You guys!
YOU GUYS!
I couldn’t be more excited to bring to you today’s special Women On Purpose featured boss babe! I am 100000000% certain you’ve heard of ban.do. Behind ban.do is Jen Gotch. She’s the cool chic I’m talking about.
Being that I am a mom of a teen girl, and I happen to like pretty cool and fun hip things myself, {wink} the gal who started this company has been on my dream boss babe list for quite some time. Fun stuff from cute notebooks to pool floats to drink tumblers to bags to fun pins… If it’s fun and whimsical and puts a smile on your face when you’re getting dressed, doing your work or homework, when you’re hanging with friends, eating drinking, and keyword FUN, then chances are, we’re talking ban.do!
In case you’re not familiar with this fun stuff I’m talking about, here’s a look and ban.do from their Instagram…
A few of the things at our house…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYUYigqnjbd/?taken-by=irenegianos
But enough about the fun things… let’s find out more about the mastermind behind all of these delights. She’s SO crazy good fun, but what I love about her the most is she’s so REAL. No bullshit. Straight up. No fluff. Real girl. Going through REAL stuff that we all go through. Telling it like it is. She even gave my girl some real nuggets of wisdom.
Jen… I love you!
So let’s hear how Jen Gotch lives On Purpose, she shares some insight on some very personal issues, she talks about self-love, and shares advice to young women wanting to start something of their own. This is all post on and exactly what The OP Life is all about!
NAME: Jen Gotch
LOCATION: Los Angeles, California
AGE: 46
CURRENT TITLE / NAME OF BUSINESS: Founder, Chief Creative Officer, ban.do
BIO:
Jen Gotch is a creative powerhouse who brakes for yard sales and unicorns. She founded ban.do with a friend in 2008, and with no prior business experience, was able to transform it from a small, vintage, one-of-a-kind hair accessories company into a multimillion-dollar brand within years. After a long (and winding) road of jobs that led her to where she is today, she’s now the chief creative officer and fearless leader of the ban.do team. She’s passionate about continuing to grow ban.do while sharing the experience with her many Instagram followers (and anyone else who’s interested) because she wholeheartedly believes that you don’t get anywhere in life without the help and kindness of others.
1. How do you live life On Purpose?
I live my life on purpose by always doing my best. That doesn’t mean that things don’t go wrong, that my intentions aren’t sometimes misconstrued, or that doing my best is always enough. Sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes I do my best, with the purest of intentions, and I still fail. And that’s ok, because, truly, our best is all we can do and knowing that allows me to keep my self-criticism in check. I am holding myself to a standard that is achievable.
2. When did you begin your venture as an entrepreneur? How did you know this was what you wanted to do?
I started ban.do with a friend in 2008, and we certainly didn’t set out to create what ban.do has become. I was pre-law in college, so the creative/entrepreneurial side didn’t come out until I was well into my 20s. In retrospect a lot of what I did before ban.do really primed me to have a real shot at success, but I am a firm believer of things happening for a reason and definitely much less of a goal-setting life planner.
3. One of the biggest things you talk about candidly and in a real, raw way is depression. Did you have depression before starting ban.do? After? And how do you function with it as an entrepreneur?
I’ve had depression since I was very young. I have always felt like it has defined me as a person in both a good and bad way. I have more built-in compassion than most people, and as I worked to figure out what was going on in my own mind, especially in my early 20s, I gained a ton of emotional intelligence that I take with me to all of my relationships – both work and personal. As far as functioning goes, some days are harder than others, especially if personal and work challenges sync up to a depressive episode. I am really lucky to be able to bring transparency about my situation to the people I work with and work for. I am one of the lucky ones. Knowing that most people don’t have that and have to operate on sheer will when trying to work while also being depressed (which I did for many years), I am inspired to do whatever I can to inform and destigmatize it so that in the near future it might be easier for more people to be open and honest about it, too.
4. What advice would you have for other women in business struggling to balance work and depression?
Self-care, self-love and self-knowledge. That’s where it all starts. That takes work, and is a big time investment, but it’s worth it. It means knowing your limits, understanding your illness and prioritizing “you” as often as possible. Much easier said than done, but worth a shot. I spoke about it a little bit in this Creative Mornings talk I did about self-compassion.
5. To what do you attribute most of your success?
Intelligence, LUCK and the kindness of others.
6. What advice would you offer any young woman looking to start their own business?
It’s honestly less advice and more of a cautionary tale of how unimaginably challenging and heart-wrenching it is to own a business. I feel personally responsible to contribute to the narrative of what success really looks like and what it takes to create, foster and grow a company. It is rewarding, it is awesome, yes, but I would say if there is anything else on the planet you also think you might be good at…try that first! Now that being said, people gave me similar advice when my business started to pick up and I laughed in their faces. “Yeah, but I can do it!” I said. So I get it if this falls upon deaf ears. But that defiance, that burning passion and willingness to place the business above all else, is the kind of mindset you will need to survive. Thriving and succeeding are a whole other thing for another time.
Some pretty great words of wisdom if you ask me!
Thank you Jen for being part of my Women On Purpose series. How lucky are we to get your nuggets of wisdom!
You can follow Jen HERE and get your “band.o.fun” ha! HERE.
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