My mother-in-law's side hustle made $1M selling pillows?!?

Get 100 more side hustle ideas to make your first $1M: https://clickhubspot.com/rdn Episode 794: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) talks to his mother-in-law about how she built a $1M business in her 50s by selling pillows. — Show Notes: (0:00) Smithe's origin story (6:37) Pillows! (12:57) First 100 customers (15:32) momentum is your first $1 (19:40) nothing to lose (31:56) the first time Smithe met Sam — Links: • Smithy Home Couture - https://smithyhomecouture.com/ — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N. A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC • I run all my newsletters on Beehiiv and you should too + we're giving away $10k to our favorite newsletter, check it out: beehiiv.com/mfm-challenge — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano /

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Sam Parr?

  So how do you create a multimillion dollar business, starting with only $10,000, without having much of a plan, without doing a lot of research, without even knowing how to use Shopify, or basically you had to learn the internet from scratch? Well, we have talked about this a little bit on this podcast, but I finally wanted to do an episode with a very special person, my mother-in-law. So about five years ago, my mother-in-law sat me down. She goes, Sam, I have this idea for a business. I want to start this pillow company. Can you teach me how to do it? I gave the most generic advice ever on how to do it, not expecting her to do anything. Turns out, she listened and she Googled and found actually significantly better advice, and she built a company that is now making millions a year in revenue. She started it in her early 50s and it's killing it.

• 0:41Sam Parr?

  And after years of just kind of quietly chugging along and building this epic business, I asked my mother-in-law, Smithy Sodine, to come on the pod and give her story. If you are in your 30s, 40s, or 50s, and you are thinking about starting a business and you're sort of overthinking, you're not sure what to do, or even if you're in your 20s and you want to figure out how to change your life, this is probably the most relatable and I think inspirational episodes that we have ever done. So it's a very special episode for me, for obvious reasons. I love her to death, but I think you guys are gonna like it. Check it out.

• 1:19Sam Parr?

  So let me set the stage here, Smithy.

• 1:22Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:22Sam Parr?

  Smithy, do you even listen to the podcast?

• 1:24Speaker 01

  I do. I do listen to some episodes.

• 1:27Sam Parr?

  All right. So the story is this, basically you came over in your early teens as an immigrant. You had some kids and you were a stay-at-home mom. And then the kids grew up and you were like, well, I'm not really sure what to do next. And so you kind of were like trying a bunch of different stuff. I think at one point you got your real estate license and you did something a lot of people want, or they think about. They think like, I want to start something, I want to like do something. And you thought about it for a couple of years, I think. And then all of a sudden, we had a conversation and you basically told me what you were going to do. And I wasn't sure if I even believed that you were going to do it, but basically you were like, I'm gonna start a pillow business. You had done zero research, you didn't do any market research. And then all of a sudden, two weeks later, you have this online store. And before I know it, you had a bunch of sales.

• 2:11Sam Parr?

  And now, after doing this for six years, you've made multiple millions in revenue. I don't know if you want to say what it is, or you know, you could say the numbers, but you built like a seven-figure business without any internet experience or any research. We talked about you on the podcast and that was pretty cool. And a lot of people have asked, and so- We have Smithy here, who's actually my mother-in-law.

• 2:32Speaker 01

  Well, okay, I'll just change a few little bits of information in that summary. So I came to the US with my family when I was 16 years old. So it was in 1983. We lived in Miami for a couple of years and then I wind up going to school in New York City. I wanted to be in the fashion industry. Sewing has always been a passion of mine, so I've. My grandparents sewed and my mom did, so I learned from them and then I wind up just liking it. It was just a way to express myself, my creativity. I made clothes for myself and then I wanted to go to Fashion Institute of Technology to study fashion.

• 3:16Speaker 01

  So I wind up being majoring in pattern making. I also had to work full-time and while I was going to school part-time. So I never graduated from FIT.

• 3:26Sam Parr?

  I didn't know you went to FIT. That's pretty cool.

• 3:29Speaker 01

  Yes, I went to FIT for about a couple of years, maybe two, three years part-time. I was really close to graduation. Then I got married, had a child, your wife, and decided that I wanted to move out of New York City. So and we moved to the suburbs and there was no fashion industry in the suburbs. And I really didn't want to travel back and forth to work in the city. Then I stayed at home. I became a stay-at-home mom for about three or four years. Then I realized, oh, wow, I'm raising a child, but I don't have enough information to raise her. What am I going to do like when she needs knowledge? How am I going to help her and so on?

• 4:11Speaker 01

  I'm like, okay, fine, I'll go to school to become a teacher. So I went to school major, did a dual major, English, Lit and Education. I actually went to school for 10 years while I was raising my kids and I wind up with a master's degree in linguistics. Then it really helped um having children, but I always sewed or did alterations for my neighbors. And they were vest wearing styled in the nineteen uh nineties. So I made vests and sold them on on the side. So I was always sewing, doing something in that field. So when I started teaching, I thought for a while, my husband and I own a business for sure.

• 4:54Speaker 01

  Um I helped out and then when the business was winding down, I was like, oh, I really needed to work to keep working. I was just too young to retire. So I I really brainstorm ideas and then pillows just just kept coming back to me. Because my friends always asked me to make them for for them. I made them for my sisters, I made them for everybody. So I'm like, okay, pillows, you know. It was funny because everyone kept discouraging me. They're saying, why would you want to sell pillows? How many pillows can you sell? This is ridiculous, nobody buys pillows. But I bought a ton of them and made a ton of them. So I know women like them and people in general like them.

• 5:33Sam Parr?

  And when you're saying pillows, like when you said pillows, to me, I was thinking like pillows, I put my head on it at night and go to bed. You're talking about like fancy decorative pillows, like throw pillows.

• 5:42Speaker 01

  Okay, yes, you're right, I should correct that. I made decorative pillows, the couch pillows, the sofa pillows and also the decorative bed pillows that people used. So I thought to myself, well, I really don't want to sell millions of pillows. I just wanted to sell enough. And I also wanted to keep myself engaged in something that I was passionate about. I was passionate about working with textile, looking at fabrics, shopping for them. I had closets full of them. So um that's what I wind up doing. It was definitely tricky because I knew how to sew and I knew how to shop for the fabric. I had a pretty good eye for interior design.

• 6:26Speaker 01

  The problem was I had no knowledge of an online business, the technology part was a problem. So I had I had to really learn a lot in order to open an online store.

• 6:40Sam Parr?

  For the listener and Ari, if you want to see this as well, Google, okay, so Smithy's name is S.M.I.T.H.E., but she spelled it Smithy with a Y. So the word Smith and then a Y. Smithy Honkator. You guys got to Google that right now. And if you go to it, you'll see your website, but more importantly, click the Etsy link. And I'm not looking at it now, but I'm going off memory. I think it says that you have sold, or you've had 17,000 orders, and those orders could be multiple pillows. And the reviews are like 4.9 out of 5 stars. And it's like 3,000 or 4,000 or 5,000 reviews. Is that right?

• 7:14Speaker 01

  I have very, very, very good reviews. I think there are multiple aspects of the business. There's the consultant side of it, where I help people select pillows for their homes. There's another side of it where you actually have to manufacture the pillows. We get an order, make the pillows, pack and ship to the client. But you also, I have customers, you know, the customer service. You have to, it's a service to the client. So I really try to maintain a relationship with my clients. I treat them the way that I want to be treated. So I respond to their questions right away. If they request something that I cannot do,

• 7:55Speaker 01

  I make sure that I express it. I'm, hey, I can do that. So let's try something else. Or maybe I might even recommend somewhere else for them to find a product that they're looking for. So customer service is really important to me because I want to be treated well. The reviews are a reflection of that.

• 8:15Sam Parr?

  Yeah, they're crazy high. And right now, just so people have context, right now, I think you have, I don't know how many employees you have, 4, 5, or 6? How many do you have?

• 8:23Speaker 01

  So they're really all subcontractors. I use about 5 to 6 subcontractors. Yeah.

• 8:28Sam Parr?

  And you have like a, I don't know what you call it, an office, a workspace where you have, I've been there, and you have these 5 or 6.

• 8:34Speaker 01

  I have a workroom.

• 8:35Sam Parr?

  A workroom. And you're just sewing, like, I think people, it's pretty cool, because I think a lot of people listening to this, they're like, oh, I'm gonna go like find something online and just resell it. You have 5 or 6 people in there with sewing machines, and you're, and you're sewing them. Like, you guys are actually, and so like, a lot of people brag about Made in America, which I love. I love Made in America stuff. But you're like making all this in New Jersey. This is just like, it's just a crazy how. Straightforward, you made this process and it has worked really, really well.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  It's very simple. We don't stock pillow covers. We don't stock them. We stock fabrics. So I have about 400 different rolls of fabrics in my workroom. Someone places an order and we make the pillow that day or that week. We ship within three to five days from the time you order to making it, packing and ship. It's pretty simple. I have people who help me with the sewing, but I do all the buying, all the creative side is all me and we also make the answer, the actual what you were thinking about, the pillows, the stuffing, we also make them there and pack them and ship. It was so simple to start this business in terms of financial investment.

• 9:46Speaker 01

  I started it with $10,000 and I've never invested another penny in it.

• 9:53Sam Parr?

  All right. So a lot of people watch and listen to the show because they want to hear us just tell them exactly what to do when it comes to starting or growing a business. Now, a lot of people message Sean and I and they say, all right, I want to start something on the side. Is this a good idea? Is that a good idea? And again, what they're really just saying is just give me the ideas. Well, my friends, you're in luck. So my old company, The Hustle, they put together 100 different side hustle ideas and they have appropriately called it the Side Hustle Idea Database. It's a list of 100 pretty good ideas, frankly. I went through them. They're awesome. And it gives you how to start them, how to grow them, things like that. It gives you a little bit of inspiration. So check it out. It's called the Side Hustle Idea Database. It's in the description below. You'll see the link. Click it. Check it out. Let me know in the comments what you think.

• 10:39Sam Parr?

  Can I retell the story of how I remember it? And I've probably exaggerated it so many times that I don't know what is the truth or what's an exaggeration and you could tell me what is true and what's not. So basically, if I remember correctly, Five or six years ago, you drove me to the airport. Sarah and I were still living, I think, in San Francisco or Austin. I don't remember. And I was there by myself on a work trip and you drove me. And I was like, why do you want to drive me? And you're like, I want to talk to you about something. And I was like, what do you want to talk about? And you're like, I want to start this pillow thing, a pillow business. Can you like, just like, tell me anything you think I should know? And I was like, oh, wow, okay. Well, and in my head, I was thinking, this is just another conversation that I've had tens of thousands of times where someone tells me something they're going to do and they're never going to do it. But I was like, okay, well, I'll just like, I said, I don't really know anything about

• 11:23Sam Parr?

  like e-comm, but I could just tell you like what this thing called Shopify is. And I could tell you that you probably might want to buy some ads. You probably want to do this. I gave you the most generic thing ever that you could just have Googled. And then two weeks later, I get a link to, I think it was your, a website or an Etsy store. And I was like, oh, this person has a company named exactly what you were going to name your company. And you're like, oh, no, this is mine. I did what you said. I created an Etsy or I think a Shopify store, something like that, WooCommerce. And I flew down to North Carolina and I bought a bunch of fabrics. And I am now getting my friends to buy the stuff to give me a good review. And that's where we are. Is that right?

• 12:01Speaker 01

  That's basically how, that's basically how it happened. I wanted to understand what an e-commerce entails. Because again, I know how to sew, but someone my age or most people my age have a very hard time understanding the e-commerce concept and all the lingo that goes along with it. Like what is SEO? What is, you know, conversion rates, you know, all this stuff? So I wanted to understand from your perspective, what you understood. And really, should I buy ads or not? Like, what is this exactly? And I was able to pick your brand and I got a lot of information about it. And also I needed encouragement from.

• 12:44Speaker 01

  From people who were maybe young, young entrepreneurs, people who were doing it. And you were, you were always creating new companies. You're always talking about businesses, what you're up to. So I, I wanted, I wanted some encouragement and, and you provided that. That was cool.

• 13:01Sam Parr?

  How did your first customers find you?

• 13:03Speaker 01

  So Etsy is a wonderful platform. Etsy made it pretty easy. At the beginning, you're right, I want, I needed a couple of reviews. I have sold for like so many of my friends and family. So I had to get a couple of people to buy a few pillows and then just write a couple of reviews. But the first time I actually had a client that I have never met,

• 13:29Speaker 01

  ordered something, it was amazing. It was exhilarating. I was so excited and that feeling that you get like someone says, hey, you're worth something. So, and when it kept happening, I, I really kept doing it. It really helped. I started my business in 2020. In January 2020, I opened my Etsy store. And March 2020, we shut down for COVID. So COVID really helped launch my business. I think the first month in January, I sold about, uh, maybe like $300 of pillows. February, maybe about 500. But by the end of March, April, I was selling multiple thousand dollars of pillows.

• 14:11Speaker 01

  And then the issue was I couldn't keep up the demand. I couldn't make them all by myself, but I did for the first nine months. I did make them all by myself, pack them and ship them and all that. And then eventually I had to, to find help.

• 14:25Sam Parr?

  So I'm known on this podcast. It's so funny. I have like my home life and then I've got like this like public life and people on the audience and they. They know me as someone who asks very blunt questions.

• 14:38Speaker 01

  Yes, you do. I know that too.

• 14:41Sam Parr?

  I was like, I'm still gonna ask blunt questions, but I respect you to you can you can respectfully tell me, Sam, I'm not I'm not answering that.

• 14:49Speaker 01

  I will definitely do that.

• 14:51Sam Parr?

  When were you able to pay yourself?

• 14:53Speaker 01

  I was able to pay myself the very first year.

• 14:56Sam Parr?

  Do you remember how much or you want to say how much or no?

• 14:59Speaker 01

  Um, I think the first year, maybe I made like $60,000. It wasn't a lot.

• 15:04Sam Parr?

  What was the most money you made as a teacher?

• 15:06Speaker 01

  Um, probably about $67,000.

• 15:10Sam Parr?

  So you beat your you match your teaching, your your

• 15:14Speaker 01

  Almost.

• 15:14Sam Parr?

  job in one year.

• 15:17Speaker 01

  The first the first year. Yeah.

• 15:19Sam Parr?

  That's pretty awesome. How's that feel?

• 15:21Speaker 01

  Oh, it was it was great. I did enjoy teaching as well, so I don't regret it. It was fun. I thought I was rewarding as well. So but it's nice to be able to do this and get paid well for doing it.

• 15:36Sam Parr?

  In order to give the viewer and listener some context, are you able to say like how much revenue or profit or sales you want to you're gonna be doing in 26 or 25?

• 15:48Speaker 01

  So I can tell you this, in in 2025, I my business, my revenue grew by 100%. So we are in the seven figures now. In terms of like profit, I mean, we have a I make a very healthy profit. I'm very happy with with the income that I make.

• 16:10Sam Parr?

  So I I know what it is, and I'm not gonna say what it is, but I'll say that I know people who have businesses that do 20 million in revenue. Econ businesses that do 20 million in revenue, and I have a feeling you're making more money than they are in terms of

• 16:22Speaker 01

  I don't know about that, but I I would say that I do very well. I love what I do. I never think about it as work, work. I love it, and you know that. But I think it's a viable way to measure your success, so I I do try to. I pay myself.

• 16:40Speaker 01

  But in 2026, our goal is to probably try to grow the business by like another by 50, at least 50%. And I think I can definitely do that. I have a very clear path ahead to how to grow the business. And I know you think it's really funny. That's how we started.

• 16:59Sam Parr?

  I think it's awesome. One of the many reasons why I wanted to do a podcast with you was because, you know, me and Sean, we get all these people reaching out to us that say they want to start whatever. And they like write up these complicated reasons, or these complicated business plans, or something like that. And we're like, that's just not important. Just like, start something in a week. Just move fast, you know, momentum's your first dollar. And I don't know if this is like a genetic thing, or people can become this. But there's this weird thing that I tend to have, Sean has it, you definitely have it, where I almost call it like being a caveman, where you're like, smart enough, like, like you're, you can be both, you can be really smart, but at the same time, you're like, this seems so simple, it's just straightforward. I'm not going to overthink it. I'm just gonna like do step one, step two, step three. Whereas a lot of people tend to like

• 17:44Sam Parr?

  overthink things.

• 17:46Speaker 01

  Well, I think a lot of people would think about it, they don't take action. So I'm okay making mistakes. I've always been that way. But I've also taken action on the things that I wanted to do. I'll give you a quick, quick example. So when I moved to the US, I was 16. I went to high school. I went from Catholic schools in eighty to high school in one of the worst neighborhoods in Miami, right? So high school was horrible. I didn't know the language. The students were awful to us in general. And I wanted to not stay in high school. I had three years left, but I was like, well, I really, I really don't want to be here. So I decided to go to night school as well.

• 18:25Speaker 01

  So I did three years in high school in two years without knowing English. So I graduated and got out. So I, I, I just knew that there are ways to do things. If you really want to do something, there's always a path to, to take. There's a way, a way, always a way to do it. For me, it was that. I I learned how to do. I know I can definitely say that I know my business from inside out. I knew from how to manage the website, how to I take all my photos. And the learning curve that was really huge because then I had to learn Photoshop, Canva, and tons of other programs. But I also knew that, again, I I could learn it. I never doubted myself that I couldn't learn things.

• 19:09Speaker 01

  Um, so you just break it down in small chunks and you learn a little bit every day. So at the end of the month, it's like, all of a sudden, I know how to use Photoshop. And I know like your audience, um, generally are really young entrepreneurs. But I think I was thinking, well, what kind of value can I add to your podcast? And I think the value would be in people who are maybe in their 50s and don't want to retire or want to have a different kind of career, who really had a passion that they didn't have an opportunity to follow. And for me, that's what I did.

• 19:44Sam Parr?

  It's pretty crazy. I remember looking at some photos of you when you were still in Haiti. And I was like, isn't it incredible that like in such a short amount of time, in one lifetime, you can go from living in an entirely different country to then going to the one of the busiest parts in America, New York City, Manhattan, where you live, owning a multimillion dollar e-com. I was it was just like, it's it's pretty, I just I'm I'm so inspired and fascinated about how how how far someone could come. I was just reading Barack Obama's book, his biography, and he was telling the story about how, I think it was his his father's father, so his Kenyan grandfather,

• 20:26Sam Parr?

  or maybe it was his Kenyan aunt, who came to America for the inauguration. And they were they they were from Kenya. And they were living in like a in like the countryside of Kenya, like not like the most nice setup. And I was like, isn't this incredible that in two generations, you go from just being a person in Kenya to like holding this baby and you're like, this baby is going to be the future president of America, not even Kenya, of America. And I was like, it's just incredible like how far that the journey of two generations, two or three generations. And then I was like, you know, it's pretty incredible. I've got a bunch of immigrant friends or immigrant family members now, you being one of them. And the the the place where they are is so far from where they started. And I think that's like very inspiring.

• 21:10Speaker 01

  Well, immigrants don't feel like they have a lot to lose. So if, and I would consider myself to be first generation immigrant, but my parents really were the first generation immigrants. But they came here when they were already in their 40s. So it was too late for them. So they sacrificed a lot so that we could do well. So if you've traveled this far, you actually, you've left your homeland and you traveled to a foreign land to make a new life. Immigrants kind of feel like they have nothing to lose. They have to give it their all because you're displaced. You feel displaced all the time anyway. Like you're not fully from one place or the other.

• 21:52Speaker 01

  So you really have to go for it because the opportunities that they are here, I, we left there because there weren't any opportunities. So you won't, I, we won't want to be here and not take advantage of the opportunities offered to us or try to really hard. I love New York, though, I have to say. Even growing up in Haiti, there used to be a 7-Up commercial that was filmed in Times Square. I thought it was amazing. I wanted to be right here in New York. And you know how obsessed I am with New York City.

• 22:29Sam Parr?

  You're the most New York person I know. Like when we walk in the street, I'm like, Swift, you have to slow down.

• 22:34Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, I, yeah, you kind of like, once you leave here, you become a little bit more aggressive. But, but I do like the energy of New York. It's, it's a really cool place. But, but I had that idea. I, I didn't, I knew I would be in New York at a very young age.

• 22:51Shaan Puri?

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• 23:18Sam Parr?

  You know, on this podcast, we've talked to like, you know, billionaires and people have these like companies where tens of billions of dollars. And Sean and I always say, we're like, we're equally impressed by them as we are a small business that is small, but does great work because what we love are people who kind of blaze their own path and kind of like turn dreams into reality. And it, and it doesn't exactly matter how big the reality is. It's just really cool to see people kick their debt in the world. And I think that like the takeaway when I talked to you and why I wanted you on was because I think that inertia is strong. I think that people tend to do the same thing for years and it's hard to break that. And the older you get, it's not, it's, it's just for the reason of inertia.

• 24:00Sam Parr?

  You've been doing the same things for a long time. And so you're like, I don't want to change. And what was fascinating was, I don't know if it's true that you were wanting to start something for a while, but I do know you like were.

• 24:11Speaker 01

  I did.

• 24:12Sam Parr?

  I think you had like, I think you had thought of it. Maybe I heard you like brainstorm out loud. But then what was interesting is like, you went from maybe talking about all these other things, talking about a pillow business and then launching it literally in two weeks. And then like, before I knew it, I think, I don't remember what you did your first year, but it was like, I remember the first thing you told me you crossed six figures. I was like, are you serious?

• 24:33Speaker 01

  I think a lot of people like to change their look of their home. It's a new season. It's, it's a really a very easy way to transform your space without spending a huge amount of, of money. And the way that we were able to build our website, we also work with interior designers. Interior designers buy a ton of pillows.

• 24:55Sam Parr?

  Is there a world where you would want to like go really hard and turn this into a big hundred million plus company?

• 25:03Speaker 01

  I, I don't know. I think I really like working one-on-one with the clients. If it were to be really big, I think I would lose that aspect of it. So I don't know. I am considering a wholesale program though. So stores will contact me. They want to buy the pillows. And I've done some business with some smaller local stores. So if I wanted to sell the pillows on a national, international level, they would not be made to order anymore. So I will stack the pillows or get a lot of orders ahead of time. And maybe Bloomingdale's might want to order a hundred of them for their store in New York

• 25:48Speaker 01

  or something like that. So that would be wholesale. They will be buying by the gross, which is one hundred and forty-four of them at a time.

• 25:55Sam Parr?

  Are you gonna do anything besides pillows?

• 25:57Speaker 01

  For the time being, no, but there are different kinds of pillows that I would like to consider. Maybe throws. I actually hired a group of artisans to make throws for Smithy Home Couture. Do you know what a throw is, Sam? Just like a blanket for your couch.

• 26:17Sam Parr?

  I thought a throw pillow. Yeah, I don't know. I thought a throw pillow was a term. Wait, I've been telling people throw pillows. Is that the wrong word?

• 26:25Speaker 01

  Same thing, throw pillows, but a throw would be like just a blanket. So people often ask, you know, do you have throws to match with your pillows? That's something that I will look into. I am looking into.

• 26:37Sam Parr?

  On one hand, I'm like, I don't want you to do this because, you know, you watch your grandkids on Wednesdays, which I'm a huge recipient of that, so I like that. But on the other hand, I'm like, man, you totally could become Martha Stewart. I could totally like, because this is for the listener. If you guys ever go to Smithy's house, it's like the most perfectly decorated home. And it's like, it looks, it's insane. And the way that you make dinners, it's like you are basically Martha Stewart.

• 27:04Speaker 01

  Yes, I like home decor, gardening and cooking, yes.

• 27:09Sam Parr?

  And I'm like, you could definitely become a thing and make this a thing. And I'm like, that sounds awesome.

• 27:14Speaker 01

  I'm just conflicted. Do I want to change the business model or not? So this year will be the year that I think I will make this decision. Right now, I love working one-on-one with the clients a lot. And I also have a great work and life balance. I have very flexible hours. I can spend a lot of time with my grandkids, your children, and there's a lot to lose to go by going bigger. So I have to really consider if that's what I want to do. It's so interesting because I listened to your podcast of like the young entrepreneurs. And I think it's amazing how well that they're doing. And they're really excited. They take the really small business and scale it up and really fast.

• 27:57Speaker 01

  And I want to do that, but I do by doing that, I think I believe that I'll have a lot to lose.

• 28:03Sam Parr?

  I think what you have is actually the ideal situation, which is intentionality. I think that there's a lot of people, myself included, even though I try to be really intentional, but there's a lot of people who they do things, you know, it's sort of like a ready, fire, aim. They kind of just like do stuff and like whatever happens, happens. And then sometimes we were actually just talking about this in a previous podcast. You kind of eventually, if you don't do it intentionally, you can build your own prison where you're kind of like trapped in this thing that you created. You seem to have this good attitude of like knowing what you want and who you are versus the dopamine rush of more, more, more.

• 28:41Speaker 01

  Well, I would say that I had that in my thirties. Like it was a time to build a career, a family, and to make sure that you're financially stable for your family, right? I did have to pay college tuitions for our children. We did have to pay college tuition. So we worked really hard so that I could have this time where I can really think about what I want to do moving forward and to really follow something that I really liked and I'm interested in. So I wake up every day, I'm interested about going to work. I spend hours online looking at fabrics. I love this.

• 29:21Speaker 01

  So I had to work really, we had to grind first in other for me to have this time. And I think there are a lot of people who do do that. Why my situation where you get to later on in life and you still want to work, but you don't want to do things that you don't enjoy doing? So I do very well financially, selling pillows. And I love doing it. I'm actually making money doing something that I used to do for free for people.

• 29:53Speaker 01

  So that's amazing.

• 29:55Sam Parr?

  What do you do with the money once you've already made it? This is a question Sean and I ask our successful guests all the time. And the reason we ask it is because if you are successful, if you do have a little bit of money, information on how to spend or invest your money, it's actually really hard to come by. And I know this because inside of Hampton, which is my community of founders, people ask this question all the time. People who have made 10 or 50 million dollars, how do you spend it? How do you invest it? And so to help solve this problem and answer this question, I actually interviewed 80 plus founders, guys like Scott Galloway, Alex from Ozy, Brian Johnson, people who are worth 50, 100, even billions of dollars. And we got them to reveal everything. So their net worths, how much they pay themselves, their monthly expenses, their portfolio, things like that. And we turned these 80 interviews into one document. And I don't think you can find this type of information literally anywhere on the internet. And it's completely free.

• 30:39Sam Parr?

  So if you want to see behind the net worths of people who are worth billions of dollars and their portfolios, their expenses, everything, you go to joinhampton.com/reveal. Again, joinhampton.com/reveal. Check it out.

• 30:53Sam Parr?

  I remember one time I tweeted out your story and I think, I forget, what's the guy's name? Mark, Marcus, Leo Monis or, you know, I'm talking about the guy who is the chairman of Bed Bath & Beyond.

• 31:02Speaker 01

  He's from Bed Bath & Beyond, yes.

• 31:04Sam Parr?

  And he's part of the TV show, I think it's called like The Prophet. He's, I think, I think he's a pretty big deal. And he like tweeted at you and he was like, hey, email me. Let's get you in Bed Bath & Beyond. And I remember I was like, Swifty, I think this is a huge deal. And you very calm and collectively were like, that's interesting. Maybe I'll reach out or something like that. It was just like, like there was like, it was just smooth. It was just straight. There was no.

• 31:30Speaker 01

  Well, I really believe like no one will give you anything for free. Like if he wants to talk to me, he, there's something for him. So I have to evaluate what is it that he wants out of this? Is it going to be worth it for me? As it turned out, I think it was a good opportunity, but it just didn't work out for us. I didn't like their business model. So I did go, um, we did have our pillows on. Bed Bath & Beyond, but after two or three months, I pulled them out. I don't have to do anything I don't want to do, which is great. It's a great place to be in. I really like that. But I, we are on Wayfair. I do very well on Wayfair.

• 32:13Speaker 01

  We have a very strong presence on Wayfair and I love Wayfair. And I know a lot of people complain about Wayfair, but I like it. I like working with them. Their software is very simple and we do great business. I know Wayfair sells a lot of stock items, but we're still a made to order company on Wayfair. We make, we get tons of orders for Wayfair and then we make them that day and then we ship them. And we have very low returns on Wayfares. Maybe I think the return is five percent. So it works for us. If it didn't work out, I'll just also not sell on Wayfair.

• 32:54Speaker 01

  Our website is doing very well and between SC Wayfair and our website, we are doing very well. There's also another service that we offer that's really interior designers really like, and some of our clients use it too. So we allowed clients and interior designers to ship their own fabrics. If they can't find a fabric that they like on my website, they ship their own fabrics and I provide the labor to sew the pillows and ship to them, ship it back to them.

• 33:24Sam Parr?

  This is fun. I love celebrating your success. Last, last question. Explain the first time that you met me when I was dating Sarah.

• 33:33Speaker 01

  Oh, yes. Okay. Well, that was our first, that was our first trip to San Francisco, I think. I went there and dropped her off in San Francisco because she landed a great job and all that. So I took her to San Francisco, made sure she was settled down. And then the next time that we went to San Francisco, she said she was dating someone and she wanted us to, to meet you. And of course, as parents, we were really like concerned, like, oh my God, who is she dating? All the way in San Francisco, we live in New York and all that. And you insisted that we went directly from the airport to your apartment, to your space, to your house. I was like, wait a second, why can't we just, why can't he wait for us to meet him tomorrow

• 34:17Speaker 01

  at dinner like a normal family will do? And Sarah's like, Mom, can you please just go to his house? He really wants you to meet his dog. And I was like, oh, my God. All right, fine, I'll go, we'll go, go to his house to meet his dog. And your dog turned out to be like this huge, massive pit bull. I was terrified.

• 34:41Speaker 01

  I was like, oh, my God. And then, of course, you started doing all the tricks with with with him and with Sid. And I was really cool.

• 34:49Sam Parr?

  I thought the first time we met was when I was eating a hot dog or something.

• 34:53Speaker 01

  Oh, yes, that's the next day. Do you want me to tell the story of the next day too?

• 34:57Sam Parr?

  Yeah.

• 34:57Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 34:58Sam Parr?

  Yeah.

• 34:59Speaker 01

  Oh, first, I have to say that night before we left your house and we were leaving, I was like, goodbye, Sam. And you you said to us, oh, wait, you didn't say goodbye to Sid. And I thought that was very cute. I was like, oh, my God, he thinks his dog is a baby. Okay. And then the next day, I think I had mentioned that I wanted to go to the botanical garden. I love flowers and all that. And and you said you wanted to go with us. And I was like, what? He wants to go to the botanical garden? I think you were really cool to want to spend time with Sarah's parents. Most guys would be like, oh, it's nice to meet you. Bye. But you wanted to spend time with us. I thought it was cool.

• 35:41Speaker 01

  And you wind up, we drove there, you wind up going there on your motorcycle. And you walked up to us with a hot dog dripping with sauerkraut and ketchup. It was like falling to the ground. And I was like, ew.

• 35:58Speaker 01

  What is this? That's just awful. I'm like, Sarah, you sure you want to date this guy? But I really, I really trusted Sarah. I I I felt like she's an amazing person. I always felt like she was an amazing person. And I really trusted her judgment. And she really seems to like you. And I was like, OK, so. I guess we really should get to know Sam. As it turned out, you're pretty cool.

• 36:26Sam Parr?

  All right, you'll, you guys will have to like Google, if you could like Google Sam Parr Fat and you'll see photos of what I looked like back then, but I was significantly heavier than I am now. And I was much sloppier. And when I look it back at those photos, I'm like, oh, my God, I can't believe Sarah talked to me when I, when I walked up to her. And then I remember of like, I think we were dating for six or 12 months. I don't remember. And well, first of all, when I met Sarah, she was like, um, I was like, you, you, I don't remember how I said it, but I was like, you, you seem kind of fancy. Did you go to like a good college or something? And she's like, I went to Penn and I was like, is that like a good school? I don't know anything. And she's like, yeah, it's called Wharton. And she didn't say it in like a rude way, but she's like, yeah, is this thing called Wharton? It's like, it's like kind of big.

• 37:11Sam Parr?

  It's, uh, it's part of the Ivy League. I was like, what's the Ivy, Ivy League? I don't even know what that is. And I had to like look it up. And then she was like, I'm from, um, New York City. My parents live in Manhattan. I was like, people live in Manhattan? That's a thing? And then six or 12 months later, I go to New York for the first time ever. I was such a, I don't know how you could describe what I was. I was a little bit of a hillbilly, but I went to New York City and I remember seeing your apartment and it was on floor 50 or something. And I was like, this is the highest I've ever been like in a building and I can't believe that someone lives here. And I remember walking in and I walked in as if it was like my parents or like, you know, like parents recording something on video. I like the whole thing. I was holding an iPhone, like recording everything.

• 37:56Sam Parr?

  I was like, I can't believe someone lives here. It was crazy.

• 38:00Speaker 01

  You know, that, of course, my husband tells this story all the time because we're like, we thought you were a keeper that day, literally. That day made a huge difference because you walk into the apartment. I must say we had an amazing view. We could see all the way downtown. It was just spectacular. And you were in the apartment for like five or 10 minutes. You pulled out your phone and you FaceTime your parents. You're like, you have to see this view. And Jeff and I thought it was so endearing that the first thing you wanted to do was to reach out to your parents to share the moment with them. So we're like, well, this guy's amazing.

• 38:42Speaker 01

  If he likes his parents and his mom, he has this kind of relationship with his mom. Maybe he'll be all right. Maybe he'll be want to do the same thing with Sarah. And so far, it's been proven true. So that's really cool.

• 38:55Sam Parr?

  I think I think people on having, so my parents are entrepreneurs as well. You guys are entrepreneurs. Jeff, your husband started a really successful company as well. And I think my parents have a successful company. And I think that not not at one point have my parents or you or Jeff ever said like, are you sure that you should go and do and start this business versus going and get this job? Like when I told my parents I was going to leave school and move to San Francisco, they were like, well, come help you pack. Like that, like support. And I remember like I've told you some of my like, before I started Hampton, I think I like would brainstorm different ideas and like there was never like a, are you sure?

• 39:39Sam Parr?

  It was always like, that sounds interesting.

• 39:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, I can, I can't wait to see what you do next.

• 39:45Sam Parr?

  Well, what I mean is like having entrepreneurial like parents, like just emotionally support you versus say, are you sure you don't want to play it safe? I think is such a huge advantage. When I started my business, my parents didn't, I purposely didn't ask for any money. I wanted to do it on my own. But what I had was even more valuable, which was like emotional support. And I think that's a huge deal.

• 40:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, I, I, I agree. I think it's a huge deal. And for us, it's, it's, like I said, I really think it's very exciting. Like you have such great ideas, like everything that you try to do, I. I'm always excited because I want to see um what's the outcome, where you're able to do it. It's a challenge and I think that's the way we grow. We take on challenges and sometimes they work out and sometimes they don't. But if you don't try, you will never know.

• 40:35Sam Parr?

  So let's promote you here. All right, so Smithy, I'm gonna Google it. So do you want people to go Smithy Home?

• 40:42Speaker 01

  SmithyHomeCouture.com.

• 40:44Sam Parr?

  And then do you use Instagram at all?

• 40:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, I do have an Instagram, um, Smithy Home Couture.

• 40:50Sam Parr?

  I think you've got to promote yourself sometimes. I think that getting people bought into your lifestyle, I think, is a win. Are you never gonna do that?

• 40:56Speaker 01

  I'm afraid of cameras.

• 41:01Sam Parr?

  Thank God you're doing this podcast.

• 41:03Speaker 01

  I know.

• 41:07Speaker 01

  I know, it's interesting. It's probably because it's with you too, so it's not so intimidating.

• 41:12Sam Parr?

  All right, well, thank you for doing this. Um, let's see what happens and that's it, that's the pod.

• 41:27Sam Parr?

  All right, my friends, I have a new podcast for you guys to check out. It's called Content is Profit and it's hosted by Luis and Fonzie Camayo. After years of building content teams and frameworks for companies like Red Bull and Orange Theory Fitness, Luis and Fonzie are on a mission to bridge the gap between content and revenue. In each episode, you're gonna hear from top entrepreneurs and creators and you're gonna hear them share their secrets and strategies to turn their content into profit. So you can check out Content is Profit wherever you get your podcasts.