Jules Weldon and Stace Pierce aren’t just founders—they’re a force. In this episode of Hello Chaos, they share the raw truth behind launching OME Gear, a transformative outdoor product born from a decades-old patent and fueled by relentless grit. From crowdfunding on Kickstarter to surviving international manufacturing meltdowns, their journey is a masterclass in product development and entrepreneurial resilience. But the chaos didn’t stop there. Their lived experience as women founders facing funding gaps inspired them to create BoldSKY Foundation—a community-driven initiative to support and invest in other women bringing physical products to market. Through bold moves, deep faith, and an unshakable partnership, Jules and Stace show how entrepreneurship is equal parts strategy, stress management, and personal growth.
Key Takeaways:
1️⃣ Product development isn’t just hard. It’s heroic.
Bringing OME Gear to life meant navigating intense manufacturing challenges including failed partnerships and Kickstarter fulfillment drama. Physical product founders must prepare for complex high-stakes obstacles.
2️⃣ Women founders thrive with the right community support
BoldSKY Foundation exists because the entrepreneurship space often overlooks women especially in the product space. Jules and Stace prove that strategic founder-led community makes all the difference.
3️⃣ Stress management is personal growth for entrepreneurs
From selling their home to ER visits their journey shows how emotional endurance aligned values and faith fuel personal growth in the chaos of startup life.
Timestamps
00:00 Welcome to Hello Chaos
01:37 The Journey of OME Gear
05:19 Challenges in Manufacturing
10:22 The Decision to Sell Their Home
11:35 Life on the Road in an RV
14:27 The Birth of Bold Sky Foundation
19:41 Future Plans for OME Gear and Bold Sky
23:25 Resilience and Lessons Learned
28:40 Debunking Myths of Entrepreneurship
30:10 The Journey of Bold Sky and OME Gear
32:19 Navigating Challenges and Perseverance
35:18 The Impact of Community and Support
37:24 The Importance of Connections in Entrepreneurship
41:22 Managing Stress and Mental Health
45:45 Celebrating Milestones and Future Goals
49:36 Defining Success and Values
54:40 Hiring for Values and Building a Team
🔗 Learn more about Jules & Stace and connect:
Website: https://omegear.com/pages/about-us
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julesweldon/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacey-m-pierce-98020711/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ome_gear/
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (00:00)
Welcome to Hello Chaos, a weekly podcast exploring the messy and chaotic minds and lives of founders, entrepreneurs and innovators. Each week I have the privilege to speak with founders across the business spectrum, founders from different industries at various stages, from startups to mature businesses of all shapes and sizes. Our listeners get to hear the real, the raw, the unvarnished viewpoints and stories, getting incredible insights on what it takes to start and scale a business.
to become a better founder, a better CEO, or just really a better business leader in the community. Today, we have on our show Jules Weldon and Stace Pierce. They are the founders of OME Gear and BoldSKY Foundation. And I've been looking forward to this all week to do the recording, because their story is just fantastic and incredible. Welcome to Hello Chaos. Jules and Stace, welcome to the show.
Jules And Stace (00:56)
Thank you so much. Thanks, we're excited to be here.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (00:58)
Yeah.
And you said you guys are calling out of Dallas today. This venture and you guys had pretty much, mean, just start out, before we get into your journey, I mean, you guys just kind of closed on something pretty fantastic in your journey. Big investment? About to. Well, let's all like cross our fingers. Everyone cheerlead. Hopefully by the time this episode airs, it will all be put to bed and done and we can toast some.
Jules And Stace (01:02)
We are.
Well, we're literally in the process as we're taking it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:26)
get some champagne out, but start us out. What inspired you to start OME Gear? What is that journey like? And where are you today in the journey?
Jules And Stace (01:39)
That's a big question. So maybe that'll last a little longer. You have three hours. So I'll go back and try to make it really short. then Stacey's, we often tell this story together. So she'll, she'll chime in where appropriate for sure. But so the original concept of our product, OMEGear, was back in 1998. My dad got it patented. It was just a two in one.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:41)
I know, because your journey is just so incredible. So incredible.
Hahaha!
Jules And Stace (02:08)
because he and my mom saw a single mom coming off the beach with her three kids and she was miserable. And so they went up and napkin sketched, like the American dream, they napkin sketched this lounger that if you flipped it up on its end, it became a dolly. And this was before beach wagons were all the rage. And so my dad got it patented, but couldn't figure out how to take it to market. We now know that it's so hard to take product to market.
But he got a patent which was a really cool thing and so it just sat on the shelf my mom had her own business up in Westchester Pennsylvania of wedding cakes and party cakes and so she needed him to focus on that with her and So he kind of put the other one up on the shelf that his idea And so fast forward 12 years later. I was working for one of the largest consulting firms in the world and I got
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (02:35)
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (03:00)
I got tired of work in 70, 80 hours a week for somebody else. And I ended up calling up my dad one morning and just said, dad, what would you think about me trying to take your product to market? And my dad is one of both of our heroes now, but he started crying and said that would be a dream come true, absolutely. And so he assigned the patent to me. He gave me all of his drawings, all of that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (03:19)
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (03:25)
and I ended up recruiting someone who was a partner of mine, a mentor of mine to come on board with me. And so we did. And so we ended up partnering with a manufacturing firm out of North Carolina. And initially it felt like a marriage made in heaven until it wasn't.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (03:43)
Yeah. Is that
just, because we've heard this before from so many founder startups, the first manufacturer partner was a bust.
Jules And Stace (03:50)
off.
Yeah. First, second, third. Yeah. Well,
I mean, it's really, really hard if anybody listening is in the product space. It's one of the biggest things. It's like finding your partner for marriage is like your manufacturing partner because they can make or break you. And my first one, it just was our values did not align. And so I ended up walking away.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:07)
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (04:19)
And then lots of stuff in between. Stace and I started a coaching consulting business for primarily women founders. And I think that's really where our love for women founders and our passion for them was born. But then in 2018, we were like, gosh, nobody's taken this idea of this transforming product for the beach or really for the outdoors. So we picked it back up and completely redesigned it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:34)
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (04:49)
And took it to market and we're getting incredible success and we raised a couple million dollars In funding from you know friends family investors our own self We got to the point and you can pick up here where we ended up having to sell our house Yes, it was um 2020 that that year Yeah Yes But it was 2019 we'll go back
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:57)
Wow.
A lovely year that everyone loves.
Jules And Stace (05:18)
December 2019 We were with the manufacturer in China. I was able to go over there two times that month I'm over a new product design and development and so as they've jewels went with me the first time and then I went by myself the second time and went to our manufacturer and The product was completely wrong They were supposed to 2500 over before Chinese New Year and the the I mean it was
I was so like, so mortified. And we had just gone over there two weeks earlier and it was right. And something happened and it changed. Something happened and it just wasn't right. So then we get a call and they're like, we're only gonna ship over a hundred units and it's only gonna be two of the five colors. And we're like, what is going on? And we had, well, I'll get to that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (06:09)
Great. Did you guys figure out what was going on?
Jules And Stace (06:15)
So we funded on Kickstarter. So we knew we had Kickstarter orders to get out. We're like, what are we gonna do with these? We don't have enough and they're not right. The armrest, you would sit in it and the armrest was, it went all the way down and it was just awkward. And so we were working with a rep out of Nashville to help us with this. And all of a sudden when COVID hit our manufacturer went completely silent on this.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (06:15)
Okay.
Yeah.
Right.
Ew.
Jules And Stace (06:42)
⁓ where there was, and they owed us money. they just, was, and so we were left scrambling going, okay, we have a hundred units that we can't do anything with. what we did was mail all hundred units out to our Kickstarter supporters and tell them everything that was wrong on it. And we were like, we already know these things are wrong and we will, we will send you the real deal when we figure out the manufacturing piece. Cause we didn't want to be that Kickstarter that
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:00)
Right.
Right?
Jules And Stace (07:11)
that we're so late on shipping out the product.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:13)
So at least
they could see, hey, is, you know, support us, see us in a work in progress. Yeah.
Jules And Stace (07:18)
Right. That's
right. I have to that that was Jules' idea was brilliant because they came back and all of sudden they were part of our team. Like these people were part of our team to go, what did you think about this? And so we could actually go to the drawing board before we were even out into market.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:27)
Yeah.
Yeah.
You
got a built-in focus group for product development research. I mean, brilliant.
Jules And Stace (07:42)
Right. There were people
who didn't, who said, you know, we'll just wait. We know you're good. And so there were a bunch of people who said no. Um, but the ones who said yes, exactly. They gave us incredible feedback. Right. That's right. And so then we, we did not have a manufacturer. were like, okay, what's next? And so Jules and I, you know, we're in this world pandemic and you know, we, forgot that we were, we thought we were just in our own little bubble, but we get on.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:48)
Right.
Right, instant brand ambassadors. Yeah.
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (08:10)
Zoom calls with so many people and one thing led to another and we found another manufacturer. His name is Oliver and he was in China. And so we were like, Oliver, we need this quick. And this was already May. And yeah, May when we met Oliver. And so we sent him over a sample. at that point, the shipping wars had already started and a $6,000 container went up to $36,000.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (08:24)
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (08:40)
And so we were kind of going back and forth, but I couldn't get over to China. And so I'm having to wait for product from him to say yes or no or whatever. And so all that to say is we found a manufacturer. And just how small this world is, he is a Chinese Mormon. He went to BYU. He speaks English. And I have known his family for years and didn't realize it because...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (09:07)
That, yeah.
Jules And Stace (09:08)
His family had a restaurant in Columbia, South Carolina. So that to us was like a God link, you know, and he was to ship our ship our, our good units over by November of that year of that same of 2021 or 2020. Sorry. But Jules and I ran out of money during the year we had, we had pitched and we couldn't find funding and it was in the, and our product was already on the water.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (09:15)
That's right.
Wow.
Jules And Stace (09:38)
We didn't have money to pay for it. So it was the day before Christmas or two days before Christmas. And Jules looked at me and she goes, how much do you believe in this product? We didn't have anything. There wasn't one Christmas present. But there was, I think was everything. And, and we didn't get the PPE money and we didn't get the EIDL because we all of our, all of our, didn't have sales at that point really. And all of our team was contractors. So, and so
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (09:50)
Yeah, everything went into the business.
Right?
Right?
Jules And Stace (10:08)
Jules looked at me, she says, how much you believe it in this? And I said, with all my heart, and she goes, the only thing we have left is our home. And so we decided at that moment to sell our house and to take the equity to get our product because he had diverted it to a warehouse in Utah that we couldn't get to. And not that he's a bad guy, he's not, but he's a business guy. And so he needed to get his money and we understood that. And so we were...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (10:26)
Wow.
Right.
Jules And Stace (10:35)
able to sell our house, but then we were like, no, what are we going to do now? Because at that point we didn't have a plan B as far as where we were going to live. Charleston's super expensive. so Jules and I were like, what if we got an RV, finance an RV, everybody else is doing it. And so we financed an RV and we wrapped it in our branding and we hit the road. Now here's the funny part is neither one of us had ever been in an RV.
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (11:05)
Was
it a, was it a like, not a, not a hitch one. Was it like a full like you drive it? What? Okay.
Jules And Stace (11:10)
Yes, it was a 32
foot RV and we towed a car. So neither one of us had ever driven an RV. And the crazy part of this is a 16 year old, if they have a driver's license, you don't need a special driver's license to drive
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (11:17)
⁓ my.
I
like, you don't need a CDL license to get behind the wheel.
Jules And Stace (11:30)
And pull a car and so we did take RV driver driving lessons for a week. Yeah, and but I We had a instructor But before the two and a half years we were on the road I never drove the RV I thought Hunter she drove it once in a parking lot and hit the parking cones and I was like
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (11:37)
in the parking lots.
And she's like, you know what? I know what my strengths are. This isn't one of them. We're not.
Jules And Stace (11:59)
We made
an agreement in the beginning that if I drove all the time that she had to clean out the poop chute and I was like that's my idea It only takes time for it to blow up on you that you'll never make that mistake again
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:13)
I was like, that, I might be going, no, I'm gonna learn how to drive. I don't know if I can do.
Jules And Stace (12:20)
And I was the fixer, so if anything small went, I was able to fix it and if something big happened, we were able to call people in. So we traveled for two and a half years in a brand-in RV with QR code. That RV's still driving around. It's not ours anymore. We sold it. But the owner now, he's like, no, I love it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:42)
he still keeps the branding
on. That's fantastic.
Jules And Stace (12:45)
Yeah, and he kept her name and everything. so, yeah, so that was our journey for two and a half years and we came off the road. We always know when he's on the road because our website traffic spikes like two or three hundred percent. We've had it. So we're from South Carolina, but we've had a friend call us in Alabama. It's like, how dare you be in Alabama in Beaumont. Texas. mean, Texas. Beaumont, Texas and not call us.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (13:09)
Yeah
Here.
Jules And Stace (13:14)
and me and we're like we're not there he goes the heck you are and he goes I was right behind you on the interstate and we're like that's not us.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (13:21)
That's not us anymore. So did you
guys just like just go to different areas that that would be that people would use the OME gear and kind of and go to you know grassroots type of thing selling the product or
Jules And Stace (13:33)
Yes.
We
literally sold, the product's called the Wanderer, and we literally sold one Wanderer at a time, and then met with stores or retail locations, that sort of thing. We went to events and trade shows, and it was literally two and a half year tour all across the US building our brand.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (13:54)
that.
So when did you guys say, all right, that we've done this, it's now time to like, not be nomads? What was...
Jules And Stace (14:05)
Yeah, honestly, JJ,
it was all about money. mean, well, we had done two and a half years and that was a lot, but we got to a point where we needed money again. And I mean, you'll see that this is sort of a thread that goes all throughout our story because, and honestly, I'm kind of at the point where I'm tired of telling this statistic, but it is what it is, that less than 1.5 % of all funding goes to women. And then it's less than that to women in the product space. And so while...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (14:11)
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (14:34)
Like Stace and I, we just looked at each other one day and we said, you know what, let's stop talking about that statistic and let's do something about it. That thread of it being so challenging for a woman to take a product to market, that's what birthed the BoldSKY Foundation. And we can talk about that later, but.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (14:43)
Yeah.
Yeah, no, I
was wondering if that's like what sparked it of, we see this gap, it is a problem. That women are passed over, but yet the stats of women founded businesses, especially product in the product space outperform men, male-led businesses and founders by like, I think it was like 10 to one.
Jules And Stace (15:21)
Yeah,
they do. We went to an angel investors conference and we spoke at it and we said, how many of you guys, if we had a product right now that's apparel and we would promise you that it makes you look skinnier and all of that, how many of you would be interested in seeing a pitch deck and not one of them raised their hands? And we said, if Sarah Blakely came to you and said, I've got a product, ta-da-da, how many of you would wish that you were on her cap table?
And every one of them, was 80 % white men in the room and 80%, mean, mean, 100 % of them raised their hands. And we said, that's it. So what's happening right now is there's this beautiful movement, uprising of women in the product space and women investors, women VC firms. mean, women are really starting to say, we don't want to take the seat to the table. We want to add more chairs, right? We value men very much. we believe that
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (15:51)
Right. That's right.
Right.
That's right.
Jules And Stace (16:20)
men bring a part to business that we could never bring. But there needs to be a reckoning that women also bring a part to this business that men can never bring. And so there does need to be equity at the table. And that's really what we're looking at being a part of and really not necessarily pioneering because there are a lot of women who have gone before us and are raising their children.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (16:24)
Right.
Yeah.
Right, like Kendall Scott's like
pushing this agenda. think she did a wonderful keynote at South by Southwest a couple weeks ago talking about the same very stuff that she got passed over how many times and you know, Sarah Blakely said the same thing of like this, it is a gap and we're seeing it, you know, in South Carolina in not, you know, product space but in life science.
Jules And Stace (17:00)
Yeah.
you
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:14)
especially like around devices and stuff that are in the, you know, in the tech world, women are not getting the attention they need and the pipeline they need to cultivate, especially in that life science, like healthcare, pharmaceutical, with all the regulations and all that. so I applaud you guys for being a solution. you know, and if we can amplify that, I mean, I'm a female founder and I work with other female founders and it is,
Jules And Stace (17:36)
Thank you.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:44)
It's heartbreaking when you hear the stories, but it's like you said, can't focus on that. How do we be the solution?
Jules And Stace (17:53)
Yeah. So I want to talk about BoldSKY and what that looks like and really what brought it to light to us is Jules and I were in Vegas and we were at a trade show and we don't, we're not gamblers so we're more hikers and so we went out to the hike down to the Colorado River and we knew that a friend of ours, Sarah, can spot our Yerkes was passing away at that moment.
And she was a fierce advocate for female entrepreneurs and just a huge fan of ours. And we knew that we wanted to do something in her honor. And as Jules and I are walking down to the river, Jules is like, let's talk about Sarah before she passes, like why she's still here, like what she's meant to us and everything. And I said a little prayer before we...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (18:48)
well.
Jules And Stace (18:52)
before we left on our walk, our hike, said, God, send us a sign. Send us a sign that Sarah's gonna be okay. Now we don't know what okay looks like and that doesn't mean she's gonna, but she's just gonna be okay. And as we go around the bend, we look up and I start crying and Jill's like, what's going on? And there are eight ram up on the mountain. And that was a sign. And then that moment, that's when bold died.
Sarah Kinspire-Yerkey was her initials, born. And so that is the whole story behind it. But BoldSKY Foundation has actually morphed into other things. We have the foundation that will help women get the coaching and the services they need. And then we are going to have BoldSKY. And then also seed funding.
And then we'll have, because we'll have a LLC attached to that. So we'll be able to see funding and then we have both, but sometimes that's not enough. mean, $25,000, $50,000, $100,000, those are the needle in a lot of these businesses. so the next will be BoldSKY Venture that we'll be able to invest bigger money. And we've had conversations with other women groups that want to be a part of that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (19:54)
Right.
Right.
Jules And Stace (20:16)
And then the last is both got industry so we can actually build some manufacturing here in the US. And I tried to bring our product back to the US because this is what we heard people wanted. was it was virtual.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (20:23)
Right.
Yeah. We don't have the infrastructure. We
do not have the infrastructure yet. I don't think a lot of people understand the landscape of manufacturing and the supply chain network. And there's a lot of myths and false narratives that it's, know, yes, we need to make movements to do that, but it is not as easy as people think it is. Yeah.
Jules And Stace (20:37)
Nice. Yeah.
No, no, it's
not at all. And so we want to be a part of that change. So we want to be the paradigm shift in all aspects of what people need for their inventions, for their products. And so that's kind of where we're going. That's where we're heading.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (21:11)
That's
where you're going. So where does OME Gear stand? Are you guys kind of saying, OK, we're going to put pause on that? Or is that just kind of now it's in a machine? It's already in shops. mean, where is that product?
Jules And Stace (21:31)
Yeah, we're in a bit of a holding pattern with OME Gear right now on this, waiting on this investment. Once this investment comes through, we'll literally be off to the races where we're bringing in a management team to come and run OME Gear, still very much under our direction and our vision. But we'll have multiple other entities that we're gonna be focused on. And one of those is BoldSky. And we're also bringing in a CEO.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (21:43)
Hey!
Right?
Jules And Stace (22:00)
old sky because we really need to kind of, you know, elevate ourselves to the overall strategy and leadership position to really make this vision become a reality. But no, OME is one of the, we'll sort of redesign our current wanderer. I mean, you'll in a product, especially in one as complex as ours, what we put into the market is good. It's really good, but we want.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:08)
Right.
Right.
Jules And Stace (22:29)
make it be excellent, right? We've heard
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:31)
The best, yeah.
Jules And Stace (22:32)
a lot of feedback and so we're going to go into Gen 2 of it. And then we also are going to be putting out an outdoor wheelchair that's transformable and foldable and affordable and all of those things because what we've heard from a lot of our customers is, hey, can we use the Wanderer for transporting, you know, my grandma or my mom or my daughter or whatever.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:55)
Right.
Jules And Stace (22:56)
And we have to say no, because it's not been rated for that. we know that there is a huge need for an affordable outdoor wheelchair to allow people to get outside and enjoy. So that's one of the products that we're really, really excited about rolling out. And a lot of people, like, you'll see the product if you go to our website at omegear.com.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (23:13)
Nice, nice. So what did you go? go ahead. Sorry, Jules.
Jules And Stace (23:23)
But it's very complex. mean, there's 143 parts of this product. And so it's super complex. And it cost us almost right at $400,000 just to design it. so, I mean, it is a complex, because we needed to make sure all the hinges, what we're asking that they do. so, I mean, creating a product.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (23:28)
my God,
Wow.
Yeah.
the durability, know, especially with, use
it in the sand and salt and yeah, yeah.
Jules And Stace (23:52)
And
Jules and I often say, why didn't we develop the Kleenex? Why did we have to do the hardest thing coming right out of the gate?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (24:01)
Well, yeah, well who else was gonna do it, right? So what did you guys discover most about yourself during this journey?
Jules And Stace (24:04)
That's right.
I'm gonna give, to your questions, I'm gonna give the first thing that comes to mind. And the first thing that came to mind was how resilient we are. That was my word. Just when we thought that we were at the end of our rope, we found another string to hang onto. And I think part of it is because we're together and Stace and I are married to each other. And so that helps a lot where when we have a theory, a little red wagon when one of us is tired and.
you know, that we sit in the wagon and the other one pulls us. And so that's really helped us keep going. But I think even more than that, it's our faith. So we have a really, really strong faith and belief that God has called us to this. And when God calls you to something, if you walk away, it's disobedience. And so for us, it's just had to be part of our story. And I think we've had to experience the hardships that we have so that when
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (24:46)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (25:12)
people come into BoldSKY, we can relate to them. We can relate to the heartache and the pain and the fear that comes along with being an entrepreneur, specifically in the product space, because it is different. An entrepreneur in the service business is different to the one in the product space, because the product space, it costs so much more. I you have to have inventory, you have to have product design, you have to have...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:21)
That's right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (25:38)
shipping, know, I mean, there's all these extra things that almost force you unless you have were born with a silver spoon and any investment people it almost forces you to like it's just a different level of fear and trepidation I think that comes with being
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:49)
Right.
Right, and I think that's where, yeah, there's
that love-hate with PE and investment firms or venture, that don't, that never been founders and entrepreneurs, that we hear that a lot again. We've talked to so many founders and entrepreneurs of deepest regret of, it was great to get that money, but the pressure of these people have never been, never run a business, they don't understand the pressure.
Jules And Stace (26:08)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:26)
they're putting more pressure on me and they don't understand the landscape of whatever category they're in. If it's manufacturing, they don't understand those complexities. Or if it's like pharmaceutical and life science, they don't understand those complexities around regulations and going to market. yeah, it's just, so the fact that you guys are kind of coming in like, we're gonna cradle you. We're gonna cradle the pipeline.
Jules And Stace (26:50)
Yeah, that's right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:54)
and help cultivate and nurture it in the way that that needs to be, you know, needs to be done. And I think it's I think it's a gap. We're seeing those bubbles pop up and like I said, life science, you know, area. But I think you're the first one that I've that I've heard other than I think like the Blake, like likely Sarah Blakely and and like a Kendall Scott in that product. But they're in the fashion space, right? I mean, I know there's also complexities more in like
⁓ you know outdoor gear and some like technical ⁓ aspect of it so it's it's interesting yeah that that you guys are filling a gap that's not really there i mean
Jules And Stace (27:31)
Yeah.
We are and that's a that's a true entrepreneur right where it we if we could have only had old sky when we were taking OME gear to market our journey would have been really different because we say we want to fill in the potholes with rocks so that all coming beside us and behind us don't have as You know traumatizing of a journey. I mean, that's been really hard and so
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (27:52)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Jules And Stace (28:02)
That you're exactly right. We have looked and there are groups out there for women entrepreneurs that we love and we support and we cheer on, but they're a combo of service and product. And oftentimes it's, it's there, there is a different understanding that comes along with products. So that's why we're only going after the product people. ⁓ because we, we very much understand that world and we've had a coaching business. understand the service world too.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:25)
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (28:32)
But we know it's just way more challenging. No, I saying that the cool thing about BoldSKY is it's going to be women helping women or people helping people. So with the foundation, women can come back in and
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:35)
Yeah, yeah. Do you think, oh, go ahead.
Jules And Stace (28:54)
give money to help anybody else coming in behind them. And it goes all to the women in ventures. It doesn't go to us at all. This literally is to help women and make the introductions. vet out the marketing. I Jules and I have wasted so much money hiring the wrong marketing firms. And now we've vetted out marketing firms and IP attorneys and all. So we have.
a list and it's a growing list. We're always looking to relationships are everything to us. We're always looking for new relationships in those spaces to give people options, but we only want to cultivate the cream of the crop. The people that are going to do what they say they're going to do, they're going to over deliver every single time. And those are the people we want connected to BoldSKY and to our female inventors.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:23)
Yeah.
That's fantastic. So what is the biggest myth? mean here you guys, know took a huge leap to to develop your dad's, know, and jumping into Foundership and and startup world What was the biggest misconception you had and that you can go in and go let me debunk this right away Or what's like when you coach others? Like where do you what is the the advice you get people like you might think it's this but let me
tell you really the realities.
Jules And Stace (30:20)
It's gonna cost more, it's gonna take longer, and it's gonna be the hardest thing you've ever probably had to do. And one of, I mean, we still have our coaching consulting firm in every one of our clients. We sit them down and say, just look at your numbers and then tell, and then what you're gonna need for the next six months to a year funding wise. without, and women are really good at this is,
stretching a dollar into 10 or 100. And so they come back and they're like, oh, I just need like $100,000 to make it by, to get by. We're like, no, you need probably 10 times that. And I think that is one of the biggest misconceptions is that people can do it with, and they can bootstrap. I mean, then some people can bootstrap it and that's great if you have the means. But a lot of people don't understand the cost behind.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (30:58)
Yeah. Right.
Right.
Jules And Stace (31:17)
what it did, what it takes taking a product to market.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (31:21)
Yeah. Would you be doing this if you had no fears?
Or what would you be doing if there were no fears, no worries about stressors of money or anything? Would you still be doing this?
Jules And Stace (31:37)
Exactly this. I wouldn't be doing anything different. I mean, this, the impact we knew when we started BoldSKY, always, mean, I'm sorry, OME Gear, we knew that OME Gear was a platform for impact because we walked the trade shows at the outdoor retail show, which is the largest outer gear. There is, and we walked it looking for other female founders in the hardwood space.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (31:56)
I've been there. It's a good show, but it's huge.
Jules And Stace (32:05)
There were ones that had chapstick and food and apparel, but there weren't any in the hard good space like this. None in the whole show. We were like, we're onto something. We're a little bit of an anomaly. And so we knew that if we could stick this out and really grow this thing, that we would have a platform for impact. And so we didn't know at the time what the impact was going to be. But now that because we've been in the wilderness of
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (32:17)
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (32:33)
you know, it being brutal to take this product to market and we've persevered. Now our voices can be heard, right? And their voices with impact because we've been there, we've done it, we've persevered, we've grown the chutzpah that it takes to take a physical product to market. And so, no, and what's ahead of us on the horizon is literally so exciting. I we get on calls with
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (32:41)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (33:00)
particularly women inventors, but also male inventors as well, probably 20 to 30 a week, we're now reaching out to us saying, can I get on a call with you? And I will tell you, Stacey and I have such hearts to give back to people and give to people that every one of those calls, we find somebody that we can introduce them to because our network has grown and we hold a
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (33:09)
Wow.
Jules And Stace (33:29)
We hold our things very loosely. hold our money very loosely. We hold our resources very loosely. We hold our connections very loosely. But we also really value those connections. And so before we make an introduction, we will always reach out to that person and say, hey, we have this person we'd like to introduce you to. Are you OK with an intro? And so we've just learned a lot along the way of how to respect other people's time. And so
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (33:50)
Right.
Jules And Stace (33:57)
I don't know, like I just feel like we're on the exact right path that we're supposed to be on and because of that I wouldn't do anything different.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (34:03)
Yeah.
I love it. love it. So if you could change two things, like I give you a magic wand and you could change two things about BoldSKY or OME gear, what two things would you change?
Jules And Stace (34:20)
Hmm, that's a great question. mean
I mean, obviously I would change the funding aspect that we would have gotten capitalized sooner than where we are. feel like that. But I also feel like that, and Jules mentioned our faith, that God does have this, he has to take everything away because what we do with a little is what we're gonna do with a lot. We have to show that and improve that.
And so I feel like that it's his timing, but if I could change it, obviously it would have taken the stress off of us immensely, and I probably wouldn't look like I'm 80. But that would be one. Jules, do you have another one? It's the stress, honestly, because stress takes such a toll on your body.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (35:20)
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (35:20)
And I mean, this put me in the hospital. And I had a vasovagal syncope issue when I was in a restaurant and completely passed out. My blood pressure, STAS couldn't find it, my pulse. Then it took me out of the hospital on a stretcher and to the ER. And so, I mean, that kind of stuff, like nobody wishes that on anybody. And she was only a half a glass of wine in. It was not alcohol. Literally, she...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (35:36)
my gosh.
now.
Right,
right, right. I think one of the most stressed, like I've been in the ER twice for almost like panic attacks, anxiety attacks, thinking I was having a heart attack. So I think we've all kind of faced that. Because stress is something I don't think people really understand the impact that founders have.
Jules And Stace (36:01)
Yeah, yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (36:16)
I don't want say it's a rite of passage, but it's also one that does change you. I mean, I think you out, we become better humans. We become more resilient. We learn about ourselves. We understand people. And I think we connect with people and kind of have that, I like a much more, I call myself now an optimistic, cynical humanist is my, is my.
Jules And Stace (36:43)
I love that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (36:48)
You know, because I am, I used to be very, you know, had this idealism, but you know, the pragmatic side, the cynicism, you know, has kind of like, you know, this is just how people are gonna act and behave, but I'm still very optimistic.
Jules And Stace (37:04)
Yeah,
yeah, I think I'd like to add one more in and this one's kind of this one I'm gonna try to say this without tears, but I wish things would have happened sooner before Jules's mom passed and she had breast cancer in July of last year and so not even So she was an incredible prayer warrior for us and and and so I just feel like that I just wish she would have seen it like
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (37:22)
I'm so sorry. Yeah.
Yeah, she is.
Jules And Stace (37:35)
Yeah, she is.
Yeah, that's true. That's a really good one. I always said that success to me is not about money and because you can, mean, money will come and go and you know, all of that and you can only spend so much, you know, and so it's like, it's just money. It's a tool for really beautiful things. But we always said success for me was when
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (37:54)
Right?
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (38:02)
My mom and dad were somewhere and they saw the wanderer and they texted him that, honey, talking to both of us, you did it. That would have been success. And so it's going to have to come in a different way for my mom. My dad is a fierce, I mean, he is a huge cheerleader of ours. We'll use the last one sometimes we're like, are you sure dad? He's like, nope, keep going.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (38:15)
Yeah.
You
Keep going, keep going. I want to see that wander on there. I
was going to ask you like, who is your biggest cheerleader? Obviously, you guys are cheerleaders for each other and that's nice to have that partnership. But who's the biggest cheerleader in your life? Is it your dad and your mom?
Jules And Stace (38:40)
And my mom. Yeah.
Yeah. would say, yep, my dad and her mom. We have a lot of really huge cheerleaders in our families and all of that and friends. But I will say, I just did a post on this. It's really interesting how on LinkedIn, it's really interesting how when you decide to walk the road of product entrepreneurship, even entrepreneurship in general, your friends change. And it's not completely
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (39:05)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (39:10)
Not that you lose the old friends, but you have to have a group, even if it's just a small one or two people in your life who understand the road of entrepreneurship, where they don't tell you when it's hard to go get a job, or they don't think that just because you're posting great things on social media that you're crazy successful and now you're not relatable. You have to really kind of change your friendships. Keep the old, but...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (39:22)
That's right.
That's right.
Jules And Stace (39:40)
you know, really embrace the new of people who get it. Cause if not.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (39:42)
Right.
I cannot agree more. Yeah.
mean, and we and we hear this all the time. And I felt it, you know, it's like my circles chain like you. You know, I still have my girlfriends and stuff, they're things that I cannot talk to them about. They won't get it. It's not even. And then you start getting thirsty. There was a period in my journey for because I started I have I have to I run this and then I have a marketing agency and I started that in 2013.
Jules And Stace (40:00)
you
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (40:15)
after the glass ceiling actually got slammed on my head, where I was told, you can wait out the mindset of our leadership, but maybe they'll change their mind for women to be at this level. And I was like, well, I'm not gonna wait 10 years. I'll just start my own company. But there was a period after like two, three years, I was so alone. Because I didn't really have a community, a circle.
Jules And Stace (40:32)
in that sense.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (40:45)
there wasn't a lot of people, women in my community that were like that I could find until it was like 2018 is when I kind of entered into women and minority community space and I was like of entrepreneurs and I'm like, my gosh, like, hi, this is amazing. And a lot of us were feeling that was like 30 of us, you know, don't know, handful, six, eight, 10, we would cry.
Jules And Stace (40:50)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (41:15)
Like, you don't understand, this is so, and people on the outside were like, I don't understand why they're so emotional. It's like, you know, I was like, I was alone for, you know, five years, but I was like, there were women in this, you know, had come into this group in 2018 who had been, been running a business and they, you know, they had, had grown to like a thousand employees and it was just them. They had, they're like, I've been doing this for 20 years and never knew.
Never had anybody I could reach out to. And so, yeah, it's, so I love community. And I preach that as like, if you're an entrepreneur, if you're thinking about like, you will find your connections and you need to make new connections because you're gonna, you need to have a place to vent, to ask advice that's safe, because not all spaces are safe to ask advice.
that you're not gonna get somebody with an agenda, which we've seen a lot of entrepreneurs getting taken advantage of in some ecosystems. So we try to wanna encourage that because it can be a lifesaver for people. And even like what you guys are building with BoldSKY, it's gonna be a safe space for people to be nurtured and be able to ask questions and
Have somebody walk alongside them in this journey. That gets it. So it's powerful.
Jules And Stace (42:46)
Yeah. We,
in the, the, thank you. Yes. In the waiting period of bold sky, we've started three mastermind groups, ⁓ with female inventors and it is a safe place. And it's something that they look forward to every week that they're on. ⁓ because it's not about, it's not about us. It's about them. It's about their community. And that is a common thread is they don't have anybody. They feel alone. They're on an island.
and all of sudden you put them in a mastermind group with 12 other like-minded women and they don't feel like they're an alien. They're like, my gosh, I, you know, they just, and we started a WhatsApp group for each of the groups. And so they communicate, they ask questions, they lean into each other. And these are people that they would have never met because they're all from all over the...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (43:34)
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (43:41)
United States and Canada. And so it was like, now we've opened up this space for them that they're doing, you know, not side deals, but they're helping each other out on LinkedIn or Instagram, or they're doing collabs together. And it's just really cool to sit back and watch that all of a sudden these women come with tears and then they show up with smiles because they're excited about the next, you know, what's happening this week.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (43:54)
Right.
That's right.
That's right. You only need to feel like they become their own cheerleaders to each other. So, you know, we talked about like the stress of it. What do you guys do to manage your stress and the mental health and keep well from that aspect of it? And how do you coach that for your people that are in your circles?
Jules And Stace (44:15)
Exactly,
Yeah, I love that question too. You're asking great questions. For us, it's all about gratitude. When we remain in a place of gratitude, so we'll go on walks and one of us will inevitably say what's something that you're thankful for. And then it will just sort of shift our mindset to focus on what we have and not perseverate on what we don't have. So gratitude is one thing, but it's
I think it's stepping away from the business as well because it can be all consuming. I mean, it really can. And so for Stace and I, it's going out on dates and making sure that we're connecting with each other and connecting with our families and making our families priority and then going and hanging out with our friends who don't understand business talk. And so it's like we're forced to not be able to talk about that, right?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (45:30)
Right.
Jules And Stace (45:34)
And so that's good. We can't have all of that, but we have to have the other like-minded ones in our lives. But it's really, it's about balance. And they're not like, not necessarily work-life balance because honestly, I'm not a believer in that. I'm just not. mean, because... Yeah, yeah. mean, it sounds really good, but what does that look like? So if you want work-life balance, go get a nine to five job.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (45:51)
Yeah, I've never been, I've been more of like you're balancing the imbalance.
Jules And Stace (46:04)
because then you'll have the balance. But if you choose to be an entrepreneur, then you're just not going to have work-life balance. There are going to be seasons where you're going to be balls to the wall and you have to work 22 hours a day, right? Because that's where you are. But then there will be seasons where you can rest and recuperate and recover and then go back at it again. And so I think it is balance and
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (46:04)
Right. Right.
All right.
Right.
Jules And Stace (46:31)
but it's it's like choosing balance in the middle of the chaos. I love the name of your podcast.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (46:37)
I know that
well, it's about what we, you we talked to, I think I pulled like two, 300 different founders across the country. And I was like, you know, it's like what word, you know, comes up most in your world? And you know, and it was like, you need your trailblazer and you'd hear, you know, bold and, and you know, all that, but chaos kept coming up, but it was interesting. was,
You know, there were some people that were like, my God, chaos gives me anxiety. Like that word gives me so many. And then there were others, you know, more overwhelmingly were like, no, no, it's that is our world, but I welcome it. And you, you know, and it's in and we, we talk that on like on the marketing side of the agency. I'm like, we, we help companies. it's like we call us, we thrive in that chaos, trying to build the structure that they need, try to give them the clarity that they need through the chaos.
Jules And Stace (47:16)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (47:33)
But it is a, it's such a fantastic word that really describes our worlds that way.
Jules And Stace (47:40)
You know why
I love it and why it fits so perfectly is because an entrepreneur, when they kind of get their wings is when they realize that they're the chief problem solver. And problems get solved in chaos, right? mean, chaos creates problems. And so...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (47:58)
Right, that's right. It's
like, we always say you get the, you get the aha from the shit and sometimes you get the ⁓ shit in an aha discovery. it's.
Jules And Stace (48:09)
Yeah, you are
so exactly right, which is why I am connecting so much with the title of your podcast. I love it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (48:18)
No, that's great. Okay, so if we meet a year from now, wherever, know, what would we be toasting? What would we be celebrating?
Jules And Stace (48:31)
⁓ we'll be celebrating at least a hundred women in the product space that we will have invested in. ⁓ that's our goal. ⁓ 25 a quarter. That's our like initial, like bottom goal, lowest goal. so we'll be toasting that because like, like we said, we're, believe we're, we're close to our funding closing. It's been a hell of a ride to get here, but we're, we're.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (48:58)
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (48:59)
almost here. And so once it comes, like I said earlier, everything kind of brings
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (49:03)
and we can go. And have
you guys already identified the 100? Because when I hear that, I was like, that's such a small number. But I know I've talked to some other like, there's not enough women founders. And I'm like, you would be surprised at how many are out there.
Jules And Stace (49:24)
Yes, we've identified many of them. did a summit back in... April of last year? Yeah, out in California. We had 80 inventors show up. And then just from that, we have met so many inventors who are looking forward to BoldSKY.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (49:41)
Wow.
Jules And Stace (49:49)
I mean, we have 30 people right there in our mastermind group that will be able to invest in that first cohort. And that's just the, that's our minimum goal. If we can get further than that, I mean, obviously, you know, it does take money, but we also want to keep the cohorts small, smaller so they can, so they can build connections within the cohorts.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (50:21)
Can you hear me? No. No. We're going out. Come back in. Hold on. We're going out. Come back in. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (51:15)
Okay.
Do we need to do the echo cancellation thing? Sorry guys. Can you hear me? All of a sudden it was like, it's almost like your computer went mute and I'm like, I can't hear you anymore. It was weird. So you were talking about, we're gonna edit that part out, but to pick up, you were talking about like the goal 25, you got the 30 in your first cohort already identified once you close this funding.
Jules And Stace (51:23)
That's all right. Yes.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (51:47)
But that's just the minimum, right? Just the minimum.
Jules And Stace (51:51)
We purposely want to keep them small because they will become their own group and they'll do their own masterminds and stuff like that. we purposely want to keep, now if we could do more cohorts throughout the year, but it starts somewhere.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (51:55)
Yeah,
Yeah.
Do they have to pay? So the funding is to help cover that, like to get a sponsor, or do they have to pay to be a part of the cohort?
Jules And Stace (52:18)
We're finalizing that right now. We're going back and forth between they should pay a little bit because they invest in it, then the application process is going to be pretty stringent. So that's kind of how they pay is by really investing time in that. as soon as funding comes, we're going to finalize all of those details. But our goal is to...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (52:21)
Okay.
Yeah.
Mm.
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (52:44)
Our goal is to be a resource to every woman in the product space, right? But like Stace said, we need to walk before we run. And so those first women that come in will be sort of the pilot with us, really building this program so that it's not, we will never have videos that they watch on their own and self tutor like themselves. Like we will be interactive, it will be resourceful that they can come and get exactly the help that they need. I'm not saying that that's bad.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (52:48)
Yeah.
Jules And Stace (53:12)
I'm just saying those kinds of videos where you self teach have never been helpful for Stacey and I. We need the interaction, we need the like-minded people. So we're building it out where it's very hands-on, it's very customized. And so we need to get the program built, make sure that it's right, and then we can funnel a bunch of people through it. ultimately, that's our goal. But in a year, we need to least be celebrating 100.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (53:38)
We're gonna celebrate.
Are you guys gonna be doing, like you said, you had a summit last April, is that the plan to still have a summit every year to kind of celebrate those that are in the, and meet new ones? And is that gonna be a traveling summit, or as in, it was in California, is it always gonna be in California, or is it just wherever you guys wanna travel to?
Jules And Stace (53:50)
Yeah, absolutely. And then meet new ones.
you
No, our plan is to do them in Charleston, South Carolina.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (54:07)
good, yeah. Well then I'll come to that. All right, so if you had to sum up your entrepreneur, your founder journey in one word, what would that word be?
Jules And Stace (54:12)
Absolutely. right. Good luck.
want to make it be all one word, but it's more than one. That's right. The word is one hell of a ride. And I mean, that's positive and that's terrifying. You have one hell of a ride. And mine is exhilarating. So it kind of goes together. It's quite exhilarating. Yeah. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (54:23)
Okay. It's a hybrid word. We make up words.
Yeah
It says it all.
Yeah, one hell of a ride that's exhilarating. Yeah.
And then if you look to next chapter, what word describes that next chapter in your journey?
Jules And Stace (54:58)
Which yours? This is why I'm gonna say it really fast. Worth it. I love it. And mine is adventure. I think our best is yet to come. Yeah, yeah. When Stace and I got married, one of the vows that we vowed to each other is that we would live a life of adventure. That no grass would grow under our feet. That every day would be
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (55:02)
Worth it. yeah.
I think so, you guys are just, I think, scratching a surface.
Ugh.
Jules And Stace (55:27)
a day that's lived to the full. And I believe truly in my heart of hearts that our best is yet to come. And so, I'm excited.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (55:28)
There.
Yeah, well, especially
you're building circles of innovators and especially in the product space. Something's going to spark. You never know the energy and the adventure that you'll that might embark you. I'm so excited on this. there what piece of advice or what's your best advice that you give to everybody when you coach like?
Jules And Stace (55:47)
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (56:04)
Hands down, what is the best advice either you've been given or you like to give?
Jules And Stace (56:13)
I'll go because you're thinking. I have it, but no, no exactly why you're doing what you're doing. And if you can find the calling piece of it, right? A product will come and go. I mean, it's like, whatever, who cares? I mean, we care about our wanderer. We care about OME gear. Um, but ultimately we have found the why to what we're doing. And when you find the why,
it's virtually impossible to give up. So people say don't give up, like keep going. But if it's just about a product, it's easy to give up, right? If it's just about a solution, it's easy to give up. If you really connect with the like depth of why you want to take this product to market, you'll have the energy that you need to give up and the resilience and the grit and the scrappiness and all those things that are must haves in order to take a product to market.
And also know your values. Know your value personally, but know your values and live by your values. Hire through your values, fire through your values. And we always say give someone six months to show they're crazy. And we live by that. And it's true. And pay attention to the yellow lights. Because in the United States, a yellow light has never turned green.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (57:34)
Here.
Mmm.
Jules And Stace (57:43)
And so we always tell our clients that, you know, and we help them like figure out what their values are because that's a hard exercise to do. And you want to have faith in everyone, but not everybody is, that doesn't mean everyone's not, I mean, not everybody's on the up and up, I should just say, but, or not everybody matches your values. so we're in the.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (57:52)
It is a hard exercise, yep.
Right, or not everybody
is genuine of what they say in an interview. You know, we've had a change kind of how we interview, because I feel like we've, you know, I've hired wrong. I have listened to what the words and not their actions and their behaviors. And that does come out. I love the, I'll give you six months to see the crazy, but yeah, I like that. But yeah, it's a hard, it's one of the hardest things is to find,
Jules And Stace (58:12)
Yeah.
you
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (58:37)
I mean, you're never gonna find anybody that's as passionate about the business or whatever, there are things and Chandler's new on our team actually just celebrated his one year with us. And yeah, he passed the six months and he's got a lot of one year set like big celebrations. He just got married a week ago. He's one week or one year celebration here, but it was, I think we put him through a ringer just to,
Jules And Stace (58:48)
you passed six months.
Congrats!
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (59:07)
We didn't do the job that we needed to do. And it caused toxicity in our team. And it was one of those things of like, you knew it, you feel it, but it's like, no, you want to give people the benefit of doubt. Then it's like, no, they're revealing themselves to you. You need to just knock it up to do better, hire better the next time. But yeah, we took a long time to like.
Jules And Stace (59:28)
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (59:37)
refocus of how do you hire for the values when they're really intangible? How do you hire for agility and nimbleness? An interview through that, that's one of our, right. That's right, and so it's just like through the interview,
Jules And Stace (59:46)
Yeah.
Mm.
Could have a racetrack.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (1:00:05)
asking questions and also really telling stories because it's not just we're interviewing them, the stories that we plant and the stories that we describe, they need to see themselves in those stories because they're interviewing us too. Do they really wanna be a part of this team? We work in chaos, not just our, but we help other companies.
and founders and not even founder. I'm like, we're working with companies that are 25 million or 250 million or half billion that are even more chaotic than a startup because they've been in business for 50 years. They have these really bad habits that have formed and it's giant ships that you've got to turn around and they've never had any.
Jules And Stace (1:00:46)
Mm-hmm, right.
What? No.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (1:01:01)
discipline in branding, no discipline in marketing operations in an engine, and absolutely no discipline and plan for advertising and how to really look at the media space through the lens of strategy. And so it's, we're entering those spaces and it's like.
So we're like, we're therapists, we're counselors, you know, but people that come onto our team need to be ready. I don't think we, I still, Chandler still gets his, you know, mind blown of, you weren't kidding, now I see what you were, like it is real. And even it's just so when you talk to like,
Jules And Stace (1:01:37)
Thank
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (1:01:47)
found the startup scene and people have been in business for three years or five years and that's really like startup, startup, or even 10 years. And they're like, I know big companies do it different. like, no, if I showed you the shit we're doing for a company that's been around for 100 years, would be, it'd make you feel better. It's like, it's okay, we all have that. It's only the biggest of brands.
Jules And Stace (1:02:13)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (1:02:17)
who we all admire, but it's, know, they have the millions of dollars that they've invested in those frameworks and those circles and they've got the monitoring systems. I'm like, you don't have that. You've never had that. And so let's take the learnings that we had working with those big companies and let's bring it down to a level that really helps fuel the business, but doing it in the right way and more intentional way, but yeah.
Jules And Stace (1:02:23)
Thanks for having us.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (1:02:46)
It is, we live in crazy. It is fun. Like I wouldn't have it any other way. When you go and try to interview, I think there was a, before I started this, I kind of took time and interviewed at different brands to go, maybe I want to be a brand, I've always been an agency side. I've always been the agency person working with the big brands, but I never worked in those halls.
Jules And Stace (1:02:50)
Absolutely. But it's kind of fun, right?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (1:03:15)
I did like four interviews and I, you know, with different companies, I'm like, I can't do that. That is not for me. I need the different industries, the different audiences, the different projects, the different, you know. My superpower is curiosity and dot connection. So I need that fueled at all times. Oh, that's fantastic. Okay, we're.
Jules And Stace (1:03:22)
You
Yes, for sure.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (1:03:44)
We have gone way long, but I've loved this conversation and we, and I'm so glad that we met. And I feel like maybe we've run it in each other in circles in the past, but I might be crazy. But before we go, how do you want people to support you, connect with you, learn more about what you're doing?
Jules And Stace (1:03:48)
Thank
Yeah, for me, the best place to connect is just on LinkedIn. So Jules Weldon, I'm really active on LinkedIn and give advice and tips and thoughts and musings. So anybody can just connect with me, Jules Weldon. And if they do, send me a DM telling me that they heard us on the show, because I'd love to know that it came from you. And if you connect with her, you're connecting with me. That is true. That is true. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (1:04:25)
Yeah.
You're like, all good. Very good. And we'll
tag and make sure we link everything. But I appreciate you guys this time. This was such a great conversation. I loved hearing about your journey. It is fascinating. the road is just starting to get paved for you guys. The journey is still happening. It's just the beginning.
Jules And Stace (1:04:41)
So, thank
Yeah, it is.
It is. We're excited. Thank you so much for inviting us. It's an honor to be on here with you.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (1:04:59)
No,
and for everybody listening or watching us, thank you for joining us. The podcast obviously is available on all your favorite podcast platforms. So subscribe to Hello Chaos. Give us a five star review on Apple or Spotify or share this great content and help us build a more connected entrepreneurial community. Hello Chaos is one of the many resources brought to you by OrangeWIP. That is OrangeWIP WIP for work in progress.
We are a multimedia company dedicated to serving founders and entrepreneurs. We've designed media platforms that inform, inspire, and be the independent connective tissue between founders and the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. We've really done all the hard work for founders, so they just need to go to one trusted place to find the information they need to help them along their journey. If you'd like to be a guest on our podcast or support us, send us an email to hello at orangewip.com.
Y'all thank you for tuning in to Hello Chaos. It is where aha meets shit and we will see you again next week.
Jules And Stace (1:06:00)
Thank