From Invention to Empowerment: A Tale of Innovation and Resilience

Jules Weldon: 00:00:00

You just have to keep taking the next step forward. And there will be signs along the way that keep showing you you're on the right path, Even though it may feel like it's a bumpy, Rocky, treacherous road. As you're walking the correct path, you'll keep getting signs along the way.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:00:16

Welcome to the ReLaunch podcast. And wow, I am so excited to introduce you to two powerhouse women and their story, their journey. And for many of us when we're honest with ourselves, it's not an easy a to b type of road we take it is circuitous is frickin bumpy. It is, it did you know the school of hard knocks sometimes sets in. And when I first heard the story of these women's lives, it touched me beyond. It brought me back to my entrepreneur days where things come out of left field that can just take you down at the knees. But there is a resilience in us. There is a opportunity to experience the relaunch effect and those incredible steps to help you get through and be able to overcome and to be able to harness resilience in your life. And today I am so excited to share Jules Weldon and Stacy Pierce known as the dynamic duo. They are founders inventors, author, podcast hose, and most importantly adventure seekers. They also which is near and dear to my heart, love the the for friends out there all you dog lovers. And in 2020 they launch their fabulous company oh me gear, and that om E stands for oceans, mountains and earth and their journey, this journey. And I love it because it incorporates dads and moms and everybody into it and the triumphs around it. And during the early stages of building ALEMI Gara, they faced a pivotal moment when their only remaining asset was their house, and we're going to hear what happened. But even despite the challenges, they made the bold decision that they're going to talk about. And for two and a half years. It allowed them to make some major changes. Their dedication is evident. They've done a TEDx. They've done so many more things in addition to Mn O M E gear, their talk, give it up, give up your stuff, not your dream, how great is that? Give up your stuff, not your dream. So important. And their journey began when they partnered with a US manufacturer to develop a product patented, originally, we're gonna hear by Jules parents, and we're going to talk about life about entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. It is it is the tears. It's the cheers along the way that really make it so important. And I loved hearing the story, but also one of the things that they said, and I read, which was so darn cool, is that they believe that the journey should be just as exciting as the destination. And I gotta tell you ladies, that is something that I absolutely resonate with. Because you are both like put up on that pedestal that dang you guys built the pedestal. So welcome to both of you. It is a pleasure to have you here both jewels and stays. Thank

Jules Weldon: 00:04:23

you so much, Hillary The pleasure is ours for sure. So thank you for that really warm introduction.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:04:29

Well, let's go back here because this relaunch story is it's pretty, it's pretty amazing. All of the all of the twists and turns that happened along the way. So help us help us get to where you are right now with the most impactful relaunch story that brought you to where you are today.

Jules Weldon: 00:04:52

Yeah, well when I was listening to you talk I was like man, I would never want to live their story. And but here I am actually the one living it. But so for us so the the really quick backstory, and I'll make it super quick is that my mom and dad 25 years ago invented a product, it was a two in one, they tried to take it to market, they couldn't figure out how it was a lounger that flipped up into a cart, they saw a woman coming off the beach with a three kids and they just said, go into the beach should never be a hard experience. And my parents were not inventors. And there was not Google then. And so everything about it made it really difficult for them to take it to market. But they did get a patent. And so fast forward, it just sat on the shelf. So fast forward. 12 years later, I was working for PwC. And for some reason, you know, the the worst and the best ideas come at like 130 in the morning. Isn't

Hilary DeCesare: 00:05:47

that the truth? Mine? Were around 233 o'clock. I'm brilliant.

Jules Weldon: 00:05:54

Maybe or you're certain you're like dying. And you know,

Hilary DeCesare: 00:05:59

like, just please God, let me remember this in the morning.

Jules Weldon: 00:06:02

That's exactly right. So but I thought, what if I got targeted work and a bunch of hours for somebody else? And I said, What if I tried to take my my parents idea to market and so I called up my dad that next morning and he started crying my dad is one of our heroes is amazing. And he said, honey, that would be a dream come true. And you know those moments that you just don't ever forget. And so I remember that was etched in my mind. And so I thought okay, I'm off to the races, the assign the patent to me, I ended up partnering with a colleague from PwC, we sold our idea 60% of it, it was just a concept for half a million dollars. And we were we were off to the races. Until we weren't it was a partnership that was not a good one, six months in Stace will always say and I say it that give somebody six months to show you their crazy because we can all pretend for a while and then our real self comes out. And so six months in, I realized I did not want to be in partnership with these guys are really ultimately our values did not align. And we are huge value people where you have to know your values, and you have to operate from your values. And so long story short, I walked away from my own company, they ended up dissolving, dissolving it. And Stacy and I started a consulting business called salty ran where we wanted to help other particularly women, but really anybody navigate the pitfalls of taking, you know, starting a business. And so we did that. And so we've helped over 100 clients, and it's been amazing. But in about 2018, we were like Ash, nobody's taken this, before

Hilary DeCesare: 00:07:44

you keep going there, I've read up on you. And both of your stories here. And I do have to say, you talk about that 500,000 That you got. And you gave away a lot of your company. And you also said stays that you say you know, give someone six months. And that is so important. I want to highlight that for every entrepreneur that's listening right now. Absolutely. We get it's like dating, you get so excited when you first meet someone and you're like, Yeah, I'm all in. I'm all in and you know, the crazy mind starts Oh, like this is going to be the greatest relationship until it's not. And I often say when I'm working with entrepreneurs, 90 days is the minimum 90 days to feel each other out to get a sense, because I have found that within the first 90 days, 90% of those advisors, those coaches, those mentors, have already given you everything they have. That's it, they're tapped out after 90 days, they've given you all the goods. And so to create those relationships to create those board members, those advisory board members too soon, can be truly detrimental. So just remember what you just heard, and whether it's 90 days, six months, don't jump too fast. And then you also said that you both because PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers, an amazing consulting firm, congratulations for having you know that being able to be accepted in there and working there because it truly is a powerhouse. And in our generation when you were there. It's like wow, yeah, really impressive. And then you decided to do something though you stepped back from working there. You actually took time off. And you ended up after this situation where you had, you know, basically walked away from the partnership, you decided to do something pretty crazy and joined a company right there in the local area. That was I thought Really fascinating that that's where you kind of went through it was your own form of therapy. And you were you were what? Clean shrimp. What was that? You got to tell us? This is a good one.

Stacey Pierce: 00:10:13

And Stewart it actually is actually my most favorite part of the whole story because she went from making, I mean, a good salary, a founder, I mean, I mean a CEO salary, working with this manufacturer who who bought 60% And she walked away writing a three page resignation letter. So there were three pages of things that she was able to come up with is a this is why I don't want to do business with you.

Jules Weldon: 00:10:41

And that was that was for me. That was my own healing and my process I gave it to them, but I knew they wouldn't do anything with it. But that was for me, right? Yeah. So

Stacey Pierce: 00:10:51

she worked and worked at the shrimp docks down in Charleston, South Carolina in Mount Pleasant on the with one of the most famous strippers Wayne Magwood. And she just needed to heal her soul and I worked for corporate at that time that we had you know, a good paycheck and was able to support the family and and we were like, just go go and heal your soul with the salt of the earth kind of people and but we always joke about nine Lindsay and I got tired of her smelling like shrimp coming home. So that's when we started our own coaching consulting firm, a salty rim. We obviously we have a salt, salt fame in our lives. We love margaritas but salt

Hilary DeCesare: 00:11:33

sometime we're going to be getting together and having those margaritas because you both that's my favorite. That is my favorite go to drink. Well, we

Stacey Pierce: 00:11:41

our tagline is we can help you eat your elephant with a dash of salt one bite at a time. And we wanted to because she came from PwC I've been on the ground for 12 startups. My background is occupational therapy. We wanted to be a fun consulting firm like something that is different and you get to coaches. So it's not like, you know your one on one. And we come at things from two different perspectives, which is really fun. So with that, you know, the salt is often the missing ingredient in recipes. Even in dessert, you have to have salt to enhance the flavors. And and so to me, to us, it was interested in that brainer that we're coming from both of our backgrounds, that we could really help other people in their journey in the entrepreneurial world be in service or product. So yeah, that's one of my favorite parts of the story is that she didn't care making $10 an hour from going from my corporate position making a really good salary, but $10 An hour delving shrimp to great,

Hilary DeCesare: 00:12:44

but then it led it led to you're creating a consulting company together. And then what happened because this is where the story takes an interesting twist.

Jules Weldon: 00:12:58

Yeah, so we started getting clients. And because people just started coming up there saying, Can you give us advice on either career stuff or my company or whatever. And so we were like, Well, I think we have a business here. So we started that we did that for a few years. But then we were like, this idea hasn't gone away. Nobody has stolen it of a transforming type concept. And so Stacy and I completely redesigned my mom and dad's idea. And we hired a design firm. We work with them. Oh, man, there's so many stories that we can tell you. But we ended up that was 2018. We went into COVID or manufacturer, we spent

Stacey Pierce: 00:13:39

$180,000 on our design on

Jules Weldon: 00:13:42

the design. And so then during COVID, our manufacturer went silent on us, we think they switched to PPE. And so we had to get on every webinar, we could get on to try to find a new manufacturer, because we couldn't fly over to China to meet anybody. And that's where we were producing. So we found one as you know, God would allow us to do a great one. And we thought that investment money was coming in. Stace had built such a great relationship with this manufacturer. He was a Chinese Mormon, which you don't really find very often. That's an

Hilary DeCesare: 00:14:14

interesting twist right now.

Stacey Pierce: 00:14:17

But it was amazing to BYU, and he spoke perfect English and a fun part of those stories. Six months in with him. Yeah, I sent him something we had to go everything had to be through mail. So we're getting prototypes through the mail. Like I can't go over there. And, and he he see he says we're from South Carolina. He goes, Are you from my and I can't speak his dialect. But he's like, Are you from Trump? Are you from South Carolina? And I said yes. That are the are you familiar with Columbia, South Carolina. I was like yeah, actually, I lived there for 10 years. She goes, Are you familiar with this restaurant called me is that was like eight there every Sunday. He goes That's my family. Talk about it. More and we had him through other ways. But how as they came back that he he was his family was from from South Carolina. So I think that's part of the theme

Jules Weldon: 00:15:10

is that it's just, when you're called to something, you just have to keep taking the next step forward. And there will be signs along the way that keep showing you you're on the right path, Even though it may feel like it's a bumpy, Rocky, treacherous road. As you're walking the correct path, you'll keep getting signs along the way. And so he sent over our first number of container loads, and we thought an investment was coming in, it didn't come in. And so he said, Where's my payment? We said, We don't have it. And he said, Well, I have to send it then she was to a undisclosed warehouse in Utah. Yeah, so he put it in an undisclosed location in Utah and said, I can't release it until you pay me. So I looked at Stace, December of 2020. And I said, How much do you believe in this company? And she said, with all my heart, and I said to her through tears, I'm like, I think we need to sell our house. And like you have to understand our house was like, we had hosted hundreds of people in our house. We had recorded podcasts from our house, like our house was it was only 1200 square feet, but like a huge health, but it was like it was a huge part of who we were. And so it was a really big deal. So we did we sold it. So within four days of us listing. So then we were like, well, crap, what do we do now?

Stacey Pierce: 00:16:35

Yeah. So yeah, because we didn't realize I mean, we didn't really want to sell our house, honestly. I mean, if we've asked to do, that's what you really wanted to know. But we had already maxed out everything, close out all of our 401 K's everything. I mean, we did. So it was, it was a pretty big decision. But, but we did not think it all the way through. And we were like, whereas entrepreneurship, a

Hilary DeCesare: 00:17:03

little impulsive there. And four days later, your house is sold. And you're like, what did we do?

Stacey Pierce: 00:17:07

Now now is worth a heck of a lot more than we sold it for, which is even more gut wrenching. But we get made enough money out to get our product. But so we were like, we couldn't find anything to rent and Charleston Charleston super expensive. And so we were like, What about us and financing an RV because you can get an RV a lot cheaper monthly. And then let's just hit the road. And we'll wrap it in our branding. We have a rolling billboard going across the United States. And so that's what we did. So we financed an RV and Joseph now is didn't really like that was never on our on our road map at all in our lives. Neither one of us had ever driven an RV. I don't think I've ever been in an RV. It's

Hilary DeCesare: 00:17:54

not a normal, traditional entrepreneurial journey, for sure, though.

Stacey Pierce: 00:17:59

And then we're fifth were both while I was 49 when we hit the road. And she was she was 50 We're both going through full blown menopause night. We're living at a onesmart balls. And I mean, it was just, it was literally things were just stacked and stacked. And so we did take driving lessons for the RV. I've never drove it, she drove it. So

Hilary DeCesare: 00:18:23

this is an interesting thing, because not only are you business partners, but you are also together as a couple. Now we're gonna go, Hey, were you married at that point,

Stacey Pierce: 00:18:36

we didn't know we were going to have an 18. Okay, so 2018.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:18:40

So this is really fascinating, because now you're hitting the road, I love that you wrapped the camper in this RV in in your product. And I do need you to explain more about this product because I looked it up and I'm like, we're getting two of these. These are the coolest thing. We do a lot of tailgating. We do a lot of canceling. I'm a really big camper. But I think the product is insanely great. And I did try to go on and there were a couple of colors and you've already sold out and I need to know when the next batch is coming in. But tell us about the product.

Jules Weldon: 00:19:16

Yeah, so you know, it's interesting. We just went to the beach last weekend and I think for and I know this sounds crazy with your own product. But for the first time I looked at Stace, and I was like this product is badass. Like and you know, I mean I I've always thought that because obviously we invented it but I think like using it and loading up probably 100 or so pounds of stuff. I carried all of it on the winder, so she didn't have to have one thing in her hands and I literally toasted 100 pounds of stuff, a foot cooler, and umbrella and all that you take and so it is a transforming concept. So it's a cartlett carries up to 150 pounds of gear. The wheels on it are, are incredible. So they're not air filled. So we'll never go flat. And it's like a Santa Korean rubber outer layer. So it's almost like when you go to the beach and you let out some air in your tires so that your tires roll easier. That's this concept. And so it'll carry 150 pounds. And then once you get there and you unload your stuff, it'll transform easily into a low beach chair, a high camping chair, a lounge chair that reclined and a camping cot. So it's multiple things in one fold and

Hilary DeCesare: 00:20:31

the coolest thing ever. And there's a great story behind it on why your dad initially decided that this is something he wanted to invent. Can you share that one?

Jules Weldon: 00:20:44

Yeah, it's just they my mom and dad were sitting on the boardwalk and Bethany Beach, Delaware and watched a single mom coming off of the beach with her three kids, and they were all miserable. We all know what it's like to come off the beach, right? It's one thing to go because you're excited but coming off as miserable. And my mom and dad just looked at each other. And they said if she had a product that she could put all the stuff on and pull with one hand, have another hand free to hold a child's hand, then that would solve her problem. And so they went up they're not inventors, like I said, and they napkin sketched out this too and one, but it was real Frankenstein, it was real is all fake, plastic, bulky and all of that. So we've just reinvented it and made it be a five or six in one because in the cart or caught mode, if you retract the legs, so just the wheels are on the ground. You can also haul multiple kayaks, paddle boards, surfboards, deer, like if you're a hunter, so it's it's anything that's big and bulky, you can throw right on it with straps, it'll handle it'll people

Hilary DeCesare: 00:21:47

are using that. Yeah, add me fully engaged until you said the deer and then a couple

Stacey Pierce: 00:21:54

people were using the equestrian world, they're using it to move around hay bales. We'll stack a few on there, especially in that mode, we've had a one guy use it on his worksite because he can carry a stack of two by fours a lot easier, and one on one or two at a time. He could stack on that on that mode and carry him across the yard. And so it's so funny how many people have had figured out ways they can use it will

Hilary DeCesare: 00:22:24

be critical. So people who are thinking like, oh, this person has everything, they don't have this, this you know, I don't know what to give for Mother's Day, Father's Day, you know, birthdays, holidays, this is so cool. And the fact that you can do so much with it. I have all of these wonky types of you know, chairs and equipment in my garage. And I'm like, I'm getting rid of everything. And I'm getting these and it's just I love it. I love it. I was just like, wow. But what I really want to talk about is this resilience, the fact that you both have been working on this, you have you know, gotten that that entrepreneurial jolt of like hope. And then the crushing blow when it comes down. How do you how do you help people right now? Because you kept saying like, Hey, how you know how much do you believe in this? Your brother like 100% I'm gonna sell my house, I'm gonna get an RV. We're gonna do all this stuff. You believed in this so much that it was you know, they talked about 100% committed, right? There wasn't even that 1% That was gonna give you an out. But for those listening, because there are so many highs and lows that come with the entrepreneur ship, what do you what do you really, when you think back? What caused you to be able to believe in this? So 100% This is gonna happen?

Stacey Pierce: 00:23:56

I think it's not it's not about the product. It's not about a product for us. And when we were out we were talking before we went on the camera about the summit we just had with our nonprofit and, and somebody said it's not about that young built a chair, because people call us the chair girls out. No one will ever get to women. We're always be the girls. But

Hilary DeCesare: 00:24:21

I was thinking that actually when you said that were called the girls but hey, we want to be girls right now. We're talking menopause. We're talking now come on.

Stacey Pierce: 00:24:31

But you have built a chair for people to be invited to sit in. And so it's more about a product and that resonated with us. As we're sitting over, you know, 80 women and tell them our story. It's it's more than a product and that's what keeps us going. It's about you know, yes. Did we burn all of our ships at did we burn the boats? Yes, we did. There wasn't ever a plan B for us. But we made That decision together, it wasn't one one of us made a decision. We made that decision together, we make all of our decisions together. And to us it was really only make hell yes decisions. And so it's not about a product for us. Yeah, the products cool. There's a lot of cool products out there. It's about our mission for other entrepreneurs, other women inventors out there to say, Just do it. And just take that one step at a time. And hopefully, with everything we have learned along the way, Jules always puts that we want to fill in the potholes with rocks for others going on behind us. And that's our, that's our whole mission is to make it we Yeah, our platform is not about necessarily a product, that's what keeps us taking those steps forward. And some of those treasures, and hard and sometimes we we feel like we're running a marathon, and they keep just pushing the finish line forward. And we're not, you know, never gonna get there. But we know together we can do whatever we need to to get there. Well, and

Hilary DeCesare: 00:26:06

I think that's one of the things that caused you to really create your foundation bold sky foundation. Can you share with us why you did it and what you're doing around it right now for the future? Yeah,

Jules Weldon: 00:26:19

thank you for asking. This is actually this is our why Bolkiah is our why? Because it has been like Steve said, such a brutal road of taking this product to market. And but we're all in and so we're like, okay, there's gonna be other women out there who've experienced the same hardships that we have. So we have we had a dear friend Sarah can solder Yerkes, who was a fierce advocate for women entrepreneurs. She got diagnosed six years ago with ovarian cancer, the past four years, almost to the day of her diagnosis. And that was it was interesting, that was sort of during the same period where we were in our own wilderness with our product. But we went on a hike out in California. And it was just as Sarah was in her final days, and we had gotten a call from her husband, and we were on a hike. And I said to Stacy, I'm like, You know what everybody says nice things about people after they die. We don't have the chance to be with Sarah right now. But let's say out loud what we love about Sara, so that she can hear us right while she's still on this earth. And so we did we were doing that. And all of a sudden Stacy looks up and starts crying. And I was like, What are you? What are you doing and I look up and there are eight, eight RAM up on the hillside, like literally on the mountains that were hiking in California, eight of them. Now, in our six months in California, we'd never want seen one, let alone eight together. And we looked it up. And it it the number eight is significant, as is Ram do a Google search on it. But it's really cool. And so we thought I mean, that was just Sara's way of saying do it like go like It's fierce. Its independence. It's vitamin, it's climbing mountains. I mean, rams can climb where no one else can climb, right or no other animal can climb through like crazy Rocky Mountains. And so we knew in that moment, we were going to do something in Sarah's honor. And so it's evolved as we've really just sat with it into bold Sky, which are her initials. And so our whole mission is to bring in female inventors, specifically females with a product and to help them get from wherever they are, to where they want to go or at least get on the path to get there. Because so many women are like I don't know what patent attorney to hire. I don't know what manufacturer to use marketing. I don't know what marketing firm, I've already spent 50 grand and they've been terrible, that all of that has been our experience. But we've now built a Rolodex of contacts. And so we're bringing these women in under our wing, introducing them to our network, but also once we get funded which waiting on big funding, but once we get funded, we'll invest 2550 100 grand into these women to pay for services that they can't pay for not ask for any debt, not ask for any equity in their company. Because that's what we struggle with is everybody wanted some everybody

Hilary DeCesare: 00:29:28

wants a piece of it. Everybody and by everyone for you know their their big hits. So they take and take and you're like you end up losing such a large chunk of your company and I know that is so great that you're going to be investing in them and saying, This is not something that is a it's like a you're getting it you're gifting it. And you're also not just giving them the funds but giving them that knowledge.

Jules Weldon: 00:29:58

How we measure by KPIs and, and the only thing that will ask of them is once we help get you profitable, we want you to invest back in the old sky. So not to stay Sanai but back into bold sky so that we're actually now creating an engine of female inventors investing in each other. And so that's kind of that's what we're that's what we're really passionate about. And the reason why we haven't and won't walk away from LME gear is because OMA gear is giving us the platform to have that influence.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:30:35

You guys, ladies, I love this. And where can people find the product because I love that it's giving you the platform by buying the chairs, everyone by giving this gift which by the way people are going to love, you're also supporting such an incredible cause. So where can we? Where can we find it?

Stacey Pierce: 00:30:59

Oh, me gear.com. That's our website. I love

Hilary DeCesare: 00:31:02

this. Thank you so much for being here. And your story is inspirational. Everyone out there from an entrepreneurial journey. I have never, in my 23 years plus working with entrepreneurs have ever seen a true straight line of getting to have that success rule, everyone will eventually have something it's going to be either the small pebbles or those gigantic boulders. And I think that what you both have realized is that we always think like we got to go over the boulder. And what you two have done such a great job with is you want to round it, you want to round it. And now here you are helping others impacting others. So thank you for your contribution. Thank you for being here today. It's been it's been so fun having you on.

Jules Weldon: 00:31:58

Thank you for this. Yeah, you're amazing. And we love everything that you're doing. So thank you for all the goodness you're playing.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:32:05

Everyone is listening right now. Think about what you're facing right now what relaunch is occurring in your business. And think about what we just heard through this conversation, jewels and stays. And now maybe you can look at it from a different perspective. Look at it from the you know, entrepreneurship, it's not the short game. It is a long game. And so looking forward to next week having you back live now love now relaunch now and know that you are supported right here in this relaunch community. Let us know what you think about this episode, head on over to Hillary to Caesar at Instagram and connect with us because this is what matters. What relaunch Are you going through right now? message us, let us know how can we support you and Jules stays thank you for being here and I'm looking forward to continuing to help you in whatever way I can to have my chairs arrive. This is so great and take care of yourself and everything I know you've got some relaunches going on in your own life. And my prayers are with you. Thank you appreciate your everyone. We'll be back next week.