[00:00:28] Jay: Hi, everyone. Welcome to the First Customer Podcast. My name's Jay Aigner. Today, I'm lucky enough to be joined by Christine Churchwell.

She's the CEO and co-founder of Slimezilla, probably the coolest party your kids have never had. How about that? You like that one? A free one for you. Christine, how are you?

[00:00:45] Christine: I'm good. How are you? Thank you for having me.

[00:00:47] Jay: I'm so excited. I was just talk-- I mean, genuinely. I mean, come on. You said co-founder, and I was like, "Oh, she's got some partner I don't know about.

She's got... She didn't tell me about this." And then she's like, "No, it's my son and my daughter," which is just, oh, it's so beautiful. Christine, I saw you come in my house with all this stuff, and my wife was like, "We're gonna have a slime party." I'm like, "This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. What are you talk- In our house we're gonna do that?"

And you came here, and all these kids were just, like, into it, and, like, they, and ev- the parents loved it, and you left, and it was clean. And I was like, this is mind-blowing." It was a cool new thing and, like, I mean, obviously the YouTube generation with all the slime stuff. If you go to Lib- Learning Express, and there's slime s-stuff of 50 different varieties now everywhere.

So, all that to say, for the longest intro I've ever had in my life, Christine, thank you for joining me today very much. How are you?

[00:01:37] Christine: I'm good. Thank you so much for having me. Like you said, I have my co-founders, which is my son and my daughter. That's how we got into this business. They were into the slime. My daughter is 18, my son is 16. They were doing this when they were eight and 10. So that's how long we've, I've been familiar with slime, and then it transitioned into it being a business idea because I told them, "If you're gonna have an interest, you might as well make some money with it."

[00:02:09] Jay: I mean, if it was always, if it was only that simple, all the dumb stuff my kids do, I should be a bazillionaire by now. But yes, I love that philosophy. all right. So where did you grow up, and did that have any impact on you being an entrepreneur and business owner?

[00:02:23] Christine: Well, I would say maybe it did. I grew up in Philly. I was born in Boston, but I grew up in Philly. I definitely grew up in the hood, you know? And so the drive is to build something for my family, a legacy, you know, wealth, so that they have something to rely on that I didn't. So that was really the main objective for me.

I used to run a summer camp program, and I called it Biz Kids, like I was a childcare center director. So when we did our summer camps with the school-aged children, we called it Biz Kids. So that was really where we had the launch or the idea, 'cause I was promoting to them, use your interest to make some money, and that was a popular thing back then

[00:03:10] Jay: Okay. So what, I mean, like from actual like, "Hey, this could be a business," or whatever to you're at people's houses doing stuff. Like what, where, what was the act- Like tell me step one. You went like, "Okay, I'm really g- we're really gonna do this." Like I'm sure you like had... Did you like, did you guys have like a team meeting?

You're like, "All right guys." Like I, see that's what I knew. I f-

[00:03:33] Christine: We do. We do.

[00:03:35] Jay: it was so adorable that I knew that you did that. I knew it was like, "All right guys, we're gonna..." Tell me about it. what, tell me about the team meeting

[00:03:40] Christine: I sat them down together. we were in their bedroom and, 'cause they were sharing a room at the time when they were really young. And I just basically told them, you know, like let's explore some ideas. So we talked about really like a slime Disneyland. Like that was the original idea. Like let's create like a slime themed amusement park.

Then we scaled it back a little bit, like okay, well how about we do a slime, a fun zone. You know, like, a playhouse. You know how they have the, just the play places you can go to. Then it's like, okay, well we're not there yet, so what can we do? And I was working with the different events where they asked me to like do children's areas and things like that.

So that was when the idea for it to be mobile came into play 'cause I was setting up slime at events and I'm like, "Well, I could do this anywhere."

[00:04:33] Jay: Hmm.

[00:04:33] Christine: here we are.

[00:04:34] Jay: So what was your, what were you doing before this? The, like, was, were you doing event stuff? Were you doing, like, were you in hospitality? Did you, like, what were you doing before you kicked this off to where you could, like, put this together?

[00:04:47] Christine: So like I said, I was running a childcare center for a couple of years. I ended up, s- stopping that and taking care of my mother who's elderly. She broke her leg a couple years ago. Luckily, she fully recovered. Okay. She's almost 80, but she's, you know, bouncing around just fine. But I started working from home doing that.

So since I had like basically free time, I was able to focus on building up this business without, you know, like missing out on income

[00:05:18] Jay: It's incredible. Love this so much. Oh, this is the best. This is the best. It's the best because, Goddammit, everybody doesn't have to just, like, quit their job and, like, start a business. Like, it's like, it's, there's just the wrong idea around how you can s- then you just did it. Like I-- But we have a similar path, which is probably why I like it so much.

you know, I feel like it was a de-risked... Not de-risked. I mean, it was still risky, right? I mean, it took a lot of risk to do this. But I'm saying you did it in a way that was measured risk, it feels like.

[00:05:45] Christine: Absolutely

[00:05:46] Jay: you have kids, and you did it like, you know, but you still went out and you made the... Now, anyway, so you did this thing.

who was your first, like, real customer?

[00:05:53] Christine: So I think I have two answers for that. So the original idea was a launch party, and we did it at the Discovery Center, which is in Philly. It's in North Philly. It's near Smith Playground, like right across the street from Smith Playground. So I did like a three-week, maybe four-week launch where I was just telling people like, "Hey, you know, come do some slime."

Like, I was just, promoting it on social media, Eventbrite, like things like that. So the first three weeks I didn't get anybody. Like, my sister came, but it's like, it's my sister. but that last week was sold out to like two or three camps with, along with a few like random parents that came by.

[00:06:40] Jay: Why do you think that la- why was that last one so successful?

[00:06:43] Christine: I really don't know.

I have no idea. Like, I don't think I did anything different. I do know that while I was out there trying to promote the event, I would walk around or have my children walk around and, like, tell people that they saw. So I happened to come across at least one camp director who came, and then another one I think just happened to see us online and came

[00:07:11] Jay: That's incredible. I love it. Love it, love it, love it. okay, so

[00:07:16] Christine: the second answer to that

[00:07:17] Jay: so who is the...

[00:07:18] Christine: the birthday client. The birthday client. I had, a partnership. so my first birthday client, like a private party type of thing, was someone I partnered with where they let me do a pop-up at the mall. So I was at, Willow Grove Mall a couple of times, like trying to promote 'cause it was, Oh, I forget. I think... I forget the name of the organization, but they had a store front that included a bunch of vendors, so they asked me to come, and she wanted a slime party for her son.

So that ended up being my first, like, private party

[00:07:55] Jay: And then what? You were just like, "Oh yeah, for sure I can do that," and you went home and were like, "Oh my God, now I have to put together a mobile Slime Studio." How, what did you do? Well, how did you, like what the hell did you do to figure that out?

[00:08:07] Christine: So the first thing is just getting the materials to make the sign. So I didn't have, like, tables or chairs or really anything like that. Luckily, she was already, like, a person who had an event space. Like, the event was at her own event space. So that was pretty easy. And so I was trying to partner with her, like, "Okay, well, since you have this event space and you have these tables, you know, can I borrow it, you know, when I have an event?"

but that didn't really pan out the way that I thought it would, and relying on someone wasn't really ideal for me. So I just ended up investing in my own table so we could be fully, you know, 100% set up on our own without

[00:08:50] Jay: but did you guys like draw out on the board like, what it needs to look like and like how it's gonna work? How did you figure out like... 'Cause when you came to my house, you had like a whole thing and it's all set up and it's beautiful, and the music and the lights, and it's all like going.

I'm like, so how did you... Like, what was V1 of that experience? Like, what did it, did, was it just tables and like all the ingredients? Like, what did it start as?

[00:09:10] Christine: The first ever party we did, and like up until like near the time I did your party, we were using these cupcake towers. And at first I was using these cardboard ones, like from Target for like really like $5 or something.

[00:09:27] Jay: Mm-hmm.

[00:09:28] Christine: I would end up dropping it in the rain, so I had to like get something that was more sturdy.

So I ended up getting like these acrylic, light up towers that I originally thought, "Oh, this is so cute." Like, you know, we upgraded the space, but it was still like missing something. So then, you know, just kind of brainstorming and trying to think of a way to make it look more buffet style, more boutique style.

We came up with... 'Cause the original, cake towers that we were using, they were round. So we came up with something that was, all forward-facing. So it was just like everything's in your face. So you lucked out 'cause we only had, started with our current look in January. So I think you did your first

[00:10:15] Jay: then, yeah, it was A- April, I

[00:10:17] Christine: in April?

Mm-hmm.

[00:10:18] Jay: yeah, now if, I think I've heard I have another one coming at the end of this month. So we'll hope, we'll see what sort of upgrades we've got to the process then. So,

[00:10:27] Christine: Absolutely. We did add a new element since your last booking. We certainly did

[00:10:32] Jay: don't tease me, Christine. I got too long until birthday.

I gotta wait until the what's gonna show up at the slime party? I got a... it's too much. what, All right. Talk to me from, like, a business perspective. we're not gonna get into revenue and all sorts of numbers, but just, like, how are you doing it? Like, how are you managing it all? Do you have a spreadsheet?

Do you use QuickBooks? Are you just like... How do you just, like... Is it money in, money out? You're buying stuff. You have expense. You know, your kids are involved, and maybe they're going to buy. How are you keeping track of all of it as, like, a business owner and not just, like, going crazy? Or maybe you are going crazy, I don't know.

[00:11:07] Christine: A little bit. but just keeping track of the expenses is in the app. I use the Square app, so,

[00:11:14] Jay: Okay

[00:11:15] Christine: so pretty much everything is already just logged in there. I started using that, within the last couple months. 

[00:11:21] Jay: so I don't wanna get into, you know, business specifics or revenue numbers or anything, but just talk to me about, how you started to come up with pricing, how you're testing or experimenting with it, you know, in general.

Obviously like, you know, you're talking to a client, so like I'm not asking for your secret sauce and what you're gonna charge me. I don't care. I'll pay you whatever, Christine. you're fantastic. Just come to my house and just do that thing again. but in general, like from somebody who's just like kinda figuring this out, like how did you...

Like what did you think was a good price? Like how did you... Did you look at other people who were doing something similar? How did you do it? How did you start figuring out the right price?

[00:11:57] Christine: Now that's a great question 'cause that is a journey in and of itself. the first party I did, you know, I told you was the person that I was working with to do the pop-ups. So I kinda made some, like, deal with her where I'd give her discounts, and she was, like, letting me do the pop-ups at the mall, which I thought was so great.

Mind you, I didn't get really much business at the mall. Like, the mall was really dry, and Slime Time was in that mall, so it was kinda weird. we do offer more than what Slime Time offers, you know. I've had customers say that they've been to Slime Time, been to us. I'm just saying. but I did her party for, like, $70, okay?

And it was, I wanna say it was, like, maybe 15 children there, 15 or less. but, like, mind you, that was, like, some deal I was giving her, like a

special I 

[00:12:50] Jay: sure. Yeah, yeah

[00:12:51] Christine: The working price at that time was $150, for 10 children. And I did a party, I'm not sure how long after, like, maybe couple months later, and this dad was like, "Yeah, you know, you really should be charging more for what you're doing."

You know what I'm saying? He's like, "I would've paid you more." He didn't. But he said that he would've

[00:13:18] Jay: It's telling the conversation we had, by the way. So I'm, I hope you're not, I hope it's not me on the... I'm not this example. There was

[00:13:23] Christine: no. It was another dad. When we were doing the 150, it was a party we did for, like, 150, like, as the base price, and then it was, like, 20, $25 for any additional children. but that dad, you know, said like, "Yeah, you know, you should really charge more." So that's when I started looking at what other people were doing and what they were offering.

[00:13:46] Jay: Hmm.

[00:13:46] Christine: And I realized we actually were offering more than what others were. Like, there would be mobile slime companies that said that they would bring, like, the slime materials and no tables, but we were bringing all the tables, you know? So I noted that, and those kind of companies were charging even more than what we charge today.

So it's not like we wanna charge people out the yin yang. We did just want to, you know, be competitively priced, but also affordable, you know, but also get our value. So I feel like I've reached a price point that does that for what we offer 'cause like I said, we really do provide a number of textures, mix-ins and, you know, just creativity that other slime companies aren't offering.

Like, they'll say you can do, like, one texture, one topping, and so on and so forth. We bring a buffet and say, "Just create whatever you wanna create with what's here."

[00:14:47] Jay: All right. I love that. so, yeah, I mean, I agree. I,the, I mean, again, I'm not gonna keep telling you to charge me more until you've already come to the second party, but I do, like I, there is something to it. and but do you think that the only real difference between charging $150 and maybe $500 or whatever for the same, let's just consider it the same service, same offering, do you think it's just your confidence is really the difference?

Like you're confident in that number as opposed to before when maybe you weren't. Is that really all that it is? You got confident that may be a fair value for what you're offering?

[00:15:30] Christine: Well, I feel like before I added onto our price, I made it, I made sure I added onto our value. So I didn't just increase our price and everything was the same. And I'm always looking for ways to improve the service we offer, improve the type of packages we offer. So, 'cause I wouldn't feel comfortable just, you know, saying one day it's this price, then the next day, oh, it's a dramatically different price, and I didn't do anything different.

So one of the things, like versus today, than when it was $150, is the setup that you see. You know, 'cause what we could, put out on display when we did the $150 option is probably half than what we are able to offer on our display the way that it is now.

So that's something to consider. So I was confident as I did more parties in what I was able to offer and what, people responded to.

So I would say confidence came from that, and also I felt confident in making sure that it really was valuable, that it did make sense to pay for, to pay the amount we were asking for. And I know that's still true because I still get parents like you who say that they would pay more.

Because I love everything you just said. I slightly... I-- The only thing I would disagree with is that nobody's gonna give a shit if you raise your prices. Like, nobody's gonna... If you want the service, you want the service at the end of the day

[00:17:11] Jay: no- N- But I'm gonna say, like, nobody's gonna go, "Oh, it was this day, and it's the same service and it's more..." Like, nobody even knows or cares.

Like, it's... You could go charge twice as much tomorrow, and nobody's gonna go, "Oh, it's the same service, and now it's..." Like, nobody's gonna say... Nobody. Literally nobody. And all your new customers won't even know any different. So I love the... I love how genuine and like, You know, I get why you're doing it.

I get it. And I think the value... I think you're 100% I agree that you should be- people should get the value for whatever they're buying, right? And I just... But at the same time, after talking to a bunch of entrepreneurs, I know that we shortchange ourselves a little bit sometimes because we don't think that maybe we have the value that we actually do.

So that's my point, is just, you know, the... Maybe that's why you keep hearing it is because your value is maybe more than what you think it is, right? Like, people are telling you, "Hey, telling me this is what you're worth." I... Like, I'm telling you're worth more than that. So, like, I mean, you...

Those are the people that you wanna listen to, right? So, anyway, let's move on a little bit. Do you... Are you Slimezilla all day, every day? Is it just Christine Churchwell is Slimezilla? Is there any separation of church and state? Or are you just like, this is who you are all day, every day in public, this is who you are on business stuff, personal stuff, whatever?

Or do you actually get some time to separate?

[00:18:25] Christine: I definitely feel like I separate 'cause, you know, Slimezilla is a new addition to my life. I've been Christine my whole life. You know, Christine is a cosplayer. Christine is a mother. So, you know, Christine is a former educator. So I feel like I embody a number of things, and Slimezilla is one of those things.

But I try to, you know, conduct myself ethically, morally in all situations

[00:18:57] Jay: Well, I tell you what, an absolute ray of sunshine. I just, I can't tell you how big of a deal I think, you are and will be. it's just the attention to detail and your meticulous, like, care for value and, like, the ac- That was... I mean, that's what I told you. Your fir- the biggest thing, like, your secret sauce right now is you.

Like, when you're in that room and you're, like, doing your thing, like, the educator comes out. Like, there's a clear... This is why I would never homeschool my kids, 'cause I'm not an educator, and I damn sure know I'm not good... You know what I mean? Like, there's some- Like, I get... I respect that whatever it is, and you've applied it to this business, and it's a really incredible thing to watch.

So I have one question. It's not slime related, so you can't say slime related. It's not, business related. It's just about Christine. So, if you could do anything on earth and you knew you wouldn't fail, what would it be?

[00:19:56] Christine: Oh, like just something to do 'cause I was happy? Like, and make money at it?

[00:20:03] Jay: Nope.

[00:20:04] Christine: When you say fail

[00:20:05] Jay: If you could do anything on Earth, if you could walk out the door

[00:20:09] Christine: And succeed at that thing.

[00:20:11] Jay: anything,

Okay. you've ever wanted to do, it

[00:20:15] Christine: I feel like I would have to say space travel

[00:20:19] Jay: There it is. See? That's a good one. Everybody, I, the, I, you'd be shocked how infrequently I get that. You would think everybody would say space, but I don't. That's, you, me too. I'm an astrophotographer. I'm a nerd. I love space so much. All right, so you would go to space. Would you do the Blue Origin nonsense, or you wanna go, like, you wanna go to space space?

[00:20:38] Christine: space space, 'cause you said if I could do it and not fail, I

[00:20:40] Jay: right. You-- In this scenario, you're an astronaut.

not coming back, you're on Mars. You're doing whatever you want in this scenario, Christine

[00:20:47] Christine: Yeah, the ends of the universe

[00:20:50] Jay: it. Oh, well, you got us... Now we're getting philosophical. I like that. All right. Christine, like I said, I genuinely have a large spot in my heart for you just after meeting you a few times.

You're fantastic. I hope you absolutely crush things. I am gonna continue to monitor the journey along the way. I think you are inspirational and, if people wanna reach out to you directly to hear about something they heard today, how would they reach out to you directly?

[00:21:13] Christine: So our website is

slimezillazone.com, and we are SlimeZillaZone on Instagram and TikTok. And in case you haven't heard, I just do wanna mention we were recently featured on PHL17's Positively Philly. So we had a segment a few days ago celebrating the International Day of Play. So if you wanna check that out, that is on their website and on their YouTube.

but yeah. And if anyone did wanna reach out to me via phone, my business number is 267-310-9407. So I do take calls and texts. I do take emails. So yeah

[00:22:06] Jay: Christine, you are just the best. Nobody's giving out a number on here. That's great. You're like, it was, that was... People, you, people are gonna reach out. I think you're gonna get reached out to

[00:22:14] Christine: They should. I do get calls and texts, and I definitely answer

[00:22:19] Jay: Any business owner out there that's waffling on, like, doing something, good Lord, go talk to Christine.

You are a bottle of, inspiration and, I genuinely mean it. Thank you so much, Christine. I'm gonna keep following you along and we'll... Hey, I'll see you in a couple weeks. You'll be back at my house sliming it up, and I can't wait. All right? I'll

[00:22:36] Christine: That's how you know it's real

[00:22:38] Jay: soon. Yeah, have a good time. I'll see you.

Thank you, Christine.

[00:22:41] Christine: Thank you. See you

[00:22:42] Jay: you. Bye-bye. ​