On today's episode of Gathering the Kings. What do you think is inside of you that gives you that learn it all spirit Chaz that willingness to go after those areas that maybe don't know or even continue to press into the areas that maybe you've got 30 years in. I wanna succeed. You know, what? You wanna seat.
And what you don't know, you don't know, and either you have people on your team that know it, but I know I'm not gonna be an expert in everything, and I hire the rate people to do those things, but I need to know a little bit. And I wanna succeed for my not only for myself, my partner, my employees that I have now and that I will I want us I want us to be a stable, successful, robust company. You have to look into all different aspects of your business.
My favorite course is to sit and, like, zone out and get in my creative world and come up with my stories and look on my catalog. But know I have to put them inside sometimes. It's on a different hat and dive into that and learn what I don't know. You are listening to gathering the king's Chaz Wolfe, featuring fellow 78 and even 9 figure business owners who have real battle scars from business and life. But have prevailed as the king that they are designed to be.
We welcome high performing entrepreneurs to the stage in order to reveal the reel of the reel. On what it takes to build a successful business today. Assess and how you too can get there. Through this dialogue, you will learn the value of growing your network and surrounding yourself with power players and kings like today's guest. Grab your pen and notebook because we're about to dive in. What's up, everybody? I'm Chaz Wolfe, gathering the king's podcast.
Today, I've got Sarah Fulmer here on the King stage as a queen. Hello, Sarah. How are you? I'm great. How are you? Just incredible. That's a Wednesday. Right? Like, what other day would we be doing this incredible conversation between you and and me. And so I'm just excited for all that you're building. Like, I was just telling you off the recording. I was taking a look at your website. I have a young kiddos, specifically young daughters.
And I I need to keep them away from your side, but in all seriousness, I'm I'm honored that you're here, and super excited about the energy and creative juices that you're gonna bring to this conversation, Sarah, tell us what kind of business that you have. So I have a a gift business. So I'm in the gifted gift industry, wholesale, and direct to consumer. The categories are toy seasonal decor. Those are our categories that we mainly focus on. Love it.
And so they're that those are big categories. Yes. Yes. They're big Give me, you know, I'm I'm looking at some pretty incredible products here on the screen, but give us, you know, like, a 30 second, maybe 60 second, you know, intro to the brand and, you know, a little bit more about those categories. Sure. Well, the brand is Monomy, which is French for my friends, and I have a whole background where I came up with that name. But, basically, we, you know, dolls, plush toys, and seasonal.
Is is our background. I I came up with this. I do have a business partner, but it honestly just stars aligns and I knew I need I wanted to do something on my own. I have a design background. I've been a designer for 20 some years, 25 years. From the corporate level. And I kinda took everything I knew and applied it to myself. I found a wonderful manufacturer who can make these gorgeous creations, and we work together to create Monomy.
So I I I was always told in my corporate background that I'm like the queen of cute. I have an illustration. Like, I'm I'm actually an artist. You know, I'm not I don't consider myself a salesperson, but I just love beautiful things. And creating beautiful things and making people happy. And kids definitely are happy.
It is such a joy when you see I'm at a trade show, or we sell to a lot of bow big ballet Belly is like Atlanta ballet, and all the kids have her choice in the audience, and it's just such a joy Yeah. To see the the smiles that put on people's faces Yeah. It's a big impact. We're I definitely wanna get to Chaz. But you're you're a 100% right. You're spoken like a true artist, loving beautiful things, and you're creating things.
And so I'm excited to get to know a little bit more about that story and kinda how all that came together, but I wanna know before we get into the nitty gritty of of the business and you and how you guys started. I wanna know why. Why are you why are you doing this? Why? What's the bigger picture for you? What's that, like, deep down in you that wakes you up every Well, why?
I mean, plain and simple, I need to make a living, but I wanna make a living at something doing something that I love passionate about. And You know, I I feel lucky that I've my whole career has been in the creative sector, but I actually could make a I made a good doing it. And I got to learn so much. Yeah. And there's just nothing else I Wolfe wanna do. Like, I just could not imagine Not creating. And my background is mostly children's and kids and seasonal Christmas.
Like, I just, you know, love that. Yeah. So I you know, this is what I wanna do for a living. And if I, you know, I need to make a living and, you know, I'm happy that I can do something that I love, and that's why I just you know, strive to do.
Yeah. Yeah. There's there's several categories, you know, of of owners and the fulfillment piece for you is what I hear coming through, just this deep seated, like, man, if I'm gonna do if I'm gonna spend time, money, effort on something, I'm gonna do it you know, in a way Chaz, brings me joy. Absolutely. And other people joy. I mean, it's just selling. I mean, even though I'm not a salesperson just selling in which means doing trade shows, working with sales agencies.
It's it just makes me happy. It makes other people happy, and it's just, you know, You know, I'm I I always say, like, I'm not, like, you know, I'm not saving the world with this. I'm not inventing anything, but, like, people wanna be happy and they wanna do things that make them happy. And, you know, I have a great team of people and, you know, everyone goes to work and they enjoy it. I think that, you know, the gift industry is unique in that way.
I'm in I'm in a similar vein with some of our franchises, edible arrangements, course, we send gifts in a completely different way, but you're right Chaz, man, when we make a delivery and you know it's edible arrangements coming up the driveway or when we call you or whatever. It's like, like, really me? Like, like, me? Yes. Really? And so and and, of course, we talk about it with our clients. Like, people don't buy fruit baskets. They buy they buy a wow. They w they're sending love.
They're sending a wow. They're sending an emotion an expression from one heart to another, and that's that's an, in essence, what you have as well. You get to You're totally right. Mhmm. Mhmm. It's very similar. Mhmm. Love that. Love that. Okay. So I wanna hear about the story. Like, corporate background. You you were it sounds like pretty successful in that, but you left it all to to to build your own brand. Tell me tell me about that. Absolutely.
Yeah. I mean, honestly, I I feel like the stars always kind of aligned and networking has really kinda got me to wear IEM, and I have the backgrounds in fine art. I grew up outside of New York City. So I was lucky where I had all these opportunities of different kinds of jobs at my finger's tip. So that that really if I didn't have that to start, it would it would probably wouldn't have turned out this way. My backgrounds, I just I I have an art degree in fine arts.
And at the time, I landed a job as an assistant designer, and they they liked my creativity. And they said, we would rather show you the ropes on manufacturing, sales, how it all works. So I learned it all on the job. And, again, I feel like I just been lucky where You know, I've had a few core corporate jobs prior to this, and they all kinda fell in my lap. I wasn't really looking, but I always thought a when the opportunity came about. If I felt good about it, I should take it to learn more.
And it kept just, you know, going and going to get to where I am today. And honestly, I I moved down to Atlanta from New York for a job, a corporate job, and that's where I ended up learning the gift industry because it's the huge hub is in Atlanta. And I didn't know anything about it. I just knew I actually designed children's clothing. That's what I did for, like, 20 years, but then I learned the gift business.
And I live right near America smart, and that's how I got into the gift side of the bit the industry. And I just decide I ended up becoming a consultant working for different brands, whether it was designing or consulting with merchandising, and that's how I actually ended up doing one of me. It was somebody I was consulting for and who manufactured this could manufacture. And we took our backgrounds. Everything we knew and applied, like, let's just do it ourselves, and we did it.
In 2019. We're not that old. 2019, right before COVID hit. And I quickly put a show together dotdovendtowholesale, and The rest was history. Yeah. So we just I just took the bull by the horns, and we I said, like, I'm gonna put everything to the side and just focus on this because I really believed in this and Yeah. You know, it's worked out. You know, it's interesting because you you've mentioned a couple times, you know, that the stars aligned.
And I and I and I totally receive that that feeling because I think that every entrepreneur who's at least honest with themselves recognizes that They didn't necessarily put every piece together. Like, you you're not responsible for it all, and some things just happened to line up and you were in the right place at the right time. However, in those circumstances, if you really dissect them, if you really break down what you just told us is that Mhmm.
You had positioned yourself properly through learning all these different skill sets through your career Chaz you were, you know, open minded to the idea of moving across the country changing your environment, meeting new people, that you had strategically met people, maybe that you weren't necessarily looking to build a business with, but You were open minded and you were building relationships with the right people.
So when the time came and you thought, man, Then it wasn't even just like oh, like, just it combusted and it came together. You said, I put everything else to the side. You said it so casually. It's so simple. But so profounded the same moment that you wouldn't be where you are today if you hadn't have done that. And so I just wanna point it out for the listener that even though the stars did align, I agree. There was some alignment.
There was some positioning that you did prior at that helped those stars come into agreement And I think that if the listener is paying attention and they also can be honest with themselves, that they feel the same way about their story, it doesn't mean that you did anything more or less than you did. It just is what it is, and we're you can look back in the history and go, okay. Well, Yeah. You're right. That was that was a great connection, and I don't necessarily deserve to know that person.
But I stuck out my hand, and I introduce myself. I did the podcast. I did whatever, and now we have this incredible story to be able to tell. So that's just super encouraging. What would you like to share on this? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, your total your you hit the nail on the head. And what I what I wanted to add to that is sometimes you have a star in front of you, and you don't realize something, but, like, look at it deeper. So this is like a I love to tell this little story.
People was, how did you get into your career? Like, the Barrett, like, graduated college, early twenties back in the day before, you know, Google and everything. So we looked for jobs in the newspaper. Right. So I was knew I went to do some creative. I used to I was creating gifts, and I was trying to do some things on my side.
And I was painting, and I laid down newspaper, to paint my next project, and I put my pen my my paint brush down, and there was a job posting looking for summer interns in children's industry. Chaz is how I got my first job. So if I if I I would have never known about it. So it's like, it started there. And then those little things that just What came in in front of me, I always kind of oh, it's a sign. And I kept you know, I looked into it to see if it was the right decision.
So that's always We'll say, how did you get into that? Yeah. I just happened to put my paintbrush down over a job ad. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's funny that you say it's a sign and and that you also then agreed that you that you stepped forward into that because it is both. It's the acknowledgement of the sign. And then you stepping through it. I remember, you know, listening a guy that I used to work for many years ago, and and he told this story about how he was gonna quit, basically.
That's the MS of the story, and he was looking for a sign, and he saw a license plate or he he saw something that made him think of a city and I'll I'll go to that city and see if I can sell my next contract. And and he did, and and basically, he can look back to that moment and recognize, like, from that trip, And that client forward, it was just different. And so he says, you know, like, maybe it was a sign. Maybe I just didn't wanna quit, though.
And I was, like, searching for the reason not to quit, whether it was a sign or not. I was looking. And so that's what I hear in your story. It's like, okay. Absolutely. Mhmm. Yeah. You you okay. The circumstances, you couldn't script out where you were gonna put your pay brush, but No. No. You read it. You went after it. You did like, you were gonna look in. You know? Yeah. Yeah. I just did it. It's not like I had this plan when I was in college. I'm gonna do this.
And that everything was signs and just following my gut. You know, I had I had no help in my industry. I don't have parents that are creative. They come from corporate. Like, they, you know, nobody I don't have anyone to even relate Yeah. That could relate to me and my family that helped guided me, so I have to do it on my end. Well, I wanna dive into, you know, a little bit more of your journey in the on the business side and and some cool things you've done along the way.
Just the the markings of where you've gotten so far are just really, really encouraging. So thank you for sharing. I wanna know along your journey here, you said you're not that old, but you're, you know, you're worth cracking up on 4 years or so of business. Mean, you guys are crushing. Right? So, otherwise, you wouldn't be here.
What was a good decision that you made in the last few years that you can look back on almost that that turning point, if you Wolfe, like, we did this, and that was so good. Well, you know, the one thing when I was when we started into wholesale and I just at the last minute, just threw this together. It was July 2019. It did so well so happy. We kept going. January 2020 Chaz our next trade show opened up some big accounts and COVID hits. And it was like, oh my god.
And on top of it, my manufacturing is overseas. So Yeah. Yeah. Everything's a buck. Oh my gosh. It's over. Like, it's over before it even starts. But we really, like, hunkered down and luckily, my business partner Chaz insight into everything going on. We were able to strategize and we completely made it through. Almost unscathed. Like, I just we just stuck to it, and we just kept going. And like, okay.
There'll, you know, this there's there's something we have to learn from this, and we were just lucky that, like, we've got our goods out on time, and we still delivered, and we just offered in enough time with shipping. And, again, that's like our background's knowing. We gotta deal with the manufacturing and what we need to do and what's going on overseas, you know, to get things on, you know, here on time. And, you know, we still made it through. So that was a huge Purdles Chaz we overcame.
Yeah. And and so I heard a couple things in there that were fairly practical. I wanna point out to the listener. I heard number 1 that you mastermind. You got you put your head together with your partner and said, hey. We gotta figure this out. It wasn't oh, it's time to fold up shop. It was Okay. Pin the paper because we done burnt the bridge. We gotta figure it out. And so you know, the, I guess, the, I guess, the fortitude of we're not going that way.
We we have to go this way, so we will sit down until we figure it out. And then I also heard you say you you you pivoted or you moved or you wiggled. You tried this. You try you're like, you just kept going based on your experience. You tried to get ahead of it. Like, okay.
So whether it's timing, whether it's the, you know, the actual manufacturer themselves, whether it's the ship, like, all these things, these components, based on your knowledge, you went further in and you tried to, you know, tried to control the situation or at least get ahead of it. Would you like to add anything to to what I pulled out there? Well, you know, The other thing to that too is is everyone obviously was in a panic, and we had a few different sales reps that we were using.
They're like, oh, nobody is gonna want anything. Everyone wants you know, face masks. That's what you have to manufacture. Nobody is interested in dolls and plush. And, you know, as soon as but it actually turned to be the opposite. Like, we had just aligned with a huge online partner who is who it's just been like a perfect fit for us for b to c. We're killing it. They said we have thousands of brands. You are our top 10 this year.
Wow. And because people did want, they With everything going on, they were more turning to toys and dolls and things to comfort their children and themselves. You know, it just made them happy. So it was like, okay. We thought no one's gonna care about this stuff. Everyone's, you know, worried about health, which she should be, but with that comes, people still have the needs for this, and they still wanted it. And our our skills did not, you know, diminish at all. I mean, it kept going.
From this. So sometimes it's like you just have to, like, just look around, like, something negative in front of you. How do you spin it to be You know what you're selling? You're not selling a doll. You're not selling, you know, a Christmas decoration. Oh, I did. You're selling joy. You're selling happiness. Yeah. Yeah. You know? And and so when you know what you sell it and this is applicable to the listener.
This is why I'm saying is because I've had these conversations with mastermind members. I can speak specifically remember one where he does, he does big water features, like, huge fountains and, like, beautifully a couple $100,000 projects in these people's backyards, just incredible stuff that he does. And and we're talking about the economy and just stuff. And he's like, you know, that's discretionary. Like, people don't need that. And I go, well, no. Oh, wait a second.
What they do need is peace. What they do need is to be able to host other people because that's how they joy. And when they host other people, they wanna go to the backyard and see a beautiful thing. And or, in this case, it's COVID or whatever's happening in the in the market that's relating to their service says they still need joy. And so when you know, when you're dialed into what you're actually selling, like you were, you you weren't phased by the, oh, let's jump over here and sell masks.
No. Like, we're selling joy. People still need joy. In fact, if anything, they need it more than ever. Let's press in. Yes. Exactly. Love it. Let's flip the coin. Sarah, I wanna know of a bad decision that you made. Something's sticky. It was terrible. We can learn from it. What'd you do? Oh, jeez. I I would say maybe just not kinda jumping too quickly in in certain decisions. And nothing that was too detrimental, but, like, making the right partnerships or, you know, with with sales.
You know, I've I have I have to use several sales reps, and Well, it it was a good I waited for a while to find the right people, but at the beginning, I started with panic, and I was, like, jumping and, you know, okay. Okay. I'll go with this this agency or this person. And I I should have stepped back a little bit and just waited, which I ended up starting to do later. And then and it worked out, you know, well.
That that's really the only thing that I just kind of jumping the gun a little bit too quickly and making decisions when you should just, like, wait a little bit and wait for that opportunity. That's interesting that that I mean, my my follow-up question a lot of times to the bad decision is what have you learned and how do you have a, like, what process of decision making do you have now?
Which kind of feeds right into what you were just saying is that maybe you were making haste decisions are too quick. What what do you do now that's that you've learned not to do? Or It's really just, like, waiting. Waiting till I feel like in my gut that it's the right decision, you know, not not going too quickly. I mean, you can we could do so many things. We could, you know, put everything into just direct to consumer, everything here.
And it's just like, you you've gotta take your time and And I don't maybe it's like that star alignment, which that's that that sign again to be the right thing. And maybe I'm just so used to waiting for these signs. So I just, like, Just just wait for the sign and then jump. Yeah. Well, I I I mean, there's, like, 3 major principles of success that you've just given to us so casually. I just love how You just it just flows out of you. It's it's incredible, actually.
I I think that it's encouraging to the listener for them to hear this because you're talking about basically trying to go too fast or trying to make something out of nothing. And and there's like, we look. We got we got stuff to do. We got goals to hit. We got we got projects. They're, you know, product that needs to go out. We need to be shipped. We need to be growing our sales. Like, There's still, like, there's this robust, like, I need to grow and push.
But what I'm hearing you saying is not making emotional decisions based on urgency. Like, don't hurry up quick and do it just because, like, we just gotta hurry up quick. Like Mhmm. What's the strategy or where's the sign? Do like, be have a little bit more poise. Is that is that what you're saying? Yes. Yes. Yeah. Take your time. I mean, again, there's sometimes there's a sense where you've gotta find that person or you've got to You make that decision.
But, you know, if to me, it's like, if you're getting along, okay, wait for the right thing. Until, you know, just wait for the right thing before you jump and it's too quickly. And because usually Chaz involves people. You don't wanna make the the wrong decision when you're dealing with people's you know, livelihoods, if it's a hiring decision or if it's just a strategy decision.
But so it when it's people, I'm very cautious because I never wanna put anyone in position where, oh, it was a mistake. You know, I want them to feel comfortable with us, and we feel comfortable with them. And so I never wanna rush those decisions. Yeah. Especially when you said one thing else that really stuck out to me, you said when the stars align, you you go ahead and jump.
And so someone might have heard you say, like, just wait slow down, slow the process, but maybe they hurt they missed you saying, but when it aligns, when you get the sign, You gotta go. You gotta jump. And so Mhmm. There's just there's just two worlds of, like, slow pace, kinda, like, wait for it to all fall into place for you, and then there's hurry up quick, make it all happen myself.
And what I'm hearing you say is, like, blending these two worlds together of waiting for certain things, having poised, especially when it comes to people, like, having some reverence for the weight of the decision, but also, but when when you got the information and it's clear, like, Go. Yeah. Yep. Good. I love it. Okay. That's how I, you know, I I I tend to work, and it's worked for me so far. Sec. I'd say it's working pretty good.
Okay. Okay. Well, Sarah, I wanna go to our speed round here and ask you some some maybe different angle questions. Okay. First one's about KPIs and tracking, and I wanna know if you could only pick one thing to track in your gift business that's just absolutely exploding. I know it is I know it needs to be sales, but, again, like, I'm going back to that emotion. Again, for me, no matter what, it's like when people, I don't know, I meet with my cuff customers, and they are so happy and excited.
That, like, that is the icing on the cake. Like, I just can't without Chaz. You know, just my trade shows, working with my sales reps. I just love working with people and then training people. But that To me is, like, success. When people come in, we can't we can't even decide what we want or you're something just so happy and, like, the messages we get from stores. It's just Right. I just like, that's the icing for me. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty incredible.
Is there a way that you track that emotion for you? Like, is it is it like a do you have to get a daily shot, a daily dose, you know, of of that feedback or that measurement? Like, how how are you getting that to where you know that it's Like, what you're doing is getting that result on a regular basis. Well, I wouldn't say deal. I mean, my only daily is, you know, I do I do the social media myself. So I do my diagram.
I can see what's going on, but it's during my, you know, for us, it's it's the seasonal markets that we have to do. So that's always the big twice a year. We have our markets, and I'm going to all our different showrooms and working with everybody. But then it's on You meet with, like, your sales teams and see what's going on, get positive feedback. So it's not daily, but I would say, you know, at least quarterly or once a month, For sure. For sure. Yeah. Well, that's great.
Gave us some some some practicals there. I think that's, you know, for the for the folks listening right now, who maybe aren't in the design business like you or the gift industry. And maybe they're, you know, a marketing firm, or maybe they're, you know, contractor or you know, in a myriad of different things. Right? How do they take what you just said, which is, you know, the the ultimate result of client fulfillment or the expression of happiness or joy of what they do.
Like, How can they incorporate that into their business if they're maybe trying to figure out how to track that or how to incorporate maybe a more importance of that piece of the business? You know, I'd think for something that's not designed, something tangible like that. Mine is also just like the relationships you have with work, your staff, or people that you work with, Yeah. And building a great relationship with them.
Because even when you don't have, you know, you're if you're not dealing with a product, having that joy of the people that you work with, and them wanting to be with you and wanting to support you. Yeah. That's that same joy. It's not applying to a product. But it's just like those relationships you build with your team or your customers. That's how I would get that joy. Yeah. It's a great answer. Hope the listener's paying attention. You're giving them good stuff.
Next question here, Sarah, for you, is, what book or resource would you recommend for a business owner trying to Well, so I just finished a book, obsessed by Emily Hayward. It's about building a brand. Again, I'm I'm building a brand. So it's it's about building brands people love and what they respond to, which is what I what I say that I'm good at. Yeah. You know, I also did after, you know, again, having a creative background. I also, when I first started, I wanted to learn more.
I'd love basically on the Emory University Campus, not far down the road. And I started taking brand and marketing classes on the side just so I could I would learn, you know, other because I need to do everything. I need to know manufacturing, marketing, design, sales, everything. So anything that I it's not my Forte. I try to learn more, whether it's taking a class or reading a book.
What what do you think is inside of you that gives you that, like, learn it all spirit Chaz that willingness to go after those areas that maybe you don't know or even continue to press into the areas that maybe you've got 30 years in. Mhmm. Well, I I, you know, I wanna succeed, you know, what you wanna succeed and you know that you, you know, what you don't know, you don't know, and either you have people on your team that know it.
But I I know I'm not gonna be an expert in everything, and I hire the right people to do those things, but I need to know a little bit And I wanna succeed for my not only for myself, my partner, my employees that I that I have now, and that I will Like, I want us, you know, I want us to be a stable, successful, robust company. And I know, you know, you have to just You have to look into all different aspects of your business.
I mean, even though I love my favorite courses to sit and, like, zone out and get in my creative world will come up with my stories and look on my catalog, but I know I have to put them on the side sometimes to put on my on a different Chaz. And dive into that and learn what I don't know. Yeah. Love the just the humility there, for wanting to learn. What do you think about intentionally net working or even master mining with other entrepreneurs? I love it.
I actually have this little this group that I was asked to join a couple years ago. It's called Deep South Social, and we're a bunch of entrepreneurs mostly in the gift business. We meet every every month. And you you exchange successes failures. We work together on marketing, and it's great. We all have different businesses, and we all have different backgrounds. So I love that. I love that. I we have our little group, and then go into my trade shows. I'm around all these other entrepreneurs.
I love taking what I know and helping them. I I do know that I am lucky that I do have a, you know, longevity with a career to have more insight than someone who's maybe had a totally different background. They came up with something they wanna do. They don't have any knowledge. So I I work with other entrepreneurs all the time. Other people have other brands. Yeah. I have a I have, you know, people in my neighborhood that do similar things that I do. We meet, and then we just exchange ideas.
Yeah. It's incredible. I love what you just said too, you know, about you you you you're very you're very sly with these these things that you're sneaking in here. You just gave the depiction of being able to collaborate as this peer to peer. We do the exact same thing with gathering the Kings. Like, everybody, 7 and 8 figures. Okay. Cool. So, like, we're at the same level. You're gonna know things gonna know things we can collaborate back and forth as peer to peer level. I love that.
But then you also said one other thing that that I resonate with as well, but I think every business owner at cert a certain point. At least maybe 7. Maybe it's a bigger business, but you realize that helping the new person is just as impactful.
And what you said there is that maybe they have a different background, AKA, maybe they don't have the same knowledge that I do because I spent, you know, 20 years in a in a career or whatever, But you still get juice from that relationship, from that squeeze of the effort, a be even though even though you're giving that other person, your 20 years of experience.
It's the same thing that we're doing right now here on the show is Chaz, you know, we we get to grow together today by helping, you know, the thousands of people who are gonna listen to this episode. At the same time too, though, we position ourselves to be able to receive Whether it be from each other today or whether it be from other connections that happen from this, it's like we both know that we're gonna get something out of it, even if it's positioned to where we're giving.
Wolfe you like to say a bit further on that? You're you're totally right. You know, I and I never look. I never, like, looking for anything per se, you know, but You know, I I would maybe collaborate with somebody who has a brand that's so even different from mine. And and something always seems to work out. I helped them with something. Hey. I mean, something as simple as to be honest at my last trade show in Atlanta, which is my biggest market, I ended up getting the flu.
I mean, this is, like, my nightmare because And I'm like, okay. Now I have to get more help. And it's like, I said, hey. You know what? I know some people, and they found somebody for me to help do my booth. And it was just like, thank god. Things so simple like Chaz, but, like, you know, you just never know when you need those resources or you need help. And then to have other people to reach out to because they probably they might have connections. Yeah. It's a big deal.
It's a big deal, especially when in those moments where you don't ask for a bunch a lot. And then when you do make that ask and then people just flood to the opportunity to take care of you. Yeah. And it could be something so simple like that. I just needed I need a body to be in, like, our in our brand. But if it's because I have the flow, that's Yep. And it works. Yeah. It's a it's a big deal. I'm sure.
But like you said, simple request, but But there are a lot of business owners may not have had the network, you know, to be able to to find that. So it's pretty cool. I got a question for you about family.
I know Chaz, say, you, you know, you're building a brand alongside of your family and, you know, the the dynamic of having, you know, a change go from corporate to being a business owner and were even talking, you know, before the recording started and how you got set up in there for the recording and how your husband's always on recordings and, you know, you guys are doing this collaboration thing, and he's doing his thing. You're doing your thing.
And and there's a family dynamic that entrepreneurs we all have a family, obviously. But as entrepreneurs, it to me, it's just heightened, like, because there's this intensity that we run at in business. Mhmm. And so my question to you is is how do you go hard after your marriage and your family as intensely as you do about the business because I that's what my balance there you know, that's my belief is balance is kinda like, you know, throw it out the window.
We just gotta go hard at all of it. How do you do that? Yeah. I mean, it is difficult. I mean, I do. I think also from having corporate backgrounds and that when you have, like, the time off, but you never brought your work home with you. Like, I never, like, the bad has been that's been so far out the window. I I can't even remember the last time, but, I mean, I worked the majority at home. So everyone's kind of around each other.
You know, one big thing that has been great and actually, it it's not been I actually feel like I can be around my family more now than I could when I worked at a corporate career because I work for myself at home. I can go, like, my I don't really have any family down here. So I can go up to New York area and stay with my parents for 2, 3 weeks at a time if I need to. I get to see my nieces and my sister upstate.
So I actually have more freedom, and I can see my family waking more now than I could if I was back in my corporate jobs. Like, I would never be able to do this. Yeah. You know, suppose my parents are, oh, you don't live here anymore. I'm like, I would never be able to come up here and help you with the knee surgery and be up here for 3 weeks at a time if I had to pull up a job. Yeah. So I can take my computer and work from anywhere, which I feel I feel like being an entrepreneur now.
I get to spend work time with everybody than I did before. Yeah. Yeah. And and there's obviously plenty of ways where you need to be in certain places at certain times. I mean, a business owner might be maybe that contractor example that I gave earlier might be thinking, well, I gotta be on the job site. Well, my my thought to that person would be Sarah's working on the business and you're not. Miss, if you're working on the business Chaz, no, you don't need to be on the job site.
Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much do the on business thing from anywhere. And and there's there's nuances to Chaz, like you said. However, I love the picture of freedom that you gave. And, also, it was an honest it was an honest, like, give and take because it was like, you know, we threw out the balance thing a long time ago because you're right. When you get rid of the job, things don't end at 5. Right?
Like, The business just keeps going all the time, but at the same time, there is a level of freedom and how we, like, bring these two things together, Yeah. To make it work for the family is a big deal. So that's encouraging. The last question I got here for you, Sarah, are you ready? Mhmm. Okay. I wanna know If you could whisper in the younger Sarah's ear. Alright. What would you say? I think just to to keep you know, believing and, like, you're on the right track as far as your career.
You know, everything that I love to do deep down inside. I never so I kept thinking, what am I gonna do? Oh, I can't do this kind of job. Who who makes gifts? I remember thinking that when I was young. Like, Who may who does this? Like, I just didn't know anything about it. Like, my my my college career did not prepare me for this at all. I it was just so and I just never thought I could do I thought I was gonna have an office job somewhere. I don't even know what.
Like, I never thought I could do something creative that I love and make a and make money out of it. And just that just stay on the tray, it actually will happen. It it can happen. So that's probably what I'd say because I did not think this would ever happen when I was young. Deeply encouraging, but you're right. It it it doesn't happen overnight. It's what I heard you say, but I also heard you say that you can do it. Yeah. Yeah. There there is opportunities out there. There are opportunities.
You just kinda have to make them happen. Yeah. Exactly. Sarah, how can the listener find you? Number 1, if they want to purchase any of the beautiful gifts that you sell, how can they how can they do that? But, also, how can they find you and just pick your brain as an entrepreneur? We do have a retail website, which is monameydashdesigns.com. We sell direct to consumer. You can also find us. We have over close to 2000 retailers across the United States. Canada International.
We sell to boutiques. We also sell to bigger brands, like anthropologie. So I sell to those kinds of you'll find me in there as well. And, yeah, I mean, You can honestly go on my website, and I'm always kinda online. You can go to my Instagram page, send me a DM. There's an email attached that as Wolfe. And you'll get me either any of those ways. I love it. We'll put all that in the show notes as well for people to be able to connect with you easily.
But, Sarah, you have given us an incredible journey and story. And and you gave it so casually. You just just one success principle after the other, like, you've been doing this your whole life because you have been. You've been living doing this thing your whole life. Thank you for being here, Sarah. We wish you nothing but blessing on your family, your business, your team, the whole thing that you have your hand to. Thank you for being here. Thank you.
Thank you for listening to Gathering the Kings today. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself doing it all on your own, carrying the way all by yourself. What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different industries and now interviewing literally over 2 or 300.
Other very successful 789 figure business owners is that It's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings literally exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs. In fact, we are putting together 1000 kings, specifically who are grateful, but not done.
We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities, and here's what we believe Chaz in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy. So if that relates in and resonates with you. And you know that you need people around you, sharp, qualified other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gatheringthekings.com.
I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings. Talk soon.