This Is Woman's Work with Nicole Kalil - 096 / What’s Your Million Dollar Idea? with Taylor and Casey Capuano

Episode Date: July 6, 2022

I am willing to bet that every one of you has an idea for a product, a service or a business…maybe even multiple ideas. The problem is so many of us talk ourselves out of our own million dollar idea not knowing where to start. But not my guests today. On today’s episode you are going to get to hear from two co-founders (who also happen to be twin sisters) who just launched their first product. And I’m willing to bet it is a million dollar idea. Taylor and Casey Capuano founded CAKES body, a company dedicated to creating solutions for women, while simultaneously supporting women’s health causes. Their first product answers the daily dilemma that so many women face of what to do with the fricken pads that seem to have a mind of their own in sports bras while also combatting NFO (nipple freak out). CAKES launched in January of 2022 and are currently in the top 8% of Shopify stores, have an overwhelming amount of raving fans and 5 star reviews, including me. We will hear how these ladies navigated through the fears, doubts, challenges, obstacles and disappointments of launching their big idea. What’s your big idea? How are you getting into action? Find yourself some encouragers, some supporters, some hype girls, some mentors, some truth tellers and some raving fans. Choose confidence again and again until it becomes contagious. That is Woman’s Work. To purchase go to: www.cakesbody.com and enter promo code: NICOLE for 20% off plus free shipping. Follow on IG @cakesbody To learn more about what we are up to outside of this podcast, visit us at NicoleKalil.com

Here's a sneak peek of what you're in store for on this episode of This Is Woman's Work. It's so easy in another way when you're kind of doing something that you love and you feel good about that those challenges just don't seem so big after a little while. Hello, friends. Nicole Khalil here, and I am willing to bet that every one of you listening has an idea for a product or a service or a business, maybe even multiple ideas. We all have those moments where we think there has to be a better way, or couldn't someone just invent something that would make this easier? From post-it notes to fidget spinners, Spanx to the Snuggie, Uber to Instacart, there are people with ideas that make millions. The problem is so many of us talk ourselves out of or don't take

action toward our own million-dollar idea. We tell ourselves all the reasons we can't. We make mountains out of molehills. We fear failure and embarrassment. And in a lot of cases, we truly don't know how. Like, where would I even start? Adding to the challenge, most of us don't have access to the founders and creators of billion dollar ideas. And even if you did, they may not remember or may not want to be truthful about how they got started, how easy or hard it was, or how they navigated through the fears, doubts, challenges, debts, and obstacles, rejections, and disappointments, which is why so many of us leave our million-dollar ideas on the shelf collecting dust.

But not my guests today. On this episode of This Is Woman's Work, you're going to get to hear from two co-founders who also happen to be twin sisters who just launched their first product that I'm willing to bet is a million-dollar idea. Taylor and Casey Capuano founded Cake's Body, a company dedicated to creating solutions for women while simultaneously supporting women's health causes. Their first product answers the daily dilemma that so many women face of what to do with the freaking pads that seem to have a mind of their own in sports bras. Those things were the bane of my existence until Cake's body came along. And I don't just wear mine in sports bras anymore, but also on stages and bathing suits and anytime it's cold out like today. Cake's launched in January of this year. And at the time of this recording, they're in the top

8% of Shopify stores, have an overwhelming amount of raving fans and five-star reviews, including me. Along with preventing nipple freak out, they're motivated by their customers living with contagious confidence and bold spirits, which you know I can get behind. I'm excited that we all get to hear from Taylor and Casey at the early stages of what's bound to be an I-knew-them-back-when story. Taylor, Casey, thank you so much for being here today. I'm excited to talk about your million dollar idea. If we weren't already excited about our business, I would go start it now after hearing that intro. Thank you. Investors are going to be calling. Okay. I want to start by asking just this more how to oriented question.

I think, again, a lot of us have ideas, but when we start thinking about it, it's like, I have no idea where to start. So how did you go from idea to actual product? Walk us through a little bit how that happened. Yeah, so the story behind cakes, I think you set it up perfectly. It started with a problem. And I love when you said the freaking pads and that's exactly the problem the freaking pads inside of our workout tops

and this was years ago Taylor and I it started as a joke it was when snapchat was big and we'd be sending each other snapchats of the ridiculous situations we'd get ourselves into with pads one at the top one one around the back, or if the pads completely fell out and we had NFO, nipple freak out in the middle of the freezer aisle of the grocery store. And we just had this belief, there has to be a better solution. There has to be a simple, a really simple solution too. So we started, this was before cakes. We started a brand called nipple armor. It was a very different brand. It was very funny making fun of just the ridiculousness of this problem. And we, I mean, you asked how to start, just take any action, literally. I mean,

obviously nipple armor didn't take off. off, and I'll tell you why. But we just took any action. We found a manufacturer. We got on the phone. We found out how to do the fulfillment. We filed our own trademarks. And at the 11th hour, literally days before we were about to launch, we received a cease and desist from a large sportswear brand. I think we can guess which one, right? It has the word armor.

The company was called Nipple Armor. You can make your own inferences. So that was, I mean, that was a huge knock to our confidence at the time. We were 24 years old using our own money and it left us thinking, how are we going to compete with these large, large brands? And we went back to the drawing board. We, we really sat down and we took a step back and we, we developed this brand cakes body and we've launched cakes now, um, which is a very similar product, but we launched in January, like you said, top 8% of Shopify stores, things are going, going really well. And it's, it's turned into a blessing that that happens because we really had to completely reevaluate our brand. And I think

just going from, from idea to action, it's take any step, literally get on the phone, call someone. It doesn't even matter what the step is. Break it down into steps. Take one step after the other. You're going to get knocked down and just get back to it because that happens literally every day and you just got to push through. And I want to just say too, there were years between this nipple armor situation and launching Cakes Body. And so I think for us, it was kind of always in the back of our minds that we really want to be entrepreneurs. We want to create something together. We want to do something that's simple and fun and makes women feel good. But we kept starting and stopping, starting and stopping and not really going for it. And so I think that's what I hear from a lot of my friends and other peers who are

in this similar stage is like getting over that hump, as you mentioned, of like just going for it. I think I even asked you, Nicole, like how did you take that leap? Because that for us was, I mean, it took us years to finally make that leap and put this out to the world. So that was kind of a pivotal accomplishment is just, we did a soft launch to friends and family on our social media channels. We literally had a website and product and that was it. We had absolutely no plan. And we put it out as a soft launch, a friends and family launch, because I think for us, that's what we, that made it comfortable for us and safe for us to do it at the time. And that simple step, I think really changed everything and made it a real thing. You talked about having to sort of rethink your brand. And I will say if somebody that big is

paying attention to what you're doing, it probably felt really crappy at the time, but I would see that as a sign as you're onto something, right? But it forced you to rethink your brand, as you said. Why contagious confidence? What about that became important for you? No lie. Nicole, I was listening to your podcast about tools to build your own confidence. And one of the biggest pieces of advice that you shared was how powerful action can be. So taking any action yourself of whatever you're scared about and just doing it. And the more you do it, the more you see that you can, and the more that you see that the worst that can happen is normally not that bad. And so I, that was a very powerful breakthrough moment for me. And I actually was looking at

other women succeeding where as before it would kind of make me feel bad. I let their action be fuel for me. So I actually let that be contagious confidence for me. So even though I hadn't gone out on my own and launched a product, or I hadn't taken the leap and decided to invest in, you know, thousands of dollars in inventory, I decided to let the comparison game that I was playing actually fuel my confidence. And so this concept of contagious confidence was really in the back of our minds as we were developing our brand. And I put that in quotes because it wasn't like an intentional brand we were building. It was really just an organic extension of us. And we were sharing very openly on social media after we launched the product. And so I was having this like internal

aha moment breakthrough kind of thing with how I'm going to let these women who have succeeded fuel me. At the same time, we needed to think of a quick and fast way to capture the essence of our brand for people who didn't know us. We had and still have very limited budgets. So we don't have a ton of money to go do an expensive photo shoot and capture this like cool vibe. Or we don't have a ton of money to spend on media where we're plastering billboards with our brand statement. So we really wanted a short way to communicate a vibe that is our brand and that is Cake's Body. And so we actually put it out to our community and ask them, you know, we've been lucky that a small and mighty community is rallying around us. So let's ask them,

what is the essence in which you live your life? And how can we be there to celebrate that? And contagious confidence and bold spirits were the two lines that rose to the top. And so we're really letting that and the advice from our customers guide how this is evolving. I know, I think I was one of the people who contributed to that conversation. And I think

I questioned you a little bit around confidence as it relates to a product. And I really loved your response. I was happy because everything I know about confidence, I was trying to push against it a little bit, but would you share a little bit about what your thoughts are about your product and confidence? When you say contagious confidence, how does that link or not link? I think for us, when we were thinking about confidence as it relates to cakes, it's a lot of brands spend so much time talking about the role that they play in their customers' lives and not enough time thinking about the role their customers play in their brand story. And so for us, we were trying to think about what are our customers already doing? The people who genuinely love us, which we're so lucky we can't even believe this is happening,

but what are they doing and why are they gravitating toward us? And it was a lot of women who are living with bold spirits, people like you who are out putting themselves out there, keynote speaking at big corporate events. We had a customer just compete in a fitness competition, putting herself out there in a bikini on stage. We had another woman who's not a runner just complete a marathon. So I guess she definitely is a runner now. But it's like these women are gravitating to us who are already out there living with bold spirits and contagious confidence. So if our brand can play a role in celebrating them as they're doing it, not interrupting it or not, like we're not helping them, like we're providing a solution so that they can continue to go out and do these

amazing things in the world. So that was my favorite kind of reframe. And that's where I was like, okay, I'm 1000% on board. You're celebrating what your clients are doing with your product. You're encouraging, you're excited about not that an insert is going to give you confidence, right? We know that there aren't products that are going to give you confidence, right? Like we know that there aren't products that are going to give you confidence, but the fact that you're doing this as a way to celebrate, like you said, the people, the clients, the customers that are using your product in a really incredible way.

So I am all on board for contagious confidence. Okay, so let's talk about the hard parts about starting a business. Give us a few examples or stories of the grind, sucky being an entrepreneur. I think the thing that stands out to me is everything is new and things come up every day that you're not expecting. And that's really challenging. But the more you do it, the easier it gets. I think about when we launched, when we were about to launch Cakes, I filed a provisional patent on my own. And I found out you don't need a lawyer involved,

and you can do it on your own if you do enough research. And I spent, well, first of all, I spent weeks dreading this and putting it off because I was like, oh my God, this just sounds so boring and technical. And so I spent weeks putting it off. And then I spent weeks writing the provisional patent and it's now filed and we're officially patent pending. And I've since gone on and filed a few trademarks. And I joke that I'm also our head of legal. And we've had check-ins with lawyers along the way and that's part of it. But I mean, I don't have a background in law and that's been something, not to toot my own horn, but lawyers have been pretty impressed at how far we've gotten on our own.

So it's been, you just think of something like that. I think back to when I was filing that provisional patent. And I mean, that was one of a million big challenges that I was just so overwhelmed in how I was going to get it done. And then I think today when a challenge comes up, you just bet you have all of all of these reps of overcoming these challenges, And it's just part of it, and you get a lot more comfortable with it. And then, aside from new challenges every day, the other really challenging part of starting a business is the self doubt for me and the lack of confidence that I had before we launched. It was kind of that, especially after the cease and desist from

that large sportswear brand that we won't name. It's this lack of confidence of how am I going to do this against these big guys with my own funding and my own, you know, experience and, and that, that why, why me, why am I entitled to do this? And I have to say what the, from the day that we launched the support from other women, the support from our family, from our friends, from complete strangers has really given us so much confidence. And to be honest, I don't have that feeling at all. I don't have any feelings of caring what other people think. It's not even on my radar. We're just so committed to this and to our greater, greater mission of providing solutions for women and making, you know, giving back to women's health that that's all in the past. And I agree. And, and I have to say that there are so many challenges, but they,

it's so easy in another way, when you're kind of doing something that you love and you feel good about that those challenges just don't seem so big after a little while. So you use the word easy. And I'm so glad that you did, because I think we have a tendency to wear the hard parts, like a badge of honor, right? Like we tell everybody how hard things are, but there are easy parts too. So let's talk about some of those. What have been the easy or surprising parts in your journey so far? So the easy parts are definitely doing the work, I guess. I heard Oprah say a quote once about when you're working, doing what you're supposed to do, it feels like you're swimming with the current versus against it.

And I think it's just an important reminder for us. We are kind of experiencing this phase in work and our past work lives where we felt like we were swimming upstream and it was just hard. Like, yeah, everything just felt hard and so now I feel like we're probably working the same amount or less on cakes but it just feels easy like it feels like things are flowing and kind of falling into place and I think that's a testament to aligning with our values of authenticity, helping women and whatnot. And then I would also say the biggest,

the easiest part of launching this has been how accessible free help is and free advice and great advice from people like you. And people like we have a friend who started a similar, a similar company, a direct to consumer tailored soup business. I invited him over for rigatoni and meatballs. And I said, I'm going to cook you dinner and I just need your help. We launched and we have absolutely no plan. We have no marketing plan. I need you to come and tell us how we're doing now and how we've grown in the last three months to be where we're at, which is leveraging like-minded women who embody this contagious confidence, bold spirit energy, and having them simply share with their friends and family. And it's building into this pretty cool ambassador network. And our original intent was we're going to use this content to run our digital ads because we don't have enough money to do photo and video

shoots. But meanwhile, it's actually turning into the self-fulfilling prophecy where they're building this content, sharing it with their friends, and it's bringing people to our brand without us having to really spend so much money on advertising it. So I guess just to land the plane on that one is all of the challenges are very easy to overcome because people want to help you. And yeah, people who've been in your shoes are just, it's like they're exchanging something of value and knowing that they're paying it forward is valuable to them. I found the same thing. People are very generous.

And the people who are the most supportive are the people who have done it before and know what it's like. And like the, typically the naysayers and the people who aren't supporting, even some friends or people you think are going to be supportive that aren't, there's the people who haven't done and aren't doing the things. The people who are doing more are never judging. It's the people who are doing less. So I kind of try to remind myself that when people have opinions.

You are sisters and business partners. Are there any guiding principles or values or things that you stay true to or focus on as you build together? I think just in terms of big picture guiding principles and then Taylor, I'll let you take the working together piece, because that's something we're figuring out as we go, but also something we manifested that we need to remember that we've always wanted to work together. And it really is so special that we are. I think in terms of big picture strategies or ways that we've been growing, I think staying true to our big picture vision to ground us is really important.

So we've said it several times, but creating products that make women feel good while giving back to women's health. So having that big picture vision, but also starting small. We started with one very simple product, the cakes, and we did that intentionally. We had a lot of other ideas. One, we couldn't fund additional products to launch right away, but also we wanted to keep it simple and really learn from the feedback of what's resonating, what's not. And what's really cool about that is that makes you really. And a week after we launched, we received a really exciting email. One, because it wasn't from a friend or family or anyone we knew. This was a true customer. So that was like, oh my God, do you know this person? Did you pay them to email us? Who is this? So that was the first exciting part. We had a true customer and we had several true customers at that point, but that was exciting. And then the subject line of the email was,

this product changed my life. And it was an email from this woman, Megan, who has since become a friend of ours. And Megan reached out saying she had breast cancer and she had gone through seven surgeries and she couldn't find a product to properly cover some of the scar tissue that she had until cakes. And since Megan reached out, we've had several messages from women who have gone through breast cancer and mastectomies and reconstruction. And, and it's led us down this path to actually develop products specifically for mastectomy patients and, and a more diverse group of women who have gone through different things. So how do we, how'd we gone with our, you know, a full line of products from the beginning, we never would have probably gotten here.

And I'm really excited about this direction that we're going from listening to our consumers. So that's one piece. Think big, but also start small so you can be flexible. I want to share the other guiding principle, which we came up with on our first retreat, which was a spa day that Casey and I got to go to together. We wrote down on a piece of paper, number one, celebrate. So the first agenda item of every meeting we do is celebrate. And it's such an important piece of our culture, which we laugh about because we truly are so we're so small right now, but we're building a culture that we want to work in and that we would want or think

other women would want to work in as well. And being able to celebrate our personal wins, some challenge we overcame or our customers stories and their accomplishments is a core piece of internal and external I guess strategy it's like so funny but I guess we we have the ability to create this now and be really intentional with that so celebrating these big and small moments has been a really fun piece and guiding principle so far I love love that. I love that. We get to celebrate so much more as women. So way to lead from the front on that. I want you to think about the biggest contributors to your success up to this point. And it could be people, it could be things, it could be ideas. And from that lens, what would be one piece of advice you would offer to somebody who is listening, who has

their million dollar idea or their product or their business that they've always wanted to do? The number one piece of advice for someone who's on the brink of launching, they have an idea, they just don't know what to do next is ready, fire, aim, not ready, aim, fire. Someone else came up with that. I don't remember who, but the idea is just do something, take an action. For us, it was make a website, order the inventory, and then share with our friends and family. So we didn't have a plan. We put ourselves out there and now we're adjusting and able to adjust because we already fired. And I have a good friend

who's a very talented interior designer. She's on the brink of launching this business. And my advice to her is the same thing. Put it out to your friends and family that you're doing this, and you won't be able to turn back, so you'll just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and you'll be blown away by how supportive people are

and how many people want to give you their money to do something you're really good and passionate about. Casey, how about you? I think my advice would be it's not as hard as you think it is. And I hope that brings people comfort and makes them feel inspired because every big obstacle we've had, if I've actually broken it down into steps, sit down, I watched so many YouTube videos, you can find literally tutorials on anything you want to do when you start a business on YouTube. It's, it's just surprised me so much. And it's obviously challenging in so many ways. And it's a grind, but it's, it's, you can do it. And the fact that we're, we're as far as we are in

only three months after launching, I'm just blown away by just put one foot in front of the other and you can absolutely do it. It aligns with everything I know to be true too. So great advice. Last question, what's next for you and Cakes? We are staying the course. We are continuing to create products that make women feel good. We are going to give back to women's health and we are going to disrupt the bra industry as we know it. I'm on board for all of that. So if you are listening and you want to join this revolution and be part of having contagious confidence, go to the website cakesbody.com or follow them on social media at cakesbody on Instagram. And if you want to order your first set of cakes,

you can go to the website and enter in the code Nicole, N-I-C-O-L-E, for their very generous coupon code of 20% off plus free shipping. Absolutely go get yourself some cakes. I have two pair because I can't get, I mean, there's the easiest things to take care of and wash, but I'm not really that disciplined. So I just leave them all around my house. But anyway, go get your pair. And let me end by

first thanking both of you and celebrating you for doing something so big. I'm so excited and I can't wait to see all that you accomplish. And I also want to close by saying confidence is contagious. It won't come from anything you wear or any product, but it will come from getting into action, taking big risks, trusting yourself, chasing your dreams, picking yourself up after being knocked down, doing big things, being bold, brave, and putting one foot in front of the other toward what matters. What's your big idea? How are you getting into action? Find yourself some encouragers, some supporters, some hype girls, some mentors, some truth tellers, and some raving fans.

Choose confidence again and again until it becomes contagious. That is woman's work.