Building an Engaged Community with Andrea Faulkner Williams of Tubby Todd - 23

This is Law and Wit, episode 23, Building an Engaged Community with Andrea Faulkner Williams of Tubby Todd. Welcome to Law and Wit, Creative Counsel for Entrepreneurs. I'm your host, Brittany Rettell, mother of 4, entrepreneur, naptime lawyer, and attorney for creative entrepreneurs. I'm here to share inspiration and action so that you can tackle your business blocks and confidently own your business in every sense of the word. Thank you so much for being here.

Hi guys, and welcome back. I am so excited about my guest today, um, who really needs no introduction, but I'm, I'm gonna lay it to you anyway. Um, we have Andrea Faulkner Williams and she's the co-founder of Tubby Todd, an all-natural bath products company that provides good clean fun for all families. She and her husband Todd developed their own formula for plant-based bath products as a solution to her little boy's sensitive skin. And they've now expanded to dozens of products for littles and mamas.

She's also the author of 2 books, a frequent lecturer on creating community-driven brands, and a California mama to 3.

Welcome, Andrea of Tubby Todd.

Oh my gosh, that introduction made me sound so good. Can you just go around places and like introduce me that way?

But like with like, let's get ready to rumble music in the background, like a full—

I did a high school dance to that. So yeah, I could make an entrance to that one. Yeah.

I bet you did. I bet you got— I could see it now. I mean, we were all there, Jock Jam. Like not to date ourselves here, but like, yeah, it was, it was there. It was an important time. So we're so excited to talk today. So tell us a little bit about how you got started with Tubby Todd, because I mean, I think it was so great about your company is that there are a lot of bath products out there, you know, and yet you guys have been super successful in this space. So tell me how you got started in this product arena.

So first off, thank you for having me. I'm super excited to be on your podcast. Big fan here. And also been a long time, going on 15-year fan of just Brittany since freshman year of college.

It's true.

We go way back down to the Brimhall Building at BYU. All kinds of good times. Lots of dance parties, the whole, the whole nine yards.

Hand and center waffles, all of that freshman 15. Brought us together. Right. So my husband Brian, his name is Brian.

Oh, not Todd. Why did I think it was Todd?

It's funny because I call him Todd, so when you said that it didn't even sound weird. But everyone thinks his name is Todd now because he named the company Tubby Todd after himself, and so I'm like, that's what you get.

Have you talked with him about his commitment to branding and if he'd be willing to change his name?

Yeah, and I feel like he just, well, he's really committed to his initials BTW, so that's like another side of his brand. And so I feel like he, I feel like he really needs to reassess his priorities, but we'll discuss that later, maybe in like a marriage podcast. So, right. Um, Brian and I have always wanted to have a company together. And, um, so when we were married, the first few years, we got married in 2008, the week before the economy crashed, and both of us lost like multiple jobs and had multiple Things kind of fall apart, graduate programs and whatsoever, in the first few years of marriage. And, um, so it was like a shaky time for us trying to figure out what we wanted to do with our future. Both of us had a hard time figuring it out. And every time we would sit down to discuss like, um, a business idea, we kind of would find like a roadblock. So there was a window washing company that we looked into doing at one point that we even design logos for tents and backpacks, headphones. There was a number of businesses that we like drafted out together that never came to fruition. And then eventually when we had been married about 4 years, he started a little marketing company where he did daily deals for people and he went to work for a day job. This is after we had had our first child and I was staying home with her, working part-time. And writing my first book. And I helped manage this little marketing company and I absolutely hated it because it was like boring work that I wasn't interested in and didn't feel super passionate about. And so a year later, he came home from work one day really frustrated and we both kind of realized that if we were going to do something together, it needed to be a shared mutual passion. And he came home and he was like, listen, we're going to start a natural bath company and it's going to be called Tubby Todd and it's icon is going to be a moose. And I just had like chills go through my whole body. And I was like, yeah, we are. I remember where we were sitting. I remember the whole experience. And it was so random. At the time, he worked for a manufacturer. And my dad, who has been a longtime entrepreneur, always says, if you want to start a business, work really hard at your day job, and you will find a business within the needs that your day job presents. And I think, Phil, Brittany, like you're a perfect example of that. Working really hard as a lawyer and seeing, you know, and then as a mom and seeing how those two roles came together. And so Brian was working with manufacturing companies and he saw, you know, this really cool natural soap market. And we both knew that we were not cool enough to start a lifestyle brand that didn't have to do with kids because really, you know, like we're not hip enough to really be like forefront in the fashion world. And so families just felt perfect to us. It's always been our most important thing together. That's the thing that we've always held in common. So sorry, this is— I'm normally faster at telling this. We, we just— I'm just having so much fun. We started the brand and we're like, this will take a few months to develop our first product. And as we worked on it, we were like, this is gonna take a few years because I didn't want to market anything that I wasn't comfortable using on my own babies. And in the time of developing our first formula, which was our hair and body wash, our second child was born and he had eczema. Walker Todd, he had really sensitive skin. We didn't even know what eczema was at the time. Time. So we ended up scrapping the original formula that we had developed. We were almost to completion with it and started all over again to find something for Walker. And as soon as we found a blend of essential oils and aromatic extracts that really calmed his skin, that were natural, and then also rehydrated him, we were like, boom, it's time to go to market. And then we didn't have any money. So we— just a small, small problem, like Problems, we had spent all of our money on development and we had 2 kids now and we were trying to buy a house, we were still both working. And so we, so we just started sending the product. We bought 750 bottles, that's how many we made of our first product. And we would send them to people and I would write a handwritten note at night after our kids went to sleep. And I was like, hey, just try this, let me know what you think. And I would never ask anyone to talk about it online because I knew we couldn't compensate them and I didn't want to put that pressure on them. And from that grew our incredible online female-based community of moms who are concerned with natural products and also the best skincare for their children. And also just connection. They're concerned with connection with their family. And that is where it all started.

It's just crazy. Boo-yah. I mean, you know, you just, you sent these bottles out into the world and you just hoped for the best. You knew that your product was good, but we all know that there's lots of good products out there that they never, they never get to see the light of day. They don't reach the markets.

They're not helping who they need to for tons of reasons.

You know, yeah, that is true. Yeah, I think I'm— I think one thing that I realized about— I've learned from Tubby Todd is the importance of resilience. And resilience in your relationships with people, resilience in your marriage, resilience in parenting, resilience in business. It's not taking things personally, and it's being able to forgive and like just get back up and keep going. And that's way easier said than done. But So much of your success in life and in our business has been when we are like at our lowest, waking up the next day and sending another 20 bottles of soap out to people or forgiving someone who hurt you or forgiving your children and just going after it again and trying to be the best you. It's tough, but that's what it's all about. So that's what has helped us keep going. It's just bottle by bottle, sister.

Bottle by bottle, the good kind, guys. I mean, you know, go with this here, really, really cute bottles with a really cute moose on it that I love. I mean, I use this stuff on my kids because my, my littlest, my two boys both have a little eczema. But, um, yeah, the ointment that you have, it's amazing.

I mean, it clears it right up. It's so good. Like, I, I will preach. I will testify.

I love that. Thank you.

Um, okay, so I mean, you talked about having resilience and, you know, just keeping plugging forward even though it's hard, even though there are doubts about it. Um, so I mean, as you guys got started in your brand and building it, um, you must have had some opposition, you know, I'm sure by even people who are close to you who are well-wishers. And I think I saw when one of your interviews someone was like, um, do you know about Johnson Johnson? Like, and you're, yes, thank you, Captain Obvious. But you know, what, what did you say to other people? What did you say to yourself?

Yeah, I think that that was the hardest thing about getting going was just being brave enough. I mean, I was a stay-at-home mom at the time, right? And so now if I started a company, people might think, oh, that's Andrea, she had a business, but I had always been involved in businesses and always done little side projects, but I wasn't super public about them, right? And so just being brave enough to say that you're doing something is always scary. But I think I think the most important thing about a company or a family or any sort of endeavor, a charity project, is having the right priorities and really boiling it down to your why. I know that's a popular thing to say, start with the why, but I do think that, that when we keep our priorities straight as a family and as a business, then we are happy and we feel successful and it doesn't feel scary. You can say to people, oh, we're going to start a soap brand, and that can feel terrifying. But in the back of your mind, you're like, well, I'm doing this because my husband and I have always wanted to work together and pursue a creative passion together. And that is bigger than my fears. That, that why is bigger than my fears. Or now as a company, when we come out with a new product or when we have a rough sales month, we come back together and we're like, why are we doing this? We are doing this to help families connect with their little ones. So a tough sales month or a failed product or a bad production run or missing caps on 20,000 bottles, whatever it is, that is bigger than connecting your families together and our family together through natural bath products is bigger than missing caps or a failed production run, right? And that to me has always been super impactful in my life. And there's a lot of ways I ground myself that way. A lot of it is writing in my journal. A lot of it is dialogue with people I love. A lot of it is like more forms of meditation, like prayer or like, you know, kind of gentle exercise, but really bringing yourself back to your why. And there have definitely been weeks and months even when I've gotten too far off my why and I've started to get wrapped up more in my own agenda for things. And that is when we have been either unhappy or scared.

Mm-hmm. I've been in those moments.

So, well, I think that's really smart of you to recognize, you know, just how important that why is. And it goes beyond, again, like you said, more than just because it builds a stronger brand and it helps you pick out colors or how you're going to caption something. I mean, it's so much larger than that. It's a vision of, you know, who, how your company fits, how your business fits into your life and how your life fits into your business.

And, um, you know, can give so much structure to a lot of the hard decisions that have to be made.

Every day, especially when you're, you know, a working mompreneur and trying to balance all those things.

And, you know, we don't like the word balance, but yeah, it's there, right?

It is. And I think a lot of women, you know, the gift of time is something that we've all been given as women, this, in this generation, that other women haven't had. I was thinking about the story of Mary and Martha in the Bible, and, you know, them criticizing each other about how using, how they're using their time. And I'm like, Man, women have been criticizing one another about how they use their time since the beginning of time, right? This is just a new situation.

No, I have been like, I'm using it, my time, like this, and I— there's a part of you that must feel a little insecure, which is why you're judging someone else. And that's the thing, you know, Jesus didn't call the sisters out until they started judging the other one's time. That was like, hey, aren't you gonna tell her to get back here and help me in the kitchen? Like, this is ridiculous.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Jesus didn't care how they use their time. I love how you said that, but we're worried about it, right? And so, um, I think especially as a female and as a mother and as a caregiver, um, going back to my priorities and my base on what I believe as just an individual, as a child of God, as a female, what I believe and what my goals are for life, and then what our goals are as a family have been the best thing for me because there are a lot of underlying fears as a woman when it comes to how you spend your time. I don't care what anyone says. I don't, I don't care how far we progress in feminism. That will always be an issue in women's heads because the way we are routed, most of us, we are routed to be super concerned with how we're spending our time because we want to give as much time as we can to our children if we have them. And so I I think for me, a lot of those fears, and those have been my most severe fears of the business. I've never been, I'm super risk inclined. I was raised by people who like dumped money into businesses and started multiple businesses together. And a lot of my siblings have started businesses. Some have been successful and some haven't. But so that has not been a concern for me, the whole financial thing. I just, I feel super confident in our ability to always make something work. On some level, right? But I think the biggest insecurities I've had has been how to run the business and how to still take care of my family. And so that's where priorities again have been the most important for me. And like I said, I have not always done it right. And even just recently I caught myself making it more about me in some ways than about my family. And that's when I find myself being unhappy.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. So it goes back to, you know, going, you know, grounding yourself in that why and what does success look like in your family, what does success look like in your business, and being really clear about that vision.

You know, not the, not the story that maybe even you tell anyone else, but the one that's true.

I love that. Yeah, yeah, that is 100% true.

Yeah.

And I love, you know, that you guys came to the realization as to what, why you wanted to have a business, and it was because you wanted to do something together. You know, I I remember talking with you, you know, a couple years ago when you were kind of in the beginning of Tubby Todd. And, you know, I don't think it was even that clear then. You guys knew that you had this project and you were excited about it, but I think, you know, as, as it's unfolded in this journey for you guys, you've realized that it's really the connection that you get with being able to work on something with your spouse, which has been so helpful and such a big part of your guys' success and the vision that you have as to why this is a happy part of your family and your life.

Yeah, yeah. And it's happy for us, you know, like, I, like, I, um, so I would be lying if I said working with your spouse isn't super challenging because when we're at work we have stress and then when we're home we have stress. And we got a MoviePass this year. Do you guys have a MoviePass?

Do you know where that—

I know, I know about the MoviePass. We did not get one because babysitters, but 4 kids.

Yeah.

Yes.

That's consideration about having a fourth child is whether or not I'll be able to use my MoviePass.

Yeah, I mean, how— are you gonna be able to get your money out of your giant popcorn thing? These are the important issues we have to wrestle with, you know?

We gotta get back to the why. Yeah, so we got a MoviePass this year and I swear like those date nights are some of the only time when we're together that we don't have like just kind of heavy stress on our shoulders, both of us, and it doesn't feel like there's this constant like, okay, who's balancing what, who's balancing what. And that, I mean, that's a few hours a month, Brittany. And like at church, it's like who's taking the baby out in the foyer, or who's walking the hall with the toddlers. And then at home, it's like who's taking the puppy, who's cleaning the poop up for the puppy and the bunny in the backyard. At work, it's like who's doing the financials, okay, who's doing the creative, you know. It's a constant battle and balance for us, but it's what we wanted. And it's what works for our family. And I love that every— I mean, you can be the same religion, you can be— have the same amount of kids, you can live next door to someone, right? But your home, your life is going to look differently if you're living true to what is right for you. And I love that. I love that every person has innate skills. Strengths that especially every woman that make them a different and a great mom and caregiver and like doer of good in the world, right? And it's there. Maybe it doesn't involve husband or kids. Maybe it doesn't involve— maybe it has a husband and you don't have any children. You're— everyone's lives is gonna look so different if they're doing what's really right for that. And I just think that's so powerful.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, I agree. I really love that thought of, you know, we're next to each other and we're all different, but it doesn't mean that we can't be one, and that's actually the way it's supposed to be. Yeah, it's that we're all, we're all in this together, even, you know, living our own different stories and living our truth.

So, um, okay, so you kind of mentioned that, you know, you—

some of just the logistics, the real life of business that you guys have handled, um, and you both had some experience with different businesses before you got into Tubby Todd.

You know, you've done some marketing, um, and your husband had, you know, been involved with a couple different businesses. Um, but as you guys started growing this company and this seemed like it was, you know, it was moving forward and now had more needs. Where did you guys look for in terms of handling the business side and getting kind of mentorship in that area?

What kind of resources did you find or try to find?

Yeah, so I think the statistic is— I've heard 2 or 3 different things— that only 3 to 4% of venture capitalist-backed companies are female-run companies, and that is such a crazy statistic. We are, we are We took on investors a year ago. We don't have a VC that backs us. It's a private investor. That for us has made a huge change. I think that looking for mentorship can come in a lot of ways. We were really blessed to be part of a small business community, an e-commerce community like Solly Baby and Fawn Design, Freshly Picked, Rags to Rachels, My Sister, The Allison Show, all of These are women who provide a living for their families through their online community. I've been really lucky to be in that close community with all of those women for a number of years, even prior to starting Tubby Todd. Even being part of that community was why we felt confident to do this business. I think that the online world, people are super negative and super hard on it, but for us it's been the greatest thing. Gift in our life to be able to give— be given this gift of community and mentorship and to be able to reach out and find people so easily with no geographic boundaries. And so that is where for the first few years we found our community and we found our niche and we were able to see that this is something that could really support our family. And then from there we knew we needed to take it to the next level. And so it was kind of like almost that starting again, and it was scary. And we decided that we would take on funding and we sold part of our business to a private investor, and that is when we were able to raise enough money to set up our office space, the Tub Hub, and open up a showroom, and then also take on a few permanent full-time employees that had had business experience who came in and are helping us with our day-to-day operations. And it also made it possible so Brian was able to quit his day job and And so now we can tackle all the duties together. So it's been almost a year and a half since we've done that, and our sales have tripled since that time.

Just a huge shift in terms of upleveling your business.

Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely, there was a lot of control that I had to give up that was horrible for me because I know best apparently, or I think I do. And that was really, really challenging. And again, I think that the biggest thing we've been given in our generation is the gift of time and opportunity. And so, you know, you can go out and you can connect with people online and you can raise money for your company. The sky is the limit. If we wanted to raise another round of funding, we could, we could go out and do that. And we haven't decided to do that yet, but that is definitely something we've considered. And so that's how we took it to the next level. And even at where we are, we're kind of looking, okay, what's the next step? We look at brands like Glossier and Outdoor Voices Stitch Fix and Minted and Everlane, all these incredible e-commerce brands who have zero limits on where they can take their brand. They have reinvented what it means to be an e-commerce brand, and we're excited to be kind of the next generation of that, especially in the women and children's space. Definitely.

So I mean, yeah, it's exciting stuff, and you know, I think it was really smart of you guys that you did so much bootstrapping. I mean, you got— you built the company really probably as much as you could using the resources that you had. I mean, you didn't rush out to get funding, um, or, you know, to leverage yourself too much until you really felt like it was the only way that you could move forward. And then you did that confidently, boldly, even though it's got to be scary. I mean, I'm sure it was scary for your husband to quit his job and be like, all right, we're doing this.

And this— yeah, no, it's been Again, it doesn't— I don't know why I've never really been— it was a little more scary for him because he actually thinks about like money and the numbers and health insurance, and I'm like, we're just having so much fun though, you know?

Get it, you'll get in the tub, put on a moose hat, it's all good.

Let's do a boomerang. Come on, Brian, get in it, Todd. Seriously, do you think that makes him happy when I say that?

Probably not.

I can imagine.

Part of it, part of what he signed up for.

Get over it.

It is part, it's part and parcel of the deal.

So, um, but that's good. I mean, you guys complement each other. You've got, you've got the ambition, the creativity, and the passion, and then you've got like, okay, that's all good, let's see where we stand with our profit and loss this month. Like, let's make sure we're on track. And, um, yeah, you, you need that. So for people who maybe they don't have a Brian yet or their Brian is still, you know, not seeing the vision yet. What would your advice be for someone who's like, that's all well and good, Andrea, but I also don't have super talented friends or a husband yet who can help me in my business. Where should I be looking for information? What do I need to do first?

Yeah. Yeah, and Brian has been a huge part of the business, but I will say that for so many years, we wanted to start Tubby Todd and we were trying to push the formula through. And I was at, I was really, you know, he was trying to support our family and I had just had our second child. And I was at my friend El Rolly's house, who is the founder of SoliBaby, Tubby Todd. Just joking, that's me. And I was there and I was frustrated because I felt like, I felt like I was like ready to go all the way in with Tubby Todd and Brian was a little bit more hesitant because again, he is, he's the one who's thinking more about money and paying the bills and taking care of the kids. And I was like, let's do this. And El kind of stopped me after I was like, you know, telling her my concerns. I was like, "I just can't do it until he's ready," blah, blah, blah. And she was like, "I think you need to stop waiting for this to be his thing and just take action on what you feel like is right." And that was the most empowering thing anyone has ever said to me, honestly. And I remember that that changed everything. It was the next day that I started emailing people and sending out stuff. I think that I always had in my mind that my husband was gonna go to work and he was gonna make money and I was gonna stay home with the kids. And that was just what was gonna happen. And that's not what has happened. We both work and he stays home with the kids some days and I stay home with the kids some days. And that is what works for our family. And like I said about priorities, when I go back to what our priorities are, it doesn't have to look like what I thought it would look like in order to make our priorities happen, right? And so my advice to someone who feels like, well, I don't have an online community, or I don't have a husband to help me balance the budgets, or I don't have, you know, a product market. If you have something you believe in that you love, that you want to put into the world, you need to just take a step every single day to make it happen. Because if you feel driven to do that, and it is something you feel called to do, then it will work when you put your foot forward every single day, one after another. And for so many years, the weight of Tubby Todd was just on me. It was just me from my home nursing babies, ordering stuff through like my email with one hand while I was like half awake. But I believed in it and it was something that we wanted to do for our family. And so I pushed it forward one step at a time. And that has given me so much strength and confidence in my ability just as a woman, as a mother, as a human being, that I can really make things happen. And I don't need to wait around for anyone else. And neither does anyone else. I am no different than anyone else. You don't have to wait around to have the right community or the funding or the connections. You can move forward and just do whatever you feel called to do.

Amen. Gosh, okay.

So, well, everyone needs an Andrea to follow them around in the morning.

That's how I really felt. You guys are gonna do it. You know, I love hearing what people's dreams are. And I'm just like, when people talk to me and they're like, well, but I don't have this or I don't have this, I'm like, no excuses. No excuses. Whatever excuse you have in your mind, that is fear. Just throw that out and move forward. And I have— I make up excuses still all the time in my mind why things aren't getting done. Just move forward, you know, if you want. If you want to, you don't have to if you don't want to.

Sorry, but if you want to, you know, just do it. Move forward.

Do better. That's it.

So my husband, my husband says sometimes, he says, don't say sorry, just do better. And I'm like, okay, that does work. Maybe not with the 3-year-old. I don't know if he's quite yet there. In terms of the performance metrics. But it is a good reminder that we have all the power, and don't give that power away.

Like, just don't, don't give it away. I love that.

Yeah, just don't.

So, okay, um, so you kind of talked about it, what's great with working with your spouse, what's hard, because, you know, the business blends into everything, you know. So you guys have found what really works for you.

You talk about going on your date nights, and that's really a priority, um, for you and your family.

Um, is there anything else that you're finding that's working in terms of of having a workflow with your spouse and taking care of kiddos and managing all of that?

Um, okay, so I, I love these type of podcasts because it makes me sound like I have everything figured out. Now, you know, like, no, but, um, I think the thing that— okay, so let me give you an example, um, of something that I have learned, uh, since working with my spouse. One day we were in a meeting right after we book on investors, and I was super frustrated in the meeting, and I felt really, I felt like I had acted like a brat. And I called my mom, and I was like, I acted like a total brat, like I just don't want to be that person. And she listened, and she said, okay, she's like, do you feel like the men in the meeting felt like they were acting like brats? Would they ever call themselves that? And I was like, no. And what's interesting about this conversation is that it was my dad and my husband who were in the meeting with me. And my mom's like, well, then I don't want to hear you talk about yourself that way. She's like, if you voiced your opinion in a way that was professional, then you can feel comfortable with that. And I, I have learned that lesson over and over again to not apologize for who I am. And I have a big personality. There's no question. I have a lot of jobs.

Really? No, it's true. And guess what?

So does Marilyn Faulkner. And let's just give a shout out to her.

Yeah. Yeah. And so does my dad. And I feel like I have spent so many years— I think as women, sometimes, not all of us, some of us and men have a tendency to apologize for who we are.. But who I am is someone who drives. I'm passionate. I push. I work really hard. I believe in myself and people, and I don't need to apologize for that. I don't need to apologize for that to myself, to my family, or to anyone else. And that is something I have learned. Now, if I am being rude, disrespectful, unkind, catty—those are all things that I do not want to be, right? And so I am learning, and I have learned that there is a difference between apologizing for who you are and apologizing for something you've done wrong. And I, I am trying to learn to stop apologizing for who I am. And because who I am—without who I am, my husband wouldn't have married me, my children wouldn't be who they are, Tubby Todd would not be who they are. And that goes— that's the same for everyone who's a part of our organization. Our organization could not exist if our CFO, our COO, if our, you know, content manager, if they weren't who they were. That's why we hired them, and that's why we love them. And since I have realized this about myself, I have seen so many women I love around me in so many roles apologizing for being emotional or for being passionate or for not being outgoing enough or for for not wanting to pursue a career outside of the home. Who cares? Be who you are and do not apologize for that. And I am— that's something I'm really working on. I have not mastered it and I have not found the balance because I've taken it too far where I've started for a while, I was like, I'm just going to disregard everyone's feelings because I'm sick of apologizing. But I don't think that that's the answer either. So, um, yeah.

Somewhere in the middle, some good moderation. But yeah, cue— I mean, cue The Greatest Showman, you know, when the sharpest words gonna cut me down. I mean, like, you know, that's the thing. Be who you are and be thoughtful enough to still recognize other people have feelings and thoughts, and that's all good, and we should be good listeners.

But not try to make yourself small and smaller than you are.

No. And you know, my friend called me the other day and she, she like, is because she's late a lot and she messes up dates, but she's an artist and she's beautiful and she's flamboyant and she's all over the place and she never gets upset. Your kids can go over to her house and literally throw paint everywhere and she thinks it's funny. And she called me and she apologized. She said, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I messed up this date. I'm so sorry." I'm like, "Listen, you stop that because that is why I love you. If you didn't act that way, if you didn't mess up dates and you didn't ruin schedules sometimes, then we wouldn't get to go over to your house and paint with our fingers and we wouldn't We wouldn't get to dress up for your birthday party. We wouldn't get to be us and have that side of us come out around you. And I just cannot imagine almost any man I know calling me and apologizing for a side of them. I just, I can't think of an example, but I can think of 10 examples in the last few days from women I love who have done that. So there's that.

So ladies, we need to do better, okay? Like, you need to do better and call it like it is. It's not being a brat. It's, uh, yeah, maybe I was, I was aggressive or I was forceful, or maybe not. Maybe you were just saying what needed to be said.

Yeah, or maybe I was just— that's just how I talk, and if it offends someone, that could be something we could consider. But other than that, it's fine, right?

Or not, because maybe that's the story in their head, you know?

Yeah, that's what Brene would say. You know.

I like you.

That's right, it's all about those stories.

So, um, well, that's awesome. Okay, I kind of wanted to close with like a 4 tips to building, you know, a community, not just customers, because one of the great strengths of Tubby Todd is your community. You know, you started out with these mamas who believed in your product, and now you've gone on, you have a Facebook group, you have a book that's built on that community. Um, yeah, if you can give us like 4 tips that if someone, either whether they're service-based or product-based business, whatever it is they're doing, how can they build more than just selling something?

It's not more than just a brand, it's a community around what they love and what they're passionate about.

Okay, so I think the first tip is to really establish a personified brand voice. And Allison, my sister, has a course that you can take. I know Brittany's taken the course, many of us have taken the course. It really changed our brand. I'll be honest, when I took that course, because I was able to recognize that our brand voice was a part of me, but it is not all of me. So when you say it's a personified brand voice, it doesn't have to be all of one person, but it is a part of me that people see and a part of me that I feel passionately. It is real. So the first step is a personified brand voice, something that people identify with and that is consistent throughout the brand. I think the second step is to really engage your early adopters. So I know I listened to this podcast with the— How I Built This with the Airbnb founders, and they talk about with their early adopters how they went and stayed in their apartments and talked to them and took pictures of their homes, and they did everything from start to finish with those early adopters, right, that the whole Airbnb process. So they really got to know their early adopters. Our early adopters are some of my greatest our greatest friends, and they always will be. We send them personal Christmas cards, and we still communicate with them on an ongoing basis. That's part of the reason why we just did our Drybar book tour, was to be able to see them in person. And we have our mama Facebook group. We, we continue to correspond with our early adopters as often as possible because that brings us back to the root of how the brand Okay, so then my third thing is really to have fun. If you're not having fun, no one else is having fun. Jodi Moore, just from Better Than Happy, her most recent podcast was about fun, and that was such a great reminder to me about, you know, when brands are having fun, you can completely tell. And when they're not, their founders, when maybe the founder is having fun but everyone in the organization isn't having fun. You have to make sure that everyone is having fun, and people want to be a part of something fun. And so that leads me to my fourth point, which is always having something new. Elle Rowley from Solibaby says, treat your followers like your friends Your friends, you would never call them and tell them the same story 3 times. You wouldn't send them the same pictures through text messages. You wouldn't just put up something just to put up something to talk to them. When you text your friends, you have something to say. And so when you reach out to your, your brand, and whether it's an Instagram post or tweet, Facebook, that is this is their valuable time and make sure that you are not wasting their time. Now, every Instagram post we put up is not perfect. And don't, I mean, you can completely overthink that, but we really do ourselves to ourselves, like, is this something I would actually want to read? And I tell, you know, my girls who help me with content, I'm like, when you write your content, pretend like you're texting your friends, you know? And sometimes we'll get super serious with our Instagram posts or our emails. And I'm like, okay, delete that. And write me the text that you wrote me last week where you were like, "That's hot," H-E-W-T, or like, "Get it, girl," or whatever it is that we say to each other naturally in the office. That is what we should be saying to the girls that we're talking to because they're our friends, right?

All I have to say. I love that. I love—

and I love Elle.

She's so wise. We're going to get on here too. Don't you think that I'm not going to leverage this and make her jealous and have her get on? She is, she's so wise. Well, thank you so much, Anna, for being on here. So I want people— obviously, if they're not on your Tubby Todd train, they need to be. They need to be following you and lotioning up all your stuff. Tell us also about your book and that you might have a special little giveaway for everyone.

So, and we make all-natural bath products. We want you to try them. If you sign up for our newsletter, you get 10% off. You can always direct message us any questions on Instagram. We're on there literally 24/7 with like, what are the best things to buy for your family? And the book that I wrote, You've Got This, Mama, and we are giving away a copy plus $50 of credit to our store.

Whoa, okay guys, that is amazing.

You don't even know, okay? But if you do, then you'll, you'll be really excited. It either way.

Okay, so in order to win the giveaway, Brittany, what do they have to do?

Um, so I think that they should, uh, they need to follow me and follow you. Um, and does that sound good? And yeah, and then follow William. And then, and then yeah, they need to leave all— I'm gonna have a post, an Instagram post for this podcast when it's up.

Um, and so they can go follow that, and then we'll, we'll announce the details on there about when we're gonna close the giveaway.

So yeah, we clearly, we clearly talked about this, obviously.

I'm a detailed marketing guru. Yes. One last thing, you guys, I wish you guys could see Brittany right now on Skype. She has 4 children. Her makeup is beautiful. She's a brilliant brainiac, clever, witty podcaster who can do anything. So there's that.

Let's just stop. Thank you.

And really, I should be asking her questions about life if you could see me right now.

You know what, we all help each other out. So, and I, you know, I feel lucky that I get to work with people like you and help and be just a small, small part of your businesses and to, you know, be the little voice that says, hey, we should get something like this, we should fix this little tiny thing, copyright those photos, we should copyright those photos, we should put this, change the statement on your website, you know, get all the stuff so that you're legit. Because you— I do me and I do the legal stuff so that you can do you and you make amazing bath products.

Products and write amazing books. So thank you, you're so sweet. Okay, thank you.

All right, well, having me— thank you, Andrea.

Okay, isn't Andrea just simply amazing? Um, I hope you loved that episode as much as I did. I loved recording it in the first round, and I certainly loved, um, re-listening to it in preparation for getting this episode out there. Um, and just to recap Andrea's takeaways, because I think that that, that important, um, and if you're anything like me, sometimes you're on the go listening to podcasts, and it really helps to kind of solidify these points. The first is that she recommended that you have a personified brand voice. She said, you know, make sure you have that personal connection. You need to figure out what the why is for your product. It doesn't matter what you're selling, we're all selling something. Even if you're a nonprofit and you're trying to get a new, you know, kindness movement started at your local school, you're still selling that, okay? So whatever it is, we need to figure out the why and figure out how to personify it so it means something other people. The second is to engage your early adopters, making sure— make sure that you're taking care of those people who are there with you in the beginning. Okay, there, there means they're loyal, they're already interested, and they've raised their hands. So make sure you're taking care of them and doing what you can to really meet and serve their needs and making them your focus. Number 3 was to have fun, and here she was, you know, quoting our, our good pal Jodi Moore from the Bold New Mom— or sorry, Better Than Happy podcast now, who talks about making sure that you're being lighthearted and whimsical, you're interjecting that fun into your business, into your brand, that energy that will really carry through and let people connect to it in a really engaged way. And the last is quoting our great friend Ella Orroli from Solibaby, which is to make sure that you are having something new and interesting for your followers. Treat your followers like your friends. That's what Andrea kept on reminding us. And you wouldn't ever call and text your friends and tell the same old stodgy story, you know, again and again, or the same old boring pictures. You'd want to have something new and interesting to talk about with them. You'd want to give them the kind of content that you'd want to know. You'd want to give them the kind of interesting story that you like to read. So really try to put yourself in the shoes of other people, and you'll find that it makes it so much easier to connect with them in a really meaningful way. So please please make sure that you are following me, @BrittanyRettell. Make sure that you're following Andrea, that's @AndreaFaulknerWilliams. And you'll see, look for the post that on my Instagram, @BrittanyRettell, for the giveaway for this. As we talked about, there's going to be a $50 credit to Tubby Todd, which you know, you can treat yourself with all kinds of stuff for either you or your little ones, as well as a giveaway of Andrea's most recent book. You've got This Mama, which is a really cute— the art in it is just amazing, lovely illustration. And it's all about trying to nurture those parts of yourself, you know, taking care of you while you're taking care of others, and making sure you're getting a time to think and reflect and be, you know, thoughtful about all that stuff as you're engaged in this really busy, hectic season of life. So thank you guys so much for joining us here today and being here, for showing up for all the episodes If this is your first episode, I hope that you'll please dig into some of the more other ones in the archives. I try to kind of stagger them back and forth between giving some of the brass tacks, tactics, the legal stuff, the business stuff that I'm helping to wade through, some of my clients and friends and associates, and then stories like these where we really just get to listen and to take a journey through someone's business. And yeah, I will say that with giant air quotes, and I'm not going to go back and put the ding on it for journey journey. I know that word is completely overused in our parlance, but it's true. We're all on a journey. And to connect with someone like Andrea, who's certainly been on a business journey and seen highs and lows and gone through scary things, but also come out on the other side. And just to hear her passion behind being able to build something, especially building something with your spouse that's meaningful to you, I just think it's such an inspiring and real message. And you can tell just by listening to her. If this is your first time hearing her her speak just how much her business means to her, her passion, how much she cares about what she's doing, about who she's serving. And it's no wonder that her brand has just skyrocketed to success from all the hard work and the passion and the love that she's put into it. So well done, Andrea, and we're so lucky to have her on here. If you guys haven't subscribed to the podcast, please do that. You can do that either through your desktop app, through iTunes, iTunes, or if you're listening to this through the purple microphone podcast app on your iPhone, you scroll down to the bottom and you can say write a review. And you can either just do simple stars if that's all you got time for, but if you have a couple more seconds, you can write a little review. That is what iTunes uses to show this podcast to other people who might be looking for this subject matter, who might be looking for related things. So it really helps people try to find this content and be able to plug this content into part of creative entrepreneurial journey. So I really appreciate any podcast reviews. I appreciate you guys following me on Instagram and, you know, being involved and asking questions. I want to remind you that if you're looking for some advice, for some tactics and, and free tips and resources for your business, I host my free legal question and answer on Tuesday nights, and you'll see information about that on my Instagram. I also have a newsletter that I offer to people with— I only send it out when I have I have something useful to say, I don't even send it out every week, partly because of the time commitment. And also, I just, I'm really sensitive of wasting people's time because I'm a busy mama of 4, and I know that you're busy too. So, but you can subscribe to that at brittanyratelle.com/newsletter. And I typically, you know, I'll send out some links to show notes from podcasts so you can get caught up and see if there's something that's intriguing that you want to be listening to. I also summarize our question and answer that to do, the free legal ones that I just mentioned, and also some other tips and tricks that kind of filter out through the Instagram and some stuff that doesn't. Because with the way the algorithm works, I know sometimes you might see the tips that I'm giving and sometimes you won't. So I want to make sure that you are not missing out on all that stuff. So please sign up there, and you also get a free legal checklist if you do that. So we'll kind of give you a bird's eye view of what you should be doing, um, kind of the first things first in terms of of, okay, you know you need to get your business legit, you want to get your ducks in a row, now where do you start? Okay, this checklist answers that question. Where should you start? Okay, so brittanyruttell.com/newsletter. That's a, that's a very technical term. Only advanced email marketers would refer to it like that. So thank you so, so much for being here, um, and I hope you just have a wonderful day. Catch you next time.