Megan Reilly – Owner & COO of Tippi Toes Inc.

Megan Reilly 0:00
The key is is to be adaptable. No matter what business you’re in, you’ve got to be able to adapt to the times, I am unwilling to

Kara Goldin 0:06
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 make sure you will get knocked down, but just make sure you don’t get knocked out knocked out. So your only choice should be go focus on what you can control, control control. Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Kara golden show. So 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, its Kara golden at the Kara golden show. And I’m so excited to have my next guest here. She’s been one of my pandemic friends, my new friends during the pandemic. I love those I always finding the good and during this crazy, crazy time. And Megan was one of those people that I met along the way. And we are here today to talk. We talked to the world’s greatest leaders and entrepreneurs and CEOs and founders. And Megan is definitely one of those. She is the owner and chief operating officer of tippy toes. So we are so excited to have her here. And it’s an award winning dance company. We were just talking right before this, I’m going to let her share a little bit more about this. But the interesting thing about her business that is kind of different, maybe to your business or other businesses that you’ve heard us talk to the founders from these companies is that it’s franchised and she’s dealt not only with us franchises, but Asia and and maybe others, but I’ll let Megan get into that. And her business was also you may have heard of tippy toes her business was featured on that little show Shark Tank, you are one of few others that we’ve had along the way. And I’m very, very excited for you to share the story there. And she also has her own podcast that I’ve been on who is your mama, which is such a good podcast. So so fun. So we are going to I’m going to stop talking. I’m gonna ask her a couple questions. But I’m going to stop talking and let Megan take the floor. So welcome, Megan. Yay. Thank you, Kara.

Megan Reilly 2:35
I’m so excited to be on your podcast as an avid listener. Now it’s fun to be on the other side of the mic. And I’m excited. Thanks for having me.

Kara Goldin 2:42
Yay. Yay. So let’s start out at the beginning. So who was it? So what was Megan? Like? I’m assuming you were a dancer. Is that how but maybe not. Let’s get

Megan Reilly 2:53
to that. You know, I was I was in everything. So I did dance my whole life. I loved sports that was probably more of my love was sports. And then I would come home from practice as a little kid, like eight years old, come home, and I would pretend business at home. I had a fake company called architecture alley, I would come home, play dress up. And so I was Yeah, and I was a typical, like, I was in Student Council, I was in charge of things I you know, I was always leading different things, whether I was eight or 18. That was just kind of what I defaulted to. But I did I danced my whole life recreationally. So you know, we weren’t doing competitions. So I always had this great love for dance. And it brought so many good things into my life. And honestly never thought that would become my life’s work. But I’m so glad that it did not so

Kara Goldin 3:39
great. Wait. So architecture alley, How were your parents architects or why architect?

Megan Reilly 3:45
Nope, no idea. I think because I like to draw houses when I was a kid. I don’t know. It was one of those things that I felt like I think I came up with a name first. And then I could fake stamp and staple a lot of things together. So you know, I was like eight. So there wasn’t a huge business plan in place. But I knew I would come home. I’d literally care put on a business suit high heels and spend like an hour in our extra room, you know, stamping things and answering phone calls. Yeah, so that was just that was in my blood from early on.

Kara Goldin 4:13
That is absolutely so funny. I have so many stories similar to that I used to. I used to want to be a grocery store cashier when I was little and I had this like obsession that I would go and pull things out of the kitchen. And I’d be like 699 799 and I would you know along the way I would. I would and my parents were like, What is wrong with her? I mean, why Why?

Megan Reilly 4:42
Why is this the big goal? What are we what is what is happening? Kara when they came out with the like self service ones at the grocery store. I was old enough, but I was like, oh, if they had this when I was a kid I would have been in have I would have gone to the grocery store every time happily. So I’m with you. Those

Kara Goldin 4:59
are I remember Actually, it’s so funny. I was thinking about this last night that I, I was cleaning out my kitchen, one of my drawers and I found these like children’s mitts, you know, for hot mints or whatever. Yeah. And I thought, you know, this is a really bad idea. I mean, give a child like one of these hot meds like you’re gonna go to town three year old, like, I don’t even know why I had this. And I was I was joking around with my husband. And he was like, Well, did you have one of these when you were little? And I was like, No, I had an Easy Bake Oven. And I burned myself on the on the light bulb a few times. And that was the last time like I touched an oven without you know, a mitt like a big mitt, even though my hand could hardly be in there. But it’s it’s funny that we’re talking about that because then my my obsession with being the the woman who works the cash register extended into the bakery, then I decided I would like be in the bakery. And I would do my Easy Bake Oven. And I don’t know, I just kept finding little, you know, things to do with with my time anyway. So

Megan Reilly 6:10
totally, I can totally relate that. I’m thinking you’re in good company here.

Kara Goldin 6:13
Moving on. So okay, so you’re in college, and not now but what at the time and tippy toes started to incubate. Talk to me a little bit about that.

Megan Reilly 6:24
So I love this story. Because my sister was a sophomore in in, I worked with my sister, my sister and I owned tippy toes together. And she was a sophomore in college, and she was a waitress. And there was we’re from Oklahoma. And so college football’s a big deal, right in Oklahoma, Texas as part of the can. It’s a big deal. So there was a football game that she and I really wanted to go to I was a junior in college, or a junior in high school, I’m sorry. And she was in college, and she wanted to go to the game. I wanted to go to the game, but she was gonna miss her shift. She didn’t really care. She ended up getting fired from her waitressing job. And my parents were like, you’ve got to pay a car payment. So you need to figure out how you’re gonna make that car payment. And so she was like, came up with the idea of going into the daycares and offering dance classes there as a sophomore in college in Norman, Oklahoma. And so that was how tippy toes was born. She got fired from her waitressing job and started it and she’s a few years older than I am. So she was their sophomore year doing it part time going to school. She hated school. And basically at one point when tippy toes was you know, she was making money in college just this worked. She continued to go to daycares. And it was fantastic. And she was like, get me out of college. How can I get out of college the quickest, because I’ve got this business that’s working a few years. So she was a senior and I come in as a freshman and I start doing the same thing. And basically, you know, over time as life would take us to different places, different towns, she and I would take it wherever we went. So I ended up transferring schools. And when I went to the to Stillwater, Oklahoma, I was like, well just start tippy toes here. And she went to Kansas City. And she started that there. So we just continued to run this business, you know, just based on it working. And we thought it was fun. And I actually went to school to be registered dietitian, which the whole time I was kind of like, I don’t think I just makes sense to learn about this because I’m gonna always have to eat but I’m not gonna actually use this. I really like tippy toes, and I liked running the business. So this story is interesting, because it certainly was never the big plan. You know, it was kind of like we kept having something would come up and it’s like, Alright, well, let’s, let’s start teaching dance. And then we would move and it’s like, well, let’s bring tippy toes with us. And and then now here we are with, you know, 36 franchises in the United States and master franchise in China. And we’ve got children’s albums that have been on the Billboard charts and iTunes charts and it’s just a wild ride. It’s been super fun. It’s been a fun ride.

Kara Goldin 8:44
That is so fun. So wait, before we get into sort of the franchising conversation, so I mean, you know, you you say it so nonchalant, like, Oh, we just went to this, like, move to the next place and we just started this business. How did it start? I mean, did you go rent a studio and then just kind of hung a shingle? or How did you even get started? I mean, it’s a big deal.

Megan Reilly 9:07
It’s it you know, what care I love this question. And I because it it was always really natural for us because we weren’t thinking some big picture thing. We weren’t thinking we have to have the next big company we were thinking Sara thinking I got to make a car payment and I was thinking I want to make some extra money. And so what we were doing was leaning into the things that were really natural to us. So we thought well we were we don’t we can’t afford a studio we can’t do anything like that. But I could go into the daycare and ask if I could basically kind of borrow their kiddos or offer the service to the to the families while the kids are already at school and so the overhead was so low with and it had to be because we were college students like we didn’t have anything else so it was one of those things where you know, you’re in a situation you’re like what’s How can I make this work right now this situation work and without complicating it and I think sometimes we can all overcomplicate things and think I’ve got to do I’ve got to be You know, so far down the road when it’s like, actually, let’s just figure out how to make it work right here with what we have. And teaching dance was easy for us. I mean, I could have gone I could go right now and teach a dance class, that would be a breeze and a blast. And it’s a natural place for it to for natural place for me to be. It’s my one of my zones of genius. You know, we all have our different areas where it just comes easily. And so that was what Sarah did. She leaned into her passion when she was 19 years old, she went into a daycare and was like, Hey, I’m Sarah, here’s my company tippy toes, I’d like to start teaching dance. And, of course, she didn’t get the first Yes, but she got a yes. And then you start to figure out how to do the next thing, you know. So part of it, I think, is not looking too far down the road, and just figuring out how to make this next thing work. And so for me, it was the same thing. When I moved to a new town. I’m like, 20. And I think, okay, let’s figure out if it’s gonna, and honestly, is it gonna work in a different market? Do we just get lucky in that pocket? I didn’t know. And so you know, you just kind of do the next thing that makes the most sense. And using your own passions, and your own talents and your own skills. And that’s, that’s really how it came. So it’s funny, because I do say, nonchalantly. And it was, I mean, honestly, it was in that moment. And I think that’s an important thing for young entrepreneurs to know is it doesn’t have to be this big, huge grand scheme that, you know, scheme that you know how it’s all going to end up, you figure it out as you go. And that’s what we’re doing from the get go.

Kara Goldin 11:19
fly the plane as you’re building it, as I always say, I mean, that was really, truly you’re a perfect example of that. So when you’re, that you’re working with your sister, and it was a very, very clear, like what your skill set was versus her skill set. I mean, how did you guys like, think about dividing things? Yes.

Megan Reilly 11:41
You know, early on, it wasn’t. And early on, we were I mean, we came into this with zero business experience, we had no advisors, we didn’t have anybody telling us what to do. We were just, we were just going and we’re just doing the things that were natural for us. And so we both did everything. And we kind of would all would almost like run self contained franchises, which we didn’t obviously see them that way at the time. But I had a staff and I was kind of managing managing them and doing those bits and pieces and, and over time, we saw the things that we both graduate grad gravitated to. And and that was, you know, for a long time that we were doing things, we were both doing too many things. And once we figured out that, you know what, we can streamline this, we can be more efficient with our time, we started to kind of delegate where we put those kinds of tasks. So I tend to be the one that you know, will be the more let’s put the process in place. How are we going to scale this? What is this going to look like, and she is more of like, I’ve got this amazing idea. Let’s do this, let’s just go pedal to the metal, the big idea person and, um, and that’s our natural tendencies. But we both Luckily, could kind of cross those paths. And we did early on and we had to, you know, when you’re starting something new, you’ve got to be willing to do everything, and we both were. But you know, you can’t always do what you’ve always like, you’ve got to you’ve got to grow with your business. And one of the ways we grew with our business was kind of dividing the lanes, and, and really being able to allow each of us to focus in on the things that we excel in.

Kara Goldin 13:06
Yeah, I absolutely love that. What year was this that you started? Every 1999?

Megan Reilly 13:11
Wow.

Kara Goldin 13:13
A while and kind of a crazy time to start a business to I mean, it was right. I mean, that was totally internet. I mean, it was Yeah, totally different than I mean, how did you were? Like, did you feel like there were doubters out there? Like what are you doing starting a dance company? I mean, you know, and yes, you’ve been able to do what you’re doing. Right? I just been thinking about that time, too.

Megan Reilly 13:41
Yes, it’s funny, because like we, you know, we started and not every company had a website, and we took paper enrollment forums. And I mean, the the ways that our business has changed over time is wild, because it’s, you know, we, when you’ve been in business for 22 years things change, right. But, you know, it was it was, it’s certainly been an exciting time to see how things adapt. And that’s what’s important for us as business owners is to adapt as things change, you’ve got to be able to roll with it. To be honest, when we were starting out so young, we were part time for in the beginning. You know, we weren’t, we were college students, our parents are paying our bills. And that’s something that is important to remember. Like, we didn’t have some huge budget we weren’t doing we didn’t have a storefront. We didn’t have anything like that. We were, you know, we were it was small for a long time. It was part time we weren’t It was a part time college gig. And so, you know, we did go through the hard times. And that’s one thing I love about our business is that we’ve navigated, you know, 2001 and 2008 and the pandemic and you know, we’ve, what the key is, is to be adaptable, no matter what business you’re in, you’ve got to be able to adapt to the times. And that’s something we’ve been able to do and you know, try to learn from those moments. Those moments when things are hard, you adjust and you get better. Typically if you’re looking in the long term for your business, which I always encourage people to do. You know you, you’ve got to make decisions that will allow you to adapt and continue to scale your business long term. And that’s what we did from the get go. Even when we are tiny and small and working part time with, you know, zero budget.

Kara Goldin 15:12
That’s awesome. How many people are in your company now?

Megan Reilly 15:15
So corporately we have four, which is something I love. Yeah, I love it, I will tell you we are, we’re in a really exciting time with tippy toes. Because we are growing quite a bit, we actually just added a new franchise owner yesterday. But we with the expansion internationally, I’m in 2020, we just have, we’ve got a lot of good things going, we are setting ourselves up to be able to grow in a way we haven’t grown before. And honestly, this business has been kind of a part of our life. And it always it always will. It’s also reflected the different times of our life for Sarah and I, we’ve had six kids during this time as well, I’ve had three, she’s had three, and we’re in a different position now. And we’ve seen how many things we can, you know, we’ve worked through so many different business obstacles, we’re still here most franchises like as a franchisor, they typically fail 75% fail within the first five years, and we’ve been here for 12 years, I know we have something special. And my goal is for it to be a household name worldwide. And that is the path we’re on. And it’s really exciting to see the growth that we’re having now. Because even 20 years later, the pandemic was really a time when we we had to take a break, we had to stop and take a look at everything and we double down on our brand we just rebranded. We’ve, you know we’ve our franchise owners all made it to the pandemic and we’re in a different place. And we’re it’s really fun. It’s exciting, as hard as it was for our business. We go into schools and offer dance classes. It was a gift, like everything, it’s how you look at it, and it’s allowed us to recharge and we are we are ready to roll.

Kara Goldin 16:47
So are you focused on a certain part of the country? Are you all over the US?

Megan Reilly 16:51
We are all over the US? Yeah, so we’re, we’re everywhere in franchising, there are certain states that you have to register in. So that sometimes can dictate where we where we go. But we have currently franchises in California to DC from Minnesota down to South Texas. So we’re kind of all over the place, with a lot of, you know, a ton of possibilities, because we have 30, you know, 37 in the United States. So there’s a lot of there’s a lot of room to grow in the US, which is exciting. And that’s what we’re gonna attack like that we’re going after that. And we’ve, we’re we’re excited about the thing is Kara and you can appreciate this as a founder also is that I believe so much in what we do, I believe in so much in the service that we offer, that I’d want as many kids as they as possible to participate and to betos our dance classes bring joy and confidence and fun and healthy habits to kids. And so that that drives me so much, even though I’m far removed from the dance classes. Now in my day to day work, when you believe in what you’re doing everything. It makes everything else more exciting. So as I think about growing, what I’m thinking about is all the little kids that are going to go home feeling confident because they were tippy toes. And so that’s why I love the idea of you know, the growth that we’re experiencing now and making it through everything we’ve made it through over these years. It’s just fun to think about the lives that we’ll be able to impact big picture long term.

Kara Goldin 18:11
I love that. That’s so great. So, franchising, how did you come up with the idea to franchise your business?

Megan Reilly 18:19
One big fat failure is how it happened and how it started. So listen, we wanted to have a children’s television show. And we were like, that’s the goal. We You know, this was 2007 we really wanted to have a children’s television show, this would be so great. We’ve worked with kids for eight years. We know what they like, we know what they respond to. We’ve got characters, we write stories, we know what they like. So we’ve pursued this goal of trying to put together a children’s television show, and it failed. And it was hard. And and I mean, what happened is we spent a lot of time preparing and working towards this making this happen. And we worked with some people in LA and it was a flop It was terrible. And it was it was a clearly not gonna go anywhere. And we were sitting there and somebody said to us, have you ever considered franchising? And at this point we’d had you know, we had franchises not we didn’t have franchises, but we had different locations around, you know, locally within Oklahoma and Texas and Missouri. And we’re like, No, we’ve never thought about franchising. And so after that trip to LA That was terrible experience, you know, just in all senses, it was a fail, became home and I got I got franchise management for dummies shipped to me, and I started reading it, and I was like, oh, we’re totally going to franchise This is gonna This is where we belong. We belong in franchising and so my sister and I you know we that then at that moment you know, we we do we’re doing a bunch of research how does this look? What would this look like we realized, you know, we have all the pieces here we just didn’t realize it and so we get an advisor to to work with us and we start start that process and honestly it was reading it was learning about it and and you know, then you realize, Okay, back to the beginning of like how the business started, you just have to do the next most important thing. If you’d have told me that day when I got franchise manager For Dummies, like, if you would have said, You need to know how to, you know, have an international master franchise and go out and like, I, you know, all I knew was I needed to figure out how to write a franchise manual. Like, what does that mean? You know, and so you just do that next most important thing. And then what happens is you look back over 22 years, and you’re like, an international franchise. This is amazing. We did all these things. Yeah. So it was just all those little steps that you know, we just continue being consistent on what we want to do and showing up and here we are now today. Are all

Kara Goldin 20:29
of the your businesses franchised then because I know, like dry bar, for example, I know that they have some that are company owned, and then they franchised, you know, some out to write hotels? And how does that work for you guys?

Megan Reilly 20:45
Yes. So for us right now, they’re all franchise, franchise owners are appointed at all of our franchise locations, we have had corporate locations, I could see us doing that again in the future. And again, it’s one of the things that we kind of, depending on the market, depending on what’s going on, depending on what we’re doing, we could adjust that. And there’s a lot of I’ll tell you, I don’t know what the future holds care. And that’s what I love is Mike, there’s so many ways that we that our business and what we offer could be brought to market, there’s, there’s so many ways to do it. And so those are all the things that are constantly spinning in my mind. And that’s like lightning bolts. For me. I love it so much. I get excited by it. But right now, it’s all franchise owners.

Kara Goldin 21:27
So you’re teaching these franchise owners, kind of how to do what you do. So do you ever sit there and think, you know, what, if it’s a mess, like will it destroy my brand? Will it destroy? You know, the possibilities for other franchise owners?

Megan Reilly 21:46
Yeah, I think it’s really important as a business owner to not go to that place because it could paralyze us, you know, and, and I think for me, Fear Fear is not something that I spend a lot that’s not a feeling I have very often I could I could think of all the things that like I’m putting myself out there and putting, you know, our brand out, there’s a lot of, you know, exposures you could say or, or ways that you are taking risks, but to me, that’s the the epitome of running a business is you’re taking leaps of faith is really how I see it more than more than that. So sure, you know, there are there are things that you know, I don’t want to have happen, there are things that have happened, I’ve had really bad things, you know, that have gone awry. But what I’ve learned over the years is that nothing’s gonna sink the ship, not one thing is gonna end at all, like, as long as you continue your forward momentum, finding a solution,

Kara Goldin 22:40
managing your business and right watching it. Yeah, yes.

Megan Reilly 22:43
And, and, you know, when you see, you know, a little mistake here and there, like something off brand or something happens, or there’s, you know, some problem in a class or something on a micro level happens, you think my job is to then be like, Okay, how can I correct the big picture, the corporate model, so that we can avoid that, and, and that’s what we’ve been able to do for the past, you know, for franchising for the past 12 years, so our model gets tighter and tighter and tighter over time, I’ll tell you, if you would have looked at what I gave our franchise owners what we provided franchise owners in 2009, compared to what we give them now, like, it’s a different, it’s a different animal, because we’ve learned so many things over those over those many years. So I don’t actually spend much time worrying about that I focus on the things that I can control and what I can control is who we appoint to be a franchise owner, do I trust them? And then once that’s happened, it is up to them to do it. And then of course, you know, I have as a franchisor, the franchisor has, you know, the ability to make decisions as needed, but I don’t spend time on what if they mess it up, I try to what we do is bring on people that we have faith in we trust that we know can catapult and build a huge business in their local community.

Kara Goldin 23:54
And just so people kind of have an idea of the economics of this so when when you’re having a relationship with the franchise owner, so they are buying into it, right, so there, there’s some sort of upfront payment and then there’s a percentage that they’re making off of the business that they’re generating in your Is that correct?

Megan Reilly 24:16
Right. So there’s an initial franchise fee and that is kind of an upfront lump sum you’re getting our name you’re getting our practices, our processes, all of that that stuff, which you know, is is great because you’re getting a proven system you’re getting things that already work in our case our franchise owners are getting videos of video library of dances, choreography all written out, they’re getting you know, exam marketing materials, they’re getting, they’re getting all sorts of a structure for success. And then on an ongoing basis, there is a monthly royalty that they pay to the franchise owner and then we continue to build the brand push the brand make it better. Like I said, we just did a big rebrand and you know continue to support them as they grow and also we serve as business coaches too. That’s, that’s another huge factor that we, you know, we enjoy and we value that we love to see other people thrive and succeed. And for me, my, my livelihood depends on our franchise owners succeeding. And so I want to do everything I can to help them succeed. And that’s another reason I love the franchise model is because you’re running your own business you are you are the head, duck, you are running the show, but you’re not alone. Like you have somebody else that wants to help you along the way. But yes, you’re totally right. It’s there’s an initial fee upfront. And that gets you kind of all the goods and then ongoing it’s based on on their revenue. And every model is a little bit different. But that’s that’s our our standard. That’s the standard format.

Kara Goldin 25:37
I love it. That is so great. What was one of the hardest things that you’ve learned along the way in the last 22 years that you kind of didn’t expect? I guess is like, What surprised you and your journey?

Megan Reilly 25:53
It’s a great question. Because I think in a way, self belief was something that it took me a little bit to figure that out, like what we were doing was really special. And it because it was so natural and easy for us, Kara, I didn’t realize how special it was, for a long time, I didn’t realize how big of a deal it was to start a business, make it profitable every year and keep it going and have grow every year. I didn’t know that was unusual or special or different. We’ve that’s all we’ve ever done. And so I didn’t I didn’t have that, that really probably self belief that confidence for all those years. For the 22 years, we’ve been in business and doing what so many people try to do I share a story sometimes when I was in college, I walked on about the basketball team at the University of Oklahoma and I they they cut all the walk ons, except me. They said we want you to come back. And I was like, okay, you know, I’m not going to be as good as these people are. I am not as skilled. I’m never going to start. I don’t know why they want me here. I ended up quitting. And that year, the basketball team went on to go to the national champions, of course, right? Yeah. And so I’m at home on the couch watching my former teammates, you know, at the biggest stage for women’s basketball at the time. And I’m sitting there like, I took myself away from that opportunity. They allowed me to be there. And I was the one that was like, I don’t think I deserve being here. It took me a long time to figure out why on earth that I have to go through that because that was painful. That was really painful. And it wasn’t four years, four years later, until I figured out you know what, that was a lesson that I’ve taken with me in business, I will never wonder why I find myself at a table I’m sitting, I will never wonder why I have opportunities, I will never wonder why there is that success, whatever comes my way, I will know that I need to step up and I need to own my seat at the table. Because there’s a reason I’m there. And they’re what I didn’t see at the time looking back, like when I was 18 years old, what I didn’t see is how great of a teammate I would have been, or how helpful I would have been to the program, I would have been in everything, I would have been a leader, I would have pushed the rest of the team, I would never have been a problem, I would have done all the extra credit. But I didn’t value that like I should have. And so I will never do that to myself in business. And it took me some time to put all this together. That’s the other thing I always want people to know is like sometimes your story is all there. But you have to take a minute to really reflect and see it. And that took me some time. And so I think also too sometimes, as a young female entrepreneur, we have been underestimated all along the way, including at Shark Tank, I think they you know, we came to Shark Tank, I think they’re like, Oh, look at these cute little 20 year old I wonder what they’re gonna do, you know, and for me, I was like, oh, I’ll show you what we’re gonna do. I know what we’re gonna do. Because I know my business and I know what we’re capable of. And so owning owning what you’ve done owning who you are, is really important. And once I did that, a lot of things opened up and I kind of could roll my shoulders back in that I belong here. I’ve done something special to be totally something special. Sara and I have built something that impacts families all across now the world. And so that that’s that’s been an exciting part of the journey.

Kara Goldin 29:06
Well, and I think you’re touching on something that I think about all the time is that if you don’t believe no one else will either, right? And you have to it really, you have to get your head around it. And then then you can move forward, then you can start a business then you can teach then you can scale. But if you don’t actually think that you can, then you probably can’t. Yeah, I can’t. I know you can’t.

Megan Reilly 29:33
I agree. I agree. And I think that that epiphany can come at 20 or 60. Like I think it could come along your journey at any given point. So if you find yourself kind of really not believing that you belong wherever you are right now, as you’re listening this podcast, it’s worth doing the work to get to that point because so much is unlocked without really changing anything other than your mindset and your your self awareness about what you are worthy of because we’re all worthy of whatever we can dream of, you know, and it takes her true. It takes that work, though. And I think I was lucky with, you know, great parents. I’ve had supportive relationships along my lot in my life. But I still didn’t see it, you know. And so I just think it’s important to know that that’s something we should all have, like, we should all feel worthy of the positions we find ourselves in. And if you don’t, I’m telling you, it is so worth doing the work to find that place where you believe you deserve what you’re getting in life.

Kara Goldin 30:28
That’s so so true. So before we go, so Shark Tank, tell us about the experience on Shark Tank.

Megan Reilly 30:36
Oh, it’s so fun. We were season two, Episode One, we were there premiere night on a Sunday night, it was it was such a fun experience. You know, I’ve learned so many lessons from Shark Tank. And one of the things I think is key that I’ve taken with me for many years, is that you have to control what you can control and not worry about the rest. There’s so much out of our control, and we’re at Shark Tank, I don’t know how they’re going to edit it. I don’t know what the sharks are gonna say. I didn’t know if they’re going to slice and dice us on air or what you know. But I knew when I came in, when Sarah and I walked in that Shark Tank, I knew I knew my business inside and out. I knew my numbers we studied, were prepared. We we quizzed each other we had our parents quiz us, we were fully prepared. And so by the time we got in there, I was so confident Sarah was so confident that I thought, you know what, I will confidently present what we have done, who we are and what we can do. And the truth is, is that’s what the sharks responded to, they responded to our confidence in what we do, and the belief we had in ourselves and the passion that we have. You know, I think they do buy into the ideas, but I think they’re buying into the people so much. And so we ended up with, you know, three sharks wanting to make an offer. And we ended up making a deal on TV with Mark Cuban, which was very exciting. I will tell you after the fact, when we did our due diligence, and we’re working through the contract, we decided it wasn’t a good fit for us. And we told Mr. Cuban thanks. But no thanks. And we walked away from the deal.

Kara Goldin 32:01
Interesting.

Megan Reilly 32:02
So yes, but that was the right decision for us. We haven’t regretted it a day in a day, you know, since then, and we stay true to who we are all the way through the through the whole Shark Tank experience, which can be tricky. You know, when you get some money right there and a cool partnership, it can be tempting, but there were certain things in the agreement that didn’t feel right to us, and they weren’t going to be negotiated at all. And so we thought, okay, we have to either decide, are we going to chase money in this partnership? Or are we going to continue to show up as ourselves and be true to who we are, and so, so we ended up not making the deal, but it’s super fun. It gets rerun all the time, it’s a blast, we had so much fun. My sister and I were in, you know, LA for a week and had a blast. So the whole experience was awesome. I love Shark Tank. And it was nothing but a good experience with a ton of lessons that I continue to hold with me today.

Kara Goldin 32:53
I love it. I love it. I actually it’s funny. I have a producer, a former producer from Shark Tank had reached out to me about an opportunity and and you know, it was it was funny because I said I’ve I’ve always thought about being a judge on on Shark Tank to be honest with you, I said, but I think I might actually tell everybody, like don’t take the money though. Just like build it longer, you know? And yes, like get it a little bit bigger and and build your brand. I just I’d probably not. I think I’d be a great chart. But I think if he started laughing He was like, Yeah, well,

Megan Reilly 33:31
that might not be Yeah, well, you know, I cared. That’s really what we did. So when we were there, we were still talking about the TV show. And they were they wanted the franchising business. You know, they’re like, I don’t want to hear about the TV show. We want to talk about franchising. So on the fly, we were like, okay, let’s talk about franchising. And you’re exactly right. At that point, we had seven franchises. And I’m so glad that we got we didn’t take the deal because you’re right, it would have been we should have done exactly what you were saying we needed to stay in the business longer, we needed to build a brand we needed to find our footing. And, you know, because that was just a couple years after we had franchise so we hadn’t been in the business that long and I just I think we’d be a totally different company and then than we are today and who knows I mean I don’t know and that’s another thing is I don’t worry so much about what decisions you know what I didn’t choose to do I don’t think about that anymore. Like we said no, that was it done moving on. Now what are we going to do next? Like what’s next on ahead on my path not what could have this have been? You know, that’s I don’t like to think about what that should have been. I like to think about where we’re headed more than I love it.

Kara Goldin 34:30
I absolutely love it. So what’s next for Meghan and tiffy? And and overall what what are you guys doing? What’s the next big thing?

Megan Reilly 34:40
I love this while it is I’m telling you it is a really exciting time with tippy toes. We’ve spent, like I said early on, and we’ve spent the past really six months diving really deep into our business and getting ourselves in a position to scale so I think you can expect to see a lot more tippy toes franchises growing and we’re just in a different place than we were pre pandemic, you know, we were doing great, but it was a different kind of great. Now we are ready to kind of blow the doors off this place. And we’re in that position. So you’re going to see a lot more tippy toes, franchises and just tippy toes in general around around town. We’re going to continue to produce music. So we’ve got seven killed kids albums, and we’ll continue to do that, which is really exciting. I am. I am. Yeah, I really have had fun with that. And then, you know, separately Sarah, Sarah has written a book called destined for greatness, which that really tells the story of tippy toes and her experience, which is a great book, and I love and, and she speaks and has different coaching opportunities. And then I also speak and I am working on a book, which is so exciting, and I’ve had so much fun with that experience. And then my podcast, I still I am doing that still. And I love that so much my podcast, like you mentioned this called Who is your mama and I talked to the moms of amazing people or I talked to amazing moms. And so I got to interview you, I’ve spoken to Sara Blakely, his mom, and chalene Johnson’s mom, colleano Brady’s mom, Jesse, Hitler’s mom, and I find out and this is kind of, obviously separate from tippy toes. But it’s true to who I am. Because I’ve got three little kids. When I got to a certain point of parenting, I was like, I want to be a really good mom. And I want to learn from moms who are really great. So you’ve raised an amazing family, and you’ve been building this business, there’s so much that parents can learn from you. And there’s so many lessons I’ve learned from the mom. So I’m continuing on that. And then I have a daily radio show on that same on the BYU LR radio app. That’s where my podcast lives. And then I have a daily radio show. So I’ve enjoyed that too. Because I get to talk about parenting and mindset and entrepreneurship every day. You know, I pop it’s like, I’m a DJ, like Who would have ever known? Yeah, you know, but it is Oh, God, it is so so good. It’s fine. You know, I what I love is that I get to just show up as myself. And my hope is that people through it Have fun, or get some good parenting advice or get some mindset thoughts. And, you know, I just I like positivity and good stuff. And that’s what the app is really all about. That’s a free app. And people can there’s all sorts of pot Chad sanscrit, another friend of ours, yeah, he has his podcast there. And there’s just a lot of good stuff there. So there’s not a dull moment, really in my life right now. But it’s all exciting. It’s all great. I love doing all of it. And I’m sure you get this question a lot, which is, you know, how do you manage different things. And for me, I always feel like you know, when you love what you do, when you really like I can’t, I don’t mind doing any of those things that I just talked about at 10 o’clock at night on the couch, because I have fun with it. Like I love it, you know?

Kara Goldin 37:41
Well, and I think that’s the trick is finding what you do love and going out. And frankly, that’s what I share with my kids. Today, I have three in college and one in high school. And actually one graduated from college is in graduate school. And I tell her and and all of them. It’s like the tricky part. And probably the hardest thing is figuring out what you love. And then you try and figure out if you can actually make money and do it every single day. And it’s really pretty simple. But it’s hard. I mean, it’s hard to figure out exactly whether or not you can do that. And, and anyway, I think takes

Megan Reilly 38:20
patience to you know, and

Kara Goldin 38:22
takes creativity and curiosity and living in different lanes than maybe the people around you are and guess

Megan Reilly 38:31
how great for your kids to have you telling them that like it is such a gift. Because I think there’s this pressure sometimes like I have to know what I need to do or where I need to go or how I’m going to make this money. And so many times when you hear people’s stories, like listen to her story about how you started him. It wasn’t like this big grand plan, it was you continuing to lean into the things that came your way that were a part of your life. So then you had this passion to put the pedal to the metal and do what you done and build what you built, which is incredible.

Kara Goldin 39:00
Well, and I yeah, and I totally agree. And I think it’s in some ways, it’s easier for them because they have these crazy entrepreneurial parents, right, that are, you know, everybody around us in Silicon Valley. And most of our friends have been in tech. And so it’s and, you know, when you live in sort of the hotbed of, you know, everybody’s, you know, parents work at Google and Facebook and you know, it’s just, it, you just find that, you know, wait, what do they do? And I think it’s just, it’s really interesting. And I think having, you know, the difference between a product that you can touch and feel a hard good versus like something, you know, tech and in the cloud or, you know, whatever it’s not. It’s just, it’s just different. And so I think that, you know, my kids are, are comfortable being different because they’ve grown up in that but i think it’s it’s also A, you know, I think it’s something for lots of people to think about that there’s lots of different ways to make money. And I think that it’s, you know, you don’t have to get our own office, you don’t have to dress up in a suit every single day. You don’t even have to start a company. I think being an entrepreneur is incredibly hard as I know, you’ve shared along the way. I mean, there’s many it’s a choice and i think it’s it’s a lot of hard work and and i think that that’s one of the things I like to share in my book undaunted is it’s not just about you know, waking up one day and having an you know, unicorn company that it’s like, a lot of challenges along the way. So, well, I’m going to stop there. This has been so so nice and just so educational for for me, I’m not sure that we’ve actually had anybody on. I mean, when we had Alli Webb on it was before she actually franchised I think 11 Actually, she might have had one or two of them but at the time, but yeah, I mean, it’s it’s I love just learning from people and I think you might be the first international though to because I don’t think she had opened if she had franchised I don’t think it was outside of the US at the time but I absolutely loved this and thank you everybody for listening to this episode. Where do people find out more Megan about tippy toes and also franchising opportunities and just also about you and your podcast?

Megan Reilly 41:29
Yes, you know what, probably LinkedIn is a good spot to go I’m on LinkedIn a lot and it’s at Meghan l Riley there and then you can check out our websites tippy toes dance comm that has all that you can learn about tippy toes there. And the trick is it’s tipi sometimes that throws people off but I’m pretty much on all the platforms at Megan l Riley and and then tippy toes, you can find us on our website so and you know we have all those social too for at tippy toes dance so would love would love that. And people can check out the radio show in the podcast, if they get the BY lr radio app. download it for free and listen to good music and some fun shows.

Kara Goldin 42:07
I love it. So great. And you can follow me at Kara golden on all social channels as well. And as I mentioned before, don’t forget to pick up a copy if you haven’t already have my book undaunted, overcoming doubts and doubters on Audible as well as Amazon. And of course, be sure to pick up a case of hint. And come back and listen to us every Monday and Wednesday. For incredible people like Megan and I hope you all will give us five stars for this episode and subscribe, download all that stuff. And thanks everyone have a great rest of the week. 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 calm 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 golden and let me know. And if you liked 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 golden thanks for listening