the bossbabe podcast - 166. How The Mayfair Group Transformed Into A Multimillion-Dollar Fashion Company

Episode Date: May 25, 2021

When Sam Abrahart founded The Mayfair Group, she was on a mission to spread more positivity in the world through branding and social media.  She had no idea her agency would eventually transform into a multimillion-dollar fashion brand...pretty much overnight. On this week’s episode, Sam is sharing how she was able to pivot her business from a digital agency to a luxury fashion brand in the midst of the pandemic.  Plus – she’s opening up about what it looks like to manage depression and anxiety as an entrepreneur and why she hopes The Mayfair Group can help more people do just that.  Links :LinkedIn Jobs: https://www.linkedin.com/bossbabe The Mayfair Group: https://themayfairgroupllc.com/ Follow:  BossBabe: @bossbabe.inc Natalie: @iamnatalie Danielle: @daniellecanty Sam Abrahart: @samabrahart The Mayfair Group: @themayfairgroup

To any creative that's listening, I always say, you know, use time on your weekend to use creativity as your outlet. Because when creativity is your job and it comes with a deadline, it's so easy to get burnt out and so easy to, you know, get to the point where you start feeling anxious or you start feeling these feelings because what was once your outlet is now your job, you know? Welcome to the Boss Babe Podcast, a place where we share with you the real behind the scenes of building successful businesses, achieving peak performance and learning how to balance it all. I'm Natalie Ellis, CEO and co-founder of Boss Babe and I'm joined by my co-host Danielle. Hello. I love these little co-hosts. So I was so incredibly excited to bring Sam onto the podcast. Sam founded a company called the Mayfair Group, and they actually pivoted during COVID. And they pivoted from being an agency to a multi-million dollar fashion brand that has been seen on every celebrity you can imagine.

It is like the uh clothing brand right now jennifer lopez bella hadid sophie turner you name it celebs are wearing this brand and i selfishly really wanted to come on the podcast because i just wanted to say how on earth are you doing this like i really wanted to know and especially you know uh danielle mean you are launching our new brand i'm saying launching you are launching our new brand. I'm saying launching, we're starting a new brand. We're probably very far off of launching. But I love getting the chance to chat with founders.

I think that's my favorite part of the podcast and be like, hey, how the hell are you doing this? Yeah, totally. I mean, that's why we have so many amazing guests on here so we can pick their brains as well, right? I'm like, hey, what are you doing? And I love that Sam really shared that in this whole conversation you know she was so open about how she's been able to build her product-based business and I actually took a ton of notes chatting to her as well I was like write this down this is great and also I loved in this conversation how we were really sharing around the mission behind her company and we were just chatting around like how

important that is nowadays as a consumer and or as also someone who is starting a business one of the big conversations we're having right now as we launch our new businesses like what charity are we going to align with what are we really standing for and that to me is so important right now. It's not about like just building wealth. It's about having purpose and giving back and supporting other initiatives as we grow. And I think it was really cool to like chat to Sam around that as well. And a lot of the founders that we're having on right now are really, truly getting behind bigger missions than themselves, which I'm in full support of and I don't think you know going back 10 years that necessarily happened as much whereas now I think a lot of people starting off thinking around those different aspects to their business and how they can help yeah I mean making money definitely feels empty to me if I'm not putting it to work and helping others I feel like you know initially when you start your business, of course, you're just focused on revenue.

You need to be able to get a business off the ground. If you can't help yourself, you can't help anyone else. But I think you get to a certain point in business where you're like, no, this doesn't mean anything if I'm not actually helping and supporting other people through it. And I also loved how open Sam was about her mental health struggles because lots of people struggle with mental health and it's one of those things that you know isn't really talked about that much from people that you look up to and see are successful they don't often open up and say hey I'm struggling with this or I was struggling with here's what I go through and I think it's

always just a nice reality check to hear that and be like, oh, we can all have our shit going on and have our shit together. And that's what I really was taking away from this episode, as well as, you know, tons of notes. I was half tempted to pitch to you a Boss Babe merch line, but I held it back.

I know we've got other things going on. If everyone wants merch, DM me so I can put together a case for Danielle. You guys, honestly, this is my constant conversation with Natalie. She's just like all these ideas 24-7. And I've noticed this about her now. We've been in business a while. Sometimes she'll just bring them.

Now she brings them strategically when she's like, oh, yeah, I've got. So she's like anticipating my no and then comes back with like a folder of research of why we should do something her pictures are prepared I'm like an idea machine I just have to like time it the right time so if you do want boss by Mitch drop me a dm because I'm putting together the folder as we speak she's gonna be like look at all these dms you guys I will I really will okay love it let's dive into the episode a boss babe is unapologetically ambitious and paves the way for herself and other women to rise keep going and fighting on she is on a mission to be her best self in all areas it's just believing in yourself confidently stepping outside her

comfort zone to create her own vision of success. Sam, welcome to the Boss It podcast. We are so excited to have you. I'm so excited to be here, you guys. I can't wait. I've been just so excited for this, this whole week. So can't wait. Yeah, it's the best when we just get to have conversations that I would want to have off air. That's the most perfect. And where I want to dive in is with your story, especially around your pivot from an agency to a fashion brand and talk about what you've been able to build because it is truly incredible. It's so inspirational. I want to know the entire story. I don't need to leave anything out and let us know how this even came to be. Yeah. Oh my gosh. No, it's been, it's been a crazy couple of years. Um, and I mean, I'm blown away by what you guys have built too. I'm like, side note, we need to like actually have,

you know, Zooms and calls and just chat about all things business. Cause I feel like lately too, I've been trying to get just more circles together of like females in business, you know, and just have kind of like these mentorships where we can just pick each other's brains and stuff. So I'm blown away by what you guys have built first and foremost. So, so excited to be doing this. But yeah, Mayfair's story started, we started, I started the company in 2017 and I had worked in the industry for a really, really long time, about six years, lived in LA and worked, you know, in-house for all different brands and just got all different types of experience. And I really loved working in-house for brands, but I feel like I've always wanted

to have my own thing. I think it's just been in my DNA. I have that like entrepreneur blood, don't love working for other people, you know, always wanted my own thing. And so in 2016, my husband and I got married and we moved to Arizona. And, you know, another thing about me that I've talked about, you know, really personally on social media too, is I've always struggled with mental health challenges my whole life. I have both depression and anxiety. So it's, it's a part of who I am. It's been a part of my life. And in 2016, I left LA. I got married. I moved to Arizona. I left my brother that you know not in LA. I left all my friends, my job. It was just like such a huge transformative moment in my life. And I moved to Arizona and I had like

what felt like no one. I was kind of like in my apartment all day and it was just such a huge life change. And so I went through a really dark depression. I was just like going through a really hard time. And through all of that, I would get on social media and I would look for any kind of like positive interaction or messaging like in my daily life. I feel like I would search for it. And that was the time where really nobody was talking about anything on social. It was like these altered realities of people's lifestyles. And, you know, it just felt like a really dark place, to be honest, for somebody that was already struggling with mental health challenges. And so I just got this idea to start like a digital community, a place that's built

on positivity and empowerment and narrative. And it started as like a service-based business because that was what my experience was in. But I always wanted to have this component and identity of creating this like online digital safe space for people like myself, who was searching for positive messaging every day. So that's really kind of how May first started. And within the first two years, we just started to see so many other people were looking for that positive messaging in their daily lives, too. It was like I didn positive interaction is like what changes your whole day. You know, you come into contact with somebody and somebody is empathetic. You know, they listen to you. They, you know, are vulnerable with you. And that moment changes your whole mindset that day. So I just wanted to create

moments like that for people because I just, you know, knew the power of positivity and knew the power of vulnerability and authenticity and all these things. And I just wanted to create that place on social media. So we started as a service agency and, you know, we kind of were growing and things were going really well. And we just listened to our community. Everybody was asking for products, you know, they were asking for our content to content that we would put on our grid to be created into t-shirts and sweatshirts and things like this. So I think something that Devin and I, who is our COO, we've always just kind of known the importance of diversifying your revenue streams because nobody knew that COVID was going to happen. Nobody knew there was going to be a pandemic. But

I think that also just taught us the importance as business owners and the ability to not only be able to pivot, but the ability to have a diversified revenue stream, you know, because all of a sudden things can close, they can come crashing down and it's like, you know, what, what next, you know, what, what happens? So we actually had started creating products. Um, And on March 8th, unbeknownst to us, right before everything was about to happen last year with COVID, we launched our e-commerce Shopify site. And we had no idea that this was going to be, you know, right before a global pandemic. We, that was just like the day that we planned, but we were selling positive messaging sweatpants and sweatshirts during a pandemic. So we had, you know, fortunately the craziest year

last year ever, it was just like, honestly, the universe for some reason had our backs and it was just like, you know, the craziest experience. But it's really just always been about listening to our community and seeing what our customers, what our community want from us. And our decisions are really stem from that. And I think that we just wanted to take our content one step further and create almost like a bigger ripple effect with our messaging and product was like one of the mediums that we were able to do that with. So it's just so rad because now, you know, we see celebrities wearing it and stuff. So like, you know, they're walking around with messaging like empathy and it's like the amount of people now that that messaging is reaching and seeing and it just feels so good because I know

from somebody who would wake up every day and search for this messaging, like now I feel like it's reaching such a global audience, which just feels really, really great. But it was a wild year, you guys, like a wild, wild year. That's incredible. I think it's amazing hearing that story. And I want to come to 2020 in a few moments, but I just want to take you back because you said something that really spoke to me. You know, it really sounds as if this business initially, you know, the service-based side of it was born from pain and that depression phase that you were going through that anxiety phase and I think that's something really to honor because I think so many people

you know there's never a something there's never a good time to start a business and you don't know where you're going to get that inspiration from and I'm really curious as to how like you know it's one thing to be really suffering but then there's another thing to be like wow actually I want to turn this pain and suffering into something different to help other people. And I just wondered, like, did you go through any processes during that time? Were you having any therapy? Like, how did you like go, actually, no, I'm not going to, I'm not going to sit in this feeling. I want to go out and create this feeling. So just wonder what that was like for you. Yeah. I actually did a video cause we have a campaign coming out

for mental health month next month, which is May, but I did a video because we have a campaign coming out for Mental Health Month next month, which is May. But I did a video the other week on just my story. And besides my therapist, I've never actually said the whole thing out loud of like what I went through. And it was so crazy, you guys, because I feel like for three days afterwards, I felt like I was just having this weird out-of-body experience where I was still processing so much of what's happened. Like I haven't actually, you know, said out loud, let alone in a room with a camera and two other people, you know, and, and, and thank God,

obviously those people are two people that I love very dearly. And it was like, made it comfortable, but it was a lot of pain and it was just, you know, I was in a really, really bad place, a really dark place that I didn't see the end of. And I think, you know, from pain, you can create something beautiful. And I think what, you know, I always struggle with is I know every story doesn't end like this one, you know? And I think that's what I also was having a lot of anxiety about doing this video, because I know there's so, so many people that lose siblings, that lose friends, you know, from mental health disorders. And like, not every story ends like this. And, you know, I struggle with feeling like, you know, my story is a story that's had somewhat of a good ending, but at the same time, I know that other people haven't. But

at the same time, I just, you know, my therapist and I talk to myself and it's like, if there's one person that can hear what I'm saying as just and be inspired by it, you know, if there's one person that can hear my story and just know that they're not alone in those feelings that you feel, you know, depression is something that's so isolating. It's like, I didn't tell my husband. I didn't tell my family. I grappled with my own mind and thoughts for over a year. And, you know, I really did not see an out to all of that. But what I started to see was

just, again, those positive interactions had such an impact on my day. And so, you know, once I started to see that this is a place I can create where people can feel like they belong, people can come and feel like they're heard, they can see the content people can feel like they belong. People can come and feel like they're heard. They can see the content and it can change their mindset. It can be a safe place on social media to talk about mental health, to normalize these conversations that I wasn't seeing anywhere. And I started to use just my anxiety that I was feeling to channel it into something creative. And, you know, I had the worst sleep anxiety, but I would stay up all night working on my business plan. And it was almost just like, I kind of used that mindset and that energy,

that nervous energy that I was feeling to channel it into something that I wanted to create. And, you know, creativity has always been an outlet for me. So I think it was just using that to create something out of the pain that I was experiencing. And like I said, I know every story doesn't end that way, but at the same time, I hope that there's someone listening that can resonate with this, you know? And what have you found that has really helped you to manage your depression and anxiety, especially when it might be higher and you know you have to come back to certain tools, practices that can ground you and help you move through it. Yeah. I think, you know, therapy is, is, is really changed my life. And I joke with people

because, you know, I didn't do therapy for a long time. I feel like you have to be in the mindset where you're ready for therapy. And I know also therapy is not an option for everybody. Like therapy is expensive, you know, but for my 30th birthday, I gave myself the present of therapy and it really has changed my life. I think just being able to process emotions and what I've learned with depression is like, it feels like it's your identity. It feels like who you are. You know, it's hard to separate that from yourself for such a long time. And you get to the place where you understand that this isn't my identity. This is just a part of me. You know, this is something that I navigate, you know, certain days, certain months of

the year. But at the same time, it's not who I am. It's not my identity. I can feel these low days. But, you know, after a couple low days, like I have a toolbox that I go to and, you know, there's always a better day around the corner, even if it's for a week or a month away, like better days are coming. And so I think just understanding, you know, one, that it's a part of me and coming to terms with the idea of that, but then also just knowing that like, it's not your identity. At the end of the day, you have so much more to offer to

the world than, you know, any of these things, any of the things that you navigate as a human. And I think what's really helped me too, Nat, besides therapy is just talking about it, because I think you feel so alone and isolated when you're going through these things. But the more you start to be vulnerable and open up as hard as it is, you start to understand that there's so many people that navigate what you're going through. And as I started to become more comfortable with the term as this being a part of my life and I started to open up, I started to feel better about it because I understood that there's so many people that navigate it. And there's so many people that go through different struggles when it comes to mental health. So I think therapy has

helped a lot. I think normalizing the conversation and continuing to be vulnerable and talk about the things that we struggle with as human beings, which we need to do more. And then I think just having your toolbox that you go to, you know, I have things now that I do, whether it's journaling, meditation, getting outside, you know, getting outside of my own head, essentially that helped me as like a coping mechanism that I know that I can go to if I'm ever having like a bad day, week or month. Let's take a quick pause to talk about my new favorite all-in-one platform, Kajabi. You know, I've been singing their praises lately because they have helped our business run so much smoother and with way less complexity, which I love. Not to mention our team couldn't be happier because now everything is in one place. So it makes collecting data, creating pages,

collecting payment, all the things so much simpler. One of our mottos at Boss Babe is simplify to amplify and Kajabi has really helped us do that this year. So of course I needed to share it here with you. It's the perfect time of year to do a bit of spring cleaning in your business, you know, get rid of the complexity and instead really focus on getting organized and making things as smooth as possible. I definitely recommend Kajabi to all of my clients and students. So if you're listening and haven't checked out Kajabi yet, now is the perfect time to do so because they are offering Boss Babe listeners a 30-day free trial. Go to kajabi.com slash Boss Babe to claim your 30-day free trial. That's Kajabi.com slash Boss Babe.

I love that we're talking about this because you just said it there. Like so many people don't, we don't open up this conversation. And particularly with social and the highlight reel. And I do think more people are talking about it now. But I always want to make sure we honor that in Boss Babe. So thanks for sharing, Sam. I mean, for me, like I've had my own experience of anxiety and misunderstanding like okay these are my like you said the tools in my toolbox so for me like breath work or slowing down my breathing or doing box breathing or doing heart

coherence breathing like those things really helped me and I think you know as well as therapy and those things and I think if you understand as well that it's a normal process and it's not necessarily something that you will always have forever it can be seasons in your life and just like saying okay I like to say things happen for me not to me so that's how I cope with some of my anxiety now as I'm like oh wow you know this is actually you know allowing me to grow and develop and create resilience and a thicker skin and I can I can choose to do that and move through this so wow, you know, this is actually, you know, allowing me to grow and develop and create resilience and a thicker skin. And I can, I can choose to do that and move through this. So I think, you know, owning some of those power pieces of what you can control and what you can

learn and that you can have the option to add to your toolbox has for me been very empowering to help me move through it. Yeah. And I mean, that's amazing and such great advice. And honestly, just even just letting your emotions be a part of like, I feel like processing and feeling your emotions. I feel like as human beings, we mask and we run from so many things. And I think for the longest time, again, I never even used the word depressed because I was scared to say the word. And I just pretended to be an extrovert so I wouldn't have to be alone with my own thoughts. I pretended to be so many things. And it just took me such a long time to understand that, you know, we have to process

emotions. We just can't keep them bottled up inside of us. And, you know, sometimes the things that you fear the most are the things that you have to embrace. And, you know, those moments of pain, those moments of struggle are usually the most transformative in our life. But also just like feel your emotions. It's okay to be sad. You know, it's okay to be upset and anxious and all of these things, you know, emotions serve a purpose in our life and it's okay to like feel them and just process them. And then, you know, you can go back to your toolbox and, you know, use any of your coping mechanisms to embrace gratitude and the things that really help us get out of those mindsets. But for the longest time, I feel like we just run from emotions. Like we're scared to even feel the way that we feel. And I

think for me now, like I let myself have a sad day. I don't feel guilt about that. You know, it's like I let myself process and really figure out what is the root of what I'm feeling. And I try to obviously just embrace it and kind of deal with it as I'm feeling it. But just letting yourself feel them, process them, because I think that's another thing too. We just run away from everything. We mask everything.

Yeah. And I really love what you said around people needing to be ready for therapy, because I think there's really something to that because you have to, your mindset has to be open to it. And that's not, you know, that's not necessarily a natural thing. And you slowly start to get there through seeing people have conversations around this, it being normalized, the shame being removed from it, and just the slight possibility of a different path or a different way can open you up to therapy as a bridge. If you have that, the little window in your mindset where you're like, oh, what if this wasn't forever? Okay, well, am I open to the bridge that's going to help me change that? And I think that's really, really powerful. So I'm so grateful that you shared. I've lost a close family member to mental illness and I just have seen, you know, firsthand where there's not such a happy ending,

not such a, someone that couldn't see a bridge. And so I just think for anyone listening, just thinking about what your bridge might be could be really powerful. So I want to go into the clothing brand you launched and the massive impact that it's had. And it must have been a wild year for you, 2020. Could you ever have imagined when you were launching that this would have happened? And what did it feel like? Was it a supply chain nightmare or was it smooth? Like what did it look like?

Yeah, it was definitely not expected. You know, I feel like we're big manifestors, but like no one could ever say that we like manifested or even predicted like this was going to happen. It was like the wildest year ever. And, you know, we went from just launching our e-commerce to growing. I think we grew 7,000% last year, which was insane. In the midst of everything that was happening, we had to figure out fulfillment. We had to figure out manufacturing. We didn't have customer service. We didn't have vendors. It was just so many things that happened overnight. And to be honest, I feel like if we wouldn't have had the team that we had at Mayfair, like everyone overnight went from 80% of our business was service to overnight, we're now 80% e-commerce

and 20% service. So you can imagine people were doing jobs and roles that were so outside of their job description and even, you know, what their backgrounds are in. And every single person just jumped on board. And, you know, one of my proudest moments today isn't like Forbes or these celebrities. I'm so proud of those moments. But I think the most proud moment for me was one, keeping our entire team employed during COVID and two, just the way that our team, the culture that we created and the fact that everyone was willing to jump on board and do whatever it took to, you know, make this e-commerce rollout a success and make the customer experience and all those things. But there was definitely a lot of hiccups. I'm not even going to lie. Like supply chain was an issue at certain points. Like we, you know, at one point we're selling

so many empathy sweatshirts and we were like trying to get them made and there was delays. And obviously like every factory and manufacturer was closing down due to COVID, which we totally understood, you know, but we were also just trying to make sure that like lead times were manageable and it definitely, there was just like so, so many hiccups. But like I said, we couldn't have done what we did without the team that we had. So, you know, I'm so grateful for the Mayfair team because we managed to pull it off somehow amidst the craziest year ever. So it was, it was wild. Was there a moment that sparked the overnight demand and success? Was it someone wearing it? Like, where did that come from?

It definitely was a lot of like, you know, recognition from a PR standpoint. And I have to give huge props to our PR manager. We actually hired her during COVID right at the beginning of COVID. And, you know, we had no idea e-commerce was new for us. And we kind of just were like, all right, Lauren, you're coming in and we're going to see what happens. And we really had no idea what was going to happen, but she came in and she has literally been a game changer for us. She's been incredible. She had so many amazing connections and just networks and believed in the messaging and the products that we were putting out. So it was just like within months we were on J-Lo, we like people like Bella Hadid wearing our product. And, you know, it just it's so amazing that people get behind what we stand for, too.

Like, I think that's the biggest thing is that, you know, these celebrities just organically want to support positive messaging. Like JLo did an Instagram post, you know, and she posted about empathy in her caption and she posted in her mirror, like wearing the photo. I mean, we couldn't have asked for anything better, you know, but it was just that she supported that messaging and she wanted to share that with her community. And so I think it's really incredible, you know, to see all these people just support the messaging that we so believe in and the fact that they believe it too. But it's, it's been wild just seeing the amount of people that have wore the product, honestly.

So one of the things I care personally about so much at Boss Babe is making sure we make really incredible hires whenever our team is growing. But do you know what? That process can sometimes feel so freaking overwhelming, especially at the beginning when you're trying to get qualified people in the door. Yeah, totally. That first little bit once you post a job is so crucial because you're either going to get the right people to apply and be able to move forward or you're going to be totally stuck. And that's why I really love LinkedIn Jobs. Yeah, I know for us, LinkedIn Jobs has seriously been such a game changer at Boss Babe because when you post a job, you know it's going to a group of people who are actually qualified and would be a really good fit for your organization. Because of that, I feel like it's really helped us make some pretty incredible hires, Natalie, who have been really impactful on our internal team too. Yeah if you need to make your next hire and want to have a lot smoother of a process than ever before then you need to check out LinkedIn jobs. LinkedIn jobs will help you hire the right

person for your role and your first job post is free just visit linkedin.com slash boss babe again that's linkedin.com slash boss babe to post your first job for free terms and conditions apply. I think that's a big shift that we're going through as consumers as well now like more conscious purchasing whether it's the messaging behind a brand that we're buying or the like non-profit side of it or the charity side like people want to know or the environmental side and i think that's something that's definitely we're leaning more into as consumers. I personally know that I look at that when I'm buying now, it's not necessarily like,

oh, I just buying that because I like it. I'm like, well, what is the company that stands behind that? You know, I was going to say, we say this all the time, but the Gen Z consumer is so smart. They understand the power that they have as consumers and they want to invest in brands that have a point of view, you know. And I think I'm the same way. Honestly, last year, the pandemic, everything that happened, even with the social movements that were happening too, I changed a lot of the types of brands and people that I was following on social media. I've always followed and been inspired by people that have a point of view.

But I just feel like over the course of the past couple of years, just who I'm following, who I'm supporting as a consumer has completely changed. And I think we're going to continue to see that in the retail space. Consumers understand their power. The Gen Z generation understands they have immense buying power. And I think that people want to support a brand, like you said, that has a point of view. So, you know, whether it's sustainability, whether it's give back, whether it's inclusivity, whether it's what, you know, I think it's just having a point of view as a brand standing up for whatever it is, is that's it within your core DNA and what you believe in. And like I said, you know, we obviously started this brand a few years ago and it came from a place of pain. So I

think that's another part is like, it has to be genuine. You know, it has to be something that you genuinely feel, not something that you can just improvise or like bring on. But I think consumers know their power nowadays and you're so right. People are using their purchasing power to support brands that have a point of view. Yeah. And it's incredible that so many celebrities have been getting behind the brand and you've had that amazing organic marketing that so many brands are looking for. And I'm sure it wouldn't be without following through on all the things you stand for and amazing customer service and things like that. So I'm really curious what you've learned about building a really rock solid e-com brand in the last couple of years. Oh my gosh. So, so many things. I think the customer

experience is so important and listening to your customers. And I think, you know, it's one of those things, again, we last year had a crazy year. So I can't say like our customer experience was perfect, you know, all the time. I think there was, you know, I wanted everything to be so much better. And I know the team did than what we were dealt. You know, we had a lot of longer lead times than we wanted. It took us a lot of time to develop amazing fits. We're still working on our fits, quality, like all of these things. So, you know, it's a never ending process of constantly improving.

And I think the key is to like always listen to your customer, always listen to your community, you know, let them really drive decisions. And I think, you know, just having a two way dialogue, because I think even when brands start that way, when you're growing really fast, people get further and further away from like who their customer is and what they're actually wanting. And I think it's so important as a brand to, you know, to constantly have a two-way dialogue. Like, you know, something that Devin and I are doing this week actually is I had our customer service team pull our 20 most unhappy reviews and Devin and I set up 20 minute Zoom calls with every single one of the

customers so we can genuinely hear feedback. If they hated the product, if they didn't like it, I want to hear from them. I feel like that feedback is so valuable. The people that have had the worst experience potentially, even with your site or your product, those are the most valuable customers to speak to. So I think although it might be uncomfortable, you know, it's like I definitely want to hear people's feedback and I want to hear how we can be better. So I think just having that dialogue constantly with people. And then another thing too is just we're a business that believes in just like not compromising for short-term gain. And I think what's really, really easy to do is when you're having growth and you're having success to chase

growth, to want to double year over year. But I think chasing short-term growth that's right in front of you, you're compromising longevity for short-term gain. And I think it's really important to ask yourself when you're starting a business, like, where do you want to be in five years, in 10 years? You know, do you want to be doubling year over year? Are you trying to go public? Like, what are you trying to do? You know, and I think for us, we're always driven by message first and foremost. I think, you know, we are a business where we obviously have financials. We look at revenue. We want to grow every single year. But this year specifically, like, we. We look at revenue. We want to grow every single year.

But this year specifically, like we didn't want to double. We wanted to scale back our growth because we want to be a brand that's around for a really long time. And saying no to like growth that's right in front of you is really hard to do. But you're compromising longevity sometimes when you do that. So I think just understanding what are your key drivers? What are your KPIs? What are you trying to do long-term and then making financial and business decisions based around that and always staying true to that, you know, even when there's

growth opportunities right in front of you. You're not the only entrepreneur that said that. We actually had Mona Katana from Huda Beauty and she was saying that's been a lot of their success was because right at the very beginning huda wasn't willing to um sacrifice her long-term like her beliefs for short-term gain she would only work with certain brands and that's ultimately why their brand has grown strength over strength and i think that's just a really powerful lesson for so many people and i also just want to accentuate what you spoke about with regards to customer services often it's like forgotten about and actually those people in those positions are right on the ground they're getting that feedback and when you can open yourself up to listening to that feedback and actually acting on it that's when you get to learn and you know we talk about

this all the time at boss babe being like you know it's not a failure if you're going to learn from it things can go wrong but if you learn you pick yourself up again and you make improvements and we always call it proactive customer service right it's not about being reactive all the time there's obviously elements of that but how can we be proactive as a company to turn those people like you say who've maybe had an unhappy experience but allow that to tweak our services or tweak our processes and and just really honoring that nothing's going to be perfect when you're running a business like it's not it's not perfect and that's okay as well yeah no I definitely I mean I think I read something the other day that was just the importance of being wrong and willing

to be able to be wrong and that goes against like our human instinct and ego, but like be the person in the room that's like, I'm willing to be wrong all the time, you know, because I think that there's just so much value in learning from people, specifically your customers in your community. Like, you know, they're the ones supporting your product. They're the ones building your business. And so no matter how big you get, don't lose sight of that. And I think just always be willing to be wrong because like, you know, getting on these calls and hearing from customers directly on how you can improve your business, if they've had a bad experience, like I think it goes against again, human nature, because, you know, we feel like sometimes we know our business better than anyone, you know, but I think it's just the ability

to kind of humble yourself and hear the negative feedback as harsh as it is sometimes, because that's really how you're going to improve your overall experience. So I was reading that and I was like, I really like that, like be the person in the room that's always willing to be wrong. Like those are sometimes the smartest people in the room, you know? Yeah. I love that advice. And I think it's so hard to take it. It's so hard to be so okay with being wrong and taking on that feedback especially as an entrepreneur when you just want to make all of your employees and clients happy and when you hear that you have to develop such a thick skin around it I'm really curious um with your business because it looks like you have product drops so

frequently how frequently are you dropping products right We, so we were doing them way more frequent to now. So last year we were doing them. I always say like, we had a lot to say last year. So we, we had a lot that we wanted to put out. There were so many things happening that we wanted to speak out on, but this year we're, we're mostly doing one campaign a month, but then we have kind of like mini drops and, you know, accessories and things that we're doing vintage that we're stocking like here and there. But for the most part, we have one to two main campaigns a month. And that's kind of really our strategy going into the balance of the year too, is just

we'll continue to have foundational styles like athletics and essentials that are like our core collections that we continue to drop in new colors we'll always have our best sellers we'll do new drops in our best sellers but for the most part we'll have one main new campaign every month and what has that looked like process wise in the business because you know putting out new products that frequently that must be a lot on the process side. It must mean that things really have to be dialed in in the backend on top of being able to be creative enough to have new products. So how have you been able to dial that in, especially so quickly? Yeah. I mean, we didn't have it dialed in to be very honest to begin with, but I think,

you know, something that COVID taught us to as a business. And, you know, I always try to find silver lining in these like really hard situations, but it forced us to create infrastructure. We were like a creative business that was always in person. You know, if someone had a question, they would run into my office and ask me, you know, if someone wanted to talk to our, our social media coordinator, director, creative director, they would go into Kaylee's office and say, what, you know, this is what we're going to do, blah, director, creative director. They would go into Kaylee's office and say, this is what we're going to do, blah, blah, blah. So when all of a sudden our whole business went remote in the span of like five days, we didn't have Slack. We didn't have

any communication channels. We had like no task management organization. I mean, it was just like overnight we were like tipped upside down. And in a weird way, Devin and I say like it forced us to figure out infrastructure. And it was like at the perfect time because, you know, we were in a really pivotal place and we had to hire more senior level team leads, obviously, that come to us with e-comm experience, a lot of like additional experience that can kind of overall manage and oversee each of the teams. But I really do think, you know, COVID forced us to create that infrastructure, create communication channels, task management systems, like for us to be able to work remote. And, you know, that transition back into office has been a little bit of a challenge, but at the same time,

I think now we have a lot more processes in place. But I think it's hard from a creative to, you know, it's always tough for our creative team because there is so many deadlines and there is so many deliverables. But, you know, I always try to give them time and make sure that they have enough time to just be inspired and just be creative outside of deadlines. And that's

something to, to any creative that's listening. I always say, you know, use time on your weekend to use creativity as your outlet, because when creativity is your job and it comes with a deadline, it's so easy to get burnt out and so easy to, you know, get to the point where you start feeling anxious or you start feeling these feelings because what was once your outlet is now your job, you know? And so every weekend now I make an effort to do something that's creative, that is tied to nothing. So it can be like going to a pottery place and painting, or like I sometimes will even do random dumb stuff like sidewalk chalk and like just you know paint or read or write or just do something

because you have to make creativity your outlet again and I think when you're working in a space where creativity is your job like I know every creative gets to that point where they're really burnt out I completely agree. And speaking on the creative side, we need to talk about your social media because you guys have absolutely crushed it. I mean, you've grown to half a million in, you know, not a couple of years tops and your content is so on point. Is how have you managed to hire a team that can jump in and support that vision? How have you

managed to continue to iterate and get creative on your feed and with your content? Because there's so much noise out there and it can be so tempting to jump in and do what everyone else is doing and you aren't doing that and you're growing. I mean, it looks like you're growing all organically through having content that really, really, really resonates. So how have you been able to do that? Yeah. I mean, honestly, I think, you know, in any business, the people that you hire contribute to your business vision and how you grow and all those things. So, you know, everybody says it, but really do get people that are more talented even than you are, because I think having a good team is really the best advice, you know, true, like all in all. But I think something that's different with Mayfair is like, you know, this came from a

very genuine place. This came from me navigating a depression and really having a lot of pain and using creativity to create a place that I felt didn't exist and that I wanted to exist in the world. So I think, you know, the most genuine companies or brands are created out of a desire or need for a product or thing that doesn't exist, you know, and that's really like what Mayfair was created out of. But I think we just try not to look around us too much. I think a lot of companies focus so much on what's happening in the industry. And I always just joke that the best part about being in Scottsdale is that we're not in the industry. And I always just joke that the best part about being in Scottsdale is that we're not in the industry. We're not in LA. So we don't know anything that's

really going on. We're not really involved in the politics that come, you know, being in the cities that like almost everyone is like working out of in this industry, but we try not to look around us. I feel like the best concepts and stuff are really just us being vulnerable with the team saying, what is something that somebody went through this week? Like we always try to all jot down notes every Sunday night. I'll write notes to our social team of just things that I felt like I was navigating that week and everybody else does the same. And I think creating a culture where people feel like they're valued and they're heard and they can be vulnerable and talk about things that they're navigating. And then what's better than creating content for other people to be able to relate to those things, too, you know?

And I think it's just about, again, just relatability and the human experience and being vulnerable and authentic in that vulnerability. And that's really what we try to do. And I think that coupled with not looking around us, you know, coming from a genuine place. And then I think just really pushing innovation, like that's a core, core pillar at the company. We're always trying to say, how can we do things differently? How can we create a medium that hasn't existed? How can we create content that hasn't existed? So I think I think you know if you continue to like push innovation at the forefront and couple that with vulnerability like that's really what's led you

know to our content and stuff that we put out I think it's so powerful we're really similar at Boss Babe as well when you have that authenticity to your values they're the same inside the company as they are outside the company like that's why you know everything we do is like the real behind the scenes that's why the quotes do well because they're like actually this is stuff that me and Natalie are going through and other people on the team are going through and we've really built that into our culture around like sharing those pieces around encouraging the team to come forward with any of their challenges but then also having our gratitude Fridays that we do as a company and I think like you said that sparks innovation that sparks creativity because it's real, it's raw, it's not false.

It's not trying to pull ideas from somebody else. It's like, actually, like what's within us? And actually, how do we normally, when you start tapping into that, like we just go on this whole podcast that you started off by saying, hey, I thought I was going through depression, anxiety on my own. But when I plucked up the courage and I was vulnerable about it, sharing with the people, I then discovered that so many others were. And I felt like that's kind of what happens at Boss Babe with us with some of the quotes that you put out and kind of is like where you've come to with your business. It's like just being real and honest and it's refreshing. I love the content that you guys put out, by the way, like me and Lauren, our PR manager, we're just talking about how we love the quotes and I have so many of them saved and I

really do resonate with everything that you guys put out. And it's so good to hear too that you guys are the same way in the sense that it comes from such a genuine place. And I think it's just, it's so the opposite of our culture and social media to be putting out things that make, that are really, really vulnerable, you know, to what you're going through. I think in social in general has become this place. I think it's so much better now, but it was a place where we just talked about our highlights and the things that we're accomplishing. And, you know, I think that what we're here to do as human beings is to relate to one another and talk about the things that we struggle with. You know, that's, those conversations are more important than the conversations that

just involve our accomplishments. You know, it's like, conversations are more important than the conversations that just involve our accomplishments. You know, it's like, I think when you open a door for vulnerability, people reciprocate that. And so I think the best content in the world is ones that come from personal experience and personal vulnerability. So, you know, I, I try to really encourage that. And it sounds like that's something that's really encouraged in your culture as well, which is, was so amazing. Yeah. And I totally agree. And I think it has to be, if you really want to make a change in the world, because just showing up with your highlight reel is like, you don't know how many people that's having an effect on in such a negative way. And we've, we've talked about this and we continue talking about this. We've really

feel like it's on us to be able to show up, not in our highlight reel and show up when things are imperfect because I work in social media and I know that I get caught up thinking someone's highlight reel is real life. And I have to stop myself and tell myself, no, that is literally just them showing some moments of their life. Cause I see some people, oh my God, they've got it all together. They're handling it all so well. Why can I not weather storms like this? And so it really is on us to make that change. One thing that I want to ask you too, you mentioned hiring and hiring a team as being really important. What are your tips for hiring creatives, hiring people that really get on board with your mission, finding people that align with your values? Yeah, I would say that's such a good question. I would say, you know, for me too, I think, you know, we, we put out job postings and we, you

know, we now are in a place where we're expanding even the horizons that we hire, you know, we're going through recruiters and LinkedIn and all these different mediums that when we were like a tiny small company that we would just put out a job posting on Instagram. But now I feel like that's expanded significantly, but I think just really asking for innovation. And I think that's something that we really look for when we, we kind of look through applicants, right? So I always tell people when they ask for advice on just tips to apply when you're applying to a creative position, I think just making sure that you have an innovative cover letter, resume, portfolio, all these things, because know the company that you're applying for with Mayfair, like we want to see somebody get like

quirky in their tone and their cover letter and use imagery and graphics as a way to, you know, display media, to display content. And I think that just, you know, anyone can send a cover letter that's just typed up and anyone can send a resume, you know, and when you're applying for a creative company, like get creative, like we want to see, you know, people push the boundaries and those are always the cover letters and the resumes and the portfolios that stand out to me. And then there'll even be people that make like custom portfolios. And I mean, all of that is just like above and beyond, but I think, you know, we look for those people that are not only passionate about what we're building. I think that's something we really look for when somebody gets on an interview and

they talk about social issues or mental health. You know, they talk about how they're so passionate for change. Like that's something that really resonates with me because I'm like, they're going to get behind what we're building. They're going to be driven by the same things that we're driven by. But then I just think, you know, innovation and creativity is definitely, you know, the next thing beyond just passion. I think it's, again, the people that are going to go that one step further to, you know, use any opportunity that they can to show us how creative they can be. So I think those are probably the two things that I look for when hiring, especially from a creative perspective. But yeah, I love on interviews when

people talk about real life things because I just feel like you know people can be so poised on interviews and I feel like it can be so scripted and I'm just like no I want to hear who you really are I want to hear why you care you know I want to hear why you want to make a change and like again it's dependent upon the company that you're applying for but when it comes to Mayfair that's what we look for we are exactly the same I always say like you know nowadays when I go into interviews to try and keep them really informal so I see their personality like you say and see what kind of lights them up and then I also really believe in hiring on attitude versus skill I think we can teach a lot of skill obviously you still want them to have a

foundation of that skill set but if they've got 70% of the skill set I'm happy to teach this next 30% if they've got the right attitude in all honesty I'm like that for me I want to go to work every day and feel like I am surrounded by amazing people that I would want to spend time with inside of work and outside of work that for me is like a really key differentiator to really help but honestly Sam this interview has been amazing like I so appreciate you opening up about your whole journey and your whole struggles and actually where you're at now and I think there's so much inspiring content to your story that's going to help people go actually do you know what it's giving me a bit of light today I can see light at the

end of my tunnel and you know that all we all no matter what stage you're at in business as well, you know, these things come up and that's really important for me. That's what I share on this podcast. Like don't look and think everything's rosy and perfect. It never is. Everyone has their own struggles all the time. It never is. I know. I feel like my therapist is always like, no matter who you are in the world, whether you're Oprah or, you know, you're Sam or you're LeBron James or you're whoever, like every single person wakes up with struggles every single day. And so I think, you know, we have to use our human experience, like I said, to relate to people and listen to people and, you know, just kind of be that, that use vulnerability as a strength to be authentic, you know, but I have just enjoyed this so, so much.

And I think, you know, what you guys are building too, I'm so inspired by. And I can't wait to talk outside of this too, because I feel like there's so much synergy and we have to do more than this together. But thank you guys for having me. I really, really appreciate it. And I've loved this. This has been so much fun thank you so much you