Can You Turn What You Love Into a Real Business? (Krissy Cela, founder of Oner Active)

24:44Because in the market at that time, it was hyper-saturated by men and women in the same market. No one was really talking to the women who lifted. or strength trained. It was still very much like, don't lift too much, you'll get muscly. And also there had never been product that I had genuinely put on and I felt so confident in. And I think that poetic feeling of something making you feel unstoppable can only come from someone who genuinely is in the industry, understands women, understands the market, understands movement. And is a woman. And is a woman. Okay. Say it for what it is. The thing is, they were blokes.

25:26They were all a bunch of blokes. And I've had my indifferences with them and I've had major, major pain points with them. Fundamentally, I still love them because they believed in my vision. So I sat them down and I said, I'm going to own 50 % of this business. I'm going to be the sole majority owner. The rest of you can figure out your stakes between the rest of you. I want to use your infrastructure. I want to use your incubation to incubate this business. I do think it's really interesting, even, you know, I'm so big on mindset. And I think the way that you set things up is the way that they are sort of ingested by people, right?

26:04So you are almost like, I'm going to do this thing with or without you guys and you can come on board. Like, do you know what I mean? It's very different to like, hey, I'm pitching this thing that I don't yet have and I don't understand how it's going to work. And could you sort it out for me? If I ever pitch like that, if you pitch like that to me, if I'm investing in your business and you pitch to me like, hi, I have this idea and I'm buying into you. I'm doing this thing. I'm buying into you. And if you're already uncertain, what do you want me to believe in? The future you, you know, like I believe in the future thing you're going to build, but I need to believe in you now.

26:41So if anyone is pitching to anyone, you've got to, you've got to make people have FOMO. And to an extent, you were proven, you were transacting, you were converting, you were able to pinpoint your customer. You knew exactly who your girl was. And there was some proof in the pudding because they'd already seen how successful you could be. One of the things that I honestly didn't even understand about your brand, which I can't believe I missed, you spoke about understanding the female cycle as being one of the biggest major unlocks for the brand and for the conception of the brand. So for those people that aren't familiar, will you just walk me through that?

27:18Because there's one thing a woman owning, designing and creating a brand. There's another thing when you take an only female problem and put it at the very, very center of your brand and create from that viewpoint. And I think that that is one of the biggest reasons that you've been so successful. And I'd love you to talk us through it. Yeah. I mean, it started first as a lifting brand. So I only had one product. It was a seamless legging, four lifters by lifters. And then when I got pregnant, I was like, I don't really want to wear that. It's really tight. It's really uncomfortable. And I don't really necessarily want to lift right now because my belly's getting in the way.

27:55I was trying to, but it was difficult. And I had this light bulb moment where I was like, stop trying to put yourself in a box because people try so hard to put brands in a box so they can understand it. So they go, if you are a sneaker brand, you must be a running brand. And I'm like, no, you can have a lifestyle shoe. You can, you know, your audience is more complex than that. They don't just want a lifting leg in. So then I had this light bulb moment to create a cycle. So we call it the honor cycle. and I'm really big on my O's. O for honor, O for cycle, O for life, whatever. And it starts off with lifting.

28:36So at the core of any movement should be strength. Strength is really, really important. And if you think about your menstrual cycle, when you're feeling like you're most strongest and you're most powerful, that's what you should be doing. You should be lifting. Longevity, we are so much more prone to ACL tears because of our hips as women. So that's really important. Then we go on to hybrid. So hybrid is all about high energy. This is where you're feeling your sexiest, you know? And then you're going to stretch. This is where things start to slow down. And this is where I needed that stretch product.

29:13So that's why I created Soft Motion. Ultra stretchy, so comfortable, PFA free. I was like, perfect. This is for me, this season of my life. And just to contextualize that Soft Motion piece, I mean, this is like the heartbeat of your brand. This is your killer winner. core product that you literally cannot find anywhere because it's just always sold out and it is just the most amazing thing that you have. And for the price point, because I think price is really important. You do? I love pricing. I love pricing. It's my favourite thing to do, babe. I love pricing. Do you take every price? Are you crazy?

29:47I set every price. Yeah, same! I'm obsessed with pricing. Same! Yeah, because it's the game changer. People just forget about pricing. So I'm not charging people $100 for a pair of leggings. Absolutely not, but I engineer into pricing. I'm like, the prices first and then I'm thinking about the rest of that. Then you go back, that's right. And then finally we go into living. And living is really important because it's your rest and recovery. And so that's the moment where I think in your cycle, you slow down and you really just give yourself a chance. And I don't think that would have ever been curated by a man in a boardroom or my business partners.

30:21And this is where that duality between us as partners, where I go, how is it going with logistics? Are we like, do we have our US distribution ready to go? Do we, which is happening? Do you have another European distribution ready to go? How is the freight cost? What is like, why are we, why are we doing everything by air? Let's ship. It's cheaper. Like, you know, that's them. This is me. This is where I come in. This is what I have to conceptualize, think about every product, every marketing piece, every ambassador that comes in. that's where you need me. And that's where the partnership and the beauty in the partnership is.

30:59Yeah. Well, now Honor is massive compared to any of our other businesses, EvolveU or any of their businesses. And that's because you had partners that came together, the why and the how, and they built something exceptional. There's something that you said that kind of killed me. It says, you don't check your bank account first thing in the morning, you check your DMs. And I always think that's another reason like people would have so much to say about you as a female founder. When you're running a$200 million business, soon to be$300 million business, it's also quite an extraordinary thing to admit and to say.

31:35And so what is it that you're actually looking for when you go into your DMs and when you are putting that as such a high priority in the list of things as a founder for you to do, what is it that you're actually searching for? You can't call yourself a community-based business and you don't put your community first. And that's what I was saying with that. I check my DMs every single day. I go on TikTok and I write on our active and I check every single new post that comes in. I have all my alerts on. I don't start the day or end the day without checking. And that to me is because I want my finger on the pulse of my community.

32:12Yes, you have to have your finger on the pulse of culture and what's going on in the world, but I can hire people to do that. What I can't hire people to do is be as obsessed as I am with the people that I'm selling to. So to me, if I don't understand what my community feels or their anger or their disappointment or their happiness with our product, no one else will. What do you think are some of the biggest lessons that you've learned from your community? And also, I'm interested what it's taught you about yourself as a leader and somebody that is running this company. When you're the face of a business or when you are accessible, there's a high parasocial relationship.

32:49so any mistake that you make any faulty product it goes straight to you you know I get DMs from people sending me pictures of something's gone wrong and I appreciate that so much but at the same time I have a whole entire incredible customer service team that can really help you but it's that relationship that you build so it's a double-ended sword at one end like allow me to make mistakes fuck like let me make mistakes you know and at the other side but they're buying into you They're using the hard earned money to buy into your vision. Every purchase is a commitment to your vision. That's the way I see it.

33:26You can't fail people on that. But at the same time, human error happens, production fails. There's so many things that I can mess up on that I cannot actually control. And I can't give you a response or an apology when you want it because I need about two days to figure out what the hell has gone wrong. So I think people are not as lenient as I would appreciate that they would be. I used to get very defensive. Now I'm like more chilled about it because I've realized I'm always going to have a problem. It's interesting because you have such an unbelievably loyal customer. You've got extremely high retention rates.

34:03I'm wondering what's had the biggest impact on that customer loyalty. I've been open. You won't find a dirty secret. You won't find someone saying something. People have called me a bitch online and a bad boss, probably true. But then they've called me the best boss I've ever had, probably true to. This is what it is. And I'm going to bring you along the journey, high and low. But I think if in this economy, if you want to be someone who sells something, not necessarily a service, but a physical object, you have to be online. You have to share the process. And I mean, listen, there are, like you say, it's absolutely a double-edged sword.

34:45What does that look like to you as a young woman starting out? You said you had 130 staff. Of course, you're always going to have problems, but not everybody's problems come, especially like when it comes to staff and resourcing issues, are posted about. And for you, that's very, very different. So from a leadership point of view, like what have you learned and actually have you changed your style in terms of level of openness, level of authenticity, the fact that you're sharing everything? Has anything actually cautioned you and gone like, fuck, I'm not going to do that anymore? Well, put it this way, right?

35:18It's not normal for you to know everything about me and me to not know a lot about you. And before anyone says, but you should get to know your staff, of course I do. But I don't know what they get up to on the weekend. You're not following all your stuff, surely. No, of course not. But also it's a level of privacy that they don't want me to follow them too. I shouldn't know that they're getting fucked up on the weekend, you know, but damn, a video of me doing the splits at my own party could go live and now you know what I did on the weekend. I know. You know, you saw the video. But my point being, it's not the norm for people to know this much about their boss.

35:53I don't think that's normal. But it's also my job. So I don't know, So I didn't know the boundary before. So where is, I mean, and where is the boundary? Where's the line for you? I didn't have a boundary before. When I started with my team of 20, they would be at my house. They would meet my mom. They would, you know, be around my boyfriend and they knew everything. They knew where my underwear drawer was, you know? I didn't know where their underwear drawer was. So, and I thought, again, family is all of our success. if I'm flying business and I'll upgrade you or I'll buy you an expensive watch because you've you've been successful with me now I'm like hold on a minute because when you fire these people okay or when something doesn't go right and they get really disgruntled they will say things about you that are not necessarily true or maybe they are true but inflated.

36:52And then you can't defend yourself because it looks like you have something to hide. So now I have a very strong boundary. Do you think that, you know, you're still able to, like to do both well? Like, can you be an incredibly authentic and, you know, amazing influencer on one side and be taken seriously as a leader on the other side? you can't sorry you can't I've literally had investors say the wildest things to me I had once a publicist tell me to stop posting bikini pictures because no investor's going to take you seriously my question to her is do you have a business that's making 300 million a year no you don't so you know like I've had shit say people say that stuff to me I've had investors say to me, you know, are you going to continue to share what you share online?

37:48I've had investors ask me if I'm going to have children, another child. So I don't think that you can be as free and as like bubbly as you think you can be. And then people take you seriously because perception is everything. So I have had to scale it back a lot, but at the same time, I'm still a firm unbeliever that the right investor and the right partner will not want you to change. It's like a relationship. You don't go into a relationship and then change completely who you are to make them fall in love with you. And nor do you attract the right partner if you're changing who you are to find them.

38:26Right? It's like perhaps they're just not your people. I like a drink. I like to have a bit of fun. I like at the end of a big work trip to have let loose of my team. I love that, you know? No doubt.

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40:50I want to talk to you so much about like how you think about the business today and how you've done things so untraditionally. Because on my way home from work last night, it's like going down sunset. I see this like amazing billboard. And I'm like, oh my God. And it was Laurie Harvey in your new campaign. Laurie looking sick and delicious. Oh, I'm touching my stomach now. Oh my God, if I could find an ad. She's even better in real life. Let me tell you, I've shot with her before I've seen it. It's all, it doesn't even need retouching. The whole thing is insane. But I looked at that and I was like, wow, you know, like to have a billboard on sunset, you must be so proud and so happy.

41:29But with that and coming into this territory, there's so much more competition. It's so different from when you were, you know, in the UK. And I understand your audience has always been predominantly US, but it's different now. It's like you're here. And I wonder what, and if you're thinking about what needs to change, because up until Laurie, I don't think you've ever had like that type of facing the brand. It's been so much about your community. You don't spend on traditional marketing. And so I wonder what this kind of new phase of the brand looks like and how you're thinking about how you need to shift and change and what the growth trajectory is going to look like.

42:08I actually made the decision to pivot my brand when I made the cycle. And it moved away from just being social media lifting brand to now becoming more global. And in order for you to scale to becoming a billion dollar brand, this is the first stages of it. It's very much, this is for me, I'm here to stay. It's a statement. Signing two leases, one in LA and one in New York for stores, that's a 10-year commitment. That is me saying, I am here to stay. Doing something with someone as incredible as Laurie Harvey, you know, that is us showing that, hey, we can do something like that. Because it's one thing to put a slap of face on anything, but the execution of it is everything.

42:54That is all team effort and you have to have the right team to do it. So that was also us showing that we can move away from being a social first brand. And that to me is a statement to becoming more global. Yeah. And I guess the evolution of that isn't just about product and what you stand for. That also has to encompass the decisions that you make around your team. So what does that look like for you? We've definitely had to elevate who we bring in. And we often ask ourselves now if a director or a chief hasn't worked for a business that is making 500 million plus, we don't even entertain it.

43:30I'm just trying to understand what that's actually meant for the realities of the way that you run the business because you live here now. Huge. We're actually going for a massive, we call it a professionalization of the business. so even the way so granular how meetings are set we are not to have a meeting as directors if there's no agenda and someone has to lead it there is no more oh but I assumed you were doing it there's no assumption in this business it's clarity you can never assume that people also know where you're heading you have to remind them so we're taking so much bigger steps to ensure that everything has clarity, no assumption and professionalization.

44:12Okay, so what does that mean? Because they're all big words, right? So what does that actually mean? Their project can't be placed if it doesn't hit our two agendas. What are your two agendas? Scalability and consistency. Those are our two key words for let's say 2027. So if nothing allows us to scale or be consistent with our product, our quality, our customer service, everything that we do, we don't even entertain it anymore. So it's a process of elimination. And I think in order for you to get to the next stage, you've got to do less, but do it so much better. I mean, the other day I was looking at how many SKUs we have, 2 ,200 SKUs.

44:50Oh, that's my favorite thing to do. SKU rationalization. Bring me in. I want to do it. I just like, no, no, no. And I was looking at it and I went, we need to bring that down to 1 ,500. And the team was like, what? And I was like, yes, Yes. You'll do less. You're going to do better. You're going to go deeper and you're going to talk about it. And it's hard. It's hard to kill your darlings in a business. It's hard to, you know, from a business that's been so much based on your gut and building this incredible community to suddenly move it into this kind of like, you know, as you say, professionalization, like that type of era is really difficult to do.

45:25And it's why so many brands actually struggle to get above$250 million. And, you know, I think about you all the time because I'm so rooting for you. I so want you to be the first female who gets to the billion dollar valuation. We're going to do it. In this category. I have no doubt that you'll do it, but I think it's really amazing to think about how you're doing it right now. You know, one of the things that I always talk about is that you can't be a people pleaser and a leader at the same time. And for you to go through this professionalization, you have to evolve so much as a leader. And I read somewhere that you'd said that people pleasing have cost you so much in business.

46:02And I think it is something that specifically in, you know, like female entrepreneurialism, we talk about people pleasing so much, but I actually don't think that women are fully grasped how much it stops you from doing, like how much of a plague that actually is. Can you just talk me through a time when you feel like people pleasing has actually held you back or held the business back in some type of way? Yeah. One time I got told that I don't listen to people's creativity enough. And I was like, ah, damn, it's maybe something I've missed on myself. So I was like, you're right. Apologize. You guys go build a campaign.

46:42So I let the team build a campaign. And my title is creative director. So I oversee every single campaign. It was one of the most questionable campaigns we've done and our community did not connect with it at all. And so I was happy that happened because I was like, right, now let's work more together. I'm not going to just give you free reign, but I'm also not going to be a freak and be so controlling. Let's find a way to work better together because I think that's what you're looking for. And when that unlock happened, our campaigns just became way more better. And I would arguably say my relationship now with my team is so much more transparent, honest and comfortable than ever before.

47:23Because I was being fake, they were being fake, didn't feel real. Totally. So you cannot people please. To be a leader, you cannot people please because you're going to damage your brand trying to make everyone else happy that you're not even focusing on your brand. Yeah. You know, I feel like I had this so much, you know, like early in my career that, you know, I was so bothered that you thought that I was a nice girl, that the way I was treating you was so much more important than the reality of the result of the thing that we're doing. And what I've learned is that when you have great results, everyone's happy.

47:59Like everyone's happy. And sometimes what it takes to get there isn't that pleasing. It doesn't suit everybody's agenda. And, you know, to your point earlier, it's like you have these two big goals in your company, consistency and scale. Like that's what you're going after. And anything that doesn't fit with that is an absolute distraction. So you running around and running yourself in circles, trying to please everybody actually isn't getting you closer to where you want to be. And I do think that we can really hold ourselves back, focusing on the wrong things and people pleasing. It's just such a fucking waste of energy.

48:31Because we're online now. Yeah, that is a huge part of it because we see ourselves reflected back. And as you say, sometimes it's hard to hear that stuff about yourself. Sometimes it's hard to hear that you were tough, that everybody didn't have a perfectly enjoyable time working around you. Yeah, you don't want anyone feeling like that. No, you don't. But by the same token, sometimes that's just what it is. Like sometimes that's what it is. Also, what are we telling women by backing down? So what are we telling women by me saying that I have to like be very like timid and this and that? Like there's a difference between being rude and firm.

49:09And there's a big difference between being assertive and just being an absolute like bitch, you know, and whatever that word wants to be interpreted by someone. Because you can be both, you can be really assertive and still really kind, you know, you can have both of those things, but fundamentally what we telling women by me backing down the minute I got a bad comment about me. So that's it. Like I'm going to, I'm going to quit everything because someone didn't like my approach. You can't give up when someone goes, your product isn't as good as I thought. You should go, okay, how can I make the product better for you?

49:48Cool. Leave that with me. Okay. You think I'm a bitch. Why? You tell me. As soon as you're bold enough to say it, you let me know. I just think about all of these things as never being a signal to stop. Like I actually think that oftentimes the worst things that have been said about me have been amazing moments for me to go, yeah, like absolutely. Like your commentary is right. And still I'm going. Yeah, I'm still going to go. I still got to go. I'm still going. It doesn't mean that it's not valid and it doesn't mean that it's untrue. And sometimes it's really so much more about you going, that's a truth I can live with.

50:26Maybe you lean into it more actually. Perhaps you're a bitch. Like it's, is it the worst thing in the world? I don't know. We just need a total rebranding of bitch. sounds great to me. I'm feeling more and more comfortable with it the older I get, funnily enough. There was something I've read just about the timing when you decided to bring in a CEO. And that is about you being able to be super self-reflective about what it is that you uniquely bring to the business versus what you need to get to where you want. So what was that decision like for you? So my CEO, Zach, it was my mentor at the time actually.

51:00And he walked into business. He was recommended by my first ever employee who still works for me. She is incredible. I love her so much. And she was like, I really want you to meet this person. And I was like, okay, bring them in. In comes this like big dude. And he was like, okay, well, this is a shit show. You've got to do this. You've got to do that. He was really calm. and I worked with him for two years as a mentor before I asked him to be my CEO. Can I ask you, what level was the business when you brought him in? I brought him in when the business was making 50. Okay. About 50, 80. So you'd got, like you were, it was a real business at that point.

51:44You were selling a lot, you were global. Yeah. And you'd got to$50 million without that person in the role. And I didn't want to be CEO. Fair. I don't think CEO is a sexy role. I think I just, I love being in product. Can I tell you, I actually love that you say that because sometimes I think the fascination to have that top job is what sends people down the shitter because actually being the CEO is a very, very specific job. And if you don't want it and you don't understand every facet of the business, then you've got to bring somebody else in who does understand that. It doesn't mean by the way, that as the owner, as the founder, that you're not making the decisions.

52:24People make that, that people really confuse that. They still call me CEO. Yes. Because at the end of the day, you are the, you can have a CEO and still be the one driving the strategy of the business, making the business decisions and having a CEO who is under you taking that direction. And that's what we do. Right. And I don't make any decisions without him. So nice. And I have so much respect for him because he is the one that fundamentally is grounding us. I needed someone who was really grounded, who was really calm, someone who had done it before, had years of experience before me. And I wanted to be where I knew I was brilliant at product.

53:04That's where you need me. And the thing I always ask myself as a business is, where do you need me? And so bringing in a CEO, I needed someone who, to your point, was strategical, was like thinking about the business from a 360 angle, people, really brilliant at people. That's a huge thing that you've got to do. Because you can't grow unless you get the right people on board. But at the end of the day, I play three roles. Founder. So at the board, I'm making top line decisions and no decision gets done without me. Creative director. So strategy, brand, product, vision, and talent. And so that's really important.

53:43A lot of hats though. A lot of hats. So I'm like the jazz hands over here and then I make the big girl decisions over here. But it's funny because it took me a while to understand the roles that I have and how to also be paid for those roles. Because for such a long time, I wasn't obviously being paid. Because it took you three years to pay yourself. Is that right? Yeah. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't have income from other places. I still was promoting other brands. And perhaps that stopped you from paying yourself. Yeah. Because you were like, I'm all right over here. but you weren't looking at the value that you were bringing to your own.

54:16I didn't look at the value once about on what I was bringing to my own brand. But now I'm like, here's my value and let's discuss the price. Do you regret that time? No, because I'm glad I kept every single penny in the business and generated it. You know, we're still 100 % bootstrapped, very profitable, using our money to generate future goals. And you still own 50 % of the business. I mean, it's kind of extraordinary to think that you've grown the business to this scale without raising a penny of capital while remaining the 50 % lead shareholder. And it's no surprise to me that you didn't take any money for the first three years.

54:55It's like, but you did that for the thing that you own the most of. Yeah. So it makes the most sense. Yeah. And I was like, how much will my shares compile? I'm investing. You're investing in your own horse, right? So I'm like, keep the money in there, self-generate, self-generate, right? because my 50 % is going to be worth potentially one day, 500, 600, 700 million, right? You never know. My situation is different because I had built my personal brand first so I could do one-off paid collabs or stuff like that. But for people who don't have a platform, I do think you have to pay yourself slightly.

55:37You've got to live. Listen, 100%. And also you've got to, So it's so much more a question of value, right? Because even if a business is not generating the cash that it can pay the founder, you can accrue the money. It's not about the cash and tipping the actual balance sheet of the business. It's about valuing your services. It's about when you have business partners, them valuing your services and what you're bringing. So it's actually something that you have to think about early in the brand. And again, I think so many female founders make the decision. to sacrifice themselves. Now for you, it made sense because you own 50 % of the thing, but you really have to think about that and be able to see like, what is my clear path to like, what is the outcome?

56:22It's like, is there an exit and is there an outcome here? And if not, then I'm just devaluing myself and I'll have no one to blame at the end of it. Which I did my first brand with EvolveU. There you go. So you're learning, you're progressing. I learn and I was like, I didn't really pay myself.

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59:05You obviously moved from the UK, first to LA, and now you're in Miami, but you moved to America. You did the big old switcheroo a couple of years ago. And I wanted to talk to you about how that transitions actually shaped the way that you think about ambition. Is it different? And can Can you just talk a little bit about what you see as the differences? First of all, I always say I'm very grateful for the UK as it opened me with, it welcomed me with open arms when I was a little refugee asylum seeker, you know. But I cannot believe the difference of America to the UK. Let's talk about it. The UK does not want entrepreneurs to win.

59:49I said what I said and I mean it and I'm putting both my feet down on it. America wants you to win. America wants entrepreneurs to win, to thrive, to win big money. And they push you. The press push you more. Your peers push you more. The government pushes you more. In the UK, it is like settle down, come back down. You need to shine light on people employing people. You need to shine light on the fact that Honor is generating so much cash into the economy. And there are even bigger businesses than ours providing so much fuel to your economy. And instead, you're not offering much, if anything, to entrepreneurs.

1:00:33And it's just false dreams after false dreams after false hope. I mean, I even was invited to number 10 Downing Street and, oh, this is all the things we're going to do for you. No, you're not. Because you would have done it by now. So that's why I left. And when you come here, what sense have you got? And what's the reality of doing business here as an English, you know, Albanian English woman? So much more open. People want to give. I feel like people want to give. I'm a giver. Like, any playbook that you need from me, I'll give it to you. Because the universe is abundant. There's so much for everyone, you know?

1:01:12But I never experienced that in the UK. And I don't know if it's because it's less people. I don't know if it's just like poppy syndrome. I don't know what it is, but being in America has made me want to be ballsier. I've been obsessed with the fact that you've constantly said out loud that you absolutely want to become a billion dollar brand. And for somebody that's been raised in England, like even articulating that is a thing, but it's also putting yourself very much out there, right? You're like saying like, here is my goal. What has motivated you to A, say that out loud and B, for that to be the goal?

1:01:47I think it's a point. It's like, I'm not even thinking about cash. It's a statement of why not honor? Why other businesses and why not my business? And so to me, it is an ego thing. 100 % I'd be lying if I said it was just, oh, we're going to become a billion dollars, you know. But I think for me, it's a case of how exciting would it be to only have created female clothes, never have done men's, to have an immigrant, you know, who comes in and goes, we're going to be a billion dollar brand. And why fucking not? Chrissy, what is this actually looking like? Like when you are at the point that you're at now, the growth is crazy.

1:02:36The company is doing brilliant numbers, but you do have this very audacious goal, you know that you need to change and work on the professionalization of the kind of the business. What does it look like for you to get there? Chiefs. That's next level. I mean, we spoke about it. Building a C-suite. Yeah. Building a C-suite is important, very important. But building a C-suite that is hyper-focused on what they do great at, because sometimes you bring people into something that's bootstrapped. They're like, I want to be the next CEO. And I'm like, we have a CEO. He's going to be here for divisional expertise.

1:03:13There we go. Divisional. So CPO, you are a CPO. I want you to be the best CPO I've ever seen in the world. Come in, tear it apart, rebuild it for me. That's what it looks like. So C-suite is a big one we're working on right now. We're really excited about more management skills and courses for our directors. Like let's educate them better. How do we grow them better? Because I think I have some incredible directors. So I want them to win. I want them to be part of the journey. So how can we further make their skills better? EBITDA. Profit is everything. Profit is absolutely everything. If you don't have profit, you've got a hobby.

1:03:54Sorry, that's what it is. I'm going to find an argument here, but you're not going to find an argument, right? So how do we become more profitable? Look at every single cost. Shipping bags? Why are they that cost? Get me option one, get me option two at cheaper options, right? But the number one thing you cannot touch, product. Don't fuck around with product. I always say product and customer service should be the two things you don't mess around with. You put more investment in that. So that's what it looks like. It's auditing, C-suite, bettering people and giving them more skills and growing them and empowering them and really just like looking at every single cost.

1:04:36Being six years in, how up for this are you? Oh my God, I'm ready. I'm so excited. You know, like give it to me. I'm ready for this. I plan to not go anywhere with honor. I'm here. I want to be part of this journey. I want to be part of this story for as long as I possibly can until I get fired. Is there anything that you feel underqualified, uncertain, scared about? Am I unqualified? Yeah. Of course I am. Like, I'm 31 years old and I'm learning for the first time. So of course I need more experience, more time. Am I scared? I think if you weren't scared, you'd be stupid. You've got to be scared and excited, that's when you know you're doing something incredible.

1:05:29And here's the thing, Emma, I unfortunately was introduced to power before my identity when I built honor with my co-founders. And I had hundreds of employees before I even knew who I was. So that is petrifying, but it's so exciting to learn. And I'm just ready. I feel like I'm on like some sort of high ready to go. So I feel like that was the single best answer that I could have hoped for because the idea that you are in absolute acceptance that you might be under qualified and that you are absolutely scared and you do it anyway. That's it. That's it. That is just like to me. And if I could take one thing from this conversation and ask every single person that's listening to like rewind and rewind and listen and listen and listen again, it's that because you just do it anyway.

1:06:23Can I ask you, what do you still aspire to? I aspire to never give up, no matter how many times I get pulled down by people, by situations. I just aspire to keep on going because at the end of the day, you have one life. you are a collective of all these atoms and all these feelings and you cannot give up you cannot you are put in this world for a reason and you have to keep on going and I aspire to never want to give up that's number that's number one and I aspire to honestly show anyone listening that if a little immigrant Albanian girl can do it and be sat here with Emma Greed why can't you?

1:07:14So that's what I aspire to do and hope and have. I love it. It's a perfect, perfect, perfect answer. I'm going to move it to some rapid fire. What is one honor active piece that every woman needs to own right now? The straight leg pants. I absolutely concur with that one. What is the one thing that you do every single day, no matter what? Talk to my son and kiss my partner. they're two good ones sorry I do I love a little kiss what's one thing that everyone should do no matter where they are in their fitness journey show up every day doesn't matter just show up every day well even if it's for a walk I think movement you have to move every day alright doesn't need to go be crazy but something every day just something something every day you do something every day I do like even a walk 10-15 minute walk on the treadmill it goes beyond like physical I just need to like yeah my head yeah what's the one thing you've stopped apologizing for?

1:08:20being assertive and knowing what I want and I'm going to do it 100 % is there a book that changed your life? your book aspire with Emma Green no I love your book did you read it? yes I love your book I love you everyone should have your book it's also aesthetic so it looks nice we knew that that would need to be the case as well. It's got to look cute. So yes, fire with Emma Greed. Get it, get it on, is it on Amazon? Yes, but start with yourself. You can do it again. Just say it. Yes, start with yourself by Emma Greed. Get it on Amazon. That's it. We'll just take it as like the perfect voiceover.

1:08:56You are amazing, darling. Thank you so much.

1:09:01If you're loving this podcast, be sure to click follow on your favorite listening platform. While you're there, give us a review and a five-star rating and share an episode you loved with a friend. We'll be so grateful. Aspire with Emma Greed is presented by Odyssey. I'm your host, Emma Greed. Our executive producers are Ashley McShan, Derek Brown, and me. Executive producers from Odyssey are Asha Saluja and Leah Reese-Dennis. Producer, KK Sublime. Stephen Key is our senior producer. Sound design and engineering by Bill Shultz. Angela Peluso is our booker. Original music by Charles Black. Video production by Phil Sweetek and Carlos Delgado.

1:09:40Social media by Olivia Homan, Catherine Bale. Special thanks to Brittany Smith, Sydney Ford, my teams at The Lead Company and WME. Josephina Francis, Hilary Schuff, Eric Donnelly, Kate Hutchinson-Rose, Tim Meekle, Evan Cox, Kurt Courtney, Andrew Steele, Sean Cherry, and Lauren Vieira. If you have questions for me, you can DM me at aspirewithemagreed. greed is spelled g-r-e-d-e that's aspire a-s-p-i-r-e with emma greed or you can submit