Francheska “Frankie” Yamsuan

I do have a story. So the first time I got my first account in Downtown LA it was kind of an accident. If you have seen Shark Tank, I was riding my icicle tricycle. That was the first big investment that had cost me about $3,000. A manager of a store saw me and asked if I would wholesale my product. I said: “Yeah”, but I lied because I have never done this before. So I only had 30-60 days to figure everything out. I didn’t really have a lot of money. So I decided just to print the labels out of my home printer and realized the ink would smear. So I sprayed the labels with a product to stop the smearing but then the packaging smelt like gasoline. But you know what, I mean work with what you have the tools that you have. It was really embarrassing but I had that drive to just put it out there.

My favorite quote from one of the co-founders of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman, he said if you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product then you have launched too late.

My company is called Coconut Girl. I wanted to be the brand. I didn’t have any experience marketing, I am a College Dropout, and went to culinary school. Making myself the brand would help me and hold me accountable. Every weekend I would find any fitness event and just put myself out there and talk to customers to get their feedback by selling my product.

I was out there getting their feedback, building the clientele, and building relationships. The best part was that I was getting paid to do this by selling my product. So they trusted me and that’s what made them purchase my product. If shelter-in-place was not currently going on because of covid-19, I would definitely be out there at grocery stores, events, and more still selling. Getting my products in front of customers. I love it.

Yeah, so there’s not a lot that I can say because I did sign a NDA but I applied in March of last year and I had about a month when I found out that they were interested in filming me. I was currently living in LA and I was self manufacturing my product in the kitchen 8 to 12 hours a day but I was still very interested in fitness. I never wanted to miss my workout. So I will get up around 4:30am to drive to Santa Monica Beach. I would run about three miles and instead of listening to music, I would just repeat my pitch over and over again for 30 days. That helped me prep a lot because I haven’t had to memorize things in a very long time.

So while I’m running on Ocean Avenue I would just repeat my pitch, repeat my pitch, repeat my pitch. I would also film myself in front of the camera practicing my pitch. Most importantly as every entrepreneur should do, make sure you know all your numbers. Presenting in front of people does not come naturally so I wanted to make sure that I came out with a lot of energy and nailed my pitch.

It is live. You have no idea. I was terrified and last minute they told me I had to wear a helmet. So I was riding my tricycle down the hall and when I got to the set I could not get my helmet off. Luckily they did not air that part. It was kind of an icebreaker for me. But I was able to nail my pitch after that. I kind of feel like I blacked out. I don’t even know how I went through all of that. The scariest part is the Q&A. They can ask any questions and you have to think on your feet. So that was really the scariest part.

Literally as it is airing my phone was blowing up. I had to turn it off during my viewing party. I have been getting a lot more buyers and distributors calling me. Unfortunately this aired right before the pandemic so as my product sold out in stores, it was not prioritized to be restocked. As things are starting to settle down now, things are starting to get better. The attention and awareness of the brand has been a big plus. It has also grown my credibility. It is a lot easier to talk to grocery buyers, distributors, and customers. So this has been a very positive experience.

I report with him weekly. He also has a team that I work with. I talk to them basically every week. Mark is very busy right now because of the pandemic but I report to him weekly and he provides his feedback. While some of the comments on youtube people believe that Mark bullied me into a deal but it was not at all like that. I really wanted to work with Mark. We have a good working relationship.

So right now I’m still a little old school. I moved everything over to G-Suite from GoDaddy. I use Google Docs & Excel Sheets. I only have one employee right now and everything is on Google Drive & Dropbox. As I am growing I am looking to use something else, but for right now I am only using those tools.

Let’s let’s talk a little bit about Shark Tank, how did you prep?
The only thing that I really prepared was that first 60 second pitch. It’s not like they can say cut and do it again. That’s going to be on the episode. So that was the only thing I really rehearsed. Everything else is just about my business. I know it inside and out, so I didn’t really prep.

Wholefoods found me through a platform called Rangeme but outside of that I am really old school. I would just knock on the grocery store doors and talk to them to see if I can get my product in their store. I do not have any food brokers because I did not have a lot of money. You just need to put yourself out there. Go to farmers markets, because they will find you there. Other grocery stores found me through other grocery stores when they saw my product in there.

I am all about finding someone that is local and understood my needs. I like doing business with people that I meet rather than just a random person that is trying to sell me something. So I was at a trade show and I found someone in the area that would help me get my packaging costs down. That is how I like to do my business.

I want to be the next skinny girl. She sold her alcohol line and then transitioned her company into skinny jeans and more. I have a similar vision for Coconut Girl. When I first started my business, my business was called Coconut Girl Ice Cream. But I changed it to Coconut Girl Brands so I can expand my products. Anything that is in the healthy lifestyle industry because I am so passionate about that and would love to see my business grow there. I want it to be that cool brand, California centric, more than just ice cream. That is where I see it growing.

Just put yourself out there. Entrepreneurs will always want things to be perfect. Don’t worry about that. You don’t have to figure it all out at one time. When I startedI knew nothing about the business. I didn’t even know how to make ice cream. So just put it out there with your friends and family to get their feedback. If there’s an interest, great! If not, then okay move on to something new.