We were lucky to catch up with Em and Pey Lake recently and have shared our conversation below.

Em and Pey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses.

The girls started this business by accident and never imagined it would turn into what it has become. The family has stepped up to help them accomplish their goals and, brainstorming on how to make things run smoothly and efficiently. It was a huge learning experience for all of us, kid bosses and the adults learning to let those kids run it. While they have the creativity part we also wanted them to understand the business part. Understanding invoicing, shipping, supply ordering and expenses.
Some of their ideas are a little off the wall and we all wonder how are we going to help them make it happen. In the end everything works out and they have their amazing product to share with everyone.
Emmy was the mastermind behind most of the 30+ recipes and we had to learn to let her experiment, if she asked for something we had to not question her. If she failed she was the one who was the hardest on herself.
The one thing about working with family is getting everyone to understand this is a legitimate business and quality control is at the utmost importance. The girls take pride in their products and they worked hard so we need make sure we are doing them justice when assembling or shipping.
Weve had family take advantage of the business and we have learned to stand up to them and not allow that to happen. Sad for a child to learn but also a good teaching experience so they understand what’s right and wrong and not allow it to happen. For the most part all of the family has been amazing and shown up to help and encouraged them

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

The girls started this business almost 5 years ago as their grandma was passing. She lived here with us for 3 years and was total care, in which the girls were a huge part of. During a therapy session Em expressed how she wanted to make slime but mom said no. The therapist reached out and I agreed as it was a good stress reliever. They made so much they would sell online to my friends in a dress business I ran. After gram passed Em dove in deep and experimented with recipes. She worked for hours on these recipes. If she failed she would say she is done. I would tell her to give it time and think and come back later. I would wake up at night and she would be at the table tinkering Eventually we created their own facebook group and they would sell in there. They asked if they could get another French bulldog puppy and I jokingly said “if you pay for it” well they did. In just a few weeks the raised all the money themselves by doing live Facebook shows and creating each slime by hand one by one. After that Em came up with the idea to do large plain batches so she could just add color and scent and any custom designs they wanted. That made a huge difference in how fast she could make items during a live. That still wasn’t good enough for her so she then came up with doing batches already scented and colored and she picked the charms and any decorations. That was a huge hit and from there everything just grew. The batches kept getting bigger and the amount of textures kept climbing. They now have over 30 with Pey creating a few of her own.
When we finally realized this wasn’t going away anytime soon as their group grew to over 3000 in the blink of an eye and they were participating in online craft vendor events and collabs we had to make some adjustments. We had to create a more efficient work area for them. We bought small storage shelves and tables and bins. This tan much smoother but as they grew we needed more. The one end of the house is now the slime shop with additional outbuildings for storage. They added two industrial mixers to save our arms from all the stretching each batch takes.
I created a website that sat for a year unused because I still didn’t think this was going to last and honestly they didn’t either. We finally sat down and figured it out together and have that up and running. They still do online vendor events and load to the site after if any are left.
The shop set up was Em’s idea with things set up in the order they are used so you are not running all over the place. Events are planned in advance as slime has to sit for a week before packing in containers.
Each item is photographed and they do a short video to show every one of them then posted to all social media accounts.
Slime is a huge stress and anxiety reliever along with therapy and sensory play. And not just for kids. They have many adult buyers that use it during work or zoom meetings. They have many followers with sensory issues and if we do not have anything available for them at the time they will always create something just for them. They offer a wide variety in every event or restock but always welcome customs from those who don’t like added scents or texture items. One thing is this slime will wash out of anything even if it’s been dried on for weeks. A little hot soapy water, vinegar or baby wipes and it comes right out. We send care packs with any that require a little maintenance so your slime will last a long time. We are always available for any questions, any tips and even the middle of the night “I fell asleep with it in my hand and it melted what do I do” messages 🤣🤣
We are always here to help and knowing slime has a bad rep thanks to store bought slime it’s a hard sell for sure! If someone gets one and they just don’t like it we help them pick a texture more suitable for them.
Slime is not for everyone if you have hot hand you can melt many textures but we have tricks to try so you can enjoy your slime. Putting it in the fridge not only helps with sticky or melting from hot hands it also is great for grounding you during an anxiety attack.
They have cloud and a Pey’s dough that is good for anyone and amazing if you have arthritis and need to work your fingers.
They offer variety packs to try multiple textures without spending money on larger ones. They offer party packs for any party or theme you can think of.
They get very excited during the holidays when they can offer secret Santa or secret Easter bunny packs to those who may not be able to afford them. Average applications are about 115 kids for those holidays and Em loves to pack in extra surprises for them and all free

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

The main goal for us all is to have our clients/customers feel like family. We want them to love the product and if they don’t we do everything we can to help them. We will reach out to check in on them. If they have a comment on social media we make sure they are replied to and not ignored. For our long time customers we have special discounts For all of our customers the girls send random free slimes often for them to try a texture they haven’t bought yet.
We keep in touch with a lot of our buyers who share family experiences with us and check in often to see how they are doing.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

When the business first started it was by mom buying a few gallons and some extras on Amazon. Once they started making money the girls would set aside money and shop on Amazon for supplies. Soon however they were able to look into wholesale suppliers for items like containers and packing supplies. Within the first few months they were completely self sufficient in funding their own business with no help from anyone else. They would only spend a portion of what they would make

Contact Info:

• Website: Emandpeysslimefactory.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/em_peysslimefactory
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1210449585771357/?ref=share_group_link
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@emandpeysslimefactory6403
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@emandpeysslimefactory?_t=8biUKSRm0EQ&_r=1