908. How To Start Something New With Less Risk

People only trust you based on, like, consistency. And really seeing you show up in that message. Like, if you've never been into skincare, but all of a sudden you're talking about skincare and it doesn't seem authentic to you. Unless you plan to do that every day and pivot in that way and you're on to the next. You won't be trusted by people. Hey, everyone, welcome back to the show. You are currently sitting here with myself and with Lauren Kuhlman, who is my chief of staff. And we are going to talk all about being behind the scenes of building a business. And honestly, Lauren, from week to week, this is such a different business. Like, did you ever think that all of a sudden you would learn so much about beverage law and investing and products and formulation and the ever changing ecosystem of. And how gas prices are affecting our business and manufacturing and people at work? Wow.

Yeah, there's a million things. But even just like the waiting game, I never knew the waiting game would be so long either with people. And there's not a lot you can do to control that. So we're learning our patients a lot, flexing our patient's muscle a lot and.

Just learning how to be really flexible and learning when you should, like, switch directions or pay more attention to something and when sometimes you're like, you literally just have to wait while waiting. Meaning, like, there are some things in some arenas of this business that we actually just need to sit and be patient and stop trying to like, make action happen and just actually wait.

Yes.

In a phase. It's almost like I think of when I was doing wedding planning for my wedding, and there is a point in the wedding planning where there's like this time before your wedding, it's like a shoot, a four week period where all of a sudden you've been so busy for months up until then and everything's kind of in place and you're like, I don't have anything to do. But I feel like maybe I should add things to it. I feel like I should distract myself or make sure of more things. And you kind of have done all the work that you can do right there. And now you just actually have to wait for the day or you have to wait for your final answer or things like that. And that's kind of where we're at right now. We've got things secure and we're just kind of like, okay, we just have to like, wait for their response to sign this paperwork and we just have to sit here on this thing and wait for this person to come back to work so that we can finish this part of the project. Like, there's just some waiting. So that has been such a Jedi practice, I think, for both of us. But I'm proud of us. I feel like we're doing really good. We've definitely had some weeks where I know that you've had to talk me off the ledge, and I know that you've had some. This is real life, you guys. Like, some issues with your cat that's been super challenging and distracting, and that is life. Like, how do you compartmentalize with that?

Well, I also am like, how do people with kids do it?

I have a cat all the time. Yeah.

But it's interesting because it's the unexpected things that just come up where you're like, oh, my God, I have to take him to the emergency right now. And everything else has to drop. And this call I have to cancel while I'm voice texting and driving and figuring out everything on the way to and from. And there's still deadlines that need to be hit as well. And then I was sick on top of all of that. So I just am like, how do people do it when life just throws you something and then you get a couple extra things thrown at you, but you do get it done, and you figure it out every single minute, minute by minute. And you have grace by people, thankfully, hopefully as well. But also you have weekends where this past weekend, I got caught up a lot because I was so behind, I feel like, from this week. So I feel like it's just finding different buckets of time and making it happen where, you know, it needs to fit in and do the best that you can. But know that it doesn't have to be perfect either at the same time.

And it's always going to be this way. And I think that that makes the best team. I think that that makes the best founder, CEO, employee. All of the things who you can just. You do the best that you can in each moment, and you view it as, oh, my goodness. We started a book this morning called 4,000 weeks, essentially saying that's about all of the average lifespan, the amount of weeks that you have in an average lifespan. And it was really talking about, like, your relationship with time and where most people have a relationship with time, where it's like, I literally asked myself, what is my relationship with time? And my first sentence that came up was, well, you work during the week. Like, you work hard during the week, and you just do all the things that maybe you don't love and you get it done and you earn money Monday through Friday, and then on the weekend you try to have some semblance of life. And I was like, that's the shittiest relationship with time. And I thought, and that's not necessarily even what I think. That was just like the first pattern of what I think culturally I grew up with. And I thought, oh, my goodness. I feel like right now I'm really starting to view time as projects. Like, okay, this project is going to take this much time and we're going to add in this much life and you can live life during the week as well. And starting to view life time more on like a project basis. Like if people, if you set that culturally up too, where it's like, well, if they get this project done, why couldn't they go do a workout in the afternoon? Or if they viewed the day as, these are the projects I have to do. Why can't they live their life in the morning and then do some projects at night? If, you know, Lauren's a night owl, like, why couldn't it be that way? Or get a project done and then take some days off? What does that look like? So trying to, like, how do I view it more as a project basis or a goal basis of like getting things done in the pockets where you feel good about it. So, all right, so you guys, we are going to talk about starting something new with a lower risk, with a lower barrier of entry. And I think this is a great topic because I think there's a lot of people who maybe are in something that want to add something new or someone who wants to get out of something but is not sure. Some people might be listening who are kind of risk averse. Some people might be listening who think it's too late to start something. And none of that is true because there's so many ways to get into something new without a huge risk. Risk that you can try. Now, if you're in something that, like, you need to focus on a little bit more and you're like a total squirrel and you're just like, yeah, yeah, I need to get into something new, but it's just going to distract you more from the things that you've already started that are new, I highly recommend not listening to this podcast.

Bye.

And just saying I need to focus. Like, if that's you, your gut will probably say, hey, get the hell off here. I need to just focus on what I currently have, because that was me for a lot of years.

But that's actually a really good point because if it's something hard too, you're like, oh, let me just try something new. Don't do that. If you know you need to do the hard thing.

Oh, my God. Really ask yourself why you're doing it and if you're doing it just to distract yourself, because I've definitely done that. Yeah, Very, very. That is like, so me too itchy. Okay, so the first thing I want to say is there are multiple ways to get into different things without a huge risk. And Lauren, we're going to talk a little bit later or further down the road after we introduce some of these things about how you can get people interested in the idea just using some specific things that you have done. So you guys, as far as you know, if you're thinking, oh, there's something that I have in my or currently that I could add to my business, like, what are some things that I could do that are new? I feel like trying something new. I feel like a new arena. I feel like launching a product. I feel like trying a new event. Some things that you can look at are how could you get into the thing that you're thinking about at a really low barrier of entry? Meaning let's say that you have a business right now and you're thinking that you would love to maybe throw an event connecting different women and charging forward, or maybe teaching about your coaching, or maybe you have a product and you want an event there, but you're like, man, events are so expensive. I don't know. The number one thing I would say around any of this is, is I would look to start small and also I would look at collabing. So what are the reasons that you feel like it would be that it's out of reach? Is it because you don't have the audience? Is it because you don't have the money? Because the two things that you can look at for that is if you don't have the audience who could be a great fit to be your partner, where you take on more, maybe more of the workload in trade for. For them marketing it to their audience, but getting all of the eyeballs to their stuff as well, and then where in your business are you trying to make something bigger than it needs to be when you could really start with a small, intimate dinner of three women or five women. I think about this a lot because even in my life, I'm like, oh, I want to start like this thing where high performing women come together almost like a mastermind. And I think I would charge for it. And maybe we go on these trips, and it's really like, I'm trying to create what I want and what I need, but instead of starting so big, because I haven't started it yet, because obviously it's too big. Right. The idea is too big. It's too much for me right now. Why am I not starting this by not charging for it and just saying, hey, two other girlfriends who are high performers who maybe, I don't know, would you ever just want to go grab dinner together and like, talk about some different ideas and ways we could support each other? I think this is the place where everybody gets stuck. Lauren, is. Because we go right to the big thing, and how can we charge for it and make a living off of it? You know what I'm talking about?

Totally. And that's what everybody sees, too, is, like, the big end result. Especially if you're going to an event and it's huge. You probably weren't there 10 years ago when there were 20 people, maybe, or five people or whatever it was when that person started. So you didn't see their whole backstory. And that's why it doesn't look. That's why your brain's not even going there, where you're like, how did they get this big thing that they just did this. This past event, and how can I do that next year? And a lot of people don't show all the behind the scenes either of what it took to get to that spot. So we're not used to seeing all those steps to get to that spot. So start smaller and test it out and see what actually, like, works before you go really big to make it even more successful.

Oh, my God, a million percent. I wanna. So I wanna tie this into light pink, where I went pretty big in the beginning because I literally already had the foundation set up for the most part. And by the way, I went really big for me. Like, really big to the point where I'm like, I could have maybe started smaller, but at the same time, at the time in my. For what I know that I need to do, that's where I was meant to start. And you'll only know that. You'll just know it when you know it. So if you're not feeling that it's because you're meant to try some more things and start smaller. So with that said, like, it's because I had done all of those things smaller, like, Bliss Project would have never happened. I would have never filled 500 women in a room for multiple years. If I hadn't filled five women in a room for eight years before that, you know, and then worked that up throughout the weekends. Like it really started with like these weekend kind of like health boot camps where it was like we talk about health, but we'd also talk about mental health and personal like the mindset behind it. And that all started with a weekend of I want to fill three girls and didn't fill one. And then the next time one person showed up. And so I pretended that it was as if 50 people showed up and treated that one girl like she was an audience of 50. And that is not easy. And those are the moments that nobody sees is that literally the vision of light pink started with me in this built out garage. That took me years to even get that with one woman showing up feeling so stupid, but deciding to set my ego aside. And that's how it all starts. So I'm so glad that you pointed that out.

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You'll be glad you did it. So let's talk about if, like, somebody wants to. Because we've kind of talked about if you want to start an event, it's like, okay, why don't you start with the idea, invite some friends, see if it's even a good idea, and then go from there and even ask your friends, like, hey, would you ever want to partner on this? Because I'll tell you, you'll go faster and it'll be more fun. In my personal opinion, with people, that's kind of always what I'm looking at when I'm going to, like, start new things now is like, who could I do this with? Who could make this easier? So let's talk about products. Like, let's say you're really into beauty and you're like, you know what? I've been all these lines in Sephora. I just want to, like, go for it. But you don't have the audience. You don't really have the background. But you, like, want this big brand, right? Like, Kim K just launched a new skincare line. You're like, that's it. I just want a Kim K line. Okay, let's back up the trolley. Like, what is the one thing that you would love that you think is a product market fit that you would love to even formulate? Then from there, looking at what is the, like, smallest run, meaning like how few of these things could I try to formulate to see if it's even something that I would like to do? How much does it cost to formulate one product? Can I shop that around to different formulators and be like, hey, if I just want to make a small run of 50, am I able to do that? Number one? And what is the cost of this? So there's a lot of things out in the world that you can do really small runs of. And even better, you can go and collab with a brand and potentially white label something, meaning you can just put your label on it and it's something that's already created that you know and love. We use plenty of products like this that we don't even realize we use. You just need to do the research on white labeling. So like, Lauren, we could white label wine all day long if we want. Once we get light pink up and running. Or we could have done it from the beginning. I can find a wine that I love and we can just put light pink on it, white label it. They take a little bit more of your money off of the margin. But white labeling is a really beautiful way to be able to see if it's a product market fit. So if you white label something, let's just say, Lauren, you love skincare. Let's say you white label a night cream and you find that it's a great product market fit, you love marketing it. It's like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. Then once you have your audience around it, you could actually formulate from scratch so that you get more of the margin, make more runs of it, but you had a lower barrier of entry to start it. Because white labeling is typically, you don't have to do a big run at all or something like that where you're collabing with somebody who already has the product and you're just kind of selling it. So network marketing is a great example of a really low barrier entry way to like, try and see what you even like selling. So if you want a clothing line, but you're like, I'm not even sure I could do this, literally go and either be an affiliate for a clothing line that you love, get on like to know it and just pick a. Pick brands that you love and put it on there, or do a clothing network marketing thing. So there's all of these low barrier of entries that just decide, pick one and go hard with it for a while. And then from there it can give you enough information and feedback to know if you should do it. So I know that, Lauren, you've even done stuff like that or you have stuff like that?

Totally. Yeah. Like when I was working at Bar 3, I ran a lot of different events to try to get customers to come be customers at Bar three in the door. So not just come to the free and peace out, but actually, like, get them to fall in love with the community, the instructors, the other clients, and everybody that day where they're like, I need this in my life. Plus the workout. So we would collab with a lot of awesome resorts in the area because they were either new or existing, but they were just dreamy views that overlooked Camelback Mountain or other places that were awesome venues. And we could pile a lot of people in there. So. And we would do this for free. The resort would not charge us a thing. We would just bring people, pop up, do a class, have awesome music, like great experience. We would even bring other partners in, like juice bars or clothing, whatever it was. So we would also collaborate with different people in the community to bring them in as well and make a better experience for these people and also highlight other small businesses. And so we would get hundreds of people depending on how many we could fit at different places to come. We had such a high conversion of people that would even just come free that I'd never tried the class before. And then we would sell a discounted package at those events to get them to come into the actual studio. And from there they were just like, return repeat customers over and over again. They fell in love with the workout people, community, everything that we had to offer.

Oh, I love that. You know, just thinking of the through line of all of these things and what you just said, there's. There's a few core things that you need. So if you're like, oh, I want a product, but I have no message, I have no marketing experience and no one to market to. Not a great fit until you have those pieces, you know, you had for you. Lauren, talking about that, what you were just saying is you had women to market to because you were a part of. Or you tapped into Bar3's audience as well. So it was like, okay, they already have these people that we can email about this. How do we go out and use that name and use that to our advantage by networking with these other big businesses and showing them where the win win would be. So you're always trying to fill these things, like message, audience, marketing, product fit, like creating all of these win win wins all around the board. And so if you're somebody who's just like, I want to do a product because everyone else is doing it. And that look really need to look at. Do you have these other things? And is it speaking of message, is it consistent with something you can really get behind and you don't necessarily want to be the person who dabbles in this, that, this, that, this, that, like, even with light pink being such a pivot from what I was doing, it still has the same exact message of everything that I've done, which at the core is to be the centerpiece of connecting with women and giving them, you know, the next step that they need in order to become the next version of themselves. So it's really like, what is the message that you can get behind and what are maybe the products that could fit within that or the events that could fit within that so that people aren't like, you know, because people only trust you based on, like, consistency and really seeing you show up in that message. So if it's something so different, like if you've never been into skin care, but all of a sudden you're talking about skincare and it doesn't seem authentic to you unless you plan to do that every day and pivot in that way and you're onto the next, like, you won't be trusted by people. So what's something that could already go with something that you talk about and you can totally twist it and apply it to that thing, but people can see the through thread line of how that works, and that's the kind of things that you need to be asking all the time is just like, do we have the message? Do we have the marketing? Do we have the audience? Right? Do we have the messaging, the marketing, and the audience for it? So, and if not, who could you partner with and how could you collab in that way? So, all right, you guys, we're so grateful for you. Lauren, do you have any last words around that?

It also, when you were just saying that, it made me think that it opens your business up a little bit more if you think about what that messaging is. Because I thought of you where you always had that core message and passion that you wanted to put out there, but it opened up, like, light pink for you and all the other things that we're going to be doing inside of light pink. So if you have this, like, core message within your business, think about maybe other things you could do to add on extras to your business if you want to, like, don't feel stuck in just one thing, whether you're coaching somebody or you have a product, you're not just glued to one thing. Like, you might be able to go in another avenue that still brings you back to your mission.

Yes, yes. I'll just say, like, we're obsessed with events. We know what happens when you bring women together. So just because there's a product doesn't mean that we actually can't create events off of the product. So, you know, you have to get clear on your messaging and how that could be understood. And not only understood, but whenever you create a message, you want to make sure that it's a message that adds value enough that it catches on fire. And people want to be a part of it. So. And people want to relay it and talk about it, and they can relay it easily. So, so grateful for you guys. We'd love to know your biggest takeaway, as always. And we can always text for questions. Lauren, do we have our text number?

Yes. Text the word light pink. Two separate words. L I T E P I N K to 310-496-8363.

So, you guys, if you have questions that you want us to talk about on this podcast, we will shout you out. So make sure you send us your question and we can give you a shout out on the next show. And until next time, earn your happy. Bye, everyone.

Bye.