WEBVTT - Featuring Amanda Zuckerman 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:04.560 Hey guys, It's Sammy Jay and welcome back to this 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:07.440 week's episode of the Letsbi Real podcast. I hope your 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:11.320 day is going well. The holidays are approaching, and I 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:14.120 just I'm very grateful for all of you. And this 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:17.599 week I got to chat with the incredible Amanda Zuckerman, 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:19.840 who is the co founder of dorm if I. She's 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:23.800 Forbes thirty Under thirty and her story is really inspiring. 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:26.440 And if you don't know, dorrify is it's essentially your 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.800 one stop shop for everything college. We talk about building 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:32.640 a business, being an entrepreneur, and so much more in 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:38.080 this episode. I love you, guys, and thank you for listening. Amanda, 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:40.120 thank you so much for taking the time to come 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:42.879 on my podcast. I am so excited about this episode 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:45.919 because I really want to talk about growing a business, 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:49.400 being an entrepreneur, and also starting at any age, because 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:52.199 I feel like that's something that's so accessible to us 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.680 now in the age of Google. Um. But I haven't 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.760 seen you in so long. How are you. I'm doing well, 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:01.760 it's been forever. I miss you and hopefully we can 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:03.960 see each other soon when you're back in New York. 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:07.640 But I think they're good. Time is flying um when 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:11.120 you are an entrepreneur on that topic, we always laugh 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:15.840 because it's like dog years in terms of days over here, 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:20.880 so every day just feels like it's times ten. So 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:23.200 something that happened last week, we're like, oh my god, 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:27.200 that a month ago. But oh, it's good. I'm very 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.840 excited to have this conversation. I know you co founded 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:35.320 dormifying what year. It's funny because it's it's a couple 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:38.400 of different answers depending on how you want. It's life it, 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:42.480 but technically in two thousand eleven, um, but I came 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:45.639 up with the idea in two thousand nine when I 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:48.760 was starting my freshman year, and then we really started 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:53.080 to kind of like soft concept it in my sophomore 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:56.160 year and then technically launched it by my junior year, 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:58.560 and that was the year that I actually had dormified 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:02.120 betting in my apartment on campus. Coming up with a business, 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:04.720 I know, the main thing that's always important is to 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:07.440 be passionate about the main topic that you're in. So 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:12.960 how did you choose dorms and making dorms cute? Because 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:16.240 it's a problem that has been going around for a 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.080 while and you're the one that really took the step 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:22.600 to make it a solution, So I appreciate that of course. 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:25.639 Um okay, so a couple of things here, So it's 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:29.040 not only about passion. Actually, I would start with like 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:33.639 centering a business idea around solving a problem, because sometimes 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:36.880 you might not be passionate about the business that you're building, um, 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:39.440 in terms of the subject matter, you might be passionate 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:43.280 about like solving that problem. So I think the common 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:47.400 misconception in starting a business is you have to like 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:51.760 love whatever that is. So I could have said, like, 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:55.200 I'm not that passionate about interior design, but I love 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:58.960 being creative. I love finding something that you can latch 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:01.400 it onto. But um, I have seen a lot of 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:06.359 successful people who are not technically passionate about a certain 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.920 sport or an activity, but they see an opportunity that 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:13.839 they're passionate about solving. For um. So without going down 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.440 that rabbit hole, I can tell you about my own experience. 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:20.560 And my experience is that I was shopping for my 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.400 freshman year dorm room, like everyone gets excited to do, 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:27.680 and back then, which was a different world than now, 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:30.160 and it wasn't that long ago. No, I know, it's 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:32.440 crazy though, but try to like think about a world 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:36.320 where Instagram and Pinterest did not exist. In TikTok, social 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:40.120 media did not exist when this was going on, so 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:42.480 kind of like try to put yourself in my shoes 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:46.560 there where you're going to physical stores. Online shopping wasn't 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:48.680 what it is today. You couldn't just find like an 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:52.640 etcy maker to find something very specific based on TikTok 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:55.800 or you saw on Pinterest or whatever. Um So it 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:59.680 was really challenging to find twin XL betting that's required 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.120 for edge in styles that were really made for someone 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:08.040 might age. And we meaning my mom and I quickly 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:10.760 saw an opportunity and a white space in the market 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:14.760 to totally like grab hold on because we were literally 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:18.640 in bed back and beyond. I remember it clear as day. Um. 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.240 I was in New York City shopping because I had 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:23.400 one day to do it. I was a camp counselor 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:25.840 and I literally, like on an off day, came to 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:28.839 the city the shop from my dorm room and I 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:31.839 was in the chelsea that up and beyond and looking 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:34.800 at the shelves, I was like, this is crazy. Why 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:37.360 isn't there anyone who's making cute betting for your dorm room. 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:41.120 So I was kind of nuts, and I decided to 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:45.400 crrate a look based upon pulling tons of different items 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:48.719 from different places and really mixing and matching my future 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.200 room look, which most people do today. It's just a 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:54.520 lot more accessible to be able to find one thing 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.279 from urban and one thing from dorm of by, so 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.160 there's just so much more access. But I ended up 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:01.960 mixing and matching a ton of stuff that I liked, 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:06.040 and it all started with a Urban Outfitters pillow case 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:07.640 that I was really drawn to, and I built the 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:10.200 entire room around it, and it ended up being a 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:14.080 really fun, easy ish process for my mom and I 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:17.320 because we're both creative. But we quickly saw when I 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:20.560 went to move in day that many other students and 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:23.400 their parents were dealing with the struggles of how to 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:25.160 set up a room and not only how to make 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.440 it cute, but also like functionally, what do you need 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:30.560 in your space? How do you rerange the furniture to 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:34.240 maximize the space? What are your hacks? So we wanted 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.560 to sort of bring what we knew we were good 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.800 at two other students and other families that were struggling, 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:45.159 and hence the idea for dorm if I was born. Um, 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:47.600 but really it goes back to that shopping trip at 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:50.760 the bath where I was standing there and I really 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.000 said out loud to my mom, we should design our 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.880 own line of that thing, and she was like, okay, 0:05:56.040 --> 0:06:01.440 let's do it. Um, so that's amazing, I know, like gravy. No, 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:03.960 that doesn't always happen. But you might be standing next 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:06.800 to a friend or like a classmate, and you see 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.919 an opportunity to solve a problem and you're like, whoa, 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:14.160 this is a horrible, horrible experience. Let me figure out 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:15.960 how to make it better and let me solve it. 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:19.440 And then someone figger with might say, oh, that's really interesting, 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:21.480 like I'd love to think about that with you, or 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:24.760 something along those lines. But happened to be my mom anyway. 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:29.920 So um that was my freshman year. Then my sophomore year, 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:34.080 we actually put a blog up of all things dorm, 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:38.960 all things college. Um. It was students like myself, friends 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.039 of mine, friends of friends who are writing for the 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:44.880 blog so that we could have some online presence that 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:47.880 gave us some credibility to be talking about dorm decor. 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:51.440 And most importantly, um, this actually served as our proof 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.320 of concept. Of course, we quickly saw that people did 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:56.159 care about what the rooms looked like. We got to 0:06:56.200 --> 0:07:00.919 gather UM tons of great images from these brand ambassadors 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.719 that joined the brand UM, and they ended up being 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:07.160 a network of hundreds and hundreds of college students that 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.720 I knew or were complete strangers to me, because it 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.560 just became this viral like friends of friends of friends 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.600 type of community, which was exactly what we were trying 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.720 to do UM. So once we had that proof of concept, 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:22.480 we started working on what that brand was going to 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.080 look like, how we were going to actually make products, 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:29.160 because neither of us had any experience in UM textiles, 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.120 and we weren't just going to go find some vendors 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:33.920 that we could buy products from and put it on 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:36.400 a website. It didn't exist, So we had to go 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.720 make betting ourselves. How do you go about making betting? 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:43.680 No experience? So I can speak to some of the 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:47.600 more like tactical ways that we did this, but more generally, 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:52.320 it's about learning from experts in the space and immersing 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:57.000 yourself in environments where you can really learn. So what 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.680 I mean by that and how we did it UM, 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:02.440 there's a few different trade shows that happen all over 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:05.120 the country, but there's plenty in New York, and we 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:09.520 just walked the aisles and started asking questions, getting contact information. 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.920 We didn't even have business cards, I don't think at 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.600 the time. But we were sharing the idea and selling 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:17.680 the idea, and people were really interested in the fact 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:19.880 that we were filling a niche and we're putting a 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:24.040 brand around a very pivotal life moment, and um, there 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:26.160 was a lot of interest because they knew that the 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:30.920 back to school shopping moment is so huge, but no 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:34.600 one was really owning that space. So UM, I think 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:38.960 the takeaway here is even if you don't have anything 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:43.200 formal to share with someone, they'll remember your story. And 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.520 it's important to be like pitching at all times. So 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:48.880 if you come across someone who could help you down 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:51.439 the line, whether it's with an introduction to a future 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:54.560 contact that you need to meet, or just like someone 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:56.680 who has a lot of great historical knowledge on a 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:00.200 certain subject matter, make sure that you're making those connections 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:03.360 and you have a way of staying in touch with people. 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.240 And we were just selling the idea, which is hard 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.280 to do, which is a skill in an art in itself. 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:12.120 What was your elevator pitch? Well, I think this all 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.480 goes back to my original point of if you are 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:18.640 not solving a problem, it's hard to get someone to care. 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.240 So if it's kind of like a nice to have, 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.520 like I believe in this because it's a nice to have, 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.880 I'm totally generalizing, it's a lot harder to explain why 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.920 someone should care. Um. Then if you like have identified 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:34.640 a problem and you are creating a solution even if 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.600 it doesn't exist yet. Um. So that's why I think 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:41.000 the elevator pitch, to your point, is really really important 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.880 because you have to grab someone's attention within I don't know, 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:47.680 less than thirty seconds probably within the first ten seconds 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:50.560 five seconds in what you're talking to them. Why should 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.840 they care? How is this going to benefit them? And 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:56.200 what does this look like? Is there a timeline? Is 0:09:56.240 --> 0:10:00.440 this real? So as you're building this company in you're 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.840 in college, how did you balance the school work as well? 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:07.320 As you know this is something it fills a need 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:09.520 and it's you're creating a business and you can see 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:12.520 potential with it, So how do you compartmentalize and be 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:15.640 a student as well? If you talk to a group 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:19.360 of founders. I'm sure people would have very different perspectives 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:22.040 on this question, but I think it depends on what 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.840 you're doing right. So there's lots of people who have 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:28.760 started incredible businesses where they have to just move really 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:33.400 quickly in order to not lose the opportunity to be 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:36.480 the market leader in whatever they're doing right, So people 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:40.160 might drop out. People might totally prioritize their business because 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:42.000 if they don't do it now, someone's going to beat 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.400 them to it. I wasn't in one of those scenarios 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.160 where I felt like it was important to move fast. 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.280 It was actually more important to build the brand slowly, 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:53.960 take advantage of the fact that I was on a 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:58.200 college campus, and like immerse myself in the audience that 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:01.560 I was trying to connect to, being college was working 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:05.120 for you, right, it was market research for me. I 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.079 would never not take advantage of being on a college campus, 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.680 and like my senior thesis was actually something that I 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:15.720 totally based off of a future endeavor for the business 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:18.520 that was all based on like the get back component 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:21.040 of the business. So I tried to connect everything that 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:25.200 I was doing on campus with what would help my business. Now. 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.400 I think what would be important to share here is 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.080 what I would do today, um if I were going 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:33.880 to go back in time and redo it. Something that 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:37.680 I um did not take as full advantage of that 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.760 I wish I did was just making connections on campus. 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:44.840 So building my network while being a college student is 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.880 like the number one thing that I think no matter 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:49.839 what you're going to do, whether you're starting your own 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:52.760 business or going to work for someone else, Like you 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.040 hear it all the time, but it's so real and 0:11:55.160 --> 0:12:00.360 having a mechanism to how's your contacts linked and just 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:02.760 doesn't cut it for me, Like I don't have a 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:06.880 way to mentally organize and LinkedIn all these people that 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.000 I know. You can come up with your own system, 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:11.480 whether it's just a Google sheet, And I have this now, 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.000 I literally the Google sheet called Amanda's Network, And I 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:17.720 have people that I meet their contact info who introduced 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.360 me to them, Like I even have a dropdown of 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.280 are they an investor, are they a founder? Are they 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:26.640 an operator? Like I just record this for myself so 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:29.280 that when I'm thinking, oh shoot, I need to call 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:31.439 someone to help me with this, let me go reference 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.640 my sheet and see who I could tap, because otherwise 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:37.640 I will not remember these people, did you color code 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.800 this Google sheet too? Oh it's not like that level 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.960 of oct okay, because that's just not me. I'm actually 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:48.000 really unorganized, but this is my attempt to be organized. 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:52.520 It sounds pretty organized. It's functional. Yeah, it's definitely functional. 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:56.679 But my advice to this group listening is do this 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:59.840 as soon as possible. My point is that I didn't 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:02.520 do it early enough because I started this in the 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:04.960 last couple of years. Now, imagine if all of the 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:07.200 connections that I've been building as a young founder have 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:11.760 been captured in one place, I would probably have the 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:14.160 right people to go to for every single problem that 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:16.520 I need to solve. That's all really important. Have it 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:19.320 to just get into at a very young age. That 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:23.440 would be my first takeaway. And then other things that 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:27.439 you can do on campus is just utilizing and leveraging 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.720 the opportunity to test out ideas. I'm just thinking of 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.360 my own university experience. We had a class where you 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.040 could actually build your own business and it wasn't real, 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:39.840 but it ended with a pitch and just take advantage 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:43.640 of those chances on campus because you don't have that 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:48.920 type of built in opportunity once you've graduated. So even 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.959 if it's something that doesn't end up coming to fruition, 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:54.240 at least you had the practice of like building a 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:56.679 business plan or a pitch deck, and then you can 0:13:56.720 --> 0:14:01.120 apply that to something in the future. Absolutely, we have 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:02.960 to take a quick break, but when we come back, 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:06.080 I want to talk about burnout, how you created so 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:09.640 many different types of products without any prior experience, the 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.880 future of Dormify, and so much more. We'll be right 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:22.120 back and we're back. Something that I'm going through and 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.480 I don't know if you ever went through was being 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.040 a student and you wanting to take advantage of all 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:30.320 of those opportunities and stay creative and keep building, but 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:34.920 also navigating burnout because you know, when you're operating on 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:37.920 different deadlines for different people, like how do you not 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:39.760 in this day and age. So I guess I was 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:42.000 wondering if that's something you've ever gone through and how 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.560 you've navigated that. I mean, it's definitely something that I 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:48.360 still deal with today. So I'll put myself in the 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:50.920 college environment for a second and I'll talk about how 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:55.080 I navigate this in just my professional life. But in college, 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:58.640 I think it's so easy to want to do a 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.360 million things. You're literally told go try everything. This is 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:05.320 your time to do all of these different things. You're 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:07.920 never going to have the opportunity to get an opportunity 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:12.200 to do it again, and you can struct yourself really thin. UM. 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:14.600 I think that's fine to cast a wide net to 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:18.720 at least understand like what the opportunities are. UM. But 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:22.160 I do think it's really important to try to like 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.480 hone in on one or two things that you want 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:27.680 to focus on, because, especially when it comes time to 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:31.160 reflect on your college experience in an interview setting, you 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:33.240 don't want to say like, I've touched all of these things, 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:37.600 but I haven't gotten deep anywhere. It's always more attractive 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:40.600 when a candidate can speak to something that they really 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:43.360 send their teeth into and invested their time and rather 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:45.240 than saying like, oh, I just wanted to put all 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:47.160 these things on my resume, so I tried all these things. 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.120 I think balance is important and no one's expecting you 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:52.720 to do it all. Have you always had the entrepreneurial 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:55.240 bug at heart? Or did this come about when you 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:58.400 were going to college. I don't really know how to 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:01.680 answer that question, because I think could be subconscious, But no, 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:04.920 I was not the type of person who said, I 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.360 want to be my own boss, I want to be 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:11.040 an entrepreneur. I want to figure out what I can 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:15.720 do in order to do that. It happened just more organically. 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.440 If there's a couple of different paths. So you might 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:22.000 be someone who goes through the college experience, they go 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:25.280 into a training program or you know, an entry level job, 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:28.880 and they learned quickly I really don't like working for 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:31.480 someone else. Like that definitely happens all the time, and 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.840 they might say, Okay, how can I work for myself? 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:39.400 That's one path. Then there's someone who is like determined 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:44.760 to be an entrepreneur, and um, that person could be 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.320 searching for an idea to pursue. So even if you 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.840 are one of those entrepreneurial type people, you don't have 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.440 to be the one that comes up with the idea necessarily. 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:56.960 That's where your network comes in, because you need to 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:01.040 be in the right environments or ecosystems to introduced to 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:04.600 people who could use someone like you as a partner. 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:10.920 All it takes is execution totally totally for me personally, Like, 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:15.000 I grew up in an entrepreneurial family, so my parents 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:18.000 owned a business together. Um, it's kind of second nature 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:21.199 to me. So it wasn't as daunting or intimidating to 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.439 me because I just had that own sin your blood. 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:28.080 Yeah right, it's in my blood, That's how you can 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:32.800 say it. I'm very curious about product development because okay, 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:37.240 you guys have expanded and are creating a variety of things, 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:41.680 whether it's betting, posters, lights. Yeah, what has that process 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:44.639 been like? And how do you go about navigating something 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:46.920 when you didn't have any background in it? It's a 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:50.200 pretty crazy world. Um, we've learned everything along the way, 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:53.760 um from great partners who have held their hands where 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:58.360 when we didn't know anything. And I think that's really 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:01.399 the most important point here is you develop relationships, and 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.520 relationships are the most important thing in taking your business 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:07.800 from one step to the other. Um. This manifests in 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:10.960 so many different ways. Whether it's vendors that you build 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:15.000 a relationship with that will help you when you're struggling, um, 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:19.480 whether that's financially or operationally. And then you also have 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.080 partners that will walk you through the ropes when you 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.439 have no idea what you're doing, which was exactly the 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:28.280 position that we were in. So the way that we 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:32.040 did this, We actually um talk to many different vendors 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:35.320 because we had to essentially knock on doors and explain 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:38.640 what we were trying to build until someone said, like, okay, 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:41.080 I'll take a chance and work with you. As you 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:43.680 can imagine, we got a lot of nose. That's intimidating. 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:45.199 We got a lot of knows Like we didn't have 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:49.240 a webscape. Um, all we had was a pitch. And 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:52.560 that's fine, Like, you can totally approach these situations like that, 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:55.520 but it's the same way that you approach fundraising, Like 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.399 you might not have many results that prove out your 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:01.280 concept just yet, but someone's going to take a chance 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:03.159 on you because they believe in you. And that's all 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:10.080 about building relationships, selling your pitch and personality. Really, So, 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:13.840 we had someone agreed to work with us, and we 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:15.399 only worked with them for a year. They were not 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:19.440 the right partner to take us to where we are today, 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:21.480 but they at least got our foot in the door. 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:26.880 So perfection is the enemy of progress. I know, comparison 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.840 is the thief of joy, so progress would make sense 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:32.720 for that one. I was thinking that phrase while I 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:34.800 was trying to say it. But my point is something 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.840 that I get on a lot of the time is 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:42.680 we're not trying to be a perfect We're gonna try 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:46.520 to perfect and it's all about making progress and actually 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:51.320 getting things done. That's more important. Something that's interesting that 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:54.440 we did is we didn't have money to invest in 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:58.240 the product that we wanted to order inventory we wanted 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:01.480 to order. So what we started it was a product 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:04.680 line of posters where we didn't actually have to invest 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:08.520 in inventory upfront. We found a printer that was going 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:12.160 to just print the pieces on demand as they got 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:15.720 ordered that we only had to pay after something was sold. Amazing. 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:18.639 So that's a really great way to get started, especially 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:22.400 in low quantities. Is um almost like testing a small 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:27.480 quantity of pieces and having um someone who is willing 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:30.000 to make like a small group of samples even just 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:33.600 to get some product feedback. And you know, talking to 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:36.399 customers at all times, especially in the early days, is 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:39.320 really really important. If you didn't have that bed bath 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:41.640 and beyond moment, Yeah, what do you think you would 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:46.040 be doing now? I think that I would probably I 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:48.679 think I would probably have gone into something in the 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:53.360 hospitality world. Like I was always into creative and I 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:56.760 was a graphic design and marketing major, So I already 0:20:57.040 --> 0:21:01.240 kind of knew that outside of Dormify, because I decided 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:02.879 I was going to do these majors before dorm If 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:06.840 I started, I wanted to do something that was creative, 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:10.280 art oriented, and then I wanted to also back that 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:14.159 up with like the business understanding, so that I wasn't, 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:17.399 you know, just an artist or a designer, but I 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:21.080 understood the business behind it. Um. But I've always loved 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:27.919 like hospitality, meaning restaurants, hotels, like any sort of hospitality environment, 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:31.600 bringing those spaces to life. So it is kind of 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:34.679 similar to dorm ify in a way of transforming a 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:37.840 space to create an experience. It is I would probably 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:40.800 be doing something like that, or I would have taken 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:45.080 over my parents advertising agency. That was definitely something that 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:47.399 was intriguing to me, but I wasn't sure if I 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:50.560 wanted to do it. Wow, it's it's so interesting how 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:53.320 that one moment changed your entire life. I find that 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:56.719 so fascinating. Can I add a fun fact because please, 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:01.399 Even even though I was always interested in design, um, 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:03.879 the truth is, when I was little, what I wanted 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:07.560