Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / 6 Quick Questions with Hillary Peterson, Founder of True Botanicals (part 2)
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome back. Here are the six quick questions. So question number one, what's your why? Why are you doing what you're doing? The beauty industry should serve our well-being and our beautiful planet. Absolutely. Question number two, what's been your favorite or top marketing moment so far?
- 0:28I think I would have to say harnessing the authentic celebrity passion for our products to extend our reach. That's crazy, by the way. So cool. It's been so exciting to see how that's impacted our growth. The photo shoot of Olivia in her pool. Loved that. Oh my gosh. That was really incredible. That was her idea. Oof. Loved it. That was really cool.
- 0:54Question number three, what is your go-to business resource when it comes to a book, a podcast, or a newsletter? You know, I try to surround myself with seekers. So it tends to be functional medicine doctors, thinkers like Zach Bush, who's focused on the microbiome and regenerative farming. So it's a group of people, probably more than a medium, and it tends to be people who are challenging the status quo.
- 1:23I love that. Zach Bush. I'm going to check him out. Very interesting. Is he like in a newsletter or is it a website or a Twitter or? He has a nonprofit called Farmers Footprint. Okay. Farmersfootprint.com. And there've been a lot of great podcast interviews with him. Yeah.
- 1:42And he's a functional medicine doctor. Mark Hyman, really interesting functional medicine doctor. Scientists at universities. I follow a lot of university scientists who are studying aging and wellness and sustainability. I love that. Very cool. Very interesting. I want to learn more about alternative therapies and functional medicine and things like this when it comes to
- 2:12God help me, please. Someone help me. I don't think you're alone. When I'm with my girlfriends, we end up talking about that a lot. The latest that we're doing for sleep.
- 2:21Oh my gosh. I just bought the, I just started using the Whoop. I'm digressing here. I just started using the Whoop and it tracks your sleep. It's a sleep tracker as one of the things that it does. And I'm just like never getting restorative sleep ever. And so this is why I've spent my whole life tired is because I'm not sleeping properly. And it's like crazy to see. And I'm so sad. The other day it said I had, you know, I went to, and I'm always in bed like eight to 10 hours kind of thing. But like the other night...
- 2:51I slept three and a half hours of actual sleep across the different stages. And I was like, well, that's not enough. And I wake up feeling, you know, sick and groggy and emotional because I'm so tired.
- 3:07It's a worthwhile pursuit. Keep at it. So my girlfriend just showed me her whoop last night, actually. She was over and she was showing me how you can. I'm really curious. Now I want to see, but I'm a big sleeper, especially now that I have the fantastic CEO leading the charge. She's changed my life.
- 3:27Shout out to her. Love that. Yeah. Question number four. Maybe you've just answered this, but how do you win the day? What keeps you happy and productive and motivated?
- 3:38Oh, gosh. I would say that, you know, in addition to having a business that feels like a true reflection of my authentic desire to transform skin and the health of the planet, it's very exciting to be able to work on something I believe in so passionately. I would say that for me, spending time in nature is the perfect balance to that, you know, with my friends, with my family, in nature.
- 4:06I think it helps me sleep better. It helps me keep perspective. So I'm really lucky to have access to nature and I'm out there every day. Beautiful. I love that. I've mixed these final two questions up in recent episodes. So question number five is what's the worst money you've ever spent in the business and how much was it? What's your big kind of money mistake? Wow. I'm blindsiding you.
- 4:36Oh, you know what? I think the worst money that I spent, my biggest money mistake was overinvesting in packaging when we were thinking that we would save money because it would make the per each cost lower. But of course, we just kept changing the packaging because an ingredient would shift. You know, there was always something changing. So I would just say early on spending too much on packaging when it just wasn't time yet. Do you remember how much it was?
- 5:06Oh, sure. I mean, I would say as we were growing, we probably wrote off hundreds of thousands of dollars of packaging over the years. Oh my God, that's crazy. But I've heard it so many times. I've heard it so many times that people are like, spend more per unit on your packaging and buy less because you're going to change it all the time. I've heard it a million times over. Yeah, for sure.
- 5:32I asked this question because I've noticed that on our TikTok or on my TikTok account, people just love these like tiny moments of mistakes. And one of the best performing videos that I have is about this founder who, again, also spent money on packaging that was a fail, basically. Yeah.
- 5:50I always ask. It's great. All in the spirit of saving money. All in the spirit of saving money. Tough lesson to learn. And question number six, you've already shared so many of these in this episode already, but last question is, what is just a crazy story, good or bad from your business? Business journey, rather.
- 6:10I would have to say, for me, what just feels so surreal is the groundswell of passion for the brand that's coming from the most unexpected places. So in one week, I've always been a huge Diane Keaton fan. I've loved her movies. And she commented on our social media. And I went and checked to make sure it was really her. And then in that same week, Lizzo posted about us.
- 6:40And I called my 21-year-old daughter, and I think that's the moment she decided I was cool. I said, oh my gosh, look at this Lizzo posted about us. So I think it's just this groundswell of passion coming from these incredible places that has just been very unexpected and very exciting and has really made a huge difference for our business, which is wonderful.
- 7:05That is so freaking cool. Gosh, Hilary, thank you so much for taking the time to come on and share your journey so far with True Botanicals and all the cool stuff that's going on for you guys. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Dune, for having me. Really enjoyed the conversation.
- 7:26Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
- 7:50And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
- 8:13As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that. Thank you.
- 8:29Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
- 8:54And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
- 9:16As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show, and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.