Ep. 137/ How a Toddler's Mishap Sparked Sharon Kevil's Lockable Furniture Forti Good
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In our latest episode of the Exit Interview, I had the pleasure of chatting with Sharon Kevil, the innovative founder of Forti Goods, the company behind app-controlled lockable furniture designed to keep your home both beautiful and secure. From her background in interior design to her journey creating a product-based business, Sharon’s story is an inspiring one. Like many of us entrepreneurs, she faced challenges transitioning from a steady paycheck at a large retailer to the unpredictable world of entrepreneurship. One of the key takeaways was Sharon’s emphasis on the importance of pivoting in business. She shared that pivoting isn’t a failure, but rather a necessary iteration in the growth process. This mindset has not only helped her manage her business more effectively but has also enabled her to better meet the needs of her customers by adapting to their ever-changing demands.
Sharon also shared some golden insights for those of us who are either working for ourselves or thinking about it. The transition from a stable paycheck to the unpredictable world of entrepreneurship is no small feat. Sharon had a previous business that she closed before the 2008 economic downturn, and the thought of never working for herself again crossed her mind. But life has a funny way of bringing us back to our passions. Sharon shared her challenges, particularly when it came to funding her product-based business, and highlighted the importance of staying flexible and ready to pivot. Trust me, this episode is a goldmine of motivation and practical advice!
In this episode you will learn:
Shares how she started a safe furniture company - 4:15
The importance of pivoting - 11:33
The hardest parts about being a founder - 15:27
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Bio:
Sharon Selek Kevil is founder and CEO of Wisconsin-based Forti Goods Inc, makers of app-controlled lockable furniture for privacy and safety.
Sharon previously spent over a decade as an interior designer before turning her talents to develop indoor and outdoor furniture with a mass retailer. During her many overseas factory trips, she witnessed subpar working conditions and pollution, which led her to begin looking into the environmental impact of “fast furniture.” In 2017, she had a concerning incident in her home when her toddler daughter got into something Sharon thought was safely hidden. That incident led her to look for, and eventually develop, a lockable furniture solution that would complement their home and keep their child safer as she grows up.
In this episode you will learn:
Shares how she started a safe furniture company - 4:15
The importance of pivoting - 11:33
The hardest parts about being a founder - 15:27
Quotes from our guest:
“Don’t be afraid to pivot - it’s not a failure it’s an iteration” - 11:33
“So the golden path is basically taking your time to write down all the reasons why somebody would not want to buy any objection that they would have to buying your product or your service and then, you know, educating them about all of the reasons, like overcoming those objections.” - 12:35
"I like that my daughter is getting kind of like a, a tiny kid sized mba like as she grows up." - 17:12
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LINKS:
Sharon Kevil - Linkedin
Kim (00:02):
Today you're joined by Sharon Kevil, the founder of Forti Goods, Inc. Makers of app controlled lockable furniture that keeps it private and safe, which I love and it looks really pretty. In this, we talk about how she started the Safe Furniture Company, the hardest parts about being a founder, and the importance of pivoting and the just in time method for all you self-employed professionals, coaches, consultants, real estate agents, or just people looking to make an impact out there. Exciting news. Doors for Video Bootcamp are open. This is my signature small group live coaching program, and it takes out all the stress from making video. We get on camera, we get confident together in a supportive environment. And then I teach you how to make videos and we actually do it together in class. Everything you need to know about messaging and making videos, you go from stressed out, confident, overwhelmed on social media to attracting leads and clients. It is really fun. It's a super supportive group and it will be a game changer for your business. Make sure to apply ASAP because the spots fill up there are limited spots, and you could check it out on my Instagram, Kim Rittberg, or at my website kimrittberg.com, under courses in coaching, and I hope to see an application from you. Then the next class, doors close on February 3rd.
(01:16):
Welcome to the exit interview with Kim Rittberg. Do you work for yourself and want to supercharge your business while still having fun? Well, this is your go-to podcast, part MBA Part Cheer Squad. Every week I'll be joined by top business owners who share the secrets to their success. After I found myself working during childbirth true story, I quit my executive media job to bet on myself fighting the fear and imposter syndrome to eventually earn six awards, an in-demand speaking career and features in Fast Company and Business Insider. Now I'm here to celebrate all you rock stars betting on yourself, and I want to help you win. Tune in every Wednesday to hear from remarkable founders and don't miss our Solo Friday episodes, a treasure trove of video and podcasting mini masterclasses with me. Exit the grind, enter success on your own terms. Don't forget to subscribe today and grab my free video tips at my website, kimrittberg.com.
(02:18):
We have with us Sharon Kevil. She's the founder and CEO of Wisconsin based Forti Goods Inc. Makers of app controlled lockable furniture for privacy and safety. Sharon previously spent over a decade as an interior designer before tour her talents to develop indoor and outdoor furniture with a mass retailer. During her many overseas factory trips, she witnessed subpar working conditions and pollution, which led her to begin looking into the environmental impact of fast furniture. In 2017, she had a concerning incident in her home when her toddler daughter got into something, Sharon Thaw was safely hidden. That incident led her to look for and eventually develop a lockable furniture solution that will compliment their home and keep their child safer as she grows up. Alright, Sharon, I am really excited to have you here.
Sharon (02:57):
Thank you for having me.
Kim (02:58):
So I love that even in your bio you kind of built up, this is why I started the business. Talk to me about you saw a need in the marketplace. I love that, but being a founder is like a whole other beast, right? So going from interior designer to being the founder of a product-based business is a lot. So talk to me about did you always want to be an entrepreneur? How did you decide? Yes, this is the moment where I'm definitely going to do this.
Sharon (03:23):
Well, it's funny you should say that because this is actually my second business. My first business was a service-based business. My background is interior design, so I had an interior design business and did a lot of restaurants, hotels, a lot of commercial projects, and I closed that business just before the economic downturn in 2007, 2008, and went to work for a large retailer then. And when I went there, it was like, oh my gosh, every two weeks there's a paycheck in my bank account. I don't know how many shirts had to be sold for this. I don't know how many. It felt like magic. And I was like, I'm never going to work for myself again. Never, never, never. And it's like never say never because you'll make a liar out of yourself. And kind of fast forward another 10 years and I was ready to jump in again.
(04:15):
As you said in the intro, in 2017, I had a scary incident where my daughter found something that we thought was safely hidden away, and thankfully everything was fine, but it could have gone the other way. And so we started looking into safe storage solutions. And I'm an interior designer. I like the way my house looks. I want stuff that is going to look beautiful in it, and I couldn't find anything. Everything had a big dumb lock on it or I would have to put a safe in my house, and I couldn't do either of those things. So I started looking to modify some of my vintage furniture and then I was like, oh, do I really want to drill a hole in this beautiful piece of heirloom quality furniture? And the answer was no. So I started to develop it and 40 goods was born.
Kim (05:05):
And then what was the biggest challenge when you first decided to launch 40 goods?
Sharon (05:10):
Well, the biggest challenge is money. When you're in a service-based business, you can kind of spin it up pretty quickly. You basically just need an LLC, some computer software, a website. It's relatively simple, but when you're developing product-based business, you need inventory. And for me particularly, I needed to develop the technology that goes inside of the furniture. So the hardware, the software, the cloud, all of that stuff. And that takes a staggering amount of money. So money was kind of the biggest hurdle to get over when I first started.
Kim (05:49):
So self-fund it first. How did you,
Sharon (05:51):
So I did self-fund it first, and then when I got it to a point where I was ready to take investment, I did go out and I had an investor. I had an investor for two years, and then he decided that he was interested in going a different direction, and we ended up parting ways amicably. And now I own a hundred percent of the business again, and I'm in a great place to basically, if I need to take on equity investors again, I'm in a great place to be able to do that.
Kim (06:24):
So tell me about 40. So I think what I love is it's pretty visually as well, visual as well. I like to say I'm very good at small visual furniture is not my area of expertise, but admire of it. I used to have a jewelry business. I, I worked in TV and magazine, digital video, so I'm always very aesthetically, I studied fine arts as a kid. So what I love is 40 is so pretty. It really looks good. So talk to me about the building 40. How did you decide what it should look like, how many products there should be? All of this stuff that goes into how do I build my business? Right?
Sharon (07:03):
Yeah. So when I was working for the retailer, I started off kind of in an interiors position and then I was looking for some other kind of something else within that company, in that organization I ended up interviewing for and getting a job in product design. So I developed indoor furniture and outdoor furniture for the retailer for about five years. And at that point, I really learned what you need to do in order to build out a line and have a product offering. So it really started from a merchant side of it first where you're looking at, okay, with this assortment, I want to be able to hit the basics that people are going to need. They're going to need a nightstand or a side table, they're going to need a coffee table, they're going to need maybe a larger sideboard for some bigger pieces. And then we just started building it out from there. And what looks good, I personally have more of a modern and mid-century aesthetics. Scandinavian, mid-century modern designs are all kind of right in my wheelhouse. And there's not a lot of that in the market. I mean more so today than there was a decade ago. But I wanted to be able to offer something that was a distinct and unique perspective in the market, not just another me too line of furniture that's out there.
Kim (08:26):
And who's your audience? Who's buying the furniture?
Sharon (08:29):
Well, that's really interesting because when we first launched, we launched as specifically speaking to parents. And even more niched down from that, it was parents who consume cannabis because as legalization rolls out across the country, so does accidental ingestion for young kids for things like gummies and things like that. So it's a preventable accident and safe storage is necessary if you're going to have those products in your home. And so that's kind of what we were branded as and focused towards. And when I would tell people we make app controlled lockable furniture, and I would usually pause there to give people a chance to catch up in their brain app controlled lockable furniture, what does that mean? And then I would usually follow it up for parents who consume cannabis. People would be like, oh, brilliant for guns and alcohol. And I would be like, no, for cannabis. And people were so confused by that. So I figured what people have things in their homes that they need to lock up, whether it's a firearm or money or jewelry or pharmaceuticals, you can lock it up in our furniture.
Kim (09:39):
And what does app controlled mean? So let's say I lock away something in my furniture. Does that mean like a Google Nest? I can lock it, unlock it on my phone remotely.
Sharon (09:49):
You can lock it and unlock it on your phone remotely. Right now it's just on our iOS app. So there's an app on your phone and that app, you open it up, it's a secure app. You can either log into it every time or you can kind of keep it open and then you basically open it up, you select the drawer that you want to unlock, you tap the button, it unlocks. And then usually the way I have mine set up is to automatically relock. So after I go into the drawer, get what I need out of it, and I close it again, and when I return it to the closed position, it locks up again. And then you can see whether you're in your home or away, you're able to see if it's still locked or unlocked and remotely access it.
Kim (10:33):
One thing I found really interesting last time we talked was about the idea that for people renting out their home, it's great because I do think we've thought about it, I'm done yet. But if you rent out your home, you've so much stuff and you're like, oh my God, do I unpack it all between everything from the really things you need to lock away, all the things you mentioned earlier, cannabis, weapons, all that stuff, but just regular things that you just don't want somebody in. And then to have a furniture that can lock up on its own is just, I hadn't really thought about that, but I'm like, oh, right, renters. I know we were talking about that last time. So I think I just love that also.
Sharon (11:05):
Yeah, Airbnb is actually like the VRBO Airbnb. People who have vacation homes that they rent out, instead of putting a big padlock on something or having a padlock closet, they can now have something that's more seamlessly integrated within their home. So that's a growing market for us, for sure.
Kim (11:25):
I love that. I'd love to talk to you about growing your own business. What are some of the major things that you've learned that you would pass on to someone else?
Sharon (11:33):
Oh my gosh. So many things. Don't be afraid to pivot. Pivoting is not a failure. It is just an iteration within your business. Like I said, I've made so many pivots even before I delivered the first product. And just being willing and able to be bold about changing something that isn't working is just, it's such a skill and it's so necessary.
Kim (12:04):
One of the things I liked that you had raised was also being of service to your customers, how basically you're iterating on something that exists. So for you, that means educating.
Sharon (12:17):
Yes.
Kim (12:18):
Not that someone doesn't know what a dresser is. Of course they do, but they don't know what your dresser is and they don't know why they should buy it.
Sharon (12:22):
Yeah. Yes. I have definitely been really focused on the golden path. I was in a marketing accelerator and I learned about the Golden Path, and it has just kind of changed things for me. So the Golden Path is basically taking your time to write down all the reasons why somebody would not want to buy any objection that they would have to buying your product or your service. And then educating them about all of the reasons, overcoming those objections. So really taking a customer focused, really staying super customer focused, and nobody really cares about the day that I had or what I'm building. They care about how it integrates into their home, how it's going to make their life easier. And so coming from it from that, a service mindset as opposed to me as the owner mindset has been game changing.
Kim (13:22):
And it's funny, I think about it, I jump on calls with people and sometimes people ask, they're like, why should I hire you? What's different about you? I think when you first start out, you're like, whoa, that's a really bold question. But that's also because we've been trained to always be nice. No, someone's interviewing me. They're interviewing me. That's okay. And it's good because forced me to say, well, what are the other things you're considering? Or What do you need in your life? Or what do you need in your business? And then based on that, I will say whether or not I'm the right fit for them. So I like the idea of the Golden Path is saying, who's your biggest critic? What is your toughest questioner going to say? And I also, I started in journalism. So basically everyone I talk to, not everyone I talk to, but I have more of a cynical perspective, skeptical perspective
(14:07):
Because for the first 10 years of my life, I would have to decide if somebody is worth sharing their expertise nationally with my name under it. So I have to vouch for them. And so now I have that perspective as a business owner, partners, clients, everything. I'm like, is this person like a snake oil salesperson? And I also come to it as like, I need to show this person that I'm not a snake oil salesperson. So I think it's very interesting about thinking about what could someone pop a hole in? What could someone burst a hole in your, and you have to figure out the answer to that. And if they can burst that hole, then you need to put a stop gap in it. You need to figure out how you can make that better. So I love the idea of being that critic first of yourself. And I think it's hard to balance. You don't want to be negative, but you need to be realistic of what is your toughest purchaser going to say? And you need to answer those.
Sharon (14:54):
And really, you're meeting them where they are.
Kim (14:57):
Yeah,
Sharon (14:58):
You're finding out what you'd said. You're asking them, well, what are you looking for? What else are you considering? What's important to you? You're meeting the customer where they are, and then you're tailoring your answers to them. And when you're developing larger messages to go out to people through pr, social media or whatever, you obviously need to cast a little bit of a wider net, but you can always go back to using what you've learned from all of your customer discovery, which talking to your customers, there's no way around it. You learn so much from them.
Kim (15:27):
And talk to me about balance. I know that that's something that is important to you as a founder. What does balance look like to you and how do you keep it?
Sharon (15:35):
Yeah, I mean, balance has not always been something that I have. It's definitely something that I've struggled with in the beginning when I first launched the company, obviously it's kind of like having kids almost. When you have a newborn, you can pretty much do nothing else. And then as your child grows up a little bit, you have a little bit more kind of free time. They're able to do a little bit more on their own. And having a business is really similar to that, I feel. So in the beginning, I would say I did not have great work-life balance, and I missed a lot of my young child's. I missed a lot, and I don't want to do that now she's 10. And so now I schedule out my days pretty rigorously, and I basically, I make time for her. I make time to volunteer a few times a quarter at her school on Fridays through the weekends.
(16:34):
I close my laptop up. I have a home office right now, and the door to the home office gets closed and doesn't lock, but it's almost like it gets locked up for the weekend. The office is closed, and I basically try to make it sort of a commute in the morning, a commute at night, and then I separate as much as I possibly can, but then I also am able to bring my daughter and my family into the business. They have been to the Warehouse to work on packing smaller orders with me, or when inventory comes in, they're there to kind of look through that with me as well. So I like that my daughter's getting kind of a tiny kid sized MBA as she grows up.
Kim (17:20):
Yeah, I love that. Right. The kids always get the, what is it, like the passenger seat for everything.
Sharon (17:24):
Exactly.
Kim (17:25):
Did you have entrepreneurs in your family?
Sharon (17:29):
I mean, my aunt was probably the closest to me, and she lives a few states away, but she has a number of salons and spas in the city where she lives. And so I was able to see a working woman that was an example to me. But other than that, my mom, I guess my mom was sort of an entrepreneur in, in the eighties when crafting was seventies and eighties when crafting was kind of a bigger, bigger deal, or I guess it's now, but she used to quilt and make some clothing and sell it at art fairs and things like that. But it was more of a hobby that she sold her extras for as opposed to somebody like my aunt who was really in it in a business running a company.
Kim (18:27):
Talk to me. I'm going to give you the new thing I'm doing on the exit interview, which is your exit in either five words or one sentence.
Sharon (18:37):
Sure. So I kind of thought about this as a little haiku. So Integrity Intact, 40 Goods Born, and I basically, I left the retailer to go to a company, and I heard on one of your other episodes that you had said sometimes the company you end up going to work for is not the company that you interviewed with. And that definitely happened to me. So it's not the same company I thought I was joining that I found when I was there for a while. And after two years of kind of beating my head against a wall, I finally relented and laughed. But it was a great experience in that I learned so much about customer experience and how you cannot lie to your customers, treat your customers poorly, cheat your customers. I needed to make a choice and I wanted to leave with my integrity intact. And so I did, and I decided to start the company that I thought I was leaving the retailer for and really kind of lead by example.
Kim (19:42):
Yeah. Oh, integrity.
Sharon (19:44):
I know I,
Kim (19:46):
I did my own, the five, I'm still working on my own. I think mine is my five word haiku sort of. Maybe it's seven. I forget haiku's 5, 7, 5. So that's 17 words, but that's okay. I think mine is hospital bed video. Now I'm a founder, and that was my exit. I was like, oh, this is my new career now. Okay, let's do it. One thing that resonated as we prepared for this interview, and I've heard of this in different ways in the past, and I really like it, is the idea of learning for this stage of your business that you're in, what is just next or just past that, but don't look at someone who is seven years into the business or two decades into the business. That can be aspirational, but don't look at that now. So talk to me about how you think about growth for this next stage of your business instead of comparing yourself to someone way further ahead.
Sharon (20:41):
Sure. So as part of my background there is in manufacturing, there's something called just in Time. So you're not building a bunch of inventory that have sit in your warehouse. You kind of do it as it's needed or as you anticipate you're going to need it. And so I feel like I've kind of taken that also into the development of my business. In the beginning, I was looking at everybody because I'd never had a product-based business before. And so I was looking at all of these other product-based businesses, a lot of other direct to consumer businesses that like the Warby Parkers, and I'm looking at somebody who's been around for a long time instead of somebody who is at my stage. And so instead of having everything built out, essentially having the inventory of everything built out that you need or that you think you need, really kind of taking a step back and figuring out, okay, what is the next step that's going to get me towards my grand vision? And maybe that's not killing yourself with five different social media platforms that you're creating content for. Maybe you're starting off with just one platform and an email list. Maybe instead of building out 300 different skews or different items that you want to sell, maybe you're really starting with just one hero product. So really just kind of figuring out what do you need right now? What do you need just in time in order to be able to live to see the next day?
Kim (22:16):
I like that. I heard that a while ago and I was like, ah, I do think, and I see this with clients and I'm the same way. I'm like, oh, well, if I want to get to there, I need to do all these things. Well, that's really overwhelming for humans as the founder or the consultant, but even as an audience or a buyer, it's overwhelming. So I had a jewelry business. I used to sell it at trunk shows at Bloomingdale's and Henry Bendle, and you have to have enough variety that people have choice, but when you have too much variety, it's overwhelming. I actually just realized, I spoke at the Fast Company Innovation Festival this fall, and someone was a speaker and gave a seminar on choice, and he had us in real time rank what candy bars we liked, and it's a knockout competition basically. So each time you say, I like Twix more than Sour Patch Kids, I like gummy bears more than Gumballs, whatever. And by the end, we're basically all like two candy bars. What are those? What do you think those are? I don't know. Twix and Kit Kat.
Sharon (23:16):
You know what? It's so funny. I was going to say Kit Kat,
Kim (23:19):
I love Kit Kats. I love Kit Kats and I love Twix, but basically you have an aisle with 99 candies. You're all still picking the same two almost all the time. So I think that yes, you need some variety so people can choose but don't overwhelm. And in the same way that when we're trying to hit milestones and trying to have goals that we're reaching, if we're trying to say, I'm trying to hit X target, and that's like 10 x, what's realistic? You're setting yourself up for failure, you're not going to feel good about it, and you're also just in the wrong pool. You're just swimming in the wrong pool. So I do love the idea of just in time, which is a phrase I only learned in the last few years, I do think it's really, really important to say what's right for me now and what's right for my next stage, but not what's right for me five stages from now.
Sharon (23:58):
Exactly. If you're just starting out, you don't need to be listening to marketing advice on how to scale your business. You need customer acquisition, you need to figure out how to get your first customer, look for that type of thing. Just really being laser focused and figuring out knowing what it is that you need at this stage. And if you don't know, talking to somebody about it.
Kim (24:21):
And I also think the idea you were saying earlier about Joe, be afraid to pivot. When I first started my business, I would get asked like, oh, well, who's your ideal client? I'm like, I don't know. Well, I was like, I'm just trying to get clients right now, and I think it's okay to say, here's who is my ideal client right now, and then next year as you work with those clients and see who fits you and see who you fit, you can reevaluate. So I think that it's also that permission granted to pivot permission granted to iterate, because if you went in, if I went in and I was like, I am working with X type of person, but maybe it's not a fit, or maybe it just, I'm like, oh, I'm actually really enjoying working with that type of person more. Okay, you rewrite your ideal client avatar, you rewrite your marketing, it's fine. I think people are so worried that their mission statement's not going to last for 10 years. It's like, just make sure it's the lasting for right now. Is it working? Is it working for now? Does it work for this year? Great.
Sharon (25:12):
Exactly. Again, it's that pivot thing. It's like you need to put a stake in the ground and kind of go after somebody initially and kind of do the best that you can with what you have today, but ultimately, you need to be able to be willing to change it up if that's not working for you.
Kim (25:35):
Awesome. This is so fun to have you on. Is there anything I didn't ask you that you'd like to share with our audience before we wrap up?
Sharon (25:40):
I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think so. We've covered a lot.
Kim (25:47):
And so where can people learn more about 40 goods?
Sharon (25:50):
You can find us on our, right now, we have our website, which is fortigoods.com, F-O-R-T-I-G-O-O-D s.com. We also have social media, Pinterest and Instagram. You can follow us at Instagram at 40 goods. Yeah, I think those are the main places.
Kim (26:10):
And make sure to tell Sharon, you heard her on the Eggs interview. We'll be her friend. Be friends.
Sharon (26:14):
Let's be friends. Yeah. Sign up for our email list and tell me that you heard about us here.
Kim (26:19):
Awesome. Thank you so much, Sharon.
Sharon (26:21):
Thank you. Kim.
Kim (26:26):
Thank you for joining us. Don't forget to exit the grind and enter success on your own terms. This is the exit interview with Kim Rittberg. Don't forget to grab my free download, how to Grow Your Business with Amazing video at kimrittberg.com and linked out in the show notes. I love to hear your feedback. Make sure to submit to me what you learned from the show and how you are crushing it on your own terms. Connect with me on Instagram or LinkedIn at Kim Rittberg, R-I-T-T-B-E-R-G. And this show is edited by Jillian Grover and produced by Henry Street Media. I'm your host and executive producer, Kim Rittberg.