Clementine Boshevski - The Highs and Lows of Building Salt Lab

Jason · 00:00Welcome to episode 193 of The Numbers Game. I'm Jase and I'm joined by Marty today as we have a special guest episode coming up for you. Marty, how are you going, mate?

Marty · 00:09Going well, Jase. Excited about today. Excited about stage 3 tax cuts. Um, you know, just out having breakfast this morning, living large, just trying to get that inflation back up to 5 percent and really ruin people's lives.

Marty · 00:23So, but no, feeling good. And, uh, certainly excited about the show. We have got a special guest, like you said. Um, Jase, do you want to set it up? Because, uh. Yeah,

Jason · 00:33I'll, I'll set it up. Um, because for me, I was quite excited to start working with this company. Um, this, the guest coming on today, um, uses Future Advisory and Innovate.

Jason · 00:42We're very lucky to work closely together outside of the Numbers Game podcast, but I want to take you back a little bit, Marty, to around maybe five, six, seven years ago. I'll need, I'll need to get back. Our special guest to confirm just how many years ago it was, but I went to my osteo, my new osteo in my local area in South Yarra when I just moved there.

Jason · 01:00And I said, Oh, my body's sore. I've got aches and pains. You know, I'm always training for something silly like a marathon. I had high rocks on the weekend. I'm actually destroyed right now. Like it's just, I'm physically never been more sore in my life. And anyway, five, six years ago, I went to see my osteo and she pulls out this, this little brown bottle and she's like, Oh my God, Jason.

Jason · 01:21You know, lie down and she just starts spraying this oil all over me, rubbing it into my calves and body. And you know what, uh, afterwards I was as good as new and I was walking out the door and she's gone, take this bottle, have it. Like I'm, I'm giving it to anyone that I can get it into their hands and they're raving and swearing by it.

Jason · 01:38And this product, Was called Salt Lab and today we are joined by special guest Clementine, who's the founder of Salt Lab. Welcome to the show, Clementine.

Clementine · 01:45Thank you so much, Jase. What an intro.

Jason · 01:49Well, I don't think I've nailed it as much as I could have. I've come off quite a large weekend after High Rocks.

Jason · 01:53And as I said, I'm a little bit kind of all over the place, but I'm glad we've got a guest episode because it's where we get to let you do a lot of the talking.

Jason · 02:00Um, why don't we kick in Clementine? I've talked about Salt Lab. Obviously, that's a bit of a product we're going to dive into a bit today. But before we go too deep on Salt Lab, love to know a bit of your background and, um, yeah, how you got to where you are right now.

Clementine · 02:12Yeah, cool. So, um, I started Salt Lab seven years ago or nearly eight years ago, but my background is in the health and wellness industry. So actually when I started Salt Lab, I had just opened a gym. Um, in Williamstown. So it was a bit of a wellness center. Um, my background was personal training and nutrition.

Clementine · 02:33And I, at the time I was just doing it on the side of a full time, um, a full time job. And I was like, what am I doing? Like, I'm just going to dive head, Head in head first, and I got a warehouse out in Williamstown and decked it out and yes, started group training and nutrition consults. And so I was doing that for a couple of years.

Clementine · 02:55And part of that, I obviously saw magnesium deficiency

Clementine · 03:00firsthand and the damage it was doing. But I think what really sort of. kicked me into gear to create a product like salt lab was my own burnout, opening a business, working full time. Like I really, um, experienced the hormone disruption, sleep disruption.

Clementine · 03:19Like I was all over the place. Um, and so at the time there weren't really any magnesium or topical magnesium products on the market. There was one and it was from America. And so my natural practitioner sort of, um, basically said, try this. So that was sort of the turning point, um, of my journey into salt lab and creating a topical magnesium product.

Clementine · 03:42I've always been really passionate about health and fitness and, um, Very, I suppose, um, I've led myself and I've done courses here and there that I've been passionate about. And as I said, I just sort of did it on the side for a long time. Um, so yeah, that's sort of

Clementine · 04:00my background and my passions and interests.

Marty · 04:02Yeah. I like it Clementine and I've, uh, been using the product myself. Uh, unlike Jase, who does lots of activity, uh, you know, needs to recuperate. I'm just old and, uh, struggling to sleep and yeah. Yeah. The stresses of business as you discussed. So, uh, no, very impressed. And obviously in working with you. Uh, got more impressed during the process of looking at what you wanted to do in the future.

Marty · 04:29But now, you know, not only do I utilize it, my son utilizes Salt Lab and my wife does as well. So they rave about it, sleeping better. Um, and like with the idea itself, like how did you come up with a product? Cause there's lots of, lots of people that create products. How did you become so targeted out of your passion, uh, with the idea?

Marty · 04:52Because it certainly was in, in impressive to hone in on something so uniquely positive and, and that

Marty · 05:00worked. So maybe a little bit of background on that.

Clementine · 05:02Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, I think I've probably always done things differently. Um, I've always done things that my parents are like. What is she doing?

Clementine · 05:14Like, you know, they've always questioned my decisions in some way. Like when I launched the gym and I had no money behind me and no one had lent me any money to get it up off the ground. So I went and got three 10, 000 credit cards and maxed them out to get all the equipment. And my mom and dad are going, Oh dear God, like, what are we doing here?

Clementine · 05:34Um, and similar with the, with salt lab when I was introduced to topical magnesium, it just wasn't a thing. Like we're talking. Uh, eight and a half years ago was when I got it first introduced to me. And at that point it was all, you know, magnesium was consumed in powder and pill forms. And that was how I started taking it and being so run down and in, in such a burnt out state, my gut just could not take

Clementine · 06:00it.

Clementine · 06:00absorb it. So it was just going straight through me and making me feel really terrible. Like my gut was hurting. Um, I knew I wasn't absorbing it. So that was sort of when Topical came into place and I had never heard of it myself. And I thought, interesting, tried it, really loved it. But what I didn't like about it was, It was made in America.

Clementine · 06:21And when I tried to do the research on the actual source of magnesium and the levels that they went to, to test the purity, because obviously magnesium comes from, you know, salt lakes and as we're aware, pollution is the real thing right now and, and has been for a very long time. So I wanted to know, What, what tests are they doing to ensure the purity of this product?

Clementine · 06:44And there was just nothing, as I said, it was sort of the only person on the market, so they probably didn't need to be that thorough. And so that was when I sort of started to go, well, I think that I could do something better here. Like first and foremost, I wanted an Australian product that I was giving,

Clementine · 07:00you know, recommending to my customers and to myself, um, And I wanted something that I knew was not doing more harm than good and not exposing my body to more chemicals and pollution and, and, um, you know, that sort of stuff.

Clementine · 07:14So yeah, that was sort of where it started. And to be honest, my husband and I were making it on the bed, on the counter at my gym for many years. Like it's like Yeah. Yeah. It's, um, and we were just selling it to my nutrition clients and to my personal training clients. And when I saw the impact that it did to, to me, I was obviously then like, like your osteo, I was like, you've gotta take this to all of my clients.

Clementine · 07:40I was like, you know, basically when people signed up for the gym. They got a bottle of magnesium because I just knew how important it was for everyone to be taking it. Um, and then, yeah, it, it sort of really went from there and it was under my gym for a long time. And then I fell pregnant with my first baby and I

Clementine · 08:00sold the gym and I thought, Oh, I'll just take the magnesium oil, like product with me and, and see what happens.

Clementine · 08:06And, um, here we are.

Marty · 08:08What was the timing Clementine in regards to concept of the idea that To getting the product in the gym.

Clementine · 08:14Yeah. So we were 18 months in R and D and that was everything from sourcing the different, um, magnesium, like raw materials and testing them and sending them off to labs to get tested for purity, um, right through to compatibility with packaging.

Clementine · 08:31Um, and look, to be honest, the first probably, I would probably say it was two years, but we launched at 18 months and learned a lot in that first six months.

Marty · 08:41Can I ask the cost that was spent just to get the product? Up, up and as a product, cause sometimes that's a big investment. And if you've got another business rolling, uh, that could, that could deplete resources pretty quickly.

Marty · 08:53Sounds like you hit up the credit cards, like all, uh, entrepreneurs starting out trying to find money wherever you

Marty · 09:00can get it, but what was the costing to get something like that up? Cause I would think it would be significant.

Clementine · 09:05Yeah, look, a lot of the cost was really in the, um, lab costs. So I think it would have been between five and ten grand initially.

Clementine · 09:14We were doing very small orders of everything. So, um, but a lot of the cost was in the lab costs to be testing these small amounts. And I was on, I was really relentless. Um, I think if I had have known, You know, naivety was bliss. If I had have known how hard it was going to be to actually like get it up and running, I probably wouldn't have, because, you know, I didn't, I wasn't aware.

Clementine · 09:42I didn't come from product. Um, I didn't come from e commerce. I came from a service based industry. So I had no awareness about like what the, the minimum order quantities that you needed to get into a manufacturer. you know, how hard it was to get into a manufacturer and all of those

Clementine · 10:00things. And people just, you know, when you're a startup, a lot of companies don't want to know you.

Clementine · 10:03So initially it was about five to 10 grand in, in that R and D phase. Um, and then where it really got hard was once we were at a point of, um, okay, we need to transition from making it in my, Jim bench to a manufacturer and minimum order quantities were, you know, 5, 000 units. And I was like, bar out. Um, and that was when it was, you know, jumped from five to 10 grand to, you know, 40 or 50 grand.

Clementine · 10:34And you know, that, that was sort of where it got hard and you had to really back yourself. But yeah, the initial phases were really in that, like when you're trying to, um, like, not really, I suppose, stand apart from what's already out there. And, um, do something differently. That's where I found the cost laid.

Clementine · 10:55Yeah.

Jason · 10:55I think, um, I've, I've, I've drank the magnesium Kool Aid. So I'm a

Jason · 11:00converted magnesium user, but you touched on it earlier around how awful it felt in the gut or how it could go straight through if you were taking it orally in tablet form or the powders. And it wasn't until we started using the topical application that you know, then started doing some research as well around, you know, how much is absorbed orally versus topically.

Jason · 11:20Um, so maybe hit us with some of the wellness benefits of using salt lab and magnesium in general. Um, because then there's lots of things you've touched on that I want to circle back to around product development, order quantities. Um, yeah, it's, it's a very intriguing business. It's the kind of business that Marty and I get super excited about.

Jason · 11:35So wellness benefits first hit us with what's good.

Clementine · 11:38Yeah, so I think the biggest thing that people don't realize is we don't actually produce magnesium naturally in our body. So we rely on it from an external source and you know, historically that came from food. Um, obviously with where our food system is at, with the chemicals that go into it, that, you know, the

Clementine · 12:00miles that it does, the soils that are so depleted, our food just doesn't hold the same nutrition density that it used to.

Clementine · 12:08So often our plate of food is an empty vessel when it comes to nutrition and the, the vitamins and minerals actually in it. So we really do, unfortunately, this day and age, rely on it from a supplement source and I think powders and pills have been well documented and a lot of marketing money has gone into that side of it, um, but actually we can only absorb so much and depending on the type of magnesium you're taking, which a lot of the time people don't actually know what type they're taking, but they just like, Oh yeah, I'm taking magnesium.

Clementine · 12:45But there are 11 different types of magnesium and each type of magnesium has a different absorption rate. Um, and also relies on different things. So some magnesium is really need to draw in a lot of water in order to be

Clementine · 13:00processed. Whereas topical, you can apply it on your skin, which is the largest organ and your body can really access it easily.

Clementine · 13:07It can access it as it needs it. You're not forcing it to get rid of what it doesn't need. So it can be a really gentle approach to magnesium supplementation. Um, there's a lot of, uh, I'll say like gray area, people sort of have, have read articles that it can't be absorbed through your skin and all of that sort of stuff.

Clementine · 13:28And it can, there's a lot of really good studies out there now that show that. Um, and I think once you've used it, you can't question it. So, um, but. And I think just to touch on a few, so magnesium is actually essential for 300 reactions in the body. And so it works partnering with so many other, so like calcium can't be absorbed without magnesium.

Clementine · 13:53And so there are all of these partnering, um, benefits, but magnesium alone is essential

Clementine · 14:00for our, um, basically helping keep us calm or calm us down. So our nervous system, um, keeping us out of that fight or flight mode and letting us hit, like go into rest and digest towards the end of the day. Um, but also as you've touched on, helping your muscles recover, cramps, you know, aches and pains, all of those things, you know, once we are low in magnesium, often we start to see all of these other issues appear and we can get.

Clementine · 14:29Fixing all of these other issues when actually if you just had a high enough level of magnesium, you'd notice they go. Um, and that's everything from sleep, um, you know, stress, um, ticks like eye twitches and different little things like that. Um, I think we, the biggest thing we see is sleep for sure.

Clementine · 14:50Growing pains in kids is a growing concern. One that I've seen really escalate over the last five years. Yeah.

Jason · 14:57Wow.

Clementine · 14:58Um, and then, yeah, like sleep

Clementine · 15:00disruptions, nightmares with kids, aches and pains, arthritis, all of those things. I think just the list, I could sit here for the whole hour and reel off, like, the list of things that magnesium can help with.

Clementine · 15:12But I think if we can understand that it's essential for over 300 reactions in the body, you can get a good gist of how much your body needs it.

Marty · 15:21That's really well explained, Clementine, in regards to, I could see, The differential in regards to your product type of magnesium, the way it's being absorbed.

Marty · 15:29You know, lots of, you know, multiple benefits, 300 various different, um, the functions of the actual product itself. Now that is a huge education process right there. How do you get that from your head and your understanding of your experience to the market that just says another product on the shelf. Um, and I'd like you to sort of expand upon, even when someone has had an interaction with your product, even to.

Marty · 16:00Buying that product repeatedly as well. Cause I think there's a, there's something in that as well.

Clementine · 16:05Yeah, absolutely. So it was a really big, you know, I think to be honest, we probably spent the first five years of being in business educating. And that was our biggest focus was like, this is a new product and people are, you know, they're not convinced on it.

Clementine · 16:22They're not convinced that powders and pills aren't the way to go because there's been so much money invested into that, that way of supplementing. And as a society, we are big on, I've got a headache, take something and it's a pill. So, So psychologically, the connection between pills and healing are there, um, and I think, yeah, for the first five years, all we did, all we focused on was education.

Clementine · 16:49We just wanted to educate people on another way, a gent, more gentle way, a way that could actually see the ailments that they were experiencing and

Clementine · 17:00not getting fixed by powders and pills Um, and it's really been the last sort of three years that we've seen a shift in, in the consumer and their behavior with trialing new things and being open to other ways.

Clementine · 17:17Um, so, but for the first, yeah, for a long time, we focused on, Not diving too deep into the technicality because I think we found we tried that and a lot of the time it's too much for people. So it was really, um, you'll notice a lot of our content is like the 10 ways magnesium can help, the five ways magnesium can help, you know, it's really calling out ailments in simple form that people connect with and go, Oh, like, yeah, I felt that.

Clementine · 17:48So we had to. It was a lot of trialing and trial and error. Um, and we soon realized that if we dived too deep, uh, particularly, you know, a lot of our

Clementine · 18:00marketing is social media. And I think social media for a lot of people is an escape from the depth of life. So we had to keep it really, um, top line, relatable, and, you know, Connect with people and how they might be feeling.

Jason · 18:14I was going to say that kind of leads into another area that I think you've done absolutely outstanding. It is your online marketing, um, and, and how you connect with your audience or potential new audience. I love the idea behind education being a big focus and that it's more the basic side of it. It's not going into the nitty gritty of like, you know, how magnesium is formed, where it comes from, you know, all the breakdown of it, the 300 things that would be overkill for social media, but connecting on, let's say, you know, a mum with a newborn who, you know, the child, you know, one or two year old child's not sleeping and there's a kid's magnesium that Salt Lab do.

Jason · 18:49And it's just that simple kind of showing a mum applying and then a kid having a great night's sleep. That's really easy to connect with, even if I don't have a child, but my brother and his wife might be struggling with their kids. I can go, Hey

Jason · 19:00guys, I heard about this. Would you like to try it? So it becomes a really good talking point too.

Jason · 19:04When it comes to your years of trial and error with marketing, trying to grow, wholesaling, getting into, you know, other, you know, like Heather from, um, Health Connection, shout out to Heather who got me onto Salt Lab. What's been the biggest thing that moved the needle for you though, over the years? Is there something you can pinpoint to say when it comes to growing the brand?

Jason · 19:24This is what really changed the game for salt lab.

Clementine · 19:27Yeah, bringing marketing in house. I think no one treats your business or looks at the numbers or spends your money. Like you spend it. There was always for me a time and a place for. Like agencies doing the marketing and, but we were just never able to experience the growth we experienced when I started doing the, the online marketing and, you know, I, I, the only thing I can put that down to is that when you're spending your own money and when you're seeing the return on your own money, no

Clementine · 20:00one does it like you do.

Clementine · 20:01Um, so, and, and I think as well as a business owner to be able to really like, no, okay, when I do this, this happens like, and I can pull this lever and this happens and like those sort of triggers have just, yeah. We've, I mean, since bringing it in house, we've just grown exponentially, so that's a big one for me.

Marty · 20:24I mean, that's street smarts, isn't it Clementine? We've, we've experienced that. Like, it's funny when you outsource something as to. You just think it's a given that that's going to work, uh, and then it doesn't. Uh, but when you have a direct experience, amazing what you learn. Um, have you got one particular strategy of when you bought it in, in house, like an awareness shift of something that worked for you that wasn't working externally?

Clementine · 20:49Yeah. Founder, like founder led, so founder led content, people want to know who's behind the brand. People want to connect with you.

Clementine · 21:00And again, I think no one does it as well as you. So while UGC and Influencer and all of this is huge and has its place, No one tells your brand story or tells people how to use the product as well as you do.

Clementine · 21:14And I think the minute that I really owned my place in front of the brand, and I'm not normally one for speaking in public and, um, being in front of the camera and like that really terrifies me. That's out of my comfort zone massively. Um, but I had to do it. I had to own my place. And the minute I did that, Was when we really saw sales explode.

Marty · 21:39Oh, that's outstanding.

Jason · 21:41I was gonna say, if you look back at any of your early content, absolutely cringed at like what it was, how it was put out to market. And I guess for you, um, if we can talk about maybe e commerce equation, um, you know, part of that, that program or from an education point of view, not only do you want to educate your audience, but you also.

Jason · 21:58Founder led content. You're also

Jason · 22:00educating yourself to make sure that you're constantly moving the needle forward to improve your business and your own education. Um, I guess, yeah, maybe touching on that, like how important it is to have external advisors or people working with you and maybe not to segue back to Marty and I coming along into your life as well, but I think.

Jason · 22:18The other thing that you said that connects to that is looking at the numbers. Like, I get excited when, when a client talks about looking at their numbers or when a business owner, I should say, talks about looking at their numbers and they truly understand even like a basic P& L or a balance sheet, or even just how customer acquisition costs, if you're going to dumb.

Jason · 22:371, 000 or 10, 000 or 100, 000 into Facebook or Google ads or whatever your, your poison is, what is the ROI? How are you, how are you making sure that translates to sales and there's an appropriate margin in your product? So many small business owners launch without understanding that. So I guess, I'll, I'll rephrase it into two.

Jason · 22:55Did you launch without understanding that? And it was a learning curve and lesson along the

Jason · 23:00way. And then how have these lessons now impacted you?

Clementine · 23:02Two sort of points to that, um, question. First being absolutely educating myself and, and I joined e commerce equation, three and a half years ago. And so e commerce equation is essentially a, um, a group of e commerce founders that we all can learn off each other.

Clementine · 23:23We say what other people are doing and we can replicate, we can, yeah. And there's a, there's a board of coaches that you have access to. So that was absolutely pivotal. And I think what was interesting, like I was a part of e commerce equation, but, Two years before I really saw any growth. And so, you know, you have some, you have some businesses that come in and it's literally, you'd think it was an overnight success.

Clementine · 23:47Like they've just joined a month to their, you know, million dollar months. And it's like, whoa, that can be quite disheartening at the start. You know, when you say those sort of. Things happening, but you know,

Clementine · 24:00I was, I was a part of that for two years and it was really like what the second part of the question, it wasn't until I started to, well, I mean, even when I came on board with you guys, the business was not what it is today.

Clementine · 24:12So I think a lot of the growth yet, like knowing your numbers and I never forget when, um, before I came on board with you guys and it was like, I had no idea. Yeah. The true, you know, I sort of knew top line, but it was really based off cash in bank. Um, and like kind of knowing what the product costs me and what we're selling for.

Clementine · 24:38But after onboarding with yourself and Marty, it's like, I had, we had to, we had to together dive into the business in a way I've never looked at it. Um, and really like, for me, it was confronting because any cobwebs that were there, we had to clear out and really address. Um, but now I love that there's that ownership there.

Clementine · 24:58So, you know, we meet

Clementine · 25:00bi monthly and there's like, there's no hiding from it. There's ownership. There's like, you know, I have to sit in front of you and really own the performance, good, bad, or indifferent. Yeah. And just like put a plan together. I think that's the other thing. At least now you're

Jason · 25:16coming, coming in with a big head wobble at the moment.

Jason · 25:18Cause uh, the business is absolutely doing, doing bonkers numbers. Um, the product is booming. What I will just kind of circle back there is resilience. Everything you've said, there's resilience. Uh, there's so many small business owners that would have started that course and six months in, they would have seen the money leaving their account, paying, uh, coaching program or e commerce equation.

Jason · 25:38Six months in going, Oh, well, my business hasn't doubled and theirs is. So I'm going to pull the pin and quit. I'm going to cancel this, this membership and, and, you know, move on to something else. And unfortunately I see it and Marty probably sees it as well. Also often a business owner will quit and go look for something else.

Jason · 25:55The quick fix, the quick win, the, you know, the quick, you know, I want to Boom overnight, like

Jason · 26:00that business that you see on news. com. au, which is probably a paid article they've paid for themselves to be in any way, actually sticking to it to continue to learn and educate and pivot until you get to the point where you find out what was the bit that you need to do or the thing that was missing.

Jason · 26:15And people will come to us and go, Oh, you know, I'm thinking about starting SEO, but I'm going to pay two grand a month. And they said, I might not get any results for six to 12 months. I'm like, cool. I've been paying a couple of grand a month for SEO for seven years. And now when you Google certain search terms, we're number one in Australia for what is VCFO, or, you know, different search terms like that.

Jason · 26:34So, you know, that investment into yourself and the resilience to not give up, that is epic. I think you've done a brilliant job there.

Marty · 26:40Yeah. I call it the three feet from gold. People start digging, they get three feet and leave and look for another area. They don't, uh, and I think Clementine, when I hear you talk about, uh, the, the group you read, fascinating because you saw people getting those numbers.

Marty · 26:57And so there must've been something inside of you. It's going,

Marty · 27:00no, I have to stick this out because I'm seeing actually people dominate this and, uh, and it's so true. So often I talk about even building your personal brand with brokers in regards to putting content up consistently a couple of times a week, two or three times.

Marty · 27:16And it might be, you get lucky and you get a hit in the first week, or it might be six months where you've developed that digital trust that there's a huge upward curve all of a sudden. And, um, it's like anything perseverance and resilience. Is such an important attribute. And one thing I would say Clementine is the question I want to ask is as business owners, we tend to go through ebbs and flows and battle through it.

Marty · 27:42What's been the most challenging thing where you're going, why did I even do this? Or, you know, that moment where you're going, that resilience is most. Tested, uh, can you give the audience an experience if that was the case and, uh, how you moved yourself through that?

Clementine · 28:00Okay. I'll, I'll touch on the resilience piece first with, it's like what you touched on Jase, people expect a quick fix and it's exactly the same as the supplementation.

Clementine · 28:11They want a pill that fixes it immediately. And I'm so big and, and with salt lab, you need, sometimes you need to use it for six weeks to actually feel the difference. And I think that's life and resilience really on so many different levels pays dividends. I think the good stuff, the best of what life has to offer doesn't happen overnight.

Clementine · 28:32And it is a longer grind, whether that's the, the experience and the, and the relief from pain with a supplement or, you know, business. I really believe that. So. Yeah, I am big on that. Um, and Marty, to answer your question, I think, um, January last year, we lost everything in a warehouse fire at a 3PL that we were at.

Clementine · 28:56So all of our stock was, um, being held by a third

Clementine · 29:00party logistics company. And on Australia Day last year, I got a text message saying there's been an arson attack on the warehouse and we're not sure the damage. And we just had our biggest delivery of stock we'd ever had because we were seeing the growth.

Clementine · 29:16So we just had 1. 5 million of stock delivered and we lost everything. So our insurance, there was a loophole, their insurance, there was a loophole and then the logistics company just stopped communicating at all. So I, as you can imagine, I'm like three kids at my feet. My husband doesn't have a separate job.

Clementine · 29:42So we rely on salt labs income. And I think at that point, I, that's probably the first time that I've really gone. Do we close the doors? Like, can I, you know, I've been through some tough times with business. you know, court

Clementine · 30:00cases and all of that sort of stuff with old business partners. Like I've been through a tough time and this was probably the, the first time that I've really sat down and then I just looked at my kids and I was like, I can't like, I want them to see the grit and I want them to see that when you really love something and you believe in yourself, like you can get through anything.

Clementine · 30:24Yeah. And yeah, I think that's, that was the biggest, um, the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with. in business was literally the one thing I think we as founders, um, fear the most is losing everything.

Jason · 30:39And you were that close.

Clementine · 30:40And we, yeah, and we were living in a caravan at the time traveling around Australia.

Clementine · 30:44So we didn't have a home as such. We'd sold everything and we were living in a van. And so in a way it really did felt, feel like I'd lost everything that gave us security. So I was sort of like, we're living in a van, like all we own is a

Clementine · 31:00caravan. And I've got three young kids that I've got to, so it really did.

Clementine · 31:05So that was the most challenging time of my life and, and of business. But in saying that I look back and I would not change a thing. What that, what that did to my mindset, I don't know. I don't know anything else that could give me what that gave me.

Jason · 31:26I think, you know, I'm, I'm privy to behind the scenes of seeing Jan 23 to what June, July, 2024 looks like.

Jason · 31:33And just the, the exponential growth, the numbers that also the energy and effort you've put into it, because you are passionate about your product and your brand. And then also the people that you work with as well, you, you go all in and you, you really kind of live and breathe what you do. I then flip it on the head, you know, that was your most challenging kind of moments.

Jason · 31:53So far in the last year and a half, is there things that you look back and go like, wow, like this, this feels really good. Like there was certain

Jason · 32:00milestones or success factors that you go, that's a big moment for you on the other side.

Clementine · 32:03Oh, a hundred percent. And I think that's sort of why. Not why I look back, but I, even just me as a business owner, I'm a different person.

Clementine · 32:14I'm, I'm mentally, I'm a different person. Mentally, I'm tougher. I understand my business more. I understand our community more and actually who's behind this brand is not just me. It's my community. And without them, like we, we are no one. And I think going through that and, um, Our community bringing us back from that you, you, you look back and you're like, wow.

Clementine · 32:41And then to think less than 12 months later, nine months later, we did, we hit our first million dollar mark, like

Jason · 32:49wow. Wild, wild journey. I think the build on that too, like that word community. Like the, seeing the post, it must have been around February 23, where there was reached out to the people

Jason · 33:00that had bought your brand or bought your product and trusted your brand and, and got to know you through some of your founder posts.

Jason · 33:06And there was a, Marty, you may not have seen it, but there was a, basically a reach out to the whole community to say, Hey, we're in a time of need. This warehouse fire happened. We've lost all of our stock, but if you come back to us and buy from us, you can help us in our journey to get back onto the path of success.

Jason · 33:22And, you know, the community rallied and it's rallied ever since and just gets bigger and bigger and better and better. So, massive, massive, uh, part of it is community. So, yeah. Is there something you've done to foster the community or is it just part of the ongoing education and being in front of mind all the time?

Jason · 33:40Is there something for you when you think about the community that sticks out?

Clementine · 33:43Yeah, look, I think we, to be honest with you, I feel like, well, I felt like up until that fire, I felt like we didn't really do, we didn't have community at the forefront of our mind. And I probably, if you had have asked me in January, 2023, I would have said, Oh, it's probably

Clementine · 34:00where we really have room to grow.

Clementine · 34:01Okay. Um, but, but to, yeah, to, for that to happen at the end of January and us, we literally just launched a Build Us Back campaign. And again, like it was a lot of me in front of the camera, um, sharing what happened, sharing the journey back to getting us back on the, on our feet. Um, it made me realize that actually we, we have done something right because the community is actually really strong and, and has.

Clementine · 34:28Helped us immensely. And I think we do have a very big focus on that constant communication with our community. We are very responsive via social media. Like we, you know, and I think we always. like to let people know that we're a real, we're real people behind this brand. We don't, um, we don't outsource much at all.

Clementine · 34:52We actually don't outsource anything anymore now that we've got our own warehouse. But so we are real people. We are a small family business. You

Clementine · 35:00know, we, um, do everything in Australia, even though it could be a lot cheaper to be done offshore. So I think that in itself and that, um, you know, we give back to a lot of regenerative agriculture, um, uh, like foundations to help try and improve the soil.

Clementine · 35:17So I think just that story and our true, our true mission, like, yes, while it is helping people live a better life and, you know, without pain and sleep better and all of those things, our true mission is that. I'm sitting here closing Salt Lab up in, in 10 years time because our soil is so abundant and people don't need to, um, supplement, you know, and that's, that's why we bought our farm is to be able to, to provide our community with, um, good food.

Clementine · 35:48And that's really our mission at Salt Lab is to get the soil back to our food being abundant and our, and, you know, Us not having to supplement, wouldn't that be amazing?

Jason · 35:57There's so many founders that would admit they're

Jason · 36:00trying to make their product redundant by having better soil and a better, better world where we don't need to rely on supplements, which I think looking at some of the behind the scenes stats, you know, the supplement and vitamin industry in the next couple of years will be a 250 billion industry.

Jason · 36:15You know, so it just goes to show, you know, there's almost a, not an effort to make, you know, what you're trying to do, Is meaningful, but there's other people out there that are driven by corporate greed or making money that would go, well, we've got these vitamins and minerals that we make mega bucks off.

Jason · 36:32Why would we want to fix the planet? Let's let the good times roll for the, for the corporate greed. So no, love, love that mission. It's amazing.

Marty · 36:40Clementine, can I ask a more of a business question? And Jason might be able to jump in on this as well. Like I see, I've seen many businesses over time where they've had a massive ramp up in, um, sales.

Marty · 36:52They've almost succeeded themselves out of business on cash flows. Can you maybe, uh, give some strategy around

Marty · 37:00how do you manage those cash flows effectively in regards to rapid growth? Cause I know a lot of business owners can really suffer at the hands of their own success. Um, so maybe give some, you know, give some ideas around that.

Clementine · 37:12Yeah, absolutely. I think first and foremost, like having Jace and Perry as my right hand man is. I couldn't do what I'm doing without them. The clarity they give, the support they give is just next, like I've never experienced anything like it. So I think first and foremost, a good accountant and, um, you know, like having a team that just know numbers in a way that I don't has been.

Clementine · 37:41I couldn't have, I couldn't have scaled the way I have without that. And I think second to that, the relationships I've built with my manufacturers is has really supported, um, that growth. So we were dealing directly with our manufacturers for a long time.

Clementine · 38:00Um, and you really, you just, You're another number.

Clementine · 38:03You're another brand that's getting their, their stuff, you know, their product manufactured. Um, and then we partnered with an organization that are essentially like our middleman logistics company, but they have incredible relationships with a wide range of manufacturers. And we were able to negotiate very good terms with them.

Clementine · 38:24So essentially, That has freed up so much of our cash flow, um, from a payment needed versus stock sell through perspective. And I think, I think terms with suppliers as you grow is one of the most underestimated, um, relationships that businesses have. I think if you can Um, if you can really back yourself to put numbers together to say like, this is what our growth looks like, come on the journey with us, come and win this with us, but

Clementine · 39:00in return, I need you to give me X, Y and Z and whatever your numbers look like and what you need is to, is just so important.

Clementine · 39:09I know a lot of e commerce brands that actually give their manufacturers access to their um, Shopify account so that they can see the success. They, they feel like they're a part of the team rather than just a manufacturer that, that, you know, doesn't know the vision of the brand. So yeah, I think, uh, the two, the two things that really supported us was Jason Perry, knowing the numbers, you know, really kind of having that, I feel, I feel like it's, there's someone always looking at it and if there were red flags, they would flag it with me and I, it wasn't consuming my brain.

Clementine · 39:48Um, and then second to that is the terms with your suppliers.

Marty · 39:52Yeah. And we find that in that, um, Sort of that even 1 million to 5 million turnover space where people

Marty · 40:00have grown smaller businesses and come through. It's amazing how that advice is just paramount as they start to develop to those, um, next levels.

Marty · 40:09And, and look, I was strangely enough, I was watching a movie on the weekend with Charlie, we bought a zoo. And I was thinking about you guys in regards to, you know, you bought a farm, which is really, really cool. But, um, and, and we get some insight as to why you purchased the farm, but how are the kids enjoying it?

Marty · 40:28How's the family enjoying the lifestyle and, um, Yeah, give us an insight on that.

Clementine · 40:35Yeah, yeah. We have bought a zoo.

Clementine · 40:41We, yeah, so we bought a farm. So we traveled for two years in a caravan. We traveled around Australia. We're meant to go for 12 months and, um, 12 months goes very quickly when you're constantly traveling. So, yeah. Um, three kids in a van working was a lot of fun but what I think what it, um,

Clementine · 41:00exposed was that we actually just love the outdoors.

Clementine · 41:03We love the space. We love the freedom at GIMS and When we decided, well, we had to come back, my husband got an injury, but, um, we sort of went, what are we going to, you know, where are we going to land, because we can't go into the city. So we knew we wanted a farm and we knew that I've always had the mission of farming regeneratively and being able to provide a really, a community base, um, that offers really good food.

Clementine · 41:30education, you know, this is my longer term vision of like being able to hold education about where our food comes from, you know, having kids come and learn about where broccoli grows, how it grows, being able to pick it and take it home with them. You know, I just think that is not being exposed to a lot of kids, um, this day and age.

Clementine · 41:52So, We, um, yeah, bought a farm November last year, um, with the help of yourself, Marty and Jace. I don't think we could have done it

Clementine · 42:00without you. Wasn't an easy feat.

Marty · 42:03It was a good project. It's

Jason · 42:04good fun. It's good fun.

Clementine · 42:06So

Marty · 42:06how do you get the balance of running a family, and I know you have high value on family, of course.

Marty · 42:12And, and running a business. How do you get that balance right to ensure everyone's taken care of?

Clementine · 42:19A very supportive hub, husband. I couldn't do it without Adam and he, um, he's supported, you know, I think there has been seasons in having kids where, you know, I've stepped into primary care and Adam has been working and, you know, Um, you know, then obviously the period we were on the road, we were both very much primary carers and, and you're right, Marty, you know, kids, uh, my kids are my absolute priority.

Clementine · 42:43Nothing will, um, will trump that. And it's been definitely tested since we've been home and, and the growth of Salt Lab, and we've really had to step into this season of life. And This current season of life is Adam is the primary

Clementine · 43:00carer and that's been a harder one for me to let go of. But, um, we've really been able to own our roles in a sense and me step into really heading up Salt Lab and driving it to where, where we are.

Clementine · 43:14See that going and Adam really owning his ownership his role as primary carer Marty as you know and Jase we homeschool our kids. So we've got yeah, three kids We homeschool them and we really do that a lot on the farm and with our everyday tasks that we have to do whether that's milking the cow or moving the cows or You know, feeding the goats or whatever it is, um, they're very much involved in that.

Clementine · 43:42And I think what's been important to me is just really carving out the time of like, okay, this is work time. And in that time, I'm, you know, I'm very much, this is my work time, but then making sure that when work's finished for the day, Like everything switches off and works finished for the

Clementine · 44:00day. Um, so I think those boundaries, which hasn't been an easy transition to find, but having those boundaries of where family time lays and where work lays has been really essential.

Clementine · 44:14Um, and not, not always easy and not, and not always met a hundred percent. And there needs to just be that acceptance of I'm human and Adam's human. And there's, there's blurred lines.

Marty · 44:26I love the flexibility in that chase though, isn't it? Like the flexibility to be able to step in. Own roles within the relationships.

Marty · 44:34And, and sometimes that changes depending on circumstances, I mean, and even Clementine and Adam to the point have sent me resources in regards to homeschooling as well, because we were going, yeah, we're going through that as well. So very generous, uh, people by nature and wanting to, you know, share what they've learned and even supporting my wife, which was, which was lovely.

Marty · 44:54Actually, Clementine, that was really appreciated.

Jason · 44:57Oh, pleasure. I like the term seasons as well, like

Jason · 45:00moving in and out of the seasons and being adaptable to change with the seasons. I think that's a really unique way of looking at it too. Um, talked a bit about the farm and we can understand a bit of now what, you know, the purpose and what drives you outside of Salt Lab, but what's the future hold for Salt Lab?

Jason · 45:15Is it world domination? What are the plans on the horizon?

Clementine · 45:18Yeah, I mean, we have up until this year, really, we've been very much Australia focused. Um, and we haven't really expanded internationally. And, and as you'd know, Jason, the last sort of six months, we've expanded internationally in a big way, and it happened very quickly.

Clementine · 45:34Um, so really, I think the future for salt lab is that focusing on international, you know, at the moment, we're still shipping everything from Australia. So we're really focusing on just smoothing out that process for customer experience more than anything. Um, and really just finding our feet with where we sit internationally and how we're.

Clementine · 45:53How our logistics run, um, and finding the balance of like, you know, we

Clementine · 46:00love our life here in Victoria. We don't want to go and move anywhere to make that work. So, um, we're really finding the balance of how to run international from Australia and but we see the growth really coming for salt lab from international.

Jason · 46:13Has there been some, uh, lessons learned pretty quickly in expanding internationally or it's so far going relatively smooth?

Clementine · 46:19Look, it is going pretty smoothly. Um, I think we're fortunate that we have been in the game for long enough to really understand, you know, how our product product ships and, you know, all of those challenges that I think would be the learning experiences that you would, you would get, but still, of course, there are, there are lots of learning experiences and I think we're just.

Clementine · 46:41Um, realizing the natural challenges you face when you're expanding internationally and shipping from Australia, it's a long time and trying to bridge the gap of customer expectation versus what we can actually fulfill and making sure that we're really clear on that and, um, we nurture

Clementine · 47:00the journey for the customer.

Clementine · 47:01That's probably been the biggest one.

Jason · 47:03Marty, anything further from you? Otherwise, I'm going to go into a where to find Salt Lab, big wrap up spiel and, uh, That Clementine to also tell us some, uh, where to go to get, uh, all the products. Well,

Marty · 47:13I just want to say congratulations to Clementine, Adam, and the kids as well, because it's, um, it is, it is such a journey of resilience.

Marty · 47:24And like they say, you know, sometimes an overnight success. Uh, people think it's an overnight success, but it's a lot of the times it's seven, 10 years in the making and to persevere on something that's not only a great product, but something that has a deeper intention of what you're passionate about as well, um, is, is great testament to you both as a family.

Marty · 47:45And entrepreneurs as well. And Australian needs more stories like this to, you know, we get the doom and gloom. Sometimes interest rates go up. We all fall into horror and terror. And, uh, there's a lot of difficult stories in the market, but that is a

Marty · 48:00part of business. It's a part of life and it's how we deal with it.

Marty · 48:03Uh, effectively move through those moments that make all the difference. So yeah, just for me, a big congratulations, been a privilege, uh, to work with you on, uh, various components of your business. And I thought, I know Jace feels exactly the same, but keep going cause I I'm just excited to see where it ends up.

Marty · 48:20So keep up the great work.

Clementine · 48:23Thanks so much, Marty. There's so much we couldn't have done without you. So I appreciate your ongoing support.

Jason · 48:29I feel the same way, Marty. I feel very blessed and fortunate to be on the journey. Um, we have a, probably a similar mission or vision of future advisory is to help people have a better future.

Jason · 48:38It's simple, you know, our team and I rock up each day. And if we can help someone have a better future, we feel successful day to day in what we do. And, and I hope, you know, we can. We get to sit back and look at where Salt Lab and where you were when you joined us. And even just running a P& L on a balance sheet and we're numbers nerds.

Jason · 48:53So if we can look at it and go, my God, this makes sense. And it looks great. And we're helping a business owner to get into the nitty gritty,

Jason · 49:00then happy days. We're all playing out our, our purposes. Um, where do we find Salt Lab? How do our lovely listeners of the numbers game get their hands on some Salt Lab?

Clementine · 49:08Yeah. So you can find us on Instagram at salt underscore lab, um, or www. saltlaboratory. com. Um, and yeah.

Jason · 49:19Amazing. Thank you. Thank you. And look, thank you so much for joining us today. Um, Marty and I always go and look, Clementine's going to be an epic guest. And you have not disappointed. So thank you so much for joining us today.

Jason · 49:29Uh, for our listeners out there, like subscribe, definitely go and give salt lab a follow, and you'll get heaps of tips and tricks on why you need to get some magnesium onto your body until next time, Marty

Marty · 49:40live better, laugh more. Get around, Salt Lab. Game on.

Jason · 49:45This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only.

Jason · 49:49The conversations are of a general nature and do not qualify as financial or tax advice. We recommend before you make any financial decisions, you consult a licensed professional. Individuals on the podcast

Jason · 50:00may hold positions in the companies discussed. ---