Episode 192: Building a Product Empire Without a Team or Ads | Abby Michaelsen | Founder & CEO of Living Cozy
What if your best idea started in a college dorm room? That’s exactly what happened to Abby Michaelsen, the founder of Statement Home and creator of the viral tray that launched the fast-growing product brand. Abby shares how she took a single prototype and turned it into a full business, with no co-founder, no paid ads, and no formal product design experience.They talk about building confidence, learning on the job, and staying scrappy.
“If you’re making a product or business for women, not every man will understand it. So many told me things wouldn’t work. Now I make TikToks about how they were wrong.”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
00:00 The tray that started it all
01:15 From dorm room prototype to product brand
03:20 Testing ideas without a product background
05:10 What it takes to go viral on TikTok
07:30 Growing without ads or a team
09:00 Navigating manufacturing and fulfillment
11:00 Learning to believe in your own vision
13:15 The myth of needing everything figured out
15:00 Staying grounded through rapid growth
17:30 Creating products that solve real-life problems
19:00 Lessons from launching a business during college
21:15 Personal growth through entrepreneurship
23:00 Advice for first-time founders
25:15 What powerful really means
The timing of when I launched, there's been this big shift with marketing and like consumer behavior where perfection doesn't sell anymore. And I'm like, thank God, because I can't be perfect 'cause I don't have a team, I don't have enough time. And so back in the day with the perfect Instagram fee, but in 2020, that's when it all started to shift.
That's Abby Michaelsen and this is The Powerful Ladies podcast.
Hey guys, I'm Kara Duffy, a business coach and entrepreneur on a mission to help you live your most extraordinary life by showing you that anything is possible. People who have mastered freedom, ease and success. Who are living their best and most ridiculous lives, and who are making the biggest impact are often people you've never heard of until now.
One great idea can change your life and going viral on TikTok can change your business. Today's guest at one of my rockstar clients, Abby Michaelsen of Statement Home, has experienced both phenomena and used them to her advantage. In this episode, we talk about the process of starting a product-based business, how to scale a business as a one-woman show, and the marketing secrets that can transform your business too.
All that and so much more.
Abby, I am so excited you are here. I'm
so excited to be here with you.
There is so much that I am proud of you about and excited to share with everyone listening about who you are and what you've created. So before I start into all my questions and praise, let's tell everyone who you are, where you are in the world, and what you're up to.
Yeah. So my name is Abby Michaelsen. I am the founder and CEO of Statement Home and the creator of the Jack of All Trays which I like to say is a TikTok viral celebrity loved product, which has been really exciting and crazy to see happen. I am located in Southern California, pretty near you, and I'm two years into starting and running my business, still running it on my own, which is a challenge and.
That's who I am. Let's start at the beginning of where Statement Home started. How did this business even come into idea form?
Yes. So I like to say it all started in a shoebox, AKA, A New York City Manhattan apartment. I moved there after college. I was working for startups, doing marketing and business development.
And then in my personal life, I was trying to figure out how to decorate my tiny apartment, how to entertain in it for different holidays and occasions. And I am someone that loves throwing parties, hosting friends and family. I love interior design. I'm the daughter of an interior designer. My mom is an interior designer.
And I just found it really challenging to figure out how to make my space my own, and specifically how to change up the look of it throughout the year and to have serving pieces and decor pieces that reflected the seasons and holidays. Or themes, whatever. And the kind of light bulb moment was when I had bought a tray for a holiday party.
It had a very like holiday season, Christmas look to it. And I used it for a party. And then afterwards I was like, where am I gonna store this? I barely have room for pots and pans. This was a really dumb and practical purchase. I was really mad at myself for buying it and and it just made me think like, why do we do this?
Why do we have stuff for every holiday? Why isn't there a better way? And I didn't immediately come up with the interchangeable design that I'm sure we'll get into. But it just sparked a thought. And then I was at the same time wanting to think more about starting a business. And then I guess the stars aligned, which I didn't realize then, but I got laid off from.
The startup I was working for and basically had to decide, am I gonna look for a new job or am I gonna try to start a business that somehow has to do with this problem with the tray that I don't really understand what that means. And then I ultimately was just like, I guess I'm starting something and I don't know what it's, and decided to move back to California from New York so that I could not, not be in such an expensive city while I
tried
to
figure it out.
And so you have this aha moment because you bought something that was great in the moment and now you don't need and can't store. And how did you go from the aha moment to even just having a sample? Because I think so many people get stuck in the, everyone has great ideas, everyone has these aha moments, but so few people do anything with them.
So how did you go from the aha moment to, oh shit. Like I actually have a product I made in my hands. Yeah, it was a long time.
I wouldn't say it was a long process. I just didn't do it. So I totally understand people's hesitation. So I moved home. I was really lost. I was missing New York and I was actually, I was working for my mom's interior design business because I was like I might as well learn more about the design world.
All I knew I liked it, but I couldn't talk about it. And so then as I was working for her, growing her social media, learning all about that. I don't know how long it took, but eventually I was like, why don't I just buy a tray on Amazon, buy a, an acrylic tray that I like on Amazon. And then I found a local vendor, someone my mom knew that could just make a very like, flimsy piece of plastic that like, think of a cheap place mat.
That could just fit in the tray. I had them make three different ones. They weren't reversible. It was just a design on each. And I wanted to see what it felt like and looked like to put it insert in a tray. 'cause I thought that seemed really dumb and simple. Which of course I've now learned is good, but I was like, oh no, it needs to be like engineered and snap in and like all these things.
And then no, I realized it can actually be really simple. So then I had a tray, these three different inserts. I thought it was really cool. I started to show some people and they thought it was cool, but no it was like this silly little thing that I had. And then I had this grand plan for I'm gonna create this versatile, interchangeable home decor brand, but then all I had was this like sample.
And so then I actually was looking into different programs I could do to learn more and to provide more guidance in the network. And so I ended up doing a grad school program at USC focused on entrepreneurship and innovation. And the goal is basically you come in with an idea, you work on it through the curriculum, and you launch.
And I did that within a few months which we could go into.
Yeah. Because that's not, there's so much about how you're building your business that isn't in alignment with other people who have built a business, especially a product-based business, but it's not common for everyone else.
And was, looking at who you are as a human and your personality. What was it about this idea that you got attached to? Were you, are you naturally determined? Are you got to get hyper-focused to make it into a business is really unique. So were you intentional about it or would it like not leave you alone?
Yeah, I definitely, yeah, I couldn't leave me alone. I was like, I know that this tray is really cool. I know that I would love it and other people like me would love it. And then part of the schoolwork I was doing at USC, we did something called customer discovery, which I wish I had just done a year earlier.
So basically so this was in 2019, so the fall before COVID and. We basically had to go into the public, go up to strangers and ask them questions and targeting people who you think would be your target customer. So I was going into William Sonoma Crate and Barrel home decor boutiques, and I would go up and just introduce myself, say, can I ask you some questions about decor or entertaining?
What are you buying? And then I got pretty good at doing this. And you don't wanna ask que you wanna ask questions in a way that's very broad and not to lead to a certain answer. So I wasn't like, hi, do you want a tray with inserts? Because what does that mean? It's more what are you buying?
What are you looking at? Oh do you like to entertain? And it was always, yes. 'cause that's where I was. Like those stores how often do you entertain? What items do you use? And everyone uses a tray of some sorts. They're like trays, go, oh, how many trays do you think you have?
And I kept noticing the same thing. Oh, I have so many. Or oh, I have a few. I'm like, do you want more? Yes. But I don't know where I'm gonna put them. Or oh, it's just so much stuff. Or that one's cute for Halloween, but do I need a Halloween tray? And it was just over and over again hearing the same things.
And then there were also other students working on it with me, and they kept hearing the same things. So it was like, okay, it's not just me, like not knowing that I'm guiding them to, to answer in a certain way. And so then that validated okay, there is a problem. Like people want more variety. They want different looks, but they don't want a bunch of stuff piling up in their cabinets, or they don't have the space or budget for it.
So then that gave me the confidence that. My idea was something that could actually grow into a successful product and then eventually a product line. In the future,
you have this idea. You do the testing you land on, it's an acrylic tray with inserts that are reversible, so you don't just get one look.
You can get two, you can switch them out for every season. You can switch them out for different parties or events, and it becomes, as you call it, the jack of all trays. Like you just need one for whatever tray need you might ever have. You and I both know now that people need maybe more than one of these statement home trays because you end up wanting them at different parts of your house.
Or I have mine on my dresser and it stays there, and then I'm like, oh, I need another one for serving food. And I like, so you need more than one, but only because you're using them, not because you're storing them and they don't work. But what I think is so phenomenal about you and how you've started this business is you very quickly from launch had your product in the hands of celebrities and these exposure to people who were getting it into press on your behalf.
Were you losing your mind when you saw like Sophia Varga using your tray and it being published in, was it us or People?
Yes. There's a video where I was like, I was literally shaking. I like, I was like, I gotta capture this. Moment when I got the notification that Sophia Vera posted it on her feed and tagged shop at shop statement home in her Instagram caption.
I was like, what? Like that, I was just hoping maybe she would post a story and hopefully she tags my brand correctly. That would be amazing. And then I'm like. Oh my God. So there is a video of me just freaking out that I filmed a selfie video and I posted it on my Instagram stories and everyone was like, oh my God, you're so cute.
And then afterwards I'm like, I cannot believe I posted that. Yeah, I was freaking out. And then I'm like, okay, wait, how do I take advantage of this? This is a short lifespan. And I had remembered that someone I used to work with was dating an editor at People Home. And I was like always waiting until the right moment.
I'm like this is the right moment. And sent it over to him. He sent it to her. I was hoping just for an intro, can I send a sample? And then a few hours later, he sends me the link to how to get Sophia Rega tray on people.com. And I'm like, excuse me. What? And yeah, it's crazy.
And you've had such tremendous success also, celebrity exposure definitely helps.
It helps every business. And then you have also had crazy success on TikTok, so much so that you have people coming to you asking, how can I replicate success for my business on TikTok? Was that on accident? Was it strategic? Can you be strategic on TikTok or is it all like a hope and a prayer?
It's both.
It was strategic. I shifted my focus in the spring of 2021, so that was like. Nearing the end of my first year. We were working together. And I was telling you how, like I spend so much time on Instagram content creating just like lifestyle content, like recipes and cheese boards, which is, I still do, yeah.
It's still important, but that doesn't sell the product because even if I'm showing, oh, here's an insert flipping over, going in the tray, the focus is on the food or the drink, not the tray. And so it's not gonna sell, maybe it sells one, it's not gonna sell hundreds or thousands. And I had seen on TikTok, all these small businesses saying they were getting all these sales because I'm just on TikTok as a user and I'm like, I gotta figure out how to do this.
And there was a lot of trial and error and the, I guess it was an accident. 'cause the first video I was just sitting on. On my phone. Okay. I need to post something on TikTok, looking through really old videos. And I had a video where I filmed one of my best friends, unboxing, and it was a real unboxing.
She had purchased the tray. She starts unwrapping. I go, oh wait. Let me film this. Yeah. And this had been almost a year since I had filmed the video. I go, oh wait, this is actually really good. Maybe I should put it on TikTok. She put it on TikTok, edit it. Put hashtags I thought would make sense.
And then it quickly starts getting all these views. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is crazy. And all these comments. And then it wasn't until the next day that it really blew up, but I woke up to a thousand plus dollars of orders, and that had never happened before. Maybe the holidays, but not at a random day.
And I was like, wait, is this from the TikTok? And I opened TikTok and it was just blowing up. And an accident, but also strategy of shifting focus to it and thinking what type of video would people like? And so then I was, then I learned unboxings can be good. And so I filmed more unboxing because I haven't been able to nail the magic of that one.
I think my friend, just, her reaction was really good. Yeah. And so then, but then I went months without a lot coming from TikTok. Like that video drove as, $10,000 of sales. In a few days, which at the time was really crazy. And my grandparents were helping me pack orders and it was mayhem.
That's the experience that led you and me to decide I needed to outsource my fulfillment to a warehouse fulfillment center. So it was a turning point because I was like, this needs to be normal and it can't be normal if I'm packing the orders. I just started making a bunch of different videos for TikTok, showing different ways the tray works to see what might stick, and then I would post them multiple times in different formats with different background musics, different voiceovers, a 15 second version, a 22nd version, a ten second version, different hashtags 'cause you just don't know what's gonna work and it's not as big of a deal to, to repost on TikTok 'cause different people see every video.
And what I found was when I told my story of why I created it combined with showing how it works. So it's showing while. Showing the product, not explaining it verbally.
And
then telling the story, like it started in my small apartment, I didn't have space. I like to entertain. So then anyone who is similar to me, that's gonna immediately resonate with them.
And then they're hooked in and then they're seeing how it works and they go, oh, that's brilliant, or that's genius. And then I can comment back or respond back to that comment that says it's genius or it's brilliant and then it's someone else calling my product that it's I'm not saying that even if I think it I'm like, oh, I'm so flattered.
You think my product is genius? And we, and as that once resulted in $100,000 of sales from one TikTok video and that video. Being able to just tell the story that led to a hundred thousand that's led to being in Business Insider just today. CNN made a list of viral products and I'm first on it.
Okay. Exciting.
So time out breaking news. CNN just posted you Yeah. As the number one viral product. Viral, yeah.
CNN as of this morning. I was, yeah, I was like, what is all this traffic on my website? And I'm like, then I realized, I'm like, CNN and I couldn't find the link and then a friend saw it, happened to see it, and texted it to me as I was trying to figure it out.
So that was fun.
And so do you feel like the more that you lean in on your business and do what, keep coming back to the basics and just be selling the tray and talking about the tray and showing people why it matters and repeating that core story. Do you feel like your business expands faster when you come back to the core?
Essentials of what your message is.
Yes. Which is what you always tell me to do. But yeah, so it's it all, the most effective videos
Have been either me telling the story and then why I created it, or someone I know my grandma who has gone viral on my TikTok or a friend and I'm very clear that this is my friend or my grandma.
I'm not trying to pretend like it's some customer, like creating a video about how they like it. Like it's much better to just say this is my grandma showing you the tray. I think I was estimating that I think she drove $20,000 of sales over the holidays and the video starts. Her standing there are trays, bunch of inserts.
And I'm like, oh my God, grandma whatcha doing? That's of course, staged. Yeah, but that's fine because it's cute. And then she goes, I just wanna show everyone this tray you created. And she's adorable on camera. So I'm, am I lucky to have an adorable grandma who was willing to get on camera? Of course. And she's great.
But then I learned, okay, that works. People like her on TikTok, let's use her again. So I'm gonna have to book a new photo shoot with her soon. 'cause we did it for Mother's Day and we're gonna have to do it again for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, et cetera. So yeah, I think it's like saying, why did this video work and how can I replicate it?
But you're never gonna perfectly replicate it. So you need to think how can I use it in a different way? So yeah. And then I would say also leaning into the fact that I'm a one woman operation. I used to just think that, that was so embarrassing. I don't know why in the beginning.
When I first launched, I was pretending like I was this like legit big thing. Yeah. And I went nothing was ever coming from me. Like you didn't have to know my name. Like there, my story was maybe on the website, but I didn't talk about it. And once I leaned into that and put my face more and got on camera, more people connect with it and they're always shocked when they find out it's just me. If there's some sort of customer service issue, something's delayed or something, and I, I write back and I say, thank you for your patience. I'm a one-woman operation. And they're always like, wait, what? Whoa, I thought I was reaching out to a team or they realize that the phone number is my cell phone, which probably needs to change.
They're like, oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize it was your personal phone number. I'm like, no, don't apologize. It was the number you were given. Like it's, yeah, I'm the one you're talking to.
So for people who are listening right now who have an idea and are like, oh, I think this could be a business or should be a business.
Would you tell them to go for it? Yes or no? And if yes, what would you tell them to do first?
I would never say go for it without hearing what the idea is, because I think that there's some ideas you shouldn't go for. Not every idea is gonna work. I've had plenty of ideas that I'm glad I, I didn't go for.
And I think that anyone who just says, yeah, do it that's not good advice. So I would wanna know like what it is and why they're creating it and what they think the opportunity is, and if it's aligned, if the opportunities aligned with their goals. Do, are they trying to start a billion dollar company?
But it sounds more like something that isn't gonna reach that point, then I would wanna be like, this is misaligned. Yeah. But I would also want to just figure out how passionate they are about it. Like anyone that meets me, like they can just tell I love my product. I'm passionate about why people need it and what this business is gonna turn into. People call me the tray girl, which I just lean into. This whole weekend I was wine tasting with friends and everyone would be like the tray girl. And I'm like, oh my God, I don't even have a tray with me. Like you have to be at that level like you have, 'cause you are gonna be the one who's growing the business.
So I would wanna make sure that they were really passionate about it beyond the financial potential, reaping financial benefits from it. And then I would wanna know that, done some sort of market research. Have you talked to people? Do people want this? Is it just you that wants it? Does it already exist?
Just 'cause it exists doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. But like, why is there room for more? There usually is, but like why are you gonna be different? How are you gonna do it better? That's what I would wanna know if there's another part of that question. It was,
No I actually have another question based on what you shared.
You said that how passionate you are about this. 'cause starting a business is not easy and there have been lots of ups and downs. There's been lots of, most of your, lots of tears, some panic attacks and like all of your stress and anxiety. It's never, not, never, I would say the majority of it has been based around holy shit, we weren't expecting this to happen.
How do we make sure we fulfill on with everyone the way that we want to maintain our level of standards and customer service? Because we've never had to process as many orders this fast. Or it's like when the good problems to have really are still problems and they have to be solved. So how much.
How much do you have to be in love with and committed to the product you're making to like, hold on for dear life, when you're going like up the rollercoaster, down the rollercoaster back up. If you didn't love your product, would you still be in business?
I think I probably wouldn't. I think there's other people who can I think that there's a type of entrepreneur that sees an opportunity and like they're not personally connected to the product, but they're good enough at business or they have enough experience and e-commerce and they're able to just do it.
I see a lot of TikTok videos of these e-commerce experts and they have just 10 different products that they sell and they're all on different websites and there's no personal story, but they're. They're lower price products that they're just able to push out. I couldn't do that. Like I can't spend all day every day trying to sell something I don't care about.
And I don't even think I would be able to, 'cause I don't, I think the reason why this is blowing up and I'm at where I'm at. It's 'cause I am so passionate about it. And then it creates better content and a better thing. So that's just me personally. Yeah. My personality, I've always only really leaned in on things I was very passionate about.
But it depends on the person. Like some people are also driven by making a lot of money and there's nothing wrong with that. Yeah. And so they might say, this product's gonna blow up. I don't care that it has nothing to do with my life, people will buy it.
And when people ask me who I like working with it, I want my clients to have.
All those pieces, like I want you to care about having your best life financially, but I also want you to care about what you're doing because it's so much more fun when you're committed and heart led in your business. I like telling those richer stories. I like supporting people where you're all in it's a different level of game when you're all in.
Yeah. When I sometimes laugh because I'm like, like how many hours have I spent thinking about a tray? Like it's, I'm like, and sometimes I'm like, I cannot think about trays anymore. It's just a tray. I'm like, it's just a tray. Like how many weights can I talk about a tray? How many ways can I show how a tray works?
And because it's been part of my life since 2018. It's lived in the world since 2020. Yeah. And some of my friends are even like, it's amazing like how you are so focused on like a tray. And I think that I'm sure there's, people like friends. Acquaintances that follow me on social media that are like, oh my God, the fricking trays, like trays.
Like, how does she spend so much time on a tray, they're like, at their consulting or finance job, and I'm just like, Hey, here's this cute tray and I'm gonna switch it from fall to Halloween and then game day and be really cute. Yeah.
This is my job. But I think it's so important that like people, we mentioned a little bit earlier, we forget how many people in the world don't know the basics of our business.
I make this mistake all the time with my own who the hell am I, what do I actually do? How do I help people? Why does it matter? Like I freak those coming back to those, that core messaging again, right? So yeah, we probably annoy our close friends who are like, shut up. I don't care about business.
I don't care about, dear, how your clients are amazing. I don't care about the stray. And you're like, yeah. Do you really know or does your friend know? 'cause can, if you can tell your friend, I can stop talking about it, but until then I gotta talk about it.
Yeah. And also they don't know what goes into it, so I just created this really cute I think you saw it video that was showing all my new inserts for fall, from fall to Halloween to game Day to Thanksgiving. It's a 22nd video. It took me four hours to film on a Sunday. Like I didn't go out and have a drunk brunch with my friends. Yeah. I set up a tripod, had all this, all the different things I was using and 20 seconds took four hours to film.
And I'm turning it into many different videos and photos and all this stuff, but it's does it look fun and do I look cute in the video? Yeah. But it was like four or five hours of my weekend that I spent. And so does it look like this silly unserious work that I do for the for the job? Yeah.
But I also have to be able to do that, look good on camera and be charismatic and then do the accounting and then build my website and then deal with the fulfillment center and customer service. Like it's not easy at all and it's not glamorous, but it looks, can look fun and silly externally.
Yeah. And it is 10% of the time. Yeah.
And off in my weekend.
Yeah. You know when if we look back at 8-year-old, you would 8-year-old, you have imagined the life that you have today.
No, because 8-year-old me probably would've think I was already married with kids because 8-year-old Abby would think that was something very easy to do. And I don't think 8-year-old Abby would be surprised I had a business.
But I think. She would probably be, oh my gosh, you're 30 and not married.
That's so old. Yeah.
When you were eight, what did you wanna be?
I told everyone I wanted to be a doctor because I was told by my grandfather, who's a retired doctor, that I was going to go to Stanford and be a doctor.
Oh, there you go. There we go. Okay. Neither happened. I'm now a doctor of trays. You're welcome.
Yeah. That would be a cute TikTok actually. Yeah. Yeah. What like, 'cause you're doing all those kid flashback ones now, right? Of
oh yeah.
Yeah. But if
you, I, there was once a trend where it was like photos as a kid and then you as an adult and I did something where it was like a bunch of photos of me in very like colorful, fun outfits and poses and it like totally made sense that like this was the product I made.
And if you ask my friends from. Growing up from high school, from college, they would all say this is like the most abbey possible business that could ever exist. And it makes so much sense that I started it.
Yeah. And you come from a family of entrepreneurs. Yes. And we just be, keep becoming more entrepreneurial.
Yeah. And I, and so to give everyone perspective, who, how many people are in your immediate family and how many are entrepreneurs?
So I have three brothers and they're all entrepreneurs. Yep. Yep. And then my mom's an entrepreneur, she's interior designer. I think sometimes people don't think of interior designers in that way, but they, she runs, she started and running her own business when she graduated college.
And my dad passed away. He was not an entrepreneur. My stepdad is an entrepreneur within a bigger organization.
Yeah. It cracks me up though sometimes go to have a session with your mother at her house and. There's four entrepreneurs using it as a WeWork for the day, and they all happen to be family.
So I think it's so interesting. So what was it about how you were raised and being raised by someone who became an accident, a single mother? How, like what was happening in your household or what did your mother or in your dad or stepdad teach you guys where like this was totally normal and encouraged.
I wouldn't say they ever said it was totally normal. I have been thinking about this recently 'cause I've been asked about it more often. I think it's when I've been introduced to people who, my brothers who have more, are more recently entrepreneurs. They've introduced me to people and they say, oh wow, and your sister does this way.
What's in the water that you guys drink? And I was recently interviewed on a different podcast. When someone asked me, I'm like, I hadn't really thought about it. So then when I was thinking about it I think when you lose a parent at a young age, there's different ways it can affect you.
I'm not a therapist, but I think it made me mature a lot faster. And then probably, maybe just wanna go for like exactly what I want. Just knowing that. You have one life and you don't know how long it's gonna be. I don't have to be a
dramatic, but No, but it's true. It's real life.
I was always a go-getter.
And everything but sports, I just wasn't good at sports. My brothers were the athletic ones, but I was always the one wanting to take charge of something. Wanting to be the leader of something. I was obsessed with getting into the best colleges and getting straight A's for that and what can I do?
How can I be more of a leader? And it wasn't just, oh, I wanna get into college. I just have, I like being in charge of things and moving things forward. I'm sure I was told I was bossy at some point by someone as a little girl, as unfortunately girls are told, welcome to the club. Yeah. So like in high school that meant I, I was doing a lot of heart disease awareness work.
'cause my dad died of a heart attack and. So then like the, I didn't just say oh, let me just start a club on campus, which I did. I was like, I'm gonna do the first health fair on campus. And then I got all these local businesses involved and it, it was like this crazy successful event. And then I'm like, then I'm gonna contact the American Heart Association.
And I think they're like, who's this like young woman? This is amazing. Let's bring her to Sacramento. Let's bring her to dc. Let's have her talk to Congress. I'm like, what? Because I think that they saw like having a well-spoken young person could be more powerful than like an adult. And then, all of a sudden I'm speaking at these events and getting these awards, like National Youth Advocate against Tobacco and Heart Disease stuff what am I doing here?
I don't remember asking for that award, but okay, I'll take it. Literally, I'm like, I don't understand. Like why am I giving a speech to the Secretary of Health and Human Services? Really crazy former life. But I just WI think it's if I'm gonna do something, I wanna go all in. Like why would I spend my time doing it Mediocrely, which is absolutely not a word I don't think.
It can be for today's episode.
And so I think part of it is, if I'm thinking about my family, I don't think I was ever told, you can do whatever you want. My mom's not, doesn't say like cheesy lines like that.
Yeah. But I think I, it was communicated to me, and like I said, when my grandpa told me I was gonna be a doctor
I think that ended up affecting me more. And if my grandfather thinks I can get into Stanford and be a doctor, which is one of the most difficult professions out there, then I could probably do anything else.
I don't know if I had that exact thought, but things go on subconsciously when you're growing up. So I was just always told that I was really smart and I was talented and. Was encouraged to continue doing well, and it was just an understood thing we expect you to do well in school.
And I was the type that would just do my homework. Me and my brothers weren't exactly the same. There was a, yeah. A lot of yelling involved with one of them to get his homework done. But
you, sir, it does. It does. And typically people associate that with the eldest child, and you're the youngest in your family?
No, I'm the second oldest. Second oldest, okay.
And I'm the second oldest, but my older brother is four years older than I am, and then I'm one and a half years older than the next, and then six years older than the youngest. But my older brother was in boarding school when we were growing up, and then in college, because he's just older.
Yeah. So like I was the oldest in the house Oh yeah. For a lot of childhood.
But not actually the oldest.
Yeah. And I think also when you're in typical like gender roles of even being like the oldest female and in the house shifts things because of it's a different level of competitiveness I think.
Yeah. But I think it also, it helped that they were really good at sports and then I was the like student extracurricular person and yeah, sports, I was just laughably terrible.
So often people who are so great at achievement and straight A's and the scholastic side of things as we get become adults, we have to figure out that perfect isn't the game anymore.
Yeah. So what have you discovered about yourself, especially owning a business and having to do all of these roles and the to-do list that never ends? How have you been shifting your perspective to. Find balance or to know that straight A's are isn't like the game anymore.
Yeah. I'm surprised that I've been able to do that.
But I think it comes down to which things are gonna drive revenue and sales.
And I, at the beginning was really concerned about the brand and everything looking perfect. And honestly I think what it was is. The timing of when I launched, there's been this big shift with marketing and like consumer behavior.
And social media where perfection doesn't sell anymore. And I'm like, yeah, thank God. Because I can't be perfect 'cause I don't have a team, I don't have enough time. And so back in the day was like the perfect Instagram feed, which is why I started out with that strategy. But in 2020, that's when it all started to shift and people were getting over it.
Like they're just stuck at home when the pandemic and not wanting to see perfection and wanting to see real lives and overall the like fake influencers. And then TikTok is such an authentic platform. And so I think part of that has helped me because it showed, okay, this video that's not perfect that was filmed on my iPhone 'cause I can't afford a professional videographer.
That's actually a benefit that it was filmed on my iPhone. Yeah. I remember people telling me. When I first launched, I had posted a video, which now I look at that video and I thought that, that is so funny that I thought that video was sell the tray. It was just not, I didn't know then. And I remember telling PE people who were like, you need to hire a videographer.
You need to make this well produced video. And I was like, I know I do, but I don't have any money to do that. But they were totally wrong because that's not what has sold the product. It's all stuff filmed on my iPhone. I do not use professional cameras or videographers, and it's just me showing how the product works.
I think part of it has been the timing. Yeah. And that's luck. Yeah. I didn't plan to launch at the time when social me, the, so social media shift would be so grand and it will continue to shift. So that taught me, basically I would see, TikTok taught me that I don't have to be perfect. And that's what I'm always telling people.
They go Ugh, I can't do TikTok. 'cause like I'm such a perfectionist. And I'm like you shouldn't be a perfectionist on TikTok. If you post a perfect video, it's not even gonna do well. And I used to care about looking really good on camera, and I was so shy of the camera, and I get all dolled up and perfect.
And not gonna act like I'm not that entirely, but I've become more comfortable. So I'm not always wearing a ton of makeup. Sometimes I'm not wearing any makeup, which if you had told me that year and a half ago that I would post a video on the internet without me wearing makeup, I would be shocked. But then I'm like, what's the big deal if someone sees a video of me where I don't look perfect?
Yeah.
What, okay, so
yeah, we're not selling me, we're selling the tray. So you're welcome.
Yeah. And what is that? What's the effect of that? So yeah, there just isn't an effect. It doesn't matter.
I've had to get into a position where if I'm gonna record videos or reels or wherever they go, end up TikTok or Instagram, I just, I'd usually do six at a time and I've had to do them sometimes, like while I'm walking my dog.
And those perform really well. 'cause they like, they capture like real life.
It's, and it's hard to co I, I've tried doing that and then I sometimes I feel very posed and like I'm talking differently than my natural way.
I'm better
on voiceover,
but same, working on it.
Same, yeah. There's a different confidence level. Especially when I think you and I have both been encouraged to keep talking and keep speaking up our whole lives we're like, oh, we can talk, but based on camera, it's and do well look at my hair. What?
Yeah. But I will, yeah. I have gotten a lot better.
Like sometimes I'm like, ask my friend, Hey, can you film me do this one thing and I'll get it on the first shot. Yeah. And we're both like. Whoa. Like, how did you do that in one shot? I'm like, I don't know. But I've also, I have explained how this tray worked so many times. Oh yeah. I won't mess that up.
So like I, when I was in New York this summer, I did a press event, which was really exciting. And at the end like the public relations woman I was working with on and we're like, okay, wait, we need to give a tour of the whole ben, the apartment we were using. And I was like, oh no, I don't wanna like waste all her time.
Like multiple shots. Yeah. And she's filming me and we're both like, wait, you just did it perfectly in that one minute whole tour explaining it. I'm like, once you do it enough times, it will come out more naturally.
Yeah. And you just get more relaxed. 'cause I think people also forget that so much of the content that's made today, it's important, but it's also throwaway content.
Like it's gone it's like out and gone and yes, it'll still be on your page potentially, but it's out of everyone's mind so quickly. Absolutely. So pivoting a little bit, I would love to hear what the words powerful and ladies mean to you, and do they mean anything different when they're put together?
Oh, what a
good question. Okay.
Powerful. I immediately think of, fluence and responsibility and those being connected.
But I also think of like a story being powerful, like i've learned that my story can be very powerful. It can be powerful in driving sales and awareness for my business.
But I also think about responsibility. What is the responsibility of a business owner, especially as you continue to grow. There's so many more things I would want to do when I have that more power, like financial power or influential power. I wanna use more sustainable materials.
I wanna be able to do more collaborations with charities, I think. Is the role of a big brand to bring awareness to social issues because it's a win-win for both sides. So yeah, with great power comes great responsibility. And I think like in relationship with ladies, it's knowing your worth, knowing you can do it.
Knowing that, being told that you can't, doesn't mean that you can't. I've made some tiktoks where I share feedback, I was told by a man, like a male business expert. And then it shifts into showing me a business insider in a fulfillment center with celebrities. And it's like, what if I had listened to him?
Especially if you're creating a product or service for women, not every man is gonna understand it.
And so taking that feedback with a grain of salt and also supporting other women. And whether that means collaborating with them, sharing what they're doing, helping them whether they're in business or if you know they need help in their personal life.
I think that's important too.
How have powerful ladies supported you, guided you or just been on your cheer squad along the way?
If I think about like my family, my mom has been incredibly supportive in so many ways, and she's taught me. Most of what I know about decor, interior design, and entertaining.
She's the ultimate party host, and she just has supported me in so many ways. She has allowed me to use her home as a grown adult for, for filming as a temporary home, temporary office. Which as a scrappy entrepreneur is amazing. I think of like my grandma who yes, she starred in TikTok. She's also helped me pack orders.
She's cut packaging for me. She's standard bamboo insert. She's been on her gra not on the ground, on her hands and knees doing physical labor for me in her eighties. Then I just think of I just have a lot of friends who have been very supportive. Whether or not they buy a tray, they've told people about it, they post about it, and that means so much.
People don't understand, like just. Saying, Hey, this is my friend, this is her business. Check it out. Like it's such an easy thing to do and it means so much. Yeah. And you've helped me so much. You're a powerful lady. Thank you. It's hard to imagine where I would be without working with you, but why, imagine, why, imagine, why, imagine that.
And I also have some like unofficial mentors, yesterday a woman took me out to lunch. She has a background in corporate gifting, and I'm trying to get more into corporate gifting, and she took me to lunch. Shared all sorts of tips and tricks. And, is acting like an unofficial mentor.
And she's reach out to me if you have questions. Who can I introduce you to? Things like that.
On a scale of zero to 10, if zero is the average everyday human and 10 is most powerfully you could imagine, where do you put yourself on that scale? Oh, it would depend on the day
eight, because there's certainly room for improvement. Seven, eight.
Yeah. And when you're not feeling like a seven or an eight, what do you do to get yourself back up there?
Yesterday I went on a very long walk. Long walk. Long, because some days I'm just like, I don't wanna do this. Yeah. I just, I don't wanna do the I just don't, not, I don't wanna do the business.
I'm like, I don't wanna do this task that I have to do. I can't concentrate it on it. I'm thinking about something else. I just, I don't wanna do it. But I'm like, I just I don't even, I have a video to post on TikTok. I don't even wanna think about what the cover image and caption is.
I don't care. Yeah. And then another day I'm like, obsessed with TikTok. I wanna post five times.
I think that's a misconception that people have. There are so many days where I'm very similar, where I just don't wanna do, like you said, the tasks. I love this business, I love my clients, but I don't wanna read emails and I don't wanna have to get back to the 500 people who text me between one call and the second call.
And I think we forget sometimes that you can be so obsessed with the business and love it and be totally committed and still have days where you're like, no, thank you. I wanna float and have a cocktail and I want everyone else to take care of me because entrepreneurs who takes care of us. Like we need, I think we need to start another business, which is just like entrepreneur Butlers at this point.
Who can bring me my lunch every day? 'cause sometimes I forget to not just make lunch, but have food in the house. Yeah.
Especially when 'cause I am, I don't have a co-founder, I don't have a team.
I am,
I'm an intern starting soon, I've had interns, but yeah. I'm doing everything other than the things that are outsourced, which is minimal.
Yeah. And we are working on that. That's part of our big goal for you is what does that team look like? How soon can they come? 'cause you want, it's just cash flow. It's all the time. But it's just so important to like, let people know that just because you don't love it every day doesn't mean that you're on the wrong path.
I think. 'Cause no one loves their job every day. None of my friends love their job every day. Most of them love their jobs. Yeah. Which is good. 'cause I mean there's people who don't even love their jobs. But no. If I think that there has to be something wrong with you, if you're like constantly in love with every aspect of your job, Yeah.
Then you must have no fun. Yes. Outside of I dunno,
like it's okay to take a sick day from your own business. Yeah. When you look at how you have succeeded in 2022 and what you're building for 2023, what are you most excited about?
I'm excited because I am launching my second product soon, a product extension, so smaller trays.
So right now I have trays that are size 20 by 12 inches. These fit perfectly to inside as well as small inserts. So you can use the tray inside or outside of the tray. I'm really excited to see how my current customers respond to it, how customers or potential customers who have been on my text and email list to maybe if they just keep thinking, this is not the right size for me, do they convert once they learn about the smaller trays?
I'm really excited to see how this pans out and then eventually launching beyond Trays. I always think it's so funny when people ask, will you ever do something other than trays? I'm like, of course the business is called Statement Home. And of course like I am a business minded person. There's a huge opportunity to build.
Whole product line. And you already have a list
of what those could be. 'cause we've talked about some
Yeah. The whole podcast could be me explaining all the products. But yeah, as you and I both know, focusing in on just one product has been the right strategy and has allowed me to blow up and I just think it would've been a disaster if I had launched even with two size trays. Yeah. It's, there's no way it would've worked.
Yep. Everyone on who is listening, who is part of powerful ladies, they're all people who are resourceful and collaborative and wanna pay it forward. So I've been asking everyone this year, what is something that you want, or need personally or for your business?
I would say I'm really focused on corporate special bulk orders, so if someone gifting to all their clients a custom, a tray with a custom design with your logo or some cool look, you think that they would like, or if it's, custom for events or for even at offices, someone was suggesting, law offices, they have trades in all their boardrooms and they could have really cool things.
So things like that, like anyone who would wanna buy a bunch of trays, events, hotels, corporations, I'm your girl for that. So that would be one thing. Anyone that would wanna collaborate on some sort of, whether it's like collaborating on a unique insert design that we're selling or, some sort of content collaboration. If you're a food decor, alcohol drink brand, there's so many ways I can incorporate your product. If you're in Southern California, we can do events together. We can do popups together. Yeah,
I'm open to most things.
Yeah.
When you look back at where you started and where you are now, what are you most proud of?
I am proud of that I have gotten the business to this point without paid ads. I've tested I've, to be perfectly honest, I have, I tested some paid ads minimally, yes. But in the grand scheme of all of my sales, it's basically all organic. And I think that's incredible. I would've never thought I was, past year two without a co consistent Facebook, Instagram ad strategy.
So I'm very proud of the fact that I have driven hundreds of thousands of dollars of sales from a small amount of TikTok videos, and then been able to get into major publications like Forbes, business Insider People all through organically, and many of which have come because of TikTok. Yeah, I'm very proud of that.
I'm proud that I've been able to manage all of these things that I didn't know anything about by myself, and I'm proud of that. More recently, I've been able to balance social life a little bit more. That was very difficult for me in the beginning. It was also pandemic yeah. But gotten to a point where I'm healthier in my daily life.
More social, which is important for, I'm an extremely social person, so that's important. So I'm proud of having a little bit more balance. Yeah. But there's still so much to do and so much more I could be doing.
I just, it's, I'm so proud of you and what you've done and how as a coach, like you want to be working with people who come with all the questions, which you always do.
You have like lists of things for us to cover every call and then any advice or guidance or like next steps to give. You go out and do them and we're not saying,
I have a lot to do before a meeting tomorrow. Let's see.
No, I'm not saying that you do everything before, every time we meet again.
'cause sometimes we meet so frequently, but it's more just that you do it like you're not, I. You are out there doing your business and working every day and to be able to support you and help you keep I feel like I just fan the fire. I'm like go. Like I, if I just keep pouring rocket fuel on, like that's all, we don't have to worry about the rest.
And so I just, thank you for being that type of client and I'm so proud of you for continuing to go and you're not afraid to talk to people, which so many clients I have, I'm like, just, if you talk to more people, like you never know who it is. Talk to pr, talk to journalists, talk to these other mentors, the level at which that you are good at using your network and community to brag about your product and ask who else has an idea and what do they see?
Like you really are that let's partner, collaborate person, and. I just, yeah, it makes me so happy every time you share a new PR hit or a new crazy breakthrough. It's just
really funny that you say that because if I was to say what I need to do way more of is, I would say that I do not network nearly enough and talk to enough people.
That's so funny. We could always do that more, but if I really look at because like we're all very hard on ourselves, so Yes. We're, that's so funny that's what you're thinking. I'm really good at.
You're just, you're a great advocate for your own brand and that always makes it easier to sell than the people who don't wanna talk about it or don't want to.
We, you and I have conversations too about how much is, when are we bothering people? What am I not in marketing and things like that, but. Yeah, I just, I want people to hear your story because you literally created your business from nothing, from an idea you had and you've worked so hard.
And are there challenges that come up? Yeah, they always will. 'cause that's what a business is. But you always bring them to the tables, say, how do we fix this? What do we do? And you're so solution oriented versus being stuck somewhere. And I think that's also just another thing you probably don't give yourself credit for.
Like you're never thinking this is it. It's over. I'm stuck here. You're always like, no, like we gotta fix this changes. What do we do next? But I'm excited for people to go and buy it. Everyone that I've ever gifted a trade to is obsessed with them. Like my sister and my mom keep bugging me. Like, when are the new trades coming out?
I'm like, I don't know. I'm like, follow Abby yourself. Go get on her email list. She'll tell you, just go on
the website. There's, it says, I am now marking all the new ones as new to make it easier
to know. Yeah. And they're gonna lose their minds when they see that the new size is coming out. 'cause they both wanted to have a trait in their bathroom and their counter's not big enough.
Oh. So they're gonna be very excited about that. But it's like such a great thing for people to have in their home for hosting, for using every day, for gifting. Yeah. If
you're listening to this in, I believe it'll be October. Yes. Is that correct? You need gifts. For Christmas and Hanukkah and whatever you celebrate, you need hostess gifts and you need a tray for yourself for your own entertaining needs.
And I'm here for you. The jack of all trays is here for you. It is the gift that keeps on giving. Yes. So go by yourself, tray. I have never had one person return it after getting a gift. I have no, no one returns it. It's like I've had not even 10 returns.
No, no one. No one returns it. And in fact, people are usually going back and buying their own additional inserts after because they're like, oh, I'm gonna keep using this.
Yep. So for people who do wanna support you, buy it, follow you, where do they go to do all of those things?
So you go to statement home.com, there will be some sort of discount code, something in the bio of this or the description. Then you can follow on Instagram at Shop Statement Home, and then TikTok is at Statement Home, so slightly different.
Perfect. And yeah. Abby, thank you so much for taking time and your busy day to hang out with me and to share your story. With everyone listening, it's such a pleasure to have you on this podcast. Have you as a client, and just to have you as part of the powerful Ladies kicking as crew. So thank you.
Thank you so much.
All the links to connect with Abby in Statement Home are in our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com. When shopping at Statement Home, don't forget to use Code Powerful ladies at checkout to unlock secret discounts. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening and leave us a rating and review.
Come join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies. And if you're looking to connect directly with me, please visit kara duffy.com or Kara Duffy on Instagram. I'll be back next week with a brand new episode and a new amazing guest. Until then, I hope you are taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Instagram: @shopstatementhome, @abigaill_rose
Website: www.statementhome.com
LinkedIn: abbymichaelsen
TikTok: @statementhome
Email: info@statementhome.com
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
