Hot Smart Rich with Maggie Sellers Reum - Maggie Sellers On Why Work-Life Balance Is a Lie, Building Ambition, Boundaries, and The Power of Moms (Ft. Katie Sellers)

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

Why Work-Life Balance Is a Lie (and What Ambition Really Costs) In this episode of Hot Smart Rich, Maggie Sellers sits down with her sister and co-founder Katie Sellers to talk about the myth of balance, the reality of modern ambition, and what women really give up to build businesses, families, and brands at the same time. From the truth behind “having it all” to what social media doesn’t show about life after kids, Maggie and Katie get into the trade-offs no one warns you about — including how ambition evolves through different seasons of life. They also break down the power of being offline, the limits of personal brand transparency, and why it’s okay to not want to monetize every part of your identity. Whether you’re single and building, deep in your mom era, or trying to find the line between ambition and burnout, this one’s for you. – Key Takeaways Work-life balance is a myth. The idea that you can give 100% to work and 100% to your personal life at the same time is a lie. Balance comes in seasons — not spreadsheets. Ambition changes shape. Your twenties might be all grind. Your thirties might demand more flexibility. Neither season is less valid than the other. The thicker the skin, the more you convert. If you’re building a brand in public, you’re going to get feedback. The women winning online know how to separate critique from identity. You don’t have to share everything to be real. You can build a successful personal brand without posting your finances, your kids, or your relationship. Boundaries are power. Moms are the most powerful marketing engine on earth. The Stanley Cup didn’t go viral because of paid ads — it went viral in a group chat. Consumer power is cultural power. From brands like Cakes offering $36K in child support benefits to founder-led companies that lead with values, today’s consumers are voting with their wallets. Creatorship isn’t a personality — it’s a job. Just because you’re online doesn’t mean your life is up for consumption. Creators get to have private lives too. – Items and Brands Mentioned In This Episode Sir the Label dress Stanley Cup – The viral 40oz Quencher cup that moms made famous. Frida Mom – The snot sucker (from Frida Baby) Cakes – Highlighted for offering $36K/year in child support benefits and building brand loyalty through values. Locker – An HSR portfolio company working to democratize affiliate tools for creators. – Other Podcasts Referenced Diary of a CEO – Emma Grede’s episode sparked the deeper discussion around ambition, motherhood, and the myth of work-life balance. – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐If you like what you hear, rate, review, and subscribe to Hot Smart Rich, the podcast supporting women who own their worth — in business, wealth, and life. Subscribe on Youtube – 💌Own your worth — and build the life you want. Subscribe to the Hot Smart Rich newsletter, the ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Katie Sellers. Are you ready to get Hot Smart Rich? I'm so ready to get Hot Smart Rich. I'm so glad that you're back. And what, tell me about your outfit today. I went Maggie style this time. I don't know if you can tell. For the audience watching, I'm not wearing any shoes.

Doesn't it feel freeing? It does feel free. Except we're going to see our feet on Onlyfans at some point. But I'm down for that. Oh, my God. Honestly, I, so we just rented out Courtney's apartment or house. and we rented it to an OnlyFans model. And we had to see,

yeah, we had to see her. Can you see it in her content? Yeah. I actually was waiting for somebody to, like, send it to me and be like, he's cheating on you or something. But we had to see her bank account because now we're landlords. And we're actually seeing how much money this girl makes. It is crazy.

It's millions. I sometimes, like, you know, that TikTok that you sometimes get on and they're, like, talking about how much money they, some of them are making, like, millions a month. Well, and it's so funny because somebody that we had on the podcast, that their episode hasn't come out yet, but they, I was wearing no shoes. It's like kind of a thing. So like Christian's laughing. But like basically she starts taking her shoes off. And then she's like, oh, wait, never mind. I can't because actually like people have taken my feet pictures and put them on sites. What? So she wore her shoes. A guest on our episode? Yes. And do you remember when I was in high school? Like I was in the back of an Uber and somebody saw my feet and we're like, can I take pictures of your feet? Yes. So this. This. So this. I remember when I was in high school, like, I was in the back of an Uber and somebody saw my feet and we're like, can I take pictures of your feet? Yes. So this. So this. So this. So this. So this. So this. So this. So this. So. So This is a real thing, but it was so funny because when we started renting out the house to this girl and we saw her bank accounts as a joke to Courtney, I was like, I think I should start an only fan's with just my feet pictures because I have like really beautiful feet. You have really beautiful feet. But nonetheless, here we are.

I love my outfit because what I've decided is I'm doing the Steve Jobs thing where like I don't think about what I wear. I just wear the same thing with the black or white t-shirt. The uniform, totally. Also, do you feel like when your husband hates your outfit, it means that you have good fashion? My husband is so not on that algorithm. Like he basically, I could wear a paper bag and he'd be like, you look absolutely beautiful, honey. He's a golden retriever. Yeah, he's a golden retriever.

Whereas Courtney's like, take that off. Those jeans are horrible. Christian, do you like my baggy jean look or no? So Christian is like this. So Christian is our official video producer. He has done the last, actually like, ever since the quality so we were looking at the quality improved dramatically but remember the thing that that I posted that was like you can't do your hundreds and if you haven't done your first and the first thing of

anything is going to be bad and you're going to be embarrassed by the first oh my god so like when we were going through this whole kate max drama i was like katie can you pull the clip of when i said that like brands and people should identify who they are and then like that way you don't mislead an audience to thinking whatever so we pull the clips back from like the first it was like the first episode or the third with Courtney but that was filmed like back in December of 2024. And it was scary. Like I, but then again, we go back to like that example of when that video of Sarah and Christine went on TikTok, it went super viral, got like a million views. And it was the worst quality ever.

But anyway, now we have like a full producer. We have an audio team, a video team. And Christiane is amazing. Yes. Today kind of follows that trend what we talked about because I think we're going to clear the air on a lot of stuff. We have a big docket. We have a big docket. Do you steal that from Giggly Squad?

There's a lot that's come across our desk. I also just feel like I'm so tired of people saying, oh, Maggie, when I meet you in person, you're so much better in real life than you are online. Yeah. And I find it so hard when you like put on a TikTok video, you're just like not yourself in the same way where at least like right now this is genuinely who I am and you do the best job of bringing that out into me. And I'm trying to be my best self.

More energy in the room. More HsR energy. Okay, so let's just start with consumption habits. What's the last thing that you bought and the last most expensive thing that you bought? So the last most expensive things that I've bought are plants for my garden, which, shocker, they can be like hundreds of dollars. Did you know that I'm gardening now? I mean, I saw that on your TikTok, but I was like, there's no way she's gardening.

It's going to be a passion project. Yeah. I mean, it is so therapeutic, like the flow that you get into, but I got some beautiful hydrangees. flowers for my backyard and it was like $500. Oh, wow. Okay. What's the last thing that you bought on the flight yesterday? Ooh.

Gum. Maybe internet. Oh, and that's what, $24? It was only $8 Canadian. And it was strong. Like I was, like we were sending stuff back. It was the strongest it's ever been. And it's been a consistent problem every time I fly.

Like, I can't do anything. But this time I was like online the whole time. So that was the last thing. What about you? My last big purchase was that Sir, the label dress for F1, which I am obsessed with. I felt so sexy and chic in that. And I think that was like the first time I've dressed myself for a culturally relevant event. Like I haven't been like, I need a stylist, which I still do.

Justine, we need to like get back into the group of things. But I felt like really excited about that dress. And I felt like it was such a good value. It was beautiful. And then the last thing that I bought actually yesterday, I went to the farm. So I'm in my cooking era, in my home era. Which is good. And I did some gardening on Saturday.

I did a light grocery shop of things that I couldn't get. at the farmer's market. And then yesterday I went to the farmer's market. And I think I spent like a hundred something dollars at the farmer's market. Which is not bad on food. That is kind of bad for the farmer's market. But I did buy salmon and chicken thighs and eggs and like a bunch of stuff that's expensive. So, um, but yeah, I'm in my era of just like trying to not have balance, but like,

which is impossible, apparently, according to emma green. Did you watch that? That's one of the first things we were going to talk about, which is like work life balance and I'm agreed. Yes. What did you think about that episode? I have so many thoughts because, like, I feel like I've lived both worlds. Like, I've been the emigreed being, like, the CFO of a consumer brand and building businesses.

And, like, I understand where she's coming from. But I feel like the delivery and obviously there's so much production and there's literally a crow. Hello. There's so much post production. Is that bad luck, by the way? I mean, I don't know if it's good. Christian face. It's like, what type of podcast are you doing today?

Yeah. We're letting it lose, Christian, because basically... Okay. Keep going. So, and in the diary of the CEO, I feel like there's so much post-production and cutting it and editing, like, as the person who does our podcast. Like, there's a lot that goes into it. And so someone can say one thing, and they mean something totally different.

But, like, I... really resonate with what she's saying as like an executive of a business but then as a young mom with a family who needs flexibility and does want balance like it can be totally at odds and that like it really kind of hurt me to listen to the episode why because you feel like it's impossible but it's like not what you necessarily want I think like and I mean this is something else we're going to talk about it's the whole like are you an alpha female what do you want out of life what do you want out of your family and it just was one of those things I listened to and I was like what I thought I wanted out of life is totally different after having a kid and it just like really made me think about how I spend

my time and what I value but I totally agree with what she says there is no balance in life. Yeah. Like I don't know what you think but I don't think there's balance in life. Well I go back to like what I've always said which is like there are seasons. There are seasons where you like put your head down and do really good work. And I do think about myself when I was like at the beginning of my career. Like I'm in a different place right now where I feel lost like genuinely like not having to be grinding 24-7 and have my job consume every single second of my thought. Like I sometimes wake up and I'm like, I feel so guilty.

Like do you ever feel guilty between the hours of nine and five when you're not on your laptop and you're like running an errand or doing something that it's so weird? but I think that's what she's saying in the episode, which was totally cut out of all of the social clips. Like, I don't know who's sitting there for the two hours to watch it. I know you and I hosted. But like what's in the news cycle is the clip that's like there's no work life balance. It's not my problem. The responsibility is on you.

But then what she says after is actually so true. I run an organization now where no parent is missing a soccer game, a dentist appointment, a haircut. Like there's inherent flexibility built into the day to day. and I think that's very true and what people missed when they're talking about it. She's not saying like, how dare you ask me about... Like you have to work 24 hours a day, no.

No, she's not saying that. How dare you ask me about work life balance in the interview? It's like people now should know that if you're working in a business like that, there is flexibility so you don't need to ask me about it. And by the way, like I completely agree with what she was saying around. Like, if you are not in the office when you're in your 20s, you're not in the position that she's in her 40s.

I totally agree. I don't know where we were. went so wrong with this idea that like the office is so toxic and that you have to be working from home. Working from home is isolating, especially when you're living in a one bedroom apartment. I did that during COVID. I went from like being on tour with artists, like being in a really creative artist environment to like being at home in a one bedroom where I lived, I worked, I worked out there, I slept, I like socialized there. And it was so exhausting. And you don't have, it's so funny too because when I've never had a problem like meeting men because my whole like my whole life,

has, especially in work, been around men. Yeah. And I hear that a lot from women that work in environments where it's like they're working from home. Yeah. They're in beauty. They're surrounded by other women. The office is 70% female.

The office is 70% female, but they also don't go into the office like more than three times a week. And I'm like, no wonder you have a hard time meeting men because you're by yourself all day. Yeah. And I'm not saying like now that I work from home, I'm not saying that like, oh, I've like achieve a certain whatever and now I have the right to do that. I actually like miss an office environment.

And I think that now to Emma's point, it's like employers are flexible. Yes. They're not like, oh, you have to be at your desk at 8 a.m. Like when I was growing up, if you were not at your desk at an 8 or 9, you were late and that was like a problem on your performance. And they would talk to you and be like, you're not getting here until 915 every day. Like there's a problem. And when I was working at Ernst & Young, the partners are all getting in at 7, 7.30.

It's the only time they have to work. And if you were there, guess what? You had the chance to talk to them when they were. getting a coffee or walking to the bathroom. And that did help me build my career by being in the office five days a week, seven days a week during busy season. And like, yeah, now when I'm a bomb, do I want to be in the office five days a week and like grind, grind, no. But to your point, there's seasons and there's phases. And like if you are in the phase where you want to like grind and build your business and But I think that's also what the clip didn't show is that like what she says is she's like,

if you want an extraordinary life, you have to have extraordinary input to get that output. Yeah. And I think that's what gets so lost is like, I think because one of the things we're going to talk about is like, influence or rich culture, rich talk. And like we have, everybody wants that life. Everybody wants to be able to buy a million or mesbags and Van Cleef, whatever that like Becca Bloom is talking about. But then it's like, okay.

I don't want to do the work. No one wants to do the work. And I think that brings into this whole concept of like nepo babies and like whatever it is because like did you do the work or did your parents do. the work. Yeah. But I think just like the what she was trying to say, which I fundamentally agree with, is there is nothing wrong with a middle life. There's nothing wrong with like not having to pay check to paycheck, being able to go on one or two vacations a year, sending your kids to camp, not having to stress about putting food on the table. And like you can a thousand percent have

work life balance. But we and the HSR community is these ambitious women that like want to be able to have an extraordinary life. Don't necessarily want to sacrifice every single thing to get there. what have I said for years until I met Courtney? Like my worst fear is getting all of the money in the world or like what I would consider an extraordinary life. Yeah. And not having anybody to share that with. Yeah.

And I think that it just like, every time I've had somebody in these chairs, the theme that I've gotten is that like there are seasons. Like there are seasons where you are grinding it out. And like that's also something if you're listening to this and you're single. Sometimes I miss my single life, not for the reasons that you think. I miss the ability. to be selfish on my career. And do whatever you want, when you want, and when you need to do it.

And by the way, like you have the headspace like Emma was talking about when you have so, like I was alone all the time in previous relationships and when I was single. And when you're alone and you're not getting distracted by your phone and you're being intentional with your time, the creativity flows through you. Yeah. Whereas like when you have these responsibilities, like a family, a house to take care of, a child, you don't have that same time. Yeah.

And I think about that all the time. Like when I was, I was never sad to be single. I was literally like, this is amazing. My career is going to flourish. Everything's going to end up getting better. And when you do have dependence or people that rely on you, there are sacrifices that you make. Huge sacrifices.

And I think it's not until I truly had a child that you realize the sacrifice that you make as a woman with a family to service. It's not just like servicing your husband. It's like servicing your life. like to be a family and yeah like now that you're saying that I'm like sometimes I and Carter and I say to each other like I'm here in LA for a week and he's like great go have fun do your thing guess what it's easier for me when you're not here yeah and I say the same to him like when he's had to go away for work or for family stuff for like three four nights why do you think that is because

expectations or that it's on you it's just like there is no question whatsoever about like who's in control, whose agenda are we on, what's the time schedule, who's putting the kid to bed, bath time, dinner, whatever. It's like, you know it's on you. You have to do it, but then you get to do it exactly the way that you want to do it. Like, you don't have to ask for someone else's opinion or be like, oh, I know this triggers my husband. So like maybe I won't do it that way. But like when they're not there, you don't have to care about that. It's so interesting. Did you see that whole thing around the cake company offering like paid child support for, so. So, we got a lot of questions from the community of, I don't want to say this wrong, but do you actually

have, like, the name of the company? Cakes. So they made an announcement that they were going to be covering $36,000 per year for parents that work at their company to have child care. Which is honestly, like, amazing. Amazing. And talk to me about that as like a mom. Would that make you want to go work at that company? A hundred percent. Yeah. A hundred percent. And I mean, I live in Canada where there is subsidized child care, but it wasn't when I first had my son. And the average cost is like $2,200 a month. That's insane. Insane.

And guess what? If they have a fever and they send them home, you're still paying that. You're still paying that. And they have hand, foot, and mouth throat for a week, still paying that. And so this actually concept came up a lot at Missouri around, like, how can we actually enable the women in our organization to, like, be at work and be productive and have a child. and I give credit to the founder, founders, but specifically Nora,

when she would always say, like, when she would always say, my goal is to have a daycare here. Yeah. On site that can be super flexible and accommodating for the women who work here. And like, this is the beginning stages, I think, of what we're seeing,

of brands who truly are like 70% of my workforce is women. And I need to provide benefits that are going to service them and enable them to be, their best self at work. And so like 100% I would want to work here. I would want to shop here. Well, that's the thing I was going to say is that like I got so many messages of girls being like, can you talk about this? Because I became a new customer. Do you think that as the CFO of a former multi-million dollar company that the CFO would project in like yes, we're spending $36,000 for X,

but like we anticipate that our sales will grow by Y. Yeah. I mean, I think they, I don't know like, if necessarily they would have gone to the consumer perspective of like, oh, what's the customer perception and will that equate into sales? But they definitely would have done like the internal, okay, this is like our benefits package. We offer X, Y, and Z. If we give women or families this, like, we can expect why in terms of. Well, that's what I think like is so interesting around like you vote with your dollars. And that goes back to like, I got some pushback when I said that brands and influencers

need to make their political stance known. Yeah. Because or don't, but just be prepared that you might experience backlash. But if you make your political stands known, there's no surprises to your community. And I think that consumers now vote with their dollars. They vote where they want to see their money go. And so for me, I actually, shamelessly, had never heard of the company cakes before, saw this, was getting tagged in it so much.

And I was like, you know what? Now I actually will shop there because that is something I can get behind as a female founder. And I think that, like, it's such an interesting thing because I did get some pushback from people being like, why would your political views? like I don't want to know that. And it's like fair. Like I can't even vote in the States. But like I've made it pretty clear like who I am, like what I stand for. Obviously I think this brings up something else where it's like just because you're a creator and influencer doesn't mean that you have to expose your entire life and what your views are on everything.

And that was also something that I've been questioning around a lot of the people sitting in this chair so that people also know like my mentality of asking questions is like I've asked, when you were defining your personal brand, what was like fair game and what was just off limits for you? And I think that there are things that also can be fluid. And I was really upset. I understand where people were coming from with the Remy Bader surgery. But at the same time, like it is her private life.

And that was something if you actually take the time to have empathy, which I feel like nobody in society has anymore. Especially for people online. If you watch the state of her life and her health, health before she went for that surgery. What I'm hearing the community say is I value my life more than hers because she was not an okay person. And for her to make that decision and to feel like I'm going to keep this private, I actually

respect. And I think I've actually even started to get some interesting comments of people being like, you're so transparent about money, you're so this. Like, can you reveal X? And I'm like, I am more than happy to as the brand that I built on, talk about angel investing and I've been super transparent with people like I invest five to $10,000 into companies myself. When we do an investment that's like 150,000 or 200 or 500, I don't have that money. I've never said that I've had that money. And I am very clear about what is the

distinction of like I'm angel investing and this is an HSR Ventures investment. I don't think that that invites people to see my personal balance sheet or for me to be like, this is exactly X, Y, and Z. And I don't know if that's just like my own perception. But like for me, I don't think that being a creator invites the world to get to see every single aspect of her life. And it's I think a really hard thing for people who watch you or engage with you or any creator because they think that they know you. I think it's one of those things people really struggle with boundaries. And when someone sets a boundary, people really don't like that when they, think that they're entitled to more.

And but now that we're talking about this and money, I think like maybe, I mean, you're on, are you on the algorithm of people who are like the digital marketing experts? No. It's people who are like the MLM of our generation, which is like I teach you how to be a coach so you can teach someone to be a coach. It's all a scam. But those people, like the way part of their like social proof of how they actually build their personal brand is by literally pulling screenshots of like their stand store and putting it

in their TikToks. To be like transparent about that. To be transparent about like I'm so successful that I've been able to make like two million dollars selling these courses. Like selling what? Courses to teach people how to sell courses. Like it's literally an MLM. It's like almost fraudulent what they're doing. But like maybe that's part of where this is coming from from people where they're like we're seeing all these other people post their like sales and whatever and so like why aren't you doing that maybe but it's so funny because like I built a brand not off even being like a personal finance expert like I built my brand off of being like here's business deep dyes and like here's what I'm doing in my real job in my real life like I think that's what people forget is like I was investing for years before doing syndicates

and like it all happened as I was building in public like it also doesn't mean that as these founders that are building in public that you have to share every single deal. detail. And I think that is what's so interesting about these parasocial relationships. And like, it's so crazy to be able to like have this podcast and get to show the founder side of like who these people actually are. Because I think you build up an idea in your head. And then it's like that isn't necessarily like their authentic whole self. You know what I mean? Totally. We're also seeing a rise of these female founder podcasts. Yes. Which there was an article in ink this morning that came out. Which I was so sad that Hot Smart Rich was not mentioned in that first of all. Because when you go to

aspire on Spotify following similar podcasts. Hot Smart Rich is there. I think that everyone's noticing the same white space that we did, which is like women want to be financially smart. They want to build businesses. Everybody wants a product. And it's like, how do you help them get there? And it's so, I actually always believe that there's like so much room for everybody that I'm loving this surgeons of it because like all boats rise together. I think it's going to be really interesting to see how it plays out because we also read that article that was around like the rise of female voices on podcasting. And I, yeah. And I think, think that's the really hard balance of like when you're thinking about shows you want to keep

people's attention for an hour and like one of the things that I really struggle with is like this idea of having a persona and like being myself yeah and sometimes I'm like I find it hard to like take off the myself hat and like put on this entertainment hat especially in the world of building businesses and I don't know about you but when I was watching the emma agree podcast like an hour and a half in I was bored this diary of a CEO one yeah yeah I agree. And I think it is hard to keep people's attention. And I think we know that from even filming this podcast. I don't know if I should have said this before, but it just came to my mind and I wrote it down. My favorite creator that has taken backlash off of something and turned it

into like the most creative thing I've ever seen is Serena Carrigan. Serena Carrigan was caught having Monjarro in her fridge when she was filming a brand ad a year ago. And I felt for her because I was like, first of all, if you know Serena Carragan. Perrigan, she is like the most girl's girl, amazing person you will ever meet. She is fantastic at like being her authentic self online, but also like playing up that it's like she wants to and has been since a child like a drama queen, like writing shows and like entertaining and doing little plays. And so I felt for her. And then I don't know if you saw this last week, but she did an ad for a GLP1 supplement drink. Oh, did she? And I think I actually saw this. It was the most amazing

way of somebody that had been like or could have been like taken down online to like reclaim something that maybe she did want to keep private. Like just because you're a creator and you make a decision on your health doesn't mean that you owe the internet every single decision on it. So for her to now find a company that like she wanted to partner with and do something that she loves to do. I was like that is the exact perfect recipe of a creator meets a brand moment. And it's so funny because I think so much stuff can get misconstrued. Like I was sent something by SuperGut, which is a company that's raised a bunch of money. The former social and brand marketing lead at ORARing has now gone in to be the brand

marketing manager at SuperGat. She's like, can I send you stuff? I'm like, for sure. And it's GLP1 craving like bars and GLP1 like mixes. And I was like, I can't post this because then people are going to think that like I'm on GLP ones. And it's like it's so crazy when you think about like how much. many dots are connected online when you live this like personal public life.

Yeah. It's something that I'm still wrapping my head around and like I wouldn't say that I've mastered. No, but I think like you said, Serena Kerrigan, like that's a perfect example of someone reclaiming their power. And sometimes I feel like we often forget like when you're stuck in a tricky situation, whether it's personal work, family, whatever, sometimes all you have to do is name it and own it and it immediately loses all of its power. Wait, can I tell you what I've always told every single, I remember this so well, one of my

first investments. I was like, you need to start thinking about crisis PR. And my team was like, Maggie, like they just raised like a million dollars. Like they're not thinking about crisis PR. And I was like, I get that. But if you can't do that, you need to own the narrative. And I've always, that's my life mission. There's two things that I've said.

If you're listening to this and you're like a little lost in your career, you need some advice. I always said never get set up to fail. Yes. And always own the narrative. Yeah. And if you can do that, you're able to get in front of things before they snowball. So as an example, when I started seeing these comments, like I will read some right now. Can you break down how you've gotten rich, hoping you'll break down how to make money, how you've made your money? I said, can you please listen to my angel investing episode? I'm pretty sure I've explained everything there, including how much I'm investing, which is five or 10K per deal. I already talked about the syndicate thing.

And then someone goes, she married well. Not married yet. Then the girl goes, really, pretty deceptive if true. You don't think she has money of her own, thought she was a VC. I don't know how more explicit I could be to people of like, even if you buy our 50, 20, 2010 budget, like I literally talk about how I made my money to like sell my house to like afford to get an E2 visa. I've also talked about that in multiple podcast episodes.

And that's where I think there's this line where. it's like, I've shared enough that I'm comfortable with. And then the rest is not up to people to have information to. No. Like when Courtney and I do our pre-up, I don't think you will get access to what is in my pre-nup. Like, it's just not your information to know. Yeah. What I will do is talk about the process of getting a pre-up, why people get pre-ups,

what it is supposed to do, what are best practices. But I'm sorry, if you're looking for me to disclose my financial, situation, my pre-not, like, it's not ever happening. And those are boundaries that I feel like, that's why I started this episode with like, kind of just like choosing violence. Like, here are the reasons if you are looking for X, Y, and Z, don't follow me. Because this is also, and it's something so interesting, I was with one of the biggest YouTubers when we were in Japan. And he made a really interesting point where he was like, oh, I delete comments. And I feel not bad about that at all. Yeah. And I said, why? And he said, um, the comments are an aspect to the extent. And the

that the consumer has of the product. And if you get mad at creators for deleting comments, that is part of the experience of a new customer, a new, like, watcher to be able to decide if they want to engage with your content or not. And I really internalize that because I've never deleted comments. And I was like, that is so true. People make a perception. And if there's a new follower that comes to my videos and doesn't know that I've disclosed

all of this in my angel investing videos, like, they may be like, oh, Maggie's giving out this advice, but like isn't willing to talk about it herself, when that's actually not true. Yeah. And so I'm very much like, I think when you're a creator, you have the right to control whatever you want on your channel. That is your storefront. That is like somebody coming up to your retail business.

Yeah. Putting a sign on that says all of our products suck and sticking it on the window and you as the store owner being like, I'm not going to take that down. Yeah. You would take it down. You would take it down. Yeah. A hundred percent.

And I think it's fine. because that's one of the things that Emma agreed is saying in these interviews that she's doing of like one of her superpowers is like she's customer obsessed. Like that's the thing she spends 95% of her time doing is thinking about the customer, thinking about the product, what their experience is going to be like. And that's what she's doing in these businesses, you know? Like why can't I? Why can't you? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, this goes even to Rich Talk. Because do you know about Rich Talk? Becca Bloom, man. Did she invent Rich Talk? maybe. Do you want to know the story of Becca Bloom because it relates to my life? Yeah. So I didn't even know this, but Becca Bloom skyrocketed to fame because she saw Pia's

Heaven Mayhem laptop case and her laptop didn't fit into the case. Oh, I've seen this video. So she went to Apple. She bought the laptop that would fit the laptop case and people were in arms over the fact that this creator. It was rage bait. rage bait. Yeah.

And I don't know how it has spiraled since and how she's been able to maintain this. But like I... 2.4 million followers in like three months. Yeah, it's insane. And honestly, whoever hates on Becca Bloom, I just don't get it. Now I think it's harder because people are struggling to like pay rent, put food on the table. And then there are people who are going and buying laptops to fit into laptop cases that they want, which is like, yes, those are big extremes. Yeah.

It also reminds me of like when I think. think it's a really scary world. Someone's like, it's actually the least dangerous and violent time in our life. It's just more talked about and more aware because of social media. Yeah. It's a tricky place because at the one point, it's like, you love watching Rich Talk. I love Rich Talk. I always have. And by the way, I don't and I don't watch it. And I also don't have a problem with it. And I don't care. And I don't care. And it's like, I think like, I've never been a YouTube girly that like loves watching unboxings and like, I love. You love it.

Yeah. And you've never been able to afford an Hermes bag. And does it bother you if someone's in boxing 50? No, I love watching it because I know it's purely entertainment. Exactly. And that's the thing with Rich Talk is like Becca Bloom found a niche for herself, fueled by rage bait, and continued to do it. And guess what?

She's been way more successful than 99% of creators are ever going to be. Could you ever put yourself in that position, though? No. Like the amount of hate and videos, like I, when I see a. comment about myself, like, I literally cry. Yeah. And I need to grow some skin because I look at like poor Becca Bloom and I'm just like, oh my God, the thick skin that these creators have. But the other thing that I will say is the thicker the skin, the more you convert, the more money you have. So what I mean by that is I was actually in Miami and like I'm such a nerd when I'm at like

parties. I talk to founders about like who's converting for you and like what are the channels that are working? Yeah. And I was with this company. I'm inquisitive. I'm inquisitive. Yeah. Courtney would say I'm too curious. So I was with this founder and I was like, you know, because she'd worked with everybody and I was like, who converts for you, who sells whatever? And she was naming off people and I was like, that makes sense. This makes sense. Like, I'll just say one name, but like Valeria. She's like, she converts like crazy. Yeah. And I think it's because she has this like aspirational relatability around her. And then she gave a name of somebody else. And she was like, she's gorgeous. She has a million followers. But like she doesn't convert at all. Yeah. And, and,

And I just find it really fascinating. What I was saying is like the thicker the skin, the more you're willing to take risks, like the more you convert, which means that brands are willing to pay you more money. Yeah. And I think like I've been so afraid to make my views be known because I'm like such a people pleaser. But to Emma Greed's point, it's like you can't please everybody. And if you are, you're never going to be a good leader. No. And somebody gave me some advice when they, when I was like signing to the agency to be like,

you need to start taking more risks. And I was like, what do you even mean by that? And they're just like, you try to people please your audience too much. There's a brand that I'm obsessed with that I really want to talk about, which is Stanley. Yes. So we talked about this in our newsletter, but just to give people that don't have like a full appreciation for moms and for this cup, because this is a really crazy story. This just goes to show that women are so much better than men. Sorry, Christian.

Did you know that Stanley started in 1913? And it was for the bros. For the bros. It was focused on utility. It was for like the gritty guy, the construction worker, like on the go. The camping people. The camping people. And like it went nowhere.

Yeah. And it wasn't until Ashley Lissuer, is that how I say her name? I think so. This 44 year old Utah mom, like what is in the water of Utah? I don't know. That she discovered this at a bed bath and beyond. And she was like, oh my God, this is amazing. we're always carrying so much stuff to the car and it has a bottom that will essentially fit in a cup holder.

Yeah. So as a mom, you're like holding a million things and you can hold your Stanley with your little pinky. Your seven pound water with your pinky. And so in 2017, she ran this thing called the buy guide. And she decided to send out the Stanley quencher to this bachelor at competitor, Ashley or Emily Maynard. Yes, love Emily Maynard. So she did influencer marketing and she did like something that she thought mom's would love. Yeah. And so then this women employee at Stanley, Lauren Solomon, saw them and was like,

I'm going to help them buy 5,000 Stanley quenchers at cost so that they can take the profit with one color way. And they sold out in five days. Yeah. So eventually, Terrence Riley joined as company president in 2020. And he was the Crocs guy, right? He was the guy that helped make Crocs back and big with post Malone, who I used to work for. Yeah. And he was. And he was the crox guy. He was the guy. He was the guy. He was the guy. He was, He heard from Lauren how this was going and how this mom group was essentially like selling out thousands of Stanleys. Then Ashley and her two co-founder moms were like sending in ideas for like different colorways because it originally it was like a black handle.

It was like mismatched. Which I was like kind of shocked 5,000 units sold. It's the family and friends event at shoppers drug mark. Get 20% off almost all regular priced merchandise. Two days only. Tuesday, April 28th, and Wednesday, April 29th. Open your PC optimum app to get your coupon. Because I was like, that's not really the vibe.

But it goes back to like functionality over like look, right? Like there was the aesthetic, but it was like, I always thought like, why can my color way? He was the guy that was like, oh, this can be a handbag. A woman will have different colored Stanleys for every single outfit. And he was the one that championed it and got behind them. And basically took the company from $70 million of revenue to $750 million of revenue in three years. Yeah, that is wild. There is no group like a mom group.

Yeah. No. Why do you think it works so well? There's nothing like being a mom. There's nothing like caring for your kids and caring for your family and finding products that actually like fit into your lifestyle and make it better. Yeah. And I think it's like. And moms are willing to like share that.

Yeah. they're willing to share that. So like for every mom group, like I have multiple mom groups of friends that I'm a part of, we all have a group chat. There's all these little chats around of like 10, 15 people,

which are like, you know, the DMs of a creator, but we're all doing it behind the scenes. And it's constantly like yesterday, like shout out to my NT mom's friends. They're like, what kids outdoor table do you like for summer? And everyone's like, oh, I like this one from IKEA.

I like this one from Fisher Price. I have this one. Oh, I had that, but I wouldn't get it again for these reasons, X, Y, and Z. So it's literally a constant, like, DM group of, like, my kids going through this. I need that. What do you like? And it literally is like, it's just, like, constant affiliate marketing in these groups. Do you guys, like, put in, like, an affiliate link when people are buying it?

Like, no one's putting in affiliate links. You're like selling an MLMs. You're like, I hate MLMs, but my mom's group on the other hand. I hate MLMs, but on my mom's group, like, I'm going to start affiliate. it but that's like something like locker one of our portfolio companies is actually doing like democratizing affiliate but that's like the power of the mom groups is like it is such a transformative experience becoming a mom your entire world turns upside down you feel like a fish out of water and when you find the power of the women who are your village to help you through the moments whether

it's like you know how do I get my baby to latch because they can't feed or like I need to buy this I need to buy this. What cute water bottle are you guys using? And it goes back to the whole stat of women control 85% of consumer spend. And then they're in the group. Follow the money. Follow the money. And they're buying the stuff.

It's so funny because I'm at a stage in my life where like everybody on my feet is pregnant or like having a baby or just had a baby. And it is so interesting to feel like that is where I want to be. But it's like not the time yet. And there's still like exciting things to be like happening. But I think like what I've realized about mom groups is it's like a connection that you don't find until you're done leaving college. And like I always do a call a week with an HSR angel. So I had one with this amazing woman who's going to be at Midasawa event.

And she was telling me she had just graduated college. And she was like, you know, at college, you're at the gym and you're seeing everybody wear aloe yoga or park. And so like you want to wear aloe yoga and park and you fit in. And then you go off and you move to a city and you don't have that same sense of community. and you don't have that same sense of like expectation. And so it's like the first time you can kind of like be an individual. And like you're not as swayed by what everyone's doing. But I guess that psychology of like you don't want to be the only one not to do things exists

when you're in college. And it exists when you become a mom. It totally exists. Because it's so isolating. It is isolating. And they do just have this way of really building the community and being the village and helping women. And one of the things like in the Stanley case study that we did in the.

newsletter. It was like one of the key things that the CEO was saying is like don't figure out how to market two moms. Figure out how to tell moms how to market your product. What does that mean? It's like don't spend don't waste your time like oh mom like you need to buy this for x, y and z like these are the benefits blah blah blah. Like the moms know what the benefits are. The more valuable and impactful thing you can do is like the Stanley tell the moms how to market your product. But how did Stanley do that? It was through all the things, like the colorways and I'm going to do. Then there was that whole trend that blew up, like how moms get into cars versus how

dads get into cars and the moms have the million bags and the kids and the Stanley on their pinky. It's like... So they're not selling features and functions to moms? Like, oh, you can like have this in your cup hold or whatever. They're just selling the lifestyle of moms. They're selling the lifestyle a lot of the time. And then the moms figure out how to market it to their friends. and that's all, like, it took off like wildfire because it was mom marketing to other moms.

This is why I think it's such like the new wave of influencer marketing is going to be peer to peer in community because like that is what you trust. Like if you are going to like there's a reason why when you go wedding dress shopping you bring your like five closest friends. You don't bring your community to like pick the dress for me, you know? But I think it's so interesting because I've always been a little bit afraid of like being a promotional tool or like selling things. Like I've always just been like, you know me.

I don't want to like push products down people's throats and like, whatever. But I love what Chris Jenner said the other day, which is like, this is a business. Like that is what it is at the end of the day. So are mom groups. Like that is like one of the most profitable channels. I feel like people could ever tap into, which is like how do you market to moms and how do you market to college kids? And I think the future will be like, how do those people then profit off of that?

Why is Stanley the one that has $750 million dollars of revenue? But like, I mean, I would assume Ashley and like her co-founders have a significant. I would hope that that Stanley gave them equity in the company. Were they public? I don't know. I don't think so. And I doubt they got equity. But I think like from listening to some of the other podcasts that I've talked about it,

they definitely formed like a deep, meaningful relationship with these women to help market the business. Kind of like a wholesaler. Yeah. It's like if you have a channel that's like going and actually like profiting a ton of your business, like you find ways to make it mutually beneficial. Yeah. But it's just interesting because I do think that like to your point,

You don't want to just like, if you're listening to this and you want to sell your product, it's like sell it to moms. Sell it to moms. But don't sell them like the features and the functions. Like sell them the lifestyle of what it will do. Of what it will do or like the overall pain point that it'll solve, but not like the nitty gritty, you know? Like and this is why Frida, I don't know if you're familiar with the brand Frida.

It's like a total mom brand and they sell the most insane things. Like have you seen on TikTok like the snot sucker? No. Where it's like a tube that you stick up your kid's nose and then there's a tube on the end. that the mom like sucks the snod out of it and eats it and no it just like goes into the tube but like they have also similar to stanley turned a brand of like just random random random products it's like postpartum underwear and pads and like a perry spray bottle this snot sucker and like they've done the same thing like they've figured out how to get other moms to market their products and

the business is like wildly successful. I love it. Okay, well, I think that that should wrap up our segment for today. Is there anything else that you wanted to talk about? What's on the docket? What's on my docket? I need to clear my list. Anything else? No, I think that's it. Okay, well, I feel like I got hotter, hotter, smarter, richer, same. More honest. And I can't wait to be a mom. Yeah. I mean, your day's coming very soon. Hopefully. Yeah. Thank you so much for listening to this, you guys. If you can, please make sure you rate review and share this podcast, We love your support so much. It only makes the show so much better.

And trust me, this is my number one priority. It's like all I sleep and dream about. So thank you guys so much for listening. And can't wait to see you next week.