She Hated the Cold. Then She Built a Business Around It | Laura Fullerton

0:00Laura Fullerton:The screw it, just do it moment for me was when I discovered this private Facebook group. And at the time there were 6 ,000 people and if there's this many people willing to get electrocuted, have a really ugly product, clearly there's something not meeting their needs. So that really was the catalyst behind Monk where I thought, well, I've got to create it. As a founder of an early stage business, you're doing so much. You're trying to build hardware and software while fundraise, while build a team, while get ready for a launch. People don't understand what you actually have to go through. people think oh you've just got to give up some evenings and weekends but it's not even scratching the surface you just have to sacrifice so much you have to really be prepared to to go through it

0:43Alex Chisnall:what stops founders from building something meaningful isn't the lack of ideas it's the fear of getting started i'm alex chisnell and this is screw it just do it the podcast for people who are ready to stop waiting take action and make things happen I'm interested to know how you went from having this personal aversion to cold water or, you know, old cold things to being, you know, a real advocate for cold water therapy and ultimately launching your own ice bath company. So was there a screw it, just do it moment along that journey that set you on the path that you're on today?

1:20Laura Fullerton:Yes, there was. So, yeah, the quick back story is that I have always hated being cold. I would do anything to avoid it and so for me to now be running monk like I see the irony but I've always been really into the biohacking health optimization side of things and you know I do a lot of the holistic stuff like workout sauna and stuff I'm used to doing hard things but I'd yeah never touch cold water therapy because I thought why would anyone do that and then I got invited to this breathwork and ice bath workshop and honestly I went along thinking I'll just skip the ice bath bit and I got bullied into doing it and then afterwards I just felt so good um and then i just wanted more of it but the thing i found is that it was just really inaccessible which sounds stupid because it's cold water you should get it out of your tap yeah exactly yeah um but yeah one thing led to another and i actually just wanted to make my own ice bath and i was speaking to my brother who's you know amazing at engineering and building things and then i had a few friends saying well actually i want one as well can you figure out how to do it for me but the screw it just do it moment for me was when i discovered this private Facebook group and at the time there were 6 ,000 people in it which I thought was a lot and I actually looked the other day and I think there's nearly 80 ,000 people in this group now.

2:32Alex Chisnall:Wow so it's more than 10x.

2:33Laura Fullerton:Yeah and it's just dedicated to people learning how to transform their own chest freezers into a DIY ice bath and that for me was the moment where I thought if there's this many people willing to get electrocuted, have a really ugly product, clearly there's something not meeting their needs. So that really was the catalyst behind Monk where I thought well I've

2:52Alex Chisnall:got to create it okay and and to create a more aesthetically pleasing version at the same time

2:58Laura Fullerton:yeah with yeah better functionality as well and in all honesty i've never built hardware before i've never built software so building hardware and software that has to talk to each other yeah it's quite a big ask but um but yeah here we are if you're enjoying the conversations on

3:13Alex Chisnall:screw it just do it with guests like piers linney richard harpin ray kelvin julia barrett why not come and see them live on the third and fourth of november i'm going to be hosting the festival of entrepreneurs at the nec in birmingham where they'll be joined by over 200 speakers sharing the lessons they've learned building some of the uk's most successful businesses so if you're serious about growing your business i'd love to see you there head to festival of entrepreneurs dot co.uk and grab your free yes free ticket what's been the biggest breakthrough since you

3:45Laura Fullerton:started on this journey would you say breakthrough what being like a milestone or yeah who can you say that you've you've got on board so by the time this podcast comes out i'll be able to say that anthony joshua is is one of our investors and we've got some amazing things coming up in the the next couple of years loads of shoots and things with him so that's going to be incredible yeah really excited for that um yeah who else we got so james watt the ceo of brew dog yeah um And one of the co-founders of Aura Ring, which for me is amazing because it's probably one of my favorite products. So to have their belief and also someone who was the CMO for Peloton for four years.

4:24Laura Fullerton:How do you get in front of these people?

4:26Alex Chisnall:Is it your network or do you actively go out and expand your network?

4:32Laura Fullerton:I mean, I put a lot of effort into my network. I think it is probably the number one thing that any founder entrepreneur can do.

4:40Alex Chisnall:Agreed. biggest challenge or setback you've had in the last three years then oh do you know what last

4:47Laura Fullerton:year was actually a really tough year it was tough yeah i think for me the the hardest thing was fundraising in the climate last year um and also just you know as a founder of an early stage business you're doing so much you're trying to build hardware and software while fundraise while build a team while get ready for a launch like there's just whilst getting to bed before 10 o 'clock Yeah, well, exactly. That's the thing that really tripped me up.

5:10Alex Chisnall:It's the time thing, isn't it?

5:12Laura Fullerton:It was mainly fundraising. It was just really tough last year. And luckily, at the end of the year, it really picked up. Good. But yeah, for a good few months, it was intense.

5:23Alex Chisnall:What's helped propel you get from where you are to where you want to be?

5:27Laura Fullerton:I think as we just spoke about, I would say network.

5:30Alex Chisnall:Okay.

5:30Laura Fullerton:Yeah, I think that is just the number one.

5:33Alex Chisnall:Surround yourself with the right people.

5:35Laura Fullerton:yeah yeah yeah and i think you've also just got to ask your network for things like even if you know after this conversation i could say like oh hey who are the three people you think i should meet or you know it's just yeah it's a great line wasn't mine i don't know who i stole it from

5:49Alex Chisnall:okay that's a really good line it's not yours okay yeah but i think also i remember at the beginning of the year i read something and what was the quote it was something about like what

6:00Laura Fullerton:happens if you actually just go for it and i've always had that in the back of my mind and you know i think i remember saying something if i yeah if i was talking to a friend who was i don't know telling me about a problem or something they wanted to do it would be so easy for me to be like oh you should just do this and tell them to shoot for the moon but as soon as it's like me talking to myself yeah i just kind of hold back so just thinking about that like also what is the

6:24Alex Chisnall:worst thing that could happen what was the one thing that you needed personally to screw it just do it and get from where you were to where you are now was it a quality um was it um somebody was it a quote was it a physical thing i think one of the things that really got me through was

6:45Laura Fullerton:a book called the hard thing about hard things by ben horowitz oh you have to read it yeah yeah it's incredible but there's a chapter in it called the struggle and it is the best i don't know three four pages of writing and it was just like therapy reading if you have ever had like a really hard day I just went and read that and I actually I remember reading it out to one of my best friends who's you know not an entrepreneur she has an amazing job and as I finished reading it she's looked at me she's like are you okay she's like that sounds horrible you know like the founder journey is really tough but I that book for me was just it was amazing what's been one of the

7:25Alex Chisnall:biggest learnings you've taken away so far the three-year journey would you say i think learning to delegate has been such a big one yeah um and i i'm not good at it yet okay um

7:43Laura Fullerton:but i'm trying to get there but i think that has been a really big learning curve also i mean i yeah i've never built hardware or software before so i mean every day i'm just doing things that are completely new and i've i've had two businesses before but yeah yeah for sure but i mean neither of them were were anything like this no but i think as long as you just have that relentless drive to knowing you have to get to where you want to be and you just won't give up yeah then then you'll get there you have to be a certain type of person yeah because people don't understand what you actually have to go through people think oh you've just got to give up some evenings and weekends but it's not even scratching the surface like the mental isolation and stuff you have to go through and you just have to give up all of your mental bandwidth and your sanity like i've had it when i've been out with friends and we're having dinner on like the rare occasion you can get out to do that and they're talking at me and my mind is just like a million miles elsewhere same and yeah you just you just have to sacrifice so much and you're just constantly it's like a duck treading water and yeah you have to really be prepared to to go through it