the bossbabe podcast - 446: Building an 8 Figure Ecom Brand: A Masterclass with Angie Lee

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

In this episode, Natalie is joined by Angie Lee, co-founder of Soul, to unpack her journey of building a direct-to-consumer (DTC) wellness brand. From humble beginnings as a CBD tincture company to an expansive product line that now includes gummies, microdose THC products, drops, and so much more, Angie shares the lessons learned along the way. Get ready for a masterclass in e-commerce as Angie dives into all the levers they pulled to really get the business off the ground — from leveraging community-driven strategies to pivoting based on customer feedback. She also offers actionable insights into partnerships, marketing, and scaling a DTC brand while staying profitable and purpose-driven. Whether you’re an entrepreneur in the wellness space or simply looking for inspiration on building a business from scratch, this episode is packed with gems. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Introduction: Natalie welcomes Angie Lee, co-founder of Soul, to discuss building a thriving DTC wellness brand. 00:26 From CBD tinctures to a diverse product line, how Soul evolved by listening to customer needs. 03:03 The importance of staying flexible in product development and pivoting for growth. 04:57 Community-driven strategies and how Angie leverages customer feedback to build raving fans. 07:50 Early challenges in funding, product development, and building a foundation for long-term success. 11:33 Marketing that works, the power of partnerships, co-collaborations, and customer-centric campaigns. 13:57 The Founder's role in scaling while balancing creative input and operational strategy. 19:16 Finding your niche and building a brand identity that resonates with your audience. 24:42 Lessons learned and why simplicity and focus are key to success in e-commerce. 30:07 Staying profitable in a competitive DTC space with tips for sustainable growth. 34:43 Final reflections and Angie’s advice for building a purpose-driven, profitable brand. RESOURCES + LINKS Use this link for a discount on Soul products. Sign Up For Our Free Weekly Newsletter & Get Insights From Natalie Every Single Week On All Things Strategy, Motherhood, Business Growth + More.  Join The Société: Our Exclusive Membership To Help You Build A Freedom-Based Business. Learn Natalie’s Proven Method for Building a Profitable, Predictable, Freedom-Based Business and Get Back to WHY you Became an Entrepreneur in this FREE 90-Minute Training. Drop Us A Review On The Podcast + Send Us A Screenshot & We’ll Send You Natalie’s 7-Figure Operating System Completely FREE (value $1,997)  FOLLOW bossbabe: @bossbabe.inc Natalie Ellis: @iamnatalie Soul: @get.soul Angie Lee: @angieleeshow

Welcome back to the BossFab podcast. I am really excited about this episode because it is a masterclass in e-comm. I have known Angie Lee for a really long time. In fact, she's been on this podcast so many times. Angie and her brother, Mike, are the founders of Sol. Initially started as Sol CBD and have really grown into so many different product verticals and a company that I have used and loved since the absolute beginning.

And in this episode, we dive into all the different things, all the levers they pull to really get the business off the ground. And for me, selfishly, I loved it because listen, I'm building a DTC and I know nothing about it. So I was asking all the questions for myself, as well as for all of you who are really curious. And I'm just letting you know, you might also hear some toddler chit chat throughout this as Noemi was as well as for all of you who are really curious. And I'm just letting you know,

you might also hear some toddler chit chat throughout this as Noemi was refusing to nap. And so she sat on my lap the whole episode and it was really also a masterclass for me. And you know what? You can still do all the things. It might just look a little different. So with that, let's dive into the episode.

How many years has it been since you've been on the podcast? Was it last in LA? Oh my gosh. It's been a while. Mike and I, Mike and I in LA. I didn't even think about that. Wow. Isn't that crazy? I think it was that when I was renting a WeWork studio and you would do like 17 interviews a day. I know it was crazy. And I remember thinking to myself that girl, that girl's a machine. I mean, I don't have that level of stamina now.

Tessa who's in the office with us right now, she would not even believe I used to do as many interviews a day as I like. She books two or three and I'm like, Tessa, I'm so tired. I don't have time for that. Two is two is great for me. I like to that's my max. I think anything beyond that, you're going to start to get a little bit of brain fog. But yeah, that's when soul was kind of at its beginning.

More so in LA and Mike and I were going on shows and we just had tinctures, I think, at the time and we're like, why are CBD tinctures? And now we've got gummies and yeah, you had the flavor tinctures. You had the pet tincture. I used to do six interviews a day and I would do two days back to back. So I would do 12. I would get 12. So tell me a little bit about let's say that was five years ago. Yeah, maybe four.

Tell me where soul is today. Yeah, and how it's grown and evolved because I need to learn everything I can from you for Glossy. Well, listen and we'll have to do one. We should bring Mike on because he is a lot of the can from you for Glossy. Well, listen, and we'll have to do one. We should bring Mike on because he is a lot of the brains of Sol as the CEO. I've been more of the creative, the community, product ideation. That's more of my genius. But it's crazy what happened when we did a few of the things we said we would never do.

So one of my pieces of advice is stay open and stay flexible. When Mike and I started, we thought we would be a CBD tincture line. Here I am sitting with you today, five, six years later, and I am now a microdose gummy brand. What the frick? I'm saying frick because Natalie's daughter is right here. I'm currently sitting with Noemi on my lap because she walked from an app. I'll give it PG-13. What the cheese balls. And it's kind of cool because it means that your physical product brand, it's going to innovate just like anything. How it starts may not be how it evolves.

And we've always put our customers first. We've always put the community first and we listen to our community intensely. We send out emails, we survey a lot and we kept hearing from them. We want gummies. Okay. They want the modality of it to be delicious. They want it to be an enjoyable experience and something that you guys are doing really well with glossy as well is people want to take supplements that give them

the direct feeling of this makes me feel good or tastes good. So if you can hit one of those and or both game over soul hits both it's delicious and you feel an immediate relief and immediate sense of calm from anxiety. Glossy. You're going to feel that it tastes amazing. And for some people, maybe immediately they do notice their gut is feeling better skin glowing. I mean, I wish it was that quick while you're drinking it.

That can take a little bit of time, but that's a secret in the DTC space. If you can give people an immediate sense of satisfaction, I think that's huge. That's just how humans are, you know, like with anything when it comes to sales. And so we started with tinctures and then it's evolved into gummies. And now recently, in the last year, we are in now the microdose THC space because so many women, especially moms, have said we want something a little bit more, but we don't want to be super high. And so we delivered and I was a little nervous.

I'm not going to lie. I told my brother, I don't know if anybody is going to get, if anybody's going to buy this and then launch day we sold out and we literally had to. Make more of it because we could not keep the product on the shelves. It was insane. It was such a blessing. And now we're riding that wave and we're coming out with, um, I'll share it with, with your community.

We're coming out with RTD drinks drinks ready to drink cans, which is crazy because I'm like I thought I was a CBD tincture ran What's happening? But I'm just riding the wave and I'm trusting Mike and I'm trusting the team and I'm Allowing it to be what it's gonna be now in order for what helps people and obviously is financially good decisions as well, so Here we are. It's amazing to see. I mean, I am the biggest fan of Out of Office. And I'm not like a weed person. Either am I.

Which is so interesting. I mean, I've always been a big fan of Soul, you know. I even taking the CBD tinctures back in the day would always give me more deep sleep. I always tracked it. But yeah, since I've become a mom, that gummy on a nighttime, it just feels like a glass of wine. but I sleep so well and I don't wake up groggy. So I love, love, love that you're doing it. It's incredible. I'm so curious because one

thing you guys have always been so good at is listening to your community. And it's a very community driven brand. But in the beginning, what did you do to get those raving fans, those people that would talk about it and buy it? Yeah, I feel like the beginning, the first one to two years is just getting the product solidified, finding the manufacturer. It's almost like the messy, not as fun stage. I feel like where it really started to get fun was year three, year four, when we started to have the money to pay influencers and go to events and do these things. In the beginning, it honestly was no different than

what you guys are doing with glossy and that I had an audience. Thank goodness I had the podcast, I was doing events and I shared it with my audience and I, we had a product that then they became a super fan. So then they organically told their friends because they felt so good. And we created a lot of incentive programs as well whether it was discounts on the next order if they told their friend we created a lot of different groups whether it was in person events or we had Facebook groups at the time which I think Facebook groups are still cool I don't know I miss them Facebook groups they were great I love Facebook groups we would do Facebook groups I still to this day call

me a psychopath but and once I have, I might not have time for this, but I will outsource and get someone to help. I respond back to on my personal page, not on the sole account. We have a girl on our team who we hired to do this. I have made it very clear to my team that I'm going to respond back to every single DM about soul right now. If you're listening to this episode and you DM me any question, it could be a stupid question. How you know, it could be anything. I'm going to respond to you. I'm going to hear. Did you like the flavor? What did you like? How does it make you feel when somebody tells me they like the product? I screenshot the response. I ask them if I send you free product, will you make me a video testimonial? I take every single customer so seriously still to this day. I'll go into the soul and sometimes see how she's doing.

I'll voice people back. Hey, Carol, what's up? Oh my gosh. So cool. You had the best sleep of your life. Hey, would you be open to making a quick video testimonial that, or will you, will you go to our website and put a review? If you do, I'll send you a free sleepy gummy. So I sent her a free product. She goes onto the website, leaves a review, and now we have over 10,000 reviews on all of the products on our website because every single tag and every single person who has said they like it

I'm one of the founders literally writing them now this takes time But I've been pretty obsessed with responding to them and I'm also obsessed with figuring out why people are taking something still to this day I love to know what are what are you feeling? What do you like about it? Because I feel like you have this gift as well where I know you have this gift I like to reverse engineer that and then use that in copy. I want to know if you said that this makes you sleep really well, but you don't wake up feeling groggy. Awesome. Pull that. We're going to use that for an ad taking the exact language of your consumer and

reverse engineering it and being open-minded that sometimes, and this will be interesting too with glossy is, and I was telling Laurie this, your co-founder, I, it's going to be interesting. It's either going to be more of the gut health space or it's going to grow in beauty. And I, I told her, I said, be open to whatever it might end up blowing up in beauty. And your intention was initially that it was gut, but that's what people want. That's what they love. So you got to ride the beauty train

then. And it's almost like I've had to stay open to that too, where, you know, we were originally a sleep brand. That's where most of our sales were coming from. And now it's, I would say majority of people are taking out of office for anxiety. So I would say I own an anxiety company in a sense. Right, so we were sleeping anxiety and pain for sure, but then sleep really blew up, especially because we had a lot of really cool collaborations

with women like Shaleen Johnson who promoted Sleepy, but now it's really ebbed and flowed. And I would say the number one pain point we solve is anxiety and stress. So it's just interesting, you got to stay flexible, but also determined and know what you're doing just interesting. You got to stay flexible, but also determined and know what you're doing. But at the end of the day,

if people are happy and getting results and it's making money, that's, that's what I want. So people are loving it. I think that's such good advice for me too, because obviously having a company like boss, babe, you know, we haven't really changed our product offerings much at all the whole time. We've been in business, but we can listen and iterate so fast within a day, the product is different to be responsive to what people want. Whereas with a product based business, like you don't just develop and launch new products in a day. You have to be so thoughtful of product development and what are

we going to put out there? And so it's amazing to see that you guys have pivoted and not fully away from what you were, but you have pivoted. You've listened to the market and when the customers are telling you that's what they want, even if you're like, wait, really? Is that you're going with it? And that's how many years in you? Seven, seven, honestly eight when we had the original idea on a walk. So gosh, yeah.

Seven to eight years it's been, I would say seven since the very first order. I can remember the day we pressed go live on Shopify and the first order came through. So I guess that's day one in a sense. But what most people don't see is there's a whole year or two before that where getting the LLC, working with lawyers to make sure legally everything is set, getting the website up. We didn't even know what e-commerce really was.

We had to Google it. We had to call people. We hired some guy who was a few years ahead of us in the cannabis space. And we said, can we hire you for 60 minutes? And he told us everything and he was so nice about it. And so, you know, that's a lot of times when you, what you have to do is get on the phone with somebody who is a few steps ahead of you and say, I will pay you. It was so worth it.

We didn't have money yet from Seoul, but I said, this is worth a few thousand dollars. So he will help us to not make the mistakes that we might go make. And yeah, my brother was a boxer. I was doing speaking and group programs and coaching. I took all that coaching money and put it into Seoul, almost all of it. Like I made a huge chunk from coaching and programs. And I said, all right, I'm going to take a huge chunk of this, put it into Seoul. So thank God I made a lot of money from coaching because that was really what

funded this. And I said to myself, I'm either not going to see that money ever again in my life or hopefully I'll make it back one day. And so it's not like we had experience in DTC or cannabis. So I just want people to know you don't have to have experience in that thing with Google chat, GPT, especially now. Oh my gosh, you could ask that your fricking future and it will know and hiring people who are ahead of you. You could figure out any business model now, right? Don't you really believe that? Oh my God. I mean, I swear by Chachi Buti, it's incredible. How many years until it fully took off? About three and a half years in is when it started to get fun.

And what I mean by that is we were in a place where we felt like money is really coming in. It's very profitable. And we have some extra money as well to play with marketing, where the first two years I feel like you're just kind of in a, is this worth should we invest in that oh I don't know you're just doing the dance to to not be in the red and it got really profitable around year three is when it started to get fun but I can remember the day when and I think women love these founder stories so that's why I'm sharing this I remember the day I was in my kitchen with Mike and I said like I really want to have cute boxes can we have some cute boxes?

He was like, Angie, we don't have the money for that. What are you talking about? And I was like, women really like cute boxes. They want the unboxing experience to be fun. He was like, one day we'll have boxes. Okay. We don't have the money right now. Mike's very logical money. I'm like, let's go. Anything's possible. We can go to the moon. And it was so surreal years later when he called me is like, we're going to design some boxes and I was like, oh my God, finally, I had to be so patient. So that's the only part that's not fun about physical products is it's not like a website

for a course where you can make it as pretty as you want and fonts and colors and photo shoot and things like that. Sometimes you got to wait till you have the money to really take it to the next level. If you're if you're bootstrapping it and you're not taking a bunch of investors, we didn't want to take a bunch of investors in the beginning, which I'm grateful we didn't do because now we obviously have more equity, but I guess if you do bring on a lot of investors

in the beginning, then you could do anything you want and use that money, but now you have somebody else's money. So it's a dance. I mean, I like hearing that though, because again, the kind of business I run with Boss Babe, it's one of those businesses. I help people get started and make money in 12 weeks with a digital product. Whereas hearing three and a half years, it is such a long term game.

What I do really love about the DTC world is that you don't have to have your face attached to everything. Oh, you like that? I do like that. Do you not? Well, I think you still do though, right? Because the founders brands are the ones that are growing. So I don't know if we're ever going to be able to not show our face. But do you feel like the sales you make are always attached to like you having to show up and like be a dancing monkey? Not anymore. No, no, not anymore.

A lot of our a lot of our income is coming from ads that are some UGC bro that we hired. I don't even see some of them anymore. And all of a sudden I'll be on Facebook and I'll see my own ad. I'm like, that's funny. What is this? And I'll see. We got it. We got sales from it. So so in that case, no. So you have more optionality, but people love brands that have a face attached to it. So if there's some, if you can still batch content and or once in a while,

show your face, think of some of your favorite DTC brands It's because you know her and you like her and you know that she was the original founder Even if it's just on the website the about page and you've got a cute video I don't think it means you have to be on social 24 7 every day But I think in order to stand out in the DTC space now It's a really clear niche product mixed with a really cool founder story that people really love It's the humanization meets the niche pain point. I think that's the secret.

Because if you just came out with things and there's no story at all, especially when it's a very female based thing, I mean, who knows if some dudes made this and they don't even really care about women. That kind of irks me a little bit in like the PMS space. I'll see people come out with certain products and it's founded by some dudes, which is fine. But I'm like, man, this wasn't even women that came out with this tampon or whatever it is. So are you, are you, is it the fact that you are afraid that one day you're not going to want to show your face? I think I just like to have the option. Like I don't see myself as being a 50 year old

influencer. Do you know what I mean? Like, why not? You'll still be hot. It's fine. Get some Botox. You got this. Look at Shalene. Shalene's like 53 and she was literally, she crushed it for us. She literally is a huge part of how sleepy blew up. And I always think about that. I'm like, damn, and she's in her 50s. But I get what you mean. Yeah. I think I just go through phases where sometimes I'm like, I want to get off social media for a couple of months. I'm fed up and then I love it again. So I think having the optionality maybe. That's so interesting because I see it. It's so cool to have this conversation because I thought it was the opposite to me. I'm like, oh, DTC, you've got to show your face. You

got to do founders videos all the time. I got to film with Mike next week, us showing the BTS in a brewery for the drinks. Like it's, but with a course you could launch it. It's knowledge and then without your face, you could keep running it, right? Maybe they both need your face. Maybe they both do. And we're both, you know what we're doing? We're seeing the grass is greener on the other side, which is really easy to do. Yeah. Because to me, I'm like, oh, you don't have to deal with getting the shipping set up and the production and building a team and all that. You could literally come up with an idea, pull it out of your butt, say, hey, ladies, you want to buy this thing and

have them buy it. But then you also don't have the optionality to possibly build something so much bigger than yourself, which then, yeah, you could sell one day for insane amount of money. And I do think in the beginning, you want the founders videos and stuff, but then once you're rocking and rolling, once you guys have it to a place where it's so known

who these founders are or people know it's two women, then yeah, then you don't have to show your face every day. Once it's in Target and stuff, put like a little photo on the, on the front or the back and then you're done. Do a quick photo shoot. I don't think you don't want to be on it at all. I think you, I think you just want breaks from it. That's what I realized about myself whenever I go to the extremes. I think you're totally right. I think it's like, I don't want it to be like, I have to

show up every single day. I want to have breaks from it. Yeah. I think you're still so young. I think you're still going to another 10 to 15 years if you want to show your face on stuff. I talk about this all the time with Clay. I'm like, what's a business model that I wouldn't have to show my face at all? He's like, I don't know real estate. But are you passionate about real estate? I'm like, not at all. He's like, cool. So who's going to run that the Airbnb or who's going to do that? And Angie, to be honest with you, that's not going to make you as much as you being in your magic and doing what you do and being the personality. So have fun going to do a rental. But like I fantasize about that all the time still.

I'm like, ooh, should I go do real estate? Or like, I don't know. Things that I wouldn't have to even be known for anything. But then I think I'd miss it. I think I'd miss sharing my thoughts and. Yeah, I would miss it. I think what I like is the idea of diversifying. Like I just wanna feel like I'm diversified.

You know, one thing I think when you have a personal brand, there's always that worry of like, what if I get cancelled or what if this? So it's nice to feel like I'm diversified. It feels a bit safer as an entrepreneur, which I think all entrepreneurs need that feeling of. Yeah, I was going to say that's something that I think is really smart is you have what I call quick cash and then long-term cash. You have things right now that make you money that are fairly quick and easy and automated. Now you have BossBabe down to a science courses. You can launch a course on anything right now next week and people would be like,

yay, let's go, let's buy it. You have some cash, you have, you've got some liquid and then you've got things like glossy or other things that you might not see the big money from this until maybe you're 40 or in your late thirties. Cool. But you're just, you're just constantly dancing with that. And that's the way I'm trying to see it now is, okay, I have the fun things that make me quick money now, and then I have the long-term of, of the soul payout. It's kind of like maybe events courses speaking and podcasting pay me now, but then that could end up paying me way more than anything ever would, but I

got to wait and be patient. I don't know. It's interesting. I don't think there's any one perfect way to do it, but I got to wait and be patient. I don't know. It's interesting. I don't think there's any one perfect way to do it, but I think it is smart if you can have short-term money that's liquid in case an emergency and you need some liquid or, and then you have long-term investments, but I feel like you're so good at that. You already have that set up. Yeah. That's definitely the way that I've tried to frame kind of my business portfolio is let me have

something that makes me money that I don't intend to exit. Then let me have a few things where I'm really investing. Yeah. And then maybe there'll be a payoff long run, but it's diversified. Yeah. Does the thought of the stress of building a team and ads and that part of DTC stress you out or no? I mean, you're more back end operational than my brain is. So I'm wondering if you see that as a stress or no. I think all creative. I think of the idea for the ads, the girls you would hire for the shoots, the funny taglines, the colors, the fonts.

I'm so creative. I don't think at all about the analytics of the ad or anything. That's the part that to me that feels stressful. But to somebody else would be the opposite. I don't feel stressed about it, but I think it's just, it's definitely a different mindset. It's just, okay, let me have a long-term mindset on this

and let me find where I would be best used in this business because I really want to be the supportive co-founder. You know, Lori is the one that came up with the idea and she is majority owner and I want to be as supportive as possible and think about, okay, what is my zone of genius and how do I bring that? And so I'm finding my feet in it and just, I'm really in a place of like trying to learn everything I can about this kind of business.

Because for me, like I love to master something. So I'm like, okay, what's the thing in this business that I'm going to master? Like I know in my business what it is, what's it going to be in this one? Ah, interesting. Yeah. I think you're thinking about it really smart because this is such a great way to do it now where you have somebody else who's majority, but you get to sprinkle in your zone of genius, which I feel like, what do you feel like your genius is with it?

I think it's probably more the systems and the operations of it, right? But you're also very creative too though. Yeah. You understand creative and marketing for sure. Yeah, I love the content side. So social media, I love thinking about concepts that would go viral. I'm laughing because we both were like,

social media is the worst. I can't wait till we're both not on it. We both love social and content. We love it and we hate it. I like thinking that way, but I do think eventually what I would love to do is be more, I was telling Lori part of me really wants to build a bit of a content house

where I can come up with all the content direction, but also Lori can step in and do some of the like face-off content, but I can like really help it blow up and put the virality behind it. That would be exciting for me. Funnels. Like I just love that with the business and product development. Yeah. I love funnels. So I think I love funnels. I think there's just a lot of different places I can go in it, but I'm also trying not to rush and just learn as much as I can and see where, okay, what has Lori got covered?

Where can I step in and be supportive? Yeah. I'm curious from your marketing, creative, genius brain, do you feel like the product is niche enough? Glossy? Yeah. It's so funny, because I was just talking to Lori about this last night. I do think it is, but I think there's going to be

a splinter moment, possibly, right? Because I think of Peak, Peak Wellness, I guess. I've drank there. I've had their electrolyte a few times. It's good. I think your brand needs a lot better. I don't know the full ingredients that are in there. I've just had it a few times,

but it will be interesting because you've got the gut wellness side that I feel is either going to be for the, I call advanced wellness girlies, us girlies who already are little, the biohackers, little biohackers who know about gut health and we know about gut permeability and I know about coconut water and hydration. And I'm like, Ooh, adding this to my routine, or it's going to be the Sephora beauty clear skin route.

And you guys are going to do a bunch of partnerships with clear stem. And you're going to try to get into the Sephora's and the beauty stores. And then you have with Shaw's and your packaging, like you're going to go all in on skin. I almost think there will be a moment where you're going to see where the traffic and where the attention's going. You're going to have to make a decision. I could tell you probably want more of the gut and then she probably would go

more skin, right? The beauty, which is so interesting. I don't think there's one right or wrong, but I do wonder if the gut space, it's a different customer. It's a customer that already knows that gut health is important versus skin. You don't have to do the education to convince Sarah in Iowa that she needs to have this because she wants clear skin. It's a very, we're humans.

We buy things that will give us an immediate result. And with gut, it's a little bit more of long-term and or a girl who knows. But now people are a little savvier, though, with gut health and knowing that if your gut's healthy, your brain's healthy. So you guys could go really hardcore on the gut brain connection with anxiety, depression. I mean, gut health is linked to so many different things. But I wonder if I'm saying that because I already am a wellness girl.

Lee, who knows how important gut health is? It's everything. I think so, because I I just feel the same way. I don't think I'm attached to which way it's going to go. And even if it goes the skin way, I feel like I'll be happy because whether they know it or not, they are building up amazing gut health and long-term. Yeah. You know, if they stop taking it, they're going to notice, oh wait, it's a difference. And think of your skin. Totally. What makes good skin is somebody having a good guy. Your skin starts from within literally, which is so cheesy. And I don't know

if women really understand that, but when people are really struggling with acne or skin issues, it's first time to clean up their diet. That's step one. So it is interesting because you need both. The gut helps the skin and then the gut stuff is going to be good for other stuff. If you go hardcore skin, you're kind of hitting the pleasure point of just what the customer wants. And then you're showing them what they need. I mean, you know this with niche and marketing, I've always said, give them what they want and're showing them what they need. I mean, you know this with niche and marketing. I've always said, give them what they want and then show them what they need. So that could be the positioning is if you're all beauty and then you're like,

Oh, also the benefits are your gut. But yeah, is that one of your, I don't want to say concerns, but is that something you've been noodling on is, Ooh, is this niche enough? Yeah. I mean, I think just my brain always goes to like long-term. I'm like, okay, just where are we positioned? What kind of community are we building? And we've had such a great year for given, it's our first year, it's been absolutely incredible.

And so now I'm trying to, I know the data is very biased because Laurie and I both have communities. And so I'm like, okay, at what point does this grow beyond our communities and we get the data of like, here's why we're buying it, here's what we want. So I'm very much trying to be in the space of like, okay, at what point does this grow beyond our communities? And we get the data of like, here's why we're buying it. Here's what we want. So I'm very much trying to be in the space of like, I know nothing. Let's see where it goes.

AB testing is going to be huge, right? Once it, you guys leave your community, once it goes beyond your community. Cause there was a day where I could tell where I tapped out of my community in a sense. And Mike was like, Hey, we're playing a different game now. Now it's ads, now it's paid marketing, now it's big partnerships. This isn't just you and your community.

That's great and all that got us to our first million, but now we're playing another game. And then we're being kind of sad and frustrated because I'm like, no, I want to take us to, he's like any influencer, you're just going to kind of hit a point. So now to get to the next level, we had to bring in ads, we had to bring in a chief marketing officer

who could really figure out the positioning of that. And I do think that, yeah, it's going to be interesting. I feel like there'll be a moment where you'll have to kind of either decide or you'll do A-B testing on ads and you'll see, wow, the ones about skin get women to click. Like, damn, the conversion on those is so much higher than when we talk about gut health or maybe it's completely the opposite. It also depends what partnerships you do, right? Like if you go partner with Mark Hyman and you guys are going into the biohacking space and you're talking a lot about gut health and gut permeability, gut brain connection, you're getting kind of like nerdy sciency healthy, I think it's going to go that way. Like how so visual I am with it. I love it. I'm like seeing the charts. The visionary.

Yeah, I love, I love like feeling it and seeing it. But if you go more so I don't want to say the shallow because it's not shallow. I like skincare stuff all day long to more topical. I'm literally topical of like ladies. Are you sick of dealing with breakouts and blah blah blah? We're here to tell you that it's not just what you're putting on your skin. It's what you're putting in your body, not only food, but the hydration and how important hydration is for wrinkles. Like honestly, the season I'm in in life, I probably thinking more about the skin,

I guess, too, because I'm like, oh, like I notice my fine lines are better when I'm hydrated. So, oh, you could go two different ways here. But I don't know. But is it any different than with Seoul? You know, it was we were anxiety, sleep, pain. CBD can do so many different things. So we started to feel like what do we do? Put on our website. It can basically help with everything. That's not good marketing. So even now today, if you guys notice on my stories

or in my own content with Sol, I always pick one thing. I'm like, I'm talking a ton about sleep right now, or I'm talking a lot about anxiety, or I'll say, this helps with my PMS. I'll never just say, hey guys, CBD helps with anything. So you guys should click here. Cause then they're like, dude, what? What do you mean?

This magical plant does a lot of things. It does, yeah, but I can't say that to someone. They're gonna feel so overwhelmed and not really believe me. So at least yours actually is more specific than the cannabis plant. That's such a good call actually, just like pick the one thing you're talking about.

Another question I have, I'm just like, while I've got you, let me just learn everything I can from you. Were partnerships really important? Yeah, I would say the partnerships where we did big collabs. So an example is, and I love her and I'll always love her, is Shalene Johnson. We did a sleepy collab with her. So she was talking a lot about sleep with her audience and she had already been doing a lot of podcast episodes about sleep. And so instead of just paying her to promote it,

we realized it would be smarter to give her rev share. So we gave her a rev share of sleepy for a very long time and we put her name on it. So co-collabs were really powerful. We found those to be really, really good. Um, we have another girl named Blake right now with an awesome audience. So we did a co-collab product with her for the droppers for out of office. Cause she came to us and said, Hey, I don't just want to talk about soul in general.

I am obsessed with, Oh, uh, droppers for my mocktails. Cause soul in general. I'm obsessed with Oh, droppers for my mocktails because I talk a lot about being sober and using this as an alternative as a mom to alcohol. So she came to us and said, can we do an actual co-collab product? But she had first proved to us she can get us the numbers and traffic and she has a great engaged audience, a girl named Blake on Instagram, she's really cool. And so she had proven to us that she already did well as an affiliate. So we were like, all right, let's go. Let's, let's see how this does. And that blew up and did really, really well for out of office. So I have noticed that co-collabs do really, really well because they're more invested. They're excited. They're

names on it. There's a rev share. I mean, that's amazing, right? I love it. Well, thanks for giving me a mini masterclass. If you think for the mini masterclass, if you could go back and do one thing differently in this journey, what would it be? Oh, maybe that would help you have save a ton of money or headache, or maybe you would have moved a little bit faster. Is there anything you've learned that you're like hindsight is 2020? That's such a good question.

I would have not done as many skews. And I'm saying this because I know Mike would echo this right now as well. I would have not done as many skews. And I'm saying this because I know Mike would echo this right now as well. I would have not done as many skews and just come out with something because we thought it would be cool or the next thing because of the pressure of being in the DTC space where people need to come out with a new thing just to keep people excited. I would have doubled down triple on what was already working. There's billions literally with a B of people who need help with anxiety and sleep. We could have a billion dollar brand with just anxiety and sleep.

Because think of the Goldie gummies. Those Goldie gummies are these apple cider vinegar gummies. It's one friggin' skew and I think they sold for one billion. Like it's absolutely insane. What? Absolutely insane. Like their story is crazy and it's one product and it's one skew and it's these little processed gummies with some food coloring and apple cider vinegar.

But apple cider vinegar is so good for you and your gut or whatever, right? So I remember there were some times where I felt like we would get excited and come out with something. We came out with like a metabolism thing then and I said, Mike, no, we're not a metabolism fat loss company. I don't want to talk about fat loss with women. That's not my passion. That's not where I want to go with this.

Less is better. And I just looking back, and after we've talked to some people in DTC as well, they've always said simple but more powerful, which you're already so good at in so many ways with business. I think, like if you guys had 10 different sticks you came out with, I think it's better to start with one or two, like, and just go all in on those, you're known for this thing. This is what women are coming to your

site for versus trying to do them all overnight. And then now you guys are in, I don't know, it can get a little hectic. Like now you're in fat loss. Now you're in, you're in so many different niches where you first need a master one. So I do think that that wasted us some time and money for sure a little bit when we would get off track with that. But yeah, and I think just even more partnerships, I would have been, you know, I'm a little bit more liberal with money.

I would have put it more into marketing where Mike would be a little bit more risk averse. So maybe that was good that he did, but he was a little bit more like, let's really make sure it'd be worth it before we invest. And I was like, let's spend all of our money. Let's spend money to make money. And he was a little bit more like, yes, and that's also how companies go bankrupt. We need to be smart about this. We cannot, we need to stay profitable.

And I'm really proud to say we're profitable. There's a lot of DTCs that are very big, but they are not profitable. So they could not sell to anybody tomorrow because they could sell but they're not profitable. And so we are, we're cashflow positive. So that's a great thing. That's such an achievement with a product based company. Yeah, it's hard because you want to spend every dollar. And I know a lot of companies, some really big ones that you know,

and that we drink every day and take. And I know some of the founders and man, they are, people would think that it's awesome, but I'm like, dude, they're so in the red though. So it's like, shit, the amount that they're spending on all their marketing, it's so behind what they're making. So they have to clean that up before somebody would come in and buy it. Cause they're going to be like, dude, you got to make this at least somewhat profitable for us.

So I don't know. And I don't know a ton about that game yet. I'm going to cross that bridge and we get there. Mike knows more about that, the buying game, but that's, that's a whole another season of life and not as easy as I think people think either is setting up all of your paperwork to look good in order to be sold. So yeah, it's a whole thing, but it's so interesting because that advice, what you would have given to yourself, I would say the same thing about Boss

Babe too. And really, I think all founders need to hear that simpler is better and more powerful. But when we're creative, we just want to keep creating a newness and new things and more things. Because we're bored. Yeah, we're bored. But our business doesn't is a great business should be. And I think I've learned this from you honestly, over the time. I think about you a lot when I think this. My business is not there to just entertain me every week. Oh, new idea. Now I'm going to come out with a women's blah, blah, blah. This course. And now I'm going to come out with a fat loss course.

Now I'm going to come out with a intuitive, like random shit. I could just pull out of my butt and I'm sure girls would buy it because they like me. But then what am I doing now? And it's so convoluted. Is that what you mean? Like you would launch courses that were random. And now you're like, let me just pick one to two things and go all in on that. So I'm known as the woman who does this. I just think that was times where I just, I felt like I needed to create products for the whole Ascension ladder and like value ladder and all the things that we get taught where actually

I'm like, you know what? My most success has come from being focused. And I would just double down. I mean, now we have two products and we just double down at Boss Babe. And I'm trying to take that into glossy and Lori feels the exact same way as like, we have a really great product. Let's give it the time that it deserves to get it out there. Yeah, absolutely. I love hearing that because I think a lot of women get, what is it? Like antsy, they want to do more. Like they see something glittery or you scroll and you see, oh, this girl's launching a blah, blah, blah. Like now I should do that. And that's what happens when you get a personal brand,

because we both have women who trust us. So tomorrow, if I wanted to come out with a relationship course or a build your booty course, I mean, I probably could sell some because they're like, oh, she's into fitness, whatever. But it would just is it worth it when I actually would be more attractive and less stressed for me to say, no, I want to be known for this thing. And so that's the next season. I'm in actually with my own brand now.

I'm like, OK, what is the thing that I want to I want to be known for this thing. And so that's the next season. I'm in actually with my own brand now. I'm like, okay, what is the thing that I want to, I want to do less better now. I actually don't want to just be a generic lifestyle influencer. I think that sounds cute, but I think it's actually more stressful because now you've got to show all of your day every day and what I eat. And now also, Oh, my relationship and Oh, my marriage is going well. Oh, and I'm fit. Oh, and I make money.

And what, what the, that is so exhausting. And I assume once I have a kid, I'm not going to have time to just be showing when I poop, what I eat and showing all that is so exhausting. And I assume once I have a kid, I'm not going to have time to just be showing when I poop what I eat and showing all that all the time. So I think I want to build it in a way where I have one to two core messages, wellness, entrepreneurship, that's it. I probably won't get into the other spaces unless for some reason down the road, I want all of a sudden come out the relationship course or something.

But right now it's like, I don't want to be known for eight different things if I can't even keep up with that. So I've had that clarity a lot lately. I've been really thinking about that. I'm trying to take my own medicine around why would you want to be a generic lifestyle influencer? Those girls are vlogging all day long every second of their life.

Sometimes they're broke, they're not making money, and two, they're exhausted usually. They'll tell you, I don't know what I'm even doing. This is too much. I have to show everything to make a little bit of something from a brand. I just, I don't know, but I get that in my DMs all day long, girls. I just want to be a generic lifestyle influencer.

I just want to share my life all day. Okay. So does you and every other 20 year old girl in LA, what do you bring? What value is that bringing me though? Give me something, at least pick something. I don't want to niche down though. Okay. Well like give me something.

Is your page somewhat about wellness? Is it somewhat about mine? Give me something. I think I just always think business first think about your business first Because otherwise you cannot do this thing full-time Oh, you think about your offer first You mean yeah, just like think about how you're gonna monetize this because if you even if you want to be a content creator and influence Or whatever to do it at a high standard you have to do it full-time. So how are you getting paid?

We have to think about it that way. Yeah for girls who just want to record videos all day. Okay, where are those videos going? Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you record videos all day. OK, where are those videos going? Yeah, totally. Well, thank you for coming on. Anytime. This was great. Anytime I get to pick your brain is. Oh, my gosh. Always. Literally, you could just text me in the middle of the night. Can I pick your brain?

I love it. Where can everyone find you and tell us where they can grab out of office? Because it is the best thing they'll ever do for their sleep. All right, everybody, go drink your glow seat and then take an out of office gummy. They taste very yummy together. You can grab it looking like product placement. You can get it at GetSole.com. So GetSole.com or come send me a DM at Angie Lee Show or at Get.Sole.

Ask me any questions you have on our products and I'm here to help. Perfect. And we'll put our discount code in the show notes as well because I think you get 20% off. Awesome. Love you guys. Bye. Bye. Bye.

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