Tag: shark tank

Kitchen

Hello SHARKS

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Dear Mr. Wonderful

I never got to thank you. I am not sure if you even remember me. I was standing in front of you back in 2013 pitching my idea for bibbitec bibs and you told me to “take it behind the barn and shoot it!”

Thank you for two things-
FIrst because when I started laughing hysterical you clapped your hands together and reminded me “This is serious!”
What happened next was that my actor sensibilities kicked in and then I began to cry. We call it NEW CHOICE in the acting world.

My pitch became very emotional at that point and I think that is actually why our episode even aired to begin with no to mention the dozens of times since. Thank you!

Second: You were right. I think what I couldn’t get past was that I was mushing a whole bunch of things together. I was trying to be taken seriously as a person and so I wanted the product to be that way when indeed it could have been much more simple. The embroidery and the stitching which is what drove the cost up and the most complicated aspect of the bib was not a necessity. It did not help the kids stay clean and I could have seen the bib as the functional tool it was and kept it all in that arena.

I am going to try and take your advice in my way. Drop the product down to simplicity, cut the cost in my way without cutting the quality that makes the bib WORK and I am going to give it one more go in my own way.

I adore you- I think you are wonderful. I know you play the “mean” guy and I understand why.  Resistance is important in drama but under it all I adored you.

Last time I saw you I was walking by you in a bathing suit while you were on a call on the Beach and I didn’t recognize you at all. My friend did- She said- Isn’t that Mr. Wonderful and as I turned and saw you I said…why YES….Yes it is….

Love Susie

Dear Daymond…

Remember when you asked me to step forward alone. Leaving Steve e behind me? Remember you said you would only be dealing with one of us and I was the one you were going to be dealing with? Remember you asked me HOW MUCH? How much more I was going to put in. At the time. At that moment in time I was freaking out.

I felt like perhaps I would get a deal if I mentioned the right thing. If I said EVERYTHING..If in-fact me being on Shark Tank wasn’t my end goal as an angry mother who bought crap products and wanted to prove to parents they were making them on purpose…if that wasn’t my goal..I would have said…Whatever I NEED TO..but the point was.. I was already DONE. I had achieved the goal and getting you involved along with the whole FAMILY wasn’t going to work out.

The reason was I wasn’t in control at all. I had no ability to hold my voice and my desire to work with people was part of my desire to be liked and loved not deserted and well I can go on and on…

But the point is that you have taught me so much. I have watched several of you conversations and read books you Recommend and even your own story of trying three times inspires me..

I am now at this point where I have the patent for a few more years. I have awareness of self and I am not using this product to prove how valuable I am And I am over wanting to NOT be deserted..

I have worked through so many of my issues that I think I can step up again and say..whatever I need to do…without causing me stress. That is what I am willing to give.

I adore you Daymond and will always be grateful to you.

Dearest Barbara-

I am not sure if you remember what you said to me and I kind of hope you don’t. It was pretty aggressive and harsh..even if it had a bit of truth in it. It was not what I thought you and I would discuss..and how it would go down.

Basically you told me I was a poor excuse for a woman…in not so many ways and although it never made it past the cutting room floor I have to say it was a really aggressive comment.

I know it was TV and I know you were doing your job but I was, not my insecure child ego, was really thrown by that.

I know you are a tough business woman and I respect all you have done but my approach is different, I am not fierce in the ways you are and well..I wanted to say that as the only woman on the panel that day I thought you would have had my back-

But looking BACK i guess you too were playing your role and in the end you said I could sell it through a network of MOMs which I found interesting seeing that you just insulted my MOMMINESS-

Anyway… I wanted to just saw that is was pretty sever the way you spoke it to me and how you insulted my personage and I knew and know it is only for TV and such but I was really there. I wasn’t acting…that much…;) I was trying to be sincere and in that moment being insulted by a woman hurt the most…because in the end we know where the tendon to the jugular is and we go there.

Men in my life have never gotten to me as much as the women have…and that is something ..

S

Dear Cuban,

First of all you are the only one that didn’t say anything mean to me except that I wasn’t the one to run the company. I was too emotional maybe..yeah…I was. I couldn’t separate business from my self value and I was way too concerned about trying to keep the concept I had..

It was kind of you to agree with me…tell me that selling directly to customers online for the price I was asking was fine.

Since the back end in the past several years has gotten even more streamlined I am going to go back to doing the company like you said. Considering once we left Shark TAnk, my partners took me to trade shows and convinced me we should hit the stores..I lost interested and let my interest wain and now a few years later – it is JUST me myself and I –

I have no emotion connected to this project..perhaps a diluted sense of passion mixed with purpose mixed with flow…

I am going to try again at this little simple Idea. I am going to play with it…from the position I think you seem to take. WHY NOT. And a smile that seem to brighten up the whole world.

Thank you for that faith you had in my vision. And even though you pointed to me and told me NOT YOU I am happy to say that the person you pointed at has grown up in these past few years and I think….we…YES ME.

Xo susie

Dear Robert,

I am just adding you into this series because in the end you said you were scared of my husband suing you. I agree he is a tough and will defended his wife at any cost….
Smart move!

S

Kitchen

Letting go of…Target

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This happened almost a decade ago. It is what started me on the desire to make a baby product that lasted. It also taught me that most of the time I spent shopping was really just me “clearing my mind” while I was a stay at home mom of two little boys. I ended up purchasing pretty little things to justify my time away… eventually I had to detox from that too.
I even went once to Target and filled up a cart with everything I “needed” and then left it. Walked out without buying anything….It felt amazing…

getting close to the fire and exiting with grace.

I realized that I just needed the IDEA of the things, the options, the alternatives…I didn’t actually NEED NEED them.

I also don’t really enjoy shopping there even now becasue while I was on the floor at a trade show in Vegas one of the BIG BOX stores walked over. A large round man and asked me to pitch them bibbitec. The more I told them about how long it lasted and how many things it did the more this man laughed. Like a huge belly laugh…very SANTA like.
It eventually gathered himself and told me straight to my face.
“Bibs are bait! That’s how we get the moms in…they can’t last longer then two weeks, three weeks at most.” And he walked away turned over his shoulder and said, “ build it to last less and you got a deal.” I was totally shocked and that night my sister received an order for our bibs from TARGET. The Purchase price was way below the price I quoted and thus the point of it was that it would force me to go over seas and make a less product. I remember being in the hotel bathroom looking at the mirror…crying hysterical…” why didn’t they like me?” “ I fixed the problem” and then it accured to me that they didn’t want the problem fixed and that is why they sent over an order for a ton of money but ONLY if I made it on the Cheap.
I was with my sister and she shook me and said remember you made this to fix the problem…so we can’t take this offer. Then she took me to Chipendales and I was pulled up on stage tied to a pole and in that erotica moment I woke up to the whole entire GAME we are all participating in.

Women are being played …. and we like it!

While I was filming Shark Tank I had a copy of that order with me to remind me not to FOLD not to make a crap product that forces moms to buy more…spend more…wonder why things aren’t made well? I refused to be part of that conversation…I respect woman and the men that support them and this idea that women purchase just proves that if we wanted to we could change the world…by not purchasing!

Xo
S

Kitchen

Wagging the Dog- REmarketting

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Once bibbitec was alive and well and living on the internet it was time to remarket. Remarket meant that we would basically hound anyone who came to our site with adds until they believed they REALLY wanted to purchase the product.
This was nauseating to me on many levels. I was an actos in Miami and most of my work or attempts at work were though commercials. I tried to be a con souse actor at first and not advertise for walmart or target at they promoted China built products and I was on a Made in the USA kick then before I realized that also meant made in private prisons with basically slave labor
Anyway- as we remarket to each ohther we participate in a game of brainwashing. Even if you hate my add or my product I will become part of your story and in that I win, I gain space and you may. Forget one day your annoyance at me will fade and you may think ok ok Ill get it and there you go. THrough the same persistence of a child I convince you that you LIKE me-and you’ll click and but it.
Even if you decide you hate me and talk about me to other people you still bought me in a way. By talking about me in any way I win.

Remember that next time you discuss someone. You give them energy…regardless of what yo say or how you say it…they win.. they pull your tongue to form the shape of their name and your mind to speak create thoughts and your voice to peak of your fingers to print.

Be very very careful….. as in acting say is who you are and if you speak angrily of someone that is what you are…angry.

An actor woudl play YOU as the angry person. And the person you are angry about..Well they are the lead in YOUR play…

Kitchen

The original idea of bibbitec

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Way back it the day I used to say that bibbitec was MORE than a bib but as we got to market it was hard to explain. So we found the bib niche and stayed there.
I also wished I could print of the fabric- pictures that were inspiring..artists I loved or something that would make the baby and the person feeding them smile.
I keep thinking about this and I think I am going to grab the bibs that I had cut and see about printing on them- then return to Etsy. I won’t sew them or label them and they can work as a bunch of things. I feel a SHMATA which one woman called it (while I was trying to sell it on the porch of a paper store one of my investors wife had…)

Also yesterday I went to see Dear Even Hanson with my mom. They had a bunch of social media images at the start of the play and one of them was the hallway into SHARK TANK..and the day before we watched a movie where a freind of mine pretended his name was SHARK TANK..THese are little signs I am moving slowly toward without desperation.

I am also very much enjoying writing a daily blog about my journey to whatever this will be.

Kitchen

Hello….Shark Tank

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Yesterday was about 5 years since we originally aired on the show. Last night we aired again.WHY? I think it is a sign. I think everything is a sign. A soft nudge saying come on little girl try again. I had just yesterday morning posted the bib simplified ( sans embroidery and tag) on Etsy. I wanted to do it alone…in a way..see if I could restart the conversation at a more receiving time in history.
No need to explain why the product is made well and lasts forever. Maybe the new parents are primed to find a non label sustainable product helpful and spread it amongst themselves. The last few times I have brought it out it was an education issue..as they mentioned on Shark Tank..That is NOT the issue anymore..and  since no one else sells our bibs but me, and no one else has the patent but me, and no one else cared to knock us off..may as well give it a go. Not to make millions, not to save myself or my family not to prove a point too well, not to validate myself but perhaps to return to the game with a better attitude and perspective.
I so wish I could get my hands on the uncut footage of my Shark Tank show. I would love to explain how much of it was REAL and how much of it was cut together to make it look as it was. I am not complaining…we made good TV the Sharks and Steve and I but it was and always will be TV.

DO you have things in your life that play these types of games with you. You try to let them go but they keep knocking at your door no matter what you do.

Susie

Kitchen

Letting go of… bibbitec

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The bibbitec bib that I created and took to Shark Tank.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT….
It was a beautiful ride….

It took a while to tear myself off of bibbitec and let my true self return to acting and such other purely creative endeavors…funny how we can fake ourselves out so much that we believe our own dares.

but here was the signs and the cues.

During bibbitec …I never felt secure

Now in my acting I am confident and kind and secure and that tells me…I am in my flow I am in my passion and I am fine being fine. I am also not miserable…I am happier and kinder and much more relaxed.

Thank you for everyone who purchased my bib..I still think it is an amazing product and I am happy I did it..
sometimes you have to go left in order to know you had to go right and sometimes we have to remind ourselves about this…a few times along the journey..

XOXO

Kitchen

Letting go of … PERFORMING

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Me Myself and I
I studied acting in school since I was in 5th grade. I loved it. Learning how to become another person was fascinating to me and I became an expert at it.

The reason I am not going to “perform” ever again is that it is based on lying and deception. A tool that has allowed me to grow OFF my center. Off my Authentic point.

Learning to become another person to the best of your abilities is freeing as it allows you to look back on your OWN character with new perspective. THe issue is when you PLAY the CHaracter so long that you have forgotten which is the real YOU- the real authentic self.

Charge is powerful- wether it comes from applause or likes or money- It helps you feel like you are alive. THe problem is that sometimes that charge is plugged into the wrong outlet – not LOVE – but rather PAIN- FEAR- SEX- and you are simply creating a FALSE version of yourself.

The healing art of acting -when used to let go of characters rather than add characters is a beautiful tool for me- a process I enjoy sharing with people who desire to KNOW THEMSLEVES FULLY AS WELL.

Kitchen

Letting go … about the S.U.R.F. Process

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THe story -the way we connect to ourselves, to each other, to our past and to our future seems like the logical place to start when you want to let go of pain in your life. G0 to the point of entry.

But GO as An actor Goes towards a role. With a notebook and curiosity and lots of respect and love for the story. If you judge it the story will go fuzzy.

I love using music and movement and it has been how I healed ALL my pain. I am not angry or angst UNLESS something enters into my immediate life and it is not for me- THEN I get angry and angst and I address that STORY ASAP. BUT there are no layers involved usually- it is just a toxin that came in and because my air is clean I feel it and it bothers me…and I try and get it out ASAP.

This process came to me through my own personal experiences and yesterday I was pointed in the direction of narrative Psycology and from what I read this is the umbrella of what I came to realize and explore in my SURF MEthod.

As an actor trained to hold story to access emotion I eventually found this troubling when my own father past away and I was holding the pain and the injury and counldn’t understand why I wasn’t letting go.

What was revealed to me was that I was trained to use pain as motivation. Anger as inspiration and I believe now that our society has absorbed this training in our content and as a society are being programmed through our PROGRAMS to do the same.

Subconsciencly i couldn’t let go of the pain because my internal actor was harboring it in her tool kit. I finally found this story within myself and kindly and softly sat down with HER and said. Listen…even if we never act again you can’t carry this pain with you my love, you Won’t make it. She released that was a truth and though my SURF movement process slowly and thus the idea of relief set in.

I learned through this idea personally and by training others that empathetic acting is much more interesting but the only way to insure you aren’t hurting yourself and others by “USING IT” ( a line in acting to tap into your pain and use it for your role) is to know you have cleaned your plate of all the HYPER CHARGE STORIES you have..

LEtting go of anything that you hold as a version of WHO YOU ARE is what this is about and many people do not SEPERATE the STORY from theirselves. If feels like a death, a MELTING away and even having been doing it for years it never gets easier but the process goes faster and the relief lasts longer.

Last night I followed a sign and went to a movement studio in MIami called the Republic of Movement and as we began the first game A smile crossed my face…I found a gold nugget that is in the movement itself kind and not demanding and honest and not forced. Exactly what I have internally found within myself.

MY question was- How do you move from GRACE…well last night I found out…Beautifully and Slowly.

Kitchen

Letting go of…Your Story

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I was the lead in a play a few years ago and during one final run before we opened I made an internal independent decision to make the character more forgiving.

After the run we sat for our notes and our director just stood there. All the hard work we had rehearsed the past three week was gone. Nothing. He was not even mad it seemed he was just helpless.

Before he began to give the notes I raised my hand. I said, “ That was my bad.” He looked at me and said “Thank you for being able to own that and never do that again.”

See-

None of the other actors could play their part because I wasn’t playing mine. The DRAMA we were trying to play out became a light hearted story. Not what the director was going for-

Change your ROle Change the Genre of your story.
We can’t remove stories in our lives. That would be more of a denial situation and can get really dangerous but we can decide to change our role in the story as soon as possible.

Try playing the Character that doesn’t allow the other actors to play against you.

The STORIES stay the same but your part in them shifts and if you are willing to let go of

How can you do this in your own DRAMAs?

CAn YOU make an independent internal decision to be a more forgiving character in one of your Stories?

Would that be so bad? What would you gain? What would your loose?
What Role would you be and would that be OK? Woul should still exist if you chose a different motivation?

LOVE SUSIE