105 – A pee-kaboo into New Product Development with Nina of rahababy

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Hi, there it's Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped

podcast, whether you own a brick and mortar shop sell online

or are just getting started,

you'll discover new insights to gain traction and to grow your

business. And today I want to introduce you to Nina and

Cylo swine raw.

Baby Nina has always had a passion for helping others and

spent a decade doing just that in nonprofit organizations across New

York city,

after moving to the suburbs with her husband and two sons,

Nina combined this passion with her entrepreneurial spirit and formed rock

hobby. The goal at baby is to bring joy to the

daily rituals of parenting and make room for rock,

which means joy and Swahili to homes across the country.

Her first product is the Pete Kaboom reusable,

potty training stick.

These stickers help families make potty training,

easy and fun.

And as she says,

keep calm and potty.

And that's what we're going to do.

Welcome to the show.

Nina, thank you so Much.

So great to be here.

I am Thrilled that you're going to be sharing everything about

this first of yours,

And we're just going to dive right in as you know,

because I know you've listened to some of the shows we

like to start off by having you describe yourself in a

different way,

and that is through a motivational candle.

So help us envision what color your candle would be.

And what would be the quote on a candle that really

speaks to you?

Well, I think my candle would absolutely be orange.

Recently. Orange has become my sort of signature color.

It's a happy color and it's sort of warm,

a warm glow,

yellow smiley faces are usually what people are used to,

but this,

this orange sort of feels warm and it feels like home.

It would have sort of a citrusy smell cause that's kind

of sense.

I kind of liked the smell and I think my quote

was, would be quite simple.

It would just be choose joy as you know,

from the title of my company,

which is raw baby joyful baby loosely translated.

I'm always sort of on this journey as you come up

with challenges in life to choose joy versus other options.

And even my second born son,

his name translated means be joyful.

So I think my quote would be choose joy.

And when I stray from that is when we have complications.

But if I keep that as my focus,

I'm always on the right path.

It's so much about mindset.

You could decide that you're going to just wallow in frustrations

and challenges,

or you can choose joy,

as you said,

and that sets the stage for everything you do moving forward,

absolutely. In your personal life and your business life Agreed.

Orange is starting to become one of my favorite colors.

So my actual real favorite color is yellow because you can

tell by the logo,

there you go.

But orange I've been gravitating to it too.

So no wonder I gravitated to you when I saw you.

That's it.

All right.

All right.

Well, let's talk about your product and first,

why don't you explain to people exactly what it is?

So we're all on the same page.

So the peekaboo reusable potty training sticker is a unique sticker

and it's not one that you put on a chart on

the wall.

It's actually a sticker that goes inside the portable potty.

And the way it works is that it's sort of black

at rest.

And when the child has a potty success,

a picture comes up and it's like magic to them.

It's a flower,

it's a butterfly,

it's a firetruck.

And it's a really strong visual reward that almost any child

can understand whether they have cognitive disabilities,

whether they are a typical child.

Because if you understand cause and effect,

you're going to see I did this and I got a

flower. I got a firetruck.

They get so excited.

They get so engaged in potty training and they want to

do it again and again on their own so that they

can see that image and parents just rinse out the potty

and the image goes back to black.

So each sticker is reusable.

So it's a great new way to potty train your child

without giving them expensive toys for every success or without food

rewards. A lot of parents are looking for things other than

candy m&ms Hey,

they work.

And I have no problem with they do,

but a lot of parents are choosing to do other things.

So it's a new product on the market and it's a

really strong enforcer because the child creates the reward.

So they're going to want to keep coming back so you

don't have to set a timer.

You don't have to pull them away from what they're doing.

And it just potty training,

easy and fun.

We'll have to potty train as parents.

It has to be done.

We can't skip around it.

So let's make it fun.

Absolutely. Okay.

So now that everyone understands what the product is,

let's talk about your journey.

How did you decide that this was something you were going

to do and specifically zero in on that product,

You, that in my bio,

I was always a person that gravitated towards helping others.

I was in the nonprofit industry for almost 10 years,

and then I had my children and I became a stay

at home mother.

And you sort of go through the process as a stay-at-home

mom, you know,

doing all the hard work that you have to do to

keep the kids happy and healthy and,

and, and,

and growing and potty training came up for my older son.

My oldest son has autism.

So he clearly has developmental delays and cognitive delays.

And I was getting all sorts of different advice about what

to do about potty training.

Wait till he tells you,

wait till you see the signs.

Well, what are the signs?

Wait until he shows interest.

And he's just getting older and older and the diapers are

getting bigger and bigger and more expensive.

And I was,

I just was sort of flummoxed.

So when he was about four years old,

I was still waiting for that moment and it just didn't

seem to come.

So I said,

you know,

let's dive into this.

And I sort of made all the mistakes that all parents

make. I did everything that you were supposed to do in

the typical world,

the timers,

the candy,

he didn't care about the timer didn't work.

It just caused tears.

I did tips and tricks that they had for me in

the autism world as well.

And nothing was working.

I was pulling my hair out.

We had been going at this for five months with no

progress. I also had an infant.

My second born was also in my arms as I was

trying to do this.

So it was a very frustrating time.

And a friend of mine who lives in Sweden said,

you know,

there's something that we use in Sweden.

I don't think it's available in America,

but I'll send you it and see if it works.

And I said,

you know what?

I'm gay.

So she sent me this sticker.

She said,

put it in the potty.

When he has a success,

you're going to see a picture come up.

And I thought to myself,

yeah, whatever,

this is not going to work,

but I'm going to try it.

And my son would always pee when he was in the

tub. No matter what I did,

when no matter whether I asked her to go beforehand,

he would always pee in the tub.

So I was ready.

And when he stood up to use the tub as a

toilet, I stuck a portable potty underneath the stream.

He saw the picture come up and it was like a

light bulb went off.

Boom. He was amazed.

And two weeks later he was potty trained.

Oh my,

that fast,

I was completely floored after five months of trying out.

And I won't even get into the mess involved and you

know, I've seen it all.

And so I was just amazed,

but I also had a seven month old in my arms.

So I was like,

yay. He's potty trained.

Let's keep going.

So carry on with my stay at home mother duties and

such. And when my seven month old became two and change,

I was like,

Oh, it's time to potty.

Train him.

Let me call my friend in Sweden and see if I

can get the sticker again.

I did.

And that child was potty trained in a week.

And I said,

this is insane.

This has to be available to every single person in America.

Sure. Cause so easy.

Is that approximately the timeframe within a month call?

It let's even extend it out long within a month.

You're done.

Absolutely. So the American Academy for pediatrics says it can take

up to 12 weeks,

but I like four to six weeks.

Absolutely. I have people that have called me and said,

it's happened in a week,

four days.

I don't see that because every child is different.

What I can guarantee is that the process is just going

to be so much lighter,

so much happier and so much less of a power struggle

that it has been for so many parents over the years.

Right? I mean,

you turn a whole experience that,

I mean,

I remember when my children were younger,

you know,

they obviously had to be potty trained before they could go

to preschool.

It was one of the conditions.

So it was so,

so stressful.

Like, okay,

we have to get this done now.

And to have it be something that could be fun where

you're saying the light bulb went on with your older child

to be a happy experience and a success that just turns

everything around changes the whole potty training experience.

Absolutely. So when he started going to school,

I took on a part-time job and other interesting part-time job.

I started sleep training,

which was basically helping parents teach their children to sleep through

the night.

I would spend two weeks with each family.

A couple of nights,

I would spend sleeping in the room with their children in

the nursery,

helping them learn how to sleep through the night.

And then it would be about 10 days of phone consultations.

It was a great program.

It was run by two women who saw a need created

a program,

hired sleep consultants and rolled it out.

And at the end of every sleep training client that I

had, they would always say,

Oh, thank you so much,

Nina. It's amazing.

You've changed our lives.

You have to come back and potty train our kid because

that was the next thing they were afraid of.

It just kept happening and happening.

And I thought to myself,

I have this amazing idea for this potty training that solved

a potty training problem for my own kids.

These parents keep bringing up potty training over and over again.

The stars are aligning here.

The thing is too with your first example.

I mean,

you can't continue to be there.

I mean,

at some point,

your time is finite and you can't do this for everybody.

But by having a product that solves the solution,

you can,

you can expand it as far as possible.

Okay. Absolutely.

And it's easy to use and you know,

it doesn't have to be plugged in.

It doesn't have to be translated into 27 different languages.

And it's so simple and kids are just delighted by it

and it really changes the game.

Okay. So you've got the idea.

You, you know,

you had a sample and you've used it.

So proof of concept is definitely there.

Now you're hearing demand because people are asking you for it.

Where do you go next in terms of actually developing your

own stuff?

Well, you know,

you start to do the research.

I'll tell you the internet is a beautiful thing.

You start Googling,

you start reading,

you start researching and you start finding out how you can

put these things together.

Through friends.

It's always the first place to start friends,

know people who know people who know people.

Every time I brought up the idea to someone I knew,

I said,

Hey, I have a lawyer who,

blah, blah,

blah, blah,

blah. Hey,

I have a graphic designer who does dah,

dah, dah,

dah. Hey,

I know an internet guy who knows all about websites.

Really. Sometimes we forget that we had these incredible resources just

in our own personal relationships.

I know I was friends with a woman for a long

time. And for five years we would talk about our kids.

And then I discovered she'd had this whole career in the

magazine industry five years into our relationship.

So sometimes just asking the question,

just putting the idea out there,

you'd be surprised at what comes back to you.

So between that and the internet and making those phone calls,

that seems scary,

but actually result in an amazing connections.

I sort of put it all together Super.

And the one thing that gift biz listeners that I want

to really underline here is number one,

connections. You know,

you don't know the person sitting right next to you.

You've never had the reason to ask questions or provide information

on that end before it might be all having coffee and

raising the kids.

And that you just never know that also leads into Nina.

The concept of,

you know,

so many people will feel like they need to keep their

idea really close to their chest because,

Oh my gosh,

someone else is going to steal it.

You're not going to be able to resource the connections that

you might need to advance your product.

If you keep it too close to your chest.

Right. How do you feel about that?

And how did that play into the way you were talking

about the product before it was created?

Well, you know,

I had an incredible mentor,

Mindy harden who actually created boogie wipes,

which I'm sure a lot of parents out there are familiar

with know about.

And it's sort of a situation where you can try and

protect your idea as much as possible.

But again,

everybody's out there doing things and there's so much room for

all of us.

You're not going to learn what you need to know.

If you don't talk about what you want to do.

And I found just generosity and support in the,

in the infant and child market.

Sure. Are there people that hear an idea and copy it

from somewhere else?

I mean,

some would argue that I did the same thing,

but this product was not available in America.

And it just seems like it was going to help so

many people.

I think you have to take the risk.

I think that if a huge company wants to come in

and develop this potty sticker,

there's pretty much very little I can do.

If a big company that's sort of established and out there

a Johnson and Johnson suddenly decides we're going to go for

it. Then there you are.

I think that the key is to be first to market,

have a strong brand,

get yourself out there and let people know who you are.

That has to be the main focus.

The other thing about this all is that when you have

a physical product,

whether it's in the creation stage or already out there,

people can knock you off.

I mean,

it just can happen.

And that's when the overlay of who you are as a

business owner and how you run your company comes into play

because no one,

no matter what they do with the stickers and Nina,

no one can have your personality,

your receptivity,

when you're talking on a podcast or you're doing interviews or

whatever. So that's the additional overlay on the product.

It's just not all about the product itself.

Although obviously you have to have a good product,

right? It's gotta be working and it's gotta be benefiting somebody.

So a little bit more in terms of how the company

was started.

So we won't go into all the detail about the product

and how it was created and all of that.

But how did you decide on the actual structure of your

business? Like the name and the first steps in terms of

setting it up from that end?

No, I had to do the research with,

do I want to be an escort?

Do I want to be an LLC?

I'm going to have partners,

all of that stuff.

And that was really just doing a lot of research,

reading, talking to other small business owners.

The name raw baby came out of my attraction to joy.

Raha means joy.

It was always the name that I would use for any

ideas or businesses I created as I was growing up,

even when I was in grad school.

And so that was an easy thing for me,

Rob baby.

And the name of the product came from my fabulous graphic

designer. I mean,

we sat and we came up with ideas.

We had lots of ideas and things that rolled off the

tongue and things that didn't,

but the peek-a-boo just encapsulated everything that this was about.

It was,

you know,

the pee of urine obviously,

but peek-a-boo the surprise that the child gets from seeing this

image come out on the sticker.

It's so perfect.

And give his listeners,

you can't see it,

but it's spelled P E dash K a B O L.

So in both angles,

you know,

from actually what's happening to,

you know,

just the whole idea of peek-a-boo as a baby,

couldn't be better.

So when you guys finally figured that out and you heard

it, it was it like,

Oh yes,

we're done.

Absolutely. And I shared it with friends and family and I

just said,

you know,

tell me honestly,

what do you think in the beginning,

I was really sharing a lot of my ideas with friends

and family and say,

be harsh,

be critical.

You know,

tell me,

what does this speak to you?

Does this design?

What about this character?

When I have four designs right now,

I had probably 20 or 30 other ideas.

I had different logo ideas.

We went through it all.

It's just trial and error and you keep trying and keep

trying. And when you hit it,

you know that you've,

you know,

you've done it.

You just have that feeling.

And did you get some feedback at any point where people

are like,

nah, not this one.

And how did you respond to that?

Take it in.

Why are you asking if you don't want to know,

I'm trying to reach the consumer.

I know what I like,

but you know,

what, if I'm S I have some interesting avant-garde taste and,

and I'm all into,

I don't know,

Picasso type images.

That's not going to speak to the child.

It's also not going to speak to the parent.

So I know that the people I'm trying to reach don't

necessarily want smiley bunnies and fluffy,

you know,

sort of animated.

I mean,

there's a level of sophistication and style that I brought to

the design of my product.

I had certain stores in my mind,

one of them in particular giggle,

would my product fit in giggle?

Would it,

would it fit with the way with their style and with

the feeling of the store?

And I'm proud to say,

when I go out there and I'm at trade shows,

so many people say,

Hey, are you in giggle?

Hey, are you in giggle?

I can giggle would like this.

So I think we really hit the aesthetic.

I was trying to reach.

This is fabulous because I don't think we've ever talked about

this perspective on the show before,

in terms of anticipating where you're going to want to have

your product and that it's going to blend with the style

and the theme and what they would want to be purchasing

from you.

So that was beautiful.

Thank you so much for sharing that and also kudos to

you because so many people,

again, to this idea of keeping your idea too close to

yourself, we all love our ideas,

right? This could have been a huge disaster if you weren't

sharing with everybody and getting feedback and getting an opinion.

So gift biz listeners,

once again,

if you have a product in mind,

please, please get input,

get feedback,

make sure that it's just not an idea.

You know,

you might in yourself say,

I know this is right.

I it's,

it's perfect.

It's exactly what we need to do.

Make sure you're sharing it with other people just to confirm

that your initial ideas are Right.

Absolutely. All right.

You've Got your product.

You've got your name.

You've got your entity.

What was next would,

what did you think about getting the word out through a

website or shows or how,

what happened with that?

I'll tell you,

honestly, in the beginning I was just bumbling through.

I thought I could just pick up the phone and make

phone calls to stores and they would fall in love with

it just by me describing it over the phone.

I thought I could just send samples to stores and they

would instantly place huge orders.

And it just doesn't always work like that for products,

especially a product like mine.

That is,

there's really nothing else on the market like this.

I like to say,

I don't know if I've mentioned this to you.

I like to say I'm the Spanx of potty training.

Oh, there you go.

When Spanx came out,

people were like,

what do you want me to put one on?

I don't understand this,

but now under garments are an entire industry.

There's nothing else like it on the market.

So there's a lot of education that has to happen,

not just with the consumers,

but with the retailers as well.

I've never seen this.

I don't understand why my customer would want this.

And shelf space is valuable,

especially, you know,

in the smaller boutiques,

obviously in the big box,

they want to be sure that the consumers are really going

to want to make that purchase.

So I discovered after sort of bumbling through for a while

that the trade shows were really where I was able to

meet with retailers.

One-on-one to show them my product,

to show them videos.

Actually, this year I showed them in action.

I had water and I was showing them how the product

changes and how easy it is to change back and what

it feels like,

because it's really easy to show a cool,

funky t-shirt or a great toy,

but this is something that people just have never seen before.

So there's a lot of education involved.

So there was,

you know,

the trade shows,

obviously social media,

who isn't on social media,

and I'm actually ramping up my social media work now and

really trying to meet parents at their point of pain.

You know,

a lot of parents go into the chat rooms and the

parent chat rooms on Facebook and in other places to share

their woes,

Oh my gosh,

my child isn't potty trained.

What am I going to do?

How can we solve this?

So how do I meet them?

How do I say here I am,

this is what you need.

Did you Go into some of those groups and see what

the problems were or see their language,

all that kind of thing,

and then participate in,

engage with them there at all.

Absolutely. And you know,

in groups you have to be careful because they're personal and

they can smell someone trying to sell something in a minute.

So you're sort of violating the safe space.

If you go in there and you're all use my product,

buy by here's my website,

they'll cut you out immediately.

But there were groups that I had already been a part

of who get new members,

groups that I've been in since my now 13 year old

was a child who have new members who are coming up.

There are autism groups that I'm part of that I'm able

to ask them,

Hey, what do you guys think?

Hey, will you be a tester?

So that has been a really great way.

And once people find out about it,

they share it with their friends.

It's that Seth Godin building the tribes,

starting from the middle and sort of vibrating outwards,

Right? And going into groups and providing value and commenting and

seen a need to,

you had said,

you'd already been part of these groups already.

So people already knew you before the product was developed,

but going into an understanding in real life,

I think what people are encountering and also the terminology and

the words that they're using,

because you can take that information and apply it in your

promotional stuff.

So you're speaking the same language.

Absolutely. And also another thing that I did was I was

doing a lot of potty training seminars,

you know,

locally. And as far as Connecticut and such again,

speaking to the parents who are in that moment,

who really need the information at that moment.

And I give the seminars and then they would get discount

codes. And I'm always available to people as I grow.

I probably won't be able to be as available to them.

What I hope are hundreds of thousands of people buying the

product, but right now,

absolutely. My name is on the website,

my phone number there's,

I'm not hiding behind an 800 number it's me.

So I'm very accessible and people know that they can reach

out to me.

And so,

So doing these local seminars,

then you were just connecting up with obviously the audiences who

needed the information they were struggling.

And so you grew it really from smaller presentations.

And then from there,

people were getting to know you.

Absolutely. And it's trust potty training is such a personal experience.

I'll tell you,

I don't care if you're a grandparent or a new parent,

you say the word potty training to someone and their face.

It either lights up crumbles in fear,

or it says,

Oh my gosh,

I've got a story for you.

It's such a personal experience.

And if people don't trust you,

they're not going to say,

Hey, my five-year-old is still cooping in his diaper,

or what am I going to do?

My three-year-old is wetting the bed.

They're not going to share.

And then you're not going to know how to help them.

Right? So trust is a big part of what I do

really good.

And some of this information,

I mean,

by doing presentations in public,

you're going to see which communications are really resonated with the

audience and which aren't and all of that.

Then you can take back and make videos for your website

or YouTube videos or whatever,

too. So exactly what happened,

Worked along the way.

Nina, what struggles have you had or maybe one big story

that was just so challenging.

I'll tell you.

What's been interesting.

I have learned a lot from promotions that have failed.

I have learned that again,

potty training is not something people look forward to,

so to have a big sale or to have a huge

discount or to have,

you know,

for a limited time only doesn't necessarily inspire people to buy

my product.

That's not the motivator people don't get excited and think,

Oh, there's a big sale on this.

I'm going to buy this now and hold onto it for

a year so that I'm ready for it.

It doesn't work that way.

That was a big learning experience for me.

Because again,

from the consumer side,

having had children and you've done a lot of retail for

my own children.

I just thought,

Oh, this is going to work.

But it's potty training is not an impulse buy kind of

situation. It really is meeting that customer when they need the

product. So I've really had to keep fine tuning how to

reach that customer,

where to find them.

What if they've already started?

What if they're struggling and they've given up,

I've really had to fine tune how to find my customer

and how you're doing that.

I am again,

social media is a huge piece,

so good Knowing where they already are in the groups and

all. Okay.

And then I've talked to a bunch of different individuals about,

I'm not a baby registry item.

So some of the bigger trade shows where,

you know,

expecting moms and new moms go.

They're just not thinking two years ahead.

They aren't,

they really aren't.

There's a movement now about feeding,

not breastfeeding,

but once children get to table food.

And so I've seen that shift happen.

And so people are starting to think a little bit further

than the first year.

They're thinking about what plates they want,

what spoons they want,

that kind of thing.

So there may be a shift towards the two year sort

of age range.

But right now I really have to find them,

you know,

sort of on the playgrounds,

in the playgroups,

in the application process,

when they're applying to preschool and discover,

Oh man,

my child needs to be potty trained.

That's where I'm finding my customers.

Yeah. So the trick is timing not pricing for you.

Absolutely. Because I'll tell you,

once people succeed,

they'll say I would have paid $50 for that.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Because you spend a lot more when you have to

do much labs in emotional energy and dust,

for sure.

Yes. Let's talk a little bit about pricing.

Since this hasn't been a product that's like anything else available

in the States,

how did you decide what you were going to start off

with in pricing and how has that evolved?

Then I asked a lot of people,

what would you pay?

What would you pay?

What would you pay?

I went to the big box and smaller boutiques and saw

how much are people spending on the event of potty training.

You get the potty,

we get the pull-ups,

you get the underwear,

you get the hand soap,

you get the group of toys that you're going to use.

As a prize.

I had a friend who potty trained her child using Thomas

the tank engine trains.

It became incredibly expensive to give the child at 17,

$19 train every time he urinated.

So I did a real sort of big survey to see

what do I think people would pay.

And then I looked at what people paid for pull-ups and

I made the comparison,

a pack of pull-ups costs about $15.

Would you pay that to get your child out of pull-ups

and people do initially I used to sell my product in

the kits and then I broke it down into individual units

because we had people that wanted a combination of designs,

the individual units,

1199, the kids are 22.

I'll tell you I still sell more kids because people do

the quick math.

And they think,

Oh, if I buy two individuals,

that's $24.

If I buy a kit,

that's 22,

I'm going to save money.

Plus I think you want to switch it up so that

the child isn't doesn't even know what picture is going to

necessarily go.

Absolutely. That makes it super fun.

So, you know,

it was definitely about going out and doing the research and

then asking people and again,

getting their response,

especially once they'd use the product,

you know,

I gave it out to a lot of people.

I mean,

initially free of charge.

I said,

I'd like you guys to be my users.

I want you to be my testers.

Tell me how it is.

Tell me what works.

Tell me what doesn't work.

Tell me what you would pay for it.

Great thing about that is too.

Then you have testimonials right away,

you know,

as soon as,

as soon as your site's up and all of that,

people are testing it.

People are trying it and they've got feedback for you right

away. Absolutely.

The one thing that comes to mind for me about your

product is your audience apart from repeat moms,

of course,

because multiple children,

but your audience,

isn't a lifetime audience because at some point the kids are

grown. I mean,

the problem has been resolved.

So you need to continually go back and prospect and catch

people like we were saying before at that point in time.

But in terms of continuing on that only lasts for a

certain amount.

Absolutely. You know,

even if you do have a second child,

I'm not going to catch you for another 18 months or

so. So you're right.

It's constantly getting new clients,

constantly getting new customers.

And how are you working with that?

It's all a learning experience.

If I'm in these chat rooms,

they also rotate out.

Once people reach preschool,

they move into the preschool room.

So it's constantly going back to those sources and saying,

Hey, remember me,

Hey, your child is ready.

Hey, you know,

I have not been able to link up specifically with,

you know,

sort of,

Oh, this,

this is a roster of women who,

whose children were born at this date and they're going to

be ready at this time.

But I'll tell you,

what's been really helpful on Instagram,

which is just exploding.

You can always find the Instagram users who are potty training,

especially Instagram users who have large numbers of followers.

Usually they are followed by people whose babies are the same

age. So again,

forming relationships with people in social media who are potty training,

potty training families have potty training friends.

18 month old families are usually socializing,

going to mommy groups,

going to music and me groups with other 18 month old

children. Those are the people that I need to connect with

and let them know that I'm out there because they're going

to be looking to potty training in six to six to

eight months.

It's not just potty training either.

It's any products that are identified for that specific age group.

Exactly. So I'm not going to ask you to spill the

beans because I know you wouldn't anyway,

do you have some more products in the back that you're

working on in the background?

I'll tell you that I have new designs.

Absolutely. In the background.

It's very interesting because it's always about diversifying.

So I struggle with,

do I stay in the potty training realm?

Do I stay in the bathroom?

Well, do I stay in the toddler world?

So in terms of other products,

I have some other ideas,

but I want to be some sort of synergy.

I mean,

if I started,

suddenly started making,

I don't know,

t-shirts or hair pair bows,

I feel like it kind of would be way off Track

it's disconnected.

Yeah, Exactly.

So I'm trying to think about what that next product would

be. But right now I'm really interested in growing what I

have. Don't want to get too ahead of myself.

So again,

making new designs,

I have a lot of parents that say,

Oh, well,

could you put my daughter's favorite princess on or my son's

favorite action hero?

And that's a licensing issue.

That's something I'd like to explore going down the road.

Absolutely. But I think that there's still more to do with

the potty training sticker.

It just came to mind to me,

what if you had family relatives,

pictures on the stickers like customization or,

or To learn how to spell Or colors or,

Oh my gosh.

The expansions could be crazy.

Yeah. And I,

you know,

it's interesting because I'm working right now with a lot of

people who are trying to identify,

like, what is my business going to be?

And I keep saying,

you have to be open.

You have to be looking around,

you know,

there may be a trigger that happens this afternoon,

that you just have to have an open mind to it.

But a lot has to be said for what you're talking

about too,

because you're saying I'm sticking with my core product.

There's a lot still to do,

to build and grow and expand right from here.

All right,

Nina, I want to roll over now into our reflection section.

So this is another look at you,

how you're working your business and other types of tips that

you can give our listeners.

If there's one natural trait that you would have now,

here you are starting from scratch.

No one to look at in terms of a pattern really,

except for that one product from the UK.

But what is a natural trait that you had that you

called upon to get all of this from just this initial

vision into reality?

I think the thing that really sticks with me ironically,

is sort of sticktuitiveness,

it's digging your heels in and working the program.

So to speak,

as I said,

I have a child with autism in the autism world.

They always say that autism is not a sprint.

It's a marathon.

And I think that's the same for my experience in the

entrepreneurial world.

Everybody wants to see sort of an overnight success.

Those do happen just like kids.

Some kids do potty train themselves in a weekend by themselves,

but the majority of us have to put in the time

and it's about stamina.

And it's about sticking to your product.

Obviously testing it out and believing and knowing that it works.

And that it's a valid idea.

If you really believe in it,

sticking to it,

and there's going to be peaks and valleys and there's going

to be setbacks.

But if you stay the course and keep pushing through,

regardless, I think that that is so important to the entrepreneurial.

I totally agree with you on that.

The terminology you used was not lost on me.

Stick to it.

with the stickers.

There you go.

There you go.

See, I didn't even realize,

is there a tool You're using in your business day,

that's helping you keep control of your tasks or to stay

productive or,

you know,

since you are a super busy mom,

just keeping some balance between work and personal life balance.

The elusive word.

One Thing I learned from my mentor is work.

When you work and parent,

when you parent don't try to combine the two,

I am not good enough yet to not have my work

email on my phone,

around the children.

That's something I'm working towards.

It's taking the work,

email off my phone so that I can only access it

when I'm sitting at my desk,

but I am infinitely better at working when I work and

parenting. When I parent weekends,

I try not to come anywhere near my desk asleep.

I might check my emails on a Saturday night,

but I really try not to deal with the workpiece when

I am at that time assigned to being a mom.

So that's the big piece work when you work parent,

when you parent my kids come home from school at three

o'clock and you know,

from three to bedtime,

I'm doing the homework and I'm shuttling them to this and

that activity.

And I'm not necessarily focusing on the potty sticker business,

but then at eight o'clock entrepreneur,

get back on the computer and do the work.

That's a big piece for me.

And then in terms of keeping myself organized,

I'm still old enough to have been alive during the pre-computer

age. I do use a lot of apps and things like

that, but in terms of to-do lists and scheduling,

I use the Google calendar and such,

but I really still love my big white eraser board calendar

on my wall that shows the entire month and what's happening.

I do like my to do lists that I put together

the night before and try to tackle the following day.

I've gotten much better at not having those lists have 20

things on them,

so that I hate myself at the end of the day

for not catching them.

So, you know,

I try to keep it at three to five and then

I'm like,

wow, I finished my list.

I'll do one thing more.

And then you can always feel good about yourself.

I think the apps and all this technology is great,

but so many people go back to the tried and true

boards too.

So I think it's kind of like,

do what's works best for you just because it's the newest,

greatest, coolest doesn't mean that it's going to work well for

you. Absolutely.

What about a book?

Is there anything that you've read lately that you think you

would want to recommend to our listeners?

I'll tell you.

I did a lot of business book reading in the beginning

when I was putting this whole thing together,

but recently I do a lot more podcasts,

listening, podcasts like yours.

And it's just easier for me to do as I'm packing

boxes or if I'm driving to a trade show or setting

up for a trade show,

I love to listen to podcasts,

listening to other entrepreneurs,

listen to other businesses successful or not.

And just learning from their experiences.

I listened to a great podcast about three,

four weeks ago about Joe Malone,

the woman who,

you know,

everyone knows Jo Malone perfume.

I did not know her backstory.

I didn't know how difficult her life had been as a

child. How she started working at 15 out of necessity per

father. I don't think it was in the picture.

Her mother was ill.

She was supporting her family and happened to work in a

sort of beauty area and learned her craft.

She also has an incredible nose and a good idea of

sense, you know,

sense and smells and just learning about,

again, not just the growth of her empire,

but also her personal life.

Because again,

to me,

they all really meshed together and learning how she overcame cancer

or how she had to rebuild herself after she sold her

company to Estee Lauder,

which seemed like an incredible experience,

but she was forbidden from working in the industry for five

years. I learned so much from those that I get so

inspired by listening to especially other women who,

even if they've not been multimillionaires or not had these incredible

successes, how they overcame adversity,

because when you have those tools in you,

you can run a business.

Do you recall what podcasts that was?

They was playing on the plane.

So it was made,

especially for the airline.

If I can find the links,

I will share it with you because it was just so

amazing. Perfect.

And it's so funny that you just said that because two

days ago I got back from vacation.

Yes. To Morocco and we flew through Paris.

And what did I buy?

Some Jo Malone perfume.

There you go.

So funny that you say That today,

my very first podcast interview back.

That's So funny.

Oh my gosh.

You had also referenced earlier Seth Godin,

who has a number of fabulous box.

So just any,

you could pick up any one of them.

Yeah. The depth of me,

there's a million of them.

So give biz listeners.

If you're looking for some really solid marketing advice,

product positioning and all of that,

he would be an author to follow as well.

And I know that he has a lot of books on

audible because I have pretty much everything.

I think I've read every single thing that he's done.

And so if you're interested in that,

I've teamed up with audible for you to be able to

get an audio book for free on me.

All you need to do is go to gift biz,

book.com and make a selection of any book that's on audible

that you would like.

Wonderful. All right,

Nina, I would like to invite you to dare to dream.

I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable

Heights that you would wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift in our presence and let us know

what's inside your box.

Wow. Okay.

I think for me,

my goal,

my dream is for the peekaboo potty sticker to be,

as you become notice to potty training,

as wipes are to diapers,

I would love to see it in stores across the country.

I'd love to see people just say,

Oh yeah,

are you potty training?

You need to get a potty and a peek-a-boo potty sticker.

That would be amazing for me again,

because I just think it's such a no brainer and it

just changes the game.

I'd love to reach a point where I can be more

philanthropic will be more giving to organizations.

I'd love to reach back and help children with special needs.

Again, I have a child with special needs,

so many challenges involved.

And if I can just take one of those challenges off

the table for parents,

they have them from having to buy diapers that get increasingly

expensive, the larger your child is,

then that would just be a,

such a joy for me.

So giving back to organizations that provide services to families,

with kids with special needs,

and then also,

you know,

I have a soft spot for teaching people about early childhood

development. As a society,

we consider ourselves smarter and clever and faster,

and look how little one can do this and look how

my little one can do that.

But there are some things that just don't change and two-year-olds

even if they can swipe through your iPad and find their

favorite movie on Netflix are still two year olds.

And sometimes we expect too much of them and we get

our head of ourselves and that creates conflict.

And just teaching people about early childhood development and setting realistic

expectations. Again,

helping people who need guidance and parenting,

just doing something with that would be amazing.

I love it because everything you've said,

there still sticks right in line with what you've started.

You know,

it's right.

As we were talking about earlier,

it's just the same concept.

Just a look,

a couple of little angles,

but still the core is the same.

Nina. Is there one single place online that you would send

people to learn more about you and about the peekaboo potty

stick? Absolutely.

They can go to my website and it's www dot peek-a-boo

potty sticker.com

and they can learn about my product.

They can learn about me and my family.

They can reach out to me directly or on any one

of my social media platforms.

It's all there.

And then we'll also have all the platforms over on the

show notes page,

as those of you who have been listening to me for

a while know.

So you can go take a look at that as well.

Nina, super fun to talk to you about this journey.

As I said,

when I saw you at the show,

I was attracted right away to the booth because of the

color, but also because of you,

I mean,

you're so engaging,

so entertaining,

so fun and that personality and override on top of a

fabulous product is a magical mixture.

So much success to you as you continue on and may

your candle always burn?

Where are you in your business building journey,

whether you're just starting out or already running a business,

and you want to know your setup for success.

Find out by taking the gift biz quiz,

access the quiz from your computer at bit dot L Y

slash gift biz quiz or from your phone by texting gift

biz quiz to four four two,

two, two.

Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the

next episode.

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