Today I sit down with Jessika Noda. Jessika is the Founder of Jiyubox, a clean beauty subscription box and online shop featuring Indie beauty brands. Jiyubox came to fruition in search of breaking free from the nine to five and following her life's goals and passions. Jessika is also the Founder of Jiyu Management which helps passionate entrepreneurs and side hustlers build meaningful communities. She is passionate about helping her peers and community to become their best self and strive for success.

Key points addressed were  

• Jessika’s varied occupational story that led to her launch of the clean beauty subscription box that is Jiyu box

This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.

TRANSCRIPTION

*Please note, this is an automated transcription please excuse any typos or errors

[00:00:00] In this episode, I speak with founder of Jiyubox Box, Jessika Noda, key points addressed where Jessika has varied occupational story that led her to launch of the Clean Beauty subscription box that is Jiyubox box. We also discussed how she designed the process and curates the content of the box, as well as how she defines key terms such as indie beauty, cruelty free and clean for the Jiyubox boxes products. Stay tuned for my fascinating talk with Jessika Noda.

[00:00:32] Hi, my name is Patricia Kathleen, and this podcast series contains interviews I conduct with women. Female identified and non binary individuals regarding their professional stories and personal narrative. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts, regardless of age, status or industry. We aim to contribute to the evolving global dialog surrounding underrepresented figures in all industries across the USA and abroad. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as Vegan life, fasting and roundtable topics. They can be found via our Web site. Patricia Kathleen ARCOM, where you can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Pod Bean and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation.

[00:01:30] Hi, everyone, and welcome back. I'm your host, Patricia. And today I'm elated to be sitting down with Jessika Noda. She is the founder of Jiyubox Box, a clean beauty subscription box and online shop. You can find out more about her products and her company as well. The other endeavors that we talked about today on w w w dot j. I y you box dot com g. You box dot com. Welcome, Jessika.

[00:01:54] Thank you for having me, Patricia. Excited to be here.

[00:01:57] Absolutely. I'm excited to unpack everything. We talk a little bit off-line before we started recording and I can't wait to kind of unearth what do you box does and all of that. We've had a lot of audience members write in about people who have kind of the accountability sustainability efforts that you look towards for everyone who is new to the podcast. I will give you a quick roadmap of where our line of inquiry will head today. And then I'll read a quick file on Jessika. Before I start asking her my questions. So the road map for today's podcast will follow the same trajectory as all of those in this series. We look at four main constituents. One of them is the first one. Her academic background and early professional life leading up to the founding of Jiyubox box. And then we'll look at unpacking. Do you box? We'll get into the logistics of when it was founded, how funding all of those things. And then we'll look towards the ethos and the philosophy of the company. Then we'll turn to unpacking and looking at goals that Jessika has for you box for the next one to three years. That's a conversation that's changed for a lot of people given the recent Cauvin 19 pandemic. We'll wrap the entire podcast up with advice that just came. We have for those of you who are looking to get involved with her efforts or perhaps emulate some of her career success. So, as promised, a quick bio on Jessika. Before I start asking her questions, Jessika is the founder of Jiyubox Box, a clean beauty subscription box, an online shop featuring indie beauty brands. Jiyubox Box came to fruition in search of breaking free from the nine to five grind for Jessika. Jessika is also the founder of Jehu Management, which helps passionate entrepreneurs and site hustlers build meaningful communities. She is passionate about helping her peers and community to become their best self and strive for success. So, Jessika, I was telling you prior to jumping on this call that I got on your Web site, and I do love it and I always like to tell people on air so people can check it out. I'm kind of a connoisseur or an appreciator of good Web sites. I hit I like close to two million a week. And when I come across one, that's really well done and elegant. I like to state that. So kudos to that. And I think that that kind of welcomes your your potential customer and client in so beautifully. But prior to kind of unpacking the Jiyubox box and and all of that, I want you to, if you would, describe, like your academic background, early professional life leading you to this point.

[00:04:15] Yeah, so when I mean, starting from the beginning, I first wanted to be a physiotherapist, sport science. Grew up playing sports, was in physio a lot. And it's like, OK, I want to help people. This is great. I'm going to do this. And I ended up failing Cam one hundred and. Well. It's not for me anymore. I hated science. And so then I kind of took a blind turn and went to an info session and it was on marketing. And at the time it was tourism marketing. It's like, well, I like to travel. So I was going to try it. And, you know, I was 18 or 19. So I did that. I ended up graduating with just a general business and marketing degree. And I went into my first job as a travel agent, and that was great. But what I found was that the travel industry is very hesitant and resistant to change. So I was working and booking people on their flights and their vacations on a system that was built in the nineteen eighties. So I was like hard coding in these different types of flight and there's no there isn't. You could get through your entire day without using mouse. It was all it was like those black screens with like green text on it. It was awful. So and everyone in that industry is kind of they're in their 50s and they're just doing it forever. So then one change. And what happened after bad is I kind of got tired of being in an industry that was resistant to change. So I ended up going into tech and I went into tech sales. At first I was working in a company that I was working with a lot of Winsor's with your tuba. So that was quite interesting. And then I moved into a more, I guess I would say, hardcore software sales position working, doing audit management software. And to be honest, I still couldn't really tell you what auditing is and how it works. So that's I was I was quite miserable at that job. I was working East Coast time and I work I live in the West Coast, so it was just not working out for me. And I kind of hit my my breaking point as like, well, you know, do I fit this job and make really good money in sales and be miserable or do I just try something? I've kind of got I'm still young. I've got time on my hands. Why not just try this? And so I ended up leaving the nine to five job and starting new management, which at the time was more about marketing. But I quickly realized that especially in Vancouver, and I'm sure and basically in all of North America, it's a quite a saturated market. And unless you're very passionate about it or an expert at it, you're going to have a really hard time finding clients and building up that business. So after about, I would say, six months of that, I was again miserable and I decided, OK, do I go back to a nine to five job and be miserable and make money? Or do I stick this out and really give it a good shot of being an entrepreneur and kind of running my own life? And I kind of decided as like, OK, well, what what do I really care about? What am I really passionate about? And it came back to me was skin care and beauty and makeup. And, you know, I that's when I was in high school. I was always watching these YouTube videos. And at that time there was never really a career folks giving into the beauty industry. You really only do it by making your own products. So I at that time, it wasn't feasible. But now in this day and age, there's so many different options. And so I think I was actually watching a YouTube video of someone unboxing during one of those PR hauls or something like that. And it's like I could do that and I could do that better. So that's kind of the spark of how you got started.

[00:08:14] That's amazing. So let's get into unpacking it. How was. I love that you've kind of bounced around and recovered and people of frequently view, you know, peppering of a bunch of different industries is a problem or lack of commitment. And I think it requires bravery. And it also offers this incredible seasoning to anybody who's experienced different industries. And the conversation with itself is key with most founders and to have a very fluid dialog with one's internal processes. But also it's you have peper different industries is always it's never been beneficial to anyone from an artist to, you know, a geophysicist. So I think it's fantastic that you did. And that's part of your story. I want to unpack. Do you box now? So really quickly, the logistics, when was it founded? Did you have co-founders? Did you take funding? Was it bootstrapped?

[00:09:07] So I founded in June of twenty nineteen. So we're actually just over a year old now. I am the sole founder. However, my boyfriend is a very big influence on the way the branding has gone.

[00:09:20] So we talk about that a lot. He's almost like an unofficial co-founder. And it's then bootstraps. No, no funding. No, no extra family and friends help.

[00:09:32] Amazing. Did you find any of it with your previous endeavors, or was it all just like as you went along?

[00:09:40] It's kind of I mean, I had a bit of a savings fund, but I do a little bit of, you know, consulting work on the side, which you managements. There were any all of my income is really going towards funding junior boxes. That's kind of the end goal is to just be working on your box.

[00:09:54] Did you did you launch it moonlighting with a different career or our job or did you quit what you were doing and sync all of your efforts solely into it in twenty nineteen?

[00:10:06] At the time, it was all of my efforts. And I quickly realized that I was running out of money. So I took on a part time remote job and I do still have that. So that's kind of also funding it. And they think, you know, from the outside, it looks very glamorous and it looks like a very well put together company. But in the background, it's me running around doing three different jobs, trying to just make ends meet.

[00:10:31] Yeah, absolutely. As one does in the infancy of any startup, I'm wondering. So Web sites, is it states that the word to you means freedom in Japanese? And D-Box stands for the freedom to explore and enjoy our lives while also living a life free from toxins, fillers and animal cruelty. And I feel like that and embodies, you know, a lot of the philosophy and ethos of your brand. Can you kind of unpack? So for people listening or watching this on the Vodcast, when someone lands your site, what are you hoping that they first notice? And what he what is like that, the site intending to do for your customer and then also kind of unpack the box for us, literally. Like what? Intel's.

[00:11:17] Yeah. So when you first get to the site, I, I kind of picture the site as it looks. High end, but it is still affordable and I fiddle with saying this, but it is quite the affordable luxury.

[00:11:32] So usually clean duty is more on the high end side. You've got your you know, there are brands that have cleansers for one hundred dollars, which they're great. But, you know, that's not always in everyone's budget. So the idea is to make it fuel and look like your your purchasing and engaging with something that's lovely, but something that's still attainable for everyone.

[00:11:53] And the idea behind that is just, you know, growing up, our parents don't really know any better. They were buying all the all the stuff with that had a lot of toxins in it. And I think today's in today's day and age, everyone is much more educated on what they're putting into and onto their bodies. So I want to kind of create a more of an educational platform for people.

[00:12:14] So we do a blog post every week on different topics within Clean Beauty. We interview the brands that we have in the box. So we want to make it eventually grow into not just being an e-commerce platform, but also a place for education to learn more about the ingredients and the brands that you're purchasing from. And in terms of unpacking the box, we we're a seasonal subscription. And the reason why I did that was today everyone is so inundated with so much stuff. And I am quite a minimalist.

[00:12:52] I don't use a lot of products. Of course, I'm testing a lot of things out all the time. But in my regular routine, it's really not that long. And to be honest, I'm a little bit lazy. I don't like to do so. All of these steps every night, every morning. So I did it as a seasonal thing. And they are full size so that in that three months, do you have time to really try everything rather than sometimes when you get sample size things? It's nice. You can't actually tell if it works because sometimes the samples just don't last long enough. So I did it every season so you can really fully try everything out.

[00:13:27] And then by the time the next season comes around, you're ready for something new. And we did it, by the way, I curate the box is by season. So our skin changes every season in the wintertime, especially here in Vancouver. It's so dry and cold, whereas in the summertime it is pretty hot and humid. So your skin's really looking for different things throughout the year. So that's kind of what I based the contents of the box around. And so when I'm looking to source different products for the box, first of all, I'm looking for I'm thinking I think about what products people and skin is looking for during that season. And then I go out and find brands that have that product that fit our criteria.

[00:14:12] So is it a rotating brand or do you use one until you find one that's better. How are you curating what makes it into the box?

[00:14:21] So I obviously I have a whole Rolodex and list of vendors that I would like to work with.

[00:14:27] But like I said, so for example, for summertime, I'm probably not going to put a heavy body creep in there that might be better for wintertime. So once I've decided what's what type of product is going the box, I'll go through my kind of Rolodex of vendors I like to work with and see if they have a product that fits our ingredients, fits our branding as well, and also fits to the price points. And then on top of that, I'm always searching on Instagram and I'm always looking at ads as well that come up for your new brands. And so, of course, I've got a huge saved folder on my Instagram. I've got tons of screenshots of different types of ads that come up. And then on top of that, I have gone to I went to the Indie Duty Expo last year and this year actually in January of twenty nineteen and was able to meet a lot of vendors in person and test out their products. So finding the brands comes from accumulation of a lot of different resources.

[00:15:30] Absolutely. I'm curious. I want to kind of unpack some terms for people listening who don't haven't heard of any of them before.

[00:15:36] Your site uses the following like phrases a great deal. And I'm hoping you can kind of describe what you mean by them personally. So you just mentioned indie beauty and they haven't. But I kind of want to unpack what that means for you, what indie beauty is and what you what you personally feel by you talk about being clean and cruelty free. And and so I'm hoping that we can kind of like what do those terms mean to you? Even though sometimes they seem transparent, they mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, particularly when it comes to beauty. So let's start with you. What does that term mean for you?

[00:16:10] So indie do for me are smaller brands who are not necessarily in the big box stores like a Sephora. And one of the reasons why is because I was kind of like, well, why would anyone buy a box if you could just go to Sephora online and grab it? And the other reason is because of being able to support other small businesses. So there's a lot of different terms for indie beauty, but in general, it means that it's a company that's usually bootstrapped. Maybe they got some, you know, loans from the bank, but they don't have investor funding and it's usually run, founded and owned by the original owner. So they don't have, like, a huge board of people running it. It's not like a L'Oreal where you've got this shoot like it's a very big glummer. They're usually local businesses who might my your next door neighbor who had started making soaps in her house and it started to grow her company. So being able to have that community aspect and, you know, some of the indie beauty brands, they are large. They they've been around for three, five, seven, 10 years, but they're still considered indie because they are still run and owned by the original founder.

[00:17:28] Right. Yeah. Okay. Now, let's get into what do you mean by clean when you talk about clean products? What how is that term like? What makes it into that.

[00:17:38] Yeah. So clean beauty is it's such a a blanket term. And when I actually first launched the company, I started off by marketing that we were all natural. And I did that because what happens in the industry is clean is a very flexible marketing word that a lot of companies use. And so I had originally gone with all national because there's a little bit more specific, because if you look up clean beauty, there's this thing called greenwashing, where when you say clean beauty or green beauty, you people automatically think, oh, it's fine, it's great for you. This is there's you. So in terms of clean beauty, what that means is not just necessarily having no, you know, sulfates or P G's or diametrical. It's not like it's not just removing the kind of the big bad ones, but it's also making sure that the ingredients are as close to their original format as possible. So, for example, something like citric acid. Usually it's an acid. So you usually find that in Citris like a lemon or an orange. And by and that is considered all natural. But what happens is it would take a ton of lemons to make just a little bit of citric acid to put into a skin care products. So that is something that we allow to be made in a in a lab or in a manufacturer because it's just not feasible to harvest that many lemons to make into the product that you need. So that's kind of what we mean by clean beauty, is keeping it as close to the natural source as possible and something that you could find. From the earth.

[00:19:21] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:19:23] I'm wondering when you go into it, so on your website, when you go into the starter box and you kind of look at things, you talk about cruelty free, and that's another word that I feel like can be flexible with marketing, you know? And so I'm wondering, is it PETA certified that's in the States. I know you're in Canada. But what what are the criteria you use to have it be cruelty free? Because there are people that outsource, as you've kind of mentioned here, with the with the clean aspect, you can outsource a certain part of the process to the cruelty or animal testing, which I think a lot of people subscribe to. Cruelty free, which is not to cruelty free, can be animal testing of humane animal testing. So how do you look at all those and what are your criteria for calling it cruelty free?

[00:20:08] Yeah, surfer crawl through free means that it's not tested like the products are not tested on animals at all in any of any of the process. And so that means that any of the products that we have in the brand are tested only on humans. And it's interesting, I was reading a few articles a few months back and they've actually come back. Testing products on humans is actually much cheaper than testing it on animals as well. So along the lines of cruelty free, I will mention that most of the products do tend to be Vegan, although we do have products that do have honey in them. So for some people that might not be considered cruelty free, but for Jue box, we consider cruelty free as not testing on animals. But some products may have Honea and they may have got some milk in them. So they're not necessarily Vegan, but they're not tested on animals.

[00:21:05] Okay. And moving forward, I'm wondering, you're so new now. And so I'm sure that it's something that will come up as you kind of go along geo box. But have you considered that as you as you start to think of your customer? Have you considered, you know, a curation aspect for people who are and I mentioned this, a lot of people listening who follow my podcast know that I have a podcast based on Vegan life that started up last year. And it was it was just coincidental. It started actually prior to Kovik. But it's kind of been this huge platform since the Koven 19 pandemic. People have had to return to conversations with themselves and their realities about health.

[00:21:46] And the Vegan diet has kind of cut risen as this flagship, you know, of the way that a lot of people are turning to to resume health and encourage immune responses and things like that.

[00:21:58] I'm wondering, are you going to be able to. Do you foresee in your future with you box like curating to people who have stipulations like Vegan or allergies or things like that, where you can start to substitute things out? Or do you want to keep it just standard?

[00:22:16] For now, it is standard, however, if a customer has allergy or they are, they only use Vegan products. We just ask that they let us know ahead of time. So then if there is a product that is not that may have an ingredient that they're allergic to or is not Vegan and has no honey in it. We'll find a substitute for them.

[00:22:38] Yes. Nice. So I'm wondering, given that we were just kind of discussing and I was rather the covered 19 pandemic, I'm looking forward to like your future goals and things like that.

[00:22:50] This is a conversation that people have had that has changed for everybody that I know of. You have this online enterprise, which was it's kind of a beautiful thing because it should be able to be more sustainable than brick and mortar situations and do moving forward with your goals. Do you plan on staying solely online? Would you ever go into a brick and mortar situation? And also, what are your plans for the next one to three years with D-Box?

[00:23:16] I do plan to stay online. That being said, I do do pop ups. Sometimes I do. We'll go to events. So having maybe a longer term temporary pop up is something in the future. But for the most part, it is. It is online. And that's purely most a lot of it. It's logistics. To be honest, it's a lot to run a brick and mortar store and have people running it. And so during this pandemic, I realized how. Oh, lucky and grateful that I have an online business that I didn't have to worry about staff running the store.

[00:23:52] And, you know, a lot of the beauty companies that I see who do have the brick and mortar stores, they've had to implement a lot of these different types of measures, especially for things like testing out products. How are you going to do that? So I don't foresee us having a permanent brick and mortar store about pop ups are definitely in the future when we can kind of go back to those types of events for the next one to three years. I would really like to actually move our operations to the US. That's kind of on been on my radar for the last year.

[00:24:25] There's just in being in Canada. It's great. I got it. But in terms of shipping things, it's quite a headache. There's just not as many options in terms of just getting the logistics up and running. So it would make more sense to be based in the US. And I joke that's where I'm in in Vancouver. I'm only a two hour drive from the border. That is just two hours to help. It could've been a lot easier.

[00:24:56] So it's necessary that with the really quickly we're ready to returning to that kind of the same aspect when you talk about clean. So where are you guys? Where do you get like the manufacturing process and stuff like that for the boxes and things like that? Are those is that in Canada or is it outsourced? And will that stay the same? You're saying moving it to the US? US. I'm assuming it's happening. It's manufactured in Canada.

[00:25:25] Yeah, our boxes are manufactured in Canada. They're actually back there just to drive away from where I'm at. So they're a local company, which I really love working with it. It's really nice to be able to go in and meet the people who you're working with.

[00:25:40] And when we could, I would anytime I was working with a local vendor here, I would always try and meet them in person and learn more about their stories. Oh, our our boxes are all sourced from from basically Vancouver here.

[00:25:55] That's awesome.

[00:25:56] I know that that attempting part, even with people who are trying to be very conscious, if I environmentally sustainability, accountability with products, they eventually just get kind of seduced, you know, by outsourcing to, you know, other than the place. And it removes that, like, indeed, if you will, you know, mentality to the whole thing. And I think it's you know, a lot of people do it to stay afloat, to stay alive as the last day or even just as to increase profits in the future. But it's very cool and still kind of rare, you know, that you're staying local and things of that nature. So you're planning on switching it up and going to the states for production, but just to make it easier for the shipping.

[00:26:38] Yeah. And there's just you know, there's just a lot more people in the US and especially in the dairy industry. There's a lot a lot more industry in places like California. So that's kind of where we are eyeing. But just to be closer to that, and I find that it is more difficult as well to work with American brands than just shipping things across the border in terms of paying duties and just getting it across customs. And we're finding that most of our customer base is in the US. So, of course, they're not going for our Canadian customers, but it's just the logistics. It would be a lot easier to be based there.

[00:27:19] How is that process going? I haven't spoken to anybody from Canada that's like trying to shift over into the states. I've talked to one person that was shifting back the other way into Canada, dealing with protozoans, things that we're coming from up there.

[00:27:30] But is it difficult for you or is it an easy like as an American citizen? I don't as a United States citizen, I don't know how that process goes when you start to get to international situations. Have you started looking into it? Is it going to be a hard drive or will it be kind of a seamless transaction?

[00:27:49] It's not going to be too difficult. It's actually better for cost saving. Shipping from Canada to the US is extremely expensive. There are some alternative methods to shipping. There's a service that's really great at shipping to the US. But I worry that because I'm in Canada and sometimes the shipping can take a lot longer to the US. And, you know, I know Americans are much more used to getting things a lot quicker. I worry about having too much of a shipping time and that impacting the customer experience. So the whole goal is to make it a customer experience as seamless as possible. We don't want people waiting, you know, two weeks or more to get their packages. And so just being able to do that would be a lot better and help me sleep at night and make sure that these packages of the Red Cross and you wouldn't imagine how many nights I've had about worrying if a package is going to make it through customs. So just having those kind of things set in stone would be a lot easier.

[00:28:53] Absolutely. So you're you're planning on looking at moving operations down to at least having a hub in the United States. Do you have any other future goals in regards to growth or anything? Do you do like the traditional one to three year plan, five year plan, or are you kind of taking it a day at a time right now because it's still in its infancy?

[00:29:12] Yeah. So I have one year plan. I mean, the goal is to, of course, make it to at least five years. I know a lot of hits don't make it that far. So it is true because I'm so small and I've just got a team of two other people.

[00:29:28] It's really easy to pivot, which has worked in our favor, especially during the pandemic. Being a year old when the pandemic started, we were we had enough of a basis to be able to stay afloat during this and also not be large and not be too large that we had to completely let go of our entire staff. So the goal is to continue to grow. And we do want to basically double the scale for us for the next year. But I do see it being a small team. I don't see D-Box being this massive company with hundreds of employees. Ideally, actually, I'd like to keep it as small as possible because working in being in companies that are like startups and seeing how nimble you can be as a small team and being able to pivot when things change. I don't foresee it being like this massive company that. You have to run through all the troops. And, you know, when you have a PR crisis or something that happens, it's so quick to be able to make the decision. Whereas, you know, if you're in a large company, you'd have to run through all these hoops and ask all these people and get everything approved. So growing, doubling our sales, but while keeping the team as nimble as possible.

[00:30:43] Nice. That's. I think you're right about that. A lot of people don't consider that for some reason, there's this largely held belief that the stability comes with this massive size and incredible growth. And I think you're talk and you're right in talking about, you know, being nimble and staying flexible, you know, that being part of, like one of the crucial parts of startups is absolutely true.

[00:31:06] You know, I'm being revived. Both feast and famine, I think, is is much more easily navigated with a smaller team. That a lot. Well, Jessika, we're wrapping up our time together. And I want to now turn towards what my one of my favorite parts of the podcast is for people who have listened to me before. No. And that is I'm curious if you ran into someone from a safe social distance in beautiful Vancouver tomorrow at some park or garden, and they came up and said, oh, I'm so glad I found you. I know I've been told that I should ask you for some advice. Here's the situation. I've peppered a lot of different industries and I've realized and to a lot of different pains and trials that they were not for me. And I'm that if I'm going to go out on my own, I have this great idea for a startup and I'm going to get going tomorrow. What are the top three pieces of advice you would give? Let's say for certain, it's a woman female identified or non binary individual, anyone other than a white man.

[00:32:05] What are the three top pieces of advice you would give that individual? Knowing what you know right now.

[00:32:12] The first one is a little bit cheesy, but I would say that you want to be passionate about what you're doing, because if you're not passionate about what you're doing when you hit those hard times, it's going to be really hard. And what has kept me going through the hard times now is knowing that, you know, I do still really, really care about what I'm doing. And I think a lot of founders kind of you need to use that passion to fuel you because it's all, you know, bunnies and rainbows. When you first start like, oh, is this great? I'm like running my own business. I own my own time. I own my schedule. But when things get tough, when you're, you know, money's tight, you're kind of like, why am I doing this? If you're really not passionate about what you're doing, you really don't care about what you're doing. It's gonna be really tough and can be tempting to go back to that nine to five job and just be kind of complacent with what you're doing. So I'd say one is to be very passionate about what you're doing. And obviously that can evolve. So that goes back to the really commonly word use. Now it's pivot, but making sure that you really care about what you're doing. The second one is, I would say, to make sure that you have a very strong support system around you. I find that as you start to really get into your business, it's harder to relate to your your friends and your peers who do have the time to find jobs. And so they may not always understand why you can't go out for happy hour every Friday or why you're working on Saturday and Sunday and can't go to the beach. So making sure that you've got really strong friendships, who can support you through that and understand why you can't be there all the time? Because you won't. You're just not possible. And every time you go out and spend money on how they're like, oh, man, that was like 50 bucks, I could've used my own company. So I think making sure you've got a really strong network of friends. And then the third thing is I would say to. Grow, expand your network in terms of business and finding other people who are also in the same position as you and maybe a few years along. Because what I found really helpful is because my friends, who are nine to five jobs, they don't necessarily understand the struggles I'm going through. Also, having a network of people who understand what you're going through and you can kind of work through those pains and struggles together. And then having someone, you know, who maybe a couple years ahead of you being able to be there, still, they're not so big that they don't remember what it was like to start, but they've just got a couple more years ahead of you to remember and give you some advice on what worked for them when they were in your in your place.

[00:35:09] Yeah, I like that. That's awesome. All right. So I've got be passionate about what you do.

[00:35:13] Number one, have a strong support system of people who can relate or at least show patience with your current struggles. And then, number three, expand your network, particularly with those who are a little bit further ahead for like a move in aspect, which I completely concur with.

[00:35:31] I think that those are all really strong. And there are a lot of those are about, you know, developing this this community, you know, that kind of it's an ecosystem for startups, I think. And when you realize that and you realize that, you know, there are other things that help it rather than just endeavoring more work towards the startup, but also having social aspects in your other pieces of your life kind of tie into that and relate to it. They don't just help with, I think, staying alive, which is the goal.

[00:36:00] I think it also it really encourages the the joy one receives from the process, you know, and the potential gains in the education that can go along with it, as well as the pain, which I think a lot of people have very well iterated. You know, the pain of starting a startup and sleepless nights and things like that are frequently spoken of, but there can be no rush and things like that. And I think it's exacerbated when you when you do things like include social circles around that type of thing and not fight it, but rather bridge it with, you know, like minded individuals like you're talking about. So that's clever. And I like it a lot. Jessika, thank you so much for giving us your time today. I really appreciate you kind of unpacking, do you box and giving us your story.

[00:36:45] Thank you so much, Patricia. That was awesome talking with you today.

[00:36:48] Awesome. And for everyone listening, we've been speaking with Jessika Noda. She's the founder of Jiyubox Box, a clean beauty subscription box and online shop. You can find out more at w w w Jiyubox boxed outcome. That is j i y you box dot com. Thank you for giving me your time today.

[00:37:05] And until we speak again next time. Remember to stay safe and always bet on yourself. Slainte.