Her Story

elizabeth: 00:00

Today on her story, we have a true ecommerce powerhouse. She built and scaled her first brand, Live Infinitely, to 8 figures in annual revenue before selling it for a multimillion dollar paycheck. Not one to slow down, she's now building a new brand that generated nearly $4,000,000 in its first year. In addition to her ecommerce ventures, she cofounded a 7 figure digital marketing agency with her husband. Today, she travels and teaches others through her school community how to start, scale, and eventually sell their businesses.

elizabeth: 00:36

She is Alicia Reynoso, and this is her story. Alicia, welcome to the podcast. I'm so happy you're here.

alicia: 01:00

Thank you. Thank you. That was such a good intro. I really appreciate that. Thank you.

elizabeth: 01:04

How does it feel when, like, you know, I'm reading this and you're they're just listening to, like, all of your accomplishments.

alicia: 01:11

It's it's it's weird for sure. It's definitely weird, and it's a good reminder because I I still am sometime I I definitely have impostor syndrome all the time. And so, like, hearing all those things, I'm like, who's that? Who who are you talking about? It was so funny you

elizabeth: 01:27

say that. It's so funny you say that because every woman that I've interviewed so far is the same way. It's like they're they've built in all these amazing businesses, and they're still like, what? Like, no way. Like so it's it's been really cool to see these patterns, like, all these women that I've interviewed, and and I see patterns.

elizabeth: 01:51

And one of them is that, like, I'm still I still feel like it's not real. I still feel impostor syndrome. And I'm like, hell, that's crazy.

alicia: 01:59

It is it's a weird phenomenon for sure. And I do think women experience it a lot more. You know? I just I feel I don't know why, but I don't know if it's like a a mix between I don't I don't know. Like, humility maybe or just just being I'm not quite sure what it it is, but I've noticed it a lot more for sure in women.

alicia: 02:21

And I'm definitely getting a little bit better as it at it as I get older and more confident in myself and who I am. And I think that's the biggest thing is just confidence. Because there can definitely be proud of your accomplishments and own your accomplishments

elizabeth: 02:34

Right.

alicia: 02:34

And not be, like, boastful and, you know, arrogant about it. And I think there's there's a good line of that. I think that us as women, we just don't wanna be we wanna be more compassionate and

elizabeth: 02:46

Right. Yeah.

alicia: 02:47

For

elizabeth: 02:48

sure. Alright. So take us back to the to the beginning. Like, what inspired you to start your first brand, Live Infinitely? And did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

alicia: 03:02

Yeah. So I definitely always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. As a kid, I was door to door selling everything from candles, books, bake cookie and bake bake mixes. You know those mixes that you do? I was I was always selling something, you know, to to try to make money as a kid and and live infinitely.

alicia: 03:23

I I was just fascinated with the Internet. By the time I was, like, 13, my dad bought me my first laptop, and I was just like, the Internet is the future. You know what? I wanna make money. And I I started doing as a teenager just an insane amount of weird Craigslist gigs.

alicia: 03:41

It's not advised or recommended for young girls to ever do that. I think my mom, she when I tell her the stories now, she's like, you were doing what? But, like, if somebody needed Photoshop help on on Craigslist or, a photography gig or anything like that, I was picking up gigs. And I'm like, the Internet is so cool because you can learn so much and do so much. And so I spent my entire teenage years trying to figure it out, like, how I could build a business that would be sustainable for my future.

alicia: 04:11

And it started off with, like, building websites and trying affiliate marketing and blogs and stuff like that. So then I just one day got an email about the opportunity to sell on Amazon. And I had been doing affiliate links at that time to Amazon. So I knew it was a thing, but I didn't know really that you could sell your own stuff yet. And I got this email that was like, hey.

alicia: 04:35

You can build. There's Amazon FBA, and so you don't have to ship your own things. I just learned about this whole thing, and I was, I wanna say, 20 years old around that time, when I got that email. And I was like, this is it. You know?

alicia: 04:49

I I I want to build, like, a brand. And when I saw that email, I knew that was the the the path that I wanted to take.

elizabeth: 04:59

Okay. So so you started, like, really quite young on the Internet and, you know, with your side hustles and everything. Did you did you ever work somewhere else, or did you just went straight into entrepreneurship?

alicia: 05:15

I had one well, I had two real jobs in my life. One, when I graduated high school, like, the day of graduation, I started this job. Excuse me. And that was, like, phone calls at, like, a desk, and I quit in three weeks because I I it's like a nine to five, like, sucked the soul out of me. And I was like, I just couldn't do it.

alicia: 05:36

And in that time period, I was doing photography from 14 to to, you know, till I graduated. So I was doing, you know, senior pictures and weddings and a bunch of stuff just to make money as well as, like, modeling. I did a lot of modeling in my teenage years. And so modeling and photography is how I made most of my money as a teenager. And then I got my first real job, and I just hated it.

alicia: 06:01

And then, when I was 19, I actually went and worked for Disney World. I flew from living in Utah, flew to Florida, and did, like, a five month internship at Disney World, which was amazing, but I got fired Oh. From Disney World. I don't know if a lot of people know that. I don't I don't I

elizabeth: 06:19

don't think I've ever heard you tell that story. So what happened?

alicia: 06:22

Yeah. I was just a a young 19 year old just just living it up, and I got fired, like, a week before my program ended. So it was it was right at the end of it. Yeah. But my friends, you know, they all wanted to go to the parks, and you can't go to the parks.

elizabeth: 06:37

You

alicia: 06:37

can't you can't call off work and go to the parks and use your benefits, and I did that. And it was against the world.

elizabeth: 06:44

But

alicia: 06:44

I was just I was just young and dumb. And so got fired from Disney, and then, I was a a traveling photographer from, like, '19 to '20 where I took pictures for dancers, you know, and I would go to different so that was my other actually, I had three year old jobs then. This is great. And I'm like, I don't actually know. So I had three year old jobs.

alicia: 07:06

Phone call job that I, like, I quit in three weeks, Disney World that I got fired at, and then my photography job. And I loved that job because it allowed me to travel. And

elizabeth: 07:17

You had a little bit more freedom.

alicia: 07:19

Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, we would go out with just, like, my mom or my uncle. I built, like, my own crew. And so we were kind of like our own bosses, and that was what I really I knew I thrived in of just, like, having the freedom to to do my thing.

alicia: 07:34

And I and I loved it. And so that's how between, like, just modeling gigs as a teenager and photography, that's how I saved up all my money to launch my business. But so three real jobs.

elizabeth: 07:46

Yeah. K. Well, I mean, growing a brand and doing what you do is also a real job. So

alicia: 07:53

Yeah. Yeah. That's what takes

elizabeth: 07:54

me do. Work.

alicia: 07:56

Yeah. Definitely.

elizabeth: 07:59

Alright. So when you started like, you started selling on Amazon, did you started selling, like, just different products, or did you always knew you wanted to launch a brand? And what were those initial challenges that you faced when you decided, okay. I'm gonna launch this brand.

alicia: 08:21

Yeah. So, I took the amazing sewing machine course. I bought that, you know, when I was when I when I got the email to learn about this experience. And, that course, I I don't know if they still sell it. They start they were selling it for a long time, but that course kinda taught you how to look for products, based off of best seller best seller rank on Amazon.

alicia: 08:42

Mhmm. And, I wanted to find something either with photography or fitness or outdoors, because those were my three passions. And so I was just looking at products in the sports and outdoors, section or the photography section. So it came down to, like, picture frames, kinda like the AuraFrame now, how they, like, have the pictures. I'm like, You know, I was almost on off of that path.

alicia: 09:04

But Okay. But that was what I was down to. Was like a digital picture frame or something in sports and outdoors. And so I was doing I did this Amazon conference for the amazing sewing machine in July of twenty fourteen. And it was like, okay.

alicia: 09:23

Here's how you do your product research. So I researched, and I found, like, cooling towels were just, like, hot. And I'm like, oh, this is great. This works for hiking. It works for sports.

alicia: 09:31

Like, it it really fits, you know, my passion. So based off of the best sellers rank, that's how I chose, you know, the cooling towel, and that was my very, very first product that I ever sold online. And it was cheap too because I was just broke. Know? I had, like, $10,000, and five of it went into the course since I had five more for inventory.

alicia: 09:54

And so I had to figure out a product that I could order enough of, but where it was extremely affordable, and the cooling towel really checked all those boxes. But that's how I picked that, the first product.

elizabeth: 10:04

Okay. Well, I was gonna ask you about that because I've heard you heard I've heard you tell this story before. Tell us the story about the cooling towel and why did it flop.

alicia: 10:16

Yeah. So I you know, I'm researching it in the the heat of July, and I'm like, oh, you know, this is a this is a hot product. This is great. And so I placed my my order for my inventory, but it doesn't arrive till November. And I just I had no idea about seasonality at the time.

alicia: 10:33

I had no concept of that. So when I launched my cooling towel finally, like, I think it was, like, November 3 or something of 2014 and, like, crickets. That's nobody's gonna buy a towel to stay cold in November. And that was a really hard learning lesson because because all my money was now in these these cooling towels that I was just like, alright. Well, I'm gonna have to wait for next spring or summer to get these selling.

alicia: 10:59

And, so that was a flop a flop at that time, but then they eventually we sold them for, like, two summers. Okay. But there was only summer products. And then we had this is when my husband and Al, but we we met and started dating that June, and we became business partners in February of twenty fifteen. And together, him and I picked the water bottles.

alicia: 11:24

Okay. And so then we launched our water bottles in May of twenty fifteen, and that's kind no. Sometime in spring of twenty fifteen, and that's really what kicked everything off. Mhmm. And then then the cooling towels sold that summer, but nothing like the water bottles ever did.

alicia: 11:42

So that was a hard lesson for sure.

elizabeth: 11:44

Yeah. I really wanted you to tell that story because when, you know, you hear your introduction and you you know, all the amazing things that you have accomplished, like, people might think, oh my gosh. Like, she's so amazing. She wouldn't do that mistake or this mistake or she doesn't do anything wrong. She's done everything right in her business to to get to a point to sell it for, like, a multimillion dollar paycheck.

elizabeth: 12:12

But when we make mistakes, we learn. And even even if we don't learn what we're supposed to be doing, we learn what not to do. And I think and I think that's just as valuable as knowing what to do that all the time. So

alicia: 12:30

No. You're exactly right. And it's like, it's just the first of millions of mistakes that have been made and still are made. You know? It's a it that's, like, the the exciting the hard part of entrepreneurship is, like, you're just always learning because you you just don't know what you're doing.

alicia: 12:49

You're making it up at at all times, and you always just have mistakes for sure.

elizabeth: 12:54

Yeah. Alright. So there are, like, a million products you can pick when starting an ecommerce brand. Why did you chose what did you choose water bottles?

alicia: 13:06

Yeah. So it was, the February 2015, my husband and I, boyfriend at the time, went to Vegas again for another Amazon conference. And that's when I was introducing him to Amazon. I was like, this is a cool opportunity because he was a pilot at the time. And I'm like, this is, like, a really cool thing, and, and I just wanted him to be there.

alicia: 13:28

And so together and he's he's just brilliant. He's so brilliant. And he's looking at the numbers with me, and we were looking at I mean, it was all based off best seller rank at the time. Like, we had no concept of brand at that point, and it was just like, how can we use the numbers we're seeing to pick a product? And, he he told me he's like, let's do water bottles.

alicia: 13:49

And I was like, are you crazy? Like, that seems so competitive and so insane. Like, you wanna go up against Nike? And and he's like, no. Like, look at these fruit infuser water bottles.

alicia: 14:00

I was like, oh, that's interesting. Like, we it was this product with a a rod in the bottle that you can put your fruit in. And I was like, that's really cool. That that was so, like, specialized, and not a lot of people were doing it at the time. And I was like, that's I like that.

alicia: 14:17

And so, together, we went down that path, and we, you know, sourced our first round of inventory just from, like, a print on demand place in Florida so that we could test it before going to China.

elizabeth: 14:29

Okay.

alicia: 14:29

And that, like, blew up because it was a fruit infuser water bottle. It's something so unique from a very competitive space, but, like, a really specialized twist to it. Now they're everywhere. You know?

elizabeth: 14:42

So They're

alicia: 14:43

water bottles, but it was something that was was very specialized at the time. So so he really introduced the the idea of the water bottles. And and together then we, you know, went down that route together. And I loved it because I love, you know, water and being healthy, and it worked out so well at every part of my goal of building the brand. But at the time, if I'm being totally honest, it was chosen off of numbers.

elizabeth: 15:07

Right. Did you when you started selling your water bottles, did you only did you only do it on Amazon, or were you doing, like, a little bit Shopify? Or how how did that transition happen, I guess?

alicia: 15:20

Yeah. Yeah. So all we knew at that time was Amazon. That was the the course I bought. And our first year together, I wanna say 02/2015.

alicia: 15:31

I can't remember our exact numbers, but I wanna say, the first year was about four to five hundred thousand. Just, pretty much just water bottles on Amazon. Mhmm. And and then we were, like, scared a lot because, like, you the the more that we sold, the more inventory we had ordered, then we went to China and started bulk ordering. And, you know, we were just two broke young kids now taking out these big loans with high interest rates to fund our growth and, that fear of of Amazon just turning it off.

alicia: 16:06

You know? Mhmm. One day, it was was kept us up at night. So we were just a strictly Amazon brand for all of 02/2015. '2 thousand '16, unfortunately, my husband's father passed.

alicia: 16:18

So we had to move back to his hometown, and and we lived there for a year to, like, kinda help with the family. Our business really it still was there, but it didn't really take the steps that we needed to because we had other priorities. So we were still just an Amazon brand in 02/2016. And then it was finally in 02/2017, around that time around then that we had the time now to go to Shopify because we just, we didn't want to we didn't wanna risk that much on just Amazon. And at that time, it was they could just take down your listings and your and you didn't know why, and you'd lose all of your momentum.

alicia: 16:55

And so we were just an Amazon brand for the first few years.

elizabeth: 16:59

Okay. And alright. So talk about how did you manage to grow Live Infinitely to 8 figures in annual revenue? Specifically, I would love for you to dive into your strategy of building hyper engaged community.

alicia: 17:16

Yeah. So there's a lot of reasons that we got to 8 figures. And, you know, we were, at that time, pretty split 5050% of 50% on Amazon and 50% on Shopify. So we had already built up quite a bit of momentum on Amazon, and we were selling, you know, water bottles and exercise balls. Those were our two top products on Amazon and, just a few other supporting products.

alicia: 17:44

But then on our website, we finally learned Facebook ads in 02/2019, and that changed everything for us. Like, we were kind of in a golden era of Facebook ads. Mhmm. A lot I really feel like a lot of entrepreneurship in business is skill, grit, and a little bit of luck. You know?

alicia: 18:04

It's like we definitely had our timing in being able to start on Amazon. It was the it was the golden era to start in 02/1415. And then Facebook Ads was a golden era as well in February, like, '19. So, we had a little bit of luck in our timing on those types of things. And so being able to learn Facebook Ads and scale Shopify was, a huge, huge part of our being able to add revenue to that side of things.

alicia: 18:33

But and then it was, like, February, yeah, 02/2019 when we started that. And then January of twenty twenty, we were still I can't I don't remember our numbers exactly, but Shopify was still relatively small compared to Amazon. But it was 2020 when I launched our our hydration challenge in January fifth of twenty twenty. I'll never forget because I almost shit myself. I'm doing business so scary.

elizabeth: 19:02

Oh my gosh.

alicia: 19:03

My language. It was so But I, yeah, I launched the group, and and we did, a a sixty day hydration challenge where we then invited at that point, we had an email list and some, you know, some history in the industry. And we invited people to come join our our community, and that year just took us off of I I wish I could remember our numbers from 2019 to 2020, but it was you know, this community was just kind of was the eye the cherry on top and all. It it just put it all together where we were now like, I felt like when we finally exited and sold our business in 2021, we had every aspect of a of a thriving brand going where our email marketing was dialed in. We were doing blog posts.

alicia: 19:53

We had our community. We had ads going. We had, so many things. But in order to get to that point, you know, unfortunately, our product choice wasn't the best as far as margins go. We just didn't have margins to hire anybody or to do a lot of things.

alicia: 20:11

So in order to get to the point of 8 figures, you know, we kept ourselves very, very, very lean and just learned everything ourselves, which I also know I I, like, recommend, but I also it just depends on what level you're you're wanting to, like, put yourself in the into the business. But I think that was, like, the biggest contributor was that, you know, my husband and I, we that was our whole life. Like, we just live, breathe, sleep everything our business for for that those two years knowing we were going to sell. It's not a sustainable way of living if that was, like, a forever thing, but we just knew we wanted to sell. And so with the community, Amazon, Facebook, email marketing, all of those different aspects is what contributed to 8 figures.

elizabeth: 21:03

Okay. Yeah. I think it's I'm happy for you that you had, you know, your now husband be on that journey with you. And it was like you said it was just the two of you guys, and you were both of you laser focused on what you were building because you knew you wanted to sell. Right?

alicia: 21:24

Mhmm.

elizabeth: 21:25

So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you, you know, you didn't have kids or any other responsibilities. So, I mean, good for you.

elizabeth: 21:36

Good for you and him. Like Yeah.

alicia: 21:39

It's it's trickier when you, like, have those responsibilities and get and and, you know, we will we don't have kids yet still, but when when that happens, it it will definitely change the dynamic of what we can and can't do anymore. And I I definitely think achieving that level is possible if you have kids. You guys are gonna need a little more help. You know? Right.

alicia: 22:01

Because you have priorities that should take precedence.

elizabeth: 22:04

Yes. So I was talking to a a girl last couple weeks ago. She she sent a Etsy seller, and she said that her first ever hire was a nanny or something like that. So I'm like, yeah. I mean, I can see that.

elizabeth: 22:21

Definitely. I can see how, you know, you have to go where your priorities are. So Yeah. Exactly. Mhmm.

elizabeth: 22:30

Alright. So you used Facebook Ads in order to launch this community, the hydration challenge. And so talk to me about how important is to truly understand your customer journey, and what role did that play in your brand's success?

alicia: 22:52

Yeah. I mean, honestly, if you're building a brand, customer journey is is everything. It's, because nowadays, acquiring people you know, we're we're doing it again in a different time period, so it's a lot different. Things have changed. And and we are understanding, like, you know, acquiring customers is expensive.

alicia: 23:13

You know? It was expensive then, and it's even more expensive now. And so if you don't have a plan for what to do with these customers after you acquire them, then you there's you just can't scale. And so that's, like, where you have to understand, like, building an acquisition offer or self liquidating offer as some might call it, something to get people into your world and introduce them to your brand. So you can either break even acquiring customers or hopefully make a little bit of profit, but ideally, least just break even.

alicia: 23:44

And then, you know, have a very, very strong back end in place to monetize and to build that customer lifetime value. Because nowadays, you know, the most two most important metrics for any business, really, is cost to acquire a customer and your gross lifetime value. You know, when you can when you understand those two numbers, that's how you know you can either build and scale this business or pull back. And then how those kind of correlate to your cash flow. Because maybe it costs you $20 to acquire a customer, and your initial purchase value is only, like, $15.

alicia: 24:20

So maybe you lose $5 initially, but then your gross, customer lifetime value is $30. So, really, every customer you acquire, you profit $10 over the course of three or six months. And so understanding those numbers and how to achieve a higher lifetime value is gonna be, like, one of the most important things you can do to understand if you can grow. And then if you can afford to pay $5 initially and lose $5 initially in scale and if you have the cash flow to do that. And if not, maybe you have to break even.

alicia: 24:55

And and then your upside is your profits on the on the back end as well. But that's why it's like I see a lot of brands now, a lot of clients and a lot of people that we've consulted with. They don't understand those two numbers completely. And so they're like, well, you know, we can't scale. And it's like, well, you could because if you look at your three month customer lifetime value, you're extremely profitable.

alicia: 25:17

So now we just have to come up with a game plan to go out and acquire more customers at this rate. And and in order to, like, scale, you know, your cost to acquire a customer is gonna continue to go up the more you that you spend. And so, you just have to understand what that breakeven point is. And so that's why customer journey is everything. And our hydration challenge, we knew when a customer went into this community, we would get at least two to three times more out of that customer than if they were not a part of that community.

alicia: 25:48

And so that was, like, a really important thing because if they were there, then everyone else in the community, which they'll love for our brand and our products, and, and they would be, you know, encouraged to want to buy more products. And so that was kind of the piece of the puzzle for our community was to build that trust because it's way more powerful when other people talk about you than than yourself. Yeah. But even if you don't have a community, just having a very strong, you know, email marketing plan or or plan to, like, follow-up and get more customer or get more value out of each customer is really the way make it or break it for any business these days.

elizabeth: 26:28

Yeah. Yeah. I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs don't really or they don't really focus that as much as they should on their numbers. Like, they're more preoccupied or more worried about other things that don't really matter in the long run than their actual finances or their finances of the business.

alicia: 26:50

Right.

elizabeth: 26:51

Alright. So you now started a new you sold your brand, your first brand, and then you kinda, like, traveled, took it easy for how long? I don't know. Few months, years? How much how long was that?

alicia: 27:05

It's it's funny because I think we maybe took really took it easy for, like, a month. And then, you know, we bought our RV and traveled for three years. But during that time, like, the first year, I was already working again with clients now. And then the second year, our clients had just grown. And so our age we were just doing our agency, in the in the years that we were traveling where we either consulted people or ran their marketing for them, different things like that.

alicia: 27:38

And then last year is when we started with the new brand. So we kinda took a month or so sort of and got our RV. And the first year, I'd say, of 2022 after we sold was probably the most that we we just took Just kinda late back energy. Traveled and yeah. Went around the country and stuff like that, but that was just the time period that we did most of our agency work.

elizabeth: 28:05

Okay. So can you walk us through your approach to building this new brand from scratch, and how how is it different this time around that from your first brand?

alicia: 28:21

Yeah. So this our next brand, our new brand, we partnered with them at the end of twenty twenty three. So 2024 was our first full year with this brand. I'm, like, making sure my years are right. Yeah.

alicia: 28:39

I feel like my brain's a little funny still.

elizabeth: 28:40

It's not you didn't start it from scratch. You just kinda partnered with them? Kinda okay. Okay.

alicia: 28:46

Yeah. So during this time, like, running our agency and helping other businesses, we were introduced to so many different brands and offered equity in a lot of different things, but we were just kind of protective of, like, what we should or shouldn't do. And then this brand approached us. At first, it started off as an agency client. Yep.

alicia: 29:07

This brand had, like, inventory that had been sitting in their warehouse for for years. They're pretty much just, gonna go bankrupt. Yeah. They it wasn't moving. It wasn't really doing anything.

alicia: 29:18

But the partner our partner of it, has, you know, about fifty years experience in the industry and a very good track record. He's he's he's built and sold his own brands. He just now the mark the market had changed of, like, how to sell and how to do all this. So he just needed somebody that was up to date with what works now. So we partnered with them, and last year was our first full year together.

alicia: 29:46

And everything has changed from Live Infinitely to now. And we fortunately had the opportunity to kind of relearn a lot of strategies working with our clients. So we were already, like, up to date again on on everything. But the biggest things that had changed was, one, you just can't launch things on Amazon and sell it like you used to. Like, before, it's just like you could literally just put up anything.

alicia: 30:12

And and and it was just like the golden era for sure of Amazon. Now you have to be a little bit more methodical. And to be completely honest, my husband does Amazon, so I can't really speak too much on how it's very different because he's the expert on that side. But as far as, like, Shopify goes and Facebook ads, that's that's my my role. And, it became a lot more you you have to not that you didn't have to be good at marketing back then, but you have to be really good now.

alicia: 30:41

And where you have to truly understand your customer psychology. And that was the biggest change. And what really, with this new brand, our first initial success was nailing down the messaging that worked with our customer. And Shopify was our first bit of growth for this brand, because we use Facebook ads and really identified, you know, the pains that our customers were going through, the benefits that they were looking to try to achieve, and the challenges that they were experiencing with other solutions in the marketplace. And so our ads became a lot more about the psychology about of problem solution rather than back in the day, you could almost put up an ad and just say, here's a water bottle, and it's you know, these are the features.

alicia: 31:31

And that was good enough then because the algorithm was so different on Facebook where it could just kinda show to people that were interested in water bottles. But it's not the same anymore, and we have to, like, kinda dive deeper into the psychology of of what somebody is going through and be a lot more problem solution based in our marketing. And so that was our that was how we had, like, built the initial success for for this new brand was understanding that problem solution psychology with our Facebook ads. Yeah. I think that would be

elizabeth: 32:07

do you have any questions on Well, I was gonna say too, like, now this time around, you're also selling on TikTok. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Back then, when when with your first brand, TikTok didn't even exist.

elizabeth: 32:18

So how has TikTok played a role on this new brand?

alicia: 32:23

Yeah. No. That's a good question. So last year, we did about $44,000,000 in sales, and TikTok was a hundred and 40,000 of that. So it's still a much smaller percentage of our total overall revenue.

alicia: 32:37

However, January was about, like, 50,000. So it's going up as far as our percentages. But it's still new, and it's still very new to us. And and we never worked with influencers for our first business. I just didn't know how, and I didn't Mhmm.

alicia: 32:54

Have the time. And that's a lot of what TikTok is now is

elizabeth: 32:58

Just a two I was gonna ask you that. Do you do you do add TikTok ads, or is this just influencers?

alicia: 33:04

Both. Okay. Both. So TikTok has an affiliate center where you can go in and Right. Gift the products, products, and then they'll post.

alicia: 33:13

And then once they post, we ask we ask them for the spark code, which if they give you the code, then you can add their their content into your ads. Okay. And then they still get a commission. You know? So why wouldn't they want to do it?

alicia: 33:26

Right. Then we pay to get them more commission essentially, and it's just a win win for everybody. And we found that to be really successful, but very hard and very expensive to break into. Because our products are so expensive cost wise, and so to give them out was thousands of dollars of just initial expense. And when you're a new brand on TikTok, the creators on TikTok are are looking for trending products.

alicia: 33:57

Like, they they Right. Are trying to jump on to what's trending so it's an easier easier way for them to make money. To make money. And so when you're new, you're not trending, and nobody's really interested. And and so you we had to go with a lot of really, really small creators initially.

alicia: 34:13

And, luckily, our our products have just high value, so it's interesting enough anyways, for them. But they they were the ones and I'll never forget. One of our creators it's, like, our second or third video ever posted to TikTok, and she was like, this is the viral product. And and we're like, viral? Wait.

alicia: 34:36

I don't think this is viral. But because she said it was viral, all everyone else thought it was viral, and that's what creators are looking for is to jump on to the viral trends so that they can make money. And then that by her saying that, then everyone started saying that we were the viral product, and, they everyone started requesting samples for for it at that point. We were attracting the bigger influencers at that point. So expensive to break into.

alicia: 35:04

We're still very much learning ourselves on that one, but it definitely provided a good boost in sales as well as a halo effect because it helps our Amazon Mhmm. And Shopify, you know, just getting a lot more eyeballs on the brand.

elizabeth: 35:19

Absolutely. Yeah. That's so funny. Like you said again, like, a little bit of luck in her saying, oh, this is a new viral.

alicia: 35:27

Yeah. Exactly. So hot tip. If you're if you're just just say

elizabeth: 35:31

your hot Yeah. Just self proclaimed viral products.

alicia: 35:37

Exactly.

elizabeth: 35:40

What's a common we're gonna move on to some of your personal insights in closing. So what's a common piece of advice given to entrepreneurs that you think is overrated or misunderstood?

alicia: 35:58

It's a good one. Maybe if they if you build it, they will come. That's just Right. Not how

elizabeth: 36:06

That's what I'm saying.

alicia: 36:06

Unfortunately, it's not like, you know, a lot of people think product's the king. Product's king. A lot of people think marketing's the king, but I think it's a very, very equal fifty fifty. But, you know, you can't market, poop in a bag. You know, like, the product to be a good product.

alicia: 36:28

And you can't just make a good product without really good marketing, because at the end of the day, you need eyeballs, and you need attention and awareness. And so, I found a lot of people spend so much time as they should, you know, developing a very good product and working really hard to to create something, then they launch. And it's just crickets. And, it's just unfortunately, nowadays, attention is, the most, like, valuable commodity, essentially. You know?

alicia: 36:59

That's why Meta is worth so much and TikTok. And if you can buy attention or sell attention, that is gold anymore. So I think it's a fifty fifty split. You can't just build it, and they'll come. You need to build a good product Right.

alicia: 37:15

Understand and have a plan of action to to get it to market and get eyeballs on it. You know? And it's a it's a I think a fifty fifty.

elizabeth: 37:25

Yeah. For sure. What's the best investment, whether time or money or resources that you made in your business?

alicia: 37:35

You know, honestly, I'll always just go back to the course that I bought when I was 20 just because that's what started everything. And to me now, you know, about I'll never forget the day I was sitting on my bed just staring at the computer because $5,000. It was so much money. It's still so much money. So much money to me at that age, and it was half of my savings.

alicia: 38:00

And just like, this will either be my biggest regret or biggest, like, smart thing I did. And so that, by far, was the best investment I made. Unfortunately, it's not an investment. I don't know if they sell that course anymore, and it might not even be relevant. But, that is just what it was a great phenomenal course at that time, and it and it really taught it knew its stuff and and taught taught us everything to get started.

elizabeth: 38:24

And it's what really get you started on this journey that starting that course and, you know, looking into Amazon and selling products and all that. So I wanted to ask you this. You know, you you've had a wonderful journey, and you've had your ups and downs. So I want you to I wanna know what keeps you, like, focused on your vision, like, when things get tough or or or you're having a bad day in business? Like, what makes you keep going?

alicia: 39:00

You know, it's a good question. Sometimes I wonder myself. No. It's a really good question because I'd be completely lying if I didn't say it's the hardest ten years of my life, but also the most rewarding. You know?

alicia: 39:15

And and we have had an unbelievable amount of things go wrong for us. And between lawsuits, between just so many things that, just felt so unmanageable throughout the years to where I just didn't know if we'd make it through. And, so, honestly and I know not everybody has this, but I am so grateful for my husband because he is 100% just my rock. And him and I are we do everything together. We build the businesses together, and we we're just he's the left side of the brain on the right side of the brain.

alicia: 39:53

And having each other to kind of fall back on when things are hard is is one of the biggest things. Also, getting a dog to, like, kind of snuggle when you're having a rough day. It really helps. But, but at the end of the day, my biggest thing I mean, it's why it was the mission behind live infinitely where I I, you know, I genuinely believe that you can achieve or become anything that you want in this life. You know, I didn't grow up with really much, and, and I didn't have I mean, I had really good parents, and I had a lot of things, you know, that really helped me at the beginning that I'm very grateful for.

alicia: 40:30

But, everything really was built from my everything was built on my own, with my husband, of course. And, I just believe in that mission a lot of live infinitely that you can if you set your mind to it, it's not gonna be easy, and it's gonna be very ugly, but you can you can get there. And, you know, our ultimate goal was to travel and to one day, like, buy land and start a family. And once we kinda get that, that's kind of like, you know, we'll always be ambitious and always work. But having the dream of seeing the world and dream of being able to provide, you know, a childhood for my future kids of land, like, those were always the things that kinda kept me going of like, those hard times.

alicia: 41:18

But I'd be lying if I I couldn't I mean, I maybe could've, but, like, having my husband was, like, the biggest thing for me of being able to get through it all.

elizabeth: 41:28

Yeah. That's so awesome. That's awesome. And you just got married. Right?

elizabeth: 41:32

So how long ago? Like, less than a year ago?

alicia: 41:36

Yeah. It was fine. We got married in June. Congratulations. Thank you.

alicia: 41:40

It was our we got married on our ten year anniversary.

elizabeth: 41:43

So Oh my gosh. Wow. Yeah.

alicia: 41:46

Because we just put everything personal to the side, which also I don't know if I recommend, but it was just to the side. And, finally, we we just got married last year after after ten years.

elizabeth: 41:59

That's so awesome. Well, I was gonna ask you, was there a relationship that influenced your success? But I think you've you've made that clear. Yeah. So do you have a favorite, like, hobby or activity that helps you, like, unwind or reach recharge outside of working on your brand?

alicia: 42:22

Honestly, anything outdoors is is where I'm where I'm really the happiest for sure. You know, my husband and I love mountain biking and frisbee golfing and hiking. Mhmm. And so we used to do, like, a lot more mountain biking until we got our dog, and and now we do a lot of Frisbee golfing so that

elizabeth: 42:42

he No. That's fine.

alicia: 42:43

Be there with us. Yeah.

elizabeth: 42:45

I started I started walking just because I wanted to, like, lose some weight. So I said, I'm just gonna start walking because I was so out of shape. And now I still walk I go to the gym now, but I still do my walk every day because, like, I realized when I was when I was going on a walk, it felt so much more good for my mind than I'm sure I had my physical benefits of walking, but, like, I I cannot not do my walk every day. And I just go and I go outside, and I do no headphones, no phone, or anything. I just walk outside for, like, thirty minutes.

alicia: 43:25

That's so good.

elizabeth: 43:26

And it's like, I do it now for my mental health, I guess, more than physical health now. But yeah. It's I cannot I have to go for my walk. It's like my good. So I've made that like, it's now my routine.

elizabeth: 43:41

Like, I drop the kids off at school, and I go for my walk, and then I start my day.

alicia: 43:46

That's awesome. No. There's something about nature and just being outside

elizabeth: 43:51

Yeah.

alicia: 43:52

Without the screens, without any anybody needing you, just being there. So that's really great that you do that for sure.

elizabeth: 43:59

Yeah. That's how that's how the idea of starting this podcast came from I was on a walk, and I just it just kinda popped on my head, and I'm like, maybe I should. And I just and I did. Here we are.

alicia: 44:12

That's so no. This is a really cool idea, her story. I love that.

elizabeth: 44:17

Yeah. And I love it. I love it. I'm hoping to launch next well, when you're listening to this, it's obviously being launched. But as of now, we're still in the launching stages as of this second.

elizabeth: 44:31

That's so exciting. No. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you so much, and thank you for coming.

elizabeth: 44:36

Thank you for for being here.

alicia: 44:39

So I'm honored. I really appreciate being in one of your first episodes. Like, it's

elizabeth: 44:43

Yeah. Yeah. It's it's so much fun for sure, and I'm learning so much. So alright. So we are coming to our last our end here.

elizabeth: 44:55

So I wanted I wanted you to tell us about your new school community and when where can we go to learn more?

alicia: 45:03

Yeah. So, yeah, we built our school community because while we do love, consulting and working with businesses one on one, it's obviously not sustainable for us. And, especially now having our own brand that we're we're deep in on. So we thought it'd be cool to do more of a group environment where we're helping people. And, inside of it, we have, like, a bunch of our education on Facebook ads and setting up a Shopify store, finding a profitable product.

alicia: 45:34

And, we do, like, monthly advanced workshops, like deep dive on a topic, group coaching, and q and a's. And our goal for that community is, it's only right now $27 a month. I'm not sure how long we'll keep it like that. But it's, like, incredibly affordable, but that was our goal. It was to, like, make it extremely affordable, because, ultimately, you know, that's something that Chad and I are just so passionate about.

alicia: 45:59

We genuinely just love helping entrepreneurs. It's it's something that we could do all the time, and we've loved teaching and meeting people. Mhmm. And then, ultimately, we have a partner with Of Impact, which is our brand now for advising and coaching where we help businesses exit. And he's who helped the broker that helped us sell our business.

alicia: 46:21

And to me, our mission with Of Impact is just like live infinitely. Fulfillment in helping Mhmm. You know, a bunch of women, you know, get healthy, set goals, believe in themselves was just the most one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done in my whole life. And so now my goal and Chad's goal is to help others build brands of impact, brands that, like, help encourage and and make the world a better place in a lot of ways, not just, with the products they sell, but with what they do with their communities and and their customers, and then also help them exit if that's a goal of theirs. And so that's why it's extremely affordable because, ultimately, if we can help you sell, that would be that was what completely changed our lives.

alicia: 47:05

And I feel like if anybody if everybody could have the opportunity to build something and sell it, like, that that alone like, we were broke as can be building, live infinitely, but selling it was what built wealth. And, that was that was the pivotal moment in our lives that gave us freedom, which is why we got started in entrepreneurship in the first place. Was just freedom. So that was a long spiel, but that's our school community. I I don't have, like, a good link for it.

alicia: 47:35

You might have

elizabeth: 47:36

So yeah. We I was gonna say we're gonna have all of the links for Alicia's school community in the show notes, so it's easy for you to get them. And I also wanted to say how much you say it is? $20.21 or 27?

alicia: 47:51

20 7 a month.

elizabeth: 47:52

27. Okay. So think about 27 is, like, nothing. Like, think about how many of streaming services you pay for and how much are they. Like, Netflix, I think, is $20.19 dollars or something like that at this point.

elizabeth: 48:08

So it's incredibly affordable. And if you are an ecommerce entrepreneur or somebody who's thinking of starting an ecommerce brand and you're not on Alicia's school community, like, what are you doing? Getting there right now, like, yesterday. Yeah. So yeah.

elizabeth: 48:28

For sure.

alicia: 48:29

I appreciate that.

elizabeth: 48:31

At least, yeah, it was it was a pleasure to have you here today. Thank you so much.

alicia: 48:36

Oh, thank you, Elizabeth. This is really great. It's just good to see you again, and and I'm just honored that you asked me, and I'm really excited for the future of your podcast.

elizabeth: 48:46

Thank you so much, and thank you so much for for agreeing to come.

alicia: 48:49

Oh, absolutely.