Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Colleen Witt, and today we have special
Speaker 1: guests entrepreneur Haley Chapman in the building, owner of Winnie Benny,
Speaker 1: CO of Winnie Benny, and I just want to point
Speaker 1: out that Winnie Benny.
Speaker 2: Is CEO is a three year old.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 2: So I got the phone call.
Speaker 1: And was like, hey, you know, I'm Haley, I'm the
Speaker 1: chief operating officer of Winnie Benny. The CEO is three
Speaker 1: years old. And I said, come again, my two year
Speaker 1: old can't even count past five, but your three year
Speaker 1: old is an executive. I was about to send my
Speaker 1: daughter out to a job or something. Senator Harvard like,
Speaker 1: what you know, I see some of these kids reading
Speaker 1: at like one and two, and I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: my DNA wasn't strong or you know, I didn't get
Speaker 1: the mom manual that the other moms got.
Speaker 2: But this is interesting. So Haley calls me up and
Speaker 2: she's just.
Speaker 1: You know, she's telling me about Winnie Benny. You know,
Speaker 1: the products and the hair care line and the accessories,
Speaker 1: and you know, of course, like I hung up on
Speaker 1: the three year old because my two year old is
Speaker 1: just not executive material yet, you know, maybe when she's
Speaker 1: like twelve. But I said, you know what, let's not
Speaker 1: have Winnie Bennie on the show. Let's talk to you
Speaker 1: because I have a feeling that if Winnie Benny is
Speaker 1: anything like Zariah, this whole set will get destroyed in
Speaker 1: a matter of minutes.
Speaker 2: So I'm excited to have you on the show. Winnie
Speaker 2: Bennie is hair products, hair accessories, hair care line. Am
Speaker 2: I missing anything? Nop bose, haircare bows, haircare purses.
Speaker 1: I was excited about purses because my daughter, uh, she
Speaker 1: wears hats because my husband wears hats, and so she.
Speaker 2: Rocks hats.
Speaker 1: And now I now own a purse, and so if
Speaker 1: she gets like a little paper bag, she walks around
Speaker 1: like it's a purse all day. Okay, so she actually
Speaker 1: doesn't own purses. So here can we see the purses.
Speaker 1: These are the purses, guys. They're like queue and then
Speaker 1: they have a little strap. And you can get these
Speaker 1: all online at Winnie Binny dot dot com.
Speaker 2: And it's for all our listeners. It's w y n
Speaker 2: n i E b y n i E.
Speaker 1: And do you also have hair accessory kits and the
Speaker 1: cool thing about Winnie Bennie's Milestones is that Winnie Binny
Speaker 1: you can actually buy some of the products in Walmart,
Speaker 1: like conditioner, shampoo and this hair brush set.
Speaker 2: Yes, can I see it?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 1: Going through all this, I'm doing it things differently usually
Speaker 1: I let you do a little bit of talking.
Speaker 2: I just wanted to show you, guys.
Speaker 1: It even has all the edge control brushes in this
Speaker 1: hairkit brush.
Speaker 2: Not trying to make all these plastic sounds.
Speaker 1: And it also has I know you guys have seen
Speaker 1: this brush before. It's like a Detangler type brush. I've
Speaker 1: seen commercials. Okay, and this is the back that goes
Speaker 1: on it. Okay, that's what you were talking about. So
Speaker 1: it has all these cool things and now you can
Speaker 1: get it in Walmart. And this is another black owned business.
Speaker 2: So all right. So before we.
Speaker 1: Get into the mayhem that it took to build this brand,
Speaker 1: I want to know what you were eating while you
Speaker 1: were broke.
Speaker 4: While I was broke, I was eating banana rice cakes.
Speaker 4: Banana's rice cake covered with peanut butter with bananas on top.
Speaker 1: Okay, so I can assure you I think I've bitten
Speaker 1: into a rice cake maybe once in my life. So
Speaker 1: on today's episode. All right, well, it's three ingredients. It's bananas,
Speaker 1: peanut butter, and rice cupcakes. It's definitely a cheap, affordable
Speaker 1: dish because most of us have peanut butter in our cabinets.
Speaker 1: I'm personally a chunky person, but I'm guessing on rice.
Speaker 4: Cupcakes it has to be creamy, okay, because of the
Speaker 4: consistency of the texture of the rice.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna do this together. So, okay, you you
Speaker 1: grab your rice cake. I'm gonna grab mine, and any
Speaker 1: flavor will do. Yes, okay, awesome, And then I grab one.
Speaker 1: This feels like it feels like toy food. Okay, So
Speaker 1: then we put the peanut butter on.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, you get your car.
Speaker 1: I'm sure for all the fitness people, they're like rolling
Speaker 1: their eyes. They're like, this is what I eat for breakfast, lunch,
Speaker 1: and dinner when I'm trying to build muscle. I was
Speaker 1: in Walmart and that's what the guy said. He said,
Speaker 1: this is a great protein snack. I slid these to
Speaker 1: Jared and Jared. Everyone, you guys kind of know Jared
Speaker 1: is the invisible man behind this the screen. Jared asked
Speaker 1: me how many calories are in a rice cake, and
Speaker 1: I said, boy, how would you come on? Man, come on,
Speaker 1: just eat it. Okay, I'm eating it, we're all eating.
Speaker 1: And then you take the banana. Yes, there we go.
Speaker 1: I've had people make I had someone make a peanut
Speaker 1: butter and banana.
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh okay, and then I just usually like cut
Speaker 4: it into little pieces and then it.
Speaker 3: Goes on top of the rice cake like that.
Speaker 1: I think that this show is fascinated with peanut butter
Speaker 1: and bananas for some strange reason. Like nobody on this
Speaker 1: show likes jelly. Oh drives me crazy. What is this
Speaker 1: peanut butter and banana obsession of.
Speaker 2: Sproke people have? I'm telling you, what is banana's protein? Like?
Speaker 2: Why banana? Why you're not a fan of banana? I
Speaker 2: just don't get the peanut butter in banana mix. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 4: It's just a It's just been something I've had around
Speaker 4: for years growing up. Put peanut butter on almost anything, waffles,
Speaker 4: peanut butter, uffles, peanut butter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, gosh, I'm so glad I'm not Lenny Bennie the Mini. Okay,
Speaker 1: here we go, cheers, cheers, here we go. It's actually
Speaker 1: not bad. I like the consistency way better than bread.
Speaker 1: It's a consistency.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, that hit. Yeah, presently surprised.
Speaker 1: I wish Jared's a dry ass rice cake. I want
Speaker 1: to know what it tastes like, Wow, that's really good.
Speaker 4: And some people even put like honey on top if
Speaker 4: you want to like a little extra sweet.
Speaker 2: But I was always eating it like this.
Speaker 1: I think it's the texture that makes it good. Well,
Speaker 1: now I look at rice cakes differently. Take me back
Speaker 1: to what was going on at this time in your life.
Speaker 4: When I was eating while broke and just getting getting
Speaker 4: started and everything. I was just really trying to hustle,
Speaker 4: make it, find a way to make some extra income
Speaker 4: I had just you know, I was in school, I
Speaker 4: was in college, super super broke, and you know, just
Speaker 4: trying to make it through like graduate, start a business,
Speaker 4: kind of find what I wanted to do, and kind
Speaker 4: of just kind of like find my purpose.
Speaker 3: That's what I was going through.
Speaker 1: It seems like you have been an entrepreneur for a while,
Speaker 1: just based on the call that I received. So a
Speaker 1: little backstory, Guys, we do get a lot of pitches
Speaker 1: from entrepreneurs, you know, ask you to be on our show.
Speaker 1: And usually what I'm looking for is certain milestones. I
Speaker 1: don't like the blind leading the blind. So it's very
Speaker 1: important for entrepreneurs that come on this show to have
Speaker 1: hit certain milestones. Usually I'm looking for a millionaire status
Speaker 1: right and above, and if it's not millionaire status, it's
Speaker 1: like an almost unattainable milestone, like you know, getting distribution
Speaker 1: in Walmart's that's a high milestone, especially for black brown people.
Speaker 1: I remember a couple of years ago when Target was
Speaker 1: one of the first people to put like black owned
Speaker 1: feminine products in Target.
Speaker 2: There was like a huge upper Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I respect Target because they definitely take they take
Speaker 1: one for us, yeah, pretty consistently, even though I mean
Speaker 1: we're in twenty twenty three, you know. But when I
Speaker 1: got the call from you, it was direct, which was different,
Speaker 1: and I even asked, where did you get my number?
Speaker 1: You're like on the website, straight straight, Yeah, And then
Speaker 1: you called and you did your elevator pitch.
Speaker 2: You led with the three year old CEO.
Speaker 1: Which was fantastic because it was like, come on, girl,
Speaker 1: what you're talking about my.
Speaker 2: Two year old?
Speaker 3: Just learn how to walk, you know, working.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, I think that
Speaker 1: A huge component of entrepreneurship is sales, and you did
Speaker 1: such a remarkable job on the sales call.
Speaker 2: I was like googling while you were talking and all
Speaker 2: of that.
Speaker 1: Of course, now, when I hear stuff like hair products
Speaker 1: as a mixed girl and a girl that has had
Speaker 1: curlier her whole life and has struggled with, how do you.
Speaker 2: You know hair products that work? You know, we've had
Speaker 2: mixed chicks.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to shame them, but definitely I don't
Speaker 1: really know a real mix chick that uses their products.
Speaker 2: I know I know some black girls.
Speaker 1: That claim to be mixed that rave about their product,
Speaker 1: which is even worse because I know it definitely. If
Speaker 1: it ain't working on me, it's not working on you.
Speaker 1: So one of the things that we did talk about
Speaker 1: offline was, and guys, I'm gonna keep it fully real,
Speaker 1: is that when you have curly hair, you know, after
Speaker 1: a certain amount of time, you start to know the
Speaker 1: difference between conditioner that's gonna work, conditioner that's.
Speaker 2: Not going to work.
Speaker 1: Conditioner that's gonna work for curly hair has to be
Speaker 1: an obscenely thick conditioner. I have fine curly hair, okay,
Speaker 1: and I'm saying it needs to be thick fine, meaning
Speaker 1: like you know, I'm gonna take off this hat and
Speaker 1: the top half of my hair is gonna be straight.
Speaker 1: That's how fine my curly hair is. So I asked
Speaker 1: you off camera, I said, you know, okay, girl, but
Speaker 1: we're gonna keep it real.
Speaker 2: How thick is this conditioner barely coming off the pump?
Speaker 1: And one of the things you pointed out, can you
Speaker 1: pass me the conditioner in the new bottle?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: One of the things you had pointed out was, you know,
Speaker 1: you for Walmart's distribution, you had to change to the
Speaker 1: bigger bottle and for but the original bottle came like this.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: And I was like, well that's a big difference. Would
Speaker 1: it have to change a little bit? And you said yes,
Speaker 1: And I was more concerned about the thickness of the conditioner. So,
Speaker 1: guys who are listening, I literally took a pump and
Speaker 1: just pumped a little bit into my hand to do
Speaker 1: the test for all y'all that are thinking about getting
Speaker 1: Winnie Bennie products.
Speaker 2: And I will say, yeah, you definitely passed the test.
Speaker 2: This is this is the type of conditioner you want.
Speaker 1: And I go through a lot even I'd say the
Speaker 1: closest I can get to thick conditioner is Froue tost Garnier,
Speaker 1: which is still a little watered down a little bit,
Speaker 1: but that's the thickest I've ever gotten. So this bottle, definitely,
Speaker 1: I could see it lasting a lot longer because it's
Speaker 1: so thick.
Speaker 2: And I liked.
Speaker 1: Her response was like, it's so thick sometimes you gotta
Speaker 1: you know, really which really you may have to get
Speaker 1: a butter knife and get it out of the bottle.
Speaker 1: So Winnie Bennie products are being sold at Walmart, Yes,
Speaker 1: and which is the conditioner of the shampoo and the
Speaker 1: brush kits some of.
Speaker 2: The other products.
Speaker 1: Currently you will have to go to winnibinny dot com.
Speaker 1: But walk me through that journey of marketing where you
Speaker 1: thought about making your daughter CEO for marketing pitch and
Speaker 1: then to like getting your distribution, what those calls look like?
Speaker 2: Start me from matter.
Speaker 4: Fact, start me from the beginning, jump.
Speaker 1: When you were like this, these conditioners are driving me crazy.
Speaker 2: Take me all the way back.
Speaker 4: Okay, So my background, I went to school for business,
Speaker 4: so I have a that's kind of my background.
Speaker 2: I have a master's degree in business, so.
Speaker 4: I was always kind of like into business and into marketing,
Speaker 4: but I never knew how to fit it for myself.
Speaker 4: I was like, Okay, I'm learning this, and you can
Speaker 4: only learn so much in school. But I really always
Speaker 4: had that like entrepreneurial spirit. So you know, fast forward,
Speaker 4: My daughter came February twelveth of twenty twenty, right before
Speaker 4: for literally like two weeks before COVID came, right she
Speaker 4: came out with a full head of hair just like me.
Speaker 2: She is.
Speaker 4: She's black, white and Jamaican and you know, being this biracial,
Speaker 4: she had just like really like beautiful, thick, curly hair.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 4: So I'm trying to do her hair as she's progressing,
Speaker 4: she's getting older, and I'm like these none of these.
Speaker 3: Like hair products are really working.
Speaker 4: Like it's just it's either like changing her curl texture
Speaker 4: or it's not leaving it soft. Like. I just was
Speaker 4: so kind of like irritated with that with the hair care,
Speaker 4: and you know, substantially I was dressing her up, like
Speaker 4: putting like just like little head bambos on her hair
Speaker 4: because all of the moms were like in the house,
Speaker 4: they were bored. It's COVID working from home, and so
Speaker 4: that was kind of like my thing to pass the time.
Speaker 4: When you know, COVID was just starting. It was new,
Speaker 4: nobody knew about it. And what were you doing for work?
Speaker 3: Her work? I was off because I had just.
Speaker 2: Had my daughter. So but what were you doing before? Oh?
Speaker 3: Before, I used to work in insurance. I used to
Speaker 3: do like insurance claims.
Speaker 2: Okay, were you a salesperson?
Speaker 4: I was an injury adjuster, So if someone got hurt
Speaker 4: in an accident, I would be the person who would
Speaker 4: like walk them through it, help them basically the payments
Speaker 4: from the insurance coming.
Speaker 1: So being a mom wasn't hard enough. You had to
Speaker 1: go and try to do something superhero MoMA. Okay cool,
Speaker 1: because I'm the runaway mom. I am an avid runner.
Speaker 1: So that is impressive because if something wasn't working on
Speaker 1: my daughter, I'd be like, well.
Speaker 2: That's that, Like, that's that. I mean, luckily my daughter
Speaker 2: is here.
Speaker 1: Is definitely like I said, more on the fine side,
Speaker 1: so you know, and it hasn't changed yet.
Speaker 2: You know, I'd be looking like, what is this going? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Catch me, yeah, because.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't have that much hair care experience,
Speaker 1: but you was like, there's a problem and I'm gonna solve.
Speaker 3: It because she has a lot thicker hair than me.
Speaker 4: It's just I don't know if it's just like from
Speaker 4: my black side and then her dad being drinking, but
Speaker 4: it's just really really kinky early hair. It's soft, but
Speaker 4: it thick. And so the kind of like the finer
Speaker 4: products just weren't really working. So like you were like
Speaker 4: that work, I wasn't working. And so, you know, fast forward,
Speaker 4: I was taking the pictures of her just wearing like
Speaker 4: little headband bows, you know, just to pass the time.
Speaker 4: I was posting it online and people were like, Oh
Speaker 4: my gosh, she's so cute. Where did you get those bows?
Speaker 4: And I was like, oh my gosh, all these people
Speaker 4: keep asking me. She's blowing up on Facebook, getting like
Speaker 4: ten thousand likes on her photos on a little photo
Speaker 4: that I just.
Speaker 3: Would have wowed.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Like it just blew up on social media, and
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, I should sell these bows. I'm
Speaker 4: getting literally like a hundred messages like, oh where did you.
Speaker 3: Get those bows? Do you sell them?
Speaker 2: Is there outsourcing them?
Speaker 3: I was outsourcing them at first.
Speaker 4: And I was like, oh my gosh, like I should
Speaker 4: sell some of these like little headband bows. So That's
Speaker 4: how Winnie Winnie Benny started as just boats, like strictly
Speaker 4: bows like bows, the headband bows.
Speaker 3: The bow clips came later, but it was just so.
Speaker 4: Then after the bows, you know, I was having the
Speaker 4: problems with her hair care and I was like, we
Speaker 4: need to come up with something. I was like, this
Speaker 4: shampho was not working, this conditioner is not working, Like
Speaker 4: I'm not even able to like brush it through. You know,
Speaker 4: when you condition your hair, it should be soft and
Speaker 4: you should be able to brush it through.
Speaker 2: So you're thinking next steps.
Speaker 1: But before we get to the next step of hair care,
Speaker 1: I'm curious what were your sales looking like on the
Speaker 1: bow side where you was it taking off to at
Speaker 1: least pay your rent or your mortgage or what have you?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: What made you like was it fully off the ground
Speaker 1: enough where you could be semi addicted to going what
Speaker 1: to post delivery?
Speaker 2: I want to know what a day in the life
Speaker 2: of that bow experience was like.
Speaker 4: At the time, I was staying with When's father, so
Speaker 4: we his parents kind of had like a backhouse a
Speaker 4: casita that we were saying, and so I wasn't paying rent.
Speaker 4: I had just had a baby COVID it happened just
Speaker 4: you know, to be fully transparent, I didn't have that
Speaker 4: burden of like a mortgage or rents or whatever. So
Speaker 4: that staying there for sixteen months and being able to
Speaker 4: save my money is how I was able to invest
Speaker 4: in Whinny Binny. Because I wasn't paying two thousand to
Speaker 4: thirty five hundred dollars a month on rent, I was
Speaker 4: able to save that money. So, yes, the bows were selling,
Speaker 4: but I you know, it wasn't making like thousands of dollars,
Speaker 4: but you were.
Speaker 2: You were using it to reinvest right now, weren't You
Speaker 2: weren't spending right? No? No, okay, got it.
Speaker 3: No, everything was like put back into the business.
Speaker 4: And you know, once I saw like one product would sell,
Speaker 4: I was like, okay, like let me do another product.
Speaker 4: And so we had like I think I started off
Speaker 4: with something like just ten different colored bows. Literally it
Speaker 4: was just ten, and it was just like a solid red,
Speaker 4: a solid white, a solid green, just like solid colors
Speaker 4: that I could put on my daughter and like market
Speaker 4: and have her like take those pictures. And then we
Speaker 4: went to like little prints and I actually had like
Speaker 4: a ring light set up in her room. So when
Speaker 4: she was finally able to like sit up. I would
Speaker 4: just like sit her up on her crib, take pictures
Speaker 4: with the ring light in her and then posted and
Speaker 4: just the I don't know if it was because you
Speaker 4: like more moms were in the house because of COVID
Speaker 4: they weren't working, But that's when the social media aspect of.
Speaker 3: It really grew up.
Speaker 4: I mean we now have when if any on Instagram
Speaker 4: has two hundred and ten thousand followers.
Speaker 3: In just three years, and that was all just organic.
Speaker 1: And how often were you posting to that type of traction?
Speaker 1: Were you doing like once twice, three times a day.
Speaker 4: I was doing three times a day, and I came
Speaker 4: that was kind of like my marketing side. I came
Speaker 4: up with the times that I knew that everybody was
Speaker 4: on there because I was like, okay, like I'm obviously
Speaker 4: raising this infant, let me figure out what times would work.
Speaker 4: So it was usually like breakfast time around nine, and
Speaker 4: then it was twelve, which was lunchtime, and then.
Speaker 3: It was three o'clock and six o'clock.
Speaker 4: If I didn't get the three, I would do the
Speaker 4: six because six it's like people are off work, it's
Speaker 4: dinner time. They're scrolling on their phone they're looking. So
Speaker 4: I was very strategic in the times that I would post,
Speaker 4: and then I saw like the analytics on Instagram, and
Speaker 4: I saw like, oh that those were the right times,
Speaker 4: like the times that I guess actually like you know,
Speaker 4: corresponding with what Instagram said. And that's when I could
Speaker 4: see like the followers and I could see the shares
Speaker 4: and that these like little pictures were just going like crazy,
Speaker 4: and I didn't expect that. I mean, some of her
Speaker 4: picks on Instagram, I mean Facebook, We're getting like twelve
Speaker 4: thousand likes.
Speaker 2: It was just crazy. Yeah, so you're doing so.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you are transparent about that because there's
Speaker 1: a lot of entrepreneurs that are like literally going through
Speaker 1: that right now. Yeah, and I love the fact that
Speaker 1: you were like a hound dog on it. Okay, so
Speaker 1: now I hate to slow you down, bus speed you up,
Speaker 1: but now you can take me into the conditionery line.
Speaker 2: Okay, Okay.
Speaker 4: So then, you know, after the bows were taken off,
Speaker 4: I started, you know, trying to formulate the haircare. I'm like,
Speaker 4: it's not working. What can I do? So, you know,
Speaker 4: I went online and it was just a long process
Speaker 4: of trying to find a manufacturer that could do it,
Speaker 4: that could make the shampoo, could make the conditioner, could
Speaker 4: make the entangler spray, because really it only.
Speaker 3: Started all with it.
Speaker 4: For products, it was shampoo, conditioner, detangler's braid, and hair
Speaker 4: oil because those were the four products that I needed
Speaker 4: most for my daughter. Shampoo condition of the tangler was
Speaker 4: important because I need to be able to brush your
Speaker 4: hair after I condition it, and then the hair oil
Speaker 4: if I wanted to like braid it or if I
Speaker 4: wanted certainly, you know what a brain no no, but
Speaker 4: I got no little.
Speaker 5: Like no, yeah, no, I paid hair, I get it,
Speaker 5: I get it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay, so we in the same boat.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm curious what products were you using that weren't working,
Speaker 1: like just so other moms and people can understand the
Speaker 1: difference between your products and and the products you were using.
Speaker 1: Like what products on the market were you using that
Speaker 1: just stopped working for your daughter?
Speaker 2: I was using like.
Speaker 4: Swave Kids, like just a lot of Actually it was interesting,
Speaker 4: a lot of affordable brands that you could get at Walmart.
Speaker 4: So like the Suave Kids. There was I think one
Speaker 4: was called like Curly Kids or Ozzy Kids. There were
Speaker 4: just some some different products that just were not working
Speaker 4: for me.
Speaker 1: I gave up on Swave when I was like the
Speaker 1: second a girl of my parents' house. Yeah, I was like, yo,
Speaker 1: this this ain't this water down mess and it sucks
Speaker 1: because you end up paying a premium for the high.
Speaker 1: Like obviously, Swave compared to Fruit told Garnier is a
Speaker 1: definite difference, way different.
Speaker 2: But I remember, I'm lying.
Speaker 1: I definitely probably wasn't until I was like twenty two
Speaker 1: when I started switching to Fruit Toast garniere. H.
Speaker 2: But now I'll be using Winny Minnie because.
Speaker 1: That's a way better products, right for my Like the conditioner,
Speaker 1: I'll be using this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know it's probably for my daughter.
Speaker 1: I could see an adult being like, no, this product
Speaker 1: could easily be for an adult. So yeah, So you
Speaker 1: when you're thinking about entering into the conditioner line, what
Speaker 1: are the the I want to say, the naysayers. What
Speaker 1: are the people around you saying? They saying, girl, you're
Speaker 1: doing too much? Or like what was the conversation around you?
Speaker 4: Like? It just was really interesting because you know, I
Speaker 4: was living with my child's father. We're not together now,
Speaker 4: but we were living together and you know, I hate
Speaker 4: to say, but he kind of like turned into like
Speaker 4: my biggest hater, like you're doing too much, Like you're
Speaker 4: not selling that much because I was, you know, taking
Speaker 4: stuff to the post office, but it only be like
Speaker 4: twice a week, you know, and so you know, in
Speaker 4: his mind it was like, oh, like you kind of
Speaker 4: like focus on raising our daughter, like you're it's you're
Speaker 4: doing too much, like you're trying to do hair care
Speaker 4: and bows and this and that. But you know, people
Speaker 4: were working from home. There was COVID like people had
Speaker 4: a lot of extra time to figure out like should
Speaker 4: I start a business? Should what can I do extra
Speaker 4: you know for my kids or you know. It kind
Speaker 4: of gave people like a clarity or they either switched
Speaker 4: jobs yeah, or moved or whatever.
Speaker 1: So he was was he saying like, Okay, you're doing
Speaker 1: too much. Just be a stay at home mom type.
Speaker 1: Is that what his expectations or the sounding was coming out.
Speaker 4: It was kind of that, and it was more are
Speaker 4: like you're not you know, like making like you're not
Speaker 4: making a lot of money, Like I don't see you
Speaker 4: you only go into the post office like twice a week.
Speaker 4: Like it just turned into like something that was supposed
Speaker 4: to be like so positive for my daughter just kind
Speaker 4: of turned into like negative and like his dad would
Speaker 4: like complain that packages were coming, you know, from overseas,
Speaker 4: because like I would order the products, it would have
Speaker 4: to go to their house first and then my house
Speaker 4: our house because our house was in the back, but
Speaker 4: it was still on the same property. So the dad
Speaker 4: was like, oh, Hayley's getting packages like every two days
Speaker 4: because I was ordering different products.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 6: I absolutely love it.
Speaker 1: So you're so for all the entrepreneurs out there, I
Speaker 1: have a rule of thumb a lot of people. I
Speaker 1: encourage everyone to incorporate, but one of the things I
Speaker 1: always talk about is, you know, don't incorporate until you
Speaker 1: have your customers. I'm not saying you got to make
Speaker 1: a million dollars, but once you found your customers and
Speaker 1: there's a little bit of a consistency there, I always say,
Speaker 1: incorporate so you are one hundred percent on the right path.
Speaker 1: And it takes like a lot of I guess an
Speaker 1: entrepreneur mindset to persevere through that, especially from someone that
Speaker 1: you were in love with and just had a baby with,
Speaker 1: because yeah, I'm like, if I have a baby from you,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry to say.
Speaker 2: But I own you. Yeah, I own you.
Speaker 1: I have this scar on my body for the rest
Speaker 1: of my life. Even though I love my child, it's
Speaker 1: still like, yeah, that's you and me.
Speaker 6: Like nah, man, that.
Speaker 2: Was a super sacrifice. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So you're engaged your love and the person you love,
Speaker 1: and I want you, I want to highlight this the
Speaker 1: person that you love. You still have to perseverance see
Speaker 1: through that to keep going, which takes a lot of strength,
Speaker 1: a lot of vision, and you must be onto the
Speaker 1: fact that you're starting to live in your purpose.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay.
Speaker 4: I would say that went on for a long time time.
Speaker 4: We broke up when when my daughter was sixteen months
Speaker 4: and so that's when I moved, you know, from Long Beach.
Speaker 4: I moved to Orange County, And I would say during
Speaker 4: that move, I was still in the process of like
Speaker 4: the formulations and the factory and stuff. But I would say,
Speaker 4: like when I finally left, it was just so weird,
Speaker 4: Like the stuff that I was applying to when I
Speaker 4: was with him, I wasn't getting it like I was
Speaker 4: like applying to whether it was jobs, opportunities, scholarships, you know,
Speaker 4: just things that they do to help these little black
Speaker 4: owned brands like I kept getting denied, and I was like,
Speaker 4: this is so weird, but maybe it was because I
Speaker 4: was in such like a negative environment. And then there
Speaker 4: was all these burdens on me of like being a
Speaker 4: new mom, raising a daughter during COVID, like having the
Speaker 4: stress of living in his parents' back house.
Speaker 1: It was just everything, and then your managing heartbreak? Are
Speaker 1: you gangster? Or something like how are you not? Like
Speaker 1: does devastated over heartbreaking too? I mean, are you going
Speaker 1: through that or do Yeah?
Speaker 4: No, I was no, for sure I was going through that,
Speaker 4: And you know, I just have a really strong like
Speaker 4: family and support system all my all my I'm from Sacramento,
Speaker 4: all my family's up north. But I did go up
Speaker 4: there for a little bit, spent some time with my
Speaker 4: family in Sacramento in the Bay Area, and then I
Speaker 4: came back to Orange County because I lived in Orange
Speaker 4: County before I got pregnant. Had went in Long Beach
Speaker 4: because that's where my child's father is from and his
Speaker 4: family stay there. But then I went back to Orange
Speaker 4: County when we were separate, so it was just me
Speaker 4: and my daughter and then obviously he would.
Speaker 3: See her or whatever, but we were together.
Speaker 4: Just Win and I but it was hard. I'm like,
Speaker 4: I'm doing this business. A couple of times, I'm like,
Speaker 4: my god, it would just be so much easier to
Speaker 4: just like quit and just you know, focus, get a job.
Speaker 4: I mean, that went through my head a lot because
Speaker 4: I'm like, I have this baby. She was around like
Speaker 4: sixty months, almost almost two, and so she's.
Speaker 2: Like walking, yeah, walking, she's walking. My daughter was like,
Speaker 2: I don't know what to do.
Speaker 1: But when he definitely yes, the CEO, when he she's
Speaker 1: walking walking, And then how much we're Now you're a
Speaker 1: single mind at this point, right, yes, and you're fully
Speaker 1: on your entrepreneur kick yeah no no jobs right right?
Speaker 1: And then your your child's father, she is well he's
Speaker 1: still participating as a father, yes, okay, awesome. And then
Speaker 1: your positive messaging is coming from your family yep. So
Speaker 1: that's that's the little seed that keeps you going awesome.
Speaker 1: So I think everybody needs that. The cheerleaders, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean I would say I talk to my mom
Speaker 4: and dad every day, multiple times a day, like we're
Speaker 4: just like this, but that's just kind of always how
Speaker 4: my family has been, so and I just really kind
Speaker 4: of try to instill that and win, like having a
Speaker 4: strong family and having that you know, support system, because
Speaker 4: that's what was able to pull me through. A lot
Speaker 4: of people are like you hear my story and they're
Speaker 4: like single mom, heartbreak, still doing entrepreneurs in entrepreneurship and
Speaker 4: feeling orders like how did you do that? Like, and
Speaker 4: I just really look back and I'm like, man, that
Speaker 4: was one of the hardest times in my life.
Speaker 3: Like to be able to be like, Okay, I gotta
Speaker 3: get my daughter up, get her ready, whatever she did.
Speaker 4: Whether it was the swimming lessons or gymnastics, you know,
Speaker 4: take her do that, and then I need to like
Speaker 4: feel these orders, and then I have to go home
Speaker 4: and I have to make sure I have a smile
Speaker 4: on my face even though I'm sad because I just
Speaker 4: broke up. It's like, you know, oh, if you're gonna cry,
Speaker 4: cry in the shower or you know.
Speaker 1: I call it science silenteers, I call it. I tell
Speaker 1: my friends I do the Silenteers tears. Yeah, but I
Speaker 1: think I remember one time I did Silenteers in front
Speaker 1: of my daughter, and I just couldn't stop silenteering, Like
Speaker 1: I was just like no sound, but definitely the waters
Speaker 1: just couldn't stop. And I remember just thinking like, gosh,
Speaker 1: I gotta get a grip on this because she's getting
Speaker 1: to the point where she's.
Speaker 2: Got to know what tears are, you know. But that's
Speaker 2: very courageous of you.
Speaker 1: I feel like every time I meet a mom on
Speaker 1: this show, and I just had a mom, the cupcake Millionaire,
Speaker 1: Yeah awesome story. Yeah she she was going through the
Speaker 1: thick of it. And I mean the resilience on women,
Speaker 1: the amount of respect I had for women after having.
Speaker 2: A before having a time, I had no respect for you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was.
Speaker 1: I literally didn't even understand what was so great about
Speaker 1: us until I had a kid, and I soh shit,
Speaker 1: Like you see, we're like gangsters, like we're gonna do
Speaker 1: whatever we gotta do.
Speaker 2: Like you know, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's because the baby comes from us,
Speaker 1: but that that or live, you know, lives inside of
Speaker 1: us for so long. It's just like, nah, man, this
Speaker 1: person is legit helpless, and you know, I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: whatever I gotta do to be that soldier.
Speaker 2: And so that's that's that's that takes a lot of strength.
Speaker 1: So now you enter the conditioner arena, the hair products arena.
Speaker 1: Take me through what that process was like.
Speaker 4: It was just a long process of trying to find
Speaker 4: the right manufacturers. So it was just like trying and
Speaker 4: ordering samples and you know, uh, testing it on myself,
Speaker 4: testing it on my daughter, like saying oh, like cousins
Speaker 4: or friends like hey, can you try this out?
Speaker 3: Or can you try this out on your child?
Speaker 4: It was a lot of just like back and forth
Speaker 4: and like oh, but I wanted to like smell like this,
Speaker 4: and the condition I needed to be this consistency because
Speaker 4: I don't want to sell like a running conditioner.
Speaker 2: It was a lot.
Speaker 4: I mean, I would say it took me maybe like
Speaker 4: seven months to get just to get it, even the
Speaker 4: formula right.
Speaker 2: And what capital are you using to fund it?
Speaker 4: It was the money that I had saved by with
Speaker 4: living with my child's father. So the bow's the bow's,
Speaker 4: but the not paying the rent saved me that money.
Speaker 4: So if I was getting like a check or if
Speaker 4: I was on my maternity leave, it was just I
Speaker 4: was saving it. And then the money that came in
Speaker 4: from shopify and the bows would just go back in
Speaker 4: the business. But I was able, and I tell everybody this,
Speaker 4: you know, I was able to save up forty five
Speaker 4: thousand dollars staying there for sixteen months, and that gave
Speaker 4: me the capital.
Speaker 3: And so I never even though like you were great
Speaker 3: with money.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but but I didn't have any bill, like the rent.
Speaker 2: That's really what was your phone bill?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, like phone bill, but the.
Speaker 4: Cable and thisnet was paid because it was attached to
Speaker 4: their house.
Speaker 3: So I literally just had like a phone bill.
Speaker 4: And that most of the people that you know, I
Speaker 4: don't want to say, like you know people are like
Speaker 4: house poor, but a lot of your money goes to
Speaker 4: your rent. You once you pay your rent, it's like
Speaker 4: I'm tight, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And it's also the cash flow of making sure that
Speaker 1: you know, every four weeks you have that money. Now,
Speaker 1: I get you not saving, but I do think that
Speaker 1: money management played a key role here. You could have
Speaker 1: easily went and kept up with the Jones, just got
Speaker 1: on a plane, put your kid in some kind of
Speaker 1: special Ivy League daycare or some craziness. You didn't do that.
Speaker 1: You stacked your chips. You pursued your entrepreneur hustle. Did
Speaker 1: your man at the time know that you were stacking
Speaker 1: chips or did you do what I suggest all women do,
Speaker 1: which is have some purse money. I call it person money,
Speaker 1: but like, you know, your man should never know, oh
Speaker 1: your money. I don't care if there's men listeners out here.
Speaker 3: I suggest the.
Speaker 2: Same for men too, but no, I don't. I'll take
Speaker 2: that back. I don't take it. I'll suggest it for.
Speaker 1: Men, but I think for women we should always have
Speaker 1: some money that no one knows about it, or you know,
Speaker 1: maybe a trusted best friend or whatever, but not your man.
Speaker 1: Like you should definitely have an emergency fund, especially you know,
Speaker 1: you just never know, shit hits the fan. You know,
Speaker 1: you got to have your own back as a female.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I would say that was definitely a thing.
Speaker 2: Like we were we were engaged, but we.
Speaker 4: Didn't have like a joint bake account, and so he
Speaker 4: didn't really even give me money because he knew that
Speaker 4: my money was stacked from not paying rent. So it
Speaker 4: was kind of like, okay, like your bread is yours
Speaker 4: and mine is mine. It was kind of like that.
Speaker 4: And he wasn't paying rent either, No, he wasn't paying
Speaker 4: rent either, so because there was his people's house or whatever,
Speaker 4: so you know, and he still lives here, so you know,
Speaker 4: because yeah, let's just yeah, it's lucky if you have
Speaker 4: family that you know can do that, or back houses
Speaker 4: or whatever. But I always tell people like that sacrifice
Speaker 4: is what catapulted me to the next level. Like, sometimes
Speaker 4: you have to stay somewhere that's uncomfortable.
Speaker 3: That house was not comfortable. It was a back house.
Speaker 4: It was a two bedroom, one bath, no central air
Speaker 4: in Long Beach. No.
Speaker 1: Like, it's also uncomfortable if you're staying with people. My
Speaker 1: little brother, who's a stand up comic, who's who's successful
Speaker 1: in New York and you know, I'm sure this will episode,
Speaker 1: but he's also on walling out now. They haven't released
Speaker 1: it yet, but everyone's gonna find out, probably within another
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. But the I say all this to
Speaker 1: say is that I remember my older siblings like being
Speaker 1: harder on my little brother because he was like cert
Speaker 1: couch surfing at my dad's house and living off dollar
Speaker 1: slices of pizza.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, bruh, Like.
Speaker 1: I'm telling my life, but I'm telling my siblings, like
Speaker 1: you hating on him? Do you know how sucky it
Speaker 1: must be to be like twenty five CouchSurfing on your
Speaker 1: dad's you know, couch to pursue your dreams.
Speaker 2: Like that's a sacrifice cent of itself.
Speaker 1: I mean, we could all get a day job and
Speaker 1: be roommates with somebody. So I know that everything you're
Speaker 1: describing is all I'm hearing is sacrifice.
Speaker 2: Sacrifice.
Speaker 1: Your eye was on the price, you were very gold
Speaker 1: orient did so now that I know that you got
Speaker 1: the you stack your funding, and you're investing in your business.
Speaker 1: So seven months of grueling process of testing products, then
Speaker 1: after you finally approve your product, what happens next?
Speaker 4: I just you know, I didn't have like a lot
Speaker 4: of extra disposable income to like pay these influencers and
Speaker 4: so what for the baby influencers for Wennie Binny.
Speaker 3: So but the page was like slowly growing.
Speaker 4: You know, we were maybe I think thirty or forty
Speaker 4: K at the time, right, So I'm like, okay, I
Speaker 4: do have like a good following, which because that's a
Speaker 4: good following, I was like, I do have a good following.
Speaker 4: Let me like figure out a way to introduce this.
Speaker 4: So then I started doing like pictures and videos of
Speaker 4: the products on my daughter. I'm like, oh, let's do
Speaker 4: a little watch video, Let's put win a little swimsuit,
Speaker 4: bout up or whatever. I'm like, let me figure out
Speaker 4: like free ways to promote this, to like get this
Speaker 4: out and like talk about it. I was doing like
Speaker 4: little videos like oh, this is the conditioner, and I
Speaker 4: would show at the time. Right after the haircare came,
Speaker 4: I was working on the tools because I was like, oh,
Speaker 4: it'd be great to like do the conditioner and then
Speaker 4: be able to like brush through it. And I was like,
Speaker 4: I need some like Detangler brush this and that. That's
Speaker 4: kind of where so like that was coming right after, right,
Speaker 4: So I was like I had like samples of the brushes,
Speaker 4: but I didn't have a kit, right. I had samples,
Speaker 4: so I was like, okay, let me use the haircare.
Speaker 4: I would show the brush, but I wouldn't talk about it.
Speaker 4: I would show the Detanglar brush and people start asking
Speaker 4: like where is that, and I'm like, oh, like coming sooner, just.
Speaker 2: Wait on you. I will kind of like dismiss it,
Speaker 2: like yeah, like but yeah.
Speaker 4: So people started with saying like, oh, like my daughter
Speaker 4: is mixed too, that she has really kinky, curly hair.
Speaker 4: I want to try this or whatever, and then it
Speaker 4: kind of like just took off from there from like
Speaker 4: them seeing me use it on my daughter.
Speaker 3: Really, I only had one model I could have used
Speaker 3: on me. But it's not it was supposed to be
Speaker 3: marketed for kids.
Speaker 2: I do use it. Yeah, I was gonna say, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's definitely.
Speaker 1: Like I said earlier, it's definitely the consistency. I could
Speaker 1: see why it was targeted kids, right, but this is
Speaker 1: definitely a product that adults. Yeah, adult use sure curly hair.
Speaker 1: As an adult, you're sleeping on a very good product.
Speaker 1: And I'm just yeah, I'm touching it with my fingers.
Speaker 1: I'm thirty nine years old. I'm gonna tell you just
Speaker 1: by touching with my fingers, I could I could guarantee
Speaker 1: this product is gonna be good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because I.
Speaker 1: I I promise you I'm getting good at telling good
Speaker 1: conditioner from bad conditioner.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't even use detangling spray or I just started
Speaker 1: using like lavender oils or what have you, because I did.
Speaker 1: I was doing a lot of braids and my hair
Speaker 1: started breaking off and someone said, rolls rolls oil.
Speaker 2: Rose water or something. But uh, a conditioner this good.
Speaker 1: You probably won't even need the detangling spray. But is
Speaker 1: the detangling spray for when the water the hair is dry,
Speaker 1: it's like damp, so when you get okay cool, and
Speaker 1: then I could brush.
Speaker 3: It yeah okay, and then.
Speaker 2: You would brush it with that detangling Okay.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna I'm gonna check that out because my
Speaker 1: daughter doesn't let me do her hair, not because it's painful,
Speaker 1: it's just she just she just does. She's a hater. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I so I'll use the detangling spray on her
Speaker 1: hair when it's damp and then spray down in this way.
Speaker 1: Okay cool, because the only time I do comber hair
Speaker 1: is when she's in the bath.
Speaker 2: It has to be conditioned.
Speaker 1: Think yeah, but now I know how to use detangling
Speaker 1: spray because of you.
Speaker 2: Okay cool.
Speaker 1: So now that you have the line and it's now
Speaker 1: being purchased directly from what social media, people are going
Speaker 1: to your site and they're just buying the products direct,
Speaker 1: what's the next step.
Speaker 4: The next step was trying to get it into like
Speaker 4: a store like and that people think like, oh my god, Haley,
Speaker 4: that's crazy because it's like you're just like a little
Speaker 4: Shopify store, Like.
Speaker 2: What are you doing?
Speaker 4: And I was like, okay, well I want I want
Speaker 4: to have it like in mass retail or whatever, and
Speaker 4: and ironically, like I just started doing stuff myself, like
Speaker 4: reaching out in like cold phone calls like how I
Speaker 4: called you, like cold emails. Like I was doing like
Speaker 4: the research and the stuff myself to figure out who
Speaker 4: I needed to connect with, what I needed to do.
Speaker 4: And it was actually interesting because when I did finally
Speaker 4: connect with that Walmart person, like, they didn't even take
Speaker 4: the hair care at first. They were like, oh, you know,
Speaker 4: we'll revisit that later. It was the brushes that they
Speaker 4: were interested in because they were like, oh, we don't
Speaker 4: have a brush kit that is specifically designed for children
Speaker 4: like African American children or biracial children, or just children
Speaker 4: in general that have kinky, curly or wavy hair.
Speaker 3: So like my product filled a white space.
Speaker 2: And the lady told me.
Speaker 4: She was a Caucasian lady, super nice, love her to death,
Speaker 4: my Walmart buyers. She was like, I've been looking for this,
Speaker 4: like when we were on Zoom. She like grabbed the
Speaker 4: box and was like, Haley, I've been looking for this,
Speaker 4: Like we don't have anything like this, like we just
Speaker 4: have like little baby brushes or whatever.
Speaker 2: But she was like, this is exactly.
Speaker 1: They have the picks and Walmart. They have the way
Speaker 1: they have picks in Walmart though, right, uh, yes like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: I like this kit because when I was looking at it,
Speaker 1: it has the baby hairs and then it has the
Speaker 1: hair clampy things I don't know their call, and then
Speaker 1: it had that detangling brush. Like if I saw this
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand percent in Walmart, I'd be like, so right,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's gonna be It's like.
Speaker 4: A nineteen ninety seven for eleven eleven pieces eleven, So
Speaker 4: it's like a detangling brush, a big paddle brush, a
Speaker 4: hard comb, pintail comb, edgebrushes, and then the five hair clips,
Speaker 4: the big big clamp.
Speaker 3: So it's like if you're partying styling Brady any.
Speaker 4: That one yeah, Like it's basically everything you would need
Speaker 4: to do their hair. And then the boys one is
Speaker 4: will be available in Walmart as well, and it has
Speaker 4: everything like a curl sponge, a hard.
Speaker 6: Wave, has a spinees, a neck bro.
Speaker 2: Game change. Okay, so now.
Speaker 1: Look I'm switching around the hats. Okay, so take me.
Speaker 1: Can I be the call? Can I be your Can
Speaker 1: you do the call with me?
Speaker 2: Like I Walmart?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm what's your name of your buyer, Blakely.
Speaker 1: Blakely shout outs to Blakely. Is she black or white?
Speaker 2: White?
Speaker 1: Okay, shout out, So, so I'm Blakey.
Speaker 2: Hello to your call.
Speaker 3: Well, it was an email at first.
Speaker 4: It was email because it's really hard to find their
Speaker 4: phone numbers, so it was an email at first, and
Speaker 4: then the email was like, oh, I love the email,
Speaker 4: let's get on a call.
Speaker 2: So but when I did, what did you put in
Speaker 2: the email?
Speaker 7: I mean, I'm just really good at saying so like
Speaker 7: you you you you had to have start, I say,
Speaker 7: in sales, you know, don't sell products to customers that
Speaker 7: don't want your products.
Speaker 2: So so you you hit up this person.
Speaker 1: What how did you position the need, like you know,
Speaker 1: the need because because obviously you didn't get them on
Speaker 1: the phone, so you couldn't tailor it. So how did
Speaker 1: that email express that, hey, I have a solution to
Speaker 1: a need. Did you say like, hey, I've been in
Speaker 1: ten walmarts today and like I want I want you
Speaker 1: to take us with you.
Speaker 4: Just you know before I jump into that what I
Speaker 4: did with the cold email has rarely been done. I've
Speaker 4: been talking to like a brand rep and she was like,
Speaker 4: I've been doing this for twenty years. Nobody gets into
Speaker 4: Walmart on their own. It's usually Walmart reaches out to you.
Speaker 4: She was like the fact that you did that, she
Speaker 4: was like, I've never seen that in twenty years. So
Speaker 4: whatever I put in that email like had to been
Speaker 4: gold because it was able to like buyers get emails,
Speaker 4: cold emails all the time, thousands of cold emails. It's
Speaker 4: like what I said to her, I guess was really
Speaker 4: captivating and that's what just what made her say, Oh,
Speaker 4: let's hop on a zoom call.
Speaker 2: Let's explore this.
Speaker 3: What did you see?
Speaker 4: What I said, I'll get done to done, get into it.
Speaker 2: Where's the team?
Speaker 4: So I just told her, I said, Hi, Blake Lee.
Speaker 4: I said, my name is Haley Chapman. I said, I
Speaker 4: am the founder and creator of Winnie Benny.
Speaker 3: Said.
Speaker 4: Winnie Benny is a three generation black owned business. I said,
Speaker 4: founded and inspired by my daughter. When I said, she
Speaker 4: is three years old and I and I went into
Speaker 4: the process. I said, I have a hair care line.
Speaker 4: I said, a full hair CareLine. I said, shampoo, conditioner,
Speaker 4: detangler's spray, and hair And I said, and I also
Speaker 4: have these hair brush kids.
Speaker 3: I said, these hair brush kids are the first of
Speaker 3: their kind.
Speaker 4: I said, it's an eleven piece kit that does everything
Speaker 4: that you need to style, part de tangle and do
Speaker 4: a child's here.
Speaker 3: I said a child's here.
Speaker 4: Of I said specifically of color, So I said, African
Speaker 4: American kids that have kinky curly here. I said that
Speaker 4: are multi I said what I said, biracial and multicultural.
Speaker 4: So I kind of I spun it that way, but
Speaker 4: it was true because I had been Yeah, I had
Speaker 4: been to these Walmarts.
Speaker 2: And I also said in the.
Speaker 4: Email, I said, I am an avid Walmart shopper, and
Speaker 4: I said, I have not seen this at your store.
Speaker 2: I did say, you did pay?
Speaker 4: I did, yeah, y'all, y'are okay.
Speaker 1: Now I'm curious, and this is going to touch into
Speaker 1: the race discussion, but I have to go there. So
Speaker 1: at the time, was this around the time of the
Speaker 1: Black Lives Matter movement?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: Oh, it wasn't, okay, awesome, So this was after after? Okay,
Speaker 1: it was after okay, because I know that brand started
Speaker 1: to I hate to be a hater here, but brands
Speaker 1: started to be more support supported of black people after
Speaker 1: you know, the whole Black Lives movement and you know,
Speaker 1: you know, for whatever reason. I think if we weren't
Speaker 1: trapped in our homes, it would have been another issue
Speaker 1: swept under the rug. But luckily no sports for going
Speaker 1: on in America. Had to face America head on, like,
Speaker 1: I'm like, yo, this, we've.
Speaker 2: Been sending these clips for thirty years. Now that's going on.
Speaker 1: We're trapped and there's no sports, you know, and athletes
Speaker 1: were like, you know, like I love Jordan and all,
Speaker 1: but like athletes were like, f this, this is bulls
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna I'm gonna use my platform to say
Speaker 1: that there's a problem here and shout out to all
Speaker 1: those athletes and everyone that you know. Took one for
Speaker 1: the team. But so you made this captivating sales email.
Speaker 1: I wanted you all to pay attention to the email and
Speaker 1: the tenacity she had to like do this. Now you
Speaker 1: send this email, You're not doing a million follow up.
Speaker 1: You're just waiting for the email or the callback.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I just didn't want to seem like as buyer. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and they're super busy, so they get that all the time.
Speaker 4: I think it took her about if I remember correctly,
Speaker 4: it took her like a week and a half to
Speaker 4: respond to my email. And I know most people are
Speaker 4: like email two or three days. They're kind of like like,
Speaker 4: I'm like, and you start you on negative?
Speaker 3: Yeah, like they didn't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you so you're on it now? Are you now?
Speaker 1: So you get the email back?
Speaker 2: Where are you? What are you doing?
Speaker 7: Like?
Speaker 2: I want to know exactly what was going on when
Speaker 2: you see that email. I actually was at home.
Speaker 4: I was at home because you know, I'm single, my home,
Speaker 4: I'm at home. I I think I had just put
Speaker 4: one down for a nap, and that was like my
Speaker 4: like worktime. So it's like when she sleeps her two
Speaker 4: three hours, like that is my money, Like, let's go time.
Speaker 4: So I was like on my couch in Orange County.
Speaker 4: I'll never forget I lived in the city Orange. I
Speaker 4: was like on my couch on my laptop, just like
Speaker 4: looking up my Shopify and just trying to figure out
Speaker 4: like different like marketing schemes like little ads and stuff
Speaker 4: I can run.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: And then when you're paying rent again, Yeah I'm paying
Speaker 1: rent again.
Speaker 6: Okay, so the pressure is ass because.
Speaker 4: Get into a twenty nine hundred dollars a month like okay, yeah,
Speaker 4: so I'm paying rent again.
Speaker 2: In twenty nine hundred.
Speaker 1: Yes, I don't even pay that much. Jesus, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: shout out a guy. Sorry guy, go on, so paying.
Speaker 4: On my laptop and I was looking and I see
Speaker 4: the email back. I was like, hey Haley, but I
Speaker 4: see the ending of it, and I was like, oh
Speaker 4: my gosh, it's Walmart. And she was like hey Haley,
Speaker 4: like thank you so much for submitting this, Like are
Speaker 4: you available to do like a Zoom call because that's
Speaker 4: you know, all the stores are all into Zoom and Microsoft.
Speaker 3: Oh damn. NEAR had a heart attack.
Speaker 1: Like I was like, what did you try to pretend
Speaker 1: your corporate you start a stage in your house.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: It was just so like a Zoom call with Walmart,
Speaker 4: Like this is not happening.
Speaker 3: Like I remember, like I called my mom, like mom,
Speaker 3: like she was my first.
Speaker 4: Vocal Like Mom, I just got that email. She was
Speaker 4: like no way, Like she was so like yeah. She
Speaker 4: was so excited because she had you know, there was
Speaker 4: ever times like I didn't have it or whatever. She
Speaker 4: put a lot of money into helping with Winnie Bini two,
Speaker 4: So it was like she was just so ecstatic. It
Speaker 4: was just like, let's get the call. So I think
Speaker 4: I would say, like the zoom call happened like a
Speaker 4: week or so after that, but it was so intimidating
Speaker 4: because it's like my buyer and then three other buyers.
Speaker 4: So do you think you're just having like a one
Speaker 4: on one zoom call. It's like, oh no, hey, like.
Speaker 1: No, and are these buyers? I hate to bring it
Speaker 1: back back. I got asked are they all white or
Speaker 1: is any of the black or men?
Speaker 4: Two of them were white and then one was I
Speaker 4: think I would say like Pacific island Erma. Yeah, but
Speaker 4: you think that it's just like a phone call or
Speaker 4: a zoom with one person, It's no, it's like three
Speaker 4: or four people every time. And so you get on
Speaker 4: the zoom and it's like box box box box spots
Speaker 4: and then you're like in the media.
Speaker 2: And then did you where did you take the zoom call?
Speaker 2: I actually took it at home? Like did you did
Speaker 2: you stage your back?
Speaker 3: Yeah, a little bit like I've no I forget.
Speaker 4: I had like a kitchen island, so like I have
Speaker 4: my laptop up and then the back all you could
Speaker 4: see was like the couch what I like took the
Speaker 4: pillows off so it didn't look super like, oh, she's
Speaker 4: in her bench.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, so you did the I'm on
Speaker 1: fakes all.
Speaker 2: That's my motto.
Speaker 4: Fake itsin't make it like no, but my mom say
Speaker 4: no today, it's not no tomorrow. That was always like, yeah,
Speaker 4: that was always my hustle because I saw, like my mom.
Speaker 2: Is a hustler.
Speaker 4: You know, she does real estate and she works her
Speaker 4: ass off and like makes a great living from that.
Speaker 3: So I always had that like I want to be
Speaker 3: a hustler.
Speaker 2: I want to be like that like my mom. And
Speaker 2: so yeah, I take the zoom call.
Speaker 4: There's all these people on there, and it was just
Speaker 4: kind of like an introduction, like hey, like what are
Speaker 4: you about, Like we got this email. You could just
Speaker 4: tell it was I don't want to say like foreign
Speaker 4: for them, but it was just not something they do
Speaker 4: a lot. It's usually like oh, these brands submit through
Speaker 4: a certain platform or we reach out to you. It's
Speaker 4: not a lot of like cold emails. Like I said,
Speaker 4: this lady, who had been the industry for twenty years,
Speaker 4: was like I've never seen that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like this is something new.
Speaker 4: And she even said, like my relationship with my buyers
Speaker 4: or and with Walmart is like a one off.
Speaker 3: She was like, we've never seen that.
Speaker 4: Okay, So it was it's just rare basically, is what
Speaker 4: she was trying to say.
Speaker 2: So what happens on the call.
Speaker 4: She was just like, oh, I love the idea of
Speaker 4: the brush kids and the haircare.
Speaker 3: Can you send me samples?
Speaker 4: And I was like yeah, like yeah, I'm having a
Speaker 4: heart teach Like I'm like, yeah, I can send you samples.
Speaker 4: She's like, we would love to see it in person,
Speaker 4: like that's you know, and so I was like okay,
Speaker 4: and then she just was kind of about the background.
Speaker 4: I told her, like, you know about me three generation
Speaker 4: Black on business, my daughter, and you know, she was
Speaker 4: asking me about her, and I said, you know, she
Speaker 4: has a lot of involvement even though she at the
Speaker 4: time she was two. Right, So at the time when
Speaker 4: I found out that I was going into Warmer, she
Speaker 4: was two. But now she's three, so you know, we
Speaker 4: changed you know, changed it up a year. But I
Speaker 4: was just telling her, I said, you know, ever since
Speaker 4: she was little, she had a lot of involvement with
Speaker 4: like she loved like playing dress up bows and stuff,
Speaker 4: so she would like pick the colors and stuff.
Speaker 2: So she didn't have involvement with you know, yeah, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's how she earned her CEO title.
Speaker 1: Yes, technically, if you think about it, now I get it. Okay, Okay,
Speaker 1: now I get Okay, Now I get why my daughter
Speaker 1: is uh okay, okay, because your daughter was technical.
Speaker 3: Videos.
Speaker 1: Okay, you had it on Michael Jackson over there. Okay, working, Okay,
Speaker 1: she started working early. Okay, got it?
Speaker 2: So yes, okay, so continue. Sorry.
Speaker 4: So you know I was telling her about the involvement,
Speaker 4: telling her with everything, and then she was like and
Speaker 4: then the call, she was like I love it. She
Speaker 4: was super fun, super bubbly.
Speaker 3: She was like, I love it. Let's she was like,
Speaker 3: can you send in the samples?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: So I'm like, okay, like let me get this.
Speaker 4: But I'm like my heart is racist, right because I'm
Speaker 4: like this is Walmart, Like this address is like Bentonville, Arkansas,
Speaker 4: Like this is you know, like this is like big time.
Speaker 4: And you know, I'm not even at that point. You know,
Speaker 4: I'm just on shop of, but I'm not in like
Speaker 4: a local beauty supply.
Speaker 2: I'm not in.
Speaker 4: Anything where you would think people would do their regular
Speaker 4: milestones like it went from zero to one hundred, you know,
Speaker 4: So I send the stuff in, They're like Okay, we'll
Speaker 4: review it, we'll get back to you. Give us like
Speaker 4: it might have been like two months. It was a
Speaker 4: substantial amount. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so you know you're.
Speaker 3: Like on edge every day. Am I gonna get an email.
Speaker 4: Refreshed and yeah, like you know, and do a follow up.
Speaker 2: No, make it there exactly. You know.
Speaker 3: I'm like, hey, just want to let you know.
Speaker 4: And even how you send stuff, it has to have
Speaker 4: like a certain label, department number, the like the buyer's name.
Speaker 4: It's very like because that campus, that headquarters is so huge,
Speaker 4: you have to like if you just send it to
Speaker 4: the address, it's not going to go anywhere. It has
Speaker 4: to have like Walmart has their own label that says
Speaker 4: like department number, i'll number, buyer name, send her name,
Speaker 4: business name.
Speaker 2: Like it's very deep.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's very detailed.
Speaker 2: So she got it.
Speaker 4: She was like, Okay, We're going to schedule a call
Speaker 4: for another Zoom call and I'll never forget because this
Speaker 4: is two months later. This yeah, no, she said, she said,
Speaker 4: we'll schedule zoom call. We schedule another Zoom call. She
Speaker 4: was like, I like it, you know, we we know
Speaker 4: to test it. It was kind of just like a temperature
Speaker 4: check what's been going on.
Speaker 2: I just told her.
Speaker 4: I was like, yeah, like the hair cares, you know,
Speaker 4: selling out on shopify, you know whatever.
Speaker 2: Whatever, and they asking like real numbers.
Speaker 3: No they don't.
Speaker 4: No, no, no, no, no, no, they don't have real numbers.
Speaker 4: I would have been lying, you're like a millionaire, like no,
Speaker 4: I'm not.
Speaker 3: I'm not.
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna see her, you know, yeah, cat, But yeah,
Speaker 4: they were just asking how's it going. It's okay, and
Speaker 4: then I'll never forget. They were like, okay, we'll follow
Speaker 4: up with you in April. Right, So this was you know,
Speaker 4: if it was maybe like from that call, maybe like
Speaker 4: another two or three months. We're like, we'll have like
Speaker 4: more information with you for you in April. Right, I'll
Speaker 4: never forget. So I'm in these apartment complexes and this
Speaker 4: our fire alarm.
Speaker 3: So it's like beep, beep, beep.
Speaker 4: I don't know what's going on, but it's been going
Speaker 4: off and on for the last two days. Right, I
Speaker 4: get the email from Walmart that says, hey, we need
Speaker 4: I'll never forget April fifteenth, because that's good Friday, that's
Speaker 4: the friday right before Easter. I'll never forget it. So
Speaker 4: she's like, hey, well, we need the call on April fifteenth.
Speaker 4: I told my mom because at the time that was
Speaker 4: like her dad's weekend or.
Speaker 2: So she was in Lawn Beach to my mom was
Speaker 2: like hey.
Speaker 4: I was like, I don't even have it like that
Speaker 4: right now, but I'm going to get a hotel or something,
Speaker 4: because I was like, I don't want this fire alarm
Speaker 4: to go out. I don't want to look ghetto on
Speaker 4: this call, Like I ended up staying at a hotel, right,
Speaker 4: So I get a hotel.
Speaker 2: I take the call, and.
Speaker 3: I like and again, it's four buyers.
Speaker 4: It's not just it's not just her, it's four different buyers, right,
Speaker 4: And I'm like nervous, like I'm like dress up. I'm
Speaker 4: like I'm in this hotel room my mom, like you
Speaker 4: know they have the little desk or whatever. And they
Speaker 4: were like okay, so and I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 4: Like what is she gonna say?
Speaker 3: And she was like I love it, like I love it,
Speaker 3: like I love the brush kits. She was like this
Speaker 3: is amazing.
Speaker 4: I'm like literally like I'm biting my tongue because I'm
Speaker 4: a very I'm a leo, very expressive loud. I I
Speaker 4: like biting my tongue literally, so I don't scream, like
Speaker 4: I'm like like, She's like, I love it, like it
Speaker 4: feels a white space. This is exactly what we need
Speaker 4: or whatever. The actual hair care buyer is on there
Speaker 4: as well. For the shampoo conditioner. They passed on it
Speaker 4: the first time with those bottles because the bottles were
Speaker 4: like too small so you can tell the difference or whatever.
Speaker 4: So he was like, I love it, and I love
Speaker 4: the idea and the formulation. He was like, but I
Speaker 4: don't want to have to add and delete you. He
Speaker 4: was super I have a great relationship with him. He's
Speaker 4: like a divisional manager, high high up with Walmart now,
Speaker 4: But he was like, I don't want to have to
Speaker 4: add and delete you. So he was like, I'll give
Speaker 4: you some feedback that can help you. He was like,
Speaker 4: if you can make your bottles bigger, because Walmart does
Speaker 4: all about value, is what he said. He was like,
Speaker 4: so if you can like rework that, you know, you
Speaker 4: can send it back to me or whatever whatever, And
Speaker 4: that's like, you know, I'm in the process of you know,
Speaker 4: doing that now. But it was just so crazy because
Speaker 4: the relationship that they had with me was just different.
Speaker 4: You wouldn't expect people at corporate and so high up
Speaker 4: that have these like life changing decisions about if you're.
Speaker 3: Gonna get picked up or not.
Speaker 4: I just and I was just so shocked, and he was.
Speaker 3: Super cool on the call.
Speaker 4: And then when Blakeley said oh, well, let's pick up
Speaker 4: the brush kits or whatever at the end of the call,
Speaker 4: never gets She's like, Okay, well it's gonna go in
Speaker 4: the Walmart stories.
Speaker 2: And I was like, that's when I finally was like
Speaker 2: how many or what. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I just was like okay at that time, and she
Speaker 4: was like, well, because she said I think I did say.
Speaker 3: I said, oh, how many stories? She said, we'll get back.
Speaker 2: To you, right, Okay.
Speaker 4: So I'm talking to some other people and you know,
Speaker 4: I'm looking up some things online. They're like, usually if
Speaker 4: Walmart's like really iffy about you, they'll do a test
Speaker 4: of like fifty two hundred stories, because obviously, you know,
Speaker 4: Walmart's the largest retailer in the world. They have forty
Speaker 4: five hundred stores just in the United States alone, So
Speaker 4: they're like usually they're like, oh, maybe it'll be like
Speaker 4: fifty one hundred stories.
Speaker 2: We'll do a test. Say I would take that I
Speaker 2: ain't gonna lie. I just what happen. I would have
Speaker 2: been like she I'm in Walmart, I'm gonna get go ahead.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like but no, like and then I get an
Speaker 4: email that's like, hey, you just wanna let you know
Speaker 4: that we're putting your kids in eight hundred ninety stores.
Speaker 3: Nation almost had a harder time.
Speaker 7: I was like, girl, I almost I almost fell out,
Speaker 7: like eight ninety Nation called to your MoMA again yes,
Speaker 7: because I didn't know what to I was just like mom,
Speaker 7: matter of fact, it was a FaceTime call.
Speaker 4: My mom thought something had happened to my daughter. When
Speaker 4: because I'm booho crying, She's like it went okay. You know,
Speaker 4: her anxiety is like forget yeah, like it's not. I mean,
Speaker 4: she's literally her anxieties on ten And I'm like, mom,
Speaker 4: like we just got like the yes, official yes from Walma.
Speaker 2: She not know you were gonna have the call that day.
Speaker 3: She she knew I was gonna have the call.
Speaker 2: But she I just saw the tears.
Speaker 4: Yeah, she just she was freaking out because she I
Speaker 4: never call her in FaceTime cry like that, and I
Speaker 4: just told her I said yeah, like because at first,
Speaker 4: like they're like okay, wee we's gonnay.
Speaker 2: It's like yeah, but like how many stories.
Speaker 4: It's still a great accomplishment, right, But you're kind of
Speaker 4: like if he like, is it just like a little
Speaker 4: test or am I gonna be him?
Speaker 7: Like not?
Speaker 2: Girl, so proud of you. I'm running for you all
Speaker 2: the way, like everyone's driving a car like, yes, Haley, that.
Speaker 4: Ship, that's what I said. That was my name, Haley
Speaker 4: the hustler.
Speaker 1: Hustler, I'm gonna save your number. You are a hustler though,
Speaker 1: because your follow up game is vicious. I think this morning,
Speaker 1: I gotta.
Speaker 4: Tell girl, but I'm here.
Speaker 2: You not get the email?
Speaker 1: No, I did not get the email, said, well, damn right,
Speaker 1: because she she she definitely didn't get the email.
Speaker 2: But your your follow up game was vicious. I respect
Speaker 2: a good follow up game.
Speaker 1: There's nothing I appreciate more than a good follow up
Speaker 1: game because it just shows like, look, man, I ain't
Speaker 1: gonna stop until I hear no.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think that's the yeah.
Speaker 1: And you also got to tell people too. It's like,
Speaker 1: don't don't just hear no, one stop. Make sure that
Speaker 1: the person that's saying no has the billy to say
Speaker 1: yes in the first place. Right, Yeah, because you know
Speaker 1: how many gatekeepers.
Speaker 2: Do you get to no? No, no, but they never
Speaker 2: had the ability to say yes. And you stop fuck that.
Speaker 1: You keep going, keep going, show up flowers, balloons, cookies,
Speaker 1: whatever you gotta do if that's the only gatekeeper, or
Speaker 1: or go around the gatekeeper. But if they don't have
Speaker 1: the authority to say yes, do not accept no from them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's what I was saying, like, you know,
Speaker 4: no today, it's not no tomorrow. That was always her saying,
Speaker 4: and it suck with me. And so like, you know,
Speaker 4: I just I had applied, you know to I don't
Speaker 4: like other stores, or I was just using like little platforms,
Speaker 4: but you know I wasn't ready or this, so they
Speaker 4: wouldn't even take my meeting or whatever. And so you know,
Speaker 4: when I got that and I did you know, the
Speaker 4: follow up and then the Zoom calls, it was really
Speaker 4: you know, their corporates really into Zoom, Like they want
Speaker 4: to see your face, they want to talk to you,
Speaker 4: show the product, what's it looking like? Do we need
Speaker 4: to change your label? You know, they're very visual, That's
Speaker 4: what I can say. And yeah, so she told me that,
Speaker 4: and I like, damn near passed out, Like, I called
Speaker 4: my mom. I was crying, and then she said, hey,
Speaker 4: because I had showed her the boy I had sent
Speaker 4: her the boys one too, the kit, and she was like, hey,
Speaker 4: what do you think about like selling some of these
Speaker 4: like individually online. I'm like, yeah, so you know, whatever
Speaker 4: I need to do. I'm like, whatever I need to
Speaker 4: do or whatever. And so there there's gonna be six,
Speaker 4: like four of each of the brushes of individually online
Speaker 4: as well. Just if you want like certain ones, like
Speaker 4: say you want a curl sponge or like a pick,
Speaker 4: you'll be able to like just get that online.
Speaker 1: Now you're the only one in Walmart selling the curls punge, right,
Speaker 1: that's amazing.
Speaker 2: The curlspunge is kind of a big deal.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Can Now if people go online, Like if they listen
Speaker 1: to this interview and they're like, Okay, I want to
Speaker 1: get the Winnie Benny hair kit, can they buy the hair?
Speaker 2: Can't online or they have to find those retailers.
Speaker 4: It's Walmart, Walmart dot com and then online with all
Speaker 4: Winny Winny dot com.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it'll be so yeah, you can always go
Speaker 2: to win Yeah, you.
Speaker 4: Go to Winnie Binny dot com and then it'll be
Speaker 4: in Walmart and then walmart dot com. Yeah, and it's
Speaker 4: Winny Y yeah O y n N I E and
Speaker 4: then b Y and I E because Whn's name her
Speaker 4: name is w hy n n and that.
Speaker 2: Was her nickname.
Speaker 4: People like how you came up with winny be And
Speaker 4: I'm like, well, my daughter's name is when she's named
Speaker 4: after my mom.
Speaker 3: My mom's middle name is when that the name got
Speaker 3: passed out.
Speaker 2: You love your mom? Yeah, you love yeah, Zerah take notes.
Speaker 1: My daughter Betta take notes because she she always gives
Speaker 1: me a hard time.
Speaker 2: But now I hope my daughter loves me the way
Speaker 2: you love your mom.
Speaker 1: She will.
Speaker 2: Yes, you're doing a great job.
Speaker 4: And it's just like, you know, I have so much
Speaker 4: respect for just like women who are entrepreneurs and they'll
Speaker 4: get up and work and you know, you don't have
Speaker 4: to be a single mom is just a working mom.
Speaker 4: In general, it's so hard to have, you know, a
Speaker 4: child and you have this person that's, like, like you said,
Speaker 4: helpless looking up to you every day like mommy, and
Speaker 4: like I don't say, like mammy, you're my superhero, like.
Speaker 5: She says yes, like she said she see material, bro,
Speaker 5: like not saying yes, or she'll.
Speaker 3: Be like, Bennie, I'm Bennie bounced Walmart.
Speaker 5: Like she'll say yeah, woah, yeah, she'll be like I
Speaker 5: need can you send those clips into our team?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Cool, we're gonna put that in the video.
Speaker 1: And then so now that you have executed your Walmart,
Speaker 1: what is the aftermath look like as an entrepreneur for you?
Speaker 1: Like what's the day in the life and like, how
Speaker 1: did you need I'm gonna ask this and then I'm
Speaker 1: gonna turn over white t you. But did you need
Speaker 1: like another and another chunk of money to like take
Speaker 1: it to the next level?
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's I mean, honestly, that's kind of like where
Speaker 4: my mom came in because it's like my money was
Speaker 4: going to like my rent and stuff, and then I
Speaker 4: needed her to help me fulfill the purchase order because
Speaker 4: you know, when you get a purchase order, like you
Speaker 4: can either do one or two things, like you can
Speaker 4: go to a bank.
Speaker 2: Yeah, or get a bad runner yeah, or get like.
Speaker 4: Raised some type of funding because Walmart doesn't pay you
Speaker 4: until you invoice them, and an invoice is invoice is like, oh,
Speaker 4: they've picked up the product.
Speaker 3: Your product is on the Walmart truck.
Speaker 4: You have to invoice them and then they pay you,
Speaker 4: but your payment terms might be like one hundred sixty
Speaker 4: one hundred and twenty days. Now, they do have programs
Speaker 4: where like once you invoice them, they can you can
Speaker 4: use like a program for smaller suppliers where they just
Speaker 4: take like one percent of your purchas order. So I'm
Speaker 4: so thankful for that that Walmart does look out for
Speaker 4: smaller suppliers because they know, like I don't have one
Speaker 4: hundred I don't have four months until you guys pay
Speaker 4: me for the inventory.
Speaker 3: So they do.
Speaker 1: Really help small so they'll like do like a bridge
Speaker 1: loan for you and then just do the one percent.
Speaker 4: They do a company that once you send the invoice
Speaker 4: into Walmart, say your payment terms are like one hundred
Speaker 4: and twenty.
Speaker 3: Days or sixty days or whatever.
Speaker 4: But you're like, hey, I can't wait that long, Like
Speaker 4: I need to like either pay off my cards or
Speaker 4: pay off whatever I use to you know, to do that.
Speaker 4: So they have a company that once you send them
Speaker 4: the invoice, they set up an account. They will just
Speaker 4: take one percent of your purchase order, but they will
Speaker 4: pay you in one to two businesses. So if you
Speaker 4: have like what one hundred thousand dollars purchase order, they're
Speaker 4: gonna take what one percent of them?
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 4: And people they're like, oh, they're only gonna take you
Speaker 4: know whatever, whether it's one thousand dollars too, though it
Speaker 4: goes off.
Speaker 3: Of what your purchase order amount is.
Speaker 4: But that really helps like smaller suppliers, because you know,
Speaker 4: I don't want people to think like, oh my god,
Speaker 4: how how do I front this? Like how am I
Speaker 4: gonna be able to fulfill one hundred thousand dollars purchase order?
Speaker 2: I don't have that. Yeah, So it's like you can
Speaker 2: either you know, go you can go to the.
Speaker 4: Bank just so that you can get it, or either
Speaker 4: you could maybe open up a business credit card, do it,
Speaker 4: and then just know that there are ways that Walmart
Speaker 4: works with you to get your money back, like to
Speaker 4: get your money back too.
Speaker 3: Quicker quicker.
Speaker 1: I want I want just the listeners to know, Like
Speaker 1: you know, and I have this conversation with a lot
Speaker 1: of people. I mentor is just don't put the cart
Speaker 1: before the horse. Like if you pay attention to Haley,
Speaker 1: what was Haley saying is you know, she she moved
Speaker 1: with what she had and she didn't put the future
Speaker 1: expectations as roadblockers herself. And I know, like a lot
Speaker 1: of entrepreneurs would be like I want to open this,
Speaker 1: I want to do this, but I don't have that
Speaker 1: or I need this. It's like, don't put your roadblocks
Speaker 1: before yourself pick up the phone. You start with what
Speaker 1: you got, and that's what you did. Now Walmart years ago,
Speaker 1: I mean plenty plenty years ago. I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: slander the Brown but years I would say, like at
Speaker 1: least twenty plus years ago, so this is a long
Speaker 1: time ago. They did have a little bit of a
Speaker 1: reputation where they would place an order with a supplier
Speaker 1: and then maybe like renie on it or like down
Speaker 1: down down the order and then maybe the supplier is
Speaker 1: like stuck holding the bill. I'm assuming that since I
Speaker 1: haven't heard those stories in twenty years that that has
Speaker 1: clearly changed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4: I can't really speak to that because it's not something
Speaker 4: that happened with me. It was just, you know, the
Speaker 4: store count was a lot larger than I expected. I mean,
Speaker 4: if anything, it was opposite, because I was you know,
Speaker 4: people are in my ear like oh, like you know,
Speaker 4: you might get fifty to one hundred stores, and here
Speaker 4: I am getting something that says no, you're going eight
Speaker 4: hundred and ninety nationwide. That was just kind of like,
Speaker 4: you know, that just showed that the buyers and that
Speaker 4: team really believed in me because they could have put me.
Speaker 4: It's really up to that buyer's discretion into how many
Speaker 4: stores they want to put you in.
Speaker 1: And so now now they're doing a whole like a
Speaker 1: lot by right, so like a wholesale buy right right now,
Speaker 1: how did you come up with the figures on how
Speaker 1: much to charge them? And then also are you responsible
Speaker 1: for once once they place the purchase order?
Speaker 2: Are you responsible to.
Speaker 1: Ship it to get it into their possession or is
Speaker 1: Walmart picking up that bill?
Speaker 4: What it is is you're responsible to get it to
Speaker 4: your warehouse Walmart can you can do Walmart owned inventory
Speaker 4: where they come pick it up, but you have to
Speaker 4: have a warehouse. And so that's like the main difference
Speaker 4: between having like a product owned business and like a
Speaker 4: licensing deal because like licensing people, they don't have warehouses,
Speaker 4: like they just all basically they just approved designs all day.
Speaker 4: Like having an owned product like how like bbe Judy
Speaker 4: has Kaleidoscope and she has all her products and stores.
Speaker 4: Having an owned product is like three times the amount
Speaker 4: of work because you're responsible to like you're responsible for
Speaker 4: the designs, the packaging to make sure everything's okay.
Speaker 3: The formulation.
Speaker 4: You're responsible for getting it physically from wherever it's coming from.
Speaker 3: Where it's overseas, whatever country too.
Speaker 4: It's gonna have to be you know, cleared by US customs,
Speaker 4: and then you have to worry about it going to
Speaker 4: your warehouse, and you have to worry about Walmart coming
Speaker 4: to pick it up to make sure it goes to
Speaker 4: their DCS, their transportation. So it's like that transportation and logistics.
Speaker 4: You're responsible for that because it's your product.
Speaker 1: And you're learning, you're learning all this. You're not are
Speaker 1: you now at this point? Are you bringing in specialists
Speaker 1: or are you just learning your day by day?
Speaker 2: You're learning as you go on. You're bumping your head.
Speaker 4: I was learning as I go And then I talked to,
Speaker 4: you know, my Walmart buyer, and he was just super
Speaker 4: helpful and was like, hey, like, I know you're a
Speaker 4: new supplier.
Speaker 3: Here's here's a list of people.
Speaker 4: They can't like formally tell you, but they can say like,
Speaker 4: here's people that I would recommend, so he gives me
Speaker 4: a list.
Speaker 2: I call this guy Alan.
Speaker 3: He is like a rock.
Speaker 4: Star, has lived in Benonville his whole life, has worked
Speaker 4: with Walmart for fifteen years, knows the Walmart.
Speaker 3: System like this.
Speaker 2: I mean when I say he was like.
Speaker 4: Kind of like my saving grace and just help, I
Speaker 4: mean he just was so just amazing. I still work
Speaker 4: with free services or no, no, you have to pay,
Speaker 4: but his services are affordable. They're like baby a thousand
Speaker 4: and fifteen hundred dollars, and he works with a lot
Speaker 4: of smaller suppliers that are getting into Walmart, and it's
Speaker 4: just great. He was just such like a blessing to
Speaker 4: me because he was able to like tell me like, hey,
Speaker 4: this is the purchase order, this is this, this is
Speaker 4: the logistics transportation.
Speaker 3: Like he's still on my team.
Speaker 4: He's definitely a part of you know, Winnie Bennie, and
Speaker 4: so that having him was just like a big help
Speaker 4: for me because it's like I'm doing it myself. But
Speaker 4: I wouldn't even really suggest that to people because it's
Speaker 4: just so hard.
Speaker 2: You just don't know what you don't know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so how did you calculate the numbers.
Speaker 4: The numbers was just like they usually want a they want.
Speaker 4: I would say, most retailers want like a sixty five
Speaker 4: percent like margin. That's you know, that's like that's like
Speaker 4: the bread and butter fifties too low.
Speaker 3: They usually want sixty five percent.
Speaker 4: So I had to figure out what would be like
Speaker 4: an affordable price point for Walmart, what I would pay
Speaker 4: for that with other people would I think other people
Speaker 4: would pay for that?
Speaker 3: And just the value.
Speaker 4: So when I did that, I'm like, Okay, I want
Speaker 4: to get this kit, like under twenty dollars. Yeah, it
Speaker 4: has nineteen ninety seven and especially the boys one has
Speaker 4: wood brushes. I don't have it here with me, but
Speaker 4: it has wood brushes and curl sponge and a pick.
Speaker 4: Like it's just the value of it. If you were
Speaker 4: to go to a beauty supply, it'd be way more
Speaker 4: to pick up the individual brushes. And so that's why,
Speaker 4: and that was also in my pitch. I was like, hey,
Speaker 4: you can get this, but why do I have to
Speaker 4: go to a beauty supply and buy eleven different things?
Speaker 3: I don't want to do that.
Speaker 4: I'm like a working mom, I'm a single mom, Like
Speaker 4: I just want to be able to like Boom one
Speaker 4: and done.
Speaker 2: That's it. That's how I am.
Speaker 1: Yes, if I saw this at Walmart, just like I've
Speaker 1: been sold period, especially because it has everything I can
Speaker 1: possibly need. And I hate going to the beauty supply stores.
Speaker 1: I personally just hate going and it's such an out
Speaker 1: of the way trip. And if you're a mom, you're
Speaker 1: going to be a Walmart and Target, You're going to
Speaker 1: be in those stores. So how convenient I actually was.
Speaker 1: It was a random thought. Today I was buying Yahoo everyone.
Speaker 1: I don't know why I like Yahoo's but I do.
Speaker 2: I don't know why.
Speaker 1: But I was in Walmart and I was buying the
Speaker 1: stuff for the show, and then I bought like a
Speaker 1: case of Yahoo. And then I went to Food for
Speaker 1: Less for the bananas.
Speaker 2: Yes, I don't know.
Speaker 1: For whatever reason, this Walmart doesn't sell produce, and so
Speaker 1: I was looking at the Yahoos and I was like, dang,
Speaker 1: it's crazy, because you know, if I'm in Walmart at
Speaker 1: the time, technically, if Walmart wanted to come up, they
Speaker 1: could overcharge for the Yahoo just because I don't want
Speaker 1: to go to three different stories to save money, but
Speaker 1: to be able to go to Walmart and get a
Speaker 1: full hairkit, steal to get quality hair products.
Speaker 2: Steal.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I'm glad.
Speaker 2: I'm glad for you, But.
Speaker 1: I think when it comes to pricing products, it's a
Speaker 1: tricky thing, especially if you, uh, what's the term when
Speaker 1: you imposter syndrome? Like sometimes I think everyone low key
Speaker 1: has imposter syndrome. I mean, maybe there's someone that was
Speaker 1: born with the world's greatest confidence, but you know, when
Speaker 1: you're stepping outside of your comfort zone, it's easy to
Speaker 1: get imposter syndrome.
Speaker 2: Are you familiar with the term.
Speaker 1: It's like where you it's almost like you feel like
Speaker 1: you're lucky to be at the table versus you earn
Speaker 1: your seat. And so when it comes to the numbers,
Speaker 1: I think that sometimes as entrepreneurs, and I'm speaking for myself,
Speaker 1: maybe some of y'all are great at it, but not me,
Speaker 1: it's easy to kind of cut off our own air
Speaker 1: supply because we feel like maybe we're just so lucky
Speaker 1: to be there. So when you did your numbers, where
Speaker 1: you did you do it from a place of like
Speaker 1: maybe imposter syndrome, or did you do it from a
Speaker 1: place of like, my shit's the shit? So this is
Speaker 1: you know, I'm making sure my numbers make sense.
Speaker 4: It was more of just like what is practical and
Speaker 4: what they're going to take. Like I know that Walmart
Speaker 4: is obviously affordable. That's like their key marketing, that's the
Speaker 4: core behind the store. So I'm like, what would be
Speaker 4: affordable that people would buy it at, and then what
Speaker 4: would be a good price where they would still have
Speaker 4: that like sixty five percent margin that just came from
Speaker 4: Like honestly, I want to say, like google most of
Speaker 4: the stores and then like kind of getting into retail now,
Speaker 4: that's usually what they're looking for, that like sixty to
Speaker 4: sixty five.
Speaker 3: Percent profit margin.
Speaker 1: Were you able to get a comfortable profit margin with
Speaker 1: those percentages taken out?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: Okay, cool, that's that's all I want to know, Like,
Speaker 1: because it's easy to trim off yourself, right you know.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, well I'm the type I trim off myself all day. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I don't know if everyone's like that.
Speaker 1: Can't speak for everyone else, but I'm happy to hear
Speaker 1: that you're still able to to carbaut a prophet. Now,
Speaker 1: I gotta take it back to the haters before we
Speaker 1: close out. What does the haters say?
Speaker 4: Now? Is there like I'm proud of these speeches, like
Speaker 4: I just it's just you know, I still never got
Speaker 4: the congrats you know from my you know, child's father
Speaker 4: who said I was never gonna make it in a store.
Speaker 3: He said my products would never make He now knows, yeah,
Speaker 3: he now knows.
Speaker 4: Still never got that, like what it is just a hater,
Speaker 4: just a complete hater, Like never said that I was
Speaker 4: never gonna make it with my products in the store.
Speaker 3: And now his like daughter's in there, and I never
Speaker 3: got like a congrats like.
Speaker 4: Nothing, but you like childhood, yeah, like oh, like I'm
Speaker 4: not stopping until when even he's in like every major US.
Speaker 3: Like I've always just had that hustler spirit and you
Speaker 3: know a lot of the haters what I've heard, like
Speaker 3: you know through the.
Speaker 4: Great finess, like oh, well she's in Walmar, but she's
Speaker 4: not in Target, like she's in she's.
Speaker 3: You know, yeah, that's all real real like that girl.
Speaker 2: You know that kind of sucks because.
Speaker 1: I think just taking it back to being a woman
Speaker 1: and having a child, like I think that that would
Speaker 1: hurt a little bit. But then again, you know sometimes
Speaker 1: when your haters, hey, it kind of does feel good,
Speaker 1: like yeah, you know, like you trying.
Speaker 2: It's a far reach, but.
Speaker 1: What you were able to accomplish was simply amazing. I'm
Speaker 1: Haley the hustler, I'm on your team. And I was
Speaker 1: back and forth, I'm not gonna lie in my head
Speaker 1: because i do have certain requirements to be on the show,
Speaker 1: And I was thinking back and forth, like she does
Speaker 1: deserve acy at the eating while broke table. But you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes you know, I question, like you know, I don't
Speaker 1: want the blind leading the blind. I don't want someone
Speaker 1: on the show that's currently broke talking about being broke.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's all about dollars at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, I do think it's about milestones, and like,
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, it goes back to the
Speaker 1: tenacity of like finding my phone number, which apparently, honestly,
Speaker 1: you can actually google my name and pull up you
Speaker 1: can just call you phone number.
Speaker 2: It says a little too much information.
Speaker 1: But but the truth in the matter is, like your
Speaker 1: tenacity is what got you here, your entrepreneurship, this is
Speaker 1: what got you here, your hustler, Your mommy is you know,
Speaker 1: she's she's dope for producing a child like you. You
Speaker 1: know that has like integrity and then to be able
Speaker 1: to bounce back from heartbreak. And I know because my
Speaker 1: husband drives me absolutely crazy. My husband is like the
Speaker 1: dog of dogs, so it's impossible to keep up with
Speaker 1: his level of crazy. Yeah, not trying to talk shit,
Speaker 1: but he knows what I'm talking about. But but the
Speaker 1: truth of the matter is, like, I applaud you and
Speaker 1: I'm so honored to have you on this show and
Speaker 1: to be able to like.
Speaker 2: Touch the price give my daughter a purse her first
Speaker 2: person babe for the page. Yeah, and I've always been
Speaker 2: weird about promoting my child. And I don't know why.
Speaker 2: She's adorable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she's He's got a lot of personality and I
Speaker 1: do a lot of cool stuff with her, and people
Speaker 1: tell me, like, how do you find this cool stuff?
Speaker 1: Like I dedicate my weekends to my daughter during the week.
Speaker 1: If it was up to me, I would work thirty
Speaker 1: hours a day, which is impossible. And I'm a hustle
Speaker 1: like yourself, and I'm a Jamaican. We have so much
Speaker 1: in common.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 2: We have the same birthday. But I will say, like.
Speaker 1: My team and the listeners, like, I know we all
Speaker 1: appreciate stories like yours.
Speaker 2: It's important.
Speaker 1: It's important for these stories to be told. It's important
Speaker 1: for Miles On to be broke. We did have April
Speaker 1: Showers from Afro Unicorn, who has a licensing deal in Walmart.
Speaker 1: That was another huge breakthrough for black and brown communities
Speaker 1: and minorities.
Speaker 2: So thank you and your dish for all y'all listeners.
Speaker 2: That dish is amazing. Like, I'm not even gonna lie,
Speaker 2: I do not think I like peanut butter.
Speaker 1: I'm starting to realize that after mouse is Jones, dish
Speaker 1: shadows mouse. But if you are broke and hungry or
Speaker 1: just want a snack that seems to be healthy, and
Speaker 1: I can imagine does Winny eat this?
Speaker 2: She does?
Speaker 3: Yes, she loves rice cakes, she loves peanut butter.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, well I will honestly approve the banana and
Speaker 1: peanut butter with the rice cake recipe.
Speaker 2: It's also going in the cookbook.
Speaker 1: That's what that little way where you say yeah, all
Speaker 1: thish is going to the cookbook and will probably pull
Speaker 1: your mama's quote if they say what is it?
Speaker 4: If they say no, today is not no tomorrow. No
Speaker 4: today is not no tomorrow.
Speaker 2: That's the truth.
Speaker 4: Like don't don't stop when the door closes on you like,
Speaker 4: keep going. I've heard a million nose and it was
Speaker 4: that one yes from Walmart, and I was like, and.
Speaker 2: What I like is that I have a secret thing
Speaker 2: that I do. I've said it a couple of times.
Speaker 1: I pitched Jay Z at least once every six months
Speaker 1: because he's my favorite person in the world.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I look up to him, al jay Z.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a big painting in the lobby that of him.
Speaker 1: And even though he's a big shark, even my twin
Speaker 1: people are like always like, one day you'll get Jay
Speaker 1: And you know what, I think it's important to not
Speaker 1: just shoot your shot at this level, shoot at all
Speaker 1: levels because you never know, Like you got the Walmart call,
Speaker 1: you never know, there may be a day where.
Speaker 2: Jay calls back.
Speaker 1: Now I joke on his publicist, I'm like, yeah, it
Speaker 1: didn't happen this month, but you know, in a couple
Speaker 1: of months, I'll try again. Yeah, you know, But no
Speaker 1: shout outs to you guys. Check out Wynie Benny online.
Speaker 1: You could google it, follow her on Instagram. Also, definitely
Speaker 1: take the time to go to Walmart if you see
Speaker 1: I say this, whether you need the product or not,
Speaker 1: it's important to show support I have developed. I don't
Speaker 1: like to call the listeners on my show fans because
Speaker 1: they're really supporters. I get the sweetest dms. Yeah today,
Speaker 1: I think this young lady, she's sending me a box
Speaker 1: of wine, and their messages are constantly don't quit cod
Speaker 1: we need your voice. And I'm always like, but I'm lame.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not really as popping. But the truth
Speaker 1: of the matter is, like, it's so important for us
Speaker 1: to support the entrepreneur, whether we need the products or
Speaker 1: not in our homes, like to be able to go
Speaker 1: into Walmart later and go and say, oh, Wennie Benny's
Speaker 1: on the shlf, let me buy it. I did the
Speaker 1: same thing with Afro Unicorn. My daughter is like two
Speaker 1: years and they only had like an eighteen month old PJS.
Speaker 1: I didn't give a crap. I was like, I know
Speaker 1: this is probably barely gonna fit her, but hey, I
Speaker 1: want to be a supporter. Yeah, And I think it's
Speaker 1: important when we have these brands like Wennie Binni, Afro
Speaker 1: Unicorn in Walmart, whether we need the products or not.
Speaker 2: Still still swipe. You're gonna need it eventually.
Speaker 1: You know, my daughter's gonna lose some of the brush
Speaker 1: kit eventually, or I'm gonna need the dad's gonna need one,
Speaker 1: the mom's gonna need one, or the auntie or the
Speaker 1: cousin or whatever. I'm excited for the boy kid because
Speaker 1: I have a nephew and I'm excited.
Speaker 2: To be able to give him his love. He has
Speaker 2: long hair and in his do you have the like
Speaker 2: the what do they call it?
Speaker 1: The thing that divide the ca okay and the boy
Speaker 1: kind yep, Okay, awesome, all right, guys, thank you for
Speaker 1: listening to another episode of Eating While Broke. Check out
Speaker 1: Hayley Chapman. I guess the only way you could find
Speaker 1: you is under Winnie Benny's.
Speaker 4: Profile, Yeah, Winnie Benny or my Instagram which is Wifey Chanel.
Speaker 2: Wifey Chanel. Yes that's my middle name, Chanel. Okay, okay, okay,
Speaker 2: all right, thank you guys, peace out. Thank you for
Speaker 2: more Eating While Broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect.
Speaker 1: Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.