WEBVTT - Make Money Without Having Any w/ Ciera Rogers #839 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.360 Welcome to Had of Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt. 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:06.200 Today we're talking how to make money without having any 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:07.360 with Sierra Rodgers. 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:26.599 Yeah. 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:29.240 So this is the episode for everyone out there who 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:31.720 doesn't want to work like a soul crushing nine to 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:36.800 five job, specifically where you're being told what you can 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:39.479 and can't do by someone else. This is an episode 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:43.320 about entrepreneurship, about starting your own business, which I will 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:47.360 readily admit, like, even that phrase is potentially problematic because like, 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:49.479 what do some folks think of when they hear launching 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.479 a business. Well, maybe they're thinking of like a shark tank, right, 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:55.560 They're thinking of like the different rounds of funding, proposing 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:58.200 a business plan, all that kind of stuff. And while 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:00.880 that is how some businesses, again, I think the vast 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:03.560 majority of small business owners they're not going to be 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:05.600 running a fortunate fufuner company, right, They didn't go to 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:08.280 business school. But they do have a great idea for 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:10.800 a new product, or they do have a way that 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:13.040 they think they can serve folks who are willing to pay. 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:16.119 And our guest today, Sierra Rodgers, is here to share 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:19.360 how she started her business Babes, which is a woman's 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.800 wear line, which she also recounts in her new book, 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:26.200 The Outsider Advantage. It comes out next week June eighteenth, 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:28.600 And Sierra, we're excited for you to share your story 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:30.600 with our listeners, and thank you for joining us today 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:31.280 on the podcast. 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:33.160 Thank you for having me me too. 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:35.520 Yeah. No, we're glad to have you along Sierra for 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:37.600 today's episode. And the first question we got to ask 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:40.240 everybody who comes on is what's your craft beer equivalent? 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.560 Because Matt and I we spend potentially outrageous sums of 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.319 money on craft beer at times, but we're still saving 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:48.240 and investing for our future, so it's not like, you know, 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:50.880 it's not too much, right, what's that thing for you? 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:51.960 What do you like to splurge on. 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.520 I splurge on travel. I'm going to travel in the 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:01.600 best and biggest uber that I can, and I'm going 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:04.040 to fly first whenever I can. I just, I mean, 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:05.880 that's just where it makes it most sense to me. 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:08.800 Okay, do you remember the first time that you flew 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.080 first class? Because I do, and it was only once, 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:14.519 so I literally odally ever flow business class one time, 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.400 and man, I really did enjoy that cocktail, I will say, 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.800 But other than that it's normally like Southwest cattle call. 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:22.920 But what about you, what was your first your first 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:24.079 first class experience. 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:26.760 Honestly, when I when I came out here, I started 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:30.440 dating this guy who who made money and he flew 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:32.920 first class, so I was like, you know what, I 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:35.600 can do this too, Like I could afford this. So 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.320 I was really proving something to him and myself and 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:41.359 I had the best time, and yeah, I've been addicted 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:41.840 ever since. 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:44.120 Yeah, that's funny. It makes me think that we used 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:46.600 to have this airline here based out of Atlanta called 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:49.680 air Tran, which I believe Southwest bought AirTran. But AirTran 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:53.480 was so great because they had a really inexpensive business 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:55.960 class and so you could feel like a baller, you 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:57.920 could feel like a high roller, but you didn't have 0:02:57.919 --> 0:02:59.679 to fork over much money to do. So when you 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:01.840 talking about some of those like trains, Atlantic flights first 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.280 class and stuff like that, sirih, I hope you're budgeting 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:05.760 for that, because those be expensive tickets. 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:08.720 I mean they are expensive. They sometimes they make zero 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:11.400 sense because it's like, Okay, this is probably not the 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:13.320 smartest I shouldn't do this all the time. But I 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.400 mean plan ahead. I mean it's what's important to you. Yeah. 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.160 Yeah, if that's exactly, If that's what you're gonna splurge on, 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:19.920 more power to you. 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:22.520 Yeah, just make it make sense everywhere else. Don't splurge 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:23.400 on everything. 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:23.680 Yes, exactly. 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:25.880 Yeah, you can't splurge everywhere, and when your book you're 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:28.040 gonna end up broke. We know you're not splurged on everything. 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:29.639 Like we know you've got prougal jeens in there. 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:30.519 Oh yeah for sure. 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:32.920 Okay, speaking of your books, Sarah, it starts off with 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:36.320 you sleeping on a friend's couch. You're you're out in La. 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:38.520 How did you end up end up there? What were 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:40.760 you feeling at that point in your life. 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:46.000 I had recently graduated from college. Things weren't going as expected. 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:48.600 I don't know if I'm just a terrible interview Lee, 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:50.680 but I just could not find a job in Houston, 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:54.400 not from Houston. I just kept getting nose left and right. 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.240 My sister had moved out to LA and I kind 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:00.200 of follow her out here and I found a house 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:02.440 to sleep on and that's how it started. 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:04.880 I mean, okay, so I want you to actually share 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:07.160 even more of your childhood because I know it involves. 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:11.160 It wasn't an ideal upbringing that you and your sister 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:12.400 and your your mom experienced. 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.480 Yeah, we hopped around a lot. We lived in cars. 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:19.440 I was always trying to my mom was always trying 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:21.080 to find somewhere for us to stay, whether it be 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:24.880 with family or friends. Yeah, I didn't have a typical chata. 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.599 I technically didn't have a room or a door to 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.720 close until I got into high school. So it was 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.120 definitely a rocky upbringing for sure. 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:33.560 Yeah. 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:36.480 Used to moving around and adapting and making things work. 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:40.520 So Sarah, my wife, is becoming a marriage and family therapist. 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.040 And one thing I know, and I don't know much 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:44.960 based on what she's learned, but I I've absorbed a 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.680 little through osmosis, and I realized that like some of 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.640 those things that happened in childhood, of course influence who 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:54.080 become who we become, sometimes subconsciously, sometimes consciously, And that's 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:56.320 what therapy is often about. It's like bringing those things 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.280 to the conscious surface. So tell me about that. For you, then, 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:03.120 at your childhood, some of those awful, difficult things you 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.200 went through, how did your childhood how did those events 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:07.239 impact who you've become? 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:11.600 I'm kind of able to survive anything like, I don't 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.760 really I'm not really phased by a lot. I'm used 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:18.480 to adapting and moving and making something work out of nothing. 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.440 There's obviously those bad triggers, like being an entrepreneur is 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.880 really rocky, So on those lower sales days or lower 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:29.719 sales months, I am triggered to thinking, hey, like I'm 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.080 gonna be homeless again, or hey, maybe the jig is up. 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.240 But on the other hand, it's pushed me to be 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:38.560 a really hard worker. I'm one of the hardest working 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:41.279 for people that I know, and I feel like I 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:44.560 could build this all over again if it didn't work. 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.520 Yeah, I don't know. There's something about I guess I 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:49.440 want to hear your thoughts. Do you think that someone 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:51.240 from you know, with your kind of background is more 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:54.320 willing to take risks given the fact that they don't 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:59.600 have this perfect sort of storybook life or childhood to protect, 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:01.479 Because it seems like a lot of times if you 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:03.520 have a whole lot to protect, you are less willing 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:06.560 to take risks because it's all about preservation as opposed 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:08.520 to kind of getting out there and trying something new 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:10.520 and seeing something that's going to be interesting. And something 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:12.800 that's going to be successful. What are your thoughts on that. 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:15.599 I think so I think yes and no, because sometimes 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:20.279 when I've seen it work different on both ends. I 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.599 feel like sometimes when people are used to having a 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:26.359 lot and used to things working out, they're more inclined 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:30.640 to take risks. And then on the other end, if 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:34.200 you've never had anything, and once you get hold of something, 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:36.839 it's hard to like let that go. You're kind of 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:39.160 grabbing a hold to it, and you can be a 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:41.800 little less risky. It really depends on the person and 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:42.480 the situation. 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.640 Yeah, one of the things that's very very telling about 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.920 your story in reading your new book, the Outsider Advantage. 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:53.880 You could have at so many different points along the way. 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:57.320 You could have focused on what you didn't have. You 0:06:57.360 --> 0:06:59.880 could have adopted a victim mindset, and you could have 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:04.440 kind of said, hey, life's not fair. But you seem 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:08.200 to push through that and have a positive mentality and 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:12.640 approach to your life, to your business ventures along the way. 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:14.680 Why do you think it is that you were able 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:17.640 to avoid something that is so common for people who 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:21.480 do have a tumultuous childhood or come from, you know, 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:25.040 a socioeconomic background that lacks really any sort of stability 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:27.840 or security. How are you able to overcome that and 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:29.800 have a different approach. 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.880 That's a tough question to answer. It's just my instinct 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:37.360 is we don't have time for that. Like I don't 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:41.800 have time to wallow in my sorrow and say woe 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:45.040 is me? I have like bills and I have to 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:48.720 get off my friend's couch and I have to make 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:52.760 something of myself. I don't. You just don't have time. 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:57.440 That's just that's the easiest answer I can give you. 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.320 It's like when you're like a hustler and you're you, 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:03.000 you have a goal that you're trying to reach, like 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.280 being a victim, Like you don't really have time for that. Yes, 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:09.920 like things suck and it doesn't feel good when you're 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:11.600 in it, but if you want to get out of it, 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:15.080 like adding on top of your already sucky situation with 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:17.600 your sorrow isn't going to be helpful. And I'm all 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:19.120 about being helpful to myself. 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:21.480 Yeah, it's not like you're saying that's unproductive. It's time 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:22.080 not well spent. 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:26.520 It's not going to do anything. Literally, is like going 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:29.360 to waste your own time make you feel sucky it's 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:30.640 really not correct. 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.120 So tell us about you kind of starting out with 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.480 your business and how it is basically that you got 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:38.520 the ball rolling what made you go in that direction, 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:41.160 I guess, versus maybe you know, maybe trying to go 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:45.120 to take more of a traditional corporate sort of path 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.400 route as opposed to you saying, hey, I want to 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:48.920 be my own boss, I want to start my own thing, 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:50.080 I want to call the shots. 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:54.480 I did try. I did try to go the typical route. 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:57.640 It wasn't for me. And I also, as I said, 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:01.400 I didn't have time to keep nelling that in and 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:05.240 it wasn't working. I had a problem, I find. I 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:08.080 mean everyone says this, but the best way to start 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:09.559 a business is to find a problem that you can 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.600 solve and also match it with like an open market, 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:16.200 open space in the market. So I had a problem 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.800 I wanted to fix, Like there weren't many curvy brands 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:24.000 that offered affordable basics for people like me, and I 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.880 had access and I knew how to do it, and 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:28.160 that was the first step. 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:30.880 So, okay, tell me more about the market, because it 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:33.400 seems like there are more players in that space now, 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:35.400 not that I'm an expert, but like. 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:38.480 Oh yeah, but like, oh, Joe's like the opposite of 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:39.400 a curvy woman. 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:43.520 Right, I'm a stick like man. I look like a 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:47.559 stick bug in version six or five zero proves to me, 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:48.800 so like, yeah, it was. 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:49.400 It was. 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:52.480 It just like a failing, a failing, a lack of 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:56.600 foresight by a lot of the bigger retailers, the bigger 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:59.520 brands out there, the bigger clothing brands, that they just 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.120 didn't really this was a market they could sell to, 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:04.640 because it certainly seems like it's a market that's exploded 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:05.360 in recent years. 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:07.160 I don't know if they didn't realize or they just 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.440 didn't care like they're I mean, of course, I mean 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:12.360 if you look at the world, if you pay attention 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:15.080 at the time, if you look at women, they don't 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:18.280 look like what they have like back in twenty twelve, 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:19.680 what they were trying to make us feel like they 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:22.959 look like. I don't know if it was just yeah, 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:24.840 I feel like they didn't care. I think they cared 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:28.080 about the plus community, but there was a missing like 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.120 gap in the middle of like the average woman, and 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:34.000 no one was catering to that or cared to It's. 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.480 Like, not everybody looked like Kate Moss or whatever that 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.160 was like the it was in vogue aesthetic, I guess 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:42.360 back in the day, especially with the Victoria's Secret Angels 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:44.920 and stuff like that, and so yeah, but all of 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.920 those brands were kind of catering to a certain look 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:50.559 and styling their closer, certain look and they were missing 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:56.040 out on a large percentage of people who look more regular. Yeah, right, 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:57.000 I could say that way. 0:10:57.280 --> 0:10:59.920 Yeah, it's tough because it was our fault too, Like 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:04.000 we liked looking at those Kate Moss and I mean 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:06.959 I still like looking at k Moss, but we like, 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:08.960 you know what I mean, we liked looking at that 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:13.120 image on in the media and we were accepting it. 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:16.560 So it really, it really came to us it was 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:20.120 partially our fault. Like now it's a lot more you know, 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:23.760 embrace your body and embrace your natural and what you have. 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:25.720 But back then that's not how it was. So it 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:27.880 was it was their problem and it was our problem, 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:29.480 and we needed to fix it. 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.760 Okay, So you said that, you know, and it's often 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.680 quoted as the typical response of like how you start 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.000 a business by solving a problem, but it also, like 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:39.520 the way you write about it, it seems a bit 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:42.080 more organic than that, because like you started selling first 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:45.720 store clothes on Instagram. But it's like, at the same 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:47.640 time you were doing that, it seemed like that's how 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:49.600 you were kind of identifying the need. Can you kind 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:53.120 of explain that entire process when you first got started. 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:56.000 It kind of just fell out of me. I mean, 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:59.959 that's kind of what the gist of the book is about. 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:04.080 I kind of already have these skills, like all along, 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:07.880 skills that I wasn't like not embarrassed of, but we 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.240 thrift it my entire life, Like most of my clothes 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.280 were old like growing up, or you know, I had 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.000 a knock for it because I was forced to do it, 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.280 but I didn't. I had no idea that that was 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:21.000 going to be like something I would end up making 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:23.720 money from. I kind of, you know, I had it 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:25.920 all along. And that's what I'm trying to say, is like, 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:28.920 if you're you kind of already have what you need 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:31.760 to succeed, you really just have to dig in to yourself. 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.840 So is that just like an assessment of your skills? 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:37.720 Is it sitting down and saying what skills do I 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:40.360 have that maybe I don't think of as marketable right now? 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:44.000 And wait, this, this, this, and this package together. Wait 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:46.680 a second, I'm actually because you were like you weren't 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.320 just selling Thirstorc clock. You were like you were tailoring them. 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.400 You were making adjustments to those clothes. You were spicing 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:54.080 them up right, So you were doing something. You were 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.480 taking something that might have seemed ordinary. And let's be honest, 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.680 like it's funny. I have a good friend who had 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:02.640 a similar well not a similar business, but he would 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:06.000 go buy Yes, it was similar. So what you would 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:07.560 do was he would go buy thirst Star clothes and 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:09.360 then he would just sell them straight up on eBay. 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:11.200 But you were making changes, you were turning them into 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:14.079 something boutique. But he made a living doing that with 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.680 for his family for years. But you were doing something 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:18.960 like you were adding on and creating another layer to 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:20.600 make it even more inventive and unique. 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:22.480 Oh yeah, and I didn't. And I wasn't great at it. 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:25.000 I'm not a great seller. I was doing what I like, 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:27.360 you want your backs up against the wall. You'll become 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:32.440 a basketball player if you have to, like like you're gonna. 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:35.800 I had to teach myself to get better at that. 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.359 But yeah, I just kind of used what I already. 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.280 Knew really, Like, I want to hear your thoughts on 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:45.360 folks who might want to start a business but they 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:47.160 don't have a ton of money. That's kind of how 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:49.400 we were gonna latch in this episode, kind of like 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:51.200 with that in mind. Like there's a lot of folks 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:53.000 who think they can't actually do it because they don't 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:54.400 have a ton of money saved up. They don't have 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.840 a massive nest egg to kind of launch the business. 0:13:57.559 --> 0:13:58.760 What would you say to those folks. 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:01.199 There's a lot of free resources. I mean we all 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:05.000 google everything all of the time, even like to start 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.880 a website. You don't need a lot of money. I 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:10.839 don't know where everyone got this idea that you need 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:12.640 a lot of money to start a business, because you don't. 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:15.720 I started on big Cartel. There was like five products 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:17.760 that I got for free, and then I thrifted clothes, 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:21.840 and then with each sell I would profit, and then 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:24.200 they'ft more clothes and then profit. That's how you build 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.400 a business. You start, you make ten dollars, you turn 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:30.240 that into twenty dollars, then you turn that into fifty dollars, 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:32.720 and so on and so on. You don't need much 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:36.000 to start a business. The hardest part is starting. Like 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:37.920 a lot of people have ideas and they use that 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:40.720 as an excuse to never start, But you really just 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.560 have to start and make that first sell and then 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:44.600 keep moving from there. 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:47.480 You write in your book, and this is a quote, 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:51.560 you say your business needed me, not money. How does 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:54.800 a lack of money maybe fuel your creativity and your 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.600 drive to start your business. It seems like sometimes money 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.600 can be like a compensation factor once starting a business. 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:02.520 It's like, oh, you don't have to be as creative. 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:04.640 You can try to follow the path that somebody else 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:06.480 has where you don't have much, Like you've got to 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:07.200 be more resourceful. 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:09.560 Yeah, you definitely to be more source. And I find 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:12.440 that people with money when they start businesses, they waste 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:13.800 a lot of it. Like I've seen a lot of 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:18.360 people start brands spend so much money on the samples 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.200 and the photo shoots and the models and getting everything 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.120 started that you're not really paying attention to one. Is 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:28.040 this a good idea? Of Two? Is it making any money? 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:31.160 Am I spending too much on this to make profit? 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.960 It definitely can be a distraction. Now money is great, 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:37.440 Like it needed me and money. I just didn't have 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:39.800 the money so instead of focusing on what I didn't have, 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:41.080 I was forced to get creative. 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:43.880 All right, So you said they were those brands were 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.880 often wasting it, and I think, when you don't have 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:49.720 money and tell me if I'm wrong on this, the 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:53.200 immediate customer feedback, like, you take that the heart a 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:55.640 whole lot more because at first, maybe you're like with 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:58.280 You've got some money in the bank and you're like, okay, cool, 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:00.400 let's test this out. I don't know if that worked well. 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:02.160 We're going to keep trying to plot along our path. 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.720 You're more sensitive to the customer and what they want, 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:06.960 because like, hey, you got to start making. 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:07.640 Sales, right. 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:10.560 You're paying a lot more attention because you don't have 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.160 the time. You don't have the money to waste, and 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:15.040 people who have money they have it to waste. Like 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:17.160 a lot of people dump a lot of money in ads. 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:19.160 They don't ever look at them because they're like, Okay, 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:21.800 let me try like a thousand more. Maybe that didn't 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.480 work out. Yeah, you're definitely paying more intention you have 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:27.680 a more personal relationship with your customers. It's just a 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:30.480 it would have been easier if I would have had money, 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:33.359 but me not having money forced to move me creative. 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:35.440 And one of the other things you say in the 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:38.280 book that instead of money, if you have a whole 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:42.720 lot of grit on hand, is that that can overcome 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:45.240 that lack of funding. But it seems like you've got 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:48.680 you've got tenacity, you've got work ethic in spades, and 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.760 it certainly showed even in tough times. What do you 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:55.080 attribute that to? Or maybe I should ask who you 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:56.680 attribute that to? Given your history. 0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:59.920 I saw my mom hustle my entire life, the different 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:01.520 between her and me, and she had two kids at 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:02.800 the time, So I don't know how she did it. 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.360 I just there's a lot of things that I think 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.280 are my personality that I look back and I'm like, dang, 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:13.720 that's from her. This isn't me at all, Like I'm 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:16.920 not just a natural hustler, because that's just how I am, 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:19.520 It's how I grew up. She always had to make 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:21.600 a way out of nothing, So yeah, it definitely came 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:21.920 from her. 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:22.280 Yeah. 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:23.679 At one point in the book, you write about like 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:26.320 finding helpful resources online to help you get that business 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:31.720 off the ground, things that existed for entrepreneurs that didn't have, 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:35.880 you know, bookoos of funding. You know they didn't have 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:38.840 investors trying to help them grow their business. What sort 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:41.000 of resources did you stumble upon? What helped the most? 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:46.160 YouTube? Really, Okay, I taught myself. I mean I didn't 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.679 teach myself. You tube taught me photoshop, you know, like 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.199 how to set up an ad, how to set up 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:56.280 a store, how to sew. Literally like that was my 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:57.400 resource for everything. 0:17:57.800 --> 0:17:59.639 That's awesome. It's been a minute since we've done an 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:02.600 episode like this, but we like to invest in real 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:03.919 estate as well, and I feel like one of our 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.639 early early episodes we just talked about how there's so 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:09.760 much stuff that you can diy yourself. And we think that, 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.320 especially if you're gonna be kind of a small time 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:15.640 like MoMA Pop kind of landlord, that it really pays 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:19.240 to know how to do some of those things. And truly, 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:21.120 you watch two or three YouTube videos on how to 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:26.840 do a decently difficult task to repair something's just like. 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:28.560 All right, I feel like I've got it. 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:30.520 Time to change that toilet now that someone's just shared 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:32.320