Do you consider yourself resilient and what does that mean to you? In this podcast, Resilient Entrepreneurs with Two Four One, we chat with business owners about what resilience means to them as they share their inspiring stories and life lessons.
What we've learned running our own business, is you're never alone even when it feels like it. So tune in anytime to this podcast. We're always here for you celebrating resilient entrepreneurs just like you. We're Laura and Vicki from Two Four One - a marketing company for early stage business owners who want to launch, grow and be resilient.
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Antonia and Lloyd Holder we are so excited to have you on the Resilient Entrepreneurs Podcast, we've worked with you over a period of time watching the development from an idea to a beautiful product that is now on the shelves in the market. And we just can't wait to have this conversation about everything you went through to get here and where you hope and plan to go in the future.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Vicki, it is such a pleasure to be here with you tonight. Thank you for allowing us to share your space here at Resilient Entrepreneurs. And yeah, we're excited to dig into it. Hi, Laura!
Hey, guys, it's awesome to see you. And we know that the process between ideation to development to delivery of an actual product is a long, tedious journey. Tell us a little bit first for all the listeners out there, what your product is, and where did it come from? Where did you first get the idea? Get us back to the beginning of it.
Okay, sure. My name is Antonia Holder and I am the founder and creator of Kids Digital Wellness, which is a resource for parents and caregivers to help better understand the impact of technology on our kids' everyday lives. And we have been building that platform to help really give the support that parents and caregivers need considering how technology is literally impacting every part of our lives now. It could be a lot to think about, it's not just posture, it's not just social emotional wellness, it's not even just the length of time that you're on a device anymore, it's so much more behind it. And if you don't really understand the buckets that it can all fit in, it can be scary sometimes, it can be overwhelming to think about this new big thing that's just impacting our kids. So we started there and then after our daughter going through the COVID period is when it really hit us, watching her posture on the device, she had a little Kindle Fire at the time and it was at that point that it just became top of mind for us to figure out a way to help her with her posture.
I just think caring that much in those moments, opened up the space for me to have the divine download of what this product is and I'm gonna say it in a second. And then, for Lloyd and I to be aligned with our vision of how we wanted to improve our kids, our daughter's lives while using her technology. And so that is how DigiRoo was born. And of course, we didn't have a name for it from the very beginning. We just knew that we needed to create something that would raise the device of the child to eye level so that it can support positive posture. Because, our kids do this. (bends neck to look down) That’s just what we do, we do this as adults and we have this, fingertip technology now which we didn't have in abundance like this15 years ago. I mean, the iPad was only brought to the market in 2010, right, it's still a pretty new phenomena. And so the DigiRoo is one of the tools that we have created, which is the world's first height adjustable tablet case for kids.
Brilliant! And sitting here in Australia I'm dying to ask how did you come up with that name? DigiRoo?
Didgeridoo? Yeah.
And roo, kangaroo…
It was quite a rigorous process - it was the third name that we actually chose.
From the very beginning we went through our trademark attorney to do the preliminary research to make sure that when we started we had the best possible chance of getting the name trademarked before we put all the time and effort into it, put it out there in the public and making this association which is essentially a brand, right. So we hired a trademark attorney and the first name which we absolutely loved, that came back with too high a risk that a number of people who had already trademarked similar names could object, right. And then the same thing happened again with the second name. So this is probably over a period of eight months to a year.
I would say, that was a difficult stage for us because if you imagine you have this amazing idea in your mind, and you have this beautiful vision and you've dreamt about this catchy name that you think you have, downloaded or created yourself and then you find out that there's some product, or some service out there that has a similar name, that may have nothing to do with what your idea is, but ultimately could, by choosing that name you would have a level of overlap and that may impact your success further down the line. So it was a bit of a challenge, and then just having to think about something that was novel and I guess, ultimately, that did not exist before was going to take a whole other level of creativity.
So we learned through that process that the names that have the highest chance of getting trademarked are fanciful names, so those names that you make up and you can make it up, just downloading something out of it ether or you can take two words and combine them to make a new word. And we wanted to play with ‘digital’ and then we also wanted a name that was child friendly, that had a fun, warm, positive vibe to it. And so we did, we looked at ‘kangaroo’. In fact, I think we looked at 120 names. Yeah. So we literally wrote down all the names that came to mind and played with all different types of iterations, of the kinds of words and we combined Digi and kangaroo, digital and kangaroo and we got DigiRoo. And our trademark attorney, also through their research, determined that that was at a level which would be good, which would give us the best possible chance to get trademarked.
Which it has.
And it has. Awesome, congratulations!
Not quite, no, not quite. Not trademarked. The name is not trademarked but we have something else that's even more special than the name, which is what Lloyd is alluding to right now. Shall we jump in? Okay!
Reveal the secrets!
So the trademark journey, that has been over a year. So it's been submitted for eight months. I think we're on the eighth month mark since it's been filed. Yeah. But it's been well over a year since we started that process and we won't know, the last time we checked it was finally assigned to someone at the United States Trademark Office. So we won't know for another couple of months to a year about that. But something even more exciting, which is fresh news, just sharing it with the world, actually we haven't even really put it out there yet.
No we haven’t.
I love a scoop. Let’s go!
In the very beginning after we really determined that this was an idea that did not exist, and in fact, we hired a patent attorney to do the research to confirm that it did not exist. And at that point we chose to move forward with getting it patented. And that process has been over two years now.
That process does take a long, long time and so often it makes you feel like you're just out in the wilderness for literally, it's been two years, right.
It's been over two years since it has been filed. Yeah. And we received confirmation last week that we have a Notice of Allowance. So that means that basically we are being granted the patent but the actual legal paperwork is just what needs to be done now.
But the hard part is done. It's gone through the interview process with the patent attorneys and they are basically saying, Well, you now own the rights. And what's actually special about this is we filed for a utility patent which protects the functionality of our product, of our idea, I should say, because you can file for a design patent, so if you think about the DigiRoo case which is our product, it has a nice beautiful curved shape, a lovely handle that makes it easy for the kids to grab and go, and then it has the first-of-its-kind pioneering height adjustment mechanism. Well, that as a design kind of just looks like a fun backing, if you could imagine the stand, and with the utility patent, that means that no one else can create a tablet case that has a height adjustment mechanism. So it really is giving us a level of security, especially from the big brand names who are already producing tablet cases for kids, right? This is a natural progression, if you think about how you can recreate the product that already exists, well, this is an element of it that has not been explored before and somebody with deep pockets and a lot of reach could very well do this. But in this moment in time, I'm so grateful to be able to say that we own the rights to the functionality of what is a height adjustable tablet case for kids.
Congratulations! That is massive. You put all these hours and nights and days into getting to this stage and that's a massive win.
That is, that is! We're very much grateful for that. Now we work toward the next step.
Which is what?
Okay, there's always a next step.
What's the vision? Let’s talk world domination, what is your actual vision for DigiRoo?
Wow, okay, well one of our greater goals is to be in Best Buy and Target and Walmart and the big box retailers out there, that will be massive for us. Our immediate vision right now is we're preparing for a full launch here in Bermuda with our retail partners, which is A.F. Smith and it will be on the shelves, you can grab it and pick one up now, well not now actually but in a couple of weeks time when we do the full launch, and those who are overseas can order from our website. And basically with the supply chain challenges that are still, that we got caught up with as well in this whole journey, it's been..
It’s been awful. Sorry, I have to say it as direct as that, it's been awful, just trying to get a product on the same planet from one part to the next, it's an incredibly lengthy experience for us so far, but we won't complain because it's not as if it's time wasted, it’s time we can focus on other areas of the business, and that's what we've done.
And what I'd like to add here is what it highlighted for us is, as excited as we are to bring everybody on board with the process and send everybody to the website, buy, buy, buy now, it would have been premature of us to launch in a way that made our potential customers believe that it was ready, they could grab it and when they get it, it will be automatically shipped to them. So that was something we had to kind of keep close to us until we can say definitively all the products are in the fulfilment centre, they are in our retail space and on this day it’s going to be available, doors are open. So that was.. because you get caught up in the excitement of it, we love the product, we think it's amazing and we have put it in the hands of a couple of dozen people so far with what we were able to secure and the feedback has been phenomenal. It has been more than I could have ever asked; the product is doing what we had hoped which is to support positive posture for kids.
Why is that important? Why is the posture so important?
Well, I think we, the society, have gotten caught up on the idea of screen time, what your children are watching and yes, that's important, right. We want to make sure that they're not watching inappropriate content, we want to make sure that it's a healthy mix between fun and educational content. But what has happened especially during COVID is, we realise we're not really set up in the most ergonomically enhanced way for our kids and even for us when we have to work at home, right. And so the posture is something that is in years time, so we're not going to see it in the next year or two years, maybe five years, it's still so new that research is being conducted as we speak, to determine what the physical implications are of consistent bad posture. And so during the research, we found one chiropractor who said, currently he's seeing 20-year-olds that have the spinal health of 40-year-olds. That means these handheld devices are basically exacerbating what is supposed to be a natural progression for us as humans, as adults but it's causing and it's infringing upon our kids' development, when it should not be.
Yeah, if you look at it, we are the first generation of the handheld and our children do not even know a world without a handheld device of any kind. And so where at least you and I can know to take our head up and look around and have navigated life in an erect fashion, these kids will really only know this, on their phones, on their iPads, on some kind of a device, doing this all day long, exerting pressure on the back of their neck, which ultimately is going to change their posture, ultimately, we're starting to impact their spinal development, their overall growth and other factors to be determined. But ultimately, what we see is that there is a need for us to figure out a way to address it and it's got to be more than just stacking books under the device and hoping that it's at an agreeable height.
Yeah and I see kids who are six months old, eight months old, looking at phones whilst the parents are in a cafe and everyone’s happy but you're absolutely right, the child is head down, pressure on the neck at such a young age.
Yes, so we advocate for the use of technology, especially handheld devices, in line with the CDC, which is three years and older. Now, we fully respect with siblings, even in our own household, the younger siblings tend to get exposed to the technology earlier, it just, it is what it is. We also are not advocating for you to do away with iPads and tablet devices. No, we want them to stay. So what we need to do is help integrate them in a safe way where parents feel empowered with the tools and knowledge to help create a safe, more ergonomic environment for the kids. That's our goal.
When I think about schooling and education and how that has changed from back in the day where you had your your mead notebook, and your paper and pencil, and the composition book that you used to write in, where these kids, this generation is going to school with a device, a tablet, a laptop device, there are whole academies or universities what they call that are that are dedicated that are that are functional education centres that are specifically dedicated to using an iPad or some sort of a tablet device. That's the way of the world, that's the direction of travel. So it's not a case again of us doing away with it, it's figuring out a way to make the best use of it. Now, if my child is going to go to a school where the iPad is going to be used on a regular basis, then I would feel a lot better if I'm saying let’s set them up to be as successful as they can not only in schooling but also with the devices that we're using to do their work.
Yeah, and guys, you've put months or probably years into this from the very moment you thought of the idea, yes? So a question that we like to ask guests on Resilient Entrepreneurs is whether you ever considered quitting, whether it ever felt like it was just too hard? And what got you past that point? Maybe you have different answers!
I think we may have different answers. I mean, for me, it was never a case of, I wasn't the one given the dream, right. So in one sense I wouldn't have the same level of attachment or belief, as my wife calls it, in the divine download initially, because it didn't come directly to me. So there are times that we ran into various hurdles around the design phase, there's so many little nuances, so many things, scenarios that I could never have thought of or imagined, that come into play when you're designing a product. We're literally talking about millimetres here, we're literally talking about millimetres and Pantones and fabric and all of these things.
And I remember reaching a place where I was like, this is too much. What are we really doing here? We're having a conversation about lead and I'm thinking What does that have to do with the ability to to create a height adjustable tablet case? And I remember feeling a bit overwhelmed with it and thinking, For the effort, is this going to be worth our time? And then also I remember thinking that during the 121 names that we reviewed as well, I said, Is this worth our time to do? But I am extremely grateful for my wife's persistence, again, she had the absolute vision to say this is something and a burning passion that she wants to see this through. And I think in those moments when one of us gets a bit tired then that's where the other person can help to kick in and provide a level of support.
Yes. So did you feel like quitting, I didn’t hear you say that?
Yes, there were times when I did, I felt like, Okay, you know this is costly, right. It’s one thing to sketch a design on the back of a napkin and a whole other thing to hire a design firm and to raise whatever necessary funding is required to bring an amount of product to life. Everything, and this is one thing I would say to any entrepreneurs listening, they should already know, everything has a price, everything comes at a cost. And sometimes it isn't financial but a lot of times it is, it might just be, you have to pay to get somebody to sanity check that idea or to proofread that article or whatever, something that's been written. So it's just so many pieces of it that require another contribution, another maybe financial contribution, and all of those little bits add up. And sometimes you may not be in a position where the money is readily available. And so you have to do almost like a cost benefit analysis. Okay, do we have enough? Does this make sense? Do we pause? Do we quit? Do we pivot? So that is something that comes to mind.
Yeah. I have not felt like quitting. But I have acknowledged that it's been extremely difficult. There's been periods of extreme difficulty and I feel like each time we've gotten over those periods, those hurdles, those challenges, I'm reignited, I’m fueled up again, God has put someone in our space or place, he has given us the break with a period of, I wouldn't call it rest but I would call it smooth for a short while, where we could just continue to push on and grow, to take the next best step before we reached the next hurdle that we had to get over.
And some of that, during the concept development and design process because that was super important to us from the beginning. We did hire a design firm, concept development, we went through a rigorous process, the engineers got involved from the very beginning. And I was cutting up cardboard and cutting up 3D-printed models, trying to see where cameras fit in, trying to see how little fingers could fit in the handle, and it was a point where there might have been this couple of millimetres that made a huge difference, it could have went really bad or it made space to keep going and each time we've been able to keep going.
And so the product that is available now is really… I'm not even sure how to describe it. I'm not saying it's perfect because we've already been thinking about, we call it the 1.0 version, we've already been thinking about 2.0, and how we could make that even better, but we are extremely thankful and happy with the product that's available in the market now. The DigiRoo is everything that we would have wanted for our kids had we gone looking for this sort of case that would help us on this journey with our kids.
I wanted to add one more thing to your question around, feeling like giving up. I think if I look at it in its entirety, not just with this particular product, but in any other entrepreneurial activity, there are things that we enjoy doing and there are things that need to be done. And the difficult times come, in my view, the difficult times come when you have to do the things that you don't enjoy doing. So let's say you're a creative type and you like designing pretty things and amazing ideas that flow together and all the artsy type of things and you're in your sweet spot. And then there's the realism or the realistic piece that comes in that's around, Does that pretty thing you design meet the requirement? Did you do the other pieces that are required to get the business up and running? I don't know, setting up a bank account that can take a lot or incorporating the company or all those other back end pieces that may not be in your sweet spot. Those are the times when it becomes difficult or feels difficult to be that entrepreneur because it's not fun and you don't get that rush, you don't get that high of, I did something amazing today. Yeah. And that's the hardest part that I see.
Yeah, that's exactly right.
Oh, yeah, I definitely relate very deeply to that. I’m the creative type, I still have to do the accounts, and I still have to send the emails and I still have to do the admin and all the pieces. Yeah, absolutely, that's very true, that's very real for all entrepreneurs, especially when you're starting out, when you're at the early stages of business which a lot of our people that we work with and talk to often are, and it's the hardest time, right? It's the hardest time and you guys have done it and you have given birth to your baby out in the world and ready for the sibling to come along. That's amazing! That's really exciting, I'm so happy for you guys. And I know, I know the process that you've been through. Is there any advice you would like to share with someone who's out there who's considering creating a product of their own, that you wish someone had given you right when you were starting?
Wow. If they're creating a product?
Yeah.
Lloyd’s gonna say don't do it!
It’s easy to launch a service. The reality is it's easy to launch a service. And I know you understand that Lloyd. A service is a different ballgame than a product because a product - the time of development is what I think most people underestimate. And like you were saying the costs, there are a lot of factors and it's not just the materials and the making of the product in the factory, it's all the design phase, the lawyers, legal stuff, the trademark, everything that you guys have been through. Were you prepared for that? Or do you feel like you just went in completely naive and you went for it?
Well yes and no. So after I had the idea, we talked about it, we did the preliminary patent research where we were like, I will never forget when I read the email and it was like, ‘Congratulations, this is what they consider a novel idea.’ Right? So at that point, I was like, we’re about to be millionaires!!
No but that honestly was the first thought in my mind. Since I've become more of an entrepreneur and I have that entrepreneurial spirit, I'm constantly thinking about how I can improve things or has this been done before? Oh, that's a great idea. or out of the lack that I'm experiencing, can I capitalise on that? Do other people need that, if I'm looking for it, somebody else must be looking for it, right? And you get excited about that. And the idea that you can be successful, not just making money but also making an impact.
And so once we experienced that very early on, I went and bought a book by Lori Greiner, who's one of the sharks on Shark Tank. I think I'm saying her name right. And it's called, Invent It, Buy It, Bank It! I probably don't have that right but I'll let you know what it is. And I read that from front to back in less than a week. So in the book she gave some real, tangible ways and tactics for you to start and what you need to do, to first of all make sure you have a good idea, are people going to want to buy it? Right? So then I started opening up the conversation a bit more with other parents, Hey what are you experiencing? Would you like this sort of device, this case that supports a device? Do you know what Tech Neck is? And then from that point on, we drilled down more into the idea of, Okay what is it going to take to literally invent something out of your brain? And that's when we hired. So I think the advice I would give is, once you recognise where you need the support, go find it. You have to find it, you have to invest in let's call them the experts, right? First of all, you do your research on them, the people who we found who we really love by the way, I called up three people who put testimonies up on their website, and I was like, I'm thinking about working with them, what was your experience like? Were they on budget? Right? What were they like to talk and speak with and have a relationship with? And then from that point on, we made the decision, and it's been a great working relationship, I'm very thankful for that. But we recognised very early on where we needed the support and then we self taught as much as possible.
I would say, just one layer back before that is, before even going out to get the external resource, you need to have that conversation, a strong conversation with yourself and within your specific circle, around an honest conversation around the idea, honest conversation around the viability of the idea, meaning.. Is it just because I like it, does that mean the world needs it? Right? There are tons and tons, probably millions, or hundreds of 1000s of amazing ideas that never made it off, that are on the cutting room floor, not because it wasn't a great idea in and of itself but because it may not have had legs, maybe internationally, or maybe it's something that didn't lend itself to mass production or exponential growth so there are not lots of other factors. So you need to be able to have that open and honest conversation with yourself, alright. Is this idea truly viable? And do I have the wherewithal or finances whatever it is, to bring it to life. I shouldn't let finance be the only thing that stops you, but it should be a conversation where I'm clear on what I can contribute. My contribution may only be ideas, but I need to be clear on that.
And if and if I'm not clear on that, you have to do the work to get clear first, that will help you to avoid wasting time and money and that will give you the clarity that you need to say, well, this is the type of entity that I need to be working with. And the second part, I'd say on that is - be selective about who you work with. Not just accepting, so and so makes widgets, oh, let's just go to this person because they make widgets. Well, it's very important that you have a good sense and a good feeling about the people that you're working with, because it's work and it's not always going to be rosy. And you're going to have moments that could be tense and moments that may be full of pressure and you want to have a feel, you need to be able to walk away from the exchange feeling like this organisation that I'm working with cares and wants the best for my product, or wants at least to make sure that we're both mutually successful. So I can say it is important that you take the time to be selective around who you decide to work with.
That's always great advice too Lloyd, always great advice. So you'd mentioned that you'd raised some capital through investment, was it or fundraising? Any advice.. You don't give us too many of the particulars regarding your product if you're not comfortable with it, but advice for people who are in that situation where perhaps they can't bootstrap the whole operation.
Well, there are several layers to raising capital, we are still in what you would call the friends and family raise where we have not secured venture capitalism or anything like that, venture funding. So in some ways, you can say we bootstrapped this, but we did have to borrow funds from the friends and family bucket and that's when it really got real. (That’s not comfortable) Okay, taking other people's money. (That’s not comfortable) I don't think we talked about that enough. Like, we were 1,000% committed to seeing this through from the beginning when we decided to, but then the second we took money from someone, it was like, I'm clutching my pearls, like, oh, Lord, and then I just think that also fueled me even more to make this work. And we're still very much in the very beginning stages. And we are, we are on a path that will allow us to grow, if we meet our targets and at that point, we will absolutely need to raise capital, which we'll be looking to do at a proper seed stage.
Sure I know that there are a few mechanisms that people can use through the Ignite program, they have a couple of options to help assist entrepreneurs and budding entrepreneurs with developing their ideas. And if there are good ideas to maybe potential for some angel investment. I would say, it's not a straight line. There are.. I see at least three, I’d say at least three buckets. One is your own personal finances, what you're doing, what you can contribute, whether on a monthly or whatever timeline from your savings. And then there's the friends and family raise, which is that level where the rubber hits the road because your aunty gave you the money because she likes you and your Godma is there to support you and your cousin or your brother or your uncle might give you some money, but don't show up to the family dinner too many times without a progress report, because they're gonna look at you like, What are you doing? And so it starts to become a lot more real around where that money is coming from.
And then that next phase from there is where we would say, seek true investment from external entities and that's when you start to realise things like you need to give up equity in the company, and that's a conversation that everyone is not always willing to have, to understand. Sometimes as entrepreneurs we get this mindset that it's mine, it's my baby, I created this amazing thing, I'm going to own it all and I'm going to have this outright ownership and everyone's going to love me, and everyone's just going to help me to get there. And the reality is there's no free lunch. And you've heard people talk about, you can own 10% of a lot, or 100% of a little. And we've heard that on the journey along the way. As you develop there may be scenarios where you will need to give up levels of ownership in that company, right? That doesn't make you a failure, that doesn't make you having sold out or any of those types of things. It's actually a very normal part of doing business. And then as you grow, you can structure that in a way where you may still retain a certain level of ownership or can still be the face of the organisation, but if you've taken a product or to a place where it's something that's publicly traded, that ownership model is a bit different than I own everything, I have it all under control. So we've had to learn a bit about that journey. Thankfully we haven't had to have any tough conversations around it as yet but we do recognise that it is a part of the journey and I will say the sooner any entrepreneur is willing to recognise that, this is a significant portion of growth, the better place they will be to be successful in truly growing that product or service.
We’ve definitely heard a few no’s, right. You have to be, for anyone who is looking to raise capital you want to start with just understanding the dynamics of what that means. The levels that Lloyd mentioned, you have your angel investors, your venture capitalists, or you have friends and family, you have to be investor ready in terms of they want to see your documents, they want to see your projections, they're going to want to know you as the founders and they are going to do business with you if they believe in you, if they like you, and if your numbers make sense. And so we had the benefit of going through the Ignite program and they always drilled in us, know your numbers, know your numbers, know your numbers. And I also would encourage anyone who's just starting out to consider joining incubator programs, accelerator programs like that, because that is really where I think we were able to have a strong foundation in beginning this journey.
Another popular way to raise funds right now is crowdfunding, which depending on which organisation you go with, it could be a well oiled machine, they have a process, they have a system, you just plug and play, we looked into that. But ultimately for us, we chose not to go that route, because we wanted to protect our IP, we wanted to protect our design. And when you crowd fund you are 1,000% public out there, because you have to talk about it to everyone who would listen so that they can buy it in advance and that's how you raise the capital. But also doing it that way means you're selling your product to use the money for operations, right, which means you're not benefiting the revenue via profit, you're just putting it right back into the business and that is a business model that you might need to take up in the beginning. But we chose, we chose not to do that and so we're in a space now where we're partnering with our retail partner, we're ready for our launch party. So if anybody goes to who's in Bermuda, if you go to afsmith.bm and buy, pre-order your product, you will be invited to our exclusive pickup and launch party and that date is to be announced, but it's going to be next month, where you will come mingle, enjoy the atmosphere, we'll have a DJ, we're going to have some nibbles, we're celebrating, right. This is the launch to the brick and mortar launch. I mean, how many new products, new businesses, product based businesses get into retail? Before it's physically out there?
How many new products are born and developed in Bermuda?
In Bermuda, I was gonna ask that.
I know Antonia sometimes gets a little bit shy about speaking about it, but it's something to me, I just think it as, we shouldn't hide that. I mean, this is an amazing thing. What has happened is not something that just happens anywhere and everywhere. There are literally hundreds of 1000s and millions of people who live in a given state or city and would never have been around that level of entrepreneurship, that level of invention. So for something like this to come through in this tiny island and not just be an idea, but now be a physical product that is in retail stores and accessible internationally is a huge, huge, huge deal.
I agree, it absolutely is. It's very unusual, in fact it’d be interesting to know any statistics, but it's very unusual I think for a product to be created. From idea to actuality in Bermuda. I mean, how often do you hear it? You might hear of Bermudians now living abroad and doing it. Occasionally you’ll hear about that, but that's because they're in an environment where.. If you're in Silicon Valley, you're gonna come up with some great things because you've got the support, you've got the environment, the climate’s right for you. And I think you've done so well in being able to get this far in an environment that is not as… it doesn't not support you, but it isn't a Silicon Valley. It's not full of people who are hungry for this kind of activity.
I think we’ve been very blessed and I want to pause here to give honour to God because ultimately he did give us the divine download and we are running with it. And we've been fortunate to have, let's call them advisors who have been there along the journey. And you know having a relationship is a two-way street. They just didn't pour into us, we had to go to them hungry enough to say, Here's my scenario, this is what I propose to do, how do you feel about that? What would you do? Is there somebody that you can connect me with who might have experienced this before? Or has a way out? Do you know the buyer in Walmart? You know what I mean? Just like all the big questions, put them out there, you never know. And so we are incredibly grateful for where we are and I think the best is yet to come. We are not giving up or not.
Not at all. Not.
No. And I'm just gonna ask, so when is your Shark Tank appearance? Do you have a date yet?
WellI have looked into it. Yes, I have.
See that’s what I want to hear! Yes.
Well, you have to be American.
You have to be a US citizen to participate, or have a US partner. Which we have neither of at this stage.
You never know, you never know, there’s Dragon's Den in the UK - it's the same, the same concept.
We could probably do Dragons Den, that’s it. That might be a better option.
So Antonia and Lloyd, I mean, you have had the ups and downs that you've shared with us, it's been really much harder than you ever thought. There's no question in my mind that you have exhibited great resilience through this whole process. What does resilience look like to you? What does that mean for you?
I'll go first. In it’s simplest form, I believe it's despite what might be setting you back, you're still taking the next best step because you have a plan, you have goals that you're working towards. But sometimes we can feel very discouraged when we don't reach our targets and we've experienced that. But the key is not only not to give up, but is to take the next best step, which is the action, right? So you don't ever want to stop altogether. I think you can pause and pivot but don't ever stop.
Yeah, I would say to me, it's unwavering belief in your service, your product, the vision that you're trying to bring to life. And I think the word unwavering is important because there will be ups and downs, there will be moments you're really into into it, there'll be times you have all of the energy in the world to pour in and there are going to be days like today, where you’re just tired. And we have to be okay with each of those moments. Yes, I'm tired today, you can acknowledge that you’re tired today but I'm not going to stop. Like Antonia says, I'm going to take the next best step, I'm going to continue to believe in what is the end goal, what is the goal that I'm trying to accomplish. And if you can have that, that unwavering belief and faith in what you're trying to do, then you have that resiliency to be able to see it through and to bring your product to life or your service into existence.
And I just want to point out, this is our beautiful packaging and our product ready to go. But I can take a whole other episode to share with you what we had to overcome just to get this packaging. Oh my goodness. Literally, the shape, the material, the way the words are laid out, how it fits this clasp in here so that the product doesn't come out, (language) language, yes, and almost not getting it on time because of shipping challenges, so I think the fact that it's here is evidence of resiliency, it's evidence of taking the next best step to reach your goals.
I agree. 100%.
So buy your DigiRoo!!
Congratulations, guys. I love them. They look so pretty, so appealing to the kids and parents alike. So congrats.
Thank you. Thank you
I know you guys, there's going to be something great in the future to announce and we're super excited for you and your launch officially of DigiRoo and we just can't wait to keep following you on this journey. And we are so grateful you came and spoke so honestly about what you've gone through, and I'm sure that will help others. And I think you guys are the trailblazers, paving the way for others that will come along and want to create something amazing too, and go through this and I'm sure they'll be coming to you and asking for your advice and mentorship. So be ready, because it really is quite a unique thing that you guys have done and you should be so proud, I know you are so proud and we're just thrilled for you. So thanks so much for joining us today on Resilient Entrepreneurs, it's been an absolute joy.
Thank you.
Thank you. Have a great day.
Thanks. Talk soon
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