Lessons in Entrepreneurial Vulnerability with Demi Oloyede

Demi Oloyede's journey highlights the authentic struggles and triumphs of being a young female entrepreneur. Through her story, she addresses misconceptions about entrepreneurship, the emotional journey of vulnerability, and the persistence needed to navigate the ups and downs of business, offering valuable perspectives for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Here are some key takeaways from this episode on Courage Unmasked:

About the Guest

Demi Oloyede is the dynamic founder and CEO of Limpiar, a tech-driven company redefining the cleaning industry with fast, reliable, and eco-friendly cleaning services. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, and a first-generation immigrant, Demi has a rich background that spans from serving as a U.S. Navy intelligence officer to excelling in the tech sector at companies like Salesforce. With an MBA in IT management and experience as a product manager, Demi passionately merges technology with practical solutions to create a healthier and more sustainable world.

‍‍Transcript

Carol Park: 0:03

Good morning again everyone. Welcome back to the Courage Unmasked podcast, where we just continue to talk about the courage of vulnerability, and I'm very pleased to announce our guest this morning, demi Aloyde, who is a young female entrepreneur who is raving the world of entrepreneurship. So, demi, welcome again. We're so pleased to have you and to hear your story and so tell us a little bit about your journey and what made you decide to become an entrepreneur Of course.

‍Demi Oloyede: 0:39

Well, thank you so much for having me today, carol. I would say that I've always felt an inkling and a spark towards entrepreneurship. Growing up, my first business was when I was about 11 years old. Right, I was the youngest out of 12 kids and I would always get sent an errands by my older siblings, and it was going to be either of three different locations, and that was to go out and, like you know, buy some sweets or like, buy some cookies or things like that, and I had a bicycle. So I started and I noticed that sometimes, when I, you know, bought these things and delivered successfully, they would tip me or give me, like you know, a couple, a couple dollars, like a cup of naira, because I grew up in Nigeria. I grew up in Nigeria, so I started to charge for it. I said, you know, if you're going to this location, it's five naira, if you're going here, it's 10, it's 15. And, you know, they started to support me and actually pay me to do it. Of course, I lost interest after a while, because then you get people who are older than you who don't want to pay and you know, as a younger sibling, I can really argue too much about it. So I stopped doing that. But that was really my first intro into business.

Demi Oloyede: 1:48

But after I graduated high school in Nigeria I was 15 at the time, you know I just knew that I wanted to you know go in that business light, so ended up moving to the US for college. My family wanted me to study medicine and be a doctor and I was like no, I want to be an entrepreneur. Like, I want to study business. And you know, they're like hey, like, if you study business, you're going to be a bank teller or be an Uber driver and there's nothing wrong with that. But when you're paying so much money for an education, you don't want that to be the outcome. And I basically had to run away from them and move to Oklahoma and say, hey, I'm studying business.

Demi Oloyede: 2:26

And you know, at the time they didn't see the benefit of that. But of course I was an F1 student, I was in a student visa, so there was a lot of limitations in what I could and couldn't do. So I, you know, rolled out the wave but somehow, even through college, like you know, I started two businesses. I started a cleaning business. I also started an e-commerce business where I would sell return goods to students on campus and around our town. So it just it was always there and it just really found ways to manifest. And I would say like if you put people in the right situations, anybody could become a business owner and could start a business, like it's, a lot of times it comes down to survival.

Carol Park: 3:10

Well, survival's a good word in the world of entrepreneurship. I also think you have to have the courage again to venture into that arena, because entrepreneurship is so much about vulnerability, the uncertainty, the risk, the emotions that go with that, and I know when we spoke the first time, you said that people have a lot of misconceptions about entrepreneurship. I thought that you were spot on with that. So tell me a little bit about what you shared with me of people's misperceptions misconceptions Of course, you know what's so funny.

Demi Oloyede: 3:47

It's like three days ago, I was so fed up by my LinkedIn post as well and I decided to make a post about this. But I think there's a general misconception that if you're looking for freedom, looking for more income, then go start your business. Right, and it's just, it's so hard to start a business and it's so hard to sustain a business as well, and there's a lot of people online that are posting hey, you know, I started my business. I made like $2 million in the first six months. Or you know, I made $300,000 before breakfast.

Demi Oloyede: 4:18

Like you know, there's all these like false success stories and nobody's really talking about what it really takes to get to that first profit, to get to that first customer. Right, there's so much work that needs to be done, and I feel like people need to share more of their authentic stories about how they actually came across to that revenue that they generated. Right, like, my first revenue I made at Olympia was about $60 out of $60, about $5 with profit, and I was, I was excited, I was like I made some money, like that's good, right, so it's like celebrating those things too, but at the end of the day, it is a hard process. It takes courage and it takes grit through the journey.

Carol Park: 5:01

Yeah, grit grit is a really good word to so many ups and downs with the journey. So tell us a little bit more about your company and if you're open to sharing some of the ups and downs because again, it's like you said, I think that's part of the misconception. You're going to start this company, it's going to grow, somebody's going to buy it from you. You're going to make millions of dollars and buy an Island or retire on an Island, and people don't understand that. Oh, there are times and I think every entrepreneur will hit that wall where you're like am am I going to keep going? Can I keep doing this? That's the grit. But tell us a little bit about your company and some of the ups and downs, as as you've started it.

Demi Oloyede: 5:45

Definitely I would say that I've really hit. I've probably hit that wall like 20 times this year, like since I started the business. But yeah, the business is called Limp Yarn and we provide on-demand cleaning services. We also allow property managers to schedule, automate and service their cleaning services and operations on our platform. So we're essentially a marketplace that connects cleaners to people who need cleaning services, mostly property managers and property owners. A lot of our cleaners actually come from underrepresented communities, so we're talking about immigrants just like myself, refugees, black Brown-owned businesses. Refugees, black brown owned businesses which a lot of times, you know, don't have access to capital to really acquire customers, retain customers. So in a sense, I am really helping the entrepreneurial community. We're also partnered with the International Leadership Literacy Advocacy Group as well and what we do is we actually help these small and clean businesses onboard on our platform as well to get them access to job opportunities on that front. But yeah, that's the business.

Demi Oloyede: 6:54

In terms of ups and downs that I faced oh my God, so many. I started. I'm gonna say I went full-time on doing this earlier this year about March. We didn't have a full product or a full launch until August, but product development and all that started off in March. So when I first started off, I actually had my cousin on as a co-founder this is my older cousin and we just had a lot of conflict in terms of direction, conflict in terms of misalignment in skills and we ended up having to go our separate ways, which really set the company back about four months. A lot of development work was left undone. I left my full-time job at the time so I was sustaining myself by the money that I already saved. There's just so much going on legal conflicts, all of that and it was so draining At the time I was like maybe I just close this company and start another company and just refresh starts. So that was one of the bigger things this year.

Carol Park: 7:59

Wow, yeah, I think that's one of those walls you hit when you go am I going to keep going? Am I going to pivot, which sometimes entrepreneurship is all about pivoting and realizing that it's like, oh, this seems to be a better idea. But even with that uncertainty, risk emotional exposure. And yeah, you touch on the other part of entrepreneurship that people don't really necessarily think about in advance, don't really necessarily think about in advance. But the relationships and who you partner with and how those relationships work or don't, sometimes, as you move forward in the company and then, yeah, to then take on that company yourself and have to spend your savings to live while you try and make your company work, that's kind of scary. I mean, that's the epitome to courage in that midst of vulnerability. So how about? To some of the highs? Have there been again in the early days? Sometimes it feels like, oh, it's just a lot of like oh, oh, no. So what about?

Demi Oloyede: 9:04

some of the highs. Definitely, I would say one of our first highs was launching our MVP in August, because our MVP should have been launched in April and then it took so much time because of this delay and we launched that in August. So that was definitely a high. Another high was actually seeing cleaners flow into the platform Right.

Demi Oloyede: 9:23

So when we initially started, I was reaching out to cleaners on social media telling them about the platform. I was getting ghosted. A lot of times they weren't responding or they would book a meeting and like not show up. So that was a little like heartbreaking because I'm like hey, like you know, we're trying to help, but like please answer me, call me maybe. Like yes, yes, let's talk please. But it wasn't until we started, you know, utilizing other third parties, that we actually started to see breakthrough in that department. Right now we're actually we have too many cleaners in our platform and we're not taking any new cleaners right now. So it's like getting from the point where we had nobody and nobody was interested to, like. Getting to this point now where we have like a surplus, is like it's been amazing and it's that's definitely been a high.

Carol Park: 10:52

That's that's definitely a high. I also really which I didn't realize from our initial talk that not only do you have a business, but you're supporting other humans and human beings with your business, you know. So it's kind of like a twofold and such a win-win. So I didn't realize that aspect. So tell me a little bit about some of your fears and doubts as you started or have been in this process, and how you confronted or faced those fears and doubts.

Demi Oloyede: 11:30

Definitely so. I had this idea like probably three years ago. Right, I used to clean houses when I was in college. It's really how I put myself through school, right. On the other side of that, I bought my first multifamily property like four years ago, four and a half years ago, and you know, that's when I knew these issues existed, but I just didn't feel like I was the right person to solve them. I'm like, oh me, like I can't do this. Like what is this? You know? So I really face that and I feel like sometimes I continuously face self-doubt.

Demi Oloyede: 12:04

Um, our first client that we had, I sent out a proposal and I like logged off of my computer for the whole day because I was scared. I'm like, just take it, like I don't know what I'm actually this. Like there's always going to be that fear. Um, right now I'm just learning to roll with it. I keep like I have this like what's the worst that can happen mentality, right, maybe they like it, maybe it actually lands well, like you know, what's the worst that could really happen? They say no, they don't want your product, they hate you. Like there's so many people in the world to sell to and there's, like you know so much opportunity, this one person, this one situation is not going to make a difference if you don't go for it, but if you, if you go for it, but if you don't go for it, that's when it makes a difference, cause now you start to have the regret and you don't learn from that.

Demi Oloyede: 12:56

The first proposal that I sent out to a commercial client they actually didn't respond to me. I sent follow-up emails. It didn't respond to me. I look back at that proposal now and I cringe because it was missing so many elements that, like, if I was a business owner, I would not be signing that proposal right. So it's just like you live and you learn, and for me, as I said, like self-doubt was really the biggest thing at the time and I'm just really learning day by day to like overcome that self-doubt and that anxiety, especially like this takes us back to the first question.

Demi Oloyede: 13:29

Like, when you see people posting about how well they're doing, you start to doubt yourself and you're like, maybe I'm, maybe I'm not cut out for this right. Maybe, like this is not my domain, maybe I should like go do something else with my time instead, because if this person is so successful and I'm not, then I must be doing something wrong. But that's not the truth, right? Everybody's journey is different, like you could try to replicate. You could try to do what someone is doing. It might not work for you and it really all comes down to like knowing yourself and that's really what helps you through like these tougher situations that you will. You will experience them Like there's you're so right about that.

Carol Park: 14:08

You will. This isn't a you might, this is a you will. And when we go into that arena of vulnerability, there will be times you will fail. I mean that's, that's a given. It's not like the guarantee that you said people are, you know, touting on social media. Oh, I did this and it was just a success. I mean, we have successes but we also have those failures.

Carol Park: 14:30

I also really like just you talking about your ability to what I might call perspective taking. You know that, instead of just being so focused on that one proposal and that one customer and that this is the end, all be all, your ability to perspective take, to stay in the arena. You know that it's like, okay, there's lots of customers out there. This first one, if I don't get it, there's more in that that you just stayed the course and had the ability to perspective taken. That, I think was is really good advice to entrepreneurs and not get so in the weeds about this one.

Carol Park: 15:11

I also you're which I think every entrepreneur, uh, me included look back on some of the initial either product or, in this case, a proposal, and you kind of do cringe. Or maybe it's your first marketing thing you put out there and you look back and you go. Did we really put that out there? But I know, for me, when we started a company, the thing that one of the individuals who was one of the co-founders which she had read in one of her entrepreneur books, was, basically, if you wait till you get the product perfect, you've waited too long. So when you talk about your MVP and putting it out there, it's like it's not going to be perfect and if you wait is perfection even a possibility, but if you wait too long, you may have missed your opportunity.

Carol Park: 16:04

So having the courage to put it out there, I think, is definitely a big part of it, right? So let's see. So what about unique challenges as a young female entrepreneur? I know when we first talked, you used the phrase that I think you spoke to yourself, or still probably do woman up. So talk to us about the challenges of being a young female entrepreneur.

Demi Oloyede: 16:34

Of course. I think the challenges really is the biggest challenge is people not thinking that you're capable or you're up to the task right. So that's been my biggest challenge so far, and I feel like I'm constantly having to sell myself, which I really don't mind doing, and I hope that one day I get to the point where my work speaks for me and my you know, my track record speaks for me. But today I have to do that. And actually, a really interesting story. So I'm currently hiring. Well, I was hiring for head of operations. We've made the decision to make that more of a fractional position instead of a full-time position.

Demi Oloyede: 17:10

But I was in the middle of an interview this was about a week and a half ago actually and I was talking to this man on the call. He's this middle-aged guy. The call's going good. You know he has a background in facility management, which is going to be really great because we're working with a lot of these facilities, right. So I'm like okay, this is like awesome, like you're checking all the boxes, which is good. And so then, through the call, he asked me. He's like okay, when will I be speaking to the hiring manager? I'm like oh, I am the hiring manager for this role. And he's like, you're the hiring manager. I'm like, yes, I'm the hiring manager. And then he's like, okay, well, I will have to respectfully pass on the position. I'm like, why, like you know, I hope everything's okay.

Demi Oloyede: 17:53

And he just goes off and starts talking about you know, he had a female boss once and you know she was Gen Z and she was not the most pleasant person to work with and he went off to call her the B word. And I'm just sitting here on the call and this man's going off about this thing and he's like, yeah, I really don't think that Gen Z's should be leading anything today in business, because you guys don't know how to show up for work on time, you don't know how to deliver. Like he just went off airing all these things to me and before I could see anything he left the call. So that was so like I was. I was really shocked that that even happened in the first place. But at the same time, like I truthfully, I logged off for the rest of the day, like this was this call probably happened aboutm.

Demi Oloyede: 18:45

And I just like sat on the couch and it kind of led me to start doubting myself. Like, maybe I don't, maybe I shouldn't be hiring right now, maybe I shouldn't be interviewing people right now, maybe I should just do this all by myself. But there's only so much that I could do by myself, right? It gets to a point where you start to need the external help, and I was like you know, think through that. But I was just reminded. You know, at the end of the day, the right people will only care about the mission and what needs to be achieved, and not really who's driving the bus. Right? If he really knew me and if he took time to look through my background or look through the company and what we've achieved in such little time, he would know so much about me as a leader, know so much about what needs to be done, the vision, understand the mission. But I think he just used a bad experience and generalized that and completely projected that on me.

Carol Park: 19:38

Definitely. That's what I hear too, and that's part of that in the vulnerability, the emotional exposure to other people's emotions, as well as then what it elicits within ourself, and I think that's a piece of vulnerability that people like we we're beginning to understand. It's like, okay, I get the uncertainty and the risk, but I don't think people really understand that emotional exposure is such a real piece of vulnerability, so even your own emotions. In that. And you know I also appreciate that you can take the pause. You know, I know sometimes it's like Whoa, can I keep going? But when you said, said, I just had to log off. You've said that a couple of times, I just had to log off.

Carol Park: 20:25

But when you do, you go to that place of perspective taking and your mission or your values which I think too, it's always keeping those in front of us to give us the courage, to help motivate us to not give up. And so, certainly in entrepreneurship, your mission which, again, I hadn't heard that part when we first talked it's such a mission that has so much value to you and to others in it too, which I think is a guiding light for you as you continue the ups and downs, as you continue the ups and downs so well. In closing, especially to young potential female entrepreneurs either beginning or thinking about beginning, any words of wisdom that you might impart.

Demi Oloyede: 21:13

Of course, I feel like everybody's always gonna say this but just do it Like you're never gonna know. You know I'm very type A and I like to treat my life like I'm playing chess, so I know, like all the moves ahead of time. You can't know that in business, like the plan that I made for this business three months ago is not what we're doing today. Right, there's always going to be that change that you can't map out every single day because it's so like it's, it's so unpredictable so you can't map out every single date, because it's so like it's, it's so unpredictable so you can't map out everything. So unless you start, you're not, you're never gonna know. So start, go on the ride and enjoy the ride as well.

Demi Oloyede: 21:51

There's days I cry and I start laughing and I'm just like this is silly. This is actually. I started to record myself crying, actually because I was telling my, telling my friends. Like this is very therapeutic for me. Like I cry and like I feel like there's a lot of clarity, like I suddenly know what to do next. And after I do that, I look at the recording and I laugh and you know I cried about a situation three months ago. And I look back and it's like it's not even that big of a deal, like now I'm facing bigger challenges. I wish that was my reality right now. So until you do it, you're never going to know.

Demi Oloyede: 22:25

But do it because there's no such thing as failing to right. It's like, and depending on what point you get to in your journey, you feel there's a hierarchy to failure, so you feel hired in other people. If you have the idea and you registered your business, you're better off than somebody who just had the idea and never registered the business. If you acquire your first customer, you're better off than the person who registered the business but didn't take the steps to acquire the customer. You know and there's always learning you can go back and try this again in four years, but if you never do it, then you don't have that experience to lean on and you know you're basically starting afresh.

Carol Park: 23:09

So I would say, do it, try it, see if it's for you. You never really know. Yeah, that is great advice really throughout our talk today. So much wisdom, so much great advice that you're giving, and what a beautiful idea again for your company that's going to help others in so many ways. And so, yeah, I just continue to wish you success along your journey and with your business as it grows, and it's been such an honor to have you on this morning, so, thank you.

Demi Oloyede: 23:34

Likewise, it's been such an honor to be here today. Thank you so much for the opportunity, carol.

Carol Park: 23:39

Absolutely Well. Everyone tune in next time too for another episode of Courage Unmasked podcast. Take care, Take care.

Demi Oloyede: 23:50

Thank you guys.