00:00
So as I said, we have 10 successful inventors we've heard from Kevin Harrington and now we're going to hear from Carol Williams her product is is amazing. It's a baby product. It's Dreamland baby, the weighted blanket, she's got the prototype as well. But before we get to that, what I'd like to do is have Jenny share a short video, so our viewers can actually get to see the product up close and see how it works.
00:30
New parents get just one to three hours of uninterrupted sleep per night. In a world that places more demands on parents and ever before your baby's sleeping through the night is critical. Introducing Dreamland baby, a wearable weighted blanket designed to naturally reduce your baby's stress and increase relaxation through deep pressure stimulation. of five and a half months old, our son Luth was still waking up every hour and a half to two hours. Like so many other new parents, we were desperate for sleep. One night I placed a heavy throw blanket on him. And notice he immediately calmed down. A light bulb went off in my head he needs a way to link it. With the help of my mother in law, we sewed a prototype the first night wearing his Dreamland wearable weighted blanket he slept for 12 hours. We couldn't believe how immediately his sleep was improved. Each Dreamland wearable blanket is tailored perfectly to your baby's body weight. zero to six month is under a pound and the six to 12 month is just over 1.5 pounds. This gentle weight increases serotonin and melatonin while decreasing cortisol to help your baby fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. A recent study reported weighted blankets are not only safer infants but also significantly increased calm feelings. This resulted in sustained sleep patterns. Our products are handcrafted for the highest quality. Not only do they look adorable, but Dreamland is 100% natural soft cotton. The inner beads are food grade safe and non toxic. We use reliable y que que doubles numbers that have opened from the top and the bottom. To help with those benign diaper changes. We set out to create a swaddle that keeps baby's arms secure and is convenient for parents. The ingenious removable wing separates allowing you to use the swaddle while the wing is being washed for completely remove it and maybe rolls before six months. Our trusted manufacturing partners are ready to go all we need is your support big or small and all makes a difference from our Dreamland family cheers.
02:48
So Tara, what a what a beautiful family and it's funny you met you talk about the Greenland blanket is your fifth child. That's a that's a lot of inventors feel about their product. So that for our viewers is a little bit about the product itself. But why don't you introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about what you did before you became an inventor.
03:13
Yeah, well, I'll start by saying when I watched that video, it is like truly cringe worthy to me. Because the you know, we started this, this whole operation is bootstrapped. And that was my first introduction to the world. And I think I had paid about $300 to have that video done. So when I watched it now I'm like, Ah, but disclaimer. So my name is Tara Williams, you just saw my family. I have four kids. Prior to starting Dreamland baby, I had been in the medical device space in marketing and sales roles with some big companies, but mostly startups and been doing that for about 10 years really loves it. I'm really engaging, rewarding work. However, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur from the time I was a little girl. My college essay was about salesmanship and entrepreneurialism, and it's just something that's always it's always been inside of me. So over the years, I had come up with different ideas. And I laugh now in hindsight, because most of the ideas I came up with were something where, you know, it's an app or it's, you know, just something so outrageous that I would need a $500 million VC round to accomplish and scientists you know, that I don't have the expertise and or on the flip side, I'd come up with these different ideas that were more an as seen on TV. So over the years, I was always thinking of different ideas and I had another business venture I tried to do have my own business but being like a blogger basically and doing I'm showing the clothing I was wearing and that was not didn't work out for me. So you know I think a lot of times people will see oh Dreamland baby has been It has such incredible growth and has been such an incredible success. But this comes off 10 years of having bad ideas, starting different companies or working for startups. In fact, when I before I had my fourth son, Luke, while I was on maternity leave, I was with a startup. And while I was on maternity leave, they actually shut their doors are closed because they did not work out. So the road has had lots of successes, but failures to to lead me where I am right now. What what did I did I answer it all?
05:32
Yeah, no, this is it's so wonderful to hear that about the journey, because a lot of inventors, they are at a point might remember, they might be at a point where you were back then when it's you know, it's tough to face those obstacles and to hear from somebody who's been there, and yet didn't give up. Like some people might stop after their first idea doesn't make it and it sounds like you've had more than one. But, but you kept going. In fact, we have q&a at the end. But one question right now from Kenneth, it's just so onpoint to have to jump ahead and ask it and they said, What gave you the courage to pursue it when you have that eureka moment? And it hasn't worked out in the past? What made me you try one more time with the with this baby blanket thinking that this would be the idea that makes it
06:23
you know, I think the the primary difference with this was, and I'll set the stage, this probably could not have been a worst time in my life to start a business. There's like, as a as a mother, people are like, what is it good time to have a baby, there's no good time to be pregnant, have a baby and go to work. And same thing, there's no good time, there might be a good time to have started a business. But usually you're doing something else, right? So we have the four kids, our kids are really close in age. So when my son Luke was born, my fourth, my oldest was only five. So we have four kids in five years, we had just bought a house that was at the very top of our budget. And we had looked at our finances and we're like, okay, you know what, this that we're making combined, like, we're okay. Um, my husband got laid off from his job at 15 years, the day before my son was born. And I got laid off on maternity leave. So we were really in this panic time of, we have four really little kids, we just bought this house. And we have this baby relentlessly crying waking up every couple hours, and we have no money. So what are we gonna do? I'm gonna start a business. Um, so, you know, it spoke volumes of the product, because at the time, we knew my husband just based off the job he had that he was not going to find something for probably six months to a year that was equivalent. And so he was actually really pushing me, you know, go back to work just to get health insurance. We were paying. Gosh, I think almost $10,000 in Cobra. So it was it was really insane how much the health insurance costs. So he was pushing me to go back. And I just had this feeling like there and I was interviewing, but I was like, there's there's something better that I should be doing. And I had a couple great offers, but it was like there's just something better. And then I came up with the idea for Dreamland baby. And it was one night we were just sitting on our couch. My older kids had gone to bed. We're at the baby, we laid a heavy throw blanket on him. And like we said, I said in the video, he immediately calmed down and calm came over his face. And it was just very obvious like he needs a way to blink it. So I went online to try to find it. And they there are weighted blankets but not wearable. So when I say wearable, I mean this literally like the baby wears it. So it's safe, meaning it can't migrate on your face, because it's anchored down by the arm and neck hole. So that we are very rule followers in terms of safe sleep. And so I asked my mother in law to make it she had the first one, you know, first night he slept for 12 hours, it was incredible. And so I kind of stopped there and said, Well, this now I have a sleep solution for my son. But being that entrepreneur spirit, I immediately thought wow, this is incredible. It was so immediate, it's so effective. And just knowing where me and my husband and our entire family was and now where we are because we're getting sleep like it was just I can't not pursue this. And so, but really like to answer his question, what was my eureka moment? It was when I started telling people about it. So I have had all these crazy ideas. And you'd see reactions from people like hmm, or sounds good. How are you gonna do it? But with this, it was very simple. Across the board it was that's an amazing idea. How does not already exist or can I buy one? Can your mother in law make one for my friend? I mean, it was just, it was so overwhelming that everybody wanted it or just was so bad when they heard it like what a cool idea. I use a weighted blanket. I would love one of those for my daughter. So that's not to say that inventors don't have ideas. And the whole world says you're crazy. That's never gonna work. And it does. But for this, it was just so astounding that 10 out of 10 of the people I spoke with were like that that's an obvious idea. It's so obvious, how does it not exist? So to me, it felt like that was a very early on market validation. But I still thought there was no way someone has not got a patent on this. So that was the first thing that I did before spending months and hours. And all this, I called a patent prosecutor in my local area. And I asked her, you know, can we look this up, and I said, here's the other companies that I think could have this patent. So I did a lot of upfront work to try to reduce the cost of her searching for it. And after we verified, you know, somebody could come out of the woodwork in Germany that has a patent, but it doesn't look like any one of these major brands that you've discussed, has this patent. So then we went forward to get a provisional patent on it. And that's when the line was drawn in the sand. And then it was for me, I had one year to figure out, Is this a marketable product? And can I make it market ready? So that's sorry, that's a really long winded answer. But I just wanted to give you the background, that, you know, there's no perfect
11:16
background, it's incredibly helpful. I mean, in what you said, is about there not being a perfect time to have a baby or to start a business. I often in my practice, I see variation of that is that ideas don't come at the perfect time. I mean, I've had clients in the past, they're going through a divorce, and they get an idea or then in the middle of college, or in your case, both income earners in the family have lost their jobs. I mean, what could be a worst time and you just recently had you said, Luke, your, your son was born? So what could be a worse combination? And then to be laid off during maternity leave? I mean, I can't, I can't imagine.
11:59
You can't. I mean, it was it was just like, bam, bam, we our heads were spinning.
12:05
Yeah. So that I mean, that that's important to know, because what what I see a lot of times is ideas not pursued. And it's heartbreaking because clients will come in vendors will come into my office, seeing a competing product, finally launch. And they will say wait, I had this seven years ago, but I was I was going through a difficult divorce, or I just got laid off or I was in college, and I couldn't didn't have any money to pursue it. Now until 2013. The US was on a first to invent system. And you could still, if you could prove you invented first, there was hope. But now after 2013, it's first a file. So speed is everything. Was that an obstacle for you also, in terms of funding? And, you know, it's easy to say, go ahead and, you know, follow the pattern first. But how do you advise that to someone to a mom who's been laid off on maternity leave her husband's been laid, it lost his job as well with it, she just has a baby. It's hard to file first, how did you kind of balance that? And just bought a house and forgot it and just bought a house it at the same time as well?
13:15
Yeah, um, I think so. If you guys had seen on Shark Tank, I shared it there. But it was a really interesting time. Because we, you know, we had no money coming in. But when in the state of California, you do get an attorney believe it's a disability. So but it it doesn't go into your normal bank account, it goes into a separate bank account. So I don't want to say we forgot about the money. But this money had been going into another account. And I wasn't touching it until basically it was done. And it was $14,000. So I, you know, I don't know that my husband really knew about it. He didn't, he didn't really know about it. So I remembered and thought, oh my gosh, like I have this $14,000. And that's what I use to start the business. So I know that's not really a good answer. But the second thing I did for funding, because we had no money, I went to my parents and I went to my family and I said, Hey, and they've always believed in me. If I said, you know, I'm going to create an app that cures cancer, they'd be like, you can do it. So they've always believed in me. Have they offered funding before? No, but they knew the situation I was in and they really believed in the product. I mean, right away, they were like, This is amazing. Like this is going to change lives like we've seen it change your life. So I borrowed $50,000 from my sister, kudos to her because she's 28 and had discretionary income of that amount. And it was for one year interest free. And then I borrowed and I took on an investment from my parents for another $50,000 and I gave him three percent equity in the company. And this was before we had a product, it was just an idea. So, out the gate, I did have $114,000, which I'm sure to people on the line, they're like, man, that would be great. But there are ways to get it. So beyond that money, I also tapped into Kickstarter. So that's where I got that first initial money for my, my first round of production. And I will say, actually, for my sister, she, she gave me the money actually a little bit later than my parents, so didn't have 114. At the same time, I had about 60 for the start. And then I had 50,000 later, and I did pay her back. So it was it was kind of a bridge just to place more inventory order. But the Kickstarter, I think, is the easiest, fastest quickest way. If people are really bootstrapping, like I wasn't just have zero money, I mean, you're you at the end of the day, you need some money to start this, I'm not gonna say you can start on zero, if you want to pull a patent, that's a couple $1,000. You know, there's just other fees involved. I mean, at the time, I didn't like startup clothes, I didn't even have a computer, I had to buy a computer. So I mean, there's there's just some basic things you need. My phone was with my startup company. So I literally had to put like, my nice Mac phone in my apple, I'm Apple, everything and send it back. So not only was I laid off, I didn't know how to phone or computer. So those things were what I considered part of my startup fees, because you need pewter. So there were a lot of a lot of things like that, that are just just basics that you need. And so, you know, obviously, if you can borrow from friends and family, for some people that's not comfortable. After I had paid my sister the 50,000 back because she was looking to buy a house. And so she said, hey, you know, do you need the money back? We still we would have been at about zero in our, in our bank account. So I actually asked Ben, hey, can we pull 50,000 out of the house, because we had like a line of credit on our house. And I said it's gonna be short term, like, I will pay it back. But I can't make I can't buy inventory without it. So all along the way, I've definitely pulled money. I'm a finance major, and my husband is in finance. So to us, we're like, we do not want to pay interest on it. So with a commercial loan, you'd be paying 11 to 20 30% interest depending on where and how you get it. So that to me just did not make sense. So I was like, if there's any other scrappy way I can go about it. And again, I know that not for everybody will a family be able to offer or you know, a house, but that's how I was able to do it. And that worked out for me.
17:47
And it you know, certainly it's still bootstrapping. And sometimes it's one thing to have, you know, immediate family or friends that believe in you, but to get them to invest. That's a whole nother level of commitment. And it's, you know, sometimes it's even extra pressure for the inventor, because now not only is it a family member that, but you see them all the time you see him at Thanksgiving dinner receive a Christmas, it's like, hey, that 50,000 I need that back, like oh, wait, I needed just a little bit longer. And that can
18:23
be and I felt an incredible amount of pressure to make this successful. Because I knew we had to pay my sister back. And I also knew, like, there's no outside money, my husband still wasn't working. I didn't take a salary from this for a year and a half. So there was no money. I mean, like I was like this has to work, we have to make it work. So I do believe that sometimes when your back is completely against a wall, it feels like the worst place to be. But it's giving you that extra motivation to accomplish what you need to and put in those extra hours because it's like sink or swim. And that's how it was for me it was like I have to make this work. There's no
18:59
other way, right? You get into a point where there's the only way out is up. That's inspiring.
19:06
The other thing that I would definitely say because I do have people ask me a lot, I would not have quit my job to start during my baby. So I would have continued to work my other job because at the beginning, there's a lot of waiting period where you file the patent and you're waiting and then you're looking for a manufacturing partner and you're waiting and then you're you get samples and you're waiting and so there's a lot of dead time. So I do have four kids and because I was working full time we had a nanny, so we did let our nanny go and I was a full time mom watching my four kids. So that was like my job. And then I was also doing Dreamland baby. We didn't bring on a nanny until actually this summer so I had run it for almost two years. And again like I was considered being a mom my job, but if I hadn't got laid off from my A startup I would not have left and I would strongly advise no one to leave their current job until you are replacing your current income. For me, I didn't feel right interviewing, going to a new company and saying, you know, I'm committed to growth and being here long term when I knew it was just a bridge gap for me, just to make money in between just ethically. So that's why I decided to pursue staying home with my kids and then doing Dreamland baby also. So I was balancing the two jobs. And then people say, Well, how could you possibly do this with four kids and so I would wake up at five in the morning, I would work until eight o'clock, I would bring them to school, my baby slept for three hours during the day while my kids were at school. So that was another three hour block that I got in. And then my husband was really great. When he came home from work at five or six, I would work again from like six to nine. So I still got about nine hours of work in the day 14 My baby, even though and you know, some days were less, some days were more. Some days, my kids when they came home from school, they were just sitting on, you know, watching TV, but I because people say how can you possibly do this with four kids, you just make it work. And again, if I had had a job, and I had a nanny, I would have continued doing my job and and doing this also until probably last spring is when I probably would have quit. And then I took my first paycheck in May of 2019. So it was about a year and a half after I came up with the idea.
21:30
Yeah, well, so that Beth has a question that kind of ties in with that. And that's she wants to know the timeline from when you had just the concept to your first prototype that worked. How long did that take? And the second part of her question is how long from the first prototype to the first one that you sold the first first sale.
21:51
So I think my product is a little bit easier, I should say easier than others because it's a garment, right? So it's not, there's no electronics in here. There's no molding or tooling that needed to be done. So we could have this go to market, I think quicker than maybe something else. So I came up with the idea, August 2018. That's when my son was six months old. And I had that eureka night. Then I got my first probe well, so my mother in law made my first prototype two weeks later. And honestly, it looks very similar to this. Like we we've refined it. And we've added, you know, extra stitching and things like that. But the concept and the core was what it is that you see today, two weeks later. So I know that can't happen with all products. And then then I started looking for US manufacturers I really wanted to produce in the US. And I found a local seamstress and she was charging $125 For each of these to make because they're really labor intensive, even now mass producing, they take about three hours each, because in each of these pockets are beads. And my factory has created a tool now so they're getting faster and better. But they have to hand stitch these pockets, because of the needle hits the plastic beads that breaks the needle. So they have to actually move them by hand and then hand stitch them. So they take they take a really long time to make. And that's part of what is reflected in the retail cost. So I had that local manufacturer, I found her probably in like October, November 2018. And then at the same time, I was working to find an international factory in China, because I realized it's just not feasible to do it in the US. So we got the cost down drastically. And then we started sending our prototypes that I had made in the US to them. And then and then we were going back and forth because I was saying the neckline is not right, you know the arms are too big or too small. We want a brighter white fabric, like just all that. So that went back and forth. And then it was in April of 2019 that I placed the order for 1000 of them. I felt like we had got it dialed in. I launched the Kickstarter in May of 2019. And then, though the Kickstarter reward was getting sent out to people in August of 2019. I launched the website September 2019. And that's actually when I filmed Shark Tank. So I had been talking with the Shark Tank producers, almost all of 2019 and I we were live for about three weeks when I went on and filmed and then that aired in May 2020. And that was really like the the catalyst for us. Just, you know, I won't say we're a household name, but getting in front of 5 million people was was huge for us. In addition, january february, march of so q1 Pretty much of 2020 we hardly had any inventory. So in 2019 You know, I was still new at ordering and I didn't place my order in time. When we kept getting bumped from the production line, because we were small, and so all of q1, I had hardly any inventory. So I wasn't really able to do marketing efforts and different things. At that time, we were still doing between like 30 and 50,000 in revenue per month, just because I didn't have inventory to send out. And then in April, we got inventory and we ramped up our marketing and then May was Shark Tank. And then it's it's been, you know, just since then
25:30
it's funny I'm getting Christopher is apologizing for spamming so many questions, because he's just, you're, you're inspiring a lot of people because this is, a lot of inventors are at that place where you were when you're trying to make that decision. One of his questions were, and it's funny, when you talk about you never would have decided to quit your job and start a lot of things that happens in business, especially with inventors. They're not decisions, you didn't make a decision to start this idea without a job. It's just you, you were laid off. So you didn't have a job. This question is what made you decide to try to launch it and venture it yourself, instead of licensing it to an established baby company.
26:13
So it's interesting, because so I made a deal with Laurie Grenier on on Shark Tank, and part of the stipulation of the deal was that we would license it to somebody. And so when I thought about that, I thought, well, yeah, that would be, that'd be great and money wise, but going back to like me, being an entrepreneur like this, when I look at my life, I joke with my husband, because I've always wanted for I'm one to five, and I always wanted four kids, and I've loved the neighborhood we lived in his parents lived here, and we would come visit them. And you know, and I tell him all the time, like, I am living the dream of my life. And my dream is to be a CEO, or you know, a founder of a company. And so, like this part of it, growing the business growing the brand, you're doing the cells like this is what I love, I literally couldn't be happier. So I'm not necessarily looking for, like, okay, let's just have somebody license it and I want that, you know, $2 royalty per unit or 30 cent, you know, whatever it would be like, I want to do this, like I am so energized. I wake up every morning and I'm like, I love what I do. I love being my own boss, I love being able to build a team and being a leader. And I'm really into, you know, self growth and things. And now I've at first I was listening to all kinds of podcasts on how to build a business. Now I'm listening to leadership ones because I'm building a team. So I mean, this is, yeah, I mean, it's possible, I could have licensed it, but this is what I love. And, you know, so I want it I really wanted to see like what I could do building the brand.
27:51
Yeah, it's funny. It's what do you think about that statement, and I've heard it before is from inventors is that the best part about creating and launching a product or building a business? Is not the money or the product? Or what results from that, but how it changes you and what you become as a result of that? Would you say that's true? Do you think the journey has changed you for the better?
28:19
Absolutely, I think so when I look at I in 2015. I started my business as being a blogger. And I know a blogger gets a bad rap. And but I started it because I read an article about this other fashion blogger. And she had made $1 million on one sales channel. And I thought, Wow, she looks like me, we're you know, we're the same height, we literally look pretty similar. I wear the same clothes she wears, like, I could do that. I want to make a million dollars, right? Yep. And so I went into this blogging space, with the North Star being the revenue and that payout, and that $1 million, right. And the entire I told my husband, I'm going to do it for a year, he hated every step of it, because he had to take the pictures of me and it was very damask elating to him. So we got in fights all the time. But I said I'm gonna commit to one year of doing this, I still had a full time job. It was just something I did on the side. But I don't love fashion. I don't love photography, and I don't love being in front of a camera. So none of it was my genius smile, say and the entire year, I felt like I was swimming against the current. And when I look back it was and you see all the bloggers who are successful. And they say it sounds very cliche, but it's follow your passion. Right and blogging and writing about my clothing and clothing in general is not my passion. So for me it was not fulfilling or rewarding and it felt really hard. Right. But with Dreamland, baby. I you know, and just a side tangent. I have so many thoughts that I had. I just want to tell everybody everything but For the years that I was trying to find my product, I look at other companies and say GoPro, for example, you know that the camera that goes on the head, they invented it because they were snowboarders and they wanted to capture themselves doing their activity. And I loved this company called Suja juice. And it was this girl in Southern California who was a yoga and fitness instructor. And, you know, she had allergies. And so she created this juice for her. And I remember reading those stories and saying, like, where's my passion, though, I don't have a hobby, like I enjoy working out and running. But like, what is my passion. And I didn't realize until I created the product, that my passion and my hobby is being a mom, which, if you knew me, you'd say, really, that's your passion. But I, my family is everything to me. And that is I mean, I, I'm invested in my kids personal growth. So that's my passion. So when I started this company, and also like personal development in growth is my passion. And so when I saw how miserable I was not sleeping, I was a bad mom, I was a bad wife, I was, if I had been working, I would have been a bad employee, I was not functioning at my personal best because I wasn't getting sleep. So when I came up with this product, it really mirrored things that I'm passionate about in my life. So when I see that parent, that is not sleeping, and they're miserable, and they're not enjoying parenting, or, you know, just the journey of loving their baby, and you know, their husband or their wife at the time, it's because they're the key element is they're not sleeping. So when I look at those families, and I say we can give them a solution, I know where they've been, and I know where they can be like we can give them their life back, which this sounds dramatic, and maybe over the top, but that's my North Star. And every day when I get up, and and I start working, and I read those customer emails, it says this has been a lifesaver. This has been a game changer. Like you've given me my life back. That's why I go to work. If I never made $1 doing this, I would still be happy doing what I'm doing. And so I think, to be an entrepreneur, and to put in the 1215 hour days, there's going to be so many disasters and crisises along the way. But if you have a really solid Northstar to why the why behind what you're doing, and it's your passion, it's your goal. And all those things can come together, it won't feel like work. Like this doesn't feel like a job to me, it feels fun. And I feel so blessed that this is what I get to do. So again, sorry, I have the longest answers for all your questions. You know that that?
32:39
It's I mean, I'm sure a lot of inventors can relate. I mean, I've had, you know, as a patent attorney, and this is, once I once missed a flight because I was I was working on claims, which is the claims portion of a patent. I was right there at the gate. This was well before the pandemic and I was just working away and then I lost track of time. And finally I went up to the agent and I said well what's waiting? What happened if I just said Where were you I said I was right there. And she goes I was announcing it over and over and over again. If there's that this is the final call, and I couldn't even imagine what I told my wife that I'm not going to make it that night I'm gonna come the next day. She expected like you know, maybe traffic delays or something like no, I was I was right there I was you're 50 feet from the gate. But I just got so engrossed so I mean, it's a curse, but it's an absolute blessing to work in something you love because you lose track of time I've had I've had coffee continuously go cold because I just don't want to take the time to take a sip of it. I'm just like, into what I'm doing. So I I completely relate with that. I have it's funny my wife and I we have five kids ourselves and I wish your product was around when our kids were younger because a good night's sleep can change can change everything I mean we once had a friend recommend a product for our daughter was was was wetting her bed and nothing we tried. Were we able to break her of it and this was a an undergarment with a little alarm that would sound if if there's any wetness there. And it took one night and it was and it was so because I you know maybe it was traumatic for her because she was our eldest and the first time it's like the middle of night Beep, beep, beep beep and then but never again so that you know the product is like 999 but what it did for us like under $10 To change your life that way to not have to get up and change the sheets and change clothes and do all of that. And when you talk about your day and the link the long days you had if it was a product that didn't help you get a good night's rest. I don't know how you would have been able to have four kids and work full time and do all of this because then at least with this with the Dreamland baby blanket at least You had you were able to get a good night's rest, or even naps during the day or whatever, whatever it took. So let me get there's one other question. And we're, we're almost out of time. But there's just so much that you have to share that. That's wonderful. Oh, yeah. So now the question is your initial thought process on getting people aware of your product? How did you how did you market it? What did you What did you use? Do you have bootstrap marketing as well or the media talk about?
35:33
Since we're a digitally native brands, meaning we don't have a physical presence? Online advertising was our number one. So we did the order. And, and I always say we, but it's, it was just me. There's nobody else. My husband was not interested in us. So I did the Kickstarter. And we had we raised about $25,000, we had about 250 260 backers, and I thought that, okay, now they're out there. And each of them, we're going to tell a couple of friends and we're gonna have this base and it's gonna grow, it's gonna grow. And it's not really how it works. Like you say, you if you build it, they will come. No, like, the day we launched the website. I was like, okay, and you know, we had one sale to sells the resale. Yeah, like, it's very small. So I built the website on Shopify, which I would recommend to everybody don't go to WooCommerce don't go anywhere else. Shopify. 100% get your email list claim do 100% Don't start with MailChimp. Click goes a little more expensive, but as you grow, it's so much better than than anything else. So
36:34
yeah, so if you can tell if you can spell that and then Jenny, you can put it into the chat as well.
36:40
So just Shopify and then the second is clay vo KLAVY I O. I believe it is clavey Oh, yeah. Que la byo. So those two things. Um, so I had that app. And the first month we were app, we had about $4,500 in revenue. And to me, I was like, this is an amazing thing. Like, that's awesome. Now, I was still negative overall. But then it was in month two that I started that whole month, I was really figuring out okay, like, we got these people, how did they come here? Where did they come from? And how do we get this, you know, to that next level. So we month to do we hired a marketing agency, and they did social media ads. So we started really small. Our first month, we did like maybe $2,000, in ad spend, maybe maybe two or $3,000. And then I also start using influencers. So I started sending the product, it just in exchange for a post probably took 30 People in October. So the combination of doing the social media influencers, and then having Facebook and I think we just had Facebook ads at that point, Facebook and Instagram. And so then month two, we did 30,000 in revenue. So I mean, we had went up 5x in just one month by implementing those two things that are pretty basic. And you know, and then it was month over month, like as we would increase our ad spend, there's a direct correlation to increasing revenue. So in August, I think, or no September, I did hire, it was a one off guy that I had met through a friend and he did his you know, ad buying, they're called Media Buyers. But this person had a full time job, and he kind of did on the side. And it wasn't really you know, and we just weren't seeing results, like we were spending the money on the ads, but there was it was either a one to one, like we'd spend $1, we make $1, which is a loss because I stopped to pay for the product. So it I wasn't getting any money plus I was paying him. So I was like, Oh man, like, I don't think I'm going to do this. And I've heard from a lot of people, they try it and they're not with the right group. And then they're like, I'm done. But then I had another friend recommended to me this this group, and I'd be happy to do an introduction for anybody, if they're at the spot where they're ready, you know, they can you can put my email and I can introduce them. They have they don't all new people but and so that that was huge for me. So I would you know, depending on the product, I would recommend that
39:12
okay, so Jenny, if you want to put the inventors mastermind or private Facebook group, the URL for that, and then any follow up questions or anything that that anyone has, we'll be able to address that and of course, Tara will will check with you and put your email address there as well if you'd like and thank you so much for for being so giving as an entrepreneur, somebody that's that's launched a product to help others that are that are struggling and you know, trying to find their way there's not a lot of people that have done it successfully and are able to provide like useful like actionable advice the way you have like the the websites what use for your for sending mail, Shopify, all of that that's that's advice is gold. We're out of time, but I absolutely it was an honor to host you today. And we are coming back at two o'clock for everybody else. We're gonna take a short break, and then we'll be on for the final segment today of the virtual Summit.
40:15
Awesome. I appreciate it.