David Novak 0:04 

Welcome to How leaders lead where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learnings so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. Now, I've been honored to have some incredibly wise leaders on this podcast. And usually they've won that wisdom through decades of mistakes and failures and tough turnarounds. But today, you're going to see that business wisdom and leadership insight can come from any age, because today's guest is 15 year old Mikayla Omer, the founder and CEO of me and the bees lemonade. Mikayla turned the lemonade stand. She started as a four year old into a nationally distributed brand that has sold 2 million bottles of honey lemonade, and is backed by Shark Tank investor. Daymond. John, she's just a fearless leader with a big heart who is so wise beyond her years, and I have a feeling you're going to see your big ideas and your big dreams in a whole new way after you listen in on this conversation. So here's my conversation with my good friend, and soon to be yours. Mikayla Omer.

Now, Mikayla, I thought it was pretty special when I got the interview, Evan Spiegel, who started Snapchat in his early 20s. Well, you started your company when you were just four and a half years old. And now you're the 15 year old CEO. I really can't wait to learn how you did it and how you lead. But first, give us an idea of the size and scope of your company.

Mikaila Ulmer 1:45 

Well, it's a little bit unbelievable how the company has grown from starting as a lemonade stand in Austin, Texas to becoming a nationally distributed Lemonade Company. But currently, we have sold 2 million bottles of lemonade around the country. It's sold in over 1500 stores in over 40 states. We're making a huge impact on bee populations through our new nonprofit, which we've collaborated with around six different other nonprofits to meet make an even bigger change. And it's gone from one flavor to now having five flavors of honey sweetened Flexi lemonade.

David Novak 2:25 

Wow, let's start this now. How did you develop your passion for bees and lemonade? Let's go back to the beginning. Tell us Okay,

Mikaila Ulmer 2:33 

so that's the fun part. So my story started in Austin, Texas. When I was four and a half years old as a kindergartener. And I signed up in two different events. They were both kids entrepreneurial events, and one was lemonade day and other one was acting in business fair. And they're both events where kids can come up with ideas, like buy a booth, and sell their product for a day without the need of a permit. And so I was doing this a couple of other of my peers at school, were doing it. And over the summer, I needed a product to create. And so two big events happen. The first one was that I got a cookbook from my great granny Helen from the 1940s with her favorite recipe of flaxseed lemonade in it, which is very interesting. I didn't really know what I was going to do with it at the time. But I also got some my two bees in one week, that same summer. Oh, no, it was that was terrifying, very painful. And I quickly became afraid of the bees as you can imagine a kindergartener would. My parents encouraged me to do some research on them. And kind of reluctantly, I watched the animated videos and I read the picture books. And I learned that we rely on bees for our food. And so I was like, okay, and then I've learned that the bees are dying at alarming rate. So I decided to mix those two ideas and take my great granny Helens recipe sweetened with honey, and donate a portion to organizations, starting with organizations in Austin that were helping save the bees. So it was a little bit of a weird mix of things that made my story, but it had huge potential even as a four year old.

David Novak 4:07 

So how did you get started? Did you have the typical lemonade stand

Mikaila Ulmer 4:11 

had the typical lemonade stand? I the first one didn't go great. It was in front of my house and it was very spontaneous. But the second one was for the fair, and my dad said, Okay, the first thing you're gonna need to do is you need a budget. And so I had $50 of birthday money from my family members. I made a budget listing like my ingredients, the expenses that I would need to buy. We ended up getting donations from a local beekeeper. And so we bartered and we ended up building our eliminates and instead of buying a lemonade stand, so I learned a little bit through there, but it was a lemonade stand. I was dressed up in a bee suit, which was my mom's idea because she's the marketing bee and I sold my product and I ended up really enjoying it and wanting to do it again. So initially it was kind of only be a one time thing, or doing it for those two fairs. But I decided I'm going to keep going.

David Novak 5:06 

You're bottling it now. I mean, how did you? When did you know you had a big enough idea to do that? And how do you go through the process of really developing a brand and and bottling it? And then you've said, your selling it to 1500? Stores? Yeah,

Mikaila Ulmer 5:20 

so it definitely wasn't overnight, like problem. Probably most of the other entrepreneurs that you've interviewed, it didn't happen that quickly. I started probably around when I was eight, I started doing little workshops on the bees at stores, while parents were shopping, their kids would learn about the bees, and they could plant a bee friendly flower. And I would bring a trifle to be facts. And so after one of these little presentations, it was at a local pizza store. And the owner said, Hey, if you can find a way to borrow your lemonade product, I'd like to carry it in my store. And so that was kind of that was the aha moment you're asking about when you ask what was that moment when you realize this could be a bigger thing. It didn't even I didn't even think of putting my bottle on shelves. And the fact that people asked me to and said, If you do it, there's going to be a demand for it. That's probably what made my gears start turning in me start thinking. So I asked my parents, how do you bottle a product, they asked their friends and family friends who were entrepreneurs. I remember going to some stores, and asking store managers Hey, what sticks out to you about a bottle on the shelves. And taking all that into consideration. We did research, we started in a commercial kitchen in Austin. And just like that, more stores were asking more stores and restaurants and little convenience stores were asking to carry the product. So it was a little bit of a spark. And from that we started from Austin, and kind of grew on from there.

David Novak 6:53 

Yeah, no kidding. You know, and you know, Makayla, everybody is talking these days about the power of being purpose driven and having a mission, you know, what's yours for your product? And what are you trying to do with your brand? And how are you trying to make a difference? Yeah,

Mikaila Ulmer 7:07 

from, from the very beginning of me and the bees, my mission was to make a measurable impact on saving the bees. I had no clue. I didn't know that the bees are dying. I figured a lot of the people who are trying my product probably didn't know that either. So let's use this business as a way to help save the bees. And so since then, I've also added teaching social entrepreneurship, because as a social entrepreneurship myself, I've realized a lot of the skills that I learned from my business I'm able to use in school, and even the ones in school I'm able to use in my business. So realizing the power of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship as well. And I think passion is really important passion within my team, and making sure that all the people who are working on means to be is aligned with that goal. So we're able to, I guess, do a lot more and be a lot more productive and have more fun while running me in the BS.

David Novak 8:03 

Speaking of your team, how many people do you have working for you? And how do you go about leading people who are older than you? Or do you make it a requirement that everybody's younger?

Mikaila Ulmer 8:12 

So we it's a family run company, but I don't think I'm that bossy. I'm not that bossy of a boss. I think it's always makes people laugh. When we're at events. My dad's like, oh, yeah, I know, the boss is right here. Ask her. So that makes people laugh. But right now, our team is five employees. And then we have multiple teams like a national sales teams, a, an amazing ops teams that make sure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes, marketing, and then kind of call it the core team, which is finance ops, and then head of marketing, and then me,

David Novak 8:50 

how do you go about, you know, managing those different functions? And how would you describe your leadership style?

Mikaila Ulmer 8:56 

First, we go about managing that through always communicating, this is something that I say you can learn from the bees, bees communicate through dancing. But what's interesting is that each bee in a hive knows its role. And so they have to communicate through fair gnomes. And then also dancing to, Hey, where's the closest source source of honey? What are the next task that has to be done? So that's kind of how we work in the eliminate company. But we have core meetings where we talk about the goals, and what are the action items for each pillar of the business to get that done? So it's long term, but also thinking about what are the tests that we have to do now in order to achieve that? And then I think also, one thing that's interesting is that everyone at the company learns about the Bs, and we also start each of our meetings with testimonials or facts or letters from our fans or customers. And that's also an amazing way to start each meeting. And then I think I lead by example, because I balance being a student and a founder of a nonprofit and the CEO I think that kind of shows that you can incorporate your passions with what you do every day. And also I get a lot of work I got, I get a lot of help from my parents and mentors.

David Novak 10:10 

How do you manage and lead people who are older than you? Hmm.

Mikaila Ulmer 10:14 

I, I lead by? At one I think I lead by asking a lot of questions, which is kind of a new way to think about leading, but I asked a lot of questions. And sometimes those questions force people to look at things a little bit differently. And then, like, Oh, I could think about that differently. Then I say, Okay, what if you looked at it in this perspective? So I ask a lot of questions. Sometimes I'm way off the mark. And I have something to learn from the person who's older than me, but sometimes they have some wisdom to offer as well.

David Novak 10:46 

You know, you said, your dad says, You're the boss, you know, What's it like having your dad is someone that theoretically works for you? Is that really true?

Mikaila Ulmer 10:55 

I think I kind of would call us Co Co queen bees or Co. I don't even know what the word is. But we get

David Novak 11:02 

the I get the queen bee. Yeah,

Mikaila Ulmer 11:04 

you get it. I think it's interesting. Because if we're sometimes when we're at conferences, and people are asking, we want to know about the company, they'll ask my parents were usually like, right next to me as I was my parents are like, what are your stats? Or where? What's the scale your company today? And then they're always like, Oh, no, point to her. She's right here, ask her these questions. But for the most part, like I said, I give input and then they also give input. I think, for the most part, I'm learning from them, especially now at the moment about business, my dad teaches me what he knows about ops and finance. My mom teaches me what she knows about marketing, and PR. And I, what I bring to the business is my passion and my mission.

David Novak 11:48 

You know, Mikayla, every leader has, you know, some disappointment that happens along the way, you know, what's been your biggest disappointment? And how do you deal with it?

Mikaila Ulmer 12:02 

My biggest disappointment. So once it was, it's a disappointment right now, at this point, because I think what I got out of this was a lot more than, like the stress that was put in it at the time. But my biggest challenge that I faced or disappointment was having to change the name. So it was originally be Sweet Lemonade. I came up with that when I was in kindergarten, that was my favorite name. And I thought that it encompassed my mission and save the bees. And it was coupon like, be sweet. And I love that name. But after he went on Shark Tank, and gained national publicity, I think the story about getting a deal for Mr. Daymond John on Shark Tank also went viral at the same time, there was another company that reached out to my parents. And so after my parents put my younger brother Jacob down to bed, they came to me and they said, Hey, there's another company with a name similar to yours, that wants you to either change yours altogether, or borrow borrow be sweet for a couple million dollars. And as a 10 year old, think, No 11 I didn't have a couple million dollars to borrow name. And I say I say I'd been stung by bees before. But I had never been sung by lawyers. And so this was completely different and pretty disappointing. Because we didn't look into that we didn't even think like, is there another B suite out there? We did a quick maybe Google search, but not looking into the documents, seeing if there's anything else registered. And so it ended up being a very time consuming and expensive lawsuit. But what ended up happening is, I asked for help. So I was presenting at an agency in California, I shared with them my dilemma. They had their team, like come up with hundreds of names along with ours. And we narrowed it down to mean the bees. But what I learned from that process was that it's not just a product you sell, but also the story you tell. And so even though the name of the company changed and is different at this point, it's still my lemonade, my mission, my product and the naming, and the brand can change as long as a compass, as long as it I guess, involves all of that.

David Novak 14:14 

So me and the Beastie, like which name do you like better now?

Mikaila Ulmer 14:17 

I like me and the bees better. I think basically this catch here, but I like me and the bees because everyone can become the me and our mission to save the bees. So there's that. And then the next thing that I love about this one is that our logo right here, if you flip it upside down, it becomes a heart and then if you take off the wings, it becomes a drop of honey. So I think that's also really creative and our old logo didn't have that

David Novak 14:43 

weren't you get your creative ability. How have you develop this intuitive skills that you have? I think,

Mikaila Ulmer 14:49 

I don't know. I think I've always been a little bit. I've always been creative. A lot of it also comes with collaboration. I think we come up with the best ideas when we work together.

David Novak 14:58 

Now I know you got your big Break going on Shark Tank? And you just mentioned that a little bit earlier. What was that, like? Talk about that experience,

Mikaila Ulmer 15:08 

I describe it as nerve sighting. Because it was very nerve wracking because there's a bunch of millionaires or billionaires staring at you while you're pitching your company. And it's also very exciting because it's the potential to grow your company and take this like idea or this dream that you've been working on for so long and make it big. Like, that's kind of the big thing people ask, have you been on Shark Tank? This should be on Shark Tank, go pitch on Shark Tank. And so I was nervous, but also very excited to see hey, where could this opportunity take my company?

David Novak 15:43 

What have you learned working with Daymond? John's Who was the guy who said, Hey, I really like your idea.

Mikaila Ulmer 15:48 

I think one thing I've learned is what the power of a mentor can do for your company. I've also learned to always always reach out to potential customers. Because we weren't doing that enough before we were kind of waiting for companies to reach out to us. But with this hope we went out in, asked Hey, are you interested in new product we were pitching more not only in Texas, but nationally as well. And that also rapidly increased the sales and the growth of me and the bees.

David Novak 16:19 

You've got this distribution, Whole Foods and fresh market, which are great high end retailers, you know, did you go make those sales calls yourself?

Mikaila Ulmer 16:27 

Some of those? Yes, some of those? No, but most of them? Yes, I think that's one thing. I always I pitch on those sales actually, this this COVID season, I guess is I would say we're calling it during COVID. Because I was at home. And school was remote, I was able to hop on a lot more of these sales calls. And I closed a couple of deals to which are going to be coming towards the end of this year. But I guess that's one of my abilities is to close sales on new deals. And it's always cool because people get to see the person behind the brand. And so pitching, I mean, no one knows your company better than you do. So I think it's so important for me to be present at the sales pitches.

David Novak 17:09 

You know, you talk about seeing the person behind the brand, you're actually on the bottle, the front of the bar. Yeah. Was that a? Was that a hard decision to make easy decision for you? What's your thing?

Mikaila Ulmer 17:19 

I'm glad you asked that question. Because it wasn't it, it changed. Over time. When we started, it was a hard decision for my parents because they weren't sure whether they wanted their I think at the time 10 year old daughter to be on the face of a bottle just for like privacy reasons do we want our daughter to be on the face of her product? And so we ended up with going with Yes, it was an illustration of me, that was our original design, it was an illustration of me. And we decided to keep it on the bottle because it showed the product. But I think as we grew and we were reaching out to more stores, we started getting some people saying, Hey, we might carry your product. If you put your face on the back of the bottle, or people I mean, letters coming in the mail saying, no one's gonna buy this because your face is on it, and one's gonna buy it because you started this or I would buy it if your face wasn't on the bottle, or even people like trying to be helpful saying a lot more people would buy this if you removed your face from the bottle. And so we were getting that criticism, but we're also getting people saying I picked this up just because of your face, or like it stands out so much on the shelves or your bottle really inspired me or inspired my daughter or just a lot of positive feedback as well. And so that really outweighed the negative criticism. And I think I decided along with my family to I decided to keep the my face on the bottle, which in the end was a really amazing decision. But even if it wasn't, it was meant to inspire. And even if you're walking through grocery stores, you can still be inspired.

David Novak 18:56 

Absolutely. Well, you have a heck of an inspiring story. There's no question about that. You mentioned closing sales, you know and being the closer to sale. What do you think is the key to great salesmanship? How do you sell?

Mikaila Ulmer 19:09 

I think the key to great salesmanship, is is believing your product. That's probably the one thing that I've learned I have a lot more learn about sales, but believing in your product and really advocating for it.

David Novak 19:31 

IV obviously you're growing this brand you get more and more distribution. You are Are you having any challenges raising money and how do you go about doing that?

Mikaila Ulmer 19:40 

So whenever I present, I also talk at the very end, I say, you know, join my team, become a believer and reach out to us if you have any questions or if you'd like to join the team or help me grow my dream of this company. And so we will get offers from investors from there saying I'm looking to diversify more my portfolio or include more social companies in my portfolio. So that's one piece. Another one is we already have an amazing network of believers. So because I'm invited to speak at different conferences, and even share my stories on podcasts like these, I've met investors. And if I needed to reach out, or if there was something urgent, I could say, Hey, would you be interested in learning a little bit more about the status of the company, or investing, so we already have an amazing network. And then right now, the next step is a big one for us. So we are looking for people in companies that believe in that mission. And I'm going to sum it all up based on the past ones, we had our very first investment from damage on on Shark Tank. And then more recently, we got another round of investments from 10, NFL players. And next, we're looking for investments so we can expand the company, like to all 50 States and beyond.

David Novak 21:04 

Fantastic get on. And I also know that you've got plans to move beyond just the lemonade business and you're developing like beeswax lip balm, you know, you know, a lot of times people get in, you know, get into difficulties when they, you know, lose their focus. How have you rationalized moving into these other categories? Or is this really that serious for?

Mikaila Ulmer 21:28 

I'm not concerned about losing my focus as a leader, because when I'm adding new products, even if it's an amazing idea, I want to make sure that it goes with I mean, I want to make sure that everything combines well. So if it combines well if it involves like honey from the same honey beekeepers that make the honey for lemonade, we could also use their beeswax for the lip balms. That's amazing. And that also is it combines the lemonade with the lip balms or the t shirt. So no. And I think a big part of that is my team that helps me stay focused and do exactly what I'd like to do with the company.

David Novak 22:08 

What advice can you give to adults on on how to best work with young leaders like yourself?

Mikaila Ulmer 22:15 

I think the first one would be when, especially for parents, if you have kids that have a interesting idea, or an amazing idea to them, instead of instantly shutting it down or saying no or wait till you're older. I would say ask him. Okay, tell me a little bit more. How are you going to do that? Let's go look online or read some books to see the next steps. That's a big one. That's something that my parents did, but kind of kept me motivated to continue growing the company because they were interested in it. They wanted to hear what I had to say. The next thing that I'd say is learn how you can use I say dream like a kid, learn how you can dream like a kid in your company. And think of the opportunities of what you're doing instead of just the obstacles. So dream like a kid. And I think that will make it a lot easier to understand kids when they have their own companies or business ideas.

David Novak 23:10 

You know, as I mentioned, and you just brought it up, you know, you've written this book, be fearless dream like a kid. What does that mean? I mean, you know, what do you mean dream like a kid? Are you saying that adults don't dream?

Mikaila Ulmer 23:20 

No, I'm saying that. The biggest I'm saying the biggest dreamers are kids. And I think if you're an adult, you also can make things happen a lot, a lot faster. But you can turn those dreams into reality. So if you foster your kid mentality of dreaming big, and having these huge ideas, and then put those to action, I think that you can make a lot more change. And so the book be fearless dream like a kid was for. It was initially for middle schoolers. And then I was like, they already been like a kid. Let's figure out how I can take this book and also teach adults how they can dream like kids in business. And so it became like part memoir of how I started in grooming the bees, but also part Buzznet. I call them buses, lessons part business lessons that I've learned in business.

David Novak 24:12 

Well, you I love how you get you become a believer. You take this B thing, Max, you've probably got more definitions for bees than anybody that is to the world board derivatives. That's great, you know, you know, what advice can you give an adult that, you know that would help them start their own business and follow their own dream?

Mikaila Ulmer 24:33 

I would say once you have a great plan, I would say don't think about just the limits. One don't think about your limits. Don't be afraid to fail actually actually failed a couple companies before I started being dummies I tried fringe of bracelets. I tried selling rocks, painted rocks. I tried selling wildflowers and playdough and I started each of those without Being afraid to fail. So I want to see if this is going to work, I would like to see if this is going to work. And I think through that approach, instead of getting mad at myself when it didn't work, I'm just like, Okay, I'm going on to the next thing. And then also, I think if you have a good share your idea with your kids see what they think about it. If it's if it's like a kid friendly or interesting idea, or if you have an adult friend who you think dreams like a kid really well share it with them, see what they think about it. So when

David Novak 25:30 

you say dream, like a kid is like, get rid of the barriers? Just think of the possibilities and see where that takes you.

Mikaila Ulmer 25:36 

You got it? Absolutely. Did you dream like a kid? Mr. David? Oh, man,

David Novak 25:40 

I think I've always dreamt like a kid. You also focus teaching kids social mindful entrepreneurship, you know, that's a, that's a pretty big words there, you know, the break that down for us? What do you mean by that?

Mikaila Ulmer 25:55 

Okay, so, entrepreneur is someone who identify as a problem or a need, and creates a business, sometimes an organization helps solve it. Social entrepreneurship is someone who creates a business, but also does good in the world through it. And so, in my opinion, I think that social entrepreneurship, like based on what I teach workshops, and I do presentations, and these are sometimes to schools, organizations, or conferences, but kids are already, like, they don't, I don't even have to tell them. Or say, think about this, think about having a social company, it's kind of automatic to them, they're automatically saying, oh, and I could use this to reduce ocean plastics or, and I can donate other extra food to the homeless. And I'm just like, I It comes naturally to them to be social entrepreneurs, or to be social with whatever their business idea is. And I think that's truly amazing.

David Novak 26:51 

You know, you have such good insights. I mean, you know, people are always telling you to do what you love. What have you picked up? And what advice do you give your, your your friends and, you know, everyone on on how to find your passion? What did how did you find your passion? And what advice do you give others,

Mikaila Ulmer 27:10 

I would say the first thing is to get out of your comfort zone, it what comes naturally to us is trying to stick within our comfort zone, if you get out of your comfort zone, see new perspectives, meet new people. Because I think if you want to become an entrepreneur, you want to find your passion, there has to be something to make better. And so if you're staying within the boundaries that you've created, that are already better to you, there's no opportunity there. So get out of your comfort zone, and be observant and keen to try to see what problems can be fixed or what can be improved.

David Novak 27:46 

And he really want to inspire this next generation of changemakers. Tell me more about this,

Mikaila Ulmer 27:51 

I want to inspire the next generation of changemakers. So whether that's through my book, or becoming a role model from me, starting my company and being a student at the same time, I want to encourage other youth not to just wait until they get older. But start now and start learning now be excited to learn starting their ideas. If it's a business idea, that's amazing. But starting their ideas now, because I guess, now you have a lot more time to learn and fail and take risks. And people always ask what do you want to be when you grow up? Instead of what do you want to be like? What do you want to do? And so I'd like to change that question. And also change that answer for kids.

David Novak 28:32 

You're obviously a business leader. I mean, you've you've created a brand. You know, when you go to school? Are you a leader at school?

Mikaila Ulmer 28:41 

I'm not popular at school. I, but I do. I do realize that a lot of my peers respect me. And if they have questions, even if it's, especially if it's about business, they'll come to me and ask it. And so I have, I have like, I'm the leader of model entrepreneurs at my school. And I'm in unapologetic, and I'm also just a member of the regular student body. But that's one thing that's interesting is that I don't think there's popular people at my school. But I think I think I'm a leader. I think also school is a lot about teamwork. And so there's leaders in different things. And I guess I could be considered a leader when it comes to business, or providing advice based on my experience.

David Novak 29:27 

You know, one of your tips for entrepreneurs, as I understand is that you don't have to you don't have to do it alone. Who have you asked for help when you've really been challenged. So

Mikaila Ulmer 29:38 

yes, I definitely have not done this alone. I mean, especially when I started as a four year old I couldn't have done this alone. I had to ask questions, I had to ask for help. So from that point in time, it was my parents who I talked about who brought their expertise in business. It was also customers, which I think people often overlook, but asking Customers, what advice they would have on my product or what facts they knew about the bees. Since then it has been my investors, and also people who I meet. When I traveled to share my story, people who I hear I hear their stories on, that's really interesting. Let me go ask them some questions. Sometimes it's specific questions. Sometimes it's getting guidance on next steps of the company, or next steps of the nonprofit,

David Novak 30:28 

you know, why do you think entrepreneurs are afraid to ask for help?

Mikaila Ulmer 30:35 

I think maybe because a lot of the big entrepreneurs you see today, you see one person, not the whole team behind it. So maybe they think that in order to be one of the big entrepreneurs, it has to be just me. But they don't realize that there was a lot of mentoring, a lot of asking questions and confusion along the way,

David Novak 30:56 

you've you're very high profile at a very young age. You know, you've actually introduced President Obama, the United States Women's Summit, you were only 11 when you did that, and I saw you on YouTube, and you were so composed, so prepared, and you're obviously so articulate, you know, how do you build up your own self confidence to take on big, big challenges like that,

Mikaila Ulmer 31:23 

I build my self confidence by having being surrounded by good friends who encouraged me. By always being prepared, I think when you come into a situation prepared, there's, you have a lot more confidence. So being prepared for different situations, or presentations or things like that, not being afraid to fail, and learning from my failures. And I think another one is looking back on my past presentations on my past interviews, and being a little bit embarrassed realizing, I have come a long way since then. And just thinking about if I, if I guess if I keep this up, I wonder what I'll think about my next interview or my interview today. So being comfortable with yourself and your former self in, I guess, continuing to improve, but also realizing I'm great the way I am.

David Novak 32:17 

You know You sure are. And we've talked a lot about dreams. What advice would you give someone who has a big dream, but they're afraid that they might not have what it takes to be successful?

Mikaila Ulmer 32:28 

I mean, what do you think it takes to be successful, everything that that it takes to be successful is, I think it's all a gain skill, it's something that you can learn. So if you don't feel like you have what it takes in, you're going to kind of give up that idea. I think that's just such a wasted opportunity, realizing that you can learn that. So that's the first thing. And then I would also say if you're waiting on the perfect time, or you think you don't have you're not at the right time. I've heard this before, but there is no perfect time. Like they there's always going to be something or a little thing that is going to hinder whatever launch or whatever dream you want to start. So if you feel like you have an okay, time, take that Okay, time and start there. And I think a good example of it was launching a book, even though it was during a pandemic. That was really interesting, because I mean, you're an author, you probably know, for the book watching process, you're going to different bookstores, and you're meeting readers. And I wasn't able to do that for Be fearless. So it was online, online book signings and online interviews. But this was something that I hadn't even considered was that people are staying home, they have a lot more time to read. So that was something that I overlooked, but ended up being a pretty good thing in terms of launching my book.

David Novak 33:51 

Well, you definitely were fearless when you did, there's no question about that. So you want to talk, no question about that. You know? What are you doing outside of? You know, running your Lemonade Company. What do you really love doing?

Mikaila Ulmer 34:05 

I love I love. I love going outside. So right now, I have been at you for a while. I rollerblade pretty much every day or bike, but it's mostly rollerblading, biking. And then for my school sport. I'm in caving in rock climbing, so we can't do much caving right now. We're kind of sticking to rock climbing or hiking. But that's, I guess, my sport that I enjoy. And then I like being creative. So whether it's trying new recipes, if I have a little lunch break, I'll try a new recipe. I have pet chickens and a pet dog baby honey. So Bailey really good eggs are like trying recipes from them. And I also really like reading.

David Novak 34:50 

You know, Mikayla, what would you say would be your your most favorite thing about being a leader?

Mikaila Ulmer 34:55 

Hmm. My favorite thing about being a leader is that Being able to inspire people who may think that they don't have what it takes to be leader. Let me I'm gonna think about that. Because I think I think it would be, I think it would be being able to inspire other people, you already have an audience. And so if you have something that you'd like to share, you have an audience to share that with. And it's also inspiring the next generation or the next group of leaders.

David Novak 35:29 

You know, because I've had a lot of fun asked you these questions, and a lot of them are not that easy. I know. They made me think you know, but you know what, I want to kind of begin to wrap this up with a lightning round of q&a. That ought to be a little bit of fun. Okay. You know, so what would be the one word that best describes you?

Mikaila Ulmer 35:48 

flamboyant, okay. And at that point, I don't know you're pretty planful. If, let's see, creative, intuitive, not intuitive.

David Novak 35:58 

Okay. I'll give you three flamboyant creative, intuitive. Okay. What's your favorite book?

Mikaila Ulmer 36:04 

I'm looking at my book stack over here. My favorite book is Be fearless dream like a kid. But if I had to go with one written by another author, right now, it would. I really like syce. It's by Neil Schusterman. And it's part of the site dumpskey series. But I read that a couple times. That's probably my favorite book that I can think of. I have a couple.

David Novak 36:26 

Now, if you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be?

Mikaila Ulmer 36:29 

I think Michelle Obama, I'd like to meet. I like to meet, you know, talk with the President. I like to talk with the the first the whole first family. And I like to see what it's like running a nonprofit and being an author, and being a former First Lady to that would be amazing.

David Novak 36:50 

Your favorite subject in school

Mikaila Ulmer 36:51 

science.

David Novak 36:53 

What's your biggest pet peeve?

Mikaila Ulmer 36:57 

I never would like think of right now is my younger brother Jacob. But that's just right now we're on online schooling and having us both on classes at the same time is interesting. But I think another one is, when you're in a I I'm just in school right now and you're in a group project and people don't want to be team members like they want to be in the group but they don't want to be a team member and, and I guess contribute. That's another one.

David Novak 37:25 

What's your favorite be fact

Mikaila Ulmer 37:28 

that all the worker bees, whether it's whether it's busy, we're defending the hive, and this is a honeybee fact, all the worker bees this mean to nurse bees, protection bees who stay on guard bees, there's what they're called, also the queen bee, of course, scouting these bees that go out and find flowers and sources of food. All those are female. That's something that's I think's interesting.

David Novak 37:55 

What would be the three most important bits of advice you'd give aspiring leaders? Hmm.

Mikaila Ulmer 38:03 

three most important bits. First one is ask for help because there's always held back at the hive. The second one is learn the power of storytelling in business. And the third one is when it comes to launching and growing your business be fearless.

David Novak 38:21 

Mikayla, you've been you know, running this business now for 10 years that that's that's a huge milestone. What are you doing with you and your your team to celebrate this, this momentous occasion?

Mikaila Ulmer 38:33 

Well, at our 10 year anniversary, and he celebrated it before the pandemic hit. We celebrated it by traveling. So I had a presentation in Budapest. So we traveled to Budapest and also made it a little bit of a vacation as well. And then also in Singapore, at the doll woman entrepreneur network and made it a little bit of a vacation as well. I think that was those were the big the biggest celebrations, that's perfect.

David Novak 38:59 

You've had so much success. makayley you've started your own business. You're a CEO, you've written a book, you know, how do you stay humble?

Mikaila Ulmer 39:09 

I say humble. I say humble by looking at other leaders. I think I stay humble by looking at other leaders and realize I have so much more that I can learn are many more skills that I can acquire. Another one is is always like even when I graduate from high school, continuing to be a student and being open to and being open and excited to learn more things.

David Novak 39:34 

When you look ahead, Mikayla, where do you see me in the bees heading in the future?

Mikaila Ulmer 39:39 

I see me in the bees as America's favorite Lemonade Company. I see as a big Lemonade Company with a big mission and a big impact that's been made. And then I also see I guess I kind of want to see a measurable impact on say it'd be so an increase in bee populations, I want to see the people who I've started inspiring now to whatever the smell point we're looking at, I want to see their companies become big as well.

David Novak 40:12 

Fantastic. You know, and one of the really sad things that our country has had to deal with besides COVID-19, is we've seen, you know, just a lot of racial inequality, you know, in this past year, how do you look at that as a young person coming up and a young person of color?

Mikaila Ulmer 40:30 

Well, the first thing that I would say is, I appreciate and acknowledge all of the hard work that my ancestors and my people have put in before me, to allow me to even think, to even think about this idea, business idea. And then to actually get it to where it is today, I realized that this could not have been done without their work. The second thing is realizing that there's still a lot of change to be made, like, female black CEOs only get a tiny fraction of venture investments, even even though they're the fastest growing statistic of new entrepreneurs. So there's a disconnect there. And then another thing is making sure to pressure other entrepreneurs or corporations to continue the change, not just not just do it, because it's a trend, but realize that this, that there needs to be a lasting effect. And I hope that it will continue, and will continue with the same speed, and excitement and drive that we have right now in years to come.

David Novak 41:43 

I hope so too. You know. And when you think about the American dream, you know, what's that mean to you today?

Mikaila Ulmer 41:51 

That means being a problem solver, being resourceful, and amazing stories and inspiring stories, not just from me, but from so many other people who are, I guess, living their American dream? They've had amazing stories on how they started.

David Novak 42:08 

You know, Mikayla, I want to tell you how inspiring I think you are. And you're definitely, you know, making things happen. And you provide such an inspiration. And you talk about the importance of storytellers. Well, you your story is amazing. And, you know, I think it gives hope to people who really have ideas that they can make it happen in the world. So thank you so much for taking the time to be with me today. I appreciate it very much.

Mikaila Ulmer 42:31 

Thank you. And thanks for asking some hard questions. Not just really easy ones.

David Novak 42:37 

I was, I think you didn't you made them all sound pretty easy to fix.

I have to tell you that Mikayla has made a believer out of me. Oh my god, I really did it. Well, Mikayla is an amazing leader. She has an amazing mission. And I just can't wait to watch what she does in the future. You know, when she looks at life and business, she chooses to focus on the opportunities have a great idea, not just the obstacles or the bad timing or whatever could get in the way. That's really inspiring. And it's a great lesson for leaders of all ages. Let me take a second here and help you apply it this week as part of your weekly personal development plan. Ask yourself what dream or big idea of yours has been sitting on the backburner, a key initiative, a new venture, a fresh chapter in your own personal development. I don't know what it is. But I bet there's something. I think the older we get, the more likely we are to only see the obstacles when we consider those big dreams and ideas that we all have. But Mikayla reminds us that we got to focus on the opportunities. So take that dream or idea and list some of the great possibilities that could open up if you just decided to pursue it. Yeah, you'll have to consider some obstacles too. But it's just as important to focus on the opportunities and really dream like a kid. So do you want to know how leaders lead? What we learned today is that great leaders focus on opportunities, not just obstacles. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader you can be