258. Tiffany Paul Interview: From Employee to Business Owner, SLEPT Founder and CEO

Tiffany Paul 00:00
But I think when you leave your corporate job, you have this vision that you're just gonna make it like, you're one of the few that are taking the leap. And I had proven traction. And it was a huge, like, ego blow, let's call it, and I had, suffered internally a lot at the onset, the onset of that, because I hadn't realized how—I mean, we're so confident, right? One of your businesses fail, we never leave your job saying like, I'm going to be the business that fails. And it's not a failure, you know, I got it back up and running, I sold it off. But it was a huge hit. And I think that also just being open that when you leave the job, you have to be ready for the fact that the unexpected can always occur in a business and to make sure that you are financially, that you have a plan B.

Susan Sly 00:43
Welcome to Raw and Real Entrepreneurship, the show that dares to bring no nonsense insight to those who have the courage to start, grow and scale a business. I'm your host, Susan Sly. So what is up Raw and Real entrepreneurs, I hope you're having a great day, wherever you are. And you know, I have a question for you. Are you one of these people who is perhaps a little exhausted? Maybe you know that you're trying really hard and sometimes you're questioning why. Maybe you're thinking hmm, I am a serial approver. And I know because I'm a recovering one. Well, my guest today and I are going to get into that. She spent 10 years with one of the largest corporations in the United States before having the courage to leave and start her own business. We're gonna talk about that in just a moment. Before we do, head on over to Susansly.com. There's some exciting things going on. Number one, if you are a woman who's had a dream of solving a problem and thinking, I want to start a business, I am launching the Feb Boss Incubator with a vision to help 1000 women start, grow, and scale successful technology companies. So you can apply. Go through the link at Susansly.com. And then for those people who, whose applications look really good, you're going to then go to a pitch process. And then if you are selected, we are not only going to come alongside you and help you start your business, grow your business, raise funding, we are also going to build your technology to get your beta version out the door. I mean, it's crazy. Where was that when I needed that? So that is in partnership with some amazing people, including Jared Yellin, and Grant Cardone at 10x. So with that, go to susansly.com I would love for you to apply. And you know what, you might be wondering, can a guy apply? Yes, you can apply. You just have to be a person who loves women. That's it. All right. My guest today is a former unfulfilled corporate employee spending 10 years with Procter and Gamble. So we can talk about Swifters, no. Six figure salary and taking a leap to full time entrepreneur. She's the host of the Dream Life podcast, a platform that empowers listeners to chase down big dreams and redefine success for themselves. She currently resides in Southern California. So she's my state neighbor over there with her husband of nine years, which in a marriage is honestly like 56 years. And there, and you know, because I've been with Chris, as you all know, for 22 years. So hey, props out. If it's longer than seven, you're good. And their two children who are ages, I think three and five now. So Tiffany Paul, welcome to the Raw and Real Entrepreneurship.

Tiffany Paul 03:29
Thank you. And it's almost 10 years, and we've been together for 16 years. So yeah, it's real. Thank you for having me.

Susan Sly 03:37
Yeah. And when you think about it, in relationships, right? It's crazy. I was at, my husband and I, were at our couples Bible study the other night, and you know, it's like, stand up, if you've been married, you know, longer than five years, and then 10 years, and then 15 years and 20 years. And there are a lot of really young couples. And then there's this couple of like, 30 years and this other couple, and they're like, they're still coming to events like this. They've been married 40 years, it's like, Wow.

Tiffany Paul 04:07
That's crazy. I think the longer I get, I've been married, the more I appreciate it, because of the just like the ups and downs of life, you're like, wow, you're doing this together. And you know, you get to know yourself better, you know each other better. And you never realize that could even be possible. I think in the first few years you think you know everything about them, not to mention the personal evolution we all go in and then we still need to kind of evolve and then come back together, evolve and come back together. It's a beautiful thing.

Susan Sly 04:33
Building a business.

Tiffany Paul 04:34
Exactly. He is my business.

Susan Sly 04:37
Well think about, the number one reason businesses fail is lack of cashflow, which means that people spent more money getting excited and like a wedding. Right? It's like you spend more money being excited about I'm going to start this business, whatever, not that long term planning and that's no different than a marriage. Maybe that's the book like, I need to right next.

Tiffany Paul 04:57
Totally! I agree. I couldn't agree more.

Susan Sly 05:01
Let me ask you this. So you know, the listeners love this. And yeah, I get lots of, they love the origin story. What, how did you start your first business? What was it?

Tiffany Paul 05:12
Yeah, so my first business was actually a single product that I invented called the Sleeper Scarf. It was a two in one scarf and neck pillow. And I came up with this idea halfway through my career in Procter and Gamble, and I was like, I'm not sure that corporate life is for me. I kind of need something on the side to keep me fulfilled. I wasn't ready to leave the six figure salary and all the benefits and everything yet, we were planning on having children and I was like, Let's ride this out. Let's get the four months of paid maternity leave and all the things. So I travel a lot for work. And those bulky neck pillows were just like, obnoxious to carry, ugly to look at. And they just weren't that comfortable. So I was like, why not, I always travel with a scarf, why not create this pocket, and an inflatable pillow, we could adjust it and kind of wrap the scarf to keep me cozy. And I created that on the side. I made a lot of mistakes. My first big deal was with SkyMall magazine, do you remember them? So I sold all my inventory to them. I was so excited. And then they went bankrupt and never paid me a dime. So I basically started underwater. Most businesses start underwater, right? But I really, really had a huge hit like from the beginning and it's been you know, uphill battle like any other business. But we've been on Good Morning America since then, we're in airports nationwide, I actually sold that business up. Uncommon Goods now manages it, and I have a licensing deal. So it was my first business. I did it for seven years. And I actually took the leap from corporate America for that business knowing that I had something else brewing, which is now my online sleep space called thesleptlife.com. So it all kind of related, right? The Sleep Scarf turned into a curated online sleep marketplace. And now I'm actually doing a product development agency where I help other entrepreneurs bring to life their product. So it's funny how the origin really matters, because it's they're all stepping stones into what we do today.

Susan Sly 07:06
I love that. So I have a question. How did you, how did you create your first prototype for that?

Tiffany Paul 07:12
I remember asking a friend. First off, my whole network was corporate, right? Nobody had ever created their own business, let alone their own product. That was the hardest part getting started, which is why I'm so passionate about doing my agency now. And I remember going to somebody who had a clothing line because that was as close as I could find. And she's like, you'll need a pattern maker. And I was like, oh, a pattern maker. It's so simple now, but I didn't even know the basics of the first place to start is to find a pattern maker. And so I just literally drew it on a piece of paper, she created a pattern, a couple of different options, we revised it. And to this day, that's how you start. And there is like a technology like a tech pack, which is like a digital pattern. But I've always been like a paper and pencil type of person. And then now my factories just kind of take it away from there.

Susan Sly 08:00
So when you, how many prototypes did you design initially?

Tiffany Paul 08:04
I would say about three. And I actually started my manufacturing in San Francisco where I was living at the time because I wanted hands on experience. And I didn't want to place these big orders overseas. And so I give that advice to a lot of entrepreneurs that are just starting out or wanting to play around. There are a lot of factories actually here in the US, especially if you live in a big city, you know, L.A, New York, or San Francisco, and I'm sure many more. You can probably just Google. And that was, that allowed me to really be hands on in the prototyping process, and be there for that first product run, and also limit. Even though it's more expensive per unit, it was worth it to just learn the process from start to finish.

Susan Sly 08:46
Oh my gosh, now I'm like, I need to ask so many questions about it. And that's regardless, and you know, I want to pause like, whatever kind of business you want to start and you know, now we're, I think close to, whenever you listen to this, like 300 episodes and, and one of the things that stops people and you know, this Tiffany is the how. Like, they're like, I know what I want to do, I know why I want to do it. How? So you get the prototype, you're now you know, thinking okay, I'm going to go out and I've got to sell this prototype, and you're working full time. So take us in a time machine. What did that look like?

Tiffany Paul 09:26
I didn't have kids yet. So I had committed to basically evenings, right? And at that time, you know, we lived in the heart of San Francisco. I remember you can hear everything like, every bus, every person that walks by, I remember everybody always out having fun and going to cocktails. And I was there you know, working away was myself for the entire time while I was at Procter and Gamble along with a couple interns here and there that I found for free you know, to certain programs. And it was just plugging away. I hired a PR firm to get the word out and build brand awareness. I eventually connected with a sales agent to help kind of make some of those connections with retailers. I eventually did move my, after had proven itself, even though SkyMall was a fail financially, it had proven that there was a market. And so once I kind of proved that somebody could, will buy the product, then it's all about moving and finding a factory overseas, get getting your cost down, finding retail ready packaging, like that was like the biggest nightmare. like figuring out like one, it's one step one thing to ship your product from your website to the person. And then you're like, now it needs to look good on a retail shelf and design a package and then the pricing goes up again. So there's so, so many things, but it was just really just me at my kitchen table, there was no office, and it was just a lot of evenings and weekends, but I loved it.

Susan Sly 10:50
And you didn't see it, what I'm hearing is, you didn't see it as a sacrifice. You saw it as an investment. Like investing, you know, sweat equity now. And you know, some people would look at that as a sacrifice, like, Oh, I'd rather be at the bar. You're probably not one of those people if you're listening to this show, you're listening to another show, like, you know, whatever. But you really, clearly had the mindset. And can you tell everyone about that? Like, how did you keep your mindset focused on where you were going, given that you're working full time, you're putting in these long days, you had an initial like, oh, my gosh, I got SkyMall? Like, think about how exciting, then they go out of business. How did you keep your head on straight?

Tiffany Paul 11:32
I think for me, I was simultaneously trying to get pregnant. So I think to me, and there was actually a delay in that. So I was like, it was a good kind of distraction. And I know that's a very common challenge that many women face. So to me, I just put all my energy of creation of life into my business, it was my baby. And it did bring me joy. It was a distraction. I've always been someone that loves business like bizarrely, it's just, I don't know, it's my passion. I love it. And just the experience of bringing an idea into physical form just fascinates me. And seeing your product out in the world is enough for me to be motivated. Sure, the money and success was there as well. But I think just seeing an idea in your mind come to life in physical form in a retail or on somebody's body, hearing customer feedback, it's just, it's, it's fun for me. My husband golfs, I create businesses, products.

Susan Sly 12:28
There you go. That's awesome. And so thinking about that, you know, that creative process and then you know, you're like, you're trying to get pregnant, you've got you know, this, this going on, and you have a job, right? And there's a point where mentally you've exited, because I've been there, you've mentally exited, but you're physically there. How did you, how did you navigate that?

Tiffany Paul 12:53
So to be honest, I am someone that, I have to be challenged and engaged. I was always a remote employee. So also, I will call it that that made it easier to kind of split my time. I wasn't like driving or like, you know, I had a lot more flexibility. But I actually always tried my best to stay engaged with my work even though Yeah, I had exited like, as my soul, my soul was like, you're not going to be here forever. But I was always asking for more challenging and interesting work, because otherwise, I would have just totally peaced out, right? And somebody would have you know, I don't need the stress of them wondering like why is Tiffany not working? Why is Tiffany not performing? And so it seems counterintuitive, but to me, when I'm doing new work and challenge, new work and exciting work is what keeps me engaged in both. And so I would go out of my way and I would give specifics on what I wanted to work on. I wouldn't say just like, give me anything. I'd be like, I want to learn about marketing on you know, the professional you know, healthcare channel. Can I help with you know, XYZ? So I would be specific and I was using my job also to better understand marketing, sales, strategy, all of that. So I really stayed engaged as long as I could until I feel like financially, when my business started doing multiple six figures in sales annually, I felt comfortable to leave.

Susan Sly 14:13
Let's talk about real numbers since, and now it's like you know, we were, for everyone you know, there's always like a period before the show starts I chat with a guest and Tiffany are talking about so many things in my mind. I'm like, we just need to hit the record button here. But I was gonna ask you about numbers because it is Raw and Real Entrepreneurship and people always ask this question. When should I quit my job? So your business is making multiple six figures, your salary is six figures, but what everyone, if you're new to entrepreneurship, you have to understand the business could be generating multiple six figures, it doesn't mean you're paying yourself even one cent. So were are you at the point where you were paying yourself and if so, like what you know, had you replaced your income or percentage of your income?

Tiffany Paul 14:56
I hate that advice because it does not apply to high six figure earners. To have a startup get to a point where you are paying yourself, replacing your salary would mean realistic that you're really producing a million dollar business.

Susan Sly 15:11
Thank you for saying that girl, thank you.

Susan Sly 15:13
Because in my experience, like I have friends that have million dollar businesses. I have, you know, hit that, hit similar annual revenues, where with your cost of doing business, with paying your other employees, paying yourself, you're making, you're maybe making a six figure salary at a million dollars in revenue. So that advice never worked for me. And so in order to actually take the leap, I was not, I had not taken a salary that entire time. When I got to that point, I could finally start taking a modest salary. And so to actually take the leap, I had to downsize my entire life. It was the only way to get from, I mean, I'll just give real numbers like 220 annually, I was pulling 60 from my business, that's a huge like, gap in our, in our, our

Susan Sly 16:01
household income, yeah.

Tiffany Paul 16:02
Our also income. And so we had to downsize our house, our cars, our you know, travel, our living expenses, our childcare, shopping, babysitters, like we actually had to sacrifice quite a bit, but I did so knowing that it was temporary, that if the business, theoretically, the business would keep growing. And so I think it would be harder to make that move saying like, Oh, this, I'm gonna live forever, you know, once you kind of get accustomed to a certain lifestyle, backing it up is difficult. And so it was hard. And then the pandemic hit, which completely stopped travel. So my business went from multiple six figures annually to zero, overnight. And that's where I had to pivot and kind of come up with the Slept Life brand, and doing the product development agency. And so it was really a blessing because I get so much more fulfillment from these businesses. But I think when you leave your corporate job, you have this vision that you're just gonna make it like, you're one of the few that are taking the leap, and I had proven traction. And it was a huge, like, ego blow, let's call it, and I had suffered internally a lot at the onset, at the onset of that, because I hadn't realized how I mean, we're so confident, right? One of your businesses fail, we never leave your job saying like, I'm going to be the business that fails. And it's not a failure, you know, I got it back up and running, I sold it off. But it was a huge hit. And I think that also just being open that when you leave the job, you have to be ready for the fact that the unexpected can always occur in a business and to make sure that you are financially, that you have a plan B.

Susan Sly 17:37
Mm hmm. Yeah. And thank you for being so raw and real, because I love the real numbers. And it's so true there. It, you know, I've had guests on the show that have like, multi million dollar coaching businesses. Now in a business where you're a solopreneur and your time is the product, you can pay yourself more. When you're productizing something, and even a tech product, whatever it is, you're gonna you know, where the you know, there's always like this, this term, this phrase drives me crazy. Tiffany, oh, you make money on the exit? Okay, well, what if your exit is in for 10 damn years, like you've got tuitions to pay, like for us, in our house, at the peak of our tuition paying, we were paying almost $300,000 a year in tuition for our kids. And it's like, I can't make money on an exit. I need now freaking money. Right? And so that's the you know, that piece. Did you physically, you know, going through all of that, did it affect you physically? And if so, how?

Tiffany Paul 18:40
I just want to also add on to that detail of, you know, in a product based business, what happens is your cash gets all tied up in the inventory. So we are growing and making bigger and bigger purchases overseas, in anticipation of growth, we had just heard back from Bed, Bath and Beyond. And then, you know, everything stopped. So I had all my cash in this, in this inventory. And I finally just sold it all like, two years later. So it is a, it's not a normal, like a pandemic is not a normal thing to occur, but you just never know what's going to happen. And so yeah, just physically, it was, I had to really just press pause, which was the first time in my entire life, I had probably slowed down. Like I didn't grow up with a lot of money. I always worked multiple jobs. I have you know, I worked like a pizza, doing like a busser at a pizza place. As soon as I could work, I worked three jobs in college, I put myself through college, and I obviously had the job at Procter and Gamble. I worked two jobs at that point. And then this happened and I just really had to stop and be like, Wow, what is it like to, for me, the narrative was feel unsuccessful, because it was like my whole life I had succeeded. Achieving the grades, the extracurriculars, the leadership, you know, like your leather jacket, lilke all the stuff. And I just sat back and I was like, wow, I've been like achieving and striving my entire life. And in the absence of what on paper was a successful business, because at the time weren't selling any, sure I had a lot of milestones that could still be attributed to as successful. It was like, internally, I just did not feel enough. And so I thought, wow, this is something I really need to look at. Because externally I would project is very confident. In my mind, I would have genuinely, truthfully told you, I'm confident, I'm sure of myself. But even though I had a beautiful family, a beautiful home living in Southern California, all the past success, I felt like a nobody, a nothing. So that was the biggest hurdle that I kind of had to work on before I kind of picked myself back up.

Susan Sly 20:47
Let's jump into that, like the Yeah, and, and I love this conversation, because it needs to be had, right? Like, when I've thought about what the brand for the show is going to be, I was like, let's just be, let's just be honest about it. Like you know, let's not, like I can't stand it, like start your dream business in like three hours, like, no. It's, you know, okay, you're gonna quit because if that's what you bought into, you're going to be very disappointed. Right? Like, and that the, you know, very similar to you. Like, I worked three jobs, I worked in the hospitality industry through high school, put myself through college, left home at 16. Like, and even getting to that point where I got diagnosed with MS in 2000, and my whole life stopped because I went through a divorce, I lost my business, I ended up homeless, like all of the things that happened was because it was a forced stop. What I love about what you're saying is it was yes, a pandemic but there was also a choice. A choice to step back and go, Okay, this treadmill thing for me is maybe not working, and I traded one treadmill for another treadmill. And that takes a lot of guts. So let me let me ask you this, in that time, where you were saying, I feel like a failure because I had to hit pause. What do you think contributed to that feeling of failure?

Tiffany Paul 22:20
Well, actually, I think these feelings started before this even happened. When I left my corporate job, again, this, there's this narrative of, you're going to leave your corporate job and you're going to be your own boss, you're gonna feel so free and so good. And very quickly on, I actually started questioning, like, I don't love being isolated. My team was remote, it was a smaller team. I am feeling very exhausted and burnt out. And sure, like hired help. But you know, the money wasn't quite there yet. We talked about that, right? Where I'm not like paying myself and I was like, Is this really the dream, you know, to be your own boss? Sure, I'm out of the constricting corporate box that I never belonged in. But now I'm in this other box. And I really realized I traded one narrative for another. And where I had seen through the illusion of, you know, the corporate dream, I had stepped into another illusion. Painting entrepreneurship is this very freedom filled lifestyle, and freedom is a core value of mine, feeling free to be who I am, free to, free of my schedule, you know, free financially. And I think I had already been like, wow, if this is not it, then what? So I think that my mind was already swirling. And then when it stopped, and I didn't feel good, it was like, I just need to stop for a second and be like, Do I even want to be in entrepreneurialism. I knew I didn't want a corporate job. And that was a really scary place for me to be and I'm like, I can't go back but I don't want, I don't know what I want yet. And what I eventually realized is that my passion was in, in consulting and working with other brands. That's my gift. My gift is bringing products to life. And my passion is serving women. I see having your own business as a form of self liberation and freedom, if done correctly, and if you're in the right business. So yes, entrepreneurialism was for me. But once I started playing around with , I mean, it just came to me. So I feel like the universe was like, Hey, this is what you want to do. This is what you need to do next. My friend started coming. I had this idea for this. I have an idea for this. Because with the pandemic, people started questioning things. I know you left your corporate job, I know you had the know to do this. Can you help me with the factory? And it kind of brought me back to life. And so for me, it wasn't that it was, I pressed pause because I just didn't know what I wanted. And I was really looking inward. We saw some healing opportunities as well. So I was in a lot of therapy, you know, crying all the tears and getting over this story of failing, but also just giving myself permission to pivot because I think when you take such a massive leap like that, you feel this pressure to like, stay and not, you know, move. Like this is your business, you put all this time, and that was seven years I put into that business. Like you can't pivot. But pivoting was the best thing I did for my self. And I'm finally in touch with those feelings of freedom that are, they are real, you just have to build a business that aligns to you and also supports your freedom financially and in your time.

Susan Sly 25:26
Yeah, and it's, it's the, the choice to sell a business, or to walk away from a business. It's like getting a divorce. And one of the things, I have the founder of FreshBooks on the show, and you know, FreshBooks is a billion dollar valuation company. And we actually had like a debate on the show, because one of the things I always ask entrepreneurs, like when they're going to start a business, a tech business, what's your exit strategy? And he was like, Well, you never ask about the exit strategy. And I'm like, I do, because, and maybe it's more for women, because it's just this, like, you're gonna grow this and we're such creators, and then you come attached to it, this business becomes your child. And then it's like you know, the, you know, the first day the kids go to kindergarten, that's, that's unnerving. When I, when I took my daughter to college, when you're, you know, I dropped off of the dorm, I got back to my hotel, and I was just bawling my eyes out. I flew her across the country, she started college at BU, and it was like this, oh, my gosh, now they have to go out into the world, and business is no different. And I love that you said that because it's, there's this you know, we've you know, on the show, we talk about imposter syndrome, we talk about these concepts, especially, you know, men and women, this comparison, you know, Comparison is the thief of joy, right? The famous quote, this need to prove ourselves, and then defining what success is. So how do you know when it's time to exit? How do you know when it's time to take that child and say, Okay, go out into the world now. Right? It's, it's, it's massive. I am, I want to, you know, so for people listening, and oh, my gosh, Tiffany, I mean, I could talk to you for hours, girl. For people listening, they've got an idea, and I'm so excited you're here, because this is, you know, if people have a tech idea, I know exactly what to tell them. But you know, to do a physical product, and that's the spirit of the show, like, let's take your idea into its inception. Tell us about your business and what you do.

Tiffany Paul 27:33
Yeah. So the podcast you mentioned at the beginning, during my podcast, actually pivoted that into, I call it Break The Matrix, Wake Up To Your Dream Life Now. And the agency itself is Break The Matrix Agency. And it's kind of a wild out there name because it represents my agency in that we like to think not just outside the box, outside the program that we live in. I just feel like so many of us are living in these narratives and even business advice, it gets like monotonous, a lot of it's the same. And so my agency, we just come together where we really look to innovate on products, you know, there's a lot of contract manufacturers, which is products, for those of you who not familiar, which is companies that will say, Hey, want to do a lotin? Well, here's like five formulas, maybe add some lemon seed to it and put your own label, here's your own skincare line. And there's nothing wrong with that. But an agency like mine is really dedicated to disrupting and innovating in the market is, silly as my little cheeky Sleeper Scarf may sound, I innovated and I have two patents on it. And so we look to innovate and disrupt and really solve real world problems. And so people come to me with product ideas and problems and we look to disrupt and I, often we will file patents together and figure out that unique you know, value proposition and whitespace in the market. So it's called Break The Matrix Agency and we work with, I mean products from, we have a crock pot liner we're working with right now, and some yoga mats that we're innovating on. So a little bit of everything. So if you have an idea and you just don't know where to start, we can help you whether you have the product already or you're working on your first manufacturing run.

Susan Sly 29:14
That is awesome. Now I know where to send people. Super, super excited about that Tiffany. And Tiffany I you know, I want to thank you for being here. And if anyone has an idea for a product, and that's the thing is like, you know, we said so often people have the why, they have the concept, but they don't know how. And that's why entrepreneurs need agencies like yours. So Break The Matrix Agency. And follow Tiffany on Instagram @TiffanyPaul. And so—

Tiffany Paul 29:44
That's new too. I'm Tiffany. I like changed everything I was like, I rebranded everything. I am on Instagram @IamTiffanyPaul.

Susan Sly 29:54
I am Tiffany Paul. So y'all just, she is Tiffany Paul. Okay so follow her on Instagram @IamTiffanyPaul. And everyone, listen, this episode of Raw and Real Entrepreneurship, share it on social, tag me, tag Tiffany, give us a shout out in your stories, in your reel, whatever it is you want to do. We would love to hear from you. I'm an avid tweeter. I'm like, I've gone back to Twitter because I'm kind of obsessed with it. So it's like, it's, I don't want to have to post and put on makeup and do a dance. I'm not going to do a dance like, I'm just not.

Tiffany Paul 30:33
I'm not.

Susan Sly 30:34
So like, I'm back on Twitter, y'all, so just tweet me and I'll be really happy about that. As long as it's something nice. If you're not a good human, you're probably not listening to my show anyway. So anyway, with that, God bless, go rock your day. Please share this episode on social with everyone you care about. And this has been another episode of Raw and Real Entrepreneurship.