![Ex-WeWork Employee Turned Cosmetics Entrepreneur: Family Business, Immigrant Pressure, Stepping Into Your Power [Flavia Zhamo] Artwork](https://www.buzzsprout.com/rails/active_storage/representations/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBCUFNrMkFJPSIsImV4cCI6bnVsbCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--20bf58bda6d9dc36f6fd191b580e635c7c23b251/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaDdDVG9MWm05eWJXRjBPZ2hxY0djNkUzSmxjMmw2WlY5MGIxOW1hV3hzV3docEFsZ0NhUUpZQW5zR09nbGpjbTl3T2d0alpXNTBjbVU2Q25OaGRtVnlld1k2REhGMVlXeHBkSGxwUVRvUVkyOXNiM1Z5YzNCaFkyVkpJZ2x6Y21kaUJqb0dSVlE9IiwiZXhwIjpudWxsLCJwdXIiOiJ2YXJpYXRpb24ifX0=--1924d851274c06c8fa0acdfeffb43489fc4a7fcc/Freedom%20Lifestyle%20Podcast%20Sam%20Laliberte.jpg)
Freedom Lifestyle
Their work is flexible and they think for themselves. Learn from relatable people who ditched conventional office life in pursuit of designing their dream life. Define and design your own freedom lifestyle!
Hosted by @sam.laliberte - serial entrepreneur, motivational speaker and digital nomad - who has fit work around her life since 2017. She's unlocked freedom over her schedule, location and finances by leveraging flexible work arrangements and first principles thinking.
Live a life that’s courageously authentic and on your own terms. What’s YOUR free?
Freedom Lifestyle
Ex-WeWork Employee Turned Cosmetics Entrepreneur: Family Business, Immigrant Pressure, Stepping Into Your Power [Flavia Zhamo]
Former WeWork employee took the COVID-19 crisis and her dramatic exit head-on by reshaping her life and becoming an entrepreneur.
Flavia (Albanian immigrant to Canada) reveals the intricate process of starting a cosmetics business from scratch with her mother along with the personal growth that comes along with entrepreneurship.
Key Takeaways:
- the struggles of wanting to be hands-on in every aspect of your business
- pressures of being an immigrant to Canada and wanting to succeed here
- balancing evolving relationships when you start a business with family
- how to find your next big business idea
Support the show:
☕️buymeacoffee.com/whatsyourfree
About the show:
Sam Laliberte - entrepreneur, digital nomad and freedom seeker, hosts the Freedom Lifestyle Podcast to expose people to the many ways you can design your dream life and unlock your own version of the freedom lifestyle. Her guests have empowered themselves through flexible work as a way to “have it all” - financial, location AND schedule freedom.
The reward for good work is more work, so the more successful you become, the more things you have to do. However, you have the freedom to do what you want to do and, to me, building and my vision and going towards my goals that's what is freedom.
Speaker 2:You're listening to the Freedom Lifestyle Podcast series. I'm sharing relatable stories of freedom seekers who ditched conventional office life and courageously asked for more the energy just completely shifted my entire being, just felt so free. My business was still generating income while I was on the beach. I decided to quit and just stay at home. I really can't work for anyone but me.
Speaker 1:It's literally just doing whatever the hell you want to do.
Speaker 2:As for me, I'm your host, sam, and I've spent the last four years creating a business that allows me to work from anywhere. The Freedom Lifestyle looks different for everyone. What's your free? You're listening to another episode of the Freedom Lifestyle Podcast. Thank you so much for being here, and a special shout out to my official Freedom Seeker members. I recently launched a low-cost membership program for those who are ready to commit more formally to their freedom journey. Now members not only get to influence this show by nominating guests, including themselves. They also request topics they'd like to see covered and even joined live podcast tapings and ask me anything. Sessions with me. On top of that, every month we do accountability sessions where we publicly commit to and follow up on what we are going to make happen each month to move us closer to the freedom we desire To become a Freedom Seeker. Today, visit buymeacoffeecom. Slash. What's your free? Today, you're going to meet Flavia, who is the founder and the owner of not just one, but two businesses in the beauty and cosmetic industry.
Speaker 2:I first met Flavia back in 2017. I was living in Toronto, I was just coming up with the idea for the Freedom Lifestyle Podcast and I was in an apartment building that was directly across the street from WeWork. Now, back in 2017, wework was like the place to be if you were an entrepreneur. They were expanding across the city. They were creating these aesthetically beautiful and perfect and amazing, inspiring workplaces for entrepreneurs to come and co-work from and have your own office space, and they had beer on tap and kombucha and all the things. It was just such a cool brand. Naturally, I wanted to partner with WeWork. When I went and pitched them on a partnership, flavia is who I got to work with. She's always had a very special place in my heart in terms of she really believed in me from the early days. I was so excited to see that since then, she has actually gone out and become an entrepreneur herself. In this interview, I realized just how badly she needed this and wanted this. Despite working at such a cool company like WeWork, the whole time, she felt like she was in a prison. She really wanted to be an entrepreneur. She had already had the experience of being an entrepreneur and calling her own shots before. It was really hard to go back into a corporate environment, even though it was such a cool and coveted workplace. We talked a lot about her dramatic exit from WeWork during COVID and exactly how they chose to lay off their employees and how she turned this as an opportunity to finally start a business with her mom, of course, what it's been like for her having this freedom lifestyle and starting pretty labor-intensive businesses, and what that's been really like for her behind the scenes. On that note, meet Flavia.
Speaker 2:Flavia, welcome to the Freedom Lifestyle podcast. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. Thank you for asking. How are you? I'm good. I'm so happy to reconnect with you. It's been like three years probably maybe even more, since we were working together at WeWork and supporting each other's journeys. It's nice to be reconnected after all this time and hear what you're up to now. But first I'd like to ask all of my guests this when in the world are you joining today's call? From what time is it over there and what would you normally be doing if you didn't have an interview with me today? It's four o'clock.
Speaker 1:I'm in Toronto right now. I would probably be answering some emails. I have quite a bit of work that I need to catch up. I'm also heading out of town next week. I'm going home, which I cannot wait, so I have a lot of stuff I need to do before I leave.
Speaker 2:Amazing Where's home for you.
Speaker 1:Home is Albania, but I will be stopping over in Italy, which I have some family there as well.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, I'm glad you fit us in. Going home like this is that something that's new for you, now that you're an entrepreneur? When we met, you were working at WeWork. How much vacation time were you getting? How often were you getting to go home?
Speaker 1:Well, I've been going home at least once a year, I think, since we moved to Canada For WeWork. It wasn't so much the vacation time that was the problem in terms of the freedom. We got a ton of vacation. We also got a ton of work trips. If you've watched WeCrash, you'd understand a little bit. But yeah, we had time off, but it was more being in the building that didn't feel as free.
Speaker 2:Well, let's start with that then. So when you hear the term freedom, lifestyle, what does that mean for you, and has that definition evolved at all or changed? Since you now are an entrepreneur, let's start with that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, the reward for good work is more work, so the more successful you become, the more things you have to do. However, you have the freedom to do what you want to do, and I think to me, that's what a freedom lifestyle is is, instead of focusing on just a means to an end, which I believe my job at WeWork once now, I get to build and to me building and my vision and going towards my goals. That's what is freedom. Not necessarily the time, though, because I have less time now than I have ever had.
Speaker 2:Well, hopefully that's temporarily. I know when I was starting my business I was making way less money, working way more hours, but now, five, six years in, I know I'm way ahead on those two scales. So hopefully that is in your future as well. Is that something you're calling in for the business? Yeah, I think.
Speaker 1:I have got a couple more grinding years. So I really I definitely do. We've been building two businesses. So we have EC Studios, which is our research and development side of the business, where we partner with other brands to provide 360 support for their cosmetic brands, and then the other side is our own direct consumer line. So the industry that we're in it's quite difficult to break through. So I've got a couple more years at least on the direct consumer side, and then for EC Studios, it is a very manual job because you're always creating samples and you're in the lab, and so I'm hoping the freedom that I get as a founder is more like I get to travel and meet different vendors and meet different clients rather than always being at least in Toronto. I think getting out of Toronto it's not about the work per se, it's just getting out of Toronto that, I think, will help me with feeling like I have a little bit more freedom.
Speaker 2:So you define freedom by being able to say yes to which projects you want to say yes to and kind of choose which projects and ideas you bring forward. Thinking back on the last week or the last month, when have you felt the most free? It's been a crazy week.
Speaker 1:It's really been crazy. We relaunched our direct consumer line, so it's been kind of like all over the place, go, go, go. I've worked the last seven days but I was reading a book and I don't know what it was either a book or something that I was learning and they were talking about how in Spain, they define life as work, leisure and rest. And you know, leisure and rest are two different things. Often they get grouped into as one, especially in North American culture. So seeing that and understanding that rest is part of this entire total picture, that kind of gave me, I think, the freedom that I felt is giving myself permission to rest. So, without feeling this like anxiety of I have so much stuff I need to do when you know, why am I resting? So it's like I think that's where my freedom of the week is, even though it's been such a crazy week, finding the time to rest and not feeling guilty about resting I feel like that was my freedom.
Speaker 2:How do you recharge? Is there a typical way that you like to rest, other than, of course, sleeping?
Speaker 1:I'm not a big drinker, so smoking a little bit of weed and just laying down is definitely one of the ways, although I've been cutting that out too, because it doesn't really allow for me to do other things except go to bed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, just honestly. For me it's resting, reading and like waking up early. I think that that is where I find my time is. I've been waking up at 6am, 5, 30 usually, so, like the first couple of hours when nobody else is awake, I kind of rest there and do the things that I want to do, like read and go to the gym and meditate and just do nothing, and then then I get geared up because I find that by the time that I am done my workday I don't have the capacity to do much else except smoke a joint and go bed.
Speaker 2:So I thought you're going to say you're waking baking when you were talking about, you know, 5, 36am, when no one's awake yet that is when I get my rest in, I mean. But there's.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to pretend like there hasn't been those days.
Speaker 2:I find it can actually be quite enhancing if you're trying to do something creative. I know my very first business. I ran it with two of my best girlfriends when I lived in London, ontario, and we were creating hair accessories and scrunchies and upcycling them. And we are manufacturing our products in my own living room. And, yeah, sometimes my partner would just come over and we would just smoke weed all day and we would just make the coolest fricking scrunchies and come up with the most genius plans. We would always call them high ideas. And our third business partner she had a corporate nine to five job and she worked at the bank and she would just come visit us at the end of the day and just see we came up with and she's like, god damn you two, like I'm so freaking jealous. But great ideas, let's go.
Speaker 2:I did not know that you were in the beauty industry kind of Well, like fashion accessories industry. Yeah, that was my very first business. Where I really got a taste of freedom and I feel this will really resonate with you is I had my first business in my early 20s, ran that for three years, ended that business for a personal reason and then had to go back and get a nine to five job. Once you get kind of a taste of being your own boss, setting your own schedule, setting where you work from, it's really hard to accept giving that away again. Is that what happened for you Exactly?
Speaker 1:And building, I would say like being able to think of ideas and go for them. You know, like at WeWork, I could kind of do that and I had way more resources, but I like being scrappy and I like thinking of things outside of the box that might not get approved somewhere corporate. So I think that's what it was for me. It's like I really love building on a builder. Like we have people, interns, and people that come in and out of everyday chemists, EC studios and I always tell them, like startup life is not made for everyone. It does require a certain kind of person that enjoys this kind of work, because a lot of people might find freedom in the nine to five and the ability to, you know, disconnect at five o'clock. This is not one of those roles. So for me, building there's a lot of freedom and having ideas and being able to go after them 100%, and so, thinking back on that period of your life, you and I met.
Speaker 2:I was living in Toronto. I was living right across the street from the WeWork location you were working at and I was starting Freedom Lifestyle, and WeWork was a dream partner for me. It made so much sense. It was empowering entrepreneurs, which is what I wanted to do. It had the resources to do that, which is what I needed, and you really saw the vision that I had for Freedom Lifestyle. I'm guessing at that time you were surrounding yourself with entrepreneurs who were doing those things, getting to build everything they wanted to build every day. What was your experience like behind that desk at WeWork and how are you feeling at that point in your life about all of this?
Speaker 1:I mean you said it behind that desk like even though I was technically not, I did not have a spot that I had to be in, I had to be in this building, Like for the time that I was there and you know, I took the subway in, I took the subway home and it was the 8am traffic and the 6am traffic and I would get on the subway. And this cannot be my life. Like I felt like I was going to jail and like I was getting this paycheck at the end, which sounds crazy, because I really did join WeWork at the heyday of what it was and I had so much fun in other aspects and I met such great people that have become my friends, you know, and had nothing to do with WeWork. I think it was me as a startup person not fitting into a corporate nine to five, even though, again, WeWork was a startup and a cool one. So imagine me in like a proper corporate job. I would have not been so pretty.
Speaker 2:And so the way you were feeling, were you feeling alone in that? I mean, what were your colleagues' attitudes about working at WeWork? Because, from the outside perspective, you're exactly right At that time WeWork was expanding. They were creating these curated, aesthetically pleasing dream office places, premium priced office places. So they were quite coveted, had beer on tap, kombucha on tap and all these cool events, all these cool perks. You were living the true, you know, epitome of the cool startup lifestyle. Were your colleagues feeling the same way as you were feeling?
Speaker 1:I can't speak for everyone, but I would say not so much. I think we were really young, A lot of us were really young at the time. So for a lot of them, this was a dream opportunity. But because I had come from East Room and had been there and built a cooler than WeWork working space and had built their cultural program and had done, you know, had booked many artists and done partnerships with Timberland and Nike and like anything that I, literally anything that I could have imagined, I would just throw something in the wall and see if it stopped. And coming to this, I think for me it was a little bit of like a shock, While for a lot of my colleagues this was the first time of this sort of startup world where you could do what you want, but for me it was the same reality, but it was a different approach because of our previous experiences. That makes sense.
Speaker 2:No, that totally makes sense. And so this whole time you're kind of feeling this misalignment. You call it a prison. This can't be my life At this time. Are you making an exit plan or where's your head at in terms of how long will you be at WeWork?
Speaker 1:No, I don't think I had an exit plan until the day that I decided to leave and I didn't even have an exit plan then. So I always knew that I wanted to start my own business. I got my first job when I was 15 years old and I had been saving money since then to like start something. My parents thought I was going to buy a house and I was like, nope, I'm saving the money. Should have bought the house first, but I was saving the money for a rainy day because I knew that I was going to start my own thing. So, at the back of my head, starting my own thing was always in the horizon.
Speaker 1:However, I had some healing to do as a human that I think WeWork was just a landing spot for me to kind of stop, get some money, be able to move out on my own, be able to afford. So that was really nice. But WeWork was just kind of a stop, a place where, even though I didn't get my trust, but it was a place for me to rest and really heal and, you know, pay for my therapy and do all the things that I needed to do to become the person I am now. I didn't have a plan, I just, you know my life, something happened, something personal happened and I had to leave my previous job Easter room and it was just kind of where I landed and it was a good place to land and they welcomed me with open arms. So I am really grateful for WeWork. I don't think I would have been able to build the business in Ridae Chemis if it wasn't for WeWork.
Speaker 2:But yeah, okay, well, I'd love to talk about how you actually exited then, but before we get into that, wework has been notoriously in the news in the media for many years, and especially during COVID. A lot of things really change with WeWork about their business model. How did that impact working there?
Speaker 1:Well, it was a lot of the reason why I ended up leaving. I was managing the building at the time and I was responsible for people's rent and a lot of entrepreneurs. You know, if you can't use the building, they don't want to pay your rent, and I didn't want to hound people for money, especially when the world's also ending and we don't. There's so many unknowns, so that was a big part of why I left. I mean, they gave us a choice, so it was either take a severance or run two buildings, so double your work. And there were so many unknowns that I didn't want to like. I was like this might be a really dumb decision for me to decide to leave now when we don't know what's going to happen next.
Speaker 1:However, one of my employees actually, I was on the phone with him and I'm like oh, I think I might stay, I think I might like take the. He's like you're miserable. I'm like and I remember this so clearly I was like pacing back and forth in my balcony and I'm like I'm miserable. I knew I was miserable, but I had someone else had to tell me that I was miserable, you know. And that was the moment that I was like oh my God, like I got to get out like gotta go, gotta go. I'm really glad that that wake up moment.
Speaker 2:Why do you think it takes so many of us so long to actually make that change, knowing we're unhappy Like? My story is similar. The only reason I started Freedom Lifestyle was because I'd quit my job for another job and then that company pulled their offer and so I just kind of started freelancing as a means of survival and saw this opportunity. And that's one of the most consistent stories I get on this podcast is especially during COVID I was forced to leave my job or I was let go or whatever, whatever, whatever. But why do you think we stay for so long in situations that we know are not good for us? For me it was comfortable.
Speaker 1:Again, I had a lot of healing to do, so I didn't want to worry about money at the same time. So it was like this place where I could make a little bit of money, go do the healing I had to do and I don't know, take some time to really like collect my bones. Until COVID happened, I don't think I'd ever stopped and like taken stock of my life. I've always been in hospitality situations, so I don't think I had the capacity to stop because I had never known how to stop. So COVID, I think it was again. It was like this hard stop for everyone. It woke us up. So I think for me it was just more the courage that I was probably lacking. And yeah, I had to stop in order for me to start again, if that made sense, and I didn't have the courage to stop.
Speaker 2:And so the courage came from a wake up moment and, thank goodness, that colleague of yours, or that employee of yours, that outside perspective who can sometimes see things so much clearer than we can see ourselves, really empowered you and, you know, kind of shook you out of this comfortable haze that you were feeling. And so from that moment you realized, okay, yes, I am miserable and at the time we work is being challenged financially. It's COVID. No one is able to actually work in their co-working spaces anymore. They're having trouble collecting rent. They're now saying, okay, you can stay here, but you have to double your output with no additional income and you're having to be making this decision. Was there like a deadline they gave you to decide, or how did it all work?
Speaker 1:Yeah, they were going to give us a little bit of money, like they paid reasonably. You know what I mean. They paid a fair living arrangement so that I will not take away from them, but the way that they let us go was ridiculous. I don't think I've ever spoken about this in public, so this would be the first.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we had to make a decision, so we had to like fill out this form if we were going to stay or go. I don't know if we had to like pick a choice. And then, the day that they let us go, I decided to have a party at my house. We were like breaking all the COVID laws to all these people in my house. But they really signed into the Zoom and the person who was like letting us all go, he had this screensaver and it was a bar. Like it was literally as if, like you were going to walk into a new bar. It's like it's the middle of COVID and you're letting us go. Technically, like, even though we've made this decision, you have a bar as the background photo. Like mind you, we're all like having a party in the back. So, computer, but it was so. It was just like well, in so many ways, like what are you thinking? Like I've never seen your face. I don't know who you are. Why do you have a bar as a background? Like I'm very confused.
Speaker 1:But yeah, we had a deadline and all of us had to make that decision by that deadline. So everyone who made the decision ended up coming to my house and we had a little party.
Speaker 2:And how much time did they give you to make the decision?
Speaker 1:God, maybe like two weeks, I can't remember. Honestly, it was pretty brief, I would say. But at the time I was very like I think they were letting people go. As you know, they were cutting up departments, so we were all like worried that we were going to let go. So having the choice was actually nicer than just being let go, but maybe a little bit harder because it's like you really have to make that decision. It wasn't made for me. So, yeah, I think maybe two weeks, but a few of my friends decided to stay. So it was also this thing of like between colleagues, because if we had all decided to stay, then we would be competing with each other for the remaining. Like we had 10 buildings, there'd be five managers, so the 10 of us would go against each other. Oh my gosh, and half of them are you brought in. They're my friends, like I brought them into the company.
Speaker 1:So it was kind of like this weird thing that, you know, even my old friends weren't telling me they were going to stay or go, like that kind of you know. I'm really grateful I went, though, like I made the right choice for sure, amazing, and so that was in.
Speaker 2:Like, did that happen right at the beginning of the pandemic, or when did this all go down?
Speaker 1:I left May 20 something 2020.
Speaker 2:Okay, Well, we're recording this now, at the end of August 2023. So it's been three years since you quit and moved on, and have you been an entrepreneur this whole time? Like what happened next? You said you didn't have an exit plan, so did you just live off the severance for a little bit and relax? Or what did your next few months look like? Severance serve?
Speaker 1:unemployment. I always joke that the Canadian government is my first investor because I took advantage of every single and I still am taking advantage of every subsidy grant. Whatever situation the Canadian government had, I took advantage of it fairly. So, because I've paid my dues, so I deserved it and I honestly, for the first three months I just laid in bed and woke up late, as I said, like I'd had a job since I was 15 in university at three jobs two jobs in an internship. So I've never, really ever, like been able to wake up in the morning and not have somewhere to be. So for me, even that like experience of waking up and not having like a deadline to be somewhere felt really like strange. I was like, wow, this is great. So I smoked weed for about three months, but I didn't just do that, it was COVID, so there wasn't a ton of stuff to do. So I actually found this really amazing program called Acumen Academy with Jacqueline Novogratz. She's the wife of the founder of Ted Talks. She has started her own venture firm and this called Acumen and they invest in for-profit for good companies and Acumen Academy is their not-for-profit university where they partner with really great organizations like IDEO and I can't remember any on top of my head, but they partner up with really great organizations and they create courses and these courses are like challenges for something for good.
Speaker 1:That was the whole purpose is like something for good for profit. So these challenges and courses, you would make a group with people all over the world. We had assistance thinking course and I had a woman from England, a guy from Malta, like in a cave, I had a girl from the Netherlands, a guy from Portugal, and we would all meet once a week and the question that we had to answer was why is there so many food, insecure people in London when London is one of the most richest cities in the world? So I jumped into these courses and I ended up meeting a lot of people around the world and I was building companies Like I think I did maybe nine courses and each course was like building a whole new company to solve for the problem that we had to solve for. So I actually jumped into this like rapid ideation, with people that I had never met, which really set me up for the next stage, which is actually opening my own business. So I was stoned, but I also was being productive.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that's a really good message where a lot of the times when you're an entrepreneur, I compare it to like planting seeds Once you're starting your business, you're trying a lot of different things. You don't really know what's going to stick, what's going to really grow. But those first couple of years of business is all about experimentation and testing things and trying to have as much fun as possible with it, but really being creative. It sounds like you kind of took that approach to what do I do next and just said yes to things where maybe you felt drawn to or your intuition, and for you it was this program and I bet you're doing other things too but this seems like it was one of the best investments that you said yes to. And so did you meet your now business partners in this program? Or how did you go from graduating from all of these like trainings you were doing and companies that you're starting so rapidly, to saying, okay, I want to start one myself.
Speaker 1:Well, I always wanted to start one ourselves, this little lip balm that you can't see because of the light. But I was on an Accutane when I was much younger. I have like a slew of in problems and my mom's a cosmetic engineer. She's my business partner but, yeah, growing up, since we moved to Canada, I started getting X amount. I'm pretty sure it's because of the weather. That's why I need to get out of Toronto. And then I was on Accutane when I was 20. And my lips I don't know who's ever been on Accutane, you know what I'm talking about but your lips literally fall by like 20, you know 20 layers like at a time. So it's really awful and I could not find a lip balm in the market that anybody could help me for what I was.
Speaker 1:So my mom made me this lip balm and I would actually, since I was at Eastroom, so since I was 21, I was handing out these lip balms to everyone that I knew. So all of my friends and family, including most of my coworkers that we work. I would show up, even with my boss at the time, denzel, who you met. I would show up every day and my kid this is my idea this week Like this is what I'm going to do this week. So number one I always knew that I was going to start a cosmetic business, because that's like what I was really drawn to. Number two I was always coming up with ideas. Even like at rework, I was like trying to come up with like a genius idea that I was going to become quick rich. And so when this happened I think what the courses taught me was actually because I was learning about human design thinking and rapid ideation I was like don't put all of your eggs in one basket. Why don't we start two companies instead of one? Which? So naive of me, but thank God I did, because I wouldn't have been able to get here if I didn't.
Speaker 1:That's when I started EC Studios, which is the 360 support for other cosmetic founders, and then the direct to consumer line, and I'm really grateful I did it like that, because if I had done just the direct to consumer line, it would have been a much harder hill for me to climb and opening both sides of the business. Really, it kind of like now I have the entire supply chain figured out where if I had just the direct to consumer line, I would have just had a piece of it. So it's put me in a way better position to move forward with either business. But super naive and super, yeah, I don't think I realized, like once they grow, how much work it goes into both of them.
Speaker 1:I thought maybe you know even how much money we're making now. Like at the time it's like, well, if I made that much money I'd be happy, like I'd be okay. And now I'm like I'm literally so broken so I didn't think it through. But yeah, I always wanted to start both. I knew that I was going to start a business. I knew it was probably going to be with my mom. I knew it was going to be selling this LeBom.
Speaker 2:I just didn't really know when we're in, and is your mom in Albania? Are she in Toronto with you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so when we moved to Canada, she's the chemical engineer by trade, but when we moved here she started working at a cosmetic company and she was ahead of research and development there for a long time. So for us, for me, I was always making products with her all of my life. So this was just kind of like a natural way. It was like doing what we did, but really adding processes and resources and, you know, accountability to it.
Speaker 2:And where are you at in the business now Like are your products available for purchase for the direct-to-consumer line, or is that all still behind the scenes work?
Speaker 1:Nope, it's as of last week, we've rebranded and got some. We got boxes now, which is so exciting. I know that sounds ridiculous, but we didn't have money for boxes, so now we have boxes and we relaunch. We've actually brought in an art director to really refine and elevate us. So we launched the brand last week and, with the EC studio, we've been picking up a little bit of steam. We've got some important meetings this week. Hopefully they'll go well and I'm pushing. I'm really pushing.
Speaker 2:Amazing. So is the first products the lip balm, or what products do you have available for sale right now? The lip balm and I'll show you this.
Speaker 1:Pretty cool. This is actually our. It's a really novel product because it doesn't exist in the market. It's half oil, half water, so you have to shake it in order for it to combine, and then you spray it and you use it all over your body and then you'll start to separate as soon as you use it again. So it's silky water and lippery that are available to purchase right now.
Speaker 2:Amazing and that's so exciting. Well, we'll definitely include a link to those products in the show notes. And then, for clarity on the other business, are you offering like consulting services to someone who might want to be starting a business like this too, or who is the customer for that other business?
Speaker 1:We're offering 360 support. So we started off just offering formulations and a little bit of small batch manufacturing. But now we have vendors in all areas. So we have packaging vendors, we have design vendors, we have manufacturers. We have small batch and large batch manufacturers. So we can kind of scale and go smaller if we need to.
Speaker 1:But my clients have been startups, mostly new brands that have an idea and they want to formulate a product and they don't know how to. So they come to us with. You know, I want to create a body serum that is clean at Sephora and I want to have this oil in it because it's from my grandma's kitchen. I don't know. You know, like, whatever their story is, I think a lot what sets us apart from other research and development firms would be also being invested and really understanding who we're working with and understanding their story, rather than just okay, put it together and goodbye. I think that's from EC Studios. That's what separates us. But since we started, we've developed this slew of resources that can be helpful to any entrepreneur. So we've actually kind of shifted into a 360 model where we can help you, even if we don't develop your product for you, if you need help with manufacturing or packaging, or you want me to read your labels and make sure that they're up to regulations we can do anything.
Speaker 2:Well, that's amazing. I know so many entrepreneurs have ideas but don't necessarily know the how, and especially in those types of industries where they are research heavy or packaging heavy, or you need a lot of capital to get started, to like create your first line. I felt that a lot in the fashion industry when we were creating our first collection of clothing. We evolved from hair accessories to clothing about a year into the business and if you have no connections into that industry but you have a story or a dream or some type of unique perspective that you'd love to see in the market, having someone who can help you connect those dots and help you save time, save money, that's like so, so, so invaluable.
Speaker 1:That's exactly what we're solving for.
Speaker 2:Amazing. So you're an entrepreneur now with your mom very sweet. What has come naturally for you as an entrepreneur and what is something that you've had to really work on? Timely conversation.
Speaker 1:I think for me, doing multiple things at the same time as in somebody who has ADHD comes naturally and I can pick up things really quickly. Just so you understand how bad I was. Like I did not know how to use a computer before I started my business, like obviously I did, you know what I mean. But like I now can build a website. I have built a website, I know how to use design tools and I did like I just can pick up anything and everything that's thrown my way. So I think that comes really naturally to me. I'm a curious person and like always wanting to learn, so that's really natural.
Speaker 1:I think stepping into the leadership hasn't come as naturally, not because I haven't been in leadership positions before, because at each room, you know, as the first employee, we scale to 15. At WeWork I had, you know, four direct reports and 50 indirect reports. But I think really stepping into the power and really being like yeah, I am the boss, that hasn't come naturally, because I kind of want to be in the trenches and show everyone that I'm just like them. However, I also have to take the responsibility for the work. So it's this and I said time the question, because this is what me and my therapist were discussing today Is this idea of you know how can I step into this power? So, when I am giving direction, not coming from a place of either assertiveness or lacks being super lacks, because those are both extreme and those are both the results of my feeling, of not feeling like I deserve the power, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, did your therapist give you some actionable advice or things for you to think about or things for you to do? That someone who's listening to this is thinking that's me. You know, the leadership role is really tough for me. I want to be everybody's friends, but I also need to like get shit done. How do you step into that power?
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, you know we had to go back to in my childhood trauma.
Speaker 2:So it all stems from classic right Get therapy.
Speaker 1:That's what I literally, the answer is get some therapy. I think the answer is different for everyone, but for me, I live in extremes, like in every aspect of my life and I have been for really long times of finding balance and finding the middle ground and being confident, like that's what we were talking about. It's like these are these such a confident kids Like I was so in high school, like I was the ugliest in my high school years. So I don't know what I was confident like, and not that beauty is the only thing, but I was just a really confident person. And then at some point in my twenties, I just lost my confidence for some reason and I feel like I've been trying to chase this like idea of who I need to be.
Speaker 1:But what she said to me is like how about you do less and you be more? And instead of chasing, like this grand person that you think you're going to be, is that, how about this is who like you? Are that now you know like being, because I'm going to Paris next month for work. This is what I'm dreamed of, you know, and that's what we're talking about. It's like we've got two seven foot posters on Osington and I still don't let it land. So it's like, you know, instead of doing more, she's like how about you just be? And you realize that you are who you were trying to be the whole time. So I'm trying to. Yeah, I mean, it's been a couple hours. I'll let you know. That's really beautiful. Yeah, I had a conversation with a colleague of mine right after and we were just discussing how to do things and she said oh.
Speaker 1:I like it this way and like, yeah, well, it's going to be done this way because that's how I'm the most efficient, and that even just saying that felt really like weird. But I was like yes, I did it. You know, like I get to make the decisions, I get to hold a responsibility and it needs to be done in the way that I need it to be done, which I don't feel like I felt guilt around that and now, like you know, I'm trying to step out of that and just really realize the reality of the situation, which it is my responsibility. So there's no guilt, I have to just step into it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:My mother-in-law is a therapist and she told me when I was having a challenging period with confidence I forget why, but I'm just remembering she gave me a very specific challenge to do and I thought it was so empowering.
Speaker 2:She told me to set the clock for a certain amount of time I think it was 20 minutes and for the full 20 minutes I had to write down every accomplishment of mine that I was proud of, and I wasn't allowed to stop and I just sit there and I had to, like, write down everything and, of course, where she was getting out was by the end of the 20 minutes. I had pages and pages of things that I had done, that I was proud of, and even just seeing all of that together, sometimes we can forget how far we've come. And there's that quote of like remember how badly you wanted what you have now, and it's just natural for ourselves to always want more and to focus on, like, what we don't have. But if we actually just stop, we've done so much and it's so powerful to just really sit in. That isn't it?
Speaker 1:Exactly. I mean, I come from a town of 9,000 people in South Alingya, english is my third language and I didn't speak it until I was 10. So for me to even be here right now, it's kind of like the odds are, you know, slim to none. So I'm grateful regardless, but there is this like pressure inside of me of like I mean I guess that's what I said to her is that it's like it's a thing that drives me but also holds me back, and it's you know, it's a paradox. Yeah.
Speaker 2:How has starting this business with your mother impacted your relationship with your mother?
Speaker 1:Therapy. Honestly it's brought us closer. I like growing up back home in Alvingya me and my mom were really close. I'm an only child, so we were really close growing up. But when we moved to Canada, both my parents had to get a factory job, so they were working 12 hour shifts and I was 10 and didn't have anybody around me. So our relationship really kind of got I don't know broken.
Speaker 1:And then you know the culture differences. My parents grew up in communism. They didn't have a choice of what to go to school for. You know anything. They didn't have a choice Like. To put it in perspective, how bad it was is if you said there's not enough tomatoes this year, they could kill you because you're now making a comment against the government that they couldn't provide enough tomatoes for you. Like it was that strict and they were born and raised in that. So quite different than growing up in Toronto in the early, you know, in early 2000. So very different world. So obviously the clashes that are bound to happen as an immigrant, not a fragmented relationship, but definitely some distance in terms of you know, I've always had a close relationship with my parents.
Speaker 1:I spend weekends and holidays with them, but I couldn't really be myself, you know, like I was myself but not myself. So now that we're working together, she sees so many different sides of me and I also see her not as just my mother, but also as a human which really, I think, has given her grace and me grace to be ourselves, and not just in the daughter and mother capacity.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's so amazing. Everyone has advice about business and I think the worst thing you can do is generalize business advice and say, quote, unquote if you have a business, you have to work on the weekends or never start a business with your friend. These like blanket statements that people will say we have to be so careful about those because the reality is every business is different and every entrepreneur is different, and so I think it's awesome that the two of you have made it work and I'm sure there's a lot of things that like there's probably a lot of advantages and competitive advantages that you two have, based on the close connection that you have, that if you were starting this business with somebody else, you might not be able to have that radical candor and that like upfront conversations that maybe you have. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'm pretty direct with everyone. If you know me, then honestly is probably my worst quality. I'm a little too honest if you ask me. But with my, I mean, I wouldn't have been able to start. She's the expert, she's the technical expert, so I wouldn't. I wouldn't be here, period. And then also, you know she works over time to help me and she's not getting paid. It's like I wouldn't have been able to do this without her. So hopefully one day, well, I'll reward her in return, but you know we got some time to get there.
Speaker 2:Go, mom. Well, Flavia, thank you so much for coming on the show. I know we're at time now and it's evening for you, so I want to let you get out there, go for a walk, enjoy your life, get a bunch of work done it sounds like before you head to Albania. So thank you so much for coming on the show. It's so nice to hear what's been going on with you and hearing about how your freedom lifestyle has come into fruition again.
Speaker 1:Likewise and I saw that in the email that you send over it was like give a piece of advice for people who are thinking to do the same thing, and for me it's just start and like fail and start again, because I feel, like a lot of people, they don't take the first step because they're like, well, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know, just start, and when you fail, don't stop. I think that's like my best advice is just start and keep going when you fail.
Speaker 2:I love that, Just start Well. Thank you so much, Flavia. On that note, we'll wrap things off here Bye. Thanks for tuning into another episode If this one inspired you to take action, but you could use some help on your plan, or perhaps you've got too many ideas bouncing around in that beautiful brain of yours. You'd love some clarity on your strategy, what you should pursue first and why. Well, I am now offering one-on-one freedom coaching sessions. You can book these at buymeacoffeecom slash what's your free. This is our opportunity to have a virtual coffee together. Spend an hour getting clarity on how you can unlock more freedom and flexibility in your life. On these calls, you can ask me anything, but here are some things that I'm an expert in creating a location, independent lifestyle, building service-based and freelance businesses, leveraging the gig economy and platforms like Fiverr, utilizing podcasts to build your personal brand and developing passive income streams. So book your freedom coaching session with me at buymeacoffeecom slash what's your free. I would love to have a virtual coffee with you.
