April 23, 2018 • 49 mins
FYI!!! Carla Marie is no longer the host of a morning show in Seattle but she is still supporting small businesses in every way possible. She’s even started her own small business with her radio cohost and best friend, Anthony. All of the links below will help you stay up to date!
Follow Carla Marie on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/thecarlamarie/
Watch Carla Marie and Anthony’s Show on Twitch
twitch.tv/carlamarieandanthony
Sign up for The Carla Marie and Anthony Show newsletter to stay up to date:
https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5f516ae62c60490027b9ec20
Email Carla Marie
SideHustlersPodcast@gmail.com
Text Carla Marie and Anthony:
201-305-0894
Follow Carla Marie and Anthony on Instagram
http://instagram.com/carlamarieandanthony
Subscribe to Carla Marie and Anthony on YouTube:
YouTube.com/CarlaMarieAnthony
Follow Carla Marie and Anthony on Facebook
http://facebook.com/carlamarieandanthony
Email Carla Marie and Anthony
CarlaMarieandAnthony@gmail.com
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
For a lot of people. You know, why are you? When?
Do you know what you want to do? And this
is what you want to do? Do it. I'm a hustle,
side side hustle. Do it. I'm a hustle, a sad
side hustle. Do it. I'm a hustle, side side hustlow.
I'm a hustle side slow. I'm a hustle, a side
side hustler. Come on, ask about me, yo yo. It's
(00:24):
the side Hustless podcast. We call them the Root. Okay,
welcome to another episode of side Hustlers. I am so
freaking pumped about this one. This is like the ultimate
side hustler. So I've got Adriana carried here. Hi Adriana, Hi,
how are you? I'm great? And by here, I mean
we're actually face timing and we've known each other for
(00:46):
four years now. We've talked I don't know how many times,
we've never actually spoken words to each other or met
in person, which is sore. True. It's so true, like
I've never seen your mouth move and like be speaking
at me. It's always just actually I've seen it speaking
at me through stories, but okay, but not too directly exactly.
(01:09):
So We're gonna just start off by saying you created
Little Words Project, and I did do that. You probably
if you're listening, I've seen me post about them before.
They are those super cute bracelets that I'm obsessed with,
and I think my count is probably at fifteen to
twenty by now. Given them to every single woman in
my family at least once as a gift. They're just
(01:31):
they're amazing. Already, get more into the product later. But
your story is incredible. I mean, there's just there's so much.
I was like, I don't even know. I'm actually most
nervous about talking to you than anyone because I want
to make sure I capture this whole story because there's
just so much to it and it's so good. So
you officially started Little Words Project in two thousand. Yeah.
I started it when I was about a year out
(01:53):
of college, UM, and I was living in my parents house. UM.
I completely started the company out of my parents basement.
My dad likes to joke that he was the original
shipping department, my mom was the original production manager, and
we we just kind of had a little family run
business that was, you know, one hundred and fifty a
dream that I had just randomly had and thought could
(02:16):
really bring something positive to the world. So it was
definitely an interesting beginning. Up until this point in your life.
What had you been doing or in college? What did
you want to do? Oh my gosh. So I was
an English major in college and the plan was to
go to law school at this point, like literally, I
launched the website on November eleven, eleven eleventh, love it.
(02:38):
And as I was launching it, I was I had
just taken the October l S at the month before,
I know, so I launched it without knowing what I
got in my head. I was like, you know what,
if I do really, really well and I really seemed
like I should go to law school by my score alone,
then maybe I'll consider it. But my heart was already
in this um. But prior to that, yeah, I was
(02:59):
an englishman jer and wasn't sure what I was gonna do.
I traveled for a little, I worked in retail for
a little, UM, but then my actual job that I
had when starting this company was I worked in marketing. UM.
So you know, as an English major you can really
kind of do anything. Frankly, as any major, you can
do any sure these days so it was it was
an interesting jump, to say the least. But what, like,
(03:19):
what was it that made you say I want to
make bracelets? Yeah? Well, okay, So I had started a
version of the bracelets um back when I was in
college and was amongst my college sorority we had. I
was the VP of membership at the time, and I
needed to create some sort of way to like, you know,
quote keep the love circulating. And I had been making
bracelets like these my whole I mean, we all kind
(03:40):
of have, right, So I'd been making bracelets like them
my whole life, um, and I was I used to
put inspirational words on them for myself so if I
felt like I needed some strength, there's some hope or whatever.
So I would wear them growing up. And then when
I got into school, um, right when I started with
the sorority and I discovered that we needed something to
kind of keep that positivity spreading, I wanted to kind
(04:02):
of fuse these bracelets I had been making with this
idea of sharing amongst each other, amongst ourselves. So the
idea was really born when I was in college, and
it wasn't until I graduated and I saw that the
chapter was still very much so engaged with this idea.
I mean they were making them themselves, they were passing
them on. Yeah, they were really really engaged with them.
And it was so much bigger than when it first
(04:23):
started as like twenty bracelets that I had made as
the first batch right on my bed. Where are you
going to school? I went to the college New Jersey
and what was it? I was dealta Zeta. Now you're
I want to talk a little bit about passing it
on so that we can explain what that is, because
I've always tried to explain to people. You get this
bracelet and then you can register it, but then you
can pass it on. Everyone's like, what are you saying?
(04:44):
So I want to I want to hear it from
you when I get a little worse project bracelet. That's
say it says smile on my bracelet and I and
I buy it for myself. Then what So the idea
is You're supposed to wear that smile bracelet for as
long as you need to feel good, as long as
you feel like you need that words inspiration, right, and
then once you feel like you've kind of used it
(05:06):
for what you've needed it for, then it's time to
hopefully seek someone out to pass it on to. That said,
there are an occasions where people will meet someone on
the subway or meet someone in passing and hear their
story and know that it's you know, it's time to
to give their bracelet away to that to to that
other person. So it's really just a matter of you
wear it for as long as you need it, and
then you pass it on to someone who needs it more.
If you want to track your story and see how
(05:28):
your bracelet is affecting people further down the line than
just the immediate person you gave it to, then it's
super fun to register the bracelet using on the back
of every single tag is a little number, so you
can actually you just use it, you know, but you
can use it to register the bracelet on our app
or on our website, and then once it is passed on,
you know, it's this really beautiful thing where you can
finally see how your single act of kindness has helped
(05:50):
people over and over and over again because you'll get
to read their stories. What is like the most insane
one that you've read or had? Do you know one
that has gone through fifty people? Like where, oh my gosh,
we have we have had such great stories. I mean,
it is I will tell you it's hard for people
to let them go, which we've discovered over time. Sometimes
I feel selfish, I'm like, I don't want to mine. Yeah,
(06:13):
but that's why you gotta get you have to have
ones just for yourself and what that one back, that's
the way to navigate that. But yeah, So we have
had some really incredible stories. I mean I had an
entire school district ones all the teachers would pass this
one bracelet on teacher to teacher to teacher, just kind
of keep them positive, keep their strength alive, because obviously, teachers,
(06:34):
it's hard to be a teacher nowadays. I believe that
word was strength. Yeah, I believe that word was strength.
And then you know, we've got we've had some, i mean,
just tragic stories obviously where we're women who are going
through breast cancer or you know, unfortunately. I have one
one that traveled pretty far was a young girl bought
it for herself and her her friend was not it
(06:56):
was was ill, and then the friend passed away and
she gave it to the mom, and then the mom
gave it to another friend of hers whose son had
just got had just got into a car accident. I mean,
it's just like, oh my gosh, just to see that
these bras and they're they're traveling state to state. That
went from New Jersey to Florida. Cool. So that's probably
the coolest part is to just see how you know,
it's it is a small bracelet. It is something that
(07:18):
you know, we don't put much value to it beyond
what it means to you. And that's just the best
part of it of all. We need to talk about
how we kind of connected at first. Off, for me,
when I was doing What's Trending with Elvis, the segment
on the show where I would kind of showcase things
to people, you need to try this out. It's super cute.
I saw the Little Words Project bracelets, which you can
check out Little Words Project dot com. I will have
(07:40):
a coupon code for you later. But I saw them
and I was like, these are so cute, and it's
instantly I want all of them. Oh my god, what
words do I want? And then it's I want all
of them on my arm and they remind you of
your childhood, and then you get the part of oh
and it's also supposed to spread positivity. It's like this
all encompassing at product that you've kind of you kind
(08:01):
of need in your life. And when I saw it,
I was like, this is what this segment is. And
that was the beginning of me doing what's trending. Until
this day, I say, it might be my most favorite
thing that I've ever told people about. Well that's amazing
because to this day I credit you with basically launching
my business. I mean, the fact, the fact that you
saw the value in the product. I mean, I'll tell
(08:22):
you one of the hardest things of being a business
owner is trying to convince people of what you know
so fiercely right. So for me, it's like, I know
how impressed, I know how amazing these fracelets are. I
know what they will do for the people that wear them.
But you know, for you to have been someone who
was so established and on this morning show that I've
been listening to since I was a middle schooler, Like,
(08:43):
I mean, really, for you to just kind of be like,
all right, I'm doing this, it was it was the
January after the November that I launched. I mean, you
validated everything I believe and then not only did you
do it for me, but you did it for others,
you know, and and the real the reality is, it's
tough when you're gonna go. You know, when you tell
your parents, hey, I'm gonn beat in your basement for
for a living and not go to law school, you know,
(09:05):
it's a scary thing for them to hear. It's you know,
my friends question whether or not it was possible. People
always wondered whether or not it was like a viable business,
because it's I mean, when you when you see the bracelets,
you see I mean, they're they've got a youthful look
to them. You know, it is something that we we
can kind of reference our childhood with um. But it
has been an uphill battle. So when you did that,
(09:25):
you not only solidified it for me, but you had
other people thinking, oh wow, maybe maybe she is onto something.
I mean, it were well and I appreciate that because
it really really really got the ball rolling. I mean,
you know, I'll I credit you until I die with that.
Thank you. It's cool when you started my business. Okay, cool,
Little Worst Protect by Carla Murray check out. You know,
(09:47):
it's so cool to hear that. That was a lot
of the reason behind why I did that segment with
elvi Us because I wanted people to find out about
these cool things that they wouldn't have heard otherwise. And
for me, I just became like this funnel of I
was getting ideas from so many p pole and I
was going through them and deciding, Okay, what do I
want to tell people about. And when we first joined
the spacetime, before we started recording, I said to you,
(10:07):
I don't even remember how that originally started between you
and I because so much has happened between the two
of us over the last four years. And you said
that you think someone connected us, Yeah, someone connected us.
It was a customer of mine who also was a
friend of my dad's, and she was like, oh, I
had I know someone who knows Carla Marie from from
(10:28):
Elvis Durand in the Morning Show. And I was like, really,
no way. So I didn't think Honestly, I did not
think anything was going to come from it, because I
had just started. I barely knew you know, up from
down at that point. And then I got the email
and it's just I, I it is funny that you
kind of ascribed such you know, it really wasn't something
that you even remembered. But you know, when something so
significant happens to you, it's like it's clear as day.
(10:51):
And the fact that I can forbade him. I remember
waking up in the morning and you had and I
And first of all, I am not a morning person,
so I usually catch Elvis Durand on the last tail
end and then I'll watch it. I'll listen to it
on I Heart radio maybe, but I woke up early
and I heard it, and I remember I was sitting
with my boyfriend at the time now husband, and we
(11:13):
both were like, oh my god, I can't believe that
just happened. And then from there, I mean, I can't
even tell you. In the very beginning, how many people
said I heard on I heard about you on the radio,
or I heard this through Carla Marie, and I was like,
oh my gosh, this is unbelievable. And to that, I mean,
to this day this the Elvis Durand girls are so
so supportive you. You really opened up a Pandora's box
(11:36):
with them, so it's it's very exciting for us. You
kind of brought up something that I think everyone I've
talked to so far has mentioned. It's kind of that
word of mouth thing. If if that woman that knew
your dad, that apparently knew someone I knew that didn't
come to me, what would have happened. I you would
have been successful, of course, but you wouldn't have this
path wouldn't have happened. And everyone talks about that word
(11:57):
of mouth and essentially, really that's what little words projects
bracelets are. Yeah, absolutely, it's that. It's that conversation piece
that inspires you to talk to people, right, It's getting
you out of your phones. And even when you think
about the app that we created, right, which is something
that is meant to make the registration process easy, it's
meant to be a conversational app. It's meant for you
(12:19):
to really interact with one another in a meaningful, positive
way where you can support other women who are going
through struggles or difficulties. And then the same thing goes
for in person interactions. It's so important to just make
sure that you're interacting with that there's in a really
genuine and meaningful way. And when you're the simple act
of removing something from your wrist and putting it on
another person's wrist at the end of the day, it
(12:40):
makes all the difference, and it's it's such a it's
such a rewarding experience. I mean, people say to me
all the time, like I'm never going to give mine away,
but I always say, listen, you will, and when you do,
it's gonna feel really good, Like it's going to be
shockingly exciting because you know this is the person you
Your heart beats faster, and it's just it's cool to
have those converse stations be taking place because of something
(13:02):
that I created. Is is a really awesome feeling. Well,
I want to go back to why you created it,
because I did not know this until you and I
spoke right before this. You said you were bullied growing up. Yeah,
and that's where you wanted to kind of spread this
nice girl mentality, this girl power, this empowerment type of company.
What what a little bit about yourself? What happened growing up? Yeah? So, um,
(13:26):
I basically, I mean, it's it's wild when I say
it and think back on it, because I really can
remember like an instance or multiple instances every year since
like the first grade, that I dealt with some negativity
from other girls. Um. It all really culminated in high
school and it was probably the worst that ever was
and it was your typical story of friendships gone awry. Um,
(13:49):
you know, I had there were older siblings, older older
sisters at the time that got involved, and I just
was really a targeted person, but not for anything specific
other than the reality that it seemed like a pastime.
You know, it seems like something fun for these girls
to kind of sink their teeth into and to really
get a rise out of someone and and ruin someone's
day in essence, and it's it is awful. And that
(14:12):
was something that always stuck with me. And I always
always tried to, you know, fight for the underdog, and
I hated seeing people be spoken to negatively or just
mistreated since I was a kid, you know, so the
fact that it was happening to me, I just felt
like maybe there was a reason for all this. You know.
I always felt like, it's write you know, I'll figure
it out. I'll figure it out because you know, it
is true that it gets better, and you just have
(14:33):
to believe that used to believe something right or else what.
But then you know, I got to college and it
kind of continued and it was like a weird Yeah,
it was like a weird kind of competitive cruelty that
happens very often amongst girls. And you know, when you
think about the sorority um stereotypes, you know it can
kind of it can be like nasty when you think
(14:53):
about how girls can treat one another. And I definitely
lived that with you know, from without. I mean, I'll
say that my own chapter my sorority is what taught
me that girls can be kind to one another and
that there can be such a thing as true sisterhood
and kindness. But everybody else, you know, it was really
just not not good. I mean, this is the time
of those anonymous forums which I exist, remember those those
(15:17):
stupid websites, and I mean there are things on there,
I mean probably to this day that have you know.
It was just about me, about my sorority, my life,
my my face, I mean, what I looked like, everything.
And I remember thinking like, oh my god, we are
twenty two year old essentially women, right, and we're about
to enter the world, and what makes us any different
(15:38):
than when we were twelve and making fun of each
other on the place nothing. We're girls. And at the
end of the day, I just wanted to see something
that existed that was positive for females and not you know,
not so negative and just you know it to something
that would just like infringe on the negative space. Something
(15:59):
thank you, some thing that would just be there to
bring some light to our female dynamic. Um. And I
hope that that's what we're accomplishing. You know, if people
will ever give away their bracelets, but maybe we can
make that happen one day. Do you look back or
do you I guess not look back just right now?
Think yeah, take it now, suckers. Look what I'm doing
(16:19):
and look what I've created. You know I do, and
I try not to because I get it if they
were I'm a human, and you know, for me, it's
more about I'm most excited that people are reacting to it.
That It's like, even if someone was questioning whether or
not we were you know, I was going to be
(16:41):
able to do it. It makes me feel so good
that I've been able to, you know, really see a
positive change that Yeah, of course it's all y'all who
didn't think, thank you for thank you for starting, thank
you for doing that to me so that I could
have something that forces me to absolutely create something positive.
(17:01):
And that actually a lot of people who I've spoken
to inside hustlers have said that, and I'm like, yeah,
let your haters be your motivators. So absolutely, aside from
the people before once you started a little words project,
were there people that thought, Okay, what are you doing?
You're making bracelets? Like what? How? Yeah? No, for sure?
Oh my god. I like I said, and when I first,
(17:23):
when I first UM started talking about how I started it.
But I mean I had friends, close friends, I had
UM people just of all, you know, anyone who I
had spoken to that were like, I don't really know
if this is gonna work. I mean I just actually recently,
UM was at a trade show and I had someone
say do people actually wear these? I mean really just
(17:44):
says that what was the person job? What were they?
She was shopping for products at a trade show for
her boutique. She holds a boutique, so she basically was
just like, no, like, nobody actually wears this, right, And
I'm like, oh my god, how could you possibly be
so rude and say something so negative like that? You know,
that's when you say, well, the whole point of my
(18:07):
product is positivity, and I don't want it being sold
in your store. Thank you? Exactly and yet you really
got a chance say any right, it's such an it's
such a thing. But you know, for sure, whenever whenever
I first started telling people about it, I really really saw,
you know, so many different reactions. I mean a lot
of them were positive, um, but a lot were negative.
And it's been an uphill battle. And like I said,
(18:30):
I do think it has a little to do with
what the bracelets look like, you know, because I'm not
creating something out of fourteen carrot gold and but not
your standard jeweler. It's not what we want. When you
think the way style is now, and you've actually you've
also evolved over the last four years. You can see,
you know, you had the beatd the clear and the
type shiny um like you may have had four colors
(18:52):
when we first met, like it was, it wasn't much.
And now you've got like the nice I guess they'd
be like the Matt black and yeah, and you've got
the gold letters and you can I wear them with dresses,
like it's not just your everyday jeans and T shirt.
You can really dress them up. You you have evolved.
But even then, it's this time when you started a
(19:13):
little words project, I think style was exactly that people
wanted fun, they wanted to have what we were calling
armed parties, you know, load of your arms, all of
it exactly. And I think that what what I knew
going into it was that it was going to be
difficult because I mean, I'm not reinventing the wheel, but
I'm basically bringing something back, or I'm trying to bring
something back, So I'm gonna have to be creative, right,
(19:35):
I'm not going to be able to just say, like,
you know, oh, this is just like every other thing
that's sold at you know, Claire's or mass wherever you
go for your jewelry. This is something new but old still,
it's a new take on an old favorite. And it
really really meant we had to put a lot of
marketing efforts behind, and my marketing efforts, I mean like
literally me and one of the girls sitting coming up
(19:56):
with ideas behind just making sure that we demonstrate that,
you know what, you can be a cool girl with
an armload of these bracelets that remind you of your
of camp, you know. Yeah, and by cool I mean nice,
you know. So it's just it's definitely a game of
figuring out how to how to convince people that this
is something that they want. And for me, you know,
(20:18):
I just always rely on those early adopters out there,
people like you trend set as. I still have my
trend set on one I believe, Yeah, you do the
person who starts the trends because at the end of
the day, those are the people that help us, like
you said, spread that word of route mouth. We are
very grassroots. I mean I have put very little money
(20:38):
into sponsorships or anything that would be I mean even
for you, like you got an email and you promoted it,
you know, So that's really kind of how we've been
doing it. I'll send bracelets to the people who feel
like the most connected to it, and then from there
they talk about it and then they talk about it.
So those testimonials make all the difference. They do. It
doesn't priceless really, Yeah, exactly. Know when you said it
(21:00):
was just you and one other person doing marketing, at
what point in little words project, Like, what year was that?
How far into creating it was that? Yeah? So, um,
I guess just to speak to the whole concept of
side hustlers, right, I you know, when I first started it,
it was just me and my parents, like I said, um,
and I was coming home you know from work, my
full time job and beating till one am sometimes um,
(21:20):
and those were good days. You know. That meant I
had a lot of work to do, which is always right.
I had the orders, you know. And then I was
there for about seven months and then I moved in
with my boyfriend and now husband, and you were living
near me. I was that the point you were living
near me in Jersey City or no? Yes, because we
moved into Jersey City. Yeah, we were living near each
(21:41):
other in New Jersey and still never still never saw
each other. It's just bad. And we tried to we
need noble efforts, but life that side hustle life, that
side hustle life for real. But so yeah, so I had, um,
just moved into Jersey City and I had at that point,
I hired one person and then one intern, and we
(22:02):
were working out of my studio apartment that I shared
with Bill, my husband, so it was a definite small
set up. From there, we went to a one bedroom
apartment all still while working for the marketing company that
I was working at, and then once we got to
that one that I'm sorry, the two bedroom once we
got to that two bedroom. We had one bedroom for
little words and then you know, one bedroom obviously for living.
(22:24):
But once we had gotten there, that's at that point
I had been out. So that was about a year
and a half in out of my marketing job. So
I love that. So you took your side hustle a
year and a half in and you were like, peace out, world,
I'm doing my thing. It was pretty cool. I mean
I had started weaning, you know, so luckily I was
working for a very boutique marketing agency and my boss
(22:47):
was completely supportive of what I was doing. I mean,
he wasn't like super in love with the fact that
I was gonna, you know, just leave at the end
of the day. But I was very um forthcoming with
him and I let him know, and he was very
well connected in the city and help me kind of
get my feet on the ground. And really what I
learned through him was really helpful in you know, our
event marketing and everything that we've done. I'm sure its projects. Yeah,
(23:09):
So that was a huge benefit because I was coming
at it with an English major without any really not
real knowledge of anything. Good thing you took English, though
you can spell all those words on the bracelets. Oh yeah,
I can. I can. I took out an entire class
on Dante's Inferna go through the Seven Circles of Hell
if you want no Um. But yeah, So I eventually
(23:30):
was able to move out of that and it was
just like a really easy, seamless process. And like I said,
I was supported by him and that made it a
little bit better. But even so, I could not do
it until I could pay my rent, you know. So
it was just a matter of getting there. So now
you're out of the apartment. You have a space for
(23:51):
a little words project. Where are you guys now? So
we are located and called well. Um, from that apartment,
we went to Hoboken. We had a warehouse space that
was like it had my yes, I mean it was
like it was underneath a cross fit gym. So we
had a lot of weights literally banging on our heads
all night. Um. So this is just such a breath
of fresh air. It's a square foot office space in Callboo,
(24:12):
New Jersey. We're a little bit more suburban. It's just ideal.
I mean, we've got a parking lot, we've got the
beautiful offices. Yeah, it's so nice. Um, sorry, how many
people do you have working for you now? So I've
got five full time employees, which is wild, and i
have three part time production people who will help us
make in house, and then beyond that, we have a
(24:35):
factory out in Rhode Island who makes our bigger bulks
that you know, stuff that we've got that we have
to order. And it's just I mean a lot at
this point. Are you still beating? You physically sitting there
beating bracelets? You know what I will if I have to. Um,
that's one of the main things. Whenever we hire anyone,
we're always like, listen, no one is above beating here.
That is how we got here, that is why we
(24:55):
are here. Um. So having to fulfill orders is a
positive thing. So if we all ever have to be
all hands on that. But I'm sure it's like kind
of relaxing. Yeah, it's super relaxing. You listen to music. Honestly,
whenever I sit down to bead, like the place gets
a little more fun because when I'm like on my
computer or we're all separate doing our work in our
separate offices, it's like not as fun. You know. We
(25:17):
want to get back to those times where we really started,
which was just hanging out a bunch of literally a
bunch of girls hanging out beating bracelets. Well, I had
kept saying, you can we please do a night where
I come over and we drink wine and we make bracelets,
and yeah, you recently did. Didn't you do an event?
I did do an event, but no. What I had
told you was, I want to do like a mommy daughter,
(25:37):
mommy daughter, but like mother daughter, like sipping sipping, sippin
bead or like bead bubbles and beating or something exactly. Um,
but it might be a little hard to be drinking
while also beating those little holes on those beads, I'll
tell you. But yeah, to answer your question, I don't
beat as often as I used to, which is you know,
(25:59):
it's both good and kind of sad because it was
something like you said, is super super relaxing. Well, if
the next time I order one, I want you to
personally do girl, I'm going to put that I will
only wear this Adriana makes it herself, and I'm gonna
have to, like I will face time you as you
do it. About that, we'll book our next FaceTime right now,
(26:20):
you know, Like when people go to the hair salon
and you get you spend more money to go to
the owner. You should put bracelets made by us for money.
I did want to start a thing, so we do
put a handwritten note in every single package. You have
to feel super personal. Um. So I was going to
start a thing like why don't we all sign our
notes and then like they'll see who they get it from,
Like they get it from Mariah, maybe they get it
(26:41):
from Riva. And I mean, if you follow us on
social media, like you see on Instagram, guys, such a
great job, thank you, thank you. It's really just behind
the scenes of us being weird, being weird, normal, fun, cool, funny,
different girls, you know, just everything you could be. We
don't put ourselves in a box, and we try to
do that because we want to let girls feel like
they're part of our group of friends. At the end
(27:02):
of the day. We wanted to feel like a sisterhood
for the masses, um, having started in my you know, sorority,
which was a sisterhood. So really really trying to stick
to that. So our stories are literally mostly Mariah making
a fool of herself. Um. But the point is they
all know us. So if they got notes from each
individual one of us. That might be really cute. Unfortunately,
I know, I'm sure you do. But unfortunately only one
(27:25):
person right now is writing all the notes, so it's hard.
But we'll I'll get in now, sneak a few in,
do we We'll see. We'll see who gets lucky with
my awful handwriting. It would be like I don't know,
ordering something from Microsoft and getting a note from Bill Gates. Yeah,
not Philip Jate Scarlett, thank you, thank you for just
always believing in me. I mean, I really I love it.
(27:46):
And I think when I had first posted about this podcast,
you were like, hello, I'm a side hustler. And you
know what's crazy is I don't even think of you
like that because I just think of little Words project
is you, and that's it. You were here to give
us all a little words project. I don't think about you.
I don't want to know about you doing anything else.
You're so cute, that's so funny. Yeah. One of my girls,
(28:07):
Reva actually, who loves you and was following you, UM
send it over to me and then I saw it
and I and I was like, oh my gosh, I've
already messaged her about this, how funny. I was like,
definitely me please, you know I just of course, well,
it all goes back to your doing something awesome. I mean,
look at you, Look at this. You are you are,
I mean leaps light years ahead of where you were
when we first started wild last. So when I see that,
(28:31):
I'm like, I want to I want to be as
supportive to you as you always work for me. So
anything I can do, I mean, you know, till we're
blue in the face, every follower a fan of yours forever,
we'll have a coupon code a Little Words Project. I
love that. I mean it too, So that makes you
very happy. But talking about how we've changed over the
last few years, one of the coolest things for me
(28:52):
is recently I was actually out here in Seattle and Sam,
who were it was one of my best friends works
for Elvis around in the Morning Show where I used
to work, was out here visiting for my birthday and
we were shopping in one of the shops here and
we both went, oh my god, and Little Words Project
bracelets were sold in this store, and we were it
(29:12):
was like that, I don't know, it was a proud sister,
proud mom, like I don't know what we felt, but
it was it was so freakol and like good for her.
We took a picture obviously sent it to you, and
we were it was so bad because the girl worked
in the counter, were like, we know her, we know
who this girl is. Like I yeah, me, this is
okay when I forget to go, but I started it,
(29:33):
imagine and I was like, hey, this is because of me.
Thank you. Literally, um, that is so yeah. I remember
when you guys sent that, and you have to understand
for me too, It's like, I fan girl. I like,
now obviously I consider you guys like friends, which I
mean maybe I should into this first, but we are
in case you to know you're my friend, I would
totally say, so my friend owns this company, so you're good.
(29:56):
Well that's what I'm thinking, Like, you know, it's just
it's always so wild to me that you guys is
ours and Sam, oh my god, Bethany, Danielle, I mean
Danielle got us into a store in New Jersey, Cathy's,
which is like a store down the road from her.
I mean when I tell you that, it always blows
my mind to this day that I've got fans and
friends in in you, guys that are going to like
send me a picture when you see it in a store.
(30:17):
It's such. It's a humbling and exciting thing because you know,
someone like me. I don't know if other people can
relate to this, but I always, I mean, I believe
in myself so thoroughly, but I think growing up always
having that negativity around me, I do tend to second guests,
and I tend to wonder, question or think less than
(30:38):
I should of what I've done, and then I'm not
far enough alonger, I haven't made it yet, you know.
And even when you first started, even when we first
picked up the phone, You're like, look at you killing it.
I'm like, yeah, I still have ways to go, and
that is hard to stop. But it definitely does keep
me humble and keeps me trying to achieve the most.
And having people like you and just my other friends
(30:59):
who are so so supportive and do the same thing,
it really keeps us going. So if you're a listener
who has someone out there trying to be something or
do something, please tell them that, Like, tell them how
impressed you are with them, Let them know how much
you see their improvement, because it can be a lonely
life trying to do something and not getting that you
know from others. Well, that's and that is totally important
(31:20):
for people to hear. But I really love that you
said that you believe in yourself because, oh yeah, unless
if you're doing a side hustle, Hey, I just need
to make some money. I'm going to pick up some
projects so I can pay my rent whatever. That's one thing.
But if you're doing a side hustle because it's something
you believe in, you have to believe in that and
believe in yourself. Otherwise it's never going to go anywhere.
If you do not believe in yourself, you might as
(31:43):
well not do it. Um And I know that sounds
super curt but at the end of the day, if
you the reality of the situation is if you don't
believe in it enough to always be talking about it,
to always put yourself out there and not no matter
what they're going to say, you believe in what you're doing,
and because of that it makes doors open, you know.
(32:05):
And I've had people I've done a couple of interviews
or you know, a podcast before that they've asked me,
what is my biggest strength and it is my ability
to believe in myself that's unwavering ability to just I
just don't see hurdles. And like I said, I think
you can be that way but also still be insecure.
Also still I believe in myself till I don't care
(32:27):
everyone around you can stop believing me, and I'm like, no,
I'm going to do it. Yeah, but yes, being insecure
is still possible. Like God, it's so hard to explain
that to people, like I know I can kick as
I will kick ass, but there are still things that
you can be scared about. Absolutely, And if you don't,
you know, if you if you allow yourself to give
to fall victim to those feelings of negative and of
(32:49):
less less than, then you really really can fall into
that hole, and you it'll be difficult to get out,
you know, So I do. I always even if I
have those negative feelings, I always remind myself, like you know,
don't look to the left or the right at other people.
Look forwards and backwards right, look look back at how
far you've come and forwards at how far you still
believe you can go. And that's really all that matters,
(33:11):
because if you start comparing yourself especially this day and age.
Oh my gosh, I don't think i'd ever leave the
house when you have to write a book. I would
like to know when I get to read you know
what it isn't It isn't the ten year plan which
I'm coming up. I like, I'm coming up on your
eight of my ten year plans, so I better figured out.
Um no, I I look, I really, um you know,
(33:31):
I've I've been kind of venturing into a personal brand
lately where I'm trying to be more active with my
own personal I see that, and I like the butt picks,
the button picks. You are always the first throw me
a little piece. I love it. I love it. But
so your brand is but everyone thinks my brand is
but positive butts okay, but oh gosh, okay, what is
(33:54):
that your brand that you're trying to do more? Because
I did notice that that you are Your your posts
are not just garbage, it's like actual, really great photos.
Thank you. Yeah. So, I mean I photography has always
been a passion of mine. Granted I'm not the one
behind the camera. My husband is and he's doing amazing,
so he's discovered a new found a new found passion.
But you know, for me, I just realized that this
(34:16):
day and age, we are all digital, you know, like
you kind of almost need. As sad as it is
to say, it's it's helpful to have a digital avatar,
if you will, that people can relate to you, and
it really helped build essentially a platform. And for me,
if I have anything I want to say, which I do,
I have plenty to say. You know, I think that's obvious,
but I do want to inspire girls out there who
(34:37):
maybe didn't feel like they fit in or maybe don't
feel like they're part of any one individual group that
they can you know, align with. Whether they're young or
middle age, it doesn't matter. We all experience that as females.
I want to be some sort of inspiration to them
and let them know that, you know what, business owning
isn't easy, or my life isn't perfect, but here's a
(34:58):
cute picture, but I'll tell you what's actually happening, because
nobody wants to really see the bad um, but to
hear about it and to know that it exists, and
to always be honest and open and also at the
same time share a little bit of what I've learned
along the way. You know, that is so so important
to me. So that is what my Instagram is beyond
just butt picks, which there's only like two I love.
(35:21):
Don't stop the butt picks. Um And it's not even
but she's really making you sound bad. No, no, no,
you really are. Everything you just described is exactly what
you're doing where you are. And I feel like I
kind of go down that path to where I'll post
a picture and I'm like, yeah, but really, a bug
flow up my nose two seconds before I posted this.
And you know, your standard blogger who's trying to curate
(35:42):
their photos perfectly isn't gonna tell you about the crappy
day they had or you know, the thing that they
faced that day that was, um, you know, really brought
them down. And it is important to show that absolutely.
And you know there are so many people out there
who are afraid of that because of the same things.
You know, what are people going to say? How are
people going to feel? And I'll tell you from experience. Listen,
(36:03):
I've had some of the most negative things I could
have ever even fathom said about me, and I'm I'm here.
You know, I came out of it. I believe enough
in myself that I knew that there's this is all
happening for some sort of weird reason, you know, and
look at look at what I have been able to create.
And I only I don't say that's toot my own horn.
Although if you don't toot your horn, no one else will. Um,
(36:25):
I will say that sidebar of it. Um, I digress, um.
But I say that because I do think it's important
that people understand that even if you've been through something awful,
or even if you feel like the cards are stacked
against you, there are ways to let your truth be heard.
Whether it's through your own personal Instagram where you have
three hunder followers or whatever. Just be yourself and don't
(36:46):
worry about what people are going to think or say,
because they don't matter. At the end of the day,
you know they really really don't. And similar to what
you were saying about your let your haters be your motivators.
I like to say, people who hate you now will
one day love that they knew you that right. One day,
one of those girls who was putting me down, one
of those people who were behind the screen, will see
(37:06):
my racist in a store and say, oh, I know
that girl and that's just the reality. Um so it's
you know what, you can't You can't let the haters
get you down. Just like what did Cardi B say
at our? It was our heart radio music words. She said,
you know everyone who's my hater? You actually you're downloading
my album to listen to it, to hate it. Keep
keep doing it. I'm giving me money in the end.
(37:28):
How do you you do it? I can't even make
the noise, I can't cute. Oh my gosh, she's I
love her. But as for that, it's it's okre. She
apparently describes it as a pigeon soft pigeon in New
York being cold. I did hear that? Um, I think
we need to get Cardi be one of these bracelets.
How do we make that happen? It? Would you die?
Could you imagine? I would die? Mariah my my brand director,
(37:52):
she would die a thousand deaths if we had Cardi
B in a bracelet. We had vash in our bracelets
a couple of months ago, and that was like, and
she's you know Vashti right, She's just like awesome. She's
an awesome influencer in the music world who has been
around forever. She was like the first female design of
Para Jordan's. I mean just okay, yes, yes, yes, yeah yeah,
(38:15):
and we had that happened and it was like, oh,
my gosh. I was like, this is kind of like
when Carla Marie. My god, no, but that's cool. It's true, girl,
I'm telling you. I'll always say, it's so crazy to
know that you had a hand. No, no, I'm not
even talking about that. You're more than just a I'm
gonna go buy this girl's bracelet and I'm gonna wear it.
I think it's awesome to know that you're You're way
(38:38):
more than how many beads are on a regular bracelet.
You're way more than just forty beads on a string. Like,
there's so much more to you. There's so much more
to this company, And I don't know. I hope that
people can get like an ounce of the love I
have for a little Words project, because I still wear
the exact bracelets and more that you've sent me when
(39:00):
we first spoke four over four years ago at this point,
and like I said at the beginning, I bought them
for every female in my family and every year whenever
I do a gift guide first person I go to Adriana,
I need a code for my gift guide. Everyone's gonna
love it. It's so true, and you keep coming back.
I'm like sometimes I'm like, oh damn, she's still into it.
I love I love that because you know what, that
(39:20):
shows the staying power of this product. It's not just
a gimmicky thing. It's something that you really just can
never have enough crazy feeling well, and you keep changing them.
And we talked about that, and I guess every side
hustle is different. But do you seem importance in evolving,
I guess or changing with your customers? Oh? For sure, absolutely.
(39:41):
I think I think you always want to give them
something new and something fresh that they can sink their
teeth into. I mean, I am obviously always looking for
new customers, but I think I was actually speaking to
um we're on Shopify shout out to Shopify. UM. I
was speaking to us, our Shopify manager, and he was like,
you have one of the highest retention rates of any
website that started so much as you back intoe you
(40:02):
thousand and thirteen and that's and it's like a ridiculous
percentage of people that come back because at the end
of the day. We're catering to that customer that's been
with us since they get go. You know, we want
you guys and whoever those customers are to feel like
they always have something to look forward to. And you know,
we understand that you can only get so many types
of words or what have you. But for us, it's
(40:22):
like why not keep giving them something. Um. We actually
have our annual customization or semi annual I should say
customization day coming up, um and I think as of
right now endive the day June one, um. But the
idea is people will be able to come on that's
come on the site and put in any word, you know,
just for one day so that they can finally have
that words that reminded them of Grandpa or you know
(40:44):
that is their dogs favorite, you know, saying or name
God forbid. But it can happen if we want it. Um.
But the point is, we really try to make our
customers feel like they, like I said, are a part
of this sisterhood. Days they trying to make them feel
like they're apart. You want them to exactly, thank you exactly.
(41:05):
And that's that's why we evolved with them. Um. And
you know I will say that before Little Words Project.
When I first started it, I mean female power, like
girl power wasn't the hot button issue is today definitely wasn't.
And it's it's crazy it's only been well, actually November
will be five years. Well, um, it's only been almost
five years and it's been It's such a change, and
(41:27):
that's really I think it's it's helped us just kind
of fall even further into why we do this because
it's like, yes, everyone around us is having those same
experiences and reactions. I mean when this, when that whole
Harvey Weinstein thing happened, I had girls reaching out to
me in um, like one of Joey King's friends. You
know Joey King. She's this young actress, super super cute
(41:49):
and it's so many great movies. Um. But anyway, she
was wearing them at the at the Sunday at um
no at um. It's probably Sunding. Can't some conference. I
can't say, is it conn whatever, I don't know. We're
not in the movie. We don't care, we don't care.
She was wearing it. It's just like, oh my god,
(42:11):
like and it was a time's up bracelet you know.
So it's just like unbelievable how much a word can
truly transcend all the different things that women deal with.
It's sure words are always going to be around. So
I think you're good, absolutely, yeah. Right. At least I
I saddled my my, my, whatever it's called. I hitched
my wagon to something that will never go away. Investment
(42:33):
is important, obviously when you're starting a m a side hustle,
or obviously or any company. In the beginning, What was
that like because you had just started working, obviously you
were living at home with your parents. But what kind
of investment did you have to put into kicking off
little worst project? And then talk a little bit about
what it was like, you know, a few years in,
what other big investments did you have to do to
(42:54):
keep things going? Yeah? So my when I first started,
I put out five thousand dollars of my own money. Yeah,
into the company. I mean it was when you think
about it, in the grand scheme of things. I mean,
that's adding up every every letter that I had to
purchase at the time was from Michael's, you know, going
in and figuring out how I was going to get
(43:16):
all these crystals, and I had no idea how to
do any of it. So if I had known, like
at this stage, I know, I could have invested far
less to you know, do it right. Um, but you
know I basically was able to just kind of put
that in and we turned a profit in that first month,
So thank you. So the company as a whole has
been completely self sustaining since that day. We have never
(43:37):
had to seek outside investment. I've never had to raise capital. Granted,
had I done that or had I gone that route,
I might have seen faster growth. Um. You know, I'm
obviously my hardest critic, and when I look at how
I mean, we have double year over year, which is exciting,
but that's huge, huge, But um, you know, when I
think about how much maybe further along we could be
(44:01):
if I had done the route of you know, bringing
in outside capital, outside funding and you know, asking for
investments here and there, maybe it could have been further along.
But then it wouldn't have been our story and it
wouldn't have been the grassroots movement that our early adopters
feel so connected to because it didn't just like blow
up in their faces somewhere. You know, this is more
(44:21):
important getting those people that really really believe in what
we're doing. I don't want this to be a product
with a limited shelf life. I wanted to be something
that our first time customers, someone like you who's had them,
you know, who bought them five years ago, still want
to see what's coming out now, you know, and they
they're not over it, and that's super important to us.
So I think slow growth for me has been definitely
(44:44):
the way to go. UM. But of course, you know,
at this stage, we're looking to start putting some more
You have to spend money to make money, so we're
putting some more money and backing behind UM, you know,
as much marketing as we can to just get the
word out there. Because now I feel like we've nailed
it right. We've got our rebrand is done. The price
point is perfect. I think, yeah it is. It's not
(45:05):
like one sometimes you buy things and you're like, I
know that this isn't worth this amount of money, but
I like it's gonna buy it. When I buy from
Little Worst Project, I'm like, Okay, this is I feel comfortable.
I feel like you're not scamming me. I feel like
it's a good relationship. We're both cotting in the same
amount here and getting out. Yeah, like it was one
of the thank you that was one of the things
(45:26):
we actually we went from a twenty four dollar price
point down to eighteen this year and that was our
biggest jump. But we did it for that for that
exact reason. You know, we're like, what we want to
make sure our customers feel like they're getting something. We
were able to buy a more bulk and you know,
the logist you don't need to know the logistics of
how we made it happen, but the point is is
that we really we took the feedback. We adjusted, and
(45:46):
I think that's super important too if you're starting your
own thing is to make sure that you're you're creating
something that you tell people that they want, but then
also when they tell you what they want in return,
you adjust and you make sure you do it within reason.
I mean, I've had Will tell me since day one
that I should make bracelets on a gold bar or
like a gold bracelet that has letters words stamped into them.
(46:06):
I'm like, yeah, but then that's not what we are,
So I'm not gonna do that. I'll promise you one
day you're going to buy this product. Look, you're just
killing it. You are I'm just like you, you know,
all about the business where all that's you're so cute.
I wish that your your listeners could like watch you
just smiling at me, like I'm like you're like I'm watching. Well,
(46:27):
I'm just dead both of us. Our faces are like
glued to smiles right now. That could because I have
a puppy on my yeah, and I'm jealous not I
should have brought my cats to the studio next time.
What types of apps do you use? I guess maybe
there was something used when you first started, or is
there something now other than Instagram that you're like, Okay,
this is my go to for my job, um, so
(46:49):
I use We do use obviously all the apps that
come with our platforms, like quick books and Shopify, which
I think is really really helpful just for the purpose
of being able to see that quick time reporting UM
and be able to really engage with what's going on,
and you know, if there's a sale happening, I can
get those updates and know how many orders are coming
through to do an Instagram push. Really just staying on
(47:11):
top of that those analytics. UM. We're actually in the
process of really trying to get even better at our
reporting and knowing what's happening. So those are really helpful
for that. Um and then an app that I actually
just downloaded and we're starting to use. It's called slack.
I'm sure you've heard of it. I've heard about it,
but haven't fallen in love with because I don't really
have you explain what it is and then I'll explain
(47:33):
why I don't know. Yeah, So basically, it's just like
an interactive platform for your company when you do have
like a team that you have to interact with and
you know you can have Honestly, I am not I
don't even want to do this because I don't I
will butcher what it actually is, but it's supposed to
be super, super helpful in the process of, you know,
(47:54):
making sure that you're interacting in a in a progressive
way with your team. So the reason I don't use
slack is because I basically have three people on my team,
so we can just send a group text message. But
I know it's great for people who aren't always in
the office. So if you're someone who's listening and you
have a small business that you're starting and you're not
always in the same place at the same time with
your coworkers. I think it's great for stuff like that. Yeah, exactly.
(48:18):
So it's helpful for us when we're at you know,
we're away at trade shows and you know, we need
the we need just to have that quick and easy messaging.
And then also when you're in your text messages, I mean,
it's just you're also inundated with other people's text. So
it's always helpful to have that dedicated group that's just
for dedicated app that's just for your team. So well,
thank you for that recommendation. The first person to say
(48:40):
that one. I appreciate it you. Okay, So people want
to follow a Little Words Project on Instagram. It's at
Little Words Project Little Words project dot com to check
out everything and use promo code Carla Marie for fiftcent off.
Thank you Adriana for doing that, and to follow you
on Instagram. It's Adriana carrig. I'm going to post a
bunch of stuff if I haven't already about a Little
(49:01):
Words Project on my Instagram. You'll see my bracelet collection.
It's a lot. If you gotta start passing those on,
you're right, okay, I will this week pass one on
to someone. We'll see how that goes and I will
share it that you should, we should do a giveaway.
I can get you something you can pass months, some
listeners if you want it. Okay, we can, well yeah,
let's totally. We will. We'll figure it out, so little
(49:25):
words Project dot com Adrian, and thank you for taking
the time to just appreciate it. Oh my gosh. Of course, Carla,
anything for you. Love you,
For a lot of people. You know, why are you? When?
Do you know what you want to do? And this
is what you want to do? Do it. I'm a hustle,
side side hustle. Do it. I'm a hustle, a sad
side hustle. Do it. I'm a hustle, side side hustlow.
I'm a hustle side slow. I'm a hustle, a side
side hustler. Come on, ask about me, yo yo. It's
(00:24):
the side Hustless podcast. We call them the Root. Okay,
welcome to another episode of side Hustlers. I am so
freaking pumped about this one. This is like the ultimate
side hustler. So I've got Adriana carried here. Hi Adriana, Hi,
how are you? I'm great? And by here, I mean
we're actually face timing and we've known each other for
(00:46):
four years now. We've talked I don't know how many times,
we've never actually spoken words to each other or met
in person, which is sore. True. It's so true, like
I've never seen your mouth move and like be speaking
at me. It's always just actually I've seen it speaking
at me through stories, but okay, but not too directly exactly.
(01:09):
So We're gonna just start off by saying you created
Little Words Project, and I did do that. You probably
if you're listening, I've seen me post about them before.
They are those super cute bracelets that I'm obsessed with,
and I think my count is probably at fifteen to
twenty by now. Given them to every single woman in
my family at least once as a gift. They're just
(01:31):
they're amazing. Already, get more into the product later. But
your story is incredible. I mean, there's just there's so much.
I was like, I don't even know. I'm actually most
nervous about talking to you than anyone because I want
to make sure I capture this whole story because there's
just so much to it and it's so good. So
you officially started Little Words Project in two thousand. Yeah.
I started it when I was about a year out
(01:53):
of college, UM, and I was living in my parents house. UM.
I completely started the company out of my parents basement.
My dad likes to joke that he was the original
shipping department, my mom was the original production manager, and
we we just kind of had a little family run
business that was, you know, one hundred and fifty a
dream that I had just randomly had and thought could
(02:16):
really bring something positive to the world. So it was
definitely an interesting beginning. Up until this point in your life.
What had you been doing or in college? What did
you want to do? Oh my gosh. So I was
an English major in college and the plan was to
go to law school at this point, like literally, I
launched the website on November eleven, eleven eleventh, love it.
(02:38):
And as I was launching it, I was I had
just taken the October l S at the month before,
I know, so I launched it without knowing what I
got in my head. I was like, you know what,
if I do really, really well and I really seemed
like I should go to law school by my score alone,
then maybe I'll consider it. But my heart was already
in this um. But prior to that, yeah, I was
(02:59):
an englishman jer and wasn't sure what I was gonna do.
I traveled for a little, I worked in retail for
a little, UM, but then my actual job that I
had when starting this company was I worked in marketing. UM.
So you know, as an English major you can really
kind of do anything. Frankly, as any major, you can
do any sure these days so it was it was
an interesting jump, to say the least. But what, like,
(03:19):
what was it that made you say I want to
make bracelets? Yeah? Well, okay, So I had started a
version of the bracelets um back when I was in
college and was amongst my college sorority we had. I
was the VP of membership at the time, and I
needed to create some sort of way to like, you know,
quote keep the love circulating. And I had been making
bracelets like these my whole I mean, we all kind
(03:40):
of have, right, So I'd been making bracelets like them
my whole life, um, and I was I used to
put inspirational words on them for myself so if I
felt like I needed some strength, there's some hope or whatever.
So I would wear them growing up. And then when
I got into school, um, right when I started with
the sorority and I discovered that we needed something to
kind of keep that positivity spreading, I wanted to kind
(04:02):
of fuse these bracelets I had been making with this
idea of sharing amongst each other, amongst ourselves. So the
idea was really born when I was in college, and
it wasn't until I graduated and I saw that the
chapter was still very much so engaged with this idea.
I mean they were making them themselves, they were passing
them on. Yeah, they were really really engaged with them.
And it was so much bigger than when it first
(04:23):
started as like twenty bracelets that I had made as
the first batch right on my bed. Where are you
going to school? I went to the college New Jersey
and what was it? I was dealta Zeta. Now you're
I want to talk a little bit about passing it
on so that we can explain what that is, because
I've always tried to explain to people. You get this
bracelet and then you can register it, but then you
can pass it on. Everyone's like, what are you saying?
(04:44):
So I want to I want to hear it from
you when I get a little worse project bracelet. That's
say it says smile on my bracelet and I and
I buy it for myself. Then what So the idea
is You're supposed to wear that smile bracelet for as
long as you need to feel good, as long as
you feel like you need that words inspiration, right, and
then once you feel like you've kind of used it
(05:06):
for what you've needed it for, then it's time to
hopefully seek someone out to pass it on to. That said,
there are an occasions where people will meet someone on
the subway or meet someone in passing and hear their
story and know that it's you know, it's time to
to give their bracelet away to that to to that
other person. So it's really just a matter of you
wear it for as long as you need it, and
then you pass it on to someone who needs it more.
If you want to track your story and see how
(05:28):
your bracelet is affecting people further down the line than
just the immediate person you gave it to, then it's
super fun to register the bracelet using on the back
of every single tag is a little number, so you
can actually you just use it, you know, but you
can use it to register the bracelet on our app
or on our website, and then once it is passed on,
you know, it's this really beautiful thing where you can
finally see how your single act of kindness has helped
(05:50):
people over and over and over again because you'll get
to read their stories. What is like the most insane
one that you've read or had? Do you know one
that has gone through fifty people? Like where, oh my gosh,
we have we have had such great stories. I mean,
it is I will tell you it's hard for people
to let them go, which we've discovered over time. Sometimes
I feel selfish, I'm like, I don't want to mine. Yeah,
(06:13):
but that's why you gotta get you have to have
ones just for yourself and what that one back, that's
the way to navigate that. But yeah, So we have
had some really incredible stories. I mean I had an
entire school district ones all the teachers would pass this
one bracelet on teacher to teacher to teacher, just kind
of keep them positive, keep their strength alive, because obviously, teachers,
(06:34):
it's hard to be a teacher nowadays. I believe that
word was strength. Yeah, I believe that word was strength.
And then you know, we've got we've had some, i mean,
just tragic stories obviously where we're women who are going
through breast cancer or you know, unfortunately. I have one
one that traveled pretty far was a young girl bought
it for herself and her her friend was not it
(06:56):
was was ill, and then the friend passed away and
she gave it to the mom, and then the mom
gave it to another friend of hers whose son had
just got had just got into a car accident. I mean,
it's just like, oh my gosh, just to see that
these bras and they're they're traveling state to state. That
went from New Jersey to Florida. Cool. So that's probably
the coolest part is to just see how you know,
it's it is a small bracelet. It is something that
(07:18):
you know, we don't put much value to it beyond
what it means to you. And that's just the best
part of it of all. We need to talk about
how we kind of connected at first. Off, for me,
when I was doing What's Trending with Elvis, the segment
on the show where I would kind of showcase things
to people, you need to try this out. It's super cute.
I saw the Little Words Project bracelets, which you can
check out Little Words Project dot com. I will have
(07:40):
a coupon code for you later. But I saw them
and I was like, these are so cute, and it's
instantly I want all of them. Oh my god, what
words do I want? And then it's I want all
of them on my arm and they remind you of
your childhood, and then you get the part of oh
and it's also supposed to spread positivity. It's like this
all encompassing at product that you've kind of you kind
(08:01):
of need in your life. And when I saw it,
I was like, this is what this segment is. And
that was the beginning of me doing what's trending. Until
this day, I say, it might be my most favorite
thing that I've ever told people about. Well that's amazing
because to this day I credit you with basically launching
my business. I mean, the fact, the fact that you
saw the value in the product. I mean, I'll tell
(08:22):
you one of the hardest things of being a business
owner is trying to convince people of what you know
so fiercely right. So for me, it's like, I know
how impressed, I know how amazing these fracelets are. I
know what they will do for the people that wear them.
But you know, for you to have been someone who
was so established and on this morning show that I've
been listening to since I was a middle schooler, Like,
(08:43):
I mean, really, for you to just kind of be like,
all right, I'm doing this, it was it was the
January after the November that I launched. I mean, you
validated everything I believe and then not only did you
do it for me, but you did it for others,
you know, and and the real the reality is, it's
tough when you're gonna go. You know, when you tell
your parents, hey, I'm gonn beat in your basement for
for a living and not go to law school, you know,
(09:05):
it's a scary thing for them to hear. It's you know,
my friends question whether or not it was possible. People
always wondered whether or not it was like a viable business,
because it's I mean, when you when you see the bracelets,
you see I mean, they're they've got a youthful look
to them. You know, it is something that we we
can kind of reference our childhood with um. But it
has been an uphill battle. So when you did that,
(09:25):
you not only solidified it for me, but you had
other people thinking, oh wow, maybe maybe she is onto something.
I mean, it were well and I appreciate that because
it really really really got the ball rolling. I mean,
you know, I'll I credit you until I die with that.
Thank you. It's cool when you started my business. Okay, cool,
Little Worst Protect by Carla Murray check out. You know,
(09:47):
it's so cool to hear that. That was a lot
of the reason behind why I did that segment with
elvi Us because I wanted people to find out about
these cool things that they wouldn't have heard otherwise. And
for me, I just became like this funnel of I
was getting ideas from so many p pole and I
was going through them and deciding, Okay, what do I
want to tell people about. And when we first joined
the spacetime, before we started recording, I said to you,
(10:07):
I don't even remember how that originally started between you
and I because so much has happened between the two
of us over the last four years. And you said
that you think someone connected us, Yeah, someone connected us.
It was a customer of mine who also was a
friend of my dad's, and she was like, oh, I
had I know someone who knows Carla Marie from from
(10:28):
Elvis Durand in the Morning Show. And I was like, really,
no way. So I didn't think Honestly, I did not
think anything was going to come from it, because I
had just started. I barely knew you know, up from
down at that point. And then I got the email
and it's just I, I it is funny that you
kind of ascribed such you know, it really wasn't something
that you even remembered. But you know, when something so
significant happens to you, it's like it's clear as day.
(10:51):
And the fact that I can forbade him. I remember
waking up in the morning and you had and I
And first of all, I am not a morning person,
so I usually catch Elvis Durand on the last tail
end and then I'll watch it. I'll listen to it
on I Heart radio maybe, but I woke up early
and I heard it, and I remember I was sitting
with my boyfriend at the time now husband, and we
(11:13):
both were like, oh my god, I can't believe that
just happened. And then from there, I mean, I can't
even tell you. In the very beginning, how many people
said I heard on I heard about you on the radio,
or I heard this through Carla Marie, and I was like,
oh my gosh, this is unbelievable. And to that, I mean,
to this day this the Elvis Durand girls are so
so supportive you. You really opened up a Pandora's box
(11:36):
with them, so it's it's very exciting for us. You
kind of brought up something that I think everyone I've
talked to so far has mentioned. It's kind of that
word of mouth thing. If if that woman that knew
your dad, that apparently knew someone I knew that didn't
come to me, what would have happened. I you would
have been successful, of course, but you wouldn't have this
path wouldn't have happened. And everyone talks about that word
(11:57):
of mouth and essentially, really that's what little words projects
bracelets are. Yeah, absolutely, it's that. It's that conversation piece
that inspires you to talk to people, right, It's getting
you out of your phones. And even when you think
about the app that we created, right, which is something
that is meant to make the registration process easy, it's
meant to be a conversational app. It's meant for you
(12:19):
to really interact with one another in a meaningful, positive
way where you can support other women who are going
through struggles or difficulties. And then the same thing goes
for in person interactions. It's so important to just make
sure that you're interacting with that there's in a really
genuine and meaningful way. And when you're the simple act
of removing something from your wrist and putting it on
another person's wrist at the end of the day, it
(12:40):
makes all the difference, and it's it's such a it's
such a rewarding experience. I mean, people say to me
all the time, like I'm never going to give mine away,
but I always say, listen, you will, and when you do,
it's gonna feel really good, Like it's going to be
shockingly exciting because you know this is the person you
Your heart beats faster, and it's just it's cool to
have those converse stations be taking place because of something
(13:02):
that I created. Is is a really awesome feeling. Well,
I want to go back to why you created it,
because I did not know this until you and I
spoke right before this. You said you were bullied growing up. Yeah,
and that's where you wanted to kind of spread this
nice girl mentality, this girl power, this empowerment type of company.
What what a little bit about yourself? What happened growing up? Yeah? So, um,
(13:26):
I basically, I mean, it's it's wild when I say
it and think back on it, because I really can
remember like an instance or multiple instances every year since
like the first grade, that I dealt with some negativity
from other girls. Um. It all really culminated in high
school and it was probably the worst that ever was
and it was your typical story of friendships gone awry. Um,
(13:49):
you know, I had there were older siblings, older older
sisters at the time that got involved, and I just
was really a targeted person, but not for anything specific
other than the reality that it seemed like a pastime.
You know, it seems like something fun for these girls
to kind of sink their teeth into and to really
get a rise out of someone and and ruin someone's
day in essence, and it's it is awful. And that
(14:12):
was something that always stuck with me. And I always
always tried to, you know, fight for the underdog, and
I hated seeing people be spoken to negatively or just
mistreated since I was a kid, you know, so the
fact that it was happening to me, I just felt
like maybe there was a reason for all this. You know.
I always felt like, it's write you know, I'll figure
it out. I'll figure it out because you know, it
is true that it gets better, and you just have
(14:33):
to believe that used to believe something right or else what.
But then you know, I got to college and it
kind of continued and it was like a weird Yeah,
it was like a weird kind of competitive cruelty that
happens very often amongst girls. And you know, when you
think about the sorority um stereotypes, you know it can
kind of it can be like nasty when you think
(14:53):
about how girls can treat one another. And I definitely
lived that with you know, from without. I mean, I'll
say that my own chapter my sorority is what taught
me that girls can be kind to one another and
that there can be such a thing as true sisterhood
and kindness. But everybody else, you know, it was really
just not not good. I mean, this is the time
of those anonymous forums which I exist, remember those those
(15:17):
stupid websites, and I mean there are things on there,
I mean probably to this day that have you know.
It was just about me, about my sorority, my life,
my my face, I mean, what I looked like, everything.
And I remember thinking like, oh my god, we are
twenty two year old essentially women, right, and we're about
to enter the world, and what makes us any different
(15:38):
than when we were twelve and making fun of each
other on the place nothing. We're girls. And at the
end of the day, I just wanted to see something
that existed that was positive for females and not you know,
not so negative and just you know it to something
that would just like infringe on the negative space. Something
(15:59):
thank you, some thing that would just be there to
bring some light to our female dynamic. Um. And I
hope that that's what we're accomplishing. You know, if people
will ever give away their bracelets, but maybe we can
make that happen one day. Do you look back or
do you I guess not look back just right now?
Think yeah, take it now, suckers. Look what I'm doing
(16:19):
and look what I've created. You know I do, and
I try not to because I get it if they
were I'm a human, and you know, for me, it's
more about I'm most excited that people are reacting to it.
That It's like, even if someone was questioning whether or
not we were you know, I was going to be
(16:41):
able to do it. It makes me feel so good
that I've been able to, you know, really see a
positive change that Yeah, of course it's all y'all who
didn't think, thank you for thank you for starting, thank
you for doing that to me so that I could
have something that forces me to absolutely create something positive.
(17:01):
And that actually a lot of people who I've spoken
to inside hustlers have said that, and I'm like, yeah,
let your haters be your motivators. So absolutely, aside from
the people before once you started a little words project,
were there people that thought, Okay, what are you doing?
You're making bracelets? Like what? How? Yeah? No, for sure?
Oh my god. I like I said, and when I first,
(17:23):
when I first UM started talking about how I started it.
But I mean I had friends, close friends, I had
UM people just of all, you know, anyone who I
had spoken to that were like, I don't really know
if this is gonna work. I mean I just actually recently,
UM was at a trade show and I had someone
say do people actually wear these? I mean really just
(17:44):
says that what was the person job? What were they?
She was shopping for products at a trade show for
her boutique. She holds a boutique, so she basically was
just like, no, like, nobody actually wears this, right, And
I'm like, oh my god, how could you possibly be
so rude and say something so negative like that? You know,
that's when you say, well, the whole point of my
(18:07):
product is positivity, and I don't want it being sold
in your store. Thank you? Exactly and yet you really
got a chance say any right, it's such an it's
such a thing. But you know, for sure, whenever whenever
I first started telling people about it, I really really saw,
you know, so many different reactions. I mean a lot
of them were positive, um, but a lot were negative.
And it's been an uphill battle. And like I said,
(18:30):
I do think it has a little to do with
what the bracelets look like, you know, because I'm not
creating something out of fourteen carrot gold and but not
your standard jeweler. It's not what we want. When you
think the way style is now, and you've actually you've
also evolved over the last four years. You can see,
you know, you had the beatd the clear and the
type shiny um like you may have had four colors
(18:52):
when we first met, like it was, it wasn't much.
And now you've got like the nice I guess they'd
be like the Matt black and yeah, and you've got
the gold letters and you can I wear them with dresses,
like it's not just your everyday jeans and T shirt.
You can really dress them up. You you have evolved.
But even then, it's this time when you started a
(19:13):
little words project, I think style was exactly that people
wanted fun, they wanted to have what we were calling
armed parties, you know, load of your arms, all of
it exactly. And I think that what what I knew
going into it was that it was going to be
difficult because I mean, I'm not reinventing the wheel, but
I'm basically bringing something back, or I'm trying to bring
something back, So I'm gonna have to be creative, right,
(19:35):
I'm not going to be able to just say, like,
you know, oh, this is just like every other thing
that's sold at you know, Claire's or mass wherever you
go for your jewelry. This is something new but old still,
it's a new take on an old favorite. And it
really really meant we had to put a lot of
marketing efforts behind, and my marketing efforts, I mean like
literally me and one of the girls sitting coming up
(19:56):
with ideas behind just making sure that we demonstrate that,
you know what, you can be a cool girl with
an armload of these bracelets that remind you of your
of camp, you know. Yeah, and by cool I mean nice,
you know. So it's just it's definitely a game of
figuring out how to how to convince people that this
is something that they want. And for me, you know,
(20:18):
I just always rely on those early adopters out there,
people like you trend set as. I still have my
trend set on one I believe, Yeah, you do the
person who starts the trends because at the end of
the day, those are the people that help us, like
you said, spread that word of route mouth. We are
very grassroots. I mean I have put very little money
(20:38):
into sponsorships or anything that would be I mean even
for you, like you got an email and you promoted it,
you know, So that's really kind of how we've been
doing it. I'll send bracelets to the people who feel
like the most connected to it, and then from there
they talk about it and then they talk about it.
So those testimonials make all the difference. They do. It
doesn't priceless really, Yeah, exactly. Know when you said it
(21:00):
was just you and one other person doing marketing, at
what point in little words project, Like, what year was that?
How far into creating it was that? Yeah? So, um,
I guess just to speak to the whole concept of
side hustlers, right, I you know, when I first started it,
it was just me and my parents, like I said, um,
and I was coming home you know from work, my
full time job and beating till one am sometimes um,
(21:20):
and those were good days. You know. That meant I
had a lot of work to do, which is always right.
I had the orders, you know. And then I was
there for about seven months and then I moved in
with my boyfriend and now husband, and you were living
near me. I was that the point you were living
near me in Jersey City or no? Yes, because we
moved into Jersey City. Yeah, we were living near each
(21:41):
other in New Jersey and still never still never saw
each other. It's just bad. And we tried to we
need noble efforts, but life that side hustle life, that
side hustle life for real. But so yeah, so I had, um,
just moved into Jersey City and I had at that point,
I hired one person and then one intern, and we
(22:02):
were working out of my studio apartment that I shared
with Bill, my husband, so it was a definite small
set up. From there, we went to a one bedroom
apartment all still while working for the marketing company that
I was working at, and then once we got to
that one that I'm sorry, the two bedroom once we
got to that two bedroom. We had one bedroom for
little words and then you know, one bedroom obviously for living.
(22:24):
But once we had gotten there, that's at that point
I had been out. So that was about a year
and a half in out of my marketing job. So
I love that. So you took your side hustle a
year and a half in and you were like, peace out, world,
I'm doing my thing. It was pretty cool. I mean
I had started weaning, you know, so luckily I was
working for a very boutique marketing agency and my boss
(22:47):
was completely supportive of what I was doing. I mean,
he wasn't like super in love with the fact that
I was gonna, you know, just leave at the end
of the day. But I was very um forthcoming with
him and I let him know, and he was very
well connected in the city and help me kind of
get my feet on the ground. And really what I
learned through him was really helpful in you know, our
event marketing and everything that we've done. I'm sure its projects. Yeah,
(23:09):
So that was a huge benefit because I was coming
at it with an English major without any really not
real knowledge of anything. Good thing you took English, though
you can spell all those words on the bracelets. Oh yeah,
I can. I can. I took out an entire class
on Dante's Inferna go through the Seven Circles of Hell
if you want no Um. But yeah, So I eventually
(23:30):
was able to move out of that and it was
just like a really easy, seamless process. And like I said,
I was supported by him and that made it a
little bit better. But even so, I could not do
it until I could pay my rent, you know. So
it was just a matter of getting there. So now
you're out of the apartment. You have a space for
(23:51):
a little words project. Where are you guys now? So
we are located and called well. Um, from that apartment,
we went to Hoboken. We had a warehouse space that
was like it had my yes, I mean it was
like it was underneath a cross fit gym. So we
had a lot of weights literally banging on our heads
all night. Um. So this is just such a breath
of fresh air. It's a square foot office space in Callboo,
(24:12):
New Jersey. We're a little bit more suburban. It's just ideal.
I mean, we've got a parking lot, we've got the
beautiful offices. Yeah, it's so nice. Um, sorry, how many
people do you have working for you now? So I've
got five full time employees, which is wild, and i
have three part time production people who will help us
make in house, and then beyond that, we have a
(24:35):
factory out in Rhode Island who makes our bigger bulks
that you know, stuff that we've got that we have
to order. And it's just I mean a lot at
this point. Are you still beating? You physically sitting there
beating bracelets? You know what I will if I have to. Um,
that's one of the main things. Whenever we hire anyone,
we're always like, listen, no one is above beating here.
That is how we got here, that is why we
(24:55):
are here. Um. So having to fulfill orders is a
positive thing. So if we all ever have to be
all hands on that. But I'm sure it's like kind
of relaxing. Yeah, it's super relaxing. You listen to music. Honestly,
whenever I sit down to bead, like the place gets
a little more fun because when I'm like on my
computer or we're all separate doing our work in our
separate offices, it's like not as fun. You know. We
(25:17):
want to get back to those times where we really started,
which was just hanging out a bunch of literally a
bunch of girls hanging out beating bracelets. Well, I had
kept saying, you can we please do a night where
I come over and we drink wine and we make bracelets,
and yeah, you recently did. Didn't you do an event?
I did do an event, but no. What I had
told you was, I want to do like a mommy daughter,
(25:37):
mommy daughter, but like mother daughter, like sipping sipping, sippin
bead or like bead bubbles and beating or something exactly. Um,
but it might be a little hard to be drinking
while also beating those little holes on those beads, I'll
tell you. But yeah, to answer your question, I don't
beat as often as I used to, which is you know,
(25:59):
it's both good and kind of sad because it was
something like you said, is super super relaxing. Well, if
the next time I order one, I want you to
personally do girl, I'm going to put that I will
only wear this Adriana makes it herself, and I'm gonna
have to, like I will face time you as you
do it. About that, we'll book our next FaceTime right now,
(26:20):
you know, Like when people go to the hair salon
and you get you spend more money to go to
the owner. You should put bracelets made by us for money.
I did want to start a thing, so we do
put a handwritten note in every single package. You have
to feel super personal. Um. So I was going to
start a thing like why don't we all sign our
notes and then like they'll see who they get it from,
Like they get it from Mariah, maybe they get it
(26:41):
from Riva. And I mean, if you follow us on
social media, like you see on Instagram, guys, such a
great job, thank you, thank you. It's really just behind
the scenes of us being weird, being weird, normal, fun, cool, funny,
different girls, you know, just everything you could be. We
don't put ourselves in a box, and we try to
do that because we want to let girls feel like
they're part of our group of friends. At the end
(27:02):
of the day. We wanted to feel like a sisterhood
for the masses, um, having started in my you know, sorority,
which was a sisterhood. So really really trying to stick
to that. So our stories are literally mostly Mariah making
a fool of herself. Um. But the point is they
all know us. So if they got notes from each
individual one of us. That might be really cute. Unfortunately,
I know, I'm sure you do. But unfortunately only one
(27:25):
person right now is writing all the notes, so it's hard.
But we'll I'll get in now, sneak a few in,
do we We'll see. We'll see who gets lucky with
my awful handwriting. It would be like I don't know,
ordering something from Microsoft and getting a note from Bill Gates. Yeah,
not Philip Jate Scarlett, thank you, thank you for just
always believing in me. I mean, I really I love it.
(27:46):
And I think when I had first posted about this podcast,
you were like, hello, I'm a side hustler. And you
know what's crazy is I don't even think of you
like that because I just think of little Words project
is you, and that's it. You were here to give
us all a little words project. I don't think about you.
I don't want to know about you doing anything else.
You're so cute, that's so funny. Yeah. One of my girls,
(28:07):
Reva actually, who loves you and was following you, UM
send it over to me and then I saw it
and I and I was like, oh my gosh, I've
already messaged her about this, how funny. I was like,
definitely me please, you know I just of course, well,
it all goes back to your doing something awesome. I mean,
look at you, Look at this. You are you are,
I mean leaps light years ahead of where you were
when we first started wild last. So when I see that,
(28:31):
I'm like, I want to I want to be as
supportive to you as you always work for me. So
anything I can do, I mean, you know, till we're
blue in the face, every follower a fan of yours forever,
we'll have a coupon code a Little Words Project. I
love that. I mean it too, So that makes you
very happy. But talking about how we've changed over the
last few years, one of the coolest things for me
(28:52):
is recently I was actually out here in Seattle and Sam,
who were it was one of my best friends works
for Elvis around in the Morning Show where I used
to work, was out here visiting for my birthday and
we were shopping in one of the shops here and
we both went, oh my god, and Little Words Project
bracelets were sold in this store, and we were it
(29:12):
was like that, I don't know, it was a proud sister,
proud mom, like I don't know what we felt, but
it was it was so freakol and like good for her.
We took a picture obviously sent it to you, and
we were it was so bad because the girl worked
in the counter, were like, we know her, we know
who this girl is. Like I yeah, me, this is
okay when I forget to go, but I started it,
(29:33):
imagine and I was like, hey, this is because of me.
Thank you. Literally, um, that is so yeah. I remember
when you guys sent that, and you have to understand
for me too, It's like, I fan girl. I like,
now obviously I consider you guys like friends, which I
mean maybe I should into this first, but we are
in case you to know you're my friend, I would
totally say, so my friend owns this company, so you're good.
(29:56):
Well that's what I'm thinking, Like, you know, it's just
it's always so wild to me that you guys is
ours and Sam, oh my god, Bethany, Danielle, I mean
Danielle got us into a store in New Jersey, Cathy's,
which is like a store down the road from her.
I mean when I tell you that, it always blows
my mind to this day that I've got fans and
friends in in you, guys that are going to like
send me a picture when you see it in a store.
(30:17):
It's such. It's a humbling and exciting thing because you know,
someone like me. I don't know if other people can
relate to this, but I always, I mean, I believe
in myself so thoroughly, but I think growing up always
having that negativity around me, I do tend to second guests,
and I tend to wonder, question or think less than
(30:38):
I should of what I've done, and then I'm not
far enough alonger, I haven't made it yet, you know.
And even when you first started, even when we first
picked up the phone, You're like, look at you killing it.
I'm like, yeah, I still have ways to go, and
that is hard to stop. But it definitely does keep
me humble and keeps me trying to achieve the most.
And having people like you and just my other friends
(30:59):
who are so so supportive and do the same thing,
it really keeps us going. So if you're a listener
who has someone out there trying to be something or
do something, please tell them that, Like, tell them how
impressed you are with them, Let them know how much
you see their improvement, because it can be a lonely
life trying to do something and not getting that you
know from others. Well, that's and that is totally important
(31:20):
for people to hear. But I really love that you
said that you believe in yourself because, oh yeah, unless
if you're doing a side hustle, Hey, I just need
to make some money. I'm going to pick up some
projects so I can pay my rent whatever. That's one thing.
But if you're doing a side hustle because it's something
you believe in, you have to believe in that and
believe in yourself. Otherwise it's never going to go anywhere.
If you do not believe in yourself, you might as
(31:43):
well not do it. Um And I know that sounds
super curt but at the end of the day, if
you the reality of the situation is if you don't
believe in it enough to always be talking about it,
to always put yourself out there and not no matter
what they're going to say, you believe in what you're doing,
and because of that it makes doors open, you know.
(32:05):
And I've had people I've done a couple of interviews
or you know, a podcast before that they've asked me,
what is my biggest strength and it is my ability
to believe in myself that's unwavering ability to just I
just don't see hurdles. And like I said, I think
you can be that way but also still be insecure.
Also still I believe in myself till I don't care
(32:27):
everyone around you can stop believing me, and I'm like, no,
I'm going to do it. Yeah, but yes, being insecure
is still possible. Like God, it's so hard to explain
that to people, like I know I can kick as
I will kick ass, but there are still things that
you can be scared about. Absolutely, And if you don't,
you know, if you if you allow yourself to give
to fall victim to those feelings of negative and of
(32:49):
less less than, then you really really can fall into
that hole, and you it'll be difficult to get out,
you know, So I do. I always even if I
have those negative feelings, I always remind myself, like you know,
don't look to the left or the right at other people.
Look forwards and backwards right, look look back at how
far you've come and forwards at how far you still
believe you can go. And that's really all that matters,
(33:11):
because if you start comparing yourself especially this day and age.
Oh my gosh, I don't think i'd ever leave the
house when you have to write a book. I would
like to know when I get to read you know
what it isn't It isn't the ten year plan which
I'm coming up. I like, I'm coming up on your
eight of my ten year plans, so I better figured out.
Um no, I I look, I really, um you know,
(33:31):
I've I've been kind of venturing into a personal brand
lately where I'm trying to be more active with my
own personal I see that, and I like the butt picks,
the button picks. You are always the first throw me
a little piece. I love it. I love it. But
so your brand is but everyone thinks my brand is
but positive butts okay, but oh gosh, okay, what is
(33:54):
that your brand that you're trying to do more? Because
I did notice that that you are Your your posts
are not just garbage, it's like actual, really great photos.
Thank you. Yeah. So, I mean I photography has always
been a passion of mine. Granted I'm not the one
behind the camera. My husband is and he's doing amazing,
so he's discovered a new found a new found passion.
But you know, for me, I just realized that this
(34:16):
day and age, we are all digital, you know, like
you kind of almost need. As sad as it is
to say, it's it's helpful to have a digital avatar,
if you will, that people can relate to you, and
it really helped build essentially a platform. And for me,
if I have anything I want to say, which I do,
I have plenty to say. You know, I think that's obvious,
but I do want to inspire girls out there who
(34:37):
maybe didn't feel like they fit in or maybe don't
feel like they're part of any one individual group that
they can you know, align with. Whether they're young or
middle age, it doesn't matter. We all experience that as females.
I want to be some sort of inspiration to them
and let them know that, you know what, business owning
isn't easy, or my life isn't perfect, but here's a
(34:58):
cute picture, but I'll tell you what's actually happening, because
nobody wants to really see the bad um, but to
hear about it and to know that it exists, and
to always be honest and open and also at the
same time share a little bit of what I've learned
along the way. You know, that is so so important
to me. So that is what my Instagram is beyond
just butt picks, which there's only like two I love.
(35:21):
Don't stop the butt picks. Um And it's not even
but she's really making you sound bad. No, no, no,
you really are. Everything you just described is exactly what
you're doing where you are. And I feel like I
kind of go down that path to where I'll post
a picture and I'm like, yeah, but really, a bug
flow up my nose two seconds before I posted this.
And you know, your standard blogger who's trying to curate
(35:42):
their photos perfectly isn't gonna tell you about the crappy
day they had or you know, the thing that they
faced that day that was, um, you know, really brought
them down. And it is important to show that absolutely.
And you know there are so many people out there
who are afraid of that because of the same things.
You know, what are people going to say? How are
people going to feel? And I'll tell you from experience. Listen,
(36:03):
I've had some of the most negative things I could
have ever even fathom said about me, and I'm I'm here.
You know, I came out of it. I believe enough
in myself that I knew that there's this is all
happening for some sort of weird reason, you know, and
look at look at what I have been able to create.
And I only I don't say that's toot my own horn.
Although if you don't toot your horn, no one else will. Um,
(36:25):
I will say that sidebar of it. Um, I digress, um.
But I say that because I do think it's important
that people understand that even if you've been through something awful,
or even if you feel like the cards are stacked
against you, there are ways to let your truth be heard.
Whether it's through your own personal Instagram where you have
three hunder followers or whatever. Just be yourself and don't
(36:46):
worry about what people are going to think or say,
because they don't matter. At the end of the day,
you know they really really don't. And similar to what
you were saying about your let your haters be your motivators.
I like to say, people who hate you now will
one day love that they knew you that right. One day,
one of those girls who was putting me down, one
of those people who were behind the screen, will see
(37:06):
my racist in a store and say, oh, I know
that girl and that's just the reality. Um so it's
you know what, you can't You can't let the haters
get you down. Just like what did Cardi B say
at our? It was our heart radio music words. She said,
you know everyone who's my hater? You actually you're downloading
my album to listen to it, to hate it. Keep
keep doing it. I'm giving me money in the end.
(37:28):
How do you you do it? I can't even make
the noise, I can't cute. Oh my gosh, she's I
love her. But as for that, it's it's okre. She
apparently describes it as a pigeon soft pigeon in New
York being cold. I did hear that? Um, I think
we need to get Cardi be one of these bracelets.
How do we make that happen? It? Would you die?
Could you imagine? I would die? Mariah my my brand director,
(37:52):
she would die a thousand deaths if we had Cardi
B in a bracelet. We had vash in our bracelets
a couple of months ago, and that was like, and
she's you know Vashti right, She's just like awesome. She's
an awesome influencer in the music world who has been
around forever. She was like the first female design of
Para Jordan's. I mean just okay, yes, yes, yes, yeah yeah,
(38:15):
and we had that happened and it was like, oh,
my gosh. I was like, this is kind of like
when Carla Marie. My god, no, but that's cool. It's true, girl,
I'm telling you. I'll always say, it's so crazy to
know that you had a hand. No, no, I'm not
even talking about that. You're more than just a I'm
gonna go buy this girl's bracelet and I'm gonna wear it.
I think it's awesome to know that you're You're way
(38:38):
more than how many beads are on a regular bracelet.
You're way more than just forty beads on a string. Like,
there's so much more to you. There's so much more
to this company, And I don't know. I hope that
people can get like an ounce of the love I
have for a little Words project, because I still wear
the exact bracelets and more that you've sent me when
(39:00):
we first spoke four over four years ago at this point,
and like I said at the beginning, I bought them
for every female in my family and every year whenever
I do a gift guide first person I go to Adriana,
I need a code for my gift guide. Everyone's gonna
love it. It's so true, and you keep coming back.
I'm like sometimes I'm like, oh damn, she's still into it.
I love I love that because you know what, that
(39:20):
shows the staying power of this product. It's not just
a gimmicky thing. It's something that you really just can
never have enough crazy feeling well, and you keep changing them.
And we talked about that, and I guess every side
hustle is different. But do you seem importance in evolving,
I guess or changing with your customers? Oh? For sure, absolutely.
(39:41):
I think I think you always want to give them
something new and something fresh that they can sink their
teeth into. I mean, I am obviously always looking for
new customers, but I think I was actually speaking to
um we're on Shopify shout out to Shopify. UM. I
was speaking to us, our Shopify manager, and he was like,
you have one of the highest retention rates of any
website that started so much as you back intoe you
(40:02):
thousand and thirteen and that's and it's like a ridiculous
percentage of people that come back because at the end
of the day. We're catering to that customer that's been
with us since they get go. You know, we want
you guys and whoever those customers are to feel like
they always have something to look forward to. And you know,
we understand that you can only get so many types
of words or what have you. But for us, it's
(40:22):
like why not keep giving them something. Um. We actually
have our annual customization or semi annual I should say
customization day coming up, um and I think as of
right now endive the day June one, um. But the
idea is people will be able to come on that's
come on the site and put in any word, you know,
just for one day so that they can finally have
that words that reminded them of Grandpa or you know
(40:44):
that is their dogs favorite, you know, saying or name
God forbid. But it can happen if we want it. Um.
But the point is, we really try to make our
customers feel like they, like I said, are a part
of this sisterhood. Days they trying to make them feel
like they're apart. You want them to exactly, thank you exactly.
(41:05):
And that's that's why we evolved with them. Um. And
you know I will say that before Little Words Project.
When I first started it, I mean female power, like
girl power wasn't the hot button issue is today definitely wasn't.
And it's it's crazy it's only been well, actually November
will be five years. Well, um, it's only been almost
five years and it's been It's such a change, and
(41:27):
that's really I think it's it's helped us just kind
of fall even further into why we do this because
it's like, yes, everyone around us is having those same
experiences and reactions. I mean when this, when that whole
Harvey Weinstein thing happened, I had girls reaching out to
me in um, like one of Joey King's friends. You
know Joey King. She's this young actress, super super cute
(41:49):
and it's so many great movies. Um. But anyway, she
was wearing them at the at the Sunday at um
no at um. It's probably Sunding. Can't some conference. I
can't say, is it conn whatever, I don't know. We're
not in the movie. We don't care, we don't care.
She was wearing it. It's just like, oh my god,
(42:11):
like and it was a time's up bracelet you know.
So it's just like unbelievable how much a word can
truly transcend all the different things that women deal with.
It's sure words are always going to be around. So
I think you're good, absolutely, yeah. Right. At least I
I saddled my my, my, whatever it's called. I hitched
my wagon to something that will never go away. Investment
(42:33):
is important, obviously when you're starting a m a side hustle,
or obviously or any company. In the beginning, What was
that like because you had just started working, obviously you
were living at home with your parents. But what kind
of investment did you have to put into kicking off
little worst project? And then talk a little bit about
what it was like, you know, a few years in,
what other big investments did you have to do to
(42:54):
keep things going? Yeah? So my when I first started,
I put out five thousand dollars of my own money. Yeah,
into the company. I mean it was when you think
about it, in the grand scheme of things. I mean,
that's adding up every every letter that I had to
purchase at the time was from Michael's, you know, going
in and figuring out how I was going to get
(43:16):
all these crystals, and I had no idea how to
do any of it. So if I had known, like
at this stage, I know, I could have invested far
less to you know, do it right. Um, but you
know I basically was able to just kind of put
that in and we turned a profit in that first month,
So thank you. So the company as a whole has
been completely self sustaining since that day. We have never
(43:37):
had to seek outside investment. I've never had to raise capital. Granted,
had I done that or had I gone that route,
I might have seen faster growth. Um. You know, I'm
obviously my hardest critic, and when I look at how
I mean, we have double year over year, which is exciting,
but that's huge, huge, But um, you know, when I
think about how much maybe further along we could be
(44:01):
if I had done the route of you know, bringing
in outside capital, outside funding and you know, asking for
investments here and there, maybe it could have been further along.
But then it wouldn't have been our story and it
wouldn't have been the grassroots movement that our early adopters
feel so connected to because it didn't just like blow
up in their faces somewhere. You know, this is more
(44:21):
important getting those people that really really believe in what
we're doing. I don't want this to be a product
with a limited shelf life. I wanted to be something
that our first time customers, someone like you who's had them,
you know, who bought them five years ago, still want
to see what's coming out now, you know, and they
they're not over it, and that's super important to us.
So I think slow growth for me has been definitely
(44:44):
the way to go. UM. But of course, you know,
at this stage, we're looking to start putting some more
You have to spend money to make money, so we're
putting some more money and backing behind UM, you know,
as much marketing as we can to just get the
word out there. Because now I feel like we've nailed
it right. We've got our rebrand is done. The price
point is perfect. I think, yeah it is. It's not
(45:05):
like one sometimes you buy things and you're like, I
know that this isn't worth this amount of money, but
I like it's gonna buy it. When I buy from
Little Worst Project, I'm like, Okay, this is I feel comfortable.
I feel like you're not scamming me. I feel like
it's a good relationship. We're both cotting in the same
amount here and getting out. Yeah, like it was one
of the thank you that was one of the things
(45:26):
we actually we went from a twenty four dollar price
point down to eighteen this year and that was our
biggest jump. But we did it for that for that
exact reason. You know, we're like, what we want to
make sure our customers feel like they're getting something. We
were able to buy a more bulk and you know,
the logist you don't need to know the logistics of
how we made it happen, but the point is is
that we really we took the feedback. We adjusted, and
(45:46):
I think that's super important too if you're starting your
own thing is to make sure that you're you're creating
something that you tell people that they want, but then
also when they tell you what they want in return,
you adjust and you make sure you do it within reason.
I mean, I've had Will tell me since day one
that I should make bracelets on a gold bar or
like a gold bracelet that has letters words stamped into them.
(46:06):
I'm like, yeah, but then that's not what we are,
So I'm not gonna do that. I'll promise you one
day you're going to buy this product. Look, you're just
killing it. You are I'm just like you, you know,
all about the business where all that's you're so cute.
I wish that your your listeners could like watch you
just smiling at me, like I'm like you're like I'm watching. Well,
(46:27):
I'm just dead both of us. Our faces are like
glued to smiles right now. That could because I have
a puppy on my yeah, and I'm jealous not I
should have brought my cats to the studio next time.
What types of apps do you use? I guess maybe
there was something used when you first started, or is
there something now other than Instagram that you're like, Okay,
this is my go to for my job, um, so
(46:49):
I use We do use obviously all the apps that
come with our platforms, like quick books and Shopify, which
I think is really really helpful just for the purpose
of being able to see that quick time reporting UM
and be able to really engage with what's going on,
and you know, if there's a sale happening, I can
get those updates and know how many orders are coming
through to do an Instagram push. Really just staying on
(47:11):
top of that those analytics. UM. We're actually in the
process of really trying to get even better at our
reporting and knowing what's happening. So those are really helpful
for that. Um and then an app that I actually
just downloaded and we're starting to use. It's called slack.
I'm sure you've heard of it. I've heard about it,
but haven't fallen in love with because I don't really
have you explain what it is and then I'll explain
(47:33):
why I don't know. Yeah, So basically, it's just like
an interactive platform for your company when you do have
like a team that you have to interact with and
you know you can have Honestly, I am not I
don't even want to do this because I don't I
will butcher what it actually is, but it's supposed to
be super, super helpful in the process of, you know,
(47:54):
making sure that you're interacting in a in a progressive
way with your team. So the reason I don't use
slack is because I basically have three people on my team,
so we can just send a group text message. But
I know it's great for people who aren't always in
the office. So if you're someone who's listening and you
have a small business that you're starting and you're not
always in the same place at the same time with
your coworkers. I think it's great for stuff like that. Yeah, exactly.
(48:18):
So it's helpful for us when we're at you know,
we're away at trade shows and you know, we need
the we need just to have that quick and easy messaging.
And then also when you're in your text messages, I mean,
it's just you're also inundated with other people's text. So
it's always helpful to have that dedicated group that's just
for dedicated app that's just for your team. So well,
thank you for that recommendation. The first person to say
(48:40):
that one. I appreciate it you. Okay, So people want
to follow a Little Words Project on Instagram. It's at
Little Words Project Little Words project dot com to check
out everything and use promo code Carla Marie for fiftcent off.
Thank you Adriana for doing that, and to follow you
on Instagram. It's Adriana carrig. I'm going to post a
bunch of stuff if I haven't already about a Little
(49:01):
Words Project on my Instagram. You'll see my bracelet collection.
It's a lot. If you gotta start passing those on,
you're right, okay, I will this week pass one on
to someone. We'll see how that goes and I will
share it that you should, we should do a giveaway.
I can get you something you can pass months, some
listeners if you want it. Okay, we can, well yeah,
let's totally. We will. We'll figure it out, so little
(49:25):
words Project dot com Adrian, and thank you for taking
the time to just appreciate it. Oh my gosh. Of course, Carla,
anything for you. Love you,
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com