How a Broke Bartender Turned $50 Into a Multi-Million Dollar Brand—The Skinny Confidential

0:00Today, we're talking to Lauren Bostick, the absolute killer behind a blog that has now turned into the skinny confidential and a podcast with over 400 million. downloads. I am Lauren Bostic and welcome to The Burnouts. Take us back. You're in college. You have the idea for the skinny confidential. Did you know an online sorority was going to work? You know what? I let's the sorority thing's funny for me. I went to college and I feel like one of the things at that time, I don't know if this is how your guys' college experience was, was to join a sorority. I went to San Diego State and that's kind of just like what you did to get in with the community.

0:42And so I went to do like to check the box to rush and did. I actually remember sleeping in my car during rush because I was like, what is this? Yeah. Can we talk about this? I feel like I've never talked about this. You get interviewed by other girls, but they're like evaluating you by the way you look. It felt like, to be honest with you, looking back, it felt super vapid. After I got accepted, they like sent me like a bill and call me like oblivious. I didn't realize that there would be a bill to join sorority to have friends. It just didn't, I didn't understand. I'm like, you want now me to pay$800 a semester it was, which at the time for me was a lot of money.

1:30I was paying for my own college. It was not for me. And so I dropped out, I think, the second day of the sorority. Yeah. Anyways, I started thinking if I have to pay to make friends in a community in college, how can I do this for free and how can I do it online and how can I make it a resource for other women? Because I love other women. I just didn't want to have to spend all the money. You don't have to pay to be friends with them. Yeah. Completely. Also, there felt like it was like a judgment to get in. Yeah. To. Yeah. You know, they only accept a certain amount of people. The energy was off.

2:09What did your friends think when you were like, I don't want to be part of a sorority? I looked at my school experience as you come in with your briefcase and you leave with it. And looking back, was that a mistake? I don't know. I was I was very entrepreneurial in college and I was very driven to make my own way. And you were teaching classes too, right? You were bartending and teaching classes. I was teaching at Pure Bar and Pilates. And I was like, basically, I was like, what is the quickest way to do this in the most efficient, effective way to get out to move on to the next step? So almost like a lily pad.

2:46Yep. So I don't know if that answers your question. I think it's part of the culture. I don't think I immersed myself enough in the culture of college. It was Like I went on campus, I did what I had to do. And then it was like off to make money. Wow. And listen, I was supporting myself at the time. So like that's maybe like a survivor tactic. Sophia was the exact same way until we became friends. I tried to break her. It took months of us living together to convince her, hey, like let's, you know, and then we ended up starting the business together. But she was pre-law. I wanted to be pre-med at the time.

3:22And Sophia, you didn't really like, I mean, we wanted to have like a friendship, but it wasn't like you were investing a ton of time and like, okay, you know, let's build, like, let's have like a college experience here where we really build close relationships. And so I think that was something that I broke you. You definitely broke me. I mean, I think I felt very similarly to you where I was like, college is a step towards the rest of your life. What everyone needs to realize is everyone's different. And like, just because someone likes to do this doesn't mean the other person likes to do this.

3:54And like when when it comes to college experiences, I get why people want to go a pop puss and have a blast at college. I totally get it. I get why people want to join a sorority. I get why people want a bazillion friends. I understand. I just think like as you as you start to get older and grow, you start to just really know yourself and what your tastes are. And like, it's might not be the same as what everyone else wants. Like you, that's okay to use college as a lily pad. It's okay to not want to go to college. Yeah. I feel like you have to like lean in to like what works for you. A hundred percent.

4:32And so how did you realize that what was going to work for you was starting a blog? I think that I launched the blog because I was interested in brand. So I launched the blog in mind with creating a brand. I knew in 10 years and 15 years that I wanted to create like a movement, a brand. So the blog was a byproduct of knowing I wanted to launch a brand. So to me, there was no like rush to get it out there. There was no, it was thought out. It was purposeful. It was meticulous. I remember I hired this guy for$50 a month to design the website because I couldn't pay him up all up front. I would design the whole website on a poster board and like bring him to Starbucks and show him the poster board of how the blog would be designed.

5:20And I knew that like later on, I would and I talked about this on our episode, it would be like the octopus with the tentacles. It was like, is it a book? Is it a show? Is it a product line? Like, what is it? So knowing I wanted to launch a brand, it was a different mindset than someone who wants to be a blogger. So here's the example I'll give. A lot of bloggers at the time, and I don't know if you guys remember this, but they were like, here's what my shoes are. Here's my nail polish color. I'm in the street running with flowers. I did this too. So not me, not no, like I've, I've done it. We're going to pull it up.

5:54Yeah. Pull it up. But it was all about like what they were wearing. And I was like, I want a resource and a community where I can find out what your dress is and what mascara Sophia is wearing. And you know, whose lip gloss, what's on Cindy Crawford's vanity. Like I wanted like a full 360 approach of everyone's tips and tricks. And that stemmed from like not wanting to pay $800 from the sorority and to do it online and to do a resource. So that's how it started out. But it definitely was like, it was, I set out to build a brand. So the blog was the byproduct of that. Wow. That's so you knew from the very beginning that it was going to become something a lot bigger.

6:38Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Totally. And listen, I'm sure a lot of bloggers that launched at the time had had that in mind. But I think to build a brand, you have to make it bigger than you. And so I could sit there and tell you about what brow powder I was wearing and what lip gloss. And I did do that, but there had to be more than Lauren Everett's at the time. Now I'm Lauren Bostic. Everett's had to be more than that. It wasn't enough for me to build brand. I'm like, let me reach out to a hundred models on Twitter today. And it's called Twitter at the time and DM them and let me, maybe I'll get two yeses.

7:22And then I'll take those two guesses and I'll leverage that to get maybe like a more famous model. But then I also didn't sleep on like the everyday girl. So I did that with the blog. I was like, okay, let's get someone who has really great tips, the nutritionist, the Pilates teacher down the street. But let's also try to get the big models. Let's also try to get the celebrities. But like, let's mix it all together and create the resource. So that's how the blog started. When did the blog actually become a business? I think I had read online for three years. You didn't try to make any money from it.

7:56Was that intentional? I didn't think about money in the beginning. The money was, and listen, I knew the money would come. Yep. Like the money's going to come. Do what you do and do it well and do it not with the intention to make money. That is boring. There are so many ways that you can go make money. To me, it was like, build the value, build an incredible brand, build an incredible blog. The money is a byproduct of that. And I think you can tell the people online and you guys know this who just want to make money. Yep. Yep. And it's I don't know. I just don't find it interesting. You'll make money if you create something that people need and like.

8:43Yeah, it's pretty simple. So I didn't make one dollar for three years. And now this is a different time. That wouldn't work now. Like now, listen, if someone came to me and they're like, I've been podcasting for three years and I haven't made a dime. I'd be like, we need to start monetizing. Yeah. But at the time, like people, people didn't know how to monetize on the internet like that. I was making like, you know, money to start off affiliate. And then I got like a collab for$800. And that was like a big deal with Splits 59. But I was blogging seven days a week and did not make one dime for three years.

9:17And the podcast, by the way, was very similar. We, I think we podcasted for a year and didn't make any money. and that was a choice it was like we're not even going to worry about the money yeah because it'll come and I think that if you're just looking to make money in a creative endeavor whether it's art writing podcasting whatever it is it's not the right question to ask how how should I make money the right question to ask is how can I bring value from a unique perspective and have a point of view. And I'm curious for you, like, have there been moments over your career where you were like, holy shit, I made it like kind of a different topic.

9:57But I think it's just so interesting to look at you started with such a small blog, like you started with something so authentic, and you really have built like an empire at this point. Like what have been the highlights for you? It honestly feels like the three little pigs. Everyone should go read that book. the house of brick it's just one brick at a time there's not been for me there's no I'm not I haven't gone viral I'm not going to the moon I'm like there's this thing called astronaut syndrome where astronauts go to the moon and they come back down to earth and they actually get depressed because when you've gone to the moon what what are you gonna do right you've gone to the moon it's pretty fucking insane and this happens a lot you see this a lot with really famous sports players.

10:42Like they'll get like the biggest trophy, everything. And then the sports career will go away and then they get depressed. And it happens. You can go Google studies on this. I think it's called astronaut syndrome. I don't want to go to the moon right away. I want to build slowly and strategically with something that has a really strong foundation. And that's, it's taken a long time. So there's been no epiphany. Have I had moments that are cool? Of course. I mean, you guys have already had moments that are cool, but I would let me ask you this. When you got Kris Jenner on the podcast, you feel like you made it.

11:18Absolutely not. But it's an amazing accolade. It's an amazing thing to add to the resume. But I'm just going to guess that you guys are like, what's next? Yep. Yep. Yeah, of course. That's an after this interview, you'll say what's next. Like that is a true boo entrepreneur. So what's next for you? next for me is a baby literally huge literally literally a baby um and I think really leaning into that moment because babies grow this is stupid but they grow so fast I know everyone says that I have a niece and it's crazy to see it's like they're laying there doing nothing and then all of a sudden they're walking so I really just want to take some space I no longer want to like collaborate or partner or do anything that is not something that I'm like so excited about that makes so much sense to the community and the brand.

12:12It has to make sense. Wait, like what's the biggest opportunity you've turned down? Because you were like, this doesn't feel aligned. I turn down things all the time. You have to turn down things to make space to the yeses. You know, I've turned down a lot of, I've turned down a lot of money. I've turned down a lot of opportunity, but if I have a funnel with my team, I've never talked about this on the show. So I have a funnel where it has to hit certain points for it to be a yes. Like if it's not, if it's not hitting the points, then it's just a no. What are the points? Well, it depends what it is.

12:47If you're talking about like a co-brand, are you talking about launching product? Are you talking about who we're having on the show? What's the funnel for guests that they have to check? The funnel for guests is you have to be able to speak on a mic. That's number one. So we, our team will listen to the person that's coming on. If you don't know how to speak, and I don't mean this to be mean, you got to have the, you got to have the chops to speak on a mic because I don't want to sit here and talk to a puppet. Like, yep, you could do it. You got to hit the ping pong ball back. That's number one.

13:15I don't care about how many followers you have. If you have a good story and you have a unique point of you. It's a yes. And then another point I would say is it has to provide some kind of value to the audience. So with you two, I'll just use you as an example. I think what you're doing is really fresh. It's really relevant. It's really innovative. It's inspiring. It's entrepreneurial. I also think your story of like the Bluetooth tampon and how that changed into what you're doing now. Like it's, it's, it's a mixture and a medley and a recipe of all these different things that make sense for the show.

13:53I know that if someone's listening and they're in college or they're not in college, maybe they're out of college are going to be inspired by that episode. So to me, it has to be a win for us, a win for the guest and a win for the audience. And it has to hit those three points. And you would be surprised how many people do not hit those three points. Good on a mic, unique point of view, good story, and provide value to the audience. To do all those things at once, it's rare. So there's hundreds of people, I would say thousands of people that just aren't a fit. Also, if you're coming to sell something, I don't need Vanna White.

14:30I don't want to, if you're just selling something the whole time, I've had people where I had to stop. Like, I'd be like, I've had to say, listen, we want to tell your story. We want the audience to fall in love with you. And if you're just going to schlep and sell to them, they're going to, they smell it. You turn it off. I don't want to be sold to. And there's episodes we have not posted. If it is not good for the audience, goodbye. And what about brand deals? What funnel do they go through? The brand deals have to be something that I'm already using. And if I'm not using it, I have to try it for like two months.

15:07But it has to be something I'm interested in trying. I also like uh marriage and a partnership not a one-night stand like I don't want to just like fuck them and leave them yeah I want like a longevity situation so like a great partnership that I've had is like symbiotica like I take their vitamins and it's been this like four-year thing where the founders come on the podcast like we just love the brand and it turned into me being an advisor. And like maybe that turns into me being an investor. A lot of a lot of the brands that I've talked about organically have turned into an investor situation.

15:44So it has to make sense to what I'm doing. I'm not just going to promote something for money.

15:54If I'm in college and I want to start a brand, I want to build my personal brand. What would you say? Like, what would be your thing? Like, how do I start? That's a really good question. I think that you have to first pick your medium. So not everyone is built for a mic. Not everyone is built for video. Not everyone is built for Instagram. Instagram is very, a lot of it's very curated. Like maybe like you like to be like sloppy and let it hang out. So TikTok's more your vibe. I think you have to pick which medium is synergistic to who you are. For me, out of all the mediums I've done, that is definitely podcasting.

16:30Like if you turn, we turned off the cameras right now. I'm good with just talking on the mic. I like the intimacy of it. I could do a solo episode for two hours alone. No problem. Like I just, I'm an overshare. I don't need like a script. I'm just comfortable on a mic and I would do it in stages. I wouldn't be so like, we have to launch like a LinkedIn in and a sub stack and it's like do one thing and do it really, really well and make sure you're really, really targeted and refined with the point of view and make sure there's a brand that you're building. So it has longevity. So when did you realize, though, that what you were doing was something that was going to become your career?

17:11And then how did you continue to elevate it? I knew I was building something from the very day I started because I'm the type of person, and I think both of you guys can relate to this, where it's like if I'm going to do something, it's going to be 100%. And like, there's no other option. So the brand was like right away. As far as the evolution of it, I think, and you guys have experienced this, you talked about this on our show was like, you throw things at a wall and you see what works. And I'll give you an example of something that didn't work. I launched like a fitness app early on. And like, that's listen, I love fitness.

17:43I work out every day, but I don't want to be the expert on fitness. that wasn't right. So I stopped that. It was doing well. It was making money, but it wasn't what I wasn't excited about. So like you throw things at the wall and whether it's a Bluetooth tampon. Everyone's calling us Elizabeth Holmes for the Bluetooth tampon. Really? I know. I was shocked. They always have to do a brand of something. There has to be something. There has to be. That's OK, though. You have to be able to put yourself out there to the public to like laugh at. If they're not like laughing at you and calling you Elizabeth Holmes, you're not doing it right.

18:23Like I think that's let them call you Elizabeth Holmes. They could be not talking about you. And when did you first like when did you make your first hire? What was the first thing you delegated? By far. And this is a tip for anyone who's listening. The first hire that you have should be someone who runs your time. And not only your time, your attention. The two most important things you have as a business person is your attention and your time. And so I think when you are hiring, you should hire someone who is looking at your day like a scientist. The person who looks at my day has every single thing so organized, it's disgusting.

19:03I have my driving time, my reading time, my meditating time, time with my children. So I can I can use all my energy and all my fuel on the things where my strengths are. Where people make a mistake and is when they're in business for like, let's say five years and they're delegating fuel towards their weaknesses. I have no interest in that. If it can be done without me at this point, it's got to be done without me. And all of my time and attention need to go towards the priority. So I would say your first hire should be someone who is a scientist of your calendar. And if you don't have someone right now, you could get an intern, like get someone who is really organized with time.

19:47Really important. That's so interesting. They should be texting you your alarms every day. The second that they start, your alarms should be in your text message. You have a 930. This is what it is. Here's the brief. You have this is who's coming on the show. Here's the information. Like it should be someone that's almost like a chat GPT of your life. That is by far the most important hire. I think product design and product iteration and innovation and disruption, that has to be me. And then I think that those are the only things. I'm trying to build a company and a brand though that's bigger than me.

20:25And you guys are doing that with what you're doing. It's so important to make it bigger than you. It cannot be your show. It needs to be so big that it could function without you. And so, you know, I don't want to be taking a mirror selfie at 65 years old, sharing my outfit. That's just not what I want to do. Listen, if you want to do that, good for you. I'm having someone on the podcast that does that and she's fucking fabulous tomorrow. But I know where I want to go. And that's not I'm OK with also being behind the scenes and I'm OK with making it way bigger than me. How do you plan? Like, are you planning like years ahead?

21:04Do you sit down every quarter and you're like, OK, you and Michael sit down. You're like, these are our goals for the next X amount of time. You know, what's so funny is I think I got this from your dad. I think. Are you serious? Yeah. Oh, my God. It's called Think Week. Does your dad? Yep. I do a think week. Where do you go for your think week? I don't do a whole week. Sorry, Bill. I don't do a whole week. I do probably three days and it's the best days of the year to do it are the second, the third and the fourth of January because everyone is like, leave me the fuck alone. If you think about the best time to take a break from everyone, it's those three days.

21:43Think about it. It was just the holidays. Everyone's emotionally exhausted. And those three days, the second, the third, the fourth, wherever I am, I will just do like three days of thinking. I talked to Michael about it. We take walks. We have like, I have my notes app and it has like what, what I want out of the year. Like if broken down, I'll put like where my priorities are. I also will think about where I want to be in 10 years. And the first, the first thing I do, when I've talked about this a lot is I go to a hole in the wall foot spa. I love that. It's so good. You got to find a hole in the wall.

22:19The dirtier, the better. Like you ever worry about a foot fungus? Like how dirty are we going? It's too good. It's foot fungus, schmungus. I don't know what's going on in the back. It's silent. It could be a Ponzi scheme. Who knows? it's like who knows what's going on in there but you find a foot spa it's quiet and I will literally just get my feet rubbed for two hours and just bring a notepad that's one way other ways are like walking for 20 minutes in the morning you guys are in New York City just take a walk and put your phone down it's fucking hard yeah it's hard because everyone thinks that doing and reacting is how you gain momentum.

23:04That is not true. The most strategic people, if you look in history, the most strategic, smartest people who have created value and legacy are the ones that have created space to think. In the sense of creating space, like you have your own personal brand, your own personal business, and then you also have this joint venture with your husband. And how do you balance those two in terms of like, how do you focus on your own brand, but then also co-creating a brand? I don't balance really. I feel like I blend. So like my life blends into my life blends into my business, blends into my kids, like my business.

23:47It's a part of like our ether, our world. It doesn't feel like I separate the categories. I am a partner of dear media. So it's not something I work on day to day. It's more like I give opinions or I'll be like, this talent's amazing. Like you have to check them out, but I'm not running the company and the operations and logistics with my business. I feel like I am, I know what hat I'm putting on. I'm the creative director. I am really giving direction to product innovation. Like I said, and then with the show and you guys know this, you're telling you're the host. So you show up and that's the hat.

24:24I'm not trying to produce it or edit it or do all this shit that I'm not. I'm not trying to create YouTube thumbnail. I just want to show up. I want to give it my all. I'm like an athlete. This is it's time to perform. And then it's like, what's next? And as far as when I'm a mother, I walk in the door and I put my phone away. If anyone's listening to their mom, when I walk in that door, the phone is away. I don't want to look at it. I don't want to be on it in front of my kids. I want to be present. So I'm 100 % when I'm a mother. And I think that that's a side that I don't get to show a lot on social and the podcast, because when I'm like being very feminine at home and like curating the home and being a homemaker, it's like I don't I don't want to snap every detail on social media.

25:10I want to decide what's personal versus what you put out there publicly. Intuitively. If I go to post something and it feels like like I'll give you there's a lot of people that share like their kids walking or potty training or like eating their first bite I'm not doing that do you and Michael ever disagree about that no we're totally aligned with that he's he's he like is even more he's even more than me like we I don't feel my kids are extras in the play they're extras in the play I love that if you get to see him once in a while, you get to see him, but we're not dissecting everything about them.