Ever catch yourself wondering how a Brazilian immigrant, armed with an American Express credit card and a passion for fashion, could revolutionize the apparel industry? Tune in as Fernanda Bohme, co-founder of a women's fast fashion chain featured in Forbes, Cosmopolitan and Fast Inc 500, weaves a story of resilience, faith, and an unplanned Playboy Bunny fanbase. This episode is a montage of candid insights, laughter and timeless wisdom, offering a front row seat to Fernanda’s journey from Brazil to the corridors of a successful fashion brand.
Our conversation takes an unexpected yet exciting turn as we venture into the mystical realm of horoscope readings. We unveil our own astrological talents and challenges, leading to an intense discussion about judgement and compassion. We also dive into Fernanda's family history and her compelling journey from a law firm to co-founding a fashion brand with her sister. The story of how Playboy Bunnies became some of their best customers is a delightful twist you don't want to miss.
As we unravel Fernanda's journey, we address the elephant in the room – the 'retail apocalypse' myth, and the real cost of doing business online. We contrast the overheads of a physical retail location with the costs of online marketing and hiring developers. Fernanda elegantly reveals the secret to her success - a mix of hard work, empathetic understanding of customers, and an ability to quickly pivot with fashion trends. We round off our discussion exploring the role of her musical background in business, and how hardships only tuned her into her true frequency. Prepare to be inspired by this unique story of a woman, who didn’t just survive the fashion world, but mastered it.
Please connect with Trevor on social media. You can find him anywhere @thetrevorcrump
Ever catch yourself wondering how a Brazilian immigrant, armed with an American Express credit card and a passion for fashion, could revolutionize the apparel industry? Tune in as Fernanda Bohme, co-founder of a women's fast fashion chain featured in Forbes, Cosmopolitan and Fast Inc 500, weaves a story of resilience, faith, and an unplanned Playboy Bunny fanbase. This episode is a montage of candid insights, laughter and timeless wisdom, offering a front row seat to Fernanda’s journey from Brazil to the corridors of a successful fashion brand.
Our conversation takes an unexpected yet exciting turn as we venture into the mystical realm of horoscope readings. We unveil our own astrological talents and challenges, leading to an intense discussion about judgement and compassion. We also dive into Fernanda's family history and her compelling journey from a law firm to co-founding a fashion brand with her sister. The story of how Playboy Bunnies became some of their best customers is a delightful twist you don't want to miss.
As we unravel Fernanda's journey, we address the elephant in the room – the 'retail apocalypse' myth, and the real cost of doing business online. We contrast the overheads of a physical retail location with the costs of online marketing and hiring developers. Fernanda elegantly reveals the secret to her success - a mix of hard work, empathetic understanding of customers, and an ability to quickly pivot with fashion trends. We round off our discussion exploring the role of her musical background in business, and how hardships only tuned her into her true frequency. Prepare to be inspired by this unique story of a woman, who didn’t just survive the fashion world, but mastered it.
Please connect with Trevor on social media. You can find him anywhere @thetrevorcrump
Yo, what's going on everybody? Welcome to the Unstoppable Marketer Podcast. Mark Goldhart, my co-host, how are you?
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm doing very well. I stayed up a little too late last night, but why? Because, um well, my wonderful wife is out of town with all of the children, okay, which means I get to watch movies that she doesn't want to watch, nice. So I watched Kingdom of Heaven by Ridley Scott last night.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Which is a movie I've always wanted to watch, but I never got around to it and I thought I just need to watch that movie.
Speaker 1:So I did. I never even heard of that movie.
Speaker 2:I watched the director's cut so it was really long. Oh nice, it's like three hours long. It was good. Yeah, yeah, violent, oh really, yeah, really violent. Okay, like arrows through necks and it's about like the crusades, okay. Going down to Jerusalem, which is A violent, I guess kind of relevant with today's.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, what's going on, yeah, political landscape. Yeah, very true. Geopolitical landscape.
Speaker 2:Which obviously our hearts and prayers are out for the Israeli people and anyone being affected by that war and then also the innocence on both sides, right, I mean, it's a terrible, terrible situation and I personally support their right to defend themselves and fight terrorism. But man watching the crusades and seeing the Christians come in in this movie, and they just ransacked Jerusalem and then they had a good king and then the Arab leader, the Muslim leader, saladin, came in and took Jerusalem back.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Right yeah, because the Christians weren't being very Christian. Yeah, they weren't being naughty. Yeah, they were killing, they were going off and doing the equivalent of a jihad, but on the Christian side they were just going out and killing Muslim traders. So yeah, it was interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Kind of somewhat relevant yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you just see the cycle Cycles, totally, but.
Speaker 1:We had a good guest today, yeah. I'm super excited. Yeah, I am too. Let's introduce her. I'm just listening to us jam about crusades, but I want to introduce our guest today. Her name is Fernanda Boehm. She is the co-founder of a women's fast fashion chain that has been on Forbes, on Fast Inc 500. You name it Cosmopolitan. Cosmopolitan, yeah, you saw that.
Speaker 2:That's my magazine, for sure. Yeah, you saw that one as you are a subscriber to that Active reader.
Speaker 1:Active reader.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Exactly, that issue was good, wasn't it? Yes, it was yeah, exactly so. But yeah, I want to introduce Fernanda. Fernanda, how are you?
Speaker 3:Good, I'm doing great, thank you.
Speaker 1:Welcome.
Speaker 3:It's good to have you on. Okay, I'm so glad to be here. You know why. I'm happy to add a little bit of estrogen to your mix. Oh, I love it.
Speaker 1:We love it. I'm gonna say something though.
Speaker 2:Gotta get some balancing energies in here.
Speaker 1:We love having women on the podcast because, like we just like, it's fun. You know it's when there's just two guys, there's just a different take right Like on how things. That's why we love to have an Abbie here as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:Abbie on the mic every now and then and she gives us a good taste of our own medicine when we go off track, or yeah, I love the different perspectives for sure. Absolutely so. We're really grateful to have you on. I love to listen before we hear about you. You have some stuff you need to do for us.
Speaker 3:I do. Yeah, we have some unfinished business here. We have some unfinished business.
Speaker 1:You wanted to do this off camera at first, but we said no, this is critical that we document this.
Speaker 3:Yes. So we have this thing where, if you come to interview at our headquarters, we will do a horoscope reading to get to know you a little bit better. So people will come in and they'll say wait, am I here for a reading or am I here for an interview? And we say you are here for both.
Speaker 1:So I'm really excited. Mark and I are not big horoscope people.
Speaker 3:Yet.
Speaker 1:Yet Okay. So that's why I'm really excited for this.
Speaker 3:You're the skeptic and that's okay. I love skeptics. Okay, so your January 11th is your day, yep, okay.
Speaker 3:So you are the birthday of the expert assessor. So at your best, you are very balanced, you're objective and you are fair Okay. So on the dark side, you can be dominating, very stubborn and superior, okay, yikes. So your greatest challenge is coping with feelings of powerless to change things, and the way forward is to understand that you can only change the things that you can. When a situation can be changed, you need to have faith and learn to let go. So, really, people born on January 11th, having natural talent for assessing every situation and measuring everyone they meet, they find little difficulty in discarding what isn't needed and see the heart of people and situations, judging them according to their own very high standards Okay. So underlying this talent for assessment is a strong sense of justice that always strives to be fair. So in here it's saying that you can see people and judge right away and assess the situation and people very quickly. Okay, and that's what you're good at.
Speaker 1:I think I would never. I would never lead with that strength, but I think I am good at that.
Speaker 3:Well, obviously you're here, you assess people, you interview people and you have very high standards for yourself. It is very long, but just making it short and sweet, you have a tendency you can't have a tendency to judge people very high, but if you balance it with your compassionate side that you have, you have a sensitive, compassionate side. If you balance those two, not only can you? Make people better you can inspire people having both.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it's saying that I'm pretty critical of people. However, I have a kind heart.
Speaker 3:You have a kind heart. Okay, and that balances it out, you balance it out.
Speaker 1:The big question is, when my wife listens to this episode, what she thinks.
Speaker 3:This is funny. That'll be very interesting. I love doing it with couples because every time I read a couple they're like yep, yep, difficult, yep. I think they love pointing fingers.
Speaker 1:You want to know what was really interesting, though, what you did say in there that I thought was fascinating. So I grew up my whole life playing sports and just kind of like well balanced in sports I like. When it was basketball season, I played basketball, baseball, baseball, football, football, yeah. But as I grew up and I was relatively good at them, I had a harder time playing team sports because it was challenging for me to rely on other people.
Speaker 1:So I ended up playing tennis and that became my really big sport and initially I played doubles and I only lasted one season playing doubles, because you have to be in control. And then I played singles, and played singles and still to this day generally only play singles and golf.
Speaker 2:You struggle being in a partnership.
Speaker 1:There's two partnerships that I'm great at my wife and yours. So there we go. That's okay.
Speaker 3:That's good, this is good, and if you really dive down into this, you really start getting to know the personalities and who you're compatible with, who you're not, and you know business and life come on, it's the same thing.
Speaker 1:You know me pretty well how was that. It's pretty good, pretty good. I'm excited to see what this guy's is.
Speaker 3:We'll do yours after.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll do yours after. Well, okay.
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't get the reading now.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, give him a reading now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, let's get the reading now.
Speaker 1:August, yep August 15th. Okay, it's going to be on the fly here and this is on the podcast, so everyone can know what our birthdays are. To send us presents Okay, I knew it Now everybody knows who I am, yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm not tricking anyone. You are the presence. Actually, you're the birthday of the regal presence. You have a very regal presence. That is true, it is true.
Speaker 2:A regal presence.
Speaker 3:Do you know what?
Speaker 2:I actually think my wife has a more regal presence.
Speaker 3:No, no, you do. I felt that when you came in the room, like you have a very regal presence, even though, like you dress casual and everything inside of you, you have that presence Okay. So, at your best you're very generous, imposing and very decisive, but on the dark side, you can be insensitive, egotistical and even aggressive at times.
Speaker 2:I mean yeah.
Speaker 3:And your greatest challenge is coping with coming second. That's a no-no for you, oh boy. So the important thing to remember is to understand that, however much you feel you deserve it, you simply cannot come first every time. You will often learn more from your failures than your success.
Speaker 1:Mark and I are co-founders. Maybe you need to be the CEO. That's what it sounds like. I'm competitive.
Speaker 2:But see, I'm the third of four boys, so is that a horoscope? Is that because I was born on a day, or is that because I was born on a day.
Speaker 1:I was born on a day.
Speaker 3:It was this day, nothing more amongst wolves. Well, a little bit of both, but some things you're just born with. You're blessed with great self-confidence, and courage, giving them a commanding or opposing presence, whatever the situation they are in. Others look to them for leadership and enjoy basking in their regal presence.
Speaker 1:Tell me, guys, this is going to sound stupid, this is going to sound really stupid. What is a regal presence? What does regal mean?
Speaker 2:Regal is synonymous with stoic.
Speaker 3:Refined A refined presence.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I give that to you. I would not define me as that.
Speaker 2:As a regal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't think I'm a regal man, stoic, refined, distinguished.
Speaker 2:I have a hard time with those kinds of labels because I think they all manifest in different ways.
Speaker 3:But just your persona. You were born this way. There's nothing that you're doing necessarily that's bringing that about you. That's just what you. That's the vibes you give off.
Speaker 2:Remember.
Speaker 3:Okay, I said, you're kind of like Matthew McConaughey vibes. I felt that a little bit.
Speaker 2:Which is like the best compliment I've ever got. Yeah, that is the best compliment.
Speaker 1:I was really jealous when I heard that. I know, I was like, okay, I'll take it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean him and Woody Harrelson maybe combined. Yeah, both of them.
Speaker 1:I could see it, though I never said Matthew McConaughey until she said it yeah, I never. But you've got the hair right now and you got the beard the beard that does it. And then you got the Woody Harrelson nose. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, I got that jacked up nose, that old, broken nose. Yeah, years of rugby, you'll do that to you. You're going to get a jacked up nose, funny enough. Did you know that they have a weird connection? Do you guys know what the rumor is between Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson?
Speaker 3:No what.
Speaker 2:It's really funny. So they're both from Texas. Right Now, woody Harrelson's dad is a convicted murderer and bank robber. I don't think he's around anymore, but he was in jail. Yeah, all right. So at the same time, matthew McConaughey's parents in Texas this is before they were born, so going back in time, right, his parents, I think, were kind of in like a hippie scene. I don't know what kind of scene they were in, but anyways, the rumor is Matthew McConaughey's mom was kind of in an open relationship and so, if I remember right, he has some step siblings and uh, well, the rumor is is uh, and I might be. Am I mixing these people up? It might be Woody Harrelson's mom.
Speaker 2:I think, it's Woody Harrelson's mom. Yes, because his dad was out killing people or robbing people or something.
Speaker 1:Because I've read Matthew McConaughey's book the.
Speaker 2:Green Lights.
Speaker 1:That's right, and you don't hear like anything about that as much.
Speaker 2:His dad. Okay, so they had some kind of relationship, but anyways, the rumor is is that they are half brothers. What so Interesting? The rumor is that Matthew McConaughey's dad, I believe, actually slept with Woody Harrelson's mom at the same time, like because they split up. So there's like this weird timeframe that matches up with their birth dates.
Speaker 1:Well, I do think I remember that they that uh, matthew McConaughey and his dad and mom get divorced or split up and then come back together at one point in time, Like I think they get divorced and remarried like two or three times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, something weird like that Right.
Speaker 1:So it would line up and then you are Abbie's dad or mom and you are their nephew. It sounds like I'm just their nephew.
Speaker 2:I'm just their nephew, yeah Well, speaking of family connections, so your last name is boom.
Speaker 3:That's my last name.
Speaker 2:Which is a German name.
Speaker 3:Yes, how did you know?
Speaker 2:Cause I just know things like that.
Speaker 3:Yes, I'm German descent. Yes, I'm actually Brazilian.
Speaker 2:Well, my last name is German, right.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:But um cause, when I looked at boom too, cause you know it's a, it has, I don't know what the name like the it has the symbols.
Speaker 1:What are the symbols above the O? Umlauts, umlauts, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I also lived uh, you know, I served a an LDS mission in Argentina, and there's a lot of German towns down there.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 2:Right. So I lived in places like Mueller and stuff. But boom, when I looked it up, it's interesting you bring out this like little mystic book. One of the most famous bones out there is Jacob Bohn, who was a German.
Speaker 3:Yes, thank you, you're quite the researcher.
Speaker 2:German Christian mystic.
Speaker 3:Yes, from the 1500s.
Speaker 2:That's right. He caused a lot of uproar, cause a lot of problems.
Speaker 3:Yes, he did. He did a lot of stint.
Speaker 2:Germany.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but.
Speaker 2:I I really believe in what he was teaching. Are you related to him?
Speaker 3:Somewhere in the line. Look, according to my DNA test, it I'm a percentage of a mix of European, but somewhere down the line. That's why when people say, oh, do you guys sell Bohemian clothing, cause it's called boom? No, there's no relation. How funny, but you, you hit it right on.
Speaker 2:So so you don't, you don't know if you're related to him.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, I don't. It feels like there's some kind of a cosmic connection there, right, because there's not a lot of bones, and so through my dad's line is where that came. So after the war a lot of people came over to South America, and bones was one of them.
Speaker 2:Look at that, that's amazing.
Speaker 3:From Germany so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, funny enough. So my last name is Goldhart. My grandfather was born in New York city, okay, before World War two. So his, his family left His parents, my great grandparents left Germany, I think in like 1935, 34, something like that. Yeah, yeah. About that, but I in Argentina, there's a lot of gold hearts, okay, that are also down there Post World War two, yep, so there's a lot of gold hearts that I'm related to down there in like some way shape or form back from like Germany, cause, yeah, yeah, people left.
Speaker 3:That's why, you see, in Argentina, south of Brazil, where Rio is, where I'm at, you'll see a lot of like blue-eyed, blonde people. Yeah, because of that. Nobody knows?
Speaker 1:Yep. Well, fernanda, tell us a little bit about boom, let's hear about you. We have talked enough about us. Let's hear about you.
Speaker 3:Okay. So for you to understand the brand, to understand me, we have to go all the way back to 1992. And so, me and my family, we moved here, family of five, three kids, mom and dad. We moved to Utah and it's 1992. Let me paint you a picture.
Speaker 1:From Brazil.
Speaker 3:From Brazil, from Rio de Janeiro, big city. We come to this country. We don't know a lick of English, zero. Okay, we know, yes and no, that's it. And now my dad wanted to go to BYU to get his like third degree, because I don't know, if you know, it's kind of a big deal to get a degree from another country, from America. It's like a big drill to have that certificate. So we thought, oh, he's going to come here, go to school and then we're going to go back to Brazil and then live happily ever after. But things kind of turned a little bit different. And now we're in this country. We don't speak English and now we have to somehow survive, make a living.
Speaker 3:I was eight, my sister's nine, we had a younger brother and now, overnight we are basically the adults in the family, and children always learn the language faster. That's just how it is. We suck it up like a sponge. And now, you know, my dad's going to full-time school and now we have to make a living. So every nationality has their own thing, right? If you're Vietnamese, you're doing nails. If you're from this country, you're doing this. So, like, what do Brazilians do? A lot of them clean. So my parents cleaned these buildings and they were gigantic. These weren't like small office buildings, these were like huge, three to four stories high, and they did like three or four of those every night.
Speaker 2:And he was going to school too.
Speaker 3:And he was going to school. So every day, you know, around 3.34 pm, they would go do that. And so we, as kids, what did we do? So after school? Every day, we would go help them clean. Awesome, we did that every day after school.
Speaker 3:And a lot of people are thinking well, you know, janitorial business, that's a very profitable. No, no, no. Let me rephrase this you have to speak the language, you have to communicate, in order to own a business. Right, they worked at minimum wage and we worked for free. Okay so, and back then it's not like everybody had computers and they worked from home. They went to the office every day and they expected that the buildings were going to get cleaned every single day. So every single day, after school, we would just eat whatever is at home and then we would go straight to cleaning buildings. We did that for almost 10 years, every single day, every single day. Every weekend. The only day we had off was maybe Christmas. Other than that, we did that every single day till midnight and we still had to do our homework and whatever else.
Speaker 1:So you're doing this from like eight to 18. Almost Geez.
Speaker 3:And now the difficult part too is that not only you know we had to be the adult overnight and we had to call in every credit card bill. You know my parents got a ticket. We had to show up in court to go translate right, you have to be creative, right? And we had to somehow live within our means in a family of five. So if this is the line of property for the state, we were probably here. So I lived below the poverty line for many, many years.
Speaker 3:It's funny how, having clothing back then, I got clothing from the people who got hand me down right and then I got their hand me downs right, and so you know, we had very, very little, next to nothing. But it's funny, it's ironic, because today I have more clothing than I can wear in a lifetime. It's really funny. But just little things like back to school shopping yeah no, that was not even an option and you didn't even bring it up. Even things like, oh, we're going to go to McDonald's, that was once a year. If that, like that, was considered a luxury, if we even went out to eat and we even got McDonald's right. So with that kind of, that kind of a base, what do you expect like out of life right? When you see your parents, you know work all day, work all night. And then you know years later they had multiple other minimum wage jobs and that was kind of life right.
Speaker 3:So then you know, I grow up and I have a very creative side and my sister had a very left brain analytical side, right, she could do a spreadsheet at age 11. I did like crazy displays. I like I would win the science fair because my display was the best on the brain, right, and so we did our thing. And then one day, you know, I was going to go into music. That was my life, you know I had to go Like. Today I see kids I get to go to soccer and they get to play an instrument. Those things cost money and you have to have your parent at home to take you to this. Like. For me to even learn the violin was like, oh my gosh, I had to on top of my cleaning responsibilities. I had to, like go get some kind of babysitting job or something to even pay for the instrument right.
Speaker 3:Everything was just very, very difficult. I didn't feel sorry for myself. It is what it is, you know, and, like back then, I'd be terrified if my friends at school knew that what was going on at home? Right, because that's not the persona that you want to show to your friends. Right? And you know, especially being a kid, you're self-conscious about everything the clothing you wear, the shoes you wear. So, anyways, fast forward.
Speaker 2:Well, I have a question. Yes, you guys move here with a little bit of an American dream mindset. You come here you think that this is gonna provide the opportunity for your dad to take the next step, and then you were planning on going back to Brazil, but then it feels like the family fell in a pit.
Speaker 3:We ended up staying and I think my parents felt of you know what.
Speaker 2:And why did they stay if it wasn't?
Speaker 3:Right. You know what? I still ask myself this. It's like, if it was so difficult and it was so painful, why stay? And I think they saw that there was a future for us here.
Speaker 1:Better opportunity In the.
Speaker 3:United States. So they made that sacrifice, knowing that you know what they're gonna have a future here. And you have to have faith 100% when times are good and bad.
Speaker 2:But I think that's an important distinction, though, is because a lot of people think that their efforts are just for them when people move here, for example, like immigrants. But really the American dream usually is not a success story of one generation, it's a multi-generational story. Generally speaking, when there is success, it's not the first generation that gets it, it's usually the second or the third, because my grandfather was an immigrant and he was super poor. So my dad grew up super poor, living by State Street in South Salt Lake, but my brother's a doctor, my other brother's a vet, my other brother has getting his masters in data engineering. I'm the failure of the family, but I have cousins that are all really successful with doctorates or whatever degrees.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying degrees mean that you're successful, but it took three generations for the success to arrive in that family line. Oh yeah, so your family had that perspective your parents is. What you're saying is, even though it was hard and sure you guys had some insecurities being kids and being poor and not having the money, they had a belief that this was a better situation for you guys, for their daughters, in the long run 100%.
Speaker 3:And so now we fast forward. I'm working at a law firm and just as a job. And then my sister approaches me hey, Fernanna, let's go do this. This is 2006. And I'm looking at her like what, no, no, no, I'm gonna move to New York. I'm getting the heck out of here. I'm gonna go to fashion school somewhere else. Like, this isn't for me. I don't wanna do retail. She talks me into it again. Now, this is 2006,. By then, 2007.
Speaker 2:So are you at the university this time?
Speaker 3:So yeah, I was doing actually music at the University of Utah and then I ended up switching my career path. I actually went to Salt Lake Community College for fashion because I knew that paying huge tuition for FID, fidm was not feasible in my conditions, in my situations.
Speaker 3:My parents, I had to put myself through school and help out at home. That was just not feasible, so I ended up staying and she talks me into this and I said, okay. First of all, we have zero connections. My parents are not playing golf with the CEO of so-and-so. That's not even a reality. Number two we don't have the cash nor the experience. So how is this gonna play out? This is right when the recession just barely started, right, yeah, yeah, 2007,. People are losing their shorts, right?
Speaker 1:And their houses, and their houses and their house. Shorts, houses, socks, dogs, everything mines.
Speaker 3:Right, right. And then it was like right before everything went to bust, I took out an American Express credit card and again I was 23 years old. I looked like I was 16. Nobody was gonna give me a dollar to start anything, okay. And back then we didn't have the entrepreneur investment mindset that we have today. It was a very much a different landscape. So now we have this little credit card and every month I would call in, it would up that limit a little bit more. But back then you could Now it's very difficult, right, Sure. And then I got it up to enough to where I could get some inventory down in LA I could pay rent.
Speaker 1:So is that where you would get everything domestically?
Speaker 3:Yes and we actually thought, you know what Nobody's doing modest clothing back then, right. And so we thought, oh, let's just bring a couple of modest pieces that people, that's wearable, it's not like clubby wear. And the graphic designer did our logo and he's like your name, the bomb is very symmetrical, you should use that as a company name. We're like we don't know better, sure? So we put that. We started our first location and, kid you not, people walked by like, oh, black and white, boom and caps, keep walking, keep walking, don't walk in, it looks expensive. Boom, all black and white and all caps was too strong. And back up here, 2007. Do you know where you went out to eat with your girlfriends?
Speaker 2:Hey, everybody we'll meet you at seven.
Speaker 3:I was a senior in high school. That didn't exist yet hold on, oh, actually it did. It did sorry, but back then it was like okay, everybody, let's meet at the Olive Garden. It was Olive Garden or bust. Okay, when you went out shopping you better have American Eagle written on your chest or you're going to Victory Secret. Or you're going to Hollister or you're going to Air Apostle.
Speaker 2:Unless you were a skater boy Abacrombie. Then you had Volcom.
Speaker 3:You had Volcom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very true. And those fat skaters shoes.
Speaker 3:Zoomies, Zoomies. But it was very much brand and people did not accept the hole in the wall, the new restaurant? Oh no, a newcomer, no, people did not accept new brands like they do today, especially in Utah, especially in Utah. So now we have multiple things working against us and this is funny.
Speaker 2:And also Utahns are cheap.
Speaker 3:Yes, that too. So you said we have layers of problems.
Speaker 1:Yeah, layers of problems Very predictable.
Speaker 3:You look too high end for people. They're like us, you look too high end and that was a problem.
Speaker 1:That's the reason why you want chains. I want the Olive Garden. I want the Cafe Rio. Yeah, yeah, I don't want Joe's tacos that are better than anything you could ever get at Cafe Rio.
Speaker 2:Correct what I know I'm going to get. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:Exactly, people are just very much inside the box. So then when they walked by our store and they saw that and I had some like sexy, cool items that had maybe like a keyhole or like for them, they walked by Guess who was. I mean, here we are marketing too modest Guess who was like one of our best clients the Playboy Bunnies, I'm not kidding, they were one of our best customers and so I'm like whatever, like where is this going here? Right? And so after our first store.
Speaker 2:Like Playboy, bunny models.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they would run into our store like oh, I like your vibe Great, not our customer, but we love you anyways. Like it became our customer.
Speaker 1:Money's money.
Speaker 3:Money's money. So, then from that one location it was a three month templates. We close it.
Speaker 2:Where's this location again?
Speaker 3:This is fashion place, and back then you could pay rents on credit cards. So that's the only reason it worked. Did I tell you I'm still working my full time job. We can quit our jobs, we can pay ourselves. That was not an option. So then we have that one store. We close it. Nobody can even say the name, Like that was already a disaster. You know, it kind of broke even, but I called it quits. I'm like you know what? This was very difficult. We're still working our full time jobs.
Speaker 3:People didn't understand us. So then we're like well, let's do our SWOT analysis. Okay, let's just watch people. We just sat there and watch people. What do they want to see, what do they want to wear? And we're like, oh my gosh, we're Brazilian. We think different, we talk different. We have nothing in common. So I really had to like dive in and really understand who our customer was Right. And this is before the dot-coms blew up. This is before people. I mean, there were online stores no seven but people weren't 100% confident yet, Just didn't boom, quite yet we call the Instagram boom.
Speaker 3:Instagram boom.
Speaker 2:So a lot of small businesses emerged because of Instagram Online. Yeah, Online. And that's when people really became more accepting of no name logos, Because you could get social proof and you can understand if it was good or not or if other people right. It's kind of a way of judging if it's good is this?
Speaker 1:peer pressure is what you would call it, see what other people were doing.
Speaker 2:Oh, like, okay, so other people do like it, so I can like it In masses. Yes, and it's easier to see that online than it is like walking by a store that nobody's in.
Speaker 3:Exactly exactly. It was a total different game. So then I almost called it quits, Almost just. I didn't want to do it anymore. So what did I do? The first thing was, you guys, I prayed. I prayed about it. I said is this my path? Because, A I don't want to do it, B it's really difficult. And three, I failed at it. And sure enough, I hear a voice go back to work and because this is going to be a success, and sure enough, blindly, with all the faith I had, we continue. We opened the second store at another center and we did it all like at Hardy. You guys remember at Hardy days, the Bling days. So we're like this is what they want.
Speaker 1:True religion at Hardy.
Speaker 2:True religion at.
Speaker 3:Hardy the Bling and we blinged out everything. This is what's crazy In the recession.
Speaker 2:I mentioned fashion went through some rough patches.
Speaker 3:I can't wait till Bling comes back. It will come back. Do you know why? It was like selling ice to an Eskimo?
Speaker 2:There's no way.
Speaker 3:Oh, I loved it. Everything cycles just a minute, Everything.
Speaker 2:You think it'll come?
Speaker 1:back, guaranteed Everything cycles 20, 27.
Speaker 3:Everything cycles. That's my prediction. Everything cycles, that was so bad, it's 20 year cycles. But it was so good, business was so good. So then it's like hey, honey, you can't finish the basement, you can't remodel the kitchen, we're not getting a new car, but here's a hundred bucks, go buy yourself some new bling jeans. So it was kind of like that. So that's kind of where we we ended up being number one sales per square feet. We worked our own store. I had a sewing machine and where's the second store again?
Speaker 3:This was at the university mall in Provo I had a sewing machine on the counter, because this is bootcut days. People were walking, leaving and going. Oh, it's too long, I don't want my expensive jeans to drag. Mom, let's just go to Nordstrom because they do free alterations. I'm like, excuse me, I can sew. I've been sewing my stuff since like I was 12. I sold my own prom dress because I thought everything out there was hideous.
Speaker 3:So, anyways, we didn't have employees, you know, we had to do it ourselves. So then I had a sewing machine on the counter and I said you know what? I'll alter your jeans with the original hem in less than 15 minutes. So go to the food court, grab yourself a drink. When you come back, your jeans will be done and altered. Okay, so then I've done over a thousand pairs of denim altered right and so kind of. That's like where we got our frame, and then from there we started getting recruited to the different centers. And I mean today we have 18 stores, a brick and mortar location, and of course, you know we have our own line, we have our own distribution, and you know the story goes on.
Speaker 1:Unreal. You know what? Like I'm hearing two. There are two things that have stood out to me that have made you who you are today, or made boom what it is today. The first one comes from like the genesis of your like story from Brazil to America, which is like heart, like just cliche, but hard work, right, it's like. That's like this heart, like that is what your life was essentially Like, working hard, you get home from school, you're cleaning till midnight and you did that for 10 plus years of your life, right To help support your family. So it's like hard work. And then the second thing that I heard there that changed everything for you was we decided to understand who our customer was. Like those two things, like hard work and knowing your customer, and then you can find success in anything. Like if you can do those two things, what made you?
Speaker 1:Cause this has been a topic lately for us. We like not because you and me are bringing it up, because guests are bringing this up Like have you noticed this? Like every conversation we have with somebody is how important it is to get to know your customer. Like it's this, it's this. Like it seems like this wild, brilliant idea, but in reality, it's like duh Like. Of course you should get to know your customer. What was it that made you guys decide, okay, we are this high end looking company that very little people wanted to even come in to say how do we start looking at the customer? What was it that made you think that way? We people watched.
Speaker 3:We just people watched. And here's the thing you never ask your customer what they want. They will never tell you what they want. They can't even say it and they don't even know what they want. Sometimes you just observe and you know. Working at the stores at first. Did I mention we did our own build outs for the first 10 stores. We had to literally build our own furniture.
Speaker 3:I just assumed we had to build our own, because that's who you are you know, you just show up at Home Depot and go, hey, I'm here to rent a scaffold to paint our like the 25 foot ceilings wait, scaffolding. And they look behind me like who's gonna pick this up? Me and my two door Honda Accord, duh, like so anyways. So we would just sit there and watch and watch and watch the transactions. Now, when you're there listening to the customer and you're watching them, what they're touching, it's a very eye-opening experience, right. And from there it's like, oh, they reacted to this, okay, let's show them this. Okay, they reacted to this, okay, and you keep feeding it. You keep feeding it. But then you need to know that fashion ha is a moving target. What's hot today is not hot tomorrow, right? Constant moving target. So being able to pivot quickly is very difficult in this industry, right? And what about after 2014? 2015, 2016,? Guess what?
Speaker 3:When I started, the mom and the daughter shared closets. Today, the mom doesn't wanna look like the daughter and the daughter she sure as hell doesn't wanna look like the mom. Now we have a problem. Now you have retailers like Target and everybody else are scrambling. It's like, oh crap, oh my gosh, that girl now has morphed into two closets. What do we do? What do we do? Hurry, hurry, hurry, like there's a sense of urgency now because the closet's split.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Very quickly. And now what?
Speaker 1:How do you guys manage that? That's a really interesting thought, cause the hardest part about one of the things I've recognized about apparel is your inventory issues right. You've got all the sizes, all the colors and you have to have stock of that. If fashion is such a moving target, what are you doing to be able to hedge your bets but also not risk breaking the bank on something that either might not hit or the fashion might move too quick and really quick.
Speaker 2:I wanna jump in and answer for you. I wanna psychoanalyze you for a little bit. Let's do this, Cause there's the operational aspect that you're.
Speaker 3:I mean, this is like a million dollar question here. I mean come on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, there's two parts to that right. So I think there's two layers. There's the operational layer that Trevor's bringing up, but there's also how are you guys able to pivot and understand your customer? And I wanna go back to your childhood, which is you essentially had a life of pivoting right. You move to America, you have to pivot the way you display, the way you communicate, how to relate to people that come from a completely different culture background, have different music tastes. So you have to learn at a very young age to empathize with people that you might have a little disdain for too, because they might be well off in your community and you're not. But you had to adapt constantly growing up. So this idea of you watching people and being able to pivot what you're doing according to what they're choosing, right, that requires some sympathy and empathy from a position of also being the underclass. So that's hard to do, which a lot of people can't do.
Speaker 3:That, okay, no one's ever said that by the way, it's the first time I've ever heard it that way.
Speaker 2:Oh good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, that's cool. No, that's cool.
Speaker 1:You read it from a book.
Speaker 2:I read it.
Speaker 1:Oh really, he got it from his book.
Speaker 2:A wise guy once said that, but no, so I think it's interesting because you and your sister, right Like you guys, perhaps your greatest strength was this difficult life, and we say difficult, but we all know that, like, the difficult times are what build you.
Speaker 2:So, it's not that you didn't have a loving like. You had a loving family, which is the best blessing that anyone can have, right. But monetarily it was difficult. You guys had to go through insecurities, but through that you learned empathy and how to pivot and adjust accordingly. So do you feel like that has really set you up for success in your business and giving women the styles that they want as it changes?
Speaker 3:Oh, 100%. And not only does it change over time, every zip code has a different tweak. Could you imagine that Every zip code in America dresses a little bit different than the other? And you know we're nationwide global, that we sell, so everybody has a different taste and you don't want to be the laggard but you don't want to be first to market either. So you really have to see where your customer is and get them right there. But it took, honestly, just years of trial and error, trial and error to get that sweet spot for your customer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. How did so? Now you said you had 18 locations.
Speaker 3:We have 18 today. I mean, at one point we were up to like 25 locations.
Speaker 1:Sure, so 18 locations. A what point in time? How many locations did you have before you decided to start selling online? Do you remember?
Speaker 3:Oh, my goodness. Okay, so we were already. I mean, we've always had a website by like our third, fourth location, but it never really took off until the Instagram you know Kind of time. Until Instagram, facebook, ramped up. That's when we saw lift Awesome. But it's funny how we did it the other way around. We did brick and mortar first and then online. Usually, people do the opposite.
Speaker 1:They do online and then brick and mortar. It's funny, especially nowadays.
Speaker 3:They do the opposite. And let me tell you how I'm thankful for that Cause. I learned the hard part first 100%. We can open stores like blindfolded, Like we can do stores Like for us it's a tight ship, Like we got it, Like we nailed it down and now you know we got to learn it first. I like that.
Speaker 1:For sure. What are your? So what are your thoughts around like? How have you noticed your online presence helping your physical locations and vice versa? Do you see that your physical locations now help your online presence as well?
Speaker 3:100%. One supports the other, and where we have stores, we'll see more online Shoppers around there on the globe. So we actually have like literal map and it says where do you have stores? You have a lot of online purchases, right? And then, of course, sending people to the store via social media is huge. Yeah, so they both help each other.
Speaker 1:We've seen yeah, for sure, I think, a lot of people cause, like you said it right, Like back then you almost didn't have a choice, right, you had to start brick and mortar kind of first right. I know, like you said, there wascom and that existed, but like we've all come yeah, like away, yeah, but it's like next to no trust.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I've been born 100% comfortable.
Speaker 1:Yet yeah, exactly right. And so, like I think I remember in 08, I was buying like books. That was, I think, the only thing I trusted. Do you remember what was it? Who bought Amazon, or Amazon bought a book company? I feel like I have no idea. Oh, but anyways, yeah, that's what I remember Like my first online purchases were like.
Speaker 2:It seems so normal now, but I remember in 2004 convincing my parents to let me buy a paintball gun online and they were like just convinced it was all a scam. Oh yeah, they're like no way You're buying something online.
Speaker 3:And did it come? Oh yeah, nice, oh, you got it, that's nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got it.
Speaker 1:Titmin 98. Great gun, dude, great gun, wow. But I think what's happening now is like a lot of people fast forward to 2023 when they think about opening a retail location, like immediately the overhead is what tends to turn people off right.
Speaker 3:Hold up, back up, back up. Okay, here's what I have to say to that. No, that's what I want. Multiple things. Number one the retail apocalypse. Guess what? It's a myth, 100% myth. What's the media's job? They have one job and that's to report bad news, right? So the obvious retailers, you know, the JCPenney's of the world and whoever else that are closing. Yeah, they didn't innovate. Everybody saw that coming, like it's obvious, right? But there are plenty of thriving brick and mortar, plenty, okay, yeah. So back to what you were saying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, overhead.
Speaker 3:Okay, this is like it's heated, because anybody in the online world knows how much it is to do business online, so they think I'm gonna buy it online. It's cheaper because they don't have the overhead. Lies, lies, lies. Warehousing to get a warehouse today is more expensive than it ever been in history. Okay, number two all your developers that you're hiring. How much do you think those costs each? You know how much developers cost, okay. And then, of course, the Mecca. Who's making the Cajillions of dollars? Facebook, tiktok, instagram, google they're the ones making the Cajillion dollars, right From all these hardworking businesses, because you have to pay to play online. How much do you think that is? I know people firsthand. Their online marketing budget is easily, per year, $50 million. Other people spend $100,000, $200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, a year. That's not overhead. I'm sorry, people don't know what they're talking about. That's overhead. That is huge overhead.
Speaker 3:That's why your center mall rents that are outrageous. Yes, they are. They start becoming cheap in comparison to doing business online. So now if you're starting a business like, oh, let's avoid the overhead, let's do online. And then they get set up and then they meet a marketing company and go, oh, how much are you gonna spend a month? Wait, we have to spend that. Well, you have to pay to play. Oh, oh, shoot. And now how are you competing with those big guys that are dropping hundreds of million dollars? How is a newcomer supposed to compete?
Speaker 1:Sure, sure, versus, you've got a physical location that stays in the same spot and, yes, you might be competing with other people around you, but that is your presence, it's there, it's always there, it doesn't change. So, essentially, what you're saying here and just to kind of dive in and to elaborate even more is what Fernanda's saying is hey, yes, there's overhead costs of the retail physical locations and I think maybe what scares people is that a lot of it is upfront, right, Whereas the online is maybe a little bit more spread out. But it can be just as much, if not more, right? Not only did you say is it more expensive than it ever has been to warehouse Than it has right now? Price per square foot, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:Same thing with 3PLs. 3pls is expensive as well, right? For those of you who don't know what 3PLs mean, 3pls are when you don't warehouse your own stuff. A company houses everything, picks, packs, ships, customer service. They do everything for you and you pay. Oftentimes you just pay per ship Shipment. They have a fee paper. We do our in-house, yeah, you do your up. So you've got this. That's pretty expensive. But then you also have like cost per acquisition is at its highest rate.
Speaker 3:Crazy, it's especially in the apparel space right now Especially, and not only is it highly competitive. Well, for us, I don't sell Windex and paper towels, sorry, so being able to touch, feel, try it on is key for us. So having that for us works the best. I'm not saying that's the best for your business, but you did say something just before the show. What are the pros and cons Like? Should somebody have a retail store? Is it a good move for your business to move into a brick and mortar store? Here's what I always say.
Speaker 3:You know your company culture. Do you want to be the Wizard of Oz or do you want to be Dorothy? Right? Nobody knows the Wizard of Oz. He's collecting his millions secretly, fine. But if your company culture is you want to be the household name, you gotta be out.
Speaker 3:And today online is busier than ever, right? There's gazillion websites out there. How are you going to differentiate that brick and mortar experience? And I know what people are saying. I talk to a lot of women oh, I don't go to the malls, like, I just shop online. And let me guess you order 10 items, you return nine of it. So you spend half of your time returning nine of it. Okay, I get it. No, I love online shopping too, you guys, I'm not against it at all. But then the reason that they don't want to go out is maybe because the malls have a design problem. Right, you still go to Starbucks and people will wait in line. Why are you waiting in line? In Starbucks, you can get a faster, cheaper cup of coffee in your kitchen. Like, why are you doing that? Because they have good design. So if the malls updated themselves, maybe you'd want to go there. Right, it's not cool to say you're going to the mall, but there's a lot of good centers, the centers that are renovating. They're doing great, they're doing just fine.
Speaker 3:So we have a design problem. Nobody wants to go to the mall that looks like the 1970s. I get it right. So it's up to them. Like they need to renovate as well.
Speaker 2:Sure, sure. Well, I have two things really quick. First thought is the retail experience can help a brand because you're, even if you are selling online, you're still selling to real people and if you're selling a physical good, it's living in the real world, not the digital world, right? So it gives people the opportunity to experience the realness of it. And, as a business owner, it's easier to observe people in a store interacting with your physical goods in the real world, right? So that can obviously be a superpower.
Speaker 2:Now the other part is you brought up earlier. How do people compete with these rising cost per acquisitions and everything else? And it's not as cheap online. My thought here is yeah, the online space now just has to recognize that business is hard. It's always been hard. There's nothing easy about creating a successful business, and the key to success is knowing your customer. What you did with your retail stores that exercise of failing up you're failing. You're seeing what works. You're trying to identify the needs of these people. You're trying to serve and sell to. You identified it and then you're able to provide an experience to promote that inner identity of these people. So you're the creative part right Of the duo at Bone. How do you go about creating these experiences, physically and digitally, for your customers.
Speaker 3:This is exactly what I was thinking is having that physical experience out of the digital world. It's powerful, right, the touch and feel, experiencing it in the flesh, versus just digital on a screen, like it brings up your brand to a whole other level, right, and so for us, the touch and feel, it's a sensory experience, like if you go through, like our flagship store at City Creek.
Speaker 1:The smell. I was gonna say don't always smell good.
Speaker 3:Oh, we always smell good. Yes, it's a sensory experience to the smell, the touch, everything is dialed in, right? So the woman walks in. It's like, okay, I'm here to relax, we have seating for the guys and in our new upcoming stores, and so everything is about relaxation and experiencing the brand physically. Right, that is a big deal. And did COVID teach anything to us? That being locked in your house every single day and living in the digital world is not optimal for human survival? Like, we have that need to see and to be seen, right? So, getting out of the house, experiencing things with your colleagues, family, like it's part of being a human. And like what I would say to brands is don't take that away because of fear. Right, people don't do it because of the fear of the unknown and brick and mortar. I will say it's not easy. It's a very delicate ecosystem. Okay, I will say that we move a table and sales shift. I'm not even joking. We have it down to a science, right? The whole customer journey.
Speaker 2:It's just like landing pages right there's conversion rate optimization right.
Speaker 3:Amen, that's exactly what it is. And then there we kind of have to do like a pinball machine effect right it's almost like that, so really dialing it in and what your experience is like. I would encourage online retailers to explore that to take their brand to the next level.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what is nowadays? If you don't mind me and you don't have to answer this, what is your distribution, sales, distribution between online and physical?
Speaker 3:Right now it's almost 50-50. Cool, but sometimes 60, 70 online like it shifts from season to season, but it kind of averages it out.
Speaker 1:Amazing. That's really cool. Most people that actually tells me like I think that's how you want it to be. A lot of times Cause a lot of times when I ask that question, it seems like it's usually 80, 20, one way or the other. You know as people, but it's show that shows me that you really do that the stores are strong?
Speaker 3:Have this whole thing figured out?
Speaker 1:And online supports the physical locations and the physical locations can support the online location, which is really really cool.
Speaker 3:And the other things that we're trying out now is pop-up stores, cause our stores are very expensive to build. I'm not saying they're cheap, they're very expensive, and we even I even manufactured the bulb that's inside there, cause I need a certain kind of lumen to shine on the product. But we're starting to do pop-ups. We just opened our Austin Texas store, we just opened two in Chicago, one in Arizona, so we're, you know, testing out the demographics.
Speaker 1:And is that why you do the pop-up Is like, that's our initial testing. If it does well then, let's get a.
Speaker 3:Exactly. And then we do like a permanent lease and all of that. So yeah it's been fun to see, and getting, a different mix.
Speaker 2:Well, here's a question for you, because you mentioned that you studied music. For how long?
Speaker 3:Oh gosh, for 15 years and what was your instrument? Violin.
Speaker 2:Of choice, I should say.
Speaker 3:Violin was my main instrument and then I do. I did saxophone, later Wow Castle, both. I actually still do jazz nights Saturday nights from my husband and kids.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, Nice. And then I do jazz. I don't play the jazz band anymore. I used to Smooth jazz. That's amazing. Jazz flute by the fire.
Speaker 3:The jazz flute. There is a fireplace. So, yes, you could say that's amazing.
Speaker 2:I bring this up for a reason. So I just want to like pull back the hood of Fernanda's head right and like, look at the brain, the engine here, because you've mentioned all these creative aspects about creating these experiences smells, and you said you wanted to create a light to match, like what your vision was. Now, a lot of people think about creativity as this abstracted skill, and music is considered creative, and I know we talked about this that music is actually formulaic. It seems jazz even is formulaic, even though it's freestyle or ad lib or whatever you want to call it. There's flows and you can get into the moment and you can change, but there's certain foundational principles that you have to know with music in order to be creative with it. So I think a lot of business owners say, okay, I want to be creative, but they're trying to like, pull stuff out of the ether to be creative rather than have a framework of how to think about being creative. Wow, do you have a framework that helps you think about these creative elements and experiences?
Speaker 3:Okay, this is so crazy You're bringing this up. Before I walked in the door today I was literally thinking this the creativity that comes from music or different places. There are different kinds of creatives, right? Somebody says, oh, I'm creative. Oh, do you paint? No, there's creative problem solvers, there's creative people with numbers, there's creative business solving Like there's so many different kinds of creative and they don't always translate to visual creativity. So my thing, I have a visual creativity, like that's my genius always have.
Speaker 3:Now with music, that's a left brain skill. It is not a right brain skill, like I'm a right brain, so right brain is more artistic, visual, left brain, analytic. So it's very much a left brain to learn music and some people are balanced. That's very rare. I'm more right brain, so that's why I always had to practice harder than my colleagues, to be honest, and it was hard. You know, I'd walk into band. I was total band nerd, you guys. I played in the pet band, true story, so I'd walk in with my instrument and like a skirt and high heels, like everybody else.
Speaker 3:Why can't they dress themselves? Because it's a left brain, they're left brain, they're not supposed to know how to dress themselves. If they dress too well, you wouldn't be playing music that well because it requires memorization, all sorts of analytical skills, and so when people walk in the office for an interview, I'll look at them. I'm seeing their hand back, I'm looking at their shoes, I'm looking at their socks and I'm like, oh my gosh, this person can't dress themselves. I have a perfect job for you, admin, admin, we have IT, all of those skills. If you're dressing too good, that's not the thing for you. And it's funny how the left brain and the right brain divides, and I know we were kind of discussing before, like what is a big thing, a big setback or problem that brands encounter, or like what are some mistakes?
Speaker 1:Yeah, biggest. What is the? This is the question what is the biggest mistake you feel like random making?
Speaker 3:Okay, I see a lot of people that are starting businesses or that have started businesses. They are left brain Okay, these are highly analytical, smart Okay, those are left brain capabilities right, and they can make a business scale to you know humongous numbers. And but then the right brain, which is that creative, visual creativity specifically what I'm speaking of lags right. So, when it comes to the photography, the model, they're like wait, I've already spent X amount and these developers, the model's not gonna get out out of bed for less than 5,000 for the day. And this photographer, nope, cut the budget, cut the budget. So they cut the budget and their visual communication to the customer. That's the first thing that gets cut right. So that's the one thing that I see as a mistake is that they cut the budget where they need it the most is where that the communication between the customer and your brand.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes where they need it the most but may not be the quickest. Roi right Meaning like the moment you spend, I get that money back. That's a lot of times how us analytical thinkers think is yeah, it's like why are we spending this money? Waste the money I'm gonna get it back right away. When I spend a dollar. Did I make that dollar back?
Speaker 3:I know it's like am I gonna make this back through osmosis? I don't get it.
Speaker 1:Where oftentimes creativity and branding doesn't do that immediately, but it does it in the long run. In the long run I go.
Speaker 3:It's having that balance knowing when to pull the trigger. But yeah, it's that. But that's where me and my partner come and play to, where she's left brain, I'm right, brain. So that's how we compliment the business, but yeah.
Speaker 2:Amazing. Yeah, that's. I love that response. Yeah, that's fascinating Cause it makes me think about Picasso.
Speaker 2:Because Picasso a lot of people don't realize this right, you could probably identify three to five of his paintings right or works. But Picasso, in his lifetime, if I remember, I did over 30,000 pieces and he started in classical art or, you know, traditional classical art, so he was considered an art prodigy at one time. He was doing the traditional sense of romanticism, right, and then he got into the abstractism or abstractism right, and created his own style eventually, but he had a foundation and what art actually was. So people look at Picasso and they think that they can just like, cause he's a visual genius. But it took these years of practice and figuring it out right, 30,000 pieces.
Speaker 2:Nobody knows what any of those are, but he is one of the biggest names in modern history because of those three or four pieces, those three or four pieces that he nailed it and he created his own style with, after all of this visual. So, like when I'm thinking about you and the way that you came about with all of your experiences right, it's like you have all these little failures along the way, but you're perfecting this visual experience, because an artist is not creating a visual experience necessarily to sell, and that's the left versus right side of the brain.
Speaker 2:Right, a creative person is creating something, to create it and to give someone an experience with it Not necessarily to monetize it, Not to monetize it which is why you need both sides of those brains right, that you have to have the analytical and the creative in business, and so you and your sister have kind of found that blend where you can go all in and she can trust you on providing experiences and then you can also ensure that you trust her to cut off things when they need to be cut off right. And I love that you brought that up because, yeah, a lot of people worship Picasso as one of these art heroes but they don't realize it took 30,000 pieces to make him what he is, but then they're trying to cut off their creative team at piece number 10. It's like it takes time to build the creative visual experience.
Speaker 1:It's the same thing with. It's the same thing with, like, let's fast forward into today's day and age. Right, Like Mr Beast is a household name now. Right, it took him, I think. God. I wanna say it was like 7,000 videos before he had one that blew up. I mean, the dude was creating YouTube videos long before any of us can ever imagine, but I think I can't say the number, but it was like before he got his first, like 5,000 views or something like that, he had created like 7,000 videos.
Speaker 1:And nobody thinks that, because everybody thinks that Mr Beast is the guy who's just walking up to people and having him $10,000 and oh well, yeah, no shit, if I had $10,000, I'd get a million views too if I just handed it to a homeless person, or I handed it to you, but they didn't see the bad, but they haven't seen all these other things that led him to where he is today.
Speaker 3:You know what? You should have been a therapist at your other life. You can-.
Speaker 1:It probably says that in the book. Yeah, 100%, I can probably say it. I checked the book. You can see a situation. It was a full page.
Speaker 3:I didn't read your full one, but you can see a whole situation and assess it clearly.
Speaker 1:I've actually really enjoyed watching you two's. Your facial reactions she's still on the head every time To each other has been really funny. I'm excited to go back and watch this video.
Speaker 3:But you know what, since you're talking about that, I wanna bring up like another mistake a lot of business owners make. I see it over and over they're doing something. They don't know why they're starting a business, why they're doing it, but they're just doing it because their neighbor made a ton of money doing it, so they should do it. So my thing is is find your frequency, cause when you find your frequency and you do what your God-given talents are and you're doing that and you have the right intention behind it, you are unstoppable. You are untouchable. When you find your frequency and what you are meant to do. Imagine if Picasso was like you know what I'm doing really good money making these wood tables. I'm just gonna do that. Could you imagine?
Speaker 2:So if you take all the great or if you got stuck doing like portraits for rich people.
Speaker 3:Right. So it's like, if you look at somebody, you know when they've achieved their frequency it doesn't matter what it is, because it's like how do you measure success? Somebody's always gonna make one more dollar than you, right? So how do you measure if you were successful at it or not? To me it's. Did you fulfill your responsibilities while on this earth? Like, did you find your frequency, like your gift? So, like, when I hear companies, they're like, like, like, the famous cookie company won't mention. And then I hear everybody else oh, guess what, we're gonna make a cookie company too, because they were successful.
Speaker 3:Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up. Why don't you do something else? Like, what makes you tick? What are you meant to do on earth? Like, stop copying other people. Oh, my friend, they made tons of money in real estate, yeah, but guess what? You're not gonna put as many hours as he did, because that's not what you're meant to do. So, find what you're meant to do. And a lot of you know, I even hear from women. Well, I'm just a stay-at-home mom. It's like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Your stay-at-home mom. Hats off to you, because that's a very Christ-like thing to put aside your time and what you wanna do to raise those children that are gonna change the world tomorrow, right? So, like to me, everybody has their frequency, like you find it, and a lot of it people don't reach their frequencies sometimes is because they're afraid of changing, the fear of the unknown.
Speaker 2:It's like what is keeping you from finding your frequency and achieving that really, and sometimes it's the pain of life that helps push you into that frequency right.
Speaker 3:Sometimes you don't have a choice, like it pushes you into it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I know all this stuff about painting right now. I don't know why, but just popped into my head. But Rembrandt, yeah, Rembrandt.
Speaker 3:Rembrandt okay.
Speaker 2:He created a very unique style using light, right Like darkness and light in his paintings. But the story behind that is he created a painting and he was mourning I can't remember if his wife passed, but somebody died and he was commissioned to make this portrait of this like military unit and in it it was either a child or a wife I'll have to go back and look but because of his mourning it created this darkness and then, like these little lights that came through, which then led him to his like unique style Interesting. So it was through a tragedy that he found like this moment, like his frequency.
Speaker 1:Yeah, your experiences make your frequency. Yeah, the hardship yeah.
Speaker 2:Right and so like. The hardship of immigrating to a new country and doing all of these things like that helped you to arrive into what you do.
Speaker 3:To be honest, I'm just getting started.
Speaker 1:Right Love it.
Speaker 3:This is just-.
Speaker 1:I have another chapter. I have another chapter to look at. You're still young too, right? Absolutely, fernanda. This has been an awesome podcast. Thank you so much for one reading our horoscopes. And now Mark and I truly know who we are because you've entered into our lives. I'm done To bringing a little bit of you know, the feminine expertise, into this. Yeah, thank you. Masculine world we've created here.
Speaker 3:It's definitely a boys club, but that's okay. You're not happy, though. We got happy here with us too, and for all the information.
Speaker 1:it has been awesome. Where can people find you? Where can people find BOOM?
Speaker 3:So if you go online to boomcom, B-O-H-M-Ecom, there you can find all of our current open locations across the US in seven states Amazing.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Thank you everybody, and we will see you next Tuesday. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to the Unstoppable Marketer podcast. Please go rate and subscribe the podcast, whether it's good or bad. We want to hear from you, because we always want to make this podcast better. If you want to get in touch with me or give me any direct feedback, please go follow me and get in touch with me. I am at the Trevor Crump on both Instagram and TikTok. Thank you, and we will see you next week.