WEBVTT - Building an Eyewear Empire with Coco and Breezy 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:10.800 Welcome to Made by Women, a new podcast by the 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:15.760 Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio. At a 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:18.319 moment when businesses face some of the biggest challenges in 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:22.800 recent history, we bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:26.600 shared learnings to help you successfully navigate in today's environment. 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:32.159 Every Thursday, Made by Women will showcase the experiences of 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:38.080 legendary women, entrepreneurs, fierce up and comers, and everyday women 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:42.440 who found success their own way. Consider this your Real 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:47.400 world n b A designed for the new Now. I'm 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.000 Kim Azzarelli and thanks so much for joining us today. 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:57.520 From a young age, Coco and Breezy Dotson turned to 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:00.400 crafting and creativity to get through tough time times during 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:04.440 their adolescence. Today, the twin sisters run a highly successful 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.080 eyewear company that has been spotted not only on the 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:10.160 fashion forward, but also on the red carpet worn by 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:14.400 superstars like Beyonce and Lady Gaga. So how did two 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:18.480 sisters from humble beginnings in Minnesota build their fashion eyewar empire. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.360 I was thrilled to talk with Cocoa and Breezy about 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:25.000 their killer style, incredible outlook on entrepreneurship and their drive 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:27.920 to succeed. I also talked to them about what makes 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:31.880 them sweat and what gives them strength. Enjoy our conversation. 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.760 Thank you both so much for joining us. We are huge, 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:41.040 huge fans and your product is incredible and the style 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:45.440 is unbelievable, but your story is also amazing. So thanks 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.160 for joining us. Thank you for having us. We're super 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:52.000 excited to be here. So uh, we've read that from 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:54.880 an early age both of you were creative pretty much 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:57.840 by birth and had your own sense of style. Can 0:01:57.880 --> 0:01:59.600 you describe that and what it was like to grow 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:04.280 up in the Midwest and how your creativity was received. Um. 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:07.040 I would say growing up in the Midwest, especially being 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:09.880 women of color, and not only just women of color, 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:13.280 but being black women in Minnesota, not only did we 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.600 get bullied for having eclectic styles, but we also got 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:20.160 bullied for being black. And I think if we didn't 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:23.440 have such supportive parents, it would have been a very 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:27.000 tough time for us as kids. And something that we're 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:29.400 really grateful for is that even though our parents couldn't 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:35.360 necessarily financially support us, they they support us emotionally like 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:40.560 so well, because they really pushed us to show our 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:44.520 individual styles, and they pushed us to really understand the 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:48.600 meaning of being an individualist. And so I'm really grateful 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:50.440 for that. And I think that since I did have 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:53.360 a twin sister who we kind of shared that same 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:55.640 vision that we are going to do something or we're 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:58.440 always going to push the needo. And I think when 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:00.440 you grow up with not a lot of reas horses, 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.320 you like create your own resources and you create your 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:05.800 own world. So if you're in a world where you 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:08.160 feel like you're not accepted, on top of in a 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:11.720 world where you may not be in a financial place 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.200 to get what everyone else has, you're almost like forced 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:19.040 to be creative. And I'm very grateful for the way 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:21.919 that we grew up because it made us the entrepreneurs 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:24.360 that we are today. By the time you got to 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:28.320 that point in in middle school, you were able to 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:31.640 sort of just let out your creativity more publicly, and 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:34.400 that must have been very free. It was very free 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.680 because I mean we got really good grades. As long 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:39.560 as we got good grades, we were able to do 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.280 anything we wanted. And I think because our parents did 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:45.440 give us freedom to be creative and they didn't put 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:48.520 their hard ways on us, we were very obedient kids, 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:50.920 and so we knew that if we broke their trust 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:53.200 with being free, they would take it away from us. 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:55.760 And so we were. You know, our mom let us 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:58.480 pierce our nose when we were thirteen. Um, she let 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:01.960 us cut our hair really short when we were like twelve. 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:04.600 She let us cover our hair pink and red and 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:08.360 blue in middle school, and our mom and dad were 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:09.839 both with it, you know. And I think the reason 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:12.200 why they let us do that is because they're like, 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:14.800 are we gonna hold back these young ladies that want 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:17.440 to express themselves because we're afraid of what the world 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:20.640 is going to think of them? Or do we let 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:25.120 them express themselves and they're getting good grades, Maybe they're 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:27.880 able to think better and good get good grades because 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.159 they don't feel trapped. I mean, we used to walk 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.400 around and people would just stare at us, and it 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.120 was very hard for us. But I think fortunately, since 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.800 we are twins, we had each other and it was 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:43.839 very challenging and difficult. But I feel so grateful that, 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:47.080 you know, our parents let us have pink hair and 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.360 have our nose pierced when we were so young, because 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:54.600 that was our way of expressing ourselves. Honestly, I feel 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:57.000 like we have the best parents in the world. First 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:59.799 of all, they killed it with co parenting, and secondly 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:04.960 they killed it with like raising creative kids. So then 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:07.240 you came to New York City and I grew up 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:09.000 in the East Village. I grew up with people who 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:10.920 had pink hair and all the things that were so 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:14.080 different in the Midwest. What brought you to New York 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.760 and how did you feel when you arrived? So what 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:19.839 brought us to New York first was I think we 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.080 first got introduced to like the New York style from 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:24.760 like looking at magazines and being like, oh wow, that's 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:28.760 in New York. But what really brought our interest was, um, 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:30.520 you know, back in the day, we had a MySpace 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:34.760 page and my Space was the jam back then. You know, 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:36.719 in Minnesota, we didn't have a lot of friends, but 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:39.599 on MySpace we had friends. Right, We had like fifty 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:42.720 plus followers, and my parents thought it was so weird. 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.479 So we're like sixteen years old with this huge MySpace following, 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.679 and most people were in New York and they looked 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:53.200 like us, like their styles were eclectic, and so it 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:55.960 was all people on in New York and so we 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.440 were like hold on, there are more people like us 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.760 out in the world, and so we act. I think 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:06.120 we were about seventeen, and we backed our parents. We said, 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:07.960 can we please go to New York with our friends? 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:10.599 Mind you, we're seventeen, but we're like, we have friends, 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.840 Our friends are eighteen, they're adults, like, please let us go, 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:17.000 and they let us go. We were seventeen years old. 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.080 Interpret it in context. We've been financially on our own 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:22.680 since we're fifteen. So our parents knew that we were 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:25.960 a different type of responsible at seventeen because at that 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.360 time we had already been working, Like by the time 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:30.760 we were seventeen, we were working three jobs each. So 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:33.200 they almost couldn't say no. They're like, okay, these girls 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:36.359 pay their car note, pay their cell phone bill, go 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.960 to work three jobs each at seventeen. Of course you 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:43.120 can go to New York with your friends. Wow. That's 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:45.600 so we went to New York and we just kicked it. 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:47.960 We actually graduated high school early, so that's why we 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:50.080 were able to do that. We graduated November of our 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:52.880 senior year with extra credits, so we had time and 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:54.279 we you know, we were able to take off work. 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:56.440 And so when we first step foot in New York, 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:00.080 our whole lives changed. And then on our nineteenth birth a, 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.320 we were like, you know what, let's spend a couple 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:04.920 of weeks in New York to see how it really 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:08.040 feels like to live here. And so, you know, when 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.560 you get that feeling in your gut, you get this 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:14.240 gut feeling that it's so rare. This one particular trip, 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:16.320 we had this gut feeling that said, you know what, 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.960 move right now. And it's weird because I have I 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.160 rarely get those gut feelings. It's so important to listen 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:26.480 to your intuition because your intuition does not lie. And 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:28.920 so at this moment, we had this feeling of being like, 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:32.520 we have to move here. So that last trip, we 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.440 went back home packed our bags. We said, mom, Dad, 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.080 we're gonna move in two weeks and they're like, what 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:40.680 how much money do you have? Said, we're like like 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.080 five d each. But you know, we've been working in 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:45.320 retail and restaurant for like, you know, not even a 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:47.360 real restaurant. We're working at like a fast food spot. 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:49.240 We've been doing that for like so many years. So 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:51.480 we have a good resumes on top of that, Cocoa. 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:53.640 We had applied to go to college, and so on 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:55.840 top of tell them we're moving to New York, we 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:59.120 had to also tell them that college it wasn't for 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:01.480 us as well. We had everything set up and we 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.040 had to pretty much cancel all of that because we 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:07.000 went with our intuition. I remember the person who had 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:10.160 to cancel with he was trying to like tell us 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.640 that it was a bad idea. But at that moment, 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:14.600 I had this feeling that I felt like if I 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:17.640 would have waited three or four years later, we wouldn't 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.200 be where we are right now at all. That's so 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:22.360 important that you listen to your gut you're able to 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:24.360 hear it. I mean, sometimes other people can sort of 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:26.080 talk you out of what you know is the right 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:28.200 thing for you. And I think one thing we learned 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:30.440 is that people always talked us out. I had some 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:32.280 of my friend's parents say, like, what do you You 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:34.280 guys are crazy? How are you going to move to 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:36.600 New York. We weren't when we went to in high 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:38.880 school when people are doing all the bad stuff. Even 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.160 though we looked like rock stars, we weren't rock stars. 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:43.720 Like our outside looks like rock stars, but our actions 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:46.400 weren't rock star movements at all, you know, and so 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:49.920 um people could never persuade us and we were never 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.360 peer pressured. And so even when people would like say 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:56.240 you're crazy, We're like, we're still gonna do it. And 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:58.640 my parents kept saying like, if it does not work out, 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:01.040 you can just always come back home, and that was 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:03.480 always a comfort to be like, Okay, we can come back, calm, 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:07.040 but we're gonna make it work somehow, some way. When 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.520 did you decide that you wanted to start your own company? 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.560 You knew about money and responsibility, and you were willing 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:13.959 to take that risk and move all the way to 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.160 New York, as you said, with like no financial backing. 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:18.480 But when did you decide that you wanted to start 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:21.080 a business, and specifically, when did you decide that you 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:25.080 wanted to be an eyewear So I would say that 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:29.280 ever since I was in third grade, the idea of 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.599 being an entrepreneur came up, and I remember asking, like, 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.080 how do you spell entrepreneur? And to be honest, I 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.320 have no idea where that even came from. We've come 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:43.320 from super super humble beginnings, and so I never had 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:45.480 a family member that like worked in corporate, So I 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:49.040 never even knew like what a corporate experience was at all, 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:51.719 but yeah, that Phail would be an entrepreneur and being 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.760 our own bosses has been something that has internally been 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.840 inside of us. I think since we were born. I 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:03.320 would say that what really inspired us to actually being 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:07.560 eyewear is from being bullied. That's what inspired I left 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.080 for I Wear, so Cocoa and I when we were 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:13.400 in Minnesota getting like the crazy stairs, and back then 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:15.080 we were like, if you look at our old photos, 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:19.480 we were super like punk, like mohawks, you know, black boots, 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:22.800 all black, black lipstick. Like Coco said, we were rock stars. 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.600 That caused us to be bullied and people would stare 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:29.520 at us, point at us, and we were so from 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:32.440 the outside we looked so confident, but internally we were 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.760 torn to pieces. And we would buy like cheap sunglasses 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.040 to kind of give us this level of confidence. And 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:42.240 then we started making our own glasses. It was very 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.720 d I y and with us posting them on my Space, 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:49.120 people are like, oh my gosh, where can I buy those? 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:52.200 And then that trip that Coco told you about of 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.920 us coming to New York, people were like, I need 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.520 those glasses, and so that gave us a confidence to 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:00.640 be like, okay, cool, like we can make this into 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:04.280 a business. Mind you, we had no business experience. No 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:06.160 one's had like a really big business in our in 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:10.079 our family. It was all like internally that we I 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:12.160 don't know, we just had this feeling. We're like, okay, 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:14.920 we're gonna start this and we'll figure it out. But 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:17.360 one thing that we did always have is that we 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.800 had tenacity. We have something in us where we can 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:23.920 go through, like quote unquote a really bad situation. But 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:25.959 the way that we look at life, and we've been 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.960 we started practicing this since we were kids. Our way 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:32.080 of life is that any situation you go through, you 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.199 make it your own. So if it's a quote unquote 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:37.280 bad situation, the way that we look at it is 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:39.480 that it's just part of the story and it's part 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:43.080 of the journey. So we try to take everything at ease. 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:45.920 So going through I call it the roller coaster effect, 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.280 going through the ups and the downs, where if something 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.199 tragic happens to your life, something bad happens, how can 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.960 we use that as a learning curve? And I know 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.280 that that's a huge part of being an entrepreneur is. Yeah, 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.640 we may not have a college degree. Yeah, we may 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:04.920 not come from money. At that time, we had no 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:06.680 idea how to run in business. But what we did 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.520 have was we had the figure that ish out. Like 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:11.679 we knew how to figure some stuff out, and we 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:16.439 were amazing problem solvers and we were amazing like make 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:19.520 a mistake, and we love figuring stuff out. What you 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.920 just said really resonated with me was the fact your 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.520 your philosophy of life and the way that you think 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:27.560 about life and you think about the ups and downs 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:30.200 as a journey and the lessons you can get from 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:32.760 it um as opposed to sort of some people get 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:35.199 really devastated when we know that life is going to 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:36.760 have ups and downs. So the fact that you were 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:39.960 able to come to that type of philosophy so early 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.679 in your life, do you think that had helped you 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.719 and gave you a big advantage. I definitely think that 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:47.960 gave us a huge advantage. And I also think that 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:50.600 we just grew up with a lot of adversities and 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.680 so we kind of um taught ourselves that at an 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.240 early age. And I do think that you do have 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:58.360 to have some of those traits because it's not as 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.440 easy and fun as you think, but it is fun 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:05.319 once you like grow that emotional intelligence and the understanding 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:09.679 that you're gonna go through so many roller coasters and 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:11.959 it's okay. I always say, whenever we go through something, 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:13.319 I'm like, this is just part of the book in 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:16.520 the movie. Like everything everything we do, it's part of 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:18.160 the book and it's part of the movie. I'm like, 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.240 I swear in like twenty years there's gonna be a 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:21.920 We're gonna have a book and then there will be 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:24.240 a movie about our story. Like that's that's what keeps 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:27.400 me motivated. And I'm like, we're just really like creating 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.760 a blueprint for other people and that's the goal. But 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.120 I really do think that um keeping that mindset has 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:37.280 been extremely helpful because you go through all these up 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:40.680 times and then you also go through downtimes, and literally 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:42.600 it's a really big roller coaster. You think when you're 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:45.199 going up, that's gonna stay up, but then you go down. 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:47.800 But you know, it's so important that you have to 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:50.880 have those down times because how do you learn? And 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.440 so each time you have that up time, something's gonna 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.000 happen and you have to learn from that mistake. And 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.720 then keep going because otherwise there was a point in 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:00.920 our lives where everything kept going up, up and up, 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:03.800 and then it crashed, right and then we had in 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:06.720 that crash was beautiful because we had to reshift our 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.120 full business model and make a huge pivot, and then 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.840 we started growing again. So I think that being aware 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.280 that that's going to happen, and being aware to look 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.320 at the minute things that are happening when you have 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:21.160 that downtime is very important. I'm so glad you're bringing 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:24.360 this up because I think that this is really an 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:27.960 important nugget for anybody in business but also in life. 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:30.480 It's just to expose the reality of life, and the 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:33.240 reality of business is not just one long happy face, 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:36.120 not just one big happy emoji, but that there are 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:38.200 all of us are going through ups and downs and 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:41.160 everything has hardship and no one is spared from that. 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:43.440 And you know it's different for different people at different times, 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:46.760 but business in particular, especially right now in this economy 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:48.880 and what we're all going through, it's going to be very, 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.280 very tough. But if you can embrace it as you're 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:53.160 sort of suggesting, and look at it as a learning 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:57.320 opportunity and not be surprised. Um, that's such a huge 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:59.360 piece of advice that you're giving people. I think that's 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:00.920 that's one of the most important things I think we 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:05.239 can share with people. What in this particular moment of 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.600 this incredible up people that we're going through in the world. 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:09.880 You know, how do you how do you think about 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.000 pivoting when when you have to pivot in your business? 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.920 How have you dealt with that? You know, in the beginning, 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:17.840 we actually I would say our first big pivot because 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.120 the way we started was very scrappy, like it's whatever 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:24.320 is scrappier than scrappy. That's how we started. Was very 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:26.880 d i y and like what we what we made, 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:29.520 Like the glasses that we made were like you know, 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.280 we're buying safety goggles, glue and studs and spikes on them. 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:34.600 They were such a fat and then as fast as 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:36.560 they were hot, were as fast as they weren't hot. 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:39.480 So that was a challenging moment for us because we 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:43.920 knew nothing about actually like you know, producing and designing 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:45.760 real eye wear. We knew nothing about how to source 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.680 the factory. We didn't have the funds like which we 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:51.720 had like a little bit but not really a lot 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.320 because again we're self funded and still self funded to date. 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.880 For our pivots, which we've had so many of them. Um, 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:02.520 it was really just like listening, taking advice, seeing when 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.240 we have our downfalls, and understanding how do we like 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.000 go to this next this next step. And I think 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.720 the in the beginning, our brand was very niche. It 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:13.920 was it was really about us, So we were just 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:16.400 making glasses that we would wear. And then we have 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:19.160 to say, like, how do we create a product that 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:21.480 everyone can wear where we don't have to be the 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:23.840 faces of it, it's not only about us, and so 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:26.120 that was a huge pivot. But I think pivots are 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:28.920 beautiful because you kind of realize them once you go 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:32.400 through a quote unquote downtime. But it's not really a downtime. 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:34.600 It's just a challenge and it just means that you 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.320 need shift because one business model is not going to 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:40.320 work from start to finish. Like you're always gonna make 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.800 changes and you have to be open and not afraid 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:45.960 to make those changes. And that's why I always tell 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:48.960 people because I think when people first start a business, 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:51.120 they have such an idea, like they come up with 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.040 this master plan, and I think where people fail is 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:56.240 that they get so stuck on the master plan that 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.840 they don't give theirselves room to make changes as they 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.840 Oh so I always tell people like, you might have 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.280 a plan A, but like it won't your plan E 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:07.800 might be the one that's like the winner. And so 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:11.280 it's important to be open so test things that would 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:13.840 be like Okay, cool, I have this plan, but this 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:17.879 didn't work. Let me try a little something different. So 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:21.840 it's very important to be flexible with your plans. Is 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:25.600 there anything that has really been so tough that it's 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:28.440 really made you sweat? Like, there's one where you just 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:30.600 said that was we didn't think we'd get through it. 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:34.120 Is there's something that you can point to? Yeah, So 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:37.440 there was one time where we got a really big 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:41.800 order from distributor in Korea and they placed a huge 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:43.560 order and at this time we were still new to 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:47.240 like production supply chain and all of that, since we 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:49.240 have been self funded. When we got this huge order, 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:52.399 we didn't we didn't have the funds to produce it, 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:54.240 and so we went to a front of ours. We 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.000 were like, hey, we have this list of orders from 0:17:57.040 --> 0:17:59.840 this distributor. He won on this money just enough for 0:17:59.880 --> 0:18:02.760 the production and we're shipping it out in three months, 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:05.639 so we'll pay you all the way back. Because it 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:07.760 wasn't really it wasn't an investment. It was a quick 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.359 loan because we knew that we had orders that that 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.680 we're going to get purchased. And I think this order 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:17.280 like almost a fifty order that we would have received, 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:20.280 and I think the production was maybe like twenty or 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.920 twenty thousand or something or again, we were still new 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:26.600 to production and so we didn't really know the full 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:30.639 process of eyewear. And so once the product got shipped 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:35.960 to the distributors, they emailed us and they go, Hi, 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:38.560 we would like to return all the product because there 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:43.040 are too many damages. And I remember getting that email 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:47.480 and I called Breezy. Then we call our co founder Dwyane, 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:51.199 and we're pretty like even in like our personalities are 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:53.560 very chill, so you know, we're not the ones to 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:56.320 be like, oh my gosh, like what we're gonna do? Like, 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.080 we're not those people were like, hey, did you get 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:00.520 that email? Yeah? I got that mail? You know, did 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:03.639 you get it too? Okay, so what's next, y'all? Like, 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:06.719 let's thought about this, what we're gonna do? All right, 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:09.879 let's just receive this product and let's do a sample 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.520 sale should I get rid of it. Let's be extremely 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:15.320 honest with our friend who loaned us money and tell 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.720 her exactly what happened. And so for us, we were like, 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.120 let's be super upfront and let her know what happened, 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.920 because this is what it is, right, And so we said, hey, 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:28.120 you know, the product got returned, and so we had 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.000 to like do a sample sale, try to sell the product, 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:34.119 and Breezie had to go on food stamps for a 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:36.680 little bit because we didn't really have money coming in 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:39.240 and I didn't get accepted. This was the first time 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.800 ever in our lives that we were nervous about being 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:46.359 able to pay our rent. And I will never forget 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:48.440 like we had some friends that were taking us out 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:52.440 to eat because we couldn't afford to get anything to eat. Um, 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:54.040 and this is for the month, and I remember just 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.400