Tezza Barton: I Built A $2.5M App That Every Girl Needed... With No Tech Experience Or Investors!

25:51We weren't even quite thinking about it like that. and then you know to look at a year later i think we made like in our first full year of the app we made 2.5 million dollars and we were like oh okay like we have a business here like we there's something that we're doing that's right and connecting with people and you can always kind of pivot in business that's just is what you have to be able to do and you have to be able to adapt quickly and i think it's like a really important lesson to learn early on so as someone who is trying to make money, like just move out of their 250 square foot apartment.

26:25For someone that's not familiar with 35-year-old Tessa almost, right, tomorrow? How would you describe now the mission that you are on, both with Teza, the personal brand, and Teza, the tech company that's making millions of dollars a year? I think like truly, and it goes back to like that childhood story. I know it sounds kind of corny, but I literally in my very first blog, which was called Brain Litter, my motto was the art of life. And it always has kind of been my personal motto and the brand's motto and still is to this day, like really helping people find their inner creative and like figure out like the way they're living their life and their decisions they're making.

27:06Like that is your art. It's all part of, you know, this expression that you're living. And I'm personally like on that journey, always trying to figure out how to like live that life for myself but also give that to other people and through you know the app it's not we're not just here to help you edit a photo or like make a cool video it's it's deeper than that and I think it's about making you feel creative every single day and being inspired to want to create and in a world where now we have AI and all these different things like we're we we zag the other way you know we're building a photo booth we build experiences for our users and like helping people connect with other creatives.

27:46And I think like just as much as being like this tech online business, we're focused on building like the offline personal connecting experience that, you know, people are craving. And I think that's like what I'm personally craving too in my life. So it's kind of fun because they go together. Can we take a moment to talk about the least glamorous but most important part of building a business, your systems. I see so many founders and CEOs in my ecosystem who are building incredible businesses, but their backend is just chaotic to the point where deals will literally go cold because no one is keeping track of where things are at.

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29:47Thinkorswim is available on desktop, web, and mobile to meet you where you are. It's built by the trading obsessed to help you trade brilliantly. Learn more at schwab.com slash trading. All this AI, like, connection, you said you're craving that just like in-person experience do you feel like the world that we live in it's possible to live in the old school way that we once did or like do you have to also keep in mind like what's going on with ai what's going on with those trends as you are building the experiences that like you are missing for yourself for me i mean i'm always going to be aware of all the different ways creating is happening i think it's healthy and i think it doesn't mean that we have to be a part of it.

30:30I think like, you know, of course, I'm always going to look at like, how can I make creating easier, more attainable, fun, and also amazing for our user? And for me personally, I'm a creator myself. Like I still want to like use the app and be fast and like be the most creative person that I can. So it's not necessarily a bad thing to have to like adapt to these new ways. I'm like open to it, but I think I will always think about the person using it first and what like they want. I never want to like, you know, I curate that experience as a creator myself. Like I want you to feel like that is a curated experience, not like a robot's just doing something for you.

31:17So I don't know, you know, I'm learning every day, but you know. Do you use AI to help you create? I mean, I guess like if I'm trying something new, like I'm learning. I feel like, you know, I went to art school. I was a photographer. I started in film. And then I like learned all the ins and outs of Photoshop and Lightroom. And like, you know, back in the day when those came out, people were like so scared. But I think it's important to like know and learn what they're doing. I don't know. We're not like in some rush to try and be like every other AI app that's out there. I think we like we're watching, we're seeing what people are doing.

31:52And, you know, we'd love to have like a really strong perspective on it. But, you know. So you and your husband started this when you were living in New York City in a 250 square foot apartment. But this was not your guys's first rodeo together. I think a lot of people don't know that. Like you had multiple failed businesses before this. What were some of the other things that you dabbled in that didn't work and why do you think that this one specifically took off the way that it did? We're still dabbling. I think like when we first moved to New York, we were just obsessed with the idea of brand and that was almost like our love language.

32:29We were like, oh, we would dream about building brands together forever. We played in a band together. We also had a blog. I'm not going to say the name in case it's still up. I don't want anyone to find it. But like we just found this like amazing connection over building things together and we like even designed these socks we were like I don't know okay it's almost like it doesn't make sense to say now but I'm so glad we never launched we never launched the socks but they were like these fashion socks so embarrassing we were doing like this denim jacket brand we've had sunglass brand we've had art prints we've done like so many different things this one it was different though because it was truly like a baby of both of our passions.

33:12I was a photographer. I went to art school. I was like obsessed with like curating and aesthetics and everything. And he was in tech and built apps. And so it was like we combined both of our truest passions. And I mean, even before that, I wrote a book called InstaStyle that was like sold at Barnes & Noble and Target. And was it a white cover? It was an Instagram grid. Oh, my God. I got that from my sister for Christmas one year. Oh my gosh. No, I still get messages. People are like, this book helped me so much. I'm like, wow, thank you. I mean, I was new to the space and I wrote a book about it, but I truly felt like there's so much knowledge and no one's talking about it.

33:51And I felt like anyone could do it. And I wanted people to feel that. So I just was like ready to share all the information. As a photographer myself, I was like, here is how I'm creating this aesthetic. And no other photographer was everyone was like gatekeeping all their knowledge and I was like you're gonna grow the more you share you know I could just you know my biggest pet peeve is when I'm like what are your camera settings and like no comment no comment like even still to this day there's so many photographers I'm like please like we're just we're all in this together you know so I really did feel that passionately and then I started with selling Lightroom presets I was catering towards the pro photographer because that's who I thought I was talking to and just the amount of people that were like this is way too complex and like I just want to be able to do it quick and on my phone and I really looked at the space and I was like oh the space is heinous it's just like black and white apps built by a bunch of dudes there's nothing catering to one like this all these women who were coming up in the space and freaking killing it and then also that felt like as fun as the act of creating everything was like very serious and very techy so we I just knew like there was something to be done and it took like a year and a half and to build and then yeah we launched but at the time that you guys were doing it was it at the time that other creators were like selling their presets on lightroom or was this like pre that i mean when we started building it yeah by the time we had launched for sure like i would say i was like one of the first to begin that the preset selling yeah era and so that's kind of how i knew there was like major interest and that there were like people like looking and that is why we were building it the way we were we weren't saying like, we're going to be like$1.99, you know, in a month or whatever it was in the app store.

35:32We're going to be like releasing guides and like locations of where you can go shoot and all this stuff. But people were just like, apps are supposed to be free. And you're like, well, it was, you know, it's Steve Jobs' fault. Apps were free for a minute. Like now it's not the case. But you were a paper wall pusher because you were like, I am actually going to bring you something of value and you have to pay for it, which I think as a creator, there is a line, I think, when you are used to offering so much for free, when you have to put a price tag in front of something for the first time, it is a really uncomfortable experience.

36:09And most of us will go through that. And even forget the word creator. Think about when you're coming up in your career and you do these free internships and it's like you're doing it for experience, right? And I hate to say it, but like we all did that as millennials. Like we had to put in the work. But when you finally are like, this is my value, you have to pay for it. There is that immediate reaction from the audience, which is like, wait, I'm so used to getting stuff for free from you. Yeah. Did that take you a long time to be comfortable with like, this is the value that you're getting from me, whether it's on my personal brand side or on Tezza the app, like you have to pay for that.

36:44Yeah, I would say in the beginning, it was extremely uncomfortable. And I also still to this day, I'm like, I'll just do, I mean, I'll send you a code. I already have Heidi's test it. I know. I mean, you get to a point where you can't, how long can you do that for? You know, like I've been giving away everything for free for years. And it does get to a point where you're like, I have to either turn this into a business, I have to make money, or I have to go get a job doing it, whatever it's going to be. So someone else is going to do it if you're not. So you might as well just do it and get over it.

37:16And the people who don't want to pay, they're not going to pay. But you're not like forcing anyone, you know. It is interesting, though, because I think most photo editing apps generally struggle to have a presence or a brand, whereas Tezza app has 2.3 million followers, which is actually more than your personal account. Was it intentional to like put a bunch of the attention and resourcing behind building Tezza to be like a bigger brand than even your personal brand. Because I can tell you to be vulnerable for a second, that was totally the intention with HSR. HSR is double the amount of followers that I have personally.

37:51And like when I was building this, I was like, I actually don't want to be an influencer. I want to be an entrepreneur. And so it's more important for me as I'm making these little silly TikToks to like brand it. Like I have a media company already, even though all I have is these little tech talks. Yeah. But it grew HSR so much more than even my personal brand name. Like I think people really only know who I am as of very recently, whereas I think they've been hearing about this HSR thing for a little bit of time. So I was very excited to have you on to ask you that question because you're actually one of the few entrepreneurs that has a brand with more followers than yourself.

38:28Yeah. I mean, definitely very intentional and always was from the beginning. I was never like necessarily on social media for like my personal brand. I was, you know, sharing so much information, helping other, like I was kind of the influencer for influencers. I was like, you guys can all be influencers. Like, let's go. I was like trying to help people do that. I don't know why. I just, I truly felt like this was so fun and I wanted people to do it. And I remember like, I have like an investor meeting, like somebody was like trying to, you know, wanted to invest. So we took the meeting and they were like, just so concerned about me, the me of it all and my name being a part of it.

39:10And I was like, no, trust me. Like most people don't even know that I'm a person. And then I TikTok came out. I posted a TikTok that went viral of me and my husband and how we built the app. And literally thousands of comments of people saying like, I had no idea Tessa was a person. And I was like I did it. But really it was because I think so many people felt like it created so much value for them that they were talking about it as if it was their own app. And I that was like they were doing the marketing and like all of that for us. And and they felt like so attached to it because we had built it almost together, you know, like they were giving me insight and telling me what they wanted.

39:49And I was like building it for them. And so we had such an incredible community of people that were just voicing all this for us. And still to this day, like even the TESA social media, like for our app is very much run like as if it's like your big sister or your friend. It's like from that person perspective, not even just like a giant brand, but like it still feels personal, even though it's like so many different creators, so many different aesthetics, like different things. It's still coming from like that mindset of a creator. So yeah, very intentional but when you were thinking of naming the company were there any other names in the running other than tessa i mean yeah i it's kind of so weird that it is called tessa i mean my true my real name is tessa my friend used to call me tessa as like a nickname okay and then didn't say the same name twice no tessa tessa yeah okay and then tessa was the nickname so when i had like my blog and stuff I was like oh Tezza's cool it's like not a real word and it's you know kind of like an alter ego or I wasn't even thinking of it as like necessarily a name it was kind of like this like brand and my husband we were going to create like this men's brand this woman's brand it was Tezza and Tezza like we have like all these ideas anyway so funny can't change it now but would you change it if you could I almost think it weirdly like led to some of its success because everything else was very like snapsy, like just like names that felt like a tech company.

41:18And ours was like Tezza and it had a face and it was like, what is this? And so it almost helped us like stand out in a really unique way. And I think if you are entering a space, especially now the photo and video space is like so crowded. When we launched, it was not that way. But like, how can you like show up in a really different way than everyone else in your space? Like there's room to mix it up. And I think it's important. What do you think about the Tezza customer who initially was buying everything back in the day? And then who is the Tezza customer now? Who is that person? I mean, it's quite a wide range.

41:51You know, we have everyone from like the millennials who have been with us for a really long time to Gen Z and like how, you know, they're creating in a totally new and different way. So we're like constantly thinking in both of those brains. And then so many brands are using Tezza like to run their entire like social media accounts and and how their brands are showing up on the internet anytime i go to an event you know the person comes up to me like everything goes through tests and i'm like oh my gosh so i'm really like so many different people are using it in different ways and and we're really talking to all of them have you ever had a really large fangirl moment where someone's come up to you and you're like i had no idea that you use this to build your business whether it's a creator or a brand?

42:33Well, I have kind of more of a funny story where I was at Lollapalooza in Chicago and a cop started walking up to me and I'm like, oh my God, like I was like, what did I do? Like, I'm like, I'm like, so I'm like sweating. And he's like, I just have to tell you. And I was like, okay. And he's like, I'm a huge fan of your app. I use it on all my social media. Like I'm a photographer on this. And he like starts pulling it up and I was just like like one I'm just like we're catering to women especially at this time it was like 90 % female using the app and this like hot male cop is coming up to me like showing me his tesipine I was dead I was like you know what success like the fact that you are a user I I'm done I love that you use that as your fangirl moment over like working with Selena Gomez 818 Bumble.

43:21Lots of fun moments, but it is true. It's like those little people that you wouldn't expect who are extremely creative that have this whole online persona. I just find fascinating. Your team is global. Your payment should be too. Pay straight from your existing bank account or debit card. No new wallet, no complicated setup. Verify your business once and you're set. Paying your global team shouldn't feel like a job. That's Remitly Business. Sign up at remitly.com forward slash small business month. Remitly Incorporated is licensed as a money transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services and in Puerto Rico, TM-143.

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44:32But you have worked with these brands like Rare Beauty, 818, Bumble, Hourglass, Summer Fridays. what is the craziest story of how one of those partnerships came to be oh well it's actually always so mind-blowing because these brands reach out they're like you know we're huge fans of the app or everyone's using the app that submits all their content like 818 was like everyone that sends in their content for 818 is like has the tezza in the metadata so we're always like oh that's so great to know uh but like with selena it was really interesting because we worked with her team that she has to approve all of it and i'm like so you're telling me Selena's like sitting down approving what I'm creating.

45:12And they were like, yeah. And then they were like, she's may or may not be coming to the event. But it was like, so is she or is she not? And then I was like, she's not coming. And then we come to the event and she's like just there and so casual and so nice. And then telling me all about how much she loves the new Prisa and everything. So I'm like, it's just really, you know, everyone's just people also running their own brands. And especially like women, they're just out there just crushing it. And it was really cool to like see that she's that invested in such a massive brand, you know. But I think we almost take that for granted.

45:45But a lot of the times people don't actually see the celebrities that are truly involved in their brands. For most of the brands that you work with, would you say that that's the norm or that's the anomaly when there's like a celebrity face attached to it? Like are most of them as involved as Selena Gomez is? I don't know. No, I would say that's like I mean, it's probably 50 50. Right. But like you even have people like Kim K who still edit their own content. You know, they don't just have content. I think people just think someone's like people even ask me like you still post your own content.

46:15Like who else is going to post it? Like what are you talking about? But I think people care. Like a lot of people do really still care about what they're putting out there. So, you know. My husband always gives me a really hard time because my favorite part of my day is answering my community's DMs. Like it's legitimately the thing that keeps me going. Like, well, it's how you know what's going on, what people are like. There's no way you could not. And by the way, it's like I do get the odd one that's really hateful and really mean. And like, yeah, that sucks to read. And his whole thing was, well, I'm around a lot of celebrities.

46:45And what they do is they have their publicist basically like read the comments and then give you 90 percent of like a summary of what's going on. And they leave the bad ones. And I tried that for a really long time. And I felt so disconnected from the community. Like, literally, my favorite part of my day is like at nighttime, I go into my DMs. I answer probably like five or 10 of them. Do you still do that? Absolutely. Yes. I look at every DM, I think. I mean, I try. But I think it's the only way you really know how people are connecting with what you're doing. It's basically the data, you know?

47:19I'm glad I never DM'd you, but I do have a funny story to tell you. So we were actually both at a happy hour for Intrepid Investment Banking. Oh, my gosh. Wow. Okay. Yes. So there was probably like five women in the room. And I was in this weird place in my career where like I had just been working with these celebrities. I was kind of leaving, but like didn't really know what I was doing. And I was like posting online, but also doing SPVs. And like, I just didn't really have anything to come up to you and say. And so I remember just like seeing you and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. And then I didn't end up shooting my shot with you.

47:54I have never DM'd you, but I've been a fan. And I remember being in that room with you, just being like, wow, this is so cool. this creator entrepreneurs at this investment banking event. And obviously you decided to not take money. And that's been like a really big part of the growth story. But did you ever consider potentially bringing in other investors? Well, first of all, I wish you said hi, because I hate that. And like, especially we were like, literally one of you. Yeah, you should have definitely chatted. I was probably like, who is she? She's so pretty. I can't. But yeah, I think we went down that path.

48:25At one point we were like, struggling you know because we really built our business to be profitable like that was the goal from the get we weren't like trying to show scale scale it as fast as we could or anything it was like we want to like make money and we want to have it you know for our life and then we realized like oh this some people built businesses to sell and then like you know this is how you throw like major events if you have like investment and you can hire more people like it was just i was truly a child when I started the company. Like, I don't think I had a true understanding of how business worked could work.

49:00I don't think they all have to be the same. And so we did go down that path. But ultimately, like, I just realized still to this day, I feel this way, but I feel like I still know best what is best for our company. And I don't need somebody kind of like weighing in on those decisions. Because I think a lot of the things that we do, people would say, that's not a good idea. And that doesn't make sense. But it does. And it always like pans out even these things like collabs or, you know, building a photo booth and building these experiences for brands. Like, I think in the beginning, people would have said that's just like a waste of time and a waste of money.

49:38But now that's almost become like a significant part of our business. I don't know. So, you know, I still will see. Never say never. We'll say that. But what was your first impression when you met a venture capitalist or an investment banker? Well, first of all, it's always just so many men and they look at you like, yeah, they always. I feel like you would like know how to command a room and take people seriously. So I will take notes from you after. But it did take me a minute to learn how to like what that flow is. Honestly, I people. didn't take me seriously at first. But I'm very tall, so people have to listen no matter what.

50:17So that usually does work to my advantage. Even though you decided not to take money, do you still get impressed when you see someone in the news that's raised a bunch of money for their company? Be honest. Well, I think there's too much emphasis on it sometimes. Of course, I think it's amazing. I have so many friends who have started incredible businesses. They they had to raise money in order to you know scale and do things at a certain level and like I totally understand that it's a different business than the business that I've had to build so of course but I don't think there's ever like enough emphasis on like people like building money a business to be profitable or like how long they've been doing that or things like that like the headline is always like they raise this much money and that's like the golden standard but I would love your perspective on that.

51:07I don't know. I agree with you a thousand percent. And it was interesting because even when I took money from Steven, people were like, oh, why are you doing that? And like, do you need the money? And I was like, they are a strategic part of our business. Like our business has 10x since we've been a part of Flight Story and full transparency. Like the people we are able to hire, the blueprint that we can use. Like it was such a strategic move that it allowed us to do things that like we truly like my sister was at the head of finance for a jewelry brand before this like I was building brands for celebrities and was like in consumer and dabbling with investing but like we had no media experience we had no long-form media experience and so having a team beside us that like allows us to fail and allows us to learn from their past failures not even on our show has allowed us to grow at a pace that we just wouldn't have been able to do in the past so for me, whenever someone comes to me and they're like, I really want to raise money.

52:01My question is always like, for what? And from who? Because if you can't answer those two questions, it's probably not the best thing, especially if you're bringing someone in that's like, going to tell you all of these things that you're like, you don't even understand my business, which I feel like your business is such a unique. It was such a unique thing. And it was almost hard to put in a box of like, where could this go? And I feel like there's so many places that it still could go. So I guess my next question to you would be like, as someone who has the flexibility because you've chosen to bootstrap, like, where do you see the brand going from here?

52:37Lots of places. You know, I truly do think of Tezza as like a world and all that comes with it. Like, I mean, we, it almost sounds silly, but it's like, we think of it like a restaurant. Like, I'm like, how is it hitting all of your senses? Like, when you walk past that window of like, in New York of a cool restaurant and the candle is lit just right and you hear the music and you can smell like what they're cooking and you're like I gotta get in there I don't even know what's happening but I gotta go inside because it's gonna make me feel this certain way like that's how I think about Tezza so it's everything from like I think just working with creatives of all kinds you know we've kind of like spent so much time in this niche but like now we're expanding in such bigger and different ways and then truly leaning into these in-person experiences that most people are leaning away from.

53:24Like that is, you know, kind of our special sauce. And I think, yeah, like I think what you were saying earlier about being so strategic with those, you know, who you're taking money from and like that could, that actually can be so helpful, but you have to also be ready for that because maybe someone, either someone's going to really get it and believe in your idea or they're going to shoot your idea down and they might mess up. So you really have to know, you know, who you're letting into your business. I think most people are making a rent or mortgage payment every month and getting nothing back for it.

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54:36So if you're looking for ways to be smarter with your money, sign up now at joinbilt.com slash HSR and make sure you use our link so that they know we sent you. One thing that Courtney and I keep arguing about now that we're married, is not what we're going to try for a baby. We're aligned on that. We are you about when we're getting a dog. No joke. My vote, baby first, then a puppy. Because realistically, I'll be the one doing all the work. But I know that when it comes to feeding our future puppy, we're both very aligned on using today's sponsor, Ollie. Ollie makes the highest quality fresh food developed by real chefs and backed by veterinary nutritionists.

55:13From the second you start your subscription, everything is tailored to your dog. All meals are perfectly portioned, so much so that you even get a pup tainer and a scoop for easy storing and serving. And through the Ollie app, you can track your dog's health too. If you want this level of health for your puppy, head to ollie.com slash HSR and tell them all about your cute little dog. And if you enter HSR at checkout, you'll get 70 % off your welcome kit when you subscribe. Plus, Ollie's obsession guarantee means that if you're not completely obsessed like you are with my show you'll get your money back it seems like you and your husband have such a good partnership to be able to handle this together but you guys have failed together one together made babies together so how do you guys keep it together well we have a friday lunch every friday it's true like we never miss it we have to have lunch on friday it's like i have to look at you in the eye and have no one else talking to me and we can talk about anything from like if it's romance to like the business whatever it is it's like just that one-on-one time and a lunch is so much different than like a date night dinner because it's less serious like I don't know how to explain it and you could stay you could you know be there for three hours if you have to like whatever it is there's just something special about it but my husband is also very good at saying like this we're done like you're closing your laptop we're not working anymore because I could just like kind of work forever and I think setting those boundaries is like really healthy and helpful especially when you've been together forever like it does and with kids I tell you there's no time anymore for you for the two of you so you have to make it you have to find it would you say that you're like the maker and he's more of the manager have you heard of that yeah but I but no we're like both so in each other's business I don't know it's so interesting like definitely in certain things okay but like there's nothing that doesn't cross over.

57:05And we almost have to approve and see everything that each other's doing. It's really interesting. Well, that was actually going to be one of my questions because most people that start a business together, after so much time, they don't call themselves co-CEOs. One of them usually becomes the CEO. One of them becomes the creative director. And one of my burning questions to ask you, because a lot of people that have come on this show as the creative or as the maker, they don't have the CEO title after a while. And like, they kind of let someone come in and it's like running the business and they're more the creative director.

57:39You've kept the CEO title and you share it with your husband. Why? And how does it work? I'm like, maybe we shouldn't, but no, I think the why is because we still truly believe and love what we're doing. Like we I don't know. I don't think anyone could do it better at this point. And after spending much time, we've looked into that. I'll say that much. And I still feel like we know what we're doing. So we're sticking with it. And it works because I think we both like he's definitely more operational than I am. And I'm more visionary. But there's no world where like he consumes more social media than me.

58:23he knows more about like like if we get i have to approve we approve every ad that goes out obviously and he's that he comes up with better coffee he comes up with better ideas than i do which no one would expect like i'm the content creator but i'm more like in the feels and he's very like the the bow on top right i don't know it just is it's an interesting flow but it really it really works when you finally find your thing you want the whole world to know about that thing So you use a thing called Canva to make it an even bigger and better thing. Whether you want to create flyers for that thing, make presentations for that thing, or design merch for that thing, you can do anything.

59:04So people can see your thing, feel your thing, love your thing. The next thing you know, it's a thing. Canva, the thing that makes anything a thing. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. You know those friends who support your preference for podcasts over music on road trips? That's the energy State Farm brings to insurance. With over 19 ,000 local agents, they help you find the coverage that fits your needs. So you can spend less time worrying about insurance and more time enjoying the ride. Download the State Farm app or go online at statefarm.com. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

59:43Does he get involved in like the Tezza personal brand work that you do? Yeah, I mean, he still takes my photos when I when I beg, but, you know, it's definitely like a 5 % of his time. Yeah. how do you now as someone who's like primarily running a business think about what gets you out of bed and gets you excited about building the tezza personal brand because i think once your business gets to a certain size you're like this could totally be my focus but i still have to put effort and attention and things into this so like what gets you excited about having both creative outlets? Well, one, I love like still being the, like a user to the product that I am making because it's so helpful.

1:00:33Like all I will be out and about at events or like the reason I go to events. Cause I'm like, how are we taking, what are we doing girls? Like, let's chat. Like, what do you need? How can I be of service? Like, I'm always trying to think of like, what's the next thing I'm going to create. So being in the space is so helpful being a user of the app i'm always like oh wow we can make this experience so much better so like it is so nice to kind of be blending those two worlds and i think most of the apps that we're competing with or who are copying us or whatever like they don't have a creator helping them and that well don't go hire one because i'm just kidding but it is like it is kind of a secret weapon and i honestly just i would probably be doing it regardless i truly love creating content taking photos like capturing storytelling all of that so yeah so a brand deal comes in like the wine brand you just did what motivates you to do that like is it that they're giving you creative freedom you want to share that with your audience like what is it about taking time away from every single thing that you have going on to be like I'm actually going to do this for this brand I think like one it's still flexing that creative muscle for me as like trying to you know be a photographer and like think creatively, think outside the box, because even when you're just doing it for yourself, it is so fulfilling and it's so much more fun, obviously, than when you have a brief and you have to like stick to guidelines.

1:01:57It's really, really hard. But I do believe like a lot of brands, you know, I talk with a lot of founders of brands and those are the brands I'm like excited to work with because I'm like, OK, I see you have a vision. Like I kind of want to help you bring it to life. And like sometimes those are the ones that turn into longer partnerships or like these, you know things like rare hourglass where we're helping bring something to life in a different way so definitely paying attention to that and then you know sometimes I I like to have multiple like incomes happening at once and I don't think I'm going to be a content creator forever I think like you know I've been doing it a really really really long time when you're pregnant you don't always want to create content like there are just eras where you're like this isn't my era and then you're like this is my era so like it's okay to have those eras I have you know a company on the side I can run over here but like I think while it's still working I like to keep it keep the engine going I think that people like you and I have a really unique perspective to give a message to brands that are listening to this and I made a very controversial video that has been spun out on LinkedIn so much where I was like the three frames in a story set is not working I can tell you that as a creator and I can tell you that as an investor, like it is actually causing people to skip through all of your messaging.

1:03:11And I'm actually really happy I posted. I think it has half a million views now. And I've had a lot of brands reach out to me and be like, how do you suggest that we then work with creators or influencers? Because that's the playbook that we were given. I'm not sure who made it up, but like, it's just what we were passed along. So if there was one rule that you could switch with the unique position that you have, that every brand could listen to to do better creator influencer deals what would it be well i think i would just have a call with the creator and say i mean it's actually really simple because they already know what's worked they the proof is in the pudding they could show you what works for them i don't think there's like i know it's like hard when you're working with so many different creators as a brand but i think if you could like invest more in the creator you're working with and say show me what's going to work and tell me and like really listen to them like the post is going to do much better.

1:03:59It's probably going to go more viral. Like the benefit will just be so much deeper and feel more organic. But what would you say? Mine would be the three story frames. No, but like you, you're saying to get rid of the three. Yeah. I would say to the brand, I would say to the brand, like we need to have an organic partnership over the span of a month long where there's going to be certain posts that go out, but like this three right after one another, like when you're talking about a lip product, like how, if you were to organically post a lip product, you would post probably one story and be like, there you go.

1:04:31And then you might post it again of like, oh, what's in my bag? Or maybe at the end of the month, you do an empties. Like that is what people actually want. And it's funny because I made a decision like I don't really ever maybe I post five to 10 like standout PR packages a month when they're delivered to me because I think the packaging is great. Or I think that like there's been amazing startups that listen to this show that send me something and I'm like, they can actually use my influence in this now. But I like to save my product, what's the word I'm looking for, like affirmation to when I've actually used the product.

1:05:06But I still think it's so interesting that like we feel the pressure as creators. Like as soon as you get the package, it's like you have to post it, but we don't even know if we like it yet or how could we talk to our audience in an organic way. So I do think that that relationship is shifting a lot. And we as the creator entrepreneurs that see both sides have that unique ability to like share with the other brands that just don't seem to be giving that given that insight. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think that we as these like nimble, scrappy entrepreneurs have a unique advantage even over these big brands that have these huge budgets because of how we get these insights directly from our customer?

1:05:44Yeah, I think a thousand percent. I think sometimes there's just so much money being wasted and like not enough thought being put behind things. I mean, I have worked with big mega brands. I'm like, you're actually ruining the product by doing it this way because they're not, but they're not even taking the time to look at it. And there's too many people to like, yeah, you know, sometimes too many people. I'm like, we only have 20 people. That's why we can get things out quickly and like, you know, iterate past. But speaking of the data, is there the data behind the most widely used filter on Tezza?

1:06:17Uh-huh. Yeah, of course. Yeah, it's always it's part of it. You have to take with a grain of salt because it's the order that they're in, you know. So like vintage is first and vintage was the first love of the Internet. So people love that filter so much and they still love it. And we have considered like taking it away, but people would lose it. And it's used millions of times a day. you have to kind of look at like okay what are the premium users people that are paying that have been around for a while even still vintage ends up in there even though that's like a free filter so it's really interesting but even still to this day people come up to me on the street like i just love vintage can't live without it it's almost like the original cocoa because now people love cocoa but like vintage was that before her so for someone like me i have taste but sometimes where it's like the restaurant you were describing i'm the owner of the restaurant I know who to hire to pick the best candle.

1:07:17I know who to hire to put up the best drapes. I know who to hire to curate the music. I know the chef that I'm going to put in because I have the vision. But like I can't pick out the curtains. I can't pick out the candle. Do you know the difference of what I'm saying? And so sometimes for me with social, I feel like, well, I actually don't know how to take the perfect flat layer, like what filter to put on top of this image. But if there was data that I could see as to like what's trending or like what people are liking or saving the most, like I would actually use that as a way to inform the way I'm going to edit my photos.

1:07:49Yes. Do you anticipate ever releasing that to the public? Yeah, like we do do kind of like recaps and things. And then even we'll share, you know, the tags of the week. And so you're kind of seeing like what people are using the most and how they're creating. Like that's a lot of art social posting is happening. But it would be interesting to share that in app. we've thought about that like how many times something was saved with that that week or that month or something like that would be interesting because I think the numbers are mind-blowing and so you might be like I'm going to consider using that but one thing we're really trying to work on is like there's so much in the app that you can do but like you know how do you get to all that faster because a lot of times people just use like what's first presented to them which makes sense you know can we do a little experiment are you gonna make me edit your photo yes I knew it okay so this is just a recent photo so cute I felt like it was very colorful and there was a lot of different things going on that we're gonna put the before and then we're actually gonna put the after in the episode so people can see okay well I mean your aesthetic like what are we going for like are we moody are we what's I'm not sure you're not sure so here's my problem Tezza I'm an ADHD multi-hyphenate ambidextrous creative entrepreneur.

1:09:03I wake up every day and I'm like, who am I today? So like, I would say the biggest struggle with like the brand is that people are like, and who are you in this moment? Whereas I don't think I have a specific aesthetic. I think you do. Okay. Well, maybe you can share a little bit more about what you think it is. I'm going to, I'm going to assess, I'm going to give it a breakdown. I think I like, or at least I see what it is like where it could go okay but I mean you're crushing it is kind of what I'm saying okay you're it's more clear than you think perfect okay I've been working with Claude so how's it going I think he's making some improvements but I was like I need to get the queen of creativity and image and taste in here and see what she thinks I know because this is like this is a very like fun image like you could go like really fun you could go filmy or you could go like moody to go chic like I don't know I don't know so let's go whatever you think the brand images that I'm creating like you do that one okay okay yeah okay I like it this is why I feel like you would be the best party guest because people are just like Tezza I need your help I mean I love to help so I'm here here for the girls like you know what can I say how long does it take you to edit a photo

1:10:24i mean i'm either quick or i'm taking a really long time because i'm trying different things i'm trying to find something new you know okay some things aren't requiring that like easter i knew exactly how i was going to edit the second i put it in for example but like yesterday i went to an event and like we could go like really chic and classy we could go like really fun and punchy so you know i don't know so you think about editing your photos as a photo not as your grid okay i don't think about my grid anymore which is crazy my i used to be like hyper focused on my grid and like making sure it was all cohesive but i am all aesthetics now essentially and i can make them all work together in different ways because you know that's how my brain works also so i've released my grid i will say which is kind of but it's so interesting because i would still look at you and think you have a cohesive grid?

1:11:22I don't even think about the grid, I'll be honest. I mean, I think about it. I wish I could like spend more time on it, but like I don't make sure everything's going together. There's no time for that. And I don't think anyone's really I don't go and look at other people's grids unless you're like new, like it's someone new coming the first time you're looking at those top nine or, you know, 20 but you're not going deeper than that but see the way that i think about instagram and i think it's actually important for people with their personal brand which is just important nowadays is like it's your magazine cover oh for sure i mean i'm thinking about the grid in terms of like aesthetics it all has to like be gorgeous and go together but i'm not like i guess i'm thinking of like 2018 grid and that was like psychotic yeah so i'm i'm more talking I'm not that.

1:12:11Okay. Because I think that like when I was working with Claude on my personal brand, when before I started making some changes, it was like your grid is basically saying, look at my achievements. Like this is like there was nothing about who you were. And like you have a business that you can put all of that on. Your personal grid needs to show like what do you do? Who are you? What is your energy? Like what are people going to expect from you? And I had never really asked myself those questions. And so it was actually very helpful to do that exercise. And Claude roasted my grid and was like, this is embarrassing.

1:12:45Like, that is a word that they used. But I think it was a good reminder that it's like, this is the way that the world sees you. They go to your grid and they make an assumption about you, whether it's right or whether it's wrong. Yeah. So there does need to be some emphasis on it. Yeah. I mean, I'm definitely, trust, I'm thinking about every photo, the first, that's what I'm saying. Like, I'm storytelling, thinking about the first photo, like what someone's going to click on and why. I'm thinking about all of that. But as far as colors go or spacing, I released that. But I do think it is your website, essentially.

1:13:18So whatever you want people to know, they got to know it right when they come. I agree with that. Claude is bright. Right? Okay, well, let's do this. Okay, well, okay. I got to get back to it. I'm doing a little HSL. I got to change in tones. Wow, this is so cool watching you do this. i mean it is strange lighting in this mcdonald's is that where we're at mcdonald's what is this for for fun well so i got a spotify actually just bought me a billboard for the podcast stop yeah congrats thank you and so we went and saw it two days ago and we actually just posted it today this i did not put in the dump because i couldn't edit it in time um but i just thought it was fun i loved a diet coke we just went to mcdonald's after and i was like this just does show my personality where it's like this professional business podcast but we're going to mcdonald's and like gucci 2010 sunglasses and getting four diet cokes for my team no i love it right it's so cute i mean i could sit here and edit this all day it's a lot of pressure when it's someone else's picture you know i gotta get the skin tone right yeah i gotta take out some of the blue okay oh so you're not even doing a filter over top you're like edit i am and then i'm also you know okay i think hsl is the most undervalued like tool okay because like for example these are just too blue in the background so i'm going in i'm clicking the blue i'm taking out the saturation of that a little bit you know that's not because your phone is also kind of almost editing for you it's like thinking of this it's making something better or worse okay and so you kind of have to either undo that or like to actually even make it feel more like the reality that you were living in okay you know yes that's my personal okay so this is all things i did not know sometimes i do a few versions you know okay she's like and then do you copy the presets ever over to another photo always yeah okay that's usually like my i i sit with one photo for a while paste it on a few see if it's like working and make my final edit and then paste it and how do you organize your photos albums but they've i mean they've ruined it you can't search your albums anymore you can only search like collections see i even find editing such a crazy process because let's say we someone takes a hundred photos of me which is not that crazy to get one good one not at all so let's just be honest it's like 400 photos to get one good one um right yeah and then you favorite let's say eight then you have to go in you have to edit all of them then like you need to switch around the presets and now you have 50 different photos and no way to organize which one you actually wanted to choose i usually like once i saved all the ones with the edits that i like then i just put them on Instagram and start like rearranging and that's kind of how I I don't know okay but you can also favor it with Intesa so like yeah you could like you know yeah okay you know you're on the you know a lot of people don't know I'm a subscriber girly yeah okay this would be like if I was just doing a subtle chill chill edit but like I could go harder love you know yeah because it's it can go with everything like you took away all of the really intense colors like it was almost just like i if i were editing that for me i would go like film me and make it like a little more like so you did cocoa yeah okay yeah i see this okay okay tezza rapid fire okay are you ready i'm ready what is the last thing you put on your credit card i bought my husband a piece of art for which is for our new house you got a new house yeah we did wait congratulations have you moved?

1:16:52No, hopefully this summer. Oh my God. Are you building it? No, but we're doing like renovations. It's been a whole situation. So we're very excited, but it's like been a long time coming. Oh my God. Okay. I was about to ask, what's the last most expensive thing you put on your credit card, but would that be it? It would be the house. Well, I don't, did I put it on a credit card? I don't think, but yeah, the house was, yeah. You can only pick one Tezza filter to use for the rest of your life. I mean, I'm just going to have to go with of what everyone else would say but cocoa i think cocoa just always works is that your most used my personal most yes i always mix it with like a film effect so i'm like mixing it on top of other things but it's always kind of at the base yeah i would say it's very iconic even the way you edit your photos like even my husband who like doesn't know this stuff was looking at your photos today and zooming and he's like oh you can really tell that there's something going on here thank you what is the first app you open in the morning Instagram.

1:17:51You're an Instagram girly. I'm an Instagram girly through and through, yeah. Do you like TikTok? I do like it. I can't consume it for very long. Okay. My brain's just, I got to protect. Yeah. But, I mean, if it was your video that came up, yeah. Okay. What's the filter everyone's going to be using this summer? Well, it's coming out in about a month, so. What's it called? Can you say? It is not named yet. I usually name it once it's kind of finalized. How do you go through the naming process? Sometimes it's inspired by what it's going to be used on or what the experience is that we're shooting the campaign about or anything like that.

1:18:36But if it's something that's going like, for example, a film effect, a lot of times they're inspired by an actual film or certain things. So we'll take inspo from that. It's kind of a wide range of inspo. you can name our next one i'll call you love that i'll put on my creative hat okay you can only take one of these for the rest of your life travel photos or home photos home photos did i really i don't know that came out quick but i think i i think i would change to travel photos i don't know why i said home photos in my i actually have no idea why i said that first i think right now i'm so home obsessed all i'm thinking about is home home home this new house like i just can't stop but no amazing travel photos i do these things every day called hsr love notes which is basically a way to retrain my retrain my toxic brain okay so it's like an affirmation so my as an example would be like your voice has value your haters don't pay your bills my opinion matters if you could only say one hsr love note to yourself for the rest of your life what would it be it's kind of been i guess maybe the same forever but feel the fear and do it anyway like we just grew up saying that at my house and it's always been like the way I've gotten over the fear of like trying to do something new and putting myself out there or whatever it is so I love that yeah okay last one if you could title this season of your life what would it be called the art of chaos I think I love of course it had art in it I'm obsessed well you know the art of life but now it's just like the art of chaos but like it's still you know I love it Tez of Artin thank you so much for coming on HSR.

1:20:15Where can people find you and how can HSR help you? Oh my gosh. Well, you're helping me already. But you can find me on Instagram, Tezza.Barton. You can find the app, which is just at Tezza. You can find the app in the app store, Tezza. Shop Tezza.com. You can find all the goods, all the things. Okay. And we have one final thing for you as an early birthday gift. So happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Tessa. Happy birthday to you. Oh, my God. Let me take a picture of this. This is so cute. Isn't the cake so cute? You guys. Like, what filter would this go on? Oh, I would do, like, a little class, which is in the film.

1:21:04Okay. Let's take a little video of you blowing it out. Okay, ready?

1:21:11Perfect. And we made it match your shirt. No, it's literally perfect. Oh my God. You have to take it home with your family. Thank you so much for coming on. I had the best time. I have to tell you something before you go. It is your time to own the room. There's something special that we've been putting together after these incredible conversations in season two. So you can learn what these women are doing when they walk in and own the room. We've packaged up all of these learnings and we are going to be releasing it. But to gain access, you have to sign up to the newsletter. So you're going to visit hsrowntheroom.com to sign up and get access so that you can own the room.

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