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- [00:00]
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Today's episode is brought to you by Quince. When it comes to holiday gifting, I want to give people things they really love. Beautiful, timeless pieces they're they'll wear for years. That's why I'm going with quince. From Mongolian cashmere sweaters to Italian wool coats, everything is premium quality at a price that actually makes sense. I actually got my mom a basic white tee from Quince to layer under sweaters. And she's gonna love it. She's gonna wear it every day. And it cost me $20. Quince has something for everyone. Soft Mongolian cashmere sweaters for 50 do that look and feel like designer pieces. Silk tops and skirts for dressing up, perfectly cut denim for everyday wear and outerwear that actually keeps you warm. Their Italian wool coats are standout pieces. Beautifully tailored, soft to touch and crafted to last for seasons. I just got myself a chocolate brown one, of course, and I've worn it multiple times and it feels so quality and I can just tell it's going to last for years. And every piece is made with premium materials from ethical, trusted factories and price far below what other luxury brands charge. I can't get just the quality of the quince pieces. All of my quince pieces, and I have a lot of them have really stood the test of time. Have stood washes have. I wear them constantly. They seem like they are brand new. So fine. Gifts so good. You'll want to keep them with quince. Go to quince.com carpool for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q U I n c e.com Carpool to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com Carpool.
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Welcome to the carpool podcast with Kelly. And I got scammed. I got scammed and I basically paid for sugar water and I cried. I was so mad at myself. I was so embarrassed. I had. I mean, it was literally like I lit money on fire. And a lot of money. A lot of money. The money that Tyler gave me to start it. And Liz, your mom time off starts now. Welcome back to the carpool podcast with Kelly. Just Kelly today, you guys. My poor sister, my poor co host. She's sick as a dog. I talked to her this morning. She sounded horrible and I said, liz, go lay down, go rest. I can record a solo episode now. How many soul episodes have I done? I feel like it's been two or three. And I've always really gone into it, like with a topic, like a specific thing that I want to deep dive on. So that's kind of what I'm going to do today. I'm kind of going to break it up into two parts. The first part is I want to recap how my December's been going so far and what Christmas notes I have added to my list, because I think I have some really good ones so far. And then I want to give you guys a history lesson on the history of the karma. I feel like we have a lot of new listeners. I know I have a lot of new people following me on Instagram. And we haven't really done like a proper, you know, car mom at a glance, car mom history lesson. And we've been going on about five and a half years of running the car mom. A lot of highs, a couple of lows. And I just kind of wanted to give you the history, give you what I've learned, the mistakes that I've made. And hopefully it'll be a good conversation for anyone who's interested in social media, but also just, I don't know, anyone who feels like they're part of the journey. Because I really feel like the car mom is so much more than just me and it is this community. So that's my idea for today's episode. So let me get started. Well, here's the thing. And I'm also kind of, like, stressed today because it's my party. So I'm having a girls night tonight at my house. By the time this episode comes out, I will be two days post party. And it is, it's like a makeup themed rob your neighbor. I just like having a theme. So it's kind of like a favorite things party. But everyone brings like a beauty product, like your favorite beauty product. And I kind of elevate the night by, you know, kind of encouraging, like a little bit dressier of a dress code. Like this is. I mean, it's, you know, I was raised by Chris, so, you know, it's the holidays. This isn't like a pajama party. Everyone gets a little dolled up. And even though we're just coming to my house, I try to make it feel fancy. For example, we are drinking out of champagne flutes. Like, I for some reason, registered for so many champagne flutes when I got married. Like, what was I doing back then? I have no idea. So we drink out of real glasses. I make flatbread pizzas for everybody. No one brings anything I ask. That's not true. I ask a couple of girls to bring dessert because that's not my Specialty. But like, no one is not a potluck. Like, I just want to do this. So I make all these sassy flavors of flatbreads. I have wine, champagne, beer. I have some non alcoholic options too, of course. And it's just like a three hour get together at my house. Tyler takes the kids somewhere and I'm really looking forward to it tonight. So I'm gonna be doing some serious party prepping after this and I, I'm, I'm excited. And I've also loved, I've been seeing on the carpool Facebook page a lot of people hosting their own little get togethers and saying that like it was because of our podcast that we encourage them to host these get togethers and that warms so much. I cannot express the importance of hosting, of gathering with people. And I know it's so much work, but be the hostess. You don't even have to be the hostess with the most is just be a hostess. Set people's expectations up. That's one of my biggest hosting tips. If you're worried about how to, you know, extend the olive branch or how to host something, I would just be super transparent. In your invitation. In your invitation. So like, for example, I, I, I set out a proper invitation for this party so people kind of know it's supposed to be a little f, but you could also just say, hey, do you want to come over tonight? I'm going to make some flatbreads, bring the kids over, let's have a little holiday party. I've loved, loved, love seeing you guys get together. It's so important, especially in this time of like AI and social media. And I think it's so important for our kids to see two of us just gathering as friends, as community. So good job everybody for hosting. I'm so proud of you. And it's not too late to host. Get something on the calendar for the new year if you haven't planned a party yet. Okay, so back to my Christmas notes. Let me tell you so we're. It's December 15th at the time of this recording and I have been making just notes about how I can improve the Christmas season. I don't have a ton of like notes because I'm only. We haven't even had Christmas yet. But here are some of the high, here's some of the things I've done right and wrong so far. So first things, I made a huge mistake and I did not put my return address on my Christmas cards. So I don't know what I was thinking, but I Didn't do that. I also didn't spend enough time in my address book prior to printing my Christmas cards. I obviously I have to print my Christmas cards early because I always work with minted, which I love their Christmas cards. But like, I have to literally get my order in in like October. And I was kind of rushed this year. So I didn't just spend time in my address book. So I put a note on here to just before I order, spend 20 minutes reviewing my address book. Is there anyone I need to add? Is there anyone I know who's moved who want to like text them real quick and get their updated address? I didn't do that. I got some bounce backs. I like had addresses I didn't add. Then it was, it, it was a mess. I, I definitely flopped that. So I put spend some time in the address book and then also make sure you put your return address on there. That was silly. Okay. Another thing that I did this year, kind of accidentally, but it's worked out really well, is I bought Fred a red long sleeve Gap pocket tee. I got it at like a resale shop or something. And I just put my note in here to make sure I get the boys plain red shirts or plain green shirts that are, that are nice enough that they could like wear it to a casual holiday gathering, like maybe even church. Like a nice pocket tee, a nice Henley that's just a plain color. Because it's been very easy to like throw together with the girls outfits to keep everybody coordinated, but to have the boys in a just a solid color. So that was a very little thing I did. But I'm telling you, Fred has wore the snot out of this red nice long sleeve shirt because then it goes so easy. Like then I can put George in a plaid hat, in a pattern, living in something plain. And it just kind of all works really well. I also love coordinating my kids outfits, which I know is like me being crazy, but that just Gap T has helped a lot. So that's, that's a note that I wrote down. I also did write the note that I said I need to get all of the kids one fun festive shirt to wear. I, Fred and Libby both had things because they had leftover from George and Hattie. I just kind of like goofed, I guess, this year and didn't buy George and Hattie a festive holiday shirt. And there had been times when we were like going like, for example, this weekend we went to go make gingerbread houses at my aunt's house. And I would have loved to have put them in a Christmas shirt. And, like, George literally doesn't have a Christmas shirt. Like, I don't know what I was doing. So I wrote that down in my notes. I'm gonna review these notes, like, in November, and then I will know just to make sure I order every kid a Christmas shirt. Doesn't have to match, doesn't have to coordinate. This is just, like, a fun shirt for them. And so I thought that was an important note to make. And then the last thing I put on here is ham and cheese crescent rolls are great for quick filling dinners between events. So is chicken noodle soup. So I wrote this one down because we had a really busy, like, holiday weekend. We had a Christmas party on Friday, breakfast with Santa on Saturday, and then we had gingerbread making on Sunday. I mean, we were running, running, running, and my kids were eating so much freaking sugar. And, you know, then you come home and I feel like you're scrambling. You're, like, dying to get something nutritious in these children. Nutritious and filling in hot, preferably. And I had ham and cheese crescent rolls, which is literally just a crescent roll with ham and cheese rolled up into it. Like, that's all that it is. You just bake it till it looks done. I don't know. But it's such a good, filling meal. And it's hot, it has protein in it. The kids love it. So I just made a note to myself to just always have that on hand. Like, those are all things that can live in the fridge for a couple of weeks. And it's so easy to throw together for a lunch or an early dinner, especially on the weekends. And then I also wrote chicken noodle soup down now, kind of same sentiment. This is just like a really yummy vegetable full meal that is great for the kids after just basically, like, you know, having so much sugar cookies. So I also plan to make a big pot of chicken noodle soup for the week of Christmas. Stick it in the fridge, it's easy to heat up. I can have the ham and cheese crescent rolls if I want to, like, make it more of a meal. But just having those two things on hand. Homemade chicken noodle soup in the fridge for the week of Christmas and those three ingredients for the crescent rolls. You'll always have dinner. You'll always have a filling, semi healthy dinner. So that's another note that I wrote down. So I'm looking forward to the holiday season for Christmas season. I need to get to wrapping. I need to get to wrapping. But I'm very excited. The kids, the kids last week of school, they're off on Friday and oh, I'm. I'm doing a fun little game. If you need the last minute game. I'm doing candy cane fishing. So basically you get candy canes and you stick it in a cardboard box and then you get a stick and you tie another candy cane to it. And then the kids have to like, you tie the other candy cane to look like a hook and then you can fish for candy canes. So I went to five below. I got like the junkiest candy canes I could find. Like airhead flavor, Skittle flavor nerds flavor. Like disgusting, but good for the kids. And then I'm like, just took a literally a cardboard Amazon box, stuck them in there and then the kids can fish them out. So that's like my room mom game. Which it, it was pretty like low effort, but I feel like it's going to be a high impact. I'm hoping the kids like it. I'm bringing it to Hattie's class on Wednesday and then I do George's class on Friday. If I want to make it harder for George's class. I saw that instead of doing the stick, you could just like tie it around their waist and then they have to like bend down, like kind of like squat down to try to fish the candy cane. That kind of sounds weird, I don't know, but I might try that if I feel like it's too easy for Hattie's class or I feel like it'd be too easy for George's class. So that's a little bit about what my December's been up to. So we're busy as can be, but life is great. And those are just some of the holiday updates that I had.
- [12:25]
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Okay, so now I want to get into, I guess, just like the history of the car. Mom. And maybe some of you guys won't care about this, but I haven't covered this story in a long time. So here you go. I'm just gonna start from the beginning. So when I was pregnant with Hattie, I was working at the dealership, and I wasn't selling cars anymore because I couldn't do the hours with, truthfully, just daycare. And George was young because George and hattie are only 16 months apart. So George was a baby, basically. Still, I was newly pregnant with Hattie and I was doing, like, direct mail and BDC work at the dealership. So basically I was helping answer Internet leads and then I was sending out direct ma. So, like, we would, you know, it's called, like, mining for customers. I would, like, look up customers who bought a car three years ago. I'd pull their addresses, I'd put together a mailer, being like, hey, it's been three years. Do you want to come in and buy a new car? And I didn't really. I didn't love the work because I just didn't find it to be very fulfilling. I also really wasn't making. I wasn't making the money. I was when I was selling cars and our expenses were going up and up because then you have one kid in daycare. I'm working part time, and then I'm looking at the price of two kids in daycare, and I'm like, oh, my gosh. Like, this is not gonna pencil. And my mom was a stay at home mom, so I just kind of always assumed I would stay at home eventually. But once I started kind of facing that reality, I was a little less excited about it because I really did just love selling cars. And I remember just, like, being so sad that, like, I couldn't sell cars anymore. And I felt like it was something I was so good at, so passionate about but then, of course, I was also so passionate about being a mom. I always wanted to be a mom, and I always wanted to have a lot of K. So I remember just sitting with Tyler one evening, and I was really frustrated with myself because I feel like I just wasn't hacking. Hacking it. Like, I. I've just always been a very high. I guess you could say the word high achiever. Like, I was senior class president in high school. I was on the president's board in my college. I was hold. Held in an exec position in my sorority all four years in college. Like, I've just always done a lot. And now I was thinking about, like, okay, so now I'm gonna just stay home with the kids and not work and not do anything. And I know that there's anything wrong with that, but it was just feeling, like, such a juxtaposition from who I was. And it was mad because, like, I was good at it. Like, I was gonna leave a job I was good at because it didn't work with motherhood. And Tyler's always just been, like, the best husband. Like, seriously, he's. He is so supportive, and he's always encouraged me to. To treat the car mom like a business. So it was actually. The car was actually his idea, or he inspired the idea, because I was talking to him one night, and I was getting a little emotional, and I'm like, I just can't believe I can't figure it out. Like, I've just always been able to figure it out, and now I feel so lost. And Tyler goes, kelly, why don't you just focus on the moms? He's like, just try to sell cars to moms. Why don't you talk to your dad and see if you can, you know, work an untraditional sales role and. And just be the mom in St. Louis who sells cars. Like, sell to other moms, only work by appointment. And I was like, that's kind of a good idea. Like, I could just be the mom who sells cars. And I kind of had, like, these visions in my head. And really, as soon as he said the idea, I knew it was gonna be huge, which sounds so crazy, but it's almost like God just, like, kind of like, laid out the entire vision for the car mom. And I was like, tyler, that is an excellent idea, and that's exactly what I'm gonna do. I literally called Elizabeth that night, and I said, liz, I think I'm gonna start reviewing cars for moms on social media. Like, be up. Just post on Instagram, like, post the cars that are at the dealership. I'll sell some cars. I'll just become a YouTuber, like a car reviewer. And she was like, that's an amazing idea. So we both just, like, knew that it was a good idea, which. Which made it really fun. And people always ask me, like, did you ever think it would gonna. Was gonna blow up this big? And I. I hate to sound overly confident, but the answer is yes. Like, yes, I thought that it could be this big. And I think that it's actually one of the reasons why it got so big, because we treated it like a business from day one. Like, this was, you know, you could. I guess, like, I kind of. It kind of started off like, feeling like a passion project, but, like, we just all knew, me, Tyler and Liz, it was going to be more than that. So every move we made was to make it what it is today. Now, we didn' exactly how it was going to look, but we knew it was a good idea. So I kind of sat with the idea for, like, a day. But I'm not one to really sit with things. And I guess I thought, like, I was gonna have to do it on YouTube because, like, that's where the other car reviewers were. But I, at this point, like, Liz was working full time at another job, so she wasn't working for the car mom yet. She was just more, like, supporting me from the distance. She was living in Dallas at the time. And I was like, okay, well, all the other car viewers are on YouTube, so, like, I guess I just have to figure out how to be on YouTube. But YouTube was such. Felt like such an undertaking because it was so. It wasn't on the go. It was like, do I need a professional camera? Do I need an editing software? How do I monetize on YouTube? Like, I had no idea what I was doing. So I remember one night I was like, rocking George to sleep, scrolling Instagram. And I'm like, well, all the moms are on Instagram. Like, all the moms are doing exactly what I'm doing right now. Scrolling their phone on Instagram while rocking their baby. So I'm just gonna do. I'm just gonna do it where. Where my audience is, and that's on Instagram. So the very next day, I was at the dealership. I, for some reason, just knew I was going to call it the car mom. I secured the handle and then I went live. And I said, hi, I'm Kelly Suntrup Stumpy, and this is the car mom. I've been in the auto industry a couple of years and I'm going to start reviewing cars for moms. And that was it. And I just hit send and literally that was how the page started. I, like, made a logo on Canva. And then I started reviewing cars. And, you know, I was very. I think, like, one of my biggest privileges, I'll say, is I had a lot of resources. Like, I was a mom, obviously. I had sold cars for several years and I had access to five used car lots. Five car lots with a ton of used cars. If you don't know. My family owns car dealerships. I don't know if I said that earlier. So I, in a way, was like the boss's daughter. And, like, I could just like, roll into any dealership and be like, hey, I need the keys to that. You know, use Pacifica. You just got in. So I had such a wide net of cars that I could pull from, which I think has really helped, obviously, with my success, because the other car reviewers, it's very hard to get started car reviewing because you don't really. The manufacturers aren't going to send you cars until, like, you have an audience. And you don't really, like, get an audience until you have enough cars reviewed. And then even when you get cars from the manufacturers, I'm sure that those reviewers feel like they can't necessarily be as harsh as maybe they would like to be on some of the cars. I don't know. I'm just kind of speculating. But I do not rely on the manufacturers to get me cars. They send me cars, but if I never got another press car in my life, like, you guys wouldn't even notice because I can just access all of the dealerships cars. And my dad has always been so supportive and, you know, he's really. He's really never given me pushback. I think there's a level of, like, my dad just doesn't totally understand it. And my dad's also smart enough to know, like, what he needs to understand and what he doesn't need to understand. So he knows that I review cars really critically. And some of the. Some are cars that he owns. Like, some are brands of cars that he owns. But he's never one time asked me to tone it down or asked me to not do that. He doesn't really care, to be honest with you. So anyway, I say that where it's just. It was very easy for me to start doing a lot of cars and I had an old car seat, like an old, disgusting gray coat that was, like, expired. And I just started putting it in the car. And for lack of better words, I just kind of started talking out of my ass. Like, I really had no idea what I was talking about, especially in terms of the car seats. And I quickly got lit up like a Christmas tree on social media, which I was grateful for because I was wrong for what I was doing. And I was just saying, like, oh, this one doesn't fit a car seat seat. This one can't fit three across. And I was showing, like, three of the biggest car seats possible, like, I was being stupid. So once I realized how unequipped I was to talk about the car seats, I kind of dialed that back for a while, and I just started focusing on the cars and car buying tips. That really seemed to resonate well with my audience. And it was actually something that I was at the time, probably more passionate about because I didn't really know a ton about cars. As crazy as it sounds, when it got. When I got started, I, I, I had sold cars, but, like, I sold BMW. So, like, what did I know about the used Ford Explorer that was on the lot? Like, not much. I just kind of, like, showed it from a mom's perspective. Like, I just showed it, like, Like I was, I mean, a regular person, for lack of better words. But I also think that's kind of one of the reasons why my review started to resonate with people, because I didn't take it that seriously, and I wanted my reviews to be fun and engaging enough. And I remember kind of like the, the motto or the motto I came up with or like, the style of my content is, is I would tell people, I want to feel like, I'm your girlfriend, you're taking car shopping. Like, this is not that deep. Like, I'm just like, I wanted it to be like, I don't know, girl, trunk looks a little small. What do you think? And I was just trying to give people, like, a first look at a car. Oh, I should also mention this was, like, peak Covid. Like, I was doing this in June of 2020. So, like, it was, it was covety times. So people weren't really going to the dealerships or they didn't really feel comfortable doing it. So I was like, I'm just gonna show them the cars. Like, I can go to the dealership, I can grab the keys, and I can just show people what cars. So I started posting pretty consistently, very consistently every day. And I remember when I wanted to first start growing my social media, I would do a Lot of trolling. And here's what I mean by that. Any Facebook group I could find that would take my post, I would post it, and I would try to get sneaky with that. So, like, for example, I'd go to, like, peloton moms on a Facebook group and be like, hey, guys, like, admin, delete if not allowed. But I'm starting an Instagram about reviewing cars for moms. Like, what are your favorite mom features? And I would say it to ask a question rather than just say, go, follow me. Because if you said, go follow me, they would delete you. So I would ask a question, and then at the end, I'd be like, hey, by the way, I'm starting this account. Here it is. And that honestly, for what it was, that worked really, really well. Because I remember I would, like, post, like, on. I would try to post, like, two or three a day of, like, literally any Facebook group I could get my hands on. Like, you know, moms of May 2020 babies. I did it on, you know, my sorority page, my high school page, any page that would take my post. And I remember I would, like, go to bed, and every night I would log in the next morning, I'd be like, oh, my gosh, I got 15 new followers one time in one night when after posting on a Facebook group, I got like 300 followers. And I couldn't believe it. So that was one of the ways I tried to grow in the beginning. And then I would also. I would follow every. I'd follow so many accounts, so many car accounts, and then some of the big influencer accounts, and I would comment on every post. Hey, my name's. Hey, I'm Review Carson Robinson for families. Check out my page. And I was so grateful at that moment that I had made my handle the car mom because it said what I did. You know, if. If it just would have said, like, Kelly Stumpy, it wouldn't have been maybe as catching to people's eyes. But I'm so grateful I have the handle the car mom. And I have a story on that, that after. Because if I went on Mercedes post and said, hey, follow me for, you know, car tours for moms, I would literally do that for. I would do that for hours on my phone, just, like, comment on every single page. And I think that kind of helped me grow. And, you know, one of the biggest pieces of social media advice I give people is like, social media is social. So if you want to grow on social media, how about you start by being social? How about you start by making connections and commenting on other creators and not don't even comment to do promotions. Like, that was honestly kind of shady that I was doing that comment to engage. People will see the comments, and then now you can do, like, say something funny. Say or say something funny to the comment. Or add value because people read the comments more. I feel like, a lot more than they even used to anyway, so that helps me get a lot of followers too. So once this all started, I remember, like, again, I knew it was a good idea. So as soon as I had the idea, I was like, we got to get this thing trademarked. And I. You know, between the trademarking and then thinking about getting on YouTube and thinking about the cost of a microphone, like, I go back to Tyler, and I'm like, tyler, it's gonna be like, 1200 to get this thing trademarked. Like, the camera I won is like 800. Like, I just. We had no. We didn't have the money. I was like, I don't think we can. I just. I don't know. I just, like, feel like this isn't really gonna work, and this is so cute. But the next day, he came back and he handed me a debit card, and he had put $5,000 on it. And we, like, I didn't even know we had $5,000. And I really don't know where he got the money from, but he gave me the money, and he was like, I really believe in you, and I believe in this. And he's like, and I want you to. I want you to take it to the moon. So he opened up a bank account, handed me the debit card. I bought a camera for $895. I bought a mic for a hundred and something dollars. And I went to go get it trademarked, reached out to a trademark lawyer, and a couple weeks later, I got something in the mail that said, like, hey, send your. Send this $2,000 check here to get the car. I'm trademarked. And I was like, okay, perfect. It had my logo on it. It had my name on it. It had the classes we were filing for. I sent the check in. I don't hear anything. I reached out to my trademark lawyer, and they were like, what did you pay? And I got scammed. I got scammed. And I basically paid for sugar water. And I cried. I was so mad at myself. I was so embarrassed. I had. I mean, it was literally like I lit money on fire. And a lot of money. A lot of the money that Tyler gave me to start It. And I was so mad at myself and it was such an expensive lesson to learn. But I guess if you, I guess once your lawyers start trademarking something like that becomes public, and then they scammers will just send it to you in the mail. And I mean, scams are like so, like, scams are so out of control, like even more so today. But that was definitely a low. And I was like, shoot, like I messed up. Borrow the money from my dad to pay for the proper trademark. And yeah, that was, that was a crazy time. So anyway, now we start. So I'm still pregnant with Hattie during all of this. And I was still working at the dealership doing the car mom, like, like on my lunch break, like going out there and like trying to like find one, one car to make content with. And I had no idea how I was going to monetize it. So this was. So I started this in June. Hattie was due in October. And I said, I need to try to get 10,000 followers by October, because one you'd get. Because at 10,000 you used to get the swipe up, which like was everything back in 2020 on Instagram. And I was like, if I can get the swipe up, I can monetize. I can monetize if I can get the swipe up. So I was like, by the time Hattie's born, I need to be at 10,000 so I can quit my job. And I worked, worked honestly super hard. Like I spent a lot of time recording content, filming, filming content, editing content. I was still doing it all myself. Liz wasn't working for me yet. And when Hattie was born, I had 14, 000 followers. So I had made it thanks to like some small to medium sized accounts shouting me out. Like Amy Beth Campbell, she had like 8, 000 followers and she was car shopping and she was so generous with her shoutouts and like that helped a lot. And yeah, that was, that was crazy. So Hattie was born and I said, okay, I think I can do this, but like it's still going to take a lot of time. I still had no idea how I was really going to monetize it. But my first idea was to kind of come out with like a car buying workbook. Back in 2020 when I was doing this, like courses were all the rage. Like, everyone had a course. Everyone had a course. People were over coursing it. They had a course on how to have a course. They had a course on how to up in the morning. They had like everyone had A course. But I didn't feel like I had the bandwidth to record a course at the moment. So I said, I'm just going to do like a workbook, like a car shopping workbook. It will be a PDF download. And that came out in January. So I had worked on that from basically October to January, worked on this workbook and I was really proud of it. I feel like now looking back on wasn't anything that groundbreaking. But at the time, like, I really, I felt like I was like sharing all of my tips and it was just PDF downloads were also really a really cool thing back then. It's crazy how much it's changed just in like five years. So anyway, we decide to launch this workbook and in the first day we launch it, we sold like 800. And I was selling it for. Do we sell like 800? It was a lot. It was a couple hundred. I think it was like 800. And we sold it for $10. And I was like, oh my gosh. Oh my freaking gosh. I couldn't believe it. But that was January that launched. So from June to January, I didn't make a send. And that's what I tell people about social media when they, like, want to get started. They're like, well, you know, is it going to make money? And I'm like, I don't know. I didn't make any money for six months. I literally, I was negative. I was in the negatives for six months. And I don't think everyone needs to do that way. Just don't mess up on the trademark thing. And not everyone needs to invest in a camera. Like, I had to. But that was when I was like, oh my goodness, like, this is insane. And I was so grateful for my community at the time because people were buying it just to support me. They were like, hey, I bought a car last month. But I just. You were so helpful and I was looking for a way to support you. So I went ahead and bought the workbook and that was just insane. So at this time I probably had 60 ish thousand followers because I remember in March of 21 I hit a hundred thousand. So I started in June of 20. By March of 21 I was at a hundred thousand. So from October to January, I grew a lot after Hattie was born, actually, which I'd have to look back on my feed to see like, what I was posting because I definitely, like, still took a maternity leave. So I don't really know how I blew up so much. I guess, I guess I would have had to have gotten some shout outs or something. I'm not sure. I don't remember. And also during this time, my manager reached out to me and it was like, the text that, like, totally changed my life because I used to have my phone number in my Instagram bio. This was when I had, like, like, you know, 10,000 followers. And I was like, sure, if someone wants to text me, like, I'll help someone buy a car. I was also still kind of using the car mom to try to sell cars at this point, especially the St. Louis moms. So I got a text from this person, and it said, hi, my name's Austin. And in parentheses, she put girl. So I knew it was a girl named Austin. And she goes, she's like, I manage micro influencers, and I'm trying to get this thing started. I think your content's amazing. Can we hop on a call? And I was like, oh, I've heard of this. I've heard of managers before. But I was so hesitant because I was. I didn't want to, like, give up a percentage of the karma. And I'm like, that's crazy. Like, I so believe in this. I was like, I'm not giving anyone a percentage of anything. But I took the call with her, and it was like, the first person who, outside of, like, Tyler and Liz, who I felt, like, understood what we were doing. Because in the beginning, we got, like, our fair amount of, like, hate or, like, people making fun of our content. And she, like, saw exactly what we were doing. She's like, you're gonna be big. And I'm like, I know I'm gonna be big. Like, I think I'm gonna be big too. And she's like, I love women who are, you know, not your typical influencers. Like, and this is no shade to them, but, like, not the fashion bloggers, not the mommy blogger. Like, you are disrupting industry, and I want to be a part of it. She was small. She was small. She didn't have. I was her biggest account at the time, and I think I'm still one of her biggest accounts. And I've been with her since then. So she really changed my life because that's when I started to get brand deals, which was not very easy in the beginning because I wasn't your typical influencer. And the auto industry was so behind on influencer marketing. Like, they had no idea what was going on. Like, we couldn't get. We didn't get our first. I'd have to look back, but, like, I don't Think we got our first like auto sponsorship for like a year or two in. Because like they were so not on the pulse. My first sponsorship I ever did was with Chatbooks, which I am still a Chatbooks customer today. And I did a story set, I think for $200. And I couldn't believe it. And product, and product, which was like so exciting. So that was really fun. And then that's really. That really started to take us to the next level in terms of like getting more income and making it a full time thing for me because the workbook sales like were so big. But it was like that one drop and then it significantly petered out. Like we had that one big drop and then it was, you know, we'd sell, you know, like maybe 20 or 30amonth. So it was still good, like supplemental income, passive income. But it wasn't, it wasn't gonna be sustainable. But once Austin started, once I got Austin, things really started to pick up and I continued to grow a lot. And then so in March I hit a hundred thousand. And then in April, Elizabeth quit her job and came to work for me full time. And Elizabeth's story is kind of fun too because Elizabeth had a huge background in video editing. So Elizabeth got her. Elizabeth got a degree at Bradley University in Television Arts. And she was the kind of. She was just like the girl in high school who like, was always editing video. If you needed a video made back in 2012, like, it was Elizabeth who did it. Like, she just was good. She had little, her little Final Cut Pro on her little MacBook. And like, she was just a video editor. So she was working a job she hated. She was living in Dallas and she had started like doing some stuff like part time for me, like helping me just like edit things. And I was calling her all the time and always bouncing ideas off of her. And then eventually I was like, Liz, let's just, just quit your job job. Like just quit your job and come. Like, let's just do this. Let's just, let's go full send on the car mom together. And I remember us being so. I guess people always ask me if like I was embarrassed. And I think I, I think there was a level of me that was a little embarrassed, but I just believed in it so much. Like, I just let myself kind of be a little uncomfortable with it. And I think Elizabeth kind of felt the same thing, but I was like, it's so much more fun. Like we just have to take a chance on this. And again we, I mean, we, we. I Can't express you how, like, we didn't. We weren't making a lot of money at this time. Certainly not enough, like, to pay for two of us to work there. But we believed in it enough, and we knew if we could get monetized on YouTube, things would really start to pick up or at least be more consistent. YouTube monetization was very difficult because I remember you need a thousand subscribers, which we hit pretty easy, but you need 400 watched hours. Hours to get monetized on YouTube. And the 400 watch, or maybe it was 4,000. I think it had to be 4,000 for the 4,000 watched hours, took forever. We were posting like one to two videos a week because that was the only bandwidth we could do at the time. And, you know, we'd be like, okay, we hit 40 hours that day. Okay, great. Like, which was. Which is actually crazy when you think about it, because our tours were only like 15 minutes long and we were getting like 40 hours worth of people watching it. So the 4,000 watch hours took a while. We finally did it. We got monetized. We couldn't freaking believe it, you guys. We could not believe it. We would log on every day and check what we made off YouTube the next day. And it was anywhere from, like, $40 some days. Most days it was like 40 to 60. And, like, that was insane to us. Like, 40amonth off of our YouTube tours, 40 a day off of our YouTube tours. We're like, that's like 1200 bucks a month. Like, that's insane. And then whenever we would drop a tour, our views would go up a lot. And if it was a hot tour, we would, like, freak out. I'll never forget, we dropped a lexus GX or LX, like Alexis. I think it was the Lexus LX570. And it was a $500 day on YouTube. And we couldn't believe it. We were like, oh, my Gosh, we made 500 yesterday off of our YouTube video. And that was insane. Now we would have, like, one of the. One or two of those a month. And it was like when we dropped the hot tour. So again, it still wasn't, like, totally ripping. But YouTube got consistent. Austin got a little more consistent. We had our digital products, and we also just really worked on continuing to grow. And it's just been such such a wild ride. And it's been so fun, and I feel so blessed to do it with my sister. And I feel so blessed to do it with all of you guys because I really just felt like, we were doing it to change the auto industry. And the more I started reviewing the cars, the more, like, fired up I got about it, to be honest with you, because it was like, these cars suck. These cars suck. No one's thinking about families when they're making these cars. And I just couldn't believe how these things were getting, like, swooped under the rug. And I would say that April, like, once. Once Liz started working for me, I was like, okay, I need to go get CPST certified, because, like, I don't. I. I took a lot of weight and pressure in what it meant to be reviewing these cars. And I was like, if I'm going to be influencing these. These purchases, like, I have to know what I'm talking about. Like, I have to know what I'm talking about. It's too serious of a matter to, like, be making. To. To be talking out of my butt, for lack of better words. So I got my CPST certification, and let me tell you something. I could not believe how little I learned. And that's, like, such a hot take. But I was like, okay, well, that didn't really help much, because. Do I know how to install a car seat? Sure. Do I know how to fit three across? Do I know what seatbelt overlap means? Do I know what head. Like, it. It wasn't. And I hate to, like, crap on the program, but, like, it just felt. I think for some people, it's. It was helpful. But for me, I basically, like, should have already been certified because I was already installing these car seats, and I was like, this just was. This wasn't enough. So I got the certification, and then I still continued to, like, deep dive into, like, like, so many other, like, components that go along with car seats and safety. And I've met a lot of great CPS along the way. And now I have Sam, who works for the car mom, and I'm always so transparent with. Like, I am not. I'm not really not. I'm not the world's best cpst, but I think Sam is one of the world's best cps. And I love surrounding myself with women who are smarter than me in those capacities, because it's just. It's. I just don't mind relying on other people, and that's how a lot of my team has been built around. Like, I think we have a team of what, do we have a team of six now? And every person is smarter than me in their field, and, like, that's exactly what I want. And I have no qualms with just hiring better talent. And that's where I love, like, having moms work for me because I think, like, they're just corporate America's most underutilized resources. Because these women who work for me are so brilliant and they should, like, just, they're so brilliant and like, they choose to work for the car mom because we offer a flexible schedule because, like, we're all moms doing it. And I just, I can't believe how smart they are. And I'm just, I'm so blessed with, like, such the best team I have. Stephanie, who works on my website, is so smart and she really has ramped up our website and our affiliates in a major way. Matney is like the best assistant I could ever ask for. She is the kind of assistant who like, thinks before I even think. Do you know what I mean? Like, she's just so great and she's got great customer service skills, which was also important to us. And I just can't believe how, how excited I am about how far we've come, but also like, how far we're going to continue to go. And yeah, it's just been, it's been a really wild ride and I'm really so grateful for all of you. And I can feel like it's been so fun to feel the shift in the auto industry. And like, if I think about like some career highlights, I've had, like, getting to speak at nada, which is the National Automotive Dealers Association. It was a top. I've spoken now there two times and it was an incredible experience because I'm talking to dealers about how to make the car buying experience better for women. Like, okay, like, it's giving mission statement. Like, that's exactly what I wanted to do. And like, I'm actually in the room.
- [42:17]
A
And.
- [42:19]
B
Getting to work with some of these manufacturers. Not like I haven't, like, I've never like, consulted with a manufacturer, but like, when GM flew me out there to show me that they put head restraints in their, in their cars, like, pinch me moment. Interviewing the CEO of General Motors. Pinch me moment. I recently got to go on a trip with Ford where they, I guess we kind of consulted a little bit on like, future products. Pinch me moment. So it's just been, it's been so incredible and I'm so excited to like, get this website out and just really take the car mom to the next level. And I think like, my long term vision for it is I want to, I want to eventually, like, the car mom needs to be more than just My opinion, it needs to be a lot of mom's opinions. That's something that's super important to me because one, like I'm one mom. I have got one combination of kids. I don't have older kids yet. I'm not going to have younger kids forever. So I want to make sure that we're always hearing that you're always able to hear from a mom that looks like you. And that's what I think the new website's going to allow us to do. And it's going to take like, I want the Car mom to be the car mom and I want to be Kelly Stumpy who runs the car mom, but I don't necessarily want to be the car mom, if that makes sense. Like I want us to be the car mom. Like we're all the car mom. The car mom is the car moms. I probably need to change it to the Car moms eventually, but for now we'll just do the car mom. Oh, that's another fun thing. So when I first, when I picked the name, I couldn't get the carmom.com it was unavailable. But I had already done the trademark thing because I didn't know I needed a website at the time. So I got the Car mom official. Well then a couple years later I had the opportunity to buy the Car mom and I bought it. What did I buy it for? It wasn't that much money for what it was. Like I would have paid way more. I think I bought it for twelve hundred dollars. Thecarmom.com and then just this past week, carmom.com became available. And so my name's the Car mom. But I was like, what do people just type in? Car Mom? Like it should go to my website. So I also bought that domain, which I paid a little bit, I paid a lot more for. But I felt like that was important to have those domains. So now I own Car mom, the Car mom and the Car mom official. They'll all take you to my website. And when our redesign website comes out, that's when I'm really going to rely on a lot of you guys to go there and review the cars. It can be the car you have, the car you test drove but didn't buy, your husband's car, your mom's car. It doesn't matter. I want it to feel like rent the Runway, but for cars. Like I want it to be everyone's opinions on their. And my reviews will start being a little bit more like data based and just more informational and, like, your reviews will be more of the opinions, which is what I want. That's what. That's what I want. So that's a little bit about the car mom. And that felt really good to recap that. Trying to think if there's any other, like, crazy highs, crazy lows. It's been. I mean, it's been. It's been. Been pretty consistent growth. Hitting a hundred thousand on YouTube was so exciting. I'll never forget that we got the plaque, which, like, George thinks is the coolest thing in the world, that his mom has a YouTube plaque. Like, it's so fun. Starting the podcast was a huge endeavor that we've so enjoyed, and it's one of my favorite platforms to make content on. I love the podcast. I love all of you guys so much. You have no idea. And I mean, yeah, it's changed a lot. Like, you know, what worked in 2020, 2021 does not work in 2025. And I think that's kind of what makes social media so exciting, is that it's just always changing. So. Yeah. All right, guys. Well, that's this episode, so that was kind of fun. I hope you guys enjoyed this specialty edition of the History of the Car Mom. And we will be back on Friday, back with Elizabeth for a regular Degular episode. So thank you guys so much for listening to the carpool podcast, and I will talk to you next time. Love ya.
- [46:10]
A
Bye.
- [46:11]
B
Thank you for listening to the carpool podcast with Kelly and Liz. Make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode. And if you enjoyed riding with us, tell everybody you know, there's room in the car for everyone.