Building Bodhe, a Boutique Work & Social Club in San Diego

Alan Li (00:01)
Welcome to opening soon, a podcast where we interview retail founders about how they started and run their brick and mortar businesses. I'm your host, Alan Li, I run Signs and Mirrors where we make beautiful signs and furniture for retail stores. I also help run FotoLab a self-portrait studio with locations in New York city and Houston.

Alan Li (00:22)
Today's guest, Sam Score is the founder of Bodhe a work and social club based in San Diego, California. Sam runs two locations in La Jolla, has a full-time tech sales job, and is a part-time content creator. We dive into why Sam opened her first location, how much it cost, and the number of members she currently has. Sam's story is one of boldness, hustle, and a little bit of serendipity.

Alan Li (00:45)
Hi, Samantha, welcome to the opening soon podcast. We're really excited to have you here today.

Samantha Score (00:49)
Hi, thank you so much. I am really excited to be here as well.

Alan Li (00:52)
So really excited to talk about Bodhe, But before we do, I'd love to just go back to when you were moving from New York to San Diego, I think it was right after the pandemic what you were doing and how did the idea for Bodhe come to be?

Samantha Score (01:05)
Yeah, great question. That was such a crazy time, I think for everyone. Like it was just wild time and thinking back on it is even crazier just realizing how far we've come in so many different ways. for me at the time, I was going through a lot in my personal life, which is really what triggered my move to San Diego overall. Prior to that, I was living in New York City. I had moved there shortly after graduating from grad school and I was working

Alan Li (01:11)
Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Samantha Score (01:34)
in advertising and thought I was going to be in New York forever. I was one of those people and I know you live in New York now so you probably get it. Like the whole New Yorker nowhere mindset. I was a big subscriber to that.

Alan Li (01:45)
I love New York, but I love San Diego

too. I grew up there as well.

Samantha Score (01:48)
Yeah, they're completely different places and there's such beauty in each of them in completely different ways. Anyway, so during the pandemic, I ended up moving to Florida to stay with my family, got laid off from my corporate job. I was kind of in this place of like, okay, what do I do with my life? While that was all happening, I was also in a relationship at the time, ended up getting engaged.

ended up ending that engagement. It was like this really tumultuous time for me. And my plan was to always move back to the city. And my job at the time was asking me to move back to the city. But before I did that, I kind of like had this urge to go to California and kind of like be on my own and try to rediscover myself a little bit or for the first time, if you will. And found myself in San Diego having never really been there before in my entire life, knowing nobody there. I, through the power of social media,

Alan Li (02:09)
wow.

Samantha Score (02:34)
which is just so crazy to think about, was able to connect with somebody who I'd went to high school with, hadn't spoken to her in like maybe eight years. She posted a story at the same time on Instagram at the same time that I was looking for like places to live in LA. I was kind of just like trying to get a feel for where I could go for a couple of months and do these long term rentals, spend some time by myself while I was looking for a place in New York City. And she posted a story and was basically like, hey, looking for a roommate in this house that I just bought in La Jolla. And I immediately responded and I was like,

I know we haven't talked in eight years, but hey, like I'd love to come move in.

Fast forward, she's now my best friend. Like long story short, once I got to San Diego, I just like could not leave. I felt so grounded. I felt so much more myself and I was making this incredible community here that I never experienced before. And through that, it really made me realize the impact that community has in so many different aspects of your life. And I really understood that because I knew what it was like to not have one. And so that's really where I think Bodhe started originating.

before I even knew it at the time because I was new to this city in San Diego and it's so different from New York, right? Like community-wise and professionally, right? Like it's just not as...

Alan Li (03:39)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Score (03:48)
I guess like clean cut from a professional standpoint as New York was like I didn't really know where to start from a networking perspective. And so I started using social media to try to build like an in-person community in San Diego, meet new people, make new friends. I started facilitating and hosting different events all around the city really with this big emphasis around how do we connect young women who have recently moved to San Diego and are looking to make friends or looking to experience the city. A lot of us were working from home and didn't have coworkers to lean on or an immediate

friend group to kind of help get us out of our houses and go experience everything that the city has to offer. And so that was really like the foundation that Bodhe was built upon was creating that community. was called the SD network. It still exists today. We have kind of transformed or transitioned from being an events community to more of like a online, basically a big group chat. have like 2000 plus women in San Diego. They talk about where to go for happy hour, meeting up for workout classes, where to get their nails done. People have found room.

people have found their best friends through the SD network. So it was really cool to kind of use that as the training ground and almost like proof of concept for Bodhe. But I think...

Alan Li (04:54)
And the SD

network that you started that before Bodhe, and that was the community that you were building?

Samantha Score (04:57)
Yeah.

Yes. Yep. That was kind of that started around 2022, I want to say. Yeah. And it kind of like.

gave me this new sense of purpose that I didn't even realize I was lacking in my life. I've always had a nine to five job to this day. I still have my job in tech sales that I absolutely love and I'm so grateful to have. But at that time when I just moved to San Diego and I was kind of in this moment of rediscovery, if you will, I felt really just like I needed something. was like, I feel like I'm missing something and I didn't really know what it was. And I think community was that thing and beyond just community kind of being the

of that, it gave me so much meaning. And so, yeah, I took all of the traction and the momentum that we were building with the SD Network, this digital first community, this pop-up community that we're building. And I was like, how cool would it be to have a physical space where you don't just see somebody at one event, but you're seeing them day in, day out, multiple times in a really like intimate, thoughtfully curated environment that like blends in really nicely to your day-to-day life. A lot of us

San Diego working from home. A lot of us like need a place to get out of their houses. I was trying to work from coffee shops and I could never find an outlet. I was always distracted and I felt like I was less productive there than I was at home. And I was like, okay, there has to be a solution for this. so Bodhe was essentially born from that idea. It's changed a lot. It's taken on a lot of different versions of that. And I feel like about a year in now, we're just starting to really get our bearings and figure out our brand identity and like the direction that we're taking the business.

Alan Li (06:03)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Score (06:29)
but it all really started with a very impulsive move to San Diego on a whim.

Alan Li (06:34)
I love that. I love that so much. It makes a lot of sense. You're moving to San Diego, didn't have a community here, wanted to find one and decided to do it yourself. What were some of the first events that you held? And how did you get the word out given that you didn't really have any connections or even friends here?

Samantha Score (06:49)
Yeah, I will never forget the first event for the SD Network. It was a picnic, like in the park at Calumet Park in Bird Rock. you're, I know you're local to San Diego, so maybe you'll be familiar with it. But yeah, I posted this video on a whim. I was posting on TikTok at the time and I had like a very small following, but it was all about, everything I was posting about was just, you know, different things to do in San Diego, posting videos of me and the friends that I have made. And I was building this community that was kind of seeing my content.

Alan Li (07:00)
huh.

Samantha Score (07:18)
and they were like, hey, like, I want this. How did you make friends in San Diego? I wish I was doing these types of things with my friends. And somebody had messaged me on TikTok saying, hey, I just moved here. I found your content. We'll have to get coffee together sometime. And I was like, okay, like I've never done that, but like, sure, like, let me go like meet this stranger for coffee. And we had such a lovely conversation and I really connected with her. Just, it kind of made me realize that everyone is in the same place. We all want friends, we all want community. We don't really know where to start. And I was like, I might as well.

Alan Li (07:42)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Score (07:47)
Leverage this community that I'm seemingly building and try to bring them some sort of real tangible value Which is connection and community so I posted a video after that coffee date that afternoon very Randomly and was like hey just had this great experience Anybody else in San Diego in the same boat want to get together for an event? Let me know I'll set it up. I'll plan it I'll put us all together in a group chat and then we can go from there and that was essentially what happened the video got a lot of traction I think at our first event we had maybe like 40 50 girls

like all coming together to sit in the park and just talk and hang out. Coolest thing about that that I will never forget to this day. Like I think like 10 of the girls that came to that first event are now still to this day. And this was maybe like three years ago now. All like best friends have gone on each other's like Bachelorette parties. Some of them are roommates and they would have never met had it been for that moment.

Alan Li (08:21)
That's awesome.

Wow.

Samantha Score (08:37)
And just like that random video that I had posted, right? And the execution, if you will, which is what I always tell people. It's like, okay, it's one thing to have an idea. It's another thing to execute it. Like nothing gets done if it doesn't get done.

Alan Li (08:48)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Score (08:49)
That moment was just such like a turning point, not only in my life, but in so many other people's lives, which to me is like the real win in all of this is being able to see like things actually like change people's lives in some ways. So yeah, it was a pop-up little like picnic in the park. I went and bought some wine and like a cheese board. I was like, I don't know, like I'll just have some stuff for people just for showing up. And then from there we did like pottery classes. We did plenty of happy hours. We would do workout classes.

slowly but surely different brands and businesses in San Diego started reaching out because they were seeing our events and how many girls were coming and they were like, okay, how do we get involved with this? And so that led to us working with a lot of businesses in the community that just wanted to be a part of it.

Alan Li (09:32)
Yeah, because I know myself included, we always have a lot of ideas and things that we want to do, but sometimes the execution can be really scary. And especially for community building events, it's like, is anyone going to show up to my first event if I put it out there? Was that scary at all? have you just done this before?

Samantha Score (09:41)
you

sick.

No, no, no, I've never done it before. I was very scared and I felt very like, like a little insecure about it, you know, and a little bit embarrassed, I think to anybody who posts on social media or even anybody who's like opening up a business or going after some sort of idea. It's very vulnerable because you're really putting yourself out there and you're putting yourself out there to be criticized, to be made fun of. Like that is like a big mental hurdle that you kind of have to get over in this in the beginning days because

Yeah, it's just a natural insecurity. So I remember feeling that way, but I also had this mindset where I was like, two people show up, like that's still a win. Like I kind of went in not knowing what I wanted from it or what it would end up becoming. So yeah, it was definitely scary.

Alan Li (10:29)
Got it.

That makes sense. Okay, so, you know, the ball started rolling, you got a community going, you're working with businesses and decide to open your first brick and mortar location. And that's called the Lounge, which is pretty close to La Jolla Cove. And I believe it was 275 square feet. Walk me through the thought process behind, how you decided on the location, how you navigated.

Samantha Score (10:41)
Yes.

That's so small.

Alan Li (10:55)
negotiating commercial leases, dealing with landlords, designing the space. Who else was helping? You know, how did it come together?

Samantha Score (11:03)
So I think the first thing that I will say, at least for me, everybody's different, but in my experience with opening this first location,

there was so much power in what I did not know. Because I didn't know so much, I think I had the guts to really go for it. Because I kind of like, you want to know enough, but you don't want to know too much. Because if you know all the details, all the nuance of working with a commercial real estate landlord property, all of the stuff that goes into doing a renovation, like even getting permits for signage, getting everything that goes into it, you would probably be too afraid to start. So I think the biggest thing I had working in my favor was how much I didn't know.

Also, I've always been a person that just really acts and moves based on like feeling and instinct and like almost like serendipity in a sense. And so the way that I came upon the space was very organic. It was a space that I had gone to multiple, multiple times. A local esthetician that I had worked with since I had just moved to San Diego when I was going through that big relationship issue, like when I called off my engagement.

Alan Li (12:02)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Score (12:02)
My skin was going crazy. was having this crazy hormonal breakout. Long story short, I found this esthetician and she became one of my like dear, dear friends and mentors of mine from a business perspective. So she was in the space before I was and we'd always sit there during my treatments and I'd tell her my ideas and everything that I wanted to do. And we had collaborated on events with the SD network. She was leaving that space to go to a larger space. And she was like, Hey, the space is available. It's awesome. You've helped me build this business just as much.

Alan Li (12:17)
I see.

Samantha Score (12:31)
is like, you I've helped you build yours, you should take it. And I just knew the moment she's, the moment that I knew it was like existed, I was like, I'm gonna do it. Now I have no choice. I was like, okay, I have to go for it.

Alan Li (12:42)
I love that.

Samantha Score (12:44)
Yeah, so it was truly just an impulsive decision. I signed the lease without ever even like walking through it with a real estate agent, the landlord team, whatever. Like I was just essentially sight unseen. I knew nothing. I did not negotiate. I did not do anything that I should have done the first time. I just, it was all vibes. I was like, yep, let's do it. Who cares if it works out or not? We're just going to give it a go. But thank God I did. Cause it's been, it's been so awesome ever since, but.

Yeah, I had no idea what I was doing. To this day, I don't know what I'm doing.

Alan Li (13:13)
I also had no idea what I was doing when we got our first, commercial lease, location where I didn't know what TI was. It wasn't familiar with abatement. I didn't know what the standards were and, I don't know. think sometimes you just need to take the leap and be bold and, ⁓ have confidence that it'll work out. And obviously seems to have for you here.

Samantha Score (13:18)
Yeah.

Yeah.

For sure, I totally agree. And I also think I had told myself I truly didn't care if it didn't in a weird way. It wasn't about making money for me. It wasn't about it being a huge success. That wasn't the mindset that I went into it with. It was truly this, I wanna see if I can do this. I believe in this idea. I wanna go through the process. I wanna learn.

Alan Li (13:41)
Hmm.

Samantha Score (13:57)
And I kind of had let go of how it would be perceived by other people, because that wasn't in my control. I was like, I'm going to do this because it's something that I want to do and learn and just challenge myself. That was the win for it, just opening up the doors. When we finally opened after doing this renovation, I was like, OK, cool. Now whatever happens next, we'll take it as it comes. But this really was the purpose of it, was just trying to just build something. So yeah, it was intense.

Alan Li (14:23)
Gotcha. And for

the space and opening it up, were these from your personal savings? Did you get some money from family and friends? How did you get the money to open it? how much did it cost to renovate and do everything to get it to what you wanted it to be?

Samantha Score (14:38)
Yeah, a lot of money, which is crazy for how small it is. But similar to what you're saying, like I didn't know anything about abatement periods. I didn't know anything about TI tenant improvement at the time. I didn't ask for any of that. So I was in no abatement. was paying rent the moment that I signed the lease as well as like a pretty sizable deposit. And it had a lot of work that needed to be done more than I had originally anticipated because when I had seen it as my friend who had already like had it set up for her space, I was like, oh, this is like good and ready to go. I had no idea that we needed to rip out all the floors.

had no idea that we needed to redo some plumbing. I had no idea everything that was gonna go into it and I had no idea or sense of what that would actually cost in doing it, right? So long-winded way of saying.

Didn't really like know how to plan for it from a financial perspective But I had personal savings that I knew I would be able to tap into again I was I think how old was I when I opened boat? I was 28. Yeah, I was 28 when I opened the first one I Was planning on like potentially like having a wedding being married at this time having kids before I called off my engagement So in my mind, I'm like people spend way more money on like way crazier shit in my opinion like spending like

Alan Li (15:42)
Yeah.

Samantha Score (15:43)
50 to 100 grand on a wedding is bonkers to me. I'm like, I will never understand that. And so I had like, I'd use some of my money that I'd made for my job the year prior to buy a house, which was like a really big goal of mine. I bought an investment property in Florida. So I had done that. And then I was like, okay, I have this idea. I want to like go after I have the stability of my full time job. I like crunch the numbers just in order to be able to like pay overhead expenses like rent, electricity and Wi-Fi. I was like,

Even if I'm making zero dollars, I will break even and I will like be okay on my personal income. And so that was enough for me to kind of go after it. But that renovation cost us like way more than I had anticipated. think all in, It's probably in like the thirties, I would say, like probably like right around 30 grand. And that was just like savings. And like, I always joke with people who ask me, like, I was just a girl with a dream and a credit card.

We paid ourselves back. We were able to start generating income from the moment that we started accepting memberships and got ourselves to a place as a business where we were stable enough, not profitable enough, but stable enough to

Alan Li (16:49)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Score (16:49)
open a second location, which is was a huge turning point for us because I think now it's actually going to allow us to really become profitable. As awesome as our first space was in a lot of ways was holding us back because we're getting all this demand and all this excitement about the business and there's all this potential and opportunity. This physical space that we had could not sustain the growth that we were trying to get to. And so it was another conversation I had with myself and my family and my partner. I was like, OK, do we do this? And we were like, yeah, let's just let's

go for it.

Alan Li (17:19)
I see. And since you opened, I think I saw a post that you had made on LinkedIn and you have over a hundred members and adjust that one location. And I assume that you were getting more demand because it's only 275 square feet. Like we want a bigger space. We want to be able to accept more members. And that was the thought process for opening the second location, the porch.

Samantha Score (17:35)
Yes.

Absolutely. Yeah, we were not only like on like max capacity in terms of how many members we could have at one time, but we were also on a wait list for day passes to the space like co working day passes to the space. So we were getting feedback from members that there was some frustration around like, can't get in or it's always full and I want it so we just couldn't sustain it, you know, and I also I was like, I can't pass up the opportunity to grow the business that I just invested all this money and time and just like sweat and tears into it's like, okay,

Alan Li (17:55)
Hmm.

Samantha Score (18:07)
I need to actually see this through in a real way and that meant expanding. was either gonna be, I had this conversation with my dad like a couple days before, it was so weird. I started thinking about we need a new space, we need a new space and I started like.

Thinking about it in my head and I called my dad who I always go to for like a lot of advice business-wise he's like just a very rational logical voice where I'm like very like impulsive and like crazy creative like big ideas and I was explaining everything to him and he's like yeah I think it makes sense to expand it was either expand or quit

I was not ready to quit. And two days later, I got a call from my landlord about the space that we ended up moving into. We had never talked about it before. It was completely random. And he was like, hey, we have this space that would be great for your concept. Same thing. I saw it. And I looked at my boyfriend, Connor, who came to see it with me. And I was like, I'm going to do it. I like, I don't know what to tell you, but we're going to have to do it now. So yeah.

Alan Li (19:00)
Gosh.

Samantha Score (19:01)
We got to, I think it was like 105 members at our smaller location, full every day. And then now we're sitting right around 162 members and our goal is to get to 200 within, ideally June. Our goal was like first half of the year is like get to 200 members. So we'll see.

Alan Li (19:17)
Yeah. And how big is the second location, the porch? And I've seen pictures of it and it looks absolutely beautiful.

Samantha Score (19:23)
Thank you. Yeah, it's a lot bigger. It's right around 1400 square feet and it has indoor and outdoor space second story in La Jolla right on Prospect Street like Extremely premium real estate and I have no idea how they let me do this. I like truly to this day. I'm like What is happening? But yeah, it's it's an insane location Insane location. We see the ocean from the porch not in like a crazy way. It's not like an unobstructed view, but

Alan Li (19:38)
Yeah.

Samantha Score (19:52)
Yeah, you see the ocean, you're like steps away from La Jolla Cove and all of these incredible businesses and restaurants and yeah, the location to me when I was coming up with this concept was always the most important thing and I just, I'm so grateful for where we ended up. It's such a special spot.

Alan Li (20:10)
That's awesome. And how are you getting your members? Is it mostly all from the San Diego network that you had created before? And you're just like, hey, I opened up a couple of coworking spaces, come join. Or you had to also do additional marketing or additional brand building or community building, which I know you're doing a lot

Samantha Score (20:27)
Yeah, so it's actually interesting. I made it a point when I was opening Bodhe, I didn't, and I probably should have. I don't know how smart of a business decision this was, but to me...

I wanted it to be so separate and I didn't want to just tap into this SD Network pool that I had created to source boat memberships, right? Like, cause it's a completely different, not completely different. There's obviously some overlap and naturally there has been. And I think what SD Network did for me as a business owner was it helped me build a personal brand that then I was able to like build a community off of. And I really use my personal brand and my personal social media and my story to market and attract new members.

to the business because I myself am like a customer of my business. I represent who we're going after like work from home, full-time job also like pursuing side hustles, needs a place to work in San Diego right so I think I didn't want to

like inundate the SC Network community that I had built and just like tried to like be like, hey, pay for this membership that I'm creating. I just wanted that to happen naturally and organically. And also there are different concepts in the sense where Bodhe is like a pay for membership experience. Like you need to apply and get approved and then you can purchase a membership. It's very like tight knit and intimate, thoughtfully curated community. And at a time we were on a very strict wait list where it was like, okay, just because you apply doesn't mean that you

you

are able to get in or get in right away. The SD Network is like.

come one, come all, like this is for everyone. We don't want there to be any, like so many free events, so many free opportunities for community and connection. So it was important to me that those things were separate. And I think that it really helped Bodhe create its own legs as a business, not be directly associated with the SD network. So that's how it's been, where it's like, some people know about the SD network and they have no idea that that was like where, that's like Bodhe's LLC is under the SD network LLC, and it's a DBA. ⁓

Alan Li (22:19)
interesting.

Samantha Score (22:20)
A lot of people don't know that, which was intentional on my behalf, but from a marketing standpoint for Bodhe, it's been, again, me, myself, I did a ton of like behind the scenes videos of building the business, vlogs of me renovating and bringing my community in on it. I didn't really disclose what it was when I had first started renovating the first space. And that was like a good way to like bring people in and be like, what is this crazy chick in San Diego doing? the SD Network girl, like

is happening. And then since it's opened, it's been a lot of word of mouth. We do a ton of different events. And I think that that's such a great form of marketing, especially for hyper hyper local businesses, creating really strategic partnerships with our neighboring businesses as well. And my whole goal with it is to create a three way value exchange where we're driving value to our members. We're driving value to partnering businesses and then value back to our business as well. But it all kind of like is circular.

in that sense. So that's how we've done our marketing. I did just invest into a rebrand when we opened our second space, which I'm so thankful for. my gosh, because I'm not a designer by any means. I like know what I want something to look like, but I don't always know how to execute it. And so with the first space, I designed our logo. I did all of our like little brand things, just me and Canva having no idea what I was doing. And when we got our second space, I was like, okay, this is taking up too much time to try to figure out

Alan Li (23:38)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Score (23:43)
what our brand voice is, what our brand identity is. I need to spend some cash on actually like getting this infrastructure figured out and I'm so glad that we did and a big reason for doing that was because we do want to think about this year, okay what are our more like traditional marketing channels that we could look into to try to get the word out there about the business. Once we figure out these are like very clear objectives that we have around how many memberships we want to get to beyond memberships like how are we

driving revenue around private event and office rentals. How are we driving revenue for small team memberships, right? But I didn't want to do any of that too soon until I really knew, okay, this is like the specific function that we need these channels to drive for us.

Alan Li (24:23)
Yeah, and then when you say invest in infrastructure, does that mean you helped hire an agency or someone to help with your branding and your brand guidelines? Is that what that means?

Samantha Score (24:30)
Yeah,

I hired a independent designer. Her name is Madison. She goes by Wooters Design on Instagram. She is phenomenal and like she's done such incredible work. So that's kind of how I found her. But she just handles every business that she works with with such like

love and care and like understanding. Like I just, truly felt like she was a partner in the whole design process the whole time. And as a founder, it was so cool because we had so many in-depth conversations about my vision for the business and who is our ideal customer and where do we want to be in 10 years? And so.

Just like even going through that story with her and then knowing that that story was all infused into how the brand now looks and feels and is seen is just so cool. yeah, she was awesome to work with.

Alan Li (25:14)
Yeah.

did she also help with, the furniture pieces and the layout of the space, or who's doing the curation?

Samantha Score (25:21)
My designer,

so she is incredible. Terra Mar Interiors, I will send you all of this, so if there's a place to tag them, you absolutely should because they're awesome.

Alan Li (25:30)
Yeah, we'll include them

in the show notes.

Samantha Score (25:32)
Awesome. You know how I told you that I like moved in with that girl in San Diego that I had met in high school and then like we just like found each other on social media. So it's just so crazy how everything is all interconnected. But I moved in with her. She had just bought this condo in La Jolla, which like shout out Abby, insane. She bought a condo in La Jolla like 26 years old. I don't know how she does what she does, but.

her like condo buying when I was living with her, we were basically camping at certain points because Abby then decided to renovate her kitchen, which needed to be renovated. It was horrible. So she ended up working with this designer. Her name is Katie. Um, and I met Katie during the renovation. I was always around and it was just like so beautiful. The end product is gorgeous. So I got exposed to Katie's work then. And when I was opening the first location of Bodhe, again, in my mind, I was like, ah, it doesn't

need much but I wanted to be very beautiful and thoughtful and curated if I need if I'm going to ask people to pay a certain amount for membership it needs to be like very intentionally designed I know my strengths my weaknesses like interior design not always one of them again I know I want something to look but the execution I can't always make the right decisions and so it felt really meaningful to me to work with Katie for the Bodhe design because I was like hey like

Alan Li (26:37)
Yeah.

Samantha Score (26:45)
But I call it Bonaire. My friend's house where I live was like such a special place to me that like changed my life and where all of these things really started. I'd love for you to come and help me design this space. So long story short, she did. She helped us with the first space. We got such incredible feedback. I brought her in for our second renovation as well. Transparently, I couldn't afford as many hours that I really would have needed for her to do like a full inside out, upside down design plan for us and a lot of the pieces that she did pull.

Alan Li (27:12)
Yeah.

Samantha Score (27:14)
I could not afford. They were so out of budget. Because I obviously had like very expensive taste of what I wanted it to look like. But the way we worked together was very collaborative where she helped me really nail out the space plan of like, okay, this is like the optimal way to use the space that we have. She is so good at what she does and is so patient because I change my mind all the time and she was incredible to work with. like I put together this mood board for her and then she'll

Alan Li (27:36)
Hmm.

Samantha Score (27:41)
pool pieces that reflect the mood board. And then I would go and source the pieces either directly from what she pooled or a thrifted, cheaper version of that. So we had to get a little bit scrappy in certain ways. the end result I'm so proud of. And we also worked with some local artists, which was like a new initiative that I wanted to bring into the space. So we have an incredible artist. His name is Parker Heath. He just got put into restoration hardware also, like his work is

He has this crazy collaboration with him, so I'm like, oh my gosh, that's awesome. He's in our space. But yeah, again, just partnership and community. It's reaching out to people and be like, hey, do you want to be involved with this? And they're aligned with the vision and want to be a part of it. And so yeah, I was very reliant on heavy collaboration and being pretty scrappy where we could be. It was a lot different than the first one, because I had way less money this time than had last time.

to work with.

Alan Li (28:38)
I always think, you know, the saying fortune favors the bold and I think you've been very bold with all the moves that you made and it seems very serendipitous. But I think when you really want something like the world sort of conspires to help you achieve it and to, your roommate and, the landlord tipping your second space, it seems to be the case here.

Samantha Score (28:55)
Yes.

Yeah,

Alan Li (28:59)
You are also a content creator and you still have your full-time job while running Bodhe. How do you manage it?

Samantha Score (29:04)
Yes. ⁓

I get this question all the time. I don't have a straight answer for you because I think that... How do you manage it? I don't know. I just do it. It's the only way I really know how to answer it. think...

Like what I explained to people who asked me similar things like how do you do this or I want to do what you're doing Like like I don't know how to start I'm always like you just have to start doing it and everything that you do now is from learned behavior right that you've Put to practice in small ways and you've learned and course corrected and figured out on the way so As far as like high school like I was juggling a hundred different things in college. I was involved in Leadership and sorority leadership. I had internships. I was like

always juggling things and I think I got really good at being able to shift focus and shift priorities and figure out like what needs to get done and when so now and then the SD Network when I started that that gave me like a great training grounds of how to have nine to five build something like run with the opportunity I had with content creation as a source to fuel that and in my life today where I have to your point nine to five content creation and the business they all are

connected and they all kind of flow together. Like before I hopped on this interview I was filling out my one-on-one doc for my meeting with my boss later this afternoon and woke up at 5 a.m. this morning to make sure that I had time to get a Pilates class in and I'm filming a day in the life video right now that I'm going to post on TikTok probably tomorrow, you know? So it's like, it's all interconnected. There's not a good answer because there's not like, can't be like, make a list and check things off your list. It's like, I don't make a list every

I just kind of like through learned behavior have figured out how to do it and I just don't make excuses for myself I think that it's so easy to be like like I'm too busy. It's like you can do a lot of things Yes, you have to make sacrifices But those are sacrifices that I'm happy to make because I love I love my nine-to-five job I'm so grateful for it and I love my business so much. It doesn't feel like work right now because I'm fortunate that I get to do this and content creation. I love

I'm creative, I love to share, and I know that it's important for me to do that to promote my businesses. And yeah, I think you just have to kind of find the time. I also don't have kids. I'm like so aware of how fortunate I am in my late 20s, about sure in 30s. I don't have kids, I don't have like any of those crazy time responsibilities. So I better be working overtime right now. You know what I mean? While I have the luxury to do that.

And it's just fun. I have a good time. Everything I do, I make sure it's fun. If it's not fun, I'm not going to do it. So I always make sure that I'm having a good time and then I'll be motivated to do more of it.

Alan Li (31:47)
For people who are interested in brick and mortar, what trends are you seeing having worked on Bodhe or what would you be working on if it wasn't for Bodhe? Do you see any specific things that are particular to either San Diego or to brick and mortar that you would be excited to start for our listeners who are interested in starting brick and mortar?

Samantha Score (32:06)
Yeah, I mean, I've seen a big trend in more like social community spaces, specifically in San Diego popping up. We've been seeing more and more people trying to not replicate fully, but take a lot of inspiration, I think, from what Bodhe is doing and bringing that in their own way in San Diego. think overall, there is this need that I don't believe is going anywhere anytime soon around community and spaces that connect people. I think there's a lot of different ways to do that. Our approach is through coworking.

wellness is like so huge. feel like every other weekend here we're seeing a new Pilates studio pop up.

I think there's not one key trend that I'm seeing outside of these connective social spaces and event spaces and also shared studio space we're seeing a lot of. Another friend of mine just opened up a concept called The Frame Downtown and it's very similar to another place here called Studio Casually, I would say, where it's these spaces where creators and creatives or really anyone can go in, they rent hourly.

and have a place to go and create, whether that's shooting your podcast and having like a podcast studio to go film in or like...

curated backdrops in place to go do like professional shoots branded shoots and the overhead for that as the owner Isn't that an intense because you just have your rent You've got to set it up probably one time right design it and then if you're getting people booking hourly monthly revenue It's just like a bunch of passive income if you think about it. So Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if there's like one big trend around brick-and-mortar other than like the social Connective spaces. I would just I would do another Bodhe I don't think I would do another

another brick and mortar other than Bodhe. Yeah, I would never, this is not my plan until Bodhe happened, was to have a brick and mortar location.

Alan Li (33:46)
Yep.

I know the goal is to grow Bodhe throughout this year and next, but have you thought about what this potentially looks like in the next three, four five years and where you want it to ultimately get to?

Samantha Score (34:03)
Yeah, I have and I haven't because I really like to stay in the present moment and not, I don't know.

It's evolving so much with such a new business that I'm not attached to one specific thing that I need it to get to in order for it to be successful or like I'm not chasing like we need to franchise and that's the big goal. I'm kind of like evolving with the business on my, as the founder of it and the owner of it and evolving it based on the response that we're getting essentially and what people want and what works for us. We have gotten so much interest around

Alan Li (34:30)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Score (34:35)
getting bodes in other communities, not even just in San Diego, but other states, like entirely different markets. I think a big goal would be to open a third location in a different neighborhood. We have two locations in La Jolla right now. Doesn't make sense to move this concept up to like the OC somewhere, right? So we were open to growth and expansion, but

I think I'm still trying to figure out the second location and seeing how we do. We just hit one year as a business, but in the long-term future, potentially doing some sort of licensing model, I think is where we'd want to take it. I don't have any plans to sell the concept to a bigger holding company. I just think that that completely does not align with everything that we stand for as a business, but I do like the idea

of getting our concept into other people's hands and Allowing them to take their own spin on it based on the specific like local market that they're in So licensing is a good fit for that, but we'll see I have no idea. They still don't know what I'm doing.

Alan Li (35:38)
We all don't. And how many employees are there at Bodhe

Samantha Score (35:42)
We just hired employees in the past three months, so I'm very excited. I have three. I have my Director of Operations, Vienna, who is incredible. She really helps manage a lot of the backend logistics side of things. like scheduling like our, know, who's open and closing the lounge that day, what does the calendar look like, all that. So that's taken a lot of busy work off my plate. We hired an events manager. Her name's Sydney. She's incredible.

Alan Li (36:07)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Score (36:10)
a lot of experience. So she manages all of our internal member only events and also any like external event partnerships and then venue rental sales. Cause that's another aspect of the business is yes, we're a co-working space, but then we also function as an event venue. And then my like.

Alan Li (36:23)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Score (36:26)
I love her so much. Lucy, she's my executive assistant and she helps me with everything. So she fills in all the gaps for Bodhe. She helps me a lot in my life, like daily things, like for my nine to five for content creation. She's just like my go-to girl. So that's really helped me be able to free up some space in my head. That was like being sunk into all those really like time consuming, more logistical tasks to kind of run the business at a higher level and have a little bit more creative flexibility or freedom, if you will.

without being too into the weeds and the day-to-day stuff as I was for the past year all by myself, which was really tough. And then honorable mention I have to say is my boyfriend Connor. He helped so much with the build out and I mean he does so much for me in the business, but even just little things like when I'm gone on a work trip, he's there helping to set up an event or is closing the porch on a day that I'm still caught up in a meeting at work, you know? So it really is like a team effort. Like it does not happen all

alone.

Alan Li (37:22)
I remember seeing, I think it was on TikTok, you and Connor were making the phone booth together, which looked like a Herculean effort. So ⁓ shout out to our unsung partners who help us on these crazy journeys we go on.

Samantha Score (37:28)
Yeah.

Yes, we got it. Yeah.

You're sure. Yeah, and you have, we have so much fun doing it, which is like the cool thing. Like we always joke, we're like, my gosh, we can't wait to tell our kids about like the time that we opened up a business and had no idea what we doing. And, you know, just doing all this crazy stuff. Like it's been great for our relationship in so many ways too. Like we're just having a blast. So.

Alan Li (37:53)
Final question here is, if you could go back, and I know it's only been just a couple of years since you started Bodhe, but is there anything that you would have done differently knowing what you know now on this journey?

Samantha Score (38:04)
Yes, I would have hired a CPA and a finance team before I signed my lease. That would have been the first thing that I would have done. think, my gosh, that is crazy. Yeah, you just, you need help. think like knowing what you can take on and then like knowing what to delegate and outsource is so important. And that is one thing that I wish I would have done sooner for sure.

Alan Li (38:11)
Simple.

Awesome. Samantha, this has been really fun. And if people want to learn more about you and Bodhe, how can they reach out?

Samantha Score (38:33)
Yeah, I'm on social. So my personal social media is at Samantha score, just my name on both Instagram and Tik Tok. Bodhe is also on social as we do most of our posting on Instagram. So it's Bodhe.co B-O-D-H-E.co. And then I'm like very accessible in DMs or email. If you want to talk, have any questions about Bodhe, I will be an open book and share truly anything. So you can always email me. It's just sam at bodeco.com.

Alan Li (38:59)
I love that. Awesome. All right. Well, thanks so much, Sam. And then looking forward to seeing you and Bodhe expand.

Samantha Score (39:06)
Absolutely. Thank you for having me. This is so fun.