October 21, 2025 • 34 mins
Welcome to Wickedly Branded: Marketing, Magic, and The Messy Middle, the podcast where real conversations meet real strategies. I'm your host, Beverly Cornell, founder and fairy godmother of brand clarity at Wickedly Branded. With over 25 years of experience, I’ve helped hundreds of entrepreneurs awaken their brand magic, attract the right people, and build businesses that light them up.
Arthritis affects over 50 million Americans, yet most treatments haven’t changed in decades. When Téa Phillips watched her grandmother struggle, she turned her engineering degree into the MetaFlex Glove—an affordable, innovative way to restore strength and mobility. In this inspiring episode, we talk about launching a business in college, overcoming burnout, and finding confidence through creativity. It’s a story of purpose, persistence, and the power of believing in your why.
Three Key Marketing Topics Discussed:
- Awaken Your Purpose Through Challenge: Téa’s journey began with her grandmother’s arthritis, illustrating how purpose-driven innovation fosters empathy and builds movements.
- Balancing Logic and Creativity in Entrepreneurship: As a mechanical engineer, Téa emphasizes that creativity enhances problem-solving. She combines science with practices like journaling to stay inspired.
- Building Brand Foundations That Last: We discuss the vital role of mission, vision, and core values in establishing a strong brand. These elements keep a business on course and empower it to thrive.
Follow Téa:
Téa Phillips | LinkedIn
Téa Phillips | Instagram
MetaFlex | Instagram
MetaFlex | Facebook
MetaFlex | TikTok
MetaFlex | Website
Dare to be Wickedly Branded
P.S. Take the first step (will only take you 3 minutes) to awaken your brand magic with our personalized Brand Clarity Quiz
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Beverly (00:00):
Did you know that arthritis impacts over 50
million adults in the UnitedStates and most at-home
treatments haven't changed indecades.
Today's guests saw that gap anddecided to do something about it
while she was still in college.
Crazy.
I'm your host, Beverly Cornell,founder and fairy godmother of
brand clarity.
Here at Wickedly Branded, wehave helped hundreds of
(00:22):
overwhelmed overachievingconsultants, creatives, and
coaches awaken their brand magicand boldly bring their marketing
to life so that they feel moreconfident and attract their
absolute most favoriteprofitable clients.
In today's episode, I amthrilled to welcome Tea
Phillips, mechanical engineer,innovator, and founder of ATS
Innovations, the company behindthe Meta Flex Glove, an
(00:46):
affordable, effective medicaldevice helping people manage
arthritis at home.
Tea, welcome to the show.
Tea (00:53):
Thank you for having me, Beverly.
Beverly (00:55):
I am very interested in this.
I actually have like carpaltunnel from my mouse.
'cause all I do is click on mymouse all day and I have this
tingling here.
Do you have a brace that youwear?
Yes.
My mother is actually pursuing,she's had hip surgery as well
and she's pursuing surgery herefor this exact thing.
And at one point to mylisteners, I'm pointing to my
(01:16):
thumb into my wrist, just so youknow.
'cause I know you can't seethrough the podcast app.
So I'm pointing from my thumb tomy wrist and this area here that
can get really like pins andneedles and really
uncomfortable.
And I know that's just one formof issues people can have as
opposed to like generalarthritis that they can have.
And if you've ever seen somebodywith arthritis, their hands are
like clawed up.
They don't have the mobility.
(01:37):
It's really hard.
And recently I gave my mom, likeshe said, it was like an"old
person's gift," but I gave herlike a jar opener and some other
things to help her so that itwas easier for her to do some of
the things without it hurtingher.
And I was in the showeryesterday and I was squeezing my
bottle of gel to go in my hair.
(01:57):
And even that was hard.
And I was like, oh, I'm gettingold So I'm curious, you started
in college, what led to thebeginning?
I'm 50, I can complain about myaches and pains, but in college
I wasn't complaining about thatkind of stuff.
So what led you to start yourentrepreneurial journey and to
start it so early and in thisparticular industry?
Tea (02:16):
So my grandma had really bad arthritis and she was my
reason for doing all of this Ihad a few co-founders.
I was studying engineering.
We were trying to find a way tosolve healthcare problems using,
engineering, problem solving,multi-discipline.
'cause we know diverse teamsperform better and we found
(02:38):
arthritis.
A lot of people have it, yousaid 50 million adults,
specifically osteoarthritis inthe hands.
That's one in two women and onein four men will develop it.
In America, it's a very bigproblem and a lot of people, we
found that they can't afford togo to the doctor because it's
expensive and you have to taketime off work.
And then you have the copay andthen you get the bill
(02:59):
afterwards.
And when you can go to thedoctor, they tell you
compression and gripstrengthening.
But then people aren't doingtheir strengthening exercises
'cause it's burdensome and it'stime consuming.
And you have to remember to dowhatever, 15 reps a day in each
hand with the squeeze ball.
And where did I put my squeezeball?
So we made a wearable gripstrengthener that has a really
(03:20):
gentle compression and the bandsare adjustable on each finger.
So you can customize your levelof tension and strengthen each
finger how it needs to be.
So when we were doing, theplanning for it and interviewing
potential customers, I talked tomy grandma.
And she had really badarthritis.
She was starting to lose hermobility and not do the things
(03:42):
that she liked doing.
Like she was not doing herhobbies.
And then you talk about the canopener, she was asking people to
open things for her and having areally difficult time.
And grip strength, I'm sorry totell you, I've done the
research, it starts to declineand everyone starting at 30.
So it's very small, incremental.
You don't really notice it untillike you start having trouble
(04:02):
doing your daily livingactivities.
So we all need to be working onour grip strength, but people
aren't doing it.
So I just wanted to make iteasier.
And I did that with Medflex, mygrandma I interviewed her.
I found that her grip strengthwas a problem, the pain in her
hands, so it was too painfuleven for her to do her
strengthening exercises.
So when you add compression tothat, that helps reduce pain.
(04:24):
And so you can do thoseexercises.
And then further she wasexperiencing, like you talked
about earlier, the claw.
She would wake up in the morningand her hands would be in a
fist.
And it'd be stiff and she'd havetrouble opening it.
So she would sleep with a tennisball in her hand and a sock over
top so she wouldn't drop it.
And that was her innovative wayof helping herself with this
(04:48):
problem.
So Medflex also just keeps yourfingers extended at night and
keeps the circulation going soyour hands aren't stiff.
So I've made it for arthritis.
It helps these two things.
And then we brought it to marketand people with carpal tunnel
are using it and Parkinson's andstroke rehab.
And we're starting to haveresearchers interested in,
(05:08):
preventing injury for people whodo jobs that are really
strenuous on the hands, likemusicians and athletes.
So it's really grown and it'sbeen really amazing.
But why did I do it?
When I made it and I realizedhow big of an impact it would
have on my grandmother's qualityof life, I had to do it.
(05:29):
It felt like I couldn't let itgo.
I was responsible for bringingit to the world because we all
have ideas and if you don't dosomething with it, someone else
will.
And if someone else were to takemy idea, they may make it too
expensive for people to be ableto afford it, or they choose
cheap materials.
So I knew that I would do it, Ifelt like I had to do it.
Beverly (05:50):
I think it's great, but I complain about.
Being an army wife and a mom anda business owner.
I can't imagine being fairlyyoung in college doing
engineering, which is a harddiscipline, a lot to do, and
then building a business, howdid you balance all of that?
Tea (06:08):
It was really difficult.
I got burnt out in the firstyear, so I invented it.
At the end of my junior goinginto my senior year.
And then, Tennessee Tech iswhere I went to school,
Tennessee Tech University.
And they had a Shark Tank stylepitch competition called Eagle
Works.
And I was finishing up myengineering degree working
really hard working on gettinginternships and getting jobs.
(06:31):
And I'm doing everything andcompeting in this competition.
And I did the competition.
We won first place.
We knocked it outta the park.
We also won the biggest socialimpact award, which really drove
home this is important.
And the day after thecompetition, I couldn't get out
of bed.
And for two weeks because myadrenaline was so high and
(06:52):
because I was working so hard, Iwas intensely burnt out and it
opened my eyes and I'm verylucky to have experienced it
early in the process.
I didn't have time to rest, but,your body makes it for you.
And I learned really early thatI can't operate at that high
level without taking periods ofrest.
(07:13):
So I experienced burnout early.
That was beneficial for me.
I graduated in December, overthe summer I worked for a
company.
At the end of the summer, theyoffered me a job.
I had ATS the company that Ibuilt to sell meta fluex.
I had patents, trademarks, abusiness, all of this.
But I didn't feel like I hadwhat I needed to really start
(07:34):
the business yet.
I don't know if I was justscared.
Probably just scared.
I didn't really have that muchmoney saved because I was in
college.
I had won these competitions.
So I had just under$20,000, butthat's not gonna get me very
far.
So I took a full-time job rightafter I graduated and I worked
as an engineer for three yearsbefore I felt like I was ready.
(07:56):
And I felt like I was ready.
I felt confident I had savedmore money and my grandmother
was getting worse.
And I felt guilty that I hadn'tbrought it to the world.
I'm like, this could have helpedher so much.
And I wasn't brave enough to doit.
So now I have to do it.
And I quit my job and my parentsthought I was crazy.
(08:19):
It was a very long and difficultjourney to get the glove to
market.
And even after I got it tomarket, I ran outta money.
I had to move in with myparents.
I moved in with my cousin.
I finally was able to securesome funding.
I raised investment and nowwe're taking off.
It was helping people since Ibrought it to market, but
getting investment is reallydifficult.
(08:40):
Money is just the barrier toentry for all innovation.
But.
It's a numbers game.
You keep going and eventuallyyou hit these breakthroughs and
we're in a really solid state ofgrowth right now, and I'm
getting to innovate and doingthe things I love and building a
team.
So that's a little bit about thejourney overview, high level.
Beverly (09:00):
So many entrepreneurs experience these highs and lows
and the burnout and all of thosethings.
Even the, I'm not ready yetsyndrome.
The fears and doubts.
My listeners know this, I callthem the flying monkeys from
Wicked.
They come flying at you andthey're imposter syndrome and
perfectionism and I'm young, orI am too old.
All the doubts and fears that wehave about ourselves get really
(09:23):
exposed when you start abusiness.
You can do a lot of work onyourself, even through therapy,
but as soon as you get married,have kids or have a business,
everything's on the table.
Like every single worry doubtyou ever had about yourself
comes really to light and youhave to battle them on a pretty
regular basis.
How did you convince yourselfand then convince others this
was the best thing for you to dodespite fear, and I'm not ready.
(09:45):
I love that you had the passionfor your grandmother, but you
still had to get over yourself.
So how did you get overyourself?
Tea (09:50):
I have to get over myself every single day.
Like yesterday, I had thisproblem pop up and I'm like, oh
my God.
Like it just came outta leftfield.
And today I feel fine about itlike this.
I had some time to process.
I feel very confident and Ithink it's the practice that
makes me confident.
I also think you're never ready.
The journey makes you ready.
(10:11):
All you do as an entrepreneurand just in life, if you're
growing, if you're focused ongrowth, is learning more about
yourself and solving problems asthey pop up.
You never know how to solve aproblem until you solve it wrong
or until you're faced with it.
You can think about it and youcan prepare.
And I had those plans for years,but I have chosen to trust
(10:35):
myself.
Again and again, it doesn't comenaturally.
My first instinct is oh, it'sall about to come crashing down,
i'm about to fail.
But then I choose to trustmyself and I remind myself of
all of the times that I havesucceeded when I was up against
the odds and how I am stillalive.
(10:56):
Like I've built all of thisdespite it all.
I choose myself.
I try to do things to take careof myself and things that I
love.
Like I went to a spa for a dayand that was so nice.
I was recently traveling forbusiness and whenever I go
somewhere I take a few extradays to be a tourist in a new
city.
I've been doing more creativethings like painting and
(11:19):
journaling and like being in theartist's mind and letting myself
like be in a flow state.
Which really helps me rejuvenateafter being the logic state of
running the business and problemsolving.
I spend time with my friends.
I go out in nature.
I'm just really trying to investin myself as much as I can
(11:39):
because the journey isdifficult.
And it can feel veryoverwhelming.
You can get through it, but youhave to choose actively to trust
yourself.
Beverly (11:50):
Over and over again.
And remind yourself, like yousaid, I've gotten this far.
So it can get me farther.
I talk a lot about howconfidence isn't necessarily
innate, but it's something thatyou build and it comes through
trusting yourself and makingthose choices every single day
to trust that you can handlethis problem.
There's not much now at 50 thatI could experience.
(12:10):
But even for yourself, I meanyou probably went through COVID,
there's a lot of things thatwe've all been through now that
have fortified you and made youfeel a little bit more confident
in your decision makingabilities and problem solving
abilities.
I really love'cause I'm acreative soul.
The idea that you use creativeactivities to balance the logic
and the innovation side andthat, I don't always think of
(12:34):
mechanical engineers ascreative.
I think about engineers, I thinkof very logical, very practical,
very systems focused.
The fact that you're creativehelps you be a better innovator
and like doing those kinds ofthings can really be good for
your brain.
They can be good for your ideas,they can be good for so many
things.
So I think that's awesome thatyou're doing both like that kind
(12:54):
of stuff.
Tea (12:55):
Thank you.
They absolutely are.
And I wanna say that we're allcreative.
I've just been reading this bookand I'm in chapter two, so I'm
not far along, but it's calledThe Artist's Way.
And Doechii, one of my favoriteartists, said that she read it
and it like helped her.
So I've been reading it and it'slike a tool book.
It helps you be more artisticand one of the first things that
(13:17):
they say in the opening is thateverybody's an artist.
Everybody's creative.
As a child you're creative,you're just exploring and you're
in this flow state, and then youstart to learn, oh, this means
this.
If I do this, then this.
And then you get into the logicstate.
So everyone innately has thiscreative side to them.
(13:38):
And I think it's helped me feelbetter and able to solve these
problems.
I recommend that everybody readit and I'll spoil the first two
things for you that I've learnedand I'm just at the beginning of
the book.
The first thing is morning pagesin which you write three pages
of anything in the morning.
And the idea of writing threepages to be in the flow state,
(14:01):
is to not criticize you.
So that's practice every day ofbeing in the flow state.
And the second one is theartist's date in which you alone
do something for two hours everyweek.
That's like your date withyourself in the artist.
I bought a blank notebook andcrayons and I'm just like
coloring and nobody's ever gonnalook at it'cause it's all bad,
(14:24):
but I'm in the flow state and soI'm practicing being in flow
state.
Which is, it's been reallyhelpful for me and it frees up
my mind because I'm notconstantly in that logic state.
I get to escape it.
Beverly (14:36):
It's so interesting.
I've been having a lot of theseconversations lately with other
founders.
And even just creative soulsthat I've talked about.
Art for me is like a little bitchallenging as a child.
I loved to create.
I won awards for some of my art,my posters were in like stores
because of it.
I do this for a living nowthough, so none of my art is for
me, the art is for the clientand it gets criticized all the
(14:59):
time.
So it's not that it's like anegative criticism, but there's
always feedback.
It's like I create a logo andthe logo gets feedback and then
I tweak it and the logo getsfeedback and I tweak it or I
write something and it getstweaked.
And it's never art for me.
It's art for everyone else.
To create solely for myself isinteresting.
I had signed up for a charcoaldrawing class a couple years
(15:22):
ago, and when I was in the classI wanted just to draw for
myself.
I wasn't looking to be the best,I wasn't looking for any of that
stuff.
I didn't wanna be like the bestartist of the class.
There was no competition orperfectionism that I was trying
to do.
I just wanted to create.
And unfortunately, like weektwo, she was like, oh, we're
gonna have a critique on weekeight.
And I was like, I'm out.
Oh yeah, that's different.
(15:43):
And I had said I can handlecriticism, don't get me wrong, I
handle it all day long.
And I think that art is verysubjective and what I think is
beautiful.
Other people cannot think Itotally get it.
And there are certain rules ofarts, and I get that too.
There's design rules.
I live in that world.
I don't wanna be critiqued.
And she said it's part of theexercise.
And I was like, then I'm notgonna continue.
But what was really beautiful isthere was an exercise day that
(16:04):
we did where we had I think itwas like 16 people in the class.
And every person drew for threeto five minutes.
We drew something, and then wepassed it to the person next to
us.
And every two to three minuteswe added to that particular
piece of artwork.
And everybody's style was sodifferent.
So I drew flowers.
Somebody else drew like Pac-Man,and like a video game style.
(16:25):
Somebody drew like the seen eyewith the pyramid.
Every single one was verydifferent and you had to add in
that style, but you only hadthree to five minutes to add
your element to it.
So there wasn't a lot of time tooverthink or to ques your ideas.
It was like flow.
And then every three to fiveminutes we're moving it.
And at the end we had thesebeautiful pieces of artwork that
(16:46):
we had collectively created.
So not only was it mine, it wasours.
So it freed me to think in awhole different level, Tea.
And it was probably the mostpowerful thing I've ever done
creatively.
And I came home so excited andoh my gosh, I have all these
ideas.
It's been a couple years, but Iwould love more of that because
(17:07):
it was so cool.
Tea (17:08):
That sounds like a really fun experience.
Especially getting to be inother people's styles.
Beverly (17:14):
I love the idea of like free flow, whatever comes for
three minute or for three pagesand see what comes of it.
'cause you might solve someproblem you have personally or
business wise.
Tea (17:25):
I solved several problems.
Almost every time I writesomething down, I come to a
decision and I'm like, allright.
'Cause I got everything out andI feel like I'm processing
things too quickly sometimes.
I'm about to get tested for aADHD and we're gonna figure out
if that's what's going on there.
Or what it is.
But when I write something byhand, I have to slow down my
(17:45):
thinking and my handwriting'shorrible.
'cause I'm still writing toofast.
But I'm slowing my thoughtprocess and really letting
myself move through it.
And that helps too.
Beverly (17:54):
Oh, that's so good.
'cause I am the same way.
Like I sometimes think fasterthan I need to.
Sometimes I'll make a checklistor I'll try to break it up so
it's smaller pieces, but thatfree flow might solve the issue
as well,'cause you're slowing.
And I have horrible handwritingtoo.
And I love even the idea ofgetting out of your head.
One thing that we do with ourclients is we spend 90 minutes.
To two hours doing a dump ofeverything they've done, where
(18:17):
they've been, where they are,where they wanna go, the
challenges they have as itrelates to their business and
marketing, and just getting thatall out of your head.
And then we produce a blueprintthat has all that information,
but in a really pretty packagedand story with your best four to
six next steps based on yourvision.
Sometimes when you have it soclear, it now allows you to
(18:39):
think about other problems orother things that could be the
best innovation you've had foryour business.
So I love this so much.
It's so good.
I just think I more of us shoulddo more of it.
I do journal a lot.
I do write a lot, but I don'tjust give myself like three
pages.
Tea (18:54):
I've learned a lot about myself and I don't even do it
every morning.
'cause I'm running late.
That's one of my things might bean A DHD thing.
I'm going to get tested tomorrowmorning.
It's so interesting the way thata DH ADHD has been studied and
the way that we're socialized aschildren, that so many women are
diagnosed so, so late, like theydon't understand that they have
a DHD because they're performingat a high level and they're not
(19:17):
like outwardly overactive.
It just presents differently
Beverly (19:21):
the only reason why I got tested was they tested my
son and in the testing I waslike, oh.
Wait, that's that a minute.
me.
I do that too.
I struggle with that too.
And I struggle with that too.
Like you said, it presentsdifferently.
But high performing women, a lotof us have that.
And it wasn't until, I hitperimenopause when the hormones
really kicked in, that I feltextremely overwhelmed by
(19:41):
everything and my brain and howit was working.
Tea (19:44):
I just think about the future of medicine and genetic
testing and like you weretalking about how hormones
affected you.
We are really close to whengenetic testing can be
affordable enough that we canall have it early in life.
And then start to supplementwith foods for these
deficiencies and be able tohandle some of these things in a
(20:06):
more holistic way.
Beverly (20:08):
I have a client of mine who is a holistic naturopathic
doctor for animals, but shestudied medicine, holistic
medicine as, for humans firstand then deviated from that.
And I was going through a lot ofstuff.
I was momming at 40.
My youngest is 10, so at 40 Ihad a baby.
And you add in the changes inhormones, you add in the changes
of not sleeping, you add in allthose things.
(20:30):
It was like a perfect storm,Tea.
But she kept telling me to eat alot of butter because it helps
the brain and your memory.
She was telling me a lot ofthings that I did because I was
really like struggling.
But you're right, I think we'reat this point now where we have
so many more tools in scienceand a lot of testing.
Tea (20:46):
Also the internet of things and the sharing of information.
We are in an age whereinformation is not so siloed.
We can learn what othercountries have been doing for
decades and how they manage thisone thing, and then how this
country manages this one thing,and it's just so amazing and I
love that we live in a timewhere we can learn from each
(21:07):
other.
Beverly (21:08):
I think that's one of the reasons why I was open to
even being diagnosed with A DHDwas because of TikTok and people
talking about it.
I was like, okay, maybe this isa real thing, maybe it is really
happening to women.
It wasn't until then hearingother people's kind of stories
that I was validated in myexperience to go, okay, maybe I
need to go do that thing.
But these are all things thatcan affect us from a business
(21:30):
perspective.
I tell my son who has a DHD,it's a superpower.
Tea (21:33):
I can predict the future.
I can't, but like I know what isvery probable to happen.
It's a fun little superpower andthen you just have to back into,
because a million steps ahead,now I have to slow down and do
this next really boring step.
That's where I struggle, withthe operation side of it, I'm
really good at it.
I understand it.
(21:54):
I can build really strongsystems, but I find it so boring
that I just can't wait until Ican hire an operator.
But we're all doing things Whenyou're a business owner that.
You're not the strongest at, andthat you're not the best at.
And you start to backfill thepositions that you don't love
and you're not good at as yougrow.
(22:15):
And building my team has justbeen so amazing.
If I do it well and I do it forlong enough I'll be able to
bring someone in who lovesbuilding systems.
And that'll be like the nexthire we bring on, we're not
ready for'em yet.
But soon we'll have that personwhose brain loves doing those
kind of tasks.
Beverly (22:34):
I am a systems person.
I love a good system.
And that's one of the benefits Igive to my clients is I have a
really good marketing system.
It's simple.
There's repurposing, there'sconstraints so that you don't
feel so overwhelmed.
It's one of my superpowers forsure.
And I think you can't scalewithout systems.
No, the only way you can grow isif you have systems.
(22:55):
So if you are a solopreneur andyou wanna grow, you need a
system to be able, I call itfirst system was to clone me.
So if I didn't.
Document every single thing Ido.
There's no way I could hiresomebody to do any of what I did
because I wouldn't know what Idid.
So you have to start somewhereLoom, everything.
There's a tech called loom.com.
Go to Loom.
You can loom it, it records yourlaptop.
(23:16):
You can talk into the computerand tell it what you're doing.
You can say oh, okay.
First I go to my email, I checkmy email, I do this, I put these
kinds of things here.
Then I go into this, my projectmanagement tool, and I do this.
And you can just start goingthrough every single step as you
do them.
Do it when you're doing it andyou can record and stop and then
it gives you a transcript.
The transcript you can plop intochat, GPT and say, create a step
(23:37):
by step SOP for this particularthing.
Now you have a video.
Now you have a written.
That is the best place you canstart to create systems for
yourself.
It's exactly what you do.
Tea (23:48):
Write down a list of what you do and then you can start to
categorize it and absolutely thesystems you will fall to your
systems.
You don't rise to your ideas,you fall to your systems.
Absolutely.
Beverly (24:00):
So look back at when you first started and you were
like in your college situationand now how has your brand
evolved?
What were you then versus nowand what was the process of
creating the brand for you?
Tea (24:12):
So my first logo was lopsided and Calibri fonts, and
I printed that on gloves andthen I got money and I was able
to hire people who made a goodbrand.
But from the beginning I knewlike our core pillars, that's
the first thing you gotta do, isjust what is this business?
What does it do?
(24:32):
Is it stand for mission, vision,values?
Affordable healthcare is numberone and always was.
And then it's just like, how doyou make people feel safe?
How do you make people feelcared for?
And so then we started thinkingwe need to make educational
content.
And obviously we wanna do morethan just sell gloves.
We wanna provide more value tothe community.
(24:54):
So the brand has the logoschange, the colors change, but
we've always had this mission ofcreating affordable healthcare
and effective healthcare.
I grew up in Shelbyville,Tennessee, which is a tiny
little town.
And I remember people around meand myself like, when you have
to go to the doctor, it'sworrisome.
And it's mainly because of howexpensive it is.
(25:17):
And when you buy something,you're price conscious.
And it's, oh, do I really needthis?
This is expensive.
When you're in pain, you justneed to buy something.
you feel like you just wanna buysomething immediately.
And it doesn't always work theway that it needs to work
because these corporations arefocused on money and they're not
focused on making people feelbetter long term, holistically.
(25:41):
So I wanted something that worksand that people can afford.
And that's the two things.
And how do we make that happen?
Affordable, effectivehealthcare, and.
I love that I just get toinnovate and make new things and
I listen to my customers and Imake new versions.
And we've got some excitingthings in the works and that
(26:02):
we'll be launching soon based onsome feedback that we've gotten
from our customers.
Just improving the product andkeeping it affordable and making
things as good as we can.
And that makes you feel goodwhen you go to work every day
and you're not like making abuck to make a buck.
You're providing a service thatis really helping people and
(26:23):
you're making money because it'sa business, but you're not like
squeezing every dime you can outof the consumer.
Our product is very affordable.
I sell a pair of gloves for 5495 and I sell single gloves
because people were asking for'em for 29 95.
I feel really good about what Ido and it's because at the
beginning we set our core valuesin something that I feel good
(26:45):
about doing every day.
Beverly (26:46):
When you have a solid foundation, when you build your
brand and a solid foundation ofcore values and mission and
vision and who you are, yourbrand will speak to that and you
won't have to go back 17 timesand try to figure it out.
That foundation is so important.
You wouldn't build a mansion onjenga blocks like that would not
work.
(27:06):
If you envision this big, boldgoal, don't build it on Jenga
blocks.
Build it on something thatactually matters so that your
legacy is intact at the end ofthe day.
And that speaks more to yourauthenticity and your alignment,
and it's just so much easier tobe yourself and to show up when
you build it that way.
(27:27):
Kudos to you, even though youwere young, understanding how
important that was.
So many people forget that part.
And it's not on purpose.
I forgot it Tea, and I knowmarketing.
But my issue was this, I didn'tbuild a business because I
wanted to be a business owner.
I was accidental entrepreneur.
My husband's active duty army.
And so when I married him, I hadto take my show on the road and
(27:50):
I had to figure out how to makemoney a living with my career
doing this thing that I loveddoing it remotely in 2011, 2012
when remote wasn't really athing.
And I let my clients create mybusiness versus my mission and
my why.
And I worked out because of thattoo.
I was doing things I wasn't evensupposed to be doing.
It can get out of control reallyquick if you aren't intentional.
Tea (28:12):
It can get outta control really quick because when I was
making medflex, I was talking totherapists and hand therapists
and OTs and PTs and I had peoplesay this isn't good enough.
It needs to also do this and itneeds to do this, and they
already do this.
Why don't you do this?
And I'm like, oh man, I feel badafter talking to her, but I'm
sticking to my guts because thisis doing this for this reason.
(28:37):
And there are people who needthis for this reason.
And so there's always peoplethat are gonna try to change
things and you should listen tothem and you should think about
it.
It's important to listen topeople and to think about what
they've said.
But you have to make thosedecisions.
And sometimes it feels like ahard decision to trust yourself
and move in your own direction.
(28:57):
But I feel trust yourself inyour own direction rooted.
Beverly (28:59):
It's easier if you're rooted in your mission and
vision to make those decisions.
And if you don't have thatfoundation or that rooting it's
really hard.
It's easier to get swayed awayfrom what's best for.
Yeah.
Tea (29:11):
So I knew that was the right thing to do because when I
had my first engineering job, Iworked at United Technologies
Aerospace Systems and we playedmade airplane landing gear and
it was one of the best jobs I'veever had.
And my boss was awesome and heinvested in me and just let me
learn a bunch of new things.
And I worked in severaldifferent areas of the company
(29:32):
because I was doing such a goodjob that I would run out of
work.
And then it's who else needshelp?
And I'd help them, but I alsosometimes wouldn't have a lot to
do.
'cause I was an intern and Ijust went on the company website
and I'm like, what's going onhere?
I knew that whole thing front toback.
I studied the org chart.
I knew who reported to who, andI started to understand how
(29:54):
corporations are built and howthey work at a large scale.
And one of the things that stoodout to me.
Is one of the easiest things tofind was like the mission and
the vision and the values.
And as someone that's new in thecompany and people who have been
there forever, when you go ontothe internal site.
Mission and vision and values.
And so I understood early thisis what shapes the company.
(30:17):
So when I started ATS, I knew Istart with the mission and I
start with the vision and ourvalues.
And then when people come in, Ican tell them, here's what we're
doing.
And when I talk to my customers,I know exactly what we're doing.
So when you're starting yourbusiness, and if you don't have
it yet, I think one of the mostimportant things you can do,
like you said, is building thatsolid foundation upon which you
(30:40):
make your decisions.
Beverly (30:41):
That's an incredible insight, Tea.
And if you're listening rightnow and this resonated with you,
like you need to get back toyour why back to your purpose.
Back to that, the passion, thereason why you're doing the
thing you're doing, I'd love foryou to let us know in the
reviews Hey, this is important.
I need to do this work.
Let us know because it'simportant that you find value in
what we're talking about on thispodcast.
(31:01):
We don't just do this because,it's fun.
Don't get me wrong.
I love meeting people like that,but we do because we wanna help
you.
And when you tell us in thereviews and you share it, and
you talk about us and tag us, ittells us that it's resonating
for you.
And maybe there's some littlenugget of goodness there, some
magic that could help you getclearer and be able to take that
next step for your business.
(31:21):
That could get you to a wholenew level of awareness of
clients.
All kinds of things in our brandspark experience.
All we do is help you with yourclarity.
That's the foundation.
So if you need extra help, we'rehere for that too.
You don't have to do it alone.
'cause sometimes when you're inthe weeds, it's hard to see the
forest for the trees.
We're here to help you also getpast some of that and ask you
(31:43):
the right questions to get theclarity that you need.
Hey there, you've just finishedpart one of the episode.
How are you feeling?
Excited, inspired, but we'rejust getting started.
Next Thursday we're droppingpart two, and you won't wanna
miss it.
Be sure to subscribe to ournewsletter, so you'll be the
first to know when it goes live.
Until then, take a breather, letthose ideas simmer, and we'll
(32:03):
see you next week.
Did you know that arthritis impacts over 50
million adults in the UnitedStates and most at-home
treatments haven't changed indecades.
Today's guests saw that gap anddecided to do something about it
while she was still in college.
Crazy.
I'm your host, Beverly Cornell,founder and fairy godmother of
brand clarity.
Here at Wickedly Branded, wehave helped hundreds of
(00:22):
overwhelmed overachievingconsultants, creatives, and
coaches awaken their brand magicand boldly bring their marketing
to life so that they feel moreconfident and attract their
absolute most favoriteprofitable clients.
In today's episode, I amthrilled to welcome Tea
Phillips, mechanical engineer,innovator, and founder of ATS
Innovations, the company behindthe Meta Flex Glove, an
(00:46):
affordable, effective medicaldevice helping people manage
arthritis at home.
Tea, welcome to the show.
Tea (00:53):
Thank you for having me, Beverly.
Beverly (00:55):
I am very interested in this.
I actually have like carpaltunnel from my mouse.
'cause all I do is click on mymouse all day and I have this
tingling here.
Do you have a brace that youwear?
Yes.
My mother is actually pursuing,she's had hip surgery as well
and she's pursuing surgery herefor this exact thing.
And at one point to mylisteners, I'm pointing to my
(01:16):
thumb into my wrist, just so youknow.
'cause I know you can't seethrough the podcast app.
So I'm pointing from my thumb tomy wrist and this area here that
can get really like pins andneedles and really
uncomfortable.
And I know that's just one formof issues people can have as
opposed to like generalarthritis that they can have.
And if you've ever seen somebodywith arthritis, their hands are
like clawed up.
They don't have the mobility.
(01:37):
It's really hard.
And recently I gave my mom, likeshe said, it was like an"old
person's gift," but I gave herlike a jar opener and some other
things to help her so that itwas easier for her to do some of
the things without it hurtingher.
And I was in the showeryesterday and I was squeezing my
bottle of gel to go in my hair.
(01:57):
And even that was hard.
And I was like, oh, I'm gettingold So I'm curious, you started
in college, what led to thebeginning?
I'm 50, I can complain about myaches and pains, but in college
I wasn't complaining about thatkind of stuff.
So what led you to start yourentrepreneurial journey and to
start it so early and in thisparticular industry?
Tea (02:16):
So my grandma had really bad arthritis and she was my
reason for doing all of this Ihad a few co-founders.
I was studying engineering.
We were trying to find a way tosolve healthcare problems using,
engineering, problem solving,multi-discipline.
'cause we know diverse teamsperform better and we found
(02:38):
arthritis.
A lot of people have it, yousaid 50 million adults,
specifically osteoarthritis inthe hands.
That's one in two women and onein four men will develop it.
In America, it's a very bigproblem and a lot of people, we
found that they can't afford togo to the doctor because it's
expensive and you have to taketime off work.
And then you have the copay andthen you get the bill
(02:59):
afterwards.
And when you can go to thedoctor, they tell you
compression and gripstrengthening.
But then people aren't doingtheir strengthening exercises
'cause it's burdensome and it'stime consuming.
And you have to remember to dowhatever, 15 reps a day in each
hand with the squeeze ball.
And where did I put my squeezeball?
So we made a wearable gripstrengthener that has a really
(03:20):
gentle compression and the bandsare adjustable on each finger.
So you can customize your levelof tension and strengthen each
finger how it needs to be.
So when we were doing, theplanning for it and interviewing
potential customers, I talked tomy grandma.
And she had really badarthritis.
She was starting to lose hermobility and not do the things
(03:42):
that she liked doing.
Like she was not doing herhobbies.
And then you talk about the canopener, she was asking people to
open things for her and having areally difficult time.
And grip strength, I'm sorry totell you, I've done the
research, it starts to declineand everyone starting at 30.
So it's very small, incremental.
You don't really notice it untillike you start having trouble
(04:02):
doing your daily livingactivities.
So we all need to be working onour grip strength, but people
aren't doing it.
So I just wanted to make iteasier.
And I did that with Medflex, mygrandma I interviewed her.
I found that her grip strengthwas a problem, the pain in her
hands, so it was too painfuleven for her to do her
strengthening exercises.
So when you add compression tothat, that helps reduce pain.
(04:24):
And so you can do thoseexercises.
And then further she wasexperiencing, like you talked
about earlier, the claw.
She would wake up in the morningand her hands would be in a
fist.
And it'd be stiff and she'd havetrouble opening it.
So she would sleep with a tennisball in her hand and a sock over
top so she wouldn't drop it.
And that was her innovative wayof helping herself with this
(04:48):
problem.
So Medflex also just keeps yourfingers extended at night and
keeps the circulation going soyour hands aren't stiff.
So I've made it for arthritis.
It helps these two things.
And then we brought it to marketand people with carpal tunnel
are using it and Parkinson's andstroke rehab.
And we're starting to haveresearchers interested in,
(05:08):
preventing injury for people whodo jobs that are really
strenuous on the hands, likemusicians and athletes.
So it's really grown and it'sbeen really amazing.
But why did I do it?
When I made it and I realizedhow big of an impact it would
have on my grandmother's qualityof life, I had to do it.
(05:29):
It felt like I couldn't let itgo.
I was responsible for bringingit to the world because we all
have ideas and if you don't dosomething with it, someone else
will.
And if someone else were to takemy idea, they may make it too
expensive for people to be ableto afford it, or they choose
cheap materials.
So I knew that I would do it, Ifelt like I had to do it.
Beverly (05:50):
I think it's great, but I complain about.
Being an army wife and a mom anda business owner.
I can't imagine being fairlyyoung in college doing
engineering, which is a harddiscipline, a lot to do, and
then building a business, howdid you balance all of that?
Tea (06:08):
It was really difficult.
I got burnt out in the firstyear, so I invented it.
At the end of my junior goinginto my senior year.
And then, Tennessee Tech iswhere I went to school,
Tennessee Tech University.
And they had a Shark Tank stylepitch competition called Eagle
Works.
And I was finishing up myengineering degree working
really hard working on gettinginternships and getting jobs.
(06:31):
And I'm doing everything andcompeting in this competition.
And I did the competition.
We won first place.
We knocked it outta the park.
We also won the biggest socialimpact award, which really drove
home this is important.
And the day after thecompetition, I couldn't get out
of bed.
And for two weeks because myadrenaline was so high and
(06:52):
because I was working so hard, Iwas intensely burnt out and it
opened my eyes and I'm verylucky to have experienced it
early in the process.
I didn't have time to rest, but,your body makes it for you.
And I learned really early thatI can't operate at that high
level without taking periods ofrest.
(07:13):
So I experienced burnout early.
That was beneficial for me.
I graduated in December, overthe summer I worked for a
company.
At the end of the summer, theyoffered me a job.
I had ATS the company that Ibuilt to sell meta fluex.
I had patents, trademarks, abusiness, all of this.
But I didn't feel like I hadwhat I needed to really start
(07:34):
the business yet.
I don't know if I was justscared.
Probably just scared.
I didn't really have that muchmoney saved because I was in
college.
I had won these competitions.
So I had just under$20,000, butthat's not gonna get me very
far.
So I took a full-time job rightafter I graduated and I worked
as an engineer for three yearsbefore I felt like I was ready.
(07:56):
And I felt like I was ready.
I felt confident I had savedmore money and my grandmother
was getting worse.
And I felt guilty that I hadn'tbrought it to the world.
I'm like, this could have helpedher so much.
And I wasn't brave enough to doit.
So now I have to do it.
And I quit my job and my parentsthought I was crazy.
(08:19):
It was a very long and difficultjourney to get the glove to
market.
And even after I got it tomarket, I ran outta money.
I had to move in with myparents.
I moved in with my cousin.
I finally was able to securesome funding.
I raised investment and nowwe're taking off.
It was helping people since Ibrought it to market, but
getting investment is reallydifficult.
(08:40):
Money is just the barrier toentry for all innovation.
But.
It's a numbers game.
You keep going and eventuallyyou hit these breakthroughs and
we're in a really solid state ofgrowth right now, and I'm
getting to innovate and doingthe things I love and building a
team.
So that's a little bit about thejourney overview, high level.
Beverly (09:00):
So many entrepreneurs experience these highs and lows
and the burnout and all of thosethings.
Even the, I'm not ready yetsyndrome.
The fears and doubts.
My listeners know this, I callthem the flying monkeys from
Wicked.
They come flying at you andthey're imposter syndrome and
perfectionism and I'm young, orI am too old.
All the doubts and fears that wehave about ourselves get really
(09:23):
exposed when you start abusiness.
You can do a lot of work onyourself, even through therapy,
but as soon as you get married,have kids or have a business,
everything's on the table.
Like every single worry doubtyou ever had about yourself
comes really to light and youhave to battle them on a pretty
regular basis.
How did you convince yourselfand then convince others this
was the best thing for you to dodespite fear, and I'm not ready.
(09:45):
I love that you had the passionfor your grandmother, but you
still had to get over yourself.
So how did you get overyourself?
Tea (09:50):
I have to get over myself every single day.
Like yesterday, I had thisproblem pop up and I'm like, oh
my God.
Like it just came outta leftfield.
And today I feel fine about itlike this.
I had some time to process.
I feel very confident and Ithink it's the practice that
makes me confident.
I also think you're never ready.
The journey makes you ready.
(10:11):
All you do as an entrepreneurand just in life, if you're
growing, if you're focused ongrowth, is learning more about
yourself and solving problems asthey pop up.
You never know how to solve aproblem until you solve it wrong
or until you're faced with it.
You can think about it and youcan prepare.
And I had those plans for years,but I have chosen to trust
(10:35):
myself.
Again and again, it doesn't comenaturally.
My first instinct is oh, it'sall about to come crashing down,
i'm about to fail.
But then I choose to trustmyself and I remind myself of
all of the times that I havesucceeded when I was up against
the odds and how I am stillalive.
(10:56):
Like I've built all of thisdespite it all.
I choose myself.
I try to do things to take careof myself and things that I
love.
Like I went to a spa for a dayand that was so nice.
I was recently traveling forbusiness and whenever I go
somewhere I take a few extradays to be a tourist in a new
city.
I've been doing more creativethings like painting and
(11:19):
journaling and like being in theartist's mind and letting myself
like be in a flow state.
Which really helps me rejuvenateafter being the logic state of
running the business and problemsolving.
I spend time with my friends.
I go out in nature.
I'm just really trying to investin myself as much as I can
(11:39):
because the journey isdifficult.
And it can feel veryoverwhelming.
You can get through it, but youhave to choose actively to trust
yourself.
Beverly (11:50):
Over and over again.
And remind yourself, like yousaid, I've gotten this far.
So it can get me farther.
I talk a lot about howconfidence isn't necessarily
innate, but it's something thatyou build and it comes through
trusting yourself and makingthose choices every single day
to trust that you can handlethis problem.
There's not much now at 50 thatI could experience.
(12:10):
But even for yourself, I meanyou probably went through COVID,
there's a lot of things thatwe've all been through now that
have fortified you and made youfeel a little bit more confident
in your decision makingabilities and problem solving
abilities.
I really love'cause I'm acreative soul.
The idea that you use creativeactivities to balance the logic
and the innovation side andthat, I don't always think of
(12:34):
mechanical engineers ascreative.
I think about engineers, I thinkof very logical, very practical,
very systems focused.
The fact that you're creativehelps you be a better innovator
and like doing those kinds ofthings can really be good for
your brain.
They can be good for your ideas,they can be good for so many
things.
So I think that's awesome thatyou're doing both like that kind
(12:54):
of stuff.
Tea (12:55):
Thank you.
They absolutely are.
And I wanna say that we're allcreative.
I've just been reading this bookand I'm in chapter two, so I'm
not far along, but it's calledThe Artist's Way.
And Doechii, one of my favoriteartists, said that she read it
and it like helped her.
So I've been reading it and it'slike a tool book.
It helps you be more artisticand one of the first things that
(13:17):
they say in the opening is thateverybody's an artist.
Everybody's creative.
As a child you're creative,you're just exploring and you're
in this flow state, and then youstart to learn, oh, this means
this.
If I do this, then this.
And then you get into the logicstate.
So everyone innately has thiscreative side to them.
(13:38):
And I think it's helped me feelbetter and able to solve these
problems.
I recommend that everybody readit and I'll spoil the first two
things for you that I've learnedand I'm just at the beginning of
the book.
The first thing is morning pagesin which you write three pages
of anything in the morning.
And the idea of writing threepages to be in the flow state,
(14:01):
is to not criticize you.
So that's practice every day ofbeing in the flow state.
And the second one is theartist's date in which you alone
do something for two hours everyweek.
That's like your date withyourself in the artist.
I bought a blank notebook andcrayons and I'm just like
coloring and nobody's ever gonnalook at it'cause it's all bad,
(14:24):
but I'm in the flow state and soI'm practicing being in flow
state.
Which is, it's been reallyhelpful for me and it frees up
my mind because I'm notconstantly in that logic state.
I get to escape it.
Beverly (14:36):
It's so interesting.
I've been having a lot of theseconversations lately with other
founders.
And even just creative soulsthat I've talked about.
Art for me is like a little bitchallenging as a child.
I loved to create.
I won awards for some of my art,my posters were in like stores
because of it.
I do this for a living nowthough, so none of my art is for
me, the art is for the clientand it gets criticized all the
(14:59):
time.
So it's not that it's like anegative criticism, but there's
always feedback.
It's like I create a logo andthe logo gets feedback and then
I tweak it and the logo getsfeedback and I tweak it or I
write something and it getstweaked.
And it's never art for me.
It's art for everyone else.
To create solely for myself isinteresting.
I had signed up for a charcoaldrawing class a couple years
(15:22):
ago, and when I was in the classI wanted just to draw for
myself.
I wasn't looking to be the best,I wasn't looking for any of that
stuff.
I didn't wanna be like the bestartist of the class.
There was no competition orperfectionism that I was trying
to do.
I just wanted to create.
And unfortunately, like weektwo, she was like, oh, we're
gonna have a critique on weekeight.
And I was like, I'm out.
Oh yeah, that's different.
(15:43):
And I had said I can handlecriticism, don't get me wrong, I
handle it all day long.
And I think that art is verysubjective and what I think is
beautiful.
Other people cannot think Itotally get it.
And there are certain rules ofarts, and I get that too.
There's design rules.
I live in that world.
I don't wanna be critiqued.
And she said it's part of theexercise.
And I was like, then I'm notgonna continue.
But what was really beautiful isthere was an exercise day that
(16:04):
we did where we had I think itwas like 16 people in the class.
And every person drew for threeto five minutes.
We drew something, and then wepassed it to the person next to
us.
And every two to three minuteswe added to that particular
piece of artwork.
And everybody's style was sodifferent.
So I drew flowers.
Somebody else drew like Pac-Man,and like a video game style.
(16:25):
Somebody drew like the seen eyewith the pyramid.
Every single one was verydifferent and you had to add in
that style, but you only hadthree to five minutes to add
your element to it.
So there wasn't a lot of time tooverthink or to ques your ideas.
It was like flow.
And then every three to fiveminutes we're moving it.
And at the end we had thesebeautiful pieces of artwork that
(16:46):
we had collectively created.
So not only was it mine, it wasours.
So it freed me to think in awhole different level, Tea.
And it was probably the mostpowerful thing I've ever done
creatively.
And I came home so excited andoh my gosh, I have all these
ideas.
It's been a couple years, but Iwould love more of that because
(17:07):
it was so cool.
Tea (17:08):
That sounds like a really fun experience.
Especially getting to be inother people's styles.
Beverly (17:14):
I love the idea of like free flow, whatever comes for
three minute or for three pagesand see what comes of it.
'cause you might solve someproblem you have personally or
business wise.
Tea (17:25):
I solved several problems.
Almost every time I writesomething down, I come to a
decision and I'm like, allright.
'Cause I got everything out andI feel like I'm processing
things too quickly sometimes.
I'm about to get tested for aADHD and we're gonna figure out
if that's what's going on there.
Or what it is.
But when I write something byhand, I have to slow down my
(17:45):
thinking and my handwriting'shorrible.
'cause I'm still writing toofast.
But I'm slowing my thoughtprocess and really letting
myself move through it.
And that helps too.
Beverly (17:54):
Oh, that's so good.
'cause I am the same way.
Like I sometimes think fasterthan I need to.
Sometimes I'll make a checklistor I'll try to break it up so
it's smaller pieces, but thatfree flow might solve the issue
as well,'cause you're slowing.
And I have horrible handwritingtoo.
And I love even the idea ofgetting out of your head.
One thing that we do with ourclients is we spend 90 minutes.
To two hours doing a dump ofeverything they've done, where
(18:17):
they've been, where they are,where they wanna go, the
challenges they have as itrelates to their business and
marketing, and just getting thatall out of your head.
And then we produce a blueprintthat has all that information,
but in a really pretty packagedand story with your best four to
six next steps based on yourvision.
Sometimes when you have it soclear, it now allows you to
(18:39):
think about other problems orother things that could be the
best innovation you've had foryour business.
So I love this so much.
It's so good.
I just think I more of us shoulddo more of it.
I do journal a lot.
I do write a lot, but I don'tjust give myself like three
pages.
Tea (18:54):
I've learned a lot about myself and I don't even do it
every morning.
'cause I'm running late.
That's one of my things might bean A DHD thing.
I'm going to get tested tomorrowmorning.
It's so interesting the way thata DH ADHD has been studied and
the way that we're socialized aschildren, that so many women are
diagnosed so, so late, like theydon't understand that they have
a DHD because they're performingat a high level and they're not
(19:17):
like outwardly overactive.
It just presents differently
Beverly (19:21):
the only reason why I got tested was they tested my
son and in the testing I waslike, oh.
Wait, that's that a minute.
me.
I do that too.
I struggle with that too.
And I struggle with that too.
Like you said, it presentsdifferently.
But high performing women, a lotof us have that.
And it wasn't until, I hitperimenopause when the hormones
really kicked in, that I feltextremely overwhelmed by
(19:41):
everything and my brain and howit was working.
Tea (19:44):
I just think about the future of medicine and genetic
testing and like you weretalking about how hormones
affected you.
We are really close to whengenetic testing can be
affordable enough that we canall have it early in life.
And then start to supplementwith foods for these
deficiencies and be able tohandle some of these things in a
(20:06):
more holistic way.
Beverly (20:08):
I have a client of mine who is a holistic naturopathic
doctor for animals, but shestudied medicine, holistic
medicine as, for humans firstand then deviated from that.
And I was going through a lot ofstuff.
I was momming at 40.
My youngest is 10, so at 40 Ihad a baby.
And you add in the changes inhormones, you add in the changes
of not sleeping, you add in allthose things.
(20:30):
It was like a perfect storm,Tea.
But she kept telling me to eat alot of butter because it helps
the brain and your memory.
She was telling me a lot ofthings that I did because I was
really like struggling.
But you're right, I think we'reat this point now where we have
so many more tools in scienceand a lot of testing.
Tea (20:46):
Also the internet of things and the sharing of information.
We are in an age whereinformation is not so siloed.
We can learn what othercountries have been doing for
decades and how they manage thisone thing, and then how this
country manages this one thing,and it's just so amazing and I
love that we live in a timewhere we can learn from each
(21:07):
other.
Beverly (21:08):
I think that's one of the reasons why I was open to
even being diagnosed with A DHDwas because of TikTok and people
talking about it.
I was like, okay, maybe this isa real thing, maybe it is really
happening to women.
It wasn't until then hearingother people's kind of stories
that I was validated in myexperience to go, okay, maybe I
need to go do that thing.
But these are all things thatcan affect us from a business
(21:30):
perspective.
I tell my son who has a DHD,it's a superpower.
Tea (21:33):
I can predict the future.
I can't, but like I know what isvery probable to happen.
It's a fun little superpower andthen you just have to back into,
because a million steps ahead,now I have to slow down and do
this next really boring step.
That's where I struggle, withthe operation side of it, I'm
really good at it.
I understand it.
(21:54):
I can build really strongsystems, but I find it so boring
that I just can't wait until Ican hire an operator.
But we're all doing things Whenyou're a business owner that.
You're not the strongest at, andthat you're not the best at.
And you start to backfill thepositions that you don't love
and you're not good at as yougrow.
(22:15):
And building my team has justbeen so amazing.
If I do it well and I do it forlong enough I'll be able to
bring someone in who lovesbuilding systems.
And that'll be like the nexthire we bring on, we're not
ready for'em yet.
But soon we'll have that personwhose brain loves doing those
kind of tasks.
Beverly (22:34):
I am a systems person.
I love a good system.
And that's one of the benefits Igive to my clients is I have a
really good marketing system.
It's simple.
There's repurposing, there'sconstraints so that you don't
feel so overwhelmed.
It's one of my superpowers forsure.
And I think you can't scalewithout systems.
No, the only way you can grow isif you have systems.
(22:55):
So if you are a solopreneur andyou wanna grow, you need a
system to be able, I call itfirst system was to clone me.
So if I didn't.
Document every single thing Ido.
There's no way I could hiresomebody to do any of what I did
because I wouldn't know what Idid.
So you have to start somewhereLoom, everything.
There's a tech called loom.com.
Go to Loom.
You can loom it, it records yourlaptop.
(23:16):
You can talk into the computerand tell it what you're doing.
You can say oh, okay.
First I go to my email, I checkmy email, I do this, I put these
kinds of things here.
Then I go into this, my projectmanagement tool, and I do this.
And you can just start goingthrough every single step as you
do them.
Do it when you're doing it andyou can record and stop and then
it gives you a transcript.
The transcript you can plop intochat, GPT and say, create a step
(23:37):
by step SOP for this particularthing.
Now you have a video.
Now you have a written.
That is the best place you canstart to create systems for
yourself.
It's exactly what you do.
Tea (23:48):
Write down a list of what you do and then you can start to
categorize it and absolutely thesystems you will fall to your
systems.
You don't rise to your ideas,you fall to your systems.
Absolutely.
Beverly (24:00):
So look back at when you first started and you were
like in your college situationand now how has your brand
evolved?
What were you then versus nowand what was the process of
creating the brand for you?
Tea (24:12):
So my first logo was lopsided and Calibri fonts, and
I printed that on gloves andthen I got money and I was able
to hire people who made a goodbrand.
But from the beginning I knewlike our core pillars, that's
the first thing you gotta do, isjust what is this business?
What does it do?
(24:32):
Is it stand for mission, vision,values?
Affordable healthcare is numberone and always was.
And then it's just like, how doyou make people feel safe?
How do you make people feelcared for?
And so then we started thinkingwe need to make educational
content.
And obviously we wanna do morethan just sell gloves.
We wanna provide more value tothe community.
(24:54):
So the brand has the logoschange, the colors change, but
we've always had this mission ofcreating affordable healthcare
and effective healthcare.
I grew up in Shelbyville,Tennessee, which is a tiny
little town.
And I remember people around meand myself like, when you have
to go to the doctor, it'sworrisome.
And it's mainly because of howexpensive it is.
(25:17):
And when you buy something,you're price conscious.
And it's, oh, do I really needthis?
This is expensive.
When you're in pain, you justneed to buy something.
you feel like you just wanna buysomething immediately.
And it doesn't always work theway that it needs to work
because these corporations arefocused on money and they're not
focused on making people feelbetter long term, holistically.
(25:41):
So I wanted something that worksand that people can afford.
And that's the two things.
And how do we make that happen?
Affordable, effectivehealthcare, and.
I love that I just get toinnovate and make new things and
I listen to my customers and Imake new versions.
And we've got some excitingthings in the works and that
(26:02):
we'll be launching soon based onsome feedback that we've gotten
from our customers.
Just improving the product andkeeping it affordable and making
things as good as we can.
And that makes you feel goodwhen you go to work every day
and you're not like making abuck to make a buck.
You're providing a service thatis really helping people and
(26:23):
you're making money because it'sa business, but you're not like
squeezing every dime you can outof the consumer.
Our product is very affordable.
I sell a pair of gloves for 5495 and I sell single gloves
because people were asking for'em for 29 95.
I feel really good about what Ido and it's because at the
beginning we set our core valuesin something that I feel good
(26:45):
about doing every day.
Beverly (26:46):
When you have a solid foundation, when you build your
brand and a solid foundation ofcore values and mission and
vision and who you are, yourbrand will speak to that and you
won't have to go back 17 timesand try to figure it out.
That foundation is so important.
You wouldn't build a mansion onjenga blocks like that would not
work.
(27:06):
If you envision this big, boldgoal, don't build it on Jenga
blocks.
Build it on something thatactually matters so that your
legacy is intact at the end ofthe day.
And that speaks more to yourauthenticity and your alignment,
and it's just so much easier tobe yourself and to show up when
you build it that way.
(27:27):
Kudos to you, even though youwere young, understanding how
important that was.
So many people forget that part.
And it's not on purpose.
I forgot it Tea, and I knowmarketing.
But my issue was this, I didn'tbuild a business because I
wanted to be a business owner.
I was accidental entrepreneur.
My husband's active duty army.
And so when I married him, I hadto take my show on the road and
(27:50):
I had to figure out how to makemoney a living with my career
doing this thing that I loveddoing it remotely in 2011, 2012
when remote wasn't really athing.
And I let my clients create mybusiness versus my mission and
my why.
And I worked out because of thattoo.
I was doing things I wasn't evensupposed to be doing.
It can get out of control reallyquick if you aren't intentional.
Tea (28:12):
It can get outta control really quick because when I was
making medflex, I was talking totherapists and hand therapists
and OTs and PTs and I had peoplesay this isn't good enough.
It needs to also do this and itneeds to do this, and they
already do this.
Why don't you do this?
And I'm like, oh man, I feel badafter talking to her, but I'm
sticking to my guts because thisis doing this for this reason.
(28:37):
And there are people who needthis for this reason.
And so there's always peoplethat are gonna try to change
things and you should listen tothem and you should think about
it.
It's important to listen topeople and to think about what
they've said.
But you have to make thosedecisions.
And sometimes it feels like ahard decision to trust yourself
and move in your own direction.
(28:57):
But I feel trust yourself inyour own direction rooted.
Beverly (28:59):
It's easier if you're rooted in your mission and
vision to make those decisions.
And if you don't have thatfoundation or that rooting it's
really hard.
It's easier to get swayed awayfrom what's best for.
Yeah.
Tea (29:11):
So I knew that was the right thing to do because when I
had my first engineering job, Iworked at United Technologies
Aerospace Systems and we playedmade airplane landing gear and
it was one of the best jobs I'veever had.
And my boss was awesome and heinvested in me and just let me
learn a bunch of new things.
And I worked in severaldifferent areas of the company
(29:32):
because I was doing such a goodjob that I would run out of
work.
And then it's who else needshelp?
And I'd help them, but I alsosometimes wouldn't have a lot to
do.
'cause I was an intern and Ijust went on the company website
and I'm like, what's going onhere?
I knew that whole thing front toback.
I studied the org chart.
I knew who reported to who, andI started to understand how
(29:54):
corporations are built and howthey work at a large scale.
And one of the things that stoodout to me.
Is one of the easiest things tofind was like the mission and
the vision and the values.
And as someone that's new in thecompany and people who have been
there forever, when you go ontothe internal site.
Mission and vision and values.
And so I understood early thisis what shapes the company.
(30:17):
So when I started ATS, I knew Istart with the mission and I
start with the vision and ourvalues.
And then when people come in, Ican tell them, here's what we're
doing.
And when I talk to my customers,I know exactly what we're doing.
So when you're starting yourbusiness, and if you don't have
it yet, I think one of the mostimportant things you can do,
like you said, is building thatsolid foundation upon which you
(30:40):
make your decisions.
Beverly (30:41):
That's an incredible insight, Tea.
And if you're listening rightnow and this resonated with you,
like you need to get back toyour why back to your purpose.
Back to that, the passion, thereason why you're doing the
thing you're doing, I'd love foryou to let us know in the
reviews Hey, this is important.
I need to do this work.
Let us know because it'simportant that you find value in
what we're talking about on thispodcast.
(31:01):
We don't just do this because,it's fun.
Don't get me wrong.
I love meeting people like that,but we do because we wanna help
you.
And when you tell us in thereviews and you share it, and
you talk about us and tag us, ittells us that it's resonating
for you.
And maybe there's some littlenugget of goodness there, some
magic that could help you getclearer and be able to take that
next step for your business.
(31:21):
That could get you to a wholenew level of awareness of
clients.
All kinds of things in our brandspark experience.
All we do is help you with yourclarity.
That's the foundation.
So if you need extra help, we'rehere for that too.
You don't have to do it alone.
'cause sometimes when you're inthe weeds, it's hard to see the
forest for the trees.
We're here to help you also getpast some of that and ask you
(31:43):
the right questions to get theclarity that you need.
Hey there, you've just finishedpart one of the episode.
How are you feeling?
Excited, inspired, but we'rejust getting started.
Next Thursday we're droppingpart two, and you won't wanna
miss it.
Be sure to subscribe to ournewsletter, so you'll be the
first to know when it goes live.
Until then, take a breather, letthose ideas simmer, and we'll
(32:03):
see you next week.
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