Fundraising as a Female Founder with Emily McDonald of The Stylist LA Podcast Transcript

Episode 40 – Pitchin’ and Sippin’ – Fundraising as a Female Founder with Emily McDonald of The Stylist LA

SPEAKERS

Lexie Smith, Emily McDonald

Lexie Smith  

So Emily being on the show once again takes me back to my former days as an LA publicist being in PR in Los Angeles, I had to go to quite a few events. And that is how Emily’s company The Stylist LA first came onto my radar. It was through attending a few different events at her showrooms that I was officially introduced to the incredible Emily herself. Fast forward, six, seven years of staying up to date via social media. And our paths reconnected once again. And I could not be more excited to have her on the show. So Emily, welcome, we’re gonna dive into all the work stuff soon. But first, I always love to kick things off by asking, What do you like to do outside of the office for fun? 

Emily McDonald  

Oh, that’s a great question first. Thank you so much for having me. So I have a lot of things I love to do outside of the office, but I would say obviously number one, spend time with my husband and son but beyond that, I love cooking, making charcuterie boards, and hosting people and making some mean homemade Margarita this weekend. So I love all of that kind of stuff. 

Lexie Smith  

Charcuterie boards yummy. What? So cooking, what type of typical cuisine do you like to cook? No. So I will cook. I love to cook. 

Emily McDonald  

So I always tell my husband I’m like, bring me any recipe and I will make it um, so I cook I’m really big on like family dinner. So we do. I cook every night of the week mostly. Sometimes I’ve gotten into things like Blue Apron and HelloFresh lately, but I actually love meal planning. So I go on Pinterest, I do all kinds of stuff. 

Lexie Smith  

Your wife’s goals. I I love cooking shows. And I’ve tried so many times to get into cooking. In fact, I’m going through periods right now I’m on a hellofresh hellofresh. Yeah, period. So I have like six more meals left. But even those which only take 30 minutes of prep, inevitably I’m overwhelmed by them. Not my jam. 

Emily McDonald  

But I actually think they’re a little harder sometimes, like they’re easier recipes to make , so I feel you, I think for me, it’s like a task that isn’t work related. Yeah, I enjoy that as an outcome. And I usually drink wine while I’m cooking, which I think is the key.

Lexie Smith  

So I love enjoying the meal once it’s done. And funny enough. I love watching cooking shows. I just get impatient. I always bring garlic, which I feel like there’s always garlic in good recipes. So anyways, I totally get it. Where is home base right now? 

Emily McDonald  

So home base for me is in Redwood City, which is just south of San Francisco and pre-pandemic. I was splitting my time between LA and San Francisco because we had stores. We will dive into that I’m sure but we had stores in LA and San Francisco. And so since the pandemic I’m mostly up in Northern California, Northern California. 

Lexie Smith  

Okay, well, well, perfect segue. I really do want to talk about all things. The stylist LA. First up let’s start with the basics for anyone who doesn’t know what it is. What is the stylist law? And how did you think of the original idea for the business? 

Emily McDonald  

Yeah, great question. Because as we’re talking today, it’s definitely evolved. But I actually started the stylist la in 2010, which is insane to think about.

Emily McDonald  

I wrote the business plan on it. When I was at USC in college I did women’s clothing rentals targeting the millennial and Gen Z consumer. And I came up with the idea when I was in a sorority at USC and I saw how often girls wanted to wear dresses for new events, but they couldn’t afford to buy them. I also saw that girls were borrowing dresses from each other all the time, but then they didn’t all want to be seen on social media in the same dress. So I joke that there was a story about my friend Lindsay’s pink dress, and it was like I love that dress. But like literally everyone had an Instagram photo in that dress or a Facebook photo at the time that will age me but um, that’s how I came up with the concept. And I ended up starting it in 2010 with a rolling rack in my living room and dresses from sample sales. And I have to note that this was like pre Rent the Runway days. So clothing rental was definitely a different idea that people weren’t as familiar with. 

Lexie Smith  

Brilliant, I mean, I feel like renting the runways obviously one that a lot of I learned about them in towards the latter maybe my senior year of college but really you were before them. So kudos to you. And one of the topics I really want to dive into today regarding the stylist LA is fundraising raised over a million dollars in venture capital. My first question is how did you decide you wanted to go the VC route when fundraising

Emily McDonald  

I’m gonna make myself stay short on these answers because I could talk about this for hours. This is something that I feel extremely passionate about. I bootstrapped the company for a long time. So I think that’s important to note, we didn’t raise money right off the bat and Rent the Runway did so Rent the Runway has raised over. I think now it’s up to like 750 million. And that is part of the reason that everyone knows about them. And the reason that they’ve been able to get so much notoriety, raising VC money for a company is a very unique situation. And I decided I was ready to do it. Once we had really proven ourselves and we had product market fit, we had customers that were obsessed with us, we had a great business model, we had a lot of traction and decent revenue. And that was when I decided to raise money because I decided it was time to really put the pedal to the metal and scale. So pre-funding, then you said you bootstrapped, and you really did get some traffic before going out to VC. So what were some of the ways you gained that traffic in the original days pre having the funds? Yeah, so that’s a great question. I think I love growth hacking and organic marketing, and just like getting creative and figuring out how to get customers. It’s something that excites me and drives me and I actually love helping other people do that with their businesses. So the number one way, which I’ll tell you because it’s an interesting PR, kind of angle that we really got notoriety for is that I was always doing different things. Like we had brand reps to different colleges, I was always trying new ways to grow the business. And in 2016, I think it was the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016. Instagram obviously was big, but it wasn’t what it is today. And I started reaching out to girls from the Bachelor. And they replied, and I ended up reaching out to like the top four and if you watch The Bachelor, it’s some of the best girls that have come out of that franchise, which is like, more ambush now. Now Lauren lane, Becca Tilly, JoJo Fletcher. Those were the three that we mainly worked with. And at the time, it was interesting, cuz we didn’t know but like Lauren Bushnell had won the bachelor and gotten engaged to Ben Higgins. And so she actually reached back out and was like, I actually need outfits for everything. And Becca was like, I need outfits for women to tell all and Jojo we didn’t know is going to be the bachelorette. So we started these conversations. And we ended up working with these women and becoming pretty close with them. Because they were especially Lauren was in kind of a crazy part of her life, right? She was being launched into this crazy stardom. She had no idea what she was doing. She’s going on Jimmy Kimmel, good morning, America, they don’t provide them stylists. So we styled her for that whole media tour. And then for a bunch of other events that happened right after the show. And then she mentioned us on social media. And this was back when these girls weren’t sharing everything on social media, like brand wise. So that really put us on the map, got us a lot of notoriety and really, like helped our growth. 

Lexie Smith  

Amazing and like no shame total bachelor franchise, watcher over here. It’s still something I get together with my girlfriends weekly to watch. It’s just very entertaining. So I actually do vividly remember. And you know, it’s funny. I wonder if that’s how you guys got on my radar or not? I’m not sure. I mean, being in LA and being in events now. 

Emily McDonald  

So yeah, it was, I mean, it was super cool. It was like a surreal thing that sometimes I get nostalgic about now, right? Because I think Instagram is a very different game now than it was then. But like, I will never forget, like Becca wore this amazing Parker sequin romper on the women and that was before Lauren started posting stuff. And she posted it to us. And I remember looking at our Instagram, and I was like, This is insane. And I was just scrolling. We are getting 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of followers and like, Lauren, it was crazy. Because like, it was such a whirlwind for her that the finale was on. And then she went on Jimmy Kimmel, and we watched it live. And I was like, Oh, she’s wearing that because we didn’t know which we were like. We sat her with dresses, and we’re like, here are suggestions, but we weren’t there with her, like putting her in the dress. So we didn’t know exactly what she was gonna wear. It was such a cool experience. 

Lexie Smith  

So let’s go back to what you said, which is you just reached out to them. I mean, did you slide into their DMS? Was it a cold email? What did that look like 

Emily McDonald  

Slid into their DMS, which again, unfortunately, is a lot harder to do these days. It’s just, you know, I think I keep thinking like, what’s the next Instagram? Because this was just such a unique situation where like, they had a need that we could so easily fill and we were in LA. So we were down the street from Lauren’s apartment. And so she was like, wait, this is genius. And at the time, they didn’t have a million brands and creepy people sliding into their DMS. And so yes, I slid into their DMS and just said hey like, I’m Emily with the stylists LA And I think Becca and I had a mutual friend. So that helped.

Emily McDonald  

Who she actually does her podcast with. Now, Tanya, who I love. So Tanya has been a client of ours for years, like, literally, I think since, like 2012. And so that helped as well. But yeah, slid into their DMS. I mean, I, I don’t know if I’ve ever actually told you this. But this was a period of my life where I had this, like, really funny thing I was doing, which is where I was trying to get no’s, I would try and get 20 noses a week. So I would like to ask for things that I thought were crazy or like, like dm people or pitch people or ask for all these things? Because I was like, Look, I don’t you know, if you do that you’re less likely to be stressed by the No. And you’re also more likely to ask for things that you might not otherwise get. So that was what prompted me to do that. 

Lexie Smith  

That is incredible in so many ways. You know, as a PR coach, I have clients who will send out two pitches, no, and they’ll get no’s or they’ll get crickets. And if they think their whole business is a failure, and I keep telling them it’s not two pitches, you know, you have to keep going and even no’s you can learn from crickets. From everything you can learn from it. It’ll lead you to that. Yes. So thank you for sharing that.

Emily McDonald  

Of course, I’m a numbers dork. So I like I’m a big, like, what’s your conversion rate? Right? So like, if, if you’re trying to get two pitches, I would pitch 100.

I also like to keep a little tally of likes, I’m also very goal oriented. So I’m like, Okay, I’ll do 10 you know, 10 today, 10 tomorrow, but I think it’s all a numbers game. 

Lexie Smith  

Amazing. So okay, first was the traction with the bachelor franchise, before you raised during or after before? Okay, so was that traction? What prompted you to want to go Okay, now we have traction, let’s go raise. 

Emily McDonald  

Yes. So some of what I’ll say is very specific to the type of company I have. Because I do want to say that clothing rental is a very difficult business. for a lot of reasons. Like it’s logistically difficult. It’s very expensive. It takes a lot of things like operational lifting. So what was happening is we were getting all of this notoriety from the bachelor, and we were trying to keep up and we couldn’t keep up. So we didn’t have enough inventory. We didn’t have enough staff. And that was when I was like, Okay, it’s time to really supercharge this and raise money. And, like, put some real resources behind this because the problem is, like, I would take out debt. You know, I put a lot of money back in and that kind of thing, but it was never enough to really get us to the next level. 

Lexie Smith  

Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense. So you decide you’re going to fundraise. How did you break into the VC world? What were your first steps? 

Emily McDonald  

Okay, so this is a cool story. And I really, I think,this is something that I’m super proud of. So one of our main investors is Jason Calacanis. He’s an angel investor. He has a fund called the launch fund. He was one of the first investors in Uber, Robin Hood, the calm app, he’s like a pretty big investor. So he does this thing. He hosts a thing, especially for female founders, that is founder University. And he basically, like helps you as a founder think through being a venture backed company, and you can pitch him. And so you have to be he takes pitches both days. And you have to show up super early to get on the list. And I, of course, showed up like two hours early. I was like, by far the first person they’re like, like embarrassingly early, like, I don’t even think the people that were setting it up are there, but I assumed there would be like a long line. So I was one of the first people to pitch to him. And he loved it, because he could tell and he will say this today, but like, he could tell through my pitch, how much we had customers that were so obsessed with us. And that’s what he wants to see. He calls them the whales, which are your customers that spend tons of money and will buy almost anything yourself. So then through that we were accepted into his incubator. And so he invests when you come in as an incubator, he invests and then he helps you fundraise and you pitch to investors every week in person in his incubator. Now, it’s hurtful, but then it was in person in San Francisco. 

Lexie Smith  

And what is this called again? 

Emily McDonald  

So it’s the launch incubator. And if anyone that’s listening is curious about it, reach out to me, because I can submit people that I think might be a good fit to them. They want people, they want founders who have a company that’s ready to scale. They are just ready to raise VC money that’s doing over $10,000 a month in revenue. But definitely VC backed companies, and then they invest, they invest $100,000, and then they help you raise it. I mean, it’s incredible. He’s one of the best investors in the world. So it’s a really incredible experience. 

Lexie Smith  

And if you’re listening, please do your tab back and listen to the requirements, what the M just said she just offered you a very, very, very incredibly generous opportunities so so please don’t plug her inbox unless you really do feel that you’re you’re a fit, and finish listening to this episode so you know more about her. 

Emily McDonald  

And one other thing I’ll say is Founders University for female founders is free. And now they do it virtually. So if you’re interested in learning more about raising and figuring out if your company is the right fit, I also can connect you to the people who can get you tickets to that for free. Incredible. So I want to hear generally speaking, some pieces of advice or your best piece of advice about founders looking to raise capital, specifically as a female founder, because as we learned from Julius steel of Ifans woman, which was Episode 18, and season one plug, only 2.3% of all venture capital dollars, went to female founded businesses in 2020. So the fact that you’ve got capital B, that you’re in such a small percentage, what’s the best piece of advice you can offer? Okay, so I’m going to start by saying it’s super complex. So there’s a lot of different things here, I think, it’s going to be almost impossible for me to tell you one piece of advice, I think, the biggest thing I will say is fundraising is also one of the biggest times of self growth you will ever have, you get super comfortable being uncomfortable. You’re very vulnerable. You know, on my, I don’t know if you’re on my newsletter list, but I sent one out last night about shame and money. Um, and I think that has a lot to do with fundraising, right? Like you’re standing in front of these investors saying, This is how much revenue we did. And they a lot of times are picking you apart and saying, like, that’s not good enough. And so you have to figure out, you have to do so much work on yourself, that you’re so confident that you can go in there and I think to go in there and really sell this big dream and really prove to them that you can turn their a million dollars into a billion. And I think it’s really difficult for women. So I think that’s one of the problems and reasons that there’s such little VC funding for females, there’s a million reasons, right? Like, obviously, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done there. But, you know, men, it’s easier for men to go in and be like, I’m going to build this giant thing. And women are like, Well, I’d like to do it in these steps. And so my biggest piece of advice is to really work on yourself as well and be ready to go in and sell the big vision and really talk to anyone and everyone. I kept a list again, I think everything is a numbers game. So I pitched to 200 investors. Yeah. 200 and had calls, had coffee meetings, all kinds of stuff.  I think you never know where those checks are gonna come from. And, you know, really just like engaging with people getting to know them, building your network

 

Emily McDonald  

is super important. Also, making sure you have a business model that is scalable goes without saying. I think a lot of people raising VC money is trendy right now. So a lot of people think they should do it, when in reality, very specific businesses should do so but there’s also another thing, and I I think people are probably listening that don’t know the difference. There’s also angel investor money. And a lot of our funding was from angel investors, and some was from a fund. And angel investors have a little bit of a different model, which a lot of times is more beneficial for smaller female founded companies. And because you brought that up, and thank you for bringing that up. If you were to give a very one on one definition breakdown, how would you describe the difference between an angel investor and a VC. So angel investors invest their own money, they’re usually smaller checks, they’re investing their own money, they have control. Like, for example, we’ve gotten yeses from an angel investor like that, right? Like, I’ll be at a coffee meeting. And I’ll be like, I love you, I love this, I’ll write you a check, send me the docs. If you’re investing from a VC fund, it’s other people’s money, and the fund manager is managing that money. So they just have to jump through a few more hoops. And it depends, like we were raising pretty early. So my main investor is Charles Hudson, a precursor ventures. He’s incredible. And he has smaller funds. So like he makes all the decisions. But if you go to a bigger fund, they have like a team of people that have to make them. So it’s just, it’s a bit more of a process. And they have more people to like the VC funds and have more people to answer to whereas an angel investor, it’s their own money and they have the final say. 

Lexie Smith 

Perfect. Thank you so much for that breakdown. I find that very helpful. And just like you could talk about this for hours. I could literally question you about this for hours, but I know we have so much more to get to and what I do want to touch on is that 2020 sides really 2.3% of venture capital dollars going to women. We also had a pandemic. Yeah, social justice movements, a lot of things were happening and this not only rocked the world, But your business, right? So tell me your Can you share with me some of the shifts? Or what initially happened in 2020? And what are some of the shifts you’ve had to make? 

Emily McDonald  

Yeah, definitely. I think that’s a great question. And I think one of the most important things I want to say is that when you think things are falling apart, they’re usually not. I think I thought my business was falling apart in April of 2020. And in reality, we’re in a better position now than we’ve ever been. Um, so long story short, we were fundraising, we had just launched our new subscription, we had huge plans for 2020. Like, our revenue projections were huge. We had so many event plans, I mean, it was just gonna be a big, big year, we just raised more money, we were actually in the process of raising more, and the world shut down. And at first, we thought we’d only be shut down for two weeks, which is hilarious looking back. And as the weeks and months went on, it became very clear that especially some cities weren’t going to be the same for a while. I saw the writing on the wall about San Francisco very quickly. And luckily, our lease was up. So we closed San Francisco, June 1 2020. We kept la open until July 1 2021. But it was never fully open again. And I think what’s an interesting point is that one of my investors said to me that Charles Hudson actually said that COVID just really like expedited all the things we were potentially going to do anyways. And I had already been thinking about phasing out one time rentals and the show ropes. And that’s hard for me to say, because what drives me is connecting to people. So in the showroom was what really drove me for so long. But I realized that those in showroom rentals, and those one time rentals weren’t scalable, which is tough when you raise VC money, and the goal is to scale. So we closed both showrooms. We’ve shifted now to only focusing on our subscription, which is a much more scalable model, it’s a lot easier to run, it’s pretty exciting, because we work with a lot of our private label manufacturers. And so today, we are a much smaller team. We’ve closed both showrooms, and we’re focusing on our subscription.

Lexie Smith  

So a lot has changed, a lot has changed. But I think it’s for the best. I mean, I have some, sometimes I have some, like sadness about what 2020 was supposed to be. But I’m also a big believer that everything happens for a reason. So I believe we’re right where we’re supposed to be. I love that outlook. So thank you for sharing all of that. And amongst having to shift and, you know, the pivot, I feel like was the buzzword of 2020. Right. Amongst that if we take it back to PR for a second, there was a lot of messaging that you had to pay mind to both internally with your team and investors, but also externally, any, you know, General looking back or I mean, we’re still in it, by all means, pieces of advice you have for other founders, looking to control messaging, during times of crises? 

Emily McDonald  

Authenticity is everything. With your team, with your investors, with your customers, it really is I mean, I think a unique thing about the pandemic is that we’re all in it. All of us, right, like not one company is going through it. I mean, to be fair, some are hurting more than others based on their industry, but authenticity and just being yourself. And I think like pre COVID, I was so much more concerned with how I was perceived. And making sure I was perceived as a strong founder as a successful founder, making sure Instagram made us look like we were killing it. And in reality, I think we were killing it pre COVID in a very different way than we are now. But I think if you can be as authentic as possible in your messaging, people relate to that so much. Thank you for that. And I know, while you’re also doing all these things, you also began dabbling and another I guess we’ll call it industry or another side hustle, which isn’t a side hustle. It’s also a full time hustle. You know what I’m talking about. So can you tell everyone else? What are you doing today? Yes. So it’s funny because it started as one thing and is evolving, but I started consulting on the side. In COVID, one of my really good friends asked me to do it. So it kind of started on a whim. She has an organizing company. She has incredible company. There are professional organizers, but they’re more than that. We have launched a new revenue stream for her recently, which isn’t basically an academy that teaches people how to be organizers. So she asked me to start doing it. So that’s how I started so I started consulting for her and then a few other friends asked me and now it’s actually transitioning into also coaching

Emily McDonald  

And I’m going to launch my first mastermind in October.

Emily McDonald  

Very exciting, exciting. Yeah, and I. So basically, what I realized that I think is pretty cool is my Y is connecting with people. My y in the style of silay was getting someone in the perfect dress. And that moment when they felt great about themselves, my why in consulting is connecting with other founders and helping them build something. And my why. And coaching is being that voice of reason, that helpful person so that you don’t feel alone. And beyond that, I love building things. I love numbers, I’ve done it. I’ve done it for 10 years. And I think like, that’s a really unique thing that I’ve been in the trenches of laying awake at 3am wondering how we’re going to make payroll, laying awake at 3am. and wondering if we’re going to hit our revenue numbers that our investors expect us to hit. And so those are things that I really want to help female founders work through. And even if they’re not raising money, having helped them work through what do they charge? And how are they dealing with their self worth and money and charging what they’re worth? I think there’s a lot that female founders deal with where we feel alone. And we shouldn’t.

Emily McDonald  

Amen. To all everything you just said. So for the mastermind in October, who would be the ideal person that might be a good fit for that. Yeah, so any female founder that wants to scale their business, even if they’re just starting out would be a great fit. What we’re going to do is what we’re going to do, I haven’t announced at all yet, but we’re going to do weekly zooms group calls, one on one calls. And then I have a few of my friends who are very successful entrepreneurs who are going to come in and teach a few of them, not teach, but like speak and a few of the zooms as well, I have a good friend who’s an influencer, who is killing it at the social media game, and she’s going to do it, which is going to be great. So anyone who is a founder just starting out or already has a business that they’ve built that wants to scale up is the perfect person. I think the biggest thing I’m looking for is people who have the heart and really want to learn and grow.

Emily McDonald  

And I’m excited because it’s the first one. So I’m sure I’m going to be just like I’m going to be so eager and excited to help people. But like I said, I love growth hacking. I love numbers. So really helping people bring in more revenue, get to the revenue points they want and build the business that makes them the happiest. You know, on your first mastermind, it’s you know, our mutual friend, Emily, Maryland, I launched our first cohort of Ready Set coaches last summer. And one of the things that people were saying to us, when we were initially filling that program was, I don’t know if I want to join your first one because it’s your first one and what I have to say about your first program, it’s your baby. It’s also your best. I can already tell it’s gonna be my best. Yeah. So much, Karen that you put you want it to be so good. There’s just so much extra attention. And that’s not to say it isn’t great moving forward. But for anyone ever, faced with that decision of joining something first, just know from the person putting it on standpoint, like we want it to go so well that you’re going to get 180,000,000,000% of us. It’s so funny you say that because I’ve been thinking about what I’m like, I actually keep thinking about the people who sign up for the first or the luckiest because I know myself and I am going to be like eat, sleep, breathe. Obviously the other ones will be good too. But I’ll be so excited and so ready to make it the best thing ever. Also, like the people who take your masterminds are your advocates, right? And like I’m a huge customer service person just in general. Like, I think people with the stylus delay probably know that too. Like I want people to love me and love us and love what I’m creating and so I guarantee it’s going to be a good one. Yes. Okay, so I’m going to get to where people can learn more about all of the things in a second here. But before we tail off with that, I have to ask you the classic pitching and sipping question. We’ve talked a lot about pitching. You know a lot about fundraising. So Emily, what can we find you sipping? What is your favorite beverage? non alcoholic or alcoholic? Of course, Oh, gosh. Okay, so I love wine. But I have to say usually it’s wine but lately I’m making homemade margaritas and they are so good. But like traditional or flavored or not I do traditional. Someone gave us the cost of Migos tequila and it’s so good. I can’t even handle it. I’m like I’m not gonna drink anything else. All I do is that tons of lime like for limes, a mark a little bit of stevia drops. And that’s it.

Emily McDonald  

That’s it. So, stevia, tequila, and sometimes I’ll put in a little bit of water. You could do soda water if you wanted. Like if it just needs a little more tons of ice salted rim.

Lexie Smith

Have you ever tried Tajin?

 

Emily McDonald  

I’ve done them before we did a tequila tasting class over zoom at the beginning of pandemic and I have not. I’ve done them before we did a tequila tasting class over zoom at the beginning of pandemic and I had Tajin but I haven’t. I highly suggest that my favorite drink on this planet besides wine is a How can you cucumber Margarita with the heen. And oh my god game changer. So maybe that’s what I’m making next weekend I highly suggest and actually if you need a recipe My dad has a world famous recipe that I give all my clients but I’m more than happy to send that your way. So I need that. I need that for sure. Oh, well. Okay, so let’s start with where people can find out more about the stylist LA and your subscription. Where can they go? Yes, so The Stylist LA the Box.com  And the subscription is incredible. I’m obsessed with that, as a user, it’s $79 a month, you get three pieces at a time as many times as you want. And the best part is you can buy the pieces for a fraction of the retail price and they are inexpensive. So I just bought a pair of pants for $18. I bought a sweater for 24. It’s great. So yeah, they can find us there stylist la box .com.

Lexie Smith

amazing. And we’ll put that in the show notes and then to learn about consulting, coaching and your mastermind, where can they go?

Emily McDonald

So EK McDonald. com which I have for you, my newly launched personal website has all the info, you can schedule a call with me there, sign up for an email list. I’m now sending out emails every other week about tales of being a founder. So I mentioned yesterday’s shame and money. So if anyone wants that one, send me a message and I’ll resend you from last night. And then we’ll also have info on the mastermind there. But yeah, on my website, you can schedule a free call to see whether coaching consulting or mastermind would be right for you. And we’ll be opening up the mastermind program for enrollment in the next week or so. It was so exciting to get hurt here at first. So I want that email by the way.

Lexie Smith

So can I sign up for your email list on your new website?

 I’ll put you on it. And then I’ll just send you yesterday. So I think you’ll like it. It’s good if it has some tips on things I found to help me combat shame and money because I think one thing is being a female founder, like we never think we’re doing good at doing like we’re not because our revenue isn’t high enough. We’re not, we don’t have enough clients. It’s all these we’re just we’re very hard on ourselves.

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, no, I mean, amen, I guess. Amen. To all the Amen.

Emily McDonald 

I think that’s actually if I can say one last thing. I think that’s one thing I’ve learned that I want all female founders to take away is that you are good enough. You are good enough and your work does not define you. And if your company failed tomorrow, you would still be good enough. People would still love you and all you’ve got to do is give it your best and I think that’s something that I struggled with so much in 2020 like Who am I? My company isn’t x y&z and you’re just fine as you are.

Lexie Smith

You are good enough. That is the perfect way to wrap up today. Emily, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Emily McDonald 

Thank you so much for having me.