In this week’s podcast, I have the lovely Jamie Cross who is a wife, mother of four small boys as well as one on the way, and an 8 figure entrepreneur who runs an organic skincare company – MIG Living and an international movement – the HER effect. We talk all about how Jamie grew her business from the bottom to the top and the story of how Jamie’s business plan came to her.
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
- A successful business is built on solving problems for people.
- It takes a long time to get your product/service right, it is not just an overnight process.
- You may have to go back to the drawing board numerous times before you perfect your product.
- Listen to feedback and what your customers say to make sure your product is right.
- You have to keep going and push through the hard parts.
- It is important to know which phase of your business you are at.
- Understand who you are and what you stand for in your brand.
- You have to know who your target customer is so you can speak to them through your marketing and online presence.
- You don’t have to have amazing packaging/website/labels/logo when you first start out, it is a process.
- Your fortune is in your follow up – repeat purchases are very profitable.
- In order to get yourself out of your business, you’re going to need to hire.
- It takes a lot of work to run a successful business.
- You have to learn, develop and change through your life to progress.
- Action creates clarity and action cures fear.
- If results don’t happen, take it as a learning opportunity.
- You may fail at first, it is natural.
- Look at which areas are draining you as an entrepreneur – those are things you want to eliminate.
THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…
Being a business owner is hard, it takes a lot of work and you have to be patient, but it will all be worth it.
HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN’T MISS
- An introduction to Jamie – 08:09
- Following your business dream – 11:20
- Starting a business – 15:53
- Buying patterns of customers – 26:40
- Replacing yourself in your business – 28:18
- Believing in yourself as an entrepreneur – 35:52
- Hitting 8 figures in business – 38:40
- Growing and running a successful business – 44:35
LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Sign up for my FREE training – How to successfully market your small business.
Check out MIG Living
Transcript below
Teresa: Well, hello there and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. As always I am your host Teresa Heath-Wareing. I used to say that a lot at the beginning, and I didn't say it it's all now, which is funny because surely there's people that are new to the podcast.
Maybe they don't know that I'm the host. Anyway, if that was you, you do now know I'm the host one odd way to start my podcast. But if you are a regular listener you know that you could just be expecting anything, I feel like I wing this most of the time, which I think we do in life. Generally, if I'm honest, I had a call with one of my 90 day people and she was talking about the factors, you know, I don't really know what I'm doing. And I said, I don't know any of us, really do. We just do the best job that we can at winging it. So, uh, yeah, that was a bit of nod start but anyway, how are things, how are you doing? So this week I've got an interview for you, but before we get going, and I tell you about that, I want to tell you about a new free training that I am going to be doing. Which if you followed me for a while, if you've been on any of my master classes or webinars, you know, I love this stuff. I get very excited. I take a huge amount of energy from it, and I love the question and answer a bit at the end. So for me, any kind of free training, any webinar, any master class whatever we wanna call it, it's effectively the same thing.
The thing I love the most is the fact that you get to ask me a question about your business. Cause I find it fascinating seriously. I've worked with some amazing, crazy, brilliant, wonderful businesses over the many years in marketing. And I just love hearing about people's businesses and what they do and how they do it and why they do it.
So for me, that's the best bit. And also that's like again, when my brain comes live is in the fact that I have to think fast and I have to come up with ideas quickly. And I think my brain quite likes that. So I am running a free training, which is going to be the five things that you must know to successfully market your small business and get more customers. That isn't the most catchy subject title in the world. However, I might have tweaked it by the time that this episode actually comes out. Cause I was always, I'm a little bit of ahead. So that's what it's basically going to be about. I'm going to tell you the five things that you need to know and be doing in your business in order to really successfully market your small business.
And these aren't going to be crazy, amazing. Hire a marketing team. If only these are gonna be things that you can do. And again, if you've ever been to my stuff, you know that I do not waste your time. This is going to be an hour's training. I'm going to be live in my office, in my home as I always am. And I'm going to be sharing with you stuff that you can take away and do that very moment or that next day and things that will make a difference to your business. So this isn't going to be an hour of me chatting away. This is going to be an hour of me giving you good, good free training, which is awesome. And then I've got some other exciting things to tell you, which I won't be telling you until that free training.
If you join me for that free training, I'll be telling you about something that's happening in November, which you will get a chance to be part of, which would be really, really cool. Okay. So if you want to join me for that. Probably good idea. If I give you the link, the link is teresaheathwareing.com/freetraining, all one word.
So if you go there, you will see a lovely landing page. You just have to put your details in and you can register for that training and you can join me live on, actually, it'd be a good idea if I gave you the date. October the 15th. There we go. Okay. So, like I said, that's going to be a great hour. Well, worth your time at free training.
I can't wait to see there and get to meet some of you. When I say me, I mean, virtually through a training, but we get to chats. That's cool. You get to ask me questions. So I'm really, really looking forward to that. Okay. On with today's episode. Now, this is a really interesting episode. And sometimes when say interesting, it doesn't mean good.
I don't mean that's all. I mean, this was fascinating. I got to interview the very lovely Jamie Cross who talked to me about her business and how she grew it literally from the bottom up. So let me read you this bio, Jamie Cross as a wife of 20 years and a mother of four small boys with the fifth on the way.
And she is an eight figure entrepreneur, eight figures. Like when I read that, I was like, Oh my goodness like that is a big business. So she founded her organic skincare company, MIG living after seeing a business plan in a dream 10 years ago. Last year, Jamie also started the Her Effect as a global movement to mobilize and empower women towards action and vision for impact.
Giving them all that is necessary to be successful in their families, their business, and in life. Jamie's being featured on top morning shows such as NBC, Fox, ABC, CPS, all the letters as well was in Lifestyle magazines, Forbes, US Today, Red Tricycle and more. Now first off running a business is a lot of work. Running a business that is an eight figure business I can imagine is a whole host of work.
And then she is a mum to four boys and has one on the way, like I have one daughter and that is hard enough. And a grownup stepson who pretty much looks off to himself. So honestly, I don't know where this lady gets her energy from, because it feels to me like she is some kind of superpower. Also her story about how the business plan came to her, blew my mind.
And I just kept having to ask questions about it. Cause it just couldn't. When I said, I couldn't believe that I don't mean it didn't believe her. I just mean it was just an amazing story. So I don't want to say anymore, cause I want you to go and listen to her and listen how she came up with this amazing business idea, and then succeeded in this idea in probably one of the most competitive industries. And you know, skincare there got huge marketing budgets. Huge, huge, huge. So the fact that she's taking it from literally an idea to an eight figure business is mindblowing. Anyway, I hope you're going to enjoy her story and enjoy all that she has to tell us. So it's my great pleasure today to welcome the very lovely Jamie Cross to the podcast.
Welcome Jamie, how are you?
Jamie: Thank you. Good. How are you doing? Thank you for having me.
Teresa: We were just chatting about the weather, cause it is one of the most British things to do that wherever we speak to anybody in the world that we're talking about, the weather and yours has been particularly exciting that you've had crazy hot weather and now you've got snow.
Jamie: Yes, Colorado at its finest.
Teresa: So yeah, that's a little bit different from where we are in the UK at the moment where it's just probably dull. Um so Jamie, just so my audience can get a feel for who you are and how you got to do what you're doing. If you could just give us a brief overview of your history, that would be awesome.
Jamie: For sure. Yes. So I got out of corporate banking, actually 12 and a half years ago and two and a half years into full time motherhood. I just knew I had to build something knew I wanted to do better than struggling financially. So, I, um, ask God for a billion dollar idea, how to dream and started a skincare, your company in 2010.
And we've just blown past the eight figure mark in the last two and a half years scaling online. So we have been in business for 10 years and, um, And it's been amazing and hard and all those things.
Teresa: That is just like, I love the way it's really casually go. I was in banking, ask for an idea. And I created skincare.
Like I couldn't imagine a more difficult thing to try and create. So was it that you had a particular interest? I mean, we've all gone there. You can trust anyway, haven't we, but what was it? Something in particular, where does that come from?
Jamie: Yeah, well, I had, um, I had a dream and I saw myself doing what I'm doing now, but I, it was like a roadmap.
Um, and to this day, 10 years later, I can literally close my eyes and see it as if I had been watching a movie. So it was like, here you go. Here's an idea. And I didn't know how to formulate. I mean, my whole background was finance and banking. And so I spent a year on my own just studying herbal alchemy and chemistry and naturopathic healing and herbal medicine. And so formulated our first product after about a year of studying. And, um, and then it's, you know, and then it was just, and I don't know what kind of questions or how deep you want me to go at this point, but you know, it was like take the product. I hit the streets of Denver and Colorado Springs just started walking into stores and talking to owners and buyers and just hustling and selling product.
Um, in the beginning.
Teresa: Because again, you're going into like one of the most difficult industry to go into. Yeah. One's with humongous budgets. Like, again, it was literally like, do you want to make it hard to run yourself? You could have gotten like a whole different route, but it's super easy, but now we're going to make it really, really difficult.
So I'm really interested in the dream and cause I like. You know, I like it better spirit stuff. I like kind of, you know, I, I try and manifest things, not sure I success land, but I give it a go. But like, was it, that is a hell of a jump that is a real step. Like I dreamt something I'm going to do it. So did it kind of say, or did you feel like you could see the route you needed to go and you follow that route?
Or did you just start and then. Follow the path that you were making on your own, or how did that come about?
Jamie: Yeah, that's a really good question because a lot of times I think people think when they start a business, I mean, it's good to have a vision. It's, I mean, it's necessary to have a vision. It's good to have a plan, but most of the time when you start something, the idea is.
Okay. I have an idea now, a skincare company. And so then you have to ask the right questions. What, um, what's for me being in a consumable product market, you know, started with what's the best product to start with and formulate. What are people gonna buy over and over? What's a product that everybody needs.
And so it just started with what kind of problems can I solve for people? I think every successful business. I know every successful business is built on solving problems. Well, for the, market. And so, um, so it started with a bar of soap and I know it's so like counterintuitive cause you, people think, you know, success and Oh, you started with all this knowledge and you must have started with all this capital, but I had nothing.
I had no knowledge. I had no capital. As a matter of fact, I was the girl standing at the grocery checkout, like my debit card declining. You know, we were struck, my husband was teaching full time coaching wrestling, and I'd given up a huge salary as a banker. So that was where, like just the pure bootstrapping grit of okay.
I can't, I can't afford to build a pretty website or make a really pretty logo. I just have to make a really good product. And so, um, well that's where the hustle came in. Like I took my product after formulating and just was walking into stores all over the state of Colorado. Um, and we grew from there, but, um, the billion dollar business starts with the smallest taking the smallest action and.
And, um, for me, it started with a bar of soap.
Teresa: That is just unbelievable. Like, you know, to know where you are today. Did you ever for one moment think that's where I'm aiming to get to, or that's what I'm trying to, or was it literally like, let's just get to the next bit of the next bit to the next bit.
Jamie: Well, there's, there's both, there's, you know, there's two parts to that. There's being the visionary of like, yes, I can see. And for me, I, I've always been, you know, having come out of a banking career and not struggling financially to all of a sudden having these like real problems, like our utility companies are calling saying like, when are you going to make your payment?
And me thinking, this is not how I'm gonna live my life. You know? And so there was the day to day of. How do we separate ourselves in a saturated market? How do I create something that's going to solve problems for people in a unique way? What do people really want and what do they really need? And then there was the vision of like, there's two prices to pay.
I can pay the price of mediocrity and stay in this financial struggle for the rest of my existence, or I can pay the price of figuring this thing out and going for it. And so I, I could, I mean, I, when I started it, it started with this just cry of God, show me a billion dollar idea so that I can change the world and leave a legacy for my family.
So the vision, the seed of vision was there. But how you get there is just a matter of. That's where that's where the rubber meets the road. And that's where I think a lot of people either they quit too soon or they never really ever get started because people don't understand, I think they think success you're born into success, which is not the case.
And so I had to do a lot of mindset, like work on just am I worthy of wealth? Well, can I do this? Can I, can I be successful? Can I do something that's going to work? And then keep working, you know. But when the rubber hits the road, it really is, is just a matter of doing the work. And I think that's where people fail.
Teresa: And I think you're entirely correct. I think sometimes people look at a story like yours and rightly so it motivates them, which is wonderful. It should do. But also because they're not living it every single day, it sounds so easy. It's like make a product, learn something, make a product, put it out there, work your bum off a little bit, boom.
You got an eight figure business, which is just insane. And obviously that they weren't there for every single day, those 10 years, where oh, man. I bet. So in those early days, right, you've got your product. You're really proud of it. You're really like, yeah. I love this. I know. It's really good. I was that experience of going and trying to sell it, like almost like a door to door salesperson type thing.
Jamie: Yeah, exactly. Well, in the beginning, the bar soap was a huge hit. I mean, I. I didn't skimp in my research. I didn't just try to get a product out there. I took my time. I, I really gained a keen knowledge of the human body and I really developed, my formulation strategy around the fact that your bodies able to heal itself, it's designed to heal itself and so natural.
And what really ticked me off in the beginning was all the good marketing out there of like pure and natural and clean. And then when you actually look at the ingredient profiles, you're like, this stuff is garbage. And so just developing that philosophy and, um, and then being able to get out there. But the truth is I started off with a bar soap and did wholesale retail for a year.
Well, then I did farmer's markets. And that was like in the first year of doing markets, you talk to thousands of people and you realize how picky people are. You realize really what kind of problems are out there. Like I would have people come to my table, say I've spent so much money on lotions and potions.
I've tried everything I've been to every expert nothing's worked. Can you help me? And so I had to go back. To the drawing board in that first year. Cause I started to create follow on products and sometimes it was a slap in the face, but you can't take that process personally. And I had to realize like, okay, you know, this isn't as effective as I want it to be the lotion bar.
You know, people want, they're like, “I want 24 hours of hydration, but I don't want that, feel it on my skin. And I want it to smell good, but I don't want it to be too, you know, fragrant.” And so I'm using essential oils, I'm using natural botanicals. And, um, I had to go back to the drawing board with my formulations for that first year and perfect my, my products to where I finally got to a point after the first year where 95% of people were like, I've tried everything, but I've been using your stuff for a week or three weeks or a month, you know, the summer and my, my situation's completely been transformed. And so that's the power of just doing the work and the groundwork and being willing to not be like my stuff's awesome. And why, you know, what's wrong with you guys? You're not buying my product. It's like, no, I know that there's this, this is a work in progress.
And so going through that process in any business is so critical. Like he's got to get the feedback and you've got to be willing to ask yourself the hard question. Like, is this stuff just not there yet. And I need to keep making changes. I think, it'll work.
Teresa: I think you, you know, that is such a good point because you can have the best marketing in the world.
You could have the loveliest brand, you can have the most beautiful website, but if your product sucks, then it doesn't matter does it. And I think I should imagine that most people in your situation would have just been really keen to make it, sell it, make it, sell it. And the fact that you were willing to go a little bit slower and a little bit more trying to consider each, you know, each product and was it right?
And could you make it better and time where the panic must've been setting in, like, I need to sell some stuff I need to make some money. Like, did you feel that at the time, was it like I'm in a pressure cooker?
Jamie: Yeah. There were times when, especially the, I mean, I did four years of farmer's markets and there were times when we were like relying on a certain amount that we would typically do in a market, but it would rain and nobody would be there that day.
Or, you know, we have a weather issue or it was just it's a day that maybe, I mean, there would be times when there was this unknown festival happening down the street and nobody came to the market. And so I would walk away with zero. And, and the work it took to like make the product label, the product, pack the product, drive an hour up to Denver, set the table up and then to be at zero at the end of the day.
There were many, I mean, there were so many opportunities of just like, Oh my gosh, this is so hard or it's not working, but you just gotta keep going.
Teresa: So was your intention because the gym or trying to understand how you went from a farmer's market and obviously if you've not been over in the States, they're just, they are really similar to our markets over here in the UK.
I've been to farmer's market in the States. And I can't imagine how you went from there to a building to online to the size you are now, like at that point, was there, like we're only going to do through like a time, and then we're going to move into this next step.
Jamie: Yeah, exactly. So understanding what phase you're in, in business will help you push through the hard part.
So I knew that we were not building a farmer's market business model, that that was more of a market research phase. Like for me too. I mean, the craziest things would happen at these markets. Like there would be three or four other skincare companies at the same market and they would send their people to my table to like, copy my stuff or like take my ideas.
And so I had to get really aggressive about who are we stand for? What's our, our, our elevator pitch, our unique selling proposition. So the four years at markets was all about like, who are we? What do people really want? And can I build a foundation of solid products and a solid brand message that can reach the masses?
And so after four years, then it was like, okay, it's time to crack the digital marketing code and figure that whole thing out. And a lot of people struggle with the online thing because they don't have a keen understanding of what their market wants. But their products really are capable of doing what their USP is.
Um, you know, people just try to throw something up online, which happens. And that's great for maybe some quick cash, but I wanted to build a brand and something that was going to stand the test of time. So you just got to do the work and build the foundation. But by the time I was ready to scale online and figure that whole thing out, I really knew.
At a very intimate level, like even down to how to speak to our market because they would come to me with all their ailments and their problems and their questions. And I could use that language in my digital marketing too, but that was a process too. That was like a year of me trying to crack this code and figure out this, this whole video online format thing and like the ads.
And how do I take something that I've, I've given the people and they can smell and touch and see it and translate that to a, a web presence. And so that was a another process. But once you, once you get the chemistry of everything from copywriting to messaging and video and imagery, and you don't have to have a pretty website, most people start and they think they have to have this great, um, you know, all is pretty packaging and great website and great labels.
And. You know the logo and I had, I didn't, I couldn't even afford at that point. To like hire a professional. So I was making my own stuff on pages, just like a word document for apples. So, and my funnel, my whole website thing was really ugly, but we broke. Once I finally fig, like cracked the code and everything just kind of came together.
We did a million in less than six months with soap and lotion. Yeah. And scale to eight figures in less than two and a half years. But that was a process too, figuring all that stuff out.
Teresa: That is insane. So in terms of like actual tactics ads, and it was things like that way, you were putting the ads out there and then driving traffic back to the site.
Jamie: Right. And so, yeah, the, the first strategic tactics, strategics was okay. I need to, um, I found an amazing mentor who was like one of the top digital marketers in the world, Russell Brunson. He owned the software platform and I just was reading his books and he's like, “Hey, if you do this video format exactly like this for a year, every week, and like fail forward and do it even when you're like really terrible at it”, which I was, when I started on video, you can go back to my early videos and I was awkward and nervous and not good. But, um, he said, you'll make a million and if you keep doing this, and so I took his format and his framework and I condensed it from like a 90 minute webinar format into a five minute presentation. Which took me time and then getting the copywriting together. It was just, yeah, it was a huge process. And then you get the video right. With the copyright and like all the good, all the things. And then you have somebody who knows how to do e-commerce Facebook ads and it's just the chemistry of all of that coming together.
Uh, I remember that first day when everything started to work, cause I was running ads. Yeah. And not selling anything for like the first three months we had ads going and I kept having to like, go back. Is it my offer? Is it the product I'm trying to sell? And sure enough, you know, my first offer was this like $200 offer of this detox kit skincare.
And nobody wanted to spend $200, the cold market wasn't ready for it. So,
Teresa: yeah.
Jamie: So I had to figure out, Oh, you know, Um, I was just watching the trends and notice like, well maybe if we just start with this one $34 product offer and do the whole like free shipping thing. Um, then I can upsell them. And so, um, a couple of things for every business, your fortune is in your followup.
So what you said about having good products is so critical because those repeat purchases is really where your profits at. And so we would break even or lose money on those first. You know, cold traffic purchases, but we would reach target. We would warm people up through the video process and through the email process. And, um, and then retarget them to our bigger site where all of our products are available.
So keeping it simple on the front end. And, um, what we the MVP, the minimum viable product. A lot of people are like trying to overcomplicate that first offer, but it's like, what do you know, people need. And what can you sell them in that first offer? It's just an irresistible offer and then build a relationship with that person over time and then serve them with more product.
And so we have like four upsells on the back end of our funnel and down sells and never stop. You know, when somebody is ready to buy something and they pay and then pull out their credit card at that point, you have a buying pattern. So then it's like, Yeah, that's where you want to get really smart about your follow on products.
So it's like lotion bar on the front end. Oh, you're going to need a soap and you're going to need this other thing. And are you probably going to want more of the same things since you just paid that much for the lotion bar? Now I'm going to get you four lotion bars, and it's a great deal. That's just so irresistible.
Um, so that strategy is really, really important that the fortune is in the followup. So that's really critical.
Teresa: Yeah. And so I'm interested then at this point, when all this is going on and you're online. So one thing, and I should say, which we didn't said at the beginning is that you have four children, four boys, and you are pregnant with your fifth on the way, which is crazy. Because that is more than a full time job in itself.
Like, honestly. How, how old are the boys? Rough ages? Are they little…
Jamie: 12 all the way down to three?
Teresa: Oh, my goodness. Like, honestly, I have one 10 year old girl and my step son who's 17 and that is hard enough to deal with. So like, how, how, is the business looking at this stage? Because again, I've got lots of, um, lots of people listen to the podcasts who have a product and they can't seem to think of how to, or they struggled to get themselves from being the, the maker of the product to pulling them out of the process.
And. And doing that. And also while growing it and managing this family, like how does all that work?
Jamie: Oh yeah. Well, in the beginning it really is just a gritty process. I mean, I was doing mostly like nights, weekends, nap, times whenever I had spare time. And my spouse was also very supportive and so. We were on the same page about the direction that we're going.
And so it was never like, “Oh, you have to work again?” It was like, well, this is the, we can either pay again. We can either pay the price of mediocrity. We'll struggle financially for the rest of our lives, or we can just be all in and this thing. And he had so much faith in me. You know, you learn to take quality moments with your children and what, you know, in the, in the beginning stages, it was never about quantity and the kids have forgotten how hard I had to work when they were really little, but now, like I've built something where I can, I can spend time with them and have help in the home. You know, I have a nanny, I have a tutor.
I do all these things in my house that, but it starts with like, you've got to get that profitability so that you can replace yourself. And that was one step at a time. So. In the first six weeks of our converting everything online and like things working. We had done our first 130,000. So I knew in order for me to run and build, I had to have a nanny.
So I hired a nanny and then I started to hire like admins and people in the shop to make the product, cause Nathan and I. When things first took off, it was just us like making product, labeling products, shipping product, answering phones. We would get up at 5:00 AM and work till 2:00 AM for like the first six weeks.
We were just crazy. My mom would come babysit. And, um,
Teresa: But there is an element of like, that's, that's the work that you've got to put in, like in any one, of those points. You know, when you tell me your story at any one of these points, you could've gone. “Oh, no, it's just too hard work. Or I just don't see a way around that or I don't see how we're going to move on from that.”
And you've just got to keep having that blind faith. And I think for you, you had that because you'd had this dream and you know that sometimes. So you could always go back to remember, and if you remember it so vividly, that must really help. I guess, some people haven't had that and they just, they just know in their gut I'm made for more.
I need, you know, I don't want to live in mediocre, you know, exactly like you, I don't, you know, and I am nowhere near where you are, if only. But you know, like I'm sat here thinking I don't want that. Which is why, you know, we were just chatting about the fact that it's 5:30 and, and we've just gotten an interview and I've got another call after this, but that's what you did because yeah, it's, it's not like, you know, I'm not always necessarily into the whole hustle factor, but it takes work.
And if you think you can do it without any work, then you're really mistaken.
Jamie: It's true. And you know, the hustle is like, it's, there's also a separation between operating from a place of peace and rest. Even when you're externally like doing all this work. And so I think hustle is kind of like this a lot of hustle .Yeah, like, I mean, there were, we worked hard.
We did, there's no way around it, but we were operating from a place of, and it's not all the time. I mean, this journey is scrappy and crazy and Nathan and I obviously would have moments where he'd be like every, cause he would take on side jobs like weekend. Landscaping projects so that we could make more to subsidize and it would be gone because we had to buy another tank or more essential oils.
And like, cause when you're starting out, there's not profitability, there's usually a loss. And so we would have those hard conversations of what are we doing? Is this going to work? But it has to work again. We can either, go the traditional route of 9 to 5, the rest of our lives, or we can say yes to entrepreneurship and we just gotta keep going.
And we would always come back to that. But there's no, I think people think too that this building of business is just this external process of figuring out the marketing, the product development, you know, the sales strategy, all of that, but ultimately. Entrepreneurship is an inside job too. And so there was so many times when again, you have to come back to the drawing board and get real with yourself and ask yourself the right questions.
If I'm continuing to go around the same mountain over and over again, and I'm frustrated, maybe I need to tweak this or make a change to that. And I need to grow and learn and develop and change. And, you know, I have a friend who she is in the corporate world and she said, “The hardest thing you'll ever do in business, Jamie is grow a backbone.”
And so. You look, I look back on the Jamie a year ago, or even like three months ago. And I'm like the Jamie that got me there is not the Jamie that had to get me here. So you have to be willing to do the inside work, like the mental mindset shifts and the growing as a person, um, as you're doing the work. Because otherwise you could be doing all the right things, but have like no acumen.
Teresa: Yeah.
Jamie: And. Um, and then you lack chemistry. So you have to like, get all that together.
Teresa: And having like. You know, you can have all the tools and all the tricks, all the strategies. But if you're scared, if you've that fear is like eating up in you and you're thinking, I don't want to do this because what if this, or what if that, or whatever, or, you know, and this is something that I've had to work on a huge amount, because I came from a marketing background, I've done a degree in it.
I spent years in it and I knew what I was talking about. Like, I know, I know marketing, like, I can then talk about it in my sleep. But you know, the, the being a entrepreneur and having to put yourself out there and having to put a product out there that people are going to buy and there are so much head stuff that comes up with that.
Isn't there. It's not just about, “Okay, let's do the strategy. Let's do the thing, you know, this stuff Teresa”. It's like, what if they don't like it? What if they don't buy it? What if you do. And that, that for me has been one of the biggest shifts I've had in my business. And even like, I'm going through a launch at the moment and I'm watching what's happening with it.
And I'm having to have this conversation with myself daily, like, you know, no judgment on the result. This is interesting. This is interesting why this might have happened or might not have happened then why might not be the case and what could we do other than going, “Oh my God, not enough people have bought and therefore you're terrible and rubbish and no one likes you and your stuff is awful.”
You know, having to have this conversation because, you know, if, if I didn't have these conversations, that's exactly what I think. And would I do again, that I'd be like, well, that didn't work. Throw that idea in the band. I'm just going to give up and. Go to bed with a bottle of wine, you know, that's what I'd be thinking right now. But it's like, no, I know, you know, and again, in my head, there's this, this thing that I know I'm, I'm meant.
The more and I know more, and even saying out loud is really hard. But, you know, but I know that and I, and my husband knows it and we, again, we're on the same page. I actually just want to pick up on that really briefly. Like how important do you think that was for you in terms of being able to get to where you've got?
Because I know that some people don't have that.
Jamie: Yeah. Well, there's, there's a couple of things. There's like the practical side and there isn't like. You have the inner man and the outer man, like you have the work that you're doing, but then you do have like the soul and faith is so important. I know, you know, for me, like my faith has, has anchored me. But then knowing too practically, that action creates clarity and action, cures fear.
And most of us the struggle really when it comes down to it, if you just boil it all down, it's usually fear and doubt, anxiety. And those are the things that rob people of continuing. But when you realize that the fear comes, but as soon as you begin to take action, whether your results come out the way you want them to or not, that's part of the process.
And by overcoming fear with action, you, you will begin to develop those internal processes and mindset shifts that need to happen. And I love what you said. It's not about doing the thing and then like beating yourself up. If the results don't happen, it's a learning opportunity. And we all start at zero.
None of us know how to do what we're doing. And so we learn it and figure it out and then fix and adjust along the journey. And so I think recognizing the process for what it is, is so important, knowing that you're going to fail, you're going to struggle. You're probably going to suck at first. It's just natural.
But then if you ask yourself the right questions and take action and continue to change, you're like, you know, we all know that, um, the definition of insanity is doing the same, that same thing over and over and over again, expecting different results. So it's like, “Hey, I've done this three times now and it, and I've got these same results and that didn't work.”
Teresa: Yeah.
Jamie: I better do something different. And, um, and that's, again, like mentorship is so important. Listen to podcasts, read. I read so many biographies and I read so many books about failures and what, what they went from failure to success and what they did. Like what did it take? And a hundred percent of the billionaires and billionaires on the earth.
They didn't inherit it if they had to, if they were actually like from zero to building something, it, it came down to developing acumen and doing the work.
Teresa: Yeah. Yeah. So another question I've got is what did it feel like to hit that? Like, have you had certain markers that you're like, that's it I've made it.
What, what were those markers and what did it then feel to hit like eight figures?
Jamie: Oh man. Well, so the eight figures was like a two and a half year process. Cause we, we were, you know, we were doing okay at the farmer's markets, but still like, I still had to look at the price tags on my groceries. And so the very first mile marker for me was I want to go to the grocery store, buy all the expensive cheese and all the like fancy beverages and expensive like whiskey for my husband, or like getting botches for myself without worrying about how much my total is going to be. Yeah. So when we, when we first did that thousand dollar day. That's the first thing I did was I went grocery shopping and like threw everything in my basket.
I think I spent like $1,200 on groceries.
Teresa: That is good work.
Jamie: A fruit, I wanted to buy so much fruit. Cause we were always struggling to have like healthy, clean, good fruit and food in the house. And so that was one mile marker. And then it was like, You know, just being able to pay basic bills like insurance and utilities without, and like put it on auto pay, you know, like you're paying it when it's due. Oh my gosh. That just the financial stress release of that kind of stuff. So that's another really key, like that's a good goal to have is okay. First I'm gonna get oxygen for myself. I'm gonna fix my own money problem, but now. Like the conversations Nathan and I are having are like, what can we do for other people?
What country do we want to buy an orphanage in? You know? Like, it's good to get your own stuff together. Even having a will and having like investments, all those things we've been doing now to get our own stuff like fixed and together. Yeah. And then going from that to like, okay, “We're going to make a huge impact as we build wealth.”
And so there's mile markers along the whole thing. And I think everybody's going to have different ideas about what that looks like. Another thing we drove the crappiest oldest minivan. And so like six months ago, because it wasn't important to us. Like you get to a point to where having nice things is just great, but it doesn't like it doesn't, you know, I don't care that much about the car that I drive or the house that I live in.
I care more about the impact, but being able to drive a nice vehicle was a great, huge thing for our family. Like the boys being able to, you know, I mean…
Teresa: Yeah, yeah. Like we've just had a new car and I'm very much like you, like, don't get me wrong. I want to be in a nice car, but like, Yeah, I don't get it as much.
And you're so right as well, like you'll get something and it'll be like, Oh, it's amazing. And I keep checking it's out on the drive and it's all fine. But like that last one a week, two weeks, a month, two months. And then suddenly it's like, “Oh yeah, no, yeah, that's the car. Yeah.” And just lost. Whereas like, I love the fact that, you know, you wanna make the impact.
And what do your boys think of? Let's say, do both you and your husband work in the business now?
Jamie: Yes.
Teresa: And what do they think of the fact that your mum and dad work in a business, have a business? Do they get it? Do they, are they interested, not interested?
Jamie: Oh, they're very interested. I mean, so they all, we've trained them to like, “Hey, if you want to have that Lego set, you're going to have to make your own money.” So they work in the shop and part of our like education process and our family. Cause we, we unschool, we have, you know, tutor, all those things. The first thing I focused on was, you know, developing character and, and work ethic and teaching the boys how to have good reasoning and processing skills and thinking through things and then came all these academics, but so the boys know how to work hard.
They know how to earn their own money. My oldest son will go door to door and sell soap samples and like pass out catalogs. Cause he wants to buy like the nerf gun or, you know, the Lego set or whatever. And so. They get that, but they've also gotten a little bit spoiled with how much time they want from Nathan and I. Like, you don't understand when I'm working during the day at home here and you want to go do something or play. And with me, I'm like, Hey, you know, most moms are out there. You know, working in.
Teresa: Job, whether a way I have this condition with total time that, you know, this is a really lucky situation that I get to work in the house with you in the next room.
Like this is not ordinary, which means when I don't want, you know, when I need to focus or when I've got call or when we've got something, you've got to leave me to it, you know, and just be grateful that I can then make your lunch at lunch time. I'm not here at your back and call, but yeah, it's a tricky one.
I think. I try to do the same with my daughter in terms of like over here, I often find in schools, they are really kind of keen to teach them to get a job, or what career are you going to have? Or, and there's no real entrepreneurs in it. And I never, I never thought I was ever going to be an entrepreneur.
It was never something that struck me and how I, I joke that I'm kind of accidental and I fell into it. But, but actually for me, one of the things I'm trying to teach her and trying to talk to her about is. That's not, you know, that doesn't have to be the case the same with my, my step son. If you want to do something, then do it.
You've just got to work really hard at it. You know?
Jamie: Yes.
Teresa: There's some that will, and some that won't and that's fine, but. You know, there are the options open. So tell me how the business looks today, right? So you've gone from like you and your husband, making everything, doing everything, learning, reading the books and it got you to a real amazing point. But running a business of this size, like, is it a huge team?
Do you have like little to do with the product making now? Do you still do development? How does it look today?
Jamie: Yeah, that's a great question. The first thing is like, where are the areas that are draining you as an entrepreneur? Those are the first things you want to replace yourself. So now, I mean, I'm like I, I'm focused more on marketing and brand and vision, and we have our craftsmen that make the soap and make the products.
And we, we control our entire process. So we have our own facility and we ship our own boxes. So we have our shippers and. And we have our own marketing team and our own tech team and our own logistics team. Like we, and that's another part too, like a huge learning curve for us. Cause we were outsourcing like shipping and logistics and we realized we could do it better and more cost effective.
And so some people it's good to decide at some point, like what areas are you going to outsource? And what areas do you want to build a team. But building a team, there's a price to pay there too. Cause now you're like there's learning curves with, with just team dynamics and getting your team like up to speed on how I would do things.
And so there's nothing my team does that. I haven't done a million times over first. Whether it's answer the phone or ship a box or make a product or, you know, I know all the nuances inside. It's a really good thing to start out. Doing everything yourself, but don't stay there. And so, so now we just are continuing to expand the, you know, the different departments within the company, and I'm continuing to replace myself and more and more things.
Cause truly part of my goal in building a business is obviously, I mean, Worldwide impact and great profitability, but it's also because I want to be, I want to be able to hang out with my kids and bake cookies and spend time in the garden. And so I'm replacing myself more and more so I can work more part time than full time.
I want to be full time mom, part time on, you know, business while everybody's doing like leveraging having a team.
Teresa: And it feels, I mean that in itself, like when you've gone from like, “Hey, I'm building a website to, this is our tech department, or I'm doing the Facebook ads. This is our marketing department” must feel like.
Like I said, it comes with its issues as well. Managing a team is tough, but that must feel amazing to be in that position.
Jamie: It is I, and all the little tiny twists and turns and decisions to get there. I mean, I look back over 10 years, I'm like, Oh my gosh, We so often we made the hard choices and we made the, like the right little, tiny choices along the way that have gotten us here.
And if we had skipped over anything, I'm just like, I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful. And that's another thing I think that's really key and paying the price and, and as the process will humble you. So I'm like, you'll never see me, like taking for granted or like, I see people who have skipped the process and then somehow they get like it in their head that they are so awesome.
I'm like, I, I just know I worked really hard and, um, and there's such a, like, I just know that where I am too, I teamwork makes the dream work. And so we built a great foundation, but we are where we are right now too. Cause we have good people on our staff and, you know, it's a team effort. And so, um, embrace that humbling process and…
Teresa: Honestly talking to you and seeing you, and, you know, in the nicest possible way.
You know, you don't come across, like you are running a company of that size that you built this. Like, cause like you said, there'd be a lot of people that, that goes to their head entirely and they be like “Check me out, I'm amazing, like you see, just did.” It is absolutely amazing. But I think there is something so lovely and so humble about going.
It is amazing. And I am really lucky or I worked really hard to get to where I've got and, and I'm going to be really grateful for that. I think that's huge because then also. The way you invested in your audience in the early days, in your customers, and you wanted to learn from them and appreciate them and understand them is the same way from what I'm hearing that you are doing in your team now.
So, you know, that. This isn't just necessarily down to you and your brain. This is, this is, you know, it got you to an amazing place, but this is a combination of everything, isn't it? And you need those customers, obviously, as much as you need the team, as much as you need you. And seeing that as a balance is amazing.
Jamie: Yes. A hundred percent. Like I don't consider myself a boss. I'm like now my role to play in this company, of course it's critical, but I'm one of many. We all have to work together in order for us to get past the next finish line. And there will never be a true finish line in this. For me, it will always be about more impact, more growth dominating in my space.
Um, but I can't do it alone. And so recognizing your part to play in the, in the vision, if, especially if you're going to go from being a business owner to a carrier of a movement. The movement, when, when you start from, Hey, this is a product or a business into, this is a movement, there's an even greater responsibility for humility.
And, and that's where, like, when we talk about this process of becoming, um, I had becoming her trademark because like, I'm teaching that now, you know, now it's about how can we help other people do what I had done and. Understand the process that they're in, but it's definitely, um, I'm going, I'm like, I'm learning things now that I never thought I would have to learn.
And it's hard. I mean, being a business owner is hard, but so as being poor.
Teresa: Yeah. It's just a choice, isn't it? You know, and the other thing is, I think that's a good thing. Cause sometimes. Someone who is at the beginning, steps, someone who is making the product themselves buy in to sell it themselves in a really kind of doing what you were doing at the beginning.
You know, it could be listening to this thing and it's so easy, but it's, it's just because you are at this stage does not mean you don't have the problems. You don't have the issues. You don't have the they're just different ones.
Jamie: Exactly! Yes. I mean, the tears still flow the banging your head against the wall. The walls still happen. Now it's not because my debit card is declining because I can't afford groceries. Now. It's like, Oh my gosh, all the other new problems. But. That's the great thing is you can look back and be like the problems I had a year ago are a laughable, and it's going to happen the same way.
You start to develop a greater perspective for the process. And, and I'm like the storms I'm passing through today a year from now are going to look like. Puddles.
Teresa: Yeah.
Jamie: And so you just embrace the pain and the process.
Teresa: Yeah. Yeah. That's such a such good advice. And I need to just finish up on saying that obviously your products are amazing because you look amazing. And you have four children.
So like, if there's anything to be said of the, obviously brilliant, because you look fantastic. Who doesn't love a nice product, you know, this is like, You want something? That's lovely. Don't you? So it's an amazing Institute to be in a tough one, for sure. But what an amazing story.
Thank you so so much. I am so glad you came on and talked about this because I know there'll be blight there you'll have amazing products and are doing amazing things. And they're just thinking, I don't know how I would get there. I don't know that I can get there and you've just proved to them. They absolutely can. So thank you so much. It's been a pleasure having you on.
Jamie: Thank you, Teresa. It's great to be here.
Teresa: Okay. There you have it. What did you think of that? Wasn't that amazing? Honestly, she blew my mind. The fact that she took that business from an idea and then has got to where she is today. I think if you ever sit there dieting that.
This can't be done, or you can't do this, or you can't grow that business or whatever. I just think you've got to look at her story. Really, really competitive industry. And yet she did it. She absolutely did it. And to go from a point where. They were literally debating about what groceries they could buy groceries.
We don't call them that at what shopping they could get food shopping, they could get. To then being in a position where she runs this business is just inspirational. I was absolutely fascinated by it. Okay. I will leave you for this week. So the episode next week as always. Also do not forget to go and sign up for that free training.
It's going to be a blast. So go to teresaheathwareing.com/freetraining. And I will see you next week.
