Ep. 72 | Puddles to Profit - Mary Quintero

In this episode, Jack sits down with Mary Quintero, founder of I Am Undercover, to distill practical, repeatable lessons from building a culture-led product brand. The conversation emphasizes the importance of protecting creative integrity and setting clear, non-negotiable boundaries, including saying no to misaligned capital and partnerships. Operational takeaways include validating demand with pre-sales, aligning design with logistics, and treating distribution and customer experience as core parts of the brand. Growth guidance focuses on feeding the business first, simplifying to what works, and using collaborations only when they truly amplify the story. Most important: prioritize solving the biggest problems in front of you, keep a half-full mindset, and let purpose guide every decision.

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Host: Jack Moran
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Transcript

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Welcome to Shakin’ Hands, where we provide the platform for entrepreneurs and thought leaders to share their stories in order to hopefully influence others to get out of the rat race and chase their own dreams. If you have any recommendations for guests or questions that you want to be asked, please don't hesitate to reach out. Anyways, if you enjoy the podcast, please like, comment, subscribe and share in order to keep the podcast growing. Otherwise, I'm your host, Jack Moran and this is Shakin’ Hands. If you're looking for business mentorship, I have a place where you can get feedback on your unique personal development and business growth challenges. Over the last year, I've brought together a group of impact driven thought leaders where we meet every single day to discuss psychology, communication, mindset, and business case studies. We have people who have made millions of dollars, lost millions of dollars, Harvard MBAs and new entrepreneurs like you and I. Entrepreneurship can be lonely. So if you're looking for a support system, please follow the link in the description below for some more information. Really say total. So what is your own business? If you had a dream it up. So it started in the 1990s with a frustrated ten year old girl that lives in Panama, where it rains a hell of a lot and didn't have cool shoes to go outside. So I grew up with that feeling of one day designing my own rain boots. Literally, that was it. And I just happened to start the business in 2014, on a middle of a sabbatical year, in the middle of a 30 year old crisis. You know, this history of almost 15 years of hotel management career, which I love. But I felt like I needed to do something that I was more passionate about. And this was like my number one dream. And I started, embedding art and culture into the rain boots, which gave it a cool twist. So we started doing like the golden frog, which is our endemic animal, and started doing working with the Smithsonian for donations. And then we have, like our, two times now, best folkloric dress, capoeira, which is has like ten black is in the head with ornaments. So we did like the ornament designs and the rain boots. And it was amazing how people from, you know, Germany and Holland started buying rain boots with our culture and walking in the streets of like, Amsterdam and then sending us pictures. And, and I realized that there's a cool way of carrying culture. And everybody carries culture, right? Like, everybody's like, almost everybody's proud of where they come from in their countries. And they started evolving. And in the middle of pandemic, DHL, proposed, a collab, that arrived to 84 countries on our website. And it was amazing. It was a super successful. And it was the first Latin American, collab that they've done. So they've done like with Casetify and Antisocial Social Club and it was so cool because when I met the CEO, he's like, oh, you know, it's so cool what you do. I love your vibe. Like whenever you're ready, like, give me a call and I'm like, sir Mike, I'm ready now. And he's like, what? And I'm like, now, I mean, let's do this. I've shipped to 27 countries. I have a great team and I have a good product. I said, like, tell me what's missing. Like teach me. And he's like, okay, well, you know, it was a bit like the credit card, like this, mix, commercial. Like, have your people call my people literally like that. And then they, they dig in and and they said, yeah, she's ready. So we just boomed. And then we got the cover of Forbes and then we got a CNN commercial for like, best, entrepreneur, like case study case that got to 200 countries. It was a super cool commercial filmed here in Panama. And then that got Paramount, like, hey, you know, we like this girl. We want to work with her. And then we got Emily in Paris. When you said that you were sitting with the gentleman and you're like, I'm ready to sign now, and you want to. I want you to teach me. What were the fundamentals that he taught you? To take your brand to the next level? Well, that that was actually more technical. I think that when you're an entrepreneur and I'm not sure if we're filming already, but. Yeah, when you're inntrepreneur. I didn't see that one coming. So. Yeah. I told you're cheating. I told you we go like, okay, you don't even know it's going. It was more. It was more on a technical level. Yeah. I'll go. I'll grab you later. Okay. And it was more like, you know, make sure her website is is prepared. Make sure his her collection. Make sure, you know, we we have all this for the factories. We don't within factory manufacture here in Panama. So, I mean, we had to get, like, all the permits and all the rights, like stamps for the, factories in, in China. And it was more learning on how to really produce a video, how to get the message really out there, because now you're working with a brand like DHL, right? So it's like a huge brand. So it's not like making a simple reel here in the air or a little video. I mean, it had like mass production. It really elevated our like to be more professional and kind of like vision wise. Like this is really happening. Like this is our first collab with a huge brand. And it was risky for them as well because it was the first Latin American brand. But they wanted something and and we wanted something. So it's about when and when. And that's actually every time we go into a collab now, it's a win. It has to be a win win or every time. Not necessarily a collab, but whatever we do with another company, you know, it can be your your accountant or you can be your whomever. There's got to be a win win for for everybody. So that was more basically what DHL that was kind of like elevated us to a more professional level. On our website, on our visuals, on our videos, on our par posts on Instagram and how to, how to reach 84 countries, how to really make and distribute. Normally we would distribute from Panama and we had to distribute open warehouse in China and distribute over there. And it was it was insane. It was actually we had we had worked with pre-sales before, but not a huge pre-sale like this one. So you can we we opened a pre-sale, with, like a, a 3 or 4 week window gap and it's just exploded. So we've never experienced a huge pre-sale like that. So it was very exciting. We love the DHL. Up to now, I still, you know, text with the CEO and he moved to another position now. And the whole team kind of like grew as well. But you know, we still have a text on WhatsApp. And that's the best part that you know, it's been almost five years and it was such an amazing relationship. It doesn't matter how many years passed by, we're still in contact. You still feel that it was a good thing to do and it was a great team. So that's something that for me is very important when I work with this call ups. And I've had many other big companies come to us. And if you don't click, if you're not aligned with the same vision, you know, if the team is not as cool as us, you know, it's a hard work. It's really hard work. And if you're not having fun and if you don't agree, and if you don't click with the with the other company over the other colab or designer, it's it's going to be a tough. Right. So let's make this right. I always tell my staff, let's make this ride really cool, really fun. You know, we work a lot of hours, so it should be fun at least. How do you adapt that brand messaging to align with a giant brand like DHL? So I'm not sure this because this is going to answer a question. But in my head, for example, when I spoke about when when DHL, I at least here in, in, in Panama and many maybe in other countries it was more known for like documents and express shipping about, you know, legal stuff and, and they really wanted to to show like, hey, you can be an entrepreneur and this could be an accessible option for you as well. So I mean it, they wanted somebody that could show that and we wanted to grow. So and I'm not sure if that answers your question. And if you can repeat it again, we can nail it. But yeah, just like you obviously have a much different brand messaging than they have. So how do you find that like alignment between the two parties and find that win win or that common ground that allows you guys to, you know, collaborate? Yeah. Well, we we did actually they were open to a more fun kind of like design using their brand colors, which I didn't mind either. And it's all about mixing, our way of what we spoke earlier about putting culture or putting art or putting design, it could be very, very boring. Like I can put just like the breach of the can I, I can I live on, on my own or, you know, something or I can make something really fun out of it. And we had, like, the airplane on one side of the booth and then the other side, and we had like, this really cool packaging. So it was just about having fun and bringing out something that could be very non artistic into something very cool to have. I mean, we designed some really cool ponchos as well, and we had like a nice like half airplane coming this way and it's just little details that make it really fun and very like collectible item as well. You know, you have people that collect this type of products, but most of the people like, really use it. And up to now, I've, I found feel like, hey, what about the booth for detail? Like I really wanted. It's just a special, you know, collection that you don't normally do again. So yeah, we can make alignments of brands fun, even though people was like, no way. I don't see it. Let me DHL in you like it's not happening. And I was like, yeah, yeah we make the cool airplane and we shift it and then the box will be like a flier. And you know, some people just don't see it. And for me it's very clear. My head, that's why my, my, my team really trusts me when it comes to developing is like, no, we leave that to money, you know, like and I see it very clear here and even though I can I cannot like design perfectly on like illustrator. But but I can guide my team into, you know, get here and put it in paper or in a booth or in now more products that we have. So you said like you've had this vision since you're a little girl, right, to make these rain boots and then you said at some point during that timeline you entered this like corporate job doing. Yeah. Hotels. Yeah. And I think that happens to a lot of people, you know, they have this vision or these dreams that they want to pursue. And then for some reason, that's what I want to get into is why you took this alternative path. And what were those external pressures that made you take those that alternative path. And luckily, you were able to get out of that and go back to what is your true passion. But a lot of people never get out of that cycle. So I want to talk a little bit about that experience, like why having this vision in the back of your head, how did you end up like in this corporate path? Yeah, I think we could speak about that for hours. It takes a lot of sacrifice to do that shift. I mean, I sold my car. I had, like, this really cool apartment, and I had to move back to my parents apartments at 33. I mean, it takes a lot to to do that shift and to entrepreneurship. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I mean, your dream has to be so big that you need to be willing to do all these sacrifices, because at the beginning, you know, most of the businesses you always hear, like most of the businesses die, you know, the first year and then the next five years, like, only 1%. I mean, you don't want to being that, you know, you don't want to fall into that percentage, right? So you take precautions and you know, like, okay, maybe it's going to start small and, you know, I'm not going to have a salary. And how can I do this to, you know, survive and, and, and feed the business to start growing. So yeah, that side is like to take that leap of faith and to jump, it's like it's huge. But what made me shift was I did I studied hotel management in Switzerland and I really liked it. And otherwise I wouldn't have been there for 11 years. But, like I said, I was almost 33. I wanted to have, you know, a family and kids, and it was time for me to move. And, you know, Latinos, I have like very close to my family. And I was like to move now to another country. I didn't want to be a general manager. I knew that I always liked, like executive committee and like directors. And I said, like, I really want to get to that position. So I got it when I was 29, and already I've already done that position for 2 or 3 years. So I felt that chapter of my book was completed. I was ready for something else. And the other, the other cool thing is that I had in mind that Panama was booming. I mean, there were hotels building and, you know, they were like huge brands coming into Panama. So it was like, nobody's going to take away 11 years of my experience, right? If something goes wrong, I have like a year less about it. I literally do like it's about it. I'm like in my head. I prepare myself for a year about it, you know, something happens. I can go back. And they even said like, oh, I am worried she's going to come back. Like, forget it. She's not. She's never going to, you know, not be a hotel girl because I used I love it, I used to love it a lot. And I worked like 12, 16 hours a day. And it was like hard work. But, I really gave it my best so that for me, my head like, okay, it was like a check. It was like executive comedy committee, like director, done. So I was I was ready, I was ready, and I felt, I felt like I had a part to come back to, which is very important as well. Yeah. Luckily, luckily didn't need it. I never, I never used it. I haven't for the record yet. Oh, and never will. Never say never. Yeah. I'm very, I mean, I have a good reputation on on on on my work and brands still call me today like I do when I come back. Being hotels are still opening now. And for them to consider me, it's a huge privilege and I'm honored. So you never should say never. Maybe it could be a collab with a hotel. Maybe, maybe, maybe, you never know. What did, what were those early days like, building the company like when you first started it? You know, there's a name here in Panama or in in Latin America, it's called Zoila. So Ella is like a name. It's like, I don't know, Patty or, like, Man and soil. It's a very fun way to say soy la. It's like it's me, but soy la is with a set, and soy la, it's like, conjugation of words and then means it's me. Okay. More or less. So soy, like a very raw soy like a lean, pure soy like a casino. Soy like. So it's me that, you know, broom's watches does the photography. There's also solar is like putting all the hats in one go. And it's a fun joke. Like, everybody, when you're speaking is like, hey, how's the solar? So, you know, it's like me, myself and Irene, you know, like it's me doing all the hard work. And it was me and my mom. Literally, we were in, like, in the warehouse, just making mistakes. Like, I feel my mom's apartment full of boxes. And I was like, I think I didn't count well, and we couldn't even walk through the apartment. She's like, in our warehouse. So, I mean, it was full of mistakes. It was full of, emotions. Very a lot of excitement, a lot of people saying like, you're crazy. Like nobody uses rain boots here in Panama. Like you're like, it's going nowhere. And I started doing this, presentation cards and, you know, and I started feeling out that that room and this is very cool because, I mean, I could go back to my childhood room and look at it and say, like, this is so frustrating. Like, I'm 33 and I'm back to my Mickey Mouse bedroom right? Like, this could be like hugely frustrating. Or I can just go back to my Mickey Mouse bedroom and literally feel that every wall with dreams, covers of magazines, countries collapse, artists. And literally that's what I did. I filled it up with, you know, these very pathetic drawings like me going to 30 countries like, you know, covers of magazine and literally I fulfilled every dream in that wall. I still have a couple more to achieve, but. And it's all about perception. Like, you know, you're, you know, that you're doing these sacrifices so, you know, put the best face on those sacrifices. Don't be like, oh, like I'm doing the sacrifices. You know, you can't like, struggle and kind of like, pool is huge bag of regrets. And it is what it is. You know, you need to you need to believe in yourself and to know that all these sacrifices will pay back in the future. Near future. Not so far, but, but, yeah, I mean, I, I, I always decide to to see my glass full. Yeah. Yeah. Very optimistic, very always. I mean, people won't even imagine all the shit that, you know, sometimes I don't know if you can say my words sometimes you're going through, and, and I think and I think that's okay, you know, because sometimes you just it's, it's people don't need to know everything that you're going through. You can be an example and guide them. And, you know, when they ask you, you should. But I'm a very private person. And I like it that way. And I and I really do think I want to be somebody that's very positive and somebody that inspires. So that doesn't mean I don't have bad days or I don't have a lot of problems. I don't have many huge thousands of problems. But I just like I said, I decided to to look at my glass full in the early days building the company. And what was the most difficult challenge that you encountered and how did you get over it? Yeah, I still I, I think I still, I wouldn't say struggle, but, you know, we need to we always work very hard and it's inventory. Inventory for fashion and for, like, apparel. It's it's a tough one because you don't want to, run out of stock, but you don't want to have overstock. So it's like, I wish I had like this, you know, magic ball in front of me to tell me, like, okay, no, know that one. You should order 500. And that one, I mean, it's like, trying to really figure out what's the best amount to purchase or to manufacture. And as you grow, right, you get new markets. So you keep guessing, like, okay, what what is this new market? You know, what is the amount for this new market. So we do pre-sale. We work a lot of holes with wholesalers and they buy in beforehand. So we kind of like figure that out. But for for many people it's like marketing. And you know, they struggle with this and that and for us is very natural. I don't know, maybe it's because how we are in the how I like the brand to be very fun. So I would think it's more like getting getting the right inventory because you can spend a lot of money if you make bad decisions in that, you know, in that, in that way, you kind of got to rely on your intuition to totally, totally. And I you know what? Normally my intuition almost never fails. But I was a hotelier. I mean, I had no idea about designing manufacturer or finance marketing, nothing. I had no idea about anything. So they always say like, oh, your your, your percentage of survival was like 0.000009%. And I managed to turn that zero nine into 90% success. But it was because of my passion. It wasn't because of all the knowledge that I had. Basically, I had zero knowledge. I just had a huge passion and a huge dream behind, the brand or, you know, the idea. So, so not having all these tools. Yeah, it was very frustrating. But at the end it's also like, hey, I can just learn and grab people that are experts. And get them to help me. So why do you think that passion is more important than like, the hard skills, like having an MBA or, you know, I saw that I saw that in hotel management when we used to interview, people would come like, with, like, crazy resumes. Yeah. Crazy resumes. They were like, young, 24, 25. You know, I've I've been Cornell. I speak five languages. And then you will throw them at the front desk and they will be like, total assholes. I mean, like, ridiculous. And you need to be very humble. You know, you need to, you know, be prepared for all that. I mean, when, whenever you have a problem, in any part of the hotel, everybody complains that the front desk doesn't matter if it's like engineers bathroom spot. It doesn't matter. Like everybody gets to shit right there, right? It's not it's not an easy job to take. And then the people that were just getting graduated from school that had barely 18 years old, that spoke English, but they didn't speak these five languages. They didn't have this huge career. They were the humble ones. They were the ones willing to learn. They were the ones saying like, okay, teach me. And and even back then, I knew that maybe having all these technicalities and all these, tools wasn't as important as having a great attitude and having a huge passion. And I know it can, you know, differ from from other, maybe careers, but let's say, like in hotel management and in designing or in, in my brand, that's what I felt. I mean, I'm believing, for example, that with zero knowledge or, you know, technicalities, and all this finance and all these things, I survived for 11 years. So the brand has 11 years now. That also creates a huge pressure because I need to keep learning all the time, and I need to get advisors, and I need to get it, you know, people that can guide me and hire people that know that are better than me. And that's okay. That's okay. They always say, like, somebody can copy you. And I say, okay, I'll give you every tool, every idea and go ahead and do the business. And they won't they won't be able to do it, you know. So I'm not scared of hiring people that are better than me. I actually love it. I'm not scared of hiding. Bit of of hiring people that are younger so they can grow. I'm not. I mean, this is if you truly if you truly respect others, then they should grow. You know, they should be cleverer. They should have these opportunities. I'm not like a jealous like, oh no, you know, I don't want her to grow or I don't want her to know, like, better than me. Why? I don't think like that. How do you attract the best people in the world and get them to follow your lead and perpetuate your vision? You need to listen to the my two like persons, like immediate persons that work with me. One and I'll tell you quick story. She was the daughter of my grandmothers. My grandmother had a nurse when she was very ill. That nurse had a daughter and she told my dad, like, listen, my daughter is just graduating from school like, can you please, you know, I have her CV, like, can you get her with your daughter that she works in the hotel, like for an interview? Just an interview. And, you know, we received, like, hundreds of CVS and everything, and, you know, to take it personally to the human resource and say like, hey, listen, this person is recommended. I don't know her, you know, but like, kind of like start the hiring process. And she got hired in a different department and she thanked me and she said, well, you know, you look like this really cool supervisor. I was a supervisor back then. Oh, yeah. And I said, learn your English and you can come to my area. She started learning English. She she was in front desk and she started growing. And you give the example I think giving the example is the best way she ended up. I, I moved out, she ended up growing. And then in pandemic, she she was stuck. Everything was frozen, especially for hotels. And I said, why don't you come with me? So ten years after, you know, she's working with me, and now she has almost five years working with me, and that only can happen if you give your best every day. If you make that person feel comfortable, if you are the best example. So that she can keep learning. If you feed her with like, you know, books, ideas, dreams, and if you feed that personal side of them because it's not everything about work, you know, they can leave tomorrow and, you know, start working for you. But then all the things that you fed, you know, in her personal side, those are things that, you know, nobody is going to forget about that. And the other, my other half I call her might have a long, literally. It's, the cousin of my best friend, and, I made her part of the company. I gave her, stock, a, acciones like stock option. Yeah. And she came in, for, three months. Three months. Was it? There was three weeks. Because my best friend, it's her cousin. Okay? We were going to China to look for new products. So the person in the store left. I was going to China, and she's like, oh my God. My cousin is from Colombia. You know, she's she's coming here like she can help you for a couple weeks. And, you know, we go to China when, you know, we come back, you can hire somebody and, you know, with more time. But you can feel in that gap six years later, she's still, you know, she's in the company. And I couldn't I, you know, I, I feel so lucky and privileged to have her. She is. And that's another advice. She is completely different to me. I, she she started with zero knowledge of of of marketing and, and designing and she was all about numbers and that's what I didn't have. Like that's what I actually needed. That's what the company needed. And for her to come in and be a totally different, idea, you know, people hire people, some to hire people that are very similar to them because you think like, I'm going to be working here so many hours, I might as well just have somebody that, you know, is fun and that, you know, looks like me and, you know, goes to places like me and speaks like me. And actually, it's a mistake. You should hire people that are completely different, that are more experts in the areas that you're not, that have a completely different view. And, and that's what, that's what she is. And, I think the best way is just caring for them in a very original way and being an example. That's a very short answer to your question. No, it's a great answer. It's great advice. And it's like, obvious that you're perpetuating this unbelievable culture that people want to work for. I mean, I can already feel like you have really great energy. So you want to come to work for us? I'll think about it. For sure. You got me sold already? Well, it's storm water and water and, you know, we'll do a collab. Yeah, I think about it. That 100%, that, I have a question, though, that I'm interested in, which is in a brand or in a business like fashion that's so creative. When that is when that business begins to grow and you start having those, like, external impacts on the business, how do you maintain that creative integrity that is like your vision when you have like these external impacts? Give me example of for you, what are those external impacts like if you have new shareholders that are like they're looking at the bottom line revenue of the company. Yeah. You know, maybe not the impact as much or you're doing a collab and they have big advisors and their PR team is like put maybe limiting something that you think is an important piece of your brand. How do you maintain that creative, integrity in your brand? It's so funny because, those two things happen, and, the first one, when we, worked with somebody that was an investor and that it all looks really, you know, pink and nice, the first ones. And then you start realizing, like, whoa, this person is completely different, to the vision of the brand. And this is going to be tough. This is going to be really tough. And, you know, one of the things that this person said was, and I don't like your stuff, the girl that I just mentioned. So she's going out the window. And the person had put into the company maybe almost a hundred and 2050 thousand. And I was like, wow. Like, no, I mean, I still remember and I can get tears in my eyes. I was like, this is this is where I draw the line. And I was like, okay, we're we're we're literally we're dying at this. There's no way I can get $150,000 in weeks. And so and I don't know if you believe in God, but I do. I went to that church near where I lived, and I was like, you need to help me because I, I can't figure this one out. And a guy walks with an undercover bag. I have the video. No, and walks in front of the church in the altar. Okay. At 1130 in the morning. And I was like, I grab my phone, I have the video, and I literally called the store, and I said, because the church was near the store and I said, has anybody shopped today like it's 1130? It was early, you know, sometimes the mornings was very slow and like, no bus. Nobody has come to shop today. And I was like, what? So this guy had probably, I don't know, his wife or somebody in the family had bought or and he had the, the duffel bag with the brand name. And I was like, shit, okay, I've got my sign. It was unbelievable. Wow. And a couple weeks later we got the money. We gave it back to the investor. And, my girls think, wow, that's an unbelievable story. Amazing. Real good feel good story. Oh my God. And, with the design, with your second example, that's one of the things that we work and we ask for it now, at the beginning, because every co-lab is a is a new experience. Right. So you know already which are your, your red buttons and, you know, the red flags. And when we go into a collab, we say like, this is our line of designs, like these are some things that like must haves, we must have the website, we must have this market and we must have this, kind of like you need to let me design, you know, into the lane changes can be done. But otherwise, the essence of the brand just, you know, gets lost into a collab that can probably mean nothing or can come. Can't connect with that audience. So those are those are two things that we that we really do. And people are like, oh, you're never going to be able to get that approved. And I said, I don't mind. Let's start with the best design that we have, and then we can slow it down. And, you know, maybe we can arrange in the middle, you know, getting to a middle point. But, luckily people that do that want to collab with us know who we are. So you don't get into a collab knowing that you know you're not going to be able to express yourself well. They're not going to value your design or your opinion. That's why I said earlier it was so important to really click with a person, or the Colab or the company that you were, working with. You need to be aligned, otherwise it won't work. It won't work. It would look forced then. It's just it's it won't work. Yeah. I think it's like a super important skill as an entrepreneur to be able to identify those red flags and your counterpart early. Yeah. As opposed to, you know, getting eight, nine months in. And that's something that I've learned the hard way many times. And there's our time. You gain those skills and start, you know, acquiring that intuition for who's a good person and who's not. Yeah. But I'm curious, like, what are the systems that you have in place and what are the things that you look for in a person to determine if they are, someone that's aligned with you and someone that's going to perpetuate the brand forward and someone who has their best intentions in mind. I love that question because I think intuition is definitely, definitely like one of the the best things you can have as an entrepreneur because it it works for everything. Not only like to choose like the next goal, but to know which is the coolest product. So for us, like intuition, really, really is like for me, one of the great I would say talent or or, yeah, I would say like, it's not everybody has that intuition to know, like, you know what? I don't think this is the right person or you know what? And I still make mistakes. I mean, I did with a, with a investor, and sometimes sometimes, like intuition can be fogged with the idea of this huge dream, right? Yeah. And that's the problem. That's a problem when you don't listen this little voice, like, I don't think that's the right person. I don't think that's the right call up. And you're like, no, no, I'm I'm really going to get to market. So I'm going to go into the US and you know, I'm going to be huge. This is the right way. And that's when your intuition gets fogged by this dream. You get excited, you know, and you need to really get like all the excitement, just put it in a box. And yeah, it's cool to have these options, but okay, let's be realistic. Is this. And look at that option. You know the option. The person that call up to design the product in a free a cold in the freezing. And we say like I'm an error free. I'm in Spanish like really focus and say like, okay, is this what what do I need? What the company needs. Is this really what we want? Because intuition can be very easily fogged. What would you say in this? My final question, what would you say is the single biggest piece of advice that you would give to entrepreneurs that you've learned over your journey? God, I so many, but I think the one that pops right now is like this $150 issue, the $50,000 issue. There's a couple of other issues and, one of the teachers we had for engaging in guys like the Harvard of Latin America is in Costa Rica. He said, so how many of these issues have you had? And I said, these, these big issues, like the issues that I was I had a heart attack and die, I don't know, like, like six, I don't know is going to kill me. And he said, you're missing like 13. So, you know, don't worry now, like what? So understanding that growing, is, is the equivalent of these and Lauren's happening to you, not feeling that, you know, it's the last day of the company. I think that's a great advice to know that all these difficult moments, they don't necessarily mean that you should throw the towel. It means that you're becoming stronger, that you're getting ready for something bigger, and that, you know you need to step up and you grow. The brand grows, but you grow as well. So I think that advice, you know, I would ask them like how many really fucked up times they had. And then I say like, okay, you have like 12, 12 more to go. So that's something that is like, okay, okay, this is number seven. All right. I'll be ready for number eight. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's some fantastic advice. And you know, it's apparent to me why you've been successful because you have this great passion and energy and that translates and that has influence and inspires people. And, you know, I think that, if more people just have that positivity, that positive energy, like you said, that could go a lot farther. So, so imagine all the people that could still be alive if they had maybe a little bit of that, half full glass instead of having for sure and think about, you know, working with us. Yeah, absolutely. So, so if people want to find you and they are interested in your products, they want to see what you have to offer or maybe they just want to connect with you personally and get some advice. Where could they find you? So our website is w w w dot I am undercover.com. Our Instagram is undercover boots and then you can always email us info at IAM undercover.com or even to myself Maria Maria at I am undercover that cool fantastic. Yeah. My phone number is okay. People have done that before. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm stretching it a little bit. Have to like I said, a very bright. Yeah, that's about me. Maybe I'll tell you all later. Oh. Springs sweet. Well, I appreciate you guys. You know, I been amazing. With.