June 1, 2020 • 34 mins
FYI!!! Carla Marie is no longer the host of a morning show in Seattle but she is still supporting small businesses in every way possible. She’s even started her own small business with her radio cohost and best friend, Anthony. All of the links below will help you stay up to date!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the side Hustler's podcast. I'm your host from
my Heart Radio Carla Marie. Each week I talked to
people following a passion outside of their day job. These
are people who choose to work extra just because there's
something that they believe in, something they have a passion for.
Some of these people have turned their side hustle into
their full time job. And each week there's a whole
(00:20):
new story. But everyone has one thing in common. They're driven,
they're passionate, and they're always amazing people. And I don't
do that part on purpose, they just end up being amazing.
This has essentially turned into my very own side hustle.
My day job is hosting the Carla Marie and Anthony
Show on one oh six point one Kiss FM in
Seattle for I Heart Radio. And yeah, this podcast is
(00:40):
now my side gig and it's been a really cool
community to be a part of the small business community,
especially right now as we record this podcast now. This
week's guests are Amber and Tom Meyer, their husband and
wife who own Ugly Yellow House, which started as a
human boats eye company, turned dog boats high company, turned
(01:01):
into a very controversial company as they have ventured into
the world of making masks. This is Amber and Tom's
story for a lot of people. You know, why are
you way? Do you know what you want to do?
And this is something you want to do, you do it.
I'm a hustles side side hustle do it. I'm a
hustle hust do it. I'm a hustles side side hustlve
(01:24):
come on ask about me yo yo. It's the side
Hustless podcast we call the Route. So you guys are
like super controversial right now, I mean so controversial. I
love it in the best way possible. So the mask
that you've been making, and we'll get into later in
the podcast what some of the trolling has been like
(01:45):
for you guys from people because they want your math
so bad. But the mask and I have mine right
here from Ugly Yellow House. This little piece of fabric
is in such demand right now when we're recording this
that it's so crazy and it's a topic of conversation.
So what is it like for you guys being just
right behind it, right you know, making these things that
(02:06):
everyone is either fighting about or not fighting about or
whatever it is right now? Well, I think for sure
I never thought that face mask would ever be a
political statement, nor that I think the head it would
be something that was in demand. It was just something
that you feel helpless in this time. And you know,
I am still working, but Tom is working solely on
(02:27):
Ugly Yellow House, and so for him, it's just like
what do I do with my business? Right? What do
I do now? And then for us as a couple,
it's what do we do the help? Like, there's nothing
that you can do when you feel helpless and you
need some sort of control in this this chaos, and
so Tom's idea is let's make him and donate them.
And it's crazy how much it has taken off. But
(02:49):
like you said, what do you do as a small business?
Right now? Everyone's talking about the pivot? What can you do,
whether it's pivoting your business to benefit yourself and your
business which is super important, or pivot to help you
guys you're regularly of The Yellow House is a bow
tie company, So I warn't that story first before we
fully get into the mass and everything that's going on
(03:09):
with that. Your side Hustle is a bow tie company
for pets and for humans. So let's get where did
that start? Because that is it's the cutest. I know,
Tom's rock in one right now. He's super dressed up
for this podcast, unlike me right now. So where did
the boatie start? It's all Amber's fault, honestly. Amber. One
(03:32):
of Amber's best friends was getting married and she's a
big bow tie fans. So Amber reached out to her
and asked if she could, you know, design her a
couple that she could possibly wear, you know, during her ceremony.
And I've never really messed with bow ties honestly before that.
And then after we had the pattern and I started
messing with it, I kind of realized, frankly, how convenient
it was not to have a foot and a half
(03:53):
of fabric hanging from your neck when you get dressed up.
And it honestly just kind of snowball from there. We
we took a bunch of patterns that we found, you know,
that we were working from, tweaked them to what I
thought fit me best, and then yeah, Amber decided, you know,
I was basically just downstairs kind of messing around teaching
myself how to sew, along with Amber teaching me how
to sew, and then Amber just comes up one day
(04:14):
and it was like, yeah, I signed us up for
West Seattle Summer Press. We have we have six weeks
to make this a business. Okay, but Tom, your background
is TV production, so you had to quit your job
in TV production to work on the boats, Like, what
was that timeline for you? I did TV and radio
for almost twenty years. And when we got up here
(04:36):
and I finally got a chance to take a break
from it, I realized after word this correctly because I
realized how unhappy I was allowing it to make me,
and I didn't like that. And once I had a
break from it, and I realized I wasn't that unhappy
person anymore, I really enjoyed that. So then it was, okay,
how do I prevent that from ever happening again? Both tie?
(04:56):
I mean, whatever it's gonna be, you know, you know
I'm lucky that, you know, I come from, you know,
a long line of makers. My mother's always made stuff,
my father has always made stuff. My brother is just
a brilliant designer. It's just kind of always been in
our blood. So then that was just my immediate thought
was all right, what can we make? And then time
moved on. Wedding was planned Moowe tis word and then
(05:16):
we just kind of thought we you know, we hummed
it hot about it, you know, as we were working
on him, you know, I could this be a thing.
Amber really likes to put a massive pressure point on
things that she wants them to happen. So that's literally
what she did is she just kind of came into
the studio one day. It was like, I signed us
up for Westy have the summerfest. We have six weeks,
let's go. Okay, so off off running we went. But Amber,
(05:37):
this is still your side hustle, very much your side hustle.
You have a day job. You have a day job
now even working from home during all of this, So
what was then for you? Obviously Tom was in a
point where he didn't want to go back to the
job he was doing, so he was all in on
ugly yellow house. For you as a side hustle, what
was that launched? Like? What was that moment like? And
(05:57):
why did you want to have your own business? Part
of moving to Seattle, beyond it being just our most
favorite place, is that it's a community of weirdos, in
the community of people who try things and fail and
try again and are accepting of of makers and doing
your own thing, and that's one of the biggest things
(06:18):
that was appealing when moving here. And I had attended
fashion school UM after my undergrad and it was a
dream to become a fashion designer. And life happens. So
we move up here, I get a promotion and I
can't finish, and that's a devastating moment. But I have
learned so much that I could put to youth. I
(06:41):
was only you know, I'm only like a year away
from it, so it's it's still I have all of
that knowledge, and I didn't really know what that would
look like anyway, And so we knew we wanted to
run our own business. We just didn't know what it
would be and what it could look like. But fashion
for me was still at the forefront, albeit not men's wear,
but happy to take that on. And it's really cool,
and you know, it was just this, it's this moment
(07:04):
of like having your own thing that you can do,
that you can call your own, because not a lot
else is, you know, when you're working for someone else.
So it's just this adventure of like, Okay, we can
do this. We don't know what it's going to be,
but why not start both ties and then grow it.
I love that you said having something you can call
your own, because that is a huge thing that you
(07:24):
don't realize when you said when you're working for someone.
For me, this podcast is mine I have. I share
my morning show with someone. I share literally every other
part of my professional life with at least one or
more people, and this podcast is like my thing that
I've grown and it's it's really cool to have that.
So I under completely understand where you are with that,
(07:46):
and I think maybe a lot of people don't realize
they need that, so I hope them here. And you
say that, and the same thing with Tom, with you
saying you didn't realize how unhappy you were letting yourself be.
Those kind of things are so important when it comes
to finding your passion and what you want to put
into it. So I appreciate you both for sharing the
sentiments because it's it's unbelievably important. Once you started the
bow ties, you also make pet bow ties now, and
(08:09):
I know this because I bought one for my sister's
dog Milo. I originally thought it was only pet bow
ties because that's what I would see when I would
go into Shant and shop a layer in West Seattle.
So when did you go from men's bow ties two pets?
Dogs are definitely my most favorite thing, like ever, like
humans are great, but dogs are the best. We're finding
(08:30):
all this waste coming from the bow ties, like fabric
or cute fabric that was that could be up cycled
from vintage suits that maybe weren't suitable for bow ties.
But I would watch the like piles and piles of
fabric and it just drove me crazy. I'm like very
frugal with fabric especially, and so it just sort of
(08:50):
kind of came naturally, like what can we do with
this small amount of fabrics that's still fantastic and and
dog bow ties just seemed to fit. Um. We had
had a couple of people asked us that markets like, oh,
these are great, do you have them for dogs? Like
why did we not think about? My question is why
did some money immediately say that right, just su make
it for dogs, Like that's not my first question the thing,
(09:15):
but it was a no brain or like now we
can save this waste. We can use some of these
other amazing fabrics that we have that are not good
to tie because they're either too sick or just wrong.
And so it involved into these um I mean, if
you look at our Instagram, it's all dogs all the time.
Like it's people will not take pictures of themselves as
quickly and share them as they will of their pets
(09:37):
don't need to know, so they just love it. So yeah,
it's just was this weird, random thing and now it's
like it out spells our bow ties most of the time. Yes,
way it is insane. People go crazy for their dogs
more than themselves love that they can match them too,
so that's pretty exciting. Yeah, it's just was this random
(10:00):
thing and it turned out really well. I mean yeah,
when any time I'm shopping at a layer in West
Seattle I see them, I'm like, oh man, I would
like I could get them from my cats, but they're
such pain in the asses and I'm like, oh am,
I to get this too. And then I would wanted
to send my sister a care package because when all
of this started, she was going through chaos of having
to move her wedding or possibly move the wedding, and
(10:21):
I was like, I want to send her a gift,
and I sent her some things actually from a layer,
and I was like, oh, I know what'll make her
happy a bow tie for the dog, and I wrote
a little note about how, you know, maybe on her
wedding day he'll get to wear this eventually, And I mean,
she was like, this was the coolest thing, and it
was something so simple, like you said, for you guys,
it's it's just extra fabric at that point, but it
was something that made my sister smile through a crazy
(10:43):
time and made everyone smile when she sent the picture
of her dog in a bow tie. And it's just
simple things. But you guys have been able to take
literal piles and turn them into memories for people. But
that fabric. You mentioned something about up cycling. Do you
normally do that with suits and stuff? I tried, Yeah,
it's it's kind of you know, amber Is is really
good about going on finding great fabrics for us. I
(11:06):
like the challenge of hunting and trying to mind stuff out,
especially like you know, estate sales and thrift stores back
when those were actually still a thing. Like I mean,
you could find amazing suits for really good prices and
they might not fit me, they might have a couple
of moth holes or whatever in them, but that is
a swath beautiful wool that I get to play with,
you know, so I've really tried to go that way.
(11:27):
It's I mean, you know, there's only so much you
can get out of them, and sometimes the patterns a
little planner, but they make beautiful ties, and then even
the scraps from that, you know, just go straight to
a dog bow tie. Man. I can't wait to see
the things that you guys come up with, because you've
already evolved so much as a company. It's kind of
cool to see how creative you both are and what's next.
But the name of your company, and I keep saying
(11:48):
ugly yellow house, and I want people to make sure
that they are hearing me correctly. It's ugly yellow House.
Where did that name come from? From our ugly yellow
house company? Yellow House? So it's like I get it,
I completely get it. And I think we're like kindred spirits,
Like I'm so connected to you guys, So I get it. Yeah,
it was. I mean, you know, finding and buying a
(12:09):
home in Seattle is just a battle on it to all.
It is so hard, and so once we finally did,
we ended up with our little ugly yellow house. We've
always referred to it as ugly yellow house. So we
figured this and we're very lucky because our basement allows
us a huge amount of space to build like a
proper studio in it, you know. So we're making everything
at our ugly yellow house. We'll call it Ugly Yellow House.
(12:30):
Plus when we're at markets, it makes a lot of
people stop and say why did you name your company
U the Yellow House or are you selling house? Like
what is are you making? What are you doing? I
mean it really lets you do whatever you want, whatever
you create in that house is Ugly Yellow House. And
that's amazing and it's kind of a great thing. Like
we were we were talking about it this morning, where
you know, like we started with with bow ties and
(12:52):
we were doing vintage clothing and accessory. Vintage is a
hard space to be, so I took out vintage, just
became bow ties and then bow ties pocket squares. I
have a machine shop in my my part of the studio,
you know, so lathing lapel pains and that kind of thing.
So it's just and that's kind of the great thing
is it can it can just snowball and evolve into
(13:14):
whatever we wanted to be. I didn't even realize you
did that, do you still do the lapel pins or
was that something you did or you still do the
plans have kind of been put on hold for the
last couple of months. A common material and he will
make something out of it. It's insane, like whether it's
a team or a sewing machine or so. I mean,
you give him a challenge, a creative challenge, and he
will figure it out. It's amazing. So, Tom, you said
(13:37):
that your family you came from a line of makers.
Is that where that creative skill comes from? I think so? Yeah,
I mean my I think. I mean my mother was
a stained glass artist, you know, my my father would
have and this is you know, what are the hobbies
that I've picked up as well. My father is like
a hobby machinist, you know. So I grew up having
you know, a metal lathe and a metal mill, you know,
(13:58):
in his garage, constantly watching play on that stuff. Colonel
in the Air Force, that's his happy places. He's loved
just going out there and ripping metal to pieces and
making things out of it. So probably about a year
before we moved to Seattle, I picked up my own lathe.
You know, I've got my little metal shop in my
little you know, would shop downstairs. And again, it's just
one of those things we were I like to say,
(14:20):
like my my parents never discouraged us from taking things
apart when we were a kid. It was always just
if somebody put it together, there's a way to take
it back apart. Just figure out how to put it back.
So you were one of those kids. I get now
everything absolutely, And I mean my father is still the
same way. I'm still the same way, my brother is
still the same way. Our house was constantly making things,
and so I think it's just kind of in our blood. Okay,
(14:41):
but it is your dad. The machinists making metal, like
in your family do they go and you went to
bow Ties? Like what, there's just a different are they
like what's happening here? Yeah, there's definitely a couple of
weird looks. But it's honestly, it's funny, especially talking to
my father about it. My father pretty stow a guy,
you know, military, very big mustache, very depressive, but I
think he gets it because it's just the fact of
(15:03):
making things. It's like it doesn't matter what it is,
because frankly, a lot of people think it's weird that
are dude, so, you know, but I just look at
it as a tool. You know, I've got you know,
industrial sewing machines in our studio. I've got metal lathes
in my shop. You know, I can rebuild a carburetor
out in my garage. It's just a tool to me,
you know. And as long as I can use a
tool to make something, that's all I want to do,
and it should be. And when you look at like
(15:25):
sewing machines as a part of this country and like
what they've done, I mean they are like saying they're
sewn into the you know, the fabric of this country
is the most cliche thing you can say. But like
my grandma worked in factories with sewing machines like that.
If she didn't have that job or that job didn't exist,
I mean, my family wouldn't have had any means at all.
(15:45):
And she was in a sewing machine factory working in
the I guess probably late thirties. Like sewing machines are
like you're saying, it's just another machine, and it's an
amazing machine. And the fact that someone would say, oh,
you're a man that shows and things, it's weird. They
can suck it so that's yeah real, And I mean
I have such a tiny amount of skill on a
sewing machine. I'm still such a novice, but it's pretty incredible.
(16:05):
I mean, you know, you take a couple of pieces
of material stick in this machine and you can get
a thing out of it. It's wild what you guys
have been able to do. You mentioned fabric that's not
up cycled. Where do you get that fabric from? And
how do you how do you even know where to
get fabric from? And what does that process like as
a maker? So my day job requires me I'm gone
basically three weeks out of every month traveling, which is hard.
(16:28):
But also I get bored, so I need it's something
to do. And the sourcing fabric has been like something
that brings me joy when I'm away from home, occupies
my brain that's away from work otherwise in just sitting
in a hotel room working. And there's this amazing fabric
store in Missoula, Montana, and I freaking love this store.
(16:51):
It is tiny and beautiful fabrics from Liberty of London
to like waxed canvas and anywhere in between. If you're
a quilture or you're making clothes like she's got it.
And so now like she knows me when I come
in every month and you know, we talk and um,
I've ordered from fabric from her during this pandemic just
because you look at it and you can order from
(17:12):
big places and that's that's a really quick, easy fix.
Except for honestly, right now, like they are weeks that hing.
But it also feels good to like someone else who's
doing this little thing, to be able to buy fabric
from them, even though you know it's mass produced fabric.
It's a tiny shop, so it occupies my time. And yeah, Missoula,
Montana my favorite place to buy fabric. Who thought that
(17:35):
you would? You know, you have to travel for your
day job. You're able to still work on your side
hustle while traveling. And that's cool that you can travel
all over the country and go to small businesses and
be able to feed back into them. I mean, it's
amazing what you're doing. So that's super cool. It's fun.
So when and why and how did the mass come in?
(17:55):
Explain all of that, because right now I know that
your life has been basically consume oomed by making these
cloth masks. And for the record, let me explain. I
have been posting pictures of me wearing my mask. I
have two of them from Ugly Yellow House, and I
have not received more comments about any product in a
(18:16):
very long time. Like sometimes there's there's always that one
product that I will post. I'd say it happens like
every eight months where it's like I need that, I
need that, I need that, And right now it's your masks,
and both of them, I've got two different patterns, and personally,
I love them. They fit great, they feel comfortable, They're cute,
Like honestly, it's stuff to say it's like an accessory now,
but it is. And I love that I can wear
(18:37):
them around my neck, pop them on when I need
to throw them in the wash. I've washed them a
ton of times. They're amazing. So that is me my
side of the masks. I love them. But what was
it like for you guys launching and creating your masks?
Chaos great. I know there's a story behind that, so
I'm in for that. I started messing around with them,
(18:58):
I guess probably beginning of March. Think March seven was
about when we went on lockdown, I think makes us
personally and then immediately just kind of went to my
head of trying to help. You know, what can you
possibly need? I mean, you know, I've never been through
anything like this before. You know, nobody needed a bow tie,
No I don't. So I spent probably two weeks downstairs
(19:19):
just kind of prototyping and looking what other people were doing,
and and and working on stuff. The problem that we
had was, you know, like in March, elastic was as
hard to find his toilet paper, you know. So I
finally found a supplier that it took probably about three
weeks to finally get my order in, and then once
we had the elastic, it was just full speed go.
I mean, it's just like you didn't do just the elastic.
(19:40):
You have the little sizer thing on there so that
I can size it for my head or someone like
you don't have to worry about sizes because you have
this ability like you guys didn't just slap fabric on
a piece of elastic, like you actually engineered this and
in such a short time. And he's been a little
bit modest about it. Like he made I'm not even kidding,
probably with almost twenty masks. He would make a couple
(20:02):
of different styles and then from that style. He would
move it up and then we would wear them and
go Like I was sold on having the behind the
ear thing because that's all I had ever seen. What's
really annoying if you've ever worn sunglasses on your head
that are took behind your ears, or your glasses, or
your hair behind or a hat behind your ear stalks.
And so if this is going to be something that
we have to wear, what's going to be comfortable, what's
(20:24):
going to shape around the face? What's going to hold
up for multiple washing? You know what is I didn't
even this. The tallow idea was all tom like being
able to adjust it to around your head so that way,
you know, someone with a small head and then someone
was a larger head can wear it. And so there
was a lot of care and thought put into not
only can we get all these masks out, but can
(20:46):
we make it something that's at least going to be
comfortable and look good. Well you succeeded because it's comfortable
and they look but you guys, originally, so when you
started the mask, you're originally only doing donate right, Yeah? Yeah,
because it was it was right around that time that
you know, the West Seattle Bridge was also shut down,
(21:06):
so us being in West Seattle, we were oddly cut
off from everybody else. And then especially because I mean
there was lots of groups that were, you know, making
cloth masks for medical professionals and donating to hospitals and
nursing homes like that stuff was amazing, but frankly, not
a lot of it could get to West Seattle, just
sherely because the main thoroughfare in the West Seattle was gone.
So that was kind of our first thing was, you know,
(21:29):
businesses that are trying to stay open, first responders, you know,
essential workers. We have fabric, we have the materials. Now
we just put the call at if you need it,
let us know if you're in the area, we'll bring
it straight to you, no problem. So that's where we
really started, and it was hugely fulfilling, you know what
I mean, to actually like be able to do something
helpful during this time where you've just been kind of
(21:50):
sitting in your house for three weeks, going what do
we do? It's tough. You weren't only giving them to
medical workers. You were thinking essential workers, like people who
still had to work and be around people, whether it's
arcery store, and I know Shandon, who is the who
was doing deliveries for her store, Hilaryera, West Seattle. She
had had one and I was like, where did you
guess at? I need one? And she was started telling
(22:12):
me it was you guys. You know, they normally make
the dog poetizes and now they're doing this and I
was like, I need one and she's like, they're only
doing donations. I'm like, I will give them all of
my money. I don't care how do I get it?
And I'll like because then you started doing when you
buy one, will donate to right, that was the next step. Yeah,
it's not really that ratio. Honestly, it's probably way higher
than that. Like we're just selling a small percentage of
(22:34):
what we make, you know, basically, just to keep and
we've been really lucky. There's been some people that have
donated fabric to us, you know, to keep going with
the donation masks. But yeah, so we're just I don't
even actually know the number. We're just selling a small
percentage basically, like to just keep the whole thing going.
People need them and they reach out or we'll see
another business open up and so I reach out on
Instagram or someone will tell us for Shandon's been great
(22:57):
about spreading it, and so you know, like that's our
focus and that needs to come first. Like last week,
lots of places we're opening back up, we shut down
our sales and went we got to focus on this
because at the end of the day, that's what's most important.
If we take care of our community, they'll take care
of us. And the people who have to be out there.
We're fortunate, like we don't have to be out there
besides delivery, but like Shandon has to be out there,
(23:20):
and these food places who are trying to make life
normal for us, and grocery store and daycare workers. So
like it's just who needs them the most and who
needs them now, and that's where we're going to focus.
And it doesn't always yield for the nicest comments or
people loving us, and it's hard. Don't get pleased. I
listen on your end. I know it's not I have
(23:41):
been losing my mind on people for you guys, So backstory,
were listening right now. You guys post the masks on Friday,
like you make them all week, and then I mean,
how much can two people so ember you're still doing
your day job, Tom, Like like, you can't how many
mass are you making a day? We can generally get
between twenty and thirty a day if we go down there,
(24:01):
and like, go, that's a lot. Yeah, And then you
can only keep that pace up for so long before
you burnout. Of course, So then you guys post them
on Friday, and then they sell out obviously, because when
you've got people all over just Seattle knowing about you guys,
then you've got people like me posting it, and then
you've got people from other states seeing it, they're going
to sell out. Well, what happens when things sell out?
(24:22):
People become raging assholes. And I started seeing people comment
on your Instagram like this is so left up they
sold out right away. No, you're just mad it's not up.
This is amazing that a small business has been able
to create a product that people love that much that
they're willing to check in at a certain time to
buy that product. You're just mad you didn't get it
(24:44):
back off. And I was like so pissed at these
people doing that to you guys who are taking more
more than half of what you're making and donating it
and doing something good. Like those people suck. Ignore them
the people. You need to focus on the people who
are supporting you guys, and coming back screw them who cares.
But you've obviously that clearly. I feel it so much
(25:08):
because it's hard to like, we have not seen the
kind of recognition and immediacy and success from both eyes.
It's just not a high demand thing. And this is
and so I'm very new to the social media game.
That's not Amber talking. Amber can say whatever she wants
to say. Amber does say whatever she wants to say.
But ugly yellow House, the Amber doesn't understand this weird
(25:31):
line that it's okay to actually stick up for us.
It's okay to say, look, there are two of us,
were trying our hardest, you know, half the time, there's
one and a half of us doing this, you know,
and just learning that it's okay to tell people like
to kill. We're figuring this out too. And a lot
of people are nice. We've had more nice people than
me and people, but those mean people are exhausting and
(25:53):
they can really get to you and I have to
turn off my foot. Like a couple of fridays ago,
I was just beside myself. I was like, I can't
do that. I'm like, I don't understand. They're the loudest
and guess what, they literally have nothing to do now, nothing,
and like they had nothing to do like five months ago,
and now they really have nothing to do. So they're
just trolling positivity and that's what they do. And honestly,
(26:16):
when you have haters, you know you've made it. So
this is exciting. Congratulations are you going? I take it? Okay?
So what do you think it's going to happen? Like,
what is the future of Ugly Yellow House? Will there be?
You know, are you always going to make masks? Are
you gonna Obviously when events started happening again both ties
will be a thing. But are you now realizing, well,
we can do a lot more than just bow ties
(26:37):
for people. Yeah, I mean it's kind of like what
you said, I think masks are a thing now. I
don't think this is going to be a temporary patch
to to get us through this. I mean I think
they're a thing now. And so, you know, that was
kind of the goal once we started, you know, especially
you know, looking into our fabrics and whatnot, is it's
going to be a thing, like make it an accessory.
(26:59):
That's kind of what we always specialized in was accessories,
was high quality fabrics, make them really well. The whole
goal out of all of it is just to get
somebody to wear a mask. You know. That was a
big thing, especially with you know, the going with the
headbands instead of around the ears. Is I want to
take away every excuse somebody has to not wear one.
And they're key. It's not like the ugly medical ones,
which I mean the great and they serve their purpose,
(27:21):
but those should be for medical workers. They don't need
to look to in the hospital. We did so, but yeah,
like you can do so. I feel like you guys
are realizing you can do so much more than what
you've been doing. It's like something bad is happening now,
but you're you're learning so much from it and it's
going to broaden your skills and your company coming out
of this absolutely and there's lots of different things you
(27:43):
want to do, whether it's like Tom made a bag
out of sailcloth that one of our friends gave us
from their sale, and you know, like just re repurposing
things is a big passion, and like finding that thing
that not everyone's doing, you know, Cotton boat hides was
that thing. There's not affordable boat ties that are breathable
and wearable that'll work. Now we need space masks. So
(28:04):
I think that's the great thing about the name of
our company is it literally can be whatever we wanted
to be. There is there is nothing you can you know,
ever have to be like, well, how does that fit
into our brand? Because it just does. Because that's why. No,
remember I didn't really ask you about this, but you
don't have to tell us where you work. But what
is your day job? So I work for the largest
(28:24):
digital automotive I should say physical to company on Compax
thing they own Kelly blue Book Auto Trader and the spaceport.
Car dealers buy their cars the software they used to
sell their cars, and so my main job is to
make sure that car dealers are buying the right cars.
But they're advertising and following guidelines. Um, what's their online
present looks like it was trying to figure out how
(28:48):
to get them to learn that they can work virtually
in this environment. People want to buy cars, however they're
allowed to buy cars, and so to get a dealership
to like buy into that and realize they don't have
to open their doors to sell a car was like
the first sixty days of my COVID experience and it
turned out really great. Everyone's adapting and so a little
(29:08):
different than your side hustle, so very different than right
side hustle. Has there been anything that you've been able
to take from your day job and put it into
ugly yellow house like skill wise, yeah, absolutely so marketing
for sure, and sales is definitely helpful. I do a
lot of s c O and a lot of SCM
in search engine marketing in my day job, and so
that's help is we're finding keywords and building websites, and
(29:31):
the social media part has been really hard, but the
whole marketing and sales platform is basically what I've done
for the last fifteen years of my life, and so
that's been a nice transition. Is just being able to
have that sort of marketing and sales background coming into that.
That's huge. I mean, so many small business owners are
business owners period, don't understand the s c O and
(29:52):
I've never even heard anyone say s c M before,
so it makes sense, but like now I need to
go figure that out. But no, it's a skill that
if you have and you can use it with your
small business your twenty steps ahead of everyone else. And
we keep mentioning Shandon a Layer West Seattle, and I
want to be able to shout her out. So she
is the reason we're connected. Obviously, I know that she
(30:13):
connected me to you guys. She's big fans of you guys.
But how did you guys connect with Shandon? So I
like to start us out with a disclaimer that I'm
not a stalker, but I am a crazy stalker for
Shandon from very afar when this first started, you know,
just following her on social media, and then her store.
If you have not I mean, anyone listening in Seattle,
(30:34):
if you've not been in the Layer, it is my
happy place. If you're upset ever, you walk into that
store and you just build a sense of calm. So
I was super fan girling behind the scenes. And we
were at a market and there was this dog that
looks just like her otis and someone we took a
picture and posted it and someone asked her tagged her
and so is this your Otis? Is a different Otis?
(30:57):
But she was like I need I Like, I think
I need a dog bow tie for my Otis. And
I was like, you absolutely do, But I was still like,
really super shy about it because I just thought she
was the coolest person and not having met her. And
Tom was like, this is your chance. Put together a
care pack. It's full of everything we make. Take it
over there and introduce yourself, like this is how you're
(31:19):
going to be able to do it. And so we did,
and she liked them, and she likes us, and she's
just the most wonderful person. And I'm so glad that
somehow that weird not her otis dog led us to
be front. So how long ago that, oh, gosh, September.
It's just like this person a month ago. And how
(31:42):
long has Ugly Yellow House been around July almost two years? Yea, yeah,
two years, so not very long at all. That's nuts.
And then I know you were able to connect with Roxy,
who had been on side Hustlers earlier this year. She
is behind Lonteree handmaid obviously handmakes those stitches all of that.
(32:02):
So she was had sent me a mask. I got
a mask from her, and I ordered some pillows and
she was like, what do you think of my mask?
Because she was seeing me where your masks? And I
was like, honestly, they both serve different purposes. They both
are great, but it all it's preference, just like any accessory.
So she had told me that she reached out to
you guys and you guys were helping her, and I
(32:23):
was like, I just love when people who are doing
the same thing still help out one another. And it's
incredible that you guys are like that. And I just
wanted to commend you guys for being kind to other
people and not competitive, even though you know, at the
end of the day, you know it's a bottom line,
but you're still super kind. Yeah, same goal, right, Like
she's trying to do exactly what we were trying we
(32:45):
are trying to do and doing her own thing at
the same time. And I think it's just being a
fellow maker and a small business owner like you just
you just want to cling to that community, even if
they're in California, even if they're selling the same thing. Like,
we don't have to be competitors. We complement each other.
Hers they're different than ours and they're amazing, you know.
And so I mean, if you can get one from her,
(33:06):
get one. If you can get one from us, get them.
If you can make your own, make your own, whatever
it takes. Stay home. But if you have to leave,
find a freaking mask and put on your face. I
don't care what it looks like, or a bow tie
and or bow tie and mask. Boom. We're all set
that we're set for the year. So I want people
(33:27):
to go support. It's Ugly yellow House dot com and
then it's ugly yellow House on Instagram, and that's probably
the best place to go to stay up to date
with your launches. I know you took a week off
as we're recording this, you took last week off, but
this coming Friday it'll be there. You'll have mass up
there again. But obviously that's going to change. Those things change,
So Ugly yellow House on Instagram to support Amber and
(33:49):
Tom guys. I can't wait to see what you do next.
I'm so excited you. I'll be following. Thank you so
much for being here. I can't wait to actually meet
you in person. You're so closely, so far away, so soon.
Thank you so much for listening to Amber and Tom's story.
You can follow Ugly Yellow House on Instagram Ugly yellow
House dot com. I've got all the links below so
you can just click right there in the description. Thank
(34:11):
you as always for being here and listening to side Hustlers,
rate and review the podcast. That is such a help
and you can always reach out to me side Hustler's
podcast at gmail dot com. This podcast has been produced
by my friend at Houston Tilly and until next week,
keep hustling.
Welcome to the side Hustler's podcast. I'm your host from
my Heart Radio Carla Marie. Each week I talked to
people following a passion outside of their day job. These
are people who choose to work extra just because there's
something that they believe in, something they have a passion for.
Some of these people have turned their side hustle into
their full time job. And each week there's a whole
(00:20):
new story. But everyone has one thing in common. They're driven,
they're passionate, and they're always amazing people. And I don't
do that part on purpose, they just end up being amazing.
This has essentially turned into my very own side hustle.
My day job is hosting the Carla Marie and Anthony
Show on one oh six point one Kiss FM in
Seattle for I Heart Radio. And yeah, this podcast is
(00:40):
now my side gig and it's been a really cool
community to be a part of the small business community,
especially right now as we record this podcast now. This
week's guests are Amber and Tom Meyer, their husband and
wife who own Ugly Yellow House, which started as a
human boats eye company, turned dog boats high company, turned
(01:01):
into a very controversial company as they have ventured into
the world of making masks. This is Amber and Tom's
story for a lot of people. You know, why are
you way? Do you know what you want to do?
And this is something you want to do, you do it.
I'm a hustles side side hustle do it. I'm a
hustle hust do it. I'm a hustles side side hustlve
(01:24):
come on ask about me yo yo. It's the side
Hustless podcast we call the Route. So you guys are
like super controversial right now, I mean so controversial. I
love it in the best way possible. So the mask
that you've been making, and we'll get into later in
the podcast what some of the trolling has been like
(01:45):
for you guys from people because they want your math
so bad. But the mask and I have mine right
here from Ugly Yellow House. This little piece of fabric
is in such demand right now when we're recording this
that it's so crazy and it's a topic of conversation.
So what is it like for you guys being just
right behind it, right you know, making these things that
(02:06):
everyone is either fighting about or not fighting about or
whatever it is right now? Well, I think for sure
I never thought that face mask would ever be a
political statement, nor that I think the head it would
be something that was in demand. It was just something
that you feel helpless in this time. And you know,
I am still working, but Tom is working solely on
(02:27):
Ugly Yellow House, and so for him, it's just like
what do I do with my business? Right? What do
I do now? And then for us as a couple,
it's what do we do the help? Like, there's nothing
that you can do when you feel helpless and you
need some sort of control in this this chaos, and
so Tom's idea is let's make him and donate them.
And it's crazy how much it has taken off. But
(02:49):
like you said, what do you do as a small business?
Right now? Everyone's talking about the pivot? What can you do,
whether it's pivoting your business to benefit yourself and your
business which is super important, or pivot to help you
guys you're regularly of The Yellow House is a bow
tie company, So I warn't that story first before we
fully get into the mass and everything that's going on
(03:09):
with that. Your side Hustle is a bow tie company
for pets and for humans. So let's get where did
that start? Because that is it's the cutest. I know,
Tom's rock in one right now. He's super dressed up
for this podcast, unlike me right now. So where did
the boatie start? It's all Amber's fault, honestly. Amber. One
(03:32):
of Amber's best friends was getting married and she's a
big bow tie fans. So Amber reached out to her
and asked if she could, you know, design her a
couple that she could possibly wear, you know, during her ceremony.
And I've never really messed with bow ties honestly before that.
And then after we had the pattern and I started
messing with it, I kind of realized, frankly, how convenient
it was not to have a foot and a half
(03:53):
of fabric hanging from your neck when you get dressed up.
And it honestly just kind of snowball from there. We
we took a bunch of patterns that we found, you know,
that we were working from, tweaked them to what I
thought fit me best, and then yeah, Amber decided, you know,
I was basically just downstairs kind of messing around teaching
myself how to sew, along with Amber teaching me how
to sew, and then Amber just comes up one day
(04:14):
and it was like, yeah, I signed us up for
West Seattle Summer Press. We have we have six weeks
to make this a business. Okay, but Tom, your background
is TV production, so you had to quit your job
in TV production to work on the boats, Like, what
was that timeline for you? I did TV and radio
for almost twenty years. And when we got up here
(04:36):
and I finally got a chance to take a break
from it, I realized after word this correctly because I
realized how unhappy I was allowing it to make me,
and I didn't like that. And once I had a
break from it, and I realized I wasn't that unhappy
person anymore, I really enjoyed that. So then it was, okay,
how do I prevent that from ever happening again? Both tie?
(04:56):
I mean, whatever it's gonna be, you know, you know
I'm lucky that, you know, I come from, you know,
a long line of makers. My mother's always made stuff,
my father has always made stuff. My brother is just
a brilliant designer. It's just kind of always been in
our blood. So then that was just my immediate thought
was all right, what can we make? And then time
moved on. Wedding was planned Moowe tis word and then
(05:16):
we just kind of thought we you know, we hummed
it hot about it, you know, as we were working
on him, you know, I could this be a thing.
Amber really likes to put a massive pressure point on
things that she wants them to happen. So that's literally
what she did is she just kind of came into
the studio one day. It was like, I signed us
up for Westy have the summerfest. We have six weeks,
let's go. Okay, so off off running we went. But Amber,
(05:37):
this is still your side hustle, very much your side hustle.
You have a day job. You have a day job
now even working from home during all of this, So
what was then for you? Obviously Tom was in a
point where he didn't want to go back to the
job he was doing, so he was all in on
ugly yellow house. For you as a side hustle, what
was that launched? Like? What was that moment like? And
(05:57):
why did you want to have your own business? Part
of moving to Seattle, beyond it being just our most
favorite place, is that it's a community of weirdos, in
the community of people who try things and fail and
try again and are accepting of of makers and doing
your own thing, and that's one of the biggest things
(06:18):
that was appealing when moving here. And I had attended
fashion school UM after my undergrad and it was a
dream to become a fashion designer. And life happens. So
we move up here, I get a promotion and I
can't finish, and that's a devastating moment. But I have
learned so much that I could put to youth. I
(06:41):
was only you know, I'm only like a year away
from it, so it's it's still I have all of
that knowledge, and I didn't really know what that would
look like anyway, And so we knew we wanted to
run our own business. We just didn't know what it
would be and what it could look like. But fashion
for me was still at the forefront, albeit not men's wear,
but happy to take that on. And it's really cool,
and you know, it was just this, it's this moment
(07:04):
of like having your own thing that you can do,
that you can call your own, because not a lot
else is, you know, when you're working for someone else.
So it's just this adventure of like, Okay, we can
do this. We don't know what it's going to be,
but why not start both ties and then grow it.
I love that you said having something you can call
your own, because that is a huge thing that you
(07:24):
don't realize when you said when you're working for someone.
For me, this podcast is mine I have. I share
my morning show with someone. I share literally every other
part of my professional life with at least one or
more people, and this podcast is like my thing that
I've grown and it's it's really cool to have that.
So I under completely understand where you are with that,
(07:46):
and I think maybe a lot of people don't realize
they need that, so I hope them here. And you
say that, and the same thing with Tom, with you
saying you didn't realize how unhappy you were letting yourself be.
Those kind of things are so important when it comes
to finding your passion and what you want to put
into it. So I appreciate you both for sharing the
sentiments because it's it's unbelievably important. Once you started the
bow ties, you also make pet bow ties now, and
(08:09):
I know this because I bought one for my sister's
dog Milo. I originally thought it was only pet bow
ties because that's what I would see when I would
go into Shant and shop a layer in West Seattle.
So when did you go from men's bow ties two pets?
Dogs are definitely my most favorite thing, like ever, like
humans are great, but dogs are the best. We're finding
(08:30):
all this waste coming from the bow ties, like fabric
or cute fabric that was that could be up cycled
from vintage suits that maybe weren't suitable for bow ties.
But I would watch the like piles and piles of
fabric and it just drove me crazy. I'm like very
frugal with fabric especially, and so it just sort of
(08:50):
kind of came naturally, like what can we do with
this small amount of fabrics that's still fantastic and and
dog bow ties just seemed to fit. Um. We had
had a couple of people asked us that markets like, oh,
these are great, do you have them for dogs? Like
why did we not think about? My question is why
did some money immediately say that right, just su make
it for dogs, Like that's not my first question the thing,
(09:15):
but it was a no brain or like now we
can save this waste. We can use some of these
other amazing fabrics that we have that are not good
to tie because they're either too sick or just wrong.
And so it involved into these um I mean, if
you look at our Instagram, it's all dogs all the time.
Like it's people will not take pictures of themselves as
quickly and share them as they will of their pets
(09:37):
don't need to know, so they just love it. So yeah,
it's just was this weird, random thing and now it's
like it out spells our bow ties most of the time. Yes,
way it is insane. People go crazy for their dogs
more than themselves love that they can match them too,
so that's pretty exciting. Yeah, it's just was this random
(10:00):
thing and it turned out really well. I mean yeah,
when any time I'm shopping at a layer in West
Seattle I see them, I'm like, oh man, I would
like I could get them from my cats, but they're
such pain in the asses and I'm like, oh am,
I to get this too. And then I would wanted
to send my sister a care package because when all
of this started, she was going through chaos of having
to move her wedding or possibly move the wedding, and
(10:21):
I was like, I want to send her a gift,
and I sent her some things actually from a layer,
and I was like, oh, I know what'll make her
happy a bow tie for the dog, and I wrote
a little note about how, you know, maybe on her
wedding day he'll get to wear this eventually, And I mean,
she was like, this was the coolest thing, and it
was something so simple, like you said, for you guys,
it's it's just extra fabric at that point, but it
was something that made my sister smile through a crazy
(10:43):
time and made everyone smile when she sent the picture
of her dog in a bow tie. And it's just
simple things. But you guys have been able to take
literal piles and turn them into memories for people. But
that fabric. You mentioned something about up cycling. Do you
normally do that with suits and stuff? I tried, Yeah,
it's it's kind of you know, amber Is is really
good about going on finding great fabrics for us. I
(11:06):
like the challenge of hunting and trying to mind stuff out,
especially like you know, estate sales and thrift stores back
when those were actually still a thing. Like I mean,
you could find amazing suits for really good prices and
they might not fit me, they might have a couple
of moth holes or whatever in them, but that is
a swath beautiful wool that I get to play with,
you know, so I've really tried to go that way.
(11:27):
It's I mean, you know, there's only so much you
can get out of them, and sometimes the patterns a
little planner, but they make beautiful ties, and then even
the scraps from that, you know, just go straight to
a dog bow tie. Man. I can't wait to see
the things that you guys come up with, because you've
already evolved so much as a company. It's kind of
cool to see how creative you both are and what's next.
But the name of your company, and I keep saying
(11:48):
ugly yellow house, and I want people to make sure
that they are hearing me correctly. It's ugly yellow House.
Where did that name come from? From our ugly yellow
house company? Yellow House? So it's like I get it,
I completely get it. And I think we're like kindred spirits,
Like I'm so connected to you guys, So I get it. Yeah,
it was. I mean, you know, finding and buying a
(12:09):
home in Seattle is just a battle on it to all.
It is so hard, and so once we finally did,
we ended up with our little ugly yellow house. We've
always referred to it as ugly yellow house. So we
figured this and we're very lucky because our basement allows
us a huge amount of space to build like a
proper studio in it, you know. So we're making everything
at our ugly yellow house. We'll call it Ugly Yellow House.
(12:30):
Plus when we're at markets, it makes a lot of
people stop and say why did you name your company
U the Yellow House or are you selling house? Like
what is are you making? What are you doing? I
mean it really lets you do whatever you want, whatever
you create in that house is Ugly Yellow House. And
that's amazing and it's kind of a great thing. Like
we were we were talking about it this morning, where
you know, like we started with with bow ties and
(12:52):
we were doing vintage clothing and accessory. Vintage is a
hard space to be, so I took out vintage, just
became bow ties and then bow ties pocket squares. I
have a machine shop in my my part of the studio,
you know, so lathing lapel pains and that kind of thing.
So it's just and that's kind of the great thing
is it can it can just snowball and evolve into
(13:14):
whatever we wanted to be. I didn't even realize you
did that, do you still do the lapel pins or
was that something you did or you still do the
plans have kind of been put on hold for the
last couple of months. A common material and he will
make something out of it. It's insane, like whether it's
a team or a sewing machine or so. I mean,
you give him a challenge, a creative challenge, and he
will figure it out. It's amazing. So, Tom, you said
(13:37):
that your family you came from a line of makers.
Is that where that creative skill comes from? I think so? Yeah,
I mean my I think. I mean my mother was
a stained glass artist, you know, my my father would
have and this is you know, what are the hobbies
that I've picked up as well. My father is like
a hobby machinist, you know. So I grew up having
you know, a metal lathe and a metal mill, you know,
(13:58):
in his garage, constantly watching play on that stuff. Colonel
in the Air Force, that's his happy places. He's loved
just going out there and ripping metal to pieces and
making things out of it. So probably about a year
before we moved to Seattle, I picked up my own lathe.
You know, I've got my little metal shop in my
little you know, would shop downstairs. And again, it's just
one of those things we were I like to say,
(14:20):
like my my parents never discouraged us from taking things
apart when we were a kid. It was always just
if somebody put it together, there's a way to take
it back apart. Just figure out how to put it back.
So you were one of those kids. I get now
everything absolutely, And I mean my father is still the
same way. I'm still the same way, my brother is
still the same way. Our house was constantly making things,
and so I think it's just kind of in our blood. Okay,
(14:41):
but it is your dad. The machinists making metal, like
in your family do they go and you went to
bow Ties? Like what, there's just a different are they
like what's happening here? Yeah, there's definitely a couple of
weird looks. But it's honestly, it's funny, especially talking to
my father about it. My father pretty stow a guy,
you know, military, very big mustache, very depressive, but I
think he gets it because it's just the fact of
(15:03):
making things. It's like it doesn't matter what it is,
because frankly, a lot of people think it's weird that
are dude, so, you know, but I just look at
it as a tool. You know, I've got you know,
industrial sewing machines in our studio. I've got metal lathes
in my shop. You know, I can rebuild a carburetor
out in my garage. It's just a tool to me,
you know. And as long as I can use a
tool to make something, that's all I want to do,
and it should be. And when you look at like
(15:25):
sewing machines as a part of this country and like
what they've done, I mean they are like saying they're
sewn into the you know, the fabric of this country
is the most cliche thing you can say. But like
my grandma worked in factories with sewing machines like that.
If she didn't have that job or that job didn't exist,
I mean, my family wouldn't have had any means at all.
(15:45):
And she was in a sewing machine factory working in
the I guess probably late thirties. Like sewing machines are
like you're saying, it's just another machine, and it's an
amazing machine. And the fact that someone would say, oh,
you're a man that shows and things, it's weird. They
can suck it so that's yeah real, And I mean
I have such a tiny amount of skill on a
sewing machine. I'm still such a novice, but it's pretty incredible.
(16:05):
I mean, you know, you take a couple of pieces
of material stick in this machine and you can get
a thing out of it. It's wild what you guys
have been able to do. You mentioned fabric that's not
up cycled. Where do you get that fabric from? And
how do you how do you even know where to
get fabric from? And what does that process like as
a maker? So my day job requires me I'm gone
basically three weeks out of every month traveling, which is hard.
(16:28):
But also I get bored, so I need it's something
to do. And the sourcing fabric has been like something
that brings me joy when I'm away from home, occupies
my brain that's away from work otherwise in just sitting
in a hotel room working. And there's this amazing fabric
store in Missoula, Montana, and I freaking love this store.
(16:51):
It is tiny and beautiful fabrics from Liberty of London
to like waxed canvas and anywhere in between. If you're
a quilture or you're making clothes like she's got it.
And so now like she knows me when I come
in every month and you know, we talk and um,
I've ordered from fabric from her during this pandemic just
because you look at it and you can order from
(17:12):
big places and that's that's a really quick, easy fix.
Except for honestly, right now, like they are weeks that hing.
But it also feels good to like someone else who's
doing this little thing, to be able to buy fabric
from them, even though you know it's mass produced fabric.
It's a tiny shop, so it occupies my time. And yeah, Missoula,
Montana my favorite place to buy fabric. Who thought that
(17:35):
you would? You know, you have to travel for your
day job. You're able to still work on your side
hustle while traveling. And that's cool that you can travel
all over the country and go to small businesses and
be able to feed back into them. I mean, it's
amazing what you're doing. So that's super cool. It's fun.
So when and why and how did the mass come in?
(17:55):
Explain all of that, because right now I know that
your life has been basically consume oomed by making these
cloth masks. And for the record, let me explain. I
have been posting pictures of me wearing my mask. I
have two of them from Ugly Yellow House, and I
have not received more comments about any product in a
(18:16):
very long time. Like sometimes there's there's always that one
product that I will post. I'd say it happens like
every eight months where it's like I need that, I
need that, I need that, And right now it's your masks,
and both of them, I've got two different patterns, and personally,
I love them. They fit great, they feel comfortable, They're cute,
Like honestly, it's stuff to say it's like an accessory now,
but it is. And I love that I can wear
(18:37):
them around my neck, pop them on when I need
to throw them in the wash. I've washed them a
ton of times. They're amazing. So that is me my
side of the masks. I love them. But what was
it like for you guys launching and creating your masks?
Chaos great. I know there's a story behind that, so
I'm in for that. I started messing around with them,
(18:58):
I guess probably beginning of March. Think March seven was
about when we went on lockdown, I think makes us
personally and then immediately just kind of went to my
head of trying to help. You know, what can you
possibly need? I mean, you know, I've never been through
anything like this before. You know, nobody needed a bow tie,
No I don't. So I spent probably two weeks downstairs
(19:19):
just kind of prototyping and looking what other people were doing,
and and and working on stuff. The problem that we
had was, you know, like in March, elastic was as
hard to find his toilet paper, you know. So I
finally found a supplier that it took probably about three
weeks to finally get my order in, and then once
we had the elastic, it was just full speed go.
I mean, it's just like you didn't do just the elastic.
(19:40):
You have the little sizer thing on there so that
I can size it for my head or someone like
you don't have to worry about sizes because you have
this ability like you guys didn't just slap fabric on
a piece of elastic, like you actually engineered this and
in such a short time. And he's been a little
bit modest about it. Like he made I'm not even kidding,
probably with almost twenty masks. He would make a couple
(20:02):
of different styles and then from that style. He would
move it up and then we would wear them and
go Like I was sold on having the behind the
ear thing because that's all I had ever seen. What's
really annoying if you've ever worn sunglasses on your head
that are took behind your ears, or your glasses, or
your hair behind or a hat behind your ear stalks.
And so if this is going to be something that
we have to wear, what's going to be comfortable, what's
(20:24):
going to shape around the face? What's going to hold
up for multiple washing? You know what is I didn't
even this. The tallow idea was all tom like being
able to adjust it to around your head so that way,
you know, someone with a small head and then someone
was a larger head can wear it. And so there
was a lot of care and thought put into not
only can we get all these masks out, but can
(20:46):
we make it something that's at least going to be
comfortable and look good. Well you succeeded because it's comfortable
and they look but you guys, originally, so when you
started the mask, you're originally only doing donate right, Yeah? Yeah,
because it was it was right around that time that
you know, the West Seattle Bridge was also shut down,
(21:06):
so us being in West Seattle, we were oddly cut
off from everybody else. And then especially because I mean
there was lots of groups that were, you know, making
cloth masks for medical professionals and donating to hospitals and
nursing homes like that stuff was amazing, but frankly, not
a lot of it could get to West Seattle, just
sherely because the main thoroughfare in the West Seattle was gone.
So that was kind of our first thing was, you know,
(21:29):
businesses that are trying to stay open, first responders, you know,
essential workers. We have fabric, we have the materials. Now
we just put the call at if you need it,
let us know if you're in the area, we'll bring
it straight to you, no problem. So that's where we
really started, and it was hugely fulfilling, you know what
I mean, to actually like be able to do something
helpful during this time where you've just been kind of
(21:50):
sitting in your house for three weeks, going what do
we do? It's tough. You weren't only giving them to
medical workers. You were thinking essential workers, like people who
still had to work and be around people, whether it's
arcery store, and I know Shandon, who is the who
was doing deliveries for her store, Hilaryera, West Seattle. She
had had one and I was like, where did you
guess at? I need one? And she was started telling
(22:12):
me it was you guys. You know, they normally make
the dog poetizes and now they're doing this and I
was like, I need one and she's like, they're only
doing donations. I'm like, I will give them all of
my money. I don't care how do I get it?
And I'll like because then you started doing when you
buy one, will donate to right, that was the next step. Yeah,
it's not really that ratio. Honestly, it's probably way higher
than that. Like we're just selling a small percentage of
(22:34):
what we make, you know, basically, just to keep and
we've been really lucky. There's been some people that have
donated fabric to us, you know, to keep going with
the donation masks. But yeah, so we're just I don't
even actually know the number. We're just selling a small
percentage basically, like to just keep the whole thing going.
People need them and they reach out or we'll see
another business open up and so I reach out on
Instagram or someone will tell us for Shandon's been great
(22:57):
about spreading it, and so you know, like that's our
focus and that needs to come first. Like last week,
lots of places we're opening back up, we shut down
our sales and went we got to focus on this
because at the end of the day, that's what's most important.
If we take care of our community, they'll take care
of us. And the people who have to be out there.
We're fortunate, like we don't have to be out there
besides delivery, but like Shandon has to be out there,
(23:20):
and these food places who are trying to make life
normal for us, and grocery store and daycare workers. So
like it's just who needs them the most and who
needs them now, and that's where we're going to focus.
And it doesn't always yield for the nicest comments or
people loving us, and it's hard. Don't get pleased. I
listen on your end. I know it's not I have
(23:41):
been losing my mind on people for you guys, So backstory,
were listening right now. You guys post the masks on Friday,
like you make them all week, and then I mean,
how much can two people so ember you're still doing
your day job, Tom, Like like, you can't how many
mass are you making a day? We can generally get
between twenty and thirty a day if we go down there,
(24:01):
and like, go, that's a lot. Yeah, And then you
can only keep that pace up for so long before
you burnout. Of course, So then you guys post them
on Friday, and then they sell out obviously, because when
you've got people all over just Seattle knowing about you guys,
then you've got people like me posting it, and then
you've got people from other states seeing it, they're going
to sell out. Well, what happens when things sell out?
(24:22):
People become raging assholes. And I started seeing people comment
on your Instagram like this is so left up they
sold out right away. No, you're just mad it's not up.
This is amazing that a small business has been able
to create a product that people love that much that
they're willing to check in at a certain time to
buy that product. You're just mad you didn't get it
(24:44):
back off. And I was like so pissed at these
people doing that to you guys who are taking more
more than half of what you're making and donating it
and doing something good. Like those people suck. Ignore them
the people. You need to focus on the people who
are supporting you guys, and coming back screw them who cares.
But you've obviously that clearly. I feel it so much
(25:08):
because it's hard to like, we have not seen the
kind of recognition and immediacy and success from both eyes.
It's just not a high demand thing. And this is
and so I'm very new to the social media game.
That's not Amber talking. Amber can say whatever she wants
to say. Amber does say whatever she wants to say.
But ugly yellow House, the Amber doesn't understand this weird
(25:31):
line that it's okay to actually stick up for us.
It's okay to say, look, there are two of us,
were trying our hardest, you know, half the time, there's
one and a half of us doing this, you know,
and just learning that it's okay to tell people like
to kill. We're figuring this out too. And a lot
of people are nice. We've had more nice people than
me and people, but those mean people are exhausting and
(25:53):
they can really get to you and I have to
turn off my foot. Like a couple of fridays ago,
I was just beside myself. I was like, I can't
do that. I'm like, I don't understand. They're the loudest
and guess what, they literally have nothing to do now, nothing,
and like they had nothing to do like five months ago,
and now they really have nothing to do. So they're
just trolling positivity and that's what they do. And honestly,
(26:16):
when you have haters, you know you've made it. So
this is exciting. Congratulations are you going? I take it? Okay?
So what do you think it's going to happen? Like,
what is the future of Ugly Yellow House? Will there be?
You know, are you always going to make masks? Are
you gonna Obviously when events started happening again both ties
will be a thing. But are you now realizing, well,
we can do a lot more than just bow ties
(26:37):
for people. Yeah, I mean it's kind of like what
you said, I think masks are a thing now. I
don't think this is going to be a temporary patch
to to get us through this. I mean I think
they're a thing now. And so, you know, that was
kind of the goal once we started, you know, especially
you know, looking into our fabrics and whatnot, is it's
going to be a thing, like make it an accessory.
(26:59):
That's kind of what we always specialized in was accessories,
was high quality fabrics, make them really well. The whole
goal out of all of it is just to get
somebody to wear a mask. You know. That was a
big thing, especially with you know, the going with the
headbands instead of around the ears. Is I want to
take away every excuse somebody has to not wear one.
And they're key. It's not like the ugly medical ones,
which I mean the great and they serve their purpose,
(27:21):
but those should be for medical workers. They don't need
to look to in the hospital. We did so, but yeah,
like you can do so. I feel like you guys
are realizing you can do so much more than what
you've been doing. It's like something bad is happening now,
but you're you're learning so much from it and it's
going to broaden your skills and your company coming out
of this absolutely and there's lots of different things you
(27:43):
want to do, whether it's like Tom made a bag
out of sailcloth that one of our friends gave us
from their sale, and you know, like just re repurposing
things is a big passion, and like finding that thing
that not everyone's doing, you know, Cotton boat hides was
that thing. There's not affordable boat ties that are breathable
and wearable that'll work. Now we need space masks. So
(28:04):
I think that's the great thing about the name of
our company is it literally can be whatever we wanted
to be. There is there is nothing you can you know,
ever have to be like, well, how does that fit
into our brand? Because it just does. Because that's why. No,
remember I didn't really ask you about this, but you
don't have to tell us where you work. But what
is your day job? So I work for the largest
(28:24):
digital automotive I should say physical to company on Compax
thing they own Kelly blue Book Auto Trader and the spaceport.
Car dealers buy their cars the software they used to
sell their cars, and so my main job is to
make sure that car dealers are buying the right cars.
But they're advertising and following guidelines. Um, what's their online
present looks like it was trying to figure out how
(28:48):
to get them to learn that they can work virtually
in this environment. People want to buy cars, however they're
allowed to buy cars, and so to get a dealership
to like buy into that and realize they don't have
to open their doors to sell a car was like
the first sixty days of my COVID experience and it
turned out really great. Everyone's adapting and so a little
(29:08):
different than your side hustle, so very different than right
side hustle. Has there been anything that you've been able
to take from your day job and put it into
ugly yellow house like skill wise, yeah, absolutely so marketing
for sure, and sales is definitely helpful. I do a
lot of s c O and a lot of SCM
in search engine marketing in my day job, and so
that's help is we're finding keywords and building websites, and
(29:31):
the social media part has been really hard, but the
whole marketing and sales platform is basically what I've done
for the last fifteen years of my life, and so
that's been a nice transition. Is just being able to
have that sort of marketing and sales background coming into that.
That's huge. I mean, so many small business owners are
business owners period, don't understand the s c O and
(29:52):
I've never even heard anyone say s c M before,
so it makes sense, but like now I need to
go figure that out. But no, it's a skill that
if you have and you can use it with your
small business your twenty steps ahead of everyone else. And
we keep mentioning Shandon a Layer West Seattle, and I
want to be able to shout her out. So she
is the reason we're connected. Obviously, I know that she
(30:13):
connected me to you guys. She's big fans of you guys.
But how did you guys connect with Shandon? So I
like to start us out with a disclaimer that I'm
not a stalker, but I am a crazy stalker for
Shandon from very afar when this first started, you know,
just following her on social media, and then her store.
If you have not I mean, anyone listening in Seattle,
(30:34):
if you've not been in the Layer, it is my
happy place. If you're upset ever, you walk into that
store and you just build a sense of calm. So
I was super fan girling behind the scenes. And we
were at a market and there was this dog that
looks just like her otis and someone we took a
picture and posted it and someone asked her tagged her
and so is this your Otis? Is a different Otis?
(30:57):
But she was like I need I Like, I think
I need a dog bow tie for my Otis. And
I was like, you absolutely do, But I was still like,
really super shy about it because I just thought she
was the coolest person and not having met her. And
Tom was like, this is your chance. Put together a
care pack. It's full of everything we make. Take it
over there and introduce yourself, like this is how you're
(31:19):
going to be able to do it. And so we did,
and she liked them, and she likes us, and she's
just the most wonderful person. And I'm so glad that
somehow that weird not her otis dog led us to
be front. So how long ago that, oh, gosh, September.
It's just like this person a month ago. And how
(31:42):
long has Ugly Yellow House been around July almost two years? Yea, yeah,
two years, so not very long at all. That's nuts.
And then I know you were able to connect with Roxy,
who had been on side Hustlers earlier this year. She
is behind Lonteree handmaid obviously handmakes those stitches all of that.
(32:02):
So she was had sent me a mask. I got
a mask from her, and I ordered some pillows and
she was like, what do you think of my mask?
Because she was seeing me where your masks? And I
was like, honestly, they both serve different purposes. They both
are great, but it all it's preference, just like any accessory.
So she had told me that she reached out to
you guys and you guys were helping her, and I
(32:23):
was like, I just love when people who are doing
the same thing still help out one another. And it's
incredible that you guys are like that. And I just
wanted to commend you guys for being kind to other
people and not competitive, even though you know, at the
end of the day, you know it's a bottom line,
but you're still super kind. Yeah, same goal, right, Like
she's trying to do exactly what we were trying we
(32:45):
are trying to do and doing her own thing at
the same time. And I think it's just being a
fellow maker and a small business owner like you just
you just want to cling to that community, even if
they're in California, even if they're selling the same thing. Like,
we don't have to be competitors. We complement each other.
Hers they're different than ours and they're amazing, you know.
And so I mean, if you can get one from her,
(33:06):
get one. If you can get one from us, get them.
If you can make your own, make your own, whatever
it takes. Stay home. But if you have to leave,
find a freaking mask and put on your face. I
don't care what it looks like, or a bow tie
and or bow tie and mask. Boom. We're all set
that we're set for the year. So I want people
(33:27):
to go support. It's Ugly yellow House dot com and
then it's ugly yellow House on Instagram, and that's probably
the best place to go to stay up to date
with your launches. I know you took a week off
as we're recording this, you took last week off, but
this coming Friday it'll be there. You'll have mass up
there again. But obviously that's going to change. Those things change,
So Ugly yellow House on Instagram to support Amber and
(33:49):
Tom guys. I can't wait to see what you do next.
I'm so excited you. I'll be following. Thank you so
much for being here. I can't wait to actually meet
you in person. You're so closely, so far away, so soon.
Thank you so much for listening to Amber and Tom's story.
You can follow Ugly Yellow House on Instagram Ugly yellow
House dot com. I've got all the links below so
you can just click right there in the description. Thank
(34:11):
you as always for being here and listening to side Hustlers,
rate and review the podcast. That is such a help
and you can always reach out to me side Hustler's
podcast at gmail dot com. This podcast has been produced
by my friend at Houston Tilly and until next week,
keep hustling.
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