This is the Side Hustlers podcast. I'm your host from my Heart Radio, Carla Marie, and each week I talked to a different person who is following a passion outside of their day job. But if you've been listening to the last few episodes, you've noticed that there's been a bunch of people in those episodes. And what I've been doing is, during this whole COVID nineteen stay at Home Social Distancing Order is talking to previous guests and small businesses to see what they're doing differently right now during this time and learning how we can help them and help their small business get through this. And it's been wild hearing how each and every business is pivoting during this and it makes you realize why these people are small business owners. So if you haven't listened to those, go back and listen to the last few episodes. It's really cool and it kind of catches you up on everyone who has been on this podcast. But this week, we've got someone who's going to help you if you're new to working from home. So we're gonna talk to Jordan's Jordan moved from Seattle to Amsterdam and when she moved, she had been working from home and realized she needed a work from home shoe because a lot of times we're either in our socks or slippers and we'll have on our cute work from home outfit and it just doesn't work right. So Jordan created Dewey's. It is a work from home slip on shoe. They're super cute. It was her side hustle. Now she's been able to leave her day job and do this full time. You can check them out. It's Dewey's dot com d O O E y s dot com. Let's find out how Jordan created the work from home shoe that we all need right now for a lot of people. You know, why are you wait? Do you know what you want to do? And this is what you want to do, and do it. I'm a hustles side side hustle, do it. I'm a hustles sho do it. I'm a hustles side hustlove. Come on, ask about me, yo yo'. It's the side Hustless podcast we call the Root. Okay, so joining me from Amsterdam? I think you might be the first person to join side Hustlers from another country. Is Jordan Hi? Jordan's Hi. So you're in Amsterdam now, but you're from Seattle. You have this really cool comedy that you launched called Dewey's. Am I saying it correctly? By the way, Yes, Dewey's, Which is such a bizarre time for you to launch something that was made for people who work from home. So give us a quick rundown as to what Dewey's is, and then we're going to talk about the whole story about how you did all of this. Yeah. So Dewey's are stylish and supportive house shoes, or as we've terned them, slip shoes that are made of sustainable materials. So the idea is like around the brand is I just wanted to serve women in their everyday life at home, whether that's getting stuff done around the house, working from home, or just kicking back. I thought every woman should have a stylish, supportive shoe to wear every day at home. Yeah, because currently right now, actually I will show you the slipper that I'm wearing online, but right now, and it is a cat. It says welcome home, and it's not that stylish. It's really you know what I'm really if they are cozy. So you are right though, and the fact that if you are someone who works at home or not work from home, you got your maybe you're doing zoom meetings, got your cool outfit on, but what are you wearing on your feet? And it really does make a difference in your attitude. So it's cool that you've made these super cute styla shoes and they're also sustainable. But when did this idea pop into your head? I moved to Amsterdam two and a half years ago, and in doing that, I transitioned from being a management consultant and working in client offices every day to working from home. And you know, pretty quickly, I realized every day at home I was having to choose between wearing comfortable outdoor sneakers or unsupportive indoor slippers. And I was trying to build better habits, Like I have an Ikea crank desk that you can sit or stand, so I was trying to stand more at home and just not sit all day, like a lot of us can kind of fall into that trap of and so I just realized, hey, there's got to be a better option out there, and I started looking, but I couldn't find any issue that was kind of fit the style I was looking for and also had sufficient support. So I decided to create my own solution that was stylish, supportive, and it should be sustainable while we're at it. So, like many side us words are on the podcast, it's people who wanted something for themselves I couldn't find it and just that I'm going to make it, and it's like it's crazy that they're not everyone is like that, like there are certain people who function that way or can function that way. Have you always thought of yourself as a I'm just gonna create it myself kind of person. No, I mean, honestly, I think I've had some ideas in the past, but never was like I'm actually gonna go do this. This was the first idea that I just couldn't get out of my head. And I think it was at a point in my life too, where I knew I wanted to consider a career change and I just didn't know what that was, and I just kind of fell into entrepreneurship and it it really has been like meant to be. I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. So when you came up with the idea for doings and you're standing at your crying desk. Talk a little bit about what your day job was at the time, because I know now do is is your full time job? So what were you doing? Originally when I moved from Seattle, I was a management consultant, and then I joined a new firm that actually had a remote work model, so that made me feel more comfortable because then although I lived in Amsterdam, everybody worked remote, so it wasn't just me. And so I was, you know, working for a small consulting firm with a couple of clients and a small team and just working abroad. And at that time, I think I was working about like thirty five hours a week because when I moved here, I kind of made a commitment to myself. I wanted to have that time to enjoy this new sace that I was moving to Acrome and half the time to travel. So I think that little bit of extra time in the week, paired with like knowing that I wanted to make some sort of change in my life, really was a good set up for me to to launch and and move forward with this idea. So how far into the idea of Dewey's was it still a side hustle like at what point did you say, all right, I'm done with my day job. I'm just going to focus on Dewey's. So I think by the point I quit my job was I had all the conceptual designs done and it was really time to move into like the sourcing of material. So it was like I had an idea, I had them down on paper, and it was time to go out and say, all right, how are these going to be made? What are they going to be made out of? And I'm really glad that I did leave my job at that time because sourcing ended up being a tremendous amount of work and I'm so proud of what the result is, but it took a lot of time and effort. So when I did leave my job, it was looking back, I'm like, it was the perfect time. But obviously that's a hard decision to make and not and it's difficult to manage. And I'm lucky to have a partner that was able to help kind of support that transition. That kind of leads me into what did your husband say when you were like I want to make shoes, Like what? He's just awesome, Like, I don't think he ever doubted it. I even have friends and family that are like, how shoes? What Jordan, what are he's thinking. I think James since the very beginning, has been like, yeah, go for it. That's that's yeah. That obviously helps because if he was like, that's kind of dumb ideas, and how are you going to be at home and doing this? And yeah, that's the one person you need to support you. So the family members that say it's crazy, do they still think you're crazy now this far into it, No, they don't. It just helps seeing the physical products. So now that I have the final shoes, I can actually for people that can wear the sample size. Uh, if they have tiny feet like me, they they're like, I get it. Oh my gosh, I get it. But in the beginning, it's kind of like a lot of us are used to kind of free cozy, you know, slippers at home, but maybe not needing the support, or maybe it's women that need the support but are like, I don't need anything that's good looking. So once I put it together, I think people could really see, Oh, I see where you're gets at. I could use a pair. Did you know anything about designing shoes before this? No? No, I like to joke that I bought a book for anybody interested in starting a shoe company. It's literally called how to Start a Shoe Company top So that's a great place to start. Did you like, how did you find that book? Just Google search? Yeah? I think I was just googling, And you can buy it on Amazon. And there's actually a couple of versions. There's been like one about shoe materials and diving a little bit deeper. But that's a great place to start. So then what are do he's made out of? That's I think the part that I love the most. I'm going to grab them here. So so duties are made out of earth friendly materials. So I'm holding the loafers right now. So they're made out of vegan apple leather. So that's apple leather uses apples from the juice industry and basically takes cores and the skins that would thrown away anyways, and is able to mix them into a form that can be put into a vegan you know, leather alternative. Who knew that that was possible. It's crazy what they can do now. So we have the vegan apple weather, we have the vegan suede made from recycled polyester. We have in souls made from cork lining that's super soft and cozy. And it's going to say that looks soft. Yeah, it's really soft, and it's made from tree fibers, and then the soles are made with sugarcane, so they're like they're sneaker like souls, but they replaced the petroleum based material with a bio alternative, which is raw sugar cane. So it's pretty cool. What's out there now? Is it hard to have a sustainable company? Now? I know that is a very broad question, but I had someone on the podcast last summer who was trying to take her bathing suit line to go more sustainable and ended up shutting down because it was just so expensive and so hard to find sustainable materials and shipping and all of the So, as someone who's kind of just launching a company, what is it like trying to be sustainable from the beginning? I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is time. It takes a lot of time to find these materials because they're not readily available. Like if I wanted to just do a vegan leather, like great, I can find that anywhere. It's just made from all plastic and it's like it's easy to source, but if you want to find like eco friendly materials that are truly eco friendly. For me, it was like going to that event, meeting that person that then connect me with that other person that then gave me the email. It was connecting all these dots. So I would say, yeah, finding like the whole sourcing process is difficult, and I think, like from what the person that you talked to with the swimwear line, it's more expensive. So yes, the price point for sustainable shoes is probably higher than the unsustainable slippers that you might buy. But if that's important to you, then hopefully you see the value in it absolutely, and you're right, the people who understand the portant of it will understand why you decided to launch a kickstarter. When did you officially launched the kickstarter? So I officially launched on March three, and then the campaign ran until April night. Okay, so a little over a month and you hit your goal and above you've raised over fourteen thousand dollars. Did you think you were going to hit that? Like that's insane? Yeah, I mean I think going into it, I tried to be optimistic, but I didn't think I'd hit the goal that quickly. I mean, in the first two days we raised ten thousand dollars, so that felt really good. So was it family, wasn't friends, wasn't marketing? What was it? Like? How did people find out about Dewey's. I did some pre launch marketing, so a bit of Facebook ads and things like that. But honestly, when it came down to it, like through you know, Google analytics, and when I've been able to see it's my friends, my family, my friends of friends, it's the network. It's the women that believe in me and then have shared it with their friends, who then have come and just cover Dewey's and bought a hair for themselves. So I'm so grateful to the female community that I have. And yeah, that's really what it comes down to with kickstarters, tapping into your personal network and getting the word out. So I went in and I supported because I'm really pumped. I've been working for Thank You, so which is new for me. So I'm like, well, I want cool shoes to wear when I'm at home, So what will the price point be when they are live? And there isn't a Kickstarter and people can just go on and buy their shoes. I'll preface it with because they're sustainable, they do cost more than like a pair of ugs. So the price point is one forty five dollars and they can be bought on Dewey's dot com. I hope to come out with more styles in the future at different price points, but we're going to start there with the two styles that I do have, the loafer in the mules. Listen, people spend way more money than that on shoes that are crappy and not sustainable. So on the Kickstarter though you could do it was on so you were kind of giving people a disc for supporting you. Yes, yeah, and so we had a couple of price points for Kickstarter, basically depending on when you purchased during the campaign. But yeah, it was right. It was between one fifteen and cool. So I'm excited to get my fair I'm pumped to wear them now. Well, i'd be allowed to wear them outside at all, that is up to you. These are high quality materials. They're durable, you know, the souls like the compound that I used in all that is durable enough to go on pavement. Shoes will not fall apart. But something that I like to think about is I believe the home is a sanctuary and your shoes should respect that. So you can have as many outdoor shoes as you want, but like, maybe have one pair that's kind of sacred that keeps your home clean and that you just feel good, and especially right now when we're focusing on cleaning things and keeping them clean. Um, I do you mentioned the website. So it's Dewey's dot com d O O E y S so people can go check it out. And then your Instagram is Dewey's dot slip Shoes. Okay, yeah, so they can follow along. Look at what we're talking about. I saw at one point you had up this cool photo that kind of shows what every part of the shoe is made out of, which is amazing and I love that you You've done that so people can kind of follow along. But where did the name Dewey's come from the word dewey in Dutch it means goodbye, And it's my favorite Dutch word because when people say it, they say it's very enthusiastically. It sounds like this. So when you have your window open, like I'm living in Amsterdam's when you have your window up and we lived down there's the street from a school. You hear all these moms in the morning dropping their kids off, being like do you do? So it's just this word I love. And then when I created the idea for these shoes, I wanted them to be all about up time at home as opposed to downtime, which a lot of slippers are about. They're kicking. Yeah, I want women to be comfortable on their feet in these shoes. And so I love that the word dewey has the word do in it, like it just captures that feeling. That's really cool. Yeah, that's the story that I love that though I'm no, I don't think anyone's really ever said I love this word. So oh it's great. It is really cool. So on this podcast, I always talking about connections and how I find people, and you kind of got sent to me in two different ways, which was really cool. So Kayla from C Town Sweets, who has been on this podcast before, um I mentioned her recently on how to Help a Small Business episode. She made cookies for your launch party event. Did I get that right? Yeah? So my best friend brought these amazing cookies to the Kickstarter launch party. They were the cutest thing. They had the logo Dewey's and then the other half of them had an actual photo of our slip shoes on them, and she was like, yeah, ce Town Suits made these. So I'm so grateful for Kayleb for sending my information to you. Yeah. So Kayla tells me, was like, this girl would be great for your podcast. I was like, okay, cool, So I started following Dewey's and then a few days later, Sarah Lemon, who has also been on this podcast and does pr for a lot of amazing local Seattle companies, has been sending me amazing people. She sent me Kim from Fresh Tangerine and now You. So it was like, okay, well, I have to get her on the podcast because two people who I really respect told me I have to get her on the podcast. And now here we are. So you also got hit with a double prong of Kayla telling you you got to be on this podcast and then Sarah and you're probably like, who is this girl that they're talking about? No, I was so excited. I love this podcast. So I'm I'm grieved to be here and there is amazing I was glad that she recommended it because I didn't trust anything that she she tells me. So, then how did you and Sarah link up? Honestly, I just found her on LinkedIn. I'm big on like, when I want to work with someone, I a lot of times I try to work with other female business owners. So I just go on LinkedIn, search for Seattle and find what I'm looking for. And honestly, she was the first person that showed up. I reached out to her. She was quick and responding and yeah, I'm I'm so grateful to be working with her. Yes, Sarah is seriously Aman, have you actually met her then? If you're from just just like this just over FaceTime? Oh my goodness. Wait when you your launch party happened? Were you not here for your launch party? I actually was. I was in Seattle right before the travel ban and happened to Yeah, I was there for that. So I was hanging out with friends and just focused on my launch and had the support of my family, and then I flew back to Amsterdam like a week or so after the launch. So Dewey's is technically a Seattle company, Yes, it's a Washington company. What is your plan? You've been in Amsterdam for two and a half years. What is the plan? Are you going back to Seattle? What do we what's going on? I mean, I can't say too much because I'm sure if my family listens to this, they'll be like, oh, I'm gonna hold you to that. But as a family sad. My husband and I we love it here in Amsterdam, but we miss our family and friends back in Seattle. So I'm sure moving home for us is in our near future. We just don't have a date. Okay, spoken very politically correct way for a family listening. What is the next step for doing? So the Kickstarter wraps up, I don't know much about the Kickstarter world. I think, um, the guys from Seattle that I found in the podcast Tubby's from Tubby, you should link up with them. They're super cool. They made really cool wide drinking glasses so for whatever you want to drink or eat, ice came out of They're awesome. They use Kickstarter as well, and they were I think the only other people that I've had in the podcast who use Kickstarter. So I'm not familiar with the Kickstarter world. So as the campaign wrapped up, what happens now? So basically once the campaign ends and it's successfully funded, the funds transfer I think within a few days kind of thing. But basically you switch from marketing and raising funds to make the shoes. So before the Kickstarter eve Ben launched, I purchased all the equipment, shoe equipment and molds and things like that because I just want to be ready to go. I didn't want women to have to wait too long, and so basically, yeah, so what what I did is, uh, last week we placed all the material orders except I think we have one material that still needs to be ordered. So we're in a period now just waiting for those materials to arrive at the factory. So hopefully those will all arrive by the end of April, and then the shoes will be made in May, and then they'll be put on a boat shipped to the US because I'm making them in Portugal, which is known for making very high quality shoes, and then we'll ship to customers in June. So wow, that's kind of the focus right now. So when you said that you purchased the equipment, how does that work? So you're buying equipment for the people in Portugal making the shoes. Yeah, So basically for instance, like they have a lot of their you know, like the big industrial equipment, but what they don't have is my soul is custom design. So we need to make molds in every single half size of the shoe to make the soul itself, so things like that, and then um, to make the actual shape of the shoe. It's called the last and that is what this like big green thing goes inside the shoe and then the shoes made around it, those have to be purchased, so things like that that go to the actual construction of the shoe. What was the date that you conceptualize the idea of doings? Yeah, I think it was March, so like exactly two years ago that I came up with the idea, and then it was Fall is when I actually like created the business entity and really hit the ground running. You went into that two years ago knowing nothing about making shoes, and listening to you talk about it, it would be like you've done this your whole life. It's crazy and it's cool. It's nice to hear you know it's true, because you know you're telling me about things. I'm like, I'm learning so much from someone who didn't know anything about it two years ago. But you've clearly done your research, and that is the base of having an amazing company. You know, you can jump into anything and just you know, just do it, which is great and all, but if you truly do your research, you will have a great product and you'll have a great foundation. And you've clearly done that, and you've got amazing marketing, Like your website looks great, the Instagram looks great. You're doing all the things. So it is really cool and I'm excited to see what happens now, like once you're up and running out of this kickstarter phase. It's funny how your kickstarter launched at least in Seattle, we were literally shut down as a city. You said, March thirty launched March five was my birthday, and that was the day that Amazon closed their offices here and made everyone work from home, which it was a great time to launch your kickstarter for work from home shoes. Yeah, no, it I think it's a I don't know if you'd said like a double edged sword. But on one side, yes, the product is very much in line I think with what a lot of women are facing with having to work from home, and maybe you know, adjusting what they wear on a day to day basis. But I also will say, and I really appreciated your the recent podcast if you did highlighting small businesses. Is even kickstarter campaigns everybody's taking a hit right now. You know, there are a lot of people that aren't in a position or feeling a little scared to buy. So I think it is really trickling down to everybody now. It is definitely scary with so much uncertainty and all we we all have these love for small businesses, but you kind of think like, well, what if I don't have a job in a month and I just spent all this money on takeout or Kickstarter campaigns or whatever it may be. So there, it does get scary, but you still hit your goal, which is amazing, and you've still are now able to launch your dream, your baby. So after you get the shoes up and running on the website for people to shop. And I don't want you to think too far ahead in the future, but what are like your next goals for dois? Do you have like I want to have a storefront or I want to be wholesale? What are your goals in that world? Stepping back like, first and foremost, I want to hear from the women wearing my shoes. So I can't wait to get these on people's feet and say what do you think, what do you like? What can we do better? And so I want to start there, and then if people really like these shoes, I want to come out with more colors. I want to, you know, talk to the customers and say what color do you want next? And then I'd love to come up with more styles. I'd love to launch a men's line. I think men, Yeah, men deserve good looking, supportive, sustainable shoes for home too. So that's really like where my head's at in terms of growth and really taking this company the next level. Is just expanding the product line, expanding the customer base, and really just I want Deweys to be the go to shoes for everybody at home, so so making them the best shoes that I can they absolutely will be because they are the freaking cutes. I haven't warned them yet. And they look comfortable. So I've never seen to see that look comfortable. That wasn't it's the ones that you look I like that she's not comfortable, and you know it's not comfortable, and I love that you haven't made heels for at home. Don't do that. Don't do it. Don't do that to us. So you've had a few different day jobs when you're in Seattle, correct, Like you did? You mentioned the management company and I know you worked for fair Start or worked with fair Start, right, Yeah, I worked with fair Start as a management consultant. Okay, so they're just amazing, an amazing organization. Yeah, can you actually hit on what fair Start is because I've never been there, but I've heard about what fair Start does and I know it has nothing to do with but you do with Dewey's right now. But I think it's really cool for people to hear about and ask someone who's worked with them. Yeah. So fair Start offers food service training. So for people that you know might either be down on their left, they you know, are given a second chance and it's hard for them to go out and get a job. Fair Start gives them skills they need to get into the food service industry, so they'll train them in everything from front of house to backup house, and they partner with a lot of really great restaurants in Seattle that then hire those people into full time jobs. And so the project that I worked on was actually a partnership with Amazon of opening up a coffee shop and a restaurant in one of the Amazon buildings in South Lake Union. That's really cool. Yeah, I mean it's a great partnership and it's a it's an awesome way for these people to get just really great food service experience and be able to go out and you know, have this professional training and go out and get great jobs in a Seattle area. Oh, it is such a cool idea. So then, is there anything that you had, any skills that you learned in your day job that kind of spilled over into creating and launching Dewey's because obviously wasn't making Choose. Yeah. Before I got into management consulting, I worked at a startup for just over four years and I learned so much there and I think that's where I really got the startup ug as I'm like, I like this, and so I think from the startup world, I learned that you've got to be scrappy. Just because you can't have that team of one right now, it doesn't mean you can't get the job done. So being scrappy and through management consulting. I really learned as we were talking about the beginning of the podcast, just like if you don't know something, it doesn't mean you can't figure it out. And I think that's a really important lesson being an entrepreneur because you're not going to know a lot of stuff and you're gonna have to figure it out along the way. Well, you mentioned not having a team of a hundred people. Do you have anyone that works with you or for you with Dewey's right now? Yeah, So I would say like officially I'm a team of one, but there have been many people along the way that I've engaged with, whether it's through like contractors that I've worked with too, you know, do copyrighting or kind of bounce ideas off with the brand. You know, I had amazing two amazing women help me shoot the Kickstarter video and and do the photography. I have a footwear agent in Portugal who's kind of like my man on the ground, who can you know, some of the things that I need to communicate with the factory need to be translated into Portuguese. So yeah, I have a lot of support. And then I'm also just started working with the virtual assistant. So that's helping me just offload, like you know, about five hours a week off my plate to just get some support on. So, yeah, you a lot of people would talking about the virtual assistant thing lately and it sounded real good, and it sounds like it is very worthwhile because getting time is the best thing a small business owner or a new business owner can have. So if it takes gives you more time, it's so worth that investment. And definitely, obviously for you, five hours a week is it's almost a whole working day right there. It really is. I mean it's five hours less than maybe I would have spent on that Saturday morning when I just need a little bit of time to you know, reboot. So I'm really grateful for it, and I do think it takes a little bit of investment and time to figure out how to make it work. But for those interested in it, I listened to a podcast called Clone Yourself Cool and Sam, the host does a really great job of walking you through kind of hiring a virtual assistant. So I just wanted to recommend that for anybody just getting started. That is actually a genius name for a podcast that is about that and I'm going to go listen to it, so thank you for that. Well, Jordan's, this is really cool. I'm excited that we got to talk at this point in your Dewey's timeline because I can't wait to see where you are in a year from now. We're gonna have to do a recap and see where Doing's is at. How many stores do hes are sold in, because I know that's going to happen for sure, and I'll have my shoes at that point. I'm so excited. So thank you for being here. Thank you so much for having me, and I'd love to come back in the future. Thank you so so much for listening to Side Hustlers. Every time you listen to an episode, you are helping a small business owner because you're gonna spread that love. You're gonna tell a friend what you heard on this podcast, and word of mouth is how these small businesses grow. So to support Jordan's you can go to Dewey's dot com d O O E y s dot com to get your work from home shoes and go back and listen to the last few episodes of Side Hustlers. They're pretty magical, which is kind of cliche to say, but it is super motivating and inspirational to hear how these small business owners are getting through this tough time. And it's gonna either make you want to support them, make you come out of this quarantine ready to kick butt, or it's gonna make you want to start your own side hustle and open your own small business. So go listen to the last few episodes of Side Hustlers until next week. Wash your hands, stay safe, and keep hustling.

This is the Side Hustlers podcast. I'm your host from my Heart Radio, Carla Marie, and each week I talked to a different person who is following a passion outside of their day job. But if you've been listening to the last few episodes, you've noticed that there's been a bunch of people in those episodes. And what I've been doing is, during this whole COVID nineteen stay at Home Social Distancing Order is talking to previous guests and small businesses to see what they're doing differently right now during this time and learning how we can help them and help their small business get through this. And it's been wild hearing how each and every business is pivoting during this and it makes you realize why these people are small business owners. So if you haven't listened to those, go back and listen to the last few episodes. It's really cool and it kind of catches you up on everyone who has been on this podcast. But this week, we've got someone who's going to help you if you're new to working from home. So we're gonna talk to Jordan's Jordan moved from Seattle to Amsterdam and when she moved, she had been working from home and realized she needed a work from home shoe because a lot of times we're either in our socks or slippers and we'll have on our cute work from home outfit and it just doesn't work right. So Jordan created Dewey's. It is a work from home slip on shoe. They're super cute. It was her side hustle. Now she's been able to leave her day job and do this full time. You can check them out. It's Dewey's dot com d O O E y s dot com. Let's find out how Jordan created the work from home shoe that we all need right now for a lot of people. You know, why are you wait? Do you know what you want to do? And this is what you want to do, and do it. I'm a hustles side side hustle, do it. I'm a hustles sho do it. I'm a hustles side hustlove. Come on, ask about me, yo yo'. It's the side Hustless podcast we call the Root. Okay, so joining me from Amsterdam? I think you might be the first person to join side Hustlers from another country. Is Jordan Hi? Jordan's Hi. So you're in Amsterdam now, but you're from Seattle. You have this really cool comedy that you launched called Dewey's. Am I saying it correctly? By the way, Yes, Dewey's, Which is such a bizarre time for you to launch something that was made for people who work from home. So give us a quick rundown as to what Dewey's is, and then we're going to talk about the whole story about how you did all of this. Yeah. So Dewey's are stylish and supportive house shoes, or as we've terned them, slip shoes that are made of sustainable materials. So the idea is like around the brand is I just wanted to serve women in their everyday life at home, whether that's getting stuff done around the house, working from home, or just kicking back. I thought every woman should have a stylish, supportive shoe to wear every day at home. Yeah, because currently right now, actually I will show you the slipper that I'm wearing online, but right now, and it is a cat. It says welcome home, and it's not that stylish. It's really you know what I'm really if they are cozy. So you are right though, and the fact that if you are someone who works at home or not work from home, you got your maybe you're doing zoom meetings, got your cool outfit on, but what are you wearing on your feet? And it really does make a difference in your attitude. So it's cool that you've made these super cute styla shoes and they're also sustainable. But when did this idea pop into your head? I moved to Amsterdam two and a half years ago, and in doing that, I transitioned from being a management consultant and working in client offices every day to working from home. And you know, pretty quickly, I realized every day at home I was having to choose between wearing comfortable outdoor sneakers or unsupportive indoor slippers. And I was trying to build better habits, Like I have an Ikea crank desk that you can sit or stand, so I was trying to stand more at home and just not sit all day, like a lot of us can kind of fall into that trap of and so I just realized, hey, there's got to be a better option out there, and I started looking, but I couldn't find any issue that was kind of fit the style I was looking for and also had sufficient support. So I decided to create my own solution that was stylish, supportive, and it should be sustainable while we're at it. So, like many side us words are on the podcast, it's people who wanted something for themselves I couldn't find it and just that I'm going to make it, and it's like it's crazy that they're not everyone is like that, like there are certain people who function that way or can function that way. Have you always thought of yourself as a I'm just gonna create it myself kind of person. No, I mean, honestly, I think I've had some ideas in the past, but never was like I'm actually gonna go do this. This was the first idea that I just couldn't get out of my head. And I think it was at a point in my life too, where I knew I wanted to consider a career change and I just didn't know what that was, and I just kind of fell into entrepreneurship and it it really has been like meant to be. I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. So when you came up with the idea for doings and you're standing at your crying desk. Talk a little bit about what your day job was at the time, because I know now do is is your full time job? So what were you doing? Originally when I moved from Seattle, I was a management consultant, and then I joined a new firm that actually had a remote work model, so that made me feel more comfortable because then although I lived in Amsterdam, everybody worked remote, so it wasn't just me. And so I was, you know, working for a small consulting firm with a couple of clients and a small team and just working abroad. And at that time, I think I was working about like thirty five hours a week because when I moved here, I kind of made a commitment to myself. I wanted to have that time to enjoy this new sace that I was moving to Acrome and half the time to travel. So I think that little bit of extra time in the week, paired with like knowing that I wanted to make some sort of change in my life, really was a good set up for me to to launch and and move forward with this idea. So how far into the idea of Dewey's was it still a side hustle like at what point did you say, all right, I'm done with my day job. I'm just going to focus on Dewey's. So I think by the point I quit my job was I had all the conceptual designs done and it was really time to move into like the sourcing of material. So it was like I had an idea, I had them down on paper, and it was time to go out and say, all right, how are these going to be made? What are they going to be made out of? And I'm really glad that I did leave my job at that time because sourcing ended up being a tremendous amount of work and I'm so proud of what the result is, but it took a lot of time and effort. So when I did leave my job, it was looking back, I'm like, it was the perfect time. But obviously that's a hard decision to make and not and it's difficult to manage. And I'm lucky to have a partner that was able to help kind of support that transition. That kind of leads me into what did your husband say when you were like I want to make shoes, Like what? He's just awesome, Like, I don't think he ever doubted it. I even have friends and family that are like, how shoes? What Jordan, what are he's thinking. I think James since the very beginning, has been like, yeah, go for it. That's that's yeah. That obviously helps because if he was like, that's kind of dumb ideas, and how are you going to be at home and doing this? And yeah, that's the one person you need to support you. So the family members that say it's crazy, do they still think you're crazy now this far into it, No, they don't. It just helps seeing the physical products. So now that I have the final shoes, I can actually for people that can wear the sample size. Uh, if they have tiny feet like me, they they're like, I get it. Oh my gosh, I get it. But in the beginning, it's kind of like a lot of us are used to kind of free cozy, you know, slippers at home, but maybe not needing the support, or maybe it's women that need the support but are like, I don't need anything that's good looking. So once I put it together, I think people could really see, Oh, I see where you're gets at. I could use a pair. Did you know anything about designing shoes before this? No? No, I like to joke that I bought a book for anybody interested in starting a shoe company. It's literally called how to Start a Shoe Company top So that's a great place to start. Did you like, how did you find that book? Just Google search? Yeah? I think I was just googling, And you can buy it on Amazon. And there's actually a couple of versions. There's been like one about shoe materials and diving a little bit deeper. But that's a great place to start. So then what are do he's made out of? That's I think the part that I love the most. I'm going to grab them here. So so duties are made out of earth friendly materials. So I'm holding the loafers right now. So they're made out of vegan apple leather. So that's apple leather uses apples from the juice industry and basically takes cores and the skins that would thrown away anyways, and is able to mix them into a form that can be put into a vegan you know, leather alternative. Who knew that that was possible. It's crazy what they can do now. So we have the vegan apple weather, we have the vegan suede made from recycled polyester. We have in souls made from cork lining that's super soft and cozy. And it's going to say that looks soft. Yeah, it's really soft, and it's made from tree fibers, and then the soles are made with sugarcane, so they're like they're sneaker like souls, but they replaced the petroleum based material with a bio alternative, which is raw sugar cane. So it's pretty cool. What's out there now? Is it hard to have a sustainable company? Now? I know that is a very broad question, but I had someone on the podcast last summer who was trying to take her bathing suit line to go more sustainable and ended up shutting down because it was just so expensive and so hard to find sustainable materials and shipping and all of the So, as someone who's kind of just launching a company, what is it like trying to be sustainable from the beginning? I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is time. It takes a lot of time to find these materials because they're not readily available. Like if I wanted to just do a vegan leather, like great, I can find that anywhere. It's just made from all plastic and it's like it's easy to source, but if you want to find like eco friendly materials that are truly eco friendly. For me, it was like going to that event, meeting that person that then connect me with that other person that then gave me the email. It was connecting all these dots. So I would say, yeah, finding like the whole sourcing process is difficult, and I think, like from what the person that you talked to with the swimwear line, it's more expensive. So yes, the price point for sustainable shoes is probably higher than the unsustainable slippers that you might buy. But if that's important to you, then hopefully you see the value in it absolutely, and you're right, the people who understand the portant of it will understand why you decided to launch a kickstarter. When did you officially launched the kickstarter? So I officially launched on March three, and then the campaign ran until April night. Okay, so a little over a month and you hit your goal and above you've raised over fourteen thousand dollars. Did you think you were going to hit that? Like that's insane? Yeah, I mean I think going into it, I tried to be optimistic, but I didn't think I'd hit the goal that quickly. I mean, in the first two days we raised ten thousand dollars, so that felt really good. So was it family, wasn't friends, wasn't marketing? What was it? Like? How did people find out about Dewey's. I did some pre launch marketing, so a bit of Facebook ads and things like that. But honestly, when it came down to it, like through you know, Google analytics, and when I've been able to see it's my friends, my family, my friends of friends, it's the network. It's the women that believe in me and then have shared it with their friends, who then have come and just cover Dewey's and bought a hair for themselves. So I'm so grateful to the female community that I have. And yeah, that's really what it comes down to with kickstarters, tapping into your personal network and getting the word out. So I went in and I supported because I'm really pumped. I've been working for Thank You, so which is new for me. So I'm like, well, I want cool shoes to wear when I'm at home, So what will the price point be when they are live? And there isn't a Kickstarter and people can just go on and buy their shoes. I'll preface it with because they're sustainable, they do cost more than like a pair of ugs. So the price point is one forty five dollars and they can be bought on Dewey's dot com. I hope to come out with more styles in the future at different price points, but we're going to start there with the two styles that I do have, the loafer in the mules. Listen, people spend way more money than that on shoes that are crappy and not sustainable. So on the Kickstarter though you could do it was on so you were kind of giving people a disc for supporting you. Yes, yeah, and so we had a couple of price points for Kickstarter, basically depending on when you purchased during the campaign. But yeah, it was right. It was between one fifteen and cool. So I'm excited to get my fair I'm pumped to wear them now. Well, i'd be allowed to wear them outside at all, that is up to you. These are high quality materials. They're durable, you know, the souls like the compound that I used in all that is durable enough to go on pavement. Shoes will not fall apart. But something that I like to think about is I believe the home is a sanctuary and your shoes should respect that. So you can have as many outdoor shoes as you want, but like, maybe have one pair that's kind of sacred that keeps your home clean and that you just feel good, and especially right now when we're focusing on cleaning things and keeping them clean. Um, I do you mentioned the website. So it's Dewey's dot com d O O E y S so people can go check it out. And then your Instagram is Dewey's dot slip Shoes. Okay, yeah, so they can follow along. Look at what we're talking about. I saw at one point you had up this cool photo that kind of shows what every part of the shoe is made out of, which is amazing and I love that you You've done that so people can kind of follow along. But where did the name Dewey's come from the word dewey in Dutch it means goodbye, And it's my favorite Dutch word because when people say it, they say it's very enthusiastically. It sounds like this. So when you have your window open, like I'm living in Amsterdam's when you have your window up and we lived down there's the street from a school. You hear all these moms in the morning dropping their kids off, being like do you do? So it's just this word I love. And then when I created the idea for these shoes, I wanted them to be all about up time at home as opposed to downtime, which a lot of slippers are about. They're kicking. Yeah, I want women to be comfortable on their feet in these shoes. And so I love that the word dewey has the word do in it, like it just captures that feeling. That's really cool. Yeah, that's the story that I love that though I'm no, I don't think anyone's really ever said I love this word. So oh it's great. It is really cool. So on this podcast, I always talking about connections and how I find people, and you kind of got sent to me in two different ways, which was really cool. So Kayla from C Town Sweets, who has been on this podcast before, um I mentioned her recently on how to Help a Small Business episode. She made cookies for your launch party event. Did I get that right? Yeah? So my best friend brought these amazing cookies to the Kickstarter launch party. They were the cutest thing. They had the logo Dewey's and then the other half of them had an actual photo of our slip shoes on them, and she was like, yeah, ce Town Suits made these. So I'm so grateful for Kayleb for sending my information to you. Yeah. So Kayla tells me, was like, this girl would be great for your podcast. I was like, okay, cool, So I started following Dewey's and then a few days later, Sarah Lemon, who has also been on this podcast and does pr for a lot of amazing local Seattle companies, has been sending me amazing people. She sent me Kim from Fresh Tangerine and now You. So it was like, okay, well, I have to get her on the podcast because two people who I really respect told me I have to get her on the podcast. And now here we are. So you also got hit with a double prong of Kayla telling you you got to be on this podcast and then Sarah and you're probably like, who is this girl that they're talking about? No, I was so excited. I love this podcast. So I'm I'm grieved to be here and there is amazing I was glad that she recommended it because I didn't trust anything that she she tells me. So, then how did you and Sarah link up? Honestly, I just found her on LinkedIn. I'm big on like, when I want to work with someone, I a lot of times I try to work with other female business owners. So I just go on LinkedIn, search for Seattle and find what I'm looking for. And honestly, she was the first person that showed up. I reached out to her. She was quick and responding and yeah, I'm I'm so grateful to be working with her. Yes, Sarah is seriously Aman, have you actually met her then? If you're from just just like this just over FaceTime? Oh my goodness. Wait when you your launch party happened? Were you not here for your launch party? I actually was. I was in Seattle right before the travel ban and happened to Yeah, I was there for that. So I was hanging out with friends and just focused on my launch and had the support of my family, and then I flew back to Amsterdam like a week or so after the launch. So Dewey's is technically a Seattle company, Yes, it's a Washington company. What is your plan? You've been in Amsterdam for two and a half years. What is the plan? Are you going back to Seattle? What do we what's going on? I mean, I can't say too much because I'm sure if my family listens to this, they'll be like, oh, I'm gonna hold you to that. But as a family sad. My husband and I we love it here in Amsterdam, but we miss our family and friends back in Seattle. So I'm sure moving home for us is in our near future. We just don't have a date. Okay, spoken very politically correct way for a family listening. What is the next step for doing? So the Kickstarter wraps up, I don't know much about the Kickstarter world. I think, um, the guys from Seattle that I found in the podcast Tubby's from Tubby, you should link up with them. They're super cool. They made really cool wide drinking glasses so for whatever you want to drink or eat, ice came out of They're awesome. They use Kickstarter as well, and they were I think the only other people that I've had in the podcast who use Kickstarter. So I'm not familiar with the Kickstarter world. So as the campaign wrapped up, what happens now? So basically once the campaign ends and it's successfully funded, the funds transfer I think within a few days kind of thing. But basically you switch from marketing and raising funds to make the shoes. So before the Kickstarter eve Ben launched, I purchased all the equipment, shoe equipment and molds and things like that because I just want to be ready to go. I didn't want women to have to wait too long, and so basically, yeah, so what what I did is, uh, last week we placed all the material orders except I think we have one material that still needs to be ordered. So we're in a period now just waiting for those materials to arrive at the factory. So hopefully those will all arrive by the end of April, and then the shoes will be made in May, and then they'll be put on a boat shipped to the US because I'm making them in Portugal, which is known for making very high quality shoes, and then we'll ship to customers in June. So wow, that's kind of the focus right now. So when you said that you purchased the equipment, how does that work? So you're buying equipment for the people in Portugal making the shoes. Yeah, So basically for instance, like they have a lot of their you know, like the big industrial equipment, but what they don't have is my soul is custom design. So we need to make molds in every single half size of the shoe to make the soul itself, so things like that, and then um, to make the actual shape of the shoe. It's called the last and that is what this like big green thing goes inside the shoe and then the shoes made around it, those have to be purchased, so things like that that go to the actual construction of the shoe. What was the date that you conceptualize the idea of doings? Yeah, I think it was March, so like exactly two years ago that I came up with the idea, and then it was Fall is when I actually like created the business entity and really hit the ground running. You went into that two years ago knowing nothing about making shoes, and listening to you talk about it, it would be like you've done this your whole life. It's crazy and it's cool. It's nice to hear you know it's true, because you know you're telling me about things. I'm like, I'm learning so much from someone who didn't know anything about it two years ago. But you've clearly done your research, and that is the base of having an amazing company. You know, you can jump into anything and just you know, just do it, which is great and all, but if you truly do your research, you will have a great product and you'll have a great foundation. And you've clearly done that, and you've got amazing marketing, Like your website looks great, the Instagram looks great. You're doing all the things. So it is really cool and I'm excited to see what happens now, like once you're up and running out of this kickstarter phase. It's funny how your kickstarter launched at least in Seattle, we were literally shut down as a city. You said, March thirty launched March five was my birthday, and that was the day that Amazon closed their offices here and made everyone work from home, which it was a great time to launch your kickstarter for work from home shoes. Yeah, no, it I think it's a I don't know if you'd said like a double edged sword. But on one side, yes, the product is very much in line I think with what a lot of women are facing with having to work from home, and maybe you know, adjusting what they wear on a day to day basis. But I also will say, and I really appreciated your the recent podcast if you did highlighting small businesses. Is even kickstarter campaigns everybody's taking a hit right now. You know, there are a lot of people that aren't in a position or feeling a little scared to buy. So I think it is really trickling down to everybody now. It is definitely scary with so much uncertainty and all we we all have these love for small businesses, but you kind of think like, well, what if I don't have a job in a month and I just spent all this money on takeout or Kickstarter campaigns or whatever it may be. So there, it does get scary, but you still hit your goal, which is amazing, and you've still are now able to launch your dream, your baby. So after you get the shoes up and running on the website for people to shop. And I don't want you to think too far ahead in the future, but what are like your next goals for dois? Do you have like I want to have a storefront or I want to be wholesale? What are your goals in that world? Stepping back like, first and foremost, I want to hear from the women wearing my shoes. So I can't wait to get these on people's feet and say what do you think, what do you like? What can we do better? And so I want to start there, and then if people really like these shoes, I want to come out with more colors. I want to, you know, talk to the customers and say what color do you want next? And then I'd love to come up with more styles. I'd love to launch a men's line. I think men, Yeah, men deserve good looking, supportive, sustainable shoes for home too. So that's really like where my head's at in terms of growth and really taking this company the next level. Is just expanding the product line, expanding the customer base, and really just I want Deweys to be the go to shoes for everybody at home, so so making them the best shoes that I can they absolutely will be because they are the freaking cutes. I haven't warned them yet. And they look comfortable. So I've never seen to see that look comfortable. That wasn't it's the ones that you look I like that she's not comfortable, and you know it's not comfortable, and I love that you haven't made heels for at home. Don't do that. Don't do it. Don't do that to us. So you've had a few different day jobs when you're in Seattle, correct, Like you did? You mentioned the management company and I know you worked for fair Start or worked with fair Start, right, Yeah, I worked with fair Start as a management consultant. Okay, so they're just amazing, an amazing organization. Yeah, can you actually hit on what fair Start is because I've never been there, but I've heard about what fair Start does and I know it has nothing to do with but you do with Dewey's right now. But I think it's really cool for people to hear about and ask someone who's worked with them. Yeah. So fair Start offers food service training. So for people that you know might either be down on their left, they you know, are given a second chance and it's hard for them to go out and get a job. Fair Start gives them skills they need to get into the food service industry, so they'll train them in everything from front of house to backup house, and they partner with a lot of really great restaurants in Seattle that then hire those people into full time jobs. And so the project that I worked on was actually a partnership with Amazon of opening up a coffee shop and a restaurant in one of the Amazon buildings in South Lake Union. That's really cool. Yeah, I mean it's a great partnership and it's a it's an awesome way for these people to get just really great food service experience and be able to go out and you know, have this professional training and go out and get great jobs in a Seattle area. Oh, it is such a cool idea. So then, is there anything that you had, any skills that you learned in your day job that kind of spilled over into creating and launching Dewey's because obviously wasn't making Choose. Yeah. Before I got into management consulting, I worked at a startup for just over four years and I learned so much there and I think that's where I really got the startup ug as I'm like, I like this, and so I think from the startup world, I learned that you've got to be scrappy. Just because you can't have that team of one right now, it doesn't mean you can't get the job done. So being scrappy and through management consulting. I really learned as we were talking about the beginning of the podcast, just like if you don't know something, it doesn't mean you can't figure it out. And I think that's a really important lesson being an entrepreneur because you're not going to know a lot of stuff and you're gonna have to figure it out along the way. Well, you mentioned not having a team of a hundred people. Do you have anyone that works with you or for you with Dewey's right now? Yeah, So I would say like officially I'm a team of one, but there have been many people along the way that I've engaged with, whether it's through like contractors that I've worked with too, you know, do copyrighting or kind of bounce ideas off with the brand. You know, I had amazing two amazing women help me shoot the Kickstarter video and and do the photography. I have a footwear agent in Portugal who's kind of like my man on the ground, who can you know, some of the things that I need to communicate with the factory need to be translated into Portuguese. So yeah, I have a lot of support. And then I'm also just started working with the virtual assistant. So that's helping me just offload, like you know, about five hours a week off my plate to just get some support on. So, yeah, you a lot of people would talking about the virtual assistant thing lately and it sounded real good, and it sounds like it is very worthwhile because getting time is the best thing a small business owner or a new business owner can have. So if it takes gives you more time, it's so worth that investment. And definitely, obviously for you, five hours a week is it's almost a whole working day right there. It really is. I mean it's five hours less than maybe I would have spent on that Saturday morning when I just need a little bit of time to you know, reboot. So I'm really grateful for it, and I do think it takes a little bit of investment and time to figure out how to make it work. But for those interested in it, I listened to a podcast called Clone Yourself Cool and Sam, the host does a really great job of walking you through kind of hiring a virtual assistant. So I just wanted to recommend that for anybody just getting started. That is actually a genius name for a podcast that is about that and I'm going to go listen to it, so thank you for that. Well, Jordan's, this is really cool. I'm excited that we got to talk at this point in your Dewey's timeline because I can't wait to see where you are in a year from now. We're gonna have to do a recap and see where Doing's is at. How many stores do hes are sold in, because I know that's going to happen for sure, and I'll have my shoes at that point. I'm so excited. So thank you for being here. Thank you so much for having me, and I'd love to come back in the future. Thank you so so much for listening to Side Hustlers. Every time you listen to an episode, you are helping a small business owner because you're gonna spread that love. You're gonna tell a friend what you heard on this podcast, and word of mouth is how these small businesses grow. So to support Jordan's you can go to Dewey's dot com d O O E y s dot com to get your work from home shoes and go back and listen to the last few episodes of Side Hustlers. They're pretty magical, which is kind of cliche to say, but it is super motivating and inspirational to hear how these small business owners are getting through this tough time. And it's gonna either make you want to support them, make you come out of this quarantine ready to kick butt, or it's gonna make you want to start your own side hustle and open your own small business. So go listen to the last few episodes of Side Hustlers until next week. Wash your hands, stay safe, and keep hustling.