Not So Small
Running a small business is anything but small. In each episode our host, Sam Bauman, asks small business owners about their challenges, triumphs, and the passion that keeps them going. Through this, Not So Small seeks to spotlight and strengthen the small businesses that are dedicated to their community and care about more than the bottom line.
Not So Small
The Mustache Cat: Rebecca Sansone
In this episode of Not So Small, host Sam Bauman sits down with Rebecca Sansone, owner of the Mustache Cat, a vintage and modern home goods store in St. Paul. Rebecca shares her journey from corporate life to small business ownership, where she curates a unique blend of vintage pieces with stories alongside products from women-owned businesses.
Rebecca explains her philosophy that objects in our homes should tell stories and engage all five senses, creating spaces that reflect who we are. We discuss her current business venture, developing "Mustache Cat Made," a product line that includes both new products and repurposed vintage items. We also explore Rebecca's leadership approach, which includes intentional vulnerability with her team, applying valuable corporate lessons to small business, and using practical tools like an Apple Note called "Future Us Problems" to help her and her team stay focused on their vision. This conversation offers valuable insights for anyone looking to build an authentic business that reflects their personal values while creating meaningful customer experiences.
Guest Info
Community Shoutout
Host & Show Info
- Host Name: Sam Bauman (she/her)
- About the Host: Sam is the President of Mellowlark Labs, a Twin Cities-based small business consulting agency. She has a masters degree in counseling psychology, a field she worked in for several years before applying her skills in business, and is certified in Organization Development.
Podcast Website
Sound Editing By: Adam Rondeau
Podcast Art By: Andy Bauman (website)
Hey, everyone, and welcome back to not so Small, the podcast where we ask small businesses the big questions. I'm your host, Sam Bauman, and this week I sat down with Rebecca Sansone, owner of the Mustache Cat, a vintage and modern home goods store in St. Paul. Rebecca's Space is amazing. It was so much fun to look at all of the things that she has carefully curated in her shop, and we had a great time talking together. We talked about one of my favorite topics, vulnerability, and specifically how vulnerability can show up in the workplace in a way that actually promotes positivity and productivity rather than detracting from it. Rebecca also talked about all the things that she learned from her career in the corporate world and kind of surprised herself by realizing that there were valuable lessons that she learned from that experience that she brings into her work in a small business. Now that she's in the small business world, though, she's doing a ton of great work. And I can't wait for you to hear all of the cool things that we talked about. Hope you enjoy. So tell me about the journey to opening the Mustache Cat. What was the problem that you were seeking to solve when you started this business?
Rebecca Sansone:I have always dreamed of opening a small business. I wanted to share a little bit about me, my passions, et cetera, with a broader community. And I had a corporate career prior, and so it was mostly just a lot of dreaming about what that space or place or invention might look like to bring me into business ownership. I was working for a large online retailer right prior to opening the Mustache Cat. I was dreaming about what this space could look like. I bought the Domain, the Mustache Cat, before I even knew what this would be, mostly as like, a line in the sand for myself of like, you're gonna do something, it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be quirky, it's gonna have personality. And so themustachecat.com was my $16 a year investment in that dream and what I started to brainstorm, really what I loved about, I don't know, my job, my career. I loved home. Helping people build a home. I loved when people came into my home and asked questions about the pieces that I had showcased in there. And when people would ask what type of style I thought I had or how I would define it, I would say vintage, modern. It was very much this mix of old and new and things that had a story. And there wasn't or isn't a lot of stuff in the market that mixes those two things. And so I wanted to Bring that to life and do it with pieces that both have a story from a historic perspective. Vintage. Whether you know, know what it used to do or what purpose it originally served, or the person who owned it before, or the process by which you got it, any vintage piece you own has a really cool story inherently. And I wanted to mix that with modern stuff that also had a story. So these amazing makers that are working on really cool things that deserve to be spotlighted and have a, you know, special focus shined on them. And for me, that was the women focused, women owned, women made space. So mixing the two of those and bringing that to life, which was unlike what was happening, at least in our immediate community, here was something I was really excited about doing. So I gave my notice at my corporate job back in 2021 and took the leap to start the Mustache Cat.
Sam Bauman:Tell me a little bit more about this idea of objects having stories. You know, what is the value of that? Or why does that feel important to you as part of the Mustache Cat?
Rebecca Sansone:I think as we craft spaces that feel inherently us, we want to surround ourselves with things that share either our values, our. I don't know, I guess just like our. The things we're excited about, the things we're passionate about. There's nothing better than someone coming into my home and saying, like, oh my God, that giant lobster sign. Where did you get that? And I can tell them about the fact that I got it in Maine and that my grandparents are from there and I spend a week there every summer and it's one of my happy places. And so I obviously had to bring a six foot lobster sign back when I came and now it lives in my living room. But I think having those moments where you can interact with people and share a little bit about yourself and your story through the pieces that you put in your home and the way you choose to adorn it. And it's not just the physical pieces. I like to think about your home being kind of this, like this five senses way of living. So it's not just about the things you see. It's about the things you hear and like, what music you're playing and what playlists you have going on. It's about what you have going on from a smell perspective. What do you want people to feel like when they walk into your house and space? How do you want to feel in your house and space? I know there are times I want to feel uplifted and energized and so I may have a scent that's A little more uplifting, energizing, like a citrus. Right. Or a little more cozy if I'm wanting to relax and have these chill vibes. But I like to think about this five senses aspect. And to me, that crafts a full story about kind of what you want your space to feel like at any given time. And not just your, like your home, any space. Right. Your office, your car, the places you end up being.
Sam Bauman:Yeah. So these objects have stories and all of the objects that you choose to surround yourself with sort of help you tell your story about who you are. Yeah. That's such a cool way of finding and creating meaning in life. I love that.
Rebecca Sansone:Yeah. And how fun is it, right, to share that? Like it doesn't have to be, you know, I got this whatever funky flower canister set and it used to live in this woman's house in the top of her kitchen cabinets and she had this crazy mid century place. It can also be the story of what you were doing when you found it. Right. I was out shopping with my friends and we spent this whole day just hitting small businesses around St. Paul or were going shopping at Trader Joe's and we saw this weird spot right across the parking lot and we said, we have to go in there. And I found this canister set that I just couldn't live without. Right. It's the. The story really doesn't have to look like anything in particular, but crafting it.
Sam Bauman:Yeah. And it keeps growing too. Right. You take that object home and then you start adding to its story. So tell me about a time that you took a big risk with your business.
Rebecca Sansone:So we're probably still in it now. We are doing a bunch of work on our own line of products. We've recently decided to call it the Mustache Cap Made, which is essentially a handful of products that we're making in house and have a plan to take that long term to sell to other businesses for them to share with their customers. So the general theme is its cool old stuff, vintage nostalgia that's given a new and modern life. Very similar to the way I describe this space. So it's notebooks made of vintage postcards. It's bottle stoppers made from vintage billiard balls. It's candles that burn a message that looks like the old Magic 8 balls that you used to shake and ask your fortune. You ask the candle, you burn the candle, it gives you answer. Wow. So products that we're making in house have been an investment from both a time and resource perspective. And we're really kind of in the middle of this risk, if you will, we've crafted a handful of products. We sell them here, we've sold them at markets. And what we're working on now is bringing them to a broader audience. So photography, packaging, graphics, all of that good stuff to really tell our story brand wise in a cohesive way that then can easily be shared, whether you're buying a mustache cap made product here in St. Paul or in Maine or in California.
Sam Bauman:So what prompted you to kind of take this next step? And even though you're still sort of in the middle of it, you know, what have you learned from taking this risk?
Rebecca Sansone:So we inherently are looking at seeing, finding cool old stuff on a relatively regular basis. And there's a decent amount of it that just doesn't serve the same purpose today that it did back when it was made. Postcards are awesome, they're cool, they tell this crazy story. But how many 4x6 frames can you really put in your house? And so we wanted a way to use those in a modern take. Same thing with the billiard balls. A billiard ball set is cool, but how many baskets of billiard balls does it really make sense? And is that necessarily your vibe? I don't know. A full set doesn't really function if you actually want to play pool with them. So we had all these items that we thought were cool and that I used to decorate my own home and that we could get a decent amount of people that had big collections of them or a giant crate sitting in their garage full of them and figuring out a way to give them a new life. That and thinking about how we want to scale the business was really the driver to say, okay, opening up 10 more versions of this space didn't feel incredibly scalable, sustainable. There's something special about the story we tell here. The way we make this space feel that is not incredibly plug and play when you want to pick up and drop down. So as we think about growth, the path to growth that a maybe traditional retailer has, which is to just copy and paste, didn't feel right for us. And so to think about a way to grow in a way that felt true to our brand. And our story was the way we talk about our makers in here all the time. I love sharing our makers stories, how they got here. And it was a, okay, we've got this cool vintage stuff. I think we can actually lean in and do some of this. And this gives us a really nice path to scale and grow in a way that still feels authentic to us. Selfishly, throughout my career, I've really loved creating new processes, trying new things, taking a new spin on it. And this gives me a never ending source for that creativity and passion. And the stuff I just really love to do, which is try new things. And so the next new product is always circulating in my mind, which is a really fun, scalable growth path for me also as an individual.
Sam Bauman:Yeah. So within this space of creating new products, using repurposed vintage things, that can kind of be a constant. But then, like you said, you get to try new things. You know, is it going to be billiard balls or is it going to be postcards or is it going to be something else? It can just keep growing.
Rebecca Sansone:Yeah. And to me, what's fun about it too is it's inspiring to have this space with customers and folks that can provide us feedback along the way. Or oh my gosh, I was just at this flea market and I found a giant bin full of vintage game pieces. What can I do with those? What about drink charms? We sell a ton of those in the store. Why not try something that has a little bit of vintage flair and a little quirk? So it's been fun to have kind of the two intermingle in a way that just feels really, I don't know, symbiotic, I guess, from a growth path perspective.
Sam Bauman:That's awesome. Any takeaways from starting down this journey that you want to share?
Rebecca Sansone:I think failing fast is probably the biggest one. We talked about that a lot in my corporate career and I feel so dorky when I implement corporate sayings in my small business life. There are a lot of things that big businesses do that just make sense across the board, as crazy as that may seem to those of us that are like so anti corporate, you know, living in this small business world. So failing fast was something we talked about a lot in my online retailer life. And we had the ability to do that because we had all this data coming in. Right. We could see really quickly whether someone was clicking on the red button or the orange button and what they preferred. And so we could quickly make changes and pivot. And taking that into this has been really important as well. So did that work the way I anticipated? No, that's fine. That's a great learning. Let's move on and find some other way to do it. That being said, providing things time to sink in and learn a little bit. So something that may be not flying off the shelves immediately may have something to do with the season. It may have something to do with My price point, it may have something to do with my customer base here at the shop. And so we've taken steps also to kind of expand our learning area, if you will. We had our products down at the Dayton's market this holiday season, which was a really fun way to see a really broad audience of people from a different community, typically, than what we're seeing here. And so to be able to learn in that space as well. So kind of pushing ourselves to learn fast and make pivots, to be able to figure out what we want this little brand within a brand to look like. So fail. Fail fast. Learn fast. Maybe feels better than saying fail fast, but failing is totally cool, and that's absolutely learning as well. You bought this metal that just didn't quite bend the way you wanted it to for this particular application. Okay, let's figure out what else we might be able to. To try or do.
Sam Bauman:Totally, totally. So what keeps you motivated when things are hard? Running a business is a lot of work, and it comes with a lot of challenges.
Rebecca Sansone:It's the people. It is the stories that we hear and see and have folks share about the way the mustache cat has shaped their homes or their offices are full of stuff that they've curated over time here. Those are incredibly motivating and impactful. And honestly, it's also seeing our numbers. It's so easy on a daily basis to say, oh, man, like that Wednesday was a lot slower than I thought it should be, or that month didn't turn out the way I necessarily envisioned because of X, Y, Z reason. But to look at those numbers over time and say, but holy cow, look at how many more of the products that we make that we're selling right now, or how many more customers walked in the door even if their overall dollar spend was a little bit lower. That's really what we're trying to do here, is drive more transactions at products that may cost a little bit less. But if you're always looking at the same numbers, the same metrics, I think you can get kind of lost in the, I don't know, the shuffle of things.
Sam Bauman:Yeah, that's such a good point. I think that's a risk at any size of business, you know, trying to figure out what are the right numbers to be paying attention to. And, you know, we've found that it really comes down to knowing what your goals are and knowing who you are as a business. And it seems like you have a really good sense of that.
Rebecca Sansone:Well, and I think it's how we at Least try to stay focused here. Right. Is by being really honest and transparent about who we are and who we want to be. That helps tell the story through the numbers. It's all about these stories, isn't it? As I realize as we're talking here. But if I looked at my, you know, overall sales numbers, I might say cool. Single digit growth is not exactly what I was looking for. I was looking for X. But when I look at double digit growth in my transactions and what I'm really trying to do is drive more customers in here and build a broader audience to potentially grow the business outside of just this standalone brick and mortar, then that's successful. And so shifting my view and our team's view around what we know we're trying to do and where we're trying to go has been incredibly important and honestly has helped. I'm gonna throw another corporate phrase in here. So just like hold on tight. It helps us avoid the shiny objects which I think are so easy to have happen, especially in a small business. I cannot tell you the number of times people come in and they'll suggest us carrying jewelry or clothing or whatever. And those are all wonderful things. And I'm certain my customers also shop for jewelry or clothing. That's not what we are trying to do here. We're really focused on the home goods space. And could I sell those things? Yes. Could there be success there? Sure. But does it stray me from where we're going and stop my focus and resources from working on the things that I know are going to or I believe are going to get me where we're going? I think the risk is too high. And so kind of having that vision, being really honest about where we're going helps that and it helps us kind of figure out what the story should look like along the way. Because the path is not linear, as I'm sure you everyone knows.
Sam Bauman:Absolutely.
Rebecca Sansone:It's, you know, whatever the opposite of linear is. Jagged, wiggly. I don't know what the right phrase is.
Sam Bauman:So you mentioned having a team. How do you keep your team kind of aligned with you towards that vision and sharing your values and sharing that understanding of who your business is?
Rebecca Sansone:Well, we have had one of the team members with us, was the first hire I ever made here, which has been fun to have her along the ride really from the beginning. And we've got folks on board in all different capacities. And so a part of it is regular check ins and they're not incredibly formal, but simply to say, how are you feeling? Here's How I'm feeling and for me to go through the same motions that I'm asking my employees to go through, I think have been incredibly helpful. I am wildly transparent. If you haven't been able to tell that from this conversation. I grew up on the east coast and so I think it just maybe comes a little more naturally to me. And that transparency has been incredibly helpful. It's also something I work through in therapy. How do I come to a space like this as more of my authentic self to say, hey, I'm really struggling? Here's what I'm anxious about. I'm nervous about XYZ move we're making and to be able to share those vulnerabilities has allowed my team to be able to step in and say, okay, I can support this or this and see me as a real human, which can be really challenging. I think when you own a small business, you are the be all, end all. There's nowhere for you to go and say, oh darn, this didn't work. Can you fix it? Sorry, that's you. You're the person that has to answer the call and the question and et cetera. So I guess somewhat regular check ins, I'd love to tell you they're like, you know, monthly on the first Tuesday and that's just not how it works. But regular check ins with my people and honestly, using tools as simple as Apple notes just to keep ourselves aligned on what's happening. So there may be weeks where we are ships passing in the night here at the shop, making notes in the system or in our Apple shared note about what's going on, whether there's customers that had questions or whatever. It's wildly simple and has been an amazing help for us here.
Sam Bauman:I wanted to ask you about something you just said about being vulnerable with your team. Speaking of corporate business, I feel like traditional business recommendations would be not to as a business owner show vulnerability, especially when it comes to business related things. Right. You want your employees to feel confident in the business and you're kind of mixing that up. Tell me a little bit more about, you know, what that is like for you and why you decided to do that.
Rebecca Sansone:Yeah, I think part of it is who I am and how I show up authentically here. And it's what I want my team to be able to feel like they can do as well, show up authentically in this space to be themselves. I think I had this realization early on, especially in retail. I was having a really just tough day and there was stuff happening in My life. And I was here at the store and I had to put on this face that just like, everything's cool, buy pretty things, you know, your home can be fabulous. And it just did not feel like who I was that day. And in my corporate life, it's not that I would have said I'm having a bad day, but I would have canceled all my meetings, I would have closed my office door, and I would have just hunkered down and shown up when I was feeling more authentically me. You don't have that luxury in small business for sure. And in a small business that's in a very customer facing retail space. And so to find a way to have an outlet for that felt still productive, I think, is the line that I use to walk that vulnerability. I'm sharing the fact that I'm feeling anxious about this because I think it will be helpful to our overall success and really what we're trying to do and where we're trying to go. Right. And that, I think, has been helpful to keep it both. Oh, hello.
Sam Bauman:The mustache cat has joined us.
Rebecca Sansone:Yeah, he wants to come chat. We're gonna have to get him to like, meow into the microphone or something.
Sam Bauman:A little cameo.
Rebecca Sansone:Yeah. What do you think? He normally has a. Like a bed that sits on the counter. And so I think he's, you know, waiting for him.
Sam Bauman:This is not his bed.
Rebecca Sansone:No, he's like people. What was I talking about? Vulnerability.
Sam Bauman:Yeah. You bring a lot of intentionality to that vulnerability.
Rebecca Sansone:Yes. Yeah. And quite honestly, it's. The intentional vulnerability has come through work with my own therapist. So seeing someone on a regular basis who's also a small business owner has been incredibly helpful to have a space to kind of talk through some of those nerves, anxieties and decide which ones are productive to share with my partner or my friends or my team or my support system, I guess I should say. And how to leverage the support system in a way that can help support me. Right. Help them help me through times that might be a little bit crazy. So, yes, that's very cool. Productive and purposeful vulnerability, I think, is a really nice way of putting it.
Sam Bauman:Yeah, absolutely. I think that the sort of traditional approach doesn't leave room for that kind of nuance. You know, that sharing emotions can actually be a positive thing if you're intentional about it. Yeah.
Rebecca Sansone:And I don't know, I think it makes you a real person.
Sam Bauman:Right.
Rebecca Sansone:We're all real people. And I think the sharing about who you are and your brand and Your, you know, your personal brand. Right. Is I don't know what helps bring us all together in a really beautiful and functional way.
Sam Bauman:And it's one of the things that can help your business be more successful. I mean, people really resonate with that kind of authenticity.
Rebecca Sansone:Correct. Nobody shows up at work today every day. Right. And feels 100% like they're, you know, ready to go and excited to be there. That just is not reality. And so however, I can kind of show up in that, like, real version of myself while still providing a space that gives people an outlet. And this happy place and et cetera is really the line I'm continuously challenging myself to walk.
Sam Bauman:Yeah, I'm sure your customers feel that too.
Rebecca Sansone:I hope so.
Sam Bauman:So what is a tool or system or process that you have used in your business that's had a significant impact on the business?
Rebecca Sansone:Probably Apple Notes. As simple as it seems.
Sam Bauman:Yeah.
Rebecca Sansone:Leveraging those and really anything that's kind of shared, I think is really our bread and butter here. Google Docs, Google Sheets, that type of thing. Trying to keep us organized in a way though, that like everyone has access to. When you're seeing the most recent version, we have an Apple Note. One of my team members and I called Future Us Problems. And I started this during the holiday season one year. Things get so busy during Q4 that it was like, if it's not going to happen in the next few weeks and I'm not going to put it in place to be impactful for this holiday season. It's a Future Rebecca problem. Put it on the list. Future Rebecca Problems. And so Charlie, my true right hand, came on board. It'll be a year in May. And she's like, let's call this list Future Us Problems. And so let's keep a list. It's an Apple Note. And we're just going to list ideas we have things we're thinking about, whether it's we bought this giant lot of vintage game pieces, what the heck are we going to do with it, or, you know, what are some dreams we have from a marketing perspective. So the Future Us Problems list. And it's problems with a Z, in case you were wondering. Just cause that feels a little less daunting. Is a really nice space for us to share kind of the load also of like, here's where we want to go and what we want to do. And there's people in this alongside me that are equally jazzed to dream about it and think about it, which is really beautiful and fun.
Sam Bauman:As simple as that. Sounds I think that's such a valuable tool for prioritizing which is so important when you're running a small business. It can feel like everything is of the utmost importance and at the end of the day you can't get it all done. So having a future us problems Word document or Apple. Note that you're sharing helps you go, I don't need to solve this problem right now, but I won't forget about it.
Rebecca Sansone:Yes, right. Because how many times are you like, you know, you wake up in the middle of the night or you're having this really beautiful shower dream and you're like this is amazing. And then two days later you're like, what was that beautiful shower dream I was having? I totally forget what was I thinking about? So this future us problems really helps with that. And I think also, I don't know, sharing the love, right? Like knowing that other people are also dreaming. And the ideas on that list don't just come from us, they come from our customers. They come from friends who are like, wouldn't it be so cool if I'm like it would be. That's a great idea. I'm going to put that on my futurist problems list because you're absolutely right, it's cannot all happen today. And if I'm chasing the shiny objects, which sometimes the future us problems list has shiny objects on it and they're shiny for a reason. Shiny is sexy. Right? Like and it's fun and it can be really enjoyable to work on. It just can't all be shiny and sexy all the time though. I do wish that could be the case.
Sam Bauman:That list is probably also doing the work of keeping your team, you know, kind of united towards that vision too. We were talking about that earlier, you know, having those regular check ins, just keeping lines of communication open. But that's a bit of a vision board for your business.
Rebecca Sansone:Yeah. And we do those vision boarding exercises on a relatively frequent basis where we sit down and I used to really love whiteboarding. I've really talked about my corporate life far more than I thought I would during this time together. But I used to love as dorky as this sounds, right? Like post it notes on a whiteboard and like prioritizing things and bucketing and figuring out what we're actually gonna work on. And so we do that. It just happens in the sunroom at my house on a big window. We put the post it notes up there, we organize and so we leverage some of those like traditional, more formal brainstorming activities. And this is kind of the. The in between that keeps us aligned, keeps us focused, and then also, I don't know, gives us an outlet for that stuff.
Sam Bauman:We really love talking about the value of being a generalist and how coming from sort of like a unique background or having these varied experiences actually makes you better at what you do. And I think that's maybe what your corporate background does for you. The reason you find yourself talking about it is probably because there are valuable things there that are part of what makes the mustache cat unique in this space. Because you have that experience and background.
Rebecca Sansone:Yeah, 100%. And I think there's the general vibe that there has to be a better way to X that I definitely had ingrained in me in the corporate space. There has to be a better way. There has to be a faster way, There has to be a different way. I cannot just sit here and copy and paste this number onto this spreadsheet all day. Right? Like, there's gotta be a better way. And having that curiosity and that desire is not something that's ingrained in every human. I don't know even that. It's something you can teach. It's something that you have to kind of own and hone over time and have it proven right? Like, oh, shoot, there was a better way. That is so much easier, that is so much more enjoyable. But the number of times a day where I'm like, this cannot be the best way to whatever, insert random small business activity here, run payroll, pay taxes, wash windows. There has to be a better way.
Sam Bauman:Yeah. Oh, I love that. I think that's something that we encounter in our work a lot. At Mellowlark is trying to think outside the box and asking the clients that we work with, what is the problem that you're actually trying to solve and is the solution that is the most obvious one, really the best way to do that, or is there something that cuts more to the core of what you're going for?
Rebecca Sansone:Yeah, well, and I think too, the interesting kind of intersection you run into, especially in small business, is like, there is an obvious better way in many of these instances. And in many of those instances, that obvious better way requires a significant investment or money, right? Like, sure, there is someone that can run payroll or a, you know, platform or an individual. That's way more than I want to take on from a small business perspective. So, like, is there a better way that also fits into my budget and my resource constraints and all of this other fun stuff? So that's the continuing to ask the question and drill down to a space that, like, feels good for where you're trying to go and who you are, I think is the, like, I don't know the intersection of where small businesses live in this, you know, there has to be a better way environment.
Sam Bauman:What advice do you have for people running a small business or interested in starting a small business?
Rebecca Sansone:Figuring out your support system is honestly the biggest piece that I have learned and hone and continue to hone over time. Bernie has feelings about this. He's a big part of my support system here. Having an emotional support cat that comes to work with me is a big deal. But having your people as a small business owner, I think I said this earlier, it can feel incredibly lonely to be the one person or the one that has to answer to all of the things as it relates to your business. There's no boss, there's no board of directors, at least in my case. And so there's not a lot of sharing the load. And so how do I find a support system that can push me, challenge me, support me, cheerlead me when I need it? And that ranges from friends and family. And I think there's, at least for me, I was leaning a lot on my friends and family at the beginning, and there's not a lot of expertise they have in this area. So how do I then broaden that zone to include my therapist, to include my team that I now am able to have within this business? Other business owners that are thinking the same way, that are, I don't know, I respect from a growth mindset perspective or from a way they run their business perspective. So building a network of humans that can be your support sounding board, just people that can say like, you're not crazy when you're feeling like you're absolutely losing your mind about things is incredibly impactful. And the small business network is wonderful to have when it's within your industry. I think it's equally as impactful to have it outside of your industry as well. So I've done a decent amount of investing in my network of amazing business owners that challenge me, that give me advice, that make me better in a way that I hope I give back to them too, even if they're not also vintage store owners.
Sam Bauman:Well, that speaks to that generalist mentality. Right. Somebody who's running a business in a completely different industry is going to have had different experiences and gained different knowledge that you might actually be able to apply in a creative way to your business. We're at the point of our conversation where I would love to hear you shout out another business in the community that you feel like is doing good work and somebody that deserves just a little extra love.
Rebecca Sansone:So I think I've talked enough about therapy today to shout my therapist out. That was also not intentioned. I think themes of today are telling stories, go to therapy, having a therapist, and like, not being so shy about, you know, maybe your past life that looks a little more corporate. So as you are, therapy is the group that I work with. It is women owned. There's a wonderful partnership of humans that work there and bring that space to life. I think they do an amazing job of providing resources both in office, online, and they're working on different ways to kind of bring the community together to make therapy more accessible to folks across the board. Small business owners have, I think, a little bit, become a niche for them, which is really cool, since we are, you know, we're the top of the proverbial food chain, at least as it exists within our little corner of the world. And so having someone that gets that is really great. And so I think they're. They're constantly thinking about how do they support, I mean, not just small business owners, but the community in general in ways that feel good. So group therapy, social outings where folks can connect and get to know each other. I know they're working on a therapy on tap event at a local brewery. So stuff that kind of brings the community together in a way that, like, I don't know, has therapy be more of a regular part of the conversation.
Sam Bauman:Yeah. Super cool. Thank you for sharing.
Rebecca Sansone:Yeah.
Sam Bauman:Is there anything else that we haven't talked about yet today that is just, you know, feels dear to your heart or. No, that's a good sign.
Rebecca Sansone:I don't think so. I don't know. I'm, like, real jazzed about the mustache cat made. That's probably, like, what we're so stinking excited about right now and what that looks like. We're doing a. Which will probably be after this airs, but we're doing a third birthday party for the store and a, like, launch party for the mustache cat made, which I'm pretty jazzed about.
Sam Bauman:That's awesome. And some of those products are already.
Rebecca Sansone:Available in your store. Yeah, they're here in the shop. It's just like, giving it a, you know, like, real sexy experience. We'll also do a virtual launch. Yeah.
Sam Bauman:Amazing.
Rebecca Sansone:Yeah.
Sam Bauman:Well, thank you so much for talking with me today. It's been a pleasure.
Rebecca Sansone:Thank you. I could not agree more. Thanks for having both of us.
Sam Bauman:Yeah, thanks Bernie. Thanks for joining us. That was Rebecca Sansone, owner of the Mustache Cat. You can find Rebecca on Instagram at the Mustache Cat Home and on her website at themustachecat. Com. I'll put that information in the show notes as well. Thank you so much for joining us and listening this week. Make sure you subscribe and rate our podcast and tune in next week. Thanks.
