Anyone who has met Carl Larsson will testify that his energy and passion for what he does is contagious.
Carl Larsson is the co-founder of The Sleep Spa by Hästens Beds. He lives in Los Angeles. He is a runner, meditator and he writes about art and design under @theartreporter. He is a fan of meditation and the founder of The Breathwork Club.
Despite the changes brought on by 2020, Hästens team has had a record growth and expanded all across the US. We recently had the chance to interview Carl, and ask about he and his company handle marketing in times of chaos.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share with us what you do and the story about how you first got started?
I run Hästens Sleep Spa in Los Angeles and New York City together with my best friend and business partner Linus Adolfsson who is a true Hästens patron. Hästens is the worlds best sleep instrument. The worlds most luxury mattress made with all natural materials such as horse hair, cotton and wool.
Hästens has been making the best mattresses in the world for 169 years and we are just trying to tell the story for Americans via our Sleep Spa:s in LA and NYC. At the Sleep Spa you walk into a dream and get educated about sleep and rejuvenation. We insure your sleep for 30 years with our complimentary bed massage by our service dream team and by making sure that we fit you into the right tension to make you feel like you are sleeping on a cloud, aligned and free from pressure points. Our Sleep Spas are the best performing in the worlds and our clients are the worlds top artists, athletes, musicians and business executives. Our collection ranges from $18,000 for the entry level mattress to $400,000 for the Grand Vividus.
What is your number one advice to a business owner in today’s climate?
To work harder than ever and see this challenge as an opportunity to take the next step when your competitors are staying still. We have had our best 6 months in our companies history and opened up two new stores with a third coming up.
This is also an amazing opportunity to find new business angles as the retail landscape is changing. We went from being a showroom to an appointment only Sleep Spa. We are doing four appointments a day and we are fully booked for the next two weeks and have been for a while. It does help that people are more home than ever and that Sleep is the most important thing to stay safe and healthy.
How do you handle times of chaos?
Sleep and Meditation is a key thing for me. I meditate 40-60 minutes every day and make sure to get two hours of Tel sleep and two hours of deep sleep. In order to get that I need to have five great sleep cycles (each cycle is 90 minutes) so in other words I need to sleep 7,5 hours. 10:30pm - 6am is my medicine. My brother in Sweden is a monk and we meditate 30 minutes together over zoom in the morning and at night. It is also a way for me to keep contact with my family in Sweden.
Rapid-fire questions:
early or late riser? According to the leading Sleep authority in the world, Dr Michael Breus, there are five chronotypes and it is important to figure out what you are to match your circardium rhythm. I’m a lion which means that you wake up 6am-7am
texting or email? Please call me or dm @carllarssons
what is the last article you read? How art galleries in Paris are presenting works when art fairs like Fiac is not happening because of COVID. I was in the art business before and I used to live in Paris still following the industry closely.
To follow Carl check out @thesleepspa @carllarssons @theartreporter
Thank you, Carl. We are so inspired by you and your team's commitment to growth, even in times of chaos! Can't wait to see what's next projects you and your team have.
kinfizz is your go-to company for marketing strategy during times of chaos. Be it due to changing times, leadership changes, M&A or new ventures.
We love chaos. Yes, you read that correctly. The more chaos the better. We also love change. Chaos and change, two words that get most people running away from a company. But for us, that is where we excel. kinfizz has helped companies worldwide since 2014 using a process known as blue-penciling. We come in and blue-pencil things back to calm and peaceful. The goal is to find the good stuff and eliminate the waste (of time, money and resources). In effect, we improve sales and marketing processes using existing, internal resources. Kinfizz is located in Los Angeles and our work has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNBC, TechCrunch, and Entrepreneur.