482: TikTok’s Royal Family: The D’Amelios

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2:42Hey, Founder fam. Welcome back to another episode of The Founder Podcast. Today, we're sitting down with the D 'Amelio family. Mark, Heidi, Dixie and Charlie D 'Amelio have taken their social media fame and passion for content creation and really parlayed it into a lifestyle media empire. At the time of the recording, the family members have a combined following on Instagram of 72.1 million followers and 228.7 million followers on TikTok. They recently launched their own venture and cross-platform company, D 'Amelio Brands, with their first brand launch, D 'Amelio Footwear. Debuting in May with plans to launch a skincare line, Zitz Alright, very, very shortly.

3:28This is an incredible interview. you're going to find out basically how these guys are going to become probably the next Kardashians. So please welcome to the Founder Podcast, Mark, Heidi, Dixie, and Charlie. Well, welcome guys. The first question that I ask everyone that comes on is, how'd you get your jobs? And I'll ask everyone, I'd love to hear individually from you, how'd you guys find yourself doing the stuff you're doing today? Charlie, do you want to start? So outside of what my job is right now, I've really only done babysitting or being a dance teacher assistant. That's not what he meant.

4:12That's a start. I never really expected this to be my lane. I've always enjoyed watching people online, YouTubers growing up, and started making random videos with my friends and through that um been able to come I'd say quite a long way and be able to do really exciting things like join new businesses have businesses of our own be able to work with my family have a show so many different things that um have all come from just making those little videos and I was like 15. Dixie how'd you get started? Um well Well, Charlie started on social media and we were in high school together and I was preparing to go to college and I wanted some followers so I could get into a good sorority at college and also make a little bit of money because I was going to college.

5:14And then things just kind of didn't stop growing. So now we're here. But I like always grew up watching my dad working and like in the clothing business. And I always loved that. And I worked in like a clothing store in high school and I loved like selling. And I would honestly do the same thing I was doing. I do as an influencer, but for like this clothing store I worked at. So kind of just doing the same thing. But on a bigger level, a little bit. Just a little. And then Mark, Heidi, I'd love to hear, like, how did you guys get started? How did you guys bring the family together and start to build this incredible empire you guys are building?

5:58I think one of the, I got into the brand business and the clothing business kind of just back in the day. There was, I answered an ad in New York Times. I graduated college, had no idea what I wanted to do. And I ended up answering an ad in New York Times for a clothing company based out of Atlanta, but they had a New York sales position. So it was kind of random. And that's it. And it's kind of funny how that that what I did for a living and and and getting involved in working for another brand. started my own brand how that's um kind of come brought what we're doing now in social media to connecting to what i've done in my whole career yeah crazy Heidi uh so i'm from a small town in louisiana and i was modeling down there and in new orleans and i wanted to give it a shot in the Big Apple.

6:59So when I was 25, I moved to New York City and I got in an agency and I was super excited, but realized very quickly and especially at that time, I was not 5 '8 or above. So work did not come as easily as I would have liked. So I was a personal trainer that paid the bills and I did modeling on the side and that's where I met Mark. But I did enjoy modeling and it was always something I was consistently able to do. And, but knew I wanted to, for Mark and I to start a family and that I wanted to stay home with the girls. And I always said, whenever the girls are out of the house and off doing their own thing, college or whatever, I was gonna start my modeling career over again.

7:50And so anyway, I guess that sort of happened. in a bigger way and in other ways that I would have never expected. Working with different brands, working with our family, like in a time where the girls would be off in college and not hanging with their family. So that's been a great experience and a learning experience. After being out of the workforce for many years, I'm back in and I'm really enjoying it and kind of bringing what I learned when I was younger in the fashion business to what we're doing now. Yeah, incredible. Well, thank you for sharing, guys. And I was going to say, I guess most people that will be watching, reading, listening to this interview, they would be really curious around how you've built this incredible brand and brands so fast.

8:46like you guys have essentially come out of nowhere it's only been about three or four years since you guys started on tiktok now you've got the tv show you've got the million brands like charlie's you know one of the like second i think second most followed person on tiktok like this is super impressive i have to ask like how much strategy was involved here like like talk Talk us through that. So I think it was actually the lack of strategy that kind of intrigued people a little bit. The fact that all of this happened so quickly and, you know, there's no guide. There's no rule book. There's no way to do or not to do this.

9:33It's kind of just to figure it out as you go. So there's probably ways to strategize a little bit, but that was not something that I have at all focused on throughout this. And I feel like that's very apparent as, you know, I'm navigating this world growing up, moving out, being, you know, 18, 19, like all of these things. you can really see kind of how nothing is planned and it just kind of happens there's going to be times where there's a lot of posting or not a lot of posting or working on projects and a bunch of projects come out at one time it's just there's no way to to really strategize this because so much is happening all at one time, especially with four people now doing this together in our own little groups, whether it's us two or us two or us two.

10:35It's so many different ways that things happen on a day-to-day basis that's so individual to each of us. I think it's a lot easier to just try and navigate it like a human being rather than like a machine that needs to kind of be told what steps to take next. It's figuring out your life, being a teenager, how to be an adult, how to function on your own and all of those things. But just a lot of people watching me go through those, you know, fundamental parts of becoming an adult. Hey, FounderFam, I want to talk to you about something super exciting. We're officially partnered with OmniSend, the email marketing and SMS platform built specifically for e-commerce founders.

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12:03So when did you guys work out that there was something here and you guys were going to start building personal brands, not only individually, but also as a family, and then subsequently start launching D 'Amelio brands. I mean, I think this started from our childhood. The biggest thing our dad would say to us is protect your brand, protect your brand. And like, how are you going to grow that? And so when we started on social media, when we had these opportunities to work with these companies who would pay us a lot of money, and we're like, does that make sense for what you're going to do in the future and always having that in the back of our mind.

12:40I think even though we didn't know we were going to start a brand company exactly, like I think from the beginning we knew something more was going to come. And my dad was just always really good at kind of looking at long term and setting us up for life instead of just like make as much money as you can with your 15 like seconds of fame. And I think that's why we have a little more longevity than people might have thought we one yeah and when did you launch D 'Amelio footwear yeah start to finish start to finish it's only been uh probably eight months we've really only been actually selling because it takes a while to design and develop but it was pretty quick we've only been around for eight months and we've only actually been selling for two yeah wow okay so how do you guys work out like because you've got the the kind of the D 'Amelio brands and then that arm and then you've got certain businesses underneath and I'm assuming you'll launch more products and brands.

13:42How did you work out what was the first brand to launch and how did you work with your audience? What did that look like in your community? Yeah, I mean, it was kind of a coincidence. We had, when we started D 'Amelio brands, we were, everything was on the table or a lot of things were on the table. and it just so happened that someone we knew had a had a long history in designing women's footwear and i was a firm believer that we didn't just want to slap our name on something or do it as a licensing deal that we actually wanted to do the heavy lifting and and we so it was a little bit coincidental but footwear was was something that was important and and part of all of the all of ladies lives here and it seemed like a natural progression to to some of the brand deals we're doing and i wanted to do something that even though we focus on women's footwear right now i want to do something that transcends not just the maybe charlie's core fans but people that tuned in to watch heidi on dancing with the stars and people that follow follow dixie and it's it's been perfect for that yeah i think it's a it's a really clever play and then it kind of ties in with also your background, Mark, on the fashion side somewhat.

14:59So, yeah. And how's it been going? It's been better than my wildest expectations. I will say, you know, to the people watching, a following doesn't always translate to sales and you have to build fans don't always buy products. And I think what we've learned and what we've always start new from the beginning is to create something that is high quality and is a real brand. And brands just don't, even with our last name and the following that we have, there's no guarantees and we have to do the work. And that means everything from our own direct consumer initiatives on our website, but also reaching out to retailers.

15:46And we just got back from, in the U.S., the Magic Trade Show, which is one of the biggest apparel and footwear trade shows. And we opened up a bunch of new retailers. So it's going above and beyond my wildest expectations. Incredible. And how do you guys know, and this is maybe a question to all of you, but maybe more so Charlie and Dixie, how do you know what resonates with your community and audience? I think people just like, especially on TikTok and the audience on TikTok, They like authenticity. And I feel we've done a really good job, like promoting things that we like or any for collaboration.

16:25It's with the company that we use or care about. So when we do have the opportunity and now that we're selling our own products, people trust us. And because we have been able to prove ourselves over the years that we're not going to just put our name with something for a quick check. Yeah, I respect that. So what does authenticity look like to you guys? I know that's something that you guys are really passionate about. When you look at someone who's saying that they love something, there's the person that loves it because they're being paid to love it. And there's a true, genuine connection, whether it's you and a brand or you and a product or this shoe specifically from this entire line resonates with me.

17:14It's the most comfortable, the most flattering, my favorite, I would wear it every day. It means a lot more to people than pushing everything all at once. The best brand deals and the best products that I've pushed that have gotten the best feedback are the things that they see me using every day when it's not hashtag ad or they have seen me wear this for years and now we came out with our own version but better. It's those things that really connect to people and they can feel when it's forced and not true and they'll see right through me which I think is almost better because it makes us all kind of have more of an incentive to really show people what we love and why and explaining the why and not just saying buy this because I said so, but this is a product that I really believe in.

18:13And here's why. And here's why I think that you guys would like it as well. We'd love to switch gears and talk to Mark and Heidi about balancing strategy and relationships when leading a family business. Yeah, I think that we talk about it all the time. That's the the hardest part is when to be mom and dad and when to really have use our, our age, our experience and our wisdom to really push through when we know intuitively it's the best thing for Dixie and Charlie and when, and when to back off and just be, Hey, I want to be dad right now. And from an early, we saw not firsthand, but saw that people in Hollywood, that the moms and the dads that manage, we never wanted to be that.

19:05So early on, we brought a team around us to kind of guide us where we could be parents first. But ultimately, we're the only ones that have unconditional love for Dixie and Charlie and are going to tell them straight either way. If we think it's not good for them business-wise, we'll tell them. If we think it's not good for them personally and for their mental health, we'll tell them. But we try to we try to to balance that out. It's not easy, but we I think we do a decent job at it. You know, we could all be sharing videos or talking about videos. And next thing, it's a work conversation that comes out of nowhere.

19:42And so to respect those boundaries of, yeah, we're not talking about work right now. We've you know, we have the times we're at our office right now. We have meetings all day. that's time to talk about work. Other times we just have to respect that we're not going to talk about it. Yeah. And what, like, it must be really hard. Like you guys are growing so fast. You have so many incredible opportunities. Like when you're all together and you're at the dinner table, what do dinner conversations look like? Do you leave the phone at the door? Do you have anything like it's very confusing even for us once again there's no rule book and so many lines are blurred because I could say look at this cool photo I posted and then it's like wait but that's work but it's also something that I'm just trying to show you it's just it's all very confusing and there's no perfect day where we're not going to talk about work at all because that's not reality You know, we have conversations about different things.

20:45There's times where we want it to be more family oriented versus, you know, we're in the office, we're doing these things, we're doing them together as a family, but we're also doing this for our careers and the brands and the those things that also really matter. but then having that true family time where it's not followers or posts or work or deliverables or anything like that. It's just, you know, a normal family. I think opening the office helped us out a lot. A lot of times during the pandemic, we were doing content and we moved to L.A. We didn't have an office. so it really blurred the lines when you'd be in the kitchen doing content and you know cooking but then talking business and then filming the fact that we have an office and it has really separated it a little bit so we're here in our office in in in west hollywood and it it i i think when i'm at your house now or or you guys come to our house it that's more personal more family and this is more business built yeah that makes sense thank you for sharing um i'd love to ask uh can you i'd love to hear from each of you like because things have happened so fast and i'm i'm sure you guys didn't plan this like you probably never thought that what you guys have built would be nowhere near where it is today um i'm curious do you each have a story where you've kind of just like had this moment where you're just like wow this is crazy um anything you could share I mean for a dad I could look at what Dixie and Charlie did and and take one of the things that they've done whether and and that could be enough to make me be proud of them for the rest of my life and then they just keep out doing it and you know seeing Dixie perform at Madison Square Garden for me growing up at, at go seeing concerts and in the seventies, eighties, nineties at Madison Square Garden and see my daughter there and to see Charlie when dancing with the stars, like those two things for each of them.

23:03And I couldn't be more proud of Dixie, Charlie, and then Heidi too, which he's done. So I know it's just one thing, but I'm proud of all three of them? For me, I remember it was before season one of our show came out and we were, we presented on the MTV awards and we're standing behind the curtain about to come out. And I just remember like taking that moment all the years I've watched MTV awards. I'm sitting here with my husband and my daughter is about to present and they're going to show a trailer of our, our show and it just that I remember being in that moment of like nervous excited what is happening with our life and just so proud of like of all of us really to to have held it together that long to get us through and and to lean on each other so I feel like I've had a lot of mini moments where it kind of sets in but I feel like I'm waiting for the big one because I sometimes there's so much excite so many exciting things happening all at once you kind of just move from one to the next to the next to the next that you really don't until a little bit down the line kind of sit back and realize wow like I actually did that and that was really cool and I'm really proud of myself but I think sometimes for me in my head it's like well it's not really like me that's it's hard to understand that the same person that I see when I wake up in the morning is also the person that's doing all these really, really cool and crazy things.

24:55It gets a little bit much when you really sit and think about all of the things that you're doing and the people that are watching you do these amazing things. It's a lot to kind of sit with. And it also brings up a lot of emotions. And there's been times where I'm talking on stage And I get that moment, whether it was the Kids' Choice Awards. And in my speech, you really look out and see all the people, especially gaining a lot of attention during COVID. I mean, the first Kids' Choice Award I went to, the only people in the audience were the three of them. And then this past one, getting to host and win this award and give a speech in front of all of these people.

25:41It makes it a lot more real when I for so long was posting and there was so many people liking and commenting on the videos, but I didn't get to see them. So there was a disconnection of does anyone actually care about who I am? But then when you're put in those moments and have those opportunities to see the people face to face that have given you the platform, it's really a very crazy experience. For me, I think, well, the other day I was walking in LA and I saw someone wearing D 'Amelio footwear. And I think just seeing like someone wearing something that we created here and as a family with something with our last name on it just brought me like so much excitement and joy.

26:34And I think that's the coolest thing about doing the brands because you get to share your start to finish creativity idea, like every single part of it with the world. And yeah, I think seeing someone wearing that was probably one of the coolest feelings. Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying this episode and learning a ton. As you know, in this series, we interview some of the greatest founders of our generation to find out how they did it. However, if you're thinking of starting your own business and you want to hear from some incredible stories from everyday people like you or I who are actually in the trenches, only been building their business for maybe one year or two years, like they're building right now and they're really in the early stages, but they're getting success.

27:18you should come and check out our new podcast from zero to founder hosted by our community manager molly flynn these are in the trenches stories from our very own successful students that have gone through some of our programs people just like you who are deep within the process of building their very own successful business these are the founders of tomorrow you can find the from zero to founder podcast on all platforms. And remember it's founder without the E. All right, now let's jump in the show. How do you guys predict when you launch a brand? How do you predict how much stock? How do you predict order quantity?

27:59Like how do you manage all that? Yeah. I mean, the reason why there's not a ton of new footwear brands is because the barrier to entry is so high, the MOQ or minimum order quantity is high. So, you know, you have no idea. That's one of the reasons why when you do get a good retail partner, they could help you with that planning. And so, but initially when you just want to start off, you got to swing, take a swing at it and ask around and show people and say, what do you like when this, like this or that and and plan it plan it like that but now that we're partnering with retailers we're getting input not only just from the people us us for and then the people in our company but you're really starting to get feedback from a retailer in florida or retailer in in we had retailers from south america and and all around north america come to the show so um it's helpful But it's a risk and that's why not everyone does it.

29:05It's not for the faint of heart. Yeah, no, I understand. So I'm curious from a creator standpoint, what advice, and please jump in who would like to answer this or I'd love to hear, is what advice would you have to new creators? Anybody watching this wanting to become a creator and build an audience, build a community from scratch? Like it's, it's, it's a very noisy place, you know? I feel like it, there is a lot on the internet, but also it's been so cool for people to find communities for such niche things that they didn't even know existed. So like, even from like my TikTok to my mom's TikTok or Charlie's or my dad's, it's all different from what we see.

29:49So the way like algorithms work now, you're seeing what you enjoy because like, if you like it, you'll see it more. So you'll be able to find that audience or the people you relate to. And I mean, even farther than products, like you've met, we've met friends or people we've done business with just online through scrolling and seeing the content that we enjoy that they also enjoy. So now we're connected. so I feel like you just need to start and do like the community will come because as long as you're posting the things that you truly are passionate about like you'll find the people who are also passionate about the same things yeah and I go I guess it's one of those things where you start you're really bad at it you're really embarrassed I can see you guys love you're really bad at you're really embarrassed by your first videos, but over time it gets better and better and better.

30:45And, and you just never give up, right? You just keep going. Exactly. Just keep posting. Okay. So I'd love to switch gears. We, we put a few questions out to our community and they've submitted some questions to ask you guys. So Marie Gerstner has asked Dixie and Charlie, it's not always easy to fit content creation into a busy life how do you guys stay consistent in creating content and to build it into your schedule but i i guess this question goes out to also mark and heidi but yeah how do you guys manage that i think our biggest thing is especially now that we've been working on like doing creative content for such a long time we do it when like Like we are fully ready to that's what we're going to do because I feel like people can tell and they get bored if you seem uninterested.

31:41So we honestly most of our videos are probably made in the middle of the night when we have the most energy and we're like so excited and just like kind of being silly. So I feel in the beginning we had more scheduled block time of like we're putting four hours into our schedule this day to film all these things we need to film. And now it's just kind of everything gets done. We just slip it in somewhere. I think the lack of being on a consistent schedule to make organic content helps with burnout and will help you be able to do this for a lot longer. When you have a scheduled time to sit down and be creative, it's not going to come to you every single day at the same time when it's time to make videos.

32:36You have to really move with yourself. Like, I think I'm one of the least consistent people on social media where I'll go a while without posting and then I'll post a bunch of videos in one day because I really felt inspired that day or I had a lot of free time and I just wanted to make a bunch of random videos and it's giving myself the freedom to really be able to not feel forced to post random content that's labeled as organic because it just doesn't it doesn't resonate yeah no that makes sense dugan krishna have asked uh when you guys started did you have a research strategy in place on how to grow your followers or did you just go by gut feeling at first?

33:27I don't even think there was a thought. Yeah. How to grow followers. I just kind of thought it would stop. I think every day it was kind of waking up and being a little bit confused and wondering, but when's it all gonna kind of stop? Because that was, there was no way to understand what was happening at the time, because it had never happened the way it did on TikTok. It was just a very weird time. And all of the unknowns made it impossible to have a strategy you know even being able to get to really speak to these platforms and asking them what works what am i doing and they i would ask them why is why is why are so many people watching my videos and they would come to me with the same questions why what are you doing No, it's just kind of a lucky accident in the best way that gave me this huge platform to now kind of just share my life.

34:45But there's definitely no strategy behind it. There's no rule book. It's kind of whatever feels right is what we're going to work on next. I feel like too early on because TikTok was still very new. They used to call it the wild, wild west. And I mean, I remember there was Charlie sat and ate a bowl of soup. It wasn't even live. It was just for a TikTok video. And she was gaining a million followers a day. There was this trend. I don't know how many of the same exact videos Dixie did where she's just staring right in the camera. Didn't do anything. A million followers a day. and people are like why is everyone following these people they're not doing anything really we know we're confused too like i have no clue i'm not doing anything like i can't do stuff i'm just not showing it on tiktok and it just wouldn't stop yeah but now with the show people have been able to like learn our personalities more so i feel like people could see our every side of us and now with the brands it's kind of the business side and you also get to see that growth on the show as well.

35:55That's awesome. Thanks for sharing, guys. Are you hesitating to take the next step in your e-commerce journey? Founder Plus has you covered. With proven frameworks tailored to your business needs for fast results, a supportive community of over 30 ,000 like-minded entrepreneurs and weekly live mentorship sessions, Founder Plus is your key to success. Try Founder Plus today for just$1 for seven days and start building your dream business with confidence. You can visit founder.com forward slash start dollar trial or click the link in the description to claim your trial. This is a technical one, but I'm going to ask it because I'm just genuinely curious myself.