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[00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:05.680] Hey Entrepreneurs, it's Steph here with a special invite just for you.
[00:00:05.680 --> 00:00:10.800] Do you want to experience what it's like to be part of our Entrepreneursa League community of founders?
[00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:12.400] Now is your chance.
[00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:21.360] You can join me this month at one of our upcoming Entrepreneursa League info sessions where I'm going to share with you all you're going to get access to when you join the community.
[00:00:21.360 --> 00:00:27.040] Plus, I'll be giving away some big bonuses that you will only be able to get access to when you attend live.
[00:00:27.040 --> 00:00:35.600] Head over to refer.entrepreneesa.com forward slash info session to join us at one of our virtual info sessions this month.
[00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:40.640] That's refer.entrepranista.com forward slash info session.
[00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:44.560] Or head over to the show notes right now and tap the link to join us.
[00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:49.200] I can't wait to meet you there and learn more about you and your business.
[00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:52.320] An acquisition is not the end-all be-all.
[00:00:52.320 --> 00:01:01.680] And I really want to emphasize that because I think there's so many misnomers or ideas out there that people think the norm is raising money.
[00:01:01.680 --> 00:01:02.720] I did not.
[00:01:02.720 --> 00:01:03.920] There's another way to do it.
[00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:07.600] It's just less talked about and gets less attention.
[00:01:07.600 --> 00:01:11.360] The end-all is not always an exit.
[00:01:14.880 --> 00:01:22.400] Gwen Whiting is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder of The Laundress, an eco-friendly cleaning brand.
[00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:36.400] After selling the company to Unilever in 2019, Gwen faced unexpected challenges navigating the acquisition process and the emotional toll of watching the brand she had built for many years start to sink.
[00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:46.720] Now Gwen is channeling her passion for wellness into her latest venture, The Phil, a private member's cleaning community focused on sustainable solutions.
[00:01:46.720 --> 00:01:53.760] Through this new chapter, she continues to advocate for responsible entrepreneurship and creating meaningful impact.
[00:01:53.760 --> 00:02:07.320] After not being able to speak about what happened after the acquisition until now, Gwen is finally able to reveal what can really happen after an acquisition and most importantly, what you can learn from it.
[00:02:07.320 --> 00:02:12.440] Get ready to hear Gwen's journey and her biggest business secrets.
[00:02:12.440 --> 00:02:17.320] Coming up, Gwen shares about the acquisition process with Unilever.
[00:02:17.320 --> 00:02:22.760] You'll hear all about the challenges Gwen faced going from founder to employee.
[00:02:22.760 --> 00:02:26.920] Gwen shares all her learning lessons post-acquisition.
[00:02:26.920 --> 00:02:30.440] She shares about her new business venture, The Phil.
[00:02:30.760 --> 00:02:37.560] And finally, you'll hear why Gwen's best piece of advice is to be part of the Entrepreneur League.
[00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:41.880] This is the Entrepreneur Podcast.
[00:02:41.880 --> 00:02:51.880] It's the best business meeting you'll ever have with must-hear real-life looks at how leading women in business are getting it done and what it takes to build and grow a successful company.
[00:02:51.880 --> 00:02:57.640] It's beyond the Graham with no filters, no limits, and plenty of surprises.
[00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:06.040] Gwen, the moment we've been waiting for, years in the making, we're finally doing this.
[00:03:06.040 --> 00:03:08.760] I know, we're full circle.
[00:03:08.760 --> 00:03:09.400] Full circle.
[00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:15.880] So I have to fill everyone in who may not have listened to the first episode when we had you on going back.
[00:03:15.880 --> 00:03:17.960] I think it was about five years ago now.
[00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:26.280] So Gwen and I met at a Cornell alumni entrepreneurial women's event five plus years ago now.
[00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:30.040] And we like instantly hit it off, became friends.
[00:03:30.040 --> 00:03:32.680] Gwen came on the podcast several years ago.
[00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:35.000] So we'll link out to that episode in the show notes.
[00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:59.200] And on that episode, you really talked about, you know, building the Laundress, building the brand, what it actually took to get there, but there was so much that you actually couldn't share and tell everyone on that first episode when we had you on because you were like in the middle, you were in the midst of, you know, having recently been acquired by Unilever.
[00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:02.800] It was a crazy, crazy time for you.
[00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:10.720] But when you sell a business, and you're going to tell everyone this, there's a lot of legal contracts involved and there's a lot you actually can't talk about and share.
[00:04:10.720 --> 00:04:16.160] So there was even at that time so much that you wanted to share that you couldn't and now even more.
[00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:31.200] So we've been waiting five years for your non-compete to end so you could come back on the show and actually talk about what it is like to sell a business and sell a business to a company like Unilever and what actually happened behind the scenes.
[00:04:31.200 --> 00:04:32.000] So here we are.
[00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:32.400] We made it.
[00:04:32.640 --> 00:04:33.280] Here we are.
[00:04:33.280 --> 00:04:33.760] You know what?
[00:04:33.760 --> 00:04:34.880] It's funny, Stephanie.
[00:04:34.880 --> 00:04:37.760] I really time stamp our journey.
[00:04:37.760 --> 00:04:40.880] I sold my company the end of January.
[00:04:40.880 --> 00:04:42.800] It was like January 31st.
[00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:55.760] You and I met in March when we were at Cornell event and I was speaking for the first time in a large audience at the New York Times Center for the Cornell Entrepreneurship Conference.
[00:04:55.760 --> 00:05:00.960] And then I went on your podcast and that was the first podcast I have ever, I had ever done.
[00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:01.840] I remember.
[00:05:01.840 --> 00:05:04.400] And I remember you were nervous and I was like, here you are.
[00:05:04.400 --> 00:05:09.600] You just sold your huge company and you're telling me like I'm nervous to record a podcast.
[00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:10.960] And I'm like, you can do it.
[00:05:10.960 --> 00:05:12.320] You're amazing.
[00:05:12.320 --> 00:05:15.280] And no, I feel like you've done a bunch of podcasts now over the past few years.
[00:05:15.280 --> 00:05:17.360] I've been on a lot, a big podcast journey.
[00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:20.960] So I'm excited to end the year back where I began.
[00:05:21.200 --> 00:05:22.160] Where it all started.
[00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:23.760] So, yeah.
[00:05:23.760 --> 00:05:38.360] And so when we first met and I was speaking, I had just sold the company, was within two, three months, and I really thought I had sent my baby to college.
[00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:43.320] And not only college, like even though we're Cornell girls, I was like, baby went to Harvard.
[00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:46.600] And that's really, really how I felt.
[00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:56.120] I had my company for over 16 years, and it was a very long, grueling, never unending startup.
[00:05:56.120 --> 00:06:02.760] It was never flushing cash and glamorous with, you know, along the way.
[00:06:02.760 --> 00:06:07.800] Obviously, some glamorous moments, but it was a long, rough journey.
[00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:11.880] So that's really how I felt when we last spoke.
[00:06:11.880 --> 00:06:21.720] Yeah, so I want to share with everyone today just your experience going through the sale process and really what happened after.
[00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:29.320] Actually, when Courtney and I were just recording talking about the social fly sale, like how hard it is emotionally when you actually sell your business.
[00:06:29.320 --> 00:06:47.960] And I know we've had so many conversations over the past few years with the emotional journey that you've been on, but I want everyone to really understand that and what it's actually like because it is like sending your child to college and then you hope that you've sent them to college and they're now like growing up and it's flourishing and moving on.
[00:06:47.960 --> 00:06:51.400] But like you had the opposite experience.
[00:06:51.400 --> 00:06:53.000] So take me back first.
[00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:59.000] Like if you could just walk us through the actual acquisition process itself and some of your learning lessons there.
[00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:03.320] And then let's get into what really went on behind the scenes that you can finally talk about.
[00:07:03.320 --> 00:07:03.960] Sure.
[00:07:04.280 --> 00:07:17.360] Well, I wish nothing more than for this conversation to have been the look back of look what I started and look how amazing this turned out.
[00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:22.960] That fundamentally is what I had hoped for and what I, the conversation I wish we were having.
[00:07:22.960 --> 00:07:27.920] Unfortunately, that is not the conversation that we're having.
[00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:31.840] So there's many lessons here to take away.
[00:07:31.840 --> 00:07:36.880] So some basic fundamentals, I never raised money for the laundress.
[00:07:36.880 --> 00:07:56.240] So I had never done the rounds and been in the rooms and done the pitch deck and had all of that organization that goes behind a company that has been doing that along the way, where you're sort of prepared and kind of doing that dance for the most part in a different way.
[00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:59.200] You're asking for money versus selling the company.
[00:07:59.200 --> 00:08:03.920] Unilever came to me about the acquisition.
[00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:06.800] So I hadn't even done a process.
[00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:10.480] So there was no, nothing prepared at all when that started.
[00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:23.600] I remember you talking about like you had a business plan, like you always had the vision that a large company like Unilever would buy you, but were you building the business to sell and like having your financial ducks in order?
[00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:28.640] Or you were just hoping that this scenario was going to happen one day and it kind of just appeared.
[00:08:28.640 --> 00:08:36.000] Well, the financial ducks always had to be in order because we were running on such a slim organic growth.
[00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:43.200] So I knew where every penny was and how every penny was spent and it was organized in that capacity.
[00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:58.600] But I did have the assumption, and now I'm going to say the naive idea in retrospect, but that this was a brand, that I was building a brand that would outgrow me, that needed someone bigger and better than me.
[00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:01.400] Just because I, you know, I was in my late 20s when I started.
[00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:03.880] Like, I thought that was a normal expectation.
[00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:13.000] And going into a $13 billion cleaning industry with only giants, that's all there was when I started.
[00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:14.680] There were only giants.
[00:09:14.680 --> 00:09:16.280] Because Unilever is PNG.
[00:09:16.280 --> 00:09:17.560] It was SC Johnson Wax.
[00:09:17.560 --> 00:09:19.240] Like, that's all that existed.
[00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:29.800] So, for like little Gwen Whiting to like show up with her $100,000 SBA loan, you know, to like take on the industry, I thought that was my path.
[00:09:29.800 --> 00:09:43.880] And this was also the early 2000s when Bobby Brown and Bumble and Bumble and Frederick Fokay and Bliss Spa, like all these like businesses were the niche creators just in these spaces.
[00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:53.800] Their journeys were very quick from starting, disrupting, showing a new path forward for this industry, getting acquired.
[00:09:53.800 --> 00:09:59.400] So that was like the only sort of journey I had seen in this space.
[00:09:59.400 --> 00:10:00.360] That was the assumption.
[00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:09.160] I didn't build a company to like get rich quick as like, or like startup land, or I wanted to be an entrepreneur.
[00:10:09.160 --> 00:10:12.520] Like I wanted to be like, these were not my goals and aspirations.
[00:10:12.520 --> 00:10:20.040] It was I had a vision, an idea, and that was the journey that I assumed was the path.
[00:10:20.040 --> 00:10:22.600] So Unilever literally shows up.
[00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:23.560] Literally, they knock on the door.
[00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:24.680] They literally knock on the door.
[00:10:24.680 --> 00:10:35.400] They literally walked in my store, my retail store, which made zero sense to start an acquisition discussion, to like start talking to my sales associate.
[00:10:35.400 --> 00:10:39.800] And I say now, oh, I should have known then that that was like so ridiculous.
[00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:46.000] Actually, looking back now, because when you go through an acquisition process, like that's a private process to go through.
[00:10:44.760 --> 00:10:50.000] So to like signal to your employees, like, hey, we might sell this business.
[00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:58.080] Like, yeah, literally, like, some guy shows up at Prince Street from Ohio and like starts talking speaking to my sales associate.
[00:10:58.080 --> 00:10:59.360] It was bizarre.
[00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:04.320] I feel like that's a bit of like, whoops, I should have picked up on that one.
[00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:06.320] Like, here's the thing: like, you didn't know, right?
[00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:08.000] Like, we don't know what we don't know.
[00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:15.040] And that's why, like, sharing stories like this, so now you all listening can be like, okay, like, here's what makes sense.
[00:11:15.040 --> 00:11:16.640] Here's what might not make sense.
[00:11:16.640 --> 00:11:18.080] So we can all learn from this.
[00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:23.680] I mean, normally that would sound like an entrance to like a scam, like a cyber scam.
[00:11:23.680 --> 00:11:25.200] Did you verify on LinkedIn really?
[00:11:25.280 --> 00:11:26.320] Is this where's everyone?
[00:11:26.640 --> 00:11:27.760] Everyone's using LinkedIn back then.
[00:11:27.760 --> 00:11:28.880] I was like, is this really a.
[00:11:29.520 --> 00:11:30.160] I did not.
[00:11:30.160 --> 00:11:30.880] I don't even know.
[00:11:30.880 --> 00:11:32.240] I don't remember.
[00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:33.120] Okay, so he shows up.
[00:11:33.520 --> 00:11:34.320] He shows up.
[00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:37.440] Fast forward, 13 months of negotiations.
[00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:39.040] I didn't even have a banker.
[00:11:39.040 --> 00:11:41.280] Like, I mean, it was like starting from scratch.
[00:11:41.280 --> 00:11:45.120] But as you know, these deals, everything's like urgent tomorrow.
[00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:51.600] I started the acquisition process, which I felt really on my hind leg.
[00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:55.200] So it's a little different when you're running a process and you're prepared to sell.
[00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:56.800] You have all your ducks in order.
[00:11:56.800 --> 00:12:00.800] I had nothing and like scramble.
[00:12:00.800 --> 00:12:04.640] And that's also like puts you in like a point of weakness as well.
[00:12:04.640 --> 00:12:10.400] Had you talked about though when, if there was a particular point you were going to go out and actually start running a process?
[00:12:10.400 --> 00:12:14.080] Yeah, that the idea would be in like a year and a half from the time that it happened.
[00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:14.640] Okay.
[00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:21.520] It was an idea and it was like on the to-do list, but it wasn't on that year's to-do list.
[00:12:21.520 --> 00:12:22.080] Okay.
[00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:22.400] All right.
[00:12:22.400 --> 00:12:24.720] So now you start having conversations.
[00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:33.000] So now we start going down the road and you know, you're in this awkward space where it's a secret, it's confidential.
[00:12:29.520 --> 00:12:34.760] Like you don't want to start talking about it.
[00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:37.880] You're, you know, you don't want to jinx it.
[00:12:37.880 --> 00:12:49.000] Like you're in this like weird zone of secrecy, which is not also helpful for the founder who's trying to do something they've never done before.
[00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:54.520] And it's the absolute antithesis of the entrepreneursa network, which, you know, you're all about.
[00:12:54.520 --> 00:13:00.520] And again, I didn't have the entrepreneursa network my entire journey of 16 years.
[00:13:00.520 --> 00:13:01.480] It didn't exist.
[00:13:01.640 --> 00:13:05.160] It was, I was started this in 2002.
[00:13:05.160 --> 00:13:06.600] If only we existed then.
[00:13:06.600 --> 00:13:09.080] I've only, if only, I mean, nothing existed then.
[00:13:09.080 --> 00:13:12.760] I mean, you basically started e-commerce.
[00:13:12.760 --> 00:13:13.880] LinkedIn didn't exist.
[00:13:13.880 --> 00:13:15.880] Yeah, like the shopping carts.
[00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:17.880] I mean, nothing existed.
[00:13:17.880 --> 00:13:23.880] But you're in this unusual space where you don't feel free to talk.
[00:13:23.880 --> 00:13:28.120] You don't feel free to crowdsource help and information.
[00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:31.560] There's also very few people who've been in your shoes.
[00:13:31.880 --> 00:13:36.600] And so you're kind of going through this, or I'm going to say I was going through this.
[00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:39.000] Like, I'm always overly prepared for everything.
[00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:39.640] I'm planned.
[00:13:39.640 --> 00:13:42.200] I've got, you know, I know what I'm action.
[00:13:42.200 --> 00:13:45.320] But this was like, okay, buckle up.
[00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:47.000] Like, we're going for the ride.
[00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:53.240] And then you're just trusting, you know, a few amounts of people and conversations and resources that you have available.
[00:13:53.560 --> 00:13:57.560] So walk me through towards the end of the process.
[00:13:57.560 --> 00:13:59.880] You've negotiated a deal.
[00:13:59.880 --> 00:14:01.960] You have a date to close.
[00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:03.880] Tell me what happens then.
[00:14:04.520 --> 00:15:46.680] So along the way, it took a while to arrive with the right people to help on the selling side, but there was one lead who was the president who wanted this acquisition this was like his thing he had spearheaded a number of the acquisitions previous to us so it felt like we were going through a process and a system that was established a well-walked path is how it was visually presented and so you're just kind of like trusting the giant company that this is like the freshman year class you know it's like you show up to college you're a freshman like they're not reinventing the system it's like a tried and true path that's how i felt about unilever was okay i'm walking a path that's tried and true there's like you know everything's organized and we're just like going the latest down the aisle did you talk to any founders of other companies that they had acquired about their experience yes and they provided that list of resources one was like very new so they didn't have anything really bad to say yet and then every deal is different which is like how that's done like the 13 men from unilever show up to like the female team you know and that was like a very obvious thing that happened and then they're saying we have this we have that you can access all this stuff the the hr guy that was there the legal guy was there.
[00:15:46.680 --> 00:15:48.200] Like, oh, we have it all.
[00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:51.640] Like, just come to the mothership.
[00:15:51.640 --> 00:15:54.120] You know, you have everything.
[00:15:54.440 --> 00:15:59.160] Stephanie, I'm sure you know, like, you would share the same sensibility.
[00:15:59.160 --> 00:16:01.160] All you want is HR and legal.
[00:16:01.400 --> 00:16:01.720] Yeah.
[00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:07.320] If you don't have to pay $500 an hour anymore, let's do, yes, that sounds amazing.
[00:16:07.320 --> 00:16:08.520] I want resources.
[00:16:08.520 --> 00:16:09.400] Take that.
[00:16:09.400 --> 00:16:11.240] Like, we're winning, you know?
[00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:14.440] It's just like, oh, a health insurance and a 401k.
[00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:15.240] Yes.
[00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:16.920] You know, all these things.
[00:16:16.920 --> 00:16:18.600] The basics, right?
[00:16:18.920 --> 00:16:23.480] You know, you kind of get, you know, wooed in that you have all these resources.
[00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:26.120] And then fast forward, we close.
[00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:31.960] And talking about trusting the process, there are some things that I didn't micromanage.
[00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:38.040] I had the lawyers and the bankers and them and like, you know, like all of these things.
[00:16:38.040 --> 00:16:49.240] And you think that like you're getting a million documents and a million calls and a million vetting and data rooms and like everything, every single document you've ever had is in there.
[00:16:49.240 --> 00:17:00.200] You know, like you think you like everything is being buttoned up and you're just going to effectively show up freshman year in school and like everything's going to be normal and have a system.
[00:17:00.520 --> 00:17:10.680] And that was one of my biggest disappointments, which was the day of the closing, you close all your bank accounts, you know, all your credit line disappears because you've shut down your company.
[00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:14.280] Your company doesn't exist anymore in the same capacity.
[00:17:14.280 --> 00:17:18.840] And you know, Limer never set up the bank account for us to move to.
[00:17:18.840 --> 00:17:20.280] Like that wasn't done.
[00:17:20.280 --> 00:17:24.200] And then the absurdity of the bank account, which was it wasn't done.
[00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:33.480] A, we were international acquisition, which made things 10 times more complicated and ridiculous, which I had no warning of.
[00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:35.160] You know, you're an acquisition, you're an acquisition.
[00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:38.680] Like, I didn't, I didn't know that it was going to be such a big deal that I wasn't a U.S.
[00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:39.800] acquisition.
[00:17:39.800 --> 00:17:42.520] And that was a major, major problem.
[00:17:42.840 --> 00:17:45.760] So, they sent us a bank account that was based in London.
[00:17:45.760 --> 00:17:47.920] You can't use an international bank account.
[00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:49.760] That's like not how the U.S.
[00:17:44.840 --> 00:17:51.360] banking system works.
[00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:53.680] You know, and so I was like, What are you doing?
[00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:55.760] Like, we're New York-based.
[00:17:55.760 --> 00:17:58.160] Like, I can't use the London branch.
[00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:00.800] It was like insanity.
[00:18:00.800 --> 00:18:02.640] And this is like from day one.
[00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:03.360] Day one.
[00:18:03.360 --> 00:18:06.880] And then day two is like, okay, so who's my legal person?
[00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:08.480] And they're like, oh, well, this is the U.S.
[00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:08.960] team.
[00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:11.040] You're with the international people.
[00:18:11.360 --> 00:18:13.440] And I'm like, excuse me.
[00:18:13.760 --> 00:18:21.440] You know, so it was really like instantly wool over your eyes that you actually know that's not your guy.
[00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:34.400] And do you think, knowing this now, like, had you known this, do you think if you were to have spoken up and shared, like, I want to meet the team ahead of time and I want to make sure all these processes are done, like that would have actually gotten done?
[00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:39.440] Or would those have been just like red flags back then to be like, maybe, like, would you not have done the deal?
[00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:40.320] I don't know.
[00:18:40.320 --> 00:18:43.920] So I, it's a great question because I have no idea.
[00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:45.040] I don't know what's normal, right?
[00:18:45.040 --> 00:18:47.920] I've never asked anyone if they had that set up in previous.
[00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:49.840] And everyone's like, every deal is different.
[00:18:49.840 --> 00:18:50.880] Every deal is unique.
[00:18:50.880 --> 00:19:06.400] You know, that super annoying response that you get from everyone, every lawyer, every banker, you know, you're just like, okay, well, there's got to be some, some standardized operating procedures, something.
[00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:08.160] I wondered that myself.
[00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:18.480] I wondered myself is if I said, no, I want like a list of who was accountable, who are my point people, when do I get transferred legally?
[00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.960] When, like, it's an interesting thing.
[00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:27.000] But again, I was just like trusting the system that I was showing up on campus.
[00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:31.400] And these were all normal processes that are in place.
[00:19:31.400 --> 00:19:34.680] And when I spoke to other companies, they're like, this is insane.
[00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:36.920] Like, there should have been a transition team.
[00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:39.000] That's how these things are done.
[00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:41.000] And there was no transition team.
[00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:42.920] There was no accountability.
[00:19:42.920 --> 00:19:44.360] There was not a.
[00:19:44.840 --> 00:19:52.600] I mean, I would think of a company of your size at that time and the scale of Unilever, like, you would think that would be normal there.
[00:19:52.600 --> 00:19:57.640] I can understand smaller companies that super small teams and acquisitions.
[00:19:57.640 --> 00:19:59.080] It's like, you got to work on those plans.
[00:19:59.080 --> 00:20:02.360] Like, together, the other company, it might have been like a first acquisition.
[00:20:02.360 --> 00:20:03.720] They haven't experienced that yet.
[00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:09.160] But I would assume you would think with a large company like that, you would have that.
[00:20:09.160 --> 00:20:12.760] You would have thought that it was like just a process in place.
[00:20:12.760 --> 00:20:13.240] Yeah.
[00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:16.440] And it was non-existent.
[00:20:16.440 --> 00:20:21.080] I think the learning there and like that Courtney and I went through too is like, trust but verify.
[00:20:21.080 --> 00:20:22.360] Yeah, trust but verify.
[00:20:22.600 --> 00:20:24.440] Trust but verify like in everything.
[00:20:24.760 --> 00:20:27.640] Yeah, shame on me, but really, was that my job?
[00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:30.200] Did I, you know, I had no idea.
[00:20:30.520 --> 00:20:32.280] So yes, lessons learned.
[00:20:32.280 --> 00:20:33.080] Lessons learned.
[00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:39.640] Definitely have a clearer understanding of how day two happens.
[00:20:39.960 --> 00:20:48.360] And my employment contracts were like, oh, you're just going to keep doing the same job, but you've handed over the keys to your car.
[00:20:48.360 --> 00:20:49.960] It's not your car anymore.
[00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:52.360] Like, it's not your house anymore.
[00:20:52.360 --> 00:21:02.520] So psychologically, it was very hard to understand and really know what was yours anymore.
[00:21:02.520 --> 00:21:08.680] Were there boundaries around what decisions you were allowed to make and like when you had to get approval for certain things?
[00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:10.600] There was no structure, period.
[00:21:10.600 --> 00:21:25.600] And this is where, for me, my most disappointing and eye-opening takeaway was I was personally responsible for my brand for 16 years.
[00:21:25.600 --> 00:21:48.960] Personally, I was personally responsible for paying the checks, the loans, the payroll, the insurance, the product, the product efficacy, the customer experience, the shopping cart, like every single thing I was personally responsible for.
[00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:52.000] And I took that incredibly seriously.
[00:21:52.000 --> 00:22:04.640] And what I was not prepared for in any way, shape, or form was the transition to Unilever, which no one's responsible.
[00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:05.680] Nothing.
[00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:11.200] Not even the president who made the deal, no one.
[00:22:11.520 --> 00:22:21.680] And that culture of zero accountability, zero responsibility, I don't even know how to place that.
[00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:28.720] Up next, Gwen reveals the emotional toll of watching her brand sink after the sale.
[00:22:36.080 --> 00:22:37.280] Hi, Entrepreneurs.
[00:22:37.280 --> 00:22:38.320] It's Steph here.
[00:22:38.320 --> 00:22:44.960] As a founder, I know firsthand that building a business can feel so lonely, but it doesn't have to.
[00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:49.680] And that's why we created our Entrepreneurista Founders Weekend Wealth and Wellness Retreat.
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[00:23:34.840 --> 00:23:43.080] That's entrepreneursa.com forward slash foundersweekend or head over to the show notes right now and tap the invitation to reserve your ticket.
[00:23:43.080 --> 00:23:44.520] I'll see you there.
[00:23:54.440 --> 00:24:09.720] How did you make it through those next few years where you had to still be employed at the company and just watching your baby feel like you don't have the direction that you wanted to continue the company's path on?
[00:24:10.040 --> 00:24:11.880] It was horrible.
[00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:24.840] The 16 years was not a picnic, but those two years were the worst at the end of After Why Didn't Own It because I just had to, in the beginning, I was very polite and I was like, they know what they're doing.
[00:24:24.840 --> 00:24:39.000] Or like, you know, I'm just gonna watch, you know, trust that they know what they're doing or not be difficult or not get aggressive, not be the angry founder, the difficult founder, and the female founder.
[00:24:39.320 --> 00:24:40.760] I looked around the room.
[00:24:40.760 --> 00:24:44.760] The men founders still had their jobs, the female founders did not.
[00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:48.800] So that was interesting to wait, what?
[00:24:48.800 --> 00:24:52.960] You know, that was an eye-opener as well.
[00:24:53.280 --> 00:25:05.040] But it was just so painful to watch and see that I was on the Titanic and I self-induced the iceberg.
[00:25:05.040 --> 00:25:08.400] Like, that was my choice, that was my decision.
[00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:12.400] And the iceberg has been hit.
[00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:15.920] And now it's a matter of time where we're like going down.
[00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:19.520] But you're taking in water for a long time.
[00:25:19.840 --> 00:25:24.800] And, you know, I've got it, got the life jackets, I've got the lifeboats.
[00:25:24.800 --> 00:25:28.800] I'm trying to, you know, I'm like fierce mama bear.
[00:25:28.800 --> 00:25:30.640] I'm trying to protect my employees.
[00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:46.240] I'm trying to protect all my partners, my factory partners, my production partners, my international partners that had stores for us and had businesses supporting our brand and protect my brand itself.
[00:25:46.560 --> 00:25:51.360] Yeah, you built your brand, your personal brand with the laundress.
[00:25:51.360 --> 00:25:52.000] Yeah.
[00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:54.720] But the boat was going down.
[00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:56.880] The boat was sinking.
[00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:04.000] And I spent two years trying to bail the water out, but it was still going to sink.
[00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:08.480] And was that a waste of two years of my life?
[00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:09.600] Maybe.
[00:26:10.320 --> 00:26:13.440] You know, it was wildly heartbreaking, of course.
[00:26:13.760 --> 00:26:20.480] Did I morally and personally, do the right thing that's authentic to my value system?
[00:26:20.800 --> 00:26:21.840] Yes.
[00:26:22.800 --> 00:26:38.120] So, you know, if I, in retrospect, would the emotional part, would it have been better if I had it already a better therapist or a therapist at the time of the sale to say, okay, sell it in the moment and walk away?
[00:26:38.120 --> 00:26:42.440] I was not prepared for that in any way, shape, or form.
[00:26:42.760 --> 00:26:45.240] Would that have made a difference?
[00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:45.960] No.
[00:26:46.600 --> 00:26:55.080] I just wouldn't have sat there for two years or screamed for two years watching it and worked so hard for that.
[00:26:55.080 --> 00:26:57.240] So I don't know what the right answer is.
[00:26:57.240 --> 00:27:13.160] And I'll tell you what's very upsetting: over the last five years, specifically the last three years, I can't tell you how many people, mostly men, say, I don't understand what your problem is.
[00:27:13.160 --> 00:27:14.040] You got your money.
[00:27:14.040 --> 00:27:15.320] You got paid.
[00:27:15.320 --> 00:27:16.840] What is your problem?
[00:27:16.840 --> 00:27:23.000] That just makes my head pop off because it's not transactional.
[00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:25.160] This is never transactional for me.
[00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:27.080] Like, this wasn't about the money.
[00:27:27.080 --> 00:27:37.320] This was 20 years of my life dedicated to doing something with complete excellence with my full soul and value system.
[00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:39.800] That's the heartbreak.
[00:27:39.800 --> 00:27:40.280] Yeah.
[00:27:40.600 --> 00:27:49.240] And believing like you always built your business to do the right thing and to serve people and create a premium product that was helpful to people.
[00:27:49.240 --> 00:27:56.280] And you sold the company with the intention that it was only going to get better and then to accessible to more people.
[00:27:56.280 --> 00:27:56.680] Yeah.
[00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:07.720] More happy customers, more incredible laundry rooms and clothes lasting longer and stains free and clean, non-toxic homes.
[00:28:07.720 --> 00:28:08.440] All of that.
[00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:14.280] It was like the opportunity for making that accessible worldwide.
[00:28:14.280 --> 00:28:16.320] That was the whole point.
[00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:30.480] And you did it all with the best of intentions and didn't know what you didn't know until the ship started sinking and you had to figure out how to stay afloat and pick yourself back up and now and now rebuild.
[00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:34.400] And you've been able to take this business life heartbreak.
[00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:36.400] Like I would, they feel the same way.
[00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:38.720] Like with entrepreneurs, I feel the same way, right?
[00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:48.720] If we ever sold this company and we sold to someone who wasn't like vision, mission aligned, and we believe that they were and stuff started sinking, like I would be devastated.
[00:28:48.720 --> 00:29:00.320] No matter what price you sell something for, when you believe so wholeheartedly in what you've built and it's your baby, and I know a lot of people say all the time, like you have to separate yourself from your business.
[00:29:00.320 --> 00:29:01.760] Like, I don't think so.
[00:29:01.760 --> 00:29:02.880] Like, you don't have to.
[00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:04.560] Like, if you, I agree.
[00:29:04.560 --> 00:29:07.360] I, and I, I believe that there are different founders.
[00:29:07.360 --> 00:29:08.960] I am a heart founder.
[00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:10.960] You are a heart founder.
[00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:19.600] We didn't just like want to be entrepreneurs and write a business plan out of grad school and like pick a business and write a plan and do it.
[00:29:19.600 --> 00:29:24.640] That was not our shared value system.
[00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:29.440] There's a space for everything, but that's not where I came from.
[00:29:29.440 --> 00:30:14.840] You know, why I feel it's important to talk about it now and what, at least on the heels of my learning lessons and being honest and really exercising my non-disparaging agreement, which not many people do, very few of us speak out against Goliath, is really to drive change and an awareness of MA and maybe be either be aware, make better decisions, or just have greater knowledge, but also driving change in responsibility for funders to be more responsible and for acquirers to be more responsible.
[00:30:14.840 --> 00:30:21.800] Coming up, you'll learn all about the importance of understanding different acquisition paths for founders.
[00:30:25.640 --> 00:30:32.120] Founders are always asking us, what has been the secret to our success building multiple seven-figure businesses?
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[00:31:27.080 --> 00:31:33.480] You can join us in the community over at refer.entreprenista.com forward slash join us.
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[00:31:42.920 --> 00:31:44.760] I cannot wait to meet you.
[00:31:45.840 --> 00:31:53.760] Knowing what you know now, advice to fellow entrepreneurs who are building a business to ultimately sell.
[00:31:53.760 --> 00:31:56.080] And again, like your story is your story.
[00:31:56.080 --> 00:31:57.600] It is a very unique story.
[00:31:57.600 --> 00:32:05.120] Yes, are there other stories of founders that have had very lucrative exits and the company falls apart after?
[00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:06.400] Yes, that happens.
[00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:13.920] Are there deals where a founder sells to a company and now that company really thrives and is able to do more and flourish?
[00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:15.440] Like that does happen too.
[00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:18.480] So we don't want to scare anyone into thinking like never sell your business.
[00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:33.600] Like there can be really great outcomes, but now like knowing this and hearing your story, what would you share with entrepreneurs to do like as you're going through the process, like having conversations with potential acquirers, going through the due diligence process?
[00:32:33.600 --> 00:32:38.960] Like what are some of those questions that founders should be asking the potential acquirer?
[00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:45.440] First of all, I do want to emphasize that an acquisition is not the end-all be-all.
[00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:56.160] And I really want to emphasize that because I think there's so many misinformation or numers or ideas out there that people think the norm is raising money.
[00:32:56.160 --> 00:32:57.200] I did not.
[00:32:57.200 --> 00:32:58.400] There's another way to do it.
[00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:02.080] It's just less talked about and gets less attention.
[00:33:02.080 --> 00:33:05.280] The end-all is not always an exit.
[00:33:05.600 --> 00:33:16.720] There is so much more value and so much more economic power and good that can be done with a privately owned business.
[00:33:17.040 --> 00:33:20.800] Small business has got a bad rap.
[00:33:20.800 --> 00:33:22.400] But if you look at the U.S.
[00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:26.000] economy, the majority of money comes from small businesses.
[00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:41.880] So the power and strength of that and celebrating that and providing a wonderful life and income and creating jobs and growth should be very celebrated and understood.
[00:33:41.880 --> 00:33:50.040] If I could have just kept on going and doing all of those wonderful things in retrospect, that would have been incredible.
[00:33:50.040 --> 00:33:57.160] I was under some other circumstances that didn't make that path viable or attractive.
[00:33:57.480 --> 00:33:58.760] No, I'm glad you're sharing that.
[00:33:58.760 --> 00:34:09.960] And this, of course, is something we talk about all the time inside our entrepreneurial community because you can build a business doing even $250,000 a year in revenue for your business and you're making incredible income.
[00:34:09.960 --> 00:34:17.720] You're building the life that you want and moving the scale upwards, even a business doing a couple million dollars a year in revenue.
[00:34:17.720 --> 00:34:23.640] You can be doing 20, 30, 40% in profit and making a lot of money along the way.
[00:34:23.640 --> 00:34:29.400] And those are the evaluations you have to look at when deciding, okay, like, do I maybe eventually want to sell my business?
[00:34:29.400 --> 00:34:37.640] Like, it's totally great if you do, and there can be a really lucrative outcome, but it's really also dependent on like what you want for yourself and your life.
[00:34:37.640 --> 00:34:45.720] You know, a lot of times we build businesses and start businesses when we're younger and then our life changes and evolves and like the business doesn't fit what you want for your life anymore.
[00:34:45.720 --> 00:34:53.800] So if you build a sustainable, scalable, sellable business, then at least you have the opportunity to do something with it later on.
[00:34:53.800 --> 00:34:55.800] But it doesn't have to be the path for everyone.
[00:34:55.800 --> 00:35:03.480] Like most founders are building businesses to have a really great cash flow and we celebrate that every single day inside the entrepreneurship community.
[00:35:03.640 --> 00:35:04.040] That is for sure.
[00:35:04.600 --> 00:35:05.080] Exactly.
[00:35:05.080 --> 00:35:15.920] And it also makes a very big difference when you have an ownership structure, whether it's sole ownership or partnership, and you have own all the full percentage of your company.
[00:35:16.160 --> 00:35:35.680] Then, if you've raised money and you own less than half or whatever, those economics at the end of the day it shakes out usually better for you to be smaller and operating a profitable business than to have a larger number attached to you that you don't actually get a piece of that action from.
[00:35:35.680 --> 00:35:46.160] But anyhow, so that's one thing I do always want to call out: celebrate and encourage people to really understand and choose a path appropriately.
[00:35:46.160 --> 00:35:58.880] In terms of an acquisition process, yes, you could be as organized and as possible and or not, or you know, all those sort of check the box things.
[00:35:59.200 --> 00:36:03.920] But at the end of the day, you are selling your work to someone else.
[00:36:03.920 --> 00:36:04.960] You're selling your house.
[00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:09.840] If they burn down your house, if they sell, they destroy the house, like you don't have any control over that.
[00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:25.360] You can do your best due diligence to protect that, feel that you're aligned, try and have as much organized upfront so you understand, but you really can't control the outcome.
[00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:45.680] And what's even worse is to have an earn out where you're not only financially tied, but then even more mentally exhausted by this in a situation that your controls are very limited with the outcomes.
[00:36:45.680 --> 00:36:58.400] If I had an earned out structure that would have been blown in the first three months just because of terrible decisions and actions that you know leave or put into place.
[00:36:58.400 --> 00:37:09.960] And I think it would be incredibly difficult to have all of your controls and checks and balances foresight ahead of time to protect you from that from happening.
[00:37:10.280 --> 00:37:13.480] Yeah, that's why, you know, we worked with an MA advisor.
[00:37:13.480 --> 00:37:16.840] We worked with a company called Tobin Left and Mary's a partner at Tobin Left.
[00:37:16.840 --> 00:37:25.640] She's in our entrepreneurship community and it was so helpful to have someone like Mary and David at Tobin Left to work with to like walk us through the whole process because we didn't know what we were doing.
[00:37:25.880 --> 00:37:26.920] You don't know what you know.
[00:37:27.400 --> 00:37:29.400] It's like buying a house for the first time.
[00:37:29.400 --> 00:37:30.440] You have no idea.
[00:37:30.840 --> 00:37:31.640] Why would you?
[00:37:32.200 --> 00:37:35.800] You work with a real estate agent, you work with a broker, someone that's going to help advise you.
[00:37:35.800 --> 00:37:42.440] And when you have that, like they were able to share with us because they specialize with selling Social Fly, they specialize in selling marketing agencies.
[00:37:42.440 --> 00:37:46.280] So they had all the data and the information to be like, okay, this is what's normal in a deal like this.
[00:37:46.280 --> 00:37:47.400] This is what's not normal.
[00:37:47.400 --> 00:37:51.960] These are the areas where you can ask for more or there's not going to be any potential wiggle room here.
[00:37:51.960 --> 00:37:56.200] So we were able to have that guidance, which really helped us through the process.
[00:37:56.200 --> 00:38:01.720] But again, like you said, like you don't know what is going to actually happen until it happens.
[00:38:01.880 --> 00:38:03.160] You don't know what you don't know.
[00:38:03.160 --> 00:38:03.800] Exactly.
[00:38:03.800 --> 00:38:04.120] Yeah.
[00:38:04.120 --> 00:38:06.760] So we try to share as much as possible.
[00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:11.720] If I had a dollar for the amount of times people also said, well, what did you expect to happen?
[00:38:11.720 --> 00:38:13.560] Like, you know, acquisitions always get screwed up.
[00:38:13.560 --> 00:38:15.240] They always ruin the brands.
[00:38:15.240 --> 00:38:21.400] Six years ago, that was sort of not the assumption that every brand that got acquired got ruined.
[00:38:21.560 --> 00:38:24.360] It's like, I just happen to be ahead of the curve on that one.
[00:38:24.360 --> 00:38:25.080] Always ahead.
[00:38:25.240 --> 00:38:26.200] Yay, me.
[00:38:26.520 --> 00:38:30.440] Starting the laundry trend and starting the crazy acquisition trend.
[00:38:30.680 --> 00:38:32.360] The trashed acquisition trend.
[00:38:32.600 --> 00:38:33.400] Oh, gosh.
[00:38:33.720 --> 00:38:36.040] Well, I know that, and we know.
[00:38:36.040 --> 00:38:43.960] Money doesn't buy happiness and it doesn't buy feeling better when your brand feels like it gets lit on fire by someone else.
[00:38:43.960 --> 00:38:50.240] That really hurts, but money does buy the opportunity to help other people and give back.
[00:38:50.560 --> 00:39:00.480] And after many years of taking out credit cards and loans, it probably felt a little good to just have a little extra change in your pocket.
[00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:09.360] Was there anything special that you bought for yourself or did to give to other entrepreneurs after the acquisition?
[00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:15.840] Well, yeah, it was nice not sweating through the night of worry.
[00:39:16.640 --> 00:39:20.320] That was a nice change in many years of that.
[00:39:20.320 --> 00:39:34.960] Yeah, I, you know, I didn't go buy anything wild, but it is rewarding to be able to be philanthropic and also to spend time dedicated to helping others.
[00:39:34.960 --> 00:39:43.040] I always, since my first summer graduating college, always trying to help other students get jobs.
[00:39:43.040 --> 00:39:54.320] I mean, when I my first job at Ralph Lauren that summer, I was like, we need interns and got five design students summer internships with Jamie Banks from Entrepreneursa, one of them.
[00:39:54.320 --> 00:39:56.640] So that's always been important to me.
[00:39:56.640 --> 00:40:08.640] I was an apparel design major, so so much success had to be with who you knew and networking through alumni and getting internships and getting in the front door to get a job.
[00:40:08.640 --> 00:40:16.000] So that was always important to me to really keep that cycle going and that's something I still do today.
[00:40:16.240 --> 00:40:26.320] But it's just much more accelerated with the other entrepreneurs and whether they're students or startups or even established founders in their journey.
[00:40:26.320 --> 00:40:31.640] I have a little bit of a bat phone of people that I informally advise.
[00:40:31.640 --> 00:40:32.440] But that is important.
[00:40:32.440 --> 00:40:33.720] That's very important to me.
[00:40:33.720 --> 00:40:37.320] And I love that I have the luxury to dedicate time to that.
[00:40:37.320 --> 00:40:47.880] And you've been so incredible, even coming and speaking with members in our Entrepreneurs League community at office hours and just sharing all of your learning lessons and connecting with everyone.
[00:40:47.880 --> 00:40:53.320] And a story, I think I've shared this with you before, but it was just so impactful for Jill.
[00:40:53.320 --> 00:41:01.080] So when we first had started the Entrepreneurs League, I had connected you with, and you were still at the laundress at the time.
[00:41:01.080 --> 00:41:05.160] I connected you with my friend who's in the entrepreneurship community, Jill Apgar.
[00:41:05.160 --> 00:41:17.800] She was just starting her business at that time and you got on a call with her and connected with her and introduced her to someone on the laundress team and ended up doing a promo with the laundress and her brand new brand.
[00:41:17.800 --> 00:41:23.720] And it helped her get all of her first followers on Instagram and like put her business on the map.
[00:41:23.720 --> 00:41:28.280] And like, you didn't have to take that call and do that and make that introduction for her.
[00:41:28.280 --> 00:41:38.600] And it's just like when we are all able to connect each other and help each other, there's just so much opportunity out there for everyone because running a business is hard, selling a business is hard.
[00:41:38.600 --> 00:41:43.160] Like it's all really hard, but it's a lot more fun and easier when we can all help each other.
[00:41:43.160 --> 00:41:44.200] Yes, it is.
[00:41:44.200 --> 00:41:44.920] It is.
[00:41:44.920 --> 00:41:47.960] And putting my shoulders out for someone else to stand on.
[00:41:47.960 --> 00:41:49.640] I've been at this a long time.
[00:41:49.640 --> 00:41:54.120] So to leverage that power is important.
[00:41:54.120 --> 00:41:58.360] And I hope that I inspire other people to do the same.
[00:41:58.360 --> 00:42:00.120] No, you definitely do.
[00:42:00.120 --> 00:42:00.520] All right.
[00:42:00.520 --> 00:42:04.280] So I want to share with everyone that the two of us had a conversation.
[00:42:04.280 --> 00:42:07.000] I think it was probably like three, I think it was three years ago now.
[00:42:07.000 --> 00:42:18.080] We were on a Zoom and you're like, I just, I feel like I just need to start another cleaning company because I really need cleaning products and I can't use these anymore.
[00:42:14.680 --> 00:42:20.800] So Stephanie, it was last year.
[00:42:21.120 --> 00:42:22.000] Was it last year?
[00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:22.640] Yes.
[00:42:24.240 --> 00:42:25.680] It was only last year?
[00:42:25.680 --> 00:42:26.480] Correct.
[00:42:26.480 --> 00:42:28.560] It was last August.
[00:42:28.880 --> 00:42:31.680] And you were telling me, like, I just think I need to start another business.
[00:42:31.680 --> 00:42:37.360] I was like, I was like, Gwen, don't you just need, like, just keep giving back to others.
[00:42:37.360 --> 00:42:38.000] Just relax.
[00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:40.640] You don't need to, don't put yourself in the mix of starting another business again.
[00:42:40.640 --> 00:42:41.280] You don't need to do that.
[00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:43.920] You're like, I need my cleaning products.
[00:42:43.920 --> 00:42:45.200] I need to start a business.
[00:42:45.200 --> 00:42:47.360] And I'm like, okay, how can I help?
[00:42:47.360 --> 00:42:48.240] What do you need me to do?
[00:42:48.240 --> 00:42:49.040] Let's do it.
[00:42:49.440 --> 00:42:53.760] So the Stephanie Carton bat phone was alive and well.
[00:42:53.760 --> 00:42:58.320] And yes, it was only about 14 months ago, if you can believe it.
[00:42:58.320 --> 00:42:59.600] No, I can't.
[00:42:59.600 --> 00:43:02.560] So 14 months ago, you have this vision, you have this idea.
[00:43:02.560 --> 00:43:05.760] And actually, I remember you were brainstorming names with me on that call.
[00:43:05.760 --> 00:43:06.480] Yes, exactly.
[00:43:06.480 --> 00:43:12.240] No, yeah, we were looking on domain.com if they were available.
[00:43:12.880 --> 00:43:16.560] All right, so tell everyone about this new business that you just launched.
[00:43:16.560 --> 00:43:18.960] Oh my gosh, that was such a memory.
[00:43:18.960 --> 00:43:24.320] So I, of course, called Stephanie, am I insane to do this?
[00:43:24.320 --> 00:43:25.760] And who do you know?
[00:43:25.760 --> 00:43:30.800] And we actually also started when I wanted to really tell my story.
[00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:37.200] And I was coming up to the expiration of my non-compete and non-disparaging agreement.
[00:43:37.200 --> 00:44:03.560] And because the Unilever downfall, Titanic sinking was so public, I felt that I needed to invest in clearing my name, resurrecting myself, and separating my story from their downfall, and wanting to really speak out and share these lessons learned of accountability, which I so strongly believe in.
[00:43:59.760 --> 00:44:04.840] So that's where the journey started.
[00:44:05.320 --> 00:44:19.400] And then Stephanie also introduced me to my favorite web development team, Entrepreneurs, Reading Pretty, and Amy Schoenthal, and Ann, it goes on, but just incredible.
[00:44:19.400 --> 00:44:25.960] My new company, The Phil, is completely created by the Entrepreneurista Network.
[00:44:26.600 --> 00:44:28.360] It's like the best entrepreneur.
[00:44:28.520 --> 00:44:35.800] We have a lot of stories in the community of everyone collaborating and connecting, but it's just so amazing when you're like, okay, I'm going to start.
[00:44:35.800 --> 00:44:38.760] I'm like, okay, talk to Janine for your website.
[00:44:39.000 --> 00:44:39.880] Send emails.
[00:44:40.520 --> 00:44:43.480] Talk to Amy about your personal branding, NPR.
[00:44:43.480 --> 00:44:44.840] We need to have you tell this story.
[00:44:44.840 --> 00:44:48.760] And then when you're ready, you can come back on this podcast and tell the story that you've just told.
[00:44:48.760 --> 00:44:49.640] And here we are.
[00:44:49.640 --> 00:44:50.040] Exactly.
[00:44:50.040 --> 00:44:53.480] One-stop shop, fully vetted, entrepreneurista.
[00:44:53.480 --> 00:45:01.720] Yeah, so my brand that I created was no longer in any shape or form of my work.
[00:45:02.040 --> 00:45:05.720] So I did feel that I needed to have my own products.
[00:45:05.720 --> 00:45:09.800] I was not going to start buying tide now 20 years later.
[00:45:09.800 --> 00:45:16.600] I did try dry cleaning just out of rebellion, and that was a short-lived episode as well.
[00:45:16.600 --> 00:45:21.720] But I did not want to be making cleaning products again, period, end of story.
[00:45:21.720 --> 00:45:23.000] I had done it.
[00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:24.600] I dedicated my life to it.
[00:45:24.600 --> 00:45:26.520] I did the best I could have done.
[00:45:26.520 --> 00:45:30.680] I created incredible product and incredible brand, but you want to do something different.
[00:45:30.680 --> 00:45:38.440] You know, I was excited to really get into a new business, a different market, a different category.
[00:45:38.440 --> 00:45:53.920] I'm very focused on health and wellness, and there is so much room for improvement in our healthcare system, especially as women, especially as a middle-aged 40, late 40-year-old woman.
[00:45:54.560 --> 00:45:58.640] And that's really the space that I wanted to be working in.
[00:45:58.640 --> 00:46:02.800] However, I felt that I had to do this first.
[00:46:02.800 --> 00:46:05.600] I felt that this was unfinished business.
[00:46:05.600 --> 00:46:11.920] And so I launched my second cleaning brand, The Phil.
[00:46:12.160 --> 00:46:15.200] The website's thephilclub.com.
[00:46:15.200 --> 00:46:17.520] But I am building very differently.
[00:46:17.840 --> 00:46:31.280] I know I challenge Stephanie's all belief system about marketing and social and everything that you can traditionally and very beautifully build from.
[00:46:31.280 --> 00:46:40.400] I chose to reject because that's fine because you have a vision for what you want this to be.
[00:46:40.880 --> 00:46:43.760] Yes, I have a vision and a different goal set.
[00:46:43.760 --> 00:46:54.560] Actually, I want you to explain to everyone like what the difference is between the fill and how you actually become a customer of the fill and get into the platform because it's not what we're used to, right?
[00:46:54.560 --> 00:47:02.080] We're all used to going to the grocery store, Whole Foods, wherever we go to buy cleaning products or on Amazon.
[00:47:02.080 --> 00:47:06.000] We order stuff on subscription, but like that is not where you are going to find the fill.
[00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:08.160] So, how do you actually find it?
[00:47:08.240 --> 00:47:09.200] How do you find it?
[00:47:09.440 --> 00:47:11.120] You listen to the Entrepreneurs to Podcast.
[00:47:11.280 --> 00:47:12.720] Yeah, just listen to this podcast.
[00:47:13.040 --> 00:47:14.240] It's very exclusive.
[00:47:14.240 --> 00:47:16.800] And tell all your friends and your family.
[00:47:16.800 --> 00:47:25.040] So, I was and am so repulsed by the commerce of the past.
[00:47:25.040 --> 00:47:28.800] I built my first brand organically.
[00:47:29.120 --> 00:47:40.600] It was traditional media, it was press, it was shows, it was speaking, it was connecting, it was collaborating, brand collaborations, all of these things.
[00:47:40.600 --> 00:47:51.160] Social commerce came in, as did paying Google and all that all came into play along my journey.
[00:47:51.160 --> 00:47:54.440] So, I had a different starter experience.
[00:47:54.440 --> 00:48:00.760] I started the old-fashioned way, and then I had to adapt and buy into these things.
[00:48:00.760 --> 00:48:07.240] I had never once paid for an ad placement the entire, you know, the entire time.
[00:48:07.240 --> 00:48:16.280] And then, you know, then you start throwing money at Google and ads and Instagram and all these animals came to life through my journey.
[00:48:16.280 --> 00:48:20.120] But I was just like, I don't want anything to do with that.
[00:48:20.120 --> 00:48:25.560] I want to build the old-fashioned way, traditional media, community building.
[00:48:25.560 --> 00:48:28.680] I hate social media.
[00:48:28.680 --> 00:48:29.240] Stephanie's not going to be able to do it.
[00:48:29.320 --> 00:48:30.040] We're still friends.
[00:48:30.040 --> 00:48:31.000] We're still friends.
[00:48:32.760 --> 00:48:34.120] I just don't enjoy it.
[00:48:34.120 --> 00:48:43.960] And I, you know, having done it with the laundress and all this sort of overexposing and speaking to everybody just was so off-putting to me.
[00:48:43.960 --> 00:48:46.520] I wanted nothing to do with it.
[00:48:46.520 --> 00:49:01.240] I took so much pride in giving real solutions and my know-how to my community, you know, to everyone for all of those years.
[00:49:01.560 --> 00:49:05.800] And with the Phil, I was like, I want a community.
[00:49:05.800 --> 00:49:07.240] This is personal.
[00:49:07.240 --> 00:49:09.000] This is personal again.
[00:49:09.000 --> 00:49:11.000] And it's private.
[00:49:11.000 --> 00:49:17.680] And I will give you everything, but you have to be a member in our safe space in our community.
[00:49:17.680 --> 00:49:19.920] I'm not going to bombard you with emails.
[00:49:14.840 --> 00:49:21.840] I am not going to stalk you on Facebook.
[00:49:22.160 --> 00:49:27.440] I am not going to, you know, do this like over saturation of commerce.
[00:49:27.440 --> 00:49:30.320] Like, we just came off the cyber holiday.
[00:49:30.320 --> 00:49:38.000] Like, I'm sure everyone's so sick of the emails and the Instagram or whatever, all the channels.
[00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:43.600] But my know-how now is private and it's for the people in my community.
[00:49:43.600 --> 00:49:45.840] It's not for everyone anymore.
[00:49:45.840 --> 00:49:53.200] And so I wanted to build a safe space that is small, it's intimate, it's a community.
[00:49:53.200 --> 00:49:57.360] Yes, you get my cleaning products, which are beautiful.
[00:49:57.360 --> 00:50:07.440] Which are beautiful and amazing, but you also get this new orientation of customer respect and of member respect.
[00:50:07.760 --> 00:50:13.680] What has been the most challenging part about building again from the beginning and ground up?
[00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:17.840] I launched in June.
[00:50:17.840 --> 00:50:22.320] I had my dream press placement with the Financial Times.
[00:50:22.400 --> 00:50:30.880] That was like my end-all be-all on how to spend it, a magazine I've been diligently reading for over 25 years.
[00:50:31.200 --> 00:50:37.760] And then I went into the most severe postpartum depression.
[00:50:37.760 --> 00:50:40.400] What was that like, and how did you get through everything?
[00:50:41.040 --> 00:50:42.400] It was horrible.
[00:50:42.400 --> 00:50:50.240] I mean, I and I know it's not like a light term to use, postpartum, and especially not birthing children.
[00:50:50.240 --> 00:50:53.200] I don't, I take that seriously as well.
[00:50:53.200 --> 00:51:03.320] But I'm drawing the comparison in that I was so overwrought with despair and it wasn't lined up with the reality.
[00:50:59.520 --> 00:51:06.600] You know, I had like one email to write, and I was like, oh my gosh.
[00:51:07.240 --> 00:51:09.000] I remember talking to you on the phone, actually.
[00:51:09.000 --> 00:51:13.080] I think I was picking Molly up from school and we were on a call and you were sharing with me.
[00:51:13.320 --> 00:51:15.320] And that feeling is paralyzing, right?
[00:51:15.720 --> 00:51:24.040] It feels like one thing that for anyone that's just like having a good day and just getting through everything, one email seems like, yeah, it just takes two seconds to do.
[00:51:24.040 --> 00:51:36.760] But when you're in that feeling of depression and not being able to think clearly and everything seems so hard, and now you've just launched this new business, it's like, it's paralyzing.
[00:51:36.760 --> 00:51:39.960] I wasn't prepared, obviously, for that.
[00:51:40.760 --> 00:51:43.320] You didn't have that one on your bingo card for 2024.
[00:51:43.880 --> 00:51:45.000] Expected.
[00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:57.160] But it was so much between the trauma from the last business and that entire journey and the overwhelm of the responsibility.
[00:51:57.160 --> 00:51:59.320] And oh my gosh, I did it again.
[00:51:59.320 --> 00:52:01.000] I don't want the baby.
[00:52:01.320 --> 00:52:02.840] Get rid of it.
[00:52:03.480 --> 00:52:06.440] And my father had just passed away.
[00:52:06.760 --> 00:52:11.960] He passed away four days before the FT interview and photo shoot.
[00:52:11.960 --> 00:52:16.280] So it was like, keep it moving, just like show up and deliver.
[00:52:16.280 --> 00:52:24.120] So there was a lot of things that hadn't been processed and settled and managed, but I was not prepared for that at all.
[00:52:24.120 --> 00:53:08.720] Luckily, I have you on the bat phone and also a much bigger community of women and a network to call on and help and to be able to say that and get help from so many different people and from every, I mean, I had like a recommendation for a breathing instructor and a energy healer and like every which way to come at it and to have the ability to actually spend the time and the resources to to do those things And then I had an amazing, thank God, I had the most amazing, amazing summer intern from Cornell who just carried along.
[00:53:08.720 --> 00:53:09.840] So I'm so grateful for that.
[00:53:10.080 --> 00:53:14.160] Hopefully back to Cornell and the incredible, incredible students there, right?
[00:53:16.000 --> 00:53:20.480] So now here we are at the end of 2024.
[00:53:20.480 --> 00:53:23.680] The Phil has been birthed for the past six months.
[00:53:23.680 --> 00:53:27.840] You, thank goodness, are doing so much better now.
[00:53:27.840 --> 00:53:30.560] What is ahead for 2025?
[00:53:30.880 --> 00:53:37.120] I guess the irony was that the Phil is centered on wellness.
[00:53:37.440 --> 00:53:48.800] So the difference of doing things now also was that the whole heart center of the Phil is that it's formulated with aromatherapy.
[00:53:48.800 --> 00:53:54.800] So there are all these wonderful natural attributes you get from using the product.
[00:53:54.800 --> 00:53:59.600] And my ethos was let life work for you.
[00:53:59.600 --> 00:54:07.360] If you're cleaning and you're doing laundry and you're doing your dishes or spraying your countertops or cleaning your bathroom, you're doing the work anyways.
[00:54:07.360 --> 00:54:11.920] You might as well get some extra benefit from it as well.
[00:54:12.160 --> 00:54:20.320] Even if you're not the one doing the cleaning, you get the benefit because you're living in your home that has been cleaned.
[00:54:20.320 --> 00:54:22.960] I can't sell you how many people are like, well, I don't do my laundry.
[00:54:22.960 --> 00:54:23.760] Like, I don't care.
[00:54:23.760 --> 00:54:26.080] And I'm like, but you wear your clothes.
[00:54:26.080 --> 00:54:27.200] Yes, good point.
[00:54:27.200 --> 00:54:29.280] You get in your bed.
[00:54:29.280 --> 00:54:31.320] This carries into your bed.
[00:54:31.640 --> 00:54:41.480] Like, you, this is what you put on your underwear and you spend 95% of your life in your clothes or in your bed.
[00:54:41.480 --> 00:54:53.640] You know, you kind of should care and get the benefits of this incredible, powerful aromatherapy to just help you make that life journey better.
[00:54:53.640 --> 00:54:59.880] So, for 2025, it is still a very new community and building and thriving.
[00:54:59.880 --> 00:55:03.960] And it's just a really, this is supposed to be fun.
[00:55:03.960 --> 00:55:15.240] I have the luxury to take this approach and really build with an orientation, of course, of purpose and aligned with my values.
[00:55:15.240 --> 00:55:19.560] But I also have the luxury to, I sent this an email this week.
[00:55:19.560 --> 00:55:23.000] I said, 2025, we're only working with people we want to.
[00:55:23.000 --> 00:55:30.120] We get to determine who we want to work with, and we want to be in the right shared space and value-aligned.
[00:55:30.120 --> 00:55:33.400] And that's relevant, and that is important.
[00:55:33.400 --> 00:55:49.720] And that was a big takeaway: I knew that I had strong values, but to have it shine so bright that I sold my company to an organization that was completely not aligned with my values, but also lied and were delusional about their own.
[00:55:50.040 --> 00:55:56.680] I mean, on their website, I thought we totally were, or what the CEO said, but it wasn't.
[00:55:56.840 --> 00:55:58.120] It wasn't the case.
[00:55:58.120 --> 00:55:59.240] It wasn't the case.
[00:55:59.240 --> 00:56:04.200] Now you have the opportunity to build again and start fresh, if you will.
[00:56:04.520 --> 00:56:05.720] Fresh, fresh start.
[00:56:05.720 --> 00:56:06.200] Yeah.
[00:56:06.920 --> 00:56:10.040] And really create this next chapter.
[00:56:10.040 --> 00:57:47.400] And, you know, I texted you the other day when I read the the cut article that that just came out and I was like crying reading it because I'm like you finally have the opportunity to share what happened and use your voice again and like feeling like you like going through this whole journey for 20 plus years building businesses and like it is your life's work and then feeling like you're silenced and can't talk and share and for people like us who just like want to share to help people and then feeling like you literally can't share because of a document that you have signed and that if you share with other people there's major consequences and you finally have been able to just like release and be out there again and help other people and it just i was so emotional just reading it and feeling like you're you're finally back i'm back it's been a great year to really exercise that and say what i want to say and i'm excited for a new topic for 2023 we're gonna we're gonna focus on wellness in the new year do you do you have a word of the year yet do you come up with a word of the year that's next weekend's activity actually let me know when you have your your word of the year i have to ask you when before i forget because this is something that's really important for all of our entrepreneurs so when you started your first business this is like basically like pre-internet this is pre-e-commerce i mean the internet was there was like basically you were one of like the first e-commerce businesses that were out there and you built your whole site before anyone there was no shopify back there there was no shopify there was no shopping cart no one was shipping a liquid product.
[00:57:47.400 --> 00:57:52.120] But now, you know, and here i am saying like i feel like you told me you had this idea three years ago.
[00:57:52.120 --> 00:57:53.000] It was 14 months ago.
[00:57:53.000 --> 00:58:02.840] So, in 14 months, you were able to go from having this idea, getting the business set up, manufacturing product, getting the website, like all the things, right?
[00:57:59.840 --> 00:58:09.720] Because now, all these years later, there's so many different business tools and solutions to make it so much easier to start a business.
[00:58:09.720 --> 00:58:11.960] It's still very hard to stay in business, as we all know.
[00:58:11.960 --> 00:58:14.920] That's why we have our entrepreneurship community to we can all help each other.
[00:58:14.920 --> 00:58:17.320] But to start a business, it's never been easier.
[00:58:17.320 --> 00:58:24.920] What are some of the different business tools, solutions that you've been using that maybe some of your vendors have been using that you love and would recommend?
[00:58:24.920 --> 00:58:30.680] Honestly, the only thing I have to say is that Entrepreneurs and Network-I'm serious.
[00:58:30.680 --> 00:58:33.560] That's like the only tool that I used.
[00:58:33.560 --> 00:58:35.400] You know, I'm not a tech gal.
[00:58:35.720 --> 00:58:37.080] I know, I know.
[00:58:37.080 --> 00:58:39.400] Well, I mean, sure, I have to agree with you.
[00:58:39.400 --> 00:58:51.560] Like, please, please, for our listeners right now, if you are not yet part of our community and you are in business or you're thinking about starting a business, come on into the community because we will save you a lot of time, a lot of time.
[00:58:51.560 --> 00:59:07.000] So, Stephanie, but also, like, I'm not going to give you like a business system or a app or something, but what made everything so easy for me is my dedication to relationships.
[00:59:07.000 --> 00:59:20.600] And so, I had an incredible Rolodex of people to call, people I hadn't spoken to in years, who all picked up the phone and were so excited to hear from me.
[00:59:20.600 --> 00:59:24.680] And then, not only excited to hear from me, excited to work with me.
[00:59:24.680 --> 00:59:29.160] And not only work with me, but to ensure success.
[00:59:29.160 --> 00:59:35.560] That is the magic tool and the superpower that be good to people.
[00:59:35.560 --> 00:59:41.560] You grow with a team, you grow with other people, you don't do anything on your own.
[00:59:41.560 --> 00:59:47.200] That's just you, you need all of these people to care as much as you do.
[00:59:47.760 --> 00:59:55.200] And I had an incredible Rolodex of people who cared and were ready to care again.
[00:59:55.440 --> 01:00:01.520] That's what business is all about: it's relationships and everyone working together to help each other.
[01:00:01.520 --> 01:00:07.360] And when you build these relationships, everything and anything is absolutely possible.
[01:00:07.360 --> 01:00:20.800] Gwen, we could probably sit here and talk for three more hours, but we're gonna let everyone get back to, if you're listening to this right now during the holidays, potentially if you're listening to it right when it goes live or later on, we'll let everyone get back to building their business.
[01:00:20.800 --> 01:00:25.520] Last question for you, Gwen: What does being an entrepreneur mean to you?
[01:00:25.520 --> 01:00:27.680] We spoke about this earlier in the conversation.
[01:00:27.680 --> 01:00:34.880] As a female, it's being a birther, and I reject it so strongly.
[01:00:34.880 --> 01:00:38.720] I hated when people said, Oh, we don't have children, you have a business instead.
[01:00:38.720 --> 01:00:42.320] Like, I thought that was the rudest thing anyone could ever say to me.
[01:00:42.320 --> 01:01:02.240] But I have turned to fiercely own that and to be such a mama bear and have my mothering so vast and giving in so in such an enormous capacity is a real honor for my life journey.
[01:01:02.240 --> 01:01:09.840] So, as the fierce mama bear, we're protectors, we're teachers, we're leaders, we're givers, we're doers.
[01:01:09.840 --> 01:01:16.560] But as my hormone doctor now tells me, I am moving into my queen bee phase.
[01:01:16.560 --> 01:01:18.880] I love it.
[01:01:18.880 --> 01:01:21.920] So, I'm excited to be leading from Queen Bee.
[01:01:21.920 --> 01:01:22.720] I love it.
[01:01:22.720 --> 01:01:23.920] I absolutely love it.
[01:01:23.920 --> 01:01:27.280] Gwen, where can everyone find you, follow you, connect with you?
[01:01:27.280 --> 01:01:33.080] For those that now have the special invitation from you to join the Phil Club, where should they head over to do that?
[01:01:29.840 --> 01:01:35.320] Everything Gwen shares right now is going to be over in the show notes.
[01:01:35.480 --> 01:01:38.360] So head over to the show notes and Gwen, link away.
[01:01:38.360 --> 01:01:40.040] Tell us all the places to go.
[01:01:40.040 --> 01:01:40.680] Yes.
[01:01:40.680 --> 01:01:44.200] So I guess LinkedIn, Gwenelle Whiting.
[01:01:44.200 --> 01:01:51.000] I am on Instagram, but don't count on me there at Gwenelle Whiting.
[01:01:51.320 --> 01:01:53.240] And join the club.
[01:01:53.240 --> 01:02:01.960] It's a beautiful space for cleaning and wellness and community at thephilclub.com.
[01:02:01.960 --> 01:02:03.560] Thephilclub.com.
[01:02:03.560 --> 01:02:07.480] And yes, one of our incredible entrepreneurs members helped to build your site.
[01:02:07.480 --> 01:02:09.240] Neen from Ready Pretty.
[01:02:09.240 --> 01:02:14.200] And shout out to Amy Schoenthal and who else, Katie?
[01:02:14.200 --> 01:02:20.360] Love, all the entrepreneurs who you worked with building this business and probably more to come.
[01:02:20.360 --> 01:02:23.640] And lots of entrepreneurs are going to hop into the club right now.
[01:02:23.640 --> 01:02:29.000] So everyone, head over to the show notes, tap the Phil Club to learn more.
[01:02:29.000 --> 01:02:34.200] And your sheets and clothes and counters will smell absolutely beautiful.
[01:02:34.200 --> 01:02:35.880] Gwen, thank you for being here.
[01:02:35.880 --> 01:02:41.800] I know this is an emotional conversation and journey, and you're just incredible.
[01:02:41.800 --> 01:02:47.640] And I'm just so happy and thankful to call you my friend and be there to support everything that you do.
[01:02:47.640 --> 01:02:48.440] And you're just the best.
[01:02:48.440 --> 01:02:49.560] So thank you.
[01:02:49.560 --> 01:02:50.680] Thank you, Stephanie.
[01:02:50.680 --> 01:02:53.160] You are my fairy god friend.
[01:02:53.800 --> 01:02:57.640] And thank you, everyone, for being here and listening in.
[01:02:57.640 --> 01:03:01.960] I'm Stephanie, and this is the best business meeting I've ever had.
[01:03:02.280 --> 01:03:03.560] Hi, Entrepreneurs.
[01:03:03.560 --> 01:03:04.600] It's Steph here.
[01:03:04.600 --> 01:03:11.720] And I hope today's episode has left you feeling inspired and with some actionable tips that you can apply to your own business.
[01:03:11.720 --> 01:03:18.720] The way we've grown our community and resources is by sharing content like this for years and asking for help along the way.
[01:03:19.040 --> 01:03:24.560] So here's where we need your help so we can continue to make as much impact as possible together.
[01:03:24.560 --> 01:03:41.680] If you can leave us a five-star review and extra credit if you share this episode on Instagram, LinkedIn, or DM it to a founder friend who would benefit from hearing it, not only would it mean the world to us, but you sharing this episode is going to help someone who just may need to hear what we share today.
[01:03:41.680 --> 01:03:51.440] And you know I love nothing more than giveaways and prizes, so every month I'll be giving away a one-on-one session with me to someone who has shared the episode and left a review.
[01:03:51.440 --> 01:03:54.240] So send me a personal DM over on Instagram.
[01:03:54.240 --> 01:03:59.200] I'm at Steph Jill Carton once you've done it so you can be entered to win.
[01:03:59.200 --> 01:04:04.880] Wishing you a productive week ahead and stay tuned for another impactful episode next week.

Prompt 2: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 3: Segments

Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 4: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
      "context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
      "context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
      "timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
    }
  ]
}

If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}

Full Transcript

[00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:05.680] Hey Entrepreneurs, it's Steph here with a special invite just for you.
[00:00:05.680 --> 00:00:10.800] Do you want to experience what it's like to be part of our Entrepreneursa League community of founders?
[00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:12.400] Now is your chance.
[00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:21.360] You can join me this month at one of our upcoming Entrepreneursa League info sessions where I'm going to share with you all you're going to get access to when you join the community.
[00:00:21.360 --> 00:00:27.040] Plus, I'll be giving away some big bonuses that you will only be able to get access to when you attend live.
[00:00:27.040 --> 00:00:35.600] Head over to refer.entrepreneesa.com forward slash info session to join us at one of our virtual info sessions this month.
[00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:40.640] That's refer.entrepranista.com forward slash info session.
[00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:44.560] Or head over to the show notes right now and tap the link to join us.
[00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:49.200] I can't wait to meet you there and learn more about you and your business.
[00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:52.320] An acquisition is not the end-all be-all.
[00:00:52.320 --> 00:01:01.680] And I really want to emphasize that because I think there's so many misnomers or ideas out there that people think the norm is raising money.
[00:01:01.680 --> 00:01:02.720] I did not.
[00:01:02.720 --> 00:01:03.920] There's another way to do it.
[00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:07.600] It's just less talked about and gets less attention.
[00:01:07.600 --> 00:01:11.360] The end-all is not always an exit.
[00:01:14.880 --> 00:01:22.400] Gwen Whiting is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder of The Laundress, an eco-friendly cleaning brand.
[00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:36.400] After selling the company to Unilever in 2019, Gwen faced unexpected challenges navigating the acquisition process and the emotional toll of watching the brand she had built for many years start to sink.
[00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:46.720] Now Gwen is channeling her passion for wellness into her latest venture, The Phil, a private member's cleaning community focused on sustainable solutions.
[00:01:46.720 --> 00:01:53.760] Through this new chapter, she continues to advocate for responsible entrepreneurship and creating meaningful impact.
[00:01:53.760 --> 00:02:07.320] After not being able to speak about what happened after the acquisition until now, Gwen is finally able to reveal what can really happen after an acquisition and most importantly, what you can learn from it.
[00:02:07.320 --> 00:02:12.440] Get ready to hear Gwen's journey and her biggest business secrets.
[00:02:12.440 --> 00:02:17.320] Coming up, Gwen shares about the acquisition process with Unilever.
[00:02:17.320 --> 00:02:22.760] You'll hear all about the challenges Gwen faced going from founder to employee.
[00:02:22.760 --> 00:02:26.920] Gwen shares all her learning lessons post-acquisition.
[00:02:26.920 --> 00:02:30.440] She shares about her new business venture, The Phil.
[00:02:30.760 --> 00:02:37.560] And finally, you'll hear why Gwen's best piece of advice is to be part of the Entrepreneur League.
[00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:41.880] This is the Entrepreneur Podcast.
[00:02:41.880 --> 00:02:51.880] It's the best business meeting you'll ever have with must-hear real-life looks at how leading women in business are getting it done and what it takes to build and grow a successful company.
[00:02:51.880 --> 00:02:57.640] It's beyond the Graham with no filters, no limits, and plenty of surprises.
[00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:06.040] Gwen, the moment we've been waiting for, years in the making, we're finally doing this.
[00:03:06.040 --> 00:03:08.760] I know, we're full circle.
[00:03:08.760 --> 00:03:09.400] Full circle.
[00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:15.880] So I have to fill everyone in who may not have listened to the first episode when we had you on going back.
[00:03:15.880 --> 00:03:17.960] I think it was about five years ago now.
[00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:26.280] So Gwen and I met at a Cornell alumni entrepreneurial women's event five plus years ago now.
[00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:30.040] And we like instantly hit it off, became friends.
[00:03:30.040 --> 00:03:32.680] Gwen came on the podcast several years ago.
[00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:35.000] So we'll link out to that episode in the show notes.
[00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:59.200] And on that episode, you really talked about, you know, building the Laundress, building the brand, what it actually took to get there, but there was so much that you actually couldn't share and tell everyone on that first episode when we had you on because you were like in the middle, you were in the midst of, you know, having recently been acquired by Unilever.
[00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:02.800] It was a crazy, crazy time for you.
[00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:10.720] But when you sell a business, and you're going to tell everyone this, there's a lot of legal contracts involved and there's a lot you actually can't talk about and share.
[00:04:10.720 --> 00:04:16.160] So there was even at that time so much that you wanted to share that you couldn't and now even more.
[00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:31.200] So we've been waiting five years for your non-compete to end so you could come back on the show and actually talk about what it is like to sell a business and sell a business to a company like Unilever and what actually happened behind the scenes.
[00:04:31.200 --> 00:04:32.000] So here we are.
[00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:32.400] We made it.
[00:04:32.640 --> 00:04:33.280] Here we are.
[00:04:33.280 --> 00:04:33.760] You know what?
[00:04:33.760 --> 00:04:34.880] It's funny, Stephanie.
[00:04:34.880 --> 00:04:37.760] I really time stamp our journey.
[00:04:37.760 --> 00:04:40.880] I sold my company the end of January.
[00:04:40.880 --> 00:04:42.800] It was like January 31st.
[00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:55.760] You and I met in March when we were at Cornell event and I was speaking for the first time in a large audience at the New York Times Center for the Cornell Entrepreneurship Conference.
[00:04:55.760 --> 00:05:00.960] And then I went on your podcast and that was the first podcast I have ever, I had ever done.
[00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:01.840] I remember.
[00:05:01.840 --> 00:05:04.400] And I remember you were nervous and I was like, here you are.
[00:05:04.400 --> 00:05:09.600] You just sold your huge company and you're telling me like I'm nervous to record a podcast.
[00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:10.960] And I'm like, you can do it.
[00:05:10.960 --> 00:05:12.320] You're amazing.
[00:05:12.320 --> 00:05:15.280] And no, I feel like you've done a bunch of podcasts now over the past few years.
[00:05:15.280 --> 00:05:17.360] I've been on a lot, a big podcast journey.
[00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:20.960] So I'm excited to end the year back where I began.
[00:05:21.200 --> 00:05:22.160] Where it all started.
[00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:23.760] So, yeah.
[00:05:23.760 --> 00:05:38.360] And so when we first met and I was speaking, I had just sold the company, was within two, three months, and I really thought I had sent my baby to college.
[00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:43.320] And not only college, like even though we're Cornell girls, I was like, baby went to Harvard.
[00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:46.600] And that's really, really how I felt.
[00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:56.120] I had my company for over 16 years, and it was a very long, grueling, never unending startup.
[00:05:56.120 --> 00:06:02.760] It was never flushing cash and glamorous with, you know, along the way.
[00:06:02.760 --> 00:06:07.800] Obviously, some glamorous moments, but it was a long, rough journey.
[00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:11.880] So that's really how I felt when we last spoke.
[00:06:11.880 --> 00:06:21.720] Yeah, so I want to share with everyone today just your experience going through the sale process and really what happened after.
[00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:29.320] Actually, when Courtney and I were just recording talking about the social fly sale, like how hard it is emotionally when you actually sell your business.
[00:06:29.320 --> 00:06:47.960] And I know we've had so many conversations over the past few years with the emotional journey that you've been on, but I want everyone to really understand that and what it's actually like because it is like sending your child to college and then you hope that you've sent them to college and they're now like growing up and it's flourishing and moving on.
[00:06:47.960 --> 00:06:51.400] But like you had the opposite experience.
[00:06:51.400 --> 00:06:53.000] So take me back first.
[00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:59.000] Like if you could just walk us through the actual acquisition process itself and some of your learning lessons there.
[00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:03.320] And then let's get into what really went on behind the scenes that you can finally talk about.
[00:07:03.320 --> 00:07:03.960] Sure.
[00:07:04.280 --> 00:07:17.360] Well, I wish nothing more than for this conversation to have been the look back of look what I started and look how amazing this turned out.
[00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:22.960] That fundamentally is what I had hoped for and what I, the conversation I wish we were having.
[00:07:22.960 --> 00:07:27.920] Unfortunately, that is not the conversation that we're having.
[00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:31.840] So there's many lessons here to take away.
[00:07:31.840 --> 00:07:36.880] So some basic fundamentals, I never raised money for the laundress.
[00:07:36.880 --> 00:07:56.240] So I had never done the rounds and been in the rooms and done the pitch deck and had all of that organization that goes behind a company that has been doing that along the way, where you're sort of prepared and kind of doing that dance for the most part in a different way.
[00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:59.200] You're asking for money versus selling the company.
[00:07:59.200 --> 00:08:03.920] Unilever came to me about the acquisition.
[00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:06.800] So I hadn't even done a process.
[00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:10.480] So there was no, nothing prepared at all when that started.
[00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:23.600] I remember you talking about like you had a business plan, like you always had the vision that a large company like Unilever would buy you, but were you building the business to sell and like having your financial ducks in order?
[00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:28.640] Or you were just hoping that this scenario was going to happen one day and it kind of just appeared.
[00:08:28.640 --> 00:08:36.000] Well, the financial ducks always had to be in order because we were running on such a slim organic growth.
[00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:43.200] So I knew where every penny was and how every penny was spent and it was organized in that capacity.
[00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:58.600] But I did have the assumption, and now I'm going to say the naive idea in retrospect, but that this was a brand, that I was building a brand that would outgrow me, that needed someone bigger and better than me.
[00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:01.400] Just because I, you know, I was in my late 20s when I started.
[00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:03.880] Like, I thought that was a normal expectation.
[00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:13.000] And going into a $13 billion cleaning industry with only giants, that's all there was when I started.
[00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:14.680] There were only giants.
[00:09:14.680 --> 00:09:16.280] Because Unilever is PNG.
[00:09:16.280 --> 00:09:17.560] It was SC Johnson Wax.
[00:09:17.560 --> 00:09:19.240] Like, that's all that existed.
[00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:29.800] So, for like little Gwen Whiting to like show up with her $100,000 SBA loan, you know, to like take on the industry, I thought that was my path.
[00:09:29.800 --> 00:09:43.880] And this was also the early 2000s when Bobby Brown and Bumble and Bumble and Frederick Fokay and Bliss Spa, like all these like businesses were the niche creators just in these spaces.
[00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:53.800] Their journeys were very quick from starting, disrupting, showing a new path forward for this industry, getting acquired.
[00:09:53.800 --> 00:09:59.400] So that was like the only sort of journey I had seen in this space.
[00:09:59.400 --> 00:10:00.360] That was the assumption.
[00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:09.160] I didn't build a company to like get rich quick as like, or like startup land, or I wanted to be an entrepreneur.
[00:10:09.160 --> 00:10:12.520] Like I wanted to be like, these were not my goals and aspirations.
[00:10:12.520 --> 00:10:20.040] It was I had a vision, an idea, and that was the journey that I assumed was the path.
[00:10:20.040 --> 00:10:22.600] So Unilever literally shows up.
[00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:23.560] Literally, they knock on the door.
[00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:24.680] They literally knock on the door.
[00:10:24.680 --> 00:10:35.400] They literally walked in my store, my retail store, which made zero sense to start an acquisition discussion, to like start talking to my sales associate.
[00:10:35.400 --> 00:10:39.800] And I say now, oh, I should have known then that that was like so ridiculous.
[00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:46.000] Actually, looking back now, because when you go through an acquisition process, like that's a private process to go through.
[00:10:44.760 --> 00:10:50.000] So to like signal to your employees, like, hey, we might sell this business.
[00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:58.080] Like, yeah, literally, like, some guy shows up at Prince Street from Ohio and like starts talking speaking to my sales associate.
[00:10:58.080 --> 00:10:59.360] It was bizarre.
[00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:04.320] I feel like that's a bit of like, whoops, I should have picked up on that one.
[00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:06.320] Like, here's the thing: like, you didn't know, right?
[00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:08.000] Like, we don't know what we don't know.
[00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:15.040] And that's why, like, sharing stories like this, so now you all listening can be like, okay, like, here's what makes sense.
[00:11:15.040 --> 00:11:16.640] Here's what might not make sense.
[00:11:16.640 --> 00:11:18.080] So we can all learn from this.
[00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:23.680] I mean, normally that would sound like an entrance to like a scam, like a cyber scam.
[00:11:23.680 --> 00:11:25.200] Did you verify on LinkedIn really?
[00:11:25.280 --> 00:11:26.320] Is this where's everyone?
[00:11:26.640 --> 00:11:27.760] Everyone's using LinkedIn back then.
[00:11:27.760 --> 00:11:28.880] I was like, is this really a.
[00:11:29.520 --> 00:11:30.160] I did not.
[00:11:30.160 --> 00:11:30.880] I don't even know.
[00:11:30.880 --> 00:11:32.240] I don't remember.
[00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:33.120] Okay, so he shows up.
[00:11:33.520 --> 00:11:34.320] He shows up.
[00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:37.440] Fast forward, 13 months of negotiations.
[00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:39.040] I didn't even have a banker.
[00:11:39.040 --> 00:11:41.280] Like, I mean, it was like starting from scratch.
[00:11:41.280 --> 00:11:45.120] But as you know, these deals, everything's like urgent tomorrow.
[00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:51.600] I started the acquisition process, which I felt really on my hind leg.
[00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:55.200] So it's a little different when you're running a process and you're prepared to sell.
[00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:56.800] You have all your ducks in order.
[00:11:56.800 --> 00:12:00.800] I had nothing and like scramble.
[00:12:00.800 --> 00:12:04.640] And that's also like puts you in like a point of weakness as well.
[00:12:04.640 --> 00:12:10.400] Had you talked about though when, if there was a particular point you were going to go out and actually start running a process?
[00:12:10.400 --> 00:12:14.080] Yeah, that the idea would be in like a year and a half from the time that it happened.
[00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:14.640] Okay.
[00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:21.520] It was an idea and it was like on the to-do list, but it wasn't on that year's to-do list.
[00:12:21.520 --> 00:12:22.080] Okay.
[00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:22.400] All right.
[00:12:22.400 --> 00:12:24.720] So now you start having conversations.
[00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:33.000] So now we start going down the road and you know, you're in this awkward space where it's a secret, it's confidential.
[00:12:29.520 --> 00:12:34.760] Like you don't want to start talking about it.
[00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:37.880] You're, you know, you don't want to jinx it.
[00:12:37.880 --> 00:12:49.000] Like you're in this like weird zone of secrecy, which is not also helpful for the founder who's trying to do something they've never done before.
[00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:54.520] And it's the absolute antithesis of the entrepreneursa network, which, you know, you're all about.
[00:12:54.520 --> 00:13:00.520] And again, I didn't have the entrepreneursa network my entire journey of 16 years.
[00:13:00.520 --> 00:13:01.480] It didn't exist.
[00:13:01.640 --> 00:13:05.160] It was, I was started this in 2002.
[00:13:05.160 --> 00:13:06.600] If only we existed then.
[00:13:06.600 --> 00:13:09.080] I've only, if only, I mean, nothing existed then.
[00:13:09.080 --> 00:13:12.760] I mean, you basically started e-commerce.
[00:13:12.760 --> 00:13:13.880] LinkedIn didn't exist.
[00:13:13.880 --> 00:13:15.880] Yeah, like the shopping carts.
[00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:17.880] I mean, nothing existed.
[00:13:17.880 --> 00:13:23.880] But you're in this unusual space where you don't feel free to talk.
[00:13:23.880 --> 00:13:28.120] You don't feel free to crowdsource help and information.
[00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:31.560] There's also very few people who've been in your shoes.
[00:13:31.880 --> 00:13:36.600] And so you're kind of going through this, or I'm going to say I was going through this.
[00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:39.000] Like, I'm always overly prepared for everything.
[00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:39.640] I'm planned.
[00:13:39.640 --> 00:13:42.200] I've got, you know, I know what I'm action.
[00:13:42.200 --> 00:13:45.320] But this was like, okay, buckle up.
[00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:47.000] Like, we're going for the ride.
[00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:53.240] And then you're just trusting, you know, a few amounts of people and conversations and resources that you have available.
[00:13:53.560 --> 00:13:57.560] So walk me through towards the end of the process.
[00:13:57.560 --> 00:13:59.880] You've negotiated a deal.
[00:13:59.880 --> 00:14:01.960] You have a date to close.
[00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:03.880] Tell me what happens then.
[00:14:04.520 --> 00:15:46.680] So along the way, it took a while to arrive with the right people to help on the selling side, but there was one lead who was the president who wanted this acquisition this was like his thing he had spearheaded a number of the acquisitions previous to us so it felt like we were going through a process and a system that was established a well-walked path is how it was visually presented and so you're just kind of like trusting the giant company that this is like the freshman year class you know it's like you show up to college you're a freshman like they're not reinventing the system it's like a tried and true path that's how i felt about unilever was okay i'm walking a path that's tried and true there's like you know everything's organized and we're just like going the latest down the aisle did you talk to any founders of other companies that they had acquired about their experience yes and they provided that list of resources one was like very new so they didn't have anything really bad to say yet and then every deal is different which is like how that's done like the 13 men from unilever show up to like the female team you know and that was like a very obvious thing that happened and then they're saying we have this we have that you can access all this stuff the the hr guy that was there the legal guy was there.
[00:15:46.680 --> 00:15:48.200] Like, oh, we have it all.
[00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:51.640] Like, just come to the mothership.
[00:15:51.640 --> 00:15:54.120] You know, you have everything.
[00:15:54.440 --> 00:15:59.160] Stephanie, I'm sure you know, like, you would share the same sensibility.
[00:15:59.160 --> 00:16:01.160] All you want is HR and legal.
[00:16:01.400 --> 00:16:01.720] Yeah.
[00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:07.320] If you don't have to pay $500 an hour anymore, let's do, yes, that sounds amazing.
[00:16:07.320 --> 00:16:08.520] I want resources.
[00:16:08.520 --> 00:16:09.400] Take that.
[00:16:09.400 --> 00:16:11.240] Like, we're winning, you know?
[00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:14.440] It's just like, oh, a health insurance and a 401k.
[00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:15.240] Yes.
[00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:16.920] You know, all these things.
[00:16:16.920 --> 00:16:18.600] The basics, right?
[00:16:18.920 --> 00:16:23.480] You know, you kind of get, you know, wooed in that you have all these resources.
[00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:26.120] And then fast forward, we close.
[00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:31.960] And talking about trusting the process, there are some things that I didn't micromanage.
[00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:38.040] I had the lawyers and the bankers and them and like, you know, like all of these things.
[00:16:38.040 --> 00:16:49.240] And you think that like you're getting a million documents and a million calls and a million vetting and data rooms and like everything, every single document you've ever had is in there.
[00:16:49.240 --> 00:17:00.200] You know, like you think you like everything is being buttoned up and you're just going to effectively show up freshman year in school and like everything's going to be normal and have a system.
[00:17:00.520 --> 00:17:10.680] And that was one of my biggest disappointments, which was the day of the closing, you close all your bank accounts, you know, all your credit line disappears because you've shut down your company.
[00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:14.280] Your company doesn't exist anymore in the same capacity.
[00:17:14.280 --> 00:17:18.840] And you know, Limer never set up the bank account for us to move to.
[00:17:18.840 --> 00:17:20.280] Like that wasn't done.
[00:17:20.280 --> 00:17:24.200] And then the absurdity of the bank account, which was it wasn't done.
[00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:33.480] A, we were international acquisition, which made things 10 times more complicated and ridiculous, which I had no warning of.
[00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:35.160] You know, you're an acquisition, you're an acquisition.
[00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:38.680] Like, I didn't, I didn't know that it was going to be such a big deal that I wasn't a U.S.
[00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:39.800] acquisition.
[00:17:39.800 --> 00:17:42.520] And that was a major, major problem.
[00:17:42.840 --> 00:17:45.760] So, they sent us a bank account that was based in London.
[00:17:45.760 --> 00:17:47.920] You can't use an international bank account.
[00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:49.760] That's like not how the U.S.
[00:17:44.840 --> 00:17:51.360] banking system works.
[00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:53.680] You know, and so I was like, What are you doing?
[00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:55.760] Like, we're New York-based.
[00:17:55.760 --> 00:17:58.160] Like, I can't use the London branch.
[00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:00.800] It was like insanity.
[00:18:00.800 --> 00:18:02.640] And this is like from day one.
[00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:03.360] Day one.
[00:18:03.360 --> 00:18:06.880] And then day two is like, okay, so who's my legal person?
[00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:08.480] And they're like, oh, well, this is the U.S.
[00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:08.960] team.
[00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:11.040] You're with the international people.
[00:18:11.360 --> 00:18:13.440] And I'm like, excuse me.
[00:18:13.760 --> 00:18:21.440] You know, so it was really like instantly wool over your eyes that you actually know that's not your guy.
[00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:34.400] And do you think, knowing this now, like, had you known this, do you think if you were to have spoken up and shared, like, I want to meet the team ahead of time and I want to make sure all these processes are done, like that would have actually gotten done?
[00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:39.440] Or would those have been just like red flags back then to be like, maybe, like, would you not have done the deal?
[00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:40.320] I don't know.
[00:18:40.320 --> 00:18:43.920] So I, it's a great question because I have no idea.
[00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:45.040] I don't know what's normal, right?
[00:18:45.040 --> 00:18:47.920] I've never asked anyone if they had that set up in previous.
[00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:49.840] And everyone's like, every deal is different.
[00:18:49.840 --> 00:18:50.880] Every deal is unique.
[00:18:50.880 --> 00:19:06.400] You know, that super annoying response that you get from everyone, every lawyer, every banker, you know, you're just like, okay, well, there's got to be some, some standardized operating procedures, something.
[00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:08.160] I wondered that myself.
[00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:18.480] I wondered myself is if I said, no, I want like a list of who was accountable, who are my point people, when do I get transferred legally?
[00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.960] When, like, it's an interesting thing.
[00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:27.000] But again, I was just like trusting the system that I was showing up on campus.
[00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:31.400] And these were all normal processes that are in place.
[00:19:31.400 --> 00:19:34.680] And when I spoke to other companies, they're like, this is insane.
[00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:36.920] Like, there should have been a transition team.
[00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:39.000] That's how these things are done.
[00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:41.000] And there was no transition team.
[00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:42.920] There was no accountability.
[00:19:42.920 --> 00:19:44.360] There was not a.
[00:19:44.840 --> 00:19:52.600] I mean, I would think of a company of your size at that time and the scale of Unilever, like, you would think that would be normal there.
[00:19:52.600 --> 00:19:57.640] I can understand smaller companies that super small teams and acquisitions.
[00:19:57.640 --> 00:19:59.080] It's like, you got to work on those plans.
[00:19:59.080 --> 00:20:02.360] Like, together, the other company, it might have been like a first acquisition.
[00:20:02.360 --> 00:20:03.720] They haven't experienced that yet.
[00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:09.160] But I would assume you would think with a large company like that, you would have that.
[00:20:09.160 --> 00:20:12.760] You would have thought that it was like just a process in place.
[00:20:12.760 --> 00:20:13.240] Yeah.
[00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:16.440] And it was non-existent.
[00:20:16.440 --> 00:20:21.080] I think the learning there and like that Courtney and I went through too is like, trust but verify.
[00:20:21.080 --> 00:20:22.360] Yeah, trust but verify.
[00:20:22.600 --> 00:20:24.440] Trust but verify like in everything.
[00:20:24.760 --> 00:20:27.640] Yeah, shame on me, but really, was that my job?
[00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:30.200] Did I, you know, I had no idea.
[00:20:30.520 --> 00:20:32.280] So yes, lessons learned.
[00:20:32.280 --> 00:20:33.080] Lessons learned.
[00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:39.640] Definitely have a clearer understanding of how day two happens.
[00:20:39.960 --> 00:20:48.360] And my employment contracts were like, oh, you're just going to keep doing the same job, but you've handed over the keys to your car.
[00:20:48.360 --> 00:20:49.960] It's not your car anymore.
[00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:52.360] Like, it's not your house anymore.
[00:20:52.360 --> 00:21:02.520] So psychologically, it was very hard to understand and really know what was yours anymore.
[00:21:02.520 --> 00:21:08.680] Were there boundaries around what decisions you were allowed to make and like when you had to get approval for certain things?
[00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:10.600] There was no structure, period.
[00:21:10.600 --> 00:21:25.600] And this is where, for me, my most disappointing and eye-opening takeaway was I was personally responsible for my brand for 16 years.
[00:21:25.600 --> 00:21:48.960] Personally, I was personally responsible for paying the checks, the loans, the payroll, the insurance, the product, the product efficacy, the customer experience, the shopping cart, like every single thing I was personally responsible for.
[00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:52.000] And I took that incredibly seriously.
[00:21:52.000 --> 00:22:04.640] And what I was not prepared for in any way, shape, or form was the transition to Unilever, which no one's responsible.
[00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:05.680] Nothing.
[00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:11.200] Not even the president who made the deal, no one.
[00:22:11.520 --> 00:22:21.680] And that culture of zero accountability, zero responsibility, I don't even know how to place that.
[00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:28.720] Up next, Gwen reveals the emotional toll of watching her brand sink after the sale.
[00:22:36.080 --> 00:22:37.280] Hi, Entrepreneurs.
[00:22:37.280 --> 00:22:38.320] It's Steph here.
[00:22:38.320 --> 00:22:44.960] As a founder, I know firsthand that building a business can feel so lonely, but it doesn't have to.
[00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:49.680] And that's why we created our Entrepreneurista Founders Weekend Wealth and Wellness Retreat.
[00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:51.840] And I can't wait to meet you in person there.
[00:22:51.840 --> 00:23:05.960] So you're officially invited to join us from April 30th to May 3rd, 2026 at the stunning PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida for three transformative days of connection, collaboration, and real business growth.
[00:23:05.960 --> 00:23:08.120] This isn't just another business conference.
[00:23:08.120 --> 00:23:16.520] It is a curated retreat designed to help you build authentic, lasting relationships with women who truly understand your journey.
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[00:23:34.840 --> 00:23:43.080] That's entrepreneursa.com forward slash foundersweekend or head over to the show notes right now and tap the invitation to reserve your ticket.
[00:23:43.080 --> 00:23:44.520] I'll see you there.
[00:23:54.440 --> 00:24:09.720] How did you make it through those next few years where you had to still be employed at the company and just watching your baby feel like you don't have the direction that you wanted to continue the company's path on?
[00:24:10.040 --> 00:24:11.880] It was horrible.
[00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:24.840] The 16 years was not a picnic, but those two years were the worst at the end of After Why Didn't Own It because I just had to, in the beginning, I was very polite and I was like, they know what they're doing.
[00:24:24.840 --> 00:24:39.000] Or like, you know, I'm just gonna watch, you know, trust that they know what they're doing or not be difficult or not get aggressive, not be the angry founder, the difficult founder, and the female founder.
[00:24:39.320 --> 00:24:40.760] I looked around the room.
[00:24:40.760 --> 00:24:44.760] The men founders still had their jobs, the female founders did not.
[00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:48.800] So that was interesting to wait, what?
[00:24:48.800 --> 00:24:52.960] You know, that was an eye-opener as well.
[00:24:53.280 --> 00:25:05.040] But it was just so painful to watch and see that I was on the Titanic and I self-induced the iceberg.
[00:25:05.040 --> 00:25:08.400] Like, that was my choice, that was my decision.
[00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:12.400] And the iceberg has been hit.
[00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:15.920] And now it's a matter of time where we're like going down.
[00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:19.520] But you're taking in water for a long time.
[00:25:19.840 --> 00:25:24.800] And, you know, I've got it, got the life jackets, I've got the lifeboats.
[00:25:24.800 --> 00:25:28.800] I'm trying to, you know, I'm like fierce mama bear.
[00:25:28.800 --> 00:25:30.640] I'm trying to protect my employees.
[00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:46.240] I'm trying to protect all my partners, my factory partners, my production partners, my international partners that had stores for us and had businesses supporting our brand and protect my brand itself.
[00:25:46.560 --> 00:25:51.360] Yeah, you built your brand, your personal brand with the laundress.
[00:25:51.360 --> 00:25:52.000] Yeah.
[00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:54.720] But the boat was going down.
[00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:56.880] The boat was sinking.
[00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:04.000] And I spent two years trying to bail the water out, but it was still going to sink.
[00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:08.480] And was that a waste of two years of my life?
[00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:09.600] Maybe.
[00:26:10.320 --> 00:26:13.440] You know, it was wildly heartbreaking, of course.
[00:26:13.760 --> 00:26:20.480] Did I morally and personally, do the right thing that's authentic to my value system?
[00:26:20.800 --> 00:26:21.840] Yes.
[00:26:22.800 --> 00:26:38.120] So, you know, if I, in retrospect, would the emotional part, would it have been better if I had it already a better therapist or a therapist at the time of the sale to say, okay, sell it in the moment and walk away?
[00:26:38.120 --> 00:26:42.440] I was not prepared for that in any way, shape, or form.
[00:26:42.760 --> 00:26:45.240] Would that have made a difference?
[00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:45.960] No.
[00:26:46.600 --> 00:26:55.080] I just wouldn't have sat there for two years or screamed for two years watching it and worked so hard for that.
[00:26:55.080 --> 00:26:57.240] So I don't know what the right answer is.
[00:26:57.240 --> 00:27:13.160] And I'll tell you what's very upsetting: over the last five years, specifically the last three years, I can't tell you how many people, mostly men, say, I don't understand what your problem is.
[00:27:13.160 --> 00:27:14.040] You got your money.
[00:27:14.040 --> 00:27:15.320] You got paid.
[00:27:15.320 --> 00:27:16.840] What is your problem?
[00:27:16.840 --> 00:27:23.000] That just makes my head pop off because it's not transactional.
[00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:25.160] This is never transactional for me.
[00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:27.080] Like, this wasn't about the money.
[00:27:27.080 --> 00:27:37.320] This was 20 years of my life dedicated to doing something with complete excellence with my full soul and value system.
[00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:39.800] That's the heartbreak.
[00:27:39.800 --> 00:27:40.280] Yeah.
[00:27:40.600 --> 00:27:49.240] And believing like you always built your business to do the right thing and to serve people and create a premium product that was helpful to people.
[00:27:49.240 --> 00:27:56.280] And you sold the company with the intention that it was only going to get better and then to accessible to more people.
[00:27:56.280 --> 00:27:56.680] Yeah.
[00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:07.720] More happy customers, more incredible laundry rooms and clothes lasting longer and stains free and clean, non-toxic homes.
[00:28:07.720 --> 00:28:08.440] All of that.
[00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:14.280] It was like the opportunity for making that accessible worldwide.
[00:28:14.280 --> 00:28:16.320] That was the whole point.
[00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:30.480] And you did it all with the best of intentions and didn't know what you didn't know until the ship started sinking and you had to figure out how to stay afloat and pick yourself back up and now and now rebuild.
[00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:34.400] And you've been able to take this business life heartbreak.
[00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:36.400] Like I would, they feel the same way.
[00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:38.720] Like with entrepreneurs, I feel the same way, right?
[00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:48.720] If we ever sold this company and we sold to someone who wasn't like vision, mission aligned, and we believe that they were and stuff started sinking, like I would be devastated.
[00:28:48.720 --> 00:29:00.320] No matter what price you sell something for, when you believe so wholeheartedly in what you've built and it's your baby, and I know a lot of people say all the time, like you have to separate yourself from your business.
[00:29:00.320 --> 00:29:01.760] Like, I don't think so.
[00:29:01.760 --> 00:29:02.880] Like, you don't have to.
[00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:04.560] Like, if you, I agree.
[00:29:04.560 --> 00:29:07.360] I, and I, I believe that there are different founders.
[00:29:07.360 --> 00:29:08.960] I am a heart founder.
[00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:10.960] You are a heart founder.
[00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:19.600] We didn't just like want to be entrepreneurs and write a business plan out of grad school and like pick a business and write a plan and do it.
[00:29:19.600 --> 00:29:24.640] That was not our shared value system.
[00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:29.440] There's a space for everything, but that's not where I came from.
[00:29:29.440 --> 00:30:14.840] You know, why I feel it's important to talk about it now and what, at least on the heels of my learning lessons and being honest and really exercising my non-disparaging agreement, which not many people do, very few of us speak out against Goliath, is really to drive change and an awareness of MA and maybe be either be aware, make better decisions, or just have greater knowledge, but also driving change in responsibility for funders to be more responsible and for acquirers to be more responsible.
[00:30:14.840 --> 00:30:21.800] Coming up, you'll learn all about the importance of understanding different acquisition paths for founders.
[00:30:25.640 --> 00:30:32.120] Founders are always asking us, what has been the secret to our success building multiple seven-figure businesses?
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[00:30:54.600 --> 00:31:00.280] And I'm giving you access to everything we've used to grow and scale our businesses over the past decade.
[00:31:00.280 --> 00:31:04.680] Plus, you're going to meet your new best friends in business right inside the community.
[00:31:04.680 --> 00:31:27.080] Our members have access to everything we've used to grow our businesses over the past 10 plus years, from in-person events to virtual events, business education, funding resources, office hours with myself and other top founders in your industry, press opportunities, and access to our community platform where you can instantly get all of your business questions answered.
[00:31:27.080 --> 00:31:33.480] You can join us in the community over at refer.entreprenista.com forward slash join us.
[00:31:33.800 --> 00:31:39.560] That's refer.entreprenista.com forward slash join us to join the community.
[00:31:39.560 --> 00:31:42.920] Or head to the show notes right now and tap the link to join.
[00:31:42.920 --> 00:31:44.760] I cannot wait to meet you.
[00:31:45.840 --> 00:31:53.760] Knowing what you know now, advice to fellow entrepreneurs who are building a business to ultimately sell.
[00:31:53.760 --> 00:31:56.080] And again, like your story is your story.
[00:31:56.080 --> 00:31:57.600] It is a very unique story.
[00:31:57.600 --> 00:32:05.120] Yes, are there other stories of founders that have had very lucrative exits and the company falls apart after?
[00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:06.400] Yes, that happens.
[00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:13.920] Are there deals where a founder sells to a company and now that company really thrives and is able to do more and flourish?
[00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:15.440] Like that does happen too.
[00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:18.480] So we don't want to scare anyone into thinking like never sell your business.
[00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:33.600] Like there can be really great outcomes, but now like knowing this and hearing your story, what would you share with entrepreneurs to do like as you're going through the process, like having conversations with potential acquirers, going through the due diligence process?
[00:32:33.600 --> 00:32:38.960] Like what are some of those questions that founders should be asking the potential acquirer?
[00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:45.440] First of all, I do want to emphasize that an acquisition is not the end-all be-all.
[00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:56.160] And I really want to emphasize that because I think there's so many misinformation or numers or ideas out there that people think the norm is raising money.
[00:32:56.160 --> 00:32:57.200] I did not.
[00:32:57.200 --> 00:32:58.400] There's another way to do it.
[00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:02.080] It's just less talked about and gets less attention.
[00:33:02.080 --> 00:33:05.280] The end-all is not always an exit.
[00:33:05.600 --> 00:33:16.720] There is so much more value and so much more economic power and good that can be done with a privately owned business.
[00:33:17.040 --> 00:33:20.800] Small business has got a bad rap.
[00:33:20.800 --> 00:33:22.400] But if you look at the U.S.
[00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:26.000] economy, the majority of money comes from small businesses.
[00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:41.880] So the power and strength of that and celebrating that and providing a wonderful life and income and creating jobs and growth should be very celebrated and understood.
[00:33:41.880 --> 00:33:50.040] If I could have just kept on going and doing all of those wonderful things in retrospect, that would have been incredible.
[00:33:50.040 --> 00:33:57.160] I was under some other circumstances that didn't make that path viable or attractive.
[00:33:57.480 --> 00:33:58.760] No, I'm glad you're sharing that.
[00:33:58.760 --> 00:34:09.960] And this, of course, is something we talk about all the time inside our entrepreneurial community because you can build a business doing even $250,000 a year in revenue for your business and you're making incredible income.
[00:34:09.960 --> 00:34:17.720] You're building the life that you want and moving the scale upwards, even a business doing a couple million dollars a year in revenue.
[00:34:17.720 --> 00:34:23.640] You can be doing 20, 30, 40% in profit and making a lot of money along the way.
[00:34:23.640 --> 00:34:29.400] And those are the evaluations you have to look at when deciding, okay, like, do I maybe eventually want to sell my business?
[00:34:29.400 --> 00:34:37.640] Like, it's totally great if you do, and there can be a really lucrative outcome, but it's really also dependent on like what you want for yourself and your life.
[00:34:37.640 --> 00:34:45.720] You know, a lot of times we build businesses and start businesses when we're younger and then our life changes and evolves and like the business doesn't fit what you want for your life anymore.
[00:34:45.720 --> 00:34:53.800] So if you build a sustainable, scalable, sellable business, then at least you have the opportunity to do something with it later on.
[00:34:53.800 --> 00:34:55.800] But it doesn't have to be the path for everyone.
[00:34:55.800 --> 00:35:03.480] Like most founders are building businesses to have a really great cash flow and we celebrate that every single day inside the entrepreneurship community.
[00:35:03.640 --> 00:35:04.040] That is for sure.
[00:35:04.600 --> 00:35:05.080] Exactly.
[00:35:05.080 --> 00:35:15.920] And it also makes a very big difference when you have an ownership structure, whether it's sole ownership or partnership, and you have own all the full percentage of your company.
[00:35:16.160 --> 00:35:35.680] Then, if you've raised money and you own less than half or whatever, those economics at the end of the day it shakes out usually better for you to be smaller and operating a profitable business than to have a larger number attached to you that you don't actually get a piece of that action from.
[00:35:35.680 --> 00:35:46.160] But anyhow, so that's one thing I do always want to call out: celebrate and encourage people to really understand and choose a path appropriately.
[00:35:46.160 --> 00:35:58.880] In terms of an acquisition process, yes, you could be as organized and as possible and or not, or you know, all those sort of check the box things.
[00:35:59.200 --> 00:36:03.920] But at the end of the day, you are selling your work to someone else.
[00:36:03.920 --> 00:36:04.960] You're selling your house.
[00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:09.840] If they burn down your house, if they sell, they destroy the house, like you don't have any control over that.
[00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:25.360] You can do your best due diligence to protect that, feel that you're aligned, try and have as much organized upfront so you understand, but you really can't control the outcome.
[00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:45.680] And what's even worse is to have an earn out where you're not only financially tied, but then even more mentally exhausted by this in a situation that your controls are very limited with the outcomes.
[00:36:45.680 --> 00:36:58.400] If I had an earned out structure that would have been blown in the first three months just because of terrible decisions and actions that you know leave or put into place.
[00:36:58.400 --> 00:37:09.960] And I think it would be incredibly difficult to have all of your controls and checks and balances foresight ahead of time to protect you from that from happening.
[00:37:10.280 --> 00:37:13.480] Yeah, that's why, you know, we worked with an MA advisor.
[00:37:13.480 --> 00:37:16.840] We worked with a company called Tobin Left and Mary's a partner at Tobin Left.
[00:37:16.840 --> 00:37:25.640] She's in our entrepreneurship community and it was so helpful to have someone like Mary and David at Tobin Left to work with to like walk us through the whole process because we didn't know what we were doing.
[00:37:25.880 --> 00:37:26.920] You don't know what you know.
[00:37:27.400 --> 00:37:29.400] It's like buying a house for the first time.
[00:37:29.400 --> 00:37:30.440] You have no idea.
[00:37:30.840 --> 00:37:31.640] Why would you?
[00:37:32.200 --> 00:37:35.800] You work with a real estate agent, you work with a broker, someone that's going to help advise you.
[00:37:35.800 --> 00:37:42.440] And when you have that, like they were able to share with us because they specialize with selling Social Fly, they specialize in selling marketing agencies.
[00:37:42.440 --> 00:37:46.280] So they had all the data and the information to be like, okay, this is what's normal in a deal like this.
[00:37:46.280 --> 00:37:47.400] This is what's not normal.
[00:37:47.400 --> 00:37:51.960] These are the areas where you can ask for more or there's not going to be any potential wiggle room here.
[00:37:51.960 --> 00:37:56.200] So we were able to have that guidance, which really helped us through the process.
[00:37:56.200 --> 00:38:01.720] But again, like you said, like you don't know what is going to actually happen until it happens.
[00:38:01.880 --> 00:38:03.160] You don't know what you don't know.
[00:38:03.160 --> 00:38:03.800] Exactly.
[00:38:03.800 --> 00:38:04.120] Yeah.
[00:38:04.120 --> 00:38:06.760] So we try to share as much as possible.
[00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:11.720] If I had a dollar for the amount of times people also said, well, what did you expect to happen?
[00:38:11.720 --> 00:38:13.560] Like, you know, acquisitions always get screwed up.
[00:38:13.560 --> 00:38:15.240] They always ruin the brands.
[00:38:15.240 --> 00:38:21.400] Six years ago, that was sort of not the assumption that every brand that got acquired got ruined.
[00:38:21.560 --> 00:38:24.360] It's like, I just happen to be ahead of the curve on that one.
[00:38:24.360 --> 00:38:25.080] Always ahead.
[00:38:25.240 --> 00:38:26.200] Yay, me.
[00:38:26.520 --> 00:38:30.440] Starting the laundry trend and starting the crazy acquisition trend.
[00:38:30.680 --> 00:38:32.360] The trashed acquisition trend.
[00:38:32.600 --> 00:38:33.400] Oh, gosh.
[00:38:33.720 --> 00:38:36.040] Well, I know that, and we know.
[00:38:36.040 --> 00:38:43.960] Money doesn't buy happiness and it doesn't buy feeling better when your brand feels like it gets lit on fire by someone else.
[00:38:43.960 --> 00:38:50.240] That really hurts, but money does buy the opportunity to help other people and give back.
[00:38:50.560 --> 00:39:00.480] And after many years of taking out credit cards and loans, it probably felt a little good to just have a little extra change in your pocket.
[00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:09.360] Was there anything special that you bought for yourself or did to give to other entrepreneurs after the acquisition?
[00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:15.840] Well, yeah, it was nice not sweating through the night of worry.
[00:39:16.640 --> 00:39:20.320] That was a nice change in many years of that.
[00:39:20.320 --> 00:39:34.960] Yeah, I, you know, I didn't go buy anything wild, but it is rewarding to be able to be philanthropic and also to spend time dedicated to helping others.
[00:39:34.960 --> 00:39:43.040] I always, since my first summer graduating college, always trying to help other students get jobs.
[00:39:43.040 --> 00:39:54.320] I mean, when I my first job at Ralph Lauren that summer, I was like, we need interns and got five design students summer internships with Jamie Banks from Entrepreneursa, one of them.
[00:39:54.320 --> 00:39:56.640] So that's always been important to me.
[00:39:56.640 --> 00:40:08.640] I was an apparel design major, so so much success had to be with who you knew and networking through alumni and getting internships and getting in the front door to get a job.
[00:40:08.640 --> 00:40:16.000] So that was always important to me to really keep that cycle going and that's something I still do today.
[00:40:16.240 --> 00:40:26.320] But it's just much more accelerated with the other entrepreneurs and whether they're students or startups or even established founders in their journey.
[00:40:26.320 --> 00:40:31.640] I have a little bit of a bat phone of people that I informally advise.
[00:40:31.640 --> 00:40:32.440] But that is important.
[00:40:32.440 --> 00:40:33.720] That's very important to me.
[00:40:33.720 --> 00:40:37.320] And I love that I have the luxury to dedicate time to that.
[00:40:37.320 --> 00:40:47.880] And you've been so incredible, even coming and speaking with members in our Entrepreneurs League community at office hours and just sharing all of your learning lessons and connecting with everyone.
[00:40:47.880 --> 00:40:53.320] And a story, I think I've shared this with you before, but it was just so impactful for Jill.
[00:40:53.320 --> 00:41:01.080] So when we first had started the Entrepreneurs League, I had connected you with, and you were still at the laundress at the time.
[00:41:01.080 --> 00:41:05.160] I connected you with my friend who's in the entrepreneurship community, Jill Apgar.
[00:41:05.160 --> 00:41:17.800] She was just starting her business at that time and you got on a call with her and connected with her and introduced her to someone on the laundress team and ended up doing a promo with the laundress and her brand new brand.
[00:41:17.800 --> 00:41:23.720] And it helped her get all of her first followers on Instagram and like put her business on the map.
[00:41:23.720 --> 00:41:28.280] And like, you didn't have to take that call and do that and make that introduction for her.
[00:41:28.280 --> 00:41:38.600] And it's just like when we are all able to connect each other and help each other, there's just so much opportunity out there for everyone because running a business is hard, selling a business is hard.
[00:41:38.600 --> 00:41:43.160] Like it's all really hard, but it's a lot more fun and easier when we can all help each other.
[00:41:43.160 --> 00:41:44.200] Yes, it is.
[00:41:44.200 --> 00:41:44.920] It is.
[00:41:44.920 --> 00:41:47.960] And putting my shoulders out for someone else to stand on.
[00:41:47.960 --> 00:41:49.640] I've been at this a long time.
[00:41:49.640 --> 00:41:54.120] So to leverage that power is important.
[00:41:54.120 --> 00:41:58.360] And I hope that I inspire other people to do the same.
[00:41:58.360 --> 00:42:00.120] No, you definitely do.
[00:42:00.120 --> 00:42:00.520] All right.
[00:42:00.520 --> 00:42:04.280] So I want to share with everyone that the two of us had a conversation.
[00:42:04.280 --> 00:42:07.000] I think it was probably like three, I think it was three years ago now.
[00:42:07.000 --> 00:42:18.080] We were on a Zoom and you're like, I just, I feel like I just need to start another cleaning company because I really need cleaning products and I can't use these anymore.
[00:42:14.680 --> 00:42:20.800] So Stephanie, it was last year.
[00:42:21.120 --> 00:42:22.000] Was it last year?
[00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:22.640] Yes.
[00:42:24.240 --> 00:42:25.680] It was only last year?
[00:42:25.680 --> 00:42:26.480] Correct.
[00:42:26.480 --> 00:42:28.560] It was last August.
[00:42:28.880 --> 00:42:31.680] And you were telling me, like, I just think I need to start another business.
[00:42:31.680 --> 00:42:37.360] I was like, I was like, Gwen, don't you just need, like, just keep giving back to others.
[00:42:37.360 --> 00:42:38.000] Just relax.
[00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:40.640] You don't need to, don't put yourself in the mix of starting another business again.
[00:42:40.640 --> 00:42:41.280] You don't need to do that.
[00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:43.920] You're like, I need my cleaning products.
[00:42:43.920 --> 00:42:45.200] I need to start a business.
[00:42:45.200 --> 00:42:47.360] And I'm like, okay, how can I help?
[00:42:47.360 --> 00:42:48.240] What do you need me to do?
[00:42:48.240 --> 00:42:49.040] Let's do it.
[00:42:49.440 --> 00:42:53.760] So the Stephanie Carton bat phone was alive and well.
[00:42:53.760 --> 00:42:58.320] And yes, it was only about 14 months ago, if you can believe it.
[00:42:58.320 --> 00:42:59.600] No, I can't.
[00:42:59.600 --> 00:43:02.560] So 14 months ago, you have this vision, you have this idea.
[00:43:02.560 --> 00:43:05.760] And actually, I remember you were brainstorming names with me on that call.
[00:43:05.760 --> 00:43:06.480] Yes, exactly.
[00:43:06.480 --> 00:43:12.240] No, yeah, we were looking on domain.com if they were available.
[00:43:12.880 --> 00:43:16.560] All right, so tell everyone about this new business that you just launched.
[00:43:16.560 --> 00:43:18.960] Oh my gosh, that was such a memory.
[00:43:18.960 --> 00:43:24.320] So I, of course, called Stephanie, am I insane to do this?
[00:43:24.320 --> 00:43:25.760] And who do you know?
[00:43:25.760 --> 00:43:30.800] And we actually also started when I wanted to really tell my story.
[00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:37.200] And I was coming up to the expiration of my non-compete and non-disparaging agreement.
[00:43:37.200 --> 00:44:03.560] And because the Unilever downfall, Titanic sinking was so public, I felt that I needed to invest in clearing my name, resurrecting myself, and separating my story from their downfall, and wanting to really speak out and share these lessons learned of accountability, which I so strongly believe in.
[00:43:59.760 --> 00:44:04.840] So that's where the journey started.
[00:44:05.320 --> 00:44:19.400] And then Stephanie also introduced me to my favorite web development team, Entrepreneurs, Reading Pretty, and Amy Schoenthal, and Ann, it goes on, but just incredible.
[00:44:19.400 --> 00:44:25.960] My new company, The Phil, is completely created by the Entrepreneurista Network.
[00:44:26.600 --> 00:44:28.360] It's like the best entrepreneur.
[00:44:28.520 --> 00:44:35.800] We have a lot of stories in the community of everyone collaborating and connecting, but it's just so amazing when you're like, okay, I'm going to start.
[00:44:35.800 --> 00:44:38.760] I'm like, okay, talk to Janine for your website.
[00:44:39.000 --> 00:44:39.880] Send emails.
[00:44:40.520 --> 00:44:43.480] Talk to Amy about your personal branding, NPR.
[00:44:43.480 --> 00:44:44.840] We need to have you tell this story.
[00:44:44.840 --> 00:44:48.760] And then when you're ready, you can come back on this podcast and tell the story that you've just told.
[00:44:48.760 --> 00:44:49.640] And here we are.
[00:44:49.640 --> 00:44:50.040] Exactly.
[00:44:50.040 --> 00:44:53.480] One-stop shop, fully vetted, entrepreneurista.
[00:44:53.480 --> 00:45:01.720] Yeah, so my brand that I created was no longer in any shape or form of my work.
[00:45:02.040 --> 00:45:05.720] So I did feel that I needed to have my own products.
[00:45:05.720 --> 00:45:09.800] I was not going to start buying tide now 20 years later.
[00:45:09.800 --> 00:45:16.600] I did try dry cleaning just out of rebellion, and that was a short-lived episode as well.
[00:45:16.600 --> 00:45:21.720] But I did not want to be making cleaning products again, period, end of story.
[00:45:21.720 --> 00:45:23.000] I had done it.
[00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:24.600] I dedicated my life to it.
[00:45:24.600 --> 00:45:26.520] I did the best I could have done.
[00:45:26.520 --> 00:45:30.680] I created incredible product and incredible brand, but you want to do something different.
[00:45:30.680 --> 00:45:38.440] You know, I was excited to really get into a new business, a different market, a different category.
[00:45:38.440 --> 00:45:53.920] I'm very focused on health and wellness, and there is so much room for improvement in our healthcare system, especially as women, especially as a middle-aged 40, late 40-year-old woman.
[00:45:54.560 --> 00:45:58.640] And that's really the space that I wanted to be working in.
[00:45:58.640 --> 00:46:02.800] However, I felt that I had to do this first.
[00:46:02.800 --> 00:46:05.600] I felt that this was unfinished business.
[00:46:05.600 --> 00:46:11.920] And so I launched my second cleaning brand, The Phil.
[00:46:12.160 --> 00:46:15.200] The website's thephilclub.com.
[00:46:15.200 --> 00:46:17.520] But I am building very differently.
[00:46:17.840 --> 00:46:31.280] I know I challenge Stephanie's all belief system about marketing and social and everything that you can traditionally and very beautifully build from.
[00:46:31.280 --> 00:46:40.400] I chose to reject because that's fine because you have a vision for what you want this to be.
[00:46:40.880 --> 00:46:43.760] Yes, I have a vision and a different goal set.
[00:46:43.760 --> 00:46:54.560] Actually, I want you to explain to everyone like what the difference is between the fill and how you actually become a customer of the fill and get into the platform because it's not what we're used to, right?
[00:46:54.560 --> 00:47:02.080] We're all used to going to the grocery store, Whole Foods, wherever we go to buy cleaning products or on Amazon.
[00:47:02.080 --> 00:47:06.000] We order stuff on subscription, but like that is not where you are going to find the fill.
[00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:08.160] So, how do you actually find it?
[00:47:08.240 --> 00:47:09.200] How do you find it?
[00:47:09.440 --> 00:47:11.120] You listen to the Entrepreneurs to Podcast.
[00:47:11.280 --> 00:47:12.720] Yeah, just listen to this podcast.
[00:47:13.040 --> 00:47:14.240] It's very exclusive.
[00:47:14.240 --> 00:47:16.800] And tell all your friends and your family.
[00:47:16.800 --> 00:47:25.040] So, I was and am so repulsed by the commerce of the past.
[00:47:25.040 --> 00:47:28.800] I built my first brand organically.
[00:47:29.120 --> 00:47:40.600] It was traditional media, it was press, it was shows, it was speaking, it was connecting, it was collaborating, brand collaborations, all of these things.
[00:47:40.600 --> 00:47:51.160] Social commerce came in, as did paying Google and all that all came into play along my journey.
[00:47:51.160 --> 00:47:54.440] So, I had a different starter experience.
[00:47:54.440 --> 00:48:00.760] I started the old-fashioned way, and then I had to adapt and buy into these things.
[00:48:00.760 --> 00:48:07.240] I had never once paid for an ad placement the entire, you know, the entire time.
[00:48:07.240 --> 00:48:16.280] And then, you know, then you start throwing money at Google and ads and Instagram and all these animals came to life through my journey.
[00:48:16.280 --> 00:48:20.120] But I was just like, I don't want anything to do with that.
[00:48:20.120 --> 00:48:25.560] I want to build the old-fashioned way, traditional media, community building.
[00:48:25.560 --> 00:48:28.680] I hate social media.
[00:48:28.680 --> 00:48:29.240] Stephanie's not going to be able to do it.
[00:48:29.320 --> 00:48:30.040] We're still friends.
[00:48:30.040 --> 00:48:31.000] We're still friends.
[00:48:32.760 --> 00:48:34.120] I just don't enjoy it.
[00:48:34.120 --> 00:48:43.960] And I, you know, having done it with the laundress and all this sort of overexposing and speaking to everybody just was so off-putting to me.
[00:48:43.960 --> 00:48:46.520] I wanted nothing to do with it.
[00:48:46.520 --> 00:49:01.240] I took so much pride in giving real solutions and my know-how to my community, you know, to everyone for all of those years.
[00:49:01.560 --> 00:49:05.800] And with the Phil, I was like, I want a community.
[00:49:05.800 --> 00:49:07.240] This is personal.
[00:49:07.240 --> 00:49:09.000] This is personal again.
[00:49:09.000 --> 00:49:11.000] And it's private.
[00:49:11.000 --> 00:49:17.680] And I will give you everything, but you have to be a member in our safe space in our community.
[00:49:17.680 --> 00:49:19.920] I'm not going to bombard you with emails.
[00:49:14.840 --> 00:49:21.840] I am not going to stalk you on Facebook.
[00:49:22.160 --> 00:49:27.440] I am not going to, you know, do this like over saturation of commerce.
[00:49:27.440 --> 00:49:30.320] Like, we just came off the cyber holiday.
[00:49:30.320 --> 00:49:38.000] Like, I'm sure everyone's so sick of the emails and the Instagram or whatever, all the channels.
[00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:43.600] But my know-how now is private and it's for the people in my community.
[00:49:43.600 --> 00:49:45.840] It's not for everyone anymore.
[00:49:45.840 --> 00:49:53.200] And so I wanted to build a safe space that is small, it's intimate, it's a community.
[00:49:53.200 --> 00:49:57.360] Yes, you get my cleaning products, which are beautiful.
[00:49:57.360 --> 00:50:07.440] Which are beautiful and amazing, but you also get this new orientation of customer respect and of member respect.
[00:50:07.760 --> 00:50:13.680] What has been the most challenging part about building again from the beginning and ground up?
[00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:17.840] I launched in June.
[00:50:17.840 --> 00:50:22.320] I had my dream press placement with the Financial Times.
[00:50:22.400 --> 00:50:30.880] That was like my end-all be-all on how to spend it, a magazine I've been diligently reading for over 25 years.
[00:50:31.200 --> 00:50:37.760] And then I went into the most severe postpartum depression.
[00:50:37.760 --> 00:50:40.400] What was that like, and how did you get through everything?
[00:50:41.040 --> 00:50:42.400] It was horrible.
[00:50:42.400 --> 00:50:50.240] I mean, I and I know it's not like a light term to use, postpartum, and especially not birthing children.
[00:50:50.240 --> 00:50:53.200] I don't, I take that seriously as well.
[00:50:53.200 --> 00:51:03.320] But I'm drawing the comparison in that I was so overwrought with despair and it wasn't lined up with the reality.
[00:50:59.520 --> 00:51:06.600] You know, I had like one email to write, and I was like, oh my gosh.
[00:51:07.240 --> 00:51:09.000] I remember talking to you on the phone, actually.
[00:51:09.000 --> 00:51:13.080] I think I was picking Molly up from school and we were on a call and you were sharing with me.
[00:51:13.320 --> 00:51:15.320] And that feeling is paralyzing, right?
[00:51:15.720 --> 00:51:24.040] It feels like one thing that for anyone that's just like having a good day and just getting through everything, one email seems like, yeah, it just takes two seconds to do.
[00:51:24.040 --> 00:51:36.760] But when you're in that feeling of depression and not being able to think clearly and everything seems so hard, and now you've just launched this new business, it's like, it's paralyzing.
[00:51:36.760 --> 00:51:39.960] I wasn't prepared, obviously, for that.
[00:51:40.760 --> 00:51:43.320] You didn't have that one on your bingo card for 2024.
[00:51:43.880 --> 00:51:45.000] Expected.
[00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:57.160] But it was so much between the trauma from the last business and that entire journey and the overwhelm of the responsibility.
[00:51:57.160 --> 00:51:59.320] And oh my gosh, I did it again.
[00:51:59.320 --> 00:52:01.000] I don't want the baby.
[00:52:01.320 --> 00:52:02.840] Get rid of it.
[00:52:03.480 --> 00:52:06.440] And my father had just passed away.
[00:52:06.760 --> 00:52:11.960] He passed away four days before the FT interview and photo shoot.
[00:52:11.960 --> 00:52:16.280] So it was like, keep it moving, just like show up and deliver.
[00:52:16.280 --> 00:52:24.120] So there was a lot of things that hadn't been processed and settled and managed, but I was not prepared for that at all.
[00:52:24.120 --> 00:53:08.720] Luckily, I have you on the bat phone and also a much bigger community of women and a network to call on and help and to be able to say that and get help from so many different people and from every, I mean, I had like a recommendation for a breathing instructor and a energy healer and like every which way to come at it and to have the ability to actually spend the time and the resources to to do those things And then I had an amazing, thank God, I had the most amazing, amazing summer intern from Cornell who just carried along.
[00:53:08.720 --> 00:53:09.840] So I'm so grateful for that.
[00:53:10.080 --> 00:53:14.160] Hopefully back to Cornell and the incredible, incredible students there, right?
[00:53:16.000 --> 00:53:20.480] So now here we are at the end of 2024.
[00:53:20.480 --> 00:53:23.680] The Phil has been birthed for the past six months.
[00:53:23.680 --> 00:53:27.840] You, thank goodness, are doing so much better now.
[00:53:27.840 --> 00:53:30.560] What is ahead for 2025?
[00:53:30.880 --> 00:53:37.120] I guess the irony was that the Phil is centered on wellness.
[00:53:37.440 --> 00:53:48.800] So the difference of doing things now also was that the whole heart center of the Phil is that it's formulated with aromatherapy.
[00:53:48.800 --> 00:53:54.800] So there are all these wonderful natural attributes you get from using the product.
[00:53:54.800 --> 00:53:59.600] And my ethos was let life work for you.
[00:53:59.600 --> 00:54:07.360] If you're cleaning and you're doing laundry and you're doing your dishes or spraying your countertops or cleaning your bathroom, you're doing the work anyways.
[00:54:07.360 --> 00:54:11.920] You might as well get some extra benefit from it as well.
[00:54:12.160 --> 00:54:20.320] Even if you're not the one doing the cleaning, you get the benefit because you're living in your home that has been cleaned.
[00:54:20.320 --> 00:54:22.960] I can't sell you how many people are like, well, I don't do my laundry.
[00:54:22.960 --> 00:54:23.760] Like, I don't care.
[00:54:23.760 --> 00:54:26.080] And I'm like, but you wear your clothes.
[00:54:26.080 --> 00:54:27.200] Yes, good point.
[00:54:27.200 --> 00:54:29.280] You get in your bed.
[00:54:29.280 --> 00:54:31.320] This carries into your bed.
[00:54:31.640 --> 00:54:41.480] Like, you, this is what you put on your underwear and you spend 95% of your life in your clothes or in your bed.
[00:54:41.480 --> 00:54:53.640] You know, you kind of should care and get the benefits of this incredible, powerful aromatherapy to just help you make that life journey better.
[00:54:53.640 --> 00:54:59.880] So, for 2025, it is still a very new community and building and thriving.
[00:54:59.880 --> 00:55:03.960] And it's just a really, this is supposed to be fun.
[00:55:03.960 --> 00:55:15.240] I have the luxury to take this approach and really build with an orientation, of course, of purpose and aligned with my values.
[00:55:15.240 --> 00:55:19.560] But I also have the luxury to, I sent this an email this week.
[00:55:19.560 --> 00:55:23.000] I said, 2025, we're only working with people we want to.
[00:55:23.000 --> 00:55:30.120] We get to determine who we want to work with, and we want to be in the right shared space and value-aligned.
[00:55:30.120 --> 00:55:33.400] And that's relevant, and that is important.
[00:55:33.400 --> 00:55:49.720] And that was a big takeaway: I knew that I had strong values, but to have it shine so bright that I sold my company to an organization that was completely not aligned with my values, but also lied and were delusional about their own.
[00:55:50.040 --> 00:55:56.680] I mean, on their website, I thought we totally were, or what the CEO said, but it wasn't.
[00:55:56.840 --> 00:55:58.120] It wasn't the case.
[00:55:58.120 --> 00:55:59.240] It wasn't the case.
[00:55:59.240 --> 00:56:04.200] Now you have the opportunity to build again and start fresh, if you will.
[00:56:04.520 --> 00:56:05.720] Fresh, fresh start.
[00:56:05.720 --> 00:56:06.200] Yeah.
[00:56:06.920 --> 00:56:10.040] And really create this next chapter.
[00:56:10.040 --> 00:57:47.400] And, you know, I texted you the other day when I read the the cut article that that just came out and I was like crying reading it because I'm like you finally have the opportunity to share what happened and use your voice again and like feeling like you like going through this whole journey for 20 plus years building businesses and like it is your life's work and then feeling like you're silenced and can't talk and share and for people like us who just like want to share to help people and then feeling like you literally can't share because of a document that you have signed and that if you share with other people there's major consequences and you finally have been able to just like release and be out there again and help other people and it just i was so emotional just reading it and feeling like you're you're finally back i'm back it's been a great year to really exercise that and say what i want to say and i'm excited for a new topic for 2023 we're gonna we're gonna focus on wellness in the new year do you do you have a word of the year yet do you come up with a word of the year that's next weekend's activity actually let me know when you have your your word of the year i have to ask you when before i forget because this is something that's really important for all of our entrepreneurs so when you started your first business this is like basically like pre-internet this is pre-e-commerce i mean the internet was there was like basically you were one of like the first e-commerce businesses that were out there and you built your whole site before anyone there was no shopify back there there was no shopify there was no shopping cart no one was shipping a liquid product.
[00:57:47.400 --> 00:57:52.120] But now, you know, and here i am saying like i feel like you told me you had this idea three years ago.
[00:57:52.120 --> 00:57:53.000] It was 14 months ago.
[00:57:53.000 --> 00:58:02.840] So, in 14 months, you were able to go from having this idea, getting the business set up, manufacturing product, getting the website, like all the things, right?
[00:57:59.840 --> 00:58:09.720] Because now, all these years later, there's so many different business tools and solutions to make it so much easier to start a business.
[00:58:09.720 --> 00:58:11.960] It's still very hard to stay in business, as we all know.
[00:58:11.960 --> 00:58:14.920] That's why we have our entrepreneurship community to we can all help each other.
[00:58:14.920 --> 00:58:17.320] But to start a business, it's never been easier.
[00:58:17.320 --> 00:58:24.920] What are some of the different business tools, solutions that you've been using that maybe some of your vendors have been using that you love and would recommend?
[00:58:24.920 --> 00:58:30.680] Honestly, the only thing I have to say is that Entrepreneurs and Network-I'm serious.
[00:58:30.680 --> 00:58:33.560] That's like the only tool that I used.
[00:58:33.560 --> 00:58:35.400] You know, I'm not a tech gal.
[00:58:35.720 --> 00:58:37.080] I know, I know.
[00:58:37.080 --> 00:58:39.400] Well, I mean, sure, I have to agree with you.
[00:58:39.400 --> 00:58:51.560] Like, please, please, for our listeners right now, if you are not yet part of our community and you are in business or you're thinking about starting a business, come on into the community because we will save you a lot of time, a lot of time.
[00:58:51.560 --> 00:59:07.000] So, Stephanie, but also, like, I'm not going to give you like a business system or a app or something, but what made everything so easy for me is my dedication to relationships.
[00:59:07.000 --> 00:59:20.600] And so, I had an incredible Rolodex of people to call, people I hadn't spoken to in years, who all picked up the phone and were so excited to hear from me.
[00:59:20.600 --> 00:59:24.680] And then, not only excited to hear from me, excited to work with me.
[00:59:24.680 --> 00:59:29.160] And not only work with me, but to ensure success.
[00:59:29.160 --> 00:59:35.560] That is the magic tool and the superpower that be good to people.
[00:59:35.560 --> 00:59:41.560] You grow with a team, you grow with other people, you don't do anything on your own.
[00:59:41.560 --> 00:59:47.200] That's just you, you need all of these people to care as much as you do.
[00:59:47.760 --> 00:59:55.200] And I had an incredible Rolodex of people who cared and were ready to care again.
[00:59:55.440 --> 01:00:01.520] That's what business is all about: it's relationships and everyone working together to help each other.
[01:00:01.520 --> 01:00:07.360] And when you build these relationships, everything and anything is absolutely possible.
[01:00:07.360 --> 01:00:20.800] Gwen, we could probably sit here and talk for three more hours, but we're gonna let everyone get back to, if you're listening to this right now during the holidays, potentially if you're listening to it right when it goes live or later on, we'll let everyone get back to building their business.
[01:00:20.800 --> 01:00:25.520] Last question for you, Gwen: What does being an entrepreneur mean to you?
[01:00:25.520 --> 01:00:27.680] We spoke about this earlier in the conversation.
[01:00:27.680 --> 01:00:34.880] As a female, it's being a birther, and I reject it so strongly.
[01:00:34.880 --> 01:00:38.720] I hated when people said, Oh, we don't have children, you have a business instead.
[01:00:38.720 --> 01:00:42.320] Like, I thought that was the rudest thing anyone could ever say to me.
[01:00:42.320 --> 01:01:02.240] But I have turned to fiercely own that and to be such a mama bear and have my mothering so vast and giving in so in such an enormous capacity is a real honor for my life journey.
[01:01:02.240 --> 01:01:09.840] So, as the fierce mama bear, we're protectors, we're teachers, we're leaders, we're givers, we're doers.
[01:01:09.840 --> 01:01:16.560] But as my hormone doctor now tells me, I am moving into my queen bee phase.
[01:01:16.560 --> 01:01:18.880] I love it.
[01:01:18.880 --> 01:01:21.920] So, I'm excited to be leading from Queen Bee.
[01:01:21.920 --> 01:01:22.720] I love it.
[01:01:22.720 --> 01:01:23.920] I absolutely love it.
[01:01:23.920 --> 01:01:27.280] Gwen, where can everyone find you, follow you, connect with you?
[01:01:27.280 --> 01:01:33.080] For those that now have the special invitation from you to join the Phil Club, where should they head over to do that?
[01:01:29.840 --> 01:01:35.320] Everything Gwen shares right now is going to be over in the show notes.
[01:01:35.480 --> 01:01:38.360] So head over to the show notes and Gwen, link away.
[01:01:38.360 --> 01:01:40.040] Tell us all the places to go.
[01:01:40.040 --> 01:01:40.680] Yes.
[01:01:40.680 --> 01:01:44.200] So I guess LinkedIn, Gwenelle Whiting.
[01:01:44.200 --> 01:01:51.000] I am on Instagram, but don't count on me there at Gwenelle Whiting.
[01:01:51.320 --> 01:01:53.240] And join the club.
[01:01:53.240 --> 01:02:01.960] It's a beautiful space for cleaning and wellness and community at thephilclub.com.
[01:02:01.960 --> 01:02:03.560] Thephilclub.com.
[01:02:03.560 --> 01:02:07.480] And yes, one of our incredible entrepreneurs members helped to build your site.
[01:02:07.480 --> 01:02:09.240] Neen from Ready Pretty.
[01:02:09.240 --> 01:02:14.200] And shout out to Amy Schoenthal and who else, Katie?
[01:02:14.200 --> 01:02:20.360] Love, all the entrepreneurs who you worked with building this business and probably more to come.
[01:02:20.360 --> 01:02:23.640] And lots of entrepreneurs are going to hop into the club right now.
[01:02:23.640 --> 01:02:29.000] So everyone, head over to the show notes, tap the Phil Club to learn more.
[01:02:29.000 --> 01:02:34.200] And your sheets and clothes and counters will smell absolutely beautiful.
[01:02:34.200 --> 01:02:35.880] Gwen, thank you for being here.
[01:02:35.880 --> 01:02:41.800] I know this is an emotional conversation and journey, and you're just incredible.
[01:02:41.800 --> 01:02:47.640] And I'm just so happy and thankful to call you my friend and be there to support everything that you do.
[01:02:47.640 --> 01:02:48.440] And you're just the best.
[01:02:48.440 --> 01:02:49.560] So thank you.
[01:02:49.560 --> 01:02:50.680] Thank you, Stephanie.
[01:02:50.680 --> 01:02:53.160] You are my fairy god friend.
[01:02:53.800 --> 01:02:57.640] And thank you, everyone, for being here and listening in.
[01:02:57.640 --> 01:03:01.960] I'm Stephanie, and this is the best business meeting I've ever had.
[01:03:02.280 --> 01:03:03.560] Hi, Entrepreneurs.
[01:03:03.560 --> 01:03:04.600] It's Steph here.
[01:03:04.600 --> 01:03:11.720] And I hope today's episode has left you feeling inspired and with some actionable tips that you can apply to your own business.
[01:03:11.720 --> 01:03:18.720] The way we've grown our community and resources is by sharing content like this for years and asking for help along the way.
[01:03:19.040 --> 01:03:24.560] So here's where we need your help so we can continue to make as much impact as possible together.
[01:03:24.560 --> 01:03:41.680] If you can leave us a five-star review and extra credit if you share this episode on Instagram, LinkedIn, or DM it to a founder friend who would benefit from hearing it, not only would it mean the world to us, but you sharing this episode is going to help someone who just may need to hear what we share today.
[01:03:41.680 --> 01:03:51.440] And you know I love nothing more than giveaways and prizes, so every month I'll be giving away a one-on-one session with me to someone who has shared the episode and left a review.
[01:03:51.440 --> 01:03:54.240] So send me a personal DM over on Instagram.
[01:03:54.240 --> 01:03:59.200] I'm at Steph Jill Carton once you've done it so you can be entered to win.
[01:03:59.200 --> 01:04:04.880] Wishing you a productive week ahead and stay tuned for another impactful episode next week.