Woman-Owned Wallet: The Podcast
💰 Woman-Owned Wallet: The Podcast is where money meets empowerment—with a little chaos, a lot of cursing, and plenty of sound effects. Hosted by serial entrepreneur and unapologetic financial feminist, Amanda Dare, this show breaks down the walls of money talk in ways other podcasts just don’t.
From running a bold, feminist marketplace featuring 50+ woman-owned brands to leading walking tours of women-led businesses in Louisville, Amanda is all about putting money where it matters—into the wallets of women. Now, she’s bringing that same energy to the mic.
Ranked #83 in the Top 100 Money Podcasts and #4 in the Money Mindset Chart, this show is a must-listen for anyone looking to level up their money mindset, build wealth, and gain financial independence—without the boring finance bro jargon.
Each episode, Amanda sits down with inspiring women in business for real, unfiltered money talks—the highs, the lows, the “WTF am I doing?” moments, and the WOW wins that changed everything. Expect candid, curse-filled conversations on money management, entrepreneurship, investing strategies, budgeting tips, financial literacy, side hustles, and passive income—all with a side of laughter, sound effects, and zero shame.
✨ Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a side hustler, or just someone who wants to grow your savings, build wealth, or stop feeling weird about money, this podcast will leave you feeling empowered, entertained, and ready to secure the bag.
💸 Your wallet empowers. Their dreams enrich the world. That’s the WOW factor.
Woman-Owned Wallet: The Podcast
61 | Is Your Business Right for Venture Capital with Natalia Bishop, Owner of Story Louisville
What if your greatest business asset isn't your product or even your drive, but your relationship with money itself? Natalia Bishop pulls back the curtain on her remarkable journey from immigrant photographer to angel investor, revealing how her unique perspective on wealth created freedom to take bold risks most wouldn't dare.
The conversation travels unexpected territory as Natalia shares how making $60,000 annually while living on just $150 a month as a teenager created a powerful money mindset: "Money was never finite for me... I can be more risky with it because it doesn't necessarily become part of my identity." This detachment, far from careless, allowed her to build multiple successful businesses while maintaining clear perspective.
Amanda and Natalia dive deep into calculating risk, exploring how entrepreneurs can distinguish between the ventures worth pursuing and those best abandoned. Their candid exchange reveals painful lessons about validating market needs before investing heavily and avoiding the trap of emotional attachment to business ideas. "Just because we experience a problem ourselves doesn't necessarily mean there's a business there," Natalia explains, offering a refreshing counter-narrative to the "follow your passion" startup gospel.
Perhaps most illuminating is their discussion about venture capital - specifically who shouldn't pursue it. "Unless you're building a scalable technology-driven business that will be sold for billions, don't go get venture capital," Natalia advises, emphasizing how women entrepreneurs often misalign funding strategies with their actual definitions of success. This practical wisdom serves as both relief and redirection for countless founders feeling pressured to raise money they may not actually need.
Whether you're contemplating your first side hustle or scaling your fifth company, this conversation offers rare insight into entrepreneurial evolution, calculated risk-taking, and redefining success on your own terms. Tune in to transform your relationship with both business and money.
Gusto - All Your HR and Payroll Needs
Shop The Woman-Owned Wallet Website
Woman-Owned Brands all on WOW Directory!
Find Grants Fast with SKIP
Faire - List Your Business for Wholesale
Creative Cash Flow Studio
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Hey friends, welcome to Woman-Owned Wallet, the podcast. I'm your host, amanda Dare, a serial entrepreneur who has already made all of the money mistakes, so you don't have to Now. I'm working on my money mindset, expanding my companies and having open conversations with women around a subject that shouldn't be so taboo money. My company, woman-owned Wallet, and I are determined to help you foster a more positive relationship with your wallet and help you create a life that makes you say, wow, hey, moneymaker, it's your girl, amanda Dare. Welcome back to another episode of Woman Owned Wallet, the podcast. Today's guest is someone who has been showing up, building boldly and breaking barriers for years, not just in business, either, but in life.
Speaker 1:Natalia Bishop is a creative force turned capital expert, a woman who's moved from behind the camera to behind the checkbook. That's one of my favorite lines I've ever said, I think, on this podcast. She's the founder of Story, louisville's first co-working space focused on equity and access, and the former CEO of Level Up, an online learning platform that gave women the tools to explore new skills and careers. Now she is actually the investor, angel investor and general partner at Renew VC, investing in bold, diverse early-stage founders, and not to mention you know all these other amazing things like she's a mama, she's a mentor, she's a board member, she's a literal startup whisperer who helps underestimated founders take their ideas to the next level. And I have to tell y'all because this like literally sits so close to my heart that she currently sits on the board for the Wild Accelerator and I was actually part of the Wild cohort in 2019. That experience and going through that accelerator actually helped me spark like the earliest version of what eventually became Woman Owned Wallet.
Speaker 1:So basically, we just like own Natalia for everything. She's amazing. So even that time, I like literally had no idea that that's what I was pitching. It's what it became. So we've known each other for years. I was even one of the first teachers at Level Up teaching sewing, and I think it was to your mom and your sister. It was such a fun experience and I'm just so happy to be able to watch her evolve and, honestly, I'm sweating and like fangirling over her right now. So thank you so much, natalia, for coming on. Women Unwollet the podcast.
Speaker 2:Hi friend, Thank you so much for having me. This is so fun. I'm so excited to be here with you and just get to talk about money and all the fun stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and just like, isn't it nice to just walk across the street and like, because we're neighbors too, she's on the wallet tour y'all the woman-owned wallet tour so you can go and hang out at Story and just do your co-working thing and vibe and I was actually. I've already talked to three people about you today.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, and about co-working. Already talked to three people about you today and about going across the street. So we are, you know, pitching your business to everybody that walks in here too. Well, thank you, you're welcome Anytime. So I would say that, like we have probably known each other for like a decade and I mean neighbors we're always doing our own thing. It's hard to get us in the same room because we've been busy girlies.
Speaker 2:That's right, that is exactly right. Like I'm trying to think of the last time we hung out together and it was like either networking or a networking event, and I'm like we don't get to hang out and just have coffee very often.
Speaker 1:I know, but you know what, when we get to run into each other on the street and we get to say, hey, and just catch up, honestly, that's more than I see, my best friend in the entire world.
Speaker 1:If you want to hang out with me, it's probably at a networking event or you're going to have to come by the storefront and hang out which you have as well and you've supported, and I just really appreciate that. I was thinking about it and it was back with Chocolate Box Photography. Oh my goodness, was that about 10 years?
Speaker 2:ago, do you think that was actually 14 years ago? So I started that when my first kid was born no way right, like when he was like six months old.
Speaker 2:So that's how long it's been, and you know around that as a creative, a solo creative, for like the first four years and then ended up hiring other photographers and doing all that and turning into a studio kind of later on into it, I guess I wanted to get out of my house and you know, my kids were a little bit older, they were four or five, it was time, yeah, and it was time, and then you know that just kind of kept growing. And then turning to, honestly, it was the beginning of stories, the beginning of community.
Speaker 1:It's like wow, like you didn't know what you were making when you were making it Not a clue. It turned into the next thing, yeah, the very first class, like I was saying. You know, I taught some sewing. Mostly people, when they came to a sewing class like brought me a broken machine and we're like how does this work? And I'm like well, it's broken, that's why it's not working. It doesn't.
Speaker 1:It doesn't and I'm like, well, it's broken, that's why it's not working. It doesn't, but we can still learn how it works. And sometimes I felt like a little mechanic, you know, in there with just like all my tools trying to make things work. But they all work kind of the same way. So it was easy to figure out. But I was so cool because I got that like first teaching kind of experience.
Speaker 1:And when I was little I was like, oh, I'm going to be a teacher, like I, just I actually. Well, I was like I'm going to be a teacher, just kidding, I'm going to be principal, just kidding. I'm going to, like, own my own school, like who does that? So I've always had that like creative background and educational background and I felt like you really gave me a place to exercise that. So that was really cool Kind of startup of level that's awesome.
Speaker 2:You know, for me it was the evolution of the different businesses wasn't really necessarily intentional at the beginning. Like I started the photography business because I needed a way to replace my corporate income after my first one was born and I wanted to do that in a way that felt like I had purpose and creativity to it. I've always been, like you know, like a painter or whatever Like I could always just do like drawings and doodles and stuff.
Speaker 2:I was like, what if I could just sell paintings? Well, that didn't work out. And then it was like maybe I could, you know, take good pictures of my kid. And we had one of those like automatic cameras, you know, dslrs or whatever. And then I really got into it and this was like early YouTube days and I was able to do a lot of that and teach myself and just kind of snowballed into this really great business where I really got to connect with people and found something that I was really passionate about and that could bring people joy. That's something that I really wanted.
Speaker 2:But what I wasn't intending to do at the time was having this community that was very creative and very female. It just sort of happened. We had just a great group of people that weren't just photographers and videographers. There was a community, you know, which is where I met you. There's a community of people doing illustration and sewing and all kinds of really creative, beautiful things Illustration and sewing and all kinds of really creative, beautiful things and Louisville is such a beautiful place to do that in, I think, and we have a powerhouse of a community here, of an art community, and so, anyhow, I got surrounded by all these women that I felt were super badass and were doing really cool things, and when I decided, hey, it's time to create this other space.
Speaker 2:That wasn't just a photography studio and, by the way, the reason why I even did the photography studio as I collected, was because I couldn't afford the rent. So, for all of you all that are out there, that are maybe on your first pop-up or doing whatever, I couldn't afford a $2,000 rent every month. So I had to hang out with a bunch of my friends and be like, let's put this thing. Yeah, let's put up this rent Right.
Speaker 2:And our space was so cool and it was fun, and so our clients were like can I just bring my computer and work out of here? Right, and this is prior to like WeWork. So nobody knew what, like you know co-working was back then, this is like 2015.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it became this space where people could just hang out and not fully be remote, but, you know, still work and do whatever. And so that was the beginning of the story and at the same time, we needed a way to market. We were in the second floor, like right across like some weird railroad tracks, so you wouldn't like coming off the street, you wouldn't know that this thing was there, by the way, right in front of like a pig processing plant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so not necessarily Google is known for its. You know what we could. I'm just going to say, smell the bacon. But it doesn't smell like bacon, it's not bacon, it's something else entirely.
Speaker 2:I mean, I get it. I turned it into a piggy bank and I was like, listen, they're here, but it's the piggies.
Speaker 1:I feel bad for them, but you know, it's all good, it's part of it gives a character you know. But anyways.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to say it wasn't the perfect location, it wasn't the most like you know. I don't know you wouldn't have thought about doing that there.
Speaker 1:I think I see your point because I mean I visited it and you know there was. It was like in a side door and you didn't want to go forward because that was another space. You had to turn to the right and then go up the stairs. I understand what you mean. It was crazy.
Speaker 2:You only would go in there if you knew that we were there and you knew what we were doing. So it wasn't the ideal first location, all these things, but people still continue to come and I think part of what we were doing very early on is just driving community from every angle. And what I thought would be interesting is hey, now I have this amazing network again mainly women helping women of people who have beautiful products that they're making. They have mastered a craft Like you remember Jordan Kabuma with this long thread that was embroidery.
Speaker 1:I was obsessed with her, yeah.
Speaker 2:Mallory who could illustrate, and Hannah Schiller with hand lettering, and all these people just doing beautiful work, and I was like, maybe as a part of bringing people inside of the space, we just do pop-up classes, right. And that's how Level Up was born and that's how you know. I was like, hey, this will give you money, it'll give me money, makes everybody happy. And so that just it was born out of a need to bring people into the space and it caught on so quickly and in such a great way that we decided let's spin it off and make it into its own thing. And I say we because I had a co-founder.
Speaker 2:So it was myself and Hannah Estes who was my co-founder at Level Up, which was a wonderful experience for me and led me down the path of creating a startup, which is something I never saw myself as Like. It's one thing to be a lifestyle business founder, which is, you know, you're making a mainstreet mom and pop business that you know you feel it's going to be a legacy for your family, maybe you're hit it pretty well and you're doing $20 million a year or something like that, but I never thought or saw myself, as you know, a Silicon Valley person that will be, you know, building something that was going to be in the hundreds of millions or worth a billion dollars some days, right.
Speaker 1:Right, it's interesting how, like that's just not even a part of the original story. But I think we all have to be open and willing to have that experience, expand and evolve over time and not be so stringent in like the first thing that we do, because for a long time I was just like, oh, I finally found the thing that's going to work and it's going to be the thing I do forever. And another person said to me why do you want it to be the thing that you do forever? Does that feel safe? Does that feel, you know? Because you have to allow yourself, especially as creatives, as artists ourselves.
Speaker 1:I consider myself an artist in all mediums and I would think that you are probably in that same space of like you bring that creativity to everything and by allowing it to evolve and allowing those people in and that energy in it, naturally like. I remember seeing all of this happen and I can fully visualize it of like seeing the chocolate box photography above the story logo and then the level up, and it's just like I understand those as someone who's had multiple businesses and also has tried to fit something in, and I'm like, but this is its own thing, you know, and I think it's really cool to watch that evolution, but then mostly just to be open to that evolution and, like you're saying, you made choices based on you know, your family life. So what did you do before photography? Again, you worked in corporate, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I did corporate retail for a long period of time and I think you know, coming from I'm from Colombia originally right, so I got here to the state when I was 17 years old and, coming from a background of, you know, a third world country, you just know the sacrifices that people have had to make, particularly like I come from a long line of matriarchs, so all of the women in my family were, you know, doing all the sacrifices and things for such a long time that you know you kind of just feel like I'm going to, I have to do right by everybody Right, and so the safest yeah.
Speaker 2:The safest way to do that is to get a corporate job and get a paycheck, or so they say. Right, and so that was always the goal. The goal was always I'm going to do this thing in this way. That is very prescribed and you don't deviate from it. And then back to your thought of like to be open and whatnot. I have this idea and I've always had this feeling of expansion and impermanence within myself, and I try to really be intuitive about it. I think that's really healthy.
Speaker 2:You know, because you define yourself about what you do and you know, think about when you introduce yourself hey, what do you do for a living, right? And that's kind of like the first thing that comes out of our mouths. And for me it's like ask me what I do for a living and my answer is like do you got 30 minutes?
Speaker 2:Because it's so many weird, different things, and so, you know, I always just kind of try to keep that sense of openness and expansion with me, because I don't know what's next. I really don't, and I tried, or I aim, to learn as much as I can. So what skill am I getting from this conversation? Right, yes, and so on and so forth, so anyway. So when I first got Ethan put in my arms and looked at him in his eyes and they were like hey, so you're about to be a parent here and I'm going to tell this kid to go follow his dreams and do all the things, but I can't do that for myself.
Speaker 1:You know I was like okay, maybe it's very conflicting messaging if you can't fully live that yourself.
Speaker 2:How do I teach you to do a thing that I can't even do for myself, right, Right?
Speaker 1:So you know, I just said and that opened it up for you of like, what do I want to do? And not just what do I want to do, but how do I want to explain, yeah, my life and my story and my interest to my kid one day and being able to tell them that same follow your dreams story. So I mean in Columbia, like growing up since you came here at 17, was there? I definitely understand the idea of this matriarchy and that pressure put upon.
Speaker 1:Especially there's so many immigrants in our community that are saying, you know, my parents sacrificed everything for me, and that's something that like lays really heavy for me as I'm entering into the workforce, as you've explained as well, and I'm curious, like, was there a talk about money when you were growing up? Was there anything that was kind of in the household at all, or is there kind of? For me, one of my earliest memories is putting money into a piggy bank, which is how we got here, and so I just am kind of curious. I was only really taught saving. I wasn't really taught any investment or anything kind of further than that. So I'm just curious what it was like, if there was any memory.
Speaker 2:I love that you're asking me this, because it's actually something I'm exploring with my therapist right now. I love it, me too.
Speaker 1:No, I'm serious, I'm in like money therapy right now basically, absolutely, she didn't know she was getting into that, but here we are.
Speaker 2:She's British, which is the only reason I can listen to her, so I feel like I'm in Harry Potter. Every time she opens her mouth, I'm like, yes, yes, ma'am. Anyway, so I you know it's a really interesting situation because, as I mentioned to you, you know, I have this family who is very interesting in the sense that I live with multi-generational. I live with my great-grandmother, and my grandmother and my mom, my great-grandmother died when I was 15 years old. Wow, yeah, so I mean, this is like you, these were the people.
Speaker 2:And then, on my dad's side, my grandmother was kind of like the glue as well, and so my parents were divorced really early on, and so I saw these extremely strong women who were, I can't tell you a time that my mom didn't have like a side hustle and, and a lot of times is what you gotta do in other countries, is you gotta, you know, do this and that to try to make ends meet as a single parent as well? Yeah, um, but you know, I had this, this powerful, just amazing humans that were providing for me, and so that's all I ever saw until I was 17 years old and came here, and when I got here, um, my, my mom has a uh kidney disease and she couldn't work for a really long period of time. So, and we came as a family, we came with my entire family, my brother, my sister, my grandmother as well at that point, and the responsibility of supporting the household fell on us, on my brother and I, who's he's a year and a half older than me, so you have a 17 year old and an 18 year old who've never worked a day in their lives. And now you have, you know you have to bring forward a full family of five in a country that you don't speak the language in. So it was a really difficult time, in the sense that you know it was a lot of hard physical work.
Speaker 2:You know we had three jobs and all these other things, but not unlike every other immigrant story. You know we were just the money was flowing through us, but it was never our money Right, it was. You know, I remember being I think I was 19 maybe, and making this is I'm going to date myself, but this is like 2002, 2003. And you know I was making without a degree and all the things that I was going to school full time at the same time. I'm doing all this. I'm making probably $50,000, $60,000 a year, and I remember that I had an allowance or whatever you want to call it of $150 a month. Wow.
Speaker 2:So you know you're making $50,000, $60,000 a year and you have $150 in your pocket. So for me, the cash went right through me, which allowed me to completely disassociate from money which I don't know yet I'll let you know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing.
Speaker 1:It can go either way. We got to make it a neutral thing.
Speaker 2:Right, it is just what it is right at this point. But with that experience you know, it allowed me to really see that there's always more to be made in terms of money, like money was never finite for me, yeah, uh. And because it doesn't necessarily become part of my identity, I can just be a little more risky with it, I guess in some, in some way. So it's allowed me to take some bolder risk because I'm like okay, let's say I lose this $100. I'll just go do this other thing and make that $100 right back right.
Speaker 2:Now, after you get married and you have someone else as a partner that maybe sees things different, you have to re you're not on your own anymore.
Speaker 1:It's a little bit different. You're adjusting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, depending on how you guys split your money, and so my husband and I view money very differently, and so that has been also a very interesting way to navigate these things, because when you're in business you have to bet on yourself a lot right, and that could be really challenging sometimes to articulate that, and a lot of times the people that you love most are going to have a harder time with those things.
Speaker 2:So my relationship with money and how I see it has really evolved throughout the years, and I think the one thing I will say is that I don't necessarily have a limitation around it in the sense that I know that I can control my input. I usually will. So how hard I work, how you know how hard I can push on some things, I can control that, but I cannot control the environment. So it is a lot about taking very, very calculated risks right. It's so much more about luck and timing than anything else. You know, because I work just as hard as a lot of other humans and they just, you know, sometimes it doesn't work out right, and I think it's also been for me. I do a couple of things. One is like every time I spend money, I thank my money, which is like Guy Kawasaki, where you're like arigato money right.
Speaker 1:Every single time you spend it, it already comes to you. Yeah, I listen to happy money and read it and that's something that I think is in there where it's, I think, an Asian culture that is like, where it's basically saying you know, you did this good for me and I thank you for it. And in the way that you can do that, you know, to people like attaching it to something that does have a lot of power, like money, and provides you, you know, food, shelter, like the things we need to live it's so important to be, I think, able to thank your money.
Speaker 2:So I understand that it's an energy exchange right at the end of the day and I like that energy exchange, because you did work hard for it.
Speaker 1:It was, you know, laborious work and it was a ton of labor to get that a lot of times. So to thank it for feeding you or for housing you, or for taking care of your family, or to buy something novelty and fun.
Speaker 2:Or something I want. I mean that 150. I can only imagine what you were spending it on.
Speaker 1:But it's just one of those things. I definitely understand the idea of it being a funnel and going through you in that way. I don't have as much of an attachment really to money. People think that I'm like money hungry or something, yeah, and I'm just like, no, I just want money because I know that money can do good. Yeah, you know, I know that money can contribute to my community. That can make me feel not even personally safer it can but that it can make my community safer, because I know that a lot of women put it back into the communities and that's why we support that, which they know by listening to the pod. But I think it's really interesting that you're thanking your money and I appreciate that you do that, because that's something that I've done before.
Speaker 1:I actually gave Natalia a friendship bracelet as we started and I made a friendship bracelet and I wrapped it around a dollar bill and I have it in my vanity. So, as I'm getting ready, I'll like see it and I'm like— that's awesome, I'm not super woo-woo with it. We're like money loves me and it flows, but it does flow, you know, and all the times when I stress about money, my husband, who I've been with for 20 years or whatever it is, is always saying something, you know, like there's always more money. So, to your point of like, if I can risk this, because I know I can make more isn't everyone's story. They don't all feel that there's a lot of scarcity of that mindset, but I like that you had, you know, this mindset of if I risk it on myself, it's a good investment. What am I learning from this moment? And that investment in self is the only thing that I'm truly in search of too Like. What are we getting from this conversation? In search of too Like. What are we getting from this conversation? And not selfishly, but for literally the whole, you know, for understanding each other better, and I just find that so interesting.
Speaker 1:So you thanked your money. You do some things. Was there another thing that you were going to say you do with your money. Hey, moneymaker, did you know that one of the most powerful things you can do with your dollar is decide where it goes? Introducing the Woman-Owned Wallet Tour your new favorite way to explore cities through the lens of woman-owned From cafes and boutiques to salons and sweet spots, we're mapping out the baddest businesses powered by women. Think of it as a self-guided tour meets empowerment hour. Grab your friends, your wallet and your walk-in shoes, because we've done the research so you can do the shopping. Every stop you make puts money directly into the wallets of women and around here. That's the goal. Ready to walk the walk, visit womanownedwalletcom or come into our storefront in Louisville, kentucky, and start exploring woman-owned businesses near you.
Speaker 3:Is it true that girls are longer than boys? This store is very amazing. It's so cool. Your shop is the cutest. I love all the pink and I love that you're supporting women. Keep on doing what you're doing. All right, bye.
Speaker 1:You thanked your money. You do some things. Was there another thing that you were going to say you do with your money?
Speaker 2:So I think that. So, yeah, thanking the money and just being mindful also of you were asking me how I feel about money right now, how I think about it right now. One of the things that I have a challenge with is spending on myself. Yeah, you know I can spend 500 bucks on, you know, clothes for the kids right. Like whatever right For the season or due season, but I have these jeans that. I've had for 20 years now right.
Speaker 2:So I mean, they're now vintage right. So it is. This is the part, the therapy, part of like and part to what you were speaking to, which is, you know, we put it back in community and we continue to build up others sometimes, and not everybody, but a lot of people do, a lot of people do and so there's that challenge of like when do you feel that you deserve a thing and how do you then go back and use that in a way that is because you want it right? So I'm working through that as well, and that's my mindfulness practice right now is kind of being thoughtful to myself a little bit on the money spending thing.
Speaker 1:I'm happy that you're doing that for yourself.
Speaker 2:It's an interesting place to be, honestly, but at the same time, the risk factor being hold on there oh goodness, this motorcycle.
Speaker 1:We were so concerned about the construction but it turns out it's just a motorcycle. Today, because she's my neighbor, she knows that this construction has been crazy in front of our spaces, so any who's, they're gone.
Speaker 2:They're not gone. No, but really talking about the risks involved and the how do you know when it's time?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you said calculated risks and that is hard to know and I've taken many risks myself and I thought they were calculated. But to your point, the environment around us is the thing we cannot control. So what do you feel like makes a good calculated risk?
Speaker 2:I think that it really depends on what you're building. I think that one of the things that we don't take into account when hedging how much of a risk this is is our own definition of success. It's our own definition of what is going to make us feel like, hey, we did it or didn't do it. So you know, I've seen a lot of people pull a lot of money into things or into a business that should have been a nonprofit or that they weren't really as invested in and as I thought they, or they thought they were Right, and ultimately it fails because it's like more time consuming than they wanted it to be, or because it's, you know, just not the right solution to the problem or whatever it is. And to me, it's like you should always have two people in your life One that's like the hard ass, like I'm going to take a look at this and tell you exactly how it is person. Now it's gotta be.
Speaker 2:Everybody has an opinion. You know that everybody has an opinion about your business, and so sometimes being and this is the way the networking really kind of comes in right Like being able to come to someone who you admire in business or that can give you straight feedback. Right, that's who I will go to and say, hey, like poke holes into this thing, right, is this the right thing to do or not? So I'm always the kind of person who makes decisions collaboratively Collaborate. I cannot speak English.
Speaker 1:Collaborate.
Speaker 2:Collaboration, collaboratively. We'll just pretend it's collaboration Decisions with others.
Speaker 1:No you I like to make. Yes, collaboratively. Yes, I like to worship my decisions. Let's go with that.
Speaker 2:You're an external decision maker, maybe Exactly, and I like to process it that way. Most of the time I'll know intuitively what it is that I want and where I'm going, but I like to kind of bring that to our team or whoever else to say, hey, I'm thinking about this, what do you think? And then you have some people that sometimes you just need to step into a room and just have someone clap for you. Yeah, because sometimes you just have a hard day and you just need someone to be like rah, rah me. And those are people. My husband calls it a clapping monkey.
Speaker 1:You and those are people. My husband calls it a clapping monkey. You know those little tin monkeys? Yeah, you just need someone to just stand there.
Speaker 2:I wish I had symbols.
Speaker 1:There you go, those guys.
Speaker 2:And that's okay. That's okay too. So the decision—.
Speaker 1:But you need both, you need the balance of those two. And then you need to be in the middle, understanding that both of these are going to tell you things and you're going to have to take from your own you know intuition, your own gut, your own experiences, your own perception. But you're going to need to listen to them as well and take into consideration when they can poke holes or when they can't. You know, like where that calculated risk is really actually calculated.
Speaker 2:I will say that I think that one of the things that most women that I have ever coached or advised or mentor and I mean I'm talking about at this point hundreds of people that I've done through my work with Entrepreneur, in Residence, work at the University of Louisville, amplify all the places I've ever worked, even through Wild that a lot of people want to skip the step of validating whether or not this is a real problem. They do, and it's not, or a big enough opportunity. And just because we experience a problem ourselves, it doesn't necessarily mean that there is a business there, right. And sometimes we have this need to just like go fix it right, because that's what we do a lot of times as women not everybody, but a lot of women, right and we just want to throw ourselves into that and then we marry to the solution as if it was a child or a baby or a thing that cannot be changed or shouldn't be changed. And those are, I think, the two most common mistakes that will kill a business quicker than anything else is we get in our own way, right, we didn't take the time to really listen to our customer and validate whether or not this is a thing that should be a business and then, when that customer gives us that feedback, we're not pivoting quickly enough or we're not listening fast enough because we get stuck in.
Speaker 2:This is what I want. This is the solution, and to most people that are starting, if you're new to a business, or if you're starting something new, or if you're, you know, spinning something out, I think you focus on the problem, right. Nothing else matters, like what is the problem, get to know the problem, get to know everything about that market and, of course, now, with ChatGPT and all the AI tools out there, you could do this really quickly. And you have to move quickly. You have to validate fast.
Speaker 1:You do Because the world changes so fast. Yeah, and the problems in the world?
Speaker 2:change so fast, exactly. And so now really is about either fixing a big problem or land grabbing, a big opportunity Right. And so I think, as women, we tend to sometimes be too afraid to take the bold move right, and we measure 37 times and oh my gosh, I'm going to you know. And then it's like just freaking, go, let's go yeah, knowing that you're going to iterate in the process, and just go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, I feel like there's a lot of times within business and to your point, it's like they almost want to validate themselves and make themselves important. Oh, our friend on the motorcycle is back. You know, they're probably taking the wild tour, but they often want to validate that the problem that they have is a big enough problem for someone to solve and it might not be for a business. I was at something called the Ultimate Product Party maybe two years ago and I was listening to a panel and this was like all product-based business owners, because I was just like my shit, I love it. So I was there and someone was like, well, I have to offer every customization option because this this, this, this, this, and I used to do that optimization option because this, this, this, this, this, and I used to do that and I used to because you're just grabbing at straws, you're grabbing at the coins around just to try to make you know it, start and even work at all. But they were not flexible enough that they might need to create a collection and only sell the top dollar stuff and then put more money into the marketing of those items. Like you can like to do stuff, because, again, I've done this to myself. She is preaching to this little choir right here and I was in choir for 20 years, so you're preaching for sure.
Speaker 1:Because a lot of the times I was like, even with the event space that I'm closing now, like I didn't understand that I really enjoy hosting and I really enjoy bringing people together. I enjoy being a container and a space for people to gather, but I don't want to work on the weekends and don't want to work every night and I don't actually enjoy making money through services as much as I enjoy making money through selling a product. So creating something from start to finish or honoring that someone else created something that's beautiful and then showing that value to a customer and then allowing that customer to engage with it and then take it and then pay me money for it, celebrate shopping and putting money in the wallets of women, but then they leave with it and I feel like the transaction is complete. Yes, and for me, I would overspend in decorations. I overspent in stuff that I thought would help, like it was a passive thing. It wasn't an active way to make a customer like for sure, buy.
Speaker 1:I never started with the bare minimum and then built from there, I got myself into a whole lot of fucking debt. That really sucks. Don't do that. And that's why we're here, because we're talking about you know, learn from our stories. And I'm still here because I have a lot of privilege and I have a lot of luck and I have a lot of timing and I have a lot of resilience. But there's so many things that if I could have told myself younger, yeah, I'd be like maybe don't take that payday loan. Those loan sharks are coming after you, maybe don't. Maybe chill the fuck out and let it grow slowly over time and really, like you said, validate that market.
Speaker 1:And I think it's like so much for women that you even kind of mentioned it's like but you said it in a way that I appreciate is like this thing, this you know baby of yours, this business. I actually think it's pretty harmful language for women because we don't tell men your business is your baby. I mean, you're in the startup world, maybe they do, I don't know and she's like nah, not happening. But I feel like that's something we're telling women. So like to stop doing something that isn't working, when you're so used to just continuously staying in something and you know. Basically, I like to think of my business as a puzzle now, instead of something that's connected to my self-worth or connected to anything, because I'm not a mother yet but I am potentially going to have to be in the IVF situation, so I obviously am more sensitive to that. So, calling a business your baby, it makes it more difficult to leave when it's not working or to let it evolve the way that you discussed as well, or to just know that it doesn't have to be the last thing that you ever do. It is not a baby, it is not a child, it is a puzzle you get to play with. It is a little Rubik's cube. You get to move and if you can do as much of that upfront education for yourself, that investment in yourself.
Speaker 1:But also, I found what was really useful in the WILD program was that we did a lot of mindset work and there's so much of that missing from early entrepreneurship that even if I had known, okay, I really only like to make money through selling product, do I love having my podcast? I'm a yapper, yes, I am, like we said earlier, like I'm like a hot air balloon. I'm just like all day long like letting out the hot air, but I like all those other things. But the way that my company makes money is you're purchasing an item from a woman-owned business and it's fast, it's funny, it's financial feminism, like that's the fun of it, and we're trying to really go against that scope of angry feminism and that's this whole thing. And so there's all these layers that I could totally get into. But at the end of the day, I'm selling a product you leave with it.
Speaker 1:The majority of our stuff is under 60 bucks and it's like we know that we have to do that fast and we have to have volume in order for that to be successful.
Speaker 1:So we have to utilize our marketing to grow that. And there is a big enough problem because it just keeps getting to be a bigger problem to be a woman sometimes, especially in this country right now. So there's so much around that. But I completely agree that there's just not enough time taken of like not just the passion and what you care about and that's the business you make. That can be a hobby, that can be a nonprofit you join, that can be something completely else, it can be separate from yourself. But the way you like to make money, I think is a really important thing that we're not talking about, and the way that you understand yourself and that resilience to get to that point it's through therapy, usually Like I'm in it with you, girly, I understand that, so it's kind of interesting. So you were telling me earlier that you have like multiple ways that you make money and you said like real estate is definitely one of the good vibes and I'm like all right, let's talk, let's talk.
Speaker 2:So tell me about it, you know. So we've talked a little bit about what a lifestyle business is, which is what story is. You know, it's a business that makes under $20 million a year right now, and then can it be scaled later? Sure, right Like, that is one way to do it. But to your point of like, what is your definition of success?
Speaker 2:I am in a stage in my life where I have teenagers and I was, you know, through the pandemic, was really excited about scaling big and doing all these things with Level Up, which was our software company, and had the realization after, you know, I was going through the process of raising capital for the company. We had all the traction, all the timing, all the right things. I mean, it was 2020. Everybody was taking an educational thing online. Yeah, we had the technology to do it and, of course, we had a great team and I kept hitting a wall. I could not raise the capital I needed.
Speaker 2:In fact, I got all the way to about a million and a quarter and then, at the very last second, our lead investor kind of pulled. They didn't quite say, hey, we're not going to do this, but they were like, hey, let me come back to you in, you know, three months. I want to see more traction. I want to see more traction, at which point you know we could have done it to your point. We could have gone more nitty gritty, made more money, but I was leaving my family behind. I really was. I was leaving myself behind too. I was working on godly amounts of time, and that's normally what it takes honestly.
Speaker 2:And it wasn't that I didn't have the chops to do that. Like I said, I'm an immigrant, I have, you know, that's just the on setting. Listen, like that is like base, but it there was a piece of that that didn't feel right with me anymore. I mean, I had talked to over 300 investors at that point to get to that one and a half or one and a quarter commitments, and I could have kept pushing, but I chose not to. I took a step back and said hey, I have two small children, do I really want to do this? And it just didn't align any longer.
Speaker 2:And so, for me, right now I'm at a place where I want to. I'm choosing really carefully what I'm investing my energy in, and I have a very happy, comfortable, lucky, privileged, whatever you want to call it life, and that, the business that we have, provides for all the needs of my family, and I can continue to do that. But I've been intentional with that choice. And so what changed, though, over the last few years was me going from hey, I'm an operator of a business that operates within, and, mainly because co-working, the thing that you are, the biggest expense is your real estate expense. I never really thought about commercial real estate as a piece of this. We had owned a property prior to that as a couple, where we rented out a residential property, which is how most normal humans start their real estate journey.
Speaker 1:They get one asset, and then they monetize that, and then grow and it's normally like in the hundreds of thousands.
Speaker 2:But we're not like that. Listen, we're going to do it.
Speaker 2:But, we are trying to be. Oh man, you know, sometimes I'm like what am I doing? But anyways. But then you know, our lease was about to end and I started, kind of about a year or 18 months or so before our lease was up, in the place we were in and I had already done four scales. So StoryStar is 1,200 square feet, then it went to 5,000, then 12,000. And then we had opened a satellite location during the pandemic or right before the pandemic and anyway. So the opportunity was again.
Speaker 2:The problem that I was trying to solve is like do I want to be paying, you know, over $600,000 a year to a third party, right? Or do I want to get long term gains from this? And then, if I do, what does it look like? And I've never. You know, I'm not a real estate agent. I'm not into real estate at all, but I knew people. So what you do is you go out there and you start asking questions and you start asking people for their time and most of them will really give you that advice. And we found a property that was incredibly expensive, incredibly out of my price range, incredibly like all the things that you would have thought. Oh my God, walk away from this. But I knew that this was the play and I knew it was the right location. And again, that calculated risk of seeing, like, how can I kind of put this puzzle together?
Speaker 2:And I went into a project that was all in about $13 million of development in one of the main streets of our city, right In the coolest, hottest neighborhood in our entire state, right. And to do that it took an ungodly amount of learning, right Of like of every YouTube video known to man about commercial real estate development, calling developers up and being like, hey, can I sit with you and pick your brain about this project? What would you do differently? And then people opening doors for you to the degree that I literally had developers sending me their. You know, here's what we use. Big firms that will be like here's what our spreadsheets look like. You go ahead, lady, knock yourself out, because people will give you that right. It may not give you money, but if you are constantly asking and being curious and adding value to them, they will give you something in return. And so, again, energy exchange.
Speaker 2:So once I felt like I permeated myself with the right level of information and I knew what I was kind of getting into. I was like you know, you have to have enough equity money to do that, which I didn't have on my own. But I knew people, right, and I'm asking everybody, I don't care if you're, you know serving, you know drinks at a bar and we're having conversation and you're the bartender. I was asking everybody hey, would you be interested in this? Shamelessly because again that's the part that we miss is like. Sometimes it's like, oh, here's this project. I knew this was going to be badass, I knew it was going to be cool and I knew that I had a great team that would outwork anybody.
Speaker 2:And so, but what the interesting piece of this was that a lot of the women, particularly some of them, you know more on the wealthy side that they just couldn't make the decision on their own. It was always very like oh, I need to talk. You know I'm talking about people who are like super successful dentists with multiple practices. That would be like, oh, that's really cool. But let me talk to my husband, right, and it just felt like man, like we don't get first of all, we don't get asked very often. Do we want to invest in something like this? Right, and I do. I try to bring a lot of people together with me. Most of the time these deals you don't get asked because the minimum play is $100,000, $200,000, which your average Joe doesn't have or Jane doesn't have laying around right and so how do you participate in something like this with your, you know, life savings of $15,000 or $20,000, right, whatever that looks like.
Speaker 2:And so I really try to put a syndicate together and ask as many people as I could hey, like, just throw cash into this, it's not going to buy you a ton, but at least you'll go through the process and you'll learn. You have to learn from it, and you know, $100,000 wasn't going to make or break the deal, right, it really wasn't. But it was helpful for those humans to kind of go through the process, and now I can do it on my own right and now you can go on.
Speaker 1:And so I really try to approach those things, that collective bargaining too, like you do have more money and you do have more, you know, seats at the table and that understanding it together and I love that you're even talking about like it is the educational piece. It is that investment in yourself, but an investment in themselves too. And I agree you know as two women that I think are very much in love with our husbands. Like I get asked in here what does your husband think about this? Or what you know, just like the most random things where I'm like I'm an adult and I can make my own decision and sometimes it's nice because he is my, you know my backboard, my, what is it called Sounding?
Speaker 2:board Sounding board.
Speaker 1:You'd think I would know words. I run a podcast, but I don't all the time, but he's my sounding board, so of course my response might also be you know, let me talk to my husband and get it back. But I don't actually usually put that out into the universe. It's usually like let me talk to my team, let me wrap my head around this, or something like that, because it isn't often that we are asked and I think I've only been asked a couple of times to go in on a few things. I might have an interesting opportunity for you of something I might be going in on, so I'll let you know about that. But it's a very similar situation where it would be a collective or a syndicate you know, I've started to hear that word more recently and I'm wondering if people understand that but it's pretty much just a collection of people that have a similar goal, would you say.
Speaker 2:Well, it depends on the context. Right In real estate, a syndicate is essentially, you know, a collection of humans that are going, or entities or whatever that are going to own a piece of property right.
Speaker 2:Or a portion of a piece of a property. So you syndicate together and then everybody owns a certain number of shares, and it's similar with startups in that you can do that and you'll see that on like WeFounder and platforms like that, where essentially what they're doing is creating a syndication right of people that are putting small pools of money together to create a larger pool and own a portion of something. Whereas you couldn't just go in there with your you know $2,000 check, you can go in with a $200,000 check that is owned by a whole bunch of people.
Speaker 1:I like that and I like that. That's like a good entry point for so many people. Yeah, I am an investor in a company and I invested $500 through WeFunder, so that was like a place where I was like, oh my God, I get to add investor, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1:But it's like, of course you know it's not angel investor, where I think you have to have like at least 25,000 or something. Like you have to be fully approved and like accredited and like things. I'm not saying the right words, but you have to be like fancy, you have to be an accredited investor. Yes, accredited, so I did say the right word. Yay, yeah, you did good, not with sounding board, but I got accredited, very fancy. Well, I think it's really interesting. Like again, it's like bringing people together. It's this collaboration. Do you feel like it's been difficult to convince people to go in on that stuff? Like, I know it's not something we're asked very often, you know, not technically, but typically. So is that something you've struggled with? Is to get people on board, or do you feel like it takes a week or two? Is this something?
Speaker 2:No raising money is always hard. I don't know.
Speaker 2:Well, okay, no, in my experience, let me rephrase that I will also say in my experience, in my experience as a brown woman immigrant, raising money has always been not easy. Yeah, woman immigrant, raising money has always been not easy. Is it significantly less hard now, 15 years in, than it was the first day when I had a thought in the shower and was like I'm going to open it? Yes, it is a lot less difficult, but it's still difficult. It is time consuming, it is energy consuming, and I think one of the things that sometimes we don't know is that I'm getting an Instagram follower.
Speaker 1:Sorry that's the sound. This is really great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a sale.
Speaker 1:I think that came into those little clickers Making money Money.
Speaker 2:While just talking about money, while we're talking about money, oh wait. Yeah, I love it, but I was going to say I mean, I think that the thing that sometimes gets missed about raising money is that you almost have to train like if it was an Ironman or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a skill it's a race.
Speaker 2:It's a straight up, a sprint right. It's not something that you want to sustain long term. Something that you want to sustain long term Like it is something that you physically and mentally have to train for, because you have to separate your self-worth from the no's. It is a self-effort right. For some people it's going to go more naturally than to others and it is you positioning a value proposition of what you are bringing to the world right In a way that the other person, the other human in front of you, can intake and decide whether or not they're going to put their money on it right.
Speaker 2:So it's very, very time consuming. You have to have a million conversations, but what we fail to do is just really take that energy and that time. We think, okay, I need a million dollars and I got two months to do it, great. No, it takes probably a solid six months, if not nine months, to start just fostering the conversations and making relationships with those people. Fundraising isn't really necessarily about selling as much as it is about de-risking an investment.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's a good way to say that. I like that, yeah. So you have to think about it in the context of how do I make this as easy as a yes, as humanly possible, right? How do I make this human in front of me? Just, you know, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick checkbox, because everything that they're going to ask me I've already answered or I already have thought about, or, if I don't know, I know someone that knows and I can figure it out and through those million conversations that you've had, or those 300, I think you said not million, but you know, not through a million.
Speaker 1:But it's interesting that you're going to learn something each time of another box that you have to tick off for somebody and that you need to mention that earlier in your pitch or later or whatever. So it's interesting that that time-consuming task is what builds your skill.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that the other piece we don't often do or not every founder often does is their homework, and we just think that we're going to walk into somebody's house and be like, hey, give me X number of dollars and they're like sure idea, yeah, they may love your idea, they may be the perfect investor for you, but if you didn't do your homework and know that this person actually has capital to deploy at this moment in time, then that conversation is not going to take.
Speaker 2:You know the route yeah, it's just not going to be where you want it to be. So, um, there's a lot of prep that is involved here. That will help a founder kind of get the fundraising done in a much more efficient way that sometimes it just completely means. But to de-risk those things, particularly when you haven't gotten the portfolio to show for it Like if you've exited from three companies and sold and worked at one of the bigs like Meta or Google or Lyft or whatever, then that's a lot easier. You get all these badges right.
Speaker 2:But if you haven't done that like most of us right, especially if you're not a technical person and you're trying to raise capital you really have to make sure that you have all the other pieces very, very well put together. And that's going to be. You know who is in your team. What is your team? Why you right, why should you be the person doing it? And this is specific for venture, but also for angel money and so why the team? Talk to me about your traction. That's the one thing you can control. And then we're seeing that trend kind of change in VC as well, where VC used to be like I have a backup, the napkin idea, and I just write a piece of paper and be like I want to make blank.
Speaker 1:I'll be the Airbnb of whatever right and of motorcycles and, all of a sudden people are just like giving you money, right, they're zooming down Market. Street.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that doesn't necessarily work anymore as well, and people just don't want to build companies in that same way anymore. So really making sure that you are focusing on customers and acquisition and listening to your customer and again focus on the problem and you can do that by showing traction right.
Speaker 1:I think that a lot of that has changed because there is so much information available in the world, because so much has been developed, Like I would think a back of the napkin idea is probably something that you know was maybe an earlier stage of the internet or something like where we didn't have as much understanding at our fingertips. Where, to your point earlier, like we can ask chat, GBT, we can ask the world for everything, and it's exhausting.
Speaker 2:So yeah much available information.
Speaker 1:There is, but I'm wondering if there's there's a reason why the shift.
Speaker 2:I think there's. There's a million reasons why it's changing, but one of it is the cash. What is available right To be given out for early stage? What is the level of competition that is out there? I mean, the companies are getting more and more sophisticated. I can literally, if you and I came up with a problem right now, we could be in market in the next two hours, and I'm talking about we could have an app in market right. That's how quickly people can deploy now and so it doesn't take weeks. I could have a bank account, I could set us up and get us ready to work and we'll be selling in the streets later this afternoon. And you know I would do it with you.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying, but yeah, I understand None of that really isn't like even if you're not making a true technical play, like you're not building a new type of AI or whatever, you can really really be out here. Anyone can do it. The playing field has been even and if we don't show the grit and the determination and the customer acquisition piece of this, then how are you going to win? How are you different than me or anyone else? So I think that is one shift. You will hear people in Shark Tank and all those things be like we're betting on you, not your product. Right, you know, and that's true. It is true because you—.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's a relationship 100%.
Speaker 2:It's a financial contract. I want to know that, no matter what, you're not going to walk away from this thing. You're a dog with a bone. Yeah Right, dog with a bone, yeah.
Speaker 1:Right and so.
Speaker 2:Because that de-risks them.
Speaker 1:Like that is a box to tick. You know, like we got to check that because it is their money that they're putting in, and we're just going to use Shark Tank as an example but there's all these disclaimers at the end of it about how they do the due diligence and they make sure everybody's telling the truth. You know of that information that they're presenting, but that it is the shark's decision. You know of that information that they're presenting, but that it is the shark's decision. You know, and to the same point, though, there's a lot of people that walk away from deals and a lot of like what we actually. We had Natalia on one of our panels for an event we just did called Show Her the Money movie screening. We had it on the Lynn Family Stadium, which is the largest screen in Louisville, with Louisville as the backdrop. It was a really pretty night, but really getting into that conversation after about, you know, if you haven't seen Show Her the Money, it's mostly about how women receive about 2% of the venture capital, what kind of journeys that they go on, and it follows multiple different founders non-binary and women of color Like it shows a lot of sides of that and how each of their journeys were different and how. We need more women entrepreneurs, of course, but we need more women investors because a lot of the times, women investors understand the products that women are presenting, because women are typically trying to solve a problem that they have. So there's this divide there. But afterwards, that panel, which is a lot of what we've been discussing already I just wanted to give some context to our girlies listening that that panel was so beautiful and I was literally like all of you have to come on the podcast right now because, like, this is just information that needs to be, you know, more consistently spoken about.
Speaker 1:And I think one of the points that we were making is that you know you are also deciding who you want to invest into your company when you go after that VC. So that venture capital, you know, is probably these firms and stuff. That angel capital is going to be more individuals, but do you want to work with that person? Because it is a relationship that's two-sided, you know, and they're going to have maybe expectations out of it that you didn't understand. You want to have that clarity around and, like you said, do your homework around. Who you're going to, you know quote, unquote get into bed with and you know that's something that I feel like. There's this understanding from one side of like I have to get the money to run the company, but the other side is often left out of. Like do I really want this relationship? So, as you're going through that journey for Level Up, like I mean, were there people that you're like man? I'm glad they said no.
Speaker 2:Well, thank goodness.
Speaker 1:You know, I think and I wish I didn't say get into bed with.
Speaker 2:I just want everyone to know that that's funny. We'll edit that part out.
Speaker 1:We're going to edit that out. We're leaving it in because I'm allowed to be embarrassed and admit that I make mistakes, that's okay. That's okay. I live in a patriarchal society too, and sometimes it slips.
Speaker 2:It happens to all of us here we go.
Speaker 2:But I will say that there are times where you are in desperate mode, right, and there are times where you're just out here saying like it doesn't matter where that money comes from and you have to just deal with it, right, and I can't say that I haven't done that and it hasn't really necessarily been for me, it hasn't really. I'm going to go back to my photography days. There were clients that I was like, oh man, I really don't want to do this, right, and but it was a check. It was like, okay, I'll do it, because it's the thing. It's like you got to pay the bills, you got to eat, yeah, right, and but as long as the ratio is good like really good clients or really whatever it is Right.
Speaker 2:Whatever it is right, um, and I think with investors it may be something similar to this degree that you can control it right, which is like, okay, yeah, I may have, like you know, six out of my 10 investors are people I freaking love. And then you know two of the smaller checks. They're just filling out my round right, like whatever, um, but they're not the majority, yeah, and they may not be like the people that you're whatever or like in the most like of contact all the time, but they're, ideally, you're going to like everybody, right, yeah, but sometimes you just got to do what you got to do.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And so, yes, you can be a little bit picky and you can be choosy and all those things, but don't be so hung up on this that it detracts you from the goal of like, hey, I'm going to raise. I think more importantly is thinking do you actually have to raise?
Speaker 1:I agree with you 100% and I would love to just explore that real quick. Yes, let's be real. Applying for grants usually feels like a full-time job 15 tabs open, 12 different apps and zero sanity left. That's why I started using Skip, the app that puts all the best grant opportunities in one place and actually makes it easy to apply. With Skip, I applied for many different grants and they actually totaled over a hundred thousand. Fingers crossed that I win them all, but this was all from one dashboard zero spreadsheets, no guesswork and straight up support for my small business.
Speaker 1:With Skip, I applied for over $100,000 in grant funding. All from one dashboard, no spreadsheets, no guesswork. And here's what I really love you fill out one profile and Skip uses AI to help you optimize your answers, so you actually sound like the powerhouse that you are. It's like having a grant writing assistant in your pocket. Whether you're a founder, a freelancer or a nonprofit powerhouse, skip helps you find the money that you didn't even know existed and gives you the confidence to go after it. Download Skip, apply once, win more. You've got the vision. Let Skip help fund it.
Speaker 3:Hi, this is Elizabeth and I am thrilled to be in your store. It is amazing and after my purchase, I put my purchase in my budget, like I always do. I use YNAB and I have for years and I love it. Just in case anybody needs a good budgeting app. Thank you so much for all that you do. You're crushing it, Hi.
Speaker 1:Amanda. This is Amanda. I think you're doing a great job. I love you so much. Goodbye. I agree with you 100% and I would love to just explore that real quick.
Speaker 2:Yes, If I had a dime, for what is it? A penny, I don't know how many. Well, we can save it If you had a penny. If I had a dime, for what is it a penny, I don't know how many. If you had a penny.
Speaker 1:if you had a dime, If I had, you can use any amount of money.
Speaker 2:A dollar.
Speaker 1:If I had a dollar for every time somebody said that I would be rich.
Speaker 2:I would be very, very rich.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I think the especially if it's something that's going to do good for the world. Because then we were like, well, why isn't someone else funding these, right, and why aren't the rich people of the world funding these things? And so we get into this trap, into this fallacy that we have to raise in order to do the thing. That's bullshit. Yeah, first of all, let's just start there. It is First of all, what kind of business are you building? Unless you're building a scalable business and I'm talking about something that is technology driven, technology at its center or enabled by technology 1,000 million percent do not go raise capital. It is not the right fit. You're going to bang your head against a wall, unless you're trying to build something massive and that is your idea of success.
Speaker 2:Right, right, you have the audience. Let's say you have, I don't know, 5 million followers on Instagram. Hell, yeah, let's go sell this thing. Like, let's go scale and let's, you know, go get venture capital and get all the product ever. But if you have 5,000 followers in a podcast, it doesn't necessarily make sense to go invest in that way. Right, you know you will get on a train. That doesn't necessarily. It doesn't. It has two stops. One is literally is exit in a big way by emerging an acquisition right or an IPO in the stock market right. So those are your two options to get off the train. When you get on venture capital, most of us, most of us humans, right, may not be building that company. It's an F1 car, right, you can still race if you want to race in a NASCAR car, and this is going to be terrible NASCAR like.
Speaker 1:I don't even want full disclaimer.
Speaker 2:I don't listen to you could be in a go-kart.
Speaker 1:Like those are your options, right.
Speaker 2:And none of that, of that is all racing, it's all whatever, but it doesn't fit the type of capital you're looking for. So, unless you're building a scalable business that's going to go and be sold for you know, like Alani knew for $1.8 billion, right? If that's what you're making, sure go get venture capital. Sure go get venture capital If you, and if that aligns with your definition of success, because I've also seen a lot of people be like I'm going to be the again, the next, you know whatever can drink, and they are like but I'm also only going to work three hours a day, and I'm like that is not the same, like that does not congruent with what you want for your life, please do not do this to yourself.
Speaker 2:So that's my take there on does venture capital fit? Now, if you're just building a main street, a lifestyle business, there are other capital available, other types of capital available. Some of them may be angel, right. Like you know, it depends on where you live and all those things. But then there's like banks and loans and things like that that you know it depends on the, where you live and all those things, but then there's like banks and loans and things like that that you could do. There's obviously your friends and family and all those, and if you don't have any of those things, there's always like hard-earned debt and there's also like do you have to have the storefront before you do the thing? What are other ways?
Speaker 1:a lot of people think they need the space before it's demanded of them. And I mean, WOW is not a good example, because I had owned spaces before, but for a long time I had a mobile boutique with the new black where we had the little black dresses, and I would just drive around to different events and that's where you do start. You start at those events and then once you get enough traction of like they're demanding it be open every day, then you do it Like keep them waiting and wondering Well, that's bootstrapping, right?
Speaker 2:We call that bootstrapping and a lot of startups this is how a lot of people will scale from a bootstrap business into a scalable business. Like you've proven, enough traction.
Speaker 1:Exactly, that's your traction. You've gotten yourself to.
Speaker 2:You know a couple hundred thousand 500,000 in revenue and you know a couple hundred thousand, five hundred thousand revenue and you're like, okay, now I can go and do this in every city, now I can have a wow factor in every city in america. Yeah, right, and so those are the things that we need to think about is, as women sometimes we're the majority of us are building this main street business. That's a lifestyle business. And once you have that product market fit, once you've gotten to a place where people love you and cheerlead you and can't get enough of your product and whatever, and you're making bank, is there room here to go incredibly big? Right, we miss that jump, yeah, a lot of the times. And so I think that's the one thing I want to really. And if you, from the get-go, know that you want to build a thing and the timing is right for you and that's your definition of success, then let's go build that right. Don't start with an Ascar car if you want to be in an F-150 car and move differently, if that's the goal.
Speaker 2:Right, you train differently. Yeah, train differently. I like that, you know. And so that is. I think a big piece of what is missing is we are all looking at this oh, there's VC money out there and they're just kind of handing it out because I have this great product and that's not how it works, right. So, understanding, where do you fit in that scale? And, more importantly, what is your definition of success look like and how does it fit with your business? Right, and then go and get capital that fits that?
Speaker 1:I agree, and not every capital fits every business, and I know it's totally fine, fine.
Speaker 2:It's fine.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean just thank you so much, natalia, like I said preaching to the choir, feeling so good in this moment, happy to hang out with you anytime on a podcast or in getting coffee, whatever, or in real life, but I'm just so appreciative to have had someone throughout my personal journey that I mean I have called you for certain things. I'm like I just need somebody to meet with. As I was moving out of the mall, we met in story and as I was trying to decide about closing Wow Factor the event space, I was like, hey, I haven't told anybody this and it was just something where it's nice when you do know that there's someone out there in the world that will get it. You know, and I think what's exciting is that there are more women coming into this space that get it. So, find someone in the arena with you, find someone that you, you know, maybe have that track record with and you've shown up for each other at different times and you've had that where you can say can we be real for a second?
Speaker 1:Can we really talk about this and really go to therapy? Go to therapy and realize is it something that you really need to do? Is this your definition of success. Does this fit together the way you want it to? And maybe you won't make as many mistakes as I did along the way, but maybe you. And maybe you won't make as many mistakes as I did along the way, but maybe you will, and maybe you'll still be here just like I am. But I feel like, allow that journey to evolve, allow that to expand, allow yourself to understand yourself more and allow that business to be something external from yourself that does not define your self-worth. I feel like those are some really good hits. And then also just that VC money, that venture capital. It's not for everyone and that's okay.
Speaker 1:It's also very expensive because, you're giving away a lot of your company. So if you're out there and you're making that mom and pop business, that main street business, which I really liked, I mean there's like 1800 businesses started by women a day, so there's a lot of us out there all in the same journey Find that community, go to Story, get some co-working done, hanging out with all the girlies Actually, I think it's the second Wednesday of the month you have free co-working that you've sponsored and WOW is also a part of that sponsorship with the Women's Business Center of Kentucky. We've all come together and I mean really you're doing the heavy lifting because you're offering your space and we're just like really excited and talking about it.
Speaker 1:Working.
Speaker 2:Women Wednesday yeah.
Speaker 1:Working Women Wednesday. So find those things in your community and if you're in Louisville, please reach out. You know we will definitely be there for that support. And keep listening to the podcast, because this is a free thing that you get to check out and learn from other women, especially through these stories. I find your story so interesting and so powerful and I'm just excited to be across the table from you. Thank you, friend.
Speaker 2:Thank you, this has been so fun. I did want to shameless plug one last thing before we go.
Speaker 1:Well listen, I always tell people at the very end, like how do we put money into your wallet? So tell them everything.
Speaker 2:This is actually free right now, but I want to because I think one of the things that people it's most challenging is when you're starting something right, Like what do. I do next, what's my next step? And with Wild, you went through the program, the accelerator program. We decided to launch something in partnership with JPMorgan Chase. That was, what about the people when you just had the shower, thought or you're driving, you're like oh my gosh, I should totally do this.
Speaker 2:What do you do next? So we launched something called Wild Academy. Okay, great, and the applications are open right now. Cute.
Speaker 1:Yes, wild Academy, wild Academy, wild Academy.
Speaker 2:So it's six weeks, cute, yes, so Wild Academy, wild Academy.
Speaker 2:So it's six weeks, starts May 5th, the applications are open right now. They'll be rolling through, I think, the 3rd of May. Okay, gotcha, and it is a super quick application. You just go to wildacceleratororg and you can go into Wild Academy. There's a whole, you know, spells it out six-week, completely virtual, and it walks you through from idea to product and it has six masterclasses with founders that have done this and it goes from everything, from validation, everything we talked about, defining success, validation, how to create product market fit and then how to create your product. So you go from I just had a thought to it's out in the open.
Speaker 1:So next I'm going to need you to make how to go from 250 to 500 to a million to 2 million, because I was talking to another friend and I was realizing that was advertised to me through the SBA last year and a lot of it was still the startup conversation and I was like, hey, I just feel kind of stuck at this plateau and that's what you marketed. So where's the information of us talking about this? So I think we need those middle girlies because there's going to be more of us as the time goes on that might need that little. Maybe it's not the jump, you know the leap into venture capital, but it's the jump from. We're out here, we're surviving, we're paying our bills. Maybe some of them are late, sometimes it's fine. Thank you to. We're out here, we're surviving, we're paying our bills. Maybe some of them are late, sometimes it's fine. Thank you to everyone who gives me flexibility sometimes. But it's like it's an interesting how do we?
Speaker 1:get from middle to the next step. You know, or 500 to a million, you know, like 600 is great, but when you have so many expenses you need seven. So, I'm trying to still figure out how to get my seven in or how to be that lifestyle where it's like $20 million and under. I'm like I got a goal now. Yeah, Awesome, but yeah, thank you so much again. And of course, they can go to Story. What's the website for?
Speaker 2:that.
Speaker 1:Storylouisvillecom Storylouisetcom. We of course, have that in to add all of that information into our show notes as well, and thank you so much, natalia. Thank you so much for listening, and, moneymakers, until next time, go out there and make that money. If you want to put more money into the wallets of women, like we do, then check out our website, thewomanownedwalletcom, and we can't wait to continue the conversation on our social media. So definitely follow us on our Instagram at womanownedwallet, and on TikTok at womanownedwallet. You can support us by following our podcast on Apple, google and Spotify, and don't forget to leave us a review. Thank you for listening to Woman-Owned Wallet, the podcast.
