say like, there's not necessarily one moment, but I think
• 5:04
  I'm really proud that we've built the business in a, um, in a healthy organic way because now I can really, I can read the reviews and I can get feedback from them because I didn't, we haven't done any of those, not to say that we never would, but you know, you can do influenced or an octaly and all these programs where you can essentially, um,
• 5:28
  pay to seed people and then they write reviews, which there's nothing wrong with doing it, frankly, but it, is it 110% completely truthful when you're getting the product for free? I don't know. I think it does, it might change your, the whole point of it is still that you're supposed to be giving a true review, but yeah.
• 5:50
  you know, right now, I think the biggest thing for me at start was just like wanting to get real feedback. And I think that's been pretty incredible. Yeah, absolutely. You've got some great ones. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading or listening to or subscribing to that is beneficial for other founders to know about? So in beauty, I listen to a lot of podcasts.
• 6:15
  I really love the Glossy podcast with Priya Rao, which is very specific to beauty. In terms of, I mean, maybe it sounds a little generic, but I do love how I built this with Guy Raz. I also really love...
• 6:32
  I listen to Jay Shetty on purpose a lot too, because I think what one thing I've realized is how important mindset is as an entrepreneur and as a founder, how important it is to just stay healthy from a mental health perspective. I really do feel like when I, my energy isn't great that it, the team feels it. Right. So, and I notice it. So I think it's important.
• 7:02
  And I talked to a lot of other founders. So like just yesterday, I spoke to another founder who recommended I read a book called The E-Myth, The Entrepreneur's Myth, I think it's called. So I ordered that. But I would say I read and I listen to a lot of podcasts. I just, I listened to yours today, which was great. So yeah, I think it's what you're doing is amazing. I think the more we can share each other's stories and learn from each other, it's fantastic.
• 7:31
  Thank you so much. I agree. I definitely agree. I'm going to link those resources that you said in the show notes for anyone who wants to check them out. Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM or PM rituals and habits that keep you feeling good and healthy and successful?
• 7:50
  I mean, that's such a good question. I think for me, winning the day is we actually have a ritual within my team where we have a meeting every day at 9.15, which is why I mentioned I have a hard stop in 18 minutes.
• 8:06
  So we have a meeting every day and we, um, every person, myself included, writes down what we call our three big rocks. So maybe you've heard of this concept, but it's the idea that if you were to take a jar and you were to fill it with sand first, and then you put the three big rocks in, they don't necessarily fit. But if you put your three big rocks in first, and then all the sand can fit. So the metaphor being your three big rocks are like not the three,
• 8:34
  necessarily, um, three most important in the sense that they actually will like move the business. And it could be anything from like, I don't know, sending in an order or whatever, because whatever it is for that person, but just like focus on like the three things that really need to get done today and each person shares them. So that way you start the day with some,
• 8:59
  So if you get nothing else done, you get those three things done. And we each share them. So that way we know what the other person is working on.
• 9:09
  Yeah, I love that. That's a really cool concept. I need to do more of that. Figure out what my three big rocks are every day. Totally. I mean, and it's honestly, it's very easy for that to devolve into a to-do list. And so a lot of it is like, okay, but are these the three most important ones? And then sometimes because we do it as a team, you're like, well, actually, you need to do this for me. I need this to be one of your rocks.
• 9:31
  Please make this your rock. And everybody's saying that to each other. Yeah. I love that. Question number five is if you were given $1,000 of no strings attached grant money, where would you spend that in a business? Right now, I would make some more content.
• 9:51
  Content is really a tough one. I think it's like you need it for advertising. You need it for, we haven't paid influencers yet. I do value influencers and the content they create. So I'm trying to figure out how to go about it. We've just been gifting. It's something I'm fairly new to. So I don't know, it'd probably be content.
• 10:16
  Love that. And question number six, last question is how do you deal with failure? What's your mindset and approach when things do not go to plan? Things don't go to plan all the time. And I think part of that is, again, I think it's perspective for me. So I think it's not letting the small things become big things and take up too much mind space. And what I mean by that is
• 10:46
  We have failures all the time, right? We take risks, we figure out, figure things out, but I try to, sometimes I think fear can be a really huge impediment and you can feel like, oh, if I just fail, then that's indicative of the whole thing falling apart.
• 11:03
  And I think instead, for me, I just try to be grateful, honestly, and think about how... I mean, somebody said this to me and I thought it sounded so privileged, but it's true. I think if something can be solved with money, it's not that big of a problem. That's easy to say if you have money, but I do think there is something about that that's true. It's debilitating to deal with something that is...
• 11:32
  I don't know, health, relationships, those types of things. But like, honestly, like we've had issues recently where there's like global supply chain issues and like we've had to move launches because we can't secure raw materials that are really basic, honestly. And, you know, and then it's like, we're all like running around with our heads and it feels like failure because it's like, okay, holes are getting drilled, but we're not putting products in. We're shipping things late.
• 12:03
  what is it? Lost revenue? You know what I mean? Like, it's like you're waiting a little bit longer. The customer doesn't even know. Yeah.
• 12:11
  It's okay. I think my husband says this thing all the time, and I think it's a good one that people should keep in mind. It's like, is this going to matter in a week? Is this going to matter in a month? Are you even going to remember this next year? Maybe if you're going to remember it next year, then it might matter. But yeah, you can eliminate a lot of like your problems by being like, this isn't going to matter in the future. Let's just keep moving on and try and deal with it the best we can. Okay.
• 12:36
  And overall, like, I think that I try to just have perspective, right? Like I still get to, no matter how shitty my day is, I still have like, I love my husband. I have three beautiful children that are healthy and happy. Like I have a lot to be grateful for.
• 12:54
  Absolutely. Amy, this was so cool. Thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show and share your amazing story with Tower 28 and all the fun things you've got going on. Loved it. Oh, thanks so much for having me. And I really, I think what you're doing is great. So I'm so happy to be a part of it. Thank you.
• 13:19
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 13:44
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 14:07
  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.
• 14:22
  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.
• 14:47
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 15:09
  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.