Welcome to the side Hustler's podcast. I'm your host from my Heart Radio Carla Marie. Each week I talked to people following a passion outside of their day job. These are people who choose to work extra just because there's something that they believe in, something they have a passion for. Some of these people have turned their side hustle into their full time job. And each week there's a whole new story. But everyone has one thing in common. They're driven, they're passionate, and they're always amazing people. And I don't do that part on purpose, they just end up being amazing. This has essentially turned into my very own side hustle. My day job is hosting the Carla Marie and Anthony Show on one oh six point one Kiss FM in Seattle for I Heart Radio. And yeah, this podcast is now my side gig and it's been a really cool community to be a part of the small business community, especially right now as we record this podcast now. This week's guests are Amber and Tom Meyer, their husband and wife who own Ugly Yellow House, which started as a human boats eye company, turned dog boats high company, turned into a very controversial company as they have ventured into the world of making masks. This is Amber and Tom's story for a lot of people. You know, why are you way? Do you know what you want to do? And this is something you want to do, you do it. I'm a hustles side side hustle do it. I'm a hustle hust do it. I'm a hustles side side hustlve come on ask about me yo yo. It's the side Hustless podcast we call the Route. So you guys are like super controversial right now, I mean so controversial. I love it in the best way possible. So the mask that you've been making, and we'll get into later in the podcast what some of the trolling has been like for you guys from people because they want your math so bad. But the mask and I have mine right here from Ugly Yellow House. This little piece of fabric is in such demand right now when we're recording this that it's so crazy and it's a topic of conversation. So what is it like for you guys being just right behind it, right you know, making these things that everyone is either fighting about or not fighting about or whatever it is right now? Well, I think for sure I never thought that face mask would ever be a political statement, nor that I think the head it would be something that was in demand. It was just something that you feel helpless in this time. And you know, I am still working, but Tom is working solely on Ugly Yellow House, and so for him, it's just like what do I do with my business? Right? What do I do now? And then for us as a couple, it's what do we do the help? Like, there's nothing that you can do when you feel helpless and you need some sort of control in this this chaos, and so Tom's idea is let's make him and donate them. And it's crazy how much it has taken off. But like you said, what do you do as a small business? Right now? Everyone's talking about the pivot? What can you do, whether it's pivoting your business to benefit yourself and your business which is super important, or pivot to help you guys you're regularly of The Yellow House is a bow tie company, So I warn't that story first before we fully get into the mass and everything that's going on with that. Your side Hustle is a bow tie company for pets and for humans. So let's get where did that start? Because that is it's the cutest. I know, Tom's rock in one right now. He's super dressed up for this podcast, unlike me right now. So where did the boatie start? It's all Amber's fault, honestly. Amber. One of Amber's best friends was getting married and she's a big bow tie fans. So Amber reached out to her and asked if she could, you know, design her a couple that she could possibly wear, you know, during her ceremony. And I've never really messed with bow ties honestly before that. And then after we had the pattern and I started messing with it, I kind of realized, frankly, how convenient it was not to have a foot and a half of fabric hanging from your neck when you get dressed up. And it honestly just kind of snowball from there. We we took a bunch of patterns that we found, you know, that we were working from, tweaked them to what I thought fit me best, and then yeah, Amber decided, you know, I was basically just downstairs kind of messing around teaching myself how to sew, along with Amber teaching me how to sew, and then Amber just comes up one day and it was like, yeah, I signed us up for West Seattle Summer Press. We have we have six weeks to make this a business. Okay, but Tom, your background is TV production, so you had to quit your job in TV production to work on the boats, Like, what was that timeline for you? I did TV and radio for almost twenty years. And when we got up here and I finally got a chance to take a break from it, I realized after word this correctly because I realized how unhappy I was allowing it to make me, and I didn't like that. And once I had a break from it, and I realized I wasn't that unhappy person anymore, I really enjoyed that. So then it was, okay, how do I prevent that from ever happening again? Both tie? I mean, whatever it's gonna be, you know, you know I'm lucky that, you know, I come from, you know, a long line of makers. My mother's always made stuff, my father has always made stuff. My brother is just a brilliant designer. It's just kind of always been in our blood. So then that was just my immediate thought was all right, what can we make? And then time moved on. Wedding was planned Moowe tis word and then we just kind of thought we you know, we hummed it hot about it, you know, as we were working on him, you know, I could this be a thing. Amber really likes to put a massive pressure point on things that she wants them to happen. So that's literally what she did is she just kind of came into the studio one day. It was like, I signed us up for Westy have the summerfest. We have six weeks, let's go. Okay, so off off running we went. But Amber, this is still your side hustle, very much your side hustle. You have a day job. You have a day job now even working from home during all of this, So what was then for you? Obviously Tom was in a point where he didn't want to go back to the job he was doing, so he was all in on ugly yellow house. For you as a side hustle, what was that launched? Like? What was that moment like? And why did you want to have your own business? Part of moving to Seattle, beyond it being just our most favorite place, is that it's a community of weirdos, in the community of people who try things and fail and try again and are accepting of of makers and doing your own thing, and that's one of the biggest things that was appealing when moving here. And I had attended fashion school UM after my undergrad and it was a dream to become a fashion designer. And life happens. So we move up here, I get a promotion and I can't finish, and that's a devastating moment. But I have learned so much that I could put to youth. I was only you know, I'm only like a year away from it, so it's it's still I have all of that knowledge, and I didn't really know what that would look like anyway, And so we knew we wanted to run our own business. We just didn't know what it would be and what it could look like. But fashion for me was still at the forefront, albeit not men's wear, but happy to take that on. And it's really cool, and you know, it was just this, it's this moment of like having your own thing that you can do, that you can call your own, because not a lot else is, you know, when you're working for someone else. So it's just this adventure of like, Okay, we can do this. We don't know what it's going to be, but why not start both ties and then grow it. I love that you said having something you can call your own, because that is a huge thing that you don't realize when you said when you're working for someone. For me, this podcast is mine I have. I share my morning show with someone. I share literally every other part of my professional life with at least one or more people, and this podcast is like my thing that I've grown and it's it's really cool to have that. So I under completely understand where you are with that, and I think maybe a lot of people don't realize they need that, so I hope them here. And you say that, and the same thing with Tom, with you saying you didn't realize how unhappy you were letting yourself be. Those kind of things are so important when it comes to finding your passion and what you want to put into it. So I appreciate you both for sharing the sentiments because it's it's unbelievably important. Once you started the bow ties, you also make pet bow ties now, and I know this because I bought one for my sister's dog Milo. I originally thought it was only pet bow ties because that's what I would see when I would go into Shant and shop a layer in West Seattle. So when did you go from men's bow ties two pets? Dogs are definitely my most favorite thing, like ever, like humans are great, but dogs are the best. We're finding all this waste coming from the bow ties, like fabric or cute fabric that was that could be up cycled from vintage suits that maybe weren't suitable for bow ties. But I would watch the like piles and piles of fabric and it just drove me crazy. I'm like very frugal with fabric especially, and so it just sort of kind of came naturally, like what can we do with this small amount of fabrics that's still fantastic and and dog bow ties just seemed to fit. Um. We had had a couple of people asked us that markets like, oh, these are great, do you have them for dogs? Like why did we not think about? My question is why did some money immediately say that right, just su make it for dogs, Like that's not my first question the thing, but it was a no brain or like now we can save this waste. We can use some of these other amazing fabrics that we have that are not good to tie because they're either too sick or just wrong. And so it involved into these um I mean, if you look at our Instagram, it's all dogs all the time. Like it's people will not take pictures of themselves as quickly and share them as they will of their pets don't need to know, so they just love it. So yeah, it's just was this weird, random thing and now it's like it out spells our bow ties most of the time. Yes, way it is insane. People go crazy for their dogs more than themselves love that they can match them too, so that's pretty exciting. Yeah, it's just was this random thing and it turned out really well. I mean yeah, when any time I'm shopping at a layer in West Seattle I see them, I'm like, oh man, I would like I could get them from my cats, but they're such pain in the asses and I'm like, oh am, I to get this too. And then I would wanted to send my sister a care package because when all of this started, she was going through chaos of having to move her wedding or possibly move the wedding, and I was like, I want to send her a gift, and I sent her some things actually from a layer, and I was like, oh, I know what'll make her happy a bow tie for the dog, and I wrote a little note about how, you know, maybe on her wedding day he'll get to wear this eventually, And I mean, she was like, this was the coolest thing, and it was something so simple, like you said, for you guys, it's it's just extra fabric at that point, but it was something that made my sister smile through a crazy time and made everyone smile when she sent the picture of her dog in a bow tie. And it's just simple things. But you guys have been able to take literal piles and turn them into memories for people. But that fabric. You mentioned something about up cycling. Do you normally do that with suits and stuff? I tried, Yeah, it's it's kind of you know, amber Is is really good about going on finding great fabrics for us. I like the challenge of hunting and trying to mind stuff out, especially like you know, estate sales and thrift stores back when those were actually still a thing. Like I mean, you could find amazing suits for really good prices and they might not fit me, they might have a couple of moth holes or whatever in them, but that is a swath beautiful wool that I get to play with, you know, so I've really tried to go that way. It's I mean, you know, there's only so much you can get out of them, and sometimes the patterns a little planner, but they make beautiful ties, and then even the scraps from that, you know, just go straight to a dog bow tie. Man. I can't wait to see the things that you guys come up with, because you've already evolved so much as a company. It's kind of cool to see how creative you both are and what's next. But the name of your company, and I keep saying ugly yellow house, and I want people to make sure that they are hearing me correctly. It's ugly yellow House. Where did that name come from? From our ugly yellow house company? Yellow House? So it's like I get it, I completely get it. And I think we're like kindred spirits, Like I'm so connected to you guys, So I get it. Yeah, it was. I mean, you know, finding and buying a home in Seattle is just a battle on it to all. It is so hard, and so once we finally did, we ended up with our little ugly yellow house. We've always referred to it as ugly yellow house. So we figured this and we're very lucky because our basement allows us a huge amount of space to build like a proper studio in it, you know. So we're making everything at our ugly yellow house. We'll call it Ugly Yellow House. Plus when we're at markets, it makes a lot of people stop and say why did you name your company U the Yellow House or are you selling house? Like what is are you making? What are you doing? I mean it really lets you do whatever you want, whatever you create in that house is Ugly Yellow House. And that's amazing and it's kind of a great thing. Like we were we were talking about it this morning, where you know, like we started with with bow ties and we were doing vintage clothing and accessory. Vintage is a hard space to be, so I took out vintage, just became bow ties and then bow ties pocket squares. I have a machine shop in my my part of the studio, you know, so lathing lapel pains and that kind of thing. So it's just and that's kind of the great thing is it can it can just snowball and evolve into whatever we wanted to be. I didn't even realize you did that, do you still do the lapel pins or was that something you did or you still do the plans have kind of been put on hold for the last couple of months. A common material and he will make something out of it. It's insane, like whether it's a team or a sewing machine or so. I mean, you give him a challenge, a creative challenge, and he will figure it out. It's amazing. So, Tom, you said that your family you came from a line of makers. Is that where that creative skill comes from? I think so? Yeah, I mean my I think. I mean my mother was a stained glass artist, you know, my my father would have and this is you know, what are the hobbies that I've picked up as well. My father is like a hobby machinist, you know. So I grew up having you know, a metal lathe and a metal mill, you know, in his garage, constantly watching play on that stuff. Colonel in the Air Force, that's his happy places. He's loved just going out there and ripping metal to pieces and making things out of it. So probably about a year before we moved to Seattle, I picked up my own lathe. You know, I've got my little metal shop in my little you know, would shop downstairs. And again, it's just one of those things we were I like to say, like my my parents never discouraged us from taking things apart when we were a kid. It was always just if somebody put it together, there's a way to take it back apart. Just figure out how to put it back. So you were one of those kids. I get now everything absolutely, And I mean my father is still the same way. I'm still the same way, my brother is still the same way. Our house was constantly making things, and so I think it's just kind of in our blood. Okay, but it is your dad. The machinists making metal, like in your family do they go and you went to bow Ties? Like what, there's just a different are they like what's happening here? Yeah, there's definitely a couple of weird looks. But it's honestly, it's funny, especially talking to my father about it. My father pretty stow a guy, you know, military, very big mustache, very depressive, but I think he gets it because it's just the fact of making things. It's like it doesn't matter what it is, because frankly, a lot of people think it's weird that are dude, so, you know, but I just look at it as a tool. You know, I've got you know, industrial sewing machines in our studio. I've got metal lathes in my shop. You know, I can rebuild a carburetor out in my garage. It's just a tool to me, you know. And as long as I can use a tool to make something, that's all I want to do, and it should be. And when you look at like sewing machines as a part of this country and like what they've done, I mean they are like saying they're sewn into the you know, the fabric of this country is the most cliche thing you can say. But like my grandma worked in factories with sewing machines like that. If she didn't have that job or that job didn't exist, I mean, my family wouldn't have had any means at all. And she was in a sewing machine factory working in the I guess probably late thirties. Like sewing machines are like you're saying, it's just another machine, and it's an amazing machine. And the fact that someone would say, oh, you're a man that shows and things, it's weird. They can suck it so that's yeah real, And I mean I have such a tiny amount of skill on a sewing machine. I'm still such a novice, but it's pretty incredible. I mean, you know, you take a couple of pieces of material stick in this machine and you can get a thing out of it. It's wild what you guys have been able to do. You mentioned fabric that's not up cycled. Where do you get that fabric from? And how do you how do you even know where to get fabric from? And what does that process like as a maker? So my day job requires me I'm gone basically three weeks out of every month traveling, which is hard. But also I get bored, so I need it's something to do. And the sourcing fabric has been like something that brings me joy when I'm away from home, occupies my brain that's away from work otherwise in just sitting in a hotel room working. And there's this amazing fabric store in Missoula, Montana, and I freaking love this store. It is tiny and beautiful fabrics from Liberty of London to like waxed canvas and anywhere in between. If you're a quilture or you're making clothes like she's got it. And so now like she knows me when I come in every month and you know, we talk and um, I've ordered from fabric from her during this pandemic just because you look at it and you can order from big places and that's that's a really quick, easy fix. Except for honestly, right now, like they are weeks that hing. But it also feels good to like someone else who's doing this little thing, to be able to buy fabric from them, even though you know it's mass produced fabric. It's a tiny shop, so it occupies my time. And yeah, Missoula, Montana my favorite place to buy fabric. Who thought that you would? You know, you have to travel for your day job. You're able to still work on your side hustle while traveling. And that's cool that you can travel all over the country and go to small businesses and be able to feed back into them. I mean, it's amazing what you're doing. So that's super cool. It's fun. So when and why and how did the mass come in? Explain all of that, because right now I know that your life has been basically consume oomed by making these cloth masks. And for the record, let me explain. I have been posting pictures of me wearing my mask. I have two of them from Ugly Yellow House, and I have not received more comments about any product in a very long time. Like sometimes there's there's always that one product that I will post. I'd say it happens like every eight months where it's like I need that, I need that, I need that, And right now it's your masks, and both of them, I've got two different patterns, and personally, I love them. They fit great, they feel comfortable, They're cute, Like honestly, it's stuff to say it's like an accessory now, but it is. And I love that I can wear them around my neck, pop them on when I need to throw them in the wash. I've washed them a ton of times. They're amazing. So that is me my side of the masks. I love them. But what was it like for you guys launching and creating your masks? Chaos great. I know there's a story behind that, so I'm in for that. I started messing around with them, I guess probably beginning of March. Think March seven was about when we went on lockdown, I think makes us personally and then immediately just kind of went to my head of trying to help. You know, what can you possibly need? I mean, you know, I've never been through anything like this before. You know, nobody needed a bow tie, No I don't. So I spent probably two weeks downstairs just kind of prototyping and looking what other people were doing, and and and working on stuff. The problem that we had was, you know, like in March, elastic was as hard to find his toilet paper, you know. So I finally found a supplier that it took probably about three weeks to finally get my order in, and then once we had the elastic, it was just full speed go. I mean, it's just like you didn't do just the elastic. You have the little sizer thing on there so that I can size it for my head or someone like you don't have to worry about sizes because you have this ability like you guys didn't just slap fabric on a piece of elastic, like you actually engineered this and in such a short time. And he's been a little bit modest about it. Like he made I'm not even kidding, probably with almost twenty masks. He would make a couple of different styles and then from that style. He would move it up and then we would wear them and go Like I was sold on having the behind the ear thing because that's all I had ever seen. What's really annoying if you've ever worn sunglasses on your head that are took behind your ears, or your glasses, or your hair behind or a hat behind your ear stalks. And so if this is going to be something that we have to wear, what's going to be comfortable, what's going to shape around the face? What's going to hold up for multiple washing? You know what is I didn't even this. The tallow idea was all tom like being able to adjust it to around your head so that way, you know, someone with a small head and then someone was a larger head can wear it. And so there was a lot of care and thought put into not only can we get all these masks out, but can we make it something that's at least going to be comfortable and look good. Well you succeeded because it's comfortable and they look but you guys, originally, so when you started the mask, you're originally only doing donate right, Yeah? Yeah, because it was it was right around that time that you know, the West Seattle Bridge was also shut down, so us being in West Seattle, we were oddly cut off from everybody else. And then especially because I mean there was lots of groups that were, you know, making cloth masks for medical professionals and donating to hospitals and nursing homes like that stuff was amazing, but frankly, not a lot of it could get to West Seattle, just sherely because the main thoroughfare in the West Seattle was gone. So that was kind of our first thing was, you know, businesses that are trying to stay open, first responders, you know, essential workers. We have fabric, we have the materials. Now we just put the call at if you need it, let us know if you're in the area, we'll bring it straight to you, no problem. So that's where we really started, and it was hugely fulfilling, you know what I mean, to actually like be able to do something helpful during this time where you've just been kind of sitting in your house for three weeks, going what do we do? It's tough. You weren't only giving them to medical workers. You were thinking essential workers, like people who still had to work and be around people, whether it's arcery store, and I know Shandon, who is the who was doing deliveries for her store, Hilaryera, West Seattle. She had had one and I was like, where did you guess at? I need one? And she was started telling me it was you guys. You know, they normally make the dog poetizes and now they're doing this and I was like, I need one and she's like, they're only doing donations. I'm like, I will give them all of my money. I don't care how do I get it? And I'll like because then you started doing when you buy one, will donate to right, that was the next step. Yeah, it's not really that ratio. Honestly, it's probably way higher than that. Like we're just selling a small percentage of what we make, you know, basically, just to keep and we've been really lucky. There's been some people that have donated fabric to us, you know, to keep going with the donation masks. But yeah, so we're just I don't even actually know the number. We're just selling a small percentage basically, like to just keep the whole thing going. People need them and they reach out or we'll see another business open up and so I reach out on Instagram or someone will tell us for Shandon's been great about spreading it, and so you know, like that's our focus and that needs to come first. Like last week, lots of places we're opening back up, we shut down our sales and went we got to focus on this because at the end of the day, that's what's most important. If we take care of our community, they'll take care of us. And the people who have to be out there. We're fortunate, like we don't have to be out there besides delivery, but like Shandon has to be out there, and these food places who are trying to make life normal for us, and grocery store and daycare workers. So like it's just who needs them the most and who needs them now, and that's where we're going to focus. And it doesn't always yield for the nicest comments or people loving us, and it's hard. Don't get pleased. I listen on your end. I know it's not I have been losing my mind on people for you guys, So backstory, were listening right now. You guys post the masks on Friday, like you make them all week, and then I mean, how much can two people so ember you're still doing your day job, Tom, Like like, you can't how many mass are you making a day? We can generally get between twenty and thirty a day if we go down there, and like, go, that's a lot. Yeah, And then you can only keep that pace up for so long before you burnout. Of course, So then you guys post them on Friday, and then they sell out obviously, because when you've got people all over just Seattle knowing about you guys, then you've got people like me posting it, and then you've got people from other states seeing it, they're going to sell out. Well, what happens when things sell out? People become raging assholes. And I started seeing people comment on your Instagram like this is so left up they sold out right away. No, you're just mad it's not up. This is amazing that a small business has been able to create a product that people love that much that they're willing to check in at a certain time to buy that product. You're just mad you didn't get it back off. And I was like so pissed at these people doing that to you guys who are taking more more than half of what you're making and donating it and doing something good. Like those people suck. Ignore them the people. You need to focus on the people who are supporting you guys, and coming back screw them who cares. But you've obviously that clearly. I feel it so much because it's hard to like, we have not seen the kind of recognition and immediacy and success from both eyes. It's just not a high demand thing. And this is and so I'm very new to the social media game. That's not Amber talking. Amber can say whatever she wants to say. Amber does say whatever she wants to say. But ugly yellow House, the Amber doesn't understand this weird line that it's okay to actually stick up for us. It's okay to say, look, there are two of us, were trying our hardest, you know, half the time, there's one and a half of us doing this, you know, and just learning that it's okay to tell people like to kill. We're figuring this out too. And a lot of people are nice. We've had more nice people than me and people, but those mean people are exhausting and they can really get to you and I have to turn off my foot. Like a couple of fridays ago, I was just beside myself. I was like, I can't do that. I'm like, I don't understand. They're the loudest and guess what, they literally have nothing to do now, nothing, and like they had nothing to do like five months ago, and now they really have nothing to do. So they're just trolling positivity and that's what they do. And honestly, when you have haters, you know you've made it. So this is exciting. Congratulations are you going? I take it? Okay? So what do you think it's going to happen? Like, what is the future of Ugly Yellow House? Will there be? You know, are you always going to make masks? Are you gonna Obviously when events started happening again both ties will be a thing. But are you now realizing, well, we can do a lot more than just bow ties for people. Yeah, I mean it's kind of like what you said, I think masks are a thing now. I don't think this is going to be a temporary patch to to get us through this. I mean I think they're a thing now. And so, you know, that was kind of the goal once we started, you know, especially you know, looking into our fabrics and whatnot, is it's going to be a thing, like make it an accessory. That's kind of what we always specialized in was accessories, was high quality fabrics, make them really well. The whole goal out of all of it is just to get somebody to wear a mask. You know. That was a big thing, especially with you know, the going with the headbands instead of around the ears. Is I want to take away every excuse somebody has to not wear one. And they're key. It's not like the ugly medical ones, which I mean the great and they serve their purpose, but those should be for medical workers. They don't need to look to in the hospital. We did so, but yeah, like you can do so. I feel like you guys are realizing you can do so much more than what you've been doing. It's like something bad is happening now, but you're you're learning so much from it and it's going to broaden your skills and your company coming out of this absolutely and there's lots of different things you want to do, whether it's like Tom made a bag out of sailcloth that one of our friends gave us from their sale, and you know, like just re repurposing things is a big passion, and like finding that thing that not everyone's doing, you know, Cotton boat hides was that thing. There's not affordable boat ties that are breathable and wearable that'll work. Now we need space masks. So I think that's the great thing about the name of our company is it literally can be whatever we wanted to be. There is there is nothing you can you know, ever have to be like, well, how does that fit into our brand? Because it just does. Because that's why. No, remember I didn't really ask you about this, but you don't have to tell us where you work. But what is your day job? So I work for the largest digital automotive I should say physical to company on Compax thing they own Kelly blue Book Auto Trader and the spaceport. Car dealers buy their cars the software they used to sell their cars, and so my main job is to make sure that car dealers are buying the right cars. But they're advertising and following guidelines. Um, what's their online present looks like it was trying to figure out how to get them to learn that they can work virtually in this environment. People want to buy cars, however they're allowed to buy cars, and so to get a dealership to like buy into that and realize they don't have to open their doors to sell a car was like the first sixty days of my COVID experience and it turned out really great. Everyone's adapting and so a little different than your side hustle, so very different than right side hustle. Has there been anything that you've been able to take from your day job and put it into ugly yellow house like skill wise, yeah, absolutely so marketing for sure, and sales is definitely helpful. I do a lot of s c O and a lot of SCM in search engine marketing in my day job, and so that's help is we're finding keywords and building websites, and the social media part has been really hard, but the whole marketing and sales platform is basically what I've done for the last fifteen years of my life, and so that's been a nice transition. Is just being able to have that sort of marketing and sales background coming into that. That's huge. I mean, so many small business owners are business owners period, don't understand the s c O and I've never even heard anyone say s c M before, so it makes sense, but like now I need to go figure that out. But no, it's a skill that if you have and you can use it with your small business your twenty steps ahead of everyone else. And we keep mentioning Shandon a Layer West Seattle, and I want to be able to shout her out. So she is the reason we're connected. Obviously, I know that she connected me to you guys. She's big fans of you guys. But how did you guys connect with Shandon? So I like to start us out with a disclaimer that I'm not a stalker, but I am a crazy stalker for Shandon from very afar when this first started, you know, just following her on social media, and then her store. If you have not I mean, anyone listening in Seattle, if you've not been in the Layer, it is my happy place. If you're upset ever, you walk into that store and you just build a sense of calm. So I was super fan girling behind the scenes. And we were at a market and there was this dog that looks just like her otis and someone we took a picture and posted it and someone asked her tagged her and so is this your Otis? Is a different Otis? But she was like I need I Like, I think I need a dog bow tie for my Otis. And I was like, you absolutely do, But I was still like, really super shy about it because I just thought she was the coolest person and not having met her. And Tom was like, this is your chance. Put together a care pack. It's full of everything we make. Take it over there and introduce yourself, like this is how you're going to be able to do it. And so we did, and she liked them, and she likes us, and she's just the most wonderful person. And I'm so glad that somehow that weird not her otis dog led us to be front. So how long ago that, oh, gosh, September. It's just like this person a month ago. And how long has Ugly Yellow House been around July almost two years? Yea, yeah, two years, so not very long at all. That's nuts. And then I know you were able to connect with Roxy, who had been on side Hustlers earlier this year. She is behind Lonteree handmaid obviously handmakes those stitches all of that. So she was had sent me a mask. I got a mask from her, and I ordered some pillows and she was like, what do you think of my mask? Because she was seeing me where your masks? And I was like, honestly, they both serve different purposes. They both are great, but it all it's preference, just like any accessory. So she had told me that she reached out to you guys and you guys were helping her, and I was like, I just love when people who are doing the same thing still help out one another. And it's incredible that you guys are like that. And I just wanted to commend you guys for being kind to other people and not competitive, even though you know, at the end of the day, you know it's a bottom line, but you're still super kind. Yeah, same goal, right, Like she's trying to do exactly what we were trying we are trying to do and doing her own thing at the same time. And I think it's just being a fellow maker and a small business owner like you just you just want to cling to that community, even if they're in California, even if they're selling the same thing. Like, we don't have to be competitors. We complement each other. Hers they're different than ours and they're amazing, you know. And so I mean, if you can get one from her, get one. If you can get one from us, get them. If you can make your own, make your own, whatever it takes. Stay home. But if you have to leave, find a freaking mask and put on your face. I don't care what it looks like, or a bow tie and or bow tie and mask. Boom. We're all set that we're set for the year. So I want people to go support. It's Ugly yellow House dot com and then it's ugly yellow House on Instagram, and that's probably the best place to go to stay up to date with your launches. I know you took a week off as we're recording this, you took last week off, but this coming Friday it'll be there. You'll have mass up there again. But obviously that's going to change. Those things change, So Ugly yellow House on Instagram to support Amber and Tom guys. I can't wait to see what you do next. I'm so excited you. I'll be following. Thank you so much for being here. I can't wait to actually meet you in person. You're so closely, so far away, so soon. Thank you so much for listening to Amber and Tom's story. You can follow Ugly Yellow House on Instagram Ugly yellow House dot com. I've got all the links below so you can just click right there in the description. Thank you as always for being here and listening to side Hustlers, rate and review the podcast. That is such a help and you can always reach out to me side Hustler's podcast at gmail dot com. This podcast has been produced by my friend at Houston Tilly and until next week, keep hustling.

Welcome to the side Hustler's podcast. I'm your host from my Heart Radio Carla Marie. Each week I talked to people following a passion outside of their day job. These are people who choose to work extra just because there's something that they believe in, something they have a passion for. Some of these people have turned their side hustle into their full time job. And each week there's a whole new story. But everyone has one thing in common. They're driven, they're passionate, and they're always amazing people. And I don't do that part on purpose, they just end up being amazing. This has essentially turned into my very own side hustle. My day job is hosting the Carla Marie and Anthony Show on one oh six point one Kiss FM in Seattle for I Heart Radio. And yeah, this podcast is now my side gig and it's been a really cool community to be a part of the small business community, especially right now as we record this podcast now. This week's guests are Amber and Tom Meyer, their husband and wife who own Ugly Yellow House, which started as a human boats eye company, turned dog boats high company, turned into a very controversial company as they have ventured into the world of making masks. This is Amber and Tom's story for a lot of people. You know, why are you way? Do you know what you want to do? And this is something you want to do, you do it. I'm a hustles side side hustle do it. I'm a hustle hust do it. I'm a hustles side side hustlve come on ask about me yo yo. It's the side Hustless podcast we call the Route. So you guys are like super controversial right now, I mean so controversial. I love it in the best way possible. So the mask that you've been making, and we'll get into later in the podcast what some of the trolling has been like for you guys from people because they want your math so bad. But the mask and I have mine right here from Ugly Yellow House. This little piece of fabric is in such demand right now when we're recording this that it's so crazy and it's a topic of conversation. So what is it like for you guys being just right behind it, right you know, making these things that everyone is either fighting about or not fighting about or whatever it is right now? Well, I think for sure I never thought that face mask would ever be a political statement, nor that I think the head it would be something that was in demand. It was just something that you feel helpless in this time. And you know, I am still working, but Tom is working solely on Ugly Yellow House, and so for him, it's just like what do I do with my business? Right? What do I do now? And then for us as a couple, it's what do we do the help? Like, there's nothing that you can do when you feel helpless and you need some sort of control in this this chaos, and so Tom's idea is let's make him and donate them. And it's crazy how much it has taken off. But like you said, what do you do as a small business? Right now? Everyone's talking about the pivot? What can you do, whether it's pivoting your business to benefit yourself and your business which is super important, or pivot to help you guys you're regularly of The Yellow House is a bow tie company, So I warn't that story first before we fully get into the mass and everything that's going on with that. Your side Hustle is a bow tie company for pets and for humans. So let's get where did that start? Because that is it's the cutest. I know, Tom's rock in one right now. He's super dressed up for this podcast, unlike me right now. So where did the boatie start? It's all Amber's fault, honestly. Amber. One of Amber's best friends was getting married and she's a big bow tie fans. So Amber reached out to her and asked if she could, you know, design her a couple that she could possibly wear, you know, during her ceremony. And I've never really messed with bow ties honestly before that. And then after we had the pattern and I started messing with it, I kind of realized, frankly, how convenient it was not to have a foot and a half of fabric hanging from your neck when you get dressed up. And it honestly just kind of snowball from there. We we took a bunch of patterns that we found, you know, that we were working from, tweaked them to what I thought fit me best, and then yeah, Amber decided, you know, I was basically just downstairs kind of messing around teaching myself how to sew, along with Amber teaching me how to sew, and then Amber just comes up one day and it was like, yeah, I signed us up for West Seattle Summer Press. We have we have six weeks to make this a business. Okay, but Tom, your background is TV production, so you had to quit your job in TV production to work on the boats, Like, what was that timeline for you? I did TV and radio for almost twenty years. And when we got up here and I finally got a chance to take a break from it, I realized after word this correctly because I realized how unhappy I was allowing it to make me, and I didn't like that. And once I had a break from it, and I realized I wasn't that unhappy person anymore, I really enjoyed that. So then it was, okay, how do I prevent that from ever happening again? Both tie? I mean, whatever it's gonna be, you know, you know I'm lucky that, you know, I come from, you know, a long line of makers. My mother's always made stuff, my father has always made stuff. My brother is just a brilliant designer. It's just kind of always been in our blood. So then that was just my immediate thought was all right, what can we make? And then time moved on. Wedding was planned Moowe tis word and then we just kind of thought we you know, we hummed it hot about it, you know, as we were working on him, you know, I could this be a thing. Amber really likes to put a massive pressure point on things that she wants them to happen. So that's literally what she did is she just kind of came into the studio one day. It was like, I signed us up for Westy have the summerfest. We have six weeks, let's go. Okay, so off off running we went. But Amber, this is still your side hustle, very much your side hustle. You have a day job. You have a day job now even working from home during all of this, So what was then for you? Obviously Tom was in a point where he didn't want to go back to the job he was doing, so he was all in on ugly yellow house. For you as a side hustle, what was that launched? Like? What was that moment like? And why did you want to have your own business? Part of moving to Seattle, beyond it being just our most favorite place, is that it's a community of weirdos, in the community of people who try things and fail and try again and are accepting of of makers and doing your own thing, and that's one of the biggest things that was appealing when moving here. And I had attended fashion school UM after my undergrad and it was a dream to become a fashion designer. And life happens. So we move up here, I get a promotion and I can't finish, and that's a devastating moment. But I have learned so much that I could put to youth. I was only you know, I'm only like a year away from it, so it's it's still I have all of that knowledge, and I didn't really know what that would look like anyway, And so we knew we wanted to run our own business. We just didn't know what it would be and what it could look like. But fashion for me was still at the forefront, albeit not men's wear, but happy to take that on. And it's really cool, and you know, it was just this, it's this moment of like having your own thing that you can do, that you can call your own, because not a lot else is, you know, when you're working for someone else. So it's just this adventure of like, Okay, we can do this. We don't know what it's going to be, but why not start both ties and then grow it. I love that you said having something you can call your own, because that is a huge thing that you don't realize when you said when you're working for someone. For me, this podcast is mine I have. I share my morning show with someone. I share literally every other part of my professional life with at least one or more people, and this podcast is like my thing that I've grown and it's it's really cool to have that. So I under completely understand where you are with that, and I think maybe a lot of people don't realize they need that, so I hope them here. And you say that, and the same thing with Tom, with you saying you didn't realize how unhappy you were letting yourself be. Those kind of things are so important when it comes to finding your passion and what you want to put into it. So I appreciate you both for sharing the sentiments because it's it's unbelievably important. Once you started the bow ties, you also make pet bow ties now, and I know this because I bought one for my sister's dog Milo. I originally thought it was only pet bow ties because that's what I would see when I would go into Shant and shop a layer in West Seattle. So when did you go from men's bow ties two pets? Dogs are definitely my most favorite thing, like ever, like humans are great, but dogs are the best. We're finding all this waste coming from the bow ties, like fabric or cute fabric that was that could be up cycled from vintage suits that maybe weren't suitable for bow ties. But I would watch the like piles and piles of fabric and it just drove me crazy. I'm like very frugal with fabric especially, and so it just sort of kind of came naturally, like what can we do with this small amount of fabrics that's still fantastic and and dog bow ties just seemed to fit. Um. We had had a couple of people asked us that markets like, oh, these are great, do you have them for dogs? Like why did we not think about? My question is why did some money immediately say that right, just su make it for dogs, Like that's not my first question the thing, but it was a no brain or like now we can save this waste. We can use some of these other amazing fabrics that we have that are not good to tie because they're either too sick or just wrong. And so it involved into these um I mean, if you look at our Instagram, it's all dogs all the time. Like it's people will not take pictures of themselves as quickly and share them as they will of their pets don't need to know, so they just love it. So yeah, it's just was this weird, random thing and now it's like it out spells our bow ties most of the time. Yes, way it is insane. People go crazy for their dogs more than themselves love that they can match them too, so that's pretty exciting. Yeah, it's just was this random thing and it turned out really well. I mean yeah, when any time I'm shopping at a layer in West Seattle I see them, I'm like, oh man, I would like I could get them from my cats, but they're such pain in the asses and I'm like, oh am, I to get this too. And then I would wanted to send my sister a care package because when all of this started, she was going through chaos of having to move her wedding or possibly move the wedding, and I was like, I want to send her a gift, and I sent her some things actually from a layer, and I was like, oh, I know what'll make her happy a bow tie for the dog, and I wrote a little note about how, you know, maybe on her wedding day he'll get to wear this eventually, And I mean, she was like, this was the coolest thing, and it was something so simple, like you said, for you guys, it's it's just extra fabric at that point, but it was something that made my sister smile through a crazy time and made everyone smile when she sent the picture of her dog in a bow tie. And it's just simple things. But you guys have been able to take literal piles and turn them into memories for people. But that fabric. You mentioned something about up cycling. Do you normally do that with suits and stuff? I tried, Yeah, it's it's kind of you know, amber Is is really good about going on finding great fabrics for us. I like the challenge of hunting and trying to mind stuff out, especially like you know, estate sales and thrift stores back when those were actually still a thing. Like I mean, you could find amazing suits for really good prices and they might not fit me, they might have a couple of moth holes or whatever in them, but that is a swath beautiful wool that I get to play with, you know, so I've really tried to go that way. It's I mean, you know, there's only so much you can get out of them, and sometimes the patterns a little planner, but they make beautiful ties, and then even the scraps from that, you know, just go straight to a dog bow tie. Man. I can't wait to see the things that you guys come up with, because you've already evolved so much as a company. It's kind of cool to see how creative you both are and what's next. But the name of your company, and I keep saying ugly yellow house, and I want people to make sure that they are hearing me correctly. It's ugly yellow House. Where did that name come from? From our ugly yellow house company? Yellow House? So it's like I get it, I completely get it. And I think we're like kindred spirits, Like I'm so connected to you guys, So I get it. Yeah, it was. I mean, you know, finding and buying a home in Seattle is just a battle on it to all. It is so hard, and so once we finally did, we ended up with our little ugly yellow house. We've always referred to it as ugly yellow house. So we figured this and we're very lucky because our basement allows us a huge amount of space to build like a proper studio in it, you know. So we're making everything at our ugly yellow house. We'll call it Ugly Yellow House. Plus when we're at markets, it makes a lot of people stop and say why did you name your company U the Yellow House or are you selling house? Like what is are you making? What are you doing? I mean it really lets you do whatever you want, whatever you create in that house is Ugly Yellow House. And that's amazing and it's kind of a great thing. Like we were we were talking about it this morning, where you know, like we started with with bow ties and we were doing vintage clothing and accessory. Vintage is a hard space to be, so I took out vintage, just became bow ties and then bow ties pocket squares. I have a machine shop in my my part of the studio, you know, so lathing lapel pains and that kind of thing. So it's just and that's kind of the great thing is it can it can just snowball and evolve into whatever we wanted to be. I didn't even realize you did that, do you still do the lapel pins or was that something you did or you still do the plans have kind of been put on hold for the last couple of months. A common material and he will make something out of it. It's insane, like whether it's a team or a sewing machine or so. I mean, you give him a challenge, a creative challenge, and he will figure it out. It's amazing. So, Tom, you said that your family you came from a line of makers. Is that where that creative skill comes from? I think so? Yeah, I mean my I think. I mean my mother was a stained glass artist, you know, my my father would have and this is you know, what are the hobbies that I've picked up as well. My father is like a hobby machinist, you know. So I grew up having you know, a metal lathe and a metal mill, you know, in his garage, constantly watching play on that stuff. Colonel in the Air Force, that's his happy places. He's loved just going out there and ripping metal to pieces and making things out of it. So probably about a year before we moved to Seattle, I picked up my own lathe. You know, I've got my little metal shop in my little you know, would shop downstairs. And again, it's just one of those things we were I like to say, like my my parents never discouraged us from taking things apart when we were a kid. It was always just if somebody put it together, there's a way to take it back apart. Just figure out how to put it back. So you were one of those kids. I get now everything absolutely, And I mean my father is still the same way. I'm still the same way, my brother is still the same way. Our house was constantly making things, and so I think it's just kind of in our blood. Okay, but it is your dad. The machinists making metal, like in your family do they go and you went to bow Ties? Like what, there's just a different are they like what's happening here? Yeah, there's definitely a couple of weird looks. But it's honestly, it's funny, especially talking to my father about it. My father pretty stow a guy, you know, military, very big mustache, very depressive, but I think he gets it because it's just the fact of making things. It's like it doesn't matter what it is, because frankly, a lot of people think it's weird that are dude, so, you know, but I just look at it as a tool. You know, I've got you know, industrial sewing machines in our studio. I've got metal lathes in my shop. You know, I can rebuild a carburetor out in my garage. It's just a tool to me, you know. And as long as I can use a tool to make something, that's all I want to do, and it should be. And when you look at like sewing machines as a part of this country and like what they've done, I mean they are like saying they're sewn into the you know, the fabric of this country is the most cliche thing you can say. But like my grandma worked in factories with sewing machines like that. If she didn't have that job or that job didn't exist, I mean, my family wouldn't have had any means at all. And she was in a sewing machine factory working in the I guess probably late thirties. Like sewing machines are like you're saying, it's just another machine, and it's an amazing machine. And the fact that someone would say, oh, you're a man that shows and things, it's weird. They can suck it so that's yeah real, And I mean I have such a tiny amount of skill on a sewing machine. I'm still such a novice, but it's pretty incredible. I mean, you know, you take a couple of pieces of material stick in this machine and you can get a thing out of it. It's wild what you guys have been able to do. You mentioned fabric that's not up cycled. Where do you get that fabric from? And how do you how do you even know where to get fabric from? And what does that process like as a maker? So my day job requires me I'm gone basically three weeks out of every month traveling, which is hard. But also I get bored, so I need it's something to do. And the sourcing fabric has been like something that brings me joy when I'm away from home, occupies my brain that's away from work otherwise in just sitting in a hotel room working. And there's this amazing fabric store in Missoula, Montana, and I freaking love this store. It is tiny and beautiful fabrics from Liberty of London to like waxed canvas and anywhere in between. If you're a quilture or you're making clothes like she's got it. And so now like she knows me when I come in every month and you know, we talk and um, I've ordered from fabric from her during this pandemic just because you look at it and you can order from big places and that's that's a really quick, easy fix. Except for honestly, right now, like they are weeks that hing. But it also feels good to like someone else who's doing this little thing, to be able to buy fabric from them, even though you know it's mass produced fabric. It's a tiny shop, so it occupies my time. And yeah, Missoula, Montana my favorite place to buy fabric. Who thought that you would? You know, you have to travel for your day job. You're able to still work on your side hustle while traveling. And that's cool that you can travel all over the country and go to small businesses and be able to feed back into them. I mean, it's amazing what you're doing. So that's super cool. It's fun. So when and why and how did the mass come in? Explain all of that, because right now I know that your life has been basically consume oomed by making these cloth masks. And for the record, let me explain. I have been posting pictures of me wearing my mask. I have two of them from Ugly Yellow House, and I have not received more comments about any product in a very long time. Like sometimes there's there's always that one product that I will post. I'd say it happens like every eight months where it's like I need that, I need that, I need that, And right now it's your masks, and both of them, I've got two different patterns, and personally, I love them. They fit great, they feel comfortable, They're cute, Like honestly, it's stuff to say it's like an accessory now, but it is. And I love that I can wear them around my neck, pop them on when I need to throw them in the wash. I've washed them a ton of times. They're amazing. So that is me my side of the masks. I love them. But what was it like for you guys launching and creating your masks? Chaos great. I know there's a story behind that, so I'm in for that. I started messing around with them, I guess probably beginning of March. Think March seven was about when we went on lockdown, I think makes us personally and then immediately just kind of went to my head of trying to help. You know, what can you possibly need? I mean, you know, I've never been through anything like this before. You know, nobody needed a bow tie, No I don't. So I spent probably two weeks downstairs just kind of prototyping and looking what other people were doing, and and and working on stuff. The problem that we had was, you know, like in March, elastic was as hard to find his toilet paper, you know. So I finally found a supplier that it took probably about three weeks to finally get my order in, and then once we had the elastic, it was just full speed go. I mean, it's just like you didn't do just the elastic. You have the little sizer thing on there so that I can size it for my head or someone like you don't have to worry about sizes because you have this ability like you guys didn't just slap fabric on a piece of elastic, like you actually engineered this and in such a short time. And he's been a little bit modest about it. Like he made I'm not even kidding, probably with almost twenty masks. He would make a couple of different styles and then from that style. He would move it up and then we would wear them and go Like I was sold on having the behind the ear thing because that's all I had ever seen. What's really annoying if you've ever worn sunglasses on your head that are took behind your ears, or your glasses, or your hair behind or a hat behind your ear stalks. And so if this is going to be something that we have to wear, what's going to be comfortable, what's going to shape around the face? What's going to hold up for multiple washing? You know what is I didn't even this. The tallow idea was all tom like being able to adjust it to around your head so that way, you know, someone with a small head and then someone was a larger head can wear it. And so there was a lot of care and thought put into not only can we get all these masks out, but can we make it something that's at least going to be comfortable and look good. Well you succeeded because it's comfortable and they look but you guys, originally, so when you started the mask, you're originally only doing donate right, Yeah? Yeah, because it was it was right around that time that you know, the West Seattle Bridge was also shut down, so us being in West Seattle, we were oddly cut off from everybody else. And then especially because I mean there was lots of groups that were, you know, making cloth masks for medical professionals and donating to hospitals and nursing homes like that stuff was amazing, but frankly, not a lot of it could get to West Seattle, just sherely because the main thoroughfare in the West Seattle was gone. So that was kind of our first thing was, you know, businesses that are trying to stay open, first responders, you know, essential workers. We have fabric, we have the materials. Now we just put the call at if you need it, let us know if you're in the area, we'll bring it straight to you, no problem. So that's where we really started, and it was hugely fulfilling, you know what I mean, to actually like be able to do something helpful during this time where you've just been kind of sitting in your house for three weeks, going what do we do? It's tough. You weren't only giving them to medical workers. You were thinking essential workers, like people who still had to work and be around people, whether it's arcery store, and I know Shandon, who is the who was doing deliveries for her store, Hilaryera, West Seattle. She had had one and I was like, where did you guess at? I need one? And she was started telling me it was you guys. You know, they normally make the dog poetizes and now they're doing this and I was like, I need one and she's like, they're only doing donations. I'm like, I will give them all of my money. I don't care how do I get it? And I'll like because then you started doing when you buy one, will donate to right, that was the next step. Yeah, it's not really that ratio. Honestly, it's probably way higher than that. Like we're just selling a small percentage of what we make, you know, basically, just to keep and we've been really lucky. There's been some people that have donated fabric to us, you know, to keep going with the donation masks. But yeah, so we're just I don't even actually know the number. We're just selling a small percentage basically, like to just keep the whole thing going. People need them and they reach out or we'll see another business open up and so I reach out on Instagram or someone will tell us for Shandon's been great about spreading it, and so you know, like that's our focus and that needs to come first. Like last week, lots of places we're opening back up, we shut down our sales and went we got to focus on this because at the end of the day, that's what's most important. If we take care of our community, they'll take care of us. And the people who have to be out there. We're fortunate, like we don't have to be out there besides delivery, but like Shandon has to be out there, and these food places who are trying to make life normal for us, and grocery store and daycare workers. So like it's just who needs them the most and who needs them now, and that's where we're going to focus. And it doesn't always yield for the nicest comments or people loving us, and it's hard. Don't get pleased. I listen on your end. I know it's not I have been losing my mind on people for you guys, So backstory, were listening right now. You guys post the masks on Friday, like you make them all week, and then I mean, how much can two people so ember you're still doing your day job, Tom, Like like, you can't how many mass are you making a day? We can generally get between twenty and thirty a day if we go down there, and like, go, that's a lot. Yeah, And then you can only keep that pace up for so long before you burnout. Of course, So then you guys post them on Friday, and then they sell out obviously, because when you've got people all over just Seattle knowing about you guys, then you've got people like me posting it, and then you've got people from other states seeing it, they're going to sell out. Well, what happens when things sell out? People become raging assholes. And I started seeing people comment on your Instagram like this is so left up they sold out right away. No, you're just mad it's not up. This is amazing that a small business has been able to create a product that people love that much that they're willing to check in at a certain time to buy that product. You're just mad you didn't get it back off. And I was like so pissed at these people doing that to you guys who are taking more more than half of what you're making and donating it and doing something good. Like those people suck. Ignore them the people. You need to focus on the people who are supporting you guys, and coming back screw them who cares. But you've obviously that clearly. I feel it so much because it's hard to like, we have not seen the kind of recognition and immediacy and success from both eyes. It's just not a high demand thing. And this is and so I'm very new to the social media game. That's not Amber talking. Amber can say whatever she wants to say. Amber does say whatever she wants to say. But ugly yellow House, the Amber doesn't understand this weird line that it's okay to actually stick up for us. It's okay to say, look, there are two of us, were trying our hardest, you know, half the time, there's one and a half of us doing this, you know, and just learning that it's okay to tell people like to kill. We're figuring this out too. And a lot of people are nice. We've had more nice people than me and people, but those mean people are exhausting and they can really get to you and I have to turn off my foot. Like a couple of fridays ago, I was just beside myself. I was like, I can't do that. I'm like, I don't understand. They're the loudest and guess what, they literally have nothing to do now, nothing, and like they had nothing to do like five months ago, and now they really have nothing to do. So they're just trolling positivity and that's what they do. And honestly, when you have haters, you know you've made it. So this is exciting. Congratulations are you going? I take it? Okay? So what do you think it's going to happen? Like, what is the future of Ugly Yellow House? Will there be? You know, are you always going to make masks? Are you gonna Obviously when events started happening again both ties will be a thing. But are you now realizing, well, we can do a lot more than just bow ties for people. Yeah, I mean it's kind of like what you said, I think masks are a thing now. I don't think this is going to be a temporary patch to to get us through this. I mean I think they're a thing now. And so, you know, that was kind of the goal once we started, you know, especially you know, looking into our fabrics and whatnot, is it's going to be a thing, like make it an accessory. That's kind of what we always specialized in was accessories, was high quality fabrics, make them really well. The whole goal out of all of it is just to get somebody to wear a mask. You know. That was a big thing, especially with you know, the going with the headbands instead of around the ears. Is I want to take away every excuse somebody has to not wear one. And they're key. It's not like the ugly medical ones, which I mean the great and they serve their purpose, but those should be for medical workers. They don't need to look to in the hospital. We did so, but yeah, like you can do so. I feel like you guys are realizing you can do so much more than what you've been doing. It's like something bad is happening now, but you're you're learning so much from it and it's going to broaden your skills and your company coming out of this absolutely and there's lots of different things you want to do, whether it's like Tom made a bag out of sailcloth that one of our friends gave us from their sale, and you know, like just re repurposing things is a big passion, and like finding that thing that not everyone's doing, you know, Cotton boat hides was that thing. There's not affordable boat ties that are breathable and wearable that'll work. Now we need space masks. So I think that's the great thing about the name of our company is it literally can be whatever we wanted to be. There is there is nothing you can you know, ever have to be like, well, how does that fit into our brand? Because it just does. Because that's why. No, remember I didn't really ask you about this, but you don't have to tell us where you work. But what is your day job? So I work for the largest digital automotive I should say physical to company on Compax thing they own Kelly blue Book Auto Trader and the spaceport. Car dealers buy their cars the software they used to sell their cars, and so my main job is to make sure that car dealers are buying the right cars. But they're advertising and following guidelines. Um, what's their online present looks like it was trying to figure out how to get them to learn that they can work virtually in this environment. People want to buy cars, however they're allowed to buy cars, and so to get a dealership to like buy into that and realize they don't have to open their doors to sell a car was like the first sixty days of my COVID experience and it turned out really great. Everyone's adapting and so a little different than your side hustle, so very different than right side hustle. Has there been anything that you've been able to take from your day job and put it into ugly yellow house like skill wise, yeah, absolutely so marketing for sure, and sales is definitely helpful. I do a lot of s c O and a lot of SCM in search engine marketing in my day job, and so that's help is we're finding keywords and building websites, and the social media part has been really hard, but the whole marketing and sales platform is basically what I've done for the last fifteen years of my life, and so that's been a nice transition. Is just being able to have that sort of marketing and sales background coming into that. That's huge. I mean, so many small business owners are business owners period, don't understand the s c O and I've never even heard anyone say s c M before, so it makes sense, but like now I need to go figure that out. But no, it's a skill that if you have and you can use it with your small business your twenty steps ahead of everyone else. And we keep mentioning Shandon a Layer West Seattle, and I want to be able to shout her out. So she is the reason we're connected. Obviously, I know that she connected me to you guys. She's big fans of you guys. But how did you guys connect with Shandon? So I like to start us out with a disclaimer that I'm not a stalker, but I am a crazy stalker for Shandon from very afar when this first started, you know, just following her on social media, and then her store. If you have not I mean, anyone listening in Seattle, if you've not been in the Layer, it is my happy place. If you're upset ever, you walk into that store and you just build a sense of calm. So I was super fan girling behind the scenes. And we were at a market and there was this dog that looks just like her otis and someone we took a picture and posted it and someone asked her tagged her and so is this your Otis? Is a different Otis? But she was like I need I Like, I think I need a dog bow tie for my Otis. And I was like, you absolutely do, But I was still like, really super shy about it because I just thought she was the coolest person and not having met her. And Tom was like, this is your chance. Put together a care pack. It's full of everything we make. Take it over there and introduce yourself, like this is how you're going to be able to do it. And so we did, and she liked them, and she likes us, and she's just the most wonderful person. And I'm so glad that somehow that weird not her otis dog led us to be front. So how long ago that, oh, gosh, September. It's just like this person a month ago. And how long has Ugly Yellow House been around July almost two years? Yea, yeah, two years, so not very long at all. That's nuts. And then I know you were able to connect with Roxy, who had been on side Hustlers earlier this year. She is behind Lonteree handmaid obviously handmakes those stitches all of that. So she was had sent me a mask. I got a mask from her, and I ordered some pillows and she was like, what do you think of my mask? Because she was seeing me where your masks? And I was like, honestly, they both serve different purposes. They both are great, but it all it's preference, just like any accessory. So she had told me that she reached out to you guys and you guys were helping her, and I was like, I just love when people who are doing the same thing still help out one another. And it's incredible that you guys are like that. And I just wanted to commend you guys for being kind to other people and not competitive, even though you know, at the end of the day, you know it's a bottom line, but you're still super kind. Yeah, same goal, right, Like she's trying to do exactly what we were trying we are trying to do and doing her own thing at the same time. And I think it's just being a fellow maker and a small business owner like you just you just want to cling to that community, even if they're in California, even if they're selling the same thing. Like, we don't have to be competitors. We complement each other. Hers they're different than ours and they're amazing, you know. And so I mean, if you can get one from her, get one. If you can get one from us, get them. If you can make your own, make your own, whatever it takes. Stay home. But if you have to leave, find a freaking mask and put on your face. I don't care what it looks like, or a bow tie and or bow tie and mask. Boom. We're all set that we're set for the year. So I want people to go support. It's Ugly yellow House dot com and then it's ugly yellow House on Instagram, and that's probably the best place to go to stay up to date with your launches. I know you took a week off as we're recording this, you took last week off, but this coming Friday it'll be there. You'll have mass up there again. But obviously that's going to change. Those things change, So Ugly yellow House on Instagram to support Amber and Tom guys. I can't wait to see what you do next. I'm so excited you. I'll be following. Thank you so much for being here. I can't wait to actually meet you in person. You're so closely, so far away, so soon. Thank you so much for listening to Amber and Tom's story. You can follow Ugly Yellow House on Instagram Ugly yellow House dot com. I've got all the links below so you can just click right there in the description. Thank you as always for being here and listening to side Hustlers, rate and review the podcast. That is such a help and you can always reach out to me side Hustler's podcast at gmail dot com. This podcast has been produced by my friend at Houston Tilly and until next week, keep hustling.