Embracing Entrepreneurship at 80: Susan Merry's Activewear Journey

Susan B. Merry is the inspiring founder of Inner Joy, an activewear company emphasizing comfort and style for older women. Launching her company at the impressive age of 78, Susan brings a unique perspective as a lifelong dancer and a retail veteran. With a background that includes working for prominent names like Chico's and Barnes & Noble, Susan combines her retail expertise with a deep passion for dance therapy. Her mission is to create activewear that empowers women to feel good in their bodies, regardless of age.

Episode Summary:

In this episode of the Talking Shizzle pod, host Taylor Wilson jumps into a conversation with Susan B. Merry, the spirited founder of Inner Joy. The episode centers around Susan’s personal and entrepreneurial journey that began at the age of 78. Listeners will be drawn in by Susan's late-blooming entrepreneurial spirit, her lifelong dedication to dance, and her commitment to providing quality activewear for older women. Taylor and Susan explore themes of resilience, lifelong learning, and how fashion can be empowering no matter your age.

As they chat, Susan discusses the motivations behind starting her business, rooted deeply in her love for dance and a clear gap she identified in the activewear market. Keywords such as "entrepreneurship," "activewear for older women," and "dance therapy" serve to highlight Susan’s journey and the unique niche she aims to fill. The conversation also touches on the challenges of launching a business later in life, the importance of comfort in activewear, and the ever-evolving landscape of fashion as it becomes more inclusive for all age groups. Susan's compelling story is a testament to the idea that it is never too late to pursue one’s passions and make a difference.

Key Takeaways:

• Susan Merry started Inner Joy at 78, blending her passion for dance with her retail experience to fill a gap in the market for comfortable, stylish activewear for older women.
• Her brand emphasizes movement, comfort, and body positivity, aligning with the principles of dance therapy, a field Susan is passionate about.
• The journey from conception to product launch took about a year and a half, highlighting the persistence and learning required in starting a business.
• Challenges in marketing to the older demographic illustrate a shift away from traditional methods to a more digital strategy, including an upcoming launch on Amazon.
• Susan's commitment to creating quality products in the U.S. and incorporating feedback from her customers speaks to her dedication to mindfulness and community.

Resources:

• Inner Joy Activewear: https://innerjoyactivewear.com/ - Discover comfortable, stylish activewear catering to older women.

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Transcript

0:01:30 Taylor Wilson: Hey Susan- how are you today? 

0:01:50 Taylor Wilson: And I know most women don’t want to talk about their age, but it’s sort of like at the. At the epicenter of your story. So I want to kind of hear from you what started that? How did you get there? Like, things leading up into that, what made you, at that point in your life, say, I want to start a. I want to be an entrepreneur. And maybe you already were, but I want to start something else now. I’m not done yet.

0:02:11 Susan Merry: Okay. Wow. I’m a dancer at heart. I started doing ballet when I was 6 years old and haven’t ever stopped dancing. About 12 years ago, maybe 15 years ago, I would go to dance class and see older women wearing baggy shirts and baggy pants to cover up their bodies. And I always thought to myself, this isn’t cool. We should be able to have clothes that look well on us, feel comfortable, and move and cover up parts of our body that we want to cover up.

0:02:48 Susan Merry: So I don’t know I’ve been in retail my whole life. I started at a book business, went into clothing, and came back out into books and into clothing. And I worked for Chico for a while. I worked for B. Dalton, Barnes and Noble for quite a few years. 13 years. I also just. Well, I am a dancer. So in the 80s, I decided to get my master’s in dance therapy. And I wanted to work with children, specifically kids with autism, to work with them just to try to connect and be with children that age and be with them.

0:03:32 Susan Merry: I love that. But I’m not doing that anymore. That’s just another part. So back to the clothes. I was in a clothing business in a local store and decided they were going to close down. So I decided this was the time for me to do it. I didn’t know anything about how to start a business. I went to. I feel lucky because I had a lot of good connections and network with people. And I knew in my head and I wrote down, I drew a little bit about what I wanted for clothing to look like for us, quote, older women.

0:04:12 Susan Merry: And I found a designer who worked really well with me, and I just got lucky. And somebody connected me to a woman in Florida who has been doing all sorts of clothing business for other customers. And she helped me tremendously start the business and get things rolling from picking out fabrics to picking out colors. I knew nothing about any of this. So that’s basically what happened.

0:04:43 Taylor Wilson: So it sounds like you, maybe your love of dance, would you say, like, your clothing is really about, like, being comfortable and movement and I like the name Inner Joy. Is that sort of like, does it all kind of relate back to where you started with dance and wanting to specifically even do that dance therapy? And I’d like to learn a little bit more about, like, what that is. Do you still dance? Tell us more about that.

0:05:11 Susan Merry: I still dance. I’ve been taking five classes a week. I take two contemporary modern classes in Cambridge, and then I take two ballet classes online with San Francisco Ballet. It’s so much fun. It’s a beginning class, and I got a bar in my room. Since I hadn’t done ballet for so many years, I decided I’m going to do this. So I do that a couple of times a week, and then I also do a floor bar on a Sunday.

0:05:43 Susan Merry: And that’s totally different. That’s lying on the floor and really feeling your body and being stable where you are. So, yes, dance has been. I think my body has been the big part of my life. And the getting the name was the Hardest part, I came up with so many names and so many different. Everybody tried to help me. So we finally got inner joy. To me, felt like that’s what I want women to feel when they get into my clothes. I want them to be able to just be themselves and feel good about themselves.

0:06:17 Taylor Wilson: I mean, I’ve noticed as an inner middle aged woman, even just starting to like, like I have a lot of gray hair now, I don’t feel as good in my body and workout clothes and everything like that. I’m like, I need a little more room on that now. So tell me a little bit about how you go about choosing your line and working with designers to sort of determine and take from maybe from older women what they feel like they kind of like need in activewear. Because I think it’s mostly activewear, right?

0:06:51 Susan Merry: It is, but it can be worn. I mean, I was talking about the other day how different it is to travel nowadays. We used to dress up to travel and now everybody’s in comfy clothes and I. The clothes are perfect. My clothes are perfect for that. They’re just. My clothes are mostly all cotton. So you can throw them in the machine, you can dry them, don’t dry them too much. But the more you wash them, the softer I find my clothes are getting.

0:07:22 Susan Merry: Design wise. I just thought I would start simple. I wanted to do one long sleeve, one mid sleeve, and one short sleeve. I did three different tops and three different pants and two jackets. And I wanted to make it really basic but comfortable, but have enough clothes that people could rotate them and wear different things.

0:07:46 Taylor Wilson: I could totally see myself wearing some of the stuff on like work trips. I mean, I, I basically live in yoga pants at this point. You know, like, we all work from home. I think our society has just become more casual. I do also. I remember, I’m glad you mentioned the travel. I remember it used to be like, put on a dress and dress up and you’re getting on an airplane. You should be fancy on this airplane.

0:08:09 Taylor Wilson: And now it’s like the opposite. It’s like you should be as comfortable as possible. And people are so casual on airplanes. That’s really an interesting example. I think comfort is in.

0:08:24 Susan Merry: Comfort is what I, I feel that we need especially well in any age, honestly. And we’ve just brought in three new colors, which we’ll see how that. We brought in a pink and a mint green and a blue, which we haven’t had before, and we’ll see how those go. And I also brought in some extra, extra large for people Because I had been getting emails about maybe going larger.

0:08:53 Taylor Wilson: So where are you sort of like marketing your brand and your products? So are you mostly selling online? Do you distribute your products in like, you know, brick and mortar storefronts? Tell us a little bit about, like, how, how you’re getting out there mostly online.

0:09:10 Susan Merry: My PR woman has done a great job. We’re, we’re getting. We do Google, we are on all the social medias, and we are just starting to get on Amazon at the moment. We haven’t quite pulled the bullet or switched the switch or something, but Amazon is in the works. It’s hard because what I find is women my age, and I don’t want to just classify us, but we’re not terrifically just jumping on Facebook all the time like people do.

0:09:44 Susan Merry: And what I really want is for people to be able to see my clothes and feel my clothes and see, see them. So doing any PR has been good. I’ve tried a few shows, but that hasn’t worked out too well. So I keep trying different things.

0:10:03 Taylor Wilson: Well, welcome to the world of marketing and entrepreneurship. I mean, that’s what it. It’s all. It’s literally like, try this. Does that work? Tweak, you know, so, yeah, I’m curious to hear from you some of the things that maybe you’ve learned over that. So trying new things. All of this has been about trying new things. What are some of your biggest sort of like, challenges you’ve had and what are maybe some things that pleasantly have surprised you?

0:10:33 Susan Merry: I think the biggest challenge is just getting my clothes out there. Before I even started the company, I went through all the clothing, exercise, clothing, people trying to find if anybody catered to older women, and nobody did. Challenges is really just putting it out there and trying to find, where are women my age? What are we doing? Where are we? Are we in yoga studios? Are we in. I think exercise is the key for everybody my age.

0:11:09 Susan Merry: And as much as I want to say I love it, I don’t. I really force myself to go to classes a lot. It’s hard being 80 now. I really feel like it’s hard. But I love the fact that I can just help one or two people feel good about their bodies and want to be there with their bodies. And you can walk your dog. You can just live in these clothes and they’re very comfy.

0:11:40 Taylor Wilson: Just be comfortable. Yeah. So I heard your team was telling me you had some success after a feature that CBS did with you. What was that? Were you on. On air, on tv? Was that Your first time appearing on like a CBS Boston. Okay, that’s big. That’s a big market.

0:12:00 Susan Merry: It was big. It was, it was a little nerve wracking, but they did a great job editing things. And I was at a. I had two bars, ballet bars next to me and I just talked about my clothes and it was really fun.

0:12:19 Taylor Wilson: I want to see you on Shark Tank. Have you tried?

0:12:22 Susan Merry: Oh, that’s my dream.

0:12:26 Taylor Wilson: I think we need to start a campaign to get you on Shark Tank. I don’t know anything about getting on Shark Tank, but I feel like that could be a good move for you.

0:12:35 Susan Merry: I think you’re absolutely right. I’ve always thought I’ve said to people, I want to be on Shark Tank somehow.

0:12:41 Taylor Wilson: But we’re going to put your team on that. That’s going to be a takeaway from this record. Perfect. One of the things that we didn’t really get into too much, but I think I’ve gotten some of my notes as we were, you know, kind of prepping for this conversation is about how you really sort of like rooted your brand and this. It’s rooted in trauma. And I think you have maybe some things that you could share and maybe that goes back to at the very start how you maybe your passion for wanting to work with, you know, do dance therapy.

0:13:17 Taylor Wilson: What would you tell someone who’s maybe thinking about being an entrepreneur and starting a business, but maybe they’re holding on to some trauma that’s like holding them back. Is there any advice that you have?

0:13:33 Susan Merry: Well, I feel that my dance is my key. My dance is what feels inside me to motivate and do things. It’s not always great, but I love helping people. I love change, which is crazy. My poor husband and I loved to learn. And I think that’s how I started the most, was I’ve had so many different jobs doing so many different things, but this to me has always been my passion. I’ve always felt that wanting to do this and I’ve always wanted to just try and make it work.

0:14:15 Susan Merry: So I’m still working at it.

0:14:18 Taylor Wilson: Well, I think that’s one of the things that I love about your story, is that I think a lot of women your age and I am really passionate about helping like other female entrepreneurs as a female entrepreneur. And a lot of women might feel like, oh, it’s too late for me, but you’re like, I want to do this. It’s like, why is it, like, why is it too late? And why is that a stigma that maybe we have in our society or just a story that we write in our heads that it’s too late. Because it’s not too late. I mean, clearly it’s not too late.

0:14:50 Susan Merry: Exactly, exactly. You’re right, it’s not. And if you can do it, we should all try. I mean, there’s so much out there to learn. Certainly just learning technology has been a real problem for me, but I also get it every once in a while. Okay. So everything is just. It’s got to be something you want to do and you feel good about to just make yourself feel satisfied or content or feel good about yourself. That’s what I want women to all the women to feel.

0:15:26 Susan Merry: And I think we were put aside as the older generation and we were really a forgotten generation. And now we’re not anymore. And we need to speak up.

0:15:37 Taylor Wilson: Yeah, I love that one of my best friends is an 80 year old woman. She runs a business and we have some of the best conversations. And I love that we have this dynamic where we sort of like we bring in different perspectives. Probably because of our ages and our age difference. We’re about 36 years different in age. You know, she really shares a lot of like wisdom with me and I share a lot of like alternate perspective with her. And I just think, and I like, she’s a big inspiration to me because she’s 80 and she’s still running this business and like building software products and stuff, you know, and I’m like, sweet. That’s how I want to be, you know, So I love when I had the opportunity to meet with you. I just like stories like this and I think it’s, I think it’s great with you’re doing.

0:16:28 Susan Merry: It’s really also very fun when I get those dings on my Shopify and I have an order that’s that it’s sort of like Pavlov, you know, the bell and I just jump.

0:16:44 Taylor Wilson: Trust me, I know. I know what that ding is like. When I get a ding from Stripe, I’m like, oh, boom. What’s that? As a small business owner, like we like those sales dings, right? So I want to, I want to ask you, I want to talk a little bit before we sort of like go into our closing. I want to talk about prioritizing community, mindfulness and intention over fashion, over trends. Because I see a lot of your clothing and it’s very classic, you know, I mean it’s like, it’s casual wear, but it’s classic.

0:17:26 Taylor Wilson: Tell me a little bit about how you sort of like make sure that.

0:17:29 Susan Merry: That’S pulled into it was mostly just knowing what I wanted in. From all my experience in dance world, trying on lycra tights and trying on, you know, tops that show your belly and stuff like that. And I knew that that’s not what I wanted. The main thing, the biggest thing was to have the clothes be in cotton because there’s very little out there that’s in cotton. The thing is, I had them all made here in the US Just they were all in California.

0:18:05 Susan Merry: And that made me feel good too, that it was just here we did the products. I also, I should tell you, I have tons of pockets in my pants.

0:18:16 Taylor Wilson: That’s good. Nobody ever has enough pockets.

0:18:20 Susan Merry: Exactly.

0:18:22 Taylor Wilson: So you know what we didn’t get into. But I’m realizing I wanted to ask you about, because how long have you been in business? When did you start this?

0:18:29 Susan Merry: Three years. Three years now.

0:18:32 Taylor Wilson: So how long? Walk us through how long it took to get from conception to having a real product to launching it, to actually sell on the Internet?

0:18:46 Susan Merry: I would say it was anywhere from a year to a year and a half, just trying to get a designer, trying to get tech people to do the website, trying to get the website up and going and figuring out I’ve had really some good people helping me. So about a year and a half, and I finally pulled the cord, I think, in, like, November 22.

0:19:16 Taylor Wilson: How did you find your people, by the way? Shout out to Sheena and Sarah, who I’ve met, who make a lot of things happen on the back end.

0:19:24 Susan Merry: I know. I found them on Craigslist.

0:19:27 Taylor Wilson: Oh, okay. I didn’t realize people were really, like, doing that. But that’s actually an interesting idea because some of these other websites have become so big. So that I love that you said that you found them on Craigslist. That’s good to know that people are still, like, posting jobs on Craigslist.

0:19:44 Susan Merry: Yeah, they are. And they were. Both of them were right at the same time. And they. Both of them just really meld together very nicely. And if the ball gets in one court, it goes to the other court and everybody seems to really work well.

0:20:01 Taylor Wilson: I love it. No, no judgment at all. I love Craigslist. It’s sort of, like, isn’t as popular, but maybe it is. Maybe a lot of people still use it. I mean, I still look for, like, cars and stuff on it or when I’m trying to sell something, like, you know, like, I gotta get a dresser moved out of my house or something like that. Like, but searching for talent okay. All right. As a brand founder in 2025, this is one of my prepped questions.

0:20:30 Taylor Wilson: What does wellness mean to you?

0:20:32 Susan Merry: For me, it’s body, mind. I’ve been lucky enough to found myself. I could be a medium. And honestly, it was just out of. Out of the blue. Something that just. I worked on. I didn’t work on it. It just came to me. I’ve done a lot of classes, but to really answer your question, for me, it’s body. I live in my body, I think. And then my mind takes over, trying to figure out what I want to do. But I think what is needed more than anything is a kindness and a compassion for people and for everybody in this world right now.

0:21:13 Susan Merry: I think we’re really hurting. And if anything, I’d like my clothes to make people feel a little better.

0:21:19 Taylor Wilson: I think you got an awesome customer testimonial. So on that note, you have an awesome testimonial that you want to share. Will you read it for me?

0:21:29 Susan Merry: This is from supposedly a favorite customer. Someone told me that she wore our swing coat to divorce mediation and felt like a boss. So she.

0:21:46 Taylor Wilson: I wish I had my. I guess I needed your swimming coat when I did my divorce mediation. Should have had it. Wish I’d known you then.

0:21:59 Susan Merry: Yes, me too.

0:22:04 Taylor Wilson: I love it. I love it. I didn’t want to cut you off. Were you saying something about a mantra?

0:22:09 Susan Merry: Oh, I was just. You asked me that in one of the questions, and I was just. I kept trying to come up with something that was really meaningful, but I ended up coming up with something about. Which is really kind of not just being true to yourself. I think that’s being honest and true to yourself and trying to. Trying to be kind. I want people to be kind.

0:22:34 Taylor Wilson: I know. I think we’ve got so much. Like. I think everybody is just moving so fast these days. I think the expectations are, like, really high. And we’re in this just, like, more, more, more, more. More communication, more texts, more social media. More, more that. And it’s just like, I think everyone’s so stressed out that then think about when you’re stressed out, how sometimes it’s, like, real easy to jump on your. Your husband or your kids or your friend or your mom, you know, because. But. And it’s, like, actually not anything to do with them. It’s just that I think that there’s, like, these expectations that are so high for everyone now.

0:23:21 Susan Merry: Huge, huge. All around us, I think.

0:23:25 Taylor Wilson: And we just bottle that up all the time, and I think we feel really controlled by it. And then I just think it makes it.

0:23:32 Susan Merry: Ugh.

0:23:33 Taylor Wilson: You know, I’m with you on that. I think everyone needs to take a big chill pill and like, relax a little bit.

0:23:42 Susan Merry: It’s hard, but yes, I agree.

0:23:45 Taylor Wilson: All right, anything. As we close out, Susan, anything you want to share? Tell the audience what’s something that you wish you’d known before starting this business.

0:23:54 Susan Merry: How hard it is. Just how hard it is to keep going and to really keep being dedicated. To keep going, I guess, is because you, you feel like you shouldn’t have done this or why did you do this? Or I don’t know.

0:24:10 Taylor Wilson: Yeah. Do you feel like it’s like a roller coaster? Do you have, like, good days where you feel on top of the world and bad days where you’re like, what am I doing?

0:24:18 Susan Merry: Exactly?

0:24:19 Taylor Wilson: Yeah, that’s entrepreneurship for sure. Well, I think you’re doing great. And I love your. I love your purple. I see a lot. I’m, I’m a big purple. Purple’s my color. It looks kind of like it’s your color because you got purple on. You got purple in your hair and you’ve got purple on your website. If people want to find inner joy online and check you out and learn more and maybe buy some clothes, what’s the best way to do that?

0:24:47 Susan Merry: EnjoyActive Word.com Awesome.

0:24:51 Taylor Wilson: Thank you so much. Go find them online. EnjoyActiveWear.com we will link to that in the show notes and it’s been a joy.

0:25:00 Susan Merry: Nice to meet you.

0:25:02 Taylor Wilson: Thanks for listening. Until next time, go get all your shizzle done. Well, hey there. That was fun.

0:25:13 C: I love how much mind blowing and mind opening shizzle our guests bring to us with every single episode. We hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as we did. Make sure to hit that subscribe button on your favorite podcast player so that you don’t miss a beat of the Talking Shizzle podcast. And if you’re listening on Apple, be sure to let us know what you thought and leave us a review. We’d love to hear from our listeners so that we can bring you all the good, juicy business growth shizzle that you’d like to hear about.

0:25:48 Taylor Wilson: Be sure to get in touch with.