Why trusting your instincts and getting the right support are the skills nobody teaches you in eCommerce, with Lauren McBean from Kuddly Kids

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (00:16)
Hi and welcome to the Bright Minds of eCommerce podcast. I'm Dahna, founder of Bright Red Marketing, and I created this podcast because I wanted to bring you the best advice from Australian experts in eCommerce and eCommerce store owners. If you're wanting relatable stories and actionable advice, as well as the latest Facebook advertising strategies, you're in the right place. So let's get into today's episode.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (00:36)
Hi and welcome to the Bright Minds of eCommerce podcast. Today we're here with Lauren from Kuddly Kids. Welcome, Lauren. It is so good to have you. Lauren's one of our favourite clients, she's wonderful. You own Kuddly Kids — give us a little bit of the rundown. What is Kuddly Kids?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (00:41)
Hi, thank you for having me!

Kuddly Kids — this is a tricky question for me to answer sometimes, because we are so broad. But we are a children's and baby store, and we have anything from your first little baby up to about eight years old.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (01:07)
I am biased, obviously, because Lauren's a lovely client of ours, but the stuff she has is so bloody cute.

Let's go back to the beginning. You bought Kuddly Kids — what was that process like? Because buying businesses is something people are always curious about.

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (01:22)
Honestly, I had zero idea of what I was doing. I stumbled into Kuddly Kids one day when we'd moved back to the Sunshine Coast, with my daughter in my arms asleep, hunting down a Christmas present. And I walked in and went, if this shop ever comes up for sale, I'm gonna buy it.

And the universe had their ears out that day. A few months later — I think it was a few months later — up pops into my Instagram feed: Kuddly Kids is for sale. And I think I nearly blacked out, because I was like, well, my God, okay, I've said this, and now here it is, and I've got to do something about it. So I had zero business experience going into this. I had no idea what it was like to run a small business.

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (02:12)
I'd worked in retail, I'd worked in hospitality, I was an interior designer, I was a property stylist — and then all of a sudden I was like, so I'm just gonna run a shop. Right, cool. Yeah.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (02:22)
Yep, fab, love that. Was there anything in that process that you learnt where you're like, that would have actually been handy to know before I bought a business?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (02:30)
Like everything, so many things. I probably wish that I was a bit more firm, because I felt really unsure. I remember doing the stocktake when we were taking over — we had to figure out how much product they had on hand so that we could pay them for that. And I wish I'd been a bit more brutal in saying, actually, no, I don't want that stock. I don't want to deal with problems that you've created. And instead I just took it all on board and thought, well, I'll deal with that later. And it created a lot of work for me. Some of that stock is still hanging on now, and I'm like, this year I'm gonna get that sorted.

So I wish that I had a bit more confidence in my ability to say, no, actually, that's not something that I want to take on. But I was so fresh, so new, I had no idea what I was doing.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (03:11)
Just put it in a gift bundle and give it away.

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (03:14)
Exactly!

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (03:27)
Are you still happy with the life choice to have that dream, and then it popped up and you're like, yes? Is there anything that you would change in that process now?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (03:37)
Man, I don't know — depends on what day you ask me. Look, we've had a lot of life changes in that time as well. When we bought the business, my husband was working away, not to the capacity that he is now. We had a very different family environment. And we've also started homeschooling our kids in that time. So so much has changed.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (03:41)
I mean, that's a business owner, right? That's always how it goes.

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (04:04)
I'm glad that we did it, and I'm glad that we have the business, because it gives me the opportunity to feel like I'm doing something — that I'm not just mum, I'm actually creating a business. And I've been really reflective lately, thinking, look at what we've done in five years, like from where we came from to now. I really need to give myself probably a bit more credit for it. Because if 2021 Lauren saw where we're at now, I just don't think she'd really believe that we actually got there. It didn't feel like it then. It just all felt really hard at the beginning.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (04:41)
You should be so proud. Yeah, it's one of those things where you look back and you're like, actually, I really have come so far.

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (04:48)
Yeah, because it happens in little stages. It's just one little decision and one little step. When you're in it, you feel like all those little steps aren't making a difference. And then all of a sudden you look back and five years' worth of tiny little steps have grown this incredible business. And then you're like, hang on, maybe I do kind of know what I'm doing. I didn't back then, but maybe now I've learnt with all those little steps that I've kind of figured things out a bit more.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (05:16)
Yeah, I think even for us, even the last six months, I'm just like, what has just happened? This is great, this is so exciting, but what is happening right now? Obviously a lot has changed in those five years. This is a marketing-ish podcast — what is the biggest difference in the way that you were marketing your business when you bought it versus now?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (05:37)
Man, when I bought it, I was scared to hell of marketing. I just had no idea how to market the business and also market myself. Social media was just terrifying to me — the thought of getting out in front of all these people and putting myself online. It blocked me a lot. And I have been thinking lately, if I had got myself out on social media back then, would we be in a better position now? Because I think I held the business back a bit by not fully embracing social media and kind of disregarding it a little bit.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (06:16)
It's a hard one, because it is just so scary. So you're certainly not alone in that. I mean, one of the reasons that I reached out to have you on the show is from a reel you posted — so people are watching them. You had a really lovely reel where you talked about all of the wonderful businesses and humans that are supporting you. When was the first time that you really realised that you needed help and either couldn't or didn't want to do business alone?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (06:41)
Ha, thank God! Look, I'm pretty lucky — right from the beginning, my best friend had moved back to the coast and we're both living here. And she just happens to be a branding designer and web developer. So I didn't realise it back then — maybe I did — but she was always by my side, helping me with our website. She did a lot of branding. She helped me set the shop up the first time we opened.

Without her, I couldn't have done all those things in the early days. But then stepping comfortably into finding the next person to help — that was a few years away. Because there's a big difference between trusting your best friend who you've known since you were five, and then finding the right people to step in and support you with the business. And it probably wasn't until I burned my nervous system to the ground trying to do all the things that I went, actually, I can't — I've got to let go of the reins. I've got to let go of control and get some help.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (07:44)
Yeah, there always tends to be a breaking point. Sometimes there is actual breaking involved, unfortunately, and sometimes there's just a kerfuffle where you go, okay, moving on.

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (07:56)
Yeah. And I remember that so clearly. We had a big warehouse sale — we were clearing the deck of a whole lot of dead stock that we were holding on to, and it was massive. It was like a week of prep, three or four days of this massive setup. And at that point, I had hired my first staff member, so we had the wonderful Jackie working. But I pushed myself so hard. And then I got so sick afterwards — it was one of those winters that was just burned into my body and into my mind. It was horrific.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (08:35)
I'm unhappy that you had a horrific experience to get there, but I am happy that you have wonderful people to support you now. For anyone who wants to avoid the burnout, or is there themselves, what were some of the lessons in handing things over that made that easier — whether they were lessons you learnt in the doing or in the after?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (08:53)
Probably my biggest lesson is that you've just got to let go of the reins. You've got to let go of control. And you've got to be really clear on what your business is and what it stands for. I think this is something that I didn't have when I first started handing off work to people — I wasn't totally clear on exactly what Kuddly Kids was. And I'm only probably really getting that clarity now. When I handed things off to people without that clarity, it flowed through and made it hard for them to do what they needed, because I didn't know what I needed at that point. But I also just needed to get some help. So it was kind of like learning while doing.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (09:39)
Yeah, it's really hard. I've been really lucky with my hires. You've met some of my girls and they're all absolutely amazing. And it is such a hard thing when you've been it for so long to hand the reins over and go, you're now responsible for this one bit. Obviously that letting go is something a lot of people really struggle with. Do you have any tips for people in that position where they're like, I just want to keep it for myself, even though it's probably not something they should be continuing to do themselves?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (10:11)
I think if you find the right people and you vibe-check them and you find your people, the handing over is so much easier.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (10:18)
I'm in agreement. I, rightly or wrongly, am very much a vibes hire. Qualifications are important, and knowing that you can do the job is great. But I need to feel like the vibes are gonna match. Because for me, people come to us because they like the vibe of me — they've usually spoken to me first — and it needs to sort of go along those lines.

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (10:45)
Yeah, definitely.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (10:53)
In your store especially, if people are face to face or you're having meetings, you need to be on the same page. And I think that's really important. How did you decide what were the jobs that you wanted to keep doing versus the ones you wanted help with?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (10:58)
It was the jobs that terrified me that were so far out of my realm of knowledge. Being a mum, being an interior designer — I could pick the products, I could make the store pretty. But Meta, I could not do. I think I went into the dashboard and panicked and went, no, I can't, this is not something that I can do.

So the things that I had experience with, I held on to. The things that I could learn myself, like social media, I've had some massive learning curves with. But I handed off the things that I tried to learn and they made my brain hurt and made me unhappy. And I just went, I can't — it's not worth it. My time is too valuable to be trying to wade through all this knowledge.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (11:47)
Yeah, I think that's the wisest way of doing it. Because there are some parts of business that we enjoy that we probably should get rid of anyway, but we enjoy them. And then there are other parts that you procrastinate because you don't want to. It's tricky, and it's hard out there to find the right people. If there are people who are struggling to let it go, what are your words of encouragement?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (12:08)
Just give it a go. Just jump in and try it. Because the fear of handing off is holding you back — the only way you're gonna get over that fear is by giving it a try and handing a bit over to someone. Just be one with the feelings.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (12:26)
Yeah, sometimes you've just gotta do it. Sometimes you've got to jump.

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (12:28)
Exactly.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (12:29)
You have had a real transformation with your socials recently. It was something that I know you struggled with a little bit, and you are doing such a fabulous job at the moment. What is it that you struggled with previously, and what do you think has shifted to make that easier for you now?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (12:47)
Thank you. I really struggled with being perceived by a lot of people. I found that the version of myself that our in-store customers were getting, and the version of myself that I was putting on social media, were two very different people. Because I can do in-store — I can chat to our lovely customers. I've never said anything that I would be embarrassed by. But it's so different to talking online, like talking in person to your customers.

There's no comment section. No one's gonna come along later and say, hey Lauren, that was a bit of an overshare. But online, you put something up and it's out there, and you have to be ready to deal with the energy that comes back at you from that post. And I'm still really working on it, because any sort of negative comment that comes online, I have to really process and think about. My body goes into instant panic mode.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (13:52)
You've been doing such a fabulous job lately. Obviously we work with you, so we're on your socials all the time, but you've just been doing such a great job. The diversity of content, the way you've been doing things is just really good. So whatever you're doing is working.

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (14:05)
Yeah, thank you. I just bit the bullet and jumped in.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (14:10)
I mean, also, having Emily saying please make more! We know from your ads that people just love you and love the way that you talk and explain things. That fear and that feedback is always really hard.

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (14:24)
It is. But then in store, that's the person that I am — I'm the crazy person rabbiting on about all the toys and why we love them.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (14:31)
I think you've nailed it though. It's that fear of being perceived. Like it's one thing to be weird to one person, it's a very different thing to be weird to the whole internet.

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (14:40)
Yeah, exactly. And you can sense-check people. When customers come in, I can do an energy check — like, ooh, no, you're a bit serious, I'm gonna rein myself back in a bit. Or like, okay, I can feel you're weird, you're just like me — we're gonna go on a little roller coaster of emotions together. Because we get all sorts in store. We get grandparents, we get first-time parents, we get aunties and uncles that don't have kids and are buying for their nieces and nephews. We have such a diverse group of customers.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (15:11)
Yeah. What would you say the biggest challenges are in running both a physical store and online?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (15:19)
Probably that a lot of people just don't understand the dynamics of running both. So when I'm trying to get help, even with social media or marketing or anything, they're two different beasts and they each need their own things to thrive. And I'm still figuring out what they need. Even with different products — we have products that sell beautifully in store but will not sell online. And then we have ranges that sell beautifully online but don't sell in store. So it's this very weird balance of having to keep both happy. It's like running two businesses at the same time.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (15:57)
Yeah, as much as they're the same business, they have to be approached differently.

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (16:04)
Yes. Like, with every stock order that comes in — okay, will this sell well in store? How is it packaged? Does it look good in store? But will this post well? Oh my gosh, yeah.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (16:13)
Is it gonna post well? Obviously you've been doing this for a little while now — what would you say is the biggest lesson or challenge you've had in business?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (16:25)
Probably just to trust my instincts more. I ignored a lot of things that my instincts and my gut were telling me in the early days — I held on to what I thought I should be doing. One big thing in particular was children's fashion. Kuddly Kids was a children's fashion brand 48 years ago — it's where I went to shop with my grandmother and my mum to get your special outfits. And everyone was saying, we need older kids' clothing, we need boys' clothing, we need this, we need that. My gut was telling me it might not be a great business decision. But I ignored it and went, we'll go half-half, we'll up our fashion range. I am still dealing with the fashion from that mistake.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (17:12)
There is something to be said for trusting your gut in business. Sometimes it's wrong, but —

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (17:17)
Yeah, I know. Sometimes it's wrong. But yeah — I did it anyway. Exactly.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (17:31)
Wild. If people wanted to come visit you either in store or online, what's the best way for them to come check you out?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (17:38)
You can visit us online at kuddlykids.com.au, but if you're a Sunny Coast local, you can pop into our Buderim store.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (17:47)
Amazing. We have a couple of questions we ask everyone just to wrap up. Have you got a favourite business book or podcast?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (17:53)
I have been listening to The Climb by Cherie Clonan of The Digital Picnic. I love a lot of her stuff. It's about being a neurodiverse business owner — because I have my own spicy little household — and it's been a really lovely way to look at doing business outside of the neurotypical kind of framework.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (18:18)
Yeah, I love that. And what would be your best piece of business advice you've ever received?

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (18:24)
This is a hard one. I feel like there's a lot of advice that I've been given that I wasn't ready to hear, and then it slowly seeps back into you later. But I really think it's just trusting your instincts, trusting your gut, and believing in your own capability to make good decisions for your business — even on bad days.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (18:50)
That is good. Well, thank you so much for joining us. It's been a pleasure having a chat.

Lauren McBean – Kuddly Kids (18:54)
Thank you for having me.

Dahna Borg – Bright Red Marketing (18:55)
Thank you for listening to the Bright Minds of eCommerce podcast. As always, you can find the show notes on our website at brightredmarketing.com.au — just look for the podcast page. Thanks for listening.