Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / 6 Quick Questions with Lezlie Karls, co-founder of Mid-Day Squares (Part 2)

Transcript

6 Quick Questions with Lezlie Karls, co-founder of Mid-Day Squares (Part 2) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  Hello, it's Dune here, your host and hype girl. I am so excited to bring you this special mini series on the pod that is centered around failure. The next three weeks that we're going to be diving in and reflecting on some of our favorite episodes that are all about embracing failure and turning it into your greatest asset, which
• 0:22
  Because we've all been there or we all will be there. Failing is literally just part of the journey, whether we like it or not. I remember for me when I was building Kinks, my D2C jewellery brand, you know, it didn't go as planned. We closed it down and that could have been viewed as a failure for sure.
• 0:42
  But for me, it turned out to be this critical learning and this critical experience that really shaped where I am now. And it actually got me to figure out what I actually wanted to do. It led me to Female Startup Club. So this miniseries is really about highlighting similar journeys from other founders who have faced their own challenges and emerged stronger than ever.
• 1:07
  Tune in over the next few weeks to hear these gritty stories and the valuable lessons that come from failure. Whether you're navigating a tough phase or you simply want to know that you're not alone, these episodes are going to remind you that every setback is a setup for a comeback and we all have it in us to fail forward.
• 1:27
  And if you have a story to share all about failure, we would love to hear it in the Facebook group. Come in, join us and be part of the conversation. Alrighty, let's dive in. Welcome back. Here are the six quick questions.
• 1:53
  Let's do it. Okay. Question number one is what's your why? Why are you doing what you're doing? I really want to help push people to be more bolder in life. I think a lot of us shy away and bold could be anything. Bold could be starting a chocolate bar company. Bold could be going and finishing your studies. Bold could be having a hard conversation. Just push people to be more bold. That's amazing. Question number two, what has been the number one marketing moment that's made the business pop?
• 2:24
  I would say our sample program with the Polaroid. So cool. That was huge. Yeah. And just a quick side note, I watched the video of your mom signing all the Polaroids. Shout out to your mom. That's the coolest thing ever. Like I got like really emotional watching that. And for everyone listening, they gave Leslie's mom shares in the business. And I was just like all fuzzy inside.
• 2:48
  So my mom, it is true. So she owns shares in the company. She still doesn't get paid. And she does like 600 Polaroids, handwritten Polaroids a night till this day. If you order a package from us, you'll get a message from her. It's incredible. Stop it. That's the cutest thing I've ever heard. I love that. Wow. Really a family business these days. Question number three is, where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading or listening to or subscribing to?
• 3:17
  So I go to therapy. I have a business coach and we work really hard. So for me, some of the things that I know I need to work on to be a great CEO is learn how to really communicate, learn how to have serious empathy. And so communication, empathy, and just how to have really hard conversations. So I go to therapy to become a better, smarter person.
• 3:46
  I love that. Cool. Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM or PM rituals and habits that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated? So the truth is over the last three years, I've completely let myself go in terms of
• 4:05
  doing me and helping myself out. So it's been getting better. But a lot of my day is like, okay, get up and go. But I actually smoke weed at night because weed really helps me like unwind. I smoke like a really low balanced weed. And I love it because it lets me really be creative, gives me a couple of extra hours, and it really helps me tone down. So I've become a big lover of weed over the last little bit. Time for creative thinking. I love that.
• 4:35
  I've had a few women on the show mentioned that that's how they like end their evening.
• 4:40
  It's everything because in my day, half my job is to be really creative. Half my job is to be operational. And I'm a creative at heart. And so context switching from operational to creative is very, very hard. And it's not like you could just tell someone, be creative now, come up with ideas, come up with campaigns now. You're in like an office with white walls. So the weed allows me to like settle the stress of the operations of the manufacturing and all of these things, supply chain.
• 5:09
  And just kind of let my head go and be creative and think of these wild ideas, like putting together a music video and all these other things. So, yeah, weed has really helped me, like, get through this journey. Love it. Question number five. This is not a lot of money, but it's to show what the most important spend of a dollar is. If you were given $1,000 of no strings attached grant money, where would you put that in the business?
• 5:37
  That's a really hard, a hard question. I think if I was just starting and I had a thousand dollars, I would put it into making a video. That's what I would do because I think strong storytelling again, I'll go back to that. It's just, you know, you don't know what who's going to see it or what it can create or what's that ripple effect. Yeah. A hundred percent. So true. Last question. Question number six, how do you deal with failure? What's your mindset and approach when things don't go to plan?
• 6:07
  So I think at the end of the day, mindset is everything on this journey. There's nothing wrong with failing. I have failed so many times in my life. You've got to block out the noise. So failure is not so bad when you're not worried about what everyone else is going to think or what's the outcome. I still struggle from that from time to time, of those thought processes. But I think overall, when I fail...
• 6:31
  That's something that's like, what are the five whys? Why didn't this work out? Why did this fail? Why did this happen? Kind of go through that motion and then move on because it's over with now. Like you need the best thing to do in failure or when there's a problem is to not harp on it. It's like figure out the why, accept it and move on with it and learn from it. That simple and leave it in the past.
• 6:58
  I love these five whys notion. I'm going to stick up those five whys everywhere. I love it. This is so super cool. Yeah, I bet. I'm sure. I'm sure. Oh, when I asked my team to do it, creating five whys is so hard. You get to the first, get to the second, but third, fourth, fifth, and you really have to dig deep. So yeah, no, this was awesome. I love this. Yeah.
• 7:23
  This was amazing. Thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing all the things. You are such a badass. And I'm just excited to watch your journey from here and see you dominate this industry. I love it. Thank you so much. Thank you, Dune. This was awesome. And you're also a badass. I love the questions. I love this podcast. This is awesome. Thank you so much for having me.
• 7:50
  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.
• 8:15
  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.
• 8:37
  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.