Founder's Story - Candid Conversations with Kalika Yap and Kate | Ep. 10 with Kalika Yap CEO Citrus Studios

Episode Date: April 16, 2020

Kalika Yap is a serial entreprenur, best selling author, inventor, speaker and mom. Kalika and Kate speak about Kalika's new book, state of the business currently, women supporting each other, new ventures and what ever else they felt was important. Please visit Pix11 or Fox5 San Diego for more details. Our Sponsors:* Check out PrizePicks and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: www.prizepicks.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome to Inspired by Her, the podcast that will give you the inspiration, motivation and tips for success from some of the top executives, CEOs and influencers from around the globe. With your host, serial entrepreneur and named one of the most influential Filipina in the world, Kate Hancock. Hi everyone, this is going to be a fun day. I have here Kalika and we're just going to be chatting today. I love you Kate. Oh I love you too. For anyone who doesn't know you, can you please introduce yourself? Hi everyone, I'm Kalika and I'm a serial entrepreneur, author of the Little Brand book and the inventor of the purse hook. I also have a waxing salon in Honolulu, which Kate has been so instrumental in helping me get it back on its feet after I bought it completely. You know, it was a company that I started with my sister-in-law and then she divorced my brother. And so she helped me get it back on track. And now

it's off track again because of this pandemic. And I don't know, I just thought we could just chat, you know, from as both of us are serial entrepreneurs. And like, I just want to know, like, how you're handling it, how you're pivoting in this crisis, because I learned so much from you. You know, you're such an amazing entrepreneur and you're always seem to be like on the cutting edge. Like, even though I'm in marketing, you're always just like, well, have you done this? Have you done that? So maybe we can share some tips with your audience and I could interview you rather than you do always all the interviews.

So this is totally for me today. So this is going to be fun. Well, I have zero idea what's going to happen for the spa business. I am preparing myself. I don't know. It's going to take a while. It's making me nervous. It's going to take a while for a consumer to spend money for a luxury item. It will be the last thing that people would think of unless it's a necessity like people has acne so it's it's so hard to

come back after this one it's probably not until next year where people would be comfortable into spending luxury for a spa so that's my gut feeling telling me so I'm preparing myself for that scenario by the same time and I'm pivoting into launching this podcast, doing media. And so we have a lot of strategy, which I just learned the last few days about buying Facebook groups, a lot of that. And so, you know, you get so much traction. So that's going to be my focus because media, it's not going anywhere. Yeah, that's for sure. We're always consuming media. So your spa business, it's the OC facial care center. Is that right? Correct. Skin care center. Right. But you're still going to be

selling products. Like I still love your body products. I'm going to still continue to buy from you and get my candles for you. Are you going to keep the e-commerce part of it? Yes. I'm going to keep the e-commerce part of it for sure. Yes. We've built a strong community to our own brand. So we're going to keep the skincare products. Yeah. Forever. And what about, you you know you also have a business on amazon how do you think the amazon uh business is doing uh just worldwide they're doing well for um you know what the pet market like that business category it's blowing up right now the pet yes the pet because everyone is so bored at home and they're buying everything for their pet. Really?

Yeah. So surprisingly, I know someone who's in the pet industry and they're like 5X right now. Pet? Yes. That's so interesting. Yeah, I know. It's so interesting. I think people when they're at home with their pet,'ll just buy whatever oh they might entertain their pet or maybe make them feel good oh i see so like

upgrading their food maybe having some more toys because i guess they're there they have to play with them they're realizing how bored their dogs are at home by themselves yes that's interesting yeah and people still buying skincare people no what happens, people need to take care of their skin. I think that's strong. I know a lot of my friends, they're in a different category. So like home goods, they're affected right now. Home goods? Yeah, I think people are not really buying sheets at this point, but essentials.

Only essentials, yeah. Because I thought that because people were at home, like, it makes more sense that people are, you know, buying some frames, you know, just to make it look more interesting. Because, like, everywhere I see, like, anthropology or, you know, some type of, you know, know random retailer they always have like this home edit like sephora has a home edit i think they're doing well but amazon they're um shutting them down for now because because they're not essential so all fba so people are still buying probably in a different um platform but not an amazon i've heard they're going to be opening pretty soon for another category. And you have the most beautiful resorts, resorts, multiple resorts in the Philippines. So how do you think that's happening?

What's happening there? So gorgeous. Thank you. I think it's going to, it probably gonna take a while I'm hoping they can I mean right now I'm just gonna be relying with locals for a while I think it's probably in the next five months that's my gut feeling telling me that we can slowly accommodate guests but right now all my staff are staying there. They're getting fed. We send them rice and canned goods every week. So they're taken care of. So they're actually living at the

hotel? A few of them. Yes. Wow. Oh, they're so lucky. It is so, I mean, it feels like Santorini in Greece. You know, you had the most amazing wedding there. So how do you think the travel market, you know, we both love to travel. How do you feel about the travel market today? Would you get on a plane in like a month? No? Unless I'm going to be in hazmat, if that's really necessary for me to go. But I'm probably going to wait for six months.

Six months. Yes. I don't feel comfortable myself traveling right now. Yeah. And you're like the eminent traveler, like you're a world adventurer. I'm fancy. I'm very fancy. I wish I could just go. I want to go to Croatia. I have all this planned and now it's just not it's not going to happen oh oh my goodness I know last year you you know wasn't it last year you went to Europe or was that the year before like you went to like seven different countries it was last year I actually went to Morocco by myself yeah those photos were amazing thank you yeah I like to travel alone or with Dan. I do both. You know what's really crazy about this whole COVID thing?

When you first mentioned it to me, I think you were aware of it in December. And then you were like, Kalika, I'm, you know, watching this. And in the back of my mind, I'm just like, okay, good. Kate will watch it. And I'm just going to continue doing work. And it was like you had this intuition that something bad was going to happen and it did you know like okay it's worrying enough for all of us yeah but you were right yeah I was I well my business got affected super early like in the second week of January where

when the first case and majority of my um my guests at that time because February is a Chinese New Year so 90% of my guests are canceling because of this um coronavirus so while I was there I'm getting all the news I'm even communicating with a leader of some leaders in the Philippines and we've been chatting back and forth any information that we're getting. So I know it's serious. This was the Philippines, which is, I guess, closer to Asia, but were they shut down? They weren't right. Yeah. I mean, when, when were they shut down in January? That was not until we're slowly locking down the Island. think february 15th to wow yeah yeah so

didn't allow any tourists that has any history or any layover from taiwan hong kong and china no so um we closed the border and they were checking everyone and and i mean i think i've mentioned to you one of my manager told me like one of our guests will be removed from the hotel because of their travel history and this was early on like february yeah so they basically evacuated them because they were coughing right weren't they sick or no yes we have a few a family that stayed that stayed there but we really took care of them and they're really worried like oh my god where are we going to move if they're not going to take care of us or they're going to treat us differently but we really took care of them we have i think five families that's been sick staying there for like a week yes

and how's your family there my family's they're doing great they're doing good I think they're they're just staying home the whole island is on a lockdown so I mean they're in shelter so no one is allowed they're actually way more strict there so one family only one can go out to buy goods grocery goods and then you have to come back only one person only one person one designated person the same person correct yes so there would be my husband is he is he doing the grocery shopping? Yeah. How about you? Are you doing Instacart or something? We did that. We did that. And we actually hired a staff that will do our shopping. But sometimes she's not buying the right thing for us. Maybe we should do it ourselves. Okay. So when did you get on lockdown? Like, did you shelter in place before the governor told us to shelter in place?

I think that was super early. Like, I think the second week of March, we were very cautious. Yeah. We were more than that, yeah. Yeah. I think the last time I saw you was at Daisy's baby shower, right? March 8th. Yeah. The think the last time I saw you was at Daisy's baby shower, right?

March 8th. Yeah. Third. Yes. And then she gave birth yesterday. Oh my God. I didn't know. Here. Oh, I, Forum Confidential. Oh my God. There's a cute photo. Just text her. Yeah, I will. I will. Text her. She sent a photo already. Yeah. You got to text her. Yeah a photo already yeah you gotta you gotta text her yeah that was the last event before all this that was so fun yeah i'm glad that we at least had that you know yeah i could see you yes yeah so there's a lot of people who are pivoting like even one of

my forum mates is now selling masks and another one of my friends in eo hawaii is also selling masks and they're putting logos on their masks and being really creative another person in eo los angeles ken palanco he's selling masks he's got a pair do you think that you know that's something that you want to do or you're just going to stick with media i'm just going to stick with media for now yeah yeah i've i've learned i i'm in that five-day course with Roland Fraser you have to join his who is it he's someone that's so genius that I would love for him to mentor me everything his content is off the wall like it's amazing what's his name he's in my Facebook friend he's uh he he bought the traffic and conversion he owns that i think

he owns that but the content is amazing so i've been i've been um attending to his class every day for the last five days and it was very intense so i can't wait to share you more information about it so it's's Frasier. Yes. Okay. Well, you know, I think that this is the perfect time for an entrepreneur to learn. Absolutely. Yeah.

So how do you stay disciplined to actually learn and not go on Netflix? Well, you're just like that. But what are your tips for people who are like, you know, feeling depressed and, you know, you're making yourself better. You're creating new businesses. What kind of advice would you give to an entrepreneur who's like in a funk? Yeah, I think you really have to review what's really your goal. Because it's hard not to get distracted by all this because everyone is like not feeling really good so like you know everyone's not feeling good maybe I have this is my time for me not to feel good well I think of this like oh my god this is the good time for me to learn a lot without being distracted so I was

focused for like four hours in a day learning content and my head is about to explode i was like i actually work harder now than pre-coronavirus that's what my friend lizanne said too she's just like she is slammed yeah you're working harder that's why your fingers are numb yes my fingers are numb um well a lot of two um another thing too a lot of like big speaker are doing speaking events for free why not right normally you have to pay yeah listen to them and they're just doing everything for free so i took advantage of that i think i have a big notes of writing every single thing that i could use in the future so um it's non-stop I think we we um when we get into that habit of doing it like I you just you know you just yeah

doing it yeah I stay away from reality before now I've been watching yeah I've been watching. Yeah. I've been going to different class or there's a lot out there that's, that really brings amazing content. Yeah. So how has your habits changed then? So before, you know, we used to go to the office, we used to go to, you know, right. See people have, how have you changed? Like like it looks like you're still dressing up you look so cute uh how have half dressed up I'm in my pajama you look amazing you don't look like you're in pajamas what you're in your pajamas yeah normally I'm in pajama I only care half like apropos but anyway um how do you do how do I do habits um how has it changed well it's well it's actually more intense because now the kids are I have more responsibility into like watching making sure they're doing their homework which

one is already acting up right so in the morning i get like a remote desktop or something yeah yeah like i've been really busy with a what i would do is like i would pack and ship in the morning for a skincare quarantine skincare kit which i have to send your candles what what's that yeah your candles your nest candle. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. I would do in the morning work, business, and then my learning would be from 12 to 2. And then self-care in the evening. And then I don't have to think. I would sit in the sauna or do walking and then meditation at night.

So I spend my day like that is that also the same the weekends the days seem to be blurring for me yeah I've noticed like Sunday is actually busy I mean we lost track of what day right like so I don't see Sunday as just a regular Sunday it's like every day I know like what day is it what you've been doing yourself how do you handle you've been on live yesterday oh yeah because of the book I was really depressed for a long time why because of the book you know like you know what happens is whenever you have these expectations, you know, like I had this expectation that I was going to do this big launch, you know, like it's good if it's going to be food and drinks and entertainment, you know, like you

have this thing in your mind and then I guess it's just expectations. And then, you know, so that was just my, my way of, you you know getting some content to people that could help them but uh yeah so are you waking up the same time or earlier earlier now really like what time i'm normally well before coronavirus i would say get up at nine but now like seven o'clock wow oh my goodness ronnie was laughing at me because i got up at 10 50 a.m one day he's just like shaking his head he's like what's wrong like i don't know i have a question for you how do you handle yourself you're always out you love creating events and you're so good at it like sometimes when we it's amazing okay so we're planning this event and then 30 minutes later I will get your invite and invitation all in one do you have like 10 hands is that how you

yeah I'm one of the Indian goddesses of, like, all those hands, you know, because there's someone behind me. Yeah, I just love people. I don't know. I just really, I just love them. But you know how I think it's just been a little bit different? Like, I really love to clean and, like, declutter. Like, I didn't realize how much I love that. And so now that I'm, you know, sheltering at home, like, I'm just loving, like, I totally Marie Kondo'd my whole house. You know, everything is, like, you know, sheltering at home. Like I'm just loving, like, I totally Marie condoed my whole, my whole house. You know, everything is like, you know, in order. I, I think I told you, I, I

renovated the garage. So it's now like an office for my kids, you know? And so, and I think I told you that they, uh, for spring break, what? You told me they were selling books on eBay, right? Yeah. Their, their project was sell a product to a stranger. And so I didn't tell them what to do. Like they basically figured it out. So I had a whole bunch of books that I was going to donate to Goodwill. And then within an hour of them listing the books on eBay, my daughter got like seven orders. So she's been really enjoying that. Wow. Yeah, I know. I've been having a lot of fun. Oh, and then, um, but because, you know, because I can't clean all the time, I actually bought this iRobot. Oh yes. Yeah. So right now, oh, her name is Tiggy. And then she's, how did you come up with that name tiggy because i wanted to name her

piggy but the girls were like that's not nice so tiggy because she's like you know eating all the stuff so tiggy tiggy just like that model tiggy so i named her tiggy you have one too yeah no i have one but I can't find the charger. So I've been cleaning myself, which I don't mind doing. Then it would give me more time to do something else, not just typing because my hand's giving up. Yeah. Yes.

And also, okay. Go ahead. And also what I've been really enjoying is that I've been able to also teach my daughters how to clean, because, you know, usually we have a housekeeper, a nanny, you know, someone to always take care of them. And so now they're washing the dishes, they're taking out the dishes from this, like they're washing their clothes, they're cleaning their own bathroom, which thank goodness, because they would have never done that until they went to college so thank goodness that they now have this opportunity to actually clean up like we did you know like I you were raised right I was working right yeah right that I would cry because I don't have time to rest yeah tell tell everyone that story but yeah I started working at an early age maybe seven yeah way younger than that or maybe five too early oh I remember

I would go like by the ocean to collect sticks to to make fire for a rice the fire yes yes I remember because I would see my neighbors doing would be doing that collecting twigs and then I would do that I remember doing that myself yeah you're and you're five about like that yeah you had a good mom yeah tiger mom yeah she actually teaches me how to cook rice at the age about five years i i know how to cook rice at five really yes with with your finger yeah you have to measure the water like this this is water and you have to make sure you rinse the rice so much like once it's clear water then that's the time to cook the rice yeah yeah i know i think that we were trained right because there was no other opportunity right and we were the slaves yeah although my brother was really hilarious because every time there was something to do he would say oh i need to go to the bathroom he would go to the

bathroom and then i'd end up doing his work you know like and now i notice rodney's doing the same thing i'm like what so they'll just stay there for so long so they could get away with the work right yeah boy i tried to do that but my grandmother would yell at me oh see they because we're girls maybe i don't know yeah or i'm the i don't know why i'm the always the person that my aunt would ask me to walk two miles to buy salt or ginger in the middle of the heat yes it's me and I think up to now I'm still mad at that she would make you do it out of all the people did you have shoes did you have slippers flip-flops yeah yeah flip-flops but it's it's so no deep me no moped no it's hot

maybe i don't know not really that far but the heat is just killing me so that's why yeah was it heavy to bring back no it's not but the heat it's just yeah it's very humid there humid and it's so humid yeah that's why when you want to be playing with your friends you know or in the shade yes i would love or at least have an umbrella i can even i don't even have an umbrella oh see this is what happens when you're an immigrant that's why i think what did they say in hamilton play immigrants we get the job done i think we were born four times like this. I think we're just used to like figure we're very resourceful because we're used to not having a lot around us. No, we just, I mean, no banks to, to get money from, you know,

you have to figure it out, you know, have to figure it out. Yeah. You have to figure it out. You have to work harder to get your job. I mean, you just have to, I feel like you, you just have to work harder, way harder. Yeah. Yeah. Especially females, minority and stuff like that. I don't know. So where do you think the trends are going to be? You know, like where do you think that we should be shifting our attention to people are not going to be doing events.

People aren't going to be spending luxury or retail. Is that why you're going online? I think, yeah, you still can do, you still can do events virtually. Yeah. So I, I was one of the class about that. You still, I mean, I know one person that sold at least 200 grand for five days of content yeah if you know what you're doing you still could sell um classes oh even though there are great speakers who are offering stuff for free like look at Vern Vern Harnish is yeah I think it has been curated like the one

um I joined I mean it was so good like stuff that you can really do right now like what would you do you know what kind of business you should be involved in right now how do you pivot how do you buy businesses in this crisis but doing it in the right way yeah so then everyone's joining in that class and yeah I'm seeing some people are doing so well even with zoom live and utilizing facebook live and groups really yeah groups I think have been really huge you know and it's so crazy i heard that streaming live has been around since 2012 is that really can you believe that i mean but no there's i know i was watching this other girl interviewing this other girl who she was like one of the first live streamers in 2012 i'm like that's eight years ago it just seems like it almost just came

about like a couple years ago but it's been a long time yeah do you think that live is the way to go I think yeah I think you still can host a um a big event through zoom or find something bigger than Zoom. And it's like the same as when you do host a big convention, you still could do it and then set them up to different groups where you need to have a lot of people working for you. Yeah. It can't be done. I'm seeing it like it's doable. Yeah. And you're joining, I mean, you're signing up for these courses too. Yeah. They're like 2000, you know, 2000. 2000 attendees? No, 2000 per. Yeah. For like five days.

Really? And they have like 750 attendees. So that's just one class. That's so smart. Yeah. That is so smart. I mean, and is it like a virtual conference where you can actually meet other people or is it like a webinar? It's just like a zoom. You're just in that Facebook group doing the speaker will be doing Facebook live and you can ask questions there. Yeah. Wow. yeah wow it can be done if you really know what you're doing yeah um yeah it's relatable and it's something that people wanted to learn at this point absolutely i think that it's definitely here to stay and what's good about that strategy that you're moving towards media is that you can

do this in the philippines if you want to be in europe when you're ready to travel right you can do this in the Philippines if you want to be in Europe when you're ready to travel, right? You can do this as long as you wake up in whatever time zone and you're, and basically you're selling the product again and again, again, you know? Yeah. I've been seeing a lot of people doing live selling in the Philippines. That's a big thing. It's like they're having their own QVC. I don't know. Yes. I've been seeing it non-stop and they

do watch party and selling live i was like that's amazing they're so resourceful i don't see that here in the u.s like because they want it to be a little bit more produced probably so what are they selling clothes different things some are selling um you know food like costco item and they're they have like so much follower like okay i'll take it and then you do the shipping it's amazing like you don't have to have a store they're just doing live facebook selling wow and people are watching that rather than reality tv wow okay i gotta like watch one i just wanted to see we should have a watch party you have to watch it it's it's amazing yeah why don't you do one and i'll watch you i'll watch you sell something so like yeah everyone had

you know imagine you have your own qbc i was like can you imagine you can do that here wow so so knowing like like those are that's what's going to happen what type of skills do you think that people are going to need right now to be able to succeed if everyone's going to be selling probably like speech debate you know yeah yeah right yeah yeah i think i think if you're really knowledgeable about something and you know you're like authority of that why not like do it yeah yeah you can't be shy i guess i'd be shy yeah you can't be shy yeah you're shy but you're still doing it you're pushing yourself myself yeah i'm forcing myself because myself because this is going to be the future. Yeah.

Yeah. So what tools are you using now that can help people? Like there's 17 million unemployed people now. Like what would you suggest to them? Like tools or tactics? What do you mean? to start your own business? Yeah. Or, you know, maybe, yeah. Yeah, no, that's going to be hard, right?

Because, well, you have to really find your passion. What are you, what, what do you stand for? What do you love to do? And then that makes it easier to sell or do, because that's something that you love. Yeah. Well, you've got a great story because, you know, a lot of times people will tell me like, well, I, I, if I just had $50,000 or if I had a hundred thousand dollars and I can make it. And I'm like, I started with a used computer and an $86 desk from Ikea. And you started like you were tell everyone the story I love you yes I started with

$20 so I was doing um product arbitrage through Amazon and built a multi-million dollar doing that but that's gone because not want to do it themselves but I was able to scale and open another businesses like spa and the resort through that yeah because I know it's not gonna last yeah you knew it I yeah yeah all the um the red flag and so I before even I'm allowing that to happen I already have plan B and C. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Cause I think right now, like, you know, these, everyone who's unemployed, they're probably really either in shock or, but I think it's a really great opportunity because I'm sure that a lot of them may not have been happy in their jobs, you know? So now take advantage of this time while you're getting unemployment, you know, to try something new, you know? Yeah. Or, or, you know, if something that's make it easier,

if they're really good at doing makeup or something that they can have a follower, then hopefully they can build their audience and sell through that. I think right now what I'm doing is build a community and then figure out what I'm going to do with it. Yeah. Online courses. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Well, maybe a skincare tips or something. Yeah. I know your passion is really skin. Why is your passion skin? I grew up with eczema, so I know how that feels being insecure with your own skin. So that's why I really care about skin and I want to help people how to feel good about themselves and their skin. Yeah.

Similar to Daisy, too. You know, she says her business is doing pretty good. Yeah. She said she's up, like, incredibly because i think people want to be able to take care of something you know yeah i think people has money and they have um they really have money to spend so they can buy skincare they're at home yeah have you been shopping online yourself have i been shopping not really have you no no i'm trying to like hold my cash and yeah because we don't know what's gonna happen yeah that's true like I just um and plus you realize like you have so much I'm uh the

one thing that I've been doing is realizing that I bought all this stuff, but I've never done anything with it. Like I used to take a lot of calligraphy classes, you know, and I have so much calligraphy stuff. And so finally I'm going back to doing calligraphy and you just don't realize. And like I had bought an echo dot like a year ago and I never set that up so I'm just realizing like I have so much stuff that I haven't even played with so so is that did you discover that from your garage while cleaning your garage yeah when I was like okay well and this is brand new I haven't even opened this package and you realize like I bought a lot of stuff that probably can sustain me for like the next year. Well, our garage is full because A, we invest in a property in Temecula for Airbnb. And then that, you know, they changed the law.

So now we have, you know, a lot of stuff from a four bedroom house into garages. Like I have living room stuff. I mean like, Oh my God, it's overwhelming. And so now I'm thinking maybe I'm going to start some like rental property in Joshua tree or like, cause I have a big land there.

I'll put it in there. But, uh, now we can't even do that. I mean, I still can do because that's essential, part essential, but do something like that. I could empty. Yeah yeah or you could like start staging homes you know I would love to do that

but yeah like but that sounds like a lot of work I think right now at this point I will stay away from being operator yeah my goal is to just buy I buy a business and exit and buy and exit i don't want to do the day-to-day the day-to-day i'll stay away from that yeah well you already had the experience like me too like it was always a fantasy to like have a retail store you know like when people think on the outside or like even with me like with my purse hook you always think like oh yeah if i had a product i have a service business i'll do a product, I have a service business, I'll do a product. Oh, I have a product now I want to do retail business. And then you realize that how much work, all of it is a lot of work, you know?

So you're going to sell, so you're going to sell your media company. That's the plan. If someone, I guess if someone, if I, if I have a good offer, why not? But I need to build it first. But that's going to be my goal this year. Yeah, yeah. It's either here. I think it's easier for me to acquire groups and buy a lot of that assets in the Philippines.

Because we have business there, then it's easy to promote a different brand or whatever that may be. Yeah. Yeah. I think that that's really great because your focus is going to be the Philippines and then go beyond after that. Yeah. Yeah. I know. It's cheaper for me to do a test. It doesn't cost me as much as here.

I heard that Facebook is offering $800 million worth of help for businesses. Isn't that for ads? Are you going to be utilizing any of that? Have you heard of that? No. I think Facebook was planning to do that and that they were offering ads for people. That's what I heard. Maybe we can look into that.

Oh, I could look into that. Yeah. I did sign up for Sarah Blakely. Did you interview her? No, I really want to. Do you have any connections? I know someone that knows the husband. I know.

I got introduced to Jaco. Yeah. When nothing ever husband. I know. I got introduced to Jaco. Yeah. When nothing ever happened. I know. Well, it's out on Instagram or LinkedIn. I know. I got the master class membership.

Someone gave it to me for free and I'm going to watch her class. She's such an inspiration.ah blakeley is also an eo with us so she's so inspirational yeah she's the reason why i joined you really yes yes because in her inc article she mentioned eo oh yes like that she really talked about how that helped her as a business owner and scale her business and think way differently and that's what sold me because of her and because she was a female and a badass she's so good it's

amazing yeah she's so so good i know i think that it's so great that you're doing this for female entrepreneurs because i think that they need to see more people that look like us, you know, Filipinas or minorities or, you know, women. So thank you so much for being such an inspiration to everyone. Well, I got that from you. You opened that door because every time I hang out with you, I would ask you, so what's your goal? You said, I just want to help 1 million women.

And so I hear that over and over again, like, why not do it? Yeah, yeah. And I think that this is a really great opportunity to do that. I mean, considering that Daisy told me that she's had 75 million people watch her videos. I know. Right? And that's crazy. So a million is, you know, I think it's doable. Yeah, it's doable. So how did you come up with that? What is, why is that, that was your goal?

Which? Helping 1 million women. Um, well, I went to the Entrepreneurial Masters Program at MIT. Are you planning to do that? One of the days. I think a year. Because you did Harvard, right? I did Harvard, yes. Yeah. And then so what they talked about there was, okay, so here you are.

You have your business. Well, you know, why are you doing it? And then so I was saying, like, oh, because I want to leave a legacy, you know, why are you doing it? And then, so I was saying like, oh, cause I want to leave a legacy, you know, for my family. And then they challenged us to figure out how to live your legacy, like do it right now, you know? And so for me, I thought what, why do I want to help women? I think that women are so amazing. They are creative, they're intuitive. They have so many great ideas because they're the ones who are mostly doing the caretaking. They're the ones who are the major purchasers for the household. And if you're the major purchaser and you don't talk to a woman, you know, I mean, that's why Sarah Blakely was

so successful because she was able to, you know, come up with comfortable hosiery that also made you look good, you know? So before like, right. I mean, you remember that they were just using mannequins, you know? So they didn't know like how to work with a real human woman's body. And I also do believe that women will give back not only to their community, but also to their kids. And I think that if more women were in power, then things that are very horrific, like sex trafficking, child sex trafficking, I think would be gone because we would have eyes and ears, you know, on everything on the systems, because you'll see, like if you stop one channel, right. They do a lot of sex trafficking in the, in the Philippines, right. The biggest sex trafficking ring is around Disneyland, right?

Right where kids are. It's terrible. But you know what they do instead of taking them on planes now? They take them on boats. And so who allows that? Not women. Like why, you know, women, that would be the last thing women would want to do is to like subject children to this type of horrific crime. So I think the world would be a better place if there were just more people,

you know, and it was balanced, you know, I think, I mean, and I also do not not like men, you know, like, you know, Dan is great and your husband and Rodney's great. But like, I think that we just need to show up more. Like, why is it that there's 15 million men that have small businesses and only 12 million women that have small businesses, 3 million gap.

Can you imagine if we had those 3 million women also participating in the game, coming, you know, sharing their ideas. And also I really do think that the more that, you know, men see, you know the more that you know men see you know women you know succeeding they'll also give more money or help support that you know so that's it yeah that's wonderful yeah I feel like um I get that a lot like I think this is way more pronounced. I don't, I'm not really sensitive into a lot of things, but I remember one of our trips, we were in Spain, me and Dan, and we were in a hotel,

and we check in together, but the female offered him a bubbly, and I didn't get any water, and I got so upset. I think I cried. I cried because I feel like she's not willing to talk to me and I was get pissed because I even paid for this hotel yeah it's my money you know yeah it's my business I was so mad like I don't know it was very clear I'm not very sensitive I'm okay with it I'm used to it but for that moment I was so Like, why do I have to prove myself? So you were checking into a hotel in Switzerland. We were checking into a hotel together. Very nice.

I saw the photos. Really? It was a very nice hotel in Barcelona. It was a five-star hotel. And we were there standing. And the front desk overdid a champagne. and she didn't even offer me a water. What did she think you were the assistant or something? Yeah, maybe an assistant. Yes. So I was so upset.

And I think I got, like you said, I'm not very sensitive about those, but like that really pisses me off. So did you ask for champagne no I didn't did you take Dan's no I think I I you're just like oh I just yeah I said I'm just gonna stay here one night and not come back yeah yeah it's very obvious like that it's not okay no it's not okay I even treat my staff even the housekeeping I treat them like they're my CEO yeah that's how I live my life like I that's how I I operate every day so it's really not it's not cool when someone do that yeah I think that's why the Filipino what is it women's network nominated you to be like one of the top Filipinas in the world I think that's why the Filipino Women's Network nominated you to be like one of the top Filipinas in the world. I think that they wanted to try to change the perception of

Filipinas outside of the Philippines, because they're usually people who are like domestic workers, you know, so you're right, like when I was, I would attend a lot of EO events, and then people always thought I was staff, or, you know, when I would, you know, I'm sure that this happens to you too, when you go to an EO event and they're expecting your husband to be the business owner rather than you. So all the time, really? Yeah. See, so, I mean, I think that we're making headway, you know, and I think that's the reason why I also, you know, wrote this book, you know, to help women, you know, understand who they are, you know, and I think that sometimes, you know, women think that they need some type of permission or I think, you know, what is different with women is like they really want to know everything before they proceed because they're so diligent. And so like you, you know, you want to be able to learn rather than just like jumping in headfirst, you know, because it's the logical and most practical thing to do. And so I think it's, yeah, I think women are amazing. Thank you. Yeah. So Kalika, I have a question. How did you come up with this book what was the story behind the little brand book oh yeah so going

back to my um helping a million women I was thinking well how am I going to do that I'm only one person and so because I own a branding agency I own two uh citrus studios which um has been around since 1999 and then orange and berot, which is a creative agency for female founders. And whenever we brand someone, we always try to come up with their brand archetype. And so usually when you work with a branding agency, I think the minimum, you know, the minimum we charge was like $30,000 to help with someone's brand. And so I thought to myself, well, what if I created a framework for women so that they can understand who they are and they also understand how other brands work? Because an archetype is basically a hypothetical persona that's

universally accepted. So once you understand that you are a brilliant brand or the maven, who's someone who's a teacher, um, who wants to, you know, spread, uh, great knowledge, or if you're the charismatic brand, you know, that someone like Ellen DeGeneres, who is, uh, you know, always the life of the party. I think you can make decisions about your life that way. When I started, you know, in the internet a long time ago, 1996, I started teaching internet classes, how to, you know, how to use internet, how to make websites, because my grandmother always told me, and my mom, they're both teachers, if you want to learn something fast, teach it.

And so I've been teaching for a long time. So that's why my archetype, you know, in the book is both a leader and a maven. Maven is someone who teaches. And I didn't consciously know that, like, I just, I just do it. You know, I just did it. But if I had consciously know that. Like, I just do it. You know, I just did it. But if I had consciously known that, oh, yeah, okay, like, I'm more of a teacher, then I probably would have had more focused strategy in doing more, let's say, online courses, you know. Because I think a lot of times the things that are so close to us are hidden from us have you ever done that jihari window in in eo I think so yeah open window the closed window the you know the blind window the unknown window so that's a concept where everyone else knows that you're good at it but you don't and so if don't know, then how are you going to pursue? So,

so that's how it came up because I really want to be able to help women. And I think content wise, this will really help them understand who they are and also understand other people in the room as well, too. So when someone comes in, I understand the archetype. I know how to not influence, but I understand them a lot more. So like if a brilliant brand, brilliant archetype walks in someone who's logical, factual, someone who's all about the numbers, then, you know, I won't be sending them emoticons, you know, like I won't be sending them memes or gifts, you know, cause they, you know, they don't care about that. They just want the stats. They just want the data. And you know, you can not influence, but you can influence people that way.

What company is that? Like, can you give a, give me an example of a company that's that category? Like a brilliant brand? Harvard.vard harvard what about coca-cola they're more like the bff oh yeah the bff yeah they want to be there for you they want to make the world a great place probably a bff plus idealist brand you know they're very optimistic but not to the point where you know people think people think that you're naive, you know. So I would say the BFF brand is like the loyal, the trusted brand, like Nordstrom's, you know, like, you know, someone who you always rely on. Yeah.

What about Apple? Probably original rebel, uh, Steve jobs, you know, thought outside of the box. But I think that's the reason why this book is really interesting because there's not only 12 archetypes, there's 144 archetypes in there. And I believe that people sometimes don't cleanly fit in one. So Apple is a very, very original brand, but it's also rebellious in the way that he wanted to do, you know, his, his main motto was think different. And you have to have balls to be able to do that, you know, to think differently and not want to.

Sometimes there are people who don't want to make waves, you know, and he's willing to do that you know to think differently and not want to um sometimes there are people who don't want to make waves you know and he's willing to do that so yeah what about um what really brand that stands you that stands out that has this all over category of like, or like you can, like, they have like maybe four or five part of this archetype. Like what brand is like, I'm not sure if you understand my question. Like what? Okay. So I know you can be like a BFF and IDLS or something like that. But what brand that has was like uber what what archetype are they for uber um probably i mean it's a very innovative brand uh you know they're the ones who also um thought differently i mean like they completely unhinged the, the, you know, the way we drive.

So usually people who are like that are people, we call them like the heroes, the, the, the, the heroine, but they, they do it for like a good purpose. Even though I know that there's like some drama with Uber, but I would probably call them like the hero, the heroine brand, you know, they're willing to, to try something different for the good of other people. that lady um this fry i think i have her email she was that lady she's really someone oh i love her i have her email address she's the one at harvard right yes she was the one that fired the uber ceo and changed the culture i love yeah like she's like don't care just getting there did you interview her yet no i i was just telling dan like i need to look for her email i know i have her email somewhere yeah good interview you know who's also connected with her um susan endline from the eo brooklyn chapter yes well because she was in the harvard residential program there you know she went to harvard and uh so she's part of their uh residential entrepreneur and residence program at harvard but she i know

that she's she's very connected with with francis and probably brian brault too my emp facilitator he was also the global chairman like two years ago. Remember Brian Brawley? He's so good. Yeah. Have you interviewed Boo Boo yet? I actually contacted her. I think she's so super busy this time, but I'm sure she will. So Julie? Julie. Yes. I've been telling her.

I actually have one Filipina tomorrow. She's Anna Marie Estrana. Okay. So this is. Oh, I i love her isn't that the one um cat the yes the fairy the fairy yeah very fast very quick what fast fast cat fast cat yeah her service when i was in college because i would be so bored and I would go to a different city and I would take a used fast cat so that's why I'm so interested um knowing her story because I grew up with her um company she has the most beautiful home I went and I stayed with her really let's stay with her I mean she like had masseuses coming over to the house and I think

I had like a three-hour massage like it was just like crazy yeah I had dinner with them we have such a talented family that that um their their kids are so beautiful and we're playing guitar and piano. Really? Yeah. And then they showed me the church that they basically built, which is right across the street. You should have her give you like a behind the scenes tour of her house. Her house looks like it belongs here in the U.S., like in Cupertino or like Silicon Valley somewhere. It's gorgeous. Wow.

It's so beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, I can't wait to get to know her and her story. And yeah, she sounds sounds like very nice person and then we met her in macau she was there that's yeah yeah yeah and then she knows um that guy who sings for journey what was his name oh yeah what's his name yeah the guy you should have him perform yeah yeah i think they were very close um another thing to the ceo from cebu um edward on latko um he's so accommodating so every time i will be in cebu i will text him hey and he will text me are you here i'll send you a driver and he would send me a driver in the airport to pick me up every like use it for a day and then i stayed in their house they welcomed me in their house like people are

so generous so amazing yeah was he the one who owns Honda? All the Honda dealerships? Yeah. I think Honda and then the Mercedes. I think he owns the dealership. Yeah. And then Julie too. She opened her hotel for me and I stayed there. So people are so generous and that's why I just want to serve and be a service to other people as well, anything that I can do for EO because they're so generous. Yeah. Are you still part of YEC? I haven't been involved in a while.

Yeah. But I still have a lot of friends from there. Yeah. I think EO is a really great tribe, especially now, because I think it was so funny. One of farm mates was like oh you know she was going to give EO like a five because you know she wasn't going to any of the events and then COVID hit and she was just like this is my lifeline you can see how everyone just came together just because of you know our entrepreneurial you know support group you know, our entrepreneurial, you know, support group, you know, it's like AA for entrepreneurs because we're all suffering at the same time, you know, so crazy, but then we're also being positive, you know,

like we're not down in the dumps. I was down for quite a while, like a week, but you know, it's encouraging. Yeah. Yeah. To see everyone. Yeah. Like like i love your background i love your flowers i love your crystal i know i have my crystal i'm like talking through zalia and have you heard from her i've been texting her i've been trying to get her to do some type of meditation podcast or something but she um she doesn't have skype so she said she's going to download skype yeah well i wasn't really into this virtual thing until rosalia was being introduced to us yeah remember that time we were in napa that was it like that was i just thought that

that was the best the women of EO event where we met her. Yeah. So good. I don't really believe in those things, but she actually is very good. I was surprised. Yeah. Well, she's definitely helped, I think, a lot of people, you know, not believe all the thoughts that happen and things like that. Yeah.

She's really good. Yeah. Yeah. So what are you going to be doing the next few days? Hmm. I don't know. Oh, maybe masterclass. I want to take some classes too.

Yeah. I've been doing the Ann Winter, you know, the editor of Vogue and Condé Nast. I've been taking her class. It's so good. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen that on Facebook they're selling a lot of um classes that expensive no well I got it as a gift because it's buy one get one free or something so someone gave it to me as a gift so if you buy one you can offer it to some maybe you

can market that to one of your Facebook group people yeah When I get to 10,000 followers, I'm going to give away this expensive... No, I think it's very cheap, like 100-something. 100-something. And there's like the most amazing speakers. Oh, really? Wow. So it's through Zoom then? Through live Facebook?

No, they have their own online learning management system. Wow. Wow. Wow. wow well I had so much fun so good thank you for letting me interview you I know that this is a chat it's a nice chat I thought I'm going to interview you no thank you because everyone's always you're always interviewing everyone else now everyone has to know your story you're so amazing oh no you're amazing I mean thank you for being story. You're so amazing. No, you're amazing. I mean, thank you for being a sister.

You're like a sister to me. You're more than a sister to me too. We're always texting each other. Yeah. You've helped me a lot. You've opened your door. You've helped me connect to your connections, your friends, and you've helped me a lot. I mean, I'm normally would hide in a corner, but really pushed me to be out there.

So thank you. Yeah, no, I think that people need to see more of you, you know, like you've got a great, fantastic story. So inspirational, especially for Filipinas, you know, and I will always be your cheerleader and have your back. Just like you did for me, like when I needed help for the waxing company, you were there. Like you flew to Hawaii. I had so much fun though. Staying with your family in the hotel. I had so much fun.

So fun, right? Eating all the macadamia. What? The yoni steam. The yoni steam. The vag steam. We discovered that together. But because of you, you know, know you were like let's try it you

know and it's it's nice knowing your family you have such a great family your kids your husband is adorable oh yeah yeah so and yours too like when i went to the philippines to see your family and so sorry to hear about your cousin. I know. Yeah. Let me know I can donate or whatever to help him. You already helped in the beginning. But I really appreciate your friendship before. And you're just so generous to a lot of people. And anything that I can do to support you, I'll do it.

You too. Thank you. Thanks for everything. Bye. Tell Dan I said hi. And your kids too. I will. Bye. everything. Bye. Tell Dan I said hi and your kids too. I will. Bye.