How to Succeed in Business with Lavida Samuel

And I think sometimes we do overcomplicate it and think that, you know, I don't know much more than anyone else starting. But it's been 10 years. So what I know now, I definitely didn't know then. And sometimes we try to rush the process.

That is true. And because we assume that the process should be going faster than what it is, we assume we're failing when really what we're doing is learning.

Learning. Oh, that's a word, girl. Yes.

So y'all, every now and then, I get the opportunity to simply bring on the podcast someone I want to talk to. They don't have a book. Their PR person didn't reach out to me. They're not famous. They're just someone you would never know unless I brought them on. And I have the privilege today of sharing a conversation that I had with an amazing woman who's a small business owner in my town. Bumped into her at Target one day, bought her products, and kind of wanted to just learn more about her. How did you get here? How did you build this? How are you learning to do what you're doing so well? This conversation, if you have ever thought about having a side hustle, developing your side hustle, monetizing something, what does it look like for you to grow and develop? What happens if you need to know something that you currently don't know? If you've ever thought about being an entrepreneur, running your own business, being a CEO or visionary, hiring and firing, what does it look like to look at your P&Ls? How do we figure out How to run stuff ourselves. This podcast is golden. It's golden. Why? Because someone amazing was willing to have an honest conversation with me about where she is and how she got there. So without further ado, let's jump into it. Okay, y'all. So this is my favorite kind of interview. This is the kind of interview where I legitimately just want to talk to the person and I get to invite you in on my Curiosity, where I'm getting to know someone that I think is worth knowing and learning from, and where I believe that during our conversation, you will feel the same way. So my guest, I first got to know about her through her product. So I really didn't know her. I knew her product. I like her product. Somebody gifted me her product. I fall in love with her product. I have marketed her product. I have given her product away as gifts. And then one day, I happened to be strolling through Target because Target tells us what we need. And apparently Target on that day— I wouldn't even say Target decided. I think the Lord told Target to tell me what I needed. And me and Miss Lovita Samuel happened to pass each other back near Joanna Gaines in that section. And we connected that day. And I just looked at her and I was— I don't even know if you know this, but I felt a little like Oh my gosh, I'm meeting the owner of LV. So, um, I just told her we should connect. And I, since then we've reached out and been trying for a little bit to connect via podcast and here we are. So I am really excited to introduce you to Ms. Lovita Samuel and also to get to know her as I am too. So here's what I want to know. And I just want you to tell the story. How did you end up because your stuff is clean. This is the thing. There are a lot of people making body butters. And truth be told, my sister-in-law makes some and it's pretty good. She's not packaging it. She's not selling it, but her body butter is pretty good. But your body butter, one, is amazing product, but your packaging, your branding, I mean, you definitely are wrapping it in, I know what I'm doing from a business standpoint to move the needle here. And, um, I just am curious to know how you got here. How did you get here?

So first of all, thank you, because I'm glad it looks like I know what I'm doing, because sometimes there's some organized chaos over here. Listen, listen. But, um, I actually used to purchase a butter from a store whenever I would go to DC to visit, and I would just Stack Up. And then my friends tried it. One of my friends put us on, and then when I would go, I'd bring back some for friends. And went once and they— the store was closed. They weren't— and this is devastated, kind of early e-commerce, so you're not really buying online like that. And devastated. So I'm like, that's okay, I'll find some more. And as I looked, I didn't find anything. I either didn't like the I didn't like the texture of what I was coming across. So I have a degree in engineering, and as an engineer, we think we can make anything.

That's correct.

So I was like, that's okay, I'll make some. So I made some, and some of the friends— and it was a girls' trip to Martha's Vineyard, and I bring some with them, and I'm not packaged kind of like your sister-in-law. It's in like Dollar Tree little containers. And I'm like, yeah, try it, tell me what you think. And they're like, oh, it's good. So that year for Christmas, I do a little better at packaging it out for Christmas gifts. Um, so I give one of my son's teachers some, I give a friend of mine— her— I went to take it to her and her sister was in town, so I gave her sister some. My sister lived in New York at the time. And so we go on, and about a month later I get a call, "Hey, do you have any more butter?" from one person. And then I go to pick my son up from school. His teacher is like, "Can I see you?" And I'm like, "Girl, what's wrong? What'd he do?" And so she's like, "No, no, the butter you gave, where did you get it from?" And I'm like, "I made it." And so she was like, "Oh." I was like, "Well, next time I make some, I'll give you some." Last call, well, maybe two more calls, and then my friend's sister calls from New York. And she's like, Do you have any more? I want more butter, you know. And I'm like, well, I haven't made any more. When I make some more, I'll give you some. She asked, could she have the recipe? And I kind of froze.

And I was like, you were like, hold on, hold on, I know better than that.

Yeah. And so I was like, that made me— I'm kind of a calculated risk taker. So I was like, you know what, I still have some of the ingredients left from when I made the product. Um, I probably invested another $200, $300, maybe $500. And I was like, if nothing else, I will I will sell this, I will get my $500 back if I have to put it in the trunk of my car and go to every beauty salon in town. And I'll bow out gracefully if it does not work. And that was 10 years ago.

Okay, but here's the thing. And I think you're— there's so many things you said. First of all, you were a buyer. So you have that merchandise experience. You are an engineer, so you have that. I can make a product if I try. Um, and I love how you said you're a calculated risk taker, uh, where, you know, because a lot of people assume that if somebody is an entrepreneur, it's because they're just willing to take all the risks that no one else is willing to take. And you're like, no, I, I kind of inched into this. But I love how all of that applies to something that people wouldn't think about engineering for, you know what I'm saying? It's like you are using what you have and what you developed in one season of your life. Yes. And applying it to something totally different in another season of your life. And I think so many people discount, you know, when they're on the job, they're getting their paycheck, they got good benefits. And, and I don't know how you felt about your work, but people don't necessarily think that transference like that is possible, you know. And I love seeing that at work.

Yeah, I, I always tell people, engineers, we're problem solvers. That's basically all we do, solve problems. And so running a business, you're, you're solution-oriented. You have to figure out how to solve this problem. And you're right, I never thought— I would have never thought when I graduated college that I would be running my own business. That was not on my— I thought I climbed the corporate ladder, but I realized once I got in corporate America, it really just wasn't my thing. But I wasn't gonna just quit my job either.

So, you know, let's talk about that. You, you jumped from the 10 years, but I'm, I'm curious, take me a little bit— how long was it before you quit?

So I was an engineer for 6 years, then I quit to start another business.

Okay.

Which was a service-based business, and it was early on in the internets when we still had AOL and dial-up. Yes. And so, but it was a service-based business, so totally different from this one. And then this happened. I wasn't trying, um, but even the things that I learned in that business helped me for this. And then, you know, Jesus be knowing, and so that business started to decline some as this business was growing. And so the transition, not— although not exactly smooth, it, it— one just sort of replaced the other. 2 totally different businesses though, like managing inventory and things versus a service-based business where you have none of that. So there was still a learning curve, but there were a lot of transferable skills learned.

Okay, so 10 years, and this has been— when did you step into this being the, the main thing though? Like you were saying, I love how you said Jesus be known, but, um, this— when was this clearly the main thing? How long has it been the main thing?

I would say it's clearly been the main thing since like 2019. Okay, okay, 2019. I leaned, leaned into it probably close in 2018. Okay, um, like really like dove in, like, okay, let me figure this e-commerce thing out. But it became the main, main thing around 2019.

So when I look at this, I'm always thinking as a consumer, I— how did she build this? So here are the questions inquiring minds like me want to know. How do you know where to get your packaging? Are you a designer? Did you design it yourself? Like all the things that go into the mysteries of the products consumers buy. Is this information you had? Were you Googling? Did you have friends? Did you DIY it until you figured out that there are actually I think there's this mystery between what we buy and how it gets made. And again, we assume that people just have all this information. So what did it take for you to make this product from the product that you had in the trunk of your car that you were just selling and trying to make your $500 back into a presentable, branded, um, effectively packaged product? How did you learn how to do that?

Trial and error. If you saw my first jars and my first labels, you'd be like, oh girl. So, um, Google is your friend. Google is your friend. So you just Google jars, you know, uh, like literally that simple. It's that simple. And, and I think sometimes we do make it more complicated. And I do, you know, you'll get people like, where'd you get your jars from? You I'll tell you, but you could have just Googled it. You know, you Google jars for lotion or jars for butters and it'll come up. And then you may have to— once you figure that out and know what they're called, you could continue to Google and find better pricing, better. Like the first jars I bought, I don't buy my jars from that place anymore because as we're needing more jars, I need a bigger place. I need better pricing. But it's baby steps. You can't jump from here. Like, if I had gone to the place I buy the jars from now back then, I would have been like, oh, I'll never be able to buy those jars.

Yeah, because you need an order of a million in order to get the price break.

Exactly. And I would think I'm never gonna get there. I remember there was a time there was a software that we currently use for shipping that when I first started out, I think it was $39 a month, and I was like, man, I can't do that. I can't wait till my business gets big. I will feel like I'm doing something when I could do— because it's not just that $39 a month, it's $39 a month over here, over there.

That's right.

So all the little things, choose all the little things. And you know, it's again figuring out, figuring that out, figuring out. So I did have a friend, a very good friend who's a graphic designer, so he created the logo. And then, like I said, the packaging— the first batch of labels, I was printing the labels myself on a printer until I got to the point where I ordered labels. Then I got to the point to now we have the jars screened. I just was like, I've seen jars being screened. I Googled, how do you screen print a jar? Boom, a place just in my, my city came up. So who knew? But until you kind of need it, but Google is your best friend. It really is.

That's right.

And I think sometimes we do overcomplicate it and think that, you know, I don't know much more than anyone else starting, but it's been 10 years. So what I know now, I definitely didn't know then. And sometimes we try to rush the process.

That is true. That is true. And because we assume that the process should be going faster than what it is, we assume we're failing when really what we're doing is learning.

It's learning. Oh, that's a word, girl. Yes.

Because here's what I— here's what I know after 10 years. Beyond the screening printing and beyond the, the, the development of the logo and the color, all that, beyond the jars and your minimum order for those jars, the kind of business owner that you are now, you would not have been ready to— even if you had the money, if you had the money for the jars, if you had the money to do all the things, if you had the money, You're not the kind of business owner— you wouldn't have been the kind of business owner then that you would have needed to be to handle the decision-making and all the things that running a business requires. Now, uh, you— I know you said earlier, you know, you're a working business owner, and so you're not necessarily the brand face. You're not running, you're not doing all the marketing for it yourself directly. But which part of— I know it's all of it, but which part of the business do you prefer versus tolerating it, or do you love it all? And I'm going to break it into two. Maybe there's more than two. In my mind, there is the development, marketing and sales, everything related to the product. And then there's the running of the business, you know, looking at your P&Ls, looking at your people, the hiring, the firing, the shifting, the, the, the shipping. Like, you know, there's the— so of the developmental, get this into the hands of my people, and of the, okay, give me my income and expense report, I got to talk to my accounting person, I'm dealing with my marketing and making sure that the branding is on point, oh, I got to develop the website, the business running of it. Which do you prefer and why?

I would say there are probably a little aspects of both. Yeah, but if I had to say, it would probably be the development.

Okay.

Versus the, the day-to-day, uh, keeping up with this. Because, you know, like, in my business, so we do everything in-house. We whip and ship right here. So, um, not literally in my house, but that's where we're— that's where it started. But, um, so the first thing I uh, hand it off with shipping because it takes so much time. You cannot— goodness, yes. And you got to pay for space, and you got to pay for space, and you got to keep up with like, you know, you got to answer emails of where my order— where's my order? Well, you know what, I could be working on it right now if I wasn't answering this email, but that's a whole nother thing. So you got to deal with customer service, all the things. So that was the first, customer service was the second. And then operations was the third thing as far as like, oh, do we have enough jars? Are we going to have enough for this upcoming promotion? Do we have, you know, all, all that? I handed all of that off. I mean, you know, even the P&L, like I kind of have my finger on the pulse, but to dive into it, I know. But then on the other hand, Like I said, working every day is like creating content. I wish I could sit— no, I really don't. But I wish I could sit and just, oh, have a camera and have, you know, do the things all day, every day. When I see owners doing it, I'm like, how do they do that? You know? And it works for them. I mean, and it shows in their, you know, numbers, but I just, I don't know, I don't have that time either. But I like a little bit of both. There's certain things about both that I really enjoy.

How are you spending your time? Better yet, how are you being intentional with your days? I created the Full Circle Planner to make sure that you were doing both of those well. It is a planner It's an undated 90-day planner that lets you check off your to-do list while you also check on your soul. It's the best parts of a planner and a journal to make sure that you're getting things done, but also getting the things done that you actually really wanna do. So if you need a way to make sure you're moving your tasks forward while you're also creating a life that you love, the Full Circle Planner can do just that. Check it out. Go to thesistercircle.com/planner to get a gift for yourself or a gift for a friend or a gift for the two of you to use together. The Full Circle Planner, y'all check it out. What is the thing that, that makes you most passionate about what you do that you enjoy doing the most? I know you said there's a little bit of both you enjoy. What is the thing that you're like, oh, but this is the most fun part for me. What keeps this fun? And then what sucks you dry?

So I feel that what keeps this fun is the environment that I've been able to create here. Like, coming to a place that I enjoy coming, and I hope that my team enjoys coming to as well. Like, we're like family. So, you know, we talk, we, you know, drink coffee, we may have margaritas on Friday if it's spring break and you need to spend some time with your kids. It's not that pressure. But I'm— I am fortunate to have a team that I know are going to go above and beyond. So it's a two-way street. So I feel that that's been really important because when I was in corporate America, I hated going. Yeah, it was a drain. And I'm not saying that, like, just telling anyone that, that loves their job that's in corporate they shouldn't, but it just did not fulfill me. So to be able to create a a place and a space. And to— one thing about corporate, it took forever to get— make for a decision to happen. You had to run up the chain of command. Well, if someone in shipping says, oh, I think we should do that, let's do it. You know, it doesn't have to be, uh, act of Congress to make something happen, right? Right. And I think that's part of just being a small business in general. Yeah. Yeah.

How small or big is your business?

How many people? So, there are 1, 2, 3, 4 of us. No, 1, 2, 3 full-time and 3 part-time. Our customer service person's part-time. She's a teacher and she does it in the evenings when she gets home. I love that.

Okay. So, let's talk about marketing because right now I actually have a group of women who are in a coaching cohort with me in leadership. Is what we're talking about. We're focusing on maximizing your vision, monetizing, and then marketing. And I would say marketing is the pain point of every person in the group, because even if you count yourself as a good marketer, as you've already said, to run the business when you're a small business and market— marketing is a lot. It requires a lot. And in this day and age, marketing is so very specific. So I would love to know what has marketing looked like for you over the years? Because it's beautiful. Again, you know, people don't know what it takes to make it beautiful. I'm sitting here looking at your Instagram page. It's gorgeous. But I would just love to have you walk me through that because a lot of people won't get stuck at a good product and a lot of people won't get stuck at even, you know, having Google tell them all the things about whatever they need to do. But they'll have this great products, uh, you know, great ingredients, a great team, a great place to work, a great story, and not have anybody to buy it because they get hung on that marketing tree.

Yeah. And it's easy to get hung on because you're gonna second-guess yourself. Um, but for me, marketing, I do enjoy it. Um, it— I have a love-hate relationship with it. So many times you do, you pour so much into it, and then it's like, oh, that didn't do what I thought it would do. And then the thing you didn't think was going to do, like, great, does. But for me, when I started the business, I would try to take pictures. And I was like, ew, the way these look, these don't look great.

This is why somebody has a job being a photographer.

Exactly. But I couldn't afford said photographer. And in the age of social media, You know, if I hire a photographer to take pictures, you know, you run through those in 7, 10 days based on what they give you back. So I had more time than money. So I went to community college and took a photography class.

Love that.

Had just become an empty nester. So it's like, well, we got time. Not that many orders coming. Let's do this. So went to community college, took the photography classes. I ended up taking about 3 because I had bought a camera, but It just was, you know, you think this camera, if I get this camera, it's going to make my pictures look like those.

And then you got to know what you're doing. It doesn't matter what the camera is. You got to know what you're doing.

You got to know what you're doing. So I took the classes and, you know, it was one night a week. And that's kind of how I ended up. So I still periodically hire a photographer to take photos. But if it's something that I'm like, oh, this, I need to take a shot of this, or this would be a good shot, I just pull out the camera and take the picture. And I can now. There's a little space right here beside me with the table and the paper, and we just go in there and—

So if I'm looking on your Instagram, would you say the majority of these pictures are you?

Probably lately, because I haven't done a photo shoot in a while.

Yes. I love that. I mean, because again, people overcomplicate it. And this is what I was just telling somebody today.

You know, I got—

I— well, you can't see now because I got my camera zeroed in, but I have my— these are— this is my foray into the product development business. I've got a couple of things. I learned how to make shirts because I would go to places and people be like, you should put that on a shirt. So I was like, okay, I'll try it. And while my main business is content, the content overflows into other products. But I'll tell people all the time, this is just the tool, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's, it's a tool. And if you have to use the tool and it has to work for you to use it because there's a million other planners, journals out there. It's just, it's just a tool. But what— there's always something that makes it unique. You know what I'm saying? But I'm like you. I'm sitting here. My first one was done, you know, in Word and I drew a table and then I sent that to a cheap graphic designer on Fiverr. And now I cringe when I look back at that. It's like, I cannot believe people actually bought that, you know?

But it's the journey and it's the growth.

But it's the journey and it's the growth. Yeah, that's right. That's right. And I love it so much because again, people overcomplicate it. So they end up thinking that they can't do it unless they have all of this money, you know, and everybody out in these streets is a consultant or digital strategist and they want to charge you $5,000 to do what you could do yourself for $50. You know what I mean? It's just— and you, because you think they have something you don't have. You spend the money and then you lament that your product still didn't go, or you don't do anything because you think, until I have the $5,000 or $2,500 or whatever people are out here charging.

Yes. I'm—

I can't do it. I look at your stuff and have been all this time, and all I can see is beauty and intentionality and care and a high level of professionalism. And that's on top of the product being amazing. And here you are going to take community classes to figure out how to take your photos.

Yeah, I, I— and I always encourage entrepreneurs, like, in the meantime, meaning like while they're not buying or while you're still figuring it out, go take a writing class, an accounting class, a photography class, something that will help you in your business. But even with what we were saying earlier, the— what you've done for your job or your church, all of that comes into play and can help you in this business at this time. Um, I do feel from a marketing perspective, we lean into more tongue-in-cheek. We're a little, you know, um, a lot of humor, um, in the brand because I feel, okay, putting on Shea butter. How many— what— how many ways can I tell you? So we, and we do things like, you know, we lean into not being ashy because nobody wants to be ashy.

Our—

one of our taglines is, "Ashy ain't classy." So, you know, we lean into that, and that just helps give us more content, our content pillars, you know, whether it's music, whether it's movies and nostalgia, and mainly wanting women to, to glow from the inside out. Like, our products make your skin glow, but we want you to feel good about yourself on the inside. That's so good.

It's so good. Okay, so, um, I know that— well, we talked about the thing that kind of lights you up. Did you tell me what sucks you dry?

Meetings. Meetings. I'm like, wow.

And no matter how you try to get rid of them, you have to have some.

You gotta have some. And I try— so I go to a co-working space once a week on Wednesday, and I try not to schedule meetings on Wednesday so that I can work because I end up either having meetings or here in the building I'll see someone and I like to talk, so I end up talking too much, or I insert myself in stuff going on here at the studio to divert myself from doing other stuff that I need to be doing. So I'm like, but meetings kind of suddenly dry sometimes. And then like, okay, I need to go back and look at what I wrote down from that meeting so that I can, uh, follow up on the things. But yeah, meetings. And, and I always tell people, even with entrepreneurship— so let's say you can bake, you're a great baker, you love to bake, but then as your business grows, you're not baking anymore, you're running the business, you're meeting with the accountants, you're ordering the supplies, you're negotiating the lease, you're all the things that take you away from the thing that you loved when you started the business. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

I think it's so great that you make the time to get away. I think that is so crucial. Um, there's— I'm a reader and I don't know if you've ever heard of a book called, uh, Deep Work by Cal Newport, and that's one of his premises that If you're going to do something that other people aren't doing, you have to make space and time for deep work. Cause there's some things that are just not going to be done in 15-minute sprints. And I love that we have a small office and it's empty on Wednesdays so that, like you said, it's not that everybody else is the interruption. Sometimes I'm the interruption. I'm having fun. And, um, but in a quiet space that I can go deeper and get things done. But that, that leads me to ask you about this. So one of the things I know as an entrepreneur that. I am aware of, uh, and I, I am a natural achiever. I, I like working hard. I like making the A. I like diving in deep and doing things well. So when you give a person like that their own business, or if a person isn't even like that but it's their business, it's their livelihood, the level of care and investment is different. And I've realized that there's been nothing better and worse than my own business to show me my propensity towards a lack of balance in my life. And so I'm curious, what has balance, life balance, look like? Has it been a struggle? If so, how have you worked towards improving that? What counsel would you give? I mean, and we know that when you're starting a business, there's a hustle. You're getting it off the ground. It's a baby. You stay up with it at night. Like, we, we know that. But as you've grown 10 years in, what, what has been your experience with balance and what counsel, what have you learned and what would you counsel other people who are?

It's hard. It's still hard for me. Um, balance. Okay. We're, we're empty nesters. So I feel like I have a lot more time. Um, then it's always stuff that needs to be done. So I'm like, oh, I'll just pull the computer out for a little bit when I get home., and a little bit I look up and it's 10 o'clock. Between doing the actual work and/or falling down the rabbit hole on this email came in, now I'm going over here and over here and over here. Oh, I meant to go back and change this. Like, my mind— and I try practicing meditation. I've tried even mindfulness, like stay right here in the moment. And it's so hard for me to stay in the moment because it's like I'm either thinking ahead or I'm thinking behind instead of just being right here. And it's, it's hard. I again do the once a week, um, at Coworking, but I'm still working, working towards trying to do a day that I can just do nothing. I feel guilty when I don't come in the office, and that's sad because as an entrepreneur, this is what you're working.

You're supposed to be free.

My team is more than capable. Yeah, I'm supposed to be— no, I'm supposed to be on a beach somewhere with my laptop. Let the internet— let Instagram tell it. As an entrepreneur, you're supposed to be on a beach in Bora Bora with your laptop and making money, but that's not how it goes. And for every— just like you said, starting out, yeah, you're pouring a lot into it, but at every stage of growth, you continue to have to pour more into it. You know, we have a, you know, people that handle shipping, people that handle, uh, the operations. So I'm thinking if I take that off my plate, I'll have more time. No, I add more stuff onto the plate.

And now you have more time to do the things you weren't doing when you were doing those things.

Exactly, exactly. So it— the balance— I— my son, one of my sons and I have— I'm a boy mom, so I have 2 sons, and one lives in DC with his wife and grandbaby and the 2 grandbabies. So I try to go, my husband and I'll go maybe once a month. We try because the other grandparents are there and we're like, well, they gotta know us too. So, so, um, we try to go there. We take, we take Uh, I try to take a vacation every year in the summer for about 2 weeks and go someplace. And then at the end of the year, because Q4 is our like—

yeah, I know when everybody else is like, I'm taking 3 weeks off for Christmas. Oh no, you're like, oh no, oh no, Black Friday to Christmas Eve.

And I will probably get an email or a text from a friend on Christmas Eve like, can I come pick up an order? And I'm like, No, not today. But, um, so between Christmas and New Year, I try to go away and at least try to plan my next year in a week, you know. But I, you know, try to go someplace in the United States but that I have not been, uh, before. Like last year I went to— no, I've been to Phoenix before, but we went to Scottsdale and just relaxed. Yeah, you know.

Why in the United States? Why you put that caveat on that?

Only because— but so my trip in my 2 weeks in the summer are usually— oh, that's go far, that's go far. Within a week, sometimes I don't even have a week between the 2. So I'm like, by the time I get there, unpack, then it's time to come back, right?

Understood.

I'm close to Mexico, so sometimes I would do Mexico, but I kind of like places I've never been. I want to go to Santa Fe. Never— or New Mexico. I've never been to New Mexico, so that's my next goal, or next— probably do it this year.

You are invited to join me at the Sister Circle Retreat 2024. It'll be held October 9th through the 13th in upstate New York, and I would love for you to come by yourself, with a friend, or with a group of girls. It doesn't matter, but I want us to get together to talk about what it means to live a life you love and how you build that life brick by brick. If you want to know more information, simply go to thesisterscircle.com/retreat. I'd love to see you there. You've talked a lot about, we have talked a lot about kind of, and I love your honesty. And I am so excited about this conversation because I know that people who are trying to figure out their hustle and can I make this a hustle that's profitable? Can I make this a hustle that can replace my full-time job? And they really are thinking that they're just bumbling around and they don't know what they're doing. Right? And we all look around because of social media and think everybody else has it figured out. People tell me that, girl, I just love how you— I love your branding and your— what did one person tell me? I love your fashion sense. I barely get dressed every day. See, I barely— I mean, this is my $29 dress off of Amazon. I have 5 of them. And to look decent and on purpose, because I knew you were going to come with the blue hair and the cute glasses, I was like, let me just throw on a jacket. That's my fashion sense. But people will think based on what they see that there's— everything has intentionality behind it. And some of it, we're just doing the best we can. But I do dare to say that there is probably something about you that either you confidently would say about yourself or the people that work with you would say about yourself that is your magic sauce? Like, um, that, that, man, you're a great leader or a great business owner, or your, or your, or your product is great because, like, even if you're still working on it, even if it's not still a good solid 2 months ahead, there is something that you either know or the people around you, um, have told you that you do well, which you would say, I am successful because— and beyond "I work hard," but, like, specifically, what is— what is the magic sauce that you think makes you a great leader, you a great CEO, you a great business owner, and your product a success?

I hope that it is that I treat everyone with a level of respect that I would always want, that I feel I deserve. Not based on who you are or what you do. My grandmother was a janitor in a school. And jobs are always, you know, they can be invisible. So I, even the ladies that clean the building here, I speak to them because I want them to know that they're seen. And I want everyone on my team to know I can't do what I do without you. Um, we discussed this a little earlier, but went through life, um, about a year and a half ago, and without the team that I have, my business would not be here today. And I love that they think enough of me to put my business on their back and, um, make sure it's successful. And I do hope and think that that's from the way I show up for them, for this business. Um, I, I hope that that's just, you know, the offset of the offshoot of that.

That's good. You care about people and you care about, um, more than just what they do to get a paycheck, which means that they care more about what they do than just getting a paycheck. That's lovely. If there is anything that you could say that, well, it's a two-part question. The first part is, what do you see? What are your dreams? What are you aiming for? The things that maybe are not right, low-hanging fruit. They're not right there, ripe for the picking, but you see them ripening and you're like, I'm aiming for that. This is what's next. And then the second thing is, what do you feel like, man, I still need this to get there?

Retail. Going into retail. Is the thing. And the more I invest, you know, like look into it, sometimes I still have my doubts because it's not as pretty and glamorous as it seems like. Getting into retail is one thing, staying in retail is a whole different beast. And the cost of being in retail is not just what it costs me to make the product and get it to them. Then there's the margins, and then there's the, the returns and the buybacks and the sales and the discounts, all of that. And you eat all of that on your end, and I've learned that, you know. So it sounds sexy, it sounds fun, but I would like to, um, again, solve those problems and figure out how to make it work to get there. Um, but I can't say I put all my eggs in that basket. I mean, we've built a pretty good direct-to-consumer brand that is very sustainable, but I would say it would be that. And you said, what would it take? Just figuring out the obstacles, figuring out the solution to the obstacles that I see, um, could potentially cause us some issues to where we could successfully go in retail and stay in retail.

Yeah.

Yeah. That's good.

But again, you've already said earlier that you're a problem solver and a solution finder. So it's just a matter of time.

It is.

One of the things I know that you do, um, and I, I didn't want to end without talking about this because I think what you're doing in this conversation with me is this. What are you most passionate about in life? Your grandbabies, we talked about that. Growing your business, we know this. But there's a third thing, and it's your mentees. Talk to me about your mentees. Where are they? How are you finding them? What are you doing with them? How— what does that look like?

I don't go through like typical, um, Boys and Girls Club, which those are great, but, um, friends that are in the school district that see kids that just need it, or they almost have it and they just need a little more. My, um, Yvonne is— she's my daughter and I am her surrogate mother, but we met her junior year of high school and she had it. She knew she wanted more, but she just didn't know how to get it. And I always feel like Life is about experiences and exposure to things. So, you know, I just took her in, not in physically, like she didn't live with us, but under my wing and just poured into her like on a level probably that, you know, it wasn't just like, I see you once a week at the school. And, you know, she came to family functions. We went on a ski trip together. That was her first time on an airplane. So when she went off to school and she went to school here locally, you know, we always stayed in touch. Like, like all moments, she comes over for Christmas. She's just a part of our family. And it's been wonderful and beautiful to see her grow and to see her become the woman that she is. Another mentee. This is my first foray with a boy, but I'm a boy mom. She was my— like, dealing with girls is a little different. She went— especially when she was in high school, because my boys are If I start, they know. If I be quiet, if I shut up, she'll shut up. But the girls might not always get that. They're gonna keep going, and it's like, well, I'm gonna keep going too. And so, so, um, Christian, uh, was a senior. He was going into his senior year when I met him through a friend, worked at school. And, um, great kid. He wanted to go— he had dreams of going to the military and he just left for the military. Christian, you know, he had a tattoo on his neck. We had to get that removed before going to the military. Just some bad choices. But he got back on the right path, as we all have. You know, I've made— I made some bad choices at a young age or poor choices at a young age that I was glad that people didn't write me off. And so he just deployed about 3 weeks ago. So, and then I also volunteer at Viola's House, which is a house for displaced teen moms. And I was a teen mom. So, but I fortunately, you know, I wasn't displaced. My family didn't, you know, put me out or I didn't have that situation, but I I still, and when I go mentor or volunteer with them, it's no judgment. We don't even, it's not programmed. We call it cooking and conversation. And my best friend and I, she was a teen mom as well. We didn't know each other back then, but our boys are a month apart and they're best friends, which is how we became best friends. And we go, we cook, we bring the food, we sit in the kitchen, we cook, we put on music. They play a song, something ratchet and new, and we play something old. And we all have a great time. We talk, we set the table, and we sit at the table and we have conversations about, you know, we may bring note cards and just have conversations about life and what you want for your baby and what you want for yourself. And again, no judgment about anything you've done or haven't done or where you are or why you're here. It's just, we love you and we want what's best for you and your baby. So good. I love that.

This has been amazing for me to get to know you, and, um, uh, I, I love it. I love everything about you— the conversation, the authenticity, and the willingness to be just transparent about what you know, what you don't know, what you're building, what you've struggled to build. It's great. And I know that this conversation is going to be such a light for other people who are, one, thinking that everyone else has something they don't have. But to hear someone who was already accomplished and already educated say, and so I went over here and I had to figure it out and Google it. And I have a friend named Allie Worthington, who's a business coach, who says she was a mom with small kids at home and her husband wasn't well and she had to figure out how to do something. And she said, I just believed that with God and Google, I could do anything. And years later, she's built all these things. But she was just a mom sitting at McDonald's with the free Wi-Fi while her kids played, trying to figure out how to make ends meet. And so we all get to start where we are, use what we have, and make good on what we've been given. And I think you've done a great job of that. And I look forward to continuing to share your products because you keep coming out with new things. I do. I was like, what is this Black love in the lip balm? What is happening? I got to get caught up.

And I would like to tell anyone that's, you know, thinking about starting a business or has started one and it's not like doing what you think it should be, is to just keep going. I found an Excel spreadsheet from my first year in business and I was like, girl, why did you keep going? Because these numbers, like, they were trash. They were trash. They were trash. And I don't know, like, there was almost a year in there that I— again, I went from a service-based business to a product-based business. I'm like, I don't know if I'm built for this. So there was a year that I did no marketing, but people kept ordering. Like, not lots of orders, but they kept ordering. So that kind of reassured me that maybe I'm on to something. So whenever I did get to a point where I'm like, okay, I'm going to pour it all in. But it's still not gonna— like, don't compare yourself to me who's been in business for 10 years.

Yeah.

And I also want to say, don't— like, if I— the Oprah effect. If, if Oprah mentioned my business even now, but, but, you know, 8 years ago, I would have been out of business because I would, I would have had a lot of angry customers because I would not have been able—

my—

I didn't have systems in place.

I had—

right, you know, not enough inventory, nothing. I was still at home working. So just trust the process.

Yeah.

And what's for you is for you, and it will happen. And this has definitely been a lesson in growth, lesson in patience. You know, after 10 years, you think you're supposed to be someplace, but maybe that's not for you. And I've had to, you know, I trust the process and I know that I'm happy with where I am. And where I'm going. Yeah.

And I loved how you drew that out. Sometimes the, the success that we want, if we got it in our timing, we wouldn't have built the strength to be able to carry the weight of the level of success we think we want now. And if we don't trust the process and rush the process, we might get what we were asking for and also fail faster because we weren't ready.

Yes.

So, so, so, so true. This has been so great. Thanks for letting me pick at you and just ask you all the questions and figure things out. And I hope that this is the first of many public and also private conversations because I'd love to continue to get to know you better. And, uh, I think you're in the same space with someone else I know, and so I've been owing her a visit for a little bit, so I may have to come and just see y'all both on one day.

Okay, absolutely.

Thanks again for being with me. It's been a pleasure.

Thank you. Take care.

Okay. I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did, because I really and truly enjoyed it. And I'm already brimming with the other questions I might want to ask her. But here is one question I asked her before we recorded this interview, and I get to share this answer with you. Hey, can we have a discount code? Like, can I share you and your products with my audience? And she said yes. So here's what you need to do. You need to go to the address that you see on the screen right now. We'll put it in the comments as well. And if you are interested in trying out her products, and you should because they're amazing and lovely, enjoy this discount courtesy of Miss Lovita through me to you. And you only have a certain period of time to enjoy it, so don't delay. Listen, if you've gotten anything out of this podcast, I want you what you tell me. So please, in the comments right here, just let me know what you got out of it and what it did to change your thinking. Because did you know that that's half the battle? In order to get to somewhere new, you just need to have new thinking. And my hope is that today you got something new to think about. All right, y'all, see you next week.