If you took a peek behind the Pluie curtains you would find moms juggling the demands of scaling a business with the demands of school forms and uniforms. We have a constant running to-do list in our heads that includes everything from calling an investor and creating a national account pitch deck to picking up milk and markers (must be an 8 pack, bold color, fine point) for kindergarten. We often say that we don’t work around the clock but we think around the clock. At times we want to work around the clock especially when an exciting email comes through like it did last week, however, that is not our reality especially as moms.
What we’ve certainly learned over the past few years is that our ability to operate lean aka scrappy as a startup remains critical. We must be scrappy because we don’t have the luxury of a traditional infrastructure and capital that larger institutions can rely on. Every day, every hour we must think creatively and quickly execute. And if we don’t know how to do something like TikTok then we must quickly learn (YouTube tutorials, Google searches or ask a neighbor).
We also continuously leverage some of our greatest assets including optimism, grit, passion and determination which allow us to solve problems and move forward at a fast pace. Here are some other tips to operate scrappy that we learned when executing our recent Pluie Pret Changing Clutch photo shoot:
- Don’t over analyze. Execution is more important than perfection. Some things are meant to be “roughly right” which is actually more authentic. We didn’t spend hours creating a shot list and planning out every pose. Instead we just let it happen organically and let the moms and babies interact with a product they now love!
- Lean into your network. Forget models! We reached out to local moms who then recruited their mom friends to also participate!
- Always negotiate. We guarantee that there is at least one opportunity to negotiate in terms of cost reduction or value creation. We only had an hour in the venue but we asked our amazing photographer for as many photos as possible within that hour.
- Ask for favors/help. Addie asked a stranger at a trampoline park if she wanted to participate in the photoshoot! Turns out that she did! Pluie has a new friend and follower.
- Do the “small” things. The families did not receive monetary compensation for their time but we gave each family the baby clothing, t-shirts and gift cards for lunch on their way home. What mom doesn’t want Chick-fil-A on the ride home with a sleeping baby!
- Divide and conquer. Faced with limited financial resources and manpower, we are forced to wear many hats. This means we are often stretched thin so dividing tasks and projects is key. Addie took the lead on this initiative while Brittany focused on other high priorities.
- Be kind, be friendly, be genuine, be thankful. We shared the photo gallery with families and everyone had a blast! These moms got beautiful portraits with their little ones and memories to last a lifetime.
These learnings are applicable to everything we have done and continue to do in our business and in our daily lives.
Written by Pluie Founder, Addie Gundry, and Cofounder, Brittany Hizer.
