 Welcome to the leaders mindset where we talk with leaders entrepreneurs and community builders We're having an impact on the world around them and how they're building teams and leading those teams to get to that impact Today we've got a very special guest someone. I've been wanting to have this kind of conversation with a long time She's very accomplished and I had to make a list of all the things. I wanted to make sure we mentioned today So she's been named a trailblazer in tech by military spouse magazine, right? on the Forbes next 1,000 list Named on the mighty 25 as one of the most influential leaders supporting the military community named on the Entreprenee's to 100 as one of the best community-led businesses and recently named on the Inc female founder 200 list She's a military spouse Most importantly, I think she's a twin mom And she's the founder of spouse Lee. Please welcome Monica Fullerton. Hey Jason. Thanks so much for having me I'm so excited to chat today. Thanks for being here today. This is the first time We've really gotten to sat down for any length of time and talks. I'm excited about this We're always crossing paths. We are and that's great, but this is this is a I'm excited about this me too, so I Don't want to get it wrong and I know it's real easy to get it wrong So tell us about spouse Lee and what it is because you're very particular about how we describe spouse Lee I am so spouse Lee is an online marketplace to shop a wide variety of both products and services All created by military and first responder families So I like to call it Etsy meets Angie's list but with a focus on shopping for social good and supporting our nation's heroes And and not just military military spouses, but also first responders anyone really in that service kind of community Yeah, that's what's so magical about the platform is we're partnered with Govex So they handle all of our verification to make sure our vendors are approved military spouses service members gold star families first responders active duty service members Spouses and yeah, just everybody that is supporting and serving our country. Yeah, it's it's a wonderful idea It's so exciting. You've brought it to fruition and where it is today How did it start though? Whoo, that's a loaded question. So I'll give you the the quick answer So it all stemmed out of my own pure frustration and inspiration as a military spouse myself I know this journey is something you're very familiar with but I'll give you everyone a little bit of a recap So military families usually relocate on average every two to three years You know, we're faced with the unknown We don't really know what's coming next frequent deployments and the list goes on and as a military spouse it's really hard oftentimes we have to take the backseat on our own personal dreams and goals and It becomes challenging where you end up thinking who am I? What am I doing? What can I do to piece this puzzle together? And I started to realize how many just amazing businesses were owned by our nation's heroes And I'm talking millions millions of businesses and there wasn't one central location for people to go and shop and support Our nation's heroes. So started doing my market research and I was like, you know what I'm gonna go for I'm gonna create a platform that brings everyone together and it's it's more than just a place to shop It's truly that community supporting supporting one another no matter where the military our first responder life takes us Yeah, I think it I think that gets lost in the shuffle a little bit We we appreciate the service of folks were on active duty first responders, but we We don't always remember unless you're involved in it Yeah We don't always remember the contribution that the the spouses and the kids and the the families make and I think that's really important I think I think it's great that someone you have taken a step to bring that to the forefront I think that I think that's wonderful and and You know better than I do what the military spouse employment statistics are like they can be pretty grim sometimes Yeah, sadly, it's been 24% for nearly a decade and that number only continues to rise And that's it's exactly what I said, you know It's really hard to piece the puzzle together and oftentimes companies don't understand that It's really sad that it took COVID for more companies to see that you can work remote and have a successful career I am proof of that. I had a very awesome and Amazing corporate career working full-time remote making a great salary But I started to see that a lot of my fellow spouses just weren't able to figure something out like that So we're making steps in the right direction But entrepreneurship is great because it you know bridges the gap to doing what you love while living a life on the go Yeah, it it's an option that even when I was in the military. I retired almost 10 years ago Yeah, it wasn't something we talked about for military spouses We that there are a lot of there are opportunities for jobs for military spouses But not always opportunities for careers and entrepreneurship is a great way to build a career Yeah, you are in that position. So yeah, I'm a big believer You know if you can just do what you love and have fun doing it But you know also being rewarded for everything that we also go through on a life You know standpoint as well You can never stop growing personally or professionally and I always say when one person serves the entire family serves as well Yeah, so you did your market research. You started looking at it as a good MBA. Yeah wood, right? So was there a catalyst where you decided to pull the trigger on spousely, you know I had a small business on the side of my corporate career And I was selling on Etsy and I just remember thinking with a platform like Etsy What was really unique about it was the community was that feel of being around like-minded individuals So I knew what it felt like and I knew you know what it was to be selling and having a business around other people That just get it and so I really kind of took that business model And I applied you know the layer of supporting our nation's heroes on it So it's not like it's rocket science where I was recreating the wheel on anything And it's a proven concept but now you know supporting a truly deserving community my notes say there was something about a car trip. Oh That is the best how how the idea of spousely came up Yes so I was headed to dinner with a few fellow military spouses and we were in one car all going together and I was like You know what there's so much talent in just this one car. You're a private investigator. You're a photographer. You make coffee I love business. Like why are we all not doing more together and how can we support one another and so? I just remember always saying to my friends that so spousely of you just because I Was always just inspired by you know their way to put a smile on someone else's face Whether it was bringing them homemade coffee or you know just that special gift So that's so spousely of you came top of mind. That's awesome. I didn't know that was something that you said to people Yes Now military spouse was not originally in your career or a life plan. No, so What was your original career or life plan that you were on and were you really inspired by Oprah to do that? How did you know you must have heard my story a few times? I do my homework before I do these Yeah, so born and raised in a small town in Ohio So I set off with really really big dreams when I went to college And those dreams were to become the next Oprah and it was because I was always so you know inspired by the power of communication How she brought people together to share their real stories that would continue inspiring others to do great things So I went to school in Boca Raton, Florida I did my bachelor's in multimedia journalism and communications and while I was doing my bachelor's I also started my master's and I was able to do that in Marketing and business and I was I was so happy. I was in the place that I always wanted to be South Florida was wonderful I had really great connections. I was lining everything up and sure enough love had other plans I ended up getting back together with my high school sweetheart from that small town in Ohio Who was commissioning into the Air Force? Yeah, now were you from a military family? No, and so this was all new to me I remember Honestly, just thinking like what is happening. This is not part of my plan How on earth am I gonna be able to have my own career? You know living the military life because I didn't really know what it actually looked like You know, we hear everything and we see everything, but what does it actually look like to be living this life? So when I decided to go for it after I finished my master's we got stationed at our first duty station I'm not gonna lie. I was lost I was thinking who am I at the time my last name was Mahajan So I was like who is Monica Mahajan like how am I gonna make a name for myself? How am I gonna help others? How am I gonna ever turn my own career goals and dreams into reality? So I just remember going into interview after interview Thinking I don't know like I don't know what I'm gonna be doing I I couldn't really pursue a career in communications because it just didn't seem possible with not knowing what's next Yeah, yeah, it's a I Didn't come from military family my like my grandfather's run World War two and that kind of stuff Yeah, and you know, I was on the uniform side. So certainly there were adjustments for me but even the Adjusting to military life right life is like on a base and what life is like in that career and for your family and your Friends and and that kind of thing. It's it's an adjustment. So yeah, it definitely is You know, it's it's both rewarding and challenging obviously I wouldn't change it for a thing But you just have to learn to to pivot to adapt and to just stay true to who you are and what you want to do because I'm a big believer if there's a will there is a way you just got to knock down some extra hurdles I've never I've never known you not to be determined to follow through on something regardless of the challenge. Yes I love a good challenge. I know you do. So that's that's actually a great lead in Was spousely the original concept for spousely different than what it evolved into you. How did that was there an evolution? How did that evolution go? Yeah, that's a great question. Honestly spousely has turned into so much more than I ever could have imagined I simply just wanted to create a place where you know Military and first responder on businesses could share their talents with the world But it has turned into just this powerful community of of makers creators and entrepreneurs And we've got so many incredible corporate partners that are helping us continue to to spread the word about who we are Because it's so much more than just shopping like I mentioned. It's really going above and beyond it's coming together really putting that emphasis on Turning the impossible into I'm possible, you know, that's that's our podcast that we have over at spousely And it's really just showing if I can do it you can do it too And it's just has all these amazing branches off of the foundation So during that transition from what it was to what it became. Yeah, what did you learn along the way? Whoo, I learned a lot because obviously I went from a Logistics corporate career working with you know fortune 500 companies executives and things like that to literally Pouring the foundation on my own and an industry. I hadn't you know, not really known much about building a multi-vendor Marketplace, so I have continued to learn something new. I swear on a daily basis I'm constantly challenging myself I never knew what the framework even looked like to build a multi-vendor marketplace. Nobody, you know told me Hey, go do this. I just knew what I wanted it to look like I knew what I wanted, you know The impact to be and I've just keep stacking new building blocks on top of another one from all the learning lessons along the way That's really fantastic is we're really big on talking about strategy here Yeah, and having a vision and how we think having a vision is important and then The real challenge is how do you turn that vision into reality? Yeah, you do not come from a technical background You're you're not a coder. Yeah, you're not a CTO But you are running what is arguably one of the most powerful tech platforms out there Yeah, and getting to be one of the most well-known tech platforms out there How did you go about turning the vision into reality to create a tech platform? Yeah, honestly I I started with a PowerPoint. I designed exactly how I wanted spousely to look I teamed up with a web developer and I was like hey This is how I want it to work how I want it to function it needs to go from here to here We need to have all these bells and whistles and over time after we built out the platform I just constantly taught myself how to do you know different, you know snippets of coding or you know Technical updates or anything like that because as you know we if you have a business You have to know how to operate your business and when you're bootstrapping you can't push off little tasks You have to learn how to do that because you can't afford You know to hire maybe a big CTO or someone to come in to oversee certain things So it's just been the constant, you know scrappy bootstrapping approach and I watch YouTube's I learn from others I reach out to mentors and honestly just if there's something that I'm needing to do I try to learn how to do it on my own I think there's a value in that too because someday if all goes well You're gonna be focused completely on the big picture. You're gonna have a great team You're not gonna be doing that technical stuff anymore. What's really important to know what goes into that. Yeah There's a lot and you know, that's something that I really hope you know soon that I can move away from the back end of The operation and focus on where I know I can grow the company most and that's the front end like I said You know I'm communications person. I love sharing people's stories I love helping others see the best in themselves But when it comes to the technical piece I would say I have never been afraid of challenging myself to learn something new whether it's in marketing whether it's on the tech side You know building our newsletter or getting those corporate partnerships It's just you really have to take charge of what the outcome is that you want. That's great advice Do you have any other advice for non-tech folks who have a big tech platform dream? Yes, the biggest piece of advice is try to learn as much as you can as soon as you can otherwise I'm sure you will look back and find yourself in situations where you've overpaid on certain things because people can Sniff it right out of you, right? If you go in and you're looking for help and you're like I am a non-technical technical founder. I have no idea how to do this More than you know oftentimes you're gonna be paying more than you probably should be or it's gonna be too complex so I would say the biggest piece of advice is Learn how to understand the operation of what you're trying to build like truly understand it And then go to someone and work with them on what you want the outcome to be Don't just push off, you know just because you have the vision doesn't mean that someone's gonna fully understand What needs to be done to execute on it only your brain is holding, you know those little key pieces So be involved with the process I remember when I was working with my web developer I'd ask questions if I didn't understand Why this was here or why this was there kind of thing I asked the question I learned how to kind of manipulate it myself a little bit. I got my hands dirty behind the scenes So yeah, I think that's important, especially if as a founder you want to scale Yeah, you know scaling is in your plans. Yeah Being able to understand how to communicate that strategy. Yeah to your CTO to your tech team is Important because there's my experience has been there's an easy way to do things in the short term But then the hooks aren't in there to scale later on and you end up tearing everything down and building it back up again Yeah And sadly I know a lot of founders who have spent just tons and tons of money into getting that first phase out there And I always talk about perfection is not the key on this journey and that is something You know, I found myself falling into that same trap. I wanted spousely to look so perfect I wanted it to seem like the brand's been around for a long time and that ended up hurting us actually within the first six months of Business because people were coming to us and they were like, oh, I thought spousely has been around forever Oh my gosh, blah, blah, blah, and I'm like, no, we just launched. We need your help spreading the word I I run into that a lot too. Yeah, I hear people talking about spouse. I was like, I don't I don't think yeah They've been around for 15 years. Oh, wow. Oh my gosh So you do enjoy getting your hands dirty getting and getting into the nitty gritty of things while you're doing that What are some of your favorite tech tools that you use to get your job done the ones you really can't live without? So, let's see. I'm a big Google person. We use a ton of Google products. That's how we communicate our team We do a lot of planning and Google Literally assigning tasks different things. I use Canva for all of marketing and all of that We were using a sauna for, you know, different project development and all of that Honestly, because our team is small still it became a little too hard to kind of operate But we we've got a lot of things. We've got Slack What else are we using on the tech side? We're on WordPress. So constantly just, you know, finding different Plugins and different connections that will function well with WordPress and allow us to continue advancing So, yeah, some of them not all the technical ones I think that's part of the big thing about tech companies is people think they have to be really over complicated Just because it's a tech company and at the end of the day They don't really have to be based off of what you're building and what industry I feel like I've kept spousely as You know easy as possible in terms of how we build and grow one of the things I learned in all of my engineering studies over the years whether it was the physics stuff or the chemistry stuff Or the actual engineering of it is when you get something, right? Yeah, it's elegant. It's simple. Yeah, it's not over complicated Sometimes it's going back to the basics and honestly, that's that's what it takes to build and grow a company Don't over complicate. Just use what you can we were working in too many different tech You know ways to scale and grow and it got to be too much Hot jars another one That's really great for for tech companies because you're able to kind of see where your customers are falling off where they're Shopping around that gives you like a heatwave of everything. Oh really cool. Yeah. Yeah, I will make sure I recommend that yes Talks with folks around town here. Yes. It's fascinating That you talk about Some of the things that you need to change when you're using your tools as you scale and how to use your current tools to scale as well As entrepreneurs, I think we all make mistakes We all we all learn from things as we go and we have to go back and kind of retool and what was The biggest mistake or the most impactful mistake you've made with spouse Lee and what did you learn from it? There's a lot like I said, you're always constantly Learning but I would say one of the biggest mistakes is what I had just mentioned about really Trying to make it look too perfect too early on You know, I had invested so much into building out the platform. I love marketing. I'm a natural just creative I have kind of that eye for detail and I put so much time into making spouse Lee look like the perfect brand that it had Been around for a while And like I said, I quickly learned that you know, that's not what consumers or people want to see They want to be a part of your journey They want to be a part of the start all the way through through the ups and through the downs And so like I said when we got to that six month mark and people are like, oh, you know I heard about spouse Lee at the grocery store. I heard about a year. I thought it's been around I'm like, please keep spreading the word. Please, you know, let others know that we are a startup company and I'm pouring everything into this and That's I think the biggest piece that a lot of entrepreneurs fail at is they want everything to be perfect from the start and really letting people be a part of the journey there's This is why I think fake it to you make it is not the best advice in entrepreneurship There are there are some things that's great for like you're going into pitch. Yeah That's fantastic, but I I think as an entrepreneur you want to ask for help You want to say this is something I could be better at you want to go to your audience to go to your supporters and say, please Please talk about us more. We we we really could use you on our team as well Yeah, and not not pretend that We've got it all covered that we don't need anything from anyone Yes, you have to be your authentic self because at the end of the day You know it's gonna take time to build a brand to build a business But people get invested in you and you as the founder as you as the person that had this vision And it's really important to you know, put yourself out there show people who you are Why why you wanted to build this type of business because they're not only going to become invested in your business They're going to become Invested in watching you continue to grow or you know have those setbacks or different things like that because they want To be a part of your journey and that's something I always tell you Jason You know online especially is thank you Thank you for just truly being a true supporter in my journey because even though you're always cheering me on from afar I know that you get you know everything that's going into it behind the scenes I do and I haven't done it yet But I need to do a little bit of retooling on some of my products and services But I've got a that's been on my to-do list for a while is getting myself on spouse Lee Yeah, and and using that platform to help with my platform as well You're you're so great at leading in to the questions that I want to ask because you're talking about that journey and Going forward on the journey. So what's coming up for spouse Lee? What are Not just one of the next steps for spouse Lee. Yeah, what's the plan to world domination? I love that. What's the vision? so, you know It's been a journey to be honest I spent the past year really thinking, you know, I wanted to raise capital to really go down that whole path You know at the end of the day you need money to scale and grow and to continue fulfilling your roadmap But it just felt forced to me It didn't feel like the right approach to growing and scaling spouse Lee So right now we're really doubling down on those that want to be a part of our journey And like I mentioned our corporate partners play a huge huge piece in our growth and our success We want to continue to be known as the go-to marketplace to shop and support our nation's heroes So how do we do that? We have to continue expanding, you know Our brand who we are going above and beyond just shopping and really putting more time and energy into those Strategic partnerships that are gonna help us get to where we want to go because obviously, you know from a smaller Standpoint and we want to build an app. We want to be able to go above and beyond for our community Share our vendors stories more get into the media arm of spouse Lee But it just takes time and it all starts with making sure that we have the right support Internally and externally one of the things I really love that's a component of spouse Lee is your podcast Yeah, because you tell vendor stories. It's not the spouse Lee story. Yep. It's vendor stories on your podcast You do such a great job with that. Yeah, we are all about our people first And that is something that is so so important to us is to continue to share our vendor stories Why they started their business what this business means to them? Because at the end of the day, you know, consumers can go anywhere. They can go shop, you know online Anywhere they can walk into any store But if we can continue to show them why spouse Lee why our community and how it that that purchase is going above and beyond That's what we're trying to do is share the stories of our vendors So that next level for you is gonna be these strategic partnerships. Yeah, so What types of strategic partnerships are you looking to make that way? I can look at my audience here look at our audience here and say hey if you are working for one of these kinds of companies Get in touch with Monica about how you can help spouse Lee So what what are who are you looking to partner with by name or or just in general? What what are those strategic partnerships you need for the next level and then to go beyond it? Yeah, at the end of the day, you know, we really want to be the marketplace arm to a bigger company because then We know we're able to continue fueling our vendors and their mission and everything that they've done and have worked so hard to build So if we can become the marketplace arm of a partner and be able to have you know That that strategic alliance where we're supporting and serving this community But now in an innovative way that would be the ideal Award-winning partnership, but when it comes to the you know different opportunities It's ways that we can come together think outside of the box and be able to create different, you know Campaigns or opportunities what I would love to have a strategic partner do a type of grant offering for our community where you know We select a few of our makers creators and entrepreneurs and and award them a grant to help their business grow and thrive Because we all know you know as a business owner every any amount and every amount can help us get to that next level And having that cash flow. Yes up front is so valuable to an entrepreneur Yeah, that's why so many entrepreneurs feel like they need to go raise money Yes, you need to go do an equity raise or something like that because it's so valuable to have that positive cash flow Yeah, the the money piece can always be a maker break for business owners And obviously it depends on what type of business you're building whether it's one that you eventually want to sell or it's one That you're doing as you know a side business or a hobby There's all different versions of success to everyone But yes, just that little amount or big amount of cash can help somebody, you know get to where they want to go You've got a pretty great team But they are they are small and scrappy small and mighty. We really are I'm so so grateful for everybody That's just jumped in and has said they want to roll up their sleeves because obviously, you know My money tree in my backyard is not growing anymore. It's like jeez Louise So we're we live in Vegas and there's I've got some I've got some time-release granules that can help you with that I was gonna ask you what what is it that can get this money tree, you know growing but you know desert desert climates are hard Yes, with all jokes aside. Yes, everybody, you know, that's the true power of spousely is we are literally coming together to build And grow, you know by each other's side and that is something I'm forever grateful It's for those that have jumped in have been a part of this journey and that's my question is How is your team going to need to grow over the next 12 18 24 months to get where you want to take the company the strategic vision You've got and then how are you as the leader going to get them there? Yeah, so that was a much easier conversation when I was going down the path of raising capital, right because it's such a Fantasy play right you can you can set aside X amount to hire this many people We're gonna improve this and that but now that I'm not going that path It's really Continuing on the scrappy path of okay. Maybe if we can get at least two to three more You know part-time help under our belt then I can Continue to expand different ways because I want to be able to buy category on spousely have like an account manager per each Category because we I want everybody to have that one-on-one And that's something that everybody always says they love about spousely is the customer service is you know that one-on-one Help and support whether it's a vendor or a customer, but obviously as we continue to grow and add vendors We're over 500 vendors now We have to keep you know finding ways to manage their accounts and make everybody happy Yeah, it's a it's gonna be a challenge But I think that I think it's really noble that you're trying to give that that account manager experience to all of your vendors Yeah, I want you know everybody in the community to feel like they have a place at spousely whether they're a vendor or they're a Supporter a customer or somebody that's like hey a spousely hiring. How can I be a part of helping you build and grow this? I always think back to my first publicist. She was a military spouse She found me on LinkedIn and she was getting ready to you know Transition out of her corporate career to start her own PR firm and she was just so honest. She goes I absolutely love what you're doing I want to help you you know spread the word about it and everything and she just jumped on board with me when I was Probably still in my first year in business and she helped spousely just go way beyond what we were currently doing and it That's all it takes is just one person You know little by little to keep jumping in to help us continue growing and scaling every one of you could make a difference Every person does make a difference So, you know Probably better than anyone We have a small but growing and small but mighty just like spousely tech scene here in Vegas How has it been trying to create something of this scale and size in the Vegas tech scene? Yeah, Vegas has been great We really have such an incredible ecosystem here. There's so many amazing, you know, just individuals building companies It all goes back to what you had mentioned early, you know you have to be willing to ask for help like most of us are working in remote environments or Popping in at different places or trying to attend all of the events going on to support one another so Really just getting involved in one another's businesses finding ways that we can each continue to help each other That's what I've loved about the Vegas ecosystem is I feel like I know somebody that knows somebody that can you know Raise their hand and say oh I can know somebody over here that can help with this so What's the contribution you'd like to make spousely would like to make on the Vegas tech scene the start of community here? Yeah, I want to continue to Really show that you can have the balance of you know working remote building a company remote But also always trying to to get out there in person So my commitment personally has been trying to get out and be a part of as many events as I can Obviously, that's very hard as I've got young twins and you know life is very busy all the time But my commitment is always just showing up for other people And I feel like that oftentimes goes way beyond any type of you know monetary value It's just being there for one another a simple connection goes a long way And I think that's something we all need to get better at doing for each other Yeah, and you are great at that because for months and months and months people people were telling me you got to meet Monica you gotta meet Monica you got you gotta meet Monica She's the founder of spousely and when I finally did meet you it was out at an event Yeah, where you were just being out at the event being a good mentor Yeah, and we'll talk about that in bunker labs a bit, but first I want to play a game with you. Okay. I love games, so The name of this game is rapid response. Okay, so I am gonna ask you a series of questions Okay, and you are going to come back with the first thing that pops into your head fast. Okay fast All right rapid response Monica Fullerton ready ready Your time starts now a Book everyone should read. Oh Oh my gosh, I am blanking right now. Hold on. It's Kim Perrell's book. It is called. Oh my gosh I can't think right now. It's Kim Perrell's book. She just launched it. It's about Lawn. No, I forget what it's called. I can't think out in the spot. That's okay We'll we'll find our book. It's amazing. We'll find it. We'll find it We'll put it in the show notes. Okay best Halloween costume. Oh The Adams family. Oh, yeah, did you do that as a family? We haven't done it, but we're going to my daughter's gonna be Wednesday this year And I was like I could totally be like more Tisha along with your son who's gonna be top gun Maverick Yes, we're gonna have to like work it all in my dog is gonna be like, you know Faint not saying the hair. What's that the other one? Cousin it? Cousin it. Yeah. Yeah, you guys will figure it out. You're smart. Next vacation. Oh We are getting ready to go to Florida and Up in the panhandle. So it'll be nice to experience the Destin area beaches. Yes, always fun. Yes, always fun Leave the kids at home. Yes, they are. Yeah, they're staying home an Important trend to watch. Oh an important trend besides spousely Like is this a company or is this like whatever anything? They're your answers. Oh, man I'm really not good at this an important trend to watch. Oh all the different easy Oven dinners that you can make I Just heard about that. Yeah, my favorite is the feta with the cherry tomatoes and the basil You just throw it into the oven and it's like magic. Love it. Yeah favorite sports team. Oh We're from Ohio. So I'm gonna have to say Ohio State. Okay. No, no surprise there. We're halfway through. Yes podcast recommendation besides I'm possible. Oh, uh, David Meltzer's podcast He has a amazing podcast called office hours and he does all different ones where he interviews Different celebrities and and real life people sharing their stories. Good one Best pizza you've ever had. Oh above the crest here in Las Vegas Also, very good Something we should all be paying attention to or someone Um, something we should be paying attention to is all of the incredible female business owners out there that are Literally taking over and building these awesome companies that I feel like get underestimated too much. So watch out for all of us I concur You're get psyched up song or don't answer your get psyched up song or your walk on music Oh, um Unstoppable I don't know who sings it, but you know, I'm unstoppable. Yeah, I don't make me sing. That's really bad I don't remember who sings it either. Okay last one. Okay your biggest influence in life Oh, uh, I'm gonna have to say Oprah Oprah. Okay. Yeah. All right Thank you for playing. That was really hard. I don't know about that. I don't think I can play like Jeopardy or anything I don't think it's not supposed to be hard. It's supposed to be fun. So you're gonna have to work on this game a little bit Yeah, but I've got like, you know, entrepreneurs slash like twin mom slash military spouse brain and it's you got twin mom brain And that's all that's all anyone needs to say So let's talk about bunker labs and how that's been part of your because we talked about Being part of the community and that one of the ways you became a big part of our Not just our Entrepreneur community, but our veteran community and our military connected community here in vegas Is you were a veteran in residence At bunker labs. Tell us about that. Yeah, so I found bunker labs early on When I first launched spousely and I saw that it was an amazing nonprofit that had Cohorts that were, you know throughout all of the united states based off of your location So I remember reaching out to them learning more about the program and the opportunity and I joined their var here in vegas Which is the veterans and residents program At first, I wasn't sure just if military spouse business owners could be a part of it and they can so I was a part of that and then I moved into being an ambassador for las vegas for the past few years Which I just ended so someone else can you know have that role and continue to lead But it did get me very very connected involved Love being able to have the like-minded community because I totally jumped headfirst into this space Even though i'm a military spouse, you know, my corporate career was never anything along these lines So I I needed to continue to build that community Yeah, and we are all about leadership as the title of our podcast goes So what did you learn by being a mentor? We learned things by being entrepreneurs. We learned things in corporate We learned things by doing. Yeah, what did you learn by being a mentor to other entrepreneurs, especially military connected entrepreneurs? Yeah, this is something that's so important to me and it's really just getting to know people for who they are I like to really, you know, get to know somebody more on a personal level because then that allows you to Peel back the different layers from a professional level of where they want to go how you can help them with their business And oftentimes like I said with the military community. I feel like we we Have these big goals and dreams and all these different opportunities, but sometimes it just feels Impossible to maybe put into motion and oftentimes when I'm talking to other business owners They're holding themselves back from what they're truly able to do So it's just getting to that level of understanding who they are as a person You know what their goals are for their business and how I can help them get to where they want to go Or who I can connect them to That's a theme we've heard is a lot of times when we're mentoring people and I've seen this too Is sometimes we have to encourage them to think bigger. Yeah Definitely thinking bigger. Um, I'm always thinking outside of the box I am one of those people that cannot like stay within a box Which is why it was so nice when I launched my company was oh my gosh I'm just gonna like tear down this whole box of what the perfect company should look like How you should do certain things or whatnot and just kind of build what I believe is Like you know what I want to see out there in this space. Well, it seems to be paying off for you. So trying I'm trying You came in to a military world both as a spouse and supporting military families military connected community first responders You came into this world From the outside. Yeah I'm sure you had views on leadership From before you came into the community How have your views on leadership changed since Becoming a part of the military community becoming a military spouse Doing what you do now Yeah, I think you know with leadership you like I said you have to understand everyone individually everybody has a different view of What success looks like. Um, so leadership from in my corporate career was a lot different, right? You know, I was working with fortune 500 CEOs and companies and all of that and it was just a different Um world of how you talk about success and business and everything where now With a lot of the business owners that I help, you know They're people that are nervous and scared and they're afraid to take that next leap because it's a scary journey And so really getting to kind of bridge both of those worlds together to show them Like you said to always think bigger don't don't limit yourself from what you're capable of just because maybe you don't have enough Resources available or you feel disconnected from having a community I feel like there's always an opportunity and a community out there for anyone no matter what they're looking for But being able to support each other and finding that community is key Yeah, I always love to ask people who've worked in corporate or like when we've had military folks What it's like becoming an entrepreneur after working in the military and that's a common theme of one thing bigger To build your support networks and and don't be don't be Held in by that box. You're gonna have to break down that box and build your own. Yeah, so besides oprah Because we already did that one. Okay. Who is someone you admire as a leader or in business? Sarah Blakely the founder of Spanx I absolutely love, you know her journey and the one thing that has always stuck with me is She was selling, you know, I think it was fax machines or copy machines or whatever it was And I remember those days when I first started selling in logistics I was going door to door just like her and I will never forget one day my heel broke And I just remember walking into the the next office and I'm like, can I have some tape? Like if somebody helped me my heels broke. I'm not trying to tell you anything right now I just need some help and I remember she had a very similar moment on I forget what exactly happened But something had happened when she was out doing cold calls and she was like, wait a second This is not how I want my story to go. I need to rewrite my story And that it was something so powerful about her journey is no matter where you're at or what you're looking to do We have the power to rewrite our story and it it kind of clicked for me in that moment when I had walked in with a broken heel I'm like, this isn't what I want to fully be doing. This is not something I've ever been passionate about Broken heels aside. Broken heels aside, but like how can I keep continuing to get, you know Career-wise where I want to go. So in addition to someone you really admire And maybe it's still Sarah Blakely or Oprah But who who is someone or something that has shaped your views on leadership and leading your team? Yes, um, so I had a boss. He was actually the owner of the company and he Was an incredible leader leader. He built an amazing Uh company culture. He was always about his people He exactly went back to my technique of getting to know people on a personal level Um, sadly, he ended up passing away from liver disease out of nowhere And I just remember in that moment He always told me all of these things where Monica, you can be anybody you want to be Monica You can't leave me don't leave this like we're going to keep finding a way for you to like work remote Because you're never leaving this company and it was really in those moments of leadership that I was like, wow Us as leaders, we all have the power to help somebody else get to where they want to go And it's very important that you operate like that as a leader and that's something he always did And I remember, you know, having other leaders that I've experienced and different people Throughout my journey Nobody ever compared to him. His name was Keith and he was just your average You know business owner that was just Making an impact everybody in that office would always say Keith is just the most amazing, you know business owner because he cares about his people and when he passed away It was truly heartbreaking on all of us because we had built this family. It wasn't work anymore It was that family culture in a work setting. I'm sorry for your loss Yeah, I always you know everything that I've done You know over the past decade since he has passed I feel like I always think about like wow, he would be so proud of the person that I am And we weren't related or nothing like that. He was just one of those leaders that truly invested in his people Yeah, at the end of the day if you're Leading is a people business and if you're not focused on people And developing people to help you achieve your larger goals. You're not really leading Yeah, there's too many leaders out there I feel like that want to tell other people what to do and expect other people to do everything But then at the end of the day, they don't even know how to do it themselves And I think that's a key piece of leadership is you have to be willing to get You know your hands dirty to roll up your sleeves Don't advise somebody else to do something unless you know how to do it because that's how you keep, you know I think that's a lesson we all have to learn as leaders. Yeah is that A lot of a lot of us get into it. Well, I want to be in charge I want to be making the decisions I want to I want to achieve something and then we realize the real reward from being a leader is The the the successes at least I can speak for myself. I'm most proud of is not the things I achieved It's watching the folks that I developed go on and achieve even greater things Right. I feel like nobody starts out as an expert, right? We all have to start somewhere and then we keep You know developing those unique skill sets along the way and we have to be able to share them because that's what a good Leader does. That's what we all need to do and now we're going to get into the hard questions about being a leader It's it's some time. No, it's not a game. I mean you can treat it as one if you want so We all have successes, but There there are things that keep us up at night. Yeah, what What are the really significant challenges you see with spousely coming up? And how are you going to handle them? Yeah, you know, I will be completely honest And that's something I feel like I'm I'm really good at whether people like it or not It's hard. It's hard to be honest and be authentic, but I feel like the wall right now to be honest I feel like I have worked so so hard over the past four years to get the foundation board Built exactly how I knew it needed to be built for our community But right now I feel like I'm the wall I feel like I'm holding it back from its true potential because I'm in so many different places right now That I'm not able to help it get to the next level Which is why I think it's so important to recognize that as a leader And to be able to make the changes that need to be done to help You know the company continue to grow and thrive. So for me I really see a huge opportunity for spousely being the marketplace arm You know to a company to joining forces to building together with a partner That can help us continue putting more funds in the pockets of our nation's heroes So where do you need help finding and developing that partnership? Um, I would say, you know, it's it's a lot of relationship building a lot of our current partners As well as really just putting it out there in a way that doesn't you know make it seem like Something you know spousely is not doing so right because that's not the case. It's honesty It's honesty on where you're at in your journey. It's honesty on where you are and where you want to go So I would say what I need is to continue, you know Going through different Possible partner opportunities that might be able to help us take spousely to the next level And really building those relationships. Yeah, you could be doing great today Yeah, but there's also where you want to be. Yes, and and those two things can exist at the same time. Yes And I always have the community top of mind and you know that about you have constantly, you know Any chance I get to shout our community and our vendors from the rooftops? I do And that's something I feel like is that next piece on this journey is, you know Removing just Monica Fullerton as the one, you know, putting the full gas on the throttle and being able to Have a better flow of things. Okay. Well, I will do my part to help you with that. Thank you We all We all have anxieties. We have things to keep us up at night You have a lot going on you're a military spouse that comes with its own challenges You're a twin mom in addition which comes with its own challenges How do you stay calm and centered when with all of this going on around you when things may not be going great one day? You know, I always just go back to Myself and knowing what I'm capable of as a person and knowing where my flaws are and where my strengths are at And I think it's important as a leader to be able to find that balance and to You know figure out how to make the most of the time that we have because I always say, you know All's we do is have his time in the day, you know, we can't really change what everything looks like so Being able to prioritize what needs to be done first is very important And that's something I actually have learned Over the past few months because I was starting to get to a place where You know, I have been heads down building this Business for four years that I'm like, I have to come up for air a little bit and I have to see everything Around me everything I've worked so hard to build that we have built as a community But I also have to be there for my family too Oftentimes my husband will say like you're physically here, but you're not mentally here And that's something that Gets very scary as a leader or a business owner is you really have to know how to prioritize What means the most to you and what you are able to do? Well, good for your husband for being honest with you about that because not because not everybody would Yeah, we got a pretty honest to a working relationship. So good for him. Good for both of you We talked about the challenges. What are you excited about that's coming up for spousely? Oh, I'm excited about a lot of things honestly There's so much magic happening at spousely our vendors are all supporting one another They're you know teaming up with each other to do different collaborations I'm really really excited about more of the corporate gifting opportunities that we continue to get Because that's allowing our vendors to grow quicker. It's allowing Everybody to you know grow at a faster rate So I would say I'm excited about where the current platform is continuing to grow and build I mentioned early on about the different arms off of the platform. We have spousely you we've got our podcast Of course, we've got the the marketplace So just continuing to find ways that we can go above and beyond just your typical e-commerce platform Fantastic You're going to be doing some speaking events coming up. Yeah Where are people going to be especially the military connected community? Where are people going to be able to go see you speak? I believe next will be the military influencer conference, which is in las vegas in november So i'm excited for that. I've got my ticket. Yay It's a great opportunity even if you're not military connected and you want to come and learn more about all of the great Businesses and people within the military ecosystem. It's a great conference at resorts world So I was I was really impressed last year with it. Yeah, so I'll be there, which will be great Um, I don't know what I can't think off the top of my head. What's coming up next? I know I'm going next month for bunker labs event in san antonio. So I'll be great to to see everybody Awesome. Yeah What else should we know about monica fullerton and spousely? Oh, um, I always like to leave with a Quote that I'd like to share. All right. Don't share that yet because I have I have some other questions But I like to make sure we take care of this before we get to them Okay, so what what to know about monica fullerton, uh and spousely, uh, definitely if you are looking To go above and beyond Making that purchase make a bigger impact go to spousely shop and support our community There's so many incredible products on spousely and services And me personally I want to continue to show that you can do anything that you set your mind to and you don't have to limit yourself to one thing I'm all about having that personal portfolio and diversifying where you need holidays are coming up So if you're thinking about doing some shopping online, check out spousely before you go anywhere else. Yes Where can everyone find spousely? Where can everyone find you? Um, you can connect with me on linkedin. That's the easiest place I love, um, you know chatting with new people making new connections and friends. Um, and spousely is spousely.com You can either do spouse with the dash ly.com or spousely.com And you can find us on instagram as well and facebook instagram is where we really focused on sharing our vendor stories and our podcast updates Yeah, your instagram is fantastic. So so all right the last couple questions Someone or something you are grateful for Wow, I am very very grateful for my family. Um, they are truly my rock and my backbone My husband like I said were high school sweetheart. So he's always known the drive that I've had from a very long uh early age and um Just always pushing me and my kids. It's so funny They've basically have grown up with spousely because they were like two or three when I launched it So they talk about spousely all the time. So I'm so grateful for them and for everyone Well, they're already they're already doing the thing you're asking all of us and they're promoting Yes, good good for them. I do marketing Advice you would give to future leaders, especially young women Leaders and military spouses and if you can work your quote into that that would be fantastic It's the perfect time So I the best advice that I love giving because it's something that I am living and breathing every day And it is growth begins when comfort ends and I think that's super super important because um, you know We have to challenge ourselves if we want to continue going the extra mile Oftentimes if we feel ourself getting a little too uncomfortable, whether it's in a job or Or business or whatever it is, you know that it's probably time to start your next challenge awesome. Yep Anything else? Nope parting shots. Nope reattacks. Nope growth begins when comfort ends growth begins when comforts ends All right. Well, thank you. Monica. Thank you for being here I've been wanting to have this conversation with you for a long time cameras aside Yeah, and I've really enjoyed this. So thank you for being here. Thank you all for watching There's so much going on out there. Lead the way