============================================================
TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
============================================================
[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Candace Podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: So hi everyone, today I'm with Laura, founder and CEO of Maison Test,
[00:10] SPEAKER_01: an online Canadian luxury home linen brand.
[00:13] SPEAKER_01: So Laura, thanks for being with us today.
[00:15] SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
[00:17] SPEAKER_01: Wonderful.
[00:17] SPEAKER_01: So as we always do on Candace Podcast, we like to learn about entrepreneurs' life,
[00:22] SPEAKER_01: how they got to start their own business, what is their vision for their life,
[00:26] SPEAKER_01: as an entrepreneur.
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: So you tell us how you became an entrepreneur and like, what's your story?
[00:33] SPEAKER_00: So I don't think that you become an entrepreneur.
[00:35] SPEAKER_00: I think that you are an entrepreneur.
[00:37] SPEAKER_00: It's something that you need to have the DNA make up to be able to do that every day.
[00:43] SPEAKER_00: You need to have a specific personality type, very clear vision,
[00:48] SPEAKER_00: and you cannot get caught up on details.
[00:50] SPEAKER_00: You have to stay very macro because there's a lot of details that come in the day to day
[00:55] SPEAKER_00: that could derute you from your main mission, but you have to stay very steady and very clear
[01:00] SPEAKER_00: onto what your goal is.
[01:02] SPEAKER_00: As for Maison Test, our main goal is to become the leaders in bedding
[01:07] SPEAKER_00: and anything home where throughout Canada.
[01:10] SPEAKER_00: And we launched, well I launched Maison Test in 2017.
[01:14] SPEAKER_00: So my story came about very naturally.
[01:17] SPEAKER_00: I was a young mom, I'm still a young mom, but I was a young mom in 2017.
[01:23] SPEAKER_00: Two kids in two years, and so during that time I was home a lot.
[01:27] SPEAKER_00: I'm an avid consumer on a personal note, and I have no shame in saying that.
[01:33] SPEAKER_00: I buy a lot of things online, and whenever I find a brand that I like,
[01:37] SPEAKER_00: I have no problem trying it out and testing out new products.
[01:42] SPEAKER_00: During that time, so I was home and I was trying to redecorate, just adding accents.
[01:47] SPEAKER_00: I didn't really want to redo a kitchen or change my couch.
[01:50] SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to add freshness and new colors into my home.
[01:54] SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't find a website, I couldn't find a brand that was Canadian based.
[01:59] SPEAKER_00: That would let me do that.
[02:00] SPEAKER_00: And so I pushed my research a bit more, and then I decided to go, like physically in brick and mortars,
[02:07] SPEAKER_00: and see what was happening, and it was really flat.
[02:10] SPEAKER_00: Like it was these huge department stores with no windows.
[02:14] SPEAKER_00: It was really not sexy.
[02:15] SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you need to have like, you need to have a sexy brand come forward and say,
[02:21] SPEAKER_00: hey, this is fun.
[02:22] SPEAKER_00: This is what you need.
[02:23] SPEAKER_00: These are the colors.
[02:24] SPEAKER_00: This is the style.
[02:25] SPEAKER_00: And there was really nothing.
[02:26] SPEAKER_00: So I went into this big department store, and I'm like, if I was really looking for a pop of color,
[02:32] SPEAKER_00: I would probably leave here with a set of white bedding because I'm just so overwhelmed by all the fabrics,
[02:37] SPEAKER_00: all the colors, all the sizes.
[02:39] SPEAKER_00: Like I just want to get that in here.
[02:40] SPEAKER_00: There is really nothing that's making me want to stay.
[02:43] SPEAKER_00: So after thinking about it, I told myself that if I, a 30 something at the time,
[02:50] SPEAKER_00: couldn't find what I was looking for, then there was definitely a gap in the market.
[02:55] SPEAKER_00: I'm someone who loves retail, who was always really into fashion.
[02:58] SPEAKER_00: And I thought that the home should become a place that reflects your personality.
[03:05] SPEAKER_00: Same way that sometimes when you walk down the street and the way that you dress or the way that you speak
[03:09] SPEAKER_00: or the way that you do your hair, really defines in a very quick snapshot who you are.
[03:15] SPEAKER_00: I felt like the home should be that way.
[03:16] SPEAKER_00: You should be able to go into someone's house and really understand what their personality is like.
[03:22] SPEAKER_00: And from that desire, I created Misnoltez, which really is the combination of fashion and the home.
[03:29] SPEAKER_00: And the way that I built it is having a premium slash luxury price point and quality.
[03:37] SPEAKER_00: But I mix it in with seasonal pitches of color.
[03:41] SPEAKER_00: So year round we're going to have very basic colors, white, gray, pinks,
[03:46] SPEAKER_00: really something like a palette that you can use year round.
[03:49] SPEAKER_00: And then every time a season comes in, there is new colors that are,
[03:54] SPEAKER_00: I don't want to say limited edition, but the quantities are smaller.
[03:57] SPEAKER_00: So they sell out really quickly.
[03:59] SPEAKER_00: And they are here to add a pop of color to any bedroom living room, kitchen, tableware, etc.,
[04:05] SPEAKER_00: that you would want because I figured that in July, you don't really want to see the same colors that you do in January.
[04:11] SPEAKER_00: So we kind of, we play on that.
[04:14] SPEAKER_00: And from that idea, I really made it very, very macro right now, but from that main idea, I created Misnoltez.
[04:22] SPEAKER_00: And I decided from the get go to make it online pre-COVID.
[04:27] SPEAKER_00: I really didn't want to have any wholesale.
[04:30] SPEAKER_00: I didn't want to have any stores.
[04:32] SPEAKER_00: I told myself that brands today should be as transparent as possible because that's what I was looking for as a consumer.
[04:41] SPEAKER_00: And there was no need to have a middleman involved.
[04:44] SPEAKER_00: And so I kept it that way.
[04:46] SPEAKER_00: And at the beginning, it was really hard because like any business we needed revenue in our business, in our cash flow basically.
[04:55] SPEAKER_00: And so I still refused the wholesale opportunities because I really believed in that business model.
[05:01] SPEAKER_00: And fast forward three and a half years later, a COVID hit.
[05:05] SPEAKER_00: And in a sad way, it kind of confirmed that this is the business model of the future.
[05:10] SPEAKER_00: So I'm pretty happy that we stuck with it.
[05:14] SPEAKER_01: And it seems like you're really putting your values inside your business.
[05:17] SPEAKER_01: So why is that important to you?
[05:19] SPEAKER_00: Well, because like anything in life, if you're honest, you can't fail.
[05:24] SPEAKER_00: I'm not making this up. It's who I am.
[05:27] SPEAKER_00: So it's very easy to streamline and to continue with this steady vision because I didn't make it up.
[05:33] SPEAKER_00: It's part of me. And I know exactly who I am.
[05:36] SPEAKER_00: So I'm able to very easily guide my employees into this very clear vision of fashion, fun, sexy, authenticity, transparency.
[05:47] SPEAKER_00: All of these things that are such key factors for me as a woman and as a consumer are very easy for me to extend onto my company because they're part of my DNA.
[05:59] SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes people will ask me certain questions and like about our consumers and my answer is that I am my consumer.
[06:08] SPEAKER_00: I don't need to understand it. I am her and I say her because most of our consumers are female.
[06:16] SPEAKER_00: There is a lot of males, but women remain dominant in the consumers that we have.
[06:23] SPEAKER_00: And I am them. I know what they want to see.
[06:25] SPEAKER_00: I know how they want to have a turnaround.
[06:27] SPEAKER_00: I know when they get on our Instagram page, what is attractive, what customer service makes sense to them.
[06:33] SPEAKER_00: And so these are all what user experience, like things like very basic UX experience that you go back to your cart and your things are still there.
[06:40] SPEAKER_00: It's very annoying when it's not like you had this whole card and you worked so hard on it and you go back and it's not there.
[06:45] SPEAKER_00: And you have to start from scratch like a forget it. I'm not doing it.
[06:48] SPEAKER_00: So all of these things like they're they're they're in my mind because I'm on both ends.
[06:54] SPEAKER_00: I'm on the entrepreneur side, but I'm also on the consumer side so it makes it and makes it clear.
[06:59] SPEAKER_01: And you're also on the mom side as you said. So like if all the moms out there listening and running their business at the same time, like what what are your tips and tricks or what what makes it work for you.
[07:12] SPEAKER_00: Honestly, that's that's a question I get asked a lot and my answer, my honest answer is that the guilt that is put over our heads to be moms and exclusively moms and feel bad if we're doing something else is is non made.
[07:28] SPEAKER_00: And if you free yourself from that guilt, there's really nothing that stops you. I really don't understand how I could not be doing what I'm doing. I have two kids I'm pregnant right now and it's all good.
[07:42] SPEAKER_00: Like it's good. There's things that happen like this morning I dropped off my kids, but there was no school. It's okay. I brought them back home. I came to work.
[07:50] SPEAKER_00: I came for the podcast. Everything is fine. Like it is just a question of managing it. Sorry. It's a question of managing your day to day being really, really organized really having a good schedule and having a really supportive spouse.
[08:05] SPEAKER_00: Honestly, I couldn't I can't pretend that this is a one-women show. I have a husband who's super helpful who also works full time who's extremely supported supportive of me like I am of him. And I kind of feel like young couples today like the rules are are divided.
[08:22] SPEAKER_00: I think around me like if I just look around a lot of that ease are way more involved. You see the more I drop off or I pick up at school like there's really a fair exchange of tasks. So it's really up to the mama is to be like, Hey, I'm not doing this today. It's your turn to do that because I'm doing this.
[08:42] SPEAKER_01: That's great. Yeah, I do agree that we see more of this division of tasks so that we can all have the life that we want. So yeah, that's really inspiring.
[08:50] SPEAKER_01: And you talked about your team. So we know when we when we start a business and one of the first thing is yes, as you mentioned, cashflow, but also like the people that you surround yourself with. So like, what do you what what is the secret the secret recipe that you found in hiring people with your values and we will who will have this will share the same vision that you have.
[09:10] SPEAKER_00: So the secret recipe is to hire no one for as long as possible and do everything yourself. That is the secret recipe from 2017 to half of 2020. I was running this alone with one employee who happens to be my sister. And so we were on a mission. There was no time zone. There was no.
[09:32] SPEAKER_00: So it's five o'clock time to go home. We did what we needed to do. And at that time, a lot of people would come to our showroom. So when the brand got a little bit more known.
[09:43] SPEAKER_00: We'd have people from Montreal like who realize that we were also from in trail come into the showroom and buy at that time we had our inventory in the office.
[09:51] SPEAKER_00: And they would say, oh, this is your team. They thought that we were like a 20 people company. But in reality, we were like her and I customer service e-commerce.
[10:04] SPEAKER_00: We were doing it except for things that we physically couldn't do like a design or things that demanded specific knowledge. We would have to outsource by the hour. But we didn't have and we didn't have a steady team.
[10:17] SPEAKER_00: And we did that for almost three years. And then we expanded our team. So we went from a team of two to seven in six months. And at that time, it was really the best asset that I had was that I did all the roles.
[10:37] SPEAKER_00: And my sister did all of the roles. So we were able to really define like this is your mission. And this is what you need to do. This is what customers want. This is the user experience that we need.
[10:48] SPEAKER_00: So building the team, there is a sense of the task. But there is also the sense of a company culture.
[10:55] SPEAKER_00: When you come into a small team, to be really honest, sometimes it gets awkward because it's a small team. When it's a bigger team, you kind of melt in. So you have to develop a culture that represents the brand. And you have to be a boss for myself, but also be empathetic.
[11:14] SPEAKER_00: So it's really kind of finding a middle ground and making sure that your values as a person really are reflected in your company, but that when we come here to work at VisualTest, we're working.
[11:27] SPEAKER_00: And when work is done, we can laugh, we can play, we can joke around. We're all girls by default. It didn't happen. I think that it's a brand that attracts females. So we're all girls. So we have a really good time. But I'm pretty tough.
[11:42] SPEAKER_00: There's KPIs that need to be met every month. And it's not joke. So we work hard, but we have a good time doing it.
[11:49] SPEAKER_01: In what's your vision for your life as a mom, as an entrepreneur, for your business?
[11:56] SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't have this is what I want in 10 years, but all I can say is that I want it all. I want a great business. I want a happy marriage. I want healthy kids. I want to have a good time.
[12:07] SPEAKER_01: That's great. I think that's that's what I don't want.
[12:11] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right. I think special just are really, really good time.
[12:15] SPEAKER_01: Right. And is there anything anything that you want to share with with our audience about, you know, about maybe advice that you got that really made a difference for you when you started and that you would like to share with them or things in your routine that are actually like essential for you for being productive.
[12:32] SPEAKER_01: Anything like that? Sure.
[12:34] SPEAKER_00: For me, a big part of my life before I was pregnant because now it's just a bit more relaxed.
[12:41] SPEAKER_00: I was at the gym every morning for a good hour and hour and a half. And I split the days with my husband because he runs, he's a runner.
[12:49] SPEAKER_00: So it's also very important for him. So there was two or three times a week that I would go drop off and then he would do the other way around.
[12:56] SPEAKER_00: But that hour and a half, that 90 minutes that I spent at the gym is the only 90 minutes that I have for myself.
[13:02] SPEAKER_00: And I take that super seriously.
[13:05] SPEAKER_00: I needed to break that sweat. I needed to take that shower alone and get to the office like just like if I had 90 minutes for me and that gave me the energy and the strength that I needed to conquer my days.
[13:17] SPEAKER_00: And also to be a good person because I really believe that to be a good entrepreneur, a good mom, a good whatever you need to have time for you.
[13:29] SPEAKER_00: I'm not the kind of person who will say like I put everyone ahead of me. I'm more the person who's like I'll put you ahead of me, but I need to make sure that I'm okay.
[13:39] SPEAKER_00: If I don't sleep and if I don't feel good, if I didn't break that sweat, I'm just I'm not a good person.
[13:45] SPEAKER_00: So I know that I need that. And so then it gives me the rest of the day, the whole 10 hours and a half is all good.
[13:53] SPEAKER_00: Just as long as I get those 90 minutes, that was a big one for me.
[13:57] SPEAKER_00: And another very good advice that I got is that entrepreneurs are always in a rush.
[14:03] SPEAKER_00: We always think that we're missing something. Oh, I didn't do that color. Oh, I missed that season. Oh, I didn't I didn't put in this this third party like this experience in my website.
[14:17] SPEAKER_00: But in reality, people don't see it. It's a stress that we put on ourselves because we're visionaries and we are always one step ahead.
[14:24] SPEAKER_00: So I guess the main the main advice would be no rush. Take your time. Take your time to think things through work hard every day and work hard with a vision.
[14:36] SPEAKER_00: Don't work hard for a short term goal work hard for a long term goal work with passion. That's not the big one.
[14:44] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we can we can hear the passion in your voice and like the love that you have for your company.
[14:51] SPEAKER_01: And thanks so much for for taking the time to share this with us. I think it's really inspiring. We can see that you're a fierce leader for your family for your company.
[14:59] SPEAKER_01: So very, very inspiring. And anyone can go on your website, myzontest.com. But if there's a if they have questions or is there a way that you'd like them to reach you if people have questions or one of them.
[15:11] SPEAKER_00: So you can go on our website, myzontest.com. We have an English website and a French website for anyone who's interested.
[15:18] SPEAKER_00: And the best way to reach out to us is either through our emails like hello at myzontest.com. Someone from customer service will reach out to you in 24 hours or on Instagram.
[15:29] SPEAKER_00: And we are glad to help. We also put in something really nice on our website that's doing well, which is called virtual styling.
[15:35] SPEAKER_00: So we have someone from our team who is available on video conference and our customers show us their bedrooms and we get to suggest to them different colors and fabrics that they may like.
[15:46] SPEAKER_00: So that's a lot of fun. And people really like it also. So we're here to help. And we promise a quality product with a VIP service.
[15:55] SPEAKER_01: Wonderful. That sounds very, very interesting. So thanks a lot for your time Laura. And and take care.
[16:03] SPEAKER_00: Thank you. Bye.
