1
00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:16,160
Speaker 1: Sunships were always marketed in your mind because it says

2
00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:18,160
Speaker 1: son on it has a sunshine in the front, that

3
00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:20,160
Speaker 1: that was sort of healthy. And then when you look

4
00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:21,720
Speaker 1: at the back and you look at all the ingredients,

5
00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:24,239
Speaker 1: there's like fifty ingredients, and I always say eat things

6
00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:29,840
Speaker 1: with ingredients you can pronounce. Uh. So I then realized

7
00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,239
Speaker 1: that sonships are just called sonships, and so that's a

8
00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:33,839
Speaker 1: great name because it just seems sort of like a

9
00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:38,760
Speaker 1: healthy snack for kids. When Friedo's the three ingredients on

10
00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:42,239
Speaker 1: a Friedo's bag or corn oil and salt. But Friedo's

11
00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:45,240
Speaker 1: are marketed to be like f like fried like they're

12
00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,840
Speaker 1: fried doughs. Like you just think that they're just bad.

13
00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:50,960
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying the Friedo's are good and that

14
00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:54,000
Speaker 1: any of these bagged snacks are good, But corn oil

15
00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,480
Speaker 1: and salt is better than the twenty ingredients on a

16
00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,320
Speaker 1: chip that's marketed is healthy. Now it's go on to

17
00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,680
Speaker 1: the other healthy chips, the Keene watch chips, the Lentil chips,

18
00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:08,200
Speaker 1: the pop chips, the air popped chips, the baked chips. Okay,

19
00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,920
Speaker 1: if you look at the pop chips, it'll have between

20
00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:14,319
Speaker 1: a hundred and thirty and a hundred and fifty calories

21
00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:19,720
Speaker 1: per serving. It's usually twenty eight grams. Okay, go to

22
00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:23,080
Speaker 1: the tortilla chip bag, which you and your mind probably

23
00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:26,040
Speaker 1: think is like bad tortilla chips. Will also just say

24
00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:28,240
Speaker 1: corn oil and salt. But this is like your tortilla

25
00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:30,720
Speaker 1: chip bag, the thing that you eat chips and guacamole with,

26
00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,320
Speaker 1: right that, in your mind is not a healthy chip.

27
00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,160
Speaker 1: That's like you're eating a bag of Mexican restaurant guacamole chips, right,

28
00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,839
Speaker 1: But then pop chips and pop corners and air chips

29
00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,360
Speaker 1: and sun chips and lentil chips and keen watch chips

30
00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,200
Speaker 1: and all these chips that are so healthy and air

31
00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,480
Speaker 1: popped and baked and all that bullshit and air puff

32
00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:54,680
Speaker 1: and all this crap. They have the exact same number

33
00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:59,680
Speaker 1: of calories and pretty much close and fat as the

34
00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:03,480
Speaker 1: gua gamoli tortilla bag chip. So the whole chip genre

35
00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:07,760
Speaker 1: is a scam. Eat the chips you like, look at

36
00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,040
Speaker 1: the back of the bag. Make sure that they don't

37
00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:14,680
Speaker 1: have a lot of ingredients or artificial colors or flavors,

38
00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:17,800
Speaker 1: and that they don't have ingredients you can't pronounce, and

39
00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:20,840
Speaker 1: that it seems fairly simple, and look at how many

40
00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:25,200
Speaker 1: grams the serving sizes. But mark my words, unless it's

41
00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:28,200
Speaker 1: a tiny, little the one of those little insulting bags

42
00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:30,519
Speaker 1: of chips, it has three chips in some air, it's

43
00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:37,320
Speaker 1: gonna be grams and like hundred and fifty calories per serving.

44
00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:39,720
Speaker 1: So eat the goddamn chips that you like, put them

45
00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:42,760
Speaker 1: in a little bowl, have a serving, have at it.

46
00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:44,960
Speaker 1: Just don't eat the whole bag. Because the healthy ones

47
00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,000
Speaker 1: are the ones that you think that you can eat

48
00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:48,960
Speaker 1: the whole bag. That's the problem. That's the real reason

49
00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,359
Speaker 1: for the scam, at least the ones that are orange

50
00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:54,600
Speaker 1: and have ninety five ingredients. You know you shouldn't be

51
00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:57,200
Speaker 1: eating the whole entire bag. So really you end up

52
00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,760
Speaker 1: eating more of the ones that you think are healthy.

53
00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:06,160
Speaker 1: And oh, my skinny girl, microwave popcorn phenomenal beyond, like literally,

54
00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:09,519
Speaker 1: I think it's number two and low calorie microwave popcorn.

55
00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,200
Speaker 1: It's beyond. It's phenomenal, And there is no scam. It's

56
00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:14,119
Speaker 1: lower in calories than any of those it's not at all.

57
00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:16,400
Speaker 1: I told you about the chip scam. But try it.

58
00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:18,680
Speaker 1: You don't like it, you can complain here. What do

59
00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,000
Speaker 1: you think? What do you think about bagged chip scams?

60
00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,000
Speaker 1: My guest today is Melissa ben Ishe the creator of

61
00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,040
Speaker 1: Baits by Melissa. I'm such a fan of her and

62
00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,920
Speaker 1: her iconic miniature cupcakes. They are the go to dessert

63
00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:40,040
Speaker 1: for my daughter's birthdays. Today, Melissa shares with us how

64
00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:42,840
Speaker 1: she went from being fired from one job to launching

65
00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:46,760
Speaker 1: her bakery in literally just a few days. While she

66
00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,440
Speaker 1: is completely a free spirit, she also knows how to

67
00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:52,760
Speaker 1: follow her business instincts. She is the only guest so

68
00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:55,120
Speaker 1: far whose love for the grateful dead has led to

69
00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:58,480
Speaker 1: a multimillion dollar business. I'm fascinated by her ability to

70
00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:02,200
Speaker 1: pivot during the pandemic, not only thriving financially, but finding

71
00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:04,880
Speaker 1: a way to bring people together during such a stressful time.

72
00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:07,520
Speaker 1: This one is a real treat. You are going to

73
00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:17,960
Speaker 1: love her, and you're gonna love this podcast. Nice to

74
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,599
Speaker 1: meet you. Nice to meet you too. I feel like

75
00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:23,520
Speaker 1: we've met, but we haven't. But you're one of our

76
00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:28,000
Speaker 1: earlier supporters, so I appreciate it. I am. My daughter

77
00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,320
Speaker 1: loves your cupcakes and I always buy them in soho

78
00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,680
Speaker 1: that is that location is still open. We do have

79
00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:40,400
Speaker 1: a Soho window. That's very similar to the like original

80
00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:46,080
Speaker 1: Soho window. It's just like two blocks piece of the original. Um. Okay,

81
00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:51,160
Speaker 1: so you are Melissa and your business is baked by Melissa,

82
00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:54,520
Speaker 1: and I want to hear about your whole sort of

83
00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:58,400
Speaker 1: journey and your business and your struggles and your triumphs

84
00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:02,360
Speaker 1: and your TikTok uh and being a woman in business

85
00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,400
Speaker 1: and all that good stuff. So where where do you live?

86
00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:08,040
Speaker 1: You live in the city. I live in Hoboken, but

87
00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:12,279
Speaker 1: my business is based out of Manhattan. And you work

88
00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:15,919
Speaker 1: from home or you go somewhere. I go to the

89
00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:20,280
Speaker 1: office most days. I'm actually filming TikTok content today, so

90
00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:24,080
Speaker 1: we do that at my house. It's just easier because

91
00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,480
Speaker 1: I have a nice, bright white kitchen. Interesting. Um do

92
00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:30,760
Speaker 1: you find is TikTok now a business? Is it actually lucrative?

93
00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,320
Speaker 1: Because I think a lot of years ago, when I

94
00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:36,040
Speaker 1: wanted to do TikTok a social media person told me

95
00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:37,960
Speaker 1: it was really for eight to thirteen year old and

96
00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:42,640
Speaker 1: then it became more mom tent during the pandemic, and

97
00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:45,600
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people are wondering, like, what's

98
00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,159
Speaker 1: up with it? What's what is it for kids? Is

99
00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:50,640
Speaker 1: it for dancing. What's the point? So for you, is

100
00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:54,120
Speaker 1: it actually a business? Now? It depends how you look

101
00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:58,719
Speaker 1: at a business. So we know that when we're top

102
00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:04,520
Speaker 1: of mind for are our customers. That helps drive traffic

103
00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,560
Speaker 1: to our website. And for a while, I found myself

104
00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:11,560
Speaker 1: on TikTok like just enjoying the content. So right then

105
00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:14,880
Speaker 1: and there, I knew if I we so our customer

106
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,120
Speaker 1: is Jordan's she's a mom, working mom just like me.

107
00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:20,560
Speaker 1: I am our customer and I'm like, well, if I'm

108
00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:23,880
Speaker 1: spending time on TikTok, then our customers are too. And

109
00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:28,520
Speaker 1: I became like obsessed. And it turns out that I

110
00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:31,920
Speaker 1: am a big part of what makes our TikTok successful,

111
00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,919
Speaker 1: just creating. So we're just figuring out like how to

112
00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:40,960
Speaker 1: use the advertising on TikTok. And you know, once a

113
00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,599
Speaker 1: week we post the video of a limited edition cupcake

114
00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:46,400
Speaker 1: we have available where I'm making it. But it's also

115
00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:50,359
Speaker 1: a great creative outlet. It's giving me an opportunity to

116
00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:54,039
Speaker 1: do what I do best. And it's crazy. I see

117
00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:56,279
Speaker 1: people and they only want to talk about my TikTok.

118
00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:00,760
Speaker 1: So it's working. Is it direct monetization? In? Can I

119
00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:03,400
Speaker 1: tell you how much revenue TikTok is bringing in. No,

120
00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,400
Speaker 1: but it's keeping us top of mind. The brand's awareness

121
00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:09,880
Speaker 1: is incredible, and that's the first step. Okay. So you're

122
00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:14,280
Speaker 1: saying it's a flagship store, it's an advertisement. But directly

123
00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:17,600
Speaker 1: money directly coming into your bank account as a result

124
00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,080
Speaker 1: of posting these videos is not what's happening. It's basically

125
00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:23,360
Speaker 1: you're doing commercials showing who you are as a personality,

126
00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,400
Speaker 1: as an influencer, as a health advocate, as a mom.

127
00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,960
Speaker 1: It's that, is that what you're saying. Yes, I am

128
00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,840
Speaker 1: a creator first, and I would love for people to

129
00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,880
Speaker 1: look at Big Bye Melissa's TikTok as a place to

130
00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:42,480
Speaker 1: go to find recipes for everyday life. Got it? Okay,

131
00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:46,680
Speaker 1: I understand. Um, So it's PR two, it's not because

132
00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:49,120
Speaker 1: I don't think everyone understands that. So it's effectively like

133
00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:54,360
Speaker 1: a good PR strategy, and you get to drive the

134
00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:59,800
Speaker 1: message yourself very organically, literally, organically and figuratively organically. Okay.

135
00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,440
Speaker 1: So are you a chef by trade or you're just

136
00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:05,560
Speaker 1: a person who has a passion for healthy food. I

137
00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:08,280
Speaker 1: love food. I think about food all the time. I

138
00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:10,320
Speaker 1: can tell you what I'm having for lunch today because

139
00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:12,400
Speaker 1: I've been thinking about it since yesterday. Is that weird?

140
00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,040
Speaker 1: I just love food so much? What are you having

141
00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,600
Speaker 1: for lunch today? So? I made this mushroom soup that

142
00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:20,840
Speaker 1: my brother made for Thanksgiving and it was so good

143
00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:22,640
Speaker 1: that I made it when I got home from Thanksgiving.

144
00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:25,800
Speaker 1: I didn't make it a TikTok yet because I didn't

145
00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:28,800
Speaker 1: have the time. Um, so I'm gonna have that soup.

146
00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:31,840
Speaker 1: And then I also made marinated tofu with this me

147
00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,280
Speaker 1: so dressing that actually did go viral on TikTok, and

148
00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,000
Speaker 1: so I'm going to have that too, probably on like

149
00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:41,640
Speaker 1: a wrap or something. And and you clean up after

150
00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:43,480
Speaker 1: yourself when you do these videos, because I feel like

151
00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:45,959
Speaker 1: your kitchen must be a bomb every day. Yes, well

152
00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,359
Speaker 1: it's funny. So the savory recipes, the salads in particular,

153
00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:52,120
Speaker 1: I've been cooking, Like the best part of COVID is

154
00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,200
Speaker 1: that I had time to cook dinner for my family

155
00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:56,960
Speaker 1: every single day. I love to cook. I've been doing

156
00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:01,120
Speaker 1: that every day for the past thirteen years, whether it's

157
00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:04,800
Speaker 1: a TikTok or not. So the all of the savory

158
00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:08,040
Speaker 1: recipes that you see on TikTok, that's me in my kitchen,

159
00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,760
Speaker 1: either when my kids are watching TV on winding from

160
00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:15,240
Speaker 1: the day or whether when my husband's giving them a bath.

161
00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:17,400
Speaker 1: That's just me doing it. Because I'm going to cook

162
00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:19,320
Speaker 1: this thing anyway, I might as well make a great

163
00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,640
Speaker 1: TikTok out of it. Oh nice? And and who's filming them?

164
00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:24,040
Speaker 1: You know, you do it automat. You know how to

165
00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,720
Speaker 1: set it up so it's filming you like on a tripod. Yeah.

166
00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:30,120
Speaker 1: So so for all of the savory stuff, I just

167
00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:32,600
Speaker 1: have a tripod that I got on Amazon and I

168
00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,959
Speaker 1: just like put it. I have an eye for I

169
00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:39,400
Speaker 1: like it. It's a hobby. And then all of the

170
00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:43,680
Speaker 1: baked like the dessert um, I do with someone on

171
00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:47,079
Speaker 1: my team named Kathleen. She's sitting right here, um and

172
00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:51,600
Speaker 1: we spend Thursday, usually Thursdays together in my apartment. My

173
00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:54,680
Speaker 1: kids are obsessed with her and we bake like ten

174
00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:58,520
Speaker 1: recipes every Thursday. Okay, so you're built for this. This

175
00:09:58,559 --> 00:09:59,960
Speaker 1: isn't what we were going to talk about. But I'm

176
00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:02,800
Speaker 1: we just went into this road because you're built for this.

177
00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,280
Speaker 1: I'm not built for this. So I like to cook,

178
00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:06,640
Speaker 1: but just when I like to. I don't know if

179
00:10:06,679 --> 00:10:08,800
Speaker 1: you know what a tripod is. I don't even understand

180
00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:10,840
Speaker 1: social media. I don't know how to edit anything. I

181
00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:13,760
Speaker 1: don't I've never I don't own a lot at this laptop.

182
00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:15,959
Speaker 1: I'm honest. I think it's my assistance. I think its

183
00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:18,160
Speaker 1: landed from the sky. I don't have an iPad like.

184
00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:21,280
Speaker 1: So I'm fascinated by people like you who just naturally

185
00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:25,080
Speaker 1: have this gift for this, this modern sort of era

186
00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:27,640
Speaker 1: of what's going on. You're very lucky, like it doesn't

187
00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:29,959
Speaker 1: come naturally to me. I watched these moms, and it's

188
00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,679
Speaker 1: great that this has become this outlet for people. You're

189
00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:35,320
Speaker 1: already doing it, so it's just a new modern way

190
00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:39,240
Speaker 1: to sort of market what you're doing. And also as

191
00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:41,120
Speaker 1: a person that is a natural food chef that went

192
00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:43,000
Speaker 1: to school for food and healing, that's had a wheat

193
00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:47,320
Speaker 1: egg and very free baked goods company, who knows you're

194
00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:51,840
Speaker 1: baked by Melissa cupcakes. I watch that you're making salads,

195
00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:55,720
Speaker 1: which is not what you're selling. You're selling cupcakes. So

196
00:10:55,760 --> 00:11:00,520
Speaker 1: it's interesting because Stacy's pea chips, she was making sandwiches.

197
00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:03,240
Speaker 1: She was selling sandwiches on the street in the cold

198
00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:05,880
Speaker 1: in Boston. And the one thing that you can't run

199
00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,360
Speaker 1: out of when you're selling sandwiches is bread. You can

200
00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:10,520
Speaker 1: run out of salami or cheese or whatever, you can't

201
00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:12,760
Speaker 1: run out of bread. So they always had extra bread

202
00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:15,800
Speaker 1: and she would make these pieda chips, and that's what

203
00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:17,880
Speaker 1: she ended up selling for hundreds of millions of dollars

204
00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:20,600
Speaker 1: twenty years ago, that business. And I'm watching you and

205
00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:23,960
Speaker 1: I feel like it could end up being your salads

206
00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:28,880
Speaker 1: and this other healthy world that ends up being your ultimate,

207
00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:33,120
Speaker 1: real big success in calling cards. So I for entrepreneurs listening.

208
00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:37,080
Speaker 1: You never really know what road is going to be

209
00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:39,480
Speaker 1: the right road. You know, all roads leads to Rome,

210
00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:40,840
Speaker 1: and you've got to be in the car and and

211
00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:43,520
Speaker 1: sort of have your eyes open and look for the signs.

212
00:11:43,559 --> 00:11:45,960
Speaker 1: So that's what I'm getting from you and watching your content.

213
00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:50,160
Speaker 1: You're eating these sexy salads and you're like crunching that

214
00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:53,439
Speaker 1: ship like you're making love to it, and you're not

215
00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:56,600
Speaker 1: making love to the cupcakes. So I just wonder, you

216
00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:58,839
Speaker 1: know what's going to happen with this business. Well, it's

217
00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:01,160
Speaker 1: funny that you say that you think it's so important

218
00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,280
Speaker 1: to be able to follow your heart and just to

219
00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:05,720
Speaker 1: like go with your gut and intuition, and that's something

220
00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,959
Speaker 1: I've only really learned. I think I learned it six

221
00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:11,720
Speaker 1: years ago when I became a mom, that I actually

222
00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,960
Speaker 1: have these maternal instincts for my business. And it gave

223
00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:18,520
Speaker 1: me the sense of confidence through learning and my experiences

224
00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:21,680
Speaker 1: that I never had before. As far as TikTok goes,

225
00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:25,440
Speaker 1: you know, the technology side of it not my thing either,

226
00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,760
Speaker 1: But I spent time on the app, and I experimented

227
00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:31,920
Speaker 1: under my own like Melissa Banish I for a while

228
00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:35,520
Speaker 1: before I actually I uploaded something that went viral under Mine.

229
00:12:35,559 --> 00:12:36,640
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, I have to use

230
00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:38,920
Speaker 1: this for bake by Melissa. I just trust it. I

231
00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:40,880
Speaker 1: just knew there was an opportunity to learn it. And

232
00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:43,360
Speaker 1: the platform is super intuitive. You can do it. And

233
00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:45,720
Speaker 1: I've seen your TikTok's too, and I do think there's

234
00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:48,960
Speaker 1: something there. I think what makes TikTok incredible different from

235
00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:52,000
Speaker 1: any other social media platform is that anyone could be

236
00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,920
Speaker 1: successful at it if you give it your time, like

237
00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,720
Speaker 1: your your time. And I am a scrap booker first

238
00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:03,160
Speaker 1: and foremost, and so to me, TikTok is a virtual scrapbook,

239
00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:07,000
Speaker 1: so I get it interesting, like I love it. I

240
00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,800
Speaker 1: get it too. It's the next iteration of someone like

241
00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:12,520
Speaker 1: Justin Bieber becoming famous because of all these sort of

242
00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:15,160
Speaker 1: YouTube videos. It's just been next iteration of that. We've

243
00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,439
Speaker 1: just gone away from traditional media, and I think that

244
00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:20,959
Speaker 1: that's so interesting. No one's really picking up magazines unless

245
00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:23,040
Speaker 1: you're sitting in a nail salon anymore. So it's just

246
00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:38,240
Speaker 1: an evolution. So you as an entrepreneur, have you always

247
00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:42,720
Speaker 1: considered yourself an entrepreneur? It's a great question, yes, but

248
00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:47,199
Speaker 1: I didn't believe it always. Well that's your impostor syndrome

249
00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:49,520
Speaker 1: thing you talk about you You you haven't. We had

250
00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:52,480
Speaker 1: a traditional vision about what an entrepreneur was and that's

251
00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:55,079
Speaker 1: not you. So now you're sort of fitting into your

252
00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:58,440
Speaker 1: own skin of being a non traditional entrepreneur, which is

253
00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:00,760
Speaker 1: what literally everybody and I speak to here has had

254
00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:03,439
Speaker 1: a non traditional road to success. So that's kind of

255
00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:08,520
Speaker 1: what I want to hear about your upbringing, your relationship

256
00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:12,720
Speaker 1: to success in money and work ethic, and how you

257
00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:15,160
Speaker 1: got into this. I've heard that you've you got fired,

258
00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:18,240
Speaker 1: you failed, So how did you start? What did you

259
00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:19,640
Speaker 1: want to be when you grew up? And how did

260
00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:25,080
Speaker 1: you get to be this mom trepreneur. So growing up,

261
00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:28,760
Speaker 1: I had two wonderful, supportive parents. I still do so

262
00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:31,480
Speaker 1: not have. I have two wonderful and supportive parents. I

263
00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:34,600
Speaker 1: have an older brother who is my best friend. And

264
00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,160
Speaker 1: my mom always tells the story of how on the

265
00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:39,360
Speaker 1: way home from the hospital when I was born, my

266
00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:43,200
Speaker 1: brother was like, Melissa, that's a tree and that's a house,

267
00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:45,520
Speaker 1: like trying to teach me. And I love that story

268
00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:48,760
Speaker 1: because he's still the same with me today, like he's

269
00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:54,200
Speaker 1: trying to teach me. And growing up, my dad was

270
00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:57,080
Speaker 1: in the family business, so the dinner cop we had

271
00:14:57,120 --> 00:14:59,800
Speaker 1: eight dinner the family most nights of the week, I

272
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,120
Speaker 1: would hear the talk about business. My brother was very

273
00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:08,200
Speaker 1: entrepreneurial and very into business at a very early age.

274
00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:10,480
Speaker 1: He went to Syracuse University and he was in the

275
00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:15,320
Speaker 1: School of Entrepreneurship and Business, whereas I was very interested

276
00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:17,800
Speaker 1: in business because that's what I was around all the time.

277
00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:20,200
Speaker 1: I followed him to Syracuse. I was a child and

278
00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:24,760
Speaker 1: Family studies major. I it was like a like a

279
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:31,520
Speaker 1: earthy no, like like a pothead, like I'm not really yeah,

280
00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,400
Speaker 1: Like I wasn't really into school. I knew that I

281
00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:36,680
Speaker 1: just needed to get by. I would like go to

282
00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:38,920
Speaker 1: the gym every day, hang out with my friends, and

283
00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,560
Speaker 1: like make sure I was like passing. But I love

284
00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:45,960
Speaker 1: talking to my friends about business and you know, not

285
00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:49,240
Speaker 1: my A lot of my guy friends were in the

286
00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:52,040
Speaker 1: business school, and so it was fun. It was fun

287
00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:55,360
Speaker 1: to talk about business. I understood it. I think you

288
00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:59,720
Speaker 1: need something an idea that people either need or want,

289
00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,640
Speaker 1: then you can do it. I believe that, and you know,

290
00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:07,080
Speaker 1: that's what excites me and motivates me to work my

291
00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:11,480
Speaker 1: ass off every single day. So I got by. In college,

292
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:15,360
Speaker 1: I was excited about the interview process of getting a job.

293
00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:16,800
Speaker 1: I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I

294
00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:19,680
Speaker 1: knew that I just needed to get as many interviews

295
00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:22,840
Speaker 1: as I could. And I understood like going there, ask

296
00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:25,560
Speaker 1: them about themselves, what they like about their job, what

297
00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,440
Speaker 1: they think, you know, whatever, and it works. I guess

298
00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:31,200
Speaker 1: I'm good at the interview process. I got a job

299
00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:34,280
Speaker 1: that I didn't like. I stayed there for seven months.

300
00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:36,880
Speaker 1: It was like so boring, but I made good friends.

301
00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:39,560
Speaker 1: That's actually where I was when I made my first

302
00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,520
Speaker 1: badge of tidy cupcakes. They were grateful, dead themed for

303
00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:46,080
Speaker 1: a coworker. Then I got another job in advertising, which

304
00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:49,480
Speaker 1: is the one I was fired from. And the day

305
00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:51,480
Speaker 1: I was fired, I went to my brother's office, crying

306
00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:55,280
Speaker 1: from my cubicle, packing up my stuff. Go fired. He said, great,

307
00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:57,640
Speaker 1: it's the best thing that ever happened to you. Go home,

308
00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:00,360
Speaker 1: baker cup cakes, will start a business together. Was that

309
00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:03,560
Speaker 1: How old were you? That was? I was twenty four?

310
00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:08,159
Speaker 1: Uh that was June two thousand eight. He had just

311
00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:10,600
Speaker 1: moved into his very first office. He had a company

312
00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:15,960
Speaker 1: called muse Box Media, building websites for clients. I went

313
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,639
Speaker 1: home from his office the day I was fired, and

314
00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:22,440
Speaker 1: I baked four batchelors of cupcakes. Big cupcakes, not bite,

315
00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:25,560
Speaker 1: says my tie die that I had been known for

316
00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:28,800
Speaker 1: since baking those grateful dead tie die cup cakes, I

317
00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,399
Speaker 1: started baking them for everyone and anyone, because creating things

318
00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:35,240
Speaker 1: with my hands like makes me so happy. But then

319
00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:37,840
Speaker 1: to be able to give them to somebody as a

320
00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:41,119
Speaker 1: way to make the people I love happy for me,

321
00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:43,639
Speaker 1: that's everything. And that's what I get to do, truly

322
00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:47,040
Speaker 1: through Baked by Melissa Um and really through TikTok now,

323
00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:48,880
Speaker 1: which is why I love it. Yeah, I could tell

324
00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:51,480
Speaker 1: I get it out and you're wearing a tie die sweatshirt.

325
00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:54,119
Speaker 1: But I'm getting that now, getting it. So it's the

326
00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,800
Speaker 1: message for people listening. You're really doing exactly what you love.

327
00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:00,440
Speaker 1: So it's for me. I don't like sort of structure

328
00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:02,359
Speaker 1: and that kind of organization and like having to have

329
00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:05,199
Speaker 1: like a tripod or delighting like that all suffocates me.

330
00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:08,320
Speaker 1: I like sitting right here and talking and being curious

331
00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:11,479
Speaker 1: and just venting and ranting and going. So it's just different.

332
00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:14,560
Speaker 1: Like I'm getting why you're loving that you get to

333
00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:17,720
Speaker 1: sit down and create and share and talk about it,

334
00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:20,720
Speaker 1: and I'm getting it. I'm getting it. So I like that.

335
00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:24,159
Speaker 1: But but I I'm not good at structure an organization either.

336
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:27,760
Speaker 1: I I can relate to that so much. I do

337
00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:29,439
Speaker 1: know that I need to sort. And I'm sure you

338
00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:32,000
Speaker 1: know this too, Like you surround yourself with with people

339
00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:38,600
Speaker 1: who are superstructured and organized to to balance your your strength. Well,

340
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,760
Speaker 1: that's so funny, because I'm the most organized person you've

341
00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:43,960
Speaker 1: ever met in your life. There's not a mess nothing.

342
00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:46,800
Speaker 1: I just can't be shackled and we both probably have

343
00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:49,840
Speaker 1: that in common. I can't be like in a formatted

344
00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:52,200
Speaker 1: television show where you have to say something, do something

345
00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:54,920
Speaker 1: be something. I was terrible at a talk show because

346
00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:57,840
Speaker 1: it was a traffic cop and I felt trapped. It's

347
00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:00,560
Speaker 1: so funny. That's so I look at I'm not going

348
00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:02,560
Speaker 1: to say the name, but there are certain like talk

349
00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:04,320
Speaker 1: show hosts. 'm like, oh my god, that sounds like

350
00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:07,200
Speaker 1: the most. She's been doing it for so many years.

351
00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:10,119
Speaker 1: Like I don't blame her, like it's crazy, Like you

352
00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:12,840
Speaker 1: have no idea, You have no idea how terrible it is.

353
00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:16,320
Speaker 1: People that do that well make it look easy. It

354
00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:21,120
Speaker 1: is sheer torture. That nothing is worse than people like

355
00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,560
Speaker 1: on you like a pit crew from seven in the morning,

356
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:27,400
Speaker 1: about what you want to eat, about the cleavage, your lipstick,

357
00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:32,880
Speaker 1: your hem, the color, the background florals for spring. It's

358
00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:35,959
Speaker 1: a ship show. Clorox is advertising and when we come

359
00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:39,480
Speaker 1: back and after the break, ship show hated it. Okay,

360
00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:41,960
Speaker 1: So back to you. So you are twenty four, you

361
00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:46,000
Speaker 1: start baking cupcakes. Um, your brother believes in you. He's

362
00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:49,800
Speaker 1: your sort of mentor and spirit animal. And you've been

363
00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:55,200
Speaker 1: doing this for how many years now? Eighteen years now? Baking? Yeah,

364
00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:57,719
Speaker 1: I always love to bake. And there's like, like one

365
00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,440
Speaker 1: of my profile pictures on Facebook was like rear old

366
00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:03,160
Speaker 1: Melissa standing on a kitchen chair next to my dad

367
00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:07,560
Speaker 1: making something like but I mean professionally monetizing it. Oh

368
00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:11,040
Speaker 1: well at that point. So today it's been thirteen years.

369
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,600
Speaker 1: At the point that I was fired, I wasn't I

370
00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:17,600
Speaker 1: wasn't selling. I was just doing it as a hobby. Okay,

371
00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:22,199
Speaker 1: So it's been thirteen years, uh four fourteen years? You

372
00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,520
Speaker 1: considering are you successful? Now? Are you making money? Do

373
00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:27,520
Speaker 1: you can you do what you want? Is this a

374
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:32,719
Speaker 1: very successful business? By my definition of success is working

375
00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:35,639
Speaker 1: hard towards things that you love. And I have the

376
00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:39,600
Speaker 1: opportunity to work hard towards Bike By Melissa and my family.

377
00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:43,520
Speaker 1: I work my assaut for them. Um. But yes, I

378
00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,560
Speaker 1: am also successful. I make a living, I support my family.

379
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:50,160
Speaker 1: My husband is also actually employed by Baked by Melissa.

380
00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:55,560
Speaker 1: We met the day I opened that Soho window on

381
00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:59,800
Speaker 1: Spring Street. Wow. So he's so you work together and

382
00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:02,320
Speaker 1: do you own the business together? That's it? There are

383
00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:06,119
Speaker 1: no partners. Do you have investors? No? So I have

384
00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:09,639
Speaker 1: the equity in Baked by Melissa that you know, like

385
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,880
Speaker 1: if you're married, fine, we share everything. But but so

386
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:17,439
Speaker 1: that's my ownership and I do have so the story

387
00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:20,879
Speaker 1: of Baked by Melissa is like people always ask, oh,

388
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,840
Speaker 1: how much capital did you raise? You know, like people

389
00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:26,199
Speaker 1: go to this like really structured place like Oh no,

390
00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:29,359
Speaker 1: Like I actually surrounded myself with people who had skills

391
00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:32,280
Speaker 1: that I didn't, which is it's one of my mantras

392
00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:36,200
Speaker 1: in life to this day. So I went home, baked

393
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:38,280
Speaker 1: those cupcakes, set them into work with my best friend's

394
00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:40,520
Speaker 1: little sister. She was interning at a very well on

395
00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:45,159
Speaker 1: PR agency, and the caterer for the PR agency was

396
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:50,880
Speaker 1: there and the own Alison Broad from Alison Broad. Alison

397
00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:53,720
Speaker 1: connected me to Ben the day the day after I

398
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:57,480
Speaker 1: was fired, and Ben calls me that day, the day

399
00:21:57,520 --> 00:21:59,840
Speaker 1: after the Melissa's ben Zion, I'd like to bring you

400
00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:02,359
Speaker 1: to my house for tasting. So I went there. He's

401
00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:04,119
Speaker 1: one of my co founders. My brother is one of

402
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,520
Speaker 1: my co founders. It's it's it's a whole. So you

403
00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,680
Speaker 1: have partners. Ben is your partner. He's my co founder. Yes,

404
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:14,879
Speaker 1: I'm the only founder who's involved in the business today. Okay,

405
00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,440
Speaker 1: so he's your co founder. He's not involved in the

406
00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:20,520
Speaker 1: business anymore. What is the what can are you allowed

407
00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:22,760
Speaker 1: to say? What sales? How much sales you're doing and

408
00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:24,920
Speaker 1: what the goal is and you let's talk like specific

409
00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:28,320
Speaker 1: business numbers. We typically don't go into too much detail.

410
00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:32,639
Speaker 1: We're privately owned, but since two thousand and eighteen, we've

411
00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:37,760
Speaker 1: tripled our eCOM revenue. Okay, and what is the goal?

412
00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,159
Speaker 1: Do you want to keep this business in your family?

413
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:41,399
Speaker 1: Do you want to sell it? Do you need to

414
00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:44,520
Speaker 1: take on a bigger partner to really grow? What struggles

415
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,399
Speaker 1: are you having with having do you still consider yourself

416
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:50,080
Speaker 1: a small business? By definition? Bake by Meliss is a

417
00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:54,919
Speaker 1: small business. We're growing. I think one of my struggles

418
00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:00,639
Speaker 1: or something I am aware of every day is I

419
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:04,920
Speaker 1: we have to keep acting small as we grow. Like

420
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,640
Speaker 1: my passion and love for Bake by Melissa absolutely plays

421
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,399
Speaker 1: role in our success. I know that my crazy I'm

422
00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:16,239
Speaker 1: fucking crazy, sorry I said buck, But like like a lunatic, like,

423
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,879
Speaker 1: it's the people. The people are what allows us to

424
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:23,040
Speaker 1: grow this thing. I get to like take credit for it,

425
00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:25,360
Speaker 1: you know, to the public, like I get to talk

426
00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:28,679
Speaker 1: to you today, How cool is that? But it's my team,

427
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,000
Speaker 1: Like I'm the face of my whole team working hard.

428
00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:34,919
Speaker 1: So I think there are a lot of things that

429
00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,359
Speaker 1: I'm focused on today that I wasn't always focused on

430
00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:40,000
Speaker 1: because I just had more bandwidth to like know everyone's

431
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,320
Speaker 1: birthday and what they like for dinner and all of

432
00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:44,400
Speaker 1: these things. But I think that play is really big girl.

433
00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:50,280
Speaker 1: We are we do want strategic partner or we want

434
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:54,680
Speaker 1: to have the ability to grow more. I have never

435
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:57,960
Speaker 1: had so much faith in this company. I became CEO

436
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,840
Speaker 1: of Bake by Melissa two years ago next week actually,

437
00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:05,480
Speaker 1: and I never wanted to be CEO. I didn't have

438
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,440
Speaker 1: any aspirations to be in this role. But under a

439
00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,560
Speaker 1: certain circumstances, my board was like, yep, Melissa is going

440
00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:13,800
Speaker 1: to be interim CEO of Fake By Melissa will figure

441
00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:16,200
Speaker 1: it out. And then two months later we were in

442
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 1: a global pandemic and how like it was the best

443
00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:23,520
Speaker 1: experience outside of my comfort zone. Hold on, slow down,

444
00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:27,920
Speaker 1: because people listening are budding entrepreneurs and they've learned through

445
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:30,080
Speaker 1: the show that there are so many different roads. So

446
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:31,960
Speaker 1: you said a couple of things. So first of all,

447
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:34,119
Speaker 1: my business is probably around a hundred million dollars. I

448
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:35,600
Speaker 1: don't know if I consider that to still be a

449
00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:39,280
Speaker 1: small business. Okay, you, um, I don't have a board.

450
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:43,240
Speaker 1: You have a board. I don't really have a CEO

451
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,000
Speaker 1: that's sort of been named because I don't have a

452
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 1: board that said there had to be one. I have

453
00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 1: a CEO, which I didn't have in this whole decade

454
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:54,000
Speaker 1: until last year. So for people listening, there are so

455
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:55,840
Speaker 1: many ways to do this, and none of us really

456
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,920
Speaker 1: know what we're doing, which is why, Melissa you've talked

457
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:01,680
Speaker 1: about in pastor synd own. Because one day you'll wake

458
00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:03,160
Speaker 1: up and all of a sudden you'll say, wait a second,

459
00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:05,320
Speaker 1: maybe I should bring on somebody who's gonna give me

460
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:07,880
Speaker 1: money and then they're gonna infuse, they'll be a strategic

461
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:10,040
Speaker 1: partner so I don't have to be so stressed all

462
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:12,199
Speaker 1: the time. And then someone like Mark Cuban will say, well,

463
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:13,720
Speaker 1: what do you want the money for? Because then you

464
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,320
Speaker 1: have some different boss telling you. It's like there's so

465
00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:18,199
Speaker 1: many different ways, and you have to figure out for

466
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:20,800
Speaker 1: yourself whether you want a partner, whether you want a board,

467
00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:22,879
Speaker 1: whether you want a CEO, whether you're the CEO. Like,

468
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,200
Speaker 1: there's no right answer, so hold on. So you have

469
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:29,120
Speaker 1: how many employees do you have that work for the company?

470
00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:32,560
Speaker 1: Bake Melissa, how many employees are there? Down to uh,

471
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:35,800
Speaker 1: salaried employees. Let's say, well, so we have the bakery,

472
00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:38,159
Speaker 1: and we have retail, and we have our corporate office

473
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,600
Speaker 1: and all together that's around two that's a big that's

474
00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:43,359
Speaker 1: a see that. To me, that's not a small business.

475
00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:46,639
Speaker 1: That's a big miss. I have ten people, twelve people

476
00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:50,159
Speaker 1: including literally my driver, like I to twelve people. So

477
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:54,080
Speaker 1: you would think it's nice. It's not. Yeah, it's nice.

478
00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:57,000
Speaker 1: So you have two hundred people. We could be making

479
00:25:57,040 --> 00:25:59,480
Speaker 1: the same amount of money because you you could be

480
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:01,680
Speaker 1: selling more are or less, but you have more people

481
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 1: to pay. I have bigger expenses. I mean, it's so

482
00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:05,760
Speaker 1: many different ways to do it. So you have two

483
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:10,680
Speaker 1: people and you have a board. So what when did

484
00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:13,120
Speaker 1: you create a board? And what do you do as

485
00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:15,320
Speaker 1: a CEO? What does all that mean? Because you're this

486
00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,160
Speaker 1: free spirit? Yes, and I'm more of a free spirit

487
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:20,120
Speaker 1: than you, because I don't have a CEO. I am

488
00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:21,640
Speaker 1: the CEO, but I don't even know what that means.

489
00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,119
Speaker 1: So that's all beyond me. So we found that the

490
00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:26,439
Speaker 1: company in two thousand and eight. My brother was like

491
00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 1: the vision, like it's his vision, and that that really

492
00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:32,440
Speaker 1: started and built Baked by Melissa. He did all the

493
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:34,800
Speaker 1: ship that I didn't want to do. He also was

494
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,399
Speaker 1: our CEO. So one day into the thousand and nine,

495
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 1: let's say he went around to like me and my

496
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:43,920
Speaker 1: co founders and divisions, like, I want to be CEO

497
00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:46,879
Speaker 1: and he should be. He was absolutely the leader and

498
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:48,199
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, there needs to be

499
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:51,520
Speaker 1: one person making the decisions. When I hear that there

500
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:53,479
Speaker 1: are close CEOs for a business, I'm like, what how

501
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:57,400
Speaker 1: does that work? But okay, oh yeah, okay, so I'm

502
00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 1: the CEO, Yes, exactly. It's the person who has it

503
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:03,520
Speaker 1: all on them no matter what it's like when COVID

504
00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,679
Speaker 1: hits like I'm the one and that's not you know

505
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,440
Speaker 1: it is, Well, it wasn't me. I had my big

506
00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 1: brother telling me what to do, and so he was

507
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:15,119
Speaker 1: our CEO for eight years. I oversaw the product that

508
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:17,280
Speaker 1: was the face of the brands. You know, I was

509
00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:22,080
Speaker 1: the Penny Lane right like the like the inspiration and

510
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:26,480
Speaker 1: whatever the brand. And then the talent. You were the talent, yes,

511
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:32,240
Speaker 1: the talent. And then my brother is like a true entrepreneur,

512
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,200
Speaker 1: he needed to go and continue creating like running uh,

513
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:40,400
Speaker 1: like small business is not like where he excels, which

514
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:44,120
Speaker 1: I and I saw that firsthand. He wasn't really happy anymore.

515
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:50,679
Speaker 1: So we hired his replacement, who was incredible. He he

516
00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,919
Speaker 1: had this incredible experience. He was my biggest fan. He

517
00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:59,480
Speaker 1: his greatest strength was people and empowering people. And he

518
00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:01,159
Speaker 1: used to me all the time, like, you could be

519
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,480
Speaker 1: a sea level executive. You could do anything. And what

520
00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:06,640
Speaker 1: I learned from him is that it's not rocket science.

521
00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:09,320
Speaker 1: I needed that so bad. He also brought me back

522
00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:12,480
Speaker 1: to life. Working with my brother was incredible, Like we're

523
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,800
Speaker 1: still best friends. But for all of you out there

524
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:19,399
Speaker 1: who have siblings, try working with your sibling. That was

525
00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:22,080
Speaker 1: probably the most challenging thing, not to mention the fact

526
00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:24,720
Speaker 1: that I have I'm one of five co founders. We

527
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,480
Speaker 1: all have this tremendous love and passion for this one child. Essentially,

528
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:31,240
Speaker 1: can you imagine, Oh my god, No, I don't I

529
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,200
Speaker 1: want to get into that, because I'm I don't understand

530
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:38,160
Speaker 1: how during a pandemic having fourteen locations and how an

531
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 1: e commerce business is paying five founders and two hundred employees.

532
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:44,880
Speaker 1: And I know you're not getting into details because I'm not.

533
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,320
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not being nosy. I actually want to

534
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,880
Speaker 1: understand how you're managing that. That doesn't sound easy because

535
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:56,000
Speaker 1: people are listening want to scale their business and trust

536
00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,800
Speaker 1: and believe, if I had two hundred employees and five founders,

537
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:02,920
Speaker 1: I would be broke. So yes, okay. So the CEO

538
00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:06,240
Speaker 1: that we hired, I loved him. He brought me back

539
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:09,280
Speaker 1: to life and he taught me so much. And then unfortunately,

540
00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:12,520
Speaker 1: on December fifth, two and nineteen, it comes to light

541
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:16,360
Speaker 1: that he did something illegal at a previous job and

542
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:19,600
Speaker 1: he fled guilty to it, and so he couldn't be

543
00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:23,680
Speaker 1: our CEO anymore. That's it. Sorry and wow. And at

544
00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:25,160
Speaker 1: the end of the day, you know what, it's always

545
00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:27,320
Speaker 1: been on me? Right who who? I? I went into

546
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:30,640
Speaker 1: my investor's office and I said, don't worry. I knew

547
00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 1: I had to be common, cool as a cucumber, and

548
00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:36,080
Speaker 1: like I am, like that's my whatever. Everything's always okay,

549
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:37,640
Speaker 1: Like it's fine. As long as you have your health,

550
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 1: it's gonna it's gonna be fine. So I went in

551
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:41,480
Speaker 1: there and I was like, it's gonna be okay, don't worry,

552
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:43,880
Speaker 1: it's gonna be Like what are we gonna do? It's

553
00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:46,959
Speaker 1: gonna be fine. We we a board call, so like

554
00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:50,720
Speaker 1: who's on our board? You know, my brother picked somebody

555
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 1: that he, you know, had great relationship with. My investor

556
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:56,840
Speaker 1: has somebody who he put on our board. It's like

557
00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:00,360
Speaker 1: at an advisory it's when ship like this happens, who

558
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,280
Speaker 1: you gonna call? Who do you trust to get together

559
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,200
Speaker 1: to be like what the hell are you gonna do?

560
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:07,960
Speaker 1: So we had a we decided to have a board

561
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:11,480
Speaker 1: call that evening at six pm. I'm standing that's my bedroom.

562
00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:13,280
Speaker 1: I'm standing in the door of my bedroom on the

563
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:17,160
Speaker 1: board call, and they're like, Melissa's Melissa's gonna be CEO.

564
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:21,280
Speaker 1: Like it wasn't even a question for them. I like,

565
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:23,920
Speaker 1: feel it right now. Even tell you I look bad,

566
00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:28,360
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm gonna be see you, see you Okay.

567
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,440
Speaker 1: But I love it because you don't grow unless you

568
00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:33,600
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to go outside of your comfort zone

569
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:35,760
Speaker 1: and truth like, no matter what you're doing, if you're

570
00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:37,840
Speaker 1: doing the same thing every single day and you don't

571
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:41,200
Speaker 1: have that change or jolt, that it's boring, like it

572
00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:44,560
Speaker 1: truly is. So I was like it took me like

573
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 1: thirty seconds. I'm like, okay, like this is gonna be great.

574
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:50,560
Speaker 1: That's so funny that you thought of it is so different.

575
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:53,000
Speaker 1: I'm so shocked by this, Like what, you didn't do

576
00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:54,920
Speaker 1: anything different? What did you walk into an office of

577
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,320
Speaker 1: the briefcase like I sit home in pajamas every day,

578
00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,800
Speaker 1: Like what nothing had to be different. I love having

579
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,719
Speaker 1: abody responsible for the pian l like I love it,

580
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,400
Speaker 1: like I love that my focus is the brand and

581
00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:09,400
Speaker 1: the product and the marketing and all the fun stuff

582
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:12,280
Speaker 1: that I am truly the best at. Don't show me

583
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:14,960
Speaker 1: cash flow and the balance sheet and the pian l

584
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,960
Speaker 1: like well, like you see that. Now you see cash

585
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,280
Speaker 1: flow and the balance sheet. Now, of course, it's my

586
00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:23,800
Speaker 1: job to make sure that the business is healthy like

587
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:28,960
Speaker 1: but I but but so I hired I believe in

588
00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:31,920
Speaker 1: it's so important to own your weaknesses, like I know

589
00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 1: what I'm good at, I know what I'm not good at,

590
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:35,719
Speaker 1: and I'll be the first one to tell you when

591
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:40,280
Speaker 1: I'm wrong. Or I think that's so important. So I

592
00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:43,520
Speaker 1: hired the best CFO I could find. He's my partner,

593
00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 1: but obviously so. But anyway, I got it. I walked

594
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:50,239
Speaker 1: to the subway the next morning listening to Rocky. I

595
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:53,760
Speaker 1: was up all night, like you know, crafting what we're

596
00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:57,479
Speaker 1: gonna say, you know, yeah, So and so is no

597
00:31:57,560 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 1: longer the CEO of bake Bie Melissa. It has nothing

598
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:04,480
Speaker 1: to do with us. Is entirely personal to him. Effective immediately,

599
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:07,680
Speaker 1: I am going to be CEO big By Blissa, And

600
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,320
Speaker 1: they all stood up and clapped for me. That was

601
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:16,000
Speaker 1: like amazing. I mean, this was like the who's there? Oh?

602
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:18,320
Speaker 1: I thought like this was a press to something. I'm like,

603
00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:22,040
Speaker 1: lam laugh, Okay, got it. That's hysterical. You're so, but

604
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:25,920
Speaker 1: you're so. You're so casual, but you're so. You're much

605
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:28,720
Speaker 1: more like sort of formal and corporate than I am.

606
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:31,040
Speaker 1: I'm looking at you and it's just so funny. The

607
00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:33,680
Speaker 1: way you're describing yourself is so free spirited, but you're

608
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:37,040
Speaker 1: very official, like we're running a mom and pop shop

609
00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,600
Speaker 1: over here. But it's just funny that this is the

610
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:42,200
Speaker 1: point to people listening, that there's so many ways to

611
00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 1: do this, so jump in and just figure it out

612
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,760
Speaker 1: for yourself. You have a very corporate vibe going on. Well,

613
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:50,680
Speaker 1: to be clear, I have an investor. So he made

614
00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:53,160
Speaker 1: a personal investment into the company in like two thousand

615
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:56,440
Speaker 1: and twelve, and then he started a fund and made

616
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:59,400
Speaker 1: a bigger investment while my brother was CEO, and so

617
00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 1: when you have that type of money in your business

618
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,800
Speaker 1: and it wasn't a huge investment by any means, but

619
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:06,760
Speaker 1: he has a seat at the table and I mean,

620
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:09,720
Speaker 1: now he's are you know, a very big shareholder bag

621
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:13,200
Speaker 1: by Melissa and we've been working together for a long time.

622
00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:17,360
Speaker 1: Seth has like been by my side through this whole thing,

623
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:22,160
Speaker 1: and quite honestly, like I don't as much as I say,

624
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:25,280
Speaker 1: like it's all on me, I don't know everything, Like

625
00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:29,120
Speaker 1: I I looked to my team for for almost like

626
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:31,200
Speaker 1: there are things that I know certainly in my guts.

627
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:33,080
Speaker 1: Sometimes I can't even back it up with data, but

628
00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:35,640
Speaker 1: I don't care, like you're not going to get it,

629
00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:37,960
Speaker 1: like this is this is what we're doing. But that's

630
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 1: very more rare. So I do think it's important to

631
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:49,120
Speaker 1: to know to have those people right and for so long. Yeah,

632
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:52,160
Speaker 1: and Seth was up with me all night, like you know,

633
00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: he was even crazier about it than I was. But

634
00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:57,520
Speaker 1: what was so interesting is that I was so out

635
00:33:57,520 --> 00:33:59,840
Speaker 1: of my comfort so and he believed in me from

636
00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 1: the from that moment, like from when they were like okay,

637
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:04,160
Speaker 1: wellis is going to be CEO? He came and stood

638
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:06,440
Speaker 1: right next to me while I told my whole corporate

639
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:09,800
Speaker 1: office and sent the email to all of the two people.

640
00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:11,759
Speaker 1: You know, it's a lot of people, and you have

641
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:13,960
Speaker 1: to lead by example. And if you don't believe it,

642
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:16,600
Speaker 1: they don't believe it. And if you don't follow the structure,

643
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,279
Speaker 1: and if you don't do what's right, then why would they?

644
00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:22,799
Speaker 1: So when you have I have this responsibility to like

645
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:27,400
Speaker 1: all of these people who are judging me all the time,

646
00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:30,360
Speaker 1: I like it. I like what you're saying because the

647
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:32,000
Speaker 1: truth of the matter is, and I struggle with this

648
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:34,840
Speaker 1: I have. I am the only I own a d

649
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:39,319
Speaker 1: of this Skinny Girl brand. And the challenge with that

650
00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:43,279
Speaker 1: is that I'm the only one who really feels the

651
00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 1: burn and the pain and the stress and the anxiety

652
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:49,040
Speaker 1: and the threat of cancelation and all of that. It

653
00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:51,600
Speaker 1: really is on me, and I'm in you know. And

654
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:54,319
Speaker 1: so that's a lot. That's a lot. It's an absolute lot,

655
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:56,840
Speaker 1: because you can't really get other people are totally invested

656
00:34:56,840 --> 00:34:59,080
Speaker 1: in loyal and amazing, but you can't get somebody else

657
00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:01,439
Speaker 1: to be as invest sit in it as you when

658
00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,680
Speaker 1: you're really the whole thing. And that's just something for

659
00:35:04,719 --> 00:35:07,120
Speaker 1: people to listen to and learn. You have many people

660
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,359
Speaker 1: that they have actual money they've invested, so they give

661
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,719
Speaker 1: a ship as much as you, and they're betting on

662
00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:15,160
Speaker 1: you and you are the face. So that's a different

663
00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:18,200
Speaker 1: responsibility and that's just something for people to think about

664
00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:20,520
Speaker 1: whether they want to have partners or not, because that's

665
00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:23,080
Speaker 1: something that no one will ever care as much as

666
00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:25,400
Speaker 1: you if it's your business, but you have it's not

667
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:29,440
Speaker 1: just your businesses, other people's business too. Skin in the game, right,

668
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:31,880
Speaker 1: do you offer sort of pri I bet you're like,

669
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:33,480
Speaker 1: do you have a profit sharing for the two hunch

670
00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:35,279
Speaker 1: of people or do they have upside? I bet you

671
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:38,080
Speaker 1: they do. A lot of some a lot of them do,

672
00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:41,080
Speaker 1: like a handful of them do. And quite honestly, I

673
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:44,360
Speaker 1: think the hardest part of my job is banned with

674
00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:47,279
Speaker 1: there's never enough time, like those are the things I need.

675
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:49,879
Speaker 1: I actually mentioned it on my executive call this morning.

676
00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:51,680
Speaker 1: I'm like, we need to talk about that because we're

677
00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:54,120
Speaker 1: getting to the end of the year and it's really

678
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:58,320
Speaker 1: all about like providing our people with the support and

679
00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:02,960
Speaker 1: making sure that they know how they performed and what

680
00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:07,720
Speaker 1: they need to be doing next year to be better,

681
00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:24,400
Speaker 1: so with the pandemic. I said in the beginning that

682
00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:27,319
Speaker 1: people had to not be a deer in headlights, and

683
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:31,719
Speaker 1: that when there's big seismic shifts that there are like

684
00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:34,759
Speaker 1: gold mines and that fish will just be in a

685
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:36,760
Speaker 1: different place, and you have to pull your ship together

686
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:38,719
Speaker 1: and try to like watch the horizon and see where

687
00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:41,000
Speaker 1: it's going to be. Versus everyone being panicked. I knew

688
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:43,279
Speaker 1: that what goes up must come down. It's just it's

689
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:45,799
Speaker 1: just it's a snow globe. It was shaken up, and

690
00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:49,960
Speaker 1: it happened for me personally in my business where exploded

691
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:53,279
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to keep up with it, Like it's

692
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:55,200
Speaker 1: hard to keep up with then, And that doesn't mean

693
00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:58,080
Speaker 1: like it's embarrassment of riches. A lot of things did

694
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:02,920
Speaker 1: really well, but mistakes happened when things explode and you're

695
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:04,239
Speaker 1: not sort of preparing, you know what I mean, Like

696
00:37:04,239 --> 00:37:06,160
Speaker 1: you always prepared, but I overshot the mark. I was

697
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:08,520
Speaker 1: trying to tell everybody else about that, but it happened

698
00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:11,359
Speaker 1: to me personally in my own business, so nobody knows.

699
00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:13,600
Speaker 1: Everybody looks at us and they're like, oh my god,

700
00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:15,080
Speaker 1: they have the best life. I want to be like that.

701
00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:19,040
Speaker 1: It's sucking hard. It's really really hard. So whatever, I

702
00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:21,800
Speaker 1: get that. So what happened? So you have a small business,

703
00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:24,360
Speaker 1: it's it's you have. You had a lot of retail locations.

704
00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:27,360
Speaker 1: You're probably riding high. Everything was going well, so retail

705
00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:31,000
Speaker 1: locations slowed down. Tell me what happened? Well. So, so

706
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:34,239
Speaker 1: December five, CEO, And by the way, like we're in

707
00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:36,560
Speaker 1: it again right this second, because in November twenty nine,

708
00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:40,439
Speaker 1: like we're in our busiest three week sprint of the year,

709
00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:44,440
Speaker 1: like leading up to Christmas. And then right after Christmas

710
00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:47,160
Speaker 1: we're like, okay, now it's Valentine's Day, Like we're already

711
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:51,520
Speaker 1: like in Valentine's Day because it comes right after and

712
00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:55,600
Speaker 1: that's the single highest volume week of our year leading up.

713
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:59,040
Speaker 1: So I was able to we we had like the

714
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:02,279
Speaker 1: most successful holiday and then Christmas in the history of

715
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:05,200
Speaker 1: the company when I after I became CEO, which was great.

716
00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:09,600
Speaker 1: I needed that to happen. And then on you know COVID.

717
00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:11,799
Speaker 1: Everyone's talking about COVID. I remember I was at my

718
00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:13,719
Speaker 1: bakery for a photo shoot. That's where we shoot all

719
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:16,200
Speaker 1: of our product. I'm sitting at a little folding table.

720
00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:19,960
Speaker 1: The March second, my brother's telling me like he's scared

721
00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:22,560
Speaker 1: a little bit, like about COVID, and I was like,

722
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:24,200
Speaker 1: I don't have the luxury to be scared, like I

723
00:38:24,239 --> 00:38:26,880
Speaker 1: have a business to run. It wasn't really like it

724
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:29,879
Speaker 1: didn't click for me yet. Then on the way home

725
00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:33,360
Speaker 1: from that photo shoot, the mayor of homeokay and closed school,

726
00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:35,719
Speaker 1: I'm in maneuber. I had all my team coming back

727
00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:38,160
Speaker 1: to my apartment. I was like, let's just be together tonight,

728
00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:41,200
Speaker 1: let's have dinner, which was so random, and my parents

729
00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:43,480
Speaker 1: were sitting in the corner of my apartment like keeping

730
00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:45,760
Speaker 1: their distance as a holy ship. This thing is real.

731
00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:48,600
Speaker 1: What whatever I canna do with my kids? And then

732
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,799
Speaker 1: my investor was like all right, like layoff, Like what

733
00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:55,239
Speaker 1: are we gonna do? Like like we saw revenue just

734
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:59,520
Speaker 1: go right down those like uh March twelfth, right, that

735
00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:03,799
Speaker 1: was like that, like revenues is going down, down down,

736
00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:05,840
Speaker 1: foot traffic to the stores were down. The sounds like

737
00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:09,440
Speaker 1: se year over year week over Oh my god, Like

738
00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:12,440
Speaker 1: it was just crazy. And so my I had my

739
00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:15,560
Speaker 1: investormating like like started thinking about layoffs, you know, blah

740
00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:18,280
Speaker 1: blah blah, And I was like, give me till Friday,

741
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:21,600
Speaker 1: Like I needed, like everything was changing so quickly, and

742
00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:24,200
Speaker 1: my team is everything, Like I get it, Like give

743
00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:26,400
Speaker 1: me till the next paycheck, like let me just figure

744
00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:30,120
Speaker 1: this out. And so this is when you just like

745
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:34,160
Speaker 1: fake finalist is my firstborn child. It is a part

746
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:36,719
Speaker 1: of me. I had like a wave. I think I

747
00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:40,160
Speaker 1: was watching CNN and like, oh my god, like we

748
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:42,680
Speaker 1: need to keep people safe. Like that is what I

749
00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:45,400
Speaker 1: believe in the fact that as a leader, I didn't

750
00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:49,080
Speaker 1: have a leader of this country or this like like

751
00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:52,319
Speaker 1: telling me what to do was mind blowing. I was like,

752
00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:54,759
Speaker 1: you know what, it's my responsibility as a leader. If

753
00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:57,520
Speaker 1: I have an impact on anybody else, then I'm during

754
00:39:57,520 --> 00:39:59,560
Speaker 1: the right thing. We closed all of our stores. That

755
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:02,400
Speaker 1: sad all day the thirteenth, I believe it was. And

756
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:04,799
Speaker 1: so I just had this wave over me, like we

757
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:07,120
Speaker 1: have to close the stores. We have to keep people safe.

758
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:09,440
Speaker 1: And I called my investor, like Seth, I was like,

759
00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:10,840
Speaker 1: we have to close the stores. It's like, all right,

760
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:13,520
Speaker 1: close the stores. Send out an email through our scheduling

761
00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:17,520
Speaker 1: software we're closing tomorrow, like we'll figure it out. And

762
00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:23,040
Speaker 1: then um we we did do layoffs the following Friday

763
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:28,560
Speaker 1: of Hourly Hourly workers, including people in our bakery because

764
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:31,919
Speaker 1: e come was also down. Everyone was in the state

765
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:34,920
Speaker 1: of shock. I guess I also left out that, like

766
00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:38,120
Speaker 1: even before that though, before I went to that photo shoot.

767
00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:42,560
Speaker 1: So it's like March one, you see people stocking at

768
00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:45,160
Speaker 1: my toilet paper canceling events. We have a B two

769
00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:48,040
Speaker 1: B business where like it's like event orders and client gifting,

770
00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:51,239
Speaker 1: and people were canceling their orders. I got, I got

771
00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:54,040
Speaker 1: my creative team in my conference room on my guys,

772
00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:57,040
Speaker 1: I don't care that you have newsletters planned and campaigns planned.

773
00:40:57,239 --> 00:40:59,520
Speaker 1: We need to change what we're telling people. We need

774
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:01,920
Speaker 1: to connect with our customers. They're looking to us and

775
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:04,280
Speaker 1: we're trying to sell them shipped for like birthday parties.

776
00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:07,280
Speaker 1: That doesn't make any sense. So we changed our messaging

777
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:09,640
Speaker 1: right away to like you can't be there to celebrate

778
00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:13,840
Speaker 1: in person, send cupcakes, stock up on cupcakes, you know,

779
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:18,120
Speaker 1: And I do think that worked. Actually, we like I do,

780
00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:21,560
Speaker 1: I believe so like a broken record, like our customer,

781
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:24,759
Speaker 1: similar to my team. Our customer allows us to do

782
00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:27,040
Speaker 1: what we love every day. And the more we can

783
00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:30,000
Speaker 1: connect with our customer and help them through life and

784
00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:32,480
Speaker 1: give them things that make their lives easier and sweeter

785
00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:35,919
Speaker 1: than the better we're doing as a company. So we

786
00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:38,640
Speaker 1: I think we really were. We were good at connecting

787
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:41,439
Speaker 1: with our customer like, hey, like we're in it too.

788
00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:43,560
Speaker 1: We don't know what's happening, but have some cupcakes, Like

789
00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:45,680
Speaker 1: send cupcakes. You can't be there in person with your

790
00:41:45,719 --> 00:41:48,879
Speaker 1: loved ones. We were getting pictures of like year old

791
00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:51,640
Speaker 1: Grandma's in the nursing home with cupcakes, like thank you

792
00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:54,520
Speaker 1: so much for bringing a smile, Like we couldn't be together,

793
00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:56,959
Speaker 1: but she was happy. And that was through you're saying,

794
00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:00,479
Speaker 1: conveying through social media and through your website. That's what's

795
00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:04,239
Speaker 1: that's where this messaging is happening and digital marketing and

796
00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:07,719
Speaker 1: so like we send out newsletters to our you know,

797
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:10,760
Speaker 1: group of customers that have opted into receiving our newsletter,

798
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:14,600
Speaker 1: which is like hundreds of thousands of people. Um like

799
00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:18,239
Speaker 1: you know, direct ads and social ads. I mean, like

800
00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:21,719
Speaker 1: we pay for ads on social media that so did

801
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:23,799
Speaker 1: you are you were you? Are you up since the

802
00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:26,080
Speaker 1: pandemic or you broke even? Are you back to normal?

803
00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:30,759
Speaker 1: Like what was the net situation? So we close our

804
00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:38,480
Speaker 1: stores about a week later, become exploded, Like I was

805
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:41,640
Speaker 1: I just knew failure wasn't an option. I was gonna

806
00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:43,799
Speaker 1: go drive the pick of the drive the FedEx truck

807
00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:45,520
Speaker 1: if I had to, like I was gonna do. I

808
00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:48,480
Speaker 1: was gonna die, like to do whatever I need to do.

809
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:51,440
Speaker 1: I was like in the bakery, like you know, showing everyone.

810
00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:56,080
Speaker 1: So anyway, we like did the PP the bakery. We

811
00:42:56,080 --> 00:43:00,920
Speaker 1: we uh social distancing PPE. We get our bayre sanitized

812
00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:03,239
Speaker 1: three times a week. Then we had to like tell

813
00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:06,160
Speaker 1: everyone to get them back to work. Like we we

814
00:43:06,239 --> 00:43:09,360
Speaker 1: created one shooters like your safety is our top priority.

815
00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:11,399
Speaker 1: This is what we're doing to get you safe and

816
00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:14,319
Speaker 1: bring it home and show your family. And that helped

817
00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:16,880
Speaker 1: us get and all this class money though you shot

818
00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:19,879
Speaker 1: your locations. You're spending money. Yeah, this all class money. Okay,

819
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:22,399
Speaker 1: so you're doubling down. We got the p PP loan,

820
00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:26,759
Speaker 1: which was helped up. We we did layoffs because we

821
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:29,959
Speaker 1: looked at the we looked at cash, and we could

822
00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:33,919
Speaker 1: have survived like a month, like truly, like so we

823
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:36,640
Speaker 1: were just what are we gonna do? Like so we

824
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:38,759
Speaker 1: went all in on safety getting people to come back.

825
00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:42,279
Speaker 1: We did see the demand for e com really go up.

826
00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:44,799
Speaker 1: I mean birth our birthday skew. Our Happy Birthday gift

827
00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:47,839
Speaker 1: box is our number one selling skew. But it was up, like,

828
00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:51,359
Speaker 1: I mean, we couldn't get the gift box isn't fast enough?

829
00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:56,760
Speaker 1: Like so that was great and we I have remember

830
00:43:56,800 --> 00:44:01,839
Speaker 1: saying to my investor, like my investors number two basically

831
00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:04,960
Speaker 1: like we were all talking like all the time, right

832
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,799
Speaker 1: like this is everybody was do or die mode. And

833
00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:11,320
Speaker 1: so one night I said, Hey, Blake, how much revenue

834
00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:13,640
Speaker 1: do we need to do an e coom to offset

835
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:16,879
Speaker 1: the loss at retail. He's like, you're you're crazyna. Give

836
00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:19,319
Speaker 1: me that number. I just need that number. I'm so

837
00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:22,760
Speaker 1: goal oriented, so I'm like I can need that number.

838
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:25,160
Speaker 1: I need the number that I'm working towards. And we

839
00:44:25,200 --> 00:44:27,560
Speaker 1: did it. Like that was it. I was like late

840
00:44:27,719 --> 00:44:30,520
Speaker 1: dead set on what we needed to do at ECB

841
00:44:30,840 --> 00:44:33,960
Speaker 1: to offset retail. And I mean then you get into

842
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:36,120
Speaker 1: like the legistics of it, like if my CFOs here

843
00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:39,440
Speaker 1: is like yeah, but the margins are different for shipping

844
00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:41,640
Speaker 1: because you have all of the costs of goods. You

845
00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:43,600
Speaker 1: have the shipping box, you have the ice pack, dude,

846
00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:46,600
Speaker 1: the liners. But revenue was up. But net net as

847
00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:49,279
Speaker 1: a business, are you up down or even as a

848
00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:51,600
Speaker 1: result of the pandemic. Did it help you in any

849
00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:53,759
Speaker 1: way figure out what you really needed didn't need and

850
00:44:53,840 --> 00:44:57,279
Speaker 1: shift your entire business? Is it better not not? The

851
00:44:57,320 --> 00:45:01,160
Speaker 1: health assign for your business? Was it better or worse

852
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:03,120
Speaker 1: to learn all of this? Is you have a better

853
00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:08,120
Speaker 1: business now? Better? Okay better? And but and it's I

854
00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:13,480
Speaker 1: am like the most annoyingly positive person in the world.

855
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:16,320
Speaker 1: Like even though I made it sound like it's great

856
00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:19,600
Speaker 1: to have like five co founders that it investors, you know,

857
00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:23,080
Speaker 1: like like it's so important to understand and so like

858
00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:27,200
Speaker 1: to take the good. But for the business, it was great.

859
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:32,160
Speaker 1: We're a directive We're a digital first directive consumer gifting company,

860
00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:36,600
Speaker 1: and our website is our flagship store. So everybody feels

861
00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:38,680
Speaker 1: this is a success and it's a win. What happened?

862
00:45:38,719 --> 00:45:41,800
Speaker 1: Like no one's still suffering from wounds. Everyone feels like, wow,

863
00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:44,560
Speaker 1: we did it and now we're on the up. That's

864
00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:48,200
Speaker 1: like it was so you learned. One is even harder.

865
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:52,160
Speaker 1: This year is much harder for me than COVID was. Actually, Okay,

866
00:45:52,160 --> 00:45:53,960
Speaker 1: why let's hear about that because that's the back end

867
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,400
Speaker 1: of COVID. So why I think of anybody who's like listening,

868
00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:00,400
Speaker 1: like how are you doing? Like like you know, like

869
00:46:00,520 --> 00:46:03,640
Speaker 1: and and so much of Big By Melissa is my team.

870
00:46:03,719 --> 00:46:06,319
Speaker 1: It's the people and like I'm burnt out, but I

871
00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:10,000
Speaker 1: have no you know, like it's it's it's exhausting, like

872
00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:12,399
Speaker 1: we've been in this global pet I'm having a hard time.

873
00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:14,640
Speaker 1: I feel the same way. So I don't know. We're

874
00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:18,520
Speaker 1: not really aware of exactly why I feel the exact

875
00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:20,759
Speaker 1: same way. I have deal fatigue. I want to get

876
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:23,840
Speaker 1: off the ride. I I get it, I fully get it.

877
00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:25,480
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going on. I don't know why

878
00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:27,479
Speaker 1: it's going on. I don't know what's upset. I feel

879
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:30,080
Speaker 1: the same way. So it might be the aftermath of that.

880
00:46:30,360 --> 00:46:33,120
Speaker 1: Who knows. Yes, we're making money, but it just feels

881
00:46:33,160 --> 00:46:34,880
Speaker 1: harder to do so I don't know what to do,

882
00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:37,920
Speaker 1: which way to turn. It's it's exhausting. It could be

883
00:46:37,920 --> 00:46:39,480
Speaker 1: being a mom, it could be balancing, and it could

884
00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:41,799
Speaker 1: be all we've been through with school. But I feel

885
00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:43,839
Speaker 1: the same way that you feel. So that's good for

886
00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:46,799
Speaker 1: people to hear. And I'm sure, yeah, and I'm sure

887
00:46:46,840 --> 00:46:49,520
Speaker 1: that like you and I kind of reacted the same

888
00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:52,000
Speaker 1: way what you were saying before like, oh my god,

889
00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:55,520
Speaker 1: my friends were freaking out about like toilet paper and white.

890
00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:58,320
Speaker 1: I'm like, get your head on straight, like your kids

891
00:46:58,320 --> 00:47:01,080
Speaker 1: are watching you, like you make light of it. Your

892
00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:03,279
Speaker 1: kids are gonna be fine, Like they're so worried about

893
00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:05,320
Speaker 1: the impact it's gonna have with their kids, Like they're fives,

894
00:47:05,320 --> 00:47:08,080
Speaker 1: they're three. It doesn't matter, Like just be happy, don't

895
00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:11,040
Speaker 1: show your stress. Everything's gonna be okay, Like we're yes,

896
00:47:11,239 --> 00:47:14,960
Speaker 1: you know so. But but now it's like first it's

897
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:17,680
Speaker 1: I think everyone has burned out. So like my team

898
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:20,920
Speaker 1: like has burned out, and I've watched we want like

899
00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:26,120
Speaker 1: since May, we had more turnover than we've ever had,

900
00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:29,040
Speaker 1: and I don't I don't take it personally. That's good

901
00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:32,600
Speaker 1: that you're being honest about that. You're saying morale is down.

902
00:47:32,680 --> 00:47:34,839
Speaker 1: That happens in my business too. It's ship. The ship

903
00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:36,840
Speaker 1: flows downwards. If it's the morale can be down, it

904
00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:38,880
Speaker 1: could be something going on with your personal life. It

905
00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:41,719
Speaker 1: could be something going on with anything, your brother, working

906
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:45,120
Speaker 1: with your spouse, money, you're on whatever, hormones. Who knows.

907
00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:47,080
Speaker 1: The morale can be down, and then you have to

908
00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:48,799
Speaker 1: just like look at it and try to correct it.

909
00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:50,960
Speaker 1: But that happens to me totally. You've been stuck in

910
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:53,320
Speaker 1: your house for twenty months. You're you want to be

911
00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:57,560
Speaker 1: your Yeah, so you're not traveling, you're not tan, You're

912
00:47:57,560 --> 00:48:00,800
Speaker 1: not you know, free, and not exercising. I'm that exercise.

913
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:03,680
Speaker 1: I don't exercise, and I'm really not exercising. Your hips

914
00:48:03,760 --> 00:48:06,000
Speaker 1: hurt from sitting down all day. I was like doing

915
00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:09,360
Speaker 1: stretches before before while I was like waiting to start.

916
00:48:09,440 --> 00:48:11,799
Speaker 1: It's a ship show. So but so you know where

917
00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:13,640
Speaker 1: I'm spending my time right now, and this is what

918
00:48:13,760 --> 00:48:16,040
Speaker 1: being the CEO is. We're doing a cooking class my

919
00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:19,840
Speaker 1: whole team. Because you know what, people love the relationships

920
00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:23,160
Speaker 1: they build played and simple, and if you want people

921
00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:26,440
Speaker 1: to love their job, then they need to build relationships.

922
00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:28,200
Speaker 1: I'm not going to force my team to come into

923
00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:30,319
Speaker 1: the office because they did an incredible job in the past.

924
00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:33,120
Speaker 1: That's weird too. Now you have at homeworking and people

925
00:48:33,160 --> 00:48:35,360
Speaker 1: you don't know what it does. Nothing seems normal anymore.

926
00:48:35,400 --> 00:48:37,080
Speaker 1: Like we have to have a structure being here, but

927
00:48:37,160 --> 00:48:40,480
Speaker 1: be aware, like it's very weird, it's very strange. So

928
00:48:40,560 --> 00:48:42,399
Speaker 1: I like that you're being honest about that because it's

929
00:48:42,440 --> 00:48:44,799
Speaker 1: totally how I feel. We I tried to do. I

930
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:48,160
Speaker 1: do virtual baging demos like for people. Sometimes I was like, okay,

931
00:48:48,200 --> 00:48:50,080
Speaker 1: let's do one for bake bite Melissa with somebody's I

932
00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:51,759
Speaker 1: get like three people came. I'm like, okay, well, if

933
00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:53,000
Speaker 1: you don't want to come to say, what are you

934
00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:56,960
Speaker 1: gonna do? And so now people even there's like a

935
00:48:57,040 --> 00:48:59,200
Speaker 1: few people who really don't want to come into the

936
00:48:59,239 --> 00:49:01,879
Speaker 1: office anymore. It's fine. They're all doing an incredible job.

937
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:04,960
Speaker 1: So I just need to create opportunities to get together.

938
00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:07,080
Speaker 1: We had a couple of happy hours and once a

939
00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:09,520
Speaker 1: week we're doing something to bring people. But it's still

940
00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:12,680
Speaker 1: weird and it lacks structure. Lacks structure, and that's strange,

941
00:49:12,680 --> 00:49:15,640
Speaker 1: like no one's working as efficiently from home. No, because

942
00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:19,120
Speaker 1: you need collaboration. I agree, yeah, I agree, I know,

943
00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:21,759
Speaker 1: but we're all like this all day, Like with my

944
00:49:21,880 --> 00:49:25,200
Speaker 1: neck words. I I had a consultation with an acupuncturist

945
00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:29,040
Speaker 1: last week, and I think he goes we facetimes, he

946
00:49:29,120 --> 00:49:32,560
Speaker 1: goes shrubby your tugue. It's like you're just empty, you're tired.

947
00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:37,000
Speaker 1: I'm like, thank you, but I know it was it

948
00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:40,799
Speaker 1: was so validating it's so funny. I put a scar fun.

949
00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:42,480
Speaker 1: I tried to every day. I'm trying like now, I'm

950
00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:44,160
Speaker 1: like I'm getting up and putting clothes on in the morning,

951
00:49:44,200 --> 00:49:46,480
Speaker 1: not just like they're sweatish and I have slippers on.

952
00:49:46,560 --> 00:49:48,160
Speaker 1: But I put a scar fun. I know it sounds weird.

953
00:49:48,200 --> 00:49:50,759
Speaker 1: I was like, I want to look, I have jewelry on. Yeah.

954
00:49:50,960 --> 00:49:52,839
Speaker 1: I never used to do my hair, but like I

955
00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:56,120
Speaker 1: need to sometimes, like because I'm gonna start doing my hair.

956
00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:57,719
Speaker 1: I didn't do my hair, but I brushed my hair

957
00:49:57,719 --> 00:49:59,960
Speaker 1: all right, I took a shower. I'm usually just like

958
00:50:00,040 --> 00:50:02,279
Speaker 1: a top on. I like, but then now my hair

959
00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:04,320
Speaker 1: is so healthy because I don't do anything, you know,

960
00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:06,680
Speaker 1: I don't even have opportunities to like do the pr

961
00:50:06,760 --> 00:50:09,839
Speaker 1: as much. It's like all virtual exactly, all right. So

962
00:50:10,080 --> 00:50:12,640
Speaker 1: a couple of just a few more questions. So you

963
00:50:12,640 --> 00:50:16,520
Speaker 1: are mistakes, your biggest mistakes, your biggest mistakes, and your

964
00:50:16,520 --> 00:50:19,480
Speaker 1: biggest fears. I want to hear about that what you

965
00:50:19,520 --> 00:50:21,319
Speaker 1: really have screwed up on and like they were just

966
00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:24,640
Speaker 1: mistakes and you just you know, I I loves I

967
00:50:24,680 --> 00:50:27,320
Speaker 1: like I hate to sound like a freaking kindergarten teacher.

968
00:50:27,520 --> 00:50:31,439
Speaker 1: But like mistakes are so important. I I like say

969
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:33,480
Speaker 1: the same things on interviews I say to my five

970
00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:36,360
Speaker 1: year old, but like if you don't make mistakes, you

971
00:50:36,440 --> 00:50:39,840
Speaker 1: don't learn, you don't grow. I think owning your mistakes

972
00:50:39,960 --> 00:50:42,759
Speaker 1: is very important. One of my strengths, said weaknesses. It's

973
00:50:42,800 --> 00:50:44,480
Speaker 1: like I'm on a job interview right now, but I

974
00:50:44,520 --> 00:50:47,680
Speaker 1: mean it is that I'm very trusting, but I own it.

975
00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:51,759
Speaker 1: What's the alternative? Same being one of those like like

976
00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:54,759
Speaker 1: I know negatives, like you're you thinking? I mean my

977
00:50:54,800 --> 00:50:56,799
Speaker 1: brother is more of like the opposite where it's like

978
00:50:56,840 --> 00:50:58,960
Speaker 1: he thinks every everyone's out to get him, which is

979
00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:01,440
Speaker 1: like also good and like you need that balance. But

980
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:04,759
Speaker 1: like you only live once, and and it's the people, right,

981
00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:07,120
Speaker 1: Like if I didn't trust the people that I spent

982
00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:11,080
Speaker 1: all my time with, then yes. But but I heard

983
00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:13,560
Speaker 1: something on yellow Stone last night and he's one of

984
00:51:13,560 --> 00:51:15,680
Speaker 1: this like the characters on a horse. I don't know

985
00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:18,839
Speaker 1: it was. It was actually Tim McGraw. He said, try

986
00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:22,319
Speaker 1: you don't trust until they've earned it. So maybe that's

987
00:51:22,320 --> 00:51:24,879
Speaker 1: a good I'm saying because people listening want to learn

988
00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:27,600
Speaker 1: from whatever your mistakes, or even if you've grown from them.

989
00:51:27,680 --> 00:51:32,480
Speaker 1: So I too. I've been stolen from I've been scammed,

990
00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:35,440
Speaker 1: I've been had people try to get me canceled just

991
00:51:35,480 --> 00:51:39,760
Speaker 1: because I'm you know, a target. So you can be trusting,

992
00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:41,840
Speaker 1: but trust has to be earned. Let's just let's put it.

993
00:51:42,080 --> 00:51:43,600
Speaker 1: Let's put a button on that one at least so

994
00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:47,200
Speaker 1: it has some sort of message to people. Moral. Yeah,

995
00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:50,840
Speaker 1: my dad, my dad is also you know, he's runs

996
00:51:50,840 --> 00:51:54,239
Speaker 1: the business, and he like since we started business, like

997
00:51:54,400 --> 00:51:57,840
Speaker 1: don't be don't be too trusting or don't get too attached,

998
00:51:57,840 --> 00:51:59,879
Speaker 1: like they're gonna leave you. Everybody leaves you and get

999
00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:03,440
Speaker 1: know what everybody leaves except for like my vice president.

1000
00:52:03,560 --> 00:52:06,000
Speaker 1: So you can't be too trusting, but you can't be negative,

1001
00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:08,280
Speaker 1: and you can't be bitter. Doesn't mean you're you're bitter,

1002
00:52:08,400 --> 00:52:10,440
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean you're seeing the lass is half empty.

1003
00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:13,239
Speaker 1: Just be cautious, right, cautiously trusting, and you have to

1004
00:52:13,239 --> 00:52:15,839
Speaker 1: be knowing that sometimes people are going to disappoint you.

1005
00:52:15,880 --> 00:52:18,080
Speaker 1: But I'd rather have it that way, So I think

1006
00:52:18,680 --> 00:52:22,279
Speaker 1: I think that's a big one. Well, for me, loyalty

1007
00:52:22,440 --> 00:52:25,759
Speaker 1: and hard work is more important than loyalty and hard

1008
00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:27,960
Speaker 1: work is more important to me than intelligence. It always

1009
00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:30,160
Speaker 1: has been like if you're loyal and hard working, it's

1010
00:52:30,160 --> 00:52:32,319
Speaker 1: the most important. If I don't trust someone, I don't.

1011
00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:34,560
Speaker 1: I have people that I won't feel emotionally safe with

1012
00:52:34,640 --> 00:52:36,759
Speaker 1: when I work with them, and it might be in

1013
00:52:36,760 --> 00:52:40,080
Speaker 1: a very trusting package. They seem trusting. If I feel unsettled,

1014
00:52:40,200 --> 00:52:42,000
Speaker 1: it's like you gotta go with your gut, but you

1015
00:52:42,120 --> 00:52:45,080
Speaker 1: but you trust exactly. But like, okay, so my CEO,

1016
00:52:45,520 --> 00:52:48,920
Speaker 1: who taught me more than any class I ever took,

1017
00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:51,600
Speaker 1: should I have not trusted him because you know what,

1018
00:52:51,760 --> 00:52:54,279
Speaker 1: like my gut for like I knew in my gut,

1019
00:52:54,400 --> 00:52:57,520
Speaker 1: deep deep doubt that something was off. I remember, and

1020
00:52:57,560 --> 00:53:00,320
Speaker 1: we worked again. We worked together for three years. I

1021
00:53:00,360 --> 00:53:02,880
Speaker 1: remember like telling my husband, who also know about like

1022
00:53:02,960 --> 00:53:05,120
Speaker 1: something is off. We've been working together a year. There's

1023
00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:08,279
Speaker 1: still nothing that I like, don't like about him, Like

1024
00:53:08,320 --> 00:53:10,719
Speaker 1: there something is off. But you know what, would I

1025
00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:13,040
Speaker 1: change anything I did? Like a very I think we're

1026
00:53:13,040 --> 00:53:15,160
Speaker 1: doing great and like look at me now, like I

1027
00:53:15,239 --> 00:53:18,480
Speaker 1: wouldn't have had that opportunity. It sounds like you probably

1028
00:53:18,520 --> 00:53:20,960
Speaker 1: didn't see something. It sounds like because it happened to me,

1029
00:53:21,360 --> 00:53:23,600
Speaker 1: I'm sure that there's a couple of dollars missing from

1030
00:53:23,600 --> 00:53:26,200
Speaker 1: the cash register that you don't even know about. But

1031
00:53:26,280 --> 00:53:28,040
Speaker 1: you learned a lot from that person too, and he

1032
00:53:28,080 --> 00:53:30,319
Speaker 1: had a lot of benefits also, but you at least

1033
00:53:30,320 --> 00:53:33,000
Speaker 1: saw the signs. Most people get stolen from their brothers,

1034
00:53:33,040 --> 00:53:36,280
Speaker 1: their business managers, like it happens, So you should be

1035
00:53:36,440 --> 00:53:38,719
Speaker 1: rightfully paranoid. When you're running a business, you have to

1036
00:53:38,760 --> 00:53:42,520
Speaker 1: be paranoid. And I noticed everything I don't I forget.

1037
00:53:42,560 --> 00:53:44,400
Speaker 1: I miss nothing. There's a book on a shelf if

1038
00:53:44,440 --> 00:53:46,799
Speaker 1: it's missing, if there's a sesame scene that's out of

1039
00:53:46,800 --> 00:53:48,759
Speaker 1: a jar. I noticed that. I don't know why, and

1040
00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:51,920
Speaker 1: everyone around me knows that. So if people know that

1041
00:53:51,960 --> 00:53:55,520
Speaker 1: you're not just sort of some dumb dumb talent that

1042
00:53:55,600 --> 00:53:58,759
Speaker 1: doesn't know what's going on, then they at least know

1043
00:53:58,840 --> 00:54:01,440
Speaker 1: that you're away, Meaning you don't have to be so

1044
00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:05,200
Speaker 1: paranoid because you just But if you feel something, it's

1045
00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:07,000
Speaker 1: not something that you can risk, like you feel for

1046
00:54:07,040 --> 00:54:09,279
Speaker 1: a reason. You have a mother's intuition, and I have

1047
00:54:09,400 --> 00:54:11,960
Speaker 1: felt things in business and I have been correct, so

1048
00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:13,960
Speaker 1: I just act upon them. But if I don't feel safe,

1049
00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:16,400
Speaker 1: if I feel something's wrong, and you don't want to

1050
00:54:16,440 --> 00:54:19,040
Speaker 1: deal with the change in the business, tough ship got

1051
00:54:19,160 --> 00:54:21,120
Speaker 1: to change. It's just you could feel it. So that's

1052
00:54:21,160 --> 00:54:23,279
Speaker 1: what I think about that situation. I don't know the guy,

1053
00:54:23,320 --> 00:54:25,880
Speaker 1: but I know that there's definitely something that you were

1054
00:54:25,920 --> 00:54:28,040
Speaker 1: feeling and it's probably correct and it's good that you

1055
00:54:28,719 --> 00:54:32,440
Speaker 1: cut bait. And I think that like as far as

1056
00:54:32,520 --> 00:54:35,319
Speaker 1: strengths go, and I do think this is important and

1057
00:54:35,360 --> 00:54:38,040
Speaker 1: it's it's hard to do. I'm a silent killer. Like

1058
00:54:38,120 --> 00:54:41,480
Speaker 1: it's very hard to like let like people like look

1059
00:54:41,520 --> 00:54:43,799
Speaker 1: at me. I'm so I smile like sometimes you're like,

1060
00:54:43,840 --> 00:54:46,560
Speaker 1: oh you're so pretty, like chick up like whatever, but

1061
00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:49,879
Speaker 1: you know what, I don't really care, like let let

1062
00:54:49,960 --> 00:54:53,640
Speaker 1: them think. I'm just like this pretty face. That's Suzanne Summers.

1063
00:54:53,640 --> 00:54:56,640
Speaker 1: That's Kelly Rippa, the cute little pixie bluff, you know.

1064
00:54:56,800 --> 00:54:59,560
Speaker 1: That's that's that. Those are Kelly RiPP Kelly rip was

1065
00:54:59,719 --> 00:55:02,560
Speaker 1: so smart, she's shark, but she's an a cute little

1066
00:55:02,600 --> 00:55:04,600
Speaker 1: package to no one takes her took her seriously. Well,

1067
00:55:04,640 --> 00:55:06,880
Speaker 1: she's winning. And same thing with Suzanne Summers as a

1068
00:55:06,920 --> 00:55:10,680
Speaker 1: dune blonde on Three's company. So those that's good. I'm

1069
00:55:10,680 --> 00:55:13,640
Speaker 1: not a silent killer, right, Like I don't mean an

1070
00:55:13,680 --> 00:55:16,920
Speaker 1: ego like I I don't have an ego like I

1071
00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:20,040
Speaker 1: I and since way before like being CEO, you know,

1072
00:55:20,200 --> 00:55:24,560
Speaker 1: I've had to see that the board for ever since

1073
00:55:24,600 --> 00:55:27,480
Speaker 1: we created that board, and like I would watch things

1074
00:55:27,600 --> 00:55:30,080
Speaker 1: and who knew I would find myself in this situation.

1075
00:55:30,200 --> 00:55:33,640
Speaker 1: But I just like let them watch me, you know.

1076
00:55:34,360 --> 00:55:36,719
Speaker 1: And it doesn't really matter what people think as long

1077
00:55:36,760 --> 00:55:39,000
Speaker 1: as you know who you are. And I think what

1078
00:55:39,120 --> 00:55:43,279
Speaker 1: I had the wonderful opportunity to do is like go

1079
00:55:43,360 --> 00:55:46,440
Speaker 1: out of my comfort zone, improve myself for myself first,

1080
00:55:46,880 --> 00:55:49,839
Speaker 1: and I think that's what everyone needs to focus on.

1081
00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:53,560
Speaker 1: It's very easy to say, like, oh, this person wronged me,

1082
00:55:53,680 --> 00:55:56,319
Speaker 1: or like if they would have done this different, like whoa, whoa, whoa,

1083
00:55:56,440 --> 00:55:58,160
Speaker 1: Like we're not going to ever be able to control

1084
00:55:58,239 --> 00:56:00,480
Speaker 1: other people. The only thing you could could control is

1085
00:56:00,480 --> 00:56:02,880
Speaker 1: the way that you respond to the things that happen

1086
00:56:02,960 --> 00:56:06,680
Speaker 1: to that are completely out of your control. And by

1087
00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:10,719
Speaker 1: owning that. And I read one book that like like

1088
00:56:10,760 --> 00:56:14,080
Speaker 1: everything clicked, Like it's called The Games People Play because

1089
00:56:14,120 --> 00:56:18,160
Speaker 1: I was having some trouble in my relationships and it's

1090
00:56:18,200 --> 00:56:20,759
Speaker 1: just like made me realize, like I am always going

1091
00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:24,200
Speaker 1: to have like a high emotional intelligence and I can't

1092
00:56:24,280 --> 00:56:27,840
Speaker 1: let anybody who doesn't have a negative impact on me.

1093
00:56:27,960 --> 00:56:29,719
Speaker 1: I can don't see you coming and that they don't

1094
00:56:29,760 --> 00:56:32,080
Speaker 1: see you coming, and that's okay. Not everything needs to

1095
00:56:32,080 --> 00:56:34,279
Speaker 1: be said, not everything needs to be seen, and not

1096
00:56:34,400 --> 00:56:36,520
Speaker 1: every dot needs to be connected, as long as you

1097
00:56:36,560 --> 00:56:49,560
Speaker 1: know exactly the last thing I want to talk about,

1098
00:56:49,600 --> 00:56:52,440
Speaker 1: because I talk about successful relationships on the show on

1099
00:56:52,600 --> 00:56:56,840
Speaker 1: what that means? You work with your husband? So what

1100
00:56:56,920 --> 00:56:59,239
Speaker 1: the hell does that mean? What is how does that work?

1101
00:57:00,480 --> 00:57:02,520
Speaker 1: Because I'm asking you a different question because I'm just

1102
00:57:02,520 --> 00:57:06,160
Speaker 1: talking about usually relationships, So how does that work with

1103
00:57:06,800 --> 00:57:10,880
Speaker 1: gender as it relates to finances, as it relates to partnership,

1104
00:57:10,960 --> 00:57:14,680
Speaker 1: as it results to masculinity, all that stuff? Like how

1105
00:57:15,040 --> 00:57:19,960
Speaker 1: to balance all that so everyone feels valued and you

1106
00:57:19,960 --> 00:57:22,920
Speaker 1: know you're the boss. We fell in love using cupcakes.

1107
00:57:22,960 --> 00:57:25,000
Speaker 1: I hired him to help me with deliveries. I just

1108
00:57:25,040 --> 00:57:26,920
Speaker 1: didn't have time. I was just twenty four year old

1109
00:57:27,040 --> 00:57:29,200
Speaker 1: running all this stuff. I never worked a day in

1110
00:57:29,240 --> 00:57:32,440
Speaker 1: retail um And then we kind of we signed a

1111
00:57:32,520 --> 00:57:35,160
Speaker 1: lease for a bakery like ten tho square feed and

1112
00:57:35,160 --> 00:57:37,360
Speaker 1: we were both going there every day, and that definitely

1113
00:57:37,400 --> 00:57:39,840
Speaker 1: took navigating. I think that was actually the most challenge,

1114
00:57:39,960 --> 00:57:45,560
Speaker 1: like when there wasn't clear structure and accountability, that was

1115
00:57:45,600 --> 00:57:49,120
Speaker 1: a challenge, but we put real So we both work

1116
00:57:49,200 --> 00:57:53,520
Speaker 1: on product development. I conceptualize everything and he basically makes it.

1117
00:57:53,680 --> 00:57:56,560
Speaker 1: So he like bakes every cupcake that new flavor, and

1118
00:57:56,640 --> 00:58:01,520
Speaker 1: he's also responsible for other things. So separate spaces physically

1119
00:58:01,560 --> 00:58:04,720
Speaker 1: in a home and also in business, separate, separate quadrants.

1120
00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:07,160
Speaker 1: He reports to my CFO. He will never report to me.

1121
00:58:07,240 --> 00:58:09,800
Speaker 1: I don't want him to report to me. And and

1122
00:58:10,120 --> 00:58:12,680
Speaker 1: and you know what, thank God, like he's happier and

1123
00:58:12,720 --> 00:58:16,400
Speaker 1: more motivated than ever before because my CFO is incredible

1124
00:58:16,520 --> 00:58:19,520
Speaker 1: and I love him, so I think that is a

1125
00:58:19,520 --> 00:58:21,400
Speaker 1: big part of it. And then as it really so,

1126
00:58:21,440 --> 00:58:26,200
Speaker 1: my husband is not American. He is from Israel, and

1127
00:58:26,320 --> 00:58:31,680
Speaker 1: you know, culturally there are differences which are also challenges sometimes.

1128
00:58:31,760 --> 00:58:34,200
Speaker 1: You know, I grew up like a very certain way,

1129
00:58:34,360 --> 00:58:37,720
Speaker 1: and and so he is very hands on. He somebody

1130
00:58:37,720 --> 00:58:39,400
Speaker 1: who once told me like, oh wait till you see

1131
00:58:39,440 --> 00:58:42,560
Speaker 1: he's gonna have maternal instincts. I'm like, okay, he he

1132
00:58:42,680 --> 00:58:48,200
Speaker 1: is a very hands on father. And I think I think,

1133
00:58:49,040 --> 00:58:53,600
Speaker 1: like we just being married and like relationships take work,

1134
00:58:53,640 --> 00:58:56,920
Speaker 1: it's it's it's hard. So like I think the biggest

1135
00:58:56,960 --> 00:58:59,919
Speaker 1: thing for us is that like, hey, I'm very good

1136
00:59:00,120 --> 00:59:03,320
Speaker 1: like owning my I've apologize. There's always something you can

1137
00:59:03,360 --> 00:59:06,600
Speaker 1: apologize for when you screw up. But I think, like

1138
00:59:06,840 --> 00:59:11,000
Speaker 1: I need him, Like I can't do my job as

1139
00:59:11,480 --> 00:59:15,280
Speaker 1: as CEO of Baked by Melissa without a supportive husband

1140
00:59:15,360 --> 00:59:18,800
Speaker 1: who plays a role in my house with my children

1141
00:59:18,840 --> 00:59:22,320
Speaker 1: as the father, Like he looks forward to the knights

1142
00:59:22,360 --> 00:59:24,920
Speaker 1: where I have a baking demo, and like he's with

1143
00:59:24,960 --> 00:59:27,200
Speaker 1: the kids in our bedroom. They have like parties in

1144
00:59:27,280 --> 00:59:29,400
Speaker 1: our bed and they get to watch movies and eat

1145
00:59:29,400 --> 00:59:32,360
Speaker 1: snacks and like so they look forward to when mommy works,

1146
00:59:32,400 --> 00:59:35,680
Speaker 1: that's amazing. Or you know, if I he picks up

1147
00:59:35,720 --> 00:59:38,080
Speaker 1: the girls from school or when they were in daycare,

1148
00:59:38,160 --> 00:59:40,440
Speaker 1: like he would do the pickup, so I would do

1149
00:59:40,560 --> 00:59:42,880
Speaker 1: drop off and because I'm a morning person, like get

1150
00:59:42,920 --> 00:59:45,320
Speaker 1: them there and work. So you have a true partner.

1151
00:59:46,000 --> 00:59:49,080
Speaker 1: You have a true partner. What I've been through that

1152
00:59:49,160 --> 00:59:52,760
Speaker 1: I will never go into detail about because I have respect.

1153
00:59:53,920 --> 00:59:57,320
Speaker 1: A normal person would be like committed. I swear like

1154
00:59:57,720 --> 01:00:00,720
Speaker 1: you mean businesses, haven't you been sucked over? It's just

1155
01:00:00,880 --> 01:00:04,760
Speaker 1: really it's really hard, And I would I wouldn't say

1156
01:00:04,800 --> 01:00:08,960
Speaker 1: fucked over. I would say it's really hard, and yes

1157
01:00:09,520 --> 01:00:12,920
Speaker 1: and yes like the way. But but interestingly, and I

1158
01:00:13,000 --> 01:00:16,800
Speaker 1: didn't even realize how challenging it was, maybe until after

1159
01:00:16,880 --> 01:00:20,200
Speaker 1: I believed that everyone like it's like I was so

1160
01:00:20,320 --> 01:00:23,160
Speaker 1: lucky to be in my role that of course it sucks,

1161
01:00:23,240 --> 01:00:26,560
Speaker 1: like like people think that I have everything. Well, you're

1162
01:00:26,600 --> 01:00:29,080
Speaker 1: assuming that anybody listening knows what you're talking about. I

1163
01:00:29,080 --> 01:00:31,480
Speaker 1: certainly don't, so we can. I want to say one

1164
01:00:31,520 --> 01:00:33,720
Speaker 1: thing to you. I'm just thinking in my mind, I'm

1165
01:00:34,240 --> 01:00:38,440
Speaker 1: like literally playing charades. But the girl by Chloe, I've

1166
01:00:38,480 --> 01:00:41,280
Speaker 1: read stories about her, and she was partners with people

1167
01:00:41,640 --> 01:00:43,560
Speaker 1: and then they sort of took her business. And I'm

1168
01:00:43,600 --> 01:00:45,480
Speaker 1: only reading one part of the story, you know what

1169
01:00:45,520 --> 01:00:47,840
Speaker 1: I mean. I read Kelly Rufford's custody story and her

1170
01:00:47,920 --> 01:00:50,360
Speaker 1: husband's custody, So I don't know the story, but I

1171
01:00:50,400 --> 01:00:52,000
Speaker 1: know that that seems like a weird story that the

1172
01:00:52,040 --> 01:00:54,320
Speaker 1: husband is custody in France. So I know that by

1173
01:00:54,440 --> 01:00:56,880
Speaker 1: Chloe I used to go in there. I know that

1174
01:00:56,880 --> 01:00:58,919
Speaker 1: it's got a new business name. I think they sort

1175
01:00:58,920 --> 01:01:01,640
Speaker 1: of pushed her out, so I know that that happened

1176
01:01:01,640 --> 01:01:05,280
Speaker 1: with Kathleen's cookies too. She had these amazing cookies, Kathleen's cookies.

1177
01:01:05,440 --> 01:01:07,680
Speaker 1: She had two partners, she had to start over again

1178
01:01:08,040 --> 01:01:10,200
Speaker 1: and it's takes cookies now and she rebuilt it. So

1179
01:01:10,280 --> 01:01:14,680
Speaker 1: I literally just peripherally know these stories. So I know

1180
01:01:14,800 --> 01:01:17,200
Speaker 1: that I spoke to Stacy Bendon and she had a

1181
01:01:17,240 --> 01:01:19,560
Speaker 1: partner for like five seconds in the very beginning. Who

1182
01:01:19,640 --> 01:01:23,080
Speaker 1: still it was twenty years ago. But I know that

1183
01:01:23,720 --> 01:01:27,360
Speaker 1: a lot of us women have these sort of beginning

1184
01:01:27,480 --> 01:01:29,880
Speaker 1: business horror stories, and that might be something to do

1185
01:01:29,920 --> 01:01:33,480
Speaker 1: on here, like a panel and talk. You sit here

1186
01:01:33,520 --> 01:01:35,440
Speaker 1: with buy Chloe and Kathleen, because I don't even know

1187
01:01:35,440 --> 01:01:37,400
Speaker 1: what you're talking about, but something was to happen to

1188
01:01:37,400 --> 01:01:40,000
Speaker 1: you like that where you started off, you trusted and

1189
01:01:40,080 --> 01:01:42,120
Speaker 1: you had to hold onto your business with both hands.

1190
01:01:42,120 --> 01:01:44,480
Speaker 1: It just sounds like the same type of story, Mike,

1191
01:01:44,640 --> 01:01:48,720
Speaker 1: right or wrong, it's it's a it's a little it's

1192
01:01:48,720 --> 01:01:51,280
Speaker 1: a story for another time. And the truth is like,

1193
01:01:51,320 --> 01:01:54,160
Speaker 1: if it weren't for everything that happened, I wouldn't be

1194
01:01:54,200 --> 01:01:58,080
Speaker 1: where I am today. And you know, there was definitely

1195
01:01:58,200 --> 01:02:01,480
Speaker 1: things that were very unfair air and I was very

1196
01:02:01,560 --> 01:02:04,080
Speaker 1: young and I didn't have the confidence I should have

1197
01:02:04,360 --> 01:02:10,720
Speaker 1: absolutely had in myself two overcome it. But I stand

1198
01:02:10,760 --> 01:02:13,120
Speaker 1: up for yourself. Yeah. But and I used to get

1199
01:02:13,160 --> 01:02:15,720
Speaker 1: so upset and my dad would say, like the sun

1200
01:02:15,760 --> 01:02:18,680
Speaker 1: will rise tomorrow, like what makes metals feel extreme heat?

1201
01:02:18,680 --> 01:02:21,360
Speaker 1: You're gonna be fine, and like I am who I am?

1202
01:02:21,440 --> 01:02:23,560
Speaker 1: I am? So I mean, like knock on wood, God,

1203
01:02:23,720 --> 01:02:25,600
Speaker 1: I don't want anything terrible to happened tomorrow. But like

1204
01:02:27,440 --> 01:02:30,640
Speaker 1: try and shake me, you know, like just try. I

1205
01:02:30,720 --> 01:02:32,640
Speaker 1: got it, I got it. I had that in my

1206
01:02:32,640 --> 01:02:36,000
Speaker 1: personal life. I had a situation that was excruciating for

1207
01:02:36,120 --> 01:02:38,520
Speaker 1: years and years and my personal life torture almost killed me.

1208
01:02:38,600 --> 01:02:42,360
Speaker 1: Nothing that can never compared to my abusive childhood or anything,

1209
01:02:42,400 --> 01:02:45,720
Speaker 1: but this situation of my personal life was torture and

1210
01:02:45,760 --> 01:02:49,400
Speaker 1: I survived it. And it wasn't business but torture. So

1211
01:02:50,520 --> 01:02:53,360
Speaker 1: I think, well, I might have my producers call you

1212
01:02:53,480 --> 01:02:55,880
Speaker 1: and maybe reach out to those two women and we

1213
01:02:55,920 --> 01:02:58,400
Speaker 1: can talk about as like a special episode. It just

1214
01:02:58,480 --> 01:03:01,440
Speaker 1: inspired me talk about things to watch out for as

1215
01:03:01,480 --> 01:03:04,080
Speaker 1: a young woman starting a business, mistakes, like things that

1216
01:03:04,120 --> 01:03:05,960
Speaker 1: you might not normally see. I think young women could

1217
01:03:05,960 --> 01:03:08,320
Speaker 1: probably benefit from that, not just like a touchy feel

1218
01:03:08,320 --> 01:03:11,840
Speaker 1: like female empowerment show. But like, really, whoa, I didn't

1219
01:03:11,840 --> 01:03:14,440
Speaker 1: see this coming and they're probably all different stories something

1220
01:03:14,480 --> 01:03:16,640
Speaker 1: like that. It took me a really long. I love that,

1221
01:03:16,720 --> 01:03:19,200
Speaker 1: Like I used to go on panels and when I

1222
01:03:19,240 --> 01:03:21,040
Speaker 1: was like younger and the ability. So what's it like

1223
01:03:21,080 --> 01:03:22,960
Speaker 1: to be a female in the like workpace? What do

1224
01:03:23,000 --> 01:03:25,400
Speaker 1: you think about the challenges that female face? And I

1225
01:03:25,440 --> 01:03:27,280
Speaker 1: would be like I feel like in my head, I'm like,

1226
01:03:27,760 --> 01:03:30,280
Speaker 1: I think we create the problem. I think that we're

1227
01:03:30,320 --> 01:03:34,080
Speaker 1: too focused on it. That's crazy because I was wrong,

1228
01:03:34,520 --> 01:03:38,960
Speaker 1: Like there is a very big gap. I don't I

1229
01:03:38,960 --> 01:03:40,520
Speaker 1: don't even know how to say. But the truth is,

1230
01:03:40,560 --> 01:03:46,000
Speaker 1: like women are like we are we can do anything.

1231
01:03:46,000 --> 01:03:48,000
Speaker 1: Men can do it more because we could also have babies,

1232
01:03:48,200 --> 01:03:51,120
Speaker 1: like they can't. Like we're so smart and like are

1233
01:03:51,280 --> 01:03:53,840
Speaker 1: with the things that they know, Like they're kind of

1234
01:03:53,880 --> 01:03:57,040
Speaker 1: like their egos, they're too ego. And I hate to

1235
01:03:57,040 --> 01:03:59,720
Speaker 1: say that, but like many men, you know, believe that

1236
01:03:59,760 --> 01:04:02,960
Speaker 1: they can do anything and then they fail because they can't,

1237
01:04:03,040 --> 01:04:05,760
Speaker 1: whereas women are kind of the opposite. But I think

1238
01:04:05,800 --> 01:04:07,640
Speaker 1: we need to like put ourselves out there more. Like

1239
01:04:07,720 --> 01:04:09,400
Speaker 1: I didn't want to be CEO of my own company

1240
01:04:09,400 --> 01:04:12,960
Speaker 1: that fare with my name. What, Like, that's crazy. Cheryl

1241
01:04:12,960 --> 01:04:14,920
Speaker 1: Sandberg has a lot to say about that. She says

1242
01:04:14,920 --> 01:04:17,080
Speaker 1: that I said to her, oh my god, Jeffrey Katzenberg

1243
01:04:17,120 --> 01:04:18,560
Speaker 1: called me back, and she's like, you would never say

1244
01:04:18,600 --> 01:04:20,160
Speaker 1: that if you were a man being you with the

1245
01:04:20,160 --> 01:04:22,439
Speaker 1: success you've had. Of course, Jeffrey Catsenberg called you back.

1246
01:04:22,840 --> 01:04:25,680
Speaker 1: But that's the whole conversation for another day about gender

1247
01:04:25,800 --> 01:04:28,920
Speaker 1: and things that I never have thought of. Um, all right,

1248
01:04:28,960 --> 01:04:31,600
Speaker 1: this was amazing. This was overshot the market in a

1249
01:04:31,680 --> 01:04:34,520
Speaker 1: way that empowers women, like you know, like at the

1250
01:04:34,600 --> 01:04:36,600
Speaker 1: end of the day, like like that's all, Like I'm

1251
01:04:36,640 --> 01:04:39,400
Speaker 1: I'm more about like using it as a way like

1252
01:04:40,000 --> 01:04:42,560
Speaker 1: I I think, like I love the sharing my story

1253
01:04:42,640 --> 01:04:44,560
Speaker 1: to like empower people, to show them that they can

1254
01:04:44,600 --> 01:04:47,680
Speaker 1: do anything. You know. Yeah, of course it's amazing. You're

1255
01:04:47,800 --> 01:04:50,400
Speaker 1: very inspiring and it was a really amazing conversation. I

1256
01:04:50,400 --> 01:04:53,280
Speaker 1: could literally talk to you for hours. So I want

1257
01:04:53,280 --> 01:04:57,280
Speaker 1: to make a special episode about that conversation about like

1258
01:04:57,640 --> 01:04:59,600
Speaker 1: mistakes that we make and things we don't see and

1259
01:04:59,680 --> 01:05:02,000
Speaker 1: under a demating ourselves and yes, a little bit of

1260
01:05:02,040 --> 01:05:06,520
Speaker 1: getting sucked over. Um, this was beyond So I'm thrilled

1261
01:05:06,560 --> 01:05:08,320
Speaker 1: to meet you. I can't wait to meet you in person.

1262
01:05:08,560 --> 01:05:11,040
Speaker 1: I'm thrilled to meet you too. Yeah, I mean, I'm

1263
01:05:11,080 --> 01:05:13,600
Speaker 1: not gonna lie like I was very excited. So thank

1264
01:05:13,640 --> 01:05:17,080
Speaker 1: you so much. Oh yeah, well I was to congratulations

1265
01:05:17,080 --> 01:05:20,080
Speaker 1: on your success and loved your family and I'm so

1266
01:05:20,160 --> 01:05:22,560
Speaker 1: proud of you, and I look forward to speaking to

1267
01:05:22,560 --> 01:05:24,560
Speaker 1: you again. Awesome. I look forward to it too, and

1268
01:05:24,600 --> 01:05:31,280
Speaker 1: thank you and congratulations to you. What an amazing conversation.

1269
01:05:31,480 --> 01:05:33,400
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you never know how big or

1270
01:05:33,440 --> 01:05:36,680
Speaker 1: small someone's businesses, which isn't that relevant, I mean it's

1271
01:05:36,720 --> 01:05:41,800
Speaker 1: somewhat relevant. But Baked by Melissa is are these small, delicious,

1272
01:05:42,040 --> 01:05:45,720
Speaker 1: bite sized cupcakes. It's a concept, it's unique. My daughter

1273
01:05:45,800 --> 01:05:48,919
Speaker 1: loves them. It's New York based, so I know about it.

1274
01:05:49,360 --> 01:05:52,880
Speaker 1: But I just know it's a brand, no matter how

1275
01:05:52,920 --> 01:05:55,360
Speaker 1: big or small, and it's a brand that is backed

1276
01:05:55,400 --> 01:05:59,760
Speaker 1: by a woman. And I'm was just so incredibly thrilled

1277
01:05:59,760 --> 01:06:02,720
Speaker 1: to talk to her. Uh just about her business and

1278
01:06:02,760 --> 01:06:04,640
Speaker 1: her experience, but I got so much more out of

1279
01:06:04,680 --> 01:06:09,280
Speaker 1: the conversation. What an inspiring human being. I'm just absolutely

1280
01:06:09,320 --> 01:06:15,960
Speaker 1: floored by her story, her honesty, her vulnerability, her challenges

1281
01:06:16,040 --> 01:06:20,959
Speaker 1: or strengths or weaknesses, and out of the conversation came

1282
01:06:21,000 --> 01:06:23,360
Speaker 1: a topic that I've thought about before, but I didn't

1283
01:06:23,360 --> 01:06:26,440
Speaker 1: even consciously realize I wanted to talk about, which is

1284
01:06:27,080 --> 01:06:30,680
Speaker 1: women that I know of starting their own small businesses

1285
01:06:31,720 --> 01:06:35,440
Speaker 1: who sort of get blindsided or seemed to be blindsided

1286
01:06:35,960 --> 01:06:40,080
Speaker 1: by partnerships or mistakes they never thought that they would make,

1287
01:06:40,320 --> 01:06:42,560
Speaker 1: an obstacles they never thought they'd face. So I may

1288
01:06:42,600 --> 01:06:46,320
Speaker 1: want to kind of talk about that in a future podcast. Anyway,

1289
01:06:46,560 --> 01:06:50,840
Speaker 1: wonderful conversation, really really good one. Thank you for listening, Rate, review,

1290
01:06:50,880 --> 01:06:56,080
Speaker 1: and subscribe. Have a wonderful day.