398 – The StartUp Story of Little Rebels with Marjorie Spitalnik
Have you ever wondered how the dolls you see on store shelves come to be?
Today you’re going to hear the details behind the story of Little Rebels dolls, how MJ (short for Marjorie) came up with the idea, and everything it took to get to where she is today.
Particularly impressive is the detail that MJ put into the look of the dolls and how she committed BIG time to a large retailer, literally inventing a program on the fly while keeping her fingers crossed that it could actually be done.
Marjorie is a Latin American entrepreneur and founder of Little Rebels with more than 15 years of experience in advertising and communications.
Inspired by her daughter, Marjorie decided to go after her dreams of empowering women and kids about great women that shaped the world.
Little Rebels is an educational platform created to empower and inspire girls. Playfully and interactively, it teaches stories through plushies, media, and technology.
The StartUp Story Of Little Rebels
In this episode, you’ll hear …
- How MJ came up with the idea for Little Rebels dolls
- The initial vision and how it developed over time
- First steps in the creation process
- One crucial element of your product that you must optimize
- How it’s possible to create a business even when you don’t know how to do everything
- MJ’s best tips for new business owners
- and so much more you can learn from!
Tune in to this fascinating conversation to discover how to go from clever idea to successful business!
Resources Mentioned
Marjorie’s Contact Links
Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn
Join Our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
Become a Member of Gift Biz Breeze
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Thank you so much! Sue
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Transcript
You're listening to Gift Biz Unwrapped guest episode number 398.
Speaker:I just did this for my daughter.
Speaker:Look at her face.
Speaker:How cool.
Speaker:Like just sharing with my friends and in one viral Attention,
Speaker:gifters beggars,
Speaker:crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is Gift Biz Unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host Gift Biz gal Sue Moon Height.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Sue and thanks for joining me here today.
Speaker:It's pretty serendipitous that our podcast scheduling rolled out as it
Speaker:did because right here as you're listening to this live Little
Speaker:Rebels dolls are being rolled out in some of the biggest
Speaker:retailers in the country.
Speaker:What began as an idea a few short years ago will
Speaker:now be available on the stores of Macy's and Walmart for
Speaker:this season's holiday shopping.
Speaker:Speaking of the holidays,
Speaker:if you haven't given thought yet to gifts for your support
Speaker:team or bestie,
Speaker:do check out our MERT shop.
Speaker:There you'll find business associated items that bring beauty and inspiration
Speaker:to a workday and peace and tranquility to personal time.
Speaker:Whether it's coffee in a colorful mug,
Speaker:capturing thoughts in a special journal,
Speaker:or sipping wine in one of our reflective themed insulated mugs.
Speaker:You'll find the perfect gift over@giftbizunwrapped.com
Speaker:slash shop.
Speaker:While there,
Speaker:pick up something for yourself too.
Speaker:You deserve it.
Speaker:Now back to Little Rebels.
Speaker:Today you're gonna hear the details behind the story of these
Speaker:dolls. You'll find out about the initial vision.
Speaker:Mjs first steps into the creation process and all that happened
Speaker:to get to where she is today,
Speaker:particularly impressive is the strategic thought MJ put into the look
Speaker:of the dolls and how she committed big time to a
Speaker:large retailer,
Speaker:literally inventing a program on the fly while keeping her fingers
Speaker:crossed to that it could actually be done.
Speaker:Settle in as MJ shares everything behind this fascinating story.
Speaker:Today we're gonna be talking to Marjorie Spit Nick,
Speaker:also known as MJ of Little Rebels.
Speaker:Marjorie is a Latin American entrepreneur and founder of Little Rebels.
Speaker:With more than 15 years of experience in advertising and communications,
Speaker:inspired by her daughter,
Speaker:MD decided to go after her dreams of empowering women and
Speaker:kids about great women that shaped the world.
Speaker:Little Rebels is an educational platform created to empower and inspire
Speaker:girls, playfully and interactively.
Speaker:It teaches stories mixing plushies,
Speaker:media and technology.
Speaker:Mj, welcome to the Gift Biz Unrepped podcast.
Speaker:Thank you Sue.
Speaker:I'm honored to be here and so excited for this conversation.
Speaker:I am too because I think your cause is so special
Speaker:and so needed and I'm excited to hear how it all
Speaker:developed. But first,
Speaker:I have one thing that we do on every single show
Speaker:to get to know you a little bit better in a
Speaker:creative way.
Speaker:Tell me about a motivational candle that would be all you
Speaker:by color and a quote.
Speaker:Give us a little more insight into you by way of
Speaker:this candle.
Speaker:I would say the quote,
Speaker:it's probably inspired by the fear of being average.
Speaker:That'll be the quote,
Speaker:not quite sure who said it.
Speaker:I have to be honest.
Speaker:And the color,
Speaker:it's gonna be like similar to unicorn,
Speaker:all mixed up colors with shiny thingies all around like it's
Speaker:gonna be like very bright candle,
Speaker:like without the sprinkles and Oh,
Speaker:shiny. Well it has to be because the unicorn look goes
Speaker:with your quote,
Speaker:right, not being average.
Speaker:That's the idea to have something completely different for what you
Speaker:usually see.
Speaker:Yeah, we often talk about the fact that people really want
Speaker:to be seen and I think that goes along with your
Speaker:quote, you know,
Speaker:not being average.
Speaker:Everyone's special and you wanna be seen as being unique.
Speaker:And so the fear of being average should inspire all of
Speaker:us. We're all creators.
Speaker:We all have this skill which not everybody does.
Speaker:And so I like the quote particularly because it pushes us
Speaker:into doing what we naturally do,
Speaker:but we're always so scared and we kind of put a
Speaker:shield on should I,
Speaker:should I not?
Speaker:Am I gonna be accepted,
Speaker:am I not?
Speaker:And so let's all have that fear of being average.
Speaker:We don't want it.
Speaker:Exactly. And I think it's super powerful quote also because,
Speaker:and there's nothing wrong about being average.
Speaker:Like there are people that are comfortable on their zone and
Speaker:that's okay for them.
Speaker:I just feel like I cannot live this word the same
Speaker:way it was when I came.
Speaker:I have the obligation to actually improve it and make it
Speaker:better somehow.
Speaker:So that's why I keep pushing myself whenever I'm coming down
Speaker:my comfort zone.
Speaker:I just remember the quote and it's like you're being average,
Speaker:like step outside the comfort zone and keep walking.
Speaker:Okay. No average here.
Speaker:My guess is the majority of the people who are listening
Speaker:to the show are going to fall in the same boat.
Speaker:They don't wanna be average either.
Speaker:Exactly. Wonderful.
Speaker:Alright, well give me a little bit of the backstory about
Speaker:how little Rebels started.
Speaker:Were you doing something else before this?
Speaker:I think you were from your intro,
Speaker:so share a little bit about all that.
Speaker:Yeah, So my background is actually on PR and communications.
Speaker:I spent like over 20 years working as an advertiser.
Speaker:I had my advertising agency.
Speaker:I work a lot with several local brands and still nowadays
Speaker:sometimes I do like some consultancy for local brands.
Speaker:And Was this your own business?
Speaker:It sounds like this was also your own business.
Speaker:Yeah, Like I've worked for others but then finally I always
Speaker:end up working by myself.
Speaker:Like I guess I have a different pace than the rest
Speaker:of them.
Speaker:And back in 2014 I have a daughter,
Speaker:I'm a single mom,
Speaker:she was around six by that time and she came to
Speaker:me with a drawing and she asked me to transform it
Speaker:into something real.
Speaker:So I ended up doing a plush that looked just like
Speaker:her drawing and I posted on Facebook like,
Speaker:Hey, I just did this for my daughter.
Speaker:Look at her face.
Speaker:How cool.
Speaker:Like just sharing with my friends and it went viral and
Speaker:before I knew it I had people actually asking me to
Speaker:do the pluses for their kids as well.
Speaker:So before I knew it I had a business.
Speaker:So I'm from Latin America,
Speaker:I'm from Uruguay,
Speaker:so my business name was<unk>.
Speaker:When you translated it means I'll draw you.
Speaker:So people send me their kids drawings and I will return
Speaker:pluses that look just like their drawings.
Speaker:So I had that endeavor for six years,
Speaker:got selected by President Obama to be a year and a
Speaker:half in the us being trained by higher executives,
Speaker:Richard Branson among them,
Speaker:which was a life changing experience.
Speaker:And then came back,
Speaker:kept working on until,
Speaker:well I always say that my business grow with my daughter.
Speaker:So my daughter is now 15,
Speaker:of course she doesn't need like to draw and have a
Speaker:flash made out of her.
Speaker:So when the pandemic hit,
Speaker:she was diagnosed with borderline disorders.
Speaker:So she was struggling a lot to go to classes physically.
Speaker:So we started homeschooling and that's when I noticed,
Speaker:like I started going through her textbooks with her and everybody
Speaker:was talking to her about great men in history from Albert
Speaker:Einstein to Stiff Jobs to all these amazing mens that we
Speaker:already know out there and nobody was talking to her about
Speaker:women. So I started asking sweetie,
Speaker:do you know who Mary Kiri was,
Speaker:who Mala is?
Speaker:And so on.
Speaker:And she kept saying no.
Speaker:So I got worried and I said,
Speaker:wait, like how does she not know about this women?
Speaker:Like they were literally trailblazers changing the word that we're living
Speaker:in today.
Speaker:Some of them actually are like Mary is the responsible that
Speaker:we can actually detect and cure cancer.
Speaker:So it's important for her to know who she was.
Speaker:So I enter on Google and I start looking for different
Speaker:resources for me to teach her as a mom.
Speaker:And there were a bunch of books coming out by the
Speaker:time this was 2019,
Speaker:I bought all the books available out there,
Speaker:but there was nothing playful,
Speaker:nothing huggable.
Speaker:And we learn better through play plus that hard.
Speaker:So I love playing around and I said,
Speaker:hey, maybe what I need to do is get all the
Speaker:expertise that I've developed over the years with my previous endeavor
Speaker:and do this pluses from this amazing women in history.
Speaker:And I can teach kids through the pluses.
Speaker:It's a scalable business,
Speaker:it's easier to do.
Speaker:There's several women out there like I'm never gonna run out
Speaker:of new models as there's as much models as amazing women
Speaker:around the world.
Speaker:And that's pretty much how everything got started.
Speaker:That was 2019.
Speaker:I went to the Dallas Toy Fair,
Speaker:which is a toy show like very important in the US
Speaker:with the first four models that I had,
Speaker:the four samples,
Speaker:this one is one of them,
Speaker:Mary Jackson,
Speaker:she was with me then.
Speaker:And then I got to pitch to all these amazing giants
Speaker:in the industry,
Speaker:the Hasbros,
Speaker:the Mattel,
Speaker:the Walmarts,
Speaker:like all these big names.
Speaker:And they all love the concept and they give me amazing
Speaker:feedback among them.
Speaker:Is there a book that comes with it?
Speaker:Like how do kids know when they see it in the
Speaker:shelves that this was Mary Jackson,
Speaker:the first African American engineer at nasa.
Speaker:And that's when I realize,
Speaker:oh yeah I need to add something into it.
Speaker:And I didn't wanna add books cuz there's a bunch of
Speaker:them out there already.
Speaker:So I wanted to do something different that will like separate
Speaker:us from others doing the same thing.
Speaker:And that's when it hits me like kids are all day
Speaker:long on their cell phones,
Speaker:so why don't we use their time on the cell phones
Speaker:to teach them something in a fun way.
Speaker:And that's when I,
Speaker:the app.
Speaker:So our app,
Speaker:when you scan the Blu faces,
Speaker:they take you to like you get access to a premium
Speaker:feature per se.
Speaker:So you have videos,
Speaker:eBooks, trivia,
Speaker:augmented reality,
Speaker:like all these educational resources telling their stories of these women
Speaker:so kids can actually learn while playing in their cell phone.
Speaker:That is so amazing because you're taking all of these different
Speaker:elements and merging them together for the similar cause.
Speaker:Right. But now I'm gonna take you all the way back
Speaker:again. So now we've heard the whole story of where you're
Speaker:at to this point today,
Speaker:but I wanna dive deeper into how actually this all happened.
Speaker:So you started with,
Speaker:you identified the fact that famous and significant women weren't being
Speaker:talked about and certainly their stories weren't being chaired to our
Speaker:youth of the day.
Speaker:And you saw that with your daughter right away.
Speaker:And I'm repeating a little bit of your story,
Speaker:but so you went online,
Speaker:you saw that it wasn't there,
Speaker:you got the materials that you could and saw that there
Speaker:was a better way you felt in terms of the information
Speaker:being received by young girls.
Speaker:So let's go back.
Speaker:How did you decide and where did you start in a
Speaker:little bit more detail then of who was the first character
Speaker:that you focused on?
Speaker:Let's go with that first.
Speaker:That's funny.
Speaker:Everybody asked me that question and they actually all came out
Speaker:together. Like the first four originals.
Speaker:They were born at the same time.
Speaker:It's not like I had one first character.
Speaker:What I do have is I used to have Frida Kalo,
Speaker:she used to be like the leader of the rebel band
Speaker:if you like.
Speaker:Somehow whenever we draw them,
Speaker:like the original drawings,
Speaker:Frida was always in front of them with like her arms
Speaker:crossed and like I'm leading the game into this revolution somehow.
Speaker:But then a funny thing happened,
Speaker:I was negotiating with Frida Foundation about the rights and then
Speaker:we were going back and forth with it and then they
Speaker:had a dispute with Frida's family.
Speaker:And when that all paused,
Speaker:the negotiations for a couple of months and that's when it
Speaker:hit me like Frida is not a little rebel because that's
Speaker:when I got really picky about what being a little rebels
Speaker:mean. So Frida Kalo is an amazing artist for some people
Speaker:who love her and they will love her art and all
Speaker:the story behind her about her being sick and being able
Speaker:to actually overcome the sickness and become a famous painter and
Speaker:so on.
Speaker:But she's not a rebel.
Speaker:Like her husband used to beat her every single time.
Speaker:He was like super violent.
Speaker:She was a domestic violence victim.
Speaker:And that's exactly the opposite of what I'm trying to teach
Speaker:our girls.
Speaker:Like I'm trying to empower them.
Speaker:I teach them don't stay in a situation where you're getting
Speaker:beaten up or somebody's not respecting you or noting well,
Speaker:so for me it was something positive that we paused the
Speaker:negotiations about the licensing cuz I had the opportunity to actually
Speaker:go deeper in her story and notice like Frida is not
Speaker:a little rebel.
Speaker:And then that's when I notice,
Speaker:okay, so I need to have like standards of what do
Speaker:you need to have to become a little rebel apart from
Speaker:being a famous woman.
Speaker:It's not just that you're famous,
Speaker:you have to be groundbreaker at some point.
Speaker:Either discover something or overcome some challenges,
Speaker:obstacles or being pioneer at something like being the first woman
Speaker:that, and not taking no,
Speaker:like not letting the nose that everybody's gonna put out there
Speaker:for us,
Speaker:especially when we're women,
Speaker:we hear a lot of no not letting those nos bring
Speaker:you down.
Speaker:So taking it up to a whole different level because obviously
Speaker:day is very well known for her art As a character
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:Frida, when you look at her she's like,
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:yeah. And you see her and she's very well recognized also.
Speaker:Yes. But this is interesting because along the way as you
Speaker:were developing who your characters were gonna be and what your
Speaker:brand stood for,
Speaker:you didn't necessarily know right from the beginning,
Speaker:it came to you as you kept researching and looking kind
Speaker:of evolved Yes to what you wanted it to be,
Speaker:which is I think an important thing for people to know
Speaker:that you don't always know exactly how this is going to
Speaker:wind up when you're getting started.
Speaker:It has to be a road that you're on.
Speaker:Did you at any point when you were looking at Frida
Speaker:say like,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:I'm so far in already.
Speaker:Like do I justify her being part of it or what
Speaker:was your thinking when you made that decision?
Speaker:I guess to be clear,
Speaker:like I had no idea what I was doing when I
Speaker:got into this business.
Speaker:That's like the ugly truth.
Speaker:Good because most of us don't.
Speaker:So if you're listening here and you are not sure you
Speaker:know what you're doing,
Speaker:it's okay,
Speaker:keep going,
Speaker:it's all right.
Speaker:That's okay.
Speaker:So I really had no clue what I was doing.
Speaker:I never been to a design school or toy school or
Speaker:anything. So I was just actually followed by my passion and
Speaker:I'm 40 now and I didn't discover my real passion up
Speaker:until I was 37 or 38,
Speaker:something like that.
Speaker:So if you're struggling to find your passion,
Speaker:that's okay.
Speaker:Like you still have time.
Speaker:But once I did that was empowering yours and women to
Speaker:become whatever they wanna become.
Speaker:That's when it hit me now.
Speaker:And I guess that's where all this freedom thing came into
Speaker:light. I never doubted for a second like I need to
Speaker:justify having free because I'm too far away on it.
Speaker:It was just like if anybody ask,
Speaker:I would tell the truth.
Speaker:This answer is gonna be we're pausing because of licensing rights,
Speaker:IP rights,
Speaker:so we cannot keep going.
Speaker:So we don't have to give all these long explanations to
Speaker:our customers.
Speaker:But those that actually wanna know the reason why they'll hear
Speaker:me in in I'm always saying the same thing.
Speaker:Like for me it's a blessing that we didn't want through
Speaker:with the IP for Frida cuz it make me realize what
Speaker:I want for my brand not only because of Frida but
Speaker:like for the entire little res brand,
Speaker:what I want them to represent each and single one of
Speaker:them. And as an example,
Speaker:we're launching two new dolls when it's Dr.
Speaker:Gladys B West,
Speaker:the inventor of the gps and the one I see her
Speaker:face, nobody knew GPS was invented by woman.
Speaker:That usually happens then.
Speaker:She's a 16 year old scientist to be,
Speaker:she invented this thing that detects lead in water.
Speaker:She's amazing At 16.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:I know,
Speaker:right? It's Insane.
Speaker:So let's close the book on Frida,
Speaker:but she played a really significant role in your business even
Speaker:though she's not gonna be a character as part of the
Speaker:brand. Of course.
Speaker:Yeah. I wanna go back still and stay as you were
Speaker:getting everything started.
Speaker:So you decided you were gonna start with four dos,
Speaker:right? Yeah.
Speaker:And how did you go about getting these dolls into production?
Speaker:Because it's no longer a one off doll like you were
Speaker:doing for the earlier business,
Speaker:right? So talk me through a little bit of that process.
Speaker:How did you do that?
Speaker:That was insane actually.
Speaker:So I came up with the idea and I called,
Speaker:I cannot sew and I cannot draw.
Speaker:Those are two things that I cannot do.
Speaker:You can't sew,
Speaker:you can't draw,
Speaker:but you have created plush dolls that are really detailed.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:tell me,
Speaker:spell it.
Speaker:First Thing that you need to learn as an entrepreneur is
Speaker:you don't need to know everything.
Speaker:You just need to make sure you surrender yourself with people
Speaker:that actually do know more than you on those topics and
Speaker:work with them.
Speaker:Like that's rule number one.
Speaker:Excellent advice.
Speaker:So I call a friend of mine that he's an amazing
Speaker:designer and illustrator and I pitched the idea and I was
Speaker:like, can you like help me figure out how this dolls
Speaker:will look like?
Speaker:So he sent me around 10 different styles on the dolls
Speaker:and I was like I need them to look kids like
Speaker:their faces needs to be what they used to look like
Speaker:when they were kids.
Speaker:Cuz I want kids to not only look out to them
Speaker:but also relate to them and see that they were kids
Speaker:at some point apart from amazing women.
Speaker:Very smart.
Speaker:And I need them to look like Disney princesses because once
Speaker:they're in the shelf next to Elsa and Anna from Frozen,
Speaker:nobody's gonna know Mary's Mary Curie at first glance,
Speaker:but they will like them the doll itself because it looks
Speaker:Disney Princess.
Speaker:Yeah. So I'm stopping you right here because this is really
Speaker:significant I think in that you were thinking past the product,
Speaker:but how it would be positioned in the market,
Speaker:who the customer is and who else a purchase of your
Speaker:dials would be up against.
Speaker:How do you come to that?
Speaker:Is that just by nature of your advertising and promotion experience
Speaker:that you started thinking this way?
Speaker:I guess at some point it's a mix of both.
Speaker:Like advertising and marketing is my dna.
Speaker:So I guess I see it everywhere I go and I
Speaker:cannot stop thinking about that even if I'm not no longer
Speaker:in the industry.
Speaker:It's like in the back of my head.
Speaker:So I'm always,
Speaker:whenever I go grocery shopping,
Speaker:I'm always looking how are they displaying the products for example,
Speaker:and which my daughter gets really,
Speaker:That's Something that I can not overcome.
Speaker:But I think that some point it's also the fact that
Speaker:I'm a mom so I do know what I'm expect.
Speaker:I'm a buyer.
Speaker:I'm the one that's gonna buy those dolls for my daughter.
Speaker:So I was trying to think as a mom,
Speaker:like when I have them I will probably want her to
Speaker:have a Mary instead of a Nelson.
Speaker:But I'm also know that when we are in the store
Speaker:she will go for the El,
Speaker:not the Mary because it's the one that she knows.
Speaker:But if Mary Curi looks just as cute as Elsa,
Speaker:I can convince her to take the Mary Curi and then
Speaker:learn who she was.
Speaker:Right? So everyone who's listening to this,
Speaker:I want you to rewind this,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:just press the 32nd back a few times and listen to
Speaker:this again.
Speaker:And then think about it in relation to your product.
Speaker:If you're out at craft shows,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what can you be doing?
Speaker:I call this your unique special power,
Speaker:but what can you be doing with your product?
Speaker:It's positioning,
Speaker:it's look to be number one different from others,
Speaker:but equally acceptable if we wanna go with mjs strategy or
Speaker:something else unique that would convince them to buy yours versus
Speaker:somebody else's.
Speaker:Just a really,
Speaker:really good tip MJ and I want you guys all to
Speaker:think about that in relation to your product.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:so you're talking to this gentleman,
Speaker:he comes back with mockups for you what happens next?
Speaker:We're back to the story.
Speaker:Well we will be back to the story right after a
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Speaker:So we finally got into a style that I really like
Speaker:and again the most important part for me is always the
Speaker:face of the doll.
Speaker:If we don't like have the face,
Speaker:well we are not gonna release that though.
Speaker:So there's a lot of back and forth there.
Speaker:And then once I had the designs,
Speaker:I literally just went online,
Speaker:Alibaba Express looking for factories,
Speaker:got lucky enough I guess I found a factory that works
Speaker:with Disney,
Speaker:Unilever, like all this big brands.
Speaker:So for me it was kind of a reassurance without knowing
Speaker:anything I was like well if they work with this big
Speaker:brands, they might be good.
Speaker:And that's how I chose the factory.
Speaker:Actually I never flew to China or anything.
Speaker:I did everything online by the way,
Speaker:we were pre pandemic when we started designing this.
Speaker:But when we launched this,
Speaker:well we'll get there.
Speaker:Did the factories actually make the prototypes for you then?
Speaker:Yeah, so what I did is I requested a sample for
Speaker:them. So I send the designs,
Speaker:the face front back?
Speaker:Front side?
Speaker:Yeah, the side of the doll.
Speaker:So they have like three different layouts for how the doll
Speaker:will look like Off of an illustration,
Speaker:not off of a made prototype.
Speaker:Exactly. Okay.
Speaker:No An illustration.
Speaker:And I send it to the factory and then they started
Speaker:sending pictures,
Speaker:they started trying out like this might be an option,
Speaker:this might be another option.
Speaker:And with the pictures what I did was I started writing
Speaker:over the picture like I want the eye like this big
Speaker:and then this distance between the eye and the other eye
Speaker:should be shorter.
Speaker:So like details to get it where I wanted to get.
Speaker:And then we,
Speaker:we spent like six months back and forth easily like trying
Speaker:to get the right features to look like the way I
Speaker:wanted to.
Speaker:And you were doing all four at one time?
Speaker:No, I started with the,
Speaker:okay, okay.
Speaker:And then they sent me the final picture for Frida and
Speaker:once they did that I said oh okay,
Speaker:this is cool.
Speaker:So yeah let's go ahead and do it.
Speaker:The funny thing here and I'm gonna add a parenthesis into
Speaker:the development of the product itself,
Speaker:it's how we launch it actually Little rebels was just an
Speaker:idea that I was mumbling in my head and I was
Speaker:doing a master degrees at Columbia University by that time and
Speaker:a local newspaper called me to like write an article on
Speaker:entrepreneurs that have failed as if I had failed at the
Speaker:time. Well that's motivating.
Speaker:I Know,
Speaker:right? That I was awful and I was like,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I did not fail.
Speaker:I'm actually doing a master degrees at Columbia thanks to my
Speaker:endeavor and FYI off the record,
Speaker:I'm working on this idea.
Speaker:So I sent a picture of that Frida call that the
Speaker:factory sent me.
Speaker:Like I didn't even have the sample with me,
Speaker:I just literally had one photo of the Fria and I
Speaker:sent it to the journalist and I was like,
Speaker:I'm working on this idea,
Speaker:it's not ready yet but just fii,
Speaker:I'm still like I'm still an entrepreneur,
Speaker:thank you very much.
Speaker:And I remember I was entering school and then my phone
Speaker:rang and when I saw it was like the state department
Speaker:cuz I'm an aluma from the state department after the Obama
Speaker:program asking if they could tweet about my new endeavor if
Speaker:I have enough inventory.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:what they talking about?
Speaker:Like I do one draw in one plus I don't have
Speaker:inventory. And then I saw and the original article became like
Speaker:entrepreneur launches,
Speaker:new line of dolls inspired by iconic women and that was
Speaker:something that didn't existed and people was trying to buy it
Speaker:out. So I had to begin and that's how that really
Speaker:helped me getting this,
Speaker:You know most people are afraid to share their ideas because
Speaker:they're afraid they're gonna get copied.
Speaker:Here's another issue,
Speaker:if you share the idea you're gonna be pushed forward faster
Speaker:than you might have thought you would do.
Speaker:Which isn't so bad actually The idea and being copied,
Speaker:like I always say the same thing,
Speaker:do you really think you're the only person in the entire
Speaker:world that had that idea?
Speaker:Like the difference is the execution,
Speaker:not the idea.
Speaker:Exactly. We both can have the same idea and it's The
Speaker:people who do the work,
Speaker:right? Exactly.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:so you get the dials to look the way you want
Speaker:them to go and look at mjs website,
Speaker:we are little rebels.com
Speaker:so that you can see what they look like.
Speaker:I'm walking with you in your story.
Speaker:You still don't have a doll in your hands from the
Speaker:factory, right?
Speaker:No, The doll came like the first sample came around a
Speaker:year after I started working with the idea.
Speaker:And then once I have the sample,
Speaker:the four of them came together like once I approved rda,
Speaker:then they started working on Mary Curie,
Speaker:Mala and Mary Jackson.
Speaker:And by the time I got them in my hands I
Speaker:got the four samples together.
Speaker:Tell me about the day that the box arrived and you
Speaker:were gonna open it up It I was actually like they
Speaker:were, of course they were retained by customs so I had
Speaker:to go to customs and do the declaration and everything of
Speaker:course and it was just the four dolls.
Speaker:But I remember I was crying my eye out And Like
Speaker:the guy at customs were like,
Speaker:what's happening to you?
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:you have no idea how long it took me to have
Speaker:this dolls in my head.
Speaker:Like it was a huge achievement.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:And did they all meet with your expectations?
Speaker:Yes, they were actually even better than I expected.
Speaker:Like I got really surprised.
Speaker:Okay. And how did you decide on the materials for their
Speaker:clothing and such?
Speaker:Because you couldn't feel anything if you're interacting with a factory.
Speaker:No, but I did you I wanted them to be a
Speaker:hundred percent made of flush cuz I want them soft and
Speaker:then the feeling it's gonna be like whatever they put inside
Speaker:of them needed to be like fluffy as well and smoothie
Speaker:and they needed to be light.
Speaker:Like I wanted them to be around 11 and inches tall
Speaker:and then as light as possible,
Speaker:thinking about younger kids to be comfortable to walk around with
Speaker:them and hug them.
Speaker:So for me the things that were important was they have
Speaker:to be extra soft,
Speaker:extra light and extra huggable.
Speaker:Those were like the features that I needed to have them.
Speaker:And so I scout it for fabric here in UA actually.
Speaker:And I sent like hey I want all the doll made
Speaker:with this material,
Speaker:this is how they look like.
Speaker:But actually they're plus it's way better than the one that
Speaker:we have here.
Speaker:So by the time the dolls came,
Speaker:I was amazed with the quality of the plush.
Speaker:They're like extremely soft.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:I love that what you got was even better than your
Speaker:expectations. So that's perfect.
Speaker:And a really good point about you went back and forth
Speaker:with some materials cuz I'm trying to figure out how physically
Speaker:if you have a material,
Speaker:how were you describing it to them and you were actually
Speaker:sending it to them So they have picture and then you
Speaker:were sending the material to them?
Speaker:No, I didn't send the material to them.
Speaker:I just said I want this kind of blush.
Speaker:I said the name and I sent pictures.
Speaker:I never sent the physical material to China.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:got it.
Speaker:That'll be clever.
Speaker:But I never did it.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:so you've got your dolls,
Speaker:you have a big smile on your face,
Speaker:you're wiping away the tears of happiness.
Speaker:Now it happens.
Speaker:So now,
Speaker:now I need to produce them and I need money,
Speaker:right? And I'm a solopreneur,
Speaker:no co-founders,
Speaker:no investors,
Speaker:how and I'm gonna do this like how I'm gonna take
Speaker:this market.
Speaker:You had a really huge bank account,
Speaker:right? Exactly.
Speaker:Have I mentioned I'm a single mom,
Speaker:like no,
Speaker:trust me,
Speaker:I don't have a huge bank account.
Speaker:But you didn't let this stop you.
Speaker:What'd you do?
Speaker:I created a Kickstarter campaign to raise the money to produce
Speaker:the first $2,000,
Speaker:which were the ones that I was gonna use to test
Speaker:the market and make sure that like apart from my brilliant
Speaker:idea, there was somebody out there that really enjoyed the dolls.
Speaker:Funny thing,
Speaker:I launched the campaign March 8th,
Speaker:2020. Of course the pandemic was declared March 13th,
Speaker:2020. So I ran the entire campaign during the first month
Speaker:of pandemic when everybody was concerned about toilet paper and pizza
Speaker:and nobody was actually thinking about buying thousand kickstarted.
Speaker:So that was a challenge.
Speaker:It was my very first crowdfunding campaign.
Speaker:I had of course no idea what I was doing but
Speaker:still in the last,
Speaker:I think it was 48 hours of the campaign,
Speaker:I was able to raise $4,000
Speaker:which were what I was missing to be able to achieve
Speaker:like the goal of the campaign and get the money to
Speaker:produce those dolls.
Speaker:So that's how I started.
Speaker:That was March,
Speaker:2020, I got the money,
Speaker:send it to the factory and then September,
Speaker:2020 the dollars arrived finally here like the first ship and
Speaker:got here and I started shipping my backers.
Speaker:And the Dows were all of the same quality of the
Speaker:initial prototype that you had?
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:So there were no quality issues?
Speaker:No, I was actually very lucky and I think it is
Speaker:because I chose the right factory to work with and they
Speaker:are really professional.
Speaker:But that was pure luck.
Speaker:Like I had no idea what I was doing.
Speaker:I have to be honest because once they got here,
Speaker:like I never did a quality control check in China or
Speaker:anything at that time.
Speaker:But when they got here I had not one single that
Speaker:was wrong.
Speaker:Each one of them was in a perfect quality just as
Speaker:the sample was initially.
Speaker:So I was very happy and election.
Speaker:Yeah. You know a lot of people talk about nightmares with
Speaker:factories in China.
Speaker:I also produce a product through a factory and I have
Speaker:found them to be so responsive if their quality issues,
Speaker:they make good on the issue.
Speaker:Not every factory in China is going to give you low
Speaker:quality product or that you're gonna encounter problem.
Speaker:Not at all.
Speaker:You're another person who's saying the same things.
Speaker:You know there's kind of that general idea out there that
Speaker:that's the case and it isn't necessarily the case.
Speaker:You have to be careful and choose.
Speaker:Right. But it isn't necessarily the case.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So you've got your dials,
Speaker:you're sending them then to the people who invested in the
Speaker:Kickstarter, cuz that was part of the agreement,
Speaker:the Kickstarter program,
Speaker:right? Yeah,
Speaker:it was around 2 37 backers,
Speaker:something like that,
Speaker:that helped raise the money.
Speaker:So those were the first shipments and then I had to
Speaker:find local toy stores that wanna buy actually the dolls and
Speaker:then start selling.
Speaker:I was lucky because the doll came in September,
Speaker:then holidays came in.
Speaker:So that Christmas I sold a lot of doll and by
Speaker:September, 2020 first we sold out all of our dolls.
Speaker:At what point did you make the decision that you were
Speaker:going to wholesale the product instead of direct to consumer?
Speaker:I think it was a strategy right from the beginning.
Speaker:Like I never thought about only direct to consumer versus wholesale.
Speaker:I always knew I was gonna go for both.
Speaker:Okay. Cause the idea is to make sure that I was
Speaker:getting the henna of as many kids as possible.
Speaker:And I know I cannot do that alone by myself.
Speaker:Like I'm literally the one doing everything.
Speaker:I'm the founder,
Speaker:I'm the pr,
Speaker:I'm the salesperson,
Speaker:I'm the design team,
Speaker:I'm like I'm wearing all the hats.
Speaker:And that's amazing because I learn a lot and I get
Speaker:to build the foundations of my business the way I would
Speaker:like to.
Speaker:But please don't do that.
Speaker:Like get a team as soon as possible.
Speaker:I'm driving myself crazy here.
Speaker:Yeah. But if you have to do it that way,
Speaker:at least you know all the different tasks and then you
Speaker:can fill in people as you're able to,
Speaker:right? Yeah that's the idea actually to have.
Speaker:I think that's one of the hugest advantages of doing this
Speaker:by myself.
Speaker:I get to learn from every position.
Speaker:So by the time I'm recruiting and creating a team,
Speaker:I know exactly what to look for in the person that
Speaker:I'm gonna hire and and help them understand the culture of
Speaker:little rebels that I'm trying to establish.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:like wholesale was always an option cuz again I want to
Speaker:reach as many kids as possible and only B to C.
Speaker:It's hard to do,
Speaker:especially if you don't have any money to invest in marketing
Speaker:and advertising.
Speaker:Everything we've done so far is a hundred percent organic.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So fabulous holiday season in terms of sales.
Speaker:I wanna get to a bunch of other things in the
Speaker:story so I'm gonna jump a little bit,
Speaker:but at what point did you go to the conference,
Speaker:the toy conference In 2019?
Speaker:That was before I launched the dollars.
Speaker:I had the samples only It was there that they suggested
Speaker:or questioned about having an accompanied book.
Speaker:Right. And so was that happening at the same time or
Speaker:talk to us a little bit about the book component.
Speaker:So the app actually came a month after I came back
Speaker:from the fair.
Speaker:So the fair was October,
Speaker:2019. I launched the Kickstarter on March,
Speaker:2020. By then the app already existed,
Speaker:like I came back from the fair and we developed the
Speaker:app right away to make sure that once we launch it
Speaker:on Kickstarter we'll have everything working.
Speaker:Okay, stop screeching halt.
Speaker:You said this so easily.
Speaker:Oh well we just developed the app.
Speaker:Ok. How do you develop an app without giving away any
Speaker:secrets? No,
Speaker:no there's not that much secret behind there.
Speaker:So funny thing is I ran into a friend at Dallas
Speaker:Soy Fair,
Speaker:he's a great developer.
Speaker:He'd done a bunch of things for Disney and all these
Speaker:big companies and I was like hey you know what?
Speaker:I need to add contact into the dolls and I don't
Speaker:wanna bring a book would help me build an app.
Speaker:And he was like,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:We can actually do this pretty fast if we work on
Speaker:like simple features and if you work really,
Speaker:really hard like we are gonna need you to sit down
Speaker:in your computer,
Speaker:came up all the story behind it Cause we have the
Speaker:videos as well.
Speaker:So that's something that we develop in between like we have
Speaker:animated videos free on YouTube for everybody to learn their stories
Speaker:which are on the app as well.
Speaker:Where do you get get the content for all this?
Speaker:I created You created the the stories.
Speaker:But what about the video?
Speaker:I hired animators to actually do the animated video.
Speaker:So if you go,
Speaker:you'll see it's two to three minutes video animated for each
Speaker:one of the dolls because You already had the dials images
Speaker:from the illustrator and so you gave those to the animator
Speaker:And they started working in different storytelling as per my scripts.
Speaker:And they came up with the videos,
Speaker:which is pretty cool.
Speaker:Wow. I know it's insane.
Speaker:Look back.
Speaker:But at the time it was like yeah well what of
Speaker:videos? Yeah what of videos And like we in a month
Speaker:we had the four videos which was insane as well cuz
Speaker:animation. Well it's who you know right?
Speaker:It's who you know.
Speaker:Again you need to surround yourself with experts.
Speaker:Yeah. And this is to the point of you're not hiring
Speaker:people to do some of the things you know how to
Speaker:do. You did hire people to do the things that you
Speaker:weren't sure how to do or didn't even know maybe were
Speaker:even possible.
Speaker:So you spend your money wisely is the way to say
Speaker:that. And when you say that,
Speaker:you just make me remember,
Speaker:there's a funny story that just happens with us when you
Speaker:said like hire people that you know don't know if they
Speaker:are able to do it.
Speaker:So not that long ago,
Speaker:around a month ago I had a conversation with the CEO
Speaker:of a very important company that I really wanted them to
Speaker:acquire little rebels like for licensing.
Speaker:And he was asking me,
Speaker:so what other products do you have?
Speaker:Like do you have a board game?
Speaker:And by that time I only had the dolls and I
Speaker:was saying yes to every single thing that he was asking,
Speaker:do you have books?
Speaker:And I was,
Speaker:yeah of course I have books and I hang up and
Speaker:the first thing I did was I developed a book which
Speaker:did not existed of course.
Speaker:And then he was like,
Speaker:do you have a board game?
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:yes of course we have the MVP of a board game.
Speaker:And he was like oh walk me through the game And
Speaker:on the spot on the call I invented the game and
Speaker:then when I hang up the phone I called my friend
Speaker:from the app development cuz of course the game has augmented
Speaker:reality into it.
Speaker:So it interacts just like as our dolls do,
Speaker:the board game does as well.
Speaker:So it's kind of with augmented reality,
Speaker:something like that.
Speaker:And I call him and I was like okay so I
Speaker:just have this call and I just pitched this idea for
Speaker:the ceo,
Speaker:please tell me this is doable cuz I just said that
Speaker:we have it done already and that he's gonna see the
Speaker:game in a week at Dallas.
Speaker:Cause we went back to Dallas like three weeks ago and
Speaker:I met with the CEO with the board game which is
Speaker:right there.
Speaker:Like we literally created a board game in a week.
Speaker:So it's who you know and you need to trust him.
Speaker:I'm speechless,
Speaker:I'm speechless.
Speaker:That was insane.
Speaker:That was risky.
Speaker:That was really risky.
Speaker:I don't think like the CX knows this Mj I think
Speaker:maybe you are a rebel.
Speaker:Oh no I am a rebel.
Speaker:I know that.
Speaker:Oh gosh.
Speaker:Okay. My Designer's design,
Speaker:my designer did was my personal cards and it's me as
Speaker:a rebel but I don't feel comfortable becoming a rebel.
Speaker:Like I will keep fighting.
Speaker:You're the head rebel behind the business.
Speaker:Exactly right.
Speaker:So gosh.
Speaker:So we are right in the middle of the business in
Speaker:progress of a huge growth cuz I just feel it coming
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:What are you doing to prepare right now for that to
Speaker:happen? You're talking to big companies so your production's gonna have
Speaker:to get totally ramped up,
Speaker:promotion, all of that.
Speaker:Like what does this look like in your business right now
Speaker:as we're speaking?
Speaker:So we're launching on Macy's next month,
Speaker:which is crazy.
Speaker:Do you have a date?
Speaker:I don't have the date yet.
Speaker:I will let you know as soon as I have it.
Speaker:But no,
Speaker:I'm actually waiting on them to let me know.
Speaker:I will be on 19 stores.
Speaker:So being the lookout on our social media will let you
Speaker:know as soon as we launch.
Speaker:Okay. And let me just say to everybody listening based on
Speaker:my earring schedule,
Speaker:that might be right now when you're listening.
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:it's gonna be on stores for Christmas that's for sure.
Speaker:Unless they sold out before.
Speaker:So middle to end of November is what you're saying?
Speaker:Exactly. Mid to end November.
Speaker:Exactly. All Right.
Speaker:So how are you getting ready for this?
Speaker:Well I'm buying a lot of wine.
Speaker:I'll come over,
Speaker:I'll help you with that.
Speaker:So what happened was I had to get some loans in
Speaker:the bank to be able to produce the new inventory cuz
Speaker:we sold out and we cover like some of the costs
Speaker:from the first year of business but we are still pre-revenue
Speaker:by the time and I needed to like Macy's order came
Speaker:along with the Michigan Science Museum and a few other museums
Speaker:also. But they needed the dolls and I didn't have the
Speaker:money to produce them so I had to take on a
Speaker:few bank loans,
Speaker:which I'm not happy about it but we,
Speaker:we need to do,
Speaker:what do we need to do?
Speaker:I produced 3000 more dolls which are just getting to the
Speaker:states as we speak.
Speaker:Like they just landed LA last week so I have to
Speaker:hire a warehouse in the US Like nowadays everything's changing.
Speaker:Like I used to have the dolls here with me in
Speaker:Uruguay at my home,
Speaker:like my office is in my house.
Speaker:So I had all my office filled with boxes and just
Speaker:like as every entrepreneur starts and now we actually have a
Speaker:warehouse and people in charge of the warehouse and then people
Speaker:in charge of shipping distribution and making sure that every single
Speaker:customer, either B2C customers or wholesale customers get their dolls in
Speaker:their hands.
Speaker:We're launching on jane.com
Speaker:as well on October 27.
Speaker:We're launching on walmart.com
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:So and we are wrapping up our Amazon accounts so there's
Speaker:gonna be several point of sales for the dolls that didn't
Speaker:existed before.
Speaker:That's exciting and scary at the same time cuz like part
Speaker:of me is completely sure that once people get to know
Speaker:the Rebels,
Speaker:cuz again they don't know what we are doing because I
Speaker:was never able to actually get the money to communicate it.
Speaker:So being here with you and getting the word spread out
Speaker:is really helpful cuz no money.
Speaker:So we need to get the word there but I know
Speaker:that once they find out we exist they're gonna sell out
Speaker:and my biggest fear is to sell out and don't have
Speaker:money and time to like redo the inventory as fast as
Speaker:possible to make sure that we never run out of rebels.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:I'm at a point in which I'm looking for investors or
Speaker:partnerships or that can actually help me grow the business.
Speaker:I love being myself,
Speaker:I really need a team.
Speaker:Like I cannot keep going like this at some point I'm
Speaker:gonna get really sick.
Speaker:Like it's amazing when you're starting as you grow you need
Speaker:to have your team growing with you.
Speaker:And so right now part of that strategy is we are
Speaker:partnering with another amazing plush brand that is called Sure Bodies,
Speaker:they're from San Diego.
Speaker:They do pluses with recycled bottles from the ocean.
Speaker:So by next year the little rebels will be a hundred
Speaker:percent done with recycled plastic bottles as well.
Speaker:So we are trying to help the environment on that end
Speaker:and not only like gender equality but we're also aiming to
Speaker:have the lowest impact possible on the environment.
Speaker:So will those go also through the China factory or will
Speaker:they be made in the states?
Speaker:Yes, we're gonna change factories though cuz like we're gonna start
Speaker:working with short bodies and they have their own factories and
Speaker:they know like they have eight years of experience doing this
Speaker:and their plush quality is amazing even though it's made out
Speaker:of recycled plastic.
Speaker:Like you never figured that's gonna be like that.
Speaker:But yeah there will come from China.
Speaker:Okay so you're already thinking forward thinking the growth and how
Speaker:you're gonna manage that and Yes,
Speaker:it's scary and I condone the wine drinking by the way
Speaker:you I think sometimes it just has to happen.
Speaker:It's all good.
Speaker:Exactly. What are you doing in terms of social media or
Speaker:promoting of the business?
Speaker:So social media,
Speaker:it's me behind our Instagram account and what I'm seeing is
Speaker:that like I'm really bad at TikTok.
Speaker:I would love to use TikTok.
Speaker:I think it's an amazing tool and it could bring me
Speaker:a lot of visibility but I'm so bad at it.
Speaker:So TikTok is not there yet.
Speaker:I do have our Instagram and Facebook pages and what's happening
Speaker:is that the Latin,
Speaker:I have two accounts,
Speaker:like one from Latin American,
Speaker:one for the US and the rest of the world.
Speaker:The Latin American one does really well.
Speaker:The other one not that well because I think I struggle
Speaker:when I try to communicate reaching like higher audiences whenever I
Speaker:post something in the Latin American one,
Speaker:I have several views and comments and shares and everything and
Speaker:when I do that for the North America it doesn't happen
Speaker:the same.
Speaker:I dunno why.
Speaker:So trying to get followers and engagement and sharing on our
Speaker:social media,
Speaker:which is basically Instagram for now.
Speaker:And then just as I'm here with you,
Speaker:like sharing the story behind Little Rebels and why we started
Speaker:this and hoping some days somebody like some really big famous
Speaker:will hear the story will fall in love with it and
Speaker:we'll share it.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Well you gotta be up there for that to happen,
Speaker:right? I Know,
Speaker:right? I love actually we have Sarah Blakely as a mentor
Speaker:and as a little rebel.
Speaker:I've been trying to get into her for the past three
Speaker:years with no luck but she'll come to me eventually For
Speaker:everyone who's listening.
Speaker:The handle is we are little rebels.
Speaker:Cause the idea behind this is to have everyone join us
Speaker:as a community.
Speaker:That's why it's we are little rebels cuz we are all
Speaker:rebels And empowering little girls to follow their dreams and if
Speaker:they have to be a rebel also.
Speaker:Exactly. Okay,
Speaker:well you've shared with us what's happening in the future as
Speaker:we start circling to the end,
Speaker:are there any things or advice that you've learned up to
Speaker:this point that you could share with us for people who
Speaker:are starting out with their own products and and on their
Speaker:journey, what do you wish you would've known earlier?
Speaker:Well I have several.
Speaker:I'll take several.
Speaker:Whatever you wanna share,
Speaker:we'll take,
Speaker:I'll do it as quick as possible.
Speaker:So first thing is,
Speaker:being an entrepreneur,
Speaker:it's not like everybody thinks that you're just gonna be lying
Speaker:down on the beach with your computer on your laptop and
Speaker:life is good and everything's gonna be great.
Speaker:Not reality.
Speaker:You're gonna work more hours,
Speaker:you're gonna probably be more stressed.
Speaker:You're gonna struggle with money even more than if you had
Speaker:like an nine to five job.
Speaker:But the rewards of it are gonna be so great that
Speaker:like you are not gonna care about it,
Speaker:but it's not gonna be easy.
Speaker:It's gonna be a rollercoaster of emotions.
Speaker:You're gonna wake up happy with an email and then another
Speaker:email will hit you and you're gonna get depressed.
Speaker:So your day,
Speaker:it's gonna be a rollercoaster of emotion every single day to
Speaker:surround yourself with people that knows more than you as soon
Speaker:as possible.
Speaker:Like if you cannot pay them,
Speaker:which was my case,
Speaker:if you cannot have a team like every day next to
Speaker:you, engage them with what you're doing and ask them for
Speaker:help with the promise that maybe in the future you can
Speaker:actually hire them eventually.
Speaker:And the most important thing of all is know your why.
Speaker:Like if you don't know why you're doing what you're doing,
Speaker:and if your why is I wanna make more money,
Speaker:don't do it.
Speaker:Like you're not gonna make more money right away by becoming
Speaker:an entrepreneur and to make more money.
Speaker:It's not what's gonna take you off the bed in the
Speaker:middle of the night if somebody calls you with an issue
Speaker:with your company.
Speaker:Like you need to feel the passion behind why you're doing
Speaker:it and go for it.
Speaker:That's the only thing that is gonna keep you going when
Speaker:times gets hard.
Speaker:And trust me,
Speaker:they will like more than you will like to.
Speaker:And last but not least,
Speaker:take good care of your mental health.
Speaker:Like I feel like there's something that we usually don't talk
Speaker:about it.
Speaker:I got really depressed when I got back from Dallas Toy
Speaker:Fair for a bunch of situations that I lived there and
Speaker:I spent three months on a couch without being able to
Speaker:actually waking up or walking around except for cooking for my
Speaker:daughter. That was the only thing that actually took me off
Speaker:the sofa.
Speaker:And it took me forever to go back to real life.
Speaker:Like I had panic attacks and stuff like that.
Speaker:And that's burned out right there.
Speaker:So please,
Speaker:let's take the stigma of mental health and depression off the
Speaker:table and take care of your health.
Speaker:Like right from the beginning.
Speaker:Do pauses.
Speaker:There's kind of like an admiration for people that work without
Speaker:stopping. And the the green then the,
Speaker:just keep going,
Speaker:keep going,
Speaker:keep going.
Speaker:That's not true.
Speaker:Like people need the rest.
Speaker:Go for a walk,
Speaker:go for a hike.
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:like go surfing,
Speaker:go just something that will help your mind be at ease.
Speaker:Read a book or meditate,
Speaker:but like take care of your mental health.
Speaker:It is so important.
Speaker:I agree with you and you got to this point because
Speaker:you just kept pushing yourself and pushing yourself and doing more
Speaker:and finally got you to the breaking point it sounds like.
Speaker:I hope so.
Speaker:But you came through,
Speaker:It's here,
Speaker:But now you know better,
Speaker:right? Mj,
Speaker:you're not gonna do that again,
Speaker:right? No,
Speaker:it's good actually.
Speaker:Like I'm glad I passed that cuz now I can see
Speaker:the red flags before falling into it.
Speaker:Yeah, again.
Speaker:Yeah, but if you're not paying attention,
Speaker:it's just gonna rip you off right away.
Speaker:And we need you to take care of yourself because your
Speaker:mission with Little Rebels is so special,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:And it's gonna help so many little girls.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:there's so much good in it.
Speaker:I love product businesses with such a purpose.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:they just make me,
Speaker:I'm getting chills here thinking about it.
Speaker:It's so wonderful and you're set up for such a great
Speaker:future, albeit how are you gonna handle however popular it becomes,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:How is that all going to work?
Speaker:Right? Okay.
Speaker:Have a glass of wine right now.
Speaker:You're freaking me out.
Speaker:No kidding.
Speaker:Yeah, I'll probably drink a little bit more wine than I
Speaker:used to,
Speaker:but no,
Speaker:I'm happy.
Speaker:Like I'm just really looking forward to the moment.
Speaker:I can say,
Speaker:okay, you know what?
Speaker:My mission is accomplished.
Speaker:Like little rebels is all over the world.
Speaker:Kids are learning,
Speaker:kids are feeling empowered.
Speaker:And if I'm able to actually get one little girl to
Speaker:grow up and become something that somebody told her she wasn't
Speaker:gonna be able to do it because she was a girl,
Speaker:then my goal is done.
Speaker:Like that's the entire reason why Little Rebels says exist,
Speaker:Right? Well,
Speaker:I think there's gonna be more than just one girl,
Speaker:mj. There are going to be,
Speaker:I hope so.
Speaker:Thousands and if not millions.
Speaker:I really hope so.
Speaker:It's an honor to help get your story out there,
Speaker:to let people know about Little Rebels and to hear the
Speaker:backstory and catch you right at this time.
Speaker:I feel like you're right on the cusp of something new
Speaker:like the door's right in front of you.
Speaker:It's about to be opened and I am so excited for
Speaker:you and your future and also for all the little girls
Speaker:who are out there about to hear the messages.
Speaker:So Thank you so much.
Speaker:So I got the chills.
Speaker:We're sharing chills back and forth again.
Speaker:Such a pleasure to talk with you today.
Speaker:Thank you again for being on the So thank you for
Speaker:having me.
Speaker:It's been a pleasure being here.
Speaker:There are so many significant messages in mjs little rebel story.
Speaker:She had many of the challenges you are probably now facing.
Speaker:Remember when she said she had no sewing or drawing skills?
Speaker:No experience working with factories overseas and no way of financing
Speaker:large production runs yet she did indeed accomplish each and every
Speaker:one of these hurdles.
Speaker:Your goal may not be to get on the shelves of
Speaker:Macy's, but take the determination you've seen demonstrated through mjs story
Speaker:to make your dream happen.
Speaker:Let no obstacle stop you.
Speaker:It is possible if you're enjoying the podcast and would like
Speaker:to show support.
Speaker:A rating and review is always fabulous because it helps get
Speaker:the show seen by more makers.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward.
Speaker:And there's another way where you can get something tangible in
Speaker:return for your support too.
Speaker:Visit my merch shop for a wide variety of inspirational items
Speaker:like mugs,
Speaker:journals, water bottles,
Speaker:and more featuring logos,
Speaker:images, and quotes to inspire you throughout your day.
Speaker:Makes a great gift too.
Speaker:And we've just added some new products for the season to
Speaker:the shop.
Speaker:Turn around is quick and the quality is top notch.
Speaker:Nothing but the best for you.
Speaker:Take a look at all the options@giftbizunwrapped.com
Speaker:slash shop.
Speaker:All proceeds from these purchases helps go to offset the cost
Speaker:of producing the show.
Speaker:And now be safe and well and I'll see you again
Speaker:next time on the Gift Biz Unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:I wanna make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook group
Speaker:called Gift Bre.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and are a community
Speaker:to support each other.
Speaker:I've got a really fun post in there that's my favorite
Speaker:of the week,
Speaker:I have to say,
Speaker:where I invite all of you to share what you're doing
Speaker:to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week,
Speaker:to get reaction from other people.
Speaker:And just for fun,
Speaker:because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody
Speaker:in the community is making My favorite post F every single
Speaker:week. Without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what?
Speaker:Aren't you part of the group already?
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the
Speaker:group gift.
Speaker:Bre, don't delay.