🎙️ Small Business Spotlight: Dabble & Dollop’s Journey from Long Beach to Target! 🎯
In this episode of All in Long Beach, we dive into an amazing success story from right here in the city. Tyler Lashney, co-founder of Dabble & Dollop, joins us to talk about how their children’s personal care brand went from a garage in Naples Island to being sold in every Target store nationwide. 🚀
🔹 How they built a brand centered on creativity and fun for kids
🔹 The challenges of launching in the middle of a pandemic
🔹 How Target discovered them on LinkedIn!
🔹 Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs in Long Beach
If you’re a small business owner, startup dreamer, or just love hearing local success stories, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration.
💬 Let us know what you think! Drop your comments on Facebook and Instagram @allinlongbeach
LISTEN ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST PLAYER:
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-in-long-beach/id1791687079
iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-all-in-long-beach-259795666/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7LzHcURP5N0OuI9XbQgsaY?si=FdmE-ZcLR7qra3tNOH1rLw
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Facebook: facebook.com/allinlongbeach
Instagram: instagram.com/allinlongbeach
X/Twitter: x.com/allinlongbeach
BECOME A MEMBER
Patreon: www.patreon.com/allinlongbeach
Wine and Wisdom Membership with Marina Wine and Craft Beer Bar:
https://checkout.square.site/merchant/MLHX5G4WAPQ6F/checkout/FL3RNJBFUA6QS2SUME3AZQUP
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (00:00):
and what I will tell you is we love the
(00:03):
enthusiasm people have for Long Beach,
we didn't grow up here, but It's beenso welcoming and I think embracing that
Long Beach pride has been huge for us.
We wanted to keep thebusiness in Long Beach.
We want to employ people from Long Beach.
We, proudly print LongBeach on our bottle,
right?
Announcer (00:18):
All in Long Beach, we're breaking it down.
News and events from all around town.
Business, politics,
Speaker 2 (00:28):
lifestyle too.
Food and fun, we bring it to you.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (00:33):
And welcome to the All In Long Beach podcast.
So glad that you're here today.
My name is Stuart Takahara, your host.
And this segment is calledthe small business spotlight.
And this is out of allthe things that we do.
This has got to be the most funbecause we actually get to talk
to real entrepreneurs, real peoplehere in the city of Long Beach
that are making this huge impact.
And today.
(00:55):
Well, before I get into that, I readthis story on the press telegram.
This is how it came to me.
I was reading this story aboutdabble and dollop and um, they
are here based in long beach.
They've kind of grown and expanded.
And the reason why there isthis story in the press telegram
is because they went national.
They got their products inside of everysingle target store in the country.
This is like a entrepreneur'sdream come true.
(01:17):
And I am so excited tohave on the program today.
Tyler Lashney from Dabble andDollop, one of the co founders.
Tyler, welcome to the Allin Long Beach podcast.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Thank you, Stuart. (01:26):
undefined
Appreciate having me.
And, um, we're happy torepresent Dabble and Dollop and
Long Beach and happy to chat.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (01:32):
Fantastic.
So first off, if people aren'tfamiliar with you, cause maybe they
don't have children, what do you do?
What are you?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (01:39):
Sure.
Sure.
So dabble in dollop is achildren's personal care line.
So we started in 2019 withmy wife, Stephanie lash knee.
She spent the last 30 years in thecosmetics industry, and we wanted to
start a business that really cateredto children who are looking to kind of.
Extend their ownpreferences into their care.
So, you know, when you're aninfant, zero to one, mom and dad
(02:02):
are making the decisions for you.
When you're a teenager, you'remaking your own decisions.
But these kids that are one to 10,two to 12, you know, we wanted to
play into their sense of creativity.
Our kids used to play with slimeand Play Doh and we're like, can
we bring that magic to the bath?
And so dabble and dollop,as the name suggests.
It has a line of products where youtake a dabble of this, a dollop of
that, mix it together, and kind ofcreate your own custom bath creation.
(02:24):
So bubble baths, body washes, lotions,hand washes, bath bombs, um, and
we'll see where we go in the future,but that's where we are right now.
Wow.
Stuart - All In Long Beach: That sounds amazing. (02:32):
undefined
It just goes back to that.
There's no one size.
I remember growing up.
Yeah.
You got Johnson and Johnson's somethingor other in the one bottle, there
was no way to be able to express andkids are really creative at that age.
And this is a great way tobe able to experience that.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Yeah, exactly. (02:48):
undefined
And then, you know, from an ingredientside, we found this sort of weird gap
in the marketplace where again, parentswould spend hundreds or thousands
of dollars on products with withbeautiful ingredients for their infant.
And then again, when they become teenagersand adults, they're buying high end
products, but that we found Kids that are2 to 10 years old, they were just using
kind of mass market, big bottle stuff.
(03:09):
And we're like, well, why is that?
And so we wanted to create not onlya fun product, but a product that
had natural ingredients, USA sourcedingredients, fewer, better ingredients.
And, um, we either identified awhite space in the marketplace or
there just is no space for this.
But again, we think that kids that are 2to 12 should have the quality of products
that their parents had when they're olderor what they had when they were infants.
(03:31):
And so, um, we hope it's resonating.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (03:34):
Yeah.
Now, how long have you been doing this?
When did you start?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (03:37):
So we are a six year overnight success.
We started in 2019.
Uh, again, I mentioned my wife,Stephanie was in the cosmetic
ingredients industry for a longtime, had sold her family business
that was based in Santa Fe Springs.
Actually, um, they sold raw materialsto finish product manufacturers,
a lot of organic ingredients.
She identified this.
(03:57):
This need for the children's space,but also started having kids come
into work and they would do thisevent where they would make their own
products and kids would just light up.
They just loved it.
And she said, you know, if I ever have achance, I want to launch something where
kids can kind of make their own product.
And yeah, so, uh, ideas started in2017 and we sold our first products in
(04:19):
August, September of 2019, right beforeand into the pandemic, which was an
interesting time to launch a business.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (04:27):
And you were doing all this right here in Long Beach.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: We started sort of like a cliche, (04:30):
undefined
but we literally started in ourgarage, uh, on Naples Island.
Uh, if you read the article, uh, in the,in the, um, gazette and, uh, you saw that
we actually live in the home of anotherformer Long Beach businessperson, uh,
Henry Meyer, who started Hamburger Henry,who a lot of longtime Long Beachers know.
(04:51):
And we literally, you know, startedin our garage packing boxes.
We got our neighbor across thestreet to come over and help us.
And she would see us and go, whatare you guys doing over there?
Can I help?
And we're like, uh, yeah, you can.
And we started having the mailmanpick up products and then decided to
move to an office on second street.
And kind of quickly outgrew thatand then moved over here to, uh,
(05:12):
Signal Hill where we've got anoffice slash warehouse combination.
But yeah, it is born and bred in LongBeach, Long Beach through and through,
and we're really proud of that.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (05:20):
You know, it's interesting you said, I saw that in
the article where you were in the samehouse as Hamburger Handry's that started.
Is this a lucky house?
Is this, are you still living thereor is this house up for the grabs?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: No, we're still living here. (05:29):
undefined
The Hamburger Gates, however,are up for the grabs.
So it was funny when we moved inthe house, we did a renovation.
And on the kind of side alleyway whereyou kind of keep your garbage cans, he
had these metal gates that were fabricatedto look like hamburgers and people
would come by and take pictures of them.
And we were like, we can'ttake these things down.
And so we kept them upfor about four years.
(05:51):
And finally we decided, okay, we need tokind of have the gates match the house.
And so we've held onto them.
I've reached out to the historicalsociety to see if they wanted
to keep, uh, get them and.
So, yeah, we've got them, but anyonereally wants hamburger gates, uh, let
us know, we'll, we'll help you out.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (06:07):
You know, it's, um, you, you started this right
there from your garage, you expanded andprobably one of the most difficult times
of our lifetime during the pandemic.
And now just five years later, you'vegot this national deal with Target.
Why Target?
Is this something that you'd had youreyes set on or did they come to you?
How did you get on their radar?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Yeah, it's a great question because (06:29):
undefined
I think every brand that starts inthis space recognizes pretty quickly
that you need to have a nationalpresence, that this is not the most
ideal E commerce product to start.
Why do I say that?
Well, it's heavy, right?
It's hard to try it out.
It's hard to sort of say, Hey, youknow, I think I might like tangerine.
(06:53):
I might like lemon.
But do I want to pay whatever?
15 for a bottle shampoo plussome shipping and try it.
So it's not the most ideal Ecommerce business to start.
So you start to think about,Okay, where are the national
presidencies you can have?
And, you know, for us, Targetis really a perfect fit, right?
Target is national their value, but theyalso have this kind of sense of discovery.
(07:17):
Historically, Target has alwaysbeen, I think, at the forefront
of saying, you know, try somethingnew, try something different.
They carve out some space in theirstores, not just for the Johnson's
and Johnson's of the world, butyou know, something that a customer
might kind of discover and love.
And so for us, That wasreally the ultimate goal.
Um, that's not to say we wouldn't bein other retailers, but, but everyone
(07:37):
would say, Oh, you should be in target.
Ooh, you should be in target.
And well, sure.
If we could sort of snap our fingersand say, get into target, we would, but
it's a much more complicated process.
In this case, we got luckyand they came to us, they.
One of the buyers had found ourproducts online, ordered it for
her children, loved it, and thenreached out to Stephanie on LinkedIn.
(07:58):
I mean, it's a pretty incredible story.
Normally, brands are pitching target.
There's a whole network of brokers andfacilitators, and you kind of go through
this process, but they came direct to us.
And, um, you know, that was reallyexciting for us because it sort of meant.
Hey, you really want us, youwant to validate our product.
And, um, they've been a great partnerso far and we don't, we've only
been launched for about 35 days.
(08:21):
Um, but yeah, that was a great,great place for us to be.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (08:25):
To have them come to you, you know, I, I think as an
entrepreneur at some point, we've allwatched these TV shows, like a shark tank,
or maybe like the profit or something,or there's this one documentary.
I remember seeing where peoplewere trying to pitch their stuff to
walmart and it's like this big ordeal.
And you're just 1 of thousands andthousands and thousands, um, and, and
to have them come to you, that must havebeen, must have felt really, really great.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: It was incredible. (08:48):
undefined
I mean, in all honesty, we had triedbefore we had kind of tried to do that
sort of traditional process calling tosome of these brokers that are, you know,
they're all sort of X target employees.
They're all in Minnesota.
You kind of call up and say,Hey, we've got this great brand.
And they kind of go, let me see.
You're not sure.
Let me I'll think about it.
Um, And that's a long road and right.
(09:10):
And you can imagine there, theline is long and the people that
get through the door are few.
Um, so yeah, it was really incredible.
It was a pinch yourself moment when,when we got the outreach from the
buyer on LinkedIn of all places.
I mean, who could have expected that?
And, um, yeah, so now we'rein there with nine SKUs and
that's a great launch for us.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (09:28):
As a inspiring entrepreneur for
people who may be listening,that's kind of an important part.
People think email, email,but he reached out, or you got
reached out to on LinkedIn.
I think when I first read this story,I went to your website and looked
around, but I think my initial contactto you, To see if you wanted to come
on the show was through Instagram.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: I think that's right. (09:47):
undefined
And I think, you know, to yourpoint, Stuart, I think you really,
as an entrepreneur, have to be whatwe sort of say omni channel, right?
You have to be everywhere.
The, the spectrum of ways thatpeople can get in touch with
you now are myriad, right?
It's, it's social, it's business,it's direct, it's online, it's
YouTube, um, it's podcast.
(10:08):
And so I feel like as an entrepreneur,you need to have at least a presence.
Everywhere.
So someone can kind of see you geta sense for your brand, get a sense
for who you are and then an outreach.
And so did we ever think that LinkedInwould be a way that this would work?
I probably wouldn't have bet onit, but I'm glad we're there.
And to your point, Instagram, do we, dowe think, you know, we have all kinds
(10:30):
of influencers and followers and socialpeople that I think that someone would
outreach for a podcast through Instagram?
No, but you gotta be everywhere,especially in this current, um,
environment where eyeballs are diffuse.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (10:42):
Now, it's really easy to sit here now and talk
about all the success that you've gonethrough, but I'm sure that along the
way, you've probably hit some roadblocksand hiccups for, you may have went
like, gosh, is this really worth it?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Yeah, I mean, I could, I could (10:56):
undefined
tell you that that happens everyday in some way, shape or form.
Um, there's generally a momentevery day where we wonder.
Wait, what's happening here?
Why didn't this work?
Oh my God, what's that going to lead to?
But yeah, over the course of six years, Imean, we have definitely ebbed and flowed.
I mean, I will tell you, and youknow, obviously the COVID pandemic
was, was one of the worst timesour country has experienced in the
(11:19):
last, uh, you know, 50, 60 years,it created an opportunity for us.
Everyone was home with their children.
We sold a product that was funand different and differentiated.
We had a product that kept you clean.
And so, you know, in a, in a strangeway, while a lot of our colleagues
who started businesses saw COVID aspotentially the beginning of a demise.
(11:41):
We saw an uplift now that uplift.
waned a little bit, right?
Once sort of COVID had passed, westarted seeing a slowdown and then we
wondered, Ooh, did we just get lucky?
Did we get lucky?
Because we were kind of sold atthe right moment at the right time.
Um, and then we said, man, ifwe don't get a retail presence,
is this thing going to last?
Uh, Oh, we launched this product.
(12:02):
We launched lotions.
Do people like it?
You know?
So there, there are definitelybeen moments every single day.
Big and small.
Were you again, just fulltransparency question.
Did you make the right choice?
But I will say this as an entrepreneur,you have to have that guiding star.
You have to have that, thatNorth star that you're like,
what is the ultimate vision?
And the ultimate vision for us wasnot looking at kind of the ebbs
(12:24):
and flows day to day, but it was.
Where are we growing?
Where are we getting more, um, accolades?
Where are we being pickedup by more publications?
Were retailers finding more interest?
And the answer was always yes.
It was always yes.
It was always yes.
And so there were moments where I waslike, can we put another dollar of
our personal savings into this or not?
And we would look at each otherand say, it's still worth it.
(12:46):
And, you know, it took six yearsand we're not done yet, but That
long term vision, um, I think savesyou from those short term despairs.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (12:56):
That's interesting, because I know a
lot of people get really excitedabout something when it starts.
And they, they're, they're on it, they'rein a little honeymoon period, but a few
months later, it kind of falls off theradar, they're not moving as fast as
they hoped or had wanted to, or theygot thrown a bunch of curveballs that
they weren't expecting, and just go,this isn't for me, I didn't know this.
(13:18):
You know, there's been plenty of projectsthat I've been a part of, um, where
the, the, the main guy, the owners orwhoever's in charge said, if I known
what this would have entailed whenI started, I wouldn't have done it.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (13:30):
Yeah.
And I think we still have those moments.
I'll say this too, you know, for, if Iwere to advise an entrepreneur, there
are two ways to start businesses.
There are businesses that you thinkare potentially hacks are openings in
the, in the market that you think youmight be able to do better than someone.
And then there are businessesthat you're passionate about.
(13:50):
And I think if you're trying to startsomething, that's maybe a quick hit.
You're trying to sort of catch awave and see if it, if you can ride
it, um, those short term challengeswill, will be daunting for you.
If you're passionate about this project,if you said, Hey, this is the second
chapter for my wife and me, right?
We'd both run large businesses intotally different industries, but
(14:13):
we looked at this and said, thisis a second chapter of our lives.
This is a passion project.
This is something we want to seeour kids seeing us involved in.
We want to have our neighborshelp participate that.
Again, smooths out those ebbsand flows and gives you a
much longer term perspective.
Um, if we just said, Hey, we're in for aquick hit and we want to see if we can get
this business to 5 million in one year,we would have been out a long time ago.
(14:35):
It's not that kind of business.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (14:38):
It's true that, um, overarching story
that no one gets rich overnight.
You said at the beginning ofthis podcast, you know, you're a
overnight six year success story.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (14:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And look, the crazy thing is somepeople have gotten rich overnight.
And I think what is challenging inthis social media world where we
now see these stories, so everyonecan kind of go on their, you know,
social media platform or choice andsee someone who did hit it overnight.
And I think that tempts people intothinking, Oh, I can do that too.
(15:06):
And Don't forget, right?
That's the lottery.
That's, that's a dime a dozen.
You know this story becauseonly one person did it.
And so I think entrepreneurially,again, I advise people to think about
projects they're passionate about.
Projects that are differentiated.
And you can differentiate yourproduct in many different ways.
But if you're in it for a six to12 month hit, chances are you're
(15:29):
not going to be successful.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (15:30):
You've gone through a lot of phases.
You've expanded out of your garage.
You moved to 2nd Street.
You expanded to Signal Hill.
You've kind of gone through thiswhole process, which is fascinating.
I'm just kind of curious.
Was there a time here where you just werelike, I can't believe we're doing this.
What are we doing?
Is this the right?
Is anyone going to buy this?
Like, there's a lot ofself doubt in the world.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Yeah, no, it's a great question. (15:52):
undefined
And, um, I luckily had been involvedin a bunch of other businesses that
were in the direct to consumer space.
So prior to this, I was thepresident of Mint Mobile.
Um, the wireless company that'snow been purchased by T Mobile.
And we launched Mint Mobileas a secondary brand.
And I had the same questionsthen, which was like, we're about
(16:14):
to basically launch a website.
Is anyone going to come?
And Yeah.
Yeah.
Amazingly, the first day we hadsales and the second day we had
sales and the third day we had sales.
And so when I was talking toStephanie about when we were
launching back in September of2019, I said, you will be shocked.
People will show up.
You will, we will have sales now, how manywe have or how frequently we have them.
(16:36):
That's, you know, kindof a roll of the dice.
Um, but There was a moment offaith where it's like, people will
come, people will buy this for us.
The key is, will they buy us again?
And that's where we had tobe really disciplined around.
Like, have we createda really good product?
Have we created an incentive and a pricepoint that people think makes sense?
(16:56):
Um, if you come and buy us one time,we're going to lose money, right?
The acquisition costs tofind you the cost to ship.
Our own costs because wemanufacture here in the U.
S.
And all of our components from the U.
S.
If you come and buy a bottleof strawberry, and that's all
you ever buy, we've lost money.
So we need you to come back two or threetimes for this to start to make sense.
(17:16):
So we have to have a great product.
We have to have great marketing.
We have to follow up with you.
So, um, there were times that were, youknow, it was like looking at the Mhm.
Shopify, you know, cash register ona day and going like, is this it?
Are we done for the day?
Are we really only goingto have this many sales?
And then it starts to build and build.
But, but yeah, there were, there weremoments where I'm like, Oh man, I don't
(17:37):
know, we can't survive on this manyorders a day and we just stuck with it.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (17:42):
You know, that's an interesting thing you said, I'm
trying to remember exactly what you said,it was, uh, you can get, they'll buy you
once, but you need to buy them again, andthat is where a lot of businesses fail.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (17:53):
Yeah, a lot of businesses don't think about
customer acquisition costs, right?
They, they, they spend a lot oftime on their, their COGS, their
cost of goods sold, they spenda lot of time on their price.
So, I'm gonna sell a widget, I'mgonna price it at 10, my costs
are 3, I should make 7, great.
Well, They haven't thought abouthow much does it cost to get that
customer to come to your website?
How much does it cost to ship it?
(18:16):
How much does it costif there are returns?
How much does it cost to employ theperson that packs and ships it out?
So there, you know, it's all thoseother costs that as a business person,
you really have to think about goinginto the business because just the
gross margin alone on your productis definitely not going to be enough
to make a successful business.
Stuart - All In Long Beach: there's something that (18:35):
undefined
happened to me the other day.
I was out at a restaurant and, um, Ihave a friend that's a server there.
She was telling me that, um,they just had a big event.
And they're kind of a new restaurant.
They were having this big event.
The majority of people, 90 percentprobably were there for the first time and
they were slammed, which was fantastic.
But I think they made a critical error.
They were, they ran out of food and whenthey were looking at, they were looking at
(18:57):
these old dumplings or buns or somethingalong those lines that they ran out of.
And so instead of disappointing thecustomers and saying, sorry, we're
out for the day because everythingwas fresh and homemade and, and, and
all that, they ran to the store realquick, bought some store bought stuff.
You know, kind of dollied it up alittle bit and, um, and then served
it and it was horrible and, and Ijust said, why would they do that?
(19:19):
It's better to say, no, come backtomorrow, come back next week and, and,
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: or go the extra mile and say, (19:23):
undefined
you know, we're so sorry.
We want you to have a good experience.
Here's a coupon for 20 percent offwhen you do come back, because we
don't want to serve you somethingthat we're not proud of, right?
Stuart - All In Long Beach (19:32):
Because when they go, the next step of
that customer journey is, oh, Iwent there that one night and I had
their thing and it was horrible.
That's right.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (19:40):
And the old adage, it really is true in business.
It's really tough to have a secondchance at a first impression.
And, um, you know, we think a lotabout that with our, all of our
marketing communications, evenjust our own packaging, right?
We wanted to make sure that whenyou picked up this bottle, it
felt different than the bottlesyou picked it before, right?
It was softer.
(20:01):
It was more substantial.
It had, you know, a hundred percentpost consumer recycled product in it.
And so we constantly thoughtabout how many touch points.
How many first impressions can you get?
And can we give you that sense of trust?
Because, hey, you're about to goput this product on your child.
So, you know, we had to kindof overcome this barrier.
And to your example withthe restaurant, right?
(20:22):
You're, you're about to eat something.
You're about to decide, am I evergoing to come back to this place?
And You know, peoplecan get food anywhere.
They can't get thatfood anywhere but there.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (20:32):
If you were to try and do this over again,
like if you, today was your firstday, 2025, um, would you do anything
differently considering the differentbusiness climate that we're in?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Yeah, it's a great question. (20:42):
undefined
Um, I think things have changeddramatically in the online e commerce
community between 2019 and 2025.
The biggest and one of the largestones was actually the iOS 14 update.
This is like real sausagemaking stuff like how how the
(21:04):
little things change things.
But, you know, now if you noticeevery time you go to a website,
you know, do you accept cookies?
Do you accept this?
Do you accept that?
When when Apple started I think what OrI guess stopped being able to help you
as a company track a customer, right?
I've, I've sort of twominds at this, right?
As an individual, I love this, right?
Don't track me as a business owner.
(21:26):
I love the fact that I kind ofknew the things you like, the other
businesses you were frequentingthat could create lookalike
audiences around you that change.
Dramatically changed the e commerce world.
So brands that had started, let's justsay before the iOS update that had
a lot of momentum, um, we're able tokeep that, but if you started and we're
(21:47):
trying to get that momentum momentuminto that moment, it took so much.
Out of your sales, it really,really, and I mean, as a ILS sale,
you know, as far as momentum, um,that was, that was a major change.
I think the other one hasjust been, um, tick tock, not
because tick tock is tick tock.
And that's a whole notherpodcast, but just that.
(22:10):
The eyeballs are starting to, um, getdiluted, you know, again, go back to
2018, 2019, you were either on Facebookand back then maybe even just starting
to be on Instagram, right here we arein 2025, you're on Facebook, Instagram,
Pinterest, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Tik TOK.
(22:30):
Like, where are you?
Right.
And it's so in some senses, it's.
more expensive for us becausewe have to blanket everything.
Um, and the other part ofit is you're everywhere.
You've seen everything.
And you're also sick of advertising.
I mean, I think that's the other thingthat's really changed as a consumer.
I'll put my consumer hat back on.
I'm so sick of seeing these ads, right?
(22:50):
I mean, it's so obvious now when yousee a TikTok ad or an Instagram ad.
So.
I think people scroll throughthey don't follow anymore.
I think followingculture is dead or dying.
Um, you know, people used to followbrands, hundreds of thousands,
millions of brand followers.
I think people are like, Idon't need to follow a brand.
I might love the brand,but do I want to follow it?
(23:10):
So how we respond to that changingenvironment, um, is different.
So, you know, what wouldI do today differently?
You know, I think I'd wish I'd founda way to be more, um, More front
and center in a single channel.
Um, I think I wish our product wasa little lighter in full honesty.
(23:33):
I wouldn't change it.
We were doing what we're doingbecause we love it, but it's
really expensive to ship.
And, um, you know, shipping fromSouthern California to a customer
in New York city, it's expensive.
And so it is not the ideal product,but it is our product, right.
And it is our passion.
So I wouldn't.
Do anything differently, but theworld has changed dramatically.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (23:53):
And I think that's the one thing that a
lot of people forget is as the worldchanges, your business needs to change.
You need to evolve.
You need to adapt because if you're notkeeping up, there's going to be a new
competitor that rolls up into the space.
It's going to take over your market share.
They're going to find a way to do thingsor find a way to do what you're doing
better, faster, cheaper, and you're goingto be left out in the dust if you're not
(24:14):
constantly looking at those processes.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (24:17):
Yeah.
And a great example is actually Amazon.
When we first started, um, again, 2019,we wanted to be direct to consumers
straight through our site, right?
That was, we wanted tocommunicate our story.
We wanted to deliver a great experience.
We put little handwritten notesin our packages, and we thought
that was a great differentiator.
And it's, and it still is.
It became very clear that ifyou're not on Amazon, you're just
(24:41):
basically not fishing, right?
All the fish are in Amazon.
And it's just.
It's a tide that we can't fight against.
And so we've decided, Okay,we need to be in Amazon.
So how do we do it?
We differentiate ourproducts a little bit.
We don't sell the same things.
Um, but we also notice a lot ofpeople see our ads on Facebook.
They'll come to our website, check usout, and then they'll go buy on Amazon.
(25:03):
And so again, as a business owner, froma sort of advice standpoint, right?
Certain things you want to fight.
And then I think certain thingsyou need to be able to give into
and understand that that's justnot a fight you're going to win.
And, you know, do Ilove selling on Amazon?
It's got its benefits,but we have to, right.
And I think we made a really smart choiceto acquiesce and say, we have to be in the
(25:25):
place where, where most of the fish are
Stuart - All In Long Beach: Yeah, that's so true. (25:26):
undefined
Would you, we only have afew more minutes left here.
Um, but you know, we'reall about Long Beach.
We're all about this.
Just kind of curious, what do you enjoythe most about being here in Long Beach?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: We're not Long Beach natives. (25:38):
undefined
We've been here about eight years andwhat I will tell you is we love the
enthusiasm people have for Long Beach,the pride people have for Long Beach.
Honestly, at first it was a littleintimidating because so many people have
grown up together, gone to elementaryschool together and you know, our kids
went to Naples Elementary School andwe had friends who are parents who
also went to Naples Elementary School.
(25:59):
And we're like, how do we evercrack into this community, right?
We didn't grow up here, but It's beenso welcoming and I think embracing that
Long Beach pride has been huge for us.
We've got, you know, again, we wantedto keep the business in Long Beach.
We want to employ people from Long Beach.
Um, we, uh, proudly print LongBeach on our bottle, right?
And so I think what Long Beach presents tous is like a really amazing nexus of not
(26:24):
only geography, but Um, I love Long Beachbecause it's got aspects of LA County and
it's got some aspects of Orange County.
It is geographically locatedin a place where you can pull
talent from different locations.
You know, we are three blocksfrom Long Beach Airport.
It's awesome when we have a businessmeeting that I can basically close
(26:45):
my office door and, you know, be atthe gate in about 15 minutes, right?
So, so Long Beach has a lot of these.
Intangible aspects that I think otherbusinesses are starting to recognize.
You know, we know the founders ofrelative relativity space, right there.
I can see their, their sign from here.
Um, you know, they had choices ofwhere to launch that business and
(27:06):
they chose Long Beach for, uh,probably a lot of those same reasons.
We've got a workforce that is hungryto kind of get to the next generation.
Um, you know, Long Beach, youknow, has historical, you know,
oil industry and a lot of thechanges, um, from the past, but.
An excitement for the future.
And so, yeah, we, we love it.
We're deeply involved in the city.
(27:29):
Um, we're on the boards ofdifferent organizations here.
My wife's on the board of theaquarium and Ronald McDonald house.
I'm on the board of Long Beach Symphony.
Um, so, you know, we've, we've We'vekind of gone all in Long Beach.
Stuart - All In Long Beach: That's fantastic. (27:41):
undefined
We've been talking with TylerLeshne, the co founder of Dabble
Dollop, whose product just made itinto every single Target store in
the country, which is just amazing.
And that's a Long Beach businessthat started right here, right
from his garage in Naples.
So it's great to hear the success storiesand all the stuff that's happening.
Um, there's a couple ofminutes left that we have.
(28:02):
Do you have anything else that you wantto share or any other piece of advice
you want to give to anyone listening?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (28:07):
No, and I think it's good that you're doing this.
And I think for, for entrepreneurslistening, you know, Long Beach is
a great place to start a business.
I think, um, you know, if you look at thecommunity, our, our city council people,
our mayor, they're very focused on.
Driving new business in the city.
They're very focused on in reinvigorating,uh, the city and it, and it takes the big
(28:29):
companies like Relativity, but it alsotakes a lot of smaller companies like us,
like a trusted gut, like, you know, someof these other businesses who are, who
are taking a chance on the city, takinga chance on, on employing people, keeping
people here and launching great stuff.
So I would say if you'rethinking about doing it, Okay.
Now is always the best time.
There will never be a bettertime than now to start something.
(28:50):
Um, and you're in a great place to do it.
And I, and I love the fact, Stuart,that you're highlighting our city.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (28:55):
Yeah.
Well, thank you for coming onand thank you for doing this.
Cause without, you know, storieslike yours and we wouldn't
have a lot to talk about here.
And like I said, at the beginning, this isa fun segment because we get to actually
talk about some really true progress thatsmall businesses are making successes from
entrepreneurs and just another businessthat Long Beach can put in its hat of.
You know, national brands thatstarted right here in the city.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Well, thanks for the (29:17):
undefined
opportunity to tell our story.
Really appreciate it.
Announcer (29:21):
Thanks for listening to the all in Long Beach podcast.
Tell us what you thoughton our Patreon page.
Join for free and accessour chat about this episode.
Paid memberships start at just 5per month and get access to early
episodes, our exclusive member chat, exclusive content, our private discord
community, after episode discussion,live pop up videos, and much more.
You can even suggest topics andguests for upcoming episodes.
(29:44):
And you can sign up to become a co hostof this podcast in a future episode.
The link to join for freeis in the show notes.
Or type in patreon.
com slash all in long beach.
That's patreon.
com slash all in long beach again.
Patreon.
com slash all in long beach.
Thanks for listening to this episodeof the All in Long Beach podcast.
We will catch you in the next episode.
and what I will tell you is we love the
(00:03):
enthusiasm people have for Long Beach,
we didn't grow up here, but It's beenso welcoming and I think embracing that
Long Beach pride has been huge for us.
We wanted to keep thebusiness in Long Beach.
We want to employ people from Long Beach.
We, proudly print LongBeach on our bottle,
right?
Announcer (00:18):
All in Long Beach, we're breaking it down.
News and events from all around town.
Business, politics,
Speaker 2 (00:28):
lifestyle too.
Food and fun, we bring it to you.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (00:33):
And welcome to the All In Long Beach podcast.
So glad that you're here today.
My name is Stuart Takahara, your host.
And this segment is calledthe small business spotlight.
And this is out of allthe things that we do.
This has got to be the most funbecause we actually get to talk
to real entrepreneurs, real peoplehere in the city of Long Beach
that are making this huge impact.
And today.
(00:55):
Well, before I get into that, I readthis story on the press telegram.
This is how it came to me.
I was reading this story aboutdabble and dollop and um, they
are here based in long beach.
They've kind of grown and expanded.
And the reason why there isthis story in the press telegram
is because they went national.
They got their products inside of everysingle target store in the country.
This is like a entrepreneur'sdream come true.
(01:17):
And I am so excited tohave on the program today.
Tyler Lashney from Dabble andDollop, one of the co founders.
Tyler, welcome to the Allin Long Beach podcast.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Thank you, Stuart. (01:26):
undefined
Appreciate having me.
And, um, we're happy torepresent Dabble and Dollop and
Long Beach and happy to chat.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (01:32):
Fantastic.
So first off, if people aren'tfamiliar with you, cause maybe they
don't have children, what do you do?
What are you?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (01:39):
Sure.
Sure.
So dabble in dollop is achildren's personal care line.
So we started in 2019 withmy wife, Stephanie lash knee.
She spent the last 30 years in thecosmetics industry, and we wanted to
start a business that really cateredto children who are looking to kind of.
Extend their ownpreferences into their care.
So, you know, when you're aninfant, zero to one, mom and dad
(02:02):
are making the decisions for you.
When you're a teenager, you'remaking your own decisions.
But these kids that are one to 10,two to 12, you know, we wanted to
play into their sense of creativity.
Our kids used to play with slimeand Play Doh and we're like, can
we bring that magic to the bath?
And so dabble and dollop,as the name suggests.
It has a line of products where youtake a dabble of this, a dollop of
that, mix it together, and kind ofcreate your own custom bath creation.
(02:24):
So bubble baths, body washes, lotions,hand washes, bath bombs, um, and
we'll see where we go in the future,but that's where we are right now.
Wow.
Stuart - All In Long Beach: That sounds amazing. (02:32):
undefined
It just goes back to that.
There's no one size.
I remember growing up.
Yeah.
You got Johnson and Johnson's somethingor other in the one bottle, there
was no way to be able to express andkids are really creative at that age.
And this is a great way tobe able to experience that.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Yeah, exactly. (02:48):
undefined
And then, you know, from an ingredientside, we found this sort of weird gap
in the marketplace where again, parentswould spend hundreds or thousands
of dollars on products with withbeautiful ingredients for their infant.
And then again, when they become teenagersand adults, they're buying high end
products, but that we found Kids that are2 to 10 years old, they were just using
kind of mass market, big bottle stuff.
(03:09):
And we're like, well, why is that?
And so we wanted to create not onlya fun product, but a product that
had natural ingredients, USA sourcedingredients, fewer, better ingredients.
And, um, we either identified awhite space in the marketplace or
there just is no space for this.
But again, we think that kids that are 2to 12 should have the quality of products
that their parents had when they're olderor what they had when they were infants.
(03:31):
And so, um, we hope it's resonating.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (03:34):
Yeah.
Now, how long have you been doing this?
When did you start?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (03:37):
So we are a six year overnight success.
We started in 2019.
Uh, again, I mentioned my wife,Stephanie was in the cosmetic
ingredients industry for a longtime, had sold her family business
that was based in Santa Fe Springs.
Actually, um, they sold raw materialsto finish product manufacturers,
a lot of organic ingredients.
She identified this.
(03:57):
This need for the children's space,but also started having kids come
into work and they would do thisevent where they would make their own
products and kids would just light up.
They just loved it.
And she said, you know, if I ever have achance, I want to launch something where
kids can kind of make their own product.
And yeah, so, uh, ideas started in2017 and we sold our first products in
(04:19):
August, September of 2019, right beforeand into the pandemic, which was an
interesting time to launch a business.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (04:27):
And you were doing all this right here in Long Beach.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: We started sort of like a cliche, (04:30):
undefined
but we literally started in ourgarage, uh, on Naples Island.
Uh, if you read the article, uh, in the,in the, um, gazette and, uh, you saw that
we actually live in the home of anotherformer Long Beach businessperson, uh,
Henry Meyer, who started Hamburger Henry,who a lot of longtime Long Beachers know.
(04:51):
And we literally, you know, startedin our garage packing boxes.
We got our neighbor across thestreet to come over and help us.
And she would see us and go, whatare you guys doing over there?
Can I help?
And we're like, uh, yeah, you can.
And we started having the mailmanpick up products and then decided to
move to an office on second street.
And kind of quickly outgrew thatand then moved over here to, uh,
(05:12):
Signal Hill where we've got anoffice slash warehouse combination.
But yeah, it is born and bred in LongBeach, Long Beach through and through,
and we're really proud of that.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (05:20):
You know, it's interesting you said, I saw that in
the article where you were in the samehouse as Hamburger Handry's that started.
Is this a lucky house?
Is this, are you still living thereor is this house up for the grabs?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: No, we're still living here. (05:29):
undefined
The Hamburger Gates, however,are up for the grabs.
So it was funny when we moved inthe house, we did a renovation.
And on the kind of side alleyway whereyou kind of keep your garbage cans, he
had these metal gates that were fabricatedto look like hamburgers and people
would come by and take pictures of them.
And we were like, we can'ttake these things down.
And so we kept them upfor about four years.
(05:51):
And finally we decided, okay, we need tokind of have the gates match the house.
And so we've held onto them.
I've reached out to the historicalsociety to see if they wanted
to keep, uh, get them and.
So, yeah, we've got them, but anyonereally wants hamburger gates, uh, let
us know, we'll, we'll help you out.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (06:07):
You know, it's, um, you, you started this right
there from your garage, you expanded andprobably one of the most difficult times
of our lifetime during the pandemic.
And now just five years later, you'vegot this national deal with Target.
Why Target?
Is this something that you'd had youreyes set on or did they come to you?
How did you get on their radar?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Yeah, it's a great question because (06:29):
undefined
I think every brand that starts inthis space recognizes pretty quickly
that you need to have a nationalpresence, that this is not the most
ideal E commerce product to start.
Why do I say that?
Well, it's heavy, right?
It's hard to try it out.
It's hard to sort of say, Hey, youknow, I think I might like tangerine.
(06:53):
I might like lemon.
But do I want to pay whatever?
15 for a bottle shampoo plussome shipping and try it.
So it's not the most ideal Ecommerce business to start.
So you start to think about,Okay, where are the national
presidencies you can have?
And, you know, for us, Targetis really a perfect fit, right?
Target is national their value, but theyalso have this kind of sense of discovery.
(07:17):
Historically, Target has alwaysbeen, I think, at the forefront
of saying, you know, try somethingnew, try something different.
They carve out some space in theirstores, not just for the Johnson's
and Johnson's of the world, butyou know, something that a customer
might kind of discover and love.
And so for us, That wasreally the ultimate goal.
Um, that's not to say we wouldn't bein other retailers, but, but everyone
(07:37):
would say, Oh, you should be in target.
Ooh, you should be in target.
And well, sure.
If we could sort of snap our fingersand say, get into target, we would, but
it's a much more complicated process.
In this case, we got luckyand they came to us, they.
One of the buyers had found ourproducts online, ordered it for
her children, loved it, and thenreached out to Stephanie on LinkedIn.
(07:58):
I mean, it's a pretty incredible story.
Normally, brands are pitching target.
There's a whole network of brokers andfacilitators, and you kind of go through
this process, but they came direct to us.
And, um, you know, that was reallyexciting for us because it sort of meant.
Hey, you really want us, youwant to validate our product.
And, um, they've been a great partnerso far and we don't, we've only
been launched for about 35 days.
(08:21):
Um, but yeah, that was a great,great place for us to be.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (08:25):
To have them come to you, you know, I, I think as an
entrepreneur at some point, we've allwatched these TV shows, like a shark tank,
or maybe like the profit or something,or there's this one documentary.
I remember seeing where peoplewere trying to pitch their stuff to
walmart and it's like this big ordeal.
And you're just 1 of thousands andthousands and thousands, um, and, and
to have them come to you, that must havebeen, must have felt really, really great.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: It was incredible. (08:48):
undefined
I mean, in all honesty, we had triedbefore we had kind of tried to do that
sort of traditional process calling tosome of these brokers that are, you know,
they're all sort of X target employees.
They're all in Minnesota.
You kind of call up and say,Hey, we've got this great brand.
And they kind of go, let me see.
You're not sure.
Let me I'll think about it.
Um, And that's a long road and right.
(09:10):
And you can imagine there, theline is long and the people that
get through the door are few.
Um, so yeah, it was really incredible.
It was a pinch yourself moment when,when we got the outreach from the
buyer on LinkedIn of all places.
I mean, who could have expected that?
And, um, yeah, so now we'rein there with nine SKUs and
that's a great launch for us.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (09:28):
As a inspiring entrepreneur for
people who may be listening,that's kind of an important part.
People think email, email,but he reached out, or you got
reached out to on LinkedIn.
I think when I first read this story,I went to your website and looked
around, but I think my initial contactto you, To see if you wanted to come
on the show was through Instagram.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: I think that's right. (09:47):
undefined
And I think, you know, to yourpoint, Stuart, I think you really,
as an entrepreneur, have to be whatwe sort of say omni channel, right?
You have to be everywhere.
The, the spectrum of ways thatpeople can get in touch with
you now are myriad, right?
It's, it's social, it's business,it's direct, it's online, it's
YouTube, um, it's podcast.
(10:08):
And so I feel like as an entrepreneur,you need to have at least a presence.
Everywhere.
So someone can kind of see you geta sense for your brand, get a sense
for who you are and then an outreach.
And so did we ever think that LinkedInwould be a way that this would work?
I probably wouldn't have bet onit, but I'm glad we're there.
And to your point, Instagram, do we, dowe think, you know, we have all kinds
(10:30):
of influencers and followers and socialpeople that I think that someone would
outreach for a podcast through Instagram?
No, but you gotta be everywhere,especially in this current, um,
environment where eyeballs are diffuse.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (10:42):
Now, it's really easy to sit here now and talk
about all the success that you've gonethrough, but I'm sure that along the
way, you've probably hit some roadblocksand hiccups for, you may have went
like, gosh, is this really worth it?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Yeah, I mean, I could, I could (10:56):
undefined
tell you that that happens everyday in some way, shape or form.
Um, there's generally a momentevery day where we wonder.
Wait, what's happening here?
Why didn't this work?
Oh my God, what's that going to lead to?
But yeah, over the course of six years, Imean, we have definitely ebbed and flowed.
I mean, I will tell you, and youknow, obviously the COVID pandemic
was, was one of the worst timesour country has experienced in the
(11:19):
last, uh, you know, 50, 60 years,it created an opportunity for us.
Everyone was home with their children.
We sold a product that was funand different and differentiated.
We had a product that kept you clean.
And so, you know, in a, in a strangeway, while a lot of our colleagues
who started businesses saw COVID aspotentially the beginning of a demise.
(11:41):
We saw an uplift now that uplift.
waned a little bit, right?
Once sort of COVID had passed, westarted seeing a slowdown and then we
wondered, Ooh, did we just get lucky?
Did we get lucky?
Because we were kind of sold atthe right moment at the right time.
Um, and then we said, man, ifwe don't get a retail presence,
is this thing going to last?
Uh, Oh, we launched this product.
(12:02):
We launched lotions.
Do people like it?
You know?
So there, there are definitelybeen moments every single day.
Big and small.
Were you again, just fulltransparency question.
Did you make the right choice?
But I will say this as an entrepreneur,you have to have that guiding star.
You have to have that, thatNorth star that you're like,
what is the ultimate vision?
And the ultimate vision for us wasnot looking at kind of the ebbs
(12:24):
and flows day to day, but it was.
Where are we growing?
Where are we getting more, um, accolades?
Where are we being pickedup by more publications?
Were retailers finding more interest?
And the answer was always yes.
It was always yes.
It was always yes.
And so there were moments where I waslike, can we put another dollar of
our personal savings into this or not?
And we would look at each otherand say, it's still worth it.
(12:46):
And, you know, it took six yearsand we're not done yet, but That
long term vision, um, I think savesyou from those short term despairs.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (12:56):
That's interesting, because I know a
lot of people get really excitedabout something when it starts.
And they, they're, they're on it, they'rein a little honeymoon period, but a few
months later, it kind of falls off theradar, they're not moving as fast as
they hoped or had wanted to, or theygot thrown a bunch of curveballs that
they weren't expecting, and just go,this isn't for me, I didn't know this.
(13:18):
You know, there's been plenty of projectsthat I've been a part of, um, where
the, the, the main guy, the owners orwhoever's in charge said, if I known
what this would have entailed whenI started, I wouldn't have done it.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (13:30):
Yeah.
And I think we still have those moments.
I'll say this too, you know, for, if Iwere to advise an entrepreneur, there
are two ways to start businesses.
There are businesses that you thinkare potentially hacks are openings in
the, in the market that you think youmight be able to do better than someone.
And then there are businessesthat you're passionate about.
(13:50):
And I think if you're trying to startsomething, that's maybe a quick hit.
You're trying to sort of catch awave and see if it, if you can ride
it, um, those short term challengeswill, will be daunting for you.
If you're passionate about this project,if you said, Hey, this is the second
chapter for my wife and me, right?
We'd both run large businesses intotally different industries, but
(14:13):
we looked at this and said, thisis a second chapter of our lives.
This is a passion project.
This is something we want to seeour kids seeing us involved in.
We want to have our neighborshelp participate that.
Again, smooths out those ebbsand flows and gives you a
much longer term perspective.
Um, if we just said, Hey, we're in for aquick hit and we want to see if we can get
this business to 5 million in one year,we would have been out a long time ago.
(14:35):
It's not that kind of business.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (14:38):
It's true that, um, overarching story
that no one gets rich overnight.
You said at the beginning ofthis podcast, you know, you're a
overnight six year success story.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (14:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And look, the crazy thing is somepeople have gotten rich overnight.
And I think what is challenging inthis social media world where we
now see these stories, so everyonecan kind of go on their, you know,
social media platform or choice andsee someone who did hit it overnight.
And I think that tempts people intothinking, Oh, I can do that too.
(15:06):
And Don't forget, right?
That's the lottery.
That's, that's a dime a dozen.
You know this story becauseonly one person did it.
And so I think entrepreneurially,again, I advise people to think about
projects they're passionate about.
Projects that are differentiated.
And you can differentiate yourproduct in many different ways.
But if you're in it for a six to12 month hit, chances are you're
(15:29):
not going to be successful.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (15:30):
You've gone through a lot of phases.
You've expanded out of your garage.
You moved to 2nd Street.
You expanded to Signal Hill.
You've kind of gone through thiswhole process, which is fascinating.
I'm just kind of curious.
Was there a time here where you just werelike, I can't believe we're doing this.
What are we doing?
Is this the right?
Is anyone going to buy this?
Like, there's a lot ofself doubt in the world.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Yeah, no, it's a great question. (15:52):
undefined
And, um, I luckily had been involvedin a bunch of other businesses that
were in the direct to consumer space.
So prior to this, I was thepresident of Mint Mobile.
Um, the wireless company that'snow been purchased by T Mobile.
And we launched Mint Mobileas a secondary brand.
And I had the same questionsthen, which was like, we're about
(16:14):
to basically launch a website.
Is anyone going to come?
And Yeah.
Yeah.
Amazingly, the first day we hadsales and the second day we had
sales and the third day we had sales.
And so when I was talking toStephanie about when we were
launching back in September of2019, I said, you will be shocked.
People will show up.
You will, we will have sales now, how manywe have or how frequently we have them.
(16:36):
That's, you know, kindof a roll of the dice.
Um, but There was a moment offaith where it's like, people will
come, people will buy this for us.
The key is, will they buy us again?
And that's where we had tobe really disciplined around.
Like, have we createda really good product?
Have we created an incentive and a pricepoint that people think makes sense?
(16:56):
Um, if you come and buy us one time,we're going to lose money, right?
The acquisition costs tofind you the cost to ship.
Our own costs because wemanufacture here in the U.
S.
And all of our components from the U.
S.
If you come and buy a bottleof strawberry, and that's all
you ever buy, we've lost money.
So we need you to come back two or threetimes for this to start to make sense.
(17:16):
So we have to have a great product.
We have to have great marketing.
We have to follow up with you.
So, um, there were times that were, youknow, it was like looking at the Mhm.
Shopify, you know, cash register ona day and going like, is this it?
Are we done for the day?
Are we really only goingto have this many sales?
And then it starts to build and build.
But, but yeah, there were, there weremoments where I'm like, Oh man, I don't
(17:37):
know, we can't survive on this manyorders a day and we just stuck with it.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (17:42):
You know, that's an interesting thing you said, I'm
trying to remember exactly what you said,it was, uh, you can get, they'll buy you
once, but you need to buy them again, andthat is where a lot of businesses fail.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (17:53):
Yeah, a lot of businesses don't think about
customer acquisition costs, right?
They, they, they spend a lot oftime on their, their COGS, their
cost of goods sold, they spenda lot of time on their price.
So, I'm gonna sell a widget, I'mgonna price it at 10, my costs
are 3, I should make 7, great.
Well, They haven't thought abouthow much does it cost to get that
customer to come to your website?
How much does it cost to ship it?
(18:16):
How much does it costif there are returns?
How much does it cost to employ theperson that packs and ships it out?
So there, you know, it's all thoseother costs that as a business person,
you really have to think about goinginto the business because just the
gross margin alone on your productis definitely not going to be enough
to make a successful business.
Stuart - All In Long Beach: there's something that (18:35):
undefined
happened to me the other day.
I was out at a restaurant and, um, Ihave a friend that's a server there.
She was telling me that, um,they just had a big event.
And they're kind of a new restaurant.
They were having this big event.
The majority of people, 90 percentprobably were there for the first time and
they were slammed, which was fantastic.
But I think they made a critical error.
They were, they ran out of food and whenthey were looking at, they were looking at
(18:57):
these old dumplings or buns or somethingalong those lines that they ran out of.
And so instead of disappointing thecustomers and saying, sorry, we're
out for the day because everythingwas fresh and homemade and, and, and
all that, they ran to the store realquick, bought some store bought stuff.
You know, kind of dollied it up alittle bit and, um, and then served
it and it was horrible and, and Ijust said, why would they do that?
(19:19):
It's better to say, no, come backtomorrow, come back next week and, and,
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: or go the extra mile and say, (19:23):
undefined
you know, we're so sorry.
We want you to have a good experience.
Here's a coupon for 20 percent offwhen you do come back, because we
don't want to serve you somethingthat we're not proud of, right?
Stuart - All In Long Beach (19:32):
Because when they go, the next step of
that customer journey is, oh, Iwent there that one night and I had
their thing and it was horrible.
That's right.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (19:40):
And the old adage, it really is true in business.
It's really tough to have a secondchance at a first impression.
And, um, you know, we think a lotabout that with our, all of our
marketing communications, evenjust our own packaging, right?
We wanted to make sure that whenyou picked up this bottle, it
felt different than the bottlesyou picked it before, right?
It was softer.
(20:01):
It was more substantial.
It had, you know, a hundred percentpost consumer recycled product in it.
And so we constantly thoughtabout how many touch points.
How many first impressions can you get?
And can we give you that sense of trust?
Because, hey, you're about to goput this product on your child.
So, you know, we had to kindof overcome this barrier.
And to your example withthe restaurant, right?
(20:22):
You're, you're about to eat something.
You're about to decide, am I evergoing to come back to this place?
And You know, peoplecan get food anywhere.
They can't get thatfood anywhere but there.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (20:32):
If you were to try and do this over again,
like if you, today was your firstday, 2025, um, would you do anything
differently considering the differentbusiness climate that we're in?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Yeah, it's a great question. (20:42):
undefined
Um, I think things have changeddramatically in the online e commerce
community between 2019 and 2025.
The biggest and one of the largestones was actually the iOS 14 update.
This is like real sausagemaking stuff like how how the
(21:04):
little things change things.
But, you know, now if you noticeevery time you go to a website,
you know, do you accept cookies?
Do you accept this?
Do you accept that?
When when Apple started I think what OrI guess stopped being able to help you
as a company track a customer, right?
I've, I've sort of twominds at this, right?
As an individual, I love this, right?
Don't track me as a business owner.
(21:26):
I love the fact that I kind ofknew the things you like, the other
businesses you were frequentingthat could create lookalike
audiences around you that change.
Dramatically changed the e commerce world.
So brands that had started, let's justsay before the iOS update that had
a lot of momentum, um, we're able tokeep that, but if you started and we're
(21:47):
trying to get that momentum momentuminto that moment, it took so much.
Out of your sales, it really,really, and I mean, as a ILS sale,
you know, as far as momentum, um,that was, that was a major change.
I think the other one hasjust been, um, tick tock, not
because tick tock is tick tock.
And that's a whole notherpodcast, but just that.
(22:10):
The eyeballs are starting to, um, getdiluted, you know, again, go back to
2018, 2019, you were either on Facebookand back then maybe even just starting
to be on Instagram, right here we arein 2025, you're on Facebook, Instagram,
Pinterest, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Tik TOK.
(22:30):
Like, where are you?
Right.
And it's so in some senses, it's.
more expensive for us becausewe have to blanket everything.
Um, and the other part ofit is you're everywhere.
You've seen everything.
And you're also sick of advertising.
I mean, I think that's the other thingthat's really changed as a consumer.
I'll put my consumer hat back on.
I'm so sick of seeing these ads, right?
(22:50):
I mean, it's so obvious now when yousee a TikTok ad or an Instagram ad.
So.
I think people scroll throughthey don't follow anymore.
I think followingculture is dead or dying.
Um, you know, people used to followbrands, hundreds of thousands,
millions of brand followers.
I think people are like, Idon't need to follow a brand.
I might love the brand,but do I want to follow it?
(23:10):
So how we respond to that changingenvironment, um, is different.
So, you know, what wouldI do today differently?
You know, I think I'd wish I'd founda way to be more, um, More front
and center in a single channel.
Um, I think I wish our product wasa little lighter in full honesty.
(23:33):
I wouldn't change it.
We were doing what we're doingbecause we love it, but it's
really expensive to ship.
And, um, you know, shipping fromSouthern California to a customer
in New York city, it's expensive.
And so it is not the ideal product,but it is our product, right.
And it is our passion.
So I wouldn't.
Do anything differently, but theworld has changed dramatically.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (23:53):
And I think that's the one thing that a
lot of people forget is as the worldchanges, your business needs to change.
You need to evolve.
You need to adapt because if you're notkeeping up, there's going to be a new
competitor that rolls up into the space.
It's going to take over your market share.
They're going to find a way to do thingsor find a way to do what you're doing
better, faster, cheaper, and you're goingto be left out in the dust if you're not
(24:14):
constantly looking at those processes.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (24:17):
Yeah.
And a great example is actually Amazon.
When we first started, um, again, 2019,we wanted to be direct to consumers
straight through our site, right?
That was, we wanted tocommunicate our story.
We wanted to deliver a great experience.
We put little handwritten notesin our packages, and we thought
that was a great differentiator.
And it's, and it still is.
It became very clear that ifyou're not on Amazon, you're just
(24:41):
basically not fishing, right?
All the fish are in Amazon.
And it's just.
It's a tide that we can't fight against.
And so we've decided, Okay,we need to be in Amazon.
So how do we do it?
We differentiate ourproducts a little bit.
We don't sell the same things.
Um, but we also notice a lot ofpeople see our ads on Facebook.
They'll come to our website, check usout, and then they'll go buy on Amazon.
(25:03):
And so again, as a business owner, froma sort of advice standpoint, right?
Certain things you want to fight.
And then I think certain thingsyou need to be able to give into
and understand that that's justnot a fight you're going to win.
And, you know, do Ilove selling on Amazon?
It's got its benefits,but we have to, right.
And I think we made a really smart choiceto acquiesce and say, we have to be in the
(25:25):
place where, where most of the fish are
Stuart - All In Long Beach: Yeah, that's so true. (25:26):
undefined
Would you, we only have afew more minutes left here.
Um, but you know, we'reall about Long Beach.
We're all about this.
Just kind of curious, what do you enjoythe most about being here in Long Beach?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: We're not Long Beach natives. (25:38):
undefined
We've been here about eight years andwhat I will tell you is we love the
enthusiasm people have for Long Beach,the pride people have for Long Beach.
Honestly, at first it was a littleintimidating because so many people have
grown up together, gone to elementaryschool together and you know, our kids
went to Naples Elementary School andwe had friends who are parents who
also went to Naples Elementary School.
(25:59):
And we're like, how do we evercrack into this community, right?
We didn't grow up here, but It's beenso welcoming and I think embracing that
Long Beach pride has been huge for us.
We've got, you know, again, we wantedto keep the business in Long Beach.
We want to employ people from Long Beach.
Um, we, uh, proudly print LongBeach on our bottle, right?
And so I think what Long Beach presents tous is like a really amazing nexus of not
(26:24):
only geography, but Um, I love Long Beachbecause it's got aspects of LA County and
it's got some aspects of Orange County.
It is geographically locatedin a place where you can pull
talent from different locations.
You know, we are three blocksfrom Long Beach Airport.
It's awesome when we have a businessmeeting that I can basically close
(26:45):
my office door and, you know, be atthe gate in about 15 minutes, right?
So, so Long Beach has a lot of these.
Intangible aspects that I think otherbusinesses are starting to recognize.
You know, we know the founders ofrelative relativity space, right there.
I can see their, their sign from here.
Um, you know, they had choices ofwhere to launch that business and
(27:06):
they chose Long Beach for, uh,probably a lot of those same reasons.
We've got a workforce that is hungryto kind of get to the next generation.
Um, you know, Long Beach, youknow, has historical, you know,
oil industry and a lot of thechanges, um, from the past, but.
An excitement for the future.
And so, yeah, we, we love it.
We're deeply involved in the city.
(27:29):
Um, we're on the boards ofdifferent organizations here.
My wife's on the board of theaquarium and Ronald McDonald house.
I'm on the board of Long Beach Symphony.
Um, so, you know, we've, we've We'vekind of gone all in Long Beach.
Stuart - All In Long Beach: That's fantastic. (27:41):
undefined
We've been talking with TylerLeshne, the co founder of Dabble
Dollop, whose product just made itinto every single Target store in
the country, which is just amazing.
And that's a Long Beach businessthat started right here, right
from his garage in Naples.
So it's great to hear the success storiesand all the stuff that's happening.
Um, there's a couple ofminutes left that we have.
(28:02):
Do you have anything else that you wantto share or any other piece of advice
you want to give to anyone listening?
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop (28:07):
No, and I think it's good that you're doing this.
And I think for, for entrepreneurslistening, you know, Long Beach is
a great place to start a business.
I think, um, you know, if you look at thecommunity, our, our city council people,
our mayor, they're very focused on.
Driving new business in the city.
They're very focused on in reinvigorating,uh, the city and it, and it takes the big
(28:29):
companies like Relativity, but it alsotakes a lot of smaller companies like us,
like a trusted gut, like, you know, someof these other businesses who are, who
are taking a chance on the city, takinga chance on, on employing people, keeping
people here and launching great stuff.
So I would say if you'rethinking about doing it, Okay.
Now is always the best time.
There will never be a bettertime than now to start something.
(28:50):
Um, and you're in a great place to do it.
And I, and I love the fact, Stuart,that you're highlighting our city.
Stuart - All In Long Beach (28:55):
Yeah.
Well, thank you for coming onand thank you for doing this.
Cause without, you know, storieslike yours and we wouldn't
have a lot to talk about here.
And like I said, at the beginning, this isa fun segment because we get to actually
talk about some really true progress thatsmall businesses are making successes from
entrepreneurs and just another businessthat Long Beach can put in its hat of.
You know, national brands thatstarted right here in the city.
Tyler Leshney - Dabble & Dollop: Well, thanks for the (29:17):
undefined
opportunity to tell our story.
Really appreciate it.
Announcer (29:21):
Thanks for listening to the all in Long Beach podcast.
Tell us what you thoughton our Patreon page.
Join for free and accessour chat about this episode.
Paid memberships start at just 5per month and get access to early
episodes, our exclusive member chat, exclusive content, our private discord
community, after episode discussion,live pop up videos, and much more.
You can even suggest topics andguests for upcoming episodes.
(29:44):
And you can sign up to become a co hostof this podcast in a future episode.
The link to join for freeis in the show notes.
Or type in patreon.
com slash all in long beach.
That's patreon.
com slash all in long beach again.
Patreon.
com slash all in long beach.
Thanks for listening to this episodeof the All in Long Beach podcast.
We will catch you in the next episode.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.