Latest / Beyond Limits With Olivia Marie / Redefining Success: Beck's Unfiltered Entrepreneurial Journey

Transcript

Redefining Success: Beck's Unfiltered Entrepreneurial Journey · Beyond Limits With Olivia Marie

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Beyond Limits, the podcast designed to unlock your highest potential with powerful strategies, energetic frequencies, and mindset shifts to create a limitless life.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Each episode dives deep into what it really takes to build a life and business beyond the ordinary standard.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Expect unfiltered conversations, tangible takeaways, and mind-blowing insights to shift your reality.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: You'll hear from trailblazers who have shattered feelings and know what it means to live beyond limits.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: And they're here to share their expertise with you.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: And get ready to redefine what's possible when you go all in.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: More than a podcast, this is your gateway to building a limitless life and business.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Tune into the Beyond Limits podcast and step into all that is possible.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, everyone.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to the Beyond Limits podcast.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: I am so excited because we have a very special guest, and I have been, I've been giddy waiting to have this conversation.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I'm gonna ask this, I'm gonna ask this.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Without further ado, welcome back to the Beyond Limits podcast.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, thank you for having me.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: These are always the best kind of days and the kind of conversation.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, super excited to be here.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So for everyone listening, can you tell us who you are, what you do, your brand, and all of the things?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, of course.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: So my name is Becky.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: I am the founder and CEO here at Bex Broth.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: And so Bex Broth, we have taken your favorite everyday beverages like coffee, matcha, and hot chocolate, and we have infused it with Pasture Ray's Bone Broth.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: So we which each serving you get 15 grams of protein, and then you get all the vitamins, minerals, collagen uh from the bone broth.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, we are a small team of four right now, but we are rapidly growing and just making ways in the CPG space.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, we are having so much fun along the way.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna dive into the broth.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I have been a fan for a very long time.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think you know this, but we've met before.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I did not know that.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was thinking about this.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it was like not this past whatever 2024, 2023.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: I went to CHFA, and I hadn't been in a while because like I had left the naturopathic space, but I was taking care of my mom that week because she had surgery and her place is right beside the exhibition.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I always get a media pass.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, you want, I might as well go, it's right beside.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm walking up and down the aisles, and I spot Beck's broth and I was like, pasture raised?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Home broth, hot chocolate.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh my god, and you were standing there at your booth, I don't think you know any of this.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, and that day, like I looked you up, was like, oh my god, like I need this in my life.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been fangirling over Bex Broth for since 2023.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Was that the September show?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, September 2023.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: But that is so funny.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: So that is um, that's what the first day that we were at CHFA was when we launched our powder line and our whole new branding.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: So CHFA in September of that year was wild because I just got married.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: I just landed the day before for my two-week honeymoon, and then we just launched the product the first day of CHFA.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: So that whole show was just like a numbing blur because I don't remember anything, and it was all happening so so fast.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: So that is so cool.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: Love that.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, what I was really like, it's the pasta raise.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember walking up and down the aisles.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many different bone broths, no bone broth, hot chocolate, but so many bone broths.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, is this pasteure raised?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, no.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like kind of cringing at all the other ones, and like not only are you pasta raised, but it's also hot chocolate.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So like tell us about the pasteure raise and like why that's important, and like your ingredients are also super clean.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's like three or four.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's like cacao, sea salt.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: It there's no fillers, there's no weird ingredients, which I'm also a big fan of.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just like talk about how amazing the broth is.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll give you a little bit of history about what I did before I started Bex Broth.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I was in marketing for eight years.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: When the pandemic hit, I decided that I needed to really be in charge of my own health and kind of lead myself in the right direction there.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: I was always interested in health, but I never went to school for it.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: So as soon as the pandemic hit, I was like, this is my moment.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna go to school to become a holistic nutritionist.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I need to soak in every ounce of information I can to keep myself, my family, and my friends healthy during that period.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so as soon as I graduated from school, um, I started working with clients really helping support their gut health, but I was so passionate about like quality ingredients.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: If you go to school to become a holistic nutritionist or if you're a naturopath or anything, you know the ingredients are number one.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: You always need you always are reading the label, you're always trying to see what's in there to see like if you should be enjoying that food or not.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um so then when I started playing around with my own bone broth recipes just for myself and my clients, I realized that grass-fed pasteure race was super important for me.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: There was no way I was gonna stand away at the stove for like 24 hours in my house making a bone broth that isn't the best of the best.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: If I'm gonna do it, I want that gold standard, you know?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then that kind of when I started Bex Broth, that my own like love for food really transferred into like making the ingredient or making the ingredient list and whatnot.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: So we don't really allow any garbage into our product.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just a quality only um, which definitely did make it difficult when we were transitioning over to a powdered product because we started originally in glass jars.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: I was making all the bone broth myself.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if it was like a farmer's market product for two years, so I partnered up with all of my local farmers.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: I was in the kitchen, I was yeah, at the farmer's market every single Saturday for two years, and then we transitioned over into a powdered product.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so now instead of me making the bone broth, I really had to find a partner who was already making the powdered bone broth.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: And there is, there's people out there that do powdered bone broth, but none to the quality and the standard that we have like hold in such high regard.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why we ended up sourcing our bone broth powder from New Zealand because it was the only bone broth that we could find that tasted great, that there wasn't any fillers, it was all organic, it was grass-fed.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's like that type of quality of bone broth just doesn't exist in the powder format within North America.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: We searched everywhere.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: We I think we reached out to over 75 bone broth companies and we just couldn't find the standard we were looking for.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, every single time when we innovate a new product or we're really trying to find a new ingredient supplier, we need to find the best.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's just like that's the number one rule in the business is we are only allowed to work with the best people and like the highest quality ingredients, which is so important.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's so many more people now becoming even more aware.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: There's even like memes and jokes about so many people reading ingredient lists now.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I think even people are a lot more focused on those lists and they're a lot more educated as to like what does grass fed mean?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: What does pasture raise mean?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it important?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's also interesting that you know this is coming up in the growth of Beck's broth, with also a time where people are learning to like value it more and understanding the importance that it has for their health and like why we don't want it full of antibiotics, especially bone broth.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: And this was something I remember used to talk about like you're boiling the bones.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: If the bones have stuff in it, you are just drinking concentrated toxins.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: You're better off not drinking it than drinking concentrated non-quality chicken.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't make the broth if you're gonna make it not with good ingredients, right?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's exactly it.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: Because when you do make that bone broth, you're extracting everything from that bone.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: So whatever that animal was up to throughout its life, you're getting that in the liquid that you're drinking.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: So it only makes sense to, yeah, just consume the best of the best like meat products and especially bone broth, because who knows?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like all the factory farming and everything that happens in North America and like the US, for example, like all the antibiotics and whatever they're pumping full of all like in all the animals, it's just scary.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: You have no idea what's happening in the cattle and the meat industry in North America, which is why like New Zealand is the gold standard because their farming practices are so radically different than from over here.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: And you can just trust, like I know if, and I'm sure your audience are all wellness girlies and whatnot, but if you see like New Zealand, you know that like that's like the creme de la crème, like that's the good stuff.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, you don't need to worry when you see that stamp on there.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, how has it been?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, did you have I mean you said you had a marketing background, but you didn't have a food industry background?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, what was that like for you?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Being like, all right, I am going to find sourcing for bone broth powder.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: And like, did you just like figure it out?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or just like how point paint us a picture of like that really like starting it and actually building a product because it's one thing to have it like in the jars, it's another thing to source it, to make sure it all goes together, to create packaging.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's that's a big thing.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, like walk us through that journey.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Might feel long ago right now, but like walk us through that part of the journey.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: So when I was working in marketing, um, I was a project manager.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: So that means that I had um a structural designer on my team, I had graphics, I had I had all of these different teams that I was like the main connector, and I kind of understood how to build a project out.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: So I feel like when I was working in marketing at the time, it was like my first job after high school and like being a project manager, and I was like, oh, like none of these skills are gonna help me out later in life.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: I'm wasting my time here, like it was hard work, long days, didn't necessarily love my team that I was working with.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I realized when I first started Bex Broth, like eight years of learning how to navigate a project really set me up for success because I was able to kind of paint that picture and that roadmap of okay, what needed to happen first?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Do I obviously the idea came to me and then it's like now I need to build up the recipe, but now I need to find the supplier.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I really just tried to stay on my map of like where I was at and not get discouraged if it wasn't happening fast enough.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but when I first started, I really heavily leaned into working with like my small business center, and there was this company called Innovation Guelph that I really I was doing all of the programs for entrepreneurship and like small businesses, and I was really trying to build out my network and growing the network early on in my entrepreneurial journey made the world a difference because when I was confused about something, and I still do this to my day, like if I'm ever stumped on something or confused, I'll just go right to my network.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like LinkedIn has been a blessing because every time I just don't know something, I just throw it up there, and then everybody can like kind of help you out.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I just in the beginning, I was really just patient with myself, but I just let my intuition guide me.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like even with the recipes, a lot of people hire these firms and like these um kitchens to like develop recipes for them and spend thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars on all of that research.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: And me, I literally tried the recipes probably like three iterations, and I was like, that's it.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like I like it, like that's what I want.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'll just give it to my friends to test now and see if it's palatable for them.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: And then once they gave it all the thumbs up, I was like, that's the recipe.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't need to do any more homework there.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I really just this whole journey has just been based on intuition and just kind of letting letting that lead me, I suppose.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say between like starting till now has been more the most challenging or one of the most challenging aspects?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like you hit maybe that point and it was like, okay, was it the sourcing?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Was it the packaging?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Is it and I know you were talking about the cacao issue, and you're not the only one I've seen talk about the cacao shortage right now.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Is it like staying on top of supply?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because so many people like I work with, like supply is like a real thing.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: I've learned how that can even be uh not necessarily reliable.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Also, like organic coffee, I've learned is also sometimes hard to get a good supply chain.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: So, like for you, what were some of the challenging moments of like, who are we gonna make it?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Is it gonna work?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: What are we gonna do?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's scary.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, like, even to this day, like I still don't have a full graps on it.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: I was so lucky enough that one of my best friends offered to come and work for Bex Broth and be our COO last year.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: So she really handles all of like the inventory management now and production.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: But if you follow along Bex Broth, you know that we're constantly out of like coffee or hot chocolate.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: There's like at least one week out of the month where we don't have at least one of our products, which is such a learning curve because we don't want, you can't make money and grow if you're sold out of your main star product for like a week or whatnot.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: So we're really trying to figure that out as we grow, um, just the inventory management side of things.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: And but all of that requires funding.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: And if you want to stockpile ingredients, you need to make sure you have that money in the bank.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like, there's like this, like the amount of cap cacao we want to order next month to bring us through the year is gonna be like$90,000.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Who the heck has that just to buy one ingredient to sit on it?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: You're not making money off an ingredient if you're just sitting on it.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: But so those are the biggest things that I think have been like wow moments of it's just kind of out of our control sometimes, and we just need to constantly remind ourselves to stay positive.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but for me, I'm just so so lucky that Dominique is on board and our um operations specialist, Kayla, because they just work tirelessly to like make sure that we have the ingredients that we need to fulfill our production orders.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but uh I feel like the it's interesting because I now in my business, I we just have so much fun and we just don't let the hard things get to us, which I think is really like, I mean, of course, business is hard, but I'm that type of person and I also have like severe ADHD, so I don't really think these things through too much.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_02: But like I don't get anxiety or anxious when I think about business or even the money going into it because I just I fully know that it's all gonna work out.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like a say-lee moment where it's like it's scary, but we are doing everything we can and we can't be upset at the end of the day about any outcome because we know it's gonna work.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I think the biggest struggle is just making sure that we have the ingredients and like the funding to purchase the ingredients, but other than that, we just we just do our best every day, and it's it's all we can do at the end of the day, which feels really fun.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, there's no way you're gonna compromise on ingredients and because I know there have been other, you know, brands in the past, and I won't maybe call them out, but there are other ones like local to Toronto that perhaps I'm now seeing in Costco, which I loved back in the day when they first launched, and then they got funding, they got bought, they got support from someone else, and their ingredients changed.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I tried it recently, and I was like, this is garbage.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this tastes awful.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: I loved you back in the day, but I felt like people sold out or like and I understand the growth, but there has to be a line of like you're not gonna compromise on the ingredients to quote unquote scale.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that value for you is going to allow you to have such a successful business because of customer retention.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're built on like very health and wellness.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you change your ingredients, you're gonna lose all the people who are buying you because of your ingredients.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we love you and your branding and like the community vibes, but also it's because you're so clean.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: So you start sacrificing that, then it's like, oh, yeah.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: And that's and that's one of the things that we constantly need to advocate for as well.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's like we are a premium priced product.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: I understand that$10 a serving is not financially feasible for a lot of people.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: And everyone's like, well, why can't it be cheaper?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, well, we're bringing you the best of the best, and we're trying like you better believe we're trying to bring the cost down.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: But if you want a clean product with only the best ingredients, it's gonna cost more.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: There's a premium price tag on everything, especially when you're a small business because you don't really have that scalability where you can purchase completely in bulk that's gonna bring the prices down.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's just another thing that's been really hard to try and navigate.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: But that's the blessing of be running your own business is we can just be as authentic as possible and let you know, yeah, it's expensive, but we're doing it because it's the best of the best, and you don't have to doubt the product.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: So I think just being authentic and showing up and just under like understanding that like it is a premium product, but we're doing everything we can to try and bring the price down one day.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, has been it's been a blessing because people can understand it.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: They're not just like, oh great, I'm just gonna buy this$10 product.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, like these girls are kicking ass.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's a great product, and like they know it's expensive.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: We're not like fooling anybody here.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: So that's been another challenge, but we just we noticed over time, as long as we're just authentic and have the open communication about it, people are so much more understanding, and then they can't be like completely upset or mad at it at the cost.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I I think also like if you're an entrepreneur and like you know anything about entrepreneur, you see a small business, like I get I'm like, oh yeah, that makes sense.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like the quality, but also the small business, the scalability.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, I could see how that tracks, and I'd rather support so that we can grow the company so that you can get more funding, so that it can maybe if it does get cheaper slightly, but if not just support the growth of it.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there is also very much a market for that.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's people who spend$35 on a smoothie.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: I saw one girl who spent$35 on a smoothie this morning.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if we can spend$35 on a smoothie, like$10 is not that much.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like a latte at Starbucks is probably like$10.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: So like that's exactly it.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like Starbucks can be$8 for a latte, and people are spending that no problem, not even like blinking an eye at it.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: Meanwhile, it's all crap ingredients, it's chemicals, it's gonna spike your blood sugar and your cortisol.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: Whereas like this is just, yeah, this is actually gonna nourish you, and then also like it's gonna be a really nice beverage that you can sip on at home.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: So we're we're really focusing on bringing that cafe experience to you while delivering the best.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: And what I also love, it is quite high in protein because I've made my own bone broth, hot chocolate, like the bone broth and the hot chocolate, but maybe I guess it's the bone broth that I buy.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's only like five to seven grams of protein per serving, and it's still good quality, like organic, whatever broth.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: But yours is also like super high protein, which I really love.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is like 15.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, it's like that.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I think is fabulous.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_02: And that's another thing that I don't really think people um understand when they're purchasing bone broth as well.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we have the highest concentrated bone broth for from a protein standpoint.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of people are like, oh, well, like your competitor over here is so much cheaper.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, but you look at the protein, like we are hitting that 15 grams of protein, whereas like you need to drink two or three of theirs to get that amount of protein, right?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: So um when we were creating the product, when we when I was like recipe developing, I just knew that protein is what people are going to be searching for.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: And unluckily I know that protein is like a trending thing now, but three years ago, protein wasn't as important as it is now.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_02: But I was like, I have a feeling that people are gonna be looking for this, they're gonna need that little, like almost like a protein shake type um like beverage.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna want that in the morning, especially when like after I learned all about like hormonal health and balancing your hormones and understanding how important high quality protein for breakfast is.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, protein's coming down the line.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna, everyone's gonna be hopping on that bandwagon and staying there.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: So we really were opting for um a product that had 15 grams of protein per serving, which is why like the serving sizes like are pretty big.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: So when people say, like, oh, like this whole thing is one serving, it's like, yeah, there's a lot of powder, but that's because you're getting the protein.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's so true because even now you can see like the reels of like the making fun of protein of like, oh, the gum has protein, this has protein, the this.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I think what's really great is sometimes women, especially, and I remember I telling people this, like, they think two eggs for breakfast, like, oh, I had protein, I had two eggs.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that's 14 grams.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: I want like 30, 40 grams of protein.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: So some people don't want four or five eggs in the morning.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I think this also gives such a good option to get protein in in a way that's not necessarily having five eggs, that isn't maybe having a protein powder, like a smoothie that a lot of protein powders have like filler ingredients and other ingredients that aren't as easily digestible.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it's also winter, so like who wants a cold smoothie in the winter?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it also gives such a good option to add protein and clean ingredients, and it's delicious.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And some people, if you don't want to eat first thing in the morning, you can have a beverage that's so rich in actual protein.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I know there's things like collagen, but as you know, collagen is all the same as actual protein, like it's not a complete amino acid profile.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: So this actually gives you that complete protein.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm just like talking about why the broth is amazing, but you you're just not online, you know.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I think this is also but I think this is actually really supportive.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like I think every entrepreneur should have a stack of bat Beck's broth protein, like hot chocolate, in their pantry because we need protein and we're busy humans.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: So you need this so you can drink it because it has good protein.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna take that clip and use it forever online.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_02: You just saying that, by the way.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: But no, I think it is true.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: I agree.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that was the one thing that actually led me to even bringing in the coffee line because we didn't start with coffee, we started with just the hot chocolate.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: But when I was still working with my clients for holistic nutrition, they were all still drinking coffee on an empty stomach in the morning and not really realizing how that was disrupting their hormones.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, no, like you need to eat before you just consume your coffee.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: But I understand not everybody knows that or has the time, they just want that coffee right away.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: They want to get started and then they'll have their appetite.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but this is like, yeah, feeding two birds with yeah, one little, one little seed.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like you're getting your coffee and then you're also getting your protein.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just it's really it's just an intuitive way to um yeah, get that protein in there.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now you also because you mentioned the coffee, I also want to touch on the matcha for people who don't want hot chocolate.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: So you also have the matcha.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: I have not tried the matcha to be honest, but I'm guessing it's the same like protein content as well, it's just like the matcha version.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I was actually like a coffee lover and fanatic, um, probably up until six months ago when I never drank matcha.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: And then we just launched our matcha in J or no, sorry, uh July of last year, and now I'm obsessed with our matcha.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_02: I can go weeks without even drinking a coffee and I don't even really realize because I'm I love our matcha.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's the only thing I crave now in the mornings, which is just it's super interesting.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like kind of mad about it because I'm like, no, I love my cup of coffee, but now it's like, no, I think I'm I think.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Turn myself into a matcha girly.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's very, it's smooth and it's delicious and it's like cravable.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like my body is just craving it lately.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm gonna have to pick up the matcha.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when you make it, do you make it with milk?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: I just make it with water.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't, I don't, I try and stay away from dairy.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: My skin hates dairy.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: I always laugh because like nobody believes me.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: But if I eat chocolate or like a glass of milk um one day, I'll wake up the next day with like the juiciest zit.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I need to stay away from dairy because my face shows.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I just always drink it plain with water, and that's and then the bad the bone broth in the blends that we have, it makes the like texture really creamy.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: So you don't even need to add dairy to a lot of our to like any of our products because that bone broth creaminess is there.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: So funny you talk about dairy.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like when I say milk, I just assume plant-based.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: I just assume almond milk.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh wait, yeah, there is people use milk.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: I meant almond milk.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the same way with dairy.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: So do you also make your the Bex broth with water instead of milk as well?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes if I'm feeling fancy, we don't we don't often keep milks, um, like even like nut milk, oat milk in our fridge.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I'm just so selective on what I purchased at the store.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and like we never use a lot of it, so then I just like it goes bad or it sits there for a couple of weeks, and I'm like, oh, do I drink this now?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: So we rarely have any types of milks in our house.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, just a just a water girly.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna try it with water.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: So sometimes I'll throw that in on a special weekend, but okay, I will try it with water as well.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, so your team, it's you, your co-founder CEO, the COO, who I think was with you that day.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: You were with some other person that day that I I saw you.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that day she had a booth beside me because she had her own small um like food business at the time.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I was with my best friend Michael, I think back in September.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was just with myself and Michael, and then Dominique had a booth beside me at CHFA.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: So your team now, do you work also with your husband, or is this like is that separate?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's separate.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: He definitely helps out with a lot of things.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he's like an engineer in his brain, so he's he's good for a lot of things that I don't do.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: So, like numbers and whatnot, him and Dominique, um, they work so well together when it comes to like figuring out our projections and like dialing in on budgets and stuff.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: So, but he definitely, yeah, he has his full-time job.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: We we rope him in whenever, whenever possible.
• 24:19
  unknown: So, right.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, how is it how has it been for you growing the teams?
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now you said four and like you're expanding.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think you also have I forget her name, but someone else I saw on a computer.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: Run me through kind of like your journey of expanding into your team and how you kind of illuminated what positions you need to fill.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Was it based on also things you maybe weren't a genius at or weren't like your areas of expertise?
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: So you wanted to fill those and kind of like how do you see that expanding in 2025?
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so Dominique came on board last November.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: So she's worked with Bex Broth for a little over a year now, and that was just her calling me, being like, hey, like I think we would we could grow Bex Broth so much more together.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, let me become like a co-founder.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, honestly, deal.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like Dominique and I are such opposites where she is so analytical and brilliant.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm just more of like a vision visionary, love to chat, love to like make those connections.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: So we just work so seamlessly together.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: So she's been on board for just over a year now.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then the next the third position we were gonna hire for at Bex Broth.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's me, Dom, and then the third person, we knew it wanted to be someone, someone focusing in on marketing because we have such incredible branding that as soon as like people see it, they want to purchase it, they want to learn more.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: So we knew that it was gonna have to be somebody in the marketing realm to help us grow.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I at the time, um, so actually a funny story about this.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure everybody knows um Bloom, like Superfood Lattes and Super Belly.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I was always using them as like I was looking up to them in business in every single way, following the journey, um, understanding like what they're doing now, um, really just keeping tabs on them.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_02: And the the kitchen I was working at the time, um, the woman who worked there, she knew this.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I guess Bloom had three employees.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: It was at a co-working space, and she had um three employees from Bloom working there.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: So the girl from my kitchen called me and was like, You need to get down here.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like, some of the Bloom team is here.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I know that you love them.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: Come and introduce yourself.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: And at the time, I'm in Kitchener, they're 45 minutes away, and I'm unshowered.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: So I hopped in the shower so quick, got myself ready, hopped in the car, and like went up to these group of girls.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: It was somebody in sales, um, a junior designer, and then their formulator, they were sitting at a table.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: They have no idea who the fuck I am.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like Vex Broth was like less than a year old at the time.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I just walked up and like introduced myself and just said I was like a huge fan, and like I would just wanted to sit down and kind of chat with them for 20 minutes.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: So then I grew a relationship with at least like two of the three of them there, and like we just kept each other on Instagram.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: We were like chatting all the time.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: So when push came to shove about me hiring somebody in marketing, I wrote up a job description and I was like, I have no idea if like this is what Bex Brothers should even be looking for right now for what I put on the job description.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, it needs to be like really critiqued and honed in.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: So I reached out to Macy, who um was doing freelance design at the time, but I reached out to her and she was the um the gr the junior designer from Bloom that I met that day, but that was like a year in advance uh or a year prior.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_02: So I reached out to her and I said, Macy, like I know, like, hi, how's it going?
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: We're hiring for this position, but like and I made a job description.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: But do you just mind looking it over?
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, do you think that this is what Bex Broth needs right now?
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: So she looked over the job description, gave us plenty of great notes, and then like called us a week later and was like, Can I apply for this job?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: She's like, I just made this job, like here's the new job description.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think this is what you need.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Oh my god, yeah.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like that, so it just worked out so seamlessly.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: Where I knew that she was such an incredible human being.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_02: She didn't, we didn't even need to go through like in the like um like an interviewing process, but we were just like, come on board, and like you, we let her write her dream job description and what she thinks Bex Broth needs.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: We're like, you do this, and like we'll hire you.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's how Macy came on board.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then I went to another networking event and I met Kayla, who's now our op specialist at this marketing event, and we needed an assistant and somebody to help with like fulfilling orders and packaging and whatnot.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then so we ended up hiring her, but her role has like completely transformed since then.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: And now she's just really working closely with Dom to making sure our ship is running smoothly.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_02: But it's just been so intuitive in the hiring process, just meeting people in our network and just being like, you know what?
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like I want to work with you.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_02: At the end of the day, our team is talking every single day, like on Slack or in meetings, and like we really need to work with people who we drive with.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I want to pick up the phone and I want to call you, like, I want to have a sleepover with you.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we need like that's what we're doing right now at Bex Brothers.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: And we feel like that's just been it's been so much fun for us on a personal level, but then also like growing the business.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: So it's really just about that connection at the end of the day, and somebody who is just as passionate about growing the brand as we are.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: So it's been, yeah, it's been such a fun journey hiring people and growing our team because I just love them so freaking much.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but then yeah, we also are looking to um add a what are we looking, a social media specialist.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's the next role that we're gonna be hiring because Macy is just so busy and she's still kind of balancing social media.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: So we just need to take that off her plate and let and give her some some help there.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if it's not clear the power of networking now, it's like made extra clear by your your story of that.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so true about your team and also having people who are excited for the brand and actually desire to be part of it, who are kind of reaching out to you and being like, whether it was Dominique, whether this, like, no, I want to be part of it.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you didn't even have to like search.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's like what you've created, people naturally want to be a part of.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you've also done such a good job in creating this like community, yes, within your team, and you showcased the team a lot.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: I know you guys just had like a sleepover tobogganing situation, and that was like looked super fun.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: But you've brought everyone along with you on the journey on Instagram, which I think, yes, we all know from a strategy perspective that's important.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: But like I'm invested in Beck's broth.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I want to see you win.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm like, I'm I'm in it, and I think you've done such a beautiful job.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think so many brands spend the time doing that.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: But when I think about Bex Broth, there can maybe like two other ones that I can think of who really do a good job.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: At yes, it's Bex Broth, but it's also everything behind it.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's the team behind it, it's what you're doing.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: I basically just affirming to you what you're doing.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: But can you speak to like, was that something that was important to you that you always wanted to cultivate, or is that like something you're doing more like strategically?
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so um, we don't really hear the term imposter syndrome much anymore.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like the term imposter syndrome was like the words that kind of labeled 2022 or back then.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, well, what about imposter syndrome?
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: Don't you have that?
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I think in the beginning, I knew right away that is not something that I wanted to be a part of.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't want to feel nervous or scared to be my true authentic self.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I think right from the beginning, I was like, I'm just gonna put it all out there.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like, there is no way I can struggle with imposter syndrome if I'm being my true self to everybody else out there.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't hide things or I don't like bury things under the rug that I want people to know.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, I'm dealing with this today.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_02: Today's a shitty fucking day, or like this happened, or that happened, or there's so much struggle here.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's just like being completely candid and authentic has like really allowed me not to second guess myself because at the end of the day now I know who I am, and every single one of you guys knows exactly who I am.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: So that imposter syndrome has no idea where to sneak in because I showed up the way I am.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I just I didn't allow that to take control of who I was as an entrepreneur or now a CEO.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I just I really think in the beginning it was important to me to like lay everything out on the line, just and just so the customers know where they're spending their hard-earned money.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't want to pretend to be somebody else to get your money.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: Like that just feels so icky to me.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, like I want you to know that here's where your dollars are going.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just figuring it out.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_02: And like the number one thing I say in the business is like people are like, how do you know how to do that or how are you doing that?
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's like I literally just throw everything at the wall and seeing if it sticks.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's like, you know, when we're younger and you just like threw noodles at the wall to see if they were ready.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like that's constantly me in business.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, I don't know the right answers, but like I'm going to figure them out eventually after trial and error, and I'm just gonna share that whole journey with you.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the biggest, the funnest part about that is like inspiring other people and other small businesses and people that didn't even know they wanted to be entrepreneurs, but seeing the behind the scenes, like, oh, if you can do it, I'll do it too.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'll take a stab at it.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like it is possible.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I think just like being my true authentic self and showing everybody the behind the scenes, the goods, the bad, and the ugly, it's just been so rewarding because everybody is like, that's what business is.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: Not always glamorous.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's helped me a lot grow into the person that I am today.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna hear my dog, my fiance just came home.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's like my dog's just like being right beside me, so I'm surprised she didn't get up here.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: So with that, and like sharing your journey and being on this journey, how do you?
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even like the word, I don't like the word balance, and I don't like the word manage either, but how do juggle?
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: How do you like being an entrepreneur and like you're human and taking care of yourself because also like you have a very health wellness brand, but you're entrepreneur and sometimes you're probably wearing multiple hats at once and juggling things and things are happening.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: How do you, or what do you feel like supports you in being the best human as an entrepreneur, but also as a wife, as a friend, as all of the other things?
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think a huge thing is I'm I'm never too hard on myself.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_02: I don't put these crazy deadlines on myself.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: I don't have these goals that I know I can't complete.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm never, I never have that fear, that stress overhanging me because I'm trying to do something that seems completely out of my reach.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: So I feel like having just a clear mentality of like, hey, we're gonna go in today and whatever we're gonna do today, pat on the back.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: Great job for showing up and getting your job done.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: Because when you add stress or fear anything to the mix, that's when you become a grumpy little witch, you know?
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean, like that, it stresses you out, and then you take that stress and you you pass that along to your husband or you pass that along to your friends, and you really isolate yourself when you feel that way.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I really just don't try and put any like crazy goals or objectives ahead of me that are really gonna stress me out.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: But again, also working with my best friends, I gotta show up and collaborate with these like creative goddesses every single day, which is just so much fun.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but for me, I really just I don't put so many boundaries around myself.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'll wake up in the morning, I walk my dog, I wash my face, like I try and do at least 20 minutes of yoga every day.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's I don't have this crazy, you need to start work at 8 a.m.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like I do not do that.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: Today I think I started when I talked to you at 11 a.m.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's I really we and like a thing in Vex Broth, we don't schedule meetings before 11 a.m.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like we want you to get up, we don't want you to rush to work, like ease into your day because often more oftentimes than not, the day gets so exciting and it kind of makes you work into the evening.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like don't start your day early because you're gonna you love what you do, you're gonna keep on working.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_02: You're probably gonna work over your eight hours by accident.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: So like don't start early.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh oh, you're okay.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I think the biggest thing is just yeah, I don't put a pressure on myself when to start work, but I often want to just jump right into my day.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I just don't, I'm not hard on myself, which I think makes it a lot easier.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's like I just go with the flow.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I know since I work on weekends, like most of the time or like at demos or events or whatnot, I don't need to work every single day like during the week.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'll take an intuitive day off when I just literally want to like marinate on the couch.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_02: And if I have my laptop open when I marinate on the couch, perfect.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: But it's just really, yeah, being easy on yourself and loving yourself and not allowing you to like get angry at what you did or didn't do.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's just very go with the flow.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: I love that you said that because I'm also a fan of slow mornings, like you allow 8 a.m.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: calls like no, none of that.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think also it can be hard, especially like okay, you want to grow a company, you want to do this, to allow yourself that spaciousness of not rushing or not feeling like more and more, or I need to go and start work because we need to grow, we need to scale, we need this.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I love that you said that because you're a perfect example of like, well, Beck's broth is like growing more than ever, and we're doing it this way, right?
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: So you've set like a standard for not only yourself and how you want to feel as a CEO growing your company, but for your team as well, which I think is super important in terms of like company culture, really keeping them happy as well, so that they can like Beck's broth be more successful, they're happier humans, and you work with so many people you know.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd love to also ask about conflict and like you being in a leadership role.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: I know you said she's your best friend's now your co-founder.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: How do you like, I'm sure there's times where there's maybe conflict or you kind of like butt heads a little bit, like how do you kind of like navigate managing a team and also working with people that you love as separate humans even before you like entered the business relationship?
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, no, it makes perfect sense.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think the number one thing that I recognized early on, and it's like that when it comes to um a business partnership, a marriage, or like a best friend, you need to have that open communication.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_02: You need to be able to share exactly what's on your mind with that human so no conflict arises.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: So we hash it out before it even starts, pretty much.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_02: And and when Dominique came on board when she became um COO, she of course got shares in the business.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_02: And that was a very sensitive topic because of like up until that moment, I owned 100% of the business, and now my best friend wants to come in, and now I'm gonna have to give her some.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: So we realized, you know what, like that might be a sticky point for us to talk about.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_02: So we actually hired a mentor and a guide for three months to help us walk through the whole process.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_02: It was like therapy every single week we went to, and we we understood each other in a better way.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: It allowed us to open up and communicate and like figure out a game plan for like her coming on board and like owning shares.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: We are able to walk through all of that together, and it really like the emotion was still there, but I felt so safe talking to her about it and just being like, listen, like I just feel I feel a little stuck here, like let's just talk it through.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_02: And she just like with an open arm was like, Let's talk.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable or unsafe, like passing shares over to me.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_02: What's a what's a safe number for you?
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: So, and then it was like, oh my god, I was like, You're like responding so well to this.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: Now I just want you to have more.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like you're just a great human.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like now I just like thanks for seeing me where I'm at and allowing me to like feel my emotions and talk about them.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I think when it comes to like working with your friends and growing your team, just making them know like communication is it's always gonna be our number one priority.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so at the team retreat that we just did, we went to the cottage, like, of course, we we had like a five-hour planning session and we got really kind of like into the weeds of like talking about like is everybody satisfied within their roles?
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what's like what would make you happy?
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: What do you need in life?
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like, obviously, the cost of living is increasing.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: We don't have benefits at Bexbroth because we're still a small business.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what do you need?
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like, do you want equity within the business?
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_02: Is that something that we really need to like prioritize for you so you feel safe and you feel that you're like a thriving member of the team?
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_02: So I just think everybody at Bexbroth knows, like, when like if they're ever feeling an icky feeling that like it's totally a safe place to bring it up.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like, there is no, like, I'm not gonna sit there and be like, oh, I'm not having this conversation.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, oh, like let's talk about it.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_02: And if now's not the right moment, sleep on it, but like let's talk tomorrow, or like what can I do to help you like get past that, like that icky moment.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I just think, yeah, like cherishing that communication that we have is like this the most solid foundation that we could ever do in business, just so everybody feels, yeah, safe and worthy.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like that's the biggest thing.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like we appreciate each other so so much, but that's because we we've allowed ourselves to be vulnerable, which doesn't really happen in like huge corporations, I feel like.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it sounds like from the way you even approach it, the communication is also from like a very safe space and very open mind and a very curious mind versus like a confrontational or an aggressive or kind of like a lack of like what maybe someone's doing is wrong.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, no, how can I support you more in what and how you're feeling?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: And like I love that you take that approach naturally versus like uh a different one that I think also fosters a healthy environment where people feel like they can communicate.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's easy to say, like communicate, but sometimes people feel like they may not be able to say something to like their boss or something like that, or they feel like they can't say something to an employee, or they can't, you know, because that dynamic isn't there because they actually haven't fostered that kind of safe space connection.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: I knew from the beginning, if we were gonna grow as a business and become super successful, I'm not doing that alone.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like the team is helping me get there.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_02: So even though it might be called Beck's broth, Frig, it could be called Macy's broth one month.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I like I need her, right?
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_02: I want her to feel like she has like that she's valued here.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I think and I I think yeah, Beck's broth did a really great job as at just like cultivating a very, a very safe team environment.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: So what's next?
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: What's coming up for Beck's broth?
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: I know I think I saw pumpkin spice is gonna happen this year.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think I maybe saw something else being teased.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: I hope Peppermint's coming back, but kind of like what is like the vision you have for Beck's broth for 2025?
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so that is exactly what we just did at the cabin.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_02: We really broke down each and every quarter and assigned goals to each quarter.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so for the first like Q1, we're really we just started working with a new distributor, we're working with Purity, who supports a nationwide um distribution to all of the stores that we would be targeting.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: So up until this moment, we do probably 30% retail, 70% e-comm.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_02: We definitely want to still keep up with our e-comm, but we're just gonna really try and take a stab at retail now.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_02: So we're working with a new distributor, we are hiring a broker, we were gonna hire like an inside sales team member.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_02: And again, actually, this is just such an intuitive way that Bex Brothbrew, again, we were gonna hire an inside sales team member.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, her name is Sophia DeSilva.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_02: I met her through like a networking event.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely love her, lives in Montreal.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and we were gonna hire her.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_02: And the week that we were gonna send her over like a contract, she ended up getting scooped up by Propel, which is um a broker, like a food broker.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: And a broker's job is to sell your brand into store.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: So they kind of act as like an external sales team.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_02: So she got scooped up and worked for them, and we're like, oh, damn it! Like we really wanted to work with you, like the alignment was there.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_02: She was such a wellness girly, she was a hype girl, like we we just felt like she could be such a great addition to the team.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so then she started working for Propel and then she called and was just like, why don't you just work with Propel?
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like, don't hire an inside sales team member.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like, let's just like we'll do sales for you.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_02: And it ended up just being the right decision in the end, like just a very strategic move because now we don't need to hire our inside sales team to like learn one, how to be like a sales um person or like reach out to all these new connections.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, the broker is now gonna break down the doors for us.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_02: They already have all those connections.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: So we're really gonna focus on retail growth.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we're hiring somebody new for marketing um just to really help out Macy.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna try like our goal is to like do something that's completely trending online, whether it's through like Instagram or TikTok.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_02: So we really want to do that by Q2.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: We have two new product releases releases that are gonna happen this year.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we're really we did want to really break down the doors into the US this year.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_02: That was a really big thing on our wish list, but now with all the tariff stuff happening, we kind of are like slowing our mode there.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_02: So we're like, we don't know what's happening.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_02: So it's still on our radar to really export into the US by Q3, but we're just we're not rushing towards that.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, we're our main goal for 2025 is growing the business as much as we can, growing our team and just having like so much silly fun along the way.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like that just really hits hits what I need, like in my own soul and like in our team.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, we're just here to have fun this year and grow the biz.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: When it's more fulfilling, right?
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like the journey gets to be just as fun and fulfilling as like the destination.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I think like making that just as fun versus only focusing on the end result or the end destination will be so much more rewarding once you actually get to the end destination.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just about the end, it's also about the journey.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna throw it out there like Whole Foods, you're gonna be in Whole Foods this year, at least in Canadian Whole Foods, because I don't think you're there yet from what I understand.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's a goal of ours for sure.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna put it into Erwan.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna put it into like the universe for you to because I feel like you would just, I feel like Erwan just has the type of people who would like buy Beck's broth without without a second guess.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's not on our dream list like to do like a smoothie with Erwan one day.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like you know how they have their monthly smoothies.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_02: So that's definitely a goal of ours for sure.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: Do they also do like hot?
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder if like you they could do like a hot one too with like Beck's broth, like a warm version.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I wonder they could, even or like like the our banana hot chocolate recipe that we always promote, it's freaking slops so hard.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, we'll see.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see what happens there.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_02: But we're we're hoping for the best.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_02: We're putting all the good things out in the universe.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_02: So, but at the end of the day, like talking about what we want, it's how we end up achieving our goals because now all of your followers and listeners are gonna hear we want, and hey, they might know somebody, and then they're gonna call us and be like, hey, I heard that you want this.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_02: Like, here's how I can help.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_02: So, really, how Bex Broth has grown with that authenticity of me speaking at loud about what we're dreaming for, that's how we're able to grow because people know what we want, and then they're like, I can help you get there.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Great, like, thank you so much.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_02: So, definitely not doing this all alone.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like every single one of our, every single one of our community members is just helping us grow every day, and it's it's incredible.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_00: I love it, and it's so true.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like it does, it starts to feel like the community helps you at the same time.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, for all you know, like I know you're talking this morning about like the cacao shortage.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, someone reaches out to you, like, I can get you cacao, and like you you never know by just talking about that stuff.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now you mentioned a banana hot chocolate.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, can you tell me more about that?
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we um doing this recipe, it's um it's a smoothie, actually.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, not a hot chocolate, but we use our hot chocolate in with like um in a smoothie with like banana and peanut butter, and it is just so elite.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_02: Also, if you guys want to play around with your best broth, hot chocolate recipes, we haven't talked about this one as much on social media as I want.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I know Macy, if she's listening, she's gonna be laughing because we tried to get this at our photo shoot last time, but we didn't have enough time.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_02: But avocado pudding with our bone broth hot chocolate.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_02: You just mix our bone broth with an avocado and like a little bit of milk, and oh my god, you have the best pudding ever, and you get all that healthy fat, fiber, and protein with like two ingredients, like two little things, and it is like such a treat.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um that sounds delicious.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_02: I've been talking about avocado pudding to our team for so long, they're probably just so annoyed with me, but it's it's delicious.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm gonna do that because I have a ripe avocado and I have Beck's broth, so I will do that.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: Delicious.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we will obviously leave the link for you, Beck's broth, down below.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: I want everyone to go try it and let me know how delicious it is.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna enjoy it.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the perfect, it's just perfect, like that creamy, the protein, the cacao, all the things, and of course, it's all clean and good for you and filled with all the good things.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for coming onto the podcast, for sharing your story, for being so authentic, so true to you.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I know everyone's gonna be A, inspired, but B, also just fall in love with Beck's broth.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you have not, you will by now already.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for coming on the show.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, of course.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for having me, Olivia.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_02: And then for anybody who wants to try Beck's broth, um, I'll give you a discount code as well that you can use.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wonderful.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.