insights from an entrepreneur with lynn le
We caught up with Lynn Le, founder of Society Nine for a chat about movement, entrepreneurship, and more.
For our readers who may not know Society Nine, how would you describe your company?
LL: Society Nine is a modern femme sports brand providing boxing gear and sportswear to empower you and your fight.
What was the turning point for you to become an entrepreneur?
LL: I would say there wasn't an exact definitive turning point. I was definitely inspired by my roots; my grandma was an entrepreneur in Vietnam before my family was forced to sacrifice everything they owned in light of the war, and escaped to the US. I also think my family's ability to survive in America, and re-build their existence into a stable one when they didn't speak the language or have any resources to come by served as an example for me. Survival is entrepreneurship in of itself, so for me entrepreneurship is pretty existential, to who I am and my family's roots.
Having said that, at least as it relates directly to my experience with Society Nine, there were pieces that fell into place and I felt a drive, hunger and a desire to take a massive risk when those pieces were put together and became clear.
I had been working on Society Nine nights and weekends while spending my time with a full time job, teaching kickboxing and also training heavily in Krav Maga over a period of about a year and a half. During that time, I had decided that if I was able to get an outside sign of life (i.e. funding, whether by way of investment or grant) as well as a boxing glove prototype ready, I would start saving up with the intention of quitting my job and going all in.
I needed to demonstrate to my own self that I could make meaningful progress before I could convince myself that jumping into it all was the right move. That date was August/Sept 2014; I had my first boxing glove prototype, an initial manufacturer relationship, and the city of Portland had a startup competition that I had submitted us to and we won a $15,000 grant. It was at that point I decided to go all in. I sold all of my stuff, except for what I could fit in my Honda at the time and my mattress (I even got rid of the box spring because hey, who needs one anyway?). My storage bins were basically my desk, and I worked from my apartment floor.
We launched Society Nine on Kickstarter that following February in 2015, which kicked off "year 0" of our existence, and everyone's pre-order went out January 2016 - that kicked off our true first year in business.
We know running your own company comes with wearing many hats, what is your favourite element and conversely where do you find the most struggle?
LL: My favorite element is the opportunity to connect and partner with like-minded people, as well as with customers who feel like learning how to box, or kickbox, and doing so in particular in our gear, has changed their lives. We have a company "morale" email folder where we save really meaningful customer testimonials or stories that come out of the blue. Receiving those stories has been the greatest gift, and gets me through the hardest experiences and times as a small business owner.
I find the most struggle specifically in a couple of ways; one is, as the years have gone on, I've seen the industry still hasn't really changed with regards to how women are represented or supported - meaning, they are still not invested in as a customer base, an athletic group, or taken seriously or compensated fairly at the professional or amateur level.
Two is funding inventory - as a business grows, financing inventory gets harder and harder because the stakes are higher with needing to be in stock to meet demand, but that also means that the immediate cash flow required to pay that inventory gets larger. And going to a bank, despite your very good credit score and non-delinquency is not enough to get you a line of credit, which is a challenging reality for many entrepreneurs of color (I was born a Vietnamese American woman in a low socio-economic circumstance).
Third is how the industry still perpetuates a singular image of what being powerful, fit and strong looks like when we neglect to realize that every single person's genetic make up and ability is different. We should be encouraging and supporting people to simply have joy in their movement - if the industry's motivation is in making money, I wish that more brands and businesses would realize that if you actually pushed a message of joy and welcome to people of all abilities and body types, you would also retain them longer because they LOVE to train and be active, and therefore will spend money on your business because of it. It's a win-win for all. Instead, the wellness industry still perpetuates only one end-game for working out, which is to lose weight. That's never been a real, tangible, long term outcome - BUT, loving something is a long term outcome.
What is the best business advice someone has shared with you that really resonated?
LL: There's been so much advice and mentorship I've been lucky to receive over the years, but one that comes to mind that has been on repeat recently is, you cannot control everything. All you can control is your best effort, and finding a way to acknowledge that your best effort is truly enough, and that you are not a failure.
Additionally, another one is "no one has written the story of your company" - in other words, you can't compare your own journey with others, which can be hard to do as an entrepreneur because you're constantly trying to figure how you measure in accomplishment and success. The truth is, you need to do everything in your power to remember that there is no singular path of success. And also, that entrepreneurship is a game of privilege, networking and nepotism. It doesn't mean that hard work isn't at play, but entrepreneurship is by no means a meritocracy or a game of equality.
Is there anything that surprised you about running your own company?
LL: How painful the lows are. I had been warned many times, but when you feel them they can be really dark places, and incredibly lonely places at that because not many people know what it's like to be a small business owner. Press, social media - all the externalities only show a VERY narrow sliver of what's happening behind the scenes. Don't get me wrong - there's plenty of good, but the challenges that every startup goes through can be significant, and they all vary.
Can you share a little bit about your relationship with movement and how it's changed over the years?
LL: This is still a challenge for me, and I'm working hard to figure out what it is. I tied my self worth to my identity as a kickboxing instructor and a Krav Maga brown belt for a long time, and with that everything else, including my body and how "in shape" I was. What wasn't addressed was the fact that I got sick all the time because of over training, I was burned out, my nervous system was always on edge - in fact, I was regularly irritable because I was so hungry (I probably was not eating enough for how much I was teaching/training) and so my relationships and friendships suffered. Starting a business meant I wasn't teaching anymore, and the time going into training reduced significantly as my responsibilities with the business grew. I started experiencing some disordered eating habits because I felt I had to "earn" my right to eat, and if I wasn't active "enough," I wasn't allowed to eat more than X number of calories. I still struggle with that today.
All that being said, I am very privileged in this industry: I am cis gender, able bodied, and more represented than plus size individuals and people of color in this industry, but even I wasn't immune to the health, beauty and wellness industry's imagery around how Asian women "should" look. That's not a cry for pity; after all, I still possess the privilege. But, I do share this because I think it's important to highlight the fact that DESPITE me being incredibly privileged in representation in the industry, that even I am not immune to its insidious effects. I share this because we should all be more empathetic to those with disabilities, are of different body types and skill sets, as well as ethnic backgrounds.
Fast forward to the pandemic, and my level of activity REALLY changed - I had to really learn how to workout at home, self motivate when I'm doing all I can to help this business survive an unprecedented time, and the eating challenges started again. I'm starting to improve though, and I'm learning how to not say "my training suffered" or "I'm so out of shape" - because, movement should be an ongoing process. Unless you're literally training for a very specific goal, such as a bodybuilding competition, an amateur fight, etc, in which case you should be honest and say, "THIS is my goal." But, movement is a beautiful, ever changing thing - and you should allow it to be. I am telling myself that EVERY day right now, still. I'm also actively working on being kind to my mental health with the eating challenges.
Who would play you in a movie?
LL: Lana Condor
Netflix guilty pleasure?
LL: Formula 1 Drive to Survive
Hobby that you low key would love to do for a living?
LL: Start a women's golf brand (here I go again, already thinking about new business ideas... lol)
If you could eat one meal only forever, what would it be?
LL: Vietnamese food, forever and ever.
What’s something you are really thankful for?
LL: I'm cheating, and naming a few things - My health, my body, my empathy; my family, my partner, and my closest friends.