← The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan
The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan
545: In Retrospect - How Kendra Scott turned $500 Into a $1 BILLION Jewellery Empire
00:38:10
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- [00:00]
Host 1
Hey, founder fam. Today we're diving back into the archives to bring you our episode with Kendra Scott, the self made entrepreneur behind one of the most successful jewelry brands in the world. I saw one of her stores when I just come back from la, actually. So Kendra takes us through her journey from launching her first business, a hat company that ultimately ended up failing to building an empire that has redefined affordable luxury. We dive into the highs and lows, from navigating recessions and rejection to security her first retail store, and using adversity to fuel innovation. All right, let's dive in.
- [00:39]
Kendra Scott
Here are the stories. Learn the proven methods and accelerate your growth and future through entrepreneurship. Welcome to the founder podcast with Nathan Chan.
- [00:53]
Nathan Chan
How did you get your job, AKA how did you find yourself doing the work you're doing today?
- [00:58]
Kendra Scott
You know, it's been a journey that really started when I was a kid. My aunt Joanne was a fashion director at a department store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I grew up in a little town, Kenosha, which is about 35 minutes away from Milwaukee. And going to her apartment and being in her closet and seeing all of her slideshows from her being in Milan and Paris and London and New York, places that have seemed so far away as a little girl from Wisconsin really just brought me into this world of fashion that I felt like was magical. You could be anybody you wanted to be. It really just transformed you. Right. Fashion could. You could create whoever you want to be in. And I think I was just drawn to it from a very early age of that magical sense of it. And here we are starting my first company was a hat company and really wanting to utilize that love, that passion for design, for fashion, and really for making people smile. I just remember how I felt when I'd put on her clothes in her closet and just the smile on my face, how I would just feel more confident and all of those amazing things that can happen. Right. And I knew I wanted to be a part of that industry and so just really led me to finding that and continuing to just reach for it and strive for it from from the very beginning.
- [02:23]
Nathan Chan
Yeah. And I'd love to talk about the hat shop like it was your first business. What did you learn during that process? Because it didn't work out, right?
- [02:33]
Kendra Scott
No, it did not work out. And, you know, I think that's so important is because if you talk to any successful entrepreneur, they are going to have at least one failure story for you. And there's probably way more that they can talk about as well. But that one for me, was honestly the greatest gift. And I'm sure you hear that a lot. Like these failures that happen in so many ways for me was my mba, right, that I didn't get. I dropped out of college. I started the hatbox at age 19. I was inspired to start it because my stepfather was undergoing chemotherapy for brain cancer. And I met so many women that were going through those same struggles of hair loss and. And just their journey was so hard. And I thought, well, God, if there was some way I could make headwear for them that made them feel beautiful and that also was comfortable. So I was lining with cotton linings that were soft and comfortable on their heads. And really, at first, just as a need of wanting to bring fashion to them and make them smile and realize, why aren't there more hat stores out there? Why are people wearing hats again, like, it's 1940, we need to start hats. And so dropped out of school with this, you know, ready to change the world. An idealist at age 19 and opened my first business and started thinking again, hoping the world was going to change with me in this great idea. And after five years of trying to get the world to want to wear hats like it was 1940, and realizing that just was not happening, I had to close that business. And. And not only did I have to go through the failure of closing this business and being so humiliated, because now I'm a college dropout. All of my friends have graduated from college and are getting their jobs in these new places. I'm now a failure of business. I can do a college degree now. What am I going to do? But what I didn't realize at that moment when that store closed is that those five years of running this retail business, of learning about margin, learning about overhead, understanding, you know, how to really run a retail business, was the framework, the foundation for my next thing that was going to work, which was my jewelry company. And the answer to my future was in that little store. I was making jewelry kind of on the side because it was something I love to do. And I'd put it in the case at the register, and it would sell the day I put it in the case. But I had it in my head that hats were the thing. It had to be hats, and I wasn't seeing what was actually working. So sometimes I think as an entrepreneur, we get, especially in those early stages, we have an idea like, this is what it has to be. But we sometimes have to step ourselves away from that and get that 360 approach, because it may be Something a little different is actually working. That could be your future opportunity. So after I shuttered those that store like devastated, I would still get calls from my, some of my best customers and I would be so excited to hear from them. And Nathan, they were not calling me because they wanted more hats. They were calling me because they wanted a pair of earrings to make the next necklace that they bought or their sister loved the necklace so much that she wanted to buy her one. Could you make one, Kendra? And so I found myself, you know, going, huh, this is weird. Maybe there's something to this jewelry thing. And so it really was the entry into the next thing that I started to do. But really, again, it had to be like bang on my doorstep, phones ringing for me to actually see it.
- [06:11]
Nathan Chan
What were the challenges when you started the jewelry company in the first few years?
- [06:15]
Kendra Scott
Well, you know, there's, I mean so many, right. I know this is an only hour that we have so we could need, you know, we need about 10 hours. But you know, it was right after the recession. So you know, I had my, my first son was born 11, 11 2001, which is exactly, you know, just a few months after 9, 11. And here I am, a new mom in a very scary time in our history. Right? I mean here we are, you know, right after the recession. And to think about starting a business after I've already had a failure, a failed business under my belt was terrifying. And I didn't want to tell the world I was starting another business. And quite honestly, I didn't have the financial ability to, you know, do anything big. So I started small. I had $500, I bought, you know, some materials, stones, wire, I made a tiny collection and I went store to store in Austin, Texas with my little baby son in a baby carrier and my jewelry in a tee box I had gotten for my wedding. And again, very quietly, I wasn't out in this time to change the world and have everybody see Kendra Scott. And I wasn't going to open hat stores like I wanted to all over the country. I was going to just try to be a great mom to my new little baby, be in fashion again, which I loved, and try to help, you know, bring in income for our family to be able to, you know, have a life that would provide us, you know, some extra, extra money in the household. Never writing a big business plan to build a over billion dollar brand in those early days. And as I started to see the success again, it took me a little while to actually want to tell people that I was in business again because I was afraid of what they would think. And I think knowing that, you know, here I was and I started to kind of prove myself. And it wasn't myself that started telling people. It was my customers, it was my best friends, it was my family. All of these people just came supporting me and loving what I was doing and helped me have the strength to say, okay, I'm really doing this. I really have a business, and I'm going to not be afraid to tell people about it anymore. Actually, I'm going to start screaming it from the rooftops. And I think, you know, having confidence after a failure is one of the biggest challenges for any entrepreneur. It's that not just dust yourself up and get up, you know, dust yourself off, then get up again mentality. It really is that own of going, you know what? I can do this. And I. And I'm going to figure out what I just learned from what that obstacle was that we, you know, that I over. I'm going to overcome it, and I'm not going to give up. I'm going to do it again, and I'm going to do it better this time and smarter this time and not be afraid.
- [09:04]
Nathan Chan
And can you tell us about kind of you talk about that grit going through it. I know that you experience a lot of rejection trying to raise capital. Can you talk us through that process?
- [09:16]
Kendra Scott
That would be the understatement of the year, Nathan. I would go into so many boardrooms where my dad used to say, well, don't be intimidated by the men in suits. But I was intimidated by the men in suits. And I would walk in. And in Austin, when I was starting my company, it was very talented. Tech, heavy industries, all about tech, tech, tech. And they wanted me to be a tech company. And here I was this southern girl who was in fashion and trying to explain what I was doing. And even after having success of getting some major department stores and really starting to grow the business, it would still be like I felt like they were just laughing at me in the face. And I'd walk out and it was just. Every time it was like, okay, you know what? Just keep trying. And I. And I got great advice from one of my mentors, and he said, kendra, well, this was funny. First I had somebody tell me, well, you need an angel investor. And I said, yeah, I need an angel. Where do these angels hang out? I need an angel. But they don't just hang out. Like, you just, you know, it was different time. 2003, 2004, we didn't have access to people via social media and these different platforms as we do today. And so I would try to go into these meetings and just kept getting shut down, shut down, shut down. And one of my mentors told me, kendra, if you build it, they will come and they're going to come aggressively focus on building the absolute best business you can build. And I know that's hard. And I was doing it through lines of credit, credit card debt, putting every single thing I owned up for collateral. Within a short period of time I had a one and three year old and was going through a divorce. So now I was a single mom on top of all of this with an in basically a baby and a just toddler. And it was hard because I needed help and support but having to put everything I had at risk. But again, just focusing on the business, focusing on building the best business I could. And he was right because people started to take notice and I was calling them anymore. I started getting calls from investment bankers and you know, interested investors and it was a really eye opening experience for me to be able to then go, oh wow, now they want me. But I had to prove myself a little bit.
- [11:38]
Nathan Chan
Yeah. Wow. And you know, in 2008, the world of change recession has hit. How did that affect the business? And was that around the time you were trying to raise capital? You know, everything you had going on, lines of credit, everything you owned going through the divorce? Was it around that time?
- [11:58]
Kendra Scott
So I was divorced in 2005 and so was already divorced in 2008. I can't even explain to you. So we were just a wholesale company. So I was just selling to other retailers. I was not direct to consumer. After the hat box and that failure of running a retail store, I said I am never going to be in retail again. I am never going to do that. That is scary stuff. No one had any part of it. Get me out of retail so this is safer. I they, you know, restore rights and order boo boo boo. I pack it up, I mail it to them, they deal with it. You know, it's great. Beautiful business. 2008 hit and all of my eggs were in that one basket. Nathan. I had the power that I didn't have was in the power of the buyers that were writing the orders for the department stores who are now getting laid off with the recession. Relationships that I had built just, you know, going away overnight. Boutiques and stores that I had worked with across the country shuddering left and right. Big companies filing for bankruptcy that I had just shipped orders to, you know, it was devastating time. And I only had a line of credit. I had no investors. And to try to even think about getting an investor to invest in you at this period, I mean, that was not even. There wasn't. There was no conversation starters there with, hey, what do you think about investing? Right. I know we're going through, you know, an economic collapse financially, but, you know, maybe they're like, absolutely not. Then my bank, big bank calls and says, you know, we feel that jewelry, fashion, these are high risk areas for us and we'd like you to pay off your line of credit within the next six months. Wow. Yeah. And I said, well, I don't. I can't. I can't pay off the line of credit. And I've paid my interest. I've done all the things I'm supposed to do. I've never been laid on a payment. And I'd call and try to talk somebody and they'd be like, what's your loan number? And I'd be like a seven, blah, blah, blah. You know, all these. They didn't care that I was Kendra Scott. They didn't care that I was a person. You know, they just were like, what's your loan number? And you'd get shifted around. And I remember sitting on my kitchen floor and just crying and thinking, this is it. I'm going to lose my business like so many of the businesses around me. And I thought, okay, what am I going to do? And I started to go to some local Texas banks and I went to one local Texas bank, and there the president was female and she wears my jewelry, she knows my brand well, you know, I'm very well known in Austin. And I sat across from her and I remember saying, carrie, you know, can you please consider taking on this line of credit? And I promise you, with everything I have, if I have to sell everything I own, I will not only just pay it back, but I am going to crush it. And here is my new business plan and how we're going to get out of this. We are not going to just focus on wholesale anymore because I need to have a direct connection with my consumer. I need her to say, I want Kendra Scott when she walks into every department store. Where is the Kendra Scott? And the only way I can do that is if I have a direct connection, meaning I need to get back into retail. I need to get back and have an e commerce website and I need to start to communicate with her directly, not through middlemen anymore. And you're thinking, you know, all these stores are Shuttering here, I'm going in and I'm opening a store. Kind of the crazy thing. But it actually, that was when the magic happened. And if it wasn't for that recession, if it, which I say was the greatest gift wrapped in a yellow bow that Kendra Scott could have ever gotten as a company, we would not be sitting here talking today. Because that shift, that shake the snow globe moment, forced me and my team to have to think differently on how we are going to run the business. Wholesale is now 18% of my overall business, direct to consumer through our retail stores and online is makes up the rest. So it was a complete business shift, but the one that gave us lightning in a bottle growth.
- [16:05]
Nathan Chan
When, when was it that you knew, like, what was the breakthrough moment that you knew that things were going to work, you were going to be okay? So obviously you, you know, you went to that local bank, you got the line of credit, you started to shift the model. But when did you know? How long did it take?
- [16:23]
Kendra Scott
That's a great question. I mean, people sometimes ask me, I remember even just a few years ago and saying, I don't know if we're quite there yet because you always. I'm always, you know, I'm never complacent. Right. I always see the possibility and what we can do. But I think, you know, her taking on that line gave me. She had confidence in me, right. And she believed in me. And sometimes just having the belief of other people around you gives you strength that you don't even know you have. And not only did I want to keep my word to her that I was going to do right by her taking this loan, but I wanted, I really wanted to win. I wanted to succeed, and I wanted to be able to keep this beautiful little company that we had created together and alive. When we opened our first retail store, we knew we had to be disruptive and we had had our offices. We moved offices to right above the store so all of us would walk through the store in the morning to go up to our offices that were above the store. And we all wanted to engage with the customer. One find out what she loved, what she didn't like, what she wanted more of. And we wanted to be an experience where she could touch and feel the jewelry without having to ask somebody to take it out of a case. We created color bar where she could sit in the actual bar and drink mimosas and have cupcakes and watch her jewelry be made in front of her while she picked out the stone she wanted in the settings. It was unlike any jewelry shopping experience that have ever existed. And what I craved myself as a consumer when I would go and shop for jewelry prior to this. So we were very disruptive in what we were doing. I remember so many people saying, this isn't going to work. You're going to have so many people stealing things. Kendra, you know, what are. You're crazy. This is. You know, you're going to be just spending all your money on champagne and cupcakes, and you're going to. This is never going to work. And I think when you hear things like that, sometimes that gets me excited because I'm like, that's when you're doing something that's scary to somebody else. Could be magic, right? And sure enough, customers lining up around the store. It was like a big nightclub, like we in stanchions. And we had to let certain people out to get. Let certain people in. I mean, it was an absolutely insane. And if you go to stores across the country of ours today, you still see this, like, unbelievable fever of excitement outside of our stores. That's when I knew. That's when I knew I would go down there. And I just hear this roar of people and laughter and community. And I thought, this is working. This was that moment of, okay, Kendra, maybe you got to think about going back into retail, because this is working. And then when we opened in Dallas and we saw the same success in Houston, that's when everything changed. And my first investor, after a decade, finally came to me and said, kendra, I want. It was a mentor of mine, an advisor, who said, what you're doing is absolutely amazing. You could start to see the results in these stores, the enthusiasm in the community. And he's like, I want to be a part of it. And so when it was the first time I ever had a partner, I actually had somebody. And it was a very small 5%, right? And I had, at that point, still 100% equity, and nobody would invest in me. So I sold the whole business. But 5%, I finally felt like I had somebody that I could talk with and really have, give me great insight and advice, and we could figure things out together. And I also was to take a small bit of money off the table. I never had money in my bank account that was sustainable like that. I felt like I was always living paycheck to paycheck or invoice, coming into invoice, paying my employees first. It was the first time I had something where I felt like I had a little bit of a nest egg. And that Gave me peace. It gave me a way to just take a breath, which you can see for me is hard to do. Right? I took a breath and I was like, holy cow. Okay, just focus. Now we can focus on keep growing this business and I don't have to lay awake at night sick in my stomach wondering if we're going to be able to pay our rent, you know, and. And that was the first time. And then it just kept going from there.
- [20:37]
Nathan Chan
Fast forward to today. You have over 100 locations around the US you've built quite the empire. How has your role in the business changed as the business has scaled?
- [20:52]
Kendra Scott
You know, it's funny because I am so customer driven from day one. I mean, you would see me in my. My office was right above that first store, and when I'd hear the store busy, I would race down because I love being on the sales floor. I love talking to our customers. And what's been fun over the years is, you know, obviously as CEO and growing as fast as we were growing, 5 million to 25 million to 75 million, you know, to 90 million to 100. I mean, it was just like hiring how we were managing all this, bringing on amazing leadership within our organization, building our team out. I didn't get to have as much of that time in the stores that I loved to have. I was still involved in all the design, but I love to touch anything the customer touches. But I wanted to connect with her more. And it's been really great over the last, I'd say, five years. Now that I've got this phenomenal team around me, I've been able to do some of those things. That allows me to really reconnect with our customer and really see her and meet her firsthand. And so my first and only job here is to make sure that she's the boss. She's my boss, and I got to check in with her regularly, and I got to find out what she needs, what she wants, what she's happy about, whatever it might be. And that's my first priority. Every day is surprising and delighting our customer and really working with our teams on thinking creatively on how we can do that. When you have a great deal of success, that's not when it ends, that's when it begins. The pressure really is on then, because you have to keep exceeding those expectations for your customer. And then in addition to that, keeping your culture alive. We talk a lot about people go, why culture? Culture, Especially in the early stages of business, when you're starting a business, well, Is culture really that important? Your culture is everything. It's the heart of a great company. And so our culture for me initially was that I was a mom, so family was everything. And I wanted to create an organization that felt like family, that supported each other's families, and that treated our customer like family. So family was the heart. Giving back to our community was at the very start of this. This, this was my purpose, was I wanted to create a fashion brand that helped change the world for the better and hiring people that have that like, mindset. So understanding what your core values are, then you start to hire people that share those core values and that becomes your culture. And for me, I am the head of that, the light of all of that, to make sure that we keep that at the forefront, because that's what shines through when you walk into one of our stores. That's what you feel with any interaction with our customer service teams. So those are the things that I like to focus on and I think now get to really spend the most time in.
- [23:48]
Nathan Chan
Yeah. And you've got something exciting up and coming. New book, Born. Born to Shine. Can you tell us, can you tell us how that came about?
- [24:01]
Kendra Scott
Oh, my gosh. You know, I had been wanting to do a book. I love speaking. I love speaking to entrepreneurs. I started the Entrepreneur Women's Entrepreneurial and Leadership Institute at the University of Texas in 2019, really wanting to be able to have the ability for all women and major to be able to learn the entrepreneurial mindset and be able to understand how that works and get a little bit of what being an entrepreneur could be like. Even if you're in school of education, you know, giving those tools of an entrepreneurial mindset can be so important. And everybody was like, kendra, you need a book. You need a book. I need. Or they're, you know, they're writing notes when I'm talking. And he put some of these things down. And when 2020 hit, it was such a kick in the gut for all of us. I mean, it was such a hard time. And I was going through a lot of personal struggle at the time as well. But to the outside world, I was this founder of a billion dollar brand. Everything was great. And I felt like it was so important now more than ever to share the struggles, to share, be vulnerable, to be open about the peaks. But more important, the valleys that I've experienced over the last 20 years, building this business and sharing those, because I think we can be vulnerable. There's real power in that. There's really there's so much power in that. And I think this is a book not just for business owners or entrepreneurs, but for people that are going through a transition in their life. You know, that there's something that is changing that's big. Maybe it is going into a new career or getting back into the, into the career world. It could be a graduate who is going through this next big life change in their life. So I think there's just a lot of lessons in this book about helping to kind of find your own light, but all in addition to that helping other people see the light within themselves.
- [25:57]
Nathan Chan
I'm really excited about the book. I'm curious, what's the one big takeaway that people can take from the book? What's, what's the one thing you want people to take away?
- [26:08]
Kendra Scott
I think, you know, look, at the end of the day, we are all unique and special and different and that is a good thing. We don't want, we shouldn't want to be like anybody else. And in this world of social media and we all feel like we're afraid to show our flaws. We're afraid we have to airbrush things, we need to look perfect and we have to smile and we are afraid to show our flaws. I hope this book helps people know that their flaws are beautiful. Beautiful marks on who they are. And that's what made you you and that's what makes you unique and special and to not be afraid to share that. But to say, I'm proud of who I am, I'm proud of where I come from. Because it doesn't matter what you've gone through, where you've come from, how many people tell you no, that you can't do something that won't ever happen. I hope this book shows them that yes, you can. And you are unique and you are special and you are put on this earth to do something awesome, whatever that is, that brings you joy.
- [27:10]
Nathan Chan
Wow. Incredible. So I want to switch gears, talk about the now with the looming recession, what advice do you give to startups and small businesses looking to weather the storm?
- [27:25]
Kendra Scott
You know, I talked earlier about how, you know, starting my business right after 9, 11, a very uncertain time really in the globe was for a lot of people a crazy time to start a business. And with a new baby, you wouldn't think that's always a great idea. But the greatest thing that happened is that it forced me to kind of think about life a little differently that time period. I knew I wanted still to feel good and beautiful, but I couldn't afford what was out there As a new mom, I loved color. And so I was trying to fill a void that I saw. Right. And B, create jewelry that was attainable for women when the recession hit. That foundation of attain luxury that was attainable was an amazing thing. Right. And the connections that I made with my customers from all of our philanthropic efforts gave me the support of our community. Really fell in love with much more than just the products, but fell in love with what the brand stood for and what we showed up doing all the time. Right. And that's when it also forced me to look at the business differently. So sometimes when these things shake up, even the pandemic, I'll give you a great example. You know, I had to close over 100 stores on March 16. I remember it the day because I didn't sleep the night before when we all had to make that decision of what was the best decision for our customers and our employees and how sick that made me feel. And I remember us going, okay, we've got to meet the customer. Where she is now? Where is she now? She's at home. She's on her phone. She's maybe also, you know, very scared. So our philanthropy department started getting boots on the ground. We had our stylists picking up the phones, calling good customers, checking in on them. How are you doing? Do you need anything? Elderly customers. We had store staff delivering them food and soup at their doorstep. And really just again, thinking connection before transaction. The connection we make with our customer was so important, we moved up plans for curbside. That was something we were going to do in the fourth quarter for Christmas. We had to move those plans up to April 1st. We were able to take our team and say, stop working on some of these things. I say, this was our 2020 plan. Okay, this is what happened to our 2020 plan. And so I think as an entrepreneur, we've got to be open to know there are we plan. We do great job planning things. We put forecasts out there. We're ready, right? And then things happen in this world that are going. And I love to use the expression shake the snow globe, because that's what happens. You have to be able to go and go. It's okay that it's not going to go exactly like this. What is our ultimate goal here? We don't want to lose our business. We want to make sure our customers are getting what they need. So how are we going to pivot and be agile right now? And let's start throwing some things up against the wall, have that Entrepreneurial spirit of roll your sleeves up. That startup mentality is what we needed as a company. Even though we're here, we are almost 20 years in at this point, was that startup mentality of you've got to try things out and see what sticks. And that gave us this new agility. We had been kind of really overthinking so many things that you sometimes miss opportunity because you're trying to be very thoughtful, very careful. But during COVID we were like, we gotta move fast. We gotta paint the train while it's moving, folks, and we don't have a chance to just sit here and overanalyze things. And so we really had to put the gas on. On some of these other things that we weren't doing. We started doing virtual styling. All of our in store events, like our Kendra Gives Back events that support local charities. We had to do virtual Kendra Gives Back events. Those events started bringing in more revenue and we're really back to those organizations because now we had audience that maybe couldn't have made it into the store. Now able to do that shopping event online. So that's something that is now stuck with us. As we continue to do in store events, we mirror that and do the same events online. And so all of those things were kind of forced onto us because of COVID but were great gifts to now that we're running actually a better business than we were prior to this event. So, you know, my advice is be agile. I know a plan is great and we all love a plan, but we gotta know that sometimes that plan isn't gonna be exactly what we think it is. Prepare sometimes for the worst, but be ready to absolutely take advantage of those opportunities when you can, to take something that seems scary and actually make it something that is way better than you had originally dreamed.
- [32:14]
Nathan Chan
And when you talk about be agile and changing things or changing things up and shaking it up, that's. That's very entrepreneurial. How do you. How do you make sure that your team or that you're not doing too many things right? Because it's. You can kind of fantasize, right? Like, you can kind of go, what if we do this and this happens? And then we do this and this happens? And how do you, like, how do you work that out to maintain that balance? Because that's a trap that I've found you can fall in.
- [32:46]
Kendra Scott
So the first thing is you can't hire all yous, right? If I hired all Kendras, this place would be chaos, Total chaos. It would be crazy because I Am like, dude, pretty shiny thing over here. Oh, we should think about that. And I'm throwing things out there, right? But I have this amazing team of people around me that bring different strengths to the table. Any entrepreneur that just keeps hiring themselves, you're going to, first of all, have a lot of yes people. And you're not going to get very far because you need that diversity within your team. You need to have some folks that go, okay, I see this, but what if we thought about this, or we're thinking about the timeline of when we're going to launch this, perhaps it might fit better here. Or if we took that element of this, we could still, I love this idea, but maybe this needs to be in here. You have to have this collaborative group that brings different things to the table, and you have to be able to not always be right. The greatest thing you can do as a strong leader is say, yeah, actually, that's a better idea. You don't have to be the one that's always got the great idea. I love it when my team is coming up or says, you know, Kendra, that's good, but what about this? And I'm like, whoa, yes, that's even better. And I think sometimes when you're this founder, you're this leader, you want to be like this. Like, I've got all the ideas and I've got all the answers. And the greatest thing a great leader can do is say, I don't have all the answers. And I know my weaknesses more than I know my strengths. And I'm going to bring a team around me that is absolutely amazing on the things that I'm good at. And that is how you can start to take and that you don't want to have an empty. You know, you want to have a full plate of ideas, but they're always there, right? And you're going to start to have a great team that starts to pick the best ones, cherry pick the best ones. And then again, you may change. We had launches we were going to do in 2020. We waited. It wasn't the time to do it. We had prepared to do them, but we all looked around the table and said, this isn't the time. This isn't the time. We've got to focus on other things right now, and let's wait on that and let's put that aside for a minute. And that was the right decision to make. Even though we were all super pumped and excited about it, we knew it was the right thing to do.
- [35:01]
Nathan Chan
And when you look back at Your career. What. What do you hope your legacy will be?
- [35:06]
Kendra Scott
You know, I. I think for me, it's what I said a little bit earlier is, you know, I'm a fashion designer who is told and that I couldn't do it. I don't have any formal training. I'm a college dropout. My first business failed. I come from a tiny town in Kenosha of Wisconsin. This little, you know, farming community. My grandparents were farmers and coal miners. You know, I did have my aunt, thank goodness, who was in fashion. But I think for me, I want people to know that it doesn't matter where you come from and it doesn't matter what you're told you should do or how your path should look, that when you are passionate about something and you are just absolutely knowing your heart of hearts, this is what I was meant to do. And you also have a purpose that is greater than just money. If you are running your business today because you want to be rich, you have already failed because money does not make you happy. You've got to have a greater purpose. And I. I hope that my legacy is that you can do what you love. You can have great success, but you can also change people's lives for the better in the process.
- [36:23]
Nathan Chan
Amazing. Well, look, that's it from us. Kendra, thank you so much. That was an incredible interview. And if people want to check out the book, Amazon Bookstores. Kendra Scott dot com.
- [36:39]
Kendra Scott
Thank you so much.
- [36:40]
Host 1
Hey, guys. That's it for today's episode. So I got one quick favor from you. We put in so much effort to find the most craziest, hard to reach founders, super successful fans, the greatest founders of our generation.
- [36:52]
Nathan Chan
All I ask is, can you share.
- [36:54]
Host 1
This with a friend? Just one friend? It really, really helps us grow this show. And it's gonna help your friend, right? So please share this with just one person. It would mean the world to us so we can grow this show and build this community. All right, that's it from me.
- [37:09]
Nathan Chan
I'll speak to you soon.