the bossbabe podcast - 204. How To Take The Leap of Starting a Business with Lori Harder

Episode Date: February 8, 2022

Building a business can seem glamorous to the outside world, but the reality can be filled with loss, loneliness and times when you just want to give up. But you don’t have to go through it alone. So how do you push through when your inner voice is not your biggest cheerleader? What do you do when everything keeps going wrong? You flip the script and use your struggles to your advantage. This week's guest, serial entrepreneur Lori Harder, is here to push you in the right direction. In this episode, she reveals how to turn your struggles into strengths by calling on your community for support.  Plus, Lori reflects on the obstacles she overcame to launch her female-funded rosé wine spritz brand, Lite Pink, and shares how she uses fear as fuel to keep getting up whenever she gets knocked down.  If you've ever wanted to quit your own business, this conversation will flip your perspective. Listen now!  Highlights: Why your community is the #1 indicator of your business’s success. How to turn your niche idea into a fully-fledged product business.  What you can do right now to find your business support system + why it matters. The ONE thing that helped Lori overcome her fear of numbers + build confidence as a business owner. The pitfalls of a product-based business + how to avoid them. Why investing in female-founded companies is one of the BEST choices you can make. Links: Your Ultimate Roadmap To Making Six Figures In 2022 Litepink.com Earn Your Happy: BossBabe Mentality for the Win – With Danielle Canty Follow: BossBabe: @bossbabe.inc Danielle Canty: @daniellecanty Lori Harder: @loriharder + @drinklitepink Natalie Ellis: @iamnatalie

I think what we need to understand is like, you are the only one who will be gifted with the vision in the beginning, and it's up to you to stay faithful enough to it, long enough for it to deliver the rest of the pieces. 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. Welcome to the Boss Babe podcast, the place where we share with you the real behind the scenes of building successful businesses, achieving peak performance, and learning how to actually balance it all. I'm Danielle Canty, president of Boss Babe, and your host for this week's episode. Now, I mean, I say this a lot, but I really always genuinely am. I love speaking to female founders, but this conversation today is actually kind of rare

because quite often we have business people on here who share their hard times with us. They're always vulnerable. They share their hard times, but they share them after they've normally come out the other side. And this one's a little bit different because laurie my amazing friend laurie harder she has not started one not two not three but she has just started her fourth business now not only is she an incredible female entrepreneur and she's had a lot of success in the past but she's actually coming on today to share

where she's at now her fourth business a product-based business called light pink which i'm actually an investor in as well i'm so excited but she really talks about all the struggles that she's had and is having along the way she hasn't got the story where everything comes good in the end like she's still in it and i actually think it's really refreshing so for anyone who has a business, who is in it right now, who is finding it hard, who feels like, you know what, I deserve a little break over here and just the things keep coming. No, you are not alone. It's completely normal. We're all in it together. And we're just really opening up about having these difficulties in these challenges. But I know you're going to take so many things from this podcast, including how to take action when you've maybe been struggling with that a little bit recently. We all get stuck in those procrastination loops and Laurie gives some amazing tips because it

does take someone with a lot of resistance and a lot of get up and go to start for businesses. So take some notes and if you love it, please share it with myself at danialkanti and share your takeaways with at forcebrave.inc so let's dive in so laurie a lot of people want to start businesses they're like right i don't want to be in my career anymore or i want to go and start this business. I've had this idea for so long, but actually the percentage of people who go on and create that action is very small. People get stuck in the procrastination loops.

They kind of, you know, I'll do this when, but not you because you've not started one business, but I think you're on like your fourth now, maybe more. So I'm really curious. What do you believe sets you apart from others where you actually create action? I think I have a really unique relationship with pain. I definitely have been in a place where I know what it feels like to lose everything or to believe that you cannot do anything, like to feel like you are not capable of really doing anything. I didn't graduate from high school.

My whole life, I told myself I wasn't worthy. I wasn't smart enough. So for me, I've really experienced that place where I convinced myself that I would never amount to anything. And that's probably the most painful place we can be is when we feel like we are not worthy of our dreams, which also makes us feel not worthy of relationships and love. So for me, I've actually really learned how to tap into

allowing myself to go into the future and see what would happen if I didn't take action and sit in that pain. And I think even Tony Robbins does something like that at his UPW events. And it makes me create action just out of the sheer being able to zoom forward from five years from now. If I don't take action, what is my life going to look like? Who am I going to be around? What are my friends going to be? What is my body going to feel like? What is my environment going to look like? And I actually allow myself to spend time there. And that might sound crazy to some people, but it's really, really powerful to go,

wow, that's real. Like, I'm actually in a good spot right now. I know that I can, you know, at least take the next step. And to me, what ends up happening is that that amount of pain compared to maybe the next few steps that seemed scary at first now seem a lot less scary compared to what the impending future is if you don't take action. I actually, this is the first time I've heard someone speak about that because I relate to that a lot. The

thought of not doing something is actually often more painful for me than the thought of doing the thing, you know? Totally. it's like, I remember when I was in a position deciding whether I'd leave chiropractic and the businesses to go into the online world and the thought of not creating change was so painful for me. I was like, I have to do this. Of course, I'm absolutely terrified. Like I'm really nervous about stepping into this place that I've never been in before. I don't know about online businesses. It's completely out of my comfort zone.

But staying where I am is suffocating. Staying where I am is painful. Staying where I am is just no longer serving me. And I feel like that's what helped me create action. So I'm really glad that you shared that because it sounds like it's very similar. You know, I even do it with workouts every single day. It's like, you know, when you don't want to do the workout and you're like,

I don't want to do it. And I'm like, how am I going to feel tonight? Like, do I want to enjoy my evening and feel accomplished and you feel good in my body and not have aches and pains? I'm like, okay, just go and do this. But like, it's literally 45 minutes of your life or 30 minutes of your life. Like go spend this 30 minutes of maybe challenge or pain or you just don't resistance to go and have

10 of the next best hours of the day. It really does change everything. So I always try to remember that. It's almost putting that time in. And I view that with work as well. Just put that time in. And it doesn't take as long as you think to do the hard thing that's going to make everything else seem easier for the day

so I want to take you back to one of your first businesses and you can pick this one because I know you've had a few but I want to just say like what is the business that you struggled the most oh my god to start as in like not as in like, but to make the move on it. Because I feel like so many people look on and be like, oh, it's okay for them. Like, oh, if I was like them, I could do this. Or if I was in this situation, I could do that. And I just wanted to take you back to that one that was like,

this was really hard to start. Oh my goodness. Well, the first ones are interesting because while they were at the time, the hardest, they came out of also a place of like desperation. Like I had to, it came out of a rock bottom. So there's actually a lot of inspiration in rock bottom. So I would, I would say that the hardest one for me to start where I had the most like fear and imposter syndrome is this one, is Light Pink, the one that I'm in right now. Because that one to me felt most different, most out of my wheelhouse. It made me really question what was possible. It felt like the biggest leap I had taken yet,

it was going to require me to be a completely different person to start it. So let's share a bit of that journey because you've been on the podcast before and you've shared, you know, way back when, a couple of years ago, I think it was, and that was with Natalie. And you shared a bit of your story around, like, you know, with your gym, starting your network marketing businesses, then with becoming an author, then having your events, the Bliss Project, right? And you've kind of come full circle. And now with this fourth business, I'm going to say, but it could be five or six, you started Light Pink. But I wanted to hear first, why? Why Light Pink? Why that business?

Mm. Okay. So I had done, and you had mentioned it before, a lot of my businesses all had a tie, like a tie through them, which was connecting women and also through connecting women that would help them go for their dreams. Because I believe that when you have a supportive network and you create that supportive tribe of people, that that's how you're actually going to reach your dreams. You know, I've been a solopreneur before.

You can get somewhere, but you really can't get too far. Like you create a ceiling when you're trying to do it alone. So with Light Pink, after going through... I started in the fitness business. The next thing was network marketing. And that was really empowering women around their money. And then the next thing was personal development.

And then the next thing was writing a book. And the book was all about connection as well and talking about how I saw this through line in my life of success always came from not the what, but the who. So a lot of times we are always looking for the what, like what's the next step? What do I need to do when it's always a who? Who do I need to meet? Who do I need to surround myself? You know, who do I need to be in rooms with? So for me, that became a theme of, wow, when we find the who, when we connect women, when we help people connect, when we help women connect, when we arm them with better questions, that's when they get

better answers. Better answers equal more opportunities. And then all of a sudden, we're having a different conversation with way more opportunities for women. So with that said, because I wanted to create this, you know, I had this like connection background all throughout my history and wanting to do that and showing women, I was like, you know, when I wrote my book, I had, you know, we have these giant goals, right? I'm a brand new author and I set out and I set these huge goals, which I highly recommend doing. But at the same time, a brand new author and I set out and I set these huge goals, which I highly recommend doing. But at the same time, a brand new author setting a, I want to be a New York Times bestseller. And like, I want to sell a million copies. Those were my goals. And while I did not reach those

goals, what ended up happening is the book did great, but it didn't hit like the masses in the mainstream women like I wanted. So I was asking women to read an entire book, go try to find a way to connect, like teach them step-by-step how to connect. And I'm like, okay, that's a big ask, right? I'm asking people who may not be readers right now to go read a book, follow it step-by-step, create this tribe, read the book together. So I was like, okay, what is, and there's so many reasons why this came. It's like, have you ever had those intersection moments in your life where you can see why everything that you have done before is literally meeting at this intersection and coming together

to this one thing? And that's what Light Pink was for me is I saw this moment of, I wanted to be able to connect women who were more, not only business women and women who are out there having big dreams, but also the mainstream women who have big dreams but don't know where to go. And I thought, how are those women connecting right now? What is the way that they're connecting? And I was like, I think they're trying to network and they're going and having cocktails. They're probably going having wine nights like I've gone and done

and tried to connect and do business things, except when I've left so many of those, I moved to LA and went to all these different networking things. And when I would be driving home, I'm like, oh God, I drank again tonight because there's always wine at the mixers. And I'm like, I didn't really want to drink or drink much during the week because you have goals that you wake up for. And then I'm like, and I didn't really leave with the conversations that I wanted. Like we kind of talked about surface level things or Netflix or I don't know, just not the deep stuff right away. And so I thought, what if I created a drink that was lighter, that actually really tasted good? Because I don't know about you, but I've been in these situations where I'm having soda water and vodka with a lime.

And I'm like, do we really like this? Is this really what we want to be drinking? Is this our choice? You know what I mean? Completely. Do you think this tastes good? Because I would prefer something different. So in that moment, I was like, what if we put three really probing questions that could take you deeper into the conversation immediately on the back of this cocktail that's lighter or a non-alcoholic version of it so that it can be inclusive for everybody. And got straight to the point, you blame the can. Like, okay, these awkward questions that are on here, let me ask you and we'll see what happens. And I have never had a moment where I've not asked

these questions because I've tried them a lot in different situations. Even when it's like made me feel awkward at a big table full of people maybe I don't know. And it has opened up so much and created so much opportunity for every single person at the table. And not only that, just fulfillment. You leave feeling fulfilled. You're actually going to these things and getting what you came for. And I just saw this huge moment of opportunity for why wouldn't we do this? Why wouldn't we start that little did I know? I'm so glad you can't see later on the journey what's coming in the beginning. I did an interview recently and we were just sharing,

if you've not wanted to quit your business at some point yes on the honeymoon you stage you're not really doing the business at that point right they're like there's just so much you know hardship which is like born out of growing your own business but also so much fulfillment as well which I think is so powerful so I'm hearing that you you know decided to create this business because one you want it you felt like there was a need for it you wanted that lighter beverage that you know drink that you could have out and that connection and I think that's really amazing you know to be able to like see that I'm like oh I wish this existed but there's a big difference between wishing something existed and having an idea and then going to create the action for it. So like, I'm, I'm kind of like trying to piece how you got from

here to here. So you're like, Oh, I have this idea. But then what did you do? Well, that idea was like a year. Were you looking for an idea then? Were you like, Oh, I want a new business. What is around me? Or you were like, Oh my goodness, this just hit me in the face. Now I've got to do it. Well, I'm in a place that maybe some of your people are either...

Maybe they're about to hit it. Maybe they won't hit it for like five years. And maybe they'll never hit it. But I think that they will. And it's the place where you start accomplishing in your life.

So you start checking off these things that you want to do. And all of a sudden, you're going to find, because I know who your women are that listen, they're going to find that they check all the boxes. Yeah, they're unapologetically ambitious. No, I love it. So what happened for me was in 2017,

after I wrote my book, I did the thing. I went on the 12 or 15 city tour, I don't remember. But I did the thing. I had done the things that I had put on my checkbox or on my to-do list of life. And what I didn't realize is I didn't plan past that book. And I didn't think about what I really want in the grand scheme and what I want my day-to-day life to look like. And I loved writing and I loved speaking, except in my day-to-day life, what that looked like was a lot of alone time,

being lonely on the road, going and speaking on stage and then going to my hotel room because I'm exhausted and like not going and socializing after. And you're doing a lot of work by yourself. I didn't have a partner. I have my partner, my husband, Chris, but he's doing his own business as well. And so I was finding that

I wasn't living a life daily that I loved. I had these major highlight moments. But if you would look at the grand scheme of my months leading up to them, I felt kind of isolated and lonely. And it's not because I didn't have a social life, but what I wanted was to be working with someone, like collaborating with someone. And not just someone, I wanted to be collaborating with people. Like I wanted my Monday to, I wanted to look on my calendar on Monday and be like, oh, hell yes. Like I can't wait to like talk to her. I can't wait to go podcast in person with them. I can't wait to, you know, collaborate and create business ideas and, you know, do the hard stuff together. Even, even if it's, you know, cause business is always hard. It just, it just is. There's a lot of hard

things about business. Don't you want to do that with someone? Don't you want to go through that with someone? And it makes it actually fun, you know? So when I had that realization, I thought if I just, if I write another book, if I do more speaking, it just, it wasn't lighting me up. Like I couldn't get that like soul lifted feeling, you know, like I couldn't get, I couldn't feel light around any of those ideas. And it just, it wasn't exciting me. I felt terrible that it wasn't exciting me. I, I'm sure I can relate to people where you're like, oh my God, I like don't even know what I should be doing. And that's when I really started.

Our friends have this thing, Rob and Kim Murgatroy, called Stupid Idea Time. And Chris and I play Stupid Idea Time all the time when we're in a situation like this. Okay, Stupid Idea Time, which means obviously anything goes, right? And you play it to the end. I love that. And I think that's very freeing. Well, people should do that. If you're not already doing this, this is a great way because it's like, you don't think to the next layers of stuff. It's

just about putting the ideas out. Yeah. And it lets you... Oh my gosh. I went through so many ideas. I was like, okay, I want to have this place called Brunch. And it serves only brunch, but there's speakers and all these women and you get dressed up. So it's like Kentucky Derby style and you have champagne and networking. And it was going to be... This was right before COVID, right? It was going to be like an actual place. And that was fun because I played with that one for a while. And the more that you play with it,

what happens is I could see why I wouldn't like it. I was like, what would my day-to-day look like in that? What would, you know, what were the tasks that I would need to be doing? How would this look? So that's why stupid idea time is so powerful is it lets you play the idea fully all the good parts and then all of the not so good parts also start coming like yeah but then

there's this and there's that and there's you know it's so wait do you like write this down you're like hey we're playing some idea time you grab a pen and paper like write down the big idea then like the george you like several ideas we do it on walks every day oh walks okay so when we're and you can do you know you can do this with a friend if you want to go on walks you can do it on the phone if you're like hey let's just meet for stupid idea time for like an hour once a week and just it is amazing we start our meetings like that like we just it's the most empowering thing because it does let it allows everybody to come with like the wildest ideas and we know that the wildest craziest ideas like there's there's usually

one in that pile that you're like that's not so crazy like that makes total sense like this would be freaking awesome so light pink came from not only like this question in my mind of you know all these seltzers were emerging and I was trying them. I'm like, these don't taste good to me. And the cans aren't cute enough. I just saw a room for improvement mixed with, oh my gosh, I've always loved how celebratory champagne is and how fun it is to go and look in the aisles. And like, I can just go look at the bottles and I feel, I don't know, I feel fancy or something. I, it like makes you feel a certain way. And I wanted to create... I had never created a product. And I was very curious. I wanted to... I was like, I love... I'm such a consumer. I love buying things that make me feel good or make me feel a certain way. I'm obsessed with branding. I'm like, I love picking it apart and going,

why does this make me feel this way? So this has been, and what I was observing was that I was enjoying those things. I was like really enjoying the process of thinking of a product, like looking at who my market would be, like looking at what they want, how do they want to feel, like what is missing? So I was watching myself go from like two years of feeling very just challenged to muster up energy every day to a place where I was like floating, walking around floating all the time because I was enjoying these like thoughts of what could this look like creating this new product. So when I said kind of like, you know, the different intersections of my life, I have always taught people about connecting because I'm not feeling very connected. So all the work that I did

was like trying to connect other people, thinking that within that void of me trying to connect them, that I would too somehow in turn feel connected. And I was like, wait, in order for me to feel connected, I actually have to connect daily. So with this business, that's where with Light Pink, and I had started thinking about it and I liked the idea and concept. I was like, wait a minute, what if this was female funded? What if I got to interact with these investors? What if I created a product that was so interesting to them that they were excited to own a part of that then we would also kind of all interact

within each other's businesses and the idea just kept like it came in layers so that's what I want people to know like I truly believe ideas come like I always share this like I think it's like Ikea like you go to Ikea and you like see the vision of the kitchen or the living room and you're like yes that's what I want but then you go home and it like comes in like pieces and phases and you're like, okay. You have to put a bit together. Yeah, and it doesn't like you put it together wrong. Sometimes you're missing a piece. Totally, absolutely.

And sometimes you're missing a piece for a long time, right? And that's how it comes is like one day, all of a sudden you're like, oh my God, this was the piece that is like going to either set it apart or change it. So many people, I think when they start with an idea, you can get really... It's easy to write yourself off because you're like, I don't know. I don't know what would make it different. Or I'm not sure. Oh, that's hard. I don't know about that. Oh my gosh. You guys,

it's the easiest thing to do and the hardest thing to do. Meaning it's simple in terms of Google was my best friend. Like I literally learned everything about the beverage industry in the first six months off of Google and even how to formulate and how to do so many things like that. And I think what we need to understand is like,

you are the only one who will be gifted with the vision in the beginning. And it's up to you to stay faithful enough to it long enough for it to deliver the rest of the pieces. 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 that's so true like you you're the one that has a vision and therefore you have to hold that and just know there's lots of action steps behind that will start coming to play i think it's a cross between like the vision and hope and the faith and just like knowing that one way or another you're going to go and create this. So you, like I said, you formulate this idea, you started, I want to actually get into a couple of these details. I want to come back to the female investors at this point and just dive in a little bit deeper there. So you said about bringing women together and bringing and working alongside I want to understand the power that that has created for you and like pink in many ways because I've seen that and I feel like not

I'm not actually seeing someone raised from as many people as you have because I think it's 50 right 54 54 Natalie and I being two of them. And you've raised some of these women. But what do you think has... How has that helped propel the business forward? This is interesting. So I love podcasting for this reason is because I have met, number one, so many of my investors on there,

but also gotten so much incredible aha moments and advice on there. So I got the opportunity to talk to Josh Landon, who's the founder of St. Archer, which was a beer that went kind of wild just in like California area. So number one, he sold his company without even, I believe, going out of California.

I believe, I don't want to... Essentially, yes, we think. And he had told me that some of the best things that he did was allowed those major true fans to be able to invest. And he said they were one of the biggest needle movers were the ones who were just not the celebrities, not the people with big audiences. He said the people who moved the needle the most were like those people so excited about the opportunity. And maybe the people who had, you know, 10,000 fans or 20,000 people, but they were like in their community or in their communities or in the city, like somebody who was influential within maybe this area. And he said, those people, they just got so excited that they had something to get

behind. And it really got my wheels turning around. Like, you know, there are so many of these incredible women out in the world who want to be a part of something and are like yearning to learn and be a part of something bigger. And it's an opportunity for us also, like as somebody who has a vision and a dream, to be able to gift that forward in terms of, that's a huge opportunity, not only for us to go for it and be supported, but also for them to learn and see what it looks like

to be building a company, get kind of like the insider scoop. Because what's going to happen when they learn about that? What's going to happen when these are the conversations that they're having and they're invited in on? That creates opportunity for them. They're going to be talking about things and doing things and thinking that things are possible

that they never thought were possible before. And so this was a huge opening for me for so many reasons to not only invite certain women in who maybe were influential, you know, even in their small communities, but large communities as well. But for all of us to kind of change the tide of the conversation together. And I just want to share, you know, a big part of this is my husband had started investing. He got really interested in investing in different companies. So I think at this point, we're invested in like 10 different startups. So at the time I started Light Pink,

I think we were invested in four. And so I was kind of starting to sit in on these conversations. I used to zone it out, right? Because I have this story, I'm bad with numbers. So like I kind of would just sit there and uh-huh, uh-huh, and be interested, but not really understand it. And I had this realization after I'm listening to my husband and his friends talk about this

$300 million exit of a guy I'm sitting next to. And then this guy over here is talking about wanting to do a billion dollar exit. And I was like, I'm not having these conversations with my girlfriends. They're not saying anything near these numbers. And we're having conversations of, I don't know if I can sustain this. I'm successful. Or yes, maybe we're lucky enough to do seven-figure launches or whatever that looks like through the year. And that's a big goal, right? That's a lot of years of work. And many people are lucky to even get there. We know the percentages are fairly small on that. I think it's totally doable and possible. I mean, like more than anything, but at the same time,

I know a lot of my girlfriends were getting burnt out. It was just like, I don't know if I can continue this over and over and over without another opportunity in their head and sight. And so I was sitting at that table going, wow, I wonder if they knew how to do this or sat in on these conversations, if they would be choosing to continue to stay in that cycle or if they would be starting to think of a different opportunity. And so that is when I just had this moment of like, I don't know

what the hell I'm doing, but I think that I could at least start to learn and bring this conversation over here. So I actually started asking those men at the table and I'm so, but I think that I could at least start to learn and bring this conversation over here. So I actually started asking those men at the table and I'm so grateful for them because they held the door open for me. They were patient with me. They taught me so much about investing. One of the guys, Bill Glazer, literally was such a mentor for me. He was like on text or speed dial whenever I had a question about how to raise money or how to structure something or what do I do in this situation or what if they're doing this or how would I format this like contract or what could this look like? What is even possible? Is this

possible? So, you know, it was messy. It still is so messy. But I think that's what I want people to know is like, I was so afraid. Oh my God. I mean, like every single day I was so afraid, but I was also so excited at this concept of the potential of opening these new opportunities, not only for me, but for everybody who got involved. What were you afraid of? Oh my God, failing, losing people's money. That was like my worst nightmare. Are you kidding me? So I actually had to talk through this with him. I called him one day and I was like, okay. So like, you're kind of on autopilot because you're excited about the idea. And I think this can happen to a lot of

people, right? You're just like in the vision and you're so excited and you're like, yes, this is happening. And then kind of the reality or weight of you just raised money from people. Like, and you may not. I wonder if this is like, I mean, I don't have them. And you didn't eat them. I wonder if this is like the thing when you get pregnant. Like, I'm so excited for trying for baby. And then when it hits, you're like, oh, oh.

I'm actually telling you. Yeah. Yeah. It was just like, oh my gosh. It just kept... It started to keep me up. So it was waking me up at like 2am. I had the worst anxiety of my life. And I was like, wait, I can't... We know that we don't create good things from that place. Correct. So that is not... I will not be able to support the vision unless I'm in abundance. And if I truly feel free, if I feel good about the entire experience of raising money and being responsible for that. And so I had a conversation with him.

And one of the most beautiful things that he said to me was, he's like, you are creating an opportunity for them. This is a great opportunity. And you are taking all of the weight and the risk on. He's like, you have to also realize, so of course it's a huge responsibility and you are literally saying, okay, I'm going to take on all of this work and we're going to try to create this

into the best thing that I possibly can. And when I think of other companies that I've invested into, I'm so grateful that they're doing that and they thought thought of that. And all I get to do is just be like, okay, this is so much fun. Thank you. And also I'm so excited to learn and here's the money and I want to learn along the journey. And you know, you know, it's a risk, you know, that when you are investing, it is a risk. That's why they say startups are one of the biggest risks that you can invest in is because it doesn't have proof yet

of concept out in the marketplace. So it's like, for me though, when he said that, he was like, he was like, look, like you can't carry that and you have to be in this place of pure, like you have to get so aligned with knowing that you also provided a massive opportunity for them. And he's like, and they know.

And as long as you're being open and honest, he's like, then they know and you can't worry about it. So it was just, I think it was so nice to, this is where it's powerful to have other people is because obviously I didn't feel good overnight on that one. I talked to a few more people and they all said the same thing. And the more that I kept hearing that from people and knew that I had other people going through the same thing,

that's what really helped me. This is a theme that I'm hearing a lot throughout this conversation. It's about the power of community. So like you say, bringing women together in the sense of getting to know each other and giving them questions to ask on the back of the cocktail or that other side of it, which is sometimes like when you have like-minded people around you, men or women, but you get to share the burden sometimes. Or you get to share the thoughts that are plaguing you and bothering you. And that's something I've had to really learn as well, actually, because, you know, my default from my upbringing, and I had the most wonderful upbringing, but one of the things my parents did was if you were upset, they would send you to your room and it would be go away when you have come back, when you've calmed down, you've figured out like, you know, you've, you've sorted out yourself. So there wasn't really like a conversation

where you would talk through why you're upset or what was going on. There wasn't that processing out loud. It was all within. So my default very much through the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey wasn't to reach out to help for anyone. It was like, how can I solve this problem? This is my problem. I have to deal with it. How can I do that? And I think one of the biggest learnings that I've had on, you know, getting to that next level in my entrepreneurial journey and, you know, understanding is actually being able to ask for help, being able to say, Hey, I'm actually struggling with this, or, hey, I have this really irrational thought, or I have this

worry because sometimes I think when you bottle them up, like you say, it doesn't come from a good place. It's very hard then to work and function from that place and create positive things. And I think sometimes that ability to turn to someone and say, look, I'm really worried about this. This is really keeping me up at night. And then ultimately, when you share it, you verbalize it with someone, it starts to be easier to deal with. And that's out your head. It's on paper. It's like, oh, actually, okay, now I am still worried about that, but what do I need to change what do I need to work through and you know just as we were trying to start this whole conversation was like how about action like

how do you create more action for me I'm like now thinking actually I think a lot of the way I create action is by talking it through writing it down and then going from there because I think one of the biggest struggles that you or one of the biggest struggles that you, or one of the biggest mistakes that people fall into is when they saw things in their head. Yeah. You know, I love that you said that because as you said that, I think there's so many steps to creating action.

And that is a big one for me. I speak into life and that stupid idea time is how I create action, right? You start to breathe it into life and, okay, well, what would this look like? Okay, well, I don't feel like I could do this. Or like my biggest thing was I can't raise money because I'm not good with numbers. Then you say that out loud and the person who you're with is like, okay, could you hire someone to help you with that? Or could you learn about X, Y, and Z? And it's speaking it into life and it is processing it.

It's writing it down. It's writing down every possible scenario and seeing how you can tackle each thing at a time. Because if you keep it in your head, it all seems too big and too hard and you don't solve the problem. Because all that you see when it is in your head is the challenges, right? So when you talk it out and you're like, okay, well, this would be a challenge. So when you talk it out with someone, especially somebody, be careful who you talk things out with. Definitely talk to them. Oh my goodness. There was a beautiful quote. I just heard it. It's in Will Smith's new book. It's a Confucius quote. And it says, essentially, you will never go further than the beliefs of the

group of friends that you hang around. wow that is so true it's kind of like the you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with right with regards to your wealth so and just that is so so true because when you're around people who there was another analogy that someone else shared in the podcast which was kind of like if you live in america and you've never heard of anywhere outside of the globe it was Sarah and she's like and you go to Japan or like and someone mentions about Japan to you and you live in the US it would sound alien it would be like confusing like you're never going to be like that doesn't exist don't be silly like you know that culture doesn't exist because they have no experience of it and I think

that's the same thing with business. Like if you want to grow something and you're not surrounding yourself with entrepreneurs, those people don't understand what it's like to have a vision, to have a hope, to put everything on the line for a feeling that you're like, I have to do this for. And you're right. Like you're going to stay in a very similar pattern. They, you know, it's, people mean well, but if they have never had that experience and they don't believe it's true for them,

how can they speak life into you to tell you that it's going to be true for you? So it's like going to be an impossible thing for them to relay, an impossible thing for them to wrap their brain around because in their mind, it's not possible. So you need to make sure that you're either getting into the rooms or maybe, you know, I know there was a time in my life I wasn't able to get into the room. So I was just listening to podcasts around people who thought it was possible. And that was huge for me.

I also think as well, like just to empower people listening, it's like, you know, you and I, we were not born into those rooms there are some people they're born into certain situations which allows them to get into those rooms right amazing and they've you know built a lot of things off of that but for some people that's not the case and just hearing you like starting listening on podcasts and I would also share I was in a very similar position like back in the UK no one really around me was an entrepreneur and I was really seeking out I too went online and that's really why Natalie and I started the society our membership

with people entrepreneurs because we were like where does this exist but I think if you seek it you will find it and I think if you say that to yourself what I seek I will find you can be very intentional about finding those communities and then as you get into them, there's like, you find another community, another one after that. And like for me, moving to LA has opened up a whole different community. So I just think that's really powerful because I think that's a great point

that for those who want to change something in their life, they want to create a business, they want to do more action, get around people that are also doing that. Get around people who do take action. Totally. And the direct quote came back to me. So it's, the quality of your life will never rise above the quality of your friends. Oh, I just love it. I'm like, okay, so whose quality of life do I want?

It's always a who, right? It's always a who. That is so, so powerful. Wow. So with the journey of Light Pink, I just want to come around to that a little bit because I know it's been really difficult. It's been like... For you guys who don't know,

she's been like a sounding board and just some, both of you and Natalie, just that I've reached out to and like sent these SOS texts too. But you know what? Like I feel like those vulnerabilities actually makes everyone feel better, you know, particularly in our circles as well. And we're talking around, you know, creating circles with your, with like-minded people. But I think, I mean, for me personally, I love, I love vulnerability and I love having deep conversations. And I think that's such a

really, like, I love that you do that because it also opens up the space for other people to do that as well. But, you know, taking on that money, taking on, you know, the 54 women that have invested, tell me some of the challenges that you've had creating a product-based business, things that you didn't anticipate because it's very different from your digital world previously, being an author previously as well. Product, talk to me about that. Yeah, in the digital world,

you're really your only roadblock because if you can show up and do the work and send emails and find the people, then you can get it done, right? Like you can create content and you can hire someone to film and you can hire someone to film

and you can hire someone to put something together. With a product, you are relying on actual tangible things being somewhere at a certain time. You're relying on things, you know, people being employed in that manufacturing plant. You're relying on a lot of different people and things. I used to always think of this because my dad built homes and he literally like, he would be delayed by a month in the

kitchen because someone hadn't laid the floor or done the certain things yet. So he could not do his job because someone else had not done their work yet. And that's much like what creating a product is like, especially, not especially, let's just say what everybody's dealing with in the COVID world. Like there are things that are like just stopped. Like I have a friend right now whose containers that she uses for her product is stuck out on a ship in the water and they don't know when it's coming in. So she literally has no way to put her product in anything right now that she's trying to solve. So it's these things that are just obstacle after obstacle after obstacle. But the thing that is... And when I say obstacle after obstacle, I mean,

there was a six-month period where I just... Every day was a gut punch. And I was like, okay, I know what this is like. You're going to get 10 gut punches, then you're going to get a win. Except right when I thought a win would come, like it would be followed by 40 more gut punches. Like it was an insane amount of just like. Did you want to give up? Oh, I mean, I was crying a lot. Like that, that was kind of the point where I think that it's so funny because I'm, I'm vulnerable, but I'm also really strong too. Cause I know how to just like personal development to prep out of myself, which can be a bonus and it can be not good. And because then you're not sharing and processing the way that you should. Right. So I had that moment when I was with you guys and we were kind of, we were doing our strategy day and I was just like in a

low spot right around that time and just blurts out of my mouth when we're leaving. I was like, do you guys cry a lot? All the time. I just randomly, because I had never cried that much ever. I just, I never cried that much. I can usually like buck up and work it out. And I think Natalie was like, all the time. I was like, it was probably the moment for me that just actually that day came at like such a pivotal time for me because it just reminded me why I was doing it for, I was doing it all for that moment. Like the collaboration with women, the reminders,

the like, we can do anything together. And it just like breathed life back into me. So this has so many full circle, like just layers into what we're saying right now. but actually the benefits of investing in women-owned companies, how much more successful they are if they have a woman on the board, etc. or in that C-suite. So I can see so many benefits from raising from 54 women as well. Have there been any downsides to that as well? Because some people will just invest in one or two places. They'll take funding from one or two places.

But choosing to take it from so many people. Yeah. I looked at the pros and cons before this because I really wanted to know what I was getting into. So what ended up happening is I had tons of great conversations with people around what are the things that could come up with this and what are the conversations that I should have with them. So thankfully, I feel like I had such open conversations around what this would look like for them to invest. And if there was anyone that I felt was questionable about how they felt about giving the money to me, I would actually not take the money. So I feel so good about where we are at right now. There hasn't really been... I'm trying

to think if there's been any negatives. I think if anything, people are really excited. So this isn't even a negative, but it is managing the emotion of people so excited who have not invested in something like this before because it takes a long time, right? And you hit a lot of roadblocks. So I can tell you like actually managing their excitement of, is it out yet?

I thought it was out in the summer. When is it going to be out? What's going on? Like, okay. You know, so I think that's been a moment for me to say, so I translate it as, oh my God, I'm not good enough. They don't think I'm doing a good enough job. And then I go, okay, is that the true story or are they just very excited? And is that a lack of my communication on my part by not managing that before? That is really powerful what you just did there. It's like, okay, what do I need to be responsible for? Because I think that's one thing

that when managing a team or you say taking investment, it's like, okay, when someone comes, there's so much emotion involved a lot of the time, but grounding that before taking it on, being like, okay, oh my comes, there's so much emotion involved a lot of the time, but grounding that before taking it on being like, okay, what, oh my goodness, does this mean this for me versus that? Okay. They feel that way. Like, what can I, like, that's not my emotion.

How can I meet that, you know, facts or, you know, not necessarily emotion coming at emotion, but how can you ground that and be like okay what how can I reset expectations how can I do x y and z and I just think that's really powerful when growing a business because I think there's two components to it is that emotional which is kind of where you start it out of emotion in a way because it's like hope like that is an emotion it's not like if you were physically looking at things you're like oh you know you have to have that drive for it and I think also that drive then when things are tough can keep you going but also when people ask you like questions or that it can go straight to the

heart like oh my god I'm not done enough yet or like I'm not on the timeline that I said it was going to be because guess what we didn't anticipate this totally on this roadblock whatever yeah I got really good advice from a lot of people who had done this before who were like, if you... The best way to manage your team, manage your investors is to over-communicate. And just right away if something is happening, just send that out. Or needs, things that maybe didn't go well, different things like that. So I'm like, okay, over-communicate. So a lot of times with investor emails, some people only send two. I think I'm going to be sending four, maybe five. I really communicate with my investors a lot. times with, you know, investor emails, some people only send two. I think I'm going to be sending like four, maybe five. I really communicate with my investors a lot, like almost to the point where I'm like, am I bugging you? But at the same time, that was something that

I talked about when they invested was this is a strategic investor that I want. So meaning, you know, the both of you, different women who come in, I want you to be a part of this, like an active part of it. And also because we know it's like the perfect beverage for our community. Yes, our community needs it. They need the questions on the back of the can. And they need this like, by the way, it's literally amazing. That's how we were sold. We were like, how do we get on this, Lori?

No, but I'm so grateful for you, Laurie, because, you know, I think there's the, I think women do business differently. And I think women get to do business from a place of their truth, from a place of their vulnerability, which actually ultimately makes them stronger. And I think the more women like you and I who share the journey being like,

hey, it's not easy. It's not but damn it's worth it you know so worth it it's like allows people to know what they're getting into and it allows people to juggle that emotions when the time is right for them and gives them like oh like actually do you know what if they can do it so can I because they've had those struggles too and I just think that's really powerful for me that's always the hope with the podcast and my giving the behind the scenes as, you know, people are excited and inspired to start something, but they're also empowered to know what it takes and be like, okay, yeah, I'm going to get into this. And also I know it's not going to be plain sailing all the time. Absolutely. And, you know, I know that we were talking back

and forth. We kind of voice noted about this podcast before. And I told you that quote from my mentor that I'm obsessed with that I just want to share because I think it's so important for people to hear because I think that we limit ourselves and what we think we're because your next step is not a step, it's a jump. And that's what this was for me is I couldn't see what my next step was right away because my next step wasn't a step. It was a giant freaking leap into the next level of myself. In fact, it felt like the next 10 levels and I just decided to jump over them and that felt crazy to me. But at the same time, I noticed how my mind

was trying to put steps in between it. First, I need to me. But at the same time, I noticed how my mind was trying to put steps in between it. First, I need to do this, or maybe I should do this, or I need this network, or I've never raised money. Maybe I should go meet all these people first for a year or learn about it. Maybe I should do more of this. And it was like, no, you should probably just go and start Googling how to formulate this and see what that would look like. And I just want to remind people, if you think there has to be a million things that come first, there does not at all. Like Sarah Blakely did not have a million different things that came before she cut the legs off of her pantyhose. She just saw a need and got excited and did it. And now she's sold it for like,

what, something billion? How many billion? Yeah. Same with Jamie Kahn Lima, who had the podcast as well. But she founded It Cosmetics. Same thing. She didn't come from that business background. She saw a need and was like, okay, I'm going to figure this out on the way. And sold it to L'Oreal for 1.2 billion. It will show up. I believe that if you know it is an idea for you, that the things that you need will show up if you seek them. So exactly what you were saying. If you are in seeking mode of what you need for that,

all of a sudden the craziest thing will happen. If you put it out to the universe that yes, you're gonna like, you're like, okay, this feels insane, but I'm gonna start to take steps, start taking action on this. I guarantee within one week, you will at least

get one piece of your puzzle that will come to you and you'll be like, does that mean I really have to do this then? And it does. Yeah. And don't be afraid to mention the idea to people. Oh, speak it into life. Yeah. Speak it into life because it's those, oh, you mentioned to someone else that, oh, I've actually got someone who could help you with this. It's those types of things. Exactly. That I just think are so, so powerful. Well, Laurie, thank you so much for coming on the Boss Babe podcast. And like I said, opening up so much. I know people are going to be inspired to take action on maybe a thought that they've had, a business idea that they've had for some time.

And thank you for just creating a company that is going to be so incredible and stands for such an amazing mission. That's personally what I'm really excited about as well. So thank you. Oh my gosh, thank you. I just have to tell you that you are, like you're in my ear. I listen to this podcast.

Yeah, I'm so inspired. And just to be able to, you know, be on this journey with you and with the both of you is like, it's, it truly has, has been the thing that's like kept me on the path over and over. So I'm super grateful. Bless you.

Well, listen, let's put some links for Light Pink in as well. I know we just did the holiday gift guide at Christmas, but have you got any other goodies that are coming out ahead of that? Well, we have lightpink.com, which you can go and get the product. So there's so many fun things there

that you can look at. We're also going to have some different opportunities and options for the membership site as well. If you want to make sure that you're getting Light Pink Monthly with some goodies. So go to lightpink.com. It tastes insane.

It really does. So good. It's addictive. Like even my husband is addicted. I'm serious. No, I put it in a champagne glass and I'm like... It feels bougie.

I love it. Okay. Well, thank you so much, Laurie. And for those of you who are watching on our YouTube channel, we're just going to link another amazing episode that we did, which we think you're going to love. Thanks guys. If you enjoyed this episode, we would love it if you subscribed and left us a review. Let us know what you enjoyed, what your main takeaways were, and who you'd like to see appear on the show. As a special thanks, we'll send you a copy of our Boss Babe 25. Now, this is an awesome

resource. It's the 25 essential things that you need for personal and professional growth. We've included everything from must-have products to books to rituals. This guide literally covers it all and I know you're going to love it. So if you want your copy, simply leave us a review and then send a screenshot of your review to podcast at bossbabe.com. Bye.