Craig Hammond: Success Born From Frustration as a Parent

Disclaimer: Transcripts were generated automatically and may contain inaccuracies and errors.

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Craig Hammond, everybody. Craig, thanks for jumping on how are you doing? I’m doing great. Thanks. Thanks for having me. Yeah. So you and I go back a little bit and we’ll kind of get into the discussion of how we got introduced and what your business is, but let’s kind of start with an ice breaker and I’m going to ask you, what are you good at and what are you bad at?  

All right. Um, Bad. I would say, I need to press it. This podcast interview that I am not good at articulating my thoughts. So we’ll see how this goes, but that’s really something that I struggle with. And so hopefully I come across as coherent and somewhat articulate, uh, The other thing that I struggle with is really staying organized and like remembering which tasks that I have to do.  

Um, and I do have some tactics that I, that I try to follow every day to get better at that. I’m good at, I am good at just, I don’t know, keep continually trying to just do. I know that sounds like it. Like I’m ending the sentence a little early and it’s unfinished, but I just try to do, try to, um, always complete what I’m supposed to be doing.  

Um, and, and execute that. I think that’s something that, um, has helped me, who is a very average person to have some, um, Exceptional results at times in my life. And that’s just by not being afraid to, to execute. So that’s probably something that I’m pretty good at. I think that’s a great segue kind of into your career.  

Um, you know, in the intro, we talked about how you’ve had over a million dollars in sales and just the first year of a business. And, uh, but I think like as simple as you make it sound. About just doing, I think that’s a crucial part of what entrepreneurs have success at, which ones have success and which ones don’t, because so many of them, um, you know, have an idea, but they don’t do anything with it.  

And then after, after not doing anything for a week, it turns into a month and then a month turns in a few months, a few months. And then by then they’re like, ah, and then, and then just like the mindset sets in the  was an idea and it just stays an idea. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah. Executing is what takes that idea into something of substance, you know?  

Yeah. So we talked about just right before you and I jumped on your intro, talks about pajamas, which is your business now, and then you’ve been into other things before. Um, why don’t you tell us where, you know, give us your explanation of what pajamas is and how it came to life and then backtrack a little bit.  

And, um, you know, what was your evolution of your career that got you to running your own business? Okay. Great. Uh, so PJM is, are a replacement or an option, uh, in place of disposable, nighttime diapers. So we are a more sustainable, uh, sustainable mini eco-friendly, significantly more affordable and what we believe, uh, to be a better option for the child than disposable diapers.  

Um, In the two years, actually, tomorrow is our two year anniversary, February 14th, 20 20th, our two year anniversary. Uh, in, in that two years, we’ve just, it’s kinda been a rocket ship ride that is honestly. Uh, really motivated, but also really humbled me, excuse me. When we started, we launched on Kickstarter and we set our goal for $12,000 and I thought that’s enough for our first order to meet our minimum order, quantity or MOQ, um, to get it shipped here to the United States and to at least have inventory to start selling.  

And in 45 days, we did a quarter of a million dollars, became the highest funded Kickstarter campaign in our vertical and children’s clothing. And children’s, uh, like product design. Um, and then, you know, just a few months after that, we went and pitched on shark tank and ever since it’s just been a total rocket ship.  

Um, and I think it gets because we created a product that really resonates with a universal, um, point of frustration for parents and, and something that is so relatable. So the idea came about. About let’s see, what, what year is it? We launched in 2018. I had the idea in 2016 and for two years I was moonlighting with pajamas and trying to get.  

A product that I felt was our MVP. That that could be reliable and start helping people. So in 2016, I had just gotten laid off from this big Silicon Valley tech company, FinTech. They shut down the entire salt Lake office and there were like 150 people that suddenly. Needed jobs. And I took that opportunity.  

They actually did have a pretty generous severance package. And I thought for two months, I’m going to take a step back and really think about what I want my next step to be. And I knew that I wanted to get back into entrepreneurship, um, instead of kind of like the corporate grind. And at that same time, coincidentally, we were potty training. 

My oldest son, who then was a about three years old, a little over three. And he was totally potty trained during the day. No problems there, but every time we would go to put him to bed, we kind of had this. Lingering question, this lingering frustration of, do we put them in a diaper or do we just kind of roll the dice? 

And the reason it was a question and frustrating for my wife and me was because if we put them in a diaper, we’d almost guarantee that he was going to pee. And if we didn’t put him in a diaper, we were rolling the dice. If you wet the bed and then we’d have to deal with wet sheets and stuff. Well, we really felt like.  

Every time we’d put him in and he’d pee that it was just delaying and that he was never going to progress. And one night we didn’t put them in a diaper, came into our bed in the middle of the night. No idea. And I woke up and I was literally like dreads. We have a King size bed. And that thing, like at least half of it was just totally soaked in urine.  

And I remember since I was, um, like it’s so vivid now, and I think that’s because it was a serious , but I remember waking up like, Throw the sheets off the bed. And I sat on my bed with my laptop for hours, looking for something, looking for something that was an alternative. Cause I was just like, there’s gotta be something that’s an alternative and I couldn’t find anything.  

And that’s when, like I said, I had my aha moment of, well, what if we put them in something that, you know, ideally protects the bed? You know, protects the sheets, protect other people, potentially sleeping with him, but that helps him really potty train. And after looking at like a variety of different options, we ultimately decided on something that’s akin to, you know, cloth diapers, where they’re just super absorbed fabric, natural fabrics, um, to absorb urine, but to not.  

Serve the same purpose as a diaper, um, letting the child feel comfortable with tea, right? So a diaper will whip all the moisture away. So the child’s just like, Oh, I’m going to pee. And I’m not going to feel wet at all. Whatever, no discomfort. And I felt like for at least my son, that was part of the problem is he didn’t feel uncomfortable.  

He didn’t feel wet. So, um, over the next year and a half, almost two years, we worked on something that. Um, would absorb a significant amount of urine right now, pajamas hold at least 10 ounces of urine reliably, which is kind of equivalent to like two or three accidents or two, two or three urine releases a night.  

Um, which is pretty average. Um, but that would. Again, let the child know that they had an accident to kind of reinforce what you teach during the daytime, which is, Hey, you’re going to wear undies or you’re not going to wear anything. And if you have an accident, you’re going to feel it. And you’re going to associate that with, with having an accident.  

So, like I said, over the next year and a half, we developed it, got a lot of feedback from, um, just. Friends, family acquaintances who were kind of our beta testers. And in February of 2018, we felt like we really had something and launched. And the rest, as they say, is history. At least getting started history, you know, right now we’re at that point where we’ve got to. 

A business that’s growing thankfully, and we’re trying to just scale and help as many people as we possibly can. And I think that was a really long winded way to get back into like more of my history. And I’ll, I’ll keep that brief. I have always known that I, um, kick and a little bit different. Cadence and rhythm then, and most people, um, I remember when I was in college, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do.  

You know, of course I went through the like, Oh, maybe med school, or maybe I want to be an attorney. And I just always knew it. No, I want to run my own business. And there was my dad in the other corner that was like, you need to get a professional degree and you need to like, go get, you need to go get experience, um, at a big company.  

You know, I, for some reason, I remember there’s a big printer company that sells printers in salt Lake called Les Olson. And he’s like, I can get you a job selling printers at Les Olson. Sounds like my literal nightmare. Like absolutely not. And so right out of college, I, um, during college I had a couple of businesses that had varying levels of, of success.  

And then, um, right after I, for two years, I focused, uh, a business, a startup with a friend of mine. And again, wasn’t really successful. We pretty much just broke even. And then I w got my MBA thinking, you know, this is going to be really educational and really good experience. And I kind of fell in the track of traditional.  

Uh, MBA students are a lot of college students in general that. You know, you’re so funneled and taught how to be an employee and how to have a variety of, you know, uh, a breadth of skills or skillset, um, from accounting to marketing and finance through your education that they really like push you towards, um, traditional employment. 

And I kind of fell victim of getting that mindset for a little bit where. My, my, uh, colleagues at school were like, Oh yeah, I’m interviewing with Nissan or, um, interview with Proctor and gamble. And I kind of felt competitive to need to try and do that. And for a couple of years after grad school, I kind of did go the corporate route and I was just miserable.  

I hated it every day and I just I’d probably spend. 90% of my working time thinking about ideas and like ways that I could start a new business, which made me a terrible employee, but ultimately led me, led me back to being able to be an entrepreneur, which is really where I know I’m supposed to be and where I love.  

Yeah. Thanks for the background. So I got a lot of questions on various points that you touched on. Um, I’ll start with, so what is, what does dad think now? That’s a great question. And honestly, it’s really cool. I don’t regrettably, I don’t really see my dad a whole lot. We don’t live that far away, but kind of split up family anyway.  

Not super close. I love him. Great relationship. We just don’t talk to him. Part of that’s probably also just with age, but anyway, I did go to lunch with him just last week and he was like, tell me all about pajamas and. I was telling them where we were at, where, you know, where we expect to be this coming year.  

And he was like, so forward, he actually had like tears in his eyes and he was like, you are everything that you wanted to be. And he’s like, I can’t believe I tried steering you in the other direction. He’s like, this is, this is so you and I was like, Thanks so much. Like I laugh now and it is a great story of where I was trying to be directed to from you, um, to where I am now.  

But he just said you really are like an entrepreneur, like what you wanted to be doing. And. Yeah, I’m so proud of you. So it’s, it’s really cool to hear that. And oddly enough, over the last, like five, 10 years, he’s worked in a small business slash startup as well. So, um, he didn’t necessarily heat his own advice for me.  

Yeah. That’s super cool that he would, he would, he would, uh, be humble enough to go, ah, you know, I, I took the wrong position and I can acknowledge that and then actually voice it to you. So that’s cool. Yeah. Yeah. He’s, he’s great like that. He’s not too prideful to not admit when he’s wrong. So, so you, you Moonlight with pajamas for awhile, um, which I’m sure you get endless compliments on the name.  

And I can’t believe that, you know, P and pajamas, um, that some of someone wasn’t just like squatting on the name. Anyway, I believe it. Right, right. That’s what I like news lightening had struck and we kind of captured something in a bottle is, uh, the product wasn’t there. Like there was no product existing.  

Um, it seemed like such low hanging fruit. I had this like, Bit of inspiration, where I was like, Oh, what if we call them P JAMA? So the kids just putting out the gamut, looked it up, URL was available and I snatched her right then for like the GoDaddy price of like 1299 a year or whatever it was. That’s when I was like, no, this is too good.  

The trademark was available. It was just, it was, it was amazing when we went on shark tank, all of the sharks, even though they didn’t all understand the concept of the. Of the product, all of them were like, that is such an awesome brand name. Do you have a trademark? And I was like, yeah, we do actually have a trademark.  

And since then we’ve been awarded a trademark and whatnot, but yeah. Yeah, it was just one of those things that came together so perfectly that there was certainly an aspect of. Uh, serendipity or luck in it. Yeah. Well, let’s talk about shark tank for a minute. So ultimately the episode didn’t air, but talk about the experience of, uh, not just the recording, but a lot of people don’t know that you just have to go through a ton of stuff even to potentially walk onto the floor.  

So give us the rundown of that experience. Yeah. So, um, a good friend of mine, who’s also a partner in pajamas. He’s the one person that I took money from. And that was cause I really just wanted him involved. I told him, I said, I want you involved. I’m not giving you a free ticket. He’s like, all right, like put a little bit of money.  

And he sent me this email for somebody at shark tank, a casting producer, and he said, you didn’t get this from me, but hit her up. And I hit her up and she emailed me back that same day and was like, can we talk? We talked a day later. And she said, first of all, how did you get my email? And I was like, yeah.  

So I’m like, Oh, shared it. Like, I hope that’s okay. And she’s like, no, honestly, I’m so glad that you reached out. And, um, I just gave her the pitch. I had sent her the video to our Kickstarter, which again, we were like three weeks into our Kickstarter is all. And gave her the pitch. She said, okay, what we typically do is you go to the house, okay.  

Open casting calls. And you’re competing with like hundreds of other people. And in fact, at those open casting calls, oftentimes you’re pitching side-by-side or at least this is the way it was you’re pitching side by side. Simultaneously with other entrepreneurs. So you have to do something to stand out.  

We, because the phone call, she said, just so you know, you don’t have to go through any of that. I’m pushing you onto the next stage. You’re going to start talking with actual producers on the show. Okay. And you have these like, like almost homework assignments to do. Um, at least we, if not a couple a week and that’s, you know, Doing recording video of you pitching talking about your product, sending them pricing, sending them your cap table.  

I mean, they have so many different checklists that you need to meet. And, uh, the whole time they’re saying, Hey, this doesn’t mean like, yes, you’re progressing. It doesn’t mean you’re gonna get out here until, um, the only way that you’re going to know. Or the time in which you will know that you’re coming out here is when we call you to book your flight.  

So you’re doing all this work, which is hours and hours a week. Just hoping that you get that phone call, that you’re going to be flying out. And sure enough, they called and said, okay, we’re ready to book your flight. You and your son. My son came in touch with me. He was three and he wore pajamas and stuff.  

And, um, we finally got to get out there, but it is, uh, you know, For us, it was about a three month process of hours and hours every week preparing. So what was cool is as soon as you get out there, they, um, they usually say in two different times of the year, we filmed in June and then they do another one in like September you’re out there with, you know, maybe 80, 80 other entrepreneurs.  

And they said, congratulations, you’ve made it this far. Um, just to put this in perspective, the number of people that pitch on shark tank. Mmm bye. The percentage of people that pitch on shark tank, uh, from total applications is actually significantly smaller than like getting accepted. Uh, to all Ivy league combined.  

So it’s hard cause like harder to get onto shark tank to pitch. And then all those combined. And I was like, Whoa, like that’s so motivating. And again, so humbling. Um, And yeah, we, we went out, we, we picked, so we gave it our best. Um, all the sharks were so complimentary to how we were running the business to the creativity again, to the brand.  

Um, the fact that I knew our numbers, I didn’t go out there and totally like flop or I wasn’t. I’m uneducated on the business and ultimately we didn’t get any offers. Uh, the biggest hangup was that we were three months old. We were, we hadn’t delivered anything. We were just fresh off of our Kickstarter and they thought, well, this is such a new product.  

What is it is a total flop. And, um, anyway, we didn’t end up airing, which really stunk because one would have been amazing for our business. And two, the thing that hurts most is I just wanted so badly to have some sort of visual keepsake of being out there with my son. It was so cute. Just like one, one thing real quick on the pitch part of it, I say.  

I say, Hey, Truman. The name of my second son showed the sharks. How PJM was work. He’s a pretty shy kid. Like he’s like hanging onto my leg and he steps forward hands on his hips and just like grins and give them like this eye. They’re like side to side. I look and I’m sitting there silent for like five seconds, like counting in my head one.  

Two three and Robert Herjavec’s over there on the corner and he’s like, is he paying stage right now? Craig like losing his mind. And then I say, I’m just joking. He’s not actually paying, but bedwetting is no joke. And um, any, you know, after the pitch, he walks off set and Mark Cuban’s like Truman fell in the koi pond because they have the little like pools and he’s like chairman sell it.  

And I’m like, yeah, I turned around right. At a bowl and he’s like, Oh, I’m just kidding. Anyway, it was just like, it was such a cool experience. And they were so kind to my son and really, really kind to, to me and what we were doing, but just didn’t really understand the vision. So that kind of hurt that we didn’t get to air it’s because they’re all mature older adults and they’re kind of detached from the younger kids, or why do you think there’s a disconnect and, and understanding the product.  

Yeah. Um, honestly, I’m not totally sure. I, you know, Robert, who was the one shark there that I was like, yeah, like he’s kind of who I wanted. Oddly enough, the real shark that I wanted. Who’s Sara Blakely, the guest shark, uh, founder of Spanx. That’s who I really wanted. They, they knew that she was there filming the day before me and I didn’t get to pitch to her unfortunately, but Robert didn’t get the vision.  

Um, Oh, why am I blanking on her name right now? QVC queen Laurie. Yeah. Laurie really wanted it. She was the one that was so hung up. She’s like, well, what if everybody hates it? And then I was like, you know, we’ve had like 50 plus people that have all really liked it. Undoubtedly with a larger sample size, not everyone’s going to.  

They have the same experience, but you know, I, anyway, she, so she, for her, it was just too early. I actually kind of ignored mr. Wonderful, because I don’t like his style. Damon, Damon also didn’t see it. He comes from a place of fashion and he’s like, man fashion so hard. And I was like, we’re a functional product.  

And he didn’t really get that. And then Cuban was just. Cuban. And I just, I don’t think it fit his portfolio. He said, um, he goes, look, you guys are doing an amazing job marketing it. I think you’re more of a marketing company than a product company. And I go kind of under my breath. I go, I knew you were going to say that he goes, what?  

And I said, I knew you were going to say that when you’re not interested company, just if it doesn’t see your portfolio, that’s what you usually say. And he kind of, he kind of like laughing. Nodded his head in agreement and that’s kind of where it ended. I was just like, you know, I’m sorry, you guys don’t see the vision and  

They ended up doing those posts, pitch interviews. And I was kind of glad that I didn’t there because I got a little fired up I’m I’m typically like a really reserved try to always be really kind and thoughtful. And they got me and I was just like, these guys, I’m going to show them that they’re wrong. 

Like we’re going to be the next ring doorbell, like opportunity. And I started to like really show some ego and. You know, kind of disappointed myself the way I reacted, but it was there producers like egging you on that. Is that why you got, yeah, they kind of do. They kind of do. And she was so great. Like I still love her to death.  

My name’s Laura and, um, She was like, so tell me how you’re feeling. And at first I was like, I’m just disappointed. Like we had a dozen people come and ask us to invest, and then suddenly I’m on like national TV in front of these supposedly Titans of business. And that’s when I started, I started throwing shade  

I’m like, these guys are the sides of the business and they don’t even understand the product. I was like, give me a break. And so then she kind of started prodding and that’s where I started to kind of let loose and I made an idiot of myself, but, uh, that’s funny. Thankfully, the world didn’t see that. So, you know, you’re a couple of weeks into Kickstarter, like you said before, you’re going down the shark tank path.  

Did, did you ever stop during those first three months or so and go, what is going on? Like I just started this, our funding blew up like 10 times larger than I expected. And now I’m going to shark tank. Yeah. Yeah, man. It was just, it was crazy. So I just left a job in, like, what was that? November, 2017. It was kind of a, a bad ending to this really bad toxic job.  

And I just thought I’m throwing myself into pajamas. I’m going to focus on it and get it going. And I remember we were doing our new year’s resolutions in January. That’s our goals. Um, and I said, I’m going to agree to launch on Kickstarter. My private goal was to have the highest funded campaign, but I, I wasn’t going around telling people that.  

And then the other third big one related to PJM was, was we’re going to pitch and get on shark tank. And then when it was all happening, like we launched, TJ was, we were closing in, on the highest, um, fund campaign ever. And then shark tank. It’s interesting. I was just sitting back by this is. Unbelievable.  

It’s it’s literally like, those were like my stretch goals, you know, we are hitting them and it was, I just, I know I’ve said it multiple times, but it was so humbling, but so encouraging that, um, it had the response that it did. And in one way, I kind of expected it to do well because all of our beta testers were like, why didn’t I have this idea?  

And the fact that so many people were saying that really. Um, gave me confidence that there was a real demand in like a good product market fit. Um, but then when it all started at like really come about and in the way that it did, it was just crazy. Like through our crowdfunding, we surpass more than I thought we would do in our whole first 12 months. 

You know, it was just. Great. What do you think contributed to the success of kickstart? Obviously, like you’ve touched on, you struck a chord with your audience, but did you have any strategic production behind the copywriting you put into your ad or like the video that you produced? Like did you go above and beyond in ways that people don’t see at face value? 

Yeah. Yeah, I did actually. So I would study for like months. This is where if you were to look at like a snapshot of time in history, you’d probably be like, Craig’s not doing anything, but I was so focused on. Making the story relatable and the video of like scripting the video in a way that would keep people watching it for two and a half minutes and really communicating one, like, you know, the traditional identify the problem and then present the solution and then sell the solution.  

Like, I mean, I really scripted that in a way that, um, Like was pretty formulated to have successful videos, not necessarily successful campaigns, but at least successful videos. Um, and that, that took like a good two or three months to really nail that down. And then of course we just use, thankfully, that partner that I referenced earlier is in drying trash.  

Um, He had been involved and still is involved in some companies that had had some successful Kickstarters. And he knew a bunch of tactics that, um, we implemented to, to see that success. Unfortunately, Kickstarter isn’t what it originally was in its first year. And a lot of times now it’s, you know, it’s a pay to play.  

You’ve got to drive traffic there, um, to be able to do some significant volume. But that being said, we still, um, We’re able to do it in a, in a really successful way. So now that you, so you take all the funding from Kickstarter, you build a company around it and you did a million in sales in the first year  

Um, congratulations. First of all, that’s amazing. What, what’s the primary source of those cells? Like what’s the strategy behind continuing that volume? Mmm. Yeah, oddly enough, I was kind of one, I was really happy with what we did. Um, but it, it kind of bothered me on one hand that we were able to do it the way we did it.  

Um, but it also, I, again, like really floored me the way that the, that we did it the way we did. And that’s because outside of crowdfunding, Uh, well, I guess even during crowdsourcing, we’re talking like 95%, probably 99% of our paid media was all on Facebook. And like, to some extent, Instagram cause it’s part of their ecosystem.  

And so after a year we’re looking and we’re like, wow, like 12 months span. We just, we did a million dollars. Um, we did that on Facebook. Which is incredible, but just think of if we had taken the time to use a few other, um, like sales channels or marketing tactics to really grow our brand. And so, like I said, tomorrow is our two year anniversary we’re heading into our third year, even the second year.  

Most of the second year we relied primarily on Facebook. Well now. We’re recognizing that one, Facebook is not as reliable as it was even two years ago, even a year ago, too. It’s literally like probably doubled in price for, you know, um, for impressions and certainly for, um, acquiring a customer. And so over the last six months, and currently we’re really investing in.  

Uh, new ways to drive traffic to our website. Um, part of that, obviously with you involved is, uh, really improving our SEO, diving more deeply into content, um, having educational resources on our website. We’re getting into new channels like Pinterest, which is really, really, uh, or can be really successful since so many of our target demographic or target customers are already there.  

We’re getting more into influencer collaborations. We’re getting, um, heavily involved in affiliate partnerships. Um, and then again, um, The kind of more traditional route. We started to do international distribution. And then by the end of this year, we really expect to see pajamas and some, uh, nationwide brick and mortar stores.  

So we’re kind of moving away from being so reliant on Facebook. It’s kind of like the old investment, like. One Oh one, which is like diversify, diversify. We were like, wow, we did a million dollars on Facebook. What if like what Facebook servers like blew up, we’d have a bankrupt business, you know, we’ve gotta diversify how we’re trying to reach people, um, for a variety of reasons, you know, from a cost perspective, from a reach perspective, from a success perspective.  

So. We were seeing good results and hope that it keeps improving. Yeah. It’s an interesting position to be in, because like you said, it’s amazing that you did that many cells from one source being Facebook, but then it’s, it’s scary. Like you started to talk about and, you know, I didn’t, I didn’t necessarily bring this up to, to start chatting about SEO, but, but since it’s kind of been brought up, um, some of the interesting things that have come up in.  

Me and my company’s involvement is it’s been really fun to, like, you talked about content. And so again, a look about, look into, okay, what is this audience searching for? Like what answers do they want to know about disposable diapers? What just like Craig sitting on the end of the bed at night? Like, what are the alternatives?  

What things are there? And so it’s been really fun, especially for me as a parent also. Oh yeah. Like I can resonate with that. And so that would be great pajamas. And so it’s been, it’s been really fun to go through and explore. This product, because in many ways it’s, it’s its own industry because you are singularly like a standalone alternative without any direct immediate there’s alternatives in other ways, but you don’t have like a straight up competitor that has the exact same comparable product.  

And so you gotta like figure, figure out that market on your own. And that’s been a lot of fun to go through being a, obviously on a business owner, but also just as a parent to go, Oh yeah, like. I would want to know that like what’s, you know, we just did, um, we just did that potty training chart a couple of weeks ago, and I was telling you, um, you know, Hey, we got these 20 something potty training charts.  

So we’ve cataloged. And I told you it was funny because when we kind of wrapped up the draft for that. That piece of content that night, my wife said we need to get our daughter, our daughter, they trading charts.  

Just the place. Yeah. Yeah. It’s been, it’s been awesome. You know, one kind of going back to how that relates to even marketing is, um, you know, people are looking for more information now, right? They don’t want to just be directly sold to. And so. Being that resource of, of information and education, um, about a topic where, you know, for us it’s potty training, um, and maybe even more so specifically nighttime potty training, um, it really adds a lot of value to what parents are looking for and, um, hopefully brings them to pajamas and put their trust in us.  

Yeah. It’s interesting that you guys started on Valentine’s day. Was there any sort of discussion on Valentine’s like, Hey babe, let’s start changing this Valentines. No, there’s no significance to it. I actually was thinking about it earlier this morning. I was like, I wonder if we should like, make something up that like, Oh, it’s.  

Because of love for our family, but like, no, it was honestly just like, it was middle of the week. It was a Wednesday, you know? Um, that’s when more people are. Looking on really at anything, right. Like Mondays and Fridays are kind of the worst end of the weekend. So we thought middle of the week we’ll launch then.  

And, and honestly, it was just had it been patients like everything was ready to go and I didn’t want to wait another week. So we just, we launched. Yeah, well, like we, like we started just at the beginning of this recording is it’s just that forward momentum can make or break the success of an idea. Yeah.  

Yeah. You gotta just, you got it. It I’ve talked to so many people that I’ve got this guy and he’s, he’s a psychologist. Um, and he’s got this product that is jewelry in, it has the message of like hope and confidence. And he’s a really great guy and they’re cool pieces of jewelry. Um, But for a long time, it’s just been like, well, should we do it? 

Should we do this? Should we do this? And to some extent she did, but reason I shared it, um, he hasn’t had success yet. And I think that he honestly can, but he hasn’t had success yet because he hasn’t really executed on. Launching it and launching it in like a well thought out strategy and plan. Um, and often you just see that and you hear the term, like watch preneurs and entrepreneurs, and it’s kinda like derogatory to say that about somebody, but really the difference is just like, you got to do it, you got to execute and then you’ve got, gotta just try and carry that momentum forward to the next day.  

Because every day is hard when you’re trying to grow a business. Yeah. You know, one thing I wanted to, to revisit as we kind of get closer to wrapping up is about how P jamas has saved X amount of diapers from landfills and other statistics like that. Can you kind of touch on that? Yeah, man, that is, uh, honestly, what.  

Is so motivating. Like that’s what makes me wake up excited to try and keep growing pajamas is the impact that we’re having first and foremost,  

uh, first and foremost on kids and then their parents, but also the environment. Um, so I haven’t run the numbers recently, but we have certainly clips the 13 million diaper Mark. Meaning, uh, over the last two years, in fact, honestly like probably like 15 million if not higher. Um, but what we do is each pair of pajamas is good for over 300 washes, so comparable to 300 diapers and the volume that we’ve sold.  

Eclipses that 13, again, like I said, maybe 15 million diapers. And so we look at it as the fact that we’ve eliminated. We’ll just, again, call it 13 million, 13 million diapers from, from landfills as a huge environmental success in environmental impact. You know, a lot of people don’t know that diapers are the second, most common.  

Item thrown into landfills every year in the United States and the fact that we can decrease, um, you know, that’s like, it’s such a small number compared to the total limit. It’s sort of way every, every year. But the fact that we have been able to, um, make that significant of a co of a contribution to the environment, It is so rewarding personally.  

And then the fact that we’ve helped literally like tens of thousands of kids, um, with very needs, right? Some might just be during potty training, some might be five or six year olds that, um, are. Taking a little bit longer than they or their parents would like, um, giving kids that are a little bit older, some confidence as they, you know, a six year old, like I’ve got a seven year old and I’ve got a soon to be six year old.  

And the five-year-old is smart enough to be like, I don’t want to wear a diaper, like that’s for babies. And we hear that all the time. Parents that are like, my child was starting to feel self conscious about wearing a diaper when they’re five or six years old. And by wearing pajamas, they just, they feel like a big kid.  

And to the fact that we’ve been able to even give kids more confidence, um, in themselves, like absolutely the most rewarding part of, of PGM is success. And. Then the other thing to go along with that, we’ve collectively helped parents save over $3 million. That’s a lot of money, um, for, for individuals.  

Yeah, that’s crazy. How far into the campaign did you realize? Um, you know, because when, when you started the company, it was because you were a parent and saw a need for yourself, then realize it could be applicable to other people. And so I imagine the environmental benefits came to mind later. Like how far into the business did you go, Hey, wait a second.  

We’re we’re saving a ton from landfills and then you started to quantify it. So we recognize that definitely. Um, before we launched, because once I found, um, the fabrics that we thought were best and that it had the best, um, feedback, um, we did that correlation, you know, the company that was selling us, the fabric, the, the millings, what do you call it?  

Just like a mill, I guess a fabric mill saying, Oh, it was good for 300 washes. And I thought that’s a year worth of diapers. A lot of garbage. Um, but it wasn’t until we were closing in, on our first year that we thought let’s look back and quantify how many diapers we’ve actually helped eliminate or the equivalent.  

And over that first year we had. Helps to eliminate over 7 million diapers, which is why I think we’re probably well past, even 15 million between both years. So, yeah, it wasn’t until, uh, probably like nine or 10 months when we were coming, closing in on that first year that we wanted to actually try and tie a number to it.  

Yeah, that’s crazy. All right. Last question. Uh, I imagine being in the industry that you’re in and the clever name that you have. That you have some horrible jokes that have been thrown your way,  

everybody. Like what are the words? Yeah. What are the go tos that everyone thinks are unique, but you hear on a daily basis.  

You always get just the like, Oh yeah. P with like emphasis on PEE and like capitalization on that, like get P we love these, um, my business partner likes to refer to me as the Elon Musk of urine invention, urinary, and I think that’s how he introduced. I think that’s how he mentioned you too. Yeah, I think so.  

I think you’re right. I think you’re right. Um, and then there was the best joke. Um, Man I’m going to butcher it. Cause I’m not very good at remembering jokes, but um, Oh, okay. Oh, okay. I remember what it is. Why CA why didn’t you hear the terror dactyl go to the bathroom. The P is silent because 

 I was pretty good.  

All right. We’re moving into dad joke territory. So we better. 

All right, Craig Hammond PGM is, I’ll give you a moment to put out your website, contact information, give us quick pitch, whatever you want to do. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks. So you can find us at peejamas.com. Um, On all social channels, primarily Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest at, uh, peejamas on Instagram and peejamas on Facebook.  

If you just search peejamas, either of those will pop up. So, um, if you want to hit me up personally, feel free. Uh, I’d love to always hear back from customers or potential customers. My email is just Craig@peejamas.com and that’s P E E J a N S. Yep. P E E J a M a S just like P and then jamas. 

there you go. Craig Hammond. peejamas thanks so much, Craig. Yeah, they say we’ll talk to you soon.