The Making of a Mogul - Interview with Jacynda Smith
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“Be confident your decisions because indecision is harder than once you made the decision and moved forward. We’ve learned to make decisions fast and then live with them.”
I first heard about the Tyme Iron from my hair dresser. It’s this flat iron turned curling iron. You want Lauren Conrad hair or Connie Britton hair, this is the tool to get that. Then my sister-in-law met a whole bunch of their employees at a country music festival and was beyond impressed with how nice everyone working was! From there, I wanted to talk with Jacynda. How did her product come about? How did she build this amazing company in such a short period of time? I had to talk with Jacynda. I am convinced and have started placing bets that she’ll be the next Sara Blakely, you know, the billionaire who invented Spanx?!
Here’s the other thing, aside from Jacynda being a mompreneur, which you know I connect with, this is not just about her, but this business is an all-hands-on-deck family-owned business. Her brother is the Co-CEO, her husband is the CFO, her other brother does this, her cousins do that, and family friends are also heavily involved in making an awesome product an amazing business. They have been specific and strategic. There’s a lot to learn from our conversation.
“Stop looking for your passion, instead follow your excitement.”
Here are a few things that stood out for me when learning about Jacynda and this company that is on. the. rise.
4 Great Takeaways
1. Having Great Products
- They wanted a product that would last for 10 years. If someone wanted to buy a new iron, it was because the paint had faded, not because the iron stopped working.
- They started working with people in the industry who had experience and produced quality products beforehand.
2. Customer Service
- They wanted to give a Nordstrom-like customer experience. No matter what the interaction is, they wanted the customer to walk away with a good feeling.
- Note: I am thoroughly impressed that they will Skype with you while you use the Tyme Iron to walk you through curling your hair! I have never heard of a product company Skyping with you.
3 & 4. Empower Those Around You & Welcoming Challenges
- “The good thing about family (and working together) is you can put it real together. We have all embraced that this is something we can build.”
- “In the beginning, challenges were daunting to me. Now we welcome challenges. What’s really helpful in a startup is to embrace challenges and experience new things.”
- “We try to empower everyone to be in charge of whatever it is they are great at.” We look at it more as guiding or nurturing instead of being in charge. We try to nurture everybody. I know my ideas aren’t always the best. In fact, most of the time they aren’t the best, we try to nurture everybody including ourselves. We know we haven’t been here before.”
- Her brother kindly told her… “You’re going to have to learn to email if you are going to be a CEO of a company.”
- “We don’t want challenges to drown you. We call it moving piles. You’re moving one pile at a time. Grab a shovel and start digging or start moving it.”
More Notable Quotes
- “We all worked for 2 years for free to build the back end of it before we actually launched the product.”
- “Be confident your decisions, because indecision is harder than once you made the decision and moved forward. We’ve learned to make decisions fast and then live with them.”
- On Family-Owned Business - “You hunger for it when you watch your parents do that.”
- “We don’t set hours. Everyone is just hungry to succeed.”
- “Live your life like your grandma is watching over you and then you won’t have any regrets.” -Jacynda’s Dad
The Interview:
We talked about so many different things:
- Working in a family-run company
- Finding that right product to get behind and how they built it
- They worked for 2 years before launching
- Striving for Amazing Customer Service
- Her upbringing and how it prepared her for today’s business
- How they took their family business one step further and hired friends, too
- How they empower their team
- Hardest part of the business - so far
- Using your instincts
- How her kids are involved
- How she’s involved with her kids
- The fine lines in working with family and her husband (aka trying not be bossy!)
- Being Real
- The surreal moments
- What’s she’s learned
- The importance of decision making & trusting your instincts
- Forget finding your passion - find THIS instead
Links
More from Jacynda
What did you want to be when you grew up??
- I didn't have a precise goal for when I grew up, but I did know I wanted to do something that was out of the ordinary!
What was your first job?
- Bussing tables at a restaurant where my Mom worked.
What are your go-to books and apps?
Books
- I love the Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
Apps
- Facebook - of course
- Spotify
- IMDB
- and Pokemon GO because I can hunt for Pokemon on my trips for the kids, it's been great at keeping us connected:)))
What are your favorite gifts to give?
- Any well thought out gift:)))
