284: How Skimpies Went Viral: Bette Bentley’s Unexpected Genius

Bette: 0:00

And lifestyle for me is a way that I get to be with all of them at the same time. So I always keep them at the core of everything I do. I have to be in service of them.

Camille: 0:19

So you want to make an impact. You're thinking about starting a business, sharing your voice. How do women do it? That handle motherhood, family, and still chase after those dreams. Listen each week as we dive into the stories of women who know. This is Call Me CEO. Welcome back, everyone, to Call Me CEO. This is the podcast where we celebrate women who are building businesses, breaking molds, and doing motherhood on their own terms. I am your host, Camille Walker, and today's guest is someone who is very real and brings a very relatable frustration for women, especially uncomfortable underwear and the constant battle with panty lines, and turned it into one of the most unexpectedly brilliant product innovations in women's basics category. I'm talking about Bet Bentley. She is the former comedy writer, mother of two, and the founder of Skimpies, the TikTok viral, breathable, biodegradable, organic cotton lighter that lines and sticks inside of your leggings, shapewear, or pants. Almost like going commando, but without more coverage and more comfort and a whole lot more confident. I have been using them for about three months now, and I love them so much. I use them with my leggings when they work out, and it's different from any other liner that I've used. They actually stay in place. And since since launching last fall, Skimpiece has exploded on TikTok, landed retail deals with Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and even made its way into Holly wardrobe trailers, including the Marvel sets, which how freaking cool is that? Bet brings this refreshingly honest mix of wit, candor, and determination that I know you're going to love. So today we are going to be talking about what it really likes looks like to build something to reinvent your reinvent yourself as a mother and trust your weird genius ideas to create solutions for everyday problems that women face. So take a moment. All right, Bette, we are so excited to have you on the show today. Thank you so much for being here. And please introduce yourself to the audience.

Bette: 2:31

Hey, Camille. I'm so happy to be here. Hi, I'm Bette Bentley. I'm the founder of Skimpies, the original leggings liner.

Camille: 2:38

Now we need to dive in a little bit more into what gave you the idea for Skimpies. I think this is really fun because knowing, and I didn't mention this before, that you were a comedy writer before you became a product inventor. I mean, that's that's a big jump. How did we get there? What was the idea? Tell us tell us everything.

Bette: 2:57

Yeah, so I started doing comedy at Upright Citizens Brigade, which is a pretty well-known um improv theater started by Amy Poehler in New York. And I kind of was there at like the heyday of UCB when like, you know, you'd go to UCB and Amy would be on stage and Will, you know, would walk by, Will Forte would walk by. And it was just like it was SNL was there, and UCB was there. And it was such a cool time to do comedy, to act, to write. And being at the like pinnacle of that, I kind of rode that uh wave of comedy to LA. Um, and came here and started a YouTube channel for a bunch of pretty famous comics. Uh uh, you know, Tim and Eric, Sarah Silverman, Michael Sarah, Reggie Watts, and just kind of became known as uh an internet comedy queen, and then went to work for Will Farrell and wrote and acted in sketches that got billions of views and felt really like kind of for one of the first times in my life, like I was fulfilling my soul's purpose, which is to spread joy. I love it. I love making people laugh and smile. Uh, and then I met my husband in a writer's room, and we fell in love right away and got pregnant right away, which was the biggest blessing ever. And we actually left LA to like focus on, you know, making our family, buying our first home, all that kind of stuff. And we were in Minnesota for five years. My husband is in advertising and he got a great job. That's where we got our first house and had both our kids, and then moved back to LA in 2020. And at that time, I was hi, puppy. At that time, I was a new mom. I was breastfeeding, it was COVID. I was in leggings 24-7, trying to like get this baby to fall asleep in the stroller and come home and log Josephine into like homeschool for kindergarten. And I was in leggings and I was commando in them because like there's no good underwear. And I was like, this is crazy. How are grown women like going commando in pants that are, you know, my most favorite pair of pants? And I also started getting UTIs, which was really new for me. I'd never been on a UTI journey. They're awful. Yes. They're all and you have to expose your body to all these antibiotics, which then makes you more susceptible to UTIs and throws off your, you know, a lot of stuff. So I just made it a mission to find a comfortable, beautiful, healthy way to wear undies in our leggings. I tried putting a panty liner in my leggings and going for a jog. And when I did that, it completely balled up and went up Matushy. And I was like, okay, that's for this. It's like, wait, light bulb, why don't I just invent a liner that is? So I knew nothing about Fem High. I knew nothing about women's underwear. I just know that I'm a mom, I'm an Aries, I'm dedicated. And if someone tells me no, I'm gonna like want to do it more. So I called a bunch of manufacturers, they all told me no, and I was like, okay, I want to do this more.

Camille: 5:57

So how how did you, what were the steps of that of finding someone that said yes and finding exactly how to make it organic and cotton and all of the things?

Bette: 6:07

Yes. So I kept calling people. I was just determined to get someone on the phone and started by calling manufacturers who make period products because even though I wanted mine to fit and feel like an undie, I knew that they knew how to get adhesive to stick to fabric. And I just thought that was right. Um, and all these companies, they don't, there's a reason why there's been so little innovation in both feminine hygiene and women's underwear. Like they've done the same thing forever. Uh, they're not worried about toxins and chemicals. They have their way they like to do it, and everyone hung up the phone. But then I found this German manufacturer on the phone. She worked for the oldest adhesive manufacturer in the world at the time. And uh I told her my idea, and she was like, I had to wear that. That's a good idea. What? She was the first person who wasn't like, what? A liner, people could just wear pads, hang up. And I was, she was like, that's great. So she sent me like a binder of like different like formulations for adhesives. It had booklets of cottons. And I was like, okay, this is a place to start. This I kind of just like needed, and how cool that like I was blessed that it was another woman. I kind of just needed someone to be like, no, this can exist, and here's what people have done in the past, and look at it, and maybe you can make a prototype. So I used those materials to Frankenstein my own prototype and uh kind of got something working a little bit, found a manufacturer who could make what I prototyped, but not in the shape that I needed, because that was gonna cost $25,000 because we're our own shape. Skimpies by the eye look so similar to a panty liner, but we're actually smaller in the front than in the back. We have different adhesive lay in the front and the back. Uh, these are all things that no one had ever done in feminine hygiene or underwear. So we kind of had to have our own machinery. And I was like, $25,000. That's a lot. Yeah. Like ready to go all in. I was like, am I gonna have to sell my minivan? So I uh found a manufacturer who could make it, and then they'd send it to me, and then I would hand cut it, Camille, to the my to like the size of a skimpy. And then I would like go drive it to women who were my subscribers. People sort of started catching on. So I'd be handmaking like a hundred at a time and drive them around LA. And we had all these like super cool women that were wearing skimpies, and I'd hand it to them and I'd say, I can't wait to be in your pants, and then they'd laugh.

Camille: 8:38

That is very clever. How funny. I didn't know that it had different adhesive front and back. That's so clever. So explain to the person who's never heard it or seen it. You've kind of done that a little bit so far, but what is it that makes it stay in place over just a regular liner?

Bette: 8:54

Yeah, so we use a heat-activated adhesive. We also have a special, what I call our melting fabric. It melds the skimpy to your pants. So we don't have plastic backing like a period product would. And we have our special H3 adhesive, which activates with body heat. So we also don't have an absorbency layer like a period product would, which those absorbency layers are filled with either fibers or powders. They get really stiff. They're made to absorb, you know, fluids, really blood. And when they dry up, they're gonna get crunchy. So all of those issues are why like a period product bunches up if you were to try to hack it and wear it like panties. Um, people always say, but there's no absorbency layer. Yeah, we have two layers of organic cotton. Cotton is so naturally absorbent. You could spot, you could can have discharge, you could have a mommy sneeze, enjoy, change your skimpy, go back to your life. You know, we all experience those things. So we just utilize the natural absorbency of cotton for our everyday, you know, uh issues that women face when we don't really need to be exposed to toxic absorbency powders every day for those things.

Camille: 9:59

Yeah. And I can attest to that because when I first got it in the mail, I thought, huh, this looks just like a liner. How is this different? But it really is. It really does stick to the legging differently than any liner ever has, where you think, oh no, this is going to come right off, or this is going to, you know, stick to my leg at some point or whatever. But no, it really, it really does work. And so good job, by the way. I love them so much. And this is maybe TMI, but I keep it in my car because a lot of times I will get to the gym and be like, oh, I forgot, you know, to put a skimpy on. And I'll just do it in the car right before I go in the gym because then it's just right there and it's easy to do. It's like putting in a piece of gum before I go work out. It's just right there in my car. And I use it all the time. Like I love it so, so much. I'm so proud of you.

Speaker 3: 10:51

Oh, thank you. That makes me so happy. You have me both, and then the other day I looked over and there was like a guy eating a sandwich by my car, and I was like, whoa! I pinted windows, I'm okay.

Camille: 11:02

Yes, you know, you do the lookout, you take a quick look, and then you know, you take care of it, and it's good. So I would love to hear with bringing it around to people in LA. I mean, great place to start because people are used to, I don't know. I feel like LA very much has that energy of we try new things and we so I don't know. You tell me because I haven't lived there, but what was it like introducing a new product like that to people with influence and a lot of people around you that you have a good, you know, a good background that you've built relationships. So I'm sure that didn't hurt.

Bette: 11:38

Yeah, no, not at all. Um, I think one thing I love about Angelinos, and I'm Texan, uh, born and raised, went to, you know, born through college, lived in Texas. And I think Angelinos and Texans are really similar in that we wear our heart on our sleeve. Like we you I'll meet someone at the park and they'll tell me they have a UTI in five seconds. You know, whatever. Like we're TMI people over here. Um, and part of that comes from a desire for connection, and a lot of that too comes from the fact that most Angelinos aren't born in LA. And so they really want to look out for their friends, like their family. And it's always a cool way to go into a new adventure. We always want to look out for each other, and then you know, that sort of started to grow. And then, yeah, like we're just blessed that some of the most incredible women, from like people who make, you know, TV shows to, you know, people who've won Academy Awards are just sort of in, you know, in the same volleyball club or stuff like that. So uh that was cool to have like people you dream of wearing your product wearing your prototypes.

Camille: 12:44

Yeah. I mean, hand cut. That's amazing. Hand cut, I know was TikTok. Tell me about TikTok too, because I know that that was a big part of your I mean, what a great time to build a product like this with the birthplace of TikTok, literally at the same time that you're creating this product. I mean, TikTok had been around for a while. It was called something different, if you knew if you'd ever heard of Musically, but 2020 changed what TikTok was and how businesses were being built. So please tell us about how that worked for you.

Bette: 13:16

I love that snippet of the origin of TikTok. I didn't know that.

Camille: 13:19

Oh, well, there you go. There's a little background. Yeah.

Bette: 13:23

Um, so I kind of had an interesting journey into launching my brand publicly. Right at the time when I uh was like hand delivering prototypes and samples or hand cut skimpies and ziploc bags. I found a tumor in my left breast and ended up having a double mastectomy three weeks later. And that was not my bingo card. I actually thought I wanted, you know, I was praying for a third baby.

Camille: 13:44

So like this was so young. How old were you when that happened?

Bette: 13:48

Uh 35. Wow. 36, I think, when no, because I uh yeah, 35. Yeah.

Camille: 13:57

Wow. And you was it like a regular exam or was it a self-exam? How did you find the lump?

Bette: 14:03

I found it myself. Okay, then went to my OB, then went to get an MRI. Um, it was non-cancerous or sorry, it was pre-cancerous. So it was a preventative double mastectomy. I could have had a lumbectomy, but needed to remove the tumor regardless. And while we were doing testing and genetic testing and family history, we realized, I mean, my doctor told me she was like, if you were my daughter, I would be doing a double mastectomy on you tomorrow. And I was like, Okay, there you go. So I was like, why would I just remove this tumor? I'm only I'm in my mid-30s. Like, why would I remove this tumor and risk having breast cancer? But my grandmother died at 40 of breast cancer. Like that isn't I have two small children, I'm so blessed. I have two healthy kids. Like take them. But it was really it was emotional, it was fast.

Camille: 14:55

So you did a hysterectomy at the same time. Is that what you're saying? Oh no, because so you're saying when you said I have two healthy children, I thought, okay, so you still could have another.

Bette: 15:06

Um I could technically.

Camille: 15:09

Okay.

Bette: 15:10

Yeah. But I think we really made a lot of personal decisions about what was right for me and my body at that stage.

Camille: 15:19

Yeah, that's a big thing.

Bette: 15:21

It's a big surgery. You take out all your meal ducts and you lose your breasts. So if you're gonna have a mastectomy and it's preventative, you kind of want to think about your journey into motherhood and if you're planning on having another baby. It's it's it you can you can have a baby after. And I have friends who've done it. I have so many friends in the breast cancer community that have had babies after um having double mastectomies. It's it's a lot, it's hard. It's just different. It's just different.

Camille: 15:52

I have a friend who was 32, I think, when she did her same similar story where it was in her family and she realized it was the percentage of her walking down that path to cancer was very high. And so she did all of it. She did hysterectomy and double mastectomy at the same time, and it was it was hard, really hard.

Bette: 16:12

It's hard. It's a big procedure. You're under for like eight hours.

Speaker: 16:16

Wow.

Bette: 16:17

Um anyways, the reason I got into all of that was not necessarily to talk about that element, but to talk about that my surgery was sort of in process of me launching the brand. I didn't have the courage to put money down on a deposit down on our mold. I didn't have the courage to like be really public about it. I didn't know if I wanted to be known as like an underwear lady. So I was like kind of doing it quietly. And then I had this like life-altering surgery that really made me like reevaluate the joy in my life. We decided we weren't gonna have a third baby. We I woke up with no breasts, no career, and I just told God, like, I needed joy. I felt this overwhelming urge to say what made me happy in life. And it was God, my kids, my husband, and then I said skimpies, which totally took me by surprise. And I was like, I have to do skimpies in a big way. This is my calling, this is what I meant to do. And right when I said that, this little hummingbird flew up to my window. So I was like, I'm in, I'm in. I called out the hospital. Yeah, I called and I put the deposit down, and I thought my husband would think I was crazy. And he was like, best idea ever. Let's go. Let's do it.

Camille: 17:31

I love it.

Bette: 17:32

Yeah. So um, when I came out of the hospital, you know, I had my tubes and my drains and all that stuff, and I just sort of started doing like the pre-structure of how you form a corporation. I knew I wanted to start with a C Corp. I didn't want to start with an LLC. I wanted to build something really big and I had my and LLCs are great. I just I knew what I wanted. Um, and uh started doing like the founding uh, the foundation of our business and just a lot of creative writing, writing about the brand, writing about the girl, writing about Skimpy sisters, which is what always what I knew I wanted to call the community behind Skimpies. It's already what I called my little like group of women that I would drive Skimpies to with that. We were the Skimpy sisters. So I just started free writing about it. Then when I felt good enough, I started making Instagrams. And this was before we even had like real boxes. Like I had product that I used to wrap in like tissue paper and put rosemary in it and put in a little baggie. And like, you know, this was so early on, but I was just making content. I was testing marketing materials the way you would test jokes if you were a stand up.

Camille: 18:39

Yeah.

Bette: 18:40

I was testing them out in public. And I'm so grateful I did because even though our business launched, like our website went live a year ago. I have had two years before that of testing this product before we had an actual website, before we had an actual business. Like I was testing to see what worked with people, what resonated, what brought joy to their lives. Um, so yeah, once, let's see, December of last year, we had our product went through the port in September. I was making Instagrams all the time. December of last year, I was like, why don't I just put this stuff on TikTok? I'm finally getting to your question. Why don't I just put this stuff on TikTok and see how it does? Whatever. Um, I put our first video on TikTok. It was like, and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna make that video eight seconds long. It was a kind of embarrassing video about front wedgie. And I was like, I'm gonna take everything before and everything after off, and it's just gonna be my front wedgie before and after Skimpies. That's it. That video got six million views. That video doubled our lifetime sales. I still, I probably just made a sale off that video right now. Like that video is still. I'm telling you, that video, I could I got to hire someone because of that video. That video was crazy. Um, and so I was like, people have their credit cards out on TikTok. On Meta, they're just Scrolly, scrolly.

Camille: 20:01

That's so true. For shopping.

Bette: 20:04

Yes. And I like people who are shopping.

Camille: 20:07

Yeah.

Bette: 20:07

I was like, I'm gonna go hang out with these girls right here.

Camille: 20:10

Oh my gosh, that is so true. Even on Instagram, it's different and Facebook is different. TikTok is, and in a way, from where it started to now, it's kind of annoying how much everything is an ad, but now it's kind of become like a shopping network in a way. But with what was the timing of your video? Because I bet it came out at such a good time where it didn't feel quite so spammy. You know what I mean?

Bette: 20:36

Yes. So it was December of last year, last December.

Camille: 20:40

Okay. Just last December. That's amazing.

Bette: 20:44

I feel like if I had launched Skimpies in 2020, like we would have, you know, because I agree, TikTok is a different landscape now. And what used to work for us on TikTok doesn't really work for us anymore. And my little PSA to anybody who's listening who has had a lot of success on TikTok. I mean, we've done like $60,000 and 72 hours on TikTok. We we've worked very well on TikTok. I so I'm I'm I'm not trying to poo-poo. I owe so much to TikTok.

Camille: 21:10

Wow. Okay, yes. Give us all your skills.

Bette: 21:13

But, and I should say, diversify. Don't just, and people will tell you different. I've heard major TikTok brands tell you different. My little two cents, diversify, find other places, other outlets, be in the business of saying yes. In 2026, ladies, we are gonna be in the business of saying yes to things that align with our passions. Not gonna hesitate. We are gonna move forward with clarity and strength. So, I mean, I got national coverage because we went straight from TikTok being number one on TikTok in June to launching at TJ Maxx Marshalls. Who launches a popular viral brand at a discount retailer? I did. So glad I did. I got to pay all our bills. Like it was great. And I got to go and store and it was an easy, easy distribution deal. It wasn't like Target or Walmart, where it's a little more complicated. You got to hire new staff, you've got to hire a new distributor. They make it easy. And I did, I got so much product learning on our box. And so I just a lot of people tell me, no, don't do that. But I just sort of prayed on it and followed my gut. And anyways, my long spiel of TikTok is amazing, and I think we can diversify into other markets too and still maintain that social first mentality.

Camille: 22:27

Okay. Wow. I'm just digesting everything you just said. So first video six million, and you've done 70, what did you say? 60,000 and 72 hours?

Bette: 22:40

We did 60,000 and 72 hours in June this summer.

Camille: 22:45

What was talk to me about that? How how did that happen?

Bette: 22:49

So I have I hadn't had never done paid ads until like two months ago. So this is all organic. Everything you're hearing me talk about is all organic. And I wish I could tell you I'm a mad scientist and that's why I did it. And I had this grand plan. No, I just I was going where the fish were biting, as my grandpa would say. It was working, I was doing it, and I would do more of the thing that was working, and I hadn't really thought about putting money into it just yet. Um, so I had noticed a little dip in sales, and I had always used live selling to promote my videos. Never money, always live selling. So I'd post a video, then I would live sell for two hours at a peak time. It would promote that video. That video would go viral. My live sale would go viral. Sales were great. And that's always what I'd done. I saw June sort of like dipping a little, and I was like, uh no, mommy don't like e this. No thanks. So I was like, Brian, can you take a couple days off work? I've got to focus in on something. I kind of have a plan. Once again, came to it through prayer. Everyone has their own way of. I'm really big on spirituality and business, meditating. Some people work out and they get really clear. For me, being quiet, talking to God just gives me a lot of insight into what I want to do. And I just felt this push to go directly to our warehouse, drive there, set up my camera, and do a live sale for 10 hours right after I posted a video that was crisp to the point, fun, sharp. So went to the warehouse. The guys were like, get out of here. We're busy. And I was like, nope, I'm gonna be here for a long time. Uh, and made a really cute video about the live sale that's about to happen, about this crazy deal I was gonna do on TikTok. I mean, I did such a crazy deal that we literally had a three cent margin. Whoa. Three cent margin, and we still made that $60,000 in 72 hours. It was crazy. Wow. It was crazy. So yeah, I uh I just and I even got the number like during during my you know night of prayer. So I uh went, I did a video, then I live sold for 10 hours from the warehouse, and then I had my um at the time incredible assistant who has gone back to being a full-time mommy, but I just love her so much. She live sold for a couple hours while I slept. So we did like a day of live selling and that's incredible.

Camille: 25:16

Talk to me a little bit about live selling because I I have done work with TikTok before, and that was something they have really pushed on creators where I just couldn't quite I didn't have a product I was selling. And so for me, I was like, well, I can I did a lot of food on TikTok, which I could do that for a time, but you don't keep cooking and cooking. So let's flip it to product. Tell me how you sold or you're doing live selling for 10 hours because I have seen creators on TikTok where they're they'll literally do um like it almost looks like a hangout where they're not even talking so much. I'm sure that's not what you were doing, but people will watch you when they're doing nothing at all. They're like typing on the computer and then maybe uh reapplying lip gloss or whatever. I know that's not what you're doing, but talk me through what those lives look like. How do you do effective selling live that's engaging? And obviously, you're a clever comedic writer, so that's a big, big part of that, I'm sure. But I'd love to hear your formula for that.

Bette: 26:22

I'm really passionate about live selling. I think it can totally transform your business. And I also want to fully embrace that it's not for everybody. And I went to a huge hair care company that you know, I know, they're at Sephora, they're at Ulta, they're everywhere because their TikTok sales are terrible. And they asked if I could go help them learn how to do it. And I was talking to their like face of the brand who, and I realized I was like, I don't think live selling is for y'all. I just like don't think it's the tea for y'all, maybe. It's just not, I don't think it's necessarily for everybody. And that doesn't mean that like there aren't other things that are for you. Um, okay, but all that said, I love my skimpy sisters. Like I love being in the same room with them. I love doing live events, I love going on tour. And live selling for me is a way that I get to be with all of them at the same time. So I always keep them at the core of everything I do. I have to be in service of them. If I'm doing something that's not in service of them, that's why I have this little post-it right here.

Camille: 27:26

What is our purpose to make women's lives better every day? I love that.

Bette: 27:30

If it's not in service of them, it's an X. It doesn't work. Um, so I view my live sales as a way to bring joy and community into their lives. It's not about selling, it's not about like literally the numbers or the sales. It's joy and community. And even though I have to keep my business going to bring the joy in the community, I have women who work for me that I need to pay. If I keep that at the forefront of my mind, the rest falls into place.

Camille: 27:57

Yeah.

Bette: 27:58

It's a mental game, but um, and and that, and that's the part of it that I don't think is for everybody is that mental game of keeping the vibe, whatever the vibe of your business is, keeping that at the forefront. I personally believe that when you're live selling, now I'm gonna get to the nitty-gritty of my checklist. I think you need to stand the whole time. You can do it, I promise. Get orthopedic shoes, get a mat, stand the whole time. I have one product that I sell. It's insane that I like live sell for hours. I mean, the first six months of the brand on TikTok, I live sold every single day for at least two hours. I don't know if you knew that. It was kind of the part of why we went viral. Yeah. Uh and I sell the same product every day. We have one MVP. She's she's it, she's that girl. So uh you have to love your product. You have to love it, honestly, wear it, adore it, because people can smell the BS from a mile away. And we're sick of it. I'm sick of seeing famous people launch a lip gloss, and then I look at their architectural digest tour and I see that they only wear Chanel lip gloss. And I'm like, but you sell lip gloss, girl. You don't even like your own lip gloss. No, they don't. It's all a ruse. And I don't think we want that. At least I don't. I want to buy things from founders that I know that their daughter and their mom would wear it, that they would want them to wear it, that they love it, that it's good for them. So, anyways, um, love your product, speak honestly and passionately about it. Never make it about sales. And also tell people ways that it doesn't work. Like I do that all the time. I'm like, this might not be your everyday underwear. Maybe if you're in leggings every day, you're gonna want to wear it while you're working out because it's gonna keep you healthy. But like you're probably gonna have other panties in your panty drawer. That kind of a thing. I think it's an old school QVC rule, but to me, it just resonates because, like, if you're telling someone like this is the only spoon you'll need, it's like, no, girl, I need more than one spoon, you know?

Camille: 30:00

And it just doesn't like feel it feels a little cheesy. Yeah.

unknown: 30:04

Yeah.

Bette: 30:04

So I've always tried to keep it more like a party, a fun, girly hangout. The vibe of our live sales should always be like you're at brunch with your girlfriends, and she leans over and she's like, You're the prettiest person I've ever seen. And she's like, No, you're the prettiest person I've ever seen.

Camille: 30:19

Are you ready to reclaim your time and finally focus on the tasks that actually grow your business? Whether you're looking to hire a VA or thinking about becoming one, I've got the perfect solution for you. If you're overwhelmed with your business, I personally connect entrepreneurs with highly trained virtual assistants, graduates of my 60 days to VA program, so you can confidently outsource and scale. Or if you're looking for a flexible, profitable business from home, my 60 Days to VA course gives you everything you need to have to become a successful assistant without the trial and error. Head to CamilleWalker.co to get started today, whether you're hiring or launching your own business. I'm here to help you make it happen. You can also grab this link below and schedule a free discovery call with me to see if it's the right fit for you. I've seen people do tactics where they'll ask questions of like a QA, or they'll say this or that, or are you doing those types of things to like keep the audience engaged with about the hang like as you're hanging out, or like what are you saying? I I need to watch one. I apologize. I haven't watched one of your your lives, but like, what are you saying?

Bette: 31:31

Yeah, you need to watch. Um, I talk about the product, I do demos, and because sisters community is such a tight-knit group, we have our regulars, we have about like pretty much try to come to every live. I don't live sell as much as I used to. I do it once a week now. Just mommy runs a business, and it's but you know, Fridays are my day, so come and see us tomorrow if you'd like.

Camille: 31:55

What time? So people watch or listening can join in.

Bette: 31:59

11 a.m. PST. Okay. Tomorrow will be a short one because I have teacher. Well, this isn't airing the exact day that we're recording it, but just so you know, um, I have teacher student conferences, parent-teacher conferences.

Camille: 32:12

So you have your regulars, they come in and you're doing demos, you're talking about the the product, you're talking about what it does, what it doesn't do. And then I wouldn't I'm sorry, go ahead. No, I go ahead.

Bette: 32:24

The regulars, um, having like a community is immediately an activity because you know these girls. Yeah. Ash comes in and she just told you she had her job interview. How did the job interview go? People are gonna come in not just to see you, but to see how Ash's job interview went. We've been praying for her, we've been manifesting this for her, we want it to go well. You're also gonna have like moments of like heartbreak, you know. We had a skimpy sister who miscarried. It was so awful. And like we had all been a part of her. She was so excited to be pregnant. And um, you know, it was just really sad. We got to be there for her in the moment. Uh, so that is is honestly its own activity of just like being involved in in the community, not outsourcing uh someone reading the comments and not reading the ones that don't have to do with the product. The product, whatever, it's about the girl. It's always about the skimpy sister. If you're not making her life better with your product, with your words, with your heart, what are you doing?

Camille: 33:26

I would love to hear for people that have challenged you what are some of the biggest mindset things to overcome, or I guess pushback on the product.

Bette: 33:37

Yeah. Like, um, you mean like bad reviews or like trolls on the internet?

Camille: 33:42

Both, yeah, both.

Bette: 33:45

Well, for me, one thing I really had to get over, and I think one of the reasons my mastectomy really helped me is that like there's an element of our product that's like naughty. You know what I mean? It's a tiny little underwear strip that goes in your pants. It's about like having a sexy booty and like no lines, and it's about not having like a wet spot in your leggings. There's things about it that I think I would have felt bashful to do before, and I can't really explain why, but I think like feeling kind of like a badass, like coming through surgery and being like, I'm still me. Like I lost this part of my body. And I and I did have reconstructive surgery, but it's different, and you kind of look weird.

Camille: 34:23

And uh metamorphosis for sure.

Bette: 34:26

Metamorphosis. And a part of my body that made me feel confident that I really loved. Um, and I think that that made me feel connected to my soul in a way that like this felt more like a shell. And like, if I can make your shell feel good so that your soul feels good, great. But like it makes me take it a little less serious. So I have always come up against a little bit internally of like, I'm shaking my booty on the internet. Are the carpool moms gonna make fun of me? Maybe, like they maybe are, but also I pay our mortgage doing this. Like I employ women who I look up to, I help them pay their mortgage. Like, this is serious. It's all it's not serious, and it's serious.

Camille: 35:08

I love that. Oh, I love that. That's such an interesting perspective because I have seen people do a real or TikTok or something where it says, who cares what they say, they're not on your payroll or they're not paying your mortgage or whatever. Like, I love that sentiment because at the end of the day, what difference does it make what Susie down the street thinks when it's not affecting you, you know, that it's not adding to your life or your bottom line. So literally your bottom line. Okay, so I don't know if you've done an ad like this, and I don't even know how you would do this. I mean, I'm sure you have your ways, but I lift at a gym five to six days a week. You do too. Okay, and you know when you are sweating or your crotch is sweating and you leave you always clean the machinery after you're done, of course, which I always do. But I love that Skimpie's makes it so you don't leave like the crack print behind. Yes, huge. I love it so much.

Bette: 36:07

I've not done a video about that, and I've wanted to specifically, I feel like that's a great TikTok. And I've been searching for we have to follow each other on TikTok. I've been searching for someone to start it so I could make a stitch because I was like, then they can do the heavy lifting, pun intended for me.

Camille: 36:20

Yes, because it literally is it's like a face print, but you're a crutch print. So it's kind of it's a very, it's a very uh intimate mark to leave behind.

Bette: 36:31

It's totally natural and normal and totally natural and normal. Like we'll be natural and normal. It's the underwear and the leggings fault, by the way. Like these are our beautiful natural bodies. Like, thank goodness, thank goodness we have these like incredible, like ever growing, moving, producing like hoo-has that make it possible to bring life into the world. And also we need underwear to keep up with us. Like, we should have solutions that make us feel like we can live our full lives. And that's what I love about Skimbies. It's not covering anything up, it's not some weird silicone camel toe cover. It just celebrates your shape and gives you solutions that hopefully just work for you every day and make you feel good.

Camille: 37:08

Yeah. Yeah. Well, there you go. I love it. I seriously love it so much because my best friend that I work out with, she doesn't sweat at all. So she would we take turns like going back and forth, and she does her thing, no mark. And then I sit down and I'm like, oh, sorry. Like you just you almost feel like you need to apologize for it, but you don't. That's just the body's like our natural, beautiful body's way. So anyway, Skimpies has has fixed that for me. So so thank you. You need to share that.

Bette: 37:36

Yay. Um, it's also very good that you sweat. You want to sweat. As women, we need to sweat more. It's really important for us to detoxify. Sweat is very important to women for detoxifying. So tell your girlfriend to get an asuna.

unknown: 37:49

I will.

Camille: 37:52

So tell me what you learned about the gap in women's products that surprised you the most. As you're developing this product and creating this for people, what was it that you thought, gosh, this has been missing? And why, why don't we have this?

Bette: 38:06

Well, I there's strapless bras, and there's so many iterations of strapless bras.

Camille: 38:10

That is true.

Bette: 38:11

All the way to nipple covers, right? Yes. Thought about all the gray area in which women want to wear bras or don't want to wear bras or don't want to have straps, but don't want their nipples to show, but whatever. We've thought about all these things, but we haven't thought about that for the hoo-haw. And I think there's a lot of reasons why. I think it's because, you know, undergarments have been predominantly manufactured by men and like no shade. I love my husband and my son. I mean, their bathroom stinks, but like love them so much. And also, I don't want them making my underwear. Like, like we're just not the same. I have specific needs that they don't really know about. And I'm gonna keep it that way. So um, I think that that was really the big gap. And I think it really I was shocked by how much undie innovation had happened uh by companies and by um products that were being led by men who who, God bless, but like didn't really know the exact intricacies of what we wanted. And I think it's really important that we have women creating solutions for women, really also because women take women's health very seriously. We look out for our girls.

Camille: 39:20

It's true. Oh, I love that so many more products. In fact, I just interviewed someone last week who had hypermeces girardium, which I'm saying that wrong, I'm sure, but to the point of being so sick during pregnancy, she had to be hospitalized. And uh it wasn't until her third or fourth pregnancy that she came out with natural supplementation that made it so that she could be at home and not be hooked up to an IV her entire pregnancy. And it was because she came forward with product that worked for her. And so I just love that yours is the same. It is so cool. So for you, I'm curious as you move forward. I mean, gosh, you've made big strides in the first, let's say, public year in terms of. You know, being out in the world and in TJ Maxx. How did that happen with TJ Maxx? Did they reach out to you through your virality on TikTok, or how did that exchange happen?

Bette: 40:11

Exactly what happened. They saw they went to a live and they were like, Oh, we love you. And then I was like, wait, I clocked her name, looked her up on LinkedIn, and we had so many mutuals. So I had a mutual connect us and we went out to lunch and we closed the deal at lunch. Like, wow. Yeah, they were like, okay, this is how many we're gonna pick up. This is the truck comes and gets it. I mean, it was so easy. And it was a great way to tiptoe into national distribution because we went national with them uh because I learned a lot about the product, about where in the store I want it, how I want it to sit on the shelf with really low stakes because they buy it up front. They buy it up front, like at Target. A lot of other retailers, if they don't sell, you have to, you have to, you're responsible. You're on the hook. Wow. Um, and and not to say that the product wouldn't sell at Target. Now I think it would. It's just I learned so much at TJ Maxx that I now get to take to a Walmart or a Target.

Camille: 41:10

Yeah. I'm curious about you spoke about writing about your product for a few years before really bringing it to a public face forward. How do you think your experience with writing comedy helped you in pre in creating copy for your product? Because that's such a cool launch point of like, I love how you came at it with curiosity and not necessarily like, oh, I should get this right from the bat or it's a failure. Like, talk to me about that because I think that that's a really interesting perspective as an entrepreneur to have that background.

Bette: 41:44

I and I'm gonna be biased, but I think creativity is the heart of every brand. Like you're a story, you're a person. People aren't just gonna buy, you know, a lipstick or whatever. They're going to buy your brand's story. They're gonna feel moved by you, right? That's the goal. Um, is that you want to connect. It's all about connection. And so uh when I had the idea for skimmies, honestly, I had the idea because I needed it. I wanted it for me. It's like, but this could be something big. Like if I need it, billions of other women need it.

Speaker: 42:19

Yeah.

Bette: 42:20

I went back to what I do and I just free wrote. I didn't even know what I was gonna call it. I just free wrote about this like little liner that would go in your leggings and how I want women to feel and why I needed it. And, you know, obviously like data points of like has to do this, has to do this, has to do this, and also has to feel like this. And when I someone, I imagine someone watching a commercial, I'll never forget doing this. I close my eyes, imagine someone sitting in their room, turning on the TV, watching a commercial, and I just free-wrote what the commercial would be, what I would say, how I would talk to them. And sometimes I look back on it because like a lot of those things I said are things I say in TikToks now. But I just allowed myself to go there visually and to imagine and to really get to the heartbeat of the brand, which is just pure femininity and joy, pure female connection. And then something that I said when I was free writing, I kept saying skimpy, like the word skimpy.

Speaker 3: 43:16

And I was like, that's the name. That's it. I was like, that's the name. I love it so much. So that gave me the brand name. Cool.

Bette: 43:24

Yeah, which you know, this is our first product, but there's gonna be others, maybe sooner rather than later. Okay.

Camille: 43:31

I love that. And what would you tell other moms that are maybe wanting to storytell or put their product out there, but feel like maybe they're too late or they're too busy or they just don't have the right messaging?

Bette: 43:43

I love that so much, that question. I have a saying, and it's take a chance on moms. I, whenever I'm looking through resumes, I, you know, probably shouldn't say this, but it's true. I try to find the mom, especially a mom who's coming back to the workforce after taking some time to raise her family. Never underestimate what a mom can do. We have been through so much. We have learned how to balance, how to keep people activated, how to keep chaos. Maybe it's there, but nobody knows it's there because we're keeping things moving. We have just an incredible skill set and we also lead with our hearts. Uh so I think moms are at their prime. And I would be blessed to have you at Skimpys. So DM me.

Camille: 44:29

Okay. I mean, yes, that might be you may be hearing the beginning of something right here. That's amazing. Um, and so with your movement forward, what is your goal from here to let's say a year, five years, 10 years down the road? What would you say your goal is for Skimpies and for you for your legacy to your own family?

Bette: 44:52

Oh with Skimpies, I want to do something in women's underwear and fem high that no one has ever done. I want to be that brand that when you close your eyes and you think about organic cotton, you think about Skimpies. We make you feel healthy and sexy and at your best and connected and taken care of. And I also want to be on the cover of Forbes.

Camille: 45:21

Hey, well, have you applied for Entrepreneur of the Year? Have you done that with um oh gosh, who does it? It's a big accounting firm and they do it in California. You there is a specific women's section. I'll send you the information because I went to this event. It's been about a year and two years ago now, actually. It is one of the best events I've been to celebrating new businesses. And my friend was in the women's section specifically. And when I was there, the person who won the entire event was the owner of Crumble, who is from Utah. And I was sitting right next to him when he won. And it was so cool to see him go up on stage and it's the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year event. You need to apply.

Speaker 4: 46:05

Okay, I'll look it up. I mean, I mean Crumble, I don't know. I feel like I'm not Crumble is way out of my league, but I'll apply.

Camille: 46:11

Crumble, no, you're not. No, you're not. It was built right down the street. And listen, it's what I love about this event is that there is a specific women's chapter within this event, and then there is like an overall winner of the year, but they do um spotlights on everyone that's there. And it was such a powerful event. You have to go. I'm like, you you would win.

Bette: 46:34

One thing I love in it, kind of gonna tie it back to the part of your question that I didn't answer, but crumble's making me think of it is something I've always come up against with Skimpies, and I think that a lot of moms are gonna come up against when they start their brands, and hopefully everyone who's listening to this starts their own brand, their own product, takes a chance on themselves because they deserve it. Um you owe it to that little girl inside you to take a chance on yourself. Uh, is that a lot of people say, like, oh, but it's just a da-da-da. It's just a liner, it's just a da-da-da. But nobody ever says, like, it's just a vodka soda, it's just a new carbonated water drink, it's just a new cookie. Like, when you do something new that no one has ever done before, they are going to discount you. It's in their bones, especially if it's a product for women. I don't know the science. I'm not a scientist, but it's so true, right? When we are over half the population, we bring humans into this world, but it's just is the thing. And let it fuel your fire. Don't let it dim it. Say, I'm gonna put on my lipstick and I'm gonna prove them wrong. Anytime anyone's like, oh the, I'm gonna prove you wrong. Add it to your list of people you're gonna prove wrong. And, you know, you don't have to invite them to dinner later. Or you can say, Oh, thank goodness you didn't believe in me because it fueled my fire.

Camille: 47:53

Yes, yes. Use it as fuel to build to build you up. I love there is a quote that Taylor Swift did once at it when she was receiving an award, and it was something like, if you're feeling the pressure, it's because you're about to launch. And I've always loved that because it's taking the idea of that pressure and that um pushback as launching power. So why not take that and use it as fuel? I love that so much.

Bette: 48:20

Some of the same people who like didn't necessarily make fun of me, but like we're just not super, yeah. Maybe they did. They teased me a little bit about the brand, about the product. Two of them have asked me for advice for jobs for like their nephew or their spouse. Like, my spouse wants to d-da-da. Like, can you help him? You did it.

Speaker 4: 48:40

And I'm like, that's so funny because you were shady.

Camille: 48:44

So people don't yeah, people are watching.

Bette: 48:47

People are watching, and they don't respect hustle, and not everybody, the vast majority of people do, but there's always gonna be like a small minority that doesn't expect hustle and trying and growth. They want to stomp on a tiny little flower that grows out of the concrete, right? They only respect it when it's huge and big and towering and successful. Find the people who respect you when you're little. Don't ever forget, give grace to the ones who don't, let it fuel you and be a big towering oak tree.

Camille: 49:16

Oh, I love that. And that actually answers the question I was going to ask is what is the mindset or skill do you think that has been the most critical for you and your growth to continually show up as your business grows?

Bette: 49:30

It ain't that deep. Is a big one. It ain't that deep. Uh, I am so I'm such a lover and such an open-hearted person that with that can often come like a lot of being like critical of myself, of taking little tiny things from all over and and processing them too intensely. And I love to remind myself it's not that deep. It's not that that little thing is not that important. Like, just let it go, move on. Like you said, if they're not paying your bills, don't pay them no mind type of mindset. Um, and also for like other stuff, like if we we got prototypes in for our new product, it was terrible. And we spent like six months on it, and I wanted to cry. And I was like, you know what? This wasn't the plan. It ain't that deep. I'm probably being protected from a bad, who knows? This manufacturer might be a bad person. They might not, whatever. It's just, it's move on. So let yourself kind of go with the flow. And then I said this once before, but I feel like it's part of my purpose to say it and talk about not that deep. It's the silliest saying ever, but go where the fish are biting. My grandpa used to say it to me all the time, and I just feel like it was a big piece of advice. Don't be afraid to just go where the fish are biting, even if it doesn't feel cool over there, even if it's something no one's ever done before. Follow your instinct, follow your gut, follow your success.

Camille: 51:01

Ooh, I love that. Well, I think that's a great place to end our conversation here. Thank you so much, Bet, for sharing so much real advice and tips and your real story here. I just have loved our conversation so much.

Speaker 4: 51:15

Me too. I'm so blessed to have gotten to know you and talk to you today.

Camille: 51:19

Yeah, likewise. Please tell us where everyone can connect with you online and also where they can find Skimpys online and in store.

Bette: 51:28

Yes, so skimpies.com is always a great place to buy Skimpies. We have codes uh on the banner, discount codes, so use them. Uh and we don't have any in stock anymore, Marshall's or TJ Maxx. We sold out. It was a really limited run. So just online at the moment, but keep your you can go to Amazon.com, you can go to Walmart.com or skimpies.com and obviously TikTok as well to buy Skimpys. And then for me, you can find me at the Bet Bentley uh and then Skimpy's brand on both Instagram and TikTok.

Camille: 52:04

Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you so much. And thank you for everyone tuning in. If you found this inspiring, please share with a friend. That's how this show will grow and inspire more women to chase after their dreams and create products that we need. So thanks again, and we will see you next time. Hey, CEOs, thank you so much for spending your time with me. If you found this episode inspiring or helpful, please let me know in a comment and a five star review. You could have the chance of being a featured review on an upcoming episode. Continue the conversation on Instagram at Call Me CEO Podcast. And remember, you are the boss.