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Ep. 005 | Curate Conversations With Pia Beck
“It’s okay to feel the weight…what you don’t want to do is get stuck there. Feel [the emotions], experience them, do the next right thing.” — Bethany McDaniel
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PODCAST SHOW NOTES
Today’s guest is Bethany McDaniel, founder of Primally Pure.
Primally Pure exists to get natural skincare products into the hands of people all over the world, and even more importantly, to equip people with the knowledge they need to improve their skin and live healthier, more fulfilled lives.
Bethany started Primally Pure from her home in 2014. Today, Primally Pure has far surpassed one million non-toxic deodorants sold, is a team of 40, and has opened a spa at their HQ.
In this episode Bethany recounts making her first hire, the QA (quality assurance) process PP has in place as the production team has grown, how sharing value-adding content has helped her lead the non-toxic movement, which new product is launching soon (you’ll have to listen to find out), and how she wished she had let go of things in her business earlier.
PP is a brand I’ve looked up to since the very early days of CWco. I’ve been a committed customer of their products for years, and it was an absolute joy to hear more of Bethany’s story.
I hope you enjoy this episode.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- @primallypure
- https://www.primallypure.com (use code CURATE for 10% off)
- Book: The One Thing
- Sign up for the PP newsletter for valuable information + a free lip balm
- Bethany’s favorites:
- Pia’s favorites
- Also the baby balm, everything spray, deo and dry shampoo!
- Lip Balm (we gift it to our clients!)
- Curate Community Membership (code PODCAST for 20% off)
Special thanks to our sponsors, Parker Clay (code CURATE15) and SeaVees (code CURATE20). Music created by Queentide.
PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] [00:01:00] Today’s guest is Bethany McDaniel, founder of Primally Pure. Primally Pure exists to get natural skincare products into the hands of people all over the world. And even more importantly, to equip people with the knowledge they need to improve their skin and live healthier, more fulfilled lives. Bethany started Primally Pure from her home in 2014.
And today Primally Pure has far surpassed 1 million non-toxic deodorant sold is a team of 40 and has opened a spa at their headquarters. In this episode, Bethany recounts making her first hire the QA quality assurance process that Primally Pure has in place as their production team has grown. How sharing value adding content has helped her lead the non-toxic movement. Which new product is launching soon. You’ll have to listen to find out and how she wished she had let go of things in her business earlier. Primally Pure is a brand that I’ve looked up to since the very, very early days of [00:02:00] Curate Well Co. I’ve been a committed customer of their products for years, and it was an absolute joy to hear more Bethany story.
I hope you enjoy the episode.
Before we get into the episode, let’s hear from our partners.
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Anyways, this got me thinking about summer travels and how important it is to have the right gear when you’re traveling. Traveling is chaotic. No matter what, and [00:03:00] in my opinion, it’s so much easier when I have everything they need and I’m not stressed about how my bags are going to perform. Parker Clay has some incredible travel bags.
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I am a backpack or bust kind of gal when I’m traveling. And so I’d recommend the Mari also great as a diaper bag. But you could also go with one of the weekender or overnight bags, or even the Mercado Shopper. With lots of weekends away this summer. You want to travel that cause you can count on and take it from me.
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We partner with some really incredible brands and businesses in [00:04:00] order to bring you this podcast. Here’s a quick word about them.
Recently I had to return a pair of SeaVees and my experience was incredible. I had a pair that I absolutely loved the Hawthorne slip on, and they had this weird discoloration that happens. I went into the store and the staff was super friendly and helping me submit a request for the craftsmanship guarantee. SeaVees replaced the shoes and someone from their team even reached out after they were delivered to make sure that I didn’t need anything else that closed the loop.
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Okay, Bethany. Thank you so much for being with us today. I am. I’ve been so looking forward to this conversation, I’ve been a Primally Pure customer since probably. Maybe 2014 [00:05:00] ish. And so probably like a lot of people, I started with the deodorant that was like my gateway into nontoxic products. And have since like grown my personal line of primarily pure products, I got my fiance on it.
It’s a whole thing now. He’s using the deodorant as of like a couple of weeks ago, which is something I’ve been working on literally for the last, like eight years with them. So, I can’t wait to chat with you. Thank you so much for being with us..
Of course. Thank you. I’ve been like equally excited about this conversation and I’m just thankful for your support over the years and you know, just, it’s been fun working together.
I know we’ve had you on our blog and yeah. So super excited to chat.
So the first question I always like to ask is in your own measure of success, tell us about Primally Pure’s growth. This could be number of non-toxic deodorant sold. It could be team growth. It could be partnerships that you’ve had, or even a specific story that really defines the ethos of your company. Whatever feels meaningful to you.
Yeah. [00:06:00] I mean, just to provide some contrast, I started the company in my kitchen, seven plus years ago. And even before that, there was a few years of R and D mostly with deodorant. That’s kind of the main product that I launched the company with and couple of other ones. But deodorant has, was always our bestseller and continues to be our best seller.
So that’s how I started the company with, literally a 250 order, $250 order for ingredients and supplies, which I use to make my first batch of deodorants, which in the beginning it didn’t sell any, but gave them to friends and family. And then use their feedback to make my next batch. And, pretty early on, people were requesting to purchase it.
So I was able to grow the company very slowly, very, very slowly from that initial $250 purchase into what it is today. So the company was, I ran it out of my house for the first,[00:07:00] Year first, um, little over a year until I had, our first daughter. And at that point I kind of wrestled with the decision of like, do I put the company on pause while I’m on maternity leave and risk it kind of like fizzling out?
Or do I hire someone on full-time who’s moved the business out of my house and kind of try to keep it going while I’m away while I was away from it. So I went with. The second option. And I’m very glad that I did. And, now we we’ve moved into two different headquarters since then. So the one we’re in now, we have a spot at our, at our headquarters.
We sold a million deodorants, I think it was a couple of years ago. So we’ve far surpassed that landmark. Um, Our team has about 40 people on it now. And we do everything in house. We make the products in house. We ship, we have a marketing and customer service team. In-house [00:08:00] kind of, they’re a little bit, most of them are in like San Diego and LA and orange county.
So. Remote part of the time, then they come into the office part of the time. But ultimately, you know, we’re not outsourcing our production to, anywhere like overseas or even out of state, we’re not outsourcing our customer service overseas. Everything is very local and it’s really fun because everyone kind of gets to see what goes into.
Making things work as a whole for the company. So our marketing team gets to see the product being made and shipped and, you know, vice versa, shipping and marketing or shipping and production teams get to meet and interact with our marketing and customer service teams. So I think that’s one thing that makes us really unique and special and allows us to just get the most fresh products out to customers as well because products are being made and shipped out within a matter of weeks.
They’re not sitting in a warehouse somewhere then shipped to a different warehouse to be sent to customers. It’s like, it all happens here. It all happens really quickly.
[00:09:00] Congratulations. There’s like so many things that I have follow-up questions about and that lovely history of how far you’ve come in.
Um, that contrast is just, it’s so refreshing. Like I’ve kind of gotten to observe part of that from the outside, and it’s been really cool to see the company and the brand grow and also, um, see the products change and even see like the packaging change and all that cool stuff. And, and it’s just such a good reminder of yeah.
Like what it takes to, to grow a brand and to grow a business. And, um, that there’s like hard choices along the way, and that it is slow going for some amount of time. And then at other times it’s really fast and you’ve accomplished so much. So congratulations. What a wonderful story after hiring your first.
Employee when you had your daughter, what are some of the other like major benchmarks between then and what the company is say that you look back on and are really proud of?
Yeah, definitely hiring that first employee and kind of [00:10:00] simultaneously moving the business out of my house. That was crazy because it all happened within the business moved.
I hired my first full-time employee. Probably a month before I had my daughter. And then I was literally like scrambling to move, you know? Deodorant like making supplies and body monitor, making all of our products, supplies and, or like ship, my shipping station and all of the, boxes and containers and ingredients that I had stored in my house.
It was like a scramble to move all that out and get it set up in the new place. Cause I, at that point I was going to have my baby at any second, not second, but you know what I mean? Like it could have happened any time and I was just like, carrying these 50 pound, like tubs of tallow and coconut oil into, I didn’t have like professional movers moving the business.
It was like me and my one employee and my husband that were doing everything. So that was crazy. Just getting everything like set up [00:11:00] was, um, was crazy and a big milestone, just that was kind of the first time where. It hit me that, I don’t have to be so involved with every little aspect of the business and things are going to be okay.
And, and I’ve had to like learn that over and over in different ways as I’ve hired on different positions to help with different things that I was previously doing. And it, it doesn’t get any easier, but, yeah, that would be another like ongoing. thing that each time it’s like its own milestone, just hiring that new, big position that takes on more that initially it’s hard, but that ends up being so awesome.
Moving into our current headquarters was really exciting because it has. It had space for a spa and we were able to open a spa. That was our holistic aesthetician Courtney’s dream. I know, you know, Courtney, um, she always, she kind of came on as, just wanting to help with anything. So [00:12:00] she came on as a shipper and she was labeling product and just like so willing to do whatever.
I needed and whatever she could to the company. And, but always had this dream of opening a holistic spa the back of her mind. And so it was really fun moving into this headquarters. One, it was necessary. We needed more space just to do business, but it was really cool having a space that would allow us to open this holistic spa.
That’s been, it’s been so fun, to have that for our local customers and community, and even people from out of town that. Come here and want to visit. It’s been, it’s been really cool.
It’s been on my bucket list for sure. I mean, it’s so funny when you talk about like being super pregnant and moving these boxes around, we moved into our first office a couple of months ago and it was the same thing.
It was me. And one of my employees, we were lugging Ikea furniture up four flights and like assembling it. And I was like, You’re going to help me with this. This is not in your job description, but this is where we’re at right now. [00:13:00] So I can relate to that. So you mentioned, um, you know, every time you hire a major role, you have to kind of get used to getting something off your plate, allowing someone else to do something.
Um, your roles obviously changed a lot. I would imagine that when you first started the company at your house, you were doing a little bit of everything yourself. How has your role changed? Like what is your day to day look like these days?
It has changed so much in the best way. In the beginning, yeah.
I was doing every job in the company and it was so fun. I’m I wouldn’t trade that for the world. Like I, I think back in, even if I have. hundreds of thousands of dollars of investments. Like I am so glad that I didn’t, and that I started it the way that I did, because it just gave me such good insight into every little thing that it took to, to make a company go.
And so, yeah, in the beginning I was, I was [00:14:00] before we even had like a shipping software, I was writing. Then, you know, out addresses in Sharpie on, on packages that I was sending and I was running, going around to like local coffee shops and hair salons, picking up newspapers and magazines, taking them back home, shredding them with a paper shredder that I had got from Costco and using that to stuff boxes with, I was, I had, I would have sheets of labels printed at FedEx on.
sticky paper and I would take a paper cover and like cut the edges and then apply them to the label. Like everything was so DIY and, you know, I was shipping product. I was answering customer emails. I was doing influencer outreach. I was obviously like making all the product myself. So, so, so many things.
And now it’s, it’s nuts to think that we have like entire teams of people doing each one of those jobs. People that are doing them really well and like, know more about how to do those things then than I did at the time. [00:15:00] But, yeah, again, just like super, super grateful for that experience. And now, you know, as time has gone on, I have been able to really focus my role to more of the.
The things that only I’m able to do. So, that’s like going on podcasts like this one and, also things that I really enjoy, like connecting with our customers on social media and being more present on Instagram stories and making Instagram reels and, you know, still being involved in a lot of the inner workings of the company, but not as much like.
Day-to-day you know, weekly like meeting, making deodorant. Yeah, definitely not. Yeah. I haven’t made the product in a few years. But I was still I’m CEO of the company. And just in the last, I think it was about a year ago, I made the transition away from being CEO into more of a founder type of role. [00:16:00] and that was, that was tough in some ways, but, um, it was great because I have a business partner who him and I were co CEO for a while.
And then it was a really like slow, comfortable transition out of that CEO role and into the founder role. And. I’m still like weighing in on the big decisions. I’m still in, a few meetings with people on my team every week, but I’m mostly kind of just doing like what I would refer to as the fun stuff. Yeah.
That’s amazing. That’s great that you get to do all the fun stuff. What a dream after many years of doing like all of the things, which it sounds like you found a lot of fun in. Yeah, it was a lot of different things. So it sounds like maybe you’re not, as in the day to day, as you were at one point, um, but obviously you had to build a company and build a culture that someone else another leader could come into and, continue to live into in a way that really honors.
What you, what you envision this [00:17:00] company to be. So what are some of the, the leadership philosophies or, codes that you, that you live by and work by, in your life that you subscribed to and have used to build primarily PR?
Yeah. I mean, there’s, there’s a lot that come to mind that, uh, apply for kind of different situations.
I think one, one thing is just knowing there’s like a season for. All different things. And what I mean by that is like, I see so much talk now about, you know, like kind of this anti hustle culture approach. And, I totally like, I totally get some of that. But obviously, like, as I just described to you kind of with my role changing, like hustling, like that, it’s not sustainable forever, but I also think there’s like a time for it.
And I think that, uh, you know, with, so there’s so much like rhetoric against hustling, like against being busy. And I don’t think that those things are things that need to be like overly glorified or praised, but it’s like, If I didn’t do that in [00:18:00] the beginning, I wouldn’t have the company that I have. So yeah, I think for me, it’s been a lot of.
Just being okay with, with those changes and ebbs and flows of, of work and of life in general. Like sometimes, um, you know, even now there are weeks where I’m like really busy and, I like to go on trips with my family, but, you know, leading up to those trips, I’m like super in the weeds, like super trying to like get back to everyone.
I need to get back to things on, you know, create content. That’s gonna be. Be going live when I’m away and things like that. So I think for entrepreneurs, like it’s just important to remember, like sometimes it is it’s necessary to hustle and that’s okay. And then it’s also okay to relax and kind of regroup when you can as well.
And then I think something that has been really helpful with our company’s culture is just. Having a lot of accountability measures in place. We’ve worked with a company called The One Thing. There’s a book called The One Thing and they have a [00:19:00] consulting company, that helps companies to like apply principles from the book.
But that has been really helpful just in recent years. Um, kind of their models of. working like the models that they use to, create, I guess, create accountability with team members in a way that is, that feels very like collaborative and very, Yeah, it’s just, they’re these like weekly meetings they’re called four, one ones that we’ve started doing like a leader will do them with the people under that leader.
And it’s just kind of, it’s been great for kind of keeping everyone aligned, unknowing. Everyone kind of knowing what the company’s working towards as a whole and how they fit into that. And having honest conversations about things, that problems that come up along the way and kind of fixing them sooner rather than waiting until they become this big thing and everyone’s freaking out.
And so. Yeah, that’s been great, especially with our company being, I mean, thinking of how things [00:20:00] are nowadays, we’re probably a lot more of an in-person company than I know a lot of companies have just gone fully remote, but, you know, even with us having this hybrid model where we don’t see each other every day, it’s been, it’s been good to have those frequent check-ins and, and accountability measures in place.
Yeah, I think that’s probably one of the biggest challenges that I’ve had as our business has grown too, is as our team grows, how do we have the right accountability measures in place and how do we balance accountability with humanity and how do we make accountability, a collaborative exercise for everyone involved and kind of keep everyone charting towards the same, big picture goals.
So, I think it’s a really important thing. Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cut you off. Okay.
What you said just made me think of like how as leaders, like we know kind of the goal that’s in our heads. Like we know our why instinctually, but yeah, not everyone that’s, doesn’t automatically come [00:21:00] across to everyone.
I’ve I know
there’s so many times when I’m like, oh, I wish you could just like, get in my head and understand what I’m trying to say and just like download my brain. And then we would, we would all be all be moving along our way. yeah, I think it’s one of the more challenging parts about growing a business that isn’t often not talked about is, is how do we, um, start to invite other people into, into this vision that we hold and a big why that we have that we stand for and, give them the freedom to, to do what they’re great at and to exercise skill sets that are stronger than our own, like you said, and also have that kind of like quality assurance in place that like, yes, we are still on target with like the thing that matters most in what we’re building.
So on that note too, to kind of take QA. And like a different direction. I’m really curious about this because like you said, you make everything in house. You make it, you ship it, you have your marketing team, your customer service team. You’ve got your spa. Everything is vertically integrated in your business.
So tell me about your QA process. Like from making it yourself right. And [00:22:00] formulating everything yourself to now having a whole team that makes it, I’m sure there were like a lot of learnings about how to ensure that every item that goes out the door meets the standards that you have for the quality of your products.
How did you do that?
Oh, man. In the beginning it was. This was one of the most difficult things for me to give up. I always thought that there’s no one that’s going to put as much care and attention into making the products as I am. And I think that’s what we, a lot of us entrepreneurs think about different things.
And I, I thought like, okay, someone, I can get someone to answer emails. I can get someone to ship products, but like making the products. I don’t know. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to give that up. And I mean, of course, like I, I had to, it would be insane for me to even try to have tried to like, continue to take that on beyond what I did.
But so in the beginning it was a lot of just, I mean, I was working so closely with our manufacturing team and. It’s like, [00:23:00] there’s, there’s a formula to it, but there’s also with natural ingredients. Like they’re not always so uniform, so it’s a formula, but it’s not an exact formula. A lot of it is. A lot of, it’s also kind of a feel thing.
So for example, our body butter, it’s a pretty laborious process. It’s measuring out the ingredients, it’s putting it in the freezer, it’s blending it, it’s putting it back in the freezer, blending it again. And it’s kind of. Yeah. Like I said, it’s a, it’s a long, intensive process. And part of it is kind of feeling out like, okay, is it ready for another blend?
We put it, like you put it back in. And so there are some elements to it that are just like, you just feel it out in the moment. yeah, that, that was what I was nervous about. Kind of giving it up. So to answer your question. It’s kind of a blend of following the formula, but also knowing things to be aware of about the product and how it, how it looks, how it, [00:24:00] you know, mostly how it looks and, you know, the feel of it when you’re, when you’re mixing it kind of at different times and knowing, um, based on those things too, like how, how long to put it back in the freezer for things like that.
That’s like a more extreme example for a lot of our products that is just more of a formula. And so those things are really easy to teach and we have, a lot of checkpoints in place of, you know, it’s not just one person measuring out ingredients and checking them off. It’s like two people watching, you know, the hobo oil being measured and making sure the number on the scale is the number that is supposed to be in the formula.
It’s like two people signing their name, off on every step of the way. So there are a lot of just kind of c omprehensive checkpoints involved in the process to.
What a cool learning opportunity to get, to be like. So immersed in the creation of a project, a product, excuse me, to where like, yes, there’s a formula, but there’s also all of these little [00:25:00] nuances that you really have to, you have to do it to know that and you have to try and you have to learn and you kind of have to like build this relationship with it.
That’s so cool.
Yeah. There’s a lot of factors with natural ingredients and also just, um, you know, smelling each ingredient before it’s being used. Like, because things can vary from batch to batch. Sometimes we get a batch of the same ingredient from the same company that we’ve used for two years and one batch will smell completely off and then we can’t use that product.
So, just kind of having people. Are really familiar with the, how things should be and what to look out for has been really important to.
Yeah. Did you ever consider outsourcing your production?
Yeah, I have thought about it a few times. I just, I, in the beginning I had trouble trusting that someone else.
Would who like I wasn’t with directly would be able to be aware of all the things I just mentioned. Um, and so I had [00:26:00] trouble releasing that from like under my roof. and at this point it’s just, it’s too, we have too robust of a system and it’s worked for us and,
absolutely.
I would just, would be kind of silly. but yeah, it would have been easier in some ways earlier on. I just, I didn’t quite, wasn’t quite comfortable with.
Yeah. And I’m sure now, as, as non-toxic products have gotten more popular in the marketplace, it’s probably a differentiator for you. I would imagine there’s a lot of products.
I think that posted about this recently, where there’s a lot of, like greenwashing going on where there’s a lot of labeling around non-toxic products, which, you know, when I first became aware of Primally Pure, like there wasn’t really, even that much of a market for that. Right. It was like just emerging as something that people should know.
Think about and be aware of. And, so I would imagine that now the fact that you do have that in-house and you have this pretty proprietary [00:27:00] infrastructure of creating your product is, is probably a huge differentiator. and, and on that note, I think it’s really interesting how the rise of non-toxic products has kind of like swept the personal care space.
Like I said, like when I bought my first Primally Pure deodorant, it was like not a thing yet. Right. And now it’s all over the place. And I think that I would consider your brand is one of like the founding mothers of nontoxic skincare. How did you educate people that this was an important need before it became more mainstream?
So my background before starting Primally Pure is in writing and, um, No, it’s something I studied in college and I was doing a lot of freelance writing before starting the company. And I was writing for different companies, and their blogs and things like that. So I was, I feel really grateful for that background to kind of have known years before starting my own company, the importance of building trust with [00:28:00] customers, by sharing helpful information.
So. I knew that was going to be essential with. Having a successful business. I knew that I would need to do a good job of educating customers on the importance of using natural products and educating customers about like how to use natural products and what to expect. And, there are differences, like, especially with deodorant that I thought it was important for people to be aware of.
So just because I had done that for other companies, I knew that it was important and that I was always really. I’m really mindful of creating content for our blog and, helpful content for our newsletter, our email newsletter as well. yeah, and it was fun for me too.
I also, know that you have a pretty significant influencer network and your affiliate program is humming.
I’ve always super impressed by how well it functions. What role did your community play in kind of like adopting those practices and helping you [00:29:00] spread the word?
Oh yeah, that that’s been huge. from the beginning of. I was going to events and connecting with people in person. I was reaching out to influencers online and I’m super grateful to have started the company back when I did, because now it’s so much more difficult to make those connections, you know, back when I started Primally Pure, influencers we’re eager to post just because I sent them product and they liked it and liking, it was like the criteria for posting, not hundreds or thousands of dollars. Right. So that was definitely, that definitely worked in my favor. Just the timing of it. But, um, you know, it was all just me reaching out to people that I liked following and people that I thought were sharing, helpful information and.
Connecting with them and sharing the products. And it was all just very natural and fun for me.
I love that.
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So switching gears a little bit as much as you’ve grown, which has been so much, I know that you’re still always growing there’s new product lines coming out. There’s new products coming out all the time.
I got the insider scoop that there may be a sunscreen at some point next year, which we’re all very much looking forward to. [00:32:00] What does your process look like for formulating a new product? Or what is your, your team’s process look like for that? If you’re not as involved anymore?
Yeah, no, I’m still super involved in the product creation process and it’s something that I’ve actually kind of, you know, in the past, we’ve, we’ve done a lot.
We’ve created a lot of products. On a year-to-year basis and this year, I actually have a baby on the way coming in, um, September. And so I’ve kind of wanted us to take a step back. Like I personally wants to take a step back from products, which means the company is taking a step back with because, you know, it’s, it’s mainly something that, um, that I’ve been spearheading.
So. Having said that we are still working on a few things. and it varies how, how we decide to launch something varies. So sometimes it’s for the first few years, really, it was me like thinking what products do I want? [00:33:00] And I’m gonna make those. Cause I want to replace every product that I’m using with something that I trust in something that, that I’ve made and kind of cracked the code on. So that was kind of how it started. And as things evolved now, we take in customer feedback. That’s a big one. Like we’re always kind of trying to get a pulse on where communities at and kind of what they’re looking for. Doesn’t mean we’re going to act on all of those things right away.
Sometimes we might like ask a question on Instagram stories and get a bunch of responses and just kind of like, keep that in mind. And then maybe a few years later, it’ll all kind of like come together and we’ll launch a few of those things people ask for. So it varies a lot. Sometimes it’s just the team kind of coming together and saying, I think this product would be really great.
And then, but we always do loop the customers in and our community in somehow. You know, whether that’s for the product itself or kind of for the scent of the product. Just, we’re always kind of trying to get a [00:34:00] feel from our community and pulling them into the process. So we have a few things in the works for the holiday season this year.
We always do really fun, limited edition products for the holidays, and they’re always a big hit with our community. So we’d like to bring the same ones back. And then last year we launched a new holiday deodorant that people are like still asking about now and in the springtime. Um, so we’re really excited to bring that one back, especially, and then we have a few exciting additions to our holiday line coming as well.
The sunscreen that’s really something that has been customer driven. Customers have been asking about. For years and years and years. And I actually launched Primally Pure with a product called outdoor lotion and it wasn’t FDA approved or anything, which is why I had to call it outdoor lotion and not settling, uh, better.
Honestly, it sounds a little bit more fun. Yeah. It felt kind of like [00:35:00] underground and secret. Ultimately, I didn’t feel comfortable continuing to sell it without being, super official about it. So we tabled it, but people have been asking ever since. So now we’re working on a quote, more official sunscreen coming next summer.
You’ve had a few things like that. I know when you launched your CBD line, there was I’m sure a lot of red tape and process and due diligence to go through with that to.
Yeah. The CBD stuff is challenging and that’s why we have a separate website for it. Cause there are still some rules with, promoting CBD products on a paid basis.
So it didn’t work for us to keep it altogether. But, Yeah.
So you mentioned, for a long time, you created the products that you’ve wanted. And I just envision you in like a beautiful bathroom that very much like matches the aesthetic of what I’ve seen from your offices and your spa with like every Primally Pure products out on the counter.
And I would really love to know, like on any like random given day, [00:36:00] what are you using? What are your personal favorites? If you had to pick like, Three to five.
Yeah. It’s so funny that you say that because we’re, so we moved into a new house, about three months ago and. It’s a one story house and it kind of has like two separate areas.
One area, not separate, but one area, one side of the house is like the master bedroom and bathroom. And the other side is, um, my kids’ rooms and a guest bedroom, but we moved in with the intention of remodeling the master bedroom and bathroom right away. So we kind of, we put like, I did move my stuff into that bathroom because there’s just not much space on the other side of the house for like all my bathroom stuff.
but we had been sleeping in the guest room and finally, like I said, we moved in three months ago. We’re hoping to do it right away. But finally, just started the demolition a few days ago. So we, I did have to move everything out of the master bath, into the guest bathroom guest bedroom bathroom. A [00:37:00] single sink, like, oh my gosh, it’s so small.
Like, and so the single sink and, if you could see it right now, it’s just, it’s like Primally Pure stuff on every covering, like every surface, like around the sink, on the tiny strip of counter, that’s like next to it.. My husband is sharing a bathroom with the kids because nothing else fits. So it’s like, oh, my products covering this.
Every surface area of the sink, all my products are like underneath the sink and the, in the one cabinet under the sink. It’s. Oh, Nick gives me claustrophobia, just thinking. Um, so having said that, yeah, I use like a lot of our products, and kind of rotate through them on a day-to-day basis. But if I had to choose, obviously like deodorant, I wear that every day, our dry shampoo, I use that, Almost every day, our cleansing oil, uh, I love or cleansing oil.
I use that every night to wash my face. I use our, everything spray as a toner, every night,[00:38:00] for sure. And then, you said five products and I’m, I’ve named four. So one more, I would say, um, I would pick our baby bomb as like a moisturizer.
Yeah, that’s one of my favorites too.
But ideally I would be using like a serum first and then the baby bomb.
Okay, good protocol. What do you do with the ideas for new products that don’t make it to production?
Sometimes we table them and just kind of keep them in our back pocket and you know, sometimes it just, the timing is hard. It takes a lot to launch a product. In addition to making the product on the marketing side of things.
So. Sometimes we’ll like, get it, get, get a product almost there. And then it’s just too much of a tight squeeze with other launches or whatnot. And so sometimes we’ll just kind of table it and wait another six months, another 12 months to where the timing feels a little bit better and launch it. Then, sometimes we’ll start creating a product and it’s [00:39:00] just not really working out.
And we’ll kind of abandon that idea. but I would say more often than not, if we get started on something, usually we’re seeing it through. It’s just a matter of when.
Yeah. That makes sense. A lot of people in our community know about Primally Pure, and I think that everyone who’s listening would really, really appreciate learning something new.
So what’s one thing that we probably don’t know about Primally Pure
Great question. I’ll tell a story. So there’ve been a lot of mistakes over the years, which I’m sure you can imagine. And in the beginning I kind of saw every mistake, every failure as like, it was crushing for me, like I had this kind of, why is this happening to me?
Approach rather than a, what is this teaching me approach, which is the approach that I try to have now. and one of those things was, um, I mentioned earlier how like natural ingredients are not [00:40:00] uniform. you know, there are so many things that can influence a natural product. And so a few years ago, my team made a batch of lavender deodorants and.
The lavender deodorants were finished. And thankfully, our manufacturing manager at the time kind of brought it to my attention and said, Hey, this just, these just don’t smell. Right. Like, I don’t know what’s wrong, but they smell really weird. And I smelled them and they did, they smelled, kinda like spice, like, like they were made with a cooking spice.
Almost, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. So we were, you know, this is why we now like check every ingredient before we use a new batch of something. So we went back and we were looking at every ingredient and kind of figuring out, okay, like what was off, what went wrong? And we noticed the air root powder straight up smelled like cumin.
And cumin is like the Indian spice that everyone compares to. Like BO, like people say it smells like BO, so we’re like, oh my gosh, we’re literally like it. [00:41:00] We use this air root powder that smells like BO in our natural deodorant. And so we contacted the supplier. they said that. I think they were already aware that this had happened.
They said that they, um, they had stored the Airoot powder next to the cumin. And there may have been some crossover. I think that they, someone like forgot to clean the grinder in between, because it was way stronger than just being stored next to it, in my opinion. But. We’ll never really know. so, and at that time it was like, so crushing because it was hundreds of deodorants, which at that time was huge for us.
It was like a huge loss. We couldn’t sell them. Um, I think we ended up donating them, but they’re, I mean, that’s just like one example, but there are so many things over the years that have just so many mishaps and like so many things that have that have, that have gone wrong. And, it’s kind of. Nice looking back now because it kind of gives me a frame of reference for [00:42:00] things that are happening now of like, okay, we’ve gone through these things and we’ve been able to work through them and everything’s okay.
So this problem that we’re facing right now is going to be no different. It’s, you know, it’s challenging. It sucks, but we’re going to work through it and we’ll be okay.
I think that we can all relate to that, like crushing feeling of like, when something goes wrong, because we love what we do. Right. And you started it from your kitchen and it’s, you’ve built it and you’ve.
It’s a huge part of your life. And, I think every person who’s building, something can relate to that. And, you know, you mentioned one thing that I think is really powerful, which is switching your perspective from why is this happening to me to what is this teaching me? And I think that’s a really powerful shift and.
If there was anything else that you would offer to someone who currently feels those quote unquote failures, like as like a blow to the chest, what would you say to them now that you kind [00:43:00] of have 2020 vision on some of those things.
So that shift has been probably like the most powerful mind mindset shift that I’ve experienced since starting a business.
And it, it’s not only applicable in the business world, but also in life. And even knowing that though, it’s so hard in the moment sometimes to think about it from that point of view, like when you’re going through something that feels really hard. It’s, it can be tough to kind of get out of that Headspace and think, okay, what can I learn from this?
And how can I move on in a productive way? so, you know, for people that are kind of in that, in those struggles, in the middle of a struggle, I mean, things will get better. Like you just have to know that and trust that and believe it and not be, you know, it’s okay to feel things. It’s okay to, to feel like the weight and sadness and all of those emotions.
But what you don’t want to do is get stuck there and, and kind of be engulfed in [00:44:00] this cloud of like self pity and self absorption when it comes to like just feeling the weight of all those emotions. Like feel them, you know, experience them and do like the next, the next right thing that you can think to do.
and you know, if you’re not clear on what that is, spend some time thinking about it. But don’t just, don’t just stay in that sorrowful kind of self-pitying place.
I love that. What lies in the future of Primally Pure? Where do you want to see the brand go in the next five, 10 years?
I’d like to continue, like building on our team has a big focus right now. We’ve done that on the production side and shipping and manufacturing, and now we’re really working on building out the marketing team. So I’m excited to have more support in that area. Especially when it comes to creating content, that is like such a big part of why we do what we do.
Like we don’t just create content to sell more products. Like we create content because we truly [00:45:00] believe that living a cleaner lifestyle is helping people to have experience like better health and which then. You know is not only, it’s not only like good for the person it’s like good for. The person’s late friends and family, and everyone can have more of an impact on those around them and the world at large, if they’re feeling good.
And so we really think that what we’re doing, is helping people. And so content, it’s just a huge focus. And, you know, I, the more support we have in marketing, the more content I can create, the more content Courtney can create our esthetician and just the brand as a whole. So I’m really looking forward to doing more of that.
Launching more products as well, but in a really, um, thoughtful way, uh, which we’ve always done. It’s just, it’s getting harder now for me, like just devoting, devoting more time to that. So, which is why I’m kind of slowing that down slightly and just being really selective about kind of what we launch and, putting a lot of time into, into [00:46:00] fewer things.
Yeah. Exciting. I do think that your content is it’s always been a huge inspiration for me. I remember in like the very, very early days of Curate Well Co, your brand was like all over our vision boards. And everyone was like, you’re crazy for going with this like super neutral brand. And I was like, Nope, I’ve got a vision.
I’ve seen it done well, we’re doing it. So it’s really, it’s really cool to hear, that’s a, that’s a big focus for you and you’re going to continue putting out that, that valuable content. I love to leave our listeners with one last takeaway. So, uh, I’m handing you the mic. What didn’t we talk about?
What do you want to say that hasn’t been said yet?
I would say to kind of round out a topic that I referenced earlier with. Just this notion that I think a lot of entrepreneurs have of letting go of things and this fear of, of not being super involved in like every aspect of their business. I think part of that is, [00:47:00] is ego and being like, thinking so high of yourself that you.
That you don’t think that anyone is capable of doing as good of a job as you, at least for me looking back, I think that was part of it. And, and it’s been so freeing to, to let go of that and just to realize, like, I’m not the best at everything. so many people that are better than me at so many things.
And I wish that I had had the ability to recognize that sooner than I did, because it would have saved a lot of stres s. And, unnecessary amounts of work that I was doing to kind of like cover all those bases. So I know it’s the balance. I know not everyone, like you can’t just hire a full team instantly, but I wish I would have had, um, you know, I definitely waited too long because mentally I wasn’t ready versus.
Actually like the company not being ready. Yeah. That’s one thing that I, I would change if I could go back.
Hmm. [00:48:00] That’s such a helpful sentiment. Thank you so much for sharing that. I’m so grateful. To you for being here today. Thank you so much. I have, like I said, at the beginning, you’ve been looking forward to this for so long and I’ve been trying to keep my cool, but I’ve been having like total fan girl moments over here.
I’m like, this is so cool to get to be in a zoom call with you. So. I’m really, I’m really grateful that you, were able to spend some time with me today. Thank you so much. I know that everyone listening is just going to get so much value out of this conversation. And I think I want to end by just acknowledging you for what you’ve built.
Um, it’s been very, very cool to watch it grow both in terms of, you know, popularity and having more people in my sphere. Start to know the name of your brand, but also to see your product line, expand, to see your social takeoff, to see, even like the movement that I think you were really at the forefront of in making non-toxic products like sexy and beautiful and, Something [00:49:00] that people want to like display on their countertop. So hats off to you. It’s, it’s really inspiring. And, and as a founder, you’ve built something really, really special.
Thanks. That’s super sweet. That means a lot.
Yeah.
My first Primally Pure purchase was the charcoal deodorant. And I bought it because I wanted something non-toxic yes, but I also wanted it to look sexy sitting on the countertop in my bathroom. Fun fact, we include Primally Pure lip balm in our client gift boxes at Curate Well Co to spread the love. Bethany in my opinion was one of the founding mothers of what the non-toxic personal care space is today.
She took nontoxic products from something only ever sold at farmer’s markets and not well-known to many people to the mainstream marketplace, with modern branding to boot, she’s built something really special. And I am so grateful for the opportunity to sit down with her. You can follow Primally Pure on Instagram @primallypure.
And you can shop at www.primarlypure.com and use our [00:50:00] code CURATE, C U R A T E for 10% off your purchase.