Advice Line with Lara Merriken of LÄRABAR (October 2024)

0:01 Hey everyone, it's Guy here. So our team is just getting back from our holiday break. So this week we've got a great episode from the Archives, our advice line conversation with Lara Merkin of Lara Bar. We'll be back with fresh advice line episodes starting next week, and I'll be joined by some pretty incredible guests like Joe Jebia, co-founder of Airbnb, and Jack Conti, who co-founded Patreon. So stay tuned. And thank you to all of you who called in so far. I cannot wait to talk through more of your business challenges in the new year. And I'm looking forward to hearing your ideas. So Enjoy the show.

0:39 Hello and welcome to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Roz. This is the place where we help try to solve your business challenges. Each week I'm joined by a legendary founder, a former guest on the show who will help me try to help you. And if you're building something and you need advice, give us a call and you just might be the next guest on the show.

1:04 Our number is 1-800-433-1298. Send us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and the issues or questions that you'd like help with. You can also send us a voice memo at hibt at id.wonder. And make sure to tell us how to reach you. And also don't forget to sign up for my newsletter. It's full of insights and ideas from the world's greatest entrepreneurs. You can sign up for free at gyros.com. And we'll put all this info in the podcast description. Alright, let's get to it. Joining me this week is Lara Marriken, the founder of Lara Bar. Lara, welcome back to the show. Thanks for having me, guy. It's wonderful to be back. So great hanging out. I don't think I've seen you since we took a a run in in Denver like a couple years ago before the pandemic. That's hard to believe that it's been that long four years. It's great to have you back on on the show. Um You were first on the show way back in in twenty eighteen.

2:07 Uh, and and back then you of course told the story of how you created this Incredible brand, Larabar. Um and and of course if if anyone listening hasn't heard that episode Just go back in our podcast feed and listen to it. It is such a great episode. We'll put a link in the in the podcast description as well. Um but basically this is uh back in in two thousand, you were In your early thirties

2:28 Recently divorced, unemployed. Um not at a great Place in life. as as you described it. And You started experimenting with like your own energy bar for

2:38 Like basically taking unsweetened fruit and nuts and just grinding them up in your Que art and shaping them into bars. I I did. And I I mean it I did not plan on starting a business. I was a passionate

2:53 natural food person always looking for great alternatives and I found myself on a hike one day eating a trail mix. And this light bulb went off for me and I just knew it intuitively that I needed to follow my idea. And within just a couple of years you were selling millions of bars and eventually, of course, you sold the brand.

3:15 to General Mills. Um and and unlike a lot of founders who just kinda sell their companies and then take off, you stayed on to help to help the team at General Mills for quite a while to continue to to grow the brand. Before we bring our callers, I want to ask you about your experience kinda Dig a little deeper. Um, I remember you talked about one of the first things you did when you were starting the brand was you got a job at Whole Foods. You basically s just got a job as a cashier and stock clerk

3:41 Um for the paycheck in part, but also to learn about the natural food business, to get like a ground view of Of how they operated, which I thought was so, so smart. Um, and you know, a lot of entrepreneurs have side hustles. I mean What what kind of advice do you have for people who are sort of in that phase where they're

4:03 they're starting a business and they they're not sure whether they should be doing another job or to leave that job, you know, or w when to leave that job, if to leave that job. You know, there isn't one right way to do this. For me, I realized that I knew very little about the actual business. I knew that I was kind of My my own core consumer, but I Also I guess the way I would liken it is I wanted to put my fantasy into a reality check. And so by getting into the business at Whole Foods, I looked at it as a paid internship and a way to get a leg in and learn.

4:42 directly without wasting time asking other people's opinions. I immerse myself in that environment. So I would say to people Learn as much as you can. Put yourself in situations And really open yourself up to

4:59 You don't know anything because you really don't know anything until you get into it. Yeah. Well Laura, I'm super super excited that you're on to help me um hopefully we can give some good advice here. Um let's let's go ahead and take our first caller, um and let's let's have our caller Introduce themselves, tell us your name, where you're calling from, and uh just a little bit about your business.

5:20 Hello, I am Alison Rep. I am one of three co-founders of a body care company called Joy Breeders in Denver, Colorado. And we are on a mission to keep people moisturized without any toxins while inspiring them to rewild themselves. Amazing. Okay, you're in Denver, so not too far from where Lara started Lara Bars. Um Um So It's called

5:45 Joy Breeders. Joy Breeder. And it is a skincare brand. Tell me um a little bit about how how it works. Like what makes it Unique or different. Yeah, well, you know, it's um I I made it because my my boyfriend has a rare skin condition. And I was really tired of being in the stores and checking ingredients in these of these clean brands and seeing that there were still toxins. And so what's different is that this

6:13 truly is only five or seven, depending on uh the scent. Uh pure ingredients. And how and so when did you start Making it. When do you start selling it? I started making it about three and a half years ago, um, and then I gave it out to people for Christmas one year.

6:31 And everybody was like, What is this? I have to buy this. And um I never thought I'd be starting a body care company, but we launched it um after listening to everybody in June of twenty twenty three. So just a little over a year ago. And and where do you guys um and how many products do you have? How many different um Excuse DF. Yeah, uh right now we have three different ones. We have Two different versions of Moist, which is our

6:58 Body. uh moisturizer and then we have one called Powdy Mouth, which is a lip balm. Got it. And where where do you guys mainly sell your products? Right now we are in boutiques. We just got into a couple of grocery stores in Colorado. Uh we're in a couple stores in Hawaii. Um We are in some boutique motels and direct to consumer as well.

7:21 Nice. Okay. And what's your um what's your question for us today? My question is How can we scale a niche product like ours while keeping the humor and the authenticity that define our brand as we move into these larger markets? All right, we'll get we'll get to your question in a moment. Um Lara, I wanna bring you in. Do you First of all, do you have any questions for Allison?

7:44 Well, first of all, I had a very similar issue. I had this exact same question when I started out. Um, so my my question to you is, um I've looked up your brand online and it looks really, really fun. It has a nice vibe and So far as you're selling to your consumers in these stores and online What kind of

8:08 Feed. people giving you about your product. What do they like about it? What is it doing for them? Yeah, so uh we get so much feedback that was so unexpected. I'm a licensed psychotherapist. I never thought I'd be helping people in this way, but it's such an honor. But people say, you know, I've had dry, cracked skin. for my whole life and nothing's ever worked. I've tried fifty products and this is the first thing that has worked for me. Um they love the clean ingredients. They love that it sings into your skin and even though it's

8:37 Oil based and shea butter based, it doesn't stay oily, it, but the moisture locks in. So that's the the biggest. I could go on and on, but. I'll zip my lips now. Well well, I hear you saying that you want to market it authentically and have that humor. and authenticity, like what is it that people love about that aspect of it as well? Yeah, so one of my co-founders uh is my boyfriend who I made it for, and the other one is my best friend, and we are the joy readers. And we were dubbed that name because people would see us posting things online on our social media, and they would come to us and say,

9:15 You being your authentic selves allows me to be my authentic self. And there's just no higher honor than hearing that. Um, and so that is that is our bigger mission, and that's something that we want to do just through being the face of our company, right? Like showing modeling being your authentic self. Well that's that's a That's a great um way to lead what you're about, being your authentic self. I just I heard like tag lines in what you just said.

9:44 Um, that authenticity is kind of elite, like fun, sexy, and authentic, right? Yeah, we just like to play our way through lives. Like we're always doing wild crazy funny things, you know. Playful is one of our biggest values. Um, one of the things that I mean, the qu the question you ask is like how can we

10:04 Um maintain our authenticity while we're while we're scaling. And I guess m I guess what I would just kind of push back on that question is i is is to ask you whether that really is a problem. I mean I'm I'm not sure this is a it sounds to me more like a problem looking for a solution or or a solution for a problem. You know, I don't I I would say don't create a problem where one doesn't exist, right? Like To me, I think you want to focus on scale. Focus o or focus on sustainability, one or the other, or both if you can.

10:33 But I mean the the you know, uh the the authenticity side, first of all it's a word that I I have trouble with uh uh to be honest, because I think that it's it's it's really overused. Yeah. It's a buzzword for it's m massively overused. And I think that that the more it's used, the the less actually authentic Something or someone is. And and you often see this on social media where people say, Be your most authentic self. And I think to myself, you're standing in front of a camera. And you are acting, and so how are you actually authentic? So I guess to me, authenticity is

11:06 when you don't actually need to or have to really worry about that word. I mean you've got a product, you've got a story. You love it, your friends love it, so that's authentic. Now the question is To me, how do you focus on growing the product? How do you focus on getting it out there? Um, so tell me a little bit about what you're doing. Are you working with social media influencers are you

11:30 Um demoing the product. Tell me a little bit about how your Your Getting the word out. Yeah, we are demoing the product constantly, especially at these New grocery stores that we've just been in.

11:41 Um, and we are talking with a lot of influences as well. We just went to the Newtopia Now event. Mm. What is that? Newtopia now is uh it used to be Expo East. So it's a CPG expo. And we got a lot of unexpected attention there. We had people from big stores coming to us.

12:06 Um You know, we've we've just been kind of after that expo, just preparing for what those meetings are gonna look like. And it sounds like we'll be in more and more stores. I have a follow up question is to Guy's point in terms of as you're going to scale.

12:23 How Have you guys looked at how you see yourself fitting into the market? Do you see yourself in grocery stores and boutique stores and w Where does your product fit into the category, I guess, is what I'm asking. Yeah, it's a good question, and we're kind of figuring some of that out by trial and error, but some of it we also know. Um, we are a more luxury product.

12:46 So we're not gonna be in in just regular grocery stores, probably. We're in more of the niche grocery stores like Lucky's and The more natural focused. Grocery stores. Yeah. I I think looking at where do you fit in as you're growing, as as Guy said, you know, you're looking at scaling, but where are you going to scale? What does that look like? What is the consumer I mean, I'm thinking, do you belong in department stores, right? Like higher end ones like Neiman Marcus or or uh Nordstrom, you know. Yes. Yes to all those. See, you just answered the question for me. I I still I I started falling into this backwards and I still am. Like you were saying, you're just always figuring things out. So yes, definitely that is a dream. And also to be in

13:39 Hotels. We're working with some hotels not uh being just given in the rooms, but being in their mini bars. Uh,'cause people really go after that stuff when they're traveling, especially to dry climates. Yeah.

13:54 Um, Guy, do you mind if I circle back to one thing that you were saying about about the authenticity piece? I think the fear is Not that we're being authentic or not, but that It's not very often that you see a brand where the founders are the the face of the company, they're customer facing and it's a big p the story is a big part of it. And so as we expand, I'm just not wanting to lose that because our bigger mission really is

14:20 To inspire people to as I said re wild themselves. As we were before we even became joy breeders officially. If that makes sense. So I mean so the w so the question I guess is the question

14:36 How how should we remain the face of the the of the brand or Yeah, I don't I don't know how it works, right? When you start getting into these bigger stores. Mm-hmm. They don't know what they expect of you. I don't know if I'm gonna need to Stay on my ground. When we

14:52 When we start to Talk to maybe uh talk about maybe selling. You know, Laura, you said that you stayed on for a while. Um I just don't want to lose the bigger mission of

15:03 of the company. As As we move into that. I mean you've only been around for about a year now, right, I think. Mm-hmm. So I mean you've got a ways to go.

15:14 Before I I just think before you have to worry about that, I think that you have you've got a lot of work ahead of you. I think it's it sounds like it's a great product and you've got interest in the product and there are people who like the product and so Амін а ті конверсиані ор. That you that you might want to two or three years as you start to see growth and scale. That's just my my view. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.

15:39 I don't I don't disagree with you, Guy. And also, Allison, I Denver was my incubator place and it's a great way to test things out. See what works. Does it does it work being in the grocery stores? Are you better off in a different spot? And what what we did as a company is we used Denver as a testing ground and what worked, we would do other places as we expanded the brand. Got it. I also think that if you look at um and by the way, there are lots of brands that we've had on the show where the founders are the face of the brand, but then you look at a lot of products that are

16:13 uh deeply tied to the founder, like Spanks and Sarah Blakely, or or Lara Bar, who w which is literally the name of the person that is on on this call with me. Uh and and at the end of the day, it's the product. I mean very few people bouganks because they loved Sarah Blakely. She's lovable and terrific, but that's not why people bought the product. They bought it'cause it was really effective. So

16:37 Um the the at the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether Allison is interesting or funny or you know, it it would that's great. You don't you don't not want to be those things, but it's do you make a good product that people like. Yeah. Yeah, actually a lot of things just clicked, so

16:56 Thank you for that. I think I've been really message forward coming from my psychotherapist background. And what I hear you saying is if the product is good, then everything else that I've been talking about with with who we are and what we're trying to inspire just comes along alongside that or Little bit behind it. I think so. And I think it's great that you went to the the trade show and there's some interest in in in carrying the product. I mean I also think that small boutiques are really effective. I mean that's how Sun Bomb really began its growth, you know, by going to small boutiques in places like Hawaii. I think you mentioned you're in Hawaii, right? So So Hawaii tends to be a really great place to to put these things in because you've got

17:35 There's walking through shops or looking at products. Um they've got time. And they pick things up.

17:43 Yeah. Lara, any any final words of of wisdom for Allison? I would just use this time to just pay attention to everything going on, make sure that the product Has um is stable in its packaging and all of that before you get

18:00 distributed it out widely, right? Like in m in my world with food, it was what's the shelf life, but but you have the same thing in body care. And you wanna make sure that you're dotting your I's and crossing your T's with that stuff. So that you know that when you go to a bigger retailer that wants you, you're like, you're solid on that. You know what works, what doesn't, and you're still going to learn on the fly, but this is a great time um to really do that research and development. Yeah, thoroughly. Yeah, thank you. Indeed. Indeed. Allison rep, the brand's called Joy Breeders. Good luck. Thank you so much. All right.

18:35 By the way, speaking of skincare routines I would say in the like the last two years I have started to do something I never did in my life. I I I use Um like a mineral sunblock on my face every day. I mean a friend of mine is a dermatologist was like

18:50 If you're not using that every day. You're basically like exposing yourself to skin damage. And you're on the West Coast now, right? No. And so you you have to

19:02 You have to pay attention to that stuff. I'm out and walking every single day. You know, I'm in the Bay Area. We're lucky. We get to do that year round. So I'm all I'm all about it. As I approach the age of fifty.

19:13 I'm all about it. Wow. That that's an exciting milestone for you. Yeah, it's exciting. Alright, after the break, another caller with another business challenge.

19:27 I'm Guy Raz, and we're answering your business questions right here on the advice line on how I built this lab. Welcome back to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz. My guest today is Lara Merkin, she's the founder of the Energy Bar brand, Lara Bar. So Lara, let's let's get right into it and and take another call. Can't wait to meet the next caller. Hello, welcome to the advice line you are on with Me and Laura American, welcome. Please tell us your name, where are you calling from and a little bit about your business.

20:12 Hi, my name is Mariano Questum. Based out of Miami, Florida. The founder of Max Brands, which is the owner Max Caffeine Gum and Max Caffeine Mints. We provide an alternative to coffee and energy drinks, um, and also Provide the caffeine.

20:30 Okay, can fix that. You would like. All right, so Mariano, a lot of questions for you. First of all, how did you I mean How did you get into this business? I d I don't think you were the inventor of caffeine gum. I'm sure that versions of this have been around for a while, but how did you get into making this product? Uh so

20:47 It was It was an afternoon where kind of the light bulb went off. I was working late. And it was about four or five in the afternoon, and I'm a huge coffee drinker. I used to work in in finance in New York and coffee was life. Pretty much. And this day in particular, I didn't want more coffee, but I was a little bit sleepy and I I wanted more caffeine. And that's kind of where I started going down the rabbit hole of like, okay, what alternatives are there?

21:14 And After a lot of research, you're right, that there were there was Uh already chewing'em. I'm not the inventor of chewing on caffeine, but I did realize what was out there wasn't either very good, wasn't very expensive, or not effective, so I I thought, you know, hey, I think we can do something here.

21:33 Yeah. I imagine that there's Plenty of people who probably want this, right? Like People have to work later.

21:40 And by the way, does it have the same effect let's be honest,'cause when you drink a lot of coffee you have to go pee or Or Something else. Does this have the same effect? Guy, I'm so glad you asked that question. When when I started this company, my focus was on people in you know, finance and and people that work late. Uh

22:00 And when started going and and showing the product off to people. I started to realize this is much bigger. Uh you've got the Uber drivers, the truck drivers who appreciated this because they didn't have to go to the bathroom after drinking coffee. educators uh

22:17 Athletes, athletes. I had never even thought of athletes. And athletes end up being like a huge segment in this world because They don't want to drink a lot of coffee or an energy drink and then go run a few miles. Like they don't want that slush in their stomach. So the world of what this product, um, who it's applicable to and who find a lot of benefit to was a lot bigger than I originally thought. Um, and that was very eye opening for me.

22:44 Got it. And from what I gather th this was at one time available in in some stores or I think even maybe in Walmart, but it's not anymore. Now it's main you're mainly selling direct to consumer. You're absolutely right. Um we sell directly to consumer. We we are in about fifty smaller stores. Uh we had a test to run with Walmart. All over the country or just in Florida?

23:07 It was all over the country. Originally it was gonna be a hundred stores and it ended up being four fifty and So it was Quite a ride, learned a lot. Um We kind of got some

23:17 uh guidance from the buyer in terms of how to package this for the candy aisle. Which ended up hurting us just logistically. Put you in the candy aisle. Yes, correct. And is that where you want it to be? D did you want this product to be al alongside just regular chewing gum and candy?

23:33 We uh originally we did. We did. Um it was either that or the sports section. But you know It ended up being a pretty big issue, and we're back online. I am you know, st if I'm to get into stores. I mean awesome that you had that opportunity and and and you learned a lot from that. But basically people

23:54 were confused, like what is this? Is it a supplement? But it was in the candy section a lot of confusion. Before I before I get to to Laura, uh what's the what's the question you have for us? Right. So it's it's actually based on what I I just talked about, just a little bit of background. We We since we left Walmart, uh we've tripled our sales online, more than triple our sales online. We continue to grow the brand. The category itself is growing. There's uh data behind this.

24:21 And yet we're having trouble getting our foot in the door with some of these major buyers. I understand they're inundated. But my question would be that, how how do you get your foot in this in these doors? Yeah. Lar American a lot to unpack here. This is a cool, cool idea.

24:37 What are your thoughts on this? Well, first of all, I think it's a very innovative product. And I like that you've taken gum and caffeine because it's it's a very easy to use product for people. Right. Gums everywhere, caffeine's everywhere in the form of, you know, coffee mainly and energy drinks. And um

24:59 My question to you is, where are people going to buy this? I was thinking as you were talking. Where would I go to buy this? But what are you finding out about the marketplace right now? It's a great question. We we Uh. Some of the stores that we're in have put us actually next to energy drinks as well.

25:18 Mm-hmm. Uh it sells well in those places. We haven't had many people put in the supplement section. Um, and then we have had people put it in the candy section. So in terms of just trying to figure out, you know, where it sells more, and obviously that's a function also of Is there enough shelf space to put a product like this?'Cause you know, energy drinks in that section is very Full so we've had to find

25:44 Ways around and we actually started selling them in like clips. Mariano, what is the the competitive landscape like?'Cause there have to be other Caffeine gum brands out there. Absolutely, yes. There's there's a a couple other brands, big big brands um They've done a great job. I will say that when I started looking into this stuff Yeah.

26:08 The problem I had was um I didn't like It didn't feel like um Oil's so expensive. And one of the things we really wanted to do with this gum is We we we did put a lot of caffeine into each piece. We put a hundred twenty five milligrams of caffeine per piece. from the competitors. They have like fifty to sixty grams. Correct. And our goal was like we want you when you chew this and

26:33 that you feel it like like you are ready to go, ready to take on anything that's going on in the day. Um And that was our goal. So, you know. Just for the listeners, 125 milligrams of caffeine is equivalent to about a cup and a quarter of coffee. Uh, so we really wanted that to be a differentiator. Yeah, you're packing a punch, right? So that to me is a competitive advantage over what's going on in the marketplace and why somebody would want to bring you in to compete with somebody else.

27:04 Correct. Uh also another another big The thing we have going for us, we're cheaper. Um and yeah, that was done. We're that was done absolutely by design. We When we saw what the pricing was out there, we were just like, Why would anyone pay this much? Cause at the end of the day, we're gonna be compared to chewing gum, right? So Why would anyone pay so much more for chewing um I understand it's caffeine, there's definitely a value add there. I don't um but to be paying ten, fifteen times with normal chewing gum, I I I didn't think that was right. So

27:34 Um one of the things we really set out to do was provide a better product with more caffeine. At a lower, more affordable price. You know, one of the things that I think is is interesting about The opportunity here is that Everything that you've talked about.

27:50 um you've told us here in this conversation is not reflected in the product when you see it on the shelves. Like What you where you want to start In the storytelling side of it is With the Packaging

28:03 And with your whole kind of theme on your website. says world strongest caffeine gun, but what does that tell me? Doesn't tell me anything. I need to understand All the things you just told me in just a few Words. right right from the get go. On the packaging, on the website, in your

28:18 brand Bible that clearly, you know, you haven't put together and you should put together'cause it's gonna really help you. I would agree. I had the same issue. So when I started Lar Bar, it was, you know, fruit and nuts and nuts have a lot of fat in them and people would freak out about the fat. So and I would have to figure out fat. At the time. No one was on that bandwagon guy. Nobody had educated us. And so I had to as a company

28:48 Lead the way. And I had to articulate it in a way that it was fun for people and interesting and they felt like they knew something. So as as Guy was pointing out, like If you want people to pick your product up, you've got to make it compelling. Why is gum and caffeine compelling? Right? And then I'm gonna go back to you're talking about they wanna put you in the candy aisle. I had the exact same problem. I remember we were getting into a major retailer and at the time I wasn't clear about where I saw Lara Bar. And they decided out of nowhere to put it near candy bars, that would have been the kiss of death. For us in terms of

29:26 going straight out of that store because we didn't belong with candy bars. We were a nutrition bar, a healthier version, kind of indulgent and delicious. And I really push back and we didn't end up going into that retailer. Which was a good thing because you have to be in the right spot where people are actually going to find you. Absolutely absolutely. critical point here, I think, which is

29:50 Sometimes even when the opportunity seems amazing, You've got to stick to your your principles and your vision around this product, right? Like this is not candy. To me, I mean, this is something that you would discover at a GNC. Right. Or in the in the in the in the protein powders aisle at Whole Foods and

30:11 Where I think you have an opportunity, right? You've got a hundred and twenty five grams of caffeine. That's that's What And to me it's like you could have a tagline on your bag that literally says

30:26 You know Rocket fuel for your workout. Mm-hmm. You know, I understand you're trying to reach people, Uber drivers and nighttime people and and hospital workers, but maybe you w maybe you wanna just start by focusing on one of those categories. And the other ones may follow naturally. You know, it's like you you start with a a tribe, Lara started with hikers.

30:47 Now Lara Bar's consumed by ma it's a mass consumption product. What what do you think, Lara? And you can disagree with me, Laura. You can tell me that I'm Full of it. You're not full of it. You have great ideas, guys. You're a natural entrepreneur. Um I I I think it's

31:02 Very smart, like little Test groups, you know, you can test the Uber drivers, you can test the athletes, you can do your own little focus groups and figure out who's using it and why they're using it. And what is it doing for them. Right. Right. If you Lead with curiosity, people will tell you a lot. And I would also say that

31:22 Like people do know what caffeine is. But They don't. No, right? They know they go to say Starbucks to get their coffee or the coffee shop, but What what are you offering that's different than that? Like how can you replace that? Like for Larabar, it was

31:39 Portable food. Right. You're eating real food still, but you're on the go and you still have that quality there. Right. Right. Yeah, simple messages.

31:49 simple value proposition. feel your work out, whatever it says, but but simple few words on their own. that tells me what it is,'cause Max doesn't doesn't do it. It's not caffeine gum is not enough. Okay.

32:03 Perfect. I appreciate the advice, guys. Thanks. Thanks for calling in Mariano. The product's called Max Caffeine Gum. Uh good luck, man. Thanks for calling in. Thank you, appreciate it. Hi.

32:14 Mate. I mean, I I think I'm gonna try this. I'm gonna get I'm gonna I'm definitely gonna try this. I am too. I love tea, I love coffee, but I think there's a great market for this. It's just a matter of connecting with people, right? Yeah. Alright, let's take another quick break, but we'll be right back with another collar. Stay with us, I'm Guy Roz, and you're listening to the advice line right here on how I built this lab.

32:59 Welcome back to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz, and today I'm taking calls with Lara Merricken. Uh Lara, what do you say? Let's Let's bring on another collar. That sounds great. Alright, let's let's bring in our next caller. Hello, welcome to the show. Hello, thank you for having me on the show. I'm so excited. I can tell, tell us.

33:19 Tell us your name, uh, where you're calling from and a little bit about your business. Okay, my name is Loretta Naquatcha. I am the founder of Loretta's British Ginger Tea. It is a New York based company and I am currently in Costa Rica. And Loretta's British Ginger Tea is a blend of unique proprietary functional ginger based beverages. Okay, so f let's b kinda break this down. So this is Ginger tea made with Ginger root. Like like it's it's strong and spicy, right? Like it clears your sinuses kinda ginger.

33:52 It is so strong and spicy. I mean, I give the option on the bottle on the label that if it is too much, you can water it down with, you know, so that you don't get the potency, but you still get the health benefits. And you can have it hot. Because we Brits we love to have our tea hot and we have several cups a day. So you I actually drink it hot and then on on the weekend I drink it cold straight out of the fridge with a bit of tequila. So, Laura, how did you tell me about the idea behind the product. I mean, w w is it were you in food and beverage, what were you doing? How did the how did you start this thing? Or why Darling, darling, I'm not even in any but like I don't come from business. The only business I came from was show business. I am an actor and singer and I've done it pretty much my whole life. I went to the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. The same school that Judy Dynch went to, my. So yeah. Um anyway, so then okay.

34:52 Fast forward two thousand and nine, I'm pregnant with my first child in New York, and like many women, I had Awful, dreadful uh morning sickness. Now morning sickness is supposed to last For the morning for maybe the first trimester, i.e. the first three months. Yes. Now mine went on all day for about six months. Oh my gosh. Yeah, marvelous. So what I did was my doctor said that ginger is really helpful to kind of quell the nausea. So I would sip on ginger ale. I'm not really a soda person, but I would sip on this thing and it helped a little bit. Yeah. Fast forward five years, I'm pregnant now with my second child in 2014. I said, you know what, I know what to expect this time. I'm not bloody gonna drink.

35:33 ginger ale, I'm gonna find something else that's gonna help. My doctor recommended that I take um anti-nausea medication. I said no way, I'm making a human, I don't want medication. No. Yeah. She she suggested ginger candy. I said, okay, let me give it a try. It was basically sugar. Yes. Uh I thought, well I don't need diabetes while I'm pregnant, so no. So I my husband God bless his soul. My husband was the one who said, listen, why don't I just go to the store, pick up some ginger root, you can slice it up and make your own. Yeah. And that was the first time I'd ever set my eyes on ginger root. So

36:11 Slice it up. Boiled it up. It worked, it was amazing, and I loved the way that it tasted. So I would drink it every single day. It helped with the nausea and I've been drinking it every single day since 2014 when I made this. I love this. And and by the way, ginger also anti inflammatory. It's a gre and it's just an amazing root. You just it's so there's so many things you can do with it. Okay, so Th this clearly is helped uh was helping you. And then at what point did you say, you know, I'm gonna turn this into a business? I'm gonna bottle this up and try and sell this?

36:44 Well, I've got my sister Helen to thank for that because basically I would make Batches of tea when any of my friends would get sick. I knew that ginger was helpful for you know colds and flu, so I'd make them a batch, deliver it to their house for free. So my sister saw me making these little mini bottles, they were very cute little things showing you how to make um a a hot toddy. So a little bit of uh brandy and my ginger tea. Yummy. So she was like hello she was like Lori. Why'd you keep giving this away? Why aren't you selling this?

37:13 I said, Okay, um I don't know anything about business. Where would I start? She goes, I don't know. Research it myself. Okay. I did it. September twenty twenty one, I made my first sale in the farmer's market in my little town of Babylon, Long Island, New York. And so I then managed to basically take bottles and go to various stalls, all the sort of health food stalls.

37:34 And it had to be refrigerated. The shelf life was so short. Like six weeks. So I had to realize that okay, I have to do something to extend the shelf life if it's possible, and also get it out of the fridges. Yeah. So I took everything off the shelves literally a few months ago, um, while I started working on fundraising to try and figure out a way to have it formulated. So you haven't been able to figure this out yet. You're still at this point where you're trying to figure out how to make it shelf stable or how to make it last longer, right? Yeah. And also get out of plastic bottles. It doesn't align with what I'm trying to give people this helpful, health drink. I love this. I love this. Okay. So and and is uh are those basically your questions like how do I Figure this out or do you have a a an additional question? Well, my question is how the bloody hell do I fundraise

38:21 when it's it's tough to you know, I've applied for so many grants, yeah pitching events, all of that stuff. But how do you Fundraise Effectively. when you're just doing everything yourself. Yeah.

38:33 And can can you give us a rough estimate of how much you put in already? Like several thousand dollars. Twenty five thousand. Right. Okay. So so I mean that's not an inconsiderable amount of money and it and and obviously you've got something worth pursuing. But here's here's where you have

38:50 a massive competitive advantage versus every Micro brand out there in all categories. You are an actor. You have a background in acting. You have incredible charisma. You are

39:07 quality to your personality. And to me it Feels like you can really use those qualities. To build this brand up. Slowly and methodically. One simple idea, I thought.

39:20 Yeah. is to try crowdfunding. I just tried it. I just launched it. I found women. I found women. I just launched it. Kickstarter failed terribly because I didn't have instruction as to what to do once I set the But you ch but then try it again or try a different one. But you're trying one because Everything you've said here. is so interesting and makes so much sense. It's the story, it's the product, it's what sh it's what is done for you

39:45 I mean this was th really helped you in your pregnancy. What a great way to start marketing or uh or telling a story around a product. And so That's where I think you have an opportunity to start to raise a little bit of cash and to see if you can, you know, maybe raise another twenty, twenty five grand. And find you know, hopefully other people who can help you kind of begin to take this to the next level.

40:12 And do you trust I mean Lara, I know you were also doing this by yourself, so how How do you trust that you're even doing what you're supposed to be doing and not wasting time on things that you're not supposed to be doing because you don't have the other the other eyes and ears on you or working with you to say, listen, no, that's no good. Let's try this instead. Like right now, this is a great group for me. I can you know this is great education, but I don't have that every day. So How do you how do you do that? You know I

40:41 I really led with optimism and I was really passionate as you are. And that passion and optimism is future and forward thinking is really what it's about. Um I actually just got a degree in that in positive psychology. Um and'cause I'm so curious. I know and I'cause I'm just so interested in what about the human condition and what compels us as human beings. And I think entrepreneurs are very forward and future thinking people. And so

41:15 To Guy's point about you, you've got it. I face those same peaks and those same valleys that you're going through right now, which is why am I gonna do this? Why I mean I when at the time I had my idea, everybody thought I was completely out of my mind. I had I was dealing with an oversaturated category, which it still is today. Yet there was still room for something new and different. So There is always a way, right? If there's a will, there's a way and you've you've got it going on.

41:44 And there's so many ways to really push this out, you know. cold and flu season, just a sipping beverage, uh anti inflammatory Um, I mean there's s as we speak today, the New York Times has an article about anti inflammatory foods and I believe ginger is right on the Front. of that article. Yeah, of course it is. And even for like you know m for

42:05 At one point I was talking to someone about trying to maybe get into the hospital, you know, um the the s the shops in hospitals because of cancer patients. My mother died in two thousand and six from stomach cancer and watching the effects of chemotherapy, nausea is a huge side effect of it. Huge. Right. And it just di it depletes your energy. It just d it kills you literally, right? And I just thought, my God, if I had if this had come across my path, my my brain when my mother was still alive, this would have helped her enormously. Yes, it it won't cure cancer, but it would help those after effects. I can't s I can't scream it loud enough from any mountaintop. The fact that I drink this every day, literally, the minute it touches my mouth, I'm like, oh.

42:52 Every day every day. Yeah, I I'm I'm I think it's a great idea. is you you start with who you know. You start with literally your closest friends and you just ask them, Can you put in five hundred bucks? Can you put in a thousand bucks? You go to you know, if there's a community group that you're in, if there's

43:12 Um uh parents at school, um And you just you have to put yourself out there say no big deal if you you know, it's a lot, it's a big ask, but I'm trying to raise money and you know you'll have equity, you'll have a stake in this thing. And and I really believe in it. And I'm I'm trying to raise about twenty, twenty five grand. go to the next phase of it. It's that discomfort of asking people for money. Like I'll ask a stranger if I have to, but with my my friend group and whatever, you know, I'm the one that kind of helps with advice and you know, and sort of wisdom, et cetera, et cetera, thanks to my mommy. I very rarely

43:49 Ask. For help in that sense. Like I got to ask you for money, I'm the one that will lend you the money. So how do I I was just thinking while you're talking, do I just pretend I'm a different character and and To ask them for money? I and that makes me s even thinking I'm stuttering. Lara Lara, let's put on your positive psychology degree here. Yes, yes. Asking is hard. It's asking is a very hard for a lot of people. It's very hard. It's hard for me, I'll be honest with you.

44:15 Um but I do think that if there's one thing I've seen in in s almost seven hundred episodes of how I built this, is that virtually every entrepreneur on the show has figured out how to get over that and how to ask for help. Lara. It i it's so true. It's just it's creating a new habit. I mean y you're asking for feedback right now. You've already taken a huge step. You you you're on this program. You've already asked. Like you have it in you to do it.

44:42 Right. And you just have to just little little steps, one thing at a time. Right? You're not gonna get to the top of the mountain tomorrow, but one little ask at a time. Everybody has their own way of asking, right? Like I agree, I don't like asking either. But I I like it to be like a natural fit, right? Like I like to connect with people because it it just like we have a a similar thing. And I did that with the with the stores when I got in the stores. I was like, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna

45:11 knock down the doors of people that don't believe in me, but I'm gonna go where the energy is flowing, right? The people that believe in me and and people like that. So That's what I would do. I mean If you don't ask, you never know. I know, and if you don't ask you don't get Oh I I I have all those. I Ooh Okay.

45:32 Alright. British ginger tea look for it. Look for it in your stores. One day um Loretta. Congrats. Good luck. We're cheering you on.

45:44 Thank you, thank you, thank you! So great to meet you. You too! So Lara, we are at the end of another episode of of Advice Line and um so cool to hear one of my favorite things, and I I mean I I'd be lying if I didn't say it was one of my favorite things, is when people call in or people

46:05 stop me at you know, at airports or wherever and they're like I listened to this show every day building my business. It's so Heartening'cause that's why we do it. That's why we brought you on all those years ago. We we do it for that reason to g to give people the energy to keep going when it's hard.

46:21 Yeah, I think we all need inspiration. I'm still inspired by the show. I'm an entrepreneur and I listen to these episodes and every time I learn something. I learn it. I love learning new things. And And understanding how there's a lot of different ways to get there. Yeah. And and I should mention we you are in in embarking on a new chapter in your life. I mean you you built and scaled a successful company and brand, you've been an investor and a mentor, I know you were doing that for a long time, still do a lot of that. Um but you on the side went on did like a graduate degree in psychology, right?

46:56 I did. It was typical of me on a whim. Um, you know, just like Lar, I didn't plan it and I I had my undergrad psych and I was a social worker many years ago. And then I got into this program and then I started dissecting How did I get to where I was at a as an entrepreneur using grit and resilience, perseverance, optimism, all of that stuff? And I just realized like this is where I really want to put my energy and how I wanna help people. Um using those, you know, these core concepts. It's so cool. Congrats on and so and and so w tell me a little bit about how how you're thinking about About doing that.

47:35 Well it it's early stages, guy. But um one of the ways is is really coaching people. Um I think that Um, I've learned I've done a lot of that um myself and it really helps me and when you you know, coaching is about leading with curios and really asking people those questions. I mean, you're very good at that on your show. You you're curious. You ask people really crucial questions that get you them to think. And um so I'm starting an organization uh with a cohort member of mine, and um we're going to do educational pieces and coaching and just make it really fun and approachable. As entrepreneurs, you know, we It it's not just the business prowess, it's the psychology behind it.

48:19 How do you get up every day? You know, Loretta, like how do you keep going when you're faced with an obstacle? What what do you do? How how do you get the inspiration? How do you reach out when you don't feel like you want to reach out? Yeah. You know, I think we all need that support. Yeah.

48:36 Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Such a pleasure. Mm. That's Lara Merrick, founder of LaraBar, and more recently, co-founder of Anther, a coaching service for entrepreneurs.

48:51 By the way, if you haven't heard Lara's original High Built This episode, you've gotta go back and check it out. You can find a link to it. in the podcast description, so just just scroll down, check it out. Um and here is one of my favorite Moments from that interview. Well, the trademarking attorney called me at the 11th hour.

49:10 And we were getting ready to launch. It was the year two thousand two summer. And she said, I think you're gonna need to change the name. And I just Thought You're joking, right?

49:21 I've left working at Whole Foods. And we're supposed to be launching, but we don't launch. and everybody's backing out because nothing's happening. Thank you so much for listening to the show this week. Please make sure to sign up for my newsletter. You can sign up for that for free at guyroz.com and every week we put in tons of insights from entrepreneurs, my own observations and experiences, interviewing some of the greatest entrepreneurs ever. Um if you are working on a business and you would like to be on the show, send us a one-minute message that tells us about your business, uh the issues, or questions that you'd like help with, and hopefully we can help you with them. And make sure to tell us how to reach you. You can send us a voice memo at hibt at id.wondery.com or call.

50:07 1-800-433-1298 and leave a message there and we'll put all this. in the podcast description as well. This episode was produced by Sam Paulsen with music composed by Ramteen Arabli. It was edited by John Isabella, and our audio engineer was Neil Rouch. Our production staff also includes Alex Chung, Elaine Coates, Carla Esteves, Neva Grant, JC Howard, Chris Massini, Devin Schwartz, Katherine Seifer, and Carrie Thompson. I'm Guy Raz, and you've been listening.

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