Episode Overview
Have you ever had a business idea but didn’t know where to start? Maybe you’ve felt like the market is already too crowded, and you wonder how you could possibly stand out.
In this episode of Living the Whole Picture, I sit down with my friend Karen Trenk, founder of Handzies, to talk about how she turned a simple need—a better way to clean hands on the go—into a thriving business. She built her brand without a massive marketing budget or a corporate background and stood out by staying true to her vision.
If you’ve ever wanted to build a brand that gets noticed and earns trust, this episode is for you. Karen shares what she’s learned about starting from scratch, standing out in a crowded market, and getting seen by the right people.
Timestamps & Key Topics
00:00 – Introduction – How Karen turned a personal need into a business
01:23 – The Story Behind Handzies – From DIY to a commercial brand
04:57 – The Challenges of Scaling – Finding manufacturers, selling on Amazon
09:30 – Standing Out in a Crowded Market – The power of grassroots marketing
13:53 – Biggest Business Lessons – Navigating unknowns, learning as you go
17:14 – The Most Rewarding Part – Impact on family & seeing her product in public
24:52 – Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs – Why small steps matter
26:43 – The Moment She “Made It” – Recognizing real business success
30:49 – Where to Find Handzies & Final Takeaways
Key Takeaways from This Episode
You don’t need a big budget to build a successful brand. Karen grew Handzies by focusing on relationships, influencer marketing, and word of mouth.
Your idea doesn’t have to be groundbreaking—it just needs to solve a real problem. Handzies was born out of a simple need that wasn’t being met.
Start before you feel ready. Karen started researching, learning, and taking action step by step.
Brand visibility comes from showing up. If you want to stand out, you have to be willing to put yourself out there and tell your story.
Resources & Links
Follow Karen Trenk & Handzies:
- Website: handzies.com or Shop on Amazon
- Instagram: @handzies
- Email Karen: karen@handzies.com
Want to Build a Brand That Stands Out?
Head to jamapantel.com for resources, courses, and coaching to help you own your presence and amplify your brand.
Enjoyed this Episode? Here’s How to Support!
Subscribe & Review – Help more women find this show!
Join My Community – Get my free e-book: Picture This Quick Tips for Social Media Portraits.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jama Pantel (00:00):
Have you ever had a business idea but didn't know
where to start?
Maybe you felt like the marketis already too crowded and you
wonder how could I possiblystand out?
Today's guest, my friend KarenTrank, did exactly that.
She took a simple need a betterway to clean your hands on the
go and turned it into a thrivingbusiness Handzies and she did
it without a massive marketingbudget or corporate background
(00:23):
in consumer goods.
Today she's sharing what she'slearned about building a brand
from scratch, standing out andgetting seen by the right people
.
Hey y'all, welcome back toLiving the Whole Picture, the
podcast for ambitious womenready to elevate their
visibility, build authenticconfidence and become the face
of their brand.
I'm your host, Jama Pantel, aluxury portrait photographer,
(00:50):
author, educator, influencer anddream chaser, here to help you
master your brand presence andshow up authentically with
confidence.
Each week, we'll dive intotopics to help you shine in
business and in life, so you canstop hesitating and start
showing up like the leader youwere meant to be.
If you've ever struggled withconfidence on camera or
hesitated to put yourself outthere, this podcast is for you.
Let's get started on living thewhole picture together.
(01:10):
Welcome, Karen.
Thank you for agreeing to behere.
Oh hi, thank you for having me.
No problem, can you start byjust telling us a little bit
about yourself and then kind ofwhat got you into why you
decided to create this product?
Karen Trenk (01:23):
So my name is Karen Trenk and I am the founder and
owner of Handzies.
I'm also a mom to two kids whoare a lot older now than when I
started this business, so Istarted the business back.
I actually had to go back anddo the math, because you and I
have known each other a longtime.
I'm pretty sure it was like2014 is probably when I started
(01:49):
on it.
It took a couple years indevelopment before we actually
got a product that wascommercially available.
So we probably started sellingabout 2016 and have been doing
that ever since, and I guess thereason I started it's not super
glamorous but, like a lot ofpeople, I had a problem and I
(02:09):
couldn't find a solution outthere for it, so that's what
sort of prompted me to do this.
We had just my whole family hadjust come off the stomach bug.
It wiped out our entire family.
My kids were really little atthe time and I was in the
doctor's office and I wastalking about gosh I'm so tired
of being sick all the time andwe were talking and she said,
(02:31):
yeah, I really wish people couldjust wash their hands more.
And I said you're right, wereally should be washing our
hands more Probably wouldn't getas sick, right, and it would
just be so handy to be able todo that.
But I had two small kids and itwas just hard right.
The sinks were never availablewhen I needed them.
We were always out and about,we were, you know, having snacks
in the car, we were at the park, doing whatever, and I looked
(02:53):
around and all that wasavailable was hand sanitizer or
baby wipes.
Those were sort of the twothings that were available.
Didn't love the hand sanitizerbecause it was a lot of alcohol
and my kids were small.
I didn't love dumping thatalcohol on their hands.
Um, the alcohol didn't.
It didn't really take anythingoff their hands, it really just
sort of smeared it around.
If they were actually justdirty, like dirt or like Cheeto
(03:15):
fingers or something else,chocolate, something else that
was on them, um.
And we didn't love baby wipesbecause my kids were like
absolutely not going to use ababy wipe.
Jama Pantel (03:24):
They're not babies, right.
Karen Trenk (03:26):
Not babies anymore and I didn't really love baby
wipes either because I felt likethey kind of made me a little
sticky, yes.
And so I'm like why can't Iwash my hands on the go, like
why is that not a thing?
So I actually did a bunch ofresearch, couldn't find anything
and then just started makingthem in my kitchen.
So I bought a bunch of supplies.
I had a bunch of essential oils.
(03:46):
I knew I really wanted to use areally clean, pure soap.
So I use a Castile soap whichis olive oil based, super gentle
on the skin, really, you know,very natural ingredients.
And then I use essential oilsto both use as antibacterial and
because they smell amazing.
So I started kind of concoctingthis stuff in my kitchen.
(04:08):
Some hit and misses, some thatworked out great, some that
didn't.
I made one that my daughtersaid that smelled like a wet dog
.
So, needless to say, thatformula went out the window.
We scrapped that one.
Finally, I came up with aformula that we really liked,
kind of a combination of thingsthat we felt like, uh, worked
amazing and smelled great, and Iwas really happy with the
(04:29):
ingredients.
Um, and then we started thelong road of trying to figure
out how we could make thiscommercially available, um,
which was a bit of a longerjourney, which is why it took,
you know, year and a half, twoyears um, before we did that.
But we finally found amanufacturer out in California
and they manufacture for us andship here, and then we package
things up and kind of get themavailable through Amazon and
(04:50):
some of the other channels.
So that's kind of the shortenednot so short version, I guess,
of kind of how we got here.
Jama Pantel (04:57):
No, I love that and that was kind of what I was
wondering.
Like, are there other nownatural light cleaning products
on the market or do you stillkind of like?
Have that, like um, becauseagain, I have used this product,
I love this product, I swear bythis product.
Um, they sit in my car, theysit in my home, they sit, they
go with me on vacation.
Karen and I are both runners umCrossFit, all the things, and
(05:17):
so they go with me on my racecourse, like everywhere with me
on the race.
They came in handy.
So are there any other productsout there like that now, or are
you still like the cornerstoneof it here?
Karen Trenk (05:33):
So there are definitely a lot of other
options out there that arenon-alcohol based and use a
combination of different thingsso far, and you know could be
out there, I just haven't foundit.
Combination of different thingsso far and you know could be
out there, I just haven't foundit.
As far as I know, hanzies isthe only one that's still using
a soap and water approach.
(05:53):
You can definitely find wipesthat are like face wipes or just
sort of all multi-purpose typewipes that don't have alcohol
and stuff in them.
Now, because I think people arekind of gravitating towards
more natural, kind ofenvironmentally safe, you know,
less hormone disruptors, thatsort of thing.
But as far as I can tell, we'rethe only ones that are still
using a bit of Castile soap andessential oils in our
(06:15):
formulation.
So I think our formulation isstill a bit unique.
But there are certainly a lotmore options out there.
Jama Pantel (06:19):
That's what I was getting at.
I still feel like it's a uniqueformula.
I haven't found any.
There's nothing I've comeacross that I like, more than it
.
Why did you feel like this wasso important?
Obviously because you were amom and your kids and stuff like
that.
But did you recognize that thiswas a need in the market?
Basically, like you is kind ofwhat I'm guessing.
Karen Trenk (06:40):
Absolutely.
So you know, handwashing is thenumber one thing.
The CDC and everybody else says, you know is good, good to kind
of keep you clean.
But part of it is, you know,yeah, you know we worry about
germs and stuff.
But there were a lot of times Iwasn't necessarily worried
about germs, I just wanted a wayto clean up.
So, like you mentioned, runningor at the gym or you know, we
(07:01):
were at the grocery store andI'm like, oh, someone's hands
are sticky and I'm like I don'tneed to disinfect you, I just
need to clean up.
And I want to do it in a waythat doesn't dry out my skin and
doesn't sting, because everylittle cut on my hand and I
don't want to worry that I'mputting something terrible on my
kids or myself, I just want away to clean up.
So I really wanted to sinkright, Like if I had a sink here
(07:22):
, that's what I'd be doing.
I travel in a sink.
That's exactly right.
I wish, I wish there was one,but there wasn't.
So we tried to formulatesomething that was as close as
you could get to washing yourhands at a sink, but on the go.
That's kind of what we wereshooting for.
Jama Pantel (07:38):
Now that makes total sense, and so you
mentioned that you got them onAmazon and are selling there.
Can you tell me a little bitabout that process, like, are
you happy with it?
Now it sounds like it was ajourney to get there, but is
that like your number one, liketarget audience is from there,
stuff like that.
Karen Trenk (07:54):
Yeah, so we have a website that we sell direct and
then we also I would say themajority of the business goes
through Amazon, because thatjust also seems to be the way
the world likes to get.
Their products is throughAmazon.
We sort of have a love hatewith Amazon.
You know, when things workgreat, they work great, and when
things aren't working, it'sreally hard to kind of navigate
(08:14):
what's going on and how to getthings, you know, kind of fixed
with them.
Covid was a really hard time Fora lot of reasons.
It sort of blew up salesbecause all of a sudden
everybody was looking for soapand water and hand wipes and
that created a lot of problems.
There were a lot of problemswith Amazon during that time too
.
They were really trying tocrack down on a lot of things.
(08:35):
There was a lot of supplyissues.
So, in general, when Amazon'sworking, it works amazing and we
love working with them.
It's like a bad relationshipright.
When there's problems, thenthere's problems you have to
work through and you just sortof have to get it out.
But we've been doing it since2016.
And you know it's changed a lotsince we started with them.
So you know, every year there's, you know, some new things.
(08:59):
You've kind of got to get usedto with them.
I'd say, in general, most ofthem are positive.
Some of them were like, oh,that's going to be kind of hard,
but you know, you just workthrough it.
Jama Pantel (09:07):
So that's what I was going to ask.
What like strategies have youfound to be most successful in
standing out in this market?
Clearly, amazon, we all know,is huge, right, so they offer
everything in the world.
You think of it that way.
So what ways have you found tostand out in that market and how
have you, like, presentedyourself that way?
Karen Trenk (09:30):
I think the fact that we're unique has helped a
bit.
I think people like findingsomething that they think is
different and something that'snot from big business.
We had a lot of people thatcame to us especially during the
COVID time and they had a kindof a distrust with big business
and they were pretty happy thatwe were a small business.
We were sort of keeping itclean and simple, no pun
intended, and and they werereally looking for that and we
(09:52):
were glad that we could be that.
The other thing is we don't doa lot of direct marketing
through Amazon.
We have a lot of influencersthat we work with.
So everybody kind of likes tofind things on Instagram or
through other kind of mediachannels.
So I have a PR person that Iwork with.
I've been working with her foryears, also female owned
(10:12):
business.
She's amazing and she goes outand either finds people that are
writing publications abouttopics that we fit in with or
influencers that are coveringthese topics, like you know,
spring travel or summer camps orall these different things, and
so she's we've kind of got alist of things where we feel
like you know, we fit in withthat topic and we reach out to
those influencers and we getproduct in their hands and we
(10:34):
allow them to test it and use it, because that's really where we
feel like we stand out is, onceyou have a chance to use it
sort of won't go back, we feellike, and that's been super
successful.
So it's a lot of grassrootsstuff.
We don't do a lot of mainstream.
We don't do Google ads, wedon't do Facebook ads.
We really sort of tryingbecause I really feel like
people need to use it and feellike they've discovered it, and
(10:56):
then they're happy to share itwith all their friends and
through all their social mediachannels and it's worked really
well, Okay, so yeah, I was goingto ask, like, how do you handle
being like the natural brandthat you are and then the
business side and trying toscale and build that up?
Jama Pantel (11:09):
And you answered that perfectly.
Have you had to make any likecompromises doing that, or have
you just you just find soundslike this a wonderful woman you
have, who I'm going to get herinformation from you too.
She's amazing.
Yeah, has done a really goodjob to help you scale and do
that.
And so is it.
Social media mostly like wordof mouth, that way for social
media influencers.
Karen Trenk (11:29):
Yeah, it's a combination of mostly Instagram.
We don't do TikTok, which isgreat, because we didn't go
through that pain.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, mostly it'sInstagram, facebook, like
they'll be posting.
Their influencers have Facebookpages or Instagram pages, reels
(11:52):
, stories.
We do some media like regionalmedia, like they'll do midday
shows and they'll be doingsegments on, you know, our
favorite products for summercamp or our favorite products
for spring break travel.
And you know we sort of get ina lineup of those products so
that we've sort of figured outwhich regions are pretty good
for us.
So we kind of stick to thoseregions and that works really
well.
And you know it's sort of, youknow, you kind of reach a
(12:14):
tipping point right.
The more people you reach, themore people they reach, and it
just sort of starts to spread,because we've definitely seen it
grow over the last severalyears that we've been working
that way.
Every you know, year over yearthere's just more and more
growth that way that'sincredible.
Jama Pantel (12:27):
I love seeing this as somebody who obviously knew
the brand from the beginning andall the things.
Yeah, it's great to hear, andso it does sound like social
media has played a huge role inthis.
And so what is your personally,what is your favorite platform
like that for it?
Karen Trenk (12:47):
Oh well, my favorite platform to kind of get
information is this.
I'm going to date myself a lot.
Here's facebook still, which Iknow it's not anyone else's
favorite platform, unless you'remy age, um, just because I feel
like it allows you to to conveya bit more information.
Um, instagram's a little bitshort and sweet, right.
You've kind of got to hit it.
It's got to be really trendyand you know, um, so we do do a
lot of stuff on Instagram.
A lot of the influencers wework with are, you know, do
(13:10):
reels and stories about us,which is great, but information
sharing and sort of storytelling, it's a little.
I'm still a little bit moreused to Facebook.
That's kind of my personalfavorite.
Jama Pantel (13:19):
So yeah, that resonates with me, and not
wanting to hard for me to get onboard with the trendy things,
that's why long form content Ithink information is way more
helpful this way for somebodylike me, and that, you know,
spurred this, so I can't createthat.
So here we go.
I'm going to get into some ofthe more business type questions
(13:41):
, because I know running abusiness is hard.
Anybody in business knows that.
So what are some of the biggestchallenges that you face as an
entrepreneur?
And, you know, did you have anystrategies to overcome those?
Karen Trenk (13:53):
Uh, so many, so many things.
So I think getting started uhis sort of you just don't know
what you don't know, right, andand it can be overwhelming to
think about kind of the endresult.
Like, well, how in the world amI going to make this, how am I
going to find a manufacturer andhow am I going to make this
happen?
And and uh, thank goodness forGoogle, uh, cause you can learn
(14:14):
a lot.
And and that's sort of how ithappened at the beginning is, I
just sounded really stupid everytime I asked a question or
every time I had a phone call orI sent an email.
But every time I got a responseback, I got a little bit
smarter, so that the next time Isounded a little bit more like
I knew what I needed and youjust sort of chip away at it,
right, you know, it's sort oflike all right, what's the next
(14:41):
problem on deck that we've gotto figure out?
And chip away at figuring thatone out and we'd kind of move on
to the next one, and so,getting started, it was just
sort of the amount of thingsthat I didn't know.
I mean, I had been a productmanager, but in software for a
long time, which is not verysimilar at all to consumer good,
so didn't transfer at all there.
So there was a lot to learn andwe, you know, just sort of
chipped away at it, which wasgreat and I, yeah, and along the
(15:03):
way I was really surprised kindof how there are really very
kind people out there and youcan find them along the way.
Certainly not everybody, butyou know there were a lot of
people that would take the time.
Clearly they would figure out Iwasn't a big time opportunity
for them at the time.
Yeah, small business justgetting started, and they could
(15:24):
tell.
But they would take the time toexplain things to me and sort
of tell me how things worked andsuper grateful that you can
find those people along the way.
So that was that was sort of abig one way.
So that was that was sort of abig one.
And then sort of learning howto scale.
You know, when you're a one onegal show as you you're familiar
with also, you kind of have toknow all of it right.
(15:45):
You have to know the socialmedia side and the marketing,
and then the how to do the books, and then how the manufacturing
and the distribution is goingto work, and then what about
taxes, and then how do you getyour LLC?
And then you know it's justthere's a million and one things
Right.
So it was, it was fun, becauseif you're a little bit ADHD,
like I think my brain kind of isthat way kind of gives the
opportunity to hop around and doa bunch of different things.
(16:06):
I don't feel like doing taxestoday.
How about let's do somemarketing Right, like there's
always something Right.
Jama Pantel (16:11):
Love that.
You know, I kind of wonder ifall of us in business are a
little bit ADHD for that veryreason.
Like I can't do this today, I'mgoing to do this.
That that resonates.
Karen Trenk (16:20):
Yeah, Sometimes it's a hindrance, but sometimes
it's a real superpower, becauseyou're like, wow, okay, I'm just
going to hop around and do sixdifferent things now.
So you know, it's blessing anda curse, yeah, yeah.
So you know, but we, we learneda lot along the way and and I
met a lot of amazing people Imet you, which was amazing, and
then I found a bunch along theway.
(16:40):
I found a bunch of friends thathad skills I didn't know they
had.
So Monica is a mutual friend ofours.
She was hugely helpful inhelping me kind of in the early
stages.
And I had some other friendsthat I'm like I had no idea that
you had that skill.
All right, let's do it.
And it was really fun to kindof get connected with them in a
different way.
So that was kind of a new kindof fun thing too.
Jama Pantel (17:02):
I love that.
So that was going to kind oflead into my next question.
What's been the most rewardingpart in all of this, other than
you have a business?
That's amazing, right.
Karen Trenk (17:14):
What's been the most rewarding moment for you in
all of this?
Definitely, working with a lotof different people has been
amazing, I think.
Kind of looking back on itbecause I feel like we have
enough years now, I feel like Ican kind of look back a bit it's
been pretty rewarding for mykids to see this, so they've had
a chance to sort of see thishappen, both the good stuff and
(17:34):
sometimes the not great stuff.
There's been times I've beenstuck on something and
frustrated and you know, tryingto figure it out, and you know
they've seen me have to struggleand kind of work through it and
then they've seen sometimeswe're like, oh hey, look, look,
what we did.
That was pretty amazing, youknow.
So it's been pretty rewardingnow that I'm here to look back
(17:56):
on that and be like it was kindof nice that my kids got a
chance to see that sort ofunfold kind of in in the house
literally with them, because Iwork at home.
Jama Pantel (18:04):
So they got to see all of it happen.
Karen Trenk (18:06):
Yeah, yeah, that's probably the best part.
Jama Pantel (18:08):
I love that.
That makes so much sense andlike inspiring future
generations, right, Like we wantto do so, or there have there
been any?
And it sounds like I alreadyknow the answer to this.
You've met all these incrediblepeople along the way and stuff
like that.
What is the biggest thing youlearned from somebody else?
Like the biggest, like aha,light bulb moment that you
(18:28):
hadn't even like, didn't knowwhere you were going, and then
they they helped shape and putyou in this direction or
whatever and put you in thisdirection or whatever.
Karen Trenk (18:38):
Probably it's probably my husband.
So he's an analyst at Gartner,so he works with businesses all
the time and sometimes he treatsme like a business, which I
also love and hate, and you knowthere are times that I just get
so you know you're so close toit because you're the one kind
of wrapped around the axle withit all the time.
And he's pretty good aboutpulling me back away from it and
(19:00):
being like look, you'reovercomplicating things, right.
Like you know exactly what togo do.
Just turn off all the noise andjust go do it.
He's like there's zero reason,you shouldn't do it.
And he's like and you've doneit.
(19:21):
Like, if there's some problemthat I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm
never going to get this figuredout.
And he's like look, you've hadfive others just like this and
you've gotten through everysingle one of them.
So he's like, just take abreath and get through it, like
you did all the other ones,which is kind of exactly what
you need to hear.
You know you're both frustrated.
You're like, ah, come on.
But he's done a really good jobhelping me realize that
sometimes you just got to take adeep breath and just you know,
keep at it and you'll getthrough it, like he did all the
other things.
Jama Pantel (19:41):
So I mean those are words to live by, right, like
you're not going to figure outeverything on your first go
round.
It's trial and error and youjust keep coming back for more
and you eventually conquer itand not you know.
I mean, I think you said itright there.
All right, thank you, karen'shusband for his party.
That's where it's a wisdom onus.
That are true, um, so I know,um, that it changed from single
(20:05):
hand wipes to to rolls and stufflike that.
So tell us kind of how thetransformation went for that.
And then, are there any plansfor, like, an expanded product
line or anything like that?
Are you happy with where thoseare at, or do you want to grow
bigger on that line or anythinglike that?
Are you happy?
Karen Trenk (20:17):
with where those are at, or do you want to grow
bigger on that?
It's funny.
You said that because we'reworking on one right now.
So, yeah, we originally startedwith a tangerine version of a
single packaged hand wipe.
It looks like this yeah, so youcan take them wherever you can
take them on a run.
I know Jayma has done that alot Exactly what I do.
I did.
Jama Pantel (20:35):
I and I meant to capture pictures on the race
course last month when I was outthere on the marathon course,
cause I came out and I was usingthem.
It was mostly self-supported onthis race course, cause it was
such a small marathon, I scoredby my handsies and I was like
there's nobody around to sharethis with, cause there were only
120 or so runners on thiscourse and pulling them out like
crazy, using it cause it'sself-supported.
Karen Trenk (20:55):
I'm like yeah, yeah , those come in handy for a lot
of things, yeah, um.
So we originally started withthese, um, and they were
tangerine, and did that forprobably a year or two, and then
we sort of got onto this.
Some people were like, oh, wedon't want scent, you know, and
free and clear was a big deal.
So we came out with a free andclear version, which is the same
(21:18):
thing minus the tangerine oil,um, and that is by far and away
the most popular thing we have.
People love free and clear.
It's not my personal favorite.
I still love the tangerinebecause I love the smell.
Same I love the tangerine too.
It's my go-to as well yeah, it'smy go-to too, but for whatever
reason, people you know,especially people that that are
(21:39):
really sensitive to smells orthey're worried about stuff on
their skin.
You know, I totally get it andthe ingredients are really clean
, which is I think peoplegravitate towards that.
And then we kind of got on this.
(22:00):
Well, you know, it's a littlebit more spendy when you've got
them individually packaged likethis, just because you've got
packaging you've got to dealwith and that sort of thing.
So we went with a multi-usepouch which has 30 in it, which
works great.
If you're traveling you want totoss it in a backpack, a diaper
bag.
We have a lot of families thatlove that because they're the
parents want to clean theirhands off or their kids hands or
whatever.
So we've been doing that for awhile this year.
I actually have plans Not surewhen it's going to happen
because we're still trying toget it to the manufacturer.
(22:22):
We're going to do a multi-usepouch like this, but it's going
to be 12.
So it's more of a travel pack.
So it'll be much smaller, mucheasier to fit in a purse or a
fanny pack or a backpack orsomething.
But it's got 12 in it, so it'llbe a little bit smaller profile
.
Yeah, so that's the next thing.
We don't have any plans to do anew scent, because Free and
(22:45):
Clear seems to be what everybodywants.
My family's been begging me foryears to do another scent.
I'm like you got.
Unless you guys plan to buy alot of them, then, yeah, we're
gonna have to just stick withFree and but in the spirit of my
husband being like all right,don't overcomplicate it, Just
sell what people want.
We're going to, we're going tostick with that and we're going
(23:05):
to just try and make a smallerpack.
That's a little bit easier forpeople that just want something
they can tuck in a purse or abriefcase or something else.
Jama Pantel (23:12):
I like that as a now lover of the fanny pack.
Here we are right, they werecool, they were not cool and
they're back to being cool againand I carry mine all the time.
I like that idea for carryingthose in the fanny pack.
Karen Trenk (23:24):
I know Well, we're going to have to.
I'll have to talk to you aboutsome photography, because when
we get the new one, we're goingto have to get some good
photography with it.
Jama Pantel (23:38):
So break out your fanny packs.
Karen Trenk (23:40):
We can do that.
So I want to ask, um, whatinspires you to keep going when
things get tough?
Oh, that's a hard question.
Um, probably very similar torunning a race, like you didn't
come this far just to come thisfar.
So, and part of it is just, um,I'm a little bit stubborn, so
I'm like, well, this is notgonna stop me, right, I love it.
So there's some of that also.
(24:02):
You know, probably not asinspiring, but you know, now
I've got kids in college and sofinancially it's great to keep
going because you know thosetuition bills are, you know, not
cheap.
Jama Pantel (24:16):
So, yeah, you know I love that and the more I think
about it.
It's like my circle is likesurrounded by runners, and that
equates so wonderfully into thebusiness world.
Right, we have tenacity, wehave grit, we keep going, no
matter what, like that.
That's what we do, and I have apodcast coming up on that
because it keeps that.
That mantra keeps coming upover and over again.
(24:37):
So let me ask you this whatpiece of advice would you give
any aspiring entrepreneurs,people looking to get into
business?
What would that be?
Karen Trenk (24:52):
So probably very similar to a running metaphor.
You know, if you're going to doa marathon, don't think about
26 miles, just think about mileone first.
So you know, it's pretty easyto get overwhelmed with how do I
figure all of this out?
And you don't have to figure itall out at once, but you do
have to take the first stepright, like.
So my advice is, if you've gotsome something you want to do,
(25:15):
you know, do a bunch of research.
The internet's amazing.
It knows a lot of things.
You can learn a lot that way.
Talk to a lot of people, andthen you just sort of have to
get started.
Just do the first thing on thelist and then that'll lead to
the second thing, and then,before you know it, you know
you'll get through.
You're never done with the list, but you'll get through enough
that you've got kind of got towhere you you wanted to be, or
you're well down the road.
(25:35):
So you know, don't beoverwhelmed by it.
You know we have, uh, I docrossfit and uh, sometimes you
look at the workout and it'spretty overwhelming.
You're like there's no way I'mgoing to get through all that
and you're like, well, let'sjust focus on the first five.
First, let's get through that,and then we'll work on the next.
You know so, just uh, just chipaway at it.
That's the best you can do, and, and before you know it, you'll
have business.
Jama Pantel (25:55):
I love it and that again, words of wisdom over here
.
These are things we can alllive by.
You're absolutely right and Iagain thank you for coming on
here.
I think it's quite amazing howyou went from just Googling
something because it didn'texist to having this product out
there.
Like that's pretty huge and Iknow we covered it pretty
quickly.
(26:15):
But take a moment and reflecton that, like when in your mind
again, this was a question, thator something that hit me when
my little cousin who's now youknow, they're now in their 20s
and stuff like that Ask me, likehow does it feel to have made
it?
And in my mind I'm like I'venever made it, I'm still working
, right.
So when did you like hit thatpoint?
Like I'm doing this, like I,this is, this is something and
(26:38):
this is out there.
Like it's definitely not theearly days when you're in the
trenches, right?
So where?
was the mindset shift in thatlike.
Karen Trenk (26:47):
Oh, so there's.
It's funny because there areactually two, two specific times
where I'm like, oh my gosh,this actually worked.
The first time was when I waslike, oh my gosh, there are
orders on Amazon and I don'tknow those people Like those are
not family members.
I'm like, oh my gosh, that's acomplete stranger and I just
bought my stuff.
And then the second time, thatwas pretty early on, right.
(27:13):
The second time I was at achildren's museum, like in
Johnson City or somethingoutside of town, and I had my
kids with me and we were just,you know, doing the children's
museum and this, I pulled outsome handsies because we were
going to clean up, because wewere going to eat something.
And she's like, oh, aren'tthose great, I use those, I love
them.
And I was like, oh my gosh, Ido not know this person.
(27:34):
We are not even in Austin rightnow.
We're outside of Austin.
And she knew my product.
I was like this is it.
I have officially made it Right, and that was probably three
years ago, you know three, fouryears ago.
That is amazing, yeah.
And then I just had a friend ofmine who was traveling.
She was at an airport and shetook a picture.
Somebody pulled a handsy out oftheir bag and was cleaning up
(27:56):
the airport.
And she snuck a picture andsent it to me and she was like
Karen, look, there's handsies inthe wild.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, lookat that.
I don't know that person.
Jama Pantel (28:04):
They're using my stuff.
Karen Trenk (28:05):
So every time I see somebody with my stuff that's
not like a personal friend ofmine or a family member, I'm
like oh my gosh, look at that,they're using my stuff.
Jama Pantel (28:12):
It hits you.
That is so cool.
That is so cool and I hadn'tthought about that.
But I know again, I've knownyour product and known you for a
very long time.
I would do the same thing if Isaw it in the wild.
I'm like, oh my gosh, that's it.
That's it, I know them I knowthem, yeah, and I do think I saw
one, like of course nobodywants to litter, but I think I
(28:32):
saw one on the ground one time,like at a local rice or whatever
, like the packaging you knowrunners when they throw their
drink cups down and stuff likethat there's always around and I
saw one out there and I waslike hey, I know that.
But I was like in the middle itdidn't stop, but I was like, oh
, I know them, I know them, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I think that's big for ustoo, like the fans that have
(28:52):
been a fan for a while.
Okay yeah is there anything elsethat you want to share or that
you think, uh, you know thatwould help inspire anybody in
any of this business, or online,or just putting putting it out
there?
Karen Trenk (29:06):
Like I just do it.
I mean, there's really there'sso many resources out there and
there's so many people that arewilling to help, and I'm always
willing to help.
If there's any information onanything I've done that helps
somebody, I'm always happy togive them.
You know my time and you knowif there's anything I can
explain to somebody that mighthelp them, I'm happy to do it
Right.
So just just try it Likethere's there's no downside to
(29:28):
just trying right.
You just you don't know whatyou can do until you give it a
shot.
Jama Pantel (29:32):
I love that, I love that, and so is this.
Like this is your future, thisis your goal, this is your
retirement plan.
Like you, this is what you arefully invested in.
This is your jam right.
Karen Trenk (29:43):
Well, yes, this is it.
We're too far down the road now, so, yeah, we're going to ride
the ride this one out for sure.
Jama Pantel (29:50):
I love it.
I love it so well.
I want to thank you again forcoming on.
This has been great to talk toyou.
I think it's inspiring whatyou've done built something from
the ground up, research all theway up, and I, you know again,
we went over this pretty fast.
But I want to pause andemphasize how incredible that is
to start something from theresearch stage, ground up,
(30:15):
building it in your kitchen,doing all the work, finding the
manufacturers, all the way togetting them out there I mean on
Amazon, like that.
Congratulations to you.
That's huge.
I've watched the baby stepsover the years and stuff like
that and knew all this washappening.
But as you said this and I'msitting back, I'm like this is
huge, like this is reallyincredible that she was able to
(30:38):
do that from her home.
You hear that a lot like Idon't have the time, I don't
have the, you know the space andstuff like that.
Your home is a space and youcan make it happen if you want
to make it happen.
Karen Trenk (30:49):
You can, and if you have a fantastic photographer,
it helps too.
Jama Pantel (30:53):
So always helps.
I love that.
So tell people where they canfind you and what's the best way
to reach out to you and yourproducts and that kind of stuff.
Where can everybody find you?
Karen Trenk (31:04):
So we have a website that's handzies.
com.
It's H-A-N-D-Z-I-E-S.
com.
You can also find us on Amazon,so you can just search handsies
on Amazon.
You can find me there.
If you want to contact me, ifyou have any questions or is
there anything I can answer foryou, I'm just Karen at Handzies.
com, or you could probably findme through JAMA if you want to
(31:25):
go that way as well, but alwayshappy to answer questions or
help out in any way I can, butthat's how you can find me.
Jama Pantel (31:32):
I appreciate it and I'll put those in the show
notes as well so people can justuse the link to click on there
to find you and find yourproducts and reach out to you.
And again, I really thank youfor being on here and I really
appreciate your time for talkingto us today.
I can't wait to share you witheverybody else that I don't know
and haven't talked about in awhile, and I look forward to the
(31:53):
fanny pack photo shoot.
Karen Trenk (31:55):
That sounds good.
Thank you so much for having me.
Jama Pantel (31:58):
Thank you.
If you take one thing from thisepisode, let it be this your
brand won't stand out if you'retoo afraid to put yourself out
there.
You don't need a million dollarbudget or decades of experience
to start.
You just need to believe inyour product, your message or
your skills enough to startsharing them with the world.
(32:19):
Thank you so much for tuning into Living the Whole Picture.
If this episode resonated withyou, I'd love for you to
subscribe, leave me a review andshare it with another
high-achieving woman who needsto hear this message.
Or, better yet, share it andtag me on social media.
Visit my website, jamapantel.
com, for more resources, updatesand ways we can work together.
(32:40):
Be sure to subscribe whileyou're on the website so you
never miss anything.
You've worked hard to get whereyou are.
Now it's time to show upconfidently and own your
presence.
Until next time, keep showingup and living the whole picture.
Have you ever had a business idea but didn't know
where to start?
Maybe you felt like the marketis already too crowded and you
wonder how could I possiblystand out?
Today's guest, my friend KarenTrank, did exactly that.
She took a simple need a betterway to clean your hands on the
go and turned it into a thrivingbusiness Handzies and she did
it without a massive marketingbudget or corporate background
(00:23):
in consumer goods.
Today she's sharing what she'slearned about building a brand
from scratch, standing out andgetting seen by the right people
.
Hey y'all, welcome back toLiving the Whole Picture, the
podcast for ambitious womenready to elevate their
visibility, build authenticconfidence and become the face
of their brand.
I'm your host, Jama Pantel, aluxury portrait photographer,
(00:50):
author, educator, influencer anddream chaser, here to help you
master your brand presence andshow up authentically with
confidence.
Each week, we'll dive intotopics to help you shine in
business and in life, so you canstop hesitating and start
showing up like the leader youwere meant to be.
If you've ever struggled withconfidence on camera or
hesitated to put yourself outthere, this podcast is for you.
Let's get started on living thewhole picture together.
(01:10):
Welcome, Karen.
Thank you for agreeing to behere.
Oh hi, thank you for having me.
No problem, can you start byjust telling us a little bit
about yourself and then kind ofwhat got you into why you
decided to create this product?
Karen Trenk (01:23):
So my name is Karen Trenk and I am the founder and
owner of Handzies.
I'm also a mom to two kids whoare a lot older now than when I
started this business, so Istarted the business back.
I actually had to go back anddo the math, because you and I
have known each other a longtime.
I'm pretty sure it was like2014 is probably when I started
(01:49):
on it.
It took a couple years indevelopment before we actually
got a product that wascommercially available.
So we probably started sellingabout 2016 and have been doing
that ever since, and I guess thereason I started it's not super
glamorous but, like a lot ofpeople, I had a problem and I
(02:09):
couldn't find a solution outthere for it, so that's what
sort of prompted me to do this.
We had just my whole family hadjust come off the stomach bug.
It wiped out our entire family.
My kids were really little atthe time and I was in the
doctor's office and I wastalking about gosh I'm so tired
of being sick all the time andwe were talking and she said,
(02:31):
yeah, I really wish people couldjust wash their hands more.
And I said you're right, wereally should be washing our
hands more Probably wouldn't getas sick, right, and it would
just be so handy to be able todo that.
But I had two small kids and itwas just hard right.
The sinks were never availablewhen I needed them.
We were always out and about,we were, you know, having snacks
in the car, we were at the park, doing whatever, and I looked
(02:53):
around and all that wasavailable was hand sanitizer or
baby wipes.
Those were sort of the twothings that were available.
Didn't love the hand sanitizerbecause it was a lot of alcohol
and my kids were small.
I didn't love dumping thatalcohol on their hands.
Um, the alcohol didn't.
It didn't really take anythingoff their hands, it really just
sort of smeared it around.
If they were actually justdirty, like dirt or like Cheeto
(03:15):
fingers or something else,chocolate, something else that
was on them, um.
And we didn't love baby wipesbecause my kids were like
absolutely not going to use ababy wipe.
Jama Pantel (03:24):
They're not babies, right.
Karen Trenk (03:26):
Not babies anymore and I didn't really love baby
wipes either because I felt likethey kind of made me a little
sticky, yes.
And so I'm like why can't Iwash my hands on the go, like
why is that not a thing?
So I actually did a bunch ofresearch, couldn't find anything
and then just started makingthem in my kitchen.
So I bought a bunch of supplies.
I had a bunch of essential oils.
(03:46):
I knew I really wanted to use areally clean, pure soap.
So I use a Castile soap whichis olive oil based, super gentle
on the skin, really, you know,very natural ingredients.
And then I use essential oilsto both use as antibacterial and
because they smell amazing.
So I started kind of concoctingthis stuff in my kitchen.
(04:08):
Some hit and misses, some thatworked out great, some that
didn't.
I made one that my daughtersaid that smelled like a wet dog
.
So, needless to say, thatformula went out the window.
We scrapped that one.
Finally, I came up with aformula that we really liked,
kind of a combination of thingsthat we felt like, uh, worked
amazing and smelled great, and Iwas really happy with the
(04:29):
ingredients.
Um, and then we started thelong road of trying to figure
out how we could make thiscommercially available, um,
which was a bit of a longerjourney, which is why it took,
you know, year and a half, twoyears um, before we did that.
But we finally found amanufacturer out in California
and they manufacture for us andship here, and then we package
things up and kind of get themavailable through Amazon and
(04:50):
some of the other channels.
So that's kind of the shortenednot so short version, I guess,
of kind of how we got here.
Jama Pantel (04:57):
No, I love that and that was kind of what I was
wondering.
Like, are there other nownatural light cleaning products
on the market or do you stillkind of like?
Have that, like um, becauseagain, I have used this product,
I love this product, I swear bythis product.
Um, they sit in my car, theysit in my home, they sit, they
go with me on vacation.
Karen and I are both runners umCrossFit, all the things, and
(05:17):
so they go with me on my racecourse, like everywhere with me
on the race.
They came in handy.
So are there any other productsout there like that now, or are
you still like the cornerstoneof it here?
Karen Trenk (05:33):
So there are definitely a lot of other
options out there that arenon-alcohol based and use a
combination of different thingsso far, and you know could be
out there, I just haven't foundit.
Combination of different thingsso far and you know could be
out there, I just haven't foundit.
As far as I know, hanzies isthe only one that's still using
a soap and water approach.
(05:53):
You can definitely find wipesthat are like face wipes or just
sort of all multi-purpose typewipes that don't have alcohol
and stuff in them.
Now, because I think people arekind of gravitating towards
more natural, kind ofenvironmentally safe, you know,
less hormone disruptors, thatsort of thing.
But as far as I can tell, we'rethe only ones that are still
using a bit of Castile soap andessential oils in our
(06:15):
formulation.
So I think our formulation isstill a bit unique.
But there are certainly a lotmore options out there.
Jama Pantel (06:19):
That's what I was getting at.
I still feel like it's a uniqueformula.
I haven't found any.
There's nothing I've comeacross that I like, more than it
.
Why did you feel like this wasso important?
Obviously because you were amom and your kids and stuff like
that.
But did you recognize that thiswas a need in the market?
Basically, like you is kind ofwhat I'm guessing.
Karen Trenk (06:40):
Absolutely.
So you know, handwashing is thenumber one thing.
The CDC and everybody else says, you know is good, good to kind
of keep you clean.
But part of it is, you know,yeah, you know we worry about
germs and stuff.
But there were a lot of times Iwasn't necessarily worried
about germs, I just wanted a wayto clean up.
So, like you mentioned, runningor at the gym or you know, we
(07:01):
were at the grocery store andI'm like, oh, someone's hands
are sticky and I'm like I don'tneed to disinfect you, I just
need to clean up.
And I want to do it in a waythat doesn't dry out my skin and
doesn't sting, because everylittle cut on my hand and I
don't want to worry that I'mputting something terrible on my
kids or myself, I just want away to clean up.
So I really wanted to sinkright, Like if I had a sink here
(07:22):
, that's what I'd be doing.
I travel in a sink.
That's exactly right.
I wish, I wish there was one,but there wasn't.
So we tried to formulatesomething that was as close as
you could get to washing yourhands at a sink, but on the go.
That's kind of what we wereshooting for.
Jama Pantel (07:38):
Now that makes total sense, and so you
mentioned that you got them onAmazon and are selling there.
Can you tell me a little bitabout that process, like, are
you happy with it?
Now it sounds like it was ajourney to get there, but is
that like your number one, liketarget audience is from there,
stuff like that.
Karen Trenk (07:54):
Yeah, so we have a website that we sell direct and
then we also I would say themajority of the business goes
through Amazon, because thatjust also seems to be the way
the world likes to get.
Their products is throughAmazon.
We sort of have a love hatewith Amazon.
You know, when things workgreat, they work great, and when
things aren't working, it'sreally hard to kind of navigate
(08:14):
what's going on and how to getthings, you know, kind of fixed
with them.
Covid was a really hard time Fora lot of reasons.
It sort of blew up salesbecause all of a sudden
everybody was looking for soapand water and hand wipes and
that created a lot of problems.
There were a lot of problemswith Amazon during that time too
.
They were really trying tocrack down on a lot of things.
(08:35):
There was a lot of supplyissues.
So, in general, when Amazon'sworking, it works amazing and we
love working with them.
It's like a bad relationshipright.
When there's problems, thenthere's problems you have to
work through and you just sortof have to get it out.
But we've been doing it since2016.
And you know it's changed a lotsince we started with them.
So you know, every year there's, you know, some new things.
(08:59):
You've kind of got to get usedto with them.
I'd say, in general, most ofthem are positive.
Some of them were like, oh,that's going to be kind of hard,
but you know, you just workthrough it.
Jama Pantel (09:07):
So that's what I was going to ask.
What like strategies have youfound to be most successful in
standing out in this market?
Clearly, amazon, we all know,is huge, right, so they offer
everything in the world.
You think of it that way.
So what ways have you found tostand out in that market and how
have you, like, presentedyourself that way?
Karen Trenk (09:30):
I think the fact that we're unique has helped a
bit.
I think people like findingsomething that they think is
different and something that'snot from big business.
We had a lot of people thatcame to us especially during the
COVID time and they had a kindof a distrust with big business
and they were pretty happy thatwe were a small business.
We were sort of keeping itclean and simple, no pun
intended, and and they werereally looking for that and we
(09:52):
were glad that we could be that.
The other thing is we don't doa lot of direct marketing
through Amazon.
We have a lot of influencersthat we work with.
So everybody kind of likes tofind things on Instagram or
through other kind of mediachannels.
So I have a PR person that Iwork with.
I've been working with her foryears, also female owned
(10:12):
business.
She's amazing and she goes outand either finds people that are
writing publications abouttopics that we fit in with or
influencers that are coveringthese topics, like you know,
spring travel or summer camps orall these different things, and
so she's we've kind of got alist of things where we feel
like you know, we fit in withthat topic and we reach out to
those influencers and we getproduct in their hands and we
(10:34):
allow them to test it and use it, because that's really where we
feel like we stand out is, onceyou have a chance to use it
sort of won't go back, we feellike, and that's been super
successful.
So it's a lot of grassrootsstuff.
We don't do a lot of mainstream.
We don't do Google ads, wedon't do Facebook ads.
We really sort of tryingbecause I really feel like
people need to use it and feellike they've discovered it, and
(10:56):
then they're happy to share itwith all their friends and
through all their social mediachannels and it's worked really
well, Okay, so yeah, I was goingto ask, like, how do you handle
being like the natural brandthat you are and then the
business side and trying toscale and build that up?
Jama Pantel (11:09):
And you answered that perfectly.
Have you had to make any likecompromises doing that, or have
you just you just find soundslike this a wonderful woman you
have, who I'm going to get herinformation from you too.
She's amazing.
Yeah, has done a really goodjob to help you scale and do
that.
And so is it.
Social media mostly like wordof mouth, that way for social
media influencers.
Karen Trenk (11:29):
Yeah, it's a combination of mostly Instagram.
We don't do TikTok, which isgreat, because we didn't go
through that pain.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, mostly it'sInstagram, facebook, like
they'll be posting.
Their influencers have Facebookpages or Instagram pages, reels
(11:52):
, stories.
We do some media like regionalmedia, like they'll do midday
shows and they'll be doingsegments on, you know, our
favorite products for summercamp or our favorite products
for spring break travel.
And you know we sort of get ina lineup of those products so
that we've sort of figured outwhich regions are pretty good
for us.
So we kind of stick to thoseregions and that works really
well.
And you know it's sort of, youknow, you kind of reach a
(12:14):
tipping point right.
The more people you reach, themore people they reach, and it
just sort of starts to spread,because we've definitely seen it
grow over the last severalyears that we've been working
that way.
Every you know, year over yearthere's just more and more
growth that way that'sincredible.
Jama Pantel (12:27):
I love seeing this as somebody who obviously knew
the brand from the beginning andall the things.
Yeah, it's great to hear, andso it does sound like social
media has played a huge role inthis.
And so what is your personally,what is your favorite platform
like that for it?
Karen Trenk (12:47):
Oh well, my favorite platform to kind of get
information is this.
I'm going to date myself a lot.
Here's facebook still, which Iknow it's not anyone else's
favorite platform, unless you'remy age, um, just because I feel
like it allows you to to conveya bit more information.
Um, instagram's a little bitshort and sweet, right.
You've kind of got to hit it.
It's got to be really trendyand you know, um, so we do do a
lot of stuff on Instagram.
A lot of the influencers wework with are, you know, do
(13:10):
reels and stories about us,which is great, but information
sharing and sort of storytelling, it's a little.
I'm still a little bit moreused to Facebook.
That's kind of my personalfavorite.
Jama Pantel (13:19):
So yeah, that resonates with me, and not
wanting to hard for me to get onboard with the trendy things,
that's why long form content Ithink information is way more
helpful this way for somebodylike me, and that, you know,
spurred this, so I can't createthat.
So here we go.
I'm going to get into some ofthe more business type questions
(13:41):
, because I know running abusiness is hard.
Anybody in business knows that.
So what are some of the biggestchallenges that you face as an
entrepreneur?
And, you know, did you have anystrategies to overcome those?
Karen Trenk (13:53):
Uh, so many, so many things.
So I think getting started uhis sort of you just don't know
what you don't know, right, andand it can be overwhelming to
think about kind of the endresult.
Like, well, how in the world amI going to make this, how am I
going to find a manufacturer andhow am I going to make this
happen?
And and uh, thank goodness forGoogle, uh, cause you can learn
(14:14):
a lot.
And and that's sort of how ithappened at the beginning is, I
just sounded really stupid everytime I asked a question or
every time I had a phone call orI sent an email.
But every time I got a responseback, I got a little bit
smarter, so that the next time Isounded a little bit more like
I knew what I needed and youjust sort of chip away at it,
right, you know, it's sort oflike all right, what's the next
(14:41):
problem on deck that we've gotto figure out?
And chip away at figuring thatone out and we'd kind of move on
to the next one, and so,getting started, it was just
sort of the amount of thingsthat I didn't know.
I mean, I had been a productmanager, but in software for a
long time, which is not verysimilar at all to consumer good,
so didn't transfer at all there.
So there was a lot to learn andwe, you know, just sort of
chipped away at it, which wasgreat and I, yeah, and along the
(15:03):
way I was really surprised kindof how there are really very
kind people out there and youcan find them along the way.
Certainly not everybody, butyou know there were a lot of
people that would take the time.
Clearly they would figure out Iwasn't a big time opportunity
for them at the time.
Yeah, small business justgetting started, and they could
(15:24):
tell.
But they would take the time toexplain things to me and sort
of tell me how things worked andsuper grateful that you can
find those people along the way.
So that was that was sort of abig one way.
So that was that was sort of abig one.
And then sort of learning howto scale.
You know, when you're a one onegal show as you you're familiar
with also, you kind of have toknow all of it right.
(15:45):
You have to know the socialmedia side and the marketing,
and then the how to do the books, and then how the manufacturing
and the distribution is goingto work, and then what about
taxes, and then how do you getyour LLC?
And then you know it's justthere's a million and one things
Right.
So it was, it was fun, becauseif you're a little bit ADHD,
like I think my brain kind of isthat way kind of gives the
opportunity to hop around and doa bunch of different things.
(16:06):
I don't feel like doing taxestoday.
How about let's do somemarketing Right, like there's
always something Right.
Jama Pantel (16:11):
Love that.
You know, I kind of wonder ifall of us in business are a
little bit ADHD for that veryreason.
Like I can't do this today, I'mgoing to do this.
That that resonates.
Karen Trenk (16:20):
Yeah, Sometimes it's a hindrance, but sometimes
it's a real superpower, becauseyou're like, wow, okay, I'm just
going to hop around and do sixdifferent things now.
So you know, it's blessing anda curse, yeah, yeah.
So you know, but we, we learneda lot along the way and and I
met a lot of amazing people Imet you, which was amazing, and
then I found a bunch along theway.
(16:40):
I found a bunch of friends thathad skills I didn't know they
had.
So Monica is a mutual friend ofours.
She was hugely helpful inhelping me kind of in the early
stages.
And I had some other friendsthat I'm like I had no idea that
you had that skill.
All right, let's do it.
And it was really fun to kindof get connected with them in a
different way.
So that was kind of a new kindof fun thing too.
Jama Pantel (17:02):
I love that.
So that was going to kind oflead into my next question.
What's been the most rewardingpart in all of this, other than
you have a business?
That's amazing, right.
Karen Trenk (17:14):
What's been the most rewarding moment for you in
all of this?
Definitely, working with a lotof different people has been
amazing, I think.
Kind of looking back on itbecause I feel like we have
enough years now, I feel like Ican kind of look back a bit it's
been pretty rewarding for mykids to see this, so they've had
a chance to sort of see thishappen, both the good stuff and
(17:34):
sometimes the not great stuff.
There's been times I've beenstuck on something and
frustrated and you know, tryingto figure it out, and you know
they've seen me have to struggleand kind of work through it and
then they've seen sometimeswe're like, oh hey, look, look,
what we did.
That was pretty amazing, youknow.
So it's been pretty rewardingnow that I'm here to look back
(17:56):
on that and be like it was kindof nice that my kids got a
chance to see that sort ofunfold kind of in in the house
literally with them, because Iwork at home.
Jama Pantel (18:04):
So they got to see all of it happen.
Karen Trenk (18:06):
Yeah, yeah, that's probably the best part.
Jama Pantel (18:08):
I love that.
That makes so much sense andlike inspiring future
generations, right, Like we wantto do so, or there have there
been any?
And it sounds like I alreadyknow the answer to this.
You've met all these incrediblepeople along the way and stuff
like that.
What is the biggest thing youlearned from somebody else?
Like the biggest, like aha,light bulb moment that you
(18:28):
hadn't even like, didn't knowwhere you were going, and then
they they helped shape and putyou in this direction or
whatever and put you in thisdirection or whatever.
Karen Trenk (18:38):
Probably it's probably my husband.
So he's an analyst at Gartner,so he works with businesses all
the time and sometimes he treatsme like a business, which I
also love and hate, and you knowthere are times that I just get
so you know you're so close toit because you're the one kind
of wrapped around the axle withit all the time.
And he's pretty good aboutpulling me back away from it and
(19:00):
being like look, you'reovercomplicating things, right.
Like you know exactly what togo do.
Just turn off all the noise andjust go do it.
He's like there's zero reason,you shouldn't do it.
And he's like and you've doneit.
(19:21):
Like, if there's some problemthat I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm
never going to get this figuredout.
And he's like look, you've hadfive others just like this and
you've gotten through everysingle one of them.
So he's like, just take abreath and get through it, like
you did all the other ones,which is kind of exactly what
you need to hear.
You know you're both frustrated.
You're like, ah, come on.
But he's done a really good jobhelping me realize that
sometimes you just got to take adeep breath and just you know,
keep at it and you'll getthrough it, like he did all the
other things.
Jama Pantel (19:41):
So I mean those are words to live by, right, like
you're not going to figure outeverything on your first go
round.
It's trial and error and youjust keep coming back for more
and you eventually conquer itand not you know.
I mean, I think you said itright there.
All right, thank you, karen'shusband for his party.
That's where it's a wisdom onus.
That are true, um, so I know,um, that it changed from single
(20:05):
hand wipes to to rolls and stufflike that.
So tell us kind of how thetransformation went for that.
And then, are there any plansfor, like, an expanded product
line or anything like that?
Are you happy with where thoseare at, or do you want to grow
bigger on that line or anythinglike that?
Are you happy?
Karen Trenk (20:17):
with where those are at, or do you want to grow
bigger on that?
It's funny.
You said that because we'reworking on one right now.
So, yeah, we originally startedwith a tangerine version of a
single packaged hand wipe.
It looks like this yeah, so youcan take them wherever you can
take them on a run.
I know Jayma has done that alot Exactly what I do.
I did.
Jama Pantel (20:35):
I and I meant to capture pictures on the race
course last month when I was outthere on the marathon course,
cause I came out and I was usingthem.
It was mostly self-supported onthis race course, cause it was
such a small marathon, I scoredby my handsies and I was like
there's nobody around to sharethis with, cause there were only
120 or so runners on thiscourse and pulling them out like
crazy, using it cause it'sself-supported.
Karen Trenk (20:55):
I'm like yeah, yeah , those come in handy for a lot
of things, yeah, um.
So we originally started withthese, um, and they were
tangerine, and did that forprobably a year or two, and then
we sort of got onto this.
Some people were like, oh, wedon't want scent, you know, and
free and clear was a big deal.
So we came out with a free andclear version, which is the same
(21:18):
thing minus the tangerine oil,um, and that is by far and away
the most popular thing we have.
People love free and clear.
It's not my personal favorite.
I still love the tangerinebecause I love the smell.
Same I love the tangerine too.
It's my go-to as well yeah, it'smy go-to too, but for whatever
reason, people you know,especially people that that are
(21:39):
really sensitive to smells orthey're worried about stuff on
their skin.
You know, I totally get it andthe ingredients are really clean
, which is I think peoplegravitate towards that.
And then we kind of got on this.
(22:00):
Well, you know, it's a littlebit more spendy when you've got
them individually packaged likethis, just because you've got
packaging you've got to dealwith and that sort of thing.
So we went with a multi-usepouch which has 30 in it, which
works great.
If you're traveling you want totoss it in a backpack, a diaper
bag.
We have a lot of families thatlove that because they're the
parents want to clean theirhands off or their kids hands or
whatever.
So we've been doing that for awhile this year.
I actually have plans Not surewhen it's going to happen
because we're still trying toget it to the manufacturer.
(22:22):
We're going to do a multi-usepouch like this, but it's going
to be 12.
So it's more of a travel pack.
So it'll be much smaller, mucheasier to fit in a purse or a
fanny pack or a backpack orsomething.
But it's got 12 in it, so it'llbe a little bit smaller profile
.
Yeah, so that's the next thing.
We don't have any plans to do anew scent, because Free and
(22:45):
Clear seems to be what everybodywants.
My family's been begging me foryears to do another scent.
I'm like you got.
Unless you guys plan to buy alot of them, then, yeah, we're
gonna have to just stick withFree and but in the spirit of my
husband being like all right,don't overcomplicate it, Just
sell what people want.
We're going to, we're going tostick with that and we're going
(23:05):
to just try and make a smallerpack.
That's a little bit easier forpeople that just want something
they can tuck in a purse or abriefcase or something else.
Jama Pantel (23:12):
I like that as a now lover of the fanny pack.
Here we are right, they werecool, they were not cool and
they're back to being cool againand I carry mine all the time.
I like that idea for carryingthose in the fanny pack.
Karen Trenk (23:24):
I know Well, we're going to have to.
I'll have to talk to you aboutsome photography, because when
we get the new one, we're goingto have to get some good
photography with it.
Jama Pantel (23:38):
So break out your fanny packs.
Karen Trenk (23:40):
We can do that.
So I want to ask, um, whatinspires you to keep going when
things get tough?
Oh, that's a hard question.
Um, probably very similar torunning a race, like you didn't
come this far just to come thisfar.
So, and part of it is just, um,I'm a little bit stubborn, so
I'm like, well, this is notgonna stop me, right, I love it.
So there's some of that also.
(24:02):
You know, probably not asinspiring, but you know, now
I've got kids in college and sofinancially it's great to keep
going because you know thosetuition bills are, you know, not
cheap.
Jama Pantel (24:16):
So, yeah, you know I love that and the more I think
about it.
It's like my circle is likesurrounded by runners, and that
equates so wonderfully into thebusiness world.
Right, we have tenacity, wehave grit, we keep going, no
matter what, like that.
That's what we do, and I have apodcast coming up on that
because it keeps that.
That mantra keeps coming upover and over again.
(24:37):
So let me ask you this whatpiece of advice would you give
any aspiring entrepreneurs,people looking to get into
business?
What would that be?
Karen Trenk (24:52):
So probably very similar to a running metaphor.
You know, if you're going to doa marathon, don't think about
26 miles, just think about mileone first.
So you know, it's pretty easyto get overwhelmed with how do I
figure all of this out?
And you don't have to figure itall out at once, but you do
have to take the first stepright, like.
So my advice is, if you've gotsome something you want to do,
(25:15):
you know, do a bunch of research.
The internet's amazing.
It knows a lot of things.
You can learn a lot that way.
Talk to a lot of people, andthen you just sort of have to
get started.
Just do the first thing on thelist and then that'll lead to
the second thing, and then,before you know it, you know
you'll get through.
You're never done with the list, but you'll get through enough
that you've got kind of got towhere you you wanted to be, or
you're well down the road.
(25:35):
So you know, don't beoverwhelmed by it.
You know we have, uh, I docrossfit and uh, sometimes you
look at the workout and it'spretty overwhelming.
You're like there's no way I'mgoing to get through all that
and you're like, well, let'sjust focus on the first five.
First, let's get through that,and then we'll work on the next.
You know so, just uh, just chipaway at it.
That's the best you can do, and, and before you know it, you'll
have business.
Jama Pantel (25:55):
I love it and that again, words of wisdom over here
.
These are things we can alllive by.
You're absolutely right and Iagain thank you for coming on
here.
I think it's quite amazing howyou went from just Googling
something because it didn'texist to having this product out
there.
Like that's pretty huge and Iknow we covered it pretty
quickly.
(26:15):
But take a moment and reflecton that, like when in your mind
again, this was a question, thator something that hit me when
my little cousin who's now youknow, they're now in their 20s
and stuff like that Ask me, likehow does it feel to have made
it?
And in my mind I'm like I'venever made it, I'm still working
, right.
So when did you like hit thatpoint?
Like I'm doing this, like I,this is, this is something and
(26:38):
this is out there.
Like it's definitely not theearly days when you're in the
trenches, right?
So where?
was the mindset shift in thatlike.
Karen Trenk (26:47):
Oh, so there's.
It's funny because there areactually two, two specific times
where I'm like, oh my gosh,this actually worked.
The first time was when I waslike, oh my gosh, there are
orders on Amazon and I don'tknow those people Like those are
not family members.
I'm like, oh my gosh, that's acomplete stranger and I just
bought my stuff.
And then the second time, thatwas pretty early on, right.
(27:13):
The second time I was at achildren's museum, like in
Johnson City or somethingoutside of town, and I had my
kids with me and we were just,you know, doing the children's
museum and this, I pulled outsome handsies because we were
going to clean up, because wewere going to eat something.
And she's like, oh, aren'tthose great, I use those, I love
them.
And I was like, oh my gosh, Ido not know this person.
(27:34):
We are not even in Austin rightnow.
We're outside of Austin.
And she knew my product.
I was like this is it.
I have officially made it Right, and that was probably three
years ago, you know three, fouryears ago.
That is amazing, yeah.
And then I just had a friend ofmine who was traveling.
She was at an airport and shetook a picture.
Somebody pulled a handsy out oftheir bag and was cleaning up
(27:56):
the airport.
And she snuck a picture andsent it to me and she was like
Karen, look, there's handsies inthe wild.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, lookat that.
I don't know that person.
Jama Pantel (28:04):
They're using my stuff.
Karen Trenk (28:05):
So every time I see somebody with my stuff that's
not like a personal friend ofmine or a family member, I'm
like oh my gosh, look at that,they're using my stuff.
Jama Pantel (28:12):
It hits you.
That is so cool.
That is so cool and I hadn'tthought about that.
But I know again, I've knownyour product and known you for a
very long time.
I would do the same thing if Isaw it in the wild.
I'm like, oh my gosh, that's it.
That's it, I know them I knowthem, yeah, and I do think I saw
one, like of course nobodywants to litter, but I think I
(28:32):
saw one on the ground one time,like at a local rice or whatever
, like the packaging you knowrunners when they throw their
drink cups down and stuff likethat there's always around and I
saw one out there and I waslike hey, I know that.
But I was like in the middle itdidn't stop, but I was like, oh
, I know them, I know them, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I think that's big for ustoo, like the fans that have
(28:52):
been a fan for a while.
Okay yeah is there anything elsethat you want to share or that
you think, uh, you know thatwould help inspire anybody in
any of this business, or online,or just putting putting it out
there?
Karen Trenk (29:06):
Like I just do it.
I mean, there's really there'sso many resources out there and
there's so many people that arewilling to help, and I'm always
willing to help.
If there's any information onanything I've done that helps
somebody, I'm always happy togive them.
You know my time and you knowif there's anything I can
explain to somebody that mighthelp them, I'm happy to do it
Right.
So just just try it Likethere's there's no downside to
(29:28):
just trying right.
You just you don't know whatyou can do until you give it a
shot.
Jama Pantel (29:32):
I love that, I love that, and so is this.
Like this is your future, thisis your goal, this is your
retirement plan.
Like you, this is what you arefully invested in.
This is your jam right.
Karen Trenk (29:43):
Well, yes, this is it.
We're too far down the road now, so, yeah, we're going to ride
the ride this one out for sure.
Jama Pantel (29:50):
I love it.
I love it so well.
I want to thank you again forcoming on.
This has been great to talk toyou.
I think it's inspiring whatyou've done built something from
the ground up, research all theway up, and I, you know again,
we went over this pretty fast.
But I want to pause andemphasize how incredible that is
to start something from theresearch stage, ground up,
(30:15):
building it in your kitchen,doing all the work, finding the
manufacturers, all the way togetting them out there I mean on
Amazon, like that.
Congratulations to you.
That's huge.
I've watched the baby stepsover the years and stuff like
that and knew all this washappening.
But as you said this and I'msitting back, I'm like this is
huge, like this is reallyincredible that she was able to
(30:38):
do that from her home.
You hear that a lot like Idon't have the time, I don't
have the, you know the space andstuff like that.
Your home is a space and youcan make it happen if you want
to make it happen.
Karen Trenk (30:49):
You can, and if you have a fantastic photographer,
it helps too.
Jama Pantel (30:53):
So always helps.
I love that.
So tell people where they canfind you and what's the best way
to reach out to you and yourproducts and that kind of stuff.
Where can everybody find you?
Karen Trenk (31:04):
So we have a website that's handzies.
com.
It's H-A-N-D-Z-I-E-S.
com.
You can also find us on Amazon,so you can just search handsies
on Amazon.
You can find me there.
If you want to contact me, ifyou have any questions or is
there anything I can answer foryou, I'm just Karen at Handzies.
com, or you could probably findme through JAMA if you want to
(31:25):
go that way as well, but alwayshappy to answer questions or
help out in any way I can, butthat's how you can find me.
Jama Pantel (31:32):
I appreciate it and I'll put those in the show
notes as well so people can justuse the link to click on there
to find you and find yourproducts and reach out to you.
And again, I really thank youfor being on here and I really
appreciate your time for talkingto us today.
I can't wait to share you witheverybody else that I don't know
and haven't talked about in awhile, and I look forward to the
(31:53):
fanny pack photo shoot.
Karen Trenk (31:55):
That sounds good.
Thank you so much for having me.
Jama Pantel (31:58):
Thank you.
If you take one thing from thisepisode, let it be this your
brand won't stand out if you'retoo afraid to put yourself out
there.
You don't need a million dollarbudget or decades of experience
to start.
You just need to believe inyour product, your message or
your skills enough to startsharing them with the world.
(32:19):
Thank you so much for tuning into Living the Whole Picture.
If this episode resonated withyou, I'd love for you to
subscribe, leave me a review andshare it with another
high-achieving woman who needsto hear this message.
Or, better yet, share it andtag me on social media.
Visit my website, jamapantel.
com, for more resources, updatesand ways we can work together.
(32:40):
Be sure to subscribe whileyou're on the website so you
never miss anything.
You've worked hard to get whereyou are.
Now it's time to show upconfidently and own your
presence.
Until next time, keep showingup and living the whole picture.
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