Permission to Celebrate YOUR Wins in Entrepreneurship

If sales are down or things get really hard again, because I'm sure they will. It's like, this is what I chose. And I think that if you can have that perspective in business of, well, this is what I chose and this is what I will continue to choose over and over again. It just brings you to a place where you can make positive, creative decisions for your company. And we're back with another episode of He Said, she Said.

This is a special one because we are celebrating the mother freaking launch of Glossy. I know we've talked about a couple episodes, like, mentioned it, but this is the one that I want to dedicate to a husband admiring and celebrating his freaking entrepreneur wife for getting your product into all of these people's hands. How's it feel?

I mean, it feels really surreal and I'm excited to dive in a little bit for people, just even hear our journey with it.

Okay, well, let's work our way backwards on this journey. It was last week, all of a sudden, people start getting their packages and they start uploading them. What did that feel like when you saw the first people uploading them?

Okay, so it's a weird thing because for anybody who does, like, you know, visualization or dreaming, and I'm a huge dreamer, huge visualizer that I was like, oh, of course it's here. Because I have waited for this moment now for, like, I mean, over two years for, you know, like, this particular product. But I feel like I've been waiting for a product for four years since the initial. Like, maybe I should raise money.

Yeah, maybe I should do a product company. Would you recommend people do a product.

Company if you love products and if you love a freaking challenge every day? And if what I'm learning is, like, I actually really, really love hitting numbers every single day and watching things grow. So you have to love that part. Otherwise, having a product company is a whole different animal. If you've ever done events or if you've ever done courses or anything like that, like, even how you launch and how you build the company is so, so, so different.

Well, you're so reliant on so many other people to be a cog in the wheel, but you have no leverage on them. Explain that a little bit.

So, I mean, in order to do a product, you don't own the, you know, you're not the person making the ingredients, you're not the person making the boxes, you're not the person putting your product together. There is a different everything, everything for everything from the person who makes the actual you know, packets that the powder is in from the person who makes the box is different from the person who makes our actual shipping box to the water bottles, to the person who prints the cards that are in the. In the boxes. So it is a really big game of managing the timing. And I have to give a shout out to Lauren Kuhlman, who is my director of operations. She is one of those, like, genius brainchildren who loves putting things like this together and figuring out timing. So, yeah, right down to. You have to find people to fill in the skill sets that you do not have and learn how to work in systems together. There are so many layers to this that it's like I can't actually. You know what? This is so cool we're doing this because I can't actually believe that we pieced this all together and figured it out.

Talk to me a little bit more about that, because I think people have a dream of, I want a blank company one day, and they can't see how to put the pieces together because they're like, well, I am good at this. I'm good at that, but I can't see how to do the rest. Like me with my Fintech app, I can't even see how to do 75% of it. Thankfully, I have Matt and the team and our consultants. Right. So talk to me a little bit more about filling in the blanks with people who are good at the things that you're not and being okay with piecing that together that way.

Well, it's interesting cause I've talked to so many people, and it's all gonna look different for every single person because you really do piece your team together. In the be and your beginning team, you're learning what they're even good at. And it's clear they are learning what they are good at. And so in the beginning, I hired someone to kind of just be my assistant and help me with the little things that I couldn't do until I figured out who I even needed next. You don't know who you need next until you start going down the road of figuring out what you even need to do. So. And in the beginning, you're gonna have to do a lot of things you are not good at because you just don't necessarily have that team or maybe you don't have the money to hire that person yet. I got super lucky, and I will also say, with Lauren coming into the company, but I will also say that I feel proud of myself for recognizing somebody who was talented and trusting her and myself enough to say, I'm going to give you a lot more responsibility in the company. So early on, she came on as an assistant. She's now director of operations, guys. Because what was happening is, you know, I was giving her all these different things to do, and she was, like, crushing them. Not just crushing them, but, like, going above and beyond my expectations. So I would have a little something else that I needed to do that I couldn't figure out. And I was like, hey, could you figure this out for me? She would go figure it out, and not just figure it out, but, like, deliver above and beyond. So what happened is I just kept on kind of saying, okay, do I really need another person for this? Or could we potentially try to see if she could figure it out? And in order for me to do.

That, I had to.

Or in order for her to even feel safe to do that, we had to sit down and say, hey, you're really good. Like, at all of these things you've done so far. I see so much potential in what you're doing. I actually think that you could take a few of these things on. Now, I understand that you're learning, so that means you might fail a little bit. Totally fine.

I make mistakes.

I'm gonna make mistakes if I do it myself. So why don't we go and try this and see what happens? And so that was our relationship. And she actually was so extremely good at so many things. There were very few mistakes. Like, so few. It actually blew my mind that I ended up realizing that this woman was so incredibly talented, and that potentially. I mean, I know that her previous people that worked with her, like, they definitely knew that she was special. But I was like, oh, damn, this girl is so talented that we just, like, we just kept on growing together, and she was able to handle all the things that I couldn't do. And it really helped me get back into my role of the things I'm really good at, and she really understood her role. I will say something that was really helpful early on is our CFO team is not just a CFO team. And they're fractional. They're really amazing, where they also come into the business, and they do their best to get people in the correct roles in the company. And so early on, Lauren and I were privy to the conversation, and especially you and I have had conversations like this. But Lauren, I don't think had had the conversation around, how do we get Lori in her zone of genius? Because there are things in the company only Lori can do. Like, Only she can get the eyes on. On, you know, in the audience. Only she can create this particular formulation of what she's thinking for this audience. Only she can go out and be on the podcast and do the stages and do the talks and do the. Her own social media and things so that you're really drawing those eyes in. And. And Lauren grasped that so much early on that it was like, okay, no, we want. You're staying in your zone of genius. So I'm going to take all this and you're going to be in this. And so I think that was so freeing for both of us. And the reason that was important for me is because, you know, things that I had dealt with before as an employer where I always felt like, ooh, I feel like I'm kind of tiptoeing or I don't know if I want to ask this person to do this thing, because I hadn't really been good at defining roles in the past. And so I think once you kind of figure out what roles you are, you just know, like, okay, she's gonna take that. I'm gonna take this. I'm gonna, you know, if this comes up, I'm gonna ask her to do it without worrying about it.

I heard three things I want to make sure everybody caught. Just to summarize it, first one is when you're building your team in the beginning, and especially when, you know, trying to save money and all that, make sure that one of the teammates is a total figure it outer. If that's a word.

She is a figure it outer.

Figure it outer.

4.

Yep, that's first thing. The second thing, tell that person, hey, because I'm empowering you to be a figure it outer, it's okay for you to fail. It's okay for you to make mistakes. I'm not going to come down on you if you do, because I would be making these mistakes anyways. And I think that really empowers people to learn and, you know, lean into trial and error, which then, sure, they can make some mistakes, but then they get great results. Right, Right.

I mean, with the mistakes, it's not like you're like, oh, go to town, make mistakes. Trust me, they don't want to make mistakes. And so when things would come up, I'd say, okay, what are we going to do differently next time? Awesome. Let's learn this together. Perfect. And then, you know, it's not like you're just giving them this free pass.

Yeah. And then the third thing that I hope everyone caught was you got to know what your zones of genius are. Like, where do you move the needle in this potential new company? And then make sure you're setting up your team from the beginning to free you up to. I've told that to our team all the time. Like, guys, my job is to be the blank. And so I need you guys to free me up so I can be out there making relationships, doing the lunches, doing the podcast, doing all that. And when you frame it that way, like your job is to make me blank or allow me to do blank, then the team knows exactly what to do and what not to do and that becomes kind of the end goal.

Okay, just a one minute pause here.

Because I have to tell you about.

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I want to shift gears quick because now that everyone's getting it, I mean, I've seen like 100 dms of freaking day. I'm not kidding. And you've been sharing them, which is really exciting on, on your Instagram as I go follow it all the time just to see them. But there have been some really cool testimonials, if you will, of People who've been on it for a week or, you know, a week and a half now.

I guess some people have been on it now for, like, two weeks.

All right, share some of those. And just so that, you know, we get this part out of the way, you're not making claims like, hey, I invented this product that does blank. You're just sharing what these people are sending you. What are some of the cool things they're sending you that you're really proud of?

I mean, there's been things that I didn't even expect. The one that was unexpected was I have so much energy. I'm like, I saw another one today.

And I do, too.

And I think that, you know, I was. I was talking to my friend Natalie about this because we were just talking about, like, the unexpected things that happen when you release a course or a product or whatever. And it's like the things you didn't expect for people to get out of it. And we were saying, like, that potentially could be because some people aren't, like, doing anything for their body. They're not flooding their body with all of these nutrients. So the fact that they are getting vitamin C and magnesium and a probiotic and hyaluronic acid and they're hydrating and they're drinking their water and they're fat, feeling good. And. And there is something to being like, I love this product. It's going to make me feel good. Guess what? It's going to make you feel good as well, which is so exciting. So the energy one was unexpected. The ones where people are saying that they already feel less bloated, that makes me very excited because this. The probiotic has 30 clinical studies, and it is, you know, it was created to also help with digestion. Yeah. And the other cool thing about that, that could be the energy thing, too, is, is it helps with nutrient absorption. So maybe they just weren't, you know, you weren't able to absorb them before.

You had them, but you didn't absorb them.

Yeah.

I think one of my favorite ones is when one stranger sent another stranger a text saying, oh, my God, are you on this, too? I realized the other day I wasn't using my face lotion anymore or whatever it was. I forgot what she stopped using. She's like, I didn't mean to stop using it. I just stopped using it. Do you think it could be this already? And then that friend of a friend forwarded you that text exchange between the two of them. I was like, holy shit, that's so cool.

I know. I think we're just, you know, the cool thing about the vehicle in which you're using it, which is a powdered stick into your water. It's so easy to stick to. Like, I think one of the things we all know is that we need to be drinking more water. And you're not excited to drink water if you don't like how it tastes. And you saw how much time I spent on this flavor. I mean, I was neurotic about like, nope, this has an aftertaste. No, this tastes like this. Nope, this makes me think of this. This doesn't taste real enough. This doesn't taste, you know, this needs to taste like real lemon and it needs to be light and you have to want to drink it all day. So it was worth all of the time and effort and revisions on that because we are getting rave reviews on the fact that people want to keep going back to it. My friend Jen is already like, how many of these can we have? Jen Gottlieb and. Cause she's just obsessed. And I think when we do these little things for ourself and pun intended, like you take a minute to pour into yourself and give yourself that water. Give yourself that minute. Give yourself that moment of I'm doing something good for me. What you don't know is unconsciously happening is you're telling yourself that you deserve to be taken care of. And you also knock over a domino for the day of, you did one thing good for you and you kind of are like, what else else good can I do for myself?

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This is kind of a cool new thing for you. We've never really had a product where you had daily sales goals and you've got a daily sales goal right now. I'm not going to mention what it is, but you have a daily sales goal in terms of number of new products moved right? And you've been hitting it every day. But it's happening. Like you were in meetings all day today so you didn't do anything glossy related. You're in other meetings all day Today and like an hour ago, you're like, oh, my God, look, we just hit our sales goal. And then last night, it was like, right as we're going to bed, oh, my God, we just hit our sales goal. And so every day you're hitting this sales goal that you strategically made up, but you're not out there doing something. You're not trading your time, you're not trading your pitch, you're not doing any of that. It's just happening through word of mouth. So what does that feel like to hit a daily sales goal, but to do it without you actually doing the selling?

Well, we have selling that's being set up without me being there. So it is like you kind of do all of this work consistently that just goes out without you knowing it's going out. And also, what's happening is we're seeing. Because we're already giving people links just to track what's going on. So we're seeing how effective it is. Whenever people talk about it and they do it in a way that's true to them. The ones that we're watching convert are the ones where they're truly having an experience on it. Like, oh, my God, I noticed this. Or I noticed that, or I can't believe it's helping me do this. That's been the coolest part, is the word of mouth. So I'm really excited to try to figure out that formula of, like, how do we essentially. I know what the formula is. It's getting more product in people's hands, whether that's sampling through events or whatever that looks like so they can have an experience so that they can share that.

Are they going to have it at the dinner series? All the people that come to the dinner series at the end of May.

Do they get it at dinner?

Are we hooking them up?

We're hooking them up.

Oh, my God. So real quick, you guys, if you want your hookup on glow, see, if you didn't buy it yet, just go buy it. But if you don't, come to the freaking dinner series because we're going to hook you up in person. I'm so excited for that.

Drinking water all day.

Just.

I mean, maybe it's not good. Have to go to the bathroom during session.

We'll have extra bathroom breaks. All right, well, I just wanted to take this episode and just really quickly, you know, carve it out to ask you these questions of, how are you feeling? What are you proud of? Just give you a moment to, like, make it present that it finally happens. Because I've watched you struggle and struggle and struggle and struggle and struggle, and yet you kept going. And I always say, like, you know, when we invest in companies, so we bet on the entrepreneur first and foremost. Because every day great products with bad founders fail, and every day mediocre products with great founders win. And in your case, once in a while, great founders with great products, they go to the freaking moon and that's what's happening. And I just, in front of all 18 gajillion people listening, wanted to say how freaking proud I am of you and just how happy I am for you that it has finally happened.

I am so grateful for you for helping me through all of this, through the sleepless nights and the freak out walks and the tears and also through the excitement. Like, we've gotten to celebrate so many things because there has been so many wins along the way as well. And just how cool this journey of challenge and creativity is. And so for anybody in it, I just, I really, really hope that you hear, like, you're. No matter what. Like, like you're probably gonna end up in the same situation all over again, no matter how challenged you are. And if you're thinking of throwing in the towel, because at the end of the day, you're most likely a creative or an entrepreneur or somebody who really, really does enjoy the challenge, but you just forgot.

Yeah.

Like you forgot that that is what excites you and you just got weighed down by what you're focusing on. And so I hope I come back and remember this no matter what, even if sales are down or things get really hard again, because I'm sure they will. It's like, this is what I chose. And I think that if you can have that perspective in business of, well, this is what I chose and this is what I will continue to choose over and over again. It just brings you to a place where you can make positive creative decisions for your company.

Entrepreneurship doesn't have to be grind, it doesn't have to be horrible. You're going to have a lot of bad moments, but you can see it as a treasure hunt.

Yep.

Like Goonies. All the things that they encountered, all the setbacks, it really is. And then you finally find the treasure.

Yeah, I love that.

Congrats, babe. I love you. I'm proud of you guys. Go to get glocy G L O c. I get glossy.com and please support my beautiful wife in place in order. You're gonna freaking love it, I promise. Thanks for listening, guys. Love and appreciate you we'll see you next week, Sam.