Let's Be Honest with Kristin Cavallari - So, You Wanna Launch a Business?

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

I asked my Instagram followers questions about launching a business and just business questions in general. We cover where to start, how much it cost to launch Uncommon James, the biggest challenge we faced in the beginning, the things you need that can't be taught, having confidence as a founder, how to have difficult conversations with employees, handling delegation, and how to ask for a raise. A word from my sponsors:Hiya Health - Get 50% off your first order when you got to hiyahealth.com/HONEST.LMNT - Get a free Sample Pack with any drink mix at DrinkLMNT.com/HONEST. And if you're an LMNT INSIDER, you have first access to LMNT Sparkling - a bold, 16-ounce can of sparkling electrolyte water. SKIMS - Shop SKIMS Holiday Shop at SKIMS.com. Available in styles for women, men, kids, and even pets! If you haven't yet, be sure to let them know we sent you! After you place your order, select "podcast" in the survey and select our show in the dropdown menu that followsBon Charge - BON CHARGE is having their coveted end of year sale, where you can save the most dollars all year! Go to boncharge.com and use coupon code HONEST25 to save 25%ZipRecruiter - Ditch the other hiring sites, and let ZipRecruiter find what you're looking for - the needle in the haystack. 4 out of 5 employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate on the first day. Try it FOR FREE at ZipRecruiter.com/HONEST. ZipRecruiter. The smartest way to hire.  Gatorade - Put your water to work with Gatorade Hydration Booster. You can use code BOOST20 on Gatorade.com to try it yourself for 20% off. For more Let's Be Honest, follow along at:@kristincavallari on Instagram@kristincavallari and @dearmedia on TikTokLet's Be Honest with Kristin Cavallari on YouTubeProduced by Dear Media.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. This is Let's Be Honest with Kristen Cavallari, a podcast all about getting real and open on everything from sex, relationships, reality TV, wellness, family, and so much more. And just a fair warning, there will probably be some oversharing. Welcome in. Happy Tuesday. If you're watching video, I am posted up in my guest house right now. I have a million people outside doing yard work, cutting down a bunch of trees. There's a lot happening at my house right now. My closet and my master bathroom are under construction too. So I'm trying to stay away

from my house. My house is all the floor to ceiling windows. And if I was just sitting there in my kitchen doing a podcast, I feel like every worker would be looking at me like, what the hell is she doing? So I have snuck away to the guest house where they cannot see me and judge me. And so I'm excited about today's episode because this is one I've thought about doing since I launched the podcast. I just haven't done it yet. And for no real reason, I think everything else just sort of took precedent, my crazy dating life and whatnot. And now I'm excited to do a business episode for you guys to talk about launching a business. Where do you start? How do you do it to then

growing and scaling and maintaining a business? And just all of the questions that you guys have had. You guys submitted questions to me on my Instagram. As always, thank you for that. And we're going to just talk about everything. And I am going to do a shameless plug. I don't do them very often. I hope you guys know that. This is a mug from the Uncommon James Holiday Collection. And I felt like this was an appropriate podcast episode to promote one of my own products. So a lot of questions that I got were, was it scary to start? Where did you get your idea? And how did you take the first step? Did you have a business plan for Uncommon James? If so, what did it look like? How to start funding? Do you remember the startup cost in the beginning? Start from the very beginning,

steps one through five. So let's start from the very beginning. So I launched Uncommon James in 2017 and I did not have a business plan. And in hindsight, should I maybe have put some more thought into it? Maybe, but I really have always taken the stance that, you know, I'm someone who acts on gut. I'm impulsive. I act on gut instinct. And when I have an idea, I just go. I feel like I'm unstoppable and I don't wait for the world to tell me that I should or shouldn't do it. So what happened with Uncommon James was I actually had a jewelry line before with one of my good friends. And essentially, she was running operations. She was designing. She was really doing all of the things. And I was essentially just marketing. And it didn't do very well. And it wasn't what I wanted to be doing. And so I had this fire in me to prove to everybody

who everybody is. I don't even really know. I guess maybe prove to myself that I knew what I was talking about in the branding world that I could, in fact, do this and do it really well. I also had a shoe line at the time with Chinese Laundry, which is a brand that, you know, I had known and loved for years and years. And I sometimes think that learning what not to do in those situations is almost more valuable than what to do. And Chinese Laundry is a great example where while I had final say, I really sort of didn't because I was answering to a team of people. And the shoes that I felt very passionately about were always my top sellers. And the shoes that I sort of caved on and listened to this team of people that I thought had been doing this a long time, they know what they're talking about, but I didn't really want

to do them. They never performed. And so that was a great learning process for me of, I know my customer. I know what the fuck I'm talking about. So I had that coupled with this other jewelry line that did not do well. So I had this fire in me of just like, I know what I'm talking about. And I'm going to show everybody that I know what I'm talking about. So what I did was I decided to launch Uncommon James. And all I needed in my head was a manufacturer and someone to create my website. That was it. And then it was just like, boom, let's go. So I got the first collection made and there may have been 10 pieces, maybe. And so what I did was my friend Chelsea had to buy me out of, it was called Emerald Dove, the previous jewelry line. She bought me out for $50,000. And I'll share these numbers with you

because I think if you are launching a business, these numbers are important. You know, you kind of need to know what you're getting into. So I took that $50,000 and that is what I launched Uncommon James with. And a bulk of that money, you guys went to the photo shoot, the campaign shoot, the very first campaign shoot that I did. I have no problem telling you guys this either. Those campaign shoots are roughly $20,000. Okay. So bulk of that money went to the campaign shoot. And I did that because I knew, and I still know how important those photos are. Your photos for your company, your marketing photos, not only will you get a lot of use out of them, but that you're selling the idea, at least listen for jewelry company, your marketing photos, not only will you get a lot of use out of them, but that you're selling the idea, at least listen for jewelry retail, you are selling an idea.

You're selling an image essentially of saying like subconsciously saying, if you buy this jewelry, you'll look like this. I mean, I'm just, that's what I've always thought. And so I knew how important the photo shoot was, especially because it was the first time people were going to be seen on Common James. But listen, you don't have to do that. I think you could take that money and spend it elsewhere and it would be potentially more impactful for your company, depending on what it is that you're doing. Mine, I felt like there were a lot of eyes on me and I really wanted to come out of the gate strong. I don't necessarily

think every company needs to do that. But then obviously ordering the product upfront. And at first, the product was minimal. And I had to pay my website guy. At first, I did everything myself. Shortly thereafter, I hired a girl to help me fulfill orders. And that was it. And then maybe a month or two in, I hired a couple more people to help with customer service. Guys, I was doing the customer service emails at first. I literally did everything at first. And I love being able to say that. I do think if you're going to start a business, starting it on your own slash maybe having one or two people help you is great because then as you do grow, you can say that you did everything. At one point in time, you did everything within that company. And even after the company was really successful,

I still, when we needed extra hands, I would go in and ship orders. I mean, I just think being able to do all of the things is really important as a business owner. And then I just think you have more empathy for everyone in each role. Like, you know, a huge thing that we faced in the beginning was we had a lot of shipping issues. And I remember being like, I know how difficult it can be to make sure every order is correct because it is a little overwhelming. And now, of course, we have... Everything is electronic. So it's a lot harder to get sent the wrong item. But before you have the money to do that, it's human error. And these things

happen. Unfortunately, they just do. And customers don't like it. But at the end of the day, we're dealing with people and people make mistakes. So I think just being able to empathize with, you know, the shippers at that time or whatever it may be, I think is important. And so anyways, my point is I did not have a business plan and I, it was just like, boom, by the time I decided to launch until when I did launch was only four months and it was really fast, but that's just how I am. That's all I know how to do is just fucking go. And then, you know, you take a step back and you sort of reevaluate everything, which came later, not for a while, actually. And so, and the reason I decided to do jewelry was because I already had a shoe line and so I couldn't do shoes. And I really feel like accessories make or break your outfit. I think,

you know, great basics with killer shoes and jewelry and like, that's just my style. So jewelry was the next, next natural step for me and jewelry. The margins are great. I'll throw that out there. I think if you're going to launch a business, I think it's two things. It's something that you're passionate about, something that you really do love. Like I obviously, I think most girls love jewelry and I'm designing the things that I want to wear selfishly. And, and that's remained true for all of the things, all of the different avenues that we've explored later on skincare. Like I'm creating products that I just selfishly want to use. So I'm passionate. These are products I want, but also I'm looking at it from a business perspective of like, what is going to make me the most money? Who, what has the highest margins?

Candles have the lowest margins. You know, we do candles and our candles are really successful, but at the end of the day, they're not what's moving the needle. You know? So I think just doing some research. So I think if, okay, if you want to start a business and you don't know which way to go, I would first ask yourself, what are you into personally? Like what are you naturally drawn to? And then I'd put your business hat on and I would say, okay, well, if you are drawn to home decor, for example, okay, well, what area could be the most profitable? Is it candles? I'm going to guess probably not. Is it kitchen and bar accessories? Is it, I don't know if you're hosting a party and you need all of the decorative items and the napkin rings and the pretty napkins,

like whatever it is, I would just start doing research of like, how can you, you know, first you need to find a manufacturer obviously. And so they have really great conventions for that. If you don't know where to start, I was lucky enough that I found my manufacturer through the previous jewelry line that I did. And we've since now, we have much better manufacturers. You don't know where to start with stuff like that. There are markets. I would just, and that's one thing where the internet is so great. It makes this information really accessible. And so you can get online, you can find when they're doing these different markets, they've got retail markets, they've got jewelry specific. They've got home. They have a market for everything. So you can go and you can meet all these different people and get contacts. So that's a great place.

And then from there, you start the conversation of like, if you want to buy, let's say, 1,000 napkin rings, well, what's the cost? Also, what's the cost for 500? What's the cost for 1,000? The more units you're ordering, the better price you should get. This is just, you know, information. Let's chat about ZipRecruiter. Owning my own business, I know how difficult it can be to find really great employees. And while there are so many different types of offices out there, one thing is for certain, even if you're not in retail like me, choosing the right candidate for any office is a huge responsibility. Well, if you're hiring and you want to find the best candidates for your office, you need ZipRecruiter. And right now you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com

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I finally started to get into the spirit. It's the best destination for all of my gifts. There's even a few pieces for myself that I've been eyeing. Everyone in my family is getting Skims for the holidays. I'll admit it, even though my kids are getting a little bit older and my oldest is not a fan, I do love doing the matching pajamas for Christmas Eve. I just, I'm going to do that until my kids are going to literally just say no. And I actually just got their soft lounge sleep set. It's so comfortable. It's red. So I definitely feel like I'm in the spirit and I'm just obsessed with it. I love wearing this around the house, cuddled up with a nice cup of tea. And I'm definitely going to be buying this for probably all of my girlfriends. So guys, shop Skims Holiday Shop at Skims.com. Available in styles for women, men, kids, and even pets.

And if you haven't yet, be sure to let them know that I sent you after you place your order. Select podcast in the survey and select my show in the drop down menu that follows. I want to talk to you guys about a brand that I know you know and love, and that is Gatorade. Specifically, I want to talk to you guys about Gatorade Hydration Booster. You guys know that I absolutely love electrolytes and I drink them every single day. Well, Hydration Booster contains electrolyte levels suitable for all day, always on hydration, so you can enjoy Gatorade hydration booster throughout the entire day. Advanced blend of electrolytes from watermelon, sea salt, and other sodium and potassium salts. This product contains 30 calories and 5 grams of sugar

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up my alley. If you guys have not gotten on the electrolyte bandwagon, I'm telling you, once you start, you will never go back. So definitely check out Gatorade Hydration Booster. Put your water to work with Gatorade Hydration Booster. You can use code BOOST20 on Gatorade.com so for funding and the startup cost in the beginning so I told you guys the startup cost of funding so I totally understand that I was and am in a great situation to launch a company because I have other means of making money. I've made money since I was 17. I've, you know, and so having that 50 grand to start the company was great. You know, if you have a little nest egg like that, I would suggest you doing it rather than taking on an investor. And here's the thing. I am to this day, 100% owner of Uncommon James. I have never taken on

any outside funding and I'm really proud of that. And I also understand again, it's because I've been able to generate money from other avenues and put it into the company. When we opened up our first store in Nashville, Tennessee, I took $500,000 and I'm, listen, I'm sharing these numbers with you guys just so you really have an idea. I have no problem. Like I know when I started Uncommon James, hearing other founders speak and when they would give you numbers, like it just made me really happy to be like, thank you. Now I have an idea. Now I can put everything in perspective. So I am sharing these numbers with you. So I was able to take $500,000 that I had made. Thank you.

And I lent it to Uncommon James to get our store up and running. Our stores are expensive. That was actually our cheapest store that we've done to date. Our stores are expensive and your stores don't have to be that expensive. Our stores have been anywhere from 500,000, which then we actually had to go and redo it. So really you could call Nashville like one and a half million dollars. Charleston was just two and a half million dollars. That was our most expensive store. Typically they're around a million, 1.5 million, but we go all out. You don't, you don't have to do that necessarily. Also our stores are big. Our Nashville store is 3,500 square feet. That is too big. We are, Charleston is massive. We have two floors. So, you know, you, you don't need that big of a space unless depending on what you're doing. I'm really referencing like jewelry, skincare,

you know, the things that we do. So, and I was able to pay myself back almost immediately, which was great, which I know is also not the case. And I've essentially, so what's happened is the first couple of years of Uncommon James, I was able to take a big bonus at the end of the year. And, you know, growth is interesting because you need money initially and then it's great. And then that money generates more money. And then you get to another level and then you need more money to do more things to generate more money. Like it's this, this constant catch up with money, money, no matter what size you are, is always valuable. So where I'm currently at is seven years in, we are growing at a nice rate. Every year we're growing. We're very happy about that. And we could continue to grow at the rate that we are. However,

we want to open more stores. We want to add a lot more skincare products. We have another line of products that we want to do that go very in line with skincare and some of the other things that we're doing. And all of these things cost a lot of money. You know, fragrance costs a lot of money to launch. We want to do more fragrances now because hard feelings did so well. And so, yeah, we can do all of this, but we want to do it all now. So I have had conversations of taking on an investor. And it's a really challenging conversation for me because I love having complete creative freedom, but also just complete control. And I don't like answering to people. I know that about me. I've always kind of known that about me. But then launching Uncommon James really,

really validated that for me. And the podcast on my own boss, I really don't like answering to anybody else. And I like being able to say anytime I do a speaking engagement or I do an interview, I like being able to say I am 100% the owner. I have never taken on any outside funding. I'm really proud of that. But it does get to a point where I have to make a decision here of like, okay, well, do I want to grow at the rate that we're growing or do I want to really blow this thing out of the water? And the answer is I really want to blow this thing out of the water. So I think we're going to, well, we are starting the investor conversations, which is scary, but it's also really exciting for me because am I okay to give away a percentage

if you're going to give me a shit ton of money and we're going to be able to do all the things that we want to do? Yeah. I mean, yes. And you know, for a long time I was like, well, maybe Saylor will want to take over the company one day. So I was like, I don, yes. And, you know, for a long time I was like, well, maybe Saylor will want to take over the company one day. So I was like, I don't know if I want to sell it. But at the end of the day, I do, I think, you know, I mean, I don't know. I don't know about selling it, but I just know that I want to grow and scale at a much higher rate than we are. And I just told Saylor this the other day, I will help her launch her own, her own company, whatever she wants to do. If that's

what she wants to do and she says she is, she's nine here in a couple of weeks. So we'll see. But I'll help her. And so anyways. Okay. So starting a company, you do need money. I mean, you just do. You need money. And maybe it's a situation where you, you know, there's two things. Okay. So e-comm versus brick and mortar. Brick and mortar is, can be great because if you can get a really great location where there's a lot of foot traffic, you will naturally start building up your clientele because people will come in, they'll see your products, they'll like them, they'll come back, they'll tell their friends. But finding a great location like that is costly. Or do you just launch online and you start doing

what you can to get the name out through social media and local marketing to start? And then you can go bigger and better. But you do need money to start. And I would really recommend you do not get investors this early on if you can. I would also say, don't put all of your money into it. Absolutely not because you don't know what's going to happen. Don't quit your day job. You know, if you want to start this as a side hustle, you know, I just, I I'm always very wary of putting everything into one thing. And maybe that's because my dad put all of his money into a house that he was building. And long story short, he ended up having to foreclose it. And he had to borrow money from me and he had to borrow money from a lot of people. So I just saw

firsthand why you do not want to put all of your money into one thing. It's really good to diversify and including your own business as passionate as you may be. And as strongly as you feel about it, I just think that quite honestly, it's just not a smart move. So, okay. Okay. So the very beginning steps, so steps one through five, let's say, so, you know, this is from my experience. Like I said, find someone to create my website, find a manufacturer. I did the designing. It was then the photo shoot was really important. And again, I was in a lucky situation because I was able to secure interviews for the very first collection. And I, I get asked that question a lot and I truly don't know how you would market a company without, I don't know what

I would have done without the notoriety that I had. I don't, I don't think Uncommon James would be successful without the notoriety I've had. And I'm okay to admit that. I've always said, we're not groundbreaking. I'm not designing the most unique, incredible jewelry on the planet, but we're a marketing company. There's other people that are doing similar things to us. We are a marketing company. And there was a lot of questions about getting into a market that's oversaturated. Guys, every fucking market is oversaturated. Tell me one that's not. Every market's oversaturated. You cannot let that stop you. You really can't because I think competitors, oversaturation, all of that at the end of the day is just noise. If you are passionate, well, here's the other thing too. I don't have an MBA. I didn't even go to

college, you guys. But the things that I do have cannot be taught. So if you're passionate, if you have a really good work ethic, if you're driven, ambitious, if you have a fire in you, you're unstoppable. None of those things can be taught no matter how many years you go to school, no matter what degree you have. You either have that or you don't. And I think if you're going to launch a business, you have to have a very honest conversation with yourself of, do I have what it takes? Because it is not for the faint of heart, you guys. Launching a company will test you in every way imaginable. And there were years of my life where I was so stressed out. It was so time consuming. It took everything in me. And I had other stuff going on too. And my kids were little and it was a lot. But when you can finally get to the other side, it's the most beautiful thing on the planet. But

you have to be honest with yourself that it's going to try you in every way imaginable. And that's why a lot of people don't last because it takes a very specific type of person to be able to get through that phase. And, you know, you can't look at it like, oh, you know, it's, it's not a nine to five, you know, it's not a nine to five. It is a all encompassing fucking 24 seven job for a while. And you know, your work-life balance might be thrown off for a little bit. So that's why you have to have those things, that passion, that drive, that dedication, that fucking fire, that fire is what's going to get you through. You got to have something to prove, man. I had something to fucking prove. So if you have those things, then fucking go for

it. And then don't listen to the noise. Don't listen to the, oh, well that, you know, everyone has a clothing brand. Okay. Who gives a fuck? There's room for everybody. I really believe that there's room for everybody. And again, if you're living this brand, if you're breathing this brand, if you fucking love this brand, that's going to shine through and that's already going to put you leaps and bounds ahead of other people. Because yeah, everyone has a fucking clothing line. Everyone is a this or that. But does the founder, do the employee, like do they love it? Do they live and breathe it? Because that's what will set you apart from a lot of people. So now that we've cleared that up, someone asked what the top three challenges as a startup were

and how I overcame them. So I told you guys we had a lot of shipping issues. Although that's, I don't know. I actually wouldn't consider that one of our biggest challenges. You want to know the biggest challenge? Here was the biggest challenge for me. So I did the show Very Cavallari specifically to get the word out there that I had on Common James. That was a marketing play for me. And one of the best marketing plays I've ever done, quite honestly. Best decision I've ever made business-wise. And what happened was I didn't know what to expect, right? So the first episode aired and we sold out of everything. Everything. You guys, I'm not exaggerating. We had zero products on our website the entire first season of Very Cavallari. That is something I will never get over.

I will never get over that. The amount of money lost. I didn't know what to expect. Okay. So, and cause I think we had eight episodes the first season and it takes, you know, 12 ish weeks to get more jewelry and devastating. Okay. So what we did was, okay, let's do those signups. So people can go on the website and they can say, notify me when this is back in stock. Guys, the amount of notifications we had, like we're talking like tens of thousands. So I'm like, holy shit. As soon as we get jewelry back in, like, oh my God, we're going to be fucking crushing it. So I order so much inventory. Well, enough inventory to fulfill these notification demands plus additional. Well, let me just tell you, like 2% of those people who sign up for notifications actually make a purchase. So when I tell you that inventory was

a massive problem for years, that's not an exaggeration. We sat on so much fucking inventory. It's not even funny. And we would put them in the sales every year. And honestly, eventually we had to just completely liquidate a lot of this jewelry. Like quite honestly, we had to trash it, which is also heartbreaking because for me as a business owner, it's just like fucking dollar signs, just pissing away dollar signs. So that was, that was bad. That was really bad. And our inventory is in a much better place now. And I am no longer the one ordering, thank God. But it was, it was really tough. We didn't have any processes for like reading, you know, reading sales and stuff like that. Like now we've got

all the processes in place where it's more of a stretch. Well, it's strategic, but it's also based on numbers. You know, like it's like a mathematical equation of how we order units and all, all of that stuff. And like specifically like necklaces versus earrings and there's formulas for all of this stuff. But at the time it was basically just me and my team of people who also kind of didn't know what they were doing, just sort of spitballing. And you know what? I'll be honest with you guys. Was it hard? And it's still, I look back and I'm like, but I wouldn't actually trade it because that was such a time, you know? And that was like me getting thrown in the mix, the company being catapulted overnight to the next level and me, it's like sink or swim. And I just sort of had to figure it out.

And I don't know. I just, when I look at the company as a whole, like that was such a special time in the history of the company that I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't trade it because it is so different now. I'm not involved in the day-to-day like that anymore. And there was something special about it, as sad as it is for the amount of money that got fucking thrown away. Another brand you guys know that I absolutely love, which is Boncharge. Bon Charge is a holistic wellness brand with a huge range of evidence-based products to optimize your life in every way. Founded on science and inspired by nature, all Bon Charge products adopt ancestral ways of living

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they need to grow into healthy adults. Someone asked how to build confidence when you've failed in the past. I love this question. So I actually think my entertainment career sort of prepped me for becoming an entrepreneur because when you're in entertainment, you constantly have criticism being thrown at you. And when I was acting, you know, you go on a shit ton of auditions and you rarely even book one. And so I was used to being told, no, I was used to criticism. And that's something I've dealt with since I was 17, you know, quite honestly, when I got on TV and even before, you know, but I'm on a much larger scale. And so I, what I do, you guys, is I let no fuel me. Let no fuel you. Let that push you. And again, it goes back to that fire to be like, oh, okay. No, no. I'm going to show you. I'm going to show

you. I really think instead of getting upset and being sad that maybe someone doesn't believe in you or someone doesn't want to invest in your company. You take that and you use that, use that to your advantage. That should fire you up and give you like, I'm going to fucking show you, I'm going to show you. And so that in itself, just that mentality sort of lends its hand to confidence. Because here's the thing. If you don't believe in yourself, don't become a founder. Like quite honestly, remember when I said you need to have a really honest conversation with yourself? That's part of it. If you don't believe in yourself, no one else is going to. So if you don't believe in yourself, but you're putting products out there and you want other people

to believe in them, well, but you don't. Like what? That doesn't even make sense. You have to be your biggest cheerleader. You have to say, oh no, this is going to be the most successful company. You guys, I used to say to myself, because I think at this point, most of us know Jessica Simpson at one point in time, I don't know if she still is, but this is years ago, was the most successful celebrity in the branding world. It was insane the numbers she did. And I would tell myself, I'm the next Jessica Simpson. I'm the next Jessica Simpson as far as branding goes. And if you don't believe that, no one else will. So you have to say, no, this is what I'm doing. I'm going to be, you know, let's say, I don't know. My company is going to make $50 million in the first 10 years. You know, I mean, that's a realistic goal, you guys

like that. And okay. And let's say if that's your goal, oh, by the way, okay. Always every year, every New Year's Eve. So coming up or like, you know, the first or second or whatever around New Year's Eve, I always write out my goals and write them down on a piece of paper. You can't put a note in your phone. You can't do it on your computer. It's the act of writing it, write down your goals for the year and then keep them every year, you guys. And when you go back, it's actually wild to see how much shit comes true. And maybe it's a little bit different than like you had anticipated, but like it comes true when you write it down. So I've always, since I launched Uncommon James the first year, we're going to make X amount of dollars this year, you know, first year, we're going to make X amount of

dollars this year, you know, second year, we're going to make this amount. And maybe it's a little bit lower than I have written out, but we get close. And I just think like, shoot for the moon, you guys, you know, the saying, and again, just you need to have the confidence. If you don't have it, no one else is going to have it for you. And that's when I would say, if you don't believe in yourself, you should not be launching a company. You should go work for a company. You should not be launching a company. This is a very specific type of person that can do this. You guys, it's not a little soft, delicate flour. These are like, we're going to be tough cookies, baby. Okay. And then here's another question that I got. How to have hard conversations with slacking employees.

Make me want to fuck. Okay. So I had a lot of experience with this. Doing a reality show about your company will attract the wrong type of employee. Let me just tell you that. I think that we have one person from inception of the company who is still here. And that's a good thing. I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. It's a good thing. We attracted the wrong type of person. It was people who wanted to be on TV, not people who wanted to work really hard for a company. You know, people who maybe didn't have enough experience or the right experience. That's on me. It's no one's fault. It's mine. I decided to do a reality show. I wouldn't change it. Like I said, it is what it is. And by the way, thank God I don't have to deal with that anymore because that would stress me out so much. I actually, as confrontational

as a lot of people think I may be, which I'm not, I just don't let people walk all over me. I have boundaries, but having to have tough conversations with employees and hold people accountable and be like, you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing would give me anxiety. Having to let people go, I would feel it's like breaking up with someone like, oh, I would like feel like I was going to throw up for like days. I wouldn't be able to sleep leading up to it. Like I hate having those conversations. I hate them so much. And so, but you have to do them. You cannot be a pushover. You cannot let people get away with shit when you're the boss. You just can't. So what you have to do though is so that there's no gray area because when you're dealing with employees like that, they will give you the runaround. They'll say that's not true. You have to have concrete

evidence. So you need a job description, first of all. The job of what they're supposed to be doing has to be very clearly laid out. There is no gray area here. These are your expectations. Either you're doing them or you're not. You should have annual reviews, but potentially even two a year, semi-annual, so that you can go over everything and you say, okay, your organizational skills are stellar, whatever the fuck, I don't know. Your merchandising, little subpar, whatever. You have to be able to reference back to things so that it's not like a you versus them conversation. Also, anytime things happen, I would always put things in writing. If something happened, I would always,

if we had a conversation, I would always follow up and say, Hey, just want to, you know, put this in writing that we talked about X, Y, and Z and blah, blah, blah. You always want to have things in writing, especially, I don't know. I just feel like we're also living in this world where everyone wants to be the fucking victim, right? We're living in a world where it's like a competition of like, who can be the bigger victim? I don't know when the fuck we got here. I don't know how we got here. I fucking hate it. But people like to take advantage. They always want to be the victim. Poor me. Oh my God. My boss was mean to me. I have zero fucking patience for that stuff, you guys. So you have to put everything in writing because people are shady as fuck. Shady as fuck. People are also

crazy. I'm sorry. I'll say it. People are a little batshit crazy these days. And the things that they'll do and say, if they get let go, let go or like you just have to have things in writing always. Also, always when you let people go, have someone else in the room just, you know, to cross your T's and dot your I's. You just need to have another set of I's as a witness because like I said, people can get crazy. And am I speaking maybe a little aggressively because I'm in the public eye and people have been known to take advantage? Maybe. But I still think if you own a business, people are going to take advantage. So I don't think it's just because I'm in the public eye. I think I'm more susceptible to it, but I think people are just shitheads. I just think people are shitty in general. So you just

always need to be, just always need to be doing your due diligence. Okay. Okay. So more questions I got was how hard was it to trust someone working for you, especially when you're not there? How did you handle delegation? It's so hard not to micromanage. Okay. So, and how you deal with burnout. I feel like these all sort of go hand in hand. The lighting is sort of changing because I don't know, there's like sort of a storm going on outside. So I don't know if you're watching. Okay. So the hardest thing for me was to delegate and was to give some control away. However, I had to do it for my own sanity, for my work-life balance, for my happiness. And what I did was actually during COVID, I hired my C-suite level team. So I hired my COO, my CFO, and my CMO. M is for marketing. And that was actually kind of scary because it was during COVID when my stores were shut down. I didn't know what the fuck was going. Obviously, no one knew

what the fuck was going on. That was a bit of a risk for me to hire these really big salaried people. But those big salaries for me meant a little bit of freedom, a little bit of my life back. And I couldn't sustain what I was doing, talking about burnout, this question about burnout. I was going to burn out unless I hired these people. And hiring these people has been the best decision I've ever made, not only for me personally, but for the company as well. I did a really good job of getting the company where it was. I'm very proud of what I did. And I think it's okay to say that. I don't know why people are like, oh, she's full of herself. I'm not full of myself. What I did with my company by myself, who has no fucking retail experience, really, I'm really proud of, but I could only get it to a certain degree.

So then I had to hire in the big guns, right? The people with real experience, you know? And so I hired a recruiting company because of living in Nashville at the time, it was five years ago, there wasn't a lot of talent for retail. And so I did hire a recruiting company, big ass fucking check. I had to write again. It was all worth it. That is maybe an area where someone would then maybe need to take on an investor. Also, there are like these different places that you get to in the road where it's like, okay, maybe now we need funding. And I will tell you, you guys, that's an area where I would say fucking do it then. Do it because you can only do so much as a founder until your head's going to explode. And so for your own peace of mind, I think you do

it. And you get people that are bringing something to the table that aren't just taking like little, you know, menial bullshit off of your plate. You want people with experience who are bringing in knowledge, who know what the fuck they're talking about. Like my COO totally turned our warehouse around. He has always dealt with dealing directly with manufacturers and labs. Like all of these things are really important things that I didn't have any experience in, but it was definitely scary for me to, to pass off a lot of the control and even a lot of the control and the knowing what was going on day to day. But you guys, it's been the best thing I've ever done. And I honestly haven't looked back, but you do, you know, and you have to get someone that you trust, but trust for me

is built over time. And so that was hard and that was scary for me, but you have to, at some point, just let go and just really fucking hope for the best and hope you don't get screwed over. But that's why the only way you can really get screwed over is like in the money arena, right? So you got to pay attention as a founder, as the owner, you always have to be paying attention to the numbers. Always. That's not something that you can just like hire a CFO and you're like, all right, great. Bye. You always have to be paying attention. And so that's really important. And you also with the micromanaging piece, you have to just let go. And so what I do, so I have really my COO and my CFO sort of report to me. I trust them. They're so good at their job that it's not, I don't micromanage them. They tell

me what I need to know. We talk every Tuesday sort of thing. And I talked to my marketing girl too, but they manage everybody else. And so I don't know, guys, like I, I, that's not why I launched a company to micromanage, you know, 30 employees or whatever it may be. Well, more than that, there's just 30 in our actual corporate office. But I think it's important to hire those people for your own fucking sanity. That's money well spent. I'm telling you. And then, okay. Someone asked how to justify that you're worth more money. So I take this question as someone who is essentially going to want to ask for a raise. And so again, it kind of goes back to what I was saying too, of like, you have to know your value. You have to know your worth. This isn't work. This isn't relationships. This isn't fucking life.

You guys know your value, know your worth, know what you're bringing to the table. And by the way, how you do that is knowing who you are, like really, like, like really getting serious about who you are, knowing yourself. That's where confidence comes from. It comes from knowing yourself and knowing what you're capable of and trying hard things and getting through them. And then that's how you build confidence. But it's knowing your worth, knowing I'm a valuable asset to this company. And what you want to do is you want to keep record of all the things you're doing. Also, by the way, if you're doing the bare minimum, if you have your job description and you're only just checking off the boxes, don't fucking come to me with a,

with a promotion ask, because I'm sorry, if a promotion to me means you want to take on more responsibility. So show me that you're already doing that. And then you can say, you know, I know my job is X, Y, and Z, but I've also, and which I love and I, you know, I've been doing a great job at it, but I've also gone above and beyond and here are the other things I'm doing. And I would love to take on more and blah, blah, blah. My COO actually said that to me. He said, a promotion to me means that you want to take on more responsibility. So just keep that in the back of your head. Like why, like, you know, your value and know your worth, but also be realistic and be honest with yourself. If you're doing the bare minimum, fuck off. No, you're not getting a promotion. So I just think like

everyone also thinks they're so fucking amazing, but you need to good work ethic is gone. I'm sorry. It's so hard to find now. So when you do find it, it's like, oh my, like our, my entire team, you guys is awesome. Everyone that's at my company right now, I want to keep for the rest of their lives. And so we are taking care of them because we value them. We love them. We see what they're bringing to the table. But if you're not really bringing something to the table, you're replaceable. Remember that, know your value, know your worth, but also know that you're replaceable. So you got to step up. I just think like we need to get back to having a really strong work ethic because it's gone.

So if you do have it, people will fucking move moons for you. Okay. And then the last question, and I love this question. I get this question a lot is the most rewarding and the hardest thing about owning your own business. So the most rewarding thing for me is having complete creative freedom to do whatever I want. The fact that I have no one to answer to in general, but especially creatively is a dream. It's a dream. You guys, I get to do whatever products I want to do. I get to design whatever products I want to do. I get to design

whatever jewelry I want to do. I get to do whatever skincare products I want to do. And no one's going, ah, I don't know, Kristen. I mean, I've got my merch team and they give me their opinions and I ask their opinions. But at the end of the day, it's like, if I want to do something, I'm doing it. Or if I don't want to, I'm not doing it. And that is such a dream. That's such a fucking dream. The hardest part is it's always like right here. Like I feel like it's always sitting on my shoulders. Like the weight of owning a company is heavy and it never sort of goes away. Like even when you're on vacation, let's say like it's still there. It's always there, you know? And I think I put this pressure on myself of like, how do we keep making it bigger and better? And like, you know, well, and I guess that's the thing is like,

how do we continue to scale? And nothing will ever be good enough for me. It just won't. Like, it's very rare that I take a step back and I'm like, wow, you know what? What we've done with Uncommon James is incredible because it is incredible. And I am really proud of it, but I don't, I don't take a step back enough and acknowledge that because I'm always going, okay, what's next? Or like, what's, you know, like, okay, like we're like moving forward. We're like, keep going, keep going, keep going. Which I think is a good quality for, for a founder, a CEO, a COO, like all these big people. But yeah, it's just, it's always there, but that's, you know, I thrive on that shit. That's just who I am. I love this stuff. So I say, listen, guys, if you have this calling to launch a company, fucking do it. Do it. Don't let anyone

tell you no. Don't let anything stop you. Just do it. And sometimes I do think there's beauty in not overthinking things. Because I think sometimes when we allow too much time and then we overthink things, that's when all the fear starts creeping in. That's when the self-doubt starts creeping in. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Stop all the noise. And if this is your dream and this is your passion and you have all the things that we've been talking about, you can do whatever the fuck you put your mind to. I love you guys. Yeah. Thank you for listening to this episode.