446: Building an 8 Figure Ecom Brand: A Masterclass with Angie Lee

Summary

Podcast Summary: Building an 8-Figure Ecom Brand: A Masterclass with Angie Lee

Podcast Information:

• Title: The BossBabe Podcast
• Host: Natalie Ellis
• Guest: Angie Lee, Co-Founder of Sole
• Episode: 446: Building an 8-Figure Ecom Brand: A Masterclass with Angie Lee
• Release Date: January 16, 2025

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1. Introduction

In Episode 446 of The BossBabe Podcast, host Natalie Ellis welcomes Angie Lee, co-founder of Sole, to delve into the intricacies of building an 8-figure e-commerce brand. Angie shares her extensive experience in transforming Sole from a CBD tincture company into a diverse product-based business, offering invaluable insights for aspiring female entrepreneurs.

2. Angie Lee's Background and Sole's Origins

Angie Lee and her brother Mike founded Sole initially as Soul CBD, focusing on CBD tinctures and gummies. Reflecting on their early days, Angie reminisces about their hectic schedule in Los Angeles, where they conducted up to 17 interviews a day to promote their products.

“We had tinctures, gummies, pet tinctures... I used to do six interviews a day, and I would do two days back to back. So I would do 12 I would get 12.” (02:01)

3. Evolution of Sole: From CBD Tinctures to Microdose Gummies and Beyond

Over the years, Sole has significantly expanded its product line based on community feedback and market demand. Angie emphasizes the importance of flexibility and listening to customers, which led Sole to transition from CBD tinctures to microdose gummies, catering specifically to women and moms seeking relaxation without the intense high.

“We kept hearing from them, we want gummies... Soul hits both. It’s delicious. And you feel an immediate relief, an immediate sense of calm from anxiety.” (03:02)

This pivot proved highly successful, with their microdose THC products selling out on launch day, underscoring the potency of responsive product development.

4. Building a Loyal Customer Base: Community Engagement and Influencer Partnerships

A cornerstone of Sole's success has been its robust community engagement and strategic influencer partnerships. Angie details how they cultivated a loyal customer base through personalized interactions, incentivizing referrals, and nurturing relationships via direct messaging and testimonials.

“Every single customer is taken seriously. If someone tells me they like the product, I screenshot the response and ask if I can send free product in exchange for a video testimonial.” (05:04)

Collaborations with influential figures like Chalene Johnson and Blake have been pivotal. These co-collaborations not only expanded their reach but also enhanced brand credibility and engagement.

“Co-collabs were really powerful because they're more invested, they're excited, their names on it. There's a Rev share. I mean, that's amazing, right?” (28:24)

5. Challenges and Lessons Learned: The Importance of Focus and Profitability

Reflecting on Sole’s journey, Angie shares critical lessons learned, particularly the pitfalls of over-diversifying product lines. She advises focusing on core products that resonate deeply with the target audience rather than chasing multiple SKUs, which can dilute brand identity and strain resources.

“I would have not done as many SKUs and just come out with something because we thought it would be cool... Less is better.” (29:57)

Maintaining profitability while scaling is another significant challenge. Angie underscores the necessity of being cash flow positive, contrasting Sole’s financial health with other Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) brands that may prioritize growth over profitability.

“I'm really proud to say we're profitable... A lot of DTCs are not profitable, so they could not sell to anybody tomorrow.” (32:57)

6. DTC Marketing Strategies: Creator-Driven vs. Automated Ads

The discussion transitions to DTC marketing strategies, where Angie highlights the balance between founder-driven content and automated advertising. Initially relying heavily on community-driven sales, Sole later integrated paid marketing and influencer partnerships to scale effectively.

“A lot of our income's coming from ads that are some UGC bro that we hired... We have more optionality.” (13:23)

She emphasizes the value of user-generated content (UGC) and the strategic use of advertising to reach beyond the immediate community, ensuring sustained growth and brand visibility.

7. Diversification vs. Niching Down: Insights for New Entrepreneurs

Natalie and Angie delve into the strategic decision of diversifying product offerings versus niching down. Angie advocates for a focused approach, suggesting that mastering a specific market segment—such as anxiety and sleep—can lead to stronger brand recognition and customer loyalty.

“Simple but more powerful. If you have 10 different sticks, you should start with one or two and go all in on those.” (33:12)

Conversely, Angie acknowledges the potential benefits of diversification for established brands but cautions against spreading resources too thin, which can compromise quality and brand identity.

8. Future Plans and Closing Thoughts

Looking ahead, Angie discusses Sole's expansion into ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages and continues to prioritize customer-centric innovation. She also offers advice to fellow entrepreneurs about the importance of patience, adaptability, and maintaining a clear vision.

“If you can hit one of those and or both, game over. Soul hits both. It’s delicious and you feel an immediate relief.” (03:02)

Natalie shares her own venture, Glossy, a skin routine supplement, drawing parallels with Sole’s journey and emphasizing the value of diversification within a strategic framework. Both leaders stress the importance of aligning business decisions with personal strengths and market demands.

Key Takeaways

• Flexibility is Crucial: Adapt product offerings based on customer feedback and market trends to stay relevant and meet evolving needs.

• Community Engagement Drives Growth: Building a loyal customer base through personalized interactions and strategic partnerships can significantly enhance brand credibility and reach.

• Focus on Profitability: Prioritize maintaining a positive cash flow and avoid over-diversifying to ensure long-term business sustainability.

• Balanced Marketing Strategies: Integrate both founder-driven content and automated advertising to maximize brand visibility and scalability.

• Strategic Diversification: While expanding product lines can open new revenue streams, maintaining focus on core products ensures stronger brand identity and customer loyalty.

Notable Quotes

• “Stay open and stay flexible. When Mike and I started, we thought we would be a CBD tincture line... now I am a microdose gummy brand.” (02:57)

• “If you can give people an immediate sense of satisfaction, I think that’s huge.” (05:04)

• “Simple but more powerful. If you have 10 different sticks, you should start with one or two and go all in on those.” (29:57)

• “I'm really proud to say we're profitable... A lot of DTCs are not profitable, so they could not sell to anybody tomorrow.” (32:57)

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This masterclass with Angie Lee offers a comprehensive roadmap for female entrepreneurs aiming to build and scale successful e-commerce brands. By sharing her journey, challenges, and strategies, Angie provides actionable insights that resonate with BossBabe’s mission to empower women in creating thriving businesses and fulfilling lives.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome back to the Boss Babe podcast. I am really excited about this episode because it is a masterclass in E. Com. I have known Angie Lee for a really long time. In fact, she's been on this podcast so many times. Angie and her brother Mike are the founders of Sole. Initially started as Soul cbd and have really grown into so many different product verticals and a company that I have used and loved since the absolute beginning. And in this episode, we dive into all the different things, all the levers they pulled to really get the business off the ground. And for me, selfishly, I loved it because, listen, I'm building a D2C and I know nothing about it. So I was asking all the questions for myself as well as for all of you who are really curious. And I'm just letting you know, you might also hear some toddler chit chat throughout this as Noemi was refusing to nap. And so she sat on my lap the whole episode. And it was really also a masterclass for me. And you know what? You can still do all the things. It might just look a little different. So with that, let's dive into the episode. How many years has it been since you've been on the podcast? Was it last in la?

[B]

Oh, my gosh. It's been a while. Mike and I. Mike and I in la. I. I didn't even think about that.

[A]

Wow, isn't that crazy? I think it was that when I was renting a wework studio and you.

[B]

Would do like 17 interviews a day.

[A]

I know, it was crazy.

[B]

And I remember thinking to myself, that girl, that girl's a machine.

[A]

I mean, I don't have that level of stamina. Now Tessa, who's in the office with us right now, she would not even believe I used to do as many interviews a day as I like. She books two or three, and I'm like, tessa, I'm so tired. I don't have time for that.

[B]

Two is. Two is great for me. I like two. That's my max. I think anything beyond that, you're going to start to get a little bit of brain fog. But, yeah, that's when Soul was kind of at its beginning more so in la and Mike and I were going on shows and we just had tinctures, I think, at the time. And we're like fire CBD tinctures, gummies.

[A]

And yeah, you had the flavored tinctures, you had the pet tincture. I used to do six interviews a day, and I would do two days back to back. So I would do 12 I would get 12. So tell me a little bit about. Let's say that was five years ago.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Maybe four. Tell me where Saul is today.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

And how it's grown and evolved. Cause I need to learn everything I can from you for Glossy.

[B]

Well, listen, and we'll have to do one, we should bring Mike on because he is a lot of the brains of soul. As the CEO, I've been more of the creative, the community product ideation. That's more of my genius. But it's crazy what happened when we did a few of the things we said we would never do. So one of my pieces of advice is stay open and stay flexible. When Mike and I started, we thought we would be a CBD tincture line. Here I am sitting with you today, five, six years later, and I am now a microdose gummy brand. What the frick? I'm saying frick because Natalie's daughter's right here.

[A]

Yeah, listen, I'm currently sitting with Noemi on my lap cuz she woke from a nap.

[B]

I'll keep it PG13. What the cheese balls. And it's kind of cool because it means that your physical product brand, it's going to innovate just like anything. How it starts may not be how it evolves. And we've always put our customers first, we've always put the community first. And we listen to our community intensely. We send out emails, we survey a lot. And we kept hearing from them, we want gummies, okay? They want the modality of it to be delicious. They want it to be an enjoyable experience. And something that you guys are doing really well with Glossy as well is people want to take supplements that give them the direct feeling of this makes me feel good or taste good. So if you can hit one of those and or both, game over. Soul hits both. It's delicious. And you feel an immediate relief, an immediate sense of calm from anxiety. Glossy, you're gonna feel that it tastes amazing. And for some people, maybe immediately they do notice their gut is feeling better, skin glowing. I mean, I wish it was that quick ding while you're drinking it. That can take a little bit of time. But that's a secret in the DTC space. If you can give people an immediate sense of satisfaction, I think that's huge. That's just how humans are, you know, like with anything when it comes to sales. And so we started with tinctures and then it's evolved into gummies. And now recently, in the last year, we are in now the microdose THC space because so many women, especially moms, have said we want something a little bit more, but we don't want to be super high. And so we delivered and I was a little nervous. I'm not going to lie. I told my brother, I don't know if anybody is going to get, if anybody's going to buy this. And then launch day, we sold out and we literally had to make more of it because we could not keep the product on the shelves. It was insane. It was such a blessing. And now we're riding that wave and we're coming out with. I'll share it with, with your community. We're coming out with RTD drinks, ready to drink cans, which is crazy because I'm like, I thought I was a CBD tincture brand, what's happening? But I'm just riding the wave and I'm trusting Mike and I'm trusting the team and I'm allowing it to be what it's going to be now in order for what helps people and obviously is financially good decisions as well. So here we are.

[A]

It's amazing to see. I mean, I am the biggest fan of out of Office and I'm not like a weed person.

[B]

Neither am I.

[A]

Which is so interesting. I mean, I've always been a big fan of soul. You know, I even, even taking the CBD tinctures back in the day would always give me more deep sleep. I always tracked it, but the. Yeah, since I become a mom that gummy on a nighttime, it just feels like a glass of wine. But I sleep so well and I don't wake up groggy. So I love, love, love that you're doing it. It's incredible. I'm curious because one thing you guys have always been so good at is listening to your community and it's a very community driven brand. But in the beginning, what did you do to get those raving fans, those people that would talk about it and buy it?

[B]

Yeah, I feel like the beginning, the first one to two years is just getting the product solidified, finding the manufacturer. It's. It's almost like the messy, not as fun stage. I feel like where it really started to get fun was year three, year four, when we started to have the money to pay influencers and go to events and do these things. In the beginning, it honestly was no different than what you guys are doing with Glosi in that I had an audience, thank goodness. I had the podcast, I was doing events and I shared it with my audience and I, we had a Product that then they became a super fan. So then they organically told their friends because they felt so good. And we created a lot of incentive programs as well. Whether it was discounts on the next order, if they told their friend. We created a lot of different groups, whether it was in person events or we had Facebook groups at the time, which I think Facebook groups are still cool. I don't know. I miss them. I miss Facebook groups. They were great. I love Facebook groups. We would do Facebook groups. I still to this day call me a psychopath, but. And once I have children, I might not have time for this, but I will outsource and get someone to help. I respond back to on my personal page, not on the sole account. We have a girl on our team who we hired to do this. I have made it very clear to my team that I'm going to respond back to every single DM about Sol right now. If you're listening to this episode and you DM me any question, it could be a stupid question. How you know, it could be anything. I'm gonna respond to you. I'm gonna hear, did you like the flavor? What did you like? How does it make you feel? When somebody tells me they like the product, I screenshot the response. I ask them, if I send you free product, will you make me a video testimonial? I take every single customer so seriously, still to this day, I'll go into the solon sometimes, see how she's doing. I'll voice people back. Hey, Carol, what's up? Oh, my gosh. So cool. You had the best sleep of your life. Hey, would you be open to making a quick video testimonial of that, or will you go to our website and put a review? If you do, I'll send you a free sleepy gummy. So I sent her a free product. She goes onto the website, leaves a review, and now we have over 10,000 reviews on all of the products on our website, because every single tag and every single person who has said they like it. I'm one of the founders, literally writing them. Now, this takes time, but I've been pretty obsessed with responding to them. And I'm also obsessed with figuring out why people are taking something. Still, to this day, I love to know what. What are you feeling? What do you like about it? Because I feel like you have this gift as well. Where I know you have this gift. I like to reverse engineer that and then use that in copy. I want to know if you said that this makes you sleep really well, but you don't wake up feeling groggy. Awesome. Pull that. We're going to use that for an ad. Taking the exact language of your consumer and reverse engineering it and being open minded that sometimes. And this will be interesting too with glossy is and I was telling Lori this, your co founder, I, it's going to be interesting. It's either going to be more of the gut health space or it's going to grow in beauty. And I, I told her, I said be open to whatever it might end up blowing up in beauty. And your intention was initially that it was gut. But that's what people want, that's what they love. So you got to ride the beauty train then. And it's almost like I've had to stay open to that too. Where you know, we were originally a sleep brand. That's where most of our sales were coming from. And now it's, I would say majority of people are taken out of office for anxiety. So I would say I own an anxiety company in a sense. Right. So we were sleeping anxiety and pain for sure. But then sleep really blew up especially cause we had a lot of really cool collaborations with women like Chalene Johnson who promoted Sleepy. But now it's really ebbed and flowed. And I would say the number one pain point we solve is anxiety and stress. So it's just interesting. You gotta stay flexible but also determined and know what you're doing. But at the end of the day, if people are happy and getting results and it's making money, that's, that's what I want. So people are loving it.

[A]

I think that's such good advice to me too. Because obviously having a company like Boss Babe, you know, we haven't really changed our product offerings much at all the whole time we've been in business. But we can listen and iterate so fast within a day. The product is different to be responsive to what people want. Whereas with a product based business like you don't just develop and launch new product in a day. You have to be so thoughtful of product development and what are we going to put out there? And so it's amazing to see that you guys have pivoted.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And not fully away from what you were, but you have pivoted, you've listened to the market and when the customers are telling you that's what they want, even if you're like wait, really? Is that you're going with it and that's. How many years in are you? 7.

[B]

7. Honestly, 8. We had the original idea on a walk. So Gosh, yeah. Seven to eight years. It's been, I would say seven since the very first order. I can remember the day we pressed Go Live on Shopify and the first order came through. So I guess that's day one in a sense. But what most people don't see is there's a whole year or two before that where getting the llc, working with lawyers to make sure legally everything is set, getting the website up. We didn't even know what E commerce really was. We had to Google it, we had to call people. We hired some guy who was a few years ahead of us in the cannabis space and we said, can we hire you for 60 minutes? And he told us everything and he was so nice about it. And so, you know, that's a lot of times what you have to do is get on the phone with somebody who is a few steps ahead of you and say, I will pay you. It was so worth it. We didn't have money yet from Seoul, but I said, this is worth a few thousand dollars so he will help us to not make the mistakes that we might go make. And yeah, my brother was a boxer. I was doing speaking and group programs and coaching. I took all of that coaching money and put it into Seoul, almost all of it. Like, I made a huge chunk from coaching and programs. And I said, all right, I'm going to take a huge chunk of this, put it into soul. So thank God I made a lot of money from coaching because that was really what funded this. And I said to myself, I'm either not going to see that money ever again in my life or hopefully I'll make it back one day. And so it's not like we had experience in DTC or cannabis. So I just want people to know you don't have to have experience in that thing with Google Chat, GPT, especially now. Oh my gosh, you could ask that your freaking future and it will know. And hiring people who are ahead of you, you could figure out any business model now, right? Don't you really believe that?

[A]

Oh my God. I mean, I swear by ChatGPT, it's incredible how many years until it's fully took off.

[B]

About three and a half years in is when it started to get fun. And what I mean by that is we were in a place where we felt like money is really coming in. It's very profitable and we have some extra money as well to play with marketing, where the first two years I feel like you're just kind of in a. Is this worth it? Should we invest in that, oh, I don't know, you're just doing the dance to, to not be in the red. And it got really profitable around year three is when it started to get fun. But I can remember the day when. And I think women love these founder stories, so that's why I'm sharing this. I remember the day I was in my kitchen with Mike and I said, mike, I really want to have cute boxes. Can we have some cute boxes? He was like, angie, we don't have the money for that. What are you talking about? I was like, women really like cute boxes. They want the unboxing experience to be fun. He was like, one day we'll have boxes. Okay, we don't have the money right now. Mike's very logical money. I'm like, anything's possible. We can go to the moon. And it was so surreal. Years later when he called me, he's like, we're gonna design some boxes. And I was like, oh my God. Finally. I had to be so patient. So that's the only part that's not fun about physical products is it's not like a website for a course where you can make it as pretty as you want and fonts and colors and photo shoot and things like that. Sometimes you gotta wait till you have the money to really take it to the next level. If you're bootstrapping it and you're not taking a bunch of investors. We didn't wanna take a bunch of investors in the beginning, which I'm grateful we didn't do because now we obviously have more equity. But I guess if you do bring on a lot of investors in the beginning, then you could do anything you want and use that money, but now you have somebody else's money. So it's, it's, it's a dance.

[A]

I mean, I like hearing that though, because again, the kind of business I run with Boss Babe, it's one of those businesses I help people get started and make money in 12 weeks. Oh, with a digital product where I was hearing three and a half years, it is such a long term game. What I do really love about the D2C world is that you don't have to have your face attached to everything.

[B]

Oh, you like that?

[A]

I do like that. Do you not?

[B]

Well, I think you still do though, right? Because the founders brands are the ones that are growing. So I don't know if we're ever going to be able to not show our face.

[A]

But do you feel like the sales you make are always attached to like you having to show up and like be a dancing monkey.

[B]

Not anymore. No, that's what I would like. A lot of our, a lot of our income's coming from ads that are some UGC bro that we hired. I don't even see some of them anymore. And all of a sudden I'll be on Facebook and I'll see my own ad. I'm like, that's funny, what is this? And I'll see. We got a, we got sales from it. So. So in that case, no. So you have more optionality. But people love brands that have a face attached to it. So if there's some, if you can still batch content and or once in a while show your face. Think of some of your favorite DTC brands. It's cause you know her and you like her and you know that she is the original founder. Even if it's just on the website, the about page and you've got a cute video, I don't think it means you have to be on social 247 every day. But I think in order to stand out in the DTC space now it's a really clear niche product mixed with a really cool founder story that people really love. It's the humanization meets the niche pain point. I think that's the secret because if you just came out with things and there's no story at all, especially when it's a very female based thing. I mean who knows if some dudes made this end and they don't even really care about women, that, that kind of irks me a little bit in like the PMS space. I'll see people come out with certain products and it's founded by some dudes, which is fine. But I'm like, man, this wasn't even women that came out with this tampon or whatever it is. So same. Are you, are you, is it the fact that you are afraid that one day you're not going to want to show your face?

[A]

I think I just like to have the option like I don't see myself as being a 50 year old influencer. Do you know what I mean?

[B]

Like why not? You'll still be hot. It's fine. Get some Botox. You got this.

[A]

And I, and I, I look at you, Charlene.

[B]

Charlene's like 53 and she was literally, she crushed it for us. She literally is a huge part of how Sleepy blew up. And I always think about that. I'm like damn, she's in her 50s. But I get what you mean.

[A]

Yeah, I think I just go through phases where sometimes I'm like, I want to get off social media for a couple of months. I'm fed up. And then I love it again. So I think having the optionality, maybe.

[B]

It'S so interesting because I see it, it's so cool to have this conversation because I thought it was the opposite. To me, I'm like, oh, dtc, you got to show your face. You got to do founders videos all the time. I got to film with Mike next week, us showing the BTS in a brewery for the drinks. Like it's. But with a course, you could launch it. It's knowledge. And then without your face, you could keep running it. Right. Maybe they both need your face.

[A]

Both do. And we're both, you know what we're.

[B]

Doing, we're seeing normal.

[A]

We're seeing the grass is greener on the other side.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Which is really easy to do.

[B]

Yeah. Because to me, I'm like, oh, you don't have to deal with getting the shipping set up and the production and building a team and all that. You could really come up with an idea, pull it out of your butt, say, hey, ladies, you want to buy this thing? And have them buy it. But then you also don't have the optionality to possibly build something so much bigger than yourself, which then, yeah, you could sell one day for insane amount of money. And I do think in the beginning you want the founders videos and stuff, but then once you're rocking and rolling, once you guys have it to a place where it's so known who these founders are or people know it's two women, then, yeah, then you don't have to show your face every day. Once it's in Target and stuff, put like a little photo on the. On the front or the back and then you're done. Do a quick photo shoot. I don't think you don't want to be on it at all. I think you. I think you just want breaks from it. That's what I realized about myself whenever I go to the extremes.

[A]

I think you're totally right. I think it's like, I don't want it to be like I have to show up every single day. I want to have breaks from it.

[B]

Yeah. I think you're still so young. I think you're still going to have another 10 to 15 years of you wanting to show your face on stuff. I talk about this all the time with Clay. I'm like, what's a business model that I wouldn't have to show my face at all? He's like, I don't know real estate. But are you passionate about real estate? I'm like, not at all. He's like, cool. So who's going to run that? The Airbnb or who's going to do that? And Angie, to be honest with you, that's not going to make you as much as you being in your magic and doing what you do and being the personality. So have fun going to do a rental. But like, I fantasize about that all the time still. I'm like, ooh, should I go do real estate? Or like, I don't know, things that I wouldn't have to even be known for anything. But then I think I'd miss it. I think I'd miss sharing my thoughts.

[A]

And you may have heard that I recently co founded a brand new company, Glossy, which is a skin routine you can drink. And I wanted to tell you a little bit more about it. It is incredible. It's this powdered supplement that you drink at least once a day. I'm personally a morning and afternoon kind of person and it is so good for your skin and your gut. One of the ingredients that I want to call out is probiotic D111. So it helps maintain a healthy gut microbiome. It supports digestion and skin barrier function. It's also really good for helping to reduce any discomfort in your stomach and bloating. I swear by Glossy, that's just one of the key ingredients. We also have vitamin, vitamin C, magnesium, hyaluronic acid, coconut water powder, sea salt, zinc. It really comes from all angles to support you inside out. I love it. In a morning, I drop in and hydrogen tablet just to really boost things. And then in the afternoon, I normally add some B vitamins. It makes me feel absolutely amazing and I really feel the difference in my gut. Specifically, I'm more regular, I'm less bloated. I just really feel a difference. So if you're Interested, go to getglosy.com that's G L O C I.com and use the code boss babe and you'll get a huge discount off your order. Yeah, I would miss it. I think what I like is the idea of diversifying. Like, I just want to feel like I'm diversified, you know? One thing I think when you have a personal brand, there's always that worry of like, what if I get canceled? Or what if this. So it's nice to feel like I'm diversified. It feels a bit safer as an entrepreneur, which I think all entrepreneurs need that feeling of.

[B]

Yeah, I was gonna say that's something that I think is really smart is you have what I call quick cash and then long term cash. You have things right now that make you money that are fairly quick and easy and automated. Now you have boss babe down to a science courses. You can launch a course on anything right now, next week. And people would be like, yay, let's go, let's buy it. You have some cash, you have, you've got some liquid and then you've got things like glossier other things that you might not see the big money from this until maybe you're 40 or in your late 30s. Cool. But you're just, you're just constantly dancing with that. And that's the way I'm trying to see it now is okay, I have the fun things that make me quick money now and then I have the long term of, of the sole payout. It's kind of like maybe events, courses, speaking and podcasting. Pay me now. But then that could end up paying me way more than anything ever would. But I gotta wait and be patient. I don't know, it's interesting. I don't think there's any one perfect way to do it, but I think it is smart if you can have short term money that's liquid in case an emergency and you need some liquid or and then you have long term investments. But I feel like you're so good at that. You already have that set up.

[A]

Yeah. That's definitely the way that I've tried to frame kind of my business portfolio is let me have something that makes me money that I don't intend to exit. Then let me have a few things where I'm really investing and then maybe there'll be a payoff. Long run. But it's diversified.

[B]

Yeah. Does the, the thought of the stress of building a team and ads and that part of DTC stress you out or. No. I mean, you're more back end operational than my brain is, so I'm wondering if you see that as a stress or. No. I think all creative. I think of the idea for the ads, the girls you would hire for the shoots, the funny taglines, the colors, the fonts. I'm so creative. I don't think at all about the analytics of the ad or anything. That's the part to me that feels stressful, but to somebody else it'd be the opposite.

[A]

I don't feel stressed about it, but I think it's definitely a different mindset. It's just, okay, let me have a long term mindset in this and let me find where I would be best used in this business because I. I really want to be the support of co founder. You know, Lori is the one that came up with the idea and she is majority owner. And I want to be as supportive as possible and think about, okay, what is my zone of genius and how do I bring that? And so I'm finding my feet in it and just, I'm really in a place of like, trying to learn everything I can about this kind of business.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because for me, like, I love to master something, so I'm like, okay, what's the thing in this business that I'm gonna master? Like, I know in my business what it is. What's it gonna be in this one?

[B]

Ah, interesting. Yeah. I think you're thinking about it really smart because this is such a great way to do it now, where you have somebody else who's majority, but you get to sprinkle in your zone of genius, which I feel like. What do you feel like your genius is with it? I think it's probably more the systems and the operations of it. Right. But you're also very creative too, though.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You understand creative and marketing for sure.

[A]

Yeah. I love the content side. So social media, I love thinking about concepts that would go viral.

[B]

I'm laughing because we both were like, social media is the worst. I can't wait till we're both not on it. We both love social and content. We love it and we hate it.

[A]

I like thinking that way. But I do think eventually what I would love to do is be more. I was telling Lori, part of me really wants to build a bit of a content house where I can come up with all the content direction. But also Lori can step in and do some of the, like, Face off content, but I can, like, really help it blow up and put the virality behind it. That would be exciting for me. Funnels, like, I just love that with the business and product development.

[B]

You love funnels. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, I love funnels. So I think that's.

[B]

I love.

[A]

I love funnels. I think there's just a lot of different places I can go in it. But I'm also trying not to rush and just learn as much as I can and see where. Okay, what has Lori got covered? Where can I step in and be supportive?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm curious, from your marketing creative genius brain, do you feel like the product is niche enough?

[B]

Glossy?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's so funny because I was just talking to Lori about this last night. I do think it is But I think there's going to be a splinter moment possibly right. Because I think of peak, peak wellness. I guess I've, I've drink, I've drink their. I, I've had their electrolyte a few times. It's good. I think your branding's a lot better. I don't know the full ingredients are that are in there. I've just had it a few times. But it will be interesting because you've got the gut wellness side that I feel is either going to be for the. I call advanced wellness girlies as girlies who already are little.

[A]

The biohackers.

[B]

Little biohackers who know about gut health and we know about gut permeability and I know about coconut water and hydration and I'm like, ooh, adding this to my routine. Or it's going to be the Sephora beauty clear skin route and you guys are going to do a bunch of partnerships with clear Stem and you're going to try to get into the Sephora's and the beauty stores and then you have Guashaws in your packaging. Like you're going to go all in on skin. I almost think there will be a moment where you're going to see where the traffic and where the attention is going. You're going have to make a decision. I could tell you probably want more of the gut and then she probably would go more skin. Right. The beauty, which is so interesting. I don't think there's one right or wrong. But I do wonder if the gut space, it's a different customer. It's a customer that already knows that gut health is important versus skin. You don't have to do the education to convince Sarah in Iowa that she needs to have this because she wants clear skin. It's a very. We're humans, we buy things that will give us an immediate result. And with gut, it's a little bit more of long term and. Or a girl who knows. But now people are a little savvier though with gut health and knowing that if your gut's healthy, your brain's healthy. So you guys could go really hardcore on the gut brain connection with anxiety, depression. I mean, gut health is linked to so many different things. But I wonder if I'm saying that because I already am a wellness girly who knows how important gut health is. It's everything.

[A]

I think so because I, I do feel the same way. I don't think I'm attached to which way it's going to go. And even if it goes the Skin way. I feel like I'll be happy because whether they know it or not, they are building up amazing gut health and long term.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, if they stop taking it, they're going to notice, oh, wait, it's a difference.

[B]

And think of your skin.

[A]

Totally.

[B]

What makes good skin is somebody having a good gut. Your skin starts from within, literally, which is so cheesy. And I don't know if women really understand that, but when people are really struggling with acne or skin issues, it's. It's first time to clean up their diet. That's step one. So it is interesting because you need both. The gut helps the skin, and then the gut stuff is going to be good for other stuff. If you go hardcore skin, you're kind of hitting the pleasure point of just what the customer wants and then you're showing them what they need. I mean, you know this with niche and marketing, I've always said give them what they want and then show them what they need. So that could be the positioning is if you're all beauty and then you're like, oh. Also the benefits are you're good. But yeah, is that one of your. I don't say concerns, but is that something you've been noodling on? Is, ooh, is this niche enough?

[A]

Yeah, I mean, I think just my brain always goes to like, long term. I'm like, okay, just where are we positioned? What kind of community are we building? And we've had such a great year for. Given it's, you know, our first year, it's been absolutely incredible. And so now I'm, I'm trying to. I know the data is very biased because Lori and I both have communities.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so I'm, I'm like, okay, at what point does this grow beyond our communities? And we get the data of like, here's why we're buying it, here's what we want. So I'm very much trying to be in the space of, like, I know nothing. Let's see where it goes.

[B]

A B testing is gonna be huge. Right. Once it. You guys leave your community, once it goes beyond your community. Cause there was a day where I could tell where I tapped out of my community in a sense. And Mike was like, hey, we're playing a different game now. Now it's ads, now it's paid marketing. Now it's big partnerships. This isn't just you and your community. That's great. And all that got us to our first million. But now we're playing another game. And I remember being Kind of sad and frustrated. Cause I'm like, no, I want to take us to. He's like, any influencer, you're just gonna kind of hit a point. So now to get to the next level, we had to bring in ads. We had to bring in a chief marketing officer who could really figure out the positioning of that. And I do think that, yeah, it's gonna be interesting. I feel like there'll be a moment where you'll have to kind of either decide or you'll do AB testing on ads, and you'll see, wow. The ones about skin get women to click like, damn, the conversion on those is so much higher than when we talk about gut health. Or maybe it's completely the opposite. It also depends what partnerships you do, right? Like, if you go partner with Mark Hyman and you guys are going into the biohacking space and you're talking a lot about gut health and gut permeability. Gut brain connection. You're getting kind of, like, nerdy sciency healthy. I think it's gonna go that way. Like how so visual I am with.

[A]

I love it.

[B]

I'm like, seeing the charts.

[A]

The visionary.

[B]

Yeah. I love. I love, like, feeling it and seeing it. But if you go more so. I don't want to say the shallow, because it's not shallow. I like skincare stuff all day long, too.

[A]

More topical.

[B]

More literally topical of like, ladies, are you sick of dealing with breakouts and blah, blah? We're here to tell you that it's not just what you're putting on your skin. It's what you're putting in your body. Not only food, but the hydration and how important hydration is for wrinkles. Like, honestly, the season I'm in life, I probably am thinking more about the skin, I guess, too, because I'm like, oh, I noticed my fine lines are better when I'm hydrated, so. Oh, you could go two different ways here, but I don't know. But is it any different than with Soul? You know, it was. We are. We are. Anxiety, sleep, pain. CBD can do so many different things. So we started to feel like, what do we do? Put on our website. It can basically help with everything. That's not good marketing. So even now, today, if you guys notice, on my stories or in my own content, with Soul, I always pick one thing. I'm like, I'm talking a ton about sleep right now. Or I'm talking a lot about anxiety. Or I'll say, this helps with my pms. I'll never just say, hey, Guys, CBD helps with anything. So you guys should click here, because then they're like, dude, what? What do you mean? This magical plant does a lot of things. It does. Yeah. But I can't say that to someone. They're going to feel so overwhelmed and not really believe me. So at least yours actually is more specific than the cannabis plant.

[A]

That's such a good call, actually. Just, like, pick the one thing you're talking about.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Another question I have.

[B]

I'm just like, well, I love nerding out on this.

[A]

While I've got you, let me just learn everything I can from you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What partnerships. Really important.

[B]

Yeah. I would say the partnerships where we did big collabs. So an example is. And I love her, and I'll always love her, is Chalene Johnson. We did a sleepy collab with her. So she was talking a lot about sleep Sleep with her audience. And she had already been doing a lot of podcast episodes about sleep. And so instead of just paying her to promote it, we realized it would be smarter to give her rev Share. So we gave her a rev share of sleepy for a very long time, and we put her name on it. So co collabs were really powerful. We found those to be really, really good. Um, we have another girl named Blake right now with an awesome audience. So we did a co collab product with her for the droppers for out of Office. Cause she came to us and said, hey, I don't just want to talk about soul in general. I am obsessed with Ooh, Droppers for my mocktails, because I talk a lot about being sober and using this as an alternative as a mom to alcohol. So she came to us and said, can we do an actual co collab product? But she had first proved to us she can get us the numbers and traffic, and she has a great, engaged audience. A girl named Blake on Instagram, she's really cool. And so she had proven to us that she already did well as an affiliate. So we were like, all right, let's go. Let's. Let's see how this does. And that blew up and did really, really well for out of Office. So I have noticed that co collabs do really, really well because they're more invested, they're excited, their names on it. There's a Rev share. I mean, that's amazing, right? I love it.

[A]

Well, thanks for giving me a mini masterclass. If you.

[B]

Thanks for the mini masterclass.

[A]

If you could go back and do one thing differently in this journey, what would it be? Oh, maybe that would helped you have save a ton of money or headache or maybe you would have moved a little bit faster. Is there anything you've learned that you're like, hindsight is 20 20.

[B]

That's such a good question. I would have not done as many SKUs and I'm saying this because I know Mike would echo this right now as well. I would have not done as many SKUs and just come out with something because we thought it would be cool or the next thing because of the pressure of being in the DTC space where people need to come out with a new thing just to keep people excited. I would have doubled down triple on what was already working. There's billions literally with a B of people who need help with anxiety and sleep. We could have a billion dollar brand with just anxiety and sleep. Because think of the goalie gummies. Those goalie gummies are these apple cider vinegar gummies. It's one friggin skew. And I think they sold for 1 billion. Like it's absolutely insane. Absolutely insane. Like their story is crazy. And it's one product and it's one skew and it's these little processed gummies with some food coloring and apple cider vinegar. But apple cider vinegar is so good for you in your gut or whatever, right? So I remember there were some times where I felt like we would get excited and come out with something. We came out with like a metabolism thing then. And I said, mike, no, we're, we're not a metabolism fat loss company. I don't want to talk about fat loss with women. That's not my passion. That's not where I want to go with this. Less is better. And I just looking back and after we've talked to some people in DTC as well, they've always said simple but more powerful. Which you're already so good at in so many ways with business. I think like if you guys had 10 different sticks you came out with, I think it's better to start with one or two like and just go all in on those. You're known for this thing. This is what women are coming to your site for versus trying to do them all overnight. And then now you guys are in, I don't know, it can get a little hectic. Like now you're in fat loss, now you're in, you're in so many different niches where you first need to master one. So I do think that that wasted us some time and money for sure. A little bit when we would get off track with that. But yeah, and I think there's even more partnerships. I would have been, you know, I'm a little bit more liberal with money. I would have put it more into marketing where Mike would be a little bit more risk averse. So maybe that was good that he did. But he was a little bit more like, let's really make sure it'd be worth it before we invest. And I was like, let's spend all of our money. Let's spend money to make money. And he was a little bit more like, yes. And that's also how companies go bankrupt. We need to be smart about this. We cannot, we need to stay profitable. And I'm really proud to say we're, we're profitable. There's a lot of DTCs that are very big, but they are not profitable. So they could not sell to anybody tomorrow because I mean, they could sell, but they're not profitable. And so we are, we're cash flow positive. So that's a great thing.

[A]

That's such an achievement with a product based company.

[B]

Yeah, it's hard because you want to spend every dollar. And I know a lot of companies, some really big ones that you know and that we, we drink every day and take. And I know some of the founders and man, they are. People would think that it's awesome. But I'm like, dude, they're so in the red though. So it's like, shit. The amount that they're spending on all their marketing, it's so behind what they're making. So they have to clean that up before somebody would come in and buy it. Because they're gonna be like, dude, you gotta make this at least somewhat profitable for us. So I don't know and I don't know a ton about that game yet. I'm gonna cross that bridge when we get there. Mike knows more about the buying game. But that's, that's a whole nother season of life. And not as easy as I think people think either is setting up all of your paperwork to look good in order to be sold. So yeah, it's a whole thing.

[A]

But it's so interesting because that advice, what you would have given yourself, I would say the same thing about Boss Babe too. And really I think all founders need to hear that simpler is better and more powerful. But when we're creative, we just want to keep creating and newness and new things and more things because we're bored.

[B]

Yeah, but our business doesn't. Is a great business. Should be. And I think I've Learned this from you, Honestly, over the time. I think about you a lot. When I think this. It's my business is not there to just entertain me. Entertain me every week. Oh, new idea. Now I'm going to come out with a women's blah, blah, blah, this course. And, ooh, now I'm going to come out with a fat loss course. Now I'm going to come out with a intuitive, like, random. I could just pull out of my butt and I'm sure girls would buy it because they like me. But then what am I doing now? And it's so convoluted. Is that what you mean? Like, you would launch courses that were random and now you're like, let me just pick one to two things and go all in on that. So I'm known as the woman who does this.

[A]

I just think there was times where I just. I felt like I needed to create products for the whole ascension ladder and, like, value ladder and all the things that we get taught where actually I'm like, you know what? My most success has come from being focused. Yeah. And I would just double down. I mean, now we have two products and we just double down at boss babe.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I'm trying to take that into glossy. And Lori feels the exact same way as, like, we have a really great product. Let's give it the time that it deserves to get it out there.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. I love hearing that because I think a lot of women get.

[A]

What is it, like, antsy.

[B]

They want you, like, they see something glittery or you scroll and you see, oh, this girl's launching a blah, blah, blah, like, now I should do that. And that's what happens when you get a personal brand because we both have women who trust us. So tomorrow, if I wanted to come out with a. A relationship course or a build your booty course, I mean, I probably could sell some because they're like, oh, she's into fitness, whatever. But it would just. Is it worth it? When it actually would be more attractive and less stress for me to say, no, I want to be known for this thing. And so that's the next season. I'm in, actually with my own brand now. I'm like, okay, what is the. The thing that I want to. I want to do less better Now I actually don't want to just be a generic lifestyle influencer. I think that sounds cute, but I think it's actually more stressful because now you got to show all of your day, every day, and what I eat and also, oh, my relationship and oh, my marriage is going well. Oh, and I'm fit. Oh, and I make money and what the. That is so exhausting. And I assume once I have a kid, I'm not gonna have time to just be showing when I poop what I eat and showing all that all the time. So I think I want to build it in a way where I have one to two core messages. Wellness, entrepreneurship, that's it. I probably won't get into the other spaces unless for some reason down the road I want all of a sudden come with a relationship course or something. But right now it's like I don't want to be known for eight different things if I can't even keep up with that. So I've had that clarity a lot lately. I've been really thinking about that. I'm trying to take my own medicine around. Why would you want to be a generic lifestyle influencer? Those girls are vlogging all day long every second of their life. Sometimes they're broke, they're not making money, and two, they're exhausted. Usually they'll tell you, I don't know what I'm even doing. This is too much. I have to show everything to make a little bit of something from a brand. I just, I don't know, but I get that in my dms. All day long, girls. I just want to be a generic lifestyle influencer. I just want to share my life all day.

[A]

Yeah, okay.

[B]

So does you and every other 20 year old girl in LA. What do you bring? What value is that bringing me though? Give me something. At least pick something. I don't want to niche down though. Okay, well, like, give me something. Is your page somewhat about wellness? Is it somewhat about mindset? What? Give me something.

[A]

I think I. I just always think business first. Think about your business first because otherwise you cannot do this thing full time.

[B]

Oh, you think about your offer first. You may work backwards.

[A]

Think about how you're going to monetize this. Because if you. Even if you want to be a content creator, an influencer, whatever, to do it at a high standard, you have to do it full time. So how are you getting paid? We have to think about it that way.

[B]

Yeah. For girls who just want to record videos all day. Okay. Where are those videos going? Yeah, totally. Yeah.

[A]

Well, thank you for coming on.

[B]

There's any time.

[A]

This was great. Anytime. I get to pick your brain is.

[B]

Such a thing Always, literally. You could just text me in the middle of the night. Can I pick your brain?

[A]

I love it. Where can everyone find you? And tell us where they can grab out of office because it is the best thing they'll ever do for their sleep.

[B]

All right everybody go drink your glossy and then take an out of office gummy. They taste very yummy together. You can grab it look me like product placement.

[A]

Love it.

[B]

You can get [e-mail] so getsol.com or come send me a DM at Angie Le show or at Git Soul. Ask me any questions you have on our products and I'm here to help.

[A]

Perfect. And we'll put our discount code in the show notes as as well cuz think you get 20% off.

[B]

Awesome. Love you guys. Bye.

[A]

Wait wait wait. Before you go, I would love to send you my 7 figure CEO operating system completely free as a gift. All you've got to do is leave us a review on this podcast because it really supports the growth of this show. This is my digital masterclass where I'll show you what my freedom based daily, weekly and monthly schedule looks like as an eight figure CEO mama and high performer. And I'll walk you through step by step how to create this for yourself. It includes a full video training from me and a plug and play spreadsheet to literally create your own operating system. It's one of our best trainings and it's worth $1,997. But I will unlock access for you for free when you leave us a review. I know, wild right? All you have to do is leave your review on the podcast, take a screenshot of it and then head over to bossbab.comreview to upload it and then you'll get instant access to the seven figure CEO operating system. Again, head over to bossbab.com SL review to upload your screenshot and get access. We are so so grateful for all of your support and can't wait to hear how the podcast has supported.