October 22, 2018 • 48 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!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Carla Marie and this is episode twenty nine of
my Side Hustlers podcast. Hi. I appreciate seeing the rates
and reviews on iTunes. It's super helpful so that new
people can discover this podcast. So if you're not busy
and you have some extra time, appreciate you doing that.
Thank you a million million times for spreading the love.
(00:22):
You can always reach out to me on Instagram. It's
at the Carla Maurie with your questions, comments and suggestions
for Side Hustlers. Shout out to Ashley Noel. She messaged
me on Instagram and had the suggestion of starting a
group where people who listen to Side Hustlers can go
in there and together chat about each week's episode. So
(00:43):
I'm working on that. If you do have suggestions on
how we can all get together digitally, let me know.
So in episode twenty nine, we are talking to the
owner of Mohallow Made. Her name is law or, as
I know her from Instagram, the Lady Law. She's a
fellow I Heart Radio sister on air on one on
four seven Kiss FM in Phoenix, Arizona. She can be
(01:03):
heard on our iHeart Radio app anywhere three to a
p m Phoenix Time. Law was a morning show host
for eleven years before realizing that radio wasn't making her happy,
so she left to do something completely different, something she
would enjoy, which was creating a Japanese style shave ice
truck or in her case, an airstream. Last story is incredible.
(01:26):
Mahllow made is now up and running as a Japanese
style shave ice truck. Law sells. Mahllow made merch and
she's back in radio for a lot of people. You know,
why are you when? Do you know what you want
to do? And this is something you want to do?
Do it. I'm a hustles side hustl do it. I'm
a hustles hulo do it. I'm a hustles slow. I'm
(01:50):
a hustle slow. I'm a hustles side sid hulow. Come on,
ask about yo yo. It's the side hustless chall Room.
So hello to my radio sister from another Mr Miss Law.
Hi Law, Hi, Okay. So I know that I follow
(02:13):
you on Instagram and it's at Lady Law and the
Lady Law and I feel like, yeah, somebody's really Lady
Law somewhere in Japan. And she won't give it up.
There's there's another Carla Murray, hence the Carl Mury. Yeah,
so you gotta have the we know, but I feel
like I want to call you lady law So if
I do that at a point, super super awkburd Okay,
(02:37):
so you're actually in the studio right now, you're about
to go on the air, So thank you for doing this,
which also proves that you are a badass doing a
million things all the time. Is that cool or is
it stupid? Um? Like, that's like, that's the thing like
we have. There's really weird culture. We're like the more
insane you are and the more jobs you do, like
how cool are you? But like are you cool? Are
(02:59):
you dumb? Very very good point for the sake of
this podcast, it's cool, So is the whole I know
it should do a whole podcast. Everyone is doing a
side hustle and we're all dumb. I don't know, you're
right at the end of the day, Yeah, we're supposed
to be like finding a way to like have no
jobs and get paid, and instead we're finding a way
to have like ten jobs and make okay money. I
(03:21):
don't know what that says about our level of intelligence.
So you have been in radio for a while, you
get it. You do the whole radio thing, and that's
awesome and I relate a billion times with that. But
I think you're the first person on my podcast who
is in the food industry. It's pretty wild and there's
so much that I don't understand about it. So mahallow made,
by the way, am I saying mahalow? Right? Yes? Okay?
So mahallow Made is a Japanese style shaved ice. I
(03:44):
guess is it a truck? And I know it's an airstream,
but how do you describe? Yeah, it's an air stream,
so it's a trailer. But people anything with wheels on
it has food, everyone wants to call it a truck.
I'm okay with that, but yeah, it is a n
air stream. Okay, So you launched. I guess it's a
year ago now. Yeah, it'll be a year in April
that we opened. We had been working on it and
building this trailer for a year and I wasn't in
(04:07):
radio at the time that we were building it. Let
me start at the beginning. So we found this this
airstream trailer on eBay. I was still doing a morning
show they offered me another contract for another couple of
years or whatever, and I was like, I can't do this,
Like this is just not for me. And I didn't
have a fully scaled that idea, but I had toyed
with the name Muhalla made for a long time. I
(04:28):
have a history of cooking and baking and things like
that with my family and we had toyed around with
it too, but never really never really stuck. I had
a unquote real job, so I never took it serious.
And then finally one day I was just like, you
know what, like if not now when you know, that
whole little conversation with myself, and I was like, I'm
just gonna go ahead and do it. And so, I,
(04:49):
you know, I let my job know that I was
gonna leave. I wasn't going to sign another contract. And
then in that same week, I found this airstream trailer
on eBay and I was like, hey, I think this
might be it. So it was unfortunately in Savannah, Georgia,
and I live in Arizona, but I didn't have a
job anymore. So I was like, we have all the
time in the world, so I love road tripping. Something
(05:13):
my boyfriend and I do really well, And so we
just went to Savannah, Georgia, met this couple. They were
selling their stream trailer. They were super nice. We hauled
it all the way back and then started to dismantle
it in the backyard and then essentially put it all
back together. And when I mean all of it, I
mean the only thing was like this little metal frame
and then the little silver bubble on to everything else.
(05:33):
We did flooring, the wiring, the plumbing, the insulation, riveting
like metal work would work building cabinets like we did
all that. Did you have experience in building things before that? No?
I had a job where all I did was talking
about myself and buttons. Buttons. Yeah, that was all I did.
And I thought I had it really hard too, and
(05:55):
gave me a whole new perspective working on something in
construction in an Arizona sum which can reach a hundred
and twenty degrees, and you know, spend all your savings
and then look at yourself in the mirror and go,
what did I just do? I came from making all
this money and people asking me what can they do
for me? And now I'm in my backyard and I
(06:15):
have sawdust and uh, insulation in my eyes, and I'm
a hot mess, and I have no money and I'm
buying food at the dollar store, and this was such
a stupid idea. And then I would make one of
my shave ice because it'd be so hot, and my
boyfriend and I would look at each other and be like, no, dude,
this is it. It good, Like we gotta keep going.
(06:36):
And by the way, when I know a lot of
people and all over the country and you say shave ice,
it kind of means different things for everyone coming in
New Jersey. I think Italian ice, or you can think
if you live near Aritas, you may think Rita's. This
is not like any of that. Like you have a
full blown dessert and you can look at it's at
Mahallow made it on Instagram. They're gorgeous, gorgeous. Thank you. Yeah, yeah,
(06:59):
it's not the same. Right now, it's very popular. I
did not invent this style of dessert. It goes back
to Japan. Really, um these machines and this fluffy, really
really light and fluffy style shave ice with fresh fruit
and fresh fruit syrups. That's something that's been done in
Japanese culture for a very long time. And my grandma's
from Okinawa, so I grew up with this style of dessert.
(07:22):
And then now it's really picked up in Hawaii as
a trend to have all these all these different shave ice.
No d it's just shave ice. That's kind of how
you know it's Hawaiian style. It's because it and that's
kind of what people in the industry would differentiate, like
us and them a snow cone versus us. You know, yeah,
(07:43):
we saw shave ice. It's very popular, this artisan style
of doing a shave ice, and I think East Coast
Italian ices, snow cones, things like that are what's popular.
This is a whole other lane that's really really become
I think the next trend. I saw in New York
Times that they were saying this whole style of shave ice,
(08:04):
and the Japanese word is cocky gordy. Cocky gordy is
like the next trend. But the thing is, it's never
really gonna be like the fro Yo trend because it's
so much work. I'm sure. I mean, well, you're also
probably the first one to do it in an airstream.
You have to be hell yeah, I love that. But
when I look at the pictures of the shave ice
on Instagram. It's like massive, Like they look like they're
(08:25):
like eight inches tall. Yeah, they're really big. Right now,
they're in a sixteen ounce cup. And we make up
meant for two, so we always let everybody knows they're
meant to share. You're supposed to order one and share it.
Nobody wants to share, you know, everybody on their own.
So now you just get a really big dessert. Okay,
So I want to go back to when you left
your radio job. I totally understand the whole getting a
(08:46):
new contract. You then have to go to your boss
and say I'm actually leaving. Did you tell them I'm
leaving because I want to go sort of shave ice
truck or did you what? Did you say? No? Because
it wasn't really fully developed at that time either. You know,
it was like thoughts dancing around in a head, but
all a zillion other thoughts were dancing around in my head,
like quitting my damn job, not having health insurance, like
(09:06):
I was thinking about five thousand other things. I wasn't
really necessarily thinking about the next move. My next move
was trying to leave something that I was so comfortable in,
So I didn't really have a plan. They asked me
a thousand times, are you going to the competition? And no,
that's like where I work now. So it really down
like they're not super stoked for me in any way.
(09:27):
I don't feel but to be honest, like nobody there
has ever taken the steps that I've taken in my
life as far as leaving. You know, you know how
radio is for everyone listening who's not familiar. You know,
there's only so many seats at the table, and every
year with radio, it seems like they pull a chair
every year and there's less and less seats at the table.
So if you're some morning show personality who's like, I'm
(09:49):
gonna go leave and go on an adventure, they're like,
you're a moron and good luck. And so I think
everybody kind of looked at me like, uh, she has
to have a plan, because it's not like out to
not have a plan. But I really didn't have a plan.
I was just like, if I don't ever make myself
open to new opportunities, that's the only way to guarantee
(10:10):
they'll never come. I'll just be here and I'll just
be doing my job. And while radio is fantastic and
it's a great platform and it's been very good to me,
and I'm super grateful for everyone who supported me in
my career, this is still my life. I look at
my life overall, and I hope that everyone listening will
you look at your life and then you look at
you do what you do for work, and then you
(10:30):
look at what drives you, what what motivates you, what
you're so passionate about, what you like. Weeks that Mahalomaid's open,
I cannot sleep. I am up. I'm thinking about did
I get this? What if I do this, this will
be better? How can I make something more exciting? Like
I can't sleep? And it's like, I hope that if
(10:51):
you're gonna be losing sleep at your job, I hope
it's for something that you really care about, that you're
really stoked about. And if you're not, I really hope
that you're talking to people, are making friends in different industries,
in different places that are helping you put a plan
together so that you can make changes, so that you
(11:13):
can spend more time being passionate about something. And I
say that I don't have kids, I'm not married, so
I have a lot of freedom to make selfish decisions
in that way. I'm not suggesting that anybody with children
or health issues or anything like that just up and
quit your job and go be passionate, like it's terrifying.
(11:33):
You need to have a plan, you need to have
money saved, You need to have a support system who
understands your vision and is excited for you and is
willing to help you through those tough times. And uh,
you know, I didn't take any food out of my
dog's mouths. You know, I made sure my dogs were
fed and while taking care of during this time. You know,
So don't get crazy. You're the second sponsibilities. You are
(11:54):
the second person to say that about starting their side
outshole is that they made sure their dogs. Their dogs
are still getting the expensive food. More. I was like,
let me not make sure that I put them on
like some terrible as food because I'm out here trying
to live my best life. Like I was like, no,
They're still going to get their organic Costco even if
I have to eat at the store. It's I relate
(12:17):
so much to what you're saying, though, And I think we,
at least in this country, focus so much on our careers,
our careers, our careers, and you're putting all this energy
into the end of the day. It's like, what are
you happy? Yeah, you may have the coolest job or
the best job, or other people might think it's cool.
But if you're miserable at your job, then what then
what do you have? Nothing? Yeah? And you spend so
much of your time there. Like I was saying, like
(12:37):
how we started off the whole thing. It's like we
glamorized work so much. And while it's good to be
diligent and it's good to have a good work ethic,
I think it's just as much about checking yourself and
being like, where wherever my time is going, does it
make me happy? If my time is working, Do I
enjoy what I'm doing? If I don't, can I adjust that?
Can I spend less time in that space and more
(12:58):
time somewhere else? More time volunteer, hearing, more time working out,
taking care of myself mentally or physically, or spending socially,
spending time with your friends and doing things because they're fun,
not because they make money, not because it's a good look,
but because you enjoy it. And for somebody like me,
who does make working a part of you know, their personality,
their social life. You know, working is kind of what
(13:20):
we do. I have to check myself all the time,
like am I doing this because I enjoy it? Or
am I doing it because it's another box to check?
And I feel so strongly like I need to check
another thing off my list And you don't really need
to do all that. And there's things that I do
with Mahallamaide which have been probably the most fruitful for me.
Are the things that I did because I was like,
I don't care, I just want to do that because
(13:41):
it makes me happy. So if giving this person free
cookies is what makes me happy on this stop, then
I'm going to do that and I'll pay for it
out of my own pocket. But I loved having that
exchange with this person. That's fine. But you know people
are like, you need a store, these lines are so
long you need to print, or shirts you need how
you sell out too fast or whatever it is. And
(14:04):
it's like, yeah, I'm not Chick fil A, but hey,
I'm not Walmart. Like I'm one person in an airstream. Yeah,
like yeah, in an airstream trying to do something cool
and good and delicious and with my own two hands.
So there's only so much I can get done in
a day's time. And so I always say ma Hollow.
(14:25):
I'm always like thank you, like thank you for your
patience with me, thank you for the patience with my staff.
Thank you as we're learning and growing because we're small
and we're trying to be focused and we can't do
that worried about doing a zillion things that one time.
Absolutely not. And that goes for anything, not just what
you're doing. That goes for anyone trying to do anything.
But can you actually touch on what Mahallow means because
(14:46):
in the beginning, yeah, yeah, the company is Mahallow Made,
and we're shave ice and stuffs and stuff is like apparel,
pins and kind of stuff you don't need. And ma
hollow is just a Hawaiian expression of gratitude because the
history of Hawaii is pretty deep and pretty heavy, especially
then being a part of the US, and they were
(15:07):
never asked to be a part of the end of
the US, US came and took the queen and told
them that they were going to be a part of
the US. Their language doesn't exactly translate English, phrases, So
thank you as something that we say, it's not something
that's a Hawaiian phrase. So mohollow is an expression of gratitude.
I wouldn't say it means thank you because that would
be historically inaccurate, but you know it does express gratitude.
(15:32):
And I always say that I made this way. You know,
the reason why I've existed in radio this whole time
is it because I'm a great radio personality. It's one
because I'll do the work, and two because people relate
and they support me. So because of that, because of
the thanks, because of that exchange, because of that gratitude,
that's why I exist. That's why I'm here. I'm Mahallow
made and so I've got So that's the same thing
(15:55):
with the trailer, Like the trailer wouldn't exist if this
this fan base would not have been in sitting my
story and my journey and that leap of faith and
so everything. Mahalla made everything shirt, you know everything. So yeah,
you keep saying shirts. So for people listening, you actually
have on your Instagram you can go to at Mahalla
made it and you can click the link on there,
(16:15):
and also on your own Instagram, you have it on board, right,
It's at the Lady Law so you can buy your
merch through there. So the merchants newer correct, they actually launched.
I actually had the merch available before the trailer was
even open. Yeah, And my boyfriend was like, why are
you doing that? Like, no one's gonna know what that is,
like da da dad, And I was like, I don't care.
I know that people see things and the more they
see things, they get curious. So in the very beginning,
(16:37):
nobody bought our shirts and now we can't keep them
in stock, you know, and people wear them to the events,
and I think they really feel like a part of
the story and they really feel like when they go places.
My favorite thing is people wear them when they travel
to these beautiful places, and we kind of say, like
you kind of bring that attitude of like I'm grateful
(16:57):
for this space, I'm grateful for this experience hollow to
you know, mother nature for allowing me to be on
vacation or be with my family or whatever. So whatever
I get from the pictures that people said, I try
to repost them, give them their shine, and also share
that attitude of mahallow for this space or mahallow for
my friends or mahalow for whatever, and I'll come up
with the title that I that I grasped from that picture,
(17:19):
and that's probably like my favorite thing. I didn't think
it was going to turn into a thing. It just
kind of did its own thing, and I was like,
I don't know, sometimes people buy shirts at food trucks,
but now now it's really a thing, and we're I'm
trying to nurture that because our shirts are super comfortable
and myself and they're very very comfy. Now people are like,
when's the new one coming out? And as soon as
(17:40):
it drops. I think our last drop sold out in
I don't know, twenty eight hours or like crazy, So yeah,
we just we just re up though, so if you're
listening within the next week, they're still shirts left. And
I love the pins. I actually saw them and was like, okay,
I need side Hustlers pins, Like I need to do this.
They're so cute. Yeah, they're super cute. And we of
all of our flavors, we have four four main flavors,
(18:03):
so that was the four pins that we created and
right now the mango pin is available and as soon
as that one sells out, we'll have the next flavor.
So what are your form You said mango, and what
are the other three? Mango, strawberry, blueberry, and guava. The
new year will have two other main stay flavors that
will be permanent on the menu as well. I'm thinking
they'll be coconut and lemon, but I'm not positive. I'm
(18:25):
still working it out. And then every time we open,
we usually have a feature flavor that's like something special
that's not offered all the time. So much is a
fun way to play with new things and see what
people really enjoy, and then well we'll bring back for
the next season. So far, white peach cream cheese was
one that I came up with, and that's the one
that people want back the most. So next year we'll
(18:46):
have that more regularly. Well, you keep saying the weeks
that were open or when we open are there's times
when you're not open. Yeah, we're only open on the
weekends because I'm working Monday through Friday here at the station,
three day a p m. So it's like that's a
good chunk of my day. I wouldn't have anytime. I
literally wouldn't have any time if we were open throughout
the day and then I came here. So it's just
not feasible right now. So we're open weekend, Saturday and Sunday.
(19:09):
Right now, we're only open twice a month, So every
other weekend is what we're doing, and it keeps the
anticipation alive. Focus and then uh, hopefully in the new
year will be open every weekend. That will be the goal.
But I gotta do some hiring, and that is a
whole other side hustle. I was going to ask you
that are you the only person like who is working
with you? I have someone who works here in promotions
(19:31):
at the radio station. Also is somebody who does the
shave ice with me. Her name is Liz, and she's amazing.
She's super talented and she's just a part of the
fam now. And then one of my best friends, his husband,
is also on the food trailer. And then people who
work the window are usually related to me. They're usually
like a family member, brother or sister, mom, somebody. Well,
I'm sure it's fun too, Like if if someone in
(19:52):
my family opened something that I'm like, I want to
do it. I want to play, I want to have fun,
like you want to think unless you're the oldest sister.
And then it's like, really, I gotta work your food track.
Like really, if I had an older sister, I would
be so stoked. My sister super stoked. My brother. I
gotta like bend his arm a little bit. Can I
get a free shirt? I'm like, yeah, can I give
(20:16):
one girl, at least one girl a free ice every
time she comes? Yeah? There you go. That's them that'll
do that. So I saw on your Instagram that you're
doing Mahallow Market. What is what is that? Yeah? Okay,
So what I learned being a small business is that
when you're a small business, other people who are more
business minded try to take percentages from small businesses in
(20:40):
order to gather them all together and then make a
profit of off of these really hard working individual local businesses.
And it's really hard on the small business. It puts
money in the pockets of somebody who's either unrelated to
this field or whatever it is, has land and we'll
let all these food trucks or whatever gather they're there,
(21:00):
whatever the case it is. It doesn't nurture local creatives
in my end, So I was like, I'm going to
create a mallow Mahallow market, and Mahallow means thank you.
So this is a thank you to local vendors and
people are creating and busting their tails to give us
a culture in this city. And I'm gonna do a
market where I don't charge vendors to be there, and
the only caveat is I gotta pick you. So I
(21:25):
want everything to be curated and for everything to make sense,
and for all these people that I admire and aspire
to be like to be gathered in one spot. And
so we started really small, really focused. There's another woman
who owns the plot of land that we're doing the
Mahallow Market on and she's like, dude, just use it,
you know. And it's like I can't. I can't work
in a space where everyone's trying to get their cut
(21:47):
from the work that you're doing. Like, you know, I
wake up super early, I stay up really late, and
in between, I have a whole other job. Not to mention,
I'm a person with meeds, I have a relationship, I
have family members. Like there's a lot going on and
Mahala Made Apparel is its own thing also, so I
was just like I need to create something. I don't
want to talk stuff about how other people do things.
(22:09):
If that's how you want to run your farmer's market,
that's how you run your farmer's market. Good good on you.
You know more about that than I do. I'm not
I'm not judging, but what I've experienced as a local
business owner and as a vendor, and what people expect
from you and the way that they handled business. I
was like, let me just create what i'd like to
see and not comment on what I'm seeing. It's amazing,
(22:31):
because it's funny you bring that up. I went to
it was a craft fair is what it was called here,
and I went and there were I mean, there was
amazing things. I bought all kinds of stuff, but a
lot of it was super expensive, and I'm like, that's
so weird what I wasn't expecting that, But it was nice.
It was like walking through Instagram. That's honestly what it
felt like. And then I later found out from someone else,
I was like, oh, you totally should have been at
(22:52):
this craft fair. And they were like, to buy a
booth there was so expensive it didn't make sense. So
that's why the prices were so high, because it were
these people who obviously had a great r o I
and they could sit there and and sell their expensive stuff,
and I was like, what, like that doesn't help local businesses.
That really doesn't do anything. So I completely relate and
totally understand and and love what you're doing. And I'm
(23:15):
might now. I'm like, I have all these ideas running
through my head, like Okay, I'm gonna come to Phoenix
and we're gonna do a side hustlers meet up and
we're gonna all hang out and have shave ice. I'm excited. Yeah, totally,
You're more than welcome to too. It's hard. It's hard
to be an artisan. But when you lose those things
and we all only end up shopping online, and we
all only end up shopping at Target whatever, it's like
(23:35):
you lose the culture. You you lose seeing that person
face to face. You lose making keeping art alive in
schools and letting people be welders and bakers and all
those things that make life worth living. I mean, I
I say this all the time that when I was younger,
I would see art things or craft things and go,
I'm not going to pay for that. That's crazy, Like
I can buy something brand new for our cheap you know,
(23:57):
for cheaper in the store, Like, I'm not going to
support at that because I didn't understand the importance of
art our culture in my life. But you know, if
you take away art, if you take away music, things
that cultivate love and and and culture, and you take
that away, all you have is work and death and taxes.
That's what you have. We all have to do those things.
We have to eat, we have to go to work,
(24:18):
we have to do whatever. But the things that make
you want to dance and the things that make you
want to cry, and the things that make you want
to love our art and music, and if we don't
support those things and don't nurture them and we don't
pay for them, then they don't exist. And that's what
makes life life. So for me, it's like wow, what
an awakening and this deep in like over my head
(24:40):
and I'm learning so much and I'm and I'm taking
so much, but I'm trying to give more back and
I'm trying to give more to other people who are
doing businesses. And I want people to look at Mahallow
made and go, hey, that's something that makes me feel
good when I see it. And my aunt is at
ma Hollow Market or my brother just started a food
truck and use your platform to put them on or
(25:02):
gave them. You know, I've got a line that's three
hours long in my food truck every time I opened. Like,
there's other vendors that could take advantage of the fact
that there's people waiting and do they want to shop?
Do they want to get their nails done? Do they
want to do this? Do they want to do that?
And I'd like to share that experience, not only with
the people waiting in line, but the other vendors. And
(25:24):
you know a lot of people would say, why would
you do that? You know, why don't you take that
all for yourself. All those people are there for you,
like you know whatever. And it's like, because that's not
living for me. I want to share, share everything. And
you brought up like you want to make people feel good,
and you also mentioned something about like, yeah, we all
shop at Target, and we can go on Instagram post
(25:44):
all the Target memes we want. Yeah, we know, we
go to Target and spend money and and it may
feel exciting a little bit when you're there, but I
can guarantee you that if someone shops at your truck
and they shop with you, They're gonna feel way better
spending that money than whatever they and at Target. It
does really make a difference when you are shopping local
and you are face to face with the person who
(26:06):
works their ass off, not just a cashier. And I'm
not bashing targeting stores at all, but I totally totally
relate to you exactly what you're saying. And I love
that you said it because I do want people to
understand that creating your own business and your own side
house and something you care about will spread to other
people and they will want to help you and invest
in support you. Yeah, I mean, and maybe they don't
(26:28):
feel better about it. Maybe they eat my shave ice
and they're like ten dollars, what the like this, I'm
not doing that again or whatever. You know, I'm not
for everybody, And that's the other thing, like when you're
a small business owner, you do have to realize, like,
not everyone's gonna love what you put your heart and
soul into and you put it out there and somebody
steps on it and they're like, why are your cups
(26:49):
like this? Why are yours? Like? Why is the line
so long? I didn't really think it was that worth.
That's fine, Like that's okay, like, and there's gonna be
people like that. But the thing is there's a lot
of people who aren't. They do appreciate it, and they
are pretty stoked and they're like, wow, that's so weird.
I remember last summer I was watching you on your
I G Stories when you're at home depot every ten
(27:11):
minutes and crying about certain things. And now you're here
in this trailer and my shave Ice was awesome and
I spent two hours in line. I brought my chair.
People bring chairs in line and they hang out and
they listened to the aloha music we play and they
talk and I get messages from people that say, law,
that was the best Sunday I've had. I talked to
my friends. We weren't on our phone, you know, we
(27:32):
just listened to the music. And then we got to
the window and it was like we waited so long
and we were so excited and we got this big,
beautiful thing and it was delicious and I can't wait
till the next one. And I'm gonna bring two more
of my friends and we're gonna all bring our chairs.
And that's what I'm trying to create, you know, and
if not, and if it's not for you, mahala for
(27:52):
coming and checking us out anyway, And it wasn't for you,
And that's all right. I don't hate you. Like maybe
one day it will be for you. We'll come out
with the flavor that you like or a hoodie that
you need, and then you'll come back and visit us
and have a different feeling about it. But it's all
good either way. It's all good either way because I'm
doing what I enjoy doing and for the people who
do appreciate it. That's why I'm here. So I want
(28:14):
to go on the business side of things. Now you
have it says cash only on your Instagram. Now, everyone
I've talked to most of their stuff is they use
Square or whatever it is you can buy online. I
think you might be the first person who is cash only.
Now is that you're going to stay like that? Or
why that? Or how does that affect you as a business?
I mean, if you do taxes and you know what
the taxes are in a small business, you probably will
(28:37):
want to cash business too. So that's all I'm gonna
say about that part. But I would just say that,
like somebody messaged me and they were like, it's like
going back in time to pay for pay vice. And
I was like, yeah, well, like I said, if you
do the research on what it takes, what they take
from me tax wise as a small business owner, it's like,
it's so I don't know how you live. If you
(28:59):
don't figure, you're out of way to be smart about
how you're going about your business. So, yeah, we take
online orders. You can order your stuff online, We ship online,
you know, stuff like that. That's obviously not cash only,
but when you're at the window, yeah, it's cash only
to food business. Um, a lot of people do kind
of anticipate that with food trucks. A lot of people
don't because they're like everywhere has Square now or whatever.
(29:20):
But Square takes their cut too. So now you're paying
for your spot at the event. Now you're paying ten
percent of your sales to the person who runs the event.
Now you're paying two percent of your stuff to Square
because they want to take one point five percent or
whatever it is, or a couple of pennies off of
every dollar that you make, or whatever the cut is.
You've got three people's hands in your honeypot before you
(29:42):
even get a chance to pay yourself back for the
work that you've done. And to date, I know that
people look at us they're like, oh, you sell out
every time, and your shirts are sold out and whatever whatever.
I have not paid myself yet. The day I get
to pay myself for my work, I will be very
stoked about that day. But from most people that I
(30:03):
talked to who run some very successful businesses, they don't
get to pay themselves for a very long time. And
it's like, well, there's no way I'm going to get
any closer to paying myself if I'm paying three people
before it self. And so that's why we pop up
places that hell for us to be there at no cost,
or they pay us to be there. And I'm not
going to use the service. I'm going to use cash.
(30:24):
And if cash doesn't work for you, you know, there's
a QT across the street. I hope you go grab
a twenty dollar bill and you come back. If not, like,
it's all good, Like we're just kicking in old school.
We're taking our time, we're asking cash only, and that's
just go for it. And it may now did it
for a long time, It's true and now okay, yeah, yeah, No,
(30:48):
I I totally, totally, totally get that. A lot of
people don't realize when you, oh, I want to start
a side house. I wanted something. There's a big investment,
and that is I'm assuming part of the reason why
you haven't been able to pay yourself back is because
you launched this business you had to buy an airstream.
Like that was a big cut right there. Yeah, And
I mean shoot, driving to get the airstream costs US
(31:08):
a thousand dollars in gas. There's things that people don't
think about. And then it's like, well, we never built
an air stream before, so did we get the right
wood the first time? No? And we ruined half of
it because it rained that day. And then we like,
there's so many things that go into and then you
couldn't possibly pay Like I could never even if I
was a millionaire. I couldn't pay my boyfriend back for
(31:30):
the sweat and time he put into helping me build
that trailer. There's just you can't pay somebody for that
type of attention to detail and that type of work
and that type of sleeplessness. I mean, everything we learned
how to do, or he learned how to do that
he taught me how to do in that trailer we
learned on YouTube. That in itself was like hours hours
(31:50):
of watching, hours of researching types of metal, thicknesses of metal,
metal that's good in certain climates like da da da.
And that was just to buy metal to put on
a wall that that that didn't go into like angles,
cutting things, riveting anything. So it's like I tell people
all the time. People come up to me all the time, law,
I want to start a food business. Someone have a
food truck? Oh my god, do you inspire me? D
(32:11):
number one? No, your damn numbers? Do you have a
business model? Do you know how much it will cost
you to create that thing that you love so much?
What are your resources? What do you plan on paying
yourself or your staff? Do your numbers and will your
will your business survive? Because if you do all the numbers,
you can know before you ever spend any money, if
it'll be worth your time or not to do that business.
(32:32):
And if it doesn't make sense numbers wise, that you
have a hobby, my friend, like you don't have a business,
Like you're you're out here just doing something because you
like to do it, but it's not going to sustain you.
I did not create Malo Made because I was hoping
to create something on the side that I like to do.
I left my job for it, so I needed to
(32:53):
make sure that I was making smart business decisions that
would help me create a business that would sustain itself
and pay me. And so that's a whole different attack
plan or approach to um a side hustle, you know.
And it's like coming back into radio only happened because
one they approached me and I was in the middle
(33:14):
of an easy summer on a shoe string budget, working
in my backyard and they offered a free lunch and
I was like, yes, I will take your free lunch.
Yes we will talk about it, but no, I'm not
coming back to radio. And I told them that when
I when I did it, because I didn't leave with
the intention of coming back. I was like, no, I
left to leave, so I'm not going to go back.
(33:36):
And um, they gave me time. They gave me some time,
and then they approached me again. And guess who didn't
really have that much money didn't want to take out
a loan. So I was like, you know, one one
big thing I'll say to really quick because I know
is that I did not want to start my business
out in debt. So that's another thing that you need
to really think about. You know, do you want to
start your business out in debt? Do you want to
(33:57):
take out some gnarly loan or do you want to
save them money and bet on yourself and really try
to make smart moves so that you don't have to
start your business out in debt and paying somebody interests
or whatever. I didn't want to do that. So what
I have to do I had to go back to work.
You know, I spent way more money than I thought
I would spend. Not terribly, but I did spend more
money than I thought I would spend. That's how it
goes when you build something. And um, I was like,
(34:19):
you know what if I just go back to work
part time, I can get the trailer done. And I
emphasized the I heart a thousand times, I'm not giving
up on my food, like that's what I'm trying to do,
that's my focus. And they were like, no, it's cool,
and then offered me a full time job three months
later and I was like uh, and the trailer still
(34:39):
wasn't done, so I was like they were like, is
that thing still happening? And I'm like, yes, it's still happening,
like it's gonna happen. And so now now I'm stuck
with two full time jobs. Woe is me because both
ended up doing really well, and I think because I
did the food truck and because I honored what I
(34:59):
was really trying to do, I have the best ratings
and afternoons that I've ever had. Congratulations, thank you. I'd
beat Ryan's Secret girl. Who does that? I was like,
what like when I came back to radio, they had
Ryan a liner that was like, welcome Lady law back
to the valley and done that, and I was like,
Ryan seacrets just welcomed me back. And so I was
(35:24):
just so excited to be able to talk to people
in this way again. And I realized that I didn't
not love radio. I didn't love where I was at
in radio, and that makes all this now it's like,
thank god, you know everything on air is going wonderfully,
and then everything with the trailers going wonderfully, and they
help each other to say, you know that everybody like
(35:47):
helps everybody in sec regulations. I owned this business, so
I'm allowed to talk about so and they're very encouraging
of me here, like Law, use your platform, let people
know where you're gonna be at, let us know where
we're gonna where you're gonna be at. Well put it
on the website. Well, it's like we do these appearances
as host, we get you know a lot of times
we do get paid to go to events and whatnot
(36:09):
for the station. It's like a free event for them.
You're there, send people out to It's so smart. Plus
you get to seat the people who listen to you
every day and then they know to listen to you.
And they're listening to like, oh my god, that's the
shave Ice girl. I know her, and yeah, I totally
totally get it. It's crazy. I gotta do a talk break.
We're gonna listen the full blown side Hustle right now.
(36:30):
One of four seven Kiss FM. We are the Valley's
number one a music station. I'm Lady Law. What's baby
time already for pre Yanka and Nick Jonas. You need
the beats? One of four seven Kiss FM dot com.
I'm Lady Law. This is Benny Blanco, Kaleede and Halsey.
It's called east Side. Damn that was good. Also, Nick
Jonas having a baby already no way. Yeah, it's like,
(36:50):
what the I'm in a relationship for four years and
we just keep getting more dogs. I'm convinced that celebrities
they just are on like this fast track, like I
don't nothing else in the world matters. They have all
the money, so they don't need to worry about things
that normal people worry about. So they're just like, Okay,
let's do whatever. There's no consequences to anything we do.
(37:10):
So before we sat down to this podcast, I sent
you some questions and one of the things I said,
how do you balance your time? And you responded with laughing,
So I listen. I fully understand that a radio jobs,
it never stops. When you're in radio, you're literally your
mind is going all the time. There's always something someone
emailing you asking for something. I can't even imagine having
(37:33):
a physical business that is literally run by you at
the same time. So literally, how do you do it?
I don't know. I just I just try to be organized,
and I honestly like I asked for help. I think
in the past, one big mistake that I've had was like,
you know, oh, I can get this done. Now I
look at people and I'm like, I can't do that.
You're better find somebody, You better call somebody better, Like
(37:55):
I don't know what you gotta do, but like we
gotta enlist some folks because I can't get that done
by myself. And so now it's like when you know,
I see people or there's somebody that I see potential
in and I think they're a great person, I'm like, hey,
have you ever shared ice before? Hey have you ever
packed shirts before and sent them off to the post office?
Like I just try to really be resourceful, And I
(38:17):
think that that's something that if I have any piece
of advice for anyone listening, is like, sometimes you don't
need more money, Sometimes you don't need more time. Sometimes
you just need to be more resourceful. And I think
that that's something that I really focus on, whether it's
at the forefront of my mind or if it just
comes out because it's on my subconscious, Like I always
(38:39):
try to find like, look, law, there's somebody who's done
this before. So what resources do you need? What do
you already have? And how can you make this happen?
So a lot of times when I think things are impossible,
I start to go, well, how impossible was it that
you built that trailer in your backyard? How impossible is
it that you ever beat Ryan Seacrist and any type
of ratings ever, Like, how did that even happen? Is like, well,
(39:00):
I use my resources. I had people help me in
studio and teach me to learn the board correctly. You know,
I asked for help in certain areas, so be resourceful.
I think that's a huge, a huge thing where people
they're scared to ask for help and you feel like
this is mine and I want to do all of it.
But sometimes that's not smart. You're gonna get burnt out
or you like you're saying there's probably someone who's done
(39:22):
it before and has done it better. It doesn't hurt
to ask. And I've asked people look at me and
they're like no, no, but you asked. I'm still gonna ask,
like And I think that that's something that is probably
light years different from the person that I was five
years ago, seven years ago. I'm just in a way
more humble space. And I think that if you ever
(39:44):
want to listen in humility, try to work in the
food industry. Oh yeah, try to build something, you know,
try to try to step out of your comfort zone
and you learn really fast, like the world is moving
with or without you speak up or like get left behind,
be heard about it, or get over it and move
on like you got choices, and it's like choose and go.
(40:05):
I'm just learning to like keep it pushing. There's so
many things that I was at the fixing something on
the trailer this morning that was brand new, and I'm like, dude,
it's always something, always something, And I could take this
personally today and let it ruin my day, or it
could just be pissed about it for this thirty minutes
and then put a cap on it and be like,
I got next. It doesn't have something to do next.
(40:26):
It doesn't help anyone by being mad about it all
day at all. So you're not allowed to answer this
um with Instagram. I tell everyone that is there an
app that helps you with your side hustle or just
helps you overall with the fact that you are a
business owner and you're doing all this stuff. It could
be an actual app that helps you with the business
or something that just helps you disconnect from the world,
whatever it is, but it's got to be an app
(40:48):
or I'll let you answer with a website to who
goes to websites? What's a website? A lot of people
say things like Shopify, but I don't you Shopify because
I think they I think they have they're like premium pricing,
like your girls a small business. So I'm like, so
I use big Cartel for yeah, for my merch it's
(41:10):
free as you start adding more products. I think I
pay ten dollars a month now, which is nothing, So
I'm okay with that. I would also say something really
simple and easy, like PayPal or cash app. Those are
things that you know, for friends and family when they
want to put a shirt to the side and whatever.
I'm like, send me that Apple pay cash app, like
whatever you gotta do, and I'll grab the cash and
(41:32):
set that aside for you. Other things that I really enjoy,
I have a whole Like most people's cell phone has
like a zillion app death it. I'm like, super simple.
I always joke with people I should have the Jitterbug
phone that's like just nine on are like if I
fall off my bed, or like the trailer has a
flat tire, I should just press one button. Because I
(41:54):
don't really enjoy being on my phone like that. But
I have a mindfulness full there and I just um,
one of my apps is the calm app or headspace app.
Things that just help you, you know, take a second
to think about things. And I should do more of it,
you know, I don't do enough of it, that's for sure.
(42:14):
You're right, and it is super smart. And I will
give you a little piece of advice that helped me.
You because you just showed me your phone and it
literally says the emails that would give me so much anxiety.
I turned off all my little badge notifications so I
see no numbers on anything. It's setting you can do that.
It's literally it's almost better than any mindfulness app because
(42:36):
it's just clean. There's not that little red badge that
literally drives you nuts. Just go into not it's like, yeah,
I just turned all all of it and it's just like,
oh no, and I check my email when I need
to check my email, not when that little stupid number
goes up. I think I'm gonna start telling people like, hey,
if you want to book things, appointments, blah blah blah,
whatever it is you need for me, let me know
on Monday and I'll go from there and then if
(42:59):
I don't see it. I I also started telling people
in and outside of radio, I don't respond to business
after five pm. So if he texts me, hey, lot,
can you do this real quick tomorrow or dadda, don't
expect me to respond, I'm not gonna do it. I
need my sanity, like I'm not gonna let the phone
control me. I'm not gonna let anybody control me like that.
It's just out of hand. Now. How accessible you are,
(43:22):
how people can hit you up on your social media
and talk about business, hit you on email, talk about business,
hit you on text and talk about business, and I'm
at home with my niece, you know, And it's my
niece's time, and that's more valuable to me than anything.
I won't think about anything else at the end of
my life except for these moments when my family friends.
(43:43):
So for me, it's like, well, fuck this email and
your text message and your deadline. Yo, it should have
got handled. I'm somebody who will take the thing and
I will handle it right there and then we'll move on.
But if it didn't get handled, I'm literally going to
let that be your problem, thank you. I'm not gonna
do it. And I don't know if this is just
a radio thing. So if this doesn't apply to anyone's job,
(44:05):
who is listening, I'm sorry, but it's got it has
to it some but it is a thing in radio
where there's like a fire email, like it just goes off,
like we gotta put this fire out. I need you
to do this. And I'm like, if your job makes
you have a job email, this applies to you. Yeah,
you're right, So like, no matter what job you have,
I'm sure Chick fil A got you on an email.
(44:27):
I'm sure you know your state job's got you on
an email, whatever it is. And everyone Scott is something
that's got to get done, like right now, or the
building's gonna burn down. It's like, no, it's not, that's
what that's I'm like, it's not gonna burn down. And
if we're smart, we could work around this and it
doesn't need to be crazy like this. So yeah, I'm
not gonna I'm just not participating in that anymore and
(44:48):
not at all. I'll let you know if that really
works out for me in the year or not, if
we're still having this conversation. If I'm not here no more,
you you can listen back to this podcast and go
that that's where sheep. That was it the Monday thing,
that moment famous last words, Monday's I'm gonna try it
to and see what happens. Like this girl is a diva. No,
(45:10):
I'm just trying to live my life. Back up, bitch,
take a note. If you're mad, maybe you should do
your ship on Monday too. That way you won't be
so mad, and then you'll know where I'm coming from.
I love this idea. I'm gonna I'm gonna slowly test
it out and I will report back to you and
let you know how it goes. So with any business,
and he comes branding, how did you sit down and
(45:30):
say I want this to be my logo? Was that
you who created it? Did someone else create your logo?
Because I love it? My boyfriend and I did it
really photoshop or yeah? He created something. There was lots
of versions, and I liked all of them because I'm
one of those people that's like, make a decision and go.
So I was like, yes, that, let's go. And he
would keep tinkering with it and be like what about this.
(45:51):
I'm like, yeah, that's great, let's go and then he
would keep messing with it. And then finally, now we've
realized that we do that, like all agree to things
really early on, and then he'll keep tinkering, and then
we'll revisit, and then there will always be a moment
where we look at each other and be like, oh,
that's it. And so yeah, once once he involved the surfboard,
(46:12):
and the surfboard has like a little wave, and then
I saw he changed the fund a couple of times.
But there was one final time where I was like, Yo,
that's it, Like that's the one, and I just knew
and that you know, it was just us. We've created everything,
even the little pans we did, the art work, I mean,
everything has been us. It's probably smart to sit on
something too. If that's gonna be your brand, that's gonna
(46:33):
be your logo, it's not like make it and then okay,
print church with it. It's probably a smart thing as
a business owner to kind of live with it for
a little bit, stare at it a few times before
you print, and yeah, quit your job. You'll have lots
of time to go, Yeah, well, is there anything else
you want to leave anyone with? Because this has been
(46:55):
I say this often, but this really I think as
I relate to you on so many levels. In the
radio world, one of my absolute favorite conversations. We can
talk for hours. I think, yeah, yeah, yeah, I tend
to do that too. I could talk to everybody for
a long time, So no, I would just say, if
you're interested in supporting Mahallow made Um, if you're a
graphic artist and you want to see your art on something,
(47:16):
I'm always looking to involve other people who do art
and see what your ideas interpretations are of what we do.
So at um Mahallow made at Gmail. You can email
us there if you heard something that you like, or
if you feel like you can add to something, let
me know. Maybe you're thinking of something that I couldn't
think of. But I hope that if you're listening, that
you have a plan, that you make a plan, that
(47:39):
you get people on your team that like your plan,
that want to see you win. And I hope that
you don't stay anywhere where you're not happy for too long,
because now that I look back, you know I always
thought you you fear so often, especially the darkest parts
of the journey, you think, what if I look back
and go that's the time that I messed up and
I shouldn't have done that. You know that. I think
that was my biggest fear, was looking back and being like, man,
(48:01):
maybe I shouldn't have done that. And I am here
to tell you that I'm not through with my journey.
I'm still in the midst of it. But as I
look back, I think the number one thing I feel
now is why didn't I leave sooner? Wow? Well, thank
you so so much. Follow her. It's at the Lady Law.
You can follow Mahallow made. It's at Mahallow Made It
and you can listen to her on one of four
(48:22):
seven Kiss FM on our I Heart Radio app three
d a p m. Local time for Phoenix, or if
you're in Phoenix, put it on. Listen, call her, say hi,
spread the love. I'm here. Thank you Mahallow, You guys,
thank you.
It's Carla Marie and this is episode twenty nine of
my Side Hustlers podcast. Hi. I appreciate seeing the rates
and reviews on iTunes. It's super helpful so that new
people can discover this podcast. So if you're not busy
and you have some extra time, appreciate you doing that.
Thank you a million million times for spreading the love.
(00:22):
You can always reach out to me on Instagram. It's
at the Carla Maurie with your questions, comments and suggestions
for Side Hustlers. Shout out to Ashley Noel. She messaged
me on Instagram and had the suggestion of starting a
group where people who listen to Side Hustlers can go
in there and together chat about each week's episode. So
(00:43):
I'm working on that. If you do have suggestions on
how we can all get together digitally, let me know.
So in episode twenty nine, we are talking to the
owner of Mohallow Made. Her name is law or, as
I know her from Instagram, the Lady Law. She's a
fellow I Heart Radio sister on air on one on
four seven Kiss FM in Phoenix, Arizona. She can be
(01:03):
heard on our iHeart Radio app anywhere three to a
p m Phoenix Time. Law was a morning show host
for eleven years before realizing that radio wasn't making her happy,
so she left to do something completely different, something she
would enjoy, which was creating a Japanese style shave ice
truck or in her case, an airstream. Last story is incredible.
(01:26):
Mahllow made is now up and running as a Japanese
style shave ice truck. Law sells. Mahllow made merch and
she's back in radio for a lot of people. You know,
why are you when? Do you know what you want
to do? And this is something you want to do?
Do it. I'm a hustles side hustl do it. I'm
a hustles hulo do it. I'm a hustles slow. I'm
(01:50):
a hustle slow. I'm a hustles side sid hulow. Come on,
ask about yo yo. It's the side hustless chall Room.
So hello to my radio sister from another Mr Miss Law.
Hi Law, Hi, Okay. So I know that I follow
(02:13):
you on Instagram and it's at Lady Law and the
Lady Law and I feel like, yeah, somebody's really Lady
Law somewhere in Japan. And she won't give it up.
There's there's another Carla Murray, hence the Carl Mury. Yeah,
so you gotta have the we know, but I feel
like I want to call you lady law So if
I do that at a point, super super awkburd Okay,
(02:37):
so you're actually in the studio right now, you're about
to go on the air, So thank you for doing this,
which also proves that you are a badass doing a
million things all the time. Is that cool or is
it stupid? Um? Like, that's like, that's the thing like
we have. There's really weird culture. We're like the more
insane you are and the more jobs you do, like
how cool are you? But like are you cool? Are
(02:59):
you dumb? Very very good point for the sake of
this podcast, it's cool, So is the whole I know
it should do a whole podcast. Everyone is doing a
side hustle and we're all dumb. I don't know, you're
right at the end of the day, Yeah, we're supposed
to be like finding a way to like have no
jobs and get paid, and instead we're finding a way
to have like ten jobs and make okay money. I
(03:21):
don't know what that says about our level of intelligence.
So you have been in radio for a while, you
get it. You do the whole radio thing, and that's
awesome and I relate a billion times with that. But
I think you're the first person on my podcast who
is in the food industry. It's pretty wild and there's
so much that I don't understand about it. So mahallow made,
by the way, am I saying mahalow? Right? Yes? Okay?
So mahallow Made is a Japanese style shaved ice. I
(03:44):
guess is it a truck? And I know it's an airstream,
but how do you describe? Yeah, it's an air stream,
so it's a trailer. But people anything with wheels on
it has food, everyone wants to call it a truck.
I'm okay with that, but yeah, it is a n
air stream. Okay, So you launched. I guess it's a
year ago now. Yeah, it'll be a year in April
that we opened. We had been working on it and
building this trailer for a year and I wasn't in
(04:07):
radio at the time that we were building it. Let
me start at the beginning. So we found this this
airstream trailer on eBay. I was still doing a morning
show they offered me another contract for another couple of
years or whatever, and I was like, I can't do this,
Like this is just not for me. And I didn't
have a fully scaled that idea, but I had toyed
with the name Muhalla made for a long time. I
(04:28):
have a history of cooking and baking and things like
that with my family and we had toyed around with
it too, but never really never really stuck. I had
a unquote real job, so I never took it serious.
And then finally one day I was just like, you
know what, like if not now when you know, that
whole little conversation with myself, and I was like, I'm
just gonna go ahead and do it. And so, I,
(04:49):
you know, I let my job know that I was
gonna leave. I wasn't going to sign another contract. And
then in that same week, I found this airstream trailer
on eBay and I was like, hey, I think this
might be it. So it was unfortunately in Savannah, Georgia,
and I live in Arizona, but I didn't have a
job anymore. So I was like, we have all the
time in the world, so I love road tripping. Something
(05:13):
my boyfriend and I do really well, And so we
just went to Savannah, Georgia, met this couple. They were
selling their stream trailer. They were super nice. We hauled
it all the way back and then started to dismantle
it in the backyard and then essentially put it all
back together. And when I mean all of it, I
mean the only thing was like this little metal frame
and then the little silver bubble on to everything else.
(05:33):
We did flooring, the wiring, the plumbing, the insulation, riveting
like metal work would work building cabinets like we did
all that. Did you have experience in building things before that? No?
I had a job where all I did was talking
about myself and buttons. Buttons. Yeah, that was all I did.
And I thought I had it really hard too, and
(05:55):
gave me a whole new perspective working on something in
construction in an Arizona sum which can reach a hundred
and twenty degrees, and you know, spend all your savings
and then look at yourself in the mirror and go,
what did I just do? I came from making all
this money and people asking me what can they do
for me? And now I'm in my backyard and I
(06:15):
have sawdust and uh, insulation in my eyes, and I'm
a hot mess, and I have no money and I'm
buying food at the dollar store, and this was such
a stupid idea. And then I would make one of
my shave ice because it'd be so hot, and my
boyfriend and I would look at each other and be like, no, dude,
this is it. It good, Like we gotta keep going.
(06:36):
And by the way, when I know a lot of
people and all over the country and you say shave ice,
it kind of means different things for everyone coming in
New Jersey. I think Italian ice, or you can think
if you live near Aritas, you may think Rita's. This
is not like any of that. Like you have a
full blown dessert and you can look at it's at
Mahallow made it on Instagram. They're gorgeous, gorgeous. Thank you. Yeah, yeah,
(06:59):
it's not the same. Right now, it's very popular. I
did not invent this style of dessert. It goes back
to Japan. Really, um these machines and this fluffy, really
really light and fluffy style shave ice with fresh fruit
and fresh fruit syrups. That's something that's been done in
Japanese culture for a very long time. And my grandma's
from Okinawa, so I grew up with this style of dessert.
(07:22):
And then now it's really picked up in Hawaii as
a trend to have all these all these different shave ice.
No d it's just shave ice. That's kind of how
you know it's Hawaiian style. It's because it and that's
kind of what people in the industry would differentiate, like
us and them a snow cone versus us. You know, yeah,
(07:43):
we saw shave ice. It's very popular, this artisan style
of doing a shave ice, and I think East Coast
Italian ices, snow cones, things like that are what's popular.
This is a whole other lane that's really really become
I think the next trend. I saw in New York
Times that they were saying this whole style of shave ice,
(08:04):
and the Japanese word is cocky gordy. Cocky gordy is
like the next trend. But the thing is, it's never
really gonna be like the fro Yo trend because it's
so much work. I'm sure. I mean, well, you're also
probably the first one to do it in an airstream.
You have to be hell yeah, I love that. But
when I look at the pictures of the shave ice
on Instagram. It's like massive, Like they look like they're
(08:25):
like eight inches tall. Yeah, they're really big. Right now,
they're in a sixteen ounce cup. And we make up
meant for two, so we always let everybody knows they're
meant to share. You're supposed to order one and share it.
Nobody wants to share, you know, everybody on their own.
So now you just get a really big dessert. Okay,
So I want to go back to when you left
your radio job. I totally understand the whole getting a
(08:46):
new contract. You then have to go to your boss
and say I'm actually leaving. Did you tell them I'm
leaving because I want to go sort of shave ice
truck or did you what? Did you say? No? Because
it wasn't really fully developed at that time either. You know,
it was like thoughts dancing around in a head, but
all a zillion other thoughts were dancing around in my head,
like quitting my damn job, not having health insurance, like
(09:06):
I was thinking about five thousand other things. I wasn't
really necessarily thinking about the next move. My next move
was trying to leave something that I was so comfortable in,
So I didn't really have a plan. They asked me
a thousand times, are you going to the competition? And no,
that's like where I work now. So it really down
like they're not super stoked for me in any way.
(09:27):
I don't feel but to be honest, like nobody there
has ever taken the steps that I've taken in my
life as far as leaving. You know, you know how
radio is for everyone listening who's not familiar. You know,
there's only so many seats at the table, and every
year with radio, it seems like they pull a chair
every year and there's less and less seats at the table.
So if you're some morning show personality who's like, I'm
(09:49):
gonna go leave and go on an adventure, they're like,
you're a moron and good luck. And so I think
everybody kind of looked at me like, uh, she has
to have a plan, because it's not like out to
not have a plan. But I really didn't have a plan.
I was just like, if I don't ever make myself
open to new opportunities, that's the only way to guarantee
(10:10):
they'll never come. I'll just be here and I'll just
be doing my job. And while radio is fantastic and
it's a great platform and it's been very good to me,
and I'm super grateful for everyone who supported me in
my career, this is still my life. I look at
my life overall, and I hope that everyone listening will
you look at your life and then you look at
you do what you do for work, and then you
(10:30):
look at what drives you, what what motivates you, what
you're so passionate about, what you like. Weeks that Mahalomaid's open,
I cannot sleep. I am up. I'm thinking about did
I get this? What if I do this, this will
be better? How can I make something more exciting? Like
I can't sleep? And it's like, I hope that if
(10:51):
you're gonna be losing sleep at your job, I hope
it's for something that you really care about, that you're
really stoked about. And if you're not, I really hope
that you're talking to people, are making friends in different industries,
in different places that are helping you put a plan
together so that you can make changes, so that you
(11:13):
can spend more time being passionate about something. And I
say that I don't have kids, I'm not married, so
I have a lot of freedom to make selfish decisions
in that way. I'm not suggesting that anybody with children
or health issues or anything like that just up and
quit your job and go be passionate, like it's terrifying.
(11:33):
You need to have a plan, you need to have
money saved, You need to have a support system who
understands your vision and is excited for you and is
willing to help you through those tough times. And uh,
you know, I didn't take any food out of my
dog's mouths. You know, I made sure my dogs were
fed and while taking care of during this time. You know,
So don't get crazy. You're the second sponsibilities. You are
(11:54):
the second person to say that about starting their side
outshole is that they made sure their dogs. Their dogs
are still getting the expensive food. More. I was like,
let me not make sure that I put them on
like some terrible as food because I'm out here trying
to live my best life. Like I was like, no,
They're still going to get their organic Costco even if
I have to eat at the store. It's I relate
(12:17):
so much to what you're saying, though, And I think we,
at least in this country, focus so much on our careers,
our careers, our careers, and you're putting all this energy
into the end of the day. It's like, what are
you happy? Yeah, you may have the coolest job or
the best job, or other people might think it's cool.
But if you're miserable at your job, then what then
what do you have? Nothing? Yeah? And you spend so
much of your time there. Like I was saying, like
(12:37):
how we started off the whole thing. It's like we
glamorized work so much. And while it's good to be
diligent and it's good to have a good work ethic,
I think it's just as much about checking yourself and
being like, where wherever my time is going, does it
make me happy? If my time is working, Do I
enjoy what I'm doing? If I don't, can I adjust that?
Can I spend less time in that space and more
(12:58):
time somewhere else? More time volunteer, hearing, more time working out,
taking care of myself mentally or physically, or spending socially,
spending time with your friends and doing things because they're fun,
not because they make money, not because it's a good look,
but because you enjoy it. And for somebody like me,
who does make working a part of you know, their personality,
their social life. You know, working is kind of what
(13:20):
we do. I have to check myself all the time,
like am I doing this because I enjoy it? Or
am I doing it because it's another box to check?
And I feel so strongly like I need to check
another thing off my list And you don't really need
to do all that. And there's things that I do
with Mahallamaide which have been probably the most fruitful for me.
Are the things that I did because I was like,
I don't care, I just want to do that because
(13:41):
it makes me happy. So if giving this person free
cookies is what makes me happy on this stop, then
I'm going to do that and I'll pay for it
out of my own pocket. But I loved having that
exchange with this person. That's fine. But you know people
are like, you need a store, these lines are so
long you need to print, or shirts you need how
you sell out too fast or whatever it is. And
(14:04):
it's like, yeah, I'm not Chick fil A, but hey,
I'm not Walmart. Like I'm one person in an airstream. Yeah,
like yeah, in an airstream trying to do something cool
and good and delicious and with my own two hands.
So there's only so much I can get done in
a day's time. And so I always say ma Hollow.
(14:25):
I'm always like thank you, like thank you for your
patience with me, thank you for the patience with my staff.
Thank you as we're learning and growing because we're small
and we're trying to be focused and we can't do
that worried about doing a zillion things that one time.
Absolutely not. And that goes for anything, not just what
you're doing. That goes for anyone trying to do anything.
But can you actually touch on what Mahallow means because
(14:46):
in the beginning, yeah, yeah, the company is Mahallow Made,
and we're shave ice and stuffs and stuff is like apparel,
pins and kind of stuff you don't need. And ma
hollow is just a Hawaiian expression of gratitude because the
history of Hawaii is pretty deep and pretty heavy, especially
then being a part of the US, and they were
(15:07):
never asked to be a part of the end of
the US, US came and took the queen and told
them that they were going to be a part of
the US. Their language doesn't exactly translate English, phrases, So
thank you as something that we say, it's not something
that's a Hawaiian phrase. So mohollow is an expression of gratitude.
I wouldn't say it means thank you because that would
be historically inaccurate, but you know it does express gratitude.
(15:32):
And I always say that I made this way. You know,
the reason why I've existed in radio this whole time
is it because I'm a great radio personality. It's one
because I'll do the work, and two because people relate
and they support me. So because of that, because of
the thanks, because of that exchange, because of that gratitude,
that's why I exist. That's why I'm here. I'm Mahallow
made and so I've got So that's the same thing
(15:55):
with the trailer, Like the trailer wouldn't exist if this
this fan base would not have been in sitting my
story and my journey and that leap of faith and
so everything. Mahalla made everything shirt, you know everything. So yeah,
you keep saying shirts. So for people listening, you actually
have on your Instagram you can go to at Mahalla
made it and you can click the link on there,
(16:15):
and also on your own Instagram, you have it on board, right,
It's at the Lady Law so you can buy your
merch through there. So the merchants newer correct, they actually launched.
I actually had the merch available before the trailer was
even open. Yeah, And my boyfriend was like, why are
you doing that? Like, no one's gonna know what that is,
like da da dad, And I was like, I don't care.
I know that people see things and the more they
see things, they get curious. So in the very beginning,
(16:37):
nobody bought our shirts and now we can't keep them
in stock, you know, and people wear them to the events,
and I think they really feel like a part of
the story and they really feel like when they go places.
My favorite thing is people wear them when they travel
to these beautiful places, and we kind of say, like
you kind of bring that attitude of like I'm grateful
(16:57):
for this space, I'm grateful for this experience hollow to
you know, mother nature for allowing me to be on
vacation or be with my family or whatever. So whatever
I get from the pictures that people said, I try
to repost them, give them their shine, and also share
that attitude of mahallow for this space or mahallow for
my friends or mahalow for whatever, and I'll come up
with the title that I that I grasped from that picture,
(17:19):
and that's probably like my favorite thing. I didn't think
it was going to turn into a thing. It just
kind of did its own thing, and I was like,
I don't know, sometimes people buy shirts at food trucks,
but now now it's really a thing, and we're I'm
trying to nurture that because our shirts are super comfortable
and myself and they're very very comfy. Now people are like,
when's the new one coming out? And as soon as
(17:40):
it drops. I think our last drop sold out in
I don't know, twenty eight hours or like crazy, So yeah,
we just we just re up though, so if you're
listening within the next week, they're still shirts left. And
I love the pins. I actually saw them and was like, okay,
I need side Hustlers pins, Like I need to do this.
They're so cute. Yeah, they're super cute. And we of
all of our flavors, we have four four main flavors,
(18:03):
so that was the four pins that we created and
right now the mango pin is available and as soon
as that one sells out, we'll have the next flavor.
So what are your form You said mango, and what
are the other three? Mango, strawberry, blueberry, and guava. The
new year will have two other main stay flavors that
will be permanent on the menu as well. I'm thinking
they'll be coconut and lemon, but I'm not positive. I'm
(18:25):
still working it out. And then every time we open,
we usually have a feature flavor that's like something special
that's not offered all the time. So much is a
fun way to play with new things and see what
people really enjoy, and then well we'll bring back for
the next season. So far, white peach cream cheese was
one that I came up with, and that's the one
that people want back the most. So next year we'll
(18:46):
have that more regularly. Well, you keep saying the weeks
that were open or when we open are there's times
when you're not open. Yeah, we're only open on the
weekends because I'm working Monday through Friday here at the station,
three day a p m. So it's like that's a
good chunk of my day. I wouldn't have anytime. I
literally wouldn't have any time if we were open throughout
the day and then I came here. So it's just
not feasible right now. So we're open weekend, Saturday and Sunday.
(19:09):
Right now, we're only open twice a month, So every
other weekend is what we're doing, and it keeps the
anticipation alive. Focus and then uh, hopefully in the new
year will be open every weekend. That will be the goal.
But I gotta do some hiring, and that is a
whole other side hustle. I was going to ask you
that are you the only person like who is working
with you? I have someone who works here in promotions
(19:31):
at the radio station. Also is somebody who does the
shave ice with me. Her name is Liz, and she's amazing.
She's super talented and she's just a part of the
fam now. And then one of my best friends, his husband,
is also on the food trailer. And then people who
work the window are usually related to me. They're usually
like a family member, brother or sister, mom, somebody. Well,
I'm sure it's fun too, Like if if someone in
(19:52):
my family opened something that I'm like, I want to
do it. I want to play, I want to have fun,
like you want to think unless you're the oldest sister.
And then it's like, really, I gotta work your food track.
Like really, if I had an older sister, I would
be so stoked. My sister super stoked. My brother. I
gotta like bend his arm a little bit. Can I
get a free shirt? I'm like, yeah, can I give
(20:16):
one girl, at least one girl a free ice every
time she comes? Yeah? There you go. That's them that'll
do that. So I saw on your Instagram that you're
doing Mahallow Market. What is what is that? Yeah? Okay,
So what I learned being a small business is that
when you're a small business, other people who are more
business minded try to take percentages from small businesses in
(20:40):
order to gather them all together and then make a
profit of off of these really hard working individual local businesses.
And it's really hard on the small business. It puts
money in the pockets of somebody who's either unrelated to
this field or whatever it is, has land and we'll
let all these food trucks or whatever gather they're there,
(21:00):
whatever the case it is. It doesn't nurture local creatives
in my end, So I was like, I'm going to
create a mallow Mahallow market, and Mahallow means thank you.
So this is a thank you to local vendors and
people are creating and busting their tails to give us
a culture in this city. And I'm gonna do a
market where I don't charge vendors to be there, and
the only caveat is I gotta pick you. So I
(21:25):
want everything to be curated and for everything to make sense,
and for all these people that I admire and aspire
to be like to be gathered in one spot. And
so we started really small, really focused. There's another woman
who owns the plot of land that we're doing the
Mahallow Market on and she's like, dude, just use it,
you know. And it's like I can't. I can't work
in a space where everyone's trying to get their cut
(21:47):
from the work that you're doing. Like, you know, I
wake up super early, I stay up really late, and
in between, I have a whole other job. Not to mention,
I'm a person with meeds, I have a relationship, I
have family members. Like there's a lot going on and
Mahala Made Apparel is its own thing also, so I
was just like I need to create something. I don't
want to talk stuff about how other people do things.
(22:09):
If that's how you want to run your farmer's market,
that's how you run your farmer's market. Good good on you.
You know more about that than I do. I'm not
I'm not judging, but what I've experienced as a local
business owner and as a vendor, and what people expect
from you and the way that they handled business. I
was like, let me just create what i'd like to
see and not comment on what I'm seeing. It's amazing,
(22:31):
because it's funny you bring that up. I went to
it was a craft fair is what it was called here,
and I went and there were I mean, there was
amazing things. I bought all kinds of stuff, but a
lot of it was super expensive, and I'm like, that's
so weird what I wasn't expecting that, But it was nice.
It was like walking through Instagram. That's honestly what it
felt like. And then I later found out from someone else,
I was like, oh, you totally should have been at
(22:52):
this craft fair. And they were like, to buy a
booth there was so expensive it didn't make sense. So
that's why the prices were so high, because it were
these people who obviously had a great r o I
and they could sit there and and sell their expensive stuff,
and I was like, what, like that doesn't help local businesses.
That really doesn't do anything. So I completely relate and
totally understand and and love what you're doing. And I'm
(23:15):
might now. I'm like, I have all these ideas running
through my head, like Okay, I'm gonna come to Phoenix
and we're gonna do a side hustlers meet up and
we're gonna all hang out and have shave ice. I'm excited. Yeah, totally,
You're more than welcome to too. It's hard. It's hard
to be an artisan. But when you lose those things
and we all only end up shopping online, and we
all only end up shopping at Target whatever, it's like
(23:35):
you lose the culture. You you lose seeing that person
face to face. You lose making keeping art alive in
schools and letting people be welders and bakers and all
those things that make life worth living. I mean, I
I say this all the time that when I was younger,
I would see art things or craft things and go,
I'm not going to pay for that. That's crazy, Like
I can buy something brand new for our cheap you know,
(23:57):
for cheaper in the store, Like, I'm not going to
support at that because I didn't understand the importance of
art our culture in my life. But you know, if
you take away art, if you take away music, things
that cultivate love and and and culture, and you take
that away, all you have is work and death and taxes.
That's what you have. We all have to do those things.
We have to eat, we have to go to work,
(24:18):
we have to do whatever. But the things that make
you want to dance and the things that make you
want to cry, and the things that make you want
to love our art and music, and if we don't
support those things and don't nurture them and we don't
pay for them, then they don't exist. And that's what
makes life life. So for me, it's like wow, what
an awakening and this deep in like over my head
(24:40):
and I'm learning so much and I'm and I'm taking
so much, but I'm trying to give more back and
I'm trying to give more to other people who are
doing businesses. And I want people to look at Mahallow
made and go, hey, that's something that makes me feel
good when I see it. And my aunt is at
ma Hollow Market or my brother just started a food
truck and use your platform to put them on or
(25:02):
gave them. You know, I've got a line that's three
hours long in my food truck every time I opened. Like,
there's other vendors that could take advantage of the fact
that there's people waiting and do they want to shop?
Do they want to get their nails done? Do they
want to do this? Do they want to do that?
And I'd like to share that experience, not only with
the people waiting in line, but the other vendors. And
(25:24):
you know a lot of people would say, why would
you do that? You know, why don't you take that
all for yourself. All those people are there for you,
like you know whatever. And it's like, because that's not
living for me. I want to share, share everything. And
you brought up like you want to make people feel good,
and you also mentioned something about like, yeah, we all
shop at Target, and we can go on Instagram post
(25:44):
all the Target memes we want. Yeah, we know, we
go to Target and spend money and and it may
feel exciting a little bit when you're there, but I
can guarantee you that if someone shops at your truck
and they shop with you, They're gonna feel way better
spending that money than whatever they and at Target. It
does really make a difference when you are shopping local
and you are face to face with the person who
(26:06):
works their ass off, not just a cashier. And I'm
not bashing targeting stores at all, but I totally totally
relate to you exactly what you're saying. And I love
that you said it because I do want people to
understand that creating your own business and your own side
house and something you care about will spread to other
people and they will want to help you and invest
in support you. Yeah, I mean, and maybe they don't
(26:28):
feel better about it. Maybe they eat my shave ice
and they're like ten dollars, what the like this, I'm
not doing that again or whatever. You know, I'm not
for everybody, And that's the other thing, like when you're
a small business owner, you do have to realize, like,
not everyone's gonna love what you put your heart and
soul into and you put it out there and somebody
steps on it and they're like, why are your cups
(26:49):
like this? Why are yours? Like? Why is the line
so long? I didn't really think it was that worth.
That's fine, Like that's okay, like, and there's gonna be
people like that. But the thing is there's a lot
of people who aren't. They do appreciate it, and they
are pretty stoked and they're like, wow, that's so weird.
I remember last summer I was watching you on your
I G Stories when you're at home depot every ten
(27:11):
minutes and crying about certain things. And now you're here
in this trailer and my shave Ice was awesome and
I spent two hours in line. I brought my chair.
People bring chairs in line and they hang out and
they listened to the aloha music we play and they
talk and I get messages from people that say, law,
that was the best Sunday I've had. I talked to
my friends. We weren't on our phone, you know, we
(27:32):
just listened to the music. And then we got to
the window and it was like we waited so long
and we were so excited and we got this big,
beautiful thing and it was delicious and I can't wait
till the next one. And I'm gonna bring two more
of my friends and we're gonna all bring our chairs.
And that's what I'm trying to create, you know, and
if not, and if it's not for you, mahala for
(27:52):
coming and checking us out anyway, And it wasn't for you,
And that's all right. I don't hate you. Like maybe
one day it will be for you. We'll come out
with the flavor that you like or a hoodie that
you need, and then you'll come back and visit us
and have a different feeling about it. But it's all
good either way. It's all good either way because I'm
doing what I enjoy doing and for the people who
do appreciate it. That's why I'm here. So I want
(28:14):
to go on the business side of things. Now you
have it says cash only on your Instagram. Now, everyone
I've talked to most of their stuff is they use
Square or whatever it is you can buy online. I
think you might be the first person who is cash only.
Now is that you're going to stay like that? Or
why that? Or how does that affect you as a business?
I mean, if you do taxes and you know what
the taxes are in a small business, you probably will
(28:37):
want to cash business too. So that's all I'm gonna
say about that part. But I would just say that,
like somebody messaged me and they were like, it's like
going back in time to pay for pay vice. And
I was like, yeah, well, like I said, if you
do the research on what it takes, what they take
from me tax wise as a small business owner, it's like,
it's so I don't know how you live. If you
(28:59):
don't figure, you're out of way to be smart about
how you're going about your business. So, yeah, we take
online orders. You can order your stuff online, We ship online,
you know, stuff like that. That's obviously not cash only,
but when you're at the window, yeah, it's cash only
to food business. Um, a lot of people do kind
of anticipate that with food trucks. A lot of people
don't because they're like everywhere has Square now or whatever.
(29:20):
But Square takes their cut too. So now you're paying
for your spot at the event. Now you're paying ten
percent of your sales to the person who runs the event.
Now you're paying two percent of your stuff to Square
because they want to take one point five percent or
whatever it is, or a couple of pennies off of
every dollar that you make, or whatever the cut is.
You've got three people's hands in your honeypot before you
(29:42):
even get a chance to pay yourself back for the
work that you've done. And to date, I know that
people look at us they're like, oh, you sell out
every time, and your shirts are sold out and whatever whatever.
I have not paid myself yet. The day I get
to pay myself for my work, I will be very
stoked about that day. But from most people that I
(30:03):
talked to who run some very successful businesses, they don't
get to pay themselves for a very long time. And
it's like, well, there's no way I'm going to get
any closer to paying myself if I'm paying three people
before it self. And so that's why we pop up
places that hell for us to be there at no cost,
or they pay us to be there. And I'm not
going to use the service. I'm going to use cash.
(30:24):
And if cash doesn't work for you, you know, there's
a QT across the street. I hope you go grab
a twenty dollar bill and you come back. If not, like,
it's all good, Like we're just kicking in old school.
We're taking our time, we're asking cash only, and that's
just go for it. And it may now did it
for a long time, It's true and now okay, yeah, yeah, No,
(30:48):
I I totally, totally, totally get that. A lot of
people don't realize when you, oh, I want to start
a side house. I wanted something. There's a big investment,
and that is I'm assuming part of the reason why
you haven't been able to pay yourself back is because
you launched this business you had to buy an airstream.
Like that was a big cut right there. Yeah, And
I mean shoot, driving to get the airstream costs US
(31:08):
a thousand dollars in gas. There's things that people don't
think about. And then it's like, well, we never built
an air stream before, so did we get the right
wood the first time? No? And we ruined half of
it because it rained that day. And then we like,
there's so many things that go into and then you
couldn't possibly pay Like I could never even if I
was a millionaire. I couldn't pay my boyfriend back for
(31:30):
the sweat and time he put into helping me build
that trailer. There's just you can't pay somebody for that
type of attention to detail and that type of work
and that type of sleeplessness. I mean, everything we learned
how to do, or he learned how to do that
he taught me how to do in that trailer we
learned on YouTube. That in itself was like hours hours
(31:50):
of watching, hours of researching types of metal, thicknesses of metal,
metal that's good in certain climates like da da da.
And that was just to buy metal to put on
a wall that that that didn't go into like angles,
cutting things, riveting anything. So it's like I tell people
all the time. People come up to me all the time, law,
I want to start a food business. Someone have a
food truck? Oh my god, do you inspire me? D
(32:11):
number one? No, your damn numbers? Do you have a
business model? Do you know how much it will cost
you to create that thing that you love so much?
What are your resources? What do you plan on paying
yourself or your staff? Do your numbers and will your
will your business survive? Because if you do all the numbers,
you can know before you ever spend any money, if
it'll be worth your time or not to do that business.
(32:32):
And if it doesn't make sense numbers wise, that you
have a hobby, my friend, like you don't have a business,
Like you're you're out here just doing something because you
like to do it, but it's not going to sustain you.
I did not create Malo Made because I was hoping
to create something on the side that I like to do.
I left my job for it, so I needed to
(32:53):
make sure that I was making smart business decisions that
would help me create a business that would sustain itself
and pay me. And so that's a whole different attack
plan or approach to um a side hustle, you know.
And it's like coming back into radio only happened because
one they approached me and I was in the middle
(33:14):
of an easy summer on a shoe string budget, working
in my backyard and they offered a free lunch and
I was like, yes, I will take your free lunch.
Yes we will talk about it, but no, I'm not
coming back to radio. And I told them that when
I when I did it, because I didn't leave with
the intention of coming back. I was like, no, I
left to leave, so I'm not going to go back.
(33:36):
And um, they gave me time. They gave me some time,
and then they approached me again. And guess who didn't
really have that much money didn't want to take out
a loan. So I was like, you know, one one
big thing I'll say to really quick because I know
is that I did not want to start my business
out in debt. So that's another thing that you need
to really think about. You know, do you want to
start your business out in debt? Do you want to
(33:57):
take out some gnarly loan or do you want to
save them money and bet on yourself and really try
to make smart moves so that you don't have to
start your business out in debt and paying somebody interests
or whatever. I didn't want to do that. So what
I have to do I had to go back to work.
You know, I spent way more money than I thought
I would spend. Not terribly, but I did spend more
money than I thought I would spend. That's how it
goes when you build something. And um, I was like,
(34:19):
you know what if I just go back to work
part time, I can get the trailer done. And I
emphasized the I heart a thousand times, I'm not giving
up on my food, like that's what I'm trying to do,
that's my focus. And they were like, no, it's cool,
and then offered me a full time job three months
later and I was like uh, and the trailer still
(34:39):
wasn't done, so I was like they were like, is
that thing still happening? And I'm like, yes, it's still happening,
like it's gonna happen. And so now now I'm stuck
with two full time jobs. Woe is me because both
ended up doing really well, and I think because I
did the food truck and because I honored what I
(34:59):
was really trying to do, I have the best ratings
and afternoons that I've ever had. Congratulations, thank you. I'd
beat Ryan's Secret girl. Who does that? I was like,
what like when I came back to radio, they had
Ryan a liner that was like, welcome Lady law back
to the valley and done that, and I was like,
Ryan seacrets just welcomed me back. And so I was
(35:24):
just so excited to be able to talk to people
in this way again. And I realized that I didn't
not love radio. I didn't love where I was at
in radio, and that makes all this now it's like,
thank god, you know everything on air is going wonderfully,
and then everything with the trailers going wonderfully, and they
help each other to say, you know that everybody like
(35:47):
helps everybody in sec regulations. I owned this business, so
I'm allowed to talk about so and they're very encouraging
of me here, like Law, use your platform, let people
know where you're gonna be at, let us know where
we're gonna where you're gonna be at. Well put it
on the website. Well, it's like we do these appearances
as host, we get you know a lot of times
we do get paid to go to events and whatnot
(36:09):
for the station. It's like a free event for them.
You're there, send people out to It's so smart. Plus
you get to seat the people who listen to you
every day and then they know to listen to you.
And they're listening to like, oh my god, that's the
shave Ice girl. I know her, and yeah, I totally
totally get it. It's crazy. I gotta do a talk break.
We're gonna listen the full blown side Hustle right now.
(36:30):
One of four seven Kiss FM. We are the Valley's
number one a music station. I'm Lady Law. What's baby
time already for pre Yanka and Nick Jonas. You need
the beats? One of four seven Kiss FM dot com.
I'm Lady Law. This is Benny Blanco, Kaleede and Halsey.
It's called east Side. Damn that was good. Also, Nick
Jonas having a baby already no way. Yeah, it's like,
(36:50):
what the I'm in a relationship for four years and
we just keep getting more dogs. I'm convinced that celebrities
they just are on like this fast track, like I
don't nothing else in the world matters. They have all
the money, so they don't need to worry about things
that normal people worry about. So they're just like, Okay,
let's do whatever. There's no consequences to anything we do.
(37:10):
So before we sat down to this podcast, I sent
you some questions and one of the things I said,
how do you balance your time? And you responded with laughing,
So I listen. I fully understand that a radio jobs,
it never stops. When you're in radio, you're literally your
mind is going all the time. There's always something someone
emailing you asking for something. I can't even imagine having
(37:33):
a physical business that is literally run by you at
the same time. So literally, how do you do it?
I don't know. I just I just try to be organized,
and I honestly like I asked for help. I think
in the past, one big mistake that I've had was like,
you know, oh, I can get this done. Now I
look at people and I'm like, I can't do that.
You're better find somebody, You better call somebody better, Like
(37:55):
I don't know what you gotta do, but like we
gotta enlist some folks because I can't get that done
by myself. And so now it's like when you know,
I see people or there's somebody that I see potential
in and I think they're a great person, I'm like, hey,
have you ever shared ice before? Hey have you ever
packed shirts before and sent them off to the post office?
Like I just try to really be resourceful, And I
(38:17):
think that that's something that if I have any piece
of advice for anyone listening, is like, sometimes you don't
need more money, Sometimes you don't need more time. Sometimes
you just need to be more resourceful. And I think
that that's something that I really focus on, whether it's
at the forefront of my mind or if it just
comes out because it's on my subconscious, Like I always
(38:39):
try to find like, look, law, there's somebody who's done
this before. So what resources do you need? What do
you already have? And how can you make this happen?
So a lot of times when I think things are impossible,
I start to go, well, how impossible was it that
you built that trailer in your backyard? How impossible is
it that you ever beat Ryan Seacrist and any type
of ratings ever, Like, how did that even happen? Is like, well,
(39:00):
I use my resources. I had people help me in
studio and teach me to learn the board correctly. You know,
I asked for help in certain areas, so be resourceful.
I think that's a huge, a huge thing where people
they're scared to ask for help and you feel like
this is mine and I want to do all of it.
But sometimes that's not smart. You're gonna get burnt out
or you like you're saying there's probably someone who's done
(39:22):
it before and has done it better. It doesn't hurt
to ask. And I've asked people look at me and
they're like no, no, but you asked. I'm still gonna ask,
like And I think that that's something that is probably
light years different from the person that I was five
years ago, seven years ago. I'm just in a way
more humble space. And I think that if you ever
(39:44):
want to listen in humility, try to work in the
food industry. Oh yeah, try to build something, you know,
try to try to step out of your comfort zone
and you learn really fast, like the world is moving
with or without you speak up or like get left behind,
be heard about it, or get over it and move
on like you got choices, and it's like choose and go.
(40:05):
I'm just learning to like keep it pushing. There's so
many things that I was at the fixing something on
the trailer this morning that was brand new, and I'm like, dude,
it's always something, always something, And I could take this
personally today and let it ruin my day, or it
could just be pissed about it for this thirty minutes
and then put a cap on it and be like,
I got next. It doesn't have something to do next.
(40:26):
It doesn't help anyone by being mad about it all
day at all. So you're not allowed to answer this
um with Instagram. I tell everyone that is there an
app that helps you with your side hustle or just
helps you overall with the fact that you are a
business owner and you're doing all this stuff. It could
be an actual app that helps you with the business
or something that just helps you disconnect from the world,
whatever it is, but it's got to be an app
(40:48):
or I'll let you answer with a website to who
goes to websites? What's a website? A lot of people
say things like Shopify, but I don't you Shopify because
I think they I think they have they're like premium pricing,
like your girls a small business. So I'm like, so
I use big Cartel for yeah, for my merch it's
(41:10):
free as you start adding more products. I think I
pay ten dollars a month now, which is nothing, So
I'm okay with that. I would also say something really
simple and easy, like PayPal or cash app. Those are
things that you know, for friends and family when they
want to put a shirt to the side and whatever.
I'm like, send me that Apple pay cash app, like
whatever you gotta do, and I'll grab the cash and
(41:32):
set that aside for you. Other things that I really enjoy,
I have a whole Like most people's cell phone has
like a zillion app death it. I'm like, super simple.
I always joke with people I should have the Jitterbug
phone that's like just nine on are like if I
fall off my bed, or like the trailer has a
flat tire, I should just press one button. Because I
(41:54):
don't really enjoy being on my phone like that. But
I have a mindfulness full there and I just um,
one of my apps is the calm app or headspace app.
Things that just help you, you know, take a second
to think about things. And I should do more of it,
you know, I don't do enough of it, that's for sure.
(42:14):
You're right, and it is super smart. And I will
give you a little piece of advice that helped me.
You because you just showed me your phone and it
literally says the emails that would give me so much anxiety.
I turned off all my little badge notifications so I
see no numbers on anything. It's setting you can do that.
It's literally it's almost better than any mindfulness app because
(42:36):
it's just clean. There's not that little red badge that
literally drives you nuts. Just go into not it's like, yeah,
I just turned all all of it and it's just like,
oh no, and I check my email when I need
to check my email, not when that little stupid number
goes up. I think I'm gonna start telling people like, hey,
if you want to book things, appointments, blah blah blah,
whatever it is you need for me, let me know
on Monday and I'll go from there and then if
(42:59):
I don't see it. I I also started telling people
in and outside of radio, I don't respond to business
after five pm. So if he texts me, hey, lot,
can you do this real quick tomorrow or dadda, don't
expect me to respond, I'm not gonna do it. I
need my sanity, like I'm not gonna let the phone
control me. I'm not gonna let anybody control me like that.
It's just out of hand. Now. How accessible you are,
(43:22):
how people can hit you up on your social media
and talk about business, hit you on email, talk about business,
hit you on text and talk about business, and I'm
at home with my niece, you know, And it's my
niece's time, and that's more valuable to me than anything.
I won't think about anything else at the end of
my life except for these moments when my family friends.
(43:43):
So for me, it's like, well, fuck this email and
your text message and your deadline. Yo, it should have
got handled. I'm somebody who will take the thing and
I will handle it right there and then we'll move on.
But if it didn't get handled, I'm literally going to
let that be your problem, thank you. I'm not gonna
do it. And I don't know if this is just
a radio thing. So if this doesn't apply to anyone's job,
(44:05):
who is listening, I'm sorry, but it's got it has
to it some but it is a thing in radio
where there's like a fire email, like it just goes off,
like we gotta put this fire out. I need you
to do this. And I'm like, if your job makes
you have a job email, this applies to you. Yeah,
you're right, So like, no matter what job you have,
I'm sure Chick fil A got you on an email.
(44:27):
I'm sure you know your state job's got you on
an email, whatever it is. And everyone Scott is something
that's got to get done, like right now, or the
building's gonna burn down. It's like, no, it's not, that's
what that's I'm like, it's not gonna burn down. And
if we're smart, we could work around this and it
doesn't need to be crazy like this. So yeah, I'm
not gonna I'm just not participating in that anymore and
(44:48):
not at all. I'll let you know if that really
works out for me in the year or not, if
we're still having this conversation. If I'm not here no more,
you you can listen back to this podcast and go
that that's where sheep. That was it the Monday thing,
that moment famous last words, Monday's I'm gonna try it
to and see what happens. Like this girl is a diva. No,
(45:10):
I'm just trying to live my life. Back up, bitch,
take a note. If you're mad, maybe you should do
your ship on Monday too. That way you won't be
so mad, and then you'll know where I'm coming from.
I love this idea. I'm gonna I'm gonna slowly test
it out and I will report back to you and
let you know how it goes. So with any business,
and he comes branding, how did you sit down and
(45:30):
say I want this to be my logo? Was that
you who created it? Did someone else create your logo?
Because I love it? My boyfriend and I did it
really photoshop or yeah? He created something. There was lots
of versions, and I liked all of them because I'm
one of those people that's like, make a decision and go.
So I was like, yes, that, let's go. And he
would keep tinkering with it and be like what about this.
(45:51):
I'm like, yeah, that's great, let's go and then he
would keep messing with it. And then finally, now we've
realized that we do that, like all agree to things
really early on, and then he'll keep tinkering, and then
we'll revisit, and then there will always be a moment
where we look at each other and be like, oh,
that's it. And so yeah, once once he involved the surfboard,
(46:12):
and the surfboard has like a little wave, and then
I saw he changed the fund a couple of times.
But there was one final time where I was like, Yo,
that's it, Like that's the one, and I just knew
and that you know, it was just us. We've created everything,
even the little pans we did, the art work, I mean,
everything has been us. It's probably smart to sit on
something too. If that's gonna be your brand, that's gonna
(46:33):
be your logo, it's not like make it and then okay,
print church with it. It's probably a smart thing as
a business owner to kind of live with it for
a little bit, stare at it a few times before
you print, and yeah, quit your job. You'll have lots
of time to go, Yeah, well, is there anything else
you want to leave anyone with? Because this has been
(46:55):
I say this often, but this really I think as
I relate to you on so many levels. In the
radio world, one of my absolute favorite conversations. We can
talk for hours. I think, yeah, yeah, yeah, I tend
to do that too. I could talk to everybody for
a long time, So no, I would just say, if
you're interested in supporting Mahallow made Um, if you're a
graphic artist and you want to see your art on something,
(47:16):
I'm always looking to involve other people who do art
and see what your ideas interpretations are of what we do.
So at um Mahallow made at Gmail. You can email
us there if you heard something that you like, or
if you feel like you can add to something, let
me know. Maybe you're thinking of something that I couldn't
think of. But I hope that if you're listening, that
you have a plan, that you make a plan, that
(47:39):
you get people on your team that like your plan,
that want to see you win. And I hope that
you don't stay anywhere where you're not happy for too long,
because now that I look back, you know I always
thought you you fear so often, especially the darkest parts
of the journey, you think, what if I look back
and go that's the time that I messed up and
I shouldn't have done that. You know that. I think
that was my biggest fear, was looking back and being like, man,
(48:01):
maybe I shouldn't have done that. And I am here
to tell you that I'm not through with my journey.
I'm still in the midst of it. But as I
look back, I think the number one thing I feel
now is why didn't I leave sooner? Wow? Well, thank
you so so much. Follow her. It's at the Lady Law.
You can follow Mahallow made. It's at Mahallow Made It
and you can listen to her on one of four
(48:22):
seven Kiss FM on our I Heart Radio app three
d a p m. Local time for Phoenix, or if
you're in Phoenix, put it on. Listen, call her, say hi,
spread the love. I'm here. Thank you Mahallow, You guys,
thank you.
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