How They Developed a Cult Following of Parents in a $88 Billion Industry

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell. And before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and Again, go to wydellonwinning.comwebinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind. This afternoon, we're with a mother and daughter entrepreneurial team and they are co founders and creators of the slumber pod brand. And they've gone on to win many awards. They've been, you know, been through all of the paces of, you know, getting on Shark Tank. Must have been, you must have been pretty far advanced by the time you got to shark tank season 11. $400,000 for 20%. So you must have impressed somebody. And you've won lots of awards, design awards, you've got parenting product awards. It's an amazing kind of journey you've had. Are you guys in Atlanta? I saw you won Atlanta Innovation award. Are you guys in Atlanta?

So I'm in Atlanta. This is Katie's voice on the left southern of the mother daughter duo. Okay, sounding, I should say that that'll be how your listeners be able to tell Katie and Lou apart. But we, I'm in Atlanta and Decatur specifically. And mom, you're in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Sinclair.

Yeah. And so I didn't get your names clear in there. That's the mom is Lou Childs and the daughter is Katie Mallory. And so welcome, folks. Glad to have you on. And we're going to have some fun talking about winning right now and what you guys have learned by climbing that ladder. Your Kickstarter campaign outsold its goal by nine times. I don't know when you did that, but that had to be encouraging. Getting named as one of Atlanta's top innovators had to be encouraging. Winning all of these award. It's nice to get some recognition from third party people that you're on the right track. And when you're an entrepreneur starting something fresh, you need some positive feedback, don't you?

Absolutely. Absolutely we do. And one thing I wanted to add, Larry, we were reminded of it yesterday during a conversation is that we are not just proud of what we've accomplished with, with the awards and everything, but for the size of our, the size of our team members, the number of team members we have for the work that we've done. So crazy to think that in 2019 we did $2 million in business and in 20, 20, $4 million in sales. And that was with one full time employee, two part time employees and me just doing a little bit of moonlighting nights and weekends.

Good gracious. I guess you guys understand outsource and delegating and things like that. Would that be a safe statement?

Oh yes. We have a lot of relationships but also I think we're all just really passionate about the success of this company. So the people we bring on board live and breathe slumber pod. I have to tell our customer service person to get off the email box over the weekend because she's obsessed with helping customers. So our success has come from passion.

And tell me now let's go back to this story of this product. What is this product and where did the idea come from? And either one of you, I'm going to be throwing questions out there and I won't know who's likely to be the best to answers. I'm gonna let you guys just step on each other or jump in.

I'll take that one. Since it was it was a so it was about six and a half years ago. My husband and I were staying with our one and a half year old daughter at my mom's house for the Christmas holidays and I'm one of lots of children. I won't bore you with how many because we'd be here for a while. But my mom has many kids and step kids and the house was full so we kept our toddler and the room while it had a crib set up near it and it was a very spacious room. It didn't have the same blacked out dark curtains as our child's nursery did at home. So with the floodlight coming in through the blinds in that bedroom, our daughter kept waking up and seeing us across the room and she couldn't go back to sleep or couldn't stay asleep and we ended up being miserable because we like sleep and everybody needs sleep to be sane. But we were only getting two or three hours worth of sleep a night and had such a miserable time that we ended up going home a day early back to the safety and comfort of our own house where our daughter would sleep for 12 hours a night without any issues. So we tore off traveling for a little while and then my mom asked me if there was anything that we could consider buying that would help with the problem we had. So I looked around. I didn't see anything online that would solve for the issue. So getting creative and bringing two cheap cameras in between them and ponytail holders to attach the sheets to the tripods on trips with us and that created a Little temporary wall so our daughter couldn't see us in the night. But what it wasn't was easy to set up. I'm not sure if it was probably safe for a toddler. And it still didn't keep light out of her sleeping space. So we were still tiptoeing around a hotel room at night or reading our cell phone under during nap time, hiding in the bathroom. So flash forward to the summer of 2016. I was on maternity leave with twins, and my mom very, very generously offered to spend that maternity leave time with me, helping me get used to being a mom of three. And it was during that time that she said, katie, you know, we got all this time. We're going to be together. Why don't we get serious about inventing a solution for that problem you had of sharing a room, because I'm sure you weren't alone. We got to work calling, you know, other entrepreneurs, polling our friends to see if this was an issue. And we found out that more than 66% of babies who slept really well at home did not sleep well away from home. So that gave us, gave us good ammo to go out and start on our solution. So what slumber pod is, is a portable privacy pod, or like a canopy. It's similar to a tent that you put over your child's pack and play. And for those of your listeners that don't have children, a pack and play is a travel crib. So the idea is that our canopy, which is made out of a breathable blackout dark material and is supported by aluminum poles to give it its structure, gives your baby their own dark and private place to sleep. So that when you're in that hotel room or you're at a beach house that doesn't have any curtains on the windows, that everyone can sleep well. And we have gone on to have a cult following because our product really works. So for those who go and look us up on Amazon, you'll see more than 1500 between our website and Amazon. More than 1500. 4.9 out of 5 star reviews.

Wow. And why are you guys doing this as a mother and daughter team? How did that come about?

Well, I have software background. I worked in financial services as a marketing director for the last 15 years. And I'm pretty techie. And I also love a challenge. So product development is also near and.

Dear to my heart.

So it married well with Katie's strengths of communication. And she's our spokesperson. She also has great ideas. She is very creative. So the two of us together were Quite the package. So we both have a lot of energy. I am going to brag on Katie. She went back to work after her twins were three months old and she also had a daughter that's three years older and a husband who works a very demanding job. And she had a huge part in, in launching this business while she was dealing with all of that. So I went back to work after she went back to work. So we were both doing this at night and on the weekends or squeezing it in on a lunch hour for another two years before I left my job to do slumber pod full time. So we have the marketing and communications background, the tenacity, the determination. And back to your earlier point about getting feedback from awards. The biggest feedback that kept fueling us were moms throwing it out on social media saying, this is amazing, you guys, it is a game changer. Just buy it. And you know, that kept us going.

Unbelievable. Yeah, jump in, Katie.

I was going to add on two things to what mom shared. I also wanted to brag on her because she, she doesn't give herself enough credit for all the hats that she wears and that she wears so well. She's who keeps our ship running. And she truly is not only technologically savvy, but has so much energy that I can't imagine anybody else running the company and then asking about being a mother and daughter pair. We recognize that not all family members are friends. In fact, very few end up working well together. But we recognize that we've always gotten along well. I mean, even back when I was a teenager, I didn't go through a two year phase of hating my mom or saying nasty things to her. We've always had a really good relationship and when we've had something go a little bit sideways, we almost always had been able to talk it through rationally and come to a compromise or a consensus on how we want to move forward. And that's in both our personal lives and with our business. So we felt pretty confident that we would have the right chemistry, not just with our complementary and similar skill sets, but with the way we tackle conflict and how we interact with each other.

Yeah, because personal relationships, not like business relationships. And I guess you guys have found that out. Hey, listen, there's a lot of information online, but there aren't a lot of people who have actually done something. In my case, I've actually built a successful business, has accrued over $5 billion in assets under management, and has done well even during trying times. Now, if you want to know exactly how I'VE done this. Go to Whiteellawinning.com webinar now. I've compressed a decade of learning into five short weeks. Just for those of you who want to give yourself an incredible advantage and are tired of waiting and watching others.

Move up, Honestly, it really hasn't been a problem. I would say that we have to, like, divide up the conversations. Like, I'll call her about something business related. And then I say, okay, we're switching gears now. How are the girls? Tell me what's going on in your life. Blah, blah, blah. So we have to kind of do a separation and balance there. But it. It has just been a marvelous journey between two of us.

A lot of it comes in when other family members start to, you know, money starts rolling in and other family members start poking their nose into the. That, you know, that it starts attracting interest that was never there about the business. And you start getting all this feedback from outside other family members, and that's usually where the chaos comes from. And you guys have been able to avoid that.

Obviously, we have. And one thing that we haven't is our affiliate and influencer program. And we have about 350 either sleep consultants or mommy influencers that are signed up. They get a discount code that allows their fan base $20 off, and then they get a kickback. So anybody in our family who wants to spread the word about slumber pod gets a discount code.

So.

So they are part of this network of ambassadors for the brand. But I can't think of anybody who has actually wanted to come to work for us. I think they want this to be me and Katie. And they cheer us on the sidelines and are very, very supportive and of.

Course, we look forward to. I was going to say Larry, of course, continue being widely successful, sharing the fruits of our labor with families by, you know, hopefully treating system vacations and things like that.

What. You know, it's a real. Obviously a real problem and a real solution because there's a. It's been a long time since I had a baby to deal with, but the one memory that I retain is how much garbage that you had to put. You know, this one little creature. And all of a sudden, you know, you got a caravan. You got to take this thing somewhere, you know, the little baby. And as they get older, I mean, just stuff. They just require so much maintenance. Stuff. And.

And time.

Yeah, go ahead. Keep on going there.

Time and time again, moms will say, this is my number one baby product, or this is my number one travel product, or my husband Gives me grief about everything I buy. And he the slumber pot is the first thing he puts in our suitcase when we're going on a trip. So yes, there is a ton of baby gear and some of it might not be the, you know, what you need to spend your money on. But with the 4.9 reviews that we have that Katie mentioned, this is a game changer for most people.

Well, even if it worked, taking long a couple of tripods and some clothesline and sheets kind of adds to the water stuff you've got to take. So, you know, this has got to be bring a smile to the face and then be able to help let parents be able to actually get some rest on the road. I can see why you've got the cult following. I don't really follow how you had the explosive jump in sales. Was it last year you were talking about from 19 to 2020? Because people weren't traveling so much last year and everything. So in spite of that, yeah, it sounded like you really jumped.

Yes. So for one, sleep is one of those things that parents are willing to invest in. We learned through this journey and even through my personal experience that people will spend money on sleep consultants to give them advice on how to get their baby sleeping for longer amounts of time per night at younger ages. And a lot of sleep consultants have written books on the topic. Some of your listeners may have heard of baby wise or moms on call or taking care of babies, little Z sleep or some that come to mind. So we recognized that there was a big audience there. And I was just doing a little bit of quick research too that just the baby care products markets, not even the whole baby products market, is expected to be worth $88.72 billion by 2026, which they're saying right now it's about $67.35 billion. This is according to Statista. But if your listeners are looking for additional, you know, markets to get into for being an entrepreneur, our sharks on Shark Tank as well as a lot of others have said that two markets that are recession proof are babies and pets. We knew that this baby market would be hot and that sleep is something that people would be really wanting to invest in. And that fortunately still proved out even last year during the recession that hit as a result of the pandemic hitting because people had a lot of pent up desire to travel. So once they felt comfortable traveling, maybe still social distance, but traveling for the later half of the year, things really bloomed.

Now was that how many billion was.

That did you say88.88 billion expected in 2026. So. But the baby care markets, not even just the whole baby market, is already $67 billion market right now.

Baby care is 67. Wow. And so, yeah, there's an idea if someone's wondering, which, you know, because that's part of the thing of being successful is, like I've told people for years, if you want to be successful, find. It's not just finding a job in life or something you want to do. Find an industry. Find a company, a industry that's growing and a company inside that industry that's growing. So at least you have some momentum, a tailwind behind you that you can draft, rather than a declining, you know, one where old technology and things, you know, people have moved on to newer products. And no matter how great and energetic you are, you're going down the toilet, so.

Absolutely, absolutely. And I'm reminded, as you say that, Larry, that in addition to picking a market that's doing well, it's important to get a lot of research and information data around your idea, because a market may be booming, but that doesn't mean that people are going to buy your product. So we're really grateful that we took the time to do focus groups about our product features to let people borrow our product so they could give us feedback on what not only whether or not it worked, but are there things that were missing, things that were extras that weren't necessarily required. And that feedback has allowed us to not only create more raving fans, but improve our product because we've made some changes to it since we first released it in July of 2018.

Okay. Yeah, already it was just released in July of 2018. Unbelievable. And so we're going to get into that next time we talk. But I appreciate you sharing this insight into the beginning and the thinking about how this came about so people could get to know you. And where would they find you on Facebook? Where's the best place to find you on social media?

Instagram is our best channel, and it's Slumber Podcast is our tag. Slumber. We are also on Facebook and Pinterest.

Okay, fantastic. Thanks so much, ladies, for being with me and sharing these concepts. And do you have anything, a last word to kind of summarize this phase of your business that you'd like to pass on? Katie will let you go first, and then we'll. Because I want to come back and get you later and we'll talk about this marketing, because I know there's a lot of people who would like to know about that. But on this so far that we've covered. Any last word that you'd like to say to people that are trying to navigate launching their business or moving into a new product line or to expand into other markets, Any kind of encouragement or thoughts for people to going through the startup phase?

Sure. So what comes to mind for me, Larry, is that we often talk about not waiting until. Until our ship comes in, but swimming out to meet it. So you can't wait for stuff to happen to you. You need to go out and get it. And that is what drives us to squeeze in. You know that. You know that one or two networking conversations in a week in addition to our regular workload or pushes us to think of new ideas is the fact that we want to we recognize that you have to go and get it and not just let things happen to you.

Fantastic. And Lou, do you have something that you'd like to add as a last wrap up here on this one?

I do, Larry. So to add on to what Katie said, networking is the biggest piece of thing that boosted us early on. So reaching out to people that are in your network to see if they know somebody in their network that has the information. And we find that entrepreneurs are the most giving people. So we've had people talk to us for hours at no charge just because they're giving back. Somebody else did that for them. And then the last thought is, for those of you, I'm in my early 60s, I just want to give a shout out to the older generation that you can do new things. You can reinvent yourself and be successful. So don't stop dreaming. Keep going.

All right. Fantastic. Thank you both so much. Look forward to the next time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Larry.

If you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works in the real world, I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to whiteellawinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Wydell and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go, go, go.