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Podcast Episode Notes: The Jasmine Star Show - $300K in 30 Days? Here’s How Cathryn Lavery Crowdfunded Her Success
Episode Overview In this episode of *The Jasmine Star Show*, host Jasmine Star interviews Cathryn Lavery, the founder of BestSelf Co., a brand known for revolutionizing goal-setting with innovative journals. The conversation dives into Cathryn's journey of crowdfunding, scaling a business, facing challenges like embezzlement, and ultimately buying back her company.
Key Topics Discussed
- Introduction to Cathryn Lavery
- Background as the founder of BestSelf Co.
- Transition from architecture to entrepreneurship.
- Importance of resilience and strategic planning in her journey.
- Crowdfunding Success
- Initial Crowdfunding Campaign: Raised over $300,000 in 30 days for the first journal.
- Key Takeaways:
- Importance of building an email list prior to launching.
- Keeping reward structures simple (e.g., offering multiples of the main product).
- Creating a sense of urgency and perceived success (hitting goals quickly boosts confidence in backers).
- Post-Campaign Logistics
- Challenges faced after the crowdfunding campaign:
- Manufacturing and delivery issues.
- Setting realistic timelines for product delivery.
- Importance of hiring help when overwhelmed with operations.
- Partnership Challenges
- Discussed the challenges of business partnerships, including:
- Breakdowns in communication.
- The importance of having clear conversations about roles and responsibilities.
- Dealing with Embezzlement
- Cathryn shared her experience of uncovering embezzlement within her company.
- Took legal action and dealt with the emotional toll of betrayal.
- Selling and Re-acquiring the Business
- Insights into the process of selling the company and the emotional journey that accompanied it.
- Cathryn's decision to buy back BestSelf Co. after it was sold.
- Innovations and Technology
- Discussion on the role of AI in streamlining operations and reducing overhead.
- How modern tools can replace traditional roles and make businesses more efficient.
- Vision for BestSelf Co.
- Cathryn's future plans for the brand include focusing on personal development and creating additional products that solve customer problems.
- Emphasis on staying adaptable and responsive to market needs.
Key Takeaways
- Crowdfunding as a Launchpad: Use crowdfunding not just as a fundraising tool but as a means to gauge market interest and build a customer base.
- Simplicity in Offerings: Keep product offerings straightforward to avoid overwhelm and confusion for backers.
- Partnership Dynamics: Establish clear terms and expectations in partnerships to avoid complications.
- Resilience in Business: The journey of entrepreneurship is filled with challenges; resilience and adaptability are crucial for success.
- Emphasize Continuous Learning: The importance of continuous learning and leveraging modern technology to enhance business operations.
Additional Resources
- Cathryn Lavery's Links:
- [BestSelf Co.](https://bestself.co/) (Use code JASMINE for 20% off)
- [Follow Cathryn on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/cathryn.lavery/)
- Related Episodes:
- [Creating Brand Loyalty, Social Media Virality, and User-Generated Content with Michelle Cordeiro Grant](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/creating-brand-loyalty-social-media-virality-and-user/id1479619320?i=1000664458961)
- [How to Identify and Lead A, B, and C Players for Business Success](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-identify-and-lead-a-b-and-c-players/id1479619320?i=1000665124900)
Conclusion Cathryn Lavery's story serves as an inspiring reminder of the resilience needed in entrepreneurship and the importance of cultivating a mindset focused on growth and problem-solving. As she embarks on this new chapter with BestSelf Co., her journey illustrates the potential for recovery and reinvention in the business world.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00If you've been feeling stuck in your business and wondering if you're the reason it's not growing faster, I have something for you. I'm hosting a free, no-pitch, live class called Three Money Beliefs That Made Me Millions. And I'm sharing the exact mindset shifts that helped me go from million-dollar years to million-dollar months. This isn't fluff. It is a surprising strategy that changed everything for me, and I want to share it with you. Like I said, no pitch, no fluff, just you and me talking about how we shift our beliefs around money to make you millions. Save your seat now at jasminestar.com forward slash millions.
0:32I can't wait to see you there. Welcome to the Jasmine Star Show, a place that we talk about life, business mindset, and today, your best self. I have to tell you that in preparation of this conversation, I have done a deep dive in what it takes to build an e-com business. Stuff that's very interesting to me when people are like, Jasmine, what's your hobby? And I'm like, I just look at businesses. I just look at business models. That is what I do in my free time. My husband and I are co-founders. We go to restaurants. We count tables. We see how many chairs are. We see the average turnaround. We're looking at price, profitability, what we would change the pricing structure.
1:04We are sick and you want to know what? I knew that the minute I met Kat, she too understood the language that I speak. She has built a business. She has sold a business. She has bought a business. And somehow all of those things are interconnected. And her story is going to empower you to think about business in a different way, but also to think about how you pursue your best self. On that note, Kat, welcome to the Jazz and Stars show. Thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here. I'm so happy you are here. Now, I normally stay away from podcasting where I'm like, tell us your origin story.
1:40Because somebody who's listening, I think that they deserve our absolute best. And when I hear your story, what I hear is a pure story of grit, stamina, strategy, resilience, coming back next time, best time. It's like I hear all of these things and I'm like, we could pick up the story anywhere in the story. I think that there's so many juicy parts to it. And I look at your story and I look at it kind of like in four sections. Now I know that there's so many iterations of it, but I think about the fundraising part of it. I'm not going to spill any details. I want you to like run at this because it's so fascinating to me.
2:14We have the fundraising, we have the build, we have the sell, we have a new chapter. And so in my mind, I'm like, okay, do we start at the beginning, which is not anywhere where I start, but I think it's freaking fascinating. Do we start where we are now and then freaking work backwards. You tell me the greatest value. Someone's like, I'm not sure this podcast is going to be for me. I don't do e-com. The show is not about e-com, y 'all. The show is about a thousand different things. I'm so fascinated. Where do we go and say, you want to listen, you want to watch this show? Where are we at in your story?
2:43So let's go back to the beginnings. I think anyone watching this who's starting a business has started a business. And a lot of times we like see people on podcasts like this and you're like, oh, they're so far ahead of me. Like, how do I get there? and before I started my first business I didn't literally never read a business book and so I never took a business class I was an architect and I knew how to like make stuff but I didn't know how to sell stuff in fact it was like almost successful in spite of not being able to sell like I hated selling and so I wouldn't even email my list unless I had something new to show them and then I had to pay someone just to send emails because I'm like look I can't do it and then I started best self when we launched with crowdfunding so it's like here's a product I think people will love it.
3:26I also didn't have the money to buy a bunch and try to see if it sold. So crowdfunding is a great way to fundraise for making something exist and seeing people actually want it. Because people can say that they want it, but if they open their wallet and actually give you money. This is the part that I found fascinating. I'm also a storyteller. So it's like you and I are actually meeting in person for the first time. But in the story of my mind, what I see is somebody who has a skill set and has an idea. and the world in which I come, it's like just brute force. I'm just going to break down every wall and every door.
3:57And you, and I think that I sometimes picture, oh, she's an architect. She thinks about everything from all sides. She thinks about foundations. She thinks it's a build. And so what you did is you said, I have this idea and we'll talk about that idea and where you got that idea, but I'm going to take it to crowdsource. And if people buy it before I've spent a penny, then I know it's proof of concept. Then the risk is really the risk of an idea. so what is the idea that you come up with and then when you crowdfund what are the results yeah so I had my previous business I had crowd I'd learned how to do crowdfunding a friend taught me he was just like why don't you crowdfund because I used to just make a product and then sell it on my site and he was like you should crowdfund it so I set up my first crowdfunding two weeks later and then I run a couple for a previous business and then I figured out like okay here's the kind of system of how to do it but let me okay okay whoa whoa whoa whoa you are not gonna come on this podcast and I'll talk to you about the system.
4:50Somebody's listening and they're like, wow, I'm listening to Kat. I'm feeling inspired. I want to test an idea. What are three things that somebody who's setting up their crowdfunding, like what are the three things now that you know, like, you know, girl, you kind of killed the game. What are those things that you would recommend somebody? So a lot of people think like, oh, I'll just set up a crowdfunding and people will come and buy. It's like you have to set up an email list just like you would for any other product launch. Kickstarter is not going to send traffic to you unless they know you're successful.
5:16Also, if you get new people that have never been on their platform before, they're basically like, the more people back a project, the more they're likely to back future projects. So they're basically customers of like Kickstarter, Indiegogo. So if you bring new people to their platform, they will reward you by giving you traffic. And so generally what I've seen with... Okay, hold on. I'm going to break this down. If I'm crowdfunding a project and you're crowdfunding a project, I bring in, like, I tell my people, hey, come in and crowdfund X, buy this thing. and then since they come onto the platform indiegogo or any other crowdsourcing site can be like hey can you check out cats no you're sending them to your sites you're like come to my party and then there's other people at the party that they're like oh can you also back this project because once people are on the platform they're more likely to buy in got it another got it thing so one of the first things is like building an email list of people that are going to be interested in your product.
6:09So for my product, what became Best Self, that list was grown like really like organically. It was like a giveaway for only products that people who'd be interested in our product would buy. So you're not trying to grow the biggest list ever like, oh, here's an iPad or a MacBook Pro. It's like, yeah, everyone wants that. But when you come to launch your thing, like nobody's going to care. So only like the weirdos that are going to like your product give other products that they would like. Okay, let's break this down. What did you do? So you're selling, you're selling. So we created the self journal and it was a goal based journal.
6:41Like we'll show you how to set a goal, break it down in three months. So it's a journal and we're like bulletproof coffee, like productivity books, software that people who are only in good software that only like type A people are going to be interested in. And so whenever we like send out the email, oh, we launched this. So it's like other problems being solved by other products that are around the circle of what it is we're trying to do. Very cool. So number one was to build a newsletter list on the back of your crowdsourcing project. Crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding project. And then also to just have simple rewards because here's what people do is like they set up a crowdfunding thing and they're like, okay, we have the main thing that's in the video.
7:23And then we have a t-shirt with our company name and a hat with our company name and like all this other that nobody actually wants. So what you're actually doing is people just want the thing and multiples of the thing. and so you have to have like a really simple structure of like just like the most discounted it's ever going to be and like so it's like one journal two journals four journals ten journals that's all people want and so what you do when you try to complicate it is like you're going to finish and you're like god i have to find a t-shirt manufacturer and i that like nobody even wants but they want to support you and then also doing like a dollar reward because again the crowdfunding people like some people are not going to be into your journal right which is fine but they might want to support you but if you put a reward with no actual like physical reward people can back you and then like a donation yeah well not a donation it's like one dollar i support this project but i don't want this journal okay and so what kickstarter is actually rewarding is the more people you get to your project the better than the actual like money because it's acquisition for yeah and so if you understand like how do you make it a win for them then you can also make it a win and then you're getting the popular one, you're appearing on the website.
8:29They're showing you to other projects. And so if people back one, they're more likely to back another. Okay, so what you did was you put out your project to test it. And then in order for you to test it, you were also building a newsletter list. And then you had aligned incentives. Because if people want to journal, they're not really there for a hat. And so you started driving incentives by you bundle and save. That seems like a very clear value add and gets your product more out to people. and then also finding a way for people to be a part of the project, even if they don't actually want the product itself.
9:00It's just like a, hey, I see you, and this is something that I'm about. Okay, so crowdfunding tips from Kat. There you go. We're already starting with the value add. So somebody's looking, and they're watching, and they're hearing this, and they're like, huh, I can start doing this. But what happens in that gestation process? Like what happens in that iteration that kind of blows your mind and says like, oh, this is different than anything I've done before? because we our goal is 15 000 we hit we hit that in a day and a half and then we raised like 322 000 in a month and so what oh my gosh we basically sold over 10 000 units in the month and so when we priced our rewards we priced them based on like the moq which i believe was like a thousand units okay and so that was enough money to like we basically made 30 000 units we pre-sold 10 and And that was enough money to strategically set up the company so we never had to raise money again.
9:53And that is how I tell people to think about crowdfunding. You don't always have to go back there. But if you use it as a launchpad of like, okay, I pre-sold this much. How do I make enough? Because the scale of economies, especially with printing, it goes down the more you print. And so it might have been like 50 % less per unit because of the amount we did. And that's strategically how you build a company that you don't have to keep going back there for. Okay, so one last clarifying question. If I put out and I want to test my idea, do I want to set a big goal? Like you said 15 ,000. There's people who are like, oh, my goal is 100 ,000.
10:26I mean, my internal goal, actually, my goal that I had written in the journal was 200 ,000. So my goal was 15, but you want to hit that quickly. And you also want to have that make sense to your goal. So like we're coming out with a journal, 15K makes sense. A guy I ran into at a party once, he's like, yeah, I tried to like launch Kickstarter and it didn't work right. And I was like, okay, what was it for? And he's like a book. And I'm like, what was the goal? And he's like 100 ,000. I'm like, yeah, no. If I had set my goal at 100 ,000, like I wouldn't have gotten probably funded because people go on there and they're like, oh, she's only like 20 % to her goal.
11:02Even though they get their money back, there's like a, I don't want to like back it until it's, you want to back a winning horse. And so you become a winning horse. And then you start adding like bonuses on to the point where it's like, oh, a no brainer because you start adding in things. That is such a big key takeaway, the psychology of the way that people are looking at funding. And so you funded, not even your business, you funded the idea, which launched into the business. And so, okay, so you raise over$300 ,000 and then what? And then we, well, then we're like, okay, now we have to figure out how to deliver these to customers.
11:36So it was just like manufacturing. And then every stage of business is like figuring out the problem. When you actually have sales, that's a good problem. I was like, okay, now how do I get a 3PL or, you know, a ship, like someone to actually ship it to customers that isn't me. Were you doing that at all? I did it with a previous business, but I like gave up. I was like, I cannot do this anymore. Okay, so you set up this new venture entirely different. You knew you were going to do 3PL. And so like, what kind of problems are you solving? Like, so people are saying, oh, cry me a river cat. You raised$300 ,000.
12:06You're like, but let's go back to like where you were. It's like, I have the money. I know what's the idea. What logistical things are coming up for you? I mean, one of the things is like promising that stuff was going to be delivered by Christmas time. So if it's not, the campaign doesn't end until mid-September. Like manufacturing, getting it on a ship, getting it to the U.S. and then shipping it to customers. We did get it for the U.S. customers, but for like UK and Australia, it took like a few more weeks. So stuff like that where it's like, look, how do we get this container so it arrives earlier?
12:37So it's like disappointing people because you didn't know what to expect before you started. So that's always one thing I tell people is like, take the time that you think it's going to take and then add like double it. How did you deal with that for the people in the UK and Australia? They were disappointed that they didn't get it by Christmas. What did you? I mean, I think we were just like, look, we were unreasonable with our expectations. I think it came maybe early January, if not like the first week in January. So it's like they could still start it pretty early, but it just didn't come before the 25th.
13:06Because like everyone in the world is trying to ship their stuff at the same time. yeah but getting it to the u.s people we did manage and so that was like a big good good okay so when we go back to that like origin story and your building what are some of like the pitfalls like if we go back to that what the look on your face you're like all the things i mean i launched the crowdfunding campaign in 2015 then we launched the shop by store january 1st 2016 and i mean i was like a workaholic just hustling like constantly i think it took us about six months to hire so it's just like dealing with customer service, doing everything, which in some ways is good because you learn how to do everything.
13:44So like anyone that comes in, I'm like, I've done this. Like I know what it takes sort of thing. But then it's just like, you don't have enough hours in the day. And we were growing fast. But again, because I didn't. How many people are you, when you say we, at the time were you, what did? Well, at the time, myself and my co-founder. Okay. It was the two of us. And then I think we hired a customer support person in like June of 2016. Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And just learning the stuff that. one of us wasn't good at or both of us weren't good at. It's like, oh my God. I think operationally, we could have used someone much earlier than we find someone because entrepreneurs, it's like we know a lot of entrepreneurs and we often try to hire our friends who are not operations people.
14:24And so it doesn't work that well. So that's one thing is like we would look around and be like, who else can we hire that we know? Oh, we'll try to fit this square peg into a round hole of operations when that's not what they want to do at all and not what they're good at, which should be fine. And so we tried that for a while. And then I realized like it took me a few years of like doing things wrong to be like, oh, yeah, this is how you hire better. But I also went through an embezzlement thing in 2020. I went through business partner breakup and like he kind of stepped out in 2018, but I didn't know anything about vesting.
14:56And so it was like 50 percent of the company like walked out the door. So then I spent two years dealing with that. It's June 2016 and you hire your first customer service person. Person. But if I'm doing the math correctly, that was six months of you and your co-founder doing everything in the business. Yeah. Then in June of 2016, halfway through the year, you bring in your customer service person. And then a year and a half later, your co-founder says, peace out. Yeah. So we won the Shopify Build a Business competition in August of 2016. Now talk to me about that. What you do apply for this.
15:28I don't know anything. So Shopify did this really cool thing where they were like, how do we motivate people to find success with our platforms they did the smart thing where they created a contest where it was like six different categories and it was based on sales over two like i think over two months some maximum thing i forget the exact rules so essentially the winners of that contest got to ring the new stock exchange bell they got to go to the gatsby mansion with tony robbins and tim ferris so they were like how do we create a prize that you can't buy with money that would entice people so good And actually, the competition launched, like they announced it the day after our Kickstarter ended.
16:05And I was like, well, this is just fate. Like, we're definitely going to enter this. And what's funny is that the previous business I had, I didn't even get close to it. But it was one of those things where I was just like, oh, my God, this is so cool. So we. Okay, one thing, I've never heard about this before. And I'm like, I want to do this competition. This sounds like freaking amazing. But hold on. So everybody on the Shopify platform is eligible. Yeah, you have to enter it. But basically, I think you had to be a new store within a year of that. And with that under like a million dollars in revenue when you started.
16:35I forget exactly. So good. So we started January 1st and we hit like 2.3 million. And so we end up winning in one of our categories. And then we were invited by Tony to this like business mastery the next year. Did you just say Tony, like Tony Robbins? Yeah. Like we were just invited by Tony. Oh my God. So then they announced to build a bigger business, which is like a scaling one. They were like, okay, if you are over a million, how do you much do scale in a year? And we ended up winning that one as well in 2017, which we did not expect. So you did 2.6 in year one? 2.3 in year one. 2.3 in year one.
17:10And then you do the scaling competition? So like 6.8 or something like that. Good Lord. And it was just like mayhem. And we did hire people, obviously, but it was just like I didn't we didn't have a clue what we were doing. So you you have this like massive jump. And yes, you're hiring. And I want to talk about well, let's talk about the prize of the second competition because I know I'm going to get DMs and be like, well, we know that she got to be first. You had to go to Fiji to stay at Tony Robbins like resort and like Tim Ferriss and Marie Forleo and Joe from Airbnb. So they had all these like mentors.
17:45and the great thing about so the ghastly mansion was so close to New York that like the mentors would be there for a few hours Dame and John I did play Monopoly with him for like six hours okay okay so like 2am please tell me you beat him please tell me you beat him no but it was down to the two of us okay and it was like 2 in the morning he literally had a car waiting outside for like three hours and then oh my god I love this story I love this story and he like travels with his own Monopoly board like it's legit and his like I don't know if his bodyguard he was like the banker and I swear the pictures of this guy it was so funny anyway but I ended up getting an affiliate deal with Damon after that Monopoly game.
18:18His manager was like, okay, he likes you. You should reach out. That's the best freaking Monopoly game. I know. Oh, my God. It's good that he won. I know. I won, but he won. Yeah. Who really won? You. Oh, my gosh. And then the great thing about Fiji was that we're all like trapped on this island. So like. They couldn't come in and out. Yeah. So they're all just there. Like Tim is just like hanging out. And like Tony was still the one that was like this giant. But everyone else, like the mentors really were like around you. and talking more than just like the hour session you had at the Gatsby mansions.
18:47That was pretty cool. Oh my God. I'm so fascinated by this story. Okay. Okay. Okay. See, see, this is, I didn't even know. I've done creeping on you and I didn't even know all of this stuff. So let's go back to the actual like storyline and logistics. And so by the end of 2016, how many team members do you have? The year that you do 2.3? Oh God, four or five. I don't remember. And then the following year, as you guys scale, how big does the team become? I mean, I think at the max the team was, was like 14 maybe. Okay. And as you guys are growing, and I want to go back. Okay. I want to go two ways.
19:24And I want to say it out loud so I don't forget. One, I want to know what in the world were you doing for marketing to be growing in this degree? Because for all intents and purposes, I'm sure it's a phenomenal journal. It's a journal. And so what the heck? And then the second part is the timeline of the departure of your co-founder. because I find it like just odd that with so much success, like so what was happening along there? So let's talk about marketing of the business. Yeah. I mean, one of the things our product is a three-month-based product. And so - Oh, yes. Yes. And that really was around the framework of how we look at goals, but it also made sense business-wise.
20:02Yeah, it does. Because you have to buy four times a year. Okay, hold on. Pause, pause, pause. Because I heard this before. This is so freaking fascinating. Most journals, planners, goal setting are in the context of 12 months. And you, like all of your competition, are looking at 90-day, three-month goals. Except for the fact that your offer comes in a three-month goal-setting journal where your competition is 12 months. Right. So you get to sell four products to one. Cha-ching. So good. So good. Was that intentional? Were you guys like that strategic about it? Or it was we're making a three-month journal because we want you to hit your goals in three months?
20:40Yeah. I mean, I came up with the idea of like a three month journal because that's how I work better. Because a year long, it's like, I mean, imagine setting a year long goal in January of 2020. Right. It's like, oh, yeah, we have a pandemic. But if you set it three month goal, March, you're like, all right, we've got to switch, we've got to change some gears. Okay, yeah. And so that's just what worked for me also because I have like ADHD. You know, I have a year. I will wait until the last minute to do anything. And so for me, that's what worked. and now a lot of people have three-month journals but we were the first ones to do it and so it's like one of the things was like having something people had to buy more frequently another thing was so good having people find success with the product because like if you can sell it once how do you get people to come back and so that was creating content creating resources creating frameworks because a lot of people they don't like learn how to set goals or even what they should be doing so we put a lot of time and effort into how do we create so that they know exactly what they have to do when they get this to be successful.
21:40Because if they are successful, they'll come back and they're you by. So your content was largely, this is how you set, this is how you create, and this is how you achieve your goals. Yeah. And it's like, oh, you have a health goal. This is like five people that had health goals and exactly what they put in their journal every day. And so it's like, how do we minimize the amount of like thinking that people have to do? So good. So it's like, so good. Yeah. I keep on jumping in. No, it's just because I was raised in a church and you just talk back. So I'm cutting you off. You think that I'm cutting off, but I'm like, no, so good.
22:06I'll just repeat. You're like three journals, three journals, three months. Yes. I'll just repeat back, but like, go, this is so good. But I think at the end of 2017, so we had the journal and then we had some side products, but the journal was like 75 % of our revenue in 2017, which I was just like, oh my God, this is stressful because it's one single point of failure. And so one mistake we made is like, I went through a lot of like, I actually got divorced in 2017. And at the same time, were like winning the build a bigger business competition so I'm in Fiji and all this like I bumped into this guy and he's like oh everything's quite amazing for you because like social media will say that I'm like yeah I'm actually going through a divorce not a contentious one like we were still on good terms but it was like a chapter of my life was ending and it got me to this point where I was like best self at that point have been like your type a most productive self I'm like winning all these competitions I'm like it's not really that fun whenever you're like working all the time, but then you haven't paid attention to your like personal life.
23:05And so that kind of started me on a path of like, oh, I never want to like get divorced again or go through this relationship stuff. So let me figure out how do I have a good relationship. And so I kind of went down that path. And my old team used to joke, like whatever best self will come up with is just like whatever cat's dealing with. So originally I was like, I read all these personal development books. I'm like, I need to create a framework that I just know if I follow this, I'll get to my goal, which is what the journal came with. And so then best self, I'm like, I need to figure out like, what should I be doing in a relationship to make sure like we're connected?
23:37And that became what led to like the intimacy deck, which was became the top seller beyond the journal. So it was like, how do we best self is not just like your most productive type A self. It's like, what does it mean for you? It's like a great relationship with your partner, with your kids, with your family. Also, you want to hit your goals. And so I think that's like where Best Self really started is like when I went through this like period of, oh, actually, this is what this brand actually means. And I was only looking at it from this like tiny skewed view of like only in business. But I'm like, I hit all these business goals and then I'm like, oh, this doesn't feel good.
24:13Why not? So beautiful. Can we pause and talk about the intimacy deck? And I'm going to go back. Girl, this noggin is large and in charge. I'm going to hit all those data points. But now we talk about the intimacy deck that is outsold the journal. and so I'm like okay what was that? So it hasn't I told the journal but it's our new top selling product. Okay thank you. And it's 150 deck prompt card and I call it like a Trojan horse for therapy within couples that doesn't feel like therapy it feels like a game. So good. And so it's like six different categories we worked with relationship experts to come up with questions that would both strengthen your bond and then increase vulnerabilities you could actually talk about real things without having one person ask the question because here's the thing is like it's like i'm not asking that like like the cards are asking i should have brought some i'm so mad i'm i'm because i actually be like oh my god i want to do one like my husband is here today and it would have been so awkward and i would have freaking loved it like asking us i'm so mad oh my gosh no it's happening for a reason because he's he's cringing off camera i know he's like you want us to do a car therapy a car therapy on our podcast i live for that stuff i love being uncomfortable and i don't necessarily step into uncomfortable situations but i also don't back print down from a challenge.
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25:19If you had brought them, girl, JD is like, thank God that those cars aren't here. I'm so fascinated with this. That's so beautiful. That's amazing. So we also came out with the intimacy deck. So it was basically like intimacy, icebreakers, and then little talk for you and your kids. I saw that. So little talk is fascinating because I'm picking up a deck for Luna. I'm going to send some to your hotel. Oh, thank you. And I'm so mad. Oh, to my hotel. Dang, baby. See, and that's the thing. That's the difference. That is the difference if you can't you said i'm gonna bring them to your hotel and i was like i'll make sure that they're mailed no yeah you get it i already find out we're shopify competition i would have lost thanks thanks wow yeah so okay talk to us but talk to us about the little ones deck the little talk little talk yes so it's big conversations for your kids because a lot of times you're like oh how was your day and it's like you get caught in i mean i have a toddler so we're not at that point i still ask her but yes there's not much conversation and one thing that we were hearing from customers is like okay how do I have conversations with my kid in a way where they'll actually open up to me and same way as like it's vulnerable to be like ask your kid a question because in their mind they're like why are they asking me this what does it mean yes and when there's a card yeah it's like the card's asking me and so I can be much more open and so it just like removes a lot of walls that would otherwise be there and so we've gotten like a ton of that's beautiful and the deck started from I was trying to sell this other product and so I'm just like always working through like, oh, what's the objections when someone's journaling?
26:48I'm like, I see the - So you're creating ancillary, what I would call in the traditional digital marketing world, it'd be bonus content for an objection refutable. And so if somebody is journaling and they get stuck or they say, I won't buy a journal because I don't, and then that becomes the next offer or in my world, it'd be a bonus, but for you it'd be like an extension of the product suite. Yeah, basically. Well, I was trying to sell this other product because I'm trying to teach people how to journal. Okay. And so this is the way my mind works. It's like, okay, how to get people to journaling?
27:15Because they'll just write the same thing every day and they won't really get it. So it's like, okay, how do we give them a question to journal on? And then when you sell journals, everything's a journal, which I didn't want. I didn't want to be the journal company, which is what people were calling us. And so I was like, if you have a prompt in a journal, and I'm like, I don't feel like that prompt today. I don't want to write about that. Okay. And then I have to skip a page and that's annoying me because I don't want to leave like a blank page. So I might never want to answer. So I like really go deep.
27:39Okay. And I was like, oh you know what would be better is so good at product dang it girl and i'm like oh but we better it'd be cards and so the cards actually came from trying to sell another product and those cards were like the edison deck which is like coming up with ideas wordsmith which is journaling prompts and so what happened was those sold really well and then on a product call we were like you know what people do more than they journal is they have conversations and so then so everything like spirals from somewhere but the goal is like how are you like so good becoming a problem so i talk about this like problem first company instead of a product first so it's like not everything should be a product that we sell and so sometimes it's like oh we could create this to sell i'm like yeah we could also just send them an email and like we don't need to waste our resources like building a product that we can give away for free you win you win i think more than anything i think what's happened with the podcast is i've become very fortunate to have conversations but really what it is is i'm going to business school and i think that main thing we're not even we're like a third way through this conversation, my main thing is like, I want to be a problem-based company.
28:39And I'm really great at coming up with products. And I'm like, no, no, no. The better the problem I solve, or the more it's clear, or the highest results, or the fastest, or the cheapest, or the most expensive, depending on if I'm building what type of brand I'm building, then it's a sure fit. And I just think that that was like the reminder that I needed. Okay. So we're here. We're talking about the decks. We're talking about the conversations. We're talking about being a problem-led company. We're talking about the iterations. We're talking about the growth. But if we go back to 2017 and you're on the island and you're going through a divorce, you're also winning competitions.
29:08You're talking about the structure of what needs to change about the journal because it's a holistic best self. What happens in 2018? And did you kind of sense that there was going to be a departure from your business partner? Where were you at in 2018? Did it hit you out of the blue? What does this look like? Well, he had a kid in 2018 and I think we had hired any role that he was doing. So he was just like not really doing anything helpful. I I don't know if I should say that, but we're not on good terms, but I don't want to talk badly about him at all. And I think at the time, honestly, we could have had harder conversations.
29:38And that's something I learned about myself is like a lot of the pain that I put myself through in later business years started because of my inability to like have a hard conversation earlier and like delaying it, which really only makes it harder later. And so that's kind of where we were at. And it took until 2020 for me to be like, OK, this this is done. And I wrote a huge article, like what I learned that I would do differently. Like a lot of times you start these business partnerships and I did 50-50 because I thought it's like, oh, that seems fair. But fair doesn't mean equal. And so whenever you like 50-50 a partnership in the beginning, it's like sometimes it's unfair to one person at the beginning and it evens all.
30:21Or sometimes it's unfair and it continues to be more unfair as you go on. And I think when you can't have a hard conversation and actually like make a decision, you're actually settling in the beginning of like a partnership because you don't want to have a hard conversation. And so I think if you really sat down and this doesn't mean that there aren't 50-50 partnerships that work, but I see more that don't work because of insecurity. Like I was super insecure. And so at the time I was like, oh, I don't want to, I don't think I'm worth what I am. And when I look back, I'm like, I totally was. I just didn't, I just like underestimated what I could do.
31:01And I also was partnered with someone that was like really charming, like really good talker, very good looking. And so I'm like, oh, this is awesome. And he actually was great at the beginning of the company because he's very good. Like I would kind of show my work and he would talk the work and together we'd make stuff happen. and so even my wife no I was like actually that was a good thing that you had that because you're not very self-promotional and you needed someone like that in the beginning that's beautiful okay okay lessons learned gratitude for the lesson stuff that you won't repeat again yeah finding self-worth in that journey and so the business partner departs along with him 50 percent of so he kind of just left the day-to-day but then it was you're like hamstrung with decisions and so then it basically was like 2019 we like discussed selling but then it's like I nobody wanted the business unless I was staying in the business and so I was like well nobody's offering you like the only offers you're getting is based on me staying and working and so I was like better the devil you know than the devil you don't so I didn't want to go in and also good for you the people that were coming i was like i don't like they're giving us this valuation but it's completely unrealistic and it's also unrealistic because i can see the type of attitude that they have with the team and they won't be here any longer because it'll be such a terrible work environment so like this valuation you're seeing does not exist in basically because you know i remember at one point there was some trademark issue and and this guy was like who who need to get fired.
32:36Like that was his first response to this like small thing. And I'm like, there was just like red flags where I'm like, this doesn't make sense. And there was a huge haul of other reasons why it didn't make sense. So then it became, okay, maybe we sell the whole thing, but nobody wanted unless I was going to stay. And then at that point, like I hired a COO to sort of like work with me. He actually started as a marketing manager and eventually became the COO and he's the reason why I was able to sell when I did later but I ended up buying out the business partner like took on some like personal debt in order to get him out and that was in 2020 and that negotiation took like nine months he was also going through a really contentious divorce so what was insane was my 2021 resolution was like less legal bills because you had a personal lawyer a business lawyer he had divorce lawyers on both sides and I actually had to hire a divorce attorney in his state to be able to like manage their divorce and like I got like I said I got divorced in 2017 we literally did everything without a lawyer and like stayed on good terms didn't cost the business a cent and I paid more in legal fees for his divorce than my own yeah like I had to hire a divorce attorney in New Jersey to deal with their divorce oh my gosh okay so this is in 2020 yeah you buy him out you take on personal debt to buy him out yeah but you're free yeah and this is yours and so what are you feeling are you like i'm building what are you where where's your head at are you i mean i'm excited that it's done i'm like oh my god now i can because it's really difficult so here's what's happening is 2020 was insane we have covid we have supply chain issues i also because it was like issues with the business partner luckily i had a really good team that like kept things going even when i'm because it's really difficult right you have a team that you have to support but you're also negotiating a buyout of a company that you don't want to grow too much because then you have to pay more that's right but so but you don't have to lay anyone off either so it's you're walking this tightrope of like i want i don't want to grow too much or like come up with any like better ideas because i'm gonna have to pay him more so it's like these incentives are weird and i dealt with a inventory manager who embezzled from the company and I find out about it as I was going through all this stuff with my business partner because he was basically all in 2020 yeah 2020 was like you know I don't know if you remember March 2020 everyone's like oh you have to like batten up the hatches business is gonna be hard like yeah hold your cash and I'm literally like going through this negotiation our factory in China has shut down because of this coronavirus we're hearing about I and then And I had just found out about this embezzlement with this guy that I'd worked with.
35:19And I'm just like, there's no reserves here. And so then I spent the next six months dealing with that. And then it's also like, even though I had a remote team, this guy actually, he had met my family because he lived in New York too. And I would bring him to comedy shows. So it wasn't like it was this random guy I hadn't met. And so I'm like, oh, you were stealing from us the whole time. I actually have a YouTube video where I broke down exactly how he did it. because he wasn't like stealing money from my bank account or anything and it's funny so my so I'm actually from Northern Ireland and my brother I don't come from a business background like my family are all like doctors and like have normal jobs and so I put this video I of like this guy like embezzling 230 grand from me and um oh my god I you know I put it up and my brother calls me he's like I saw your video this guy stole all the money from you god that's awful how much money did you make anyway and i'm like he didn't steal the money from the bank account he was essentially like at the time we would run all of our inventory off spreadsheets and he would sell to bulk order customers and they thought they were paying us but they're actually paying his like personal stripe account and so because we didn't have like good audit systems okay yeah and so what how i find out about it is I someone was selling against us on Amazon of this like not even our top product and I was I ordered it and I was like look there's three things that are going on here this is either a counterfeit product someone's taking inventory or our supplier is like screwing us yes but I'm like if we've worked with the same supplier for like six years and it's all it's all not our main product so I don't know why they would go for this one okay so let's just assume it's either a counterfeit or like someone stealing inventory and when I ordered it it looked exactly like ours so I'm like let's just assume like someone's taking inventory from the warehouse and so I have this guy start to do audits and essentially auditing himself and then what happened oh my nothing was adding up and I actually always assume positive intent of like oh I just thought thought he was like negligent and I fired him for being negligent and then I got into his email and I realized that he deleted all of his emails for one.
37:33Like it was bare. Luckily I was able to recover it. And so my team was like, oh, he's like Stripe invoices and stuff, like PayPal invoices that he was selling stuff. And then he was going into our, he was so smart and dumb and I'll share with you why. So he was going into our 3PL and then going into existing orders, editing all the information of existing order and then reshipping it. so it didn't look like a new shipment and so when I was going into the 3PL and I was like clicking through the order and all the information was different than what is in Shopify and then I contacted the 3PL like who edited these orders and they told me it was him and that's when I realized what was going on he actually did get arrested for it I worked with like he was in Denver and I worked with like the Denver police because I'm like he he's gonna do it to someone else he's clearly a crook and so I watch enough Dateline I'm like I will give you all the evidence I like Dateline yeah I'm like yeah I mean it's like Shark Tank I'm like here yeah and so this guy he was like you should have become like a detective because I'm giving him all the information so he really didn't have to do much detective work okay and so the guy got arrested and it came out of the blue because he didn't know I knew about all the stuff I just never said anything he just thought he just got fired for negligence and then six months later a detective calls him and was like basically trying to get a comment from him and then he was like oh someone stole my identity and i'm like i would love someone to steal my identity and put money into my coin right like hundreds of thousands right and so they ended up arresting him he spent one night in jail and then he like pleaded to a felony and no i every few months i get what i consider my unofficial 401k which is like small restitution payments will never add up to right like what he stole but now at least he has it on his like record and he won't be able to do it someone else okay so what year is this that was in so 2020 is when i discovered 2021 is when he like what you know we did the whole like covid court thing okay and so then what year do you sell?
39:472022, October of 2022. So that's okay. So 2021, that's buttoned up and you're getting micropayments restitution, which is, Hey, it is about, it's about people knowing and it's about him not doing it to somebody else. Okay. And so then what mindset are you in when you're like, I'm open to selling or were you approached or what happened in 2022? So basically 2021 and 2022 I was just focused on okay how do I get this business I mean it was it always had to be profitable but I'd lost some money in the last year or two because of the I mean embezzlement and the business partner thing so I'm like how do I set it up so I could sell it if I wanted and then I had a baby March of 2022 and I didn't really take any time off after that like I was I thought I could be one of these people that were like oh yeah the baby sleeps and I'll work doesn't really work like that so I didn't really take much of a break and then at luckily I had a really good COO and he was running things but you know when I sort of came back I was approached by a couple of people one gave me an offer that I wasn't that excited about so I'm like I'm not doing it for this but what I did was like rather than continued on this path let me just open up other conversations and like let it be known that I might sell and so I'm in I was in like the slack group, it was actually like a crypto e-com group that I'm in with like 40 guys.
41:09And I was just like, yeah, I'm thinking of selling. And actually one of those guys put me in touch with the people that ended up buying. And I just at that point was like, I'll say yes to any conversation. So I got on a call with these guys and I wasn't really taking it that serious. So I was just, you know, sharing what was going on. And then they ended up giving me, I turned on the other offer at this point and they ended up giving me offer. And it's funny, whenever you're like selling your business, there's so many times when it could like fall through at any moment right so like my wife like the day before it's supposed to close like is it gonna close I'm like honestly I have no idea because there's just so much and like I've heard of literally people signing the documents waiting for the wire and the wire never comes and the buyer like literally ghosts after months of due diligence so I'm like not celebrating early or anything and then I ended up like selling then with the goal of like okay now I can take some time off without the pressure of like at the time you know we have a recession heading rates are up I'm hearing about this looming thing in the future and I'm like I just had a baby like I've put so much into this company for years buying out the business partner like if I just like sell I can breathe breathe yeah not have like things like above my head in case it goes wrong yeah and then I can figure out what I want to do next so like even though I love the brand the company and the team I was like I need a break and I can see kind of in the future what could happen if I don't take some money off the table and so that that's why I sold amazing how much of a break did you take I took 14 I mean when I say break I like tinkering with stuff so I was like build it I know we moved into New York so I'm like I literally built an in-ground coal plunge in my yard like design I've seen photos of it yeah so I'm like designing it I didn't dig the hole I hired a guy to dig it but I'm literally like learning plumbing and stuff and what's funny is when you I don't know worked been a workaholic my wife would come home and I'm like lesbian stereotype Home Depot like everything and she's coming home and she's like oh how was your day and I'm like and I'm learning like electrical and plumbing to like build this thing so I'm like learning a lot and it's fun but but I'm like well nothing I did today made money so I'm actually useless and it's even though I had money more money than I ever had there's like a scarcity mindset of like oh my god I'm it's gonna be gone and I don't have any and god forbid I would just do something for fun that wasn't making money and so it took me a while to like detach the being productive and making money and like being in a scarcity mindset wow during that time off where my wife's like you can take time and like do the projects that you wanted and like I was learning code and and even though I was doing stuff that I liked it was like I wasn't happy because I was like oh my god I don't know what I'm gonna do next and like I have to figure out what my next project is because like worth and value become intertwined and all of a sudden when someone's like you could just be and you're like wait but what value am I bringing if I don't bring value then what what worth am I creating and I think that that is a beautiful lesson for us to like stay grounded in you taking a step back to understand like to undo those two pieces for you to kind of come back to you and then you cut to a point where you look back at the business how are you involved I mean was it a complete by were you involved any bit at all I was like an ambassador okay and I was supposed to be on some meetings that they would schedule but they never scheduled anything okay and so I would like send them ideas I would send emails into the void okay and I mean I totally get it a lot of times they want the founder to like craft their own vision or whatever.
44:42Yeah. Which is fine. There was an earn out component tied to the sale, which is pretty common. But and I still could see like the numbers. I'm just concerned about like this earn out. Yes. Because it was I thought it was a pretty easy goal to hit. And it was. But this company was like a new private equity company. So they were just kind of starting. But then they were buying brands. And then they kind of like took some autonomy away from the internal people. So like they couldn't approve purchase orders. So then we don't have inventory for Q1 because they hadn't hired a CFO yet to, you know. They're making it really difficult for you to hit your earn out.
45:16Yeah. Yeah. And I don't think they did on purpose. I just think they like were trying to build the plane as they're flying it and things didn't happen. So I was just like, oh, so that's also a scarcity thing where I'm like, oh, I'm not going to get this earn out. So I have to, it's like a shorter runway than I thought I had. And so I'm just very much like did not match reality when I had like way less money. I was like way more optimistic it doesn't make any sense okay and so then a year in so I thought they weren't going to hit their earn out and so I'd mentally like said goodbye to that money basically I took time off like okay let me figure it out and actually when I one thing when I sold is I still loved the company and the brand and the products but I didn't like how I built it because I kind of built my own prison because we're always because we grew so fast and had success it's like you always have to beat that year after year.
46:05Yes. Because God forbid, like, you would just... Flatline or, like, shrink. I get that. And so, and then we had a bigger team. So I'm like, oh, people's lives and, like, kids are dependent on me. And so it's really difficult to, like, move or shift things whenever you have that risk involved. And so that's another reason I sold, because the new company, we're going to at least keep people on for six months. And so I was like, okay, they have a bunch of resources that I don't have. like everyone got a bonus and a raise and I got to leave and it felt like okay now they can like figure out how we go to here next but so at six months the PE firm told me they were going to let everyone go and move to like more of an agency model and so my old team members had already told me that and so I ended up like a few friends who run companies hired some of them I think one guy who's in Hampton, actually.
46:57I think he has like four of my old people. Okay, wait, pause, pause, pause, pause. So I'm going to do a little bit of a sideline right here. We can like not mention Hampton. No, no, no. I think it's good. I think it's good. It's good because it'll give you a chance to rest your voice. You could totally hydrate. So Kat had just mentioned a friend of mine and then she mentioned this word Hampton. Now, the reason why Kat and I got connected was because of a gentleman by the name of Sam Parr. Sam is co-founder of Hampton and it is a CEO, executive group, kind of like coaching mastermind type thing.
47:26And Sam was in Austin, became very good friends with Kat. And I said, Sam, I'm coming to Austin. I want to connect with amazing people. And he said, you have to connect with Kat. And I started digging into her story. We got connected. I'm watching her iteration and her growth. And now Sam and Kat are really good friends, like legit good friends. Like he goes in your cold plunge. Like he makes it inappropriate with like 18 people in your cold plunge. And he's like all about it. Right. And so he's just I didn't mean inappropriate. it's just it's just him my daughter a few times yeah like they're they're like like homie homies so he launches hampton and he's like cat why don't you get in and i one thing that i really liked about cat was like she had said well at the time i'm not building anything and so when i go all in i go all in if i'm not building i'm not gonna be in and so then she tells me off camera that when she oh i'm gonna i'm gonna get to the part of the story anyway here's here's like the a little ellipse.
48:19This is what's foreshadowing. She joins Hampton and I see Kat in Hampton. I was like, hey girl, hey, let's podcast. Okay. Now when she said her friend was in Hampton, that's the organization we're talking about. And this friend hired four of your former team members. And this is y 'all just taking care of each other. That's amazing. Yeah. I mean, not taking care of, like he needed someone and I actually only sent him over one person. And so, and then what happened is like that one person hired the other three people that I knew from my team. Good, good. Because one was the only one that stayed during the transition with the PE firm, like after that six months.
48:55And so whenever they were like the PE firm, I guess, spoiler, they called me at 12 months in, like actually 14 months post acquisition. We're like, hey, we're shutting down. We're like returning what's money is left to investors. And we're like just going to work on other projects. And at that point, I think they bought three brands. friends so ours was the first and then two others and they were like selling them back either to the owner or to like someone else and so they're like do you want to buy it back again best self and to be honest when he first brought it up I was like oh no because I'm thinking back to where I was when I sold it where it was like I had this I had like all this responsibility but when I like journaled on it and really thought about it I'm like oh how could I do it differently this time because I don't have the same like burden that I had before where I like oh I have to make this payroll every month.
49:45I have to, like, we had sales, we had a brand, we had product. There was no team anymore. But I'm like, I'll figure it out. So I ended up like negotiating a really good deal with a private equity firm to get it back. And that was end of January of 2024. That is so good. Okay, you know, like, I would have loved the podcast period the end. But the fact that you bought it back, like just like the strategic move of it all. I'm sure there's an element of destiny, luck in all of it. But in January 2024, you buy it back. You negotiate a deal that you feel, what are you doing different now? Having looked back at your journey and say, when you were journaling, using your own journal, when you said, how could I do this differently?
50:30What did you come up with? I mean, there's like chat GBT. It wasn't like when I sold the business and I use that all the time. Like there's so much minutiae in your day that I'd be caught up and I'd like hand it off to my CO or someone else to just handle, then now I have like a 24-7 assistant. Give me an example. What would you hand to your COO that you're getting an answer from chat? Literally, like, can you write a letter to deal with this sales tax issue in California? Because I don't want to deal with it. And I literally, like, I will use it for everything. I'm like, here's a letter I got.
51:02Can you write a response? Like, this is what's going on. And I'll just talk it into my phone or whatever. And it will just write it. I will take me 10 minutes to fax it and send it what would happen before is either I would hand it off or what would actually really happen is I would not do it for months okay and then I would pay more tax later okay and so that times a million of like forecasting for product there's just so much minutiae that you deal with that you don't even realize you deal with until you don't have to deal with it anymore and actually the my time off I learned like coding and I also learned how to use AI for like different things because I'm like, I'll use it whatever I do next.
51:39And now I'm like, okay, I could, I can use it for a lot of things that I used to have to hire people for. And now I do have to hire people, but I've just been, instead of going back to, oh, let me rehire all the same people I had before the same team was like, what's the minimum amount I need to get the job done in a way that's like profitable and fun. And I'm not like building my own prison where I have to keep making revenue. So I'm just, my mind is freaking blown right now. What was the percentage of decrease? Like when you went back? It went, so it drops maybe 25 % in revenue. One thing. Oh no, no, not in revenue.
52:14Excuse me. Team size. So it's like you come back and you buy the business back. How many team members are there? Zero. So zero. Like they were like, oh, the P firm's like, oh, do you have a team to help you with the transition? And I'm like, nope, just me. Okay. So it's just you and you've hired. But when you look at the size of your team now versus what it would have had to have been to sustain the rate of growth now. How much smaller percentage-wise? Is it 50 %? Did you have a 10 % team and now you have a 5 % team? I mean, I'm thinking like payroll and like contractors that we used to hire. Let's say it was a million dollars a year.
52:46It's like a quarter. Lord. Wow. So it's just like, how do I, you know, we used to have like this bookkeeping CFO team that like made a bunch of mistakes, but there wasn't really another option now you have this thing called finaloop which like pulls all your data so you can get like live p &ls anytime so i'm like so connected with my profit margin any day of the week and then just using tools in a smart way like that alone saves me like six thousand dollars a month and you know how many journals you have to sell to pay this when i first started best self i usually like would equate prices to how many journals i have to sell to make this so i'm like on the airplane yeah oh I have to sell like a quarter of a journal to pay for this wi-fi is it worth it can I like sell like at least one journal to make it worthwhile and now that I have a toddler I'm like oh this is like a month of daycare so that's how I'm equating so I'm instead of scaling back what I suspend I'm like I set it up as a whole other company so everything is fresh so instead of it's like subtracting it's adding and one one rule I had is like I'm gonna buy this company back but I'm not putting any more money into it.
53:55So everything has to be capitalized through sales which I still haven't had to put any money into it. I just bought it back and then used the revenue from sales to like do everything else. So what's next? I mean, I'm still like stabilizing and like figuring out who it is that I need for my team. But I think what's next is, I mean, I call it the best self because I'm really into personal development and I like, now I have a kid. I'm like, okay, well, where's that gonna take me that I could like build around? Your next product line, baby. But I mean, I very much into like, okay, what other problems could we solve?
54:27But yeah, I love the idea of like, okay, I have the products and the brands back. I don't have this like, where I have to do anything, which gives me freedom to like, do whatever I want, which I didn't have before. So could I have done it before? Yes, but I also had like a six month old when I sold it before and I did not have the energy that I needed to like, turn the ship. And now I feel like I got a clean slate. And at this point, like everything's gravy. I, you know, I knew so many parts of the story. And then I just got to learn a lot of other parts of the story. And I think that wherever people are in their journey, you've been an expander, an expander of how to fund, start their business, an expander of how to come back after someone's embezzled, an expander after buying a business partner out and taking on personal debt, an expander of what it looks like to un-entangle worth and value and what productivity is when there's just time and rest to grow.
55:24And then an expander of what it means to come back, do it on your own terms and do it entirely differently. And I find that like so beautiful and so inspiring. I can't thank you enough for coming in and sharing the story because people are hearing it and they're listening and they're saying, there is a piece of her that I now get to carry to change what it is that I'm doing and the approach that I'm taking. So your time on the show has been so valuable, but it has nothing to do with your worth. Ladies and gentlemen, Kat, where can people find you? Where do you like to connect? Twitter, Instagram, or X, whatever we're calling it.
55:58Just my name on X. That's where I really talk to people. Okay, good. Or Instagram. Or I also talk about anything I'm doing business-wise on littlemight.com. And that's like personal blog. So if you've been following it, you saw the embezzlement stuff, the business partner stuff. As I was going through it, I'm like, one thing is like journaling when you're going through stuff. So with the business partner things, I would be like up all night. I'm like, I have to, I just have to write something down. And this became like a 50 page Google doc of half of it was useful. And half of it was just like, here's why I will never put myself in this situation again.
56:35And I actually, I'm like, okay, what could I take from this for like an actual article that could help people? and there's been so many people that reach out and we're like, oh my God, your business partner article? I've gone back to it so many times. So yeah, I take my lemons and I make lemonade. I'm like, here's how not to get embezzled from. Here's how to go into a business partnership. So if you're curious by the behind the scenes of business, it's at littlemight.com. And then products, bestself.co. And I'll make a coupon code, Jasmine, so that anyone that wants to buy any of the products that I talk about will get like a 20 % discount.
57:07Oh my gosh. Okay, well, you guys use the code. I didn't know the code existed. It is not. It doesn't, but we're talking about it. It will definitely exist by the time this show goes live. I don't get anything from it. If you have liked the lemonade that Kat has served you, give yourself a gift. Invest in yourself and see what you can do in three months. And in case you're not quite sure how to begin the journaling journey, Kat, her team, her business is more than there to support you. So littlemight.com, bestself.co, Jasmine is the promo code. Connect with her on X, Twitter, or whatever the heck that we're talking about it.
57:43Thank you for watching and listening to The Jasmine Star Show. And Kat, thank you for being here. Thanks for having me.
From the publisher
→ Register for my upcoming Live Online Event: The Secret to Making (lots of) Money with Digital Offers: https://jasminestar.com/digitaloffer ←
Ever wondered what it's like to build, sell, and then buy back your own company?
You're in for a masterclass in resilience, strategic planning, and personal growth with today's guest, Cathryn Lavery.
Cathryn is the powerhouse behind BestSelf Co., a brand that revolutionized goal-setting with its innovative journals.
In this episode, we dive into her journey—from crowdfunding her first journal and raising over $300K in just a month, to navigating embezzlement, partnership struggles, and ultimately selling and re-acquiring her business.
Click play to hear all of this and:
(00:04:30) The one thing you need to build before launching a successful crowdfunding campaign.
(00:06:04) How to set up rewards to keep your crowdfunding campaign simple.
(00:07:24) How backers can supercharge your campaign.
(00:08:46) The details of Cathryn's first crowdfunding victory.
(00:10:58) How to navigate the game of logistics after a successful crowdfunding campaign—because the hard part comes next.
(00:12:51) The key to setting up your timelines and delivering on customer expectations.
(00:13:31) How to know when it’s time hire help.
(00:16:03) How Cathryn got invited to Tony Robbins’ event?
(00:17:01) What Cathryn learned during her experience in Fiji with top mentors.
(00:19:16) The marketing strategies you need to implement to accelerate your scaling process.
(00:19:59) How to innovate in a category packed with competition.
(00:28:07) Why being a problem-based company trumps being product-focused.
(00:28:47) What happens when business partnerships go south.
(00:34:22) Bouncing back after uncovering embezzlement. Cathryn details the legal battle and how she fought to protect her company.
(00:42:03) What happens after you sell your business. Cathryn opens up about the personal projects she took on and the shift in her mindset.
(00:46:20) Why Cathryn decided to take back the reins at BestSelf.
(00:49:57) How AI is helping Cathryn streamline her business operations in ways that save time and money.
Listen to Related Episodes:
- Creating Brand Loyalty, Social Media Virality, and User-Generated Content with Michelle Cordeiro Grant
- How to Identify and Lead A, B, and C Players for Business Success
Connect With Cathryn:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cathryn.lavery/
- Check out BestSelf (Use Code JASMINE for 20% off): https://bestself.co/
For full show notes, visit jasminestar.com/podcast/episode512
Join my free, no-pitch live class called 3 Money Beliefs That Made Me Millions, and I’m sharing the exact mindset shifts that helped me go from million-dollar years to million-dollar months.
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