Podcast appearances and mentions of jaime schmidt

Jaime Schmidt, founder of Schmidt's Naturals and pickleball investor, joins Dr. Erik Korem to discuss how pickleball and training for pickleball has impacted her health and wellness. They also unpack how pickleball impacts longevity, mental health, and community wellness. Armed with fresh scientific data, they explore why combining pickleball with basic resistance training can cut your mortality risk nearly in half, and why this accessible sport might be the key to transforming community health. Join the AIM7 x UCLA Pickleball Study and get AIM7 FREE for 90-Days Get Jamie's Book: Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms Connect with Jamie on Instagram, and check out her website Get my weekly newsletter - Adaptation Book Erik for your next event Start AIM7 for Free Quotable moments: "Everybody's happier on the court. We're just so lucky to be alive during this evolution of this fantastic new sport." - Jaime Schmidt "The friendships I've developed from pickleball are like anything I've ever experienced." - Jaime Schmidt "A lot of people play pickleball for exercise, but then there's others who will exercise for pickleball." - Jaime Schmidt ABOUT THE BLUEPRINT PODCAST: The BluePrint Podcast is for busy professionals and Household CEOs who care deeply about their families, career, and health. Host Dr. Erik Korem distills cutting edge-science, leadership, and life skills into simple tactics optimized for your busy lifestyle and goals.   Dr. Korem interviews scientists, coaches, elite athletes, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and exceptional people to discuss science and practical skills you can implement to become the most healthy, resilient, and impactful version of yourself. On a mission to equip people to pursue audacious goals, thrive in uncertainty, and live a healthy and fulfilled life, Dr. Erik Korem is a High-Performance pioneer. He introduced sports science and athlete-tracking technologies to collegiate and professional (NFL) football over a decade ago. He has worked with the National Football League, Power-5 NCAA programs, gold-medal Olympians, Nike, and the United States Department of Defense. Erik is an expert in sleep and stress resilience. He is the Founder and CEO of AIM7, the #1 pickleball health and performance app that helps pickleball players win more, recovery faster, and prevent pain and injury. SUPPORT & CONNECT Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/erikkorem/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/ErikKorem LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/erik-korem-phd-19991734/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/erikkorem Website - https://www.erikkorem.com/ Newsletter - https://adaptation.beehiiv.com/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fabio Zeppilli, co-founder of Bad Monkey Popcorn, discusses his inspiring shift from academia and legal briefs to creating a buzz in the snack market. He reveals the recipe to the launch of Bad Monkey Popcorn: a blend of passion and innovative marketing tactics. This discussion further delves into Fabio's initial challenges, significant milestones, and insights on the critical role of cultivating a strong brand and community support. Throughout, Fabio emphasizes the importance of happiness, wellbeing, teamwork, and adaptability in entrepreneurship.- - - - - - - - - - - -Show Notes:00:10 The Unconventional Journey from Law to Popcorn03:20 The Birth of Bad Monkey Popcorn10:04 Achieving Milestones and Embracing the Journey12:16 Retail Success and Marketing Strategies16:06 The Art of Retail Relationships17:06 Leveraging Consumer Demand to Influence Retailers17:34 Building a Passionate Fan Base21:14 Innovating in a Saturated Market: The Popcorn Revolution23:41 The Entrepreneurial Journey: Health, Team Building, and Growth- - - - - - - - - - - - Links DiscussedBad Monkey Popcorn https://badmonkeypopcorn.com/Dragons Den Walmart https://www.walmart.com/Starbucks https://www.starbucks.com/Red Bull https://www.redbull.com/Disney https://www.disney.com/Cirque du Soleil https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/- - - - - - - - - - - - Additional Episodes You Might Enjoy:The Journey of Jaime Schmidt in EntrepreneurshipInside the Scent-Free Revolution with Anie Rouleau, founder and CEO of the Unscented CompanyHow Product Seeding Helped Scent Lab Garner Millions in Earned Media- - - - - - - - - - - - Past guests on the Pop Up Report include Lanny Smith (Actively Black), Drew Green (Indochino), Ryan Babenzien (Jolie Skin Co). - - - - - - - - - - - - The Pop Up Report interviews DTC and CPG founders to uncover how they fostered and scaled their communities to create profitable businesses. Gain a deeper understanding of the tools, tactics and retention strategies that build true customer loyalty.Subscribe to the Pop Up Report on Substack or YouTube for more This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thepopupreport.com

Jamie Schmidt, the founder of Schmidt's Naturals, shares her entrepreneurial journey from her upbringing to building one of the major players in the natural deodorant industry. She discusses her initial inspiration to create personal care products and shares her experience with selling the company to Unilever. She also provides insights into the nuances of customer retention, the trend of community building and engagement, and the growing opportunity in the Web3 space. The conversation closes with Jamie sharing her thoughts on consumer brands and her passion for the fast-growing sport of pickleball.- - - - - - - - - - - - Links DiscussedSchmidt's Naturals - https://schmidts.com/Unilever - https://www.unilever.com/BFF - https://www.mybff.com/Athletic Greens - https://drinkag1.com/Procter and Gamble - https://us.pg.com/Club CPG - https://www.clubcpg.com/- - - - - - - - - - - - Show Notes:00:18 Jamie's Early Life and Entrepreneurial Journey02:48 Taking the Leap: From Farmer's Market to Business11:42 The Decision to Sell and Post-Acquisition Reflections15:26 Life After Acquisition: New Ventures and Projects19:55 The Art of Pattern Matching in Investments21:36 The Challenges of Raising Funds for Consumer Brands28:07 The Power of Community Engagement in Branding32:43 The Lessons Learned from Building a Successful Brand36:07 The Future of Crypto in Consumer Brands- - - - - - - - - - - - Additional Episodes You Might Enjoy:Inside the Scent-Free Revolution with Anie Rouleau, founder and CEO of the Unscented CompanyHow Product Seeding Helped Scent Lab Garner Millions in Earned MediaHow to Launch Your Own Beauty Brand with BlankaPast guests on the Pop Up Report include Lanny Smith (Actively Black), Drew Green (Indochino), Ryan Babenzien (Jolie Skin Co). - - - - - - - - - - - - The Pop Up Report interviews DTC and CPG founders to uncover how they fostered and scaled their communities to create profitable businesses. Gain a deeper understanding of the tools, tactics and retention strategies that build true customer loyalty.Subscribe to the Pop Up Report on Substack or YouTube for more This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thepopupreport.com

This week on The Exit: Jaime's journey into entrepreneurship began out of necessity. Dissatisfied with her corporate job, she left it all behind and began crafting products in her own kitchen. First it was Kombucha, then it was hot sauces. After finding out she was pregnant, Jaime's focus shifted. She started creating skincare products for herself and her baby, eventually perfecting a natural deodorant recipe. She started selling her products at local markets, progressing to natural grocery chains. In just seven years, she secured placements in 30K major stores, reaching 30 countries and major retailers like Costco, Target, and Walmart. Then came an offer from Unilever. Tune in to discover how this exit unfolded, Jaime's remarkable journey of scaling her products from her kitchen, and the lessons she'd apply if given the chance to rewrite her entrepreneurial story. Jaime Schmidt is the founder of Schmidt's Naturals, a brand known for modernizing natural personal care products and bringing them to the mainstream market. Under Jaime's leadership, Schmidt's grew into a household name and after seven years was acquired by CPG giant Unilever. She is the author of Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms, a personalized guide on how to put your business on the map, turning your passion into profit. Jaime is also an investor and co-owner at Color Capital,a fund that invests in consumer products and emerging technologies. She is cofounder of BFF, a brand and community that provides access and education in Web3 for women and other underrepresented groups. Schmidt's Naturals: https://schmidts.com/ Supermaker: https://supermaker.com/book Color Capital: https://www.color.capital/ BFF: https://www.mybff.com/ Flippa's First Access: https://flippa.com/exit For a Free Flippa Business Valuation: flippa.com/freevaluation -- The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You'll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

On today's episode Senior Managing Director Brian Haloossim is our Guest Host and sits down with entrepreneur Jaimie Schmidt, Founder of Schmidt's Natural and Color Capital. Her story is remarkable. She started making personal care products in her kitchen in 2010 and seven years later was selling those products to over 30,000 retailers in 30 different countries, before selling her business for millions to Unilever. She also managed to do it all on a bootstrap basis without VC capital. And then our host Stacie Jacobsen talks to Associate Director Sean Sullivan in Investment and Wealth Strategies about an important question for an entrepreneur - When is the right time to sell your business? Check out Youtube for the extended interview with Jaime Schmidt! To read the blog that Sean co-authored and is mentioned in the show, When to Sell Your Business: Take the Money and Run? see here.

Jaime Schmidt, Co-Founder of BFF and Club CPG joins the podcast to share her journey as a serial entrepreneur. From founding Schmidt's Naturals to Club CPG to BFF, Jaime drops insight on how creating products and brands for niche interest groups has proven successful and that it doesn't need to be a one-size-fits-all.Jaime Schmidt has had great success across multiple endeavors and is recently known for co-founding BFF, whose mission is to educate women and non-binary people and onboard them into the world of Web3. She joins the podcast this week to share how she's successfully launched brands in the Web2 and Web3 space and discusses how patience and timing are key in allowing communities to grow and extract the most value from their Web3 experiences.Links mentioned from the podcast: In pivotal case, Metabirkins to move to trialJaime's Book: Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own TermsJaime's TwitterJaime's InstagramBFF WebsiteBFF TwitterBFF InstagramFollow us on Twitter: Sam EwenAvery AkkineniCoinDeskVayner3From our sponsor:Join the most important conversation in crypto and Web3 at Consensus 2023, happening April 26-28 in Austin, Texas. Come and immerse yourself in all that Web3, crypto, blockchain and the metaverse have to offer. Use code GENC to get 15% off your pass. Visit coindesk.com/consensus-"Gen C" features hosts Sam Ewen and Avery Akkineni, with editing by Jonas Huck. Executive produced by Jared Schwartz and produced by Adrian Blust, Uyen Truong and Eleanor Pahl. Our theme music is "1882” by omgkirby x Channel Tres with editing by Doc Blust. Artwork by Nicole Marie Rincon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jaime Schmidt, Co-Founder of BFF and Club CPG joins the podcast to share her journey as a serial entrepreneur. From founding Schmidt's Naturals to Club CPG to BFF, Jaime drops insight on how creating products and brands for niche interest groups has proven successful and that it doesn't need to be a one-size-fits-all.Jaime Schmidt has had great success across multiple endeavors and is recently known for co-founding BFF, whose mission is to educate women and non-binary people and onboard them into the world of Web3. She joins the podcast this week to share how she's successfully launched brands in the Web2 and Web3 space and discusses how patience and timing are key in allowing communities to grow and extract the most value from their Web3 experiences.Links mentioned from the podcast: In pivotal case, Metabirkins to move to trialJaime's Book: Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own TermsJaime's TwitterJaime's InstagramBFF WebsiteBFF TwitterBFF InstagramFollow us on Twitter: Sam EwenAvery AkkineniCoinDeskVayner3From our sponsor:Join the most important conversation in crypto and Web3 at Consensus 2023, happening April 26-28 in Austin, Texas. Come and immerse yourself in all that Web3, crypto, blockchain and the metaverse have to offer. Use code GENC to get 15% off your pass. Visit coindesk.com/consensus-"Gen C" features hosts Sam Ewen and Avery Akkineni, with editing by Jonas Huck. Executive produced by Jared Schwartz and produced by Adrian Blust, Uyen Truong and Eleanor Pahl. Our theme music is "1882” by omgkirby x Channel Tres with editing by Doc Blust. Artwork by Nicole Marie Rincon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Join Kamz and Jaime Schmidt, the founder of Schmidt's Naturals and co-founder of BFF, a non-fungible token community and brand aimed at helping women get educated, connected and financially rewarded in crypto. BFF launched the Belonging and Mattering Council, a diverse group of individuals who create programming and initiatives to support under-resourced communities, including professional development programs, partnerships with BIPOC organizations and more.Through her inclusive investment firm Color, Jaime invests in emerging founders who are primarily women and people of color. She also co-founded Supermaker, a business media platform that celebrates diverse, independent brands and modern workplace thinking, helping level the playing field for emerging business leaders.Jaime enlightens us on:✊diversity and inclusion, and why is it so important to develop in the Web3 space

Join Kamz and Jaime Schmidt, the founder of Schmidt's Naturals and co-founder of BFF, a non-fungible token community and brand aimed at helping women get educated, connected and financially rewarded in crypto. BFF launched the Belonging and Mattering Council, a diverse group of individuals who create programming and initiatives to support under-resourced communities, including professional development programs, partnerships with BIPOC organizations and more.Through her inclusive investment firm Color, Jaime invests in emerging founders who are primarily women and people of color. She also co-founded Supermaker, a business media platform that celebrates diverse, independent brands and modern workplace thinking, helping level the playing field for emerging business leaders.Jaime enlightens us on:✊diversity and inclusion, and why is it so important to develop in the Web3 space

Devil Wears Prada is the closest thing I have to the world of high fashion.When I asked Francine Ballard how closely it mimicked reality, she said, “There is some truth to that.”And she should know.Francine Ballard has worked in the fashion industry for a while. She was the American Fashion Director at Time Inc (InStyle), Conde Nast (Lucky magazine), and PaperCity Magazine as Style Editor at Large, working with fashion and jewelry brands Hermès, Gucci, Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, Cartier among others before transitioning to the technology space.Francine is also a founding member of BFF, along with Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson, Paris Hilton and founders Brit Morin and Jaime Schmidt, and co-founder of several startups including Metagolden - a web3 emporium selling luxury phygitals.In this episode, we tackle how Francine went from a small island in Hawaii to the world of high fashion publication, what it takes to rise to the top, how she got into the web3 space, how the fashion industry is shifting, why phygitals and more.Highlights:2:52 Growing up in Hawaii4:24 Speed until you get a ticket6:26 Devil Wears Prada in real life?8:10 Climbing to the top of US high fashion publication9:40 Founding a registered resale startup13:09 Testing an idea15:04 Fashion Industry x Web317:11 Origins of Metagolden20:35 Phygitals21:54 Traditional fashion house v fashion house of the future24:51 Building community38:06 Are brands afraid of web3?30:09 Interesting use cases32:07 Launching Francine's 1st collection37:07 How to decide on pricing40:38 Where community comes from 43:31 Building partnerships 45:00 Dream partner 46:51 How to create a sense of belonging47:55 Being a founding member of BFF

BFF is one of the most exciting NFT projects to drop this year and in this weeks episode we're joined by one of the co-founders Jaime Schmidt. Jaime herself has an incredible background prior to building out BFF as the founder of Schmidt's Naturals which was stocked in major retailers and later acquired by Unilever. She then went on to co-found colour capital and Crypto Packaged Goods. We chat:The intersection between consumer packaged goods and NFTs What it was actually like hosting a metaverse party complete with Paris Hilton Dj-ingThe lightbulb moment that has brought so many people into the BFF space … and a whole lot more!You can find the BFF project over at @mybff on Instagram, Twitter and join the discord hereReady to start investing? Get $10 of FREE Bitcoin on Swyftx when you Sign up & Verify - https://trade.swyftx.com.au/register/?promoRef=tappingintocrypto10btc To get the latest updates hit subscribe and follow us over on the gram @tappingintocrypto - https://www.instagram.com/tappingintocrypto/ If you can't wait to learn more check out these blogs from our friends over at Swyftx - https://swyftx.com/learn/ The Tapping into Crypto podcast is for entertainment purposes only and the opinions on this podcast belong to individuals and are not affiliated with any companies mentioned. Any advice is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation, if you're looking to get advice, please seek out a licensed financial advisor.

This week we're celebrating International Day of The Girl (Oct.11th!) with some of the women trailblazing through Web3 and using the power of blockchain tech to foster opportunity and safety for other girls.  Alona Shevchenko helped create UKRAINE DAO earlier this year to help aid in the fight against Russian tyranny. Now, this same model is being used to help the protestors fighting in Iran, after 22 year old Mahsa Amini was arrested for not wearing a Hijab and later killed in custody. Maral Pourkazemi is making her blockchain debut with the IRANIAN DAO to give a microphone to women on the ground and help fund change.  Juliette Blake joins the show to share why she's taking her Web2 brand Miss O and Friends and bringing it to Web3. Miss O Cool Girls is working to lower the barrier to entry for young girls through education and inclusion. They're building educational platforms and creating safe spaces for girls to witness and participate the future of the web.  My BFF cofounder Jaime Schmidt to learn about how she formed this network of powerful women to learn and grow in Web3 through collaboration and camaraderie.  Honeybadges is an NFT project with a purpose. G.D Anderson was disheartened to see how much money in charity work gets lost in red tape and fees. The blockchain is cutting out the middlemen and stretching donations further. Honeybadges give you an emblem that represents you while supporting a certain cause. It creates an avenue for communities to form around similar values, and brings more structured transparency to funding charity causes.  00:01 - Welcome 00:40 - Weekly Headlines 5:00 - Alona Shevchenko and Maral Pourkamezemi of Ukraine DAO + Iranian DAO - Funding the Fight for Civil Rights 12:00 - Juliette Blake Miss O - Closing the Gender Gap with a new generation of Girls  16:25 - Jaime Schmidt MyBFF NFT's - A Community of Change-Makers 20:33 - G.D Anderson Honeybadges NFT's - Creating a Community Owned Media Platform   

The show popped off with the big bad CPI number causing a ruckus in the market and made for some rough macros to digest. With the Ethereum merge set to happen in days, uncertainty was the clear tone for the immediate future. Our analysts still predict that ETH will see some positive action amidst the chaos. We had artist 0xTjo on to discuss his cc0 success story with the Bleu piece. After a staple meme number sale, the work became some what of a statement amongst popular artist in the space to incorporate bleu in some way in their work.Jaime Schmidt from my BFF came to discuss her position with the project and what they actually stand for. There is an upcoming charm drop that interacts with the bracelets, tune in for all the juicy details. skip to:0xTjo @ 49:30Jaime Shmidt @ 1:00:33GM Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jaime Schmidt began making natural care products in her kitchen, and in just seven years scaled her brand into 30,000+ stores and sold it to consumer goods giant Unilever. In this episode of Women on the Move, she sits down with host Sam Saperstein to discuss that journey as well as her newer interest in Web3 and blockchain. From kitchen sink to multinational Jamie says she was living in Portland and newly pregnant when she started being extra mindful of the products she was using on her skin. She was also searching for a new creative twist in her career path, but she didn't know those two interests would collide at first. “I decided to make my own [products] because it was cheap and it was the cleanest way to do it—but not quite realizing the business potential in that and what my future would hold there,” she tells Sam. She started off making lotions, sunscreens, deodorants, and shampoos and selling them at farmers' markets. “I started to get a lot of really positive feedback and realized, you know what, there's something here and I could maybe make a little money off it,” she recalls. The face-to-face interactions at those markets made her feel vulnerable but also helped her learn what was working, and what she needed to change. But Jamie had larger aspirations for her brand, Schmidt's Naturals. Flash forward a few years and she was on the shelves at Target, CVS, and Walmart, “those distribution channels where you might not expect to find a handcrafted natural deodorant made by a woman in her kitchen,” she summarizes for Sam. “Those were the channels I was most excited to get into because I saw big opportunity there, because no other natural deodorant brands were going after these channels.” Her vision paid off, and in 2017 she sold Schmidt's to industry giant Unilever. Moving forward in the Web3 space Jamie says she was thrilled to have Unilever acquire Shnmidt's, but she didn't want to step away form the company; in fact she remains involved with creative decisions. “Any time a brand gets acquired, there's the biggest fear of any founders—what are they going to change?” she tells Sam. “What was important for me to maintain was just the creative energy of the brand. I was a maker at heart, and I had stayed so close to the product throughout the growth. You know, our brand had fun energy that I wanted to make sure didn't go stale.” Meanwhile, Jamie has moved on to a variety of other interests including investment funds, crypto, NFTs, and even writing book. One of her goals is to help other women succeed—in the entrepreneurial space but also in the new Web3 space. Toward that end, she co-founded Blockchain Friends Forever (BFF) with the idea of opening up this new online world of investing to women and non-binary people. “When we had the idea to create BFF, we knew that the first thing we wanted to do was have this big kickoff, introduce people to everything we thought they needed to know on the most basic level, like what is an NFT? What is the blockchain?” she explains to Sam. They put together an introductory online event to introduce new audiences to the ideas of NFTs and blockchain, and they expected maybe 5,000 participants. When they got more than 20,000, they knew they were filling a need. Through BFF, she's continuing to provide guidance and resources to people entering the world of Web3. “We're constantly looking at ways to keep the community engaged and to teach and to help connect and do some fun things too,” she says.  “I think people need to understand what it is they want out of Web3 and this new technology,” she explains. “And so that's the first step—recognizing for yourself, what are the opportunities for me and what really resonates and gets me excited?” For more traditional emerging entrepreneurs, Jamie wrote her book Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms. In it, she tells her story of founding Schmidt's and growing it into a global brand, and sharing tips for launching and executing a successful business plan. “There's such a holistic culture right now. And the brands that are most sustainable are the ones that truly start from a solid foundation,” she says. “And then also just keeping an open mind to shifting gears when you need to, because not everything will go as you think it will.”   Full transcript here 

Jaime Schmidt is Founder of Schmidt's Naturals, the natural personal care brand that she scaled from her kitchen to acquisition by Unilever in 2017. And in the process, Jaime led a movement of modern brands bringing naturals to the mainstream. Today, the brand is sold in over 30 countries and 30,000 retailers, and Jaime continues to support their global expansion.Follow Jaime  at https://twitter.com/jaimeschmidtFollow Club CPG at https://twitter.com/CPGCLUBTo learn more about Crypto Packages Goods, visit https://www.cryptopackagedgoods.com/

Randi Zuckerberg is joined by Brit Morin and Jaime Schmidt, Co-founders of BFF, a cryptocurrency social community geared toward women and non-binary people. Topics include their founding story, inspiration, and mission to help those underrepresented in the space navigate the ever-changing and often daunting world of the metaverse!

Today's episode is a new show I'm doing called Empathy Hour, the show focused on EQ, entrepreneurship, Web3 and of course, wine. I shared a glass of 2021 Empathy Rosè with entrepreneur Jaime Schmidt, founder of Schmidt's Naturals, a brand that rose to success over its natural deodorant and co-founder of "BFFs" which created a path for women and non-binary people to be amongst Web3's early adopters. We discussed everything ranging from her journey into wine, what she's learned a long the way, how important self-love is, the biggest unknowns when starting a business and much more! Learn more about Empathy Wines & watch more Empathy Hour here: www.empathywines.com/podcast Check out my new NFT project: veefriends.com Join the VeeFriends Discord: https://discord.gg/veefriends Tweet Me! @garyvee Text Me! 212-931-5731 My Newsletter: garyvee.com/newsletter

Jaime Schmidt is an entrepreneur and the founder of Schmidt's Naturals, which she started in her kitchen in Portland, Oregon in 2010. Under her leadership, Schmidt's grew into a household and ultimately was acquired by Unilever. Jaime is also the co-founder of Color Capital, an investment fund specializing in Web 3.0 and consumer goods. She recently launched BFF, a brand aimed at helping women get educated, connected, and financially rewarded in crypto, as well as Crypto Packaged Goods, a community and NFT project bridging the consumer packaged goods industry with emerging opportunities in Web 3.0.

On today's episode, Stef Caldwell and I co-host this interview with guest Jaime Schmidt. Jaime Founder of Schmidt's Naturals, the natural personal care brand that she scaled from her kitchen to acquisition by Unilever in 2017. In addition to that, Jaime is the founder of Crypto packaged goods, co-founder of Color Capital investment firm, and most recently she is co-founder of BFF, an online community with a goal to make crypto accessible to women and nonbinary people. While the BFF community is decentralized, it has 70 founding members, including actors Gwyneth Paltrow and Mila Kunis, Rent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman, Eventbrite CEO Julia Hartz, ClassPass founder Payal Kadakia, and model turned entrepreneur Tyra Banks. In this conversation we discuss: How Jaime founded an NFT project with some of the most influential women in the world Why web3 is here to stay & a more equal playing field for women building wealth. The intersection between web3 & consumer goods How companies can leverage web3 How BFF aims to create one of the largest decentralized brands on the Internet Examples of how blockchain technology will change the world What “utility” means for NFTs and the utility behind the BFF bracelets How women are collaborating and not competing in web3 Follow Jaime on Instagram HERE Check out BFF HERE Follow Lauren on Instagram HERE Follow the Life Snacks Podcast on Instagram HERE lifesnackspodcast.com

Greg entered the tech scene early in his career thanks to a friend who tipped him off on a sales job at a New York startup. He started out by literally sleeping in the office by night and making 150 cold calls per day. Unfortunately, his busy schedule and city lifestyle quickly led to burnout. After buying a one-way ticket to Thailand to decompress, Greg came back to the states and got a job at Twitter as a senior sales associate. Soon, he found himself falling back into his old bad habits, and starting formulating a nootropic beverage that would allow him to do his best work without negative side effects. Next, he worked at Stack Overflow on the enterprise sales team, which dried up during the pandemic. During 2020, he found the momentum he needed to finally become an entrepreneur and found NooWave. 17:56 - Find your “personal monopoly”Thanks to David Perell's Write of Passage course, Greg found himself talking about his nootropics hobby over and over. A classmate's interest provided the fuel he needed to get going.“There's this online writing course. I don't know if you guys know David Perell and Write of Passage….The very first week he has this section of the course where it's called ‘your personal monopoly.' So, I'm Greg Frontiero. I worked for these tech companies. I love nootropics. I am a professional wrestler. I do MMA stuff. And like, what is this zone where only I can talk about it and nobody else can touch me, right? What's my brand that nobody else writes about but me? And so I would say these nootropics things in these breakout rooms, and everybody had the same question, like what is a nootropic? I would tell that story I just told you, give you an example. Oh, I drink this coffee. And this guy, Robbie Crab who is like a performance speaking coach DMs me in the middle of me giving my speech about it and goes, ‘I want to buy this. Where can I buy this coffee?' And I was like, oh, like I make it. And he's like, you should sell it. And it was like immediately. So when I tell you I had NooWave in my head for six years, I actually launched the company in six weeks.”21:30 - Tap your networkGreg's first move was to write a letter about his new venture and send it to his network. The response was absolutely overwhelming, with everyone demonstrating interest in his product.“So I take this one blog post and I launch it to what I think is going to be crickets. No one's gonna care about it. I put it on my LinkedIn. I put it on like Twitter. I put it on whatever. It launches, and I swear to God, it's like a movie where every single person in my entire life like came out of the woodwork. Kids I haven't talked to her since kindergarten, teachers, coworkers, people at my MMA gyms, wrestler friends, everybody. Everybody in my life came out and. And I don't know if they necessarily gave a shit about like a nootropic coffee, but they were backing me and they sorta wrote it for me. It was just such a feel-good moment of, man. All that time in my life was for something, the connections and the people that you met. So we sold out our first run immediately.”25:49 - Cold call manufacturersMost companies require expensive minimums that are out of range for bootstrapped founders. Greg tapped deep into his salesman roots to find a coffee company that would work with him.“I'm also talking to all these manufacturers and how to do fulfillment and all that stuff. And it's a nightmare, right? Like when you're making this product and you have no money and resources and all these companies have giant minimums. And so now I'm looking at this and I'm looking at getting loans and small business loans and all that stuff. So this is what I tell everybody. I think if there's one thing I can tell people that is like the hardest part about starting a CPG brand is like the manufacturing process fucking sucks…The benefit of my experience is I'm so used to making 100 cold calls a day. I'm very used to that. And this is the old school of business. I am making like literally 10 phone calls a day to manufacturers in Seattle and talking to coffee people, talking to cacao people…That's how you have to do it. Honest to God. I'm telling you guys, this is not a thing where you can send an email and they're going to be opening your door, to maybe sell you 100 bags. You're just not going to get a response. So you have to beat them down and you have to call.”28:31 - Pray for good luckAfter Greg identified a coffee partner, he started getting bad vibes. At the last second, another fulfillment option reached out to him. They remain his partners to this day.“At the fucking last week, we're going here. This company is just waiting for me to write them the check. And side note, I fucking hated our sales rep, hated this guy. Just every conversation with him sucked. He would just speak to me and he'd be like, ‘Yeah, so about the formula, like is this right?' I was like, no, that's completely wrong. Like it's written down, you're responding in the same email. Just look! This is the person I'm gonna work with? We're about to launch and you fucked this up three times. And so we can't get on the same page. He's not responding for a week. And I was like, oh my God, this is going to go badly. I get this phone call. I won't say who we work with, because I don't know if they're big enough for me to reveal my secret sauce…so this angel woman calls me and she's like, Hey, I'm an upstate coffee roaster. And we really want to work with you.”33:55 - Monitor your pricingGreg's goal is to eventually reduce the price of NooWave so that his 20-year-old self could afford it.“I can't wait to get our price down, by the way. I think we were we're definitely a premium coffee right now, and I don't want to be. I want to be like and get inspired by Chris Cantino and Jaime Schmidt. All they get is pitched by brands that are like, ‘we're like the luxury, you know,' and it's awesome. By the way, at the time we sold a $30 coffee. So I can't throw stones at my glass house. But we had to, because I didn't have any money. And I was like, this is what it costs. I need to. I read Super Maker and it said to times it by three. So I'm going to do that. There's really basic stuff, but then I started doing it. And every iteration, we get a little bit cheaper and I'm going to continue to do that. Because I want the 23-year-old version of me to be able to afford this, and right now he couldn't. And that's not good.”36:59 - Find your true audienceGreg's first run sold out thanks to friends and family. It dropped sharply afterward, but he was able to bring sales back up thanks to tapping into his true target market: tech bros.“Here's what the truth is. Everybody in my life came out of the woodwork and bought it. Let's say 90% of those people dropped off. Because they weren't my target audience. They were like my mom, who's I don't need this. So then it's weird. It went immediately down, but I had this momentum of that Write of Passage, where all of my target audience are all these kind of people like me: these nerdy kind of tech-broey kind of dudes that are all now coming out of this course with their little newsletters that are all micro-influencers essentially. They all have like a thousand-person newsletters of all their friends and family. So I sponsor all their newsletters. They're all doing their unique projects. Word of mouth is a very real thing. So we started getting all these orders out of nowhere of people being like, this works. This coffee helps me focus, but it doesn't stress me out.”38:05 - Build in publicGreg writes a weekly newsletter rain or shine. It not only allows him to organize his thoughts on building the business, but has resulted in valuable feedback from his customers.“I do a weekly newsletter every Wednesday that is just like a personal blog. And I talk very openly about the business. And it's like very much building in public and saying, I tried this this week. It didn't work. I think I'm going to try this. What do you guys think? Hey, do you like this? So I'm like talking to my customers every week. They respond back. I have people I've never met that I have really deep-level conversations with on email. I've had phone calls with them afterwards. And actually, this is such a powerful thing for anyone who's listening. You know the whole like talk to your customers thing and nobody does it? I had a Google spreadsheet of everyone who bought this coffee. The first thing I did is I wrote every single person a personal letter, custom. If you bought it Ramon, ‘Thanks so much for buying this. I saw on your Twitter bio your DTC POD thing. I want to check out Trend too, let's get in a talk.' Handwritten…This is the crazy thing. At the end of every letter I was like, if you don't mind, please take a picture and post this. Even if it's not something you like, we need content. So now I have hundreds of bags. I have really roughly around 500 pieces of content. And I have enough to just post every day.”45:11 - Identify mentors who are one step aheadWhen you reach out to other product founders who were recently in your shoes, you can gain valuable wisdom that is fresh in their mind, without worrying about competition.“The best analogy is the ladder, where you don't want to talk to someone who's like sold a Unilever for $100 million dollars. They're not going to be able to help you. You want to talk to someone who's a year ahead of you. When I keep bringing up Chris from CROSSNET, that is a great guy to talk to because he's five years ahead. He did exactly what I want to do. He's already done it, but he's not far enough that he forgot what it was like to be where I'm at. And that's like a good sweet spot. There's so many people now, DTC has sort of exploded. And there's people 1-5 years ahead of me that I can chat with and I can trust. And it's always good that they're not competitive to me. So if someone's like candles, they're not going to like steal your shit. And you don't have to worry about like, oh, this person's going to snake me. They're not even in the same space. They're not going to start a coffee brand.”55:58 - Be prepared to grow slowlyWhen you are truly bootstrapped, you can't delude yourself with visions of overnight success. Greg recommends keeping your business as a side hustle for as long as possible.“If you're bootstrapping this thing, you need to do it from your job as a side hustle, or you need to have a significant amount of cash. Because it's not going to truly make money if you want to grow the business for a while. And you know, you see these revenue charts that people release and it's pretty common theme that year 1-3, it kind of just sucks. And there's something about that second, third year, fourth year you start seeing I'm able to pay myself now. And honestly, when I look at our numbers compared to people that have released historical numbers, I'm like, yeah, we're there. We're at two. So we're at six figures now. That's it. It's not impressive. If I paid myself now, it'd be mediocre. So like I said, we tried to grow too fast and we tried to cheat, and it just doesn't work. Whenever you try to copy someone without understanding why they did what they did, or why it's relevant to that company and why they did what they did, it's just a disaster. And every time we've done this methodical, long, like you can tell when the effort's there, it pays off in spades.”59:28 - Don't ignore AmazonYes, there are downsides to selling on Amazon, but the platform can also be an incredible option for bootstrapped founders who need revenue quickly.“So first and foremost, everybody who says I want to own the customer and the data and all that, they're absolutely correct. I would prefer that too. Who would not prefer that? I don't have that option. I'm a bootstrap person. I need to make money. And if I need to make money, I need to like suck at Jeff Bezos's tit and do the Amazon thing, it works really fucking well. Upon launch, it's like immediately now probably 50% of our revenue is from Amazon. Because it just kind of takes care of itself. Your conversion rate for Amazon is like 40% versus like 2% on your stores. And we have 80 five-star reviews. It's not unimpressive, but they're all five-star reviews. So it's great. And the testimonials there are great, it starts helping us with our copy. Don't discount Amazon. I would start it right away. It's a process to get on Amazon. It takes time and you got to do it. It's annoying and finicky and shitty. But I think building both in tandem is actually really great.” Watch the full interview here:  This episode is brought to you by OrderGroove and OpenStore:Visit  https://www.ordergroove.com/dtcpod/?utm_source=event&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=2022q1_dtcpodpodcast_thirdparty_demo_us&utm_content=demo  today to receive 2-months off your first contract.Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your ecommerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further? Shoot us a DM, we'd love to hear from you. Greg Frontiero  - CEO of NoowaveRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - COO of Omnipanel 

This week we chat with Ali Kriegsman. Ali is the Co-founder and COO of Bulletin, a B2B wholesale marketplace backed by Y Combinator, Kleiner Perkins and other top venture funds. Her mission is to help founders and small business owners, and especially women, redefine the word "success." As a first-time founder, Ali felt like she couldn't relate to the glamorous entrepreneurs on her Instagram feed who were peddling typical markers of success like glossy magazine covers, getting verified on social media, or hitting massive revenue milestones. In reality, she thought, building something from nothing is a confusing and emotional challenge you sign up for every single day, and it's a journey filled with more failures than wins. It's unglamorous, taxing, and endlessly stressful, and fuels the intense fear that if things don't work out, you've failed miserably. Ali believes that if you're launching a business from scratch and sign up for that struggle, you're already ahead of so many others who would prefer to defer a dream, stay stuck, and wonder "what if?"A recipient of "Forbes 30 Under 30" and named one of Fast Company's "Most Creative People in Business," Ali has helped thousands of brands expand their distribution and sell in both offline and online stores all around the US and. Canada. She is a salesperson, self-taught publicist, marketer, and growth strategist and has experience scaling both bootstrapped and venture-backed businesses. Her first book, How to Build a Goddamn Empire, is the no bullsh*t book on entrepreneurship you've always needed, and it is now available in both hardcover and audiobook formats. Using the questions she's most frequently asked as her guideposts, Ali writes about her experience launching and growing Bulletin directly from the trenches, and features words of triumph, failure and wisdom from 30 other women-owned businesses. The book has been featured and lauded by The Today Show, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine and more, and her publisher, ABRAMS, has doubled down on the project and expanded publication *globally* to the UK, Australia, Finland, Denmark, South Africa, Germany and other European countries. The book, which just came out in April, is already in its third print run in the US.Since the book's release and aspart of her digital book tour, Ali has partnered with Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine and The Female Quotient, Rebecca Minkoff and The Female Founder Collective, Yelp, Meetup, Shopify, TaskRabbit and more. Through her work, Ali has cultivated an extensive network of entrepreneurs including Ally Love, Sophia Amoruso, Jaime Schmidt, Jaclyn Johnson and others, and her digital book launch yielded over 15,000 attendees for her panels, workshops and fireside chats.Follow us!Ali Kriegsman: @alikriegs (and on Fireside here)Bulletin: @bulletin.co (and get involved here)How to Build a Goddamn Empire by Ali Kriegsman: buy hereWanting by Luke Burgis (mentioned in conversation): buy hereDear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething (and on Fireside here)

What do you need to know if you're going to start working for yourself? Schmidt's Naturals founder Jaime Schmidt talks about what people need to know when they're starting their own business and takes us through the ups and downs of branding and marketing and sales. Then, Gaby talks to the Freelance Solidarity Project's Haley Mlotek about collective bargaining, how freelancers can work for better industry standards, and how the hell you can get paid on time. For a transcript of the show visit: https://bit.ly/BWMS9E7Transcript Gaby Dunn Instagram: @GabyRoad BWM Instagram: @bwmpod BWM Facebook group: http://tinyurl.com/badwithmoneyfb The BWM Discord channel: https://discord.gg/dAdxj4JMER Find Gaby on Patreon: patreon.com/gabydunn Shop gabydunn.com/shop for merch! Follow Jaime Schmidt on Instagram and Twitter @JaimeSchmidt Check out Schmidt's Naturals at Scmidts.com! Follow Haley Mlotek on Instagram and Twitter @HaleyMlotek Check out the Freelance Solidarity Project: https://freelancesolidarity.org/ Bad with Money is produced and edited by Lindsey Floyd. It is sound engineered and mixed by Lindsey Floyd. The Executive Producer is Lindsey Floyd. The theme song was performed by Sam Barbara and written by Myq Kaplan, Zach Sherwin, and Jack Dolgen. Additional music by Joey Salvia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What do you need to know if you're going to start working for yourself? Schmidt's Naturals founder Jaime Schmidt talks about what people need to know when they're starting their own business and takes us through the ups and downs of branding and marketing and sales. Then, Gaby talks to the Freelance Solidarity Project's Haley Mlotek about collective bargaining, how freelancers can work for better industry standards, and how the hell you can get paid on time. For a transcript of the show visit: https://bit.ly/BWMS9E7Transcript Gaby Dunn Instagram: @GabyRoad BWM Instagram: @bwmpod BWM Facebook group: http://tinyurl.com/badwithmoneyfb The BWM Discord channel: https://discord.gg/dAdxj4JMER Find Gaby on Patreon: patreon.com/gabydunn Shop gabydunn.com/shop for merch! Follow Jaime Schmidt on Instagram and Twitter @JaimeSchmidt Check out Schmidt's Naturals at Scmidts.com! Follow Haley Mlotek on Instagram and Twitter @HaleyMlotek Check out the Freelance Solidarity Project: https://freelancesolidarity.org/ Bad with Money is produced and edited by Lindsey Floyd. It is sound engineered and mixed by Lindsey Floyd. The Executive Producer is Lindsey Floyd. The theme song was performed by Sam Barbara and written by Myq Kaplan, Zach Sherwin, and Jack Dolgen. Additional music by Joey Salvia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out Arena Club: arenaclub.com/badmoney* Check out Chime: chime.com/BADMONEY* Check out Claritin: www.claritin.com* Check out Indeed: indeed.com/BADWITHMONEY* Check out Monarch Money: monarchmoney.com/BADMONEY* Check out NetSuite: NetSuite.com/BADWITHMONEYAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Today we're chatting with Farah Jesani, founder of One Stripe Chai, we're chatting through the B2B side of the biz and what happened when she need to pivot last march, and her advice to entrepreneurs in the beverage space coming into 2022. One Stripe Chai is a woman-owned South Asian beverage brand that offers authentic, small batch masala chai concentrates and blends, crafted to be enjoyed from the comfort of your home or at your favorite coffee shop. Using tea sourced directly from a small organic and biodynamic family-owned farm in Assam, India, One Stripe Chai is brewed in Portland with a focus on taste and simplicity.LINKS WE MENTION:One Strip Chai's InstagramFarah's InstagramFemale Startup Club's InstagramDoone's InstagramIn partnership with Klaviyo, the best email marketing tool for ecommerce businesses.Female Startup Club's YouTubeFemale Startup Club's Private Facebook GroupSay hello to Doone: hello@femalestartupclub.comBook: Supermaker by Jaime Schmidt

Bonus podcast recorded on a recent Twitter thread by Chris Cantino on the same subject. Chris is currently the co-owner of Color Capital. Prior to this, he was CMO of Schmidt's Naturals and helped propel the company to $100M+ acquisition by Unilever alongside wife and partner Jaime Schmidt. Head on to this podcast, to hear 10 pointers recommended by Chris to scale up your venture as a viable/potential acquisition venture!

Jaime Schmidt started making natural products in her kitchen back in 2010 with the mission to create a product as good as conventional products but with cleaner ingredients. Over time, her consumer brand went from a small maker business to a household name. Today, Jaime is focusing her efforts on helping emerging entrepreneurs pursue their own dreams, through Color Capital, an investment fund that specializes in the consumer products industry, retail and e-commerce, brand positioning, and M&A. In this episode of Small Business Storytellers, Seth and Jamie talk about her business journey, going from CEO to Investor, and the importance of being open to trying new things. Connect with Jamie: Website - https://schmidts.com/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-schmidt Read Super Makers: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms - https://amzn.to/3CHJYS1 This episode was produced by Story On Media & Marketing: https://www.successwithstories.com. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/seth-silvers/message

Jaime Schmidt is an entrepreneur and the founder of Schmidt's Naturals, a brand of natural personal care products she started in her kitchen in Portland, Oregon, in 2010.Jaime is known for modernizing natural personal care products, including the customer-favorite deodorant, and bringing them to the mainstream market. Under her leadership, Schmidt's grew into a household name lining the shelves of retailers, including Target, Costco, Whole Foods, Walmart, CVS, and across 30 countries. In 2017, Schmidt's Naturals partnered with CPG giant Unilever, with Jaime continuing as the brand's founder.Jaime is the co-founder of Color, an investment portfolio that specializes in the consumer product industry, retail and e-commerce, brand positioning, and M&A. She is the author of “Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms,” a personalized guide on how to put your business on the map, turning your passion into profit. Later this year, Jaime will serve as a mentor on Going Public, a new original series debuting on Entrepreneur Media that allows viewers to invest in IPOs.-----Like what you hear? Let us know and subscribe and share, we really appreciate it! Have ideas or comments for us? Email us at hatchcast@msu.edu. For behind-the-scenes content, check us out on Facebook and Instagram.   Hatchcast is made possible by the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Michigan State University in collaboration with the MSU Entrepreneurship Association & MSU Women in Entrepreneurship. Original Music by Kakia Gkoudina and Karina Stankowski Engineered & Edited by Gabe Hales  Co-created by Aaryn Richard, Tyler Mehigh, & Kurt Creger  Co-hosted by Gabe Hales, Gabe Berke, Diego Fernandez, Danielle Tice, Karina Stankowski, Charlotte Bachelor & Aaryn Richard MSU Burgess InstituteThe Burgess Institute empowers Michigan State University students to learn through action.TEDxMSUTED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.

Jaime Schmidt started Schmidt's Naturals in her kitchen and scaled it to acquisition by Unilever. In the process, she pioneered a movement of modern brands bringing naturals to the mainstream. Since then, Jaime has been empowering the next generation of consumer brands through her inclusive investment firm, Color. In 2019, she launched Supermaker, a media company that celebrates inclusive and disruptive independent brands. Her book, Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms, on this very topic was released in 2020 and is all about turning your passion project into a thriving business. Jaime is gearing up for her starring role on Season One of Going Public airing on October 19, the first show that will enable viewers to invest in companies on screen, to help entrepreneurs take their brands to a global audience. “There's so much here that resonates with our mission at Nobody Studios about giving access to all for entrepreneurs,” host Barry O'Reilly says.  Get Your Hands Dirty Oftentimes, you have to get your hands dirty to figure out what you want to do, Jaime discovered. She outlines her journey from college to working in HR to ultimately starting her own business. She advises listeners, try to learn something from every experience you've had that you can take forward: “Figure out something about that [present] job that you can take with you that will somehow make you a stronger performer in your dream job.” Leadership Lessons Barry and Jaime talk about important lessons that Jaime learned and unlearned along the way. Some of these lessons are: Not all leadership looks the same. Decide how you want to show up as a boss. Emulate the good behaviors you learned from other leaders, and discard the bad behaviors. There's no one way to be a good leader. The best way is to just be yourself. Your leadership style is good enough. “Don't be afraid to admit what you don't know; ask for help when you need it, and just keep that ego under control.” Hire a good team: people you can trust who you're proud to have representing your brand. Be transparent and let them lead sometimes. COVID has taken a toll on leaders, but one positive effect of the pandemic is that we're more tolerant of others than before. Investing in People and Democratizing Entrepreneurship “In many ways,” Barry remarks, “most investors look for the people that they seem to make an investment in rather than the product.” He asks Jaime about her own philosophy for choosing investments. “As an investor today I think I have a little more openmindedness to founders that are a bit untraditional, because that was me,” she responds. She looks for more than just a good proposal on paper; it's the passion and dedication of the founder that really helps her decide whether an investment has potential. Two-Way Mentorship The best type of mentorship is two-way. Mentors and mentees should bring their expertise to the table, and be open to learning from each other. Leave the ego at the door though, Jaime stresses. It's common and natural to wonder if you can add value to a business when you have no experience in that industry, but Jaime realized that many of the lessons she learned growing her own business were transferable to any business. Once you approach mentorship collaboratively, it will be successful and rewarding, she says. Looking Ahead Jaime will continue to invest in consumer brands through Color, but she also sees an exciting opportunity in the emerging crypto and NFT space. She is learning more about this area, and feels that brands should embrace it and actually start adding these types of digital assets to their existing catalog. Brands would stay relevant, and consumers would be more inclined to buy these new products from brands they already know and trust. “The smartest hire a brand can make today is someone who is a consumer of culture” she points out. Read the complete show notes at Barry O'Reilly. Resources Jaime Schmidt Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Entrepreneur and investor, Jaime Schmidt, is the founder of Schmidt's Naturals, the natural personal care brand she started in her kitchen that was later acquired by Unilever. Known for bringing natural personal care products to the mainstream market, Jaime led Schmidt's Natural's growth into a global household brand sold in over 30 countries and 30,000 retailers. Jaime shares her entrepreneurial journey in her book Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms. Since the breakthrough of Schmidt's Naturals, Jaime has been enabling other entrepreneurs to bring their vision into reality by investing in women and people of color through her inclusive investment firm, Color. Jaime joins us today to discuss how she approached her venture one day at a time and to share what she learned from her transition from being a solo founder to being part of the Unilever family. She explains why going to market without a perfect product is feasible and reveals her biggest takeaways from the supply sourcing and wholesaling processes. She also underscores why a lack of fear is a priceless advantage in starting your business and highlights the importance of diversity and inclusion when financially supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs. “It's important to know what you're getting into when starting a business, but obsessing over every detail can be an obstacle. Trust your intuition, listen to your customers, and embrace every opportunity.” - Jaime Schmidt This week on the Entreprenista Podcast: How a hobby Jaime started in her kitchen became a personal care company The steps Jaime took after realizing the business opportunity in her home-made personal care products Why Jaime is a proponent of bootstrapping and not bringing in capital if it's not needed The challenges of bootstrapping and how Jaime made her first hire Jaime's product development process and how she sourced suppliers for her ingredients Building loyalty and connection and why it's important to be upfront with customers How Schmidt's Naturals got into large retailers like Target and Walmart The value of working with a broker and how Jaime found the first production space for her company Why paying employees is one of the trickiest parts of running a bootstrap business The reason Jaime didn't outsource manufacturing at first and how she grew her company without an official business plan Giving up control and other things Jaime had to learn as she moved to Unilever Putting diversity at the forefront of funding companies Jaime's mentorship role in Going Public and how long it took her to write Supermaker What Jaime wishes she knew when she first started her business Why entrepreneurs shouldn't get hung up on credentials, and other tips on pitching to investors Our Favorite Quotes: “Bootstrapping means recycling profits back into the business and being conscious about how you spend your dollars.” - Jaime Schmidt “Once you feel like your product is ‘good enough,' get it out there because it's still going to evolve.” - Jaime Schmidt “Sometimes, the less you know, the better equipped you are. If I had known back then what I know now, I think I would have been too scared to start.” - Jaime Schmidt Connect with Jaime Schmidt: Schmidt's Naturals Supermaker Color Book: Supermaker: Crafting Business On Your Own Terms Schmidt's Naturals on LinkedIn Schmidt's Naturals on Instagram Schmidt's Naturals on Facebook Schmidt's Naturals on Twitter Schmidt's Naturals on YouTube Jaime Schmidt on LinkedIn Jaime Schmidt on Instagram Jaime Schmidt on Twitter Join the Entreprenista League! Hey Entreprenistas! We're launching the Entreprenista League, our very own members platform and community just for you! We listened to your feedback and the support you're looking for to start and build your business, and we're here to provide you with all of the resources you'll need! As part of the Entreprenista League, you'll have access to a private community of like-minded Entreprenistas who are making an impact in business every day. You'll find special discounts on business products and solutions, exclusive content, private events, and the opportunity to have your story featured on our website and social channels! Whether you're looking to scale your existing business and want to make the right connections, or you're thinking about finally taking the leap to launch your business, we're here to give you access to a community of women who will celebrate your every step, and with whom you can share the candid reality of building a business from scratch. Join the Entreprenista league today at entreprenista.com/join. We can't wait to welcome you, support you, and be part of your business journey! Be the Best Dressed on Zoom...and the Most Comfortable Entreprenistas - it's time to look professional and feel comfortable while working from home. Introducing WorkRobe - the WFH-ready robes designed to help you be the best dressed professional on Zoom...and the most comfortable. Gone are the days of wasting time trying to find the perfect outfit to wear on Zoom, only to change back into loungewear the second your meeting ends. The WorkRobe robe means business! With the look of a professional robe on the top, no one on Zoom will ever know you're wearing a robe. If you're ready to start looking great and feeling comfortable at your next Zoom meeting, head over to www.myworkrobe.com to order your Workrobe today. Enter code Entreprenista15 to receive 15% off your first order. Say “Hello!” To DigiCards™  Are you ready to take your virtual team meetings to the next level? Are you tired of yelling “You're on mute!” at your computer screen and letting the important points you were trying to make get lost? If you're tired of leading unproductive, distraction-filled team meetings, then it's time for you to say “Hello!” to DigiCards. Each pack of virtual meeting cards include 20 color-coded professional cards designed to streamline your meeting communications while allowing each meeting to create an opportunity for collaboration and fun. Say “Goodbye!” to waving your arms, being ignored, and frantically typing in the chat. Start your next virtual meeting with DigiCards - the virtual meeting cards for entreprenistas. To grab your deck of DigiCards and bring fun, engagement, and collaboration back into your team meetings, visit www.hellodigicards.com. Use the coupon code: Entreprenista10 to receive 10% off your first order. Become An Entreprenista! Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of The Entreprenista Podcast - the most fun business meeting for female founders, by female founders. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Radio | GooglePlay Be sure to share your favorite episodes across social media to help us reach more amazing female founders, like you. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn and for more exclusive content, tips, and insight, join the Entreprenistas Facebook group and visit the SocialFly website.

Entrepreneur and investor, Jaime Schmidt, is the founder of Schmidt's Naturals, the natural personal care brand she started in her kitchen that was later acquired by Unilever. Known for bringing natural personal care products to the mainstream market, Jaime led Schmidt's Natural's growth into a global household brand sold in over 30 countries and 30,000 retailers. Jaime shares her entrepreneurial journey in her book Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms. Since the breakthrough of Schmidt's Naturals, Jaime has been enabling other entrepreneurs to bring their vision into reality by investing in women and people of color through her inclusive investment firm, Color. Jaime joins us today to discuss how she approached her venture one day at a time and to share what she learned from her transition from being a solo founder to being part of the Unilever family. She explains why going to market without a perfect product is feasible and reveals her biggest takeaways from the supply sourcing and wholesaling processes. She also underscores why a lack of fear is a priceless advantage in starting your business and highlights the importance of diversity and inclusion when financially supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs. “It's important to know what you're getting into when starting a business, but obsessing over every detail can be an obstacle. Trust your intuition, listen to your customers, and embrace every opportunity.” - Jaime Schmidt This week on the Entreprenista Podcast: How a hobby Jaime started in her kitchen became a personal care companyThe steps Jaime took after realizing the business opportunity in her home-made personal care productsWhy Jaime is a proponent of bootstrapping and not bringing in capital if it's not neededThe challenges of bootstrapping and how Jaime made her first hireJaime's product development process and how she sourced suppliers for her ingredientsBuilding loyalty and connection and why it's important to be upfront with customersHow Schmidt's Naturals got into large retailers like Target and WalmartThe value of working with a broker and how Jaime found the first production space for her companyWhy paying employees is one of the trickiest parts of running a bootstrap businessThe reason Jaime didn't outsource manufacturing at first and how she grew her company without an official business planGiving up control and other things Jaime had to learn as she moved to UnileverPutting diversity at the forefront of funding companiesJaime's mentorship role in Going Public and how long it took her to write SupermakerWhat Jaime wishes she knew when she first started her businessWhy entrepreneurs shouldn't get hung up on credentials, and other tips on pitching to investors Our Favorite Quotes: “Bootstrapping means recycling profits back into the business and being conscious about how you spend your dollars.” - Jaime Schmidt“Once you feel like your product is ‘good enough,' get it out there because it's still going to evolve.” - Jaime Schmidt“Sometimes, the less you know, the better equipped you are. If I had known back then what I know now, I think I would have been too scared to start.” - Jaime Schmidt Connect with Jaime Schmidt: Schmidt's NaturalsSupermakerColorBook: Supermaker: Crafting Business On Your Own TermsSchmidt's Naturals on LinkedInSchmidt's Naturals on InstagramSchmidt's Naturals on FacebookSchmidt's Naturals on TwitterSchmidt's Naturals on YouTubeJaime Schmidt on LinkedInJaime Schmidt on InstagramJaime Schmidt on Twitter Join the Entreprenista League! Hey Entreprenistas! We're launching the Entreprenista League, our very own members platform and community just for you!

When Jaime Schmidt found out she was pregnant, she began paying more attention to the products she was putting on her skin, and started making her own body care products to sell at markets and festivals. As her customer base grew and retailers began to approach her, Schmidt's Naturals was on its way to becoming a household name. You're about to hear how Jaime's approached her venture one day at a time, and what she's learned in transitioning from a solo founder to selling her business to Unilever. Key takeaways this week: How Schmidt's Naturals has challenged the stigma around natural products and who they are made for Why Jaime says going to market without a PERFECT product is totally okay Her lessons learned in understanding the supply sourcing and wholesale processes How to navigate the flexibility and quickness of a startup And finally, Jaime shares her experience in starting to offer financial support to underrepresented entrepreneurs with her fund Color Capital Follow Jaime on Instagram: @jaimeschmidt Follow Schmidt's Naturals on Instagram: @schmidtsnaturals Connect with Jaime on LinkedIn: Jaime Schmidt

Thank you for tuning into "Starting Small", a podcast about brand development, entrepreneurship, and innovation in the modern world. In this episode, I am joined by Jaime Schmidt, founder of Schmidt's Naturals, one of the top natural deodorant brands in the world. Growing up with an entrepreneurial itch with running her own garage sales, lemonade stands, and baby sitting, Jaime went on to study business at Michigan State University. Following her time at Michigan State, Jaime worked numerous jobs before she was led to get her masters at DePaul University.  Jaime started making natural products in her kitchen back in 2010. Pregnant at the time, she was searching for a natural deodorant that not only smelled great, but actually worked. Put simply, there wasn't anything on the market that met her expectations, so she made her own. Thousands of hours of research and hundreds of recipes later, Jaime arrived at her ideal deodorant formula. After taking her formulas to the local farmers market as proof of concept, Schmidt's spread quickly. After finding much success in distribution and DTC growth, Schmidt's was acquired by Unilever in 2017. Make sure to check out Schmidt's at: https://schmidts.com/   Follow Starting Small: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startingsmallpod/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Startingsmallpod/?modal=admin_todo_tour LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/cameronnagle     Support for Starting Small comes from Humanscale, the leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance ergonomic products that help create a healthier work life. All of their products, from chairs to standing desks and more, are comfortable, easy to use, and sustainable. And great for either the office or the work from home environment. With an increase in shifting workplaces, comfort can be especially hard to find. As I run the podcast, I am in front of my desk for hours a day; from scheduling, researching, interviewing, and more. Humanscale allows me to remain productive, without the consequence of body stress to follow.  Make sure to check out Humanscale at humanscale.com, and use code: STARTINGSMALL at checkout to save 20% on your purchase.   Thank you to this episode's mid-break sponsor, Salomon, premium outdoor shoes, apparel, and accessories. With running outdoors being a major stress reliever for my work, I count on Salomon shoes to carry me through each and every workout. Salomon strives to create progressive gear to enable you to freely enjoy and challenge yourself in the great outdoors. Make sure to check out Salomon at Salomon.com  

About this episode My guess is Lindsay McCormick, founder Bite. Bite is an all-natural, zero waste, tube free, toothpaste tablet. And not only did Lindsay take something as common as toothpaste and make it more environmentally friendly, by altering its shape and packaging. But she made it healthier for us as well because Bite toothpaste tablets are 100% vegan, gluten-free and cruelty free. In fact, Lindsay is on a mission to grow into the world's most sustainable personal care company. Lindsay was named by Fast Company as one of the most creative people in business and started Bite in her living room; because she was tired of creating so much trash every time she traveled for TV shows. But what's interesting is that until my discussion with her I never realized the environmental impact of the TSA regulations that changed after the events of 9/11. I mean think about that, everyone who relies on not checking in luggage is forced to travel with travel size containers of toothpaste and hair products and even skin products. I did some basic research and the retail footprint for travel size products has doubled because of a change in travel requirements. Now you are going to love Lindsay's episode because she gets super tactical and discusses the early days of Bite, as well as her preparation for being on ABC hit show SharkTank. In this episode, you'll hear: Growing up Lindsay was always super passionate about the environment and even became vegetarian at 7 years old. Lindsay always had a love for the media and with her job she was travelling all the time. When traveling she had reusable shampoo and face wash, but she was going through so many tubes of toothpaste. Lindsay wanted to stop this, and that became the orgin of Bite. Lindsay started researching toothpaste, how it is made, how it is tested on animals and how it ends up in landfills. With this she started to make her own toothpaste, but only thought she would make it to solve her own problem and not build it into a business. Lindsay shared how she started elevating the company by buying a $1000 tablet machine and started selling the toothpaste tablets on Shopify and Etsy. Lindsay shares how she launched Bite in late 2017 early 2018 with a mission to help and educate people about toothpaste and support the low waste/vegan communities. In 2018 she had $6000 dollars in sales after one of her videos went viral and immediately started selling hundres of thousands in product. From that video, the production team from ABC's Shark Tank reached out to invite them to an audition. How her company grew through the pandemic as more people wanted a subscription service. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Gardyn Giveaway: https://thestartupstory.co/gardyn Bite: https://bitetoothpaste.com/ Jaime Schmidt's episode: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/jaime-schmidt-founder-of-schmidt-s-naturals Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

This week, we chat with Jaime Schmidt who is the entrepreneur and the founder of Schmidt's Naturals, a brand of natural personal care products that she started in her kitchen in Portland, Oregon in 2010. Jaime is known for modernizing natural personal care products, including the customer-favorite deodorant, and bringing them to the mainstream market. Under her leadership, Schmidt's grew into a household name lining the shelves of retailers including Target, Costco, Whole Foods, Walmart and CVS across 30 countries. In 2017, Schmidt's partnered with CPG giant Unilever, with Jaime continuing as the brand's founder.Jaime is the co-founder of Color, an investment portfolio that specializes in the consumer product industry, retail and ecommerce, brand positioning, and M&A. She is the author of “Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms,” a personalized guide on how to put your business on the map, turning your passion into profit.She is regularly profiled in prominent press including Inc., Entrepreneur, Forbes and Fast Company. Jaime is an inaugural member of the Inc. Founders Project and has also been recognized as 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, PNW Entrepreneur of the Year, Women of Influence and Executive of the Year.Follow us!Jaime: @jaimeschmidt (and on Fireside here)Schmidt's Naturals: @schmidtsnaturalsColor: @colorinvestsGoing Public: @goingpublicDear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething (and on Fireside here)

This week’s podcast is a deep dive with Schmidt Natural’s co-founder, author, and investor Jaime Schmidt. Building her brand from a side hobby to a 7-figure annual income didn’t happen overnight, but Schmidt refused to let fear hold her back.    Although Schmidt says she has had 22 previous jobs, Schmidt Naturals was her very first business. Living off $35k joint-income with a new baby, Schmidt first started creating her all-natural products at home, selling them at farmer’s markets. After years of dedication and very little capital, Schmidt reflects on her 9-figure exit, her journey into investing, and writing her first book Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms.    The perfect podcast for anyone who has a vision and a dream, Schmidt is an inspirational entrepreneur who continues to lift up others with her infectious positivity. Get FREE, actionable advice from legitimate founders on starting and growing ANY Business… https://www.foundr.com/freetraining And… If you ARE enjoying the Foundr Podcast’, please make sure to leave us a 5-star review, and let us know who you want to see next. Website: http://www.foundr.comSuccess Stories: https://foundr.com/success-stories Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundr/ YouTube:  http://bit.ly/2uyvzdt  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/foundr Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/foundr LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/ Podcast: http://www.foundr.com/podcast Magazine: http://www.foundr.com/magazine

In this episode, Christian Ward, head of multimedia strategy at Stylus, talks to Jaime Schmidt, founder of deodorant and personal care brand Schmidt’s Naturals, about turning passions into businesses, and the skills and strategies that brand founders need to know.

To understand how some of the strongest brands are thriving with the omnichannel approach, Greylock general partner Mike Duboe hosted a wide-ranging discussion on Greymatter on what it takes to build the next generation of commerce companies with Color Capital co-founders Jaime Schmidt and Chris Cantino. The husband-wife team partner with companies creating the future of CPG, marketplaces, ecommerce, and media, and both bring a wealth of experience to the table. Schmidt is the founder of personal care brand Schmidt’s Naturals (which was acquired by Unilever in 2017), and is the author of Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms, which evolved into a media company Schmidt and Cantino run together. In this conversation, Schmidt and Cantino share stories from the early days of Schmidt’s Naturals, which began at local farmer’s markets in Portland, (also known as “the original DTC,” sales channel, says Cantino); their views on bootstrapping versus raising outside capital; how to assess partnerships and potential M&A; and the growing importance of media and content in the ecommerce world. This episode is part of a series of conversations on commerce hosted by Mike Duboe.

An Evening with Jaime Schmidt is proudly produced and brought to you by the Michigan State University's Entrepreneurship Association (MSUEA) and Michigan State University's Women in Entrepreneurship (MSUWE). This conversation was recorded live by the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation and is rebroadcast with permission.Jaime Schmidt, Entrepreneur & Founder at Schmidt's NaturalsJaime Schmidt is an entrepreneur and the founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, a brand of natural personal care products that she started in her kitchen in Portland, Oregon in 2010. Jaime is known for modernizing natural personal care products, including the customer-favorite deodorant, and bringing them to the mainstream market. Under her leadership, Schmidt’s grew into a household name lining the shelves of retailers including Target, Costco, Whole Foods, Walmart, and CVS across 30 countries. In 2017, Schmidt’s partnered with CPG giant Unilever, with Jaime continuing as the brand’s founder. Jaime is the co-founder of Color, an investment portfolio that specializes in the consumer product industry, retail and e-commerce, brand positioning, and M&A. She is the author of Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms, a personalized guide on how to put your business on the map, turning your passion into profit.________Love what you hear? Let us know! Subscribe, listen, & share us with your friends. Liking and rating Hatchcast gets the word out. If you're super motivated: share your thoughts with the Hatchcast team. Future episode topics? Guests? We read and respond to every message: hatchcast@msu.edu. You can also follow us on Instagram & Facebook to get a look behind-the-scenes.Hatchcast is brought to you by the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Michigan State University,  in collaboration with MSU Entrepreneurship Association, MSU Women in Entrepreneurship, and the MSU Innovation Center.Original Music by Kakia GkoudinaEngineered & Edited by Gabe Hales & Justice KeechCo-created by Aaryn Richard, Tyler Mehigh, & Kurt CregerCo-hosted by Gabe Hales, Justice Keech, Brandon Weaver, Tiauna West, & Aaryn RichardAbout the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Michigan State UniversityThe Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation empowers students to learn through action by providing programs, courses, and resources to foster an entrepreneurial mindset, develop empathy, and create new ventures. We prime students to embrace failure mindfully, explore unknowns, and develop skills MSU Burgess Institute The Burgess Institute empowers Michigan State University students to learn through action.

About this episode My guest this week is Ryan Lewendon, partner at the Law Firm Giannuzzi Lewendon. We will be talking about all things CPG…and Ryan's experience in this space is immense! He has worked on deals with Vitamin Water, Pirate's Booty, Pretzel Crisps, Siggy's Yogurt, Vita Coco, Essential Water, and even Schmidt's Naturals which you might remember from our interview with Jaime Schmidt shortly after she sold her brand to Unilever. All that to say, Ryan knows a thing or two about the CPG space and that is the knowledge sharing that is going to take place today. This entire episode is all about the CPG…so let's get started! In this episode, you'll hear: How plant-based diets are changing from being something you do to survive to now thrive. Ryan shares how people are looking to unwind particularly in the pandemic, but wanting to avoid the after effect of alcohol. Ryan shares how he thinks the next big trend is going to be personalized wellness, as more people are looking for efficacy in multifactor products that will get them the most for their money. How using data and analysis to develop products that are narrowly tailored to the consumers. Ryan shares how the next generation of targeted ads are going to be more personal to the consumer through the amount of data that is collected online. Ryan explains the importance of launching your company from a strong foundation and the things you need and don't need when starting a CPG company. How founders should build a team that compliments their weaknesses. How you should build contracts slowly to avoid a little mistake could cripple your business and reputation. Ryan shares how Founder burnout is real and maintaining a work life balance is important to avoid this. Ryan explains that founders should remind themselves of why they started their business when times are hard. How founding a company is a marathon not a sprint. Ryan explains why it is important to do a self diagnostic about the company before selling it, as you can fix problems to be more desirable to buyers. Understand why it is important to Identify the founder's involvement to help a smooth transition. How you can identify who you want to buy your company. Ryan explains what makes a brand a high target value for an acquisition. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Giannuzzi Lewendon: https://gllaw.us Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS This episode was made possible due to the support of our sponsor Grindology. Visit https://grindology.com/ to obtain founder-direct tactics and strategies.

Michelle Martin speaks with Author of Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms and Founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, Jaime Schmidt to learn lessons on entrepreneurship from her experience of starting a natural products brand that would eventually be acquired by giant Unilever.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jaime Schmidt is the quintessential maker-made-good. As the founder and former CEO of Schmidt's, Jaime led the brand to sales in over 30 countries and onto the shelves of Target, Costco, CVS, Walmart, and Whole Foods. The brand was acquired by Unilever in 2017, and Jaime continues to support their global expansion. Today, as an investor with her fund Color, and through her media company Supermaker, Schmidt is elevating emerging and underrepresented entrepreneurs. On this episode, we feature Jaime and hear her humble beginnings. Please support her by reading her amazing book Supermaker!

Jaime Schmidt, founder of Schmidt's Naturals, shares all the gems of scaling her business from her small Portland kitchen, to giant warehouse and 30,000 retailers BEFORE being acquired. She shares how she did it, the trials that came along the way (like copy cats, legal threats and growing pains of growing a team) and what life looks like after a 9 figure buy out.Get in Jaime's world:JaimeSchmidt.infoIG: @jaimeschmidtTwitter: @jaimeschmidtBook:Supermarker.com/bookColor Capital:Color.CapitalIG: @colorinvestsTwitter: @colorinvestsDon't forget about the Super Maker giveaway. Shoot a message on Instagram @gaynete

Brands large and small are all fighting the same battle of customer acquisition. How you reach customers, and how much that effort costs, is in constant flux, which is why Nik Sharma is a big fan of constantly running micro experiments. Nik is the CEO of Sharma Brands, a company that remains one of the best-kept secrets among the DTC community and which helps brands scale into the tens of millions. On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Nik takes us behind the scenes of what that scaling process looks like, including his strategies around customer acquisition. Nik explains how important constant testing is, and he shares some micro-experiments he recommends running regularly. Plus, he tells us why reading every review and every comment associated with your brand is the best leaping-off point for your creative process. Main Takeaways:Please Rate And Review: Reviews really do matter, and you should look at every single one to have a better understanding of what customers are saying, what they see as the value props and what isn’t working. You can then work backward with that information and create content that matches what your customers want. Mo Money, Same Problems: Regardless of how big a company gets, the main problem any brand faces is that of customer acquisition. Bigger brands can throw more money toward getting their message to customers, but ultimately it’s about getting the right content to the right people.The Mom Test: Your website experience needs to be seamless and frictionless that even the most technically challenged, or busy, can make it through without issue. It also needs to deliver the message that you want to send right up front. No one is going to search for the thing you want them to see, so put it front and center.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Up Next In Commerce. This is your host, Stephanie Postles, co-founder at mission.org. Today, we're hanging out with Nik Sharma, the CEO of Sharma Brands. Nik, welcome to the show.Nik:Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.Stephanie:Yeah. Me, too. If we had video on, I would be trying to look at your whiteboard that you had on with probably 1,000 notes on it.Nik:All the secrets. It's got all the secrets.Stephanie:Yeah. What kind of secrets are on that board? I was really trying to zoom in like what's going on back there?Nik:It's got all the goals for the week, starting with nine hours of sleep, all the way to-Stephanie:That's a good goal.Nik:... how we plan to combat Facebook and Apple's big fight that's going to start January 15th.Stephanie:Oh, tell me a little bit about the big fight. I'm obviously not up to date on that. What's going on?Nik:Yeah. So basically in the new iOS update, Apple is going to give pretty much everybody multiple opportunities to block tracking. And so it's really going to hurt attribution for a lot of these ad platforms, especially for small business ad platforms like Facebook ads, Snapchat, et cetera. And so we're basically starting to think through how we combat that going into the new year because a lot of the businesses we work with, they're either brands that are just starting. And obviously, those are small businesses, but there's also some mid-sized businesses doing anywhere from 200 to 800 million in revenue, but they're also going to be just as effective. And so we're trying to think through how we go about combating that going into the New Year, basically making sure that there's not a ton of drop-off as it relates to the client.Stephanie:Yeah, I didn't realize this was happening so soon. I was paying attention a bit to the taking away cookies and tracking and all that kind of stuff. I didn't realize the iOS update was happening January 15th. So what are you guys thinking? What's your strategy? What are you advising your brands to do? I know I just jumped right into it, but this is really interesting.Nik:Yeah. Well, as of right now, it's a little bit up in the air. We have a few ideas going of how to combat it. But to be honest, there's not a ton of information out that we have to work with. We're trying to work with multiple different ad tech partners to understand how they view the impact happening. But at the same time, we're trying to think through how do we basically start creating our first party audience ads much faster than running ads when we need them, so whether that's by creating what I would call a prospecting CRM versus just a customer-centric CRM post-purchase, or trying to think through how do we still drive lower funnel conversion and attribute those sales properly, even though they might not be last click purchases. Yeah, it's a big cluster of unknowns right now.Stephanie:Yeah, that's tricky. I also wonder to what extent will a user maybe turn that feature off and then start to realize maybe how helpful that feature was when it comes to showcasing you the information that you want to see, or maybe ads that actually are helpful because I think right now, a lot of times people are like, "Oh, I want privacy and I want this and I want that"? But if you were to turn off a lot of the features that you're talking about, then you wouldn't really get the customized experience that people will do oftentimes appreciate in Google and other places. They wonder what that would look like.Nik:Yeah. Most of the people I've talked to have basically said a similar thing that they like the personalization and whatnot that comes with it. But there is definitely a pretty big group of people who would rather prefer that they never get targeted with an ad. Unfortunately, that's the threat to a lot of the small business advertisers out there.Stephanie:Yep, interesting. Well, when you guys have a little more insight into that, I'll just bring you back in here, how you guys are approaching it and what happens in January 15th.Nik:Yeah, definitely. Definitely.Stephanie:Cool. Give me a little background on Sharma Brands. I was seeing that you guys work with a lot of brands, some of which we've actually had on the show before, which is really cool to see. We've had [inaudible] and I think I saw two others. But tell me a bit about what is Sharma Brands and what do you guys do for the brands that you work with?Nik:Sharma Brands is like the secret of the internet. We don't really talk about it much publicly. But basically, what we do is we work with brands that are either just launching or have just launched. We either guide them through the launch or we pick them up right after launch. We work with brands that are midsize, brands that are doing really well and ideally want to do better, or we work with brands that are pretty big retail businesses that want to get their ecommerce business set up and on track. And so we come in and handle everything from strategy to execution, to implementation. A lot of it is testing, a lot of it is focused on creative and messaging and offer testing merchandising. We also do everything all the way to producing national TV spots, satellite radio, like basically helping brands venture out from the more traditional just Facebook ads or building a website.Stephanie:Got it. What inspired you to create Sharma Brands? I saw you had a lot of roles. You were the head of D2C for a couple of companies. I think you worked at Hint. Is that what led you to creating Sharma Brands, or tell me a little bit about that journey?Nik:Yeah. I've always had a knack for wanting to work on multiple brands, which is probably why Sharma Brands works. But separate from that, I don't know if we are even the perfect solution. I don't think we aren't because we don't really do everything. But there's not really a proper growth partner for a lot of these brands. There are media agencies, there's media companies, there are creative agencies, there are product development agencies, but there's really not many when it comes to true growth and helping them in things like scaling, going from 1 million to 10 million or 10 million to 60 million. And so we created this little niche where we help brands do just that. We try to stay on for no longer than six months per project. Our goal is to basically get in and do just an insane amount of testing so that by the time we leave, that brand knows exactly what's going to scale and what's not going to scale.Stephanie:Interesting. What kind of testing do you mean? What do you do throughout those six months to figure that out?Nik:It can be anything from copy, creative, landing pages, long form content. When I say creative, there's a whole variety of creative. There's the things like... We might test UGC, we might test influencers, we might test studio stuff, we might test just a whole variety of different types of content. We do the same thing when it comes to page experiences, so whether they're landing pages, whether they're listicles, articles, partnerships with companies like Morning Brew.Nik:And then of course, the last piece of it is the merchandising, so everything from offers and pricing to products, to what gets people in the door, what's the best product to sell them after that. And subsequent to that, how do we optimize for brands that are high consumption? How do we focus on subscription? How do we keep customer lifetime value high? How do we bring back repeat purchase rate without having to spend money to reacquire that customer? The goal is to figure an overwhelming majority of those types of things out so that by the time we're done, there's a very clear playbook that they can operate on for the next few months or a few years.Stephanie:Yep. I'm assuming that when you were working at Hint and other places, you started seeing similar things that were working and weren't working. Can you tell me a bit about what it was like working at those companies, or maybe you started uncovering a few universal truths around D2C?Nik:Yeah, working at Hint was great. It was a lot of fun. We grew really fast, which led us to a lot of challenges that we were able to overcome. But it gave me a lot of insight into the challenges that a lot of the brands face. Obviously, I think customer acquisition is one of the biggest things that brands don't necessarily understand or distribution, which is, I think, one thing we're really good at. But then after that, after you get to a point where you're able to acquire 1,000 customers a day sustainably and at reasonable prices, then how do you take those customers and service them further? How do you come up with products that feed those customers after what they've already bought if it's not a high consumption product? How do you think through unique partnerships that attract eyeballs that then give you the opportunity to sell those customers onto your brand? There's so many things. Basically, it all stems down to distribution. Good brands are really good at product and brand building. But then the idea of then getting that in front of other people is where the tough part comes in.Stephanie:And so how do you approach customer acquisition now, where maybe it was different than prior to 2020 because it feels like there's so many new companies in the space? Maybe not all of which will be here in a couple of years. There's a lot of companies. I think more businesses launched in 2020 than in 2019 and prior years. So how do you approach trying to compete and get the eyeballs and find new customers for your brands in a pretty competitive market right now?Nik:To be honest, we don't really take competitive brands into account. What we try to do is just be really innovative with the way that we message and get in front of people. For example, something as simple as like Judy, which is emergency kit you know, being able to really hone in on understanding whether it be by surveys or by looking at what types of messaging has better click through rates and conversion rates, understanding the types of messaging that people are reacting to, and then going really deep on it, all the way to coming up with funky partnership ideas like putting Poo-Pourri and Judy together because both brands service emergency situations.Stephanie:That's a really good partnership.Nik:Yeah, no, it's great. It's really just about like how do we stay ahead of competition? Most brands today probably run a very similar playbook of like, "Let's create some... text some images, put some ads up and run them to our homepage." We put that on steroids. We're testing maybe 17 different versions of creative or testing 7 different versions of landing pages or homepages or sites that they're leading to along with 37 different audiences that we're going after to understand which type of messaging converts better with which audiences.Stephanie:That's great. So how do you think about creating all those different types of messaging? How do you stay creative? I know when I'm thinking through ad copy, even for our company, once I create one or two or three, then I'm like, "That's all I got. I'm out." How do you guys stay creative and create like, what'd you say, 17 different landing pages? I mean, like a lot.Nik:Well, I have a team that's insanely creative, so that helps.Stephanie:That's helpful.Nik:But outside of that, I think one thing we do, which is honestly something anybody can do, is we try to look at every single review. So if we work with a brand, we try to read every single review and we will literally use a whiteboard and make a tally of the different value props and how many times they're mentioned and then use that to basically work backwards and understand messaging. So things like that to things like looking at comments on ads, to customer service emails and messages, to how are other people tweeting about it, how are other people taking press about a brand and then tweeting about the press or talking about that specific article. So we try to take in a variety of things. And then if all else fails, have a little glass of whiskey and take an approach with some fresh eyes.Stephanie:That's good. When it comes to large brands and small brands, we've been going through some of these challenges, but are the challenges the same for both big and small, or do you see completely different challenges depending on the size of the brand?Nik:I think that a lot of the challenges on the macro side are the same, but on the micro... On the macro side, for example, customer acquisition, right? A company that's doing 800 million versus a company that's just launched, both are going to be focused on how do we acquire customers smarter, better, faster, cheaper with higher lifetime value? But on the micro side, it's a little different because a company that's doing even 50 million in revenue has a lot more awareness to play off of. They have a lot more scale to go leverage things like partnerships with other brands, they have budgets to go to places like The Skimm and Morning Brew and other places like that versus a company that's just starting.Nik:They still have the same problem with customer acquisition, but they need to figure out even if they raised a little bit of money or if they did it, they need to figure out, "Okay, what is the fastest way for us to get 100 customers and then 1,000 customers and then 10,000 customers and then 50,000 customers." And obviously every time you hit that milestone, it gets easier and easier, but it's still the same. That's the challenge of how do you get in front of as many eyeballs as possible and also relevant eyeballs. You don't want to get in front of just eyeballs that are not going to convert for you.Stephanie:Yep. Are there any tools that you use to stay on top of maybe trends or what people are searching for, or even staying on top of like different kinds of audiences to reach and how to reach them in new ways, like new things you're doing maybe this year that you weren't utilizing in the past?Nik:One thing that we have started doing a lot more this year versus years in the past is really not taking creative too seriously. So, for example, like running memes as ads insanely outperforms things like really beautiful $30,000 photo shoots, or the way like... Do you use TikTok?Stephanie:Yes, I do. I love TikTok.Nik:I'm addicted to TikTok.Nik:With TikTok, I think if you look at the way TikTok has impacted culture or pop culture, I should say this year, it's pretty fascinating. Like when Instagram was big and there were Instagram models or even you could even say like... yeah, you could probably say even like big YouTubers, they don't really make news or make headlines, nor do they get, for example, flown out to fashion shows internationally to come walk in a runway. But TikTok has just completely taken 2020. And whether it's like TikTok is being flown out to Rome for fashion week or it's the fact that all of Snapchat discovers tabloid garbage is all influencers, there's something about TikTok that resonates really well with the masses.Nik:And so one thing we've been doing is testing, not only just testing TikTok's style videos, but also even the way... If you look in the comments of TikTok, I think the comment section is where the memes of tomorrow, or the memes of next month live. And so we've been [crosstalk] doing a lot of things where we test those. Those have been having really interesting results too. Just really like, again-Stephanie:All right, so give me some examples.Nik:... just a bunch of testing and fun stuff. My favorite is the... For example, if you were like this podcast is the perfect podcast for ecommerce operators, you would put the word operators in between the sparkles emoji, or just like random silly things that you see on TikTok. Yeah. It's hard to explain, but it just works so well.Stephanie:No, yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah. Well, tell me some of the most interesting comments that you've seen on TikTok that you've turned into memes.Nik:Well, the sparkles one is probably the easiest. Let's see. Outside of that, the eye mouth eye I think is hilarious. What else? What else? The concept of like it's the blank for me. There's just so many little inside jokes on TikTok that becomes so... Not only relevant on the outside world, but also people see it and they relate to it because they think they're the only ones that know about it because TikTok is such a one-to-one thing, you know?Stephanie:Yep, yeah. And then when you were talking about creating TikTok style ads, I'm assuming you're saying that you're creating an ad like you would create a video on TikTok and then you're actually putting it on other channels and platforms. Is that what you meant by that?Nik:Yeah.Stephanie:Yep. I was just thinking about that actually a couple of days ago. My head of growth is like, "Oh, can you create some audio ads and video ads and all this to help promote the shows or whatever?" And I was like, "Well, what's the easiest way for me to do that?" Honestly, creating it on TikTok, even if it's an unlisted video-Nik:Oh, 100%.Stephanie:Yeah, so much easier than trying to do anything else.Nik:The best ads in ecommerce are ones that do not look like billboards on the street. That's where a lot of brands go wrong is that when it comes to ads, they try to create this unique experience or this look that doesn't resonate with the common person. It's like no wonder they don't work because they look like if you see an ad, there's no chance you're going to sit there and be like, "Oh, an ad, let me watch this whole ad." All your ads have to feel like they're not ads. They have to feel like content that somebody maybe not wants to watch or needs to watch, but something that's intriguing enough where they're going to watch the first little bit, and then it's your job as the brand to hook them to watch the rest of it.Stephanie:Yep. Yeah, I love that. The other thing, now that we're talking about influencers and spreading things, I heard that your fridge is famous. You tell me a bit more about this because when I heard that, I'm like, "Isn't Nik an influencer? Why is his fridge famous and you're known for your fridge?" So give me the deets on this.Nik:Yeah, the fridge racks up impressions. That's for sure.Stephanie:Why? What is up with your fridge? Is it a fancy one?Nik:I'm just trying to look up real quick how many impressions the last one got. But no, it's funny because obviously I worked at Hint and I've worked with a bunch of different beverage brands. Yeah. So the last tweet about my fridge has 151,000 impressions.Stephanie:Why? What'd you say?Nik:It's nothing special. It's just the fact that a lot of people know me as a beverage marketer or beverage person. I'm just looking at this tweet from September 14th and my fridge has Taika, has Empathy Wines, it has Jock Coffee, it has Dose, which is like a new wellness shot, it has JuneShine, which is hard kombucha, it's got Sanzo, it's got OLIPOP, Red Bull, Orgain protein elements, which is a adaptogens beverage, and then a bunch of Hint Water.Stephanie:Close to D2C fridge. You're stacking it up.Nik:It's basically a D2C fridge. Yeah. And then depending on when you open it, you might see different drinks. There's another picture of the fridge I'm looking at. It's all RISE cold brew. It's got Lemon Perfect and it's got Cha Cha Matcha's ice tea lemonades.Stephanie:Interesting, interesting. And then so how are people engaging with this? How did it even start of you posted this picture and realizing people like to see what you were trying out, or what you were investing in, or what made them excited?Nik:Well, it started because a friend of mine, David Perell, basically posted a picture of my fridge, I want to say when I first moved to New York last year, or I think he might've done it when I lived in San Francisco. But then he posted about it and how like my fridge is basically a vending machine. And then all these beverage companies started responding. And then whenever I tweet about my fridge, I just get a flood of packages over the next 10 days from different beverage brands that want to be included in the next round of the fridge.Stephanie:That's really funny. But I also feel like it's helpful to see how to share things that get shared, that go viral because the best way to advise brands and other people is by doing it yourself.Nik:100%. That's always been the thesis behind any kind of public account that I have. Whether it's my community number, whether it's my email newsletter, whether it's my Twitter account, everything that I try to do is like, "Okay, I'm basically just testing it so that we can hopefully do this on a brand and it makes a big impact because maybe it's something that they haven't done before or just people in general haven't done before."Stephanie:Yep, yeah. That's very, very cool. So when you're working with all these brands, one thing that we've been discussing here at Mission lately is just about all these new users who are now online, a new demographic group is online shopping. They're getting used to it, they're going to be here probably for the long haul now that they have maybe ordered groceries or gone on Amazon for the first time. How are you working with your brands to ensure that their messaging and their interaction and that they may be personalizing things in a way that also connects with this new demographic of shoppers that weren't here prior to 2020?Nik:So basically, how should brands prepare for-Stephanie:Yeah, having like an older generation now who are ready to shop. And I'm sure the messaging or the way that brands are personalizing is usually towards millennials or 18 to 35 or 18 to 40. Everyone seems to focus on that same two generations, but the older generation are the ones that have the money. They're the ones who are ready to spend. They just haven't brought it really online until recently. But it seems like a lot of things have to change for it to also work well with them.Nik:Yeah. I think tactically, there's different things you can do, whether it's the channels that you choose to advertise on. So whether that's shifting budget out of Facebook and onto platforms like TV and satellite radio and connected TV even, or it's... One thing that I've found at a previous brand I worked with was that the creative we would put out that has, let's say, models or talent that looks like they're in their late 20s, early 30s is what resonated best with the audience groups over 45.Stephanie:Oh, interesting.Nik:So it might just even be something as simple as a shift in your creative to reach [crosstalk 00:27:11].Stephanie:Yeah. I wonder why that would be the case.Nik:Everybody aspires to be better looking or younger or smoother skin or whatever it may be. And that might be a reason. I think another way though too is thinking through just the ease of how something as simple like your website functions. How easy is it for somebody to come in and shop? I always send landing pages or websites to my mom. She'll look through it and be like, "This is confusing," or she'll be like, "This is perfect. It was one click and I was in the cart." And so we always go for the ladder as the goal. But the other thing too is like... One thing I always say is you got to treat your customers like Kim Kardashian on the red carpet and you're her assistant, right? The brand is the assistant. So you can't expect your customer, you can't expect them to go browse around your site and learn about your brand and learn why they need your brand, or how your brand is going to make their life better, or the deal that they might be able to get, or the coupon.Nik:There's so many brands that they clearly offer coupons when you Google, for example, like... I don't know. If you Google like... we'll say Jetblack because they're not a business. If you Google Jetblack coupon, there's probably 17 coupon sites that have a 10% or a 20% off coupon. But what you do is you now create an opportunity for somebody to leave the experience of checking out to go find that coupon. There's a good chance to just get distracted and never come back versus something as simple as like... Basically, what I'm trying to say is you want to create everything or you want to put everything in one simple experience so that somebody who has no time, somebody who has no patience, somebody you could assume they don't have the knowledge of how to navigate a site can basically come to your site and get what they need and they know why they're getting it and just create something really easy to use.Stephanie:Yep, yeah. I think frictionless shopping is the way of the future. The one thing about coupons though, I feel like they're just dangerous. Like you said, you leave the site... I know I used to back in the day, go through all these coupon codes and then I'd really get annoyed because none of them are working, all of them were expired. And yeah, it's still feels like there's room even on a website to be like, "You will never find coupons outside of our website. So don't try. Don't go looking around, don't go testing like 1,000 different codes. You'll find nothing. It's only here."Nik:Totally. The other thing too is like then you have companies like Honey, the browser extension, which are basically fraud companies, in my opinion, or scammy companies. And if you don't create something of an offer for let's say you run a... let's just say a beverage brand called Three Stars, and somebody comes to the Three Stars' site and they want to buy a variety pack because they're a new customer and they want to try the flavors. When they get to the checkout and they see, "Oh, there is no discount. Oh, but Honey says..." The Honey thing pops up and you click it because you're hopeful that there's a discount. Even if Honey generates no discount, Honey is going to refresh the page and now that becomes a 10% affiliate cut. The brand is paying the Honey without them even realizing it. The customer is not getting any value out of it. But because you didn't create the opportunity for them to check out without having to use Honey, you're now going to end up paying Honey 10% if they have it installed.Stephanie:Interesting. I hadn't realized that's how it [crosstalk 00:31:03].Nik:Yeah. Honey is a really scammy business. It's really scammy for brands.Stephanie:Oh, geez.Nik:I hate Honey with a passion.Stephanie:Oh my goodness. I actually think we had someone from Honey the long time ago before our commerce show was even live in the world. We had, I think, their COO on one of our other shows, Mission Daily. So if anyone's interested, go check out [inaudible 00:31:24].Nik:Yeah. It's a genius business model for them. Basically without showing the customer or without really showing the brand, they're just ripping 10% off of every purchase. And if you're selling like a $400 emergency kit, that's 40 bucks that they're making for everybody who just has an extension installed, but it's-Stephanie:And the brands can't control that, or they can't say-Nik:No, they can now. When I saw it, I went to them and said, "You guys, you're basically just taking credit for everything you're not driving." And they're like, "Oh, well, it's just the way that Honey works. We drive a lot of traffic." And I'm like, "No, you don't." So then we just shut them off. They just don't get paid now, even though they can still be used.Stephanie:Oh, interesting. So when thinking about outside of coupons, but more ways to connect with different users, what do you think about catalogs? Because we had a good discussion, I think, many episodes ago with one of the execs at Marine Layer, and she was talking about how great catalogs work for them. I haven't heard many people talk about it. So it seems like there's still an opportunity there though with so many people now working from home. I know I get excited about mail that's actually fun to look at and helpful. So how do you advise your brands on connecting with an audience through catalogs or paper mail?Nik:Personally, I'm a fan. I think it's a sign of luxury when I get a catalog, whether it's from a company like Buck Mason or Todd Snyder or [inaudible 00:33:06], like it's definitely a sign of luxury. The catalogs themselves are printed on very nice and chic paper. I think it just adds to the overall experience of being a customer at those brands. At the same time, if you're a brand that's just starting and you don't have the capital means to do it, I think there's ways you can create digital catalogs for fairly cheap and have them be digital experiences.Stephanie:Yep. When you have a catalog, I've heard some brands optimize for experience and fun and more of like a branding play versus others are focused on send them back to the website, get the conversion. How do you think about optimizing a catalog to work well?Nik:Well, I think it's two ways. One, you got to feature products that I think people want. So if your spring collection is 250 pieces of clothing or 250 different SKUs, maybe you feature the 27 that people really want. But then secondly, I think from a messaging standpoint, it's got to really make you salivate when you're going through it. That was [crosstalk 00:34:36].Stephanie:Like Trader Joe's catalog.Nik:Yeah. That was one of my favorite things about... Do you remember SkyMall?Stephanie:Yeah, yup.Nik:SkyMall just made you want to buy everything in that magazine because everything was like, "Oh, a random flashlight for under my desk chair. Sure. That now seems like something I totally need."Stephanie:Yep, yep, I agree. I just saw something in a catalog that I actually ended up buying. It's a... What is it? A candle lighter, but it's not like a big flame thing. It's operated by battery. It has this really long stick on the end and it's intense, it's awesome. Everyone should check it out. We'll link it up in our show notes. But I bought that from a catalog because it was showing it going inside a really deep candle. I was convinced. And it's amazing.Nik:Yeah, no, totally. It's all about like building... You want to build a use case for somebody to go tell their friends why they bought what they bought from you. That's like the best way to market.Stephanie:I think you also have to have good paper quality though.Nik:100%.Stephanie:I hate the catalogs that come with just like icky, thin paper, and it's just 1,000 pages and I'm like, "It doesn't feel curated. Just every thing is here. I don't even know how to look through this in a way that makes sense for me," versus the ones that are just 10 pages. It's what you want to look at, or just the best thing that feels like it's personalized, even though it's probably not. I'm okay with that as long as it feels high quality.Nik:Totally.Stephanie:Let's jump over to a little bit higher level ecommerce question of where do you guys think ecommerce as a whole and D2C is headed over the next couple of years? What are you preparing for right now, or what big thing?Nik:Well, I think that ecommerce, as a whole, is going... There's been a ton of innovation this past year and the year prior, both on the side of operations, things like understanding you can't blow cash on acquiring customers, all the way to understanding how to optimize shipping costs or manufacturing costs or even using tools like Settle, which let you basically hack your cash flow. I think, to be honest, over the next year or two, it's just going to be a lot of growth in the category across many different categories that maybe thought they weren't going to be ecommerce. Everything from sitting at a restaurant and now... Obviously, we see QR codes everywhere, at least in major cities, at restaurants for scanning and getting the menu.Nik:I think we're going to see that you're going to start paying your bill through Apple Pay after you order your meal, all the way to things like better experiences with packaging and unboxing or just how you learn about a brand for the first time after you buy it. But I think there's also going to be a rise in things like marketplaces. There's a company that I just joined called The Fascination. And basically, the entire idea behind The Fascination is to take a lot of these cream of the crop direct to consumer CPG brands that are independently trying to acquire the same customer and basically put them together, create content around it, and create shoppable content.Nik:So, for example, if you have a daughter who's moving to... I don't even know if people are going to be going to college next year. But let's say she's going to college next year, and it's like the ultimate list of things you need for your dorm, it's got your mattress topper, it's got your pillows, your comforter, it's got your desk lamp, it's got organizers. You would be able to basically shop all of this in one page with one checkout through The Fascination. And on the back end, all these brands are getting orders basically pushed into their order queues. The Fascination basically just takes a tiny cut, like an affiliate. But the brands own the customer, they own the relationship with their customers, they have the ability to remarket to those customers. And The Fascination acts as a front of acquiring the customer and now selling maybe eight things at once.Stephanie:Oh, that sounds really cool. I think that's much needed with so many new brands popping up right now too. It just feels like sometimes I don't even know who to trust and who's actually got their back end filled out. Is this just the landing page that they're testing out to see if people actually want a product that they haven't even developed yet? So it seems like it's needed to have a trusting source like that to say, "These are some of the best brands and we've verified them and you've got customer service here and we're reputable and blah, blah, blah."Nik:Yeah. And that's another thing too is there are a lot of sketchy brands that have launched because the barrier to entry is so low. What The Fascination is trying to do is basically the same way you have like a kosher sticker on food items or a gluten-free sticker that's very universally known. I think they're going to basically try to do the same thing, but for four brands.Stephanie:That's awesome. Yeah. I will have to check that company out, maybe bring them on the show. Sounds like [crosstalk 00:42:39].Nik:Yeah, yeah. They would be a great one to bring on.Stephanie:Yep. The other trend I'm excited to watch this next year is last mile and see how that evolves, especially with the food delivery companies and the DoorDash and Grubhubs of the world starting to actually just work with local retailers to fulfill last mile deliveries. And I think that whole industry is about to have a big evolution. So that'll be an interesting one to watch.Nik:Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I mean companies like Ohi or even FastAF, they're doing some pretty awesome things when it comes to last mile delivery.Stephanie:Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yep, yeah. I agree. All right. Well, let's move over to the lightning round. The lightning round is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. This is where I'm going to ask you a question and you have a minute or less to answer. Are you ready, Nik?Nik:I'm ready.Stephanie:All right. What's up next on your reading list?Nik:Ooh, I would say the book Supermaker by Jaime Schmidt.Stephanie:Oh, that's a good one. Yep, sounds good. What is your favorite business book that you refer back to?Nik:Atomic Habits.Stephanie:And you're on it. You're like, "Are you top of mind? I got this great." Sounds great. What topic or trend do you not understand today that you wish you did?Nik:Bitcoin.Stephanie:I've had a couple of people say that. What's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for you.Nik:The nicest thing anybody's ever done for me is-Stephanie:I had to stump you. You were too on it. You were too lightning.Nik:Yeah, that's a good question. Honestly, my favorite is when just people just reach out randomly and say, "Hey, how's your day?"Stephanie:You like that? Sometimes I'm like-Nik:I love it.Stephanie:... "What do you want? Get to the point."Nik:Yeah. Well, sometimes you can tell when people have a reason for asking. But when a genuine friend just texts you out of the blue and just says, "Hey, how's your day going?" It's always nice to know.Stephanie:Yep, yep. Okay, a friend. I thought you meant just like a random Twitter person.Nik:Oh, no, no, no.Stephanie:I'll get messages on Twitter like-Nik:No, no, no, a good friend.Stephanie:... "Hi, how are you?" I'm like, "What? Who are you? Why are you asking me how I am?" That's weird. Ah, 2020. What's up next in your travel destinations when you can travel again? Where do you want to go?Nik:I want to go to Jamaica actually with a friend of mine, Chris Hall, and a few of his friends. He's got a pretty good setup there in Jamaica for quick trips out there. So I'm looking forward to hopefully in February maybe go there for a few days and just unplug from work.Stephanie:Oh, that sounds fun. Chris, bring me out there as well. That'd be great. What's up next on your Netflix queue?Nik:Ooh, actually there was... I forget the name of the comedian, Andrew Schulz maybe. He just launched a stand up. I saw it yesterday and I added it to my list. So that's next up on my queue.Stephanie:Oh, that sounds good. I'll have to check it out. If you like it, I'll check it out. What are you most excited about to add to your fridge next?Nik:Ooh, that's a good question. There's a beverage that we are launching called Barcode in-Stephanie:Barcode.Nik:... Q1 next year. It's with the former head trainer of the New York Knicks, who's also a big celebrity trainer, as well as with Kyle Kuzma, who's a championship Lakers player. It's basically a healthier version of Gatorade and it tastes incredible and it's got everything. It's like everything he would prescribe or give to his athletes, but bottled up in one drink.Stephanie:Oh, that sounds good because I do like Gatorade. But then when I'm drinking, I'm like, "I know this isn't good for me."Nik:It's horrible for you.Stephanie:Yeah, it is delightful though.Nik:It is.Stephanie:All right. And then the last one, if you were to have a podcast, what would it be about and who would your first guest be?Nik:I've actually been thinking about this recently. It would probably be about the struggles of commerce that people go through. So it would only be focused on problems people have had in their business, not the successes and not focused on people who've successfully exited. It is strictly focused on people who have, for example, not figured out how something works or how they're going to get through something. I don't know why, but I always keep thinking my first guest is going to be Paul, who's the founder of Prose, which is a haircare brand.Stephanie:Okay. I think that sounds great. I love stories like that, where people can actually learn something and because there's so many... Any media article is always like, "Oh, here's the end result. And now, they're a billion dollar company. Oh, and they exited, Oh, they got acquired." It's like, well, what actually happened where they failed because I don't want to fail too and I know they have some kind of knowledge of things that I could avoid, that's why I love biographies and stuff because you can read it and essentially accelerate your knowledge through that person's life and hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls they went through.Nik:Totally. And not only that, but also then for all the people listening who might be starting a business, or might be getting themselves into a position where they're not really sure what to do, it almost becomes an encyclopedia where, "Oh, Paul had no clue where to get you pumps at low MOQs for his shampoo bottles. How did he figure out what they were and where he could find them and not get ripped off?"Stephanie:Yep, yep, yeah, or I always love the stories when people are going overseas to find manufacturers and hearing things that they encounter. I forget what brand we were talking to on the show where they... I went into one of the warehouses and they were selling apparel and they were like... and all of the employees were smoking and all the stuff smelled like smoke. It's like I would have never realized that unless I actually went over there and was doing an audit before moving forward with one of them.Nik:Yeah, totally.Stephanie:Very cool. Well, Nik, thanks so much for coming on the show and sharing all your knowledge. Where can people find out more about you and Sharma Brands?Nik:The easiest is my website, which is just nsharma.co, or the second easiest which I read every tweet, every message is my Twitter @mrsharma.Stephanie:Awesome. Yeah, just go to Nik and say, "Hi, how are you?"Nik:Exactly.Stephanie:All right. Thanks so much, Nik.Nik:Thank you.

Dr. Stacey Philpot (Executive Development Consulting) discusses the ways companies are shifting how they think about leadership (0:52)Lisa Bougie shares how Stitch Fix assessed for people, values, and leadership (2:56)Jodi Bricker's approach to shaping culture at Quay Australia (5:09)Serilda Summers-McGee on building healthy, inclusive workplace cultures (6:30)Kristi McFarland explores the value of strong community at New Seasons (7:36)Trip Randall's advice for avoiding hiring mistakes (8:42)The two main qualities Aimée Lapic (GoPro) looks for in candidates (11:43)Jaime Schmidt on hiring at a fast-growing company (12:43)Why Scott Allan hired overqualified talent at Hydro Flask (14:09)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more information about this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazonGoogle

The future of commerce is local. It's human-centric. It's all about community. Today, Kristen sits down with Jaime Schmidt, Founder of Schmidt's Naturals, a personal care brand that has now been acquired by Unilever and Helena Price Hambrecht, Founder and CEO of Haus, a wildly popular DTC aperitif brand to talk about this shift towards connection. You'll hear how these two founders grew their brands through grassroots, localized marketing and how to truly serve your customers above all else. Plus, Jaime and Helena share their stories of failure, fear, and perseverance.

10-years-ago, Jaime Schmidt started making natural deodorant in her Portland kitchen to sell locally at farmers’ markets.Now, Schmidt’s Naturals can be found in stores all over the world.In today’s episode we talk with Jaime about her journey with Schmidt’s Naturals, hiring, manufacturing, distribution, and much more.This is a great listen for entrepreneurs all across the board.The 5-Minute Ecommerce Email Marketing HackStop leaving money on the table. Without great email marketing, you're missing out on 6-7 figures per year of revenue and profit.Download this checklist, go through it, and in less than 5 minutes you'll know exactly what you need to do to increase your email revenue.This is our secret sauce and we're giving it all away for free, no strings attached.Click here to download the checklist for free.Links:Q4Method.comWavebreakPrivate email list for ecommerce leadersSupermaker WebsiteColor Capital WebsiteBook an intro callLearn more about WavebreakThis episode is sponsored by...Klaviyo — Over 10,000 innovative brands are growing their businesses by listening and understanding to cues from their customers--easily turning that information into valuable marketing messages used to build highly segmented, automated email campaigns, such as win back campaigns or abandoned cart emails and more.Justuno - The best tool for conversion rate optimization is Justuno. Justuno customers see a 135% lift in revenue in the first year of using the platform thanks to features like their AI-powered upsells and cross-sells, and advanced targeting rules for tailored promotions to high-intent traffic segments. Sign up for a free trial and get 20% off your first year by using code WAVEBREAK.

If you don't know the name Jamie Schmidt, then you don't know Schmidt. But you probably do know the line of natural deodorant and products that she created, Schmidt. For a long time, it was the only natural deodorant that worked and smelled good. Wanting to use cleaner products, Jamie started that as a project out of her kitchen while she was pregnant with her son. She grew it into a company with 160 employees and brought in a reported $45 million in revenue all within seven years. On today’s podcast, Jaime tells Scott Evans the story of how she quit her job, drove cross country, and discovered a recipe that would change everything.

Jaime has been recognized by Ernst & Young's Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year, Inc.'s Female Founders 100, and twice by Goldman Sachs' 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs. Her story has been covered by Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, FOX News, NBC's Today, Well+Good, and more.Jaime Schmidt, founder of Schmidt's Naturals. She is now co-founder of the investment firm Color, co-founder of the business media company Supermaker, and author of the forthcoming book, SUPERMAKER: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms, the “secret sauce for launching and executing a successful business plan” and “a must-read for emerging entrepreneurs" according to Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran.

Jaime Schmidt is the founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, the natural personal care brand that she scaled from kitchen to acquisition by Unilever in 2017. In the process, Jaime led a movement of modern brands bringing naturals to the mainstream. Today, the brand is sold in over 30 countries and 30,000 retailers, and Jaime continues to support their global expansion.Aside from Schmidt’s, Jaime also runs Color, an investment firm that invests directly in emerging founders, primarily women and people of color. In April of this year, she released her new book, “Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms,” which follows the growth of the brand and serves as a blueprint for those hoping to scale into a financially successful business.We had a blast getting to know Jaime and sharing her founder story from growing up in a small town in Michigan to pioneering a global movement of natural products.SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER & STAY UPDATED > http://bit.ly/tfh-newsletterFOLLOW TFH ON INSTAGRAM > http://www.instagram.com/thefounderhourFOLLOW TFH ON TWITTER > http://www.twitter.com/thefounderhourINTERESTED IN BECOMING A SPONSOR? EMAIL US > partnerships@thefounderhour.com

Before she changed the world and sold her natural deodorant company for millions of dollars, Jaime Schmidt was a mom mixing batches of essential oils and botanicals in her kitchen, making the rounds at farmer’s markets in Portland, OR, and trying to create something of a unicorn: Natural deodorant that really works. How she cracked the code—and turned her business into a powerful brand—is the fascinating story we explore on the newest episode of The Beauty Closet podcast. (For more, see The Beauty Closet hub.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kathryn interviews Founder of Schmidt's Naturals Jaime Schmidt, author of “Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms.” She tells the story of her founding and growing Schmidt's Naturals, with tangible business advice for creators and entrepreneurs looking to scale their own passion projects. Schmidt's story has been covered by Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, FOX News, NBC's Today, Well+Good and more. Kathryn also interviews NY Times Bestselling Author & Journalist Jeffrey Selingo, author of “Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions.” He presents a complicated truth, showing that who gets in is more frequently about the college's agenda than about the applicant. Selingo's writing has appeared in The Washington Post, NY Times, The Atlantic and WSJ. He's the bestselling author of There Is Life After College and College (Un)Bound.

Kathryn interviews Founder of Schmidt's Naturals Jaime Schmidt, author of “Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms.” She tells the story of her founding and growing Schmidt's Naturals, with tangible business advice for creators and entrepreneurs looking to scale their own passion projects. Schmidt's story has been covered by Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, FOX News, NBC's Today, Well+Good and more. Kathryn also interviews NY Times Bestselling Author & Journalist Jeffrey Selingo, author of “Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions.” He presents a complicated truth, showing that who gets in is more frequently about the college's agenda than about the applicant. Selingo's writing has appeared in The Washington Post, NY Times, The Atlantic and WSJ. He's the bestselling author of There Is Life After College and College (Un)Bound.

Kathryn interviews Founder of Schmidt's Naturals Jaime Schmidt, author of “Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms.” She tells the story of her founding and growing Schmidt's Naturals, with tangible business advice for creators and entrepreneurs looking to scale their own passion projects. Schmidt's story has been covered by Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, FOX News, NBC's Today, Well+Good and more. Kathryn also interviews NY Times Bestselling Author & Journalist Jeffrey Selingo, author of “Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions.” He presents a complicated truth, showing that who gets in is more frequently about the college's agenda than about the applicant. Selingo's writing has appeared in The Washington Post, NY Times, The Atlantic and WSJ. He's the bestselling author of There Is Life After College and College (Un)Bound.

Kathryn interviews Founder of Schmidt's Naturals Jaime Schmidt, author of “Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms.” She tells the story of her founding and growing Schmidt's Naturals, with tangible business advice for creators and entrepreneurs looking to scale their own passion projects. Schmidt's story has been covered by Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, FOX News, NBC's Today, Well+Good and more. Kathryn also interviews NY Times Bestselling Author & Journalist Jeffrey Selingo, author of “Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions.” He presents a complicated truth, showing that who gets in is more frequently about the college's agenda than about the applicant. Selingo's writing has appeared in The Washington Post, NY Times, The Atlantic and WSJ. He's the bestselling author of There Is Life After College and College (Un)Bound.

In 2010, Jaime Schmidt founded personal care company Schmidt's Naturals in Portland, Oregon — right in her very own kitchen. She scaled her company and 7 years later, sold it to legacy brand Unilever. But, if you've been listening to our podcast, you know we won't be focusing on that highlight reel. In this episode, Jaime talks to me about the things that didn't go well in her journey, including a lot of self doubt that she battled before making a 9-figure exit! She'll also share with us her life post-Schmidt's — which now involves supporting underrepresented founders through her investment fund, Color.--Love the podcast? Rate and leave us a review!Follow Liz on Instagram:@lizbohannon@ssekodesignsThis podcast is produced by Hueman Group Media. Follow us on @sincerelyhueman.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pluckingup/message Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When she was 31 years old and eight months pregnant, Jaime Schmidt unknowingly began building what would become the industry-leading natural personal care company, Schmidt's Naturals. Her experiences from maker to magnate eventually culminated in her future endeavors, including co-founding Color, a contemporary investment firm, and most recently, Supermaker—a media company and the title of Jaime's new book. The latter chronicles Jaime's experiences and expertise in building a better way to business in our constantly-changing landscape. In this interview, Jaime shared more about her entrepreneurial journey, the process of writing Supermaker, and what she's learned about leading with value in the businesses she's built and the stories she's told. This episode also opens with a story contributed by Megan Zink of Color and Curiosity.

Jaime Schmidt, Schmidt’s Naturals Sold to Unilever ($9figure deal), Author Supermaker, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year by

Entrepreneurship isn’t easy. That’s something that Jaime Schmidt, founder of Schmidt’s Naturals knows all too well. Jaime is a multi-passionate entrepreneur who after partnering her business with Unilever, went on to start another company and an investment fund to support other founders. Jaime bootstrapped her business for many years and in this episode, she shares the lessons she learned along the way, her biggest pain points and what kept her going. She talks about the importance to her of staying grounded and being aligned with what she does. She also gives us the inside scoop on her new book, Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms. What’s in this episode: What it means for Jaime to craft a life she loves Why she decided to move and make a change How she continued to explore and search for her passion  Her turning point where she realized her personal care products could be a big business How Jaime felt going through the process of taking her business to the next level The progression of her company growing through word of mouth Pain points she reached as she grew her business What kept her going as an entrepreneur Why she wanted to build her brand without taking on investors Her experience of getting approached by companies to sell Schmidt’s Naturals What made her decide to partner with another company Why she started her business, Supermaker The most common pain points she see’s female entrepreneurs going through How she stays grounded and aligned with her values Her non-negotiables for her daily life How she bases her decisions on what’s best for herself and her family Why she started an investment fund to help support other founders    About Jaime:Jaime Schmidt is an entrepreneur and the founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, a brand of natural personal care products that she started in her kitchen in Portland, Oregon in 2010. Jaime is known for modernizing natural personal care products, including the customer-favorite deodorant, and bringing them to the mainstream market. Under her leadership, Schmidt’s grew into a household name lining the shelves of retailers including Target, Costco, Whole Foods, Walmart and CVS across 30 countries. In 2017, Schmidt’s partnered with CPG giant Unilever, with Jaime continuing as the brand’s founder and spokesperson. Today, Jaime is focusing her efforts on helping emerging entrepreneurs pursue their own dreams. In June 2019, Jaime launched Supermaker, an editorial-driven platform that celebrates diverse, independent brands and creators, and hosts conversations that empower progressive values in the workplace. She has also authored the book Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms, releasing April 2020 in partnership with Chronicle Books. Additionally, Jaime is the co-founder of Color, an investment portfolio that supports diverse and underrepresented founders, and co-owner of local entrepreneurial collective Portland Made. She is regularly profiled in prominent business media including Inc., Entrepreneur, Forbes and Fast Company. Jaime is an inaugural member of the Inc. Founders Project and has also been recognized as 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs (Goldman Sachs, 2017 & 2018), PNW Entrepreneur of the Year (Ernst & Young, 2017), Inc.’s Female Founders 100, and the Create & Cultivate 100.   Connect With Jaime:Website | Instagram | Twitter Links:Supermaker Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms by Jaime Schmidt Hope you’ve enjoyed this episode! Would love to hear from you. What is one thing you can do with the wisdom and guidance you’ve extracted from this episode to make a positive and lasting change in your own life? Connect with me on social media. You can find me @amytangerine on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and pretty much anywhere. If you’re enjoying this podcast, please rate and review on iTunes, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and let your friends know about it too! The more we spread the creativity and happiness that comes from pursuing our passions, the better off our amazing community will be. Hope you feel uplifted, energized and inspired.

In 2010, Jaime Schmidt founded personal care company Schmidt’s Naturals in Portland, Oregon — right in her very own kitchen. She scaled her company and 7 years later, sold it to legacy brand Unilever. But, if you’ve been listening to our podcast, you know we won't be focusing on that highlight reel. In this episode, Jaime talks to me about the things that didn’t go well in her journey, including a lot of self doubt that she battled before making a 9-figure exit! She’ll also share with us her life post-Schmidt’s — which now involves supporting underrepresented founders through her investment fund, Color. -- Love the podcast? Rate and leave us a review! Follow Liz on Instagram: @lizbohannon @ssekodesigns This podcast is produced by Hueman Group Media. Follow us on @sincerelyhueman. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pluckingup/message

Barbara Corcoran from Shark Tank had this to say about Jaime Schmidt's book SUPERMAKER: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms: "SUPERMAKER contains the secret sauce for launching and executing a successful business plan. It's a MUST read for emerging Entrepreneurs."Jaime Schimidt founded Schmidt's Naturals in her Portland, Oregon kitchen in 2010, and led the company to acquisition by Unilever in December 2017 - WOW! Jaime has since launched the progressive platform Supermaker, https://supermaker.com/ and the inclusive investment fund Color, https://color.capital/What an incredible journey and this interview highlights some key lessons learned during the journey.Thank you for listening to this edition of the Business Builders Show with Marty Wolff. This show is a production of Business Builders Media LLC, businessbuildersmedia.com . Business Builders Media gives entrepreneurs and business leaders the tools they need to have their voices heard! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jaime Schmidt, Schmidt's Naturals Sold to Unilever ($9figure deal), Author Supermaker, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year by

Jaime Schmidt is an entrepreneur and the founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, a brand of natural personal care products that she started in her kitchen. Feeling unfulfilled in her career and seeking purpose for most of her life, Jaime was exploring different hobbies with the hopes that she would find her passion. In 2010, Jaime was pregnant with her son and was experimenting with making her own natural, non-toxic products that would be safe for her to use. After exploring different recipes, she soon created a natural deodorant that “actually worked” and that’s when Schmidt’s Naturals was born. Jaime grew the company from farmers' market tables to a household name that lined the shelves of CVS, Target, Costco, Whole Foods and Walmart. Under Jaime’s leadership, the company was in over 14,000 stores in 30 countries, with year over year growth at 300%. After seven years of running her company, Jaime sold Schmidt’s Naturals to Unilever for a reported nine-figures.Jaime is dedicated to building better businesses and recently launched two new ventures: Supermaker, a media platform that celebrates emerging entrepreneurs, and Color, an inclusive investment fund that supports diverse and underrepresented founders. In this episode, we’ll talk to Jaime about: * Jaime shares her early entrepreneurial path as a child & family values around money and savings [2:38]* Why she decided to leave her corporate job and take time off to soul search & find her new career path [5:15]* Jaime walks through different hobbies she was pursuing to help find her passion & why becoming pregnant was her biggest motivator [7:50]* Jaime shares her business journey in selling natural deodorants at Farmers Markets and when she realized she had a big business opportunity in front of her [10:33] * Jaime shares how she garnered a support system which helped her build a business in an industry she had no experience in [14:08]* How Jaime grew the business without raising any money [15:30]* Jaime’s discusses how persistence and relentlessness was part of her successful retail strategy [17:56] * Key tips in dealing with competitors in your industry [20:15]* Jaime talks about her acquisition story and how she felt when she sold her business for nine-figures [22:16]* Jaime talks about how she is supporting and investing in the next generation of entrepreneurs [25:52] * Why getting pregnant and officially launching her business was the best decision she ever made [28:06]* Key business advice she shares with new entrepreneurs [33:10] Follow Jaime:* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaimeschmidt/* Website: https://jaimeschmidt.info/References: * Schmidt's Naturals: https://schmidts.com/* Color: https://color.capital/* Supermarker: https://supermaker.com/* Jaime’s latest book: https://supermaker.com/bookFollow Yasmin:* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/* Stay updated & subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.behindherempire.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, CII General Counsel Jeff Mahoney interviews Jaime J. Schmidt, Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business on her recent research paper, "Have Critical Audit Matter Disclosures Indirectly Benefitted Investors by Constraining Earnings Management? Evidence from Tax Accounts."

Back in 2010, Jaime Schmidt, founder of Schmidt's Naturals, started making natural products in her Portland kitchen. She was pregnant at the time and her goal was to create a healthy deodorant that not only smelled great but had clean ingredients, and actually worked. Listen in as Jaime discusses her entrepreneurial journey - from making batches of 20 deodorants on her kitchen stovetop to eventually storming the shelves of CVS, Walmart, Costco, and Whole Foods. Plus, you'll hear about Jaime and her husband Chris' new ventures with Supermaker, an inclusive media company built for makers, startups, and creators; and Color, an investment fund that supports entrepreneurs largely excluded from the venture financing system.Show HighlightsUsing clean products while pregnantSelling out of mason jars at farmer's markets  Unique packaging and fragrance namesIn-house manufacturing on her stovetop DTC money to put back into the business Limited edition scents to appeal to customers‘Say yes now then figure out how'Heritage brands watching Schmidt's Selling Schmidt's Jaime's new book, Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own TermsCreator of Supermaker and Color with husband Chris Supporting Schmidt's international expansion COVID-19 impactResourcesJaime WebsiteJaime's TwitterJaime's InstagramSupermakerColor

About this episode Jaime Schmidt started Schmidt's Naturals after attending a local recreational class on how to make shampoo. From that class, she grew Schmidt's Naturals to the point that Unilever bought Schmidt's Naturals just seven years from when she started. Since Jaime's sale of Schmidt's Naturals to Unilever, she continues to represent the brand as an ambassador. However, she is now working on two new ventures, her book, Supermaker, is set to be released in the Fall. And she is also the co-founder of Color, an inclusive funding for early-stage consumer brands venture capital company. Both are centered around elevating the entrepreneurial story for makers and underrepresented founders. I am so excited for you to hear this episode of The Startup Story podcast because I love Jaime's story, and I think you will too. Her story paints a complete picture of how incredible entrepreneurship can genuinely be. This is Jaime Schmidt's startup story. In this episode, you'll hear: How entrepreneurship seemed to come naturally to Jaime, from having the best lemonade stand on the block to providing neighbors laminated ‘save the date' cards weeks in advance of a lemonade sale. Her business-savvy expanded to babysitting during her preteen years. Her parents' encouragement to save half of her earnings enabled Jaime to buy her first car. How growing up, attending college was expected as the next step, so even though Jaime had no clear path in mind, she attended Michigan State University. She chose a business degree with a focus in Human Resources because she did enjoy working with people. Her first employer paid for continuing education, which enabled her to get a Masters Degree in Sociology. Unfulfilled by Human Resources, Jaime took time off to figure out what she wanted to do with her life and her career. About the fateful Google search, which led Jaime to a shampoo making class, the class inspired her creative side and competitive side. After creating her shampoos and products, she eventually began to sell at Farmers Markets and used customer feedback to perfect them. Jaime describes her business journey and how she was able to enter the retail market as a result of being in Farmers Markets. The growth of her company: manufacturing in her kitchen, to eventually moving to a larger manufacturing space to create products for large retailers. Why she thinks inserting some of your own story into your brand is necessary; and what she says she would do differently. What she is doing now: including the release of her book, Supermaker, and the work she is doing with the Color. “I have never been the type to look too far ahead. I just took every single day at a time and decided that I would NEVER say no to anything.” – Jaime Schmidt, Schmidt's Naturals Resources from this episode Schmidt's Naturals - https://schmidts.com/ Jaime on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/JaimeSchmidt/ Schmidt's Naturals on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/schmidtsnaturals/ Jaime's book, Supermaker: Crafting Business On Your Own Terms, is scheduled to be released on September 8th. If you register for Startup Story LIVE at http://startupstorylive.com you will receive a very special offer for her book! Color Capital - https://color.capital/ The Startup Story LIVE - Virtual Conference: http://startupstorylive.com The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Contact him today at https://emeraldcitypro.com/startupstory Special Guest: Jaime Schmidt.

Jaime Schmidt is Founder of Schmidt's Naturals, the natural personal care brand that she scaled from her kitchen to acquisition by Unilever in 2017. Today, the brand is sold in over 30 countries and 30,000 retailers, and Jaime continues to support their global expansion. Since Schmidt’s breakthrough, Jaime has focused her efforts on enabling other entrepreneurs to pursue their own visions for a better future, and empowering the next generation of consumer brands. Through her inclusive investment firm, Color, Jaime invests directly in emerging founders, primarily women and people of color. Links Website Color Schmidt's Twitter Credits Music by Jeff Kaale (1, 2, 3, 4) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yfm/message

Jaime Schmidt is the Founder of industry-disrupting brand Schmidt's Naturals. With Schmidt's, she brought natural personal care products into the mainstream and scaled the company from kitchen to acquisition.Jaime is dedicated to building better businesses and recently launched two new ventures: Supermaker, a media platform that celebrates emerging entrepreneurs, and Color, an inclusive investment fund. You can learn more about Jaime at jaimeschmidt.infoHighlights from our conversation include:Retracing Jaime's entrepreneurial path (1:58)How she knew it was time to scale Schmidt's (5:27)Key hires that helped her grow her company (8:15)The unique challenges of recruiting for a startup (11:05)How she evaluated candidates beyond their resumes (11:40)The process of defining and assessing for Schmidt's culture (18:44)The management and hiring structure behind Schmidt's (20:27)Partnering with Unilever (24:50)Her new projects aimed at supporting entrepreneurs (26:13)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.

Jaime Schmidt is the Founder of industry-disrupting brand Schmidt’s Naturals. With Schmidt’s, she brought natural personal care products into the mainstream and scaled the company from kitchen to acquisition. Jaime is dedicated to building better businesses and recently launched two new ventures: Supermaker, a media platform that celebrates emerging entrepreneurs, and Color, an inclusive investment fund. You can learn more about Jaime at jaimeschmidt.info Highlights from our conversation include: Retracing Jaime’s entrepreneurial path (1:58) How she knew it was time to scale Schmidt’s (5:27) Key hires that helped her grow her company (8:15) The unique challenges of recruiting for a startup (11:05) How she evaluated candidates beyond their resumes (11:40) The process of defining and assessing for Schmidt’s culture (18:44) The management and hiring structure behind Schmidt’s (20:27) Partnering with Unilever (24:50) Her new projects aimed at supporting entrepreneurs (26:13) Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode. Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.

In episode one of Supermaker Radio, we follow Jaime's growth from market stand to global brand. The result is a riveting mix of inspiration, the honest airing of mistakes, and indispensable business and career advice on branding, product development, sales, mar­keting, manufacturing, public relations, and customer engagement.Speaking directly to founders and creatives who are ready to go from maker to magnate, Supermaker is poised to galvanize the future of entrepreneurship.

Jaime Schmidt is the Founder of Schmidt's Naturals and it was great to have Jaime rejoin the podcast. In this episode we discuss life since the acquisition of Schmidt's by Unilever and Jaime's new projects: the investment fund Color and the new editorial site, Supermaker.

Did you ever wonder “should I make the switch to natural deodorant?” There’s a lot to unpack with this topic so we partnered with Schmidt’s Naturals founder Jaime Schmidt to debunk the biggest myths around natural deodorant and how to find one that really works for you.   She first started selling her hand-crafted deodorants, formulated without aluminum or artificial fragrances at a farmer’s market in Seattle in 2010; fast-forward nearly a decade later and she’s now rolling out to almost every mass-market retailer and just announced a new partnership with Justin Bieber (!!) for a collaboration called Here + Now, expected sometime in late 2019.    We debunk loads of myths with Jaime and then stay tuned to the end for some #damngood reviews where we put a bunch of all natural deodorants for women to the test including baking soda-free versions.    Thanks to our show sponsor: Meet the vitamin reinventing the game, Ritual. Better health doesn’t happen overnight, so right now Ritual is offering Breaking Beauty listeners in the US 10% off during your first three months! Visit ritual.com/BEAUTY to start your Ritual today.   *Disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated, all products reviewed are gratis media samples submitted for editorial consideration.*   Hosts: Carlene Higgins and Jill Dunn Theme song, used with permission: Cherry Bomb by Saya
 For any products mentioned in this episode, check out our blog: www.breakingbeautypodcast.com/blog   Get social with us and let us know what you think of the episode! 
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In an all-interview episode, Inc. editors talk to Andreessen Horowitz managing partner Scott Kupor, author of the book Secrets of Sand Hill Road; Jaime Schmidt, founder of  Schmidt’s Naturals; and Craig Combs, owner of Branson Zipline. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an industry that’s left us wanting more, Schmidt's Naturals is committed to raising the bar and setting new standards for natural products. Michelle sits down with Portland based Jamie Schmidt of Schmidt's Naturals, in this episode Jamie shares her story on how she was able to take her business from her in-home kitchen to the shelves of giant retailers like Target and Walmart making natural products more accessible to the masses.  

Jaime Schmidt, founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, created her award-winning natural deodorant when she was pregnant and concerned about the widespread use of unnatural ingredients in deodorant. So she created a better alternative for herself and others. From farmers' market tables, her products—which came to include soaps and toothpaste—stormed the shelves of CVS, Walmart, Costco, and Whole Foods. By 2017, when Schmidt sold her company to Unilever for an undisclosed amount, Schmidt's Naturals was in more than 14,000 stores in over 30 countries, with year-over-year growth of 300 percent. Alli and Michael caught up with Jaime to find out how she turned her hobby into a global company, and why she’s now now investing in fellow entrepreneurs. Keep up with Jaime at @jaimeschmidt22, @schmidtsnaturals, and @colorinvests. And don't forget to follow @alliwebb for #BTS of Raising The Bar and subscribe and rate us!

Jaime Schmidt is one of the best known natural beauty entrepreneurs these days after starting Schmidt's Naturals, a natural deodorant and personal care brand started here in Portland, Oregon. From humble beginnings to award-winning beauty maven, Jaime has learned a lot between her time growing up in Michigan to selling her natural deodorant at the Portland Farmers Market and her eventual partnership with Unilever. Today, we hear all about her winding path to success and what advice she has for young entrepreneurs looking to break into difficult markets. This show is brought to you by the Center for Retail Leadership, inspiring change through collaborative experiences between future thought leaders and industry to design the future of retail. For more updates on the show, or to find out more about the Center for Retail Leadership, visit our website at https://www.pdx.edu/retail-leadership/the-center-for-retail-leadership This podcast was edited by thatCast Creative. Brand your business and connect with your audience with a custom podcast. Learn more at thatCast.com

Jaime Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt's Naturals , joins us again as a special guest host! In this episode, Jaime and Jillian chat with the co-founder and CEO of barre3, Sadie Lincoln. Sadie explains all about the wisdom and psychology behind exercise, and how to enter your exercise with intention. But first, Jillian talks about how to survive red-eye flights and Jaime reveals her ultimate DIY dragon fruit bowl recipe.

Schmidt's Naturals started with humble beginnings before being acquired by Unilever. In this episode, Jaime discusses the early days of starting her company during the maker movement in Portland, her natural DNA of being an entrepreneur, and why she is staying and will be investing in companies in Portland.

Today’s guest Jaime Schmidt, Founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, is a straight up self-made baller. But building a business that changes lives doesn’t come easy, and Jaime gets really raw and open about the fact that she didn’t know what she was doing for the longest time. But after following her heart + intuition to Portland, Jaime found her calling.   Schmidt’s started with a simple mission, changing the way people think about deodorant, but things are blowing up and they are expanding their scope to changing the way people think about natural. Krista + Lindsey have been using Schmidt’s Naturals for a few months now, and they can vouch that this company is really setting the new gold standard for natural body care products.   Jaime is sweet, kind, and funny as hell – and this episode is an absolute blast! We chat about…   Growing up in 1-800-FUN-TOWN How Jaime created a niche in natural body care How the vegan lifestyle + restaurants are starting to blow up Just not feeling right in your job… and then chasing your bliss! Cooking up vegan hot dogs + other service industry jobs When Jaime met her husband almost a decade ago Where the entrepreneurial spirit comes from What products + ingredients Schmidt’s uses Why clean beauty is so important (and the potential health risks of common body care products) Getting these products in as many people’s hands as possible Alicia Silverstone being one of Schmidt’s early influencers When a feature on Fox of all places overwhelmed their shipping system Producing the products in Portland Selling to Unilever Literally going from farmer’s markets to CostCo, with no business plan!! What Jaime has learned in her relationship Jaime’s kid’s product development ideas + strong opinions on fragrances Advice for female entrepreneurs in today’s business environment   Find more to love at almost30podcast.com!   Resources: Check out Schmidt’s | schmidtsnaturals.com Connect with Jaime on IG | @jaimeschmidt22 WOO FOR PLAY | Use code ALMOST30 for 10% off at wooforplay.com CaliFlour Foods | Use code ALMOST30 for 10% off a $50+ purchase at califlourfoods.com Schmidt’s Naturals | Use code ALMOST30 for 20% off at schmidtsnaturals.com Vitruvi | Use code ALMOST30 for 20% off at vitruvi.com Four Sigmatic | Get 15% off your order at foursigmatic.com/almost30 The Almost 30 Podcast is edited by Podcast Masters

Your underarm is the most sensitive area of your body and we talk all about it today with the founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, Jaime Schmidt. We chat about founding her brand, growing her brand, and the origins behind all of the popular Schmidt’s scents,... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jaime Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt's Naturals, drops by to reveal the craziest wellness trends she's tried. But first, hosts Alison McClaran and Jillian Engel talk about trends from Expo West, and later they find out if smiling really does change your mood.

    Schmidt's Naturals was borne from the vision of natural product developer Jaime Schmidt in 2010 during the Maker Movement. With humble beginnings in a Portland, Oregon kitchen, entrepreneurship brought Schmidt's lifetime passion for innovative body care into focus. Motivated to make products that would benefit her family's health, and knowing that the natural deodorant offerings on the market were falling short of consumer expectations, Jaime made it her mission to change the way people think about deodorant. BEHIND THE BEAUTY NEWSLETTER http://bit.ly/2hnGo9L WEBSITE: https://www.behindthebeautypodcast.com FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/behind.the.beauty.podcast/   GUEST: Jamie Schmidt from Schmidt's Naturals    INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/schmidtsnaturals/ YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/schmidtsnaturals TWITTER: https://twitter.com/schmidtsnatural SNAPCHAT: https://www.snapchat.com/add/schmidtsdeo FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/SchmidtsNaturals   ___________________________________   HOST SEREIN WU   YOUTUBE CHANNEL→ http://bit.ly/1JU5PUH   VLOG/LIFESTYLE CHANNEL | https://www.youtube.com/moreserein   INSTAGRAM | SNAPCHAT | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST @SEREINWU   BLOG http://sereinwu.com/    VLOG/LIFESTYLE CHANNEL | https://www.youtube.com/moreserein