Abigail Cook Stone: Co-Founder & CEO of Otherland

Kara Goldin 0:00
I am unwilling to give up that I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be I want to be, you just want to make sure you will get knocked down. But just make sure you don’t get knocked down knocked out. So your only choice should be go focus on what you can control control control. Hi, everyone and welcome to the Kara Goldin show. Join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world’s greatest leaders. We’ll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and really some of the most interesting people of our time. Can’t wait to get started. Let’s go. Let’s go. Hi, everyone, it’s Kara Goldin from the Kara Goldin show. And I’m so excited to have my next guest here we have Abigail Cook Stone, she is the co founder and CEO of Otherland. And if you have not heard of other lend, you probably have smelled their amazing candles hopefully, even if you might not know anyone who has purchased one or you don’t have one in your house, they are in Sephora. It’s really the hottest thing. So I’m super, super excited to have her. Abigail and I met actually when I launched my book, and she invited me to come on her Instagram, which is so nice. And then I fell in love with her candles. So they are absolutely terrific. And she launched this company at the end of 2017 really focused on the art and the experience and really redefining affordable luxury in the candle industry. With such a unique range of beautiful, beautiful, great high quality candles. So prior to other land, she worked in art acquisitions for Ralph Lauren will get a little bit into that and co founded young folk, the young patrons group of the American Folk Art Museum, so cool. And with the continued passion for entrepreneurship. She eventually enrolled in Columbia Business School to learn core business fundamentals after that. That’s when Otherland was born. So she’s in New York City, and I’m so thrilled to learn more about her journey. So welcome.

Abigail Cook Stone 2:23
Thank you so much care. I’m so thrilled to be here and hello to everyone out there listening

Kara Goldin 2:29
super, super fun. So tell for those listeners who are not familiar with other lend, tell us a little bit more of the backstory. I mean, what differentiates other lend from other candle brands? And what was your vision when you decided to go ahead and start the company?

Abigail Cook Stone 2:46
Yeah, so other land is a modern, digitally native, scented candle and home fragrance brand. We’re based here in New York City. And it really evolved for me out of I found in my 20s I was burning candles all the time. So I come home after work, exhausted plop down on the couch, turn on the TV, light a candle, and suddenly it becomes me time. Or in the morning when I was doing my morning meditation, maybe light a candle and really helped set an intention and kind of transformed the space. So I loved this power of candles to create an energy and a mood and really transform your space, but very much felt like there wasn’t a brand out there for me. So on one end of the spectrum, you had these luxury brands, and they had beautiful, sophisticated, very fresh layered fragrances, but they’re so prohibitively expensive, it felt like you could afford to buy one, I’d be like afraid to burn it. They’d sit there on my coffee table collecting dust. And on the other end for the more affordable brands, you know, a heavy focus on these really gourmand sweet scents like the bakery smells, and so forth. And kind of lackluster design. So I felt like there was this white space in the middle where it turned out that we could actually work with the exact same perfumers from the top fragrance houses as the luxury brands, but do it at a much more accessible price. So kind of identifying that doing my research and talking to friends about their own candle consumption behaviors. I was really hearing a lot of people who were using them every day burning candles every day and it just inhabited this interesting part of kind of the self care and wellness rituals and so that’s you often hear it’s called the toothbrush test of everyday use. And so that was one thing to me that really made me think, you know, this this category. There’s a lot there a candle it’s an emotional purchase fragrance is the strongest trigger of memory, but the brands that are out there right now are really not taking A modern approach. So there was something that we could could do there. So I seen the whitespace doing doing my research and testing and, and all kinds of stuff, I really wanted to tap into my background in art. So I studied, I’m a lifelong art lover, I studied art history undergrad, I, as you mentioned, my first kind of founding experience would be founding the young patrons group at the American Folk Art Museum called young folk. So yes, that focused on art. And so the big challenge was wanting to take this contemporary approach of selling sent direct to consumer online, digitally native, I felt like we needed to, we had to overcome this hurdle of selling sent online where you can’t smell through the internet. And one way to do it would be through having this visual first highly expressive product appearance through the packaging, the labeling. And this would really translate through Instagram and digital platforms where we would primarily be connecting with customers. So a big focus on art, it really helps us tap in with the cultural zeitgeist and keep up with pop culture. So we work with the different artists for each collection. So they use their their visual expressive talent to communicate the scent, the experience of the scent, the emotions of the scent, and that is, I think, a big part of our other hand differentiation. So it’s, it’s being Digital Visual forward, using these principles of modern olfactive design. So each scent is really inspired by a memory or motion, a vision and sort of we tell those stories through the artwork, so it really lends itself to these complex, nuanced, layered sense. And then that we’re community centric. So Instagram has been social has been a huge focus for us since the beginning, our first hire was someone to manage social. And so wanting to create a product where we might start with an inspiration on our side, but seeing how it inspires our customers, how they’re burning it in their homes, what scent it reminds them of, or any memories from their past. So really wanting to be focused on that. That yeah, consumer centric, community centric approach.

Kara Goldin 7:30
So I love it. That’s, that’s so great. So let’s go back to where it all began. So you’re you were raised in Cambridge, Mass, and Did you always know that you wanted to eventually be an entrepreneur?

Abigail Cook Stone 7:45
I did. So I definitively did. I had a lot of little businesses as a kid, and I had biscuits Incorporated, which was a dog walking business in my building. I left a little fliers in the lobby, and I would walk everyone’s dog around the building and do little agility courses. I had a toothbrush bracelet business, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen these are you melt toothbrushes into these colorful bangles and ice Oh, school fair? Oh, yes. They were like the coolest thing. And you you put them in hot water. And you it was very cool to have a stack of brightly colored toothbrush bangles. So all of these little things. And I always imagined I would start a company. And so I think as I got older, I was actually 16 and I was walking in Boston with my mom one day downtown on Newbury Street. And there was this new store. It was the first day that they opened and it was called rugby, Ralph Lauren. And it was this brand new brand new concept that they were debuting and Boston had the first location. And it was so exciting there that day, the new concept, the energy, I had to get a job working there. So I started working on weekends and vacations when I was 16. And while it wasn’t a startup, you know, because it’s Ralph Lauren. It was really kind of my first exposure to a new company environment where they were really looking to test so many things is is the price point right for their target customer, which was sort of college age students. How about the music and the direction? And how are we getting people in the store and sort of all of these questions that entrepreneurs face they were doing, it’s kind of my first chance to see all of that. So that was a pretty important experience for me and and and then of course I went to college, I graduated in 2010. And you were really lucky if if you could get a job and so I wasn’t really thinking about starting my own company at that point. But I went to to work at Ralph Lauren in their corporate office, which was great and I learned so much from that company and I think about, you know, this, this lifestyle brand DNA, these immersive environments and the storytelling through the clothes and the stores and so forth. So that was really big for me.

Kara Goldin 10:14
I feel like Ralph Lauren, sorry to interrupt you, but I feel like Ralph Lauren, you know, when I think about that brand over the years, it is really about storytelling. And I think that, you know, definitely he, his the way that he uses captured storytelling is just iconic. I mean, it’s so interesting, I’ve, I’ve rarely talked about this, but when I was in school in Arizona, Andy and Kate Spade went to school with me, they were a couple years older, but I remember Andy worked at Ralph Lauren, and in the Biltmore and friends of mine knew him and, and years later, I connected with him. And he had said that to that, that was definitely something that when they were starting Kate Spade, it was very much those learnings from from Ralph Lauren, that kind of helped him to do what he ultimately did. So it’s it for sure. Definitely a good place to get the training for sure. So yeah, so Otherland was born, to be different and of 2017. Like, what was your first candle? What did you What did you decide was going to be the scent that you were going to, you know, really go out in the world with when you started this company?

Abigail Cook Stone 11:43
Sure. Well, the first scent that I really ever created was, this was back when I was in business school. So it was my final semester. And I just had my big idea for other land and I was furiously researching the market buying every candle, I could get my hands on asking everyone I knew, and and people I didn’t know my Uber drivers, you know, people on the street, did they buy candles, what were their favorite brands. So doing all this research and I decided, You know what, I’ve got to get my hands dirty and learn how to make candles myself in my kitchen. So I had this little sixth floor walk up in the West Village 250 square feet. My boyfriend and I have found my fiance and I turned it into this candle lab. So I have wax and the melt pod and all of these different fragrances and I learned so much from that process. And the first candle well the first one that I that I ever made, you know it was in had the wrong wick. The wick was too small and it didn’t have the right fragrance, Matt, but it was a tomato scent. And I absolute tomato is one of my favorite scents. We actually just did the other land version of tomato this past fall on our homestead collection called tomato terrazzo. Which is fabulous. But so yeah, one of the first candles was a homemade tomato scent. But from that, you know, you go through all of the the whole process of pitching and raising initial capital and looking to launch the company. Officially with all of our product design, we decided to launch with five core scents. So we call this the Core Collection. And so these would be year round, seasonless favorites, so you could burn them any month of the year. And so much of our business is about those seasonal collections and those limited edition drops. The core really grounds the business and so they’re their favorite scents that customers often turn back to or they’ll add one to their order while they’re getting seasonal. And for that we chose so five cents, the most popular is return which is a sandalwood. We work with a perfumer named Frank vocal, who is legendary. He’s behind scents like glossier you are the lava. Some people know their fragrances. He’s absolutely wonderful. And that one’s been our most most popular but we also have day bed which has a floral canopy which is a fruity fig kindling, which is like a smoky fireplace and chandelier which is sort of a champagne leather scent. So yeah, we picked five that we thought really represented a nice range and that we could build on and play with our seasonal drops.

Kara Goldin 14:31
What did you learn about ingredients when you were really digging in? Because I feel like the one thing that I really loved about your candles above and beyond the scent was that they last right I think that sometimes you you’ll smell a candle in a store. You’re typically not lighting the wick and then you come home and it just doesn’t really give you what you thought you were going to get. I mean what is sort of the key thing that you figured out

Abigail Cook Stone 14:58
totally and this is is something where, in those early days when I was getting my hands dirty, learning how to make the product myself, even though I knew we would work with a manufacturer, eventually just you learned so much. And so with the ingredients, things like the wax, so you’ve got soy wax, there’s all different types of waxes, and they each have their own melt points. So coconut wax, which is in our wax blend has a much lower melt point. So that means if you burn it for 15 minutes, great, you’ll get a nice full melt pool. But if you’re burning it for an hour, you’re gonna have a lot of liquid in there. So you have to figure out what’s the right blend so that you’re getting the right size, melt pool, which will release the fragrance in a in the normal amount of time, and also really listening to our customers. So we learned from our customers and a lot of social media listening and customer outreach, that they’re really looking for high impact scent, they want to feel like they’re getting their money’s worth, especially for a candle that might cost more than they’re used to paying for. And so we decided to use the highest percentage of fragrance allowed in our wax, and the fragrance is the most expensive ingredient. But we’re always optimizing for strong scent throw. And you’ve got of course the as you mentioned, the cold throw, which is with the hardened wax, like in a store kind of at the point of purchase. And they really this was sort of maybe something less so we were thinking of when we created our formulas, but for most brands that are primarily sold in retail, they want to have super strong cold throw at the point of purchase. So you smell it and you’re gonna buy it. But if they haven’t also optimized for the hot throw, it may be a lackluster scent experience and so it’s very much a science and even things like the wick the exact braid and weave and the thickness of the fibers is optimized actually takes about 40 days of testing to just do the wick and make sure it’s the right the right one with the glass and the color of the glass actually makes a difference so there’s a lot of science that goes into it to get the perfect burn and perfect Sentra

Kara Goldin 17:20
so interesting so in terms of wax if we’re looking on a candle what what would you say is the highest quality to be able to like what do you want in a wax? You want soy or do you want coconut or what’s what’s sort of the the one that you want?

Abigail Cook Stone 17:35
Yeah, it really depends on I think your company’s preferences and this is why there’s there’s so much variation and we really wanted something that’s non toxic and clean burning, but also you know, holds up nicely and having soy or vegetable base, you really have to educate yourself on all these things. Palm oil is something that often goes into candles and there can be a lot of sustainability issues there and so making sure it’s being sourced from the right place. Coconut is not the greatest I think for fragrance Ro And with that lower melt point but it is something that’s been very popular in in beauty products and you know incense kind of coconut. People love that. So making sure that you’re using it for the right reasons and in the right way. But it’s all about you know companies preferences, not not every company wants to optimize for sent strength and the same burning speeds. So it all depends.

Kara Goldin 18:42
This episode is brought to you by gusto. The company I founded hint is always looking for new talent to add to our growing business. But like all executives, I want to find the perfect candidates to have the perfect fit. Did you know The average time it takes to fill a job these days is 24 days. And the average cost of hiring a new employee is close to $4,000. That is a lot of time and money and investment for sure. So here’s an alternative that can save you time and money. Gusto gusto is a modern HR platform that helps you onboard new talent. Stay organized and make sure they have the info they need to integrate nicely in your environment. WITH GUSTO is full service payroll, comprehensive benefits and built in learning and development tools. Engaging your team has never been easier, even when much of your team is still remote. And when you’ve got some tough decisions on your hands. gussto has reliable data and insights that can help you make the right decisions to finding and keeping great employees just got easier. Join the 200,000 Plus businesses using gusto today. Add to gusto.com/kara and get three months free. That’s three months free of gusto free only at gusto.com/kara. You know what that sound means another sale has been made on Shopify. Shopify is an E commerce site that allows you to launch and grow your business all from one place. With Shopify, you gain access to resources that were once reserved for big businesses. So upstarts startups, and established businesses alike can sell the products and directly connect with their consumers. Shopify helps you reach consumers online and on various social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Tik Tok, and more. Shopify store owners can also sell their products in physical locations with the Shopify POS app, and you can synchronize all your in person and online sales. When you’re running a company tracking all your sales in one place is gold. Shopify makes it so easy to see where sales are coming from, which helps anyone refine their marketing strategy as well. Whether you’re an early startup or a seven figure business, scaling your business is a journey of endless possibility. Shopify makes that journey easier than ever. Join over 1.7 million business owners and sign up for Shopify today. Go to shopify.com/kara, all lowercase for a free 14 day trial and get full access to Shopify, his entire suite of features. Grow your business with Shopify today, go to shopify.com/kara right now, that’s shopify.com/kara. Today’s episode is sponsored by such a voice. Have you ever thought about how your voice sets the stage for how you are perceived? Okay, so you may not be looking to be a voiceover actor. But maybe just maybe there are a few techniques that you wouldn’t mind learning. No matter what you do for a living your voice is the thing people are making decisions about from the moment you say something. That’s why paying attention to what I’m about to talk about is key. Such a voice. That’s our terrific sponsor of this segment. Such a voice provides professional voiceover training for anyone. The great people at such a voice will take you through professional voice technique, and even coach you through preparing, recording and producing your own voiceover demo, too. But why would you need this training? Well, that’s a very good question. Whether you are thinking of interviewing on a podcast or recording your audio book, or giving that keynote at next year’s company off site, those techniques you will learn will teach you what real world voice actors already know. And help you be your very best visit such a voice slash Kara Goldin, that’s Gol D I N and receive a complimentary copy of such voices must knows of voiceover, you will get expert tips from people who know how to have impact. Check out such a voice.com/kara Goldin today to learn from the experts. I mentioned that you and I met because you invited me when I was launching my book to come on your Instagram and do a little book talk and interview which was so fun. And

and since then, I’ve been a huge fan of what you’re doing on Instagram. What advice would you give to people? Obviously, you use Instagram, you mentioned it from the social platform. I mean, you really have figured out how to get the word out about what you’re doing and new sense etc. And you’ve got community and you’re not just focused on the products that you’re doing, but also things that kind of maybe apply to entrepreneurship and and you know, so many other things there that really you think your community will respond to. But what advice would you give to people, maybe something you didn’t know, going into kind of launching Instagram and just the marketing that you’re doing on there? Yeah, so

Abigail Cook Stone 24:31
I think for me on a more like personal level, I personally wish I had focused on kind of building my content earlier. I know that, of course know that Instagram is such a powerful platform, and it’s been so powerful for our brand. It’s been such a strong channel for us to acquire new customers and reengage with existing customers. But I think that In addition to the brand content, people really want to see the founder and meet the founder learn more about where the brand is coming from. And it can be so powerful to have kind of your own personal brand built up a bit more. And you know, just to get confidence in posting, and what am I going to post about? And how do I talk to a following? And who’s really listening? And how do I share kind of the experience of being a founder and the rest of my life. And I wish I had done that earlier. It’s something that I’ve definitely struggled with, you know, on my own Instagram account, and I think it can be a huge, huge tool for people who are able to do that. So that that I think is, is one thing. And the other thing, you know, from a brand perspective, your Instagram is really it’s kind of this like chit chat, right that you have with your customer. So you’ve got email, and a big launch moments and so forth. But then you’re kind of filling in with with all this daily chit chat and figuring out all those different topics into the world of other land or your own brand, where you can find what what clicks with people on how to experiment there and create that chit chat and really build that as a skill can be incredible.

Kara Goldin 26:20
That’s awesome. So do you do a lot of promotional like, how do you get build new audiences there too?

Abigail Cook Stone 26:27
Yeah, so we do, I mean, any number of things. One thing that we did during the pandemic was, this was actually just about two years ago, my now fiance, who’s my business partner, he said, I dare you to go on Instagram live on the other land, Instagram live and do a fireside chat. And of course, I was terrified, I can barely post a picture on my own Instagram account, I couldn’t imagine going live. And it was the very beginning of of locked down life in New York. And it just felt like people really wanted to connect. And so I gave it a try. And it was a lot of fun and figured out, you know what, now, we could kind of turn this into a little bit of a interview show. And I could interview other founders and inspiring women like yourself, and learn from them and share this with our audience and evolve that self care and scent memory and candle conversation. So we did that. And that was a huge thing. It was five days a week for about a year and then three days a week now we’re doing every other week, but a great way to introduce our audience or other land to new audiences. But you figure out you know, whatever you can write right now there’s a big trend with its kind of oddly satisfying content. That is, you have this kind of physical reaction to it, it could be really cute or it’s, you know, slicing lipstick or fruit, or what have you. And the engagement on it is so high. And so we’re kind of creating some of our own branded content like that. But it’s, it’s the trends change so quickly. And having a team that is able to experiment, pivot and just continually be creating this new content is huge and tick tock of courses is now we’re trying to focus a lot there to as many people aren’t figured that out.

Kara Goldin 28:30
That’s awesome. Very, very cool. So in addition to your online DTC business, which is where you started, you landed Sephora, back in in 2020. The end of 2020 How did you think about branching out to retailers? And why Sephora, what like, what was it about that platform, you know, that retail platform that you really felt like made sense for your brand?

Abigail Cook Stone 29:00
So always looking for new avenues I think to reach new customers especially well, we knew that Sephora that our customer was shopping in Sephora and she was going there frequently. So every about every four weeks and being there sores are in major metropolitan cities all over the country. We really felt like that was a great place and they might we’d seen with other brands give us room to really tell our brand story which I think is important coming from direct to consumer where you have endless real estate to tell that story you know, how do you do so with with the right retail partner? And so it was something that we really aspired to to do and you know, it was hard with the support didn’t have a big candle business. They had kind of mostly personal, personal fragrance brands that maybe had candles but not really like a candle specific like business. And so it took a while to, to build that relationship to finally get that first meeting, I think there were dozens of emails sent before that getting that first meeting, and then really pitching them on home fragrance being this important new category of expansion for them. And I think to maybe the, with the pandemic and everything, there was maybe more of an appetite for experimentation with new categories. But you really have to figure out when you work with one of these big retail partners, you know, what is your pitch to them? And how are you going to grow with them? But there’s a lot of operational infrastructure you really need to get in place before then. And it took us a while to get to that point for sure.

Kara Goldin 30:50
Does your customer go into Sephora and shop online? From

Abigail Cook Stone 30:54
you? I mean, for sure, it’s, you know, it’s it’s been a great, I think, Discovery way, for customers. Yeah. And so, you know, we try to get as much data as we can to see the overlap. And certainly, anecdotally, or in reviews, you’ll you’ll see that so I think it’s it’s increased our traffic for sure.

Kara Goldin 31:15
It’s interesting when I think about hint, I mean, we started out as a, we were in retailers, and and right, you know, grocery primarily. But it’s interesting, because then we went into offices like Google and Facebook. And then we launched online, we launched on Amazon. And it was when we launched on Amazon, that I realized that the consumer was interested in lots of different flavors. Right? Yeah. And I think this totally applies to your business as well. And I knew that every one of our retailers didn’t have everything that we did, right? There were things that I wanted to launch online that maybe were more niche, and, and or maybe I wanted to do a quick Internet out, maybe there were seasonal whatever that a retailer wouldn’t take, or maybe I didn’t want a retailer, I was testing something. So I wasn’t really sure whether or not that made sense for them. And so we launched drinkin.com. And it was funny, because so many people said, Why are you still doing Amazon? I mean, why are you still in certain stores? Because when you think about the consumer, as the one that actually is making decisions about your product, and they don’t say, Oh, I’m only going to go into Sephora, or I’m only going to shop from Abigail and other Lindbergh line, I mean, they it just depends on what they’re doing. If they’re walking down the street, and they go in Sephora, and they happen to see a scent or happen to smell and your case, yeah, and that maybe they had seen online, maybe they’ll buy it there, to your point of discovery. But then, you know, maybe there’s, there’s at that point, they come into your site as well. And they see other things that they might not see inside of Sephora. So I think they really do go hand in hand. It’s not an either or situation.

Abigail Cook Stone 33:20
Totally. It’s all about being omni channel being wherever your customer is being there and prominent and available to purchase.

Kara Goldin 33:28
So one of the things that I typically ask our guests is to share a moment when maybe there was a point in the growing where you felt like you were really challenged by something that happened. It was tough to overcome, maybe you really felt like this is it, we’re gonna have to shut it down. This is maybe you faced something really, really challenging that. Obviously, you had to overcome otherwise we wouldn’t be talking today. But can you share a little bit more about that and what the situation was, and maybe some lessons that you learned about it? Yeah.

Abigail Cook Stone 34:13
And and actually, I’ll take you back really to the early days of other land and just where we were getting started. So I was finishing up my last semester at Columbia and trying to get other land off the ground, you know, secure some funding so we could get started on the business. You know, right as I was graduating, and what I was really not able to share with many people at the time it was that my mom had cancer and my mom. So she had ocular melanoma. She actually gotten diagnosed my second week of business school. So my whole kind of business school experience was going back and forth to Boston trying to help her and she had a really high A power job. And she didn’t want anyone to know. So I think it was really just her boss and me and she didn’t want the word getting out. And it was, you know, two years later, sort of as, as my business school was, was ending, she was not doing very well. And so it was, you know, I, I knew at the time that other entrepreneurs all the time have to go through a personal trauma and parents had cancer and all kinds of things, but it just felt, you just have these days where it’s hard enough to be an entrepreneur, and I was trying to fundraise. And I just remember hauling this suitcase of candles to my pitch meetings up and down the six flights of stairs, the walk up, and it’s July, and I’m sweating. And I must have had 70 meetings and everybody said, No, or come back, when you have a brand. It’s like I need money for a brand. And I’m just feeling so defeated. And also kind of trying to manage my my mom and my own self care, and just kind of Everything was happening and processing my mother and her condition and that the end was going to be coming at some point fairly soon. And it’s so hard. It’s just such a profound kind of lost that you’re preparing for. My father also been sick for a long time, too, he had Parkinson’s. So he was very advanced at that stage. And luckily, being an entrepreneur gave me a little bit of flexibility to be up in Boston, as much as I needed to. But I remember days that felt really low. And it’s just putting one foot in front of the other and saying to myself over and over. I am a founder, I can do this, I am a founder, I can do this. And you’re breaking it down to just the most basic of steps forward. And, and to just keep going was it was kind of the the advice, and I think what, what kept me there. But that’s, that was very intimate. My mom ended up passing away in January of 2017. And my dad passed away four months later, in May, and we launched the company, you know, I decided, I took a lot of time and was able to share with my investors and friends and people who could support me. But I took time that I needed to process and deal with everything and deal with the House and the stuff and all. No, no, thank you. But it’s other people go through this too. And being an entrepreneur is isolating enough and can be in so much uncertainty. And there are just to find your your bases of support your advisors who you can turn to I have a therapist who I’ve been seeing for years, I know I’m very fortunate there but finding your your group of people that can support you through in those moments, crises big and small. And just knowing that, that you’re not alone in this entrepreneur experience.

Kara Goldin 38:38
So true. Well, I’m sure too, that your parents are both with you, and so proud of you and launching what you’ve launched. And and it is true. I mean, I think I think, you know, it’s probably the hardest thing about being an entrepreneur is it’s hard to explain to people everything that you’re going through, I mean, you’re trying to do it all initially right? And don’t have other people, right that you’re trying to make the candles, you’re trying to get it out there and then also deal with your own stuff, right? Parents, family, kids. Yeah, and everybody has stuff, right? Everybody has stuff. So I think that, you know, clearly I hand it to you because because set there’s so much about your product that really is it’s just so together. And I know that during that very challenging time, there must have been days when you were just like how do I do this, but more than anything but waking up and and I’m sure because you loved what you were doing and you believed that you could write and I think that that’s that’s the other thing that I frequently say to entrepreneurs or wannabe entrepreneurs is you have to find that thing that you want to be working on every day. Because when you do hit those bumps, when you do hit those challenging times, if you don’t like what you’re doing, it’s not a job. It’s a passion. It’s, you know, it’s it’s definitely something that you want to see happen and that you believe can happen. But there’s way easier ways to make money, I guess is what I’m trying to say. Yeah,

Abigail Cook Stone 40:24
yes, it’s but it’s all about finding that what is that deep, deep, deep, unshakable conviction that you have, that this company, this product needs to exist in the world, and that you’re move heaven and earth and climb mountains and cross rivers to make it happen. And that is the journey of entrepreneurship.

Kara Goldin 40:46
I love it. That’s so great. Well, it’s been such a pleasure hosting you today for sure. And other lenses, such an amazing product brand. I forgot to ask you, how did you come up with the name.

Abigail Cook Stone 41:00
So the name other land, our original name, we’re actually still legally incorporated as this is actually verb labs Inc, which came from this phrase that actually my mother had, which was the extra verb of the added touch. And so the extrovert of the added touch is all about this little bit of extra effort that you put into something to take it from good to great and elevate the everyday. So the example I would often use and this was in my earliest pitches, would be if you get clementines and they come in the mesh bag or that crate, you put the clementines in a bowl. And it’s not too fussy, you know, it’s not part of the store, but just creates this little moment of beauty. And it’s all about kind of this life kind of strategy that my mom had of finding and savoring these little moments of beauty throughout your day, that kind of nourish your soul is as tiny as they may be. So our original name was verve. And we went to trademark it and it was taken. So we had to find a new name. And we worked with an agency who was helping us with our branding to do it, and we really landed on other other land was an auction. And I instantly knew and I could kind of see all the places that a candle on the scent experience transport, you could be dinner party land, it could be cozy land, it could be whatever. And so I’ve kind of loved that as soon as I saw there’s also kind of this escapism to other land but then the tension with you light a candle you’re present in the here and now. So I really love that. And other land, other land it was. So

Kara Goldin 42:46
that’s such a great story. So we’ll thank you again. And where can people find other ones?

Abigail Cook Stone 42:52
Yes, so you can find other land at other land.com. We’re on Instagram at other land CO and check us out on Tik Tok as well. We’re also at Sephora and Nordstrom. And you can find me I’m on Instagram at alpha Gale.

Kara Goldin 43:08
Amazing. Well, thank you again. And thanks, everybody for listening. We are here every Monday and Wednesday and soon to add a third day. So stay tuned. Definitely subscribe to the Kara Goldin show for all these absolutely cannot miss episodes with amazing founders, CEOs, authors who share so many of their lessons about their journey and building incredible incredible brands and companies and just overall things that will really help you. So thank you again, Abigail, and please find me on social platforms all social platforms, including Tik Tok at Kara Goldin. And don’t forget to pick up a copy of my book. Undaunted where I chat about building the company hint. And that’s it. Thanks, everyone. Have a great rest of the week and goodbye for now. Thanks, everyone. Before we sign off, I want to talk to you about fear. People like to talk about fearless leaders. But achieving big goals isn’t about fearlessness. Successful leaders recognize their fears and decide to deal with them head on in order to move forward. This is where my new book undaunted comes in. This book is designed for anyone who wants to succeed in the face of fear, overcome doubts and live a little undaunted. Order your copy today at undaunted, the book.com and learn how to look your doubts and doubters in the eye and achieve your dreams. For a limited time. You’ll also receive a free case of hint water. Do you have a question for me or want to nominate an innovator to spotlight send me a tweet at Kara Goldin and let me know and if you like what you heard Please leave me a review on Apple podcasts. You can also follow along with me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn at Kara Goldin. Thanks for listening