Latest / Skin Anarchy / Understanding Manufacturing of Beauty Ft. Mary Berry of Cosmos Labs

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Understanding Manufacturing of Beauty Ft. Mary Berry of Cosmos Labs · Skin Anarchy

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Hey guys, so before the episode starts, I wanted to pop in and just say that top picks for skincare is now fully complete, so that's facial skincare.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: We are going to move on to the other areas that we did do topics for, which includes things like body care, hair care, um, and some couple of other things that are related to wellness, including fragrance.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: So stay tuned for those, and thank you to all of the brands that have really shown up and supported us and accepted our award with so much um just pride, and we are so humbled to see that.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you, thank you, thank you.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: We really appreciate it.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: The whole skincare anarchy team is just rooting all of you brands out there on and keep making your amazing products.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: And for everyone listening that is on the consumer end of things, I really urge you guys use these decks as your guides when you're out shopping, when you're at your Sephora, when you're out there just trying to find products for just daily use, use these as your guidance because they are genuinely the best of the best of 2023 and they're all divided up into wonderful and very um convenient categories for all of you to really kind of put in on.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: But thank you so much to everyone, and I hope you love this episode coming up.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: It is a little bit of a different kind of episode for us because with all of the macra regulations going on that the FBA is now implementing, we really wanted to bring on um, you know, more of a manufacturing side to things and understanding how the manufacturing of products works.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: So we couldn't think of a better person to interview than Mary Berry, who is the founder of Cosmos Labs.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm so excited for you to dive into the episode and learn about Cosmos Labs and what they do, but just you know to get your feet wet a little bit about this because we are going to be seeing some shifts in the next, I think, you know, months and a couple of years down the road.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so really kind of hone in and listen to this.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: And um, if you have any questions at all, I always remind you guys at the end of the episode, you can always email us at skincareanarchy at gmail.com and we love hearing from you.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: So please chime in whether it's about the episode or top picks or anything at all, including the safe seal, which is now available for to apply to for brands.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: So definitely chime in if you're interested in that.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: There's also a link in our link tree for all the brands out there that want to get in on the safe seal.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: So please uh utilize that link, fill out the form, and we will be notified and we can set up a call.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: But I really hope you guys love the episode coming up.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: Hi guys, welcome back to Skin Cheer Analogy.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: This is your host, Ecta, and I have such a lovely guest with me today.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm such a fan because she's truly extraordinary and her work really speaks for itself.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, she's revolutionizing the industry and has been doing so for quite a while now.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, originally, just to give you a little bit of uh background, we're going to be interviewing um Mary Berry today, and she was the founder of Texas Beauty Labs.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: And um Texas Beauty Labs was sold in 2019.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: They were renamed to the Good Kind Company, which was it's a manufacturing um, you know, lab.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: And now she has reestablished um her work in Cosmos Labs.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm really excited to welcome her here under the umbrella of Cosmos Labs.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: So welcome to the show, Mary.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so honored to be hosting you.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to be here.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's it's truly an honor.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's truly a privilege because I I don't get to talk to um, you know, professionals such as yourself.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I really want to because I don't know much about the manufacturing side of things when it comes to um, you know, wellness products, beauty point, whatever it is.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just really an honor.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I I would love to dive in, but I really want to learn all about you and kind of um get the tale from you directly, you know what I mean, about your adventures and how everything began.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: So if you could walk us down memory lane, that'd be a really great place to start.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, my memory lane is really, really long.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: We are sorry, you just tell me, you just tell me if it's too much.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um okay, so I literally started then my first business in my garage in my house.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I started, I had my own brain back in the early 2000s.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's called Be Pure.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I started making actually it was candles for a friend of mine because she had a baby and couldn't do it anymore.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I realized I really liked making other people's things.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I had hired a cosmetic chemist.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: She was like a classically trained cosmetic chemist.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and when where I was doing my own line, you know, we were buying bases and like fluffing them up and putting extra things in it and then bottling it.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then she was like, you know, we can make this from scratch.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh no, I'm sorry.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is what we do.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: We buy it, we fluff it up, and we bottle it.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And she um one day I got a shipment that I couldn't use.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like it had frozen or something and it was unusable.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so she'd already had a formula, she made an emulsion in front of my eyes, putting oil and water together, and I was hooked.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I was like, oh my God, it's like magic.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, because you know, it was oil and it was water, and then it went together and it was a lotion.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just like, I mean, it just like even to this day, I like get memor mesmerized by it.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you know, we started that.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I stopped doing it's called B Pure.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: I stopped doing that, and then I started Texas Beauty Labs, and that was in my house for a little while too.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like we um took over even the living room, put an indoor outdoor carpet.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and in 2008, we moved out into our first manufacturing facility.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: We only had a few clients and we had high school kids that would come fill the products and they like after school um and all that.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so um after we like moved out, we had to move back in after nine months because I um it was 2008, and all of my clients had like that was when the economy wasn't doing well, and all they all kind of like didn't do great.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so um I was like eight months pregnant, moved back in the house.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then we just kind of continued on.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, got basically fast forward, we got to move out again in about a year.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and while we were in the house, like my husband and I lived upstairs, um, and all the manufacturing was happening downstairs.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we were really tiny.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and when we moved back out of the house, um we got like a 4,000 square foot space, and you know, we just kind of kept growing little by little.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, our first big client, I can talk about a few clients.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um our face, our first big client was Milk and Honey.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they are a spa here in Austin.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um now they're like all over the US, but um, so they were we made their back bar and we made kind of the milk and honey products, but we're really small.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, before what I'm about to tell you, we were we had about nine employees, we're about 500k in revenue, so small.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I had had two babies, so like, you know, it's just like getting everything together.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I got a call from a guy named Moyes Ali, and he was like, Do you make deodorant?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, No, sorry.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: He was like, And I was like, no, because I thought antiperspirant was deodorant.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know the difference even at this time.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so he finally like talked me into trying it.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um we did, and um, he was the founder of Native Deodorant.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we started with Native Deodorant and making 500 sticks a week.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that was hard for us because we only had nine employees from me down to the dishwasher.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And we um, you know, we scaled up to doing 24,000 a day every day, six days a week within 18 months, all by hand.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it was just it was a lot.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because you know, we were we were small, like I didn't have like, you know, my major was tourism.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so but you know, we had a team that was really committed, um, that really cared, and we were like really excited to like, you know, work with native.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, that was before they were big though.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: I can how he was selling all those deodorants, and I'm like, basically, what is he doing with all these?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's so many.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, he's just putting them in a warehouse somewhere.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, well, because like that was he was one of the first direct-to-consumer guys, right?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, you know, it was the you know, cutting edge of the time.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, you know, after we got like kind of our feet under us um with native, we started really working on other people's stuff besides native.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we just made a ton of deodorant because everyone knew we did native.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, that was kind of our shtick back then was Dio and um with Texas Beauty Labs.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, we we got on the Inc.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: 500 fastest growing companies two years in a row.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it was just a wild ride, like so fun and wild and crying under the table and all of it, you know.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: I can I mean that's that's crazy though, that you guys were doing 24,000, you said, but like per day.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, other clients.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: So like it was probably more around 30,000, 32,000 a day of items, things.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, did you sleep, Mary?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like that's like literally no sleep.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, no, but one time I found out, like, I'd been traveling and like we were so busy, our compounders like slept in the car.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like they like we're here so late and we're gonna be here so early in the morning.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: And like when I found out, I was like, oh my god, you guys, this is not worth it.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do you know what I mean?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we're not the curing cancer here, we're making deodorants, like we can people can't sleep in their cars, like it is not worth it.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: Do you know what it's crazy you say that, Mary?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: And not to interrupt you, but like I find that so often with like, for example, like you know, you are you know a high-powered businesswoman, and I feel like that drive it just takes over, you know what I mean?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's just like, oh my gosh, like we need to cut, you know, make a line, like draw a line at one point.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, where they where is our line, you know?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: So I I get it, I get it.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's crazy though.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I am very employee-focused, employee forward.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, we're like I can sit here all day long and hope to do things, you know.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but if everyone, every single person in this building is not on board and not committed, then like, you know, it's not gonna work.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like right now, today we have 65 employees, and every person here is super committed, super cares.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: That is the key to this kind of business.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: I totally get that.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm just like in shock right now.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, in the in the best way, though, because that is like, I mean, talk about the hustle, right?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's like yeah, you know, and that's why I'm so excited to be talking to you because manufacturing to me has always been a great area because I'm literally I literally sit here and I look at these brands and I'm like, oh my gosh, like who makes your products?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: Like the people, the people who are bottling these like formulas up and putting them together and like making them available on time for shipment, like that kind of stuff, like that's gotta be an insane amount of pressure, right?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's that's a lot.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know what's funny is like I I don't know why I don't get pressured about things like that.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: I worry about the stupidest things, but not actual things, you know what I mean?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: We're like the actual yeah, I worried about like is my flight gonna be on time, but like not actually like I don't know.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: I just really, really have a good trust in our team.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: They're so good that like it I know it's gonna happen because we all care.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's the key.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Cause like, you know, but that's just what I found in business, you know.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, okay, so back to like let me tell you.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: So then yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let me let me wrap that one up.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we um we ended up selling, I ended up selling the business in March of 2019.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, that was something, you know, my like I said, my major was tourism.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: So like I'd gotten to a point where I was like, gosh, like what if I don't know enough about business?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like what if I don't want to like, you know, mess things up, like I have a really good thing going.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just, you know, so I sold it.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I stayed on as partner there.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I stayed on for a year and a half.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, we parted ways, you know, just because, you know, I'd been running that business for a long time.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, the the people that bought it wanted to run it uh, you know, the way they wanted to run it, which I understand because they bought it.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and then I took a year and a half off where I was like gonna I try to direct to consumer brand because I was like, I've seen all these people do direct to consumer brands.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I can do that too.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I was doing gummy vitamins and then we were doing wellness.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: It was called Cosmos Vita.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and turns out I super sucked at that.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um that was not gonna direct to consumer.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's really hard.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's good that it recognized your, you know, what you're not good at.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: I know, I was not good at that because like I like have an inflated sense of like I can do whatever.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, no, I can't, and I can't do that.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um so um I, you know, I had people in the industry being like, please come back to beauty, please come back to beauty.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: So and when my non-compete was up, I did come back to beauty and um I missed it so much.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I came back to it like, you know, like if you lost your dad at Disney World and then you like found them in the crowd and you ran to them.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: I this happened to me, ran to them and just them so hard.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: That is how I felt about beauty.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um and manufacturing too, because like manufacturing's hard, man.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like there are problems every day, but turns out I love problems every day because I like to solve problems, you know.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you're a go-getter, clearly.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's I am.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm either like, let me tell you, I'm either a go-getter or I'm in my bed watching the mini project.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like, wow, yeah, we need to like I feel like we're very similar in that way.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: I can relate, I can definitely relate.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I mean that's so cool though, because you know, I and you know, I do have the natural question of, you know, when you did transition and you know, just kind of restart this whole thing in a way, like, how was that for you?
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, psychologically, like was it stressful?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: Was it like, you know, were you confident?
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like knowing, like, no, you know what, I'm not worried about it, it's gonna go great.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, what was that process like for you, like transitioning from out of, you know, Texas and then into cosmos?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I've just read this article that was basically like it was it's it was like a psychology-based article that was like, if you want to find basically a successful entrepreneur, a lot of them have had um times where they had something to prove, whether it be when they were young with their parents or or something like that.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I like there's nothing that drives me stronger than wanting to show someone or something something.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Where I'm like, I had been told um, you know, that when I, you know, with the first business that I didn't have any business acumen, that I just got lucky, that I caught lightning in a bottle.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my only skill was that I was able to hold on to that, you know, to to native.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so like I really had felt that way when I exited that business.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: I thought, oh, I do suck.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then, you know, starting this business, I was like, I don't know.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: I just was like, I had something, I had something to prove to myself, honestly.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, because I only I'm very competitive, but I only compete with myself.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like other people, like I love cheering other people on.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: If someone's doing better than me, I'm excited for them, like truly, because like everyone's on their own journey.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm only worried about my own.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so I wanted to prove to myself that I am, I am good at this, that this is, you know, this is my life's calling, it is my life's work, and I love it so much.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think going in with that attitude, you know, and and I have an amazing team here.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: We were able to like this year, this is our first year, full like our first full year of business.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: We started in June of last year, and and we'll do more revenue this year with Cosmos than I did the year I sold Texas Beauty Labs.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been just a rocket ship of uh, you know, uh, and I think it's just because it's what I meant to be.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know how like when you're in the like I'm an old hippie on the inside.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're doing the thing you're supposed to be doing, I think things work out.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, yeah.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: Hell yeah.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations, by the way.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, thank you.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's because it's like where I'm supposed to be in the universe, and like I have never been happier.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing I think about a lot of times um is I think about whenever I get my hair done, I'm always like, go blonder, go blonder, go blonder.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't put the brown in there.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, you have to have the brown so that you have to have the darker hair so that you can see the light, lighter, yeah.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: The contrast.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I had to have that contrast, you know, of being so unhappy for a long time to really fully appreciate the lightness, you know.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that makes complete sense to me.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's funny you say that because a long time ago, you know how everyone's like into new age these days, right?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: By the way, fellow hippie here, by the way.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, a hundred percent.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: And like, you know, I remember a long time ago, I'm a big uh avid listener of Abraham Hicks.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: And um, a long time ago, I heard um, you know, a clip, and it literally was, I think for me, very revolutionary in the sense of like my perspective.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: And it was exactly what you just said here, which was you know, there will be like no forward movement in your life until you experience the dark side of things.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: When you experience the dark side of things, that's when you figure out what you do want.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: And when you figure out what you do want, then you start focusing on what you want, and that's how you move forward.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: So that makes complete sense what you said, and I love that because it, I mean, it's here we here we are.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you just improved it, you know.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's like you're doing great, you're doing amazing, you're doing way better than you ever were.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's like your inner being saying, I want more, you know, and I'm gonna do more.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is so true, and I think it's something nobody wants to hear.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you have to go through the suck to get to, you know, to the to the other side.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I would have been like, I don't want to do the suck, I don't want to, you know, but you just have to, and that is so good.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what's funny is uh my um the person that does my hair, um, she goes to all the Abraham Hicks like um events.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: So cool.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: So like the darkness and the light makes all sense.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's like this, it all goes together.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: This was meant to be, this episode was meant to be, Mary.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's so cool.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's you're the coolest, though.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's so freaking fascinating.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I love that, and I really want to learn more because I know that I had read about how your um like Cosmos Labs is really kind of catering and helping a lot of indie brands.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I want you to speak to us about that.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I want you to talk about like what kind of clients do you guys look for?
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like what's your kind of, I guess, I don't know, is there like a checklist that you go through or like when you're signing a new client?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: What's that whole process like?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, um we don't do marketing or anything like that.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I just people we're we're just dealing with inbound people right now.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: People have heard me like on different podcasts, and we're really ramping up our social media.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, you know, I think that that is what I think attracts the right people.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, you know, obviously, like I said, old hippie, like I believe in the law of attraction, like things like I'm gonna attract the right things.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna put out certain things into the universe.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, we've been really lucky to find a lot of really great indie brands to work with, you know, um I really like working with one of our magic spots is kind of like um people who have really good marketing experience, like direct-to-consumer marketing experience, and then they kind of let me make my own, make the product, right?
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: I have a couple, a couple of people I'm working with right now that are like basically I have like three reins to be like, I think you should do this, this, and this.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: We make the products, and I'm like, I think it should smell like this.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: And like, you know, basically I'm producing all I, you know, I'm um developing and producing all of the products, and then they go and market it.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's my favorite, obviously, because then I get to do whatever I want and make like all kinds of Mary Berry products out in the world.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and so I love those clients.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: I also really love there's something really satisfying about helping someone get to the next level in business.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, like um indie beauty clients that have, you know, an existing line and they've been approached by, let's say, Urban Outfitters or Antro or, you know, even Target and they need help getting to the next level.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: We're very good at that because we have a lot of experience with native, we know, with native with that.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but besides that, like we've done a lot of scaling like that.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Where like we have a client um that I worked with before that, you know, she did like, I don't know, I was making like 200 deodorants at a time for her.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we just finished the load-in for Walmart.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: So she's gonna be in all 4,800 Walmarts um with her deodorant, which is like there's something just like it almost feels selfish because I'm so satisfied.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like it feels like I don't know.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: Magical.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's magical.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's like like you know, people always say, like, when your dream comes true, it doesn't feel like it came true.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: It just feels like the next logical step.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so, like, you know, when it happens, you're just looking at it like, wow, did this really just happen?
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I know, yeah, that's crazy.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: I love that because you know what?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: That's like we need to know that you're out there though.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like, there's people such as yourself out there because I can't tell you, Mary, how many times I've interviewed like brands, right?
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like small brands, and um, they always complain to me and they're like, Ecta, like, you know, there are manufacturers out here and people that are just saying, no, if you're not buying like, you know, 40,000 units, yeah, we're not even gonna bother with you, you know?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: And they walk away disheartened and destroyed inside because they have this dream and they have this goal in mind, and they're just like, What do I do now?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't have$20,000 to put up right away, you know, that kind of thing.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: So that's where I'm like so intrigued by like how you're approaching your business because there are a lot of, you know, we have a lot of listeners that are small brand founders.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, just for their sake, I want to um ask you, you know, in terms of um like the unit size, you know, like is that something that you work with brands like one on one about, like in terms of how many like minimum units.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna, you know, agree to making for them, or how does that work?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: We do for sure.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, like when we very first started Cosmos, I was like, no minimums, we're not gonna have any minimums.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then, like, then that didn't necessarily attract exactly the right people we were looking for.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we'll do 500, which is like so, so low.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, with Texas Beauty Labs, our minimum was 80, 80 pieces, like, which, you know, obviously is untenable, but like, you know, the the thing is like if someone comes to us and says we want to do 500 deodorants or whatever, I'll say, okay, like we'll do it like, you know, for the first couple runs, we're happy to do that.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and what we'll do is we'll price out like 500 and then we'll go to our vessel and we'll be like, okay, when we make this product, we're gonna make it in this vessel, and this vessel size is really 4,000 units.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll give them the price for 500 and 4,000 so that they can see when they can get that economy of scale, like what their pricing will be.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because, like, let's say, because it is expensive to buy 500 things.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, let's say at 500, they're buying a deodorant for$5, which is very expensive.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: They sell it for$12, right?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that's not a good deal.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: But when we get to$4,000, their price is gonna be$2 and 10 cents, you know?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so then they can really understand like if they want to do a trial in the market, it's not necessarily going to cost them a lot of money.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, they're not gonna also make very much money at the beginning, but they can see how like the path to get there.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: That makes sense.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I like that you have that, like in in the sense of like you're working with them and showing them that.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: Because I feel like if I were to start a brand tomorrow, I would have no idea.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like I wouldn't know that.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like I wouldn't know, like, okay, I should you know, invest my money in a better strategy as far as like price per unit.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_02: Even if you're buying, I mean, yeah, if you're buying 4,000 units, yeah, you have more units, but like, you know, at the end of the day, like it if you believe in what you're doing and the price is better, like that makes a lot more sense, you know.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: So that's stuff that brand founders, I feel like they kind of miss that.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why I asked you because you know, a lot of times that's the that's exactly the kind of question I get.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, I have no idea.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but that's interesting.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I have a question then, because I know that you know, making things like it's obviously going to be different, right?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: For everybody, like people are requesting different types of products.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_02: So, how does that work for you in terms of equipment?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how do you figure out like what equipment you need, or is it really kind of standardized in the industry at this point?
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's pretty standard, it just depends.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, really, we kind of I kind of think about things as like hot fill, which you know, hot fill is a whole different kind of thing.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Hot fill, meaning like theodorants or lip balms or anything that's solid like that has to be filled when it's hot.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, think about it like it's in its like molten state when it's hot, and then we fill it into the container, and then it like it comes to room temperature, it hardens up.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, hot fill equipment is different than like just kind of like liquid, um, liquid fill and liquid making.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so there are standard pieces of equipment.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, when we as we grow, like we're bootstrapped, meaning like we don't take investors, we don't take loans, that kind of thing.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like we I just can't like investors is too hard for me.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's too much.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: That is what pressures me actually, not anything else.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we bootstrap like not the other things that I'm like, oh, I don't like taking other people's money.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I um, you know, like if we have like, for instance, we have a client that is, you know, wanting to do lotion in a tube.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, you know, we don't have a tube sealer right now, like today, but we've ordered one because now we have a client that needs it.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, you know, we kind of buy equipment as we need it because we're new.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and like if someone comes and says that they want, you know, we have a big client coming in that's doing a really thick mask.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that necessitates like bigger, stronger equipment with stronger horsepower to turn the um turn the, I don't know the word, but the the side sweeps basically to like mix the product.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we just kind of know just from we've made lots and lots and lots of things.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: So um we just kind of know like the kind of key things to look for with like oh, you know, this, you know, actually we have a meeting every other week as new, a new product meeting, meaning like um our um product development side comes in and says these are the products that we're working on, and then operations says, okay, well, if we do that, then we're gonna have to buy a tube sealer.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: If we do that, then we're gonna have to buy this.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then kind of as the executive team decides, okay, that is worth making the investment, and this is not.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Can I just I'm sorry?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, that is exactly what I was actually wondering is that you know, the this process, this process, because I I'm guessing, you know, as a like, you know, as a company that is manufacturing products, like I'm I'm sure you don't know off the bat, you know, as soon as you open your doors what you're gonna need.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: So that makes total sense.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, now I think one of my big questions, and this is actually for me, because I recently launched a seal, you know, it's called the Safe Seal.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_02: And we're the reason I launched it is because there's a lot of, I'm sure you know about this, a lot of misinformation out here.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like it's a it's a good way, you know, it's my way of decluttering a lot of that misinformation.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: But one of the big things when I was crafting the um, you know, the guidelines for the seal, manufacturing came up, right?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's like a process, like you have to understand you have to be able to check off some boxes of manufacturing because the FDA requires it.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, a lot of regulatory company, you know, agencies require like certain like protocols for manufacturing.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: So, how does that work for you as a manufacturer?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like who regulates you guys?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like, who do you go to and say everything's in order, we're good.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like that kind of thing.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like, like how does that work?
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Literally no one.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that was a different answer.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we um we are like, you know, we're certain we're not certified.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: It you literally register with the FDA.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: So like we're registered to collab with the FDA.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then we go for ISO 22716.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that is for that's kind of like the ISO standard for manufacturing.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's not required.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, right now we're in the process of like we're going to be audited for that in October.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so meaning like we're getting all of it's a lot of paperwork, it's a lot of like that kind of like, you know, quality standards and um, you know, how we receive shipments, how we ship things out.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like it touches every little last part of the business.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the kind of scary thing is it's not required.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: We do it because it is a standard that I can say to any company and say we do 22716, they may not know what it means, but the ones that do know what it means require it, if that makes sense.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know, yeah, that does make sense.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: That I mean, like that's that's exactly why I made this deal.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like everyone is it's hard.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, everyone at every step in this industry, I feel like is dealing with this problem where it's like there's no requirement per se, but then you know, the smart, the smart executives are like, but there's no requirement, but I'm still gonna do it because you know what I mean.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm gonna do it to do it.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean, I get that, and that's where I I have because you know, my father, he's like a very like, you know, hardcore scientist, and he was asking me these kind of questions the other day, and I was thinking about it.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, I was like, I know that the good manufacturers, like, you know, like you guys, and you you do things very like in a very sanitary way, all those things are checked off, you know what I mean?
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, that's where I wonder.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, who is like looking at this and checking these boxes?
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: But that's interesting to know that you really do hold yourself accountable and you go and you make sure that you're, you know what I mean, just for your own peace of mind, you do that.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's really cool.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: For us we do, I mean, literally, like, I mean, no one comes in checks.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'll go ahead and say that like if we produced a product that got recalled by the FDA or something like that, then they'll door knock you.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: But like, I'm gonna knock on wood.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: No business that I've ever owned has been door knocked by the FDA, you know.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it so like that's good.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, meaning like we we've never had any issues, but like, you know, it's the FDA produces a list of who they're door knocking um and tells you like who, like who they're sending.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's not door knocking, it's like a letter they send.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: And um, but they do actually do really come to your door.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but not my door.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a lot of your drinking are doing so.
• 30:17
  unknown: Yeah.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm just I think that's probably applicable more towards people who are like just mixing things in their kitchen without any like sanitation or you know what I mean?
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like um, those kind of things.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, there's no need to do that, and that's really where I want to go to next is that you know, there's a lot of brands out here that you know they take a lot of pride in things like, well, I just make things in my kitchen, and I'm like, that's cool, but not really, you know.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like you should go to a professional, right?
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_02: Because at the end of the day, like there might be things you're not looking at or you're missing, or some just get a second opinion, you know what I'm saying?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like you do that with everything else.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, I want to kind of get your advice about that for those brands.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: Is like, you know, if somebody was coming to you and saying, Hey, Mary, you know, I want to start this and I don't really feel like I need a manufacturer, like, what would you advise them?
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like what would you say to them in terms of like kind of making them understand why you need that?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, like I mean, when I first started, I made it in my, it wasn't my kitchen, it was my garage.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if that's worse or better, you know, but like, you know, that's how I started.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, I know a lot of brands start that way.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I would say, like, you know, we have an you know, mochra coming up um at the end of the year.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that is really going to, I think, put a kibosh on people making it in their, you know, in their kitchens.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and you know, it's hard for me.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like I'd be like a bad person to be like, you shouldn't make it in your kitchen when I made it in my garage, which you know, um, but there are a lot of things that, you know, obviously I've learned along the many years I've been doing this that like when I think back to things I did in my garage, I'm like, oh, like, you know what I mean?
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: No one was like, no one was pleasing me and I thought I was doing a great job, but you know, my dog was in there, like lol, my dog, like just hanging out, you know, it's a nice dog, but like a dog where I'm making products, horrible, you know.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that was a very long time ago.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just PS.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but I mean, you just had to start from somewhere though, right?
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, everyone starts from somewhere.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_02: So I get that.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: I just that because you have the hindsight, that's why I asked.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_02: Because you know, yeah, I think a lot of times you can save people from making, you know, like not mistakes, but just why even go there if you if you already know like someone has the experience, they're telling you, like, don't even bother, just you know, do it the right way, kind of thing.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that's yeah, that's safety first, right?
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like safety is the most important thing to me here, like of everything, like safety of our employees, safety of people making products, safety of you know, when we send products out, making sure that it's safe, like you know, from a yeast meld bacteria perspective, from an efficacy perspective, like there's nothing worth like I'm just like love people so much.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing worth like anyone getting harmed in the making or using of any cosmetic product.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I'm sorry to bring it up, and this has this is kind of random for all the listeners out there, but I I know you guys remember the whole Jaclyn Hill, you know, debacle that happened, right?
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_02: With the hair and the lipsticks and stuff.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like that was like a very scary moment, I think, for all of us.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like it super bums me out.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: It super bums me out from both perspectives, right?
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because she doesn't necessarily realize what's happening as the founder of that brand, right?
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, it would have been impossible for her to check every single lipstick, even if she wasn't an influencer.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, so I felt really bad for her.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: I also felt really bad for the people who received the products.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I think what could have been in that is better vetting of the manufacturer, right?
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if you some like red flags for like manufacturers, if they won't let you come to her facility, like I'm like, come one, come all to my facility.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Please come come before you're a client, come when you're a client.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I have clients regularly come and they'll stay for the week and we'll just, you know, they'll work out of our phone booths here in the office.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: And like they'll take random like videos just for like their socials, and you know what I mean?
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we love visitors, like when people are like, Can I come visit?
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because like they always ask so tentatively.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Yes, please come, please come, and I'll show you a good time in Austin.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: But besides that, like, you know, we want them to see what we're doing and how we're making it, and you know, to be able to trust us because trust is such a huge thing because I'm sure she trusted her manufacturer, and like, you know, they turned out not great, like that.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_02: I'm with you on that though, with the whole duality thing.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_02: I felt really bad for Jacqueline, like for real.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, yo, if some if that happened to me, I would have been so angry at my manufacturer.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like, why didn't you tell me?
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like, why didn't you so like that also leads me to ask you, like, you know, just from like the perspective of an expert, like if you think like a manufacturer is doing something wrong, like what is like what you've noticed as like industry standard of like reaching out to a customer?
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how would you how do manufacturers do that?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how do they like like if something, for example, like goes wrong, right?
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: And something's not being produced correctly, like, is there like some sort of industry standard that you know of that like where you have to reach out within a certain number of days?
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: Or like, I mean, I don't know anything about this.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I'm asking.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, there might be some sort of ISO standard to that that I don't know about for the 22716, but I can tell you what I do.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, there's a few there, there's a few instances I can think of because they are burned in my brain.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but one of them is we had made this facial mist.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we sent it out, like it had passed, it had passed um, you know, the um use belt bacteria testing, the challenge test.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so like it passed the challenge test, but like there's something in my gut that like it was new on the shelves, and there's something in my gut that I was like, ugh, like let's double check that test because you know, we test every product before before we release it, but I had released it before, you know, we were out of spec, meaning I released it before because she wanted on the shelves for Black Friday.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd released it before I we had checked the um the final um use mold bacteria test of the actual batch, and it failed.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: And like we had made it, we had we'd made 5,000, we had like packaged it up in all of their packaging, which they buy.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: So there's like a lot writing on it.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like before I could even, I mean, it was four seconds before I was on the phone with her, like being like, we like I need to tell you this, pull them off your shelf right now.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: We can talk about it later, but call all the stores and tell them to pull it from the shelf, right?
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and so you know what we did in that case, because you know, we made it right, meaning we paid for their components, we remade it, you know, we basically reformulated it.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: But like I am on the phone, we had another instance where like the wrong version of a material was used.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: So think about like organic versus non-organic like of something.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like me sitting here in my seat when I'm like, you know, obviously human nature, you think the first thought is no one will ever know.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: The second thought that I always ask myself is what is the right thing to do?
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: Any like that is what we are taught, like that is a company culture.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: What is the right thing to do?
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like this, I know the answer.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: The right thing to do is get on the phone.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, again, within 10 seconds, I was on the phone with her, being like, you know, it was checked in wrong.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: We have some internal issues that we're addressing, and um, you know, but I want you to know this was used instead of this, you know, and so then it's up to them because I can't make that decision.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's not up to me.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's their brand, it's their reputation, it's their, you know, it's their things, you know, and they're gonna have to overlabel or do whatever other thing to it.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so that is something that you know we always take financial responsibility for.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's why we're such a good partner.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think people use the word partner as a very like cliche or like a very like um it's a buzzword, right?
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your partner.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oh, really?
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, like I always like to put my money where my mouth is with being partners because like if we done messed up, then we are going to fix it, you know?
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_02: So exactly.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_02: And that responsibility aspect is I think so so key.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I love everything you said because you know, even in medicine, they ask us these kinds of questions, or they'll say something like, you know, um, hey, you know, if if you mess up, right, as a doctor, what are you gonna do?
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the first thing you're supposed to do is tell the patient, you know what I mean?
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, really?
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_02: Because like I've never thought about a doctor messing up.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, no, they they like have to teach us this.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we go through these like trainings about this stuff now because apparently it's happened so many times where like a doctor has messed up and not disclosed it to a family or a patient, and so we have now gone through this process as a medical community where we have to teach people about ethics, you know, like morality, ethics like these are all things that are like so applicable in I think every industry because we all face it, we all deal with this, we're human beings, you know, at the end of the day.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's why, like, it's it's hard for me to admit my first thought is oh, no one will ever know.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: That like that's a that's our thought.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_02: That's honestly, Mary, that's not just I mean, even as as a physician, I can tell you right now, there have been like I have you know, like spoken to residents, you know, that'll be like, Well, you know, doc, I didn't know, you know, I just I messed up, I didn't want to tell you though.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, why the hell would you not tell me?
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you ask yourself, you know, because the thing is, you as long as you are doing your part and letting the person know, then it's in their hands, you know, and so that's I completely hear you.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's something that's really important.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_02: I do see a lot of people that just, you know, they may take that decision into their own hands.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_02: And this really goes back to your point about being a partner.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, you know, when you think about being a partner, what do you think of?
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_02: You think of transparency, right?
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: You don't want to be working with somebody who's not gonna tell you everything.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_02: That's just that's not a partnership.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's whatever the hell it is, you know.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_02: But like at the end of the day, I mean, if if you're working with someone trustworthy, they're going to tell you everything.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then it's up to you to make your decisions and figure out what to do next.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_02: But I love that you had mentioned it the way you did, because I think a lot of brands, they don't really know what to look for.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_02: In a manufacturer, they don't know how to look for that transparency.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_02: They don't know how to like what like exactly what you said, where you invite people in, you know, you keep your doors open.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's a huge thing.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, if you're a brand out there or founder and your manufacturer is telling you, hey, no, we don't let anyone into our lab, you really should think about what the heck you're doing, like why you're going with them, you know, and what is it that they're hiding behind those doors, you know?
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, that's really, really uh interesting.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_02: No, I mean, now I think my next like question really uh revolves around this whole experience of like, I think just being like a woman in business, because I feel like we don't talk about it nearly enough.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_02: I know there's a lot of people that, you know, they might say things like this are cliche, but I never find them to be cliche.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_02: I never think that there's ever enough advice from women who have made it in this world.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_02: Because I know growing up, like even in my career, I'm sure you've experienced it.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_02: We all have where there were so many times where I wished, like, I wish a woman would tell me, you know what I mean, what to do, like what her experience was like.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: So, Mary, I really want to ask you, like, for all the listeners out there that are like aspiring entrepreneurs or maybe they want to go into manufacturing, you know, for themselves, like who knows, anyone out there, young professionals, like any advice that you have about, you know, going and being a career-minded person and doing it right and being successful, you know?
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I was born um with this, like, I would say, like, um, like I don't know the word I'm trying to say, like this um, oh my gosh, we're gonna have to edit that part out because I can't say I can't figure it out.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: This energy, like this confidence, right?
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like unearned, unearned confidence.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was just born with it.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so I don't know.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_00: My parents, like, I was adopted, and my parents want a baby, a baby, like, you know, I have a brother, but I wanted two babies so bad that like I mean, I was like, they they pumped me up so hard.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: They were like, You're the smartest person in the room, you're the most beautiful.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, Mary Beth, you're amazing, you're amazing, you're amazing, you're amazing.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, Oh my god, I'm so amazing.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, that's how I and so you know, I think it was partially that, partially I think I just was born this way, but like, you know, someone said to me the other day that I had white male energy and it tickled me to death.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because, like, you know, I'm like, I I do, and like I wish that wasn't a thing.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: I want to have, I just want to have, I don't know, good energy, right?
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I want, I don't know, because to me, like, okay, we also think about like International Women's Day.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we did all these things last year for International Women's Day or this year, whenever it was, and like we went to like, you know, a thing at Kendra Scott's, you know, because she's in Austin and we did all these things.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought to myself, like, why are we, why are we like why are we so big on International Women's Day?
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because like I think I'm the same as everybody else.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know if I needed a, you know, but then I after talking about it, I think there are there are people out there that need the hand up, right?
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: To be like, I'm a woman and I can do it.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: And they were they're in different circumstances than me.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: But what I'd like to propose is that we say that to everybody, like people who like, you know, I'm a I'm a person and I want to do this thing, and maybe they don't have, you know, the same, the same energy that I was like born and fostered with, you know, and I want to help all of those people.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know how that sounds or whatever, but I think for me, like, I don't know.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think that, you know, I definitely.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: As a woman, I guess I guess the other point is, as a woman, like there's been some instances in business where I've been treated differently, or they talk to my husband instead of me.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, he, like, you know, at the time he barely works here.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are you kidding me?
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I now what the heck?
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: But to me, I write those people off as idiots, and I'm just like, they just they just are idiots.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like, it doesn't bother me.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: I just keep going.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm like, it's them, it's not me.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's kind of like, you know, in therapy, we learn all these things about like, you know, when people behave a certain way, it's about them, it's not about you, you know.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so I guess that's my outlook on it is like when people discriminate me because I'm a woman, I'm like, well, they're idiots.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's them, it's not me.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm amazing.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't know.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, I'm like, do you, or does it sound stupid?
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's it sounds amazing.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that is like how you should be, though.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean, I feel like if you can own yourself as a person, like your personality, and take responsibility for who you are and love who you are, then you kind of start tuning the world out.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_02: So it makes total sense, you know.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, I feel like the people like you know, and I see this a lot with youth.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why, see, that's why I asked you, I asked you this question, because there's a lot of like angst out there.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, for lack of a better term, you know, I look at Gen Z right now, and there's no no shade to Gen Z.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_02: I love you guys, okay?
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: I know you're growing up and it's a it's a scary world out here.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_02: I get it, you know.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_02: And but but here's the thing, you know, at one point you have to be like, I need to figure out what the heck I want to do, and I need to just do it.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: And what if that means get going out and getting like, you know, whatever degree you need or whatever certification you need or finding the funding you need, go do it.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why I ask you because it's like I feel like people start to make this like I this negative, um, like micro environment, you know what I mean?
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like emotionally around themselves, and they start like being so down on themselves because I I'm not kidding, Mary.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_02: Every time I dread going onto TikTok because every time I open it, I see depressed teens.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, why are you depressed?
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: And they're mean, like those depressed teens that are mean.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like I bullied on TikTok, and I've been all to each other, like they're mean to each other and me.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm 45-year-old woman, and like for two days I was crushed because a 13-year-old said that they didn't like my face.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_00: So mean, but I had to like I had to take it, you know, it's it's important to remember, right?
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, like for two days I was like, gosh, maybe my face is weird, but then I was like, Oh my god, they're 13.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_02: Remember when I was nothing wrong with your face, you haven't weirdly nose.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's fine, it's fine, we're fine.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know what I mean?
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like it it does, and you have to like I agree, like, you know, I think that this business, you know, it wasn't it wasn't handed to me.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like I came from a very middle class family.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, my parents didn't have a ton of money, like I don't come from money.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: Every dollar that I've made, every dollar that I have is a dollar that I made.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, and I bootstrapped my last business.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_00: When I bootstrapped that, like I had to sell my car, I you know, pawned my wedding ring like 10 times to fund payroll.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, uh our house went into foreclosure.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like we didn't foreclose on it, but it went into foreclosure.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, we that was the last business, it was a long time ago, but that's you know, that was how determined I was to make that business work, you know.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_02: And that's a journey.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_02: That was your journey.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you had to go through that.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's like what we started the episode with, you know, is this idea of contrast.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like that's exactly what I think this generation needs to hear more of is that it's not always going to be a bright sunny day.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_02: There are gonna be days where you feel like you can't do it, but that doesn't mean you sit on your couch and you cry all day about it, you know what I mean?
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like you have to get back up, you know, and so like I'm I don't know, maybe for me, I think I'm more of like I I believe in like tough love a lot, I think, and it comes off wrong.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_02: So maybe you know, I don't want to offend anybody, but like at the end of the day, I'm gonna be real.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, what you just said is real, you know, that's life, like that happens, and if you're not ready to face that, like what you need to be able to face that, you have to strengthen up a little bit, is my point.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, and I'm glad you but I'm glad that you, you know, had those trials and turbulations because look where you are now, you know, like look look what it came to, you know.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_02: That's the idea, yeah.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is my adventure.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I you know, I always say, like, no matter how much money I ever end up at the end of all this with, like, I'm not gonna leave my kids a ton of money because like this is my adventure.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if my parents had given me a ton of money, I'd be like, I I I'm a really big believer in this is my adventure, and like I love my laughing maniacally, you know.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I love it, and I want to give that gift to them, you know.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_02: Right, exactly.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_02: No, 100%.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_02: I I completely agree with you, and I think that that's really what the takeaway here is, is that you have to learn to love your life and you have to go on this adventure and you have to do it unapologetic unapologetically, sorry, and and just own it, you know, own it, own up to whatever it is you want in your life.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I love, I just love everything you do, Mary.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_02: You're doing such a great job, and I really, really applaud you because we need more people that are that think like this, you know what I mean?
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_02: That are go-getters that will go out there and do it rather than sit down and talk all day.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I can't tell you how many times I see that, you know, even in like my day-to-day life, like I'll, you know, come across people like at the hospital or patients or whatever it might be, and they're just like, Well, I would do it if, and I'm just like, man, you gotta stop saying that, you know what I mean?
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like, just yeah, just stop beating yourself down, kind of thing.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I I I see it a lot, but no, thank you so much because this has been such a lovely episode, and I loved you know your energy.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_02: I love talking to you about this.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think you're doing such a great job, obviously.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it shows, you know what I mean?
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_02: I don't have to say anything, but um, for everyone listening, I hope you guys learned a lot in this episode about um not only you know just manufacturing, but also just life, you know.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_02: That's kind of the goal.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_02: So um, if you did chime in, let us know what you think.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_02: And if you have any questions for Mary's team, please let us know.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_02: We will definitely pass the questions along to her team and get you some answers.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_02: But thank you so much, Mary.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_02: This has been truly an honor.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_00: I really like that.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_00: This was amazing.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_00: Best part of my week for sure.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: Probably my month.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, thank you so much.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_02: And for everyone listening, I will be back next time.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_02: Hey guys, so I hope you love that episode.
• 50:46
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• 50:51
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• 51:51
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