WEBVTT - Alli Webb, Founder of Drybar 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:08.200 Welcome to Made by Women by the Seneca Women Podcast 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:13.000 Network and I Heart Radio. At a moment when businesses 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:15.640 face some of the biggest challenges in recent history, we 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:20.239 bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and shared learnings to 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:26.000 help you successfully navigate in today's environment. Every Thursday, Made 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:30.080 by Women will showcase the experiences of legendary women, entrepreneurs, 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:33.720 fierce up and comers, and everyday women who found success 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:38.479 their own way. Consider this your real world MBA designed 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:42.680 for the new now. I'm Kim Azzarelli and thanks so 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:47.680 much for joining us today. In something new and intriguing 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:50.760 arrived on the scene, a hair salon that did only 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:55.640 one thing, no color, no cuts, just blowouts. It was 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.960 called dry Bar and locations were soon popping up across 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:02.120 the country. Dry Bar has been acclaimed as a beauty 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:05.480 industry disruptor. It was one of the top one billion 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:10.319 ideas of Entrepreneur magazine, and founder Ali Webb has been 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:13.640 named to Fortune's forty Under forty list. And it all 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:16.000 started when I stay at home mother decided to launch 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.440 a mobile hair salon. Please enjoy my conversation with dry 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:24.440 Bar founder Ali Webb. Thanks so much for joining us 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:27.480 thanks for having me. So I dare say that most 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:29.880 people know what dry bar is, but tell us a 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.559 little bit about it and why you started it. Well, 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.319 the idea really came from the fact that I was 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:38.200 born with naturally curly hair, and my whole life, you know, 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.200 especially as a kid, I just I didn't really like it. 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:43.080 I didn't know how to deal with my you know, 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.360 crazy frizzy hair. I grew up in South Florida where 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:47.600 it was like so much humidity in the air that 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.240 my hair vis is always unruly, and I didn't really 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:53.120 like it, and I didn't know how to tame it. 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:57.320 And you know, fast forward to many different jobs and 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:01.280 careers and other paths that I took. I eventually went 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:03.320 to beauty school, completely fell in love with it, and 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.800 became a hair stylist. And I spent most of my twenties, 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:11.840 uh doing hair and perfecting my own blowout. And while 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:15.360 I was cutting hair professionally in a salon, you know, 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:17.839 I loved getting through the haircut to do the blow out, 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:19.560 and that was just the part that was like the 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:22.280 most exciting for me about the process. But you know, 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:25.360 I never you know, the idea of dry bar and 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:29.200 a bloody bar like never like entered my mind. However, 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:31.960 in retrospect, you know, the idea is something that like 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:35.240 I as a kid would have loved because I used 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:37.160 to beg my mom to blow out my own my 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:39.320 hair and she wasn't very good at it. She was 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:44.359 an hair style was um. But anyways, I UM. I 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:46.679 met my well now ex husband when I was living 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:49.840 in New York City and we got married, moved to 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.200 southern California. I had my two boys who are now 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.720 Goal four team in sixteen, and you know, and I 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:00.280 was a stay at home mom for five and I 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:02.480 really thought i'd like hit the jackpot on that, and 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:04.119 I loved the idea that I was able to stay 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.080 home with my boys. And and while I loved it, 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:10.280 and I obviously loved my kids tremendously, after five years 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:12.440 of being home, you know, stay at home mom, I 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:15.520 just got like the bug and the urge, like the 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:17.800 itch to get back out there and do something for myself, 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:20.720 but at my own pace. So I decided to start 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.160 a mobile blow up business, which was again taking the 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:25.840 thing that I loved about when I did hair and 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:27.840 and turn it into this little business. And it was 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:29.920 you know, it just meant to be a smell business. 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.799 And it was called straight at Home. And Cam, who's 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:35.920 my ex husband, and you know, we're on very good terms, 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:38.640 but he is a creative genius and he's the you know, 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:41.160 he's really the brains behind the brand for dry bar. 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:45.080 And he made me this one little page website called 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:47.720 straight at Home dot com and I started posting it 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.240 all over the place on all the mommy blogs because 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.680 I had, you know, we so immersed in the mommy 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.320 community because when we first moved to l A, I 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:59.440 was having my first son, so I the only people 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.120 I really knew in LA were mom So that's why 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:04.080 I was catering to I started this business. I was 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.720 only charging forty dollars, which you know, to get somebody 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:08.280 to come to your house for four years is like 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:10.839 unheard of. But for me, it was just more like, 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:13.720 how can I make this like attainable and something that 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:15.720 people will actually want to do a lot. And so 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:18.200 I started this business and I got so busy so 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.640 fast just operating the mobile business that I was like 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:24.120 and I feel like, why isn't there a place that 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:27.240 just does blow up, you know, in a beautiful space, 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.359 in a cool environment, you know, there was like fantastic 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:32.159 SAMs of the World, and if you're in New York, 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:34.400 it was like John Louis Devide and you know, those 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:36.480 kind of businesses that are great businesses, but you know, 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:39.479 and women like me who have naturally curly hair, I 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:41.720 think we're figuring it out and they were finding their 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.479 person at those places, but there was nothing cohesive and 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.719 a great experience for just to blow up. Yeah. I 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:51.200 have to remember very clearly when you came on the scene, 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:53.159 because you're right, there was just nothing like that. It 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.240 was just such a novel thought. Yeah. Yeah, so you 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:58.919 have the idea, um and you think, why there's something 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:00.360 like that, and so how do you do you get 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:03.479 started on that? Well, because my my brother Michael Landa, 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:05.840 who is my business partner, we'd always been really close 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:07.919 and in a former life we had opened up a 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.720 couple of Nicole Miller boutiques, and we were you know, 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.520 our parents were entrepreneurs, so I kind of had always 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:17.000 have had that kind of entrepreneurial like spirit or d 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:19.760 n A. And when Michael saw how much success I 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:22.120 was having with my mobile business, you know, and I 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:24.479 went to him and said, I feel like we should open, 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:26.720 or I should open like a brick and mortar. Instead 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:28.680 of me going to them, they come to me. And 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.520 you know, Michael, it was like a little bit loop 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.440 warm on the idea at first, because his wife has 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:36.919 like stick straight hair, like the hair of my dreams, 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:38.720 you know that like just grows out of her hair, 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:41.840 that head, but that way. And I was always like, 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:44.320 you know, those kind of girls like always mystified me 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:46.760 because mine did not. And so anyways, I went to 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:48.360 him and I said, I want to do this, you know, 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:50.200 but I don't want you to learn I can't do 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.880 it alone. Would you be willing to, you know, help me? 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.640 Obviously from a financial place because I didn't have the 0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:59.120 money to do it, and from a you know, business perspective, 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:02.560 because he's just a really naturally smart business man, you know. 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:05.400 And he like he very quickly talked him into it, 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:06.960 and he knew the kind of hair I had and 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:10.240 whatever and um, but he he more thought it was 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:12.920 like you know, he used to say, like the women 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:14.240 of l A have too much time and too much 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:15.800 money on their hands, so this will work here. And 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:17.880 I was like, I don't think so, dude, Like I 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:21.000 think that like anywhere there's women. You know, most women, 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:23.960 the majority of women, like struggle with doing their own hair. 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:26.200 You know, some are better than others, but and there's 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:30.240 nothing like that like salon feeling blowout. So, you know, 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.440 he very quickly became interested in and I think more 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:34.920 if you were to ask him, he would tell you 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:36.760 it's more from the perspective of like, hey, I want 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.520 to help my little sister, um, you know, get this 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:42.120 business off the ground. He had worked for Yahoo in 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.640 the early days that he made some money and was 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.200 willing to, like, you know, do this with me. And 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:49.440 at the time, you know, he was like, uh, you know, 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:51.440 I'll give you sweat equity and I'll put up all 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:53.800 the money. And I didn't know what that meant, and 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.400 obviously I do now. And just a side note, full 0:06:57.400 --> 0:06:59.600 circle moment, is this is this new jewelry business that 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:03.159 I started it um called back At and Quill, the 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:05.960 girl that I basically invested in, I've put up all 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:08.600 the money and she's getting sweat equity. So it's just 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:11.000 funny eleven years later to be that on the other 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:14.400 side of that. Um, yeah, it's really cool. But anyway, 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.840 so Michael, you know, Michael took the chance, and he 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.720 um he was he thought that it was a great idea. 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:24.760 And then you know and Cam my ex husband, who's, 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:27.400 like I said, just such a brilliant creative. He was 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:29.360 also like, you know, you get your nails done once 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:31.640 a week and I really don't notice, but when you 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:33.440 get your hair blown out, it's the first thing I noticed. 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:36.320 So as an advertising guy who's pretty cynical, he thought 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:38.240 it was a great idea. So that really helps give 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.480 me the momentum and confidence that I needed. And so 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:44.200 we all kind of started working on the things that 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:45.920 we all knew how to do. I mean, I was 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:48.680 like figuring out how to like get a salon, you know, 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.960 quote and quote salon up and running and with all 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:54.760 the things, the millions of things that that requires. And 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:56.320 I was I felt like I spent most of my 0:07:56.360 --> 0:07:58.480 life on the phone with like the collegethology board, and 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:02.640 you know, Michael was getting all are like you know, utilities, 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:04.480 and I mean he still tells the story to this 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:06.960 day how he like lost so many hours of his 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:08.520 life to a T and T trying to get our 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:10.840 phones connected. I mean it was just like the minutia 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:13.239 that you're in when you're trying to start a business, 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.520 um and and then start finding the location, the lease, 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:18.960 and we had to personally guarantee that first lease. And 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:23.280 I mean it was like a beautiful, like disaster trying 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:25.360 to get it off the ground, but you know, we did. 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.880 And like many startups, we ran out of money towards 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:31.800 the end because everything became more expensive. And Michael had 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:35.000 brought in Josh Hitler, who's our architect still to this day, 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.960 and he's amazing these this Harvard Award winning architect, and he, 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:41.960 you know, gave us a deal. We gave him some equity, 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.600 and you know, we just we ran out of money 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:46.280 and had to get investors at the you know, the 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:49.480 eleventh hour. But but in a nutshell, that's how it 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.760 all started. And then it was just like Gangbusters. Once 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:55.720 we opened, it was so bananas and busy and crazy 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:57.319 and we and and it was in the middle of 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:01.480 a recession. And yeah, well you've hit on so many 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.400 points that I think everybody faces when you when you 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:06.480 start a business, and it's just so great. I mean, 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.640 what's exciting to hear about really is ten eleven years later, 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.360 it looks like a perfect business. But I think, you know, 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:14.480 you're really showing what it means in the beginning when 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:16.280 you want to get started and what that's all about. 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.040 And I feel like that's something that people don't recognize 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:21.640 enough after they've had a lot of success, as you have. 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:26.040 We'll be back with Senecas made by women after this 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:35.880 short break. So you know, you're you're going through those 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:37.679 really really hard times. I mean, of course you're in 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.400 business with your brother and your husband, so maybe that's 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:42.199 a little bit helpful, but still, you know, I'm sure 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.319 those there are those dark nights where you're like, Wow, 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:48.120 why did I do this? How did you deal with that? Oh? Yeah, well, 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.240 I mean I think it was like, I mean, it's 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:52.400 funny that you say it looks like a perfect business, 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:55.520 because it, gosh, it's like so far from that. And 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:58.560 you know, there there definitely were times that it was 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:02.080 like I don't remember ever feeling like I didn't want 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.480 to do it or so unmanageable, but I you know, 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.320 but I definitely did feel like it was just so 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.240 unbelievably all encompassing, you know. And I had little kids 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.800 at the time, and it was just the first like 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:15.280 six months I was at the store every single day 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.319 which we opened seven days a week, so I have 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:19.920 such a hard time, you know. So I was so 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.200 thrust into this and not complaining, I'm so grateful for it, 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:26.200 but I was so thrust into it, like talking about 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:27.680 being thrown in the deep end and not knowing how 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:30.760 to swim, and I just didn't know how to like 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:32.960 do all this. It was like learning on the job, 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:35.480 and you know, it was the pace was so much 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:38.040 faster than any of us had anticipated. So it was 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:40.720 like I'm playing catchup and trying to figure everything out, 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:43.960 which was a great problem to have. Um. So it 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:46.120 was you know, it was overwhelming, but it was also 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:51.079 overwhelming and exciting and intoxicating and amazing and so stressful 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:55.160 and just you know, it was like all the emotions, um, 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.280 you know, wrapped into one. But but but mostly, I 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:00.200 mean I look back on that time so far only 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.480 and it was just such a rush that you know, 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:06.000 people were loving this business and we're having this amazing 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.600 impact on all these women, and now we're starting to 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:10.720 provide all these jobs. And it was like in the 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:12.480 you know, we're in the middle of a recession. It 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:15.480 was just it was so it was so cool and 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.640 you know, and while building, it was hard, and and 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:21.160 you know, it's there's so many challenges with this business 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:25.959 and you know we as you might imagine the managing 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:30.720 our stylists and labor, and there's and and clients, and 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:35.080 it's like it's it's a very like mixed bag of problems. 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:38.120 You can't believe. I mean, someone as a joke, brought 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:41.600 brought us a wacka mall machine one because it's like 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:43.560 that's really what it's like, you know, I mean, it 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:45.600 is really what it was like. I mean every day 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:49.240 you could expect a phone call like I mean, you 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:51.640 name it. You know, like we had there was a 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:54.319 there was a stinkhole and in our flat Iron store 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:56.400 when we opened, there was like that. Let's mentioned how 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.240 many times like stories didn't open because whoever was opening 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.000 it slept, don't over slap. Yeah, I mean I have 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.160 to say a sinkhole in the flat Iron district. That 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:07.400 is that's a big one. That is a surprise. Yeah, 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.640 but like the water wouldn't come on, the hot water 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:13.480 wouldn't come on. It was just like you name it. 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:17.079 There was something literally every day. So it was. But 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:20.200 but it's also like this amazing fun challenge too. So 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.360 I look back on it very fondly. So actually, that's 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:26.120 that's such an interesting point because you know, at the 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.680 beginning or probably in any business, in most businesses, there's 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:33.240 always things that go wrong, and they go wrong a 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:36.000 lot um, So how do you kind of shift your 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:39.640 mindset to rather than feeling like everything's an emergency and 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:43.000 you're freaking out over every sinkhole that comes up, Rather, 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:44.920 how do you shift it to kind of embrace it 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.840 and kind of live in that uncertainty. Well, I think 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:49.840 you have to have a pretty thick skin, and you know, 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:51.400 and I would love to say that I always did, 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:53.000 but I think it was like it's a it's an 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.719 overtime learned kind of behavior that like, you know, and 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.679 and I think it's also on par with like, you know, 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.080 like customer complaints and customers not being happy or like 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.560 getting something wrong or being too busy or not someone 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:08.400 that liking to blowout. You know, it's like you kind 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.040 of learn, it's like you brace yourself for that stuff. 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:14.680 And um, I remember early on having to you know, 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:17.600 when people weren't unhappy, when something went wrong, whatever happened, 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:19.360 and having to like deal with that, and it's like 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:22.440 it's like the best way I can I can equate 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:24.320 it to you is like I don't know if you 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:27.280 ever take cold showers, but I do for a lot 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:29.679 of different reasons. And it's like when you first get in, 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.199 it just hurts and it's uncomfortable and it's terrible, but 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:35.360 then you like your body like it's like okay with 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:37.240 it after a few seconds. And I think it's like 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:40.600 that when you're dealing with all the things that are coming. 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.000 It's like it hurts and stings for a second, and 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:46.000 then you just like go into Okay, how are we 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:47.079 going to deal with this? How are we going to 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.320 fix it? You know, it's really easy, I think, as 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:52.160 an entrepreneur or a boss or really anybody to get 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:54.959 bob down and they're like whoa is me? And your 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:57.719 this really stucks and blah blah blah and feel bad 0:13:57.760 --> 0:13:59.640 for yourself. But you kind of have to snap yourself 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:02.560 out of that just go into like fix it mode 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:04.160 and how do we make this better? And how do 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:05.880 we make sure it doesn't happen again? You know, And 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:08.880 then that mindset of like it hurts for a second, 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:11.520 but we have to just keep powering through, and you know, 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:14.560 and I think that over time, I got a thicker skin. 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:18.080 I mean, there were certainly times that I didn't, But 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:21.560 for the most part, you learn how to like roll 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:23.280 with the punges and deal with all the stuff that 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:25.440 comes up. And if you really are good, you can 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:29.320 remember and those moments, which is almost impossible. But like 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:31.960 there is a reason and a lesson here. You know, 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:35.320 it's much easier to see that in retrospect, but there 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:37.960 always is, you know, there's always some sort of learning 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:40.920 that comes out of, you know, anything that goes wrong. Well, 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.160 I think that's that's kind of to me, seems like 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:46.880 the key to life generally. Yeah, two points that you 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:50.040 just made. One is certainly understanding how to deal with 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:52.640 pain or how you you yourself can deal with discomfort. 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:55.040 And I heard a great piece of advice about trying 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:57.120 to learn to reinterpret pain, and I think that's what 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:59.760 kind of those lance are instrums of the world, do, etcetera. 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:01.840 You know, this is kind of like a marathon or 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:03.760 a race. You know, you've got to just sort of 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:05.880 know how to reinterpret those difficult times. But then what 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:07.440 you just said to me, it is sort of the key, 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:09.400 which is how do you draw something out of all 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:11.200 this that you can then learn from, and that to 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:14.640 me seems like really a life lesson that you've learned there. Yeah, 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:16.680 and you know, I'm thirty six years old of you know, 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:20.280 to like teenage kids. I've gone through divorce, Like, I've 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:23.160 learned a lot of life lessons, you know, and and 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:26.120 I've gotten a lot better at dealing with them. Um. 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:29.640 I was just listening to some and a master class. 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:31.360 I don't know if you follow that account, but it's 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:34.560 like there was a mindful master and he was talking 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:37.920 about how you have to you know, be just as 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:41.960 like keenly like focus on the bad quote unquote bad things. 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:43.480 It's a good things, you know, and then you don't 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.800 aren't is overwhelmed with the suffering of it. You know. 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.600 It's like, which is so much harder, so much easier 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:50.600 said than done, you know, but it is it is 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.920 something to think about ponder, you know. I Mean. The 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:56.440 other thing that's funny about that, which is about life, 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:58.800 I guess, is that you know, you never really know 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:01.200 what's bad or good right Like the time you think 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:03.000 this is definitely gonna be the best thing, and then 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:04.480 you're like, oh that was the worst and the thing 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:06.160 that you thought was the worst thing. Later on you're like, 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:08.320 thank god, that happened. So it's really hard to know. 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:10.280 And I guess if we can separate ourselves a little 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:13.160 bit from that, that helps a lot. But speaking of which, 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:15.280 we're in the middle of COVID or hopefully towards the 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:17.600 end of the COVID pandemic here. But we're in a 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.800 pandemic and obviously you're in a business that's very physical. 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.240 So how have you had to pivot during this period? Well, 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:26.760 I mean the first like, I mean, we're you know, 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:29.000 we're just over a year and it's like you know 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:31.680 that we closed down very early and had some fits 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:34.560 and starts with opening back up, but you know, ultimately 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:38.320 have only recently opened almost all of our stores back up, 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.320 and it's on a slower capacity and we're not able. 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:44.120 It's definitely not like the driver you know and love 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:47.000 right now, which is okay, and we're building back up 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.320 to that, you know, because the separation and all of 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:52.320 that um and and there was a lot of pivoting. 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.160 I mean, it just they got our business like it was. 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:57.960 It was so hard, and you know, we we were 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.920 able to survive a little bit it more than we 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:03.000 might have been able to otherwise if we hadn't we 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:07.280 had sold our product division, Like I mean, what like 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.400 days before things really went cret It was the time. 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.080 It was unbelievable. So that was able to help like 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:15.840 bridge the gap for us to be able to like 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:18.720 stay afloat um, you know, but it was it was 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:23.000 really challenging to get you know, for our employees and 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.199 our managers and like these people that had worked so 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:28.119 hard for so long, it was just like nothing, you know, 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:31.159 there's like nothing we could do um. And that was 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:33.439 like just such a devastating blow. And we did our 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:35.199 very best to like stay in touch with our with 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:37.240 our teams at a regular basis and try to keep 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:39.560 morale up. But and we did a lot of stuff 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.960 with like promoting products and how to do lots at 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.600 home and all of that stuff. But you know, there's 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:49.600 there's no way to spin it. It's just it's and yeah, 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:53.479 and and we are we are, you know, luckily you know, 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:56.800 gaining momentum again. And I think again the silver lighting 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.440 here is that like people are really excited to get 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:01.760 back out, are getting brought out again. We're seeing like 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.440 the books are filling up very quickly again. So um, 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:07.640 you know, and we didn't think it would be any 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:09.800 other way, but it is. We have a lot of 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:12.119 investors and all of that, so it is like, you know, 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:15.359 it's a pretty daunting situation to be in, but we 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:17.359 I think we are just about on the other side 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:21.120 of it, or getting close to it. So you've started 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:24.399 this business, You've just started another business, So you have 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.720 a wealth of advice for listeners out there who right 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:30.600 now are thinking about starting something on their own but 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.159 feel that, you know, this might not be the right time, 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:36.119 or you know, they wish they were more prepared. Is 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:38.720 there advice you would give them, Well, I would say, 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:41.399 don't worry about being prepared. I was not prepared, you know. 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:43.760 I think that what happens is I think people get 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.040 in this like, you know, they have to have everything 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.359