GoLidz: A Bad Date Sparks a Brilliant Idea

Innovation can come from the cringe-worthiest of misadventures. Bonnie Sussman, founder and CEO of GoLidZ, chats with Nicole about the origin story of her reusable food containers, the marketing advice you need to grow a successful business, mental health as entrepreneurs, and learning to be comfortable with the uncomfortable bits of your entrepreneurial journey. 

ABOUT Bonnie Sussman Strominger

Bonnie Sussman Strominger is an accomplished entrepreneur, inventor, and CEO of GoLidZ. After 20+ years working in management, product development, consumer marketing, and sales, she decided to focus her attention on her revolutionary cup lid idea. 

Today, GoLidz is an award-winning company changing the way people sustainably enjoy their favorite snacks, and drinks while on the go.

HIGHLIGHTS

• 2:05 Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster with a lot of emotions. 
• 3:49 Finding a coping mechanism
• 11:33 GoLidZ’s origin story
• 17:30 Advice for remembering your good ideas
• 19:08 Timing is important
• 25:04 Fatherly influence and business advice
• 33:15 Advice for growing a successful business

RESOURCES & LINKS

• Connect with Bonnie Sussman Strominger on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonniesussmanstrominger/
• Discover the ingenious GoLidZ for yourself, https://www.golidz.com/ 
• Connect with Nicole on LinkedIn at ww.linkedin.com/in/nicole-donnelly-dmg
• Learn more about DMG Digital at dmgdigital.io

Looking to overcome marketing blunders and find inspiration from the experts who have been there?

Subscribe to Tales of Misadventure with Nicole Donnelly wherever you prefer to stream podcasts!

Get in touch with the team at Tales of Misadventure by visiting dmgdigital.io.

Don’t forget to enroll in our newsletter for more small business marketing tips and entrepreneurial inspiration! https://info.dmgdigital.io/welcome-to-dmg-digital

Transcript

[00:00:00] Julie Basello: Hey there. Thanks for joining us for Tales of Misadventure, a podcast all about business blunders. On this podcast, Nicole Donnelly, founder of DMG Digital talks to entrepreneurs and learns how they turn their lemons into lemonade. DMG Digital is a content marketing agency focused on helping manufacturers attract new buyers through digital self-serve.

[00:00:24] Nicole Donnelly is a fourth generation entrepreneur, a girl mom, and an avid traveler. Now let's head into a Tale of Misadventure with your host, Nicole Donnelly. 

[00:00:35] Nicole Donnelly: Welcome to Tales of Misadventure. I'm Nicole Donnelly. I'm your host. I'm the founder of DMG Digital, and I am so honored and delighted to be joined today by the lovely, massively hilarious, super talented tenacious CEO and founder of GoLidZ, Bonnie Sussman Strominger. Bonnie, welcome to the show. How are you this morning? 

[00:00:58] Bonnie Sussman: Thank you, [00:01:00] Nicole. Doing great. Happy to be here. Thanks for having me. Good, good, 

[00:01:03] Nicole Donnelly: Good. So I hear today is a special day in your house. Tell me about it. What's going on? 

[00:01:08] Bonnie Sussman: Today is, today is my husband's birthday. 

[00:01:10] Nicole Donnelly: Oh my God. 

[00:01:11] Bonnie Sussman: So we're gonna celebrate, go out for dinner.

[00:01:15] He's been a tremendous support system for me, for our team. He supports, backs, everything we do. And honestly, I don't know where we'd be without him because you can't go on this journey without that. I mean, he has been there, he has seen everything, lots of things he didn't wanna see. But you know, it's not always a pretty day when you're an entrepreneur.

[00:01:40] There are a lot of salty and disappointing, upsetting days, and he's here for all of them. And we're still together. So that says a lot about him. 

[00:01:51] Nicole Donnelly: I love it. I still have in my mind, this beautiful post you had on LinkedIn, this lovely photo of you on your wedding day and you just looked, so you were just lit up like [00:02:00] a Christmas tree and your husband, the look on his face, you could tell he just, he just knew.

[00:02:05] He landed just the catch of the century. He was just so happy. So that's wonderful. Love to hear that. You're absolutely right. Like entrepreneurship is the biggest rollercoaster. Even for me this week. I had a day the other day where it was like the world was falling down. Like everything felt like it was going wrong, one problem after another.

[00:02:25] Like literally it went from one meeting to the next and it was just like, oh, another problem I gotta figure out, you know? Yeah. And and 

[00:02:31] Bonnie Sussman: then you and I have those all the time. I'm with you. Yes. 

[00:02:34] Nicole Donnelly: Yes. And then the next day you land a deal and you're like, oh my gosh. Like, amazing. You know? So it's just like all that, you just never know what the days are gonna bring, right?

[00:02:44] Bonnie Sussman: Yeah. So it's always, it's, I love what I do. I hate what I do. We're successful. We're not at all successful. I mean, it's a, it's a civil, you're civil every other day. You're just, you don't know what's gonna be, right. It's a box of chocolates. You have no idea what's gonna [00:03:00] happen. 

[00:03:00] Nicole Donnelly: So, I love that part about it.

[00:03:03] I love the uncertainty. How do you feel about it? What keeps you going, Bonnie? What keeps you going? 

[00:03:09] Bonnie Sussman: Honestly, I think just the belief in, in what we do and, and you know, it's not easy, especially when you're creating a brand and for us, starting a new category, yeah, it's daunting. It really is daunting and you just have to find that strength.

[00:03:26] There are a lot of days everyone can relate to this. You're not motivated. You don't feel that energy that you had yesterday or maybe that you're gonna have tomorrow, but on that particular day, you just feel somewhat lifeless. But you have to just pick yourself up and, and keep going, whether that's getting on the phone or setting up a Zoom or you know, collaborating with the team.

[00:03:49] Something to just put the fire back in. And so for me, that's what keeps us going. It's just the inspiration of everyone around us and, and everyone in our [00:04:00] network, you know, you and everyone else. Some days you just, you know, for me, honestly, I don't force the energy. Meaning if I'm not feeling it or if there's not a lot going on on that particular day and I just need to think or, or figure out our next move, I will sit silent.

[00:04:20] Sounds a little crazy, but I will sit in a room dead silent, no TV, no radio, no nothing, and I will sit there and kind of like in a zen way and just think, yeah. And someone say, okay, well you just sat there for two hours and you could have been doing something. I am doing something. I'm thinking, yes. And in this moments of silence, some of the greatest ideas have come to me or affixed to a problem.

[00:04:48] Where we honestly couldn't figure out the solution. And we got on Zoom after Zoom after Zoom and with no resolve. And I realized it's, it's too much energy in the [00:05:00] room. And so me sitting silence and just really sometimes even closing my eyes. And thinking through what is going on here, how do we fix this?

[00:05:10] And nine times outta 10, I come up with something. Oh, 

[00:05:14] Nicole Donnelly: I, I love that. It's, I find that, that's so cool, Bonnie. I do the same thing. I do the same thing. Yes. I have to just like go in my room, close the door and not do anything. I literally will lay on my bed and curl up and just sit there. Yeah. And I used to feel guilty about it.

[00:05:33] I used to feel like, oh, I'm just being lazy. I need to keep going. I need to keep working. And to be honest, now I relish it. I'm like, oh, I just need this time. I 

[00:05:41] Bonnie Sussman: used to feel guilty too. I actually can relate to that. Cause I'd be like, okay, could you be any lazier? Maybe you're having a bad day because of this.

[00:05:50] Maybe cuz you're not doing anything. But I, I now understand that is not actually what's going on and it's not laziness and it's not even, it might be some [00:06:00] procrastination, but I find in moments of procrastination are some genius moments. Where because you're not doing anything, you can actually think clearly.

[00:06:08] Instead of you're getting ready for a zoom, you're looking at 25 emails, you're getting pinged a million times on social media. There's a problem going on. The manufacturer called, there's, there's an issue on the line, 19 different things. So you lock all that out and, and pull some peace in and some quiet, and it's amazing what the mind and the brain can achieve in silence.

[00:06:35] Total dead silence. And here's something else I do, and this is even stranger. This is gonna really make you laugh. So there are days where there are tough days, right? But then there are days where you're just in a bad mood. Everyone can relate to that. I don't think there's a human being that can say, I'm never in a bad mood.

[00:06:55] It's impossible. A lot goes on. It's exhausting. It's stressful. [00:07:00] There are days where everything goes wrong and you are in a legitimate bad mood and it's very hard to pull yourself out. People have a hard time doing it, you know, it's just sounded something that you have to find a way to do it. You know what I do, my solution, I put on a sitcom.

[00:07:16] One of my favorite sitcoms that makes me roll and fall off the chair. And what is one of your 30 minutes? And I swear it's just enough because once you start laughing and you start smiling, it signals your brain that you are happy and that you're not in a bad mood. Yeah. But you can't, you know, to sit there in a room and smile like a psycho, you look a little weird.

[00:07:38] It's like you just sit there and you know you're in a bad mood, but you're like this. You look crazy. So I need to put on a show or a movie clip or something that's actually gonna create me laughing and smiling, and that's what I'll do. One of my favorites, you said? Yeah. What's King's your favorite favorite?

[00:07:55] You go to King of Queens. One of my favorites is King of Queens. [00:08:00] I need to, James 

[00:08:01] Nicole Donnelly: Never seen it. I need to watch it. You've never 

[00:08:02] Bonnie Sussman: seen King of Queens? 

[00:08:04] Nicole Donnelly: No. 

[00:08:05] Bonnie Sussman: I I implore you. Go on, 

[00:08:07] Nicole Donnelly: I do it. 

[00:08:08] Bonnie Sussman: Go On Demand. I'm jealous that you've never seen it. There are nine seasons. I am jealous. You are going to laugh so hard. You don't even know how funny. Kevin James is beyond hilarious.

[00:08:23] It's one of my go-sees. 

[00:08:25] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah, I will. 

[00:08:26] Bonnie Sussman: 30 minutes. 30 minutes and you'll be laughing and smiling. You know, you have to. Everyone has their own creative ways to snap out of it, but to sit and say that everyone's in a great mood every day, it's impossible. You know. 

[00:08:40] Nicole Donnelly: I love, you're just I think these two examples of you taking time for yourself and quiet and you take making time.

[00:08:48] It's like you're ... you're, you're training your brain, you're training your mind, and I think being a successful entrepreneur is all about like intentionally training that mind, like [00:09:00] really nurturing that mindset and so that you're in a good, healthy spot. Man, 

[00:09:04] I like that. 

[00:09:04] Bonnie Sussman: I agree. And, and really finding, I think every entrepreneur has to find their own coping mechanisms. So you have to find what works for you. And that's why you know a lot of the advice on LinkedIn. It's all well intentioned and, and it's all great advice if you are that person, right? And that's where you need to make sure that the advice doesn't wash over you and you don't start creating habits that don't actually fit with who you are as a human being.

[00:09:35] And as a person and if you force that, you're gonna be so uncomfortable and, and feel like you are wrapped up in this tight ball. Cause you're not letting your own self come out. You know, I'm not saying don't read the post on LinkedIn and, and inhale the advice cuz it's fantastic. And I love to share advice about entrepreneurship as well.

[00:09:54] But ultimately you do need to tap in and, and have self-awareness [00:10:00] into what you can and can't do. If someone says that they like to bike five miles, on the weekends, and that's what creates ... you're not gonna go buy a bike, really? Are you gonna go buy a bike and, and try and get on a trail and you're not a biker and you gonna bike five miles?

[00:10:15] You can kill yourself. You know, you have to take everything with a, with a dose of big dose of, of, you know, reality on who you are and versus what they're telling you to be. So, yeah, 

[00:10:29] Nicole Donnelly: I love that about self-awareness too, and I think the more that you spend time with yourself, And I think people think that there's a selfishness there.

[00:10:37] Like, oh, you know, I should be doing something for other people. I can't, can't spend time with myself. But I disagree. I think when you intentionally spend time with yourself in quiet, like you're just mentioning, that gets you in more in tune with your body and your mind and allows you to become much more self-aware cuz you're aware of what your thoughts are that are happening.

[00:10:56] You can acknowledge them, adjust them, and so like by [00:11:00] taking that time for yourself. Then you, you, you really understand who you are and what you need to be successful, and you're absolutely right. Like it's different for everyone. You know, like it's, it's not gonna be the same. It's, you gotta be authentic to who you are.

[00:11:14] Oh, this is so much fun. Bonnie, I just adore you. 

[00:11:18] Bonnie Sussman: I love this. Yeah, I can, I could, this is, this is the best part for me is just connecting with entrepreneurs and business owners and. Just sharing, you know? Yeah. That's how, that's how you learn. Yeah. That's how I've learned. 

[00:11:33] Nicole Donnelly: Let's talk about, let's talk about your, you are the founder of GoLidZ.

[00:11:36] I wanna, I wanna talk about this amazing product that you've developed. It's incredible. I wish I had one here to show. I was like, oh, I wish I had one I could show, but 

[00:11:45] Bonnie Sussman: I did bring one in. It's so innocent. Yay. It's empty. 

[00:11:52] Nicole Donnelly: Oh my goodness. So this is GoLidZ. This is like amazing. I remember the first time I saw this, my eyes popped outta my head and I was like, [00:12:00] that is so ingenious.

[00:12:01] And so the straw just fits perfectly in, right? Like, you can open up the lid. Wow. 

[00:12:06] Bonnie Sussman: It was actually a grate here. 

[00:12:08] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:12:08] Bonnie Sussman: So it goes, it goes along the grate. But yeah, I mean they're, they're just, they're so rock solid, you know, every customer that we ship these to, They say the same thing. We thought they were gonna be flimsy as all holy hell.

[00:12:25] And then they get them and they're like, wow. They're not flimsy at all. I mean, they're so rock solid. And that's why we say we reuse. We reuse, we reuse. Reuse. Right. Do not use them once and discard it. That's the last thing we want anyone doing. You know, I understand if it's out being served at a QSR,

[00:12:44] that consumer may or may not take it home, but it's education. So if we're educating and the QSR is telling their consumers, take it home, sanitize, wash it out, and use it and use it and use it again, then maybe they'll listen. But if they [00:13:00] don't say anything, then they might think it's a disposable single use, chuck it in the garbage, and we don't want that to happen for obvious reasons.

[00:13:06] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. Oh, I love it so much. And I think there's so much, I mean, I'm just thinking like if you're at the ballpark, if you're in New York City and you're walking around, it's just, and if you have kids, you know, and 

[00:13:16] Bonnie Sussman: Oh yeah. 

[00:13:16] Nicole Donnelly: As moms, you're like trying to juggle everything, like, the convenience, 

[00:13:20] Bonnie Sussman: Theme parks, 

[00:13:21] Nicole Donnelly: Huge. 

[00:13:21] Bonnie Sussman: Water parks, strollers, you know?

[00:13:24] Julie Basello: Yes. Strollers!

[00:13:25] Bonnie Sussman: the mom... then a cupholder stroller, at least Mom can have some food and drink while she's taking care of everyone else, which is what moms do. 

[00:13:35] Nicole Donnelly: Exactly. 

[00:13:36] Bonnie Sussman: So, and I have to say, 

[00:13:39] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:13:39] Bonnie Sussman: that this LinkedIn community blows my mind because you know, every week we have orders and I look through the queue to see, you know, what's going on, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:13:49] And I cannot tell you, it's mind-blowing how many names I see that I'm like, that's LinkedIn. That's LinkedIn, that's LinkedIn. So many people, I mean, [00:14:00] people that have not even engaged with us on our posts before. So many people ordering GoLidZ and I, I can't believe it. I mean so many people following our journey that decided to get a consumer pack.

[00:14:13] It, it blows my mind and every week I see the names and I'm like, wow. It, it actually is, it's outperforming the names on regular social that we don't know who, who's ordering. You know, they're just orders coming in from strangers. These are, these numbers are stacking up on LinkedIn and it's just, it's, it's amazing.

[00:14:29] So supportive. We're so appreciative, so grateful for it. 

[00:14:33] Nicole Donnelly: I think that's a testament to just how, what a great job you've done at branding. Like whenever I see your posts on LinkedIn, you're so authentic. And I love that you also post a lot of user generated content and stories and bring that social proof in.

[00:14:47] Bonnie Sussman: Yeah. 

[00:14:47] Nicole Donnelly: And I just, I think people really resonate with that. They see your authenticity, they see your realness and they're like, I love, like your tenacity and your grit and just the, and it's just frankly ingenious product. 

[00:14:59] Bonnie Sussman: Gotta mix [00:15:00] it up so we don't over... it's, it's not too much of one thing. I think everyone on LinkedIn has to do that.

[00:15:05] You have to kind of come up with a strategy where it's not one thing, you know? Yeah. You can still talk about your product. As long as, as long as you're not, you know, putting up salesy, salesy, salesy. But you also have to mix in, we all know LinkedIn loves personal right now, right? No. They love personal stories.

[00:15:24] They love personal journeys that you're on, so you gotta mix it up. So how did I come up with it? Yeah, and you've heard the story before, but it was back in the nineties at movie theater. And I was on a date, very bad date and was the concession stand. And we got hotdog and popcorn and sodas and candies.

[00:15:45] And somehow this moron gave everything to me to carry. I have no idea why I took it. I was young, I was definitely stupid. I didn't wanna rock the boat. I was on a date, you know, I was in college, so I took it all. I was carrying everything. We got into the [00:16:00] theater. We had to sit in the middle of the row cause this guy had no seats and.

[00:16:05] Climbing in, you know, there's always a guy with like big knees, someone like a big person. And I climbed over and my like back of my leg got stuck on his knee and I just flipped over and the popcorn went over and the lids came off the sodas and the hot dogs went flying. And I didn't just soak the people in our row, but the people behind us.

[00:16:27] And the people in front. 

[00:16:28] Nicole Donnelly: Oh. Oh. How mortifying did you stay for the movie?

[00:16:34] Bonnie Sussman: I did stay, albeit I was sitting in my chair kind of crying, but the lights were out so nobody could see. But I was like, I mean, 

[00:16:42] Nicole Donnelly: What did, what did your date do I wanna know what his response is? You said he was a terrible... 

[00:16:46] Bonnie Sussman: He was such a jerk. Oh, you should have told me to carry something. I'm like, What now? What's this? Are you kidding? Are you kidding? Gosh, I, I dunno, gosh. Why? I dunno [00:17:00] how that happened. But I have to tell you, I, I sat there the whole time thinking that this is so outdated. That should not have happened. There must have, something should have been connected to something else.

[00:17:11] The hot dog should have been sitting on the soda or, yeah. There should have been an easier way to get in and get out. And that's, that's honestly how the concept was born. And I went. Home from the theater. I drew a sketch. No. Which I tell everyone like if you have a great idea, write it down. Yeah, sketch it and write it down.

[00:17:30] Write a brief description cuz ideas come, we all have great ideas, but if you'll notice, they'll come in to you for 10 minutes and then you get busy doing something else and you have no idea what you thought of. You're like, what was that thing I thought of? I don't remember. So now I keep a pad next to my bed.

[00:17:49] That if I think of an idea, I pull it out. It could be five in the morning, four in the morning, three in the morning. I will write it down, brief description, so when I wake up in the morning in a coma, I didn't forget what I thought of. [00:18:00] So that's what I did. I wrote it down, I left, I went home, I graduated college, and that was it.

[00:18:07] There was no, you know, it was different times then. We didn't have this, no one had a phone, so we weren't down a hand. We, we didn't give our, our life away yet to social media, and I felt like, okay. Overloaded on the go. It's, it's kind of a life burden you just accept, right? We're always lugging. You got strollers and bags and packages and you have to carry it.

[00:18:31] That's it. You know, if you go skiing, you got poles, you got all kinds of stuff. It's not the most pleasant experience. Golfing. You got golf clubs. I mean, everyone's lugging everywhere you go, and that's just kind of life. You just expect it and you accept it. But when this phone came out and I started watching everyone outside Starbucks and Dunkin and all these places, you started to see something very different happening, which was, yeah, they're still lugging and still have laptops and everything [00:19:00] else, but now there's a fixture that's like become part of your hand and you know, go walk around, go to the airport.

[00:19:08] This is what you see. No one puts this thing down. No one wants to put it down. They're afraid they're gonna lose it. If it rings, it's too annoying to go dig it out. So it's constantly in your hands. And then by generation, Gen Z, millennials, no one puts this thing down. And truthfully, I do more business on this phone than I do from the laptop.

[00:19:29] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. Interesting.

[00:19:30] Bonnie Sussman: I'm on this way more than I'm on the laptop. Yes, documents and contracts and things like that that has to be the laptop, but, all social media and interaction, emails, social messaging, all of that. It's the phone. Yeah. So that's when I realized, and that didn't really happen. The, the smartphone kind of revolution didn't happen till 2007, 2008.

[00:19:55] So I, it started, you know, germinating then, and then it took me a bunch of years [00:20:00] beyond that to figure out, you know, logistically and how does this thing work. How do we make it gather resources? So we really didn't begin until 2012. Wow. It's crazy. I mean, 1990 to think of something in 1990 and not begin until 2012 is just, it's a little crazy.

[00:20:20] Nicole Donnelly: It, it's a, it's ingenious. It's brilliant. Cuz I think what it illustrates is how important timing is. You know, like you knew exactly when the right time was for you to bring that to market. And I also love 

[00:20:33] Bonnie Sussman: Even if they say, timing is more important than money. 

[00:20:36] Nicole Donnelly: Interesting. I've never heard that before. I love that.

[00:20:38] But that's, 

[00:20:39] Bonnie Sussman: Yeah. Timing ... 

[00:20:39] Nicole Donnelly: Perfect example. 

[00:20:41] Bonnie Sussman: And the order of things of an entrepreneur's level or barrier to success. And, and the probability of success rather. Timing is one of the most important aspects and more so than capital. 

[00:20:58] Nicole Donnelly: How did you know it was, [00:21:00] it was just that you saw more people with cell phones and that's how you knew it was the right time.

[00:21:04] Bonnie Sussman: I just knew, you know, it, it just kind of sat in my head. I was thinking, like what I said before, it's, it's always been a problem, you know, always been uncomfortable, caring and whatever it is. But the phone, it literally took away your hand. Yeah. Like it made it. As inconvenient as it was before to grab something on the go.

[00:21:26] It became way less convenient, you know? One additional thing, that's not an occasional thing, it's constantly constant. I don't put this down when I go out into New York City or I'm walking around, you know? It's just, it's, it's constantly in the hand. 

[00:21:43] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:21:43] Bonnie Sussman: And so that's what I started thinking about it then, and then a whole revolution on our end started because, You know, the businesses want to offer convenience.

[00:21:53] They're consumers, but they're not gonna do it and crush their bottom line to do it. So there has to be something in it for them. [00:22:00] And we realize, well, yeah, there is, consumers make decisions based around convenience. We do it every day. Look at delivery, look at Uber, look at Amazon. It's all based around how convenient can you make it.

[00:22:15] And so when you make it convenient, just like a Starbucks or McDonald's, if you go in, you don't go to Starbucks for lunch. You know? No one says, Hey, Nicole, wanna go to Starbucks for lunch? That sounds crazy. Go to Starbucks to get a nice coffee or something to drink. But when you're there, what do they wanna do?

[00:22:31] When you're at Starbucks, they would love you to buy something to eat. And if it's inconvenient, it's, it's more often than not, the people say, eh, I'm okay. But if you say, would you like something to eat? We can put it in the GoLidZ and hand it to you and it's handy. It's all in one hand and it's covered and sealed.

[00:22:51] Yeah. It's like, okay, yeah, sure I have something to eat. Why not? So, and that's a revenue driver. So that's the aspect we came up with, you know, for them [00:23:00] so that we could mail out the value proposition. 

[00:23:04] Nicole Donnelly: Well, your example of how you came up with this product is like, a perfect tale of misadventure. Like, it was a blunder that happened in the movie theater.

[00:23:13] You're like spilling everything all over people and in that moment 

[00:23:17] Bonnie Sussman: it's the ultimate.

[00:23:18] Nicole Donnelly: Utter mortification and embarrassment, that's when Genius happened for you. You know? 

[00:23:23] Bonnie Sussman: I think that's, and it was so horrible. I mean, 

[00:23:26] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:23:26] Bonnie Sussman: I can repeat the things that these people were calling me. You know, I, I just, I soaked everybody.

[00:23:34] I always tell everyone, the, the man that I tripped over, he was a big man. He was bald. And when I looked up from the sticky, disgusting theater floor that I was on and I looked up, all I saw was this man and popcorn, like, I called it a popcorn toupee cuz he just had popcorn like sitting on his head. And he looked... 

[00:23:56] Nicole Donnelly: wow.

[00:23:57] Bonnie Sussman: At his face. There was so much anger on his [00:24:00] face. 

[00:24:00] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:24:00] Bonnie Sussman: I was like, oh my God. I mean, people were angry. Yeah. I mean, I soaked dozens of people. I would be angry too. Look at this klutz. 

[00:24:09] Nicole Donnelly: That, that one, that one small incident, and now it's turned into this thriving business. Incredible. 

[00:24:14] Bonnie Sussman: I should, I should thank this guy.

[00:24:17] Right? 

[00:24:19] Nicole Donnelly: You can, maybe you can write on your wall. The guy with a popcorn taboo ... taboo? 

[00:24:23] Bonnie Sussman: Toupee. 

[00:24:24] Yeah. Call the popcorn toupee guy and be like, remember me. 

[00:24:28] Nicole Donnelly: I know, right? 

[00:24:30] Bonnie Sussman: God, would you like some stock in our company? 

[00:24:34] Nicole Donnelly: Amazing. Well, I wanna hear more like, one of the things I also love about you is that you talk about your dad a lot.

[00:24:41] And I, I have my, my dad passed away a couple years ago and 

[00:24:45] Bonnie Sussman: Oh, I'm sorry. 

[00:24:46] Nicole Donnelly: He was a very successful entrepreneur and I always looked up to and admired what he was able to build. So I'd love to learn a little bit about, more about like, tell me about your dad. What are some of the qualities he had maybe like, that you feel like [00:25:00] you carry on in you?

[00:25:01] How do you honor his legacy? 

[00:25:04] Bonnie Sussman: Oh God, that's the best question. My dad. Was the absolute best. I, I miss him every day. He just had this big personality and he was so, he was able to be so firm. And so powerful with his words without being an abrasive jerk. And it's hard to pull that off.

[00:25:32] So we had a lot of, he was an entrepreneur, he had a big business. But his people loved him because he could be really firm and say, this is what I need, and this is not up for discussion. But yet it was a kindness about him. And, and a soft side to him. So he really had like a great leadership quality that I admired because he was able to lead, but also have empathy [00:26:00] and, and kindness and treat his people right.

[00:26:02] And I always thought that that was amazing cuz that's not easy to pull off for a lot of people. He also had this awesome personality. So funny. I mean, that's where I get the funny. Like when you say I'm funny and I go on other podcasts and they're like, you're so funny. It's, it's a, it's my father.

[00:26:18] It's my father. Because life without laughter is not a life, right? I mean, that's my favorite thing to do is laugh. If you could just sit and laugh all night long with friends or family or spouse or loved one. What's better than that? That's a great night. It doesn't even matter where you are. You can be sitting on the floor of the living room with the lights out and, and nothing special ambience going on.

[00:26:40] But if you could sit there and laugh and have a great time, that's the ultimate tell that you've had a great night or a great day. Yeah. And so that's what we used to do with him. And he just, he just was so supportive. I'm so disappointed he's not here to see our journey continue. [00:27:00] Because, you know, he's, he's been gone over three years.

[00:27:03] Just coming. November will be four years. I can't even believe it. Wow. But he always said something to me my whole life. He said, if you don't try, you're never gonna know. Because anytime I told him growing up that I didn't wanna do something, or I was afraid, or I was convinced even before trying that I would fail.

[00:27:23] And so I'd say, no, I'm not dad. I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that. And he'd say, if you don't try, you're never gonna know. How are you ever going to know? And he drilled that into my head my entire life. So that's what I hear. Every time I decide in my mind I'm not gonna do that because maybe it's not gonna work or it's a bad strategy, or it's gonna fail for us.

[00:27:44] I hear my dad in my head saying uh uh uh, you don't know the answer cuz you didn't even try. 

[00:27:52] Nicole Donnelly: Drop the mic. I love that the best. So beautiful. I think I was just talking with a [00:28:00] friend of mine the, the other day about this, like, fear is always there, right? And it's like whether or not you choose to see fear as a deterrent or propellant, right?

[00:28:10] Like leaning into the fear and saying, you know what? I'm gonna overcome this. And I love that story. My dad used to always say, make it happen. All the time. I remember hearing him as a kid on the phone and he'd be like, let's make it happen. He'd be talking to whoever I don't even know, whoever he is working with.

[00:28:24] And so every day I hear his voice in my head telling me, make it happen, Nicole. Make it happen. I think that's really beautiful. Yes. 

[00:28:31] Bonnie Sussman: And it's, it's, it's really, it's the same kind of message. 

[00:28:34] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:28:35] Bonnie Sussman: Which is just, just go out and, and just do it. Get it and make it happen and, right. Create your own opportunity.

[00:28:42] Something else he always used to say to me, which is even, resonates even more a little bit, is what's the worst thing you envision happening? What is the absolute worst thing if you do this one thing that you're terrified of doing? Whether it's calling a company or going [00:29:00] to a networking event, or showing up to a party where you literally know nobody, you're by yourself.

[00:29:09] All these things that put you out of your comfort zone, that make us all want to cringe inside and, and send our heartbeat racing cuz we're so filled with anxiety just to step out of our comfort zone. And he would say, what's the worst thing that can happen? And he would say, actually, I want you to answer the question.

[00:29:28] I'm not even just asking you theoretically, I'm asking you for this particular thing you're telling me you cannot do. What's the worst thing that can happen? Tell me right now what it is. Are you gonna fall in the pool at the party? Probably not. Are you gonna knock over the, the, the tray with all the beverages?

[00:29:47] You know, the big table? Are you going to, what's gonna happen? And that's what I sit and think of all the time in business. Every time I hesitate, what's gonna happen? 

[00:29:58] Nicole Donnelly: Hmm. 

[00:29:58] Bonnie Sussman: You know, what's the absolute [00:30:00] worst, most cringeworthy thing I could think of happening? And then actually pretend that it's already happened.

[00:30:07] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah, that's brilliant advice because you realize when you, because I've done that exercise before, and when you do it, you realize the worst case scenario really isn't that bad and it's not right. You know, it's not gonna be, the worst case scenario is never worse than what it could be if it goes well.

[00:30:24] Like the, the opportunity is always way more of a what you, what would you call it? Way more of a, a positive. Than anything worse can ever be. When you really think about it. 

[00:30:37] Bonnie Sussman: It's, it's always so much worse in your head. It's amazing what the mind does to us because, and we believe what it tells us. And so it can scare the living daylights out of you and talk you out of something and so, so quickly.

[00:30:56] I mean, I have that kind of mind. I'm sure you do too, where [00:31:00] it's constantly running. I have sleeping issues. 

[00:31:04] Nicole Donnelly: Yep. 

[00:31:04] Bonnie Sussman: Sleep problems due to it. It keeps me up and once the engine starts and the motors go it, I don't know how to shut it off. I mean, literally, I don't know how to put it to sleep. And part of it is, a lot of it is fear.

[00:31:17] A lot of it is, okay, tomorrow I planned on, let's see, just make something up. Calling the CEO of XYZ Grant. 

[00:31:28] Nicole Donnelly: Right. 

[00:31:28] Bonnie Sussman: Right? Probably not gonna get through to him cuz he has gatekeepers. Right. But I'm gonna try and I'm gonna try and then what's, you know, what's the worst that's gonna happen? So you're probably gonna feel a little sick when you call the office.

[00:31:45] A little nauseous when you dial there cuz you're like, who am I trying to get this person on the line? And then what are you gonna say? You know, because the gatekeepers were there for a reason. They're not just gatekeepers, they're [00:32:00] actually there to screen a lot of things. Some messages won't even make it to that CEO because the gatekeepers decided it's not even worthy.

[00:32:07] Like, she's not gonna hand them a stack of a hundred messages. So, and that's what they do. So, but what's the worst that's gonna happen? You, you're gonna blunder your words, right? Everything's gonna get a little chopped up. Cause you're gonna be, I dunno what I'm talking about. And the other worst thing that's gonna happen is that this guy's never gonna call you back.

[00:32:27] And you'll have to call again. Yeah. And you're probably gonna have to six more times. You know, if you think you're gonna call once and get a returned phone call, it's unlikely. But, you know, the one thing my dad also used to say is, you only need one, the power of one. So maybe you do make 15 stomach flipping phone calls to.

[00:32:52] People that probably are not gonna call you back, but if one of them does, if one out of the a hundred does, [00:33:00] great and there's a good chance that the other 99 at some point will regret not calling you back, that'll take some time. 

[00:33:08] Nicole Donnelly: What an inspiration. What do you think your dad would say to you now if he was sitting in the room with you?

[00:33:13] What would he tell you? 

[00:33:15] Bonnie Sussman: I think he'd be really proud, but I also think that he would, I think he'd have some criticisms. Absolutely. And that's, I loved it. That's the thing. I, I like the criticism. You know, I always tell any company that we try to get feedback from that passes, doesn't wanna do business with us.

[00:33:34] I am dying to know why and not, I don't wanna hear the good things. I don't wanna hear, oh, it's this, it's interview. I wanna hear all the stuff that they didn't like. You know, what didn't you like? What did we say that you didn't like? It's an opportunity to learn to get better. And it's hard to get that feedback.

[00:33:53] So I always say you kind of really have to put your foot in the door and beg for the feedback and make it [00:34:00] okay for them to kind of insult you a little. You know that like you could take it, you're asking for it, you know, take your best shot cuz I could take it and it's okay to tell me why you don't like us and why you don't wanna do business with us.

[00:34:14] Most companies don't really step in to do that, but if you let them know, Go ahead, take your best shot. We wanna know cuz we wanna get better for the next time. They might. Many will.

[00:34:26] Nicole Donnelly: I love that. That is like, to me, that is marketing gold. Anybody who's listening to this, if you wanna grow a successful business, you gotta stay as close to your customers as possible like you're suggesting.

[00:34:37] And you need to ask for that hard feedback. I would love to know, Bonnie, what is some feedback you've gotten from a customer that you heard? And you acted on, like specifically, is there an example you can share of something that you heard from a customer that they were just, I'm sure there's several, 

[00:34:54] ...

[00:34:54] but like tell me, tell us. 

[00:34:55] Bonnie Sussman: Let me go get my, lemme go get my box out with all the complaints in the box. [00:35:00] It's so big. Couldn't even, I'll, I'll pull one out. Yeah, actually just posted about one. Alright, well you know what, may as well dive into this cause I just posted about this. Yesterday, two days ago, most of the, for, for the most the greater part of our time, we've been B2B, right?

[00:35:22] And we only ship pallets of product, which is hard because it does, it does kind of exclude small businesses around the country that don't wanna buy a pallet of product and don't want to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to try an innovative product. Right? So during the pandemic, we started getting a lot of nasty messages.

[00:35:47] Some of them were a little too ... like harsh emails. And I put one up on LinkedIn. I put the whole email up on LinkedIn and, which is basically like, we're very disappointed. We don't understand why you only offer pallets. [00:36:00] You have a very innovative product, but the way you do business is not that of an innovative company.

[00:36:08] Nicole Donnelly: Wow. Ow. Oh my God. 

[00:36:10] Bonnie Sussman: Oh my God. I honestly felt the knife go in and turn and I was like, oh, okay, okay. Like, that was the final straw. We'd already gotten lots of emails. They weren't as harsh as that one. When I read that, I, I, I called someone on our team and I was like, you have to read this. And I feel sick because innovation, I mean, that's,

[00:36:34] that's what we do. That's who we are. 

[00:36:36] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:36:37] Bonnie Sussman: We are an integrated company. 

[00:36:38] Nicole Donnelly: Absolutely. 

[00:36:39] Bonnie Sussman: And I understand why he wrote it, and I know who the person is actually. And that's what made it even more difficult because I've spoken to him. So I was a little shocked. He sent that in to customer service. He didn't send it to me, but he sent it in.

[00:36:51] I don't know if he thought I'd ever see it, but of course they forwarded it right to me. I mean, I, it was in my inbox in two seconds. They're like, Bonnie, oh my God, look at [00:37:00] this, and I was like, oh my God. So of course I called him. But putting that aside, I was like, okay, what do we do? It was during the pandemic, not an easy time to maneuver, and everyone was just trying to stay afloat.

[00:37:14] And it sounds like an easy fix. Why can't we sell cases? What is the reason? It's a very simple reason, but weren't set up for it. So long story short, I was like, if we do this, we're gonna have to move all of our inventory across the country to a 3PL. Not easy. Load up all the trucks. Truckloads of inventory.

[00:37:34] Not only that, but the expensive trucking during pandemic and it's still not good. It went up tenfold. So what normally would've cost $600 to go from New York to Chicago suddenly was $3,000. 

[00:37:46] Nicole Donnelly: Wow. 

[00:37:47] Bonnie Sussman: And now multiple trucks. And then 3PL signing on with them. The fees involved, setting up the system, setting up e-commerce online.

[00:37:57] Being able to order on the phone. But it [00:38:00] also, we wanted to, well if we're gonna do it, we're gonna do e-commerce. Right. And let them order cases online. It's too time consuming to start taking phone calls from food service customers around the country for one case, two cases, no less. Right. You know, that's not the best use of this team's time.

[00:38:14] So it was daunting and I was like, okay, well let's do it. We were locking out. Them. And something else that this guy wrote was, obviously you guys are only interested in big business. And you don't care about the small businesses in the backbone of this country. 

[00:38:32] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:38:33] Bonnie Sussman: Oh my God. I was like, I literally, that's one of the moments, I went into a room and sat there and I was just silent, silent.

[00:38:45] I had to lower the light and I just sat there thinking, okay. That's the final straw. I, I cannot read something like that and not do something about it. 

[00:38:53] Nicole Donnelly: Well, yeah, because you know what I hear from, I mean that what he was saying was completely against the ethos of [00:39:00] your brand. You know, like you heard that and you're like, wait a second, we're an innovative company and we care about the small businesses.

[00:39:06] And so, right. Because he was saying something like that and calling you out, you realize like, in order for us to stay true to our brand and who we are, We have to make this change and short-term, I bet it was incredibly painful, but I love how you saw the long-term vision of it. You said we've gotta...

[00:39:23] Bonnie Sussman: It was a, it was, it was a root canal.

[00:39:26] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. You, you were like, man, this is gonna hurt. But when we get on the other, you were looking at the other side of it and knew that on the other side of it, that's where you wanted to take that com, the company, and that's where you knew that you needed to position yourself and you're willing to to, to sheesh, do the hard, do the... 

[00:39:44] Bonnie Sussman: And I'll tell you. 

[00:39:45] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:39:45] Bonnie Sussman: The vision of doing it, actually it lines up now because if you, if you look around, everyone's talking about B2B e-commerce. Yes. Every company needs to offer B2B e-commerce. And you guys talk about it all the time. [00:40:00] Right On your show with Damon and Curt.

[00:40:02] And yeah, everyone's looking to get in to e-commerce. How do we do it? And for us, we did it already. Yeah. Do we have a lot to learn? Absolutely. Have we perfected it? No. Have we perfected the art of driving traffic? No. So there's a lot of stuff that make it hard and it's difficult and you know, you have to kind of like, you always talk about your, your avatar and Yep.

[00:40:29] No, you're getting the traffic and not being the best kept secret. And how do you do it? How do you get out there? And then there's, you know, is pricing right? Is, is, is your digital asset functioning properly? Is it too slow? It's too fast. Is it lacking information? Is it talking enough about the customer?

[00:40:49] Not about how fabulous we are as a company. You know, look at us. We're, we're fantastic. We don't really care about you. We're just. You know, look at our shine, all these things, and we're still working on [00:41:00] it, and we'll get it straight eventually, but at least we're, we're so far ahead of the game. 

[00:41:05] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:41:05] Bonnie Sussman: That we're not sitting here in this moment saying, how do we make this conversion right now?

[00:41:09] Nicole Donnelly: Well, that's the beautiful thing about a business, you know, growing a business and marketing a business. Is that what you just said is you're still working on it, like it's never gonna be done. And I think when you accept that and embrace that, like there's not really like an end game. There's just this process of becoming, and that's the beautiful part, like the beautiful part is like this journey that you're on and that you're constantly trying to improve your company, your product, you know, serving your customer.

[00:41:37] Like I think the more you stay in that zone and mindset, rather than trying to get to this, like in, in this what arbitrary end zone. That's where you're, I think that's where you're really gonna find the most joy and where your customers are really gonna resonate with you. So I, I love, love that so much.

[00:41:55] Bonnie Sussman: Agree. 

[00:41:55] Nicole Donnelly: So what is ...

[00:41:56] Bonnie Sussman: I agree. I agree, and that's not easy, you know, it's not easy. [00:42:00] I, like I said in my post, change is very uncomfortable. 

[00:42:03] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:42:04] Bonnie Sussman: There's nothing comfortable about change. It's painful and it's awkward and you know, nobody really ever wants to do it. We deal with it all the time. You know, we have this product, but in order to take GoLidZ in, you need to change.

[00:42:20] It's change how you're serving. Something big has to happen. And a lot of companies, you know, they, they talk about innovation. They're innovative, they're all about innovation. But when the doors close behind closed doors, they don't really wanna change. Not if it's going to mean, you know, upsetting multiple aspects of their business.

[00:42:42] Nicole Donnelly: That fear of cannibalizing business, right? A lot of companies are afraid of cannibalizing existing revenue streams, especially with e-commerce, if they've been inside sales and distributor networks and all of that, you know, and the, it's hard. Disrupt the disruptors that are making the impact [00:43:00] are the ones that are, are saying, screw it, I'm just going for it.

[00:43:03] You know? But I'm find a way. 

[00:43:04] Bonnie Sussman: It's, it's a really delicate. Delicate dance and it requires a lot of finesse and you know, I don't have all the answers. We don't have all the answers. We're all just learning as we go. But, but if you sit there as a company and you're frozen and you're not making any moves strategically to learn or to get in, then, then you're really gonna wind up screwed because you're gonna be, you're not, yeah.

[00:43:30] You're not following the ethos of, of commerce now. What's going on now, and you can't live the way you did two years ago. Whatever you did two years ago, nobody cares. And it's, it's probably no longer valid because so much has shifted. You know, look at AI. All of a sudden, AI is the thing. Two years ago nobody was talking about chatGPT. Now they are. So if you're not constantly evolving, then you're sleeping at the wheel and then you really just, you're waiting around for [00:44:00] it. I mean, look what just happened to Bed, Bath, Beyond. 

[00:44:02] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah, that's so true. And I think like earlier, like constantly evolving, you're, you're, you're, you have like developed this massively thick skin of like, I'm gonna hear the feedback we're getting from customers.

[00:44:14] I'm gonna stay close to that. I wanna know exactly what's happening. I'm gonna ask them every single chance I get. That to me is like you are staying on the cusp because the closer you can stay on that, do that and get that thick skin and hear that feedback, but actually act on it. Those are the companies... 

[00:44:33] Bonnie Sussman: It's like this, hit me.

[00:44:35] Hit me. You know? It's like, hit me. Hit me. I could take it. Hit me. You know? Finally, someone's like, fine, I'll hit you. You know? That's what it's, you have to, you gotta be willing to take the punch. Yeah. And not fall apart from it. That's the thing, like if you want to hear someone's feedback and then you're gonna crumble when you do hear the feedback, then, then you should not be in this business because [00:45:00] there's nothing more wonderful than someone telling you, look, you guys don't make the grade.

[00:45:04] We had that happen to us several times. We went to a show, actually it was a show a while ago. It was in Vegas, and it was still early for us and our iterations. We, we weren't, you know, we weren't at this size. It was way smaller. It didn't really hold even like a full hot tub, you know, we were still iterating and commercializing, but I sat down with a lot of CEOs and a lot of them were like, okay, do you wanna really know what's wrong with this thing?

[00:45:32] And I was like, yeah. And they're like, do you really wanna know what's wrong with it? Because we're never gonna buy this the way it is now. And yeah, it's a gut punch. 

[00:45:39] Nicole Donnelly: So happy. 

[00:45:40] Bonnie Sussman: It's a gut punch. They're like, it's too small. You need to make this thing four inches wider, four inches deeper. This, that. I'm like, what?

[00:45:49] Nicole Donnelly: What? What now? What? You wanna hear it, but you don't wanna hear it. 

[00:45:54] Bonnie Sussman: Yup. 

[00:45:54] Because you think you have something fantastic and you find out that they don't see it that way. 

[00:45:59] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. [00:46:00] It's ego, it's always ...

[00:46:00] Bonnie Sussman: It hurts. 

[00:46:02] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:46:02] Bonnie Sussman: Yeah, it hurts. Especially when you realize that it's gonna be time, resources, and money to fix it, you know?

[00:46:10] Get over, forget the ego. It's how are we gonna fix this? If in what? If what they're saying in fact is true, then how do we fix it? 

[00:46:19] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:46:19] Bonnie Sussman: And in our case, I flew home, I got off the plane and went straight to the manufacturer and I threw it on the table, and I was like, all right. Well, let's get to work.

[00:46:29] We have a lot to do. Now, why did I take what this person said as gospel? Because I didn't hear it from one person. I heard it from ten, 10 different heads of companies all saying the same thing. So if that's not enough of a yeah, you know, of a of a bar to listen to, it doesn't get much better than that.

[00:46:51] Nicole Donnelly: What a gift. 

[00:46:52] Bonnie Sussman: But trying it around that, you know, that part of it sucked. 

[00:46:56] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:46:56] Bonnie Sussman: Because now we have to, we have to change the whole product. Everything. [00:47:00] You know, when you're manufacturing and you change width width, depth function, it's functionality. And so you're literally changing everything and it's not a quick sketch of the pen,. It's not a new CAD.

[00:47:15] It's so much more than that. It's prototyping, you know, over and over and over to say, does this actually work? Can it be made bigger? Or did we hit the, did we hit the wall at the smaller design? So, so much time lost. But yeah. 

[00:47:31] Nicole Donnelly: Thank goodness you didn't hit a wall. Thank ... goodness, engineering wise, it worked.

[00:47:36] You figured it out. 

[00:47:38] Bonnie Sussman: Yeah. And imagine, imagine this. Imagine if I hadn't asked the question, right? We, we might be sitting here today with something that's, you know, this big, tiny. So what if we didn't force it? What if we didn't, you know, they said we're not interested, and we walked away and said, okay, nice to meet [00:48:00] you.

[00:48:01] If that's all we did and we never got the truth, then we might still be sitting here pedaling the wrong thing. Where we eventually would've gotten that feedback from someone, but it went At what point, you know, when would someone actually have stepped up to tell us, listen, this thing is not, it's not done right.

[00:48:18] It needs work. So, 

[00:48:21] Nicole Donnelly: Oh my gosh, this is like a masterclass. Masterclass, Bonnie. Oh, I wanna talk to you all day. 

[00:48:28] Bonnie Sussman: 10 years. 10 years of torture. We'll teach anyone. 

[00:48:31] Nicole Donnelly: Well, I do have one final question for you. And this question is, what is it that you wanna be known for? What is the legacy that you wanna leave behind?

[00:48:44] Bonnie Sussman: I wanna be known for a lot of things. Are you talking business or just overall? 

[00:48:52] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah, overall. Yeah. Bonnie, who 

[00:48:54] Bonnie Sussman: I want to be known as a creative spirit? Someone [00:49:00] who brings needed things to the world, solves problems. Someone who's empathetic. Someone who loves the relationships in their lives, you know, and doesn't treat everyone special.

[00:49:14] And what I mean by that is, Not everyone gets the same Bonnie. So I would never treat everyone the same. Cuz to me that diminishes that special feeling you have for the people that surround you, that you're closest to. They should know the best version of you. You're nice to everybody, right? And treat everyone with respect.

[00:49:37] But that special part of your heart and who you are is reserved for that inner circle that are lucky enough to. Be around you that you are lucky enough to be around. So I'd wanna be known being a, a wonderful wife, sister, daughter, mom, dog, mom, Wrigley, [00:50:00] you know, just someone who brings value to the world, a good listener, someone who listens, someone who's helpful, someone who cares.

[00:50:11] You know, someone who goes out of their way for other people. 

[00:50:15] Nicole Donnelly: Mm, that's beautiful. 

[00:50:16] Bonnie Sussman: What's convenient for you. 

[00:50:18] Nicole Donnelly: I see so many of those qualities in you. I think you're living that mission, so, and I think your dad would. Be would be so proud. I mean, when you mentioned the first thing you said you loved about your dad was that he was firm, but kind.

[00:50:31] And I see that I could, I mean, I can see that quality come through in you and so strongly, like you're just a tenacious, fierce entrepreneur, but you have this incredibly, incredibly credible empathy about you. So thank you for everything that you do. Bonnie, you're such an inspiration to me and to so many other... 

[00:50:48] Bonnie Sussman: As are you and my friend?

[00:50:50] Let's not, let's not. Let's not forget to throw some love Nicole's way. Cuz seriously, you're killing it. You are killing it also. And even with the podcast, I mean, [00:51:00] I know like this is new. 

[00:51:01] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:51:01] Bonnie Sussman: Right? For you it is. And you're, but seriously, you're a seasoned pro already. You are. And you ask good questions.

[00:51:11] You lead the person where they need to go. You make it comfortable and you make it fun. And that, to me, those are the best qualities of any podcast are out there. Those are the four top qualities you need to have, and you have every one of them in spades, so. 

[00:51:26] Nicole Donnelly: Oh my gosh, Bonnie, you made my whole day.

[00:51:30] Thank you. Oh my gosh. You're gonna make me cry. Well, thank you. This has been so great. I just, man, I'm so grateful to have you in my network. I'm so grateful. I've got to meet you through Curt. He's, he's an awesome connector, and you've just been, I'm so excited to continue to stay connected and can't wait for everyone to hear all of this wisdom you've shared.

[00:51:48] It's incredible. 

[00:51:48] Bonnie Sussman: You know, what we're we, we have, you're my, you're new friend. I'm my new friend. And so, and guess what? We don't have to, we don't have to do this. We can just pick up the phone. 

[00:51:57] Nicole Donnelly: Yes. 

[00:51:57] Bonnie Sussman: And dial and speak whenever we [00:52:00] want. So, yeah. And I've met, so I have some of the greatest friends from LinkedIn.

[00:52:05] We don't schedule appointments. It's my favorite thing. Sometimes when my phone rings and I say, okay, oh, it's so and so. It's not like, oh, when is it good for you to speak? I'll send you an invite. No, now it's a friend. The same way one of my girlfriends would call me, and if I'm busy, I might not pick up, or I might pick up and be like, oh, I'm, I'm busy.

[00:52:23] What? I, I'll call you later. 

[00:52:25] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:52:25] Bonnie Sussman: You know, a regular friend. So I, I now consider you in that group. 

[00:52:30] Nicole Donnelly: Oh my gosh, I'm honored. Well, when you're having a salty day, I'm here for it. When you're having an amazing day.

[00:52:36] Bonnie Sussman: Back at you. 

[00:52:37] Nicole Donnelly: I wanna, I wanna listen to that time. 

[00:52:39] Bonnie Sussman: I'm always willing to get a little salty. 

[00:52:43] Julie Basello: Tales of Misadventure is produced, edited, and moderated by Julie Basello with Basello Media Music by Marcus Wei.

[00:52:51] Special thanks to our amazing guests and the entire DMG Digital team. Visit us at dmgdigital.io to get access to all our podcast interviews and [00:53:00] other helpful resources. And if you'd like to get updates on the latest and greatest, please sign up for our email newsletter. We'll see you next time for another episode of Tales of Misadventure.

[00:53:09] Until then, keep falling forward.