This is the full transcript for Episode #225 of the Wild Business Growth Podcast featuring Lindsey Fleischhauer – Car Seat Carrier, Co-Founder of Totes Babies. You can listen to the interview and learn more here. Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 0:00
That’s better than never trying and looking back and having a rocking chair regret when you get older wishing that you would have done something
Max Branstetter 0:20
Hey, hi. Welcome back to the Wild Business Growth Podcast. This is your place to hear from a new entrepreneur every single Wednesday morning who’s turning Wild ideas into Wild growth. I’m your host, Max Branstetter, Founder and Podcast Producer at MaxPodcasting. And you can email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast. This is episode 225. That’s two and a quarter. And today’s guest is Lindsey Fleischhauer. Lindsey is the Co-Founder of Totes Babies, which solves the problem: What the heck do you do with your babies while you’re shopping? It’s the baby car seat carrier for the shopping cart a super cool product. And in this episode, we talk how to come up with ideas even using something that is on your phone, running a family business. And Lindsey’s incredible prowess with the claw machine and I think a second career in stand-up comedy because she had me rolling. It is Lindsey F. Enjoyyyyyyy the shoooooooow!
Allllllrightyyyyyy we are here with Lindsey Fleischhauer, which I’ve been practicing the pronunciation and I think I’m just gonna leave the session now because I feel good about that one. No, but Co-Founder of Totes Babies really, really cool company that, you know comes from an awesome story. And you know, you come from a very entrepreneurial inventive family yourself. But, Lindsey, so excited to speak with you today. Thanks for joining. How’re you doing?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 2:05
I’m good. Thanks for having me. Of course, of course,
Max Branstetter 2:08
my pleasure. And really excited to get to the Totes Babies story. Totes excited. And we’re gonna make jokes like that the entire time. I apologize. And I’m sure you’ve heard all of them.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 2:16
Totess don’t apologize for it. You know, totes.
Max Branstetter 2:19
Yeah, totes, totes McGotes. But let’s start before you even got to your entrepreneurship journey. I know that back in college, you studied theatre arts, where did the interest in theatre come from?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 2:33
I just wanted to act like I knew what I was doing half the time in my
Max Branstetter 2:38
life. Literally act? Yeah. No,
Lindsey Fleischhauer 2:42
I was always I was always real into it growing up and being in little plays at school. And before I went to NIU, Northern Illinois University for theater, I was in LA for UCLA, I studied acting too. And just it was like a little summer program they had there where we met with different actors and directors and things like that. And it just, I it’s just something I was I was really into, and decided to pursue it. So I didn’t do a whole lot with it, you know, but I did get a college degree in it. So it was fun.
Max Branstetter 3:18
It does sound fun. I mean, are there any lessons or skills that you learn there that do actually ultimately apply to entrepreneurship?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 3:26
Oh, a ton. There’s more than I thought. As far as business wise, I think just talking with people being with people socializing, and kind of just being off the cuff with things, especially with business, things get thrown to you. Every day, and no day is the same. You know, it’s not like a corporate job where you know, what you’re getting yourself into having your own business, I every day is completely different. And that’s how acting was to where every directing gig was different, or being in a play was different, or, you know, you never, you just have to be ready for anything
Max Branstetter 4:04
you do. I thought you were gonna say, what ties to entrepreneurship is acting like you know what the hell you’re doing.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 4:09
That is very true. You really do, they’ll have to act like, I mean, just with yourself, act like you know what you’re doing when you don’t, because just jumping in and doing it is the first step in being an entrepreneur and being an inventor.
Max Branstetter 4:23
Right. So did you say, break a leg before you launch your business?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 4:27
I should have.
Max Branstetter 4:30
That’s terribly corny. But how did you first go from like, say you have the theater degree. You’ve studied theater in a couple of different places. What got you besides, you know, the money part or getting paid make a salary somewhere. Besides that, what kind of pulled you into the business world?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 4:47
I think just my dad he was a CEO of a very large retail store fixture Company, which was a family business. Generating back from grandpa by their great grandfather, and he grew the business to be gosh, I mean, international, he grew to be huge. And I, the acting thing obviously didn’t work out after a while after college. So I ended up working for him. And I did so many different jobs within the company, which I’m very grateful for now, because I got to see different aspects of a business. And I ended with for the last time I had there was national sales account manager, account manager, so I would travel and do sales. And I think just learning from him and seeing all that he’s done. He also holds now with our patents, probably close to 50 patents. So I just learned a lot from him and knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur myself, I just, you know, years ago didn’t know how that would happen.
Max Branstetter 5:51
What’s your favorite entrepreneurship lesson that he taught you? Gosh, there’s so many, or you can you can list all 3,000 of them, too. If you want, we’ll just
Lindsey Fleischhauer 6:00
Yeah. I think the main thing that I can think of just in general that I’ve learned all around, is that you just have to go for it. And you have to learn from your mistakes. Because especially with starting totes, babies, there’s so many things that happen that you could be down about the mistakes or things that happen that are wrong, but so many of them, you just there’s such learning experiences because you learn from what you don’t want to do what you do want to do. So I think that’s a huge one is learning from mistakes and just going for things even if you don’t know everything about it.
Max Branstetter 6:41
So let’s learn from Totes Babies. Let’s get to Totes Babies, then I’m not going to make a totes joke this time, believe me, but really, really cool company. And I think you’re you’re innovating in multiple product areas. Now but at the start, where did this idea for the first totes babies product come from?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 7:00
From my son, my son who’s now almost six, when he was born, I as a mom of a first time mom, I didn’t know what to say I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. b I didn’t realize how confined I’d feel in the home, like in my house where it’s such a hassle getting out of the house and going anywhere. So I’d want to get you know, all doodled up to go even to the grocery store it I’d get there and realize, okay, the car seat fits the whole shopping cart. I can’t get everything I want. And if I tried to take them out of the car seat and baby wear him or hold him or anything he hated it needs scream, and I get anxious. So it’s started from my actual pain point I had an actual problem was shopping with my child. And I thought, gosh, if there’s like a horizontal, like a horizontal holder, very, very sturdy, that could go and have full shopping cart access, like this full cart access. That will be huge. And also my son was huge. He was almost 10 pounds when he was born. So I knew it had to be.
Max Branstetter 8:08
That’s I’m like 10 pounds now. Yeah, meat. Yeah.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 8:10
Well, I’m pregnant now too. So was my third boy. And I’m like, Oh, okay. I think it’s just the it’s something where it’s not something I thought about being pregnant thinking, Oh, I’m gonna have a problem shopping. And you know, you don’t think about these little pain points. And so I thought, okay, if there’s a way to just make it super sturdy as well, since all babies are different shapes and sizes, and that it could last a long time. There needs to be a difference. There needs to be more options. And so I actually drew out an extreme amateur sketch, I’m not a good artist, and showed my dad who did a way better one. And because I knew if I wanted to do anything, I wanted to work with him because he, you know, knows what he’s doing in that sense of patenting things and inventing things. And so we just got to work.
Max Branstetter 9:01
I love the extreme amateurishness. Some of the best ideas come from sketches or early, early, early, early, early prototypes like that. But it all stems from a real issue that you came across. And yeah, I think so many people can relate, especially, you know, in recent years, to like, how much it sucks to like, feel confined in your own home. And having to get out there and having a feel like just it takes, especially in your situation being there’s so many steps just to get out the door and like, do groceries and drive around and things like that. You know, once you once you had the first extreme amateur sketch, what else went into the product development?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 9:41
And I think to going back to that extreme amateur sketches that a lot of people when they think of an idea, they think everything starting with that idea has to be perfect. The sketch has to be perfect. The idea has to be perfect. And I’m glad that I just started going with it because I could have lost interest in the idea with that amateur sketch, I brought it to my dad, we made a different sketch, we kept thinking of different options, different ideas. And we went to a friend of ours, that’s an engineer, and he helped us, obviously do a very good sketch prototype. My dad actually, though, went to Home Depot and got some supplies. And he made our first quote unquote, prototype that was curtain rods that adjusted a drop cloth, he stapled it. So it was like our first little prototype. And I use it at Trader Joe’s and moms were asking me about it. That was a very amateur prototype, but it worked. And from that point on, we worked with friends of ours overseas that are still our manufacturers, and they helped us with it. And we had multiple we had to go through and changes and all of that.
Max Branstetter 10:51
I mean, besides that initial, like support from the moms asking, like, Oh, what is that? What was some of the most helpful feedback that you heard that actually kind of shaped what the product is today,
Lindsey Fleischhauer 11:02
I think just that seen parents being able to actually leave the house with the baby. And actually something that’s convenient at works, I think it also help that I didn’t want to go shopping without it myself. And so I would use the prototype all the time. And I’m pretty picky about things. And I like things very simple, especially with baby things. So the fact that I, I use it all the time, and other moms were interested in it and the convenience of it. I think if there’s one any little tiny thing that can help a parent with a baby, keeping things more simple is a win.
Max Branstetter 11:39
Oh, totally. Yeah, I mean, I think that applies to most things in life is simple is better. And so you experienced that yourself with the product, after you got like the product and a good place that, you know, it’s not just a prototype, and like you can use it yourself, but like, we can actually start selling this thing, what were the steps to actually, you know, setting up, you know, a place that people can buy it and getting the word out about it.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 12:03
Oh, gosh, we we first had to do I mean, we had to go through lots of prototypes, we had to go through safety testing, you know, we added obviously, we have the safety buckle that’s with it with any baby product, you have to be super specific on safety. So that takes some time. And then from that point on, you know, building a website, getting the packaging, design and things like that, I think that entrepreneurs, what entrepreneurs need to know is that as far as packaging, web design, all of that it does not have to be super expensive to do, we actually did our packaging through 99designs, which is affiliated with VistaPrint. And they did a great job for super, super cheap. And we still use the same packaging design and the same designer, we’ve changed it a bit. But I think that do some research as an entrepreneur where you’re not, you know, spending so much on things that you can save on, like the packaging, and the website and things like that. So we got the website going. Again, we’ve changed that. tons of times since then, we just started looking into like Facebook ads and different ads set our launch date, which was August of 2018. We did a trade show. What’s actually kind of funny about that is that we walked the Chicago Baby Show with just the idea of totes babies. And my dad and I walked the show. And I was like we’re going to have a booth here next year, this time next year. And we did we launched we launched it and that was cool to to have the goal of the trade show. So that we I knew like okay, we want to have it ready, buy that and have the inventory. And we did
Max Branstetter 13:40
I have to stop you right there because I launched this podcast in August of 2018. So that’s a fantastic month for launching things.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 13:48
Oh yes. That’s awesome.
Max Branstetter 13:50
We’re totally on the same page here. So it’s come full circle, but 99designs. I hear that advertised on The Tim Ferriss Show all the time. So I highly recommended but obviously worked out for you as well. Right, the trade show piece. I think there’s so much value that can come out of trade shows, especially in the product space. And so many of our friends and mutual connection like you know, Kevin Lane from Create A Castle and Jonathan Katz, Jon Katz from BLENDi I’m not sure if you’re connected with him, but he’s tight with Kevin as well. Like, I’m looking on social media and like they’re attending trade shows all the time. You know, it different no matter what stage of like their products, you know, lifetime they’re at, what are some of the best things that have come out of you know, trade shows and conferences, events like that for you and totes babies
Lindsey Fleischhauer 14:39
from the trade shows we’ve done I think just meeting other inventors, entrepreneurs, networking with those people networking with different retailers that could be there. There were even, you know, different product lines that we connected with that we could possibly do collaborations with. I think that networking is is huge like for For instance, with with totes, babies, we love being able to talk with different Shark Tank entrepreneurs. And we have different groups on Facebook and things like that, where we all talk about different ideas and ask questions. And I think that’s one thing that’s so great about most entrepreneurs is that they’re so open to wanting to help other entrepreneurs. So if anybody out there is ever having questions about something, always ask because you never know unless you ask. Right? So it’s, it’s important to ask when you have questions, because people are more than willing to share information and things they know,
Max Branstetter 15:37
to totes. Sorry. Totally. Yeah, that’s a huge piece. What’s the biggest question that or what’s the biggest like, area of entrepreneurship that you had absolutely no idea about that? You know, you since know pretty well, from your own experience, or what people share with you?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 15:56
Everything.
Max Branstetter 15:59
Alright, we’re gonna live after after you finish the list of lessons you learned from your dad and all of his patents. We’re gonna get to the list of all the entrepreneurship lessons. Yes, this is gonna be a 47 hour episode.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 16:11
Well, I think I’m, I learned more every single day I learned something. I think right now. Specifically, what comes to my mind is this day and age, content creation, social media, all of that is so important for businesses, yet extremely time consuming. And there’s a learning curve with different things. And fate like Facebook ads, Instagram ads, tic tac ads, for Facebook, Instagram, we actually have somebody that helps us with that. There was I think it was Sara Blakely. From Spanx. She said she was on Shark Tank wants to but she said, if you are ever in the position, to hire somebody to do something you don’t know how to do do it. Because otherwise, like they know what they’re doing. You don’t and you can learn from them. So initially, we we actually hired somebody pretty quickly after I learned that I don’t know what the heck I’m doing with Facebook ads, and it was just blowing money. You don’t know where the algorithms gonna hit what’s going to be reached to. So that helped a lot. I think just learning Wow, I can’t do everything on my own. I need somebody that knows what they’re doing to work with us that can be hard for entrepreneurs, but it can be extremely beneficial.
Max Branstetter 17:28
And that’s a perfect area to partner with somebody else on because yeah, Facebook ads social media ads are like one of the best examples of things that if you know how to do it, and you do it well can be great for your business. But if you’re like testing and learning, you can start burning through your budget, like super quick and being like, when are we going to see some pay off here. So that’s, that’s a really good thing to outsource there.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 17:49
Right. And I think even with tic tac, and Instagram, and a lot of it, I do myself right now we’ve had people in and out helping us throughout the past couple of years, but it’s a whole job in itself, having to make videos and get people to help with you know, especially with the baby business, we need babies, you know, little baby models and moms and that’s it’s a whole lot of work. But I think something I’ve learned just even recently is that just put something out there, you know, you throw enough against the wall, something’s got to stick. It’s not about how perfect a video is. It’s just about getting the point across and about being content that people like. But it is it’s it’s harder as an entrepreneur now because there’s so many hats you have to wear, especially now with that social media aspect.
Max Branstetter 18:40
That is a fantastic pullquote we need babies, I think you need to get that friend
Lindsey Fleischhauer 18:45
of your babies, please
Max Branstetter 18:47
give us your babies. So in addition to your first product for totes, babies, you also like you’re diving into more spaces as well like you have the bracelet like you’re adding to your your brand what has gone into you know innovating beyond your initial product,
Lindsey Fleischhauer 19:03
we so we do have an iPad holder, iPhone holder that’s kind of just to match up with that can go on like a shopping cart, a stroller guide, head holder can obviously go on the back of a car. And those are just kind of little add ons. The bogey bracelet is something we haven’t even done any advertising or besides Instagram posts or TikToks that we don’t pay to advertise for. But we haven’t done any actual advertising for those yet because we’re still working on pictures and things like that for it but that’s kind of a teenybopper like tween product almost. We’ve noticed that a lot of people that do purchase them are like teenagers like they like to attach to their backpacks or their little cheerleading bags or different things because you can put different little candies in it hair ties, money. So it’s just about figuring out how to find that demographic, social and so Social media and things like that. So we do have the bogie bracelet, that’s just a cute little fun keychain bracelet thing. And then we are constantly thinking of different ideas, it almost hurts my brain, how much I think about it. Because we’re not even limiting ourselves to baby at all, we would love to actually find something that isn’t in the baby space, too. So we’re constantly kind of having our own little powwows. My dad and I, we always write down ideas and pain points throughout the day, and we share them, we try to share them on like a weekly basis. And we’ve got a lot of ideas coming through the pipeline. So I’m excited. How do you
Max Branstetter 20:41
take note of those ideas? Like what’s your actual process for remembering those and sharing them with each other,
Lindsey Fleischhauer 20:48
literally just writing them in my iPhone notes, because a lot of times I think of ideas, when I’m with the kids, and we’re running around, or a lot of times at night, when I’m about to go to bed, or when I’m up in the middle of the night. So I I know, I always know if I don’t write this down, I’m going to forget it. So I write it in my notes on my phone, and then usually type it up, you know, on a Word document to keep it
Max Branstetter 21:12
I swear they say what do they see necessity is the mother of invention. I think Notes app is like, also the mother of invention, like there’s so there’s so much innovation that comes out of what’s initially notes on the Notes app. Same with like content creation ideas. So I’m glad it’s worked for your business as well. Another great idea, I just thought of this is signing up for Podcasting to the Max. Now bear with me, bear with me. I know it doesn’t sound like something that will rock your world. But it will rock your world because it is where podcasting meets entrepreneurship. So if you’re interested in those things, you will love Podcasting to the Max, you can sign up at podcast, I screwed up the URL, you can sign up at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter. And you get a free eBook on how to edit your podcast. Now, let’s talk a little family business. So speaking of great ideas, let’s get to inspiration and creativity, how you stay inspired, how you stay creative, and how you work inside of work, how you that doesn’t make any sense how you operate inside of working out. And you’ve mentioned your father Stan, who, you know, incredible entrepreneur, inventor, patent holder himself. And you too have a just an awesome dynamic. So I’d love to kind of peek behind the curtain of the family business there. I’m someone who’s grown up with a family business like my parents started, year I was born. So like endless love for family businesses. What are your favorite and least favorite parts of working so closely with family on the day to day?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 22:49
Honestly, I some people are always like, oh, gosh, you work with family. That’s probably crazy. I think the fact that him and I are so different. I mean, we are very different. I’m a little more outgoing. And he’s a little more of an introvert. And he kind of thinks more than he talks I probably talk more than I think
Max Branstetter 23:11
that’s a great thing to say in a pocket.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 23:14
Yeah, we just have a very good dynamic where we balance each other out. It’s almost When I need help with something, he’s there, if he needs help with something, I’m there. And we know our tasks and our things to do. And when we need to work together on things. And before that I worked with my brother, too, when we both worked for my dad’s company, and we got along great too. I think it’s something just that we always knew with family business that if it were to ever get to a point where we’re not getting along because of it, we probably shouldn’t be doing it. So we I’ve never gotten ever to that point with a family member and my dad, I just always we work it out. I don’t know, I don’t think we’ve ever thought about anything because we just know, that’s just it’s gonna keep us from getting to where we want to go.
Max Branstetter 24:02
And how often do you communicate with each other about the business
Lindsey Fleischhauer 24:06
daily, multiple, multiple times a day he actually still had he has other businesses he owns still, he’s got a lot going on but we just talked a little bit before I got on here so multiple times a day.
Max Branstetter 24:22
What has been the biggest difference between like the family business that you grew up with and and partner with your dad there besides you know, tagged him in this one
Lindsey Fleischhauer 24:31
with this. I mean because he was selling we were selling retail store fixtures. So if you go into Target Walmart anywhere, the pegboard hooks, the signage anything there that’s what was made for the company. Now this is a product so something that could be in retail, so this is something neither of us had ever done. So we both had to learn together. Instead of me having you know with with retail store fixtures, he’s known that since he was little, you know, I’d learned from him or other people within the business, or you know, my brother, another person in the company with this, we both had to learn together what to do as far as having an actual retail product.
Max Branstetter 25:11
And outside of work. I mean, you mentioned that let’s kind of inside and outside of work, but you mentioned that you come up with those notes, app ideas, are there any sort of activities that you’re typically doing or like times a day, when you do think of seem to think of more business ideas?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 25:26
I think for sure, before bed, where I actually don’t have a child, you know, screaming or, yeah,
Max Branstetter 25:35
that’s, that’s got to be easy on the mind.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 25:37
Right, the dust settles at the end of the night, and it’s like, ooh, this, this kind of all started popping up the different pain points throughout the day. A lot of them, they’ll also when I am with my kids during the day, and something pops up, or they have a problem. And I’ve actually my five year old, knows now he’s like, Okay, this is a problem. This could be the solution, you know, so he, he’s kind of learning. He’s got a little, you know, a tiny inventor mindset of how to find solutions to problems. So I think between them and especially at night, when I’m able to kind of think straight, is when a lot of the ideas come about.
Max Branstetter 26:19
So let’s go from thinking straight to thinking all over the place. So sorry about that. But let’s get to the unusual. Pet peeves. quirks, weird talent. So this is mainly about you outside of work. But of course, you can tie it back to your business if you want. But just personality wise, what is a pet peeve? You have
Lindsey Fleischhauer 26:35
aI people that think they know it all? And they don’t listen to other people. And they don’t listen to what other people have to say like somebody that just thinks that they know everything when none of us know everything.
Max Branstetter 26:50
Yeah, I would say it’s closer to none of us knowing anything. Yeah, right. Totally. Yeah. Sorry for being a no, no, no. But what is a quirk you have something a little quirky about your personality that your family, kids, dad, somebody calls you out for but as you are,
Lindsey Fleischhauer 27:08
they just don’t ever know what I’m going to say. They don’t know what’s going to come out of my mouth, what I’m going to do, things just kind of fly out of my mouth. I think that’s to why my dad was probably nervous to go on Shark Tank with me because I get nervous or not even being nervous. It’s just things just come out. You know, I think it’s kind of they I keep them on the edge of their seats, I keep them on their toes.
Max Branstetter 27:34
You and I are two peas in a pod because I have the same sort of wildcard aspect of me where I back in. When I worked in the corporate world first job out of college, I worked in brand management and when we would like brands would take turns presenting to like the entire marketing group, about you know, latest on their brand and you know, new ideas, things like that. And my friend and former coworker Shannon mentioned to me, she’s like, I always enjoy it when you present because I never know what the hell you’re gonna say.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 28:04
It is, I mean, it’s a good quality to have to be able to think off the cuff and to keep people on their toes and things but I think, especially with family when they know that’s how you are. It’s kind of like, oh, okay, here we go.
Max Branstetter 28:17
Buffalo right. Okay, so in addition to that, how about weird talents or a party trick? What’s something that you’re really, really good at maybe around the house or outside of work, and it has no impact on your business, but you just have a knack for it.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 28:30
I’m really good at claw machines. Oh,
Max Branstetter 28:34
like the, like prize thing like dig for a prize?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 28:38
Yeah, it’s kind of like a weird obsession because I love claw machines. And I know, I always get a stuffed animal, like almost always get a stuffed animal and my sister actually for my husband and I’s wedding at our reception brought out a claw machine. So the claw machine was there that people could like, get an animal there at our wedding.
Max Branstetter 29:02
That is perfect. That’s that’s an art.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 29:05
Yeah, it is. It is an art. It is an art. I’d like to say it’s an art. I think my oldest son has that gene, too. So, you know, we’re just we’re just claw machine family. Sadly,
Max Branstetter 29:18
the claw wasn’t that from Toy Story. That claw. Yeah. I actually, I totally forgot about this for many years until you just brought that up. But there was one time where my brother and I and my mom were like getting bagels. Like we were really really young but growing up and the bagel store had a claw machine in it and there was some random guy in there was like a middle aged man who was just really really good at it. And he kept winning in like giving us all the stuffed animals so we had like a ton of stuffed animals from that day and we were I think we must have been like the only kids there so we just like gave it to us. So it was like our lucky day. In hindsight maybe like a little creepy. Nobody knows story with This guy, but was very nice was it was a very nice surprise that day and yeah now you know him and you are both people that are incredibly good at claws so great company
Lindsey Fleischhauer 30:11
that there was a claw machine in the bagel shop. Yeah,
Max Branstetter 30:15
it might have been a donut shop there might have been both but either way
Lindsey Fleischhauer 30:19
in there you have to grab the bagel they eat it.
Max Branstetter 30:22
They should. Yeah, just like stick a foam sword through there and get it that way. All right, let’s, before we get too off the rails here, because you never know what’s gonna happen. Let’s wrap up with some rapid fire q&a. You’re ready for it? Yes. All right, let’s get wild as if we’re not getting wild already. What is an invention that your tiny inventor son has conceived of?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 30:43
He thought of a sleeve for crackers. When you eat crackers and the crumbs fall out a cracker sleeve that you hold. And there’s like a little tie in the end. I mean, he was real into that he like pitched it to me. And I did not, you know, go for it. But I thought that’s a great idea. So he it’s the little chip crumb holder.
Max Branstetter 31:06
That’s awesome. Yeah, I mean, crumbs are a big problem. Triscuit like, shred off. Yeah, I love Triscuits. But yeah, they’re crummy. I always think is like with granola bars, too. If you see those memes everywhere of the Nature Valley bars that just the label says crumbs everywhere. Like it’s a real thing. So you might be onto something with the cracker sleeve or the the chrome sleeve. How about big babies? So I mentioned one of your sons was a 10 pound baby. You’re working on one right now might be as well. What was your initial reaction when you found out that your son is over 10 pounds? Well, that’s
Lindsey Fleischhauer 31:42
when he came out. I mean, the doctor told me that he was like seven pounds, like a week before I went in, and then he came out and I’m like, Oh, I just had a toddler. You know, I mean, walked out and like wanted to go to the vending machine. So I don’t know. It’s really, really weird. But I mean, it was even the doctor was like, Oh, okay. expected. So that was it was crazy.
Max Branstetter 32:12
That is too funny. I mean, I’m imagining like a, you know, like, day one, like your son is just like a World’s Strongest Man competition. Just, you know, jacked. So that’s good for you.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 32:25
You like leaves the hospital room to go to the cafeteria to get something to eat, you know, after he comes out? I mean, it was just like, what is that?
Max Branstetter 32:32
Yeah, like, Mom, I got this. You don’t have to worry about anything. How about the claw machine? So what is a tip that anybody can use to get better at doing the call?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 32:42
You have to make sure when you get the claw where you want it above the stuffed animal. Wait for the claw to stop jiggling around in the air like wait till it’s still and then go down. And I always hold the button. Like the whole time when it’s down.
Max Branstetter 33:01
That’s that’s a great tip. Yeah, I know exactly what you’re talking about with the jiggling claw there. I think that was my problem. And why? Why I never got it except for like strange dudes at a bagel store. And then last one, back to theater. You studied theater, and, you know, both UCLA and NIU. So you got Illinois, you got California, they’re very different experiences. But what’s been the biggest difference between spending some time living in both LA and Illinois slash like greater greater Chicago area? I don’t even know what town is that are you in? Well, first of all, I
Lindsey Fleischhauer 33:35
was only in UCLA for like a summer program. So it wasn’t like a I didn’t go to school there.
Max Branstetter 33:40
Right. You got a little taste of it, though. A little taste
Lindsey Fleischhauer 33:43
of it. And NIU is I actually first started at University of Iowa. And I didn’t have a degree of anything yet. And that’s an Iowa so everybody knows that. Just a lot of corn there. And then I transferred to Northern Illinois University, which also has a lot of corn. So that’s in Illinois, kind of in the middle of the cornfields of Illinois, and that was about 45 minutes from my hometown. So I still live in Illinois, and Naperville, Illinois, and it’s just a lot of a lot of corn.
Max Branstetter 34:09
What’s it besides the corn in the weather? What was the biggest difference between LA and Illinois slash Land of the court? Just the
Lindsey Fleischhauer 34:20
style, I think, clothing wise personality wise. You know, people thought that when I was there for that summer, for a little bit, they thought that I had like a Chicago accent. I don’t hear it myself. But they noticed my accent right away. And I have never heard that until I’ve been out there.
Max Branstetter 34:40
Right? Yeah, I’m from Cleveland and went to school at Indiana. IU and lots of friends from Chicago and definitely, totally with you on that. Like I think growing up I didn’t hear it at all. Now I can I can hear in your voice a little bit because like earlier today, I interviewed somebody with a totally different accent. So kind of back to back. It’s apparent but otherwise, I don’t think how Notice anything but people talk about the Chicago accent all the time.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 35:05
Well, my husband’s from Ohio and I feel that he has more of a Chicago accent more than I do. And growing up from Ohio. I don’t know if it’s just a Midwest thing or what? I was from the Midwest, so I think I think that’s it. And I can tell when people are from California to just buy I think it’s like the O’s. I can’t even imitate it. But you don’t want me
Max Branstetter 35:28
it’s the O’s What city is your husband from an Ohio?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 35:31
Mentor, OH.
Max Branstetter 35:33
Oh, no way. Okay. Very cool. Well, I hope he’s gotten over the fact that my senior year we beat them in football, Solon, but I’m sure he you know, that wasn’t against him. But but very Yeah, very cool. Mentor’s a huge high school on the east side of Cleveland. And yeah, not not too too far from where I grew up. So very small world. Great, Lindsey, thank you so much. This has been an absolute blast. And I feel like I’m ready to like go right after the claw machine. But you know, start a business as well. But really appreciate your time and sharing, you know, everything totes baby’s world as well as cloth machine and toddlers just walking right out. But thanks so much for coming on. Where’s the best place for people to try out Totes Babies as well as connect with you online?
Lindsey Fleischhauer 36:17
Thank you for having me, too. You can anybody can visit us at TotesBabies.com We’re on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram @TotesBabies. And we’re also available buybuyBABY, Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart and more to come. And we’re on Amazon. I’m sorry. We’re we’re on Amazon, Amazon.
Max Branstetter 36:36
Awesome. And last thing, stage is yours. It could be a quote, it could be a tote. Oh, see, I worked another one in there. It could be whatever you want. Send us home here. Final Thoughts. It could be, you know, just a little words of wisdom to wrap this up.
Lindsey Fleischhauer 36:49
Oh my gosh, I’m caught off guard. I think just go for it. I think and that’s cheesy to say. But I think so many people are in their heads about starting a business or just doing anything, you’re not going to know unless you just go for it. You don’t you just go walk, go blindly and learn as you go. That’s better than never trying and looking back and having a rocking chair regret when you get older wishing that you would have done something. So I think going for it and learning as you go, to me is not only exciting and scary, but it’s something that you you don’t want to look back and regret not going for something you want to do.
Max Branstetter 37:26
Go for it. Totes. And thank you so much, Lindsey for coming on the podcast, sharing your incredibly cool Totes Babies story and claw machine and giant babies and all sorts of insight and entertainment. And thank you so much, Wild Listeners, for tuning in to another episode. If you want to hear more Wild stories like this one, make sure to follow the Wild Business Growth Podcast on your favorite app and tell a friend about the podcast. And then try out Totes Babies with them, if you can fit in the car seat carrier. You can also find us on Goodpods, where there are really good podcasts and podcast recommendations. And for any help with podcast production, you can learn more at MaxPodcasting.com and sign up for the Podcasting to the Max newsletter. That’s at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter. Until next time, let your business Run Wild…Bring on the Bongos!!
