Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside her, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum. We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com. Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. I'm your host, Erica Rooney, and I am excited to introduce my next guest, Lynn Power. Lynn is an advertising executive turned entrepreneur with a passion for leveraging creative thinking to build businesses and ultimately help brands survive and thrive. She is the cofounder and CEO of MASAMI Clean Premium Hair Care and an all around amazing person who was introduced to me through a mutual friend, Lynn. So I'm super excited to have you, other Lynn, on the show. How are you today? I'm great. Thank you.

Lynn: Thank you for such a lovely introduction. Absolutely. So before we get kicked off, I've got a

Erica: ton of questions for you, but I want everyone to kinda hear a little bit about you, who you are, how you came to be, and all the awesome things you're doing.

Lynn: Oh my gosh. That's like a huge huge great Huge all the things. Just talk talk forever and ever. But yeah. So okay. So we were introduced by the other Lynn who, I guess, is sort of a connection back to my pry prior life because I as you alluded to, I spent a long career in advertising and marketing Oh. And was running ad agencies and that whole thing. And then I, left in 2018 and launched my own brands, Masami and Ildenay Shore in 2020, really because I wanted to just take charge, take control. I kind of had done everything I wanna do in advertising and just I got tired. If I'm gonna be blunt, I got tired of making other people money and building other people's brands, and I wanted to do it for myself. There is a saying, eat eat your own dog food, and it is, it's a little bit of that. Right? Like, I've been advising other people for so long. I wanted to see how good my advice actually was.

Erica: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Well and so you launched that

Lynn: in 2020. So how's it going so far? It's been fascinating. Obviously, it was a weird time to launch a brand, any brand, in

Erica: the height of the pandemic. You picked a great brand.

Lynn: No no one would have anticipated what I've been getting what you dealt with. And then, of course, I had breast cancer. That was another unanticipated thing that happened last year, which I'm now a year through treatment. And they don't like to say you're cancer free because, you know, it's like jinxing it, but but I am but but my treatments did work. So Yay. We'll say it that way. So, yeah, it's been a really interesting and odd time of my life, but it's also been incredibly fulfilling and fun because when you have your own business, you get to work with who you wanna work with. You can get rid of all those toxic people, most of them. I still have a few here and there, but I really work hard to get them out. And then you can kind of create your own life in the sense of making your work fit your life instead of making your life fit your work. Mhmm. That is a big difference, and it is a very rewarding difference.

Erica: Yeah. I love how you put that. It's all about kind of that true integration, but getting to integrate the parts you love.

Lynn: Exactly. And and kind of ditching

Erica: the parts you don't love. Yep. Hiring it out if it absolutely has to be a part of the business too. Yes. Awesome. So on this podcast, Lynn, we talk a lot about those sticky floors, which are all the limiting beliefs, the toxic behaviors, toxic relationships, perfectionism that will really kind of keep women from breaking through the glass ceiling. Right? That's all what my intro is about, from being the best that we can be. Right? When I say those words in sticky floors, what immediately pops into your head?

Lynn: Well, I think of my advertising career, which, thank god, it has changed because when I started, there were lots of lots of sticky floors. And the sticky floors had to do with just a bro culture that was not very female friendly or inclusive. And it's not that it was I never felt it was overtly, like, no like, you can't do this because you're a woman kind of thing, but it was more it wasn't so explicit. It was more implicit. Yep. Like, you just weren't included when all the guys went to the strip bar, which they used to do. I mean, now it'd be like, you can't do that. Yeah. Not that I would have wanted to go, but that's, like, a way of excluding women. Yeah. Do that women don't wanna do. Play golf. They'd all go on their little golf things, and it's like, well, I don't play golf. Right.

Erica: What am I supposed

Lynn: to do? And I and I don't really wanna learn. So no. So I think I think some of those those rituals are set up designed to kinda keep women out without saying we're keeping women out, if you know what I mean. Yeah. We're just gonna play golf. Yeah. Yeah. Like, don't get the Oh. Out of state. We're just yeah. We're you don't do that. So We And and there was quite a bit of that in in when as I kind of early in my career and then later in my career when I was more senior, and I thought I would be invited to some of those things and I still wasn't. It was like, oh, okay. I guess that's the deal. Now having said that, there were also, some great bosses I had, male bosses. Some of the female bosses, not so great. That's a whole topic probably until it itself. Yeah. Can we

Erica: talk a bit about that? Because a lot of women kinda have that there's only room for one at the top. Right? Only one female mentality, and, like, I did I had to scrap to get here, so, like, I'm gonna do whatever I gotta do to stay here instead of there's plenty of abundance, there's plenty of room, like, come join me.

Lynn: It's really interesting, and I never thought of it the way you just talked about it is that, like, there's only room for one at the top. I was more forgiving thinking it was more that these women who were more senior had grown up having role models that operated a certain way to get ahead, and it was very masculine traits. So they were very aggressive. They were arrogant, not confident. The traits of male leaders were just there was a certain sort of way you had to behave in order to succeed, and that's because there you didn't have female leaders to emulate. So I always thought that these bad bosses were more a function of that's what they learned. Like, they didn't know any better as opposed to it being sort of like this Machiavellian or malicious thing of not wanting to let other women in, but you could be right.

Erica: I mean, it yeah. What you're saying too makes complete sense. Right? If you don't have any leaders who lead with empathy or Right. Any of those traits that women are well known for it for traits being in leadership, they only emulate what they know. They only see. So do they think about how they have to operate? That this is how you have to to be to be a leader? But it could be a combination of the two.

Lynn: It probably is a combination of the two. And some of it is probably deep seated, and they don't even know. But I mean, like, even if you interviewed some of these women that were terrible bosses and asked them why didn't you support the other women because the other thing is, some of them would say, oh, well, the women just weren't as good. That's the other thing. And it's like, well, wait a minute. Again, by your definition, you are valuing people that would raise their hand to get promoted. Just because a woman didn't do that doesn't make her not as driven, not as ambitious. Because that's a mistake that a lot of us make is and I made early in my career is I just assume that hard work would speak for itself. Yeah. And it does and it doesn't. Yep. And the men don't really care so much about hard work. They're more about getting credit for every little thing they're doing. Yeah. No matter if it be big or small. And the women sit there and they're like, oh my god. But I've been doing these, like, 50 things. Don't people see it? And it's like, well, even if they see it, you still have to remind them of how important it is or why

Erica: it matters. Thing because there seems to be this gap. Right? Because they do see and they notice, and they would sit there and they will be like, Lynn, you're awesome. You're killing the game. But there's, like, this gray space that they don't seem to be like, she deserves a promotion, or she Right. A great person in this role. It's almost like they just black out. So there's so much power and we need to put a ton of importance on elf ethical self promotion. Somebody framed it to me that way.

Lynn: I like that.

Erica: Ethical self promotion. So, yes, toot your own horn. Talk about what a badass you are and how you're doing all

Lynn: the things. Because if you don't, they don't put the two and two together. Well, not only do they not put it together, but the other thing that happened to me a lot was if you're good at your job, they don't wanna rock the boat. They don't wanna move you. They don't wanna promote you because that means it causes a a ripple in the system where they have to backfill you or they oh my god. But that person is so good with that client. So you would get actually penalized for being good at your job, and it would piss me off to no end. I'd be like, are you kidding me? And then I would quit, and I'm like, we'll see.

Erica: Like Yeah. Now nobody has me.

Lynn: Yeah. Are you happy are you happy now? Now the client really pissed. So, yeah, a lot of companies used to do that. I think, hopefully, companies have gotten a little bit better about understanding that, like, people need to have progression and and also you have to say, like, this is is what I wanna be or where I wanna be in two years, five years, whatever, to at least have a plan. It's like you can't expect people to read your mind.

Erica: Hey there, listeners. If you have ever felt like you're stuck in a place, held back by self doubt, perfectionism, or that pesky inner critic, you're not alone. We all face those sticky floors that keep us from reaching the heights we dream of. But guess what? It's time to shatter those limiting beliefs and toxic behaviors to uncover infinite possibilities. My book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors, is your ultimate guide to smashing through barriers, overcoming limiting beliefs, and stepping into your full potential. This book has been endorsed by none other than the great Mel Robbins, best selling author and motivational powerhouse. It's also been featured in Success Magazine, so you know it's packed with insights that work. Inside, you'll find real life sticky floor stories, practical strategies to help you navigate your own sticky floor moments, and a whole lot of inspiration to keep you climbing. This isn't just a book. It's your roadmap to success, confidence, and freedom. Grab your copy of Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors today at www.ericaandersonrooney.com. Whether you're in the boardroom, the classroom, or just starting out, this book is for you because no one, and I mean no one, deserves to stay stuck, no one deserves to feel small, and you have glass ceilings to shatter. Let's do this. Yeah. Yeah. I have a I noticed that there's a lot of people out there who are waiting for their leader to kinda map out what the future should be for them. Yeah. Instead of saying, this is what I wanna be. They're like, I'm gonna sit here in my role, and I'm gonna wait for them to tell me what bricks I need to lay to get to x, y, and z. And some leaders are really great at outlining that, but, like, you have to be your biggest advocate when it comes to what you want.

Lynn: A 100%, because there are plenty of leaders who just, they just, they don't. They don't think about it. They got a million things going on. And also, sometimes I think people assume, if you're not asking to be promoted or asking for a certain thing, not everybody wants to be the boss. Not everybody wants to be promoted, and they kinda might put you in that group of people that are just not really interested in a management role, which, by the way, I found that more of the younger generation, which my kids are part

Erica: of. Yep.

Lynn: They don't necessarily wanna take on that responsibility of managing other people. Mhmm. Doesn't sound very appealing to them. Maybe it's because they're Gen X parents. Right? They heard us bitching and moaning about all the people we had to deal with, and they're thinking, why would I sign up for that? I just want a job where I can contribute, but I don't wanna manage people.

Erica: I just wanna deal with my own BS. No one else's. Yes.

Lynn: Absolutely. And I and I think that's a little generational difference, because I hear that not just from my kids, but from other younger 20 where they're like, don't assume I wanna be what I don't want that job. I don't wanna be a CEO.

Erica: So Well and companies and leaders need to also create those types of growth tracks for people so that they do have a growth track, right, that does not necessarily entail managing people. Like, maybe you become more and more technical at something or maybe you become more ingrained from a client perspective, whatever, depending on the field. But, yeah, there's a ton of people out there right now that if you're a people leader, it's so much harder to actually close your computer at the end of the day because it is not just about your job, but it's about everybody else's job. Yes. That is right. And and the new generations coming on, they

Lynn: don't wanna deal with MS. No. They really don't. So it's it's kind of gonna be an interesting time in our workforce to see how some of these things manifest, I think. Because also, of course, the population is shrinking, so we don't have enough workers as it is. So, I mean, the good news is, like, I I was in sort of the opposite situation when I graduated college because it was a recession and there weren't enough jobs. Yeah. Now there are loads of jobs. Not at all. Right? And and people don't really wanna do the jobs. So it'll be interesting to see, like, what companies need to do to attract talent to get people to wanna come, to get them to wanna stay. And to me, it's like all the things we've been talking about, it's like give people a path that aligns with their goals, whatever those goals may be. If they wanna learn more, if they wanna do something different, if they wanna be promoted, if they wanna grow, whatever, but but have the conversations upfront so you understand where your team is at and what they wanna do and where they wanna go, and then find opportunities for them. I mean, I always tried to find opportunities for people when I worked in advertising. If it was, like, somebody was interested in production or switching from account management to production, for example, I I I would try to bring them along to a shoot so they could kinda get an understanding of, okay, what here's what that entails. I mean, like, usually, if you make a little effort, you can find ways to incentivize people by giving them things outside of money. It doesn't always have to be about money.

Erica: Yeah. So what I think is interesting and it kinda goes along with your top track here is a lot of the people that we see in the workforce today too kinda taking the track that you did. They don't wanna work for other people. Right? They're kinda getting to this place where, like, they want to control their own destiny a little bit more than if they're in a corporate world. So my question for you, right, kind of climbing the ladder in advertising, you're very successful doing all of that. How did you did you start to feel an inkling like you didn't wanna do it anymore? Did you just wake up one day and you're like, I'm over this. I wanna run my own business. Like, how did that start, that shift from corporate America to now entrepreneur space?

Lynn: Yeah. I mean, I guess my last job was the CEO of J Walter Thompson, New York. And very large ad agency, $2,000,000,000 at the time. Doesn't exist anymore because it merged with another agency, so it was called Wunderman Thompson. At the time, JWT was one of the largest, and it was actually the oldest ad agency in the world. So kind of kinda sad to see the brand disappear completely, but anyway, it was a very grueling job because when you have an agency that large and you're trying to modernize it, it's like the Titanic in some ways. You're on there and people are playing the music as the things go now because there are so many I would call it gravity. There's just so much gravity that would pull you back down Yeah. As you're trying to move. And a lot of it had to do with the systems, the people, the things, and the ways they've always been done. It was very difficult to change. And this is not just an ad ad agency. Any large company has you could there's reasons like Kodak couldn't stay in business and

Erica: Any company going to Lackluster might have changed.

Lynn: Yeah. I mean, you know, if you could have the next stage is big, you're gonna have a lot more gravity. Right. So so, anyway, that's just my way of saying, like, when you have people think that these big jobs are really glamorous, but they're very difficult. Very, very difficult. And so when you're trying to do that, you deal with a lot of, as we've been talking about human resource talent, you deal with a lot of people issues. Mhmm. You deal with the finance team constantly, practically daily. You have a lot of operational issues because you're trying to change the way the company works and operates. And and and I would just was not really enjoying it because those things are not why I got into advertising. I got into advertising because I like building brands. I like creating something, and here I was. It was like every day was a different problem. I like problem solving if it's a client problem where I can really help them solve it through a marketing solution, But these weren't client problems. These were things like a lawsuit. Yeah. That was, like, messy, painful, difficult, and they're just I

Erica: have those moments. Did you have those moments where you're like, what the hell is going on? Why am I dealing with this?

Lynn: Yes. Often. I was like, why am yes. And then after doing it, I I did it for four years, which is not That's a long time. Yeah. To because I really I stuck it out for a while because I really I felt an obligation to my team. I brought some people over from my old agency that I ran, and I just I liked all of them a lot. I really wanted to be successful, but there is a point where you have to call it. Like, if it's not gonna line up the way you need it to Mhmm. For a variety of reasons, the holding company doesn't support it, the CEO the global CEO was not, the the the the right person. Whatever those things are, you just have to kinda go, okay. Maybe I need to do something else, and then there's nothing else in advertising that I'm gonna wanna do. I mean, I just have done everything. So Yeah. Yeah. So the idea of doing my own thing became really appealing. And, actually, when I left, I started doing consulting first. I was consulting for some startups. And the reason I started working with startups was because I felt like I could make an immediate impact on their business Yeah. As opposed to when you work with with huge clients like J and J and Hershey and those types of clients, you would tell them to do something. You'd have these conversations. You'd have all sorts of rationale. You'd get them to agree. By the time they could implement it, it's a year later, a year and a half, and it's irrelevant. The the world has moved on. Yeah. So it just felt like it was very frustrating because you couldn't get ahead. Whereas when you work with a start up, you can literally have a conversation, and I could say, what, Erica? I was looking at your website, and I think you should do x, y, and z. And then tomorrow, I go on, oh, she did it all. Like, it's You're done. It's done. Like, yeah. Yeah. It's like, oh my god. She actually implemented everything. Like and so it just feels more, moving at the speed of culture and and the ability to make things happen. So I really liked that. And then I met my cofounder, James, and then we decided to launch our own business. But yeah. I mean, there's something really fulfilling just about just making a decision that, okay, we're gonna do this. There's nobody in my way other than myself and, I guess, money. But then you just go do it. You just decide you wanna make something happen, and you just go make it happen. So how did you land on hair care? You've got all the experience in

Erica: the world. You could do anything, and this is just how? I'm just curious.

Lynn: Yeah. So I had worked actually in beauty quite a bit in my career, and I actually ran L'Oreal's hair care business, the advertising at McCann. So that was all their hair color and hair care products. And I actually also worked on Nexxus and TRESemme and some other hair care brands. And then I met James, who's my cofounder, and he had been working on hair care formulations for about ten years and had really no idea how to commercialize the business. So formulations, but he didn't have anything else. He didn't have a brand. He didn't have a plan. He did so it just was a good match of our skill sets because I don't know how to make this stuff.

Erica: Yeah.

Lynn: But, I know how to create a go to market strategy, a business plan, a marketing plan, all that good stuff, a brand name, get the packaging done, all that stuff. And so it just clicked. It just made sense, and I've, and so I did that, and I've really enjoyed it. I mean, now it's, like, kinda taken on a new life because we went from just having my brand, Masami, then I launched the candle business. That's a whole different podcast. But then then I launched something called the Conscious Beauty Collective in April. I was going through chemo a few months before. I was thinking about the business. This is what cancer is good for. It allows you to really prioritize and focus on the things that are important Yeah. And not do things that are not important. And so one of the things that had worked really well for us was brand partnerships, and so I wanted to do more of those. And so this idea was born out of that desire, and we created a pop up experience with 32 indie beauty and wellness brands. And so that went so well. We started in it's it was in San Francisco for three months. That went so well that we moved to Boston, which is where we are now. We're at Natick Mall outside of Boston, and we'll be there till the end of the year. But my my point is or more around you get to do the things you like to do. And one of the things that I found has been really fulfilling is working with other founders. Mhmm. Because I get a lot of energy out of helping, supporting, sharing, helping each other grow. I mean, nothing would make me happier than to see those 32 indie beauty and wellness brands that are part of the Conscious Beauty Collective all be acquired in five years.

Erica: Right. Yeah. That would be Like,

Lynn: and so that's been really, really, like, the opposite of what I was describing in advertising, where it was, like, sucked your soul. Mhmm. This is, like, now filling my soul back up. And so I do think you need to find those things. You can do the soul sucking things for a while if you really need to. Like, you can go, okay. I gotta do this for a couple years because I need the money. But at some point, you gotta fill it back up. You can't just run dry because it'll suck the life out of you.

Erica: Yeah. Now when you kind of not kind of, but when you were making this transition, you were leaving corporate, you were starting your own business, did you ever have these feelings of, like, who the hell am I to do this and, like, holy shit, or were you pretty steadfast and confident in it?

Lynn: I never really had those feelings. I know that a lot of women do the Yeah. Imposter syndrome thing, but I've seen so many women and mentored so many women over my career that were so capable. I've seen what's at the top, and I think maybe for me that was really eye opening. It felt a little bit like Wizard of Oz when you pull the the the the curtain back and, oh, that's that's it. Because I think everyone assumes that there's these really brainiac, incredible leaders at the top of organizations, and usually they're just not. They're just normal people. Yeah. And and so because I have that perspective, because, I mean, I've met countless CEOs of very large organizations when I worked in advertising. Right? And I was always like, I mean, smart. Very smart people. Don't get me wrong. And there are some exceptional people that are truly, like, an alien must have put them on this planet because how can Elon Musk come up with this plan to make Okay. Like, global rockets. But but I mean, those people I find are are the exception, not the norm. Most leaders are good solid leaders, but they're not better than you. That's that's that was my realization. It's like, oh, these people are no smarter than me. They might have more experience in one thing. They might have so I never really had the, like, why do I have the right to do this? Because in a way, I felt like I've done it for other people for so long, I absolutely have the right to do this. And then when I meet a lot of other founders, it's interesting because most of them don't come from marketing. A lot of them there's one in our store, she was a lawyer. She she a lot of them are in the corporate world but in very different roles. There are some chemists in the in this in in in the Conscious Beauty Collective who are great formulators, but they don't have any other not marketing or business savvy people. Yeah. Everybody comes with their strength, and you just have to be self aware enough to know what your strength is and where your your blind spots are. And that's why I also love this energy of having all the founders working together because I know that I I'm don't know a lot about formulations, but I have a lot of other founders that do, including my cofounder, obviously. But there are other founders if we want another opinion. So it's nice to have that ability to say, like, any one of us doesn't have to be a 100% perfect because we we've got this community that gives us the ability to kind of bounce things off of each other and share.

Erica: Yeah. Well, and I think it's such a good point that, like, you can't be all things. You just can't. Right? Like, you cannot you cannot be an amazing chemist and an amazing coder and all of the other bajillion things in the world that it takes to run these large amazing companies. Right? I mean, you talked about how you saw behind that curtain and that there's this perception that people at the top are these amazing people and doing all these amazing things when really they're just in there doing the books and dealing with Yeah. Bullshit and driving the ship forward. Right? So I think that's kind of a neat a neat connection point is, like, pick those strengths. Right? And hone in on those,

Lynn: and then pull in other people to fill your gaps. Okay. That's key because there are people that a lot of women think, I gotta learn it. I've gotta know it. No. You don't. You can pull in other people. You don't have to know everything. I know and some things, I know enough to be dangerous. Okay. And not a good way. So it just depends, but I think yeah. I I'm a big believer in finding and outsourcing the capabilities that you need and not having to train yourself on how to do Facebook ads if you don't need to. Because it also changes all the time. A lot of these things, you may feel like you need to learn and then you learn it, and then the algorithm changes. And then before like, if you've been out of it for a year, it's totally different. So yeah. Think about what you're good at, what be honest with yourself too. And then not just what you're good at, but what you love. Because sometimes I find, in my team building at the agency, there'd be people who claim to be good at something, but they really weren't, but they love something else. I mean, like and you kinda have to line those things up and make them work. Because if you have somebody in a job where it doesn't align with their skill set or somebody in a in a job that's just not their passion and they're spending all their extra time on their passion over here, it's like, just line them up. It makes it, like, it's so much easier.

Erica: Yeah. Right butts right at the right time.

Lynn: Yeah.

Erica: And I think a lot of people get stuck, and they're trying to force that square peg round hole kinda thing. I mean, you can only do that for so long before burnout or stress and the people are just like, I'm out of here. You can only do that for so long. So, yeah, I think of aligning the skills, aligning the passions. Like, just because you're really good at something doesn't mean you like it.

Lynn: Exactly. Exactly. And I think a lot of times, what I'd see is, like, if there was a really great female project manager, sometimes the women are good at that stuff. Right? And I don't I don't mean to sound that stereotypically, but I think it's because the guys don't wanna do it. And so the women would get asked to do a lot of that type of work and they get good at it. Yeah. And then the more work would get heaped on you, and it doesn't mean you like it.

Erica: Right.

Lynn: It it's like, I would always say, like, when I got more senior in my career and I had more of a voice and I didn't care, And other women's are not gonna be comfortable doing this. But, like, I would go into a meeting and there'd be five guys and me, and I just say, I'm not taking the notes.

Erica: Amen. Yeah.

Lynn: Somebody else do the notes. Yep. And they'd kinda look around, and I'm like, sorry. My writing sucks. I'm not it's one of you has to do it. And that was just so I do think you can do that. And you can talk about it. It doesn't need to be, like, a big feminist statement. It can just be like, look, my writing sucks. Yeah. If I take the notes, we won't be able to decide.

Erica: Nobody's gonna read this later.

Lynn: Yeah. So who's got let's compare writing. Who's got the best writing? Okay. And, actually, it's funny because my my creative partner at Arnold's had great handwriting guy, a man, and he used to do the notes for me because I'd be like, John, you you're writing so much better. And he'd he'd go, yeah. I know. I and he'd go, no. No. I'm doing it. I'm doing it.

Erica: My strength.

Lynn: Yes. And I love that. It was like, that's cool.

Erica: Yeah. That's a good that's a good partner and leader though too.

Lynn: Yeah. Right?

Erica: He That was awesome.

Lynn: Yeah. That that was that was nice. He liked he liked it. He had good writing. I could yes. It was a good good partnership.

Erica: So what are the challenges that you're kinda looking at heading on? The pandemic's kinda leveling out out a little bit. Your treatments have worked. Like, I feel like it's just the sky's the limit here for you. Like, what's opening up? What are we doing?

Lynn: I mean, a big challenge there's there's a couple challenges that any startup will understand. One is cash flow. Mhmm. Because anytime you're making a product like we are, like a physical product, and you actually have to order inventory or you wanna create a new new product in your in your portfolio, it's, like, $50,000. Ouch. So But I mean, like, there's always that, like, hit of of managing that, and if you run out of product, need more. So it is it's just it's just what it is. So cash flow is just a constant juggling. And then customer acquisition, because you have to find new customers. When you're bootstrapped like we are, we don't have outside funding. You're trying to just use your 2 nickels to make it work. And some of the things that you did a year ago don't work the same. So Facebook doesn't work the same. That that's that's probably those are the biggest challenges. And then, of course, distribution, which is one of the reasons I did the pop up store also because it's very difficult as a small brand getting into any sizable retailer. Yeah. And by the way, even if you do, sometimes brands wish they they just wish for it so hard and the universe manifests it. Oh, you wanted to get in Target? Here you go. You're in Target, and it kills the brand. Mhmm. Because what they don't realize is getting in is just the first step. You have to stay in. Yeah. And you have to actually get the velocity, meet the goals, get people to buy your product off the shelf, or they're

Erica: they'll kick you out. They are you're out. Yeah. You're donezo.

Lynn: Yeah. And if you're out, it's very, very hard near impossible to get back in, and it's very hard to get other people to take you because then you have a The failure.

Erica: Yeah. The Quote. Yeah.

Lynn: So so I always say to founders, be careful what you wish for, because those things are not always what they they're cut out to be.

Erica: Yeah. So so one question I always ask everybody on my podcast is, if you were to go back in time to the Lynn who's running the show at the advertising agency, has not launched her own entrepreneurial businesses yet, what kind of advice would you give her knowing everything now, knowing what you've learned? You've had your cancer journey thrown in there at the same time too. Like, what would you tell that, Lynn?

Lynn: I would say don't sweat the small stuff because there's so many things that you get worked up about and twerked up about, and it's very easy, and it's not worth the stress. Yeah. And then I would also say you gotta learn to kind of put things in priority and balance. Like, you just have to I guess I'm saying the same thing. I just really I like kinda saying the same thing. But, like, you you yeah. That's a big one. It would be and also then think of it's a long game. And because it's a long game, people want this to be an overnight success. And a lot of the most successful brands I know have been doing it for a long time. It's not gonna happen overnight. And it takes a lot of work. And so if you think of it as a marathon, you're mentally more prepared. You're not so freaked out if this year things didn't go exactly your way or or happens that was unexpected, then you just kinda go with the flow

Erica: a little bit more. Well, I'm a big fitness person. I love running. So when you're like, think of it as a marathon, it clicks into place for me because I run a ton of marathons and it's like not every mile is also pretty. There's some

Lynn: really

Erica: bad miles out there sometimes, and I think it's true for so many people, especially because of social media. We see these over overnight successes. None of them are overnight. There are decades and decades in between of planning and trying and failing and trying again and all of the things that we don't see. But like you said, it's a long game. I like the marathon quote though. Yeah. I'm here for anything fitness related. It it's not

Lynn: for me. But yeah. No. It really is. Because because also you don't wanna get burned out. And people that think will use the fitness if they sprint

Erica: oh, god. You'll be dead. Yeah.

Lynn: You you can't. And and then that's worse because if if you wait until you're exhausted, then you you really need to do a full reset, and that's a whole thing. And it's mentally challenging, and it's physically challenging. So you're better off so now, like, the my attitude towards growth is I ignore all the VC stuff that says you have to grow. If you're not doubling your growth every year, you're a failure. I mean, yes, that would be nice to double my growth every year. But now I look at it as if I'm up $1 in 2022 versus 2021, that's success. We're growing. I'm growing.

Erica: We are growing. We're not going backwards.

Lynn: Yes. And so yeah. I I know it sounds people would listen and go, oh, that's terrible. Like, that's but I think, again, it's like, you gotta look at it as I just have to keep growing. And then and it's also there's a famous quote. I can't remember who said it. It's like the job of a startup is to stay in business long enough to get lucky. And I do think there's truth to that, and luck can mean different things. It could mean the right investor. It could mean, oh my god. The new Sex in the City just had Masami on. What I mean? And, like, oh, holy shit. My business just blew up. Or it could mean it could mean a lot of different things. But I think that is part of it is, like, you just have to hang in there even on the dark days because at some point, the luck will come your way if you're in business long enough. Yeah.

Erica: I mean, you could talk to How many times are people just hanging out in the background until Kim Kardashian puts one of their things on Instagram in in the background of her video, and then boom, 80,000,000 people on it. So you're right, sometimes it is

Lynn: a little bit of luck, but

Erica: it's also that persistent hard work that you're doing in the background before that moment comes. Yes. So I love it. Well, cool. Well, where can people find you if they're like, I gotta check out this haircare line, I gotta see what's going on, I wanna hear more from this woman, I have a rising agent turned entrepreneur guru. Where can we find you?

Lynn: I'm easy to find. I'm on LinkedIn, and I do respond. I'm I'm on social channels as Lynn Powered, p o w b r e d. But then my brand is is Love Masami Hair is our social handle everywhere. So, yes, we even have a TikTok account. Oh, dang. You are I know. Well

Erica: You are doing it.

Lynn: And then my website is lovemasami.com. And Masami is m a s a m I. So that's that's us. So, yeah, you can find us and check it out.

Erica: Yeah. I will be putting all of that stuff in the show notes so that they can just easily click and go there. But, Lynn, thank you so much for being on here. It's awesome to hear your story.

Lynn: Oh, it was so fun. It was a great conversation. Thank you.