We were lucky to catch up with Serena Li recently and have shared our conversation below.

Serena , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

This is a great question.

As a founder, I constantly think about what-if’s. I think about what life would’ve been if I didn’t start a business (probably I’d have more savings); I think about what if I leave my children behind with my husband and I go out there to scale my business for a couple of years (my husband would not be happy about that).

I truly believe everything happens for a reason. Every encounter, every chance, every success and every mistake — they happen for a reason to make me exactly who I am and bring me exactly where I need to be today. So with this mentality, I’d say, no, I don’t think I should’ve started earlier, or later; if anything, I should pick up the speed and scale faster.

I identify as a 1.5 generation Asian American born in Guangzhou, China and raised in Houston, Texas. After my first child was born, I was struggling with the new world of parenting as a working mom trying my best to raise a kind and open-minded child. I was a proud survivor of postpartum depression. During my darkest days, I bonded with my child via books and quality time. I noticed that there is a lack of meaningful, bilingual books for young children reflecting the cross-cultural values that I wanted to pass on, so that’s when I found my new passion and purpose. In August 2021, I started my own publishing company, making multilingual board books that cultivate social emotional skills, inspired by the multicultural values I cherished as an immigrant.

Building the brand from scratch during the pandemic wasn’t easy, but the life during the pandemic also offered unique opportunities. I was lucky enough to be able to work from home, despite having to care for a newborn and dealing with breastfeeding challenges as a working mom. Because I no longer need to stuck in traffic everyday, the two hours I’ve saved, I’ve poured into this new venture. The pandemic also encourage us to connect in new ways, and that’s when I put together a team of American creators of color who are as passionate about the Duck Duck mission as I am. Many of us are also new parents, and we strive to create a better world for the future generations in everything we do. Now 2 years later, we have multiple thriving lines of businesses: we have books that are built to last; we have eco-conscious lifestyle goods that are designed to be washable, reusable, and convertible; we have publishing and production services for self-published authors to fulfill their publishing dreams. Today, Duck Duck Books and Duck Duck Eco Goods work together to further causes of diversity, giving back, and spreading the love of our planet and one another. I couldn’t be more proud of myself, and my team, for what we are able to accomplish.

Yes, life would’ve been different. But I wouldn’t want it any other way. Instead of thinking about what if I start earlier or later, I just need to remind myself that I started at just the right time. This mindset is especially useful when the daily grind gets tough.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Going back to how I mentioned everything happens for a reason —

I started my career in marketing and advertising, specifically in multicultural advertising. It’s very fitting, considering I am an immigrant, and I am bilingual.
During those years, I sharpened my skills in brand building, transcreation, inclusive communication, and sustainability consultation. The network and skills from these early years directly help grow Duck Duck Books+Eco Goods into who we are today.

Today, we’ve grown into a family of brands.

Duck Duck Books is a MWBE certified publisher of multilingual kid’s books, publishing in English, Spanish, Cantonese, traditional and simplified Chinese. Our books introduce language learning while cultivating social emotional skills.

Duck Duck Eco Goods is a designer of eco-conscious lifestyle goods for kids. We create sustainable products that are washable, convertible, and built to last.

Duck Duck Publishing and Duck Duck Production are the service arms of the business that utilize our skills and network to help others realize their publishing dreams. We offer full agency service that covers the entire publishing process, including brand building, editing, designing, printing, marketing, and distribution. To learn more, please visit duckduckbooks.com

I am passionate about creating opportunities for authentic storytelling. In addition to Duck Duck Books, I am also working on scaling my mission to benefit a larger community. To that end, I co-founded BookAnAuthor.com, a new matchmaking platform for authors and institutions, which launches on April 15, 2024. You can follow @BookAnAuthor on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok to keep up with our launch updates!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I am a true believer of “when you do good work, the money will follow.”

I strive for doing the right thing, doing what the target audience need, rather than doing what seems profitable.

The paradox is, almost always, doing the right thing is harder, or more costly. However, the experience it gives the customer — whether it’s through products or services — is what differentiates my brand.

And that’s how I build trust and maintain my reputation among my audience. I am proud to say, it does make a difference in the long run. Since launch, I was able to grow my revenue 300% year over year. This is no coincidence. Reputation sells.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

I am all about diversification of revenue streams (perhaps influenced by my finance and marketing dual majors in college).

In the Duck Duck Books brand, we have B2C sales on multiple platforms; we also have quarterly subscription service (the Duck Duck Book Club) to help move inventory. We self-distribute to retailers (B2B2C), and manage our account relationships in-house.

At the same time our Duck Duck Eco Goods is a complementary brand to the Books business. Our washable gift wraps and eco Backpacks can be packaged with our books to be sold as gift sets. They are also sold directly to consumers as well as wholesale to retailers.

The service side of the business also supplement the revenue significantly as it’s currently our fastest growing line of business.

As for the tech startup BookAnAuthor.com, I am also very conscious about building multiple revenue streams to ensure the business is scalable and sustainable. The platform is operated on a subscription model; at the same time there is commission charged per booking; there are advertising and sponsorship opportunities for both users and external partners; there are creative and ad management services to help users activate their ads on the platform. Our expansion plan consists of hosting retreats, seminars/conferences, as well as virtual training courses. All of these have revenue generating potential.

Contact Info:

• Website: Duckduckbooks.com
• Instagram: @duckduckbooks, @BookAnAuthor
• Facebook: @duckduckbooks, @BookAnAuthor
• Linkedin: @duckduckbooks, @BookAnAuthor
• Youtube: @duckduckbooks