SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I mean like our first like full year. I think you already shared it. It was 20 was 40 But yeah, we did about 40 million dollars and then you know this year we're on track to do 30% 35% growth.
Yeah, it's it's crazy
SPEAKER_03
So we are here in the Shed yeah, the shed like this studio like I'm looking at the video it looks legit Yeah, people don't know what looks like from the outside. This is definitely like a sketchy like I've seen a Netflix documentary about a shed like this
SPEAKER_02
Well, you got here five minutes later than we did it was it was like a hundred degrees in here, right? I was like this is gonna be a sweaty podcast
SPEAKER_03
And this is it you guys are different than I'll say our normal guests which are almost always like kind of a Business like tech software type of entrepreneur Y'all are entrepreneurs in a different way and Your Instagram famous so that's cool. That's amazing You tagged me in a story yesterday, and I gotta say my wife has never looked at me that way before She was like, oh, she's never listened to one episode of this podcast. No way. We've done maybe 400 episodes She's not a podcast person in general like she doesn't listen to anyone's podcast. Yeah But you would think maybe she'll listen to our question.
We got a little big wow There's just not a lot of like time to like do things like that. Yeah, good, but I think she'll listen to this one so I'm excited because she's a fan of yours and As a week and we hung out at dinner last night got to know each other a little bit So I'm excited maybe we'll do like you guys give like a 60-second intro Yeah, who you guys are what why introduce yourselves to the audience. Yeah, I'll go first
SPEAKER_00
So my name is Danny Austin and I started creating content online about 10 years ago I was actually living in Austin. I was at the University of Texas sophomore like just making videos on YouTube in my in my dorm room You know kind of just grew from there really fast Then got an Instagram all the other platforms. We now run Divi, which is a scalp care haircare product brand And we do that together.
We have a lot of fun doing that honestly online. We just share anything about our lives from like Be having two kids under two to You know fast or affordable fashion
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, we kind of been doing that together for you know five years So she's been online for ten years, you know, we met we didn't work together until we got married I was in like Austin Tech Seen before we got married and then you know, I was telling you last night. This just became a lifestyle And it was all-consuming and so she would be in like Turks and Caicos and I would be in a boardroom And I'd be like, oh my gosh, like what am I doing in my life? And so around 2018 we took the leap to work together Jumped into kind of like the influencer space, which we it didn't have a name before that It was just like we created content and then I think the media started covering it a lot more and Then they labeled me an Instagram husband and then they You know You know it's fine like I'm glad that I did it wait that's so not true You never knew well when you're coming out of college like you know so much of your identity is wrapped up in your title Especially being here in Austin, Texas like you know in the tech scene It was like oh what startup are you part of do you all have funding? You know what's your title one employee number were you and so I was still kind of caught up in that mindset and then You know we jumped in together. It was like I remember the first article that came out was by a writer named Taylor Lorenz And she wrote an article about what is the instant I got a history with Taylor Lorenz, too.
Yeah, really? Yeah Dude, it's crazy a lot of people have a history with her now But you know she so she she wrote that article and she quoted me in it and then I was like labeled the Instagram husband But yeah, and so we we did the influencer industry for five years together and just honestly created content together And then COVID hit and and brands started really investing in that space
SPEAKER_03
We should also say how this came about yeah, you listen to the pod. Yes, and he's a huge fan I'm a huge fan and so we I didn't know that I didn't know yeah at that time, but I Did an episode where I was talking about creator businesses? Yes So content creators who have now spun off businesses that are doing really well that are not called mr. Beast It's like okay.
Everybody knows mr. Beast. Yeah, so who are the Who are one of the other cool cool examples? And we did like maybe five six seven examples and then Danny with with Divi was one of them And so I guess you heard yeah, yeah
SPEAKER_02
Well, so like a couple nights before I think I saw a tweet that you were doing and you were like we're doing up So on a creator led businesses and I think I like told me I like
SPEAKER_02
You guys on Twitter and you know like I was like oh man like that'd be cool if they recognized Divi But we're in a niche right that is totally not your niche Like you know you had you had no idea who Danny was I last night Danny was like watching the first couple episodes as y'all Spodcast I was like no this is Sean. He's cool and Yeah, I was on a plane a couple days later listening to that episode and then it was like oh have you ever heard of Danny Austin you asked that to Sam and Sam was like no That was funny and then it was like yeah, you talked about Divi and I really appreciate that so I sent a DM and I was like Hey, man, we'd love to come and share a story. It's very different than most of the business of y'all cover, but
SPEAKER_01
All right, there's this amazing book called getting everything you can out of all you've got I read it a few years ago and it changed my life And the reason I loved it was because it basically talks about how to get and make more money using things that you already have Coincidentally today's podcast is brought to you by business made simple It's a podcast by Donald Miller who I'm gonna tell you about in a second But he has this amazing episode that's all related to this book and the things that I learned in this book It's called how to make money with what you already have it's an incredible episode talks about all the stuff that I learned in this book The host is Donald Miller. I didn't know who Donald Miller was up until recently but over the last 12 months This is totally by coincidence. It was all separate people.
They said you have to check out Donald Miller. He's amazing So I'm happy that he's part of Hubspots podcast network. You can check it out business made simple podcast It's where he coaches you on how to build your business like an airplane where the cockpit is your leadership The body is your overhead the right engine is your marketing the left engine is your sales You have to check it out.
This guy's amazing. It's called business made simple with Donald Miller and let's play a little game
SPEAKER_03
We went to dinner last night Chinese restaurant We ordered food. Let's see how well you know your husband. I don't know if he told you They're sorry.
Hey alligator. Yeah. Oh you brought him over and shake in the busy order. Wait see ordered alligator
SPEAKER_02
I did order it and it was just kind of like a spur of the moment thing There was a couple things that were funny about it. I think he was trying to impress us No, I was not trying to impress you. This is funny though like so Matthew booked the dinner and it was a so Sam Ellinger used to play football at UT Austin That's one of Matthew's really good friends Matthew works for Danny and I and I go hey find a cool restaurant in Austin that you know, we can talk these people he books this like upstairs room.
There's like a chandelier It's a table for 16 and then five of us and they walk in I go Matthew This is such a power move and then on top of that, you know that I'm like, you know We're all talking so I don't know it's order and then he's like you should try the alligator I was like, okay, I'll take the alligator and they were like and then he brought it home and woke me up
SPEAKER_00
And he was like you gotta try this alligator
SPEAKER_02
It really tastes like chicken you should just try it
SPEAKER_03
Okay, you didn't try the alligator. Yeah, that was a crazy move. I gotta give you credit I will never enjoy it.
I'll never forget it. So I guess that's maybe a lesson to be learned Yeah, they go to a dinner with somebody for the first time ordered the weirdest thing on the menu there Never forget it. That's awesome.
So you guys you started doing this back in 2012 Right around 2012 you're in college at the time What was because you know, Instagram had been out You too have been out for maybe five years by that point But it sounds like when you're talking about it. It was very early days back then what was what was working back then? How did like what you were tiny following back then like how did it and what was early years like?
SPEAKER_00
So the backstory is my brother Lana Knoss and he's actually a musician and he started on YouTube He just started posting covers of different songs. He had one video blow up because people thought that he was John Mayer It was actually covering Tezande's like chocolate rain song Anyway, so that popped off So my brother started to like kind of acquire this audience and he told me about the space But I thought it was so weird like I'd walk by his bedroom and he'd be like talking to all of his imaginary friends and I just I was like, come on Landon like you got to make some real friends and so But he ended up putting me in like a sibling tag because tags were really popular on YouTube back then, you know Like the chubby bunny challenge or whatever tag So he put me in a video and you know in all the comments It's like your sister should start a channel or she should share how she did her makeup or where'd she get her top? And so my brother actually made my channel for me and I didn't touch it We went home over winter break and we were so bored because you know all of our friends are in Austin now and everyone's in college and You know, I was just like, you know, let's give this thing a shot So my brother filmed and edited my first video It was all like just affordable New Year's Eve outfits and it popped off and within like three months I had a hundred thousand followers and I just started kind of posting Consistently I knew of like a handful of girls out in Los Angeles that were doing this like full-time And they actually had managers and there were agencies that were just dedicated like specifically to YouTube Which was like a totally different world. So within three months I signed with a manager And then every summer from then on out I would just fly out to LA and do clouds because clouds were like, oh, yeah clouds were everything they actually had just opened YouTube space and Playa Vista in Los Angeles as well and they had this thing called the creator program where they only a lot of think like 10 or 11 of us in and creators of all sizes and We were for it you had to collab with two other creators in the program in order to be able to use YouTube space So like when you got to YouTube space, I mean they had everything from like their, you know, a red camera They had studios they had, you know, editing base editing suites They had all these classes you could take so I would go and work for my manager from like, you know 9 to 5 and then from 5 to like 9 I would go to YouTube space and just collab Make YouTube videos learn about how to edit and everything and you're like 21 at the time.
Yeah, I'm 21 I was 20 actually was 1920 I couldn't drink
SPEAKER_03
So what were you doing when you're working for your manager?
SPEAKER_00
Well, just by day you're like so that's how I use the stuff for yeah, no I mean, I was like In on like all of the negotiations like a lot of the creators were moving out to LA and the brands would come to the office and You know meet all the creators and I honestly learned everything about like the back end of the business Because that's how you weren't the star but you were like exactly yeah, yes, and then like also being around all these creators I would meet some of like the girls that I loved and then get their number and then we would collab and everyone was very It was just very collaborative everybody's helping each other out So it was awesome and but then I was able to kind of take all of that back to Austin And there really weren't a lot of you know YouTubers in Austin which also kind of helped me because I felt like I was one of the only ones and so When I was I did start kind of like pitching myself to brands because like I also signed with my manager But she was you know managing girls that had over a million followers. I had maybe a hundred fifty thousand at the time and so I started pitching myself to all these like startups in Austin and What I found was what was happening was I was getting these brand deals or these partnerships I would you know get to know them pull them in and then forward them to my manager and then I would look on YouTube and like all The other girls that were signed with her would be working with these brands and I wasn't so I was basically just like funnelling These brands to my manager so I realized at that time was like I'm not big enough for them to care Right, so I need to get out of this contract and just kind of manage manage myself and build my own team and like have people that Actually care about what I'm doing So as soon as I could I got out of that contract and ever since then we've always kind of had like an in-house team Which we've learned a lot From that but um, but yeah, it's just kind of crazy how it's evolved and so how even when you were so happy is the audience now So now on Instagram like told told on all of our platforms We have put probably over two million yeah two point five million one is Instagram now Main one is Instagram, which is like the perfect platform for us Most of our content is on Instagram stories and the reason we like that is because It's kind of like reality TV where I wake up with my audience like like literally when I wake up in the morning I get on stories and I carry them throughout the entire day and so it's just like the closest I feel like people really feel like they're in our homes. You know, it's it's very stripped down.
Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot more authentic
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, like all of my day and so you You've done that now you also launched Divi Yeah, it's because that's kind of how we we initially found you guys. I read this thread I read the Twitter thread somebody else somebody else I've written about this and They named five or six creators. I never heard of that had business are really big It was like Divi It's a you know this sort of like hair care product or whatever and it was doing 40 million or something revenue I don't remember what the exact numbers were but I remember being like wow, that's like really significant and so cool I had never really Like I never heard of that.
You hear the same three or four examples all the time when it comes to like like Logan Paul and Prime and Mr. Beast and whatever like especially in the tech world. We kind of hear the same We're not like as deep in so you only hear this here the same, you know, three or four examples every single time So how did that come about? How'd you when you decide to instead of posting for other people like let's create our own brand and how'd you pick the product? How did you like how'd you have the confidence to go for it? Yeah, so
SPEAKER_00
There was definitely an era on Instagram where everything was perfect You know it's like back in the day of like posting the perfect selfie or the perfect like latte art whatever it was And so I definitely played that game and it gets very exhausting after a while I started actually losing my hair when I was in college whenever I was at UT First it started with like just me being so stressed out because I'm at UT I'm flying to LA every weekend. I'm posting on these videos I have like new to Gina's like where is the brand deal and I have like four exams the next day So I'm stressed out all the time start pulling my hair Then I get hair extensions to try to like cover that up that makes it worse then I bleach my hair That makes it worse when we get married I think like a year in I look in the mirror and I'm like I literally have no more hair I was like I didn't even want to leave the house anymore. So Jordan
SPEAKER_03
This is a dumb question. I mean, I was like a couple strands of hair. What are we talking?
SPEAKER_00
I mean like bald spots like patches like patches of hair and it was stress-driven stress driven and then hair extensions So that's probably like more traction alopecia So what happens when you put hair extensions in like your hair can't withstand that weight and instead of just losing hair where the hair extension is With traction alopecia you actually lose hair like around that whole surrounding area So it was like multiple bald spots like all over so Jordan, of course my husband He's like wait, I don't get it like why don't you just get a wig all the Kardashians wear wigs? What's wrong with that? So he takes me to a wig shop in Dallas like the first place he googles we walk in it's like a Halloween store
SPEAKER_03
Like the most expensive way I guess like I called $40 dollars
SPEAKER_02
Right neon yellow. I'm like, I don't know it's gonna work
SPEAKER_00
Plastic wigs are like the most expensive one is like 15 bucks. So I leave there like so defeated I'm like, I'm always gonna be bald, you know So we actually learn about this like wig shop in Los Angeles called the wig shop actually yeah from Jeffrey star I was gonna say Jeffrey star is another youtuber. Anyway long story short.
We fly out there find my first wig I'm in wigs for a year and actually when I first got my first big I didn't tell anybody because I was so embarrassed
SPEAKER_02
I was like we actually took a trip to Chicago with my parents and my sister-in-law and my brother and we didn't tell them the entire Time they go nice haircut. Yeah, like they mean these things can look so real
SPEAKER_00
It's insane. So about a month into wearing it. I just felt like a fraud.
Oh, it's like I gotta tell people I feel like I'm probably not the only female going through something like this I think that like people will appreciate it and hopefully they'll be cool with it. So I Share that I was wearing wigs and it kind of just opened up this door of like all these females that are kind of going through the same thing Like this like hidden epidemic of hair loss
SPEAKER_01
All right, everyone. So really quick a few weeks ago the founder of HubSpot his name is Darmech. She came out of the pod He's a fan favorite of the pod He comes on every couple months and and we love them you guys love them and he told us about this new project that he had It was called chat spot.
It's pretty amazing. It's an AI powered tool within HubSpot It does everything you could just use your words and talk to it and it'll pull all these amazing reports It'll tell you about your leads. It can forecast revenue all in seconds.
It's amazing So if you're running a business that requires more leads that requires creating new landing pages where you have to make tons of blog posts We have to pull different reports. We have to have a CRM. You have to check out HubSpot They're the sponsor of the pod and you could check it out and use Darmech's new tool called chat spot It's amazing.
I've been using it for my own business at Hampton and we love it. So check it out hubspot.com
SPEAKER_03
Um, so all the time after after we had our first baby I think there's like a known kind of like postpartum. Oh, yeah, like issue with hair losses So she was talking about it all the time and I was like, I was like, what do you mean? Like it's nothing don't worry about it She's like no look at this and these like baby hair whatever and it really bothered her and I didn't even Think really even to try what what what would a solution look like so yeah
SPEAKER_00
I mean it felt that it can be very emotional like especially for females Um, because there just weren't a lot of people talking about it. So um Long story short, I took the year in War Wigs and I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna focus on my scalp health I'm gonna focus on my wellness Um, and really like give this thing like a hundred percent. So meanwhile, there was actually this trend Um, or I guess a hack online where a lot of women were using monostat To grow their hair back which is so strange But the reason that was working is because it has a lot of like antifungal properties
SPEAKER_02
It tells songs Danny you gotta tell About or no, no, you shouldn't know about it. Is there a good thing there?
SPEAKER_00
This is good clickbait tell us So all the guys on the podcast are like what by the way, we will explain
SPEAKER_03
We always joke that we have four female listeners. Hopefully that'll change after this episode
SPEAKER_00
More people users. We're all like dying inside Right now. So Mono set is what people what females use for yeast infection.
Okay, gotcha. Who's a lot of women? We're using this on their scalp though And it's helping their hair grow and people are taking before and after pictures and it's like insane So the reason that's working is because it has these antifungal properties in it, which Nowadays, you know, they always tell you don't wash your hair. It's not good for you.
So a lot of females are using Um dry shampoo And so they're putting all this dry shampoo all this product that's just like sitting on your scalp Blocking your follicle and so your hair doesn't really have like a fair chance of growing. So when they're using monostat, you know It's kind of like detoxifying it's getting rid of all that product build up and your hair is growing So the only thing with that is you shouldn't be using it long term It's just like has a lot of harmful things in it So my goal was to find a more natural way to essentially accomplish the same thing So I would like get into my bathroom and I studied bio at the University of Texas. I was going to so did I they don't teach anything
SPEAKER_03
They learn photosynthesis for like seven years
SPEAKER_02
Anything about the human body She can hang with the chemist
SPEAKER_00
She can hang she's like, okay. I remember that I kind of I kind of get it
SPEAKER_03
But it's amazing how much you learn when you really need to learn versus like my major
SPEAKER_00
Now I wish I really would have paid attention because I think it really would have benefited me a bit Anyway, so um, so, you know, I'm like a little chemist in my in my bathroom I'm getting all these ingredients from online whole foods all over the place And just making my own scalp serums and I would you know share on youtube like this is how I make it This is where you order this and then mix it this way and and then people started asking They're like, hey, can you just like ship it to me? Right and so I go to Jordan like I really think this could be a thing a lot of people in the petri dish When was this like a couple years ago? This was a 29 Uh, no, they probably yeah 2019 2019 um and so that's kind of like where the idea originated from and it was totally clean So it's something that people could use every day and not feel like it's going to be harmful So we had a lot of like eucalyptus Uh natural ingredients pohobo oil Um, but there were a lot of things I wanted to put in it that I just didn't have access to So long story short found partners found a great chemist and then came out with our first product Which was a scalp serum and to be honest, I did not think that it would pop off at all I really was just like I want to serve my audit. I've been very like service driven with all of my content I'm like, I just really want to serve people because I feel like if I serve them, they'll come back So that was really just like the heart behind it But what happened was a lot of people were buying it for like their day We're down the street or their mom or their husband and people started taking like before and after pictures We never asked for before and after pictures, but I feel like that's kind of what made it blow up Right, it's the best marketing there is right before and after. Yes people started sending in their before and afters And like so then I would start sharing them, you know left and right and I mean every day I'm probably tagged in like 15 before and afters even to this day
SPEAKER_03
So were there not scalp serums before that or they were but they just weren't you know
SPEAKER_00
I think it was just such a new like a niche like, you know Putting something on your scalp like a skincare routine like creating that scalp routine was very new people weren't really thinking about it So I'm sure that there were scalp serums out there But I don't think people were educated about like how to use them or why they were important So our biggest thing is just like if you're taking care of your skin like you should be taking care of your scalp It's kind of like an extension of you know, and so So I think once people kind of understood how to use it Then they went to Divi first because you're also one of the only like clean scops serums out there gotcha
SPEAKER_03
So the business launches win
SPEAKER_02
2020 20 20 uh 2021 2021 october 2021 so we're not even two full years in
SPEAKER_03
And it's exploded. So I don't know how much you guys typically share do you guys share revenue stuff or not really?
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I mean like our first like full year. I think you already shared it. Well, you said 20 was 40 But uh, yeah, we did about 40 million dollars and then um, you know this year we're on track to Do 30 percent 35 growth.
Yeah, um, it's it's crazy
SPEAKER_03
And that's mostly from kind of the power of your community or that's That plus a bunch of other marketing that you have to do or how does the business grow? I mean, that probably exceeded your expectations. I mean that would exceed anyone's expectations
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I always say like when we launched the product we thought that we were launching it for like 10 percent of Danny's audience Like we were like, hey, these people need to be served Danny, you know acquired this audience They want a resource and it just grew so far beyond that and a lot of people think that you know Divi Um, it's all Danny's audience that's buying it and you know, she's only made up about 15 percent of the overall revenue And so it was just a product that I think took off and worked. It was just right place right time It was like during the era of the skinification of the scalp is like what the beauty gurus call it and I miss that whole era. Yeah, you miss the air.
Well, it's here. It's now
SPEAKER_03
I don't have a skin care either. So I had to catch up. I need to start with skin move the scalp
SPEAKER_02
I gave you two boxes. Yeah, I know you're in it now. Um, and so yeah, it's it's just been wild
SPEAKER_03
I mean, we never expected and so did you guys look at like other creator led businesses? Like who was an inspiration that you're like, oh, you know, if we do this well, this could be like, you know Whatever. Yeah Skims or this could be like the
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, Kylie's lip thing or whatever. I mean, we've always admired the Kardashians in a business sense. Yeah, like how they've How they've like used their reality tv to grow all these businesses and like we one thing we love about them is like how They all support each other.
It's like an ecosystem like you're using, you know, Kylie's makeup And then you're wearing Kim's skims and so we always love that aspect of what they do But I mean in terms of like our inspiration to be honest, everyone in our space was just launching clothing lines
SPEAKER_02
Um, so it was totally different. Yeah, it was very very different. Were you tempted to do that too or a hundred percent?
SPEAKER_03
Jordan was like, please don't
SPEAKER_00
Returns are insane. My parents my dad actually has a show. I'm at the uh, Dallas world trade center in Dallas.
So he um, you know Sells wholesale talk, you know Nordstrom all these boutiques. My dad always told me he's like the one thing I ask you is please don't get in the fashion industry. It's just yeah, it's it's a lot and so But one thing I knew that I wanted if I ever did launch a business I wanted to have something that could be on subscription and so a lot of my ideas were mainly tech at first Um, I never really thought it like what like what would it have? Uh, you know some service that you could get I had I honestly didn't have like a
SPEAKER_02
Like you had this like one. Yeah, there was one time where she like wanted to launch her own app because she felt like You know, she could build a better community like through a different platform than instagram and and and we tried it We called it. What did you call it the sassy club at the time? But it was like we used this uh This third party app system and we drove a large part of our community to it And we tried to do like more the whole concept was like Let's meet in real life with our audience And so it was like we do meetups and stuff like that and that was just really hard.
It was kind of like a bumble Right. Yeah, it was kind of like a bumble and so we tried that, you know, it was pretty difficult and then it was it was difficult to manage
SPEAKER_00
Like the in-face
SPEAKER_03
Interactions. Yeah, let me ask you a question. I just hired a guy paying a guy $5,000 to do a couple of like one-on-one like workshops with me and It was all about this idea of personal branding Which honestly a pretty lame phrase in general like I cringe that I even did all this but I'm putting it out there In the spirit of authenticity.
So I pay this guy. Why don't I pay this guy? Well, this podcast itself has gotten pretty popular but uh I've always had this problem which was just like um You see some people and their brand is so clear. It's like, uh, there's this guy who this guy named pomp and pomp is all about bitcoin He's the bitcoin guy.
Yeah, like you know him about you know, because of bitcoin. He talks about bitcoin everything He loves, you know, every fourth word needs to be bitcoin. Yep. And then you have like, um, um, Tim Ferriss who's uh, you know, the four-hour Workbeat guy or the four-hour body four-hour chef. He's the four-hour guy.
He's all about kind of life hacking your way there And so you you go down the list and a lot of people who have built good online followings they have a clear kind of like they're the blank guy or they're the blank gal whatever like that that's what they're known for And for me, I've always been like, well, I don't know The business business guy. Yeah, that doesn't sound very like specific or focused And I was like, oh, I've gotten pretty far without that But maybe I maybe somebody can help me kind of sharpen this so this guy who I hired he works with like You know like Jay Shetty and like A bunch of people who are like that like uh, the guy who did quest quest bar thing. Yeah, um, whatever bill you um And he's like, yeah, you know like Jay Shetty his story is He was like kind of like in and out of trouble then decided to go be a monk And he was a monk and then he like I kicked out of the monastery because a monk came to him was like, you know So you like something there's something bigger in store for you So he decided to make his life mission to bring ancient monk wisdom in a modern way to the world I I butchered that but something like that He is consistent man, right? He's doing it every day.
I just knew of us like the blue eyed Indian guy Like, you know, that's what stood out to me like the guys. You know monks. I agree nice.
Yeah But I was like, okay I see I see the value and if you really like sharpen this like whatever your brand is all about But then I've met people who are maybe like you who um You probably never hired a consultant or like did a brand workshop or like sat down with a piece of paper and like try to Architect it seems like it kind of happened organically and naturally for you. So I'm I have two questions for you one Do you think you have like a focus like that like the blank? Yeah, you are the you know, just like the big point guy Do you have like a thing that's like our brand is is about This word or these three words or whatever. Do you have something like that?
SPEAKER_00
Um, so when I started agreeing through my hair loss I think was the first time that I kind of felt like I had that thing Like I was kind of like the wig influencer for a while and then kind of like the hair loss influencer I mean as cliche as it sounds. I feel like Like I think our biggest thing is we've always just been very authentic and like goofy And we've kind of I feel like what we've done is Figured out how to collide those worlds of like being professional, but also getting you know, taking your heels off getting back home Just like and being real about what it's like having two kids like you're in heels changing diapers kids peeing all over you Um, but like I would say it it took like 10 years for people to kind of I've never had You know this persona or this video pop off and go viral and then everyone knows who I am like I've never had that moment It's just been like very gradual of but I but I totally feel what you're saying Like I I still go through those times where I'm like, okay. Who am I like what do my identity? What's my identity like what do and I I do feel like there are some bloggers out there that are so good at like Okay, when you think of Chick-fil-A you think of this one person or when you think of like this one brand you think of it
SPEAKER_03
Dude, that should have been mine Chick-fil-A
SPEAKER_00
Genius Yeah, and it's like and so I do try to find those things that like okay when in Dallas When people go here like are they gonna what brands are they thinking of when they think of Danny? You know, but it's it's challenging because also like I'm very you know one day I want to be doing this one day. I like to like kind of shift and be on my toes
SPEAKER_03
And so what do you think people get wrong when they try to build a following not like the people who are just obviously bad But let's say people who have the potential work could be working out What do you think are the mistakes that those people make that like they're trying to be perfect all the time?
SPEAKER_00
And it's so unrelatable. I think like one of the biggest reasons that like people can relate is because We have made so many mistakes and we share them and like there's times when we get online and we're like man That was bad. We should have done that like there was an example a small example But I was uh cutting up like fruit for my daughter still is lunch and I'm cutting the grapes wrong You know like where they can shut up choke on grapes and like had no idea like my mom never cut my grapes So like I didn't know is there anything wrong But you know like the dm's start flooding and the facebook groups are popping off didn't he's like cutting the grapes wrong? Yeah You're influencing all these moms to cut grapes wrong and I'm like, oh my gosh I didn't know like so, you know, you get on you're like guys.
I'm so sorry like I made a mistake Let me like teach you the right way to cut grapes instead of like deleting the content and being embarrassed about it
SPEAKER_02
And so it's like I think you cut them wrong the second time too. I did I did I did um
SPEAKER_00
But yeah, so I just feel like I have a lot of girlfriends like in Dallas that are you know Trying to do something similar and they're trying so hard to just be perfect all the time and it's not really you said the word relatable
SPEAKER_03
I think that's a key uh Key thing like we had the comedian husson minaj. I don't know if you know me Yeah, he's on netflix or something. He came on and um And I was asking him something about because we do this like we're doing these live podcasts now sometimes So we're doing one this saturday here in austin.
And so I had asked him I was like hey, I'm going on states kind of like stand-up comedy. There's gonna be whatever like thousand people in the audience How do I you know any what would you say like first five minutes? How can I set a good tone here? He goes? He gave me two pieces of an ice He goes first make it clear that you are there So he's like talk about the room talk about the person the front row talk about We know the city that you're in and like what it's been like for you to be there like just make it like yeah Give them the fact that you're there And everybody will be present together when you do that and he goes the second thing is uh low status I know low status. He goes yeah, like people make this mistake a lot that they try to be high status They're like, yes, I want your approval.
So I'm gonna present a version of myself that is high status when in actuality The way people relate to you and like you is doing something low status So making fun of yourself showing a weakness being vulnerable saying something that's Makes you look bad not great or like embarrassing to you And so he's like, you know comedy is actually a low status art form not like not high status Which is what you like if you go into conference you go on stage Uh, it's typically gonna be all high status stuff people trying to say things that show how important they are and how smart they are And their resume and all that because that's not how people relate to you And so what you're saying kind of reminds me of that is like a Doing things that are showing the showing some of the flaws almost Not just because they're there, but like it actually helps it actually builds that relatability. I know I
SPEAKER_00
I agree. I mean, I feel like the times that we connect with our audience the most is like in those goofy times when I'm running around with no Pants on and like you're like, oh, I relate same thing, you know
SPEAKER_02
I think there's like a there's like a pushback on like a list celebrities even towards influencers because it's like I don't Understand like this is not relevant to my life at all What the Kardashians are doing in the private jets and all this stuff and like I think that that's where people feel At home, you know is is in these kind of like relatable moments, which is what I told Ben You need to do I feel like y'all do this so well on the podcast is like you're not trying to be This business guru expert. You're just kind of talking about everyday people's business and your thoughts on it You're kind of riffing and I think that you know, I told Sean. I was like, I think he just needs to do more He needs to get on instagram stories need to get on youtube.
That was my advice to him
SPEAKER_03
I went non private like, you know
SPEAKER_03
When we DM'd him was private I was like, what's this guy doing? Yeah, yeah, I didn't bother with instagram But but what did your your your fancy branding coach tell you? So what he was saying was so they did this they did a great exercise actually Um, I kind of want to like package this thing up so more people can do this I think it's a it's a pretty useful thing but What he says is he was like, you know, you want to figure out your signature stories Uh first so he's like don't try to get to the end point of oh, I'm known for x He's like go look at yours the signature stories that made you you so like what were the moments of your life? That kind of defined who you were times you either made a key decision in life or you which could have just been like No more like I'm not doing this ever again or uh, you know, so some people have that they give up alcohol or something It's like that becomes their brand But it's like the signature story is the rock bottom story that they When literally they were so embarrassed at something that they did or felt and then they decided never again Or it could be a signature story where you know, they went from kind of being you know, shy to Actually giving out there being more confident and what what changed so you find your signature stories that kind of reveals What you're gonna be what you're gonna end up being known for the the mental shortcut people will need to make when they're trying to think about Who's that guy? Oh, he's the guy who blah blah blah blah. That's that's their story The second thing he said was he was like you got to figure out What you said something about like serving? He's like basically People will come to your content because they're trying to change the way they feel So you got to know that you're not giving information. You're giving a transformation of like, you know emotion how somebody feels So he's like what transformation do they get when they come to your content? That you give them better and more consistently than anybody else if you do that you win And so you got to figure out what is that chance? So like with the pod for example, we talk about business ideas or like We'll show you another the radar business.
You never heard of that's really interesting crushing it But like let me ask you I bet I bet you I bet your answer will match what I think it is Which is why do you listen to the pod? What do you what do you feel when you when you listen to it?
SPEAKER_02
I think it's like education meets inspiration. Like I think I walk away being like, oh cool new idea Like I want to you know, I want to learn more about that or I feel like I can you know Go do this in our business, right? I think that that's what you guys do really well Whether it's like just sharing ideas or you know Uncovering these things we've never heard of but it's done in a relatable manner Whereas like I think that that's why it's inspiring is because you're not doing this and like this I'm up here. You're down here type of way.
It's kind of like, hey, we're all here and we can all do it It's more tangible. It's more tangible. It's very relatable Like I think that there's very strong parallels between what I've seen in like Danny's content And the way that she released her audience and what you guys are doing with your audience Well, we call it the girl next door.
We don't want to be a supermodel. We want to be the girl next door
SPEAKER_03
You're still trying to be hot but you're just relatable hot
SPEAKER_00
I'm up like I can't there but yeah, you are the girl. I love that
SPEAKER_02
How have people like do you what are your experiences like in real life when you meet people who listen to the pod?
SPEAKER_03
It's probably like what you feel which is that they know you they're like like Yeah, you know me, but I really know you like we're friends Yeah, like like an Instagram like a daily vlogging kind of like through an Instagram story is kind of the same way It's like the same. I know you your kids. I know what your house looks like.
I know like on my way here. I was asking my wife I was like, I don't follow them on Instagram. I don't know their stories So I know they're like, oh their mom is like involved in it.
Yes, they got two kids like there's like all these little things that are Known about your life the inside of your life And so I think like that's what you guys do on the podcast is different podcast is like such a long-form conversation Right unedited unscripted. So you get to know someone's personality and We I usually do the pod with my buddy Sam and Sam like it's kind of like two friends hanging out kicking it And so you you get the like the big what we found was that the two transformations people get the two feelings that they get consistently is We're like their entrepreneurial friends. It's almost like yeah, they got to hang out with their two guy friends who are like Super into business nerding out about business stuff.
It's like they kind of got to have the hangout without like Going and having the friends and doing the hangout like themselves because it's like I was driving somewhere and I just listened Right, but I kind of got my hangout fix and the second is like motivation or like the inspiration like the juice to be like I'm probably not going to go do any of the things you mentioned on this podcast specifically but Just hearing about stories of people doing interesting things made me want to go do more interesting things or made me want if they're doing well It made me want to go crush it in my field too. So once we realize that it's like, okay That's very different than people come to me for this specific information Or the specific help because it's like yeah, there's some of that but it's not the main thing that gets people attached I told I told been this You know, but I said the biggest pitfall from here
SPEAKER_02
Is you got to stay humble and you got to stay consistent because I think that what happens in this era and you saw it a lot with the Early tick talkers that blew up during covid is they moved in these big houses, right? You know and then they would sign with these managers and then they're all and all these commercials and the very thing that made them relatable and tangible During those times was dancing alone in their bedroom dancing alone in their bedrooms now they're in mansions and it just loses the same sentiment Right and I think that that's the pitfall of anyone really in like the entertainment industry But like anyone who's built their brand off of authenticity is like losing that right so it'd be a big hit for me And off of authenticity is like losing that right so it'd be like you guys You know becoming jerks, you know or douchey and then like no one wants to hang out and they're like oh Well now they're just pompous or even like you have to protect yourself You know in our world we have to protect ourselves from the sponsored things of like oh, they're just bought now You know like I don't trust them anymore You know, I don't believe that they're saying this for just genuine reasons. It's not sam and right, you know kicking it
SPEAKER_03
and so You probably get this question a lot It's the same question we get a lot which is like if you were just starting out today What would you what would you do right if you were 21 now? What would you where would you start? Uh, we get that on the business side. What would you say your your answer to that is on the content side? Would you yeah, would you start on tiktok? Would you go to his room? Yeah, like what type of content would you do because like you had said one thing that was actually very very interesting Me your first video you said was like affordable new years your new year's eve outfits That's kind of amazing because that's a great like almost like title Um, like it seems like from the beginning you had a good sense of like what content will work Right. Yeah, not everybody has that like I think most people would have tried something that's like
SPEAKER_00
I would say with like any platform that I started on I mean, I would probably start on tiktok now just because I feel like it's the easiest to go viral Instagram is so tough. Um, but I do feel like youtube's like kind of coming back a little bit Yeah, I heard vlogging's coming vlogging a long form But I honestly wish I wouldn't have started out with the trends like chasing the trends I really wish I would have like Just like found something really unique and honed in on that because I feel like I was like trend chasing for so long And then I would have some video pop off But that was just because it was trendy and no one actually wanted to get to know me more Um, so I wish I would have just like kind of been more unique Which I think kind of just goes back to like what does Danny actually want to share like what is she really passionate about? I would mix in a little bit of that like I since I was studying biology and kinesiology I would you know mix in a little bit of like what I was learning in my classes But then the next video was a trend, you know And so that's the same thing that I feel like a lot of tiktokers get caught up in you know They're just doing all these trendy videos and then they have a meetup and like no one comes because nobody really knows them And nobody actually like connects with them Um, and then too like I think branding as characters within your content is so important Like you said my mom's in a lot of content So I had this idea to call my mom. What's her character? So yeah, her character is we call her tornado and that's the reason we call her tornado is because she is a tornado When she walks in the room like right now if she was in this room she'd be dusting off your leaves over there She'd be fixing all the light bulbs My mom has so much energy and I didn't really know how to like Communicate that to the audience So my first step was like we call her tornado and the second step is every time she comes over We're showing her up on a chair dusting things off and like doing tornado things doing tornado things pulling me out Out of my comfort zone just like being a tornado and so And then you know jordan's jordan's character is like every single day He gets up at the same exact time he wears, you know, he gets dressed up every single time I'm running around the house just like chaos So we all have our certain characters and I didn't really learn how important that was up until like probably like three or four years To go now.
How did you learn that you just sort of like because people started forgetting who we were and so I had to like Create a way where people like when they when they you know, we're missing it Like what did they associate our family with and like how how could they remember us throughout the day? And so um, so like tornado was was if like was kind of huge for us I feel like that was not only that but it was like very relatable because you know Just even before we had kids like the content we were creating I'm like who relates to this We're traveling all over the world taking outfit pictures Right, you know, like this is not it doesn't make sense and honestly was exhausting for us because it wasn't even like relatable for for us You know And so as soon as we kind of like settled down and we had kids and I was like, okay We have to figure out a way to make our everyday life interesting like so we bought our nice house and then we
SPEAKER_03
House Relatable house and they go sleep in the nice house
SPEAKER_00
No, I know people that do that like I know influencers that have second houses that literally just filmed there Yeah, our middle class house. No, or I know influencers that literally will like they'll take a Chanel bag to dinner But they'll like switch it with like an amazon one before when they take the photo and it's like But no, I feel like what's so like unique about us too is like that we kind of live our lives Just the way we were raised like with the same family values that we were raised with We're not shared to we're not scared to share that with our with our audience
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I mean I would say like everything you said a lot about like characters This is like who they are, you know, and it was just like how do we kind of like tell it from all these different angles? And it just fit, you know, like every family Is a story, right? And I think that that's where a lot of the creativity seeped into what we did, right? And why it was hard to do what we did is we had to find What made our our family unique and almost produce it like a reality tv show and I think that that I mean I don't want to say that we were the first but I think that that's what we saw the medium of Instagram stories as like a lot of I think influencers in like the 2019 era when it came out We were like, oh my gosh like how am I going to do this because they're not Super personable and we you know with your youtube background We were like, oh man, this is like our platform to shine and it was it was so fun So what i'm pushing you to do is like show your wife show your kids like show the behind the scenes of like What is happening in shawn's life beyond just this podcast like that's what I think and it doesn't even have to be family
SPEAKER_00
It could be like your producer or your assistant or whoever it is like my my brother now has an assistant her name's katie And she shows up like three days a week and she is everyone like loves her on the content and now because they love her and because She's a character they go out and do these crazy things that they probably would have never done That's just so much more entertaining now because there's another character involved
SPEAKER_03
And so who's are you just like selfie with the camera? Do you have somebody who?
SPEAKER_00
Hello, my name is This guy, I mean, yeah, it's we do have a content creator now that we actually just hired
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it looks like reels because is her that's a different that's a whole another beast
SPEAKER_00
So, you know, he's been helping out a little bit, but like we kind of just enjoyed doing ourselves
SPEAKER_03
There's a lot to another woman who this is the pot. It's rebecca zemarolo. You know, she's a youtuber She's got like 10 million subs on youtube and when I called her she was Basically like yeah downstairs right now is like the camera crew they basically live in our house And she's like my dog has a channel that's got like 300,000 subs like we have our gaming channel.
We have our she does like kind of kids like role play content or something like that Story kind of like yeah, let's like treasure chest in the backyard. Let's go do it Yeah, and so they not only each one not only as a character each one got their own sub channels Has their own following and then they have a camera crew that was like just there all the time I was like, man, that's you know, like stressful or like just it's like a lot like it's like reality It's like, you know famous people they have trouble when they go out because they're like, oh, I keep getting stopped But almost like influencers have it in the house. It's like I never get to just not
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, have you said the same thing? Yes. Oh my gosh. It's it's hard and I love our team to death But you know, it's it's hard when your job is to live your life You know your job is to to Experience life to capture it in a very raw strip down way But you know when there's crews and there's teams it's it's sometimes counterproductive to what you're trying to do And so, you know the reason I think that the husband and wife dynamic works so well in our niche is because it's just us hanging out You know, and it's like it's the best content there There is had a been in her life that was like falling around that wasn't her husband It's like it's all about the dynamic, right? And so like I you know, it's funny I always advocate for like the best producer for a content creator is going to be the husband In fact, I think that the most successful Uh couples in our niche have that husband wife dynamic where they're creating content together
SPEAKER_00
It is funny we have our so we do have a team and they come over like four days a week But they they meet in our upstairs playroom. And so they're not the ones actually filming the content, but they're there
SPEAKER_02
Surely We have more kids it was like, okay, we're just gonna put this ball pit in here Okay, here's Stella's table and so Stella will walk in and just be playing
SPEAKER_00
But the amount of times that we've tried to you know, get a workspace or get an office It just like doesn't work because they do have to be there Because like if we're going into an office every day, that's not relatable anymore. Right? And there's also like nothing
SPEAKER_02
I don't know. It's truly one of the most like Like technical nuances that's difficult about our industry. Um is like, how do we position our team? Where do we put them? And then like Danny can't You know, you can't just say hey, Danny come to the office and do a try on hall all the clothes are in the the closet, right? But so it's always the trade-off of okay, do we have people in our house? What do we do?
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, we're still figuring out still figuring out
SPEAKER_03
And for the like Instagram kind of like sponsored content or like brand deals Tell me a little bit about those so how uh How those kind of like changed over time what? What it what is like working the best or what works? What doesn't work anymore or it doesn't work at all when people try it? Yeah
SPEAKER_00
So, I mean brand deal started out as you know, here's a product go make a youtube video So include it for 20 seconds put the link in there and like at first I was such a sellout because you know like you're I'm 20 years old. I'm like, I'm just trying to pay my rent like I'll do I'll do anything that I can do to just like get by and so and then I think you get to a point where you're like Wait, like people really trust me like this is like some responsibility So I kind of like took this approach where I pictured myself like You know shopping with them and then purchasing something then trying it and then then being like what the heck Danny Why'd you recommend this so I really started to take like more responsibility and like wait? I am a resource like I got to serve these people not only that I have to find the best deals Not only that like I need to go after these brands and beg them for better promo codes that like they can't get anywhere else So kind of became like competitive with myself
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, we kind of became like like a like a qvc always gonna have the best deal And so we tried to adopt that mentality in house You know, I always describe it as like a like a like a triangle like at the top is the audience and like as long as We're prioritizing them first everyone's happy at the bottom left is like our business Which we have to take care of we run a team and then on the right is like the brand we're serving And we found that every time we try and flip the triangle a different way So if we put the brand at the top then the audience is like you don't actually like this product and everything kind of just crumbles And the the I would say like this year in particular covid especially It was like there was just this like craze for promo codes like because what the shopping was happening so much through instagram That we found our edge to be like hey, let's get the best deal that you're not going to find anywhere else You know in the country and it kind of I mean
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, but I think what works a lot for us is to not just go 100 on brand deals But to also couple that with affiliates. So when I post, you know lck So when I share something that I like to know like to know it Yes, so like to know is basically a platform where you know anything I swipe up to you can make commission off of it But the best thing about lck is I can share things that I genuinely bought like this top right now I got from target. I purchased it.
I get to go tell people. Okay. It kind of fits a little tight in the shoulders So maybe go a size up, you know, here's the link make sure you order it in white because that's about to sell out Whatever it is and so that's like super authentic super real people know that you're making commission off of it They don't care because you're just providing them like a lot of value So that's like 50 of how we monetize and then the other half is You know through brand deals where I feel like if you have a really strong affiliate base Like you can get really picky with the brands that you're you're choosing So we got super picky like the past couple years And and then it got to a point where like, okay, we're getting brand deals. We got affiliates now Let's go after those brands that have never given promo codes or never given deals Let's fly out there and like me with them in person and like beg them for promo codes So one of those examples was free people, you know girls love free people been wearing free people for years They never do promo codes.
They rarely do they'll go on sale, but never do like a discount code So we begged them forever to get a code finally got a code You know within the first hour we pushed seven figures because people are like and not only that but because we I had Worn it for years and people had seen these, you know These specific crop tops that I've been wearing for so long It was like the most like Genly authentic push and it like benefited the brand benefited us benefit the audience everyone's happy and so
SPEAKER_03
What's the juiciest brand to leave ever had where you were like wow, they're gonna pay us that like that's a stupid about Of money or like, you know, we can make this book. You don't have to say the name of the brand or you can just describe
SPEAKER_02
it I know what you're gonna say. I think you say it
SPEAKER_00
Stanley, yeah, Stanley Stanley the cups The like giant water. Yeah, so fun fact. We were like the first.
Why are those like so popular? We were the first to share them. Yeah first bloggers
SPEAKER_02
And I was like this is humongous. This is a giant giant cup. It's it's a great product, you know, they are owned by pe Um, and so we flew up to Seattle and we were like guys listen because they really hit that like Utah Mormon market really well Um, yeah, it's a great market.
Um, and then they saw that that was working that the president is a guy named Terence He's actually a phenomenal like marketer. He was the one who put post Malone and Crocs and like kind of like reverse Crocs trajectory to being like a cultural icon and so he Uh, I think had noticed Danny and was like, hey, you know, like I there's something about this mom market that's working with Stanley um, you know flew us up there and uh It was it was hard. They still haven't given us a code per se on the quinter.
Have they not on the quencher
SPEAKER_00
We have a code on every other product, but the quencher. Yeah, that's it's hard. But yeah, they um
SPEAKER_02
They've been good. They've been awesome
SPEAKER_00
We have some special things coming out with them. We're excited about we're excited amazing
SPEAKER_03
So pain points, right? So like you talked about how divi was born out of a pain point that you had. Yeah Um, I'm curious as you guys are trying to run this kind of influencer business plus divi like Have you felt any pain points that you're like, god, I wish I wish somebody just made this easier or made this hiring people easier
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, wait, this is kind of random but like content creation at weddings Content creation at weddings. Yes. So I feel like now brides really want like ticktocks or reels or just like iphone photos They don't want to like hire this Photographer and wait, you know two months before they get their photos back So at my wedding, I just hired someone to like take an iphone and like take iphone video walk around. That's a good idea It's a great idea.
That's a great idea take photos and I just paid them like hourly But I feel like you could get like a pretty good team that like, you know, they take all this The nice thing is to you get your content the day after the wedding because like the biggest bummer is You go to your honeymoon. You don't have any pictures Then they post and like people are gonna pay for that because it's their
SPEAKER_03
For one day a normal videographer. I think it's like 10 grand. Oh, yeah
SPEAKER_00
And sometimes I don't even like I like the iphone
SPEAKER_03
Because those are like like you said like my uh, sister-in-law just got married like a few months ago She just now got like the first cut of the wedding video and then that doesn't look like what concept looks like nowadays Exactly. It looks like this like okay. It's like looking at the thing.
It's like nice. Yeah, but it's like if you post this It's like, okay grandma like you know what this is not like
SPEAKER_02
I'd rather have like five tick talks and like six instagrams
SPEAKER_03
That felt like the fun of the party, you know
SPEAKER_00
I think the reason we've noticed that is because Jordan films a lot of our content And we we've been to a lot of weddings where the next day the bride is like reshots me like Hey, can you send me that reel that you posted or uh, your stories for the day and we're like, oh, they're already expired
SPEAKER_02
Like they're they're done. They're gone, you know, there's so many like content creators now that I feel like don't want to be influencers They're just like content creators like they'll just create content for other people I think someone's gonna that's always been a great idea you had thank you
SPEAKER_00
I had more time
SPEAKER_03
And that's cool because that could just be like local franchises, right?
SPEAKER_03
Train someone in theory you could just start that business and then be like I'm looking for an operator in Nashville We need an operator in florida Yeah, who's gonna be able to do these like dispatch content creators and they go in and then they like cut it all up
SPEAKER_02
And then they have it to you by midnight. Yeah, who did you say?
SPEAKER_03
You said there's a bunch of content creators that don't want to be influencers. So who are they?
SPEAKER_02
What are they? What are they doing? Yeah, I would say like we've seen this a lot with like divi It's it's called ugc now. So it's like uh user-generated content. So there's like a whole yeah There's like a whole economy now They're not getting paid like as a brand deal to promote it on their own stories.
It's like, you know, hey, we'll pay you $2,000 for four videos with our brand a month. And so these brands will have 10 ugc creators on standby on retainer, you know, and they use that content for ads And so what is happening is like our like our ugc Content at divi is performing the best over any type of like branded asset And so it makes it sort of feel like a lot of people are using the brand in in an organic ways And they they are but it's a whole other new class and I was like, oh my gosh people are doing that like that's insane
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, we pay for our brand we pay like Between one and two thousand dollars to a handful of creators for this exact thing and it's like they don't have a following Yeah, they're just like good at creating this content and they're like, wow You know, I get free product and I get paid to do this like this is amazing I don't even need to be famous like I felt the hit even with my brand deals
SPEAKER_00
Like we don't get a lot of those opportunities more because they used to come to me and they used to say We'll pay you X amount But now I guess we're too expensive or something because we never hear of it here for them anymore
SPEAKER_02
Well, it's kind of shifted to like that's interesting part about like how the influencer industry shift is it's it always kind of goes in waves Right, but it's like moving from like back to mass marketing where it's like as many people as possible Are using and talking about your product at the same time and so
SPEAKER_00
That's how it goes viral on tiktok. So it goes viral on tiktok
SPEAKER_03
And so where does divi go from here? So you guys are at this level now You guys are you guys you have like a retail distribution too, right? Yeah, so last year
SPEAKER_02
We did about 8 of our revenue from retail, but we are scaling in ulta So we're hoping to be in all doors of ulta by the end of this year Um, I don't know dany's always been big on like not taking investors. So we didn't do that at the front end Um, and so we're kind of like we own our own destiny at this point Um, I think that we're very passionate about the mission of divi like it's hard to create an influencer brand that People don't think you just slapped your name on it, right? So we really wanted to create a product that Is more and bigger than dany and so the products have to be really good. Um, and so we're really focused right now on Innovation we're trying to patent some of our technologies.
Um, otherwise, why is it called divi? What's the name? Yeah, you answer this
SPEAKER_00
I was forgetting so it's just like divvying up attention to like each area of your life Like overall better lifestyle and overall wellness
SPEAKER_03
But one of those things where it just sounds cool then later you're like, what's the meaning or you're like, I always
SPEAKER_00
Honestly, you really want to know it's just so hard to trademark anything
SPEAKER_02
She gets mad when I say this when I was like, yes the third name all the others
SPEAKER_00
No, it was like the 30th name
SPEAKER_03
It's a good name. Yeah, it's good. Yeah now I like I love it now, but And uh, so you're going into retail Well, you hired up a bunch of people you said.
Yeah, what else is like? What's the next unanswered question for you guys?
SPEAKER_02
What are you trying to figure out next? I would say like, you know last year was very difficult Uh, just because like it was kind of dany and I running everything we've now like you said hired like this suite of vps Um, I would say the next biggest challenge for us is like we're kind of setting the stage for in 2024 to go international Which some companies have done really well and other companies have really botched Yeah, and it's been just like a money pit and so that's probably the next frontier for us And you know, we would like to do it without having to raise additional capital We've done everything thus far ourselves. Um, which is very unique. I mean the best part is
SPEAKER_00
Like our audience is kind of built in so when we launch something people tell me that day if they like it or not Or that day what they want more of and so, you know our sequence or what we've launched We only have four skews right now Has just been like listening to our audience and that's the biggest one of the biggest things is can you sell international? And so so we're definitely working on that and then just like a lot of other skews in the pop pipeline since we only have four
SPEAKER_02
Skews we have a lot of developments been the hardest thing to learn for us for sure
SPEAKER_03
And so there's like that uh company like seed beauty that was doing stuff for Forgot who Kylie or something something like that. Yeah, there's like these companies that are behind the influence or brands like Uh, I know like the prime drink or whatever. There's like these guys behind it.
That's totally they have their own company They do like multiple brands out of that Did you guys work with somebody like that or did you do your own sourcing and manufacturing?
SPEAKER_02
We found a manufacturer and that's pretty much it. Um, you know, we formulation. How'd you do that?
SPEAKER_03
You went to like a formulation house or whatever kind of the same?
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, like manufacturers usually have chemists in house and so we we found one um, and it they developed our serum Um, and luckily we just picked one right. That's a very hard world to navigate to I've learned I think we totally got lucky with our manufacturer on the first one because there's a lot of Bad manufacturers out there and you don't know until six months later, right? And so picking the good ones has been hard. But yeah other than that.
I mean we have two in-house chemists now Yeah, we have two in-house chemists. We again with the influence or business like Danny learned so much from having a manager We've always just tried to be entrepreneurs in house and bring in house, which is usually longer. You make more mistakes It's harder.
But I mean I think that we like where we're at where we didn't have a Cody or someone come in and say Just slap your name on this because we're able to listen to our audience develop the products that we know that they want and uh
SPEAKER_00
But yeah, it's more challenging for sure. I didn't see him at all last year. Yeah
SPEAKER_02
I'm like I have a life now. I play paintball now. So like I'm good now, but people around I play paintball now
SPEAKER_00
It's also the first time now we have like our four vps when we walk into a room and we're like Hey, we have an idea. Can we do this?
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, we're like what's the political process of how we get things done and now there's process everywhere Whereas like, you know, if we have an idea today and the content side we're like, okay, let's make it happen You know, and it's just it's becoming a real company, which is it's cool. But it comes
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I have to be careful. Jordan tells me when we walk into the office He's like you can't just walk into the office and tell them what you want or you don't like something
SPEAKER_02
Like we've been working on this product for a month. She's like, yeah, I don't really like it You know, it's like wait, wait, just don't say it Just crushing hopes of dreams
SPEAKER_03
I think you'll be doing content in like five years, ten years
SPEAKER_00
100% I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed with my job. Like I love creating content.
Yeah Yeah, I don't even think of it as a job, but it's it's honestly like so I I think it like Our relationship I feel like is always really healthy Whatever we're like creative together and creating things together and I think we love doing that
SPEAKER_03
Um, Instagram therapy basically. Yeah pretty much. I mean you guys
SPEAKER_02
If I said well, if you work with your wife like you I feel like you have to work through so much more than if you have nine to fives like I mean we yeah, it's it's it makes our relationship stronger and
SPEAKER_00
And we was something like a larger goal and you know Um, but we'll see like how it evolves with involving our family like our kids. That's something I still haven't really figured out Um, and that's what's so great about working with Jordan is like if we ever didn't want to share our kids or go down that path like Like him and I can just take over again. Um, and then also having Divi We don't have to rely on on sharing the entire family.
Um, but no, I think it's something that we'll probably always be doing Yeah, we're well on instagram. Yeah, so people can find us on instagram under danie austin Um, and then divi divi official.com. Um, and then instagram divi official. Yep
SPEAKER_03
I wonder about you. Where's your instagram? Oh, I don't you don't even have one. I don't have one There's you got a spin-off character, man.
Like
SPEAKER_02
So It's so much effort that I I couldn't I couldn't it would It would cause conflict in our marriage to try and do both like it was yeah, I'm a great supporting actor That's amazing. If people want to come work for you, how would they mind you? Yeah, yeah, if you want if you're yeah, if uh, if you guys want to come work for divi email Hello at divi official.com and it'll get to me
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, awesome. Well, thanks for doing this. I know this is definitely you were probably like what the heck is this podcast Who are these guys but uh, you know, I appreciate you coming on this is fun.
It's fun. Thanks for having us Right on
SPEAKER_01
All right, everyone my first million episode done However, I've got good news. You see we have another podcast and by we I mean the hubspot podcast network It's called marketing against the grain one of the hosts his name is kip and he's the cmo of hubspot You know 20 billion dollar company So he kind of knows what he's talking about and they talk all about What's going on in the world of marketing and they give really really cool behind the scenes information and stories I'm actually on one of the podcasts if you search marketing against their grain sam par you'll find it I go like really really really depth about how I research different business ideas, but he's has a ton of really really cool Guests check it out marketing against the grain