Scaling With People
Tired of spinning your startup wheels but never gaining traction? Buckle up, founders and CEOs, because this podcast is your rocket fuel to profitability! Every week, we ignite explosive conversations with bold-faced founders, brainy experts, and even a few out-of-this-world vendors. Get ready to crack the code on growth, master employee engagement, and blast through your scaling goals. We’re talking real-world strategies, actionable tips, and perspectives that’ll make your business do a cosmic dance. So, strap in and prepare for lift-off!
Scaling With People
Scaling Wellness Innovation: Cedar Carter on Leadership, Employee Engagement, and Remote Work Strategies
Curious about how a leader transitions from the fashion world to the realm of wellness innovation? Join us as Cedar Carter, the CEO of The Good Patch, unveils her remarkable journey from the apparel industry to spearheading a startup that's revolutionizing wellness with wearable patches. Cedar shares the story of how she connected with the founders through her network and the strategic decision to bring in experienced leadership for scaling the business. Discover the ingenious concept behind The Good Patch, delivering essential vitamins to address daily stress, sleep, and energy challenges, and gain insight into the critical importance of founders recognizing their strengths and hiring to fill gaps.
In our conversation, we also tackle the pressing issues of employee engagement and HR practices in the era of remote work. Cedar provides practical strategies for maintaining personal connections, such as virtual team-building activities and social Slack channels, to keep the team cohesive. She highlights the significance of occasional in-person meetings to fortify relationships and communication, especially for younger employees missing the camaraderie of office life. The concept of "breaking bread" emerges as a powerful tool for building trust and understanding within teams. Don’t miss this episode packed with actionable advice for leaders navigating the nuances of remote work environments.
Welcome everyone to today's Gun With People podcast. I'm Gwen Behr-Creary, founder and CEO of Guide to HR, and I'm super excited about talking to an emerging startup founder today who we're going to be talking about her experience and lessons learned, and also a little bit about engagement within her org. So welcome, Cedar Carter. Happy to have you on the call today. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 2:It's good to be here. Thank you for having me, guinevere, I am a beauty and wellness and apparel executive. I worked in the apparel industry for about 20 plus years before transitioning over into the CPG world of beauty and wellness and worked for big brands Quicksilver, roxy, bcpg, max, azria back in the day, and now excited to be on this journey of wellness, which is something that's dear to my heart, and I'm the CEO of the Good Patch.
Speaker 1:Awesome. And so tell us, like, okay, so you're the CEO of good patch. Tell us a little bit about what it is and how did you get there.
Speaker 2:Yes, um, so the good patch makes wearable wellness patches, uh, really, for everything that you might experience in your day-to-day um life. I'm holding up, for those that can see me, a B12 awake patch, uh, for example. So you just you're going to uh tear it open and you're going to put this little thing that looks just like almost a sticker on the inside of your wrist or any venous area and it's going to deliver all sorts of amazing vitamins and it looks like a little sticker here for those that can see it and it's going to deliver amazing vitamins onto your skin over the course of your entire day, so the whole time that you're wearing that patch, and we solve many things. So, for example, b12 awake is to give you a little boost for the back half of your day or any point in your day dream, for sleep and be calm, for things like stress and relaxation. So many different solutions for things that people experience.
Speaker 1:You have one for help the hangover right?
Speaker 2:I think I've seen we can't technically say it's for hangovers, but between you and I that is a great use. It's called Rescue and I do recommend that you put it on your way out the door if you're going to have a big night. It's an amazing product and my personal favorite. Don't judge me.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it. So how did you get involved and become the CEO of the Good Patch?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I met the three amazing founders just kind of through my network, and two of the three of them were spa owners and they, you know, really came up with this amazing product because they were hearing about what people were experiencing in their day to day lives in their spas and so they were looking to solve things.
Speaker 2:They were coming in for a massage but saying gosh, I'm just so stressed about everything and I wish you know I'm tired of taking all these supplements and different things and I wish I had a better solution.
Speaker 2:And so they came up with the patch concept and rolled it out through their spas and then it just kind of caught fire because their customers loved it so much, and so I was introduced to them through, actually one of their board members and they had just raised a tiny bit of funding and were just launching in the market and kind of getting the sense that they were on to something big. But, having been small business owners, they really wanted someone with experience in kind of corporate America, in scaling brands and building brands, to be able to take it to its full potential. And I had spent a lot of my time building brands and and operating in that space and actually working with a lot of the retailers that were interested in bringing the good patch on in the apparel world, anthropology being one of their first retailers bringing the good patch on in the apparel world, anthropology, being one of their first retailers.
Speaker 1:That's exciting. So what have you seen, since you know a lot of founders and of startups are listening, where it was beneficial for these founders to not actually get into the business and run it, but actually bring someone like you on. And what do you know in regards to their thought process and the experience of the benefit of you being here and working from the business perspective?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a really, really great and, I think, important question. You know, I think we have three founders and they are all absolutely amazing people and they're all really good at specific things that were beneficial to the business, but they knew that they were missing that one piece of actually operating a business and scaling at a big level. So they were really conscious of what they did well and what they didn't. And I think that is maybe one of the biggest things that founders don't realize. They're trying to do it all and, realistically, nobody can do it all right, and so I can't do it all, and so you have to know what you're good at and what you might need somebody else to help you with. And so they they stayed very involved in the business, but in very specific avenues.
Speaker 2:So one of them was really good at product and she stayed really involved with our key ingredients and product and manufacturing. And one of them was really great at branding. So he really made sure at the beginning stages of the company that his vision for the brand and what we stood for came through. And then a third founder was really amazing at sales and so she, you know, would go stand on the trade show floors and sell things to people, and that was what she was good at, so you know. And then they left me with all the all the boring stuff like the spreadsheets and all that good stuff, but it was a really great dynamic and I would I would highly recommend, for you know, any founders out there to really think about what you do well and what maybe maybe you do this thing well but you don't enjoy doing it. So think about the things that not only you do well, but that you enjoy doing, and then hire people to do the things that aren't your passion but are important to a business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. I'm all about doing what you enjoy. It's one of the values of Guide to HR. We're on this planet for such a short period of time. Why sit there and do something? You're begrudging and just like, oh, I can't have to get this done right. Even when you're begrudging and just like, oh, I can't have to get this done Right, like even when you're doing what you love, you still have moments right Of that, but at least you know in the big screen you're like I'm still doing what I love. So that's great advice. So tell me, in your experience growing this business, you've had to go and fundraise. What have been some of the things that have been lessons learned from that that you would be like if I could get in front of founders who are about to do this for the first time. Here are some things that you should think about or know or sidestep if you see it coming your way.
Speaker 2:Yes. So fundraising was something that I had never done before because I had worked mainly for more established brands. So it was quite an overwhelming thought to go out and raise, you know, venture capital for the business. But I would say, you know, in hindsight, it really I really enjoyed the process. I met so many amazing people and it really just started with one single introduction.
Speaker 2:So, you know, I kind of came into it thinking, wow, I don't, I don't know anybody, I don't know how to do this, and it can be daunting, but I would say most people I came across really wanted to take the time to explain how things worked, and you know, so I utilize my network to understand how the process worked. And then one or two introductions, and I would say, even if those people in the beginning didn't end up providing funds for our company, they introduced me to two or three other people that they thought would be interested, and then those people introduced me to two or three other people and so I ended up meeting, I mean literally hundreds of people along the way, and I'm still in touch with the majority of those people. And so I think there is this you know, most people actually do want to help you and it's really about creating those connections and and just just starting small and it will. It'll grow.
Speaker 1:And I think that is important. I mean, most people do want to help through connections and then ultimately understanding what you're trying to accomplish. What do you find was the hardest part about connecting the dots for those that want to help, like creating your message, providing the data points. What was the most challenging that you found when you were in those conversations, trying to get the person to actually hand over that money to you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you have to be prepared, obviously, and confident in what you are pitching. So you have to believe in the company that you are representing. That's just absolutely number one critical and know your stuff, Know all your financials and really know a clear vision for what their investment is going to get them, because ultimately you're selling them that this company is going to get them. You know, because ultimately you're selling them, that this company is going to be a huge success and that's why they should invest. So that piece of it is really important.
Speaker 2:I think the most challenging aspect assuming you know your stuff already, which is absolutely critical know your financials and your vision for the company but the most challenging part if you've never fundraised before, honestly, is knowing the language, because there is this whole separate language that happens in the venture capital world and it does vary from industry to industry.
Speaker 2:You know I came from apparel and transitioned into the consumer products world and that lingo and all the millions of acronyms are so different from one industry from another between, say, venture capital and maybe even private equity, and just understanding all of those, all that lingo and acronyms, I found to be the most challenging part. You know we had a great product. I had a vision for the company which obviously the founders had, a vision for the company which I supported and then added to. So I had all the basics that make a great story and a great investment. But it was just I would be over on the side, maybe Googling things as we would be in these meetings, like what does that acronym mean? And then it's all things that you know. It just they try. I think the venture world makes it complicated sometimes.
Speaker 1:Maybe try to be a little tricky, in the sense of just checking to see that you really know your facts too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and not even that. I mean it could be that I'm sure some of them it is that, but it I think a lot of it is. Just when you are so ingrained in a particular world, um, you do start to shorten things and have acronyms and you don't even realize that that someone else may not understand that. I mean even the word CPG. For those out there that maybe don't work in CPG, they might say, like what does CPG mean? But for me CPG just means consumer packaged goods. It's a whole industry, but if you don't work in that industry, you know you might not know what that means. So yeah, but they don't. You know people don't elaborate and simple things, but they don't. You know people don't elaborate.
Speaker 2:And and what I learned is you're actually very respected to just ask. So if someone uses an acronym or a term that you don't know, that is actually okay and you can just say, hey, I'm not familiar with that term, you know. Or you can Google it on the side if you're uncomfortable, but really either way is fine. And I think one of my biggest learnings was it's okay to not know everything. Nobody actually expects you to know everything, but what you have to do is. You have to be transparent and you have to just ask if you don't know, or say you know, I don't have that in front of me, let me follow back up and then actually do the follow-up, and that is 1000% okay to do. They do not expect you to know everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, completely. So before we get into some engagement conversations, one last little lesson learned, a story that you could share with us If you could go back in time, knowing that you're gonna be where you are today. What have you learned that you wish you could tell your younger self, maybe when you took this role or even earlier, that you like, if I just knew this, I wouldn't have fallen in this trap or this hole, or I wouldn't have made this mistake and had six months to you know, clean it up, or whatever the situation is that we could learn from.
Speaker 2:You know. I think the biggest thing goes back to kind of what we were just speaking about, and I think it really would have been to say it's okay to not know everything. Because I think, especially when you come into, say, a CEO role or you're a founder but you've never scaled a business before you have this, you put this expectation on yourself that you need to know everything and be an expert at everything. But people don't actually expect you to know everything. And it's okay to be a little vulnerable and I think the most important thing is to be able to figure things out, to not necessarily already know them.
Speaker 2:It's okay to you know, send follow ups or not know the answer to everything, as long as you can then follow up and do the research and have a good network that can, that you can ask questions to and help inform you, and to never, ever, ever pretend that you know when you don't. Because I think early on I did feel a lot of pressure If I was asked something that I didn't know. You feel insecure about that. But what I learned along the way is actually when I said, oh, I don't have that in front of me, but let me follow up with you and then did follow up. People really appreciate it, because I think there are a lot of people that pretend to know things that they don't, and it's it's often very clear when someone's kind of fumbling through an answer or saying something that doesn't have a lot of merit.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, I appreciate it. I love that and I love when you said that you know transparency, the transparency and follow-up. You're right. Like no one expects everyone to know everything.
Speaker 1:And uh yeah, especially in a startup, you know there might be a question where it's like whew, yeah, we've thought of a hundred different questions. You're going to ask them. This is the 101, right, you try to prepare for all questions, but it's impossible. So I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. So let's dive into a little bit of engagement here employee engagement and experience. So how big is your organization?
Speaker 2:Just to give our viewers an understanding of what we're talking about, yeah, so we have about 20 corporate employees and then we have another 10 or so, depending on seasonality, in our warehouse that we operate.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I think you have a tricky situation because your corporate and warehouse two very different types of roles and people and productivity. That is happening. What have you seen, especially post COVID, been the biggest challenge for your organization in regards to your employee engagement and keeping people happy and engaged and working and not silently quitting or causing problems for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's a good question.
Speaker 2:I think the warehouse is a little easier because they're physically in person in that warehouse. But for the rest of our employees, you know, we had a physical office location and now we are all remote, with the exception of our ops team that sits in our Georgia warehouse attached in an office building. But you know so being remote has many challenges. But you know so being remote has many challenges. It's amazing, I think, for flexibility, for you know we have a lot, of, you know, people with children, for example, and other things going on in people's lives, and we honor and respect that and we're happy to provide kind of ultimate flexibility for our employees, which I think is important. But making that personal connection, I think has been the biggest challenge. So you know, we have many examples where we will hire someone completely remote, having not physically met them, and you kind of get in this habit of doing Zooms and all these meetings remotely and it's great to have this technology, but then sometimes those personal connections are not made which can help smooth the little nuances in communication.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I call that breaking bread. Right, if you can bread with someone you know, you have a conversation over a meal or coffee or whatever, you can really learn about the person and how there might be some communication channels or challenges in email and even in this kind of setting where you're on the phone or even a virtual like zoom or whatever kind of chat you feature you use. But it's that breaking bread moment where it just is like we're both human beings, we're both trying to do the same thing and how can we work together to do that, to accomplish that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you give people a little more grace when you know them a little. You know, know them personally and not not super personally, but, like you said, those water cooler moments, or you give them a little, you give them the benefit of the doubt more than you maybe would otherwise. So that's been a challenge, I think, for the younger people in our organization, which we do have a lot of very young individuals in our organization. They also miss that personal, you know, in real life experience interaction. So we do try to get everybody together at least once a year for a whole company offsite, which is always really really well received.
Speaker 2:And then we do try to make space for some of that breaking bread, water cooler conversation. You know, via we have a Slack channel, just called wishes and welcomes. That's where we expect people to post photos of their dogs and their kids and, you know, their prime day come ups and things like that. So and then we do have a fun committee is what we call it where a couple people in our organization have volunteered to kind of spearhead just fun little virtual team building activities throughout the year. So we try and sprinkle those in honestly, on a small scale, on a weekly basis and then do some bigger things on a quarterly basis, things like we've done chocolate tastings, where we had whatever the sommelier version of a chocolate person is come and lead us through a guiding chocolate tasting and mailed everybody their chocolate beforehand.
Speaker 1:And so we try and do some fun activities like that where people can just be on camera and you get a little more, a little feel for their personality a little more of a social meeting, where you're on camera but where you're not talking about business, and you're learning a little bit more about each other as a human being.
Speaker 2:Exactly where you can let your guard down and just be yourself, which is what we'd like to see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. And so, as we start to wrap up here, you know being in HR myself and the good patch and understanding it. What have you seen from an HR perspective that has been a real big benefit for your business with a good patch.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean we were very thankful for your support, guided support, for the good patch to help us, you know, muddle through the benefits process and implementation. You know I think we it's really challenging as a an emerging brand or maybe a small organization in general, that HR piece of it is very overwhelming. So I think getting outside support early is really important and setting up kind of your processes and things. So you know, we use, you know, gusto as a HR platform for payroll and benefits and things. But then you know, obviously having your support has been really nice as well and then just kind of honestly going, going slow and thoughtfully and really making sure that we hire people that want to be in this startup world that can be a little crazy and hectic at times, for sure so people that are up for the challenge and and honestly just trying to hire good people. Um, because you spend so much of your day with with the people that you work with you.
Speaker 1:That is so true in fact, it's kind of sad. Like you think about it, you probably spend more time with the people you work with than your family and friends. To some extent yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So I really, you know, at this stage we're small enough where really I can do a final interview for anybody that we hire, and and I'm, you know, I trust my team to have made sure that they meet all the requirements for doing the job. And then I'm kind of a cultural checkmark, you know, making sure are they going to be a nice human being I already know they're intelligent and qualified for their job but are they going to be someone that's, that's good to work with in a small organization which is important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I call that a culture ad looking for someone who's going to add to the culture and enhance it and be another like ambassador of it, right? So, yeah, well, uh, cedar was so great connecting with you today and, for the listeners, I hope you've got some good tidbits on her experience and her lessons learned and I look forward to joining you next time. Until then, have a great morning, day, afternoon, evening, wherever you are in the world when you're listening. Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for having me. Thank you.
