Habits and Hustle - Episode 10: Toni Ko – One Of America’s Wealthiest Self-Made Woman – Talks Sweat Equity, Patience, & How She Hustles

Episode Date: May 7, 2019

Founder of NYX Cosmetics, Toni Ko was named America’s wealthiest self-made woman by Forbes in 2017. The humble entrepreneur joins us today to discuss her journey coming to the US and not knowing a word of English to how she started NYX, product development, and why she sold to L’oreal in 2014 for $500 million. Toni and I talked about her journey from living with her parents and working for them, to how she came up with the idea for NYX, her new business venture, Thomas James LA sunglasses, the importance of being frugal, why she would rather buy a building than a Birkin bag, making to-do lists, her daily routine, life hacks, raising chickens and so much more. 📺 Youtube Link to This Episode ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Did you learn something from tuning in today? Please pay it forward and write us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. 📧If you have feedback for the show, please email [e-mail]  📙Get yourself a copy of Jennifer Cohen’s newest book from Habit Nest, Badass Body Goals Journal. ℹ️Habits & Hustle Website 📚Habit Nest Website 📱Follow Jennifer – Instagram – Facebook – Twitter – Jennifer’s Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vitamin Water Zero Sugar just dropped in all new taste. It was zero holding back on flavor. You can be your all feeling. I'll play and all self-care you. Grab the all new taste today. Vitamin Water Zero Sugar, nourish every you. Vitamin Water is a registered trademark of glass O. Smoothie King asks, what's that sound?

That's the sound you pucker in up for the extreme watermelon lemonade smoothie. It's totally tart, yet perfectly sweet. Back is a summer fling, day. Only it's Smoothie King. You may not know Tony co by her name, but chances are you definitely know her beauty company that she founded, Nix Cosmetics. It's literally sold everywhere. Tony was named one of America's wealthiest self-made women by Forbes.

Although she sold Nix to L'Oreal in 2014 for over 500 million, she is surprisingly very humble and very sweet. Tony and I talked about her journey from living with their parents and how she came up with the idea for next. She openly shares the story have she built her company, the challenges she faced and why it was important for her to sell to the right people. One thing I notice about Tony is that she truly has integrity in everything she does. For being on the board of UNICEF to helping other female entrepreneurs, she really puts 100% into everything she does. She also shared about her new venture, Thomas

Jane Sunglasses, and when it's like to raise chickens in her backyard. Tony's story will inspire you and make you rethink entrepreneurship in an entirely new way. entrepreneurship in an entirely new way. All right, so I am beyond excited to have this one on this podcast. Her name is Tony Co. She is America's wealthiest self-made woman in Forbes in the top 60. She's created NYX makeup, which is a very, very, very popular beauty brand. Most of your girl, you're going to know what it is, and then sold it to L'Oreal for almost $500 million. No small feet there, and has gone on to do amazing, tremendous things. I just want to say thank you, Tony Coe,

for coming on this podcast. I love that you're here, and I can't wait to talk to you. Thank you, Jennifer, for having me on the show. Oh, your podcast. I'm so honored to be here. Well, thank you. And I have to tell you, this is actually my first interview in a year and a half.

I am so beyond honor that you're on this little podcast for your first interview. So thank you. I'm telling you the truth. I'm not just saying it because you're here. I'm really, really happy to have you because you are such a badass and you amplify what true entrepreneurial ship is, what real hustle is, what people can do, what you can make something out of nothing. And I really just wanna hear how a little girl

who came here, not even speaking English at 13, created one of the biggest beauty brands in the world and installed it. You're so sweet. No, it's the truth. I love you. That's why I want, this is so, I'm so happy to be here. Oh, listen, we're happy to have you.

And so I guess the first thing is really that, like you come here, you move here from where exactly were you? South Korea. South Korea. Yes. When you were 13. 13, yes. And you spoke almost zero English?

Yeah, I knew how to say three words. I knew yes, no, and thank you That's it. And then and then like were you always like someone who loved beauty or makeup or what was your was that your passion as a kid or Yeah, so I loved beauty and I remember where we used to live One of the biggest store was K-Mart. K-Mart has gone out of business. Yeah, it was a K-Mart. And after school, I used to go to K-Mart

and just walk up and down and up and down the beauty aisle. And remember, it was the cover girl, the maveline. And I used to just smell, like walk around and smell the aisle because it just smells so delicious. The irony is that my mom didn't let me wear makeup. So I had an eyeliner, a pink frosted lipstick. I still remember this lipstick. I don't know if you remember those one with the, the core is like a clear lip gloss and then it's got the lipstick outside. I totally remember that. Yes, of course I had one of those it was cover girl I think cover girl. Yeah, and

a face powder I So I saved up all of my allowance bought these three items and I would hide it under my backpack Went to school. I would put the makeup on and and I also carried a small little bar of soap, and I would wash my face in school bathroom before going home. So my mom never knew that I was wearing makeup. That's crazy. And so when you were younger, were you then working in like beauty? Where was your first job? Did you have like jobs in like the beauty space?

Like a beauty counter or like? Yeah, yeah. So I never real had a real job, but I worked in my family business. So we're, so I'm first generation immigrant. So are my parents. So when they came, he moved to US, the first business that they started in

was a small retail store selling design of fragrances and color cosmetics. So we were selling brands like I don't know if you remember brands like Jordana, Alafam, like Jordash, you said. Yeah, Jordash, you have makeup. So we were retelling those and my mom, she happened to be an amazing business woman. So ultimately we had multiple locations and then we packed everything together, and we went into a wholesale distributor business.

And I worked in the family business my whole life. And I kind of naturally learned how to run a business. No one like taught me how to run a business, but just by observing what my mom did. And from very young age. so I think our family business started when I was 14 or 15 years old. And I just went to work after schools, weekends, and vacations. Our family would never went on vacation. We worked, worked, worked, worked, worked.

Wow, yeah. Like 24 or 7, like we worked, worked, worked, worked, worked, worked. Wow, yeah. Like 24 or 7, like non-style working. And, you know, I think most importantly, it's the interaction with the customers on a daily basis from like a very young age and merchandising because, you know, like I was just like, I was just like a sponge that was like soaking up information. Right. And because we had our store and I was displaying merchandise, so now I got to see like,

oh, like, you know, this item will be great if the display was designed a certain way. Right. So like from a very young age like I was thinking about things like this. Oh yellow looks really good next to black. Like a you know when you look at eyeliner. 80% of an eyeliner sale is a black eyeliner but if you have only black eyeliner it doesn't sell by itself. You have to have the brown, you have the blue, the green, you have to have the complementary color in the same display, and which color goes next

to which color makes a huge difference? Well, yeah, I can see that. And consumer purchasing. It's very interesting. It is interesting. And I feel like you kind of came by it honestly, because it kind of probably seeped in your subconscious because as a young girl,

you were doing that naturally all the time with your family business, that it became part of like your, kind of like your daily routine. It's like eating, or, you know, no one really teaches you how to eat. Right, you kind of have to learn it, like, and like it becomes part of like who you are.

And like, and so then what, very natural. Very natural. And so then what, very natural. Very natural. And because it sounds also like you're, you learn work ethic from your family, right? Because you were working constantly, never going vacation. Yes. So then at what point were you like, you know what? I just want to start my own beauty brand.

Like how old were you even? That's so that's exactly what I did. So I worked in the family business until I was 25 years old. And, oh wow. Another story to this is, while I was working for the family business, my mom never paid me. Really? Yes.

And that it actually, that's how I started in mixed cosmetics, because, but I lived at home. My parents are very conservative. So their thing was, I'm a woman, so they thought I should have moved out of the house until I got married, very traditional, very conservative. So I was 25 living at home, and I had a car that my mom was paying for,

so I didn't have any payment. But I was on the allowance. I was the 25 year old living under your parents' roof on the allowance, working at your family business. What were you giving you as an allowance? How much were you making? I think maybe like a few hundred dollars or something. I'm like, I'm like, a month or a week.

I don't know. Maybe it was like, when I was a teenager, maybe they were giving me like $50 a week, $100 a week or something. In my 20s, I don't know, maybe they gave me like $200 a week. And were you going to school too or were you just kind of... Yeah, I was going to go into Glanda College, but then I dropped out just like work on the family business full time and to start my company. Wow. So, wow. I worked on the concept for a couple of years because, because, so I would go to the department store because, you know, at our store, we weren't selling Chanel's and Mac and Lancome, it's all those fabulous products, right?

So I would go to the department store and I would, like, I look at, I admire Chanel, like I admire Mac and Lancome. I just love the simplicity of their packaging, black and white, basically black and white and nothing else. Right. The packaging is not the hero of this this product the actual product is the hero But when I went to drugstore, I felt like oh my god. It's so gaudy. It's so colorful like

Mabley mascara like green hot pink hot pink air gold foil Like it's so gaudy like just by having that package It is like you like people from miles can see that you're using a drugstore But it's so gaudy, just by having that package, people from miles can see that you're using a drug store makeup. So I thought, okay, I want to bring this department store look into the mass market. That was your initial thought. That was my initial thought. That was my initial thought. And I had that initial thought because, so by the time my friends all had jobs and they started their career path, and they started to make money. So like they're buying all this expensive stuff.

And because I was at 25 years old, lot was, I had limited spending power. So, you know, that's one of the reasons. I'm like, you know, I'm not the only one who can afford 10 Mac lipstick at $15. Right. It's $150. It's a lot of money, you know. And because my family had been in the beauty business for a while, I knew kind of how it worked and I knew that most of the price, that consumer pays for, the retail price, a big portion, a huge portion of that money goes to marketing. Right. They have, I mean, they have, like, they pay a million dollars to a model. And a more now, I mean, a more, yeah. I mean,

a million dollar, two million dollars. And I'm like, okay, so. And just commercials. Oh yeah, commercials. And buying ads in Cosmopolitan, Vogue magazine, it's super expensive. Very, so that's when kind of like I started on my business plan of creating a brand that's really high quality, high functioning, but taking out all that extra expense of spending money in that marketing and just like bringing to the consumers a really great product that I really will price. Wow, but how, like, how did, so you had the

background from your family. Yes. And then, like, how did you, like, what was your first, like, okay, so you had the concept? Yeah. What was your first step? Like, did you have to raise money? Did you have to just like, how did you find the materials? Yeah. So when I left the family business, so I left at about, I was 25 years old when I left the family business. And my mom and I, we had a conversation and I told her about my idea and she wrote me a check. She wrote me a check and she said, don't worry about anything you do. Make your own choices. And even if you make a mistake,

it's okay to make mistake when you're younger. You could always bounce back. Right, that's true. Yes. And so I took, she wrote me a check for $250,000 and I took that money and the first year of the business I did two million dollar in sales your first first year No myself me myself and I no employee no employee. Okay, so your mom case So let me just like back this train up a little bit. Okay, so you leave the family business.

Your mom says, here's a check for 250,000 to like start your business. Yes. And then what he, and then not only were you profitable your first year, which is amazing in itself, but then how were you able from day one to day 365? Mm-hmm. What was, what did you do? Like, how did you get the product? How did you mark, how did you do the product how did you mark how did you do any of it

Besides having a concept and then executing on that like what was your step to get it from your brain to like an actual Sample of something. It's actually a lot easy. It sounds very complicated But it's okay very easy. I started with one product lip liner Oh cuz so one product cosmetic pencil, but Liner and eyeliner has six colors in eyeliner and I had 12 colors in lip liner 18 18 color Wow, you 18 skews and I had I had it in this like little cute little and I had it in this little circular display that spun and it was a countertop display that set on a point of purchase. And this is like 99, yeah, POP, and this is 1999. I mean, the world was different. This is when people were actually going to, like, let's just say, ABC Beauty Supplier or something.

Or like CBS kind of thing. Or like Walgreens. Walgreens, CBS, like those are all retailers, but those are like huge like chain drug retail stores. And when you are a newbie into the game, you couldn't get into those large accounts. Like you had to prove yourself. Like you had to be a revenue and you had to prove yourself.

So I was selling to small little boutique stores, mom and pop stores. Like a mom pop pharmacy kind of thing, or just like kind of like pharmacy, beauty supply stores, accessory stores, convenience, somewhere like even convenience stores. Anywhere where people could pick up and the retail price was $1.99 for this pencil. Made in USA. Amazing quality, libliners and eyeliners at $1.99 retail price. So crazy, so cheap. I can't even really know. Right. No, oh my god. And then this was the, this is the first time when $1.99 liBlender eyeliner, it looked like a department store product because it was just black and white.

The packaging was just simple black with a white logo. And the crazy thing is, doing a simple black and a white logo is the cheapest way to make a product. Really? Yes. If you do a gold foil, it's an extra three cents. Right, right, right. If you do, if you make it in like two different color, it's extra five cents. Right. You know, it's more expensive. Right. To do it that way. Right.

We all fancy. It's actually more expensive. Exactly. And then all my, you know, so there's the pencil and there's the cap, right? So all my caps were all single color. It was all black. This way I could have one cap that could be used on all 18 colors. So how much was your case? So if you were selling it for 190, yeah. So I was wholesaling it. So I wasn't selling one by one, you know, of course I didn't sell you. Just wholesal business. Yeah. And I was selling it to my customer for anywhere between 75 cents to $1.20, depending on what their volume was. Wow, and then so your first year, just from those little mom past shops, you had a $2 million revenue. $2 million the first year. And who was like, at that time, who was your big competition? Besides the big brands, like everybody, but like,

who was a small brand at the time? Jordana? Jordana, I don't remember. I know Jordash, I don't remember Jordana. No, no, a lot of like, Jordana was like a huge brand back then. LA Girl. LA Girl, okay. I don't know if you remember LA Girl, a bit.

Yeah, I remember that a little bit. And then you took that money and then when did you start to expand into like all the other stuff? Like your lipsticks, your eyeshadow, like what was the next play? But what was then what? Uh, it's riveting. Yeah. I want to. Okay, so just to go back on how I like I did it is basically so I knew a manufacturer that

made a medic pencil or like some of the other brands and they were in New York. So I took a red eye to New York. They were not in New York, New Jersey actually. It was called Petite Floor. They're not in business anymore. So I took a red eye out and I think I got to like JFK like at I don't know 5.30 AM or something. And just to save time, and to save time and money

on lodging, I went to the meeting straight from the airport and then flew back out the same night, same day. But basically, I went to the factory and I literally hand drew kind of what I want. And they were able to produce it for me. I put in my first order, I came back, put my deposit and I had a small little showroom, 600 square foot showroom in California, March just by myself and because my mom had that wholesale business, the family business, the wholesale business, she had an extra warehouse space. So I borrowed an extra warehouse space,

and if whenever I got an order, I went to the warehouse, packed the merchandise myself, and delivered to my customer. Wow, are you serious? So you are okay, so were you also not just in, you're doing it here in California? Where else were you selling at that point? Oh, all over.

Okay, so how I got my distribution is by going to a lot, a lot of trade shows. There was one called the ASD-AMD. It's actually a Army Surpless Tracio. That was in Vegas twice a year. So to that show, I used to go, I used, I didn't want to spend money on like the trucking and all of that stuff. So I loaded all the merchandise in my car and I drove it out myself. Oh my gosh. I'm telling you. It's like the work ethic and the hustle of this stuff. Like you literally had

no one else doing it with you No partner just my friends my friends. I would like your friends. I would lower them. I was like Yes, I'm begging you Right right right right exactly and the work you don't have to pay for you don't have to pay for room All right, you dinner and breakfast and lunch Mark's very smart come with me and hang out with me So like my friends for all victims. Amazing.

My sister helped me a lot, you know, sometimes. And then like, so then how did you grow it then? So now we understand like how you got the district. So basically all your, not your distribution, your manufacturing was happening in New York basically. Yes. Okay, where did the name come from? Oh, so it's it's it's nix

n-y-x but it's pronounced nix. It's a name of a Greek goddess. So nix is a name of a Greek goddess and she's the goddess of night. Oh, god, yeah. Oh, okay. So it's nix and yx, which you know, and it's that's so that's how you named it from the Goddess tonight. So night, you ate all that word originated from nix from the Goddess of Night. Oh, I like that. And then how did you start? What happened year like year two? Like how did you start to expand into like different skews? And how did you how did you spend money in marketing yet? Like, no, spent zero dollars. And I still point. Oh, first three years, I spent zero dollars. And I still lived at home.

Really? So I had no personal expense. Right, so I have no personal expense. Which helped a lot. And because I was in family business, and you know, my family is very entrepreneurial and My grandfather was entrepreneur my dad's an entrepreneur my mom's an entrepreneur like we're all entrepreneurial so We know one thing it's it's

Easy to spend money, right, but it's hard to make money Exactly value of value of money, right? Exactly. I value of money, right? And it's not about how much money you make. It's about how much money you spend. Like if you spend more than you make, it doesn't matter how much money you make. Absolutely. You're going to be bankrupt.

So I was very frugal. It was just straightforward, cheap. I mean, like, yeah, if I have to be, I saved on anything that I could save. And, you know, I ate from home ate from home, I lived at home, and the car was kind of my car that I was very fortunate in that way. I guess that's the support that I receive from my parents.

Right. They gave you a lot of support, and you had a support system, and you didn't have to like fend for your personal expenses basically. Yeah, so paid for that. That was really helpful to me. That is the advantage that I had, I guess. And having parents who understand that they're 25-year-old daughter wanted to start a company and be a business owner was completely okay to them because they did it to it.

They did it too. So those were all my assets. So first three years I took no money from the company, so no salary from the company. And probably I spent like five, ten dollars every day to buy me a launch or something, but that was it. And what I did was I invested every single dollar back into the business. So by 26, I was already a millionaire by selling, you know, and it was a very profitable business too. Well, right, because you're selling, you're basically the price points double at least,

right? Yeah. Then what they're selling, and you're selling volume because it's like a cheap product. But that means you have to sell no money and no over and no over and no over. A 600 square foot showroom. You had a lot of like, you had a lot of fortunate things happen with your family being supportive. But then what was your breakthrough moment? When did you go from being this, you know, small-ish, very small brand that you're now living with your parents,

you're kind of like feeding every dollar into the business. What was that breakthrough moment where you went from like being that brand to being like a real, massive mainstream like brand? How sold name brand? It was an overnight. No, I know. It was like, you know, so when I started the company

was 1999, when I sold a company was 2014. It was 15 years. I know. I know. Or sweat equity. I mean, I I worked hard every single day. And like it's not like just sitting on the desk and like, you know, computer work. I mean, like I pack boxes. I deliver. Like I I'm a very good box packer. I need to move you help me. Yes, I'm very good, very good. Yeah, so it took years to build a company. So, you know, I did a lot of trade show and started to open like one account at a time. What year did you get your first really big account? 2007, 2006 think it was like 2007, 2006. Oh, so seven years later.

2006, I sold to Ulta. Or say no. Ulta. But Ulta was much smaller. It was much smaller than it is now. I think they had like, they have about, they have more than 1,000 stores now. but then they had like 2250 stores. They were much smaller, but still it was huge for me because I was only selling to

like mom and pop stores. Even until 2006. So seven years after you started your business, you were still only selling to mom pop shops. Yeah. And then, but there was, you know what, there was 5,000 of these accounts across U.S. Right. Did a few of a lot of volume in those mom's accounts? Yes.

Out of 5,000, I was probably selling to about 4,500 accounts. This episode is brought to you by Vonage. Is your business ready to integrate live video chats into your app? The Vonage Video API makes it simple for developers to build custom solutions that make sense for your business. From providing faster tech support and better customer service to hosting more productive meetings and classes, live video enhances every conversation. Go live on your terms with Vonage. Learn more at Vonage.com. Go live on your terms with Vonage. Learn more at Vonage.com. Keep coming back. You got plenty of space.

Oof, not how you would have done that. You like working with people you can rely on. Like USAA, who has helped guide the military community for the past 100 years. USAA, get a quote today. And so when you constantly, every year, you're one, you made two million. What did you make your six, that's for example. Oh God. It went like, so it went like two, four, and then eight, it was like double, double, double, and by year six, so like by 2005, I think I was doing, I think I was doing like 12 million.

Wow. Like not exactly sure, but I was doing double-digit billion. Were you still not taking money from the company? You're still, by that point, you were kind of now taking a salary. Yeah, I was taking a salary, but you know, like I wasn't like going up, hardening the Roth stars. Oh, no. I know.

I, like, I, I just, I finally come to the center. That's what I wanted to know. You can go to your apartment or at 29. I have my first condo in downtown. Okay. So four years into it, you decide to leave the nest. Yes. And then what? So then you went to buy, you went to have your own condo, and then the breakthrough was when you got the all-took account. All-took account, yeah. So there was a huge jump for me. But then the real, the real, real, real breakthrough was 2007, I think it's like 2007, 2008. Remember 2008, early 2008 the market crashed. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah.

The huge market crash And people are losing jobs and that's them right. And you've heard of the lipstick syndrome, right? Where makeup, lipstick, especially a red lipstick is economy, is an icon, is a word. Okay. I feel like economy like it like, um, there's like it like recession proof recession proof I never heard that Red music is recession proof So Ah, I didn't know that I just heard it coming from Newtonian

Okay, good to know Yes, makeup is It's recession proof because it's a small enough item Mm-hmm That you can go out and buy for yourself Yeah, that doesn't really affect hugely, but it makes you feel amazing. It gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling. That's true.

So beautiful. Yeah. It's like I put it on a lip gloss, right? So true. Yeah. I see. Put it on a mascara. It makes a huge, a little blush.

And your price point is so reasonable and priced. You're not breaking the bank. Yes, and then the quality was good. So people were shopping down. So people, all these people who were buying expensive brands, expensive brands, who were now looking for alternative. And there was an X Cosmetics. We looked like we're a department store brand,

like black and white, like really chic. And then when they said, okay, $5, I'll give you a try. They bought it, they tried it. It was amazing. Yeah, so it was like word of mouth, right? And then the huge break was there was one item that we were going to discontinue because we weren't selling a lot of it. And out of nowhere, we saw this item just selling like crazy. It's called JEP604, color name is milk, it's a white jumble eye pencil.

Is it a highlighter or what is it to? No, people are using it as an eyeshadow base. So there was this boom in YouTube 2000 end of 2008 There was this boom and there are all these Makeup artists right Who were doing tutorials? The halls they call it the halls, right? They go out to a beauty supply store,

they buy a bunch of stuff and they show you on video like what they bought. Like YouTube. Like YouTube, yeah. Like beauty influencers. Yes, but then influencer was not even a word. It wasn't a term. They were makeup artists.

Yeah, yeah. Who had their own chat. Or just like a regular girl who it was their hobby. Right. That's where they're using you too, but the time to show people how to use makeup. Exactly. And you know, so all these like all these hobbyists or makeup artists or using makeup enthusiasts were using Nick's cosmetics to do a tutorial.

And it was just, that was the, that's when I learned, oh my gosh, this is word of mouth marketing, or like a super platform. Right, right. Yeah, like a massive massive massive platform. It before and now everything seems a little diluted right and at the time it wasn't organic. It was all a hundred percent organic. We've not paid a single person. Wow. So how did that I had in that business grow. So it went from what to what and after 2008. So like between like 2005 to 2009, we were by 2009, we were a $35 million company. Right 2009 and we're okay, wait. I want to know

after okay between 2007 when you did the Altal deal Yeah, ultra deal. Altar deal. What was that breakthrough? So you went from what to what after all tough? I don't remember the exact number of times I got this is such a long time ago. But we were doing like, so you know, it was like like 12 million to 35 million was kind of like a slow growth for me. And then once we hit 35 million, we hit 50 million really quick. Once we hit 50 million, we were hitting 75 million really quick. And then once we hit 75 million, we're like 100 million like, quick like that.

Wow. And so it was momentum. I think momentum. There's always that up swing, the pendulum swings one way. Right. And then when it hit, and then you know, when I look at over 15 years of the growth, it's not like, it's not a smooth curve like this. It is, you know, you go up, you flat out a little bit, and then there's one year where you have like a hit item or like, you know, something happen, something like that happens, and then you go like, you add 10 million of sales like in a couple of months.

Wow. Spike 10 million of sales like in a couple of months. Wow, it's just so much volume and we're selling to about We were shooting expo we're doing a lot of export Really yes, we're selling to by the time I sold a company we had about we were selling into about 60 different country Wow, that's a lot. I know So that's a lot. You have to tell me it's a lot country. Wow, that's a lot. I know. That's a lot. You have to tell me it's a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. Like at that time, like also just think it like so you went from like all those after the whole YouTube thing, were you then in like the CVS's and the Walgreens and did you get into all those things after that whole

YouTube thing? And that's how they're the whole bike you again? Yes. So the next big account was Target. Oh, it's huge. Yes. Next big account was target. That was huge But even you know target. Walmart. Did you sell it? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I Did not want to go into Walmart. I know the brand is in Walmart now But you know now, but that's loriel's decision and you know, they're the brand owner. They could do whatever they want to do Right. I did not want to be in Walmart I want so my target was that I was going to get into Target and then either CVS or Walgreens

Yeah, either or which came first but CVS came first so we were selling into CVS and then There was Walgreens and it was the right aid and the Walmar, but that was after me. After me. 2014. I sold in 2014. 2014. Yeah.

Wow. So then what were your sales like before you sold it to L'Oreal? So that year I sold in July. That year we were on track to do 120 million. Jeez. I think they ended up doing 180 million. I can't even, that's unbelievable. From a little brand that, from your mom's apartment or house with your family, on your own.

So at that point, when you sold it, how many employees did by that point did you have? We had about 260. So you're ready we're growing. There's like a, like, you ready had, and then how much of that, how much were you spending on marketing and all that? Were you never spending? I mean we didn't have a marketing department. So it was literally just a brand that went from like word of mouth. Yes. And from like just it was like building like organic social media. Yeah. And like you were like the

lucky one that never had to like basically so you a ton of like Basically put a lot of like advertising money into the brand that I feel like the brand kind of spoke to spoke for itself Because I mean it literally sold itself. I literally sold it literally sold the price point was and I say this That's why when I was so excited to meet you because you know when my husband told me he met you and I'm like, oh my god. I love Nix, I like use it. Because it's so like, it's so, the colors are beautiful, it's good quality and it's like cheap, you know? I hate to say it, but it's like, you know,

like I would call it a spade. I'm gonna call it a spade, you know? Like, and to build that is like unbelievable. So then, okay, so then Laurel buys it from you. I wanted to sell to Laurel. You really wanted to? Was that your first choice? That was my goal.

I don't know, somehow. Like in your brain, you're like, I want to sell this company to Laurel. From the beginning of the early stage. Like if I ever sold a company, I want to sell to Laurel. Why? Because they're a really good custodian of a brand. Really?

How are they different as a, because they're like a mass giant. Like how is it different than a Revlon or? Oh, actually there isn't that many, you know, there's Cody, there's Revlon, there's Estee Lauder and there's L'Oreal. Well, between them four, they, I think they have all the brands

under the Revlon L'Oreal. Estee Lauder, I feel, owns everything. Yeah, right? Like, oh, they're portfolio is ridiculous. Crazy. Ridiculous. What else is L'Orealo? Oh Maybelline Yeah, what are they? Oh, they own Garnier to they want urban decay. Yeah, geez. Okay, so like you're okay Well, yeah, oh no, yeah, but they have portfolios, but they have different portfolios. So they have a portfolio for

Mass brands they have different portfolios. So they have a portfolio for mass brands. They have portfolio for a prestige brand. So where Urban Decay goes under the prestige and then Nix Cosmetics goes under the mass brands. What's another mass brand that they own? Like what's another? S-E! Okay, S-E. But S-E is part of nail polish. Yeah. That's what I'm trying to find like a comparison. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. So Nix is like in compare so you basically built the equivalent to me believe by yourself yeah which doesn't really I don't feel like it happens that much like there's so many like little like little ding dong companies that you don't come

to me like a couple of skews I do well you know but they're not like massive brands that like get bought out by that kind of like crazy. So why did you want, Laurie? Why did you not want Revlon? Did Revlon even make you an offer? Revlon, we did talk to Revlon, but then they were lo-balling on the price of the company. So we basically not put them on the list. On the list prospects. How about Estee Lauder Le Vemekin.

Yeah, I think Estee Lauder, I think, was in the game at one point, but then they were probably out of the list pretty early on, too. So mostly it was financial purchases, like an investment company and Cody and L'Oreal and I really wanted to sell to L'Oreal and I had a really at the exit I had two really good offers one from strategic which is L'Oreal and one from finance which was from a investment company up in San Francisco.

Wow. Very comparable. Very, you know, very comparable. And I may have made more money actually if I had sold to the financial. Yeah, really? Wow. But I'm actually very happy that I sold to L'Oreal. Why?

Because they're just a really good custodian of the brand. They're really good. They're just a great job. They're just a great job. Oh my god. I mean now they have standalone stores. Oh, so many. I mean tons of them and the brand still has it has the same reputation. Yeah, like a lot of times like they hate the word but they a lot of these big companies come on board and they like bastard size the brand. Right. They make them in these like terrible like versions of what they used to be, but they did do a really good job to keep the brand like going well. And that's what I want. Yeah. Literally, this is like my baby. Yeah. And I, yeah. For the 15 years of my life, I had nothing. I was married. I have no children. Like, it has no social life. You gave everything to the brand. I was like a little frog in a well. That's all I knew. I mean, it's a really, it's all I knew.

Right, because all you knew is you lived at home and you built this business. I was a work home work home. Either I was on the road on a business trip. I did work home work home work home. So then what happened? I even have a steady relationship. I couldn't even keep a relationship.

Because you worked that much. I could work kind of out. So tell me like, what kind of hours were you working? There is like, you cannot set an hour. I know, but you're thinking 24, 7, I know. I wake up middle of the night. I would always have like a note of a paper. No paper. Because I could wake up at 3 a.m. with an idea. I have to write it down, right? Right. And when you're a business owner, there's, you know, there's some people who's like, I want to be more flexible with my time. So I want to be a business owner. I'm like,

uh-uh, you're going to be the, like, no. I know. I could not agree with you more. People think, I think right now it's a big buzzword. Like, I want to be an entrepreneur. Yeah. People don't, they think that's like the easy way, The easier route. No. And it's not. Right? You put more hours in, more time, more sweat, more tears and like you may have quote unquote your own schedule but you're working 24 hours a day because you have to be worrying about all these things all the time. Your your mind is 24-7 occupied.

Oh all the time. Yeah, all the time? Yeah. All the time. Literally. Vitamin water just dropped a new zero sugar flavor called with love. Get the taste of raspberry and dark chocolate for the all warm. All fuzzy, all self-care, zero self-doubt you. Grab a with love today. Vitamin water's zero sugar, nourishoubt you. Grab a with love today. Vitamin water zero sugar, nourish every

you. Vitamin water is a registered trademark of glass O. And then like how do you like you know this whole thing here at you know this whole podcast is called like habits and hustle right so we know you got the hustle and then we got that. And then what are your habits like even when your habits have the, I'm sure they've changed from the days when you are working like a dot. It sounds to me when you were building nicks,

you work 20, like you work day and night. Did you take care of yourself at all at that point? Like were you sleeping at all? Were you like exercising? Well exercising, like I would do on and off. Right, but you're all about the business. On and off. But I was moving around so much. Right. You know, I called like walking in the air air airports my my cardio

Terminal was my cardio and like like like logging around Luggage was my workout and I've always been a very active person, so That was good. And I'm like, you know, I don't really, I like to eat food, but I don't really like sweets. I mean, I don't have sweet tooth to begin with. So I think I have kind of have healthy diet naturally. Natural.

You always kind of ate well and took, like was there one habit? It is not like I'm gonna. It's salad every day No, I'm gonna. I say it every day, but that doesn't even necessarily make you healthy It does have to be like is there like one habit that you've kind of always did that kind of was you that kind of kept you on point I Make a to do list You make it to do every this all the time not every day. No, no, but in life. I make a list Uh-huh. I make a list. And once I cross it all out, I make a new list. So how often do you do that list? Ah, let's see. It's been slower lately.

But when I would, I would probably say every like one, three to four days. Okay. New list. Now, okay, so I'm going to get more into that in a second because that's the habit's portion. But okay. I want to know and I'm sure a lot of people want to know Like so what you sell this company for hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars and now you have no investors, right? Because your mom basically oh no, no, I did have a investor ahead of minority investor You did get a minor because what point did you get the minority of? 2009 so that was 10 years after I Started the company I brought in the minority investor.

And that's not because I needed the money. The company was like, like, fashion. We had so much money in the bank account. And we had inventory and that was all paper. Like it was financially super healthy. But this is the time when I was really wanting to get into like target and CVSN like Walgreens like the big guy,

the big boys, the large retailers. And I was having problem breaking into one of these retailers because you have to get into one of them to prove your number. Because I mean these guys are like, you know, they're, they have how many like Walgreens at 7, I mean, these guys are like, you know, they have, how many? Like, Walgreens has 7,800 stores, something like that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, if the buyer makes one mistake, it's a catastrophe. So I totally understand.

So what I realized was I needed a deeper relationship with, because I mean, these buyers get bombarded with people like me wanting to sell them merchandise a deeper relationship with because I mean these buyers get bombarded with people like me wanting to sell the merchandise and everybody saying this is the best product, this is the best price, da da da da da da, right? But they're wall-s full, they've already got Maybelline, they've already got, you know, L'Oreal, they have brands that's performing within that given space. Are people buying the shelf space too? Those big brands at that point? You can't really say they're buying the shelf space, but then there's like kind of like

you know at the request to add spending. There's like dollars tied to the business. And you really have to understand. Otherwise you know opening a large account is not always good because you could go in. If you don't calculate the numbers and your profit margins correctly you actually lose money with the charge back in everything then if you're a small company you are screwed right like seriously and you sign the contract. Like for a given example like for example if you if someone would buy 10,000 pieces of something from you and they don't sell it yeah they want to return it yeah and then they start to get the product right then we charge you where, but here's the thing. So if you sold them at $10,000 pieces at a dollar each, which is $10,000, and if it doesn't

sell, it doesn't come back to you at $10,000, it will come back to you at $12,000 because you are, there's a penalty in tied into involved. Wow. So now you've got return merchandise, which is unsellable on top of that you're paying penalties, like chargebacks, it's called a chargeback. Yeah, yeah. Left and right, and left and right. Wow.

That's why you'd be super careful and very efficient with your inventory, and with who you're selling to. And make sure it's actually good. So you need to make sure that your product do sell. Right. And once it's on the shelf, it does sell because, you know, it's not like trying to guarantee that if you're not spending ad money, like you were.

That's why you have to spend some ad money. Right. But not the ad money, like a traditional ad money, like I did, but when you go into these large chain stores, you know, they have like the mailers and stuff like that. So there's a portion of money a vendor has to provide. Right, yes. And you do it. That's what I call the Edmmer.

Right, no I don't. And then you also put like, so you're gonna put your, you gotta do like selling your thing on a sale price in their little flyer, whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know how sometimes they do the bogo? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They charge them back to, to, to the vendor. So you got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know how sometimes they do the bogeo? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They charge them back to the vendor. So you got to do that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So then why did you need an investor to come in? You had all this money. You're super profitable. You wanted to get into these big accounts. Relationship. So the financial guy had the relationship. They just came, so it was a boutique firm out of Chicago. And they had just exited from an investment

that was a haircare product that they were selling to. And then this haircare products, main customers were like CVS and Walgreens. And it was in the same space. So they had contact information for the right sales reps. And having the right sales strap is so important. That's what they said. Yes.

So I got in contact with the right cell strap. And once I had the right cell strap, the door started to open. That's how I got into Target. And Target has, I think, 1,800 stores, at least at that moment. But you don't go into all 1000 right? You do a read your test. Yeah, I do a test right? You do a 200 store test, which is still a lot. And then you see the result, see how it comes in, and then you know, you do an expansion.

You do 500. Next you do a thousand. And then the rest of the store. Wow. Yeah. And then now you have the number from target, right? And then with the war travels pretty fast. Right. So now, like if the other retailer, yeah, learn that they you have a good number, then a lot of the time they'll reach out to you and ask if you're able to sell to them. Right. Then they want you. It's like, but you basically that you got to prove your track record with one and then everyone else comes calling. And then, okay, so then you have,

now you have your minor, your minority investor. So then you sell your company and for hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, now what are you gonna do with all this money? How much do you get to keep of this money? I kept 60, almost 70%. Wow. Wow.

Almost 70%. Wow. So, okay. So, I'm going to. Because I was very, I was highly conscious of not diluting my shares. No, I understand that. And that's super important, too, not to dilute your shares. And that's why you only had one minority investor, which is not that much.

But you know, my CEO had a little bit of share, my CS. So I had a little, and some of my early, you know, employers, senior executives, had a little bit of. And like a little bit of share, and you know, like once you, I know, then it's kind of, you give a little bit here and there, but still the mass amount is belongs to you. Yes. And so now you're like a senti times four you know you have

hundreds of millions of dollars in your pocket and then you pay tax and then you pay tax which is huge. You left with like four dollars and six to six cents. No, I'm joking. You know one time I received a refund check. You really? Seven cents. Are you serious? From California Treasury. Oh my god that's hilarious. Oh my gosh. Wow. So here you are. This immigrant girl now having hundreds and hundreds and millions on the Forbes list of America's wealthiest

self-made woman, blah, blah, blah. You have all these things. What are you going to do with all your money? Now you have a condo. I know you bought a condo. You said when we moved out of the house at 29, I'm sure by that, after that you bought a couple other couple other things like what did you buy? What did you do? Like, what's still now? Like I'm pretty frugal actually. Really? Yeah, yeah. I spend money where I

spend money, but you know, I don't, I don't like go out and spend like a rock star. That's not me. That's not your personal. No, it's just not my personality. You also know the value of a dollar because you have to build everything from yourself, but yourself. Right? So you have that. I eat what I kill is my model. That's what I say too. I eat what I kill. So, you know, I'm very self-conscious and you know, how do you know what's gonna happen? You don't? Yeah. I don't understand some of the younger people. They see money coming in and they think it's their money, but no, don't do that. Invested and harvest the fruits. Not eat the plant.

100%. Is that what you do? What are you doing now? So now, okay, two that were now at 2014, you make all this money. You don't want to spend it all. There's a lavish stuff that, like material stuff that doesn't mean anything. You invest your money, is that what you're doing now? Yeah, or okay, so what are you real estate? It's hugely important. Okay, and then I make sure portion of my

money goes to charity, so I have a foundation. Okay, what's your foundation called? It's called Tonico Foundation. Good name. Thank you. I also sit on board of UNICEF. Children, anything that has to do with children, young girls' education is very important to me. Those are my mission matches. I've always been sponsor of children from like the doorwall countries. Always I used to sponsor like 24 children at one point through world

vision. That was through world vision. Oh, wow. Where's that mean when you say you sponsor them? Like you know, you you you adopt the child. Right. Yeah. But you don't adopt the child. No, I know. You you you you give them monthly. Yeah. And then some of them have graduated and then you know, I get assigned a new child that I want to.

Wow. So do that and eventually I found a really amazing meaningful connection with UNICEF. So I sit on their Southern California Regional Board and you know, I have, I'm actually going to Madagascar with Unicev in coming month. Oh wow. It's actually my birthday. I mean, it's, the trip happened to be during my birthday and we're going to go visit the orphanages in Madagascar.

Oh, beautiful. See them build a well and, yeah, just, yeah. You're still giving back to those things. Yeah, I have to because I've just been so fortunate like really yeah No, you have been but you also it's also you were it wasn't just fortunate I think it was also hard work. Oh, right. It was seeing a need in the marketplace and and and and And basically like jumping on that opportunity that you saw and like staying on it and not giving up just you know kind of staying

one path like I think a lot of times people you know they they do a little bit of this and a little bit of that and then they're not doing anything really well but what you do very well obviously you. One day you focus in one well. Exactly, you stay in one lane. One lane, one focus. And make that until, like, it basically just like hammer at that, like just until it's, you know, it's obviously successful. And now, like, okay, so now you have these foundation,

UNICEF, you have other things going on. Realistic, whole, you. Realistic. I love realistic. I used to always say, I rather buy a building than a Burkin. Yeah, I like it. I like that. I like that. So real estate is huge for me. It's a gift that keeps on giving. It's a gift that keeps on giving. Right, so you're buying a, so are you, are you, you're doing that, but don't you have a found, I mean, I read that you have an investment company

called Butter Ventures. Yeah, Butter Ventures, right? So what is Butter Ventures? So it's called Butter Ventures because butter makes everything better. It does. That's our tagline. And I found Butter Ventures

because I want you to invest in women entrepreneurs. I love it. This woman are the freaking go getters, seriously. You're preaching to the choir, yes. And I believe in female founder. So it was an investment company that I started to potentially invest in female founding companies. Have you invested in any of the who are some of the companies that you have now under your portfolio? Yes, so there's Nikki from Elkame 43.

Oh, yes. What is she? Are you part of that? Yeah, I'm an investor. I'm an early seed investor at that company. Oh, and that's doing really well They're doing really well. Yeah, go get her go get her. Yeah, I met her. I'm like this woman is That's amazing killer. I'm like she is. I want to be part of what she does good

I love that. I didn't know you were involved in that yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah wow, so when you say so it was one of her first investor really? Yeah, so then how many okay? So how do you do it? So you have do you pick one of a year or two of your how long have you had it for like how And has butter been around for well? So I started after I sold a company So right away you started butter country So I still like the deal got finalized like July 2014 So this was probably like you know by the time I set up the company, you start running. Right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right's this incredibly brilliant woman. I mean, Nancy, it's N-A-N-X-I-L-U. She's this incredible, like incredible intelligent woman. And she has, it's like, you could upload all the Twitter feed

and all the YouTube and social media onto a screen channel channel like immediately. Oh wow! Kind of, yeah. What's it called? N-plug. I'm looking to that. And then I've also invested in a company.

It's called a Bare Bones Broth. It's a bone broth company. Yeah, I love bone broth. Yeah. Is that a good one? Obviously, you're gonna say this. This is a really good one. So where's that being sold?

So I think they have, they were, they there were Ecom and then they're on Amazon. They have the collagen powder that they sell on Amazon. So what's that one called? I'm gonna write that. Bare bones broth. I'm gonna write that down. BBB, Bare bones broth. Okay, I like it.

Okay. And then another one is another notable one is a good day young GDY It's a hair dye company that was founded by Haley Williams of the group Paramore It's all alternative rock so if where she's selling her hair is that like they're good at getting into Sephora Really ready to get into Sephora. Yeah, I'm so happy for them. This is a relatively new company. Oh, wow.

Okay, so when you do investments, how much are you giving people typically? I rate smaller chats. You write smaller. I don't like huge chats. Right. These are seed funds. So, have you find them? I really find you.

I love the time they find them? I. Where do they find you? Oh. A lot of the times they find me through people, you know? And I'm also a limited partner at a band venture, Strong Venture. Band venture? Band venture. Yeah, that's another VC company. There's another VC company. You're involved with them as well?

So I invest in a VC company too. Yeah, I totally know. I get it. I know that one. So I know that one. Yeah, so my money goes through the VC company. Yes, I totally know. I get it. So I know that one. Yeah, so my money goes through the VC company. Yep. And then when you are a limited partner with a VC company,

you get to see the deal flow. Right. So when I see the deal flow that matches my criteria, come to my way, then I could separately invest in those companies as well. Oh, I like that. You do that one. So I didn't know you were involved with that one too.

Then how do you have time for your sunglass company? I know. Oh my gosh. I'm telling you, like, what is it? I think this is what I say all the time. I think that there are certain people who are just innately, like, just, like, hustlers who have, like, the, they just have like the entrepreneurial spirit and they're like able to do a ton of stuff at once.

And like it's part of like, they're just very determined and super disciplined. And I think that you can teach that to some degree, but a lot of it is like naturally like who you are as a person. I drive myself, I'm nuts, everyday. I'm sure, right? Like you're so like, you have so many things.

It's like, so okay, tell me about this. Oh, yeah. This is a sunglasses company that I founded 2015. We launched in 2016. We were actually the official sponsor at Coachella. We launched? Yeah, we launched at Coachella. No way.

Yes. I mean, it was ridiculous.. Like the other sponsors were like American Express Then I think it was a great goose or something and then there's like this tiny little sunglass company. Oh my God How did you even get that like what was the here agency? Somehow like we were talking about maybe doing an event At right not at coach Allah like you know, right We were talking about maybe doing an event at Coachella, like, you know, like, partnering up with an event that was happening around a coachella. And it evolved and evolved and evolved.

And eventually, I'm like, hey, go big or go home. Don't kidding. And I guess you went big and like, I went big. Wow. Are you selling a lot of those? Yes. So we are on our e-commerce Thomas James LA dot com. Thomas James LA. Yeah, but we were I rebranded it. It was perverse some glasses. So when I did the launch and everything was called a perverse some glasses. Why did you change the name?

Um, you know, initially I loved the name. Um, I absolutely fell in love with the name, the name, but over like two years of running the business, I felt a challenge of people associating perverse with perverted. And perverse has a beautiful meaning. It means deliberately doing things against the norm. It's completely different from perverted, right? But people think that they're really good. Yeah, and then like, you know, in the beginning, I was like, oh my god, this is such an amazing meaning. Like it is so misunderstood. Right. I was like, I want to let people know, like, but after two years, I was like, I don't want to, like, I'm like, this is too much. Like, I don't want to take this job of causing, re-explaning it.

Yeah, I don't know. I'm repeating yourself. Yes, yeah. So I decided to just drop that name and re-brand. And so is Thomas James L.A. now. And so would you still sell a lot of these at the last time? Oh, yeah, we do. Wow, can this be the next mix or no?

Yes and no, because it could be a hugely successful brand. No, because the sum less industry is self is a smaller industry. I globally is so only about like thirty eight billion dollar industry I mean plus minus plus minus was to make up brand like beauty Hundreds hundreds of yeah, right. So yeah, it's like probably like hundred times bigger than me Sunglass company. Yeah, it's sunglasses So like, it's like 100 times bigger than the sunglasses. Yeah, sunglasses. So, yeah. So then the industry itself is smaller,

and it is so highly dominated by a few Japanese that is harder to develop. Like it's much harder to develop. Develop, yeah. And sunglasses is not something everybody buys multiple pairs of. They lose them all the time. I mean, I lose my sunglasses every week.

I don't know how you pair like every week. You be my best customer. I do best customer acting. I think everyone, I feel like a lot of people are that way. They keep on losing their sunglasses and have to rebuy them. But the price points higher probably don't make it much money per unit. But then, someone like you, like, would you start a new beauty brand then? Is that something you would actually do again? I may you know

Yes, I do I have a five-year non-compete Globally, but I have three or non-compete eat in EU so in EU countries my non-compete actually expire So I do have an office in Frankfurt That and I could start I could start a beauty company in Europe very easily. And it's an idea that I'm entertaining. What do you think of all these other brands that come now in the market? I touch so many. Look at the Kylie Jenner's always being incredible.

She's like a billionaire in the year. I mean, look at the difference in like back when you started versus now, when celebrity quote unquote, whatever you want to call her, you know, her family. And within a couple of years, her business is like a billion dollar venture. Yeah. I mean, she has 120 million followers. Right. That is one third of America. Can you believe that? So does that like, is that just an easy hole in one then? Like, you just have to have a huge following and then you can just put out, like, look at Rihanna.

How is her Fenty doing? Is it doing well? Amazing. Amazing, right? That's also, isn't it more than a billion? I bet it's more than a billion. It's owned by a company named Kendall. Kendall.

Oh, so she's, okay, so what's her role in that? She's probably, they're probably partners. I don't know the details of it, so I can't speak for it. But there's a company up in the Bay area called the Kendo, Kendo or K&O that owns these portfolio brands. Wow. And Fenty's one of those brands. Attention, Kroger Shoppers.

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What's another one, like in that way? Which ones are other ones that are like now doing really well? KKW does well. Colorpop does well. Oh, Colorpop does really well. They're all under the same umbrella of company. What, part of Kendo's stuff? No, not Kendo's stuff. No, not Kendo's stuff. Kendo's not that company. Another, there's another company. So would you ever go with someone, would you ever kind of build a brand with someone like

that and just kind of be behind the scenes or maybe your own name? Like what would you be like, if you were to do another beauty brand, what would it be like, what would you look for? Well, not my name for sure. Not your name, of course. So would it be like another? What would it be like what would be in your if you were I'm not saying you are If you were to start your own beauty brand, what would it be this time? You know, I would like to I would like to I like the niche markets

So I want to find the niche markets like what's a gap right now? I think there's ethnic is huge. So, you know, I look at that as a amazing niche market. And then there's a few influencers that I've kind of been following intensely. And I think they have like really amazing market but I

can't really go into the details. You'll come on again and tell me next time. It's a reason for you to come back. Exactly. I'm believe me. I'm gonna make you come back. I'm even knocking on your door and then I have one other thing I want to leave you with and then okay so we're kind of touched upon in a bit like what you do daily or habits like your rituals. I know you like to make a list to do list. And then once you tick them all off you move on to the next list. What would be like what would be your thing that you have to kind of like is there something that you have yet you eat every day or some kind of routine or ritual that's kind of using. Juicing. Yeah. You juice every day. Every day for last six years.

And what kind of juice and why? What does it do? What's the difference between then and now? Like, what's your juice? OK. Any juice? No. I have my formula.

OK, which is for me. Half a beat. OK. Two sticks of celery. Half an apple. Half a grapefruit. two carrots, and kale. And that's, and that you have what every day. Yeah.

Do you make it or do you go somewhere? My housekeeper makes it for me. Every day? Every day. I love that. So you have a juice every morning. And is that like, you eat breakfast with that? No, not only breakfast. So that is kind of like your morning coffee? Do you drink coffee?

Yeah. So one thing that I do every day with the juices as soon as I wake up in the morning, I drink water, room temperature water. I don't like cold water, room temperature, like a big tall glass of water, just one shot, golf it down. Yeah. And then I make myself a coffee. I don't drink coffee on empty stomach because it's very acidic. And it's not good for your stomach lining, especially when you first wake up in the morning.

So you need to take that fluid in. And I don't like to drink orange juice or anything because those are too acidic too. So room temperature water, very important, just water. And then in like two, three, five minutes later, then you could have your coffee or tea or anything that has caffeine, right? And after that, and I have this routine

of getting ready in the morning while drinking coffee and I play YouTube. And then that's when I catch up on all of my makeup bloggers and like all of that. And I do my hair, all of my makeup bloggers and all of that. And I do my hair, I do my makeup, and then on my way out to work, I grab my juice and go. Okay, so that's so as you get ready, you watch the YouTube bloggers.

Yeah, so I'm not like watching it watching it. No, I know you do it in my background. Yeah, who do you like? Like who do you listen to? Who do you watch? Who do you really good? Oh my God, everybody's so good. Jackie Aina, there's one beauty blogger. Her name is Jackie Aina. Okay, she already watch. Oh, you're really good. Oh, my God, everybody's so good. Jackie Aina, there's one beauty blogger.

Her name is Jackie Aina. Okay. She's amazing. She's great. Okay. There's a lifestyle blogger. Her name is Jen Eam. She's amazing too.

And then, you know, like, everybody that everybody, like, you know, like, Dezi, I... No, I don't know. We said, like, the beauty blogger. The beauty blogger. It's the one. It's the, everyone has their thing. Like, obviously, you're, the beauty blogger. The beauty blogger. It's actually everyone has their thing. Like obviously you're in the beauty space. So like you have like your favorite beauty blogger. Oh and then the travel bloggers too.

I love travel blog. I love food blog. I love food blog. Yeah. Now you're speaking my language. So you basically that's your routine. So like to kind of like basically like condense it down. You have your juice, which is your beach or carrots or celery?

Yeah apple whatever and you drink your big glass of water in the morning first thing first thing the morning Then you have your coffee and then as you get ready you watch your blog your beautiful bloggers or travel bloggers Oh, I like what a background. Oh the another thing that I watch is I watch a chicken kippers I have chickens myself. You've chicken wear like in the house. Yeah, I have is I watch chicken kippers. I have chickens myself. You've chicken where? Like in the house? Yeah, I have four chickens. Four chickens.

Pet chickens. Pet chickens. So you don't cook them any time? No. I'm kidding. Help you look up. I know, I'm just joking. You have just pet chickens?

Yeah, how old are they? They're now about, I got them when they were 18 weeks old. I think they're about like 30 weeks old now. I would 30 weeks. What are you gonna do with them? They're my chicken. They're my pet. They have name. They're ginger. Did I sleep with you? Like oh, no, no, no You can't do it because you can't have hot potty So you could have so they're considered like bird right? Yeah, they're birds. You could have a egg. Oh, they lay eggs. They lay the most delicious eggs. I'm sure.

It's so rewarding. So what how many eggs can a chicken give you? So I have a breed called a buff orphan 10. And buff orphan 10 is an amazing egg laying chickens. And then on average, they lay about 280 eggs a year. So they lay one egg for every 14 hours of sunlight I guess. So during the winter they lay less

and summer they lay more. Wow, so you have, so was this like a, so you basically or you have pet chickens, yeah, I eat their eggs obviously. And then what happens like when they, they're gonna, how long do they live for, like you said? They could live up to 10 years. So you're gonna have these chickens in your house for 10 years? Yeah Just hanging out. Yeah, but of course they have their own house. They have a coop. They have a run

Yeah, and then they have a they have their own fence in free-ranging area So they live there. What other animals do you have? I have a dog. Oh, yeah, the chickens and a dog, okay, and then have a dog. Oh, yeah, the chickens and a dog. Okay, and then nothing else, nothing else in the farm, just like those eggs, eggs, those chickens. That's it. What would make you get a chicken? Just before. I've always wanted to have chicken. I don't know why. I always wanted to have a chicken, but I couldn't because I was living in a condo. Right. So the city ordinance is that the chickens has to be 25 feet away from your house, and then it has to be 35 feet away from your neighbor's house Wow, yeah, so now you have a big enough house for you Where I could have the chicken so as soon as I moved into my house

I got a coop I got a run and I got it all prepared and then I hire a chicken consultant Then I found on Instagram Are you serious? Yes, there's such a thing as a chicken consultant that I found on Instagram. What? Are you serious? Yes. There's such a thing as a chicken consultant. No, she's not a consultant. But I write this down. I just reach that to her and I say, I asked her, would you consult for me?

As a wife. Because she's like a chicken consultant. What are you gonna consult with? What are you? What material is the best material for bedding? What material is the best material? Like how thick should it be how I'm like How often should I change it out? Aren't they called farmers? Can't you ask a farmer? Is it chicken consultant like a euphemism now for the word farmer? I thought that's what they are

No It's just I'm not breeding the chickens to eat you're just I know you're not meat chicken They're they're called it the meat chickens I call the roasters. And so I did. Oh, I did. They're pets. I care about their well-being. So did you, did you go on Instagram, look for chicken consultant? No, no, not chicken consultant.

Like, also, there, then there's a, a huge, there's an entire world out there for the chicken, uh, backyard chickens. Oh, is there? Yes. Yes. Backyard chickens. And then there's this one lady that I've been following and I realize she's in Pasadena.

Oh, wow. I'm like, who knew? Who knew? I'm like, I need to contact this lady and ask her to consult for me and that's what I did. Oh, my. And her handle is drinking with the chickens. Wow, okay, I'm gonna look at that drinking

with a chicken note of that later, okay, so I'm gonna make a note of that. Wow, and so this lady now like you consult with her like is it just like a one-off or like you consult her like on like weekly or so it was just like a one-off deal before I brought the chickens in. I want you to make sure because I read books I read articles and you know like I've watched like YouTube videos but still it's always like talk to a nice to talk to a live person. That's why I brought her on as a consultant. Because I want the best quality of life for my, for my girls.

So, you know, and she was wonderful. Oh my gosh, she was wonderful. And even now, any questions I have, I just send her an email and she replies back. She's the sweetest woman. Wow, well let me know how that goes. I mean, I just send her an email and she replies back. It's the sweetest woman. Wow. Well, let me know how that goes. I mean, it's amazing.

Yeah. Well, if you're getting more chickens, I mean, I want to try one of the chicken eggs. I heard those are delicious when they're like, I'll bring some for you next time. Well, you're, no, the yolk is orange. Orange, yeah. And what, like, you crack it open. And the aroma, it feels the room.

No, I've heard. It's different. It's different. It's different. I buy all my eggs at the farmer's market, but still there's like a week or two week lag in that, you know? I wanna taste one of your chicken's eggs when they're fresh, fresh, fresh. Yeah, and then you know, it's different

because my chickens only drink like high quality filter water. They drink the type of water that I drink. Wow. They eat veggies from my garden. Wow. A guaranteed, and I pick it in the morning and I give it to them. That sounds amazing. It's not a farmed chicken. This is... No, I know. It's a pet chicken that also has, that basically feeds you eggs and you don't eat breakfast so when you eat the eggs at night. You know what? I have probably two eggs. So I give them us a gift. Give them to me as a gift. I will. Next time.

I will tell you. Yeah. Next time. Next time. Next time. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. you seriously a delight Tony co thank you so much for coming on talk about chickens chicken salt and make a totally cool chicken to do lists I mean it's we cover the gamut and so thank you thank you for coming on it was really a pleasure talking to you and how would people find you if they're more interested in following you and your chickens you have a do you have an

Instagram account I do I do Tony co co co so's T-O-N-I and then my last name, co, three times. E-O-N-I-K-O-K-O-K-O. Are you on Facebook too? I, you know, I have an account but I'm not really on it anymore. I don't know. I just stop going on Facebook. Yeah, me too. It's last year. Yeah, it is. Anyway, thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. And we're going to have you on again because you were delight and so inspirational.

So thank you. Thank you so much for having me. It was so much fun and you are amazing. Oh, you're the best. Thank you for saying that. I paid you 20 bucks. Okay. Bye guys.

Thank you. Hope you enjoyed this episode. I'm Heather Monahan, host of Creating Competence, a part of the YAP Media Network, the number one business and self-improvement podcast network. Okay, so I want to tell you a little bit about my show. We are all about elevating your confidence to its highest level ever and taking your business right there with you. Don't believe me? I'm going to go ahead and share some of the reviews of the show so you can believe my

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