← The Carpool with Kelly and Lizz
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- [00:03]
Kelly
Welcome to the carpool podcast with Kelly.
- [00:06]
Liz
And Liz actually said. I was like, I think that's an amazing idea. The only thing is I don't think the car mom is like the right name. So I think we need to workshop the name. But I like love the direction you're going in anyway. Like, the next day she sends me a logo. She sends me like she's got the trademark going, like, we're going with the car mom. And you know what? Some things you just don't need to rework.
- [00:27]
Kelly
Your mom. Time off starts now.
- [00:32]
Liz
Welcome back to the carpool podcast with Just Liz today. Kelly and I have some travel this week. So just with travel schedules, child care schedules, we could not get both of us to record the podcast in time. So it's just me today. I'm hoping we can have a Friday episode, but the only way we can do that is if I bring some of our podcasting equipment with me with us in our our four hour car drive to Iowa. So if I'm able to successfully have us record a podcast whilst driving, we will have one on Friday. The likelihood that like 10 cold difficulties arise is kind of high because we've never recorded in a car before. So if it doesn't work for whatever reason, that's why we won't have a Friday podcast. But I am going to do everything in my power to try and make it happen. But today I wanted to give my POV of how the car mom started and how I got involved in it. Kelly did this a few months ago when I was unable to top on a podcast. She gave her a POV of like kind of her how I built this. And I was like, well, I wonder if people would be interested in my, my take on things and how I got involved and just sort of all of that information. So I'm gonna give like my story how I got involved, kind of like where I was in my life. And I also asked on my Instagram if anyone had like specific burning questions about this topic. So we will see. So let's see the year's 2019. I am two years out of college. I'm working a digital marketing job for automotive dealerships. It's fine. I'm living at home, I'm single, desperately trying to find a man. I'm 24 years old and I just like, I need to do something new with my life. So I decided to move to Dallas, Texas. And I picked Dallas because my sister Sydney was going to school there at the time, had one of my best friends was looking for a roommate at the time. And my current job, or the job I had then was. Had an office in Plano, so. And they were going to let me keep my job. So really, the. The biggest hurdle I had to get through to moving to Texas was telling Kelly that I was moving to Texas because I knew she was not going to take that news very well. And she didn't. But she got over it. She never really got over it, but she dealt with it. So I moved to Texas. I meet Maddie immediately. I meet Maddie before I even moved there. I met him in St. Louis, but he was also living in Dallas. And we start. Well, that's a different story, but we. We kind of.
- [03:30]
Sponsor/Ad Host
We started dating.
- [03:31]
Liz
And then, of course, 2020 comes around. Covid happens. The world shuts down. There's so much uncertainty in the world, and I get furloughed from my job. So I'm now living in a new city, I have no job, and I'm just kind of like, okay, what do I. What do I do now? Around the same time, Kelly calls me and tells me she has this great idea. And Kelly would call me Kelly and Tyler loved to play this game of, like, what's the next million dollar idea? Like, if you're sitting around having drinks with them, like, you're like, doing a shark tank with them. You're like, what's. What's the next big shark tank idea? So Kelly. It was. It wasn't unusual for Kelly to, like, call me or, like, have, like, new business ideas or whatever. She says, I want to start an Instagram where I review cars just specifically for moms. And I'm like, yeah, that's a genius idea. Some genius idea. And, like, not to flex. Well, to exclusively flex on my sister. Like, there are people who are viewing cars from a mother's perspective now. There was no one doing it at the time, so this was a very unique. A very original idea. And I actually said. I was like, I think that's an amazing idea. The only thing is, I don't think the car mom is, like, the right name. So I think we need to workshop the name. But I, like, love the direction you're going in. Anyway, like, the next day, she sends me a logo. She sends me, like, she's got the trademark going. Like, we're going with the car mom. And you know what? Some things you just don't need to rework. So that was like. The only thing is, I didn't love the name, but the name, the name works. The name tells you what it is. Which is very Kelly. Kelly is very straight to the point. She's the car mom. She reviews cars for moms, for families. So it was one of those things too, where it's like when someone tells you an idea and you're like, that's such a good idea. And then you start having a bunch of ideas, and it's like, all we could talk about. So Kelly and I talk on the phone multiple times a day. Even back then, we did, and we would still just be talking about the car mom. We just had so many ideas. It was so much fun. It was just like, it was. It was such a passion project for her, but it was also just such a passion project for me. Like, I just love talking about it. I loved, like, using my brain in new ways. Like, again, I'm literally furlough. Like, I have nothing going on. I'm saying, well, and Maddie, we were just, like, dating. Like, I don't have kids. Like, I have literally nothing going on. Like, actually, Covid was really relaxing for me. I know it wasn't the case for mostly everyone, but I was just kind of chilling. So let's see. Three months pass, I'm still furloughed from my job. I was kind of, like, waiting. Like, I. They didn't. They fired some people, but they furloughed some people. So I got furloughed thinking, like, maybe I'll get my job back in a month, but I'm not being paid. So, like, three months pass, and I'm like, okay, like, I need to get a job. Like, I need to do something with my days. Maddie at this point has. We're still dating. Well, spoiler alert. We get married, we're dating. He goes off for like a year long deployment. So, like, my boyfriend's gone, I have no job. I'm like, I need to do something with my days other than just, like, talk to my sister about her Instagram channel. So I apply everywhere. I get, like, declined for, like, as a waiting. Like, I literally couldn't get a job as a waitress. I eventually get a job with Pepsi as, like, a virtual assistant, essentially. So I worked from home. Absolutely hated it, but, you know, it was a paycheck. In the meantime, like, I'm just. I'm coming home a lot because, you know, I didn't have a lot going on in Texas and the world was still kind of shut down. So I'm like, kind of loosely helping Kelly with the karma, and we're still talking about it all the time. But then I think, like, sometime in the fall, she. She had hit 10,000 followers. And I was like, your videos. Like, she's literally only posting her. Her tours on, like, story content. Like, it's like, your tours are all over the place. Like, there's no way for anyone to search these. We need to get you on YouTube. And luckily for you, I have a degree in television arts, and, like, I'm obsessed with this, and I want to edit your. Your YouTube videos. That's like, my background is, like, from seventh grade. I've always loved making videos. I was the girl who made videos for my sorority. I was the girl who made videos in high school. And, like, making videos was not what it is today. Like, not anyone, not literally anyone could do it on their phone. It was like, you needed software for it. So this is kind of just like, something that I was, like, my hobby and something I always love to do. So Kelly starts filming her tours differently, start sending them to me, and I started up the YouTube channel, and it took a few months for us to get monetized because you needed X amount of subscribers and, like, X amount of hours watched. Now I'll never forget. I remember where I was. I was coming home from a spinning class, and I checked our YouTube and we were monetized. And I called Kelly and I said, Kelly, we made $43, and it was the best $43 I've ever made in my entire life. It was so exciting to see Car mom. The car Mom. I mean, even though she had 10,000 followers, she was making no money. Like, no money at the time. Literally zero dollars. So it was really cool to see something that we just did make money. We're like, wait. We just, like, got a car, filmed it. Like, it was free for us to do this outside of our time. And now we have. Now we're 43 richer. Like, that's amazing. So that was really exciting. And, you know, from there, she just continued to grow. YouTube continued to grow. She got picked up by a manager who is still our manager. And my manager today started, like, monetizing kind of in that way. And then it was 20, 21 April, and I just, like, I absolutely hate my job, and I, like, cannot get enough of the Car Mom. I'm still living in Dallas. Maddie's still deployed, but the world opened up a little bit more at this point. So, like, I loved my time in Dallas, but now I was kind of faced with the decision to quit my job and do the karma full time, which is what I really wanted to do. But I had a lot of I was really scared to make that jump. And I also, because I wasn't making any money at the car mom yet, but I knew it would like, I could see, I could see the path to make money. I just didn't know when I would receive any money and also I didn't know how much it would be. And, and granted at this time I had like, I was on my parents insurance, I didn't have a car payment. You know, I was paying, I was recognizing my privilege. I was paying my rent and like to live like food and gas, you know, like just like basics. So I really didn't have that many expenses. So my biggest hang up on actually like quitting my job with Pepsi and going full time with car mom was pride really. I, you know, when you're 25, you have this college degree and all your friends are working in the corporate world and you're like, no, I just like want to be the corporate girl. Like that's what I want to, that's what I want to be. So to just like not have a job and just like chase this like social media thing and like knowing that I was going to have to like get a part time job as a waitress or you know, in merchandise or something. Like I applied. Luckily I applied to so many places and like no one wanted to give me an interview. So I actually didn't end up getting a side job because no one would hire me. It was a really competitive time, guys. It was a weird time. So anyway, I didn't get a second job but I, I was trying to essentially. Also a humbling experience to just like literally get declined, like not get any people calling you back. Anyway, I had full support from Maddie to quit my job and to do the car mom full time. He thought it was a great idea. Maddie has always been the biggest supporter of the car mom to this day. He listens to every podcast episode. He consumes all the content. He has been so wonderful. And I had friends in like a really great community at the time of my life who were encouraging me to do it. My parents were like, hey, you seem to have, you guys, you girls like seem to have a plan. This could grow. Like no one, no one in my life told me not to. No one in my life thought I was irresponsible. Everyone could see that it was going to be a good move. So I did it. I did not make any money for a few months. I was living off of my savings. But again it was fine because. It was fine because I didn't have that many expenses. Like, I didn't have kids at the time or anything, and it was great. So basically, like, how things worked when I was living in Texas is Kelly had a friend from high school of hers filming her tours, and Kelly would. They would upload the footage, send it to me, and, like, other than that, like, gosh, it seems like, what even. Like, we're so busy right now with the karma, but we've grown so much. I'm like, what else were we even doing with our days? You know, helping her with con, like, content ideas and editing stuff. And we, like, made our workbook. There was, like, a lot of stuff, a lot of, like, random little things that I would kind of help her with.
- [13:26]
Sponsor/Ad Host
We did.
- [13:26]
Liz
We talked about this on a podcast before we did, like, settle on a pay structure plan, and we settled on it when, like, there was essentially, like, $20 or $43 in the YouTube account on the table. And it hasn't changed since then. And. And Kelly was really passionate about having full ownership of the car mom. So I don't own any of the car mom, which I'm fine with. And I. We also always said, you know, if money ever becomes an issue, if we ever get in a fight over money, like, I'm. I. Elizabeth, stepping away from the car mom because, like, no amount of money is worth harming my. Mine and Kelly's relationship, like, it's one of the most important relationships in my life. It's one of the best relationships in my life, and literally, like, a dollar amount could not touch it. So we always said, you know, sometimes when you work with family, things can get sticky, which we never saw for ourselves. And it look like that's true. Like, we just are each other's biggest support. Like, Kelly wants. Kelly wants me to succeed over. Over herself, and I want her to succeed over myself. And I think, like, that's like, mutual respect and love for each other. We've never had any issues, but I essentially get. It was, like, too complicated to, like, figure out what percentage I was involved in certain things. So we just said, like, flat out after the bills are paid at the car mom, Liz gets this amount, this percentage, and it's worked out for us, and it's been fine. And I don't really see it changing, and I'm happy with it.
- [15:01]
Sponsor/Ad Host
Today's episode is brought to you by Skylight. Speaking of systems, in my home, one system that has really changed the game for me has been incorporating the Skylight calendar into my life. I like it because I can add Maddie's calendar, my calendar, my work calendar, our nanny's schedule, and I can also do my meal planning so I can show my family what we're having for dinner this week and I can also leave list for my nanny on what to feed the kids for lunch. It's a very sleek display that just sits on my counter and when I'm not using it, I have uploaded a
- [15:33]
Liz
bunch of pictures and videos that it
- [15:35]
Sponsor/Ad Host
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- [17:06]
Liz
I recently bought James this fabulous linen
- [17:09]
Sponsor/Ad Host
shirt that is so cute, so lightweight and he's gonna be so comfortable in all summer. I also recently bought candles from there that are excellent so you can refresh your wardrobe every day with luxury you'll actually use. Head 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 for free shipping and 365 day returns.
- [17:35]
Liz
Quince.com Carpool Pool so let's see, then. While we were still living in Dallas, we maybe we started the carpool or. Yeah, we did start the carpool. So when I was living in Texas, we, A company approached us and they were like, you girls need to start a podcast. I was like, a lot behind this. Obviously, I was like, fully behind the scenes on the Car Mom. But, like, Kelly would have me on Instagram Lives when I was in town. She would post about me. Like, people, like, kind of who are, like, in depth in the car mom lore, like, knew who I was. And so I think if it weren't for this, this company that kept saying, like, you girls need to start a podcast, like, it would be great, we wouldn't have ever, like, figured out and done it ourselves. So they were, like, really pivotal in getting us started. So we actually. It was not always going to be called the car the carpool. It was originally going to be called the company meeting because Kelly used to hold these company meetings on her stories where people would, like, write in their mom wins for the week. So she'd be like, got my oldest to eat broccoli at dinner. And she'd be like, I'm really happy to see that you got your younger associate to thrive in this. This tricky area. It's nice to see, you know, forward movement. Like, she would just like, award mom wins and make it sound like it was a business meeting. So that was kind of like the original thought for the podcast. But now I'm gonna take credit here because I did come up with the name the Carpool one day. I'm like, I. I think it would be nice if we had the Car mom and then sub branding similarly written out to the Car mom, the car something. But, like, what is the thing where multiple people are traveling in a car? Like, how do we get multiple people together in a car? So anyway, it was sitting right in front of us the whole time. And I'm like, the carpool. And I was so jazzed. Kelly loved it. It was like, no question that was going to be the name after that. Starting the carpool was awesome. Still is awesome. Still blown away by how many people listen to it. Like, seriously so thankful for all of you who tune in all, like, twice a week to hear Kelly and I rant about things. It's been really great for. It's been a great outlet for us, it's been a really nice way for us to like, talk about things that don't really have a space on the car mom because, like, you know, like, the car mom is about cars. But, like, the carpool is so much. There's just such longer form. Like, it's just nice to have a space where we can talk about things that we want to talk about that don't always relate to cars. So starting the carpool, like, really kind of got me more involved in like, that, like the front facing side of it, which is really cool because actually the reason Kelly's not on here is because the carpool is going to speak at this women's conference this week, which is something that is just the craziest guys, the craziest thing because, like, I remember sitting. I went to a women. An automotive. Women in automotive conference, and I was. I was sitting in the. When I was working in my old job, I was sitting in the audience and I was looking at these women on stage and I was like, I, like, want to be that girl. Like, I crave that. And I ha. I see no path in which I am going to be on that stage. But I wanted it. I don't know. I don't even know why I wanted it. Like, I just, like, I wanted to be successful. Like, I wanted to make my family proud. Like, I wanted to make myself proud. Like, I just, I wanted to be one of these women on stage. And the fact that like, literally this week, Kelly and I are both going to be speaking to 17. They. I think they said there'll be 1700 people in the audience and 500 online. Like, that's crazy. That's kind of big. That's kind of bigger than I was anticipating. But that I'm doing that because of the carpool, because the carpool allowed me to get a little bit less behind the scenes. But I still stay perfectly comfortable behind the scenes where I want to but get a pop up on here and like, talk in my safe space of the carpool audience. So for that, I really thank all of you. I just briefly popped over to my Instagram to see what kind of questions I'm getting. Kind of some repeat questions are just like, did you think this was another micro hobby for Kelly when she started? Did you think it was cringe? Like, really? What were your initial thoughts on the car mom? And like, I already said this, but, like, I just have to say, like, I never once thought it was cringe. I always thought it was a great idea. I mean, that's so sincerely. And like it was just one of those things. Like I was prepared to, like when Kelly said I have this new idea, like I was prepared to. Oh, nice. Like, that's what I was prepared to say. And when she told me it, it was just like this, I just saw like this green light go off. I'm like, yes, 100. Like, I just can't even tell you how, how much I thought this was a great idea. And I knew she would succeed at it. So let's see. I quit my job in April of 2021, went full time with the car mom. I think like three months in, I finally got a check. So that was good. And it was a small check, but it grew, it grew quickly. So it was all, it was all fine. I never, I never struggled. So now June or no July, June or July, Maddie comes home from his year long deployment in August of 2021. We get engaged. The next day after I get engaged, Kelly, Kelly and I go on our first brand trip. It was to see the new Infiniti QX60 to Napa. And it was like the most incredible trip ever. It was one of those really like pinch me moments because like we, we felt like we were being seen and recognized by the automotive industry. We were flown out on this. Like we, we always wanted to go to Napa. We were flown out, gotta see a beautiful car, gotta go to Napa. Like I was just engaged. Like literally best time, best time, I'm out. Like, what a time to be alive. So that was really fun. And then like, honestly from there it's been, I mean, from there I've been capturing it all on the carpool. It's been moved back to St. Louis. Still working, still full time. Like full time with the car mom. You know, our priorities change throughout the years. We focus a lot on cars, we focus a lot on partnerships, we focus a lot on growing, we focus on the website, we a lot of things, opportunities we've taken, opportunities we've passed on. Just like a lot has happened, but I feel like I've captured, we've captured most of it on the carpool. So if you listen, you know, moved back St. Louis, married the love of my life, had a kid, had another kid, pregnant with another kid. And just we, you know, we got the auto show. Which auto show has been like the most amazing? The, the first auto show that was a really, really cool experience. Kelly and I, we had the first auto show, I think in 2022, and we had it at our family's dealership. And the reason we were able to have it at our family's dealership is because from the repercussions of COVID there was not a lot of inventory. So we were able to really clearly, like, easily clear the lot, so we were able to host it there. And the way that, like, I had a walkie talkie on because, like, I was going to be working, like, I was going to be selling merch, you know, Kelly would be working at Manning another station. And when we met people, and that was, like, really the first time that we got to meet people who, like, followed the car mom or, like, listened to the podcast. And it was the most fun ever because it was like, oh, no. Like, Kelly, like, sorry, I can't work the merch station right now. Like, people want to, like, talk to us. Or, I mean, mostly Kelly. I mean, what we were not expecting is people to, like, just want to take photos with Kelly. But it was so cool, and it was, like, so awesome to meet people in person who have been fought, who've, you know, been along for the ride and have supported you or maybe, like, you've been involved, like, help them buy a car. And it's just, like, it was really, really cool. And so to see the auto show now we're on our fourth year having it, and just seeing the way it's grown. It's always so much fun. So, yeah, so we've got the auto show this year. We got our big website launch, which is, like, a huge milestone for the car mom. And we're just, like, gonna. We've got a lot of other ideas, but, like, a lot of it kind of boils down to our bandwidth, to be honest with you. But we have really great big things coming. We want to continue to just help families buy cars and find the right car for them. We always said at the beginning, when, you know, we were trying to figure out what the heck this was, we said we need a mission statement because, like, we're gonna have to make a lot of decisions, and we need, like, a guiding. A guiding light. And if something, like, does not align with that, we can't. We can't do it. And so the mission has remained the same, which is to help families find cars that work for them and they're safe for them and that fit their family. And it's incredibly rewarding and it's incredibly fun, and I'm so thankful this is my job. I'm so thankful to my sister who I think a lot. I think some people, when they achieve a certain amount of Success, they would want to hog it and, and be the center of attention and not share it. And Kelly couldn't be further from that. Kelly understands she has a responsibility as she is the car mom and the brand is a lot of this, a lot of it, it's like, based around her. But she wants to bring in as many people as she can. She, like I said, like, literally, I truly believe Kelly wants to see me, six, wants to see me succeed more than she wants to see herself succeed. Like, truly, I believe that she is my biggest champion. She, she is one of my best friends and she has wrapped me in open arms with the car mom and has, like, really allowed me to co parent this child of hers. She brings in other mothers who need flex, who are looking for flexible jobs like we all are, and she just always thinks, like, more is better. Like, she does not. She truly tries to share this gift with as many people as she can. And I mean, it's evident by the. I don't know what, five or six. Five, six other moms that work for the car mom. I mean, it's so cool. And it's not. I knew it would be successful. I knew it was a good idea. I never saw it get to this type of success. And that's where maybe Kelly did. And I think that the difference between Kelly and I is she is a dreamer and I am a realist. And I think you need both because I would have never been able to grow it to the success that it is. But also, I think that if Kelly didn't have me in her corner, she, maybe some not so great business decisions would have been made. I have, I do believe, I think I. I think Kelly would agree with this, that I have stopped her from moving forward with opportunities because I didn't, I didn't think they were going to be right because she gets really lathered up and excited about things. Then I try and, like, bring her back down. So we try and find that good balance of like, me not bringing her down so much and like, letting her, like, be a shooting star, but also, like not being a shooting star so much that you, like, totally miss the objective, you know? So I think that we just balance each other out really nicely. And we always have, like, we've always been close. We've always been best friends. We didn't fight growing up. Really. Yeah. I don't know, we're just like, super lucky, super blessed. And then, you know, just another perk of the carpool and the car mom is I've gotten to Grow my own Instagram a little bit. And the same manager who has started with Kelly when Kelly had like 15, 000 followers, she also manages my Instagram. So I've gotten some cool opportunities that way. And that is all separate from the car mom. So I do have, like, a little bit of, like, my own personal income off of my Instagram. So Kelly. Kelly's not tied to my Instagram at all. But, you know, I'm not really after it. I'm. I mean, I think it's fun to post because I like to, like, communicate. Like, I like to connect with people. But at the end of the day, like, my number one priority is the car mom's Instagram thriving and just like, getting the good information out to the people who need it, because I don't really have that. I don't really have that to share on my Instagram. So, yeah, that's kind of like, you know, my story. That's kind of my inception, my perspective. It has been an absolute dream come true. Something I never thought would happen, something I never saw for myself. But I'm so thankful to be here. And I'm so thankful to all of you who listen to the carpool and who support the car mom and who support this mission because, like, you know, waves are. Waves are being made. We've had a lot of pinch me moments of, like, oh, shoot, no, like, oh, like, people and things are changing, like, for the better. And there's still a very long way to go because there still isn't a perfect family car out there and there's still issues and that need to be fixed and need to be addressed. But, like, waves are being made. And ultimately, like, Kelly can have her opinions and Kelly can say whatever she wants to say, but, like, without the audience following and the people agreeing and the proof that what she's saying means something to a lot of people, then her opinion means nothing. So, like, the karma and, like, changes in the automotive industry are going to be made because of you. I mean, 100%. So that's my soapbox. That's my story. I hope you enjoy this. I really hope I can figure out a way to record a podcast on our drive tomorrow. Safely, of course. And I hope we will be talking to you on Friday, but if not, please forgive us, give us some grace, and we'll talk to you next time. Bye.
- [32:56]
Kelly
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.