And That’s A Wrap! + Some Q&A's

Whew! What a ride the last few weeks have been. 

Even with our seat belts buckled, it’s been absolutely crazy! And we haven't even been in Olive!

We started in Vegas 3 weeks ago at the National Hardware Show where we took home the Most Innovative Concept award! Huge validation for us and our team for the many years of working on this complex design. Our booth was a buzz of activity as we did countless demo's of The Wanderr to people exclaiming “wow!” as they saw all the configurations. Our rockstar lead sales guy, Joe, was busy having conversation after conversation with interested buyers from well-known stores. More exciting updates on that coming soon!

Then we flew from Vegas to Nashville and had the incredible privilege of being a part of the Kiss Cancer Goodbye Benefit Concert hosted by two of our dear friends (among others), Pam Goodwin and Amy Fish. We built 2 pink Wanderrs exclusively for this event to help raise money for breast cancer research. After the VIP cocktail hour, we got to be within spitting distance of the performers including Linda Davis, LoCash, Dennis Quaid, Artemis Pyle, Erin Kinsey, and the one and only Dolly Parton, along with some other great artists. A night that will not be forgotten any time soon! Oh, and big shout out to Artemis Pyle helping us unload our car...thank you, Sir! 😃

Once Nashville wrapped up, we hopped on a plane to Newark, NJ where we were 1 of 4 entrepreneurs on America’s Big Deal. After a few days of preparation with the producers and crew, we pitched The Wanderr LIVE to all of America on National TV (if you missed it, you can check out the episode here). This was truly an opportunity that most entrepreneurs can only dream about. 

...AND WE WON!!!   🙌 🙌

Many of you have reached out with questions about our experience on America’s Big Deal, so we wanted to answer some of them here.

• How did we find out about “America’s Big Deal”?

Our contact at the National Hardware Show actually suggested to us that we should apply. So, we applied. They initially told us “no” because our product was a more expensive price point than the majority of the other products. But in our guts, we felt like we were supposed to be on the show so we wrote them an email saying we understood their decision, but then listed the reasons why we respectfully requested them to reconsider. Three weeks later, we got the email that changed everything… “Congratulations, you're a finalist for ABD!” 

• Were we nervous?

Ummm yes… Extremely!!  But, we will say the team at ABD was absolutely incredible as they made us feel very comfortable and instilled a whole bunch of confidence in us. 

• How did we prepare for our LIVE on-stage pitch?

Lots and lots of practice!! It’s tough squeezing a complex, innovative product into a 2 minute LIVE pitch! But again, working with the ABD production team made our preparation a lot easier. 

• Did you have a favorite moment on stage?

Besides all of it - and us getting to do it together, we think the highlight for us was the moment after we won when Joy came up and hugged us. She looked us in the eyes and said “Your lives have forever changed in this moment.” Talk about a “pinch me is this really real??” moment.

• Were we surprised when we won?

100%!!  ABD does a great job of keeping everything about the show under wraps so we knew we won when America found out!

• What was it like pitching in front of top executives from QVC & HSN, Lowe’s and Macy’s?

Thrilling, nerve-wracking, exhilarating, surreal, and a bit of a dream! After some very long years of working on this, we finally got “our moment”!!

• Why did we choose Joy and QVC/HSN?

Joy Mangano is a world-renowned inventor with over 100 patents and a role model for entrepreneurs. We have watched her movie “Joy” many times and resonated with a lot of her story. She is an inspiration to us and to be connected to her in this way was a dream come true. Also, The Wanderr is a very demonstrable product. Literally every time we do a demo of it, people exclaim “WOW!”. So, being on QVC/HSN and getting to demo and sell our product to their audience seems like the perfect fit. 

• What was it like meeting Joy - is she as nice as she seems?

Again, literally surreal. That’s the word we keep using with this whole experience. And Joy is even nicer, actually, than we could have thought. She is friendly, down to earth, kind, genuine, warm and approachable. We felt like we had already known her from the moment we met her. 

• What was our overall experience on show?

It was truly one of the best experiences we’ve had with OME Gear to date. One of those once in a lifetime moments that we'll never forget. AND, we got to have many of our family there to celebrate with us. We were (and still are) overwhelmed with gratitude!

• Would we do it again? 

YES! YES! YES! This experience pushed both of us beyond our comfort zone but looking back it was an experience of a lifetime! 

Hope that gives you a little glimpse into our last few weeks. Any other questions? We’d be happy to answer them. Just comment on this post. While we can’t comment back to you on this platform, we’ll include the answers in a future blog post. 

Until next week,

Jules + Stace 💚