Introduction to Birth of the Brands

Speaker 1 0:40

Oregon Media. What's been interesting for me in that vein of things is discovering for me what it all does mean to me and what are my ultimate goals. You know I go back to being in Bao and developing our why, what, how, all that, and really kind of struggling at first why am I doing this, what does this mean? How do I put this into words and all that? So kind of putting something down on paper, having a starting point and then seeing it evolve in my own head and realizing lately that connection is kind of my focus. So with the Giddy Up Glove, it's connection between people, connection to the outdoors. I want people who want to be around others, but if you put on the Giddy Up gloves, suddenly you're like your own hero because you feel a sudden confidence and power and joy in wearing it and you say, yeah, let's Giddy Up.

Speaker 2 1:54

Every brand you love, every product you admire, started as just an idea, sparked by a moment, shaped by a person, nurtured by a community. The Circling Podcast is proud to introduce Birth of the Brands from Oregon Media and BEND Magazine. I'm Adam Short. Join me as I sit down with founders from across Central Oregon and beyond. On this series, we follow seven brands that participated in the 10th annual Bend Outdoor Works Startup Accelerator Program, commonly referred to as BOW. Bend Outdoor Works' primary mission is to help outdoor startups scale and achieve their wildest dreams.

Speaker 2 2:39

On the third episode in the Birth of the Brand series, we meet Cherise Erlandson, founder of the Giddy Up Glove. What happens when a natural-born innovator takes on the familiar problem of cold hands and cold beverages in an outdoor community? Well, the Giddyup Glove is born, a quirky yet functional product that embodies Charisse's spirit of functional mischief and her love for community. Her entrepreneurial journey began in frigid Minnesota, learning the art of sales at flea markets alongside her father. That path carried her through creative education, cross-country travels as a lindy hop dancer and eventually to Bend, oregon, where her insulated beverage glove first took shape.

Speaker 2 3:29

When motherhood pressed pause on her business dreams, it was her daughter, esther, who sparked the revival. What began with homemade goods sold at a local market quickly shifted when every version of the early Giddy Up Gloves sold out, encouraging Cherise that she was on to something special. And it's not just gloves anymore. Again, inspired by Esther, cherise has launched a children's meditation podcast rooted in her daughter's love of storytelling, with ambitions that stretch from local markets to podcast platforms to NFL stadiums. Charisse's story is one of creativity, persistence and learning by doing, and learning by doing.

Speaker 1 4:22

Let's talk a little bit about the Giddy Up Guide to the Galaxy. Let's.

The Giddy Up Guide to the Galaxy Podcast

Speaker 2 4:24

I mean I'm really impressed. I've listened to all seven episodes.

Speaker 1 4:29

Really.

Speaker 2 4:30

And the rate of improvement from your first one. I mean, I taught myself how to do this. I don't know how much tech you're leveraging here, but it sounds really good.

Speaker 1 4:41

Thank you, yeah, very little tech.

Speaker 2 4:44

Really yes, are you writing everything?

Speaker 1 4:47

You know, I've come to embrace AI. I've named, I've renamed ChatGPT. Now I call it ChatGPTpt.

Speaker 3 4:55

Atlas atlas yeah we have a relationship? Yeah, but if you don't like that name, you're changing it to c3po. Yeah, that's not a bad idea, it is a little android kind of it's.

Speaker 2 5:09

It's like the first version of c3po, huh yeah and it can speak lots of different languages. Yeah, it's quite remarkable how quickly AI is influencing just about everything it is.

Speaker 1 5:23

So yeah, I've been using Atlas now to assist with writing my stories.

Speaker 2 5:30

Yeah.

Speaker 1 5:31

And I have given it a full training on why I'm doing this, as well as all of the concepts that I want to integrate into the podcast. I have trained it on different websites and information that I want it to pull from and use, and from that I've helped it develop. It's helped me develop an episode arc over four episodes and then every episode, all of the different parts of it, the you know. Here's my intro, here's my whatever, here's my story section, whatever. And every episode in the arc is formatted slightly differently and I'm still working on that, still deciding if it's how I like it. Um, and then I also had, uh, chat Atlas helped me write another song for Giddy Up, but this is Giddy Up Guide to the Galaxy, and then I put that into Suno and um had it write a few different variations of the song which I now use for my intro.

Speaker 2 6:41

Yeah.

Speaker 1 6:42

And then I paid for a Suno. So now I have copyright-free music that I can use for the rest of it, and so that's how I get the soundtrack behind as well.

Speaker 2 6:52

Why did you start it?

Speaker 3 7:05

Esther, you want to take this one? Sure, she wanted to find a kids meditation podcast, but she couldn't find any, and she thought why not try to find one if I can just make one?

Speaker 1 7:18

Right. So the full story on this is that my daughter here, esther. My daughter is fairly obsessed with podcasts.

Speaker 2 7:27

Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:28

She's seven years old now, but when she was probably four, I would say she started listening to podcasts and loves them. When she was even littler than that, we would drive around and I would say Esther, do you want to listen to music or do you want to listen to talking?

Speaker 3 7:48

Like in the.

Speaker 1 7:49

As in news.

Speaker 3 7:50

Yeah, she did that in the mornings a lot.

Speaker 1 7:53

Yeah, and Esther, inevitably, would only always say talking.

Speaker 3 7:59

Yes.

Speaker 1 8:00

So she likes information, she likes to learn, and so I started trying to find all these podcasts that would actually provide her educational content. Her favorite was Greeking out for the longest time. And I even had a Greekreek um birthday yes, she had a greek mythology themed birthday for her sixth birthday, um, so she listened to that whole thing about 20 times. We have all the books, everything, anyway, I Anyway.

Speaker 3 8:34

I'm like okay, what else yes?

Speaker 1 8:37

So I thought, well, what else can I find her? And I've been really interested in consciousness and energy and that sort of spiritual side of life, very interested in that recently, and I thought, well, maybe I can find something about that for kids. And so I started looking and looking, and, looking and looking, and of course I consulted Atlas and I just couldn't find anything.

Speaker 2 9:00

Yeah, yeah, that's a really good and interesting category of podcasting to explore, and I've actually had conversations with many of my friends who have children that are creative writers, or because I think there's a space and in the podcast universe for younger people to start creating content. So it won't surprise me, uh, as Esther learns this um skill from her, her mama, and uh starts becoming one of those characters, because you know, I guess, like who is the audience. I mean, it's designed for younger kids.

Speaker 1 9:39

Yeah, it's about six to 11-year-olds is kind of the goal I mean, you know, I want to design it for her and her age range, and so that's what I'm doing.

Speaker 2 9:48

And you have kind of two characters, Kai and Rhea, and they're I mean, my kind of interpretation is they're kind of exploring and guided by their curiosity around some of the mysteries of the universe.

Speaker 1 10:00

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 10:02

It's really cool. Thank, you. It's really cool, I'm super impressed and super proud of you.

Speaker 1 10:06

Thank you, I really appreciate that.

Speaker 2 10:08

Well, when you sent me that link a few weeks ago, it was your first episode.

Speaker 1 10:12

Yeah.

Speaker 2 10:13

And you were like what do you?

Speaker 1 10:14

think, was that my pre-episode, your first episode? And you were like what do you think? Was that my pre episode? Yeah, it was. That was the one that I did to see how I felt about doing it. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 10:22

Yeah, and then just quickly seeing this kind of theme, you know, where you're helping kids kind of explore self-awareness and confidence, and kind of the last couple episodes, like the power found in your voice and how words can change one's world, and just a very positive vibe that you're putting out there, it's really cool.

Speaker 5 10:42

That's the goal I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 10:43

And I, like you know, I mean it's, it's, and we're going to talk about the Giddy Up Glove, obviously that's kind of why we're here but

Speaker 3 10:49

like.

Speaker 2 10:50

I see this as like a really really awesome development and growth of just the Giddy Up brand right.

Discovering Brand Purpose Through Connection

Speaker 1 10:58

What's been interesting for me in that vein of things is discovering for me what it all does mean to me and what are my ultimate goals. You know I go back to being in Bao and developing our why, what, how, all that, and really kind of struggling at first. Why am I doing this? What does this mean? How do I put this into words and all that? So kind of putting something down on paper, having a starting point and then seeing it evolve in my own head and realizing lately that connection is kind of my focus. So with the Giddy Up Glove, it's connection between people, connection to the outdoors. I want people who want to be around others and who love to be social, but they don't like to be cold, and holding a cold drink outside when it's cold is just not fun, and so you sometimes miss out on these opportunities to hang out with other people because you just don't want to be there.

Speaker 2 12:07

Yeah.

Speaker 1 12:09

But if you put on the giddy-up gloves, suddenly you're like your own hero.

Speaker 2 12:12

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 12:13

Because you feel a sudden confidence and power and joy in wearing it and you say, yeah, let's giddy up. So let's tie this in real quick to the connection with the podcast, because again it's about connection. Yeah, only this time it's about connection with yourself and with the universe and everything beyond the universe. Yeah, so overall, that's one of my main things. I want to have people help people connect.

Speaker 2 12:45

And who? Inspired Kai and Rhea.

Speaker 3 12:49

Well, I inspired Rhea and mom even made me my own character, Zia Bright, the Curious Kitten. What's it called Zia Bright, the Curious Kitten.

Speaker 5 12:56

What's it called Zia Bright the Curious?

Speaker 3 12:59

Kitten.

Speaker 2 12:59

Oh, are you going to have some appearances on upcoming episodes? Mm-hmm, uh-huh.

Speaker 1 13:07

So we're going to have some episodes on Patreon eventually.

Speaker 2 13:10

Yeah.

Speaker 1 13:11

And that's where we're going to feature Zia Bright, the Curious Kitten, the most.

Speaker 3 13:14

Yes, that's where we're going to feature Zia Bright the curious kitten the most.

Speaker 1 13:16

Yes, as well, as we're going to have a regular guest character who has different names.

Speaker 3 13:22

Who is always my dad.

Speaker 2 13:26

Yep, yeah, it's funny. I was this morning. I was listening to some of the episodes and that thought came into my mind, like I went back to when I was seven and in that age gap that is your kind of target audience, and like I grew up watching Mr Rogers Neighborhood.

Speaker 5 13:43

Oh, so did we.

Speaker 2 13:44

And just that, like all the different characters. Yeah, and I just started thinking that you're setting a really, you're creating a really cool kind of imaginary universe where you can have these different theme characters that are kind of come back into different episodes, depending on kind of the message of that episode and and some of those characters backstories, and it's really it's super fun. I like that. It's super creative.

Speaker 1 14:09

Thank you.

Speaker 2 14:10

So I want to work on it with you.

Speaker 1 14:12

Okay, I'm down. Seriously, I want help yeah.

Speaker 5 14:15

I do.

Speaker 2 14:20

Because I think you have a talent for this, because even just the voices that you're starting to develop for these different characters, what do you mean? It's awesome, man, like it really is, and I just love that you're using the podcast platform to do it.

Speaker 2 14:35

Yeah, yeah, and I just love that you're using the podcast platform to do it? Yeah, and I remember, esther, when my youngest son was little and I would drive him to preschool most mornings, we would listen to the Story Pirates. Do you know the Story Pirates? Yep, yeah, and so he likes podcasts too. So I think it's a really fun platform for kids because it allows them to use their imagination just like us.

Speaker 2 15:00

But that's one of the like key things about audio is that it, it, it. It fills in some of the kind of missing pieces but allows your imagination to kind of explore. You know, and imagine what this these people are looking like and feeling like and you know it's really good. And she are looking like and feeling like and you know it's really good and she's a very auditory learner is what I've found.

Speaker 1 15:21

Um, I mean, she loves learning in general and books are great too, but she's very auditory and the amount of information that she soaks in that way is just phenomenal.

Speaker 2 15:31

Yeah.

Speaker 1 15:32

Yeah, that's good.

Speaker 2 15:33

Well, I'm excited to see where this podcast goes and you're pumping out the episodes, man. Well, I'm excited to see where this podcast goes and you're pumping out the episodes, man.

Speaker 1 15:37

Well, I wanted to start off with a solid 8 to 12. I've managed to get six out there so far, anyway.

Speaker 2 15:45

All right. Well, all these different brands that I was exposed to through our time, through Bend Outdoor Works and the friends I've made, and telling the brand stories through the stories of the founders, I love it and because I mean, really I think, just like we were talking about a brand or an idea, is an extension of you.

Speaker 2 16:05

So for people to really kind of understand this Giddy Up brand which is, I see it, already beyond the glove with this podcast and just talking with your friends and family about you know, you have a really cool story.

Speaker 1 16:20

Thanks.

Speaker 2 16:20

And it all started in Minnesota.

Speaker 1 16:25

Yeah, I mean, I am originally from there, Land of the cold. Good Well Esther.

Growing Up in Minnesota

Speaker 2 16:31

I got in touch with your grandpa. Aww, yeah, and we're going to listen to this and then we can talk about it.

Speaker 6 16:39

All right, Okay, so I worked at different resorts in northern Minnesota, mostly central Minnesota. I was gone during the week and working at resorts, and so I would usually have worked five days and have two days off, usually have worked five days and have two days off, and so her mother was her main source of inspiration while I was gone. Usually, when I would be gone, I would come home and I was hyped up first of all for being home and we would do things together as a family. My wife was a teacher and so she would take care of the days that I was gone, and it was more exciting to be with dad because I was gone. I did other types of sales for extra income, and flea markets really caught on with her. I sold gold, jewelry and, of course, to a little girl. She loved that and I always taught her to be cheerful and to treat the people with respect, and she just loved that. One of the biggest things was I taught her how to count money backwards. Instead of giving people money with a fistful of dollars in change, I taught her how to count the money backwards so they got the correct, and that just really got the older people fairly excited, because here was a little girl that could count correct change and in this day and age it's kind of rare to find that Shreece had made several dresses for Esther. I guess they were fancy little things and she wore them to school and her girlfriends at age five or six, whatever age she was at the time liked the dresses so much that her mother made that three else's said you know, mom, my friends want to have some dresses like you made for me. Well, she said they would like to have some dresses like mine if we could make them. And she said if I helped you make them and we sold them to my friends, could I split the profits with you? That just blew us away.

Speaker 6 19:09

She must have been about five at the time. I think it was a couple of years ago. I never brought anything business-wise to Esther, so that was taught by Cherie to her daughter to go out and do flea market type stuff out there in Oregon. She called home oh, this is a couple months back and she says I'm coming to Minnesota for 10 days and she says it's going to be on business. I says okay. She said, well, I'm going to set up a booth to show off my wares. And she came home for 10 days and she made a profit. She made enough money to pay for her trip and made a profit on top of it. So she'll be successful at what she does, no matter what kind of profit she brings in. She's having fun doing it.

Speaker 4 20:02

But she's also learning.

Speaker 6 20:04

She's been very enthusiastic about this business club in Bend there, that you belong to what she's been doing through that and picking up a lot of tips and help up a lot of tips and help. Grace, this is your dad. Just want to say that we are proud of you and the business you have started. We love you, we're always thinking about you and we're so happy that you are married to a great guy who is one of your biggest boosters, and your mother and I are also and Esther yeah, your dad's salt of the earth.

Speaker 2 20:51

Yeah, he's a pretty cool guy. Yeah, I really enjoyed talking with him and you know there was a lot of audio that obviously I didn't use, but just you know I really got the sense of how hard he worked when you were a kid.

Speaker 3 21:00

Yeah.

Speaker 2 21:01

You know, and he emphasized, like being away, and I could tell, just in the way he described it, it was kind of it was necessary, because you guys, I mean Pelican Rapids, 2,000 people, that's a small, I'm imagining a pretty rural community.

Speaker 1 21:16

Very small, very rural.

Speaker 2 21:19

Yes, what was life like growing up there?

Speaker 3 21:24

Well, she lived near a river that— Good point, Esther and she could go ice skating on it in the winters, and she went swimming in the summer.

Speaker 1 21:35

That's a great point. You know, my initial thought is not all that fond of it.

Speaker 2 21:41

Yeah.

Speaker 1 21:41

And that still reminds me of some of the beautiful moments that we did have, because we had the best location in the middle of town. We lived on about three acres, right on the river, and we went fishing all the time, swimming in the river. In the winters we went ice skating, we'd go sliding down the hills uh, it was it was amazing in that respect climbing trees. I spent so much time in those trees. I would climb up to the highest that I could get with a bucket and a rope and a blanket, and then I would send the bucket down and my mom would come out and I'd say, hey, mom, I need a blanket or I need a pillow. So she'd send up a pillow so I could make myself more comfortable. Then she would send up snacks and drinks and I would sit up in the top of the tree and read.

Speaker 2 22:29

I mean, I see, and I don't know if this is just me trying to make connections that maybe are there or not, but like I start seeing some of the influence, even for like this world of gididdy Up Galaxy, you know, like that kind of you know, I, when I listen to your episodes, I picture somewhere like that you know, yeah, Just kind of you know nature.

Speaker 1 22:52

Yeah, you know I spent a lot of time outside.

Speaker 2 22:55

Yeah.

Speaker 1 22:55

I spent a lot of time outside. We had a lot of other kids in the neighborhood. We would play every sort of game you could imagine, and then even in the winters I never I actually. When I was a kid, my favorite time to be outside in the winter was in the middle of a blizzard. That was my favorite. It was crazy. If you've never experienced a Minnesota winter in a blizzard, there's nothing like it. So yeah, I did. I spent a lot of time outside, especially when I was a younger kid and then, as I got older and more jaded.

Speaker 2 23:30

Yeah Well, that sounds like the ideal environment to grow up, like the first 10 years of life. And then you start looking beyond and kind of there's, you know, everything has its tradeoffs, you know. So like growing up in a small town has a lot of benefit, but then when you get curious about the world, you have boundaries on that.

Speaker 1 23:48

I had probably about five, five really good friends.

Speaker 2 23:53

Yeah.

Speaker 1 23:54

And we were all very different too. And most of them were pastor's kids.

Speaker 3 23:57

Like BFFs.

Speaker 1 23:59

Yeah, like BFFs, like people who I'm still in touch with today.

Speaker 3 24:02

Yeah, just very few people Like Leif and.

Speaker 1 24:04

Amber, exactly Like Leif and Amber.

Speaker 2 24:08

It's fun having you in here, esther. So middle school, high school graduated and you went to University of Minnesota in Duluth.

Speaker 1 24:19

I did For a short spell. I went there for a year.

Speaker 2 24:23

Yeah.

Speaker 1 24:23

Yep, yep, and you know somewhat, not all that quickly realized that I really was not interested in being there at all, why it didn't fit. Yeah, it just didn't fit.

Speaker 2 24:40

Yeah.

Speaker 1 24:41

It just didn't fit. Maybe it was the wrong timing. Maybe I just had zero idea of what I wanted to do. Maybe I just realized that all these general classes that don't mean anything to me in my life, I don't have any real purpose in pursuing. It wasn't anything. I was really interested in. That makes sense, thanks.

Speaker 2 25:11

Had you kind of tapped into this creative spirit of yours at that point yet, like when you were Esther's age.

Speaker 1 25:48

When I was around esther's age, I was drawing bookmarks on paper and going around to the neighbors trying to sell them okay yeah, um it's incredible little entrepreneur yeah, um, my my dad at one point said to my mom oh no, I think she's like me.

Speaker 2 26:12

Yeah, I mean your dad mentioned going to flea markets.

Speaker 1 26:15

Yeah.

Speaker 2 26:16

And I can only imagine that had a pretty big imprint on you. Yeah on you. Yeah, and fun because he was gone most of the week, so when you got to do these types of things, and just the exposure to that and the ability to interact with adults and, like he talked about, it is a skill set learning how to count money back, you know it's.

Speaker 1 26:38

It's a real different um experience as a kid going to a flea market and selling things. I mean I'm not sure how many kids experienced that, but I sure didn't see many other kids there.

Speaker 2 26:52

Sure.

Speaker 1 26:53

But I did learn a lot and you know it started probably teaching me about what hard work looked like on your own for yourself. My dad was around a lot more for for me growing up than he was for my sister and brother Gotcha, but he was still gone quite a bit, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 27:14

Yeah, my dad traveled a lot, um, when I was a kid too, for his job, so I can relate with that, uh. But I also was thinking about, you know, just that early exposure to kind of that outdoor market. You know, and and again, like when you started Giddy Up, you know one of your and, and even before you were starting to do some of these like pop-up markets selling some of the crafts that you and Esther had created together, and you know we'll we'll talk more about that, but I see a through line there.

Speaker 1 27:43

Yeah, you know, yeah, it's cool. It's never been something that scared me.

Speaker 2 27:47

Yeah.

Speaker 1 27:47

You know, I always wanted to do it actually and then it just took. Honestly, it took Esther pushing me to do it.

Speaker 2 27:54

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

The Journey Through Dance and Web Design

Speaker 1 27:56

Yeah, so when I wasn't in school, I had found that I ended up spending a majority of my time designing websites. My brother ended up teaching me about web design or developing websites when I was very little, when the internet kind of started coming out. He's a rocket scientist Literally, literally. A rocket scientist. Yeah, doctorate degree in aerospace engineering, owns his own firm, does work for Uncle Heath. He does work for a lot of the major air rocket places. You know, developing an HTML language from getting it in text on a page into uploading it through FTP and having it suddenly show up as an image on the screen, and I was enamored with it and so I ended up doing that all the time. That's why I have my domain name. I started way back when, but I have sharicecom. So I started, yeah, way, way, way back when just doing that in all my spare time, and I thought maybe I should go to school for this.

Speaker 2 29:11

Yeah.

Speaker 1 29:11

Makes sense.

Speaker 2 29:13

Makes total sense.

Speaker 1 29:14

Yeah.

Speaker 2 29:15

So after that, I mean you talked a little bit about this and I want to hear I don't know what the Lindy hop and Blues dance scene is oh my gosh, but like talk about this because it sounds like you.

Speaker 1 29:27

That was a large part of my life. For quite some time I started realizing that I needed to exercise and I wanted to make some new friends, and my brother had taken me to one Lindy Hop dance class at one point because he was in Lindy and he was on a performance team for Lindy Hop and that's how he met his wife. But he took me to one class one time and I thought you know that was really fun. So then I tried to go back another time. The first time I tried going, I was so nervous, ended up getting lost on the way there. I ended up bawling in my car and going home, yeah. So then I managed to get myself another night to try again. I'm like, okay, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this. And so I made it there, and that's kind of just where it all began.

Speaker 2 30:17

What is the Lindy Hop?

Speaker 1 30:18

So Lindy Hop goes back to big band era. You know the gangsta days. The underground goes back to big band era. You know the gangsta days. The underground. Yeah, the um I can't even think of any of the names for it now, zoot suits and uh, you know the fancy little dresses flappers yeah flapper dresses and all that.

Speaker 1 30:37

I mean it goes way back and it's highly energetic, super fun, really social. You know they're all social dances. I never went there with a specific partner. You go to lessons and you just go from partner to partner to partner throughout the whole class so that you can also be. It makes you a better dancer because you experience all of the other leads and the leads experience all the different follows, because everybody's different. I tell Esther that all the time Everybody's different and so the more you experience, the better you get. So it got to the point where, well, so it's Lindy Hop and East Coast Swing, that's kind of the basis of it. And then later on it transitioned into doing that and fusion dance, slash, blues dance. But that's when I got deeper into the scene. But it got to the point where I was out dancing five to six nights a week.

Speaker 2 31:37

Oh, wow, yeah, and you were traveling around to do this Eventually, I was.

Speaker 1 31:41

Mostly I just did that in town.

Speaker 2 31:43

Gotcha.

Speaker 1 31:44

We would just find a different place to dance. I would think there would maybe two lessons per week, some social dances, and then we would just go out to different places where there was music.

Speaker 2 31:53

And this was in Minneapolis, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 31:56

Yep, so they have these Lindy events all the time. They're all the time. They're all over the US, they're all over the world actually, and so you can find out where these events are and you can travel from one event to another or, you know, just go to one once in a while. I've hosted a couple of events as well. With a group. We actually hosted a couple in Minnesota and the Canadians came down Canadian Lindy Hoppers and they stayed for the weekend and we had a. It was a huge weekend full of just dance and dance and more dance and breakfast and fun. But one of the things about my husband is that he'll dance with me.

Speaker 2 32:38

That's huge.

Speaker 1 32:39

We'll just dance in the living room. We'll dance in the kitchen.

Speaker 1 32:42

He'll spin me around a couple of times Dancing is still a huge part of my life um it's important to me, but I don't, I don't do it like I used to do it. Yeah, um, but yeah, I ended up literally traveling around the country, dancing, going to events, so, and that was when I, when I left min um originally, I was just I was at I, I, I sold three-fourths of my things, I packed the rest up into, uh, my parents' house and a little bit of my friend's house, and then I packed everything else into my car and I started driving.

Speaker 2 33:21

And were you doing kind of in the background to support yourself, like, like web and yeah, so I was working for a company called Sleepyheads. Okay.

Speaker 1 33:30

And that whole time.

Speaker 2 33:31

I was working the pajama company.

Speaker 1 33:32

Yeah.

Speaker 2 33:33

I know that company yeah.

Speaker 1 33:34

Sleepyheadscom.

Speaker 3 33:35

Yep, Wow I actually have pajamas from them.

Speaker 1 33:38

Yeah, so I designed pajamas for them for a while too, and I worked there the whole time I was traveling. So I designed pajamas for them for a while too, and I worked there the whole time I was traveling. So I would work by day and I would either drive or dance by night.

Speaker 2 33:51

That's way ahead of the remote curve too. That's a fun life.

Speaker 1 33:55

Yeah, it was pretty wild. Yeah, it was pretty exhausting, but it was pretty wild. I had a lot of adventures.

Speaker 2 34:00

I can only imagine yeah, yeah, yeah, I had a lot of adventures I can only imagine.

Speaker 1 34:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So then I was in Virginia when my boss called me from Sleepyheads and said we're selling the company and I said congratulations, that's awesome. And so eventually what I did was I finished with Sleepyheads and all that and I said I can't stay here, I've got to go. I had saved up some money during that time, staying with my parents and a friend, and uh, so I packed up and I said this time I'm going west, because that's where I always meant to go originally, instead of spending two years on the east coast. I said, okay, I'm actually going west this time. And I don't know, I'm actually going west this time and I don't know where I'm going to go.

Speaker 1 34:47

You know I played with ideas of maybe I'll hop on a freighter, so yeah. So I was wide open. You know I had thought about working on a cruise ship. I had thought about going down to San Diego and trying to get a sailboat to be a crew on. Trying to get a sailboat to be a crew on. When I was younger, my mom and dad, as a gift to me, got me a class. It was a weekend-long course and I ended up with my barefoot charter certificate for sailboats up to 32 feet long.

Speaker 2 35:22

That's a good skill set to have. Yeah, it was pretty cool.

Speaker 1 35:25

It was pretty cool, never really took advantage of that, but really loved it. Yeah, and we had a sailboat growing up too. So, yeah, I thought maybe I could go be a crew on a sailboat, maybe I could this, maybe I could that. You know all these dreams opening the world. And I started driving out west.

Speaker 1 35:45

It was so awesome that trip, because my parents heard that I was going and they said, well, what if we just came with you? And at first I thought, no, are you crazy? I'm going, I'm camping, I'm doing all this. And they were like, yeah, I get it. I think mostly my mom said, yeah, I know, can we? Can we come with you? So finally I said, all right, let's do it. This was the last greatest epic adventure that I've had, with just me and my parents camping. So I came to Central Oregon to meet my uncle and aunt, whom I had never met before. I was going to go on and run all around the world while I never left. And now it's been about 15 years and I have a kid and a husband.

Speaker 2 36:36

Yeah.

Speaker 3 36:36

And a business. When did you meet dad then?

Speaker 1 36:40

I met dad probably around 2009?. That's a very good question. Let's listen to that. I met dad probably around 2009.

Speaker 2 36:46

That's a very good question. Let's listen to that.

The Birth of the Giddy Up Glove

Speaker 7 36:51

So Sharice and I are coming up on 10 years this year, but we were friends for about four or five years before that even so, yeah, so we've known each other quite a while. It's honestly been quite fascinating to see the drive and determination she's had with this and how much she cares about it and how much time and all of herself that she puts into it. Charisse just enjoys doing activities, whatever they might be, especially with Esther, and really focusing on the creative side of things. So Esther started making flower necklaces and fairy wands and all sorts of things and went to a kids market and was able to actually set up her own little booth and sell stuff and I, I think that was and Sharice obviously knew that this was something that she could do and she had started, um, you know, attending little markets here and there, um, and and Esther being involved in the um, the sale process of it. So she'd be there to talk to people and try and convince them to buy this or buy that. It's been pretty. They're a good little team.

Speaker 7 38:16

I mean, the Giddy Up Glove's been around for a long time. As far as Charisse's vision of it Obviously having a kid and the amount of time and energy that that takes, sidetracked that for a while and kind of just put it on the shelf and she started making these flower skirts and things like that for Esther and her friends. Everybody loved them. So she thought, oh, maybe I'll start trying to sell these, and the Giddy Up Glove was kind of one of those pieces. But obviously the Giddy Up Glove was by far the most successful aspect of her business at the time and so she decided to shift and focus in on that one. I think she had maybe 12 of them and they were all gone in a day and then she didn't really sell much of anything else and so she kind of went shoot you know why don't I?

Speaker 7 39:09

I should probably make more of these and yeah, it's kind of just spun off from there. This community is obviously it's, you know, it's an outdoorsy community and and obviously a lot of people like to drink beer and do things outside and this is one of those products that kind of assists with that for various reasons. You know, once they try it on, like they see it and they say, oh, hilarious. And then they try it on and they go, oh my, you know a lot of people don't need one, don't want one. But even then when they try one, they go, oh wow, this actually is a little bit nicer, oh wow, this actually is a little bit nicer. And so, yeah, I think if we were in, say somewhere, you know some other community that was not so outdoor focused, it wouldn't have, it wouldn't have got the drive from sharisa's side. She would have found something different.

Speaker 7 39:56

Functional mischief is a very good descriptor of of her personality. Um, you know, I've been figuring out how to get into trouble with her for years now. I think one of the first times would be Personality Disorder Sunday, where we ended up putting on wigs and going over to some other person's barbecue and none of us had any idea who anybody was. We just, yeah, just showed up as completely different people and then, all of a sudden, it was hilarious because we could pop the wigs off when you go in the restroom or something and come back out and be like who the hell are you guys?

Speaker 7 41:04

That kind of idea obviously has kind of transcended into our Giddy Up Glove business. Now my name is Adam Erlandson and I have the privilege of being the husband of Charisse Erlandson, the founder of the Giddy Up Glove, and my message to her would be one that's fairly simple and that is there is no limit, and she'll know what that means wow, making me cry here yeah, that's kind of the point yeah, you know like you know, I mean story booth is all designed about what I've learned in here and playing audio for people and then getting an opportunity for them to respond to it you know it's it's.

Speaker 2 41:55

I really enjoy doing it.

Speaker 5 41:56

It's fun it's powerful, yeah it's.

Speaker 2 41:58

There's just something in the voice right.

Speaker 3 42:00

Yeah.

Speaker 2 42:01

You know, and yeah so, yeah, it's a really cool story. I mean, again, you know we're talking initially getting here figuring out life, meeting your life partner, having a family, and then this kind of creative background background, always sort of wanting to build things. I mean and just seeing a need and a problem to be solved, and so I mean, we haven't really talked about what the giddy up glove is for people so explain what the giddy up glove is for listeners the giddy up glove.

Speaker 5 42:37

The Giddy Up Glove is like a mitten with a beverage holder in it that fully insulates your hand and your drink.

Speaker 2 42:48

And where did this idea come from? What's the story behind it?

Speaker 1 42:53

Well, ultimately, it started quite a long time ago, I think, when I was actually at my aunt and uncle's house in Palbutte.

Speaker 5 43:01

That's a long time ago.

Speaker 1 43:02

Yeah, I would say it kind of started then when I started really getting into knitting, yeah, and then from there I started getting into crocheting. But I started knitting and crocheting cup cozies. I like to keep my hands busy. I always need to be doing something. But I started doing that and then it was just it was fine. But I thought, well, this would be much cooler if I had a handle on it, so you could just tuck your hand through there and didn't really have to hold on to it.

Speaker 1 43:35

So I made it with a handle and then from there it kind of grew out and it just started covering your hand. And then from there I just thought, well, yeah, what if it does go down your arm just a little farther and it becomes more like a full mitten? So I did that. But I started developing a crochet pattern. I even sold some of those on Etsy for a little while. I sold a couple of them. They were cute. But I ended up between that and all of my other crochet projects I ended up crocheting so much that I ended up with hand problems, hand and wrist problems. I couldn't crochet anymore.

Speaker 2 44:11

I had to stop, like carpal tunnel. Yeah, sort of.

Speaker 1 44:13

Yeah, very common.

Speaker 4 44:16

Yeah, it was painful, and so I had to stop.

Speaker 1 44:19

I just thought I can't do it anymore and so I took a break and then I just kept thought, I kept thinking and thinking and thinking about it and I was like this is so cool. I really like this idea. All of a sudden one day I thought why couldn't I sew these? I like to sew. Sew these, I like to sew. I didn't have a sewing machine at the time, but I thought you know, if you sew this, you can make it with any fabric that you want in any shape that you want you can do whatever you want with it.

Speaker 1 44:54

This is amazing. And so I went out and bought a sewing machine and then gradually started developing a pattern for the giddyup glove and I went through so many iterations of it. It was crazy. My friends have ended up with so many different variations of the giddyup glove in formation. But I mean, how do you get input right? How do you yeah.

Speaker 1 45:20

You make things, you have too many, you give them to people. Yeah, and then you get input right. How do you? Yeah, you make things, you have too many, you give them to people? Yeah, and then you receive feedback right, exactly, even if that feedback is, this is cool.

Speaker 1 45:33

Yeah, and people not being stoked about it, people pretending like they're using it, you know, and none of those were insulated. Pretending like they're using it, you know, and none of those were insulated. They were like fleece on the outside and different, various different kinds of lining that I tried for the inside. But from there I went to, I don't know. I went to I think it was the Rain Shed in Eugene and they had some Thinsulate there and I thought, oh man, how cool would this be if I could insulate these. I mean, that's another level, right.

Speaker 1 46:04

So I bought a bunch of insulation and a whole bunch of different fabrics again, because I'm obsessed with buying different fabrics and um, and then I started kind of working on it again and and revising and whatever. And then, well, I actually went up to Bainbridge Island, adam and and I did, and we stayed there for a weekend and I had somebody work on a pattern for me for an iteration that I didn't know how to produce myself. You guys haven't seen this yet. It's a future, because it's going to cost more, but it has other features and it's very, very cool. But I had this guy make a pattern for me to produce this and um, it was just before we went up there for that weekend that I found out I was pregnant. So then we went up there, we did that, came home, but you know that that that's where the giddy up glove ended, for well, that's where it took a pause.

Speaker 2 46:58

Yes, yeah, yeah I mean the demands of life. I mean, like you, I'm also a parent and like you, I also have a startup business and you know there's only so many hours in the week and it's a juggle and sometimes it, you know, it extends timelines and I think you have to be flexible with your expectations.

Speaker 1 47:18

I try not to have expectations anymore, because that's a great way to be disappointed. But if you don't have expectations and you just kind of go with what you're working toward and you're excited about it, then it's just all kind of great, yeah, totally so, yeah. So then I was a stay at home mom for about five or six years, and then that's where the story comes in with Esther going to school.

Speaker 2 47:47

And picking it back up.

Speaker 1 47:48

Yeah, yeah, and so, yeah, that's when Esther said that and I finally I made all the skirts and then I said, okay, well, I guess the next step is to actually sell them. And so I had to find a market to get into or a couple of markets to try, and so we did. The next step is to actually sell them, and so I had to find a market to get into or a couple of markets to try, and so we did, got a couple markets, but then I dug out all the old stuff that I had made, and there was a lot of it and it was random.

Speaker 3 48:14

And she found the giddy-up glove?

Speaker 1 48:17

Yes, and I found my old bin of giddy up gloves in random states of disrepair. They were so random because I was just trying to figure it out, you know.

Speaker 3 48:39

So we got into a couple markets and the one that really did it was the Sun River Holiday Market, because it was cold out then.

Speaker 1 48:44

Yeah, it was the perfect time for it. Yes, and so we set up our market with all of our stuff there and right in the front. Foremost was the skirt hanger and all the pretty skirts on there and matching necklaces, because Esther would help me make necklaces that match the skirts. And we had a blast. It was so much fun. And then I had all my giddy-up glove. I thought, okay, I guess maybe I should pick this up again.

Speaker 2 49:30

You have a pretty cool mom, esther, you know that. Yeah, I mean, it seems like motherhood has inspired you in a lot of really cool, fun ways. You engage a lot and and clearly it appears to me, Thank you. You know, like in the stories I've heard and kind of the inspiration that Esther has brought to a lot of this is it's a it's it's really fun.

Building a Business and Future Goals

Speaker 1 49:53

Thanks, you know, I always just feel like I could be better.

Speaker 2 49:56

Well, we all do. Yeah, you know, I mean that that's. I think that's a common. I feel like that all the time. Yeah, you know but you, you know you do a lot of really unique, fun things with her and it's fun to see the influence that you've drawn from her and it sounds to me like if you wouldn't have been kind of pursuing some of these other interests of hers, you never would have gotten to that market.

Speaker 5 50:22

It's very true.

Speaker 2 50:22

You know, and then you never, those giddy up gloves still might be sitting in that bin.

Speaker 1 50:26

Yep, I honestly feel as though I owe a lot of this to her. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 50:32

I guess what were the series of events Like? So you had that success at the Sun River Market? Yeah, and then you picked it back up and started developing it more, improving it.

Speaker 1 50:44

Yeah, I gradually ended up making it better and better and better and making it more and more professional looking. That was my goal.

Speaker 2 50:53

Yeah.

Speaker 1 50:53

I just I wanted it to be a professional product.

Speaker 2 50:58

Sure.

Speaker 1 50:58

You know and I do get a lot of comments on that that people think, yeah, this is really professional looking, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 51:06

So Well, it kind of has to be.

Speaker 1 51:08

It does have to be yeah.

Speaker 2 51:09

Because and Eric's talked about it, adam talked about it, even your dad talked about it and you've shared a lot in class about you know people have one of two reactions when they see it. They either kind of dismiss it as a gag gift or they lean into it and see the functional kind of off like the problem it's solving Absolutely. So you have to for those people that lean into it and even the ones that don't like that professionalism and the quality of it can change people's mind or or validate what they already are thinking, right, you know.

Speaker 1 51:46

Yeah, I mean at this point, I have a lot of people who are actually surprised that I make them. You know, I make them at home and by hand. Yeah, they, they. It's like they expect a higher quality coming from a factory uh-huh instead of yeah, this is actually yeah you know I make these.

Speaker 1 52:08

Yeah, you know, somewhere along the way I found out about opportunity knocks and I was trying to develop all of this and figure it all out on my own and doing okay, but I felt like I was alone on an island and I didn't have anybody to talk to about it or support me with it. None of my friends wanted to hear about it anymore.

Speaker 1 52:33

I mean, adam will always support me, but he didn't want to hear about it really all the time either, and so I joined Opportunity Knox and through that ended up learning all sorts of other things, including about Oregon Outdoor Alliance, which I went to check out yeah, ooa. So I went to check that out at one point and ended up joining and then started going to their networking events and through that ended up having somebody say, oh, you need to meet Meg. And so that's when I met Meg and Meg saw the Giddy Up glove and she was like yep.

Speaker 1 53:17

And so that's how I got into BOW being able to talk to somebody about my big vision for this, about you know, the 10-year plan, and saying this is where I want to take this. She sees that, sees the drive and motivation, and says you're gonna need help. Yep, let us help you yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 53:37

What is your 10-year plan?

Speaker 1 53:39

10-year plan used to be the five year plan. That shifted a little bit. 10 year plan is NFL licensing.

Speaker 2 53:47

Yeah.

Speaker 1 53:48

Get them into stadiums and potentially be positioned to be acquisitioned.

Speaker 2 53:53

Yeah.

Speaker 1 53:54

A five year plan is college licensing because it's a little bit less complicated than the NFL situation, especially for my product.

Speaker 2 54:05

Yeah, have you been putting a lot of time into learning about that?

Speaker 1 54:08

Oh, I put tons of time into learning about it even before Bao, because that's what I wanted to gear toward. I just didn't know exactly toward, I just didn't know exactly. Yeah, I learned about all of the difficulties that I was facing, but I learned what I needed to do to follow that path.

Speaker 2 54:36

Yeah, it makes total sense. Yeah, you had a, you had a, you had a target. You just needed to understand the trajectory and start taking kind of the first steps to get in there.

Speaker 1 54:48

Yeah, and a lot of that was I need to sell a bunch.

Speaker 2 54:51

Yeah, sure.

Speaker 1 54:52

Which also means I need to make a bunch. And so then I thought well, if I have to make that many, I'm going to have to get somebody to make this for me, so I can sell them instead of sew them.

Speaker 1 55:02

Well, that's been a challenge, sure, I've had some help I have somebody who comes over and cuts fabric for me that's right and then I have somebody else who comes over and does some of the sewing for me, so he's starting to actually do some other things for me. So so, yeah, so I've had help. This is the most help I've ever had, but I wanted to outsource completely, and then I got a quote back from a place that I was talking to in Minnesota. I'd like to stay domestic and then I thought well, this way I could write off my trips back home.

Speaker 3 55:33

That'd be awesome.

Speaker 1 55:35

But I finally got a quote back from them and it was almost double what I can do it for Gotcha. So I said, well, that's not going to work.

Speaker 2 55:43

Yeah.

Speaker 1 55:44

I guess I'll just keep sewing.

Speaker 2 55:45

How many days a week do you sew?

Speaker 1 55:47

So yeah, when it comes down to the season, right before the season hits, Like seven days a week.

Speaker 1 55:55

Yeah, that's when I'll be sewing a lot more to try to finish catching up on my stock, be sewing a lot more to try to finish catching up on my stock, but a lot of my, a lot of the when it gets closer and closer to the season, it's like a day and night thing. I mean I'll be working as much as possible and I am a night owl, and so after Esther goes to bed, then I go up and work a lot of the time. Yeah, on the same way, yeah.

Speaker 2 56:17

Yeah, yeah, because I mean you're, you're, you are kind of a seasonal product.

Speaker 1 56:22

Yeah, right now, right now, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 56:24

So your fall winter, um, mostly I mean, you have a you have a really good website so you have like direct to consumer. Yeah, and then is that primarily where you're seeing most of your sales? And like outdoor markets.

Speaker 1 56:41

This year is really big for me because it's this is the first year I'm actually pushing forward. I am actually I'm actually making a really big move on the business this year, in every respect.

Speaker 2 56:56

OK.

Speaker 1 56:58

So, do you see it, markets has been mainly the only way I've sold so far and that's to finish and finalize, um, a lot of my messaging, my product itself and, um, kind of the whole package, get everybody's input that I can finalize it. It all make it as perfect as possible before I show the rest of the world. So I've kept it very, very quiet this year. This fall is when I plan on really hitting the website hard, along with social media and getting the product out there. So actually working on D2C e-commerce is a big push this year.

Speaker 1 57:49

In addition, I am upping the markets. That I'm doing because that's my quick cash. That's how I look at it. It's like this is my quick cash to keep it moving. I'll always bring in some money from it. It's not always a huge moneymaker, I don't make a huge profit, but you know what it's cash in my pocket and that's what matters. So I'm upping my markets this year. So my goal is to get at least 12 markets this year and then and this is a fairly short amount of time you know that.

Speaker 1 58:21

I'm hitting 12, and then I'm also working on wholesale accounts so I've started hitting up some retailers locally. They sound very interested. It sounds like most of the ones that I'm talking to don't actually purchase for fall until around fall, and so I'm kind of I'm learning that I thought they purchased earlier, but most of them don't.

Speaker 2 58:40

Yeah, and so that into your production.

Speaker 1 58:43

Yeah, so I made some new fall season designs that are gorgeous, by the way, absolutely gorgeous and I haven't even shown them to them in person, I just did one sample print of each one, and so I put those together and then I just designed a line sheet this morning that I'm going to get printed. Then I'm going to go out and visit all the retailers that I visited before. Plus, I have a new list to talk to. So I have my line sheet, my look book, my wholesale prices. I don't have a great margin in my wholesale, but for now it's get the foot in the door and then find places to improve that margin in the future.

Speaker 1 59:24

And that's kind of the direction with that. So, yeah, so the wholesale side is something that I'm definitely working on. I've just applied for COVID2, which is this Oregon Buys. It's something that you have to be accepted to be able to sell to a lot of different places, including, like where we were staying at the other weekend. I just went in to talk to them at the merch area and it was the Detroit Lake campground right up there, and they have to buy through this program called COVID, and apparently there are a lot of places that can only buy that way.

Speaker 1 1:00:03

Interesting and so you have to be a part of this and accepted into this to be able to sell to them, and so of course I went straight home and started filling out that application. But I think that might open up some doors and I'm not sure if that is kind of applicable for national parks or other state parks or anything like that yet. But if it is, hopefully I will be able to actually sell to them, which could change things a lot, because I think some national parks, especially this, could be a great product, especially cold weather places, Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 2 1:00:36

It clearly has like functional application, but also it's like a really fun memory keepsake especially when you start getting into branded ones.

Speaker 4 1:00:45

Yes.

Speaker 2 1:00:45

Right, and it's like it's better than buying a you know a postcard of a national park.

Speaker 1 1:00:51

Right, or oh, here's another sweatshirt, sure, or a magnet, here's another t-shirt, yeah, yeah, it's different, it's totally different. Yeah, and yeah, it's different, it's totally different, yeah.

Speaker 2 1:00:58

And they work really good, charisse, like when I tried the first one on, it was like, oh, I get it. I was very, I'm very impressed with it.

Speaker 4 1:01:07

Thank you.

Speaker 2 1:01:07

I have no doubt that, with your determination and just kind of vision and drive and personality and openness to feedback, which is huge you need it. Yeah, absolutely, you're going to find your way to where you want to be.

Speaker 5 1:01:25

Thank you.

Speaker 2 1:01:26

You're at a point now with this brand development and and the quality of it, um, and also they're starting, you're starting to see a little bit of competition pop up in places. Nothing, in my opinion, that I've seen, I mean, you shared with me, was it the? What's the brand? Kavu Kavu.

Speaker 1 1:01:46

That's the newest.

Speaker 1 1:01:47

Yeah, the best copy of my design. So I don't know. But I mean, the cool thing about mine versus Kavu is that they have one layer of fleece. It's not insulated other than by the fleece it's Polartec fleece. It's not insulated other than by the fleece it's Polartec fleece. So that's great, but it's not insulate, you know, and it doesn't stand up. I've I've thought about buying one. I probably should, um, but it doesn't stand up to mine. It actually mine actually keeps your drink cold. That's what a lot of people who have seen them before say Like oh yeah, those are. I mean, they look cool, but they just warm up your drink. I'm like, actually, this one keeps your drink colder longer, which is amazing, even when it's kind of warm out. I will use mine so it keeps my drink colder longer.

Speaker 2 1:02:37

Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:02:38

It's silly.

Speaker 2 1:02:39

Well, it's a very basic problem you're solving.

Speaker 1 1:02:42

Right, yeah, yeah, in a fun way.

Speaker 2 1:02:46

Any advice for entrepreneurs? Do it. Yeah, you just got to start right, you do.

Speaker 1 1:02:52

I mean, you have to start and you have to be open to understanding that, um, you know nothing and you don't even know what you don't know, and you're going to learn. If you want to, you will learn, yeah, and a lot of the times you will learn through your mistakes.

Speaker 2 1:03:11

Most of the time. Most of the time, yeah.

Speaker 1 1:03:13

Yeah, and that's how it works. Yeah, and so you have to be open to learning from mistakes. If you're not, it's going to be a really rough road for you.

Speaker 2 1:03:25

Awesome, I got one more piece of audio. I might put this at the beginning of the episode. I might not, but I wanted to play it for you.

Speaker 8 1:03:37

She was a roommate, a friend, a mutual friend, and said he had a friend that needed a place to stay. And I was like, yeah, I got a big old house with nobody in it. So she, I met her as a stranger coming into my house. She was living in a warehouse, kind of a little art co-op thing that she was starting to create, and she picked up knitting and she started knitting and we were all sitting around in the winter time, you know, holding beers and freezing our hands off, and next thing I know, she came out.

Speaker 8 1:04:08

You know the following week and she, I think, had knitted one and was like, check this out, what do you think? And I hope we were all just kind of giggling at first, like, well, you know, kind of neat, but uh, I don't really know. Um, and then she's just continued with it and gotten better and better at it and they're pretty sweet. We've given them out Christmas gifts almost every year now we have them in our little camper. So every time we go out camping, you know, it just seems like man, you know where's that Giddy Up glove and they turn out to be a super useful thing. But yeah, at first, look, you know, you're kinda like what you know, this is funny. And then, yeah, like I said, you use it and like, dang, this thing's pretty sweet. Yeah, I saw her.

Entrepreneurial Advice and Friendship

Speaker 8 1:04:47

We went to one of the you know Winterfest or something like that, and we were helping somebody else. I'm like oh, hey, yeah, and we were like huh, interesting, I wonder. And then come the end of the show, when we're helping somebody else pack up, she'd sold out of all of them and like way to go. Uh, I'm watching people walking around with them, trying them on and uh, yeah, it's just awesome to watch her grow. She's definitely on the professional tip on it. Uh, she's always busy sewing away at them and she's, you know, calling other people into coming in and helping her put together patterns. And like, every time I see her she's like you know, I've got something to do, she's working on something or she's got new patterns out and which is great, and you know she's definitely got the mind for it and she's got the creativity and she's positive go-getter. She's not going to sit around and just kind of, you know, hope that something happens. She's going to give her full every time she tries something. She's just kind of always been an entrepreneur. Yeah, she's just, she's fun to be around. She doesn't think like normal people and you know she doesn't take no, she just continues her path and like this is what I'm gonna do and she sticks with it and it ends up being better and better and better every time.

Speaker 8 1:06:08

She's just a great personality. Hmm, I could totally see them having, you know, nfl and whatever professional sports leagues on them gloves and selling them at stadiums or you know, I mean, shoot, she could do anything with them because, like I said, they start out as a gimmick and then all of a sudden you're like this is the sweetest thing that I've used in a long time. My name is eric atwood. Uh yeah, originally from santa cruz, I've been living in ben since 98. Sharice has been my best female friend for probably damn near 20 years. I just I love the heck out of her. I can't promote her enough. I love her products and I think she's got more coming down the line. It's just a matter of time and she's just one of the most creative people I've ever met and I wish her the best.

Speaker 1 1:06:59

Right, yeah, it's a good friend, just a little. Yeah, it's a good friend.

Speaker 2 1:07:03

It's a cool story. Sharice, thanks. You know it's a simple product. It's got a. It's got a cool story of how it came to be. You know, when you kind of zoom out all the way back, you know from a kid and I can only help that you know the the blizzards that you enjoyed like going out in when you were a kid in Minnesota. You know the blizzards that you enjoyed like going out in when you were a kid in Minnesota.

Speaker 1 1:07:27

You know I can only imagine you enjoyed doing that because you were warm and comfortable.

Speaker 2 1:07:30

Yeah, I didn't like being cold or wet, so like you, see that kind of early solution to the problem, that thread carry through and the life experience and whether it was with design or or illustration and drawing, and creativity and crocheting and knitting and ending up in bend and seeing this. You know it's, it's cold here and there's a massive outdoor community that a lot of people sit around fires and in their backyard or at the mountain right and and uh, yeah, I mean it, it it may, it's not.

Speaker 2 1:08:04

It's not hard to see the problem that you're solving anything I didn't ask.

Speaker 1 1:08:09

We just covered so much stuff. Yeah, it's kind of a. I always feel. And knowing that it's there, I always feel, and knowing that it's there, yeah.

Speaker 2 1:08:41

Good Well, that I'm happy, because that's what it's all about is kind of the you know, the journey of trying to go where you want to get to, and the people and the relationships that you make along the way. That's what really kind of, that's what creates a brand.

Speaker 1 1:08:55

You've been a great reminder of. My entire life is my story, and I don't always view it that way.

Speaker 2 1:09:10

Well sure, I don't think any of us do.

Speaker 1 1:09:13

When I review it, like you've helped me do, I make a lot more sense, and so does it. Actually, I don't make a lot of sense, I'm kind of just a wild card, but it helps my story make more sense, even to me, and I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 1:09:31

Yeah, you're welcome.

Speaker 1 1:09:32

It's my pleasure.

Speaker 2 1:09:33

I love doing this. It's fun.

Speaker 1 1:09:35

Yeah, yeah, it's really fun. I can see why yeah it's really fun. Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:09:42

So where do people find your stuff? And I mean you're intentionally you've kind of been quiet on social media and that I can relate to that as well, but I mean, where, where can people look for you?

Speaker 1 1:09:52

You can easily go to the website that's giddyupglovecom. You can go there for regular e-commerce. You can find all the styles that I have for sale. You can also, if you're interested in wholesale, go to my direct fair site and I believe that's faircom, slash, giddyupglove or something like that. If you go to the website, it's on there. You can also subscribe to the newsletter and you will get all that information through the newsletter as well, including some cool cocktails to drink, some tips and hacks for camping and other activities like that. Yeah, otherwise, find me at some markets in Bend for now, but I'll be branching out and hopefully you'll find it in some stores too.

Speaker 2 1:10:46

Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:10:47

Here and there, but the website's the best way.

Speaker 2 1:10:49

Yeah, I think you should have a giddy up glove ad in your podcast.

Speaker 1 1:10:55

I think you're right.

Speaker 2 1:10:56

Just why not this episode? You know it's free marketing.

Speaker 5 1:11:01

Yep.

Speaker 2 1:11:02

You know and I think you're right and most of the time, I would imagine parents will probably be listening to some of these episodes. So you front load the ad, and there you go.

Speaker 1 1:11:11

Yes, yes. And then there's the Patreon, where I'm going to do more like adult meditations and stuff like that too.

Speaker 3 1:11:19

So I don't know.

Speaker 1 1:11:20

I'd love to work with you on this.

Speaker 2 1:11:24

I would. It'd be really fun. I wanted to play an intro to one of your episodes so people get a sense of what it sounds like. And is it only on Spotify right now?

Speaker 1 1:11:35

I just got it on some other platforms. So I spent a little bit of time because I had a friend who only listens to Apple Podcasts. She's like is it on there? And I said well, not yet. So, what did I do? I went home that night and I figured it out.

Speaker 2 1:11:47

Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:11:48

So now it's available on some other platforms as well.

Speaker 2 1:11:50

That's great, yeah, yeah. What platform are you using to distribute it?

Speaker 1 1:11:53

I'm sort of. Spotify for creators, yeah, yeah. I got some recommendations for you on that front too, I was just looking for cheap and easy yeah for sure Cheap and easy.

Speaker 2 1:12:08

All right, well, thank you for doing this.

Speaker 1 1:12:10

Thank you Super fun yeah.

Speaker 2 1:12:13

Thank you, esther, uh-huh, yeah. So yeah, people, if you have kids, a little sneak peek here.

Speaker 5 1:12:24

There's a galaxy inside of me, a spark in you, a thought set free. We're more than just what most eyes can see.

Speaker 4 1:12:33

This is the Giddy Up Guide to the Galaxy.

Speaker 3 1:12:39

Hey explorers, the Galaxy.

Speaker 5 1:12:44

Hey explorers, welcome back to the Giddy Up Guide to the Galaxy. I'm Cherise and I'm so glad you're here, because today we're exploring one of the most powerful tools you carry with you every single day your words, not just the ones you speak to others but the ones you whisper to yourself.

Speaker 2 1:13:14

On the next episode of Birth of the Brands from Ben Magazine and Oregon Media, join me as I sit down with Kai Nevers and Kate Raber, recent graduates of Oregon State University, cascades and alumni of the OSU Cascades Outdoor Product Program. While still in school, they launched their brand Wanderhut, with a mission to create the most accessible, intuitive and soulful car camping solution on the market.

Speaker 4 1:13:48

So actually this little grandma in my neighborhood, she ran like legit sewing lessons out of her basement. She had like six stations set up and then just all these like young kids from the neighborhood we would like show up at a certain time and basically it was self-guided. So we would pick what we wanted to make, bring in like the pattern and the fabric, and then she would just help us get from like a to z. And so I did that for like seven years. At the time it was just a hobby and I thought it was fun, but I didn't realize that it would be like my life's work later on.